Still updating the story on the pastebin?
http://pastebin.com/QXuSBgGp

>>27726771
Sporadically, yes.

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Finally.
Keep up the good work, OP

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>>27726570
Dear Journal,

Well, life has been interesting since I last updated you, to say the least. I woke up the next morning to see both Martina and Aimée waiting for me.

Martina wasted no time, “Good. You’ve finally roused yourself from your stupor. Aimée, fetch his clothes and equipment. I’ll finish healing him.”

Now, I’ve heard the stories of healing magic from other soldiers lucky enough to receive it (or unlucky enough to need it, depending on your point of view), but never experienced it myself. Let me tell you, it is amazing. You get this sense of… wellbeing or health. You feel like you’re up to do anything, climb a mountain, fight off an army single-handedly, hurl boulders, and arm-wrestle giants.

When it was over, I looked Martina in the eyes. She was looking a little nervous, as if unsure whether or not I would react well to the spell or not.

“You know Martina,” I said with a small smile, “I never got around to thanking you for saving my life. If it wasn’t for your help, I’d surely be dead.”

“As you should human,” Martina replied haughtily. (At least she was feeling a bit like her old self) “It is rare for us dragons to even take notice of lesser creatures like yourself. But… but, you are welcome though. Now come, we have little time to eat before we must leave. Once Aimée finishes dressing you, find me and we’ll see about setting off.”

With Aimée’s help I got dressed fairly quickly. Both of us seemed content to pretend that whatever almost happened last night never… almost happened I guess? Either way, after dressing I left to find Martina to get some answers about what was going on.

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>>27726845
I don’t know what I was expecting, possibly something like the tower I’d been in earlier, but a dragon’s true lair is an impressive labyrinth of tunnels and rooms, each large enough to house a dragon in its full form. It was some time before I found Martina, waiting in her human form in a side room that evidently served as a dining room of some kind. Food was already on the table, though with Aimée helping me dress I have no idea how it was set out or prepared. Martina doesn’t seem like the type to do this kind of work herself, perhaps she used her magic?

Martina started talking as soon as I entered the room. “Took you long enough to get here. You creatures wouldn’t be able to find your own heads if you weren’t attached to them by that weak neck of yours. Eat quickly. We need to leave soon of we don’t want to be late.”

“Hold on, Martina. I have a few questions first. Such as why am I going to a Dragonmoot for starters?”

>>27727251
>>27727190
I think you missed a paragraph or two there

>>27727338
Ffff....

You're right. Hold on.

I am glad this is still alive. /tg/ is indeed the best board.

>>27727419
>>Sorry thought I copied this in. The correct order goes:
...you know you can delete posts, right?

>>27727457
Good point. Let me do some quick editing.

>>27727251
I would much rather it be a pure love story with the red dragon with bro-adventures rather than harem, but it is up to you.

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>>27727190
“Hold on, Martina. I have a few questions first. Such as why am I going to a Dragonmoot for starters?”

Martina sighed. “I suppose you should at least know what is going on. As you know, dragons are more powerful that almost anything else on this planet. Don’t look outraged. It’s simply true. A human can train for his entire life to become the pinnacle of his art and he might, just might, be able to match a dragon. We’re stronger, smarter, and more magically attuned than most other creatures on Terra. Our dominance is especially prominent in the fields of magic, where mighty Archmages study for years to gain powers that dragons inherently have.”

I kept quiet at this point; I felt that reminding her that I drove her off in our first meeting with my own sword despite her “draconic superiority” wouldn’t be well received.

She continued, “However there are some exceptions. One notable one was the human Archmage Isocrates whose power could match our own race’s spellcasters. Hundreds of years ago, Isocrates waged a war against our kind and slew many of us. As you know, dragons are mostly solitary creatures, only accepting the company of others in order to dominate them or to mate. This tendency made it easy for Isocrates to hunt us down, one by one. However, we rallied and joined together at the First Dragonmoot. As one race, we vowed to attack our enemy. However Isocrates learned of our plan, he set out to craft an item that would allow him to turn us against each other and to dominate our will.”

“Was that the red rod I saw Princess Emile using earlier?” I hazarded a guess.

>Fixed.
>How does everyone like the story still? Some change in direction, but a lot of the romantic arc elements are going to stay.

>>27727532
is the knight in question in an order or is he like a ronin?

if he is in some kind of knights organization,i kinda imagine his order will be hunting him for helping a dragon.

also i love romance. keep at it, its great.

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>>27727532
“Was that the red rod I saw Princess Emile using earlier?” I hazarded a guess.

“Correct. Isocrates’ Rod is a dangerous item to us dragons. It nearly caused the war effort to fail altogether, with dragon turning against dragon. Eventually, we had to resort to some pretty dark deeds to overcome Isocrates’ power. However that is another story entirely and one that non-dragons don’t need to hear. The point is that Isocrates’ fortress-tower was razed to the ground and destroyed. The only remaining trace of Isocrates was the rod, found undamaged in the ruins. It was given to the head of the Dragonmoot at the time, my father Martinus, who kept it safely until his death. It was hidden in one of the outposts to my father’s- now mine, I suppose- lair. The Rod remained safe until last week when that dreadful princess took it. Now an entire Dragonmoot has been called in order to evaluate the current state of affairs and determine the future of Isocrates’ Rod, and me as well I suppose. After all, I’m the one who let it get back into human hands. As witnesses to the instance, we’ve been called in to testify, and possibly receive judicial action.”

Martina finished that last sentence with a dejected look on her face. I could tell that she wasn’t optimistic about her chances with the Dragonmoot. I’m still not sure why I did this but I stood up and said, “Martina, you couldn’t have known that Princess Emile would be able to find that rod, let alone that she would be able to use it. I’ll do what I can to help you at the Dragonmoot.”

The dragoness seemed stunned at that at the very least, “I- I don’t know what to- Thank you, Sir Knight.”

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>>27727682
The dragoness seemed stunned at that at the very least, “I- I don’t know what to- Thank you, Sir Knight.”

As I finished eating, Martina filled me in on the details of the Dragonmoot. Evidently it was a council of the twelve oldest (and presumably the wisest) dragons in the continent. It held a careful balance of power over the dragons in the land. Theoretically, it had total control of their lives but in practice any attempt to use this power would soon result in the entire draconic race rebelling against the council. It mainly handled disputes between dragons on the rare occasion that they met and the rarer occasion that their own teeth, claws, and magic didn’t resolve the problem. From time to time they would charge a dragon with safeguarding an object of some danger such as Isocrates’ Rod or watching over a piece of land. Few dragons objected to these rulings as it added treasures to their hoard or lands to their territory. For major decisions such as changing the organization of the council, nine out of the twelve councilors needed to approve. For minor cases of justice, such as our case, only seven of the councilors need to approve.

As Martina was wrapping up her brief summary of draconic political organizations, Aimée entered the room, carrying my equipment of all things.

“Good you’re here girl. Knight, armor yourself. You may need it to save your life.”

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>>27728233
“Good, you’re here girl. Knight, armor yourself. You may need it to save your life.”

Now as anyone familiar with heavy armor knows, its impossible to fully equip the armor by yourself, so I had to enlist Aimée’s help. She may be a substitute for a decent squire one day, but today she needed constant guidance to help me properly, “No Aimée. That’s a vambrace, not a rebrace. It goes on my forearm, not my upper arm, no not now, wait until I get the rebrace on first!” And so it went for some time. Finally I was ready and armored.

I turned to Martina who watched the whole process with some degree of amusement. “So how are we going to reach this Dragonmoot anyways?”

“Simple,” Martina said with a smile, “You’ll ride.”

And with that she transformed. Gone was the attractive woman and in her place was the fearsome creature that I had seen before. However, now that I looked closer, I could see the hint of her other form in her eyes, which twinkled with amusement at my expression.

“Get on, human. And be honored, few have had the honor of riding a willing dragon before.”

“Uhh… Martina, I’ve never ridden a dragon before. Most of my experience is with a horse, and even then I had a saddle. How do I… do this?”

The dragoness laughed a throaty, hissing laugh. “Simple. You wrap your legs around my body and enjoy the ride!”

And with a wave of her claws, one of the walls opened up to reveal clear skies. She took off with a beat of her wings. Below me I heard Aimée scream as Martina picked her up in her claws, “Can’t forget your armor assistant, now can we?” Martina laughed, louder than the wind blowing past my ears.

And with that we were off, towards our destiny and the Dragonmoot.

>I just found out I'll need to be somewhere else for the next hour or two. I'll be back later though. If the threads still up I'll continue then.
>Thanks for being great readers so far.

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>Say I'll be back early this morning.
>Actually show back up this afternoon.
>Need to leave for two hours anyways.

I wanted to say, sorry about having such a flaky schedule. Hopefully this will become more consistent sooner. Still getting used to being a writefag.

>>27728379
It's okay

>>27728379
We need some kind of indication that you are posting. I hate to be that anon, but what about twitter?

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>>27728270
HOW COMES DIS GUY GETS RIDES IN ON FUCKING DRAGON?!

>>27728379
You an cool guy OP, keep it up!

>>27728894
oh we will get to see some dragon riding in the future alright.
>>27728379
you should get a chipper account

>>27729170
>>27728654

he can use his paste bin account for something like that.

bump

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>>27728379

I'm back. Thanks everyone for keeping the thread alive.

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>>27728270
And with that we were off, towards our destiny and the Dragonmoot.

Flying on Martina’s back was an incredible experience. Feeling the air rush past me was a familiar sensation from my experience with riding horses, but on a dragon’s back it was amazing. As we ascended I watched everything grow smaller and smaller until even the mighty mountains formed from the very bones of Terra became as anthills. We entered the clouds and after a brief moment of darkness we were in open skies. Clouds stretched on for miles around, looking for all the world like a large cotton field that one could lay down in to rest.

Martina, somehow sensing my awe, gave another roaring laugh and said, “I’ve heard stories of how you human creatures constantly overact to this sight. It never ceases to surprise me that you could be so awed by such a mundane sight.”

“Well Miss Martina, we humans don’t get up here as often as dragons do. And are you seriously telling me that this does nothing for you? Being above the clouds, seeing the sun overhead, perfect weather? Nothing pleasant about that?”

“I suppose if you put it that way, why yes it is a nice day. But hardly anything to be awestruck over. If you really want to see something impressive, you should see the sunsets or sunrises some time.”

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>>27730414
“I suppose if you put it that way, why yes it is a nice day. But hardly anything to be awestruck over. If you really want to see something impressive, you should see the sunsets or sunrises some time.”

“I-I think I’d like that. If its no trouble that is.”

“If we make it through this trial, none at all. In fact-“

“MILADY! CAN YOU PLEASE CEASE SQUEEZING ME IN YOUR CLAWS SO HARD! ITS GETTING DIFFICULT TO BREATH!”

“Ah. Yes. I forgot about her. Aimée was it? There we go, that should be more comfortable.”

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>>27730450
“Ah. Yes. I forgot about her. Aimée was it? There we go, that should be more comfortable.”

We passed through a cloud bank that was higher than usual and as we cleared it we saw the top of a massive mountain, one so tall it jutted through the clouds themselves. A massive castle was built into the peak, somehow carved out of the very rock of the mountain.

Martina lowered her head and banked towards the peak. “This is it. Here we face the Dragonmoot.”

As we flew around the castle, I saw that the far side had a large platform jutting out of it. Martina flew towards it, set Aimée down carefully, and then landed. As she touched down, two larger and stronger looking dragons emerged from the castle.

The first one said, “Martina the Younger, are you prepared to face the judgment of the Dragonmoot for your failure to safeguard Isocrates’ Rod?”

Martina sighed and said, “Yes, Lucianus. I, Martina the Younger, stand ready to accept the Council’s judgment.”

“Very well. Now that the formalities are done with, I must inform you that the Council will see you tomorrow. Rooms in the fortress are available for the night. Is your… human… capable of performing his duties as a witness?”

“I’d say that he is capable of that and more,” Martina said with a small snarl.

“Very well then. We will escort you to your chambers.”

Now here I am, trying to sleep in a chamber sized for a creature many times my size, awaiting some sort of council of dragons in the morning. I have the feeling that getting sleep is going to be difficult.

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>>27730481
Dear Journal.

Well neither me nor Martina are dead so that’s something to be thankful for. However we’re not quite free yet. I’d better explain from the beginning. We woke up early the next morning, and were treated to a feast that wouldn’t be out of place in the courts of a king. It turns out that many dragons are partial to meat for every meal of the day. After dinning we were taken to a hallway that, much to my surprise, seemed to be sized for humanoids of my size.

One of the dragon guards, a rather cheerful fellow named Maximus, told me the reason for it. “Now the form of a dragon is majestic and can’t be compared to any lesser creature, yada, yada, yada. But somethings are better done with hands that come with opposable thumbs, and writing down notes and taking the minutes at a meeting is one of them.” He seems like a nice guy.

>Its been a while since I outright asked everyone how they were liking the story. Is it still interesting enough?

>>27730733
Oh yes, I am intrigued.

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>>27730733
Eventually Martina and I were called into the council chamber; Maximus explained to me that since Aimée was under Martina’s spell at the time she wouldn’t be considered a reliable witness for what went on. Since the dragons and dragonesses of the council were in humanoid form, they wouldn’t have looked out of place in any other political setting. It was hard to remember that these aged and aging old men and woman were actually dangerous creatures that could kill me in a heartbeat.

Everyone was silent. Eventually one man in the center of the room spoke up. He was an elderly looking man, and while the rest of the council could have passed for nobility or at least well off merchants, this one reminded me more of a court wizard.

He said, “Alright. We all know why we’re here so unless someone feels the need to stand on ceremony we should get to the matter at hand. For the benefit of the… lets call it a witness shall we, I am the Master of the Council, Regulus. Now to the matter at hand. Martina the Younger, do you have any reason why this council should not have you slain for your negligence in guarding Isocrates’ Rod?”

>>27730733
Still reading!

>>27730774
We gotta do something with no PGQ yet, eh?

>>27730933
eh, at least this fulfills my medieval themed story fix. Still tentatively waiting for PGQ, though.

>>27730956
There's always hope! I only caught a teense of it yesterday, what with the 4chan wiggleness. I promise not to yell about swords, waifus, or sword waifus

>>27731007
half an hour

>>27731048
If it's actually up I half an hour, I'll eat my completely anonymous hat.

That said, more knight of the realm!

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>>27730919
I’ll admit that I was a little shaken by that. While I knew that Martina was in a bad way and could face execution, hearing Regulus outright demand a reason not to kill her was still startling. I’ll spare both of us a full transcript of the court proceedings, but suffice to say that the two of us were questioned until the full story of how Princess Emile came to be held by Martina and what she did with Isocrates’ Rod came out. I did my best to spin facts to help out Martina, but it didn’t seem to do any good. Hours later, the testimonial phase of the trial was coming to a close. We were both asked to wait in the hall outside. After a few moments Martina was called in by herself. I turned to ask Maximus what was going on.

“Now that the Council feels that they have the solid facts of the case, the trial is now going to the appeal phase. Here both you and Martina are going to be asked for your views on the matter. Martina is probably pleading that the entire fiasco wasn’t her fault right now, the Council expects this so its unlikely that her appeal is going to do anything to change a verdict.”

My face fell at his words, “So, is Martina going to be executed?”

Maximus shifted to human form and unexpectedly patted me on the back. “Don’t worry too much. Regulus is a strict ruler, you could almost say he’s draconian!”

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>>27731143
As I tried to punch Maximus for that pun he swatted my fist away and continued, “But he is fair and sometimes even merciful. While screwing around with something like Isocrates’ Rod is dangerous, if he feels that no malicious intent was involved he very well may let her live. And also you still have your appeal too, and it looks like its tome for that now.”

Sure enough, Martina was emerging from the Council’s chamber, her face was ashen. One of the council attendants caught my attention, “Sir Knight, the Council is awaiting your testimony.”

I quietly entered the chambers. The sound of the heavy door behind me reminded me uncomfortably of a tomb.

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>>27731176
When I entered the chambers, I was called over to the spot where I testified before. I looked around the council, hoping to see a touch of sympathy in their faces, but it appeared that they were all taking their cues from Regulus.

Regulus sighed and poured himself a drink of some kind. He then leaned forward and said, “Human Knight. I understand that your involvement in this case was crucial in ending this Princess Emile’s rampage with the Rod. However I also understand, from your own testimony in fact, that by failing to force Princess Emile to accompany you the first time you visited Martina’s tower that the security of the Rod was compromised in the first place. You evidently also fought against Martina the first time you saw her and then saved her the second. Seeing as you’ve been on all sides of this issue, is there anything that you have to say with regards to the verdict?”

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>>27731661
I sighed. “Yes. From what I gatherd, Isocrates’ Rod was given to Martina’s father as a trophy of war. Martina then inherited it from him. It was kept securely in her tower until a psychotic princess who was having a break from reality found it. The princess was crazy. She would have grabbed anything to try to get her way in this matter. She was lucky enough to stumble upon the Rod. As Martina inherited the Rod from her father in good faith, and did her best to store it properly, it would be unjust for severe punishment to befall her.”

Regulus thought for a moment and nodded. “Well said. Were this any other item, the council wouldn’t even get involved. However you must understand why we are so concerned with Isocrates’ Rod. I’m afraid that severe punishment may be required… unless…”

>>27731714
GOD DAMN YOU OP DON'T LEAVE US HANGING LIKE THIS

>>27731714
he died didn't he.

Why do you do this to us OP?

>>27732168
>>27732405
>>27732553

Stepped out for a bit. Didn't expect the world to end. Sorry.

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>>27731714
Regulus shook his head dismissively, “Oh no. Its nothing. I would need an agent of unquestionable character and virtue to perform a dangerous task. And wherever would I be able to find one of those?”

I sighed deeply. “Sir, you don’t need to bait me. You know very well I’m a knight. And earlier I did promise Miss Martina that I would help her however I can. So enough with the vague hints. What do you need me to do to ensure that Martina escapes punishment?”

Regulus looked a bit surprised at my statement. “Very well then. This makes things easier. It has become clear to this Council that the Isocrates’ Rod cannot stay in this world any longer. It is too dangerous to both dragons and the lesser creatures. I simply need someone to destroy the Rod. They would need to take it to the lands that Isocrates used to rule and find the method to destroy it. Will you do this? If you accept Martina and any other companions you may find can accompany you if they wish. In addition to that we are prepared to offer compensation for your time and your troubles.”

>>27732669
Ring bearer, who will you choose on your quest? Or will you just take the Catapult?

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>>27732701
>will you just take the catapult?

>>27732669
I'm guessing one does not simply walk into Isocrates lands?

>>27732869
You have my breath.

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>>27732869
The problem is not getting to the Mount of Doom, but finding out which mount/valley/artifact of Doom was used in the first place to forge the Rod, hence the catapult option is not valid.

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>>27732669
It was evident to me that Regulus wanted this from the beginning. He just likes to use both carrot and stick to get what he wants from others. Regardless, I had little choice. I couldn’t let Martina die, not after promising to help her.

“I guess I have to accept. If you can provide me with directions to Isocrates’ homeland then I will attempt to destroy the rod.”

As I said these words, Regulus smiled a serpant’s smile. “Good. Good. Now before we can hand over an artifact such as Isocrates’ Rod, we shall need a few… assurances. After all, this is a dangerous item to us and we just can't turn it over to someone who might betray us.”

He reached under his portion of the long table the council sat at and pulled out a small portrait, a knife, and a candle. He walked over to me and handed the knife and portrait to me and lit the candle. I saw that the portrait was that of one of the Draconic Lords, beings that the dragons worshiped as though they were the Gods.

Regulus spoke to me, “Slit your sword hand, only a small cut mind you, and let the blood drip onto this portrait. Good, now hold the portrait over the flames so it burns and repeat after me: I pledge my loyalty to the Council of the Dragonmoot. I swear to obey these orders given to me and to fulfill them to my dying breath. If I disobey the Council or betray them, may my soul burn like the portrait of this Lord.”

As I finished the ritual, I felt a tight constraining force. I knew that this ritual was more than just words, I would be bound to this quest until I succeeded or died.

>>27732869
well at-least we can have those fancy 2nd breakfast we always hear.

>>27732669
>>27733082

>Oh I am just ripping off all the movies today aren't I?

>>27733103
It is entertaining. Keep on going.

>>27733103
What movies?

>>27733103
everyone does it.
nothing really to fret about.

>>27733103
Meh, all stories can devolved into something that vaguely resembles the other. Lord of the Rings wasn't the first story to have someone take a dangerous object on a quest and destroy it, and it won't be the last.

I don't recognize what the second one is, but pledges have been done since the beginning of mythology.

The important part is simply making the story greater than the sum of it's parts.

With that said, I believe you are doing an excellent job so far, and should continue.

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>>27733082
Martina was surprisingly pained when I told her about this. “The Loyalty Ritual is meant to only be administered to dragons who the Council governs! It wasn’t meant to be used on a- a- a stupid human who couldn’t possibly know what he was getting into!”

“Martina, I promised to help you already. I would have wound up doing this with or without this ritual. The only thing it did was made Regelus trust me with the Rod.”

Aimée, who had been silent up until this point decided to speak up, “Hey, now that you have the rod, couldn’t you force the dragon council to let us go free?”

Before Martina could blow up at Aimée, I interjected, “I don’t think so. The Ritual felt magical to me. I don’t think I could betray them even if I wanted to.”

>>27733562
Aimee is a thinking woman. She is THAT guy. And I like it.

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>>27733562
I turned to Martina, “You can go home if you wish. You’re no longer required to worry about the Rod. I can handle the journey to Isocrates’ lands myself-“

She cut me off with a roar that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in her draconic form, “I will absolutely not! You’re- you’re in this damned mess because of your stupid human sense of honor and I’m not going to let you get yourself killed after everything I did to save you the last time you helped me!”

“I’m coming too!” Much to my surprise, this came from Aimée. “You saved my life as well and I’d like to pay you back!”

Martina snorted, “Oh? And how could you possibly help us? I doubt there will be a great deal of furniture to dust or beds to make on this journey!”

“I- I can help with his armor! I’m good at keeping things clean and all the guards at my last lady’s house always companied about how their armor got rusty! And I can help him put it on in the future too! You didn't even try to help him last time! And finally I know a few tricks my father taught me!”

>>27733189
how to train your dragon.

>>27733731
>She wants his bod so hard she's willing to become a glorified pack mule.

Waiting with vigor for when Martina walks in on him and her "changing armor".

>>27733731
please be acrobatic. please be acrobatic. please be acrobatic. please be acrobatic.

>>27733731
calling it now, he is going to be hunted by adventurers, crazy wizards, fellow knights, other dragons, by god this quest will be awesome.

>>27733841
So by D&D conventions, we have a mage, a warrior/knight, so we now need a thief.

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>>27733731
To stop the impending fight, I decided that I should probably try to move the focus away from what they were or weren’t willing to do to what they could do. “Aimée, what are these tricks your father taught you?”

Aimée turned to me, “Well I never knew exactly what he did for a living growing up. He was often gone at nights and sometimes for long periods at a time. Eventually I was able to make some educated guesses, but I never asked him outright. When he was home he always taught me… unusual skills. Stuff my mother never approved of; such as how to pick locks including those of manacles behind your back, how to lift a purse off someone, where the best places to hide was, and how to move around quietly without being seen.”

“So all the things a Lady’s maid shouldn’t know?” I asked.

“Ha, actually some of those skills were very useful as a maid. But yes.”

>>27733829
what can i say, i guess she liked what she saw under that armor.

>>27733871
I am excited for it.

>>27733880

Knight, Arcane Powerhouse who can crush you easily and can fly, and a rogue.

Let the good times roll.

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>>27733841
>>27733875
Seriously guys. I'm going to need you to stop reading my mind if this story is going to have any form of suspense at all.

>>27733880
>maid thief

Perfection.

>>27733880
>>27733871
>>27733875
FUCK YES.

>>27733906
you are still better than anyone,more than me, since i can't turn all of my ideas into practical words.

really looking forward for more!

>>27733906
When we are participating we are entertained. Good write anon, pray that you keep on writing.

>>27733738
I am not sure if I see it.

>>27733875
all this party needs now the NOT BI-male archer elf.

>>27734006
>Not having some good old fashioned awkward ho yay

Queer.

>>27734006
What about the dwarf? And the wise old man? Wait, we have a wise old dragon to woo.

>>27734038
Martina has that one covered.

So when do we take bets on when the dragon counsel will screw us over with the bond?

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>>27733880
“Well that’s certainly useful. So we have a dragon who’s a talented healer, a maid who can handle locks and stealth, can you do traps too Aimée?” A quick and eager nod from her confirmed this so I continued, “and me who is at least an acceptable swordsman. We should be good to set out. So now all we need is a map and a sense of direction.”

Fortunately for us, Regulus was as fair as Maximus made him out to be. He gave us a map of all the old holdings that Isocrates ruled and enough money to cover provisions several times over. We’re spending one last night here in the fortress, and then we’re heading out on our quest.

Hope to live to write in you again soon.

>>27734006
nah he actually needs that stereotypical funny best friend that will die first.

>>27734077
thank you KotR!

>>27734169
Not done yet! Just the end of a journal entry.

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>>27734077
Dear Journal,

Our quest started off well enough. Martina flew us to the outskirts of civilization and landed far enough away from a village to not cause any alarm. We entered town soon after midday and went to the general store to purchase supplies. Aimée protested that we should go to the tavern on the grounds that ‘All good quests start in a tavern’ but she was overruled on the grounds that although I don’t mind a drink now and then, it was barely morning and the only people who drank that early were those with a serious problem. We wound up having to go to the tavern anyways because it turned out that the man who ran the general store during the day also ran the tavern in the evening and he was sleeping in late due to sampling too much of his stock the night before. We managed to rouse him and get him to open up is stores for us with the promise of spending a great deal. We certainly did that at least. Martina bought enough meat to feed an army (or one dragon as the case may be) and watching the store keep’s eyes widen as she stuffed it all into some sort of bottomless bag she carries was a sight to see. We also picked up the other equipment we would need for the trip, from poles of unusual sizes, extra ropes and grapples, tents, alchemical supplies, the whole nine yards.

>>27734321
Haha, the bottemless bag!

Now we can pull all kinds of tricks on the boss!

>>27734321
>poles of unusual sizes

wat

>>27734388
Are they imobile? And we have a bag of holding?

Can you guess where this would lead?

>>27734388
Nine, ten and eleven foot poles.

>>27734388
>>27734412
Sorry, I was actually thinking of the 10-Foot variety.

>>27734321
After buying half the poor man’s inventory we decided to have lunch and orient ourselves before setting off.

“Alright. It looks like we’re going to have to head east, past this city called Hammerburg, it’s a dwarven settlement, no surprises there. As such we should be able to pick up some decent metalwork there. After that we wind up in Albero Città, an elven town, huh I didn’t know elves and dwarves lived that close together. But there we should be able to use their library to find out more about this Isocrates guy.”

Martina cut in, “While were in Albero Città, we should also try to purchase some magic scrolls. I could use some more spells.”

And with that we set out. Hopefully this will be an uneventful journey. See you soon.

>Pretty bland update, I know.

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>>27734688
>Hammerburg

>>27734688
Filler is good for the soul.

Not terribly exiting, but good for the soul.

>>27734757
I like it.

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>>27734688
Dear Journal,

It was not an uneventful journey. Just two days after we set out for Hammerburg, we were waylaid by enemies and had to defend ourselves. After leaving the small town we purchased provisions in, we gained a safe distance and Martina transformed into a dragon again. We took to the air and were fine for the rest of the day. However this morning upon taking off, some sort of spell came from the ground and hit Martina.

As she cried out in pain, I called out, “Are you okay?” Not the most clever thing to say, but its what you do when someone’s hurt.

Martina looked back at Aimée and me. I could see tears of pain in her eyes as she said, “It’s a wingbinder spell! I… can't… maintain…. altitude! We’re going to crash!”

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>>27734757
Yeah...

I wanted to give the dwarves German naming conventions. Unfortunately hammer in German is... well hammer. So yeah.

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>>27734938
I see a side quest coming up: urgently acquire rings of feather-fall.

>>27734979
>hammer in German is Hammer
...Oh. Carry on then.

>>27735003
That is an amazing .gif, thank you. I always wondered what the exact order of the armor pieces was.

should some one archive this?

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>>27734321

>No largeish rock
>mfw

>>27735145
I don't get it

>>27735145
Please explain anon.

>>27735040

Hammerberg is also a given last name.

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>>27734938
We did crash, rather hard at that. Fortunately for us Martina was able to maintain enough control that we didn’t plummet directly to the ground. As the dust cleared, I saw some figures heading towards us. I turned around to tell Aimée to get down, but she was already disappearing into the undergrowth of the surrounding woods and it looked like she was going to circle around our ambushers. Clever girl.

“So, André. You think this is the group?”

“Of course it is you damned idiot! How many people do you see go by on dragon back? Lets just kill the damn lot of them and take this stupid rod back to Mr. Aldric, okay?”

Well that did it. They were deliberately hunting us and I had to figure out why.

>>27735182
>>27735189

Rope+largeish or mediumish rock=any problem solved.

Need to traverse a chasm? rope+largeish rock.
Have a bunch of enemies surrounding you? rope+largeish rock
Don't have a blunt weapon? rope+largeish rock
Need a ranged weapon? rope+largeish rock
Not allowed to bring weapons into this establishment?

And the list goes on.

>>27735394
This is a wonderous invention indeed!

>>27735394

Sorry,

Don't have a blunt weapon? Largeish rock*

>>27735314
>she was going to circle around our ambushers. Clever girl.
I am officially out of reaction images

>>27735394
And if your DM starts giving you a -4 to-hit for using an improvised weapon, just get a smaller rock and put it in a bag for an instant sap.

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Rolled 20

>>27735314
There were six of them all told. Two looked like fighting types, two more had bows drawn, the last one was wearing armor and a mace and was displaying some sort of religious iconography making me assume he was a cleric of some sort, meaning the last one, the man in robes, had to be the wizard that threw the spell at Martina.

“We’re outnumbered two to one,” I thought to myself, then I looked to Martina, still shuddering from the damage caused by the spell and the fall, “and one of us can’t stand, let alone fight and the other is a maid who happened to have some training from her father. Looks like this one is up to you ‘Knight.’”

My next thought was to decide on the priority target, after deciding it was the wizard (its always the wizard) I had to figure out a way to get past those first two fighters and into close combat with him. Fortunately, this was an exceptionally undisciplined group, they were still arguing with each other as they approached us, not looking for survivors or other threats. This could leave me with an opening to exploit, if the two men on guard were as slow to react as I thought.

Fortunately for me they were. As the first fighter turned to the second to argue about something (I believe that it was about what he did or didn’t do to the other’s sister) I charged the mage. Unfortunately he wasn’t as slow as his fighter compatriots were and with a quick word he shot off a spell. I gasped with pain as a bolt of fire burst from his hand and into my chest, but by then I was within striking range. Much to my surprise as I swung my sword down on him, it burst into fire itself! It looks like the blade I picked up in Martina’s tower is a bit better than the average sword. I’m not sure how much damage the flames did as my cut struck the mage’s neck, killing him instantly but they were good to fend off the two fighters as they whirled around to face me.

>>27735670
>nat 20
Oh god yes.

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>>27735705
Forgot I left my dice on. Appropriate as hell though.

>>27735670
>the first roll in the thread is a natural twenty

Welp, looks like this adventure has been blessed by the gods.

>>27735794
That's what they want you to think. Then you charge into a nasty situation and it's 1's all the way down.

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>>27735670
All of the sudden I heard a low chanting. Backing up to gain safe distance from the fighters I looked to my right to see the cleric from before. Unfortunately he was still up and moving and was beginning to cast a spell of his own. All of the sudden, he stopped. A small trickle of blood came from his mouth and he slumped over to reveal Aimée standing behind him, a small red stained dagger in her hands.

Turning back to the fighters with renewed confidence, I suddenly had to duck as the archers I had completely been ignoring fired at me. Fortunately one missed and my armor deflected the other’s shot but it was close. I had to jump back in order to keep parrying and deflecting the spear and sword blows of the fighters as they closed with me next. I saw Aimée moving to attempt to get behind the archers, so I decided to focus on the fighters. I bashed the first one’s shield out of the way entirely before cutting into his shoulder, dropping him to the ground, before whirling to cut into the other’s torso, effectively ending him. Then I heard the scream. While one archer was still focused on me, the other had the presence of mind to keep an eye on his surroundings. He had turned as Aimée was approaching and shot her. From the blood spilling out of her it looked serious.

>>27735940
Those bastards.

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>>27735940
With Aimée down the two archers could focus on me, for all the good it did them. My armor was crafted by some of the best of the Realm’s smiths and enchanted further to boot. Charging forward into the nearest one I attacked, not even bothering to concern myself with the small dagger he was frantically trying to draw. He fell, in nearly two pieces, as I whirled on the last one, the one that shot Aimée. Then that horrible little part of me spoke up, the part of me that is always sensible and rational, even when I’d like nothing more than to be an instrument of justice and revenge. It said, “Who is Mr. Aldric? You don’t know do you? And you killed everyone who does, everyone except this man here. He might be important, don’t you think?” Sometimes I hate being me.

>>27736350

And so the knight quickly pulls out his largeish rock.

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>>27736350
Instead of cutting his neck from his shoulders as I would have liked, I settled for striking the bow from his hand. Pointing my blade at his exposed eyes I told him in my most intimidating voice, “Don’t. Don’t try anything. Anything at all. Or I’ll cut you up and feed you to the dragon you injured.”

Unfortunately for my innate sense of justice he complied fully. As he stood there, not moving I ran over to Aimée to check on her. She was in a bad way. I dragged her over to the crash site where Martina was still laying injured.

“Martina! Aimée is hurt badly and getting worse, is there anything you can do?”

“Not like this, Knight… but check the bags… potions in there… might help.”

After what was definitely too long rummaging through her bags (Turns out bottomless bags have their downsides too) I found some potions labeled healing. I ran back to Aimée as fast as I could to pour them down her throat. After the last one went down, Aimée was still not conscious, but her breathing had stabilized and she wasn’t bleeding out anymore. She would live at least.

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Alright everyone. I've got to get some sleep soon. I'll try to be back sometime tomorrow. I'll also look into the Twitter idea to keep people posted about what's going on. If you want to keep the thread alive until I get back or archive it it would be appreciated.

>>27736641
sleep well knight! thank you for the read!

>>27736641
Thanks OP!

>>27736641
Nice one, anon. Sleep well

bump

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Awaiting the knight bump

Still waiting on OP. A new quest is exactly what this knight needed. It's still a harem story (does two count as a 'harem'?) but now it's a harem story with PLOT! And that makes all the difference.

>>27742759
You could argue that it's a harem, but I think Love Triangle fits it best as of now. Once you start getting more girls, then you have a proper harem.

You know, this would probably be awesome as a quest...

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>>27741700
>>27742759
>>27742841
Hey. I'm still alive. I need to get leaving for an interview soon though. I'll be back this afternoon to continue writing.

>>27742841
While I would like to run a quest Wrenloft, I think I'm going to keep this as a story for now. Maybe for the sequel...

>>27742974
sounds nice.

>>27735003
Yeah, see, I fucking SAID they were essential. And they're not just for bailing out of high windows after ravishing high-born girls.

>>27734938
Too much routine, they've been following you and taking notes.

>>27742974
We'll be waiting, good luck for the interview.

>>27743051
Okay, okay. I admit. Farming sucks. Had to hire half the village to get the harvest in before it rotted in the fields. And they expected feeding as well as paying. Harvest barely covered the cost of all the labour. I really don't believe people LIVE like this.

Fuck farming. I'm going back to knighting. Apparently I can rent the land to the other farmers around for them to grow crops on and pay me for the privilege. Which is pretty sweet, should they pay up. I doubt they will, but it's better than letting the land go to waste.

So, yeah. Time to go rescue some wenches from orcs or gnolls or some shit, because princesses are way too high-strung. Maybe I can leave farm-wench here to manage things, and go spread wild oats, if you know what I mean.

bump

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Okay. I'm back. Story resumes soon.

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>>27745509
excellent!

>>27745509
This is good

>>27745509
Is good story. Would friend dragon again. Big, like oxen on steroid. Not good eat, but good carry.

>>27745509
How soon is 'soon'?

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>>27736614
Then I turned to the archer. Surprisingly he was still there. I had expected him to try and run while I went for the potions, but here he was. Walking up to him, I told him to sit down. With some of our rope (and the aid of a heavy rock), I tied him up securely so he couldn’t run. Then sitting down to face him, I looked him in the eye and asked, “So why did the six of you decide to go and attack a dragon that happened to be flying by?”

He tried to lie to me at first. Something about how dragons were evil creatures, etc. It wasn’t working on me today. “No. Stop. I heard you lot talking about how you were waiting for us. Why?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything. You don’t scare me!”

>>27746319
I'm willing to bet that the dragoness does...

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>>27746319
yes

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>>27746319
At this point Martina shifted, eliciting a groan from her. While to me it was clearly a groan of pain, the wingbinder spell still doing a number on her, to the archer it must have sounded like a roar.

He paled and backpedaled most admirably, “All right! All right! I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Just don’t sic your dragon on me!”

“I am just a mercenary! I got hired by this guy, Mr. Aldric to ambush a group of people and a dragon on the way east! He’s the guy who set the wizard up with that spell that downed your dragon!”

“Who is Mr. Aldric?” I asked impatiently.

“I don’t know! He contacted us! Send the message, a little gold to get us interested, and the wingbinder scroll! Then he told us where to wait and promised us more money if we did the job right!”

“Where did he contact you?” I exclaimed, almost shouting.

“We were in Hammerburg at the time! The messenger found us at the Rusting Anvil Inn! I don’t know anything else! I swear!”

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>>27746445
It seemed that he was telling the truth about that at least, but I wouldn’t be letting him go yet. I went over to Aimée, gently picked her up, and moved her near to Martina. As I approached the dragoness, I asked, “Martina, are you feeling better?”

My response was a low groaning from her and, “Yes. I think so. It will be days before I can fly again, but I can at least shape shift, make life easier on all of us.” With that she again morphed into her humanoid form. Now that her form was somewhat less armored and scaled, I could see and recognize just how bad the damage was. One of her arms was broken badly, there were cuts and bruises all over her body, and at least half her ribs were broken.

“Oh Gods. You are badly hurt aren’t you?”

“Its okay, Knight I should be able to- Ahh!”

That last shriek of pain, in a human voice now, hurt me more than any blow in that battle. I gently helped her to sit down and set about making a splint and bandaging her. As I poured some water from my waterskin onto a rag and began to dab at a long cut below her collarbone, Martina spoke up, “S-Sir Knight, w-what are you doing?”

>>27746622
Wait a minute, Martina is supposed to be a competent healer. Couldn't she just heal her own wounds and be walking again within five minutes?

>>27746691
Not if her hands are too damaged to cast.

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>>27746622
“Relax, Martina, I just need to ensure these wounds get cleaned in time. You’re too injured to do anything, so just sit back and let me help. I may need some advice or instruction though.”

“You, you need to set the bones. Too many of them are broken. Start with my hands and arms first. That way I can use a healing potion and be able to heal myself.”

I complied as best I could, wincing every time she gasped with pain, but soon her hands were set to her satisfaction. “Now please, the potion.”

I nodded and handed her the remaining healing potion. “Be careful, this is our last one.”

“Understood. After this however I should be able to heal both myself and the maid girl.”

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>>27747065
Soon both Martina and Aimée were back up and moving, we were getting ready to move on when I said, “I think we’ve seen our last day of flying for some time. If this Mr. Aldric is hiring mercenaries to hunt us down, flying around on Martina is only going to draw them to us faster.

“Agreed, and I have no desire to feel the effects of a wingbinder spell again,” Martina added.

Aimée nodded as well, “Fine with me, but now I need to ask, what do we do about him?” she asked, turning to face the bound up archer.

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>>27747157
>Alright. I'm back in form. Things should be going at a better pace for now.

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>>27747157
The man blanched. “H-hey now! There’s no need to do anything drastic! If you let me go I won’t even go near Hammerburg again! Please!”

I turned to Martina and Aimée and guided them out of our prisoner’s hearing range. “What do you two think? I’m not exactly the type to kill helpless prisoners, but he was hunting us and he did hurt you both.”

Martina rolled her eyes, “If his life means so much to you then spare him if you want. I don’t see why you bother though.”

Aimée frowned, “If it was in the middle of a fight then yeah I’d take him down in an instant, but now? It would just feel wrong somehow. Lets just let him go. But we need to take his stuff to sell later first!”

>Capcha: Nicura island
>Our party's next destination?

>>27747346
Nicura island seems to be the place they go to celebrate a quest well done.

>>27747346
We shouldn't forget to take all the other people's stuff

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>>27747346
It wasn’t long before we were back on the road, heading towards Hammerburg. Fortunately for us, the mercenaries we killed had rode out here and we found their horses tied up nearby. We took one for each of us, let the captive archer keep one, and the remaining two we took to sell. Looking at the bodies themselves was mostly futile, as their equipment was mostly poorly maintained. We found a few more potions and some sort of magical ring on the cleric and Martina found some useful spells in the wizard’s spell book. We dropped the archer off at a crossroads where he reaffirmed his vow to never bother us again and then we headed off to Hammerburg.

Fortunately the rest of the trip passed without incident and we arrived at Hammerburg, or at least the surface entrance to it. Aimée looked around confused. “Where is it?” All I see is an overlarge gazebo. Is that the entire town?”

I laughed at her and guided our horses into the center of the gazebo. I looked at Aimée and told her to watch carefully, and pulled a lever near the center of the platform. As the floor slowly dropped, lowering us into the actual city of Hammerburg, her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

>>27747652
>All I see is an overlarge gazebo

I think we've found our BBEG.

>>27747652
>>27747786
Okay guys, everyone stay calm! We have a dragon on our side! Fire works against gazebos, right?

Sadly, I have to sleep now, but this'll make for good reading in the morning. Good night /tg/. Love you all. Yes, even you. You know who you are, sitting there feeling all bad about yourself.

>>27747861
H-how?

>>27747861
>using fire against gazebos
fucking pleb. only arrows work on such beasts.

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>>27747652
When we entered the city we got directions to the nearest market. We sold the mercenaries extra equipment there and made a few purchases as well. We got a nice set of mithril chain for Aimée, and had the rings threaded with cloth to prevent clinking when she was trying to be stealthy, got the ring identified as having a minor protective charm, it was agreed that I keep it for now as I was the front line fighter and the bulk of enemy attacks were aimed at me, and most importantly got directions to the Rusting Anvil Inn.

The rusting anvil inn was a typical dwarven building, which meant that it would pass as a military fortification in many other places. The only thing distinguishing it from the other buildings around it was the smell and sounds of a tavern/inn and the rusting anvil fastened above the doorframe.

Ducking to enter the building, we passed under the anvil only to hear a shouting match going on inside.

“Siegbert! Siegburt where are you? Damned boy!”

“What is it father? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Did you realize what you put on tap for tonight? That… that… abomination, is not fit to be called beer! It’s a vile concoction made by dwarven traitors who got mixed up with some thrice accursed human mages and alchemists! It isn’t a real ale!”

“IT’S NOT AN ALE FATHER. ITS CALLED A LAGER! AND GET USED TO IT BECAUSE IT IS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF BEER!”

“DO YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR TRADITON? NO RESPECT FOR THE ART OF BREWING? NO SON OF MINE WILL SERVE THAT ABOMINATION IN MY TAVERN! NOW EITHER GET YOUR HEAD STRAITENED OUT OR GET OUT OF MY INN! YOU HAVE AN HOUR TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND!”

And with that the dwarven patriarch stormed off.

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>>27747963

>>27747976
oh, hey, new party member

>>27747976
Well this is obviously going to be a new party member. What remains to be seen is if he is an alchemist or another warrior, as both seem to be a possibility.

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>>27747976
First thing that came to my mind

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>>27748094
Fookin' saved.

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>>27747976
>yfw when the party gets into an adventure full of hijinks in order to prove that Lager is the King of all Beers.

>>27748133
You know, I would gladly run that as a quest some day.

>>27748147
We will be here. Don't you worry.

>conclusion sariffic
Captcha agrees.

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>>27747976
Cautiously we walked up to the remaining dwarf. He appeared to be deep in thought. Eventually I hazarded to interrupt him, “Excuse me good dwarf, could you help me?”

The young dwarf turned around, “Oh sorry there. I was thinking and didn’t notice you. Can I interest you in a fine lager? It’s on special! Buy some; get it all free before my idiot father throws it all out!”

“I’ll buy all your lager and more if you can answer a few questions for me.”

One moderately expensive financial transaction later, Martina was grumbling about how her bottomless bag wasn’t actually literally bottomless and that too much of it was going to storing this beer, and I was sitting at a table with the young dwarf.

“I’ll keep this quick as I suspect that your father may not take kindly to you selling me all this… lager did you call it?”

“Yes! Did you notice the smoother and crisper feel? The subtle and balanced aroma? The-“

I cut him off here, I had the feeling he could go on all day about this, “I liked it a lot. But-“

“But yes! It’s not as good as it could be! Its supposed to be served colder than ales, but because of my backwards father I cannot get some cooling enchantments done in this establishment! I have some extra chilling crystals that you can rub on the outside of the barrels to cool the beer down, I’ll give them to you free because you bought everything! In fact-“

“Err… thank you, but I had some other questions about-“

“About how it was made? Only natural! Through a combination of human magic, dwarven alchemy, and both of our brewing traditions combined-“

“No! About some people that tried to kill us!”

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>>27748252
I've got a good feeling about this dorf.

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>>27748252
Siegbert looked taken aback at this, “Huh? Wha?”

“Some days ago, a group of mercenaries ambushed me and some of my friends. They were evidently hired in this inn.”

“Hmm… That is concerning. Can you describe them for me?”

I gave him the general description of the mercenaries. Siegbert thought for a moment and then called out, “Sieghild! Can you come over for a moment!”

A rather… well rounded.... dwarven barmaid came up to us. “What do you want Siegbert? I’m not sticking my neck out for you with father again for this lager fad again.”

“Its not a fad! It’s the future of beer! Its-“

I cut him off with a cough.

“Right, sorry. This isn’t a question about the perfectly good drink of lager. Its about some customers that were in here.”

He reiterated the description of the mercenaries that I gave him, looking to me for clarification from time to time.

>>27748252
>chilling crystal
So we got a potential alchemist

>>27748472
If the dwarf we pick up in this city isn't a master of drunken fist-play I'll eat my shorts.

>Implying that the party will pick up a new member

>>27748780
I'm just awaiting inevitable drunk dragon shenanigans.

>>27748799
shenanigans or "shenanigans"

>>27748853
yes.

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>>27748799
>>27748853
>>27748882

>>27748853
Perfect. I am onboard.

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>>27748472
Sieghild looked a bit worried as she responded, “Oh I remember them alright. Were causing a lot of fuss. And I remember the messenger who met them too. The problem is… the problem is that he looked like he was with the…”

I interrupted, “With the what? Come on this is important to us!”

Sieghild sighed, “He looked like he was with the Schatten Gilde.”

This meant nothing to me, “The Schatten Gilde? What’s that?”

Siegbert looked at me strangely. “The Schatten Gilde is the primary criminal organization here in Hammerburg. If your mercenaries were contacted by them, someone must really want you dead.”

Martina, Aimée, and I looked at each other. “Thank you for your help gentledwarves. I think we’re off to find the Schatten Gilde. Thank you for your time.”

>Better pic of Sieghild

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>>27749106
I tipped both of them and as we were about to leave I heard Siegbert calling me, “Hey! Wait!”

I turned around and he was standing there awkwardly. “Err… well… can I come with you?”

Martina sputtered, “What? You want to come with us? Why?”

“Well things here at home aren’t exactly the best right now, and I feel that some time away from here will help clear the air at least. Come on, I’m a decent alchemist and a damned good brewer and you could do worse than taking me!”

After a few minutes of debate between the three of us, I turned to him. “Well if you’re sure. We are in the middle of a rather lengthy quest, we won’t be coming back here for some time.”

Siegbert beamed, “All the better then! Let me grab my things and we’ll get going then!”

Sieghild sighed, “How did I know it would come to this? Go on brother, I’ll try to stem father’s wrath a bit when he finds out you’re gone.”

Siegbert made his farewells with his sister and rushed up to grab his stuff. A few minutes later we were on the road to another bar where Siegbert assured us that Schatten Gilde members could be found.

When we arrived at this bar, by the name of The Blade Shards, we heard the sounds of typical tavern carousing. However the second we opened the door, everything fell silent. We could feel the eyes of the entire place upon us. We took a seat out of the way of everything to plan how to handle this.

“Well, we can’t just walk up there and demand to speak to their secret criminal organization!” I hissed.
“I know that, did you have a plan when you came in here or were you just hoping things would drop into your lap?” Martina snapped back at me.

Aimée sighed, stood up, and walked over to the bar.

“What does she think she’s doing?” Siegbert whispered at me.

“What ever she thinks she’s doing, she’s doing it properly it appears.”

>>27749130
So our Jan does not sale turnips but sale lager?

Sold!

>>27749173
I'm pretty sure there are actually turnip beers.

>Captcha: veWongr revolts
>I guess I would too if I only had turnip beer.

>>27749189
Will he have awesome siblings spread throughout the world for us to encounter?

Double sold!

>>27749189
Google says yes
>captcha: Pub Moveryed
Okay then.

>>27749217
>captcha: Pub Moveryed
>The whole Pub was Moveryed? I didn't konw Turnip Beer was that bad.

>Captcha: Bailies Ilettle

>Come on! Leave Bailey's out of this!

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>>27749130
Indeed Aimée somehow managed to make herself somehow belong to the group of dwarves she was talking to. They were laughing and joking like old friends. I simply marveled at her father’s ability to teach her skills without ever actually revealing what he did for a living.

After several hours of watching Aimée socialize with the strange dwarves, she returned to us. “Alright, I think I might have an in with the Schatten Gilde.”

Martina squawked, “What? Already? After only knowing them for a few hours? How?”

Aimée smiled. “Its easy. You just need to say the right words. In the right language too, I guess. Well, its not really a language but rather a special Cant that only Thieves are supposed to know, but its all the same really.”

I just shook my head and smiled.

Several hours later a carriage pulled up to the front of The Blade Shards. A dwarf clad in black came in and came up to us. Evidently he was to take us to the Schatten Gilde higher-ups. I had a bad feeling about it, but we got in the carriage and it sped off into the darkness of the lower quarters.

>>27749259
capatcha go home, you're drunk
>this niaugg
You can't even get out "this nigga', I'll ever drive you.

>>27749352
Are we sure she is not a bard in disguise?

>>27749382
I think maid class gives inherent charisma bonuses.

>>27749382
this is my fetish

>>27749382
Guys. Her father taught her thieving skills. Her daddy goes out at night and does things no one can talk about (bedding women). Her daddy is a bard.

>>27749382
>>27749527
In case you two missed it:
>“Its easy. You just need to say the right words. In the right language too, I guess. Well, its not really a language but rather a special Cant that only Thieves are supposed to know, but its all the same really.”
Sounds like bardic magic to me.

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>>27749352
After what felt like ages of twists and turns in dark tunnels, my gut feeling getting worse and worse with each minute, we came to a small building. The carriage driver escorted us inside and led us to a set of stairs. We followed them down to reveal that the small building above, was mealy the entrance to a large compound below. There were at least a few lights here so we could see a little as we were being escorted to our meeting. I could see dwarves, garbed in black practicing the arts of theft, mugging, and murder.

Finally we reached our destination. A small black table with chairs for five set around it was in the center of the room. Leaning against the wall was a young dwarf woman in fitted red and black leather armor and an array of dangerous looking lives at her belt. In the fifth chair, at the head of the table, was an old dwarf man. He stared at us quietly each in turn, before speaking, “So. What can the Schatten Gilde do for a knight, a maid, an alchemist…” he paused, staring intently at Martina before continuing, “and a dragon?”

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>>27749823
Siegbert looked taken aback at the last bit but I gave him a look that said “I’ll explain later,” and he seemed to calm down.

Martina spoke first, “Recently one of your members delivered a message to some mercenaries. This message was from a Mr. Aldric. We’re simply trying to get in touch with him.”

“Ah yes. Mr. Aldric. He had a very unusual request for us.”

Encouraged, Martina spoke again, “Go on….”

“Yes. You see we offer a wide variety of services within the city. However this is the first time we were contracted as mere messengers. However there was a secondary request attached to Mr. Aldric’s commission. It was sealed and evidently can only be opened under certain conditions. He told us to try to open it if we were ever met by a group containing a human knight, a young maid, and a dragon.”

The old dwarf looked at us closely. “Now would that be you?”

>>27749841
Panic. Shadowruns!

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Hey, quick question. Who's still here?

>>27750658
Yes?

Rolled 14

>>27750658
me

>>27750658
Reporting

>>27750658
YOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>27750658
Yes sir.

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>>27750709
>>27750717
>>27750718
>>27750723

Cool thanks! Just seeing if people were still around!

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>>27749841
The old dwarf looked at us closely. “Now would that be you?”

He continued, “Don’t bother answering. We’ll find out soon enough.”

He pulled out a black disc with some strange runes on it. As he did, I felt Isocrates’ Rod grow warm where I stored it in my belt. As it did, the runes on the black disc began to glow a blue color and it cracked into two pieces; immediately black smoke poured out of the disc, forming the image of a massive hooded figure.

A raspy voice filled the room, “Ahh. Guildmaster Vinzenz of the Schatten Gilde I presume? I see you have found the people I described. Good, now here is the second part of my offer. Do you know the large rooms you use for training in endurance and running? Of course you do, its your organization after all. Here is my offer, if you kill these people for me, I’ll fill one of those rooms with gold and gems. As a sample of my generosity, please take the inside of the disc as a partial payment. Good day, Guildmaster.”

>>27750837
Ask the guildmaster whether he can trust anyone who can offer this. If he is powerful enough to get the gold, is he not powerful enough to get it back?

Wait, this is not a quest. No user input. Du'oh.

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>>27750906
Its fine! I certainly appreciate the ideas, and it lets me get a feel for how people are enjoying the story (or not as the case may be).

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>>27750837
As the smoke faded, I could indeed see that the inside of the disc was packed with gold and gems, a small fortunes’ worth. Guildmaster Vinzenz looked at us and asked, “I don’t suppose you’d care to try to beat his offer? Oh well I suppose that’s asking a bit much. I’m sorry, but business is business. Nadja, would you please?” the dwarf woman leaning against the wall suddenly sprung to action. She kicked open the door, revealing a small squad of thugs and soldiers; before we could react, she tumbled across the room to place one of her knives near my throat. The other guards readied crossbows and aimed them at my compatriots.

As Vinzenz stood up, he looked at Nadja and asked, “Can you please clean up the mess when you’re done this time?” He then took the disc and walked out of the room without another word.

After he left, Nadja leaned in towards me and whispered under her breath, “Oh its been a while since I got a chance to get my blade wet. We’re going to have so much fun together.”

>>27750985
>Dwarven women!
Give them the lager and we will be buddies.

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>>27750985
As I was preparing my story to tell the Gods, the door burst open again. Suddenly an armored dwarven figure was in the center of the Schatten Gilde thugs, a hulking tower shield in one hand, a battleaxe in the next. In a whirlwind of steel and blood, the dwarf cut each of them apart before they could react. Nadja pulled back, stunned, and I took the opportunity to grab my own weapon and strike at her. Unfortunately she was back on her feet quickly and dodged my strike. As Martina, Siegbert, Aimée, and the armored figure surrounded Nadja, she realized she was outmatched and pulled some vial out of her belt. She threw it against the ground and suddenly black smoke was everywhere. When it cleared, she was gone.

>>27751138
You have my axe?

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>>27751138
After securing the area, I turned to the armored figure to thank them, but Siegbert cut me off, “Sieghild, what are you doing here?”

The armored whirlwind of death I saw earlier removed her helmet to reveal the smiling face of the friendly barmaid from earlier. I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised, I’ve met my share of deadly women before, but they usually are professional soldiers or otherwise have a full time job that involves directing violence towards others. I never met one who had a day job as a bar wench before.

“Well Siegbert, father was rather upset about you running away with a group of adventurers.”

I was about to object to being called an adventurer, but on reflection I realized that that was exactly what I had become of late. Considering my usual job involved cleaning up after the aftermath of an adventuring party’s foolishness, it was a bit depressing.

Sieghild continued, “He didn’t actually want you to leave, despite your lager obsession, so he sent me to bring you back. His exact words were to ‘Go out there and find your damn fool brother and don’t come back without him!’”

Siegbert sighed, “That does sound like father, but I can’t go now! This is getting interesting! We have a dragon, a knight, and… and well some sort of maid – but a really interesting maid though! And the Schatten Gilde had this special contract from this mysterious figure that wanted us dead and everything! This is just like one of Uncle Wolfgang’s stories! I can’t back out now!”

Sieghild sighed and looked at me, “Is this true? And if it is, do you even want my brother along?”

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>>27751339
I looked at Martina and Aimée, they nodded, “Well Sieghild, he was instrumental in helping us find the Schatten Gilde. Without him we’d still be looking for a place like that inn. So, yes we do want him. And his story is actually true.”

Sieghild didn’t quite look convinced, admittedly a story about a dragon is a bit hard to swallow, but relented. “All right. Then where are we going?”

Siegbert exclaimed, “What? What do you mean ‘we?’ Why are you coming?”

Sieghild rolled her eyes and said, “Didn’t you hear me? Father said not to come back without you, so I’m not. I’m going with you.”

>>27751362
Hahahaha, we have the best maid now. Aime is just best bard.

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>>27751362
>And I just found a better picture for Sieghild.

>>27751425
>Implying she won't be a badass battle maiden

Fool.

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Hey brief intermission for me to organize all the pictures I've downloaded for this story. It shouldn't be more than 10 minutes or so.

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>>27751362
The two of them argued for several minutes until they came to a compromise which was basically Sieghild getting what she wanted by staying here and Siegbert having to deal with it.

I coughed politely to get their attention, “If you two are done arguing, we need to find a way out of this place.”

Martina added in, “And look for clues about who this Mr. Aldric is.”

“Yeah! And look for valuable treasures!” Aimée finished.

>>27751766
Aimee is showing her chaotic good side as a bard.

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>>27751766
Our concerns were well placed, when we looked outside, we saw a small squadron of guards creeping down the hallway towards us. There were dozens of them, with all varieties of weapons.

“All right,” I said, “we can hold them off in this hallway. Here their large numbers won’t help them, however we need to be cautious. If a second band of guards comes around from the other direction, we’re dead for sure.”

Martina disagreed, “I have a better idea. Protect me so I can get close to them.”

“What? Are you out of your mind?”

“Sir Knight, trust me on this.”

I sighed and relented. Thankfully between my shield and my armor, I was able to physically cover Martina so she could get close enough to the dwarven thugs heading towards us.

Martina suddenly barked, “Knight, drop now!”

I did so without hesitating for some reason, it was a good thing too as suddenly Martina breathed fire. I didn’t know before that they could do that in their humanoid form, but it was certainly effective in these close quarters. When she was done, the entire dwarven block was destroyed.

Aimée let out a low whistle and began to poke through the remains to see what could be salvaged. I turned to the rest of the group to come up with a plan.

“Okay. So we’re stuck in the middle of this complex of unknown size with an unknown number of enemies looking for both a way out and information on a certain Mr. Aldric. So-“

Sieghild cut me off at this point, “Actually I know a way in and out. I found you guys remember? I should be able to work our way back there. However I didn’t see anything about a Mr. Aldric so I can’t help you there.”

>>27751532
rog

>>27751883
“Well this makes things at least a little bit easier then. All we have to do is find that Guildmaster and make him talk. Shouldn’t be too hard with Martina’s enchantment spells.”

And so we set out throughout this underground maze of tunnels and doors. Aimée proved her worth over and over by being able to handle most of the traps and locks that blocked our every path. Sieghild and I were able to cut through most opposition, and Martina and Siegbert were quick to aid with magic or healing as the situation required. Finally we came to a section of the lair that was lavishly decorated. The stone floor was replaced by a posh rug, the candles that dimly lit the rest of the compound were replaced by bright lanterns, and there was a general sense that this was the living area of someone important. This conclusion was further strengthened when about a dozen tough looking guards led by Nadja came to block our path.

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>>27752188
“You lot aren’t getting away with this!” Nadja snarled at me.

“Sorry lady, but we need to get through there, and you’re not stopping us.”

With that we fell to combat. Nadja fell back behind her guards, who immediately charged me and Sieghild, well technically they were charging at Siegbert and Martina, but they were intercepted by the two of us. Aimée knew what to do and she moved in to flank the guards and was able to get in some blows to vital areas that took two guards out of the fight. Martina used her magic to turn guard on his allies, he was able to cut two down before he was dropped in turn. Siegbert threw some sort of acid that killed three guards and had to fall back a bit to prepare another dose. I took a blow from one to the side but my armor absorbed most of the impact. I was about to return the blow when I felt a small spike of pain in my side. I looked to see that the fighters blow had dislodged part of my armor plating, and Nadja had came out of nowhere to exploit this opening. Her blow went deep, and her blade was likely poisoned. I began to feel woozy. I was able to strike one return blow against her that cut her shoulder open but looked like she would live as she fell back. At the very least she was healthy enough to spit curses at me as she retreated. As the edges of my vision turned black, I could see Sieghild fighting off the remaining three soldiers and Martina, Aimée, and Siegbert running towards me to assist. Then I blacked out. Again.

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>>27730733
Its been around 8,000 words since I last asked so how are things going with the story? Still enjoying everything? Complaints, comments, concerns?

>>27752316
I'm enjoying it.

>>27752316
Your doing good, I kinda want this to be a quest already.

Just keep writing.

>>27752316
Nigga, you doin' fine.

>>27752382
>quest

I prefer it as a story, actually.

>>27752414
I should clarify.

This is a great story and should remain a story.

But I also wish KOTR would make a quest because I like his writing.

>>27752316
It's great.

>>27752316
Keep writin mate

>>27752430
no. we have enough quests. quests are us telling a story set in their realm. He's telling a story in his realm.

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I'm glad to see that everyone is still enjoying this. I did say that I might write a quest after this is all over, but I want to finish this first.

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>>27752201
When I came to, I saw Martina and Aimée leaning over me looking concerned. When I opened my eyes, relief was evident in their faces.

Martina looked away and began to stammer, “I-I’m glad you didn’t die in this pointless fight,” she began. Aimée on the other hand was much less restrained, she practically leapt on me as she hugged me, “I’m so glad you’re okay! I was worried about you!” The look on Martina’s face was almost comical when she saw this, “What are you doing! Get off him he’s m- He’s still injured! You could reopen a wound or something!”

Sieghild and Siegbert were much less happy. While Siegbert was content to stand down the hallway and look nervous, Sieghild came up to me while Aimée and Martina were arguing. She looked to make sure that they were distracted and then suddenly grabbed my head by my hair, “Alright Knight. Just what in all the Hells did you get my brother in to?”

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>>27752687
Confused I asked her what she meant, under the guise of assisting me, she pulled me to my feet and dragged me down the hall towards a double door. Inside was a rather horrific scene. Guildmaster Vinzenz and what appeared to be several of his advisors and councilors were in there. Each had a hand crossbow in their hand and a crossbow bold in their head. Sieghild looked me in the eyes and pointed to one of the bodies. This dwarf had evidently not killed himself cleanly, the bolt punching through his eyes, not his brain.

Sieghild remained quiet for a moment then said in a low voice, “When we came in he was still alive. He was saying two words over and over. ‘No Trace.’ We checked the firepit, there was a lot of burned paperwork in there. Now, I’m not afraid of a lot, but the Schatten Gilde was something I always respected. If it weren’t for my brother, I wouldn’t even be here. Now it looks like something caused their leaders to off themselves. So tell me. What is going on?”

>>27752794
>the bolt punching through his eyes,
It was poisoned. They are thieves. Otherwise, just a REALLY painful way to do Lasik

>>27752794
Sheit, I'm liking what I'm reading bro

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>>27752977
Holy crap, its BlindSlug. Your work actually was what inspired me to try writefagging myself!

>>27752645
the perspective on his beard just irks me. The fact that you can see more on the far side than the near just...guh. But apart from that a great drawing.

>>27753014
hahaha that's fucking awesome dude, keep at it!

I'll be posting more tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled, I'm deffo gonna be looking for your thread!

>>27753066
Nice. I look forward to it.

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>>27752794
I looked Sieghild in the eye and said, “I’m not sure. I’m really not. I’ll tell you what I can though.” And so I explained how I had come to meet Martina, how I had helped her break free of Princess Emile, how the Dragonmoot Council had secured my cooperation with destroying Isocrates’ Rod, how we were ambushed on the road, and how we came here. I finished by saying, “I’m not sure what we’re facing, in truth. But what I can say is this: I’m going to destroy this Rod, one way or the other. And I will NEVER put the lives of my friends and allies at risk without a DAMN good reason. If Siegbert wants to join me, that’s fine. I’ll treat him as though he was my own brother, but I can’t guarantee either his safety or yours if you come with me. If that’s not good enough then you can return to your tavern, but both of you are grown adults, you can make your own decisions and take your own risks.”

When I was done with my little spiel, Sieghild was looking at me differently, almost with a new respect in her eyes. I suppose I could just be seeing things but she quieted down and apologized for doubting my leadership. So there is that at least.

As I looked over the bodies of the dead thieves a bit closer. I saw in one’s hand a small glitter. I gently pried his fingers open and revealed a small gemstone. A thought struck me, and I quickly looked around the room. Sure enough I found the small black disc that Mr. Aldric had given to the Guildmaster.

I turned to find Martina and Aimée still arguing. I called out, “Martina, could you come here for a moment? There’s something I need you to look at.”

With a look of triumph aimed at Aimée, Martina walked over confidently. “Yes, Sir Knight? How can I help you?”

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>>27753127
I nodded at the gems from the disc. “Could you take a look at those? In particular, can you check to see if there is any form of enchantment magic on them?”

Martina looked almost disappointed for a moment, but recovered quickly. She carefully picked up a gem using a bit of cloth and stared at it intensely. Her eyes began to glow and the gem levitated off the cloth and began floating in the air. Suddenly her eyes returned to normal and the gem dropped to the floor.

Martina turned to me and looked grave. “Your suspicions are correct. Handling these gems imparts a magical effect that dominates the holder. They become compelled to destroy any records that could tie them to a Mr. Aldric and then kill themselves. It’s a dark form of enchantment and I know of few who can use it, let alone would.”

“Where would you be able to find these people?”

Martina smiled. “At least that’s a bit of good news. The best place to find that out would be the Mage’s Library in Albero Città, and we’re already on the way there.”

>>27753137
Of course elves are involved. Arrogant fuckwaffles.

>>27753235
Those knife-eared fuckcakes.

>>27753279
those pretty-face cockmongers

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>>27753137
On the way out of Hammerburg we stopped, at Siegberg’s insistence, at one of the only taverns in the city that would openly serve lagers. We decided to spend the night there before setting out and enjoyed a great evening of carousing and drinking. Siegberg and Sieghilde insisted on trying to teach me at least one dwarven drinking song, but the problem is that most dwarven drinking songs double as their race’s epics and history books, meaning that they are quite long and complicated. Still, I’m moderately proud to say that I was at least able to get the first six verses of “Lord Winfried Against the Giants” memorized before I excused myself to finish updating you, journal.

Tomorrow morning we set off for the elven lands and hopefully answers. Now I need to go back down and try to handle the next six verses of dwarven epics.

>No, I'm not done for the night. Just another end of a journal entry.

>>27753296
those over-lived fuckwits

>>27753296
the tree-hugging half-breed birthing factories.

>>27753338
those doey-eyed assmunchers

>>27753311
This is quite fun so far. Thank you. I am totally going to steal the lager crusade idea for a side game.

>>27753351
Those fair skinned fuckers.

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>>27753410
Thanks! I'm glad that I came up with at least one original idea in this story.

If you want to do it really well, read up on the history of beer. I figured that dwarves with their strong sense of traditionalism, would be resistant to a new brewing method, but I gave them a mild German flavoring so they are almost destined to become the Lager capital of the world.

>>27753499
The bow jerkin fancy pants.

>>27753550
the long-haired shit-muffins

>>27753561
Those bow touting, Hoity-toity, condescending dick-niggers.

>>27753546
Nordic Dwarves are best Dwarves.

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Dear Journal,

The trip started out weird before it began. Evidently my attempt to learn the entirety of Lord Winfried Against the Giants” resulted in me passing out drunk. Sieghilde and Siegberg don’t hold it against me for trying though. However what happened afterwards was weird. Aimée offered to bring me to my room since I was passed out whereupon Martina suddenly objected saying that, “The low class woman” would try to take advantage of me and that only someone of impeccable standing such as herself could be trusted to assist me. Aimée evidently retorted with something that no one felt comfortable repeating and a small fight started out. Sieghilde broke it up and carried me up to my room herself whereupon she guarded the door the whole night in case either girl tried anything. That was awfully nice of her although I’m not going to consider the fact that I was changed out of my day clothes too hard. I may have to impose some sort of drink limit on this group.

Regardless, that morning was a quiet day. Neither Martina nor Aimée were speaking to each other and I had a hangover that resulted in me quickly quieting anyone who tried to do as much as talk.

>>27753586
those effeminate dick-maggots

>>27753655
The sap-covered flatchested sows.

>>27753636
>The cat's fights are already starting

This gon' be good.

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>>27753636

>>27753636
knight may want to check that the sword he picked up didn't have some enchantment on it that made him irresistible to anyone of the opposite sex - regardless of species.

>>27753636
Now what would be funny if the dwarf chick took guard duty to get a nice eyeful of man-ass.

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>>27753636
By that afternoon things had somewhat quieted down. Both Martina and Aimée both claimed that they didn’t actually mean anything they said the night prior and both had honorable intentions and the whole argument was just a joke that got out of hand, although I still caught them glaring daggers at each other. My hangover had died down and the whole group seemed less likely to turn on each other at the drop of a hat.

We decided to stop for lunch and figure out a plan for the next few days. I opened up with, “Alright. It looks like its about two-and-a-half to three days until we reach Albero Città. If our friend Mr. Aldric hasn’t let up yet, it is safe to expect some sort of ambush along the roads, but we should be safe once we enter elven territory. Their border guard are generally good at keeping bandits and monsters out of their neck of the woods, which is in fact pretty much all of the woods. So there is that.”

We took the rest of the afternoon preparing, I practiced sparring with Sieghilde, Martina researched some spells that may be of use with dealing with enchanted or dominated foes, Siegbert brewed up some alchemical substances that were supposed to make us faster somehow, and Aimée managed to get me bruised a few times by practicing her acrobatics and stretching right in my line of sight while I was sparring. Seriously, she is quite distracting.

>>27753831
I believe that was the implication.

>>27753967
>Aimée managed to get me bruised a few times by practicing her acrobatics and stretching right in my line of sight while I was sparring. Seriously, she is quite distracting.

Good thing he has plate armor to hide his ... ahem ... blade.

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>>27753967
However our preparations were almost completely pointless because over the next few days we were almost completely ignored by the world. Even dangerous animals preferred to go the other way for some reason. Once in the distance we saw a small gang of bandits but when the spotted us they immediately ran the other way. I suppose we looked a bit dangerous, but this was too easy and I didn’t feel comfortable about it.

In fact we got all the way to the elven forests before anything happened. We had just begun to relax after days of being on edge, when it happened. I was leading the group up front, and was busy pushing through a bush when all of the sudden an elven woman leapt in front of me, aiming an arrow at my face. She snarled, “Freeze! And don’t even thing of going for your weapons!” Naturally I didn’t, there was no time for one, so I simply struck out with my left hand snapping her drawn arrow in half, as she released the bow the two pieces harmlessly spun to the side instead of firing in my face, then my right hand connected with her face. As she slumped to the ground, her camouflage cloak fell away revealing the uniform of the Albero Città border guard.

“Well, this isn’t good,” I said to myself. The sudden rustling around me confirmed my fears, I was surrounded by elves, and elves competent enough not to close into melee range with a bow. A second glance confirmed my suspicions, bodkin arrows, armor pierces. I raised my hands slowly in the air and spoke, “Let me just say that that last blow was pure reflex and wasn’t about any malicious intent on my part!”

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>>27754145
>He thinks reasoning will work

>>27754145
Alpha as fuck.

Is knight gonna have to choke a bitch?

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>>27754145
We were taken anyways, as I expected, to Albero Città’s nearest border guard outpost where we were disarmed and placed in a cell. Somehow they knew to put us in an anti-magic cell where Martina couldn’t use her shapeshifting ability. All that was left for us to do was sit and wait.

Barely an hour later I overheard the officers in charge of our arrest come in. Evidently the elf girl I put down was in charge of the squad which struck me as unusual. Normally the elves of Albero Città exhibit at least some degree of competency, whereas this girl managed to botch a surprise attack. Had we actually been intent on attacking Albero Città we would have been entering prepared for the boarder guard and that stunt she pulled by jumping right in my face could have gotten her entire squad killed. My hope that this group would simply recognize that there has been a mistake was beginning to fade.

By listening in I was able to learn a few things, one that our young squad leader was named Felìcita, and two our arrest was based on information coming from one Mr. Aldric. Fortunately, Felìcita seemed to have one redeeming trait. She distrusted Mr. Aldric almost as much as we did. I could hear her screaming, “The man’s minions have practically taken over the Library of Magic and seem to be behind every Lord and Lady in Albero Città and no one knows anything about him? And now we’re making arrests on his behalf? Does this strike anyone as the least bit odd?”