Rouan 2012/08/21(Tue)17:19 No. 446066 ID: beae82
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Uh oh, that would be the portal. I've got maybe 30 seconds before it's fully open.

There should be enough time to get the kid to run in and grab the spear while you keep your crossbow aimed at the armored guy and edge towards the door.

>>446066

You have the spear. You've got 30 seconds. Just shoot the guy in the groin to wipe that smirk off his face and run.

Oh right, you already have the spear.

>>446066
Shoot him somewhere nonlethal but crippling, then let's have the lizards grab him and his stuff. We make our way back to base while trying to cover our tracks so whoever's on the other side of that portal can't send shit after us.

May as well recover the broken haft of the spear we passed up and go interrogate the human, whose tracks are obviously the bloody ones.

OR we could kill this orc and just go interrogate the human.

While we're on the way back we can talk to Mr. Fox and get the lizards' opinion on him. I'd say we should definitely let him out if they think it's safe.

Rouan 2012/08/21(Tue)23:15 No. 446194 ID: beae82
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> Just shoot the guy in the groin to wipe that smirk off his face
His armor covers up his groin area! This criminal mastermind has truly thought of everything. I shoot him in the knee instead because you know what why the fuck not.

Rouan 2012/08/21(Tue)23:16 No. 446195 ID: beae82
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> Let's have the lizards grab him and his stuff. We make our way back to base while trying to cover our tracks so whoever's on the other side of that portal can't send shit after us.
Removing all traces of this guy will buy us time, and with the injured reptils that's exactly what we need. If we're careful they might not even know we were here - I don't think they could see through the portal since it was so dark in the cave.

Rouan 2012/08/21(Tue)23:17 No. 446196 ID: beae82
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We make it back to Mr. Fox without incident, but baldy the orc here sure is squirmy.

The fox grins up at us expectantly. "Oh look! You've brought frieeeeends."

I ask the Reptilians what they think. They're not sure, but they don't think he could hurt us while we have the spear.

>>446196
Alright, take it off him. Have him agree not to harm your party in general, though.

yeah the no hurting promise needs to expand to the reptils, otherwise go for it.

Rouan 2012/08/22(Wed)21:19 No. 446454 ID: beae82
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finally got my tablet's driver working, so… new style i guess?? idk, i'm just experimenting

Mr. Fox sweeeaaars not to hurt any of us, and I remove the trap. As soon as the metal leaves his flesh, the fox disappears into a cloud of black specks. A moment later the specks reform into a human about my height.

"My myyy," says the new orc, chuckling at our reactions. "It's almost as if you expected me to transform into some horrible monnnnster and eat you all aliiiive." He chuckles harder and sweeps into a low bow before me. He transforms again, this time into a Reptilian, and waves to the others. He looks at us all with that huge grin of his and shrugs, noticeably eyeing the spear. "Be seeing youuuu," he whispers as his form disintegrates into the black specks and whooshes away into the darkness.

Welp, that was weird. I inspect the trap and chain - it's very light for being made of metal, but seems very strong.

Rouan 2012/08/22(Wed)21:21 No. 446455 ID: beae82
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We make it back to the blood trail and pick up the other half of the spear. We're out of the dangerous part of the Essis, so I see if we can get some more information out of baldy.

"Hmm," I say, "Must have made you real angry that the human tried to take such a powerful artifact from you. I'm sure it even-"

He snorts. "Don't bother, I don't know nothin' bout what it does. I'as only in it for the coin."

He might be lying, but then again, his story is plausible. I get the feeling the human is long gone by now, either in the physical or spiritual sense. It probably won't do any good to follow his trail, although he may have dropped something along his path. What should we do? I'm kind of in favor of just dropping this whole ordeal and heading back to the village.

Keep the trap. You can leave it set in case any of those...whatever he was come sneaking up on your camp. But I don't see any reason to follow the human's trail at this point. You want to get the spear to the lizardy people so they'll stop interrupting your hunting with moral dilemmas.

Yep. We got what we came for and also a prisoner.

Follow it in the hope of getting a few clues.

So far I think this expedition's gone fairly well!

Or maybe very badly, depending on if Mr. Fox just ran off to the settlement to cause carnage while the spear's not there.

Man we sure were an asshole to Mister Fox. I guess if we ever need his help, he is completely justified in doing it the most dickish way possible and we got no right to complain.

oops forgot to proofread. should say:
A moment later the specks reform into an orc about my height.
not a large mistake but yeah

Rouan 2012/08/23(Thu)22:16 No. 446821 ID: beae82
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Back at the village, I give the spear to the old chief. He hands it to his son Half-tail, who's apparently supposed to do some power ritual. He walks over to an altar surrounded by stone spikes, and the reptils all form a circle around it.

Half-tail speaks something in this ancient language nobody understands and raises the repaired spear high over his head. Green energy crackles around the spear and leaps to his hands. He focuses for a moment and then stabs the spear upward, causing a new stone spike to erupt from the earth. The Reptilians all cheer.

Rouan 2012/08/23(Thu)22:17 No. 446823 ID: beae82
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"Wish I knew it could do that," says the tied-up orc beside me. He said his name is Devzek but I'm going to keep calling him baldy.

"So… what're ya gonna do with me now?" baldy asks. I grunt. "I,uhh… I got a family, you know."

"So do the reptils you were stealing from." I cross my arms, not taking my eyes off Half-tail and the altar.

>>446823
Get him to tell you EVERYTHING.

>>446832
Gossip about boys and have a pillow fight.

Well first we want us to tell him how he stole the spear, so we can avoid a repeat.

After he tells us the rest of the stuff, we should ask what the reptils think should be done with him. It's their spear, after all.

(no update today/tomorrow)

or today derp

Rouan 2012/08/27(Mon)23:07 No. 448636 ID: 05ee9e
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> Well first we want us to tell him how he stole the spear, so we can avoid a repeat.
He says the human had some gloves on that stopped the spear's alarm/trap from going off.

I decide to let the Reptils deal with him - it was their spear, after all. But… I do mention that I'd rather not have any more deaths. The Reptils oblige and cut off his thumb before sending him on his merry way back to Grexis. He'll live, but his thieving days are over.

Rouan 2012/08/27(Mon)23:08 No. 448637 ID: 05ee9e
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Half-tail comes and sits down beside me, wearing some kind of ridiculous costume. "Here. This was his. I know he would have wanted you to have it." He hands me a necklace with a big fang on the end.

"I-"

"And don't you DARE thank me. I still hate your guts."

"Hmm." we sit in silence for a moment. "You know that little kid that died?" Half-tail nods. "I think I could have saved her, but I… made some bad decisions."

He sighs. "Some things never change, Rouan. But know that even with her death, casualties were much, much lower than I'd expected. Now, cheer the fuck up, we're having a party, on account of us all still existing." He punches me in the arm, harder than would be considered friendly, but I can tell he's trying to be nice.

Aw, hell. I really don't want to go celebrate now. But it would probably be an insult to just sneak away...

You could always just sit around and be a stick in the mud.

they got any mind altering substances? those should help get the part juices flowing.

Rouan 2012/08/28(Tue)23:16 No. 449040 ID: 947979
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It takes a lot to get a Valorkin body intoxicated - but damn, this tribal shit is strong.


They all want me to tell the story of how I braved the Swamp. Feels good to be the hero for once...

--- 2012/08/28(Tue)23:16 No. 449042 ID: 947979
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You feel a shift

Joanna 2012/08/28(Tue)23:19 No. 449043 ID: 947979
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VOICES!! Oh my goddess, I thought you guys were gone for good. YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT! It turns out I have these really awesome Shamanic fire powers that I never knew I had before and I've been playing with them a lot and Mikael says they must be really really rare and they're SO COOL.

I wish I could talk more now but I really need to pay attention to this meeting -- General Sterling says that we're basically at war with Grexis now. Grexan forces have stepped up the aggression while I was underground, and they are now actively attacking all airships that go near the city. The General also mentioned a secret mission that he'll tell me about after the meeting. Apparently it's so secret, that even some of the Perinian High Council isn't supposed to know about it.

If you have any questions for me I can answer them now, otherwise I'll just wait until the super secret meeting starts!

have you talked about them river lizard people?

Woah calm your tits lady. What were you again?

So, did anyone die down there? Did destroying that loci stop the rampaging mindless hordes, or do you still have to kill that mage?
>>449066
I think we may have forgotten what you look like though.

Joanna 2012/08/29(Wed)22:03 No. 449462 ID: 668682
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> So, did anyone die down there?
Nope! It was actually pretty boring after the big battle. I healed up quickly and just kind of relaxed for the rest of the time.

> Did destroying that loci stop the rampaging mindless hordes, or do you still have to kill that mage? 
It cut them down to a tenth of what they were, and it's given our forces a huge break! But, killing the mage is still a priority.

> have you talked about them river lizard people?
About what?

:: Joanna doesn't have knowledge of anything you saw since she blacked out. You can choose to explain everything, omit something, or say nothing. ::

Joanna 2012/08/29(Wed)22:04 No. 449463 ID: 668682
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All of the council members leave except for three of the most important. The General stands and begins to pace. "Ready to start when you are." he says to me.

You remember! They were the ones who gave you that tip about the mage in the first place. One of them tried to drown you, you stabbed one, then their leader came up and talked to you...
Riiiight, you use a spear, shield and dagger.

>>449476
oops, thought you meant the swamp lizard people.

in that case,

"Yeah - and I told them everything the mutant lizard guy told me. Chancellor Ward says she's wary of trusting them, but that the information they gave me fits with what our spies have found."

Joanna, let me get something very very important out of the way right now. You are not to use your power over fire except in emergencies. It comes with a cost- your MIND. Overuse of that power, as well as your other powers- of increased strength and the Dark- will corrupt you over time. Keeping food on hand helps prevent this, but it is still dangerous.

(basically, explain everything)

Joanna 2012/08/30(Thu)23:42 No. 449913 ID: 032042
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> explain everything
Wow that's… too bad. But it sounds like I'll be fine if I just don't use my powers! Hey, that's great to hear there's more people like me! Maybe I'll be able to meet them soon. But - ahh, the others are all waiting on me, better get this started.

As soon as we begin, Vabok starts rambling about geologic events and seismic indicators… after a minute, General Sterling cuts in. "What Vabok here means to say," he says, "Is that there may be a dragon living in Mt Eldor."

"A big red one!" Vabok slams his fist down on the table.

Joanna 2012/08/30(Thu)23:43 No. 449914 ID: 032042
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"We're sending you and your squad on a diplomatic mission." says Chancellor Ward. "You are to convince the dragon to breathe fire at the Grexis Royal Quarters for a reward of gold, or, failing that, get it to fly over Perina where we will have a force waiting to kill it."

"If the Grexans find out about the dragon," Vabok explains, "they could easily modify their blood-curse to get it to attack US."

"This isn't a mission to take lightly," warns the General, "But we were impressed with your initiative with the Locus. If we can take out the Grexan leaders, this war will be over before it's started. What do you say?"

>>449914
Sounds like an awesome plan. Dragons love gold, right? We should get some of that to use as a bargaining chip.

Actually, it would probably help with the dragon if we told him about the mind control effects. I suspect he wouldn't like the thought of humanoids magically controlling him.

Joanna 2012/09/01(Sat)00:05 No. 450273 ID: 660703
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"I'll do it!"

"That's... it?" the General asks, "You don't have any questions?" he and the Chancellor share a look.

"NOPE, I mean, it sounds like an awesome plan. Hey, I might even be able to tell the dragon that the Grexans are trying to control it! That should piss it off..."

"Very well. In case things get ugly, though, we want to make sure you're ready. There will be a few days to prepare..."

---
Each party member has received TWO training units. A unit can be used to create a new combat skill (1), raise a skill in the green zone by 2, or raise a skill in the yellow zone by 1. One training unit may be traded for Basic Knowledge: Language [Draconic]. The other's skills will auto-assign unless specified.

How do we raise skills in red?

>>450276
They can be raised by training from a legendary teacher or from being used in combat.
Skill max is 10; however it is possible for a character to have one skill at 11 (legendary).

let's take a dot in spear, and if we can, learn some DODGE!

--- 2012/09/03(Mon)21:57 No. 451561 ID: 0d7c9f
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Training units will be assigned as shown - Joanna will learn Dodge, Mikael will learn Lightning Bolt, and Murdon will learn Dagger.

With that, Joanna and crew begin preparations for their dangerous diplomatic mission.

--- 2012/09/03(Mon)21:58 No. 451562 ID: 0d7c9f
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It is foolish to wake a sleeping dragon, yet it is worse still to do nothing and feel its wrath. The land of Perina, throughout its history, has not known the presence of a dragon. What these fools expect to find, then, is a dragon that has slumbered since before the city began.

But the dragon does not sleep.


She waits.


END VALORQUEST, CHAPTER 2


Ch3 will begin shortly! Preferably tomorrow, but I'm feeling a little uninspired, so it may be a few days.

Don't forget to visit the discussion thread to leave any comments/advice!
http://www.tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/57823.html