(game fact post)
I changed up the stat system to make it simpler to use (good idea, that guy who proposed so last thread). I'm gonna try and make it a simple bo3 1d100 system, where a modifier is added to the roll corresponding to what kind of trial you are facing. Should also make the system at bit easier to understand.

On that note: Magical gear explanation. If a weapon is +2 (like the upgrade Tina's getting), it will give a +6 bonus to rolls for hitting and damaging. Same goes for pretty much any type of gear. +3 to the roll for every +1 enchantment the gear has got. It's probably a bit confusing, but I can't think of another way to phrase it off the top of my head.

Also, to the dude (Kash, I believe?) who asked for a map, or at least a draft of one: I haven't forgotten, I just haven't gotten around to actually do it yet.

Also, here is the link to previous thread (yay, quest didn't die after first thread): http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2950382/

>>2994667
Sup man

File: Ring of Protection.jpg (14 KB, 330x305)

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Another day, another night
You take a look at the magical ring you've bought, the decorative sapphire in it alone shows off the opulence of its owner. And to the discerning eye, a faint blue halo reveals itself when the sapphire catches the sunlight, supposedly a telltale sign of enchanted sapphires. A lot of enchantments use various gemstones as focus objects, allegedly.

As you survey the surface of the entrancing mineral, your thoughts drift to the other one you bought. Fetching it with your offhand, you hold it adjecently to the one you're wearing. This other one, a thoughtful gift to your dear friend, is adorned with a bright green emerald, but their shapes as well as the rings they are set in are identical. You can't decide if it makes you happy because your dear friend & ally will be safer, or if it's because a luxurious gift like this is bound to delight her. But it does bring a smile to your face.

...

After a few hours of strolling through the streets, examining the city, you meet up with Tina at the tavern, 'the Fox & the Harp'. You sit down at a table, and talk about what you've bought, and how much you have left.

She tells you that she has gotten some pillows for various comfort uses, arrows, quilts (again, comfort), and some rations for travelling. When you ask about the quilts and pillows with an inquisitive expression, she responds with a short laugh, and says "I thought it'd be cozy, y'know? Like when we had that campfire going, that was sooo NICE! And I thought.. if we had had actual quilts and stuff it'd have been even better. Plus, they'll make travelling in the wagon way more comfortable as well!"

(cont.)

>>2994669
(Oh hey, a returning customer! Man, you're quick)

"Speaking of comfortable", you direct the conversation, "if you're gonna be swinging a sword around, a dress is probably a bad choice for clothing". She laughs at that, and puts on an act like a snobby noble and says "Oh come now, wouldn't that just be an EXQUISITE sight, a lady simply can't demean herself by skimping on her attire after all!", at that last part she makes an extravagant curtsy while swinging an imaginary rapier with one hand. But then she adds "hahaha, yeahhh-no, you're right, we should buy some proper travelling clothes. Probably for both of us - it's not that the dress doesn't suit you, but for travel..?". And you agree to that, new clothes for the both of you it is.

After some more talking, you decide to tell her what you bought. When you tell her how much you spent on books, Tina gives you a look of 'what? why?', and you tell her some of what they can potentially be used for. She gets the gist of it, but it's clear she don't know a lot about magic.

You also tell Tina that if you're gonna do more combat (and you really think you will), then you'll need some gear upgrades. And so, you give her the emerald ring you bought at the Draconian's shop, and tell her it will help her defend against a measure of physical as well as magical attacks. You also show her that you got one for yourself as well. She puts on the ring with an honest smile, and says "aww, thanks Alice, that's so nice of you!", and then holds her hand in front of her, eyeing the jewelry, and then says "and look at that, we are even matching! That's so wonderful!"

(cont.)

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After that, you go to an equipment shop. You are greeted by an old bearded Human shopkeeper, whose eyes you can barely see beyond his almost closed eyeslids. Looking around, you ask him about enchanting some gear you've got. "mmmhm, oh yes, young miss, we do indeed offer that service here, yes we do. Often we do that, hmm-hmm".

Tina then says "grand, then how much for these two?" she asks, and then hands over her longsword as well as her chainshirt.
"Mmhmhm, well now missy, that depends on you, it does, yes, hmm. How powerful magics do you want on it, then, mmhhm? For every level of enchantment on it, the price is 50 gold coins, yes it is."

You and Tina both look at what you've got, and discuss the matter for a minute or two, before settling on +2 for both the weapon and the armour, using up most of your leftover money. You figure you can just hunt some more bandits or something anyway, there's probably still a lot of them around. And you don't wanna lose your friend again, so good equipment is paramount.

(cont.)

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You decide to get a new weapon while you're here. An actual combat scythe this time around, not a farming tool. Hopefully this one is more durable than the last. And sticking to a scythe just seems kind of fitting. When you get stronger, maybe you could even attach a chain to the end of it? That might give you some combat flexibility. You're not the toughest nail around, but your strength has reached a respectable level after your 'rebirth', and with each level you've gained, you have felt a small surge in strength as well.
You ask what the red part of the scythe is for, and he explains that it is for holding a very basic level of enchantment, that makes the weapon more durable. You figure it can't be all that powerful of an enchantment, since the weapon is hardly any more expensive than any other weapon.

(cont.)

File: Traveller's clothing.jpg (105 KB, 500x716)

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After you've paid the weird old geezer, you exit his shop and go to browse shops to buy some clothes. It takes you the better part of an hour, browsing and chatting with your friend, until you find some proper outdoor clothing. You both decide to go for some simple pants, a cloth blouse with a belt, and a hooded robe as the outer layer. You could probably both benefit from hiding your looks. Although... That reminds you...

You pull Tina away from the shop once you've purchased, and ask her "hey, uh, did you have any trouble hiding your... you know", you then look around, and when you're sure no one is looking, you part your lips and point to your canines".

She goes paler than usual, and wide eyed. She then hold her hands on front of her mouth to cover it.

...

"oooohh shoot, I completely forgot about that! Do you think someone noticed?! Should we get out of town now?! Oh I'm so sorry Alice.. I just, I forgot, somehow.."
...
She at least has the decency to be embarrassed and panick a little about it.

What should you do? You've just paid 200 gold coins to get gear enchanted, the old man said the gear wouldn't be ready before the day after tomorrow...

>Stay, hope for the best
>Leave the city immediately
>Something else (specify)

>>2994690
>Leave the city immediately
Before we leave check if they have any bpunties on the notice board, we need more money before going to the big city. If thwy don't just leave

>>2994690
>>Leave the city immediately

"don't worry dear, we have nothing else to do here anyway, don't be upset, I like how they look"

did we have any leads on profitable things to do around the area?

File: Tina, Dhampir.png (319 KB, 485x750)

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It feels wasteful to not get anything for the 200 gold coins you just spent, but if that's what it takes to play it safe, maybe it's for the best. There's no telling if someone saw Tina's fangs, and while it doesn't seem like it's directly illegal to be a Dhampir, there may be some extremists who would decide to do something bad anyway. You personally know very well how poorly some people handle it when someone stands out in any way...

You give your friendly bloodsucker a faint smile, pat her head, and then say "don't worry dear, we have nothing else to do here anyway. Don't be upset about it either, we were soon leaving anyway. Besides, I like how they look".

She calms down at that, but still gives you an apologetic look.
She then says "..really? I figured they'd make you uncomfortable.. But thanks. And thanks for being so cool about this - I promise I'll be more careful next time".

You shrug as you pull your hand back from patting her head. It feels a little funny, patting her head, but being shorter than her. You think it must look funny too.

You then say "pointy teeth and pointy ears, it suits you in a way". She perks up some at that remark.

Now then... What should you do before you leave? You figure if someone noticed her teeth, and decided to do something violent to either of you, they'd probably plan it out first. Maybe. Anyway, you should at least be able to fetch your wagon. But what else should you do, before you leave?

>Look up possible bounties, and possibly similar ways to earn a quick coin. Then go get the wagon, and check in at the equipment shop, ask if it's possible to get the money back since you won't stay long enough to get the equipment.
>Get the wagon, and check in at the equipment shop, ask if it's possible to get the money back since you won't stay long enough to get the equipment.
>Get wagon, just live at once.

>>2994828

>Look up possible bounties, and possibly similar ways to earn a quick coin. Then go get the wagon, and check in at the equipment shop, ask if it's possible to get the money back since you won't stay long enough to get the equipment.
If they try anything we can take them, but let's be close to each other for safety

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>>2994828
>>Look up possible bounties, and possibly similar ways to earn a quick coin. Then go get the wagon, and check in at the equipment shop, ask if it's possible to get the money back since you won't stay long enough to get the equipment.

Ur next Scrub

>>2994914
+1

>>2994980
>>2994983
(nice to see some familiar people. Writing)

Right, gonna need me a best of three 1d100+7

(if not enough ppl roll quickly enough, I'll just take what I can get)

Rolled 34 + 7 (1d100 + 7)

>>2995062
wew

Rolled 3 + 7 (1d100 + 7)

>>2995062

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>2995062

Persuasion roll: dc 40 partial refund, dc 60 partial refund, dc 75 full refund
(nice save Kash, good thing I haven't decided on crit rules yet)

As much as you don't want to face any unnecessary risks, you still feel you have a few important tasks to perform before bidding Wyvern's Bazar adieu. But just to be safe, you stay in one group for the rest of your shortened stay. Well, except for Fodder #1, who's still guarding the wagon.

Deciding to go for the easiest task first, you head back to the equipment shop, which you never really caught the name of. Then again, it may be safer if you don't come back here again for a while, so who cares. Plenty of big cities out there.

You arrive at said shop, and approach the old geezer, and say "hi. So, me and my friend here were here earlier today, about having a longsword and chainshirt enchanted with a tier 2 enchantment?

"Mmh-mmh, yes, I remember, that I do"

"Well, the thing is, due to certain circumstances we gotta leave the city earlier than we expected, so uh.. Can we maybe get our money & gear back?"

"Hmm-hmm-hmm..? A refund yes? We don't like to do those here, no we don't, no. Hmm, still, still, still, could make an exception here, yes. We have had our own problems, yes we did, so the enchanting process has been delayed, that is has. So yes, just a moment, please, yes."
The weird old man then exits the room through a doors behind the counter, and soon after he brings you not only your missing sword and armour, but your 200 gold pieces as well. What fortune. You had actually started to brace for the fact that you might not have gotten your money back.

(cont.)

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Once you leave the shop, Tina gives you another apologetic look, and mouths the word 'sorry', without actually saying it, and then says "that's a lot of money we just risked because of me, huh".

You can tell she isn't taking it that hard, probably since you already took it pretty cool so far, but still, you reassure her "yeah well, it was an accident, don't think too much about it. We'll probably make an even bigger amount of money in our future efforts anyway". You can tell she's thankful for your reassuring words.

On that note, you think about your options for actually making that kind of money. Killing those bandits and taking their stuff gave you a small fortune. Additionally, you've heard about bounties. And you also know that heroes usually are pretty well off, which is self explanatory, really, if they hunt bandits, you figure. But how to effectively approach any of these ventures? Ah, you do remember seeing a signboard near town square, maybe there's something there. And so, you set off through the paved inner streets of Wyvern's Bazar.

On your way there, a young Halfling girl approach you. She looks to be around 9 years old or so, and she's dressed simply in clothes of a quality that's common for, well, commoners. Other than that, she's carrying a sizeable basket with a dishtowel over it. She seems to be going around, selling buns. But now, she's heading for you, with a mesmerized expression.

(cont.)

File: kinda like so.jpg (11 KB, 244x231)

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"waaooouuww, why are your skin so dark miss? Are you like, a royal Elf or something? You're so prettyyy~"

Ah, you've experienced this before as well. For the most part, people shun you for your difference, and all the malign rumours floating around about Dark Elves. But occasionally, there's some (typically young) folks who are more fascinated by you, oftentimes they're just ignorant about the whole deal. It's a pleasant enough change of pace, but you never could get used to the attention of people without getting paranoid, since it's so often a bad attention.

Still, the girl seem honest enough, and you eventually end her bombardment of questions by buying a bun (they do smell good). 5 copper for a bun isn't bad either. You say goodbye to the young Halfling, and move on, nibbling on your still lukewarm bun. It's nothing special, but it's pretty good, and it has even got some spice in it.

Soon after you reach the center of town, and find the signboard. Looking over, you see a lot of practical information to the villagers. But there is one post that warns of some vicious bandits ravaging the roads between here and Almondhill. A city to the west of here, one or two days travels, you don't know exactly how far. The note doesn't say anything about the bandits, other than the fact that the road there is considered risky, and that a request has been sent to get it fixed as soon as possible.

Hmm. If someone's 'getting it fixed', that probably means someone is getting paid. Maybe you could dip into that? Arh, but it might be troublesome...

>Look for other possible ways to make money
>Look into some kind of detail about the bandits on the road to Almondhill (specify)
>Decide that that's enough info, and head out after fetching your wagon.

(I'm off for tonight, thanks for playing, however briefly it was. May write more tomorrow, if not, I'll make time for it the day after)

>>2995291
>Look into some kind of detail about the bandits on the road to Almondhill (specify)
Like what is the rate of banditry they're pulling, is it specific only hitting seemingly rich targets or is it just an everyone's fair game plan.
Also what has been the most consistent number of bandits at any given time during these attacks.

>>2995370
This, but ulrimately I think we should hunt them, if for nothing else to get their loot, it is preetty profitable.

>>2995370
>>2995436
agreed

>>2994690
>>Stay, hope for the best
We haven't done anything except spend loads of money. And ask in the inn about talk of monsters and things less known than bandits in a certain area or even areas avoided because of threats, rumors or haunted areas.

>Look into some kind of detail about the bandits on the road to Almondhill (specify)
This was originally a "talk to town guard" about this stuff.

>>2995486
Agreed.

>>2995291
>>2995370
This is fine, also ask that orc and the girl who was with him. They may have some information related to bandits (any group I mean).

And was me the one about the map, we're cool.

>>2996112
yeah, but let's not bring them along, the girl is a cleric and that can spell disaster if she sees our magic

>>2996570
we might need to find more companions in the long run, but we have to be very careful for obvious reasons

>>2995291
>>2995370
supporting

>Look into some kind of detail about the bandits on the road to Almondhill (specify)
try to find out if there were survivers and if there is information about the bandits numbers, from where they came and what their weapons were

might be a bit overkill, but if want to keep on doing this we need to get more professional/cautious before it bites us

(I'm back, and writing an update this moment)

If anyone's here, throw me some d100s +12 for a sense motive roll

Rolled 64 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2996894

The cost of preparedness - measued now in gold and knowledge, later in blood.

It's a strange thought. It's the safer option to just skip town, but you really haven't done anything illegal while you were here, at least you dont think so. You've spent a lot of money on their shops, and you have behaved well enough. But just because someone might have seen Tina's teeth, it'd be safer to leave. Because you stand out, because you're different. In a way, it has always been like that for you. Still, you won't let that keep you down.

You tell Tina about your plan to get some information, and you then head off to find a guard to talk to, since according to the barkeep Tina spoke to, bounties and such are handled through their office.

You find a couple of cityguards, a Halforc and a Human, and approach them.
"Excuse me, hi. I've been told that information on bandits and bounties are something I should speak to the guards about?" you ask.

The Halforc cocks his head as he regards your group.
"Sellswords, eh? Good on ya, keeping the roads safer", he says, as he gives you an approving nod. He then continues "well that is correct. S'matter of fact you should head to our headquarters to get tha proper 'nstructions". The Human beside him says nothing, but just nods in agreement.

You then answer "right, but I don't exactly know where that is, would you tell me which way it is?"

The Halforc guardsman then says "I can do ya one be'er, I'll show you where't is. Right this way", and then he motions for you to follow him as they both start walking away.

Five minutes later or so, you're in front of a sizeable building. It has an air of military about it, being made of large cobblestones, and having long banners hanging on each side of the entrance. The entrance seems to have a wooden portcullis that can be lowered.

Right after coming out of the first corridor inside, you enter a spacious room. It's pretty stylish too, with a large brown & green carpet in the middle, a few desks and counters, all made of wood that seems to have been treated with a nice, dark, smoky, wood stain. Here the Halforc tells you to adress the 'pretty lady at that desk over there', with a grin on his face.

(cont.)

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The older (about 40?) Kitsune woman in question gives him a reproachful stare, as he wasn't exactly discreet. You assume she's Kitsune related, as she's got the ears & eye colour from one. Furthermore, something about her face also seems to have a touch of being something else than human. Something about the eyes being a little more narrow and slanted, you think.

As you go to her desk with your friend and servants, she gives you a once over collectively, and end up looking at you, waiting for you to speak your mind.
You do so, and ask "hello, we're looking for information regarding the bandit trouble on the roads to Almondhill?"

The foxlike woman says "ahh, yes, that trouble. What do you want to know about them? Are you mercenaries perhaps?"

You're not sure what to answer, but end up saying "erhm, yes, something like that. I was wondering if there's a bounty on the bandits? And if you have any knowledge of their raids that'd be helpful as well"

She smirks a bit at that, and says "lovely. Well yes there is indeed a bounty on their heads". She then looks through a stack of paper to her side, and brings up one of them, "ah, here it is. Viscount Ragnar offers a reward of 10 gold coins per bandit head you bring back. And I mean literally bring the heads back here, just to be clear. Ah, and don't try cheating on the amount of heads unless you want a bounty on your own, as it will be investigated after the job is done. Oh, and you are free to keep any goods they might have, unless it is marked by a trader it can be returned to."

(cont.)

She then place the paper on the desk in front of her, and lean over a little, folding her hands in front of her chin, "now then, you asked about any knowledge we may have. First of all, I know of another group of heroes who plan on trying their hands at this. I don't know if they have left yet. But it's fair to assume that you could have some competition for this job. On the other hand, maybe you could help each other out? But it's up to you, we just want the bandits dead. The other group calls themselves 'Dawnbringers', and are a group of four: a Dwarf and a Human, both melee. An Elven archer, and finally a Tiefling mage. They seemed competent enough, but didn't strike me as veterans".

She goes on, explaining that "other than that, it is estimated that there are around 20 bandits active in the group. Maybe even 30. We strongly discourage any traders from going that direction currently, as more than half the traders going that way end up getting ambushed, and so far they haven't allowed a lot of people to escape either.. And as to who they attack? Well, mostly anyone it seems. There are several missing farmers, merchants and simple travellers"

You try to digest all this information, and ponder your best options here. Knowledge seems to be important after all. A thought springs to mind, and you ask her "by the way, you said there have been some survivors, right? Well, what did they say about how the lawless attacked them, and what weapons they used?"

She smirks again. What's so funny about all of this? She then pick up the paper and scans it. She then looks over to a young servant, human, probably around 15, and says "hey Natre, bring up Saroy will you". The lad does as he's asked, and the woman then looks to you again, "according to this document, they were armed with varying quality and types of equipment. One guy was clad in a fullplate armour, and seemed to be their leader, and his estoc think large/heavy variant rapier had a green sheen to it. Best to assume it's enchanted".

(cont.)

Not long after that recount, a young (20 or so?) Halfelf man walks up to the desk. The Kitsune woman then asks him about how the bandits attacked the ones who managed to escape the ordeal. He salutes, and turns to your group, and says "hello sirs and ladies! From the information I gathered from the few escapees there were, it's safe to assume that the go-to strategy of the bandits is to use the terrain to hide themselves long enough to get close to the travellers, and then get the jump on them! So far, from what I've been told, the ruffians have got two strategies: One! To lay out some cleverly disguised roped to make escape difficult, and then charge. And two! To surround the innocent travellers through either trees, bushes or grassy terrain! That is all!", and only then, he assumes a more relaxed posture.

Oddly energetic, that one. The Kitsune woman thanks him for the info, and he then leaves. She then turns to you, and say "well there you have it. That's all the info we have on these lowlives. If you wanna check with the other group, if they are still here, they were staying at 'The Fox & The Harp'. That's actually my sister's place". And only then do you notice a fluffy fox tail oscillate twice behind her. You've seen Kitsune before, and know they have the ability to hide their fox parts, so that's probably why you didn't see the tail before.

Thanking the Kitsune for her help, you leave the building. Outside, you think that while you're here, you might as well see if you can hear some rumours about local points of interest. And where better to do that, than at a tavern? And so, you set out for 'The Fox & The Harp', where your wagon still is.

(cont.)

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And as you tread these prominent streets you steal a curious glance at Tina from time to time, as you wonder how she is. She doesn't seem to be in a bad mood, maybe a little anxious. But you see something else in her visage. She isn't exactly rushing ahead, just walking the same pace as you. But there's an eagerness in her step, and you swear you can almost feel your thoughts resonate the words hunger, and danger. You know, at an animalistic level, that you are not in danger, that you are not her prey. But that same base instinct also tells you that someone is. You feel a hunt building in her, slowly, steadily. Whenever she establish eye contact with someone, that danger disappears swiftly, like a spider into its lair. And instead, a regular smile adorns her face. Same thing when she notices that you stare at her.

"What? Why are you staring like that!" she says with a tone that's a mix between accusing and amused. You don't think she knows what you saw in her look, and you're not even sure she noticed it herself. For now, you just smile and shake your head, saying "it's nothing".

...

Back inside the taproom, a nice warm atmosphere greets you, as the 15 or so patrons here chats merrily, and a soft harp music is played in the background. The male Halfelf who played the harp last night isn't actually at the harp, it seems to be playing on its own by magical means right now. Strange, but neat. You then head right up to the barkeep, the same woman who welcomed you here the first time. Given that it's not all that crowded right now, she heads over to you as soon as you reach the counter.

(cont.)

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"Welcome back my dear guests", she says, "how may I serve you this fine afternoon?"

"Hello", you answer her, "I was wondering if you had any knowledge about the local area. Rumours, perhaps. I'm thinking anything about monsters, threats to avoid, haunted areas, that kind of thing"

At first she doesn't seem to understand where the conversation is headed, but as you finish asking, she answers quickly enough, and tells you that "I haven't really listened too much to that gossip about places being haunted or such. But one place that i do know to stay away from, if you're travellers, is in the ruins southeast of here, of the old castle.. what was it called.. Ahh I don't remember the name, but yeah, most folks know better than to get near there, supposed to be a group of bullmen living there, dangerous kinds of beasts, aggressive. What were they called again.. Mina toris?".

She also says "if you're headed north, be mindful of the swamps up there, lots of nasty beings live there, some savage Lizard people for example. Now I know that not all Lizardmen are mean monsters, but there are plenty of vile rumours floating around about them, and where there's smoke there's fire, right?"

Additionally, she says that "on the other hand, if you plan on going south, to Oaksberg, don't stray too much to your right, there's an old temple there, and word is it's haunted. Well it's always smartest to just stick to the roads, really. Speaking of haunted, if you ever find yourself in Tradesports, I heard there's a famous curse on the island that's about an hour or so away from the shore". Ah, yeah you actually heard about that last one yourself. It's a pretty old rumour though, you think it may have been around for longer than you have. Likely just dangerous waters.

Other than that, she tells you about the bandit problem that you already know of.

Now then, what should your next step be...?

(small map update, to clarify some of the directions and stuff)

>Go search for the bandits
>Look for that other group the Kitsune mentioned
>Follow up on one of the rumours
>Something else (specify)

>>2996996

wow big update and thank you for the map

so, i assume that the roads in the east are the point where the bandits made their appearances?

>>2997010
nvm, i just reread an earlier post

>>2996996
Before anything else, pull Tina aside privatly.

"Are you hungry? We can try to find some animals, we got the money back so it won't be difficult."

After we deal with that I say we scout the other group first, sit near them and listem to their conversation , if they don't seem to be the "smite them all" tipe we approach them and propose we work together, if they are fishy we nust hunt the bandits alone

>>2997035
we haven't confronted/explained her new "life" to her right?

We can't keep that a secret forever, we might have to tell her now, to explain what we saw about her predatory gaze

>>2997038
I think she is fully aware that she need blood to survive, we'll just have to deal with that someway

>>2997035
support

" I wish I could give you my blood.....but apparently I taste bad!" false indignation.

hey, can we try something? let her have a sipof our blood while we infuse it with the same negative energy that healed her before, maybe it won't be a substitute but something to use in case of emergency.

>>2997041
it is one thing to know it by instinct, it is another to know what it would mean for her and her loss of control

>>2996996
>>Follow up on one of the rumours
Seems juicy enough.

>>2997085
which rumor?

>>2997105
The Castle one, is pretty close to us and we can go back to the roads to see how the other team has done with those bandits. My guess they will pretty much be wiped out.

>>2997109
I would prefer to go for the bandits, I don't know if we are strong enough to face a band of minotaurs, Tina doesn't even have a class yet

>>2997117
You do have a point. So yeah, actually the castle can wait, though if we meet the other group we shouldn't show ourselves, we're controversial after all.

>>2997128
it is not as bad as long as we have the King passive up.

sleeping in a camp with them could be bad or even a fight with them could freak them the fuck out and i don't think we are strong enough to beat a group of adventurers

You want to ask the barkeep some more questions, but first, you wanna make sure Tina doesn't do anything hasty. Thus, you thank the barkeep, and tell her you'll be back later. You then go outside, and into a nearby alley with Tina, and have Nar and four arms make sure no one comes in while you talk.

Tina looks at you with a confused look, and you say "look, I wanted to talk to you about your condition". There is a pause where neither of you say anything. You continue, and say "..are you hungry? You seem hungry, and it's not like we can't just buy an animal or something, you know"

She seems to contemplate that a bit, and says "well, I guess I am. More thirsty than hungry actually.. or maybe an itch? I don't know, it's a weird feeling, but not a bad one.. But yeah now that you mention it, my thoughts have been drifting toward my next meal a lot today. Hah, guess you know me better than I do!"

You smile a little at that, and then start faking an increasing indignation, as you say "well I would offer you some of mine, but apparently I taste bad..!", and you make sure to look away to emphasize on that displeased look.

It seems she's fallen for it, as she says "awww, come now Alice it's not like that! you know you're everything to me! I hardly even remember the taste, it probably wasn't even all that bad, I think I was just surprised or something! Hey, look at me!"

When you don't respond within the first few seconds, she grabs you into a bear hug, and says "hey come on now, don't be mad at me, Alice. Aliiiceee! I'm not gonna let go of you until you say you love me!"

>Admit it was just to see her reaction
>Keep up the feigned indignation a little longer
>Something else (specify)

>>2997200

>Admit it was just to see her reaction
boop her nose

>>2997200
>>Something else (specify)
Tell her we wont forgive her, wait until she say a "come on" or something, then show up a try-to-be tsundere and tell her we love her or something.

You decide to hold it for just a few moments more, and say "it's not that easy to just forgive".

It works as intended, as she pats your head in a loving manner, and say "oh come on Alice, please-please-please-pleeeaase!"

You finally relent, saying "arhhh~ fine fine, I just wanted to see your reaction, I can't keep this charade up for very long. I'm not mad at you at all". You smile at the end, and boop her nose with a finger.

That just seems to give her more energy, as she hugs you with renewed vigour, and even nuzzles the side of her head against you "aha, you do love me! I knew it!"

It's not like it's not nice, but still, enough of that. "alright, I admitted it, now let get of me you brute, you're crushing me!"

"Mm-mh", she rejects, "now it's your turn, I won't let go until you admit you love me, you adorable little doll you!"

Ah, once again, you are confronted with the boss battle that is talking about feelings, and even saying something like that out loud. But knowing her, she won't let go until you do it.

Okay, 'I can do this', you think, "I-.. I-love-you.." you end up saying, in a smaller voice than you had intended. But it seems to have been enough for her to hear you, as she releases her bear hug.

You take a deep breath (more as a habit or reflex really, don't actually need to breathe). You then clear your throat, and conveniently change the subject, "anyway, it really is an issue we need to consider, your new thirst. According to what I read, a Dhampir like you need to drink blood about once a week, but I'm not sure how much you need.."

She shrugs at that, and then says "iunno, but yeah buying an animal is probably the easiest way to get blood. I don't like the thought of it much though, it seems... dirty? Like, most animals aren't exactly clean. But I guess it's better than nothing, the taste should still be fine".

>Add something else to the conversation about Dhampirs or the like (specify)
>Move on, investigate that other group, if they are still in town
>Something else (specify)

(by the by, it isn't yet clear to Alice how powerful heroes actually are. It's obviously very level dependant, but this is actually her first real brush with what those people can do, if you manage to find this other group)

>>2997260
Kiss her on the cheeck. And a long hug and say we'll find something good for her.

Propose this temporary solution >>2997044

Then we search those heroes and ask about their plans

>>2997260
you tease! damn, I wasn't here to write in on the previous option, hehe, I'll jump that elf kek]

>>2997300
+1

Let's talk with the heroes, see how they are and then decide if we try to reach the bandits first or if we help each other, while there pretend Tina and us are together so they don't try anything funny,

>>2997344
I wanna make sure a majority of people wanna go that route before committing to it, which is also why im postponing and update, given what the last two votes were for. Its not that im against the choice, i just want to give people time to see it and react to it

>>2997300
Supporting, Maybe we can buy a juicy steak at the inn. And next finish our talk with the woman, the hour is night to attack!

(aight, im gonna say that this is it for tonight, and i'll try and see if i can make time for writing more tomorrow. should be possible. if there's any question regarding mostly anything about the quest so far, feel free to ask away. or feedback, for that matter)

File: Heads or Tails.jpg (410 KB, 836x600)

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As a little bonus piece of lore:
Among Black Elves, the process of naming children follows a strict set of rules, so that every child is named according to movement of a divine energy. It is commonly believed in their culture that the name signifies an important aspect of one's life.
In the case of Alice / Iym-mol'fryn, one of the interpretations of her name is something along the lines of 'Champion of an Endless Storm'. Alice firmly believed for the better part of her life, that this was because she was bound to have a trying and harsh life filled with prejudice that she had to weather.

>>2997400
I don't mind it at all

Thanks for running.

>>2997523
Damn, poor Alice

>>2997400
Oh, no worries dude, I agree with the sentiment, this quest has been the confyest around, no no rush on my part

>>2997260
>>2997300
Supporting, but changing the thing about the heroes. I'm against it for now, kinda we're moving too forward considering that we want a peaceful life traveling (and maybe settling down). In other words, is out of character (that's what I believe at least).
Now we can buy a juicy steak at the inn. And next finish our talk with the woman, the hour is night to attack!

>>2997523
and how about other Dark Elves, are there settlements or regions where they come from? are they evil that make people distrust even those outside of it?
and Tina's name, is there a meaning like ours?

>>2997577
Thank you for participating, as well. Luckily for Alice, her life looks a lot brighter these days!

>>2997650
I'm glad you're giving this some thought. As for what Alice wants, I'll let that be mostly up to you guys, and I can see what you mean by things moving very much forward compared to Alice's life up until now.
>And next finish our talk with the woman, the hour is night to attack!
Could you elaborate which woman you mean? Also, the last part, does that mean you intend to go find the bandits soon?

>>2997655
Yes, there are several places where mostly only their races live. I actually use Dark Elves as an umbrella term for two variant races: the Black Elves, and the Drow. Most people in-game won't know the difference, but there are some.
As for their alignment? Well, Alice don't know of any, other than her nearest family. But yeah, both Drow and Black Elves can be some vicious mofos, few races hold a grudge like them. I won't go much into depth with it, but as a rule of thumb: Drow are sadistic, and Black Elves are just plain evil. But both are just tendencies, and no one is truly bound by their blood to act in a certain way.
Tina's name, Aurúthiel? I honestly haven't decided yet. So far I'm thinking that yes, there is something akin to the Dark Elven naming practices, but not the exact same, seeing as the divine energies the Dark Elves interpret from are inherently malevolent, but not a lot of people know that.

>>2997035
We have 3 horses and a few mouthfulls wouldn't do them serious damage and would make a good test.
Also check with Nar - how is his hunger? It is easy and expected of Gnolls to eat big chunks of raw meat - we can buy that.

>>2997344
Sniff out the heros and see what they are like.

>>2996996
Seems the best choice priority on next mission:
1) bandits - Plan: If we work with the 4 adventurers - put some on the wagon. Have 4 arms and the other zombie covered in sackcloth as Goods, with instructions to guard the wagon. We flank the road and wagon with a few people on each side. If just us - Nar and Fodder in wagon with 4 arms, Tina and us flanking off the trail ( but better with the adventurers against 20-30 Bandits).
2) Temple south and west of Oaksberg
3) Swamps up north
4) Ruined Castle w Mina Toris ;)

Ask the bar keep about the adventurers and slip her a few gold for her help - +/- any meat for Nar.

>>2997650
second thought about being sneaky: follow the adventurers far enough back that we can keep tabs on them, but using the wagon & flank plan above (just in case). Then we can come to rescue them or follow the bandits to their camp. ( side thought: The bandits may have someone in town who informs them when a rich target is going to travel the road. We can then go "shopping" and make a big deal about 4 arms delivering Fodder in a barrel or box to the wagon. ":Take it easy with that! It's valuable!"- but we would need to work with adventurers because the informant would know we are a party of 4, so the extra 4 and the undead are surprise points).

>>2997690
>Could you elaborate which woman you mean? Also, the last part, does that mean you intend to go find the bandits soon?
The bartender, we told her we will back, so we should ask about the other group, they lodged there. And yes, but without encounter the other group, if we see them we better hide and evaluate, but personally I prefer if they die so we can take their bodies.

>>2998070
Pretty sure this guy has seen some shit.

Especially about the informant, that is very reasonable.

>>2998070
i like that plan and it could work well with a chest to put fodder into

also if i remember correctly we bought the negative energy gem, right?

we should do our best to fill it up before we leave

>>2998070

ok, some things to do then

1 test our blood with neg energy as a temporary substitute
2 give the dog some raw meat as food
3 talk with the adventurers to see how they are, then we decide if we go with them or just follow them and rescue(if they are worth of rescue)

I mean, they have a Tiefling, they can't be TOO bad.

>>2998570
>>2998070
>>2998501

Agreed

we can do the experiment later when we are alone going to sleep.

When we talk to the heroes pretend we are a couple so they don't try anything, and we are not seen as adventurers, just traveling merchants, that way we can gauge their personalities.


Also, that bandit group is probably those unemployed mercenaries that the gnoll's girlfriend is part of, hope we can avoid killing her, or if we do, bring her back.

...

You replay what just happened in your head, before you changed the subject. You truly do appreciate her company, more than you can properly convey with words. You've never been an eloquent speaker, and you're not an expert at putting your thoughts into words. But you feel you have to let her know, even if you can't properly phrase it. And so, you stand on your toes, and give her a peck on the cheek, and give her a long, sincere, hug. For a moment you just stand there, and then you say "don't worry, I'll find you something good to drink. I want to test something with my blood later for you to try". She nuzzles her cheek against the top of your head, and return the embrace tightly, with a happy sound that's a mix of a squee and a 'd'awww'.

A small minute or so pass before you decide to let go. You clear your throat again, and sheepishly say "we should.. get going"

As you recover mentally, you decide to go inside the tavern again, and look for that group of heroes. You know their races, but you don't know who they are. But the barkeep should know.

You head up to the counter again, and take a seat, "so, barkeep, I got another question". She walks over, places a forearm on the desk, and says "sure thing dear. Don't s'pose you'd want to order something this time around as well?".

Thinking about, you figure this is probably the proper way to do things, so you ask her "uh, sure.. do you have something without alcohol in it?"

She straightens her posture back up and beams, "sure do darling, I got some mixed fruitjuice if you want. Now it's usually served with a generous amount of firewine in it, but it tastes just fine without it too, only two and a half silver".

You agree, and pay her the money. And shortly after, you're served an exotic looking glass of semi thick juice of various colours. It's pretty good honestly, tastes sweet. After you've sipped it, you feel less guilty for just using her time with questions, and proceed with another "so, I've heard of four heroes, 'Dawnbringers' I've been told they're called as a group. Supposedly they're staying here?"

(cont.)

She looks a bit skeptical at you at that, and asks "wellll, that depends a whole lot. If you're looking for trouble of some kind in my inn, the answer's no. Are ya?"

That... surprises you some, you've never thought you looked like a threat to anyone.
"Erh, no? I don't hope so? I mean, I just wanna talk to them, honestly, about a job with some outlaws".

At that her mood visibly brightens up again, "oh I see, all that stuff, yeah I heard them talk plenty about it. Sure thing hon', they're staying here. If you wanna talk to them their room number is 35, go on right ahead upstairs, they should be in their room, unless they left through the window. Hah, you never know with these hero types".

Hmm, troubling. You kinda wanted to get a read on them before talking to them. Maybe if you ask the barkeep a few questions about them. But before that, you say "ah, right, I was actually thinking about getting something to eat as well". You then look to your Gnoll servant, and ask "are you getting hungry as well?"
He answers "uh, yeah, I could go for a bite".

You then face the barkeep again and say "I'd like to order something to eat then. A tasty steak for me, if you have it, and one for the Gnoll. Ah, but you don't need to prepeare his. Raw is fine". She gives Nar a bit of a look at that, a subtle 'ew, really?'-look. But you know that it isn't unusual for Gnolls to eat raw meat, so it shouldn't be too strange.
She nods and say "sure thing, coming right up. That'll be two gold then", she then turn around and open a door behind the counter, leading into what looks like a kitchen from what you can see. She passes on the order to a cook, and then close the door and turn back to face you again.

You hand her four gold coins, and say "keep the change. For being helpful". You smile a bit at this yourself, as this is the kind of thing you'd expect from a bona fide bounty hunter. You're actually having a little fun with this.

(cont.)

File: The four heroes, Dawnbringers.jpg (347 KB, 1021x1689)

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She thanks you, and you ask her, "so about those Dawnbringers, how do they seem to you?". Sticking close to the truth is often the easiest, so you add "I was thinking of maybe working with them, but I kinda wanna know what types they are before approaching them, you never know with these kinds of people after all".

The barkeep rests her knuckles at her hips and say "you said it hon', adventurers are a strange mix of people. As for these particular gents? Well, I think they're alright. The human seems a tad boastful to my liking, but they seem like simple enough folks. The Tiefling don't seem too shady either. You know how it is with Devilkin, they have a reputation. But this one doesn't seem to have too much of all that mess. Just horns and strange ears, as far as I ken. Not even red skin or hooves or such".

It's not enough knowledge to calm your scepticism about the group, but it's something. Still, you ask "any idea when they may come down from their room?"

She shrugs and say "no idea. But I believe they talked about leaving tomorrow". Not bad, then you have some time to spy on them. Ah, on that note, "thanks, you've been a lot of help. By the way, could you maybe not tell them I've asked about them? I wanna see how they act before I decide on anything..."

She smiles sympathetically, and say "oh no worries hon', my lips are sealed. Must be rough being a Dark Elf huh, being on your toes to every kind of stranger", after which she gives you a brief description of each of their appearances. You can tell she means well, so you thank her again, and take a seat at one of the tables. Soon after, your food is served. And boy oh boy, is it a treat. A juicy steak, probably beef, fried with butter and a few simple herbs. There's also a side of potatoes and some gravy. It's all very delicious, especially compared to the simple farmer food you are used to.

Nar, too, seems to be enjoying his steak, taking his time with it. You feel a little bad, seing as how you enjoy the food while Tina can't it seems. You fork up a piece of yours, and offer her a bite, just to try it. She eats it, but shrug on one shoulder with a 'meh' expression on her face, and say "not impressive, but I guess the herbs help a bit".

Then, you wait. It takes about an hour before they show up, most of which you idly spent chatting with Tina, and Nar a little. All four of them come down the stairs. They take a seat at another table.

[Gonna need me a stealth roll, 1d100+20, to avoid attention, and a sense motive roll, 1d100+12, to get a read on their group.]

Rolled 85 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>2998735
>Stealth Roll
IGNORE ME. I'M A PDF FILE!

Rolled 58 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2998735
reading

>>2998741
Brave of you to use that caption again, considering last time it yielded you a nat 1
is it a reference or sth? it feels like it is, but i dont recognize it

Rolled 70 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2998735

Time for espionage. You do your best to seem casual and inconspicuous. You even exchange a few words with Tina, to make it seem like you are minding your own business. You feel like you're doing it well, too.

But your actual focus is on getting some insight, as to what kind of people that other group is. From what you gather, they are a somewhat newly formed group - it seems that the Dwarf and the Tiefling only recently joined the two others. During their talking, they order up some drinks: ale or mead mostly, with the exception of the Dwarf, who also orders up a shot of some kind after his third ale.

The Human seems very confident, and seems pretty interested in showing off his combat skills against the bandits. His words suggest that he is especially confident about his two axes. His name seems to be Tagaro.

The Dwarf seems to mostly mind his own, sharpening his claymore. But at some point, he tells Tagaro to "calm down", and "don't underestimate the enemy just 'cos you got yerself some expensive steel". His comments are said a bit offhandedly, and Tagaro doesn't pay it any mind. His name seems to be Arlgur.

The Elf among them seems cheerful enough, and has an air of confidence about him. He doesn't talk a whole lot though, but among what he does say, he states that "I don't care much about the ruffians, I just want to get paid, so I can enchant my bow". You think his name is Tavinh.

The Tiefling chats along merrily enough, but you don't get a lot of hints as to her motivations, but you get the impression that she's looking forward to finding the bandits. Her name seems to be Arienne.

Gathering this information has taken you about an hour or two, it is currently afternoon.

>Confront them
>Stay at the inn, spy more on the group
>Go to the grave of the nameless to fill up on negative energy
>Try to set up a ruse, to make it seem like you are travelling merchants, in case the bandits have an informant
>Something else (specify)

(taking a break for now, may write more later, but no guarantees)

>>2998776
>Try to set up a ruse, to make it seem like you are travelling merchants, in case the bandits have an informant
Pretend to be a couple, they'll probably try to ambush us if we go there.

Then we go to the graveyard to fill up our gem

>>2998776
i vote we talk to them about the bandits, work with them for this and tell them about our ambush idea

they seem to be sincere about the job and as long as we can keep calm we should be able to work with them

>>2998748
It's a let's play reference to one of the old Shadowrun games, whenever the player would ever start hacking in the matrix, he'd make a joke about how the firewalls and anti-virus should ignore him because he's totally a legit file of some kind. And PDFs actually netted more successes than failures when he mentioned them.

>>2998776
>>2998789
I'm supporting the idea of going to the graveyard to fill up the gem. Never hurts to top off before we go.

>>2998776
>>2998810
i support loading up the gem, regardless of outcome, it shouldnt take long if we force the energy in more actively

>>2998793
also forgot my name

>>2998789
agree to pretending to be a couple and filling up the gem

>>2998793
agree with talking to them honestly about hunting the bandits

>>2998810
kek, that is a clever ruse to use agains ICEs

>>2998810
ah lol, I could see that happen as a recurring joke. I dont have a lot of experience with Shadowrun, but I did try 'Shadowrun Returns', and my first char first char was a hacker type

>>2998824
I've just got the 5ed shadowrun handbook, I'm dying to try it.

Why are we all whispering?

>>2998831
SHHHHHH! They'll hear you!

>>2998831
Because I considered what I was posting to be not relevant to the quest at hand.

>>2998836
it was just a joke, its no problem in itself

File: download (5).jpg (8 KB, 180x280)

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They know!

>>2998776
>>2998789
Supporting. We kinda decide to leave, so we have to be fast on this, gotta tell the bartender about being a couple and that we have to leave now too. So far I can tell this shit is pretty expensive, so for all those bandits we can get as much as 300g plus anything we can find, no sharing with those guys.

Thinking about writing an update.
If I'm getting this right, there's two for going to the bandits with the other group:
>>2998793
>>2998820

And two against it:
>>2999141
>>2998789

Thinking of deciding by coin toss

(in case I counted the votes wrong (I suck at getting an overview of the votes), or if there's any objections to a coin toss, you have until i post an update to speak up)

>>2999172
throw the coin, either way has it's merits

File: chance.jpg (50 KB, 564x564)

50 KB JPG

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>2999194
fair point. a game of chance it is.
1 for talking to the group
2 for going without them

[roll me a 1d100+12 for bluff then. best of up to three rolls]

Rolled 66 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2999244
Damn Jackie I can't control the weather!

Rolled 8 (1d100)

[don't mind me I'm just a pdf file]

Rolled 83 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2999244

Rolled 35 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2999244
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Rolled 68 + 12 (1d100 + 12)

>>2999244

For some time you consider the possibility of talking to the four strangers, and grouping up with them. Strength in numbers. And you are kind of curious about seeing heroes in action. On the other hand, you really don't want to split up the money, they'd probably want their share of the loot as well. It would be nice if you grouped up and they did all the hard work, and ended up dying in the process, but odds are you won't be that lucky.

Huh, that was a rather cynical thought. Well whatever.. That aside, you decide it's best to just go at it with the group you have. You tell Tina your thoughts on the subject, and she agrees to your idea.

You then leave the inn with Tina and your servants, and head towards the grave of the nameless once more. But before you do, you swing by the stable adjacent to the inn, and retrieve your wagon. Hmm.. Ah, yes, that'll do. You empty your crate, placing all the jugs of mead carefully on the quilts inside the wagon floor, and then have Fodder #1 climb inside the crate and curl up, after which you close the crate. You then have Laughing Dead carry the crate, and head towards the grave of the nameless.

But on the way there, you make sure to make a scene every now and then, telling Laughing Dead "oy! Be careful with that, you buffoon, those goods are worth more than you are!", and the like. You've told Tina and Nar about the act beforehand, so they play along.

You reach the mass grave soon enough, and notice that there's actually someone in there: two Humans, a Gnome, and a Dwarf, all male. Looks like they work here, and are currently digging a hole for a corpse that is draped in linen cloth. At first you consider coming back when they aren't here, but other the other hand, they have no way of detecting what you are here to do. And so, you bring up your Black Sapphire, and channel the dark energies into it. It's a surprisingly speedy process, as it's filled within 10-15 seconds. Neat.

You do notice that you have to take it slower than that, otherwise the dark energies actually turn visible. You think if it gets concentrated enough, it's visible. Like when you cast. You consider using some of the energy here to infuse your blood, and have Tina taste it, but you decide to hold off on that until there's no one around.

As you start heading back towards the market, Tina says "so uhh.. Guess I should.. find some sort of animal to bring along, then?". She doesn't really seem uncertain, but more like she's hesitant about the idea. Odd, she wasn't all that hesitant about drinking from a horse in the bandit camp. Then again, you were both in a bit of a party mood back then.

You answer her "if you can hold back, you can just have some from one of the horses? So you don't need to buy another animal to bring along of you don't wanna".

She shakes her head, and hums 'no', "mm-mm, it's just.. Ahh, I just gotta psych myself up for the idea, I guess. A humanoid seems like a much better choice, but that'd be difficult, and that's the last thing I want to be right now".

At the bazar, after some browsing, she eventually ends up buying a pheasant in a cage (no, not a peasant), and place it in the wagon. While you're at the bazar again, you take this opportunity to make a scene a few more times. But if this ruse is to work, if there truly are any informants in town, they'd probably need time to work, so you stay around a few hours before leaving. During that time you buy some simple fruits from a vendor for 4 silvers, and share them with Nar.

You then set off to the west. As you reach the gatehouse, you wonder about the document you were told to destroy once you leave the city.. It should be good for a Fortnight, if you recall correctly. And you are intending to return to claim the bounty on the bandits so... Wonder how that works.

In doubt, you decide to ask a guard at the gate. He clarifies that "indeed, the document is rendered invalid as soon as you leave the city. If you intend to return and do business again, even if it's the same day as you got the document, you'll need a new one. Sorry to say, young one". Young one? He's probably no more than half your age..

Ah well, nothing to do about it. But as you start to travel west, one of the gray cloaked guards run up to the side of your wagon, and says "hey now careful missy, if you intend to travel to Almondhill, you should wait in town for a week or so - the roads there are dangerous these days. Bandits and stuff"

Opting to stay vague on the subject, you just say "ahh, yeah I've heard, but still, I think I need to take this chance". The man in gray seems worried, sighs, shakes his head, and then stops following you, and goes back to the others.

Now then... Another massacre awaits. Question is, how should you do this? You feel you need a plan, if you are to confront these outlaws, especially if they are aware that someone are coming, and their usual strategy is some kind of ambush. Drawing advantage from night time springs to mind, like you did last time. You'd say it's about 5 hours until it's dark, maybe 8 hours until it's really dark.

>Write in on game plan

[I'll take a break meanwhile. Might write another update when I get back]

>>2999348

ok, night time is indeed the best idea, so we should take it slow, maybe let the horses rest a bit as soon as we are out of sight of the city

the bandits would have to take a greater risk if they attack in sight of either target, so they should be waiting for us close to the half way point and in bushes or trees close to the road

disguising our berserker would be another good idea, so we have an advantage on counter surprise as well as conceiling weapons in a way that makes it easy to draw them, gem included

>>2999348
>>Write in on game plan
Match our time to arrive, we have the equipment so we just need to make a really surprise, so, I don't think the whole group will attack, if the informant is right and if they catch just one wagon, they will not be so wary about.
When they appears and confront us we should hide inside and wait until they enter to our wagon we go full hell to them, taking our disguise off.

>>2999387
agreed, but we shouldn't split up the group to much, we have a better shot if they think the first 2 are harmless and i am not sure if Nar can see in the dark as well as we can

>>2999348
night attack is our best bet, we camp a little far from the city and wait for nightfall our eyes can help us see in the dark but their can't very much so we don't use torches or anything, the priority is to find the camp, but just in case Tina and us stay inside the cart in case of an ambush, let Nar drive or the smiling one if he can.

we prepare every offensive speel we have.

during the battle we focus on raising bandits as soon as they fall so we can turn the number advantage

keep an eye for the possible gnoll girlfriend tho, it would be bad if we just killed her in front of our minion.

>>2999393
I mean split their group, they wont do a full scale attack, and we can even split them more when they go inside the wagon.

>>2999387
this works too, it's not likely all the band will be on the attack

>>2999348

Also talk to Tina, smalltalk and the like but most importantly ask her what kind of class she would want to try out, what we might need and what she might be good at

>>2999393
(All of you see in the dark. Think i may have forgotten to add that to servant description)

(writing stuff. Gonna need me a d100+20 for magical defence)

Rolled 9 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>2999619

hope its best of 3

>>2999622
haha, yeah i can see why you'd hope that. Don't worry though, it's actually for something before the combat...

>>2999622
oh god, i hope its best of 3

Rolled 72 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>2999619

Rolled 16 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>2999619
And 3rd roll

(proofreading, then posting)

Hmm, a plan. Since their usual go-to apparently is to attack travellers on the road, maybe you should just play into that? You consider having yourself, Tina, and Laughing Dead, inside the wagon, and have Nar and Fodder #1 act as coachmen. Sounds like a good plan. But you definitely want to use the darkness to your advantage, humans are infamously bad at seeing during the night time. And last time it was a ton of fun, scaring them by picking some off. You can't help but smile, as you think back on it. The roots of a restless appetite grows in your darkened mind, and anticipation brings a smile to your face.

But all in due time. About an hour after leaving town or so, you decide to make halt for now. You want to be certain that the night's domain is upon your victims, before you meet them, and they, in turn, meet their violent demise.

Tina's voice draws your attention out from inside your thoughts, as she says "well you[/] seem to be in a good mood", with a smile. She then says "excited for the big meeting, huh? Me too. I'm actually thinking I'll save this one for another time", and with a thumb, she then points to the pheasant inside the wagon. Ah, right, nearly forgot about that thing you wanted to try.

"Hey Tina, I know I joked around about the taste of my blood, but in all seriousness, I wanted to test if you can actually use my blood for sustenance, and I even have a trick that could make the taste more agreeable". You then pull back your cloak from your shoulder, and fold up a sleeve to bare your right forearm, as you present it to her.

At first she mostly just looks puzzled, but then she shrugs, and say "well I'm up for trying at least. But are you sure you're okay? I still feel pretty terrible about how I attacked you when you first saved me..."
You're surprised at how down she looks when she mentions that. And from the tone of her voice, you feel it may have been on her mind for a while.

"Don't even think about it, you didn't do it by choice. Honestly, in a way it was kind of my fault, since you did it as a result of what I turned you into.."
Thinking back, at first you weren't actually sure how she'd take being turned into an Undead, but luckily it turned out fine, in a lot of ways.

(cont.)

well fuck me, forgot and 'i'..

She waves her hand rapidly in a dismissive way, and says "arhh no way no way.. I got dealt a bad hand and you did all you could to save me, I couldn't be happier for what you did. Especially with how much fun I feel like we're having, just travelling and doing our own thing. I've never even spent such a long time outside of Rydding before. And we can go pretty much where ever we want to, it's like an adventure, or a fairytale!"

Seeing her so happy and grateful rubs a bit off on you, but you're not exactly sure what to answer to all of that, so you just give her a smile. However, you start to feel a bit awkward, just holding your bare arm in front of you, and so you change the subject. "Ahem.. Anyway, have a taste, see if it's as bad as last time. It's rude to keep a lady waiting you know".

She gives you a toothy smile at the last remark. She the scoots closer, takes your arm with both hands, opens her mouth, and... Hesitates for a few seconds, like she's afraid to break something, or hurt you. But after a short respite, she goes for the bite, softly and carefully.

In preparation to her teeth puncturing your skin, you start channeling some negative energy, focusing on infusing your blood with it, if that's at all possible. But you try. To the best of your ability, you manipulate the dark energies, with the intention of giving it a good taste. But your approach is very speculative, you really have very little idea what you're doing here.

You can't really tell from her expression whether it works or not. But you can feel some blood being drained out through your wound. It's a strange feeling.
...
Oh.. But it's not even painful? In fact.. it's, sort of nice..? Yeah. Soothing, lulling you into a tranquil state, you feel like you don't really need anything else.. It's starting to get really intoxicating too.. Some remnant of logic in the back of your mind tells you that it's probably something related to her bite, but most of you don't care right now. All that matters right now, is how good this feels...
...
As your Dhampir friend pull her teeth out of your flesh, she licks the wounds, which for some reason makes them close up. And very quickly, you start regaining your proper senses. Your shake your head, trying to clear your still somewhat foggy mind. You don't really remember a lot of details about what just happened, but it was good.

(cont.)

You are still recovering a little from that state, when Tina says "I don't know what you did, but it did something. The taste was very.. inconsistent? But a few times it was really good, for a short while.. I hope I didn't take too much? You look a little woozy?"

"Uhh, no, I don't think so, no... It's just that... Woah, that was... Something. I'm pretty sure your bite does something to people... I felt really.. Unfocused? I think.. Ah, but did it satiate your thirst any?"

She looks upwards, with a contemplative look, and says "mmmmmyeah, yeah I think so". She looks inside the wagon, seemingly at the pheasant. She then confirms "yeah, it must've helped, I'm pretty far from considering drinking that bird now. Ew".

Well that's good. Experiment succesful. But you should probably read up on Vampires or Dhampirs, to see what that was all about. Sheesh.
You then return to smalltalk, until you stumble upon a subject you're curious about.

"So about getting you that class.. Are you still thinking something like a fighter?" You ask her.

"Mmh, I think so. Maybe". She looks around at your various servants, and adds "well, it was mostly just because I thought it'd complement you well, since you're apparently some kind of mage, but.. With all these Zombies and whatnot you raise, I'm actually thinking I could make a bigger difference elsewhere. Not sure as what though.."

"What do you think you'd be good at?" you follow up, trying to help her search for an answer.

She looks up at the still blue sky, with a hand offering some shade to her eyes, and says "no idea, really... I've never really found anything I thought I was good at. Well except for being with you, I always feel comfortable when we're together. Ah, but it's not like I don't get selfconscious and overthink things sometimes. It's complicated, I guess. But yeah, no - I have no idea what I'd be good at".

Well that just sounds a little sad. You bump her shoulder with your knuckle, and say "don't be like that. I think you're pretty great. You're better at people than I am, that's for sure. And there's plenty of stuff you're good at other than that".

She smiles at that, and says "thanks. Yeah, I'm sure we'll find something good for me to do!"

>>2999718
>>2999720

well that is interesting, it is an amazing power her 'sort of hypnosis' and if we can keep our head straight we can deal with her blood lust permanently with just an infused bite per day

(ending it here for tonight.

I feel I should end it on a prompt to give you guys a way to respond, so its not just me writing a lot of stuff, but on the other hand, you've already said what you wanna do next... Anyway, next time should be combat encounter. Wonder how that'll go with my new system.

Oh, and the magic defence roll was to resist the bite effect)

>>2999736
yeah, it was realy good, maybe we'll get better at infusing our blood to make it more tasty and filling.

>>2999737
glad we didn't resist that was fun

>>2999737

great read as usual and it is actually a good thing that we didn't resist it, this way we learned more than we would otherwise have

Anticipating the Counter-Ambush and it is 'interesting' that Alice seems to have found a thirst for combat

>>2999736
Yup. You spent 1 negative energy on the stunt, so it's managable. However, losing blood counts as 'damage', in a way, and you'll need to either a) give it time to recover on its own (which also requires you to eat food, but no prob since you mostly do that anyway), or b) use negative energy to heal yourself for the lost amount of blood to regain it.

>>2999742
>>2999744
Ikr? I hoped you'd fail that roll, lol..

>>2999744
>great read as usual
Thanks man, appreciate it!

I hope you guys are okay with me writing this sort of wicked though process into Alice, even though you haven't voted much in that direction. I always meant for her to have a certain malicious side to her, even though she's mostly calm and level headed.

Ah, and also, thanks for participating, I hope you enjoyed most of it

>>2999742
>>2999744
To be honest I don't think Tina should go for another role, because our minions are more akin to meat tanks or swarm types that are more than likely very weak against holy magic, all it takes is a paladin or someone with half decent magic and most of our forces will crap out on us.
At least with Tina she can more than likely take a hit or two from that kind of magic and keep on kicking since she's not reliant on us to keep going unlike our minions and she can actually think for herself which can be just as much of a huge boon as being hard to kill or the size of a brick shithouse.

>>2999769
The thought process is interesting, it certainly gets me by surprise but I think it's a nice touch and we can try to keep it in check to not fall for Alice's race stereotypes, but sometimes (as with the bandits) we will fail.

All in all it's a great read and accommodating quest to play, thanks

>>2999769
>I hope you guys are okay with me writing this sort of wicked though process into Alice, even though you haven't voted much in that direction. I always meant for her to have a certain malicious side to her, even though she's mostly calm and level headed.
I'm perfectly fine with her having that sort of negative side to her, it gives her more depth in the sense of her having desires but being strong willed to not entirely act on them.

>>2999769

hey we work as thoughts in her head, we arent everything in there. Her inherent instincts are something to plan with/around/against, it makes the story more alive

>>2999769
>wicked though process into Alice
Well, I think is too soon,we have yet to taste our power to get full of ourselves and reach that malicious side.
And thanks for the ride, I like this much better than "Another Isekai Quest".

>>3000085
To be fair, it helps that the QM is actively talking to their players. It also helps that we're not doing retarded shit like randomly torturing random boars for fun.

>>3000176
It's more than that, anon. QM here doesn't ask what to do every three lines, as you say he actually answer questions and mostly being a more like simple quest (not so much much shit to feel, not experience point to put on status, skills or/and magic, we can build the character on what is important, story. QM told us a more accurate schedule and doesn't disappears without a word. Finally QM actually write in a more interesting way USING almost all ideas in a good way.

>>2999744
Good read Weaver.

I'd suggest we stuff some of the old clothes and set them "sleeping" by the fire while 4 arms stands or walks around. Make sure the horses are tied to some trees. Tina, Alice and Nar slip a little bit away - 10-15 ft and hide to watch. Fodder is to defend the wagon if anyone tries to move his box (or we do a necro-energy mental direction).

>>3000189
There's also that, I just brought up a couple of things that I know was a big problem in my eyes.

>>3000189
yeah, its a great quest all around

File: 1523314224211.png (5.78 MB, 1768x856)

5.78 MB PNG

Well, fuck me, I finished the map, feedback please to improve this little shit.
Also, I didn't add the church or castle cus they're more like point of interest, but if QM or everyone prefers to be added, I will.
Also also, QM, "Roads" is a place? I kinda figured up the others, but that one not sure, and what kind of place is? So I can draw something accurate.
Also also also I may did to big(?) the map didn't have space for the swamp, I can redraw some thing to adjust but if not necessary, pls tell me QM.

File: 1511744977204.jpg (1.34 MB, 1768x856)

1.34 MB JPG

Jpg one.

>>2999769
>I hope you guys are okay with me writing this sort of wicked though process into Alice, even though you haven't voted much in that direction. I always meant for her to have a certain malicious side to her, even though she's mostly calm and level headed.
>Ah, and also, thanks for participating, I hope you enjoyed most of it
I actually preffer that she has something like that going for her. Like another poster said, it gives her more depth as a character and honestly opens up more ways to have fun in the quest. As is, this is a really fun and comfy quest and I'm sad I missed out on posting in this thread. I was looking for it but managed to miss it when it got posted

One thing I'd like to see though is about or relationship with Tina. Personally I see her, and hope that we treat her as, best possible friend rather than a love interest. More often than not quest characters tend to end up romantically involved and I find it sad that there is such a lack of 'unbreakable bonds of friendship' kind of relationships. I see the relation with Tina much more in that light and hope it has the chance to grow as such.

As for the upcoming battle, might I suggest a little practice with our new scythe since we have some time to kill before the 'ambush'? Moreso along the lines of getting familiar with it as opposed to skilling up. Last time we used one we got it stuck in a tree. I'd like to avoid that from happening again if possible.

>>3001086
I'm interest in following her in a romantic sense and I see your point, I'll keep voting for it but I'm in no hurry to get them together, the friendship can grow to romance over time.

>>3001086
>>3001093

I don't mind either way, as long as we take it slow i am ok with it, the way they both seem together it should be a very tight friendship first

>>3000577
Well first off, that shit just looks straight up awesome. Did you draw it yourself, or use a program of some sort? Either way it's really effing nice.. Really gets that fantasy genre vibe too.
As for feedback, two things. 1) I think thinner roads would look better. But maybe that's just me. And 2) The island isn't actually named 'allegedly', lol. I believe I didn't actually give it a name, so maybe just call it 'Cursed Island'..

As for the church & castle? I think you're right, they are really just places of interest, so they wouldn't usually be on a map, I think.

And yes, 'Roads' is the name of a city, I realize that seems odd, but it is indeed the case.

>>2999783
You are correct in that your servants are all weak to holy damage, so that's a weakness you have. They have different combat specs though, like Laughing Dead is a berserker type Undead who isn't actually very durable for his level, but he has a lot of damage potential.

>>2999810
That's an interesting mindset. I'll probably keep that thought in mind as I write.

>>3001086
>spoiler
Ah, yeah maybe I should stick to one OP picture like a lot of QMs do. I'll need to find one I wanna keep though
>Romance/Friendship
Yeah Tina is really your only chance to emphasize on an old, solid friendship for now. There'd be room to gain a/more new friend(s), and watch that bond grow (honestly I didn't even expect you guys to try and raise Tina at first). But yeah, I'm very conflicted regarding that issue, since I can't please every player no matter what I choose to go with, when it comes to romance options. The easy path would be to just not touch the subject at all, but I feel that's a waste of potential. We'll see, I guess.

Also, you guys, all these nice reviews. Thanks. I wasn't entirely sure how well my writing would be received. I may not have a large player base, but I appreciate the ones I have a lot, you're all awesome. In a way it may even be a good thing that there aren't more players (that'd mean more disagreements, and less impact for each voter).

I was thinking about not posting today, but I think I can use this to unwind. I'll start writing some stuff, but it may some hours before something's up (srsly, inspiration makes my posting speed very random)

>>3000577
Oh, forgot to answer that last part.
>Also also also I may did to big(?) the map didn't have space for the swamp, I can redraw some thing to adjust but if not necessary, pls tell me QM
Idk, so far this is all pretty local, so I think it's fine as a local map. If you guys start going to the swamp, I'm gonna add more stuff up there, so it's probably not neccesary to add the swamp to the map before you get to that region

Another thing I have not mentioned about my thoughts on Tina, is that she seems to be both suffering from bouts of jealousy and inadequacy, she's both comparing herself to us and our minions at times while trying to find some way of "being useful". The problem with this is that she's so focused on that she'll make the wrong decision about her class and suffer for it, which can start a cascade of even worse potential fuckups for both her and us down the line.
The only real way that I can think of to unfuck it for the time being is to confront/comfort her on these matters and to keep assuring her that she should take her time in her choice of class. Like actually get some information down for each class and actually have her ruminate about what she wants to be on HER own terms.
We honestly have the money and the time to do this.

>>3001304
agreed, we need something that agrees with her stats and her inclenations.
Before this battle we can't do anything, but maybe she should try a few things to make sure she makes the right call while we make our ambush
In general we have the luxury of time, as undeads we don't age as far as we know and we have no distinct enemies

>>3001304
Hah, colour me impressed. Gonna add this to Alice's mindset, unless there are any objections.

>>3001304
>>3001316
that is actually very good, we want Tina to make a choice by herself, not just to be useful, we have the minions to be useful, she is incredibly important for us and we want her to make the choice that would make her the happiest, we have all the (un)life together to enjoy, and we want her to be happy

>>3001304
This is actually good and will make our quest more enjoyable.

(right, update incoming after proofreading, and THEN combat (sheesh, that dragged out huh))

>>3001408
hey story and character are demanding, what can you do

>>3001414
Yeah, taking it slow and easy.

>>3001414
Yup.my favorite times are probably the down times

>>3001420
>>3001416
>>3001414
>>3001408
Speaking of Fighters, I kinda hope that they won't be DnD 3.5 levels of restricted in terms of what they can and cannot do.

>>3001428
I feel like Tina'll pick something with at least a little bit of magic since she always comments on our magic, so maybe ranger or some kind of caster

>>3001432

she admited to not really getting magic when we mentioned the books, or the theories behind them so i doubt it

>>3001433
there's always sorceress if books are not her thing, but yeah, maybe there's that.

I just remembered, would anyone of you be interested in a Discord for the quest, i got one server that i could easily change for the quest

A part of you can't let go of the way Tina talks. Something about it doesn't sit well with you... You like her a lot, and you enjoy the way she's always easy to work with, and the way she always seeks to meet your needs. But at the same time, that's an issue. You don't want her to feel or be inferior, and lately, she seems obsessed with your opinion of what she should do. If you are to be equal, and you really think you should be, then she's gotta make decisions based on her own desires. Ahh.. But words. How do you put it into words... If you fumble here it could hurt her.

Ah, but first things first. You order Nar to hide his chainmail under his clothes, and cover his hammer under a thin layer of dirt, so that it's not immediately obvious that he can fight. You have Laughing Dead sit with a quilt around him, so that only his heads shows, and have him sit huddled over. You and Tina also hide your armours and weapons under your clothes, which is actually pretty easy with the cloaks. Except for your scythe. You hide it under some dirt, like Nar.

There, now if anyone sees you, it won't look like you have any guards. Just in case the bandits are flippant enough to raid this close to town. It's mostly just flat plains where you are at right now, so any bandits would have a tough time sneaking up on you.
You then take your time to think over how to adress the issue with Tina. Taking your time to think it over, you decide to get up and practice you scythe swings a little. It shouldn't break as easily as the last one, seeing as this is a proper military grade weapon, where the other was basically just a used farming tool. But no harm in getting a feel for it.
You swing it around a bit, until you get a good feel for its reach and such. Tina gives you a bit of a mystified look at first, but seems to get it after a while.

...

Having spent about half an hour swinging a scythe (and not getting any tired for it either), you decide you've figured out how to adress the issue. You bury your scythe under some dirt again, and go sit next to Tina, and place your head on her shoulder. After a few lengthy moments, you say "I think.. If you're still uncertain about which class you want, I think you should just take your time picking one, you know? It's not like we don't have an eternity, after all". You can tell the last part makes her smile, even if you aren't looking at her.

(cont.)

"Take your time", you continue, "find yourself something that truly speaks to you. I didn't really get to pick, so you gotta make sure to be selfish enough for two in your choice. I appreciate your eagerness to be helpful, I know you want what's best for me. But I'm the same as you - I also want what's best for you, so... Please, don't pick something just 'cos you think it will be useful to me. Just having you here is already all I want from you. You're so kind to me and good for me, that sometimes I'm not even sure I'm good enough for you".

Wow, that was actually a good way to put it, and you didn't even feel awkward saying it. Nailed it.

She then sits up straight, so that you can't rest your head on her shoulder anymore, and you sit up properly yourself, looking at her in confusion. You eyes meet, and there's some tense emotion in her face. Did you say something wrong? She looks angry. Her eyes look are starting to look red. Oh gods what did you say, she's definitely mad about something, mad enough that her eyes are turning bloodshot, what do-... oh, no, wait, she's crying happy tears instead, but.. Apparently her tears are blood now. You only have a brief moment to feel silly for assuming something strange, before she pulls you into an iron grip embrace, and then she starts crying. Not a in a loud way, more like in a continuous sobbing way.

Through her tears, she says with a shaky, sobbing, voice "don't say that, you idiot! You have no idea how much you mean to me, if I had-", her voices gives in, but she recovers after a pause, "-if I hadn't had you, my life wouldn't have had any worth in it, I would just have married some stupid farmer, in that stupid village, and lived a stupid, MEANINGLESS life, until I was fortunate enough to get killed by bandits.. The only reason I had any regret about dying, was because of you! Don't say you don't deserve me, that's just too sad.. The way you are honest about what and who you dislike is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and without you..."
Instead of finishing, she tightens the grip around you, to the point that it would be a little uncomfortable if you cared about pain. She then loosens her grip, and just goes silent after that, except for the occasional sobbing.

(cont.)

You just sit there, stunned. You knew she wasn't satisfied with the village life, and you knew she was bored often, but... Not to this extent. After a while you think about returning her hug, but it's not really possible, with how tight she's still holding you. You settle for patting her gently on the back with the one arm that can reach.

Eventually she seems to calm down. You feel that maybe you should say something else, but you have no idea what. It feels like you've stirred some kind of hornet's nest, but this is probably something that would have surfaced sooner or later anyway. Instead of talking, you can at least let her let out whatever she needs to. She really seemed to need to vent, you think. And as more time passes, she sobs less and less, and finally she stops.

She releases you from her embrace, her cheeks covered in blood, and so is your right shoulder, judging by the cold and wet sensation on it. She sniffs one last time, and dries her eyes and cheeks with her hand and forearm. She has blood on her arm, all over her face, and fully blood red eyes right now. It makes her look like a cannibalistic murderer or something, despite the emotions on her face.
Oh, but when she licks her hand, the blood comes right off, like her tongue is a sponge designed specifically for blood. And you also notice that the blood on her face slowly starts to... soak into her skin, and disappear? Vampire stuff, probably. But neat.

Ah, observations aside, you give her a well meaning smile, and pat her head. That's all you can think of that seems fitting right now. And you're pretty sure she appreciates it, the way she close her eyes and smile faintly.

>>3001428
(which restrictions would that be? Im pretty sure that it won't be an issue, but I am curious)

[Prompt: Do you wish to add anything to the current scene, or let the last half hours pass, before you move out? You are allowed to add something, BUT, Alice is emotionally fatigued at this point, so she won't be able to put a lot of stuff into eloquent words at this point]

>>3001447
I think he is referring about the issue in 3.5 where as level progresses fighters become outclassed by casters simply because their options are limited to "hit thing with weapon" while the later can do all manner of tricks and effects with magic

>>3001440
damn what a moment, things are building up for the two gals

>>3001452
sit close to her, put your arms around her and wait in comfortable silence

>>3001454
Im glad you think so, I tried to make it emotional for them..
As for the 'hit-thing-with-wpn' thing, every class can learn abilities depending on what fits their class. If you've watched Overlord, you can assume it's something like that. If not, think martial abilities that boosts performance in some what. Like that weeb thingy where a guy draws his weapon, cuts the enemy, and sheathes the weapon again in one fluently hyper-trained-specialized motion so that it's harder to block and stuff. Really, imagination is the limit.

>>3001452
It's time to tell sone of ours to her too.

" my life was meaningless there too, if not for you I would have nothing, i don't know if I would have survived as long as I did without you, but now, now I fell everything is how it should be, you and me enjoying life toguether, I want you to be happy, no, I need you to be happy so I can be too, I'm being selfish here hahaha."

Bring her head to our lap and stroke her head in silence, we both said some important things, lets enjoy each other's company while we wait.

>>3001447
The later versions of DnD have been known to be extremely clunky when it comes to martial combat due to how heavy the rules system is.
Like for example, if try to do something fancier than say a Full Round Attack action or just attack. You better have either the feat (which you'll need to invest in at either character creation or later on in your 20 or so levels of adventuring) or hope to God that you have a flexible GM, because the rules as written will punish you for trying anything new or fancy.
The game also will give you a shit time if you try to do grappling.
The less said about Pathfinder the better. Fucking damn it Pathfinder how do people even love you I will never fully understand outside of them suffering from DnD syndrome.

>>3001454
There's also that too with the casters, they're a whole different tale altogether.

>>3001463
>If you've watched Overlord, you can assume it's something like that. If not, think martial abilities that boosts performance in some what. Like that weeb thingy where a guy draws his weapon, cuts the enemy, and sheathes the weapon again in one fluently hyper-trained-specialized motion so that it's harder to block and stuff. Really, imagination is the limit.
Shilling aside. If you have spare time, take a gander at DnD 4th edition and Dreamscarred Press's Path of War 3rd party stuff. They have stuff like what you're talking about.

>>3001478
Ah, in that case, i wouldn't worry. Im mostly of the 'saying-yes-motivates-creativity' mindset

>>3001458
>>3001465
support

open up a little ourselves too so she doesn't feel she is talking alone, but don't unload upon her since she has had a pretty draining moment

>>3001478
I don't usually talk about it but you guys seem ok....I...I play GURPS.....(shame)

>>3001502

i have no clue what that is, so your secret is save with me, i guess

>>3001502
(lol. Never tried it, so can't honestly say a lot about it, but the system didn't look like sth I want. But each to his own)

[Locking for sharing and caring]

That was a lot to take in, and honestly, you don't know what to tell her, but you still wanna try to say something. You stop patting her head, and instead pull her down, and place her head on your lap.

Once she's somewhat comfortable, you say "I think I know how you feel, a little anyway. I really didn't like that life either. I hated it, actually. But it's much better now. We're fine now. I want you to be happy. In a way, I kind of need it, to be satisfied myself, so... you gotta let me be selfish here, and be sure to make choices that makes you happy". You chuckle a little at the abnormality of it all, and add "I'm being selfish here. So you should, too". You then start stroking her hair.

She agrees with a simple "mm", and close her eyes and curl up. It makes her look like a child, and it makes you glad that you can be there for her as well, sometimes.

(that's all for tonight. don't have a lot of plan for the weekend, so there's a chance I play a few sessions during it. But you know the rule: no promises.)

(Oh, and feel free to complain whenever you feel bad about sth. I won't promise I'll change anything about it, but I might. I say this cos I notice a real positive vibe in the thread, and while that's a good thing, I can imagine that anyone who'd want to complain would be hesitant to do so if they feel like a minority or sth like that. Anyway, you get my point i hope: Im open to critique, as long as youre somewhat polite about it.)

>>3001543
Thanks for running.

I like the pace, the freedom and the direction we are going. Like your writing style and the fact that you are very accessible as a QM. I can't think of anything to complain right now, I'll try to find something later hehe :^)

>>3001502
At least it's not Pathfinder.

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>>3000577
>>3001257
Thoughts.

>>3001795
i like it

>>3001257
>Did you draw it yourself, or use a program of some sort?
The base was an imagine I found, but the drawings was all my doing. I made it on photoshop.

>>3001800
great work

>>3001304
Agree.

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>>3001795

As i mentioned yesterday i have made a discord server for the quest, we could use it to coordinate up times for example if anyone is interested

https://discord.gg/TKjaYk

(Aight, so, I'm writing some stuff, but there's no promise of an update tonight. Im gonna need some combat rolls to write from though. So this one will be a little special - Im gonna need 3d20, four times. So if four players will roll 5d20, I'll have what I need)

(k, i messed that up, it shouldnt say 5d20, it should say 3d20...)

Rolled 12, 10, 14 = 36 (3d20)

>>3004432
i was just about to ask, 3d20 then

Rolled 20, 20, 6 = 46 (3d20)

>>3004432

Rolled 8, 1, 6 = 15 (3d20)

>>3004426

(ok i messed up again apparently.. I need the roll 5 times, not only 4 times. First is for Alice, then Tina, Fodder, Nar, and then Laughing. Also, to speed things up so I can get to writing, each player may roll more than once)

Rolled 16, 2, 19 = 37 (3d20)

>>3004432

here goes nothing ...

looking good so far (except for Fodder), just a last roll for Laughing now

Rolled 1, 15, 5 = 21 (3d20)

>>3004451

What a bad luck those ones of mines.

>>3004484
dont sweat it, two 1s and two 20s.

Writing some stuff from this result, but dont get your hopes up for tonight.

>>3004492
Don't worry lad, the stuff is good so doesn't really matters if we wait some days.

>>3004492
So Tina got 2 20s? She's the bestest!

(aight, another roll. This one is best of three, 1d100, crits are 1-10 & 91-100 and take priority. This is for Alice's... tendencies)

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>3004629

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>3004629

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>3004629

(didnt make it in time. Ah well. Wrote a decent portion, I'll try and see if I can finish it tomorrow. should be a very real possiblity)

>>3004916
Have a good night and don't die on us QM.

What time zone you posting from QM?

>>3006344
Erh, utc+1 I think. Is that a thing? Middle of Europe anyway.

(careful not to get shellshock, cos I'm about to drop a carpetbomb of an update)

The thrill of the hunt... The promise of payment...

You feel more at ease once you set out. It's not that you didn't like parts of what just happened, it's just that... Well, it's hard. Really hard. Killing criminals seems much easier. Then again, a looming shadow of an emotion makes you think that it's probably not because the earlier conversation was all that exhausting. Sure it was tough but... It's probably more the fact that, in a way, you look forward to what's gonna happen next.

The road ahead writhes like a serpent. It speaks to you, it tells a tale of the insidiousness of your plan, delivering fatality with the venoms known as shadows and deceptions. In the darkened undergrowth of the forest ahead, you will lay out their remains in macabre fashion, decorating the moss and dirt that will be their deathbed. Branches covered in rot and damp mushrooms shall serve as their tombstone and grave flowers.

It's strange - you know your life will be in danger, and so will Tina's. But you don't give it a lot of attention. Instead, it feels vastly more natural and exciting to think about how the bandits' lives are in danger. The upcoming slaughter excites you, and with each crunchy step on this road to vicious affairs, an abyssal spark of childlike joy burns ever brighter in your gaze. A cynical hell pulls at your lips, and you can't help but wear a modest smile.

The expedition is all the more pleasurable with these thoughts in mind. And savoring this mood, a few hours pass like the wind. It has largely gone dark now. A thin blushing line still tells the tale of the daylight that was here earlier, and the sky isn't entirely dark either, but Humans wouldn't be able to distinguish colour in this blue hour. The fact that you've entered a forest area doesn't help, as the tree tops makes for even greater obfuscation.

And sure enough, the hunter becomes the hunter. You feel there's a lesson to be learned from this. Like how you, too, should be careful to not become the hunted. But that lesson is not important right now, you feel. Right now, a poor, tough, little beetle has managed to get itself caught in your web...

(cont.)

Aside from the regular crunching sounds of horses and wheels travelling the dirt road, you hear some new sounds. Foodsteps on the foret floor, a few snapping twigs. And then you see them. Several people run, and surround the wagon. You, Tina & Nar are following the wagon, about 40 meters/130 ft behind, and off the road. Laughing is placed inside the wagon, huggled over with a quilt around it. Fodder is sitting at the front of the wagon, and holds the reins, with a short sword by its belt, to pose as a guard/coachman. You have Fodder stop the horses, or at least you try. Turns out it's not that easy. Even if you are pretty dextruous, Fodder isn't, and thus tasking it with using the reins isn't very succesful. Fortunately, the bandits make it easy anyway, since they block the path of the horses, and thus make them stop.

You don't think you see them all from your angle, but you can make out 10 targets. Now then, how should you start this... One of the bandits give you an idea, as he approaches Fodder with a raised weapon, and talks to it. You can't quite hear all of it, but you can tell he's threatening it. About half of the bandits have ranged weapons, and a few have ignited torches. Off to the side, a single bandit is holding a bullseye lantern* to illuminate the wagon.
*A lantern type that lights up a long cone shape in front of the user, instead of around it. Where a normal torch lights up a radius of a good 12 meters/40 ft, a bullseye lantern instead lights up only a narrow cone, but up to a distance of 35 meters/120 ft

You mentally command Fodder to raise its arms in surrender. Some of the bandits laugh, they seem happy with this result. You sneak a little closer, you wanna hear them. See their faces, if possible. While they cheer, you cover half the distance, but make sure to stray to the side, so that you're out of their line of sight. Their next move surprises you. The bandit who adressed Fodder says "alright pal, you're good", and then lowers his sword. This, apparently, was a signal, as half a dozen of crossbow bolts are shot at Fodder. Even though you had him surrender? Didn't these guys take prisoners? Tsk-tsk, you can't trust anyone these days.

(cont.)

You can tell that Fodder doesn't take serious damage from the assault, but you have him collapse in front of the wagon anyway. They have a good laugh again, one of them mimicks a feeble old man who surrenders with a stupid expression, probably mocking Fodder. Their point man then shouts "alright boys, let's hope they have some fine wares and some even finer ladies! I'm told they brought a dainty little Elf!"

So there was an informant. Still. What he just said, as well as its implications. Bitter.. But no, you have got to be patient for this.

The point man then steps up on the wagon, and uses his sword to carefully pull the cover aside and look in, before he enters. Most of the bandits get close as well. You can't tell what Laughing Dead is seeing, so you don't know the exact situation inside the wagon, because of the cloth that covers it. But you know that Laughing Dead is more of an aggressive fighter, so it probably doesn't take hits as well as a regular zombie type. But you wan't them to get a little closer to better get the drop on them.

"Fiends of hell!", you hear the point man yell from inside the wagon, "There's no Elves in here, just a sad old sack of shit! Captain is gonna have someone's head for this!"

You hear agitation in his voice, and so you decide that this is as good a signal as any. You then order all three of your servants to attack at once, to the best of their ability. Tina and Nar both brought a longbow, and take a shot with on each. Fodder reach for an ankle of a nearby bandit. As for you? Well, you feel you have plenty of negative energy to spare, especially given your new little handy gemstone. And you really wanna try going all out. And so you do. [Undead Flame] on all three servants, and [Energy Negative: Javelin] on one of the crossbowmen.

Nar and Fodder are both covered in a subtle layer of blackish purple flames. Nar shoots an arrow which bites into its defenceless target's torso. You do notice that [Undead Flame] is a poor combination with ranged attacks, as the enchantment doesn't imbue the arrow. You have him drop his bow and draw his sword, and charge on ahead.
Meanwhile though, Tina's arrow also finds a target, and dispatch of it in ruthless measure by nicking his jugular. He panicks for a few seconds before going out cold, he's bound to exsanguinate shortly.

(cont.)

At the same time, you conjure up a [Energy Negative: Javelin] spell. A black mass of light gathers from inside of you and form in your hand. It feels more potent than the first time the used one. You hurl the necrotic weapon towards a crossbowman with murderous intent, and the resulting wound is not only immediately fatal as it pounds through the man's chest, leaving a hole the size of a fist. No, not only that, it also puts a strangehold on any morale this group of cattle may have had. To your amusement, you note that your attack has also crippled another man, by goring straight through his left arm, which now dangles loosely, only connected by an inch thick layer of flesh.
All in all, a singular strike, you judge.

This is the first time you've used so much negative energy in one go. When you channelled up the amount, you could feel it in the air around you, and a visible darkness emerged from your right hand that held the energy. It made you feel powerful.
[17 negative energy spent]

At the same time, you also hear some commotion from inside the wagon. And through your bond, you know that Laughing Dead is attacking someone. Only two bandits got inside before this went down. You also notice a distinct sound - a hoarse shrieking laughter. A haunting sound. It sounds unnatural, and had you been alive, you're confident it would give you goosebumps. You're pretty sure it's from your servant, though this is the first time you've heard it express sounds.

You notice that Fodder has managed to knock a bandit prone, from its lying position. The skin of the bandit is badly seared, and almost charred at some places, because of [Undead Flame]. But he is still kicking, doing his damnedest to get away from the Zombie. And having pulled a dagger, he has managed to give it a few solid wounds by hacking at its head and neck. Still, Fodder, as a Zombie, is pretty damn resilient, so it'll take a lot of effort to destroy it with a dagger wielded by a simple thug.

All of this occured in less than ten seconds. You see it in their eyes - panic. A primal instinct is threatening their formation. The bandit you crippled with a javelin just drops to the ground and stares at his severed limb, unable the fathom his fate. Another bandit wielding a longsword starts to slowly back off, mouth open in awe. You can amlost feel his delectable fear. He's not the only hesitant one among them.

Tina is fast enough to fire another arrow while the bandits still falter. This one as well finds a crossbowman, and wedging itself directly into his throat. He grabs at the arrow, makes a gurgling sound that was probably meant to be a scream, and then drops on his ass, unsure what to do. Impressive shot.

(cont.)

This is when one of the melee bandits steps forth. He is dressed like the rest, but there is a significant difference with this one you notice - he's wearing a holy symbol around his neck, a symbol about half the size of his head. You can't quite make out which god it honours from this distance. But one thing is certain to you: people who wear symbols like that are almost always zealous believers, either paladins, clerics, or the gruesome inquisitors.

And sure enough, the arrogant miscreant holds up a morningstar to the heavens, and lets out a triumphant roar that lasts for a few seconds. It's mixed strangely with the unholy laughs from Laughing Dead in the wagon. An intense feeling spreads from his area, and you see a fearless defiance in his eyes. And it spreads swiftly, just a moment later there is no fear left on any face here. Annoying.

All of them are now on the offensive. Well, except for the dead or maimed.

Three of their melee engage Fodder, and another three engage Nar, while the crossbowmen target those two as well. Fodder simply takes every hit throw in its direction, while Nar deftly manages to dodge a few blows with impressive evasion. He does get hit every now and then, however, as they have the number advantage. The chainmail Nar wears helps to mitigate some of the damage. On the other hand, Nar seems to hit a target with every attack of his hammer. He even bites a guy who gets close enough for him to do so.

Tina assists your two servants, by morphing into a swarm of bats, and swiftly re-emerging right next to three of the crossbowmen. The poor lighting combined with the disadvantage of using a ranged weapon in melee is immediately apparent, as she assaults them with her enchanted longsword, and they are left to fend for themselves with crossbows. At one point she impales a guy with her sword, bites into his neck, and use him as cover from the others while she drains him and moves closer to them.

At this point Laughing Dead comes out of the wagon, pretty cut up, but still functioning. It has blood on all four swords, and locks on to a new target that it promptly charges recklessly.

(cont.)

You consider during a splitsecond whether you should throw another delightfully deadly javelin, or aim to vanquish their already rapidly depleting number advantage by unleashing a new undead upon them. You notice the religious guy raises his weapon resolutely once more, however, and a pale light emits from him. When it hits your servants, and Tina as well, a sizzling burn can be heard from all of them. Fodder and Laughing had it worst, while the others seem to have resisted it to some degree. It felt like some kind of holy magic. You were out of its reach, but you know by instinct that it's harmful to your Undead existance.

But that makes up your mind, that guy needs to go. You do you best to quickly raise one of the corpses near him, animating a new Zombie. It seems you've become good enough at it to not have a chance at failing, even in the midst of combat. Good.

You focus on an offensive type, and imbue it with [Undead Flame] as soon as it's made.
[Another 13 negative energy spent. You've now spent 30 out of your 30, while your Sapphire is still full, holding another 50]

The result is pretty satisfying. You've raised a Fast Zombie, a slightly more powerful variant than the regular footsoldier type Zombie, this type has eschewed any defensive properties, to gain more speed and strength, as well as raking talons instead of fingers. The holy man didn't expect his nearby fallen ally to turn on him, so he's caught rather flatfooted when it gets up and starts fiercely clawing at him. His chainmail armour helps him some, but the wicked talons and the unholy scorch of your spell leaves him bloodied and broken. After the initial assault, he's on the defence, and hardly standing anymore.

No more than twenty seconds after that, the combat is over. The whole thing took about half a minute.
Fodder #1 is barely standing (23/160 hp), and Laughing Dead took a fair beating as well (62/240 hp).
Nar doesn't seem to have taken much punishment (196/280 hp), considering he was at the brunt of it all along with Fodder #1.
Your new Fodder #2 joined late, but still took some aggro, but not as bad as it could be though (104/160 hp).
Tina pulls a crossbow bolt out of her hand, and the way that it quickly heals up kind of looks like the blood is stitching itself up. Either way, she's completely unharmed, because of her regenerative abilities. And you don't think she took a lot of damage during the combat either.

(cont.)

Level Up!
+2 accuracy
+2 evasion
+1 physical power
+1 physical defence
+3 magical power
+3 magical defence

Acquired [Taste of Fear]!
You can taste fear in the air around you. You can taste which way it's coming from, and how strongly the target feels fear.

You may select one additional ability or spell!

(here's a complete (I think) list of what you guys mentioned last time)
-Miasma aura thingy
-Dark elf camouflage, invisible while in darkness
-Corrupt an area so that it's treated like you're surrounded by corpses
-Corpse spy, sense through a minion.
-[Requiem], put a dead creature to rest for good

(You may also vote for something not on this list, I simply put it here to save y'all the trouble of looking for them in precious thread)

(Taking a break. Possible that I wont post more today. That'll also give people a better chance to react to the lvl up vote.
So, after writing all this, I can't help but think it may be a bit much to digest in one sitting.. I'm wondering if I should make shorter combat posts. What do you guys think?)

>>3006536
i honestly like it, but i wouldn't be opposed to having a bit more control, maybe another decision when the tide of battle turns, or for us to react to something happening
A decision after what you would think might be 10 or 15 seconds of combat maybe, you woudln't have to write so much at once and we can make up some combat strategies

>>3006526
so not sure what you guys think, but i would be for the 'corpse spy' we could use dead animals to spy on the camp for example

Also we should heal up Nar and Laughing, both need some hp back, after that we deal with the dead and the loot

>>3006526
-Corrupt an area so that it's treated like you're surrounded by corpses

While the other abilities are good, we should get this to make sure we have energy when needed.


Also

I agtee with >>3006555

>>3006577
Heal nar and laughin, release fodder 1 and raise the other guys until we reach our control cap

>>3006526
>-[Requiem], put a dead creature to rest for good
I find the hilarity in wielding unholy magic and yet giving the dead their final rest.
>>3006536
If not in the thick of combat and just in the back slinging spells then sure I don't mind not having much control over it outside of giving tactical/strategic commands to our undead.
If we are then yeah we're going to need to make fast choices to better simulate the speed of how combat can go when you're fighting for your life.

>>3006526
>-[Requiem], put a dead creature to rest for good

we can put it in practice with fodder 1

would it be possible to get a version of [Requiem] that puts them to rest and we get a small amount of necrotic energy?
Just 1 point per body wouldn't be a big deal

>>3006623
or fighting for our unlife

>>3006759
That seems fair, and I wouldn't object to it

>>3006768
i think it would fit well with our mentality to use the dead as a resource without forgetting that they were people once

>>3006577
I support the Corpse spy.
Soak up the death energy - 10 bandits less 1 animated =18 points?
And not to get too excited about animating these bandits - we need each head to collect the gold bounty. "Viscount Ragnar offers a reward of 10 gold coins per bandit head you bring back. And I mean literally bring the heads back "
We should raise one with some awareness to lead us back to their camp. (so 16 dark energy)
"there are around 20 bandits active in the group. Maybe even 30."
Nar can feed on bodies.

>>3006975
We can reanimate, use them to fight and them simply put them to rest to get their headss

>>3007034
i remember our reanimated butcher turning to dust when we 'layed him to rest', i don't know if that is still possible then

>>3006975
Nice overview on the info, gj on keeping track of it all.
I don't think I mentioned this, but it other than the bandits you could see from the start (10) there was an additional 5, so a total of 15, of which you raised one. So possibly up to 28 energy to harvest here!

>>3007043
Affirmative. Whenever you raise an Undead, their remains will wither away once they die again. There may be exceptions to this rule, but I can't think of one off the top of my head.

>>3007129
Also body loot!
-weapons, armor, misc pocket/ pouch contents. Probably not carrying coin when going to on robbery job, but maybe they don't trust everyone else and keep the coin on hand at all times.

>>3007191
Roger that.

If im counting this right, we so far have:

Spying through animated dead:
>>3006577
>>3006975

Requiem:
>>3006623
>>3006695

Corrupt area to be able to regain energy over time:
>>3006581

Do speak up if ive made a mistake.
Also, im not calling the vote on the ability/spell yet, i just tried to summarize where the vote seems to be at

>>3006526
>-[Requiem], put a dead creature to rest for good
Let's go with that, seems that can give experience or open doors to something. Also cut their heads can and raise a powerful one, just one because the fox told us that they will investigate the place. Take the negative energy of the rest too and try Requiem on one too see what happens.

>>3007210
we could gather the ones left over put them on a pile and burn them, the heads should be enough evidence together with the pile

>>3007202
I change to requien and want to put fodder 1 to rest as a parting gift for his services.

Cut the heads of the bandits and try to make a headless abomination, if that is not possible we should drain them for energy

Also, make sure Tina drinks her fill while they are warm

>>3007129
Also check with Nar - these don't seem to be his girlfriend's group, right? If she is some part angel - how did she feel about Nar's group killing stupid villagers?

Also -how do supposed "good" get away with being bandits robbing and killing innocents? Unless the "good" is only obedience to the theology tennets. Or are we talking more of Empire of the Petal Throne -Stability vs Chaos theology where good supports natural order and evil is change?

>>3007250
Well you only have his word to take for the supposed 'goodness' in the Aasimar he mentioned.

>Also -how do supposed "good" get away with being bandits robbing and killing innocents? Unless the "good" is only obedience to the theology tennets. Or are we talking more of Empire of the Petal Throne -Stability vs Chaos theology where good supports natural order and evil is change?
Is this a question for me, or for Nar? Im guessing for me since you mention what seems to be an rpg system. If it's for me: Evil, in this world, is defined by values like egoism, sadism, corruption, stuff like that inherently holds amounts of evil in them, depending on the circumstances. But it's all a little vague, alignment stuff.

>>3007276
... And just to be clear, I do intend to have him answer in game to that first line in your post, since it seems to me that is your intention

>>3007250
To be fair, nothing says that Aasimar (and possibly the existence of Tieflings) HAVE to cling to their ancestry's alignment. It just means that most have a genetic disposition for good. There are actual examples of evil aligned Aasimar in other settings and games. So if there are examples of that in those games, there's a good chance that Nar's girlfriend might be one of the outliers.

>>3007276
>>3007282
>>3007284

Thanks, I'm looking to get a feel on the environment. D&D alignments vs other concepts and cultural views. Are we are assumed to be evil as a Dark elf? Is it more just "dirty thieving and untrustworthy gypsies/ other ethnic slurr " unclean untouchables vs "minions and servants of forces of darkness and destruction". Likewise individual exceptions - "Yeah, gnolls are bad, but this is one of the good ones." Or "Aasimar are good, but that one is bad."

>>3007332
If you're a Dark Elf, some people will expect bad stuff from you. And those expectations takes a lot of shapes, both examples you mentioned are part of that.
Most people dont know a lot about Dark Elves, just that they are rare, and bad news. But that is not to say they expect you to do *only* bad stuff. Like, no single race acts only one way or the other. There are tendencies, and those tendencies create stereotypes.
The demon worshipping is mostly prevalent in Drow culture, not so much in Black Elf culture (but most common folk dont know that there's even a difference between the two).
Orcs are usually savage and selfish, but that doesn't mean there arent neutral or even good ones, and they arent even all that rare. An evil Aasimar would be rare, but they exist. Dark Elves? Well, hard to say, they are pretty rare around these parts, so it's hard to compare what you can expect of them. But generally people just don't trust them in various ways. But that doesnt mean that they wont be civil towards them.

>>3007388
you are speaking of the apprasing, judging or concerned looks we have gotten in Wyverns Bazar, either behind our back, or even right in our face i presume

>>3007415
Those would be examples of people with these ideas, yeah.

It wouldn't be outlandish to imagine a scenario where a Dark Elf gets beaten up by a group of people who have strong emotions towards various stuff. Like a a group of young teenagers who have a rough life and feel unfairly treated, and need to take their frustrations out on someone else, and justify it by halfassed logic like "it's your fault the Lord raised the taxes this year", or "the gods disfavor our fields because our town is nice enough to let the likes of you stay here".

Btw, before doing anything, let's use [Taste of Fear]. In competent groups, when doing missions they always have an scout to view the outcome and report to the base. Might be the case here.

I apologize for shilling it again, but consider joining the Discord, if only to get a notification when the quest is running again or if there are rolls needed

https://discord.gg/2Kszwn

>>3007553
Sorry m8, not a big fan of Discord. I've had some bad run ins with it when it came to quests.

>>3007498
Ah hah! I like your style, seeing if the fear will give us a trail akin to how a bloodhound tracks people.

>>3007553
I'm not into discord, anon, just when I have the time and see the game going on I participate, anything more going to be tiresome.

>>3007609
>>3007632
no problem, i wanted to at least say it again, when more people are active

>>3007498
good idea, supporting

[Requiem] acquired!
A brief ritual which lays the target to rest in a respectful manner, which eases the soul's journey into the afterlife. This makes it harder to raise the target as an Undead, but makes it easier to resurrect them. Grants three negative energy points if used on a corpse, or one if used on an Undead. Also rewards a small amount of experience.
Always assist the nature's balance. You lend some, you give some back. In return, you may find yourself favored by the patrons of such domains.

(will start writing a bit, will post it tonight (eta ½-2 hours))

(Its a fun idea to play this necromancer who lends the dead, but thank them for their work afterwards.
Also, since you now know what Requiem does, vote on what you wanna do with the corpses. One guy mentioned raising something from a headless corpse, if no one posts im gonna assume raise one, and put the rest to rest. You are currently at 0 negative energy, but have 50 from the gem)

>>3007849
i really like that implementation, we aren't an undead or even a necromancer by choice and it really reflects that

>>3007859
i remember we have about 15 corpses, right
in that case put 10 to rest to get back up to full, then raise 3 as an amalgamtion that we can control and 2 as helpers if our control limit allows it, otherwise put them to rest as well

they were bandits so i don't mind cutting the heads of first, before we do the raising or requiem

>>3007878
yes, 14 specifally since you raised one as a Fast Zombie. And since you've leveled up, your max capacity is 40 now.

BUT, I just realized that im gonna need to post another small update before you guys have full info to decide on who to raise or not. apologies. will post it asap.

Huh, another level up. Nice. You like the feeling. It's not a particularly strong feeling, but it's a feeling of steady growth. Every aspect of you have gotten a little better at combat, and your capacity for the dark light has increased.

It's not like killing a single bandit felt very rewarding, but fifteen of them? That did.

Tina stretches and lets out a heavy breath. "Kahhh~, man did that make me thirsty!". She then walks over to one of the dying ones, poke him with the tip of her boot, and says "well who's dainty now" with a gloating smile. She then kneels down and drains some blood. When she's done, she goes over to another to drink some more, but she pauses and say "hey, something's wrong with this one", with a puzzled look on her face.

You go over and have a look yourself. He's got a bite wound on his left arm with a burn around it, you think Nar bit him. Other than that, he seems unharmed. Only his left bicep is damaged, and yet he lies completely still, save for his eyes which are wide open. You can tell he's very frightened. Hmm, probably something to do with Nar, you haven't really checked up on his Undead type. Ah well. Looking them all over, another one is immobilized like this, while another three have crippling wounds, but aren't actively dying. The rest are either dead or dying. And you smell the fear from the two who are conscious. A quite strong fear, you have no doubt they would be running like all hells if they could.

Now what to do with them?
14 bandits, of which 8 are dying, 4 are dead, and two are just immobile.

>Write in

>>3007886
also, we should put fodder 1 to rest

>>3007893
let tina drain the dying and finish off those she doesn't drain, save one to interrogate about where their camp is

experiment with the immobile ones, see if we can break the spell to make them move again, but ultimately kill them too

after that do as >>3007878 said

>>3007896
i think that is already on the list for later

>>3007893
mercy kill the ones that are dying, then requiem to fill up some energy on 9 of them
interrogate the two away from each other, about the spy and the camp specifically
kill them quick when we are done, then we can get some help

>>3007849
Huh, I'm going to assume that the whole positive energy concept was changed from last thread or will be used for another skill or upgrade.

>>3007905
>>3007901
Supporting

>>3007944
Pretty straight on, yes. It will be more difficult to acquire a skill that allows you to handle positive energy, since your life force is now made up of negative energy. However, this skill can be used as a stepping stone to achieve that goal. If there are voters to go for it, it will probably be available as the next ability.