/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance★

>Story continue

"We have to move to better ground!" Tabitha says, looking about to point to a side street.

Following her gaze, you nod in agreement. Fighting here in such an open space may end well for you in the end however, especially due to all the civilians knocked asleep by Ebe's song. The various, sleeping forms of men, women, and CHILDREN, lay strewn about the ground and you feel your stomach turn looking at them. The bloody smear made from the body this thing threw reinforces this.

The others nod and start to run in the direction Tabtiha indicates, the Lizardman staying in place with sword drawn. Alice stands beside her, sword glowing blue. Given that her sword is likely quite useful against something like this, there's no quarrel about disobedience.

For your part, you try to reach out to Erwin and find him still asleep, but he feels as if he's with Ebe, who has taken wing to get closer to your group. Feeling some relief there, you grab Sylphie's arm as she moves past with Mr. Ed and say, "I need you to bury that crate!"

"What?" She says, looking confused. "Bury it?"

"Yes! Deep! Get Zoras to go with you and bury it, we can't lose that urn, but we can't fight with it! Go with the others and bury it!"

"I- Okay!" Sylphie says, nodding her head, though her eyes are wide.

"Good girl." You say, leaning in close for a kiss before stopping sharply, your eye twitching. She stares at you with extreme confusion and gulps before pulling away at Sophie's call, backing away a few steps while looking at you before turning to Zoras.

"W-Where are you going?" The Thing says, the discordant voice speaking out again. Gritting your teeth and ripping the thoughts of her soft lips out of your head, you slide your attention back to the Thing as it leaps into the air, landing yards in front of you and crushing another poor soul. It looks up at you with that wild eye and smiles. "What are y-you doing with the urn?!"

"Who are you?" You ask, doing your best to buy some time for the others to get in place. Really wishing you had Erwin handy, you do the best you can by sending something and hoping that Sylphie can read your thoughts. Of course, if she could on demand, she'd know exactly what you'd like to do to her supple body and-

"I?" The Thing says, cocking its head. "Who am I?" It pauses, seeming to think this over. "I am… I am… I am the one who rules over nature! I shall destroy… and hate Ectrians!"

It's smile widens again as it says, "I am, Hent-ateh!"

Oh Gods, this thing is Hent-ateh? The creature summoned by the ancient Apophis to destroy the Pharaoh? The creature that they were forced to seal away instead of banishing? Feeling despair enter into your stomach, you find your hand shaking until Tabitha says,

"So what?"

Both you and Alice look at her with surprise at those words, and so does Hent-ateh, who blinks the one eye in surprise. It cocks its head again before smiling and laughing that eerie, synthetic laughter. "You are i-interesting! You are n-not Ectrian, but I will destroy you to fulfill my covenant!"

"What coven-?" You ask, but before you can finish, it leaps again, diving at you with the large, black arm. Staggering backward, you throw up a wall, which it crashes through with little effort, scattering rubble everywhere. Without delay, you ring it in with more walls and then shout for the others to follow you down the street. They do without hesitation, and you dimly notice that Ebe and Erwin are gone, good.

The sound of exploding stone sounds behind you as you run, and you hear metallic feet crashing against the stone street. Turning about as you run, you find Hent-ateh running at you full bore, far faster than you can. Crying out, you pull chips of stone from around you and fire in a concentrated blast a [Shotgun Pebbles].

In the confines of the alleyway, it's unable to dodge the rocks, but its reaction time is insane, throwing up its arm to block the pebbles, most of which sink into the black ooze on the arm, doing no real damage, but others dent the twisted metal of the arm, breaking its charge as it staggers backward, allowing you to book it after the two swordswomen.

The street you come into isn't nearly as crowded as the main avenue, but there are still some unconscious souls too close to Ebe's singing to avoid falling asleep. What's really odd is that most of them are pushed up against buildings, as if placed there by haphazard in an effort to clear them out of the like snow from a plow. Snapping your head over, you see Sylphie and Zoras appear from an alleyway, the two running to meet Ako, Sophie, and Ebe as they stand around Mr. Ed, prepared to battle.

>>307551

Waving your hand at them, you shout, "Get Mr. Ed and Erwin out of here!" The horse spares no time, Erwin already in the saddle bags, and he retreats, knowing that he'll do little good here. While the old horse isn't afraid of anything, you know that he's hurting from not being able to help his bonded. With that settled, you make it to the others and turn about, weapon ready.

Nothing follows you out of the alleyway. Breathing in the delicious smells of your comrades all around you (also air), you find your thoughts getting hazy as you wait for something to happen. A few seconds go by and nothing happens. Looking about in confusion, you're about to ask what the hells is happening when a discordant shriek sounds and Hent-ateh leaps out from the alleyway, arm raised to strike at you.

Taken aback once again, you try to summon a wall but are unable to as it lands before your group. The only ones with enough reaction time to counter the creature are the two swordswomen and Ako, the former slicing with their swords at it while the latter begins a complex series of hand signs that you have zero idea how they work, but you can feel a draw of mana.

Hent-ateh blocks Tabitha's flaming sword with ease, the inky blackness absrobing the blow and allowing the sword to hit the underlying metal, bouncing off with little damage. Energieschwert, on the other hand, bites deep into its chest, causing the darkness to sizzle while a furrow is cut into the red plating. It lashes out with its arm, sending the two swordswomen flying with cries of alarm, but opening itself up as Ako finishes her hand signals and shouts,

"Kasai-no JUTSU!"

A gout of red-hot flame gushes from Ako's mouth to engulf Hent-ateh, which screams further, under the blaze. It lasts longer than you'd expect, and by the time Ako is finished, she's out of breath, her appealing chest heaving with exertion. Holding out a hand to stabilize her shapely chest, you pause as you notice your foe moving again.

Red armor scorched by the flames, it stands up on shaky legs as the blackness shifts and reforms, still steaming some from Alice's attack. It staggers and stares at Ako, an otherwordly rage in its eyes. "Y-YOU! H-HOW DARE YOU!" Giggling with maniac glee, it raises its arm, the claws extending into dagger-sized talons as it rushes her.

Ako leaps over the charging construct, forcing poor Zoras to skitter away, using her legs to take purchase on a nearby wall as it digs a furrow into the ground. It turns and in a complete motion throws rocks at you and the two Cat o'Ninetails, giving your small cuts on your face and stinging your eyes with sand. Crying out in pain, you pull the sand from your eyes and throw up a few walls, which it has to smash apart.

Over down the street, you see Tabitha helping Alice up, the human coughing as she shakes her head. Feeling a sense of despair from the seeming impervious nature of this thing you desperately think things over. First off, why is it still using the construct body? Surely this creature doesn't need something like that in order to sustain itself or… does it? The thought of a power core reminds you of constructs like Chaika, and how other revenants can be made. If that's the case then… you could still maybe destroy it?

Hent-Ateh turns upon you, half-smile wide, eye manic as it searches your group. A spike of fear courses through you and you hear Sophie let out a gasp as well, to which you instinctively shoot out a hand to pull her close to you, feeling her tight, delicious ass under your fingers. She lets out a yelp and stares at you in surprise as you say, "Don't worry, because I am here."

"Oh fucking hells!" She shouts, pushing your bodily out of the way as the blackness shoots out from Hent-ateh in a line between the two of you, the arm retracting into place after missing.

Picking yourself up, you find everything still feeling off and murky. Gritting your teeth, you know you can't figure out a way to beat it, let alone fight this thing, without getting yourself under control. To that end, you shoot your head to Ebe and shout,

"Take off your bra!"

"What?!" She squawks, looking mortified. When you realize your mistake, you shout again,

"Gah! Sorry! Get out Sveth's guitar!"

She nods this time and leaps into the air, landing on the roof of a nearby building. Pulling Sveth's guitar from her back, she takes in a deep breath and, while Hent-ateh turns to look at her, she begins to play.

>>307552

Sounds as hard as the earth suffuse your soul, and even without the power of [Amplify], you feel the weight of the earth shudder with the [Crusader's Call]. Your blood begins to pump faster in your veins, your concentration going from tiddy to tactics, the call to break your opponent into pieces and let the earth scatter the remains.

The others feel it too, even Ako who looks about in confusion for a moment before her eyes grow resolute. In the area where her song touches, civilians stir from their slumber, the sound reaching their very souls, and they look about in surprise, yet don't break and run. The only one who does not seem to feel it is Hent-ateh, who turns to stare at your group with confusion.

"We must destroy the core!" You shout, feeling your magic flow through you. "It's how she's bound to this thing!"

"How?" Sophie says, blush still on her face. She doesn't seem angry at least, except toward Hent-ateh thanks to Ebe's song.

"Electricity seemed to hurt it well last time!" Sylphie shouts, gathering magic about herself.

"But we need to clear whatever that is around it first." You growl, looking over at Alice. "She needs an opening!"

Hent-ateh laughs maniacally. "Y-You're not getting th-that opening!" It dashes again toward you but as you fire another [Shotgun Pebbles], it flips backward, twists in the air and then leaps toward Ebe, who is caught in a trance as she plays.

Watching it happen in slow motion, you make to cast a spell at the construct, but know you're going to be too late! Hent-ateh's arm lengthens again, and it reaches out to impale Ebe. Despite the music, the strength of the soul-wrenching fear in your chest makes you cry out in panic, knowing you would fail to keep your promise to her Mother.

"AHHHHH!" Zoras shouts, leaping from her position on the building as Hent-ateh jumps at Ebe, and collides into the construct's side, sending the two crashing out of the sky to land in a heap on the stones, eliciting cries of alarm from the nearby people.

The Girtablilu stabs with fear and song stoked fury at the prone construct, but her blades and tail do little to Hent-ateh, and in a flash it grasps her around the waist and squeezes, sick sqeulching sounds coming from the Monster as she screams. The construct throws her moments later and turns to parry a blow from Tabitha, who leaps away to avoid a counter stroke.

Zoras hits a wall and crumples to the ground, breathing in short gasps after the attack while Tabitha presses the advantage. Turning to Sylphie, you ask, "Are you ready to throw a lightning bolt?"

"No." She says, planting her staff and closing her eyes. You feel mana channeling around her as she does so. Looking at her in confusion, she says, "I'll be ready."

"Alright." You say, trusting her to whatever she's casting. Considering the large amount of mana powering into her, you assume it's something powerful, but you haven't seen her do anything like that before. Has she been practicing or is the song giving her the courage to do something she hasn't done before? Either way, you let her to it as you dash back into the battle proper.

Throwing up a wall between Hent-ateh and Tabitha as it strikes, you give the Monster time to back away and reposition. The construct reacts in fury, and you cast [Ice], doing your best to freeze it into place. The ice seems to selectively form around the blackness, but it shrugs it off before it can form anything lasting, allowing no openings for Alice, who is breathing heavily, to strike.

Seeing you as both a threat and the ringleader, Hent-ateh dashes toward you, arm out retched as it strikes. Tabitha lashes out with a vicious kick as it runs past her, making the thing stagger before turning and striking at the Lizardman who catches the blow on her sword, but still pushes her back.

Taking advantage of the opening, you cast [Ice] again, firing off a blast of [Shotgun Pebbles] at near point blank range. It staggers and shudders at the repeated blows, huddling up as it breaks from the ice and charges at you again. You fire blast after blast into it, throwing up multiple walls before you to blunt its charge, but even as you back up, it keeps coming, raising its arm and cackling as it drives it straight into your chest and-

Shattering the plates of stone you build around your body.

>>307553

The talons dig deep into the multiple layers of sandstone you used to shield yourself, forming a suit of armor about you to protect from attacks. Sweating with concentration, you grunt as the rock is pushed into your abdomen with some extreme force, more and more of the stone shattering from the incredible force, but thankfully you made it out of multiple, ablative pieces. When it's momentum is no more, you smile, feeling utterly sick from the pressure, and say, "H-How's it going?"

Hent-ateh tries to pull back, but you trap it's arm with more and more stone, making it scream in annoyance just as Alice steps in delivers two, precise blows. One takes off the un-corrupted arm while the other slices a massive furrow into its chest, revealing an orb that shines with purple malevolence.

"NOW!" You shout, droppging the stone and leaping out of the way, Alice doing the same. Sylphie's eyes snap open and she slams her staff, holds out an arm, and shouts as the power she channeled explodes from her hand as she casts [Thunderstrike].

The ground shudders as raw electricity surges from her in a near solid beam, making your beard stand on end at the passing. You're blinded for a second looking at it and you have to look away before blinking vision back to see the effects of the magic.

Hent-ateh stands motionless before you, a smoking crater where the center of the construct used to be. Behind it, a statue in the street lies ruined, the magic having stopped as it destroyed it. Inky blackness drips down around the wound, and the purple glow in its eyes is gone. Slowly, it sinks to its knees and sits there, staring at nothing.

"I… Is it dead?" Sophie asks over Ebe's playing. Nothing but the shouts of people in the city and the Ebe's guitar sounds as you stare in amazement at what just occurred. Did Sylphie manage to do what ancient Wizards could not? Is she such a powerful being that she was able to banish whatever this is with a single blow?

"Sylphie I-" You cut off as Hent-ateh's eyes flare purple again, the mouth opening and letting out a scream so loud it knocks Ebe off balance and snaps her out of her playing. Staggering backward, everyone looks at the construct as it rises, the blackness swirling around it filling in the hole and spreading to form a new, more feminine arm where the last one was destroyed. A greater semblance of a face appears, taking on female features as it stares at you with unfocused rage.

"That's enough! The covenant demands you leave!" A feminine voice cries from behind you.

A chill runs down your spine at the voice, some memory from many years ago making you turn about with apprehension, but you see nothing behind you. Feeling an immense feeling of regret for some reason, you turn back to look at Hent-ateh whose face is one of consternation. It raises it's arm and looks at you before gritting its teeth and leaping away, leaving faster than you could, or should, do anything about.

With whatever it is gone, the world comes crashing down upon you and you feel your stomach ache. Gripping your abdomen and knowing you'll have a bruise there, you thank the Gods that the ploy worked. Having something like that in the future is going to be very useful, but maybe from a little distance. If you could form a box of stone which you could attack from… but that's something to think on later, for now you need to tend to your friends and get out of here.

>You learn [Rock

"Are you alright?" You say to Sylphie, making to grab her. Sophie stops you with a cold gaze and you blink in confusion before nodding your head. "Right… sorry."

"I… I'm fine." Syphie says, shaking. "I'm just… tired."

"She probably has casting sickness, she got it a lot when we were kids using more magic than she had mana. She needs to rest." Sophie says as Mr. Ed gallops in. "Look to Zoras!"

Nodding, you run over to her, noticing Tabitha helping Alice up. Ako is standing next to Zoras, shaking her head as the Girtablilu gasps, her vision cloudy. You hurriedly pull out a [Health Potion] as Zoras says, "I… I paid my debt to her… sorry." She coughs up some blood and her head lulls to the side as you force the potion down her mouth. Some of her wounds begin to heal up, and she coughs, but quickly passes out again, her breathing a little more steady.

Ako curses in her native language. "We can't carry her back to Ammon and people are looking and watching. We will have to leave her here."

"She saved us!" You say, shaking your head. "She deserves to get medical care!"

"She is a tool, just like all of us!" Ako growls, "Now get the urn or the deal is off!"

>>307554

"I have half a mind to push you to the ground and rape you in front of this whole town!" You shout, feeling the rage flow through you, making you say something horrific, yet seems correct here. She stares at you in shock and surprise before anger fills her eyes and she draws one of her daggers.

"Don't." Tabitha states, interposing herself between you and her. "Rommel, get the urn."

"I don't know where the damn urn is!" You shout, to which Tabitha narrows her eyes.

"Then use your magic to find it!"

As more and more voices sound around you, you growl and close your eyes, using [Survey] to find the crate buried nearby. Nodding your head, you run into the alleyway where it is, wheezing from your bruised belly and prepare to pull up the urn when you find someone there, the woman from before. She looks up at you as you enter the alleyway, her hands covered in dirt as she tries to dig up where the urn is hidden.

Raising your staff, you shout, "Who are you? What do you want with the urn?"

The woman blinks at you before standing slowly, her hand reaching behind her as her eyes stare into yours. Your mind digs at you, telling you something about this woman, but you can't place it, making you grit your teeth in pain as you try to reconcile this. She licks her lips and says, "You don't know what you're getting into with this urn, just let me have it."

"I'm not in the mood for this shit! Who are you and why are you so fucking familiar?"

"Familiar? I don't…" She begins when Tabitha shouts,

"Rommel? Hurry it up!"

The woman blinks once before her eyes go wide. "No… no it couldn't be… Not all the way out here and-"

"What are you talking about?" You shout, feeling frustrated.

"I… I don't…" She says, taking a step toward you. "Is it really you? But… but how?" She holds out a hand toward you and stops when she sees Tabitha and Alice appear, pulling back from you to gulp. Looking more than a little distressed, she backs up and says,

"You're on the wrong side of this, Rommel. I hope you come to see that soon."

The two swordswomen run at her but she turns tail and runs down the alley and into kicks down a door before running into a building and escaping. Alice and Tabitha stop at the doorway, shaking their heads and returning to you, the Lizardman asking, "Who was that?"

"I… I don't know." You say, putting a hand to your head. The way she said your name… the react she had and those eyes… no, that would be absurd for her to be…

"Fine, we can talk it over later." Tabitha shouts. "Get the urn!"

"R-right!" You reply, hurriedly pulling it from the ground. Tabitha grabs the crate, her legs humming to let her move with her heavy burden. She runs out of the alley and both you and Alice hobble after her. Ako sees you and nods, heading down to another side street as the sound of hoofbeats from Centaurs sound.

With a flick of your wrist, you pull a section of sandstone from the fight up and use it to <Rock Slide. with Zoras through the streets using your last burst of energy until you find yourselves before a building that Ako leads you into where she instructs everyone to hide. You stay there for a long time, the sound of shouts and screams echoing outside.

Zoras and Sylphie sleep as you tell the story of what happened to Ebe, the Gandharva gasping and looking after Zoras after finding out she saved her life. For your part, you rest away from the others, feeling sore and tired, but afraid you might try to take advantage of the others, despite your pains. Besides, you have to think over that woman. It's impossible to believe that she could be out here, it just defied comprehension. Even worse, to be part of the Cult of the Violet Sands…

"We will stay here until morning." Ako says, shaking her head. "It is too dangerous to move otherwise. Ammon will meet us here and we will transport the goods."

"Fine by me." Tabitha says, shaking her head. "The rest of you, get to sleep, I'll keep watch."

Ako bristles at this, but you don't need to be told twice. Feeling exhaustion grip you, you slip into a deep sleep.

>>307555

"Well, well, well." A male voice says, waking you from your sleep.

Standing before you is Ammon, his suit looking the same as last night, just in a more burgundy color. He chuckles and waves a hand at you, to which you shudder and look about in a stupor. Tabitha is still standing, talking with Ako about something as the other Kunoichi wakes up the rest of your group, though Zoras doesn't look terribly much better than before. The urn is still in its crate it seems, so you look at Ammon and say,

"One curse removal, please."

Ammon blinks a few times before laughing heartily. "Ha! Well, I'm one to keep my end of a bargain if you keep yours! Of course, you did cause quite the disturbance in town here, making things rather… difficult for us, but nothing I can't handle."

Rummaging at his pocket, he pulls out a vial of a murky liquid and hands it to you. "Had to find an good apothecary for this, but it should work. Purges the body of the curse, so I'm told."

"This better work…" You say, taking the potion and drinking it with a glug. It tastes like concentrated shoe polish and you gag as a searing pain runs up your arm and neck, making your cry out. Your party leaps up, but you hold up a hand, panting as it gets less and less painful. Blinking a few times you groan and push back your robe to see the markings gone.

Sinking back after the pain, you see Ammon chuckle and clap his hands together. "Oh, it worked! I didn't actually think it would, but hey, that's alchemy for you."

"What the fuck?" You growl, "You gave me this not knowing it would work?"

"Well, do you feel like fucking those girls anymore?"

Looking over at your party, you appreciate that they are attractive, but you aren't really driven to think of them as sexual partners… you think. You feel something in your chest, but it's not an unnatural drive, and you shake your head. "No, I guess I don't."

The women of your party all look at each other and shake their shakes, sharing some kind of inner, female emotion. Well… whatever. Sighing, you turn back to Ammon and say, "Alright, so that's done. Now about the capital…"

"In due time." He says, holding up a hand. "You should rest first, and we each will have more questions for each other. Besides, many people saw you and when the Royal Guard arrive tomorrow, I assure you, there will be some trouble."

"Tch." You say, shaking your head. "Fine then." Nodding to the urn you ask, "What's so important about that anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh." Ammon taps the urn and chuckles, "It's supposed to carry the spirit of one of the ancient Apophis, but that's just a legend. Some people believe it however, and thus it's valuable. I have a buyer coming to purchase it soon so it will be out of our hands."

"So we went through all of that so just you could make some money?"

He raises an eyebrow, "Just so I could make money?" He shakes his head and smirks, clearly not telling you something. "Well then, I had better be going, if you have any questions, you can field them tomorrow. Do not worry, I am not the kind of stab my clients in the back, especially not after one of my most precious assets was hurt." He nods to Zoras.

"I'll send a healer over soon to tend after her, though I am not certain what tombs will be robbing soon for me… ah well, keep her company, will you?"

He nods his head and walks out of the building, the Kunoichi behind him carrying the urn. You watch him go, feeling a little uneasy about how casually he told you what was behind the urn, and the malevolent force you felt from it. But as it stands, attacking him with those two nearby in such an environment with everyone tired would have been difficult and even still, you NEED him… you think. Sighing, you look to your party who all nod their heads, the same question on their minds,

>What do you do?

>>307556

Ok first of all take a look at Zoras and see how bad she is and if there is a heal potion left give her some, after that make way to a inn while avoiding the royal guards rest up and make a plan of what to do after we get the info and how to deal with hent-ateh in case we meet again and when we are alone ponder about that girl we met who seems to know our wizard.

Ace what new spell we got ? you left it unfinished with just Rock.

>>307561

Fucking hell, i really thought i finished that name. i got distracted my Metokur's dulcet tones…

>You learn [Rock Solid]

>Forming plates of rock around you, you create armor to block close attacks.

Hey did you guys ever get the mc to learn the sand blast spell/ partial beam spell

>>307558

Whoa holy shit i really need to get the time to read whats going on

Firstly we need to rest. Glad to finally have that curse done with. Check with zoras that she'll recover then try to figure out who that woman was.im not complaining, well I guess I am a little. But that part seemed a bit cliched and shoehorned in and didn't quite get the attention it deserved. Though everyone else could disagree with me that's just my view on the matter

>>307556

Was the voice that told Hent to leave and the voice of the girl in the alley the same voice, or were they different?

I wouldn't be too surprised if that girl is right about us being on the wrong side. We hardly know what side we're on right now, let alone what the pharaoh, cultists, or anyone else is after beyond the most basic details. There may be a way to at least find out if we're on the wrong side right now, though.

He mentioned a buyer was coming to pick up the urn "soon". If that's before our meeting with him tomorrow, then we have a narrow window of opportunity to find out who the buyer is and why they want the urn. Unfortunately, Sylphie and her [trick-of-the-light] are out, and so is Zoras, though her loyalty is questionable anyway. That leaves a couple of options. The first is to put an [audio tap] on the urn. Another would be to send a tiny golem to follow them and report back to us where the urn is being kept, assuming golems work like that. You can't link into them like you would a familiar, right? Speaking of which, sending Erwin to follow them would be the most risky option if one of the ninjas catches him, but it'd also give the most versatility using the familiar link. I say try all three, that way only one has to work. Once we find the building where the urn is held, we can stake it out. If there's an underground entrance, we can find it with [survey], then [audio tap] it. Either way, once the buyer arrives we [audio tap] into the meeting. That may give us insight into why they want the urn. If we can get a look at them at any point, all the better. If we don't like what we hear and really want to go big, we could either ambush the buyer and retake the urn, follow them back to their base and ambush them there, or follow them to their base and give either the stables or the royal guard an anonymous tip about where the urn is. Ammon shouldn't care, he sold it, not his problem what happens after.

>>307554

>You learn [Rock

Boy, WHAT a spell!

>>307626

See >>307563

I mean, [Rock is a pretty good spell too, probably the best. You shouldn't complain.

I'm SORRY

>>307583

Eh… yes, but your decisions earlier changed things but it sort of had to be done. RIP me I guess

>>307579

stuffs. Fun stuffs! but stuffs.

>>307607

Very similar you believe.

You can attach an [Audio Tap] to a golem if you want, but having it communicate otherwise won't work, sorry.

>>307624

Nah, but you can combine spells!

>>307607

My bets on it being the soul of a grape snake stored inside somehow managed to speak. I want to open it and find out. Perhaps transfer it into a jewel and mount it to our staff, And if we found her agreeable maybe let her control a golem body occasionally.

>>307629

>Eh… yes, but your decisions earlier changed things but it sort of had to be done. RIP me I guess

What did we do that changed your plans? The tunneling?

>>307609

Phallia just tucks it when its not needed, Its still there and it's yuuge. Biggest phallus I've ever seen.

>>307629

Yeah, I guess ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL of the golems would be a little much. Well, as long as it can follow them there, come back, and bring us to where it went, that's all that's neede-

>You can attach an [Audio Tap] to a golem if you want

>Midas, your chunk of [Gold ore], floats about you in a lazy arc as you get a better hang of the basics of things.

>Pebble-sized flying golem with attached [Audio Tap]

Sounds like we now have [Spy Drone]. This just got much easier.

Just for clarification, can we have multiple [Audio Taps], or do we have to train to get more? I'm sure a pinch, Sylphie would probably pick it up quick, but I'd like to know the limit on this. We'll show those sorcerors at the Nosy Sorcery Agency that they have nothing on a Caster Information Agent. Dr Rommel, I'm CIA.

Also, can we improve the accuracy of our [Pebble Gun] by modifying [Audio Tap] into a magical [Beacon] of sorts and modifying the shot to home in on the [Beacon]?

>>307556

I doubt Ammon is going to betray us at this point, because he has kept his word thus far in giving us the cure to the curse for doing his task, something he wouldn’t bother with if his plan was for us to die, and he just said this:

>"You should rest first, and we each will have more questions for each other.”

…Which would imply he still needs us alive for information at the very least. In any case, with the Royal Guard arriving soon, the town guard freaking out over what happened last night and us clearly being related to the recent events on account of us most likely being the only Wizard in Hatset, it would be best if we take Ammon’s advice and just hunker down here for the time being until he returns and can hopefully get us out easily after we conclude our business with him because heading outside in the current state of the town is suicidal.

Since we’re going to be stuck here for a while and can’t really practise the majority of our spells without risking revealing ourselves to the town guard with a big target on our head due to how loud or flashy said spells are, we might as well spend our time chilling, chatting with the others in our party about how they’re holding up, recent events, future plans and the like and reading through our books since this is a great instance of downtime, preferably [Clay in a Sculptor's Hand: Golem Creation and Theory] because we might as well finish what we started so that the time we’ve spent on it thus far isn’t wasted with little to nothing to show for it, though [Familiarity with your Familiar] may be an interesting read considering we haven’t really touched upon it much yet and our bond with Erwin may have improved. As for spells we can probably get away with using at least until that healer Ammon supposedly sent for arrives, I propose we practise a mixture of [Imbue Golem] along with anything we may pick up from the corresponding book while we read it along with [Metallurgy] to play around with that [Danuki Knife] that’s just been sitting in our inventory since Blackfire Reach, since there’s no reason not to use the former when studying the magic and the latter would assist with our control over iron and steel, a skill which would be invaluable to us going forward when we come across better armed opponents, and we have been neglecting it a tad as of recently.

Something else we could potentially do since we have the time is augment Sylphie’s staff by letting her borrow the unnamed Rutile from us for the time being. I suggest this because right now the Rutile isn’t doing much for us other than looking pretty and Sylphie, as shown by both encounters with Hent-ateh, is clearly proficient in some regards with Fulgromancy, likely to do with her father’s and Harmony’s influence, so attaching said Rutile to her staff would aspect it more towards lightning, thus increasing her effectiveness with it while not hindering her other divinations of magic theoretically that is, as the description for the Rutile doesn’t mention dampening effects for other elements and as such increasing her combat potential overall. It might also help with furthering her appreciation for rocks too, which is a plus.

When Ammon eventually returns and most certainly doesn’t betray us, we should question him about a number of different things relating the capital, the dungeons, layouts, what to expect and so on as we had originally intended. We should also ask him about those Rites of Pah’sen the Prophet has most likely invoked, because right now we’re completely in the dark about how it works other than the rumours surrounding them and the Prophet having access to nigh unlimited magical power seems like something that would be a huge issue for us should we be detected. As for his own questions, seeing as he’s an information broker it would be wise if we answer with caution, deciding whether or not answering anything he asks us is worth it and even then not giving him more than requested, as any information given to him can be used against us and while he’s technically an enemy of the Prophet, what with the huge bounty on his head, we can’t really trust him not to sell what we tell him to the highest bidder and Qi did warn us that both the Royal Guard and the Violet Sands are looking for strong warriors.

>>307607

We can’t be on the wrong side of this conflict because we haven’t actually picked a side, and nor should we for that matter because we’ve seen enough to realise that both sides are pretty shit - the Prophet is evil as she treats the lower class like shit, has started sending slaver groups in Deleor to test the waters for what she can get away with and currently has both Selene and the Grand Wizard captive, both of whom we need to free either for political reasons or to berate/beat the shit out of, and the Apophis are very likely to be evil or at least a mixed bag overall because no one would make a pact with an eldritch abomination to kill innocents unless they had malicious intent, not to mention how that menacing presence within the urn is supposedly an Apophis and how those stories and rumours about them are very likely to be at least somewhat true.

On the topic of tracking, I don’t think we’re going to have a good opportunity to physically follow the urn, Erwin or otherwise, because the town guards are going to be on high alert after what happened yesterday and the Kunoichi would have to be stupid not to check around themselves to make sure they aren’t being followed by anyone or anything. [Audio Tap]ping the urn or at least the crate that contains the urn if it isn’t out of sight yet is a great idea though, since it would be an extremely subtle cast, thus not raising any suspicions, and only other Audiomancers can spot it, so unless his client is an Audiomancer we’re completely hidden and free to eavesdrop at our leisure.

>>307675

Rocks unfortunately lack any form of sight and the golems in their current state are merely puppets controlled by us rather than automatous, so we would have to constantly watch it to make sure it goes where we want it to, something which is rather hard to do when you’re stuck in one position and the people you want to track are going to be heading down a lot of side paths as to avoid being followed.

>>307624

[Plasma Blast] and [Twin Plasma] were rather big examples of combination spells back in WizardQuest 1, for both the Wizard on his own and two spell casters mixing two different spells respectively.

>>307563

You still need to add the rock names to the PasteBin.

All wizards have [Magesight]. Use it on the urn crate for kicks.

>>307687

Just because we haven't picked a side doesn't mean we haven't been doing their dirty work. We killed a group of royal guards and freed their cultist prisoners, if unintentionally. Now we've stolen an urn containing something related to the apophis, and the most likely buyers are the cultists. Seems to me that we may as well have been working for grapey rapey snaky. You're right that we shouldn't take a side, but if we incidentally shift the balance too far, it won't matter that we didn't pick a side. Right now, we don't know whose side we're on *by proxy*, and if it's either side, we're on the wrong side.

>considers herself to be a tool to be used and tossed away

>yet still has enough pride to take offense at a threat of rape

Ako is a hypocritical bitch.

We do need to hurry up and get those goggles. Only reason I never suggested it was because Erwin Rommel supposedly got his famous goggles from a dead enemy, so I was waiting for an opportunity to pillage some goggles from some slavers or bandits. But since that hasn't happened, let's just buy a pair now. If not from the market then maybe Ammon could help us.

If we're going to be sitting around for a few days then we may as well practice some of the quieter magics. Discuss the familiar link with her to see if we can figure out how they work and how she intercepts communications. And set up taps around the building so we are alert for intruders, as well as try to fuck with people's heads with a reverse [Audio Tap]. We also need to figure out exactly what is wrong with Zoras. If he spine is fractured then she's in quite a pickle, but then again a lumbar fracture would probably have killed her by now, considering most of her vitals would be in her scorpion part.

>>307583

Well we were going to find her here sooner or later, whether that was as a slave or under a gravestone. It just so happened that she's doing alright and is a saboteur/heretic.

>>307734

*Discuss the familiar link with Sylphie

>Story continue

"Wonder if we're being watched." Sophie muses, leaning her head back, cloak removed. She sits in a chair around a small table, next to her sister who looks exhausted. Sighing, she pats her sister's head and says, "I would, if I were them."

"Best to assume they are." You say, leaning back while casting, [Audio Tap] into the rafters. You actually don't hear any breathing there, nor does your survey show you any holes that you can't see already and no one is present. So… they actually are leaving you alone? Still, best not to mention it to anyone else, just in case.

"Unngghhhh." Sylphie groans, rolling her head to look at you.

Alice giggles and leans over, saying "You look like you had one too many to drink and fucked the biggest, fattest, ugliest-"

"Shut up you whooooorrreeeee." The Cat o'Ninetails groans back before putting her hands over her ears. "Fucking hells, I haven't done that in a loooong time."

"I figured you'd have done that beforehand with all the magic you cast at Blackfire Reach."

"Mrmph… it's easier when it's a little by little drain." She sighs and closes her eyes. "This was a full on blast of Fulgromancy, took everything I had left to do it. Kind of makes me uh…ungh…" Her face turns pale and she turns to the side, her sister patting her back as she shudders.

"She just needs a good breakfast and nice bottle of semen."

"Oh Gods." Sylphie burbles.

"Well… that's something." You say, looking at the others in your group. Alice snickers at Sylphie, walking over to sit at a chair while Tabitha stands, crossing her arms and looking down at Zoras who is sleeping in the corner, curled up on herself. Ebe sits next to her, strumming a little song on her ghitar while sitting next to the wounded Girtablilu. Her breathing is a little ragged but not terrible, and you look to Tabitha who shrugs.

"She doesn't seem to be too bad, but I don't really want to wake her." Nodding your head to her, Tabitha continues. "Honestly though, I thought she'd find a way to betray us. I didn't think she'd protect Ebe like that."

"Honor among thieves?" Alice says, shrugging before rummaging through her bags for food.

"Right, breakfast." Sophie says, leaning her sister against the table. "I suppose I should make something. Wish he could have left us some food, but at least there's a hearth here." She looks around and frowns. "Honestly, this place looks much like a house. I wonder if it's a kind of safehouse?"

"Possibly." You say, rubbing your chin. "I suppose we should stay here for the time being, although…" You trail off as you look at Mr. Ed who stands next to Sylphie, nuzzling her head. "This place is going to smell, isn't it?"

"Rude…" Sylphie murmurs. "He says that's really rude…"

{Is that correct?} You send to Erwin, who saunters over and hops into your lap, yawning.

{Yeah, that was really rude. I never complain that your feces smell.}

{Oh come on, that-} You cut off, thinking it over before huffing. {Stupid animal noses.}

{Hurr, hurr, hurr.} He sends, shaking his head. {So… what is the plan?}

{We rest, I suppose.} You send, leaning back in a chair yourself as you smell the fire Sophie is making and-

"WOAH." You say, standing up in a hurry. Everyone jumps, hands going to weapons or yelping. Sophie turns to look at you as you point your staff at the fire, casting [Ice] to snuff out the flame. She blinks and looks at you with surprise as you sigh and say, "Smoke."

The Cat o'Ninetails cocks her head and looks utterly confused before her eyes widen. "Oh. Ohhhh." She stirs up the ashes to cover the fire before shaking her head. "I had forgotten, sorry. Such a little thing, right?"

"It's the little things that get you." Tabtitha says, nodding to you. "Good call, wouldn't have potentially drawn authorities to us."

"Speaking of that." Alice says, leaning back. "He said the Royal Guard were coming soon… and he had a buyer, yeah? Who do you think wants to buy that stupid urn?"

>>307913

"I don't know." You say with honesty. "Given the feeling of it though, and the fact that he doesn't want the Royal Guard to have it… I'd have to say cultists."

"Fuck me." Alice groans. "I meant that both literally and figuratively, but that's not important right now. I don't understand why the cultists would send someone to steal the urn and another to buy it?"

"We don't know for certain that the cultists are the ones who even tried to steal it." Sophie says, shaking her head. "It could be a coincidence, you know?"

"No." You say, looking down. "That thing called itself Hent-ateh, something the Apophis summoned and was sealed away ages ago. This covenant it spoke of… it has to be the same one with the cultists."

"How could it still have a covenant with them?" Alice asks, cocking her head. "They're all dead."

"I know a creature of the other plane whose master is dead, yet she is still bound to this world." Tabitha says. "One wonders why she hasn't just had those children draw something to unbind her though, they practically worship Xanthia."

Both Sophie and Sylphie shudder. The sick Cat o'Ninetails murmurs, "I don't know how Saya stands her… she makes my spine chill."

"Anyway…" Tabitha continues. "So it and that woman were related to the cultists then? I doubt they'd allow something like Hent-ateh to go on a murder spree if they planned on a sale anyway, but that would assume that they knew it would be stolen by someone for Ammon?"

"Makes no sense." You say, nodding your head. "Which means either the buyer isn't part of the cult or… the cult isn't very unified."

"Hmmm." Sophie hums. "Rommel, did you know that woman?"

Everyone goes quiet and turns to you, making you blink in surprise as you look about at them. A sense of stage fright grips you as you clasp your hands together. Taking a deep breath, you say, "I told you, I don't know who she is but…"

"But…?" Sophie presses, leaning toward you.

"But she felt familiar. Like I should know who she is." Frowning, you say, "That's all, I don't really want to talk about it."

It's everyone else's turn to blink in surprise, looking at each other before frowning. They don't say anything else and you don't either, thinking more about it yourself. It's not that you don't WANT to think about it much, more than you're scared as to what it would mean if your hunch is right.

You're not sure how much time passes before Sophie places a tin of food before you, cold, but edible. Blinking up at her, smile gives you a soft smile and then pats your head, fingers running through your silver-blond hair, their tips sighing against your scalp. Confused, you look over to your turban, which you just realized you haven't been wearing this whole time, before looking back at her. She chuckles and moves to eat her own food while the others munch, smirking at you. Blushing, you dig into your food.

"Wonder when he'll come back to see us?" Alice asks, chewing without manners until Sophie slaps her hand.

"Probably after the deal is made." Tabitha says. You can tell she wants to say more, but she doesn't, so you roll your eyes and tell them that no one is watching. Everyone glares at you, afterward which Tabitha says, "Well, then I would personally like to know more about the end result of our little escapade."

"Going outside is likely to truly be dangerous." Sophie says, nodding to her sister. "A lot of people saw us, and Sylphie isn't in a good place to cast spells right now."

"I feel… better." Sylphie murmurs before sighing. "But a [Trick of the Light] is too much right now, sorry."

"Think Zoras could get info for us?" You ask, to which Ebe shakes her head.

"No… she's still asleep, and I don't want to push anything else until a healer sees her."

"Well… maybe we can send Mr. Ed?" You ask, shrugging. The horse looks at you with one of those looks that only a horse can give, you know, the look that says, "Your soul is nothing in the greater scheme of it all, for I can see into eternity." Basically the answer is no.

Erwin stands up and hops on the table, shaking his head before giving the most dramatic fox sigh. {I suppose you shall ask me next, shall you?}

Sylphie snickers while you roll your eyes. {Well… it would help.}

{Oh, WOE IS ME. SO ABUSED.} Erwin sends, rolling over on his back, legs in the air. {I shall work for my Master, ohhhh!}

{Yeah, yeah, ham it up.} You send, grumbling.

>>307914

Something shifts in your mind then and you blink in shock as Sylphie's voice sends in your mind, {Oh come now, he's just having fun.}

Snapping your eyes to her, she slides her tired expression at you, to which you see a smugness there hiding underneath the exhaustion. Narrowing your eyes you send back, {How are you doing this?}

{I've hacked into your connection using maaaagggiiicccc.}

Erwin mentally chuckles, {Oh hey, you're here. Can I sleep on your lap?}

{Oh my, was that Erwin or Rommel? I can't tell!} Sylphie sends back, to which the two laugh, leaving you frowning.

{Sylphie, you're going to teach me how to do this, because I'm tired of you listening in on me.}

{What, you want to listen in on me talking with Mr. Ed?} She sends, a smugness in her voice that she normally doesn’t have. {He won't like that.}

{Let him learn.} Erwin sends, being serious for once. {I'll get ready to go be a spy again. Wasn't doing anything here anyway.}

{Fine, fine, once I'm feeling better.} Sylphie mentally sighs. She goes back to eating and you frown, still feeling really worried about her ability to talk with you like this. Still, everyone goes back to eating, talking over small things until you're all fed and Erwin shrugs, making for the door.

"Hey, wait a second." You say to him, pulling out one of your friends. Looking at the small piece of gold in your hand, you attach an [Audio Tap] to it and tie it around Erwin's neck. He stares blankly at you before you inform him, "So I have other options to listen while there. Be kind to him."

{You could have tied Phallia to me…} He sends, to which your eyes sparkle. Cutting in before you can speak, {ON SECOND THOUGHT I'M OUT OF HERE.}

With that, he leaps out of the door you open, and rolls around in the dirt before sprinting off into the town. Sending him a farewell, you return to the others and sit down, shrugging.

"Guess we have some time to kill now."

---———————————————————--

"So… I do this and… then that?"

The pieces of iron ore roll over each other and form into the shape of a man, though it is still made of little pieces. Smoothing it out with some of your magic, the little golem becomes cohesive and turns to you, saluting before walking over to the [Danuki Knife] and picking it up. It looks over the knife, which seems oversized in its hands, and then makes a few practice thrusts before turning to you for more orders.

Clapping your hands, you chuckle at the actions of the Golem. Forming two others of copper and tin, you make them do similar actions, giving them multiple commands at once which they perform in order, even the vague ones you give. Greg walks up to Alice, who watches with amusement, before he pokes her breasts, making her sputter and blush.

Stan, on the other hand, pats Sophie on the head while Ronnie goes through the motions that Tabitha is performing, mimicking her sword thrusts with his little dagger. Ebe giggles over her ghitar while watching the whole scene and you nod your head, happy with the results.

It's been about two hours since Erwin left, sniffing his way around town to find the warehouse again. Apparently things are very hectic around town, but no one seems terribly interested in a fox running around beyond a butcher who keeps appearing out of nowhere trying to catch him. Something feels horribly cliched about all of it, but it's amusing and scary nonetheless. Still, you keep praising him and telling him to be safe, especially after that happened beforehand, which is why you're studying more of this particular book.

[Clay in a Sculptor's Hand] sits before you, open to a page on giving multiple commands to golems. Your attention isn't split as bad as you'd expect, and you feel this could be super useful in the future. What really catches your eye, however, is the page in here about imparting awareness to a Golem, to give it rudimentary ability to think and reply, in a similar way to a construct. The more you read actually, the more you begin to realize this is the basics of construct theory.

>Your [Imbue Golem] has increased in potency, about to give more complex orders

>Your control over Iron has increased. <Iron Manipulation is now Proficient>

>You can freely manipulate iron and have some control over steel.

"Having fun?" Sylphie says, nodding to you. Looking up from your handiwork, you say,

"Yeah, you feeling better?"

She shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so." Stretching, she looks at you and says, "You want to learn about familiar bonds, huh?"

>>307915

Blinking in surprise, you nod and wave to your golems to stop their actions, falling apart into their constituent pieces and returning to you. Putting them away, you sit down next to Sylphie who sighs and stretches.

"Alright so… Familiar bonds… You know the basics, you did the ritual, but you've never really done much with Erwin beyond speak with him, yeah?"

Frowning, you say, "I suppose not."

"Mmm, a shame." She sighs. Turning her gaze to Mr. Ed, she smiles and says, "Familiars are not just a means for us to improve our magic, they're also our friends and confidants, those whom we literally share a bond with." The horse walks up to her (which you still find weird inside a house) and nuzzles her cheek as she continues,

"It takes an implicit trust between the two of you to get the most out of it. If either of you are uncomfortable about it, then you can't cast the spells appropriately."

Feeling uncomfortable, you say, "Look… Sylphie… I-"

"Hush." Cutting you off, she puts a finger to her lips and sighs. "You and Erwin remind me a little of Dad and Bubs. They didn't really know each other before they bonded, but from what he told me about Bubs, the two of them trusted each other with their lives."

Leaning forward, she asks, "Do you trust Erwin with your life?"

Hesitation fills your voice as you say, "I… yes, of course."

Mr. Ed snorts and shakes his head while Sylphie sighs. "That's why you haven't pursued anything further. You're still not trusting him. Do you even trust me?"

"Of course I do, we've saved each other's lives before."

"Then why do you hesitate to trust him?"

Growing quiet, you look down and think it over, speaking your thoughts as you piece them together. "I think… the reason I hesitate is that… I'm afraid. To be honest, he was my only friend for a long time, even if I somehow knew he was only there for the food I left out. Even though I was very much on the path of a Wizard, I still wanted a friend, you know?

"So when I made him my familiar, I thought he'd be happy, overjoyed even! But part of me was afraid that he resented me for it, for giving him the intelligence to realize how ignorant he was." You sigh and say, "I suppose I'm hesitating in that I need him, but I feel like I'm using him."

{Man, you're retarded.}

Your eyes widen as Erwin's voice cuts into your mind. {Really? You were worried that I'd be mad that I can tell you how stupid you are? Dear Gods, what an idiot.}

Sylphie shrugs when you glare at her and you sigh, sending back to Erwin, {I didn't mean to offend you I just-}

{Come on man, we're friends, right? I'm actually insulted more than hurt that you thought so little of me. Sure, I didn't know much as a fox, but I'm your friend damnit! Did you know that a familiar can reject the bond?}

Blinking in surprise, you look to Sylphie who nods her head. "Yes, if a familiar doesn't respect the person, the bond won't take hold."

{See? So let go of your hesitation and listen to the pretty girl. Do some crazy shit an- oh fucking hells, he's back}

You hear via the [Audio Tap] the sound of a large man shouting something in Ectrian. Erwin stops sending beyond some laughter and you sigh, turning to Sylphie who had her hands in her lap, giving you wry smile.

"Fine." You say, rubbing your head. "You made your point."

"Nah, you made it for me." She chuckles and leans back. "So… now that that's out of the way. The bond. You can flow magic through him as you've done before, but flowing magic into him is important to. You can turn him into a Dire Fox if you wish."

"What about a fire fox?"

She pauses and then cocks her head. "Uhhh, sure, whatever you want. Look, it's all about your intention and his trust. Give it a try later."

"Can you show me an example?"

Sylphie sighs and turns to Mr. Ed who shrugs and walks to an open area of the little house. She closes her eyes and you feel a surge of power come before Mr. Ed swells in size, his hair turning dark black, yes glowing red, steam flowing from his nose. He lets out an incredibly low neigh, yet it makes your skin crawl. The transformation only lasts for a moment before he returns to his normal form, snorts, and then goes to eat some oats.

Groaning, the Cat o'Ninetails shakes her head. "Alright, not good to cast that spell right now, ugh." She gulps and then says, "Get it?"

"I… think I do." You say, nodding your head. "I'll try it later."

>You learn [Metamorphosis]

> Change your familiars appearance and-

>>307916

"Oh and he really needs to be in sync with you or he might explode." She adds.

>Change your familiar's appearance and physical strength, need to be in synch or he could explode. Maybe.

"Right, well you have that. Try out other things with him too, I think you guys can do great stuff." Stretching, she continues, "Well that was touching and all, but you want to know about how I can tap into your link, yeah?"

"Yes." You say, expression going grave. "I would really like to know."

She chuckles, "Well… it's a secret!" When you frown she shakes her head, "Ah, joking, joking. Look, I got better with it because I grew up around this stuff, but basically it's just finding the magical frequency of the familiar bond and then matching it."

"It's… that easy?" You send, blinking in surprise.

"A lot of magic is actually easy if you think about it." She says, shrugging. "Anyway, while it's hard to form mental links between people and Monsters without creating thralls, you can tap into existing ones."

"Well then." You say, closing your eyes and feeling for the magic of the link between Sylphie and Mr. Ed. It takes you a few minutes, but as you're looking for it, you find something… nebulous, yet familiar. Pushing further into it, you feel an opening and slide your consciousness in and-

Hot air blows on your face and you push back in surprise as Mr. Ed's face appears before you. Arms flailing, you fall back from your chair and hit the ground, much to Sylphie's laughter. She shakes her head and says, "Sorry Rommel! He doesn't want anyone getting into my head it seems or… maybe he just doesn't want someone else to hear his voice."

Mr. Ed snorts again and turns around, flicking his tail. Watch him go, you shake your head and say, "I think that's enough of that for now." Groaning, you send to Erwin again and find that he's found the warehouse, and is about to look for a way to slip inside. Wishing you would have put a damn [Audio Tap] on the urn itself, you sigh and continue to wait, returning your rocks to your collection and noticing one particular one.

Pulling out the [Rutile], you look it over and say to Sylphie, "Catch!"

Surprised, she fumbles the thrown ore and cocks her head, looking it over. "Uh… Rommel, I don't want one of your rocks."

"It's not for appreciating, actually. I think it's aspected to electricity, might amplify your magic."

Sylphie looks at the ore and then closes her eyes, channeling magic. Opening her eyes in surprise, she says, "Woah, it does!" She takes out her staff and looks it over before saying, "Well I know what I'm doing now."

"Eh?" You say, cocking your head.

"Dad taught me a few things about enchanting!" She says, smiling. "I best get to work, thanks Rommel!"

"Yeah." You say, feeling kind of happy for some reason. Leaning back in your chair, you listen via your [Audio Tap] as Erwin sneaks into the warehouse. Listening intently for signs of the two Kunoichi, you hear nothing in particular beyond the shifting of boxes and some mild chatter between people. Fearing to control Erwin at the moment, you trust him to get closer until he sends,

{Hey, can you send this rock into the crate? I think those booby ninja are after me.}

Thinking it over, you figure that you can and he allows you via your bond to manipulate the piece of [Gold ore]. Erwin makes it to an area to see the crate the urn is in. No one is around except for Ammon, whose back is turned to the crate, drinking something while reading papers. Magically tossing the item into the crate, you pause and then channel a [Magesight] through Erwin. The effects aren't as powerful as it would be through your own eyes but you only look for a second before shutting it off, rubbing at your eyes.

The urn… that damn urn, seethes with violent magic. You can't even pull it all apart, but something, SOMETHING not right lurks within it, something which you feel noticed you looking at it. Sending to Erwin to leave, he doesn't argue and escapes outside, leaving your only recourse the [Audio Tap]. While fainter than you'd like, it still works, thankfully.

"Hmm?" Ammon says, chair shifting. "Ako, is that you?"

"No." Ako's voice comes. "I think we had a pest problem."

"Rats?"

"It sounded four legged, and is no longer here, my master."

"Mmm I see." He goes quiet before continuing a few moments later, "Is our guest here yet?"

Sayaka speaks up next, "She is here, my master."

"Ah, excellent!" Ammon says, standing up and clapping his hands. "A pleasure to see you again, welcome, welcome."

>>307917

"This place is crawling with guards and the Royal Guard isn't even here yet. What did you do getting this?" A familiar, yet hazy voice says.

"Another interest wasn't happy that I got the job done."

"I see. I had expected it to take longer, you must have found good help."

"Someone you're familiar with, actually." Ammon says, smugness in his voice. "A particular Wizard and his group."

"Is that so?" Qi says, her voice becoming clear. "I had thought they would do some interesting things when I met them, and I was right. The sands of time are changing, hmm?"

"That's not really my problem." Ammon chuckles. "I will do business with whomever is paying, and at the moment, the Khepri covens pay quite well."

"Won't even ask what the urn is for?" Qi asks.

"Come now, we deal in the same thing, don't we? Such information can't be free and I quite like gold instead."

"Indeed!" Qi laughs. You hear a shuffling around the crate as it's lifted out and placed on a table. "So, he didn't cast any spells on it, right?"

"Of course not." Ammon says, waving his hand. "We checked it as soon as it got here, we're clear."

"Good, good. I don't need him knowing about this quite yet. We still have a use for those two girls and I've heard a rather interesting rumor considering the Wizard."

"I know." Ammon says. "I've heard the rumor too. Given what happened last night, I think things will be VERY interesting moving forward."

"Very interesting indeed!" Qi says, amidst the jingle of coins. "Afraid I must be going though, we will have to dine together soon."

"Of course, I always enjoy your company and your information." Ammon says. "But I too must be going, one of my subordinates needs a healer and I should speak with our friends, can't keep them waiting too long, can I?"

"Of course not, they need to be moving anyway or nothing will get done." Qi sighs with content. "As your two bodyguards say, 'May we live in interesting times.'"

With that, her chitin on the floor sounds and she quickly leaves the area. Ammon begins to talk about getting healers together, but by that time you're done listening, telling your party what you heard.

"Qi?" Ebe says, looking distraught. "Qi is the buyer? I don't understand…"

"I do." You say, rubbing your head. "Anyway, Ammon is coming, we should be prepared."

"Do we let him know that we know?" Tabitha says, frowning. "Or do we pretend we haven't heard anything?"

"Mrmph." A voice calls from the corner. Turning to face it, you find Zoras groaning and rubbing at her head. "He sells information… use that how you will and- gah!" She holds her ribs and coughs. "Ouch."

Once again, everyone looks at each other and then to you. Well…

>What do you do?

>>307918

What a twist!

Man I wanted to fit in more stuff but it just… wouldn't work. Well there's more time when Ammon comes. Speaking of which, better figure out how you want to handle this…

>>307666

You might be right Satan, hard to know now.

As far as the changing… guess you won't know for now.

>>307675

No DIRECT control, but other stuff. Hey! You have a spy drone thing there now, so you can… use it and stuff.

As far as the [Beacon], yes I suppose that possible, but it's probably won't be as strong as a normal shot as it would be slower.

As far as the reverse audio tap, again, no time today… but that could be easy to work with?

>>307686

Yes… questions. And he's coming for you AHHHH. He hasn't really betrayed you though… has he?

It was getting too long to type anything else you wanted, so Ammon time.com will be… Friday, cause friend in town on thursday. Welp.

>>307710

.Less does draw guys! His list is long though! I don't think I'd be able to get anything from him for awhile that isn't part of my current MG crusade.

As for manos… I suppose! I like her girl designs better tho.

Nice Solos pic tho, that's actually kind of close to what I had in mind, just a little less ostentatious, which is fine anyway.

>>307723

You fool, what have you done?

>>307734

I watched enough Naruto to know this is a true statement.

Oh yeah, I'll be out of town next Wednesday- Sunday for GENCON YEAH.

GENCONNNNN.

Okay see y'all in a few days.

>>307922

Hey ace im just about to pic up at the place where i left off ie right before they pass the border

But i have to know

Did the wizard ever start to go down the particle beam path

Ie:sand blast>accelerated sand blast>sand beam>accelerates sand beam>sand cutter>accelerated sand cutter>ultra highspeed partial beam>ion beam (particals move so fast they are stripped of their electrons and become ionised)>plasma beam(particles move so fast they become a beam of flowing ultra high temp plasma)

This training path follows a simple "make smaller and smaller particles go faster and faster with each level" learning approach

>>307931

Ah, no, sorry mang that didnt get broughg up again. To be fair the tank hasnt had much progress either. Situations and such havent called for it.

>>307972

We'll we got rock armor at least. So we can form the basic body for it at the least. And it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to shoot larger rocks through the main gun.

hey can erwin learn magic on his own or does he get it from us

>>308116

He doesn't have magic of his own, however you can channel magic through him.

>"Hey, wait a second." You say to him, pulling out one of your friends. Looking at the small piece of gold in your hand, you attach an [Audio Tap] to it and tie it around Erwin's neck.

>Thinking it over, you figure that you can and he allows you via your bond to manipulate the piece of [Gold ore]…Magically tossing the item into the crate, you pause and then channel a [Magesight] through Erwin.

>Ammon begins to talk about getting healers together, but by that time you're done listening, telling your party what you heard.

Unless I’m reading this wrong, we just threw Midas into the crate with Ammon and left him there without really thinking this through. We need to get him back before we leave Hatset.

>>307918

So this is very likely to be how Ammon knows about our group, through contact with the Coven via Qi, which honestly shouldn’t be too surprising considering that they are known for trading information themselves and how they referred us to him when we mentioned trying to breach the capital undetected, giving us the town he was located which they shouldn’t know unless they have spoken with him recently. Speaking of which, if Ammon did indeed get his information about us from the Khepri, then that would mean he would have had to travel from Gahn to Hatset like we did since the Coven are located near the former. Considering how little time we spent doing the same journey and how Ammon was already set up in Hatset with the urn transaction planned and Zoras sent off to plunder a nearby tomb, he must have obtained the information about us rather early to have had enough time to do all that. With this in mind, I’m guessing he probably learned about us just after Qi returned having first met us to bring back her associates to trade with us, which technically wouldn’t go against our deal with the Khepri as the deal hadn’t actually been made yet. But I digress.

With Ammon and Qi both apparently being unaware of our eavesdropping, I suggest we be smart about this and do what >>308212 suggests, playing dumb to the whole ordeal for the time being. Most people don’t tend to like being spied on when they’re making secret deals in the dark, so us bringing up our snooping may give him reason to reduce the amount of information we can get out of him if not make him outright refuse to help us, both being pretty bad considering the potential consequences for what we just helped him with albeit without much of a choice. By pretending to be ignorant instead, he would believe he is still in control of the situation and would be more willing to disclose the information he promised us as well as potentially more; after getting everything we can from him, we can then bring up the urn transaction and those rumours surrounding us should we feel the need for it as there would be little to no consequences for doing so since he can’t take back information he’s already given, but it might help to avoid pissing him off as he seems like he will be useful for us later. Of course, there is the possibility of him being aware of our actions we weren’t the best at getting close to him undetected and Midas is still in the crate with him, after all and potentially bringing them up during our conversation in which case deception is absolutely pointless, but it’s still worth trying it until he calls us out on it.

As for what to ask about, I’m going to refer back to what I said in >>307686 with emphasis on the Rites of Pah’sen because I’m typing far too much as it is and everything there is still relevant. If either he or us calls the other party out on their secretive actions, then drop the deception and ask about any connections between the Khepri and the Apophis, as it would help to know if they are cultists or not for future referenceit’s still not clear, and those rumours surrounding us, because any information relating to what others know or think about us can be useful especially if they know something about us that we don’t.

Other than all that, finish our business with Ammon, somehow get Midas back and figure out a way to escape from Hatset potentially with his assistance before the Royal Guard show up, because the moment they do we won’t be able to leave as easily and especially undetected. As for where to go, consider heading towards any nearby settlements because we could use the supplies and we certainly aren’t getting them from here since our entire party is, or is going to be, wanted in Hatset for our actions in the Stables.

>>307922

>He hasn't really betrayed you though… has he?

Considering that he’s an information broker, he never promised not to mention us and he’s actually coming back to see us with a healer in tow for Zoras thus seemingly keeping his end of the bargain beyond giving us the cure for the curse, I wouldn’t really consider to him to have betrayed us on anything.

Play dumb. I don't see anything to be gained from outing ourself, and if he or Qi try anything funny then it's better that they should underestimate us. If he does know we know then eh, whatever. We're in Ectria.

>>308212

>ratting on our own mother

NO

>>308350

That's not Sophie, brah.

It wasn't even Ace that commissioned that. I don't think she has anything to do with this story.

>>308212

Mmm, again, will need the healer to say whether or not that is the case, but she doesn't seem that bad off. Tabitha would know something about broken spines…

>>308340

Someone wanted a sentry. He's tagged with an [Audio Tap], so retrieval isn't awful. She didn't take the crate for some reason.

Guess they sold you out! Although Qi is alone so… hmm.

Yah, we'll cover all of it, sure and there are tunnels out of the city still, so that's always and option, though you'll have to get back to that warehouse..

>>308350

That was done by Manosdetrapo, but it's someone else's OC he shills around. Not my concern.

>>308358

Man, if that's his mother, she's really young looking.

>>308358

>ratting on our own mother

NO

I was under the impression she was a childhood friend or something. Mother doesn't seem right to me. Besides my suggestion was to play dumb and use discretion, and I remember mentioning that revealing our hunch was an unlikely course of action.

>>308340

>So this is very likely to be how Ammon knows about our group

It's obvious that Ammon knows a lot more about our group then he let's off to be. Despite the fact that Sophie and Sylphie didn't reveal their tails in the fight Sophie did reveal them to Qi. Now it would not be surprising if Ammon purchased information about our party from Qi so it would be safe to assume he knows.

>he would believe he is still in control of the situation and would be more willing to disclose the information he promised us as well as potentially more

I would like to think that because he knows sensitive information about us he would most certainly see himself in a superior bargaining position relative to us, meaning he may get overconfident. And I will say "may" because he isn't so stupid as to slip up easily. It would take a very clever set of moves on our part to make him say what we want. And before any anon suggests betraying him or threatening to reveal information about him to gain leverage I would tell them to really reconsider.

>>308362

Oh my bad

>Story continue

Ebe stands up and walks over to Zoras, helping the Monster with a gentle wing. She winces and then thanks the Ghandarva before speaking up again. "Gah, you know, at the time I thought I was acting bloody cool, but this really hurts."

"Can you move your legs?" Tabitha says, a look of genuine concern on her face.

Zoras winces and then wiggles her scorpion legs, all of them and the claws moving. Her tail is a little stiff, but she sighs and says, "Bloody hells this hurts."

"Take it easy then!" Ebe says, bapping the Monster with one of her wings. The Girtablilu blinks in surprise at Ebe, who puffs her cheeks out before saying, "You need that healer that Ammon is bringing!"

"Healer? Oh… well… alright then." She sighs and shakes her head. "Well, can you tell him you know his buyer or whatever after I get patched up?"

"Your legs work, you're fine." Tabitha says, to which Zoras frowns and then looks at the Lizardman's legs. Clacking her tongue, she concedes the point.

Stretching, you stand up and say, "We’re not going to tell him."

"Eh?" Sylphie asks, cocking her head. "Why not?"

"Because, dear sister." Sophie sighs. "Having information he doesn't have puts us at an advantage. Cornering him with such knowledge off the bat will not end well for us."

"Correct." You say, nodding your head as you listen via your [Audio Tap]. "He's moving." After saying this, you focus your attention to Erwin and channel though him to retrieve the piece of ore, the fox cursing at you for trying to get him killed by "those booby ninjas." You tell him he's a good boy and you believe in his strength.

{But seriously, be careful.}

He mentally sighs in return,{Yeah… I know, I know. He took the titty twins back with him anyway, I think I'm good.}

{Might want to hang back for awhile anyway, they're probably watching for pursuers.}

{Heh, alright, alright. Geez, have one little heart to heart and you're a worry wart.}

Rolling your eyes, you turn your attention to the others and tell them that Erwin will be delayed some. Everyone nods and goes back to what they were doing, though there is a palpable sense of unease, especially from Ebe who can't keep secrets very well. The longer you wait, the more nervous she gets, biting her lip as her wings shake on her ghitar.

When Ako appears at the door, the Ghandharva nearly leaps into the air with a yelp, which causes the Kunoichi to give her an odd look as she enters the building. Scanning about, she nods her head and waves in Ammon, who steps in with his suit, taking his hat off and nodding to you.

"Ah, sorry to keep you waiting, but things concluded smoothly."

"Things? Your buyer?" You ask, cocking your head.

He chuckles and says, "Yes, indeed. The Urn is gone and I am richer, everything concluded just as planned."

"I see." You say, nodding over to Zoras. "Did you…?"

"Ah, of course." He snaps his fingers and Sayaka enters, another woman in white, dust stained robes following behind her. The woman pats the sand off herself and sighs, pulling a wand from her pocket and walking over to Zoras. She looks tired, but doesn't say much of anything as she begins to examine the Monster.

Ammon smirks and waves a hand. "She doesn't say much, but she's a great healer, patched up my girls a few times in a pinch." Ako and Sayaka look at each other before shrugging as he sits down at the table and stretches. "Sooooo, the Royal Guard are just arriving from what I reckon, here quite quickly actually."

"Interesting." You say, face impassionate. "It will be difficult to leave the city at this rate."

"Indeed, I don't think they'll investigate a few of my holdings, but the streets will be difficult to traverse. As it is, it's difficult for even a fox to travel…"

>>308522

He trails off, looking at your eyes as he does. You feel that his gaze is boring into you, looking for a sign that you'll betray that Erwin is gone. There's no choice but for you to believe that he doesn’t know Erwin was spying on him, but that he knows Erwin is gone. Choosing to ignore the jab, you say, "So, you have some more information for us, right?"

"Mmm." Ammon says, shrugging. "Yes, I suppose so. You wished to know a way into the capital, yes? Mind if I ask what you're going to do there?"

"That will cost you." You say, to which he smiles.

"Well of course! Although knowing where you're wanting to go would be quite beneficial to getting you in."

Tabitha cuts in, "The dungeons."

A silence pervades over the room at her words and Ammon clears his throat before speaking again, "The dungeons, you say? Interesting. You can get into the dungeons quite easily without my help, all you have to do is step outside."

Waving you hand, you say, "We're looking for someone in the dungeon."

"Someone? Or perhaps, a pair of someones?" Ammon says, folding his hands. When you narrow your eyes at him, he shrugs, "Oh come now, we all know you're here for the Grand Wizard and the Monster Lady."

Sophie and Sylphie look at each other, the two furrowing their brows as they think over the situation. Ako and Sayaka shift, hands moving toward their weapons, but Ammon holds up a hand to keep them still. "Now, now, no need for violence. It's a simple enough thing. There's only three Cat o'Ninetails after all and we know who the Pharaoh has in her dungeons."

Shaking your head, you say, "Let's imagine this was true. What would you know about how they ended up there?"

"They got caught, that's how most people end up in a dungeon." He says in a flat tone, though at your annoyed look, he shrugs. "Buuuut… one would assume it would have to do with the Rites of Pah'Sen."

Nodding for him to continue, he sighs, "Very well, you do have a boon from me after all." He rolls his shoulders and says, "The Rites of Pah'Sen are quite real. This is from a second hand source, of course, but some kind of disturbance occurred in the throne room causing massive damage to it. Shortly after a battered and bruised Cat o'Ninetails and human male with silver-blonde hair appeared within the dungeon."

"So…" Ebe says, looking worried, "Then the legend is true? She has unlimited power?"

"Nothing is unlimited beyond our imagination." Ammon chuckles.

"So then… that would make the other part true?" Alice says, clacking her tongue. "These grape snakes are back in the world hmm?"

The information broker nods. "One would assume that to be the case then."

"Are there any Apophis though?" You ask, to which Ammon shrugs.

"There are things even I don't know."

"Or won't tell us." Sophie sighs. Ammon nods his head,

"She's rather astute! Must get it from her Mother, yes?" When she only frowns at him, he chuckles, "Don't give me that look. As a freebie, I'll tell you that your parents are alive, though I'm afraid I can't say for what purpose."

"Politics most likely." You sigh, shaking your head. "Now then, about the Rites…"

"Ah, of course." He says, coughing. "The Rites of Pah'Sen as far as I know was a ritual magic which called upon Dollora to give strength enough to bind the Apophis to the staff, and end their reign of terror. I'm no magical scholar, but I would assume it required an enormous amount of effort and the channeling of many Monster Witches to perform, but clearly it worked.

"As to releasing the magic, however? One would assume it was a much faster process to unleash the magic."

Surprisingly, Sylphie speaks up, "But wait, if the Apophis was released, then how does she retain the power? There's no way she could just… store it in herself or the staff anymore? The only way she could maintain such a thing long term would be to suffuse herself with most of the Apophis's strength, but even then it would probably bleed away unless…" She frowns with consternation and asks, "Is there an Aether transformer in the palace?"

>>308523

Ammon's eyebrows shoot up at the question. "An aether core? What does a young lady like yourself know about Aether transformer?"

"Please." She says with disdain. "Who do you think my Father is?" At Ammon's conciliatory gesture, she continues. "An Aether transformer could contain the bleed of such mana if it's attuned to it. I'd imagine that it would be nearly impossible otherwise to contain the power. If it were to fail, it would likely all dry up rather quickly, yes?"

"My oh my." Ammon says, smirking. "I must confess, I do not actually know what an Aether transfomer was, but now you have me curious. What would one look like?"

"Depends? They were ancient inventions and the replicas we have today are rather shoddy and expensive to make, useful only in magitek workshops. In the past though, some shrines would have them."

"Shrines you say?" Ammon muses, rubbing his chin. "Shrines indeed… You know, I've heard a funny rumor recently…"

"Such as?" You ask, narrowing your eyes. He looks at you and waggles a finger,

"Not so fast. This is a rather important piece of information, I'd expect compensation." When you sigh, he continues, "Tell me about your family."

You blink in surprise. That's not… the question you thought you'd be asked. Hairs prick up on the nape of your neck as you feel like everyone in the room is watching you, keenly interested in your answer. Now that you think about it, you really never brought it up with anyone, which you'd rather have kept to yourself. Memories of last night flashing through your head, you grit your teeth and say, "Can I answer something else?"

"Mmm… no." Ammon says, predatory grin widening. "No, I am quite interested in this information. It's quite the simple question, you know, especially in regard to what I think you'll find interesting."

Feeling nervous, you look around at the others to find your suspicions are correct. Everyone seems hesitant to intervene, though Ebe seems torn between wanting to hear and telling you not to push yourself. Sylphie licks her lips and says,

"It… could be important for Mom and Dad…"

Gripping your hands you take a deep breath and sigh. "Fine…" Taking a moment to collect your thoughts, you begin:

"My Father was a scholar while my Mother was a housewife. As far as siblings go I have… had, one older sister, Helene. We lived out on the Eastern border, a little south of Borne, and although I never left the town much, I remember it being nice enough."

Frowning, you continue, "I was eight when it happened. A group of Monster bandits raided the town in an effort to drag off mates. I had never met any Monsters before and was terrified by them. My Father tried to fight but was soundly beaten and captured while my Mother was taken as a slave. I remember hiding with my sister as we heard everything. We thought we might be free, but we heard one of them outside our door. I figured that would be it but she… she sacrificed herself for me."

You put your hand to your forehead and grit your teeth. "She crawled out from under the bed and pretended no one else was there. They captured her too and… I wanted to stop her but I… I couldn't. I couldn't move until it was all over."

Taking a shuddering breath, you look up with haunted eyes and say, "There you go. That's my family, taken by slavers, or close enough years ago. They're all probably dead by now, are you happy?"

Silence pervades the room as everyone stares at you with surprise. Even your friends have shocked expressions and you realize you haven't quite shown this kind of emotion before. Gritting your teeth, you grip your staff in your hand and say, "Well?"

"Oh Gods Rommel I…" Sylphie begins before gulping. "I didn't know."

"Hells…" Sophie murmurs while Ebe looks at you with horror. You didn't really even say that much but it was enough, you guess?

Ammon licks his lips and then adjusts his suit. "Well then… that's a little bit more than I was expecting to hear, but it does answer the question, thank you…" He coughs and says, "Where were we… ah, shrines, yes."

>>308524

His efforts to get back on track feel hollow following your story. You feel drained, as if you ran ten miles in the sands, and can only look at him with hollow eyes as he continues. "There is a rumor that more of the Queen's personal guard of Anubis are guarding the Holy Altar of the Twins in the capital. All manner of ancient artifacts are there, but none so more than the Mirror of Heaven, said to allow you to see the Goddesses if you are pious enough."

He looks to Sylphie who is still staring at you until he clears his throat. She blinks and then jumps, "Oh-Oh! I… yes! That could be… an Aether transformer." She coughs, "Yes, well… if that's the case then destroying it could rob her of her power?"

"Good for both of us to learn!" Ammon chuckles, trying to clear the mood. "Now then, as to entering the city, the easiest way is via one of the cargo caravans. It's easy enough to smuggle something in with the right bribe and there are plenty of caravans that enter all the time, but you'll want a man named Kuhalik. He does business in a town named Jahordin to the southeast of here."

"What do we do once we get in?" Tabitha asks, back on track.

"Well, that would be arranged with him, I should think. He should know how you may reach another informant in the city named Polah, who I have worked with before. She's a little hard to work with, but… well, you'll see when you meet her."

Alice snorts, "Can't be harder to work with than I am." When Tabitha eyes her and she still hasn't realized what she said, it's assumed she knows EXACTLY what she said. The Lizardman merely sighs and asks,

"This Polah inside the city, she'll know how to get into the dungeons?"

"If Polah doesn't, then no one does." Ammon says, rummaging in his suit. He pulls out two coins and hands them to you. Looking them over, you see their made of rough iron and have a large letter "A" stamped on them. They look well used.

"These." He continues. "Will show you've met with me. Unfortunately I have no reason to leave here so I can't come with you, but those are as good as gold here, use them wisely."

>You obtain 2x[Ammon's Marks]

>Given to you by Ammon, these show that you've met him and work as an introduction.

"Thank you…" You say, stowing away the coins. Still not feeling 100%, you begin, "Well-"

An unfamilar voice cuts you off. "She'll live. A few broken ribs set straight and some wide scale bruising, but she'll live."

Everyone turns to the healer who puts away her wand and waves to Zoras. The Girtablilu stretches and then winces, rubbing at herself before standing and turning about. Grunting, she says, "Bloody hells, I'm not going to be doing any acrobatics for awhile but at least I can walk."

"Ah, pleased to hear!" Ammon says, smiling. "I'll need you to rest for awhile before your next job, hmm?"

"Yeah, yeah…" She says, sitting back down. "Anyway, you lot leaving?"

"In a moment." You say, getting back on track. Setting your jaw, you ask, "Is that everything?"

He searches your eyes before saying without any falsehood, "Yes, that's everything you get in regards to entering the city. It's out of my hands now."

"I see." You say, nodding your head. "Could you answer me one more question then?"

"Depends, but shoot."

"What do the Khepri want with that Urn?"

Ako and Sayaka's hands go to their weapons awhile Ammon stares at you with a calculating expression. He makes no movements and tension rises in the room as everyone prepares for conflict. When it nearly becomes palpable, he asks, in a deliberate voice, "The fox?"

"The fox." You say, nodding.

Ammon's lips draw tight and he closes his eyes before taking a deep breath and then… smiling. "Ah well, no harm done here. I know you're familiar with the buyer then, yes? She and her coven are how you found me, after all."

"They promised they wouldn't sell us out!" Sylphie says, looking aghast.

>>308525

"I have no comment on that other than the Khepri are not united." He says, brooking no argument. "As to what she intends, I cannot say, but they are known to trade with many people. Maybe they'll sell it to the royal guard? Maybe they'll sell it to the Violet Sands? I don't know, nor do I care, and that's about all you'll get of that from me."

Feeling a danger in his tone, you nod your head. He smirks and then asks, "So… did you hear the other part then?"

"The rumor about me, yes."

"Curious?"

"Should I be?"

He chuckles and claps his hands together. "A man who knows what he wants, I like that. Well, just because of your heartfelt story, I think I'll tell you." He leans in close to you and says, hand cupped,

"I knew your story before you told me. It's the same story told by a member of the Violet Sands, a one former slave named, 'Helene.'"

He pulls away from you and stands, leaving you with wide eyes. He adjusts his suit and waves to his bodyguards, who walk over to him as he makes for the door. "I'll give you some time to process all of that. Don't worry, I have no reason to sell you out, there isn't a good price for such a thing at the moment and chaos breeds more business. When you're ready to go, just let Ako know."

Ako looks surprised for a moment but then bows her head and steps into the corner, watching all of you. Ammon chuckles and says, "It's about two days by foot to Jahordin. You could try to get some horses and make it all easier but… well, the guard are in force. Not certain how patrols will be out there, so I'd be careful if I were you."

"It's an open desert, how are we supposed to hide?" Sophie asks, frowning.

Ammon thinks it over. "I suppose… you don't! Going off the beaten path might be easiest you think? There's even a small settlement named Tet'ahn a little off the main trails but… well, of course, just because you evade attention of one party doesn't mean you'll avoid attention of others? There's many dangerous things out there but…" He chuckles, "I'm sure you'll do fine."

With that, he waves and walks out of the room with the healer and Sayaka, leaving a sullen looking Ako to watch over you. As the door closes, Erwin slips in, his tail almost getting caught in the door. He sniffs and then saunters over to you, nudging out the piece of gold ore for you.

{There. It's back. What did I miss?} He sends, knowing exactly what he missed.

"Rommel…" Sylphie says, and you realize everyone is looking at you with concern. She holds her hands together and says, "I… I'm sorry to hear about your family and-"

"Nevermind." You say, not wanting to think on it at the moment. "What's done is done."

"What did he tell you at the end there?" Sophie asks, looking concerned. "Your face went pale."

"I… I have to think about it some." Feeling a little sick, you take a deep breath to stabilize yourself before saying, "Come on, we need to prepare ourselves to go."

"…Sure." Sylphie says, clearly wanting to dig more into it but refraining out of respect.

"Well, that certainly was one hells of a bloody adventure." Zoras says, rubbing her face. "But I suppose this is where we part ways then, yeah?"

"I suppose so." Ebe says, bowing to the Girtablilu. "Thank you again for saving me."

"Aww hells, you're making me blush." Zoras says, trading thanks with Ebe.

Tabitha walks over to you and plants a hand on her hip, reptilian eyes looking down at you as she asks, "Well, what do you intend to do with this information?"

You can tell it's a loaded question, not nearly as simple as it seems. But with Ako in the room, answering straight may be hard. Still, that would give you some time to think it all over and provide a more proper response. Do you let your friends know more about your past? Do you even dare bring up what Ammon told you that your sister is alive? Even worse, do you act upon that information? Or is it best to just continue forward, trusting that he told you no falsehoods, despite giving up information incredibly easily.

Scratching your head, you sigh and lean back, all the while time slipping away. Gods above…

>What do you do?

>>308527

I think… I covered everything.

Man, for an information broker, Ammon is really lose with his tongue, huh? Maybe he's just bad at his job.

Oh and there's that backstory thing, but you don't want more details on that, right? Eh, it's not important, getting out of town is important.

>>308527

No let's keep our past for ourselves, no use to open more wounds like that, and if our sister is really alive she probaly gonna come clean later on, no need for more drama, we already got info of our destination, let's move now before the royal guard comes up and throw us on jail, if he's playings us for a fool he's gonna have to deal with one angry wizard later on.

>>308531

>>308527

Agreed, the faster we move out of here, the less of a chance of being detected. We can leave that stuff for later. We should head to Jahordin while stopping by Tet'ahn for the night. Since Ammon said it's off the main trails, we shouldn't have too much trouble with any patrols hopefully.

Leave Ako a message to pass to Ammon. Politely, but firmly, impress him the fact that we, having potentially learned of still having living family, would not react well to betrayal at this point.

If one of the twins really wants to know, instead of saying it out loud, we say it over the familiar link.

>>308531

>>308537

>>308553

Fair enough it seems! Old wounds don't ever heal up fully.

Anyone want to say goodbye to Zoras?

>>308527

With the Royal Guard soon swarming into Hatset we don’t really have time to dawdle or contemplate what we’ve just been told right now, so get everyone to gather up their things and talk to Ako to have her lead us out of the town safely and without incident. Once she’s left us and we can freely discuss our plans with our party without anyone listening in, we should start heading towards Tet’ahn; not only would the small settlement allow us to potentially gather up supplies we desperately need but couldn’t get back in Hatset due to our recent actions, but it would also allow us to avoid the Royal Guard until we reach the capital, thus continuing to keep them in the dark about who and where we are for the time being they have pretty much nothing on us right now and only information they could obtain on us is an idea of what our party composition is like, and even then by the time they get such information we would have hopefully finished our business in the capital and thus giving us the best chance at infiltrating the dungeons when we get there. We are likely to encounter either bandits or the cultists instead if not both simultaneously, but both of these are of less threat to us than the Royal Guard as of our current predicament and the latter being present may give us an opportunity to hinder the Violet Sands as to restore the balance in Ectria somewhat since our actions thus far have only hindered the Royal Guard should it be deemed necessary, so the longer route is still ideal overall.

In terms of our past and other related topics, it’s clearly still a sore spot for us if the revealed emotions during the talk with Ammon and our actions towards slavers are any indication, so there’s no real reason for us to bring it up unless someone in our party asks about it. If someone does ask about it, then we might as well discuss it with them if just to satiate their curiosity, but make sure to leave out any information regarding that recent revelation from Ammon for the time being because we clearly need to process that ourselves first.

Other than that, there isn’t much to be said or done here that hasn’t already been done or isn’t already obvious.

>>308647

>Anyone want to say goodbye to Zoras?

We might as well do so, since she seems nice enough and did save Ebe’s life at her own expense, giving us reason to forgive her for trying to kill us earlier, not to mention how it would be a good idea to stay on good terms since something tells me this isn’t the last time we’re seeing her and the rest of Ammon’s group.

we still need a map of the layout of the palace and we need to stock up on items

it wouldnt hurt to find out where the altair of the twins is

we should also confirm that the contact can get us in the palace where we need to be we dont need to head in immediatly

then to wrap up we needexit plans and a plan of attack

>Story continue

Tapping your staff on the ground, you shake your head and look at Tabitha with tired eyes. She furrows her brow at you as you say, "If the Royal Guard are present, we shouldn't sit around here. Besides, we've spent enough time as it is, everyone should be ready to go, right?"

Your voice must have been harsher than you thought, because Sylphie and Ebe flinch while even Alice looks a little surprised. They look at each other before nodding and standing to gather their things. Unable to change this, you sigh and turn to Tabitha who looks you in the eye and nods with understanding before helping with preparations to go.

"Ako." You say, walking over to the Kunoichi. She frowns at you and replies,

"What?"

A wave of frustration comes over you, but you stifle it and say, "Look, sorry about last night, I wasn't exactly in my right mind, you know?"

"It is not my duty to judge such things, only to make sure we all do our duty."

Part of you wants to slap her upside the head for being such a bitch, but you can't tell if that's also the part that doesn't want to talk about your past and is making YOU bitchy. Instead, you grit your teeth and say, "Fine. We're going need to see Ammon soon."

"Very well." She says, nodding her head to Zoras. "And her?"

"Oh yeah, I'm bloody fine, thanks for asking." Zoras groans. She tries to stand, but her legs are wobbly even to you and you find yourself going over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder to drift her downward.

"You should probably just stay here."

"Oh like the hells I'm going to stay here like some damn spider in her web, I'm going."

"Listen." Crouching down to get to eye level with her, you continue, "Zoras, I know our meeting was a little rocky and while attacking Ebe like that should be unforgivable, she clearly has forgiven you and so must I." Shaking your head you sigh, "You proved who you are, and I want to thank you for it. As such, I don't want to see you risk yourself outside when you're not in your best health. Please, stay here, alright?"

Zoras looks at you with utter surprise in her eyes. "You… you're worried about me?"

"I mean." You say, feeling a little conflicted still. "Yes, I suppose. You did right by us so… why not?"

Zoras goes silent at this, biting her lip as she searches your expression. Despite her apperance, she nods her head in a rather demure gesture and says, "I… suppose I will then." She blushes and looks away, "Ah Gods, I haven't had to say goodbye to someone in awhile."

"Who knows, maybe we'll meet again." You say this figuring you probably won't meet again, and both of you know it. Still, these things need to be said, and as you stand she grabs the hem of your robes, making you look down at her.

"Hey ah… if you're going to the palace, mind swiping me souvenir? I always wanted a piece of bloody royal treasure."

Unable to keep yourself from smiling at this, you smirk and say, "I'll see what I can do." She nods her head at this answer and leans back, folding her arms under her breasts and sighing as you finish your own preparations.

Soon enough you're ready to go and Ako steps back in from outside, nodding her head. "We are free to go now, please be quick."

Without any objection, you follow her outside into the bright light of the Ectrian day. The warm sun shining down on you feels good, though you don't get to bask in it long as Ako heads you down another alleyway, such as they are in this city. The city is more quiet than you'd expect, most people likely being indoors when the guard are out in force, and you have to stop at multiple times as you hear other sets of hooves coming. At one point Ako curses and leaves you behind, tossing a cloak over herself and stepping out into the street. A few terse words later she returns to you and continues you on the way.

Despite being mostly in the shadows, you can hear the guards crawling the streets, knocking on doors and questioning people. More than one shout of protest comes as the guards barge into a house and you feel sickened at this. They clearly feel nothing wrong ruining people's lives in the name of the Pharaoh. You remember the words of your ah… your sister… and then quickly put them out of your head. No, let's not think about that for now.

>>308829

Eventually you reach the warehouse again, and are ushered inside by Ako who closes the door shut behind you with a worried look. Your group sighs as they find themselves in familiar territory, and Ammon greets you, looking as cheery as ever.

"Ah! You came much faster than expected! Why we could have traveled together had you told me!" As he says this, Ako walks up and whispers in his ear to which he frowns and says, "Ah, we'll go and pick up Zoras later. Seems there's something that calls my attention in the streets anyway."

"Such as?" Sophie says, cocking her head.

"Never you worry little princess." Ammon says, smirking. "Now then, you'll head out the way you came, I can confirm they won't be watching that area, for now anyway. It won't be hard to reach the trail and-"

"We're going to head to Tet'ahn." You say, cutting him off. He blinks at you in surprise and says,

"You're going there? Ah, but I suppose you would need some supplies and such." He nods his head. "I would advise you not to linger, everything has been dangerous these days."

"You're telling me." You sigh. Shaking your head, you make to move past him, but he puts a hand on your chest and whispers in your ear,

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Your spine stiffens as your eyes narrow. "Ammon, you better not-"

He smiles and says, "Can you say, 'thank you?'"

Blinking at him in surprise, your mouth works soundlessly at this and he chuckles, heartily until you finally sigh out, "Thank you."

"See? That wasn't so hard." He says, pulling something out of his pocket. "Oh yes, I had forgotten this, but you might need it. It's not terribly well detailed, but such things are hard to come by and this copy is all you get."

Holding out your hand, he gives you a piece of parchment, which you unroll to look at. Before you is a map of the palace, clearly drawn out by someone who had infiltrated it at some point rather than an architect. Scribbled words and moderately straight lines show a layout of the important places in the palace and while it looks rather sad, it's easy enough to use.

>You obtain [Palace Map]

>Not the map of the Palace of Setet you deserve, but the map you need

"I see." You say, stuffing the map away in your bag. "Thank you for this, you've been a big help, possibly more than you've needed to be."

Ammon gives you a sidelong look. "That is a statement rich with implications, my dear Rommel."

"Is it? My mistake." You say, feeling some tension building. He smiles at you and steps away, waving his hand over the stairs down to the tunnel.

"Very good! You have a nice trip now, and do let me know how the reunion goes? I love family gatherings?"

Sophie sniffs, "You'll know as soon as we do."

"Hahaha, so I will! So I will!"

With that out of the way, you head down into the tunnel with Sayaka in tow this time, the Kunoichi opening the grates. The passage is boring as before, yet not quite as tense, and when all of you reach the outside, the Kunoichi bows and makes to leave, pausing next to you only to whisper,

"My sister is rather enamored by you. She's a little disappointed you didn't get rough with her."

Blinking in surprise, when you turn to look at her again she's gone. Feeling utterly confused at the whole situation, you shake your head and play off the confused looks that Tabitha and Alice give while glaring at the two Cat o'Ninetails who look just like the grinning fox next to you. Their animal ears twitch and you groan at their stupid non-human hearing. With them in good spirits, you push once again into the desert heat.

>>308830

Oh right, the desert sucks.

This thought came to you quite quickly as you began your journey to the southeast. With the sun beating down on you, you have no time to feel mopey over your past and current revelations, because you're sweating like a pig again and feel your chest aches every now and then as you walk. Such is the price of being a hero, you suppose.

Conversation is, of course, sparse in the group, the twins having grown tired of their bullying of you. This is something you're also quite thankful for as you travel through the sands. You're honestly only able to tell you're off the beaten path because of Sayaka's instructions, telling you that if you run into any sign-posts, then you're too close to the roads. As such, you see no sign posts and no signs of well, anyone.

The day drags on and before long you stop for lunch, eating some food that Sophie prepares while looking over the map. You agree that there's really nothing much to do be done about it until you reach your new contacts, though Tabitha is understandably nervous about the situation. She bring up what you failed to bring up with the others.

"I don't trust this Ammon. He's playing us for something, but I can't tell what."

Everyone agrees with her on this point, but there's nothing much to be done for it, how can there be? At this point it's all you have to go off of, and at least it's something. His words about this Tet'ahn though are a little cryptic however, but again, you'll have to meet it head on.

As the day drags on, you find yourself glad no one asks you about your family again. That was your top fear as soon as you got out of the city and frankly it still eats at you. Thinking you put most of this behind you, you know that eventually it's going to come to the fore and you'll have to talk about it… or face it. You'd like to say, "what are the chances I'll see her again?" but you know the answer to that already.

Ebe returns from a survey in the later afternoon. Near some craggy lands she found the town surrounding a small source of water. Not very large and made in simple Ectrian style, she doesn't describe it as different from any of the many other towns in Ectria, at least from the air. Based on distance, she suspects it will be evening by the time you make it there, possibly well after dark. Feeling this to be rather better than staying out in the sands for the evening, you decide to press on, despite any particular fatigue.

The sun sets and you travel by the moon and the eyesight of the two Cat o'Ninetails, foregoing any light for the time being. As you approach the town, you see lanterns set up at the edge of the town, near a rocky outcrop. Given the size of the place, a wall would be difficult to build and likely useless as they may not have people to defend it anyway. Still, the light should belong to a town watchman.

Signaling to Sylphie, she sets her staff to glowing to announce your presence. The watchman in the closing distance stands up at your approach and looks at you in alarm, calling out, "Who goes there?"

"Just some travelers looking for a place to spend the night and get supplies!" You shout from a safe distance.

The man pauses for a moment and brings something up to his face before nodding. You can't tell what it is, but he says a moment later, "We don't get many travelers out this way, who told you about us?"

"Someone from Hastet." You say. "We didn't want to travel the main roads, too dangerous these days.

He pauses again, holding the item to his face. Letting it fall, he says, "Very well then. Let me inspect you and I'll let you in. Come closer."

Following his commands, you walk over to him so he can inspect you, looking at all of you in the torchlight. He pauses to study each of you, looking under cloaks and such before pausing and squinting at your face. He turns around and whispers something, to which Sophie and Sylphie both frown.

{Erwin?} You send.

{He just said, "That can't be right."}

>>308831

The man turns around again and smiles, "I suppose you don't much look like bandits, especially not with all that magic and such beautiful women." Tipping his hat, the man nods to the town, "Let me show you in."

Everyone looks at each other. Feeling off about this, you nod your head and follow the man into the town. As you enter, you get the feeling of eyes watching you, though only a few of the houses have any lighting. Your staff doesn't illuminate anyone at the windows, but you just feel… weird. Still, nothing much happens as you find yourself at a larger structure, a tavern of sorts which has a few rooms for the occasional traveler.

Getting settled in and paying with some of the Ectrian coin you found, the innkeeper is helpful enough but he only has three rooms able to house two people per bed available. Mr. Ed goes to the stable out back while your group figures out the task of, "Who gets to sleep in the room with Rommel."

This, of course, means that everyone is in your designated room, arguing about it while you hold your hands in your head. Your suggestion of, "Can't someone just triple up?" was widely dismissed. Everyone wants some bed space, which means even if you're on the floor, someone is going to be in the same room as you. Why they should care you don't know, but either way you're tired of the arguing.

Sighing, you step outside of the room as Alice tries to impress upon them in perfect logical discourse why she should get to sleep in the same room as you. Rubbing your head, you make to go take in some of the night air. As you do, you step near the common room and pause as you can't help overhearing the innkeeper speaking.

"Yes, yes they're here but they're in their rooms. We should postpone the ritual though and- what? But we can't!… I see. Very well then."

His voice cuts off and you hear him walking away, to which you hurriedly zip back into your room to find Tabitha with her magitek foot on Alice's back, shaking her head. The others are still chatting though when you return they cut off, evidently seeing the look on your face. When you tell them what you heard everyone grows serious, even Alice on the floor.

"What do you think they mean by ritual?" Sylphie says, looking nervous.

"I don't know, but it might not be worth it to find out." Sophie murmurs. "Does Mr. Ed see anything amiss?"

"No but-" Sylphie cuts off as a knock comes at the door. Licking her lips, she calls out, "Yes?"

The door opens to reveal the innkeeper, who has a very fake smile on his face. "Ah, I am afraid I am going to have to ask all of you to retire here soon. It is quite late and any commotion may be unsettling for the nearby townsfolk."

Not having settled their little debate, nor decided how to proceed, your party once again looks to you, their fearless leader, for guidance.

Well…

>What do you?

>>308833

Nice, double dubs. Things are looking up.

Actually you have a really tough decision on your hands. Who the hell gets to stay in your room tonight? How annoying, and you're upsetting the inkeeper. You need to put a stop to this.

Oh yeah, I might not get an update in on tuesday, I will do my best but I gotta get prepared for my flight to Gencon on Wednesday, to which I'll be out until that next monday. Sorry guys!

>>308833

Act natural, play cool and try to come up with a plan to leave this place as quietly as possible. Whatever is happening we should not get involved any further.

>>308833

Kill the innkeeper, Follow through with everyone in town for being sneaky heretical bitches.

Okay seriously though, Send Erwin and Mister Ed out to recon for spoopy shenanigans. Or we can try to shake it up by sending out a small contingent of tiny golems to sneak around with [Audio Tap]'s placed on them. I'd personally recommend this since it will broaden our skills more. We've gotten real lazy recently with expanding our powers since shooting things is just so damn efficient.

While the scouts are out we can rest and recuperate. And while logic says Tabitha should share our room for obvious reasons, The heart demands Ebe since its fun to watch the sexual frustration build.

Shame about Ako. She sounds like a keeper

>>308833

Send poor Erwin to scout, and share the room with Tabitha.

>>308845

If we decide to stay rather than leave I in for this anon plan and for Ebe.

pretend to sleep at night sneak around and follow the inkeeper

>>308853

maybe say we've come to a decision my good man then put your hand on his shoulder and cast audio tap on it

sophie and sylphie ahould sleep with tabitha since she knows them ebe and alice can sleep with us

>>308833

The sisters should stay together so that eliminates them as a choice. That leaves Alice, Tabitha and Ebe. Tabitha would probably be better off on her own, and Alice is just asking for trouble. So Ebe is clearly the best choice we can make here a choice made completely free of bias obviously

>>308865

>>308845

>>308852

You are all misguided. The lizard is clearly the superior choice for when we eventually have our heart melted. Ebe simply has an exotic appeal. This anon has it right.>>308851

>>308833

It’s obvious that the town is full of cultists, Violet Sands most likely, who had plans for tonight before we showed up, plans of which that now potentially involve us in some fashion since they’ve recognised us or at least our spell casting capabilities. We can’t really leave though, because not only is travelling the desert at night much more dangerous, more so since we’re likely tired by this point, but the cultists also know we are here and may try to pursue us should we attempt to get the fuck out of dodge. Staying put would be our best bet, as it would be the safer option overall, would give us a decent night’s sleep since we would be sleeping in beds as opposed to the cold desert sands and may present us the opportunity to hinder the cultist’s plans should we deem it necessary after some snooping around.

Since the girls are pretty much forcing us to make the final decision on who shares a room with us, I’d recommend we take Tabitha for both logical and totally not personal reasons try to make it fair for everyone by putting it up to chance so we can limit the complaints we have to deal with; flip a few coins, do the short straw method, have them guess how many rocks we’re holding behind our back, spin a bottle or a pointed stone, have them guess the name of the oft-forgotten Valinthia the [Bauxite], anything works really so long as none of them have an advantage though Sylphie will probably find a way to cheat somehow. Just pray Alice doesn’t win, because that will make things really awkward for us and then everyone loses.

Once that’s out of the way, have the others pair up and then get each pair to decide on watches, because it’s clear that sleeping here isn’t safe and it would be best if we had at least three people awake at any time to both deal with any occult shenanigans that may occur and to wake up the other three who are sleeping to be prepared for whatever -- for our own pair, we should take first watch since anything that may occur is likely to occur sooner rather than later and we want to be awake to snoop around. We should also hand Erwin over to one of the four girls who lost the gamble so that we can maintain communication with at least one group should things go awry and because Erwin could probably use the affection given what he’s put up with thus far. Giving him to Sylphie would be a good idea, seeing as she has contact with Mr Ed outside so she can keep us updated and can actually understand Erwin not to mention her expertise at belly scratches, but if she can read our thoughts when neither us nor Erwin is in sight, just nearby so our familiar link is close by, then it would be better if we gave Erwin to the pair that doesn’t contain Sylphie so everyone can stay in contact with each other.

With everyone settled down and us hopefully on first watch, talk with the person we were paired up with to pass the time because the cultists are likely to wait for us to fall asleep before they do anything. Once our vigil begins, we should do what >>308845 suggests with the golem patrol, because that inspection the watchman did on us means that Erwin is known and may be expected to skulk around, thus potentially making sending him out a bad idea, while nobody expects the obligatory Monty Python reference rocks which makes them great for eavesdropping. Maintaining sight of our friends when moving them might be rather awkward for us, but we wouldn’t have to move them too much since we’re relying on the attached [Audio Tap] to listen in, and even if we did we could probably reposition ourselves without drawing attention due to the distance from everything or even bullshit our way through it somehow with [Survey] should the distance between us and the rocks not be very far. Should we discover something suspicious, let the others know via Erwin and decide what the plan of action is and whether or not to wake the others though that discussion will likely occur next update.

>>308833

Like the others have said, send Erwin to snoop around as usual, and share the room with Ebe, because I'd like to see how she'd react. And also the chances of Sylphie winning here are slim

>>308833

Personally, I'd have Ebe sleep with Rommel. Tabitha with Sylphie and Alice with Sophie. Each girl gets a swordswoman to protect them. This actually pains me, as I'm a Tabitha fanboy. But Ebe is a close second! Whom ever ends up with Rommel, there needs to be a heart-to-heart scene. Aka talking about a bit of their own past life ect. Please Ace!

Mr.Ed can patrol around the Inn. Erwin can snoop, and if possible follow cultists to their ritual. The party needs to be ready to move if something dodgy occurs.

A Golem patrol within the Inn might be interesting.

We should set thing up with Sylphie and Rommel being the magic team, Sophie and Ebe for support, and Tabitha and Alice for the main force.

>>308833

Well, if we were a simpler man, the best idea would be to get the hell out of dodge before the Kali-Ma ritual goes down. But we are not a simple man, we are a Wizard. It is our Solos-given duty to become personally invested in every event that takes place between us and our objective.

We should take steps to prepare for the inevitable cultist attack. I really like the idea of using our rock friends as a Golem listening device. We should also make sure we can tap into Mr. Ed to let us know if anyone tries to sneak in from the outside. They have no idea that we're a Wizard, and won't expect us to keep tabs on them magically. And if it turns out they're just organizing some huge dance party or something, let cultists be cultists. As long as no-one is being sacrificed we've got no reason to care.

Now this is not going to be a popular with the rest of our group, but I advocate that we all sleep in the same room. The girls will complain about the space, but this is about being smart not comfortable. Having our team sleep in different rooms didn't work out so well in the haunted mansion in Wizardquest 1, and we can remind Tabitha of that fact if anyone argues. Granted, that was due to ghost possession, but I'm getting some similar vibes from this place. Splitting our team up when we're most vulnerable and in hostile territory is just plain stupid. One night of awkward sleeping is better than members of our party being kidnapped.

As far as the arrangements, give Tabitha and Alice the bed. Desert nights are cold and Tabitha is cold-blooded, she can share the bed and stay warm with Alice. It also keeps Alice from getting any ideas while we're asleep. As for the rest of us, between the twins fur and Ebe's feathers we should be more than fine on the floor. The more time we waste arguing the less rested we'll be tomorrow.

we should send erwin out to scout out again, his hearing and eyesight should be perfect for it,I say the group should be split up with rommel and ebe in room1, sophie and alice in room 2 and slypie and tabitha in room 3

Wao lots of replies

>>308842

Boring!

>>308845

Less boring! But scary!

Tiny golems sound fun, but who do you send out?

We got one for Ebe.

>>308851

One for tabitha

>>308852

Two for Ebe

>>308855

Nice double dubs, but it don't work that way my friend. That would be scandalous!

>>308865

Three for Ebe

>>308872

Two for Tabitha

>>308875

Whaaaat? Cultists? You crazy.

Having a game of chance is even crazier. You're crazy!

>>308882

Four for Ebe

>>308885

Five for Ebe! Wao!

A heart to heart scene? Me? Impossible, I can't write feels/ corny shit.

>>308915

O-one for Sylphie?

>>309007

Everyone in the same room? SUPER MADMAN. Even if it makes sense.

>>309028

Another vote for Ebe, well I guess Ebe is probably going to be the lucky winner! Oh boy oh boy.

Thread being weird, lets see what this does..

>>309318

You're weird

>>309040

How!

I didn't expect such a landslide for Ebe. I thought Tabitha would get more to be honest as best girl.

>>308915

>set thing up with Sylphie and Rommel

Poor Sylphie. But then again, there's no way Mr.Ed would allow Sylphie to be in the same room with Rommel!

>>309387

He's a horse, whats he gonna do? Rommel could be fucking her and all he could do is listen through his link. He has no dick too so it only completes the image.

>>309040

>couldn't vote for tabby in time

Being a tabithafag is suffering

All these Ebe fags.

The only true love for Rommel is his rock collection.

>>309417

gargoyle waifu confirmed

>>309390

1. He's threatened to smash the skull of anyone who defiles his Flower. ok, Rommel could seduce Sylphie. But, if he does it in an asshole way, the horse can crush his skull later!.

2. Mr.Ed is a gelding, meaning he's had his balls cut off, he's been castrated. He still has a penis, dick. Educating you kidds is so tiresome at times.

>>309413

Sage damn you!

>>309413

She should be knocked down a peg on the waifu list for you not saging

>>309438

Noooooooo!

Don't take it out on Tabitha!

Tabitha would be the logical choice for no lewds Rommel since she definitely wouldn't try anything or let him try anything. Plus she could fight off horny Alices.

But then again rooming with the bird just sounds like it would be a lot more fun in probably a really awkward kinda way.

>>309040

>>309383

Rommel still needs to find out why Dollora tried to contact him in the temple.

Howdy y'all! I'm back from Gencon with a much lighter wallet!

Something nice is being worked on for y'all currently but otherwise we're back on track tomorrow I believe. Too tired today/ need to catch up on stuff.

>>309939

Yeah no real time back then, plenty of shrines in the new towns, probably one here too actually, though whether or not anyone is a big worshiper though…

Tabitha

>>309961

I was afraid you were going to Jexx us.

>>309939

to alp him

>>309961

Hooray! Waiting warmly for Ebe lewds/heart-to-hearts/awkwardness.

>Story continue

"Ahem."

Clearing your throat, you turn to the innkeeper and smile. "Of course sir, we were merely reminiscing about the day's events and making plans for our evening rooms."

The innkeeper's face brightens. "But of course! I can escort your parties to their rooms."

He lingers at the doorway after saying this, smile still forced on his face. The party looks about with awkwardness, Sophie coughing in her hand as the uncomfortable silence drags on. Each of the girls glances toward you, as if waiting for you to say something. When the oppressive feeling grows too great you eventually groan and say, "Can't we all just share one room?"

"NO!!!"

The accumulated voices of your assembled party and the innkeeper hit you like a physical force. With effort, you keep yourself from reeling backward, though you do take a step backward. Seeming just as startled as you, the others look about each other with surprise which quickly turns to embarrassment. Thankfully you're too shocked to be embarrassed, though something tells you that you should be.

As eyes shift between each other and occasionally to you, you sense that you need to act quickly or else things may get out of hand. Looks like you're forced to choose after all. Time seems to slow down around you as possibilities race through your mind. You have to choose one of them to end this nightmare, so does it really matter who you choose? You could randomly spin a bottle or roll some dice for Solos's sake!

And yet… something tells you otherwise. Two voices in your head, bickering, drowning out the other voices. Despite the insistence of both, one speaks louder, and though you don't really know why, you have your answer. After what feels like six days, you open your mouth and say,

"Tabitha and Sylphie, you two share a room. Alice and Sophie share the other room and for the last room, me and… Ebe."

Silence deafens the room. Ebe's eyes grow wide as her cheeks flush furiously. The other girls look at you, then to each other, before looking down and nodding their heads. Even Tabitha looks a little confused, but she shrugs moments later and turns to Sylphie, putting a hand on the Monster's shoulder.

"Alright, you heard the man, come on."

Sylphie, looking perturbed, makes no objections as she's lead away toward the innkeeper, who looks like he just passed a kidney stone. As for Sophie, she looks at you with a raised eyebrow before shaking her head and putting a hand over Alice's mouth before the woman can make any trouble. She attempts to, but ends up rolling her eyes and walking out without much of a protest. The innkeeper nods to you and coughs before closing the door to your room, leaving you with Ebe and Erwin.

The Ghandharva looks at the door with surprise before turning back to you, her green eyes meeting yours. Despite her bronzed complexion, you can see her blushing furiously and it soon makes you uncomfortable. Looking away, you spy Erwin grinning at you in a way that only a fox can, and you frown at the familiar, sending,

{What are you looking at?}

{It's just so cute!}

{Ugh, get out of her!} You send, feeling angry for some reason. {Go do some recon or something!}

{Mmm, but I'm doing some good recon right here!}

{Damnit, look can you go bother someone else? Go be with Sylphie or something!}

{Can I snuggle her chest?}

{Sure! Whatever!} You send back, putting a hand to your forehead. Gods damnit why are you so embarrassed? It's the atmosphere from before putting you out of it, isn't it? That's the reason, you're just so tired you're caught up in it!

Erwin slips out of the room as you sit down on the bed, shaking your head. A shuffling of feathers sounds next to you and you look up to see Ebe bending over to look into your face, a look of concern on hers. She opens her mouth and then closes it, scrunching up her mouth before sighing and asking, "Are you alright?"

"I… uh, yeah." You reply, coughing into your hand. "Just a little worked up is all. Erwin, you know."

"Oh!" She says, standing up and chuckling. "Erwin, of course. He's… causing trouble?"

"You don't know the half of it." You sigh.

"I suppose I never really know what Erwin is doing or thinking, just that… he's a good friend to you, right?"

Taking a moment to think about it, you exhale some of the stress before responding. "Yes… he's a very good friend, if grating at times."

"Ah, I see." She says, fidgeting.

>>310443

Looking up at her, you frown. Sitting down let you clear your head a little and the conversation toward Erwin is a welcome distraction. Still, seeing her fidgeting like that is a little disconcerting, so you pat the bed next to you. "Might as well sit down, I suppose, no sense in looking uncomfortable."

"Eh… eh?" She says, looking more red. "A-Are you sure?"

"I don't see why not?"

"O-Okay then." Ebe says before taking in a deep breath and sitting down on the bed next to you. She grows quiet, looking at you every now and then out of the corner of her eye as you lean over, rubbing your face. You catch her at one point and frown, sitting up and asking her what she's doing.

"N-Nothing!" She squawks. "I just… well, I mean." Coughing into her wing, she says, "I was thinking about good friends and such. I had friends growing up but none of them were really… good friends, you know?"

"Mmm, I know that." You say, nodding your head. "Given my… circumstances, I didn't have much of a chance to make friends. Or maybe I shunned them." Giving a wry smile, you say, "Maybe that's why Erwin means so much to me."

"That's sweet." She says, a genuine smile on her face.

"Thanks." You reply, to her embarrassment. Quirking and eyebrow, you shake your head and ask, "What do you think of this place?"

"Huh? Ectria? I mean, it's my home and all but-" She cuts off as you give her a knowing look and she clacks her tongue. "Oh, you mean this village. Uhm…" A look of concentration comes over her face as she thinks it over.

"I don't like it." She says, nodding her head. "The rhythm feels off here, you know?"

"The… rhythm?" You ask, looking confused.

"Ah! I mean, like there's a strange vibe here." She says, looking flustered. "Like there's something with the air, a humming almost. The innkeeper doesn't look like any innkeeper I've seen, he looks scared."

Sighing, you nod your head. "My thoughts too. Something's wrong here."

"What should we do?"

"Hmmm." You muse, rubbing your chin. "Sending out Erwin might be unwise since they saw him when we arrived. I would still like some early warning beyond Mr. Ed though, but how to do it?"

"Uhm." She says, cocking her head. "Can't you put those uh… [Audio Taps] wasn't it? Hear what the innkeeper is saying?"

"A little difficult unless I know where to cast the magic. If I had Erwin scout places out and cast through him… bah same problem." Grumbling, you lay back on the bed, thinking. "If only I had something small and mobile…"

Ebe shifts, "Uhm… what about those little golems of yours?"

Blinking, you think it over before bolting up. "Ebe, you're a genius."

"H-Huh?" She says, looking confused as you race over to your [Backpack], pulling out rocks. "W-what are you doing?"

"Pulling out rocks of course." Having chosen four rocks, you focus your magic upon them and cast [Imbue Golem].

The piles of rocks shift and soon take form as Stan, Phallia, Babyface, and Greg take shape into golems. Each takes a humanoid form, and though it's a little taxing, it's worth it to make them seem vaguely distinct. You take special pride in Phallia, who looks at you a smooth face, yet feminine form. Pleased with your work, you attach [Audio Tap] to each of them and then ascribe a set of orders for them to patrol the grounds in a pattern as you have laid out.

The golems, orders imbued, parade out. Phallia and Babyface go out the door while Stan and Greg go through a little window, beginning their patrols. As they walk away, you listen for anything they pick up immediately, but hear nothing beyond the sound of the pitter patter of tiny rocks on the ground.

"That was pretty cool." Ebe says. Turning to face her, you see a smile on her face that's rather genuine. "Your magic is always so interesting to watch, you know."

Blinking in surprise, you cough into your hand and say, "Well, it's not like some mummer's show or anything, it's rather life and death stuff."

"Uh huh." She says, giggling. "If you say so."

"What's what supposed to mean?" You grumble, to which she giggles again.

"Nothing!" Ebe walks over to the bed and sits down, sighing as she lays back, her golden wings spreading over the bed sheets, framing her voluptuous body as if it were art in a gallery. Looking up at the ceiling, she asks, "What now?"

"Well…" You say, your golems in the back of your mind. "I guess we wait to see if anything happens."

"What if nothing happens though?"

"Then I guess we get a good night's sleep."

Ebe's cheeks flush and she lifts her head to look at you. "Oh, r-right." She fidgets on the bed before stuttering, "W-Well, i-if you want, we can sh-share the… ah… uhm…"

>>310444

"Hmm?" You say, looking up at her as you unroll your bedroll. "Something wrong?"

Ebe stares at you in confusion and surprise before sitting up and leaning over. She narrows her eyes and says, "You… were planning on sleeping in the bedroll?"

"Well, yeah. You're getting the bed, so I'll sleep on the floor, it's fine."

"It's f- no it's not fine!" She groans. Using one of her wings, she slaps the bed next to her and says with a touch of anger, "You're sleeping in the bed tonight too."

"Uh… why?"

"Because you're tired and you've done a lot and… and… j-just do it!" Ebe's cheeks flush after she says this, all hints of defiance leaving her expression. She blushes and turns to the side, crossing her wings over her chest.

Looking at her like this, she seems rather defenseless in a way, and yet the strength in her voice from before reminds you of when you first met her. You feel something stir within you at this and your mouth goes a little dry as you begin to feel uncomfortable. Looking away, you begin to say, "I think I'll be fine with the bedroll" when she asks,

"Please?"

Closing your eyes, you sigh and lower your head. Ah Gods damnit, that tone of voice, trying to guilt you into this. Feeling conflicted between a sense of danger and your respect for Ebe, you weigh your options carefully. On one hand, you're going to probably be awake all night listening for anything going on as it stands, so it's not like you're in any danger if you keep your wits about you. Besides, it's Ebe, it's not like there's any reason to be afraid, not like you're with Alice who would be naked already.

With a groan, you roll your bedroll back up and say, "Fine, I'll sleep in the bed."

"R-Really?" Ebe says, looking surprised for some reason. "You mean it?"

Shrugging, you walk over and sit down on the bed. "I mean, I don't see why not I guess." You smile at her and say, "That is, if you're fine with it."

She blinks a few times before smiling herself and nodding her head. "Of course!"

"Good." You say, still feeling a little conflicted, your heart beating hard in your chest. Taking in a deep breath, you exhale slowly and listen close to your golems. Feeling the signal to the golems, you're able to get a rough estimate of where they are. Nothing comes to you but the sound of the night time desert, making you wonder where the innkeeper went. Maybe he retired to his own chambers?

"Everything alright?" Ebe asks, to which you tell her you're looking after the golems. She nods and says, "I suppose it's fine then? Maybe it's nothing after all."

"Maybe." You say, shrugging. "I'd like a nice, uneventful night."

"Yeah… seems like we're always getting into trouble these since we met." Ebe chuckles nervously before sighing. "Hey Rommel… uhm… what do you think you'll do when this is all over?"

"Hmm?" You ask, turning to her. "Where did this come from?"

"I was just thinking, you know? I know the main goal is to help Sophie and Sylphie and I love both of them as my best friends but… what happens when it's all over?"

>>310445

Crossing your arms across your chest you think it over. Your plans still haven't changed, though at the same time it feels a little more nebulous than before, a little less certain. After you confront him… what then? Even if you're able to convince him, what WILL you do? Go back to your home and live in solitude again after everything you've done so far? Somehow that seems a little difficult to accept, a little too lonely.

"I'm not certain." You say with honesty. "I haven't really thought that far ahead, I've just been focused on the goal ahead, meeting it one challenge at a time." Feeling pensive, you ask, "What about you?"

"Me?" She asks, looking surprised. "I… I don't know either. I know I said I wanted to return home after my experience in Deleor but… the more I travel with you and the others and after going home again… it all seems so small. I feel like, pardon the wording, like it's not enough space to spread my wings."

"I think I understand that." You say, nodding your head. "Sometimes… I think I understand what the Grand Wizard felt on his journey."

Ebe watches you for a moment before smiling and reaching over to pull out her ghitar. You watch her with curiosity as she tunes it before nodding her head. A wan smile comes to her mouth as she says, "There's something I've been working on, would you like to hear it?"

"Well, as long as we don't make too much noise… sure."

She smirks and then takes a deep breath before beginning to play on the ghitar. Soft notes play from the instrument, washing over you. Though she doesn't sing, something in the melody is seemingly imbued with her voice and you feel as if the music is speaking to something within your heart. Memories of your home, your family, come to you unbidden and you soon close your eyes, drinking in the sound that pours forth from her ghitar.

It feels like it ends almost as soon as it begins, though you know that isn't true. The longing in your heart for the sense of belonging that you had when you were little, the bonds of family pull at you. You feel something soft caress your cheek and you look up in surprise to see Ebe wiping a tear from your cheek, that wan smile still on her face.

"So… what did you think?"

It takes you a few moments to gather your thoughts enough for you to say, "It… it's beautiful."

Ebe lets out a deep breath. "Ah, good. I was afraid that making a song based on my own feelings wouldn't speak to someone else but… I guess it spoke to you, haha…hah."

The Ghandharva chuckles, a little awkward before she clears her throat and says, "I'm glad you liked it though."

"Yeah." You say, feeling tired, yet happy. "Yeah I did."

>>310446

Nothing much seems to come through from your golems, and you share the news with Erwin who shares with Sylphie, who ends up barging into your damn thoughts anyway to tell you what Tabitha told her. Frankly, it's annoying, but it's the best you have.

"Consensus seems to be that nothing's wrong and that we're paranoid." You sigh out, rolling your shoulders. "Tabitha suggests we all get some sleep for now."

Ebe yawns, covering her mouth with a wing. "Sounds good to me, I'm beat." Saying this, she places her ghitar with her things and begins to remove the jewelry she wears. You're surprised to see how well she's able to slide the delicate pieces off using only her wings, and you don't really notice that you're watching her undress until she begins to remove the silken garb over her hips.

Quickly turning about, you pull the surprisingly comfortable bedsheets over yourself. A few moments later you feel a warmth moving towards you. Something touches you and you close your eyes. It's Ebe, you're so… uncomfortable.

"Sorry." She whispers. "Could you take care of the lantern?"

Ah, right, the lantern, the light which is over course in the room. You could use magic, but that could get messy. Easier to just get up and turn it off. Groaning, you get out of the bed and walk over to the lantern, turning it off and casting the room into darkness. Only a faint light from the moon outside trickles into the room, allowing you to find your way back to the bed. As you slip back under the covers, you bump into Ebe and apologize.

"It's fine." She giggles. "I mean, one can hardly share a bed without bumping into each other… right?"

Feeling a little unsettled by her choice of words, you once again turn over and scoot close to the edge. The room grows quiet as you lay there, listening via your magic for signs of anything, yet nothing comes to you. Perhaps nothing will happen tonight, maybe you just are paranoid. That whole ritual thing the innkeeper talked about, maybe it has to do with some rain dance or something. Feeling a little silly, you allow sleep to begin to take hold of you.

Something warm and soft presses against your back and you freeze up. A soft wing wraps around you while plump, pillowy thighs lay against yours as Ebe presses herself against your back. You feel sweat that's not at all connected to the heat trickle down your face as a whisper tickles your ear,

"Rommel… I-"

Babyface's aetheric signature shifts as he crumbles into a pile of granite. Despite Ebe's hold on you, her words are drowned out you hone in on the [Audio Tap] placed on him. You left orders to crumble into a pile of stone if they saw anyone, however your anchored magic is still in effect. Focusing, you hear two voices speak.

"Are they asleep?" A sensual, female voice asks.

"I believe so, they're split into three rooms as well." The voice of the innkeeper replies.

"Good… that will make things easier. The ritual time is almost upon us and I must prepare myself for the apotheosis."

"Are… are you certain? I know that we wish for the return but… does it have to be you, Lady Aliph?"

"It is a blessing granted to us. I sense doubt in your voice… are you not committed?"

"O-Of course I am! I'm just… worried about you, we all are."

The woman laughs. "Don't be! When this night is over, we will begin the end of the Pharoah's reign!" She chuckles again, "Now then, take these and make sure our guests don't wake up. The cult has need of them."

"A-As you say, my lady."

His voice trails off as the sound of footsteps trail away. You can hear the innkeeper muttering to himself before walking forward and away from your golem. You're not certain where he's going exactly, but you have a feeling he's coming to pay you a visit. Frowning, you pull yourself back to hear Ebe speaking.

"Is it something I said? I'm sorry Rommel, I didn't mean to offend you by being too pushy, I just-"

"Ebe, we're in danger."

The Ghandharva stutters in surprise. "W-what? Danger?"

Pushing away from her, you get out of bed and listen through your other golems as they too crumble. Greg and Stan let you hear the sounds of many footsteps outside. No voices, only the feet of many, many people, all heading in an indeterminate direction. This ritual IS happening and it's going to happen soon, though you have to wonder what this Lady Aliph means by apotheosis?

Taking your staff, you light it slightly and look to Ebe, to find the Ghandharva wearing small clothes which only cover her with some modestly, exposing the majority of her curvy, bronze skinned body. You push the feeling of her on you out of your mind for now as you relay the information via Erwin to Sylphie and Tabitha. Alice and Sophie are left in the dark, however, but the main question being asked of you pertains to how you're going to handle what is coming.

To put it simply:

>What do you do?

AND WE'RE BACK

>>310431

I hope this is good enough for you.

>>310297

Please don't hurt me.

>>310447

Summon the golems. We need more details. I get the feeling someone is going to become a vessel of sorts for the apophis similar to the mindflayer in illusionquest. Have everyone get dressed. We must stop this ritual. Who knows what could happen once the apophis is brought back to this world.

>>310459

Let's not be hasty with the whole ritual busting, the inkeeper is coming for us, reunite with the group and be ready to catch him and make him cough off information about what they are doing, the more we know the less unexpected surprises we get.

>>310447

Well that was painful to read.

Since we’re clearly in a bad position currently due to being split apart from the rest of our party with poor communication, it would be best if we got everyone awake and grouped up to prepare for the worst, possibly having packed up their things if we have enough time so that nothing is left behind in case we need to hightail it out of here at some point which seems pretty likely. Right now it appears that only the innkeeper is heading towards us with the expectation that we will all be asleep in our separate rooms for him to use whatever items he was given by this Lady Aliph on us, so we should probably leave the rooms and ambush him when he comes up to check on the first pair before he can do anything to us, preferably with usage of [Privacy Barrier] to prevent him from alerting anyone else so we can keep our element of surprise for later. If we don’t immediately kill him, then quickly interrogate him for information regarding what the hell the cultists are planning and why before either killing or disabling him in some other fashion such as binding him, whatever seems most fitting. It might also be worth taking whatever he was planning on using on us to use on the cultists or some other target later, even if it’s something as mundane as shackles, as there isn’t much reason not to and we could use the increased number of options for some later scenario.

With the innkeeper is out of the equation, we can either leave the premises to put as much distance between us and the cultists as possible or begin snooping to find the rest of the cultists and to see what they’re planning, intervening if necessary. Since we’re not cowards and spying on their ritual would help us to understand the Violet Sands, of whom are currently a bit of an enigma to us, I’m going to advocate for the latter, as dangerous as it is. Intervention might not be a good idea though, based on the supposed amount of cultists present, the potential strength of certain individuals among the cultists and how we would find ourselves in the middle of the lion’s den with no easy way to escape alive let alone unscathed, but we’ll have to see.

As the [Audio Tap]s we set up on our friends are still present, we can use that to determine both where our friends are so we can collect them and where the cultists are based on the location we heard both the conversation and the large amount of movement at, so have everyone go there. Once we’ve reunited with our friends, have Erwin scout ahead, looking through any buildings he comes across for hidden lower floors the presence of footsteps implies the cultists are on some kind of hard flooring and not sand, since we now have a general sense of where the cultists are and a large group of people would probably leave a pretty noticeable scent for him to follow, with everyone else following behind him and using a mixture of [Audio Tap] and the twins’ eyes to ensure the coast is clear. Avoid confrontation at all costs, because we won’t be able to get close to the ritual otherwise.

Speaking of which, the ritual was referred to as “the apotheosis”, implying an ascension into godhood or something similar. Given that the Violet Sands seem to view the Apophis as deities and the some of the cultists are hesitant to have the supposedly respected Lady Aliph go through with the ritual, >>310459 is likely correct about the apparent leader sacrificing her own will to become a vessel for one of the Apophis, which would help explain why an extinct race can return despite having no physical form or powers of resurrection. As such, even if we do somehow stop this ritual from occurring, it’s almost guaranteed that other groups of cultists are performing the same rituals, thus making the effort rather pointless in the grand scheme of things, if not outright detrimental to us when the Apophis collectively decide that we’re a threat to them and need to be promptly dealt with. But I digress.

When we arrive undetected at the ritual site, sit back and watch the cultists do their thing, paying attention to any key components to said ritual so we can identify similar practises later on, perhaps also opening up our [Magesight] to both identify the larger threats present for future reference and see how the magic in this application works. Do not attempt to stop the ritual until we know what is actually happening, as there is potential for this backfire on us in the future were we to jump the gun, and until the perfect opportunity reveals itself, as trying at any other point will lead to us meeting a horrible fate and likely failing to do anything of worth. In any case, make sure to have a plan to get the fuck out no matter how the situation changes, even if it means being spotted, because we’re definitely better off alive and going all-in against a large group of cultists whom we know nothing about, how they fight included, when we don’t have to is a terrible idea.

>>310494

When you say "painful" could you elaborate?

Was it cringy, poorly written, or did was it emotionally painful? I'm genuinely curious.

>>310527

>Spoiler text

Opinions and a wall of text inbound.

A bit of both if we’re being completely honest here. In the case of the latter, it’s for fairly obvious reasons. In the case of the former, it’s down to a mixture of Ebe’s character and the situation itself.

Firstly, Ebe. To be blunt, I’m of the opinion that Ebe is the worst character you’ve ever written in any of your stories, image board or TFT. Not because she’s an absolutely shit character per say, as you are very good at writing believable and endearing characters though I still think she’s quite weak overall, but when compared to the likes of Blake, Hala, Tabitha, Richard and Ammon, all characters whom I personally find to be interesting in one way or another, she comes off as really boring. Her personality is a one-trick pony of being a cheery and caring person, with no other interesting traits, quirks or flaws to explore, unlike literally every other character present. Sylphie has a similar personality, but also has her inferiority complex to her parents and the ability to act as a foil to her sister. Sophie has her constant worry for her sister, her mischievous nature and the concept of responsibility, alongside the aforementioned dynamic duo with Sylphie. Tabitha is stoic, but she actually has a personality underneath that as shown by her actions and general wit and when she occasionally drops her guard, and even in spite of her character arc back in WizardQuest1 she still has things like her hydrophobia, her backstory and how she’s coping with having mechanical legs to explore. Even Alice, who back in IllusionistQuest seemed a tad repetitive, showed that there was more to her character back when we dealt with the Anubis Warden, and she has areas of her character to explore such as her backstory and the way in which her views have changed over the course of both this story and the previous one.

Ebe, on the other hand, has none of that. She doesn’t have an interesting backstory she grew up in a small village and only recently left it for the first time, without any incidents up to that point that could define her character other than the death of her father which hasn’t affected her in the slightest since she barely knew him, nor any aspirations to strive for, nor any weaknesses to be overcome, nor even a real motivation for sticking with our party -- she’s just there with no real presence or purpose, not unlike Ophelia in that regard but at least the rabbit had character and wasn’t in the spotlight so much. The only things Ebe has going for her is that she speaks Ectrian, which isn’t unique or interesting because so does every other Ectrian and even Rommel himself, and her abilities making her a hybrid between a bard and a dancer, which is neat and all but her skillset shouldn’t be the sole thing to define her character and even with the concept being cool it boils down to ‘person hears song and watches dance, person is disabled in some fashion’ with no other options that come with weaponry or especially magic, thus making it repetitive and not good for storytelling as every situation it’s used in resolves the same way. I really feel like Ebe had so much potential that has just been wasted and left behind a bland and uninspiring character. This doesn’t make you a poor writer by any stretch of the imagination, you’re one of the better ones on this board after all, but I truly feel like you missed the mark here.

>>310527

>>310572

Secondly, the scene that just occurred. It doesn’t quite match Ebe’s established character, at least from my own understanding. I mean, earlier in the day Rommel finally confirmed why he’s had a distrust of monsters for the majority of his life, as a result for monster slavers completely ruining everything and enslaving everyone he knew and loved, in front of the entire party with his expression and emotions being clear to see it even took Ammon by surprise, and then Ebe takes the opportunity later on to push her luck with him. Considering that she’s acted exceptionally submissive this entire time, has never had any character development in the form of growing a spine or any at all really, but there isn’t much to develop as I’ve already brought up in the first section so this is to be expected and is of the caring type of whom try their best to make everyone around them happy, for her to suddenly become assertive, demand Rommel get in the bed with her and, to an extent, force herself upon a man who very recently went through a period of emotional turmoil from merely bringing up his past seems rather out of character from my perspective -- you could argue it shows a bit of childishness from Ebe which would make sense given her sheltered upbringing and thus be part of her character, but she has never shown such a nature at any point beforehand so even if that were the case, it still comes out of nowhere and at a time when it really shouldn’t. That entire scene was also completely pointless because nothing was achieved from it; we didn’t learn anything new, nothing of interest was discussed and there was no real bonding between any of the characters involved though I’m thankful for that last part in this case, which is unlike every update on any of your image board stories; you could remove that entire segment, say ‘Rommel lied down for a bit’ and we would be in the exact same position we are now. A final thing is that I believe any large amounts of affection shown, such as by Ebe just now, seems rather premature, especially considering that Rommel hasn’t actually known any of the girls for longer than a month, but I can at least understand why you’ve written it like that since you can’t keep drawing this story out forever and you ideally want to have some character progression over the course of the tale.

But hey, all of this is just my opinion so feel free to agree or disagree with whatever and sorry about the painful comment, seeing as it was a tad rude and not constructive in the slightest.

>>310573

No, honestly I like your honesty and analysis with your commentary on the story, I really do read your entries and often they're the ones that get used!

*Everything you said is, unfortunately for me, pretty true. I never really sat down and looked horrifically much into Ebe's story which is a similar problem with Ophelia, though the bunny I may or may not have foisted on people as opposed to Ebe who was a random encounter.**

I fully acknolwedge I went overboard with this scene. After posting it, I thought, "Should I have written all of this? Initially I just wanted some uncomfortable bed stuff without her being pushy, but it ended up like that. I think we'll see her a little less so coming up, though it may be that she got caught up in the moment? One of her motivations in the past was to find a husband, though as you point out, that has nothing to do with why she's here. I should have elaborated further on her bond with the twins and her drive for something more than her hometown. Even looking at it myself, it's really not that convincing, eh?

The downside to my style of writing for these is that I do the work all in one block and then post it, because if i edited this shit I would never update. While it means I have a lot of updates, it also allows for errors that you've pointed out in the past or the entirety of Wizardquest 1. I also get ideas as I write as opposed to planning it all out like Slavsan, RIP(?). Ironically I think the parts where I planned shit out are the last well received in all my stories!

So no, don't apologize, you're right with your criticisms and they are valid. I can't always change the past, but hopefully we can have a good ride in the future… really hopefully because I may be writing into another tangent again if I'm not careful.

>>310552

This. Fuckit, just go in geomancy blazing and wreck everything. Fuck these cunts for ruining the first good sleep we could've gotten in a while.

>>310578

This guy has a point. I kinda wish the scene had fleshed out Ebe's character more, her and Rommel's relationship, her motivations for going with the party. I'd like to see that stuff expanded on eventually because I'm an Ebefag .

>>310447

>>310572

>>310573

I kinda wish I'd gone with Tabitha now. A missed opportunity there. But, that's what you get for trying to be tactically, rather then go with the pure best waifu route!

>>310578

>>310573

>>310572

Ebefags BTFO everyone knows Sylphie is the best waifutoo bad Rommel is a wizard which means no waifu

Erwin will wake up Sylphie and Tabitha. Everybody goes into Sophie and Alice's room since somebody will need to go in there to wake them anyway.

If the hotel is made of stone then I'm voting that we use golem magic to make it punch somebody in the face.

>>310573

One could argue that rather than a sexual advance, maybe it was a clumsy attempt at comforting us that ultimately resulted in spaghetti.

>>310578

Thanks for that, it’s nice to know that the time spent brainstorming and drafting my ramblings actually has merit.

There’s only one more thing I wanted to bring up but didn’t during the first post, and it’s how I’m not really sure how you could fix Ebe’s character going forward this late into the story. Her fundamental problem to me is the lack of foundations to build upon, leading to an absence of substance which is highlighted every time she comes to be the focus of a scene, like what just happened now, because you can’t flesh out something which was never there in the first place. It isn’t something you can fix by trying to build on nothing nonetheless since that just leads to everything collapsing in on itself or, best case scenario, being exceptionally ramshackle with very large cracks revealing the faults of the character design and thus not looking great; it’s fixed by going back to the drawing board, starting from scratch and building anew, this time actually with proper foundations and perhaps some extra space to place more foundations should you feel the need for later usage. Unfortunately that isn’t really possible in this situation, because, as you’ve said, you can’t change the past. Her character what little there is of it has already long since been established in this story and to change her character now in such a drastic fashion would either clash with or retcon a lot of things that have already been said and done up to this point, especially her relationships with the main cast -- her backstory has already been brought up and covered multiple times so that can’t be changed, adding any personality flaws or quirks would clash with every previous interaction she’s had with anyone because her behaviour, actions, manner of speaking and so on would change, any possible weaknesses would seem to come out of nowhere despite having many opportunities to crop up previously, etc. In my eyes, it’s very much a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation with very minimal compromise.

But then again, I’m not a writefag, let alone the master of writing, so who knows, maybe I’m being far too negative and am completely wrong in my views here and you could figure something out. You somehow made Cair work out in the end despite the autism, after all.

>>310668

>One could argue that rather than a sexual advance, maybe it was a clumsy attempt at comforting us that ultimately resulted in spaghetti.

That argument doesn’t really work though, because not only would that contradict her earlier demands which were not comforting in the slightest nor were they trying to be, but it would also contradict everything she said during that scene, especially the “I didn't mean to offend you by being too pushy” line right near the end which shows both acknowledgement of her actions and what the intent of said actions was.

>>310572

>Doesn't like sheltered and naive, but down-to-earth birb.

>Thinks Ammon and Hala are interesting

I'm not knocking your taste, but you picked some weird comparisons. Ammon's only role in the story so far is the "shady guy". The only things we know about him is he's greedy and knows more than he says. Besides that, Hala's arc took a nosedive after her and Blake became a couple. Her whole shtick of "I'm the group fuck-up" was old before it started.

>>310447

I was expecting a feels scene, especially since Rommel's past with his family is still a fresh topic, but there's plenty of time for that later. For the story, we know the cultists are coming for us, but throwing stealth out the window may not be our best chance. Ambush the innkeeper when he comes upstairs and interrogate him. Get him to tell us every danger we can expect to run into. We find out what they're planning and then we can direct our group and disrupt whatever ritual is happening.

On a related note, I really like Ebe, she a grounded voice in the story. Sticks with the group not to repay a favor, or because she was paid, but because she cares about her friends. A normal girl thrown into extraordinary circumstances, and her inexperience with everything that happens is a great contrast to the rest of the group. She has room to develop, but then so does every character. Just my two cents.

>Story continue

"We have to let the others know." You say, gritting your teeth. Not looking behind you, you add, "Ebe, get dressed, now."

"Uhm… y-yeah, of course." She hops up out of the bed as you confirm with Erwin what you're hearing. The fox already has Sylphie awake and it doesn't take long to get Tabitha up either, the two waiting for your command, such as it is. Erwin, you ask to dash out and wake up the other two, but the fox replies in the negative.

{I can't get into their room, the door is closed and I doubt they'll awaken in time to let me in without anyone noticing.}

Frowning at his sending, you think over the situation and then send back, {No, we're all going into their room, get the two packed as soon as they can and move it there, we don't have much time at all.}

The reply is a few moments in coming. {Alright, I'll let them know.}

Figuring that Sylphie already knows all of this, you turn to Ebe to find her hastily pulling the clothing over her hips. Frowning, you say, "Forget the jewelry, just throw it in your bag, we need to go."

"R-right." She replies, still flustered by the whole scene. You don't really have time to gawk or anything at her, and as soon as she's ready to go, you open the door and peer outside, into the hallway. Nothing greets you, so you cast a [Privacy Barrier] to mask your footfalls as you usher Ebe over to Sophie and Alice's room. She hurries without complaint, and you watch as the door opens, she makes a few gestures, and then slips inside. Shortly after Sylphie and Tabitha do the same, the Lizardman giving you a curt nod as she makes for the room.

Seeing them in, you hesitate and then go to make the move yourself when out of the corner of your eye you see a light from a candle flicker down the hall. Turning, you watch as the innkeeper rounds the corner and stops, staring at you with wide eyes. In one hand he holds a candle on a small candlestick, the other, two vials of a thick, white liquid.

He gasps and steps backward, making to run. Before he can take two steps, you slap the wall next to you and channel power into the sandstone, a wall forming behind him. He runs into it and looks at the edifice in shock as it starts moving, pushing him down the hallway until he's standing right before you, a look of horror on his face. Mouth opening, wide to scream, you slap a hand over his mouth and give him your most powerful glare you can summon. His protests die in his throat as the others spill out of the room.

Tabitha and Alice (who isn't quite dressed yet), disarm the man while you hold your [Knife] in your hands, mostly for show. You don't need it, but it feels good to have and you'd have to bother the others for the sword, which frankly isn't the best in a hallway anyway. The innkeeper looks sick as the process occurs, whispering, "H-how did you know?"

"I was just going to relieve myself, you're the one who was acting suspicious." You say, to which he pales further.

"I-I don't… but you…"

Sighing, you shake your head and say, "What's in the vials, what were you going to do to us for this Lady Aliph?"

"You know about… but how?" He asks, looking incredulous. "They never said you were part of the Royal Guard! You were supposed to be our allies!"

Blinking in surprise, you look between the rest of your group who also look confused. Turning back to the man, you ask, "Why would you think that? Better yet, why would you try to drug your allies with…" You wave at the vials which Sylphie takes and uncorks. She sniffs it and then says,

"Ugh, it's like straight semen. This looks like those sleeping drugs that slaver had, crude alchemy."

With a frown, you turn back to the innkeeper and ask, "You were trying to drug your allies into a deeper sleep? Why?"

"B-because I was told to! The ri- the evening is special, you weren't supposed to be here."

>>310779

Alice snorts, "Well, we are, so what of it? I should just kill you for all this." When he squeals a little, she smirks, though Tabitha glares daggers at her before clearing her throat.

"While I agree in a way, there's no point playing us, we know about the ritual, this 'apotheosis,' what is it?"

He swallows and then licks his lips, eyes thinking about whether or not he should speak. It seems as if a moment of defiance would come to him before Alice pulls at her sword, revealing some of the glowing steel and he relents, all his defenses shattered. "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you, just… oh Twins, please don't kill me."

"Fine." Sophie says, crossing her arms, though she keeps her tails still hidden. "How do you know about us, what is this ritual, and where is it occurring?"

"Look, I just hear from others over the sigils, alright? I don't know anything else about you other than you saved some of your brothers." He says, looking beaten down. "The ritual is… I… I don't know much about it. I just know that Lady Aliph is to commune directly with the great ones and it's occurring in the temple of the Twins."

You blink in surprise at this answer, blurting out before thinking, "The temple of the twins? But how would they be able to do that there?"

"Look, I don't know any more than that!" He begins to cry some. "Twins, I knew this was a bad idea, but the whole town is in the cult and Lady Aliph is going to… going to…"

Tears begin to spill for real from the man and you groan, figuring you're not getting anything else out of this. Nodding to Alice, the woman makes to know him out. Before she can, Sylphie stays her hand and holds up one of the vials. She kneels down to the man and opens one up, saying, "Here, drink some of this."

"B-But that's made from my own semen!"

Sylphie shudders, same as everyone else in the group. You and the man trade glances and the look in his eyes digs into your soul. Closing your eyes, you say, "It's either this or being clubbed on the back of the head."

The man gulps and closes his eyes before nodding his head and opening his mouth enough for Sylphie to pour some of the thick, creamy substance in his mouth. He grimaces before his eyes flutter and he topples over, asleep.

Tabitha and Alice drag him into a room as you remove your wall, the stone sinking back into its original architecture. Sylphie corks the bottle again and puts them in her bag with care, sighing before saying, "I'm glad we didn't have to kill him." Ebe and Sophie mimic the gesture.

"For a cult member, he's a little off, don't you think?" Sophie says with consternation. "He didn't seem very devoted to the cause."

"He implied much of the town is part of this cult… I think." Ebe says, thinking. "Maybe he was pressured into it?"

"Maybe." You say, nodding to the others as they return. "But now we have to figure out our next move. I can't hear any sounds from my golems any longer, which means everyone is probably at the temple."

"Is it worth getting involved in this?" Tabitha asks, her expression serious. "If they're so involved in this ritual, then they probably won't notice us leaving. I doubt we'll generate much ill will leaving one of their members alive."

"Apotheosis, however…" Sylphie mutters, concern on her face. "It implies the pinnacle of something, I've heard it referenced before when concerning transformation processes." She blinks when you give her a surprised look and she says, "What? I read a lot."

Ebe thinks it over for a moment before grimacing. "Someone is transforming? You don't suppose they're… they're going to Monsterize someone, do you?"

Everyone trades glances, grimacing themselves. Sophie speaks first, "It does… fit with what you said beforehand, these blessings the cult received. However if it was the Apophis who gave such blessings, then-" She cuts off suddenly, eyes growing wide.

Tabitha cuts in, "I doubt that there are any Apophis here at the moment, or else that man would have been far, far more fanatical. We have to assume it means something else."

Muttering to yourself, you resolve your plan of action. "We need more information." When Tabitha raises an eyebrow, you say, "I don't plan on just busting in and killing people, but we need to know what's happening. This could impact things here, especially since it's likely these cults are in communication. Having something happen here may cause us trouble down the road."

>>310780

Her reptilian pupils narrow, but she relents and says, "Very well then. We'll make for the temple."

Nodding, you usher Alice to finish dressing while you address Erwin. The fox groans at your commands, but runs outside, quickly finding your two golems, which you reform and send alongside Erwin, their new orders to follow him until otherwise notified. By the time this is settled, Alice and Sophie are ready, and you head out into the inn, sending [Audio Taps] head of you to listen for anyone, but no one is present. With this secure, you head outside at the all clear from Erwin.

Along the way you collect Babyface and Phallia, the pile of ore seeming almost gleeful to be back in your pockets, though you're certain you're imagining things. Rocks don't have emotions! That's what makes them superior to people! Thoughts turning away from this, you and your group exit the tavern and head to the shadows.

The small town is quiet, with no signs of light beyond that of the moon. No sounds come to you, neither from your golems, nor from around you. The silence is eerie out here, making you shudder as the cool night wind passes over you. With no one in sight, you continue to walk through the town, wishing you'd asked the innkeeper where the damn place is.

"Usually Temples are in the center of town." Ebe says when you ask her. "It's pretty common for smaller towns to work like that."

Sending this information to Erwin, you almost jump as you notice Mr. Ed standing next to you, snorting in the cool desert evening. You get the impression he's laughing, but you're glad to see him here. While not the most inconspicuous member of the team, he is one of the wisest and most dependable.

Erwin confirms the location of the Temple soon enough sending, {There's lights around the Temple, and a few townsfolk around the entrance with torches. I guess they're on guard or something.}

{Any other way in?} You send, to which Erwin asks you to wait, making you sit with tension for awhile. When he returns, he says,

{There's a second story. No one is behind the place and there's an open window you can enter.}

Relaying this to your team, you make your way around the Temple, staying out of line of sight of the guards. Unfortunately, this means you have to take a rather long path around the town, but what else can you do? You're forced to act this way, though a palpable sense of wrongness begins to build in you the longer you take to do so.

When you reach the back of the Temple, you cast a [Privacy Barrier] before throwing an [Audio Tap] in the room above you, listening for anything. In the distance you can hear someone speaking, but you can't make out the words. As far as you can tell, you're in the clear. Casting, [Build the Wall], you rise up on a column of hardened sand and look about the empty room.

The room appears to belong to the resident priestess, this seeming to be her home. Dollora and Phallia aren't terribly big on cleanliness it seems because articles of clothing, some very skimpy, are spread around the room in various heaps while rustled bedsheets lay atop the bed. No light burns in the room, but beyond the closed door, you can hear that speaking again. Nodding to the others, you go in groups, leaving Mr. Ed at the bottom, the horse taking it upon himself to act as sentry. You sense he really wanted to go into the room though.

Bringing Erwin and your golems up, you pat all three on the head before opening the door just a crack and peering out. It appears that this room is along a narrow band of fenced hallway overlooking the main area of worship. Peering out a little further since the coast is clear, you can see there is another room nearby, also closed, but beyond that just various items of worship stored in the small space and a small staircase heading down in the corner.

With the door open you can hear a little but clearer that is being said, though you use an [Audio Tap] to amplify it, listening with keen interest, though you have to parse out what is being said from your limited Ectrian.

"And so, on this night we give thanks to our great masters. After all these centuries, they will arise again to deliver us from the tyrannical rule of the Pharaohs!"

"Praise be!" An assembly of people speak in eerie unison at this. The voice from the before sounds much like this Lady Aliph character who was speaking to the innkeeper. You whisper some of this to Ebe who confirms what you're thinking, quieting down as she speaks again.

"Now is the time that our Masters will awaken, but they will not come from the grave to reclaim what was once theirs. While their essence is tied to this land, freed from the shackles of the Pharaoh, it is up to us to give them form! We must not sit and wait for our liberation to come to us, but to instead be the VESSELS of our own freedom!"

"Praise be!" The crowd cheers again.

>>310781

"This…" She pauses, though you're not certain why. "Is an ancient vial of venom from Kis'ta, one of the most revered of the Apophis. It has sat here in this village for generations in this very altar, disguised in order to hide its true purpose. However…"

Her voice trails off again, though you wish you could see what she's doing. Feeling a little more confident, you send Erwin out, who looks out over the assembly, and you through his eyes. "It has lain dormant, without power of its own. But with the seal broken, and the power of the Apophis returned, it once more brims with the vigor of its former master! It sings in my hands with the transformative powers it once held! Brothers and sisters, while many others of our families will try their best to invoke the power of the Apophis, WE, yes WE shall truly bring it here once more into this ECTRIA!"

"PRAISE BE!" They cry out in exultation.

"I, as your leader, will take the responsibility upon myself. Once we have taken this step, there is no turning back, though I know you all understand."

A murmur goes through the room, which hushes soon after. "Now then, we shall finish preparations. Prepare the circle and light the candles. Rael, Ephra, watch over the preparations. I must meditate before it begins."

Looking through Erwin's eyes, you notice this Lady Aliph is a tall woman with bronzed skin and long, ruddy-brown hair. She's utterly beautiful and dressed in a ceremonial silk outfit which doesn't leave much to the imagination. A few dozen cultists in robes and town clothing stand about as a flurry of activity begins with people moving about, chanting, etc. Next to the Lady, however, are two Monsters, one of them a Lamia wearing purple robes whom you think is Ephra, the other, Rael, is a…

You pause as you look closer through Erwin's eyes. An Anubis? But… but why would one of them be serving the Purple Sands! She stands stock still, spear in hand as she looks out over the crowd with a critical eye.

Fearing being caught, you pull back and tell this to your group when you hear Lady Aliph say in the crowd, "Oh yes, check on our friend at the Tavern, we are expecting some guests."

Closing the door as silently as you can, you turn to the others and tell them what you've heard. There's a possibility you can get out of here quickly, before anyone notices. It will take some time before someone hears something from the inn, and they may start the ritual before they get back, so you may stay undetected. Still, this is the moment to decide if you're going to disrupt the ritual or not, though with those Monsters present things might not be as easy as you'd expect, not to mention whatever the cultists and Lady Aliph have up their sleeves.

Weighing your options, you ask yourself the age old question,

>What do you do?

Well, do you bust a ritual, watch a ritual (probably undetected maybe), or leave? Or maybe something else? It's your choice…

>>310778

TBH I found that a little weird too. While originally I was going to have Ammon join the group, after the thing with Zoras I changed him up some. I kind of like it atm, and it might not be the last you see of him though…

And yeah, I dropped the ball. I feel like there haven't been as many super ball drops like in Illusionist or Wizardquests in this story but not as many UMPH scenes either. Well… guess we're still chugging along. Also, this story is over 200k words now. Y-Yay

>>310782

Conjure up an earthquake and disrupt the ritual maybe causing some rocks to knock out/kill Aliph then amscray.

>>310782

if it's possible, we should make a new [Golem] out of sandstone again and set it near the candles and then set the golem to continuously cast [aeromancy] so the candles can never stay lit just to fuck with them

>>310794

No, let's not make more enemies, killing a important person from this cult might set up our group very high on their shit list and news go fast, rather not have to worry about weathever a village holds vengeful cultists or not.

>>310797

I vote for this, let's fuck with them on the sidelines if possible disrupt the ritual or destoy the transformative poison, like when she's about to drink the thing have a golem cast one of our peeble gun on the vial or if possible audio tap a bunch of golem and try to make Ebe play that sleeping tune of her through the golems and when everyone is asleep steal the vial of poison and run away from the village.

>>310782

>>310820

Saying hi maybe the best here.

>>310785

Zoras is cute! Cute!

>>310784

I would suggest a dramatic entrance. It's clear they desire us incapacitated for this ritual. Let us question why. We should learn first their reasoning before we decide one way or the other to stop the ritual or allow it to continue, if it turns out the pharaoh isn't a bad ruler and we allow the apophis to return then we'all have unleashed an evil upon the land. But if we stop the ritual and the pharoah is a tyrant then we've doomed these people to suffer under tyranny,

So we ask questions, and for the love of solos dont go in throwing rocks or killing people Willy-nilly. Let's wait until we're sure they're just a bunch of crazy cultists

Monsterization of willing participants is none of our business. No more so than some crazy desert hobo giving himself a lobotomy. Unless of course it's our sister, mother or father involved, in which case we tell them to cut that shit out.

The thing about expecting guests is concerning. If they weren't up to no good they would have either just drugged us and left us to sleep out the ritual, or been straight with us and asked if we wanted in. Drugging us and dragging us into their fuckery is a big no-no.

Still, I don't think we should RIP AND TEAR just yet. A few black eyes and bloody noses are an acceptable response to sending a dude to pour his own cum down our throat, however. If we fight, make it clear that we are pissed off about that, and aren't really invested in the power struggle either way.

>>310785

Noice.

>>310846

>Monsterization of willing participants is none of our business.

But what of the willing participant is Rommels sister They are already very aware of who we are with a focus seemingly on Rommel himself and they consider us allies since we saved a few of their members from certain death. So there has to be a damn good reason for them to want us as far away from that ritual as possible.

For that reason alone I'd say we keep an very very close eye on this whole thing and shit it down if needed. We also should consider the endgame here. There's a very good chance that the endboss is gonna be the pharaoh and that we have to kill her. If that happens we basically serve the whole country to the grapesnake on a silver platter. Maybe they are not as bad as the pharaohs say but maybe we just replace one tyrant with an even worse one. This is not just some little ritual this is huge geopolitical stuff that could affect people far beyond the borders of Ectria. We better get that shit right.

>>310851

Bah. Sorry for not sageing. Am retarded.

>>310820

>>310824

I agree with these, no reason for hostility yet.

>>310851

how the is the pharao a tyrant

>>310846

>Monsterization of willing participants is none of our business

Lets not be coy here, We all know whats going to happen if we do nothing. She turns into a grapesnake and then is immediately going to try and suck us dry since we are such a potent mana battery and she'll be extra thirsty. So then we either have to kill her, Her 2 body guards, and likely a ton of cultists, Or we get husbando'ed by the Grape and live out the rest of our days in venom, snuggly, and sexual bliss.

>>310785

Something is off about this and Im not entirely sure what it is. Possibly its her being to lithe. Her breed is supposed to be a large bodied monster and this picture just makes her scorpion bits look to thin. Almost anyt like.

Can you post all the art of this series so far?

>>310865

>Monsterization of willing participants is none of our business

What are you, a cuck?

Earthquake them, throw the sleeping position into one of the priestess' face, strategically beneficial music from ebe.

>>310941

Agreed. Rommel wouldn't be a very good wizard if he wouldn't have a few problems with monsterization.

>>310941

>not meddling with the personal life choices of complete strangers in a foreign country makes us a cuck

I never thought /monster/ would appeal to nosy old women.

>>310894

Did you not see Ebe's village? She places crippling taxes on rural communities and executes them if they stick up for themselves. It's to the point that people are trying to bring back yandere slaver snakes because they sound less tyrannical. This is to fund her empire, and we all know that it's going to be a "Public costs. Private returns." sort of imperialism.

>>310934

That may actually be the plan. I concede that we should at least hold off the ritual until we are clear of the village so that there is no possibility that any of us are to be sacrificed one way or another. Still, remember that our priority here is finding our informant. Pissing off the cultists would detriment that.

>>310941

Nigga this is some foreign land and we are only here to get the grand wizard, if some cult wants to do whatever cult shit they are up to and we can just leave with no issue then lets fucking leave, we have a wizard to rescue. If we were a holy man of some sort I would agree with you. But we are a wizard on a mission.

>>310967

>we are a wizard

And thats exactly why we shouldn't be ok with monsterization. Wizards protect humanity from monsterkind. That's their purpose and that doesn't just change because we are not in the neighbourhood we grew up in anymore.

Monsterization is heavily frowned upon by many monsters and most humans. What do you think a conservative wizard like Rommel thinks about that shit? Do you think it would be in character for him to just stand idly by while this is going down?

>>310968

I have yet to see Rommel have strong feelings about anything other than slavers. Besides, lets say this whole thing is going to turn that (willing) woman into an Apophis, an extinct species has just been brought back from death, should we really be interfering with that? and frankly, if that does happen and it causes a shit ton of trouble for the Pharaoh it may well make our job easier having some civil disturbance possibly civil war unfolding. Pharaoh is apparently a tyrant, maybe the people would welcome a new rule and it never hurts to not piss off someone like that by fucking with them. Or it could all end terribly for everyone involved, but I am willing to take the risk

>>311027

Son of a bitch I forgot to sage, sorry everyone.

>>310970

>Hurricane

Where you at Ace, roughly? Somewhere in Texas, or you in Louisiana?

Also, as far as what we should do.

I kind of want to see "Had enough of this shit" Rommel. Literally just walk in and start bitching at people. Yell at them about how this is the third town we've been in where we've had to wake up in the middle of the night because people were scheming like dirty Danukis. Don't destroy anything crucial to the ritual just yet, be cranky and cross.

Old Man Rommel FTW

>>311041

Actually, I like the sound of that. Seconding Old Man Rommel.

>>310968

It's frowned upon because it changes the target's mind on a fundamental level. In a sense, the target is not only killed, but their soul is killed too. If somebody monsterizes others, or promotes it then that is bad. But if an informed individual does it to herself then that's a bit more gray. I suppose views on it would be subjective, or a cause of philosophical argument?

On one hand it might be an insult to the gods and one's family, and it sets a standard for people casually destroying themselves.

On the other hand, how can we claim to value the minds of people so much while simultaneously denying their agency? How can we say that the work of the gods is so great while we prevent it from doing the very thing it is designed to do? Is it truly an insult to her family when she is doing all this just to save those she loves?

For the record, Ace, I'm >>310957 and >>310846 . Just don't want to be responsible for a false majority or anything.

And wizards weren't meant to purge all monsters, we are just supposed to balance them out.

>>310970

Good luck. You near the coast?

>>311027

Aww thats not fair, he's had strong feelings about strong things and… Ill have to look through again for where, but im sorry if it never came off that way.

>>311040

Texas born and bred. Ive lived through a lot of hurricanes, though its been awhile since Ive been back home for one. Im stuck at work anyway…

>>311041

>>311065

Going through all these responses is going to be fun, becauee there is no clear consensus I think, though we might be leaning toward not fighting them…

Monsterization doesnt wipe someone's mind or destroy their soul but it changes how they percieve the world and their fundamental values. Libido is kicked up, they can sense things that people normally wouldnt. Its an alien concept applied to you and it feels fucking great (one would assume). The problem is, with such rapid changes, you're fundamentally not the same person you were before. Oh your memories are their, maybe your feelings for people, but you arent the same person. In essence the old you is "dead."

And that, to most people and Monsters, is a little terrifying.

Oh, and remember, Wizards are a weapon for humanity to defend themselves from Monsters. They are yes, a balance in a sense.

We really should interrupt this ritual. We can't be having something like this biting us in the ass later.

>>310782

>Fearing being caught, you pull back and tell this to your group when you hear Lady Aliph say in the crowd, "Oh yes, check on our friend at the Tavern, we are expecting some guests."

Originally I was going to suggest we let this ritual happen while we run far away and forget about, as we ideally want to stay off of the Violet Sand’s shit list for as long as possible so they don’t cause problems for us and we could potentially use the return of an Apophis to our advantage by splitting the Prophet’s resources while we infiltrate the capital. However, considering that they were planning on not only drugging us but then bringing our unconscious forms to the ritual site for some nefarious purpose likely to enthral or sacrifice us implies that, even if we let them do their thing, they’re still going to fuck with us any way because that would help them in their goals despite the fact that letting us do our thing would help them more, which itself implies a lack of knowledge from them about our goals, so we should really nip this problem in the bud before it gets out of hand. There’s also the reason that the majority of the people here likely don’t actually know what they’re getting into nor why it may not be the best idea to go along with it I have my doubts that the lower ranks would know about the existence of Ectrian-murdering Hent-ateh, for example, one of the many things that shows the Apophis aren’t on their side and as such stopping them from making a terrible mistake would be the morally right thing to do, but that may or may not be relevant here.

As for how to go about stopping the ritual, we should abuse the fact that we have the element of surprise because that is always going to be our greatest strength in these situations. As boring as it is to have a similar action to the last event, I would recommend we have Ebe sing a lullaby to put the vast majority of cultists to sleep, with the standard [Amplify] and [Privacy Barrier] to strengthen the song and keep us safe from its effects, because it is unlikely that any but the three near Lady Aliph have any defences against such magic we can open [Magesight] prior to Ebe doing anything to make sure and putting them to sleep would both take them out of the equation and, should the worst case scenario of us having to kill the three important figures become a reality, give us the opportunity to slink away without anyone being the wiser, thus keeping the cultists in the dark about what the hell just happened. We should then use [Build the Wall] to separate the main three from the others to both ensure the safety of the likely innocents and ensure anyone still awake can’t intervene. This would be the point where we could do what a few anons have suggested and yell at the leader for trying to drug us and summon an evil being back into this world via using herself as a vessel should we wish, though she likely won’t care and will try and down the vial any way before attacking us for trying to intervene -- still, it’s worth a shot to see if she reacts differently.

Since we’re trying to stop the ritual, or more accurately any transformations, preventing Lady Aliph or anyone else from consuming the Apophis venom is priority number one, because the moment anyone does so is the moment a transformation or empowerment happens and our lives become oh so much worse. A well placed [Gust] would be impossible to block and should be good enough to knock the vial out of her possession without killing her should we wish to keep her alive and without immediately destroying it in her hands and letting the venom splash onto anyone and potentially causing the same effects as consumption. The vial doesn’t contain the soul of an Apophis like the urn probably did, only the power of one, so it breaking wouldn’t be a huge deal so long as the venom goes to waste, but it might be nice to get our hands on it so we can use it for later, possibly to create some form of magical anti-venom which removes the effects of the indoctrination of anyone bitten so we aren’t completely screwed if another group of cultists successfully brings back an Apophis that we’re forced to deal with there is a person with knowledge of plaguamancy in this story who could help us with this should we attempt it, so considering knocking the vial in such a way that we or someone else in our party could catch it, though preferably not Erwin due to concerns with him breaking the vial in his maw and spilling the venom down his throat; Sophie has pretty good agility and is severely underutilised so she could probably do it safely.

>>311117

With our first move made, the trio are almost certainly going to try and kill us, seeing how they didn’t have the best intentions earlier and we have just fucked with their plans, so be ready to fight. Ephra, being a cold-blooded reptile, is heavily susceptible to cryomancy, so have Sylphie focus on her and use something like basic [Ice] or [Cold Prison] which we still really need to learnto completely disable her without hindering Tabitha in any way, with Sophie giving her back up since the watchman earlier clearly did a thorough inspection of everyone earlier and has as such identified the Cat O’Ninetails present, thus making hiding her identity and tails pointless. Rael strikes me as a former Warden, which makes it likely that she has access to the Blood Ward, so have both Tabitha and Alice engage her pre-transformation, seeing as they don’t use magic and thus don’t have to worry about the magical resistance of the Anubis, and then disengage the moment said effect activates to avoid being overpowered while we deal with her instead, by using our [Metallurgy] to disarm her if we haven’t already and then hitting her with our offensive magic, preferably with pyromancy because geomancy becomes less useful due to her physical strength though blunt trauma worked surprisingly well last time, there’s no risk of setting anything unwanted ablaze in a stone building and we could use the experience with the divination of magic so we can keep increasing our spell pool -- alternatively, if not simultaneously to our own assault, Sylphie could use her fulgurmancy since it was already powerful before and now has the added advantage of being empowered by the [Rutile] on her staff, though that depends on how much of her attention is taken up by Ephra. Lady Aliph could be completely defenceless or an absolutely monster with some hidden weapon or magic, so best if we engage her seeing as we’re the most versatile member of the party on account of being a Wizard and can adapt to nearly anything she might try, be it close range combat with our own not weapon skills and [Rock Solid] which could be used on an enemy to create a pseudo-petrifying effect, now that I think about it or magic with our own spells, especially [Build the Wall] seeing as it’s basically a more general purpose [Counter Circle] another spell we should pick up at some point in case exceptionally powerful magic users crop up later on. Speaking of which, make sure to assist our party with well-placed [Build the Wall]s and [Trench]es when we can afford to do so since they could use the help in combat, with the twins being prioritised due to their lacking combat ability in comparison to the others in the group and our contract of protection with them obliging us to do so.

Assuming all goes according to plan, we would have stopped the ritual and any attempts in the future, incapacitated or killed the major threats so they can’t do anything to us in the future and have kept some semblance of our anonymity in Ectria assuming we gather what we need and leave quietly before anyone else wakes up. Just be ready to retreat in case things go horribly wrong, and make sure that no one gets bitten by an Apophis should the ritual of transformation be successful since that would mean effectively losing our party member to her control; usage of [Rock Solid] on either ourselves the likely target of her attacks or on our party members to block her fangs should be enough to save anyone caught out of position while the others wail on her.

>>311117

>preventing Lady Aliph or anyone else from consuming the Apophis venom is priority number one, because the moment anyone does so is the moment a transformation or empowerment happens

Are we sure that's going to happen? I think we can assume this is correct if the poison is administered to a female. But what about a man? If worst comes to worst we should just pour it down some poor lads throat. Just for fun. Maybe the dude will explode or transforms into some psychopathic Incubus. Maybe he will just paint the entire town white with his semen.

Is that a horrible idea? Absolutely. Has it the potential to create some stupid memes? I sure think it has.

>>311117

Hey man, y'all wanted to sneak in and watch them undetected! I thought about forcing someone to come upstairs too to make you act but this gives a little more freedom.

So I'm being a scrub and watching news reports/ killing myself in ff14 and I lost track of time. Now, going back and looking over the responses (there are quite a few!) It seems the consensus is…

to go out and talk with them/ make sure they don't consume the venom? Is that what I'm seeing here? I want to make sure we're choosing this right, also I can't focus atm…

But I have a tablet and potential tethering in case I lose power! So we have time to get all the responses in, to duke it out, and figure out what exactly we want to do here because actions maybe sometimes have consequences if I can write it correctly.

>>311041

>>311065

Old Man Rommel sounds like the perfect response to this situation

>>311172

What server do you play on on 14?

Also, what region of Texas? About twenty miles North of Galveston here, and getting ready for a shitstorm to start.

>Story Continue

There's no right way to handle this situation. If you do nothing, the ritual goes as planned and you could be looking at a disastrously powerful Monster returned to this world. If you intervene, you get on the shit list of the Violet Sands, because someone will somehow get the word out. If you sit tight and watch, they'll figure out you're gone anyway! In fact, the only thing you have going for you is the fact that the Violet Sands holds no outright hostility toward you and even thinks of you as guests, depending on how nefarious this may or may not be.

So what, you go out there, [Pebble Guns] a-blazing? Kill everyone there, even the cultists who may not even know what they're involved in? Or what, just walk out there and say hello, drink the fruit juice Erwin spied in that bowl in the corner, and then slap the vial out of her hands? Ugh, all you fucking want is a good night's sleep, is that so much to ask? You're only thirty, but you're far too old for this shit.

"Actually." You say, standing up as anger suffuses you. "You know what, fuck it. Sylphie, give me cover, Tabitha, Alice, you get the stairs. Ebe, you're in support if I need you."

"Uhm." The Ghandharva says. "What are you about to do?"

Breaking off a piece of Ronnie with your magic, you further turn him into smaller little pieces of ore which you hold with a tight grip. With that, you take your staff in your other hand and thrust open the door, which slams back against the wall.

Confused shouting is heard from downstairs but you don't care. This was the intention, afterall. Walking over to the railing, you look down upon the assembled group of cultists who look back up at you with wide eyes, alarm in their expressions. The Anubis is already moving to the stairs while the Lamia sits there, hood over her face, though you can see a red, glowing eye underneath. Lady Aliph as well has a momentary look of surprise as well before her features smooth out and she says, projecting her voice,

"Rommel and friends! So good of you to jo-"

She's cut off as piece of hot Ronnie zips past her face and imbeds itself into the far wall. She blinks and makes to touch her cheek, turning about to see the hole in the wall after she finds she's not bleeding. Licking her lips, she makes to speak again, but you beat her to the punch, your voice feeling hoarse and gravely.

"You tell your damn mutt to stop before she gets her limbs chopped off, because I want to yell at you in fucking peace."

Rael doesn't stop up the stairs until Ephra hisses in a way that would normally make your spine tingle. The Anubis's paws stop moving right as she reaches the second to top step, putting her at eye level with Tabitha, who crosses her arms and frowns at the Anubis, not bothering to draw her sword. Of course, considering the position of the attacker, Tabitha would just need one magitek kick to knock her to her doom.

Once the Anubis is settled, paw hand still on her weapon, you turn your gaze back to Lady Aliph and say, "First off, I was looking forward to taking a nice sleep in a bed for a change, getting some supplies, and then going off on my way. I wouldn't have given a shit if we woke up and there's some purple snake rolling around as long as you minded your own damn business."

"But you couldn't, and you didn't, and now you're going to get me yelling at you, or else I'm putting a piece of iron into your head faster than you can say, 'Oh, please don't put a piece of iron into my head.'"

In hindsight, that's rather slow, but the point still stands. Taking a deep breath, you continue in your tirade. "Now then, you're going to fucking tell me why I had to make a man drink his own refined semen because you wanted to bring us as guests to this little party?"

Lady Aliph purses her lips before speaking. "Well, I suppose if you're so courteous as to ask nicely-"

"By the Gods, please don't fuck with me."

She licks her lips and continues, unfazed. "Yes, well, you see, we had heard of what you had accomplished fighting the Royal Guard and had thought that you would wish to aid us in our struggle against the Pharaoh and her tyrannical rule."

Pinching your brow, you say, "You know, I'm not from around here, and I don't much care about your political struggle, but humor me: Why is the Pharaoh a tyrant?"

>>311324

The assembled crowd of cultists all murmur to each other, looking almost outraged that anyone would question her on this. Ephra hisses again to the crowd and they quiet down, still seeming unsettled however as Lady Aliph speaks.

"The taxes she levies are unfair for the people and her guards do nothing but trample over the unfortunate while she sits on her throne and orders her people to fight a country we have no reason to quarrel with. A tyrant who uses her subjects as chattel must be overthrown."

"Eh?" You say, cocking your head. "Way I see it you look like a noble compared to all of these folk here. How are you so on the side of the common folk?"

The cultists burble up at this, voices angry. "You can't talk that way about Lady Aliph!" "She's been here for us for years!" "She's one of us, she understands our plight!"

Lady Aliph holds up a hand, quieting them down as she says, "Clearly, you can see the loyalty here. True, I am off the nobility of Ectria, but I found their ways so repugnant that I came here to be the priestess of this temple, where I have served these people ever since."

"Yeah, and when you found out the secret behind that altar, you went digging and found out you could become a purple snake Monster and take down the Pharaoh with a mob of people who don't understand what's happening." You say, rolling your hand. "For a priestess though, I would have expected you'd keep your dirty laundry a little more well kept."

While you were referring to her undergarments strewn around the room, it does become a nice double entendre and has the effect of the cultists burbling to themselves. They probably know exactly what's going on, but having someone point it out in this way makes them question it, or so you think. The more you talk, the more annoyed you get, but also the clearer you think. As such, you get back on topic:

"Now that we have that established, why again did you need us?"

A flash of annoyance comes and goes on her face. Her hand tightening on the vial, she says, "Because, as a Wizard, your seed would be quite powerful as a catalyst for the ritual." Her gaze turns to Sophie and Sylphie. "Having a little touch of the blood of princesses would be quite useful as well- but only a little!"

Sophie frowns and mutters, "So they did know… but that's not even how that works in the Monster Nation, we aren't princesses."

"So!" You say, stamping your staff on the floor. "To recap: You could have let us just sleep and we wouldn't have been causing any trouble here, but instead you tried to have the innkeeper drug us so you could drag us here, take their blood, and suck me off?"

Lady Aliph shrugs, "In simple terms, yes, I suppose so. I do not see why you are being so hostile about this."

You hold out your hands, shaking them at her with bewilderment. There's no real words to be said at how matter of fact she put this, and she even doubles down by continuing.

"Do you not also have your grievances with the Pharaoh? Does she not currently have their Mother and Father in her possession? What do you stand to gain by hindering us here? Lay down your arms and join us in the ritual! Should you do so, I promise that you will be rewarded quite well for your help." Her eyes flash with something wicked at that, and you can't tell what kind of fantasies she has in her head, but they're probably something perverted.

Your eyes turn to the vial she holds her in her hands, the one filled with the venom of a long dead Apophis. Can this really have the power to change a human into one of their kind? You know what most Monsters have abilities made to improve sexual experience rather than actually hurt them, but what if that vial kills her? You suppose, in a sense, if it works as intended it will kill her, or at least the person she was before.

On an ethical level, maybe she's right, maybe having someone go and stop the Pharaoh would be good for the people, to have someone more benevolent in charge of things outside the capital. Clearly it's a popular sentiment, to have people join a damn cult over such an ideal, but those stories you've heard, what Ebe has told you…

>>311325

You became a Wizard to gain the power to maintain the balance between man and Monster, to make sure nothing like what happened to your family happens again. This land, filled with slavery and greed, is corrupt and needs a change, that much is certain. Is it your responsibility though to guide that path? Your actions almost certainly are changing the course of history, but that's unintentional, not something you want to do. Your end goal is still the same as it was before, to get to the Grand Wizard, but if you do that by ignoring one of the reasons for Wizards existing, are you any better than he is?

Can you just let her turn herself, and possibly others, into Monsters?

The vial of black liquid swirls in her hand as she waits for a response from you. Watching it for a few, tense moments, you ask, "What happens if it doesn't work?"

The crowd goes quiet, their eyes all turning to Lady Aliph. The woman stands before the crowd, lips drawn tight as she sees the questioning look in their eyes, something no cult leader wants. She begins to speak, voice meant to embolden the people, "It will not fail. With the ritual done correctly-"

"WHAT IF IT DOES FAIL?" You shout, voice drowning hers out.

Lady Aliph blinks as if she'd been struck, doing her best not to stagger backward. Her eyes dart back to the cultists and she frowns seeing they will no longer be placated with propaganda. Licking her lips, she says, tone more serious, "There are other means to draw the Apophis back to this world. The San'ha urn has been recovered by one of our sisters and it will as well bring one of our Masters back into this land. As for other relics, I do not know, but our brothers and sisters will stop at nothing until the harmony is brought back to the sands."

The cultists murmur between each other, their fears assuaged, for now. For your part, you feel a sense of dread coming over you. So the Urn would have a similar effect, and you have no idea where it is! Gods, you hope that your sister, if that's truly who that woman is, isn't mucking with this sort of thing. Sadly, you know this isn't true, as she must have known what she was getting into to steal the urn in the first place.

You probably can't stop that ritual, whether or not it would succeed, but you can stop this one right here and it would be easy. What comes after though, is not. There is no doubt in your mind what will happen as soon as you take this course of action, but your conscious can't allow this to happen. Besides, you're tired and cranky.

Raising your staff, you slam it to the floor, casting [Tremor]. The effect is immediate upon the cultists, who jumble about and fall to the floor with cries of alarm. Lady Aliph staggers back as the ground beneath her becomes unstable, the vial tightly held in her hand. Seeing your opening, you throw out your hand and cast [Gust], but before the magic can strike, a wall of sandstone rises up from the floor and intercepts your magic, causing it to fizzle out harmlessly.

Blinking in surprise, you look to see Ephra smirking at you, her hood falling off to reveal an angular face with Ectrian skin and red, ritual tatoos on her face which are a shade darker than her red hair. She pulls a charm from her pocket and you feel magic channeling within her moments before she casts [Tremor] at your group, forcing you off balance!

Once the initial shock wears off, you're able to stabilize your group by reversing the tremors in the ground cast by her spell, but the damage is done. While the cultists are still on the floor, your element of surprise is gone and Rael has used the opportunity to bound up the stairs. The only reason she didn't instantly kill Tabitha is because the Lizardman's magitek legs have stabilizers in them, allowing her to stay upright, though not much else. Though she couldn't draw her blade, she was able to deflect the blow enough, only drawing a small line of blood across her ribs as the spear head slices through her clothes.

Rael, taken a little off guard by this, is unable to utilize the full power of her spear in such close quarters and is forced to pull back, giving Tabitha time to recover, at least a little, before the attack recommences.

For your part, you sense another spike of magic coming and leap to the side as a spike of earth juts forth. Regaining your composure, you make to counter attack against the Geomancer Witch when the whole second story seems to rumble. Looking down in confusion, you, Sophie, and Ebe cry out in surprise as the section of stone you're on gives way, breaking apart underneath you as Ephra's magic destroys the supports and sends you falling.

>>311326

The impact is jarring, and you feel your head swimming as you pick yourself up, using your staff for support. Dimly, you see Ephra digging in her bag to pull out a white vial, fumbling with the stopper to get it open. All around you are screaming cultists, their numbers confused and afraid from the sudden magical assaults. Sophie groans next to you, pushing debris off herself while Ebe managed to dodge the worst of it by flying when the mainstay of the magic hit. She lands next to you with a worried expression, ghitar held in her hands like a weapon, though she looks terrified.

"Rommel! Stop her!" Sylphie cries from above, sending out a burst of magic to drop the wall that Ephra created. It sinks back into the earth to reveal Lady Aliph unstopping the vial. She holds the liquid up, a fanatical look in her eyes.

Ephra manages to get her own vial opened but stops as she looks at Lady Aliph with horror on her expression. "No! Not without the ritual!"

It's too late however, and even though you cast another [Gust], it's doesn't reach her until the venom is already down her throat. Your magic causes her to stumble backward and the vial crashes to the floor, shattering into shards of glass.

You look on in fascinated horror as she begins to write on the floor, arching her back and letting out a scream of agony. Sick, popping noises issue forth from her body as she does so, foam dribbling forth from her mouth as her eyes go wide and begin to bleed. You can't tell for certain, but it looks like her sclera bleeds so badly it becomes black, her iris turning red and her pupils becoming… oh Gods no.

Her pupils become slit like a serpents, her tongue, which is busy screaming, elongates and splits while her ears grow pointed and sharp. Along her cheeks, skin sloughs as scales form while below her waistline the most dramatic change occurs. Though you can't see much under the skirts she wears, you hear more of that squelching, popping sound. She lets out another scream of either agony or bliss and from where her legs should be a long, serpentine tail emerges. It lengthens with speed only possible from arcane magicks, rapidly growing out to the size of Ephra's tail.

It seems to last an eternity as you look on in horror, but it can't have been more than a few minutes, if that. Lady Aliph lays on the ground, her chest, which appears larger now, heaving up and down as she takes in breaths with her new lungs. Her skirts, which barely cover any of her new lower body swish as she rolls to the side and shakily rises, Ephra coming over to help her.

Feeling an intense sensation of loss, of being unable to stop this event, you find yourself surprised when Ephra wails, "Nooo, the transformation failed!"

"What are you talking about? I feel… I feel amazing!" Lady Aliph says, cackling. "Power surges through me! I must be an Apophis now!"

"Lady… look at your skin."

Lady Aliph blinks and looks down at her hands, her eyes growing wide. "No… NOOOOOO!"

It takes you a moment to realize it yourself, but then it hits you. Her skin is the same shade of Ectrian it was before and her scales are a dirty brown instead of the purple that has been described in the stories. Oh, Lady Aliph has monsterized, but she is no Apophis. She is however, by the glare she gives you, quite upset.

"You… you ruined it! With the ritual in place I would have had the power! You could have been willing helpers of the Violet Sands but now you will pay!"

She holds out a hand and hisses, "Give me a vial." Ephra hurries to comply and the newly transformed Lamia downs the white liquid in one gulp before throwing the vial to the ground and hissing at you. "If you will not serve me willingly, then I will have to make you do so BY FORCE."

Above her hand a spiral of purple energy appears, and both you and Sophie cry out, "Dark Magic?!"

From the second floor you can hear the battle raging between Rael and the two swordswomen, their numbers meaning little in the confined space while Sylphie looks down at you with a concerned expression. All around you the cultists are still in their confused state, none rising to attack you, but before you are two very angry and rather powerful Monster Witches. Maybe… maybe it's not too late to say sorry?

Either way, you better think of something fast.

>What do you do?

>>311327

This was a rough one to write because I wanted to stop halfway through with more information written and ask again exactly what people wanted to do.

Reading through the comments again it seemed that, while people had different opinions, there was a majority that wanted the ritual stopped, though without ripping and tearing.

Unfortunately, as you now see, Ephra is indeed a Monster witch and this course of action sadly led to failure. However, because the actual ritual didn't go off, you have an angry snek instead of an angry grepsnek. Unless you do some serious talking down, it's probably going to end in combat here. At least none of the cultists are attacking you… yet.

Anyway, things have changed a little bit, but hey! Here we are. Who knows, maybe this would have been how things would have ended up if the ritual went through after all?

Guess we'll never know.

And if you ask, if the vial was broken onto the floor and she tried to lick it up, it probably wouldn't have been a full transformation but she wouldn't quite be human anymore.

>>311280

Cactuar

And I'm in H-town. It's quiet here atm… too quiet

>>311327

Rommel:

"My Dear, you were and still are a failure. You have not ever had what it takes to be a gRape Snek Apophis!"

>>311327

>If you will not serve me willingly, then I will have to make you do so BY FORCE

I have had it with this disrespect, kill her

>>311327

Let's try a new trick with our pebble gun. [Rapd Fire]

Mow 'e, down.

>>311327

Stopping it was probably for the best. Wasn't dark magic the stuff that fucked over Franz Jack-whatever from the first wizardquest? Nasty stuff. Speaking of which, we probably shouldn't let her finish her animu charging sequence. Do the pragmatic thing and shoot her. I'm sure Sylphie can do something similar to geo-snek with lightning. If geo-snek manages to get a wall up, [Geoflex] a rock through it into them. If they somehow live through that, use [Flurry] like a smoke grenade for cover and send the golems to kill them. If the golems fail, our enemies are magical, so use [Magesight] to see them through the [Flurry] and shoot them.

Once it's over, tell the surviving cult members that this little attempted kidnapping stunt and dark magic use has just destroyed any goodwill they had with us. If they avoid us, they may get lucky and we'll be forced to kill the pharaoh. But we aren't going to be friendly to any other cultists we come across except Helene, but I'm on the fence whether we should tell them that..

Lets keep on with Old Man Rommel. Shotgun blast a huge fucking hole in a wall, toss some spikes up all around that don't hit anyone, and tell them that one of two things are going to happen. Either we're going to go back to bed, and get some sleep, then deal with this shit in the morning, or we're going to deal with this shit permanently, and then get back to bed.

More old man rambling too. We need a two minute spiel about how this is the first time our poor aching back has had a proper back in weeks, and we have to get out of bed to deal with danuki behavior.

Yell at them about how if there was nothing sinister about the ritual, maybe they should have asked us instead of trying to drug us.

We shouldn't outright kill anyone right off the bat unless we need to.

just kill everyone there, we can't let those cultist have a chance for revenge later. burying them alive is a nice option.

>>311326

>"There are other means to draw the Apophis back to this world. The San'ha urn has been recovered by one of our sisters and it will as well bring one of our Masters back into this land. As for other relics, I do not know, but our brothers and sisters will stop at nothing until the harmony is brought back to the sands."

That urn was stolen (by us) and sold to Qi earlier this day, so that would mean one of two things: either Qi likely the referred ‘sister’ in this case, thus almost certainly confirming her as a cultist if it wasn’t already managed to both bring back the urn to her own group of cultists and have someone send this information out to this group before we arrived at the settlement since our golem patrol would have picked up anyone arriving at the site otherwise, or the cultists have a very quick method of communication between groups that we are currently unaware of and should look into. In any case, the cult appears to be less discordant than initially thought.

>>311327

And so we face our first instance of a magic user. We really should’ve used [Magesight] to see this coming, but what’s done is done. It might be a good idea to get into the habit of doing this in the future though, much in the same way we constantly spam [Survey] when walking, so we aren’t caught off guard again, but I digress.

With Rael trying to kill both Tabitha and Alice, and Lady Eliph channelling dark magic to use against us, I’m going to go with my hunch and say that it’s probably too late to reason with them and avoid combat at this point, so we should instead prepare ourselves for it. Before anything else, I’m going to advocate that we avoid using any Geomancy that isn’t for the purpose of countering Ephra’s spells during this battle, at least until she is either incapacitated or dead, because she appears to be a Geomancer or is at least well-versed in how it works and will as such almost certainly counter any spells we cast using our own Geomancy, be it offensive like [Pebble Gun] or defensive like [Build the Wall], making that divination of magic rather useless here unless used to counter her own attacks. Instead, because we will be fighting two Lamias who are cold-blooded, I’m going to suggest Cryomancy again as it is a direct counter to their race, can be used both offensively and defensively and, due to Tabitha being on the upper levels and thus out of the way, will not unintentionally negatively affect the Lizard or any of our other party members so everyone can keep fighting at peak condition.

Lady Aliph has only just transformed into a Lamia, so there’s a possibility that her mind hasn’t completely warped yet and she won’t just solely focus on us due to her libido suddenly kicking into overdrive, so don’t neglect helping our companions if they need it. She is apparently casting dark magic, which has been shown in the past to be exceptionally harmful to any casters that don’t have an affinity for it, so unless she has some kind of divine protection from Dollora that prevents such issues which is highly unlikely given she isn’t a high priestess, merely a priestess of what I assume is a temple dedicated to more than just Dollora she is likely to end up killing herself in our stead, so we should be on the defensive and ensuring our own survival while she ends her own life in her wrathful attempt to kill us. Keep a fair distance between us so we don’t have to worry about her potential venom or dark-empowered physical attacks, and focus on dodging or countering her spells with our non-Geomancy spells since [Build the Wall] will be immediately removed by Ephra such as [Gust] to deflect them, if dark magic spells can be considered to be in the physical realm, or perhaps some kind of [Ice Wall] in a similar vein to [Build the Wall] to block them, should we figure out how to do that.

Ephra should be our primary focus for this fight as she almost completely shuts down one of our strongest divinations of magic with her own, and we won’t actively attacking Lady Aliph unless required. She shouldn’t be too hard to deal with once we get going, since she pulled out what appears to be a vial of semen rather quickly after casting very few spells and didn’t actually get the chance to drink it as she gave it to Lady Aliph instead, implying that her mana reserves are rather low and will run out quickly once she starts feeling the heat or chill in this case, seeing as Cryomancy is the way to go - just make sure to prevent her from drinking any other vials of semen she may have on her person so she can’t prolong the fight. Once again, keep our distance from her to avoid potential venom or coiling shenanigans and keep spamming [Ice] to cause high damage and great hindrance to her movements.

>>311327

>>311381

On the topic of what our companions should be doing in this situation, Sylphie should begin by assisting us with the two Lamias where she can with her own Cryomancy, with [Cold Prison] and [Hail] being good options here due to the disabling properties of the former alongside the potential emergency defence option of freezing a party member to save them from an incoming attack similar to [Rock Solid] and the theoretical area of effect of the latter making it rather hard to avoid <cold-blooded> might also be viable here, but it could potentially affect Tabitha if Sylphie isn’t careful and should as such ideally not be used since Sylphie isn’t really known for being careful with her casts. Should Rael, whom Tabitha and Alice should continue fighting since they’re better suited to do so, prove to be a former Warden and activate the Blood Ward during the battle then Sylphie should swap over to hitting her with [Rutile]-empowered Fulgromancy spells, since we’re too far out of position to take advantage of the Anubis’ dropped magical resistance ourselves while Sylphie isn’t and Rael needs to be put down quickly before she can overpower the two swordswomen. Ebe won’t be doing much other than possibly putting the other cultists to sleep with a [Lullaby] with help from Sylphie for [Privacy Barrier] to avoid fucking us over so they don’t do anything and maybe being ready to catch any of our companions should they fall, as having her play [Bolster Confidence] or [Crusader’s Call] not only has the potential to help our enemies just as much as, if not more than, us, but will also leave her wide open to be attacked, only this time without a nearby Zoras to save her from certain death, making it a bad idea. Sophie can finally do something since she doesn’t have to hide her identity and thus her tails, but she could have issues fighting two spell casters without any magic of her own, especially when they can resist her movement -- best just have her use hit and run tactics whenever possible, maybe focusing on preventing the two Witches from downing any other liquids which may be beneficial to them, or possibly use her agility to climb to the upper floors to assist the two swordswomen in fighting Rael. Mr Ed might be able to swap places with Erwin to assist us without sacrificing his role as lookout, but I’m not sure what he would do other than kick Rael if the opportunity arises.

Other than all that, I guess we could have Sophie take one of the [Health Potion]s and the [Featherfall Potion] to our companions above so that, in case anything does go horribly wrong, we can quickly heal any major injuries and prevent any imminent deaths.

>>311345

R-Rude

>>311348

Everyone is disrespectful on the inside.

>>311355

Wao, That's some serious firepower! Yeah you can do that, though I can't vouch for accuracy. You wanna kill those poor cultists, huh?

>>311357

Man was never meant to hold Dark Magic, it was some weird perversion of magic tied in with Valinthia's reversal of the Grand Transformation that did him in. Dark Magic is granted to Monsters who worship Dollora in the same way as priests with Solos. It's not supposed to be available to Humans or Wizards, but it's not inherently terrible. Which is weird because it's Dark Magic and from Dollora so…

>>311363

Damn kids! I'll work on a ramble, alright?

Stopping a fight with a ramble.. what will these kids think of next?

Stay safe Galveston-bro, it's fucking rough over there

>>311371

Such violence..

>>311373

Ooo smug! Smug is nice.

>>311381

You sir, are making assumptions. And you know what they say about assumptions?

….

Anyway, sounds like a solid battle plan, if we go with further combat this seems pretty good to go with.

>>311404

Beautiful. If the votes are for Old man Rommel fun time, then this will certainly be used. Seems like it's leaning towards this as opposed to combat, but there's plenty of time to look into it! I might write tomorrow as well because uh…

Shit's kind of real here atm.

>>311404

I liking this old man Rommel, voting for this.

>>311405

I'm sure you'll be fine ace. Ammit isn't ready to see you quite yet I'm sure.

>>311405

Im also down for old man Rommel.

But before we do, Lets double cast [Cold Prison] with Slyphie.Wizard pulled it out of his ass while in a bath with a snakey lady trying to accost his naked form, Im sure we can figure it out without much trouble Before we go into old man rant, make it so cold that the semen bottles freeze solid.

>>311405

No shit man. I went to drive in to work, and hit four flooded roads before I said fuck it and turned around. Word is that up near El Dorado Boulevard, closer to Houston, cars are underwater.

Still wouldn't trade Texas for anywhere else though.

>>311405

>it was some weird perversion of magic tied in with Valinthia's reversal of the Grand Transformation that did him in

Great tra- Oh, I wasn't referring to the Cair debacle. Jakoff was screwed before that.

>This was dark magic brought about by divine means, something utterly and completely foreign to you and you could only watch as the power coursed through and consumed his humours, staining them pitch black.

>this metamorphosis has granted him a new lease on life, but only for a limited time. This… Power within him, this darkness was eating at his very core, feeding upon his magic as a power source. This wasn't a new lease on life, it was a deception

Sound familiar? Between that and the crap not-revenant Chakandras pulled, I'm hard pressed to find an example where dark magic wasn't used for messed up shit. So you've got me curious.

Care to elaborate on how it can be used that isn't inherently bad?

And I suspect if a wizard REALLY wanted to use dark magic, they could make some kind of organism to either channel it through or channel it for them, kind of like how the Grand Wizard made Saya.

throw a rock at them and immediatly as they dodge shoot them with the pellet gun

then see if we can use geomancy to bring down the building on everyone

>>311404

also do this as well

its a shame i didnt get to this thread sooner i was going to have rommel ask them to let him inspect the vial being an expert wizard an ally to them and if they did i was gonna have him piss in it

could you imagine if she drank his piss and nothing happened

>>311434

Dark Magic is just a tool. It's uses are often more detrimental to others than things such as Light magic, but it's not used very often since it's not as common and frankly, most Monster Witches don't want to hurt people.

Typical uses are to sap strength from a target, can be used as a magic missile, can induce paralysis, can induce panic and mental duress (Not like illusionists), and other such things.

Where Light magic often gives, Dark magic usually takes. It can be used in a good sense to help calm down people, help with sleeping, etc. At full force, it's very dangerous, but when used subtly it's a good tool.

It's not often used subtly.

>>311419

If you're talking about shoggoth summoning, that happened like, 7 months ago and no one knows about it beyond the twins and Tobias's crew.

If you're talking about anything else that happened in Wizardquest, you were 10 when that all happened

Oh and as far as your other post… That's something you should ask someone in story!

>>311462

>Dark is not evil

I find this trope to be kind of autistic and contrarian, to be honest

>>311520

stare at the sun, then come back to me. Anon

>>311525

Not an argument

>>311460

>>311461

Jesus christ, how horrifying.

>>311520

>>311574

>>311569

>>311525

I don't want to be a part of this, but make the shitposting constructive, alright?

>>311574

it was actually more of a fuck you im fucking done with this shit and this is for ruining my sleep thing

>>311327

Old Man Rommel might not work but it sounds like fun, so let's do that until shit hits the fan. Try and confiscate that charm from the lamia witch while we're at it, would stop her magic and could be useful for us later.

>Story continue

"Fuck this, fuck all of this."

Raising your staff, you slam it on the ground, drawing up a wall which blocks the dark magic hurled at you. The wall falls a moment later, taken down by Ephra, but you expected this. Both of the Lamia look at you in shock as you stride forward through the lowering wall on a direct course toward Lady Aliph.

She summons another ball of dark energy while Ephra builds up more magic. Before either can cast their spells, you fire off a blast of [Shotgun pebbles] with a few pieces of Ronnie. The blast hits the wall to the other side of Aliph's face from the first shot and she staggers, the magic failing and flickering out of existence as her concentration fails.

You weren't aiming for her, but you could feel Ephra desperately pushing your pieces of iron away from Aliph. You likely wouldn't have hit her if you were trying in such a case, but the effect was what you had intended anyway. The Geomancer witch fumbles to regain her composure, but by the time she has a spell up and ready, the temperature around her drops dramatically and she shudders, her own concentration thrown off.

Not sparing a glance for what you know Sylphie has done, you stride forward to the shivering, newly transformed Lamia and raise your staff. She lets out a shriek as you bring it down to… bonk her on the head.

The scene around you goes silent beyond the combat upstairs and Aliph's whimpering. Ephra looks at you with confusion while Aliph rubs her head. The disoriented cultists blink in confusion, but don't say anything, too dazed to process everything that's going on. Lady Aliph looks up at you with her new, serpentine eyes and asks, "What the hells was that for?"

"I should be asking you the very same thing!" You say in your meanest, nastiest, gruffiest voice you can muster. Using such a voice reminds you of your mean Uncle Leroy, the maddest man in the whole damn village. You never understood why he spoke this way, but now it all makes sense. You really are cranky and tired.

"You know, I was perfectly fine just going back to the inn and taking a nap, but no, you wouldn't have let us have that either wanting to take my spunk and their blood. You want to complain that your ritual didn't work? Maybe if you yellow bellied serpents had some damn respect, then this wouldn't have happened. Back in my land, we respected one another and everyone could do arcane rituals in piece! But not here. No, you wanted to pour cum down my throat so you could rape a tired, aching celibate and drain the blood of some innocent young ladies!"

You bop her on the head again with your staff, to which she puts her hands over her head and whimpers, still too confused to make any attack on you, same as Ephra. Grumbling, you continue your rant.

"Damn snakes, you could have had the decency to ask for our bodily fluids. I find something very shady about someone who puts on a good face and whispers out of the corner of her mouth, hmm? And back to this whole ritual thing, you're the one who drank that ancient venom without waiting, so whose fault is it that things turned out this way, huh? Oh you better believe it's not mine."

Aliph protests, "But you tried to break the vial and-"

"DID I SAY I WAS FINISHED MISSY?"

She whimpers and covers her head, "N-No sir."

"THAT’S MORE LIKE IT." You huff and adjust your robes, sort of wishing you had your turban. "Go to another country and they have no manners. It's so shameful it makes my damn back ache. Oh and speaking of back aching, if you'd just left us alone, I could have gotten some good rest for a change and you could have been PURPLE."

For good measure, you bonk her on the head again, though this time she was prepared and caught it on her hands. Grunting, you pull away from her before turning as you hear a cry followed by a thud. The Anubis, Rael, lays on the ground, chest heaving up and down, multiple wounds on her body. She grunts and makes to stand but Tabitha leaps down from the second floor and points her blade at the neck of the Anubis, who snarls once and then goes quiet.

"Ah, Tabitha?" Alice says from the balcony. "You uh… want to take a look at this?"

The Lizardman blinks and turns to look at your group at the altar. She blinks in surprise, same as the Anubis, both of them unable to comprehend what just happened. Frankly, you're not even certain what just happened, but talking to them in such a manner felt… well goshes it just felt great.

>>311711

"Now then." You say, holding your staff up again, to which Lady Aliph holds her hands up. Smirking, you say, "You want to start something little missy?"

"I think I'm older than you…" Lady Aliph mutters before shuddering and crossing her arms. "Would you mind turning the temperature up?"

"No, I like it cold like this, it soothes my anger."

She purses her lips and then sighs. "V-Very well then. Well, you've managed to ruin any dramatic tension here and now I'm just not certain a conflict is worth it any longer, especially since you've incapacitated my bodyguard."

"I'm actually quite alright." Rael says, waving a paw from her prone position.

Lady Aliph clacks her tongue. "Well… I think the point still stands. I suppose the cultists could drag you down while we have an epic magical duel though?"

One of the cultists raises a hand. "Actually, I think we're fine, thank you for asking." The other cultists mutter to themselves in approval, clearly not wanting to fight any longer.

"Bother." Sophie sighs, letting her tails out since everyone knows anyway. "I was hoping to be useful here." As she says this, some of the cultists back away, eying her tails with apprehension.

"S-so." Ephra says, shuddering. "W-What happens now?"

"Well that's a damn good question!" You say, turning back to the cult leader. "You failed in your ritual to become a purple snake and now you're a brown snake. Did you really not plan for this? Should have answered my question earlier, maybe you'd have some contingency plan. What made you think this would have turned you into an Apophis anyway, eh? Why did you not think this would kill you?"

Lady Aliph puffs out her cheeks. "Look, the inscribed rituals inside the altar around the vial said it would unleash the gifts of the Apophis upon those imbued with the venom. It should have worked!"

"Uhm." Ebe says, dropping from the sky to stand next to you. "Wasn't the gift of the Apophis to Monsterize people into Lamia? I mean… it looks like it worked?"

Ephra and Aliph both turn to look at Ebe before furrowing their brows with consternation. Ephra puts a hand under her chin and mutters, still shivering, "Mmm, that could be one way to interpret the text written there. The rituals seemed a little more involved than a simple catalyst as the venom could have produced, but why would they have that present with just the venom? But no, you have the eyes of the Apophis, so something should have happened…"

Lady Aliph hisses, shaking her head. "Twins, you're telling me that I lost my beautiful legs for only a half-transformation?"

Ephra shrugs, "I-I suppose? Do you feel more powerful?"

"Well." Lady Aliph says, summoning a ball of dark magic. "I suppose. It's easier to conjure up my magic, though I was going for a fireball…" She looks at the ball of dark magic. "Hmm, now that I'm a Monster, I suppose my faith has granted me access to this?

"Wow, great, fantastic." You grumble. "So, now that your damn ritual is ruined and we're not going to fight anymore, can I just go to bed?"

All of the assembled cultists mutter to themselves, shrugging. The fight is out of them now, so they mill about, waiting for some orders. Lady Aliph watches this and turns to look at Rael as Tabitha helps her up, the Anubis brushing dust off her. The Lamia flicks out her tongue, rubs the back of her head, and sighs, "Well… I mean, I could relieve some of your tension with a good fucking. Honestly now that the adrenaline is gone, I'm starting to feel some of the changes. How do you Monsters stand this, I feel like I could fuck a horse!"

A few cries of panic are heard from outside. Moments later, the doors burst open as a cultist cries and flies through the portal, landing on the rubble pile. She whimpers in pain as Mr. Ed strides in, snorting as he stands over the cultist. He looks around as everyone stares at him and wickers before pawing the ground.

You look at the horse and then turn back to Lady Aliph who flicks out her tongue nervously. She chuckles, "Aha… I didn't mean… literally."

"Well, if you bother me again from my sleep, then I'm going to send him up to your room, alright?!"

Lady Aliphs blinks and then cocks her head, as if entertaining the idea. This lasts only for a few moments before she shakes her head violently and says, "NO! No thank you, I believe I'll be fine."

Sophie snickers at something and you turn to look at her with confusion. Pointing behind her, she says, "Sylphie says you're not his type anyway."

Ephra and Lady Aliph look at each other with exhausted expressions before slumping their shoulders, totally defeated.

>>311712

A ray of sunlight strikes your face, rousing you from your slumber. Blinking your eyes, you grumble in annoyance as you turn over, pulling the covers over your had. As you do so, you find yourself face to face with Ebe, the woman sleeping soundly next to you. Frowning, you notice she's far more clothed than she was last evening. Still, her sleeping face is a little too unnerving and you find you're unable to go back to sleep.

With a sigh, you sit up from the bed and stretch. Something pops in your back and you sigh in relief, scratching yourself before getting up and getting dressed. Behind you, Ebe stirs in the bed and mumbles, "Mornin'…"

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Mmph… I guess." Ebe sits up and yawns, ruffling her hair, which looks rather disheveled. "Looks like they didn't attack us over night."

"And damn well they shouldn't." You say. "If anyone came close, my golems would have torn them apart."

"I don't…" Ebe begins before shaking her head. "I don't think your golems would have done that."

"No, but I would have noticed any changes in my magic."

"Oh." She says, yawning. Shaking her head, she climbs out of bed and walks over to you, putting her wings on your shoulders. You frown at her and she sighs, using her wings to adjust your robes. "I'm not going to do anything like that with you, you've made it abundantly clear."

"Not quite what I meant, but I'm glad you understand."

Ebe looks down, a little troubled. "I just wanted to say… sorry about last night. I thought that maybe… being close with someone might help you out after what you told us. I should have thought more about it, especially since it was a Monster who did that to you."

Scratching your head, you look down at the downcast Ghandharva. Though things were a little awkward, you know she was being genuine and thus you can't really get that mad at her. With an inward groan, you say, "I know Ebe. I know this is all rough for you too and you just want us to feel better."

"Y-Yeah." She says, still looking a little troubled. "I won't do it again…"

"It's forgiven." You say, waving a hand and taking up your staff. "Let's go get some breakfast-"

Your voice cuts off as you notice her wing is on your robes. Furrowing your brow, you turn to see the Ghandharva with her head down even further, expression downcast. Her mouth quirks momentarily before she asks, "I don't want to leave everyone. I know I cause you trouble, and I know I don't really bring much to the group but… but I want to help Sophie and Sylphie, I want to help… I want to help you."

"Ebe, come on, we just-"

>>311713

"Do you not like me?"

You look at her in confusion. "What? Why would you think that?"

"B-Because I'm a Monster, and I was pushy. I know I said it before, but I didn't understand and I forgot, and I wasn't thinking and-"

She cuts off as you place a hand on her head. Sighing, you gently rub her head, fingers getting lost in the tangles of her golden hair. "Ebe…" You begin. "When I first began this trip, I did hate Monsters. There's no way I could have been in the same room as one let alone share a bed with you. Maybe I still don't trust most Monsters, but I know at least you're genuine in everything you do."

Taking a deep breath, you continue, "So no, I don't hate you. In fact, I like you far better than I do Alice."

"B-Because she's a slut?"

"Because she's a slut." You say, patting her head one final time before withdrawing her hand. She fidgets, a goofy little smile on her face. Rolling your eyes, you say, "Come on, we should get some breakfast."

"Oh, I suppose we should wake the others up first." Ebe says, making for the door. You catch her by the shoulder and say,

"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary." Holding up a finger, you wag it once, twice, three times and-

A loud shriek comes from the room across the way. Moments later your door slams open and Tabtiha flings Erwin at you, the fox giggling like mad in your head. Catching him with one arm, you look at Tabtiha with innocence and ask, "Whatever seems to be the matter?"

"You damn Wizards and your damn pranks." She say, gritting her teeth. You notice she's only wearing underclothing, exposing her toned abdomen. Not seeming to care about how she looks, she points at Ebe and says, "You should keep him from doing these sorts of things."

"What?" Ebe says, looking confused. "What did I do?"

"Yes Tabitha, what happened?"

The Lizardman growls, "Don't you play coy, you asked your familiar here to shriek like… like some damn vixen or something."

Sylphie pokes her head out from behind Tabitha. "Actually, a male fox is called a reynard so…" She cuts off as Tabitha glares at her. "Ehm. I mean, you're both despicable, grrr."

From down the hall, Alice (wearing next to nothing and not caring) pokes her head out. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing!" Sylphie says. "Just Rommel being Rommel."

"You want I should get my sword?" Alice asks, sighing when Sylphie shakes her head.

Looking at everyone assembled, you clap your hands and say, "Breakfast anyone?"

>>311714

In short order, you find yourselves at a table of the tavern, plates of hot food before you. Though it's a small town, they have enough to feed paying guests, though the innkeeper graciously allowed you in for free. While awake, he still seems groggy, though he doesn't bat an eye when you ask him to taste the food he gives you before you eat. Since he doesn't pass out or die, you assume it's alright to eat.

"I'm surprised." Alice says, popping some flatbread in her mouth. "I figured they'd try something again."

"Me too." You say, shrugging. "But I'm glad they didn't. I didn't have the patience for that."

"You sounded like an old man back there." Sylphie says, giggling. "Old man Rommel, putting the kids in line."

"Don't you give me lip you whippersnapper or it's the cane for you."

"Oh no~" Sylphie cries with a playful tone.

The door to the tavern opens and the innkeeper hurriedly makes an awkward bow as Lady Aliph and Ephra enter through the door. The newly transformed Lamia slithers around with some difficulty, her tail knocking over chairs, much to her annoyance as she makes her way over to you. Managing to successfully appear, she stops next to you and nods her head. "Good morning."

"You'll understand if I'm not as keen on speaking with you." You say, popping a date into your mouth.

"Of course." She says. "You seem as if you got a good sleep, yes? In that case perhaps you'd be willing to talk-" She cuts off as you shake your staff at her. "Could you not shake that please?"

"Tch." You say, putting the staff down. "Since you asked nicely."

"Yes, indeed." She says, flicking out her tongue. "Well, here we are, after running foul of our ritual, no one is seriously hurt and I am now a Lamia and not an Apophis." She looks at her tail and frowns, "It's taking some getting used to. Did you know that you can taste the air?"

"Sort of." Tabitha says, to which the rest of you group looks at her with surprise. She shrugs as Lady Aliph continues.

"Beyond that, there are these… urges. I don't know to describe it but-"

You cut her off by holding up a hand, "Look, I don't really care about your urges. I just want to eat breakfast, get some supplies, and leave."

"About that." Ephra says, speaking up. "You are headed to the capital then? From what we hear, you are on your way to rescue the Grand Wizard and the Monster Lady."

Narrowing your eyes you say, "How do you know all this anyway? How could you know about that Urn so quickly as well?"

Ephra frowns and looks to Lady Aliph who sighs and pulls her necklace from between her cleavage. Upon the chain sits a similar serpent icon as what you saw before in Ebe's village and the crypt. Cocking your head, you look up at her and say, "That's the symbol of the Violet Sands, right?"

"Indeed." She says, rubbing it with a finger. "They do not just mark our members, but also serve as a means to communicate with each other. They are imbued with magic that allows us to speak with one another over great distances."

Whistling, you make to touch it, but she pulls the charm back. "Only those devoted to the cult can utilize it, however. For you it would be a bauble, however…" She leans forward, giving you a good view of her augmented chest. "You could have killed us, and yet chose not to. You are heading to the capital and will almost certainly run afoul of the Pharaoh. Your aims seem to line with ours so… why not join forces? We could offer you assistance with our members as you offer us assistance."

She chuckles and flicks out her tongue, "Scratch my scales, I scratch yours, yes?"

Ephra coughs and mutters about you not having scales, but Lady Aliph doesn't seem to notice. She stares intently into your eyes, her slit-pupils boring into you. Slowly, her tongue flicks out and she says, "What do you say, brother?"

>What do you do?

Turns out a great way to diffuse a situation is to fucking be confusing and rant like an old man!

Also your reputation with the Violet sands is like, +20 or something. Hey, you want to join them?

Anything else you want to do while in town? Beyond that it's a few days in the desert before you reach Jahardin.

Fuckin old man Rommel… beating people with sticks.

If you're questioning why people aren't as unnerved by her transformed state, they aren't showing it/ everything was super weird yesterday.

>>311727

>>311715

not sure about joining the VS, but our next course of action once we leave the town is to start to learn how to channel magic through our golems

Might as well sign up. It's good to have group resources for our journey.

>>311715

Hooray for our new allies, with any luck that means our travels gonna be more smooth, use this moment to get some info, Aliph is someone important on this cult so she might know a way to get us as quickly and safely to our destination inquire further on that.

It would probably be good to find out some shit about the VS and what they stand for before we make the call on whether or not to join. Like, do they actually want the Apophis in charge, or do they just want the Pharaoh gone? Also, what is their opinion on certain Ectrian cultural norms, namely, slavery, since we really aren't fond of that.

Sure, why not? I'm not convinced the apophi dindu nuffin, but if they do succeed in bringing them back and the apophis causes trouble for us then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Don't outright join, but agree to an alliance.

However what does concern me about all this is Ebe. We deleorians have no stakes beyond rescuing our targets and the opportunity to kill things and ride dick, but Ebe lives here and she has family. She knows she's committing a felony by traveling with us, but actually helping allies of the cultists is another story. Not only does it place her and possibly her mother too in far greater danger, but also she has shown fear and disdain for the apophi. We lose nothing by Ectria becoming a grapocracy, but for her the risk is very real. I think that we should have a private word with her to see what her thoughts on the matter are. At the very least, it might be prudent for the cultists to tell one another that she is an oblivious tag-along so that she doesn't have to worry about being wanted for high treason/heresy.

This seems to be a problem Ebe keeps getting herself into: She joins a group of travelers for "adventure" and finds herself getting dragged into highly illegal and immoral campaigns and her only choice is to play the innocent girl that got duped when things go south.

>>311749

This. We should ask her for the Red Herb, at least so we know what the VS as a people stand for.

And we probably should get those goggles now.

>>311462

Oh, right you are. I always thought that Illusionistquest happened 10 years after the mountain blew up, not 19. I am a stupid nigger.

Hey here's an idea:

Let's get ourself a long steel chain. When we get proficient enough with controlling steel, we can make it burst from our [Trenchcoat] to bind, flail or just grab things like a big steel snake/tentacle. We could affix a carved snake head to the chain and with golem magic maybe we could even turn it into a snake golem for our little stone golems to ride around on.

And another thing we should do while we're here is ask if there is any enchanted items that would keep us cool with our jacket on. We need our jacket back, dammit! The town has a monster witch and cult connections so there is a slim possibility.

>>311779

That chain idea sounds really awesome.

I didn’t think things in Texas could get worse.

>>311715

>"What do you say, brother?"

Teaming up with the cultists is an interesting prospect, but it isn’t to be taken lightly given the implied consequences for doing so. On one hand, pledging ourselves to assist them would reduce the number of cultists trying to ruin us only those who disagree with the alliance would oppose us and grant us access to all of this cell’s resources and plans possibly more if the Violet Sands were to further unify of which we could use to increase the chances of successfully rescuing Selene and the Grand Wizard, as well as the possibility of information relating to our long-lost sister and the possibility of overthrowing the Prophet, who is quite clearly a tyrant by this point. On the other hand, said resources and plans could possibly be useless to us and assisting the cultists means we are assisting the return of the Apophis, of whom may or may not be worse than the current ruling party but are at least pretty terrible themselves, which could end up very poorly for us, especially if or when, most likely the Apophis, upon gaining control of the capital, decide we’ve outlived our usefulness to their cause and are now considered enemies to be killed or enslaved.

Before we make the final decision, we should discuss the matters with both every member of our party individually as well as Lady Aliph herself. The former is for fairly obvious reasons, what with our party having to be committed to an action before we do it and how they can give ideas themselves on what to do. The latter is because right now we’re still not clear about why the Violet Sands thinks bringing back the Apophis is a good idea -- as >>311749 brings attention to, they’ve only ever mentioned why the Prophet is to be overthrown, not why their alternative is the superior option – and Lady Aliph is the perfect candidate to give a cultist view on the matter, seeing as she’s the leader of this cell, thus sharing a lot of her follower’s views or more accurately the other way around, and was once on the opposite side of the conflict and can as such speak for both sides. When discussing, make sure to bring up the myriad of reasons why we personally think the Apophis aren’t a great replacement, from the existence of the Ectrian-murdering abomination Hent-ateh to the malevolent presence inside the urn we stole indirectly for the Violet Sands to the fact that the Apophis have access to venom that causes monsterisation which implies they turned human women into monsters against their will and so on, to see how she reacts to and justifies these points. If she can’t and has second thoughts about the matter, then we would have saved a group of primarily innocent people from making a terrible mistake by following through with what is left of their plans. If she can, then we can at this point decide whether or not it’s worth risking the return of the Apophis by throwing our lot in with the cultists to help out our own cause.

>>311715

>>311889

Personally, I think we should join forces, at least up to a certain point. Our goals don’t completely align, seeing as we merely want to save our marks while they want to overthrow the Prophet and replace her with another ruling party, but there is enough overlap that it would be beneficial to us overall, and the possibility of finding SHelene once again is too good to pass up, especially since we would be able to freely discuss these matters with her. So long as we don’t assist them up to the point of ensuring the fall of the Prophet or the return of the Apophis we should be in the clear, and even if we accidentally do we will at least have rescued two of the most powerful spell casters in Deleor of whom can assist us in cleaning up any mess we would have made doing so, so it isn’t a complete disaster. Of course, Ebe may have her complaints about this course of action based on her views on the Violet Sands and the Apophis, but seeing as we, Sophie, Sylphie and Tabitha are all here for the sole purpose of saving our marks and not ensuring the well-being of a country that is built on slavery and has tried to fuck with us at every turn while she lacks a proper reason for staying with us overall, along with the fact that we can fix any mistakes we make in the process of our mission afterwards so the lasting consequences are minimal, she can frankly deal with it or leave the party if it’s that much of an issue for her.

If we’re giving our assistance to the cult, be it minimally or fully, then stay behind and discuss what the next steps are with Lady Aliph, otherwise prepare to leave. No matter our decision, make sure to stock up on supplies for our journey towards Jahardin, possibly get some magical practise in and engage in party banter before and possibly after we depart, though not with Ebe seeing as she just had the spotlight on her and completely dropped the ball during her scene which increased my distaste for her further, but I digress and Sophie, Sylphie, Erwin and Tabitha are all candidates worthy of our attention.

>>311775

>This seems to be a problem Ebe keeps getting herself into: She joins a group of travelers for "adventure" and finds herself getting dragged into highly illegal and immoral campaigns and her only choice is to play the innocent girl that got duped when things go south.

Speaking of which, I still find it hard to believe Ebe didn’t know that group she was travelling with when we met her consisted of slavers, what with the huge metal crates, chains, hiring of armed guards, lack of anything being transported in said crates moving into Deleor and the fact that she is from Ectria, a country with a culture entirely based around enslaving some other poor sod to do your dirty work for you, and should really know better, especially seeing how she is clearly aware of the slave culture and is able to identify the Khepri as slave traders despite seldom seeing them. Naivety only goes so far in this case.

>>311779

>Chain idea

This has potential, though more so for the remote binding aspect on targets that are magically resistant and possibility of grabbing and displacing an opponent than as a mount for our already pretty fast friends in my eyes. It’s definitely something worth considering and would give us an excuse to further enhance our [Metallurgy] so flying weapons is finally a thing.

>>311715

Teaming up with cultisits is a terrible, terrible idea.

Not teaming up with them might cause some problems in the long run, but teamming up with them would cause even more problems.

>>311729

Hrrrrmmmm. Maybe Ephra knows something about that? She is a geomancer afterall.

>>311731

That's one ritual tattoos

>>311734

Two for ritual tattoos

She would certainly know of ways to get into the capital undetected. However that would likely require you just skipping over Ammon's informants.

Ooo juicy.

>>311749

Good things to know before you get ritual tattoos, mhm.

>>311775

Fair enough points.

As far as Ebe goes with all of this… That is a good point. She seems fairly well attached to the group at this point, but how she feels about the Apophis. Who's to say she wants to stay in Ectria? Guess we'll find out what happens as it goes along, but I think at this point she sort of committed to y'all. At least how she's written now.

Oh and it's a small place but maybe someone has some goggles around here…

>>311779

A long, steel chain. Mmm, not going to find that here, but probably in Jahardin?

>>311889

Oh yeah it's really bad. I'm doing well though!

>>311889

Well I have to give hard decisions sometimes, especially since y'all chose to be an old, cranky man instead of indiana jones. Who…. becomes an old… cranky man….

Yeah looks like it's talking it over with them. I might just have to make next update giving information and then going for the final y/n. Unless people really, REALLY are set one way or another?

Weh, I'm sorrrrrryyyy. But it is what it is now.

>>311890

No, she was like, REALLY innocent. She may have had her guesses but she really didn't think things through like most young women who want to leave home and end up in a rom-com with Cher.

Remember, she's traded with the Khepri before and of course she'd be told things. Hell, the Khepri may have even tried to sell one before!

>>311911

Someone who doesn't think working with a cult is a good idea? Shocking! Think of all the things you could learn! Like where that urn is,or other important things.

I'm joking about ritual tattoos btw. Probably.

tell her we'll join her if she can beat ebe in a dance off

>>312028

also were dancing with ebe too it'll be pairs so she needs to pick a partner

>>312030

>>312028

Hilarious but I vote against thisat least the partners bit anyway.

>>312068

im sorry, just got off work and forgot about my sage

>>311715

So long as the cultists don't try to do anything to us and are upfront about what may arise should we perform any requests for them, this could work out somewhat. Refuse any tattoos though, because they are degenerate and could be used to identify us as something we're not later.

>>312028

>>312030

>Dancing with second-worst girl

>Dancing at all

>Leaving a choice like this up to chance

How about no.

>>311919

>>312106

Yeah let's not get tatoos and other shit like that. I in for a alliance but not anything like a tatoo who might be or not be enchanted at any point also things like tatoos are a dead giveaway for "Hey chump look at me I'am working with those wacky cultists" so yes for allies and no for tattoos.

>Story continue

The question surprises everyone present. Well, everyone but you anyway. The twins turn to each other, muttering dark words while Alice scratches her chin trying to think it over. Tabitha grunts and looks displeased while Ebe frowns in consternation, lost in thought. Erwin looks up at you from his plate of food, cocking his head and remaining silent for your answer.

Crossing your arms, you close your eyes and take a deep breath, thinking it over. You can feel the collected tension around you as you do so, which makes sense. This situation is very serious as your answer could change the entire course of your journey! Going forward with the Violet Sands would allow you access to resources and some of the populace, which may be more useful than just Ammon's informants.

However, there is also the problem of what the Violet Sands intends to do by bringing back the Apophis anyway. Sure, you don't have much of a vested interest in Ectria as it stands but something doesn't quite feel right about delivering these, and you hate to say it, snakes, to ruling over a country. It just feels… slimy, for some reason. Of course, it's not the first time you'd cause major regime change on this adventure, so why get so worked up about it now? Fucking Ectria keeps trying to kill you anyway.

Still, you sigh and open your eyes to say, "I'll need some more answers before I agree to something like this." Looking at your group, you say, "Before WE, I should say."

Sophie's eyebrows raise as she says, "You're considering this then?"

"Might be worth our while." You say, shrugging. "Pharaoh has what we're here for and they don't like the Pharaoh so it might work out well. Especially with supplies and housing, etc."

"Mmm yes, we do have plenty of help with that. Many cells all over the country, even though I hear that our brethren near the Chasm of Regret were killed before they could complete their own ritual." Lady Aliph says with a sigh. "They had the Talisman of Tet'hua as well, said to be imbued with the greatest magic of the Apophis."

"So they were also seeking to become an Apophis?" Sylphie asks, still looking perturbed. "I apologize for being blunt but… why would you want to give up yourself like that? Monsterization is…"

Lady Aliph smirks, a twinkle coming to her eyes. "Dear girl, I haven't felt this good in years. More so since I had one of our brothers ah… break me in last night. I never knew semen could taste so good! Not to mention the smells and the sensations, ah… if I knew being a Monster would feel this good, I would have cast away my humanity ages ago!" She chuckles and winks to Alice before pulling back as if struck. Looking over, you can see Alice has the deepest, scariest scowl you've ever seen someone give, a far cry from her normal, lewd self.

"Ah…ahem." Lady Aliphs says, coughing into her hand. "Yes, what were we talking about? Oh, becoming Apophis, well." She closes her eyes and takes a steadying breath before speaking. "The cult of the Violet Sands is formed of the remnant followers of the Apophis from centuries past when they existed before. Generation after generation passed down the relics of their masters, entrusting it to their children to safe keep until the time the power was released back into the world. Where once Apophis were seen as masters, they soon faded into legend, then to myth. To many devout, the Apophis are spoken of as demi-goddesses."

Licking her lips with her long tongue, she continues, "The Apophis knew they were to be destroyed, saw that the Pharaoh had beaten them. But they knew that their message would be needed in the future, and so they imbued their essence into various items and lay in dormancy, waiting to be returned. Despite mild surface activity, we've known that the only true way to unite the people against the Pharaoh is with an equal force: that of the Apophis."

You let that sink in for abit, mulling it over on your tongue. A question comes to mind, but before you can ask, Tabitha does it for you.

"What is so special about Apophis anyway? How do they differ from normal Lamia?"

>>312162

It is Ephra who speaks this time, clearing her throat to get attention. "I believe I can answer that. Apophis are not a natural species of Monster. As far as we know, there were never any serpents from before the Great Transformation who match this description, and as such all we have to go on are legends." She pauses to collect her thoughts,

"Millenia ago, when the first Pharaoh was granted her power from the Gods, there were those who saw the dominion being created and rebelled against it. They saw the way the armies of the Pharaoh would brutalize people into submission, forging the disparate pieces of Ectria into a whole country. Many did not like this, but what could they do? The Anubis were too strong and the magic the Pharaoh wielded was too great. They could only submit."

She raises a finger. "However! In the farthest corners of the Desolation, near the Chasm of Regret, a group of Lamia who had seen these acts, bandied together and cried out for succor from the Twins. They wished fervently to protect the people and give an alternative to the rule of the Pharaoh. Perhaps it was because of the location to such a Gods touched region, or perhaps it was the strength of their wish, but something divine touched them and granted them immense power.

"Their skin and scales turned violet, their sclera becoming pitch dark. Power coursed through their bodies and they became exquisite spellcasters as well as beauties beyond compare. When they emerged from their ritual, the people were awestruck by their magnificence, and followed them without hesitation.

"The Pharaoh did not expect such a thing to occur, and her forces were soundly beaten away from the Chasm, and then further back to the capital until Ectria was divided north and south. For generations, this was maintained, each side taking some territory from the others here and there, but no real gains occuring. During that time the Pharaoh had children, and the Apophis did as well, also find that their bite could, if they did so wish, imbue a follower with part of their strength and turn them into Lamia, who would serve as their lieutenants. For a time, the people lived well, adoring their mistresses.

"It wasn't until Pharaoh Kissa, the snakeslayer, grew to womanhood that she trained the first Anubis Wardens and brought an unexpected fury to the lands of the Apophis, destroying them one by one. The Apophis were unprepared, and desperately tried to protect their people, but Kissa was a stronger Witch than they, and had made an enchanted staff to drain the powers of the Apophis, eventually forcing them to put their power away as the last Apophis was killed, her vital essence torn away and placed into the staff. After that, the Pharaoh line never left the Kingdom of Set'et, but their armies made sure that no one would forget who ruled the sands."

Ephra exhales, her history lesson finished. For your part, you find this utterly fascinating to hear legends and history of other lands, but the others don't seem as enthused except maybe Sophie, who rubs her chin while eying the Lamia. Ebe is the one who speaks up first though, fidgeting as she is next to you.

"That's… that's not how I heard it at all."

"Oh?" Lady Aliph says, leaning over with her long body. "Were you told that the Apophis were brutal dictators who conquered with force? Do not believe everything you hear, for I was told the same thing growing up in the capital. It wasn't until I saw the people here while resting on a trip during my priestess training that I realized how terrible things were."

Tabitha narrows her eyes. "It seems like these Apophis had lots of time to practice their skills. I'll be frank, what makes you think that if some people are transformed into Apophis that you will be able to defeat the Pharaoh after she managed to beat the strongest spellcasters in Deleor?"

Ephra and Lady Aliph trade looks before the cult leader says, "There is a reason the Apophis of the past put their essence into these items. When invoked correctly, their spirit will be present with the bearer of their new form." She touches the scales on her cheek which rim the flesh of her face. "Since my own transformation was… incomplete, I was not granted such a luxury. If the spirit of this Apophis was present… it's gone now."

They both look somber at this, but Alice seems horrified. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that people who do this are going to have long dead snakes talking in their heads?"

>>312163

"Well of course." Ephra says, looking surprised. "They would have the wisdom of the past along with the knowledge of the present! Together with the cells we have placed over the region, were have the keys to victory in our grasp. She will not consider this approach."

"Hmph." You say, thinking it over. Something doesn't sit right with that description though. These sound like revenants, though as far as you know, a revenant can't be willingly made. Of course, you've seen stranger things happen before, though if these Apophis don't know they are revenants or something similar, then how keen would they be to just sit on the sidelines giving advice while someone runs around with their power…

Scratching your head, you sigh and say, "It makes sense, I suppose. But have you considered what you're going to do AFTER the Pharaoh is gone? You'll have created quite the power vacuum, and depending on how many Apophis there will be, how will you stabilize the country?" Narrowing your eyes, you ask, "Or do you just want the Pharaoh dead and gone?"

Ephra pulls back, surprised, though Lady Aliph chuckles and says, "It will be up to the Apophis, I am afraid. There will be some turbulence, I suspect, however once control of the capital and the ports is maintained, we will go out to the towns and villages and give them succor under their rightful masters."

"I see." You say, folding your hands together. "And will you also free the slaves?"