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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

>>43908306
>Go see Agnes. She wears iron, she has to know something.
Welcome back! I was going into withdrawal without you.

>>43908306
>Go ask the local artisans. You're certain they've faced the problem already.

>>43908306
>Go see Agnes. She wears iron, she has to know something.

>>43908306
>>43908306
It's back!
>Go see Agnes. She wears iron, she has to know something.

Why not ask someone you know already? You decide you haven't seen Agnes in a while and might as well go and check on her while you're at it. Besides, it's not difficult to find her, just look for the only knight in the New Royo township, or the only one wearing metal armour at all.

Besides, “township” is a big word. While the ground has been prepared to accommodate for the foundations of different buildings, the only ones that have got any meaningful progress since you last visited were the temple of Gaia and a few more private houses, and that's because everyone is working on them in whatever spare time they have because food and shelter are primary needs, while building shops of whatever kind can wait.

It still doesn't mean it's a bad place to be in, just that it's still mostly under construction. After all, you can't make a village pop up overnight, no matter how many colonists and resources you send at once. Even discounting the pirates and the undead, you doubt things would be much faster than they already are.

As you are proceeding towards the training grounds, you suddenly hear a fizzly booming sound and witness a burst of flames ahead of you. As it quickly dissipates, you spy the charred remains of what must have been a training dummy turning into ashes and spreading thin into the wind as Agnes, with a quick, almost blurry motion, swipes away the fire that was embracing her sword, making it roll lazily over the grass as it dissipates without harm.

“And that's how you do it!”, she cheerfully claims while sheathing her weapon, “Come on, get to it now! I want to hear the sound of your fiery spirit!”.

She fails to notice that the volunteers are looking at her like she's some kind of alien monstrosity commanding them to entwine their eight non-euclidean tentacles so they can fly through time and follow her.

>Point that out.
>Just ask your question.
>Ask if she can show it again.
>Other?

>>43908546
>Ask if she can show it again.
>>Ask your question.

>>4390854
>Point that out.
>Ask if she can show it again.

>>43908546
>Ask if she can show it again.

>>43908546
>>43908576
Supporting!

You've watched on the sidelines long enough. It's time to intervene and make things right.

Agnes waves at you as you approach, looking quite happy to be seeing you, which is unsurprising since her love for other women is the least guarded secret of all time.

“Hey Lillith! How's it going? I haven't seen you in a while!”, cheerful as ever, she is.

“Hello”, you smile back, “Er, say, could you show that again?”.

“That what?”.

“That... Thing you just did”, you point in the general direction of the charred and pulverized training dummy. Or rather, the now empty space that it once occupied, “I haven't seen it very well though it interested me a lot, and I'd love to see it again”.

She looks initially surprised at your request, and as oblivious as ever to the thankful faces the volunteers make when she answers, “Why yes, no problem at all! Just follow me there”.

She gets into a fighting stance, but is overall very relaxed, focusing on the explanation. “Like I said before, it's all a matter of spirit, and it's preparatory if you just use a wide swing instead of an ordinary attack, helps you focus all of your power”.

She draws her sword again and points it at the air, possibly exaggerating the pose a little, “Now don't focus on your body too much: your muscles know what to do, you must teach them what they don't know and can't do right now. Focus your spirit, muster all of the burning passion you have. You must imagine grinding it against your sword so that it sparks and sets your enemy on fire”.

She draws a deep breath, then opens with a wide vertical slash, her blade igniting mid-swing and exploding into a cloud of fire, engulfing the air where the dummy once was, while flames still linger and burn on the blade itself.

“See?”, she smiles proudly, “It's easy!”.

>”No it's not”.
>”Oh I see”.
>”I still have no idea how you do it”.
>”I actually wanted to ask something else...”.
>Other?

>>43908744
>”I still have no idea how you do it”.
>>”I actually wanted to ask something else...”.

So... some sort of weeaboo fightan magic? Neat.

>>43908744
>”I still have no idea how you do it”.

>>43908744
>”No it's not”.
>”I actually wanted to ask something else...”.
Agnes pls

>>43908744
>>”I still have no idea how you do it”.

>>43908744
>>43908760
Supporting!

>>43908744
>"oh, I see...ish.".
>”I actually wanted to ask something else...”.
Agnes is kinda cute.

>>43908897
In a scary way.

“I... Still have no idea how you do it”, you confess. A quick glance reveals that you are not alone.

“Don't worry about it!”, and elegant swipe and off the flames go again. You have no idea how she does that either, but the blade is back in its sheath before you can ask, “It's because you've never practiced swordfighting. You first have to train to the point where your muscles are so honed and used to the right motions that you can strike without need for conscious thought, only then you're ready to tackle more advanced techniques. It's not something I'd make a rookie do”.

A part of you would love to stay and argue that yes, that's exactly what she's doing, but another gently reminds you that you have things to do and you'd rather not disappoint Astreya again. Assuming she even really expected you to find that book in the first place, or that she even remembers having asked you.

“Actually, there was something else I needed”, you add, “It's about iron in this weather”.

“Oh, I know, don't tell me about it”, she rolls her eyes with a sigh as she pats her own clear and well-decorated breastplate. Her armour is quite clear in colour, but not quite white, with red and blue trims. Her own coat of arms on the shield is also in very good shape, as if the paint remains still unaffected by the weather, “It just makes maintenance so much more of a bother”.

“How do you maintain it? I have some iron things I'd like to keep in better shape”, and you show her Astreya's bracelet.

“Well, my armour was specially treated in the first place, but only on the outside. The inside I have to coat with cold oil. Not quite every day but, well...”, she smiles, “It is very hot and armour does make you sweat”.

>”What is cold oil?”.
>”How do you make it?”.
>”Where do you get it?”.
>”How do you treat metal, exactly?”.
>”Why was your armour only treated on the outside?”.
>Other?

>>43908925
>”How do you treat metal, exactly?”.
>>”Why was your armour only treated on the outside?”.

>>43908925
>”What is cold oil?”.
>”How do you make it?”.
>”Where do you get it?”.

>>43908925
>”Where do you get it?”.
>”Why was your armour only treated on the outside?”.

>>43908925
>”What is cold oil?”.
>”Where do you get it?”.
Sounds like she has some sweet armor.

“Why was your armour only treated on the outside?”, you can't help but ask, as it seems weird.

“Because that's where most of the wear and tear is going to come from. Well, not all but most”, she shrugs, “It's definitely a lot simpler to maintain the inside, so most of the ease, fortification and just bother-removal in general is done outside. That's standard procedure”.

While you absorb that knowledge, you notice that the volunteers have resumed practicing, although they still don't seem convinced and none of them sparks any flame. They don't even have the same fluidity of movement that Agnes has, and she's wearing armour.

“Anyways, how do you get cold oil? Where?”.

“Eh, we have a few artisans that make it but mostly by hand as we're still kind of short on tools and shops”, Agnes admits with a grimace, “The local variety is done with a kind of nut that they squeeze with stones and then grind with a pestle. It's of course inedible and leaves the armour quite... Oily. Ah, well, had you tried ordinary cold oil you'd know the difference, but at least it works, though you'd have to get used to the smell”.

“How do you treat metal?”.

“Once you get the oil you just need to spread it on the surface you want to protect and that's it”, she smiles, “Simple. Remember to use little at a time and spread it very thin, it sticks to the skin if you don't. Ah, if it's already rusted, like this bracelet, clean the rust first”.

You nod. It seems simple enough, “Just... What is cold oil, exactly?”.

“It's a concoction made to keep the metal cool and isolated from the elements, weather included. No army is without it. You usually don't need much of it, sometimes you can afford to not use it at all if you wear tabards and cloth over mail, for example, but in this weather? You need a lot of it”.

>”Is it expensive?”.
>”Do we have enough?”.
>”Is it difficult to make?”.
>”Who can I get it from?”.
>Other?

>>43909191
>”Is it expensive?”.
>”Who can I get it from?”.

>>43909191
>”Do we have enough?”.
>”Who can I get it from?”.
Gotta git some oil! And not for massages either. This time.

>>43909191
>What about nails and such? Oiling them often doesn't seem viable solution.

>>43909284
Maybe they just don't bother for those. Eh, might as well ask.

>>43909191
>”Is it expensive?”.
>”Is it difficult to make?”.
>”Who can I get it from?”.

“Who can I get it from?”, you ask.

“Oh, just ask for the Wensle brothers. Their family has an olive oil mill back in the continent, and while cold oil isn't edible you can say they have experience in the field”.

“Is it expensive?”, it occurs to you just now that you don't exactly have unlimited quantities of money, and will have to travel far to get some more. Maybe, it d epends on how generous the Marquise is.

“Ahah, don't worry about that! We don't use money up there. Well, not really”, she chuckles, “Just do something for the community and we'll be set, and explain them why you need it. Can't really have a market if we don't yet have a... Market. Or shops, even”.

“But is it difficult to make?”.

“Well I'm no artisan so I wouldn't know. Ask the Wensle brothers. Their names are Pilm and Sven, Pilm is the redhead, and also the older. But I figure it can't be too difficult if they can manage with stones and pestles”.

She has a point. You'd have expected a millstone at the very least, though you're not surprised the quantities are limited as Agnes has suggested, “But what about nails and such? Polishing them doesn't sound like a viable solution”.

“Well I wouldn't know about that”, she chuckles, clearly out of her field of expertise, “You should ask someone else. Say, like, Luna, she knows a lot. Of course she does, she studied”.

You nod, that would make sense, an architect may know a little more about houses than you do. Or maybe just a carpenter really, but you don't know any of those. Luna might, however.

In the meantime, the lazy morning crawls ever closer to noon and the volunteers keep practicing with doubt filling their hearts and various frowns and other expressions of puzzlement, while others simply went back to practicing ordinary no-nonsense swings.

>Ask Agnes something (what?).
>Go see Luna.
>Go see the Wensle brothers.
>Go back to Astreya.
>Other?

>>43909497
>Go see Luna.

>>43909497
>Go see Luna.

>>43909497
>Go see the Wensle brothers.
I guess we'll get some oil then.

>>43909497
>Go see Luna.

>>43909497
>Go see the Wensle brothers.

You bid Agnes farewell and leave her to her training sessions with the militia, hoping that she can actually teach them something, for the latest lesson was most likely a little above their league, and not just above yours.

Figuring that you already know who the go-to people are, you decide to take a moment to pay Luna a visit and see how she's doing, as you haven't really seen her in a while. It takes but a few moments to ask around and see where she lives to realize that she has pretty much taken residence in the town hall, where she spends plenty of time planning the town's development.

Actually, you quickly find out she spends an equal amount of time outside, in the field, watching people work and asking quite a few questions whenever anyone builds a home. It seems like she made herself quite a reputation for being strict and often argues with others over how a proper house is built, claiming things like not allowing anyone to die crushed under a faulty piece of architecture. Not on her watch.

When you arrive at her office, which is conveniently located on the ground floor in the very room you and your posse got out of your clothes that one time you were drenched from the rain, she instantly looks up with a fiery glare as if greatly annoyed at the interruption. Only when she recognizes you she does change it to a mildly annoyed version instead.

“Wat?”, she asks, indicating that she does tolerate your intrusion, although it might be wisest not to waste too much of her time. She seems to be working on one or maybe ten projects at a time, with several parchments, papers and other writing implements and destinations spread over two whole tables and with a hooded lamp to provide illumination throughout the night if need be. It is, of course, turned off right now.

>”I have some questions about cold oil”.
>”I just wanted to say hi”.
>”I see you've been working a lot”.
>”How's New Royo coming up?”.
>”Er, nevermind, wrong door”.
>Other?

>>43909874
>”I have some questions about cold oil”.
>”I just wanted to say hi”.
>”I see you've been working a lot”.
>”How's New Royo coming up?”.
...it's not every option.

>>43909874
>”I just wanted to say hi”.
>”How's New Royo coming up?”.

>>43909874
>>43909907
Yeah... Seconding that.

>>43909874
>”I have some questions about cold oil”.

>>43909874
>”I just wanted to say hi”.
>”How's New Royo coming up?”.
Hey workaholic

>>43909874
>”I have some questions about cold oil”.
>”I see you've been working a lot”.
>”How's New Royo coming up?”.

“I just wanted to say hi”, you offer with a smile. You haven't known Luna for very long but she always gave this air off, where she looks totally pissed all the time even though she might not actually be. Possibly. Hopefully. You still feel compelled to add something, “How's New Royo coming up?”.

After a few moments in silence, she decides you're not worthy being shot or bitten and simply answers while she keeps working, “It's a mess of peoples wanting to do zeir think”, she then clears her throat, and her accent suddenly becomes less thick, “Build house, each one of them, but they build poor houses. They will crumble when ze rain season comes and the ground will become a kuagmire. People think ze weather will be sunny all the time because it iz sunny now. It won't”.

“How do you know?”, you wonder, even though you already heard about the rain season yourself.

“People forget about things they don't want to remembre”, she scoffs, frowning even more deeply, “Like we knew ze weather up there from centuriez ago, we still have those books, on how to build houses that do not crumble. Fort Shadow was atop a jagged hill and did it crumble after yearz of rain season? No”.

“Well, in their defense I don't think many of the commoners here have read centuries old books about architecture”.

“Then they should lizten to someone who haz!”, and her statement is so firm you actually find it difficult to say anything for a couple moments.

“Well...”, you then continue, “Actually I have some questions about cold oil...”.

“Waste of time”, she immediately answers, “Proper glue on wood iz better than nails. Better even to use stone, but I hear there's aquifers in ze way”.

>”When will the rain season come?”.
>”Will our houses resist the rain season?”.
>”What about the temple of Gaia?”.
>”What about the town hall?”.
>Go see the Wensler brothers.
>Other?

>>43910151
>Bid her farewell.
>>Go see the Wensler brothers.

>>43910151
>”When will the rain season come?”.
>”Will our houses resist the rain season?”.
>”What about the temple of Gaia?”.
>”What about the town hall?”.
I'm sorry.

>>43910151
>”Will our houses resist the rain season?”.
>Go see the Wensler brothers.

>>43910221
This is some advanced MP bully anon

>>43910151
>”Will our houses resist the rain season?”.
>”What about the temple of Gaia?”.

>>43910151
>”What about the temple of Gaia?”.
>”When will the rain season come?”.

“Will our houses be safe for the rain season?”, you can't help but wonder.

“Thanks to me yes, they will”, she confirms, “The town hall itself will weather it, but ze sooner we build a new one ze better; it will rain indoors after a while”.

“What about the temple of Gaia?”.

“Solid”, she admits with an approving nod, “They're built to take all kinds of weather and terrain. They say the goddess protects them too, and I bet it'z true”.

“When will the rain season come?”, you wonder.

“Three to four months iz my guess”, Luna shakes her head, “Can't get everything done by then. We'll have to make enuf roofz and hope for ze best”.

Considering the entity of her frown after her last statement, you suppose it's better to just give up and let the woman do her thing, just to be on the safe side and not annoy her more than you can afford to. Besides, she clearly cannot help you out with your task. “Right, well, thanks for everything. Good luck on your work!”.

You hear some kind of friendly grunt in answer, giving you the cue to just head out and look for this cold oil. You're going to do at least one task properly.

New Royo still doesn't have roads or streets, as there's too much to do to just “waste” time cutting grass and packing the earth so that the vegetation won't grow back and cover it again. Besides, it's small enough that such artifices aren't necessary: everything's either visible from any point of the township or close enough and with good enough direction that you just can't get lost.

The Wensler brothers have a shack of sorts near the edge of the township, Eastwards, in sight of the distant jungle and opposite to Astreya's house. Judging from the grass and how moved it is, you presume they had already built that shack once, but someone with an attitude made them tear it down and build it anew with proper foundations and everything. You have a few suspects about whom the culprit might be.

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Aaaand my time is up. Sorry I have to cut right here but I have to do stuff, including fixing dinner and everything. Rejoice though, near the end of next month I might find a day to run properly, like in the old times!

Maybe, we'll see, but it is relatively safe to get some hopes up.

Thank you for staying with me until now.

>>43910513
Thanks for running!

>>43910513
That's okay. Thanks for writing!

>>43910513
Looking forward to next time!
>end of next month
;_;

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>>43910569
As a clarification: I should be able to run sometime before then, but still in kind of a hurry. Like today.

>>43910513
Thanks for running!
>>43910588
You need a time machine, I can't deal with this lack of Star Over.

>>43910588
That's a relief then.