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16th day of Prophecy, Athena Pàla of Zipangu.

Suspicious individuals peered from the half-open door of the room directly in front of ours now, pairs of brilliant eyes kept on looking in my direction, our own half-closed door made Daiyu and Kyorn presence hidden, with only the Demon Lord left wing sprawled on my back whilst the soft fluff of the Marauder dark-colored feathers tingled my right arm – it was surprisingly comfortable, yet definitely possessed a more «organic» feel compared to Hadraniel.
Now, who could those people be…?

‘’Hrm, Blood magic… I’m wondering about something’’

I was surprised to hear the voice of the former Hero beside me who adopted a pensive stance with his sharp green eyes pointing at the wall as his mental gears turned.

‘’I’ve seen this thing in action myself a few times – especially during the Great Crusade – so I’m wondering about the talents of your daughter, Deruella; I know we’ve already got a picture now thank to Sieglinde but… You recognize her talents, yes?’’

As the third wheel between Marauder and Demon Lord I tried my best to keep silent and out of reach despite bridging their gazes, I felt Daiyu wing tap my back again, the Demon Lord tilting her head slightly as she turned to look back toward Kyorn with a strangely calm smile, yet she leaned forward toward me, placing a hand on my shoulder as if I needed some kind of support.

‘’Of course, I’ve seen firsthand the reason why she decided to study the craft in the first place, I think studying Blood Magic was just an excuse to set out and travel on her lonesome but I think she went far, far beyond my abode, beyond the swamp, perhaps even farther than the Allied Kingdoms bordering the desert of the Pharaoh’’

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Sieglinde Jawahir is definitely an enigma; although she made her case and disposition obvious, demons will always be hard to trust, doubly so for Zipangu after that last war; I heard Kyorn grunt his acknowledgement as he rubbed his face slightly and turned to give Deruella a brief return glance before settling back in his previous position and again I stayed silent.

‘’Yesterday, I fought and captured an agent of your daughter and it got me thinking something dangerous; a werewolf camouflaged as the closest bodyguard of Mebuchednazi implies some terrifying things, but the way she infiltrated and climbed to reach that rank obviously means she’s been at it for a while time now; a long term strategy similar to what she did in Lescatie, right?’’

A cloud of negativity floating across Daiyu features; she shook her head slightly afterward and, upon peering at my own curious stare, gave a heartfelt smile before responding.

‘’No, it’s nothing alike at all; Lescatie presented a near-perfect vulnerability ripe for exploitation with her infiltration and subsequent slow, steady corruption whilst gathering her circle of allies; Zipangu is completely different in culture and uniquely robust with these attempt, not only because of Tsukiyomi, but the monsters here all present very similar thoughts about corruption without heavily censoring any mention of sex, Corruption as a whole is hated but most of the citizens are allowed some indulgence without repercussion, did you know there’s a few-legal- drug den supervised by the water dragon cult? You would never have found like this in the heavily religious kingdom of Lescatie.’’

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I’ve heard Tsu rant about these ‘’nests of inequity’’ more than a few time, these things are apparently remnant of the old, old faith of the original inhabitants of the island that practiced a worship of ancestors along with the Sun and oceans; drugs tend to be used by the cult as both medicinal practice and to connect with one ancestors or, in this present case, the Will of the Water Dragon; the cult itself is very divided on this issue but so far, these place are protected by law.

‘’Between Deruella and Sieglinde, who is the better blood mage?’’

‘’Sieglinde is the only one of my child I’ve seen in thirty years, Kyorn’’

‘’I know, but I’d still like an answer’’

This time the tall, winged man turned toward the Demon Lord, his expression strangely soft as his gaze couldn’t hold that of the demonic liege who was trying very hard to suppress her bitter emotions.

‘’…you don’t have to’’

In the end he backpedalled, however I have to admit I’m curious about this myself and I suppose it showed on my face once Daiyu looked at me, for the Demon Lord squeezed me shoulder again and let out a soft sigh.

‘’Deruella, I just know she continued her study after the small tutorship Sieglinde gave her’’

It’s a shame she’s been so out of touch with her family, that loneliness bite and it clearly showed in her eyes; for a fleeting moment Daiyu appeared vulnerable, a nearly irresistible aura almost motivated me to give the demon a hug but I refrained, and instead wondered if I could put my own leg in this dialogue.

>’’What is it that motivated Sieglinde to study the Practice of Sanguine?’’ [I don’t think that Lilim has actually ever been tempted to put her knowledge to some use; there’s bound to be some history there…]
>’’…’’ [I wonder where Kyorn is taking this, I should let him talk]
>Something else?

>>34538071
I think we should see where Kyorn is taking this. We can always ask the first question later and I'd like to get a better feel of our berserker's character.

>>34538071
>’’What is it that motivated Sieglinde to study the Practice of Sanguine?’’ [I don’t think that Lilim has actually ever been tempted to put her knowledge to some use; there’s bound to be some history there…]
>Other
"Does it have something to do with why Deruella is a better blood mage?"

If she hadn't run away from her responsibilities and crimes for 30 years, she would have been able to see her daughters more, and the current situation wouldn't be as bad as it is.

Maybe her last daughter being stillborn was a result of her mother not being able to handle the weight of her sins.

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>>34538071
Let dagger ears talk.We don't interact with him much so he may have some things to say.

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>>34538556
>Maybe her last daughter being stillborn was a result of her mother not being able to handle the weight of her sins.

Don't forget her husband left soon after that event.

>>34538638

>dagger ears.

This is a very mean thing to say! Well then, time to proceed.

>>34538638
>letting the Berserker think
Oh yeah, this should be an entertaining night.

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>>34538727
All I can think about is this episode with Kyorn's deep thoughts and psychological validation.

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>>34538671
Hey man, he's just being logical. With all the things those damned elves do we might as well count those ears as weapons.

If they could they'd detach em' and use them to backstab people, then we really would have a "dagger ears" problem. Ya got to be ever vigilant hanging around these types.

>>34538870
forgot dumb link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxxQS5LJi9w

>>34538071
>’’…’’ [I wonder where Kyorn is taking this, I should let him talk]
Nod respectfully toward him to make him keep talking.

>[x] save fluffy wings

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>>34539306

Anon please

>>34538671
Was Sieglinde actually a part of the operation to corrupt Lescatie? Or is she defending her mother with no concrete evidence and blaming the elves and dwarves for being corruptible, because she wants to believe her mother isn't a leader who signed off on three genocides?

People focus on Lescatie's fall, but the destruction of the Elven and Dwarven civilizations would have also included the Corruption and complete eradication of other Elven cities and Dwarven clanholds. Ignoring them is like focusing only on Auschwitz and forgetting about the other concentration camps and mass graves.
Didn't Daiyu sign off on those as well, or did she not foresee the inevitable?

Are her dreams filled with the crying of starving babies in their cribs, while their parents are too Corrupted and having sex to care?

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>>34539346
I'm *pretty* sure she'll live. Probably, hopefully, we're pretty much fucked if she dies as she's about the only thing we got with the capability to keep Orion's attention and not get outmaneuvered. You can bet Siggy will be priority #1, he's pissing him off.

And here it is.

>>34539549
Did we even at least comfort her? We owe her a lot.

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‘’She described her as a genius hasn’t she?’’

‘’Deruella has always been a bright child; quick to understand all matters of academia and the limits of magic placed on the body alongside practice of corruptions.’’

In the end I opted for silence and listened to their exchanges, trying my best to avoid feeling increasingly awkward, I became increasingly convinced that I was acting as some kind of barrier between Marauder and Demon Lord; I don’t think any of the heroes would ever have thought about exchanging information in a polite discussion with the great Demon Lord herself but then this entire month has been nothing more than nonstop surprise with the unexpected being the norm.

‘’She actually solved a bit of a conundrum concerned our agricultural practice…’’

Daiyu added softly afterward with an obvious hint of pride in her tone; a very dangerous thing to say in the presence of Tsukiyomi or Ame-no-Uzume but, thankfully, the marauder known for quick anger didn’t seem to mind, he simply rubbed his chin while his wings furled even more.

‘’I wanted to drop this as gently as I could…’’

He interrupted himself with a grunt and leaned forward.

‘’…but yesterday has convinced me that our infiltrator problem is no mere agent of your daughter, I believe she’s actually here in this mansion.’’

‘’That’s…’’

‘’Sieglinde made a very important point about the eyes; if Deruella is even better at the craft than she is, who’s to say she didn’t find a way to circumvent this weakness? I know your eldest kept on trying to make a point by linking blood magic with science but I’ve seen my share of both and I know scientific method require very, very different means compared to magic, whose very concept is to circumvent the impossible through sheer force of will instead of finding solutions within the laws of our world by understanding them thoroughly.’’

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He pause as he coldly peered toward the Demon Lord, my hand found itself wrapped around Daiyu’s wrist; she obviously thought about this possibility but it certainly didn’t make it any easier, especially given her wish to save her daughter from her foolish, foolish dream.

‘’Gold and red was to narrow down our list of suspects considerably – I don’t think she could fathom someone finding a way around this, it just depend on how much better of a mage she actually is, did your daughter possessed any kind of physical particularities?’’

‘’Yes, she does’’

The demon answered back coldly yet kept on clinging to my arm, neither facing me or Kyorn, instead concentrating to look on the floor while battling the bitter emotions rising in her chest, her face was warped in a continuous grimace now.

‘’Her pupils were a brilliant red and her sclera were dark, a deep jet black not unlike corruption; a lingering scar from the bitter illness of her youth and the very reason why she actually went into the path of blood magic, and why Sieglinde also studied the craft’’

‘’Disease?’’

Now my own curiosity was touched and the word exited my mouth before I could stop; Daiyu looked momentarily confused at my sudden intrusion but nodded quickly and faced me and Kyorn in turn with a renewed seriousness in her gaze.

‘’You asked why I believe Deruella is a better mage? I know she surpassed her older sister not only due to her talents and sharpness of mind, but because blood magic saved her life. When she was young, a few months after her sixth birthday, Deruella fell terribly ill.’’

She interrupted herself momentarily, her eyes grew sharp, some kind of vivid hatred and anger boiled in her bosom.

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‘’An hemorrhagic fever that would have killed her within a week were it not for the simple fact I was the Demon Lord; I spent coins, magic and capital to keep my daughter alive as long as possible, my entire family went around to find solutions and healers, be they domestic and foreign while my husband and I kept her alive in a continuous stasis for an entire year when the symptoms were at their most acute. She bled, and bled, stuck in this endless loop of suffering as I could only watch and keep her alive to my best of abilities until Sieglinde found the way to save her; blood magic.’’

Suffering from a horrible disease for an entire year as a kid? I think most parents would have given up; then again, most parents don’t have the resource of an entire nation and race of demons to call upon, I heard Kyorn grunt beside me as his eyes peered toward me momentarily, making me wonder if he actually respected that decision, can anyone disgruntle the distress of parents to save their young child?

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‘’In the end the ritual succeeded; Deruella was marked with changed eyes, the entire episode barely seemed to dent her psyche; she thanked her entire family for our effort and simply… went back to her study with a newly found passion in the craft that saved her life’’

Daiyu family life didn’t sound easy; she closed her eyes and looked down as the wings on her head flapped gently and for a moment total silence reigned in room up until interruption came as someone knocked on the door.

‘’Knock knock, gonna be needing you, mom’’

Sieglinde boldly entered and gestured for the matron of demons before quickly veering in another direction and promptly stepped inside the opposite room; eliciting quite a few scream of surprises, yet the Lilim merely gestured for someone and closed back the door, already walking back the way she came in total nonchalance.

‘’Well, if push comes to shove, investigate without me alright?’’

With that she rose form her seat, standing up straight despite the heavy mood hanging on her shoulder, Daiyu Jawahir threw away the sadness of nostalgia and walked forward with a vigor that was definitely not here yesterday, leaving me alone with the silent Marauder.

For some reason, I've got a bad feeling right now.

>’’So what do you make of that?’’
>’’You know, I trust Daiyu, I hope you do as well’’
>’’…’’
>Something else?

>>34540107
How many people were sacrificed to save Deruella?
How many innocents died so that she could live? How many more were sacrificed for her experiments after that?

>>34540144
>’’You know, I trust Daiyu, I hope you do as well’’

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Going to be away for the next 10 minutes or so, be right back good folksé

>>34540144
>>’’You know, I trust Daiyu, I hope you do as well’’

>>34540144
>something else
"Do you have any clues as to where to start looking, Kyorn? If Deruella really did change her eyes along with the rest of her guise, what other test do you think we should use?"

Apparently the berserker is a thinker now. He better have some good ideas.

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>>34540144
>>’’You know, I trust Daiyu, I hope you do as well’’

>>34540172
>>34540222
>>34540265
You guys trust her a lot for a woman who outright said she'll interfere with any of our attempts to kill Deruella, and who takes the word of the world's second-best blood mage to out-think the best.

>>34540331
We may not, but Athena does. Whether or not she chose wisely remains to be seen.

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>>34540331
I trust her more than some dagger ear we picked up in the middle of a swamp who has been out of contact with everyone for years and could of been replaced.

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>>34540537

At this rate we'll never be friend anon!

We all know what's about to happen but I'll try to be quick about it.

>>34540249

>Apparently the berserker is a thinker now. He better have some good ideas.

Warriors aren't bereft of intelligence, Kyorn has been living for a long while and kept on fighting in various conflicts, nobody had the time to sit down and talk to him yet.

>>34540249
Hmm...did Kyorn interview the other members of Nebuchdnezzar's guard detail, and ask them what color eyes the werewolf/elf had when she was in her disguise, and what eyes she actually has?

Maybe we should remove them for a better inspection; she's a werewolf, she can regenerate more if we need them.

If the eyes were different, then we have a basis for telling Sieglinde she's shit and Deruella is a far better blood mage than her.

>>34540537
>distrusting the Hero who could have been replaced
>not distrusting the blood mage who is the only known and publically professed ally of the disgraced Demon Lord, who makes for a much better target to replace
Sieglinde is just as good of a target to replace.
She stays away from everyone else, doesn't interact with any of the other daughters of the Demon Lord, and is a publicly known ally of Daiyu.
Anyone trying to fight against Deruella and support the Demon Lord (the status quo) would seek out Sieglinde.
Also, by being Sieglinde, Deruella could easily get close to Daiyu when she did finally emerge, and it would be trivial to put a knife in her back.

>>34540632
>nobody had the time to sit down and talk to him yet.
Or nobody felt that he was worth wasting the time on, because he's just a rabid attack dog and good for nothing else.

‘’I trust Daiyu, I hope you do as well’’

First I felt slightly confused as the sentence left my mouth on its own; watching the back of the Demon Lord disappear out of the door cemented my opinion as I remembered the last few days, the reason why I feel so adamant about the succubus became obvious enough; just like Sylphis, I simply decided to outstretch my hand when I had every reason to stay distrustful , except here I wasn’t dealing with an angry mantis hell-bent on decapitating me, but the Demon Lord whose reputation hanged over her head ready to slam on any burgeoning friendship. Of course she made her ambition obvious; to try and save her daughter life but that’s a decision I can respect.

‘’Hrm, you do’’

Kyorn rubbed his jaw again as his wings unfurled slightly, losing a few dark feathers that slowly glided down on the bed.

‘’I’ve lived through the worst of her reign so far; compared to her predecessor, I can understand why you’d do but I’m not quite convinced myself. Right now I wonder if she’s a fantastic actress or truly genuine, at least she seems to understand Zipangu importance to help us out with the church but afterward…’’

This time he looked at me, his brilliant green eyes forming a straight line and I simply held his gaze without hesitation like I so often did with Siegfried.

‘’…well, my own prejudices and hubris led to some tragedy in the past, but the events with the dwarves and elves is a hard thing to forget’’

It’s true that he’s been alive during the entire reign of the Demon Lord, from the very moment she sat upon the Demonic Throne to today crusade with the church wi-

‘’Oi, what’s wrong?’’

‘’Ow…ow I’m alright’’

How the hell? I felt a strange constriction in my chest, as if some tiny fingers pinched some nerves in the middle of my torso sending a potent, short lived pain throughout my body; similar, yet very different from an electric shock (I certainly have some experience in that department). Heat started to spread from this contact, which thankfully disappeared quickly as if a wave of some unknown substances had been quickly erased in my veins.

‘’I… I’m not sure’’

Kyorn hand quickly moved toward my forehead and he backed away just as quickly, confusion clearly written on his face, he announced my lack of fever and now, strangely, I felt some kind of stimulation; a sentiment similar to the battlefield filled my heart, resulting in dread and a strange sense of fulfillment, that is, until an interruption came from the hallway as Sieglinde walked back into the room in a mixture of anger and disbelief.

--

One hour; it took an entire hour for things to calm down in our little spot of the mansion and this is how I came to know – somewhat- about the new arrivals, five spirited Yukionnas weren’t an usual sight but the poor girls were visibly overwhelmed by the events as Tsukiyomi stifled all the information from leaking, reason why Hadraniel, Mylen and any other girls didn’t come in the meantime as Siegfried laid on the bed motionless – apparently my husband keeled over without warning, as if he had somehow bore an illness without symptoms and now Daiyu, Mana and Tsukiyomi were left alone in the room with the Yukionnas on stand-by, an if they could somehow help this mess, only by the words of his mother and the girls were pretty damn stressed about this, with Sieglinde trying her best to herd them to some form of serenity; despite it all the redhead demons seemed to be having fun, all this while one of the girls caught my eyes as she kept on hiding her right profile but, in the end, I couldn’t exactly corner her for some information that was, by all, account, unrelated to this mess.

‘’Fucking hell’’

I had to find some solitude – how fast the world move and how quickly everything can fall apart – but now there’s also the frustration of uselessness; despite the soul merge it’d seem like I was unable to help.

‘’Athena’’

In this event the winged man had stayed a pillar of calm (or indifference, it’s hard to tell) and now he was hanging by the hallway, just about ready to walk off, flanked by a bright, silent ghost woman whose hands were joined in prayers as she peered timidly toward me.

‘’We’ll be going to investigate for Deruella; will you stay here by Siegfried, or would you like to help me out?’’

>Stay, I don’t really have the mind to find some traitor anyway.
>Go with him; I wonder if he actually got a good head on his shoulder.
>It’d be more efficient to go our separate ways.
>Something else?

>>34541950
>>Go with him; I wonder if he actually got a good head on his shoulder.

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>>34541950
Go with Kyorn. What's done with Siggy and Haddy is already done, I don't think Athena being present will change anything.

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>>34542137
>>34542134

Well then, this look like our course of action.

So we messed up somewhere>

>>34541950
Did Kyorn already interrogate the guard detail to confirm or deny whether Deruella's agent had different eyes while under the guise or not?

That will affect whether we should split up.

>>34542137
But whether Athena is present could affect whether Hadraniel is able to survive the ordeal or not.

>>34542453

Merely the results of last thread catching up, no mistake on Athena part.

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>>34542485
>Did Kyorn already interrogate the guard detail to confirm or deny whether Deruella's agent had different eyes while under the guise or not?

The werewolf always had red eyes disguise or not, Kyorn didn't investigate on his own on that part, the info came from Mebuchednazi.

>>34542453
Of course we did.

>>34542487
>no mistake on Athena part, yet.
FTFY
There's the whole 'helping to stabilize Hadraniel using the remains of the Soul Link between her and Siegfried by being here to provide the other half of Siegfried's soul' we could have tried.
Or at the least, running to get Leila to stabilize Hadraniel with Holy since she's the only other person here who can use it.

>>34542453
Fighting the beast was the mistake.

>>34542571

Yes of course, but that's primarily come from the choice of staying behind.

>>34542637
>but that's primarily come from the choice of staying behind.
So are you saying that not staying behind was the mistake?
Because you went with us not staying behind, and said that we haven't made a mistake. I then pointed out all of the things that we could have done to help Hadraniel by staying behind, and that Athena has yet to make a mistake.
Then you post
>Yes of course, but that's primarily come from the choice of staying behind.
What has come from the choice of staying behind?
That we have yet to make a mistake? That we've closed off these choices which could have helped Hadraniel?

Maybe I'm just tired and unable to properly comprehend what you're saying, but right now it doesn't make much sense for me.

>>34542760

Staying behind will unlock choices to help out the gang with Siegfried dilemma but also block any attempts to investigate for the agent because Athena will be busy doing something else.

There's no right or wrong here, only where you decide to spend time and effort.

>>34542835
>Staying behind will unlock choices to help out the gang with Siegfried dilemma
So >>34542137 is right in that there won't be a change to what Siegfried wakes up to (a bleeding near-dead Hadraniel), but is wrong in that there's no reason to stay just because we can't change that.
I mean, just a bit of thinking would have made it obvious that having Athena present would open up new possibilities for helping keep Hadraniel alive.
And I harp on this in the hopes that people will give more thought to their choices rather than going with whatever is easy.

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>>34542969

I'm probably not making it easy either, even so I've got to continue with what's aggreed upon now.

>>34543003
You have 2 for leaving, 1 for staying at this point.
I just want to make sure that everyone knows what each choice entails, because I sometimes get the sense that not everyone actually understands what each choice entails.

If staying behind means helping Hadraniel then I vote for it.

>>34543360
Staying behind also means, not only a decreased chance of finding the Agent/Deruella (probably reduces it to zero chance, and locks out any options in that direction), but no guarantee that staying behind will actually help Hadraniel.

The reverse is also true: going out won't guarantee that we catch the Agent/Deruella, though it will definitely lock out options to help Hadraniel.

Both choices are shitty and filled with unknowns, as expected of INH.

Between staying behind and simmer in self-pity or actually going out to do something marginally useful the choice was clear enough; I took a deep breath and pounded my chest, motivation was an important thing alright and while I felt increasingly uncomfortable the knowledge that I wasn’t suffering from disease but merely feeling an echo of Siegfried state was reassuring, at least I won’t be following him into a coma.
I hope so.

‘’Yeah’’

Without any baggage I simply walked toward him and, together, our trio proceeded out of the busy hallway, Sieglinde and the ghosts women in their room as the demon was, I hope at least, explaining things to them to calm them down – they could somehow help with this conundrum, my own presence felt increasingly inadequate and while the absence of Daiyu was hurting, I’ll try my best to go along and unheard that traitor in our midst. Kyorn must have been just as eager because he started talking even before we reached the door leading to the main hallway.

‘’First off I’d like your opinion; with all the information about blood magic and the potential talent of Deruella do we think we ought to narrow our list of suspects to people with red or golden eyes, our broaden our range as much as possible?’’

‘’What do you think?’’

I asked in return as I looked to the rosy ghost who quickly waved at me with a bright smile and I returned in kind, there was something warm about that girl; simply observing her was enough to kindle some flame of empathy.

‘’That we shouldn’t assume anything and broaden our range’’

‘’That’s going to make things difficult’’

‘’Depend, we just don’t have much info as it is; I’ve stumbled upon a few redcloaks yesterday and I…forced… them to tell me what they were doing, which was investigating the murder scene, they’ve probably come up with something by now. There’s also the event surrounding the guards and soldiers, they went and put a little party which obviously decreased their vigilance, although it might just be a sad coincidence I wouldn’t put it past Deruella to take advantage of people celebrating a well-earned victory and finally…’’

His sharp glance shifted toward the ghost who nodded silently as we reached the door to the busy hall, I put my hand on the handle and waited for the winged man to finish talking.

‘’Takara reminded me of the mantises: one of their own died yesterday and they were busy scampering about during the night, if we can find where their hiding, then I suggest bothering the headmaster of their guild. We could also do some legwork, ask about suspicious persons and all but I believe that’ll be a huge waste of time; what do you think?’’

Hmm…

>’’We should bother Gwynedd special force, knowing about the homicide should give us a better perspective’’
>’’Let’s look into that little party, sad coincidence or not it might give us some kind of timeline or suspect.’’
>’’I’m curious about the mantises although we might have to do this the hard way, you don’t mind I hope?’’
>Something else?

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>>34543490
Sometimes you don't have a choice.

>>34543529
Sometimes, but we did have a choice here.

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>>34543564
>>34543529

Well we could always do a 180 and come back, that'll mean rewriting lots of stuff

>>34543516
>’’I’m curious about the mantises although we might have to do this the hard way, you don’t mind I hope?’’
As for finding them, can't we get the Rahal's to tell us where to find their spymaster?

We can lean on the mantises to investigate the party. We need to find out who brought up the idea; someone must have, and they might have gotten the idea from someone else.

Sounds like the kind of thing that Deruella would do; we either find Deruella or confirm that the party was orchestrated by one of the already confirmed agents.
That's something that the mantises would be able to do, and it would be best to make sure that the mantises haven't been infiltrated already.

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>>34543490
Or you could stop acting like a little bitch because you don't want to own up to we made a bad choice and compacted it with never even attempting to do anything beyond basic >fight and relying on the dice to get us not killed, which the dice barely did.

>>34543516
I think getting Gil's red shirts in on this might help, specifically that stone cold spy master of his we've seen around.

>>34543490
Not going would doom any investigations to fail due to fate holding a grudge against our merry band of misfits while servicing Deruella and Orion as would a cheap corrupted whore.

Also, it's Kyorn doing the investigation, meaning fate fucks him even harder than it already is with the E-Rank luck in this case.

>>34543720
This is about our choice to have Athena leave to find the agent or stay to help Siegfried and Hadraniel, not about Siegfried's choice to fight.

>>34543745
Then why should we even be following Kyorn around instead of doing our own investigating? Wouldn't sticking with him make any choice we make with his input fated to be wrong?

>>34543516
Is it too late to split up now, and get away from the bad luck magnet?

>>34543683
>As for finding them, can't we get the Rahal's to tell us where to find their spymaster?

That's an option, aye.

>>34543720

So we've got one for one so far, might have to to do a dice roll.

>>34543820

Kyorn isn't doomed to failure, his shit luck mostly resulted in a very hard life over the years but having him with you isn't going to put you in jeopardy, his and Takara presence is a boon to this investigation.

>>34543885

If he was a magnet, you'd have lost the war already.

>>34543720
>I think getting Gil's red shirts in on this might help
As outsiders, wouldn't the people of Zipangu and the Rahal's be less willing to talk to them?
Sure, we're a Commonwealth now, but the ink on the treaty has barely dried and it technically hasn't been consummated yet between Ame and Siegfried.

>>34543820
Siggy has merged his soul with Athena's, meaning she likely gained his "fateless" attribute along with his perversions. Fate can't touch her, like it can't touch Siggy. Thus, any action that is "fated" to occur will fail to do so if she is involved in it.

Or rather, fate won't be able to fuck us over by say, the target catching wind of the investigation right from the start somehow and covering up loose ends faster than they could be discovered, or they're covering them up in just the right order, finishing right as we arrive to investigate it (i.e. they are somehow perfect in the cover up), ect...

>>34543912
If having the spymaster will aid us then we ought go get them ASAP. This kind of shit is their specialty.

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>>34543973
I was thinking involving the redshirts would help by turning this into the first proper counter-intelligence operation of the commonwealth - it's something that would help us both now and down the road whenever we needed help in that area.

>>34544065
>>34544053

Redshirt are merely one option to gain some info, I take it now you guys want to speak with them?

>>34544065
>turning this into the first proper counter-intelligence operation of the commonwealth
It would require getting the cooperation of both spymasters, the leader of the Redcloaks and the Guildmaster of the Mantises.
You're asking two people who have made paranoia their profession to trust each other to work together to root out a sleeper agent with a near-perfect disguise that could be almost anyone (excluding mages who have used magic recently).

Not to say that it's impossible, just that I think we would need to do a lot of convincing, and probably asking the leaders of the Commonwealth (Gil, Ame, and the Rahal regent) to tell both spymasters to work together on this.

I mean, from their point of view, we look to be compromised by the Demon Lord and her Blood Mage daughter.

>>34544182
We still only have 1 for Redcloaks and 1 for Mantises.

This one >>34544053 is pretty unclear since there are two spymasters to choose from and the post does not specify.

>>34544185
>>34544212

All good points, but for now we need to decide on where to procede, else I roll between Matises and Redcloaks.

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>>34544212
Why don't we compromise and send Kyorn with Sylphis to get the Mantis leader and we grab the red shirt leader and meet in the middle?

>>34544302
>send Kyorn with Sylphis to get the Mantis leader
I might be misremembering, but I thought that Sylphis was no longer a member of the Mantis Order. Wouldn't bringing her make for some problems?

>>34544365
I'm not sure Kyorn would be able to get to the mantis leader just by himself. Sylphis isn't a part of their order anymore but is at least connected.

>>34544302
We could split up, but that means we'd be trusting Kyorn to not get into a fight with someone who is professionally paranoid and suspicious of everyone.
Not being there could make things worse.

Should we really risk that?
I'm not saying we shouldn't, but I want to be sure of Kyorn's infamous temperament first.

>>34544365

Sylphis isn't and never was a member, her mother was but left in a hurry after murdering the previous Rahall queen.

>>34544302

That could do as well, but might be a tad difficult without any connection; two agents of the fluff asking for the mantises would have more weight, obviously.

>>34544431
Another reason to send a babysitter with him, even if it isn't Sylphis.

>>34544443
>her mother was but left in a hurry after murdering the previous Rahall queen.
Oh, right, I completely forgot that Sylphis' mother was guilty of regicide.
Nor can I remember why she carried that assassination out.

But it might be bad to bring such a person into the heart of the Mantis Order, then.

>>34544431
>>34544451

He's already got the ghost at his side, that's plenty enoug ht okeep him calm.

>>34544476
I still think we should get the Mantises onboard with this investigation first. Then we can get the Redcloaks.
Having both would be best, but we need to start somewhere, and the ones that are the least conspicuous without red cloaks flashing everywhere seems to me the best start.

>>34544471

>Nor can I remember why she carried that assassination out.

The previous queen went bonker due to various things and was in the process of killing her daugther, having already salshed one eyes away and carved out half of her leg, Sylphis mom killed the queen to save the princess.

Also my short story will explains lots of things about the mantises and Sylphis I wonder where Mylen, Leila and Sylphis are... but for now feel free t obe paranoid and concentrateo nwho to ask for info.

>>34543720
Changing this vote to splitting up to recruit the mantises (Kyorn + one other agent of the foxes) and the red shirts (athena and maybe mylen since she has connections to them indirectly through being Siggy's bodyguard?).

>>34544573

Mylen, Leila, Sylphis and Hadraniel are all MIA for now, you'd need to dedicate some time to find them.

>>34544621
God damned lesbians off fucking in a closet somewhere when we're trying to get things done. Would it be faster to just grab Ame and use her to grab Gil and the Cat-Regent and use them to grab their spymasters than hunt down our missing fox agents?

I'm worried that just doing this between Athena and Kyorn will cause one or both of the spy groups to reject us and thus make this investigation harder.

>>34544682
>Would it be faster
You ask this as if you'll actually get a useful answer.

>>34544682

You can head for the briefing where Ame, Gil and the regent are doing rulership stuff (ie, working out the details of the allied army).

This is another option of course, having the ruler actively investigate this isn't going to be unnoticed tough.

>>34544728
I don't mean for them to investigate it with us, just for them to summon their spymasters and properly set this up as a commonwealth investigation instead of an independant fox-agent one.

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>>34544761

Aaah, well... I guess it could be done but would it be any faster than gathering all the infos of both parties and acting upon them? You don't have much time to spare, but wE'll proceed that way if its the popular choice

>>34544840
I still think we should stick with going to one spymaster then the other, and working this independently of either organization which could be compromised.

Unless we come to an agreement, I'll be making a roll in the next 10 minutes or so.

>>34544761
Do we have the time for that, though?
Is getting both spy agencies to work together a great enough benefit to offset the risk of it taking too long and us losing the trail?

1 = We go to one of the spymaster (Redcloak or Mantis)
2= Petition the rulers for cooperation

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>34545074

Forgot my dice, wops

>>34545112
>>34545074
This feels like the fight all over again.
I'm really dead set against this option, since I haven't seen any good reasons for why we should be spending this extra time for this.

>>34545112
As the dice have an undying love of you, and thus, love to inflict suffering upon us, I'm going to vote for option one. My only problem is which one to pick.

>>34545147
>>34545198

Guys pls.

Fine, let's backpedal and go for a spymaster since I believe we do have a majority for this option.

This certainly took a while.

>>34545147
I feel like all of my arguing is in vain because people leave as soon as they vote, and those that do stay will not change their votes except in the face of INH telling them the choice cannot be made or has too many other requirements.

>>34545253
Well now you're going to have people complaining that we should have gone to the rulers for help.

>>34545306

Then let their voices be heard

>>34545353
They obviously left after making their post.

But what would have made going after the rulers take more time than going to each spymaster individually?
The security checkpoints to meet the rulers (which we haven't really seen before, and which Kyorn and Athena would normally bypass)? Getting the respective spymasters to drop what they're working on to come to the chamber where the rulers are?
Or arguing with them?

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>>34545253
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4N5OhcY9s

Man we paranoid now after hearing that our only possible lead on this may be null and void. This means the target could be almost anybody.

They might know anything, they could be anywhere in this place doing god knows what. A friend of the spymaster, their right hand man, some random janitor, a soldier, a merchant, anybody! This is serious shit man.

>>34545529
Have you, or are you, going to vote for any choice? Or just pontificate without asking questions?

>>34545504

Having both spymasters drop what they were doing mostly, but you'll also be interrupting the allied army formation as Ame, Gil and Ran are busy hashing out the detaisl; they'll understand why you want to do this, but that doesn't mean their own work isn't any less valid.

>>34545582
>Having both spymasters drop what they were doing mostly
Ah, so it would have meant the two of them taking care of whatever they were currently working on so that it could be handled by a subordinate while they get to work on this threat.
Are we really cutting things that close, by a matter of mere minutes?

>>34545634

No, not at all it jsut how you guys want to get all the info collected by the intelligence of both nations, I've made this much more dreadful than it ought to be.

>>34545691
>I've made this much more dreadful than it ought to be.
You give us ambiguous choices with limited information to stay in-character, make those choices have meaningful and potentially disastrous consequences, and then balk when we dread each choice and argue over each one incessantly, after you've repeated time and time again how narrow of a tightrope we're walking with these choices?

>>34545691
>I've made this much more dreadful than it ought to be.
Well, you did say
>but would it be any faster than gathering all the infos of both parties and acting upon them?
>You don't have much time to spare, but wE'll proceed that way if its the popular choice
>You don't have much time to spare
Repeated for emphasis.

>>34545799
>>34545741

Yes, I didn't communicated it in the right way.

I think it just might be best for me to stop for tonight, I just feel tired without motivation, it's nto a good thing at all if I'm spreading misinformation like that.

>>34545888
I agree. If you're tired and have no motivation, then it's probably better to get rest rather than continue making mistakes.
Not always the best choice in all situations, but maybe the best in this one.

I mean, with what you told us, I thought that if we made a misstep with going to the rulers, we'd lose too much time and we'd lose the trail and fail this entire arc.
Is that still true?

>>34545888
Sorry the negativity got to you. For what it's worth I had fun and continue to enjoy your threads.

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>>34545974

>I mean, with what you told us, I thought that if we made a misstep with going to the rulers, we'd lose too much time and we'd lose the trail and fail this entire arc.
Is that still true?

No, not at all, I don't what the hell I was thinking.

>>34545980

Thank friend, it's just very hard to shake the feeling that MGQ has become a bloated mess, the temptation of stopping altogether is strong tonight.

>>34546042
I still enjoy Siegfried's tale, I just don't want a misunderstanding caused by a mistake to lead to a choice made in bad faith.

>>34546174

Aye me too, but I'm starting to burn out no matter how I pretend otherwise or how much passion I sink into mgq, I think I ahve about 3 seperate handwritten books fileld to half, each of them full of different details and purpose with another one of about 200 pages COMPLETELY filled.

I think I might simply need a bowl of fresh air, write about other things because a pause wouldn't help, it'll just make me lazier.

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>>34545888
Well, if you did make it sound and feel like time is a far more critical factor than you were going for, then perhaps it's best if we just pick this up tomorrow and have a fresh vote with that misunderstanding cleared up.

We want this traitor found and captured. Unless it turns out Kyorn was right and it actually is Deruella herself. I don't think Kyorn can take her as she'll probably have the damned knife on her and he isn't immune to corruption. She'll just blast him hard, open a portal, and escape while he's incapacitated by the pain caused by the purging tattoos. But exposing her would at least fuck over her immediate plans, so it'd still be a win.

>>34546042
Man I want to find out how this wild ride ends. Damn near everything seems to be set against us yet it still doesn't feel hopeless.

I have great fun in these types of situations. It's so satisfying to overcome long odds and achieve the goal in spite of them. I love to defy such things and rub it in the face of my enemies.

>>34546230
You could always ask Deculture how he keeps being able to write MGNQ all this time without burnout, as well as keep details straight.
MGNQ is about as old as MGQ, after all.

>>34546230
>I think I might simply need a bowl of fresh air
I have to ask, does this make sense in French?
The English phrase is "a breath of fresh air", not a "bowl of fresh air".

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>>34546364

Yeah it's a frenchy expresison, probably a family one at that.

>>34546308

I love stories with conflicts and I'm damn sure to put some in MGQ alright but there's no denying its bloated; Sieglinde presence for instance is jsut another mistake since she's a heroine of the sequel but I was so dam nenthusiastic about her that I just wanted to write about her.

>>34546313

I've heard MGNQ isn't doing so well tough, same with joker; both quest have about the same lifespan as mine, barring a few months.

>>34546427
>I've heard MGNQ isn't doing so well tough
Not that I've seen. Maybe they were referring to the shitstorms that the players have between each other for the choices they made?
For myself, I don't see anything wrong with Deculture's writing recently.

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>>34546427
Well we do have a large cast. Advantage of that is you have many people to write about and use to create conflict. That's also the disadvantage.

Keeping track of multiple characters and their own individual shenanigans can get pretty difficult. The more you have, the more there is to keep track of. And with the essentially conspiratorial way the main enemies are coming at us, that just makes it harder still. I salute your efforts and hope you keep making them though. I do have fun here.

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>>34546468


Hmm I see, it's hard to avoid burning out as far as I'm concerned, but then maybe I'm just presenting everything as too hopeless for their own good; I put a big twist on the MGE universe and despite promises of lightening things up, it simply hasn't happen. I love conflicts but I might be putting too much of it…
Which of course means every choice is seen as YOU DIE OR YOU LIVE and I, of course, didn’t help tonight as I tend to indulge too much on the general paranoia and dread of my players. Maybe a bit too much ‘’No good deeds goes unpunished’’ in this tale.

Well, I think I'm just rambling right now.

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>>34546618

Well at least the Commonwealth is vibrant with life, keeping track of everything isn't too hard, I think its just the overall oppression forcing progress to a halt

>>34546619
>I think I'm just rambling right now.
No, I think you've come across what you're doing.
In summary, you found that you like putting in conflict and indulging in playing on the fears of the players, and they responded exactly as you intended, though you hoped and promised to lighten the mood and not make each choice so important.

Choices have consequences, even those made by the GM, in other words.

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>>34546619
It's a hard life when you have a lot in common with this guy. You, and other players, have been a source of highly enjoyable suffering infused fiction recommendations. I get fun playing, then more fun reading what everyone else seems to be reading.

For example, I probably never would have read the Muv-Luv series if you didn't say it was so good. Very glad I did, definitely one of my favorite series now. Wish they'd get everything else translated damnit.

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>>34546787

Guess so, maybe to make communication clear from now on it'd be good to ask if said choice is hyper important or more casual; might break the flow a bit, but it'll make communication easier, if I said choosing a spymasters wouldn't fuck you over for finding the agent or that petitioning for the rulers would simply eat away some time (like losing around thirty minutes) that isn't horrific consequence compared to Hadraniel state.

>>34546864

I think muvluv seriously awakened my suffering fetish in story.

>>34546865
Given your tendency to either make every choice seem like we're balanced on a razor's edge even though it would only be a minor setback if it fails, to making extremely important choices seem like they're less important with only minor differences between the options, on top of sometimes opaque language, I think it may be necessary.

>>34547006

Maybe I should take the habing of going >This choice isn't a defining moment of our story

There's definetly a better way to word it.

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>>34546898
I'm of the opinion that people tend to already have their fetishes, they just need to be discovered.

You've always liked suffering, it just took seeing such a highly concentrated amount to have that realization. If a man never sees a beautiful woman, how will he ever know if he's attracted to them or not? If a man never reads a story dripping with suffering, how will he know if he's into that sort of thing or not?

Page 10 bump, thread will continue today

One last bump before bed, let's hope the thread last.

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Bump for Hadraniel, the best girl.

Page 9 bump.

Barely slept at all, still I'll try to be at my best to continue tonight.

Kyorn for best girl.

>>34558658
>Kyorn for worst bro.
Batrion and Garett were better.

>>34554185
Yes

>>34559752
We can't really say he's the worst yet, we still don't know much of anything about this Zechariah fellow.

We need to have a kind of male bonding session before the battle starts. Liking the people you're fighting with improves morale, thus improves survival chances.

I'll try to start in an hour or so. Thank for keeping the thread alive.

>>34562148
>we still don't know much of anything about this Zechariah fellow.
I suppose, though he did threaten to kill us just for looking at his slimegirl with curiosity.

>>34563883
Some dudes are possessive. Though the girl did claim to "want a taste" of Siggy, whatever that means.

’Do you know anything about Gil Redcloaks?’’

It’s true that Kyorn has been isolated for thirty years, knowing his stance might be useful; the warrior expression shifted toward something pensive as he glanced toward the floating ghost half-hidden inside the wall before settling his attention back to me, I tried my best to avoid laughing; it’s not every day that I’ve spent time with the livid dead, much less such a lively one.

‘’I fought in the three-way civil war of Gwynedd, the Balàn were quite competent schemers I’ll give them that, aside from their rocky origin I can’t speak much about the Redcloaks but if the blood of his father’s hasn’t diluted, Robert should be every bit as competent as Tsukiyomi’’

‘’You know the spymaster?’’

‘’Hearsay, my little chat yesterday was quite educative’’

Me and the ghost – Tanaka was it?- shared a simultaneous eye rolls. Men and their damn bravado, can’t escape it, only got to live with it and for a moment only silence reigned with the muffled buzz beyond the door breaking up the silence of the hallway, even the fretting over Siegfried illness couldn’t carry this far; I actually felt tempted to ask the ghost to help out but if she wasn’t there anyway, she’s probably just as useless as I am.

‘’I think it’ll be faster to get info out of both spymasters, let’s just hope they won’t be too stubborn’’

The idea of bothering Ame-no-Uzume was tempting as well but she, along with Gil and the Rahall, are no doubt busy with affairs on their own, else they’d be investigating this mole forthwith, it’d be best to leave them to their seclusions.

--

Outside the situation looked the same as earlier albeit with some different results; much of the soldiers were in the city herding the newly-created homeless but those staying behind in the mansion seemed busy with some new arrival of Gwynedd army, apparently the other two order of the country had sent some representative of their own now but unfortunately I couldn’t quite spare the time to admire some plated centaurs (amongst other things, some wyverns knights still kept on flying overhead).

The redshirts had apparently taken over the area surrounding the dojo where this triple homicide took place, the wilted flowers only heralded the tragedy inside and for a moment I felt tempted to explore the downtrodden path leading further north inside the trees right in the direction of the mountain bordering the city, however the presence of these men and women in bright color went far, far from unnoticed, I already counted three people outside. Two familiar men (an elf and a heavy built man, the same two scarfing down honey yesterday night) and a rather savage looking brunette fiddling with a metal crossbow who immediately cast a sharp glance toward us and growled like some uncivilised barbarian.

‘’You again’’

She snarled toward Kyorn who simply shrugged in turn, only to wince when his ghostly companion pinched him on the side; I decided to avoid any more time and strolled toward the dojo as the other two men looked at each other’s with the one armed elf yielding first, shrugging and gesturing to the door with reverence, as if playing the part of the Butler.

‘’That’s a strangely warm welcome’’

I was probably tempting fate, Kyorn seemed very eager to get inside but stopped midway as I glanced toward the elf.

‘’I know who the two of you are, I sincerely doubt you’ll be wasting anyone’s time.’’

This guy is, no doubt, a second in command.

‘’Thank for the show of faith’’

Perhaps reputation is good for something after all; the girl snarled once more as I opened the door to the large dojo with Kyorn quickly closing it again once I stepped through; a lukewarm breeze blanketed the entire place now and the corpse had all disappeared, however remnant of the tragedy still remained thank to the stain and this strange sentiment tickling my body, as if some invisible force hat attached itself to the dojo.

‘’The door is still open…’’

It was another feminine voice, two other person were standing inside the grim, defaced hall; a man and woman both of blond hair, with the male sporting sharp blue eyes as his companion showed more hazel colored iris, the woman hair were cut short and now as they fell in obvious silence to observe our interruption they showed a striking physical similarity; aside from the same uniform they had the same weight, similar features in face and the very same stance as they both reached their sword on their left-hips, both obviously showing their main swords arm in the process. Robert Bàlan was standing beside what I immediately guessed to be his sister but the male showed a much different aura compared to the woman, something similar to Siegfried or Gil; a thorough charismatic sharpness that’d send a cold wave up anyone spine, the spymaster showed a complete and total lack of emotions that went beyond mere trained austerity.
Ahem, yes, I feel as if I’m staring into some inquisitor.

‘’Kyorn, and…Athena, yes?’’

It was the woman who spoke, she was the first to relax by freeing her sword and Balàn followed through, stepping forth on his own, the luxurious velvet cloak covering his body seemed to glide on the ground without picking up any nasty stain.

‘’Aye mam, Athena Pàla of Zipangu, Kyorn the Hero and his companion Tanaka, all three of us in service of Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto and the Commonwealth, we’ve come in of gaining some information; we are just starting to investigate on our own for the mole in our midst and were hoping you could exchange what you know.’’

I’m not the best at negotiations but even I know starting from a position of weakness isn’t exactly the way to go; even so, I figured honesty was the best ammunition in this case and Kyorn visibly approved by nodding at my words, there wasn’t any hostility emanating from him and that obviously but our two interlocutors at ease.

‘’Yes, both of you met with some of my coworkers last night, I’d like to get to the bottom of this myself but we won’t without knowing what the mantises were up to yesterday; I’d like to exchange favor, I’ll tell the two of you everything we know, in exchange, the three… no four of us will proceed to the hidden refuge of the mantis order or, if we are lucky, intercept their headmaster to get some more pieces to this puzzle. Deal?’’

Quick to business, Robert voice reminded me of a bard; it was smooth and warm, a stark contrast to his strikingly cold demeanor, even now his iced eyes were enough to make me wonder if he felt any kind of emotions at all.

Still, it might be a tad dangerous to accept, it’s not like I know anything positive about this mantis order and they might not take too kindly to some outsiders telling them to choke up info but it might be our only choices, too.

>What should be done?

>>34564114
No reason not to agree, that was our plan anyways, wasn't it?

>>34564114
I don't mean to nitpick but, wasn't the ghost's name Masa and Tanaka the name of the Mantis spymaster?

And Robert dude speaks wisdom. Push comes to shove and mantis politics gets in the way we just let Kyorn intimidate them. He's really good at that right?

>>34564114
I say to accept, but tell them to let us do the talking. Athena is a known Zipangu retainer, and Kyorn is known to be an ally of Ame and Tsu.

>>34564203

It might have been Masa, I reviwed all my notes and didn't find any mention of the ghost name yet so Iwas on the fence about that, as for the name of the guildmaster, that one ahs never been named, in fact she has yet to appear in the quest at all.

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I honestly didn’t expect thing so smoothly; it felt as if Balàn was actually waiting for us, as if this entire situation had been rehearsed, aside from a strong impression of déjà I was quick to accept his condition, I could only hazard a few guess as to why the leader of the Redcloaks would be so forthwith but I won’t reject such good tidings out of misguided paranoia.

‘’Alright’’

Robert cleared his throat after my acceptance and began his briefing forthwith.

‘’The man was named Hatsuo Satoru, the second in command of the city militia or, as people here call it, police. He was schedule for a mercy killing following the ingestion of a Potion of Induced Vampirism – this new was well known and understood by most of the people in the castle, from servants, to soldiers, to high-ranking members we questioned, that’s why the dojo of the Everblue was secluded yesterday night – the entire ritual was supervised by the mantises up until the ritual with Tsukiyomi, all the corruptions bothered the cult who, in turn, requested backup from the mantises in case things went haywire and I believe the only agent left behind was to keep to their previous duty, albeit on her lonesome and that’s where our perp struck.’’

The pale oranges tatamis where still stained by dark, dried blood alongside the cool, iced part showing the demise of the previous Yukionna matron demise.

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‘’We previously thought that the warrior and mantis worked in tandem to overcome the matron but that’s not what happened, the girl must have struck first on her own alongside the perpetrator so the battle was quick and bloody; the man must have overcome his foe quickly but couldn’t save the woman; the wound on his chest was done by the mantis scythe but that was post mortem, his death came from a stab in the belly, an upward strike leading inside the ribs; his changes mustn’t have been completed because his death was quick enough for him to pass away on his knees, similar thing with Cadhla for three stabs in the back was enough to kill her quickly. The entire struggle mustn’t have taken more than a few minutes because nobody else heard anything. Somehow the mantis agreed to cooperate - perhaps through geas - to carry out this assassination.’’

The exorcism certainly provided a golden opportunity; everybody was busy and fretting over the cascade of corruption

‘’So one of the key information is to find out who that mantis was?’’

‘’Amongst other things, there’s also the timeline surrounding the festivity with the soldiers; It must have started during the exorcism as well, thusly weakening the Rahall guards vigilance, I don’t know if it a mere coincidence or screening for our perp, it’ll help placing a time for our murders.’’

That’s when a knock interrupted Robert, three light pounding resonated inside the dojo and the spymaster quickly veered toward the door that already opened on its own, revealing the one handed elf flanked by a peculiar sight. A woman, a monsters, sporting a fluffy brown, white lined tails bouncing up and down like a balloon as a pair of rounded fluffy ears seemed to twitch constantly at every sound; bright golden eyes immediately fell upon me as I recognized the woman after a few mental jousts.

‘’…Tanuya?’’

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She stilled seemed wounded, the bandages on her chest and part of her forearms still peeked through the kimono – she’s the information broker of the Rahall, yes.

‘’Aye, thank mister elf’’

‘’Well you were a little insistent, so go on now’’

‘’Hope I didn’t interrupt tough!’’

For a moment a sad shadow spread on her features as she looked at the bloodstain before refilling her bravado.

‘’I’m Tanuya Hoaxl but all of ya can call me Tanu, I’m sort of an information broker for the Rahall although the war put me out of a job, I’ve been looking into yesterday mess to my best of abilities aand… well didn’t really came up with anything, all the trails outside the mansion are pretty cold so it’s definitely an inside job, wonder tough, could we cooperate? I know I’m a suspect in this mess so I’d like to clear this up as soon as possible’’

Then she bowed, deeply at that, half her height bending over, sending her curly tail in a few nervous bounce as Balàn completely closed expression made it impossible to predict his train of thought whilst Kyorn was grimacing, before looking at me and giving me a nod, probably believing the Tanuki.

>What should be done?

>>34565120
We saw Tanuya passed out along with the guards at the party, didn't we?

Accept her help.
Keeping her with us would let us keep an eye on her. Though check her eyes, just to be sure.

If only there was a way to pump magic/corruption/holy into a person to overcome the blood magic disguise.

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>>34565120
You know what they say, keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. Let her cooperate, but watch her like a cracked out paranoid hawk. This girl so much as makes a tiny twitch for no good reason, investigate it.

Give her a very thorough pat-down as well. She's a suspect so, she'll understand. Can't run the risk of her wearing a wire for the other side. Also, chance for Athena to fondle fluffy tail. A bug could be hiding in that fluff!

Even in a magic soaked environment, if someone nearby tried anything Kyorn could possibly feel it anyway right?

>>34565252

Her eyes are gold, never changed.

>>34565296

Yes, Kyorn isn't the best mages but he can pick it up, don't forget that yo uare also in the presences of highly trained agent specialised in subterfuge, if he miss stuff, they won't.

>>34565333
But Daiyu is still the only person who can detect charms and geases, right?
And of course, the one time we need her, she's not available.

>>34565355

Not the only person, but it'll be harder without her.

So the consensus is to give Tanu a pat down, ahve her explain herself, then proceed toward the mantises?

>>34565376
For now. We'll have Tanu vetted by Daiyu after we get the information from the Mantis Guildmaster.

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>>34565296
Oh.. Commander..

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>>34565376
And hopefully have Athena fondle Tanya's fluffy tail. What, you think I'm gonna miss an opportunity to indulge in the fluffy tail? Because that ain't happening.

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’Mind if I check you over first?’’

‘’Ah?’’

‘’Make sure you don’t conceal anything’’

‘’…oh’’

Smooth, Athena. Real smooth.

Tanuya straightened herself whilst her cheek reddened, I tried my best to keep it as quick as possible while minding my pressure to avoid causing unneeded pain, and most of her torso and shoulders were still wrapped in fresh bandages, even so for an information broker I noticed the… sturdiness of her body; as a warrior I believe I’ve got the eyes (and touch) to know a body fir for battle and Tanuya certainly didn’t disappoint, lean without big muscles like proper soldier a better way to describe the Tanuki might simply be survivalist; the job of information broker must hold some serious risks.

Also her tail felt soft but also springy, the fur pushed against my palm and flesh instead of sliding all around the skin like the Kitsunes; it’s a very different feeling but far, far from unwelcomed, I’m going to blame Siegfried on this because I certainly earned a few stares by this blatant… near grope but hey, one has to make DAMN sure there isn’t anything right?

Of course she wasn’t concealing weapon but I still have to admit to be impressed, I simply expected her to be some armchair dealer but she could own her ground in a fight.

‘’Auu…’’

‘’Ahem! Well you got nothing’’

I heard Kyorn stifle a laugh before groaning as his ghost companion interrupted his mirth, Tanuya cleared her throat afterward while giving a bright «thank!» in my direction then turned to face the Balàn pair who stayed completely stoic through it all.

‘’I’m the one that sort of organized yesterday party’’

A suspicious confession, even the elf had actually inside now before closing the door, this was obviously important enough for him to hear as well.

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‘’I’m the one that sort of organized yesterday party’’

A suspicious confession, even the elf had actually inside now before closing the door, this was obviously important enough for him to hear as well.

‘’I did it to try and get my mind off things, y’know I’ve had a bit of a history with the police of the capitals, all the guys here couldn’t bust me because, well, my job was at the very limit of legality and in the end we started cooperating, becoming something like disgruntled friend – basically we had ties, from business to personal and all of them ended up dying when the angel came knocking, with the last one performing a honor suicide… so, I sort of tried to have Zipangu and Gwynedd folk get along by paying up some boozes obviously…’’

Her voice was breaking slightly near the end and the Tanuki stopped, cleared her throat and regained her composure.

‘’…I didn’t expect an assassin to come lurking, I know this doesn’t exempt me of doubt, but at least I’m being as upfront as I can about this’’

‘’I see’’

Robert nodded, and the elf stopped forward with nothing short of practiced cadence.

‘’Boss?’’

‘’Thaneal, go check her room, you, come with us now; as the information broker of the Rahall you respond to the queen, yes? Then having you with us is a boon regardless, but we have to make your innocence absolutely certain’’

‘’Yeah, I know, hey elf! Look under the bed, aight?’’

Said elf was already on his way out and simply chuckled, shaking his head before walked off into the dead field of Everblue.

Hmm…

>Anything to ask of the Tanuki?

>>34566146
"So, you've been the info broker for the Rahal's for a while; know where we can find the Mantis Guildmaster right now? Getting their cooperation will be vital in finding the sleeper agent involved."
And then, "So, you had ties to everyone here. When did you start? I can imagine it must have been hard putting together a network that would survive Mantis scrutiny."
Get her to subtly talk about how long she's been here.

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>>34566255

Let's go with that

>>34566146
Ask her if her contacts extend to the servants and guards inside the castle.
Also if she's got some suspects already.
Has anyone gone missing since the murder?

>>34566255
Potentially gathering intel while subtly gaining intel on her. I like it.

>>34566146
Ask her how often Siegfried rubbed her tails or ears.

"So, you've been the info broker for the Rahal's for a while; know where we can find the Mantis Guildmaster right now? Getting their cooperation will be vital in finding the sleeper agent involved."

I know very well about the ruthlessness of the mantises; they and they alone keep the uppity nobles of the cat in check and even managed to unearth most (perhaps even all) the planted agents of Tsukiyomi, the only reasons why those still have their heads is probably because both monarch wished to cooperate following the fiasco of the demonic war.

‘’Well no, I haven’t been working for the Rahal until a few weeks ago, I was entirely independent before that, even accepted a contract form Tsukiyomi and met up with Siegfried outside the clan capital when he came here as diplomat. As for the guild master, their place is deeper in the forest past this dojo, a good thirty minutes of walking should lead us to the entrance but that place is probably the most solid fortress of the entire island, hell maybe even this side of the continent.’’

Not like were expecting to go in as conquerors, although when I looked the beastgirl over another question popped in my hand as Balàn and Kyorn listened silently.

‘’As for your job, when did you start? It mustn’t have been easy to escape the mantises scrutiny’’

‘’…when?’’

Tanuya repeated, scratching her head in slight confusion but the pressure of our stare won over her hesitations.

‘’It think that life chose me more than anything, I came to Zipangu from outside true so I started with illegal smuggling and very quickly changed from there once I settled in the more hospitable Rahal lands, it was an opportunity that created my job and I quickly began to unheard dirt on the various cat nobles and started grabbing them by the balls – or well, lack of it but you get the idea. I don’t know anyone managing to keep any kind of criminal network in the capital without cooperating with the Rahall or the mantises tough, so I simply stayed outside; I never really escaped their scrutiny, I simply never wacked the beehive until I actually followed Siegfried here, it was about the right opportunity to be hired’’

‘’Then how did you come to a tense relationship with the militia?’’

‘’The police whole jurisdiction extend to the villages surrounding the capital and that’s how we came to know each other, most of the criminals tend to escape the city to avoid the mantises who concentrate on keeping the Rahall safe and of course, keeping the nobles in line; the police take care of day to day affairs. Or took, I dunno what’ll happen to em now…’’

So in the end her semi-illegal activity soon turned into a disgruntled cooperation with the leaders of the militia, during my time with the Shining Knight I know from firsthand experience there’s a serious criminal underworld running around the entire island (especially opium trade trying to undercut the regulated «inns» of the cult) so her story does hold some weight; they’ve been lying very low the past thirty years at least, although her recent cooperation with authority must have put her in a harsh position… probably why Tanuya hasn’t left the capital, let alone the mansion, yet.

I saw Balàn glare at the Tanuki before relaxing, stepping forward toward the door he announced promptly that he’ll «have more questions to ask» but now wasn’t the time; she provided enough to actually put something solid for her alibi and reasoning toward yesterday interruption, however, as he opened the door, we came to a very unique vision.

--

Outside the dojo and into the field of wilted Everblue a most peculiar group was trudging along slowly in good cheer.

Mylen, Sylphis, Leila and an unknown girl - another mantis garbed in a grayish hooded cloak – walked side by side with the closeness of a newly blossomed friendship.

‘’You were pretty damn good back then!’’
‘’Yeah well, you too, how the hell did you managed to put up such a struggle anyway?’’
‘’Cause I’m just that good’’
‘’You had me quite scared; just don’t do that again alright? Allies shouldn’t just go for each other’s throat’’
‘’Ah come on Leila, you and I were certain Sylphis was being misled…’’

I don’t think I’ve seen Mylen that relaxed before, she kept on patting Sylphis between antennas and I noticed something most peculiar about this little sister of mine; something pale in her skin, symbols or some kind of geometry barely visible to the eyes clashed with all my memories of her physique. All the redcloaks, Balàn include, simply stared at this most unlikely group in disbelief, even Kyorn was reduced to silence as all the girls walked on without a care in the world.
Something happened with them alright.

>Well now, what do you do?

>>34567164
Flag down Sylphis, Mylen, and Leila. Ask them who their Mantis friend is.
We need to meet with the Mantis Guildmaster; isn't there a faster way to get them than to walk for 30 minutes?

And tell Leila and Mylen that Siegfried seems to have gotten sick and they should see if he needs two more nurses; don't know what, but maybe Leila's Holy can help him out.
(and this should get Leila into a position to help stabilize Hadraniel with Holy when the time comes)

>>34567164
Question them intensely.

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>>34567291

About?

>>34567284

Will do

>>34567385
What happened with them.

>>34567284
I'll go with this. We need Leila on the way there at the very least. We really can't afford to lose Hadraniel before the Orion fight. She's the only one who can reliably tank him I believe.

Soul Blasts or no Siggy is still rather squishy. Orion will likely follow the sage advice of any good runner, geek the mage first! We must not be geeked.

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‘’Waaaait just a second folks!’’

None of them cared to look in our direction; this sight, this group, was one of the oddest thing I’ve seen and for a moment all mentions of traitors and investigations flew out of my mind as I abandoned my previous company, jogging up to the group as they turned to look at me and I was greeted by three smiles, with Sylphis bouncing slightly to come to my level as Mylen put her spear back in her free hand (her shield hand was previously holding it).

‘’What you doing here Athena?’’

For a moment I stayed silent, peering down at the shorter mantis, her skin felt a bit… uneven in color, it wasn’t any trick of mind or light of the sun, it felt as if some kind of symbols were spread throughout her entire body using the very same color of her skin with the artificiality of it all was impossible to truly conceal – she quickly picked on my surprise on put both hands on her hips, the position was quite awkward give the retracted scythes.

‘’Don’t worry, I’m strong now!’’

‘’…Strong?’’

‘’Yep, tough enough that I can’t predict her moves’’

Mylen put weight to my little sis argument by pointing to her own eyes and… Sylphis changed, as if embracing focus tattoos appeared throughout her entire body, glowing a nice, deep darkish blue, they formed a pattern of wave interlocking with a certain ‘’motion’’ the very drawing seemed to be moving before my eyes, creating an impression of motions, movement like flexible water but not quite the predictable pattern of the sea, for they seemed to go up and down, following their whims instead of the laws of the world.

‘’…what?’’

’I’m strong, you won’t have to worry about me anymore in two days!’’
Then she gave a thumb up, and Leila came forward.
‘’We were in the company of the mantises orders for the last few hours; given the presence of the redcloaks… you’ve taken some business into your hands? Can we help?’’

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’Ah…right, right!’’

Just now I noticed that my mouth hanged open dumbly – I completely forgot about the presence of the fourth girl, a quiet mantis that observed the proceeding calmly enough to fall out of mind.

‘’Investigating for the mole, but something a bit more pressing happened – Siegfried fell sick out of the blue’’

I knew I’d completely kill all the good cheer they’ve built up and I might as well have sliced open the throat of a child in front of them as all the girls frowned simultaneously.

‘’Seriously?’’

Mylen growled, slipping back into her usual gruffness and I nodded.

‘’I knew I was useless to stand around so I decided to take the investigations in my own hands along with Kyorn but if you girls could help, or just worried at all, you should proceed back into the hallway, Tsukiyomi want to keep it all hush-hush for now so I doubt Ame even know about it.’’

‘’I…see’’

Leila voice came out in a squeak and her hand reached to palm the handle of the holy sword.

‘’Let’s go’’

Sylphis stated and the other two girls nodded; there wasn’t any goodbye, all three of them simply ran out of sight within moments, leaving the single mantis behind while the rest of my makeshift group proceeded out of the dojo, with Robert speaking to his fellows before all of them started to walk in our direction, trying their best to avoid looking intimidating while Kyorn took place at my side, with Tanuya far behind.

‘’It’d seems the gods trials never end’’

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The mantis in a warm, lovely voice that wouldn’t be out of place for one of the few matron priest of the cult; she threw back her hood and I was greeted with a pretty face of a mantis with striking similarity with Sylphis, golden eyes, green antennas, short brown hair, she’d easily pass as Sylphis sisters if it weren’t for the wisdom and maturity of her gaze and the slight difference in coiffure; it’s the eternal curses of bug monsters to look very, very similar to one another.

‘’My name is Ciaràn’’

She spoke again calm, putting a hand on her torso and performing a slight bow to our group.

‘’I am the Guildmaster of the mantises and I’m here for the very same reasons as you are Athena, Robert’’
Well that… makes things easier although, outside in the forest fellows bugs made themselves known, not quite hiding, I counted about seven at face value standing still; I heard a loud metallic clunk from the woman halberd which was very quickly reprimanded by Balàn sister.

‘’Don’t mind them; I think we’ve only got today to find our perp and if we need manpower, well, these girls are willing, beside it’s about time to show a good show of faith for the Commonwealth, right? I long to see the competence of the Redcloaks’’

To this Robert smiled, the very first time an expression crossed his face.

‘’Torture might just be our only option if all you’ve got to offer is disappointing news’’
‘’That wolf isn’t going to break’’

Kyorn spoke with a certain tone, eyeing both spymaster with smoldering anger and revulsion before calming down quickly thank to the ghost beside him.

‘’We’ll see, let’s get to it new; this dead field is as good an audience as any’’

>A Tale of Monsters -127- End.

We'll have to see if this rat slips our graps next session shall we?

>>34568433
Torturing the werewolf doesn't seem like it will be of much use. Not to mention, if Deruella was halfway competent, she would have compartmentalized her operations so that one cell being compromised won't affect the entire operation.

On the other hand, we could see if publicly torturing her will lure Deruella out.

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>>34568433
Ok, so Sylphis obviously got some sort of power up. So what are we talking, a kind of "unlock hidden potential" thing, drawing upon Siggy's origin thanks to the link, or did we just make her Chipp Zanuff kind of deal?

Any one of these is music to my ears. All we need now is a new arm for Athena, deploy them both to the same zone during the upcoming battle, and things are looking good on that front. For their own survivability if nothing else.

Also, found our objective surprisingly easily. Guess fate can't help our target out now, she's gonna have to evade us on skill alone. Hope she fails horribly.

>>34568433
Will you tell us more about the tattoos that Sylphis got?
Are they a form of granting Focus-like benefits to non-mages?
What are the requirements? Will Sylphis suffer Overcast if she uses them too much?

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>>34568581
>>34568621


All the details surounding the merry band will be clear in my shrot story that should come next session. Sylphis power up will be explained there, as well as why Ciaràn is out of her fortress.

>>34568574

That's a possible course of action. We'll ahve to see about this detective work.

>>34568653
Cool cool, I just hope she didn't have to sacrifice anything major. Pain ain't shit to her, but that isn't the only price to pay for power.

And just how good is this headmaster? I know she's lethal, but just how lethal? Damn good ninja or are we talking someone who could give Hassan a run for his money?

>>34568653
Oh wait, something I wanted to ask but forgot about: werewolf regeneration and a Kumiho's appetite.
If we were to tie her down in Ame's bedroom, would the disembowelment be enough to kill a werewolf? Or would the Kumiho's nature delight in a regenerating plaything enough that Ame would just eat her liver and some internal organs but not enough to actually kill her?

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>>34568719

Hassan, but I doubt you'll get to see her fight first hand

>>34568720

The wolf could live through a night but that's only if ''things go well''. A fully turned Kumiho finding a regenerative prey is very likely to go overboard.

>>34568942
>A fully turned Kumiho finding a regenerative prey is very likely to go overboard.
Thereby losing the very thing they got excited over.

Ame's Kumiho nature is threatening to break free of her control; would feeding it help to take the pressure off of her seals, or would it actually break her limiters entirely?

>>34569035
>>34568942
Oh, and would going Full Kumiho let Ame regenerate her wounds?

>>34569035

Well as of now Ame is keeping herself sane well enough, having a ''prey'' isn't going to make her go bonker or lose to the temption yet, it's simply eating away at her bit by bit, throwing the werefols in her room isn't likely to do much good or bad since she isn't exactly fully Kumiho yet; it sort of just depend on the night, some are much worst than others.

Ame is changing, she's very different form the princess during the demonic war for example, its time that slowly regress her.

>>34569057
>Oh, and would going Full Kumiho let Ame regenerate her wounds?

Kumiho are inherant user of blood magic, so yes. they use a highly specialised one, but its still blood magic, very differnt from the studied ''Science'' since it rely on cannibalism.

>>34569145
What were the seals used to contain Ame's Kumiho nature? Is there a way to permanently change her from a Kumiho to a Kitsune?

>>34569528

Tehre wasn't any seals, it's simple organic/mental degeneration

>>34569650
Would creating a soul link with Ame have halted the degeneration?

And I want to be sure I'm understanding this right: Ame is a Kumiho, but through mental focus, she has been suppressing her Kumiho instincts. This mental focus is slowly being worn down, and though the matter is with her soul, the soul healers have not been able to find a way to help her mental state.
Is that right?

>>34569719
>Would creating a soul link with Ame have halted the degeneration?

No, you'd have been made aware of it sooner.

>Is that right?

Almost right; she was brought up as a Kitsune, not a Kumiho and instilled values and morales that more or less reject the very precepts of Kumihos (cannibalism, mostly). It's nota problem of healing, she's simply becoming what she is naturally despite rejecting it with every fiber of her being.

>>34569789
How often do Kumihos need to partake of sapient creature's flesh?
Will Ame be completely changed, or will she still be Ame but with these new urges and instincts?
As in, will her Kumiho nature completely warp her values and morals?

Was this inevitable?

>>34569855
>How often do Kumihos need to partake of sapient creature's flesh?

It's not an obligation, just an increasingly irresistible urge; a Kumiho can survive on a perfectly normal diet but they are tempted by human flesh to the point of wanting it unconsciously and seek it when sleeping, essentially making them murderous sleep walkers.

>Will Ame be completely changed, or will she still be Ame but with these new urges and instincts?

That's entirely on her; she's already been changing from the person she was thirty years ago already but that ma ysimply be natural change, it won't be a stark, overnight change, but something gradual.

>Was this inevitable?

Yes.

In the next thirty years, if she doesn't return to the swamp, she'll be completely lost even if she doesn't change consiously, she'll be a murderous beast in her sleep, creating a seperate personality.

You don't need to fear changes for the timeline of the quest.

>>34569951
>if she doesn't return to the swamp
What will returning to the swamp do for her?
Besides presenting a near endless number of dangerous creatures for her to vent on?

Is a Kumiho's nature a product of their Corruption? Could soul manipulation like that of a geas keep Ame's Kumiho instincts from progressing?

>>34569951
Kumiho are not subject to the control of the Demon Lord's Throne, correct?
Since they predate the Throne, they cannot be manipulated by it, much like the Yukionna?

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>>34570010

>What will returning to the swamp do for her?

Confronting her nature and mother mostly, all of it come from her completely broken early childhood.

I'm not going to say anything at all about this, since this is a problem that can't be solved easily and I shouldn't anymore infos than necessary.

>Is a Kumiho's nature a product of their Corruption?

No, its simply WHAT they are as entities.

>Could soul manipulation like that of a geas keep Ame's Kumiho instincts from progressing?

Nope, it work mostly unconsiously, gradual changes that take years to blossom.

>>34570078
>Kumiho are not subject to the control of the Demon Lord's Throne, correct?
>Since they predate the Throne, they cannot be manipulated by it, much like the Yukionna?

Very true, Kitsune is one of the few races of abhumans that were present in the world before the advent of monstergirls; they manipulated corruption without the throne influence but that started to change slightly with Daiyu long, long reign but the only noticeable thing it produced for them is a slight increase in libido.

>>34570135
>Confronting her nature and mother mostly
Could we have settled this while we were in the swamp, or was it better that we pulled out when we did?

Given our time constraints, I don't think we'll be able to make that side trip.

>>34570176
>Could we have settled this while we were in the swamp, or was it better that we pulled out when we did?

It was much, much better to pull out now; like I said this a change that take years to show, wether she dies or not in this war her fate will stay rocky.

>>34570193
Winning the war is essentially Ame's only way to live.
Once the war is won, she can put together a much better prepared expedition back into the swamp and confront her mother, with a better chance of success.
Maybe by then magitech Holy artillery will be ready to rain down on the swamp to clear a path.

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Oh shit I just remember, I thought of something else to write in the universe of ToM as a sort of self-contained/episodic stories where we incarnate Mother Earth and involve ourselves in a few situations here and there, more or less trying to resolves conflict for the better with stories lasting about 3 or 4 threads at most. Think it'd be fun? It wouldn'T exactly put more pressure on myself since I could simply do them whenever.

>>34570254

Winning the war is the only hope for everyone.

>>34570303
If it will let you revitalize yourself, then switching gears might be good.
Though when we come back to Athena and Siegfried, you'll need to make a big informational post covering what was going on; both for the player's benefit as well as yours.

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>>34570351

Of course, I'm just thinking that episodic story as a sidequest could be good, not only would it bring depth to the entire world of ToM, but it'd also make us understand how a goddess work alongside seeing how /tg/ take the boots of a benevolent god.