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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

>>46498232
>Deploy the parasol

>>46498232
>Meander away looking for some water.

>>46498232
>Strip.
What can ya do!

>>46498232
>>Strip.
Hey, bryld wanted to try this.

>>46498232
>Strip
Welcome back, MP.

>no mermaid pier
>no fairy road found
we suck at sidequests.

>>46498392
Soon!

>>46498232
>>Strip.

"Blasted sun", you mutter under your breath and start to take off your shirt. Of course Bryld gives you an odd look and a sigh, Tahenohan instead seems to be indifferent to both your stripping and the heat, but then again she's used to much more punishingly hot climates, even though they're most likely not as wet as this one.

And speaking of heat it's not like Bryld isn't sweating a lot either, but you know she won't strip.

In order to maintain at least a tiny amount of decency since not even someone as lewd-minded as you is used to traipse around topless (but Meztli is, funny that) you try and wrap the already sweat-soaked shirt around your chest in order to make for an impromptu support. Poor women don't have bras after all, and even then they're only worn in certain circumstances more akin to city life you presume. Not even Bryld has one.

Actually, if Meztli was with you, you could have been relatively justified just staying topless, as you wouldn't have been the only one. Unfortunately both her and your father told you they weren't going to depart today on the grounds that your dad had "something to take care of" for today.

You hope it was helping the militia train because Agnes really is a terrible teacher.

“I didn't miss this part”, Bryld complains at a certain point, wiping her brow for the umpteenth time, “I wish the lake wasn't that far, we could have followed its coast and been able to refresh ourselves, if anything”.

There would also have been the risk of wasting all of your time bathing instead of travelling, but frankly you are all going to need a bath by the time you'll have reached your destination anyways.

And while it's great to be able to see in every direction for quite a long way, the utter lack of shade is infuriating. You wish you had a parasol you could deploy, but again: you're not a rich girl.

>Cover as much distance as possible.
>Slow your pace.
>Travel at night instead.
>Leave the plains, follow the lake's coast.
>Other?

>>46498506
>Slow your pace.

>>46498506
>Travel at night instead

>>46498506
>Leave the plains, follow the lake's coast.

>>46498506
>Slow your pace.

>>46498506
>Leave the plains, follow the lake's coast.

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>tied between slowing down and moving to the lake

This is actually a very important choice so I need a tie-breaker for this one.

>>46498692
Lake

>>46498692
Can't we take a slow, romantic stroll by the lake?!

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>>46498735
You certainly can, but that's not what I meant.

Still, thank you for the tie-breaking.

"Say", you suggest, "How about we follow the lake?".

Bryld gives you the odd, fatigued look of someone who's trying to bear the heat and finds that your attempts at humour are not helping.

"Sure!", Tahenohan goes before your cartographer can answer, and happily begins to trot eastwards, showing an instinctive feel for direction and clearly remembering where the body of water is. Not that you all didn't, it just took you a moment longer to realize that yes, she was going in the right direction.

Bryld just looks at you, spreading her arms with a face that clearly speaks "see what you've done now?". She has a point, of course, and it's that you're going to make the trip a tad bit longer than it had any right to be.

But it's okay, you have extra food.

As you already know, the lake isn't anywhere near the "trail" you're supposed to use to reach maner, so the sun is already starting to set by the time you reach its coast, making it very impractical as a source of water (fortunately there's plenty underground, or so you've been told).

The reddening glare of sunlight welcomes your tired eyes as it reflects with a brilliant shine on the lake's pure waters, only partially hidden by its many reeds down a rolling slope.

Tahenohan's tunic lands flat on such vegetation, getting partly stuck and partly crushing it as she makes a plunging sound diving in the clear waters.

"Well...", Bryld grumbles, "It's not like she's expecting us anyways...", and follows the half-elf, though without taking her clothes off. Not this far from the water anyways.

You're only partly familiar with how the lake looks from there. It has a lot more vegetation than on the southernmost shore and it looks different. It's as elongated as you remember it, but the northern shore is still not easily distinguishable, no matter how clear the line of sight is and how relatively high your vantage point.

>Join the girls.
>Set up camp first.
>Explore the shore first.
>Other?

>>46498899
>Set up camp first.
Let's be responsible!

>>46498899
>>Set up camp first.

>>46498899
>Join the girls.

>>46498899
>Join the girls.

>>46498899
>Set up camp first.

Let them plan lewd stuff.

>>46499009
Maybe they just want a soak in this heat, and nothing lewd will happen!

>>46498899
>Set up camp first.

You decide to be the responsible fellow and set up camp first.

You stay clear of the reeds and begin to collect the materials to get a fire going, so you can at least wash your sweat-soaked shirt and pants in the lake and have them dry enough to be worn tomorrow. You also decide to begin cutting some onions so you can prepare the bottom of the pan for some bean soup; you also have some cured meat that should be fantastic with it, cut in small cubes or strips.

By the time you're done, Bryld returns, holding her still-wet clothes that do very little to cover her naked body. She seems to be tremendously less shy than before as she makes no attempt at all to cover her breasts, just holding the rest of the outfit close to her belly so it can hide her more precious and hairy parts.

"I'll take over cooking, you go take a dip", she offers, "It would be a waste to have come all the way there if you didn't".

You still hear water splashing and recognize Tahenohan's quirky voice singing a song you don't know in a language you can't understand. You can't see her past the reeds but she can't be that far, and neither can the water.

"Oh, be careful: some reeds have roots in the water", Bryld adds, kneeling down by her messenger bag and giving you a good sight of her short and still somewhat wet furry tail, down to the point where it connects to her spine. It sometimes waggles lightly on its own as she browses through her stuff, "So don't just run there or you might trip".

As you were working the sun has moved considerably further west and light is starting to slowly but steadily diminish, meaning you won't be able to see much, if anything at all, if you take too long. The air is only marginally less hot, however, just made more pleasant by the presence of freshwater nearby.

>Follow Bryld's advice.
>Help her build an impromptu stand to hang wet clothes first.
>Finish cooking first.
>Touch fluffy tail.
>Other?

>>46499181
>Touch fluffy tail.
>>Help her build an impromptu stand to hang wet clothes first.

>>46499181
>Help her build an impromptu stand to hang wet clothes first.
THEN we can bathe!

>>46499181
>Help her build an impromptu stand to hang wet clothes first.
>Touch fluffy tail

>>46499181
>Touch fluffy tail.
I have no regrets.

>>46499181
>Touch fluffy tail.
>Follow Bryld's advice.
Tail you say?

>>46499181
>Help her build an impromptu stand to hang wet clothes first.
>Touch fluffy tail.

A soft and surprised yelp comes out of Bryld's soft lips as soon as she finishes giving you her advice. The wet hair of her fluffy tail instantly stands on an end as your fingers brush and sink lightly into it, gently caressing its small solid core and sending almost visible shivers up her spine. Unlike your tail, which is long and leathery, hers has all the nerve endings nearby and easily stimulated thanks to the soft hair growing on it.

And then there's the considerable point that it enhances the look of her rounded buttocks, although she quickly turns, giving a hairier but still quite pleasant look. Which is not that of her face, because that's quite pissed. She grabs and tugs your horns, still quite playfully fortunately, "Why you... Horny devil!".

After a very short bit of tugging and grappling she pulls away, sighing and pointing towards the lake, "Go douse your boiling spirits there already, I'm tired and we have an even longer way to go tomorrow, thanks to this detour".

It's not like she doesn't have a point, and unfortunately she's quite quick in putting some other, lighter clothes on before taking over in cooking a nutritious dinner.

"Wait", you say, "You can't just leave the clothes on the ground, they'll get dirty and bug-infested by tomorrow. Let me grab a few reeds and see if I can't build a stand".

And you do, it takes you a bit and some forceful digging but you manage to improvise a hanger of sorts where you can leave them, safe from the ravages of dirt, dust and crawling bugs, of which there is a considerable quantity.

There's bright-red ants but also plenty of yellow ladybugs and you start hearing several crickets all around you, taking over the previously incessant chirping of odd birds you can't recognize.

“Thanks”, Bryld offers with a light smile as you finish your work, “Now go soak yourself in water, dinner's going to be ready soon”.

>Take a bath.
>Wait until after dinner.
>Stay with Bryld.
>Other?

>>46499478
>Take a bath.

>>46499478
>Take a bath.
A quick one.

>>46499478
>>Take a bath.

>>46499478
>Take a bath.

>>46499478
>Wait until after dinner.

You pull your impromptu bra off and enjoy the feeling of freedom you get, especially in the prospect of how it will feel like when water will take that weight away from you and also wash away all the sticky sweat and make you feel better at everything in general.

Venturing past the reeds, you sink your body deep into the fresh lake water and are immediately pampered by its cool temperature and gentle massaging that drains your fatigue away, leaving only an appreciative feeling of relaxation in its wake.

You can't see Tahenohan at first, but after a brief splash you see her emerge in the distance. A wet bush of messy black hair with a manic face and pointed ears that look tremendously sharp when the volume of her hair isn't hiding them. She sets her predatory eyes on you and sinks back under the surface with an amazing speed.

It's difficult to not be startled when she pops back out right in front of you. "LILLITH!", she goes, as if she hadn't seen you in ages, and hugs you tightly, pressing her tremendously light body against yours.

Long locks of wet but still messy black hair run across her face and between her eyes as she stares wide-eyed and wide-smiled at you, "This was a great idea! We could always travel via lake! Why don't we resume our journey swimming?".

Because you'd be exhausted before you made any relevant amount of progress, that's why, but half-elven logic may not be able to immediately grasp that. Or maybe she's not serious, but previous experience with her makes you think that she just might be and you wouldn't be surprised, at all.

>”Because we can't swim for that long, we're not fish”.
>”Because it would take too long”.
>”Because I have no idea how to reach Maner otherwise”.
>”This is just a detour because we couldn't stand the heat”.
>”Is it just me or it was really hot today?”.
>”You've been in the water for a while haven't you?”.
>”You're a quite fast swimmer, aren't you?”.
>Other?

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I have to take a short break to take care of something, hopefully it will take no more than an hour. Hopefully less.

Be back ASAP!

>>46499761
>”Because we can't swim for that long, we're not fish”.
>”You're a quite fast swimmer, aren't you?”.

>>46499761
>”Because we can't swim for that long, we're not fish”.
>>”Is it just me or it was really hot today?”.

>>46499761
>”Because we can't swim for that long, we're not fish”.
>”This is just a detour because we couldn't stand the heat”.
>”You've been in the water for a while haven't you?”.

>>46499761
>>”Because we can't swim for that long, we're not fish”.
>”You're a quite fast swimmer, aren't you?”.

>>46499775
Take care MP, don't get ambushed by sneaky foxes or demons

>>46499761
>”Because it would take too long”.
>”Is it just me or it was really hot today?”.
>”This is just a detour because we couldn't stand the heat”.

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And after asking me to make time it turns out that I wasn't actually required to do anything at all at this moment, so yeah, I'm back.

Give me a moment to post...

"Because we can't swim for long", you explain her, "We're not fish. Even though I'll admit you're a quite fast swimmer".

"Hehe", she smiles brightly, "I shine the most when I'm soaking wet!".

Okay she has to be doing this on purpose.

"It's just a detour because we were too hot- Damn it".

She's cackling her heart out. Yes, definitely on purpose.

"Smoking hot", she continues.

"Too hot to handle".

"Hot and bothered".

"This is getting out of hand", you conclude, "But it's still hotter than I expected".

"Because there's no shade here, and you're dressed all wrong", and out of the blue Tahenohan starts giving actually valid advice, "You need less tight clothing and more tunics, loose parts and a fabric that actually shields you from the sun, especially on your head".

"You have nothing on your head though", you can't help but notice.

"It's okay, I'm hot-headed myself".

“I'm afraid we can't afford more clothes right now”, you admit, “Not unless the marquise offers some advance pay herself”.

“It wouldn't help”, Tahenohan shrugs, “You just don't have it in you to dress appropriately. Reboldeux was silly, and the people that live here still think they're in Rune even though the weather is completely different. You wouldn't find appropriate clothes anywhere unless you just go topless like Meztli”.

“I think her homeland is tropical as well...”, you reason.

“It shows, but I have no idea what the jewellery on her tits means”.

You blink, “It has a meaning?”.

“Maybe”, she shrugs, “Back in my homeland people would tattoo their feet and hands depending on clan, profession and family, and wear nose rings and piercing to show whether they were married and to whom”.

>”You don't have tattoos...”.
>”Do you think there's something between Meztli and my dad?”.
>”Let's get out, Bryld made dinner for us”.
>Other?

>>46500241
>”Let's get out, Bryld made dinner for us”.

>>46500241
Blank vote! This is all over my head @_@

>>46500241
>”You don't have tattoos...do you?”.
>"I'm gonna have to do a thorough search for them!"

>>46500241
>”You don't have tattoos...”.
I'm so disappointed.

>Want to get some together?

>>46500241
>”You don't have tattoos...”.
>”Let's get out, Bryld made dinner for us”.

>>46500241
>”You don't have tattoos...”.

>>46500314
Second

>>46500241
>”You don't have tattoos...”.

"You don't have tattoos, however...", and you speak from experience, you've seen her naked more than once and you've been intimate enough with her to know pretty much every little part of her body. You would definitely not have missed a tattoo, there's no way you would have.

"Because I didn't get them", she smiles, "It pissed me off to no end back in the day but now I realize my foster parents were right when they said I shouldn't get them".

Since it's abundantly clear you have no idea what she's talking about, she feels compelled to continue, "I wasn't actually born in the western lands, and I am not a native of Shem. I was born, if my adoptive family is to be believed, in the lands of the Sorcerer-Liches".

You instinctively wince. Everyone heard of those places. Nightmarish wastelands dominated by undead kings, constantly fighting for power and employing armies of demons and monsters. It is said that Iria cursed them for refusing her word and allowing slavery, but the latter always sounded fishy and superstitious to you. Iria cursing anyone is just too far out of her character.

"I was the child of a slave. My human parent, whom I seem to understand was my father, was... Well, I've been told he was completely bonkers, as many slaves in those lands end up being, and I was taken in by a family native to Shem. When I came of age, I was refused tattooing, on the grounds that I was not part of the family, or clan".

“That's mean!”, you're an orphan yourself, you can only imagine how painful your life would have been if you were refused by your own caretakers.

“Haha, yes it is”, she nonetheless chuckles, “It took me decades to understand they were right, they just couldn't find better words to express it”.

>”Express what?”.
>”How about we get some tattoos?”.
>”You seem awfully calm about this...”.
>”How about we join Bryld? She made dinner for us”.
>”How about we join Bryld? We can talk this over dinner”.
>Other?

>>46500612
>”How about we get some tattoos?”.
>"We could design them together. For us."

>>46500612
>”You seem awfully calm about this...”.
>”How about we join Bryld? We can talk this over dinner”.

>>46500612
>”How about we join Bryld? She made dinner for us”.

>>46500612
>”Express what?”.
>”How about we join Bryld? We can talk this over dinner”.
Don't leave Bryld waiting!

>>46500684
second

>>46500612
>”How about we get some tattoos?”.

>>46500612
>”Express what?”.

>>46500684
What does this even mean? MP halp

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>>46500867
It means offering Tahenohan to get a tattoo with you, so you'd have a matching pair. Or something.

>>46500925
It was that simple? I thought it had connotations around family and clan and all that sort of stuffings given the context

>>46500945
Getting tattoos that indicate stuffings is lewd anon!

>>46500925
Pretty sure anon was attempting to do an elf logic "Let's make a family/clan together!" Sort of thing maybe?

>>46500945
I believe it's anons with tattoo fetishes making really ill-adviced customs considering Tahe has just told us about her past and that tattoos would no doubt remind her of her painful life growing up.

Seriously, I dunno if I can remember a time suggesting tattoos have been LESS reasonable in a quest.

"Say", you clap your hands together, "How about we get some tattoos? That way-".

"No", she says, putting her thin finger across your lips with a kind smile, "I know what you mean but no".

After she lets your lips go, you make another offer, "How about we join Bryld? We can talk this over dinner. Oh by the way it should be ready by now".

"Eating sounds good", she chuckles, "We shouldn't leave her waiting. But there's not much to talk about, if you mean my situation. I didn't get my tattoos because I wasn't part of the family, which was true".

"But-".

"Lillith", she adds, with a smile and a voice as soothing and as mellifluous as her natural pitch allows, which is still more than you'd expect her to be able to do, "My foster parents are almost certainly dead by now. Permanently marking clan and family affiliation on your body make sense if you're all on the same playing field. I'm not. You might not be either. And the only way any of this will make us sad is if we keep pretending we don't see it".

She then quickly skimps to the shore, running naked through the reeds only to come back a moment later (likely after flashing Bryld) to recover her clothes and to give you a manic smile with her usual tone, "Come on Lillith! Can't you smell it?".

As a matter of fact yes, you can, it's really making your stomach growl something fierce. After all, you have been walking for an entire day and you have another... Well, most likely two more days of travel between you and your destination.

You get out of the water, cross the reeds and put your clothes to hang along with Bryld's, after having briefly washed and then squeezed them. You too have a change, of course, so you don't have to have dinner naked.

Not that it would be excessively weird, this isn't really a well-travelled part of the world after all.

>”Tahe, about what you said before...”.
>”Bryld, how far off track are we?”.
>Make up another topic (which?).
>Stay silent/idle gossip.
>Other?

>>46501058
>”Bryld, how far off track are we?”.

>>46501058
>”Bryld, how far off track are we?”.
Keep it light!

>>46501058
>Stay silent/idle gossip.
Clearly eating naked would be just the necessary distraction MP

>>46501058
>”Tahe, about what you said before...”.
>"What if I live long too?"

>>46501058
>”Bryld, how far off track are we?”.
>Compliment her cooking.

Food tastes better after exercise, and walking around all the time is great exercise. It keeps all of your legs strong and slender, although it sometimes also gives you blisters beneath your feet. You have to say the ingredients from the barely-colonized Shadow Marches taste pretty good even when lightly processed, if at all, but having them appropriately cooked is much better.

Tahenohan appears to be as merry and devoid of concerns as she always is, and Bryld looks understandably tired but otherwise in great condition. Despite her occasional complaints she evidently missed the thrill of adventure at least as much as you did.

"Say, Bryld", you intervene at some point, "How far off track are we?".

She gives you a quizzical look back, "I thought you knew".

Well, truth is: none of you did. There are no maps of the area except for those you make and, as you've very well seen, the roads just completely stop after a certain point. Even when you were still walking you knew you were taking the right direction just because you could see a distant dot on the horizon that you guess was Maner.

"I just wanted to know how far we need to walk along the shore before we have to go back inland", you explain, "I'm not completely sure, there's more vegetation here and it's a bit sloped too. I think if we cover a day ahead and then turn...".

"I don't know about Maner", Tahenohan speaks up, "But there's a house near the lake if we keep following the coast".

You both stare at her, and she looks kind of surprised, "Huh? You didn't see it? If you swim up a bit you can definitely see a house".

You admittedly didn't swim that far off, but you couldn't see a house and neither did Bryld judging by her look. It must be her half-elven eyes. You already knew her ears were sharper than they look but damn.

>”What kind of house is it?”.
>”How far is it?”.
>”I think we should go there”.
>”I think we shouldn't go there and stick to our plan”.
>Other?

>>46501459
>”What kind of house is it?”.
>”How far is it?”.
Spooky

>>46501459
>”I think we should go there”.

>>46501459
>”I think we should go there”.

>>46501459
>”How far is it?”.
>”I think we should go there”.
That's the spirit of ADVENTURE

"I think we should go there", you immediately speak up, "How far is it?", you only then ask.

"I think we're going to be there by tomorrow evening if we move quickly enough", Tahenohan answers while Bryld looks at the two of you like she isn't sure who to hit first.

"I think we should go there", you repeat, in case it wasn't clear enough.

Bryld opens her mouth, then she just gives up, flips an imaginary table and sits back down.

"I can't really tell what the house looks like, it was a bit too far", even the half-elf has limits it would seem, "But I don't think it's right next to an entire town so that's probably not Maner".

"But is it reasonably close? I mean it's about the same distance, right?", you probe her.

She shrugs, "A bit farther but not significantly so".

As soon as the two of you are done being excited at the prospect of adventure, Bryld speaks up, "... What is a house doing in the middle of nowhere?".

That's a good question, and neither of you has any idea, but you both stare at the bunnygirl until she starts feeling weird and frowns, "What?".

"Did you forget, Bryld?", Tahenohan offers her most manic smile.

"We're in for the Adventure", you make special care to mark the capital A on Adventure.

"But-", she goes, forgetting for a moment that common sense doesn't apply with the two of you, at which point she just sighs and gives up, "... Fine, I mean someone will have to go and check this out after all".

“Yay!”, the two of you go, giving each other high-fives while Bryld shakes her head.

“Seriously though”, your cartographer insists, still concerned about something, “What's a house doing there? It can't be ancient, I don't believe the people of Maner never noticed it if it's so close to them...”.

“Maybe an advance base?”, you suggest.

“An outlook on the lake? A pier in construction?”, Tahenohan adds, showing a surprising amount of common sense.

Bryld shrugs, “I guess...”.

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And this is it for Episode 56!

More ADVENTURE awaits just around the corner! Which is next Wednesday, practically speaking.

I hope you enjoyed the return to our usual pace. Thank you for participating and see you next week!

>>46501825
See ya MP

>>46501825
Thanks for running!

I'm liking Bryld's development, even if I will miss her shy self.

>>46501825
Thanks for running MP!

I just hope Tahe still gets her Lillith pillow.

>>46501825
Thank you. How do you feel about the quest as it is?

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>>46502124
We've had a change of pace in the past... 20 episodes or so, with everything slowing down and a lot of time passing in real life, but as soon as the characters in the quest went back to their ADVENTURE status I plan to resume the ADVENTURE feeling and story type.

I'm also very glad people still remember about the mermaid pier and fairy roads. You're not terrible at sidequests by the way, you've been just very sidetracked in one thing and don't really know what to look for regarding the other.

>>46502157
I hope to see more of you in future.

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>>46502194
I've been running this quest for two years, even if not as regularly as I wanted and even if my sessions don't go for very long.

I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, I just won't be able to progress much faster than this.

>>46502256
That's okay, MP. Stay comfy