File: theadventuresofmonalisa.jpg (3 KB, 125x119)

3 KB JPG

Character and setting info: http://pastebin.com/u/MagicalPrincess
Archives: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Start+Over+Quest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagicalMarquise
Ask.fm: http://ask.fm/MagicalMarquise
Collection of character descriptions (WIP, courtesy of anon): http://pastebin.com/pzYffs0R

>>43558866

>Bring almond cookies.

The most critical choice in the quest so far! I don't drink coffee though, so I don't know which is best with coffee.

>>43558866
Starting with the tough dilemmas I see.
>Bring butter cookies.
>Bring sweet toffees.

>>43558866
>Bring butter cookies.
We don't know about potential allergies, and these go best with coffee. It's the perfect choice!

>>43558866
>Bring almond cookies.
>Bring rice crackers.
>Eavesdrop a bit.
>PANIC

>>43558873
>Bring butter cookies.
>Eavesdrop a bit.

I love how you update the second post with whatever new art is posted.

>>43558866
>>Bring butter cookies.

You've never really had the luxury of silverware. To put it in perspective, this also means you've never had the luxury of being able to choose what to accompany a drink with, be it coffee, tea, herbal teas and other similar mixtures. You're not quite sure what to bring from the ample selection you have right in front of you.

Taking too long might irritate your mistress for a day, though, albeit you honestly cannot imagine Astreya being annoyed, let alone mad at someone. Of course, she must be capable of keeping Yomi in line anyways, because he does seem to at least listen to her, despite his ever-sharp words.

While you add butter cookies (they're just so soft and everything) and wonder whether to bring some almond cookies as well, you stretch your ears open to listen to what's going on behind you, if anything because you wonder if they're talking about you.

“... And that's not quite the only reason I'm here”, you hear Astreya's familiar voice explaining, “I also have quite an interest in local herbs, I do believe there are remedies for local diseases which are, I'm afraid, soon to spread throughout the new settlements. Nothing to worry about, however, our predecessors surely must have found ways to survive when this region was still flourishing”.

“I haven't seen much clergy of Jure around”, your father comments, “Do you plan to take their place?”.

Astreya chuckles, “Not quite, not quite. I am sure more will come, but do not be afraid: even if there's not enough to make a temple, healers and doctors are more than enough for the majority of common health issues. You're probably used to quite... Exotic needs, aren't you?”.

You have no idea what she is implying, but you believe this is a good moment to open the door and bring the tray to the common room.

“Oh, Lillith, dear”, Astreya smiles as she suddenly turns at you, “Would you be a darling and fetch me my herbs journal?”.

>”Yes”.
>”No”.
>”Where is it?”.
>PANIC
>Other?

>>43559081
>”Yes”.
>”Where is it?”.

>>43559081
>”Where is it?”.
>PANIC
AAAAAA

>>43559081
>”Yes”.
>”Where is it?”.

>>43559081
>”Yes”
>"Where can I find it?"
Wording matters.

>>43559127
That's a good point anon. I can just imagine what Astreya could do with the potential for misunderstandings...

>>43559081
>”Yes”
>"Where can I find it?"

You almost come to an abrupt halt, which is noticeable by the fact everything in your tray shakes slightly. Fortunately you don't drop anything, but it reminds you to calm down and keep your everything under control, especially while carrying fragile things, especially while everyone is watching you.

Carefully laying the tray on the table so that nothing is spilled and any possible crisis is averted, you pull yourself back up and give Astreya an affirmative nod, “Where can I find it?”, you then add.

“It's on the fourth bookcase, I think somewhere in the middle shel-”, she suddenly stops, “... Or maybe in the bedroom? Maybe in my bag? Gosh I hope I didn't leave it in the attic”, she frowns, clearly quite unsure herself on the whereabouts of said book.

“Why do you make it sound like the attic is such a bad place?”, Bryld ask, her ears drooping as if afraid of actually hearing an answer.

“Oh, that's Yomi's room”, she explains, “Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it'd be quite clumsy of me to leave such important things in inappropriate places”.

“Well, as long as he doesn't do anything terrible with it...”, your father shrugs as an almond cookie quickly disappears in his mouth.

“I doubt it”, Astreya chuckles.

“Aren't there poisonous plants here?”, Tahenohan asks with more glee than it is safe to have with such a topic, “I remember a merchant once sold me an oil that was said to come from the Shadow Marches, but I forget the name of the plant...”.

“... What did you need a poisonous oil for?”, Bryld asks with a hint of bewilderment, and once again immediately regrets having done so.

It seems like everyone is pretty much ignoring you now that you've been given a task. Your father and Bryld sometimes shoot you glances with uncertain expressions, but that's about it, nobody seems to be actually paying much attention to you.

>Check the bookshelves.
>Check Astreya's room.
>Check the attic.
>Other?

>>43559219
>Check Astreya's room.
It's definitely there!

>>43559219
>Check the bookshelves.

>>43559219
>>Check Astreya's room.

>>43559219
>Check Astreya's room.
Dinner for me, see ya later

>>43559219
>Check Astreya's room.
>>Around the desk in particular.

>>43559219
>Check the attic.
I bet it's the most spartan room ever.

If she forgot it somewhere, it must be in her room, you don't know why she would go to Yomi's room and just leave it there (although admittedly there are many things you don't know about her) and you don't even know which of the bookshelves is the fourth one. Where do you start counting from, even?

Taking the safe bet, you close the sliding doors behind you and turn to face the cramped room you're already at least passingly familiar with. The bed is quite in disarray, with the sheets all over the place, and the cushion is nearly tossed aside, as if she turns around a lot when sleeping. When you did sleep with her, you were way too tired to actually check as you fell asleep almost immediately.

There's not much else. There's a wardrobe, with various clothes stacked or hung with no semblance of order nor reason. There's a tiny desk with several sheets of paper, most of them written in New Midgaardian but many others in a script you can't recognize. There is a book as well, resting partly on top of them, but its green hardcover does not give any hints about its contents and a quick flip through its pages only tells you that it's probably not about plants as there's no illustrations, but again it's in a language you can't read.

There's a wide drawer too, beneath the bed, and there just seem to be more clothes in practically no amount of order. A tangled mess of fabrics of various sorts, to the point you can't really be sure what sort of clothes they are unless you begin untangling that mess. There also seems to be various other items, including an actual glass mirror of small size and with an embossed brass frame.

In one of the corners there's an oblong grey-blue bag with a long shoulder strap. You've never quite seen it on her before but it seems to be half-full.

>Check the desk again.
>Explore the bed drawer.
>Venture in the wardrobe's mess.
>Nose into the bag's business.
>Peek on top of the wardrobe.
>Make the bed.
>Other?

>>43559547
>Explore the bed drawer.
I feel a little bad for snooping, so.
>Make the bed.

>>43559547
>>Explore the bed drawer.

>>43559547
>Nose into the bag's business.

>>43559547
>Make the bed.
>Check the floor.

>Explore the bed drawer.
>Venture in the wardrobe's mess
What magical implements is she hiding~?

>>43559601
>"Hmmm, this thick wand doesn't seem to do anything but vibrate. Weird. I didn't even know she used wands..."

>>43559552
>>43559589
We shouldn't waste time in making the bed. Master is in a social gathering right now and needs the book for it.

>>43559666
With all the places we might have to search I doubt a minute on the bed will make much difference.

Moved in part by your own curiosity, you begin to explore the insides of the bed drawer; if it were in any obvious place you would have already seen it, and that feels like somewhere you can easily lose a book into, especially considering the various miscellaneous items that are in there, apparently forgotten.

Other than the aforementioned mirror, you find a few other curious things. A silver-plated pocket watch, that however doesn't seem to be ticking, and a weird red leather strap that doesn't quite hook anywhere and looks more like it was ripped, perhaps accidentally, from somewhere. Maybe an article of clothing, maybe a bag; the leather feels strangely rough, almost prickly.

You keep nosing around some more and move the various dresses around, some of which are incredibly revealing to the point they barely count as clothing and are much more likely to be just decorations for a naked body, or maybe meant to be worn on top of actual clothes. The fashion is tremendously unfamiliar to you, to the point you can't even tell where they come from, and sometimes what material they're made of.

You also find a long chain tied to a tiny gold ball; the chain itself is of a strangely cold metal that looks like steel but with eerie hues. Again, nothing that quite looks like a book.

After spending a few moments to make sure it wasn't just dropped on the bed or somewhere visible, you can claim with 100 percent accuracy that no, it's not on the floor, not on the desk, not on top of the wardrobe and not even on the bed, under the sheets.

From behind you, you hear a bit of educated laughter, but can't quite hear what they're talking about unless you actually stop and try to listen.

You also stop and wonder whether you should bother making the bed or not.

>Make the bed.
>Venture in the wardrobe's mess.
>Nose into the bag's business.
>Move to the attic.
>Move to the bookshelves.
>Other?

>>43559717
>Move to the bookshelves.

>>43559717
>Move to the bookshelves.

I guess we can make the bed afterwards.

>>43559717
>>Nose into the bag's business.
>>Move to the bookshelves
If we at least do the bed that can be an excuse for rummaging through her room.

>>43559717
>Nose into the bag's business.
Well, while we're here...

Deciding you're not going to accomplish anything by snooping around a tiny room that mostly contains just clothes and apparently useless junk, you return to the common room to explore the bookshelves.

“... So I have heard”, you hear Meztli saying, and it's always surprising to hear her voice. Unfortunately, you've only caught the very end of that sentence.

“I never would have thought that!”, Bryld sounds sincerely surprised, and even Mosper is giving the lizardfolk a strange look, as if she just shared a tale or secret he wasn't aware of.

“Mh, I know a scholar or two that would love to hear your take on that topic”, Astreya chuckles, still ignoring you. Again, nobody is really paying attention to what you do or where you go. At least apparently.

There are four bookshelves. From the entrance, there is one on the left, one on the far left, one on the far right and one on the right. They are as tall as they can go and not too wide, and seem to be able to be moved but are currently occupying four sides of this oddly-shaped house, with each bookshelf opposed to another. They are full of books, all hardcover and of various sizes and, again, you can't read some of their covers as they are in unfamiliar languages.

Of course you can also see the small ladder that leads up to the attic. It looks like it might be just another cramped place, even though from the outside it would appear to be spacious enough to let anyone stand up properly. At least you think there's enough room for yourself, if anything.

You also spend a brief moment to take pride in the fact that everyone seems to like your cookies. Well, not your cookies, the ones you brought.

But still.

>Check the left bookshelf.
>Check the far left bookshelf.
>Check the far right bookshelf.
>Check the right bookshelf.
>Check the attic.
>Ask Astreya again.
>Other?

>>43559880
>Check the far right bookshelf.
Definitely this one.

>>43559880
>Check the far left bookshelf.
Followed by
>Check the far right bookshelf.

She did say the fourth, so I'd expect it to be one in the rear.

Make sure to check the middle shelves on them.

>>43559880
>Check the right bookshelf.
It's the right bookshelf after all!

>>43559880
>>Check the far right bookshelf.

>>43559880
>Ask Astreya about the book's appearance.

Counting from the left bookshelf, you continue your search, and turn your backs to the others, even though it's very unlikely that they're talking about you considering you can hear their actual conversations.

“But back on the topic at hand, no, I do not know him”, Astreya then claims, “I know it sometimes feels as if we magic users all know each other, but it's not, really. It's just that there's more of us than you think and it's easy to get in touch with each other for various reasons, but I never heard of that name”.

“I see”, your father sounds somewhat disappointed.

“But”, Tahenohan intervenes, “What about the fact that demons influence what powers you have? Don't you find that a nuisance?”.

“It doesn't quite limit you as it guides you”, she explains, “At first, you'll develop powers related to the demon you summoned because those are the spells he can teach you and the powers he can bestow you with, but once you can manipulate the Ether currents you can very well develop spells of your own, or learn others as soon as you have a good enough control. Of course, as you very well know, the first experiences are quite... Shaping”.

Meanwhile, your search does not turn out anything particular. You not only browse through the book covers but you also pull out a few that you couldn't quite read, and aren't surprised to find that some don't even have titles or seem to have been handwritten and then bound without much concern regarding readability. It's almost as if they were meant to be read by a small niche. Needless to say, you can't read some of them at all.

“I think it's the same with a master”, Tahenohan adds with glee, “Mine was specialized in necromancy, I only picked up some ice manipulation spells later. Oh, and a few of the standard utilities”.

>Check the left bookshelf.
>Check the far left bookshelf.
>Check the far right bookshelf.
>Check the attic.
>Ask Astreya again.
>Other?

>>43560124
>>Check the attic.

>>43560124
>Check the left bookshelf.

>Check the attic.

>>43560124
>Check the attic.
Might as well get on with it.

>>43560124
>Check the attic.

>>43560124
>Check the far right bookshelf.
>Ask Astreya again.
She probably doesn' need the book anymore now.

Seeing no point in not trying, you climb the stairs and reach the attic. As expected, it's a small and yet cozy room, with windows on every side making it very well lit. It's relatively spartan, with a nice, comfortable-looking bed with checkered orange and brown sheets and a fluffy cushion. There is a small nightstand with a book on top, it reads “Customs of the Calibration” in bold letters.

Other than that, the room is very tidy. Not that there's much to tidy: the abundance of windows leave little space for wardrobes and the likes, and in fact the only other feature is a large, solid-looking wooden chest reinforced with iron.

You also see Astreya's staff leaning against a corner of the room, meaning she does leave her stuff there after all. However, try as you might, both the nightstand drawer and the chest are locked and you don't see any key just conveniently left about.

“Oh but don't worry, these souls are artificial”, you hear Tahenohan explain from the room below, “You can't raise people from the dead, you can just animate their corpses with fake souls. Everyone knows the spell of resurrection is forbidden”.

That's true, and it reminds you of the heart-wrenching tragedies that arose from such events, assuming they were real, told in stories. They still made books and theatre plays about them regardless of the truth behind it, to the point pretty much anyone has at least a passing familiarity with them.

Going back to the problem at hand, this book is nowhere to be found. If it's in Yomi's room, it's somewhere out of your reach as it's locked, because it's really impossible to hide anything anywhere else in the attic.

And no, you've already checked under the bed. It's empty, and strangely clean too.

>Go back, check the left bookshelf.
>Go back, check the far left bookshelf.
>Go back, check the far right bookshelf.
>Go back, ask Astreya again.
>Try to force the chest's lock.
>Try to force the drawer's lock.
>Other?

>>43560342
>>Go back, check the far left bookshelf.

>>43560342
>>Go back, check the far right bookshelf.
>>Go back, ask Astreya again.

>>43560342
>Go back, check the far left bookshelf.

If you count making coffee as a task, this is your second one as a familiar and you're already failing.

Yomi's room does not have the book you're looking for, and neither does Astreya's, unless it's hidden somewhere where it really shouldn't be, at which point you should at the very least wonder how it even got there, or it's somewhere behind a lock, which really just begs the same question. Admittedly, in the second case you could just claim it's Yomi being a dick, that would make everything easier.

You go back down to the common room and start perusing the far left bookshelf. Again, almost everything there is unfamiliar to you, except for a couple history books you have a very passing familiarity with (or rather: you've already heard of their topics, like the fall of the Midgaard empire, the epic of Ildestraad and so on).

“Not that it bothers me...”, you hear Bryld saying while you continue your search, “But what are the dangers in using magic? I hear everyone claim it's... Well. We all know what happens to magic schools”.

“Magic is dangerous because it's unpredictable”, Astreya patiently explains, “Even spells, which are theoretically fixed effects, can fizzle or produce unexpected side-effects when you least expect it, not to mention manipulating pure magic opens your chakras to Ether mutations”.

“To be honest they're always open”, Tahenohan interjects, “But with magic there's much more wind blowing and leaving tons of deposit, so you're bound to mutate sooner or later”.

“Which is always sooner. Unless you stay a layman”, Astreya nods.

And the book is nowhere to be found. In all honesty it hasn't been that much since she asked to, you believe you've been searching for it for a reasonable amount of time considering how little directions she gave you and how unsure she is herself about its location.

>Search the far right bookshelf.
>Search the left bookshelf.
>Ask Astreya again.
>Inform Astreya it's nowhere to be found.
>Other?

>>43560627
>>Inform Astreya it's nowhere to be found.

>>43560627
>Inform Astreya it's nowhere to be found.
It was a test all along!

>>43560627
>Search the far right bookshelf.
>Search the left bookshelf.
Fuck it, time to be thorough! We'll find this fucking book if we have to search her underwear-drawer!

>>43560627
>Inform Astreya it's nowhere to be found.
>Apologize.

>>43560627
>>43560723
Yeah, apologizing seems pertinent.

>>43560627
>Ask Astreya again.
JUST ASK HER

Don't half ass it anons. There are still two bookshelves to search.

You sigh, then quietly place yourself next to Astreya and clear your throat. You have to do it twice before you get her attention.

“I cannot find the book anywhere”, you state, “I'm sorry, I've searched wherever I could”.

“Really? Uh, wonder where I put it then”, she asks herself, finger to the lips as she ponders its possible location , “I'm at a loss, I was sure it was somewhere here, have you looked on my bed? Under the blankets? Sometimes I forget things there”.

“I have”, you confirm, “I've also searched the attic and the bookshelves. It is nowhere to be found”, you pause, “What does it look like, by the way?”.

“Oh, it's a book. Just a notebook. Hardcover, leather-bound, no inscriptions sewn...”, she makes some generic gestures, then stops, and in the end she shrugs and gives you a smile, “Nevermind, I'm sure it's somewhere I don't expect it to be, but I won't have you go on a wild goose chase, I have better uses for you”.

You blink, and watch her produce a small iron bracelet from her sleeve and hand it over, “Could you please look for someone in the village that can take care of this one? I'm aware this climate isn't very kind on iron, but I didn't expect it to be this quick in ruining things”.

You look at the bracelet, it's light and slender considering the material it's in. It's also dull and spotted with rust, and you suspect it's quite older than she's making it sound, so it's not really surprising that it's showing signs of wear.

“With Agnes being every day in metal armour, I'd be surprised if there was nobody knowing how to take care of metal items in this climate”, she smiles at you as she says that, “Would you be a darling and find an expert? Don't worry about the price, just say it's on me, they'll understand”.

This said, she turns again to resume the conversation regarding her experiences with rain.

Of course, you're not even being asked your opinion, nor given a choice.

File: 1402394700541.jpg (136 KB, 800x613)

136 KB JPG

And this is it for Episode 46!

Sorry for the late start, I've been held back. I also apologize my sessions have gotten considerably shorter lately, but unfortunately it's the only way I can run right now.

Hope to keep seeing you in the following episodes.

>>43560920
Thanks for running!

>>43560920
Late start? I thought it was earlier than usual.

Thanks for running.

>>43560920
Thanks for the thread MP.
Looks like Lillith's trials are far from over.

>>43560920
Thanks for running.

Have some old art updated for accuracy.
http://imgur.com/a/CSB0Z

Credits to LimeBreaker.

>>43561133
Lewd!

File: 1402791172168.png (406 KB, 762x768)

406 KB PNG

>>43561133
Thank you. All art is always welcome.

And yes, I do have the habit to use the latest small sketch to start threads. I'd hate to see said art go unused, after all.