>>5776263

Who are you?

>The Mage Apprentice
Izirina Henzler, foundling and adopted daughter of Archmage Theresa Henzler, top of her class and skilled beyond her years, hungry for esoteric knowledge.
[Human (mostly), female (sterile), wealthy, weak in physical ability but academically and magically gifted. Has a familiar. She’s going t appear either way, but (you) can play her! Or…]

>Her hired help
Perhaps a friend, an acquaintance, or just a hired adventurer; regardless, you and Mage Apprentice Henzler were bound by threads of fate and her quest would soon become YOUR quest
[The create-a-character option, which will lead to a subsequent votes on who and what you are, and your relation to Miss Henzler. You will get to select a race, gender, background and skillset, have a wider variety of possible motivations]

[Note: This quest shares a setting with Reptilian Infiltrator Quest and Dragonborn Antipaladin Quest, which you can check out at https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=reptoidqm, but these quests are NOT required reading and any characters or concepts which crop up will be properly explained insofar as relevant. Jump right in, and enjoy the ride!]
[The character art is a modified sketch by Roinujw on Fiverr]

>>5776266
>Her hired help

>>5776266
>Her hired help

>>5776266
>The Mage Apprentice
Oh! I’d love to play as Izirina!

>>5776266
>>The Mage Apprentice

>>5776266
>The Mage Apprentice

>>5776266
>The Mage Apprentice

>>5776263
>>The Mage Apprentice

>>5776266
Also wouldn’t mind playing as the hired help desu

>>5776266
>The Mage Apprentice

A different Izzy it is!

>>5776266
>Her hired help

I want to sex the apprentice

>>5776266
>Her hired help

>>5776263
>>The Mage Apprentice

Who the fuck would want to play second fiddle?

>>5776266
>Her hired help
This will give us a reliable way to fill in any missing gaps from the get go, and we might not get another opportunity to make another character with this level of control to suit our interests and needs. It's also a bit more interesting from a narrative perspective.

>>5776333
Who says we're second fiddle? That's what an apprentice is anyway.

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>>5776333
>>5776336

[You're the main character either way, ultimately. Don't worry about that. Following advice in the /qtg/, the second choice simply sets up two main characters, with you being the viewpoint one either way]

[It's a close so far, so I'll leave the vote open a bit longer. Now's a good time to establish a few rules and norms of the quest for people who haven't played my last two, anyway.]

[Firstly: after the first few votes in a thread, I don't allow 1post IDs on contentious votes. Use a trip or backlink if you have a dynamic IP or otherwise expect it to change, and that will usually do the trick.]

[Second: I do the rolling in these quests, rather than using a Bo3 or anything. I roll 1d20 for any given task, and additional d20 for every extra rank you gain in a related skill, with a bonus die or two if you have other related skills. The usual DC is 15, which you pass if one d20 beats it, though the DC may be modified up or down based on difficulty or circumstances. If you roll even one 20, it's a crit; if you roll a 1, and no OTHER die beats the DC, it's a crit fail.]

>>5776337
In that case let me post again so I can remember what ID I was.

>>5776266
>Her hired help

>>5776337
Let me trip just in case

>>5776266
>The Mage Apprentice

>>5776266
>female (sterile)
is this due to old age or something else ?

>>5776389
[We'll elaborate upon that when/if it comes up! She's only in her late twenties, though.]

>>5776393
Late twenties but still an apprentice?

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>>5776405
[She's a prodigy.]

>>5776263
>Her hired help

>The Mage Apprentice

>>5776266
>Her hired help

>>5776266
>Her hired help

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>>5776429
>>5776428
>>5776421
>>5776419
>>5776388
>>5776349
>>5776336
>>5776333
>>5776329
>>5776327
>>5776321
>>5776318
>>5776302
>>5776301
>>5776299
>>5776297
>>5776296
>>5776278
>>5776273
[Locked for the help! Writing!]

[A note: I'm between jobs until next week I got one! and so probably will be updating two-to-four time a day over the next few days, then dropping down to one or two updates a day thereafter.]

>>5776436
Congrats QM, I hope you enjoy your new job.

>>5776266
>>The Mage Apprentice

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>>5776446
[Thank you!]

>>5776448
[Bit late, anon.]

>>5776436

This is the story of Izirina Henzler—at least, that’s how it’s usually told. Foundling daughter of the famed and feared Archmage Theresa Henzler, premier chimericist and greatest magical mind of a generation—that’s what they say. Izirina followed in her adoptive mother’s footsteps (though admittedly she probably benefitted a little from the access to her mother’s knowledge and resources to do so). It is a foolhardy Mages’ Tower that allows their students to begin practicing spellcraft before their late teens or early twenties, and a truly reckless one that turns them loose to practice it openly and without supervision without ten years of theory under their belt… yet there she was, in her mid-to-late-twenties, top of her class and ready to make her name and ascend to greatness! If she was an intimidating name in her academic career BEFORE, well, she was about to rise to become a towering figure in just about every field of magical study there was: arcana, theosophy, alchemy, natural philosophy, cosmology, and more!

Of course, she ended up being more than just an ever-present name in a hundred textbooks and treatises to YOU. And this isn’t JUST her story, though. It’s also yours. You were there every step of the way. Oh, to many a human mage you are remembered as merely ‘the hired help’, the ‘hanger on’, a ‘member of her party’… But you both know the truth of it. To those who know fo you, you are a legend in your own right.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?

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>>5776457
I asked you once, but I’ll ask you again: WHO ARE YOU?

>A young human mage-in-training from the Mages Tower, second only to Izirina
[Bonus to arcana and to two others field of study, notable wealth and resources, can cast more advanced magic]
>A half-orc guardsman and aspiring applicant of the Holy Order of Paladins, given the task of protecting Izirina
[Bonus to combat, athleticism, and religion, can perhaps eventually cast divine spells but not yet, extra HP; social disadvantages almost everywhere]
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong
[Bonus to magic, natural philosophy, illusion, and music; everyone thinks you're beautiful and elegant]
>A goblin pickpocket (by necessity, mind you!), outcast from polite society and forced to make ends meet by robbing folks—especially wealthy brats
[Bonuses to stealth, intimidation, athleticism, combat; less HP; can NEVER cast spells, but are resistant to magic as well]
>A dark elf diplomat from the world below, tasked by your king with making a travelogue of the surface-world, understanding its workings and its people
[Bonus to diplomacy, athleticism, and arcana; you are uncommonly graceful and beauteous, but people are wary of you]
>Write-in
[If creating your own character, feel free to pitch pretty much race, class, profession, or character concept! If it REALLY doesn’t fit the setting or I have no idea how I’d write it, I’ll let you know and veto it, but this is largely a ‘kitchen sink’ kind of fantasy setting and I can probably fit it in somehow. keep it broad for now -- no sex/gender, no name, not yet.]

>>5776458
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong

>>5776458
>A half-orc guardsman and aspiring applicant of the Holy Order of Paladins, given the task of protecting Izirina

>>5776458
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong
The Jez option is very tempting too

>>5776458
>Write in
>A grizzled human smith from a sect of divine craftsmanship within the Holy Order of Paladins, sent to offer Izirina prudence, knowledge, and fine equipment only well-lived experience can provide
[Bonus to religion, craftsmanship, arcana, and combat; you are capable of channeling divine magic with tools and preparation, but age and brushes with death in service of your order have caught up with you]

>>5776458
>Write-In
A Reptilian Steeltalon Infiltrator, rescaped from the greater cataclysm and taken under the care of the Archimagus, dreaming of a mysterious toothed black swords hidden in the depth

Izzy
>>5776296
>>5776297
>>5776299
>>5776301
>>5776302
>>5776321
>>5776333
>>5776388
>>5776421

Help
>>5776273
>>5776278
>>5776327
>>5776329
>>5776336
>>5776349
>>5776419
>>5776428
>>5776429

Am I smoking something here?

>>5776458
>A young human mage-in-training from the Mages Tower, second only to Izirina
Edwin ;_;

>>5776458
>>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong

>>5776458
>Write-in: A half giant aspiring shaman, from the savage far north. Sent to hawksong to gain formal education to help aid his clan in the future.
[Bonus to combat, athleticism, intimidation and magic, social disadvantages and people are fearful of you.]

>>5776458
>A dark elf diplomat from the world below, tasked by your king with making a travelogue of the surface-world, understanding its workings and its people

>>5776458
>Write-in
>A Human Paladin, sworn to the Gods of Light, native of the capital city of Hawksong
Wanna play as the other side this time

>>5776501
This anon said he wouldn't mind being a helper, so I think QM took it as a tie breaker
>>5776318

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>>5776501
[It was a tie with one person expressing willingness to play either, so I made a judgement call since we were about at the four hour mark and I wanted to write. I figured the very option you picked would allow those who wanted to be a human mage but didn't care about being THAT human mage to make their case as well, but at a certain point I had to call it.]

[Speaking of tallying...]

>Elven mystic:
>>5776462
>>5776477
>>5776502

>Half-orc guard:
>>5776475

>Grizzled smith:
>>5776487

>Reptilian infiltrator:
>>5776493

>Human mage:
>>5776501

>Dark-elf diplomat:
>>5776507

>Human paladin:
>>5776509

[We have a diversity of options! Keep in mind this is first-past-the-post, though -- character creation can't last forever! In a little under four hours, I'll tally votes. Multipost IDs/trips and back-linked posts will be given priority in the event of a close call. A runoff vote will only be held if I really feel I can't judge, and even then only if one of the leading options doesn't have way more appeal to me personally.]

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>>5776503
[Oops, you too..]
>half-giant shaman
See >>5776525

>>5776458
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong
I wanted to play Izirina but I'll settle for the next best thing big titty elf

>>5776458
>A runaway easterling female monk with big booba, on her journey to achieve mental, spiritual and physical perfection...at least that was the plan, until you ran away from the monastery seeking adventure and something new.

>>5776458
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong

>>5776525
Switch my vote to this.
>>A dark elf diplomat from the world below, tasked by your king with making a travelogue of the surface-world, understanding its workings and its people

Since half gaint defo won't be able to win.

>>5776458
>A human paladin

>>5776553
I like it as an option, I would be willing to switch if more people do.

>>5776555
I meant I liked the half-giant by the way, not the dark elf

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>>5776545
[Interesting, interesting. Seems like a lot of you folks who want to play a warrior rather than a mage may wish to find a unifying character to rally around though of course an elven mystic could still learn some combat prowess down the line]

>>5776547
[Oh, and remember: no choosing sex or gender yet. Sorry, was gonna' tell this to both you and >>5776545, as a reminder]

>>5776561
Fuck it. I don't want to play as another caster. I will support the giant shaman option.
>>5776503
Switching from monk
>>5776547

>>5776563
[Anon, the shaman pick is a warrior AND a caster by the way it's described.]

>>5776559
What does the different colors mean?

>>5776569
Well yeah QM but it's better than being some pansy ass elf who can't walk into melee...but to be fair I'd go for either the goblin or the half-orc too

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>>5776570
[Red votes are non-backlinked 1post IDs. Orange votes are IDS who weren't in the first vote or backlinked to the first voter, but have since been used for multiple responses more than a few minutes apart. In my quests, I usually keep track of the vote percentage of: all votes; votes where the ID has never cast a vote before but has supporting evidence it's legit; votes where the ID has only voted once and has no such evidence. This early in, it doesn't tell me much, but as a thread goes on it helps to get ahead of fears about vote-rigging.]

>>5776573
[Noted and adjusted accordingly.]

>>5776458
I am >>5776501 and >>5776296, >>5776318

Don’t mind switching off protagonists or trying a dual protagonist quest, but I definitely prefer playing Izzy over Newbody McFreshface

Just wanted to add
>Kitsune Trickster
Since it’s been awhile since one appeared.

Also considering me supporting >>5776475, >>5776487, >>5776493, >>5776545, >>5776547- they generally interest me some for hidden lore reasons =P

>>5776477
Ditto- but the culture repulses me. Would support if it was Jaz’s sister or something.

>>5776553
Already played a huge shaman- don’t mind huge, but I prefer to play around as a mage or sword autist

>>5776563
But I liked the monk… ;_;

>>5776627
(I'm the original monkposter
>>5776547 - switched to mobile).
I mean anon if you are willing to support the monk I'd be ok with switching back. I just wanted to give one of the disparate martial options my vote so there can be some momentum going. Plus I think the whole easterling lore is unexplored and want to see some of it here.

>>5776641
>>5776627
[Please choose one main option, anons. Take pity on your poor, weary QM and his smooth, lizardlike brain. This is why we lizardpeople put fluoride in your water, you know: to make it easier to tally votes on /qst/ by simplifying your thought processes. Literally the entire reason.]

>>5776641
I can support monk too
>>5776652
I think we are just discussion our and potentially other anon's willingness to change votes before making the move, to not make counting a mess

>>5776652
Alright fine QM. I'm going to commit.
>>5776641
>>5776563
>>5776547
These are me. I'm switching back to monk and committing to monk. Vote monk in the hopes that one day, you can suplex a reptilian/paladin off a cliff.

>>5776458
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong

>>5776656
You know what, I'll commit as well
>>5776462
>Switching to Monk

>>5776458
>A young human mage-in-training from the Mages Tower, second only to Izirina

>>5776509
>>5776652
I'll switch to monk as well. I prefer it to the elf.

>>5776458
>A young human mage-in-training from the Mages Tower, second only to Izirina

>>5776458
>Goblin
>Spellcaster

Ooga booga goblin shaman much more entertaining than gay elf duelist or tree-hugger mage

>>5776677
Oh yeah since no support for goblin let's go
>>Human
instead. Much better than gay nature tree hugging magic stupid fucking elves

>>5776458
>An elven mystic and follower of the True Fey and the Gods of Nature, on a religious pilgrimage abroad which brought you through Hawksong
Embrace the knife ears

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>>5776458
>A goblin pickpocket (by necessity, mind you!), outcast from polite society and forced to make ends meet by robbing folks—especially wealthy brats

>A young human mage-in-training from the Mages Tower, second only to Izirina

>>5776503
+1

>>5776458
>A goblin pickpocket (by necessity, mind you!), outcast from polite society and forced to make ends meet by robbing folks—especially wealthy brats

Just because it's funny to imagine this goblin pickpocket close to the prodigal mage.

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>>5776717
>>5776705
>>5776701
>>5776689
>>5776679
>>5776678
>>5776676
>>5776674
>>5776666
>>5776663
>>5776659
>>5776656
>>5776554
>>5776553
>>5776551
>>5776545
>>5776507
>>5776502
>>5776501
>>5776493
>>5776487
>>5776477
>>5776475
[Locked and writing ASAP!]

>>5776641
Exactly- it’s why I brought up the Kitsune Trickster

>>5776652
Can’t- busy at work, don’t know when I’ll get the chance to input or clarify my opinion before the vote gets locked, like with >>5776723 or the duel between Izzy and McFreshface.

I will say- the water does taste delicious though, ngl.

>>5776723
The race and origin votes were sperate? Or are we going to play a half elf mage/mystic combo?

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>>5776739
[Not QUITE, but I was keeping an aggregate tally of both given the VERY split nature of the vote, so you and I did arrive at the same composite solution...]

>>5776727
>>5776723
Well, for one thing, you’re an elf… or at least, you’re half of one. Half a human, too! More importantly than either, though, you are a MAGE. In your youth, you were trained among the elven mystics of the Iternagreyn Mage’s Tower—really more of a modest spire among a grove of immodestly-towering evergreen trees, though perhaps you are simply remembering them larger than they were, in the manner children are wont to do. One thing that WAS towering, undeniably so, was the history of the place! Hawksong may tout itself as ‘shining city on the hill’, the pinnacle of human(oid) civilization, but the Living library of the elven capital DWARFS (not offence meant to the Stout Folk) anything at humanity’s disposal.

The problem was that, before long, you began to dwarf you fellow initiates.

The longer you lived and studied among your fullblooded fellows, the more your human ancestry began to make itself known. You hit puberty half a decade earlier than the others and sprouted up like a beanpole relative to their fine frames. Even as you outpaced them in some fields of magic, you fell rapidly behind them in mastery of natural magics such animal friendship and plant-shaping , and in the Subtle Arts of the fey—music, dance, illusion, and other fine things which come naturally to the ‘true’ Children of the Fair Folk.

And so you chose—‘chose’—to make your way to Hawksong.

The elves of your homeland were not cruel, of course: they gave you gold, such as men and the other races covet, to buy your way safely to the de facto capitol of the northwestern world, and to cover your ‘tuition’ (what a concept!) and living expenses (you need to BUY food here! imagine!). And here, among children technically half a decade your junior (but at roughly the same height and stage of intellectual and physical, ahem, development) you found your niche: the big fish in the small pond, the world traveller, the most popular and attractive student of your peer-group…

Until you met Izirina Henzler.

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>>5776774
Okay, well, maybe you were still the best-LOOKING, and maybe even the most popular… But that didn’t stop people from treating Henzler like SHE was number one. She was frumpy, dark-skinned and hazel-eyed, constantly tugging at her ruddy-brown bangs, hiding herself in an overlarge robe that fit her more like a tent, mumbling and unable to hold eye-contact for the life of her, and yet they all sucked up to her—the teacher’s pet, the Archmage’s daughter.

And, damnit, you’re not too proud to admit it to YORUSELF at least: she was the smarter of the two of you—almost always faster with the answer or, Gods Above forbid, slower than you but RIGHTER than you, correcting your own hastily-shouted solution with a better or more complete equivalent.

Cast out by your mother’s race, you’d finally started to build up your confidence here among your father’s folk—even to excel—only for this… This HUMAN GIRL to make you look second-rate, second-best, just ‘that wacky foreigner’ instead of the BEST of them.
‘Oh, the half-elf is better at natural philosophy, though!’ someone might say.

‘Well, of course,’ someone would surely answer, ‘it’s in the bloody EARS!’

Then, FINALLY, you found the subject in which you could excel—a HUMAN field, or at least one not stereotypically Fey. One in which Izirina struggled—even better! Even now, all these years later, it’s the one area of expertise where you dominate, and where your childhood rival flounders…

>Elementalism & Extraplanar Studies
>Medical Magic & Living Alchemy
>Hexes, Curses, & Their Cures
>Global Magic Studies
>Ancient Arcana
>Write-in

>>5776775
>Gender Studies

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>>5776780
[As wizards have no sense of right and wrong, they do not offer progressive social curricula. Try again, please.]

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>>5776775
>Reproductive Health

>>5776775
almost voted gender studies for the memes
>write in: conjuration and summoning
If we can't be the martial, I want to summon in martials

>>5776775
>Medical Magic & Living Alchemy

>>5776775
>Ancient Arcana
Makes sense, we probably have a head start in this field after learning with the long lived elves.

>>5776775
>Write in
>Chronological Graviturgy, a comparatively recent study of the forces generated by manipulating space-time

>>5776775
>>Reproductive Health

>>5776784
>ID hoping again
I am these posts
>>5776547
>>5776641

>>5776783
>>5776790
[I'll allow it, but if this or something similar wins, I'm treating it as 'Magical Bloodlines & Heredity", a high-level elective of Medical Magic & Living Alchemy.]

>>5776775
>>Medical Magic & Living Alchemy
Is this the one for making love potions?

>The coomers arrived
It was fun while it lasted.

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>>5776827
[Were that your objective, this WOULD be the best of the listed fields to focus on.]

>>5776775
>Write-in: Living Alchemy, Transmutation, & Chimerical studies.

Lets make some flesh horror body guards.

>>5776775
>Magical Bloodlines & Heredity

Those who govern birth - govern life itself.

Seriously, this is strong. Really strong. We could make a killing selling contraceptives and abortifacients. Such a thing will always be in demand.

>>5776843
>>5776689
Oh hey SQM

>>5776845
things might come full circle.

>>5776842
+1
Dabble into biomancy.

>>5776775
>Ancient Arcana

>>5776775
>Magical Bloodlines & Heredity

>>5776839
I could see how you’d come to that conclusion, but I actually meant it as a cosmic irony sorta a thing, and a dig at something our rival would never have.

>>5776839
RQM quests have always been coomer friendly, so I'm not sure what you expected.

>>5776775
>>5776842
+1

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>>5776902
[I'm sure I have no idea what you mean.] cough cough

>>5776839
[In all seriousness, though, I don't come to /qst/ to write pornography. This quest will not be some quest for dick and/or vag, but for esoteric knowledge. Sex will be implied or glossed over with an emphasis on character dynamics and emotional fallout at most, or skipped over with brief allusion if there's no plot relevance to a given romp. This is not Fuck Quest, and current board rules and norms would never allow it to be. Hell, it's not even Elf Maiden. This is a place for ADVENTURE, and romance is just one element of such.]

>>5776775
>Medical Magic & Living Alchemy

>>5776913
That's good to know. I'm looking forward to it. Watch out for shitters though, there have been a lot of them appearing on the board over the past month or two.

Romance and SFW smut has been an important part of pulp and fantasy fiction since Robert E. Howard you uncultured plebs.

>>5776913
You could write the nsfw part in a google docs and put a link there

If you want to, of course.

>>5776930
There's romance. Then there's cooming.

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>>5776930
>>5776943
[Well-said, both.]

>>5776935
[Don't count on it, anon.]

>>5776926
[Shitters have to work pretty hard to derail on my quests between my vote-counting system and my writing style. Don't worry -- I have a good track record. Been writing pretty continuously on here for over two years.]

>>5776924
>>5776908
>>5776891
>>5776874
>>5776871
>>5776843
>>5776842
>>5776827
>>5776790
>>5776789
>>5776787
>>5776785
>>5776784
>>5776783
[Closing the vote in thriteen minutes and writing one more update before bed! I'll normally try to leave at least a four hour window, but barring a sudden surge of votes, we seem to have a clear favourite.]

>>5776775
>Ancient Arcana
TELL US ABOUT OUR EARS. HOW POINTY ARE THEY?

>>5776775
>Hexes, Curses, & Their Cures
>Global Magic Studies
>Ancient Arcana
Can we get interesting knowledge instead of being a healslut?

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>>5776971
>>5776979
[Bit late, buds, and the vote stayed where it was anyway. Also...]
>three votes
[Come now, anon, don't get greedy. Also: Life Magic offers up paths to MANY interesting avenues besides just healing.]

>>5776924
>>5776908
>>5776891
>>5776874
>>5776871
>>5776843
>>5776842
>>5776827
>>5776790
>>5776789
>>5776787
>>5776785
>>5776784
>>5776783
>>5776950
How ironic—the Great Henzler, daughter of the former Head Chimericist herself, and her weakness was LIFE MAGIC! Yes, for all her mastery of elemental forces, she failed to muster a simple illness-mitigation spell to help fight off something as simple as a common cold. Oh, she might be able to tell you the history, uses, and dangers of yokai and asura to the East, an aziza to the South, as well as the best practices to summon and bind any spirit of the elemental planes, but ask her to patch a booboo and Izirina Henzler was practically helpless. She could remove a hex, but not remove a blister; list every great mage and the dates of their births and deaths going back a thousand years, but not so much as IDENTIFY skeletal simialrities or analogous organs between different organisms, let ALONE modify them!
“Wow,” she’s said one day, watching you work over your still-alive, pain-numbed newt with forceps in one hand and a cutting-wand in the other. “You’re really good at this sort of stuff, huh? With animals, and their bodies and life-force and stuff?”

“Yes,” you’d confirmed, feeling a little smug.

“Is it because you’re an—”

“It is NOT,” you’d snapped, wheeling on her, “because I am an ELF.”

“O-oh,” she’d replied, paling a little and falling silent as you quickly turned back about and began resuscitating the now-twitching amphibian, and began piecing it back together.

“It’s BECAUSE,” you’d said, feeling your face burn with embarrassment and (perhaps slightly misdirected) irritation, “I am BETTER than you.”

(At this, at least…)

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>>5777007
Which spell did you first find yourself mastering?
>Cure Wounds
[Restores HP, heals physical wounds, but can’t restore a lopped off limb or resurrect the dead]
>Purify
[Makes food and water potable, eliminating consumed poisons; can even cure a poisoned or envenomed person, if you act fast and cast well]
>Calm
[Works best on animals, but it can soothe a sentient with a bit more effort; useful for numbing pain]
>Stabilize
[Can stop bleeding, stymie shock, and keep a dying individual alive long enough to receive more serious medical attention; easier to cast than most healing spells]
>Contagion
[You can INFLICT an illness with life magic, too… It’s as easy as a machinist flipping a switch in reverse, if you understand the mechanism…]
>Bull’s Strength
[With some effort, you can invigorate the muscles and stimulate the body’s hormonal output to allow a person to access strength usually only available when in a life-or-death scenario… But overuse risks serious damage to the subject.]
>Write-in
[Keep it reasonable.]
[Note: with a Life Magic roll you can attempt all sorts of things, but spells you KNOW will always have a lower DC and come more easily, and can be ‘up-cast’ with addition effort or mana.]

Don't vote yet, though, there's more!

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>>5777013
Classes in this subject continued to come easily to you. You were, for WHATEVER reason, a natural at 'Medical Magic & Living Alchemy’, the much-coveted magic of great healers, useful when the Gods’ chosen priests and paladins were otherwise occupied. All that year, and the next, you excelled while in this ONE specific area, your rival fell behind. While you were being offered you pick between advanced electives like ‘Magical Bloodlines & Heredity’ and ‘Transmutation, & Chimerical Studies’, HENZLER was held back after class, assigned special tutors (must be nice!), and she STILL looked set to be held back a year in this particular field.

Well, she was three years younger than anyone ELSE in the class anyway, let alone YOU, so it served her right!

But then came the day when you forgot your notes in class, busy chatting with your classmates. When you returned, you found Henzler in the room … or, rather, you found HenzlerS, plural.

“I cannot believe this,” sighed Henzler the Elder—ARCHMAGE Henzler!

You’d never actually seen the woman in person, but EVERYONE knew the Archmage by reputation. There was no mistaking her. She had icy-blonde hair beneath her tall, pointed hat with its gleaming star-emblem of office. Her piercing blue eyes shone out of a curiously stiff but undeniably beautiful, pale face, so unlike her (well, adopted, so duh) daughter’s. According to rumours, the Archmage was at LEAST a hundred years old, but so skilled in Chimericism—in LIFE MAGIC and LIVING ALCHEMY, you best subjects!—that she still had the face and body of a twenty-year-old. Her voice certainly had a bit of the rumbling fry of the aged to it, though… And in truth, it seemed the overlarge, frumpy outfits ran in the family, since you couldn’t speak to the Elder Henzler’s BODY at all beneath her robes of office.

“I’m sorry mu—”

A chill silence fell between the two.

“I’m sorry, Madame Archmage,” whispered Henzler the Younger—Izirina Henzler, the one you were used to calling ‘Henzler’.

“It’s just pathetic,” the Archmage remarked, without obvious invective but nevertheless with all the feeling of a judge’s sentence. “You are SUPPOSED to be my daughter, you know.”

“I’m trying, but I just… It’s difficult for me.”

“Which is why you have the tutors,” Archmage Henzler snapped at Baby Henzler, voice not raising but pace increasing like a salvo of upcast <Magic Missiles>, “and the remedial lessons, and the access to rare books NOBODY else has access to, and the exercises, and—”

“Maybe it’s because of… Of what’s wrong with me?” asked Little (well, slightly shorter than you) Henzler.

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>>5777015
The Archmage’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Did you just interrupt me?”

“S-sorry, Madame Archamge.”

Another chilly silence, and then the Elder Henzler turned on heel with eerie fluidity, without so much as a rise and fall or the sound fo a shoe-sole scuffing. Was she… Was she LEVITATING under those layers??

“You ARE a sorry thing,” the Archmage had noted, “and there is more ‘wrogn with you’ than I suspect EITHER of us can begin to comprehend.”

Izirina Henzler pulled down her round-tipped, unbanded student’s cap to cover her eyes and mumbled: “Yes, Madame Archmage.”

Peeking from the corner of the doorway with unavoidable voyeuristic curiosity, you realized with a start that the Archmage—THE FREAKING ARCHMAGE—was headed your way! This entire scene—seeing the ‘golden girl’ get torn a new one by maybe the WORLD’S GREATEST SORCERESS—was so surreal that you almost forgot that you probably weren’t supposed to see or hear all this…

What did you do?
>Confront the Archmage about her treatment of Izirina—you two might not be FRIENDS, but she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!
>Duck and cover—find somewhere to hide! The Archmage is scary—scarier than the rumours, and the rumours say she experiments on troublesome young initiates!
>Approach her and make a good first impression—after all, if she values LIFE MAGES, well, you’re top of your gods-damned CLASS! Maybe she’d like to talk shop…?
>Write-in

>>5777013
>bull's strength
What could go wrong with giving a wizard magical steroids.
>>5777016
>Confront the Archmage about her treatment of Izirina—you two might not be FRIENDS, but she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!
Give the Archmage a taste of the bull

>>5777017
>IP mutated again
Backlinking
>>5776784
>>5776547
>>5776641

>>5777013
>Bull’s Strength
>>5777016
>Confront the Archmage about her treatment of Izirina—you two might not be FRIENDS, but she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!

>>5777013
>Cure Wounds
Most useful, if we are going to fight and experiment on the fly.

>>5777016
>Approach her and make a good first impression—after all, if she values LIFE MAGES, well, you’re top of your gods-damned CLASS! Maybe she’d like to talk shop…?
Tutoring, yea?

>>5777013
>Cure Wounds

>>5777026
[The vote has two parts, anon...]

>>5777026
>>5777029

>>Confront the Archmage about her treatment of Izirina—you two might not be FRIENDS, but she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!

I want to go "Cure Wound" and then Contagion-like to become something like an Hemomancer.
Well, as an elf, an Emo-Hemomancer.
Graze ennemi. Pull blood out until he's dry. Use bloody missils. Get more blood.

>>5777013
>Cure Wounds
Heal slut time

>>5777016
>Approach her and make a good first impression—after all, if she values LIFE MAGES, well, you’re top of your gods-damned CLASS! Maybe she’d like to talk shop…?

>>5777013
>Cure Wounds
>>5777016
>Approach her and make a good first impression—after all, if she values LIFE MAGES, well, you’re top of your gods-damned CLASS! Maybe she’d like to talk shop…?

>>5777016
>Cure Wounds
>Duck and cover—find somewhere to hide! The Archmage is scary—scarier than the rumours, and the rumours say she experiments on troublesome young initiates!
Her treatment of her daughter is absolutely disgusting, but let's not be the one to tell her that until we master combat magic and curse defence.

>>5777079
Oh, and this is me: >>5776475

>>5777016
>bull's strength

>Approach her and make a good first impression—after all, if she values LIFE MAGES, well, you’re top of your gods-damned CLASS! Maybe she’d like to talk shop…?

Those rare magic books Izirina has been getting has me chomping at the bit. If we are going to become the next generations greatest fleshweaver we need some of that sauce.

>>5777013
>Disguise, by turning someone's face into something else, changing hair color etc

>>5777016
>Duck and cover—find somewhere to hide! The Archmage is scary—scarier than the rumours, and the rumours say she experiments on troublesome young initiates!

>>5777184
My ID got reset for some reason. This is me >>5776971

>>5777184
>Disguise, temporary transformation of features
[Possible, but at your currently level rather impractical and dangerous, especially when as an elf you could do this more easily with illusion WITHOUT risking looking like a bad botox job or the kid from Mask at the end.]

>>5777016
>Cure Wounds
the classic

>Confront the Archmage about her treatment of Izirina—you two might not be FRIENDS, but she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!

oh man, I forgot about the other surviving Yosef

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>>5777349
>>5777184
>>5777111
>>5777079
>>5777076
>>5777073
>>5777033
>>5777026
>>5777024
>>5777021
>>5777017
[Locked and writing!]

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>>5777359
You felt your heartbeat quicken, and start to move to hide. You shouldn’t have been there, obviously! Or, well… You actually SHOULD have, to get your notes, but you shouldn’t have just listened in like that, surely?

And yet… You didn’t move. You can’t. And so you came face-to-face with Archmage Theresa Henzler for the first time.

“Hm? What’s this?”

She peered down at you, past a pair of glasses that, from a quick survey with your mage’s Second Sight, you could tell are neither for correcting her eyes nor purely decorative—they were enchanted, a magical item.

“Ah,” she says, when you didn’t speak up, “the half-elf. Yes, I’d heard about you.”

“Y-you have?” you asked, unable to help yourself from fawning a little bit, even blushing. The Archmage of Hawksong’s Mages Tower has HEARD of you? PERSONALLY?

“Well, if I hadn’t, the ears would still be a dead giveaway,” she noted. “And anyway, my… DAUGHTER… has spoken of you. A reasonable student, I’m told, and gifted in the Artes Vitae—biology, living alchemy, medical magic. That sort of thing. A worthy discipline. She says you can even cast a <Cure> spell of some potency and reliability, despite your age.”

“I can,” you saaid proudly.

“Well,” the Archmage corrected herself, tutting, “I say ‘despite your age, but I guess I ought to refer to your stage of development, in your hybrid lifecycle. You are in fact… What was it? Twenty years old, in a class of sixteen-year-old humans, and among the shortest and least mature among them. Hm. Still, respectable enough.”

Your words dried up in your throat.

“Now, move.”

You didn’t, and so Archmage Henzler raises an eyebrow. For a moment, you feared that her gaze would strike you dead—like a <Power Word>, but silent; like a <Chill Touch>, with just a glance. You trembled, slightly, and yet:

“You’re wrong about your daughter, Madame Archmage."

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>>5777401
You saw Izirina Henzler jump slightly at this direct acknowledgement, out of the corner of your eye—though only the corner, because you cannot bring yourself to look away from her mother’s terrible, beautiful visage.

“Oh?” she asked. “I don’t recall asking your opinion, CHILD.”

You bristled slightly at her tone—and at the way she’s treating your rival—no, your classmate, her own DAUGHTER. It disgusted you, even as you could not help but fear and admire the Archmage as a scholar of the arcane. That slight offence, that dawning disgust, they metastasized into something dangerous: defiance.

“She’s one of the best students in EVERY other class,” you retorted. “No—THE best! And she’s the youngest while I’m… Like you said, I have advantages, and she’s STILL beating me in every field. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this when she’s doing so well.”

“She ought to be doing better than ‘well’,” the Archmage replied coolly, unflustered. “She has my name, and she’d do well to live up to it. That doesn’t mean ‘doing well’. It means EXCELLING. I do not breed nor rear weaklings. I REPROCESS them into perfect specimens. That’s why I’M the Archmage…”

She raised a sleeve-hidden hand and, allowing the fabric to fall away, gestured but slightly with her slim, almost bloodless fingers. You felt your world tip sideways as a spectral wind lifts you off your feet and hurl you sidelong, crashing into a decorative display representing a gryphon—one of those which the Paladins of the Holy order of Hawksong ride, produced by this very Tower’s chimera breeding program.

“…And why you are nothing.”

You could not respond, dazed and (if you are any judge) lightly concussed. The Archmage drifted by, not looking at you once as she departed… But Little Henzler, Izirina, rushed to you. She held her hands to her mouth, staring with eyes wide and watery… And then she, too, scurried off, without a word. Ungrateful!

Or… Well, maybe just embarrassed, and scared.

You sighed, breathing out some of your spite and envy, and breathing in understanding and compassion, just as the druids of the Iternagreyn Tower taught you to do. All living things develop in the shape of their environments, after all… And BY THE GODS what an environment Izirina Henzler had found herself to grow within!

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>>5777406
The next week of classes, the ‘golden child’ of the Tower was quieter than usual, withdrawn. It didn’t stop her from beating your exam scores in every damn class, of course (ugh), but in the practical demonstrations and in-class lectures, yours were once more the loudest, most confident, and most often and most wholly CORRECT. You felt like the star again and, for all her ill-earned popularity, Izirina Henzler’s hangers-on did not come to comfort her, but take their lunch and study breaks with you in her emotional absence.

And then, of course, came Living Alchemy. Your mousy, fussy-moustached proctor organized the qualifying students into teams of two, for a partner is necessary to quickly organize and add the ingredients for the healing potions you are making—special herbs and alchemical compounds of rare and distilled metals, passed over runes and into a pot maintained at a careful temperature, so that a <Cure> spell can be retained in a solution, its magical effects preserved to be used later. Any error in timing, in temperature, in quantity or quality in ingredients, in the words or motions and magical application will weaken the potion or render it otherwise inferior.

You were the undisputed master of this class, of course, and you were thus the favourite pick for a partner. Every boy and girl was quick to cozy up to you… Except Izirina Henzler, who fussed with her disorganized ingredients in a corner, looking helpless.

What did you do?
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic
[Learn a second spell in the field, gain acclaim and respect]
>Picked Izirina Henzler as your partner, hampering your own performance slightly but beginning a relationship of tutelage and (eventually) friendship
[Henzler learns <Cure> as well, and you improve your relationship with her]

[Either choice will also affect your options moving forward, how other characters view them, and how I characterize the MC in dialogue and internal monologue.]

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic.

We already stuck up for her instead of trying for the opportunity to gain special lessons. No reason to gimp our in class education as well, considered she beats us in all other fields.

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

Normally I can head correct the typos but I don't know what cement is supposed to be here.

>>5777410
>Picked Izirina Henzler as your partner, hampering your own performance slightly but beginning a relationship of tutelage and (eventually) friendship
What a bitch

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

>>5777433
>>5777410
>*the most competent and capable student
[Autocorrect, WHAT?? Are you day-drinking again, computer?]

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

LETSSSSS GOOO FUCK YOU BITCH WE WIIIIIIIN

>>5777410
>>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic
SUCK IT

>>5777446
It's clearly drinking wet cement

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>>5777410
>when the second most capable student in your field is a rock
lol
>Picked Izirina Henzler as your partner, hampering your own performance slightly but beginning a relationship of tutelage and (eventually) friendship
I prefer Izzy over someone’s pet rock- like, just imagine us getting more knowledge in another interesting field from this.

>>5777410
>Picked Izirina Henzler as your partner, hampering your own performance slightly but beginning a relationship of tutelage and (eventually) friendship
We can learn from her just as she can us

>>5777523
Rather than turning both of us into hodgepodges I'd want us to each excel in our separate fields.

Also she didn't say thank you after we stood up to her mom. Hell, she didn't even ask if we were ok after her mom flung us across a hall. She can survive the cold shoulder for a bit.

>>5777410
>Picked Izirina Henzler as your partner, hampering your own performance slightly but beginning a relationship of tutelage and (eventually) friendship

>>5777410
>>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

>>5777566
She's Hermione without Harry and Ron- no friends and social skills. Give her some slack bro.

>>5777410
>Chose the most cement and capable student (next to yourself) and made a potion worthy of a true Mage Apprentice, earning you the fast track to advanced classes in Life Magic

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>>5777426
>>5777433
>>5777434
>>5777439
>>5777454
>>5777460
>>5777469
>>5777473
>>5777502
>>5777523
>>5777625
>>5777666
>>5777685
>>5777733

“Pearce, you’re with me!”

Logan Pearce, a dirty-blonde and stalwart young lad with a knack for cooking, cutting, stirring and cleaning, stood tall and gave you a mock salute, before adjusting his hat. He was no slouch with a healing spell, either, and had a certain exactitude in his measurements and movements which is very useful in a practical exam like that one. He’d have probably acquitted himself quite well without you but TOGETHER, you were practically a dream-team—you knowledge combined, your complementary abilities and shared aptitude for the ‘Artes Vitae’. You breezed through that exam, creating a potion worthy of an actual GRADUATE of the program, let alone teenage (or teenage-equivalent, in adjusted elf-years) students!

It wasn’t just this exam, either—you took to partnering with him in this field and in many others, and even to spending time with him between classes. Pearce was quiet by nature, but listened well, and retained what he was told. He was also, solidly-built, like a cement brick… And, of course, fully human. Over the next year, while you grew scarcely an inch, he rose to nearly an adult height, and no SMALL adult either! It was handy to have someone like that about, and he only SOMETIMES teased you for needing him to fetch tools and ingredients from the shelves above as you toiled together in every advanced elective in the field of Life Magic and Living Alchemy that you could, building a reputation beyond the novelty of your Fey ancestry as the rising star of your field—the BEST student in all the Tower in your particular area of expertise.

For your part, your specialty was…
>Cauldroncraft
[Gain an aptitude for potions and poisons, and the spell Purify]
>Surgery
[Gain an aptitude for non-magical healing, and the spell Stabilize]
>Plaguelore
[Gain an aptitude for understanding disease, and the spell Contagion]
>Combat Support
[Gain an aptitude for melee combat, and the spell Bull’s Strength]
>Chimericism
[Gain an aptitude for animal handling, and the spell Calm]
>Write-in
[Be gentle, anons]

But wait! There's more!

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>>5777757
Meanwhile, you and your one-time rival drifted apart. It wasn’t that you’d ever been close, obviously, and never FRIENDS, but as you spent more time focused on the pursuit of that magical discipline which most captured your passions—a subject where she continued to flounder, and never took any electives in—the whole childish ‘rivalry’ seemed less and less relevant. The more time with Pearce and your other friends, the less any of that MATTERED to you.

Henzler was hardly a SOCIAL rival anymore, that much was certain. That seed of early confidence and extroversion which you’d seen in the young Izirina Henzler seemed to dim and die as she withdrew into herself and away from her peers. While you socialized and fraternized between study sessions, classes, and extracurriculars, you’d sometimes spy her with her face buried in this book or that—textbooks, strange tomes of Dwarven runes or Southeastern scrawl, or old-looking scrolls that she’d go so far as to roll up and stuff hastily back in their tubular cases if she caught you staring. Sometimes it was fiction, or near-fiction—travelogues of distant places, written in olden days, or juvenile ‘portal fantasies’ of fictitious, hypothetical realms. Her every elective and pastime seemed to be obsessed with being anywhere but HERE…

Well, not that it was YOUR problem, right?

Then, one day, she made it such. One day, you returned to your student housing in the Initiates’ Village—that winding and haphazardly-plotted maze of houses, hovels, and tilting over-tall apartments held together with glue and amateur spellcraft, festooned and made bright and gay by the application of iridescent and effervescent magical paints, and lively by all means of street-magic. There, in your own rented residence, you found a note slipped under the door in an unmistakably-official school envelope. You opened it urgently, expecting accolades or—more worryingly—reprimand. You received neither, but the daintily-written but altogether UNOFFICIAL summons of the Archmage’s heir.

‘Come and meet me this weekend at the Mirror Maze. Please.’

That was what it said. The ‘Please’ was hastily appended, you could tell, darker than the rest as if Henzler had let the rest dry and then, realizing how curt and potentially threatening the note was without the interjection, had appended it.

What do you do?
>Tell Logan Pearce about it, and see what he thinks
>Attend the mysterious meeting
>Ignore the letter, and go about your preexisting plans: shopping!
>Confront the little weirdo about this bizarre invitation in class tomorrow
>Write-in

>>5777757
>Chimericism

Plot twist our emphasis on breeding was for breeding animals and not coomer reasons! Wow!

I do think it would be really fun to make wacky creatures, that are y'know not scaly and slimy like the other quests.

>>5777758
>Attend the mysterious meeting

Forgot this. Let's go see what this is about, we don't know our brutish friend to go everywhere with us, do we?

>>5777758
>Combat Support

Ultimately, a dexterous Half-Elf with self-enhancement is gonna be difficult to deal with.

>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777757
>Cauldroncraft
Overspecialization ahoy!
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777757
>Chimericism

>Confront the little weirdo about this bizarre invitation in class tomorrow

>>5777758
>Chimericism

>Tell Logan Pearce about it, and see what he thinks
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777757
>Chimericism
>>5777758
>Tell Logan Pearce about it, and see what he thinks

>>5777757
>Chimericism.
We can just get or make a modified beast to fight for us, eventually.

>Attend the mysterious meeting.

This meeting is likly plot important, i wonder if Izirina is trying to rope us into going on a quest somewhere.

>>5777757
>Combat Support

>Attend the mysterious meeting
she did include a please

>>5777789
>This meeting is likly plot important
[Don't feel obligated. This is all still past-tense/backstory stuff. At this point she's 14 or 15, and you're 21 or 22 (roughly 16-ish adjusted for your slower-than-human aging and growth). The main thrust of the story--when 'shit gets real'--will come along either way in about 10-to-12 'in universe' years (by the end of Thread 1 at latest). I'd never make the amateur mistake of making a necessary plot-hook an option you could vote to ignore and avoid the quest altogether!]

However, the nature of your relationship to Izirina Henzler, the specific esoteric knowledge she's seeking, how she goes about it and what she wants it for, how you get pulled into her vortex are all being determined by your choices, so don't think these votes are irrelevant, either...

>>5777757
>Cauldroncraft
Snape

>>5777758
>Ignore the letter, and go about your preexisting plans: shopping!
>Confront the little weirdo about this bizarre invitation in class tomorrow

Backlink
>>5777502

>>5777805
Tbh, I already don’t like Newbody, and I feel sad that Izzy’s becoming a friendless Hermione.

>>5777757
>>5777758
>Surgery
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777824
While I don't wish to steer our vote, the way to make the MC more likeable or to make Izirina happier and more sociable is probably not to publicly confront her and then blow her off to go shopping

>>5777832
I agree, but I feel that it’s more IC for Newbody to do so rather than entertain an irrelevant childhood rival- seems to me more like a Draco Malfoy/Snape sorta character with how he’s characterized.

>>5777832
I think it'd be really funny if we had a jerkass MC who later seethes at being this stuck-up bitch's assistant. Simple as.

>>5777757
>Cauldroncraft

>>5777758
>Ignore the letter, and go about your preexisting plans: shopping!

>>5777841
>>5777851

[You're all still characterizing the MC as we go. I started them with a bit of chip on their shoulder, but only as a starting point. Izirina Henzler could be your Lilly Potter; 'Newbody' could grow beyond this initial grievance, starting with that fateful confrontation with the Archmage, or return to it with a vengeance. You're not bound to anything concrete yet, amusing 'cement' typo aside.]

[No spoilers for this one because I want the freedom here to be clear to everyone. So far, your only defined traits on my list are: you are a half-elf with a slight complex about it; you are brave and defiant, but also seek excellence and are not overly compassionate if it comes at your own expense; you enjoy life magic. I haven't even got a gender or sexual preference set for you, let alone anything else.]

>>5777757
>Chimericism
>>5777758
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777856
There is no way this elf isn't female lol

>>5777757
>Cauldroncraft

>>5777758
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777757
>Plaguelore

>>5777758
>>Tell Logan Pearce about it, and see what he thinks
>>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777757
>Surgery
>>5777758
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777758
>Cauldroncraft
>Plaguelore

Either of these would be my preference, though Plaguelore is dead in the water. Plaguelore I can see being a field of study about communication, which sounds fitting for this story with its two main actors. More than the other fields it fits with the titlecard's closing sentences about understanding the world and changing it.

>>Tell Logan Pearce about it, and see what he thinks
Re: likability or their relationship, there's bound to be stumbling points in any relationship that lasts from early puberty until the prime of adulthood, and those points don't necessarily define the relationship either. Generally the MC seems a good foil to Izrina. It's easy to see a world where they 'fit' together.
The MC seems to be much more focused on people than the titular Mage Apprentice, so I feel they'd ask other people about what they're puzzled with, rather than approaching it alone.

>>5777920
technically, thanks to the character creation choices, they're BOTH the titular Mage Apprentice, depending on your point of view

>>5777757
>Cauldroncraft

>>5777758
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777758
>Combat Support
>Attend the mysterious meeting

>>5777856
No offense, but our relationship with Izzy has been one of petty antagonism and indifference- I don’t see teenage McFreshface even entertaining her request to meet in a private setting without more of a reason beyond curiosity and her last name, when he likely has social plans. I do see him using it to score social points with his friends.

>>5777920
I empathize more with Izzy than this spoiled brat, and I ain’t giving NoName the benefit of the doubt.

>>5777949
Anon, you and the other players ARE NoName McFreshface, and the last time anyone in any quest saw Izirina, she was a toddler who could barely speak

>>5777757
>Plaguelore
Dont wanna metagame too much but there is a plague currently affecting Hawksong in the sewer systems
>>5777758
>Tell Logan Pearce about it, and see what he thinks
>Attend the mysterious meeting
Logan can be a lookout for us to make sure this girl isnt trying to start trouble, from what we could tell in the note Mama Henzler was overseeing the writing of the note up until that last please, we have notions of rivalry between us, but clearly Izi isnt interested in rivalry just progress and that could go either direction, while I highly doubt shes gonna try to cripple our own progression as I dont think Henzler doesnt want us strong, she just wants Izi the strongest

>>5777949
>This is your brain on drugs

>>5777953
Can’t help my feelings on the matter, friend.

>>5777960
>clearly Izi isnt interested in rivalry
I’d argue Newbody is the one that isn’t interested in the rivalry desu

>>5777962
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1jXxnJgeTd8

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>>5777960
>>5777947
>>5777946
>>5777920
>>5777917
>>5777899
>>5777874
>>5777863
>>5777855
>>5777831
>>5777824
>>5777795
>>5777789
>>5777778
>>5777773
>>5777768
>>5777767
>>5777766
>>5777764
>>5777762
[Locked!]

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>>5778001
You stared at the note for a while. The Mirror Maze… One of the Initiates’ Village tourist traps. Elves and fairy creatures, like the Beastmen more common to the East and South or the fabled True Fey of the deep and hidden places, were skilled illusionists in their own ways. But the Race of Man… Well, not so much. The Mirror Maze was really more of a little tent, propped up with plywood walls and filled with mundane mirrors given only the slimmest coating of baffling enchantment; the rest was all distortion of the material itself. It could make a person appear slim and tall, squat and fat, green as a goblin or black as a Southman, or even blue with spots!

It had also been a popular meeting place for students, primarily for two reasons… But neither seemed right, not where you and Henzler were concerned. And why THEN? You had scarcely spoken to the girl for a year. What did she WANT?

Well, there was only one way to find out. You WOULD find out, too. You were no coward, and you were curious, and that’s all it took to make up your mind. You tucked the letter in its envelope, the envelope in your robe’s pocket, and headed to class.

The final day of the school-week went by slowly. You shared a few classes with Henzler, as usual, though fewer than in years prior. You could not help but continually glance her way, as if you could catch a glimpse of her intentions by peering into the back of her head. Once or twice you caught her doing much the same, in your direction. The exchange did not go unnoticed.

“So,” Pearce asked after a time, “what's going on with you and Henzler?”

“What?” you asked.

He stared you down, and you broke eye contact first. You did not even drag it out; steady, reliable Logan Pearce did NOT lose staring contests. You contemplated whether to tell him—ask his advice, maybe even bring him to be a lookout or spotter, but…

“Nothing,” you said. “It was nothing. But I may have to skip on shopping that weekend.”

“On a totally unrelated note, of course,” he said, deadpan, then shrugged when you made no reply.

“Fine then, keep your secrets,” he said. “Just don’t forget we’re doing that cat-to-rat impulse transplant next week. Make sure you’re good and ready—I’ve heard how feisty the bloody rat gets after you stick it with the spitting-mad cat-blood. Though, I guess I would be too, if someone had mixed me up with some big fellow I hated, and also I was going to die in a few hours.”

“I’ll make sure to have <Calm> prepared,” you murmured.

You were still a little perturbed even after all this time at how casually the humans disposed of their urban animal experimentees, but such (you were told) was the cost of medical advancement, and necessary to prevent contamination of wild and feral genepools with unstable chimeras. At any rate, all the while, your eyes and your focus were still on Izirina Henzler.

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>>5778003
That weekend, the note still in your pocket, you made for the Mirror Maze. The latter specified only ‘morning’, but you supposed you knew what that meant: first thing, when the school-day would start. You were both sort of sticklers for attendance, after all—Henzler no doubt because her mother all-but-owned the place that set your schedules, and you because… Well, elves woke at dawn, and so did you, almost invariably.

You made your way to the meeting place and, sure enough, there she was—Izirina Henzler. You had donned your robe because, being late spring, Hawksong was breezy and prone to rainshowers; beneath it, you wore the casual tunic and pants you would on a day off. Izirina, though, seemed to be wearing the whole school uniform—still overlarge on her, but at least pressed and ironed to neatness that day. She quickly stood straight as you approached, though she did not wave or speak… Or do much else. Feeling a little awkward as a result, you came to a stop a few paces from her, and cleared your throat.

“Well, the Mirror Maze…” you began. “Students generally call each other here for one of two things… And since I don't think you're the sort to call me out here for some mage’s duel, and I REALLY don't think this was a date…”

Henzler’s eyes widened and her face went red. In a mirror of the last time you saw the girl vulnerable, over a year ago in that classroom, she pulled her wide-brimmed mages’ cap down over her face, tilted her head down, and squirmed slightly.

“O-of course not,” she said quickly and quietly, and maybe a titch sharply. “Don’t be silly. Why would you even say a thing like that?!”

“Right,” you agreed. “Then why?”

Henzler gestured to the maze.

“…Can we talk about this inside?” she asked, glancing nervously at the foot traffic moving about the place. “Nobody ever really goes inside until afternoon, usually, after the other attractions start to open up.”

What did you do?
>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...
>Demand that she tell you what is going on right here before you go to some second location
>Forget this -- you're out of here, this is getting weird and creepy
>Ask if this IS a date, then...? [Flirtation roll will follow to determine result if this is chosen; 1d20, but as a half-elf you have reduced DCs with humans]

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>>5778005
[Oh, and write-ins are allowed; that's generally the case unless I say explicitly that it's not.]

>>5778005
>Ask if this IS a date, then...? [Flirtation roll will follow to determine result if this is chosen; 1d20, but as a half-elf you have reduced DCs with humans]
It would be funny succeeding or failinng

>>5778005
>Ask if this IS a date, then...? [Flirtation roll will follow to determine result if this is chosen; 1d20, but as a half-elf you have reduced DCs with humans]
If we can't get in the good books of the mother we should try for the daughter.

>>5778005
>Ask if this IS a date, then...? [Flirtation roll will follow to determine result if this is chosen; 1d20, but as a half-elf you have reduced DCs with humans]
Hohoho

Backlink >>5777502

>>5778005
>>Demand that she tell you what is going on right here before you go to some second location

>>5778005
>Ask if this IS a date, then...? [Flirtation roll will follow to determine result if this is chosen; 1d20, but as a half-elf you have reduced DCs with humans]
Im down for some wizard romance, especially if its Sapphic in nature

>>5778005
>Demand that she tell you what is going on right here before you go to some second location

>>5778005
>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...
Tell her you told all your friends and family you're meeting her this morning and they'll ask questions if you don't come out.

>>5778005
>>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...

>>5778005
>Ask if this IS a date, then...? [Flirtation roll will follow to determine result if this is chosen; 1d20, but as a half-elf you have reduced DCs with humans]

>>5778005
>>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...

>>5778138
[Are you changing you vote from >>5778071, then?]

>>5778139
Yes I guess. I don't want to FLIRT.... yet

>>5778005
>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...

>>5778005
>>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...

>>5778142
[Well, never fear, for I am aware of the major dichotomy between 'romance' and 'no romance' choices in such events, and also tally an AGGREGATE 'no romance' vote!]

>>5778164
I take >>5778011’s view- it’s the funny option no matter what is rolled

>>5778005
>>Go inside with Henzler (who is acting PRETTY peculiar), alone,away from witnesses...

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>>5778174
>>5778167
>>5778157
>>5778154
>>5778138
>>5778137
>>5778130
>>5778102
>>5778082
>>5778078
>>5778017
>>5778016
>>5778011
[Locking and writing!]

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>>5778186
“See, when you are all WEIRD about stuff like this, it starts to make me think it IS a date.”

Henzler’s mouth snapped shut at that, forming a thin line.

“Though I have to warn you,” you continued, struggling to keep a straight face, “I’ve told all my friend and family where we’re meeting, so if I go missing—or come back with any hickeys—they’ll know what happened to me.”

You didn’t think it was possible for her to go any redder and, yet, here you both were—and she, with her brownish skin, had purpled up like a beet.

“THIS IS NOT,” she reiterated, hands balled in fists at her side, “A DATE!”

You raised your hands defensively, but before you could explain that you were only joking, she added: “And anyway, you don’t HAVE any family.”

You shut your mouth, narrowing your eyes a little. To her credit, the unsociable Henzler seemed at least self aware to realize the faux pas. Unfortunately, she was about as graceful at backpedalinga s she was at deflecting.

“I-I didn’t mean… I just meant you have no family HERE, in Hawksong. I know that, for instance, you have a family GENERALLY. Everyone does. You have to come from somewhere.”

“Yeah,” you said, with a forced smile, “even strange, adopted little girls.”

You were both quiet for a moment until, finally, the groggy, tea-nursing halfling fellow at the entrance kiosk broke the awkward silence:

“You two lovebirds going in, or not.”

“Yes,” you both answered at once, then looked at each other, then hastily looked away once more.

Side-by-side, you entered. It was, you had to admit, an almost hilariously-surreal experience to be walking by so many wackily-warped and amusingly-enchanted effigies of yourself—stretched, warped, distorted, discoloured, upside down, backwards-walking, funny-faced, and everything in between—in solemn silence.

“…Like the Yokai Parade.”

You looked over at Henzler beside you, utterly confounded.

“Like WHAT now?”

“In the Eastlands,” she said, not looking back at you but rather still staring into her own transfigured reflections. “They say the yokai—fairies, incarnate demons, beastmen in disguise, undead even—parade through the streets at certain times of year, demanding tribute or bewitching those who fail to provide it. It must look a lot like this, don’t you think?”

Ugh. This GIRL. ALWAYS showing off! You huffed, and shrugged.

“I guess it’s a bit like a fairy court,” you countered, which proved a mistake.

“You’ve SEEN a fairy court?!” she asked, looking at you starry-eyed now, reaching out as if to grip your robe’s hem. You backed up, only your innate elven grace sparing you the embarrassment of bumping into the mirror behind you.

“Uh,” you fumbled, “not… PERSONALLY, but, you know… The pointy ears pick up stories.”

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>>5778197
Henzler frowned a little at that.

“I thought you didn’t like that,” she said. “People pointing out that you were half-elf.”

Suddenly, her fixed, unmoving eye-contact was unnerving, and you had to look away. You reflected that you had finally found someone who might beat Pearce in a staring contest, at least if they awarded points for intensity.

“I guess I… Got over it a little,” you admit, starting to walk again.

“But not over disliking me,” she replied, following you.

You glanced her way, just briefly, then continued on looking ahead, not sure what to say.

“Why did you bring me here?” you asked, eventually, because it was really the main question to ask, and you could avoid it no longer—not after a blunt statement like that.

“Because of what you did,” Henzler answered, “a year ago, with my mother and me.”

“What, got a concussion and ended up on the Archmage’s private shit-list?” you asked.

“You know what I mean,” Henzler said, quietly. “I wanted to know… Why you did that, even though you hate me. I don’t understand. Other people only do nice things for me because they think they can copy my notes, or borrow my books, or impress my m—the Archmage. Then they realize I’m a lousy teacher, and my notes don’t make sense to anyone but me because I write them weird, and that Mother doesn’t even LIKE me, and they… They stop.”

…Eesh.

“But you never liked me,” she continued, stopping suddenly and staring at you again, “and you never did anything nice for me except when it was to STAND UP to m—to the Archmage. And you didn’t ask for anything after, or even really talk to me for a whole year, and… I just don’t understand.”

You take a deep breath, considering your answer. Why DID you do that?
>It really is a matter of fairness and justice—plain and simple, you don’t like seeing someone treated like that for no good reason
>You know what it’s like to feel weird, like an outsider, like there’s something wrong with you, and you know it doesn’t feel good
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie
>Write-in

But, for the record…
>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo
>You don’t HATE her… And you’re sorry if you gave her that impression
>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes

non-flirterers, don't read too much into the attached image -- I'm only memeing

>>5778198
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie
>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes

>>5778198
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie

+

>Write-in: Your my academic rival, how am I'm supposed to fairly outperform you if I let you get demoralized and torn down?

for the lie.

>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes

>>5778198
>You know what it’s like to feel weird, like an outsider, like there’s something wrong with you, and you know it doesn’t feel good
>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo

>>5778198
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie
The best lies are the ones with a mix of truth in it.
>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes

>>5778198
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie

>+

>Write-in: Your my academic rival, how am I'm supposed to fairly outperform you if I let you get demoralized and torn down?

>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes

>>5778198
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped

>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo

>>5778214
It me >>5777874

>>5778211
+1

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>>5778216
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r_E3uyC0XCk

>>5778198
>You know what it’s like to feel weird, like an outsider, like there’s something wrong with you, and you know it doesn’t feel good
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie
Since we're not gonna say it altright, I'm giving a reason that is also true
>You don’t HATE her… And you’re sorry if you gave her that impression

>>5778198
>>It really is a matter of fairness and justice—plain and simple, you don’t like seeing someone treated like that for no good reason
>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes
Backstory romance isn't very fun to read about, if it's going to be a romantic story then do it during the plot

>>5778198
>It really is a matter of fairness and justice—plain and simple, you don’t like seeing someone treated like that for no good reason
>You only hated her until you became better than her in a subject.

>>5778258
IP changed again
>>5776475

>>5778198
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped

>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo

>>5778198
>You know what it’s like to feel weird, like an outsider, like there’s something wrong with you, and you know it doesn’t feel good

>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo

>>5778198
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped
>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo
Rivals to friends is more fun

>>5778198
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped

>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo

>>5778198
>When the Archmage was talking to Izirina like that, the Henzler family suddenly reminded you of YOUR family—of your MOTHER—and you just snapped
Projection i choose you!
>You DO hate her guts and think she’s a weirdo
N-not that im j-jealous of your talent or anything like that b-baka

>>5778198
The truth
>You secretly had a crush on Izirina—though you’re not about to admit that to her face, so you hastily cobble together a lie
The lie
>It really is a matter of fairness and justice—plain and simple, you don’t like seeing someone treated like that for no good reason

>She owes you one—she never even said THANK YOU, for gods’ sakes

Tsundere elf

>>5778198
>You know what it’s like to feel weird, like an outsider, like there’s something wrong with you, and you know it doesn’t feel good
>You don’t HATE her… And you’re sorry if you gave her that impression

>>5778198
>fairness and justice
>don’t hate, sorry if she felt we did
>not cool that she didn’t even ask if we were ok tho

>>5778198
>It really is a matter of fairness and justice—plain and simple, you don’t like seeing someone treated like that for no good reason

I did it for me.

>You don’t HATE her…
But we’re not going to apologize, either. We don’t owe her anything.


>>5776436
Ay nice! Hope it has a decent salary.

>>5776843

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>>5778239
>Backstory romance
[While we're a this stage, the backstory IS the plot! Think of this less as 'backstory' and more as the first act. Still, if you'd rather fall in love in the midst of a hunt for secret knowledge which demihumans were not meant to know... Yeah, fair.]

>>5778426
>tsundere elf
[It's pronounced 'tsunderelf', I believe.]

>>5778527
>Ay nice! Hope it has a decent salary.
[Thanks, ann.]
Much lower than my last job, but a necessary sacrifice for my wellbeing

>>5778527
>>5778511
>>5778501
>>5778426
>>5778409
>>5778405
>>5778400
>>5778304
>>5778262
>>5778258
>>5778239
>>5778236
>>5778221
>>5778214
>>5778211
>>5778206
>>5778205
>>5778204
>>5778201
[Good morning! I'm putting off caching up on Path of the Exorcist and voting in that quest to write in THIS one, so you know I'm serious. Locked, writing, go check out PotE if you haven't yet!]

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>>5778563
You’d taken a lot of time after the… INCIDENT with the Archmage, to reflect on why there’s BEEN an incident at all. Why DID you feel the need to step in? You know what Pearce would say, albeit in jest, if he was here: that your obsession with Henzler was some sort of crush. Well.. Maybe it was, but if so it was also merely a phase, and an subconscious phase at that. Just like your sense of ‘rivalry’ with Izirina Henzler had began to fade as you made your own mark and stepped out of her shadow and onto a distinct path, you had grown beyond that juvenile fixation!

(Even if. Physically, you had hardly grown at all…)

No, in truth it was not romance that moved your feet, nor altruism, but the contempt which only familiarity could breed. You had seen the way Henler’s mother had acted, heard those words—that something was ‘wrong with’ your young rival—and it had taken you back, right back to Iternagreyn and even before then, to the little grove of Nitrea where you were born and brought up before your magical gifts proved worthy of the elven capitol…

Or, rather, before your mother could not longer stand the sight of you.

“I know what it’s like,” you’d finally choked out, the words like rising bile on your tongue, your stomach churning as if you’d truly vomited them forth. “Your mother and mine… I think they’d have a lot to talk about. About disappointing children.”

Henzler stared at you for a moment, confused, and then her face fell.

“You think I’m a disappointment, too…?”

Ugh.

“That’s not what I—look, I’m saying that… I know what it’s like. To have a mother who… Who doesn’t LIKE you, the way mothers are meant to do, alright? When I heard your mother speaking to you like that… Well, I didn’t think. I just reacted. Maybe I… PROJECTED a little bit, and said to her what… What I wish I’d been able to say to mine.”

Of course, you’d been only ten when you were FIRST banished from a place, albeit not from the Fair Folk as whole—the human equivalent of a five or six year-old, at a time when most elflings are still toddlers. Maybe that was why she’d done it—sent you away, never written you. How surreal must it be, you wonder, to see your child growing, aging, approaching DEATH at twice the rate one would expect? To turn one’s back for a moment, then look back and see your child has grown taller and older in a relative instant?

…To know that you will outlive your own baby?

“There’s no excuse for it,” you said sternly, to yourself as much as to Henzler.

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>>5778588
Your ‘date’ looked at you strangely, then, with something you weren’t used to—with understanding, of a sort, and sympathy, and with something that MIGHT have been pity. You weren’t about to stand for THAT, though.

“And anyway, you know what? YES, I actually AM disappointed in you.”

“W-what?” Henzler gawped, taking a step back and bringing her hands to her chest.

“I stood up for you and took a silent-spelled <Gust of Wind> or whatever to the face, and what did YOU do?” you demanded. “Nothing! Didn’t even say thank you. What is your PROBLEM?”

“I—I was.. I didn’t mean to…”

You pointed a finger at her, advancing a little, and she backed up a step.

“You owe me one, Henzler,” you’d told her then.

Her face fell at that, the light of understanding dimming a little.

“O-oh,” she’d murmured. “I… I get it. Yeah.”

Hm. Well, good.

“What do you want?” she’d asked you.

…Oh. Hm. You hadn’t actually thought that far advance… Had you?

>You want to see the Archmage’s private chimera laboratories, where the gryphons and owlbears and fancy draconewts who knows what ELSE gets made!
>You want her to tutor you in one of your weaker subjects—even if she’s a bad teacher, even if her notes are weird or whatever, you’re smart enough to figure it out
>You want her lunch money—well, her allowance, anyway, spend on the shopping trip you’re skipping for this silly meet-up
>You want her to be your handmaiden for the rest of this school year AND the next one—in PUBLIC! Having the Archmage’s daughter as a personal assistant could be fun AND boost your reputation
>You want something else… [Write-in]
>You… Don’t know what you want, actually. You’ll think on it. It might be fun to see her squirm for a while, anyway!

>>5778593

>You want something else… [Write-in]

"Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you. You will help me."

>>5778593
>You want something else… [Write-in]
>"Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you. You will help me."

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>>5778604

>>5778593
Tutoring maybe

>>5778593
>You… Don’t know what you want, actually. You’ll think on it. It might be fun to see her squirm for a while, anyway