/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance

>>384352

Tobias

Tall grass rustles gently in the early summer morning as the leyway rushes by. Despite being so large, it is both fast and quiet, emitting only a low hum which quickly fades as it speeds down the tracks toward its destination. Soon enough, the scenery returns to normal, as if it was never there.

You sit at the window, watching the scenery rush by from within the leyway, sighing in contentment. Despite traveling on leyways quite frequently these days, you never tire of the majesty of the magitek transportation devices. Sometimes you wish you could just live on one of these, especially this Mk.III Raptor special with integrated- well, you’re getting ahead of yourself. Your wife would never allow it.

Turning your attention away from the idyllic scene outside, you smile as you see an even more beautiful sight. Sitting comfortably in the plush seat next to is a woman of average height with short, black hair and fair skin. Her physique is slim yet athletic and she wears black clothing which hugs her body in ways which are both practical and easy on the eyes. Speaking of which, she looks up when she notices you and you can’t help but smile as you look into the one brown eye and the other red, arachnid one.

“Oh uh, hey honey.” You say scratching your chin. “You’re doing it again.”

“Huh? Oh, right, sorry?” She says, rubbing at the eye. It shapes like putty under her hand before coming to resemble the other one. “Better?”

“Yeah, looks good to me.” You say, nodding your head. “How’s the little one?”

“Sleeping, for now.” She says, smiling as she looks down at a bundle in her arms.

A formless, black goop sits in her arms, looking nothing so much like a ball of tar. For some reason it doesn’t slide out and around the blanket it’s swaddled in however, instead jiggling softly as if breathing, but making no other movements.

“She looks like her mother.” You say, smiling down at the form and gently running a finger over it. It shudders softly in response.

“Oh, so I look like a ball of tar, huh?” The woman asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“How did I fall for you again, Tobias?”

“Because of my roguish looks and silver tongue?”

She merely rolls her eyes and you chuckle before leaning over and kissing her gently on the lips. She doesn’t resist, melting (figuratively) into the embrace until you pull back, smiling. Stretching, you lean back in your seat and ask, “So Saya, why did your father want us coming to the capital again?”

“Not sure.” Saya says, shrugging. “I found it a little odd that he sent a paper letter via Clarissa again as opposed to sending leymail like he did after he got back a few months ago. All that was in it was a request to come into the city to speak with him.” She frowns. “I find it odd he asked that we not bring Akela though.”

“Despite her memories, she does still like parts of Sanctifrond anyway.” You say, shrugging. “Well, we’ll have to make it up to her when we get back. She’s a big enough girl to take care of herself and Clarissa will drop by every now and then to check up on her.” A mischievous grin touches your face.

“I’d say we could make this into a romantic little getaway, if not for this little one.”

Saya sighs, looking down at the bundle again. “Well, it’s not exactly like I could leave her with anyone. No one would know how to care for her. Hells, I don’t even know how to care for her.”

“We’ll figure it out.” You say, putting a hand on hers. She smiles at it and then frowns as she looks back at up at you.

“For a man who is going to meet his in-laws, especially in-laws of such reputation, and going with a small child that will take his wife’s absolute attention, you don’t look overly bummed out.”

“Well.” You say, realizing you’re smiling like a giddy schoolchild. “I mean, you know, your father was kind of absent from our wedding and then that business in Ectria-“

“You brought that book, didn’t you.”

“Oh come on!” You say, digging at a bag next to your seat and pulling out a beaten copy of [Wizardquest]. The massive tome has scratches on the cover and the pages are a little worn from flipping through them, but the book is in mostly fine shape. You thump the cover as you say,

“I’m only missing two signatures from the story. I’ve been begging to go see him for months now! Now that you’ve had the baby and he’s requested us-“

Your wife sighs. “Honestly, I wonder if you love him more than me.”

“Saya, dear.” You say, putting a hand on hers. “I love you both equally.”

She narrows her eyes at you. “Once again, why did I marry you again?”

>>384353

The leyway pulls into the station in the late afternoon, the trip from Loveura where you’d stopped last evening being fairly short. After unloading, you make your way out into sprawling city.

Sanctifrond never ceases to amaze you. As the capital of Deleor, it is the center of culture, commerce, and technological development. All around you people travel around the leyway station in suits and dresses which are both fashionable and functional. Large, magically powered lights illuminate the area and display various establishments which are a mix of modern architecture and the solid, white and golden buildings of the past. It’s only been a few months since you’ve been to the capital, but it still surprises you how much things have changed in such a short span.

Taking Saya’s hand, you walk through the station to a horse-drawn carriage. As the driver takes your luggage, you can’t help but notice the large, metallic constructs at the platform unloading cargo from the train. While nothing but basic hauler units with rudimentary AI’s, the humanoid constructs still make your heart race with excitement. Magitek is just the best!

“Where ya’ headed?” the driver asks as they help load Saya up into the carriage. Breaking your gaze away from the constructs, you blink in surprise as you notice the driver is a Monster.

Standing about the same height as you, the driver appears at first glance to be human, but with a few other features. While she has tanned skin from working in the sun all day, this terminates at her elbows and knees, where a mass of grey fur leads into canine paws on the feet and furred fingers. Atop her head sits two, canine ears and a long, bushy tail swishes from behind.

She growls at you, revealing sharp, canine teeth, and you blink yourself back into focus. Right, right, you shouldn’t stare. You have plenty of experience with Monsters, the all-female beings which share this world with you. Hells, your wife and daughters are Monsters!

“Sorry, Sanctifrond is always a lot to take in.” You say, rubbing at the back of your head. “Anyway, we’re headed to the Hero’s Hall.”

The Wolf Girl cocks her head, eyeing you up and down, before shrugging and gesturing for you to enter the carriage. Sitting down next to Saya, you prepare yourself for the infinitely more bumpy ride than the leyway down Sanctifrond’s cobbled streets.

The sights of the city change from the glitz and glam of the mercantile districts around the leyway station to a quiet, more subdued elegance as you travel further into the city. Despite the changes in technology and culture the country had rapidly adopted in the past few decades, the inner parts of Sanctifrond still radiated an ancient beauty- none more so than the Hero’s Hall.

The Hero’s Hall is a massive structure designed as part barracks, training facility, and strategy center for the Order of the Heroic Brotherhood. Originally founded to protect humanity from Monster Invasions from the north, the Order had fallen from grace until recently, gaining great fame after the slaying of the Monster Lady Valinthia. With better relations made with the current Monster Lady and the threat of Galmathoria in the west, the Order had grown to be a pillar of JUSTICE and military might for Deleor and its people.

A rigid sentry in blue livery with the emblem of the Order embossed onto his breastplate stands to attention as your carriage stops in front of the gate. Getting out of the wagon, you address the man with a simple,

“Hey, how’s it going?”

The guard looks at you with tired eyes, as if inured, yet saddened by what he expects will be a deluge of bullshit. “State your name and purpose.”

“Oh, you know, we were asked to come. Important business and all.”

“Like what?”

“Well.” You say mischievous grin spreading on your lips. “It’s top secret. Only for the Lord Commander himself you see, very important stuff.”

“Tobias, Gods damnit.” Saya says, exiting the wagon after you. “Stop harassing the man and just show him your badge.”

Huffing, you dig into the pockets of your fine, Arachne-spun silk suit and pull out a badge with the crest of Deleor on it. The man looks at it and sighs, mumbling something about glow-the-darks before opening the gate for you.

“Do you have to do that every time?” Saya hisses as you walk into the compound with your luggage.”

“Honey. Please.”

“Right, I forgot who I was talk about.”

In the past the two of you may have attracted a few strange looks, but as society has changed, so has the Order. Monsters of all varieties train alongside humans in the practice fields, going at each other with swords and other weapons while various business people and dignitaries walk the grassy fields or through the open-air corridors. It seems a little busier to you than you last remember, but given the current aggressions from Galmathoria, this doesn’t surprise you in the least.

>>384354

You walk down white stone corridors, passing by women in the livery of the sub order of Hospitaliers before stopping at an intersection where a familiar face stands. An older gentleman with the physique of a man twenty years younger and an amazing mustache stands with a spear in hand, his light armor shining as if recently polished. He wears an emblem on his shoulder that denotes him as one of the Order’s warriors, a Hero.

“Well, I dare say this is a pleasant surprise.” The Hero says, giving you a smile. “If it isn’t the young lord Shady and lady Saya.”

“Sergeant- I mean, Hero Fellows!” you say, a genuine smile coming to your lips. “It’s been too long! And you can drop the lord and lady thing, we’re not nobility.”

“I mean, I think I kind of am.” Saya says, tapping her chin with a finger. “Not really as much as my sisters, but basically. Oh and you 100% are.”

“Nrgh. Anyway.” You say, shaking your head. “A pleasant surprise indeed. I’d like to stay and chat, but we need to be going. We have a meeting with-“

“The Grand Wizard, yes I am quite aware.”

You blink in surprise as the Hero cuts you off. He chuckles softly, “I believe I was selected to be your guide due to our previous encounters. I was sent to wait for you and bring you to the others when you arrived.”

“S-so, he’s here?” You asks, voice trembling. Saya sighs and readjusts the child in her arms.

“Lead the way, good sir.”

Fellows leads you down the hallways lined with beautiful statuary and plant life from all over the world. A shudder runs down your spine as you see the exotic plants however, something you picked up after your adventures that lead you to meet your wife. Though you have little experience in such things, it does seem as if the plants are rather unkempt, as if the gardeners haven’t been doing their job properly in keeping them trimmed. Maybe they’ve just been busy with other tasks like the other Heroes recently.

Fellows leads you to a large set of doors where he raps on the wood once, twice, pauses, then once again. A moment later the door shifts open a hair and the man nods, drawing it open wider for you to enter. Nodding at the man, you follow your wife into the room, the doors shutting behind you. Turning away from the doors, your eyes go wide as you behold the scene before you.

The room is large and lavishly furnished with a massive table set in the middle. Food of all varieties sits piled on it, looking nothing so much like a banquet. Despite this, it feels more like some kind of war council room, especially with the assortment of people who look at the two of you as you enter.

An awkward silence fills the room as you and your wife stand there, looking into the eyes of the occupants. A tense moment drags on for what seems an unreasonable amount of time before a powerful, male voice calls out, “Well shit, took you long enough.”

“Ugh, Dad!” Saya huffs, stamping her foot on the ground. “Could you try to greet us a little nicer?”

The man, sitting at the side of the table, stands and walks toward the two of you, a Monster sitting next to him rising as well. They both stand before you and your knees begin to grow weak in their presence.

The man, Saya’s father and the Grand Wizard, one of the strongest in the world and Hero who saved the world, stands a few inches taller than you, making you feel like some kind of manlet. His physique is that of a man who understand the importance of exercise and he has a medium-length, well-groomed, silver-blonde beard that goes well with his short hair of similar color. His heavy robes, which look more practical at work in a laboratory than wielding magic, are a dark black and grey that gives him an almost menacing appearance.

At his side is a tall Monster with smooth, tanned skin. She has a lithe, incredibly alluring physique, and long, red hair. Her arms and legs, however, are covered in black fur ending in claws fingers and feline paws for feet. Red, feline ears twice atop her head while seven, long, black tails with blades at the ends writhe like serpents behind her.

The Monster, the current Monster Lady of the Monster Nation and Saya’s mother, looks at you with imperious eyes as she purses her lips. “Hmm.” She muses. “You still look dopey as ever.”

>>384355

“T-Thanks.” You say, feeling utterly embarrassed.

“So.” The Grand Wizard says, rubbing his chin. “You’re the asshole who knocked up by daughter while I was busy getting locked in a cell and tortured daily, wondering if I’d ever get to see her smiling face ever again, eh?”

“U-Uh.” You stammer, not sure how to react.

He leans in close, eyes fierce. “What do you have to say for yourself.”

Your eyes dart back and forth, heart hammering in your chest. You’ve played a God for a fool and talked your way out of many dangerous situations, but in the face of your father-in-law, you feel like a novice Illusionist again. Gulping, you take a shaky breath and say,

“Y-Your breath smells like stale bread pouches.”

The Grand Wizard’s eyes go wide open in time with yours. Your heart skips a beat as the man pulls back and, taking a deep breath, he lets out a full bully laugh.

“AHAHAHA! You’re right Selene, this guy is a faggot! But he’s a good kind of faggot!”

“Daaaaad!” Saya sighs, shaking her head. “You’re embarrassing me again.”

“Come now dear, you know that’s how your father shows he likes someone.” Selene says, chuckling before kneeling down to look at the bundle in Saya’s arms. “So this is my granddaughter, hmm? Gods I wish we could have come to Kasin when she was born, but things have been so busy that I can’t leave Sanctifrond.”

“Hmm? Ahhh, so this is the little bundle of joy.” The Grand Wizard says, turning away from you before you can say a word. “Gods, she’s adorable. Can I hold her?” Saya nods, handing him the little blob gently and the man who a moment ago intimidated you looks down at your daughter with pure joy. You swear a tear comes to his eye.

You open your mouth to say something when another pair walk up taking your attention. Standing before you is a tall man with gorgeous brown hair and a radiant smile that gives the forty-something year old man a strong, dignified air. At his side is a well-developed, motherly Wolf Girl with black hair and fur and a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Tobias, welcome back.” The man says, nodding his head as he holds out his hand. “A pleasure to meet you again.”

“L-Likewise.” You say, composing yourself as you take the hand of the Great Hero, Blake Boudreaux, the man who lead the journey to slay the last Monster Lady, halting her Invasion. Coughing, you nod to the Wolf Girl. “Lady Hala.”

“I ain’t no-“ Hala says, blinking in surprise mid-curtsey. “Oh no, he has me trained like a dog to do this now.”

“I’m very proud of you, dear.” Blake says, nodding his head. He turns to look at your in-laws as they hold your daughter. “It’s not often I see him smile like that. I’m glad he can after everything that’s going on.”

“Speaking of which…” You say, rubbing at the back of your neck. “What exactly IS going on? Why were we called out here?”

>>384356

Blake frowns. “Well, you two were the last two to arrive, so now that you’re here, we might as well get started.” He turns to the Grand Wizard again and catches his attention.

Selene and the Grand Wizard exchange a look before nodding and handing your daughter back to Saya before gesturing for you to take a seat. You do so, sitting next to a tall man with the silver-blonde hair of a Wizard and a close-cropped beard. His hard, green eyes look over to you for a moment before he nods and turns to speak to the Monster sitting next to him, a Lizardman with green scales and hair tied into a pony-tail.

“Huh, that must be Tabitha’s husband.” Saya whispers to you.

Whipping your head to her, you whisper, “Wait a second, THAT’S TABITHA? Shit, I need to get my book-“

You’re interrupted as Blake taps his glass with a spoon, getting everyone’s attention. He stands at the head of the table, looking at everyone assembled- a mix of people you knew from your travels, and some you’ve never met, before turning again to the Grand Wizard. The man nods at him and you can feel something in the air shift with your magic, making your back itch.

“Right then, wards are in place.” Blake starts. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why we called you out here. I’m sure you’re also wondering why we didn’t use leymail either, as it would have been far faster and more convenient. I apologize for those of you who had to come a long way, but this is important.”

The man next to you nods his head while a familiar woman with silver-blonde hair, much like that of the Wizards, says, “Must have been pretty urgent to call me back from the front-lines, Lord Commander.”

“It is, Alice.” Blake says. Your eyes go up at this. You’ve met Alice before, but since when did she have hair like that? Better question, since when did she talk with any modicum of respect?

“I’m just glad most of us were in Sanctifrond already.” A motherly woman with long, brown hair says on the other side of the table. She nods to Blake and smiles, her expression warm, yet you fully understand how powerful Veronica, the Ascendant is, especially having met her before.

“Yeah, yeah.” A metallic voice says from the side of the room. Two constructs stand there, both very feminine in construction and with impassive, neutral faceplates. The one who spoke, so to speak, has light blue plating and she raps on the shoulder of the purple-plated construct next to you. “We’ve been keeping an eye on the Wizard and his wife here since those two troublemakers of theirs are off seeing the world now. He wouldn’t tell us what’s so important though, so I’m quite curious.”

“Indeed, Chaika, Harmony.” Blake says, nodding his head. “We asked all of you to come here because of the experiences you’ve had throughout these years. Whether by fortune or not, fate has brought all of us together in one way or another to save not just Deleor, but the world at large.”

Taking a deep breath, he looks over to the Grand Wizard, who stands up and coughs into his hand before saying,

“The leylines are compromised. There’s something spread through them like roots, spanning the whole country. It appears to be originating from The Cradle, seat of the Queen Alarune.”

Everyone’s backs stiffen. All of you know from experience exactly what this means. You’re not surprised in the slightest when the man sighs and rubs at his head.

“I don’t think we need to beat about the bush. It’s Phallia, she’s planning something big and I’m afraid we might not have much more time before whatever it is happens.”

>What do you do?

>>384357

Howdy everyone! It's been… fuck, almost a year, huh? Well anyway, we're finally back!

Sorry this update doesn't have terribly much with choice as it's meant to set things up some, but still leave some questions unanswered. Have fun exploring as we get into this.

Also, as you may have noticed at the top, we're going to be changing perspectives at points in the story. At the moment, you're Tobias, the quirky Illusionist. I'm sure you can guess who the other characters are.

This is going to be the last one for main Wizardquest so I hope things end up well and everyone enjoys themselves.

If anyone is wondering what I've been doing: Wizardquest self-editing is done. It's not perfect but I don't plan to be some professional publishing. Just waiting on the art to be finished so I can publish to Amazon. I'll let people know when it's ready!

>>384358

Also, I got the art for Wizardquest 1 updated, in case anyone was interested in seeing it. There's also some various other pieces I have as requests, etc of Sophie and Sylphie, but I left them off this link

https://imgur.com/a/BSHB60w

>>384357

Excellent, let the Adventure begin!

>Phallia being a cunt

I'm guessing this due to us going 'nope' in WizardQuest 1.5

Good to see you writefagging again, Ace. Going to be neat seeing where this goes.

Anyway, I guess we better shut up and listen. Afterwards, get to know some of the new people we haven't seen before.

More importantly, we need to get our book for those last signatures.

>>384357

What exactly is she doing to the leylines and how? Before we can plan to stop her we need to know exactly what she’s doing. Also we need those signaturesgreat to see you writing again ace. Welcome back

Welcome back in the saddle, Ace.

>>384357

Most of the more obvious questions, like 'what do you think Phallia is doing' and 'what is the plan', are pretty much guaranteed to be answered if we keep listening, so there isn't much point in interrupting the meeting to ask them unless we feel like making ourselves look retarded in front of multiple individuals we idolise or such questions aren't actually answered for some reason. That said, there are some questions that might be worth posing once the initial bulk of the discussion is finished, assuming they aren't addressed prior:

>When did this infiltration of the leylines begin?

Depending on how long ago Phallia made her move will determine how we intend to proceed going forward. If it was recently enough, we could potentially find a way to remove her hold over the leylines to nip her plan in the bud before it can come to fruition, which would give us a nice advantage going forward. If this has been going on for a while and was only recently discovered, however, then our options are rather limited on what to do and we'll likely be forced to deal with the source to achieve anything.

>Has there been any movement from Galmathoria recently?

If Galmathoria has been active, then there's a good chance they are intending to put their own plans into action once Phallia does whatever it is she is planning on doing, either in tandem or independently of her plans, and we will need to prepare for and react to any aggression from them accordingly.

>Are the leyways compromised as well?

The leyways run along the leylines and require a connection with them to function IIRC, so there's a good chance Phallia has plans to fuck with them as well. If they are compromised or otherwise under threat then we ideally need to figure out a way to secure them, as otherwise our best method of transportation will be gone and as a result we will be much slower in reacting to whatever plans are being hatched in the Cradle due to the amount of time spent travelling by other means.

Other than that, just continue to listen - we're out of the loop more than anyone else present, so we would gain a lot by just shutting up and keeping our head down for the time being. And of course, make sure to get the signatures we're still missing at some point after the meeting concludes, because there is a chance we may never get them otherwise. Though perhaps not immediately after everyone walks out of the room, because people probably want to discuss matters further among themselves and bothering them at this point would probably be seen as a tad rude.

Fucking hell, Ace. You’re back. I’m ready for another wild, meme-filled ride through the land of Deleor. And this time I can watch it all play out. And vote for important events. And shit. Fuck, I’m excited.

Good to see you back ace, but does this also mean the return of slavanon?

I think I'll be updating every other day to give people time to read/ suggest unless something comes up or I just get inspiration to do it back to back.

Oh right, I also forgot to add, What do y'all want to name Saya and Tobias's daughter? You named both of them, how about naming her?

>>384362

Thanks!

Entirely possible that it played a part in this.

>>384363

>>384367

Thank as well

Of course we'll get those signatures.

>>384370

Ahhh, long post boi. Hopefully I don't forget my own lore at points again!

>>384382

Well, the tone may be more serious this time around, but I'm sure there will be humor. I can't not do it.

You also don't need to namefag, but go ahead if you want

>>384388

Checked. Also, I don't know, he's a busy boi. As it stands, since he's vanished, I've had to make much of Warriorquest be retconned or at least toned down.

>>384397

Let’s name her Erica. Also how big will the party be? Obviously Rommel, Tabitha, wizard, Selene and Tobias are going but who else? Saya will have to stay and watch the baby, and some of the others have other duties and obligations they need to be present for. In addition the party can’t be too large or they’ll be slowed down, and easier to track down by phallia and her agents.

>>384397

Glad to have you back Ace

>>384408

I'm also for Erika/Erica

Shutting up and listening seems to be a good option, for now

>>384397

No qualms about Erica, it's a gud name. For wat do? Tobias is going to shut his face and listen to whatever everyone's found out/hypothesized. Mind you if he has anything pertinent to add he should interject.

>>384408

>Let’s name her Erica.

No objections to this, though I would request the spelling of Erica over Erika because Tobias and Saya don't strike me as Swedish.

>In addition the party can’t be too large or they’ll be slowed down, and easier to track down by phallia and her agents.

Speaking of which, considering this story will revolve around three different perspectives, we could theoretically have three separate parties of a much smaller size as small as three could work doing different tasks, which would both avoid the problem you've brought up as well as avoid some potential meta problems such as certain characters being ignored due to too many being present at once or character switching having little impact in the grand scheme of things. This depends on how Ace feels on the matter though.

>>384370

Ah shit, Its finally time.

Glad to have you back, Its been a long year.

Can't wait to really get into it again. And you are actually putting your work up for sale finally? I wish you well and good fortunes mate.

I to am good with Erica, But I thought we had determined Saya to not be fertile, Which was a large factor for adopting Akela. Did we retcon or am I just not remembering properly? Its been a long while since I first read illusionquest so I can't be sure.

>>384473

That was because saya couldn’t maintain her form when she’s unconscious. Xanthia ended up giving her a stable form after she possessed saya.

>>384474

Remember to sage

>>384357

>>What do you do?

Cast a spell to find everything out.

>>384357

Hey Ace, great to see you back.

Right now, sit back and listen. Get the full story, info and perspectives. Contribute when needed.

Also, is Tobias vulnerable to Illusionist insanity again? The Titania somehow reduced his insanity % but not sure if that was a one-off thing.

>>384487

I could have sworn that I did

Alternative thread title: 3 Wizards one Quest.

But seriously I am excite.

>Story continue

The room goes quiet.

No one dares speak at the proclamation. You’re not exactly certain what everyone else’s run-ins with Phallia have been, but it’s clear that they too have seen some strange occurrences. The man next to you clenches his hand, his eyes hardening even more than before. It’s not like a Goddess tried to kill him directly or anything, right?

The first to speak up is Veronica, who seems more confused than anything at this information. “I believe we need a little more information here. Just coming in and saying that a Goddess is planning something is a little melodramatic, don’t you think?” She turns her head to scan the room, frowning. “Though I take it by some of your expressions that this is unsurprising.”

“She said as much.” The man next to you says. “I just didn’t think it would be so soon. It’s only been about six months since we came back from Ectria.”

“She’s had all spring, Rommel.” Tabitha next to him says. “Now it’s summer. A good time as any to put something into motion.”

“Wait, hold on.” Alice says, holding up a hand. “Should we be discussing this? Can’t she just like, be watching us?”

“Unlikely.” You say, shrugging. “The Gods aren’t exactly omniscient. Unless Phallia chose to watch us, she probably doesn’t know we’re here.”

“She isn’t.” The Grand Wizard says, shaking his head. “[Mage Sight] is clear.” He looks to Rommel, who nods his head. Sighing, the man rubs at his beard and continues.

“That’s a lot to drop on people, I know, but you’re all grown-ups and this is serious.”

“Sure, sure.” The blue plated construct says, waving a hand. “But what exactly is she doing?”

“Not sure, Chaika.” Selene says, shrugging. “But too many coincidences are adding up, making us question things. The events at the Ectrian capital and Rommel’s encounter at the Chasm of Regret confirmed it, however. Once we returned to Deleor, we decided to delve into it further.”

The Grand Wizard sighs. “The long and short of our investigation showed what I said before. The leylines are compromised.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Tabitha asks, cocking her head.

The Grand Wizard looks to Selene, who nods her head slowly. He sighs, looking at Rommel for a moment before shaking his head and continuing. “There’s a few locations which are the epicenters of the leylines, known as nexus points. I’m aware of the existence of a few of them, and tried to get a better feel of the land through one.” He frowns.

“It was there that I noticed something off. Something hard wormed its way into the leylines and was siphoning not only magic, but information through it. It’s hard to confirm, but I believe whatever is in there is able to read this information, compromising the entire Communion Matrix.”

Both you and Rommel’s eyes go wide. The Wizard stands up as he says, “You can’t be serious? Is it all the leylines?”

“Perhaps not the ones in Ectria, since they haven’t connected with Deleor yet, but yes. All of those in Deleor, Galmathoria, and the Monster Nation.”

“What about the leyways?” You ask, raising a hand.

“Still operational, as I’m sure you’re aware.” Blake says, raising a hand. “Since leyways draw mana directly from the leylines, they’d have to shut off the flow of mana to stop them, which I understand has its own consequences?”

“Indeed.” Selene says, nodding her head. “For now we can assume they leyways to be operational.”

“I don’t understand.” Saya says, shaking her head. “Who would do this, and what does it have to do with Phallia?”

The Grand Wizard shakes his head. “I traced the magical signature and it resonates with magic coming from The Cradle. I tried to remove them but it’s like nothing I’ve seen. The best Biomancer I know looked into it and he confirmed as much. Oh, and before you ask, no, I can’t just flood the leylines with anti-magic.” Hala lowers her hand and pouts as the man shakes his head. “Anyway, I wish I could look more into it but…”

“There’s a magical barrier around the entire area that appeared some months ago.” Blake finishes, nodding his head. “Unfortunately, with the events in Galmathoria pushing our soldiers, we can’t spare the effort to address it.”

You blanch a little. The Cradle, huh? Your mind goes back to the mission that Agent Anderson wanted to you undertake, but declined. Was this a direct result from those events from before? Shit, if your inaction caused something like this to happen…

>>384551

Saya places her hand on yours and she gives you a warm smile that puts your heart at ease. Right, you had more important things to protect at the time. You turn your attention back as the purple plated construct begins to speak.

“So, to lay it out.” Harmony says, holding up a finger. “Something happened in The Cradle and now the leylines are compromised. There’s also been concerns from various events in the country that it has the hallmark of Phallia’s doing. I think the real question we need to answer is why, and-“

“What are we going to do about it?” Hala growls, punching her hand.

The room returns to silence as you contemplate this. Not much has really been said, but it’s still a lot to take in. Sure, those plants you’d encountered before seemed to worship Phallia and you’re pretty sure that Fiora had been Monsterized by Phallia, and that the Cradle seems to worsh-

Okay, you’re not doing a very good job convincing yourself out of blaming her.

Selene looks down, seeming troubled. “We’d met Phallia before, after Valinthia was killed, under the Keep of the Forgotten.” She draws her lips to a line. “She’d mentioned that we’d done her a great service, put things into motion. I wasn’t sure how to take those words, but I feel like a fool to ignore them so long ago.”

“Aye.” You say, looking down. “I didn’t want to believe that Phallia herself had any ill intentions, but those worshipping her name tried to do horrible things, tried to instigate the Galmathorians into a mutually destructive frenzy. I’m just glad we stopped them but…”

“But it’s become clear that her hand is upon this world more than it should be.” Rommel says, nodding his head. “The plants within those priestesses, the Pharaoh, their hatred towards the Dolloran priestesses. It all lines up with what she told me before she tried to have me killed. She wants her sister out of the picture.”

Both you and Saya look at the man with shock. You knew something messed up was happening, but wanting to kill her sister? Was that even possible?

“Solos would never allow such a thing.” Veronica says, shaking her head. “You recall the time before Monsters, yes? When the Gods would interact directly with men?”

“Vaguely.” Rommel grunts. Veronica gives him a flat look before turning around the room to meet blank stares. Sighing, she pulls a book from her belt, a faded copy of The Book of Creation, the holy book for those who worshipped Solos.

“Well, since none of you remember your lessons, I’ll have to teach you.”

“To be fair.” Hala says, raising a hand. “I was raised in the woods.”

The other Monsters nod their heads and Veronica shakes her head. “Fine, then you’ll all get a lesson in history.” She flips open to a page and says, “The Gods took great interest in the creations of Solos and Dollora. They would often show themselves to peoples of their choosing, and entire cultures would be based around the sighting of a God. In time, this would lead to the Gods growing protective of their chosen people and would lead to war and conflict amongst the Gods themselves.”

She flips the page. “Solos, heartbroken by this, forbade the Gods from influencing the world directly. This is why their blessings are given to a select few and only with a portion of their power, creatures they’ve created are often rare, or why Solos himself does not touch the world despite great hardships. He does not want conflict amongst the Gods, and the surest way to stop that is to keep them from meddling with mankind too much.”

“Ah.” Saya says, something clicking. “That’s why he got so upset with Dollora.”

“Indeed.” Veronica says, returning the book to her side. “It’s also why Phallia would have a hard time killing her sister. Solos is a benevolent God, and if he wished to destroy Dollora, he easily could have. But he didn’t. I highly doubt he’ll allow Phallia to do so either.”

“Then why is she causing fuck-ups down here?” Alice says, rubbing at her head. “I mean, she’s bound to get caught if she starts some shit. It’s not like Dollora is going to just come out and duke it out with her sister, right?”

The room goes silent again as everyone looks to Alice. She blinks a few times and then frowns, crossing her arms across her chest. “Oh come on, again? I don’t even know some of you people and you still give me that look?”

“It’s okay.” Hala says, patting her shoulder. “I know you pain, sister.”

>>384552

The Grand Wizard folds his hands together as he speaks, sounding out his thoughts. “If Phallia’s aim is to kill her sister, then the only feasible way to do that is with Solos’s power. Obviously, he’s not going to give that out, so she’d have to make… him… do… it…” He trails off, concern on his face until his eyes go wide.

“Oh fuck me, she’s going to try to lure Dollora out. If she comes to this plane in full again, then Solos will have no choice but to take action!”

“That’s- That’s… insane.” Selene says, her expression betraying her thoughts. “She can’t just… just kill Dollora. What will that mean for the Monsters? Losing their Goddess and spiritual purpose, not to mention the being which gave us our current forms…” She looks terrified as her nails dig into the wood of the table.

“It’s very possible that Monsters as we know them may cease to exist is this goes according to her plan.” Blake says, frowning. He lets that hang for a long moment before asking, “But what could be so terrible to draw the Dark Goddess from her exile?”

“Another genocide.” Selene whispers.

Saya and the Grand Wizard look down, troubled at these words. Her husband puts a hand on Selene’s arm and she grits her teeth as she says, “It was timid last time, only a few species removed due to the inherent strength of the Monsters. But with Monsters weaker than they were in the past and technology so powerful, if humans grew of the mind to remove the Monsters, it would be easy.”

“Shit.” You groan. “If she’d managed to release those spores and drive the Galmathorians into a frenzy, then how would the Deleorians respond when a horde of Monsters comes into their lands? The balance between man and Monster would be destroyed. I can easily see whispers in the right ears leading to an outright slaughter of Monsters.”

“Tch.” Rommel says, crossing his arms. “Who knows how many people have those plants under their skin either. They could even be in positions of power or pulling strings. I can promise you there are plenty of people who jump at the chance to remove Monsters from Deleor, or the world if they can.”

“I suppose this is a bad time to mention that Galmathoria is supposedly mobilizing again.” Blake shakes his head as he says this. “We’re really not certain why, but we’re still hurting after what they did to Cair and Fort Islebard. Of course, if they’re being pushed to it then…”

“Fuck.” Selene says, rubbing her forehead. “And, of course, at this moment the voices of the conservatives in the Monster Nation are gaining ground. Monsters are wondering if it’s not best to return to the old ways. If given a choice, I don’t think if I can keep another Invasion from occurring.”

“Fucking hells.” The Grand Wizard groans. “Well this is some shit if it’s true.”

“So, what do we do about it?” Saya asks, looking about.

The assembled peoples look between themselves, worried expressions on their faces. What can you do against the machinations of a Goddess? You barely even understand what’s going on with the leylines and there’s now talk of renewed war with Galmathoria and Selene’s rule in the Monster Nation is crumbling? Gods you… well, you’re not certain you can count on the Gods anymore.

Or wait… can you?

“Hey… wait a second.” You say, furrowing your brow. The others look to you as you muse your thoughts. “The only one who can stand against a God is another one, right?”

Veronica nods her head. “Yes. As disgusting as it is, Solos would be the one who could end Dollora.”

“Oh! Oh!” Hala says. “What if we convinced Solos to stop Phallia?”

Veronica opens her mouth to say something before frowning in consternation. The others consider this themselves, unable to make a proper response. Eventually, Alice sighs and leans back in her chair.

“It’s crazy, but it might just work.”

“Come on, how are we even supposed to get his attention? Praying and asking him to look into Phallia’s evildoings?” Chaika says, raising her hands.

“She’s right.” Selene sighs. “It’s an interesting plan, but the only beings Solos would trust on this would be the other Gods. Prayers only do so much and some of the Gods don’t even have true worship. It’s not like you can just talk directly with…” She trails off as she cocks her head.

“No, there’s ways.” Rommel says, nodding his head. “Back in Ectria, I spoke with Dollora using a relic mirror.”

“And we spoke with Nerg through Delilah.” The Grand Wizard says. “He seemed pretty amiable, all things considered.”

“Wait, you spoke with- well, nevermind. Anyway, so there’s way to speak with the Gods, so… where are they?”

“That.” Blake sighs. “Is an excellent question. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with all of this. It’s almost too much to handle.”

“Ancient artifacts relating to the Gods, huh?” Saya says with a mischievous grin. “Oh, I know exactly who would know about that. And it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce little Erica here to her…”

>>384553

“Father. Why is she here?”

A tall Wolf Girl with black hair and fur dressed in a skirt and vest over a white shirt sets down a stack of books on the table, frowning as she smooths out a wrinkle in her clothing. She appears to be the spitting image of Hala, her mother, though the bags under her eyes speak of long hours spent researching.

“Well Patricia, she thought so highly of you to ask you to come and help with this situation.” Blake says, patting the Wolf Girl on the head. She makes an annoyed sound and mutters something about her being embarrassed.

“Yes Patricia.” Saya says, giving a very smug smile. “I also wanted to say hello to my best friend in the whole world. Also, to show you my daughter.”

“She looks like a blob of tar.”

“Awww, thank you!”

The Wolf Girl grits her teeth as Saya smugs at her before looking out over the room. “I was told this was urgent. Given the people assembled, I assume there’s something going on?”

“Yes.” The Grand Wizard says. “We’re looking for methods to contract the Gods directly.”

“Eh? Why don’t you just pray to them?” She asks before sighing and waving a hand. “Sorry, sorry, I’ve been up for awhile at study sessions with my BOYFRIEND.” She looks Saya in the eye as she says this, which you find a little disturbing due to how tired Patricia looks.

“Yes, you still have yet to let us meet him.” Hala says, shaking her head. “Honestly, I keep hoping you mean ‘fucking like animals’ when you say ‘study sessions’ but I don’t smell any semen on you. I’m waiting for grandkids you know.”

“Mother! Gods you just-“ Patricia groans. “Ugghhhhh.”

“It’s fine, dear.” Selene says, putting a hand on Saya’s shoulder. “We’ll be sure to embarrass Saya in front of you later. For now, we need to focus.”

“Right, right.” Patricia says, pulling out a book and placing it on the table. You look up as she flips through the pages when someone taps your shoulder. You blink and look to the side to see Tabitha handing you your copy of [Wizardquest].

“I don’t know why you want all these signatures, but I guess it’s the first I’ve given. Did you really meet Delilah?”

“Uh, yeah.” You say, hugging the book to your chest. So close to completion…

“Hmm. I’ll have to ask more about it later.” She says, tapping your shoulder. “I’ve heard much about you as well. You’ll have to tell me how you managed to convince Saya of all people to marry you.”

Why does everyone ask that? Well, whatever, you both turn your attentions to Patricia as she starts speaking again.

“Right then. I’d looked a few months ago when I’d heard that Rommel had spoken directly with Dollora. That mirror had been known of and written about in certain texts relating to the Ectrian worship of the Twins. As for other items, that’s a little more nebulous.”

“So… you don’t know?” Alice asks, cocking her head.

“Hmph, who do you think I am?” Patricia says, sniffing.

“Uhm. I’ve never met you before.” Alice says, scratching her cheek.

“Well, then rest assured, I can find what you’re looking for.” She taps a page in the book before her. “It seems in the time before Monsters, when the Gods interacted with mankind, they’d made various relics which allowed them to speak with the man. One would assume much of them were lost to time, but some texts speak of a specific few.”

She picks books from her stack without even looking at the titles, flipping through pages as if memorized until a variety of pages lay open, describing a handful of items. You stand up and look over them as Patricia recites, seemingly from memory.

“I couldn’t find anything for contacting Solos directly, but the other Gods? I have a good idea of what might work.” She points at the first book. “Filios, Goddess of the sea. Legend has it the trident of the Sea King, a relic of a seafaring culture on the western Deleorian coast used it to commune with her. More recent info would say that the Queen of the Seas has an ancient trident of great power.”

“Hmph.” Selene sniffs. “I believe I’ve seen it before. Good look meeting with her without someone to vouch for you, she stays under the waves unless she decides to come to land.”

Patricia pulls another book. “For Sveth… the Heart of the Crags. A relic said to be a gem of immaculate work filled with the heart of a mountain. A warlike civilization who lived near a volcano were said to worship it and take Sveth’s strength.”

“Volcano?” Tabitha says, frowning. “Only volcano I can think of is Blackfire Reach? But there’s nothing like that around there, the Wurms dug through most everything and anything that big would have been recorded as given to the Danuki.”

>>384554

“Hevensferth. Ah, dear, dear, Hevensferth.” Patricia says, sighing. “A difficult one, but there used to be an observatory in territory which is now part of the Monster Nation. A civilization of scholars there reached out the heavens and spoke him.”

“Observatory?” Selene says. “Hmm. There’s many ancient human buildings in the Monster Nation, some of which haven’t been explored. There is one place I can think of nestled in the hills north of the capital…”

“Let’s see, Jackor.” Patricia begins, but you cut her off.

“Jackor talks to people when he wants to. I doubt there’s an item which will make him speak.”

She nods her head. “Correct. However, there’s multiple writing by people who had performed great feats of gaming or thievery and have spoken to him. So, I dunno. Rob a bank or win a big poker tournament?”

“Ech.” You sigh. “I really don’t want to deal with him anymore.”

“Suit yourself.” Patricia says before sighing. “And then… Nerg. There’s plenty of stories of people with near death experiences having seen the face of Nerg, but the real way to contact him would be-“

“Find a Dullahan.” The Grand Wizard says. “They can contact him. Unfortunately, they only show up in areas with a lot of death, and it’s hard to find a Dullahan who doesn’t want to kill you also.”

“Well, that’s the info we have.” Patricia says. “By the way, why are we trying to contact the Gods again?”

“Oh, to have Solos stop Phallia from destroying Dollora and thus all Monsterkind.” Hala says, poking a book.

“Ah, I see, that’s a good plan then to have Solos- I’M SORRY, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”

Patricia looks at her mother, aghast. Her father sighs and puts a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll fill you in later. For now, we have a good idea of what to do.”

“So we go and fetch these items, try to convince the Gods, and then what?” Rommel says, crossing his arms against his chest. “What if they don’t listen? And what do we do about the Cradle?”

“One step at a time.” The Grand Wizard says, looking at the books again. “We’ll gather the items together back here and make them listen. If Phallia is dissuaded, then we can focus on the Cradle first. However…” He taps the book before him.

“Without communication options of leymail open, we can’t coordinate our efforts. Even worse, I’m not certain we can split and get all five of these.”

“He’s right.” Blake says, frowning. “As much as I want to go on this adventure, I have to command the Order if Galmathoria attacks.”

“I don’t have the luxury of going either.” Selene says. “I have to have a presence in the Monster Nation. I can take people north but I’m afraid I have to try to keep the nation from collapsing, I’ve been away too long and my representatives royally fucked things up.”

“If Phallia gets word of our plans, it would be too dangerous to do this alone and we don’t have time to go all around the continent.” Rommel says, nodding his head. “We should split into groups.”

“Even if we do that, we might not be able to get all of these.” The Grand Wizard says. “At best, we should move into three groups and agree to meet back at the Hero’s Hall in a month? That would be a majority of the Gods on the sidelines, allowing us good audience with Solos.” He looks to you.

“I’ll form a group. Let’s have Rommel and Tobias form one too. That should give us good coverage. Besides, way I see it, you two were de-facto leaders of your own groups in the past, hmm?”

You and Rommel share glances before shrugging. Rommel says, “Sounds good to me.”

“Hmm.” You say thinking it over. “Can we form groups however we want?”

“Sure? Ask whoever you trust, even if they aren’t here.” The Grand Wizard says. “This is important, the most people on our side, the better. That goes for all of us. We aren’t fighting for personal reasons here, we’re fighting for the world as we know it.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Alice says, stretching.

“I’m sure there’s more questions to be answered.” The Grand Wizard says, stretching. “Ask them now, because once we separate, we’ll be apart, no communication through leymail.”

Everyone mutters between themselves, but you stand up straight, holding your book to your chest. Saya looks at you before groaning as you walk up to the Grand Wizard, your father-in-law, and ask,

“Well, we need to determine who is going after what relics and determine a few other things but I had to ask now, or forever lose my chance.” You take a deep breath and off your copy of [Wizardquest] toward him.

“Will you sign my book?”

>What do you do?

>What character do you control: Rommel, Grand Wizard, Tobias

>>384555

Alright! The lore and premise is dumped in that glorious exposition. Now comes the fun part.

As this anon >>384470 said, we're going to split into groups and try changing perspectives. Pick who you want to be in charge for now and at periods I'll ask if we want to change position.

Also, when making your parties, keep in mind certain characters who may not be currently present! Some may be available, some may not. There's plenty of time to figure it out.

At least the trains work, right?

Also, if you need more clarification, ask away/ have the characters ask it.

>>384419

God, I love that picture.

>>384473

>>384487

Breddy much.

>>384474

A good thought, but nope, nexus is sealed off. Also, that would be bad.

>>384507

Yes, but I'll go into that later. He's gotten better about it since last time.

>>384548

Oh fuck, that would be great except Tobias isn't a Wizard. I need to hunt for that picture of Wizards and Warriors including Tobias from the Illusionistquest series

>>384555

Right, so we need to figure out which groups are targeting which relics.

Then we can pick party members optimized for each mission. Otherwise, just breakup into generalist teams from the previous stories.

Since a bunch of former party members have gone back to their civilian lives, we either need to re-recruit them or get new characters to fill in their old roles.

Might as well stick with Tobias. He has the least party members from his story present so it’s a good chance to get new characters.

>>384556

Teams

>G.Wiz

Alice

Hala

Chaika

>Tobias

Veronica

Sylphie

Sophie

>Rommel

Tabitha

Helene might have come to the capital with Rommel and Tabitha and we need more gRape snek

Harmony

Patricia if she can come along…

That's what I got so far. Any other suggestions?

>>384556

@Ace: Got two questions.

1. Who is in the Sanctifrond Region now? Given the time pressure, the Wizards don’t have time to gather ex-party members like Sophie/Orphelia if they off somewhere else.

2. What’s the canonicity of Barbarian/Wizardquest? It has a lot of good stuff like the rally El Dorito subplot but there are many plot points that would contradict what is presented here.

>>384559

If people recognize Helene is an Apophis, Ectria gonna send assassins after her. Not a good idea. Give the baby to Helene (IIRC she’s done with fighting and wants to be a children's nanny) which frees up Saya.

>>384559

Your teams are decent but I think they need to be arranged for better cohesion and team work within 5e teams and better chances overall.

>G. Wiz

Hala

Chaika

Veronica

>Tobias

Sylphie

Harmony

Sophie

if Patricia can come I would suggest she be put with team 2 to help find heavensferth’s artifact

>Rommel

Tabitha

Helene

With this line up each party will be mostly made up of those who are close friends/family or have adventured together in the past. This gives them a better understanding of each other’s abilities in combat, and will likely improve morale based on shared experience and camaraderie. Secondly this gives every group at least one magic user/wizard and at least one combat specialist. Thirdly it gives each party member a means of rapid movement if the artifacts need to be quickly moved back to the capital or kept from phallia or her agents.

Harmony can flyiirc

Chaika is capable of great speed

And Rommel, while perhaps not as fast/efficient as chaikas speed can use his geomancy to landsurf.

Team 1 should seek out a dullahan to contact nerg. Their previous experience with Delilah will be helpful here, as will the G wiz’s experience with nerg.

Team 2 should head to the observatory. This group I believe will be the weakest of the three in regards to finding the objective since they don’t have any links or leads on it outside what Patricia may know. Seeking out jackor should be keep as a valid second option given Tobias’s previous experience if this winds up a dead end.

Team 3 should seek out Sveth’s relic. Since Rommel and Tabitha both helped liberate blackfire reach they should have absolutely zero trouble with anyone in the local area. However they are the weakest team combat wise since they only have 3 experienced fighters compared to the other teams 4.

And this also gives each team someone who either has a link or knowledge of the artifacts location as in the case of Tabitha and hopefully Patricia. Or they know someone who can contact the god, such as the grand wizard with Delilah.

I thought about balancing the teams out by separating the twins, and putting Sophie on Rommel’s team but I believed the loss in effectiveness from their separation would be greater than the benefit from numerically even teams.

>>384562

The sultan agreed that so long as she stayed out of Ectria, she would be unharmed. Secondly giving the baby to her is a bad idea since no baby like Erika has ever existed, and Saya may be the only one who can physically take care of her. Given the stakes involved there is a chance not all of our characters are coming back alive. Let’s not risk making Erika an orphan.

>>384564

And before I forget, if she Rommel, and Tabitha do head to blackfire reach, then there won’t be a problem because she’s been living there for 6 months already helping with the children.

>>384563

Agreed with your team objectives and compositions.

Think you’re missing Alice; she can go into Team 3 to fill up the numbers and is an excellent partner of Tabitha.

Are we considering introducing new characters for extra help? Get Blake to loan Order Heroes, borrow DSS agents etc. If Warriorquest is canon, can also get Order affiliated Monstergirls, Chat Noir agents and other Wizards in El Dorito.

>>384564

Concerned about word reaching Violet Sand remnants when the Sultan’s government is still fairly new and triggering civil unrest. Might potentially prompt pre-emptive 'cleaning'.

Fair point about Erika’s special needs.

>>384565

That's true, provided that she stays in Blackfire Reach. I'm thinking about the case after Team Rommel leaves the Reach for whatever is needed where there are more influential Monstergirls around. She should definitely help but as a temporary party member in the Reach.

Maybe I'm being paranoid after playing slav's brutal storytelling.

>>384566

I forgot about Alice, she can balance out Rommel’s team. I thought about asking for agents or heroes but decided against it for two reasons. 1. Every resource will be necessary to help prepare/defend Deleor and 2. That feels like we’d just be hand8ng our red shirts to people

>>384567

That could be a decent compromise. After the artifact is secure Helene can stay behind. Though that might leave the party exposed on the return trip. Maybe ask for an extra lizardman or two to accompany us. Enough to make up for Helene’s absent, without drawing undue attention to us.

Teams and objectives looking good.

Only problem with such small teams is that they are going to require A LOT of plot armour. More importantly, their combined skillset is narrow without the presence of more niche characters. Less wounds to distribute compared to previous stories which featured more versatile, larger teams of 7-9.

Vote to follow Team 3.

>>384559

>>384562

>>384563

I've spoken with Ace, and there's a couple of problems with the team line ups.

Sylphie & Sophie are off on an adventure and can't be contacted but could show up later. Helene is still at Blackfire Reach and we'd have to pick her on route. Patricia needs to be convinced with a gud reason or she won't come because she ain't a fighter neither was her mother tho. Any of slavsan characters are a no go.

The teams will need to be reshuffled.

>>384555

Regarding the methods for contacting the Gods, I think it’s safe to say we can immediately discard the idea of trying to get Jackor’s attention. Certainly, he actually cares about the whole Phallia-Dollora conflict, but the method for contacting him is uncertain at best and he would likely ignore any attempts to contact him any way; the only way we would speak to him is if he’s purposefully fucking with Tobias, so we can’t rely on him whatsoever. Contacting Nerg is something I’m not too sure about either, because the only methods for doing so involve dying or finding a dullahan, with the former not being an option outside of the literal worst case scenario and the latter being a huge gamble as a dullahan isn’t necessarily guaranteed to show up in the presence of large amounts of death, just likely, not to mention we would have to convince said dullahan to let us speak to Nerg which isn’t going to happen easily unless that dullahan’s name is Delilah. That said, if we do go down this route, then our best chance of finding one would be to check near Galmathoria due to the rising hostilities from them potentially leading to an all-out war, which may attract the eyes of Nerg.

Contacting Filios using the Trident of the Sea King is probably the most viable out of the three mentioned thus far, because we know exactly where we need to go and who we need to speak to in order to achieve the objective, but it relies on either the Queen of the Seas coming to land for whatever reason, which is unlikely, or us going under the waves to find her, which is also somewhat unlikely. Still, I’m sure the men in the region who are married to aquatic monsters have some way of surviving underwater which we could use if we attempt to pursue the Queen, and her husband, the captain of that small river boat in the original WizardQuest, could be used as a way of getting her attention if we can’t get to her assuming he’s still alive after twenty years, but who knows, the Queen might not want her husband dying so early and may have found a way to achieve that desire.

The remaining two methods, I’d argue, are our best bets, because they are the most likely to have success in contacting the Gods if the objective is achieved and we have a fairly strong idea of where they may potentially be located, as the Observatory can’t move that easily, who knows and the Heart of Crags will either be somewhere deep in Blackfire Reach or somewhere of great importance in Danuki territory the Danuki love to cheat each other, so a lack of a record of the artefact being moved is a possibility. As such, I’d recommend we pursue these two, and prioritise the Trident of the Sea King over the dullahan option unless circumstances make it impossible to obtain, in which case pursue the dullahan option.

>>384574

With that out of the way, party set ups. Assuming we’re not taking Saya given that Erica prevents her from joining us, here’s my own two cents on the matter:

<Team 1, seeking the Trident of the Sea King/a dullahan

>Grand Wizard

>Chaika

>Harmony

<Regarding the objective here, if the constructs don’t function underwater for whatever reason, then pursuit of the dullahan would be preferable.

The Grand Wizard has the most experience with both aquatic monsters and Nerg out of the three protagonists, which makes him a better fit for pursuing an objective which may relate to either of these things. Furthermore, he has strong fulgromancy and pyromancy, meaning he can deal with both aquatic monsters and Phallia’s forces better than anyone else, with the latter being particularly important given the proximity to the Cradle in either objective.

Chaika and Harmony have the most history with the Grand Wizard compared to the other protagonists and are capable of both empowering his attacks and defending him adequately, but the main reason I believe they should stick with him is due to them being constructs. With every other potential party member, injuries can be treated, bones can be set if dislocated or broken and health potions can be drunk to deal with all but the worst of wounds, but the constructs require either retreating back to the Nine Tails Forge or having an individual with great knowledge present in order to repair any damage. As such, if they receive heavy damage and aren’t placed in a party with the Grand Wizard, the only character present with the knowledge required to perform repairs, then they will have to abandon said party and leave it lacking, which would be greatly detrimental to the success of their mission. You could make the argument that Tabitha is also forced to be in a party with the Grand Wizard due to her magitek legs, but I’d like to think Rommel is at least capable of handling minor repairs on them seeing as the two are married.

Also, while I can understand the logic from >>384563 behind separating the two constructs for the purposes of moving artefacts and like around quickly, I’d argue that splitting up the party by having one person run ahead because neither Chaika nor Harmony are carrying the entire party with them as well as any equipment or artefacts is just begging for the solo person to run into an ambush and there will threats on the way back, no matter how fast we are and having whatever artefact they were carrying stolen, with them potentially dying in the process as well; as such, I believe it would be better for the party to stick together to tackle such threats.

<Team 2, seeking the Heart of the Crags

>Rommel

>Tabitha

>Veronica

Considering the starting point of the search would be in Blackfire Reach, I think it’s pretty obvious that Rommel and Tabitha would be the best fit here due to their influence in the city allowing them to organise searches, the whole sword and sorcery dynamic they have covering each other’s weaknesses and Rommel in particular having powerful geomancy which would help massively with excavations if needed. Furthermore, if the Heart of the Crags isn’t in Blackfire Reach for whatever reason, then it’s likely the Danuki has it and the Wurm Queen would know something about its whereabouts, so we would need one of the two to get said information from the Wurm Queen as she isn’t likely to tell anyone else.

Veronica may seem like a bit of an overkill at first, considering her skills with the blade nearly match Tabitha’s, but she has the most in common with Tabitha, even more so than Alice, and frankly I think Rommel could use the assistance because, while he has had ample time to recover, he was gravely injured only six months ago and hasn’t been in any fights since, so we don’t know how well he will perform in combat. Also, sending the legendary Ascendant into the Monster Nation filled with people who may or may not take kindly to the Order seems like a recipe for disaster – at least Alice is a nobody in the Order by comparison – so having Veronica go here instead seems less troublesome overall.

>>384575

<Team 3, seeking the ancient observatory

>Tobias

>Alice

>Hala

Tobias is kind of only here due to the other two protagonists being taken, as he doesn’t really have much to make him the perfect fit for this situation. Still, his illusionary magic is very versatile and should work wonders on any monsters that may attack.

Alice or Veronica could have fit here, but Veronica would likely attract unwanted attention, not to mention she works better with Tabitha and Rommel for previously mentioned reasons, and Alice having Energieschwert means she can deal with the myriad of monsters that will likely attack reasonably well. It would also give Tobias the opportunity to see how she’s changed since they last met, which would make for some interesting interactions.

Regarding Hala, I’m honestly not too sure I want to bring her in any of the parties as it stands due to her being out of action for twenty years, but I’d like to imagine she’s still capable and hasn’t forgotten how to fight or track. As for why this particular party, it’s a similar situation to Tobias in that she didn’t really fit anywhere else, but at least here she’s fulfils the role of token monster which would help us attract less attention overall in comparison to a party filled with humans.

It’s also worth mentioning people who aren’t present who may or may not be worthwhile to recruit for this:

>Clint and Ginelle

Both could help out with Tobias’ issues of a weaker party and a lack of monsters when entering the Monster Nation, and should be easy enough to find given Clint’s status as a noble. Clint in particular would be fantastic, as he would rectify the lack of long range combatants in the party and would function fairly well in an urban environment of abandoned human settlements due to having high vantage points and lots of cover to protect himself with.

>Franklin and Croakly

A powerful biomancer would help when going anywhere near the Cradle, something the Grand Wizard would do in either scenario, and an aquatic monster would be useful if pursuing the Trident of the Sea King, making the pair a great fit for the party. Finding him and his wife should be easy enough too, as the Grand Wizard has been in contact with Franklin recently, unless the “best Biomancer I know” is someone else we don’t know about. There is issue of Franklin being 60 years old by now, but Wizards have been implied to live for a very, very long time, so age should hopefully not slow him down too much. There’s also the issue of convincing the two to join us on a dangerous quest, but it’s worth a shot nonetheless.

>Helene

To be honest, I’m not sure why everyone wants her so much. Her understanding of magic was non-existent when she first gained the ability to use it and, unless I’m missing something, she hasn’t pursued any learning regarding it, not to mention all of her more powerful abilities were all tied to the Apophis spirit that was purged from her body, leaving her incapable of using them. Ultimately, all she would be is a lamia with more potent poison that doesn’t know how to use any of her abilities for combat, which isn’t really what we need at all.

>Sophie and Sylphie

Not initially present as per what >>384570 said, but still very much useful no matter which party they join, though they would be better off with Tobias, followed by the Grand Wizard. We probably won’t encounter them for a while though.

A final note, make sure all parties prepare for the journey properly. You can never have too many health potions, if not potions in general, and a good equipment setup would dramatically increase the chances of success.

This is way too much text even by my standards, but frankly this decision is important enough that I think it's warranted.

>>384562

1. Technically Tobias wouldn't know some of this, but its easy to find out

In Sanctifond:

GW

Rommel (and Erwin, who is off somewhere in the hall)

Tobias

Saya— Probable no go

Blake— no go

Hala

Selene- no go

Veronica

Harmony

Chaika

Alice

Patricia

Tabitha

Clint

Ginelle

Ophelia (She keeps on contact with Tobias and said she'd be in town for an investor meeting)

In blackfire reach: Helene

In ectria (as far as you know):

Ebe

Zoras

Sophie said she'd be visiting the Monster Nation at the end of WQ2, she's probably still there.

Sylphie was last heard from out west near Hudson, one of Deleor's port cities. She's been going on mini adventures with Mr. Ed.

2. Im not going to use any of his characters.

Ive incorporated some of the aspects as background things though The attack on Sanctifond wont have happened since it never finished before putin erased slavman and ive added an assault on a western fort named Islebard, and the Wizard Union exists, but the GW wont trust them with this, especially with the communion matrix compromised.

Oh and the chat noir is preoccupied atm trying to keep civil war from erupting in the Monster Nation.

As far as new characters? I guess we'll have to see. If anyone read Veronica's short story, perhaps a certain character could be convinced fo join?

Otherwise, Im open to entertaining suggestions but with something so important, can you trust people you havent met yet?

Ill pop in later and answer othet questions but this should be helpful for now unless im forgetting someone. Oh and no, you have no idea where Abigail is.

>>384577

Personally, I would suggest sending/asking Patricia to go with Tobias. As she knows the most about Hevensferth and his observatory. Let her do some 'on site' studying of an ancient ruin to her God as >>384563 pointed out. It would be nice for her to have some more screen time and she could take her boyfriend too… or maybe not. Some Mother/Daughter time too.

Vote for team 3

>>384576

Generally agree with your list and reasoning. Kudos on the effort.

The teams are really understrength atm. Elite as (most) of them are, the small numbers are likely to result in being overwhelmed and killed or being unable to project their power safely without copious amounts of plot armor.

In particular, Tobias should try and contact Clint, Ginelle and Orphelia for aid. He can drop a message by the airmail to Clarissa if she still has the fortitude to fight. Contacting his old allies won’t take much effort for the potential gains.

The numbers can be reinforced further with Order Heroes and Mages. Blake can afford to reassign some of them, especially given how critical this campaign is; it is a matter of the whole world surviving or not.

Team Tobias really needs help right now, and Veronica’s comrade from her story “Guardian Angel” would be cool. If Veronica dies, that would a devastating blow to the Order’s morale with political ramifications to whichever country she died in, so some bodyguards should be present.

Patricia’s talents are best used for the observatory. Whichever team has her suffers a small handicap since (as far as we know), Patricia has zero combat experience and probably has poor physical conditioning being stuck in the library. She requires a dedicated guard when the teams are already so small which is unfortunate.

Vote to follow Team Tobias for now.

Also Ace, can you put up the World Map for easy reference.

<Team 1, seeking the Trident of the Sea King/a dullahan

>Grand Wizard

>Chaika

>Harmony

<Team 2, seeking the Heart of the Crags

>Rommel

>Tabitha

>Veronica

> ?Bardam (Veronica’s companion)?

> ?Other Order Heroes or DSS?

<Team 3, seeking the ancient observatory

>Tobias

>Alice

>Hala

> ?Clint?

> ?Ginelle?

> ?Orphelia?

> ?Clarissa?

> ?Other Order Heroes or DSS?

Not sure whether Franklin/Croakly should accompany GW or Tobias. Team Tobias lacks a Wizard given that Sylphie is unavailable and we should try to avoid using Tobias' abilities. He went from -10 SAN to -80 SAN after several fights in a short period of time.

Other characters scattered in the world like Sylphie, Sophie, Ebe, Zoras can be attempted to be recruited if in a position to. However, the base party should be formed now in Sanctifrond because there is no guarantee that the various parties will encounter the aforementioned scattered characters in time.

>>384596

Bit late to the discussion, but the current setup looks fairly good. I like the idea of enlisting the help of Order Heroes to supplement the parties. Tobias' squad is the most vulnerable with Patricia accompanying them. No idea about Hala's current combat ability being a housewife for 20years, and Ginelle, Orphelia and Clarissa are okay fighters at best, since their day job is being a civilian.

Let’s follow Team Tobias for now.

Can someone explain to me why Galmathoria is such a problem?

From my understanding, they are a smallish nation with lousy natural resources aside from special Glass that was weak enough to be conquered by Tolosh without any significant resistance before Deleor troops could reinforce them in time. Then all of their men died for some unexplained problem with Tolosh’s magic.

Skip 20 years later, and somehow Galmathoria has a military to destabilize and potentially conquer the alliance between Deleor and Monster Nation. This is also ignoring that Galmathoria has lost one generation’s worth of population due to insufficient men to their monster females. It also ignores Selene’s plague which nerfs Monster powerlevels to be comparable with Humans.

Sure there are Monster dissidents in Monster Nation that don’t like Selene’s new co-existence rules, and Phallia is stirring up trouble in The Cradle but Galmathoria should be internally falling apart from a combination of population crisis and economic collapse from the embargoes 20 years ago.

I’m probably missing something, but we’ve been repeatedly told that Galmathoria is such a huge problem without explaining why.

On a similar note, it is implied that Monsters have a similar population count to Humans for at least 1000+ years. Given that they are still dependent on men to reproduce, the only explanation I can think of is harems as the norm, or kidnapping and monsterizing human females which would kill any good diplomatic relations between Monsters and Humans on a cultural level.

>>384556

And as the only Ebefag I enjoy it too Ace. Good to have you back. I really liked 'While you Studied the Blade' by the way. I'm not sure if you put that part about Ebe in there for my sake but I enjoyed it regardless.

>>384555

For the recommendations on teams, based upon party composition and team chemistry.

<Grand Wizard - Contact a Dullahan

>Veronica

>Chaika

>Alice

Our most combat-intensive group, and for good reason. Dullahans are sent personally by Nerg to cause destruction and make bad situations worse. If we're going to attempt contact, we need to bring serious firepower with us. The Grand Shitflinger and Veronica both have ample experience dealing with the Dullahan themselves, as well as the chaos they cause. Alice meanwhile, with her magic sword, is capable of harming Dullahan and other otherworldly enemies that are immune to normal weaponry. Chaika meanwhile is both powerful and durable and serves well as the parties tank.

<Rommel - The Heart of the Crags

>Tabitha

>Ebe

>Harmony

Rommel's group is going to be potentially be dealing with a lot of Danuki backroom deals. As Tabitha said, if the Heart was still at Blackfire Reach it would have been found right now, which means this group is likely headed for a scavenger hunt. Tabithas excellent swordsmanship will keep the group safe, and splitting her up from her husband would be a bad idea anyway. Dealing with Danuki, however, is going to take some smooth-talking and Ebe is great at getting people to like her. Her enchanted music is also worthwhile for stopping fights, causing confusion, or rallying team confidence. Likewise Harmony is known for her calming disposition while also being a formidable construct in her own right.

<Tobias - The Ancient Observatory

>Clint/Zoras

>Ginelle

>Bardam

Tobias's team will be most focused on trailblazing unfamiliar territory. A general based approach with a few specializations. The first thing we'll need is a scout and Clint fits that role perfectly. We know how handy he is with a rifle and is natural choice for finding out what lies ahead of us. The only issue is, at the end of Illusionquest, Clint hurt himself pretty badly. Hopefully his back has healed by now, but if he is unavailable, my second choice would be Zoras. She's great both in concealment as well as ambush tactics. Ginelle comes in being both a strong brawler as well as the best guide we could ask for. Ginelle spent most of her life in the wild, living outdoors, and if we're heading into unfamiliar territory there's no-one else I'd trust for advice. Her fighting strength shouldn't be underestimated either. Finally, as our combat expert, Bardam will be helpful to lead the fray into any conflict we get into. His particular skill, the sword Conviction, will be invaluable to the group. The concentration and discipline it provides complements Tobias and his Illusions perfectly.

Regarding the Trident of the Sea King, we should leave that to the people back home. Even if we did want to search for it, we'd have no idea where to start other than 'walk to the sea'. See if we can get Patricia and maybe Franklin/Croakly to look into it for us. We can't rely on the communion matrix, but we can trust Clarissa to transport messages if we ever need to.

Jackor is another unique case. Like Tobias said, he appears when he wants to. Trying to get his attention with an elaborate heist will likely backfire and might not even work. Instead, Tobias should see if he can contact Abigail and have her take us to him instead. I have no idea what's she's currently up too, but her and Akela were close, so she might know.

For the story itself, lets keep going with Tobias for now.

<Some things to consider.

>Hala

Seems like some of you have forgotten how useless Hala was in WIzardquest 1. She might be slightly more mature now, and doesn't have Blakes dick to distract her, but she's also been out of the game for too long. She wasn't a good fighter to begin with, taking her along is a mistake.

>Helene

Her power as a witch came solely from Hel'alin, the spirit that possessed her. She has no magical power, and having no combat skills makes her another poor candidate.

>>384607

Welp work is fuck all slow due to the rain and all my notes are done. Might as well address this as best I can on my phone.

So the Galmathorian question was one that was glossed over some due to the nature of this as a CYOA- we didn't go there and didnt directly interact with them in the only story you could have: Illusionistquest. Its something id like to address when i revisit that story, but I understand the confusion.

This is something slavsan tried to address. Yes, the territory is fairly small, expecially since Deleor is fairly small in its own right. The biggest benefit to that region has always been

1. Access to a port.

2. Mining

3. Galmathorian Glass

4. Large deposits of mana crystals

When the population turned and then lost most of their males, they became estranged. They had a different culture from the Monster Nation, but could no longer be considered part of Deleor. The new Monsters, confused by their situation, were okay after the Monster Lady was killed to try and reorganize the country, but their position soon became obvious: They needed more males for population and to sate their lusts.

Initially, men flocked there from Tolosh's speeches and this worked for a time, they even tried to actively recruit men, but it wasnt enough. Raids started occurring on outlying territories not "officially" sanctioned by the governing bodies.

Deleor spent years while the magitek revolution took place keeping them contained, wanting to sue for peace with the efforts of the new Monster Lady and Lord Commander. They had huge swing despite original anti-Monster sentiment and people began to grow accepting of more Monsters in society. War was not something people wanted to be frank.

All this time, magitek grew in scope. While this gave advantage to Deleor, it woulf eventually make its way to Galmathoria.

They have huge deposits of minerals perfect for magitek, which they took too quite readily. Since trade was limited with Deleor, they had little idea this was happening. The DSS had an idea but not the scope. This also made war with them more hesitant.

As their situation became more tenuous and less men from Deleor moved to Galmathoria, they started showing similar agitation seen before a Monster Invasion in the past. Can't keep their natures in check forever unforrunately. At the same time, Selene's influence began to be challenged in the Monster Nation by like minded individuals. While brute force isnt going to work anymore, Deleor wasnt exactly in a place to have an assault from the North and west at the same time. Worse, what if Monsters living in Deleor joined with their sisters or their husbands defected?

As far as supplies, the ground is fertile enough and they trade with both the Cradle and the Monster Nation (despite Selene's insistence.) They also have a working port which Deleor has a hard time blockading as they have a very limited Navy, despite having lots of coastline.

Despite Tobias's actions blunting an outright berserk rush of Galmathorians, theyve begun true military strikes at key Deleorian installations along the border. As it stands, the Order and Deleorian military is still recovering and watching the northern border, but outright war is bound to happen, especially now that the threat of eastern attack is all but negated.

As far as Monster population- Only some species live a long time. Species like Wolfgirls usually have human-like aging though some like Selene are an anomaly. Due to populations being curbed in invasions and, as we've seen, more feral Monstergirls killing each other, their numbers in the north are lower and the influx of men has been less, though relationships are much better considering many arent exactly kidnapped as much anymore. In the past numbers we less but Monsters were much stronger!

While some Monstergirls can reproduce as fast as people, generally speaking its only been in the past 20 years that there's been an explosion in their population due to more acceptance. This is actually a problem but no one wants to address it…

Ill look this over later and see if I missed anything. I wish i built up some things more but such is life. As this got more complicated, things were bound to slip see WQ2 threads, oof.

>>384610

It was a request story i did to pass the time on the bullet train when i went to Japan. It was fun to add in there, glad you liked her!

You'd have to think of a creative way to get Ebe or Zoras out here tbh.

Plenty of time to suggest though, im not writing until tomorrow. Be checking this often tho.

>>384613

Thanks for that delicious infodump; it makes understanding the geopolitical situation much clearer.

Could you also explain how Demon Energy, Demon Realms and monsterization works? From reading the previous stories, clearly DE is not on the same level as KC’s MGE but details are rather vague on how potent and contagious it is or how badly it warps an affected person’s mind. MGE’s iteration is borderline ego death while most fanfics tone it down to more palatable levels.

This info would give some idea of Galmathoria’s philosophy and also whether it is viable to send humans into Monster Territory where DE is at its strongest to avoid monsterization/incubization/alping.

>>384610

Some issues I can see with that presented lineup. The constructs (Chaika and Harmony) should stick with GW. If they break, he is the only one that knows how to fix their delicate parts.

The lineup only minimally uses the force multiplier when deploying friends and allies that already work well with each other. Another Anon already mentioned the benefits in a previous post being increased teamwork and higher morale without risking infighting.

I love Ebe, but she is a strong patriot. With Ectria still recovering, it is unlikely that she will abandon her people without a really good reason that benefits Ectria. It will also take precious time that we don’t have to get into contact with her as well.

>>384596

Agreed with this team comp with some clarified details.

<Team 1, seeking the Trident of the Sea King/a Dullahan

>Grand Wizard

>Chaika

>Harmony

> Selene’s Personal Guard

<Team 2, seeking the Heart of the Crags

>Rommel

>Tabitha

>Veronica

>Bardam

>Order Tracker/Ranger

<Team 3, seeking the ancient observatory

>Tobias

>Alice

>Hala

>Patricia

>Clint

>Ginelle

>Orphelia

>Clarissa

>Order Fire Mage

>Order Melee Hero

People, this is like Exam Day. There is no more time or safety nets for people to get used to each other. If new team mates’ personalities or quirks clash, the consequences will be catastrophic. Try to keep old comrades in the same teams while optimizing them for the mission objectives. The Order reinforcements are subordinates and their military training ensures that they can follow orders.

Tobias’ team is fairly weak even if they have large numbers for several reasons:

a) Abigail is missing. Tobias doesn’t have a safety net for his Insanity which limits his combat abilities to low level support.

b) The majority of his old crew were fairly terrible in direct combat, though understandably so. In Illusionquest, Tobias was carrying his team with his absurdly powerful Illusionist abilities. In this case, he can’t because he has no way of reversing his Insanity.

c) Non combatants are accompanying him. Although Patricia is an excellent scholar, she is a liability in the field. She doesn’t know how to fight, and presumably does not have the stamina for trekking in the wilds. The combat effectiveness of Hala and Orphelia has proven questionable in previous stories.

I would suggest that the Order provides at least 1 Fire or Earth Mage for dedicated support and 1 Melee Hero.

As for the story, go with Tobias, he seems to have the more interesting mission right now.

>>384626

You’re right about this being like exam day, however if Tobias’s team is going into the mountains a large team can be a liability. Your pace will be slower, you’ll need to carry more food, supplies, and other gear. While this can be nullified by bags of holding, speed is of the utmost importance not to mention the ability to resupply the party, or any mounts they might have is not guaranteed up in the mountains. If they can shave a 2 or 3 members off then that will increase the pace and lower the amount of supplies they’ll consume per day. Altitude sickness will also be a bitch for their first few days. Larger characters, like ginelle, will have even more difficulty. At higher altitudes a single mile will feel like 3 or 4 if you’re not acclimated to the height.

I am a bit late to the discussion but anyway.

Given that Ebe received her lute from Sveth himself and she seems to have obtained his favor or at the very least his approval in some small form it seems detrimental not to ask for her help if they intend to contact the God. If anything even if she does not join as a companion having her around when they use the Heart of the Crags to speak to Sveth might still help.

>>384630

>PTSD flashbacks from Duke of Edinburg hikes.

That's an excellent point. Should we recruit these characters even if we have the opportunity to do so?

We need to measure the cost-benefit ratio. Let's have a look

Hala: Excellent tracking skills. Poor combat feats in WizardQuest1 and housewife for 20 years. Hard to justify.

Orphelia: Maintains magitek. Only worth bringing if Team Tobias uses a lot of tech. Could be useful.

Clarissa: Aerial scout and messenger between various Teams. Minimal combat ability. Extremely useful for logistics.

Ginelle: Excellent tracking skills. Okayish combatant. Good frontliner.

Clint: Good tracker and sniper support. Pairs very well with Orphelia as she maintains his magitek gear.

For a minimalist team, we could drop Hala and Orphelia for Order soldiers that are dedicated combatants. Clarissa won't be around all the time if she's playing messenger between the various Teams.

These are just my opinions, so if I missed out something call it out.

>>384593

https://imgur.com/2UrQeur

Uhm. I might have lost the edited version of the map and my laptop is being shit. S-Sorry. I really would want to get a real map made, but I can't find anyone who can do it.

Note: The Monster Lady's castle is the capital. Selene means something a little north of that.

>>384626

Selene's personal guard will be with… Selene. She doesn't keep many tbh. They'll be headed back to the capital anyway.

Order heroes and mages. We're starting with fresh faces out the gate huh. Hrm. We'll have to seeeeee.

Let's see, what else… Yeah, people who are aiming for Zoras and Ebe, you'll really have to convince me of a good way to even contact those two. As for Clarissa, she's in Kasin watching Akela atm as was mentioned, but if you want to get her attention it's not that hard since she's still working.

Oh, and for Tobias's insanity. Since most people want to be Tobias anyway, you'd know that he would still suffer from the insanity, but due to further training with Richard and his involvement with Jackor, it seems to be slowed. Yes, doing some crazy bullshit will cause some more issues, so you'll have to be judicious, but don't be totally afraid.

I'll also make a sheet for him by next visit showing his retained powers to use. It's not like they went away! I'll do the same for Rommel and the GW as well so we have a better idea of spell lists. Some spells will likely be trimmed since they never get used.

Oh good, people read the story. Bardam is a good boi.

Also, why does everyone call her Orphelia? Did I fuck up somewhere? Her name is Ophelia…

>>384631

Please remember to sage

>>384630

That’s a legitimate concern but I don’t think ten people strains logistics. I went on an 18-man mountain hike in the Grand Canyon that lasted for about three weeks with minimal resupply and it went quite well.

The earlier proposed team composition seems fine. Its easier for the Team Tobias where they have magical utilities like bags of holding, and the team members are either Monsters who are inherently hardy or trained Humans. The plan is for the teams to return in Hero’s Hall in a month so they will only be out in the wilds for only a couple of weeks.

If anything, the expeditions should have a longer timeframe. When considering the time for the return journey, a month is way too short. Searching for lost relics is going to take much longer than 2 weeks.

We should consider creating lines of resupply and communication and let the teams stay out in the field indefinitely. Establish communication lines using Monster Fliers, Order Riders and Magitek Constructs. Of course, for serious matters, the groups should arrange to meet up in person.

>>384640

I think anon was referring to Selene detaching one or two of her trusted handmaidens to look out for her husband if needed.

It’s a bit unclear whether any usage Illusionist abilities cause insanity or only medium to high level ones from Illusionistquest. Can you please clarify this?

You guys have been sperging so much I looked like another update. There's nothing I can really add except We should ask Nerg to bring slavsan back to life.

Some excellent ideas going on, generally agree with the placements and reasonings given by previous posters.

Compiled and refined the current setup.

<Team 1: Trident of the Sea King primary, Dullahan secondary

>Grand Wizard

>Chaika

>Harmony

>X Number of Monster Lady Handmaidens (preferably frontliner species)

<Team 2: Heart of the Crags (Blackfire Reach)

>Rommel

>Tabitha

>Veronica

>Bardam

>Order Ranger

<Team 3: Ancient Observatory (Monster Nation)

>Tobias

>Alice

>Hala

>Patricia

>Clint

>Ginelle

>Ophelia

>Clarissa

>Order Fire Mage

>Order Melee Hero Frontliner

<Recruit if we see them, but don’t depend on them when planning

>Sylphie

>Sophie

>Ebe

>Zoras

>Abigail

>Helene is unusable for reasons stated above.

>Franklin and Croakly

Think that Tobias’ team is viable at 10 members. They are arguably going into the most dangerous region so it is important that they have all bases covered and have the numbers to prevent themselves from getting overwhelmed if they are confronted by predatory Monster opportunists. Although I have no high level camping experience myself, I suspect that smart wilderness practices in conjunction with the magitek available will considerably alleviate many logistical problems.

>>384642

Agreed that the 1 month return time is way too short. Travelling to a location will take a week at minimum. Hiding or fighting enemy forces will slow down the parties, and the problems that inevitably crop up when searching for fabled lost artefacts will take even longer.

Selene and Blake should use their authority to create communication channels for the three teams in the absence of leylines.

Another idea is using El Dorito as a slipspace for messages and resupply between groups with access? IIRC Warriorquest made excellent use of that mechanic.

Whew that was a long post, but necessary due to the importance of the strategic decisions being made here.

I completely forgot to say which team to follow initially, so my vote is for team Tobias though voting at this point is pretty pointless. Changing characters only two posts into the story seems a little silly to me.

Also Ace, three queries:

>1) Is trimming particular spells necessary? Even if they weren't used in their original quests, wouldn't having the option to use them should the need arise be better for variety?

>2) How is swapping perspectives going to work exactly? Are we going to see the key events of all parties, or are certain things going to be missed because we were using a different character at the time something was happening to another?

>3) Related to the second query, how much are you planning on writing for all this? Writing the equivalent of three stories for one would be a lot of work that’s probably too much, but at the same time you want enough plot for each party to avoid ideas and events being half-baked.

>>384610

>Ebe

Her reasons for joining Rommel during WizardQuest 2 were initially due to her friendship with the Cat O'Ninetails twins, eventually becoming because she wanted to protect her home; this mission would certainly fulfil the latter, but it would come at the cost of taking her away from where she is needed most and would likely result in tragedy upon her return, so she is very much unlikely to join us if it means her home would be gone. And that's not taking into account the amount of time we would need to waste getting to her to recruit her in the first place as well as get back to somewhere we actually need to be, which would likely take up half of our available time, something we absolutely cannot afford. I get that you like her, but seeking out Ebe isn't something we should consider doing. Besides, this mission is extremely dangerous and has the potential to end with losses because we aren't going to do this perfectly no matter how much preparation goes into this. Considering that Ebe would have definitely died had we made certain decisions that very nearly came to pass (see Ace's comments in the end of quest QA), it's very likely that she will die if we bring her with us. At least back in Ectria she's safe.

>Regarding the Trident of the Sea King, we should leave that to the people back home. Even if we did want to search for it, we'd have no idea where to start other than 'walk to the sea'.

On the contrary, we know the Trident was used by 'a seafaring culture on the western Deleorian coast' and is now in possession of the Queen of the Seas, which implies we could get information regarding it from places like Hudson and Capelin Town. Comparatively, we have no clues for where to even begin looking for a dullahan. The best I could come up with was the closest potential source of death being Galmathoria, and even that's unlikely; if a dullahan didn't show up at any point in Ectria despite the civil war and high kill count, why would one necessarily show up here?

>>384593

>The numbers can be reinforced further with Order Heroes and Mages.

>>384626

>The Order reinforcements are subordinates and their military training ensures that they can follow orders.

To play devil's advocate here because I both agree and disagree with all this, there are a number of issues with this plan. Firstly, how do we necessarily know we can trust these people with this mission? Certainly, Blake could have hand-picked these men and women himself, but that doesn't mean they aren't hiding things from us; we don't know them personally, after all. And it only takes one traitor to completely fuck us over, be it by stealing an artefact or killing a party member when our guard drops. The solution to this would be to constantly be on edge and watching them for any signs of betrayal, but that would just exhaust everyone, drop morale massively and cause infighting when nobody trusts anyone. Sure, a party would be weaker if the Order reinforcements weren't with them, but at least they wouldn't have to worry that the mission could be over the next time they go to sleep.

Secondly, most of the proposed setups for bringing Order forces with us involves taking them into the Monster Nation, a country on the verge of a civil war which has a good number of monsters who aren't the biggest fans of the Order. Taking a single Order member there isn't too much of an issue, so long as they aren't high profile like Veronica. Taking three or more is just begging for a diplomatic incident of sorts, or at the very least hostilities from anti-Order residents, with either outcome fuelling the fire that Selene is desperately trying to put out. If we are taking multiple Order members there, I'd limit it to two.

>>384669

>>384593

>>384626

Thirdly, this mission is kind of supposed to be subtle, as we wouldn't be discussing it in private without anyone else knowing otherwise. If there are any spies within the Order's ranks, then having Blake go around and select particular heroes for a secret mission would raise a red flag that we're planning something; at least as it stands now only the current group present know about the plan and can leave Sanctifrond discreetly without raising any suspicions. Furthermore, a bigger group is going to attract more attention. A party of 3, 4 or 5 wouldn't raise too many eyebrows, because it could just be a group of friends or an adventuring party, while a party of 10 is clearly planning something. There’s also the meta problem of too many characters and not enough screen time, more so in this situation where we will see each party for a third of the time we would normally, which does worry me.

Finally, even if the people we take with us are highly skilled, they are very unlikely to be as capable as certain veteran party members and will potentially drag everyone else down to their level if we have to constantly assist them in combat and the like. Still, Tobias' party at least could definitely use the help.

That said, if we are taking Order members, I'd personally take Bardam, because Veronica clearly trusts him and he's at least semi-competent, and Fellows, because Tobias trusts him and he's at least aware of the secret meeting though considering he has a family and hasn't gone through the same trials and tribulations as everyone else, I'm not entirely sure I want to risk his life with this mission.

>>384635

>Clarissa: Aerial scout and messenger between various Teams.

>>384642

>We should consider creating lines of resupply and communication and let the teams stay out in the field indefinitely. Establish communication lines using Monster Fliers, Order Riders and Magitek Constructs.

>>384655

>Selene and Blake should use their authority to create communication channels for the three teams in the absence of leylines.

How is this supposed to work exactly? We're going off the grid and we won't know where the other parties are until everyone meets back in Sanctifrond, so how are we supposed to relay messages between the parties when we don't know the destination to send them to? Furthermore, how is anyone we send away to deliver a message supposed to find us again? We're not going to wait for them, we can't afford to waste time. And wouldn't creating lines for communication result in us leaving a trail that Phallia's forces could easily follow and use to ambush us on our way back? It just seems detrimental overall.

>Another idea is using El Dorito as a slipspace for messages and resupply between groups with access?

This, on the other hand, sounds like a great idea, but Tobias or someone else in his party would have to be taught how to access El Dorito first unless he already knows somehow and I’ve forgotten about it.

>>384635

Cutting Hala and Clarissa, potentially also Ophelia, makes the most sense to me if we're going down this route. Ginelle fulfils Hala's role of a tracker while being better in combat, Clarissa's only real use is scouting and even then he effectiveness may be more limited due to the large aerial cover an urban area provides and Ophelia is only really useful here if ancient wizard constructs are present which is rather likely, to be fair, because having her work as comms is pointless if we aren't splitting up and Clint can probably handle his own equipment, more so if he has a lot of replacement parts available to him.

>>384655

>Bringing Patricia with Tobias' party

Unless you bring her books with her, she's going to be only slightly more knowledgeable about the destination and what we're looking than everyone else, and I'm not sure that's worth the negatives she brings. I still kind of want her myself though.

>Agreed that the 1 month return time is way too short. Travelling to a location will take a week at minimum. Hiding or fighting enemy forces will slow down the parties, and the problems that inevitably crop up when searching for fabled lost artefacts will take even longer.

Perhaps, but we aren’t exactly spoiled for time. Any longer and we’re probably too late to do anything about Phallia’s plans.

>>384655

The time constraint is why I suggested Tobias’s team get a construct. It’s possible that one or each of the teams will discover their respective relic but not be able to reach the capital in time. Or the group may come under attack and be at risk of losing the artifact, handing it off to their construct or Rommel so they can escape with it.

It’ll certainly be riskier sending them off alone but I believe the circumstances warrant it

>>384678

Damn it forgot my sage

>>384655

>>384669

One month was a "seems legit" timeframe due to the existence of leyway travel but we can sue for extension.

For tobias's insanity, ill write it out later. on mobile atm without mah documents.

Issues

1. Not overly, it was just to reduce bloat but i guess i can keep it there.

2. Key points will be hit for each, just where things start may be a little off since Tobias is first picked. Probably for the best considering

3. Who the fuck knows. I have an idea on how to make this work but plans in face of enem- I mean, good suggestions never last.

El Dorito is fine, however Tobias won't have access to it as he's not a Wizard.

Anyway, ill scrounge through and compile later today and write this evening. Seems we have most of an agreement on how to do this, just some particular cast members to figure out, though im going to need to see exactly how many people want to drag outsiders into this from the start. Cause that'll be important.

Sticking with 1 month timeframe is fine, but there should be contingencies if various teams don’t appear on time. Who knows what might happen in hostile territory looking for lost artifacts.

>>384669

Order Members: Avoid advertising that they are from the Order. Just wear unadorned armor; instead of their usual uniform. Basically like Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring, he drops his distinctive Gondorian plate armor for a non-descript outfit posing as tourists. However if Humans as a whole are unwelcome in Monster Nation, I question what exactly has Selene and GW been doing for the past twenty years on the diplomatic front. Aren't Deleor and Monster Nation supposed to be allies, at least on paper?

As for internal betrayal; the Order members are portrayed as the typical fantasy paladins; they are supposed to be the cream of the crop; virtuous heroes that is the shield of Humanity against the Monsters in the dark. Like any paramilitary organization, there must be at least a few trusted veterans for this kind of low-key work, if not an entire black ops unit. Realistically they would be more trustworthy than some of the various party members who don’t really have a stake in the conflict. In contrast, the Order members have pledged life and sword to the cause.

Seems most people are fine with Team GW and Team Rommel, its only the excess members of Team Tobias that’s a problem.

I’m personally ok with the current lineup, but If we’re cutting down the number count, for such a serious mission I suggest dropping Hala, Ophelia and Clarissa and keep the Order Hero and Mage. If Clint and the Order Hero have good tracking abilities then Ginelle can also be dropped. Looking back on IllusionistQuest, Tobias and Clint were doing the bulk of the work, with the others contributing minimally.

Team Tobias needs veteran, trained fighters that can endure the inhospitable mountainous terrain in a hostile nation, and must be able to pull their weight when violence occurs.

A proposal for a reduced Team Tobias with reasoning in brackets.

<Team 3: Ancient Observatory

>Tobias

>Alice

>Patricia (Deadweight but necessary. Bags of holding for her books. Give her a magitek rifle).

>Clint

>Order Veteran Fire Mage

>Order Veteran Hero (Alice is the frontliner, but might still another to protect Patricia and the backline of Tobias, Clint and the Fire Mage)

>Hala (Has young children to look after, tracking abilities covered by others, poor combat ability, probably rusty from being a housewife)

>Ginelle (Tracking abilities covered by others, poor suitability to high altitude, meh combat ability)

>Ophelia (Physically weak for harsh mountainous terrain, engineering skills not needed here, poor combat ability, high value hostage)

>Clarissa (Abilities suffer from high altitude reducing her key niche of flight)

Meta-wise, it depends if we want realism or enjoy seeing our favourite characters again.

Something fairly important to do before we set off that's just come to mind: check everyone for spores. The presence of internal corruption will inevitably manifest at the worst possible time, so any threats like that should be dealt with as soon as possible.

>>384678

Considering the purpose seeking these artefacts or location in the case of the observatory is to make contact with the Gods to get them to convince Solo to stop Phallia, who's to say we couldn't just use them when we get them? Certainly, having them at the capital would be beneficial, but there's nothing stopping us from explaining the situation to the God in question so that they can be present when we try to convince Solos even if the party cannot. In Hevensferth's case, it's seemingly mandatory unless an artefact is found or the observatory is moved, but that's a little bit of a stretch.

>>384694

>Order Members: Avoid advertising that they are from the Order. Just wear unadorned armor; instead of their usual uniform. Basically like Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring, he drops his distinctive Gondorian plate armor for a non-descript outfit posing as tourists.

A fair point and something that should definitely be done if we go down this route.

>As for internal betrayal; the Order members are portrayed as the typical fantasy paladins; they are supposed to be the cream of the crop; virtuous heroes that is the shield of Humanity against the Monsters in the dark. Like any paramilitary organization, there must be at least a few trusted veterans for this kind of low-key work, if not an entire black ops unit. Realistically they would be more trustworthy than some of the various party members who don’t really have a stake in the conflict. In contrast, the Order members have pledged life and sword to the cause.

Everyone ultimately has a stake in this, considering failure would result in genocide for both humans and monsters alike. But that aside, asking a member of the Order to help us on this mission is effectively asking them to oppose Phallia and by extension Solos, seeing as the two are married and he clearly holds her in high regard. The Order might be loyal to Blake, but I sincerely doubt there will be many who would favour him over their beloved God, especially when we can't exactly provide any evidence to prove why Phallia is evil outside of 'believe us, we've personally seen it'. Even if they do exist, we wouldn't know for definite until we ask potential candidates, which is a gamble on whether or not we find the perfect fit right off the bat; if we don't, said candidate has the chance to spread the word that the Lord Commander is spewing blasphemy even if instructed or threatened to do otherwise, which will alert Phallia to our plans and as result ruin everything unless you kill everyone who refuses to ensure their silence, but that would be noticed fairly quickly as well. And even if we do find someone that appears to be desirable, we won't know until the knife is at our backs whether or not they can truly be trusted. Even if other party members would be weaker overall, at least we know they're on our side because they've seen the shit Phallia has pulled first-hand and know what fate awaits them if she isn't stopped.

>>384694

The reduced Team 3 is pretty decent.

Only thing that could be changed is keeping Ginelle instead of loaning an Order Veteran.

Ginelle had a poor showing in Illusionistquest but everyone except Tobias, Clint and somewhat Saya didn't do well.

The main reasons for keeping her are:

- Fulfils the tracker and frontliner role.

- Excellent teamwork and chemistry with Tobias and Clint.

- The Order can use their Veteran somewhere else in the war.

- Ginelle showed amazing feats in the first few chapters of Illusionistquest. She is tanky to survive being swarmed by a hive of Honeybees and being thrown into a river while unconscious without dying. Her brute strength is unparalleled. She managed to tear her way out of a Lamia's death coil which is their win con.

>>384696

Valid concerns. That said, I doubt that the Order reinforcements would be given the full story even after a vetting interview. More along the lines of a bodyguard assignment to protect high value individuals of interest to the Order. Over the course of the mission, they can be convinced or after they encounter Phallia's abominations.

>>384700

Keeping the Order reinforcements in the dark could work rather well for us, but unfortunately it doesn't solve the primary issue of traitors, because those working for Phallia would quickly figure out what's going on and would try to murder us regardless of whether we told them the plan or not. It also comes with its own problems, such as the party not being able to discuss the objective without careful wording due to the risk of cluing those out of the loop in, or the possible scenario where Phallia's forces do not immediately attack us but instead tell the reinforcements about our deceit and true objectives while carefully wording things to warp the truth and make us look bad, thus making their attack seem like a justified defence of their Goddess and putting the reinforcements in a confusing position in which we have no idea how they'll react but can guess it will probably be negative. Still, that particular scenario would only occur if Phallia knew about our plans before attacking us, so while possible it's fairly unlikely to happen, and the benefits of classifying certain information until necessary outweighs the cons, so we should without a doubt do it if we do end up taking Order troops with us.

>>384706

Yeah, keeping Order reinforcements in the dark is troublesome but hopefully they can get the full story along the way and become a full ally after seeing proof.

Team Rommel's Order reinforcements should have little problems with traitors. Bardam is a trusted ally, and Veronica's status of Ascendant gives religious weight to her pronouncements.

Team Tobias' main problem is that many folks 'in the know' are unsuitable for a difficult mission in enemy territory, so Order members are needed to shore up the deficiencies to avoid a Party Wipe. That said, I would prefer Ginelle to replace the Order Veteran to minimize loyalty problems that you listed. IIRC Alice has a fairly poor reputation within the Order so her words are meaningless compared to Veronica.

Another key reason to bring Order members is I suspect that the Order fracturing when Phallia throws her coming out party will be a major plot point in the future. It would be good to pre-emptively lay the foundations of distrust in Phallia to mitigate the damage. This would be best achieved by having Order members accompany the Teams and be convinced, then help convince the rest of the Order.

If the Order has a schism at a critical point in the war, Deleor would be done for given how bad their situation is already when everyone is united.

>>384708

The original setup for the three teams, including Tobias’ larger team is good.

Ophelia and Clarissa are being slept on a little. If Team Tobias changes their group tactics to a tank frontline and support backline, they become very useful. Guns are the great equalizer, and if they are given magitek rifles, they can do work.

For example, Clarissa acting as a fast moving aerial shooter makes her exceeding dangerous, and her ability to fly herself or Clint into good vantage points is invaluable. Ophelia’s explosives are deadly in the mountains and her comms allow more complex tactics to be used. Gunner tactics are considerably more dangerous if Tobias uses his Illusionist abilities to lure enemies into killzones.

The Order reinforcements are the team’s backbone, being highly trained and physically fit. The anon above me raises an excellent point about bringing Order members to convince them of Phallia’s treachery. With more Order members convinced, the less damage an Order fracture will be.

<Team 3: Ancient Observatory

>Tobias – Leader, Illusion support

>Alice – Frontliner, elite swordfighter, team’s champion duelist

>Patricia – Deadweight high value escortee

>Clint – Magitek sniper, tracker

>Order Veteran Fire Mage – Anti Insect/Plant Monster, signaller, control mage.

>Order Veteran Hero – Frontliner, tracker, protect rearline

>Ginelle – Frontliner, tracker, protect rearline

>Ophelia – Comms, explosives, magitek gunner

>Clarissa – Aerial spotter, magitek sniper, carry Clint to better positions

At 9 members, that is logistically viable. It is the same size as the Fellowship and they didn't have the glorious invention that is a bag of holding. Metagaming aside, we should not expect convenient NPCs to suddenly join our teams and fix whatever missing roles we have.

Think Ace might have already starting writing but I'll throw in my 2cents anyway.

Support this >>384655 team layout with this >>384713 adjustment for Tobias' team. The logic is sound for the mission objectives, team camaraderie and combat ability.

Other important things to handle are buying/requisitioning supplies such as health potions, mana crystals, bags of holding. With our 'side' featuring numerous faction leaders like Selene, GW and Blake, getting the supplies and funding to acquire more should not be an issue (within reason).

If we're arming a large number of Tobias' team with magitek firearms, we're going to need a lot of mana crystals and bags of holding to contain them. Bags within bags of holding anyone?

If Abigail can consistently reverse insanity, she is extremely valuable and directly increases Tobias' usefulness. Tobias should ask Saya to try and send a message to her to join up with his team.

>Tobias

>Story continue

“You look proud of yourself.”

“I have my signature! I’ve been waiting so long.”

“Uh huh.” Saya says, frowning at you. “Are you that was the best time to ask him?”

“I mean, well, there’s important discussion going on now. I might have missed my chance!”

“Honestly, sometimes I wonder if you should have just married my father instead of me if you love him so much.”

You smile and place the book on the table before turning to Saya. “Dear, that’s gay.”

She rolls her eyes and looks up at the rest of the room. The peoples assembled are chatting amongst themselves, formulating plans on what relics to go after and who to bring along. Frowning, she turns back to you. “Shouldn’t you be making a group too?”

“Hmm? Oh, well, I figure there’s a lot going on at the moment. Besides, we’ll likely be the last to leave anyway.” A grimace comes across your face. “I was thinking about asking Clint and Ginelle to come along.”

“Oh.” Saya says, expression worried. “Are you sure about that? You know he’s been-“

“It’s fine. I’ve needed to talk to him for awhile anyway. Besides, you haven’t seen Ginelle in awhile, right? I’m sure she’d be delighted to see Erica.”

“Yeah.” Saya says, rocking the little ball of goo that is your daughter. “I just wish… wish that I could go with you but-“

“I know.” You say, squeezing her shoulder. “I know.”

“Tobias Shady!” A voice calls, taking your attention.

You turn to see Alice striding up, hand on her waist. You’re surprised at how different she looks in such a short period of time. Sure, her hair is a completely different color now, but you’re more talking about the way she doesn’t sneer at all the Monsters and generally doesn’t seem like she wants to fuck everything that moves.

“Alice, a pleasure to meet again. You’re looking well.”

“It’s hard not to look better than the last time you saw me.” She says, shaking her head. “Anyway, there’s been a decision in one of the groups. They’d like your opinions on your own party.”

“Right, right.” You say, standing up and nodding to Saya. “I’ll be back.”

“Sure, but I’ll be watching you. If you so much as appear like you’re going to make out with Dad, I’m going to kill you.”

“Saya, come on, that’s-“

“Gay? Yeah, though didn’t you say you made a Cat Girl believe that on-“

“ANYWAY.” You say, straightening your back. “I have world saving business to attend to.” You sniff and turn about, an amused Alice trailing behind you.

As you approach the others, the Grand Wizard looks up at you and smirks. You cock your head as Selene flicks a feline ear, giving you a shit-eating grin. Doing your best acting to hide your embarrassment at being overheard, you say in a serious tone, “What’s the decision?”

“Rommel has agreed on his party already.” The Grand Wizard says, nodding to the other Wizard. The tall man shrugs and says,

“Lead would suggest Blackfire Reach. There’s bound to be some clues there if we dig deep enough, and it’s not like we don’t already live there.” He nods to Tabitha. “Of course my wife will come along, but we’ve made an arrangement for the Ascendant to come with us.”

“Oh please.” Veronica says, shaking her head. “It’s just Veronica. While I’m sure Blake would rather have me around to inspire the men or whatever, there’s plenty of priests nearby who can do a similar job.” She smirks and says,

“Besides, I’m itching for some more combat at my high seas adventures.”

“Yes. One wonders if we’d have been party to that if we went to Port Dorning.” Rommel says, rubbing his chin. “Of course, I wouldn’t have met my wife so… maybe it’s for the best.”

“You kind of suck at Hydromancy anyway.” Tabitha says, patting his arm.

“Three people? Is that going to be enough?” You ask, looking worried.

“Mmmm, I have a suggestion for one more.” Veronica says, looking to Blake.

The Lord Commander sighs and shakes his head. “Fine, Bardam hasn’t been deployed yet anyway. If you feel you can trust him on this, then I’ll believe your judgement. You need someone to keep you in line as it stands, so I’ll make the arrangements. “

>>384716

Veronica looks indignant as the Grand Wizard speaks up again. “As you’d guessed, they’ll try to contact Sveth. I believe given the circumstances, it would be wise for my group to look after the Trident of the Sea King.”

“Not a Dullahan?” You ask, cocking your head.

“They’re hard to find, and unless we run into Delilah, unlikely to listen without a fight. A surer best would be to go looking for the Sea Queen.” He nods to the two constructs. “I’ll be taking Harmony and Chaika with me. All things considered, we’re going to make noise wherever we go, might as well make a lot of it.” He turns to you.

“How about you, what have you decided?”

“Hmm.” You say, stroking your chin. “All things considered, I think my talents would be best served up north in the Monster Nation. If needs be, I can disguise myself and scent easy from the Monsters and we can hopefully get in and out. As it stands a month seems a little short though.”

“Fair enough.” Selene says, nodding her head. “And your party?”

“Mmm. Well, I was going to look into some former associates of mine, but I was hoping…” You turn to Alice who smirks.

“Ohhhh, so now you want me around? Well, maybe if you get the cute guy with the rifle-“

“You know he’s taken.”

“Phooie.”

“Anyway.” You continue. “Since I can’t really sling spells if things go south, I’ll check in on my old group and see who wants to come. However, it might be wise to see if we can’t supplement our parties with Heroes from the Order or other Wizards?”

“No.” The Grand Wizard says, face hard. “I’m sorry to say but I can’t trust other Wizards to keep off the Communion Matrix, nor to keep their mouths shut. Besides, we’re very… selfish people, betrayal is a possibility.”

You turn to Blake who frowns. “That’s a difficult request. Most of our soldiers are on the frontlines and the rest we have are reserves or on small missions of their own. I’m not sure I have anyone I can necessarily trust for a mission like this, nor those with requisite skill.” He pauses, furrowing his brow. “Unless…”

“You have one of those looks on your face.” Hala says, shaking her head. “Come on, might as well spill it out.”

“Well. There are some… problem cases we have. They’re good at what they do, but I’d be hesitant about putting them on frontline duty. This may suit them far better than their other tasks to be honest and at least they’re loyal to the Order, if nothing else.”

Blake slams his fist into his hand. “Alright. From the parties already organized and what I know about each of you, I believe I can supplement what you have.” He turns to Rommel. “While your combat prowess is strong, you may benefit from a scout. I’ll assign someone to you, a Mouse Girl. I doubt she has any loyalty to Phallia and has been a good soldier, if lazy at times. She’s made an excellent scout in the past however.”

Rommel rubs at the back of his head. “I mean, I already have my familiar but… He nods to Blake. From what I’ve heard of you, your judgement is sound. We’ll speak with her before deciding.”

“Indeed.” He turns to the Grand Wizard. “Now for you-“

“No.”

Blake blinks. “Uh. Huh?”

“I said, no.” He says, shaking his head. “I don’t need someone like that slowing me down. Now if my dear had any of her handmaidens to-“

“A handmaiden of the Monster Lady. Out in Deleor. When there’s strife in the Monster Nation.” Selene says each of these with a dull expression as she stares at her husband. “Dear, are you retarded?”

“Maybe?” He says, smirking. “Fine, fine, I get it. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine with the three of us.”

Blake rolls his eyes. “I should have figured. That leaves you, Tobias. What kind of support would you need?”

“Hmm.” You say, rubbing your chin. “Well, we lack true magical support, and frankly, I think someone who to support Alice would be useful.”

Alice’s eyes sparkle at this and she leans toward Blake. “Heeeeeeeey, I think I know just the guy~”

“Alice, please.” Blake says, shaking his head. “You can’t seriously be suggesting we send HIM?”

“Oh I seriously can. Come on, this is perfect for him. Please, please pleeeeaassee?”

Blake looks to Veronica, who shrugs. Eventually he closes his eyes, sighs, and says, “Fine. I’ll send him and a mage to you soon. I’ll send a message when they’re ready.” Alice pumps a fist in the air. The more things change, huh?

The other begin preparations and say goodbyes, Hala in particular grumbling about no one picking her. You look about the room of determined fighters, knowing that each of their quests will be both dangerous and important. You’re a little hesitant to leave your family behind as you do this, but you understand the importance of it. Well, you’ve saved the world once, might as well do it again. One thing sticks out to you however as you scan the room. A smirk appears on your lips as say,

“Wait, I have one other suggestion for my party.”

>>384717

“Tobias.”

“Yes, dear?” You say, turning to your wife as you walk through the streets of the inner city the next day.

“Why is SHE here?”

“Who, Alice? Well, she’s very good with her sword and with her hair like that, she can pass for a Monster in the right situations-“

“I didn’t mean her. I meant the other HER.”

You cock your head and look to your left where Patricia stands, messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She gives you a wary expression as you cough into your hand. “Ohhhhhh, you mean her! Well, we’re going to the Monster Nation to an ancient ruin devoted to the God of knowledge and the heavens. I figured she’d want to come along. Be useful info dump, eh?”

Patricia sighs. “Info dump, huh?” She shakes her head and pats the bag at her side. “Well, it would be interesting to see. Besides, I’ve never been to the Monster Nation. It would be informative.”

“Sure you’ll be able to travel through that terrain Ms. Bookworm?” Saya says, sniffing.

“I’ll have you know that I take walks every now and then!” Patricia says, indignant. “Besides, I am a Wolf Girl and we are built for such things. I doubt things will be as dangerous as you imply, it’s just ruins. We’ll be okay.”

“Well, unless a Manticore lives there.” Alice muses. “Or one of the older Dragons. Or ancient constructs, or…” She counts off on her fingers, making Patricia blanch.

“A-Anyway! While they get provisions and travel equipment ready, you said you needed to contact some other people?”

“Yeah.” You say, looking weary. “I put in for a runner to speak with Ophelia, see if she wants to come while I had a message delivered to Clarissa.”

“Eh? Dear, isn’t she looking after Akela for us?”

“Well… I mean, if you can’t go, wouldn’t it be best for you to go home?” You wince as you say this, awaiting anger from your wife.

Saya merely sighs and nods her head. “Makes sense. Alright, I’ll catch a leyway back to Kasin tomorrow then.”

“Huh, that went better than expected.” You say, chuckling until she punches your arm.

“You’re going to get it when you get home though, you hear me? You better not go dying on me up there, Mom will tell me if you do!”

Alice laughs, “Geez, you two are a regular old couple. I’d say get a room, but we have things to do.” She pauses for a moment. “Speaking of which, why are we in the noble section again?”

You look up and point at a mansion in the distance. “We’re going to speak with our fire support.”

The door to the mansion opens, revealing a well-dressed Monster with canine ears and feathered tail. She frowns as she looks at your party, but keeps her voice civil as she bows.

“Good morning. May I help you?”

“Good morning to you as well.” You say, bowing to the maid with greatest formality. “My name is Tobias Shady, I wish to speak with the young master of this household.”

This time, true disdain comes to her face as she says, “Shady? Ah, you’ll have to excuse me, but I’m afraid the young master is busy right now.”

“Oh come now.” Saya says, shaking her head. “We know Clint is there, just tell him or Ginelle we’re here. They’ll speak with us.”

“I am afraid they are both busy.”

Alice growls and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Listen here, just tell the pretty boy we’re present and-“

“It’s fine, let them in Ulrica.”

Your party looks up at a figure walking down the stairs in the foyer behind the maid. A tall man with short, golden blond hair and handsome features dressed in a suit similar to your own approaches, a frown on his face.

“But master Fullvora, they’re-“

“It’s fine.” He repeats before nodding to you. “Please, make tea for us. We’ll meet in the second tea room.”

The maid nods before walking away, her scaled feet clacking on the marble flooring. As she leaves, the man shakes his head, running his hand through his hair.

“Would have been nice had you given me some warning, Tobias.”

“You probably would have found a reason not to talk to me if I had.”

“Hmph.” He grunts. “Well, it’s too late now, everyone knows the scion of the Shady family came here anyway. Come on, let’s hear what you have to say since you’re here.” He looks around at the others. “With a blast from the past, it seems.”

He waves for you to follow and you walk behind inside the ornate mansion foyer. Regal carpets cover white marble floors while paintings of men and women in fantastical clothing adorn the walls. The place is bright and warm, a sharp contrast from Clint’s features.

>>384718

“So, what brings you all the way out here?”

“Kasin isn’t very far via leyway.” You say, frowning. “But first, how soundproof is this room.”

“No one’s listening in, not even Ulrica.” He says, sighing.

“Good. Then first off, tell me what your problem is.” You say, feeling a little heated. “You haven’t been responding to my leymail messages and now you act like this. What gives, man?”

“A lot has happened since we last met, alright?” Clint says, shaking his head. “It’s been rough recovering from that back injury, though I’m all fine now. Other things have come up since I’ve returned home and… well.”

“Ah, I get it.” You say, narrowing your eyes. “You don’t want to be seen with a Shady.”

He throws up his hands. “Tobias, you’re a friend, you always will be, but I have to think about the reputation of the Fullvoras. If not fully for my sake then for Ginelle’s. There’s a lot of stigma associated with me being out west for so long, and then to be buddy-buddy with a Shady?” He sighs. “It’s a shit situation.”

“You can just ignore them?” Alice says, cocking her head.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” He says, frowning. “Listen, Tobias. I think whatever you came here to say must be important, but I can’t-“

He cuts off as a knock comes at the door a moment later, it opens to reveal a striking Monstergirl. You haven’t seen her in awhile, but you’re surprised to see the changes in the Badger Girl. Ginelle is tall, about equal height with Clint with a strong, muscular physique. Like many beast-type Monsters, from her elbows and knees down, she has coarse, black hair with terminate into along taloned fingers and toes while a small, white tail protrudes from her backside and black furred ears sit on her head.

What’s surprising about her appearance however is her hair, which you’re used to seeing short and messy is now shoulder length and well brushed and she wears both a little make-up and a dress with exposed shoulders that reveals part of her bust. She looks around the room and blinks, surprised to see you as well.

“Tobias? Saya? Uhm… and what was your name again?”

Alice blinks in surprise at the strong beauty before you cough into your hand and smile. “Ginelle! It’s been far too long since we spoke! Gods, you look beautiful.”

She smirks and looks to Saya, “Not sure you should say that next to your wife and… hmm? She cocks her head before her eyes go wide. “What’s this?”

Saya smiles as Ginelle kneels down, despite her skirts to look at Erica. “This is my daughter. We’d sent a message to Clint but… I suppose it didn’t make it to you?”

Clint looks to the side, eyes narrowed. Ginelle cocks her head and looks at the man. “You’d said they hadn’t been speaking with us much.”

“It’s… complicated.” Clint sighs.

“Uh huh.” Ginelle says, reaching out a clawed finger to touch the child. Erica jiggles as her nail touches and the Badger Girl gasps in response. “A child… wow.” She shakes her head. “But I’m certain showing her off isn’t why you came, is it?”

“No, it’s not.” You say, expression going serious. “Before I speak, I need to make sure that nothing we say is going to leave this room, okay?”

Ginelle looks to Clint who sighs and nods his head. “Fine.”

“Alright.” You say, cupping your hands together as you tell them everything you’ve learned and the mission you’re on. By the end of it, Ginelle is gritting her teeth while Clint stares at you with shock.

“Gods. I mean, after what we went through I’d suspected there was something but… I didn’t think that… Oh Gods.”

“We need your help, Clint.” You say, nodding your head. “Your skills are exceptional and frankly, you two are some of the few I can trust. I know this is going to make things worse with your standing but if we don’t succeed, the world could change as we know it.”

“Tobias, you’re asking me to-“

“Clint.” Ginelle says, cutting him off. The two share a look for a long moment before the man sighs and hangs his head, defeated.

“Alright, alright. Gods, I’ve been cooped up too long here as it stands. What a shitty friend I’d be to turn you down when it could mean something so dire.” He looks up, determination in his eyes. “I need to make arrangements, but tomorrow we can meet at the leyway station before heading north.”

“It’ll be fun.” Ginelle says, smirking. “Just like old times. And besides…” She wipes the make-up off her face.

“I hate wearing this shit.”

>>384719

With that settled, you spend a little more time catching up with the two. Apparently, despite trying to appear courtly, the eccentric noble and his strange girlfriend have attracted quite the attention. While it allowed a certain degree of freedom, it also brought scorn upon them, so in turn, they worked together to present the image of the proper Deleorian noble couple. As it stands, they still went hunting, a perfectly respectable noble sport, on a regular basis to get out of the city and keep their skills fresh.

Bidding them farewell, you head back to the Hero’s Hall, where two familiar faces await you outside the gates. As you approach, one of them blinks and waves a feathered arm at you, confusion on her face.

“Uh, hey Tobias! Saya! I got your letter, but I’m kind of confused at why-“

“Come along Clarissa.” You say, taking her arm. She blinks, making squawking noises as you drag her with you. The slight-framed Crow Harpy is too light to put up much of a fight and soon submits, her taloned, bird-like feet clacking on the cobblestones as she walks after you.

The other shakes her head, brown rabbit ears swaying as she walks aside Saya. “Well, this is going about how I pictured it. Hello to you too, Tobias.”

Clarissa groans, “Aww, man, why do I feel like you’re trying to drag me into another dangerous adventure?”

“Because that’s exactly what we’re going to discuss, Clarissa, Ophelia.” You say, leading her onward.

“But doesn’t something need to look after Akela.”

“I’m heading back home tomorrow on an express.” Saya says, nonchalant.

“Oh, lovely, another chance to almost die.” Ophelia says, smirk on her lips. “This should be interesting.”

You lead both of them to the inner section of the Hero’s hall, back to the room you had your meeting yesterday. Ophelia, dressed in modest dress of blue which reveals her strong, rabbit legs, sits down at the table The Crow Harpy sighs and adjusts her brown leather jacket, emblazoned with the logo of her delivery company, with her wing-arms, black feathers smoothing out the edges.

“Okay, you deliver a cryptic message to me to meet at the Hero’s Hall and now you drag me in and sit me in a chair in a room in the middle of the complex and say you’re going to go on another adventure.” She sighs. “I’m not overly surprised, to be honest.”

“I too am not surprised.” Ophelia says, leaning on the table. “But it’s a great excuse to get out of those meetings. Gods, Tobias everyone keeps hitting on meeeeee.”

“Well, I’m sure your mother isn’t helping.” Saya says, waving a hand.

“Ugghhh.” Ophelia says, placing her head on the table. “Don’t remind me. She was very upset to learn you had a kid before I did.”

“Alice.” Patricia says, looking over at the woman. “Are all of Tobias’s friends this strange?”

“You should have seen our group out in Ectria. That was a cast of characters.”

“Anyway.” You say, sitting down yourself. “As you guessed, we called you out here because I’m looking to form a group for an expedition to the Monster Nation.”

You explain to them again all that lead up to this, leaving the two Monsters speechless.

“Uhm. Hmm.” Ophelia says, looking to the side. “You uh… wow.”

“K-Kill Dollora?” Clarissa says, blinking rapidly. “That’s… insane.”

“Yes, which is why we need help we can trust.” Saya says, nodding her head. “Will you do it?”

“I mean… if you really want me too but…” Ophelia blanches. “I don’t know. That’s a lot to ask, and what is my skillset? Last time I just… caused trouble…” She murmurs, looking down.

“I kind of… feel the same.” Clarissa says, rubbing a wing. “I get it, I do, but… Well. I’ve delivered to the Monster Nation before, so I’m kind of familiar I guess.” She sighs, “I don’t know.”

“I understand.” You say, nodding your head. You knew it would be a hard sell for these two, but you figured you’d try. “So then the answer is no?”

“I… not exactly.” Ophelia says. “Just… let me think on it.”

“Same.” Clarissa says, nodding. “We’ll let you know by tomorrow.”

>>384720

“Alright. Thank you for your time, and it’s good to see both of you again.”

“Heh, we just saw each other a few days ago.” Clarissa says, chuckling.

“And I was there after Erica is born. If nothing else, we’re still your friends.” Ophelia says, putting a hand on yours. She sighs and then stands. “Alright. Come on Clarissa, let’s get some lunch and think this through.”

The two leave, though as they do, Hero Fellows enters the room. “Ah, I thought someone said you’d be in here. I was told by the Lord Commander to bring two people to speak with you about something?”

“Ah, right.” You say, stretching. “Bring them in.”

The man nods and looks back to say something. As he does, Alice leans forward and says, “You’re going to like this guy, I know it.”

“And the other one?”

“Who cares.”

You want to say something back when Fellows steps back to allow in two figures. The first is a man of average height with strong, angular features and short, black hair. He wears full plate armor emblazoned with the Order sigil, but doesn’t seem bothered by its weight, a longsword sheathed at his belt. He looks out over your group with a scarred face, eyepatch over his left eye. When he meets your expression he scowls, crossing his arms across his chest.

Behind him slinks in a smaller form of a Monster. She’s a little under average height, making her seem miniscule in comparison to the armored man. She wears a set of light, leather armor with the Order sigil on it, cape behind her while multiple vials of white liquid sit in a bandolier across her modest chest. She raises brown fur covered arms and rakes a furred hand through her medium-length brown hair before saying,

“Order Pyromancer Rayleigh, reporting as ordered! I’m told we’re going to burn things?”

“Calm yourself, Rayleigh.” The Hero next to her grunts. “I’m sure you’ll get to burn something, but I doubt it’ll be Galmathorians, considering she’s here.”

“Finn!” Alice says, beaming. “It’s been far too long since we last met!”

“Yeah, and last time, I told you to stop flirting with me, you damn slut.” He growls, hand on his sword. “I’m only here because the Lord Commander asked me to. Something about a special mission?”

“Does it involve burning things?” The Pyromancer says, blue eyes shining.

“Possibly, though it would be best not to.” You say, looking the Monster over. Her human features are young and exuberant, while her Monster features proclaim her as another beast-type. She has tufts of brown hair around her arms and legs, the latter of which ending in what you believe to be squirrel-like feet. Atop her head sits two brown, squirrel-like ears that flit every which way, but the thing that clinches it for you is the long, bushy tail behind her that sways behind her excitedly.

“Awww.” She says, sighing. “They won’t let me onto the frontlines, too much, ‘collateral damage,’ so I was put into reserves for when the fighting gets heavy.” She shakes her head. “The Lord Commander asked me for this mission though, didn’t give me the details.”

“Me either.” Finn says, looking to you. “You don’t look Order. You DSS?”

“Yes.” You say smoothly, though you aren’t lying. “I’ll be blunt, we’re looking for members to augment our team moving to retrieve an item from a location in the Monster Nation. This is a top secret mission and communication to anyone about it or using leymail is strictly forbidden. You lean forward.

>>384721

“The Lord Commander picked you because he felt he could trust you with a mission like this. Do you believe you have the discretion and skills to do so?”

Both Order warriors share a look between themselves. Finn sighs and rubs at the back of his head. “Frankly, we should be asking you that question.”

“He’s quite capable.” Alice says, smirking. “Why would Blake put him in charge if he wasn’t.”

“That’s Lord Comman- bah, whatever.” Finn sighs. “Fine, I’ll go, but only because of orders. I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

“Beats being cooped up here all day.” Rayleigh says, stretching. “Monster Nation huh? Mom came from there, might as well see what the old country is like.”

“Alright, we’ll keep in contact.” You say, nodding to them. “Unless things change, assume we’re meeting in the inner cloister at 0800 tomorrow.”

The two salute to you before turning and leaving the room. When the door closes behind them, you sigh and rub at your forehead. “Blake wasn’t kidding, was he?”

“Seems a little strange.” Patricia says. “But I trust father’s judgement. If he thinks they’ll work, then we should go with them?”

“Yes, yes!” Alice says, eyes sparkling. “Having them will be a huge boon!”

“Seems you have some decisions to make, finalizing things.” Saya says, smirking at you. “Gosh, a shame I can’t go with you on your adventure. Baby and all, you understand.”

You just shake your head, trying to figure out how to wrangle this cast of characters together.

>What do you do?

>Current party:

Tobias

Patricia

Alice

Ginelle

Clint

-Ophelia?

-Clarissa?

-Finn?

-Rayleigh?

>>384722

So, after going through all the stuff (lots of discussion), the biggest thing is Tobias's party. Y'all have a chance now to confirm if you really want Ophelia and Clarissa, as well as if you want the two suggested party members. If the agreement is no, then you're going as is.

Put supply lists as well. Tobias actually has/had very few listed abilities since he lost all the God's abilities once his deal with Jackor ended. He does still have his [Pocket Sand] so that's fun. Make requests for other items though!

https://pastebin.com/KeNh7jUd I'll update this as I go along, though I'm notoriously bad at it. Rommel and the GW's sections still need work, but remind me of things to add!

Also, current insanity is 22%. You get an itching sensation ever now and then that just don't go away until it randomly does. It's fine though. It's fine.

>>384715

You were correct!

Most magitek weapons are in the employ of the military, especially at this time. The Order has few rifle users tbh, preferring traditional weapons while the Deleorian military makes use of the rarer rifles. As such, you'd be hard pressed to find one, and the only person in the party beyond Clint with any skill would be Ophelia.

>>384713

Clarissa literally cannot use a magitek rifle. She doesn't have hands and her feet won't cut it either. Sorry!

Oh and as for Rommel's assigned scout, you'll have to wait to see who that is.

>>384723

Clarissa I think we should bring along, she will be a useful aerial scout. Ophelia I’m less certain about. If there’s magitech then she will be invaluable at the observatory. But that depends on there being magictech there. I’m willing to chance there is, so I say we take Ophelia too.

Finn we should definitely take along, having another pure frontliner will be helpful. It would have been better if Rayleigh had been a geomancer. Fire magic will be less effective in the mountains, but we need a dedicated mage on the team and it seems a bit late to try to get another.

As for our supplies each member of the team will need bags of holding if they don’t already. Whatever they may need for gear maintenance, enough food for the trip, climbing equipment, and anything else that may be pertinent to the mission or their skillset. As many healing and mana potions as we can get our hands on. We only have a couple fighters, and it’s important we keep them as healthy as possible. Also something to protect against weather.

If we can manage it every party member needs a pair of magesight goggles. If Rayleigh goes down then we need another way to detect magic. Bottom line is we need as many as we can get. Also maybe get a dagger or something for Tobias, his illusions and pocket sand are useful but we could use something that doesn’t stretch his sanity, and is a little more reliable than the sand.

Can anyone think of anything else we may need?

In regards to the final members for Tobias party:

Ophelia: It seems like a poor decision to bring her along. Her main skills involved magitek technology which I understand is scarce in the monster nation and she has no combat abilities, she would probably be a liability for the majority of the journey, adding to Patricia who is also a non-combatant.

Clarissa: again, no combat abilities, could fill the roll of scout but the party would probably be better off asking Selene to assign them one of her servants who knows the layout of the monster nation.

Finn: A veteran of the order with experience fighting against monsters (given his time spent fighting against Gamathoria). We could certainly use another strong fighter, a single man is bound to attract attention in the monster nation but that already seems inevitable since we are bringing Clint (I doubt most monster will care he is taken).

Rayleigh: I would usually be in favor of bringing a mage along, since the party is lacking someone who can actually cast magic. However, can we trust a Ratatoskr to keep the mission a secret? If there is bound to be a traitor a monster who specialises in dealing with information seems like the most likely suspect. What do you guys think?

Ooh, so there are Monsters recruits in the Order. Sweet.

That said, if this is anything like MGE, everyone should be absolutely freaked out by the Mouse. One bite and boom, instant monsterization.

Text was a bit mean-spirited to Hala, but I think she's got a few preteen children to look after IIRC from “Lone Wolf”. With war on the horizon, Blake is probably only going to be home to sleep, so Hala should be around to look after them instead of throwing them to the nanny.

The proposed team looks good, though obviously there will need some work done for the Order reinforcements to be fully cohesive.

>Clarissa

Ebe was playing a guitar somehow (as a string instrumentalist, those wing claws cannot thrum chords at all) so I figured the Harpies in Wizardquest were along the lines of YuGiOh's version of harpies that have hands/digits.

Nonetheless, Clarissa’s ability as an aerial scout is invaluable. She is black feathered making her hard to see in low light, and supposedly is the fastest flier. Aerial units are always a must have. They are just so useful and versatile.

>Ophelia

If she is armed with a magitek rifle, Ophelia can do work. Her true value comes from her utility of giving a technological edge like remote comms. For example, Clarissa acting as a spy or sniper spotter relaying info remotely. Her explosives are always good, even more so if she has developed a way to trigger them remotely as mines.

>Rayleigh

No idea who specified the Mage as a Pyromancer, but I can see numerous benefits. Many predatory yet fire weak Monsters live in the mountains. She can provide a source of light in the dark caves/underground. If Pyromancy extends to Explosive Spells her value shoots up, threatening Rock Monsters and potentially causing landslides. Utility for Magesight and whatever Squirrel tracking skills she might have.

Anon raises a good point though. Are Wizardquest-verse’s Monsters are the same as canon MGE? I hate to sound racist, but that is a black mark against Rayleigh.

>Finn

Tobias’ team is full of vulnerable backliners, especially with Patricia being helpless. Alice and Ginelle cannot protect the six backliners adequately. Finn is needed to shore up the holes. He seems like an experienced veteran as well; Tobias’ team is fairly young so his battle insight will be useful. Decent first impression, professional attitude and unlikely to have a personality clash with the others.

It'd be hilarious if Rayleigh was the black sheep of her race and turns out to be the most honest and trustworthy member of Team Tobias.

Rayleigh is disgusted by her scheming relatives and decides to join the Order, an organization who espouses virtuous ideals, striving to be a heroic individual.

On a serious note, Tobias should do some referee checks with Rayleigh’s superiors or comrades. Has she done anything suspect? Played blackmail games? That sort of thing. In any case, the Order does not accept recruits willy-nilly and Blake is noted to have excellent judgment so we shouldn’t write off Rayleigh just based on her race.

Vote to keep Clarissa, Ophelia and Finn for reasons listed above.

As for the things to bring: The usual hiking fare, tents, sleeping bags, water distillers, ropes, hygiene etc. Basically Kathmandu’s shopping catalog.

Ophelia can provide magitek scanners, detection wards and alarms if available.

A few thoughts on the chapter:

a) Task Saya with finding Abigail. Wasn’t she doing some art courses in a known location in Illusionistquest’s epilogue?

b) Finn and Rayleigh need to remove their Order heraldry or change their gear to something less conspicuous if Monster Nation is so volatile.

c) Once the group is assembled, should do an introduction so everyone knows each other; likes, dislikes, combat roles, specialties etc.

d) Get Finn to bring a light supplementary ranged weapon, e.g a goat’s foot levered crossbow if magitek rifles aren’t used by the Order. Expected that Heroes should be proficient in spear, sword, dagger and bow. While his main role is a melee frontliner, this allows him to assist in ambush tactics or shooting down enemy aerial units and mages.

Rayleigh is raising alarm sirens just from the first impression.

1. Racial trait: Canon MGE paints a rather unflattering picture of her race when it comes to information and secrets. Given the ultra sensitive nature of the mission, if Rayleigh is a typical Ratatoskr, disaster is guaranteed.

2. Loose cannon personality: Rayleigh is kept back because of ‘collateral damage’ and is only apparently concerned about whether she can burn things. This mission is not an all out invasion, but a sneaky one where it is probably more advisable to avoid fighting if possible.

Now, this is just a first impression. Blake has proven to be smart and logical so there must be a reason why he is recommending Rayleigh. Obviously he knows something we don’t, as she is presumably worked under him for years.

I agree with the above Anon – let’s go to Blake, and other people who know Rayleigh and get a character check. For all we know, she could be serious when the situation calls and have an honest nature. Hell, the Black Sheep backstory that Anon posted could be true where Rayleigh is actually an admirable Hero. In summary, we can’t give a judgment because we don’t have enough info on Rayleigh.

Recruit Ophelia, Clarissa and Finn. Ditto on the reasoning in this post >>384727

.

>>384722

Well the cat is out of the bag now; two Order members now know about the top secret mission, albeit vaguely. It might have been better had Blake described the individuals presented to us before he decides to risk knowledge of our plans, but people wanted this so I’m not going to complain. Also, monsters in the Order’s ranks is an unexpected but rather neat turn of events.

Finn seems reasonably trustworthy, but that doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things as we can never be sure about this. Still, he appears to hold Blake in very high regard, to the point where he refuses to refer to Blake without his title and corrects those that don’t do the same, which is promising. Alice also seems to trust him well enough and, while her judgement isn’t always sound, she’s usually right when it counts and I’d like to think she would take the fate of the world at least a little bit seriously. Loyalty aside, he’s also apparently rather capable, which is what we need right now. I’m going to trust you guys on this and say he’s a worthwhile pick.

Rayleigh is an interesting case. As numerous others have already stated, her being a Ratatoskr and this setting having inspiration from both MGE and MGQ makes her a potential information leak, but I would like to point out that if she is indeed a traitor then it’s already too late to contain any leaks if any have occurred; we’ve invited her on an important, top secret mission and told her the vague objective, so she will have spread this already if she was intending to. Furthermore, while everyone is looking at the negatives resulting from her species, I would point out the positives, namely the ability to spread knowledge that we want as well as being a fairly trustworthy source of information, albeit occasionally warped information. The latter is particularly important, because if both a Ratatoskr and the Lord Commander are saying Phallia is evil and has plans to cause mass genocide, then it’s much more likely to be believed than just the Lord Commander alone and we should be able to avoid any massive schisms within the Order’s ranks when Phallia tries to play her hand as a result.

In terms of whether or not she is a traitor, I’m inclined to believe she isn’t. For one thing, a monster who isn’t Ectrian or physically corrupted by Phallia isn’t very likely to support the Goddess who hates Dollora, especially since, if Selene’s reaction to seeing Phallia at the end of WizardQuest 1 is any indication, they seem hold an inherent hatred towards the plant Goddess. Another thing, if she was a traitor then we likely would have seen the effects sooner, because a monster with the ability to convince others while potentially warping the truth somewhat isn’t going to sit idle when she could be attempting to influence the rest of the Order to her cause, including the previously-in-the-dark Veronica who would make a great fracture point given her influence. There’s still definitely the possibility that she is a traitor, but it would require her to be extremely low profile about it to the point where she wouldn’t even be considered for this mission and Blake probably wouldn’t have selected her if he didn’t believe in her loyalty.

Low potential of betrayal aside, as >>384730 points out, her personality and apparent disregard for the safety of others during her work does leave a lot to be desired for this particular mission – having someone like Ginelle be set ablaze due to carelessness from Rayleigh would be a disaster, both in the moment and moving on from that point when hatred towards the Ratatoskr arises regardless of the victim’s survival – but I’d like to think we could reign her in a bit, especially if we take Finn as well seeing as the two apparently know each other and get along well enough. Also, it’s not certain how long this mission will remain a stealthy one, so if or when, knowing our luck the situation gets rough it would be beneficial to have the option of mass destruction at our disposal if necessary. I just hope we can figure out something for her to do which isn’t overly dangerous to the rest of the party before we reach the aforementioned point in time.

All in all, I’d argue she’s worth it, especially since leaving her behind would probably cause more problems than taking her, but keeping some attention on her actions would be beneficial strictly for the sake of safety. A side note, I’m not sure what >>384728 says about doing a background check on her is the best idea outside of limiting our queries toward Blake; going around to people she’s related to and asking about her reliability and her past would raise suspicions as to why such questions are being asked which could compromise the mission, or at the very least potentially lead to mistrust towards the leadership of the Order when people realise Rayleigh is on a secret mission and they’re being kept in the dark.

>>384735

With regards to Ophelia and Clarissa, it’s a bit too late to stop them joining us if they were planning on doing so without a lot of convincing, because friends aren’t going to abandon friends, especially when the fate of the world is at stake. That aside, in spite of my initial judgement I think they could both prove quite useful for us here. Even if there aren’t any magitek constructs lying around in the Monster Nation might be worth asking Selene about this to confirm, Ophelia can still use a magitek rifle well enough to be a worthwhile pick as shoring up our long ranged offence would let us deal with more threats before they have the chance to reach us. She would also make a nice additional bit of protection for Patricia, as the two are likely to be in close proximity to each other due to their more vulnerable nature, and a magitek rifle can deal with a threat faster than a sword or other melee weapon can seeing as you only need to aim and don’t need to physically move towards said threat. I do worry about her chances of survival though, seeing as she should for all intents and purposes be dead, yet isn’t. That said, her status as a dead woman walking could work in our favour if Nerg sends a dullahan to try to take his claim, which could happen considering a dullahan is what should have killed her the first time.

Clarissa would still only have usage as a scout because of her lack of combat ability and communication between the teams being practically impossible, but that alone is still fairly valuable, even if I still believe its value is diminished due to the environment we’re entering. Her knowledge of the Monster Nation should come in handy as well, though it won’t help us when we enter unexplored territory and Selene could probably provide useful information regarding the Monster Nation that trumps what Clarissa can offer. I’d probably take Ophelia over her if I had to choose, but both wouldn’t be the worst idea.

All that aside, the other anons have already given smart suggestions that I agree with for what to bring in order to deal with a myriad of situations, so there isn’t much to add that hasn’t already been said. I would recommend bringing spare parts for magitek rifles though, especially since we’re planning on bringing two with us, because they are hard, if not impossible, to replace in the field and we need both to function properly if Ophelia and especially Clint are to be useful for us. Also, I will again stress the need to have a biomancer look over everyone going on these missions, particularly the Order reinforcements; you can never be too safe when it comes to these sorts of things.

Lots of good ideas voiced out already. Recruit Clarissa and Ophelia for their utility. The Finn and Rayleigh introduction was a tad jarring without Blake giving an overview of their personalities to Tobias first. As >>384736 put it, the secret’s out so we have to follow through with recruiting them. Zero issues with their skills.

Rayleigh could be an asset to prevent the Order from fracturing if she uses her racial information manipulation traits for good. Her personality is less rigid, so she would be more open to the idea of Phallia being evil instead of dismissing it immediately as heresy. As anon said, Blake has sound judgment and would not recommend Rayleigh on a whim.

Finn, Veronica, Bardam and the Order Mouse should all bring their (light) ranged weapons whether it be 400-500lb lever crossbows or shortbows. The ability to function in all ranges exponentially increases a fighter’s threat level.

Avoid using windlass crossbows or longbows unless it is the primary weapon of the Order Mouse. Too big and heavy for a secondary weapon.

Patricia should also be issued a lever crossbow; they are relatively small, light, cheap, and most importantly, easy to learn. I went to a fair once, and within an hour of instruction could shoot a lever cranked crossbow competently. Naturally shooting it in a range is totally different to shooting it in a combat situation against aggressive, moving targets, but Patricia should have some form of defence. Give her a dagger as well. She’s probably going to be flailing wildly with it but better than nothing if enemies get past the front line.

Things to bring that I can think of:

Shelter: Tents, poles

Sleeping: Sleeping bags/rolls, warm blankets, insect nets

Storage: Waterproof rugsacks, hydration packs, rain covers

Food: Cookware, plates, flasks, cutlery, dehydrated food rations

Lighting: Lanterns/Torches

First Aid: Health potions, Mana potions, bandages, disinfectant, soldier pill equivalents

Other: Crossbow bolts, bolt carving knife to make more ammunition, magitek ammunition, spare weapon parts, whet stones, wooden practice weapons.

Depending on the limitations of bags of holding, discard or keep as necessary.

>>384726

>Asking to Selene to assign someone

You'd have to wait until you get into the Monster Nation for that most likely. A possibility exists that could be arranged with a local, etc.

>Ratatoskr

She's just a Squirrel Girl :^). Another common kind of Monster, they're not known for being chatterboxes, but you don't know her so who knows? You're taking it on faith she'll be a good girl.

Eh, not too much else to address otherwise. Guess I'll look back tomorrow morning or during lunch break.

>>384729

Shid, I forgot to comment on this!

Tabitha good girl, thank you for the art!

Recruit Clarissa, Ophelia, Finn and Rayleigh for basically the same reasons as the above anons wrote.

The upcoming problem of the Order fracturing is an interesting topic to explore. Even though Rayleigh is not a racially-inherent information broker, hopefully she and Finn can spread word to their comrades and avoid a schism in the Order after they see the truth.

>>384760

Agreed with your point on the Order reinforcements bringing their ranged weapons, whether they are lever crossbows or shortbows. The ability to ambush, assassinate, hit aerial and soft targets will be useful as well as opening up combined arms tactics. In fact, bow-type weapons should excel against Monsters as they have been depicted in all artworks so far to be chainmail bikini to lightly armoured aside from whatever racial defences they have.

Another thing to add to the camping is a flint and steel. Use it to start camp fires, or additional ambient fire sources for Rayleigh to use in a pinch.

>>384760

>should all bring their (light) ranged weapons

Nice ideas about Order characters using secondary ranged weapons. Any Fire Emblem player will note that being sword-locked limits a unit’s effectiveness considerably.

>>384781

>bow-type weapons should excel against Monsters

Extrapolating from WizardQuest-verse’s history, ranged weaponry should be the domain of Humanity. Prior to Selene’s Plague, Monsters should have dominated Humans in physical strength forcing them to either use group tactics with spears or dropping them with archers given the scarcity of mages.

@Ace, Is there a reason why the Order hasn’t changed their doctrine to field Magitek Firearms as the norm? Clint’s magitek rifle in Illusionistquest is hardly comparable to smokeless powder firearms but did well against the various foes encountered. Only reasons I can think of are logistical demands for mana crystals and powerful enchanted weapons like Energieschwert are common in the Order. Given the warlike atmosphere, surely Deleor’s military organizations would be racing to equip themselves with the best means of protecting their lands.

Some ideas for Tobias’s team:

Ophelia should consider designing magitek sights for crossbows. While the aforementioned goatsfoot crossbow’s effective range is respectable, an Order Hero is never going to fully reach its potential without constant practice if sights are not mounted.

Clarissa can act as an aerial bomber. Hold one of Ophelia’s ball explosives such as the one that obliterated Heather in her talons and drop it without fear of reprisal. Bombing an enemy camp at night would be something.

I suspect Galmathoria is going to employ this trick, and probably Monster Invasions have done this as well – just dropping heavy rocks on massed infantry or fragile structures instead of explosives.

>>384794

>Aerial bomber Clarissa.

Fliers in a medieval setting are A-tier minimum.

>>384760

>Crossbow for Patricia

An excellent idea. It allows Patricia to defend herself, and potentially with some training be able to contribute to a skirmish without accidentally shooting an ally. The mechanical advantage of a goatsfoot spanner is fantastic so a physically untrained person like Patricia can load her weapon fairly easily.

With this setup, everyone in Team Tobias has a ranged attack with the sole exception of Clarissa which enables a lot of interesting group tactics for future confrontations.

Ace, can you clarify on how much Monsters got nerfed by Selene’s plague? In Illusionquest and Wizardquest 2, Monsters were still portrayed as significantly more dangerous than Humans. IIRC in Illusionistquest a Werecat, one of the physically weakest races, was strong enough to potentially rape Tobias if his master didn’t bail him out and in Wizardquest 2 Rommel was about to get killed by the Oni in his first meeting with Sylphie and Sophie.

This anon >>384614 raised interesting queries on Monster fluff as well. A brief reread of the three main stories reveal only vague details on Monster mechanics.

Don’t want to trouble you too much, so a brief overview is fine; no need for an essay.

The other anons gave excellent reasons to recruit Ophelia, Clarissa, Finn and Rayleigh. Can’t think of anything extra to the camping list that hasn't already been said.

>>384760

The Order members each bringing ranged weapons sounds like a good idea, but we have to consider some practical concerns. The goatsfoot crossbow or shortbow are still fairly sizable at around half a metre, we need a good amount of ammunition and water protection for the bowstrings. They can be stored in bags of holding, but it will take too long to deploy and equip in a sudden confrontation. Equally, the Order members carrying them strapped on their backs will tire them out unnecessarily.

A compromise could be a rotation system where one cross/shortbow is carried openly and is rotated between Alice and Finn on the march while the others are kept on the holding bags. A similar rotation system can be implemented between Veronica and Bardam, if a longbow is the primary weapon of the Order Mouse.

>>384796

>queries on Monster fluff

I’m quite interested in this as well. Never really understood why Galmathoria is behaving like a rogue state from a political perspective. They were presumably a Deleor province that somehow had the vast majority of its population monsterized so quickly that the Deleor military and the Order didn’t reinforce a valuable port city.

Just because they were monsterized doesn’t mean they couldn’t link up with Deleor reinforcements and liberate their city. Helene didn’t lose any of her memories or ideals, so obviously monsterization in Wizardquest isn’t the ultra grimdark ego death that /tg/ proclaims on MGE.

Monsterization cannot be blamed so I’m not really sure why the monsterized Galmathorians have made their country into the equivalent of Mordor instead of just remaining a Deleorian province. Clearly Deleor culturally has no problems with living with Monsters – having Monster recruits in the Order, Ginelle being a Deleorian noble without backlash and Monster background characters in every Deleorian settlement shown so far since Wizardquest 1.

There was an explanation given in Warriorquest but significant leaps of logic were involved in the justification and simply doesn’t make sense. Not to mention gems like the reasoning behind the Western Monster horde joining up with Galmathoria and 30+ submarines from a small, Renaissance society country without bankrupting its economy.

Hey, sorry y'all, something happened today and I'll probably not be able to do the update unless something changes. Sorry about that.

>>384781

I'm not going to be a hardass about camping supplies. It's assumed you'll have the essentials. As far as ranged weapons? We'll see what I can cook up.

>>384794

The main reason is scarcity. It takes time to manufacture them and only only facility is legally allowed to do so, watched heavily by the crown. The rifles made are almost universally given to the military, though it's still few in number. Some enterprising folk (like Clint) can make deals to get one but it's still rather difficult and few people have training with them. Besides, the Order warriors pride themselves on martial prowess anyway.

Aerial bombing Clarissa? Yeah, she could do that if you ran into a situation which would necessitate it.

>>384796

Patricia has no idea how to use a crossbow. Someone can probably teach her, but she's kind of a bookworm…

Yes, the plague wasn't 100% down to human level, but it leveled the playing field. Generally speaking, they are still a little more powerful (Especially compared to Tobias, who doesn't even lift). Monsters who are heavily muscular and still train will, of course, be stronger than humans. An Oni could still easily overpower even someone like Rommel.

>>384827

So, Monsterization in this magical realm is not an ego death. What happens is more akin to driving up the sexual urges while introducing new senses. Someone turned into a Wolf Girl will have difficulty with their new sense of smell mixed with an increased libido. This can lead to rather drastic behavior changes until they calm down.

I'll have to be honest, it's a difficult sell for something I wrote myself into. A mix of fear from the populace and heavy handed diplomacy lead to tensions. Hell, Blake and Selene really wanted peace, but they refused it. There's always the possibility that someone is pulling the strings in that nation, making them push for war… But there's no good way for you to know that.

>>384614

Monsterization is a conscious process done almost universally by ritual means. There's no demonic energy or anything which slowly corrupts. In most situations, Monsterization is strongly looked down upon, even in sectors of the Monster Nation. People are afraid of it, with good reason mostly. The rapid changes in behavior make people believe they are a different person. This doesn't help the Galmathorian situation at all, considering most of their population was Monsterized.

>>384796

Not a good comparison. Should be asking how does a trained combatant, say, Alice, compare against a Succubus soldier. The Ogres are renowned for their brute strength in the same way as Minotaurs or Ushi-Onis. Only the physically strongest Order Heroes can contest them, and even then it’s probably a bad idea instead of using weapons, baiting traps, projectile weaponry and magic.

>>384829

>Patricia has no idea how to use a crossbow.

The beauty of crossbows is that commanders could easily train a bunch of peasant conscripts into proficient crossbowmen in a matter of days due to how simple they are.

Since everyone is talking about goatsfoot crossbows, I had a quick look on Youtube. After watching a short, 5 minute video I completely understand (in principle) how one works and how to operate it. Patricia gets the benefit of a live instructor – Alice or Finn to teach how to use it and holding the real thing in her hands.

One could make the same argument about low poundage bows but this is inadvisable for two reasons:

1) It is highly unlikely Patiricia has the muscular strength to use it effectively, resulting in poor shooting form and aiming.

2) It is also preferable to use the same ranged weapon model type in the group so ammunition can be shared among the different team members.

>>384827

>Galmathoria

I don’t get why they would refuse the peace that Monster Nation (Selene) and Deleor (Blake, GW) are offering. Deleor has a vested interest in keeping a valuable port city with resources so their diplomatic terms won’t be insane. As for the Galmathorians, they have friends/family in other Deleor cities implied by that background character recognizing one of the Tolosh’s Succubae.

If Galmathoria goes to war, its their friends and relatives that suffer and die, not the Monster Nation’s invaders that put them in that situation in the first place.

Btw Ace, is El-Sabbath in Wizardquest? It could be a possible explanation for Galmathoria’s seemingly irrational diplomatic actions. I also liked how it fleshed out the Monsters as having their own internal politics and different views, not a simple black and white Alliance vs Evil Monsters setup.

>>384837

>As for the Galmathorians, they have friends/family in other Deleor cities

That’s an excellent point that led me to question how united Galmathoria really is with reasons listed below.

1. I doubt Tolosh that that charismatic to convince 90% plus of the population to become Monsters given the culturally taboo stigma associated with it and instinctive mistrust of an invading foreigner.

2. There had to be a sizable minority, maybe 10-20% of the population at minimum who would not want to be monsterized - even if the rest were on the ‘can’t beat them, join them’ boat or felt that Monsters were cool.

3. IIRC, in Ch8 in Wizardquest1, the rest of Deleor had no idea that the population were monsterized until Tolosh told them and showed them proof.

4a. Which implies that the Monster Nation invaders encircled the nation and trapped everyone into the mass monsterization ritual. Zero refugees to report back what had happened.

4b. Which further implies that Galmathoria’s military or garrison were wiped out by the Monster invaders or betrayed the citizens.

So while Blake, GW and friends were travelling to the Monster Lady’s base, the Monster Invasion was in full swing and everything is looking great. Except that didn’t last.

If things went well, then the population would be happy with being Monsterized as Tolosh and the pro-Monster leadership could say ‘Utopia Justifies the Means’. However, there was a double whammy – Valinthia died along with her Monster Invasion, and more importantly, the men died.

In the months immediately Wizardquest 1, there should be mass riots against the pro-Monster leadership given that:

a) There is no trade with Deleor, so goods that the Monster Nation cannot provide are lost.

b) 30-40% of their total population is gone. If this is like medieval-Renaissance society where men make up the majority of the workforce, Galmathoria would be in big trouble.

c) The women would have been absolutely enraged at the pro-Monster leadership because their beloved husbands and sons in their family died as a direct result of the monsterization ritual.

d) Religion: Galmathoria betrayed Solus and as a nation committed mass heresy. Religious figures can judge the aftermath as divine punishment. Live as Monsters, but without their men which is irony at its finest.

What I thought would have happened would be Galmathoria having an internal civil war, or a sizable fraction of the population defecting back to Deleor in a mass exodus to join up with their other friends/family – especially those who didn’t want to be monsterized in the first place. Who knows, maybe a number of Order Monsters are from Galmathoria?

Equally, Monster Nation dissidents that disagreed with Selene’s new policies probably migrated there as well - thus causing a mass concentration of Monster Supremacists resisting any reconciliation with Deleor.

At this point, 20 years later, Galmathoria would be united as anyone who disagreed would have left for Deleor or been assassinated by the war hawks, and everyone in there are either on board with the leadership or Monster Supremacists or both.

Of course, most of this is educated speculation based on IRL historical events, but there are a lot of assumptions made so I could be totally wrong.

Tldr: What would be awesome is to have a good Galmathorian character that is not part of Team Conquer Deleor to give depth to the designated ‘evil’ nation.

>>384855

Well reasoned and clear effort put into it. Well done.

So basically in your proposed scenario, a massive population shift is occurring in Deleor, Monster Nation and Galmathoria as a result of the political effects of Wizardquest 1’s ending to explain the geopolitical state in Wizardquest 3.

Monsters in Monster Nation either fall in line with Selene’s new rules or they leave causing the first migration wave. As time passes and more Monster hardliners want the good old backs they start migrating to Galmathoria, the one place which Selene has no control over and is similarly filled with Monster Supremacists spoiling for another old school Monster Invasion causing the second wave.

Galmathoria goes through a period of civil unrest with two waves of defections. So then the unwillingly monsterized and religious Galmathorians defect back to Deleor but the population remains stable because of the hardliner Monsters from Monster Nation migrating over.

I think in Illusionistquest it only said that the men died but it is unlikely that they all died immediately which would delay the unrest. Though when the men starting dying en masse, the Galmathorians must have been freaking out. Losing even 10% of a country’s population is a crisis. Losing an estimated 30% of the total population is an unmitigated catastrophe.

Definitely agreed that once the Galmathorians realize what was the cause of all their husbands and sons dying they would have been pissed at the pro-Monster leadership. The impact of losing all the men causes a second wave of defections back to Deleor but not as much as the initial one.

Overall sounds fairly plausible but still not sure why Deleor doesn’t take advantage of the chaos and launch a counter invasion though.

>good Galmathorian character that is not part of Team Conquer Deleor

If Rayleigh or the Order Mouse is a defected Galmathorian, that would have so much yummy room for drama since the Deleor/Galmathoria conflict seems to be central to Wizardquest 3.

All things considered, Deleor is so fortunate that Blake’s Suicide Squad completed their mission and got a moderate Monster (Selene) into power. So many things could have gone wrong in Wizardquest 1 resulting in a Sauron Wins situation, except everyone goes extinct within 3 generations due to Tolosh’s shortsightedness.

>Story continue

The next morning comes too early for your tastes.

You spent the entire evening looking over reports and supply figures, trying to piece together exactly how your group dynamic was going to work. You suddenly have a lot of sympathy for Blake, the Lord Commander, knowing he has to do this sort of thing every day. You didn’t even think it would be that important to request things like flint and steel, but Gods above, you have to micromanage all of this. Things were simpler when you were just riding the rails and murdering people.

You’re glad you didn’t say that out loud.

At your request, you received some basic personnel files for Finn and Rayleigh and frankly, you’re not surprised at what you read. Seems that Finn had quite the decorated past, but got transferred to reserve after striking a military officer. Guess Blake saved him from prison time. Rayleigh on the other hand… she’s about what you expected.

A loose cannon transferred from the magic academy in Derrick, she was deemed too dangerous to be on the frontlines until more intense combat was required. You’re kind of afraid of have her on the team, but if Blake thinks she could help… well, he’s the Great Hero and the Lord Commander for a reason. She seems to get along well with Finn, so you guess he can keep her in line?

Rubbing sleep from your eyes, you turn to see Saya rocking Erica back in forth in her arms, the mass of black goo writhing in her arms. She sighs, even sleepier than you from staying awake all night caring for the little Monster. Neither of you are exactly sure how to care for her, but she’s able to absorb nutrients from something Saya makes and she wriggles when upset. That’s good enough for now you suppose.

“You alright?” You ask her, to which she merely smiles, face looking radiant. Stupid… shapeshifting always looking good. On the plus side though, she always looks good.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I should ask you though, you’re the one going on a dangerous journey and all. Sure you’re alright doing this while tired?”

“I’ll be fine.” You say, chuckling. “I’ll be able to get some sleep on the Leyway.”

“Sure, sure.” She says, eyes drifting downward.

You frown, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you sure you’re alright?”

“I-I- I don’t know.” She whispers. It’s only then that you notice her hands trembling, despite Erica’s shaking. She swallows and looks up at you, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “I’m a little scared, you know? Of everything happening, but most importantly, of anything happening to you.”

“Saya…” You say, sighing and pulling her into an embrace. “I’m going to be fine. Everyone I’m traveling with will protect each other. A simple in and out, no problems.”

“And your mind?” She asks.

You pause at that, gritting your teeth. It was always the elephant in the room. Your adventures had left some scars that had you waking at night in a cold sweat while other times you get these niggling sensations when nothing is there. To say you’re a little insane wouldn’t be that far off the mark, but it’s been manageable. Of course, if you have to push yourself to perform heavy illusions again…

Sighing, you lean down and pull Saya into a kiss. She starts for a second before melting, figuratively) into the embrace. When you pull apart from her, you whisper, “No matter what may happen to my mind, I’ll always love you. Okay?”

She takes a deep breath and collects herself before nodding. “You better, or I’ll kill you myself.”

“Ohhh, look at the lovebirds this early in the morning.”

>>384906

You pull yourself to attention as Alice, Finn, and Rayleigh walk down the halls of the inner cloister. Alice gives you a shit-eating grin while Finn keeps his distance from her, hand on his sword. Rayleigh merely singes a few plants as she walks past them, giggling softly.

Feeling embarrassed, you cough into your hand and say. “Ah good, you’re all here.”

“Yes.” Finn says, adjusting the pack slung over his back. You happen to notice the unstrung bow he has in addition to his sword, as well as a quiver filled with red fletched arrows. “Now then, I assume we’ve been selected, or else you’d have told us and we can go on our way.”

“Ohh, please don’t say that!” Rayleigh says. She too has a standard issue bag on her back, but no ranged weapon to be seen. Guess when you’re a pyromancer, you don’t really need something like that. “I want to go!”

“Well, it’s your lucky day.” You say, smirking. “Because you’re both coming. Welcome aboard!”

“Wooo hooo!” Rayleigh says, sparks shooting from her hands. Alice raps her on the head, making the smaller Monster wince, the sparks going out. “Owwww! Hey!”

“It would be best not to burn the place down before we’ve even left.” Alice says, rolling her eyes. For her part, she too is only armed with her usual weaponry, the magical sword Energieschwert and her medium armor. It still surprises you to see the gleaming silver plates over leather which still has open areas such as her thighs. Well, you can’t argue with her sword skills in it, at least.

“Right.” You say, still a little worried about the Squirrel Girl. “Anyway, we have provisions prepared and being loaded on the leyway we’re taking as well as a few additional pieces of weaponry in case we need them. All we’re left with at the moment is our other members and we’re ready to leave.”

“Other Members?” Finn says, narrowing his eyes. “How many?”

“Four, however they can all be trusted, even if two of them aren’t exactly combat experts.” You look around. “Oh, and Patricia, though she said she’d meet us at the platform.”

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Alice says. “Let’s get this thing on the road!”

They all nod and turn to go. You watch them for a moment before turning to Saya. She gives you a wan smile and kisses you gently on the lips again before pulling back. “You better come back and in one piece, both mentally and physically, you hear?” She leans forward.

“I’ll give Mr. Hero quite the reward when he does.”

You feel your cheeks flush at that. Coughing into your hand, you turn away and say, “I’m coming back, and I’m coming for you.”

“Pffffft.” Saya snickers. “Holy fuck Tobias, that’s the corniest fucking line I think you’ve ever said.” She sighs. “Still, I’ll be waiting.”

Without further ado, you take up your own bag and head after the others toward your next, and hopefully final, adventure.

>>384907

You’re surprised to find Ophelia and Clarissa at the station with Ginelle, Clint, and Patricia, the five of them standing impatiently as you approach. Finn looks over them with scrutiny while Rayleigh bounds forward to introduce herself, seeming to forget she’s supposed to be a member of a highly training organization.

As you approach, Clint tips his hat to you. He’s changed back into his attire from your travels beforehand, the leather outfit seen more out west along with a wide-brimmed hat. At his back is a long, black case that you know holds his weapon, one of the very rare magitek rifles. What you wouldn’t give to have more of those…

“Tobias.” He says. “Seems we have some extra members this time?”

“Seemed prudent to have extra manpower. Gods know we could have used some extra hands back then.”

“I suppose.” He says, frowning as he looks at Rayleigh. “The guy seems like he knows what’s up, but what about her? She seems a little…”

“Explosive?” You say, chuckling. “Yeah well, the Lord Commander recommended her. As long as we point her in the right direction, we should be okay.”

“If you say so.” Ginelle says, stepping forward herself. The dress and make-up are gone, this time replaced with short clothing that hug her well muscles curves and a jacket made of leather similar to Clint’s. She doesn’t need any weapons, because her claws might as well BE weapons in their own right. “I’m surprised you got those two to come along.”

“Well nice to see you too.” Ophelia huffs. Crossing her arms as she breaks away from Rayleigh. “Honestly, you’d think we didn’t just have tea a few days ago.”

“Bah.” Ginelle says, waving a hand. “That’s high society, this is battle.”

“Hmm, fair enough.” Ophelia sighs. She grips a small bag at her side, a bag of holding you’d assume. “Well. We’re here at least. Clarissa and I talked it over and we’ve decided we’re going to go. We know it will be dangerous but…” She sighs. “Well at least we can provide support! I’m well stocked on bombs and have plenty of tools with me!”

People around you turn and stare at the mention of bombs, but at a look from Finn, they turn and keep walking. “Perhaps.” He says. “We should continue our conversations on the leyway.”

Everyone nods, feeling embarrassed, before boarding the leyway. This specific route is an express, bound for Cair. Despite the attack recently it’s still operational, bringing in both personnel and supplies while civilian traffic helps to rebuild the city. People really want their center of depravity and sin to stay operational, huh?

Everyone heads toward the first class section as you check with the Troll in charge of this leyway about your supplies. Making sure everything is loaded appropriately, you join the others, opening up one of the rooms you’d reserved thanks to your connections with the major leyway operators from your previous adventures. Inside, you find Clint, Ginelle, Ophelia, and Clarissa, busying up their bunks. Guess it’d been decided who’s staying with who, huh?

“I guess the others are in another room, huh?” You ask, scratching at your cheek.

“Yeah. This seems to work out though.” Clarissa says, bouncing on one of the four beds. “Us four in here, those four in there. And you uh…” She trails off. “Oh. Woops.”

Oh good, you’re sleeping on the floor. Somewhere. So much for your nap.

Sighing, you rub at your forehead and say, “Alright, I’ll gather the others in here soon. I’ll be a tight fit, but we need to go over our game plan.”

“Sounds good.” Clint says, pulling out his rifle to inspect it. Ginelle gives him a sidelong glance as he does, clearly annoyed that he pays more attention to the weapon than her, but she sighs, as if accepting it.

Moving to the other car, you find a similar scene. Finn sits on his bed while Rayleigh dangles her legs over him, humming while looking around the car with fascination. Patricia reads a book while Alice lays on her back, still in full armor, staring at the ceiling.

So these are your choices of where to stay huh? Greeeeeaaaaat.

“Everyone settled already? Good. We’re going to depart soon but I want to make sure everything is in order and that we know what the plan is.”

“Ah, good.” Finn says, rising. “I’m getting a little tired of being left in the dark anyway.”

The four follow you to the other room again. As everyone crams together, you close the door and sigh, wishing you could set [Privacy Barriers]. As it is, Ophelia’s ears twitch, listening for anyone trying to eavesdrop.

>>384908

Sitting down on the floor, you pull out a map you’d been working with last night and set it before you. Everyone crowds around to peek, which results in some shoving as you speak.

“Alright. As we’re aware, the first stop is Cair. While there was a terrorist attack recently, they’re still allowing in civilian transports. At this time, being in Order regalia won’t be that big an issue since others are present, however after that we’re going to have to cover you up.”

“Fine.” Rayleigh says, tapping the insignia on her clothing. “I know a good shop in Cair I used to visit a lot with some Monster fashion. Hopefully it wasn’t damaged.”

“Terrorists.” Clint spits. “We all know it was Galmathorian insurgents.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t the best time for a pretext to war. Given that the Monster Lady and the Grand Wizard were missing with musings about war from the East? We had to take it and prepare.” You say, feeling frustrated. “At least the damage was minimal, all things considered. Still, even this far out I expect people to be on pins and needles. We’re going to want to watch ourselves before moving out.”

Patricia looks at the map as you trace your finger upward. “Fort Carlsbad? You’re planning on resupplying there before heading north?”

“Would make sense.” You say, nodding your head. “Seeing as it’s the last major outpost north. If Saya were here we could probably stay with Xanthia but…” You trail off, shuddering. “Anyway, we’ll want to move more northeast anyway.”

“Hmmm. I’m not so sure.” Patricia says, muttering to herself. “A fort like that is very busy and is likely being watched, wouldn’t you agree?” She looks over at Alice who rubs her chin.

“I guess? Carlsbad always has people coming and going, especially after what happened in Cair.” She sighs. “I mean, we can always avoid the fort, it just means we’ll have to make do with our supplies as is and it might take a little longer.”

“Alright, we’ll consider that.” You say, writing on the map. “Anyway, the end goal is make it to the main entrance to the Monster Nation, through this road and an outpost there.”

“Uhm.” Ophelia says, raising a hand. “Wouldn’t a bunch of heavily armed people draw just a little bit of attention? And why would they let us in?”

“That would normally be an issue.” You say before smirking and pulling something out from within your suit. “If I didn’t have this.”

>>384909

Beyond supplies and personnel last night, you also had a meeting with Selene. While both of you are going to the same place, at least initially, she can’t exactly be seen traveling with an Order escort. Besides, you’d slow her down too much. She did, however, give you a letter to give to the guards at the outpost leading to the main road through the Mountains into the heart of the Monster Nation. You’re also advised not to open it until it, which you find fair enough.

>You receive [Monster Lady’s missive]

>Personally signed by the Monster Lady herself, this letter is supposed to help you once you reach the Monster Nation.

“From there, we head to the Capital to await further assistance from the Monster Lady as we head into the foothills to search for this observatory.”

You roll up the map and look about, smile on your face. “Easy, right?”

Ginelle groans, “Why did you have to say that?”

“Something’s going to go wrong.” Clarissa sighs. “It always does.”

“Well, when it does, I’ll just burn them to cinders!” Rayleigh says, beaming.

“Sounds like a plan.” You say, stowing the map. “I’ll go over provision lists with everyone later. I think we have some weaponry that even Ophelia and Patricia can use in a pinch. I’ll count on you to teach them, Finn?”

The man eyes you warily before clacking his tongue. “I see you did some reading.”

“I assume you approve?”

“Hmph.” He says, shaking his head. “Fine. Though you’ve yet to tell us what we’re searching for in this observatory.”

“I think we’ll keep that confidential for now.” You say to an uneasy car of people who know exactly what’s going on.

The man narrows his eyes before sighing. “You’re in charge. Now then,this isn’t a very long trip if I recall?”

“Should be in Cair by tomorrow evening.” You say, nodding. “For now, try to get some rest and prepare yourselves. We’ve got a journey ahead of us and I’ll be damned if we’re the last ones back.”

“Welp!” Clarissa says, holding up a wing. “Then we just need to get mo-“

The whole car shudders for a moment as a low hum fills the air. You turn to look at the window as slowly, the leyway begins to move, picking up more and more speed. The vehicle moves silent as it glides over the tracks, pulling out of the civilized beauty of Deleor off onto the wide open plains surrounding it.

“Huh.” You say, chuckling. You’re not sure if it’s from exhaustion or otherwise but you find it amusing. “Looks like everything’s going to plan already.”

>What do you do?

A bit of a shorter update, but with a party this big, it takes a little time to get everyone together.

Of course, you'll have to choose who to stay the night with. If at all, you could always pass out in the dining car after all.

But unless anything particular catches your eye for what you'd like to talk with people about or alterations to the plan, then you're just on a leyway with people for over 24 hours. Have fun!

>>384827

Rayleigh won't use a bow as she feels she has no need to while Finn has a regular ol' recurve bow. You did happen to bring some other weapons like crossbows in storage. You brought two smaller ones and a fair number of arrows, so says the quartermaster, but I won't go into detail on that until later. You'll have to ask Ophelia what's in sack of wonders. Same with Patricia since you assume her messenger bag is a bag of holding.

You have two spare bags of holding no one has claimed yet. Yes, that's all they had that you could get on short notice, but to be fair, most of your group travels light.

>>384855

Oh god.

A treatise on my mistakes. Let's see where I can interject…

1 and 2. No, of course not, but certainly in the major cities. More than enough men and women to cause a problem. Given how close Galmathoria is to the Monster Nation, they had a larger population/ tolerance of Monsters.

3 and 4. Deleorian military and the Order kept it a secret from the rest of the country. They weren't prepared for this kind of attack. They did keep it contained for a few months, however! The military garrisoned there gave up without a fight and either left or fell in line. They weren't going to start murdering their own people.

I don't know if I discussed it completely beforehand, but the reason the men were changed was to prepare them to be turned into true monsters once Valinthia did her ritual. All female race will die out eventually righ- oh wait. Tolosh wasn't let in on the particulars of the plan btw.

>>384863

Yep, he did a lot of thinkin and now my ass is chafed. There's more going on behind the scenes but history buff I am not.

Also, Deleor hasn't wanted to invade and has tried for peaceful situations while preparing for war. Unfortunately, with constraints in the east gone, it very well could turn that way after attacks on their territory. Odd coincidence they'd get so aggressive now, after so long, huh?

Sadly Rayleigh did not come from Galmathoria. Would have been neat I suppose!

Oh, and if you want to change perspectives at any time, if we get a majority vote to do so, we can. Otherwise there will likely be specific stopping points where it will be forced to happen.

At least the team is formed now so we can start moving this train down the tracks!

Unless it gets derailed.

That happens a lot.

>>384920

Tobias and gand on a train for a while, nothin' happening.

Would like to change to Rommel PoV, please.

Stick with Tobias. Still some work to be done.

Tobias should gather everyone in a dormitory and do some group ice-breaking. Have everyone sit in a circle and try to integrate Alice, Finn, Rayleigh and Patricia for a cohesive group. Already we can see that Team Tobias is fractured in two with the Illusionistquest squad sticking together, and the Order Trio + Patricia in their own clique. We need to fix this ASAP as this won’t be solved by itself.

Each person should give a brief introduction about themselves. It is one thing for Tobias to read on the background of Finn and Rayleigh, but to gain their trust and loyalty, they should have given the chance to explain themselves. Furthermore, the others haven’t read the dossiers so the Order Trio are just strangers to them.

It is not a good idea for strangers to rely on each other for life or death situations, so it is incredibly important for everyone to understand each other.

Additionally, Team Tobias should discuss tactics and team formations both on the march and in battle.

Example: Escort formation with the vulnerable members in the centre, battle lines with frontliners and backliners clearly established and so on. This will avoid the nasty cases such as Team Tobias’ members being lost and uncoordinated if they are ambushed, getting in each other’s way, or friendly fire from the backliners.

We should take the opportunity to pre-emptively solve problems such as ensuring Alice doesn’t antagonize Finn excessively, and set ground rules for Rayleigh.

As for the plan itself, sounds workable. However, anons have been saying that Monster Nation is hostile to the extent of Order Personnel needing to hide their insignia. Is it wise to publicly enter Monster Nation capital?

>>384829

> Monsterization is strongly looked down upon

Yeah, I'd imagine any paladin extremist groups would view it as the worst crime imaginable.

>>384966

Agreed. We can switch to Rommel’s PoV soon but there are some loose ends to be tied up first.

>group ice-breaking

In-story, we as the audience know very little about Finn and Rayleigh. It will be nice to flesh them out somewhat.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be in the open, but at some point Tobias should ask Finn for his side of the story when Finn attacked a superior officer. It sounds really bad on paper, but there are numerous possible extenuating circumstances and this should help build a clear relationship between Tobias (the commander) and Finn.

>>384863

>not sure why Deleor doesn’t take advantage of the chaos and launch a counter invasion though.

Its implied in Wizardquest2 that Deleor has the military might to handle Galmathoria or Ectria but not both. This was pressure point in the plot that made it so crucial to eliminate the Pharoah. If Deleor committed their forces to retaking Galmathoria and their Monster Supremacist allies in Monster Nation, Ectria would invade Deleor from the east.

>>384855

>Galmathoria discussion

A rather believable run of events and it ties in with the current situation 20 years later.

Ace, how did the Galmathorians and the Deleor military stop the news from spreading like wildfire? One would think that when Monster Invaders showed up and definitely when the monsterization ritual was enacted there would be a tidal wave of refugees fleeing from Galmathoria to safer settlements Southeast.

All these refugees will be telling everyone the same story: Galmathoria is conquered, everyone has been monsterized, Monster Invaders are coming for you next. At minimum, the Galmathorian religious folks will be deserting en masse and warning neighbouring settlements on what had happened.

Given that this is a Renaissance level society, information control is pretty much non existent. I can only postulate that the Deleorian settlements close to Galmathoria did know, but the core cities like Sanctifrond remained ignorant. But that doesn’t make sense thinking about it as losing an entire region, with no contact from friends/family in Galmathoria is going to raise serious questions.

no were already on 3?!

i never even read book 2!

also is barbaran quest/warrior quest cannon?

>>384984

>Ive incorporated some of the aspects as background things though The attack on Sanctifond wont have happened since it never finished before putin erased slavman and ive added an assault on a western fort named Islebard, and the Wizard Union exists

>>384983

>>384984

Yep! Links are at the top if you want to read up. At the moment you haven't missed too much until we switch to Rommel's perspective.

>>384986

Hum, guess I worded that wrong. I also removed the sub assault on fort Carlsbad/ toned down what happened in Cair.

RIP Slavman

>>384976

It wasn't viewed favorably by anyone in Deleor nor parts of the Monster Nation until Tolosh came around. She was quite the orator.

>>384966

Selene says she'll help you out once you get there… somehow. Still, probably best not to antagonize anyone.

>>384980

I hate to say this, but at a certain point I'll just have to come out and say, "It be how it is." While these are excellent points for realism, we're also talking about a setting where 30 year old virgins are gifted a portion of a God's power and can control feces with magic.

Some liberties are to be expected.

Should remain with Tobias' PoV and do the group ice breaking as other anons >>384966 and >>384980 mentioned. As a professional engineer, it is standard at the start of projects to spend at least a day getting to know everyone. Usually prevents personality clashes and accidental problems from arising later down the road.

I assume it would be even worse for people that are in life or death scenarios in a hostile environment because if the group is not cohesive, either people die or the mission fails.

>>384991

Hm, I don’t think people are focused on the setting’s “realism” per se. Rather more on the internal consistency of sapient beings behaving in logical manner. However, us readers are just speculating since the details provided are extremely vague so there could be a perfectly good explanation down the road when the MCs reach Galmathoria.

Anyway guys, I think we should pause the Galmathoria dissection until we get more info.

Getting to know Rayleigh and Finn a bit better would be nice. As other anons have pointed out, Team Tobias are currently split in two which is a problem. Can't exactly remember how things went with Alice back in Illusionistquest but I think relations were very shallow as well so that also needs to be patched up.

>>384991

>best not to antagonize anyone

Its not about Team Tobias antagonizing Monster Nation citizens, but the various citizens starting up trouble with our party. 20 years isn’t that long for cultural attitudes to die down so the older generations are still firmly stuck in the ‘good old days’ with regard to their attitudes towards Humans. Even if Team Tobias are on their best behaviour, from the previous portrayals of Monsters, it is actually expected that a random Monstergirl decides to accost them, maybe rape and kidnap Finn and stir up trouble.

If the Team is in the capital, fighting the Monsters off if they can’t take no for an answer will spark a diplomatic incident and at minimum, draw unnecessary attention.

I support the motion that Team Tobias avoids populated settlements in Nation Nation – especially – the capital. If they enter one, they are just begging for trouble.

>>384910

There really isn't much to add here that hasn't already been said and further elaborated on by multiple other people, as our options are limited and breaking the ice with everyone is the best thing we can really do given the circumstances, from both an in-universe and meta perspective. I suppose I would add a minor point of staying the night with the Order group, because it serves to both show Finn and Rayleigh that we prioritise the well-being of our subordinates over our own seeing as we're sleeping on the floor regardless of which group we stick with while they get beds and avoid furthering the already present division within the group by not showing a strong bias for our friends over the Order lot, but, unless we feel like scoping out the train to learn the layout and what's available to use in a fight in the off-chance we're attacked en route, I've got nothing else.

Regarding perspectives, stick with Tobias until after proper introductions are done or after the train is attacked, if that's planned. It's not like anyone else is doing anything more interesting than he is and a swap this early would be a tad jarring.

>>385013

While I do agree with the notion that we should avoid the capital as well as any other settlements of importance or large sizeoutside of the circumstances where the need to restock on supplies arises, but even then avoid the capital given the political climate within the country, I do have to wonder how dangerous trekking through the Monster Nation is actually going to be. The only reason we're hiding any Order insignias is because the Order was founded in direct opposition to monsters, which means they still almost certainly hold the stigma of being the enemy in the heart of monster territory; a mixed group of humans and monsters probably isn't going to attract the same level of aggression except from feral monsters, who aren't the entire population of the Monster Nation and are probably only a fairly small portion at best as most would have migrated south to find unclaimed men given the chance. Even then, a single feral monster isn't going to attack a large group of well-armed individuals unless she is incredibly desperate and a group of feral monsters is unlikely to attack a group where only one of the men isn't already claimed by another monster at least as far as we know, so conflict in that regard would be limited.

>>384991

>we're also talking about a setting where 30 year old virgins

I feel the need to state that the presence of certain outlandish or "silly" elements does not excuse a lack of logical consistency. Please don't be mad at me senpai

Stick with Team Tobias until his first campaign boss is defeated at least. If we have to go through the individual starting interviews, planning and journeys 3 times the pacing of the story will be quite jarring, not to mention the work involved for Ace.

Ditto on avoiding populated settlements in Monster Nation aside from emergencies. As for resupply, send Ophelia, Clarissa, Ginelle and Patricia.

Selene’s dialogue has some implication that her powerbase in Monster Nation is being challenged by the conservatives and Monster supremacists. The political stance of Monster Galmathoria is right up their alley and it is likely that the imminent conflict has divided the Monster Nation citizens into Apathetic, Conservatives and pro-Selene camps.

It is plausible that Team Tobias gets attacked for activist reasons in the populated settlements by radicals or traditionalists. As for the mountainous regions, MGE features highly aggressive and territorial Monsters that live there such as Griffons and Dragons in addition to Swarm/Gang behaviour Monsters like Bats and Insects.

>>385013

We will be fine.

We have 3 men on the team, 2 of which are happily taken. Clint will have Gingin right by his side, As well as her scent all over him. Tobi is an illusionist so he can project Saya's scent to anyone prowling. So he just has to keep an eye out for anyone looking to hard. Finn is the only one who we need to care about, And even then we still have options. Either Tobias can cloak him, Or the better if only slightly more troublesome option, He could use other party members to mask his own scent. Just wipe himself down with one of their tunics or other particularly musky clothing.

All of this could be moot anyway, But making backup plans is half the run of these things anyways. Regardless, I do think we need to buy all members a wedding band, Assuming Clint and Gin chose to take there's off. There is a social stigma in monster society about going after taken men, So everyone wearing a wedding band might dissuade a traditionalist from even trying. Escepically if even the women among the group have them because they could appear to be there actual partners

>>385085

Remember to sage next time

Hey, sorry everyone. At the moment there's been a big change in my life circumstances and I'm having some trouble focusing on the story. Updates won't be as frequent as I'd like, but I'd hate to just force them out there. Hopefully I can get myself back in order soon.

Sucks this happened so soon after starting, but that's the way of things. Really sorry everyone.

>>385085

This is fair. I am not mad

>>385141

No worries Ace, life happens. Take your time.

>Story continue

“Is that all?”

You look over to Finn, who addressed you. The man still has a cool, even look on his face, but you can tell he’s not a big fan of being crammed into this car like sardines. All things considered, you’re not a big fan of it either.

Still…

Looking around your little jester wagon of people, you understand just how in over your head you are. Managing eight people, four of whom have limited to no relationship with the others, is not only difficult, but potentially dangerous. If (and likely when) things get dangerous, can these people be trusted to have each other’s backs? Since you’re not certain, there’s really only one thing to be done.

“Not quite.” You say, sitting down on the carpeted floor. “I think since we’re all gathered here anyway, we might as well do some introductions.”

“Are we back in school?” Clint asks, cocking his head. “Tobias, we’re all adults here, I think we can work together.”

The others nod and you sigh, shaking your head. “Ophelia, you’re an engineer. How would you feel working on a sensitive piece of magitek with people on a project who you have idea their skills or personalities?”

“Uhm.” She says, ears twitching. “I’d feel kind of nervous and be constantly checking to make sure they’re doing it…right…” Her ears sink down as she blushes. “No offense…”

Rayleigh and Finn trade glances before sighing. The Squirrel Girl wraps her legs under herself and says, “Well… I guess since we’re sharing, I might as well start. Name’s Rayleigh, I’m an Order pyromancer, and a damn good one if I do say so myself! I like to burn things, write poetry, and then burn things more.” She blinks at you.

“Is that good enough?”

“Uh.” You say, scratching your face. “Yeah, that’s good to start, I suppose.” You cough into your hand. “How about I go?” Taking a deep breath, you address the room.

“My name is Tobias Shady, and Illusionist. My skills allow me to influence the minds of those around us, helping obscure, trick, or even combat others if needed. My reason for gathering this group together is to gather a crucial artifact which may be necessary to save both Deleor, or perhaps the world as we know it.” You chuckle.

“I feel like an idiot for saying it like that, but from what I’ve seen, from what others have seen, it seems a real possibility. I’m not only concerned for myself, but for my family and my friends.”

Nodding your head, you look back to Rayleigh and gesture. “Does that make sense?”

You’re surprised to see the Squirrel Girl looking at you with a more critical eye than before, her joviality from before gone. She frowns before nodding back to you slowly and saying, “Yeah… I’m not sure I understand how important some artifact is, but if the Lord Commander thinks it’s important enough to go with you, then I will do my best.” She raises her hands and fireballs appear over them. “Right, so again, I’m Rayleigh Asternak and, as you can see, I’m a pyromancer. I specialize in frontline assaults and urban combat, though due to my species, I have no trouble getting into small places. Not exactly great for defense, but I can put up a [Wall of Flames] if needed.”

You smile to the Squirrel Girl and she blushes before turning away. Making to call on someone else, you find yourself surprised to see Clint raise his hand and speak.

“My name is Clint Fullvora of House Fullvora. I specialize in medium to long range combat with my magitek rifle.” He pats his weapon. “Despite healing well from an injury in the past, there’s periods when I have some pain, but I’m still confident in my aim. My purpose for being here is much the same as Tobias’s. I too have important people to protect.” He turns to look at Ginelle who nods.

>>385292

“I’m Ginelle, a Badger Girl as you can see. I’m quite confident in my durability and strength, though I don’t think using a weapon that I can’t bludgeon someone with is going to be a good idea. My reason for being here is to help a friend. If Tobias needs something, then I’m there. I owe him too much otherwise.”

Clint looks down at her words. Well, he probably shouldn’t have deleted your leymails, now should he? You turn your attention to Patricia, who coughs into her furred hand.

“Yes, well. I am Patricia Boudreaux, daughter of the Lord Commander. While I have no combat experience, I am quite well versed in many subjects, including cultures of the Monster Nation. I believe I will be most of use at the ruins we are looking for, however I will do what else I can during that time.” She taps her chin. “My reason for being here… is curiosity. Yes, I believe in the importance of this mission as well, but again, not a fighter. Still…” She hesitates,

“I’d like to do something useful.”

“Same!” Clarissa shouts, holding up a wing and accidently slapping Rayleigh on the head. She gasps and pulls her wing back, blushing furiously. “Uhm, oh, sorry!”

The Squirrel Girl blinks for a moment before snickering and waving a hand at Clarissa. “Pffff. You know what birdy, I think you and me are going to get along really well!”

“Uhm. Thanks?” Clarissa says, cocking her head. “A-Anyway. My name is Clarissa, a Crow Harpy. I specialize in flying, of which I’m very fast, even in the cooler climates!” She beams at this before looking down. “I’m not really… good at fighting on the ground, but I can help in the air. As for my reason for being here I… I want to be useful too. It’s scary, but after our last adventure, I know how bad things can be. If I knew Tobias was out there and I could have helped I-“

Ophelia puts a hand on her shoulder and nods. “I understand. I feel the same way.” She takes a deep breath and begins speaking. “My name is Ophelia Illoma, a magitek engineer out of the Manufactorum in Loveura. My combat skills are minimal as well, however I am an expert at magitek and have a few devices with me that should help.” She pats the bag at her side. “If safe enough, I can set up a communication device we can use between members if we need to split up, as well as…” She digs a box from her bag with two metal ends on it. Smirking, she pushes a button and sparks of vibrant blue electricity appear at the end.

Everyone gasps and pushes back at the device, though Ophelia just chuckles. “It’s a device similar to the rechargeable orbs, however it drains charged magic to produce a beam that stuns people. One jab from this and most people, and Monsters, will be out like a light.”

“Did you bring the bombs too?” Ginelle asks, to which Ophelia nods.

“I have some pre-made as well as supplies to make more, if we can find some mana crystals with the right frequency…. Oh! Right, reason for being here is the same as Clarissa. Tobias has done a lot for me as well, even if I probably should have died on that journey…” She shakes her head. “Either way, I can’t just sit back at home with my tools and do nothing. Besides, what if there’s ancient magitek out there?”

“Alright, thank you.” You say, nodding to her. “I suppose that just leaves-“

“Oh! Me, me!” Alice says, waving her arm. You just shrug, which she takes as a signal to continue. “Right then, so, my name is Alice Nurem and I’m a Hero of the Order of the Heroic Brotherhood! My specialty is close range combat with my sword, Energieschwert, which can cut through just about anything. As far as my reason for being here…” She trails off before looking down. “Because I too believe in the importance of what we’re doing. Having a goal of something greater than yourself is something I had to learn the hard way, but something I am passionate about.” She looks up to you especially and nods,

“I’m not losing again.”

>>385293

You blink at her words. Honestly, you never really got to know Alice beforehand, but this is a dramatic change in personality from what you recall. She was impulsive, brash, and a down right slut who wouldn’t go near a Monster, yet she talked just fine with Tabitha beforehand and is sitting next to Rayleigh without any issues. What the hells happened while she was out in the desert?

“That leaves me then.” Finn says as everyone turns to the battle-scarred man. He looks at you and sighs. “You read the papers and yet you’re making me do this. Fine. My name is Finn Doreal, a Hero. My specialties include frontline combat, although I’m no slouch with a bow. I don’t have a magic sword or magitek, but I’m sturdy and that’s gotten me through most issues. As for why I’m here? Because I asked by the Lord Commander, as I’ve stated before.” He cuts off there and looks at you.

“That good enough?”

You frown at him. Finn seems like someone who would take orders very well, however he did happen to strike that military officer… what is he hiding?

The others in the room speak with each other in low voices after Finn finishes, even across party lines. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good start. Everyone’s got their reasons for being here, but they line up well enough, which is good enough for you. Feeling pretty proud of yourself, you make to speak again when Ophelia’s ears start twitching. She makes a silencing gesture and everyone goes quiet, straining to hear.

Footsteps sound outside the door before walking past. Everyone stands there for a tense moment before Ophelia nods her head and puts a hand to her breast. “Right then, just someone passing by.”

“Well, that’s a good place to stop anyway.” You say, stretching. “Why doesn’t everyone just relax, get something to eat, and we’ll be in Cair tomorrow evening, alright?”

“Sounds good to me, although…” Clint begins. “Where are you going to stay?”

Everyone turns to you. Ah, right, that issue. “Well, I only had two rooms booked you see and uh…” You cough into your hand. “Guess I’m sleeping on the floor.”

Ginelle snickers. “The pampered boy in his nice suit has to rumple it on the floor, huh?”

“Hey!” You say, frowning. “You know this suit is resilient. Never buy anything less than Arachne silk again.” Picking yourself off the floor you say, “I’ll stay in the other room anyway. If anyone needs anything, I’ll be in the dining car.”

>>385294

Movement begins in the little room and you open the door to step outside, sighing as you close it behind you. When you turn back around you see a stunning woman in green silk standing at the end of the hallway. You blink for a moment as she sniffs and brushes her long, blonde hair back before walking by you, toward the other sleeper cars. Well that was strange.

Shaking your head, you move to the dining car and take a seat at one of the tables. It’s quiet this morning, with no one else but a waiter/ bartender cleaning some glasses. They take your order and move away, leaving you tired. Right, you forgot you were sleepy. You start to drift off a little when a rough hand shakes your shoulder.

“Huh, what-hrm?!” You say, looking around, preparing you magic. When you see Finn standing behind you, you pause, blinking a few times before sighing in relief. “Oh, it’s just you.”

“I could very well have been an assassin you know.”

“A murder on a leyway? You’ve been reading too many mysteries.” Yawing, you gesture for the man to sit. “What do you need?”

“Hmph.” Finn says, sitting at the little table across from you. “I couldn’t say it back in the room after that little exercise of yours, but I have some disagreements with our travel arrangements. Namely, I do not see why we’re moving close to major settlements.”

You shrug, understanding his prudence. “It’s because I have assurances from a local authority that we will have arrangements. I do not know the exact details, but I am quite certain it will be fine.”

“Still, you should consider when we get closer not bringing us close so we don’t antagonize the populace.”

You frown again at the man, interested yet confused at his concerns. Sure, it makes sense, but why bring this up now and like this? Was he trying to bully you into this or was he just helping? Studying the man’s face a little closer, you notice the hard lines and clenched jaw, as if he’s restraining himself.

“Ah.” You say, something clicking in your head. “I see. So that’s what happened.”

“What are you talking about?” He asks, frowning at you in turn.

“Nothing, nothing.” You say, waving a hand. “I’ll take it into consideration.”

>>385295

The man narrows his eyes but sighs and makes to stand. Before he goes you hold up a hand. “Ah, Finn? If you have any other concerns that could be beneficial to this mission, please do not hesitate to let me know. I think you have experience no one else here does and we’d appreciate it.”

The man blinks at you, surprised for a moment before he recovers, his stoic attitude reappearing on his face. “Right. We’ll speak more later. Enjoy your meal.”

You watch the man as he walks away. Rubbing you chin, you chuckle. “Well, well, Mr. Shady, you’ve assembled quite the odd team, haven’t you?”

“Uhm.” The waiter says, your meal in his hands. “Who are you talking to, sir?”

You blush, taking your food from him. “Erm, no one. Sorry.”

He walks back to the bar, a little wary of you. Sighing, you dig into the meal, thinking that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The rest of the day is fairly uneventful, your team interacting with each other without much issue. Alice gets along well with Clint and Ginelle while Rayleigh spent an inordinate amount of time talking with Clarissa, as if they were best friends. When evening comes, you retire to the room you’d designated, though you have difficulty sleeping on the hard floor. Rayleigh’s incessant talking with Patricia about any and every topic also makes his hard to sleep until Finn quiets everyone down.

The next day is much of the same. You’re quite surprised nothing bad happens to you the entire time you travel, reaching Cair without incident (beyond Rayleigh almost starting a fire). As the early evening settles, you look out the window upon the coliseum city. Pulling in, you can’t see any more signs of damage, the city having recovered quickly, but there’s an increased military presence, including a few Order Heroes.

When you arrive, you see the normal flurry of activity you’d expect from a place with the reputation of Cair with people leaving the leyway to get to their destination without delay. The Trolls at this station help deliver your supplies from storage, your party helping to store them in the two bags of holding you were able to procure. You’ll need to manage this a little better when you’ve left the city, but for now it’s good enough.

“Tobias.” Ginelle says pulling at your arm as you finish going over everything. “Did you notice that woman watching us?”

“Huh?” You say, trying to look around the platform without being obvious. “I don’t see anyone.”

“She was in a green dress and had blonde hair.”

“I saw her on the leyway, but didn’t think anything of it. Probably just surprised at our party, some of our members do stand out a little.”

“Perhaps.” Ginelle says, knowing she’s one of those that stand out. “You’re probably right. Still, this place feels wrong.”

“Nothing good ever happens in Cair.” You say, gathering up the others. “But if we keep our heads down, we can get a room for the night, get a wagon in the morning, and be off north before anything bad occurs.”

“I hate when you say that sort of stuff.” She sighs.

>What do you do?

>>385296

Alright! We had our little pow-wow session and people seem more amiable. Good thing nothing bad happens on leyways, right? Because nothing bad did happen! We could have spent a lot of time on the leyway but it's good to get things moving. Like a leyway. Get it? Ha, okay.

Now we're in Cair, a place where nothing bad ever happens ever.

Things are a little better, though not the best. I think I can try to shoot for the every other day again, especially as it's cathartic to write.

We'll do our best to get back to the regularly scheduled programming!

>>385296

Try and see when the next wagon might be available to get out ASAP if shit goes south. Then go look for a decent room close to an exit out of town.

This lady in green practically screams enemy agent. Keep an eye out for her and the moment she tries anything hostile plant related, have Rayleigh torch her and scram.

>>385311

Oh, almost forgot. Since we're obviously being watched, we need MAXIMUM OPSEC. Not a word of our destination or what we're looking for the entire time we're here. No talking about tactics or plans if there's any plant life around or if the area isn't secluded. If said area has plant life, burn it.

That was a good start. Noticed that some characters have surnames and others don’t; is there a lore related reason for this?

The anons raised up good points.

In general, keep out of trouble. Don’t have the time to play around and fix every problem that we come across in Cair due to pressure of the overarching mission.

>>385297

>regularly scheduled programming

No pressure for updating; IRL should always come first.

>>385311

Naaaaah mang, there's nothing suspicious about her at all, why would you say that?

Yeah, it would be a little hard to buy transport north at night. You could always hitch a ride with someone, but you're carrying a fair number of people, so buying would be better. Don't worry about funds, you'd planned for this…. to a degree.

>>385342

Ginelle doesn't have a surname because she was raised outside of civilization. Wilder Monsters like Hala don't have any unless they marry a human and live in a more human fashion. Occasionally they'll still only use their first names, given the children are only ever female. Some older Monster families in the Monster Nation use surnames though but it's not a widespread practice.

I also never gave Clarissa a surname initially

Keeping out trouble eh? Well, if you say so. Guess you mean just find an inn and make sure everyone stays inside and does nothing, right?

Also, ironically, I might be out most of tomorrow so I might not get anything written until super late anyway. Thank you though, hopefully this is only a short setback.

>>385346

>find an inn and make sure everyone stays inside and does nothing

Don't think it should be that extreme; rather, can have the whole team explore Cair and get any last minute supply runs and information gathering. In meta terms, if Team Tobias runs into a 'quest-giver' in Cair, they should be declined in favour of sticking to the original mission.

A quick reminder to visit the clothing shop that Rayleigh mentioned earlier.

Blonde green dress lady seems mighty suspicious. If we run into her again, should Team Tobias catch her and proceed with an interrogation? Could be she is a red herring and it is an overreaction so somewhat mixed on this.

>>385373

Supplies such as?

The basic supplies are taken care of, but I'd entertain specific requests if you have them.

>You frown again at the man, interested yet confused at his concerns. Sure, it makes sense, but why bring this up now and like this? Was he trying to bully you into this or was he just helping? Studying the man’s face a little closer, you notice the hard lines and clenched jaw, as if he’s restraining himself.

Given this, his surprise when his concerns were acknowledged, his displeasure with being kept in the dark and how Blake supposedly stepped in to save him from prison time, I think it's pretty safe to say that Finn's reasoning for striking a military officer in the past is likely due to poor decision making from said officer that negatively affected Finn or his comrades. With this in mind, we should strongly consider putting more effort towards alleviating Finn's concerns with any plans we propose, partly because his concerns so far have been valid but primarily because it would help avoid a similar situation occurring during this mission which we obviously want to avoid.

>>385296

We've made it to Cair without a hitch at least, but we're clearly being followed in some regard by this strange woman who I'm assuming is human due to the lack of any monstrous description. Considering this and her choice of clothing, there is a very real chance that this is one of Phallia’s agents of whom has taken interest in the large group from Sanctifrond that just so happens to include Order heroes and members of a previous party that foiled a prior plan of the Goddess. Still, as >>385373 suggests, there is a very real chance that this is a red herring designed to make us slip up, so we have to handle this carefully. That said, handling this ultimately boils down to either confronting her or ignoring her stalking and trying to act as inconspicuous as possible.

Of the two, I’d recommend we ignore her for the time being while still keeping tabs on her whereabouts, giving her next to no information regarding our plans as per what >>385316 said, which we really should be doing the entire journey as it stands any way, and only acting if she moves first. Confronting the stalker this early on without her prompting us to do so would only be bad for us; if she’s an agent of Phallia, then we confirm any suspicions she may have had about us we likely wouldn’t have noticed her unless we were paranoid about spies, after all and alert Phallia to our plans. Conversely, if she’s not an agent of Phallia and is instead some random innocent woman who we think is spying on us, then confronting her would make us look shady as fuck, especially if the woman spreads word of a strange group of misfits interrogating her for no reason, which is very likely to attract the attention of any of Phallia’s agents if they weren’t already paying attention to us given our history with their Goddess. If we instead ignore her, then we don’t immediately raise suspicions among Phallia’s forces and can then later confront the woman when she inevitably slips up and we have good justification for catching her outside of paranoia, assuming she doesn’t leave us alone at that point any way out of her own volition whether it be due to deeming us a non-issue or her not actually following us in the first place.

That aside, we need to stay out of trouble until the morning when it’s normal to book transportation to the North, as trying to do so earlier has been said to be difficult and shows a sense of urgency from us that we’re trying to avoid others from knowing about. Holing up in a room in some inn somewhere could work, but may seem a tad suspicious as you’re having a large group seclude themselves in a city with plenty to do even into the nightly hours, so I’d suggest we find a place to stay and then at least have some people with protection, of course, no reason to send the likes of Ophelia and Clarissa into Cair of all places during the later hours without some form of deterrence for those that might accost them go and do things that tourists tend to do around these parts, like sightsee or shop, to reduce suspicions by blending in with the populace somewhat. I’d keep any groups that go explore smaller than five members large though, as bigger groups attract more attention, and having Ophelia set up communications among groups to ensure that nothing goes wrong without everyone being aware of it would be prudent too.

>>385316

>If said area has plant life, burn it.

Avoiding areas with plant life when discussing important plans is one thing, but actively destroying said plants just screams ‘we don’t want Phallia to listen to this’, so I’m not sure that’s the best plan. We could probably get away with it if Rayleigh accidentally or perhaps ‘accidentally’ burns any greenery present, but that isn’t really something we can rely on getting away with every time.

>>385346

Speaking of surnames, what was or still is, assuming he didn’t take Tabitha’s surname of Ledral post-marriage and she took his instead Rommel’s surname? As far as I’m aware, he and Helene were never given one during WizardQuest 2, which you would think would be rather important plot point considering the familial relationship though to be fair he could have forgotten it, having not had a family the vast majority of his life. Also, what about the Cat O’Ninetails twins and their family? Selene has gone by many titles and names yet never appears to have had a surname while the Grand Wizard may or may not lack a name entirely, which does beg the question.

>>385346

>Naaaaah mang, there's nothing suspicious about her at all, why would you say that?

Is it possible to see if a person is infected with Phalia's mindcotrolling plants by using "Mage Sight Googles" given that the parasitic plants rely on Phalia's power? If I recall correctly the Grand Wizard could detect them in Wizard Quest 2 but I can't remember if this was because of Magesight or Plaguemancy.

If the answer is yes then it wouldn't hurt to scan the woman just in case. If the answer is no then keep an eye out for her, and everyone else I guess since the mindcontrol plants work on both humans and monster. Tobias is going to have to be very paranoid during this adventure.

Yeah, as expected, I got home way too late. I don't have any plans tomorrow, and even if I make some I'll still work on writing no matter what.

>>385401

Cair isn't heavy with plant-life or plant-Monsters. Some flowers and potted plants, a few little parks to jazz things up. Nothing at all like Loveura or Sanctfrond. Shouldn't be too hard to find areas without them, though poor plants, what did they ever do to you?

Rommel's surname is up to y'all seeing as you named him. He didnt have much use for it but Tabitha would have wanted to use it.

The GW's family gets along well enough without a surname. :^) Really though, we've gone this long without a name, you think I was going to give one now?

>>385404

I had to check through Illusionistquest, but no, the goggles didn't have that effect. Due to the way they're rooted in the body, magesight won't have any effect. A biomancer, plagamancer, or healer would be able to detect this, though the latter likely only by touching them.

Also, this reminds me that Ophelia's goggles are [Magesight goggles]. She wouldn't leave the house without them!

Generally agree with what other anons have already written. Try to keep inconspicuous by behaving like regular tourists/people in Cair, don't get sucked into derail quests and keep a tight control on information - such as only talking about the real mission in the inn room.

Is it possible for security seals or alarm magic to be set on a door? If Ophelia is distracted, it is easy for hostile agents to eavesdrop freely.

Btw Ace, do you have a compiled image album for all the artwork in your Wizardquest-verse stories? It'd be neat to have a visual reference without having to search the chapters on TouchFluffyTail.

>Story continue

With your supplies stowed and everyone off the leyway, you head inside the city to find a nice inn. Thankfully by the nature of Cair being a major destination city, inns are frequent and finding one nestled away from the main sights of the city isn’t too difficult.

As you walked through the city however, you can’t help but see some of the scars from the terrorist attack before. Buildings with fresh paint, or some which had merely tried to hide the damage from sight. The glitz and glam of the city were still evident though, with magitek lights illuminating all the walkways and signs above various establishments promising whatever pleasures anyone could want. Still, you can see in the way people look about nervous, their antics a little too forced. They’re scared an attack could happen again, and this time with more consequences.

The inn you chose thanks to Rayleigh’s suggestion, “The Sleeping Gopher,” is filled with a few patrons at this time of day, most people going out to the larger bars and gambling halls. Still, a few people and here and there sit at the tables, laughing while drinking away at mugs of various alcohol.

As you take care of setting up rooms with a fat, balding man who looks oddly like a gopher, you notice your teammates muttering amongst themselves. Unfortunately, this has the effect of drawing the eyes of the patrons. They either run their gazes over the forms of the Monsters in your group or stare at the order iconography on Finn and Rayleigh’s outfits. So much for being inconspicuous.

Sighing, you walk over to your group and hand a key over to Finn for one room while you hand another to Clint for the other. Ophelia gives you an odd look as you hand the keys over to both men, but you dismiss it. She knows the order around here.

“Alright, so we’re buying a wagon and some horses tomorrow. As it stands for tonight, might as well go out and try not to draw that much attention. Do as you wish, just don’t cause trouble.”

Your gaze turns to Finn and Rayleigh, who both sigh and make to head upstairs. The others move after them, heading to the rooms to store items before heading out for the evening. For yourself, you sit down at a table and sigh, running a hand through your hair. Sleeping on the floor was not exactly ideal, and you figure you won’t get a bed tonight either. You could assert yourself and take someone else’s bed, but… that might not look good to your new team.

Eight people. Gods above, you better be able to command this right or there’s going to be some shit.

To your surprise, the group that comes down the stairs first is Rayleigh leading Ophelia, Patricia, Clarissa, and Ginelle. The spunky Squirrel girl chats amiably with the other four, leading even Clarissa to giggle as she does so. You find, with relief, that she’s removed her light armor with order sigils and instead wears a simple tunic, though she still has a few belt pouches filled with vials of various solutions.

“Where are all of you going?” You ask, leaning on the table.

“What are you, my father?” Rayleigh asks, giving you a cheeky grin.

“No, but if you want I can arrange a meeting with him.” You say with a flat expression.

She stiffens for a moment before nodding to you with respect. “Yes sir Mr. Shady sir. We’ll take good care not to cause any trouble, sir!”

You sigh and wave at them. “I was mostly joking anyway. Just don’t set anything on fire, okay?”

She chuckles, “That’s why I got shipped off to Derrick in the first place! I’m sure I can contain myself just fine.”

“Besides, we’ll keep an eye on her.” Ginelle says, rolling her shoulders. “I’ll keep anyone from causing trouble.”

“Thanks, that does make me feel better.” You sigh before frowning. “Where’s Alice?”

“She didn’t want to come.” Ophelia says, shrugging. “Maybe she still isn’t that comfortable around Monsters.”

“Or maaaaaaayyybbbeeeee I just want to go drinking with the boys, hmmm?”

>>385441

The group of girls turns about to see Alice, still in her armor, standing behind them, a shit-eating grin on her face. Chuckling, she claps Ophelia on the shoulder. “Don’t worry bunny, I got better about it. Getting your ass beat by the Wanderer will do that you. Of course, she doesn’t do much wandering anymore with Rommel’s dick between-“

“Ahem.” Finn says, coming up behind her. Unlike Alice, he did shed his armor, wearing instead a leather jerkin, his sword still at his side. “I think it’s best not to harass them, unless you want to make even more of a scene.”

Alice huffs as Clint, dressed in a nicer suit, walks up and gives Ginelle a light kiss before passing her the key to their room. “Alright, you keep them out of trouble. We aren’t here for vacation, though that could be arranged in the future.”

The Badger Girl sighs and rolls her eyes. “I know, I know. Rayleigh just wants to show us some shops. We’ll be on our best behavior.”

“Don’t spend all your money on honey.”

Ginelle huffs and walks after Rayleigh and the others.

Sighing, you shake your head and look up the remaining members of your party. “Well? What are your plans this evening?”

“We should be asking you that.” Clint says, chuckling. “Safest bet would be to stay in the inn and not cause any trouble.”

“Oh please, since when have I been that kind of person?” You say, waving a hand dismissively.

“It would be advisable.” Finn says, nodding his head. “Can’t get into trouble if you don’t go anywhere.”

“Yes, but being a homebody in Cair is also strange.” You sigh, stretching. “Might as well do our best to blend in. Though we should probably not do much drinking.”

“Ohhh, who said you were coming along with?” Alice says, smirking.

“Me, because I’m the big boss.”

Alice compares your heights and smirks. “Sure, thing, big guy.”

You begin to growl something when Clint puts an arm over both your shoulders. “Please, it’s only been a few days since you were reunited. Let’s try to save killing each other for later, hmm?”

“Yes, I’d hate to have to clean up the mess.” Finn says.

The three of you turn to the man who looks around before frowning. “What?”

This just sends Alice into fits of laughter as you wave for the others to leave the inn after you.

The streets of Cair are filled with people who bounce from delight to delight and despite the wariness in the back of everyone’s minds, the sounds of merriment and drunken laughter still pervade the area. Without any real idea of where to go, your group makes their way toward the heart of the city, where the Coliseum stands.

From what you’d heard in reports, the coliseum was the epicenter of the attack, with multiple people losing their lives as many “terrorists” started attacking people. Multiple attacks happened at various points through the city but they were isolated and contained in time. Still, it was enough to close down the central district and the Coliseum for over a month as they cleaned and rebuilt.

As you walk, you study Finn. Alice, despite her changes, is pretty obvious and you know Clint, or at least you did. He still seems a little off to you from before and frankly, you’re still a little miffed that he broke contact with you. That can wait however, as the more pressing enigma is Finn.

The man is quiet the entire time you walk, his eyes watching any and everyone for signs of danger. He’s a model soldier it seems, so you just can’t figure out why he would go and pick a fight like that. Was it to get discharged? That’s not very difficult in the Order since it’s fairly voluntary. So why would he do it?

Frowning in consternation, you don’t hear Alice until she tugs at your arm, nearly pulling you off your feet. Waving your arms wildly, you round on the woman to find her pouting.

“Hey! I was trying to get your attention!”

>>385442

“Fiiiinnnne, you have it!” You sigh, shaking your head. “What’s up?”

She points over to a building with a magitek sign out front, proclaiming in bold letters, “Porcelain Pony.”

You frown deeper at her and she sighs. “What? It’s just a bar and restaurant. Did you think it was some kind of strip joint?”

“I thought the order paid you well enough you didn’t need to resort to that kind of thing.”

“Oh Tobias! Two days away from your wife and you’re already asking other women to undress?”

“Please, you do that when no one asks anyway.”

She sniffs and says, “Point taken, but we’re still going in.”

Sighing, you follow after her as she leads you in, her armor attracting a few looks, though it may be more her hair and curves than anything. As you sit down at a table, a lovely young Cat Girl bounds up and brings you a menu, taking a drink order before heading back to the kitchen.

“I figured Cair to be a little more rowdy than this.” You say, looking about at the moderate climate of the restaurant. “Or to be more precise, that you’d take us somewhere rowdier.”

“Maybe if it was Finn and myself alone, but you two stick in the muds are married.”

Clint chuckles, “Sure, sure. Doesn’t mean we still can’t have fun tonight.”

“It means moderation.” Finn says. At this, the Cat Girl returns, depositing a large mug of ale in front of the man. He looks about the table at your dubious looks and he shrugs. “This is moderation for me.”

Alice drains a large draw of her own beer. “Ah Finn. Tell me again why we were separated?”

“Because you burst in on me while I was bathing and offered to strip nude to make things even.”

“You always did play hard to get.” She sighs. “But really though, sorry about that. I suppose that’s what ended up getting me transferred to Helmscrag too. Big learning lessons from all of that.”

“Hmph. Well, you do seem a little repentant from what I’ve been told around the Hero’s Hall.” He says, taking another drink. “At least your swordplay is still sharp.”

As the two talk you look at your own drink and shrug, taking a swig of the rich liquid. Clint chuckles at you and says, “Been awhile since we’ve out like this.”

“We are kind of in a lot of mortal peril at the time too.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” He says, studying your expression. “You’ve changed though. Where’d the smart-ass from before go?”

“He’s still there, just trapped in the role of someone playing at being a leader.”

Clint looks down. “Even though you’re an Illusionist, you don’t have to pretend to lead people. It’s a natural charisma you have. Whether Richard taught you that, or you gained it yourself, it’s remarkable. I, on the other hand, feel like-“

He’s cut off as the server returns, taking orders before scampering back. When you look back at him, he just shakes his head. “Nevermind. So, how’s your daughter doing?”

“Which?”

“Both?”

>>385443

“Heh.” You say, drinking again. “Well, Akela is doing great in school, she’s probably top of her class, though she’s still a little standoffish from the other kids. I hope she’ll make friends but she’d rather study.” You rub your chin.

“As for Erica? I don’t know. She’s an enigma. Only Saya knows how to even feed her, and no, I won’t go into details, and it’s hard to tell her expression. I swear she’s started trying to change shape, so we’re looking to introduce some things for her to latch onto, but it’ll have to wait until this is all over.”

“Damn. Sounds like you’ve got the life.” Clint says.

“Why, are you jealous? You should damn propriety like I did and just pop the question to Ginelle. She’s also a Monster so I know she’s thirsty for children. You’d make some cute babies.”

Clint rubs at the back of his head. “It’s not as cut and dry as your situation. It’s just been…” He sighs and looks down. “Difficult.”

Eyeing the man, you shrug and put down your mug. “I’ll be back.”

“Going to drain the lizard?” Alice says over her mug, cat-like smile on her face.

“If that means take a long piss, then yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Walking away to the wash closet, you hear Alice laughing behind you. Well, at least she’s easy to please. Unfortunately the door to the room is locked, so you sigh cross your arms, waiting. Murmured sounds come from behind the door and you frown, leaning forward to listen.

“Hey man, I know you said I owed you money but it’s my family you see-“

“I don’t give a shit, and neither will you once I’m done with you!”

Sighing, you tap your forehead. Great. A situation. Perhaps at one point you’d look to solve some problems, but you don’t need to get into any trouble. You just need to have a nice evening where nothing bad happens. Groaning, you look to a side door and go through it, stepping outside into an alleyway. Making sure no one is around, you make ready to relive yourself when you hear another set of hushed voices, a male and a female, from a connecting alley.

“There’s no doubt about it, that’s the Illoma heiress.” The female voice says.

“What’s she even doing here? There’s no conferences.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s our luck. Jennifer’s team is already moving to grab her. We just need to get her back to Galmathoria and we’ll have one hells of a ransom.”

“You already have a team out there? Where are they?”

“I don’t know, doesn’t matter. They’ll incapacitate the others with her and take the hostage.”

“We weren’t supposed to start any operations until we heard further orders. Why did you decide this on your own?”

“I’m taking commands from higher up the chain than you, or did you forget?”

“Tch, but if this goes to the hells, don’t blame me. Just meet back at the station for the last leyway out.”

The voices quiet down and you hear them walk away, the opposite direction from you. Sighing, you look down at the ground and groan.

Why did you have to open your big mouth?

>What do you do?

>>385416

Everyone went out anyway, though setting up a door alarm wouldn't be too hard. She'd take her stuff with her since it's too important.

And yeah, I have all of them on imgur albums:

Wizardquest: https://imgur.com/a/OIvz2eJ

Illusionistquest: https://imgur.com/a/iHTDBSm

Wizardquest 2: https://imgur.com/a/LCK0Nmw

Beyond a few little pieces that should be all of it unless I missed something.

>>385444

Alright, let’s not panic and draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. Have Finn and Clint head to the leyway to cut them off in case they’ve already grabbed Ophelia if they can try to delay that last train using their connections to the order and nobility. We’ll take Alice with us and go try to meet up with Ophelia, Ginelle and the others.

Welp, if our party does not seek out drama, the drama will seek them out.

If the two groups have Opehlia’s comms handsets with them, Tobias should immediately advise them on the new threat and be on guard, especially if Ginelle and Rayleigh are the only ones armed.

Try to be discreet and quietly inform Alice, Finn and Clint on the plan instead of storming out of the bar guns blazing.

Agreed with the anons above: discreetly return to the bar and inform the others on the plan. Clint and Finn pairs up to stall the leyline, while Tobias and Alice pairs up to find the group.

Pairing/buddying up is important to watch each others' backs when enemy agents are known to be in the field.

First place to look would be the marketplace since Rayleigh wanted to show the others some shops. From there, can ask NPCs if they've seen the group. They should be recognizable given the relatively large size and unique composition.

Rayleigh's pyromaniac tendencies could do some work as well. If she isn't KO'd by surprise, her pyromancy can very quickly announce her presence. If Tobias sees smoke/flames at night there's a good chance she'll be there.

Finally, depending on our numbers, we should try to capture the Galmathorian agents instead of immediately going for the kill. When interrogated, they should be able to provide information on Galmathorian movements, spy networks and saboteur cells. If it is possible to transfer prisoners to the Order garrison or police forces we should do so. However, if the Galmathorians outnumber Tobias' fighters, then stop them by any means necessary.

>>385446

Nice artworks. Haven't seen some before. The improvement in quality is substantial.

>>385444 nice trips

Frankly the plan of quickly and quietly informing the group with us and having Finn and Clint head to the leyway station to cut off the kidnappers and potentially delay the leyway if necessary though I’m not sure how much power the Order has in Cair, even after they regained their recognition from the glory days while we and Alice try to find Ophelia and the others before any kidnapping occurs is the best possible option we have right now given the limited information available to us, so not much else needs to be said. Still, I guess I’ll throw in the suggestion of using illusionary magic if it can prevent the kidnapping entirely, such as creating a fake Ophelia for the would-be assailants to grab should we find them before they find the real Ophelia, because the minor hit to our sanity is well worth avoiding the commotion that would follow delaying the leyway or us engaging the kidnappers in public. For all we know, Phallia’s agents could still be in the area that woman following us earlier could potentially be unrelated to the kidnappers, for example, so causing a ruckus and getting their attention as a result is something we want to avoid if at all possible.

>>385538

>“It doesn’t matter. It’s our luck. Jennifer’s team is already moving to grab her. We just need to get her back to Galmathoria and we’ll have one hells of a ransom.”

We don’t know for definite whether or not the people we’re dealing with are actually Galmathorians, just that they plan to head into Galmathoria should their operation succeed, which logically sounds like a reasonable place to hide out due to how the Order can’t really operate there whatsoever, leaving the Illoma family little choice in how to respond to the demands. Given this, considering how some random Deleorian noble isn’t going to give Galmathoria any benefit in a potential war scenario and considering that the end goal of the kidnapping is ransom which could be for anything, but most likely gold given the phrasing rather than to destabilise Deleor, I doubt they’re actually Galmathorian agents – more likely, they’re just run of the mill kidnappers who have been planning on making a move like this against Ophelia for a while now, hence why they know about her movements and the meetings she attends. As such, interrogating them seems like a waste of time.

>>385413

>Rommel's surname is up to y'all seeing as you named him.

I would place my vote towards something German and somewhat thematic like Leitner, but we should really save that discussion until we’re controlling Rommel again.

Sorry, yesterday was hectic with a lot going on and I had to sleep early for an interview today. I'll get writing tonight though!

>>385538

Yeah, the Illusionistquest pieces are the oldest from manosdetrapo, followed by Wizardquest 2, then Wizardquest cause I recently had her redraw all the old designs+ new ones. The original Wizardquest pics were by crobat though.

>>385601

sure, we'll bring up with Rommel later.

>Story continue

With the coast clear, you finish your business then head back inside. The low murmur of the restaurant pervades like nothing happened, because as far as these people know, or care, nothing did happen. For your part, however, your heart hammers in your chest with worry for your companion. Of course there’d be someone coming after her, why wouldn’t there be?

As you return to the table, Alice lifts a hand and chuckles, “Thought you might have fallen in!”

You dig into your coin pouch and place a few silvers coins on the table. When Alice gives you a questioning look, you merely shake your head and say, “We need to go.”

Her attitude suddenly becomes serious and she nods, placing her drink down. Clint has a moment of surprise, though Finn quickly falls in line as well, getting up and following after you. The Cat Girl server walks up after you and begins to say something, but notices the coins and sighs, shaking her head. Clearly, this sort of thing happens in Cair frequently. At least she has the sense not to make a scene.

When you get outside you nod toward a quieter area of the square and keep walking as you speak.

“While out back I overhead someone with designs to kidnap Ophelia for ransom.”

“What were you doing out back?” Clint asks, confused.

“He was taking a piss.” Alice says, curt. “Alright, did you see them?”

“No. Sounds like multiple people involved and a team is currently on their way to incapacitate the others and take her. No telling what would happen if they figured out who Patricia is though.”

“Any idea who they are?” Finn asks, his eyes darting back and forth though he never breaks stride.

“Could be run of the mill thugs looking for a quick score. Could be Galmathorian agents as they want to bring her back there. Either way, they plan to use the leyway to smuggle her out.”

Clint frowns. “Well, we just have to find them and make sure nothing happens, right?”

“Yes, but I’d like if someone could make sure the leyways don’t leave. Just in case we’re too late.”

The man nods his head. “Right, I’ll do what I can.”

“Finn, go with him.” You say. “Just in case we need to invoke the Order on this.”

The man frowns. “Would be best to keep our presence quiet if possible. But I’ll see what I can do.”

The peel away from you and Alice, the two of you changing direction to head toward the heart of town. No one seems to pay you much mind, only catching brief looks at Alice’s hair but otherwise finding nothing out of the ordinary. There’s one thing to bless this city for you suppose.

“So, what’s the plan?” Alice asks. It annoys you some that she’s obviously slowing down as not to outpace you. “We find these guys and cut them up?”

“That would work, and also get us jailed.” You say, sighing. “We’ll have to figure it out after finding the others.”

“Hmm.” Alice says. “They said they were going shopping… but this city is huge with shops everywhere. Where do we start?”

Sighing, you turn to a shopkeeper and ask, “Excuse me, sir, have you seen a group of five Monsters with a Badger Girl and a Crow Girl?”

“Hum.” The gruff looking man says, rubbing his chin. “I believe I did happen to see some of thems. Strange group really, but this is Cair after all.” He points further into the city. “Think they went that way.”

“Thanks.” You say, nodding your head to him before heading further down the busy streets. Despite the glitz and glam, you’re only focused on looking out for your party members. They’re your responsibility, but they’re also your friends. Best not to start this journey with anything happening to them.

“You okay there?” Alice asks, frowning while still looking ahead. “You seem a little on edge. Weren’t you some kind of goof?”

“There’s… a lot going on.” You say, scanning the crowd. “I don’t exactly have the time to goof off.”

>>385737

“Sure, sure.” She says. “Maturity is one thing, but having fun is important too.”

“Can’t we discuss this after we find them?”

“Fine.” She says, shrugging before asking another shopkeep about the group. This owner, a portly human woman points to a large, two-story building.

“Yes, I recall watching them with surprise. The little Squirrel looked familiar is why I watched, but they went in there.”

Nodding to Alice, you thank the woman before pushing through the crowd to find reach the entrance where you see two young Wolf Girls walking out, looking annoyed.

“Ugh, pushy bitch. I don’t want to shop there anyway.”

“Who gave her the right to be such a queen? Tch.”

You and Alice trade looks before heading into the building. You’re unsurprised to find it a women’s clothing store, catering as well to Monsters. It’s still a little strange to be in a place like this, but going shopping with your wife did dull some of the embarrassment. You do try not to stare at the frilly undergarments designed for what you assume are Kitsunes based on the large tail openings.

A Monster clerk walks up to you and bows her head. “I’m afraid we’re closing early tonight.”

“I’m looking for someone.” You say, turning around the store. Damn, did they already leave?

“There’s no one else here but staff.” She says, bowing her head.

You frown at the Monster, inspecting her. She has generally human body and features but large, pig-like ears hang atop her disheveled black hair and you can’t help but notice the pink, corkscrew tail coming from behind her. An Orc, huh? Not usually what you’d expect to see in a trendy store like this.

In fact, the more you study her, the more you start to wonder. Her clothing is rumpled and doesn’t fit her quite right, her bust seemingly packed in like canned fish. The skirt seems tight to the point of ripping and overall she seems rather uncomfortable.

Any employee in a store like this would dress so poorly. Even you know that. So why is this person here and why are they closing early?

“I’m sorry, but do I need to escort you out?”

A glint of eagerness comes to her eyes at this. Your eyes move to a nearby hammer stored behind a counter and you frown. Yep, something isn’t right and she’s not good at hiding it. Sighing, you wave a hand and channel your magic, creating an illusion of sound from behind the Monster. She grunts, turning about to give Alice the chance to knock her unconscious.

The large Monster lets out a gurgling, porcine snort, before slumping to the ground, her eyes out of focus. Shaking your head, you have Alice help you drag her behind the counter, where you curse to see the naked form of a human female gagged and unconscious.

“Well.” Alice says, hand on her sword. “If this isn’t the place, then we’ve at least run into something equally as bad.”

“If it’s a standard robbery, we’ll just let the town guard handle this.” You say, nodding to a series of ramps on the other side of the room. Guess when you have Monster clientele, you need things even quadrupeds can use. Alice nods back, hand on her sword as the two of you creep up the ramps, listening for anything.

>>385738

As you reach the top of the ramp, you hunker down, looking out into the store. Rows of racks with various kinds of women’s clothing stand around the room while a central stand has a counter for purchases to be made. Here and there you can see some racks on the floor, their contents scattered about, while a commotion sounds on the other side of the large room.

“What the… the fuck is this?” You hear Rayleigh say, her voice slurring. “I’ll… burn this whole place down… ground…”

“Sure kid, whatever you say.” A husky, feminine voice says. “I think you’ll enjoy your nap like the others first.”

“You bitch!” Ginelle’s voice shouts. “I’ll tear you apart!”

“Tch.” The original voice says. “This one might cause some more trouble.”

You nod to Alice and the two of you creep forward with more urgency, slinking about to the back of the room where you find a group of four more Orcs dressed in dark clothing while a taller, darker skinned Orc stands with arms crossed under her breasts, chuckling.

“You want a little bit more? I don’t mind.” She reaches in between her breasts and pulls out a vial of something before tossing it to the ground, shattering the glass. A shimmer appears in the air and Ginelle, standing defiant before the group begins to waver, her motions growing sluggish.

You notice with worry that behind her, Ophelia, Clarissa, and Patricia are collapsed in unconsciousness while Rayleigh starts to stumble side to side, flames appearing as small sparks in her hands but never starting.

Ginelle growls, though you see her too grow a little unfocused. The Orcs, on the other hand, don’t see fazed at all by the scent, merely chuckling amongst themselves as you notice other people passed out around the store. They have weapons on them however, ready to draw to use against Ginelle if needed.

“Still standing? Dollora, don’t you know when to go down? Come on, I don’t have all night. Just let us take the bunny and we’ll be on our way, okay?”

“Fuck… you.” Ginelle says, growling.

“Hmph, if only.” The darker skinned Orc sighs, waving to the others. “If she doesn’t go down soon, take her down. A little blood won’t be a big issue, but we have a leyway to catch. I’d rather not be on the bad side of Rose, she’s got too many thorns for my taste, but she has the ear of the marshalls.”

Thankfully, they haven’t noticed you yet, so it might be easy to just have Alice run up and cut them apart. Still, whatever is in those vials worries you if even Ginelle can feels its effects. If you’re not careful how you handle this as well, the town guard is going to cause problems for you too- something you’d rather not deal with again.

So… guess that begs the question:

>What do you do?

>>385739

Modern times, modern problems. Like kidnapping in a clothing store!

Anyway, this one is short to see how you want to handle things. I'll have plenty of time to write tomorrow to get this going. Give y'all a little more choices on how you want to handle this and where to go.

Sorry about the slower pace. Can't blame it all on life circumstances. Point things out as well you'd like to occur since half the story is yours!

Our current priority is to separate the Orc attackers from our vulnerable unconscious/incapacitated members.

We need to drive the Orcs out of the indoor enclosed space to avoid the choloroform and possibly prevent hostage situation. Doubtful whether Tobias and Alice can kill 4+ Orcs in a sudden surprise attack.

Cast an illusion of Ophelia waking up and running out of the room. They will chase her since she is big money and they don't care about the others. This puts us in a prime location for a sneak attack or we can send the illusion outside the shop and try to remove the girls once the Orcs exit.

Although can't we just put them all to sleep? We have a basis to start from, They dropped a lot of that knockout gas. We should be able to make them feel dead tired and it can be explained by them using to much of the gas, Even if they have some sort of protection or resistance to it. I like this idea better because its quiet and we can interrogate. Rose is clearly a future enemy and I want information. Also we could go to the heroes about this crime since the police are compromised.

Or we could just kill them and keep it simple. I have no doubt Alice could easily butcher all four of these pigs by herself, She managed to stand up against a bunch of hippos, These little pigs are far inferior. Plus she has us here as well.

I actually have a completely different idea here. Most of the party is either asleep or so drowsy I doubtthey can do much. Have Tobias try to talk them down, tell them that he’s an agent of the crown and that not surrendering would be a very bad idea. Maybe prevent them from seeing Alice withan illusion or something.

>>385759

>Although can't we just put them all to sleep?

I suppose what course of action we take depends on which is less taxing on our sanity whilst still being effective,

>…“Just let us take the bunny and we’ll be on our way, okay?”

They only care about Ophelia despite the Lord Commander’s daughter being unconscious right in front of them, so I’m convinced they aren’t Galmathorian agents at this point. Still, I guess interrogating them should the opportunity arise wouldn’t be the worst idea, as there are likely to be others in their faction who will cause us problems on the return journey.

>>385739

Assuming the substance contained within the thrown vials is in fact a knock out gas of some description and not just an overly strong scent which could easily be circumvented by just blocking our noses, we can’t really do anything to help within the current room, as both we and Alice are vulnerable to the gas, theoretically more so than anyone else in this situation due to the two of us being human. As such, our best bet right now is to draw the Orcs away from the already present gas so that we’re on better grounds to take them down.

With that in mind, >>385759 has the right idea with having us create a fake Ophelia to get up and escape the room in order to draw the rest of the Orcs to follow her. There are other options, like faking a command from the leader to get the lackeys out of the way or creating a false fire as per the suggestion of >>385758 in order to flush them out, but these will either likely result in failure, be extremely taxing on our sanity or have other complications, as the leader will realise her lackeys are moving without her command and call it out in the former, while the fire will either cease to be effective when contact is made and the lack of burning pain is discovered or drain us greatly due to the amount of illusions required to make the whole ordeal believable in the latter, not to mention we have no idea how the Orcs will react to the growing fire meaning capitalising on their reactions will be difficult.

The fake Ophelia plan, on the other hand, isn’t that taxing, is unlikely to be realised as an illusion either in the moment nor afterwards just have the fake Ophelia hide somewhere in the other room instead of vanishing into thin air in front of the Orcs to keep it somewhat genuine and we know exactly how the Orcs are going to react to it, so it’s a great fit here. That said, we should probably knock out Ginelle and Rayleigh by making them believe they’ve reached their limits in enduring the gas first, because they will no doubt try to defend the fleeing Ophelia having not realised it’s a fake and will almost certainly get the shit beaten out of them given their current conditions unless we purposefully take them out of the equation so that the Orcs ignore them. We should also probably have the fake Ophelia move in such a way that the Orcs following her won’t trample the unconscious members of our party when they chase her, because that would be bad.

Having baited the Orcs into a different room, we should have Alice try to take down their leader in a surprise attack as a priority. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, the leader is the only Orc we know for definite is carrying these vials on her person and is potentially the only Orc to do so too, so taking her down before she has the chance to use any would remove the risk of either us or Alice being knocked out by gas. Secondly, seeing as this setting takes inspiration and mechanics from MGE, the relationship between High Orcs of which the leader matches the description of and regular Orcs says that the defeat of the High Orc leader completely demoralises the lesser Orcs and results in them surrendering; as such, there is a very good chance that taking down the leader in this case would result in a similar outcome, thus ending the fight immediately.

>>385787

Failing that, just engage the Orcs in the new room normally, with priority towards taking down the leader for the aforementioned reasons. Alice should be able to handle herself, but we can still definitely give support by fucking with the Orc’s senses, such as making the leader think she has run out of vials to use on us, making the Orcs trip on things which aren’t there so they can’t fight properly or disguising Alice’s attacks in order to cause the Orcs to block or parry attacks which aren’t coming while letting the real strikes slip in unopposed. Try not to kill any of them if we can help it though – unlike our opponents, we’re forced to return to Cair after we leave it initially, as it’s our only viable method of reaching Sanctifrond within our limited time frame during the return trip, so we should ideally avoid leaving behind any messes which could cause us problems from the local law enforcement when we come back.

>>385759

>Although can't we just put them all to sleep?

It wouldn’t be the worst idea, seeing as it could at the very least take one or two of them down to thin their numbers if we’re lucky, but they seem to be confident about not being vulnerable to the gas so I’m sceptical about the effectiveness of this plan. They would have brought protection or just not used the gas at all if they weren’t confident in their immunity to it, after all.

>>385761

>Have Tobias try to talk them down, tell them that he’s an agent of the crown and that not surrendering would be a very bad idea.

If they think they’re screwed then they’re more likely to double down and try to kill us in order to buy themselves more time to get to Galmathoria rather than surrender. At least as it stands they have no intention of killing us.

>Story continue

“Alright.” You say, coming up with a course of action. “I’m going to distract the bacon bits, you get the hunk of ham, alright?”

“Hmph, now he’s being a funny guy.” She whispers, voice tight.

You spare a glance to her before turning back to the Orcs. No arguments, no questions on what to look for. You figured she’d challenge your authority more or try to assert her own, but the look in her eyes is focused, her body coiled like a spring to leap when you’re ready for her. Despite what you’ve noticed before, you’re convinced now that Alice is a different person.

Taking in a deep breath, you concentrate on your magic and reach out into the minds of not the Orcs, but of Ginelle and Rayleigh. Subtly, you influence them to feel more tired, an easy feat given the fact that they’re about to pass out as it is.

Rayleigh stumbles and collapses, face first, her eyes going out of focus as she passes out. Sorry squirrely, no firestorms for you. Ginelle grits her teeth and staggers to one knee. She swats at the dark skinned Orc, who casually brushes her hand aside before slugging the Badger Girl in the face. Ginelle grunts before falling backward, unconscious.

“Tch.” The leader Orc says. “She wasn’t so tough. Anyway, lets grab the girl and go.”

“Just her?” One of the other Orcs says. “Surely we can get something for the others?”

“Moving more than one person would be difficult. Besides, I doubt any of these run of the mill Monsters is would ransom for anything.” She turns over Patricia with a boot. “Tch, whoever heard of a bookworm Wolf Girl?”

She waves to one of the others, who moves to grab Ophelia. Just as she does though she jumps backward and shouts, the other Orcs responding with curses as well. They turn and run to another section of the store, leaving the dark-skinned Orc to bellow in amazement.

“What the fuck? No one escapes my gasses!”

Though you feel your head hurt a little and hear a soft buzzing in your ears, again, you see Alice waste no time in springing forward, sword at the ready. She can’t see what the others were chasing after, but that’s because you didn’t target her with the illusion. It probably won’t fool them for long, the illusion of Ophelia bounding awake and making a run for it but it’s certainly enough to allow Alice to take down the leader.

You yourself chase after, preparing to help fight in whatever way you can when you feel something start to weigh you down. Your steps begin to slow and you blink in surprise before it hits you.

Aww fuck, you stepped into the range of the gas. Hurriedly pulling your shirt up to cover your mouth, you look around, vision swimming as Alice charges at the Orc. Fear wells up in you as you see her wavering, the blue glow of her sword unsteady as she goes in for a slice.

The Orc turns about faster than you’d expect, her nostrils flaring. She dodge’s Alice’s swing and comes around with a punch to the woman’s gut. Alice’s impeccable skills allow her to move her body enough that the blow hits her armor, pushing her back but not hurting her. She staggers but is able to regain her footing, putting two hands on her sword.

“Who the fuck are you?” The Orc says, gritting her teeth while reaching in between her rather large breasts for something. “Tch, no town watch has a sword that fancy. You with the fucking Order?”

She steps back and snorts, “Fine, I’ll drop you and take your pretty sword. I’m sure we’ll find a use for it.” When she retracts her hand from her cleavage however, she blinks in surprise, looking down.

“Huh? I know I have more of those damn vials in he- gah!”

>>385834

Alice charges in, breaking her concentration. You drop to a knee, feeling weakness spread through you. Fuck, you should have thought of the gas getting you too. At least you had the wherewithal to send forth another illusion to keep her from pulling out another vial. Still… this isn’t going as you’d planned.

The other Orcs notice the commotion and peel away as you drop your illusion on them. Your mind is starting to grow sluggish and you can’t think quite straight. Damnit, you need to something to stop breathing in more of this… whatever it is and allow your body to remove the stuff. If only you could forget about-

Right, right, that will work.

“Alice, you’re stronger than this!” You shout, subtly influencing her with your magic. She staggers to the side like a drunk, avoiding another blow from the Orc. When she sets her balance next though, she stands straighter, her posture more composed. Chuckling, she says,

“Of fucking course I am!”

The Orc leader blinks in surprise and digs through her cleavage with greater urgency as she tries to pull out another vial while backing up. “H-Hey!” she shouts, panicked, “You’re supposed to be passed out!”

“Yeah well, you’re not supposed to be this slippery you greased-up pig!” Alice says, charging forward. She slashes at the Monster, who barely dodges backward. Seems Alice thinks she’s better, but some things can’t be fully solved by illusions. Like your own sleepiness.

Something grabs you from behind and slams your face onto the carpeted floor. You wince in pain as you nose hits the solid ground and it takes you a few moments to realize you’ve been pinned down. Turning your head, you see a large set of pink breasts pressed upon you while a pretty face smiles and licks her lips. “Maybe the boss will let us take you as well, hmm?”

She starts to chuckle, though it sounds like snorting as she leans down toward your ear. You feel her hot breath on you for a moment when a cry comes out and she looks up, her grip on you weakening. Normally you’d use the opportunity to get up, but you find moving anything but your head difficult, so you settle for that.

Across the room the Orc leader dances out of the way of Alice’s blade while the other three Orcs push in. Alice whirls on them, her sword driving them back. In that moment, the dark-skinned Orc drives a fist toward the woman but cries out, falling to ground as something pulls her down. She scrabbles for a moment in confusion before a horrific growl fills the room, making the Orcs quake in fear.

Ginelle stands up, hand gripping the head of the Orc leader in a vice-like grip. She snarls and then drives the other Monster’s face into the ground over and over until it’s a bleeding mess, the Monster unconscious.

Dropping the limp Monster, Ginelle staggers slowly to her feet, breathing heavily, rage in her eyes. The pressure upon you abruptly vanishes as the Orcs back away, cowering in fear. They squeal like piggies as Ginelle stalks toward them, cracking her knuckles. Though you begin to drift off, you feel like Ginelle isn’t wholly there either. The last thing you see is a furred foot stomp in front of you and the squealing of Orcs.

>>385835

“Get your lazy ass up.”

You awaken with a start as someone slaps you. Cheek hurting to accompany the hurt in your nose, you look around in confusion.

You’re on the first floor of the store, the rest of your companions around you waking from grogginess. Ginelle grunts in front of you before sighing. “Damnit Tobias, what the hells are you doing here?”

“Saving your butt.” You say, shaking the fuzz from your mind. Some of it stays though it feels more like lint than metaphorical fuzz. Great, now your brain is itchy.

“I had it under control.” She says, gritting her teeth. “I bet you’re the only to made me pass out, huh?”

“Didn’t want you to get hurt.” You grumble, looking about. The Orcs are down here as well, tied and gagged. “How long was I out for?”

“Only a few minutes. Whatever the used works fast but doesn’t seem to last long.” Ginelle says, not looking at you. “I knew it was weird that I’d go down so fast. Couldn’t shake the thought and when I realized something was off, I popped awake.”

“Well… it all worked out I guess?”

“Don’t use your illusions on me again.”

“Err.” You say, scratching your cheek. “Sorry Ginelle, I didn’t think-“

She sighs and shakes herself. “Sorry. I just saw what you can do with them and… well now that you’re here we need to figure out what to do.”

“Right.” You say, watching as Alice helps drag Ophelia awake. The Rabbit Girl yawns and looks around with a dazed expression, her ears limp. “We heard of a plot to kidnap her for ransom and came looking for you. Despite what you say, we got here just in time.”

“Tch, I bet that bitch from the station was the one who tipped them off.” Ginelle sighs.

“Maybe.” You say, looking over the battered form of the Orc leader. “We probably don’t have that long until we need to get out here. Get everyone awake and I’ll try to talk with the leader here, get some answers.”

“Well, if you need some muscle.” Ginelle says, cracking her knuckles. “You know where to find me.” She walks over to Rayleigh, helping her up while muttering something about just wanting to find cute clothing.

The Orc’s eyes slowly come into focus as you roll her over and remove the gag from her mouth. She blinks at you before frowning and then looking away. Sighing, you reach over in between her breasts, making the Monster blush and squirm.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Taking a look at these.” You say, looking at the vials in your hands. They’re small and filled with a clear liquid that must become a gas when released. “What is it?”

“My distilled sweat.” She says, frowning at you. “By the way, it’s improper to dig in a woman’s cleavage without even offering her your dick.”

“I’m quite aware, I’m married.” You say, frowning. “Seriously though, what is this? Why weren’t you affected?”

“Because it’s my fucking sweat. You don’t know shit about Orcs, do you?”

“No, can’t say I do. But Monsters do weird things, I do know that.”

“Fuck off Tobias.” Ginelle says while waking up Rayleigh.

>You obtain 3x [Orc Sweat: Knock-out variety]

>You don’t have any idea how this knocks people unconscious when it’s released, but it clearly does.

“So, what are you going to do with us?” The Orc asks, moving away from the question. “I assume you’re with the Order or the DSS. Going to turn us in?”

“Can’t exactly walk you out of here and I really don’t want to kill you.” You say, shaking your head. “Just answer a few questions and I’ll refrain from sicking my companion on you.”

“Once again Tobias, fuck you!” Ginelle shouts.

“Fine, whatever.” The Orc says. “I’d like to get married someday, so if you can spare my face more, that would be great.”

Huh, that’s… surprisingly easy. “Who are you? I know you’re targeting Ophelia for ransom, but why take her to Galmathoria? Are you agents for them?”

“Not exactly, though we were hired by them.” She says. “I don’t particularly care for the country myself, but they pay well.”

>>385836

“What do they even want with her? The Order won’t be able to deal with this and the Crown is unlikely to negotiate, which leaves the Manufactorum. Is it gold? Magitek?”

“I don’t know.” The Orc says, trying to shrug. “We were just told to grab her.”

“You clearly weren’t here just for Ophelia. Who is this Rose you’re taking order from and what are they planning here?”

“You heard that huh? Well whatever, I doubt you’ll find her, it’s a code name anyway. She’s some blonde-haired bitch who has the ear of the Marshalls in Galmathoria. Speaks with their voice. I assume she was laying in wait for something with a few teams like us in town for another attack, but we never heard much until she gave us these orders. And no, I don’t know where the others are or who they are.”

Blonde hair, huh? “Does she have a penchant for green dresses?”

“I guess? She was wearing one this evening.” The Orc says. “It doesn’t matter, as soon as she realizes we failed, she’ll be out here.” A porcine chuckle escapes her lips. “Of course, now that she knows one of the Illomas is traveling, you might have some trouble on your hands.”

Damnit. You know she’s right about that. If you can’t find this Rose then she’ll spread info about Ophelia and your party. Even worse, what if someone realizes who Patricia is? You’re not certain it’s safe to send them back to Sanctifrond at this point either.

Alice walks up, her steps a little uncertain. “Everyone’s awake. We should get going.”

“You going to be alright?” You ask, wobbling some yourself.

“Psssh, it will just look like we had a good night out drinking.” She says, waving a hand.

“Ugh, my head.” Rayleigh says, wobbling.

“See? She’s playing the part well.” Alice says, ushering everyone toward a back entrance for deliveries.

You take one last look at the Orc before sighing. “For kidnappers, you were pretty amiable.”

She beams back at you, face a mess, hands bound behind her back. “Hey, for pigs, you were pretty nice too.”

You pause for a moment, trying to process this before shaking your head and walking out with the others.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Despite your wobbly feet, you make it to the leyway station mostly intact. You’re surprised the Trolls don’t give you any grief looking the way you do, but they’re clearly preoccupied with something else. Looking into the platform you see a commotion as leyway officials and Troll guards sigh and look confused at each other.

“This is unacceptable.” Clint says, shaking his head. “I will not travel in such filthy conditions.”

“My lord, this leyway is the best of it’s kind, first class in every regard.” A bald, sweating man says. He dabs at his face with a handkerchief before bowing. “This is even fit for the king to ride!”

“Hmph.” Clint says with a tone of noble arrogance you’re only too familiar with. “To insinuate such things about our king is an affront to the crown! I wish to speak with someone above you on my grievances.”

“Sir, you’ve delayed the leyway already, we’re running behind schedule.”

“Now see here-“ Clint begins before cutting off as Finn, who had been standing there, still as stone, taps him on the shoulder. He points toward you and the noble looks in your direction before turning his attention back to the bald man. “On second thought, I will travel at another time. I expect when I return that the leyway provided will be of the HIGHEST class.”

“O-Of course, Lord Fullvora.” The man says, bowing as Clint turns and walks away, Finn trailing behind him. You see the bald man sneer at Clint before ushering the Trolls to get things moving.

Clint walks up to you and sighs out in relief. “Oh thank the Gods, everyone is safe. I don’t know how much longer I could keep up that act.”

“It was very convincing.” Ginelle says. “You sounded much like your cousin.”

The man grimaces. “Great, now I feel sick.”

“I think we should return to the inn before speaking more.” Finn says, nodding. “People are watching.”

>>385837

You take his suggestion, moving through the streets back to your inn. The whole while you keep an eye out for anyone trailing you, your party members with better senses than yours (Patricia and Ophelia) doing the same, despite their condition. Thankfully you arrive unmolested, and all head into the room you’re sharing with the Order members.

Despite wanting to just go to sleep then and there, everyone fills each other in on the events of the evening. Apparently after you separated, Rayleigh led the girls to some shops she used to frequent as a girl in the streets of Cair. When they entered the larger clothing store, the other patrons were knocked out by the gas or sweat or whatever from that dark-skinned Orc. Patricia informs you that those are often chieftains of the Orc tribes and are often alchemists which modify their own sweat in various fashions.

You’re kind of glad you only got this knockout variety… you think.

Clint and Finn caused a commotion at the station by pretending to be a stuck-up noble, something the younger man is extremely embarrassed by. You assure him he captured the character perfectly, which also sets the man to groaning.

Caught up to speed, you cross your arms and sigh. “So that’s where we stand. Guess they didn’t clear all the Galmathorians out after the attack. I would assume they’re planning something, but I bet this ‘Rose’ has gone to report this.”

“We can’t let another attack happen.” Rayleigh says, determination in her eyes. “I’ll burn those fuckers for what they did. Should have made bacon from those bitches.”

“Murder isn’t what we need right now.” Finn says, his voice quieting down the Squirrel Girl. “However, we can’t ignore this either.”

“We don’t exactly have the time to dally.” Patricia says, shaking her head.

“Yeah, and what if they come for me again?” Ophelia sighs. “Sometimes I hate being from such a prestigious family.” She looks up as Patricia puts a furred hand on her shoulder, the two nodding in some unspoken bond. To be honest, you know exactly how that feels.

“It might be best to leave a note for the town watch and the Order members here.” Alice says, shrugging. “We might have targets on our back either way though. We still need to buy a wagon and horses, which is going to take some time.”

“Yeah.” You sigh. It’s just not possible to leave the city at night like this unless you walked out, which would also be dangerous. Best course would be to stick forward with the plan, but can you keep with that? Should you take the time to root out the agents in this city or find this damn Rose?

“Ah, he’s making that face.” Ginelle says, smirking. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that.”

“Heh, you’re right.” Clarissa says, putting a wing-hand to her mouth. “It’s his, ‘what do I do?’ face.”

“Hey, I don’t have one of those.” You pout. Truth be told though, that’s exactly what’s going through your mind.

>What do you do?

Current insanity: 23%

>>385838

Looks like you got a conundrum on your hands. Do you go on a rat hunt, or do you press on and leave it to the authorities? Hell, do you even tell them?

Have phun!

>>385852

Agree with you. In the interest of keeping Tobias sane I say no more illusions on the account the sanity damage he's going to take for using his powers again.

>>385852

>>385862

Did either of you bother to read the thread?

>>384723

>Also, current insanity is 22%. You get an itching sensation ever now and then that just don't go away until it randomly does. It's fine though. It's fine.

We didn't gain 23% insanity, we gained 1%. 1% insanity for casting 4 different illusions, some affecting up to 4 people, is pretty fucking good. We should probably make sure to avoid going above something like 60% insanity just so that Tobias can still function when he returns, but that doesn't mean we should completely ignore illusions entirely.

>>385838

<Tch, but if this goes to the hells, don’t blame me. Just meet back at the station for the last leyway out.”

>You see the bald man sneer at Clint before ushering the Trolls to get things moving.

>You take his suggestion, moving through the streets back to your inn.

If the plan was to find this 'Rose', we've already fucked up - she's long gone by this point, along with whoever else she was talking to in that alley. And even if she wasn't already gone and is in fact still somewhere within the city, where are we supposed to go to look for her? She could be absolutely anywhere and we have no idea where to start outside of 'look for a woman in a green dress', which in itself is a flawed starting point because she could quite easily change clothes. Furthermore, if we somehow do find her by some ludicrous miracle, we're not going to be able to deal with her without creating a fuss because she's undoubtedly going to have back up who we will have to fight. All in all, it's a needle in a haystack search where the needle may or may not actually be present with the only reward being stopping one person who will only potentially be a problem for us when we return to Cair. I don't think that's worth it.

The other option outside of the initial plan is to root out the agents in Cair, but we don't know how many of these agents may be present in the city, nor do we know where they'll be hiding; hell, considering Rose only sent one team after her main prize, there's a good chance that there aren't any other agents and we'd just be wasting our time. If we manage to find a group things might be different as we could potentially find out the locations of the others via interrogation, but if Rose didn't know where the group we just took down was then it's unlikely the other potential agents within the city know where one another is either, meaning we would have to repeat the whole search process again to find another. Frankly, considering we would at best take down one extra group who probably won't be able to do much to us as it stands any way, it's not worth the hassle and backlash when we cause issues following a fight with them.

With that all out of the way, I'm going to recommend we just follow the original plan of hunkering down for the night and getting the fuck out of Cair as soon as possible, with some additions. Firstly, have radio communication between the two rooms to ensure we hear of anything that may be a problem the moment it crops up, allowing us to react faster to potential threats. Secondly, make sure to have someone on guard duty throughout the night, rotating through the party to ensure everyone gets a chance to sleep, as there is a definite chance that someone tries to attack us while we're vulnerable sleeping and being aware of this before it happens is vital to ensure we can react appropriately. Finally, while trying to seek out the opposition is a fool's errand, we should still react to it in some capacity, so have Finn, Alice and Rayleigh report what has happened to their fellow Order members so that they can hopefully deal with any problems that we might otherwise have to deal with ourselves on the return trip. Regarding that last point, make sure we have comms with the three when they leave so we can react to threats that may affect either group as soon as possible and avoid telling the town guard anything if at all possible; they have a high chance of being compromised considering it's Cair, while the Order is very unlikely to be compromised by comparison.

>>385852

>>385862

Err, yeah, >>385867 is correct. You started with some insanity. Most of those illusions were very simple things, so very small cost to make the larger one. Still, glad you're considering consequences!

>>385867

Fair enough assessment

Got home late, but there's only one suggestion anyway so… I guess I'll wait until tomorrow night and if there's nothing else, we'll do that and move on forward.

Ginelle's endurance is truly remarkable. Alice gets an honorable mention for dispatching the Orcs in a timely manner.

Anon >>385867 makes solid points.

The best course of action would be to stay on mission target and leave Cair. Just take on the lessons learnt from this disaster that required a lot of luck to contain. Don't split up without means of contacting each other, carry light weapons for defence, knowledge that there are enemies directly targeting them.

In terms of cost benefit, rooting out cells in Cair is inadvisable given the minimal information we have. Furthermore, Cair itself is reputed as the Mos Eisley of Wizardquest-verse - where law enforcement is weak and it is easy for shady folks to blend in.

>Story continue

With a sigh, you sit down on a bed and shake your head. “There’s nothing for it, we’ll just have to wait until the morning and head out as planned.”

Rayleigh frowns at you. “You don’t want to smoke these bastards out? What if they attack Cair again?”

Finn watches you as you clench your hands. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave that in the hands of the local Order forces.”

The Squirrel Girl stiffens, her expression becoming angered. Sparks begin to appear in her palms. “What? You can’t be serious, Cair’s had enough suffering and what if it got to my-“

“Rayleigh.” Finn says. At his voice, she stops, her eyes drifting over to him. She looks down and sighs out a long breath.

“Fine. Fine, I get it, the mission, whatever the fuck it is, is important. It’s important enough to have the Lord Commander personally request us, I get it.” She grits her teeth though, looking down with anger.

“But that doesn’t mean that I have to like this.”

“None of us do.” Alice sighs, placing a hand on the younger Order member’s shoulder. “The local group will be able to handle it though. I doubt they’ll chase us out of the city and they can clear them out.”

Rayleigh nods and narrows her eyes while Clint sighs and rubs at his head. “Well, we’ve blown any cover we may have had. People are going to wonder why a Fullvora went to Cair before heading North. I doubt Ophelia has escaped some people’s notice either.”

The Rabbit Girl looks uncomfortable as Clarissa puts a wing-arm around her back. You nod to them before saying, “We’ll deliver word in the morning while gathering arrangements. We’ll have to stay alert, but it should be smooth once we get near the fort. I assume they’ll have increased patrols and I doubt anyone would chase us there.”

Clapping your hands, you say, “I think it’s best we retire for the evening. Any questions?”

No one makes an objection, though Ophelia perks up. “Oh!” She digs into her bag and pulls out a set of small, black boxes. “Frankly, we should have sent these out beforehand but… well, I suppose I haven’t been on an adventure in some time.”

You look down at the box she hands you and recognize similarities to the short range magitek communication device you’d used before, though this one has a number 2 on it. She hands another to Finn and Patricia before nodding her head. “That should be decent coverage for the four I have.”

You push the button on the side of the device and the other three crackle to life as you whisper, “Benis.” Finn and Patricia give you flat looks. Okay look, you can’t be serious all the time, especially with this really cool magitek in front of you.

“Ahem.” Ophelia says. “These upgraded versions can be directed to specific boxes as needed by flipping the switch to change the frequency. They were made in the hopes of tapping in through the leylines and creating a larger network in a similar fashion to the [Port-o-Glass] system the Grand Wizard developed but seeing as the leylines are… well.” She coughs into her hand. “Anyway, these are attuned to each other so we’re safe.”

Finn looks over the device before stowing it. “Good, we can keep in contact if anyone needs help. I suggest keeping a watch in each room anyway.”

“Sounds fair.” Clint says. “I think we have our game plan.”

He, Ginelle, Clarissa, and Ophelia leave. The last member cocks her head toward you as she leaves, but you wave her away as before. Even though Rayleigh is still sulking, you think it’s best to stay here. Of course, it means the floor for you…

“Here.” Finn says, patting the bed. “I’ll take watch since I wasn’t affected. I’m less likely to pass out.”

“Bless you sir.” You say, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Bless you for this wonderful blessing of a comfortable bed.”

“I’m not sure you’d be thanking me.” He says. You just shrug and remove your suit before crawling into bed and sighing in relief. A nice, comfortable sleepy sounds-

You pause for a moment, feeling your shoulder blades itching. Slowly, you turn your head to notice Rayleigh staring at you intently, her eyes boring a hole into your back. Gulping, you turn back about and shudder.

Welp.

>>386108

You awake mildly refreshed and yet your back feels like it has a sunburn on it. You’re not entirely certain if you’re just being crazy or Rayleigh did something to you- she wasn’t best pleased last night. But hey, you are slightly insane also, so says the buzzing in your head. So that’s fine.

Finn reports nothing happened over the evening, a blessing you’re sure. The other team had the same experience, so you get your supplies in order before heading downstairs to share breakfast. The inn is quiet at this time thankfully, though the innkeeper does give your motely crew a strange look. Well, not like you’re really hiding much at this point.

Once finished with eating, you split the group again. The Order members head to the local outpost while the rest of your group move to a large sale barn where you hope to purchase horses and a wagon large enough for your group. This is easier said than done since you have nine people, but Clarissa assures you she’d rather fly, so you have that blessing.

Clint helps you select two fine geldings, one a chestnut and the other black while Ophelia looks over available wagons. She laments the lack of magitek, but without proper magic to power them, non-leyway vehicles are still stuck to horse drawn wagons. You swear Alice mentioned something about a, “tank” she rode in during her time in Ectria, but you have no idea what that is. It sounds cool as fuck though.

Down a considerable amount of money later, you watch Clint as he and the works at the barn help get the horses hitched. Finn and the others rejoin you soon after. It would appear they took longer than expected to report to the Order in this town, as they had acute interest in possibilities of attack again. With that settled, you load up and hit the road.

Cair is not a city known for it’s walls, and over the years it’s spread outward like wildfire as more and more smaller housing structures appear for workers in the area, those coming south from the Monster Nation, and less than reputable establishments. It takes some time to clear the area entirely, but as you sit next to Clint, bless him for his equestrian skills gained out west, you notice civilization begin to thin out as the northern part of Deleor spreads out before you.

In the far, far distance, you can see the vague shapes of mountains while to the west you see hills that comprise the Thunderbird territory. A warm, summer wind blows by and you sigh as the sun shines overhead. It’s a good day to be on your way it seems, though the farther you go ahead, the less traffic you see on the roads. This suits you just fine, as it means it’s less likely that you’ll be attacked or anything. That may be a little difficult for anyone to do though, since Clarissa flies overhead, circling the wagon and giving you information every now and then.

The first day is unremarkable, which suits you fine. Your camping experiences are limited, but Clarissa is able to find a good spot to hunker down and the Order members +Clint and Ginelle help make a decent campsite. Thankfully your bags of holding kept the tents, cooking supplies, and good well stored, and you soon have a nice encampment.

>>386109

As night falls, you sit down next to the campfire, eating some of Clint’s Five-Alarm chili, a specialty of his from out west. After almost dying from eating the first few bites, you find yourself wishing someone else had done the cooking. A few others have similar sentiments, though Rayleigh eats it with gusto, her eyes lighting up.

Setting down you bowl after draining your waterskin, you sit down next to Ophelia and pant. “Oh Gods, I thought I was going to die.”

“Huh? Oh, the chili, right.” She says, fiddling with the device in her hands. It’s one of the communications devices. “Yeah, I could smell the heat in that. I think I’ll still to something less threatening. Like carrots.”

“Isn’t that a stereotype?” You ask, looking over at the device. “What are you doing?”

She frowns. “It’s weird, after getting out of the city I’ve been getting some feedback from these on some different channels. Our network is fine and it’s not transmitting, but it’s really strange.” Her eyes move to you. “Oh, and there’s nothing wrong with liking carrots. I don’t care what anyone says.”

“Fine, fine.” You say, waving a hand. “So you think the devices are broken or-“

“Or there’s some magitek out here that’s getting into the frequencies. I’ll just keep messing with it.” She says, tapping the device before shrugging and pulling a carrot out of her bag. She looks at you and munches on it, smirking.

“Wow, it’s a shock you’re not married yet.” You say, to which she sticks her tongue out, carrot crumbs stuck to it. She pouts and then goes back to fiddling with the device as Finn walks up.

“We should set watches for the evening. This area is fairly safe due to proximity to the city and the fort a few days ahead, but I’d rather not take our chances.” He says.

“Sure, makes sense.” You say, shrugging. “I’ll put you in charge of organizing that.”

The man pauses before nodding and going about to organize the watch. You follow him as he speaks with Clint and Ginelle before turning back to Ophelia, who frowns. “He’s always so serious. He’s kind of scary, in a way.”

“Well, it has to do with his past I bet.” You say. “I don’t know much myself, but I don’t know, he seems like we can rely on him in a pinch.” Sighing, you say, “I don’t know about Rayleigh though.”

“Hmm.” Ophelia says, musing. “Well, we managed to make things work before with less, right?”

“Yeah.” You say, nodding. “We’ll do it this time too.”

>>386110

The next few days are boring, which suits you fine. Ophelia still gets the strange signals from her device, but can’t find a reason for it. She seems to find them mostly at night, so you wonder if it has to do with the weather?

Speaking of which, clouds begin to form up, heralding oncoming rain. Clarissa decides to rest inside the covered wagon due to this, which is likely why you don’t have any warning until Ophelia’s ears perk up and she turns about in confusion.

“Horses?” She says, cocking her head.

The wagon stops soon after as you hear calls coming from a distance, followed by the hard sounds of hoofbeats. You crawl to the front where Clint and Finn are watching three horses approach from the northeast. They have no weapons drawn, and when they arrive they stop before you, their horses dancing with nervous energy.

All three are dressed in the colors of the Deleorian military, though all three are Monsters. One, a Wolf Girl with short, brown hair seems to be the leader while the other two, dog-like Kobolds with blonde hair and fur dance their horses about with precision as well. The Wolf Girl frowns and says,

“Travelers, state your business coming north.”

“We’re headed to the fort.” You say, holding out your DSS badge. “Official business.”

The two Kobolds exchange glances while the Wolf Girl frowns. “I’m sorry if I don’t take much stock in badges. We’re going to need to search the wagon.”

Finn frowns. “Under what orders? Isn’t this patrol a little far out from the fort?”

The leader sneers at him while waving at the two Kobolds. They dismount and walk around the wagon, sniffing. “I can see you’re from the Order, or so you claim, but if you haven’t seen, we’re at war here. Orders are to be thorough.” She walks her horse closer to him as she gives a wolf-toothed grin. “Or would you rather I give you a personal inspection.”

“Thanks, but I’d rather not have fleas.”

She grins before turning as one of the Kobolds walks up to her and whispers. She frowns and then looks up at your wagon. “I see. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”

“What? Why?” You ask a moment before a sword is thrust in front of your face.

“Because you’re under arrest for suspected sedition.”

The rest of your group tenses up, hands going to their weapons. Your heart begins to beat hard in your chest, but you take a deep breath and calmly say. “Where would we be going?”

“To an outpost for detainment. Come along quietly and make this easy, or I’ll be forced to call for back-up.” She pats a device at her side that looks much like your communication devices, though of a different make.

Clint looks to you, eyes searching. He has his rifle ready under the driver’s seat to be pulled out at a moment’s notice. At a word from you, you can probably cut them down, but harming soldiers of Deleor for a misunderstanding is not going to end well for you either, especially when they go missing.

You feel droplets of rain begin to pitter down as the standoff grows more tense. All eyes move to you as you decide your next course of action.

>What do you do?

Huh, weird that you'd have a contingent of Monsters from the fort talking with you. But things have gotten progressive and they fight for their homeland here. Better just comply and not cause trouble.

Pending responses, might get an update in tomorrow too. Depending on what happens, we should be able to come to a character change in the next few updates, however if requested it can happen whenever.

>>386111

Medieval tech definitely makes information control and verification difficult.

The encounter is very suspicious; Tobias has had no arrest warrants on him since he was in Sanctifrond which was only 2-3 days ago. The Lord Commander knows where and what Tobias is doing, so there are no grounds for arrest. It is possible that the Shady family is doing something but if I remember correctly, they have staunch anti-Monster leanings.

Play ball with the Order patrol and avoid bloodshed if at all possible. We don't want to accidentally harm allies because we'll probably need them later on in the story. That said, get verification from them because they are really suspicious and be on guard if the Team is being led into a trap.

As for character change, I say wait for later. We’ve barely gotten into the first story arc.

This seems mighty suspicious. Let’s see some ID from these three as well as learning whoever their commander is. This entire situation has the “dirty cop shakedown” stereotype written all over it.

Let’s also stick with Tobias for now, at least get halfway to the observatory before we switch

>>386111

Create the illusion of children being violently attacked a far away from them, just close enough for the dogs to hear, make it sound extremely urgent and have an adult voice threaten to rape and cannibalize the children. If these guys really are Deleorian military they should priotrize the health and wellbeing of children over arresting us. And since this isn't even an image but a mere sound illusion it shouldn't be taxing on our sanity, I hope.

>>386130

Actually, make it sound like there are multiple adults trying to rape/cannibalize children, enough that it would require both wolf girls to arrest them.

>>386126

>>386130

Do these in this order.

This will determine if we drop them and interrogate or comply. Don't trust no bitch

Also damn, Finn is fucking ice cold. We have to make a point of not being outdone by him going forward.

Yeah "sedition" like that is a real crime. Civilians are probably allowed to cross to the monster nations if they like and no soldier would try to stop an order member or accuse them of not being real without proof or asking for an identification, this are bandits or agents of Galmathoria.

I say disable them while keeping them alive if possible and take them to the fort if it is close by (one day away). If the others want to kill them I guess thats fine but I think taking them alive as prisoners to the fort may be better to get some info out of them (and the 1% chance that they are actual soldiers), but only if its close we don't want them to pull your stereotypical escape and warn the rest of their band.

Oh and whatever we do make sure that Ophelia disables the wolf girls magitek device, we don´t want someone tracking us and it may prove useful later to track down the source of the signal Ophelia has been picking up. That is probably the location of the rest of the wolf's gang, even if the party does not take care of them the fort may find the information useful.

>>386138

I forgot make sure to take the horses as well!

>>386111 trips again

I wasn’t aware you could judge someone to be conspiring against the state by simply smelling the vehicle they’re riding in. It’s also rather strange that the ‘soldiers’ are quick to discredit our badge proving our authority yet imply that we have to respect their authority and surrender because of their uniforms. And wouldn’t it make much more sense to bring us to Fort Carlsbad, which is less than a day away considering Finn said we would get there in a few days a few days ago, rather than some non-descript outpost which may or may not be a further destination?

This whole situation is quite obviously bullshit. If I had to make a guess, the three before us are probably local brigands who stole armour and horses from a genuine Deleorian patrol, seeing as their horses seem nervous around them and this scenario doesn’t really seem like something planned specifically for us faking authority tends to work better when the authority you claim to have trumps whatever authority your victims actually have – it’s likely this plan was intended for civilians with no ability to contest the claims. There is still the chance they are in fact genuine soldiers who are making a huge mistake, but this is unlikely.

Everyone else already has the right idea of calling them out on their bullshit, taking them down non-lethally if they are unwilling to resolve this peacefully, interrogating them for information regarding who they really are in the off chance they’re either Galmathorian agents or a part of a larger brigand group, have Ophelia check them for any methods of tracking as per the suggestion of >>386138 and delivering them to Fort Carlsbad ideally blindfolded, gagged and with their ears blocked to keep them quiet and not give them any additional information on us so the Order presence there can handle things and we can clear up any misunderstandings, so I don’t have much else to add in that regard. That said, I would add that we should figure out a way of preventing the soldiers from using that radio or radios if the other two have ones themselves of theirs, because we don’t want any knowledge of this situation getting out to anyone, be it the Deleorian military, a larger group of brigands or whoever else these people belong to. As for how to go about doing that, I’d recommend we subtly cast the illusion of the radio malfunctioning due to exposure to the rain and have it either shock the user or fall apart when the soldiers try to interact with it to figure out if it still works or not. This way, we both have a basis in reality for our illusion more so than simply having the radio disappear, seeing as the leader just confirmed to herself she definitely has it by physically touching it and have a method of stopping them from using the radio regardless of its apparent condition it would be rather bad if they tried the supposedly malfunctioning radio and alerted others to their situation, even if they themselves think no one heard them until we can take it off their hands.

Also, with regards to how to combat our opponents, the only thing we really need to worry about is how to get the sword currently in our face away from us so we don’t get skewered the moment we try anything, as everything else tactic-wise is fairly obvious. I’d recommend another illusion abusing the fact that it’s raining, so have her weapon slip out of her grip due to the wetness of the handle or have her slip on the wet mud she’s standing on or something.

>>386130

>>386131

While I can see the logic behind this, it would be a tough sell and have a high chance of failure as a result. A threat of rape and cannibalism towards children is rather over the top as it stands, so having such a threat be proclaimed very loudly the moment we’re threatened by Deleorian soldiers just screams ‘we needed a distraction’. Not to mention, the sound would have to be very loud to be heard but the source not seen, because I’m fairly certain the surrounding terrain is somewhat flat we did see the soldiers coming from a distance, after all, which only further hampers its believability.

As it stands, we have more than enough proof against them, so I don’t think we really need more, let alone at the cost of our sanity.

>>386157

I like this autism and tossing my hat in for this. Also, I don't think spamming illusions is good when other solutions are available … and much more likely to work. We did take a whopping 23% hit earlier and if I remember illusion quest's stuff right: Tobias was given his one and only mulligan. If Tobias ends up useless and/or a threat to things because of illusion spamming that's going to fuck Rommel and Grand Wizard hard

>>386165

see

>>385867

>>385880

Come on now.

Ended up getting lost in some painting and didn't notice the time, so we'll write this out tomorrow as is usual anyway. Oh, I'll be headed out to Vegas for a big AoS tournament next thursday so we'll shoot for monday and wednesday updates.

>>386126

I'm sure Rayleigh would loooovveee to roast some dogs. I mean, she'd probably need some good reason to do it, but yeah.

>>386127

Well, it's a little above medival tech of course, but yes, in most cases it is difficult. I suppose certain information is stored in the Communion Matrix by the DSS, but you don't have that clearance and you probably… don't want to go on the communion matrix atm anyway.

Note: It's not an Order patrol, but Deleorian military. Usually more of a human outfit, however with Monster acceptance, SOME are serving. Order has a higher percentage tho.

Also, fair enough on the last part

>>386128

ID? They're in uniform! Clearly that's all the ID they require.

>>386130

That's pretty intense. For just sounds, it's not exactly difficult to influence, but it would be kind of weird.

>>386134

Finn is a good boi who may or may not have issues with the military. Or people he finds suspicious.

Or Alice.

>>386138

Fair enough. Of course you'd take your horses, you just bought them and they're being good boys. They even have names! If you want to name them anyway.

Ophelia could disable easily, but she'd need to have the device in hand to do so. ATM she doesn't have like, an EMP or anything, though theoretically that could be made based on the designs of that time she almost died and-

But you're nowhere near a lab with any tech so that's not happening.

>>386157

I have been blessed

Guess you can ask them what they mean by sedition if you want. Not sure how they'll answer!

Good choices for illusions if it comes to that. Though your friends can probably take these riders easy… weird situation really.

>>386165

Ayep, see post below. You had some insanity from the end of Illusionistquest.

>>386157

Okay, how about the roar of a large monster, that way the sound could believably travel far enough and it would be less over the top than the other.

>>386258

I've changed my mind again, we should make a sound of a child screaming and then a roar o angered shout of the fictional aggressor. Not to complicated but should be enough to get real Deleorian military to investagate it. Okay that's my final suggestion.

>>386111

>>386157

Don't we have some of that Boar-Stink? Doesn't that have some knock-out effect?

>>386258

>>386279

Again though, where would the sound of this child come from? And that still doesn't solve the issue of why we should bother when we already know the people in front of us are lying and could further confirm this with other, less taxing methods if we really wanted to.

>>386284

A knock-out effect that affects us equally to our opponents as we lack immunities and protective equipment, mind. And that's not even getting into the other problems, such as how it's one of our most finite resources and thus it's wasted on weak mooks like these or how it's not an instantaneous solution and thus we are very likely to get stabbed before the opposition even begins to feel the effects. Not the best of ideas.

>>386295

>Again though, where would the sound of this child come from?

Dogs. Have. super. hearing.

>>386350

They also have eyes, funnily enough. But let's pretend this fake sound occurs at the very limits of their hearing in order to circumvent them needing to see a fake scenario. How are they supposed to react to this exactly? If they hear a commotion going on over 10 or so miles away, it's already far, far too late for them to do anything about it. As such, why would they bother to try anything? It would be a distraction at best, but again, there are better options that are less taxing that achieve the same result.

Another thing that's just come to mind, how does this prove them to be genuine Deleorian soldiers exactly? Even brigands are capable of having some semblance of a moral compass, so all this would tell us is whether or not the so called soldiers care more about saving lives than hindering them. I suppose this would at least give us a reason not to kill them outright if they prove to have some decency, but we weren't planning on doing that any way, so why bother checking?

>Story continue

As the rain begins to come down heavier you look at the length of steel in front of your face. It’s not a bad sword, pretty good make actually, not that you can really tell. Seems pretty sharp however, could probably kill you fairly easily. Good enough as a sword you suppose.

Sighing, you look up from the sword into the eyes of the Wolf Girl. She blinks in surprise at your cool expression, clearly not expecting this from you. With a roll of your eyes, you wave a hand toward her and say, “Yes, that’s a nice sword and all, but do you have any proof you’re actually Deleorian military?”

The Monster before you blinks in surprise again, clearly surprised. Her horse dances nervously and she shushes it, withdrawing her sword for a moment before thrusting it back in place. “Excuse me, but you aren’t exactly in the position to ask that, are you?”

“Well, I see you’re not accepting my identification, why should I accept yours?”

“Because I’m the one with the sword in your face, that’s why-“

She cuts off as a metallic whirring noise sounds followed by a low hum. The Wolf Girl’s eyes drift to the side to see the barrel of Clint’s gun pointed directly at her, the man staring at her with his finger on the trigger. She frowns and slowly withdraws her sword from your face.

“Very well then. I see we’re at an impasse.”

“Mmm, possibly.” You say, shrugging as the rain pitter down upon you. “Now that we’ve established this, we have a few ways to go. One, either I’m a terrible criminal out to destroy Deleor and you’re hard working military woman doing her job by somehow determining my guilt from smells or…” You wave you hand,

“You’re brigands trying to extort us using authority you don’t really have.”

One of the dismounted Kobolds gives a worried look to the Wolf Girl, who growls at you. “Well then, which one do you think we are?”

“Finn?” You ask, getting the man’s attention. “Do patrols usually come this far south?”

“Fort is about two days away, less if we really push it. They sometimes do, but all things considered, an assault from the south is unlikely, so they mostly range up north.”

“So you’d say this is probably bullshit, right?”

The older man considers before nodding his head. “Yes, I would say that would be the case.”

You shrug and turn back to the Wolf Girl. “I’m inclined to believe the man. This smells like bullshit, I’m afraid.”

“Should have said, ‘dogshit.’” Clint says, his aim never moving.

“Ah yes, I’m sorry.” You say, nodding your head. Your gaze goes ice cold as you stare the Wolf Girl in the eyes. “So that means you’re likely brigands.”

“So what if we are?” She says, furred hand drifting to the device at her side.

“Then I’d think twice about using that.” You say, waving at the device. “Have you not noticed it’s raining? Those things don’t exactly work with that level of interference.”

She pauses, frowning down at the device. Her eyes widen a moment later as she sees the device begin to spark. A simple illusion, once you’ve laid the groundwork. Gritting her teeth, she slowly moves to place her hands on the reins of her horse. She takes a deep breath and then moves with blurring speed to knock the magitek rifle out of Clint’s hands.

The man gasps, grabbing it again, but tumbles out of the driver seat. Before he can aim again the Wolf Girl is already riding away, cursing. Her two companion hurriedly mount as well and begin to bolt, but you merely sit back and say, “Rayleigh? I’d like to keep them alive if possible.”

The Squirrel Girl leaps to the front of the wagon and cackles and power alights in her hands. You can feel mana pooling in her as she thrusts out a furred hand, the fingers steaming in the rain. Despite the horses having cleared a great amount of distance, they don’t get far enough before a wall of flame appears before them. The horses rear up in panic, throwing their riders to the ground.

“Ginelle.” You say, waving to her. She bounds forth from the wagon and lopes forward to reach the dazed canines, subduing them further. Yawing, you wave to Clint as he hops back onto the wagon.

“You ready to practice those hog tying skills again?”

>>386356

“What do we do with them?” Clarissa asks, looking at the three Monsters.

You wait out under the cover of a nearby treeline, the heavy boughs protecting you from the worst of the rain. The three brigands or whoever they are sit unconscious next to your wagon, their weapons confiscated while Clint tries to calm down their horses.

Rayleigh puffs out her modest chest and proclaims how great her pyromancy is to a half-listening Finn while Ophelia tinkers with the device she from the Wolf Girl. She sighs and waves to you,

“So this is based on an earlier design which had some limited mass market appeal. It’s not the same though, so it must have been made by a secondary source. It’s possible this was made in Deleor, but I have no idea where.”

“It’s… counterfeit?”

“Something like that? It still works though.” She quirks an eyebrow at you, “Though this thing will also work in the rain. Did you use one of your illusions?”

“Bah.” You say, flipping your hand back. “The real illusion was just getting her to begin to doubt.” Squatting down next to her you say,

“Is this what was giving that weird frequency?”

“Probably.” She says, popping the device open. You see wired connecting to a core filled with some shards of mana crystals. “Frequency seems about right. Though clearly she was speaking with someone using this, and someone nearby.”

“Cair?”

“Hmm, no, not from this device. There are some which are larger and can get better signals though, but they aren’t exactly handheld.” She cocks her head, wet rabbit ears dripping. “She mentioned an outpost, right? I’d suspect the ones this is connected to are there.”

You turn to the unconscious Monsters and frown. “We should deliver them to the fort. They’ll be interested to know there’s people impersonating them out here.”

“Ballsy really.” Ophelia says, nodding her head. “Not that far between Cair and a major fort. There aren’t that many people who travel down this path either, and it’s usually just merchants moving out to the fort. I’m surprised they attacked us.”

“Maybe they thought we were an easy score?” You say, shrugging.

Ophelia gives you and flat look before tapping her nose. “They’re all canids, they have good smell. They could probably tell there’s multiple people here once they got close enough. Seems strange to try to pull this bluff knowing that.”

Worry begins to grow in you. “You think they knew who we were?”

The Rabbit Girl’s ears stand up and she begins to grimace. “Oh… oh fuck.”

A hiss of static cuts through from the device in her hand. She yelps and drops the device to the ground. It hisses a moment more before a female voice cuts through,

“Hey, Pontia, what’s the deal? You find them yet? This rain is really picking up.”

The commotion catches the attention of your entire party, all of you watching the device with bated breath. It hisses again as the feminine says again, “Hey, answer the damn thing! I ain’t fucking around here. We got orders so you better answer.”

“Can they track this device?” You ask Ophelia, who blinks in surprise at you. She shakes her head before breathing out and then saying,

“I- yeah… if they have a way to lock onto the mana signature. If we destroy it though, they’ll know for sure something’s up.”

“Oy, are you dead? Fucking hells, hey Irina, you nee-“ it cuts off a moment later.

>>386357

“Shit.” You say, groaning. “Alright, let’s get packed up quick and head to the fort. The rain should give us some cover to-

You pause as Patrica walks over, scoops up the device and, in a perfect imitation of the Wolf Girl, says, “Hey, sorry, was taking a piss.”

The line is silent for a moment before it hisses and a frustrated voice says, “I swear to Dollora, are you a fucking idiot? You don’t say that shit on the line.”

“Yeah well, it’s just us and the horses, I don’t think anyone minds.”

“Filthy little mongrel… Anyway, what’s the status.”

“Didn’t see anyone. We’re about to keep searching.”

“Fuck. Rose ain’t going to like that. I’ll send out more teams. They can’t be allowed to reach the fort.”

“H-hey, there’s no need for-“

“I’ve made up my mind.”

The line goes silent after a moment of hissing static.

Patricia looks down at the device and sighs before handing it back to Ophelia. “Well, I did my best.”

“Uh… huh.” The Rabbit Girl says, staring incredulously at Patricia. “That was…”

“Wow.” You say, surprised. “I thought I could do good impersonations, but that was damn impressive. How did you manage that?”

“People studies.” She says, shrugging. “You watch people long enough, you pick up some things. Besides, I’m mimicking another Wolf Girl, it’s not THAT difficult.”

“Nevermind that.” Finn says, walking up to you. “Looks like we’re in for some trouble. There’s no good way to get to the fort without traveling down the road.”

“What are the chances we’d run into a real patrol if we got moving now?”

“Slim, especially given the rain. We’d be more like to be seen by these brigands, and I doubt they’ll hesitate to signal for back-up.”

“Great.” Ginelle says, cracking her knuckles. “We’ll just beat them up. Easy peasy.”

“Not if there’s a lot of them all at once.” You sigh, gut wrenching. “They’re after Ophelia again, they’ll use whatever they can out in the open.”

The Rabbit Girl looks downcast again. “Sorry…”

“It’s fine.” Rayleigh says. “We’ll burn them all! I don’t even care if they bring a caster, I’ll take them down too!”

Take them down… You blink at this and turn to Ophelia. “Do you think you can track where the signal is coming from?”

“Huh? Oh.” She says, shaking her head. “I… probably?” She taps her [Magesight Goggles]. I think I can follow the aetheric signatures and tap into their frequency if we need to. It won’t be absolute though, just a general area.” She frowns,

“You aren’t suggesting…?”

“Keeping the option on the table.” You say, thinking over a plan. “Just keeping it on the table.”

>What do you do?

>>386350

>>386355

Y'all this shit is goofy, though it's not happening anyway. Things have happened.

Also, you have a decision to make how you want to proceed. Which was a much shorter updated than expected so sure, I'll totally write tomorrow too.

>Rose has teams set up in advance to intercept movement between Cair and Fort Carlsbad unless you want to tell me she set this whole thing up in less than a day under the assumption she left Cair during the night

>Despite the fact that Ophelia would never go there outside of this very specific scenario we’re in that Rose couldn’t possibly predict

I guess this could be something put in place for other targets, but still.

>>386358

Trying to take down the brigands immediately could work, but I’d argue getting to Fort Carlsbad should take priority, as there we can warn the soldiers about impersonators as well as gather back-up to help us with any assaults we may plan later. Besides, we’ll probably end up dismantling the brigand group on the way there any way if the leader decides to come out in the open due to desperation, so doing it this way just saves us some time.

As it stands, the brigands have no idea that they're compromised, so the patrols that we may encounter are likely to have the same structure and to try the same plan as the one we just encountered, only this time they’ll probably tell the rest of their faction that they see someone before approaching us begs the question why the wolf didn’t do the same, but I guess she’s just retarded. As such, the initial patrol likely won’t be a threat to us, but will lead to greater threats swarming our position the moment they mention us to the others. The only way to avoid this from happening is to ensure that the original message doesn’t go out.

To achieve this, we need to ensure two things: one, that we see them before they see us so we can prepare, and two, that we kill everyone in the patrol, starting with the leader, before they can report anything. The former can be done by having Clarissa scout ahead, as she’s apparently able but reluctant to do so in the rain, and take a radio with her to ensure she can mention anything that she sees to us the moment she does so. The killing part of the latter shouldn’t be too difficult to do either, as we have both Clint and Finn as powerful long range options who can take down a target in one or two shots and the rain should be enough to hide the sound of the magitek rifle firing from all but the closest patrols, but getting into range first without them spotting us is a tad tricky, even if the rain may help by reducing visibility. The only two solutions I can think of would be to use illusions to hide the wagon until we’re close enough to attack or to stop the wagon and have Clint and Finn sneak ahead to take down the patrol stealthily before they even have the chance to see the wagon; of the two, the latter is more ideal due to sanity costs on our end from the former, but using either depending on the situation would probably work best.

That all said, this plan isn’t perfect. There is a chance we could kill a genuine Deleorian patrol by mistake, no matter how slim the possibility of one being present down south during rainfall is. Still, while we can never truly remove the risk, we can at least minimise it greatly by having Ophelia check the nearby aetheric signatures to see if any in the area correspond to the brigands’ radios. If a match is found and no other patrols are nearby, then it can be deduced that the patrol in front of us are brigands and we can shoot them without worry – conversely, if a match isn’t found, then the patrol is either Deleorian or brigand without any method of communicating with the rest of their faction, meaning we can safely approach them and either take them down if they turn out to be brigands or work with them to reach Fort Carlsbad if they’re Deleorian. There’s also the issue of this plan not working for very long, as the brigands will eventually clue in when their patrols go silent for a long time, but hopefully we should be close enough to the fort to make it before they can do anything about it, especially since they have no idea where we are due to the lack of reports and the fact that we don’t need to take their radios with us in order to identify them I’m fairly certain at least.

There are other options, like trying to brute force our way towards the fort, taking a different but much slower and more dangerous route towards the fort or just not going towards the fort at all and heading straight towards the Monster Nation instead, but to not abuse the fact that we have the element of surprise on our side would be a huge waste and not resupplying seems like a bad idea.