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>>1005560

For any new players:

Welcome to Gorgon Child Quest! Where-in you take up the role of a magical talking artifact being wielded by a young gorgon girl named Cici. Living out of the remains of a once great dungeon, the game will focus on exploration, character interaction, and learning as the voices of the players within the amulet help guide her along.

For news about quest updates, my twitter can be found here:
https://twitter.com/bananon_QM

And the archive can presently be found here:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=gorgon+child

>>1005560
Yeah, let's learn some baking.
Let your mother know you're going into town, and she can tell the girls where you are if they show up.

>>1005572
Did you update your twitter? I didn't see any tweets that this was up.

>>1005611
This. Working on something tangible will be nice.

>>1005615

I think so. Double check now, if you would.

>>1005786
I see it.

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>>1005560
>>1005677
>>1005611

As it would turn out, along the increasingly familiar country road to town, there are many people already hard at work. In the long shadows of the rising dawn, there is an abundance of field hands taking advantage of the more moderate heat: animals plowing, roosters clucking, and wheelbarrows getting filled with weeds and harvest. What’s more, there seem to be more waves and less nervous looks than on their previous outings.

“Vivi,” Cici asks, as the harpy checks her daily gear on the way to the bakery. “What’s that?”

A small disk of some sort hangs from her belt, a piece of metal inside swaying side to side.

“What’s wha- Oh, you mean my compass!” With a bit of fidgeting, the harpy manages to raise the device up to her own eye level. And as she does so, the needle stops swaying to point in one direction. “It’s pretty neat! Makes it easy to navigate by always pointing North.”

“Wow! How’s it do that?” Cici questions.

“I dunno. The girl who gave it to me said it ran on magnets or something.”

“How do magnets work, then?”

“Err, I think it’s probably magic or something…”

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>>1006011


The girls continue on that train of thought right up to the bakery door, where Mama winds up knocking on an already partially open door.

“Aye, come in, come in,” the older man voice invites through a wave of cinnamon and sugar flavored steam. “Gotta keep the insides of this place temperature controlled, and I swear if I catch another canary indoors, I’ll…”

The old man stops grumbling to himself when he sees his guests.

“Well, if it isn’t the little one and her Ma! Ye’ve even brought yer friend this time.”

“Hi Mr. Guyus!” Vivi greets warmly. “Just stopping by to drop off lil’ sis here for some baking. Then, I’ve gotta book it.”

“Well, grab yerself a bite of something for the road,” Guyus insists, gesturing to his shelves. “Hungry or not now, ye’ll be hungry soon enough.”

Vivi, knowing better than to argue by now, carefully selects a tart and places it into her bag, offering him thanks and Cici a hug before heading toward the door.

“This is, of course, assuming you don’t mind teaching her some more,” Mama adds, but the old man just chuckles.

“Worse things than havin’ a spare set of hands, though I might ask ya to take the morning off. Yer just a tad too much woman for a shop this size, if ye take my meaning.”

“I…” Mama’s tail twitches nervously as she looks back at her lower half. “Well, of course. I’ll do some shopping, maybe talk with the mayor and-”

“Alrighty then. Just come back around midday, if ye would, and I think she’ll be needin’ a break anyways. Just remember though, it never killed anyone to take a load off every now and then.”

Mama blushes a little more at that as she offers Cici a goodbye hug.

“Take care, sweetling. Be good and be safe and if anything happens-“

“She’ll be fine….” Guyus sighs. “Now scoot, ye worry wart.”

“Bye Mama,” Cici calls as the baker gently corrals the gorgon mother outside.

“Goodbye sweetling!”

“Now how’s about we make some tarts, eh?”

“That sounds fun!” Cici agrees.

[“That is, unless you guys had other ideas. I remember you mentioned cotton candy during the festival.”]

> Write-in

>>1006016
Tarts first, we'll need them for his work. After that, if Guyus doesn't have any special orders, you can experiment.

>>1006016
Tarts is fine. Trust in the professional, which is Guyus right now.

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>>1006366
>>1006070
>>1006016

Washed hands and wet dough, Guyus wastes no time getting the both of them back to work, showing Cici how to mix and mash the dough that will later form the body of the pastry before returning to the custard and fruit mixtures he has waiting on the counter. It’s soothing, quiet work, though Cici’s size often hinders her in her efforts to make a sheet from the shapeless lump she is working on.

“Even pressure, and roll the dough on every pass with the pin to keep it level,” Guyus explains. “We need the final sheet to be about -ye- big.”

Cici just does the best she can, occasionally dabbing at her forehead with her oversized apron before the older gentleman catches her and hands her a towel.

“Respect yer apron, little one. A clean bakery means healthy customers. Just be glad that ye’ll probably never need a hair net. Hehe.”

In the end, when the time finally comes for Cici’s work to be inspected, the old man seemingly has nothing more to say, instead grabbing a die cutter and showing her how to make neat, uniform squares.

“Half for the bottom, half for the top,” Guyus explains. “We fill it, turn it over, and seal it, then we bake it till its crisp.”

A child already covered in flour, mildly warm fruit paste, and an unfamiliar process proves to be about as messy as you might expect, the moisture on her fingers making the dough stick in all the wrong ways as she tries her best to crimp the pockets closed. Fortunately, the more practiced hands of her mentor are there to shore up her work where it’s needed.

“I’m sorry…” Cici apologizes as she realizes the size of the messes she’s been making, but the old man simply laughs.

“First time I tried to do this, I scalded all ten of my fingertips and had to throw the whole batch to the pigs,” he reminisces wistfully. “Took me about ten to get something that looked halfway like a pastry, and twelve to make something edible. That’s part of the fun, though, I’d say. Ye can’t be scared of failin’ if ye ever want to succeed, Cici. Try to remember that.”

“Yes sir…”

“Anyway, that’s the first thing off the table. Have ye got any questions before we move on to the next part?”

> Write-in

>>1006434
You should maybe ask how to best keep dough from sticking to you.
And how to make dough.

>>1006434
Ask about what Guyus did before trying his hand at baking.

Oh, and ask about trying to make a pecan pie!

Mmm, pecan pie. I miss being corporeal...

>>1006434
See if he will teach you to make loaves of crusty bread. Knowing how to make that is pretty handy. So is knowing how to make hasty puddings.

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>>1006434
>>1006465
>>1006579
>>1006770

[“Good idea.”]

“How do I keep dough from sticking to my fingers?”

“Hmm? Ah, a bit of flour will do the trick,” Guyus explains, patting his fingertips into a nearby pan. “It sucks up the moisture and makes everything a bit less sticky. Just go careful on it so you don’t ruin the flavor.”

“’Kay. Also, what did you do before you were a baker?”

“Hehe!” the old man chuckles, taking the offbeat question in stride. “Not exactly what I had in mind for questions, but guess there isn’t any harm.” He hums to himself as he begins pouring various ingredients into the bowl for a new batch of dough. “You see, when I was a younger man with a bit more and less hair here and there, I was a soldier. Fought in a nobleman’s army for a good many years before I decided to settle down in these parts.”

“Did you get hurt?” Cici asks, concern in her voice.

“Nah. I was one of the lucky ones in that regard. I just… well, I decided the world needed more bakers than soldiers is all.”

“Did you ever get married?” she continues. “Is there a Mrs. Guyus in town?”

“Hmm…” the old baker seems a bit more fixated on his work than before. “Well, I had a wife once, yeah, and a son a bit younger than yourself.”

“But…” Cici starts to inquire further, but finds herself hesitating, something in the back of her mind cautioning her against it.

“But they’re not around anymore,” he finishes on a dismissive note. “A shame really… Lord knows she was a damn sight better at this than I a- Err, don’t tell your mother about that one.”

“’Kay…”

“Good. Let’s get a move-on then. These pies won’t make themselves.”

--

That moment of awkwardness is quickly left in the flow of their work, the old man walking Cici through creation of a quality pie crust in a relaxed and patient fashion. As it would turn out, it’s a bit more complicated than anything they’ve covered previously to get a crust that isn’t too hard or too soft, or one that won’t crack or crumble during the cooking process. Still, eventually they manage to pad out roughly a dozen pans with fresh sheet sheets of dough, the filling already waiting as they turn the uniform dough into a menagerie of different flavors.

Chocolate, rubarb, blueberry, and one topped with mixed nuts instead of another layer of dough, the smell is mesmerizing as the oven works its magic on the pseudo-raw ingredients.

“Gonna make another batch of bread later in the afternoon,” the old man explains when Cici asks how that’s done. “If you’re interested, I could show you then. Still, I’d imagine you’ve had enough of the kitchen for one day, and yer Mama’s gonna want you home for lunch.”

[“We might be able to come back though, or we could do something else… Do you guys have any ideas?”]

> Write-in

>>1006849
Try that Cotton Candy thing we talked about at the fair, a bit of experimentation is always fun!

>>1006849
See if he will let you work through a little. At least to start the dough.

>>1006849
Yeah, ask if you can start on the dough, learning how to add yeast and where to get it.

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>>1006907
>>1006891
>>1006881
>>1006849

“I might be able to stay a little longer…” Cici notes. “The voices said it’s important. They were also curious how you get yeast?”

“Well, you can settle that one up with her when she comes to get you. As for how you make yeast… I guess it’s more tradition than anything. You take flour, stick it in a jar with water, and yeast just ‘comes out’. I’ll show you how to do it some time, though. It’s easier to grow it yourself than to pay out the nose at the market. Now let’s get to that dough…”

More time passes and far more information as Guyus tries to explain the complexities of bread making to the young girl. From the way the mixture of salt, water, yeast, and flour impacts the flavor of the resulting bread, to the process of allowing the bread to rise before you cook it, there are so many exceptions, exact and approximate measurements that it makes Cici’s head spin. Still, by the time the man is passing the pre-risen mounds into the oven, she thinks she has a much better idea of how the whole thing works.

As for the cotton candy, well, from what little Cici has gathered thus far, the result is more or less a couple of pans coated in burnt sugar, much to Guyus’ frustration. Fortunately by then, Mama is at the door to take the young girl home.

“I hope she wasn’t too much trouble…”

“None at all,” Guyus confirms, gesturing to the pan. ”This was just a bit of an experiment, is all. Needs work.”

“Right, well… Are you ready to go, sweetling?”

[“I am kind of hungry, but what should we do after lunch?”]

> Write-in

>>1007064
How would you feel about catching up on some reading? It's been a productive day, so maybe playing with Dindin might be more fun after lunch. How are you holding up, Cici?

>>1007064
There's your physical exercises, like racing Din-Din and Okku through the forest.
And reading and writing practice afterwards.

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>>1007134
>>1007116
>>1007064

[“I guess we could spend some time with Din-Din and Okku. They might be lonely.”]

“I’m ready, Mama. And thank you, Uncle Guyus!”

“Any time. Now take care, and go get some sun on your bones, eh?”

Cici waves goodbye as they exit out the door and begin the long way back home. With the sun high in the sky, it seems time had truly flown inside the bakery, the air now warm and filled with the sounds of man and beast alike as they set about their daily toil.

Lunch isn’t far behind after they’ve made their way back to the tower, no apparent sign of visitors having been about during the time Cici was gone both welcomed and troubling. She hoped the other girls would be back soon to play, but she doesn’t let it unsettle her too deeply as she begins munching on an assortment of vegetables and fruits. Predictably, Din-Din isn’t far behind to get his share.

A quiet afternoon, just a girl, her rabbit, and a light breeze blowing over the tower top. With Mama tending the plants in the background, idly humming while she works, it’s one of those inexplicably pleasant moments she’ll no doubt someday look back on. However, in the here and now, Cici was still a child, and with that intense, unfocused energy came a call to action. She had a bear to visit.

Unfortunately for her, as she checks near the base of the tower where Okku had been jailed the night before, Cici doesn’t find the cub. Seems Uncle Yesh may have relented on his punishment after the incident with the wine. That leaves a question, how does one track a wandering bear cub through the woods?

> Write-in

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>>1007335

And at this point, I'm sleepy. I'll leave this open until tomorrow to give people time to respond.

>>1007335
Let's see if we can find our bear and manticore friends.

>>1007335
Look for small bear tracks on the ground? I'm no woodsman, but that's where I'd start.

>>1007335
Just follow your bunny friend!

>>1007377

QM has been shanghaid. Expect delays.

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>>1008725
>>1007845
>>1007699
>>1007388
>>1007335

“Din-Din, do you know where Okku is?” Cici inquires of her fluffy friend, the hare turning his head inquisitively at the question. “We need to find him before it gets late.”

With a twitch of his nose and an impromptu hop, it seems Din-Din may have some idea, his pawprints falling alongside some of Okku’s old tracks as he leads the young girl onward into the forest. Past scratched up trunks and low bearing branches, Cici follows the hare far past where her own senses would have lost track of the winding trail, the rabbit apparently not needing anything else to go by as he methodically scuttles over leaves and twisting roots with only the occasional sniff to adjust his heading.

Over and onward, the chase continues for a good long while as their search goes deeper and deeper into the woods. Much further and Mama might get angry, but so long as she could still see the tower in the distance, Cici knew she would be safe. But where had Okku gone? Hopefully, he hadn’t gotten himself into trouble again.

Of course, no sooner does the thought cross Cici’s mind than she hears something faint on the breeze, like a high-pitched whine sputtering in a strange pattern. What the voices hear, however, is:

{“Let go of me, you stupid brute! I’m royalty you hear me! ROYALTY!”}

> Write-in

>>1009546
Where is that coming from? Has Okku gotten himself into trouble again? Where is the kitty?

>>1009546
Someone's yelling about being royalty and being grabbed by someone unwillingly, quite possibly to be kidnapped.

As cold as it sounds, this is not the time for you to try to be a hero, lest you be kidnapped as well. Take note of where you are in relation to the tower, and flee back to tell somebody what we've heard, and let the properly prepared people handle it.

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>>1009712
>>1009599
>>1009546

“I…” Cici stands there conflicted as she considers that there might actually be a person in trouble nearby. “B-but…”

No, she has to remind herself. Mama and the voices were right. She needed to get an adult who could deal with this if it was something dangerous.

“Din-Din, we gotta go!”

And like that the two of them are barreling back toward the tower at full speed, the young girl earning herself more than a few bruises and scrapes as she inevitably gets snagged on roots and brambles along the way. No sooner is she clear of the trees then Cici is turning the tower upside down looking for her mother, ducking into the main chambers of the tower before running upstairs to the garden.

“Mama, Mama!” Cici calls frantically, finally catching sight of the large, snake-like trunk of her mother who was now pruning the tomato vines. Jasmine meanwhile lounges lazily on a crenellation, relaxing in the sun.

“What’s the matter, sweetling?” she asks, quickly putting away her shears when she hears her daughter’s urgency.

“The voices said there was someone getting kidnapped in the forest!” Mama’s eyes immediately widen. “They said they were royalty or something, an-”

“Can you show me where?” Mama says, putting on a serious face as she leans down to look Cici in the eye. “Are the voices certain?”

Mama gently grasps Cici’s wrist, and you can feel the mental channel open.

> Write-in

>>1009876
"We seem to have heard a voice over in the forest, yelling about a brute. We didn't get a good look, as we wanted to keep Cici away from harm. We'll show you the way. Cici, give us to your mother, and go up to your room. Your mother will caw twice like a crow and bark once like a dog to let you know when its safe.

>>1009876
A strange pattern of sounds of unidentified origins were heard in the deeper area of the forest. They were meaningful to us, being translated as {“Let go of me, you stupid brute! I’m royalty you hear me! ROYALTY!”}

We advised your daughter to flee in the face of a potential kidnapper, and did not risk ascertaining the origins of the sounds.

>>1009876
We definitely heard the words, but they might have been in a non-dramatic language.
It felt like an artifact?

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>>1010241
>>1010029
>>1010007
>>1009876

“Or I could just tell her that I’m home,” Cassandra points out as Cici unlaces her bracelet. “Either way, you should go inside. Okay, sweetling?”

She gently pats Cici’s nodding head before the young girl is off.

[“I swear, why can’t anything ever be simple?”]

With a sigh, the snake woman is slithering down the stairs soon after, rounding the tower to where her unstrung bow and spear lie waiting from the morning hunt. A little muscle power and a practiced hand sees to the latter in seconds before she’s off and into the woodlands, following the voices as her guide.

It’s not a terribly easy thing, of course, to follow a cloud of constantly chattering and partly contradicting pieces of advice, but somehow they once again find themselves back in that familiar neck of the woods. However, the high-pitched noise from before seems to have fallen silent.

[“Now then, where did you say that voice was coming from?”]

Listening to the voices, Cassandra works her way further into the woods, senses sharpened as she listens for even the faintest sound that might indicate an active presence. All she finds though, are small paw prints in the mud and dirt, Okku’s to be precise. And judging by the glistening pools that dribble in-between he’d once again been raiding the bee hives across the forest.

[“Kidnappers or no, we should try to find him. We wouldn’t want him to wind up as a pelt after all.”]

With no better lead, the snake woman continues to follow Okku’s path, her eyes shifting into a different spectrum as the world takes on a faint glow where warmth used to reside. The trail she is following, however, is on the verge of going cold. Still, it had rained recently and the mud was still soft, so it wasn’t hard to follow it one way or the other.

Even so, as Cassandra winds around to a small lake amidst a copse of trees, she finds herself stopping. Not because Okku’s trail had gone cold, curiously, but because she had found a different pair of tracks altogether. Large, humanoid, bipedal and slightly webbed, they emerge from the water’s depths and plow deep into the soft ground as they lead south, deeper into the forest.

[“Tell me… What do you lot know about trolls?”]

> Write-in

>>1010270
That's easy.
They live under bridges and tend to get their expletive staved in by goats.

>>1010270

For us, that's a bit of an open question. Lots of different kinds of trolls, by our experience. For my own voice's purposes, trolls are tall, gangly, smelly, and none-too-bright. Work better in groups than alone, but still dangerous if you encounter them at all and they're in a bad mood.

>>1010270
Big, dumb, but cunning. They have monstrous regeneration and you need to use fire or acid to prevent it. Their blood is toxic, too.

Hmm, did Okku end up raiding a sapient bee's hive and kidnapping their queen?

>>1010270
Details vary widely among worlds, but common factors are great size and strength, extremely potent regenerative ability, vulnerability to fire, and somewhat limited intelligence, though often still sentient.

Might or might not have an enmity with goats or an affinity for bridges.

>>1010320
>Might or might not have an enmity with goats or an affinity for bridges.
>or might not
Get out you dirty troll-loving voice-harlot. We'll be having none of your diabolical lies in this conversation.

>>1010270
From what I know, green, foul smelling, and cruel. Speaks the language of Giants, barely. Oh, and they can regenerate, unless scorched with flame or burnt by acid.

Also, if you have some ability to enchant things, removing their intestines, and tying off one end with a runic knot will give you a length of (slightly disgusting) rope which can regrow however much you cut off of it, so long as the knot remains tied.

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>>1010336
>>1010335
>>1010320
>>1010316
>>1010301
>>1010287
>>1010270

[“Unfortunately, I’m a little short on goats right now. Also, wizards, skeletons, and giant warbeasts.”]

She sighs again, placing a hand to her head as she tries to think through all of the possible scenarios. Unfortunately, from what the voices can gather, few of them are pleasant. There could be a dozen of them hiding out there. If Okku was nearby, he might have already been eaten. And if there was only one it could still be an uphill battle judging by the size.

[“He’s easily over a hundred and fifty stone by the depths of these tracks, and judging by the damage to those upper boughs, it might be one of the more intelligent breeds, though I sincerely doubt intelligent enough to quote riddles.”]

No, but maybe smart enough to use simple weapons or sniff out a trap. Cassandra had had the rare experience of hunting a troll or two back in her days of adventuring, and it had seldom been easy. The best way was usually to find their lairs in a troop, then disorient them using loud noises and bright light. Then again, if it was a direct fight with just the one, maybe she could end this quickly.

She takes a moment to think as the voices chatter among themselves.

> Write-in

>>1010270
Oh god, was the "Royalty" we were hearing a Queen bee? Do we speak bee now?

>>1010450
Maybe try negotiation? Maybe we can simply try to avoid it until Lee and. Brad come back and can provide support.

>>1010450
If you don't have any fire, acid, or backup, this may be a grueling fight unless you're a master with your weapons, and that's assuming it's just the one troll. We're presumably on a time limit as well, so waiting for backup is likely out. If you have any enchantments or tricks with your weapons, now would be a good time to use them.

...

I know you despise the thought of it, but petrification might greatly minimize the risks of dying here, if that's within your power. You're skilled enough that it might not be necessary, but if bad comes to worse you still need to come out alive, no matter what.

>>1010601
Actually no, forget that last part. I'm sorry for bringing it up.

You should be able to pull this out.

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>>1010450

Hmm. It's getting pretty late, come to think of it, and I have to get my schedule back on track for next week when I resume work. Apologies folks for the late start. As my twitter would indicate, a lot of stuff came up. Still, I'll try to get back to writing tomorrow (and much earlier). Look forward to it.

>>1010450
You could always trade. Trolls can take food or money as bribes. But if that thing really has a princess then nothing you have will be good enough. Still, as hard as trolls are an arrow in a eye usually works, even those with hides as hard as steel still have vulnerable eyes. Worst case, hit the eye with an arrow grab the hostage and run.

Or go the smart route and trick him. I wonder if Okku is okay?

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>>1011085
>>1010601
>>1010501
>>1010450

[“When I say they don’t do riddles, I mean most of them aren’t capable of speech.”]

Though naturally, it wouldn’t hurt to check first. After all, it would be just her luck to somehow pelt a highly intelligent troll diplomat with an arrow, but before those worries sink in too far, she grabs an empty flask from her pack and presses one of her fangs against the inner lip. A thick stream of venom isn’t far behind, the viscous liquid oozing into a pinkish-white pool at the bottom.

[“At the very least, we should scout its lair. If it can talk, then we’ll talk. If not, well, we’ll have a backup plan.”]

With that settled, Cassandra follows the new set of tracks away from the watering hole, an obvious trail leading down muddy streams and across rocky ground before finally seeming to settle in a flattened clearing not far away. The broken branches littering the ground do quite a lot to confirm repeated activity, as does the impressive volume of footprints on the ground. It also puts Cassandra on edge as she considers the noise she’d have to make with any conceivable approach.

Instead, she first settles for checking the perimeter, doing the best she can to move silently as she traces the grounds looking for differences in the tracks or multiple pairs leaving together. At the very least, that seems to indicate that this one is alone, and given that trolls didn’t tend to operate until dusk due to light sensitivity, that meant that this one was probably still asleep. What’s more, there’s a suspiciously thick clump of trees that just about screams as an ideal resting spot.

Taking advantage of her time, then, Cassandra builds a small fire outside of the perimeter, thin weeds and dry branches quickly giving way to flame with a spark of her flint before she plants her spear tip down in the center of it. Now to get the meeting underway.

[“Well, if we’re going to try diplomacy first, there isn’t a need for subtlety.”]

With that in mind, Cassandra grabs her hunting horn from her belt and slithers forward, placing the instrument to her lips and blowing a low note before she comes crashing through the brush. In the end, she doesn’t even have to blow a second time to get her answer, the darkened cluster of trees rustling immediately with the noise as something tremendous groans itself awake.

Fat, grew fingers aren’t far behind as they emerge out into the light, thick claws sinking deep into the bark as a tusked, bald head blinks its beady eyes against the sting of the sun. With continued grumbling and groaning, it swings its head side-to-side, passing over Cassandra herself once, twice, before finally settling on the woman herself.

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>>1011582

“You… Make… Noise?” it demands slowly in its guttural voice, seeming to struggle on each word as it scratches the leaves off its belly. And below that, Cassandra can’t help but notice a very human skull dangling on its belt.

“Yes,” the gorgon states calmly, not fit to let that rattle her. “I want to know why you are here.”

“No bear,” it answers simply. “That mean new land.”

“And the skull?” she demands.

“I take. Shiny.”

“But did you kill the person who it belonged to?”

“Hmm?” It squints as it parses the question. “No. Brother kill. I take, also eat. No taste good.”

“When was that?”

“Huh?” it questions, not comprehending.

“When eat?”

“Long time ago. Make big, but taste bad.”

[“Great an evolved species.”]

“And have you eaten anything around here, like a small bear?”

“Bear?” the beast grumbles, an odd glimmer of recognition in his eyes. “No. No eat small. Friend bring honey for Mishael.”

“Your name is Michelle?”

“Mish. Aye. Ell!” the beast grunts forcefully, slavering with each syllable.

[“Well, this is going unexpectedly, but how do you suggest we resolve this? We can’t have him raiding the nearby farmsteads or the tower when he gets hungry.”]

> Write-in

>>1011598
He seems intelligent enough to be able to not eat everything in its path.
Maybe he understands the concepts of hunting grounds? Maybe if you demarcate the farms and your tower as others' hunting grounds, he'll stay away.
Also, since he seems to view Okku as a friend, perhaps you should say you are also a friend of the small bear.

Maybe ask if he intends to stay here, of if he intends to move on; if the latter, if you can find some wilderness within your barony not claimed by settlers, you can direct him there.

>>1011606

I'm off to sign some papers at my bank. Shouldn't be more than an hour.

>>1011598

Our dumb bear cub stole the princess. The troll probably doesn't know she's there. Explain that she has to give the bee monarch back or bees will find her and sting her day and night.

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>>1011741
>>1011728
>>1011606
>>1011598

“Tell me, did that honey have bees in it? Talking bees?”

“Talky beeses?” it grumbles. “No. No talking beeses. Only mushy grubs an’ honey… Now want more…”

“I’m sure there are plenty of hives further south,” she insists, “but you don’t want to keep hunting here. These are human hunting grounds.”

“Hooman?” the beast murmurs dumbly. “Don’t like hoomans… but da boss says this is our lands nows. With lots of cows an’ pigses to eat…”

[“Great. Raiders.”]

“And tell me, where is this boss of y-“

Instinct takes over as something primal screams inside of Cassandra’s head, her entire body snapping like a whip to throw her head out of the way of an incoming spear, her spear as a matter of fact. The searing hot metal passes less than an inch from her face as it goes screaming into the nearby brush, a frustrated grunt leading her back to the one who threw it.

Red, with large horns and dark eyes, he looks more like a demon than a troll, but somehow the similarities between him and Mishael still give his species away.

“Mishael?” the man questions in far less broken common. “What have I told you about playing with your food?”

[“This isn’t good…”]

> Write-in

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>>1011995

Also, my sincerest apologies. My appointment at the bank ran a little longer than expected. I should be thoroughly back now, however, and updates should be a lot more regular.

>>1011995
No, it's not good. For a troll of this level of intellect, and still sticking to being a raider, I think you're going to have to do everything you can to fight. Especially since it's a two versus one fight now.

I guess you could start with a simple "Is there really no way to have this end peacefully, because the adventurers will keep coming until you're dead if you provoke the locals."
Use that as time to get ready to coat some arrows in venom, and go for your spear.

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>>1012001
>>1012012

Well, I guess it was a little premature to assume people had stuck around. I don't know what I'm supposed to do at this point.

>>1012176
Maybe give it more time for people to finish their commute from work.
And did you update your Twitter?

>>1011995
This might actually be an oni instead of a troll, which would explain why it's considerably smarter than expected. If it is, exercise extreme caution; demon-ogres are bad fucking news.

I suppose the best option is to try to bargain while being ready to rearm yourself for combat the second things go south.

>>1011995
Horny's obviously in charge, and got a higher level of intelligence then Mishael. But also obviously has less restraint. Hes smart enough to know why you shouldt go around eating people, so he just doesnt care.
Guys who lead people who seem less intelligent tend to really like making sure everyone else knows it, so it shouldnt be too hard to play to his ego and keep him talking for a few seconds. Keep your eyes on him, and the first chance you get, make a break for backup. preferably not towards your home, since they'll almost certainly follow you.

>>1012176
im here/ will participate to get it going/keep it going if you'd like

>>1012242

You shouldn't feel forced. Just, it helps to have multiple responses per prompt. At least for this one, I now have enough to be writing. I'll get to it shortly, after I calm this pounding headache.

>>1011995
In some places thats call'd an Oni, at worst it has magic. You need backup.

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>>1011995
>>1012012
>>1012215
>>1012236
>>1012275
>>1012242

“But boss,” Mishael says. “No like eat hoomans.”

[“You’re right. Just need to keep them talking. It’ll give us some time to look for an opening to escape.”]

“Are you blind?” the oni demands. “She’s more snake than human by half. Part cow too by the looks of her.”

[“Part c-“]

Cassandra fumes as the insult hits home, glaring daggers at the… wait, is that a woman. As a bit of rage helps settle the panic, Cassandra can make out more on the new arrival than she could before. A heavy pelt hanging about its shoulders, boots on its feet, it was clear that this was a more civilized opponent, but there were other details as well. The set of the shoulders, the posture, voice, and facial expressions, maybe she could use that somehow.

“Hey you,” the demon says, apparently returning its focus to the gorgon. “Drop the rest of your weapons before I break your arms.

“You couldn’t close the gap quick enough,” Cassandra points out, eyeballing the distance between them. “And they’ve already been coated with a nasty surprise should this come to blows. So, no, I think I’ll keep my weapon and my distance for now.”

Whether the oni really believes the bluff or not, it doesn’t repeat the request.

“I like surprises!” Mishael chimes in.

“And I’d like it if you’d shut up!” the oni shouts. “You were supposed to have already cleared out this section of the forest of intruders! What have you been doing this whole time!”

“There lake with feesh,” Mishael explains. “And little friend bring honey.”

“Ah, so you’re friends with Okku,” Mama chimes in.

“The hell’s an Okku?” the oni demands, turning her nose up at the gorgon.

“Bear friend. Friend bear.”

The oni’s eyes go wide.

“Wait, bear, what do you mean bear? The bear is dead, right!? Right!?”

“Bear no dead…”

“Shit!”

[“She’s distracted. Now might be our chance.”]

> Write-in

>>1012434
You aren't going to overpower an oni, so don't even think about fighting head on, not even to poison or constrict. If you can slip away into the forest, you might be able to leverage the terrain to keep distance and poison him with arrows. Or flee, if it comes to that.

>>1012501
This, we might also want to get at least Yesh and inform him of them trying to hurt Okku.

>>1012516
The oni, at least. Mishael could be reasoned with, at least a little.

>>1012516
No, the oni is probably referring to Okku's dead mom, the devil bear we had to kill.

>>1012434
Maybe you should ask the oni if she's referring to the devil bear that you killed. And you also killed the coven of vampires.
Basically, if she was afraid of the devil bear, then what does it make you, who killed the bear.

>>1012501
Yes, you know the terrain and you have poison, use that.

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>>1012693
>>1012683
>>1012540
>>1012516
>>1012501
>>1012434

[“It’s probably Okku’s mother they’re talking about…”]

That might prove advantageous, but as she is thinking this, Cassandra is also bolting as quickly as she can toward her downed spear.

“Hey!” She’s about halfway there before the oni seems to realize what’s going on. “Where do you think you’re going, bitch!?”

In a flash, the demon-like creature is closing the distance, powerful legs making an audible thud beneath her as she turns into a red, hateful blur. In the end, Cassandra can feel her shadow falling on her before the metal of her spear in her palm.

However, she hadn’t lived this long without learning a few tricks. And so, as the oni tries to grab her shoulders, the gorgon’s torso is already turning around, her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel before she sprays a mist of venom directly into her opponent’s eyes. That alone wouldn’t do much, but the effect is immediate, the demon scrabbling at her eyes long enough for Cassandra to grab her spear and wrap her tail around one of the red woman’s legs. A blur of actions afterward sees that still blisteringly hot metal shoved into her thigh and her feet swept out from under her while Cassandra is streaking through the trees.

“You idiot!” the oni shouts. “Go after her.”

How quick he was going to be on the response, Cassandra wasn’t about to stick around and find out. She needed to get distance for right now, find her high ground, and a wall to put to her back. Of course, even with her knowledge of the territory, that was easier said than done. All she can really do is try to lead them away from the tower as her scales slide over branches and twigs, her weight kicking up a merry ruckus as it thrashes like a mad fish out of water.

It's then that she hears it, the sound of wind, her intuition once again firing off as the snakes in back of her see something she can’t. And it’s only by a hair that she catches herself in time, her body pulling back a second before a tremendous chunk of tree comes slamming into the dirt in front of her.

“When I get ahold of you, I’m poking your eyes out one-by-one!” the oni promises from afar, but in doing so, she tips her distance. “Little ones first!”

It’s not far enough to prepare many arrows, but it’s far enough that she may still lose them. She just needed to be stealthy.

[“Leaves, mud, trees, what do we do? And do you have anything that can help?”]

> Write-in

>>1012780
If you stick to the mud, you can stay quiet but it'll leave a trail. Can you go up the trees and slide along the branches?

The oni's temper is up, so the threat you could have made about having beaten the bear she's so afraid of won't work as well now.
But you can still try.

>>1012780
You know, if the mud is deep and thick enough it might slow him down considerably since strength means much less for moving faster through viscous liquids.

See if you can lure him through the mud and pepper him with shots if he falls for it and slows down. No tree climbing though, since they'll just knock the tree down. Ideally, you'll be able to snipe and move to new cover before they find you, but that working more than a few times is a longshot.

As for if we can do anything to directly help, I'm pretty sure this conduit doesn't have much in the way of further magical capabilities, and while in the past we have been able to severely damage the minds of enemies we've established a channel with, I'm not sure if this conduit is the sort that tactic would work with.

Maybe if we focus hard and think happy thoughts you'll miraculously gain combat enlightenment from all the experiences we've had in the past. Probably not though.

>>1012501
>>1012516
>>1012540
>>1012693
Did no one else realize how scared the oni is of the devil bear that we killed?
Why would you think that she was referring to Okku instead of the huge bear that used to make this forest her home?

>>1012912

Just a reminder, anon. Most folks here haven't read RE: Animated, and maybe never will. That's when the bear attack happened.

>>1012912
I didn't play the last quest, so some of this is flying over my head.

I suppose we can make a stand and try to intimidate them with that boast, and move on to the other plans if that falls through.

>>1012912
Was thinking more that Okku was a more regular nuisance for the enemy.

>>1012918
Hasn't the devil bear also been mentioned in this quest as well?
When talking about the threats that Cassandra put down to make this place safer, the proximity of the farmsteads to such monster threats, and when the local boys were pulling the prank on the girls, we mentioned that there were some monsters nearby enough that them being actual monsters couldn't be ruled out.

>>1012938
>Okku was a more regular nuisance for the enemy.
Then wouldn't the Oni have shown annoyance rather than actual fear?

>>1012953
>Then wouldn't the Oni have shown annoyance rather than actual fear?
Eh I'm at utc+2, it's like 5am here and I need sleep. Cya everyone and thanks for the run banana!

>>1012969

Sleep is important, and take care anon. I may run tomorrow as well.

>>1012974
Hope to see you then.

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>>1012837
>>1012896
>>1012780

[“Good point.”]

They’d probably just uproot the trees if it came to it. However, as for mud… Well, she might leave a trail but all things considered it would slow her down far less than something heavy on two legs. And in that vein of thought, she knew of just the place: an area near a sinkhole where the animals stayed clear.

With only that thought in mind, Cassandra bolts for it, sliding away at a break neck pace until she can feel the ground softening beneath her. A little further in, she begins coating her arrows, going one by one until the sound of impending screaming becomes a cause for concern.

“I’m going to make boots out of your hide!” the red-faced woman screams, hefting Cassandra’s spear this time but not throwing it as she charges into melee.

Composure seems to have fled her now as well as any care for her physical well-being, a concerning state of affairs at least even if it lets Cassandra plug arrow after arrow into the thickly muscled flesh of her opponent. Five in total find their mark before she even hits the mud, and yet she doesn’t show signs of slowing in the least.

She just continues charging forward, waves of mud exploding with each step as she comes screaming into melee. However, poison-proof or no, the terrain makes her footing sloppy, sloppy enough to where Cassandra manages to plant the spear tip meant for her ribcage into the mud. Unfortunately, that leaves the oni two free hands with which to club the poor snake woman’s head.

At this point, coherence kind of breaks down, everything turning into a blur of flailing limbs and mud as the fangs and fists come out. Scales coil around limbs, limbs crack against bones and cartilage, and gravity can’t seem to make up its mind as to which way is up. All the voices really know is that sometime during the fray, there is more than one person connected to the channel.

> Write-in

>>1013035
Force the full entirety of our mental voices straight into the oni's mind.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST COME IN HERE WITH YOUR WEAK-ASS SHIT AND TAKE OVER THE PLACE?! WE WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL AND MAKE IT A PLAYTHING IN OUR PRISON FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY IF YOU DON'T BACK THE FUCK UP!"

>>1013035
"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST COME IN HERE WITH YOUR WEAK-ASS SHIT AND TAKE OVER THE PLACE?! WE WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL AND MAKE IT A PLAYTHING IN OUR PRISON FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY IF YOU DON'T BACK THE FUCK UP!"

>>1013035
Identify which one is not familiar and begin the mind rape.

Do >>1013059 and follow up with a mixture of the following carefully chosen sounds as loud as possible. We shall sing the song of our people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E6ljLSOkbY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5PVGvzftWo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLfAY70Qqs

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>>1013140
>>1013105
>>1013059
>>1013035

The voices do their best to scream across the channel, shouting threats and haranguing her mind with wanton noise to the best of their ability while the battle wages above. And surprisingly, it seems to work. Her reactions become much slower, even if she doesn’t express more than rabid rage on the surface, the strength behind her blows a little less severe as she wages a war for sanity within. It isn’t long before Cassandra is the one dishing out the most part of the damage, her fist slamming repeatedly into the oni’s face.

However, like the silence before the storm, something is brewing beneath the berserker’s surface, something the voices become keenly aware of as a wall of pure rage slowly but inexorably slams against their collective conscience. Minute by minute, their control fades as the woman’s physical body seems to draw that emotional power into the realm of the physical, muscles bulging, form rising from the mud. With a mighty roar, she begins spinning both her and the tremendous body of the snake woman around in circles, whipping her around like a cord before throwing her to the winds.

The landing is predictably heavy, not to mention painful as Cassandra’s coils slam into the dirt. However, she knows that she has precious little time to consider anything as out of the corner of her eye, she spies the oni already lunging for her spear. Bloody, bruised, and covered in mud, her eyes seem to glow with a magical intensity as she retrieves her prize.

“I’m going to kill you!” the demon states simply, the wood handle creaking in her grip as she prepares one final pounce. “And then, I’m going to eat you!”

Breath coming heavy, that manic light burning in her eyes, she looks like a wolf sizing up a rabbit.

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>>1013243

--

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that…”

Before she can even register the statement, a purple line is slashing across her body: her ankles, her legs, and her shoulders releasing a spray of blood before she falls to the dirt in a heap. In her place now stands a small, unassuming form.

“You see, she is my family,” states the far-too pleasant, almost casual voice, “and you aren’t welcome here.”

“I’ll fucking kill you…” the oni promises, body moving oddly as flesh knits back together. “I’ll-“

“You will rest now…” Yesh corrects, a purple glow suffusing his hand before he seemingly plunges it into the woman’s spine.

With an unnatural scream on her part, he then rips his hand upward, something like a silhouette of light bearing her features appearing for but a brief instant before it is sheared from its mortal coil completely, the essence gathering into something like a small drop of light in his palm before he stops to survey the scene.

“I hope you are well,” he states, again as though he had just walked in on her having breakfast while he holds what one would assume is someone’s mortal soul in his hands. “Also, should I feel free to dispose of this?”

> Write-in

>>1013257
BASED TONBERRY

>>1013257
"Let it depart to the afterlife or Lady Death will get angry."

>>1013257
Give her soul here. She may be a thug and a brute, but curiosity compels me to hear her case before deciding what to do with her.

Also, there seems to be a troll back there that has made friends with Okku. He can speak, and doesn't seem to be all that willing to eat men. It might be prudent to keep an eye on him, in order to make sure he doesn't hurt others or himself.

>>1013257
Honestly, it's too bad we couldn't come to an understanding. She seemed intelligent enough.

Could Yesh bring the soul towards us? We've got some threats of our own we have to keep with her.

>>1013243
Aw, I suppose we can only communicate with this one instead of doing mind shenanigans. Oh well.

>>1013257
Tonberries are best berries. A shame it had to end this way though; had he not come to your rescue this might have turned ugly, though granted you might have had something in reserve. Either way, there had to have been a better way to handle this, and for that, I apologize.

If we can communicate with the soul then we might as well try talking to it, but in my experience it's unwise to suffer a sworn enemy to live.

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>>1013296
>>1013291
>>1013288
>>1013285
>>1013282
>>1013278
>>1013257

“That’s… I…” Cassandra is not sure what to make of these requests. “There’s another one…”

“He has been dealt with,” Yesh assures her, though at this point that statement makes her skin crawl. “He and Okku are playing somewhere safe and out of the way.”

“Well… I guess that’s for the best then… The bracer, however, it wants to speak with the… Is that really her soul?”

“It’s perplexing how little defines so much,” Yesh answers cryptically. “Memories and attachments, triumphs and failures, can such a thing truly be represented by something material? This, if nothing else, is the closest representation that we can understand.”

“But can they really speak to it? Is she-“

“Dead? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It all depends on how you choose to define the line between the living and the dead. For now, empty would be a better term for the shell she has left behind. In any case, whether they can truly speak to the soul is a mystery to me, though I suppose it cannot hurt to try. Come, bring your hands and we shall see.”

--

What is the feeling of a soul laid bare in the palm? Is it warm? Is it cold? Does it have weight? Any sensory information Cassandra might glean from the strange experience this day is not something the voices are around long enough to contemplate. Instead, no sooner has the gateway been opened than they once again find themselves in a world made between worlds, a channel in which an unknowable mass stretches infinitely before them.

The void waits, brimming with a life yet to be truly ended and waiting for them to act.

> Write-in

>>1013420
Get that oni's soul in here, bound in chains.
We told her that if she didn't step off, that she'd be out plaything for eternity.
Time to let her see that it was no idle threat.

>>1013420
Hey, if her body is unoccupied, could we take it?

>>1013420
Awaken, reprobate. The time has come to look at your sins. Consider it a trial by jury, with the right to keep the form that once defined you as the stakes...

>>1013420
Awaken, reprobate. The time has come to look at your sins. Consider it a trial by jury, with the right to keep the form that once defined you as the stakes...

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>>1013555
>>1013504
>>1013484
>>1013457
>>1013420

A form? A form in chains?

The simple thoughts echo in the void, turning wheels that were previously still as the soul stirs in the absence of its cage. Ironically, the first thing that it then produces in the empty void is a literal cage, wide and long with thick bars and colorful paneling without. And within its confines then coalesce two beings down on their knees in chains. With sickly green-grey skin, sharp teeth, and long sharp fingers, they could pass for ill-kempt orcs. However, that was not the case.

“Come one! Come all!” calls a barker as he steps from the void of memory, prim moustache twitching as he addresses a faceless crowd. “Come one! Come all, and be amazed! What we have today, here for your viewing pleasure are the genuine articles! The brutal, the terrifying, the practically unstoppable trolls of the wastes!”

“Unstoppable my arse! What’re they doin’ in cages then!?” a shadowy man demands.

“Oh I assure you sir, they were captured at great risk during an outing during the…“

The voice drifts away into the background, a hum as familiar as the rattling of the chains to the mind of the guilty. It was all just a farce, a preamble, a lead up to the main act that really drew the audience here.

“Now allow me to demonstrate! The amazing, spectacular regenerative power of this marvelous species!”

Sometimes it was an eye. Other times, it was an ear. Sometimes they got away with just flesh wounds here and there until the audience grew bored, but none of it mattered in the end. None of it needed to be remembered. All that mattered was the night that someone made the mistake of freeing them from their cages. That night, that red, bloody night would forever paint a smile on her face for all the years to come.

> Write-in

>>1013590
Revenge only gets you so far in life, reprobate. You had a responsibility to keep Mishael safe. You know he has the mind of a child. To use him as a thug is to exploit him for your own gain, something your captors did to you, as you well know. A man born in slavery who becomes a slaver deserves both punishment and scorn, for he does what had been inflicted upon himself to others without self reflection.

>>1013590
So you killed your captors?
Fine, understandable.
You went into the wilderness to live away from your former tormentors?
Also defensible.
Trying to kill the person trying to help you by pointing out where you can go without becoming a target for adventurers or the baroness?
That's where you fucked up. Then continued to fuck up by not heeding our warnings to stop before you got wrecked.

You've got few choices right now, but they are your choices to make. Something which I suspect you haven't had much of in your life.

Choice 1: you keep your pride, dignity, and rage as your would is shredded and the ragged remains sent on to the afterlife.
Choice 2: you remain whole, trapped in that cage of your own regrets and memories, with us, I. Here, for effectively the rest of eternity.
Choice 3: we allow you to petition the baroness, to be allowed back into your body and to serve her, living with Mishael.

And before you scoff, no, the baroness isn't a human, and was mistreated by them like you. They have tried to kill her before, and came fairly close.

So, what is your choice?

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>>1013616
>>1013607
>>1013590

Mishael. The hapless idiot. He’d never been clever, never been especially strong either, before the change. Honestly, he would’ve died a dozen times over if it hadn’t been for her.

“Sistah, I hungry.”

“Can I eat rock, Sistah?”

“Shiny metal man give food?”

“Whas an imbeesil?”

Why couldn’t he have just changed how she had? She’d gotten smarter, stronger, more beautiful, everything she could have wanted and more, but Mishael…

“Wha… happen… ta me…?” he had looked dumb and uncomprehending at his hands the morning after his transformation, the night after she’d forced him to pick a would-be monster hunter’s bones clean.

He complained the entire time, naturally, but the flesh would make him strong. It had done as much for her, after all.

However, he hadn’t become an oni. He’d become something… different. Terrifyingly strong, true, but she could swear he had somehow become even dimmer after the transformation, not to mention hungrier. Honestly, what was she supposed to do when he could pick a countryside clean in a week?

Maybe an entire forest would have been enough. Then again, maybe she should have bothered listening when they said a new monster occupied these lands now, something more terrifying than the demon bear that had come before. It was bound to end like this sooner or later, though, she reflects, an endless road of conflict until something finally killed her back.

In the end, did she regret what she had done? Not in the slightest, but it would be nice to know that idiot was properly taken care of.

--

[“Hmm. I have no idea how we would feed a creature his size if he eats as much as she claims. And there’s always the chance she’ll try to kill me or someone else again. Still, I suppose I do have land to spare now.”]

Cassandra sighs as she thinks through everything the voices relay back to her. However, she’s struggling to come up with a real solution.

> Write-in

>>1013703
At this point, we can only let both of them live, or both of them have to die. Without his sister, Mishael will be uncontrollable, and without Mishael, his sister will be a berserker set out for our ruin.

>>1013707
This, pretty much. Together alive, they might make for powerful, if troublesome retainers. Food will become a problem.

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>>1013703
>>1013707
>>1013735

You know, now might not be a bad time to call it for tonight. It'll give you guys some more time to try to come up with possible solutions. We'll pick up tomorrow, hopefully with fewer interruptions.

>>1013707
Urgh, As much as I have misgivings, considering all theconversations we have about what makes a monster, I think for Mishael's Sake, we can at least give them a shot.
So far, they might not be evil, more like wild, and acting more on instinct then their speech would suggest.
So, I think they should get one chance to tur this life around. Not expecting them to suddenly join human society, but they could at least have a chance at living in a safer, more sustainable manner, because at the rate theyre going, they were going to a violent end anyway, either from being killed, or starvation.

>>1013908
on That note, maybe for Mishaels food problem, if an evolution caused it, another one might fix it. As far as Im aware, evolution in monsters is somewhat context sensitive. You become what you do, so maybe his increased hunger is just a byproduct of his lifestyle, or environment when he evolved.

>>1013908
I can forgive killing their captors, and I can even forgive killing the monster hunter.
Both instances were of self defense.

It's the part about trying to kill the obviously non-human (and therefore not part of the race of people that had tortured her) that I'm not feeling forgiving about.

>>1013703
She has no regrets.
A person cannot change their nature if they feel no regret.
Kill the oni.
Mishael, while big and dumb, could be made useful as a living earthmover.
The problem, of course, is whether the amount of food he eats would be worth it, and if he could be fed on low-grade plant matter to make up in bulk what he loses out on quality.
Otherwise, give him a good chunk of honey, let him go to sleep, and then have Yesh rip out his soul.

>>1013965
Oh yeah, sure, condemn the girl, then keep her friend around as a slave for physical labor, or just kill him. Sure is a bastion of logic and moral rectitude around here.

>>1013965
>kill him if he eats too much to be useful
Fuck no, unlike his sister he's not knowingly in the wrong here. Killing him would just be murder.

The big problem here is that he may get rather distraught if he hears we killed his sister. He might swear vengeance on us all the same.

That said, it does churn my (metaphorcial) gut to just kill the guy. I do agree that the oni's soul needs to be sent to the hereafter, however. She's irredeemable.

>>1014524
I dont see it. Shes basically just been living like a wild child up till now, outside of society. As far as ive seen the only interaction shes had with other people were either the people who were torturing her, people who thought she was just a monster, and monster hunters trying to, well, hunt them. Not saying the behavior has been good, but its understandable, given their life up till now.
So, weve basically got her at our mercy now, so I dont see it as a horrible wrong to give her ONE CHANCE to be better. Worse case scenario, we're no worse off then we were before. And now that shes at our mercy and its no longer self defense, we really dont have the moral high ground to be passing judgment on person anyway.

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>>1013703
>>1013707
>>1013735
>>1013908
>>1013965
>>1014524
>>1014580

[“Ugh. Why do I have to make these sorts of decisions?”]

The inside of Cassandra’s head is pounding not only from the recent blunt trauma, but by trying to think this through logically. Mishael seemed harmless enough on his own: hungry perhaps, but not dangerous to anyone in and of himself. She couldn’t bring herself to just kill him out of hand for his appetite. Then again, she couldn’t release him out into the wilds to possibly kill or be killed looking for food. Maybe it was her maternal instincts talking, but he seemed far too much like a defenseless child for her to leave him alone.

His sister on the other hand, ‘troublesome’ would be a kind term for her. Everything about her lifestyle and mentality just seemed to scream that at some point, she’d kill again. And if saving one life meant taking another…

She presses her hands to her face while she thinks, trying to shut out the outside world as she turns over her options. She knew nothing about farming, of course, or magic, or the long-term sustainability of having so many large meat-eaters in one place.

And even if she found a long-term solution for his appetite, how would she respond to the townsfolk if someone was hurt by the duo. Worse, what if someone hurt the duo by mistake and they struck back with motive? And even if no one got hurt, what would people’s reactions be if the new regent started sheltering murderers and man-eaters?

She’s afraid, afraid for her sake and most of all, for Cici’s sake, but she can’t let that cloud her judgement. If the only way to save one innocent was to reform a murderer, it was at least worth trying.

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>>1014992

So, with a deep breath, she begins contemplating how to deal with the big one’s appetite. He was large, of course, but the demon bear had been able to live off of these woods comfortably even when killing game for sport. There had to be something special about his mutation that caused this, and as she thinks more and more, it hits her: regeneration.

Throughout their early lives, they had been cut and gouged at repeatedly, forced to regrow body parts. If his evolution followed necessity then it would likely favor extremely powerful regeneration, moreso than even a standard troll.

“Listen missy,” an old adventurer had once told her. “A troll’s biggest enemy ain’t a man with a torch, it’s his own stomach. Ye can’t regrow somethin’ from nothin’, after all, but just because they ain’t gettin’ cut up don’t mean their stomach knows the difference. They kill because they’ve got a rumblin’ pit inside of ‘em fit to drive a man mad.”

Maybe there was a way around that, something to slow his regeneration…

Trollsbane!

It hits her like a lightning bolt as she considers all the methods that didn’t include cauterizing the troll’s wounds. Naturally, it wasn’t easy to find and it was a devil to grow, but it could be domesticated. And just a little could slow a full-grown troll’s regeneration for a day or more. That could work!


But, of course, that depended on the lump of spirit in her hand’s willingness to grow a green thumb.
> Write-in

>>1015000
If that's that's the message you want us to relay, Cassandra...

Hey, you! You want to help your brother? The baroness has a proposition for you, as ill-considered as it seems.

>>1015000
I fill follow L1o's lead.

Hey, you! You want to help your brother? The baroness has a proposition for you, as ill-considered as it seems.

>>1015000
Okay miss, youve got one chance at turning this whole horrible mess into a positive future for you and your brother. the Snake lady has a proposal for you, and I suggest you listen carefully. This may be your one shot at a better life for the both of you, of not having to go hungry, or look over your shoulder, or having to hurt, or be hurt by others for no reason. If you care at all, you'll consider it.

>>1015000

>I wonder, will Cici evolve at some point? I hope she doesn't, Gorgons are cursed even if the curse has been growing weaker so any evolution she gets would be terrible.

>>1015194
One, who are you talking to, Two, thats not how evolution works, you sillybilly

>>1015299
I mean that she would look less human.

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>>1015074
>>1015082
>>1015193
>>1015194
>>1015000

“Thanks for the vote of confidence…” Cassandra sighs.

And with that, the voices are once more pulled back into the spiritual expanse, the whirring machinations of the void still turning away on everything that’s been said thus far. Another chance at life, a less uncertain future for her idiotic partner turned adoptive brother, could it really be that easy?

Granted, after seeing what happened to MIshael, she’d strayed away from eating humans anyway. Too much of a risk for virtually no reward. A gorgon on the other hand… Well, then again, she’d seen how that gambit had turned out for her, hadn’t she?

Maybe it was time to stop trying to get stronger to stay safe, but to become a farmer after all this? The thought made her laugh.

Her wearing a big, floppy hat and some overalls, the idiot dragging a plow around like a toy and chasing chickens around the yard, it’s… Well, it’s not too terrible of an image, now that she thinks on it. A bit of guard duty on the side to put away her and her brother’s debt to society, an actual house to keep out the rain in time: it could be a better life, at least before her old crimes inevitably caught up with her.

Still, better she be there to take the fall than him, when it happened. The idiot had only done what she told him to.

--

“I think we should let this one live,” Cassandra concludes, listening to the voices’ report as they emerge from their discussion.

“Are you entirely certain?” Yesh asks, waiting for a small, not overly-confident nod to confirm. “Then I suppose that that will decide it, come what may.”

After gently taking the soul back into his palm, a flex of Yesh’s claws ignites it in a purple flame. A chant of sorts leaves his lips, his eyes glowing bright with mystical energy, and then, with a single, violent thrust, he shoves the glowing mass back inside its empty shell, another unnatural scream erupting from the oni’s mouth before she once again falls motionless to the dirt.

“I will explain to them where their new place in this world lies,” Yesh says simply, whistling to the wind. “For now, I believe that you should return home.”

[“Is there anything else he should know?”]

> Write-in

>>1015395
Oh, yes! The bee queen!
Okku attacked a bee hive, and the queen may be an Evolved type of bee monster, one who can speak.
Yesh should go looking for Okku and the bee, and should probably take us along since we seem able to understand the bee's speech.

>>1015385
theres evidence to the contrary in this very thread...

>>1015428
or it could have just been a bee.I mean theres no reason we Couldnt understand bees, I guess. its not like everyone's speaking english

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>>1015395
>>1015428
>>1015636


[“We really should look into that…”]

“Pardon, Yesh, you mentioned that Okku was playing with the other troll. Was he carrying anything at the time?”

“Not as I recall. I was gathering ingredients when he seemed to be running from the tower. It was soon after that we both ran into the troll. Speaking of which…”

The sound of heavy footprints grows closer and closer, as a lumbering form comes bowling out from the tree line, MIshael laughing as he follows Okku’s racing form.

“Okku,” Yesh says, lifting the bear into his arms. “What have you done this time?”

“I think he may have abducted an intelligent bee queen,” Cassandra explains.

“Ah.” He says it as though he had been expecting this. “Okku…”

What follows is an odd stream of animal noises, prominently featuring a buzzing sound before he sets Okku down, the little cub immediately rushing off back toward the tower as Cassandra moves to follow. Mishael seems to have the same thought, but Yesh gently stops him.

“Come, I will need to speak with both of you once your sister finishes napping.”

Trusting, Yesh with that, Cassandra continues on her way, making good time back toward home.

>>1015603
>>1015385
>>1015194

[“I can understand your confusion. Truth be told, our species hardly ever changes significantly after birth. As for other species… The only thing that is truly certain is that eating other sapient creatures is a terrible sin, one that the gods punish heavily.”]

But that hardly matters now as Cassandra slithers in on a most curious, chaotic scene. Clay powder lies on the floor along with ceramic shards from shattered plates scattered everywhere. Meanwhile, Cici sits with her legs tucked up on a chair and Jasmine growls from her place on the now vacated shelf. Both of their eyes are trained on a tea kettle overturned on the floor, one rattling fiercely despite the book on top of it as a furious buzzing sounds from within.

{“I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE!”}

“Mama!” Cici calls, still hiding atop her seat. “I’m sorry, Mama! I didn’t know what to do!”

[“Oh dear…”]

> Write-in

>>1015674
Would you like us to try mediating the problem? This could bee a sticky situation. We had ought to avoid barbs. Honied words might quell the buzz of discontent.

>>1015674
...ah, hell...

Let us try to talk to the enraged teapot...

>>1015731
...Carlos...

>>1015674
"Please, your majesty, calm yourself!"
Oh yes, Cassandra, this is going to be troublesome.

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>>1015674
>>1015731
>>1015799

[“The first time my daughter puns of her own volition, I’m putting you on a shelf for a month.”]

For now, though, there were more pressing matters to attend to. At the very least, this would likely prove less painful than dealing with the trolls, earlier.

“It’ll be alright, sweetling,” she promises, leaning down to the tea pot. “How did she get under here anyway?”

“I dunno,” she says. “I was waiting inside for you to come back, then lots of stuffed crashed on the ground. Okku an’ Jasmine were sniffing at the pot when I came in, then it started making mad noises, so I put a book on it.”

“You did well…”

Hopefully. The next few moments would decide that, really. And so, with a practiced hand, Cassandra slides the book away, the pot rattling angrily as whatever’s inside seeks escape.

{“You will rue the day you imprisoned me! Rue I say!”}

Suspecting that means nothing polite, Mama tips up the pot cautiously.

{“I’m free!”}

And no sooner is it an inch off the ground than a tiny form is zooming past, buzzing triumphantly at her renewed freedom before Mama snaps her hands closed around the fleeing form.

{“Aaah!”}

A smarting jolt of electricity sinks into the gorgon’s hand, then another and another.

{“I will have vengeance!”}

>>1015998

{“Wait… What?}

The stinging and thrashing stops for a moment as the voices make contact.

> Write-in

>>1016170
Afternoon, sir. I apologize for the inconvinence and trouble our associate has caused. He is currently being punished with a time out.

That being said, we'd like to request you to calm down. The person you are currently zapping cannot understand your language, and thus has utilized us to help communicate with you.

Meanwhile, would you like anything to eat? Some hospitality is in order, and it would not do to have a hungry guest.

>>1016170
Hello, it seems there's been a comedy of errors that led to you being where you are now. Rest assured that the responsible parties are either sorry or will be made to be sorry.

That said, we would ask that you take a moment to regain your composure and explain what happened to you while we fetch something to your tastes, though you'll have to excuse that our selection is limited (especially so for one of royal pedigree) and we don't know what you would find palatable.

>>1016170
The Baroness apologizes for the ill treatment and confusion.
We shall be acting as intermediary and translator.
Allow us to introduce Baroness Cassandra.

>>1016506
(Just a heads up. baron(ess) is the lowest rank of nobility for many western interpretations, so don't be surprised if the royal shits on us).

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>>1016170
>>1016506

“A baroness!?” the bee creature buzzes angrily. “A mere baroness dares wage war against our glorious queen! Show me where she is that I might smite her for her impudence!”

The voices do a little more to explain the specifics of the situation to her.

“Wait… you mean she’s… So I’m trapped within… How come the giants to make words with us!?”

>>1016263
>>1016410

“No matter, I will not parley with the master of our Great Adversary, nor suffer myself to their hospitality! I come to avenge the losses of my people, not indebt myself to the architect of their misery!”

“What is she saying?” Mama asks, the bee inside her hands zapping her while covering its ears.

“It will be silent!”

> Write-in

>>1016653
To Cassandra: I think we may need Yesh for this.

Ma'am, while I apologize, I do recommend you stop harming our liege. We are willing to negotiate access to our garden as recompose for our friend's mistakes, but only if you are willing to calm down and listen.

>>1016653
She's saying that she's here to avenge the losses of her people, and declared you the master of the "great adversary". I'm going to go out on a limb and assume she's from wherever Okku's been getting his honey, and that they're suffering because of it, causing this one to come here in search of justice.

"Hoi, you do realize that we would have stopped this if we had known? We did not even suspect anything of the sort until you came here rightly demanding justice. We wish to make amends for the damage dealt to you, if you explain the damage inflicted and what you would find reasonable for both the losses incurred and the hardship suffered as a result."

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>>1016859
>>1016710
>>1016653

[“Yesh is rather preoccupied at the moment, I imagine. If you could at least translate what I’m saying to her, however, I think we may be able to work things out. As is, I’m just desperately hoping, Okku hasn’t been eating their intelligent young.”]

{“The intelligence of our subjects matters not! The sweat of their brow and the flesh of their young has still served to fill the maw of the savage beast, the great fiend, the-“}

“Great Adversary, yes,” Cassandra sighs, using one hand to pick Okku up by the scruff and then stuffing him into a barrel. “Bad Okku. Still, I imagine he isn’t the only one in the forest harassing your hives.”

{“You speak the truth, tyrant. Birds, wolves, and -wasps-,” she adds additional venom to the last one. “Yet, he is by far the most relentless, arriving wreathed in smoke before pillaging us out of house and home.”}

“Smoke? Well, come to think of it, his mother was the demon bear of the woods, and she had a habit of bursting into flames.”

{“Ha! Then you admit it! You are in compact with the Walking Inferno, the Bane of All that Lives!”}

“I killed that abomination,” Cassandra corrects. “I can show you the skull if you want.”

“N-no…” she seems to balk at that. “I… It’s darkness likely lingers st-still, b-but…”

“Okku took from your home,” Cassandra confirms, pacing outside. “And unfortunately, I can’t undo that damage. However-“ As she rounds to the top of the tower, she opens her hand, and the bee girl gasps. “I can offer you access to my home in return until you’ve been repaid.”

“Such bounty…”

Her small antenna twitch, her body moving as though half-awake as her graceful limbs alight onto a nearby flower. Her wings flutter gently, making her walk like a feather on the petal as she leisurely, almost reverently scoops a wad of pollen in hand and brings it to her face. The taste, the scent, it’s effect on her is as obvious as it is immediate as she looks between the offering and the woman.

“We… We shall consider your offer…”

“Wonderful, now show me where you live, so I can build a fence around it.”

Still, a bit addled by the flower garden, the bee puts up little fight in commanding the snake woman toward the south, her mind turning away on schemes far grander than her puny size would likely allow in her lifetime as she enjoys the air flowing past her antennae.

{“Is what she says true?”}

> Write-in

>>1017099
Yes, so long as you don't sting my liege's offspring. She's a good child, and if your hive can be friends with her as well, that would be lovely.

In fact, if you would like, we could talk about inviting your hive over to her home. It'd be harder for Okku to sneak into your hive, for one thing, and our liege does an excellent job at keeping the garden well tended. She doesn't have too many visitors who're interested in gardening, although there are a few farmers that are nearby.

>>1017099
This is win/win for everyone who's not trapped in a barrel right now
Even after due restitution has been given, I'm sure she'd be happy to trade access to the garden for some reasonable amount of honey and wax.

>>1017099
Yes, the Baroness' word can be counted upon.

>>1017099
She tells the truth about the bear. She would, I imagine, be amenable to further cooperation, provided it isn't a detriment to her daughter, her retainers, and herself, in such an order.

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>>1017458
>>1017373
>>1017276
>>1017238
>>1017099

{“I do not believe living in the same home as our enemy would be wise. As for the child, it will prove difficult if she cannot even speak our tongue, but as yet, we have no reason to bear her ill will.”}

Along the way, she shares a scant few other details about the rest of her home, of how she is the eldest of five sisters that were all queen’s in waiting beneath the tutelage of their mother. She also tells tales of the Great Hive and its many lower class workers, not to mention their fiefs and lesser homesteads that all paid fealty to the great queen, herself.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mama remarks as all of the instructions she’d been given combine to place her back in that familiar clearing.

A plateau of rock sits over a small cave, the blackened roots of a scorched tree rising defiantly from that mound with petrified branches still reaching for the sky. The former den of the demon bear lies empty now, but the tree above it now hums with activity, seemingly a thousand industrious bees turning away tirelessly at filling its insides and every eve with honeycomb.

{“When the Great Beast departed, we knew most animals would not dare draw near. And so, on that gambit we built high and fast and soon reaped the benefit of our success.”}

“At least you aren’t far from my home,” Mama remarks. “In all likelihood, I can have a group of fence builders in tomorrow to wall off this area against further intrusions.”

{“Exzzzellent!”}

“I can also see if Agatha has any spare box hives I could pay her for.”

{“What is this box hive of which she speaks?”}

> Write-in

>>1017528
It's a hive inside a cube of fence, so the hive inside is safe.

>>1017528
A human-built protective enclosure for a hive.
What it lacks in expandability, it makes up for in being enclosed and protected from the elements.

>>1017528
Hold on, consulting the Oracle.

...
......
.........

It's exactly what it sounds like, a hive inside of a box with holes such that bees can enter and leave freely but predators (like a certain young bear) can't get in without going to a lot of trouble smashing open the box protecting it.

>>1017528
Essentially, its a hive inside of a box. It should keep hungry animals away from you and your family, as well as keep the hive safe from the elements. If you would like, we can have our friend Yesh figure out which plants can help you deter predators.

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>>1017582
>>1017580
>>1017579
>>1017554
>>1017528

{“You mean the things that human farmers use to store their chattel?”} she balks. {“Do you plan to make us your slaves?!”}

You can feel the scorn, the deep-seated contempt she holds for her brethren that live under human thumb, but with a bit more convincing and explanation from the voices, including images of bees caught out in the middle of a rainstorm, she finally seems to relent.

{“Very well. We will accept your ‘gift’. Now allow me to speak to my kin before they mark you as an intruder.”}

With that, the would-be monarch alights from Cassandra’s hand and makes her way to the tree, ducking within the dark recesses for a few, long moments before emerging with five more, similar creatures in toe. However, they are notably less ready to approach the comparatively titanic interloper as the one returns triumphantly to Cassandra’s outstretched palm.

{“After due consideration, we will accept your generous reparations. May they mark an end to any further hostilities between our people.”}

“Wonderful. I’ll have the workers out tomorrow, and I expect they won’t be harassed in their efforts.”

“So long as they remember their place, they will leave unharmed.”

The voices translate that, and upon hearing it, Mama gives the little bee a look that could freeze hell over twice.

“I-I m-mean yes, ma’am! We’ll be good! I’m Brienne, by the way!”

With that settled, the young bee girl seems all too happy to zip away back to her hive, waving along with the others as Cassandra moves to leave.

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>>1017688

From there, the way back home is short, dusk settling over the world as Cassandra whips her tired muscle and bone to make this one last journey. No doubt, that tussle with the oni was going to leave bruises all over, and she was going to have to find some way to hide all of those from Cici. For now, though, a hot bath sounded like the best possible reward for a long day’s work. Dinner could wait.

Fortunately, it seems that her resident, adoptive daughter might have already seen to those details for her, her smile wide as she presents a wonderful smelling bag for Cassandra’s appraisal.

“Someone gave me a bonus while I was out on delivery!” she explains happily and as the gorgon sees Cici already happily munching on what looks like a roll stuffed with meat in the background, she can’t help but smile. A quick bite first wouldn’t kill her.

However, no matter how delicious the dinner was or how brilliant the smile of her daughters, the bath was her real dessert, the warm water washing over her like a wave of relaxation as she lets all the day’s stress just melt away.

“So what’d you do today?” Vivi asks, groaning as she stretches out her own muscles from a long day of flying.

“Oh, nothing much,” Cassandra assures her, and it’s only then that she seems to remember that she’s still wearing the bracelet.

[“Time to give this back.”]

However, as she fumbles to undo the laces, you have time for a few last words.

> Write-in

>>1017696
I think this was a productive day, Baroness. Although, if you are to be handling the barony's tactical problems yourself, perhaps a visit to the treasury and the commissioning of armor, weapons, and magical accessories is in order?

>>1017696
Make sure you rub some medication in those stings.

Also, don't pay any mind to what that oni said earlier. Lots of women your age would be quite envious of your figure, especially for being a mother.

>>1017715
Yes, Baroness. Commissioning a Jack of Plates or something quick to don would be wise.

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>>1017814
>>1017762
>>1017715
>>1017696

[“Ugh. That word.”]

Cassandra honestly had no idea what she was supposed to be at this point. The way Lee had explained it to her was that they just up and gave her a huge chunk of land, parts of which just happened to have people living on them: three entire villages worth and far more woodlands besides.

In theory, she could collect taxes on them. In theory, she should collect taxes to build a treasury and an armory and a capital building for her estate so that eventually she could become a baroness in more than name, but… but…

A number of terrible words and insults, partly aimed against the very concept of landed aristocracy and partly aimed against a certain skeletal bard who turned her life into this complicated fiasco try to fight their way to the forefront of the woman’s mind, but somehow, she holds herself back.

All she had wanted was a roof above her head for the winter. That’s how this whole mess had started. She just wanted a place where she could keep Cici safe and be alone with her grief for a time, and now they wanted her to be some kind of blue-blooded aristocrat governing a territory.

She was just a guard turned adventurer turned refugee, not a politician. And all she really wanted out of life right now was to be a better mother than she honestly thought she was capable of to her daughter.

She didn’t want the land. She didn't want the responsibility. She didn’t want any of it, and as all of that stress bubbles to the surface, she realizes that she is far too close to crying in front of her girls.

> Write-in

>>1017854
De!
Le!
Ga!
Te!

>>1017854
This is parenting.
You've been saddled with responsibility, and now you have to consider things more than just yourself and the next few weeks.

Also, you're supposed to hire people to manage stuff for you; that's the advantage of being a noble. Surely some of your old traveling companions have contacts and people they can refer as administrators, clerks, and managers?

>>1017854
Cassandra: I know that this is more than you want, but these predators will continue to menace the soft and the innocent if someone does not step up. You have the option of ignoring and keeping to yours. Were you to carefully delegate matters, you can keep away from the most troublesome matters of state craft. My fear is that if you do not take the helm, a threat may come along, metastasize, and overpower you, to your daughters' detriment. I hope that I am wrong.

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>>1018022
>>1017878
>>1017858
>>1017854

[“That’s honestly my biggest fear. There’s just so much wrong in the world, so many people that would hurt her without even stopping to think about it. If I stay as a baroness, if I leave that title to her when she’s older, maybe she can live a better life.”]

Or maybe not. Behind that façade of maternal tranquility, the voices can hear it all, all of the nagging doubts and misgivings that she struggles against every single day.

“Mama?” Cici asks, looking up to her mother with those pure, innocent eyes. “Mama, what’s wrong?”

And at least for now, that makes everything a little easier.

“Nothing sweetling,” she promises, hugging the small girl gently to her side. “Nothing at all.”

She’d build an army if she had to. With weapons or with words, she’d find a way to make this all work out. And maybe, just maybe she’d be able to leave a better world for her daughter when it was all over. That was her duty, after all, her burden, her joy, and her privilege to this child she and her husband had brought into the world.

“Here you go,” Mama says, handing Cici back the bracer. “I’m sure they’ve missed you terribly.”

[“I missed you guys too.”]

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>>1018122

And that's where we will end it for one week folks. I hesitate to make promises next week, as I'm starting back to school, but I hope you guys had fun. The quest is up in the archive, if you've a mind to vote it up. Otherwise, I'll see you next time.

>>1018126
See you next time, bananon.

cute quest as always!

>>1018126
Thanks, Bananon

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>>1018766
>>1018217
>>1018156

I appreciate all of you guys, just so you know. For those starting back to school and work, especially, wishing you the best.

>>1024204
We love you bananon