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>>5948262
You… Still need to have a talk with Izzy about that, sometime. And maybe a talk with the Thief—the Dragon King’s spymaster, who accompanied you here—about his master’s apparent alliance with the Unseelie Fey, ancient enemies of the goodly fairy-folk such as the Sylvan elves, and a personal adversary of yours.

Right now, though, your priority is keeping the Unknowable Prince of Bloodrise close at hand and in your control, to avoid the massing, muttering elves from forming up into a mob… Which, to be frank, seems increasingly like an imminent threat. Many of those who come to gawk at the Prince scurry back into their homes and shut their doors, or with prayer and spell-gesture ward themselves against his perceived malignancy; still others, though, follow in your wake, whispering invective, and sending <Message> spells or animal companions to call for still others to join them.

“Tips?” Izzy whispers.

“I know, I know,” you hiss.

What will you do?
>Attempt to speak with the elven people and assure them that the Prince is harmless
>Use your <Belt of Binding> as a collar for the Prince, and leash him for everyone’s safety
>Give the crowd a scare and a show of force, and tell them to back off
>Ask Izzy to use her teleportation magic to expedite your travel
>Enlist the Woodland Rangers or local constabulary to your aid—get local authority involved
>Write-in

[LEVEL UP: Your sociability and linguistics skills have increased as a result of your approach to the situations with the Dragon King and the Cult of Kuttralas, your increased understanding of politics and diplomacy, and your recent conducting of conversations in three languages--Common, Elven, and Drow Sign Language--at once.]

>>5948270
>Write-in: Screech loudly and only screech, for as long as we can.

>>5948275
[Oh you.]

>>5948262
[The background is modified lightly from the album art for this album, by the way, which I listened to a few times while writing for this quest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2uf3YZ6tMk]

>>5948270
>Use your <Belt of Binding> as a collar for the Prince, and leash him for everyone’s safety
is either that or getting some rangers, tell the "lil" buddy that it's harmless and it's just to dissuade the people following us.
>>5948276
will check on it

>>5948270
>Attempt to speak with the elven people and assure them that the Prince is harmless

>>5948270
>Attempt to speak with the elven people and assure them that the Prince is harmless

"Simmer down. Hawksong business. He means you no harm - just keep your distance."

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Rolled 11, 18, 18, 8, 16, 19 = 90 (6d20)

>>5948679
>>5948476
>>5948284
>>5948275
A part of you just wants to scream at these elves to back off before they cause an irreparable international incident. You’re wise enough, though, to know that would surely have the opposite effect. What you need to do now, you reason, is to project calm certainty. You need to speak with authority, assuring both the Prince of Bloodrise and the not-quite-rioters that they are safe from one another at once.

“Please, everyone, stay calm,” you say, quickly signing the same thing to the Unknowable Prince: ‘Be calm, it’s all okay.’

“What IS that thing?” an elfman demands. “What have you humans brought into our lands?”

“It’s Hawksong business,” you say sternly. “He means you no harm, just… Keep your distance, okay?”

“So it IS dangerous?” comes a shout from somewhere in the crowd.

“No more than any other being would be, when frightened,” you say.

“I heard rumours of these things,” an elfmaid nearby says, eyes never leaving the prince. “Monsters being created by the humans, living weapons of war made by that awful Archmage of theirs, being tested on their own people!”

“What?!” Izzy demands. “My mother wouldn’t—”

“You’re the Archmage’s daughter?”

“Then you people DID make that that?!”

“Why would you make something like that, if not for war? Explain yourself—why is it here!”

You grimace a little bit at Izzy’s accidental disclosure, and its repercussions. You’re guilty of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, too, every now and again. All this cloak-and-dagger international intrigue is teaching you the value of silence; it isn’t just a matter of what you say, you’ve learned, but what you DON’T say. You’d expect Izirina Henzler—so sued to keeping secrets—to have mastered that by now… But maybe that’s just your lingering irritation speaking. Emotion gets the better of us all, sometimes…

And speaking of ‘emotion’ and ‘what you say’, it seems silence alone won’t get you out of THIS predicament. Luckily, you’ve had a lot of practice with the diplomatic discourse lately… And, you have a trump card.

[4d20 Sociability, 2d20 Sense Motive]

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>>5948783
“We’re here because the Woodland Rangers—and Ranger Commander Qinfir, himself, in fact—invited us here, to help with MUTUAL security concerns that threaten the peace of the Race of Man and Race of Elf,” you say, in your native elventongue. “I was chosen as an envoy because I’m from here… And have helped to defend this land before, against the Unseelie Court.”

The locals of Iternagreyn redouble their protective wards and whispered prayers at the mention of the so-called Unholy Fey—an outcast group of faerie spirits whom you DID help to repel and defeat a little over a year ago at least in some small way. Likewise, you DID come here for mutual peace and to address a security concern: namely, that this monster’s seemingly-doting father was threatening outright war upon these woodlands and their elven population unless his child was freed. As is so often the case, you are not wholly comfortable lying, and so you simply… Tell partial truths.

…And now, you need just one more, to seal the deal.

“This,” you say, “is a <Belt of Binding>”

Your produce your old hatband from your back—a leather-belt, enchanted to restrict illusions and other perceptual and subjective distortions of reality. You and your friends and former classmate Nicolette Testa had crafted it together, originally with the intent of binding the Dragon King and exposing his lies. Now, though, it serves as an illusion itself, as you unbuckle it and approach the flinching Prince of Bloodrise.

“It’s okay,” you whisper to him. “It won’t hurt you.”

‘I don’t like clothes,’ he explains by way of frantic hand signals as he hisses and backs away. They never fit and the rip up, when they get stuck on my body. Then they stop me from moving good.’

You survey the spiny carapace of the monstrous, draconic arthropod. His internal workings remain a mystery to you—does he have a skeleton, even?—but the exterior alone proves his point.

“We’ll keep this loose, then,” you say. “it’s just for show.”

‘It smells like magic,’ he signs back.

“It’s safe,” you say. “I promise. This… Belongs to your father.”

>18

It’s another half-truth, but one that works: the bestial Prince grudgingly lowers his great, red-maned head and permits you to affix the belt around his great, thick neck. It snugger than you’d like, prompting hissing whine and some frantic pawing by the young monster, but as you turn to the elven crowd, you can see it having its desired effect.

“The belt binds him, limits him,” you say, again technically telling no outright lies. “He’s harmless while he’s in my power.”

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>>5948809
>Another 18

The crowd seems to calm at this, especially when the prince squats, flattening his carapace against the ground and griping at the belt, gnashing his crocodilian jaw and tugging at the belt. He seems to struggle with the concept of undoing it rather than simply ripping it, and between the alchemical and magical treatments of the <Belt of Binding>--which WAS originally intended as the hatband of a true wizard’s cap, and thus is made of sturdy stuff—the effort fails. The obvious distress and helplessness of the behemoth in their midst seems to lend credence to your words, and the truth is he genuinely CAN’T remove it without your magic word—that is the other half of the enchantment. Seeing this, the elves seem to calm with the mob only half-formed.

>19 for Sense Motive

However, not all interest seems to have been banished or abated, for in the midst of the dispersing crowd you see a few figures who stand stalwart, like solid stones amidst the flowing river of the crowd; as the river dries up, they’re revealed. They wear no uniforms, with partial and soemwhat mismatched armour, but your recognize their stances and the set of their face: trained warriors. So, too, do you see something else in their eyes: a lack of the shock and horror of the other elves, at seeing the Prince in your custody. He isn’t novel to them, in other words.

“Izzy,” you whisper, and then use the Prince’s own sign-language to signal to her: ‘Those elves. They were the ones who capture him.’

The Unknowable Prince of Bloodrise had, you were told, been found and captured by a band of elven ’adventurers’—unofficial, unaffiliated forces of a private mercenary outfit, of the sort popularized in ballads and tabloids throughout all the civilized lands. You see no sign of their leader, though—a spellcaster who the Prince had described as ‘eyeless’ and wearing a blindfold.

What will you do?
>Hurry on—you just need to get the Prince inside, securely, where you can call upon the Woodland Rangers for official security
>Confront them directly, and tell them to get lost—the actual officials have taken over,
>Ask what they want, and where their leader is—you’d like to have words with them, actually, and learn what they’re about
>Write-in

>>5948811
>Hurry on—you just need to get the Prince inside, securely, where you can call upon the Woodland Rangers for official security
smile and wave, smile and wave

>>5948811
>Hurry on—you just need to get the Prince inside, securely, where you can call upon the Woodland Rangers for official security
I would like to talk to them but this isn't the place or time for it.

>>5948811
>Hurry on—you just need to get the Prince inside, securely, where you can call upon the Woodland Rangers for official security

The longer we stay out here the more problems we will have.

>>5948811
>Confront them directly, and tell them to get lost—the actual officials have taken over

>>5948811
>Hurry on—you just need to get the Prince inside, securely, where you can call upon the Woodland Rangers for official security

>>5948811
>Ask what they want, and where their leader is—you’d like to have words with them, actually, and learn what they’re about
Offer them a clone of the Prin- actually, why didn’t we swap him with a clone originally? Would’ve made an interesting heist/kidnapping Ocean’s 11 bamboozle.

>>5948952
Why would we be doing that. As far as the deathcult is considered the prince is in our custody - to see him again would be bizarre.

>>5948812
>>5948854
>>5948878
>>5948891
>>5948948
>>5948952
You can’t deny some interest in this band of adventurers. Your mother and father practiced that (ig)noble profession before you were born, and by some standards even YOU may count as such. The alluring enigma of a blindfolded mystic elicits a certain collegial curiosity in you… But it’s not enough t overpower your prudence and good judgement, thank goodness. Their expressions are not the friendly sort, and more likely than not you will find yourself in trouble rather than in good company if you remain here.

“Let’s get out of here,” you say.

“Right,” Izzy replies.

You have no leash for the Prince, nor the time to fashion one, but for all his youth and his abominable appearance, the Dragon King’s child is at least a bit more biddable than the average toddler of your parents races… or, perhaps, he simply is afraid, and you and Izzy have managed to ingratiate yourselves as a source of safety. At this point, any explanation is as good as the other—the main thig is that he stays close, scuttling and undulating in his strange manner as he follows after you on six powerful, multi-jointed limbs.

You do not know precisely where the Woodland Rangers have housed your companions, which would normally entail a delay, and a second trip to the local security personnel where you had earlier awaited permission to visit the Prince. Since it WAS meant to be visit—not a retrieval—you are glad to avoid this by way of one of your favourite utility spells: <Faerie Fire>. The half-invisible indigo flame which thus forms is not so subtle here as it is among men, for all elves have the eyes to see it, but with a draconic hybrid the size of an owlbear in tow, there’s only so low your profile can realistically be—and it’s FAST.

“I could sue <Dimension Door>,” Izzy says, slightly out-of-breath from the brisk pace.

“And attract the attention of the Kuttralasmeiads and who knows what else?” you reply, even MORE out-of-breath, since you are even less athletic than here and ALSO spent a year in reduced gravity upon Holy Luna.

“The Keeper is a high priest of Kuttralas, sin’t he?” she points out. “He let us take him.”

“What is a priest to a demigod?” you ask. “He’s not eladrin, let alone True Fey. I don’t want to risk calling down one of his superiors, do you?”

Izzy nods, and you both redouble your pace, following the floating orb of your spell as it guides you to your destination.

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>>5949435
Your temporary abode is situated within a curated grove of trees, bound by branches spliced together to form platforms and bridges. Still more wood has been harvested—safely, sustainably—to manufacture the elegantly-carved little homes among those branches, whose windows oversee the beautiful vistas of the lower-slung civic structures and storefronts below.

“Like the apartments back home, almost,” Izzy notes.

“Kind of,” you say, for you are familiar with the local milieu.

You lived in such a treehouse as your first home-away-from-home, when you were a young boy studying in Iternagreyn’s ‘Mages Tower’, called the Great Tree and Living Library.

“The ladder’s a bit small for the Prince, isn’t it?” you note.

“I don’t think he needs a ladder, Tips,” Izzy notes, pointing to where the enormous insectoid being has already sunk his wicked claws into the wood and is hauling himself up with alarming alacrity.

“Huh,” you can only say, and then assume a <Wildshape> based upon your waiting hummingbird familiar-little Veloz—to ascend swiftly yourself.

Izzy purses her lips at being left behind, and settles for <Levitation> and the much slower ascent that this enables.

“Sorry,” you shout back. “I don’t want to leave him unsupervised!”

(Privately, you can’t help but take a LITTLE pride in being able to outpace Izirina in some field or fashion—you were rivals long before your were friends or lovers, after all.)

It proves a wise decision to fly after the prince, though. You arrive only a couple seconds behind the screams, and just in time to tell your assembles allies:

“Hold your fire!”

You alight upon the platform hosting the sleeping quarters for your party—communal bedding-space in a single great room being the norm here, even for diplomats—and you do so just in time to land between the two sides of an imminent conflict. On one side are the snapping jaws and rattling vestigial wings of the startled Prince of Bloodrise; on the other, your friends and traveling companions. Costella Fanucci—your OTHER girlfriend, (or perhaps Izirina’s? It’s complicated…) is cowering at the far side of the room, staring in abject terror at the living nightmare which has burst in upon her. Both Logan Pearce—your long-time best friend and Tower Guardian—and Oncyth the werewolf have moved into a defensive position, ready to repel and defend, to rip and tear. Even the Thief—a Reptilian spymaster assigned to this mission by the Prince’s concerned father, currently disguised as an elven hireling named ‘Trarief’—has drawn a deadly blade, though he turns its point from his liege’s son to those who threaten him when he recognizes the young monster.

“Easy!” you say. “Everyone, calm down. Spells dismissed, weapons away! This is, uh, 'The Unknowable One'. Unknowable One, this is... Everyone.”

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>>5949439

Luckily, your intervention and quick introduction puts everyone at ease… Relatively-speaking. By the time Izzy has joined you, most of your group has crowded around the opposite side of the room, while the Thief is inspecting the Prince.

“That,” Costella says in hushed voice, “is NOT a butterfly OR a moth. I thought he was, like… A lepidepeterian or whatever?”

“Lepidopteran,” you and Izzy automatically correct her, and then you frown and add: “I’m actually not sure WHAT sort of creature his mother is…”

“He’s definitely not as handsome as his DAD,” Costella pouts.

You give her a look.

“I-I’m just saying!”

“That’s an illusion, Costella,” Izzy reminds him.

“You mean that, like, Prince Long Wang looks like… THAT?!”

Before you can speculate upon the true visage of the Dragon King of Bloodrise—alias Long Wang, Prince Consort of Hawksong—the Thief turns his own outrage upon you, gesturing to the <Belt of Binding>.

“You have collared the Princcce of Bloodrise, like an animal,” he hisses. “Exxxplain this.”

“It was a necessary deception,” you say soothingly. “Here, let me remove it. Duul'ssom!”

You speak the trigger-phrase, and the belt slackens and, with some quick, is removed and returned to your pack.

“Very well,” the Thief says, the hissing lisp of his lizardman accent abating. “Apologies, Mage Apprentice.”

Through, speaking of secrets and lies…
>Confront the Thief about the apparent alliance between his king and your Unseelie enemies
>You need to have a talk with Izirina about this dark spirit, ‘The Nothic’, who she has apparently been receiving tutelage from
>You need to find somewhere to hide The Prince, and prepare for the possibility of guards or adventurers coming calling
>You should probably go get ahead of this, and find Ranger Commander Qinfir before he hears what you just did from someone else, in less flattering terms…
>Write-in
[Pick one, please]

>>5949441
>You should probably go get ahead of this, and find Ranger Commander Qinfir before he hears what you just did from someone else, in less flattering terms…

BUT AT SOME POINT
>Confront the Thief about the apparent alliance between his king and your Unseelie enemies

>>5949441
>Confront the Thief about the apparent alliance between his king and your Unseelie enemies

amongst these i feel like the dark fey are the biggest threat.

>>5949435
>“What is a priest to a demigod?” you ask.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOh6CDUpfcY
>>5949439
>Costella Fanucci—your OTHER girlfriend, (or perhaps Izirina’s? It’s complicated…)
more like "and perhaps ?"
>>5949441
>“He’s definitely not as handsome as his DAD,” Costella pouts.
>You give her a look.
>“I-I’m just saying!”
>“That’s an illusion, Costella,” Izzy reminds him.
>“You mean that, like, Prince Long Wang looks like… THAT?!”
fug, at least this band-aid was ripped

>You should probably go get ahead of this, and find Ranger Commander Qinfir before he hears what you just did from someone else, in less flattering terms…

>>5949477
+1
>You should probably go get ahead of this, and find Ranger Commander Qinfir before he hears what you just did from someone else, in less flattering terms…

We can talk about the thief’s unseelie friends and costella’s Nothic later, when we’re out of the sylvan realms

am >>5948878

>>5949435
>*and Izirina's?
>*use <Dimension Door>
>>5949441
>*reminds her

>>5949441
>You should probably go get ahead of this, and find Ranger Commander Qinfir before he hears what you just did from someone else, in less flattering terms…

>>5948812
>>5949678
>>5949576
>>5949573
>>5949514
>>5949477

“While we’re on the subject of which deceptions are necessary, though,” you address The Thief. “We need to have a talk later.”

If the lizardman is chastened or offended, he registers neither upon his false face, simply regarding you coolly and slowly nodding. Does he know you refer to the Unseelie Fey and his master's dealings with them, or does he believe you are still simply annoyed about his elven-hybrid spies? Or are there still MROE machinations yet to uncover? Regardless, that will have to wait—a more urgent matter requires your immediate attentions.

“We should go speak with the ranger Commander,” you say, dread seeping into your tone. “I can’t imagine he’ll be happy about me going behind his back like I did...”

“Why did you?” Pearce asks.

You avoid looking at Izzy, not eager to implicate her or to have to explain her dark and dodgy dealings right now. Pearce seems to understand that you are reticent, if not the reason, and simply nods.

“Want me to tag along?” he asks. “I am your ‘bodyguard’.”

“You sure you wouldn’t rather stay here?”

Pearce looks confused for a moment. You smirk in spite of the stressful circumstances, taking momentary amusement in a bit of good-natured teasing of your friend. Asubtle flicker of your eyes to Oncyth, currently in the form of a tall, dark, handsome, and apparently mutually-attracted-to-Logan Pearce elfman communicates your meaning, and Logan’s cheeks redden ever so slightly, his blonde moustache twitching in irritation and embarrassment.

“What do you take me for?” he grouses. “I’m a professional Tower Guardian, you know. They’re even considering me for shift captain.”

“So you won’t be distracted by pining and longing?” you ask. “You still have time for your friends?”

"Shut up,” Pearce says.

The big guy gives you a shove, but it’s a gentle one, and he can’t quite hide a laugh.

>>5949900
In all seriousness, though, you aren’t sure what to expect from your meeting with the Ranger Commander—a leanly-built, muscular elfman who, for all his decades, remainjust as physically imposing as ever, and who has over a century of soldier’s sensibilities and political shrewdness behind his old eyes. He was amenable to your earlier proposal—to ransom the Prince back to the mysterious ‘kingdom’ in Bloodrise so as to avert outright war—but he was also no fan of dragons, and with very personal and tragic reasons. He agreed to speak with the Council of Elders, the honoured (if rather hands-off) leaders of the Sylvan Realms on your behalf, and even arranged your visit with the Prince in his cell. What he DIDN’T consent to was his release, to roam free among the elven people of the capital.

And then there's the matter of those adventurers who were earlier following you... You think you lost them, but did you? What do they want? Are they a danger to you, traveling alone? Or, for that matter, to your friends, if you leave the Prince with them?

Who will you bring with you to meet with Ranger Commander Qinfir?
>Pearce
>Izirina
>Costella
>The Thief
>Oncyth
>The Unknowable Prince
>Muffins
>Veloz

[Anyone you don’t specify will remain in your assigned guest quarters; you can choose as many as you wish]

>>5949902
>Pearce
>Veloz
>Costella

>>5949907
>+1
The bird and diplomat should be enough to help us

>>5949902
>Pearce


Just the Loganator is fine

>>5949907
Yeah, that.

I'm >>5949949, I was away from home

>>5950047
I'm a player that haven't voted yet in the thread and roaming. Should get a non-switching IP in a couple days. RQM, should I tripfag?

>>5950109
[A steady IP is best; backlinking or a trip helps, but is more easily faked for fraud, so on especially contentious votes where the results are close, those who can't maintain a steady IP for a few votes and just backlink/trip with 1-post IDs may not be counted. Likewise when there's a tie I have to break, those are the first votes I cull.]

I'll level with you, though: it hasn't often been a problem these past few threads.

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>>5949907
>>5949949
>>5950047
>>5949960
You accept Pearce’s offer as much for the company of a stalwart and reliable friend as for his useful defensive and support spells—his personal specialty, which have served him well as a Tower Guardian these last few years. You also bring Veloz—your little lunar hummingbird companion—and Costella as well.

“Me?” she asks, surprised. “Wouldn’t Izzy be, you know, like… More useful?”

You frown a little. You’d explained her presence here to the Rangers as a ‘personal assistant’, and only now do you begin to wonder if such a demotion in relative importance might have aggravated her already-existing fears of being somehow ‘less’ than your or Izirina.

“I need our team’s best diplomat,” you tell her. “If you could hit it off with a lizardman king, a few old elves shouldn’t be an issue, right?”

Costella flushes at that and says: “I-it was really nothing. I just meant that he was, you know—"

“It’s not important,” you say, a bit louder and more quickly than you’d intended;, and add more calmly: “Izirina’s needed here, anyway.”

“I am?” Izzy says.

You nod, and gesture to both Muffins—your three-headed chimera companion—and to the Unknowable Prince. The two large predators watch each other with obvious unease—through ‘interest’ might be more accurate where the dragon-spawn is concerned, and you’re not sure if ‘hunger’ might also be applicable. Adding wary werewolf Oncyth and the secretly-reptilian Thief to the mix, the place is becoming quite the menagerie of monsters. In your younger days, you’d sometimes fantasized about collective a cadre of creature curiosities from around the world. You suppose you succeeded.

(Hooray. Lucky you.)

“You need to keep things under control here,” you say. “If Pearce and I are both going, you’re the only other one Muffins actually listens to… And the only other one who can understand the Prince’s ‘language’.”

“I also understand the Drow sign-language,” the Thief supplies.

You give him along look, and rather than say aloud ‘the only one I fully TRUST’, you say: “Then there’s still Muffins. I don’t think bringing a SECOND chimeric ‘monster’ through the streets of Iternagreyn is a good idea right now.”

Privately to Izzy you ad: “And if the adventurers come calling, I’ll need someone senior in our ‘diplomatic mission’ here as well, to talk our way out of an incident…”

“…Or to affect an escape?”

You say nothing, but Izzy reads your body language, and nods.

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>>5950246
You and your small party depart: Costella on one side, Pearce taking the lead, and Veloz resting upon your wizard-hat to save his energy. You’ve noticed his plumage is more vibrant lately, though, and his fluttering flights of fancy and food-collection more frequent; the Sylvan Realm has been good for him, its energies closer to those of the moon, even if the gravity remains an impediment to the long jaunts he used to take across the tiny world. You hadn’t realized how hard living in and around Hawksong had been on him…

“Worried about the Ranger Commander reaction?”

You look up with a start at Pearce, who is looking over his shoulder at you.

“You were pouting,” he explains.

“I was not!” you protest.

“It’s cute,” Costella reassures you. “Don’t feel, like, self-conscious or anything!”

Pearce nearly nods before he catches himself, but it’s too late: you saw. You give him a knowing look, and he coughs and looks back ahead.

“I'd almost forgotten to stress about that, actually, until you reminded me,” you answer his query. “I was actually thinking about Veloz… About the ethe effects living here on Earth might have on him long-term.”

“Classic Tips,” Pearce laughs at that. “Always worrying about animals.

“It’s because he’s an altruist,” Costella says confidently, sounding out the last word in a way that tells you she learned it recently. “He always, like, thinks about everyone else, and looks after them. Even, like, big scary monsters like that ‘prince’! I bet he took one look at him in a cage and couldn’t stand to see him all sad. Am I right, Tips?”

“S-something like that,” you stammer.

"Classic Tips," Pearce repeats solemnly.

In truth, it’s a bit more complicated than all that… But you’re not sure how much you can, or should, share. On the one hand, these two are your friends—well, more than friends, where Costella is concerned. On the other hand… Izirina Henzler has been dabbling with dark spirits, and it was in deference to this somewhat-sinister secret that you ‘liberated’ the Unknowable Prince.

Will you tell them what happened, and get their input and advice?
>Yes, ask Pearce and Costella about the Nothic, and about Izirina’s behaviour—honestly, they’ve spent more time with her this last year than you have
>No, keep your own counsel about these shadowy disclosures for now

Going out for drinks with a bud, so sorry for the short-ish updates. I hope the extra one makes up for it, and this art by abismomorbido

>>5950251
wasn't expecting Tips with full lips

>Yes, ask Pearce and Costella about the Nothic, and about Izirina’s behaviour—honestly, they’ve spent more time with her this last year than you have
I'd go with hiding it, but considering that we don't know what went on with her in this year we were apart, we gotta ask them about it.

>>5950251
>Yes, ask Pearce and Costella about the Nothic, and about Izirina’s behaviour—honestly, they’ve spent more time with her this last year than you have

Get our stories straight.

>>5950251
>Yes, ask Pearce and Costella about the Nothic, and about Izirina’s behaviour—honestly, they’ve spent more time with her this last year than you have

>>5950251

>Yes, ask Pearce and Costella about the Nothic, and about Izirina’s behaviour—honestly, they’ve spent more time with her this last year than you have.

We need need a third unbiased perspective, because when we last brought up the fact that izzy is studying with a dark demi-god her response was "no-you". Which while we did study on the moon its not really the same a seek power from the evil deities.

>>5950251
>Yes ask

>>5950710
>>5950612
>>5950580
>>5950438
>>5950364

The three of you continue at a brisk pace towards the hall of the Council of Elders—a grand construction, relatively low compared to the trees but wide and instantly recognizable by its ‘bird’s nest’ construction, woven from thousands of intricately-grown, thin branches. It is from a grove of trees with interlocking root-systems; in effect, it is a single great organism, just as the Great Tree where you studied is. The use of glass for windows is rare in the open-air construction of Sylvan elves, with your native woodland being such a temperate and mild region, but here they glitter in abundance amongst the branches, like hundreds of sparkling diamonds reflecting Holy Sol’s brilliance by day, and Holy Luna’s on bright nights.

You chew your lip as you travel, debating internally what you should disclose. You want to keep Izzy’s trust, but the truth of the matter is that you don't know what went on with her in this year we were apart; Pearce (and especially Costella) might. Furthermore, you value their unbiased perspective; when you confronted Izirina for her dealings with the mysterious spirit who she called ‘The Nothic’, her response was... Less than forthcoming. She’d compared this study to your own at the Sacrae Scholae Lunae, but that hardly settles the matter; there is a world of difference between studying with the Gods of the Fairy Pantheon—the Bonum Chaoticum—and an agent of the Dark God.

By the time you reach the hall, you can't hold it in any longer. You stop short and, noticing you’ve done so, your friends turn to face you.

“What’s the hold up?” Pearce asks mildly.

“Ooo, he’s got that ‘serious thinking’ face on now,” Costella stage-whispers.

“Well, I’m not sure how serious it is,” you begin, then think better of it: “No, it IS serious. Have you two noticed something... Odd about Izirina, this last year?”

Pearce’s eyebrows lift slightly, but he holds his tongue. You can read it on his face, though: ‘What ISN’T weird about Izirina Henzler?’ is what he’s thinking. He's long been worried about the influence she holds over you, since long before the two of you were formally, romantically entangled.

“What do you mean?” Costella asks, more concerned (as well she might be, being similarly ‘entangled’ in your unconventional arrangement).

“Has she ever spoken to either of you about her teacher?”

“She doesn’t really talk to me about her studies or anything,” Pearce says with a shrug. “We’re not exactly close.”

“Has she been going anywhere in particular, though?” you press. “Requisitioning weird reagents or unusual research materials? Stuff she’d need to check in with the Guardians about?”

Pearce scoffs, and begins to say: “As if the Archmage’s adopted daughter needs to get access to--”

But then he stops, and his brow furrows.

>>5950833
“Actually, now that you mention it,” Pearce corrects himself, “I did see her coming out of the basement levels—you know, where all the Archmage’s ‘black-hat’ mages go with those special clearances of theirs. I didn’t think anything of it, since she’s one of them herself... But I didn’t see her go in, and I’d been at that door for pretty much the whole day, and she was acting a little funny... Funnier than usual. Looking around before she came out, like a gopher from a burrow, like she was worried she’d be seen.”

“...But the only person who she’d be worried to be seen by would be her mother,” you conclude, and Logan Pearce nods.

“Ez, what’s this about?” Costella asks. “You don’t trust her teacher? Is Izzy in some kind of like, trouble? She said that she’s been learning a lot, and working on a big project...”

“A project?” you ask, feeling a vague dread. “What kind?”

Costella fidgets, looking nervous and a little embarrassed, and admits: “I like listening to her talk, and I really try hard to understand what she’s, like, talking about... But I’m not a wizard--”

“Mage,” you and Pearce correct at once, automatically.

“R-right,” Costella corrects herself. “But, like... Izzy knows that, too, and she takes it easy on me. She did say it was going to be a big deal for all of us—you and me, and her, and the people at the Hill. She called it, like... a ‘masterwork spell’, I think?”

A masterwork spell... A wholly original work of magical theory and practice, generally of a high level of power and complexity, which makes a Mage Apprentice into a true Magus Dominus. Technically, your own <Clone> spell could likely qualify you, if you choose to apply for the rank... And if the Archmage would grant it to you, rather than keeping you in her power and under her thumb, which seemed unlikely. Izirina’s <Plane Shift> was likewise a marvel that might qualify her for the rank, but she had thus far declined, becoming one of the black-hatted personal agents for her adoptive mother instead... But that was surely a matter of age, experience, and the choice of she and/or Archmage Henzler. It was realistically ALREADY a masterwork spell. What was she working on with this ‘Nothic’, and what did it have to do with the newly-planted fairy grove at Old Maple Hill?

“Ez?”

You emerge from the haze of your worrisome contemplations to find Costella and Pearce both looking at you withe expressions that mirror your own confusion and concern. Unable and unwilling to bear this burden yourself, you ask them:

“Has she ever mentioned... ‘The Nothic’?”

>>5950834
What follows is a hushed conversation about the nature of Izzy’s ‘teacher’, which seems to come as a shock to the both of them, though Pearce is faster to recover.

“Why am I even surprised at this point?” he groans. “Well, not much we can do about it anyway. Who would we ever report it to?”

“What about, like, the Paladins?”

You and Pearce both stare at Costella

“Shouldn’t we, though?” Costella asks. “Like... This is bad, right? Dangerous?"

“For everyone,” Pearce agrees, but then hesitates, glancing towards you. “But reporting something like this to the Paladins...”

“That’s just as dangerous, for Izzy,” you say. “Demonology’s not even allowed in Hawksong anymore, except to defend against them or banish them. This... This is something else entirely. This is blasphemy."

“A capital offence,” Pearce concludes.

“Th-the Queen wouldn’t do that!” Costella cries. “Right??”

“Probably not,” you say. “She’s married to an ‘antipaladin’, whatever that is. But that just makes this more complicated.”

“Everything's always complicated with this girl,” Pearce notes, adding with a sour look: “And she has YOU doing this evil spirit’s bidding too, huh?”

“Not EXACTLY,” you protest. “Freeing the Prince was ALWAYS the objective, remember?”

“But you sped up the timetable for this ‘Nothic’ of hers,” Pearce points out. “Seems to me you’re all dancing to a pretty Dark tune these days, from the Queen on down.”

A grim silence falls over your group.

“Should we go inside?” Pearce asks.

“Yes,” you sigh. “We’ll deal with this whole... Situation... Later.”

>>5950835
The three of you enter the great nest of the Council Hall. The warriors who defend the entrance permit you to do so, recognizing you by reputation or description—you ARE the only humans in the whole of the land, after all. They close rank behind you after you enter, and though you know it is procedure, it has the effect of making you feel trapped, confined. You chalk it up to the anxiety engendered by the previous topic of conversation, and try to put yourself back at ease for the negotiations ahead. Pearce, taking the lead, asks his ‘fellow guardsmen’ where the Ranger Commander can be found, and you trail after him.

“So, like... What are we going to tell them?” Costella whispers. “Obviously we’re not going to mention the ‘you-know-whatic', but... Like, what ARE we going to say?”

“Follow my lead,” you reply, as the three of you arrive at the well-lit, beautifully-yet-minimally furnished chamber where you find...

“Ah, Master Magus. We’ve been expecting you. Thank you for your promptness.”

You stop short, gaze flitting between the two—yes TWO—elves in the chamber. One, of course, is Ranger Commander Qinfir, still armed and armoured as he was when you saw him earlier that day. Beside him stands another, though: an elf in a fine green robe, lightly armoured with treated leafweave ‘leather’ to match it... And with a white blindfold covered his eyes. You recognize him—you think—by reputation: this is the elven mystic who captured the Unknowable Prince

“Please,” the Ranger Commander says, gesturing to some chairs. “Sit down.”

What do you do?
>Flee—this has ‘interrogation and detention’ written all over it
>Confess to what you did and why, telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth
>Demand to know who this blindfolded elf is, and ask that he leave
>Begin spinning a yarn to explain/excuse your actions
>Write-in
[If you’re explaining yourself and not being wholly truthful, make sure to include some details of the excuse you’re providing]

>>5950251
> write in
> Dont talk to them yet, but plan on doing so later.
Here is a list of people currently potentially eavesdropping on us: fey fungal priests, a draconic insect, a reptilian infiltrator, some elven adventurers, a worried archmage checking in on her adopted daughter, and some elven seers who got a recent power-up. This is a bad moment to share confidential information.

>>5950837
[Sorry, anon. You just missed the window.]
We had a pretty decisive consensus, anyway.

>>5950836
>Demand to know who this blindfolded elf is, but don't ask him to leave

>>5950864
>+1
sheesh, that's a hard one

>>5950864
+1
We should get to know why he is here before making a judgment.

>>5950836
>Confess to what you did and why, telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Temple elf did release him into our custody. Blame our good looks, not us.

>>5950864
+1

But after that, we have some explaining to do.

(Not sure if this falls under “Begin spinning a yarn to explain/excuse your actions” or not.)

Just don’t say anything until asked. If they do ask…

>Why is the prince in our custody?

When we visited the prince, we did not understand him at first - he responded to our words, but verbally he could not communicate. We requested the bindings on his hands are removed, so he may communicate with signs.

It was at that time we discovered he is a student of magic. We believe it best for him to be transferred to Hawksong so the archmage may better confine and interrograte him. The cult of Kuttralas permitted us.

>Why confined to Hawksong, not here?

(Same reasoning as our earlier argument with the cult.)

Cites Hawksong’s specialization when dealing with dragons and safety of the city if we have a hostage.

If they are worried about the transport, mention Muffins and our ability to keep large beasts in control, the prince’s overall compliance and if they’re still worried we would not mind escort.

am >>5950438

>>5950864
This.
Am >>5950047 on what should be a stable IP

>>5951196
>>5951180
>>5951064
>>5950897
>>5950864
>>5951277

You don’t sit down right away; seeing this, Costella stops, half-way seated, and hastily stands back up and hurries to your side.

“Commander Qinfir,” you greet the leader of the Woodland Rangers. “You were expecting us? So, word travels quite fast in Iternagreyn? Or among the Woodland Rangers, at least?"

“Well, I had an advantage in this regard,” the Ranger Commander notes, and looks towards the blindfolded elfman. “He’s a minasien.”

“Minasien?” you repeat.

The term ‘minasien’ has a variety of meanings. Among the humans of the northwest, it’s usually translated as ‘sage’ or ‘mystic’--essentially, a wise person, or a spellcaster. Among the elves of the Sylvan Realms, though, it has a much more specific meaning: that of a divination mage. The term, in some ways, is closer to ‘oracle’ or ‘prophet’, though with a connotation of independence, unaffiliated with any clan and not strictly devoted to a specific patron god or spirit; a minasien travels, providing advice and aid.

“Who is this sage?” you ask, using the trade-tongue term for Pearce’s benefit. “Hello, cousin. I am—”

“I know,” the blindfolded sage replies, turning to face your voice and inclining his head ever so slightly. “I’m called Nenaias.”

No mention of a clan or family name? This ‘Nenaias’ really IS a classic minasien, or at least knows how to play the role. The blindfold lends him a spooky air, and a part of you wonders if it’s an affectation of some sort, but you can think of no polite way to ask.

“And you wished to speak with me as well?” you ask, as innocently as you can manage. “And the Ranger Commander at the same time.”

“Well, it’s about a threat to the elven people—the world and ALSO the elven people, really—and you're directly involved,” Nenaias says with a forced-looking smile. “So, yes.”

You take a seat, and so too does Costella; after a minute, a wary Pearce does likewise. Neither Nenaias nor Commander Qinfir does, lending an uncomfortable air to proceedings.

“I don’t like this,” Pearce murmurs. “We’re on the backfoot.”

“Welcome to my life lately,” you grumble in turn.

Costella reaches out and grabs your hand beneath the table, squeezing it, and you feel a bit better for it. You straighten your back.

"So this is about the Prince of Bloodrise, of course," you begin, seizing the initiative, just as Nennaias opens his mouth.

“Yes,” Nenaias confirms. I was wondering what story you told them, to convince the Keeper to undo my party’s efforts?”

So that’s what’s going on? Professional jealousy? Resentment that you freed the big game this adventuring mystic captured?

>>5951493
“I thank you for catching the lost prince before he harmed or was harmed BY anyone, of course,” you say. "He was lost and confused, by his account, but there was still a risk."

Costella smiles and nods, supportive of this diplomatic approach.

"As for why I freed him, I'll tell you the same thing I told the Cult of Kuttralas' Keeper when they VOLUNTARILY remanded him to me: I am best-suited to contain and transport him. There are others of his kind who might try to free him—and take advantage of his aptitude for magic to do so. I'm sort of an expert at dealing with large predators and other such creatures, and I understand his language. Commander Qinfir, you remember our plan, of course? This is all part of it: getting him safely home in exchange for concessions from his father the Dragon King."

"I already knew what this monster and his ilk were capable of when I captured him," Nenaias says—more to the Ranger Commander than for your benefit, you'd wager. "It's why we bound his hands and isolated him."

"And we knew of other agents of the Forces of Darkness," Commander Qinfir adds, a touch tersely. "Magus van Houtzmann, if you'd come to me with your concerns rather than taking such impulsive action, you would have known this. Several such spies and saboteurs have already been captured and detained. We had things well in hand. Now, we have a dangerous, spellcasting dragon-hybrid lurking along the paths of Iternagreyn. This was NOT what we discussed."

Before you can speak up in defense of yourself and your actions, Nenaias speaks up again, as much accusation as speculation: “I wonder if this reckless and careless act was the product of youthful impatience and ego, or if it was dangerous by design?”

“Design?” you balk. “Sir, are you accusing me of—”

“We’re not accusing anyone for anything,” Commander Qinfir interjects, shooting a meaningful look at the mystic which—of course—goes unseen and unnoticed.

>>5951495
Qinfir turns back to you, frowning sympathetically, and adds: "yet."

"Sir!" you protest.

“The minasien has been speaking with me about the providence by which he and his fellow travelers apprehended the dragon... And about what might come to pass, if we don’t take him back into our custody.”

The Ranger Commander pauses.

"And, potentially, all of you as well."

Costella squeezes your hand harder, and you return the gesture. Pearce is tense, broad jaw set in silent defiance, hands white-knuckled upon the table.

How will you respond?

>Hear them out—what exactly does this Nenaias think will ‘come to pass’ if you or the Prince go free? What evidence does he have that his divinations are correct?
Maybe you can find a way through this prophecy, or poke holes in it...

>Warn Commander Qinfir that he’s risking an international incident with not just the Dragon King of Blodorise but the Queen of Hawksong and her Archmage
You might even be able to back that up, if he still refuses...

>Challenge the legitimacy of this so-called prophet—this is an outrage!
You're an actual DIPLOMATIC OFFICIAL (sort of) and this guy is, what, an ADVENTURER? Essentially a trumped-up vagabond? He should leave

>Have Costella make an emotional appeal, and let Pearce describe your security procedures for containing the Prince
Play to your allies’ strong suits, while you watch and listen...

>If this man is accusing you, essentially, of treason against your mother’s people, then he’ll answer for it with a duel!
The ancient tradition of ‘wizard’s duels’ is respected among both men and elves, and this minasien IS a mage...

>Write-in

>>5951499
>>Hear them out—what exactly does this Nenaias think will ‘come to pass’ if you or the Prince go free? What evidence does he have that his divinations are correct?
tips is a poor mage for duels, as he has found out previously. and being reasonable and listening is important to counter the image of being 'impulsive' or malicious

>>5951499
>first, ask whether the prophet knew the dragon can talk with handsigns. If he answers yes, ask why he lied to the servants of Kuttralas. If he answers no, put his competence as a diviner to doubt.

>>5951493
>. “I’m called Nenaias.”
aaaaaahhhh
Ask how his buddy Heinrich is these days
They talk lately?

>>5948270
>Hear them out—what exactly does this Nenaias think will ‘come to pass’ if you or the Prince go free? What evidence does he have that his divinations are correct?

>>5951515
He'll probably counter with how he didn't want to give them a reason to undo his hand bindings which would let him cast dark magic

>>5951499
>If this man is accusing you, essentially, of treason against your mother’s people, then he’ll answer for it with a duel!

this mystic is intentionally trying to stir shit, even if we rebuke him he'll probably just try to mess up our mission later anyway.

Best we force him to relent, and besides which we have muffins again we'll win any duel.

>>5951499
>Hear them out—what exactly does this Nenaias think will ‘come to pass’ if you or the Prince go free? What evidence does he have that his divinations are correct?

We need to know whats his game first.

>>5951499
>Hear them out—what exactly does this Nenaias think will ‘come to pass’ if you or the Prince go free? What evidence does he have that his divinations are correct ?
let him cook and we'll spoil it
am >>5950897

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>>5951513
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>>5951912
[Locked and writing one more update for tonight!]

>>5951957

You wrack your brain for a way to undermine this elfman, to defend yourself against his words. Does the name ‘Nenaias’ mean anything to you, perhaps? Have you heard it before, in some compromising context? Or can you catch him in some deception? Unfortunately, the truth is this: you do not know this seer, or his intentions, or his motivations. You do not know, in fact, if he is good or bad.

Maybe it’s time to find out?

“We’re here with good intentions, sir,” you say levelly.

“That’s right!’ Costella chimes in—the first words she’s spoken in this assembly. “It’s like Ez says… We’re here to stop a war, and anything he did was, like… because he’s a good person!”

“Is that so?” Nenaias asks, and regards Costella for a moment—or, rather, at least faces the direction from which her voice came, you suppose.

“It is,” Pearce asserts. “We’re here in an honest capacity, for a simple purpose."

“A first for political manoeuvring of ANY sort,” Nenaias comments wryly.

“Why are YOU here, minasien?” you ask. “No offence, but we have declared our purpose and intentions. You haven’t, except in vague riddles about the past and the future.”

“You doubt my visions?” Nenaias asks, though not especially haughtily. “Strange to hear, from one who knows very well the truth of such prophecies, and their provenance.”

“Huh?” Costella mumbles, and while you suspect you understood more of the vocabulary, you have to admit you share the sentiment.

“What do you mean, sir?” you ask the blind sage.

In answer, Nenaias points upwards. It has been a long day, turning now to night. As all of you follow his gaze to one of the artful and intricate arrangements of wood, metal, and glass which forms the patterns skylight of this chamber you see…

“The moon,” Nenaias speaks, as you realize what he means. “You’ve been there, haven’t you? To the holy cities of the Queen Rianniane's own court?”

Costella gasps, and even Pearce looks a little startled, but you contain your disbelief, and take a moment to consider all possibilities.

“My travel to the moon wasn’t a secret,” you conclude. “I left Earth in a ceremony, and it seems to me at least a few elves I’ve met know of the events preceding it. Word of my departure must have gotten around as well.”

“So you still doubt?” Nenaias asks.

“Skepticism is the foundation of good magical theory,” you reply. “When you’re trying to have me detained, however, I must admit I have a bit more incentive to be doubtful than I usually would.”

Nenaias scoffs, but nods slightly in a concession of the point.

“I don’t only know that, though,” he says. “I know what happened there, in part—what you must have learned there. Of the coming age… And of the measures which the Gods of Light have taken to counterbalance the Forces of Darkness. Search your mind, and you’ll find the evidence that I speak truly.”

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>>5952001
You spent a whole year on Holy Luna, in the company of the lunar eladrin who dwell there, studying in the sacred academy of a living god with those high elf natives who she and her mother and sisters directly created. You learned MANY things—things that, admittedly, the so-called seer before you DOES seem to be alluding to. You learned about a coming 'Age of High Magic’, brought about by growing complexity of beings on Earth and the spiritual-magical interactions between them. But what, specifically, does Nenanias mean about evidence in his favour?

Then, suddenly, you remember it—a moment buried in the lunar liquor as cosmic ‘soma’ which followed it… A secretive exchange with Mithel, one of the eladrin servants of your own ancestral patron deity, Princess Miannie.

‘To counterbalance and offset the suspected interference by the forces of Darkness… those apparatuses devoted to amplifying and directing precognitive abilities of Earthly seers are being given additional attention, and divine wisdom is being passed down from on-high,’ Mithel had told you. ‘We normally limit the clarity of images… But under the circumstances…’

You’d asked what those circumstances were, of course, and Mithel had obliged you, and it was for that reason you later imbibed so heavily in vain effort to forget:

“The Gods are afraid.”

You snap back to the present, in shock. The words the blind sage just spoke, they are the EXACT words Mithel had shared with you!

“Your ‘visions’ are the product of the… The ‘Akashic Record’?”

“AN Akashic Record, technically,” the seer says. “There are many records of the past, if one knows by what means to access them. But the picture is clear to me now, yes… Clear in a way which I wish it had been, once upon a time.”

“Well, I’m lost,” Pearce mutters.

“Oh, thank the gods!” Costella blurts out, laughing nervously. “I thought it was just me!”

Command Qinfir just watches the exchange, face placid but eyes darting back and forth with each exchange of words between you and your accuser.

“What did you see?” you ask quietly.

(What is it that the gods so fear?)

“I have seen much,” Nenaias answers. “In the past, I have seen in whole those events which I once saw only in part… Tragedies, which I count have forestalled, prevented. The fall of two great houses: that of the Houses of Paladin King Axios and of the House of Yosef, their degradation and destruction.”

Axios, the Paladin King, noble ancestor of Queen Ekaterine who sent you here. The House of Yosef… The house from which the Green Knight, Lord Heinrich Yosef, was born; Lord Yosef, the celebrated adventurer-lord who first exposed the Reptilian conspiracy in Hawksong, and then seemingly fell prey to it. But what ABOUT them?

“Wait, I know you!” Costella gasps, pointing at the sage. “Your name… Your magic… You’re the guy! Like, the elf guy who was in The Green Knight’s party!”

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>>5952009
“Once upon a time,” Nenaias admits sadly, “before the Dragon King—the one who you now serve, whose spawn you freed—ruined us both, with lies and violence and, finally, with demonic trickery. Before he destroyed the heart and mind of my companion, and made me watch, wide-eyed, while his hell-born minion violated his body and soul and rendered him an empty, hollow husk. I was freed only by or tormentor’s destruction, when the dragon came to harvest his crop of suffering but I could never forget the sights I’d seen… The things the demon made me bear witness to, made me DO…”

The sage’s impassioned recollection trails off into a deep sigh, and he shudders.

“I removed my eyes,” he says, when he has recovered, “and now, rewarded by the Celestial Gods, I see with clarity that what happened to us was all part of a greater, darker design… A design which includes the seduction and subversion of the Queen who sent you, and the collapse of the Kingdom which she rules.”

“I’m not sure what you believe is happening in Hawksong,” you begin, “but we’re not here to serve any dragons. Queen Ekaterine sent us—"

“On behalf of Long Wang,” Nenaias interjects, “Crown Prince of Hawksong, and chosen of the Dark Gods... And seniormost heir of the House of Yosef, son of the son of Lord Isaac Yosef and the evil race who slew him.”

You stare, mind working overtime.

“Wait,” Costella whispers, “What?”

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>>5952011

“This is what I have seen,” the elven prophet continues, with dreadful certainty. “Two heirs of darkness shall take up residence in two tall towers, as lords and sovereigns of men: one as the heir of Axios, one as the heir of House Yosef. When both are in place, they will call down a third heir—a great beast—who will come down from the mountains unto that shining city of men. The city around them will burn in dragonfire, which will spread across the plains and to the forests, all the way to the Sylvan Lands and beyond.”

You and your friends all stare in silence, unsure what to say in the face of such an apocalyptic prediction, said with such conviction.

“The WORLD will BURN,” Nenaias reiterates, in no uncertain terms, and points squarely at you. “YOU light the match. YOU place the crown upon the head of the second heir—the Dark Lord Yosef, the False Heir. YOU set it in motion…”

He frowns, lowering his hand, and adds: “But not if you remain here. Not if that abomination you ‘freed’ remains safely ensnared. In that future, this terrible fate does not come to pass.”

Eyelessly, the seer stares through you, awaiting your reply. The Ranger Commander watches you too; Qinfir seems to do so expectantly, though, even hopefully, as if hoping you can put a lie to this prophecy, or find a way out of it… A way that saves both your parents’ peoples and, ideally, ALSO doesn’t result in your imprisonment or death.

What will you do?
>Deny and defy the truth of the prophecy—this is nonsense! You just won’t crown any Yosefs, and you’ll warn the Queen!
[Difficult Sociability roll]
>Challenge the seer to a duel—if his magic fails him there, then it proves his predictive powers can’t even extend as far as a single battle, let alone to far-flung fate!
[Initiates a battle; you can choose who will fight for you]
>Offer up your palm—let the sage read your future more directly, more personally, and together work to find a course of action where you can leave and yet avert catastrophe and war
[???]
>Tell them of the OTHER heir of the House of Yosef... Izirina Henzler
[??!]
>Acquiesce to this grim reality, and agree to return the Unknowable Prince to his cell… And to remain here for now, in custody of the Sylvan people and Woodland Rangers, until you can find a solution
[Lose your freedom, spend an indeterminate period of time here, but maybe save the world]
>Write-in

>>5952013
>Tell them of the OTHER heir of the House of Yosef... Izirina Henzler
Fug it, we bowl

>>5952013
>>Tell them of the OTHER heir of the House of Yosef... Izirina Henzler

This world is so cold. Makes us stand for what's right. Our hope through our life is to reset it to the start.

Here we are, going far to save all that we love if we give, all we've got we will make it through.
Here we are, like a star shining bright on our world today, make evil go away.

We can find a path where creation of gods of light and those of gods of dark live together. Goblins too.

>>5952013
>Tell them of the OTHER heir of the House of Yosef... Izirina Henzler

I ain’t got much for an argument, I’m afraid. But I’ll give it a shot.

Nenaias seems to interpret the prophecy as follows:

Heir of Axios [Ekaterine] + Heir of House Yosef [Theral] = great beast [The prince]

And this is by Theral’s design, and by letting the prince free, the Hawksong and every other city will get razed — he is getting his son out of here so he can raze everything to the ground without risk to him.

I’d argue if that really is his goal, his current course of action isn’t very tactically sound.

Tell him we - before we began our excursion to the sylvan realms - had a discussion with Queen Ekaterine and Long Wang and his followers. He seemed concerned about Hawksong’s trade not being open to him, and by extension, Bloodrise. If he’s planning to turn Hawksong to dust why bother with the economic situation at all?

But assuming that’s a lie, there’s also another matter he brought up; his followers fear Hawksong is closing trade and planning to go to war with Bloodrise, and their “evidence” for this is the Goodberries we grew there - they fear it would be used by Hawksong forces in warfare.

The goodberries are an extremely valuable source of food — wouldn’t it be best for him to

1) Keep Hawksong alive as a vassal state to grow the Goodberries

OR

2) Attempt to replicate / grow their own Goodberries

As opposed to destroying such a resource

>>5952013
>Write-in: Tell the mystic that the prophecy's sent to him by the powers of the moon are exaggerated fiction.

I have a feeling that since divination magic can be affected by the divine powers. (Theral offer's prayers to the beholder before feat's of crucial divination magic, Alexos Eka's dead paladin brother got a vision warning him of an assassination attempt from the light gods. The serpent ascendant would sometimes visit theral in his dreams.Etc. Etc.)

That the Divine Princess Yllarquin, one of the daughters of the moon goddess who tired to imprison us on the moon. Until we obtained the "correct" opinion on how to use our magic. Might be trying to make up for her failure to capture us by using Nenaias as her proxy agent. And the fact that this vision has more to do US than it has to do with our current mission or Unknowable prince points in that direction.

>>5952013
>Deny and defy the truth of the prophecy—this is nonsense! You just won’t crown any Yosefs, and you’ll warn the Queen!
You don't think telling him about Izzy will just make him target her? She matches the prophecy better than Theral - Theral already has a crown, not placed by us, and reigns in the same tower as Ekatherine. Izzy, on the other hand, can become the next Archmage in the Wizard Tower.
I propose telling him about this mismatch, but not mentioning Izzy.

>>5952013
>Offer up your palm—let the sage read your future more directly, more personally, and together work to find a course of action where you can leave and yet avert catastrophe and war
jolly cooperation

>>5952159
>I propose telling him about this mismatch, but not mentioning Izzy.
How? It seems to me like Izzy's existence is key to implying there's a mismatch in the first place.

If we do end up telling him about Izzy though, the prophecy is likely including her as Archmage in the mages tower. So to avert it we just have to outdo her and become Archmage instead. Ez.

Especially since Henzler would appoint us first, sure she dislikes us, but she hates Izzy more.

>>5952013
>Offer up your palm—let the sage read your future more directly, more personally, and together work to find a course of action where you can leave and yet avert catastrophe and war
Though I would support a
>Challenge the seer to a duel
If it got any support

File: alright.png (7 KB, 684x102)

7 KB PNG

>>5952074
>>5952079
>>5952089
>>5952128
>>5952159
>>5952302
>>5952320
[Alright, here we go!]

File: izirina the younger (1).png (2.94 MB, 2500x3500)

2.94 MB PNG

Rolled 19, 10, 11, 10, 6 = 56 (5d20)

>>5952510
“Prophecies are influenced by the gods,” you point out, unable to keep the defensiveness from your tone.

“And?” Nenaias asks.

You swallow a reply. What are you supposed to say: that after being invited as an honorued guest of one Moon Goddess, you earned the ire and mistrust of another, and that a part of you suspects that one of the most respected patrons of your mother’s race—of the fairy folk EVERYWHERE—is misrepresenting the situation out of spite? Honestly, the longer you think about it, the less likely it seems; if Princess Yllarquin HAS affected the vision, you think it much more likely she’s done so out of earnest and honest concern… And admitting that such a prestigious divinity as she doesn’t trust you all but GUARANTEES that no elder elf of the Council will go against her instincts.

Perhaps a part of you even fears she might be RIGHT. Is that why, despite contemplating it, you do not offer up your palm for closer inspection by the blind sage? DO you fear what he will find? Is that why, despite the danger to the one you love, you find yourself saying:

“What if there was another?”

“Another?”

“Another heir of the House of Yosef?”

This seems to startle everyone in the room, except for Pearce; it was, after all, he who helped you decode the hidden mysteries of Izirina Henzler’s history. No, that’s not right… He’s startled, but you sense in his expression that it is shock that you would disclose such. Before you can regret it, you continue, clarifying your cause:

“The nineteenth Lord Yosef, Isaac… He had a son AND a daughter.”

“Miriam Yosef and her husband, Lord Vaz, were killed,” Nenaias says. “Heinrich Yosef told me as much, and HE heard it from the murderer… Or one of them.”

“But what if their CHILD had survived?”

Despite his lack of eyes, you can see the sockets of the elven sage narrow. You know there’s no point couching this in hypothetical. There’s no salvation in playing coy. You need to offer an alternative to his blisteringly-bleak revelation, if you’re to have any hope fo securing your freedom and accomplishing your mission here.

“In my time at the Tower, I uncovered the same reptilian-demonic conspiracy you’re talking about,” you admit. “However, I also discovered that the daughter of Miriam Vaz—Miriam YOSEF—SURVIVED that night. That she STILL lives.”

“Why was she spared?” Ranger Commander Qinfir asks, speaking for the first time in a little while.

“I… I don’t know,” you admit. “But I personally purged her of demonic and reptilian influence”

“How?” asks Nenaias.

“I purified her with the <Rite of Attunement>.”

>>5952521
Both of the elfmen before you recoil a little. Surely they’ve heard the rumours, but to hear you admit such so blatantly must still be a shock to them. They’ve heard of the <rite>, and that means they well KNOW how sacred it is—and reserved for the priestly class, and sages, and the True Fey of the Bonum Choaticum.

“It was necessary,” you press on, tone firm, “and surely if you’ve seen such a dreadful future, you KNOW it was necessary. Thanks to me—to what I did—there is an UNTAINTED child of House Yosef, ALIVE, TODAY.”

“You mean to crown this daughter in place of the Dragon King’s spawn, then?”

“If it will avert the prophecy?” you reply. “Yes.”

Silence reigns for a moment, everyone in the room contemplating what you have proposed, and none more deeply than Nenaias.

“Tips, are you sure…?” Pearce whispers

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Costella whispers from the other side of you, as she catches up. “Are you talking about who I THINK you’re talking about?”

“Yes,” you reply to both of them, not looking away from the minasien

>19 for Sociability

Finally, he speaks up, asking what you knew he would, and with a tone that—to your satisfaction and relief—caries a note of hope.

“Who is she?”

As Nenaias puts his trust in you, so do you place your trust—and your lover’s fate—in him, in kind.

“Izirna Henzler,” you reply. “The Archmage’s adopted daughter… And the blood heir to House Yosef, and House Vaz, granddaughter of Lord Isaac Yosef.”

Nenais and Qinfir are both shocked all over again, to know he ridentity—and that she is here, in Iternagreyn, with you.

“I… I must let my party know,” the sage says hurriedly. “Excuse me.”

“Wait, you can’t just accuse us of all these terrible things and leave!”

>19 for Sense Motive

“Let him go,” you say. “He’s calling off an attack.”

“What?!” Costella and Pearce both cry, though Commander Qinfir merely shuts his eyes and exhales through his nose, nodding.

“He’s a divination mage,” you explain, “and his elves have been watching us since we left the Kuttralas cult’s complex. He knew the expect us. If we failed to convince him—and as soon as he was sure the Woodand Rangers wouldn’t object—he planned to attack, arrest, and detain all of our friends, and reclaim the Prince. Now, knowing he’s risking the last HUMAN descendant of the House of Yosef, our ‘prophet’ has reconsidered.”

(Alright, so you’re a little smug. So what? You’ve earned it!)

>>5952538

“It makes sense,” the Commander says, and then with a more critical tone: “After all, with how you’ve been behaving, and the secrets you’ve been keeping, it would have made perfect sense for any loyal and patriotic elf of the Realms to do just that.”

“I’m not CRITICIZING him,” you lie.

“Of course not,” says the unconvinced Ranger Commander.

Soon enough, the sage Nenaias has returned to your little conclave. You all look to him expectantly—worriedly, in Costella’s case and yours—but he simply nods, and you both breathe a sigh of relief. Izzy—and the Prince, and everyone else in your diplomatic quarters—is safe and sound, unmolested by elven adventurers.

“A council-meeting will still be required to address this,” Commander Qinfir sighs, rubbing his forehead and, in that moment, looking his age. “The prophecy, the ‘solution’, the dragon…”

“Obviously.”

The Ranger Cmmander glares at you, albeit half-heartedly, and you force yourself to idea back the self-satisfaction, and murmur an apology.

“You ought to get your story straight, and to refine your proposal so it is clear and concise,” the Ranger Commander says, “and persuasive. It isn’t just me that has a say in this, you know.”

“R-right,” you say.

“You told me this dragon prince could serve as a bargaining chip,” the Ranger Commander reminds you. “What did you have in mind?”

>A simple exchange—the Prince of Bloodrise is freed, in exchange for a promise from his Father never to wage war on the Sylvan Realms
>It might help to settle tensions if, aside from freeing the Prince, the Sylvans freed the other captive spies as well, and renewed economic and diplomatic ties with Hawksong… And by proxy, the semi-secret monster kingdom in Bloodrise
>Perhaps it could be arranged for the Prince to remain here as an ‘honoured guest’ of Iternagreyn… Just to keep the Dragon King honest? A nobleborn hostage is a pretty effective bargaining chip to just give up for a possibly-hollow promise…
>Write-in

>>5952539
>A simple exchange—the Prince of Bloodrise is freed, in exchange for a promise from his Father never to wage war on the Sylvan Realms
>It might help to settle tensions if, aside from freeing the Prince, the Sylvans freed the other captive spies as well, and renewed economic and diplomatic ties with Hawksong… And by proxy, the semi-secret monster kingdom in Bloodrise

>>5952539
>A simple exchange—the Prince of Bloodrise is freed, in exchange for a promise from his Father never to wage war on the Sylvan Realms
>It might help to settle tensions if, aside from freeing the Prince, the Sylvans freed the other captive spies as well, and renewed economic and diplomatic ties with Hawksong… And by proxy, the semi-secret monster kingdom in Bloodrise.


>Write-in: A detachment of rangers,diplomats and mystics should be sent to hawksong and stationed there to prevent such diplomatic problem's from occurring.

The dark elves have a large contingent sent by their king to gain influence in hawksong. The elven council needs a similar force to counter their agenda at minimum.

>>5952576
+1

That’s fair.

Should we release the prince first, then the spies later?

an >>5952089

>>5952539
>A simple exchange—the Prince of Bloodrise is freed, in exchange for a promise from his Father never to wage war on the Sylvan Realms
fuck the spies, lul

>>5952539
>It might help to settle tensions if, aside from freeing the Prince, the Sylvans freed the other captive spies as well, and renewed economic and diplomatic ties with Hawksong… And by proxy, the semi-secret monster kingdom in Bloodrise

>>5952539
Supporting >>5952576
I thought about taking him hostage and raising him in the elven values tohave a friendly dragon in the future, but if he divulges any of Nothis' secrets it'll reflect poorly on Izzy.
Dammit, Izzy.

>>5952539
>A simple exchange—the Prince of Bloodrise is freed, in exchange for a promise from his Father never to wage war on the Sylvan Realms

Rolled 11, 2, 13, 1 = 27 (4d20)

>>5952764
>>5952748
>>5952715
>>5952684
>>5952590
>>5952576
>>5952544
“Well, as I said, the obvious first step is simple ‘tit for tat’,” you begin.

“This prince, in exchange for guarantees of peace from the Dragon King,” the Ranger Commander acknowledges. “The question which naturally follows, though, is ‘why should we trust a dragon to keep its word?’”

“It might help to settle tensions if you—that is, if the Realms—returned to normal relations with Hawksong,” you point out.

“Did you not hear what I said?” Nenaias says, a little testily.

“The Dragon King of Bloodrise and your Prince Consort, the husband of the Queen of Hawksong,” Qinfir says, “they’re one and the same.”

You frown, unsure whether it is to your advantage or disadvantage to reveal just how little of a surprise this is to you—that you in fact CAME here knowing that, and simply kept it to yourself. Instea,d you say:

“Exactly.”

And in the face of the other elves’ incredulous expressions, you add:

“In such a situation, that only makes trade and diplomacy MORE important. If Hawksong isn’t irredeemably corrupted yet, then they surely WILL be if we don’t do something—ALL of us. That means being a part of the world, not APART from it. If Hawksong is left without any GOOD influences, any ETHICAL trading partners… What choice will they have, but evil ones?”

“And if Dark ideas and influences seep through them and into Iternagreyn and the Sylvan Realms?” asks QInfir, calm but clearly still skeptical.

“Th-then maybe your good ideas will seep the other way?”

You all turn to look at Costella, who stares back wide-eyed and covers her mouth.

“Sorry, did I speak out of turn?”

You smile, and shake your head, replying: “No, that’s exactly right. And the first step in that… Is releasing the prisoners. Not just the Prince, all of them.”

Ranger Commander Qinfir crosses his arms, and shakes his own head in turn.

“They have acquired unknown secrets of our logistics, our magic. They’ll take those things back home with them.”

“And that’s in addition to whatever that ‘prince’ has acquired in his time here, before he was captured,” Nenaias adds.

“It’s the best path to lasting peace and safety for the Realms,” you insist.

“That isn’t what my visions showed me,” the elven sage reminds you.

“That was before you knew about Izirina Henzler,” you reply, “and for THAT plan to work, I NEED your support, cousins.”

>>5952847
“No.”

>1

The answer doesn’t come from the minasien, but from the Ranger Commander.

“I am sorry, Master Magus, but while I’m open to your plan of peace—even freeing the monster-prince, I will not return the spies. They know too much—or POTENTIALLY too much—and unlike their prince, they cannot claim to have wandered innocently into our lands. They were not lost. They were sent here, in false identities, to steal information and intelligence. That was an act of war… And if we’ll forgive it, it doesn’t mean we’ll let some reptilian monstrosity, serving the Dark Gods, get away with whatever he wants. We will NOT return his operatives with all their ill-gotten knowledge. They remain here.”

“I thought it was, like, something to talk to the rest the Council of Elders about?” Costella chimes in, resting a hand on your arm before you can stand up and say something rash—which you were about to. “Maybe we should all just cool down a little? This has, like, TOTALLY been a LOT, you know?”

“You’re right,” the Ranger Commander says with a bow of his head in acknowledgement. “Right now, though, it is only I and the Keeper of Kuttralas’ Works who will be at ALL in favour of this plan as it stands… And I, for one, will NOT be speaking in favour of releasing the spies.”

He give you a hard look, then, though it cracks into something more sympathetic.

“If the Prince Consort of Hawksong wants them back so badly, he can meet me face-to-face. His REAL face.”

After that, there seems to be no more room for discussion. You’ve earned your freedom, and that of the Prince for the time being; they’ve agreed to leave him in your custody, albeit with a guard presence around the grove where you, he, and your friends will be staying. The Unknowable Prince is to go nowhere alone, and ideally nowhere at all unless it’s strictly-speaking necessary.

“You wish for the Council to approve his release?” Commander Qinfir asks rhetorically, and then instructs you: “Don’t let him roam around, panicking people. The less he’s seen, the less trouble I’ll have convincing my fellow Elders that he is not an apocalyptic threat.”

You suppose that’s fair. Knowing nothing else about him except that he descends from dragons and looks like, well, what he LOOKS like, YOU would have been inclined to consider the Prince of Bloodrise an existential threat as well. As you leave the chamber and the Council’s hall as ell, you wonder idly whether he still might NOT be… or one of his siblings. And all this business of two towers, of Axios and Yosef, of Hawksong and Bloodrise and Iternagreyn…

“This has been a lot, huh?” Pearce says.

You can only sigh, and nod. You are getting better at playing politics, but it’s still a long ways away from your favourite activities: those of living alchemy, and exploration, and intellectual exploration.

>>5952877
“I can’t wait until this is all over and done with,” you admit, as Costella rubs your back soothingly.

“It will never be over.”

You all turn to the source of the voice: to Nenaias, standing in the doorway behind you, eerie even in light of his defeat in debate, and subsequent disarmament as a threat.

“I thought we had this settled,” Pearce growls, stepping protectively between you and the minasien.

“For now,” Nenaias agrees, though with obvious reservation. “This isn’t a game of politics, though. This is a war of souls and spells, gods and monsters, and its true kings, queens, and generals are immortal, and their grievances unbridgeable. You might maintain peace for a time among their children, but the Gods of Light and the Gods of Darkness will never find common ground… Nor should they. The Dark Ones ARE evil, and their evil is unchanging and eternal. They CANNOT be persuaded to maintain this peace indefinitely.”

“Then why did you back my plan?” you retort.

The blindfolded elf’s forehead creases, and he looks pained, before finally speaking up:

“For a dear friend, drowned in darkness, forever lost to me… For his family and legacy, for his lost faith, and for his tortured spirit. For Heinrich Yosef.”

You… Aren’t sure what to say to that. You don’t know the exact fate of the Green Knight, the last man to hold the title of Lord Yosef but you DO understand this much: it was worse than mere death.

“I will not interfere in what you’ve now set in motion,” the blind prophet concedes finally voicing aloud his surrender. “But I will ask of you a favour, if I may.”

You blink, startled by this sudden turn, and nod—he may ASK, at least.

“I would like to read the fortunes of your companion, Izirina Henzler, and to speak with her,” Nenaias requests. “I would know what it is that her ascendancy might mean for all our peoples… For the world.”

N the one hand, that’s something you can’t help but wonder about yourself—whether the prophecy was even legitimate and, if it was, if you’ve truly prevented the cataclysm which Nenaias foresaw. On the other hand, though… What if he sees something terrible—not necessarily TRUE or CERTAIN, but awful enough to make Nenaias reconsider his neutrality?

Will you allow him to read Izirina Henzler’s palm, and to speak with her alone?
>Yes
>Only if you can also be present
>No, he may not read her palm

>>5952878
>Only if you can also be present

>>5952877
I was a little worried when only the >1 appeared in the greentext, but we worked it out.
>>5952878
>Only if you can also be present

>>5953003
>only the 1
[When there's a roll with no successes and a 1, it's critical failure. In this case, it was a slight worsening of relations with Qinfir, and him putting his foot down.]

>>5953006
>In this case, it was a slight worsening of relations with Qinfir, and him putting his foot down
fug, at least we managed to convince them in a way.

>>5952878
>Only if you can also be present

>>5953006
turned out not as bad as expected thankfully

>>5952878
>No, he may not read her palm

He wasn't willing to speak out on our behalf, and is the entire reason we had to go through with that borderline interrogation. And now he wants a favor?

Also izzy works with the beholder,now maybe the beholders magic can cloud his sight. But it would be bad if izzy is exposed as a cultist.

>>5953244
>>5953055
>>5953003
>>5952920
>>5953244

“I guess that’s fine,” you say, hiding your own interest in the subject, “but I want to be there for the reading.”

“It is a rather personal thing, isn’t it?” Nenaias asks.

“You didn’t seem to find it ‘too personal’ to tell everyone about Ezreal’s fortune back inside,” Pearce notes sourly.

“That was different,” Nenaias says, “both because it was a matter of the greater good, and because it was not a personal reading.”

“Would you say you trust me now?”

The elven sage turns his head to face you.

“Completely?” you continue. “Totally?”

“…No.”

“Well then,” you say, “we’re on the same page. For that reason alone, I’m not letting you do this if I can’t be present.”

The sage’s curiosity wins out over his professional pride or moral compunction as a minasien. He follows you back to your quarters, with armoured elven guards in sun-forged steel falling in on your flanks. Some of those adventurers who you recognized before mill about as well—not following, exactly, but waiting with solemn or questioning expression along the paths that lead to your temporary quarters. Their leader (if that IS indeed Nenaias’ role) nods and waves to them, recognizing them without sight, and they return the gestures and stay put… Waiting.

When you arrive, the eagerness of the others is stymied by Nenaias’ appearance alongside you, and leads instead to whispered questions and answers.

“Did it go well?”

“Are we free to leave?”

“Who is he?”

“What is he doing here?”

“Sort of,” you answer, and “Not yet,” and “Nenaias, an elven seer and leader of the adventurers who captured the Prince,” and finally “Well, you see…”

“My palm?” Izzy asks, frowning with furrowed brow. “I’ve been led to believe it’s a rather imprecise art.”

“Maybe more precise now,” you say seriously. “The , uh, underlying mechanisms of elven divination have been amplified.”

“It tells you more about the past than the future, though, doesn’t it?” Izirina asks. “That’s the dirty secret of crying-through-time, or ‘divination’, Mother says: it extrapolates from existing information, from the past and patterns.”

She stops mid-infodump, and pales slightly.

“Tips… My history is, uh…”

“He knows,” you admit. “About… Your parents. About your origins.”

Izirina stares at you, but Costella—trusty Costela, there alongside you, comes to your rescue.

“Ez didn’t have a choice!” she says. “They were, like, totally going to arrest us and stick us in a dungeon! They were THIIIS close to attacking and trying to capture you all!”

>>5953322
“We should leave,” Izzy mumbles, fidgeting, eyes flitting to the blindfolded elf and fingers writhing nervously as if itching to form somatic components necessary to cast <Dimension Door>, or <Plane Shift>, or one of her other escape-spells. “We need to leave.”

“Izzy, it’s going to be okay,” Cotella says soothingly, reaching out to take her hand.

“No, it isn’t!” Izzy almost shrieks, slapping Costella’s gesture away ith a sneer.

You both stare, shocked, and Izzy deflates, looking down at her feet.

“Sorry, it’s just… Just…”

At first, you take this for some sort of trauma-response, a reaction to the idea of having her dark origins exposed—the bloody slaughter of her birth-parents, her troubled upbringing under an icy and unapproachable witch of a mage, her only recently-alleviated affliction of reptilian and demonic contaminant.

“Tips, remember… Do you remember what we talked about? Why we had to FREE the Prince?”

Costella’s mouth forms a little ‘o’ and she hides a gasp with her mouth. You, too, realize belatedly her true concern, at the same time that iIzy, with another start, realizes that Costella ALSO knows.

“You told her?!” Izzy demands.

“I… I did.”

That’s right. It’s just like you told Costella, and Pearce, too, for that matter: Izzy has been studying under an agent of the Dark Gods, a mysterious spirit called ‘The Nothic’. Any peek into her past OR her future might well reveal that. And if this elven mage sees such sights—knows you did what you did partly at the behest of a pact with a LITERAL Agent of Evil…

All three of you slowly turn your eyes upon the eyeless elf.

“Are you ready to begin?” Nenaias asks?

“Uh...”

(Okay, so maybe you’re still not great at all this ‘political intrigue’ business.)

>Yes, yes we are
[Depending what he learns, you may have a rather dire choice to make thereafter… But you could learn Izirina’s true intentions and likely future, and maybe avert an apocalyptic event]

>Nevermind, Izzy isn’t comfortable with it!
[Immediately increases suspicion, keeps the secret, you don’t get to peak into the future]

>One moment… IZZY, help! Can this ‘Nothic’ cloud or direct his vision?
[You could obfuscate his prophecy, perhaps, buying his wholehearted support… IF it works. You also won’t get a real prophecy out of it, and will be dealing with a dark demigod.]

>Actually... IZZY, you're right. Get us out of here, now!
[There's a risk of being intercepted by the Kuttralasmeiads, of course, and it will make you no allies here, but it could be you best shot at immediate and definitive escape.]

>Write-in

File: Expert on this.png (256 KB, 918x669)

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>>5953327
>Yes, yes we are
tbf I kinda forgot about the dark god, but fug it we fugging ball.

>>5953327
>Yes, yes we are
augh
I thought that would have been way too recent for divination into the distant past and future to pick up
welp, we never talked to the nothic, so we didn't do it at his behest, it was more Izzy's behest really
and also we would have done it anyway, so the nothic didn't influence our decision at all

>>5953327
>Nevermind, Izzy isn’t comfortable with it!

We don't actually even gain something tangible of the mystic does his palm reading.

>>5953327
I already sense that we’re gonna have to kill this fool anyway- something will spook him, and he’ll become inflexible in demanding Izzy’s head.

Would be hilarious if Izzy learned a shapeshifting spell just so she could mess with him.

>>5953327
>Nevermind, Izzy isn’t comfortable with it!

>>5953327
>Yes, yes we are

Honestly? We don’t really have much else to lose at this point.

>>5953703

am >>5952590

File: Yes.jpg (15 KB, 185x272)

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>>5953327
>Yes, yes we are

File: locked.png (3 KB, 680x41)

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>>5953765
>>5953703
>>5953682
>>5953561
>>5953533
>>5953385
[Locked and writing!]

File: 90bb0fef163206dc964dffb0b(...).jpg (47 KB, 549x329)

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>>5953818
“Yes,” you say, “yes we are.”

“Tips!

“Ez!”

You look at both the women in your life, and take one of their hands in each of your own.

“We need to know,” you say simply. “Costella… You were there, right You heard what he said.”

Costella’s face shifts through a series of emotions—doubt, fear, contemplation, concern. You let her process that, while you turn your eyes to Izzy’s own fearful, confused visage.

“If there’s any risk that what we’re doing could ruin the world, we need to know, so that we can avoid it. We need to find a way forward that’s good for everyone involved.”

“And if there IS no perfect path forward?” she asks you, voice low. “If we see something we don’t like?”

You hesitate, only for a moment, and Izzy starts to pull away. Before she can, you grasp her hand harder, and meet her gaze again.

“It’ll be okay,” you promise her. “Please, just… Trust me?”

…And she does. Izirina Henzler clings to your hand as the two of you approach Nenaias. Costella watches you go, worry etched across her face; you spare her a backward glance and the most reassuring smile you can manage, and then you follow Nenaias out of the treehouse, down the trunk of your arboreal residence, and down to the forest floor. The guards follow at an unobtrusive distance as he leads you into the woods, always present but never too near.

“We need privacy for this to work properly,” Nenaias explains. “No interruptions, no intersecting threads of destiny from others nearby. It would honestly be much easier without even YOU here, Master Van Houtzmann.”

“Ezreal stays,” Izirina insists, hand still gripping yours tight, and she subtly shifts closer to you. “Whatever is in my future… He’s a part of it, so it shouldn’t provide any interference. Our futures are joined together.”

“And it’s MIOUS Van Houtzmann,” you correct him, reminding him that this is your place as well—that his culture is your culture, that you are not just Man but Elf.

“Very well,” says Nenaias, and you follow the blindfolded man deeper into the forest.

Finally, seemingly satisfied with the location, the seer approaches a nearby tree and places his hand upon it. Then he casts a spell you only know by reputation:

<Druidhome!>

Suddenly, the teres and bushes around you seem to grow taller, and taller, and taller still. The thickets densifies and swallows up your portion of the path in grass and moss. The surrounding plants entwine with one another, and they push back the outside world until the three of you are alone, beneath star and moon, in a paradisiacal grove. Even the thin, chill night-wind seems to be cast out, and a comfortable temperature and perfect humidity abide here. The only other resident is the central tree, which immediately widens and begins to flower, and then to fruit, producing small, brilliantly-red apples.

>>5953836
“That’s… Quite a high-level spell,” you note.

“I’ve heard of this,” Izzy gasps, releasing your hand to rotate around and to trace her hand over the natural barrier he’s thus erected. This is a hidden space, right. A… space-between-spaces?”

“Not quite, but almost,” Nenaias clarifies, with a certain amount of pride unmistakable in his normally-solemn voice. “It’s a temporary thing, akin to a fairy grove—geographically bound, maintainable with magic. Nobody gets in or out without equal or greater magic than my own, or my permission.”

Nobody in or out? And here you are—just the two of you—with a mage powerful and skilled enough to create such a space in a relative instant, without obvious exertion… And he’s about to read the palm of your girlfriend, who has been collaborating with dark forces, and who might just be tangled up in the end of the world as you know it.

“I see,” you say aloud, while mentally you are screaming.

“Shall we begin, before the guards become upset with us?” Nenaias asks with a small smile.

You and Izzy exchange a look, and you nod. She steps forward awkwardly, and after a moment she holds her hands out before her together with palms up, as if to be shackled. Nenaias reaches out, fumbling for the first time that you have seen to find her hands. She feels each rather intimately, all the way up to Izirina’s wrists, and she recoils slightly with flushed face at the invasive sensation.

For your part, you note his difficulty with the precise location of nearby objects and feel some small home that—if worse comes to worst-you can defeat him or escape… But, you remind yourself, the situation is not yet so dire.

The minasien selects one of Izzy’s hands, seizing it in a gentle-yet-firm grip, and leans forehead as if to gaze down into the topography of her palm. His mumbled, murmured words of the sage—sacred, holy words, half-sung and half-spoken, rise to a crescendo and at last he casts:

<Guidance!>

>GAME OF DISTORTION (courtesy of “I’m a demon?”):
>Each player may post one picture, with or without a short phrase to accompany it. It can be anything, anything at all. I will roll if a huge abundance arrive and I don’t feel I can incorporate them all; those thus chosen will be incorporated into the quest… Though maybe not exactly literally, or as you expect.

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>>5953838
A bright future where all races live in harmony in the surface and the Underworld, working side by side in peace and acceptance

File: l77wpmyii4t41.png (2.51 MB, 1644x1850)

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>>5953838
Am I doing this right?

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>>5953838
Eastern warlord's invasion.

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>>5953838
To study is to marry, to marry is to study

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>>5953838
A union, to bring about an Age of Enlightenment, instead of burning forests and blood-soaked mountains.

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>>5953838
"An enemy turned ally"

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>>5953953
>>5953922
>>5953913
>>5953868
>>5953857
>>5953855
>”The Gleaners” by Jean-François Millets, sympathetic portrayal of rural working class which was seen as gauche by the social elites; an entreaty to a future full of racial harmony
>A meme about (dubious) wisdom from beneath the waters, involving a female humanoid who ascended to a spiritual/divine state (Sanae Kochiya from Touhou); voicing concern, uncertainty
>”Mythic Rakshasa” by Denman Rooke, depicting a predatory, demonic shapeshifter with a curved blade, who appears to be from the east; invasion by a warmonger
>Maurycy Minkowski’s “The Young Bride”, depicting a nonplussed young woman preparing for her wedding with a conclave of women, reading books; marriage and knowledge, and the interplay between the two
>“Nadia'lin, Dark Elf Bard Diva; and Apep, God of Chaos” by Catilus, depicting romance between a dragonborn and an elf; a peaceful golden age brought about through marriage
>Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, specifically a scene between two figured with demons sealed inside them, with one offering acceptance and compromise to the other; an appeal for alliance between enemies
[Locked.]

Hey this one is looking better than the time player picked 'anatomy of glowworm" and "death and despair"

>>5953978
>Hey this one is looking better than the time player picked 'anatomy of glowworm" and "death and despair"
wut

>>5953993
>>5953978
one of those picks is how The Unknowable Prince was conceived, in a way!

>>5953967
Nenaias’s jaw slackens slightly, and in the subtle shifting of his blindfold you think you recognize the rapid fluttering of his lids, as if in the rapid eye movement of a dreamer. The Dreamscape, that medium through which consciousness interacts with the magical layers of material reality and the spaces beyond, is integral to divination, so you suppose that makes sense. It’s never been your strongest school of magic, nor Izirina’s to your knowledge, so you can really only speculate, and hope.

As the elf’s face twists up in a pained look and his grip tightens, you become alarmed and move to intercede; Izirina squirms in his grip, and grunts as she tugs at her wrist, but the sage does not release her. His other hand’s fingers slowly traces the lines and marks upon her palm.

“I see it!’

Both you and Izzy stop short, staring at the minasien as he begins to shudder, almost in seizure, and with a strained voice that isn’t quite his, he begins again to speak:

“I see it… I see a world intact, and whole, beyond where I saw the flames overtake the future when last I glimpsed it.”

(A good start!)

“Toiling in fields and farms, in streets and workshops, working side-by-side… Elves, Men, and the little folk… Reptilian races, lizardmen and kobolds… And beastmen, also.”

(That sounds incredible, like an absolute success in your attempts to permanently avert a catastrophic conflict!)

“It comes from a wedding… No, two wedding… Two branches of the House of Yosef, rejoined as two trees grafted together, bearing fruit with elven blood.”

(Uhh… Wait, what?)

Before you can work out the exact implications of that revelation, however, the sage begins to breath heavily, erratically, and to shiver.

“Wait, something’s wrong,” he moans.

“What is it?” Izzy asks urgently, ceasing in her struggles and staring at him now as if fascinated.

“The union, the marriage, the birth, the bloodline… None of it is possible, without knowledge from dark places... And the unhappiness of another, a forsaken one. Enemies become allies, but friends and lovers become strangers. The fields bear such fruit, but the old order collapses to the rising tide… The sea rises, the fields rise, and swallow up the city. So much history, so much promise… Lost, to facilitate this future, this single beautiful, terrible possibility!”

“It hurts,” Izzy hisses, staring at her wrist, and then back at you. “Tips!”

>>5954007
You move to intercede again, called to action by Izzy’s voice, but Nenaias is gripped by a terrible, hysterical strength. You both pry at his hand the prophet’s fingers, but they are like cold iron. With his other hand, he smacks you away, and begins frantically taking the measure of each of Izirina’s fingers.

“There has to be something else… A different way… there must be!”

“Different than what?!” you ask, brandishing your staff. “Nenaias, snap out of it! Let Izirina go!”

“The knowledge you pass down to the child of those two marriages! The force which rises from beneath the sea! It all comes to a head in a great war of flashing sabres and bloody conquest. A monster wearing a human face, an enlightened tyrant, an eastern beast with the stench of demons upon them! The war I foresaw is still coming, but rather than destruction, it brings order… But what KIND of order? WHOSE order?!”

“H-how should we know?!” Izzy demands.

Nenaias jerks and spasms again, and croaks out: “If the House of Yosef is reunited, under a single banner and bloodline, they will harness a power hidden beneath the sea. There will emerge a new Lord Yosef and a new Green Knight. The house will eclipse that of Axios, and become great and powerful, and reign over a unified empire such as the world has never seen. All the races of this world will be united…”

Finally, he releases Izirina, both of them gasping for breath. You rush to your love’s side, checking her wrist and finding the beginnings of a bruise and even indentations where the sage’s nails dug and scraped at the outermost layer of skin, but nothing serious. Her own eyes are still fixed upon the maddened mystic, though. Nenaias is yet trembling, but his breathing seems to be becoming more regular, and whatever force has gripped him seems to have now left, and restored him to his senses.

“Is everyone okay?” you ask them both.

Izzy doesn't answer, except to nod. And as for Nenaias?

He turns his face upwards to you both, and says: “No. Not at all."

>>5954008
"What I saw… Was a future united in darkness, a peace brought about by bloodshed. And you… Rebecca Vaz-Yosef… YOU are the ancestor of the beast who rules that future.”

Nenaias’ face shifts to you, and he adds: “A beast which also has elven blood. If you two have a child... The child which they have in turn will marry one of the Dragon King's own lineage, and bring about that which I have seen. If you do not marry, do not have a child... There is less certainty, but there is hope, hope that Light may yet prevail."

How do you feel about this revelation?
>Positive—for all the grim adjectives being thrown around his IS a vision of, essentially, world peace!
>Negative—you don’t want to be responsible, even indirectly, for creating a demonic tyrant!
>Dubious—it’s so vague, and so clearly influenced by the fears of the gods, that you don’t really believe it.
>Write-in

What will you do about Nenaias, who is currently recovering but CLEARLY doesn’t like what he’s seen?
>Try to assuage his fears about this future [how?]
>Deny the accuracy of his vision and demand to leave this grove immediately
>Attack him while he’s weakened and distracted, before he has a chance to attack you!
>Write-in

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high magic and an antidivine weapon at the bottom of a bay, plus no aquaphobic mc this time round

>>5954011
>>Positive—for all the grim adjectives being thrown around his IS a vision of, essentially, world peace!
>Try to assuage his fears about this future [how?]

A new lord Yosef and a new Green Knight are good things, right?
A world intact; a world in peace.

This is a 180° difference from your last prediction of apocalypse and doom

So either your vision are not working or strictly everything is possible.

>>5954046
Yeah, free movement OP to fetch treasure in the sea;

>>5954051
Good point anon, it’s a lot different than his previous one. Now I dunno if it’s wholly positive or not.

>>5954051
>>5954096
[Not to steer anyone's votes or approach, but I will say that the possibility of changing Nenaias' vision dramatically by revealing Izirina or, as she was named at birth, Rebecca as the 'Ysoef' to be crowned was the entire reason he and Qinfir agreed not to imprison you and/or the Prince of Bloodrise.]

>>5954104
I see, it’s a good thing they weren’t as paranoid then.

>>5954011
>Negative—you don’t want to be responsible, even indirectly, for creating a demonic tyrant!

>Try to assuage his fears about this future [how?]
We've already drastically changed his vision once, we can keep workshopping it
Also I thought Izzy was unable to conceive

>>5954119
We kinda fixed that with the rite of atunement, anon

>>5954122
>>5954119
[You don't actually know if she can conceive, in fairness. Nobody's done an in-depth physical in that regard, that you know of... But Tips has every reason to believe that it's possible, now or with further magical modifications.

>>5954011
>Negative—you don’t want to be responsible, even indirectly, for creating a demonic tyrant!
>This peace is the peace of a prison.
Try to assuage his fears about this future [how?]
The future he saw basically turned by 180 despite nothing really having changed in the world. There must be another possible path that we don't know about.

>>5954011
>>Positive—for all the grim adjectives being thrown around his IS a vision of, essentially, world peace!
or
>Dubious—it’s so vague, and so clearly influenced by the fears of the gods, that you don’t really believe it.

>Deny the accuracy of his vision and demand to leave this grove immediately

We are official diplomats we don't have to deal with this accusations.

>>5954011
>Dubious—it’s so vague, and so clearly influenced by the fears of the gods, that you don’t really believe it.

>Try to assuage his fears about this future [how?]
"Look, this vision is already pretty different from your previous one of certain doom and End of the World. Even if there's unsavory parts, focus on the good ones and know that we can change the bad results again."

>>5954008
>Positive—for all the grim adjectives being thrown around his IS a vision of, essentially, world peace!
>Dubious—it’s so vague, and so clearly influenced by the fears of the gods
Like, bro, you just say world peace and racial harmony- are you sure you aren’t the baddies here?

>Try to assuage his fears about this future [how?]
Have you checked your privlage? (Seriously though, if you attempt a diplomatic solution my dude, maybe you could control/restrict the ‘Dark Side’s’ actions- maybe even enough to prevent world peace).

Also, lol, she’s infertile- clearly you need to get gud on your futuresight scrub.

We should kill him before the problem escalates.

>>5954127
Clearly we omit the possibility, like a proper diplomat.

Also, we did meet with a Light Goddess on her home turf- you’d think he’d be more interested in our perspective on all this nonsense.

>>5954217
He knows enough about how you parted ways with the goddesses to be suspicious of your opinions of them, since he's a bit more faithful to them than Tips and ESPECIALLY wary of demons and Dark Gods after his experiences with the Dragon King and his dead friend's 'pet demon'.

>>5954215
>>5954197
>>5954181
>>5954180
>>5954119
>>5954051
[Writing!]

>>5954224
“Honestly,” you say, “this vision already seems to have quite a bit of hope, to me.”

“What did you say?!” the sage asks loudly, voice resounding with moral indignation.

You squeeze Izzy’s hand, gently, and without thinking you lower your head to kiss it where it is tender. Izzy flushes at the public display of affection, but you can’t help it: the truth is that this talk of having a child with her—something you weren’t sure was possible—and of that child BRINGING ABOUT WORLD PEACE? Well, it fills you with a lot of feelings, but fear isn’t one of them. And anyway… Your relationship is no longer any secret from this seer, even if it’s not yet a atter of public or diplomatic record.

“Minasien Nenaias,” you address the elven mage, “think about it, logically: in les than twenty-four hours, we have taken the vision which you earlier spoke of and almost COMPLETELY flipped it! From a rain of fire and total extinction, to a reign of peaceful harmony for ALL NATIONS AND RACES.”

“A reign of terror,” Nenaias reminds you. “The peace of a prison, with your descendants their wardens.”

“So we workshop it,” you say dismissively, though you instantly regret the cheekiness when the elf’s mage twists into a sneer of disgust. “Sorry, I just mean… If we can really change so much simply by adjusting our intentions, you and I and Izirina… How much faith should we really even PUT in these visions?”

“Intention to the heart of the art of divination,” the prophet replies. “It is no small thing. A change in perspective, belief, intent… it leads to a change in action. If all other things in this cosmos move in set paths and react predictably, then it is those whose souls can know change—whose dreams set their destination—which allow the future to shift and change.”

“Then we’ll just INTEND to raise any children grandchildren we MIGHT have, SOMEDAY, to not serve the cause of evil,” you say bluntly, as it seems frankly quite obvious to you. “Right, Izirina?”

Izzy doesn’t reply, though. She is staring down at her abdomen, a hand on her stomach, eyes wide. Her other hand is limp in yours, and when you release it, it just flops down at her side.

“Izzy?” you ask, worried by this state of shock.

“Ezreal Mious Van Houtzmann,” Nenaias says, drawing your attention back to him, “you may be a brilliant mind in your own field of human magic, and a respected ally of CERTAIN fairy courts… But you do NOT have a proper understanding of the arts of divination.”

“Is that so?” you reply, offended by his tone.

“When I read your palm, Magus HENZLER, did you INTEND to give rise to a line of tyrants, intermixed with the reptilian races, in service to the Dark Ones?”

Izzy’s head snaps up at that, face paling, as she replies: “No, I—”

“Did you intend such a thing, Master Magus?” he asks you.

“What?” you blurt out. “Obviously not! Why would I—”

Rolled 5, 2, 2, 7, 7, 1 = 24 (6d20)

>>5954248
Nenaias holds up a hand, and you close your mouth, letting him finish:

“Fortunes shifted when you, influenced by my prophecy, altered your intentions, planning to prevent the rise of a more monstrous and corrupted branch of the House of Yosef, based in the dark kingdom of Bloodrise, from reviving their human ancestors’ house in Hawksong under their dominion.”

He holds up a finger.

“Then, I performed a second divination—this one more specific to Magus Henzler—no, Lady Vaz-Yosef, isn’t it?—and based upon your CURRENT intentions and LIKELY actions, this was the future: one in which your descendant, one must assume a descendant of the BOTH of you, takes the throne of an evil empire and conquers the world in the name of Darkness."

He holds up a second.

Unless you change your course RIGHT NOW—that is to say, unless you can think of something which you WOULD HAVE DONE before I shared this prophecy, but WILL NOT do now… Then it is the most likely possible outcome based on Izirina’s—or Rebecca’s—past and present.”

He holds up a third finger, wobblingly.

"Can you think of any such thing?"

The third finger begins to lower, slowly curling towards Nenaias' closed fist.

This is making your head swim. Divination ahs always struck you as more of a ‘soft’ magic, compared to that of elemental reactions or alchemical reagents, or even those of bio-spirituality. Its spatial applications—viewing distant things, finding the location of lost or hidden ones—these are sensible and testable, yes. Even viewing into the PAST can be proven or supported with subsequent research and material evidence. When you are dealing with the future, though… Well, there’s no way to prove what WILL be, or what else COULD have been, until you’re already THERE and it’s too late to experiment with other options. After all, there is no magic that can allow one to repeat the past, or alter its course.

There is ONE thing you know, though, and that is this:

“Our intentions so far are for a better world, Minasien Nenaias,” you say curtly, “for everyone, if possible. If the Forces of Darkness are enabling that and the Forces of Light AREN’T… Maybe you should think about whether the course which you are on is the correct one.”

[Sociability & Sense Motive. DC to persuade is +4 for having a positive view and challenging the credibility of the vision (Nenaias sees it as bleak, and believes strongly in the efficacy of divination). Your elven empathy and your earlier success with him each lower the DC by 1, though; over all DC 17, and 14 for the Sense Motive

Rolled 2, 9 = 11 (2d20)

>>5954250
Izirina stares at you in shock and, if you’re not mistaken, a kind of awe, as if she never expected to hear you say such a think. Nenaias’ expression, however, is clouded, unreadable… Then, to your surprise, turns bright, peaceful.

>1 for Sense Motive

“I understand,” Nenaias says beneficently.

“You do?” you say, a little surprised at the sudden change. “I mean… Good!”

“You both currently are on a course to raise a child who ruts with beasts and cavorts with devils because you’re already in league with them, aren’t you?”

>7, 7, 2, 2, and 5 (holy shit) for Sociability

“What?!” you cry. “No, I’m a Disciple of the—”

Before you can get the words out, Nenaias ahs already interrupted with a word fo his own, and that word is:

“<Entangle!>”

>Critical failure on Sense Motive; your guard has been let down and you don’t see the attack coming
With your low physical stats, you roll d20 at DC 18 to dodge. Izzy rolls the same, but with DC 15.

>>5954250
>Rolled 5, 2, 2, 7, 7, 1
our nat20 streak came for it's dues

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>>5954255
>>5954267

“Tips!”

>2

You hear Izzy cry out as, with next to no warning, climbing vines last out from the tree at the centre of the <Druidhome> grove and seize you like chains. When you brace your feet to try to pull free, the grass itself rises and curls about your ankles with blades and roots alike, pulling down as if to swallow you up in the soil below. You fall to your knees, wrists bound and arm pulled out before you and held apart to preclude most spellcasting. Little Veloz, who after all was resting upon your head, screeches a keening alarm-cry and buzzes up into the air, flitting around the vines; they don’t seize him but, on the other hand, what can he really do to them?”

“Let him go!” Izirina demands, drawing her wand from the loop upon her belt. “I swear to ALL the Gods that will listen, if you don’t let Ezreal go THIS INSTANT, I will obliterate you where you stand, you— AAH!”

>9

You cringe to see Izzy, distracted by your plight, ensnared by much the same trap; she dodges the lashings of the whipping vines, but the grass beneath her feet trips her up as surely as any tripwire, and then springs up like some sea-floor ambush predator to leap upon her entire body with a smothering tarp of green. Her cries of pain and panic are muffled by the mat of vegetation.

“My specialty is divination, children,” the blind sage tells you both, “but as an adventurer, slaying reptilians and demons with the LAST Lord Yosef, I did not play a purely supportive role as a ‘caster’. I was what that profession calls a ‘battlefield control expert’… And I don’t need eyes to play that part, not when all the forest can sense you, and do as I ask to keep you hear.”

He sighs deeply, and shakes his head, expression falling.

“It’s a shame… You’re both so young, so very young… But if I fail in this duty, Heinrich and his family will have died for nothing. They were good people, you know—a good family, honest and true. Heinrich Yosef, he was one of the best men I ever knew, no matter the pain that deformed his heart and left him vulnerable to…”

He trails off, and you see a blood-reddened tear trickle down from behind the blindfold.

“I won’t let evil tarnish your legacy any further, brother,” he whispers. “I swear it.”

You strain against your bindings, but it’s no use—and without the ability to sue somatic components (that is to say, gestures and stances), casting any spell is monumentally more difficult.

Although… You do still have your staff, and its ‘loaded’ spells do not require anything more than intention, an arcane word, and a quick flick of the wrist…

What will you do?
>Cast a spell from your staff (which one?)
>Attempt to cast a different spell (which one?)
>Send Veloz to get help
>Try again to reason with Nenaias (what will you say?)
>Write-in

>>5954250
>“Our intentions so far are for a better world, Minasien Nenaias,” you say curtly, “for everyone, if possible. If the Forces of Darkness are enabling that and the Forces of Light AREN’T… Maybe you should think about whether the course which you are on is the correct one.”
not that anything we'd say would change much in us getting decked, but where did this come from ?
>>5954270
>Cast a spell from your staff (Lightining Bolt)
fuck, we don't have much else

>>5954270
>Attempt to cast a different spell (which one?):Improved aetherial form to slip the vines.

>>5954274
>where did this come from ?
[>>5954215's "are you sure you aren’t the baddies here?", combined with an aggregate Positive/Dubious reaction to the vision; ie Tips was given a vision of a dictatorship of his descendants bringing about a peaceful world through force and felt mostly pretty good about that, and pretty confident he can change the bad parts without heeding Nenaias' advice. I also took into account several other votes and the general trend: Tips mistrusted the form nature took on the moon, defied and fled from the goddess after telling her to her face that he disagreed with the Gods' plan for the world, made an alliance with a guy who goes around calling himself an Antipaladin and who he's been repeatedly told serves the Dark Gods, then he freed that guy's monster son without consulting with the authorities, AND he is ambivalent about (but is still enabling) him and Izzy to study under and pursue some of the goals of a Dark God's demigodly servant. Tips is a Disciple of the True Fey still, but not exactly the most rigid in following their strictures, and has historically not been very shy about saying so when he disagrees with them, and the chips are down.]

On a higher roll, and especially if you'd taken a more 'negative' reaction of "what an awful vision! we must prevent it from happening!" or simply promised not to have kids together or offered something else more concrete, Nenaias would have been convinced to watch and wait, or even to join your party and offer you his assistance in steering fate.

>been gone for one morning
>check quest again
>tips and izzy are currently imprisoned by nenaias in a remote location he conjured up.

Shit. That did not pan out.

>>5954298
I’ve got two questions.
Can Wildshape let us assume Oncyth’s form?

And

What are the effects of monstrous growth if you apply it to a person. How fast will the effect occur?

If wildshape does work, then yeah, I’ll do that. If not, and if the monstrous growth’s effect is not very immediate, use lightning on our staff.

>>5954295
That’s a good move, but >>5953838 mentions
>“It’s a temporary thing, akin to a fairy grove—geographically bound, maintainable with magic. Nobody gets in or out without equal or greater magic than my own, or my permission.”

I’m not sure if we can slip out entirely - we either need to incapacitate Nenainas enough so he drops his guard and the druidhome, or we try to convince him otherwise - and I’d rather not take my chances in that at all now. I’ve got nothing in terms of arguments and even if I did, it’s still a long shot given our current placement with him. Placating him - especially when he has made up his mind to imprison us - that’s damn tough.

am >>5953703

>>5954319
>Can Wildshape let us assume Oncyth’s form?
[Not EXACTLY his form, but you could try to assume a more savage, lupine form like a LESSER werewolf than Oncyth.]

>What are the effects of monstrous growth if you apply it to a person. How fast will the effect occur?
[Monstrous Regeneration can heal extreme wounds like missing limb or even damaged/missing organs to a degree. You've mused about overclocking it to weaponize it as an attack before, but you've never actually tried; it's possible you could provoke rapidly-forming tumorous lumps of vestigial limbs or other body horror to kill or maim an organic enemy.]

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>>5954270
>Attempt to cast a different spell (which one?)
Have Izzy Dimension Door the bottom of the ocean- make his prophecy a reality

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPlj5n-Mlk

>>5954270
Backing>>5954295
no lightning bolt or other lethal spells please

>>5954319

>I’m not sure if we can slip out entirely - we either need to incapacitate Nenainas enough so he drops his guard and the druidhome, or we try to convince him otherwise - and I’d rather not take my chances in that at all now. I’ve got nothing in terms of arguments and even if I did, it’s still a long shot given our current placement with him. Placating him - especially when he has made up his mind to imprison us - that’s damn tough.

We use fey form to slip his vines and then us and izzy beat the dogshit out him. He is a control mage we are a buffer mage/elementalist and izzy is all arounder. we'll win in a straight fight as long as he doesn't get back up.

>>5954363

I ain’t sure if Izzy could do that. Seems to me she’s buried.

>she dodges the lashings of the whipping vines, but the grass beneath her feet trips her up as surely as any tripwire, and then springs up like some sea-floor ambush predator to leap upon her entire body with a smothering tarp of green. Her cries of pain and panic are muffled by the mat of vegetation.

And that’s assuming the water pressure doesn’t cut us in half too. Maybe we could aetherial form and keep ourselves safe, but I don’t know about that.

>>5954324
Good to know.

Wait, I vaguely remember with Monstrous Growth, you need physical contact with the target. Is that the case? If that is so, I’d rather try my luck with lightning loaded into our staff. Save our mana for later.

am >>5954319

>>5954270
Couldn't we use the "Magical Quads" to get out of jail-trouble?

I'll support both
>Free Senses
and
>Izzie use Dimension Door : Ocean's bottom

>>5954380
>the banked auto-success
[You do still have that, yes! Thank you for the reminder.]

>>5954371
>>5954363
>Monstrous Regeneration & Dimension Door
[Monstrou Regeneration DOES require physical contact, and Dimension Door hasn't, in the past, led to any obvious signs of atmosphere-exchange... Though you've never seen it used between air and water or an atmosphere and a vacuum, so it IS conceivable.]

>>5954319
>>5954363
>>5954366
>>5954295
>>5954274
[Do you wish to cash your autosuccess now, dor some cutting words to talk no jutsu your way out of this?]
>Yes
>No

>>5954510
Honestly, I know I bringed the auto-success, but situation is not too dire yet. Let's ducking go all the way through and keep the autosucc for a major victory over gods or council.

>>5954524
I don’t know about this.

On one hand, we can auto-success a talk, get him to let us free, that’s good. We might still falter when we need to face the elf council. So, still a chance for things to go wrong there. Maybe get imprisoned. Maybe worse. And then we’ll get no more “get out of jail free” cards.

On the other hand, we keep the auto-success and try to escape his druidhome, there’s no coming back from this one; no doubt Nenaias will - at the first opportunity - declare us to be a threat to the sylvan realms and brand us an enemy. We won’t have long to get to our friends and get out. And even if we succeed there, we can never go back here. This is our last visit. Our elf-roots gone for good.

Shit, this is tough.

I gotta go with the latter option. If Nenaias believes he could detain us by himself, I don’t doubt the others would not blink an eye at it if we don’t convince them.

>No.
Save the auto-success.
Lightning + aetherial form to get us out of the vines

i am >>5954371

>>5954510
I'd like to use the autosuccess to talk no jutsu our way out of this

>>5954510
>No
we're still in salvageable territory, so let's save it for now

>>5954510
>Yes
I don't see how this situation can be considered salvageable.

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>>5954772
>>5954649
>>5954582
>>5954573
>>5954524
>>5954510
[So, we seem to lack a clear consensus. I will roll for it if I must, but I'll leave it open a bit longer.]

>>5954785
shouldn't aetherial form be wining? Including myself i count three votes for it.

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>>5954810
[Ah, you're right, since >>5954573 called for lightning AND aetherial form.]

[It's slim, but we'll go with it.]

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Rolled 12, 10, 18, 13, 6 = 59 (5d20)

>>5954274
>>5954295
>>5954363
>>5954366
>>5954380
>>5954573
>>5954582
Damnit, if this guy would just give you a moment to talk, perhaps you could clarify what you’d meant—make him see sense! As it is, though, Izzy is half-buried in turf, voice muffled and limbs bound by knotted grass, while you are in a scarcely-superior position. A <Lightning Bolt> could end the issue, of course…

But it could also end Nenaias, a good elfman simply doing what he believes in necessary to protect his—your—people. Could you really live with yourself, if you accidentally ended his life? Maybe… But not if you did so without at elast TRYING to do otherwise, first.

“Izzy, if you can hear me, ready a spell to get us out of here!” you say, and receive a muffled cry that you HOPE is a reply.

“I don’t think so,” Nenaias interjects, with a grimace. “Please, stop struggling—this doesn’t need to end in violence.”

“I’d really rather it didn’t,” you agree, but then, slipping free from the chafing veins with some effort and no small amount of pain, you add: “<Aetherial Form!>

The elven sage quickly forms an array of elegant and practiced gestures with his hand, and one of the roots of the tree before you rips itself out of the ground and hurtles towards you. A silent shape-modification of the existing <Entangle> spell, without losing control of those already upon you and Izirina? No small feat , but you’re hardly some rank amateur, yourself.

It all comes down to this: which of you is the faster caster?

(Gods, you hope it's you...)

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>>5954849
total clearpill win

>>5954831
Kino.

>>5954849
>18...

The vines are moving almost as soon as your hands are, such that you need to divide your attention between evading them and casting your spell. It's no simple matter. The sacred syllables of the divine magics and the unfamiliar physical exertion together comprise to leave you breathless, and all the while the root is hurtling towards tumbling down to inflict the sort of bluntforce trauma that would likely put you out of commission for the foreseeable future, especially if followed up with subsequent spells.

>Barely passed

Instead, it passes through your translucent, spectral form. For all its artificial, arcane animation, it is still mundane, earthly material... And you no longer are. You have assumed your <Improved Aetherial Form>, the gift of Izzy's reckless ritual, your own studies and meditations, and the mystical refinement-of-technique which you acquired on Holy Luna. You allow the liens o whip harmless at you, around you, inside of you, as you stand straight and stare down Nenaias. You are immune to such physical injury.

The minasien seems confused for a moment, unable to see you as he is. However, it only takes the experienced adventurer a moment to adjust his perceptions and to use his SECOND-sight, that mage-sense which requires no eyes to see. By that point, however, you are already on the move, and by the time he holds out a hand and cries:

"<Ironwood!>"

You are already on the move, springing and striding with (almost) the agility and elegance of the eladrin, as you saw the Priestess Clanirae demonstrate in Dappulyet. In this form, you have all the benefits of <Free Movement>--the more rudimentary form of the spell—and more. If it’s not quite enough to save you from the newly-enchanted living wood of the trees around you—the whipping vines and stabbing branches from every angel—it at least buys you time…

>3/3 HP
>4/5 MP

Time enough to cast a second spell of your own.

What will you cast?
>Wildshape into a form more suitable for melee combat, and take down the ‘battlefield control specialist’ up close and personal
>Summon a Fire Elemental to incinerate the Druidhome and burn away the Ironwood-enhanced attackers
>Summon an Earth Elemental to rip open the grassy turf and liberate Izirina
>Summon an Air Elemental to speed your escape—you ened to get out of here and copy back with friends, if you can manage it
>You know… You could probably sue Monstrous Regeneration to restore your assailant’s sight… How would he react to THAT?
>Shout a plea, a warning... And if that fails, fuck it, Lightning Bolt it is
>Write-in

>>5954868
>the whipping vines and stabbing branches from every angel
dang he can summon angels too? he's been studying
;p

>You know… You could probably sue Monstrous Regeneration to restore your assailant’s sight… How would he react to THAT?
Genie, I'd like to use my first wish to restore the sight of all blind people for 30 seconds.

>>5954849
>The elven sage quickly forms an array of elegant and practiced gestures with his hand, and one of the roots of the tree before you rips itself out of the ground and hurtles towards you. A silent shape-modification of the existing <Entangle> spell

So, he doesn’t need to speak to cast spells.

>>5954868
>Monstrous Regrowth on Nenaias hands

Right now, Nenaias seems to have a counter for everything we have - we need to focus on him first before we get Izzy out. The longer this goes on, the more he could reinforce the forest. We can’t let him do that.

am >>5954573

>>5954868
>You know… You could probably sue Monstrous Regeneration to restore your assailant’s sight… How would he react to THAT?
"genie, give him 30s of eyesight"

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>>5954873
>>5954874
>>5954892
>*angle
>*use
[Have some AI slop fairly accurately depicting Costella Fanucci as compensation.]

>>5954939
This is the moment Costella becomes Strawberry Shortcake

>>5954944
Look, AI isn't good at understanding that concepts are separate. You tell it "I want a curvy young lady with brown hair eating strawberries and heart-shaped pancakes in a sunhat and sundress" and it says "right on, here's a woman whose house is a strawberry grove and also her hat is made of waffle batter, and her earrings are hearts." You say: "give her green freckles" and it gives her green eyes and a green dress, and you have to try three or four times to get ANY freckles, and suddenly she's a redhead as well.

>>5954944
>This is the moment Costella becomes Strawberry Shortcake
kek, nice reference.

>>5954868
>>You know… You could probably sue Monstrous Regeneration to restore your assailant’s sight… How would he react to THAT?

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>>5954952

>>5955180
Oh shit, Costella pestering Commander Qinfir? Thanks, SQM!

>>5955180
nice drawing, Narrator QM

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Rolled 8, 3, 17, 14 = 42 (4d20)

>>5954873
>>5954874
>>5954892
>>5955055
Despite this alarming turn of events, you really DN’T have any desire to harm Nenaias. The idea of actually killing the elf is deeply upsetting to you, in fact, as killing always has been—especially so for a kinsman of understandable motivations and intentions, who demonstrably is still holding back as well. Still, you cannot allow this to escalate any further than it already has. If he won’t listen to reason, drastic action MUST be taken.

You close to distance between the two of you streaking across the turbulent turf below you, dancing and twirling with al the agility of your ancestors (and only a few trips and tumbles) as the very grass beneath your feet wars against the toes that pointy-toed shoes which tread upon it. You duck below another sweep of the dirt-dribbling root that swats at you like a great arm. The entire <Druidhome> works to defeat you, while Nenaias moves his hands like a conductor, silently directing a suppressive symphony of verdant violence.

But you can’t bring yourself to harm him… And so you HEAL him instead.

Nenaias takes a step back, opening his mouth and thrusting out his hands to cast a more directly offensive spell no doubt. You don’t give him the opportunity, though. Your open hand finds his face in a hard slap, and as you make contact you cry out:

“<Monstrous Regeneration!>”

[Healing being one of your specialties, the DC is 14, and you roll 4d20; it my also force a concentration roll from Nenaias, for which he gets 3 dice.]

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Rolled 20, 8, 15 = 43 (3d20)

>>5955902
The force of your blow is minimal, but as your hand slides away from your foe’s face, you grasp the blindfold that shields his eyes and rip it away. Nenaias stumbles back the other way, screaming. At first you think it in pan and, truthfully, it probably is. Seeing the bulbous, lumpy protrusions which explode from his eye-sockets practically makes you lose your own earlier lunch. However, that excess of ocular tissue quickly recedes, and his wails become more alarmed, and then whimpers of confusion and surprise. His hands clutch at his face, though you can’t tell if it’s to stop his newly-formed eyes from escaping, or the moon and starlight from reaching them.

“What… What did you?” he whispers. “By the Gods…”

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Rolled 13, 17 = 30 (2d20)

>>5955910
“I restored your sight,” you say, plainly and without malice, letting the blindfold flutter to the ground. “I don’t know what horrors you witnessed to remove them… But they’re over. We’re facing a new day, a brighter day, TOGETHER, and you should be able to see it as well. Nenaias, you are—"

>20

“WHAT,” he repeats, fury filling his voice and his eyes aglow with anger, “DID YOU DO?!”

“Uh,” you stammer, and look to the others for assistance… But Izzy is still weighed down by weeds and Veloz, bless his tiny rapidly-beating heart, is a bird.

You turn back to Nenaias, but before you can say any more, a renewed onslaught of tree limbs, roots, and vines is hurtling towards you, and you are forced to fall back.

“I traded my sight in PENANCE,” Nenaias cries out, “and in exchange, I was gifted prophecy! The means to right what I had helped make wrong! You… You had no right!”

“Nenaias, cousin, please,” you plead, “I only meant to—”

The minasien is not listening, though, nor do his maddened eye seem to see reason. He falls back to the tree at the centre of the grove and, openly weeping and with teeth gritted in furious anger, he presses both ahnds to the tree and in a beautiful, pained dirge he casts another spell. You recognize the word of power which concludes it…

“<Liveoak.>”

…And you don’t much care for it. You like it even less when, just as the one root had whipped about in tentacular fashion, so now does each and every root of that tree at the <Druidhome’s> centre tear itself free. The tree lifts many feet into the air as the roiling roots crash down, in octopoidal fashion. It’s branches twist and reshape themselves into great, clawed arms. The bark of the trunk splinter and rips itself open to form a great, gasping mouth, and its apples twist and warp into a dozen staring eyes. Lesser fairy-spirits of the forest, of air and soil wand water and sunlight, and even of Holy Luna, crowd into the tree and take temporary residence there, and thus is born, in this temporary-but-sacred space, a hallowed guardian of the Sylvanwood:

A treant.

“I’ll tear my eyes out again if I must,” its summoner promises you. “I don’t know if you are evil or just a fool, Ezreal Mious Van Houtzmann, but I will not let you march us all blindly into EITHER dark future which I have seen sprout from the seed of your selfish naïvety!”

“What the fuck?!” you reply, momentarily robbed of your capacity for witty repartee by the hulky arboreal adversary which you now present—physically AND magically mighty.

>3/5 MP

[Rolling to dodge; you have no actual bonuses for this but, thanks to the <free Movement> of your current form, I'll roll your Feycraft]

>>5955923
Dang he coped with restored eyesight a lot better than I hoped
And he stole one of our 20's to do it, the bastard

>>5955923
>>5955926

The treant is faster than its size would suggest, and not limited by the need for Nenaias to direct it. This is dangerous for two reason:

First, it applies pressure to you from a variety of approaches, every single one of its extremities attacking you at once and some of its temporarily-ensouled eyeball-fruit hurtling towards you like missiles, only to orbit back and to launch themselves at you again. Full of fey energies, you can’t afford an impact from any of them—they both CAN impact your bod, and will do so with arcane power far in excess of the injury a mundane crabapple would inflict.

Second, it means Nenaias no longer needs to focus all his effort on his existing spells, and can cast again with whatever aura he has left. He can’t have MUCH left in reserve (right?!), but it’s enough to be a threat.

>17

You are able to narrowly evade the onslaught without injury, suffering only a few glancing blows which do little more than bruise, and even then mostly your ego. A solid impact though… Well, that could actually KILL you, and it’s clear that Nenaias is being less cautious than he was a moment ago.

There is a bright side, though: with <entangle> abated, Izirina has begun to haul herself, like an undead revenant, out of the earth which had become her prison. Coughing up dirt and utterly disoriented, though, she’ll need another moment before she’s ready to cast… And In that merest moment, Nenaias may well take note of her.

You need to do something, now. This adventurer clearly didn’t survive for years in his profession by dumb luck; if yours and Izzy’s raw talent might make you prodigies, this is the skill and strength born of decades of life-and-death struggle. You can’t keep this up, and there’s no telling what spell will come next… or if you can match it.

What will you do? What will you cast? And how much MP will you pour into it?
>Select a spell and/or stratagem
>Specify how much MP (between 1 and 3 points) you put into it
>if you have instructions for Izzy or Veloz, specify that as well

>>5955937
Does Sanctuary work like the D&D spell? If so fly over to Izzy and use it, it'll buy her time to recover and break us out.

Otherwise I'm cool with Lightning bolting the treant as long as we're sure it won't also hit Nenaias

Also damn what's his mana pool look like? We need to ask him for some tips after this. If he isn't still super pissed and convinced we'll end the world and all.

>>5955937
>Calm 3 MP
Calm the fuck down dude youre over here freaking the fuck out making octotrees we need you to think with deductive reasoning and not just outright attack us, did it ever cross your mind we might have a bone to pick if some asshole told us our future was bad and then proceeded to make the bad come to fruition??? Like holy fuck we are trying to stop this war and have told you we will do everything to prevent a dark future but if you want to just beat the shit out of us what makes you think we would do anything to help you and your aggressive need to be right? Why would we go out of our way to do this peacefully, we are a fucking Mious, we are former acolytes of the moon that blesses these woods, we are not in pursuit of the destruction of our ancestral homeland and dying race you fucking tard, but you are over here telling me im evil and you see evil in the future and now it changed but now you healed an obvious still opened wound by the fact you still cry blood, now eat a fucking snickers and calm down please just try to listen and not let your dumb self harm future sight which obviously stems from dark magic as well if it involves gouging out your eyes lets be honest here, we have our own future sight dust and its wayyyy more esoteric try divining with this green coke ive had sitting in my pocket since my college days bucko itll do a number and probably give you something way more accurate then something with a clearly dark and painful way of divining, this is your homies little sister take a chill pill look at the resemblance they share, maybe if you hadnt tweaked we couldve gone and picked some berries or some shit and you could share some nice memories you had of Heinrich but now youve literally buried my wife your buddies sister under a bunch of dirt and rocks because you saw a future that literally just changed, please just chill dude

>>5955937
>Cast elemental infusion (Lightning) on Veloz 2 points.
>Command Veloz to go ram into/Shock Nenaias.

>Ask izzy to summon a fire elemental to help you fight the treant.

Veloz has been easily evading Nenaias's vines with his speed. If we bring him into the fight by buffing him he should be able to prevent nenaias from backing up his Treant.

A fire elemental should be ideal to fight the treant, and we can upcast it next turn since we know the same spell.

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>>5955965
*buddy's cousin
[Just a point of order.]

>>5955951
>Does Sanctuary work like the D&D spell?
[Sanctuary allows you to denote a space as ‘sacred’, repelling hostile forces so long as neither you nor anyone within that space attacks. It unfortunately is a tough one to cast in a space like this, already enchanted by another, let alone without demarcating the space somehow in advance. You could do it, but the DC would be higher. of course, you spend more MP, its effect gets stronger and the DC goes down...]

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>>5955965

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>>5955977
But I did read it

>>5955910
I was happy then I noticed it was nen's roll, oh well
>>5955965
>+1
nigga sleep
>>5955976
zamn, that succubus spread her std on a lot of people

>>5955982
This is the moment RQM becomes sloplive

>>5955992
[I'm too old to know who that is. You'll know it's all AI when I stop making dumb typos, though.]

>>5955937
>A solid impact though… Well, that could actually KILL you, and it’s clear that Nenaias is being less cautious than he was a moment ago.
So. He’s going for the kill this time. Welp. Too bad.

>>5955937
>Lightning (loaded in staff)
I presume this does not use MP?

>instructions for Izzy or Veloz
For izzy: do dimensional door ASAP.
For Veloz: go for Nenaias - get his eyes.

>>5956001
>I presume this does not use MP?
[Staffs and wands use MP. Staffs just allow you to use them as a melee weapon in a pinch, and also contain a reservoir of magic that increases you MP pool. Wands contain spells. Both also help you aim ranged attack spells, reducing DC to hit. Your primo <Archmage's Gift> has the functions of both.]

>>5956004
Alright, I’ll use 2 MP on lightning then.

>>5956000
https://youtu.be/DnECdEIapJU?si=-5pKnhsiMEkJmpZZ

>>5955965
I dunno if a long ass unhinged rant is going to chill someone out

>>5955976
2 Mana on the sanctuary then please
Just needs to hold long enough for Izzy to DD us out

>>5956014
So he uses ai to write his scripts ?

>>5956017
RQM usually puts things into words for tips, im just a thought bubble that may or may not be interacted/acted upon, we all know Tips isnt evil, and I feel its important that we stress that in character, now a supercharged shot of magic xanax may be just what this seer needs after getting the lights turned back on all abruptly while he was busy scaring himself in the dark since he lost his leg and got it reattached and decided to tear his eyes out in a literal blind frenzy, not to say he wasnt warranted, but hes still wrong for his actions after learning this prophecy, we came with him willingly for this reading and now we are being attacked by the KND treehouse because we wanted to try to get him to see a different POV, this is literally the last link he has to his dead friend and he is trying to destroy it based on a vision that fluctuated based on our thought process, magic is understood in the sylvan realms but in a different way, Nenais gains "clarity" from this clearly painful and negatively charged form of presumably ritualistic magic as his wounds were still open likely to be packed with components with vague ancient dark unnamed fae showing him potential futures that they have to quickly redraw because we did something they didnt see, maybe he should look with his own eyes that we just gave him back and see it doesnt have to be bad, but hes making it so our community ostracizes us and drags our family into a dumb holy war that doesnt need to happen in the first place

>>5956084
I ain’t reading all that either.

>>5956084
>RQM usually puts things into words for tips, im just a thought bubble that may or may not be interacted/acted upon, we all know Tips isnt evil, and I feel its important that we stress that in character.

Tips is NOT a pacifist. He has never put peace and mercy before his mission. When he saw the goblins of the wastes had trapped a gensai he struck, when the unseelie threatened our homeland and attempted to steal one of our people's holy relics. We retaliated and burned scores of them with our magic.

And in both of those scenario's the stakes were lower. We are risking our mission to prevent all out war, and our freedom to see i to eye with this adventurer.

Every time we have reached out to him we have weakened our position>>5951957
We heard him out instead of trying to silence him in a duel. Instead of fixing the issue we dragged izzy into this quarrel. And increased the commander's paranoia and suspicion of our motives.
>>5952878
>>5953322
We then decided to let him use future reading on izzy. (inspite of gaining nothing by doing so.)
>>5954270
He procced to attack us and and imprison us.
>>5955910
>>5955902
We then continue to try to resolve this peacefully, and waste mana trying to fix his eyesight. He responds by summoning a treant and trying to kill us.

We can't keep risking our safety and izzy's to placate this mentally ill fanatic vagabond. Need i remind people

>>5952538"
>“Let him go,” you say. “He’s calling off an attack.”

>“What?!” Costella and Pearce both cry, though Commander Qinfir merely shuts his eyes and exhales through his nose, nodding.

>“He’s a divination mage,” you explain, “and his elves have been watching us since we left the Kuttralas cult’s complex. He knew the expect us. If we failed to convince him—and as soon as he was sure the Woodand Rangers wouldn’t object—he planned to attack, arrest, and detain all of our friends, and reclaim the Prince. Now, knowing he’s risking the last HUMAN descendant of the House of Yosef, our ‘prophet’ has reconsidered.”

He was paying on ambushing us, capturing tip's and natvodsk and possibly killing our allies the minute our backs were turned.

>>5956084
>Tips isnt evil
>Chooses to preserve the violence inherent in the system instead of going for a moon utopia
>Thinks a worldwide tyranny might be neat as long as the streets are clean
Lol

>>5955974
Swapping my elemental infusion vote. to 2 mp into.
>Lightning (loaded in staff)

>>5956133
>he thinks a situation where someone is trying his best to kill you should be resolved by talking

Nigga you are retarded

He’s not willing to hear us out. So much so he tried to arrest us, Izzy, tried to attack us, and now attacks with lethal intent.

>>5956156
>Has no reading comprehension
>Calls other people retarded

>>5956161
This you? >>5955965

>>5956163
>>5956156
you have the wrong person bro.

>>5956163
What? I replied to that anon's post.

>>5956166
Shit you right

>>5956168
my bad

>>5956133
>>5955965
>>5956132
>Alignment
[In D&D terms, I'm currently writing Tips as I would a 'Neutral Good' or 'Chaotic Good' character, and not a very politically-sophisticated one, with an obsessive streak around solving magical mysteries, an open mind towards other perspectives, and a dislike of killing/suffering/death.]

[For the purposes of this setting, Detect Good and Detect Evil and such exist, but the force they respond to is not a mortal being's personal morality, but whether they are affiliated with (and/or empowered by) a God of Light or God of Darkness (or a demon or other 'unholy' power source). Undead, demons, and dragons ALWAYS ping as 'evil', so therefore so do Theral/Long Wang's children no matter what they do, barring magical meddling. So does Carazzi. Neither Tips nor Izzy currently are strongly aligned to either, though if Tips had taken on more radiant/lunar powers or taken a boon in the form of a divine artifact or blessing, he might have pinged as Good, and in Aetherial Form he might well register as 'good ENOUGH' for certain anti-Good God wards enacted by Evil-aligned entities to clock him as such. The Unseelie also do not largely ping as Good or Evil.]

>>5956313
Gods of Light need to hurry up and make metallic dragons already, damn

>>5956315
Bloodrise is currently ruled by a lizardman with (some) dragonblood calling himself the Copper Dragon King...

>>5956319
Alright but that's just a name
He's really got red dragon blood, which is evil aligned
Light Gods never made the good aligned metallic dragons - HUGE missed opportunity, what dopes.

>>5956352
[Well, you've probably worked out why the Chaotic Good gods wouldn't create giant carnivorous reptiles, and as the for the Lawful Good ones... Well, their natures and motives haven't been explored in depth yet.]

>>5956313
I wonder how quickly anons will bring Tips to Lawful Evil

>>5956645
>I wonder how quickly anons will bring Tips to Lawful Evil
man, I hope we don't get there but I see it's a possibility

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>>5956667
>>5956645
>evil MC gets less evil
>good MC gets less good
[Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.]
You anons always surprise me, but I don't see that as likely considering that anons are mainly concerned with being friends to all living things at the moment.

>>5956136
>>5956017
>>5956014
>>5955990
>>5955974
>>5955965
>>5955951
[Locked and writing!]

>>5956701
why does Calm 3 MP win out over Lightning Bolt 2 MP? I thought those two are equal in votes?

>>5956701
>>5956709
I think runing away with dimension door and sanctuary are being combined??

I don't know why as we could just as easily shoot lightning at him and then flee anyway. And in fact one of the people voted for exactly that.

>>5956715
Sanctuary seems to be counted on its own.
I think thats because of “nonviolence aggregate” but im not sure how that’s calculated either. Or is that nonviolence aggregate for Veloz only?

>>5956709
>>5956715
>>5956720
[60% of the votes involve no attacks on Nenaias (>>5955965, >>5955990, >>5956017). Only >>5956136 and >>5956014 voted for any form of attack in the end. Since we have no clear majority, I aggregated the intentions of people who wanted to calm him down and people who wanted to put up a defensive barrier but not hurt him into one 'nonviolence' vote, and chose the spell which had the largest plurality.]

>>5956720
now that i look at it, its sanctuary's non violent intent being combined with calm is what is deciding it.

Rolled 6, 6, 16 = 28 (3d20)

>>5956701
You’ve never been a fan of violence, obviously. Avoiding it is your whole purpose here. That Nenaias’ vision of the future is peaceful—and seemingly not the sterile, alien peace of the Moonwoods—is a major part of why you didn’t feel more negatively about it. By that same token, though, you know the violent—and violence itself—has its place in the natural order. In the past, you’ve done what you had to: ambushed goblin slavers, scorched Unseelie fairies.

But all those people had it coming. Does Nenaias?

Even now—even with his stubborn stance threatening your freedom and his emotional outburst posing a very real threat to your life, you’re not so sure. Maybe it’s because he’s a fellow elf, a fellow mage. Maybe it’s because you know that—unlike the Unseelie, unlike those goblin raiders—he genuinely believes he’s doing the right thing, without any of their obvious malice and cruelty.

Whatever the reason, you can’t bring yourself to strike with the same lethal intent that you did in those other situations.

“Nenaias!” you cry instead, trying to keep the panic from your voice. “Please, you need to listen to me—”

“You can’t reason yourself out of a moral absolute,” he shoots back, though his assault abates for a moment.

“It isn’t that black-and-white!” you tell him. “Look at what you’re DOING! You think you’re on the absolute side of goodness and freedom? We came here willingly, for purposes of peace, and you’re trying to IMPRISON us, even KILL us, in a LITERAL blind rage rather than helping us navigate your vision!”

“Have you changed your mind?” he asks, with false calm. “Have you decided to forgo the future we glimpsed—to not have children.”

You shut your mouth, glaring back at him, but it’s Izirina who answers in your stead:

“That’s our choice to make,” she says, rising to stand on unsteady legs. “NOT yours.”

“I saw what happens, when you make your choice,” he retorts.

“So you’ll take it away from us?!” she demands. “How is that any better than the oppression YOU’RE so afraid of?!”

“She’s right,” you say. “This is your friend’s COUSIN, Nenaias. Look at her! Use those eyes I gave you—look at her face! Can you really not see any of your lost friend in her?”

“I can,” he concedes. “Too much of him. Of his folly—and of mine, perhaps, in you. It ends here. I won’t repeat the compromises and mistakes that brought me to—”

“To carving out your own eyes?!” you demand.

“Sacrifices must be made,” he says. “Better we few than the great and innocent many.”

DC for animals: 14. DC for humanoids and advanced intelligences: 16. Overclocking it will lower the DC by 2. Elven Empathy will lower the DC by 1. Over all: 3d20, DC 13.