Kaktus 2014/06/24(Tue)15:32 No. 580791 ID: 65a774
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No, no, that’s not at all what I said. Dammit, Anna, focus.
Hey, I’m tryi- Woop!!
:BradforUNB: …and we really need to work on your balance…
At least the ground is soft to fall on…
…where is Alexandra? She’s already late for practice.
Um… she didn’t eat breakfast with us today…
Dammit, first the Lord Ranger doesn’t show up and now one of our priests are late? What is it with people this morning!?

Insert Just another glorious day_

Oh hey it's the land of snow and windwalkers. It's good to be back!

Though he's right, you are rather unbalanced when it comes to swinging weaponry, maybe you need to concentrate on your footwork more.

Well that's a particularly horrific title card. Is that a spellsword?

Hey brad guess what you're a wanted man. A human calling himself a windwalker with a similarly luxurious beard and green eyes massacred a bunch of Von Zolner thugs on the road. Unless there's anything you'd like to tell us, Our money is on a shape-shifter.

Last we saw of Alexandra, she was at the bar. Who's a Lord Ranger, anyway?

Waaaait a minute, we can swap between kings? I thought it was just we'd gain another king after losing one either due to resigning them or whatever other reason.

Well, we met with the Magician and a bunch of others, other than that I don't really have much to say at the moment.

Kaktus 2014/06/24(Tue)17:12 No. 580821 ID: 65a774
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>Oh hey it's the land of snow and windwalkers. It's good to be back!
Um… back? You guys were here yesterday! You can’t have been gone long…
>Though he's right, you are rather unbalanced when it comes to swinging weaponry, maybe you need to concentrate on your footwork more.
Hey! I move like a gracious-
You move like a drunk Ankwark, you clumsy oaf.
Hey! You don’t need to be so mean!
By Io’s mighty beard, girl, either you learn not to trip over your own feet all the time or you can stop dreaming about being a warrior. A warrior isn’t supposed to break his arms because he tripped and fell down the stairs!
Hey! That only happened… err… twice!
…it’s worse than I thought, isn’t it?
>Last we saw of Alexandra, she was at the bar.
Oh, right… that… and she was drinking with those two... I do hope I don’t have to go and drag her drunk ass out from under those two guys…
Huh? What guys?
Nothing you need to worry about.
>Who's a Lord Ranger, anyway?
Her name is Mikhail, she’s an albino lizard.
Oh, yeah… we met her yesterday. She was angry that Jal was drunk for some reason.
By Freya’s frozen ass cheeks, can’t anyone keep their damn… “sword” in control!?

>Hey brad guess what you're a wanted man. A human calling himself a windwalker with a similarly luxurious beard and green eyes massacred a bunch of Von Zolner thugs on the road.
I’m what?
Um… that explain the order I got this morning… If you were late I would have to report it to some guards at once.
Wait… if I’m a wanted man, why haven’t they arrested me!?
Beats me…
>Unless there's anything you'd like to tell us, Our money is on a shape-shifter.
…shape shifters!? Those bastards got shape shifters now too!?
According to the book they are called Shape Stealers.
Oh, hi Sis… wait, aren’t you supposed to be resting af- BY THE THANE, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR ARM!?
I’m more surprised she got one at all… didn’t you cut it off?
Oh, this? It’s just something my little dreamy firefly cooked up… um… he said it will start to look nicer after he gets a bit more to eat…
…eat what?
oh… you know… err… souls… from cultists…
WHAT!? WHAT IN HEL’S DOMAIN ARE YOU- WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU!? YOU CAN’T-
Sister, please, calm yourself… it’s not… um… actually, you can talk to him yourself about it… he wanted to talk to Brad but I’m sure you’re welcome too.
Oh! I want to come too!

Inser-

What the fuck are they fucking talking about?
Shh, I think they’ve forgotten that we’re here… and you should stop swearing so much, you potty mouth.
Fuck you, asshole.

Insert Well, that escalated quickly…_

>>580798
Did you miss the first time we switched from Rust to Unbroken?

>>580790
Alright listen up. At one point in the past one of our other kings was caught in an illusion from the Dark One, which suddenly turned to a "vision" of the future. This is how he described it:

"I saw… a city in a land covered in white ash… right next to a huge mountain… there was a battle. An army of sun worshippers led by a man with a glorious orange beard was fighting an army of giants led by their green eyed king... who was corrupted by the dark one. It was a slaughter!"
As for who won:
"The Giants. It looked like the “order”, as you called them, thought they were on the same side until they suddenly turned on them. They were taken completely by surprise."

So yeah if you ever team up with some giants- I'm assuming Vildmen- to take on the enemy windwalker, expect them to turn on you, and prepare a plan in case it actually happens. HOWEVER, do not assume it is guaranteed to happen. This vision occurred while under the influence of the Dark One, who is an enemy daemon. We can't trust it, only prepare for the possibility that it's true.

>>580824
>Did you miss the first time we switched from Rust to Unbroken?
While I saw a bit of Unbroken, I didn't join until most of the way through Numb.

>if I’m a wanted man, why haven’t they arrested me!?
Innocent until proven guilty? Even if that isn't the way of things, you've made a good reputation for yourself, right? They may consider the possibility, but unless they've got something to give them a real doubt, they'll trust you, I think.

>>580821
Oh, I just remembered. Please check the book to see what it says happens if we win.

aaaand...
[scan everyone present]

They probably haven't arrested Bradford because they too, suspected a shapeshifter.

Drina, quit freaking out.
Dooriya, stop acting so infatuated.
It's a prosthesis. Probably made of enchanted metal or something. I hardly have the energy to remind everyone that Steve isn't like the other daemons, but you should still be wary blah blah blah I ain't your daddy and you aren't dumbasses. You all know what horrible things daemons can do, and now you've seen the generosity Steve is capable of. Drina, I understand you're protectiveness. Dooriya, I understand you like steve. You both should still be more cautious rather than taken with or hostile toward Steve.

So, can we get some volunteers to find the missing lizard ladies?

You know, it's strange, we've been told repeatedly that souls don't exist, and that demons don't eat souls.

Well Vlad, we visited the past again, and the past-or-future, not sure about that second jump. Either way, it's been a while for us.

>>580886
Didn't The Magician tell us we were three months in the future? Depending on how far in the past the desert was, we can determine where we were compared to now during our time with him.

>>580895
iirc Bradford is like 6 months in the future.

I cast Wall of Text!

[Check pawn status][Display player count][Scan The Sister of Wisdom][Scan right arm of The Sister of Wisdom]

Drina, calm yourself! Yelling at your sister isn't going to help anything. Save it for when you meet Lightbringer; You can bellow all you want then. For now take calming breaths and get your focus back.

Okay, we're having a group meeting. Now. Find someplace private and out of the way. We're getting everyone on the same goddamn page before seeing Lightbringer.

>Um… back? You guys were here yesterday! You can’t have been gone long…
Time travel, Vlad. We went to the Serath nine months ago, then the Amun Empire six months ago. So for us it's been about three (rather eventful) days in total.

You guys should know that we had a grisly vision right before we came back to you. We saw what appeared to be a human clad in full armor with what we think is a swarm of flies circling him standing beneath a crystal tree holding the head of a Order paladin by the spine he just ripped it out by. Around him lay more paladin corpses, one of which is encased in ice, two others rapidly decaying to the bone beneath a swarm of flies. Then we hear "The new death marches" and the vision ends. It looks like the Blood God has a new weapon in his arsenal we'll soon be seeing.

>A warrior isn’t supposed to break his arms because he tripped and fell down the stairs! >Hey! That only happened… err… twice!
Anna, that level of clumsiness is really abnormal. There may be something physically wrong with you to cause that. Have you ever gone to a doctor to have your balance checked? Been examined for damage or defects of the inner ear? Ever had a serious ear infection or extended high fever? Otherwise all I can think of is that your mind is getting in the way; That you're trying to consciously micro-manage your body's movements. So shift your thoughts elsewhere, above the fray, and don't focus on your body. Focus on where you want your body to go and what you want it to do.

>Wait… if I’m a wanted man, why haven’t they arrested me!?
'Cause you're not a wanted man. Yet. The Order wants to make damn sure you did it before making a move.

Brad, could you tell us what you did yesterday, after you left Dr. Vadoma's office and before going to bed, and who saw you, if anybody. I believe that's the time period the massacre of the Von Zolner thugs had to have happened. Otherwise the Order wouldn't be considering you because before then there were plenty of eyewitnesses that you were in town, and before that you were chained up in the fort.

Drina, remember that lizard lady with the emerald eyes who introduced you to Tsure? We scanned her right before she left and she's one of Green's people; Scan-name "The Druid." We ought to find out who she is and have a little chat with her. Tsure might know her name. There's also a druid named Ella that Sten mentioned. I doubt she'd be who we're looking for but still find out if she's a lizard with green eyes.

Dooriya, tell us more about this new arm Lightbringer gave you. What kind of cultist souls does it eat. Are we talkin' 100% corrupted, totally irredeemable ones, or ones that could still be saved? Where did the souls to get it to the point it is now come from? And will it be needing souls to keep it going? 'Cause if it needs new souls to keep powering it then there's gonna be 'issues' when the supply of cultists eventually drys up.

...Wait. How are Drina and Brad going to speak with Lightbringer? He hasn't manifested again, has he? Or are they going to go to sleep?

Okay, get out your Book and look up what will happen to the world after the daemon realm is sealed, along with what would happen in the other known futures and what causes them. And while you're at it, see if you can look up the location of the Rune of Earth's Vault. If it's in there that'll save us a lot of hassle when we get back to Amun.

We've been told of three futures that are known to always come from all this. First is the rebel daemons winning and eating pretty much everyone. Second is Bob and Steve's side winning, sealing the daemon realm. Sounds good, except then all the "artificial god" players decide to take advantage of the chaos immediately afterwards to expand their nations. The resulting wars are more terrible than any that came before, engulfing the world in flame. Third is somehow the world breaks; Everything withers away, resources dry up, and even the sun fades and dies. All 'cause of something we did. We have no idea what, but we definitely don't want that.

We need a fourth way out of this. Some path that hasn't been taken before. Otherwise it's all going to end in one of those three ways, and then we go back to try again. And again. And again. Until we get it right.

>>580856
I really doubt it was a Shape Stealer 'cause whoever it was used Windwalker powers. The only halfway possible way I can think of for a Shape Stealer to get those is to suck the brains and memories out of a Windwalker so it'd know the techniques of a Windwalker, and even then I don't think it'd work 'cause it takes something special in the blood to be a Windwalker. Also, if it was a Shape Stealer it'd emulate Brad's current physical appearance exactly, but whoever it was had a different hairstyle from Brad; A more disheveled one. It might have seen Brad at some other time, when his hair was messy.

>>580824
Yes, we should definitely exercise caution with a vision of the Dark One's plans that came while under the influence of one of the Dark One's wraiths. First thing to ask here is if the Order has Vildmen allies right now. Second is the eye color of the king of the Vildmen and any other of their leaders. Also, we know that the Dark One's forces in the Serath had Vildmen on their side; A gift to Mor'Kay from "vild männens kung." That means Mor'Kay had a Vildman ally up here back then and we should figure out who it is.

>>580895
>>580906
Bradford is nine months in the future from when we were with Jericho in the Serath. And Daithi is three months in the future from Jericho. We figured this out 'cause we got the current date from our people in each time, then had those in the other times compare those dates to their current date.

>>580852
I strongly suggest you read the previous quest threads. There are important bits that intertwine between them that you should know. The links to the threads are on the wiki page: http://tgchan.org/wiki/Rust. Also read the discussion thread from when Rust starts but don't get ahead of the quest threads in it.

>>580906
If we consider The Magician (Yes, I'm using that title because I don't know if we should announce names yet) to be "Present," that puts -3 months and +3 months, past and future divided evenly from his point in time. Which is interesting, since all around him are hourglasses, keepers of time split into two halves.

Actually, if you look back at the cathedral (>>576989), that window showed one world pouring into an hourglass, which sprinkled down onto another. I wonder if that's significant to our three temporal placements.

...But I'm probably confusing the party, so let's leave the speculation for once we manage to return to The Magician and pals. Unless, of course, speculation is a pastime of yours. Any of yours.

...hmm, if the pattern continues, we will get another king 3 months after our latest one. Then every time period is separated by 3 months...

Can anyone tell us if anything interesting happened 3 months ago?

Kaktus 2014/06/25(Wed)09:44 No. 581028 ID: 65a774
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>[Check pawn status][Scan The Sister of Wisdom]
[“The Savage” Status: Peckish. “The hunter” Status: Depressed. “The priest” Status: Sleeping. “The Alchemist” Status: Deep in white. “Sister of Wisdom” Status: Concerned. “Sister of Power” Status: Angry, concerned, confused. “The Valkyrie” Status: Depressed.]
>[Scan right arm of The Sister of Wisdom]
[Demonic object: Demon bone structure.]
>[scan everyone present]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Those two guys] x 2
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Order Sentry]

>Okay, we're having a group meeting. Now. Find someplace private and out of the way.
You better have a good explanation about this, sis!
>Drina, calm yourself! Yelling at your sister isn't going to help anything. Save it for when you meet Lightbringer; You can bellow all you want then.
Hmmf… fine…
>Dooriya, stop acting so infatuated.
Infa- hey! I’m not some love struck teenager! He’s a nice, but I’m still a bit skeptical about him!
>It's a prosthesis. Probably made of enchanted metal or something.
Err… actually, it’s kind of… um… bone?
That’s the weirdest bone I’ve ever seen.
Um… right… those kind of bones…
>You know, it's strange, we've been told repeatedly that souls don't exist, and that demons don't eat souls.
Aren’t souls just that life energy crap?
Well, yes… souls are a bit of… a misnomer. See, what we call souls are actually an energy that animates anything that’s alive… it’s more like… blood then anything personal. It’s supposedly even possible to transmit life energy from one person to another without ill effects if you have the right technology… as for daemons eating them… well… it’s not so much eating as… um… reusing it. See, it’s like mages and their magic. A mage uses magic to create a fireball while a daemon uses life energy to create this arm for me.
>Dooriya, tell us more about this new arm Lightbringer gave you. What kind of cultist souls does it eat.
Err… as I already said, he doesn’t actually eat them and… um… there’s really no difference between the life energy from a normal person and a cultist… or an animal or plant for that matter. It’s just… um… sentient beings got a lot more of it.
>Where did the souls to get it to the point it is now come from?
Remember that cultist you guys took alive?
Wasn’t she executed?
Exactly… that’s where he’s getting the energy from… he… um… criminals that aren’t useful in any other way, as he said…
>Will it be needing souls to keep it going?
:DooryaUNB: No, it’s… well… it will need energy… like a muscle… so as long as I eat and… well, live, it will be fine. It’s just if I want it to be… well… less of a horror show he’ll need more energy to transform it.
I still don’t tru-
Personally, if he’s telling the truth I’m actually all for it. As far as I’ve understood then these “souls” aren’t more than energy that’s better off used then just wasted anyway.
Well, that’s one way to see it… as long as he’s just using bad guys I’m okay with it, I guess…
It’s a bit morbid but… um…
Seriously, guys!? Doesn’t anyone see how wrong this is!?

>Drina, remember that lizard lady with the emerald eyes who introduced you to Tsure? We scanned her right before she left and she's one of Green's people; Scan-name "The Druid."
What la- oh, right… her… hmm… the druid… well, there is a druid that-
>There's also a druid named Ella that Sten mentioned.
Right, that’s it!
Ella the druid!? Oh, yes, I’ve met her… she’s a rather pretty lizard lady with gorgeous emerald eyes…
…welp, there we have it. I know she usually gather herbs and the like for us in the order. I think she lives on the outskirts of the town?
>Anna, that level of clumsiness is really abnormal. There may be something physically wrong with you to cause that. Have you ever gone to a doctor to have your balance checked?
Hey! I’m just a bit uncoordinated!
You’re rather inept if anything. I don’t think she has anything physically wrong with her; she’s just a bit of a… airhead at times. You know… problem focusing.
…huh? Did you say something? I was thinking about something else…

>You guys should know that we had a grisly vision right before we came back to you. It looks like the Blood God has a new weapon in his arsenal we'll soon be seeing.
Hmm… that’s odd… we haven’t lost any men nearby lately… at least not as gruesome as you describe it. But I’ll keep the lookout for any knight with flies around them.
>Alright listen up. At one point in the past one of our other kings was caught in an illusion from the Dark One, which suddenly turned to a "vision" of the future. This is how he described it…
So we’ll be ambushed by Vildmän?
Luckily, most of them are up in their own kingdom fighting that civil war.
Actually, the rebel “king” is arriving today with a large part of his army to talk with the Arch-Bishop and the Serath Sultan about a possible alliance.
D’oh!
>First thing to ask here is if the Order has Vildmen allies right now. Second is the eye color of the king of the Vildmen and any other of their leaders.
As I said, they have come here to talk about just that and… um… I have no idea what color his eyes are, sorry…

>Oh, I just remembered. Please check the book to see what it says happens if we win.
…there’s nothing here?
What do you mean, nothing there?
See, the pages are just… blank! Hmm… let me go back a bit… let’s see… we win… and bob seals the daemon realm and… nothing.
Well, that’s a bit of a bummer.
A bit of an ill omen, if anything.
>While you're at it, see if you can look up the location of the Rune of Earth's Vault.
“Under the endless fields of green in the kingdom of the Oxin lords”… Heck if I know where that is.

>Brad, could you tell us what you did yesterday, after you left Dr. Vadoma's office and before going to bed, and who saw you, if anybody.
Um… I went back to the inn and stayed there?
I can vouch for him being there. We played some cards with Anna most of the evening.
Yeah, old beardy was definitely there all evening.
>...Wait. How are Drina and Brad going to speak with Lightbringer?
Um… he can speak with people under certain circumstances… in this case, if we meet him at his alter.
>Can anyone tell us if anything interesting happened 3 months ago?
Err… well… you mean outside our country, right?
Well, I think the Derack nation started collecting troops in the city of brass for some reason but… that’s about it…
Oh, right, that. That’s the reason why the Serath is here after all. They want try and resolve what they can here so we can send most of the order to the city of brass later.
>So, can we get some volunteers to find the missing lizard ladies?
Um… I’ll go, I guess? But I do-
Check their rooms in the inn.
But that Albino lady doesn’t-
But Jal does, now move it, soldier!
Yes sir!
So… where was we?

Insert Kaktus was hit by the wall of text! It was super effective! Kaktus fainted!_

Oxen or Oxin?

> Doesn’t anyone see how wrong this is!?
Well it's better than the alternative. The bone is probably just creepy looking because she'd ordinarily have an exoskeleton, not... whatever material that is, plus it's been recently repaired. There isn't much we can do about it now- let's worry about missing persons, our inevitable betrayal by vildmen, and the apparent end of everything once the daemon realm is sealed off.

>“The Alchemist” Status: Deep in white.
What the hell does that mea-
...I think we should have told Vlad to knock first.

It could mean something else, but I honestly have no idea. Maybe snow or drugs or something.

It says Alexandra is sleeping, but no clue where. Did she show up at the inn?

>>581028
>It’s supposedly even possible to transmit life energy from one person to another without ill effects if you have the right technology

Oh my god. That's the entire point of this "game", isn't it. Someone was trying to make a system for harvesting life energy and transmitting it to those the system was designed to benefit.

Um Vlad, we can see the status of Jal and he's busy. Alex is just sleeping. Maybe we should wait a while before disturbing either of them.

Let's go talk to Lightbringer.

Vlad, hold a moment. Yesterday Jal told us that Mikhail invited him to her quarters, and since Jal's current status is "deep in white," it looks like he's still tapping that fine albino ass. Better check her quarters before the inn; Listen to the door to see if you hear them, then either way try knocking. Also, Alexandra's status shows she's asleep, so she might have gotten back to the inn or she might still be out. Drina, could you give Vlad the address of Andreas and Yulian's place in case Alexandra isn't at the inn.

Brad, it's quite possible that whoever took out those Von Zolner thugs is related to you. Doesn't explain why he went after the thugs, but maybe he has his own reasons separate from what happened here with the Von Zolners.

Anna, is there anything that has focused your thoughts in the past? Any particular thing, thought, or situation? You seemed to be able to pull your mind together enough during the duel with Alexi to pull of Windwalking, so what got your thoughts in order there?

>Actually, the rebel “king” is arriving today with a large part of his army to talk with the Arch-Bishop and the Serath Sultan about a possible alliance.
Hmm... If he was corrupted then Gray would have spotted that a mile off... Except, maybe... We know that the daemons on the Blood God's side have been sharing their special cultists. It's possible that one of The Deceiver's Shape Stealers got to the Vildman rebel "king," sucked his brains and memories out and is impersonating him near perfectly. Both our scans and Gray's wouldn't show him as a Shape Stealer, and if it's a sufficiently strong one it'd shrug off the effect of holy symbols. That doesn't leave many options to check if he is one. Dooriya, what does the Book say about detecting Shape Stealers?

Drina, we can see just how horribly wrong such things could go if widespread or large-scale. Imagining the ways to get all the sentient souls for such is stomach turning. But here and now with such a small thing, it isn't wrong. Since the cultists are going to die anyway, may as well take advantage of it, and the arm only requires a certain amount of souls to be finished. From then on it'll be powered just by Dooriya being alive.

Dooriya, I'd advise covering your arm up until it's fully formed. People are going to have enough questions about you getting a new arm without also seeing it in this state. Do you know if it'll look like your original arm once it's finished or if it'll still be colored this way?

The Book being blank after the daemon realm is sealed is very troubling. Either the Book is being censored or what comes after is beyond it's sight. Dooriya, could you do a test on the Book for us. Try looking up things that could never have answers or that the Book could not possibly know and see if it throws blank pages as well. Something like what exactly killed the all gods that created this world, or what does the color green sound like.

You should know that we've been told that after the daemon realm is sealed the nations of the world would take advantage of the chaos in the aftermath and the armies and military tech they've amassed to try to expand their territories. The result is a war that'll engulf the world. If Bob knows this'll happen, then he knows the emotional energy from that will flow to his side, giving them the power to crush the rebel daemons. If that's his true plan, then he's likely keeping it from Steve 'cause Steve won't want that kind of world for Dooriya or himself. We will have to ask Steve about this.

>“Under the endless fields of green in the kingdom of the Oxin lords”… Heck if I know where that is.
If I remember correctly, Oxin are the work animals of the Amun Empire and the traditional steed of the Amun nobility. And in the Ancient Age the wastelands to the east of Amun were "endless fields of green" thanks to the Rune of Earth. They're probably that way again since the Rune was restored. At least, it should have been restored by now. Still doesn't narrow down the location, though. Check if the Book says where we could go that has information on the Vault's exact location.

Dooriya, could you check if the Book says how many of the keystones and lesser elemental runes needed to open the Vaults there are in the world. 'Cause if it's more than 32 keystones and four lesser runes then we'll know that neither we or our enemies can just play keep-away with one or a few Vault keys to stymie the other side. Also, we've been told there's no way to detect the location of a keystone long-range with current technology, so check the Book to see what technology would be needed to do so. Oh, and also check if the keystones and lesser runes are keyed to only work with a certain Vault.

Kaktus 2014/06/25(Wed)13:30 No. 581060 ID: 65a774
File 140372822290.png - (19.54KB , 900x450 , 5.png )

>Um Vlad, we can see the status of Jal and he's busy. Alex is just sleeping. Maybe we should wait a while before disturbing either of them.
Vlad already left…
Ha! He’s going to get a show, isn’t he!?
I’m pretty sure they lock the door before they… you know… at least they should do it before going to bed.
>It says Alexandra is sleeping, but no clue where. Did she show up at the inn?
I didn’t see her at all last night.
Well, Drina said she saw her at a bar yesterday… so it’s possible she got back late, long after everyone else has fallen asleep.
That would explain why she’s still sleeping.
>Oh my god. That's the entire point of this "game", isn't it. Someone was trying to make a system for harvesting life energy and transmitting it to those the system was designed to benefit.
…wait, what game? You mean the war with the daemons?
>Well it's better than the alternative. The bone is probably just creepy looking because she'd ordinarily have an exoskeleton, not... whatever material that is, plus it's been recently repaired.
…fine, I’ll stop complaining. For now.
Thanks, sis!

>Brad, it's quite possible that whoever took out those Von Zolner thugs is related to you.
Really? Well, that would explain his appearance…
>Anna, is there anything that has focused your thoughts in the past? Any particular thing, thought, or situation?
Um… well, when I really need to focus I can and… this one time when… um… I… never mind.
>Dooriya, what does the Book say about detecting Shape Stealers?
“Anything that is blessed or holy will hurt them.” …that’s all it says.
>Dooriya, could you do a test on the Book for us? Something like what exactly killed the all gods that created this world.
“Their hubris”.
>What does the color green sound like.
“Green sounds like what yellow smells like in a room without a fourth dimension or what the color purple taste like if it’s from yesterday’s tomorrow”… err… okay?
>If I remember correctly, Oxin are the work animals of the Amun Empire and the traditional steed of the Amun nobility.
Amun what now?
Oh, I know about them! They are far to the south east, across the great sea.
>Check if the Book says where we could go that has information on the Vault's exact location.
“Look within yourself”.
>Dooriya, could you check if the Book says how many of the keystones and lesser elemental runes needed to open the Vaults there are in the world.
“There are 116 keystones, 16 lesser runes and 4 major runes. Each lesser rune needs one keystone to be reachable and every major rune needs 8 keystones and one lesser rune to be reached. Keystones and lesser runes cannot be reused after opening either a lesser or a major vault.”
>Dooriya, I'd advise covering your arm up until it's fully formed.
YES! Why are you even going around with that… thing out in the open!?
Sorry…
>Do you know if it'll look like your original arm once it's finished or if it'll still be colored this way?
Um… my firefly did say it would look good… not… um… as my original arm…
If that thing turn into a tentacle or something I will eat his freaking head!

>Let's go talk to Lightbringer.
Ah, there you are, my sweet little butterfly… and you brought Bradford and frien-
I’LL MURDER YOU, YOU SON O-
Why, hello to you too, dear Drina. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to quiet down for a bit…
Mff!! MFFF!!!
Don’t worry, you’ll be able to talk when you’ve calmed down… meanwhile, why don’t you go to town on this doll of me?
…mff?
Well, either you’ll whack it around a bit and calm down or it confuse you long enough for your blood to stop boiling. Either way, it works.
>You should know that we've been told that after the daemon realm is sealed the nations of the world would take advantage of the chaos in the aftermath and the armies and military tech they've amassed to try to expand their territories. We will have to ask Steve about this.
Huh? That’s… are you sure?
Wait, can’t you see the future?
Not after I becomes mortal, no… and neither can anyone else after the daemon realm closes. For some reason our future sight simply stop functioning after the daemon realm closes.
It’s very odd, isn’t’ it? Hmm… I have to talk with the others about this.
Question!
Hmm?
Why are you a ball of light?
…because I can?

Insert What good is a phone call, Mr. Anderson?_

Because the more common daemon form we see them take is absolutely terrifying, generally looking like a black bipedal beast three times the size of a man with giant claws and drooling maw filled with teeth sharper then an obsidian blade.

A ball of light is cute, adorable, and generally non-hostile in comparison. Though his doll is absolutely adorable as well.

>>581060
It sounds like sealing the daemon realm when no daemons are on this side will result in all daemons being completely cut off from the world, or whatever enables your future sight. I forget- what was the situation last time the daemon realm was sealed off? As for how we know this... we got it from someone whose mind is not reset when we load our game. You see, we've been trying to save this world multiple times. Each time we've failed and reset reality so that we'd have another try. Things are changing, though. Bob should have told you by now we have a dagger that should not exist. Was the alien Player here in all timelines you're familiar with, as well?

There's another possible end, Steve. Another way things end is that we seal the daemon realm and then the world slowly becomes uninhabitable. I'm assuming this is caused by the runes being deactivated or destroyed or removed or something.

Steve, you really should treat Drina with a bit more respect. She is Dooriya's sister and Dooriya loves her after all, so treating her as such does not reflect well on you. Also remember that you will eventually be mortal over here and that Drina will remember what you've done. So better to work to improve relations now before she bears a grudge, right?

Drina, would you please take some calming breaths here and look at the situation. You can't actually do anything to Steve; He's not even in the same world as you. The most you could have done here if Steve hadn't muffled you is yell a lot of obscenities and threats and beat up a cute doll. That doesn't reflect well on you. So be civil here and Steve'll take the muffler off, okay?

Okay, Steve, we have to say we're not sure about that future. We heard it from one of the guardian golems in the corridor leading to the Vault under the Serathian capitol and its sanity was questionable. According to it every time we got a future where we failed we have gone back, restoring the world to the way it was to try again. But the memories of those golems weren't reverted; They remember every cycle. Them and every other ancient golem guardian. And it wants it to end. It wanted Jericho to order them to destroy themselves.

It told us of three possible futures: The first is the Blood God and his allies win and kill most everyone in the world; Only the scattered barbarian tribes survive to take over. The second future is the one you heard. The third is that the world withers away, resources dry up, and the very sun fades and dies. All due to something we do. My guess is we try to break the game in such a way as to prevent either of the first two futures and we fail.

Oh, also, we were prompted to check the Book for how this all ends by the Blood God. He spoke to us when we scanned Varius while we were in the labyrinth around the Vault in the highest Pillar of the Heavens. If you're wondering how we got up there, we have a king there by the name of Daniel that was the mountain guide for Varius.

And can you explain what the fuck is going on with space-time up there?! Not only is the labyrinth twisted up over itself like an extra-dimensional pretzel, but Daniel stumbled into a hallway with at least 36 identical Undead Captain Eric the Fair Haireds, and then his intelligent undead self from a future where the Blood God won showed up. Seriously, things are whack up there.

Ah, and I have an idea for how to get a daemon's future sight to see past the sealing of the daemon realm, but you're not going to like it. A daemon will have to stay behind on this side. And not in one of those flawed Harvesters either; It'll have to be a full blown one. But if it does stay then it should see what will happen after, right?

Has Bob spoken to you yet? He said he was going to call a meeting of the daemons of your side about the alien newcomer to the world and what to do about it. And there was another thing. There's a dagger that Jericho had that when Bob saw it he freaked out. He said it was all wrong; That it shouldn't exist. That he didn't see it coming, and that if the world was a chessboard, that dagger was like a saw through it. I'd figure that'd be big enough news to call an emergency meeting.

...But I suppose Jericho having such a dagger doesn't matter anymore 'cause we blew it, he's dead, and we're not going to be able to get back to his time-line in any way to use the dagger. We're really sorry we botched things there and lost the greater rune to the Dark One in that time-line.

Now, Steve, you wanted to speak with Bradford about something?

>Keystones and lesser runes cannot be reused after opening either a lesser or a major vault.
Ah, so nine keystones in total are needed to open the greater rune vault, not eight. Good to know.

>If that thing turn into a tentacle or something I will eat his freaking head!
Man, why'd you have to perpetuate the stereotype.

>I’LL MURDER YOU, YOU SON O-
Really? With what, the magic sword that he gave you and has power over? I can understand if you want to be protective of your family, but that's way out of line. Honestly, you should know by now to intimidate people subtly without shouting death threats. You're better than this.

>“Look within yourself”.
What? That doesn't even mean anything! Literally every word in that sentence could apply to more people, places, things and contexts than I care to elaborate on. That's not even solid information or a full fledged prophesy- It's just advice!

Steve, we successfully made contact with the new god in- I'm not sure if it's the past or future anymore. Anyway, he doesn't speak the language, but we've managed some communication. We're currently hiding him from fanatical daemon hunters.

huh, a golden mantis. I've seen a red lizard before but the golden mantis is new.

But yeah back in the dessert/ now a freakin jungle where we learned of these things we may have botch it... badly. We got to the vault with our king, got pass the guardians, got past the first of the three test, got a history lesson and a glimpse of futures that may be, and our king promptly got his core ripped the fuck out in the second test. As for how... Up till that point every fight we've been in has either been shrouded in so many illusions that we started to question every little hiccup on illusions, ambushes, or sneak attacks, and the one time it was a straight up fight we didn't believe it because it was to simple from everything else up to that point where if we tried to brute force our way through we'd have lost our king long ago. So we over thought it and lost our king... How badly is that going to mess up your plans?

Kaktus 2014/06/26(Thu)06:53 No. 581248 ID: 65a774
File 140379081913.png - (17.56KB , 900x450 , 6.png )

>Because the more common daemon form we see them take is absolutely terrifying, generally looking like a black bipedal beast three times the size of a man with giant claws and drooling maw filled with teeth sharper than an obsidian blade?
That’s another reason, yes.
But that sounded a lot more metal!
…what does iron have to do with anything?
>Steve, you really should treat Drina with a bit more respect.
Um… did I disrespect her? Then please accept my apologies. I was only trying to spare our ears from her… outburst. But as you wish, I’ll unmuffle her.
-in the alps with a pig!!
>huh, a golden mantis.
It’s just a sack of shit filled with straw!
Admit it, you feel better after “killing” it?
…yes, yes I do…
>Really? With what, the magic sword that he gave you and has power over?
Err… well… I was-
>I can understand if you want to be protective of your family, but that's way out of line.
…fine, fine… I’ll tolerate you for now, demon, but if you so much look at her funny…!
I’ll treat the lady with respect, trust me my dear Drina.

>It sounds like sealing the daemon realm when no daemons are on this side will result in all daemons being completely cut off from the world, or whatever enables your future sight.
That’s about right, yes… except…
>I have an idea for how to get a daemon's future sight to see past the sealing of the daemon realm, but you're not going to like it. A daemon will have to stay behind on thi-
We have already tried that… we live in several times at once, remember? No, even if we were to be cut off from this realm we would still be able to see the future of our own realm but… it’s just ends.
>What was the situation last time the daemon realm was sealed off?
Last time we should still see our own world… heck, we would even see your world several decades in the future… you know, the current present. But this time… it’s just… poof, gone…

>We’ve been told three possible futures: The first is the Blood God and his allies win and kill most everyone in the world; Only the scattered barbarian tribes survive to take over.
That’s… not entirely true. They will not kill so much as capture and… um… they only capture about 45% of the population of this world so… that’s not “most” really… I mean, the lands far to the south will be entirely untouched by the ravaging and… um… I’m going on a bit of a spiel aren’t I?
>The third is that the world withers away, resources dry up, and the very sun fades and dies. All due to something we do.
That’s… odd… yes, it does sound like you ruins the balance in the world but… how?
>As for how we know this... we got it from someone whose mind is not reset when we load our game. You see, we've been trying to save this world multiple times. Each time we've failed and reset reality so that we'd have another try.
…reset reality? …you actually… wait… does that mean all the timelines we live in actually happen, but in the end you just… um… this is news to me that should change how we look at this world… hmm…

>Can you explain what the fuck is going on with space-time up in the mountains?! Not only is the labyrinth twisted up over itself like an extra-dimensional pretzel, but Daniel stumbled into a hallway with at least 36 identical Undead Captain Eric the Fair Haireds, and then his intelligent undead self from a future where the Blood God won showed up.
Oh, it’s because it’s the place closes connected to our world. Therefore some of the ways we experience the world seeps out and… changes things. Wait… did you say he met his undead, intelligent self? How in the- Daniel was never turned into an intelligent undead! Varius doesn’t have the tools to… but… Are you sure it was Daniel and not someone else? Never mind, you’ll see proof that it can’t have been Daniel you met later today anyway…
>Has Bob spoken to you yet? He said he was going to call a meeting of the daemons of your side about the alien newcomer to the world and what to do about it.
Spoken about wh- no, he haven’t… but… I know about this new god but… um… I haven’t actually experience the past yet this time around so it’s fully possible that he already has told me…
Damn, you guys are weird.
>Bob should have told you by now we have a dagger that should not exist.
…that, on the other hand, I haven’t heard about.

>Now, Steve, you wanted to speak with Bradford about something?
Oh, right… I have a mission of some importance. The cult will be transporting some very valuable cargo later today that you need to intercept.
So, we should steal the cargo?
No, you will have to destroy it.
Can’t we just hit them with a catapult or something, then?
Well… no… not exactly. I… I should have said destroy it and free it. Your mission is threefold: First you have to find the cargo, destroy the equipment and then free the captives they have taken.
So they got sacrifices?
Yes, in a sense. Your second goal is to take out their leader… you’ll know who it is when you see him… and third, which is the most important, there will be two male mantis cultists among them. I need you to take at least one of them alive and bring them back.
So… attack the cargo shipment, kill the leader and take a male mantis hostage?
That’s right… now, Captain Andrzej got all the details so seek him out… and don’t rush, you got several hours before the cargo leaves the safety of one of their hideouts. Now, any questions before you march away to your untimely demise… I mean, to glory?
Err…
That was a joke. Don’t read too much into it.

Insert Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Can you tell us how well armed they are

>That’s… odd… yes, it does sound like you ruins the balance in the world but… how?
We've always been unbalanced, ba dum tss. It's also possible that the daemon was talking about an inevitability- even if it takes millions of years, the world has to end at some point. I fail to see any balance in this world we could upset- except in the second case, where the nations of the world war against each other.

>Never mind, you’ll see proof that it can’t have been Daniel you met later today anyway…
That's... ominous. I'm guessing we shouldn't have given him that keystone.

Destroying property, freeing hostages, and killing cultists all sounds simple enough. The only things I can think of to make things easier is to set up an ambush and bring plenty of firebombs. Capturing someone alive will be slightly more tricky. We should ask Jal for some kind of potion or poison that can knock someone out quickly so Vlad can use it with his arrows.

Is there any other information we should know? Do you know how they're transporting everything, how many there will be, and how many daemon spawn will be there?

Also since we havn't spoken of it, the blade we have absolutely put the fear into Bob, and Bradford's "metal" is a slang term for something incredibly dark but cool. Bradford is a bit odd like that.

>>581248
important details:
what is the cargo to be destroyed?
what do the captives look like?

In case you didn't know already, while in the Serath our king had a vision of the Dark One's plans while under the influence of one of the Dark One's wraith's illusions. Could one of you guys repeat it to Steve for us. Of course any such 'vision' has to be taken with a massive grain of salt, but just to be sure has the Vildman leader that's meeting the Order and Serathians been completely vetted? Like, quadruple-checked if he's a Shape Stealer and all his movements and actions scrutinized?

We also received a vision right before we shifted back to this time period. Again, could one of you repeat what we told you about it to Steve, with the addendum the knight was wearing purple-gray armor with ice blue boots, gauntlets and pauldrons. It's likely a portent of something that will happen or a vision of something that has already happened. Either way, whoever and whatever that human knight is is very likely going to be big trouble for us.

>That’s… odd… yes, it does sound like you ruins the balance in the world but… how?
We break one of the Greater Runes? Or try to use them together in some way to avoid the other two futures and fail, breaking them? I dunno.

>No, even if we were to be cut off from this realm we would still be able to see the future of our own realm but… it’s just ends.
Hmmm... That makes we wonder: Do the Blood God and his allies have the same cutoff? Since the futures they'd see are with the daemon realm still open then if their vision cuts off as well it means it's something other than sealing away the realm that causes the cutoff. Of course we can't trust anything they say so I dunno how we could find out.

Have you considered trying a change in your strategy so that it doesn't require the sealing of the Daemon Realm? Something where you beat back the Blood God and his ilk and keep knocking them down?

>How in the- Daniel was never turned into an intelligent undead!
Well, fuck, 'cause Daniel gave undead-Daniel the cyan keystone to carry it into the depths of the labyrinth. We probably handed it over to Shape Stealer 'cause we didn't know about Shape Stealers then... Though... Daniel checked if Undead-Daniel was him by asking what Daniel was thinking there and Undead-Daniel got it right. So how did it do that? Also, Undead-Daniel scanned as "[“The Sacrifice” belongs to future player Teal (Defeated)!], which is probably not right 'cause I'd think pawns of defeated players would be released, not stuck claimed. Well, whatever. We'll find out just how much we screwed up later today.

>They will not kill so much as capture and… um… they only capture about 45% of the population of this world so…
I figured that was what they were going to do since killing the population didn't make any sense long-term. Lemme guess: They're planning to stick 'em in some kind of life-support tank with a perpetual illusion over 'em that keeps 'em terrified and such to keep the energy flowing. (A la The Matrix.) Either that or forgo the life-support, turn 'em into undead and make a whole lot of something similar to those Undead Energy Sources we saw keeping The Human in Green going.

I think that's it for now. We'll go see Andrzej, ask him the details of the mission and get a plan together. Oh, and we should ask him what he knows about that other Windwalker that looks a lot like Brad. Actually, Steve, do you know anything about that you'd care to share now?

Well, Anna, what'd you think meeting Steve? Weird enough for ya?

>We have already tried that… we live in several times at once, remember?
Have you ever tried creating a seal that allows only a very small number of demons through, and never the ultra-powerful? Is that even possible, or would that be the kind of action that breaks the world?
I mean, it sounds plausible--We'd prevent the war caused by the lack of demons by allowing some through, but we'd prevent them from destroying the world themselves by only allowing a few (relatively speaking) through.
I definitely want to avoid simply creating new gods, that sounds a lot more plausible cause for the world's stagnation and rotting than a demon filter.
>Daniel checked if Undead-Daniel was him by asking what Daniel was thinking there and Undead-Daniel got it right.
Can't Shapestealers steal memories by drinking out the brain?
>I'd think pawns of defeated players would be released, not stuck claimed.
I did a little sifting through our memory and when we lost Jericho, our King, while lacking any pawns, we were defeated, and yet we kept going on. The Sacrifice might be a similar piece to The Pebble.

Kaktus 2014/06/26(Thu)11:32 No. 581277 ID: 65a774
File 140380754879.png - (19.48KB , 900x450 , 7.png )

>In case you didn't know already, while in the Serath our king had a vision of the Dark One's plans while under the influence of one of the Dark One's wraith's illusions. Could one of you guys repeat it to Steve for us?
Do not believe his lies… please…
>Have you considered trying a change in your strategy so that it doesn't require the sealing of the Daemon Realm? Something where you beat back the Blood God and his ilk and keep knocking them down?
Creating an endless civil war isn’t really something we hope to achieve… besides, we can’t really stop them from entering this side.
> Have you ever tried creating a seal that allows only a very small number of demons through, and never the ultra-powerful? Is that even possible, or would that be the kind of action that breaks the world?
How? We can’t create a seal ourselves and the power of the gods seal is way beyond our power to manipulate. No, we are not needed for this world to thrive. Sealing it completely is probably our best bet.
>Since we havn't spoken of it, the blade we have absolutely put the fear into Bob.
Really? Then I might need to seek him out for a bit of a talk, won’t I?
>Steve, do you know anything about the murders last night that you'd care to share now?
…I know that you’ll find it quite interesting soon enough.
Stop being so cryptic! GEEZ!!
>Well, Anna, what'd you think meeting Steve? Weird enough for ya?
It feels like I’m in a badly written fantasy novel!

>Do you know how they're transporting everything.
Well… they are using carts…
Pulled by what?
…they aren’t really pulled so much… actually, you know what, it’s a surprise, that’s what it is! It’s nothing dangerous; so far I can tell you.
>How many there will be.
A dozen, maybe? Maybe more?
>Can you tell us how well armed they are?
Mostly cultist with either crossbows or swords, but expect a bunch of undead too…
>how many daemon spawn will be there?
None or many, depending of what you mean by “Daemon spawn”. Do cultists count?
>A vision with a knight that was wearing purple-gray armor with ice blue boots, gauntlets and pauldrons.
…well, I guess it will be less of a surprise of what you’ll be meeting out there then. They probably got a death knight with them, yes.
>What is the cargo to be destroyed?
Tools and the like for their wicked experiments. Just burn everything to the ground. That’s the only way to be sure you destroyed it all.
>What do the captives look like?
How should I know!? All I know is there are probably people they have captured that are in chains so free them before you start any fires.
>Lemme guess: They're planning to stick 'em in some kind of life-support tank with a perpetual illusion over 'em that keeps 'em terrified and such to keep the energy flowing.
…well, now you know what the majority of the cargo will be.
Eternally tortured people!?
They probably haven’t inserted the people into the tanks yet but… they will be if you fail.

>The only things I can think of to make things easier is to set up an ambush and bring plenty of firebombs.
So long as we don’t burn all those captives.
We’ll just have to hit everyone but the cart with people then.
>Capturing someone alive will be slightly more tricky. We should ask Jal for some kind of potion or poison that can knock someone out quickly so Vlad can use it with his arrows.
…arrows generally kill people.
I’m sure he got some kind of sleeping potion or something, considering how bad he is at flirting.
…wait, what do y-
Nothing!
Now, I leave this mission on your hands, voices. Please pick whatever team you deem suitable and do whatever preparations you think are necessary.
I for one is staying put. Got an arm t-
Actually, my sweet butterfly, I’ll need you to go with them.
What!? But sh-
She is fine, except for her arm looking a bit… freakish. Now, remember, the caravan you’ll be hitting won’t leave until about six hours from now, so no need to hurry… yet…

…

*Gruble* I will never drink again… ow… and I’ll never get the room next to that horny son of a thrall Jal again!
Have you seen this woman? Named Ann-Sofie Tempest? Blond, blue eyes… perky set of-
Um… yeah, she was her yesterday. I believe she’s a recruit with the order. Why are you looking for her?
By the order of his Excellency, King Eric the second, Lord of Järgien, in the light of his supreme wisdom, has decreed that Ann-Sofie Tempest to be a traitor against the crown and needs to be put to death without trail!
…
…wait what?

Insert Well, shit…_

So, rather than punishing Bradford, Anne gets punished for being his apprentice? I'm getting the feeling there's a Shapestealer or impostor of whatever various form (could just be a person dressing up and claiming to be somebody) somewhere along the chain of command to these soldiers--Possibly the soldiers themselves.

In other news: I thought those were giant boobs on Alex, not crossed arms, and Steve puts too much trust in the stability of the sapient.

>>581277
[scan those present]
Good to hear that Jal managed to avoid getting drunk after all. This might turn his life around. Did Vlad wake you up? We sent him to check on you.

Ask how a clumsy unskilled girl like her could possibly be a traitor in any significant manner. Also, ask for proof that their orders are legit.

>put to death without trial!
What.

Don't let them know you know her. Just ask 'Without trial? What did she do?' or something similarly noncommittal. It looks like both Brad and Anna are wanted for things it's unlikely they committed, so it's likely there are shape-stealers on the loose.

Has Vlad shown up yet? We sent him looking for you. You were late to practice, along with Mikhail.

We've got a new assignment from Steve, and we need a potion that can knock out a mantis quickly. The rest is just breaking stuff and hurting people, which most of the others can handle, but we need at lest one particular cultist taken alive.

I think Vlad is just arriving, actually...

[Scan gaudily armored human and lizard]

Hello, Alexandra. Well, this is surprising. I have no idea what Anna could have done to be declared a traitor. And no trial? That just screams King Eric wants to make sure nobody scrutinizes his reasons. There's definitely something going on here.

Have you heard any news related to King Eric or the royal family recently that might be connected to this decree? What can you tell us of King Eric the Second? This kind of decree highly unsual or what?

Ask the knights what Anna did that was so traitorous that King Eric decreed she be killed without trial. Be curious but don't act like you know her. You don't want them to think you know Anna. DON'T ask what >>581287 says to ask, and definitely do not ask for proof their orders are legit. The Order or some other official will have reason to do so, but not you.

Looks like Vlad has just arrived. Good. We just got a mission from Lightbringer: intercept a cultist caravan, release the prisoners it's carrying, destroy its cargo, kill the cultist leader on it and capture at least one of two male mantis cultists on board. We're gonna need you two as well as Lord Ranger Mikhail and Jal's alchemical expertise on this one, so please go roust them from his room and get 'em to the Cathedral. We've only got about five hours to plan and prep, so be quick about it.

We also want to get back to the Cathedral to alert Anna before the king's men descend on it. I don't know how much the Order can protect Anna when it's the king who wants her. They can't pull something like what they did with Alexi and the Von Zolners... Oh, right! Alexandra, you haven't heard yet. Alexi and his goons committed crimes here worthy of death, so the Archbishop dealt with them in a way that wouldn't put your family against the Order. As long as nothing unforeseen happens then all your family will know is that Alexi and his men chased you out into the wilds against the Order's advice and you and them were all killed by the undead. You'll need to keep your head down until you get a new identity, but otherwise you're free!

>>581293
Yeah, it's quite possible that Shape Stealers are involved somehow. Maybe one impersonated Anna and did something traitorous that resulted in her family being killed. We definitely need to ask her about this.

Kaktus 2014/06/26(Thu)14:27 No. 581312 ID: 65a774
File 140381806720.png - (20.00KB , 900x450 , 8.png )

>[scan those present]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Sten the innkeeper.]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Bar patron.]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): City Guard.] x2

>Oh, right! Alexandra, you haven't heard yet. Alexi and his goons committed crimes here worthy of death, so the Archbishop dealt with them in a way that wouldn't put your family against the Order.
Really?
>You'll need to keep your head down until you get a new identity, but otherwise you're free!
Knowing my family they won’t just stop. I’m pretty sure they will blame the order for Alexis death even if they weren’t responsible.

>Have you heard any news related to King Eric or the royal family recently that might be connected to this decree?
He’s a king, there’s always some ball or banquet going on up in that castle. But, he lives on the other side of the country so…
>What can you tell us of King Eric the Second? This kind of decree highly unusual or what?
Well, I’ve never heard of him executing someone like this. That’s what the courts are for, after all.
>In other news: I thought those were giant boobs on Alex, not crossed arms.
I’m a freaking lizard, how am I supposed to have breast!?
>It looks like both Brad and Anna are wanted for things it's unlikely they committed, so it's likely there are shape-stealers on the loose.
Wait, Brad is wanted too!? Ugh, what kind of mess do I have to save them from this time?

>Has Vlad shown up yet? We sent him looking for you. You were late to practice, along with Mikhail.
He just entered the Inn, I can see him from here. As for Mikhail… well, she’s a loud girl…
>Good to hear that Jal managed to avoid getting drunk after all. This might turn his life around.
Yeah, right… he’ll go right back to drinking, you’ll see…
>We just got a mission from Lightbringer: intercept a cultist caravan, release the prisoners it's carrying, destroy its cargo, kill the cultist leader on it and capture at least one of two male mantis cultists on board.
Welp, another day in the army, I guess…
>We've got a new assignment from Steve, and we need a potion that can knock out a mantis quickly.
Give Jal ten to twenty minutes to clean up and I’m sure he can mix something up.

>Don't let them know you know her. Just ask 'Without trial? What did she do?' or something similarly noncommittal.
She committed high treason against the crown! No don’t need to-
That monster murdered her own parents in cold blood and then pinned the blame on her own sister! HER OWN SISTER, for IO’s sake!
…dammit, shut it!
Wait, how is that treason?
Her sister was the commander of the guard before her execution. All commanders of the guard in Järgien serve the crown and are considered members of the royal army.
Do you actually have proof you’re from the crown?
We are the holy legion, the royal army, the right hand of his excellency, the king, himself!
We also have these orders with the official royal seal.
That’s a very sealing looking seal.
You mean official looking…
It’s also very royal looking.
Dammit man, stop making a fool of yourself!

>I'm getting the feeling there's an impostor of whatever various form (could just be a person dressing up and claiming to be somebody) somewhere along the chain of command to these soldiers--Possibly the soldiers themselves.
Hmm… yes… something isn’t right here… I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Jal fake more complex seals then this with half a potato.

Um… good morning Alexandra… um… you look… err… ra-
Not now, Vlad.
Oh…

Insert Po-ta-ters! Boil them, smash them, stick them in a stew!_

Anyone opposed to just killing them?

>Dammit man, stop making a fool of yourself!
...Well, that really makes them sound like they're the imposters, but let's not jump to conclusions. Either you aren't sure where this Ann-Sofie Tempest is, she's somewhere in the opposite direction, or you're pretty sure she's still with the Order. I'm sure the Order should be able to handle things, right?

>>581314
well if they actually are from the royal army then killing them whether or not they're being tricked or not would probably only send more of them here which would just make things a bigger pain in the ass. I think we should try to look into this more before we commit to anything. We just have to make sure to keep them away from Anna and probably Brad as well until we got something we can use. and on that note

[message to Brad: Stop Anna from freaking out]
[message to Anna: Don't freak out but some guys claiming to be from the royal army are looking for you because they say you have committed treason, as such avoid people wearing white armor with a gold trim.]

>>581312
Wait, those are their orders? Are they still sealed? If it's still sealed then how do they know what their orders are?

Whatever the case I don't think this is a good time to confront them. We should probably bring them to the Order. Then the fight will be on our side. ...wait actually Mikhail just showed up. Looking very satisfied. She can probably take them. Ask her if she knows what the royal seal looks like.

>>581320
We can't send messages to pawns! Only players.

>>581324
I could have sworn we've done it before.

And here's Mikhail now.
...I've decided I don't want to know what that face is supposed to mean.

That story is sketchy as hell and the one guard telling the other to keep quiet makes it worse, plus Anna said that her sister died saving her life. We should make sure they're not being misled before trying to attack them.

Vlad, you go to Jal's room and make sure he doesn't come down here and start running his mouth. And tell him we'll need something that can knock out a mantis cultist that needs to be taken alive.

Kaktus 2014/06/26(Thu)16:00 No. 581337 ID: 65a774
File 140382362148.png - (20.08KB , 900x450 , 9.png )

>[message to Brad: Stop Anna from freaking out]
[Error!]

>Wait, those are their orders? Are they still sealed?
No, the seal is next to the signature… you know, to show that they aren’t a forgery.
>Anyone opposed to just killing them?
…killing people just like that will probably have some real bad consequences… like death, for example.
>...Well, that really makes them sound like they're the imposters, but let's not jump to conclusions.
Either they are imposters and the lady lizard is inept at it, or they are the real deal and she’s just inept period.
>Mikhail just showed up. Looking very satisfied.
As loud as she was I hope so…

>Ask her if she knows what the royal seal looks like.
>She can probably take them.
Hey, Lord Ranger? Can you take care of these two?
Oh? Royal guard, eh? What is your business here?
We are here on the order of his excellency-
Just give me the orders.
err… here… Ma’am…
Hmm… well, it seems to be in order… and that looks like the official seal too… Right, follow me to the Order headquarters and we’ll sort it out there.
…
…
Was she walking funny?
She’s got something stuck in her butt… trust me, I’d know.
…oh… wait she got what up her- WAIT, HOW DO YOU-
LADIES~ …oh, and Alex…
Alexandra.
Did you just call me a la-
Barkeep! Give me something strong… and a bottle of wine to go!
By the Thane, lad, she’s barely nine!
Exacly! I got a lot of drinking to catch up too!

Insert A drinker and a gentle- actually, he’s just a drunk_

You're far too innocent for your own good, Vlad.

Jal, no. Bad drunk. We need something that can knock out a couple of cultists for us, and we need it done right. Could you at least lay off the sauce for like as long as that takes?

Come on Jal, we were trying so hard to keep you off the sauce! You managed to do some glorious things without being hungover, without being drunk!

>>581337
Jal, why do you want to drink now? It sounds like it's just out of habit. That's not a good idea- you should drink when there's a reason to drink. Plus, we need your help right now. We need some sort of sleeping agent so we can kidnap a cultist.

I'm proud of you that you managed to stay sober for Mikhail. You can reward yourself if you like but keep in mind if you want to keep tapping the Lord Ranger you're gonna have to be sober for her when she wants you to be sober.

Vlad, you're a smart young guy, so I'm sure if you stop and think about it for a moment you'll figure out just what was up Mikhail's butt from where she just came from and what Alexandra said. And no hints, Jal!

I see you delivered on the bed magics in spades, Jal. We could tell when Mikhail came down she was feeling very... satisfied~ So, how was it? Where would you rank your encounter on your lifetime list? I'd bet it was better than you've had in a long while. Totally worth going sober for, right?

Could you stay sober for a few hours more for us? We have need of your alchemical brilliance for a mission and we'd love to see what you could do while off the booze. If what we've seen you do in the field while drunk is any indication then you sober in a fully equipped lab will be nothing short of staggering genius. Oh, and you could probably get a quickie from Mikhail at lunchtime too.

Now, we've got some ideas for this. We have to capture at least one of two male mantis cultists alive, so we need a fast acting tranquilizer. Doesn't have to last long; Just long enough to tie 'em up. Could you modify an arrow with a dosed needle on the end for Vlad to shoot? We'd use knockout gas but there's going to be prisoners we have to release as well and if they're knocked out it'll be tough to get them to safety.

We're also going to need to utterly destroy the caravan's cargo, so what could you whip up that'll burn real hot that could be spread over it? Hmmm... How good are you at making explosives? We're gonna be facing some tough targets out there, so bringin' the boom will really help. Just as long as it's not too indiscriminate. I'm thinkin' explosive arrows for Vlad. Ones where the explosives are right in or behind the head and trigger right after the arrow is buried in the enemy. Boom! Instant chunky salsa! And it's a targeted explosion too. Also good for blowing out the wheels on the carts.

What else? Smoke bombs would really help with keeping the enemy ranged from targeting us. Could you make us a bomb that'd make a blinding flash of light and deafening bang to disorient the enemy as well? A flash-bang, if you will. Well, that's all I can think of. You got any ideas to throw in, Jal?

There's no way I can mentally reconcile the scatterbrained Anna we know with what the royal guards said she did. I mean... Can any of us even remotely believe she murdered her parents in cold blood then successfully pinned it on her sister who also happened to be the captain of the guard? And that she pinned it on her so well that it lasted all the way through the trial and execution and then only afterwards did they figure out Anna did it? The odds on that are so long it's ridiculous!

...Wait a second. Those two scanned as city guards, not royal guards. Somethin' ain't right there. Might just be our scan screwing up, but those two guards definitely need some extra scrutiny on them.

Hey, Jal, how hard is it to forge the official royal seal of King Eric the Second? What about the signature? Or how hard would it be to get a official document with the real seal and signature and alchemically wash all the ink but the signature off and reuse it? Well, whatever the answers are we definitely should get a document that has a known legit seal and signature and compare them to the ones on those orders. And test that the sealing wax is the same as well.

...wait a minute. It's been a while so I went back and checked- Anna said her sister died protecting her. That means she isn't claiming her sister did the murdering. Something is wrong.

I think we might have to go talk to Anna and get her to tell the Order her story before the guards come to execute her. The High Ranger won't have any interest in keeping Anna out of trouble, she's not really an ally. She may even cause trouble for us if we can't get the Order talking to her before she finds Anna.

>>581505
And back when Anna was in the sauna with Brad and Vlad she mentioned she's the youngest of three daughters. I'd think that her killing her sister as well as her parents would be something the royal guards would have said.

Kaktus 2014/06/27(Fri)09:48 No. 581517 ID: 65a774
File 140388771979.png - (19.12KB , 900x450 , 10.png )

>Vlad, you're a smart young guy, so I'm sure if you stop and think about it for a moment you'll figure out just what was up Mikhail's butt from where she just came from and what Alexandra said. And no hints, Jal!
…oh… OH… she… you… um… that’s…
Oh, there’s more than that up there. She brought a toy to make sure it stayed inside for the rest of the d-
JAL!
>I see you delivered on the bed magics in spades, Jal. We could tell when Mikhail came down she was feeling very... satisfied~
Oh, what a night… and morning. She wasn’t satisfied until I’d filled all three of her ho-
Dammit, Jal, we don’t need to know this!
>So, how was it? Where would you rank your encounter on your lifetime list? I'd bet it was better than you've had in a long while.
Oh, let me tell you… I think I’m in love~
…what!? Oh, for fuck sake, not this again! Do you remember last time you fell in love after a quick f-
But this is different, Alex, this is tr-
Just like last time… and the time before that… but every time you end up in a ditch drinking your sorrows away…
This is different, trust me.
>Oh, and you could probably get a quickie from Mikhail at lunchtime too.
While tempting, I’ve already done her three times already, two times last night and one this morning, so I’m a bit sore right now…
*Ugh*…
I started with her mouth, pum-
Jal, dear, if you say one more word about your bed adventure, I will punch you.
Oh, you’re ju-
Down there.
…I’ll be good…

>Jal, no. Bad drunk.
Hey, it’s just one glass!
And a bottle?
Glass and a bottle! …oh, and can you throw in some-
Jal…
>Jal, why do you want to drink now? It sounds like it's just out of habit.
Hey, I like drinking! The flavor of most alcohols are-
You just want to get smashed so you can forget how much your life sucks…
Oh, hush you…
>You can reward yourself if you like but keep in mind if you want to keep tapping the Lord Ranger you're gonna have to be sober for her when she wants you to be sober.
Hey, I can quit whenever I want too.
HA!

>We need something that can knock out a couple of cultists for us, and we need it done right. Could you at least lay off the sauce for like as long as that takes?
But I work better when I’m in a buzz… how about I just take that wine bottle?
Jal…
Fine, just a glass then.
You can have a glass of wine when you’re done. No sooner.
But… but… I want it now…
>Could you modify an arrow with a dosed needle on the end for Vlad to shoot?
Hey, did you want them dead or just knocked out, because arrows tends to make people the former… no, I… hmm… I have some ideas but I’ll see what I can cook up.
>We're also going to need to utterly destroy the caravan's cargo, so what could you whip up that'll burn real hot that could be spread over it?
Oh, I got just the thing…
>Hmmm... How good are you at making explosives? We're gonna be facing some tough targets out there, so bringin' the boom will really help.
Combined with explosives? Oh, this is going to be good…

>Hey, Jal, how hard is it to forge the official royal seal of King Eric the Second? What about the signature?
Ha, I’m sure someone that’s good with a knife can fake that thing with a potato. As for the signature… well, it’s harder to fake, yes, but why fake it? The king don’t really sing anything less dire then an immediate execution of a traitor of the crown or something like that, and it isn’t often you see something like that, right? Just make it official looking and it will fool people. Now… um… why are you asking this again?
>Or how hard would it be to get a official document with the real seal and signature and alchemically wash all the ink but the signature off and reuse it?
that’s… um… let’s just say it would probably be easier to steal the paper while the king was writing on it that washing it like that.
>There's no way I can mentally reconcile the scatterbrained Anna we know with what the royal guards said she did.
Wait… what?
That “immediate execution of a traitor” you were talking about? Yeah…
There has to have been some error somewhere… you know, maybe we should write a letter and ask the king?
…dammit, Vlad, stop being so naïve and innocent.

>I think we might have to go talk to Anna and get her to tell the Order her story before the guards come to execute her.
They aren’t going to execute her just like that. They got to check the legitimate of the claim and make preparations and all that… at earliest whatever execution they got planned will happened tomorrow.
But we will stop that, right?
Right. Hmm… so, where is Anna right now?
So… um… I’ll just go and start making stuff for your miss-
Jal… tell me, do you have any alcohol hidden in your room?
Err… no?

Insert Can you name your demon?_

Jal, just save the stuff for after you've finished your job. I know, I know, you work better on a buzz, but hear me out: There'll be a ringing in your head telling you "get the booze." That ringing is a buzz. Work on it. Let it fuel you.

Technicalities, HO!

>>581517
Then I'm sure he won't mind if you go in and take all the alcohol.

>>581518
Word games are cute and all but that's not how addiction works.

>>581519

Truth be told, it seems more like he's trying to drink his sorrows away, Jal you've been coming into things far better then normal, there's no need to drink yourself into a stupor. Your life has been improving by all merits.

Jal, when we say 'we need something done right', that means 'If you fuck this up because you have shitty self-restraint and got plastered, Both we, Steve, and the order, will all be really goddamn fed up with your drinking problem.' Also you'll be working with explosives and you shouldn't do that drunk.

>Hey, did you want them dead or just knocked out, because arrows tends to make people the former
You underestimate Vlad's marksmanship. If that magic quiver has any tricks it can pull, it will be even easier.

Anna should still be at fighting practice. Try to give the news gently, she's still sensitive over the circumstances surrounding her sister's death.

Jal... do we need to have someone watch you while you work so we can make sure that you don't pass out drunk before you can finish the fire bombs?

But yeah between Vlad and Alexandra, which one of you is faster? Because that person is now our runner to tell Anna that she's got some heat on her.

Kaktus 2014/06/27(Fri)12:22 No. 581524 ID: 65a774
File 140389696657.png - (17.53KB , 900x450 , 11.png )

>Jal you've been coming into things far better then normal, there's no need to drink yourself into a stupor. Your life has been improving by all merits.
Exactly! That’s why I have to celebrate with a drink! Just a small one! …please?
>There'll be a ringing in your head telling you "get the booze." That ringing is a buzz. Work on it. Let it fuel you.
But that’s an annoying buzz… and the wrong kind of buzz! I want some sweet nectar to make the pai- err… I mean, make my mind focus on the whole.
>Jal, when we say 'we need something done right', that means 'If you fuck this up because you have shitty self-restraint and got plastered, Both we, Steve, and the order, will all be really goddamn fed up with your drinking problem.'
Hey, trust me, I don’t got that big of a problem.

>Then I'm sure he won't mind if you go in and take all the alcohol.
A wine bottle that’s half full… a small flask of whisky…
Careful! That’s expensive!
Two flasks of ale… was that all?
Yes! And I’m want those back later.
…
…ngt, fine! There’s a bottle of Schnapps behind the closet. That’s it… that’s e-everything…
Are you sure?
He’s probably telling the truth. There aren’t many more places to hid bottles in here.
>You underestimate Vlad's marksmanship. If that magic quiver has any tricks it can pull, it will be even easier.
Hmm… I don’t know… but I’ll see what I can do…

…

>Anna should still be at fighting practice. Try to give the news gently, she's still sensitive over the circumstances surrounding her sister's death.
-you can’t just leave me behind again!
You’re staying here and that’s final.
But-
No buts. You’re still to unskilled for real combat.
Um… actually… she’s learning to handle a sword abnormally fast… she and Vladimir seems to almost master their new weapons without even any training…
Steve says it’s because they were chosen by the voices. It makes them stronger.
Wait, it makes us stronger?
*Cough*
Alexandra!? Where in the name of the Thane’s beard have you been!? We’re supposed to meet for practice hours ago!
Well…

Insert Power overwhelming_

Anna is wanted for treason.

...what was I meant to brake that more gently? Because to guys from the royal army showed up at the bar asking for her saying she's wanted for killing her family and blaming her sister who was a commander of the guard in Järgien.

So if it get's her away from town it might be a good idea to take her out on this mission. Just have her act as auxiliary.

>>581524
Tell them you overslept. That is in fact the truth, lazybutt. Also that Anna probably won't be able to do anything today for other reasons.

Someone wake up that sleeping guard!

Anna, um. Soon you will be confronted over the matter of your family's death. It's best you tell us and the Order the full story so that you won't freeze up and fail to explain yourself when they come.

...actually shouldn't they have brought it up already? There's no way Alexandra got here before Mikhail.

Wait we make you stronger? Huh, and here I thought we were just guidance.. and slight perversions, but that we actively make those who we have in our set of kings and pawns stronger? That's rather interesting.

Better just tell Drina the truth, Alexandra. If you lie she will find out and it'll end up worse for you. And you do have a partial excuse for being late: We had you take time to wrangle Jal and de-booze his room so he wouldn't be doing the alchemical work for our mission inebriated. That ought to count for something.

Alexandra, you mentioned to us awhile ago that Jal does some of his best work while drunk, but how much of his work does he screw up because he's drunk?

Brad, are you judging Anna against being a Windwalker or a regular swordsman? 'Cause if she's good enough to be a swordsman she can still take up the rear for this mission; Watch your backs and guard Alexandra and Vlad and such. Besides, she's going to need real combat experience at some point. But if you think she's not good enough to go out on this mission, then at least see about her going out on one that isn't so tough so she can get the experience.

Alright, Anna, what we're about to say is about the death of your family and it's going to hurt, so brace yourself: Two royal guards showed up at the inn looking for you. They had a decree from the king calling for your execution without trial for the crime of treason against the crown. According to them it was because you murdered your family in cold blood and pinned it on your sister, the captain of the guard, and since all members of the guard of Järgien are considered members of the royal army that's considered treason. Of course we firmly believe this is total bullshit, but you should still tell us how things actually happened to at least get it in order for when the Order comes to ask about it so you don't mess up.

Jal told us that the king's seal would be rather easy to forge while his signature would be harder, but also that he makes so few decrees that hardly anybody would be able to spot a fake signature if it was sufficiently fancy. So we need a document that has a seal and signature that's known to have come from the king to compare the royal guards' orders against. Would the Order possibly have one in its records? Or maybe the city records has one?

...And somebody throw a rock at the sleeping watch guard to wake him or her up. Drina, you do it since you outrank him or her.

It's off topic, but I just thought of something. We know there's a bound daemon watching over the Vaults in the Serath and Amun, so is there one watching over the Vault up in the Pillar of the Heavens? 'Cause if there is, then as far as we know it hasn't made its presence known to us. And there might not even be one 'cause supposedly they were put in place to keep random mortals from finding the Vaults, but the Vault up there is so hard to get to one may not haven been needed. Dooriya, could you please check your Book for that for us.

>>581532
It does make sense if you look at this world through the lens of it originally having been built as a game. The pieces of the players would be stronger and learn faster 'cause the "god" players don't have either the time or patience to wait for it to happen at normal rates.

Oh, Alex, last time we brought up the subject of romance to Jal he said he had no interest in it, only casual sex. Was that denial?

Kaktus 2014/06/27(Fri)15:11 No. 581541 ID: 65a774
File 140390711767.png - (16.82KB , 900x450 , 12.png )

>Tell them you overslept. That is in fact the truth, lazybutt.
You overslept? Well, at least your honest…
…so… I’m-
Five laps around the cathedral, maggot, and no walking! I want to see you jog all the way!
B-but I was barely able to jog a fourth of a lap las-
Exactly. You need to work on your shape, young lady.
Young? I’m older then you…
>And you do have a partial excuse for being late: We had you take time to wrangle Jal and de-booze his room so he wouldn't be doing the alchemical work for our mission inebriated.
Hmm… fine, only four laps then…

>Wait we make you stronger? Huh, and here I thought we were just guidance... and slight perversions…
Hmm… that would explain why Vlad learned to wield that short sword so quickly.
>It does make sense if you look at this world through the lens of it originally having been built as a game. The pieces of the players would be stronger and learn faster 'cause the "god" players don't have either the time or patience to wait for it to happen at normal rates.
…this is getting way too weird for me.
You see it as a game of chess… very advance chess.
>Someone wake up that sleeping guard!
Don’t worry, a snowball will do the trick!

>Alexandra, you mentioned to us a while ago that Jal does some of his best work while drunk, but how much of his work does he screw up because he's drunk?
Surprisingly little. He generally just screw up his own life when his drunk.
>Oh, Alex, last time we brought up the subject of romance to Jal he said he had no interest in it, only casual sex. Was that denial?
Yeah, denial. He’s always been like this. First he says he can’t fall in love, then he fucks someone, falls in love, is totally inept at trying to make any kind of relationship work… or even started for that matter and then when she or he rejects him he just start drinking and start the cycle anew.
Wow, talk about self-destructive.
>Brad, are you judging Anna against being a Windwalker or a regular swordsman?
I’m judging that she’s just a small girl who need more training!
Actually, I think she’s ready for something simple… like rear guard or something. So, as you superior officer, I say she’s coming.
Sweet!
B-but…but… she can get hurt!
Err… she’s a soldier, they are supposed to get hurt…
>It's off topic, but I just thought of something. We know there's a bound daemon watching over the Vaults in the Serath and Amun, so is there one watching over the Vault up in the Pillar of the Heavens? Dooriya, could you please check your Book for that for us.
Hmm… the book just says… “Traitor”… and… wait… Steve says that you’ve already met him… he calls himself the blood god.

>Alright, Anna, what we're about to say is about the death of your family and it's going to hurt, so brace yourself…
Err… wait, I really need to go to the little girls ro-
You aren’t going anywhere, little miss.
>Anna is wanted for treason.
WAIT WHAT!?
Um… is it just me, or is that very unlikely?
Err… heh… um…
>Because you murdered your family in cold blood and pinned it on your sister, the captain of the guard.
She was commander of the guard! And I didn’t pin it on her! She pinned it on herself to- Err… I mean… um…
…wait, you actually…
What, no of c-course not… heh… I would… n-never…
…
…um… I… I d-did… I k-killed m-my parents…

Insert What a twist!_

>>581541
Uhhhhhh... whyyyyy? You can probably dodge the treason charges with this confession, but...

I'm sure there's a long and complicated story to explain this. Best just to kill her.

>>581553

That's not..No we aint killing her!

Also Brad it's quite sweet that you've taken her under your wing and being all protective of her considering your abrasive nature at times, but we need to get the info from her because this is pretttty important.

... Now's the part where you give a justification and we're all like "okay that sucks and could have gone better but you're not that horrible a person or anything", Right?

...Right?

There is very little we can do to get you out of this. The Royal army actually holds some real authority, so we can't just lie like we did to the 'zolners. The only thing that comes to mind is to go MIA the next time you go into the field- actually scratch that, new idea. We fake your death. It should be easy- the ambush will involve a lot of fire, explosives and general chaos. Should an unfortunate accident occur in which one of the explosive devices- manufactured by a longtime alcoholic, I should add- malfunction or be misused while you're holding it, inevitably killing you and rendering the body unidentifiable except by clothing, the guards should call off the investigation.

...Nobody say anything and don't jump to conclusions. We are going to hear what Anna has to say, without interruption, before we say or do anything. Got it? Good. ...Now, Anna, please tell us what happened, from the beginning.

>Hmm… the book just says… “Traitor”… and… wait… Steve says that you’ve already met him… he calls himself the blood god.
So he's stuck in a flawed Harvester body with only a tiny fraction of his original power. Well, that explains why he needed sacrifices to start his cult following, why he has his followers do so much of the work and why he doesn't have any 'special' cultists like the Dark One and The Deceiver have. Hmm... This also means that, unlike the others, it's possible we could actually kill him for real.

...Wait a second. Dooriya, how is Steve talking to you? Though your new arm? And can he hear what we're saying as well?

>>581593
Also, take this somewhere private. We don't want anybody else overhearing this. The groundskeeper's tool shed might be big enough for all of you.

>Wait we make you stronger?
Wasn't that the case with our previous allies, anyways? I'm still sifting through our memory, it's enough that it'll take a good bit of time to figure out what changes and what doesn't, but it seems that we had that effect before.
>a snowball will do the trick!
Hah! Lovely, Drina.
>he calls himself the blood god
Oh gods, now we have to eliminate one of the three. And knowing their lack of temporal stability, we'll still probably see him in the future anyways!
Or, uh, the past, if that happens, but it's also possible he'll be dead in the past too? Stupid temporal instabilized entities... Yes that includes us. We're stupid.
>I k-killed m-my parents…
...At least tell us it was an accident?

Kaktus 2014/06/28(Sat)08:52 No. 581675 ID: 65a774
File 140397072630.png - (17.58KB , 900x450 , 13.png )

>I'm sure there's a long and complicated story to explain this. Best just to kill her.
(Well, someone has a short attention span it seems.)
>...Nobody say anything and don't jump to conclusions. We are going to hear what Anna has to say, without interruption, before we say or do anything. Got it?
Right, we need to hear this.
>Also, take this somewhere private.
I can get us a private room t-
Actually, you’re staying right here. Now, Anna, please proceed with your explanation.
Err…

>...At least tell us it was an accident?
…I… I didn’t mean to k-kill my mother… she… she attacked me… t-then my sister came… and… she didn’t… I…
Why did she attack you?
…b-because… I… I murdered my father…
…and that was self-defense too?
…no… I… I… it was just spur of the moment… he… left his sword and… and…
…that still doesn’t explain your motivation.
…he really wanted a son…
…and?
None of were… all of us… he…
Wait, you mentioned that you had two sisters yesterday? What happened to other sister? Is she still alive?
…I… no… she… she didn’t… she didn’t run away… she’s still there… down there… basement… please… father… no… don’t…
Oh, for the love of- someone get me a doctor! …and some kind of therapist.
>There is very little we can do to get you out of this.
There’s nothing you can do about this. Anna, your under arrest.
no, not the… ment…
Wait, you can’t just kill h-
If she is telling the truth she won’t be. The king has given us permission, with both seal and name, to personally enact justice on any criminals we catch and to make use of them as we wish. So, if you didn’t pin it on your sister then you’ll be judged in one of our courts.
So we have to prove that her sister did it herself?
If you want to help, yes… now, Anna, come with me. There’s a nice doctor that’s waiting for you.
…

>...Wait a second. Dooriya, how is Steve talking to you? Though your new arm? And can he hear what we're saying as well?
(Um… yeah… he can talk to me when I’m close to him… and no, he can’t hear you.)
>So he's stuck in a flawed Harvester body with only a tiny fraction of his original power.
(Actually, he’s not stuck in it… he can leave, but he won’t be able to come back there then.)
>Oh gods, now we have to eliminate one of the three.
(You have to eliminate the body his in, yes…)

Insert Tearing down the wall_

Anna go with them, doing something drastic might cause further issues down the line.

If this is so painful for you make sure to tell them.

...Oh, Anna... Your big sister always protected you, didn't she? Even unto her end. She must have loved you more than anything... Anna, you have our promise we'll do everything in our power to make sure what your sister did was not for naught. ...And would you tell us her name? It's not right of us to talk of her without a proper name. Now, go with Mikhail to see the doctor, but do not say or write anything of what happened without us or another you trust there; We do not know who will hear or see it or if it'll be used against you.

Alright, when will the trial be held and how do the Order's courts operate for such a crime? 'Cause we're going to need time to mount a defense for Anna. But how are we going to do this when any evidence or witnesses, save Anna herself, are in Järgien? How far away is Järgien? And wouldn't the Order prosecution need those evidence and witnesses too? What and who's going to be admissible as evidence and witnesses at this trial? Also, how much should we worry that Anna just confessed in front of Mikhail and two other members of the Order? I'd figure their testimony wouldn't be admissible at trial due to being hearsay but I don't know how the laws work here.

Right now we should speak with those royal guards and find out just what the evidence was that led to the king decreeing Anna a traitor. If we can discredit that it'll help us.

Also, somebody should keep watch over Anna. Her status has included "depressed" near every time we've checked and I fear she may attempt suicide or something. [Check status of "The Valkyrie"]

Brad, how you feelin' there? If you want to stay with Anna then do so. That is, if you're allowed to by the Order.

...Dammit, we still have to plan and prep for that mission today. Gah... Why did this have to happen now?

>>581675
How can we prove that her sister did it? Is her house nearby, to investigate?

Alex, get to running, you still have those four laps to do.

From what I gather, her father was abusive and killing her mother was an accident. So yeah, that does suck and could have gone better but she isn't a horrible person. It looks like she won't be going into battle today, Drina.

Anna, we'll get this sorted out- what they're saying you did isn't what happened. In the meantime, go with Mikhail. We'll be back, and you can talk to us then if you feel like it, okay?

Kaktus 2014/06/28(Sat)14:57 No. 581750 ID: 65a774
File 140399264509.png - (15.33KB , 900x450 , 14.png )

>[Check status of "The Valkyrie"]
["The Valkyrie" Status: Suicidal, depressed, crying.]

>From what I gather, her father was abusive and killing her mother was an accident. So yeah, that does suck and could have gone better but she isn't a horrible person.
Hmm… that’s true?
…he… he did things to me…
Well then… we got some motive…
>Anna go with them, doing something drastic might cause further issues down the line.
Come here, Anna… just follow these nice gentlemen and we’ll fix this mess in no time.
…
>...Oh, Anna... Your big sister always protected you, didn't she? Even unto her end. She must have loved you more than anything... Anna, you have our promise we'll do everything in our power to make sure what your sister did was not for naught.
…
>...And would you tell us her name?
…
>Brad, how you feelin' there? If you want to stay with Anna then do so. That is, if you're allowed to by the Order.
There’s no way I’m leaving her right now.
Then come with us. We’re not stopping you. Of course, now I’ll probably need to dig up that old order from the king to show those royal guards that she will be judged in our court instead of theirs… ugh…
judging what? What did I miss?
Anna confessed and is being arrested.
…wait, those royal guard gu-
No, she said they were lying. She confessed to the original murders. Where did you go anyway?
Oh, I just… um…
Never mind, Vlad, we got more important things to do.

>How far away is Järgien?
Err… that depends… do you mean the bird route or do y- we’re standing in it right now! This is Järgien! You know, the nation of the north?
>Is her house nearby, to investigate?
Her house is in a city about two days from here.
>Alright, when will the trial be held and how do the Order's courts operate for such a crime? 'Cause we're going to need time to mount a defense for Anna.
Um… actually, I’m pretty sure Grey would want you guys to stay out of the court. As she doesn’t have one herself she will receive a lawyer from us and he or she will make the defense.
>Wouldn't the Order prosecution need the evidence and witnesses ?
We will send for all the evidence the original investigators was able to retrieve. If that’s not enough we’ll simply have to send someone there to investigate themselves.
>How much should we worry that Anna just confessed in front of Mikhail and two other members of the Order?
Well, it can’t be used against her but… um… if you ask me, she’s probably going to confess properly anyway… um… you know, maybe there won’t even be a court case? If she confesses directly they can come to an agreement without the whole court business.

>Alex, get to running, you still have those four laps to do.
Wait, don’t w-
Right! Let me see you jog, lady!
B-but-
Now! I’m going to follow you to make sure you do this properly! Now move it, maggot! ONE TWO THREE FOUR! I SAID JOG!!
And with that I’ll leave too… my little dreamy firefly needs me… goodbye Vladimir… goodbye voices.
Err… okay?

>Right now we should speak with those royal guards and find out just what the evidence was that led to the king decreeing Anna a traitor. If we can discredit that it'll help us.
Um… well, they are supposed to be here somewhere… um… I think one of them is waiting to speak with the archbishop and… err… the other is… um… the other one was told to take a break by the former and now… err… she went somewhere, I guess… but… err… what do I say to them? I’m pretty sure telling that order is a phony is treason or something… um… maybe I need to evidence or… err… I’ve never really done something like this before…

Insert Vladimir, the lizard P.I_

>>581750
Well don't say it's phony. Just be nosy. Ask them how the treason was discovered- didn't the crime take place a long time ago?

[Message to Gray: You know about Shape-Stealers, right?]

Oh, now that we're alone... Vlad, last night you were a bit upset about Alex being a guy, but you complemented her this morning. Did you work past your father's issues already?

...also I'm not sure what pronoun I'm supposed to use for Alexandra anymore.

>I’m pretty sure Grey
I'm still a bit behind, is this the same Gray as from Rust? She did leave Serath when Eliraz asked her new King to.
>Um… well, they are supposed to be here somewhere…
Saying the order is a phony is kind of a stupid idea. Even stupid, pessimistic squidlings like us are smarter than saying that to their faces.
We want to discredit the evidence, not the order. The King would have every reason to trust whoever he puts in charge of the investigations, but if you give him reason to doubt, he may be willing to, without being asked, revoke the order.
>ZZZ
Can we still give thoughts to others? Bah, he's not even an ally or underling of our crew, though, is he, so we couldn't give him the feeling of urgency anyways. And I don't want to tell you to throw another snowball at him, what with you being the only one here, he'd know who it was this time.
>>581787
She's a she if she's a she. Doesn't she go by she in public?

Hey, where were you? I figured you'd have come right back to the training yard with Alexandra so I was kinda wondering where you got off to.

The old decree from the king granting the Order judicial autonomy that Mikhail is going to dig up ought to have a legit seal and signature so that gives us an opportunity to compare it to the royal guards' orders. You just have to make sure you're either there when she shows them to the royal guard to suggest comparing the seals and signatures to be doubly sure things are legit or ask Mikhail beforehand to compare them herself if you can't be there. Actually, catch up with her and mention this when you can, just in case you can't make it in time.

Approach the royal guard waiting to see the Archbishop and see if you can get what the basis for the king's order was out of him. Play up your naive and curious attitude to get his guard down. Ask what came to light after Anna's sister's execution that pointed to Anna as being the murderer.

Since you missed what Anna said, here's the summary of what I gathered from it: Anna's father terribly abused her and her two sisters, doing 'things' to her, ostensibly 'cause he wanted sons, not daughters. Her sister, the one who wasn't the commander of the guard, didn't actually run away from home but was actually killed by this abuse and is buried in the basement of her family's home. Anna killed her father on the spur of the moment when he left his sword out, then killed her mother in self-defense. Her sister, the commander of the guard, showed up later and took the fall for the murders to protect Anna and was executed for them.

Needless to say, after bringing all this up Anna is in a bad place right now. We checked her status and it's both 'suicidal' and 'depressed.' I can only hope therapy will help, but she's got a long, hard road ahead of her.

...Uh. Also, your status has had 'depressed' in it every time we've checked. It's understandable after what happened. If you want to talk about things, we'll listen. We just don't want it all to catch up to you suddenly at a bad time, that's all.

>If she confesses directly they can come to an agreement without the whole court business.
Shit... She's going to confess and end up a penal soldier, isn't she? Man, I hope I'm wrong and it's better than that.

>This is Järgien! You know, the nation of the north?
Oh, derp. I thought it was a city, not a country. Should have paid more attention when the royal guard was rattling off the king's titles 'cause "Lord of Järgien" was in there.

>>581760
[Delay message]
Gray's been fighting the daemonic forces for months now. She has to know what a Shape Stealer is by this point or she wouldn't have gotten this far.

Oh, but I just realized something: [Message to Gray: Just realized we never formally allied. Would you care to or would you rather keep it informal?]

>>581787
Female, since that's the persona she wants to use at this time.

>>581791
We're near 100% sure Gray is the same as the one we exiled from the Serath. Her king was escorted to the port and stuck on a ship and he even said he "always wanted to see snow" so it's pretty much certain he ended up here. We just haven't seen the Archbishop's face to confirm it.

>>581791
It is the same Grey. Her new king is the Archbishop.

Also Alex is apparently fine with making her status as crossdresser known in gay bars... but she also likes being called a lady.

Kaktus 2014/06/28(Sat)18:16 No. 581800 ID: 65a774
File 140400460094.png - (19.15KB , 900x450 , 15.png )

>[Message to Gray: You know about Shape-Stealers, right?]
[Message from Gray: Yes, we have fought some. They are not a major concern here as they can’t seem to handle the coldness… but as spring is coming and it’s getting hotter…]
>[Message to Gray: Just realized we never formally allied. Would you care to or would you rather keep it informal?]
[Player Gray wish to ally! Do you accept?]

>Hey, where were you? I figured you'd have come right back to the training yard with Alexandra so I was kinda wondering where you got off to.
Um… well… I went to the captain and told him about my idea to write a letter to the king and… err… he said they had express line to some royal scribe or something and it wouldn’t hurt? …so… um… he’s going to send a letter, I guess?
>Oh, now that we're alone... Vlad, last night you were a bit upset about Alex being a guy, but you complemented her this morning. Did you work past your father's issues already?
Oh, right… um… I… it’s… I don’t know really how I should feel… I mean… I guess I’m still attracted to her… um… him… err… her… but… I don’t think I’ve really realized that she’s a he and… err… I’m a bit confused, alright?
>...also I'm not sure what pronoun I'm supposed to use for Alexandra anymore.
Um… she likes being called a lady so…
>She's a she if she's a she. Doesn't she go by she in public?
…err… that’s… right? I think?
>Alex is apparently fine with making her status as crossdresser known in gay bars...
…err… what? She’s been… there’s… um… that kind of bars here?

>Since you missed what Anna said, here's the summary of what I gathered from it…
…oh…OH… that’s… that’s just… no wonder why she’s so… broken up about it… um… I… I don’t really know what to say…
>...Uh. Also, your status has had 'depressed' in it every time we've checked. It's understandable after what happened. If you want to talk about things, we'll listen.
Oh, it’s not… I mean, compared to Anna it’s nothing, really… I… I just miss them, alright… and… and I don’t really know what to with myself and… what to do about Alexandra or… Ann-So- … anyone else for that matter…

>The old decree from the king granting the Order judicial autonomy that Mikhail is going to dig up ought to have a legit seal and signature so that gives us an opportunity to compare it to the royal guards' orders.
Oh, right! That’s something we were looking for, weren’t we?
>Actually, catch up with her and mention this when you can, just in case you can't make it in time.
Um… Lord Ranger? Err…
What is it, recruit? I’m very busy.
I was thinking… about that order from the king th-
Oh, right, that. Vlad, how about you go down and fetch it for me down in the archives.
Err… bu-
That was an order, recruit! Now, move it! I’ve very busy!
Um… yes, ma’am? …wait, where is the… archive? Hello? …oh…

Approach the royal guard waiting to see the Archbishop and see if you can get what the basis for the king's order was out of him. Don't say it's phony, just be nosy.
Excuse me, sir knight?
Hmm? Oh, I’m not- I’m just a soldier, kid? What is it? Here to admire one of the royal soldiers of the crowns army?
Oh, I… I was just wondering what such a brave soldier of the crown was doing up here? Is there a dragon to slay or…
We’re hunting a very dangerous criminal! She’s a murderer and scoundrel. Worse than the most heinous of thieves! She’s a master swordsman, besting dozen of the finest guards, but the king himself choose me in complete confidence to bring her to justice!
(…wow, this guy really know how to bullshit…) Um… you must be really courageous and a warrior of some renown if the king himself sent you… but…
>We want to discredit the evidence, not the order.
How do you know you got the right woman?
Oh, she might be a slippery one, but she made a fatal mistake. She tried to frame our commander, her own sister, for a crime! Ha! Tell me, why would the commander murder her own father with a trophy sword and not her own sword when she was going to confess for the crime anyway? Now, we need to nail that bit- err… evil woman so they can release the commander from imprisonment!
…

Insert Accidental fan_

>>581800
[accept alliance from Grey]
[send message to Grey: Something is off about these guards. The one Vlad is talking to seems to have a personal vendetta against Anna.]

[scan all those present]
[Message to Pink: I think we can talk to you now. Could you bring us up to speed on how things went in the past, maybe tell us of a few missteps we can prevent? Uh, those that happened after Jericho went into the Vault anyway. That's how much we've experienced in that time. We can renew our alliance in this time as well. Hey, did you get our fallen merc friends some bodies?]

Tell him it sounds like the commander is covering for her sister. Oh, and go ask one of those Order members where the archives are.

Wait, if her sister confessed to the crime, how is that a framing job?

[scan everyone]
Those guards in red are Serath; that's the princess and someone we haven't seen before, and- wait, is Elisah pregnant?!?

>>581807
>Elisah pregnant?!?
[Scan Elizah's womb]

...huh, well after talking to the guard I think it would be safe to say these guys actually have a personal vendetta against Anna. But whether that be from respect for her late sister (commander and all that), respect for her late father (he was a hero right?), or something else I can't say yet. But don't be surprised if these guys try to find a way to get Anna to meet the headsmen's ax even if she's being judged under one of our courts and not theirs'. Anyways maybe poke a bit more and see if you can't find out where all this hate is coming from and then ask around for the archives and go find that thing.

Also... does anyone think Elizah might be a bit pissed at us? I mean Jericho was her friend and we did kinda lead him to his death with some bad advice sooo... yeah. Anyways, Just to be safe let's not tell her who is and isn't a pawn until we're sure we don't have a royal with a grudge after us.

[Scan all targets in area] Huh. We never did scan Elizah before. I wonder what her scan-name will be.

Yeah, this guy is definitely not legit. There's no way the king would even listen to such flimsy 'evidence,' let alone sign off on a decree to execute someone for treason based on it. Plus there's a load of inconsistencies in what he said, not the least of which is the fact that back at the inn either he or his partner said the commander was executed, not imprisoned.

Vlad, keep up the act and say you just have to hear how she framed her sister so well that her sister confessed to murdering their father. That'll put him in a bind, but don't press him any more; We don't want him catching on that you're smarter than you act. Disengage and take what he said here to Mikhail along with the orders from the archive. That ought to be enough to get her to check the royal guards' orders against the ones from the archive.

I'm having doubts that these two came here to exact revenge for the death of their commander. I'm thinking that it's possible they're after Anna 'cause they were buddies with Anna's father. I'd say we could get Anna to ID them by voice or sight if we could get them to take their helmets off, but in the mental state she's in I don't know if she could.

Hey, if you can get a look past all the Serathian guards you might just see one of the most beautiful lizard ladies in the world: Sultan Elizah Drah'kon. We know her from when we were allied nine months ago and she was still Princess Elizah. And dang, she looks like she married right after we left and got right on top of making sure there'd be an heir to the throne... Though... Huh. Now that I think about it we don't actually know how long after conception it is before a female lizard lays the egg, or how long after that it hatches. Vlad, you wouldn't happen to know that, would you?

>>581870
>I wonder what her scan-name will be
If I remember right, we -did- scan her at one point and she was "The Diplomat." Gimme some time to surf through the first three chapters of the novel that is memory... Maybe I'll find something. I'm only as far as when Bradford discovered us being near cultists will corrupt us.

>>581916
>Player Pink have been defeated by “The coming darkness”! The darkness now has control over “The Diplomat”!
Yeah, during a wraith fueled hallucination, we were told her pawn name.
>That'll put him in a bind, but don't press him any more
"Oh, I... nevermind. I guess it must be something scary to... not be able to mention it."
>Disengage and take what he said here to Mikhail along with the orders from the archive.
...Make sure you ask him where the archives are, before you actually part ways with him.
>if you can get a look past all the Serathian guards you might just see one of the most beautiful lizard ladies in the world: Sultan Elizah Drah'kon.
And yes, a relationship is possible... Even if unlikely. The royal family of Serath practices polyamory after all!
...
...
...SNAP OUT OF IT YOU FOOL.

Kaktus 2014/06/29(Sun)10:06 No. 581925 ID: 65a774
File 140406159839.png - (14.17KB , 900x450 , 16.png )

>[accept alliance from Grey]
[You’re now allied with Grey!]
>[send message to Grey: Something is off about these guards. The one Vlad is talking to seems to have a personal vendetta against Anna.]
[Message from Grey: Noted. Will be skeptical on any claim they bring.]
>[Message to Pink]
[You haven’t yet met pink in the present!]

>[Scan all targets in area]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): City Guard.]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Order Guard.]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath Praetorian Guard.]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath Crown Prince.]
[“The Diplomat” is currently claimed by Pink!]
>[Scan Elizah's womb]
[Neutral Creature (None): Unlaid egg.]

>Hey, if you can get a look past all the Serathian guards you might just see one of the most beautiful lizard ladies in the world: Sultan Elizah Drah'kon.
Huh? A Sultan? Um… I can’t really… those guards are standing in the way… hmm… I think… no wait, whoever is back there seems to be leaving…
>Now that I think about it we don't actually know how long after conception it is before a female lizard lays the egg, or how long after that it hatches.
Let’s see… how was it… um… seven months in the tummy and… then… two as an little cute egg… um… if I remember correctly, that is.
>And yes, a relationship is possible... Even if unlikely. The royal family of Serath practices polyamory after all!
…wait, me a prince? That’s… a bit… hmmm… Prince Vladimir?
>...SNAP OUT OF IT YOU FOOL.
Oh, right, can’t stand here dreaming about the impossible… right…

>...huh, well after talking to the guard I think it would be safe to say these guys actually have a personal vendetta against Anna.
Yeah, something is wrong here.
>Don't be surprised if these guys try to find a way to get Anna to meet the executioner’s ax even if she's being judged under one of our courts and not theirs'.
Huh… we better prepare for this then… who know, maybe he will even go the unlawful way?

>Wait, if her sister confessed to the crime, how is that a framing job?
Um… wait, didn’t you say back in the inn that she confessed for the crime?
That’s the most diabolical part! The murder we’re hunting is a master of pretending to be an innocent young girl! She even manipulated her own sister to believe she was innocent and that taking the fall would be the right thing to do! Ha! But she can’t escape the long arm of JUSTICE forever!
>Maybe poke a bit more and see if you can't find out where all this hate is coming from.
...you sound rather passionate about this, you know…
Oh, why wouldn’t I be!? She is one of the vilest criminals we’ve ever seen! But you can’t run from the sweet taste of vengeance forever!
Vengeance? Oooh… that’s sound neat. What did she do? Kill someone that you hold dear?
In fact, she’s the murderer of my b-
Excuse me, the archbishop is willing to see you know.
Ah, that’s my cue, kid… see you around!

>Oh, and go ask one of those Order members where the archives are.
Right this way, sir.

…

So… this is the archive?
Hey, you can’t just come in here! This is a private property kid!
Um… actually, the Lord Ranger sent me.
Um… oh… err… even so, I have to ask you to leave. None of the archivists are here right now…
…what about you?
I’m just an assistant. I’m just supposed to help clean stuff for now… I mean, I can’t help you anyway as I started today… now please leave…

Insert Either everyone looks the same or…_

>I can’t help you anyway as I started today
Our eyes are crap, but is that the penal service guy? Maybe his son? If he is, say hey, ask how his [son/father] is doing.
Then ask where you can find an archivist, you need to get the order from the king for the Lord Ranger.

[scan assistant]
A mere assistant? Chasing out a member of the order on a task for the Lord Ranger? Preposterous!

Get him to get one of the archivist or tell you where you can find one. Unless he wants to hold up official business.

Be insistent. If he doesn't like it, tell him to take it up with the Lord Ranger- plus, he's just an assistant and doesn't have that kind of authority. Be careful if he turns out to be an impostor.

>The murder we’re hunting is a master of pretending to be an innocent young girl!
I don't think Anna is the master of anything. She tries to act innocent, but she's hardly good at it- her past ended up coming out in what, two or three days?

Damn, so Elizah must've got married. We haven't even met the groom yet. It's weird, finding this stuff out before it happens in the other timeline. It's unfortunate we haven't been able to contact them yet, though- they could provide useful information. Do you think you could ask someone like the Lord Ranger to contact them for us?

[Scan assistant] Vlad, our eyes may be deceiving us, but this guy looks just like the penal soldier that went out on that mission with you two days ago; He has the same clothes, haircut and eye color. Do you recognize him? It might be the same guy... Except the penal soldier had a broken arm and finger when he came back. We don't know how good the Order's doctors are, so is it possible his injuries were mended in a day?

Ask him if he was the penal soldier that went out on your training mission two days ago. If he says he was then ask how his daughter is doing. He actually had a son, so if he doesn't correct you then he's an impostor.

If he was the penal soldier then something could be wrong here 'cause I'd figure penal laborers aren't supposed to be left alone unsupervised. Ask the Order guard, in a low voice, about that.

It's very odd that there are no archivists here at this time since it should be work hours. It's not even lunchtime, so they wouldn't be on break. And if they did leave wouldn't they have locked the archive's door to keep people from walking in? Something is not right here. Comment that the archivists should be here now and ask the assistant where they went.

>In fact, she’s the murderer of my b-
I'm guessing the 'b-' is either 'brother' or 'bride;' More likely 'brother,' and in that case that brother was likely Anna's father. Either way this guy has a vendetta against Anna.

...I just had a terrible thought. What if Anna has murdered more people than just her parents? I know it's unlikely but we should keep that in the back of our minds for now.

[Message to Gray: Have you ever scanned one of King Eric's royal guards before? Because the two royal guards here are scanning as 'city guard.' Is that what it's supposed to be? And unrelated to that: What benefits does allying bring other than us being able to see the status of each other's pawns?]

>>581941
Elizah mentioned that she was probably going to have to marry her cousin once removed here >>/questarch/556926. The "Crown Prince" is likely him. And going by what Vlad said about lizard procreation and the rounded state of Elizah's middle she probably got married no more than about seven months ago. She didn't seem that enthusiastic about marrying but I guess once she became sultan there was pressure to do so and make an heir.

By the way, should we ask Gray to let Pink know about our current state, since we cannot seem to contact her until our pawns interact with her pawns directly? Vlad, this might just mean you have to work up the courage to at least go up and bow to her while saying something like "It is an honor to meet the Sultan of Serath." That, at least, would connect us to Pink.
>What benefits does allying bring other than us being able to see the status of each other's pawns?
Actually, something I've been wondering for a while now...
[Message to Gray: Is it possible to share a pawn with an ally? When we first connected to The Thief, you were still in control, yet so were we until you booted us, but what about intentional sharing?]

scan for corruption. Hey shape stealers may be able to hide from our scans but they still corrupt things around them.

But yeah why are there now Archivist? I mean it's the middle of the day and no offence but I don't see why they'd leave the whole thing to an assistant to man, especially if he doesn't want to actually help anyone find what they're looking for. Which is kinda useful to have when you're looking for something in the archives.

Kaktus 2014/06/29(Sun)13:04 No. 581952 ID: 65a774
File 140407224721.png - (14.14KB , 900x450 , 17.png )

>scan for corruption.
[Corruption level 0%]
>[scan assistant]
[Neutral Creature(Friendly): Civilian.]
>[Message to Gray: Have you ever scanned one of King Eric's royal guards before? Because the two royal guards here are scanning as 'city guard.' Is that what it's supposed to be?]
[Message from Grey: At peace times the royal army is used as guards in the capital and other important cities… it’s possible that they were stationed as guards somewhere.]
>[And unrelated to that: What benefits does allying bring other than us being able to see the status of each other's pawns?]
(Alliance: Allied players pawns will automatically be friendly to each other and can’t become hostile against each other. You can also scan emotions (if given permission) as well as corruption in allied pawns and if given permission you can take control of an allied pawn. There’s also a small boost in combat expertise when fighting near allied pawns or nations as well as a small bonus in trade revenue in between allied nations. Pawn that aren’t taken direct control over will also have a bigger chance to form friendships or other relationships with allied pawns, just as with pawns owned by the same player. If a player declares war on another player all allies will also declare war on both sides.)

>Vlad, this might just mean you have to work up the courage to at least go up and bow to her while saying something like "It is an honor to meet the Sultan of Serath."
While I’d love to meet a Sultan, those guards of hers will probably not let me close to her.
>It's unfortunate we haven't been able to contact them yet, though- they could provide useful information. Do you think you could ask someone like the Lord Ranger to contact them for us?
Um… I guess? I mean… she’s with grey, right? I’m pretty sure she knows about you guys then…
>I don't think Anna is the master of anything. She tries to act innocent, but she's hardly good at it- her past ended up coming out in what, two or three days?
Well, she might not be a master in anything; she’s still a pretty good friend, right? That has to count for something… hmm… and she’s pretty good with a sword… and she’s pretty in general… err… wait, I think I kind of lost my thread there for a bit… what was the question again?

>Be insistent. If he doesn't like it, tell him to take it up with the Lord Ranger- plus, he's just an assistant and doesn't have that kind of authority.
Err… I’d love to help but… um… I really can’t?
>Get him to get one of the archivist or tell you where you can find one.
They said they had some important meeting… something about… um… octothorpes, pilcrows and ampersands I think?
…the what in the what?
They said it was super important and shouldn’t wait!
>Our eyes are crap, but is that the penal service guy?
…um… yeah? I’m in pen- oh, now I recognize you! You were that guy with the bow, weren’t you!
That’s me, alright.
>If he says he was then ask how his daughter is doing. He actually had a son, so if he doesn't correct you then he's an impostor.
I got a son, not daughter… and he’s doing great. As I work with the Order now he gets his treatment for free! Oh, and someone anonymously sent me 10 whole crows! Witch was more than enough to pay of all my debts! Um… you’re friends with that bearded guy, right?
Bradford? Oh, yes.
Well, as a friend of someone that helped me out… I guess I can help you find what you’re looking for… so… um…
…err… it’s an order from the king about… err… courts or something?
…err… you need to be a bit more specified then that… what is the first letter in the title?
…dammit, I knew I forgot about something!

>If he was the penal soldier then something could be wrong here 'cause I'd figure penal laborers aren't supposed to be left alone unsupervised. Ask the Order guard, in a low voice, about that.
Actually, that guard was here when I came… I’m pretty sure he’s keeping check on Mr. penal here… the guard leading me here was a lizard, not human…

Insert Lost among the bookcases_

Judicial Autonomy for the Order of Light
Autonomous Judicial powers for the Order of Light
Order of Light's Judicial Rights

...That's all I can think of. It might be J, A, or O, but it might not be. Sorry, Vlad. And, let the guy know you're sorry you don't know the exact title, too.

>octothorpes, pilcrows and ampersands
Octothorpe is "number," Pilcrow is "paragraph," and Ampersand is "And." #¶&, apparently.

...Hey, that actually reminds me of Perry. I wonder if this means more gods descended. Of course, as archivists, they could literally be talking about the workings of literature, too...

>>581952
[send message to Grey: Ah, the guard that's talking to you now is most likely Anna's uncle. He said "she’s the murderer of my b-" before he was interrupted. On an unrelated note, what constitutes "meeting" a player? We've been trying to contact Pink but the game won't let us, saying we haven't met her. Can you contact her?]
[scan guard]
[send message to Green: Any news? What are your goals, anyway?]
[scan player Green]
[scan player Grey]

Tell him it's an order from the king that lets the Order enact justice upon any criminals they catch. We don't know the title, but we might know shortly.
[send message to Grey: I don't suppose you know the title of the king's order that lets the Order bring justice upon any criminals they catch?]

>>581956
Well, Perry has been in the game for 6 months so it's possible he has pawns here now, which can pronounce his name.

>>581958
True... And anybody who can't pronounce it would have trouble remembering what they heard.
[Scan Player {%^*¤öö43}]

This should tell us if Perry is nearby... Although the fact that he's a God/Goddess might mean we can scan him from any distance.

Ah, so that's where those ten crows Brad gave Captain Andrzej went. Well, it was the least Brad could do after breaking the poor guy's arm and finger.

Before you go off into the bookcases we'll contact Gray and ask if she knows the title, or at least a common start to the titles of the king's decrees and orders. [Message to Gray: Do you know the title of the order from the king that grants the Order autonomy to judge and sentence criminals in its own courts? Or at least a common start to the title of all the king's orders and decrees?]

Off the top of my head, try "Royal Decree" or "Royal Order" followed by "of Judicial Autonomy for the Order of Light" or "of King Eric the Second granting Judicial Autonomy to the Order of Light." Failing that look at all the stuff with titles that start with "Royal decree," "Royal order," or just "decree."

Also, a royal order or decree would should only be a page, scroll, or a stack of several pages similar to a contract, so you can narrow down your search to non-book and non-bound items. A scroll would be likely stored in a drawer or a cubbyhole, and a page or stack of pages would likely be in a drawer or filing cabinet.

>>581956
>>581958
Uh... We chose the name "Hugo" for the alien, not "Perry." Just want to clear that up before there's any confusion.

Kaktus 2014/06/29(Sun)15:16 No. 582013 ID: 65a774
File 140408018046.png - (14.12KB , 900x450 , 18.png )

>[send message to Grey: Ah, the guard that's talking to you now is most likely Anna's uncle. He said "she’s the murderer of my b-" before he was interrupted.]
[Message from Grey: His last name is Tempest, so it’s a possibility.]
>[Message to Gray: Do you know the title of the order from the king that grants the Order autonomy to judge and sentence criminals in its own courts? Or at least a common start to the title of all the king's orders and decrees?]
[Royal Decree of his Excellency, The Majestic King Eric the magnificent the second, Lord of Järgien, made in the light of his supreme wisdom, his name be praised by the Over god IO, The Thane, Freya- yadda yadda yadda…]
>[On an unrelated note, what constitutes "meeting" a player? We've been trying to contact Pink but the game won't let us, saying we haven't met her. Can you contact her?]
[You need to contact one of their pawns. I’ve talked with Pink, yes, and I’ll see to it that you’ll be contacted when there is time. You have to accept my apologies; we are rather busy at the moment.]
>[send message to Green: Any news? What are your goals, anyway?]
[Message from Green: ...hear the horn of change coming!]
>[scan player Green]
(Insane difficulty)(Manipulator)
>[scan player Grey]
(Normal difficulty)(Organizer)
>[Scan Player {%^*¤öö43}]
[Error!]

>Octothorpe is "number," Pilcrow is "paragraph," and Ampersand is "And." #¶&, apparently.
Exactly! It was something about if Pilcrows are supped to come before Octothorpe and if Octothorpe one is supposed to come before just one and stuff like that.
>Also, a royal order or decree would should only be a page, scroll, or a stack of several pages similar to a contract, so you can narrow down your search to non-book and non-bound items.
Oh, right, that narrows it down a bit, yes… the scrolls and the like is over here… let’s see… R…

…

There you go. You’re lucky it already had a copy made, as I can’t allow you to leave with the original… um… just come back with that later, okay?
Hmm… it got the royal seal and the kings signature… great!
*Trumpet sound!*
Huh? What is that?
Oh, I heard about that! It’s the rebel king of the Vildmän that’s coming!
*Trup- BOOOMING HORN!!*
…sounds like they think a trumpet is for small people, eh?
Yeah… heh…
*BOOOOOMING HORN!!*

Insert Hey, the kings back!_

Well, you'd better bring that decree to Mikhail. Thank the guy for helping before you leave. If you can, see what the Vildmen are up to.

>[Message from Green: ...hear the horn of change coming!]
>*BOOOOOMING HORN!!*
Well, there's the horn of change?
>If you can, see what the Vildmen are up to.
Just make sure to steer clear out of their way. Watching is good, getting torn limb from limb is not.

>>582013
Oh GREAT, another Insane difficulty player. That's the first one we've seen aside from ourselves... I think we just have to hope Green is acting in the best interests of the world, or else try to defeat him via the overwhelming numbers of our alliance.

Okay Vlad, go back to deliver it to the Ranger.

>>582042
>overwhelming numbers of our alliance.
Who, Grey? We only just allied with him. As far as I know, we aren't allied with anybody else yet, though we may soon ally with Pink (current).

Wonder what that'll look like for her. "Allies: Gray, Teal, Teal, Teal, Teal.." How many times will our name repeat on the list by end of it all?

>>582045
Considering the potential conflict would be in the future and we'll probably have other players up here too (like White)...

Kaktus 2014/06/29(Sun)18:04 No. 582052 ID: 65a774
File 140409026525.png - (18.47KB , 900x450 , 19.png )

>Thank the guy for helping before you leave.
Just doing my job… err… kind of…
>Okay Vlad, go back to deliver it to the Ranger.
Right, let’s see if I can find her…
>If you can, see what the Vildmen are up to.
I guess I can take the long way around and see if I can spot them outside…
>Just make sure to steer clear out of their way. Watching is good, getting torn limb from limb is not.
Err… I’m pretty sure they don’t go around and do that on random… of course… I’ve heard the stories from all the wars… *Shudder*

...

…wow, that’s a lot of… whoa…
*gasp* I-I c-can’t… *wheeze*…
Hey, I’m proud of you! Rest a while and you can walk the two last laps. Just let this be a lesson for you, don’t over sleep again, maggot!
Ah, Vladimir… do you have-
Right here, ma’am. The orders from the king.
good… now, you’re dismissed. We’re rather busy here, as you can see.
Oh, right… um…

Insert Build me an army worthy of Järgien_

>>582052
Two laps? That's not bad. Vlad, why not join her for the other two laps?
[scan all those present]

Hmm... green-eyed... I wonder if all of Green's pawns have green eyes? That would mean the Dark One's vision could be trying to turn us against Green.

[Message to Green: You said we were working with the daemons, before. Who do you think we're working with? We know of five independent daemons, two mortalbound daemons, and one that's in-between.]

>Vlad, why not join her for the other two laps?
Yes, training should be helpful.
>now, you’re dismissed.
Drina, Vlad didn't get the chance to suggest it, but we were hoping to have the seals and signatures from the two orders compared. I mean, direct judicial ruling from the king kind of contradicts judicial autonomy...

[Scan Vildmän king]
My god! I thought Vildmän were big but their king is freakin' huge! And... And... Oh my... His beard. It's... It's glorious! A shining example of beard-ness! A beard worthy of the gods! It... It calls to me... I must touch it. I must feel the glory of the beard flow through me! [Reverently touch wondrous beard] ...it's magnificent... ...Okay. Okay, that's enough. For now...

Before you leave quickly suggest to Mikhail she could compare the seal and signature on this order to the ones on the royal guards' order; You'd bet they won't match.

Vlad, be a friend here and get Alexandra a canteen of water to drink from for the rest of her laps; It's very important to stay hydrated during exercise. Then you can keep her company while she walks. It'll give you a chance to talk about those confused feelings of attraction you still have for her and how to deal with them, as well as anything else that's worrying you.

Oh, Vlad, Steve said those with us are stronger and learn skills much faster than normal. That's how you and Anna picked up your weapon skills so quick. It may also include non-combat skills, so think about practicing the harp as much as you can to take advantage of us while you can.

Oh, better check Jal's status to see whether or not he caved and got drunk. [Check status of "The Alchemist"]

Those red eyes do not bode well.
[scan vildmen, scan vildman king]

You should probably help up Alexandrea and get out of here- I'd rather not end up making a wrong move around this many mantis-sized guys in full battle gear.

And don't tell Brad about the king's beard, he'll get jealous.

>>582078
I think "Red Eyes" is the common gene of Vildmaan. I swear, other than the King there, they always seem to have red eyes.
>[Reverently touch wondrous beard]
That event had better be recorded into the log so that we can all know how it felt because I'm not going to be rude and touch it after it's already been touched, he'll probably get suspicious.
>>582078
Brad's beard is still manlier. Bah, these guys' beards (and maybe possible women's too?) are just full of volume, no true density to them. At least, that's what we'll tell Bradford if he finds out.

[Scan all]

I like that they're as tall as the mantises. I guess we'll find out why they're here soon enough and if that little trip to the mountain of fuck you time and space had any truth to it these guys are going to stab us in the back when we need them most. Then again that could have been nothing but a lie and we're over thinking things again. But if that's true then we did give the deceiver the key stone... ah well I'm sure it'll be fine. But yeah long story short keep an eye on these guys and go finish laps with Alex and Drina and see what they know about all of this.

Kaktus 2014/06/30(Mon)08:45 No. 582109 ID: 65a774
File 140414314931.png - (17.04KB , 900x450 , 20.png )

>[scan all those present]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Order Guard.] x 9
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Vildmans Soldat.] x 30
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Vildmans Bärsärkare.] x 10
[“The Knight of Spades” belongs to player gray.]
[“The White Death” belongs to player Gray!]
[“The hunter” Status: Depressed, in awe. “The priest” Status: Tired. “Sister of Wisdom” Status: Happy. “Sister of Power” Status: Happy.]
>[Scan Vildmännens king]
[“The Lion of the North” belongs to player Green!]
>[Check status of "The Alchemist"]
[“The Alchemist” Status: Tipsy, Depressed.]
>[Message to Green: You said we were working with the daemons, before. Who do you think we're working with? We know of five independent daemons, two mortalbound daemons, and one that's in-between.]
[Message from Green: Do this so called order of “light” not worship a demon!? How are they any different from the other cultists?]

>[Reverently touch wondrous beard]
(As you slowly grasp the magnificent beard of power, you realize just how marvelous it is. Millions upon millions of years of evolution… nay, the very creation of the multiverse has led up to this very moment, to this very peak. The chin before you has created a singularity, a magnum opus no other human, lizard or mantis can ever achieve… but with this revelations you realize just how small you are… how unimportant. No matter what you do… no matter what you accomplish, nothing will ever even come close to the perfection of this beard! As you are bathed in its radiant splendor you shed a single tear, a tear not of sadness but pure bliss. The Beard is all… beard is life… and you are one with the beard… ALL HAIL THE GLORY OF THE BEARD!!)
>...Okay. Okay, that's enough. For now...
(You’re unable to let go of the beard and its… perfection. You can only watch in awe as it’s slowly consuming you unworthy body… as each magnificent hair parts way for you supple tentacles. As you’re slowly becoming one with the glorious beard you have no regrets… this is what you’ve dreamt of… hoped for… and then… there was only Beard. BEARD!!)

>Those red eyes do not bode well.
Um… I’m pretty sure most of the Vildmän have red eyes naturally… actually, the king having green eyes is rather weird…
>Don't tell Brad about the king's beard, he'll get jealous.
Of course he will. I mean, I can’t even grow a beard and I’m freaking jealous!
>Oh, Vlad, Steve said those with us are stronger and learn skills much faster than normal.
…that would explain why I’m already so good with the swords… um… it’s a bit of a letdown, actually… for a second there I thought I was just a natural talent…
>It may also include non-combat skills, so think about practicing the harp as much as you can to take advantage of us while you can.
…oh, right, got to practice the harp! …hmm… wait… those this concern all skills? …maybe I should try and train my speech craft and… um… “other” bard skills… *Cough*…

>Suggest to Mikhail she could compare the seal and signature on this order to the ones on the royal guards' order; You'd bet they won't match.
Hmm? Really? Well, if you wish I’ll take a look later. Now, dismissed, soldier.
>Vlad, be a friend here and get Alexandra a canteen of water to drink from for the rest of her laps; It's very important to stay hydrated during exercise.
Oh… *wheeze*… thank you… *gasp*… I… that’s very… *wheeze* …um… thank you… again…
>Two laps? That's not bad. Vlad, why not join her for the other two laps?
…well… *wheeze*… let me just catch my breath first… *gasp*…
>Yes, training should be helpful.
Um… walking around the Cathedral won’t really do a lot for me… I mean, I’m pretty sure I can run around the cathedral four times without any problem… you know, I’m an outdoors man… I got stamina and muscles already… not like Alexandra…

>See what they know about all of this.
…you should probably ask the captain… or maybe Dooriya about that. But… what I do know about it, the so called “Rebel King” is here to sing an alliance with the order… even though he’s a bit skeptical what with the order technically being based around a daemon.
Rebel k- oh, yeah, that whole civil war thing…
It’s not really a civil war anymore. Apparently the old king is completely bonkers and is leading an army of undead. Pretty much all the sane people have joined the supposed rebel side by now.
…wait, undead army? …um… do you think maybe-
Vlad, of course the old king is being controlled by a daemon… that’s rather obvious. Why do you think the “Rebel” king is so skeptical about us? …right, either way, let’s get moving again…
>It'll give you a chance to talk about those confused feelings of attraction you still have for her and how to deal with them, as well as anything else that's worrying you.
…wait, you still has feelings for me? Even when you know I’m not… um… a “proper” lady?
Um… well… I don’t really know… I’m still a bit… confused about this situation… and I think you’re a proper lady, Alexandra. You got class and all that… stuff…
While that’s sweet and all, you know what I mean. Either way… I don’t really know how to help… either you like dick or you don’t.
Err… that’s a bit… forward...
Hey, beating around the bush won’t really help, now will it? Vladimir, if you want my advice then experiment. Find out what you like and don’t like. Don’t let anyone else decide what you should like and not… now, let’s start walking… I want to be done with this punishment as soon as possible.
Oh, right… um… right…

Insert Does lizard dream of electric beards?_

Actually you can love someone for just their personality and mind over what their body details, it'd be a platonic love though if you don't enjoy the body

Though with her asking about experimenting it almost makes me wonder if you should just ask to experiment with her instead.

Also yeah you could practice some speechcraft, find a nice mirror and practice, or discuss with the others for a while. I mean Bradford was practically quite the savage for a while and he's doing quite well for himself.

..Also sing an alliance? Is that a Vildman custom? I'm actually quite curious to watch.

>this is what you’ve dreamt of… hoped for… and then… there was only Beard. BEARD
...Did we just achieve our character creation? No matter, I'm not touching that beard. I'm both in love and freaked out at the idea.
>Do this so called order of “light” not worship a demon!? How are they any different from the other cultists?
[Message to Green: Daemons represent everything, even the spite of Daemons. Perhaps some have simply been purified, but they are not all corrupting. Did you know, the will you carry is shared by the Daemon Bob? You even inspire fear from your enemies, and a few allies, which is all in line with the Daemon. And yet, you are pure, are you not? Destroy those actively corrupt all you want, and even banish The Bringer of Light, but please refrain from harming the pure involved.]
[Message to Green: Also, a part of us apparently just merged into your King's beard. The nature of the Lion of the North prevents it from withdrawing manually, please Ban Player Teal From Lion of the North.] The paaaaain.
>“other” bard skills…
Vlad, if you seek to practice the art of seduction... We have no qualms with that! In fact, we encourage it!
>stamina and muscles already… not like Alexandra
No, but Alexandra has her strengths that you could work on. Training of all sorts.
>Does lizard dream of electric beards?
Artemis might.
>Actually you can love someone for just their personality and mind over what their body details, it'd be a platonic love though if you don't enjoy the body
Platonic Love can come in such a strength that it feels like Lust or Spouseful Love, but, even just being around the person satisfies you. That's how it feels with Alexandra, right?
>Though with her asking about experimenting it almost makes me wonder if you should just ask to experiment with her instead.
...Actually, you're already spending a bit of personal time with her, it's not much of a date to advance to stretching... Er, I mean not much of a stretch to advance to dating. I don't think there's even an innuendo to that, how'd I mix it up? If you want to run some personal tests, obtain gay smut, see how repulsive it is.
>Also sing an alliance? Is that a Vildman custom? I'm actually quite curious to watch.
I've been hearing "Sing" a lot in this world--at least, on this continent. I believe it's how they refer to using their talent in speechcraft to convince others. ...Although, it might just be that he literally is going to sing. That would be fun to watch.

>[“The Alchemist” Status: Tipsy, Depressed.]
Remind us to smack and then hug Jal later. Or you can do it yourself, if you're so inclined.

>Do this so called order of “light” not worship a demon!? How are they any different from the other cultists?
[reply: The daemon's name is Lightbringer, (aka steve). If our information is correct, both he and gatekeeper (aka Bob) aided mortals against other daemons before. Steve plans to become mortal and seal off the daemon realm permanently. If our information isn't correct we'd like to know as soon as possible because we'd rather not end up facilitating the end of the world.]

>Vladimir, if you want my advice then experiment.
Ohh, is that an offer?

>Also sing an alliance? Is that a Vildman custom?
I now have the mental image of a bunch of large, burly bearded men negotiating an alliance entirely in the style of a dramatic opera.

>Do this so called order of “light” not worship a demon!? How are they any different from the other cultists?
[Message to Green: Regardless of whether he has some secret evil motive, Steve is demonstrably fighting the forces other darmons right now. The undead forces of the other demons are doing fairly well while divided between fighting both you and the Order, so taking out Steve and letting them focus their entire force against you doesn't seem strategically sound.]

[Message to Green: As way of explanation for why we've sided with Lightbringer, here is a primer of what we have found out so far of the daemons and their conflict: Daemons are very powerful immortal extra-dimensional and extra-temporal beings that perceive and experience time in a non-linear fashion across multiple time-lines. Their source of sustenance is mortal emotions; 'Good' emotions such as happiness are tasty and 'bad' emotions such as fear are filling. While technically daemons can't die, they can wither away to power- and mindless madness if they starve which is effectively death for them. There are a fixed number of daemon bodies; No daemon bodies can be created nor destroyed. However, they can remove their minds from their bodies and place it into another body, but a new daemon mind will immediately spawn in their original body to replace it.

There are two factions in the daemon realm: The ruling faction, of which Lightbringer/Steve and Gatekeeper/Bob are part of, and the rebel faction led by The King Clad in Gold of which the Blood God, Dark One, and The Deceiver are part of. The rebel faction's objective is to fuel the overthrow of the ruling faction by extracting a large quantity of emotional energy from this world to feed their army. They'll do this by breaking down the barrier between their realm and this world then capture many, many mortals and stick them in 'suffering tubes' where they'll be subjected to horrific daemonic illusions while being kept alive with life-sustaining magics. And FYI, Järgien will be ground zero for their invasion since the Pillar of the Heavens is the weak point between this world and the daemon realm.

The ruling daemon faction's objective is to seal away the daemon realm with the seals on our world's side, preventing meddling from any daemon in our world, which will secure the ruling faction's position of power over the daemon realm indefinitely. To do this requires a majority of the four Greater Elemental Runes which are locked in four ancient Vaults around the world. Conversely the rebel faction needs a majority of the Runes to break down the barrier to this world. Each Vault requires eight keystones and a Lesser Elemental Rune to open, while a Lesser Rune vault requires one keystone to open. BTW, we're still rather pissed that you sold that keystone to the cultists; WTF were you thinking there?

Of course you don't have to believe a word of this, and that's fine. You should go seek out your own sources to confirm it and not just take our word. Even we aren't 100% certain if we're right or if we're somehow being misled or misinformed, but so far we haven't seen or heard anything credible to the contrary. So until we get some solid evidence we're being played we're gonna stick with Lightbringer's side. And if you can come up with a plan to seal the daemon realm without any daemon assistance, then we're all ears over here.

And setting aside all that for a moment: You asked how the Order of Light is any different from the other cultists. Well, I ask of you to look at their deeds and actions and judge them by those and not by who or what leads them. I think you'll find yourself very hard pressed to say they're worse than the cultists, but if you have qualms with things they've done, then by all means, tell us.]

Man, took so long writing this that I'm going to post it now to get it in right away. I'll try to bang out another post with my suggestions before the update.

>>582109
[Message to Green: Um, is one of our squids stuck in the Rebel King's magnificent beard? Could you help us out and remove it, if so?]

We agreed Jal could have a drink or two. Tipsy is about right for that so he's doing well.

Kaktus 2014/06/30(Mon)12:37 No. 582130 ID: 65a774
File 140415705277.png - (25.69KB , 900x450 , 21.png )

>[Message to Green: As way of explanation for why we've sided with Lightbringer, here is a primer of what we have found out so far of the daemons and their conflict…]
[And where, pray tell, have you gotten this information?]
>If our information isn't correct we'd like to know as soon as possible because we'd rather not end up facilitating the end of the world.
[Ah, you are willing to question your own knowledge… good…]
>Regardless of whether he has some secret evil motive, Steve is demonstrably fighting the forces other darmons right now. The undead forces of the other demons are doing fairly well while divided between fighting both you and the Order, so taking out Steve and letting them focus their entire force against you doesn't seem strategically sound.
[Indeed, that wouldn’t be a sound choice, now would it?]
>You asked how the Order of Light is any different from the other cultists. Well, I ask of you to look at their deeds and actions and judge them by those and not by who or what leads them.
[A good answer… and that is why I am here to talk about an alliance… or in the case of my army… sing, as they like to do…]

>No, but Alexandra has her strengths that you could work on. Training of all sorts.
Well… yes… I know that but… I was referring to walking a few laps… that won’t do much…
>yeah you could practice some speech craft, find a nice mirror and practice, or discuss with the others for a while.
Um… I don’t think speaking to a mirror will help…
>Vlad, if you seek to practice the art of seduction... We have no qualms with that! In fact, we encourage it!
Err… yeah… that too… um… I have no idea how to actually… um…
>Actually you can love someone for just their personality and mind over what their body details, it'd be a platonic love though if you don't enjoy the body
Well… that’s the thing… I… um… how do you say this in a refined way… I want to dance a horizontal tango with her… I’m pretty sure that’s a bit of lust for the body right there…

>Also sing an alliance? Is that a Vildman custom? I'm actually quite curious to watch.
Um… you mean sign, right?
No, sing… think… um… drinking songs, kind of. They have a long history of bardic lore and stuff so…
Really?
>Though with her asking about experimenting it almost makes me wonder if you should just ask to experiment with her instead.
What!? That’s not- I didn’t-
Um… that was the-
Yes, I know it was the voices! I can hear them too!
>If you want to run some personal tests, obtain gay smut, see how repulsive it is.
*Sigh* …this… this will sound very unlady like but… if you really want to try I can borrow you some… um… prime “material”… and a toy with… um… lotion…
… I… err… I don’t really… um…
>..Actually, you're already spending a bit of personal time with her, it's not much of a date to advance to stretching... Er, I mean not much of a stretch to advance to dating.
As much as I would want to stretch him, he’s still a kid. Cute kid, yes, but still a naïve, immature kid.
…wait, what was that about stretching?
…nothing, Vlad. So no, I’m pretty sure any dating wouldn’t work out at all.
…but… we can at least try one date?
...hmmf… no…

Insert Let me sing you the song of my people!_

>>582130
Vlad you should probably just see if you like gay porn before going out on a date that might end in disappointment. And a toy if you're brave enough. Doesn't have to be Alex's, though. Maybe you should go and get some of your own. Be a man about it.

[scan those present]

fuck man these Vildman are everywhere. I mean yeah it makes seance since where else would they be since a good group of there army is here in town but I really didn't expect them to spread out so fast.

Oh a for a random idea for the whole dating advice thing, you could just try to put Vlad in a three some with a guy and a girl so he can have a sample of both to see what he does and doesn't like. Not sure how to pull that one off per say but just throwing it out there.

>>582133

..So we should give him to Jal and another girl? Somehow this plan sounds like it'll end somewhere bad.

>And where, pray tell, have you gotten this information?
[Reply: We've met with a number of daemons... Both in person and through avatars. We have consulted those involved and learned what they understood on the matters, and have also found that many Daemons do not leave us corrupted. This may only mean that they wish to control us through manipulation as opposed to overriding our control, though, so we are keeping wary.]
>Indeed, that wouldn’t be a sound choice, now would it?
[Reply: Glad to see the second player we've encountered with a status of "Insanely difficult to defeat" shares our most base views.]
>or in the case of my army… sing, as they like to do…
Okay, so they totally do sing all operalike. The vildermaan and the Vilderkaat(Might be remembering it wrong, I think this is what Bob said females of the breed were called) totally will be singing all dramatically.
>I have no idea how to actually
And this is why we suggest practice!
>Vildermaan with open helmet
Oh god I hate it when something obstructs our view. Is there a stray drop of rain or something? It looks like he's got a vertical, clean cut straight down him.
>…wait, what was that about stretching?
I have no idea o_o
I simply worded my phrasing wrong and it felt like it was something but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to stu--OH GOOD LORD ALEXANDRA. That is NOT the kind of thought a proper lady should have!
>…but… we can at least try one date?
Vlad, when practicing the art of seduction... Get random, nameless mooks to practice on. Maaaaaybe Anna, once she's feeling better.

Kaktus 2014/06/30(Mon)14:40 No. 582142 ID: 65a774
File 140416445527.png - (17.06KB , 900x450 , 22.png )

>[scan those present]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Order Guard.]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Civilian.] x 6
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Vildmans Soldat.]
[“The Hunter” status: Exited. “The Priest” status: Horny.]
>[Reply: Glad to see the second player we've encountered with a status of "Insanely difficult to defeat" shares our most base views.]
[I do hope you know what you’re doing, Teal…]

>fuck man these Vildman are everywhere. I mean yeah it makes sense since where else would they be since a good group of there army is here in town but I really didn't expect them to spread out so fast.
Well, a lot of people who lives in the town are actually Vildmän to start with...
>Okay, so they totally do sing all opera like. The vildermaan and the Vilderkaat totally will be singing all dramatically.
It’s not like opera, more like bard singing… and it’s Vildman / Vildmän for males and Vildkvinna / Vildkvinnor for females.
Wait, they have females? I’ve never ac-
They got beards, that why… and really small breast unless they just had a child.
Oh…

>Oh a for a random idea for the whole dating advice thing, you could just try to put Vlad in a three some with a guy and a girl so he can have a sample of both to see what he does and doesn't like.
That’s a bit… extreme to start with, don’t you think? Besides, I doubt he knows where to find people for this three way anyway.
>Vlad you should probably just see if you like gay porn before going out on a date that might end in disappointment. And a toy if you're brave enough. Doesn't have to be Alex's, though.
Do you even know where to get that kind of stuff?
Um… no… not really…
Well, if it’s only one time you can borrow that stuff… it would be a waste to buy new stuff if it turned out you didn’t like it.
Um… thanks, Alexandra.
Hey, that’s what friends are for… and… um… I didn’t really have the opportunity to experiment myself at your age so… I don’t want you to be in the same situation, alright?
>Vlad, when practicing the art of seduction... Get random, nameless mooks to practice on. Maaaaaybe Anna, once she's feeling better.
Do you even know anything about seducing?
Um… you… compliment someone, right?
…that’s at least in the right direction. I would recommend that you actually learn something before you go out and make a fool of yourself in front of people.
>I simply worded my phrasing wrong and it felt like it was something but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to stu--OH GOOD LORD ALEXANDRA. That is NOT the kind of thought a proper lady should have!
Oh, shut it! I lady can fantasize, can’t she!? Geez…
I still have no idea what you guys are talking about…
…and that’s for the better.

Insert That’s one lap… only one more to go! You’re almost on the home stretch!_

Stretching your butt.

With her dick.

Knowledge gained!

Regardless though complimenting someone is a good thing, I mean you've seen Jal at work some and he's usually able to get someone.

>>582144
Shhhh!

>>582142
You know, it occurs to me that the mission Steve is sending us on to destroy a caravan might not be in our best interests. I wonder if there's any way we can confirm what it is we're destroying, before we do it? Also, the bearded wanted man has green eyes, I wonder if he's a pawn of Green?

[reply to Green: If you're so worried why don't you find some independent information on your own and share it? Make sure we can confirm it's legit too. Oh right I just remembered... One of our pawns had a vision while under the influence of the Dark One that showed the Rebel King turning his army against the Order, because he was corrupted by the Dark One. So there's a possibility that The Dark One wants to corrupt the Vildman rebel king. Be careful. Keep him away from Dark One cultists, they can corrupt via proximity. You should too from here on out. I hope you were keeping an eye on your corruption levels during the kidnapping/backstabbing you did with the cultists. Oh, and... do you know anything about the Von Zolner family?]

Hmm. I wonder if there's anything productive we can do right now?

[message to Grey: Hey, has the player behind Brad's kidnapping tried to talk to you yet? I'd like to keep his color private, because you know, the whole corruption thing you warned us about.]

>[I do hope you know what you’re doing, Teal…]
Yeeeah we'll get back to him on that.

Alexandra, why are you so certain a relationship wouldn't work? Are you worried you'll hurt Vlad? Could you at least just get lunch later or something? We'll even leave you alone to check on Anna.

>>582144
I agree with Alexandra- in this instance, ignorance is bliss.

[Message to Green: We hope we do as well. Oh, and by the way, could you explain why you sold that cyan keystone to the cultists. 'Cause from what you've said I'd figure you'd be the last person to sell them anything they really want, even if you didn't know what it was for.]

Vlad, you wanted to train your speech-craft, seduction and 'other' bardic skills, right? Well, how 'bout you work on the first two, with a chance of the third, by hitting on a few gals you find attractive? And since I figure Alexandra knows a bit about the first two, she can help here by instructing you in the basics and also hanging back within earshot, discreetly watching so she can tell you how to do better after the first few times you fall flat.

Approaching someone who might have an interest in common with you would be a good start. You're interested in learning to play the harp, so perhaps look around for a gal about your age who plays the harp as well.

If you're going to test for what you're sexually interested in, Vlad, then you should expose yourself to a variety of porn and not just the gay stuff. So guy-on-gal and gal-on-gal in as many different species combinations as you can get. Oh, and you expressed interest in boobs, so get some with an emphasis on those. And to be a decent test you gotta look at each 'hands off' with a cool-down between each sample, otherwise the little head will be influencing the big head way too much. Though, now the question is where to get the porn. Does Jal have a stash Vlad could borrow?

>That’s a bit… extreme to start with, don’t you think? Besides, I doubt he knows where to find people for this three way anyway.
True, but it doesn't hurt to fantasize, does it? And who knows, maybe fantasy could become reality~

>you've seen Jal at work some and he's usually able to get someone.
[Mission for Vlad: Learn to seduce from Jal. Accept or Decline?]
>Also, the bearded wanted man has green eyes, I wonder if he's a pawn of Green?
Bearded wanted man? I thought you were talking about the Vildmaan king at first, but I don't think he's wanted.
>[I do hope you know what you’re doing, Teal…]
[Reply: As do we, Green. Hopefully, having more than just us (The Voices of the Many that is our avatar) in on the loop will help us find the real truths.]
>Oh, shut it! I lady can fantasize, can’t she!? Geez…
I just had a thought. We should totally get Alexandra together with Elizah. I mean, what with how polyamorous the Serath Sultanite is, I'm sure it's possible. Only problem is how to convince them to accept it without revealing her past...
Well, Rose would surely be willing. I will say that.
>[reply to Green: If you're so worried why don't you find some independent information on your own and share it? Make sure we can confirm it's legit too.
Rephrase this: [Reply: If you're so worried, then please, seek independent information to share. Preferably some that we can confirm as legitimate, too, though if you can't find verification yourself, we could certainly offer our aid in that.]
>Shhhh!
Well, let me reword it to be more subtle: Vlad, she does fantasize about having a relationship with you, and the order of the words did put stretching after a date. Unless you can convince her to go on a date with you... Suffice to say, you don't need to know.

It's starting to feel like we need a separate window just to track all of these player conversations. I wonder how difficult it would be to open one up... and how obstructive of our view it would be.

>>582154
He's talking about the guy who massacred all those Von Zolner thugs. According to the witnesses he had dark green eyes like Brad. At least, I think they're dark green. The paper the guy's depiction was on might have altered the color slightly.

>>582155
Brad has a lighter shade of green for his eyes though.

>[I do hope you know what you’re doing, Teal…]
heheheh, oh wait you actually meant that... HAHAHAHAHA oh god we don't even know if our past is even real or not much less what the hell is going on now. It's one of the main reasons we're so paranoid, because we don't know anything and believe everyone is out to get us because we don't really know who is and isn't really out to get us.

Also do either of you know what the deal is with all the girls swooning over the Vildmen? Can they even tell if they're talking to a Vildman or a Vildkvinna?

>>582193
>Also do either of you know what the deal is with all the girls swooning over the Vildmen? Can they even tell if they're talking to a Vildman or a Vildkvinna?
I'm... fairly certain it's a mutual involvement. And that one there is a MAN who's swooning over a Vildmaan/Vildkvinna.
Question is, if there's swooning involved, why's there eyebrow raising involved?

Kaktus 2014/07/01(Tue)09:55 No. 582274 ID: 65a774
File 140423372499.png - (25.36KB , 900x450 , 23.png )

>[Reply: If you're so worried, then please, seek independent information to share. Preferably some that we can confirm as legitimate, too, though if you can't find verification yourself, we could certainly offer our aid in that.]
[Message from Green: I have tried to find information on my own, but all that exist is either shrouded in myth or have been made by demon hands one way or another.]
>[Would you explain why you sold that cyan keystone to the cultists. 'Cause from what you've said I'd figure you'd be the last person to sell them anything they really want, even if you didn't know what it was for.]
[I am sorry to say, but the plan require that you’re in the blind. All I can say is to trust me in the end… and that your enemies have eyes and ears everywhere.]
>[One of our pawns had a vision while under the influence of the Dark One that showed the Rebel King turning his army against the Order, because he was corrupted by the Dark One.]
[Hmm… there is truth there… and lies… believe what you must, as thing won’t change in the end.]
>[message to Grey: Hey, has the player behind Brad's kidnapping tried to talk to you yet? I'd like to keep his color private, because you know, the whole corruption thing you warned us about.]
[Message from Grey: You mean Green? Yes, we are discussing things right now. He’s already explained why he did it… now, please, we are trying to negotiate here…]
>[Hmm. I wonder if there's anything productive we can do right now?]
[If you want to do something then go clear the name of that “traitor” pawn you have. My advice would be to either go look at that order those guards came with, Mikhail would have left them with captain Andrzej by now, or go find the other royal soldier, the lizard, and talk with her. She is supposed to be on break somewhere in this town.]

>Do either of you know what the deal is with all the girls swooning over the Vildmen? Can they even tell if they're talking to a Vildman or a Vildkvinna?
Large, muscular veteran soldiers? I can see why there would be some… swooning from some people.
>You know, it occurs to me that the mission Steve is sending us on to destroy a caravan might not be in our best interests. I wonder if there's any way we can confirm what it is we're destroying, before we do it?
Err… we can check the goods before we burn them? I mean, our job was to pretty much kill most of the people who are guarding the stuff so…
>Also, the bearded wanted man has green eyes, I wonder if he's a pawn of Green?
You mean the Brad look-a-like? You do realize Brad has green eyes too and isn’t a pawn of green, right?
>Just had a thought. We should totally get Alexandra together with Elizah. I mean, what with how polyamorous the Serath Sultanite is, I'm sure it's possible.
Err… first off… I like gentlemen… not women. Second off, she’s the freaking Sultan of a freaking country! There’s no way I can just waltz in there and start a relationship!
Hey, I said the same thing… um… kind off… almost… err… I thought about saying it… um…

>[Mission for Vlad: Learn to seduce from Jal. Accept or Decline?]
Jal technique is a bit… let’s just say, instead of catching a fish gracefully with a spear he opts to just blow the whole lake up. Sure, he’ll get a few pieces of fish for it, but he can’t really fish there again.
So… um… I shouldn’t learn from him?
Actually, you should. Just… you might need a bit more guidance then that.
>Vlad, you wanted to train your speech-craft, seduction and 'other' bardic skills, right? Well, how 'bout you work on the first two, with a chance of the third, by hitting on a few gals you find attractive?
My suggestion would be to talk with Jal a bit first… while I’m there so I can steer him a in the right direction. Then when you have the basics you can start using your “skills” on a few gals. Experience is the best way to learn, after all.
Right, then that’s the plan… um… thanks, Alexandra.
>If you're going to test for what you're sexually interested in, Vlad, then you should expose yourself to a variety of porn and not just the gay stuff. Does Jal have a stash Vlad could borrow?
Yes… *sigh* Yes, he does… but you have to talk to him about it.

>Vlad, she does fantasize about having a relationship with you, and the order of the words did put stretching after a date. Unless you can convince her to go on a date with you... Suffice to say, you don't need to know.
Wait, you were fantasize about a date with me?
Not a date… err… you know… things after a date…
>Stretching your butt.
I… oh… you mean…
Oh g-gods, you g-guys…
>With her dick.
…
D-dammit…
>Knowledge gained!
...I’m… both terrified and aroused by that prospect… um… are you alr-
Y-yes! I’m f-fine… it’s j-just… that w-was very embarrassing, ALRIGHT!?

>Alexandra, why are you so certain a relationship wouldn't work?
A-as I already said… he’s a kid. A naïve, immature kid… and we don’t really have that much in common. You can’t really base a relationship on physical attraction alone.
>Could you at least just get lunch later or something?
…
>Are you worried you'll hurt Vlad?
I… I…
Um… you don’t need to worry, Alexandra… I…
…no, it’s not that… it’s… I… I’m afraid I’ll hurt myself… I’ve never… not really…
…wait, you’ve never been in an relationship before!?
…no, no I haven’t…

Insert Stretching the truth!_

>...I’m… both terrified and aroused
...Not touching this.
Y'know what, I'm thinking we should leave you two alone for now while we check up on the sisters, see if they've actually looked into the comparison between orders.
[Switch to Drina]

Except he's not basing it purely on your body, Vlad tell her what you told us about her personality and what you've thought of her beyond her body. But yes we will leave you alone if you desire.

>>582274
Hmm, I think we should check the signature/seal with Drina, then visit the on-break guard with Vlad or Jal.

Enough of this! We should rather look that Anna keeps her head instead of playing tanglebuddys here.
[Switch to Drina]
[try to get the squddlesong out of my mind]

Ah, of course you've never been in a relationship before, what with your family. Even trying to keep it secret it would be too risky they'd find out and punish you and whoever you were with. So you felt it wouldn't be safe to go much beyond hook-ups, yes?

Alexandra, you say Vlad is a naïve, immature kid, and you don't want to take advantage of him because of that, but to that I say who else would be better for him to get the experience, knowledge and wisdom to grow out of being a naïve, immature kid from than you? He trusts you. He knows you won't hurt him. You could be for Vlad the person you wish you had when you were younger, when you were experimenting and terrified and figuring things out for yourself the hard way. You've been there, so you can be there for him.

And you both haven't been in relationships before, so you both can learn from trying one together. Consider it a training relationship for you both. Just as long as you both go in knowing that you both are inexperienced and that it's not likely going to last and that if one doesn't want to continue then you'll break up amicably. Also, you say you two don't have much in common, but you both could try to share and learn each other's interests and see if anything sticks. Even if it doesn't work out you'll both come out of this better persons than you went in.

And while what we said was horribly embarrassing it does show that Vlad is interested enough that he isn't scared off by the idea of the act. Vlad, what part of it terrifies you? The part where it'd be your first time? The part where it'd be with Alexandra? Or is it more concerns about the technical parts of the act itself? 'Cause the last one can be mostly cleared up by a bit of education on how to go about it. If Alexandra's 'material' doesn't include information on that then she could instruct you or at least direct you to where you could read up on it.

Now, we have some things we'd like you to do to help Anna out once Alexandra finishes her lap. Seek out Drina or Dooriya and tell whichever one of them you find we want her to compare the old king's order with the order the two royal guards brought to see if it is a forgery and that Captain Andrzej has both orders right now. Then you two track down the lizard royal guard. Ask the Order guards which way she went, then keep following the trail asking guards, vendors and others that'd have been around if they've seen her. Afterwards you can take lunch at Sten's and check on Jal to make sure he hasn't drunk himself under the table before finishing the alchemy work.

>I’m… both terrified and aroused
I think what you may be experiencing may be called 'love'. Other symptoms include elevated heart rate, difficulty speaking and blushing/increased body temperature. Symptoms are similar to that of 'fear', so your confusion is understandable.

Alexa, Vlad might be naive but he's no child, and you can't say you don't have anything in common when you hardly know each other. And don't let our constant perving let you think Vlad's feelings are based on physical attraction alone. Being around Jal for so long may have jaded your ideals about love, but I think Vlad is the least likely person to end up breaking your heart or trying to hurt you.

Also you're blushing so hard it can be seen through your mask.

Okay fine, we'll leave you two alone. Just keep on the lookout for that other royal soldier, the lizard. We have some questions about the decree she delivered. We'll see what else we can do to bail out Anna. And seriously, go and get some lunch.

Kaktus 2014/07/01(Tue)15:48 No. 582332 ID: 65a774
File 140425489718.png - (14.02KB , 900x450 , 24.png )

> Alexandra, you say Vlad is a naïve, immature kid, and you don't want to take advantage of him because of that, but to that I say who else would be better for him to get the experience, knowledge and wisdom to grow out of being a naïve, immature kid from than you?
I’m not really… I don’t really have the experience myself, for IO’s sake!
>And you both haven't been in relationships before, so you both can learn from trying one together. Consider it a training relationship for you both.
…
um… it would be a learning experience?
It’s not rea-
Think about it this way, what do you got to lose?
(…you.)
>Being around Jal for so long may have jaded your ideals about love, but I think Vlad is the least likely person to end up breaking your heart or trying to hurt you.
I admit, he’s really sweet and all but…

>Except he's not basing it purely on your body, Vlad tell her what you told us about her personality and what you've thought of her beyond her body.
Oh, right… um… what was it I-
I was there, I know what you said... I… you don’t really… know me…
I still hold to what I said! You’re beautiful both inside and outside, Alexandra.
Vlad, that’s just corny.
>Vlad, what part of it terrifies you? The part where it'd be your first time? The part where it'd be with Alexandra? Or is it more concerns about the technical parts of the act itself?
Well, it’s more… um… the part about stuff being in my butt…
>I think what you may be experiencing may be called 'love'. Other symptoms include elevated heart rate, difficulty speaking and blushing/increased body temperature.
I know how love feels, sheesh!
Well, maybe the love you feel is the love for having stuff in your butt. *Snrk*
Oh, shut it, lady.
>Seriously, go and get some lunch.
*Ugh* Fine… lunch it is. We’ll go to Sten’s… and we’ll talk, alright?
Sounds good to me!
…

>Y'know what, I'm thinking we should leave you two alone for now while we check up on the sisters, see if they've actually looked into the comparison between orders.
What do you mean, they match?
See, the seals are a perfect match. Whoever wrote this document had access to the royal seal.
But look, the signature aren’t identical!
Well, they both have that weird n on the end. I mean, it’s possible that the king don’t sing everything exacly the same way… err… he can’t possibly make every signature identical.
His job is to sign stuff. His signature would be in his freaking blood by now!
Wait, isn’t his job to party like Siegfried himself came with the ale?
Ugh, this is leading us nowhere…

Insert It’s good to be the king! –Picard

hit a road block I see. Mind if I ask a question or two. If these guys really did come by order of the king, and you have the leader of the rebel army in your town... isn't that going to cause some issues? But other then the seals how goes the investigation?

>>582332
A forged signature would have easily identifiable bits like that weird n, because they're copying from an example. There would likely be some errors here and there though. So this sortof sounds like a forged signature... but that's difficult to prove.

What about the parchment used? Is that the correct type? Or the ink? Are there any marks or stains on the parchment or envelope or anything? What about the wax used to make the seal- is that the right type of wax?

If there's nothing significantly wrong with the signature, we should go talk to the guard that's on break. Uh, that is, if you can do it without arising her suspicion.

>Identical Seal and Signature
Well, he's right. It does make sense that the signature is a bit different--We were told that he only signs things when it comes to death penalties and the like.

Look: What you need to do here is scour over the wording.
What did the judicial autonomy grant the order?
Do they have more leeway than the King does when it comes to the city? If so, his new order means diddly squat so long as Anna is in the city.
How does the new order claim Anna should be punished? I believe it was "as determined by the knights" or something like that, but, thing is, Judicial Autonomy means "The knights" becomes the "Knights of the Order" and once her "penalty" is decided upon, that's that.
>Uh, that is, if you can do it without arising her suspicion.
Jal is still available for the task, isn't he? I mean, we told him not to drink until after he finished his task, and when we checked, he was tipsy. [Check status of The Alchemist]
The, uh, problem is that we don't know of the Lizard went to the "High-end" tavern where Sten is at, or to the Tavern "The Crippled Spider" at the poor side of town. Jal probably won't want to go to The Crippled Spider.

Alright, I can think up a number of ways they could have got a perfect seal and signature but there's no way to check on them without going to the capitol to investigate and if we did that we may as well ask the king about it directly. One I can think of we might be able to check for here is if the king was presented with some mundane matter of state to sign and the text of the document was written in special ink that either fades to nothing when soaked in an alchemical wash or exposed to a certain kind of light, or is washed away by a alchemical solution and then they'd write new text in its place. Something like that could leave faint faded spots on the parchment where the ink was, or a slight discoloration between the signature and the text portions of the document. So hold the royal guards' orders up to, as well as examine it under, a strong light, and also try holding it near a heat source to see if anything discolors.

We could also check if the document parchment or ink matches to the old decree, but to do that will require access to the original document, not the copy you have here. It'll probably also require cutting out a small sample to do the analysis and I don't know how much the archivists object to that, or how long it'd take to check it. Even without analysis you could just do a visual, smell and feel check of the documents to check if they're off somehow. And if you're at the archive you may as well pull all the royal decrees the Order has and compare the signatures across all of them.

Check the wording of the royal guards' order against the old decree from the king. Is the text of the guards' order off in any way? Is it as florid as the legit decree? It's unlikely it would be 'cause I'd imagine if they were going to make a forgery they'd take the text of an old traitor decree and copy it, changing only the name and other details.

Well, even if we don't find anything about the royal guards' order that we could nail them with the king's decree of the Order's judicial autonomy will still keep them from being able to legally execute Anna. Then we just have to worry about them pulling some other shit to kill her.

Yanno, it strikes me just how easy it'd be to fake a royal decree if who you're presenting it to didn't have a known legit sample of the seal and signature. Having just fancy writing, a easily faked wax or ink stamp seal and a signature that isn't commonly known as the only protection against a forged document just seems to me to be quite weak. There's no special parchment, ink, or sealing wax. No watermarks or embossing or fancy anti-counterfeiting tricks. Considering that I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we found out there's a fair number of forged decrees floating around Järgien.

In hindsight I'm thinking that Vlad's naïve idea to write the king to ask for confirmation of the royal guards' order was actually a pretty good idea. The king's reply ought to tell us for sure if they're legit. Ask Andrzej what the usual response time is on an express letter such as the one he penned is.

We also have a tentative plan to try and get some info about all this out of the lizard gal royal guard by having Jal approach her and work his charm; AKA get her drunk. A little guidance from us to keep Jal on course and she might just let something slip.

So, how much are you looking forward to dinner with Tsure? You thought about bringing a gift? Flowers, perhaps? Or chocolates? Or are those too cliché? Oh, wait! When is the mission? Do you think you're going to be able to get back before five?

>So, how much are you looking forward to dinner with Tsure? You thought about bringing a gift? Flowers, perhaps? Or chocolates? Or are those too cliché?
We did kind of space out during their conversation, but Tsure did seem to enjoy literature, including erotic forms based around soldiers and warriors. She might actually appreciate the Lesbian's copy of Confessions of a Paladin or whatever it's called.
>Do you think you're going to be able to get back before five?
...If there's even a remote possibility that you won't, make sure to send a message saying that you will give it your all to completely the mission efficiently but quickly before five, but that unexpected circumstances may delay you. She's a soldier, she'll understand.

Kaktus 2014/07/02(Wed)09:21 No. 582440 ID: 65a774
File 140431808323.png - (15.71KB , 900x450 , 25.png )

>[Check status of The Alchemist]
[“The Alchemist” Status: Drunk, crying, depressed.]

>If these guys really did come by order of the king, and you have the leader of the rebel army in your town... isn't that going to cause some issues?
Err… wrong king? The rebel king is rebelling against the Vildmännens nation up north, not Järgien. So, in short, King Eric, the one giving the orders, isn’t the same king the rebel king is rebelling against.
>Ask Andrzej what the usual response time is on an express letter such as the one he penned to the king is.
Um… actually, we don’t send it directly to the king. They got a bunch of royal scribes and stuff the next town over from here that keeps all the orders and stuff from the throne in check in this area. If this order is legit it must have gone through there.
…and how long does it take?
Oh, right… by sending it the bird way it should take less than half an hour… but of course, they have to process it and then send it back again.

>A forged signature would have easily identifiable bits like that weird n, because they're copying from an example.
You’re right… it’s suspicious!
>What about the parchment used? Is that the correct type? Or the ink?
Ha! Look at this! It’s not made of the same parchment! Or use the same ink! See, one is made of good quality paper and ink with a reddish tint, you know, expensive stuff! While the other is made out of this crappy cheap stuff we usually u-
that’s because it’s a copy? You even said the execution order was the expensive one…
…oh, right…
>but to do that will require access to the original document, not the copy you have here.
…well, crap, they are both written on same kind of parchment and in the same kind of ink…
>What about the wax used to make the seal- is that the right type of wax?
It’s the same… as least, as far I can tell.
>If you're at the archive you may as well pull all the royal decrees the Order has and compare the signatures across all of them.
We’ve only gotten two orders from the king, not including the execution order, and they all look the same…

>Yanno, it strikes me just how easy it'd be to fake a royal decree if who you're presenting it to didn't have a known legit sample of the seal and signature. Having just fancy writing, a easily faked wax or ink stamp seal and a signature that isn't commonly known as the only protection against a forged document just seems to me to be quite weak.
Well, usually the orders goes to the royal scribes who have some kind of secret system to see if they are legit or not but… um… we’re kind of a exception… and… um… we don’t really have the same means to check… mostly because we didn’t actually consider getting orders like this…
>Hold the royal guards' orders up to, as well as examine it under, a strong light, and also try holding it near a heat source to see if anything discolors.
…hey, check this out… there’s something… look… if you hold our Judicial Autonomy order up to the light.
Huh… there’s some kind of symbol… um… inside the paper? …and there, there’s the date the order was written… with some kind of code under it.
More importantly, check out the other old order we got.
…it’s the same? Just another date and code?
And here’s the order of execution.
…there’s nothing there! It’s a fake! Ha! We got them!

>We should go talk to the guard that's on break.
Right, the more evidence we gather against them the better! So… um… where is she?
Don’t ask me, all I’ve heard is that she went on a “break”.
>Jal is still available for the task, isn't he?
Err… I trust that drunkard as far as I can throw him…

>So, how much are you looking forward to dinner with Tsure?
…oh, shit! SHIT SHIT SHIT! I totally forg-
>Do you think you're going to be able to get back before five?
By Siegfried’s beard! We’re supposed to intercept them at about three! I… I don’t know if I’ll make it!
>...If there's even a remote possibility that you won't, make sure to send a message saying that you will give it your all to completely the mission efficiently but quickly before five, but that unexpected circumstances may delay you. She's a soldier, she'll understand.
…right, she’ll understand… I hope… um… I have to get back before six, right?
>You thought about bringing a gift? Flowers, perhaps? Or chocolates?
I… like I said, I totally forgot… oh, man… I’m such a screw up! Dammit! Um… I don’t know… flowers, maybe?
>Tsure did seem to enjoy literature, including erotic forms based around soldiers and warriors. She might actually appreciate the Lesbian's copy of Confessions of a Paladin or whatever it's called.
Err… giving someone what’s nearly outright porn on the first date isn’t really… um… I’m pretty sure that’s something that would end in pain.

Insert But porn is always the right gift! It’s a gift that’s keep on giving, after all!_

Well Jal is Drunk, Depressed, and crying his eyes out again... We really got to find some sort of system to get him out of his funk and drunken nature. Starting to feel bad for him.

well how much time do we have before we head out? I mean if we got time you could always see if you couldn't find her and maybe just reschedule.

But yeah now that we found out the execution order was forged are we going to go right out and confront the two "royals" or what?

>The rebel king is rebelling against the Vildmännens nation up north, not Järgien.
ah... can I request a map at some point so we actually can get more then a vague idea where everything is.

Excellent! The forged royal decree is more than enough to put those two away, but just to be sure we'll see if we can get something out of the lizard royal guard.

Okay, last we saw of the lizard RG she was at Sten's following Mikhail to the Cathedral, and then Vlad told us he heard the other royal guard tell her to go on break, so she most likely got to at least the Cathedral grounds. Start by asking the Order guards at the Cathedral entrances if and when they saw a lizard in royal guard armor pass through to determine if she's still in the Cathedral, then head out and ask the gate guards if she left the Cathedral. Follow the trail by asking the Order guards, merchant vendors, and anybody else who's been hanging around on the street all morning if they've seen her.

As for Tsure, you definitely should swing by her bakery and tell her you're going on mission this afternoon and might not make it back in time for dinner. And for a gift seek out Ella. She may know something about what Tsure really likes, and even if she doesn't you can still buy flowers from her. Ella should be at her stall in the market right now.

Dammit. Jal's status has gone from 'tipsy, depressed' to 'drunk, crying, depressed.' Man, I'd think that he'd still be on a high from falling in 'love' with Mikhail. Cripes... Well, it's rather callous to say, but I hope he finished the work for the mission first. We can worry about working on his mental problems afterwards.

>Vildmännens nation up north
Wait, there's a whole nation up there? I thought it was untamed wilderness north from Ängladal all the way to the Pillars of the Heavens. Just how much 'up north' is there from here to the edge of the world?

Kaktus 2014/07/02(Wed)13:17 No. 582476 ID: 65a774
File 140433223999.png - (20.82KB , 900x450 , 26.png )

>Wait, there's a whole nation up there? I thought it was untamed wilderness north from Ängladal all the way to the Pillars of the Heavens. Just how much 'up north' is there from here to the edge of the world?
Well… it’s more north west… um… mostly west from where we are right now but… it lies north of Järgien as a whole so… as for how far we are from the edge... hmm… I can’t remember an exact value but it’s not far at all, barely a day on spider carriages. Heck, if you go just a bit north of a town you can actually see the wall on a clear day.
>Jal is Drunk, Depressed, and crying his eyes out again...
Oh, geez… now I feel a bit bad calling him stuff last time I saw him…
>How much time do we have before we head out?
Let’s see… she’s eleven right now so… less than four hours?
>I mean if we got time you could always see if you couldn't find her and maybe just reschedule.
You’re right, I need to go talk to her personally. I’ll do so right after I’ve dealt with these imposters.
>And for a gift seek out Ella. She may know something about what Tsure really likes, and even if she doesn't you can still buy flowers from her. Ella should be at her stall in the market right now.
…and I’ll bring her a gift too! As an apology! Perfect!

>Excellent! The forged royal decree is more than enough to put those two away, but just to be sure we'll see if we can get something out of the lizard royal guard.
Yes, go talk to the other one and find out what you can. I’ll deal with the human here.
Right, Captain!
>Start by asking the Order guards at the Cathedral entrances if and when they saw a lizard in royal guard armor pass through to determine if she's still in the Cathedral, then head out and ask the gate guards if she left the Cathedral. Follow the trail by asking the Order guards, merchant vendors, and anybody else who's been hanging around on the street all morning if they've seen her.
-seen a lizard in very flashy armor?
She’s right over there, in the bar getting plastered.
Ah… there she is… I have to admit, I’m a bit disappointed that she wasn’t hard to find…
Another drink, barkeep!
Right away, miss.
(So… how do I approach her? I’m not really good at… um… being discreet, really…)

Insert Discreet as an enraged, blind bull in a china shop full of flowing fabric_

A Keer guard? y'know, I never figured out what that mask-helmet thing is supposed to be.

I guess go up to the bar next to her, order something, comment on her armor and make like you're gossiping. Is she really a Royal guard? What's she doing all the way up here? Damn, an order of execution, did that come from right from the king? And you must be very trusted to get such a task.

At any point it becomes relevant, try to get her to reveal who she is, her partner is, if she saw the order being handed down or if the other guy told her it was, or why the other guy is so enthusiastic to bring Anna to 'justice'.

...does that guy in the helmet ever move?

[Scan Keer guard and Keer woman]
Odd that they're up here... I wonder if they came in with Elizah? Serath is allies with Keer, if I remember right.

Don't worry to much about messing this up, Drina. The forged decree already has this in the bag, so whatever you get here will just be icing on the cake.

Okay, play this like you would if you saw a royal guard here and were curious about why they were here. And add on acting like you have a bit more respect and reverence for the royal guard then you actually do. What we want to do here is butter her up and keep the booze flowing to loosen her tongue, then keep her talking until she lets something slip.

Approach the bar next to her and order lunch, then comment that you don't often see the royal guard up here and politely ask what brings her to these parts. She'll tell you all about the terrible, dastardly criminal and all that so play along, acting shocked at Anna's deeds and all that to get on the guard's good side. Keep agreeing with her and keep her happy. Offer to pay for the drink of one of the king's finest and keep paying for them. If there's a local specialty drink with a name nobody out of the area knows about that has a lot of alcohol but doesn't taste like it has much then order one for her.

If you know some real things about the royal guard that aren't commonly known, then try to use them to figure out if she's a real royal guard or not. Like, if there's some news that involved the royal guard that isn't public but the Order knows, then you could ask her about that.

Would her drinking alcohol be a point against her actually being a royal guard? I'd figure royal guard regulation is they're not supposed to drink on a break in the middle of their shift. Though it might just be she's willing to flaunt regulation this far out from her superiors.

Hey, do you see Vlad and Alexandra at one of the tables? They said they were going to take lunch here but it's probably a bit early for that. If they're not here just expect them to show up at some point. When they do we'll fill 'em in on what you're doing so they don't mess things up for you.

>>582476
[scan all those present. Except I guess the bartender and the patron who is always here.]

FLIRT WITH HER.

Kaktus 2014/07/03(Thu)07:58 No. 582616 ID: 65a774
File 140439951562.png - (20.65KB , 900x450 , 27.png )

>[scan all those present. Except I guess the bartender and the patron who is always here.]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Bar Patron.] x 2
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): City Guard.]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Keer Merchant.]
[Neutral Creature (Neutral): Merchant Guard.]

>A Keer guard? y'know, I never figured out what that mask-helmet thing is supposed to be.
Um… I think it’s some kind of… err… breathing thingy? They use a lot of poisons and toxics so… I think it’s supposed to protect them from that?
>Odd that they're up here...
Not that odd. This place has always had merchant coming from all over the world. It’s the main hub for all those crystal mines up here, after all.
>...does that guy in the helmet ever move?
…now that I think about it, I’ve never actually even seen him go take a piss…
>Hey, do you see Vlad and Alexandra at one of the tables?
They are sitting by one of the table down in the corner, a bit off to the side… err… wait, is Alex laughing? I’ve never actually… I know I’ve only known her a few days but… I’ve never actually seen her not being grumpy before now… huh…
>FLIRT WITH HER.
WHA- NO!

>I guess go up to the bar next to her, order something, comment on her armor and make like you're gossiping.
Give me a nice, cold ale, Sten.
Right away.
Oh, and nice armor. Are you in the Royal army or something?
Huh? Oh, yes, I am! I was recruited just this winter.
>Offer to pay for the drink of one of the king's finest.
Oh, thank you! You heard her, another nonalcoholic cider, please.
Nonalcoholic?
yeah, I’m on duty, so no alcohol for me.
Oh… um… anyway, what is a royal guard doing all the way up here?
That’s not something I should ac- you know what, screw it, we’re hunting a dangerous criminal… or we would be… she was rather easy to catch…
Hunting a criminal? Huh, like a traitor?
Yeah! We’re here to make sure she’s executed properly.
Really? Was it a direct order from the king!?
Well yes… um… I think? I don’t know, it was my partner that came with it and said it was really important and stuff…
…wait, so you mean you weren’t specifically chosen to hunt her down.
What? No, I’m just a rookie… um… I guess the boss wanted me with him because the royal army always has to go in pairs, I guess? I don’t know, he told me to be rather quiet about this and not tell the others for some reason… it’s kind of weird…
(…well, that’s settles it. The other Royal Guard is definitely up to something.)

Insert Strike the Earth!_

Considering how easy it was to get information about such a task. It might be worthwhile to probe him. Gain some extra knowledge and see what's going on.

We know the other one is Anna's uncle and is trying to get revenge for his brother's death.

Hmm... when they first showed up one of them was admonishing the other for being too passionate. The passionate one is the uncle... but apparently their boss tried to get this one to keep quiet about the orders. Or maybe both? That implies the boss is actually the one who forged the orders, and the uncle is just someone the boss knew he could manipulate.

Ask about her boss!

>>582632
> to probe him
No markings. Unless he's got the same defect as Alex, this lizard's a she.

Also, she's completely out of the loop on this order being fake. Yeah, she has her own suspicions, but she's just a Rookie, she can't do squat about them. Ask her if her partner would happen to be a human of [insert description here] (We can't describe him ourselves due to poor eyesight), and intentionally act like your hiding something about him. If she confronts you on it, tell her he's been drawing suspicion onto himself, acting completely different from the other royal guards you've seen. Then, pause for a second or two before asking if she'd like to help proving who he really is--even if it turns out he's a real royal guard, she'll at least prevent you from wrongly penalizing him for impersonation.

"He" told you, do you mean your partner or superior officer? Where is your partner, anyway? If you got sent out as a group, shouldn't you be sticking together?

Okay, I think I have a way to get her to say some more but you'll have to lie. Put on a concerned expression and say that what she said about her boss wanting to keep it hush-hush reminds you of a story involving the royal guard from several years ago, when you were a kid. A royal guard commander forged a order of execution on one of the citizens up here and sent a guard he trusted to execute it but he needed a rookie to fill out the pair so it wouldn't be suspicious. And unfortunately it was only found out after the execution when it was discovered the order was missing the official watermark. The commander, the royal guards and the city guard commander all lost their heads over that affair. So is she sure the order is legit? Have there been any other irregularities in this as well? It is rather odd that such a dangerous criminal was so easy to catch, doesn't she think?

I notice the sky out the window has gone rather dark. There a storm coming? Anything we have to worry about for the mission?

>It’s the main hub for all those crystal mines up here, after all.
Crystals? Oh, are those the crystals used to store magic energy and spells and stuff like that? We saw them used all over the Serath sultan's palace for magic lighting and such. Is this area the best source of them in the world? It's not the only source, right?

>I’ve never actually seen her not being grumpy before now… huh…
Ah, excellent! Looks like those two are on their way to some kind of relationship, be it friendship or something more. Alexandra could definitely use somebody other than Jal in her life so she isn't so much of a sourpuss.

>>582638
Actually, ask her if her boss told her directly she and her partner were paired on this or if her partner just came up to her with the orders and said her boss paired them. If it's the latter then her boss is less likely to be in on it, but it doesn't rule it out.

>>582639
What the...? Don't do this! We're trying NOT to let on that Drina is Order or knows more about this than she's letting on until Drina's finished here so the lizard gal wouldn't possibly change her story any because of it! And besides, it'd be really damn hard for him to impersonate a royal guard well enough to just walk into the royal guards' barracks and choose her as a partner on this. If he was a fake it'd be much easier to get somebody else to fake being a royal guard to be his partner.

Also, Drina doesn't know what the guy looks like beyond wearing royal guard armor. He kept that bucket helm on the whole time so nobody has gotten a look at his face.

Kaktus 2014/07/03(Thu)11:52 No. 582651 ID: 65a774
File 140441353720.png - (20.97KB , 900x450 , 28.png )

>No markings. Unless he's got the same defect as Alex, this lizard's a she.
That’s definitely a gal, yes.
>I notice the sky out the window has gone rather dark. There a storm coming? Anything we have to worry about for the mission?
Err… I have no idea…
>Crystals? Oh, are those the crystals used to store magic energy and spells and stuff like that? We saw them used all over the Serath sultan's palace for magic lighting and such.
Exactly, magic crystals.
>Is this area the best source of them in the world? It's not the only source, right?
Well, there’s more crystal the further north you get, sure... but… um… let’s just say it’s cheaper to mine them here… and no, this isn’t the only source, just one of the best.
>We know the other one is Anna's uncle and is trying to get revenge for his brother's death.
…well, there’s the motivation, isn’t it? We pretty much got this thing wrapped up then…
>Also, she's completely out of the loop on this order being fake. Yeah, she has her own suspicions, but she's just a Rookie, she can't do squat about them.
Hmm… yes, she seems rather innocent… either that or she’s a really good actress.

>Ask about her boss!
Boss? Oh, right, you mean lieutenant Tempest? He’s… um… rather passionate about this mission if anything… um… I shouldn’t really talk to a stranger like this about him, though…
>Where is your partner, anyway?
Oh, his up in that church place. He went ahead to make sure that the criminal gets a head shorter… you know, beheaded. He’s always been better than me to keep his head when talking to superiors so I ju-
One more head pun and I’ll hit you over the head.
Sorry…
>If you got sent out as a group, shouldn't you be sticking together?
Err… actually… that’s true, why did… wait, why are you asking so many questions anyway!?

>Intentionally act like your hiding something about him.
I am sergeant Drina of the Order of light… and I’m here to talk about lieutenant Tempest and the order from the king he got.
…by Freya’s frozen nipples, it’s faked isn’t it! Dammit! I’m so stupid! I should have seen it from a mile away! Keeping silent… not reporting to any of the royal scribes on the way… him leaving me here while he… It’s not my fault! I didn’t know! You can’t arrest me! I demand a lawyer!
Err…

Insert Does she also get one phone call?_

Tell her to relax, you already know she's innocent. Demand she shut up long enough to say so if she keeps freaking out. Then, go ahead and ask her to help expose her "partner" as a fake.

Tell her that we don't want her arrested; we want her to help us stop this illegal beheading.

Tell her she's not under arrest, so she should take a couple deep breaths and calm down. However, after what she said you do ask she come in as a witness to Lt. Tempest's actions. She doesn't have to if she really doesn't want to, but it would help things if she did. She'll almost certainly agree to coming in, so bring her to Captain Andrzej. Just make sure Andrzej isn't with Lt. Tempest when you do.

>>582654
Where the heck are you getting the idea that Lt. Tempest is an impostor from?

Err, it didn't seem like Tempest was her boss. Didn't she say someone else put them together as partners? Tell her to keep quiet and not to go anywhere. If she can tell us more about when the "orders" cropped up, and how Tempest got his hands on the royal seal and signature, that'd be great.

>>582666
Oh, and also ask her why when she first came here this morning she interrupted the lieutenant and blurted out the crime of the 'traitor' they were here for.

Kaktus 2014/07/03(Thu)14:26 No. 582674 ID: 65a774
File 140442277872.png - (14.60KB , 900x450 , 29.png )

>Tell her to relax, you already know she's innocent.
y-you do?
>If she can tell us more about when the "orders" cropped up, and how Tempest got his hands on the royal seal and signature, that'd be great.
Um… I don’t really know… err… I mean, he just walked up to me and ordered me to follow him, citing that we’ve gotten an order from the king… err… as for the seal… well, we do have access to some of the royal scribes offices… so it’s possible he just snatched one quickly and used it there when no one was looking, I guess?
>Oh, and also ask her why when she first came here this morning she interrupted the lieutenant and blurted out the crime of the 'traitor' they were here for.
Um… I… I was a bit excited, alright? This is kind of my first real mission other than patrolling around in a circle… um…
>However, after what she said you do ask she come in as a witness to Lt. Tempest's actions.
Right… I… I guess I can do that… um… I can’t really witness about him faking the-
You can witness about him telling you to tell no one and that he didn’t report to those scribes as you said.
Oh… right…

>Bring her to Captain Andrzej.
Um… and that’s what I know…
And I can witness that this soldier didn’t know the order was forged.
Well then, that’s that. Thank you for your help, Drina. I’ll take care of the rest, so don’t worry about your friend. You’re dismissed.
Err...

Insert But… my conclusion!?_

>>582674
Err, what? You wanted to see the guy get arrested or whatever? That's probably happening right now in another room, as Grey has likely been informed. You could ask permission to help arrest the guy if you want, though.

Personally I just kindof want to hear from Tempest what made him do such a thing. The killings were years ago, weren't they? Why the delay? I'd also like to see his reaction to him finding out the truth, if they'll let us tell him.

If you're rebuffed don't worry about it. Anna's safety was our main priority. We should talk to Jal and prevent him from falling to pieces.

Tell her that she can still plead innocence, but if this illegal beheading happens, then its complicity in murder on an official as well as unauthorized assumption of authority.

wait.... does Anna count as an official? or a clerk? civil servant?

Oh, already to late.

But we could switch to Anna, just to be sure.
[switch to Anna]

>Err...
Go ahead and take this time to get the early apology-warning to Tsure incase you do wind up being a little late due to your mission.

...Yeah, that was a bit unsatisfying, wasn't it? Ah, well, it can't always be an exciting conclusion. It's in Andrzej's capable hands now, and there's more than enough evidence to put Lt. Tempest away, so you don't really need to be here right now. You could follow to watch him being arrested, but it might not be right away and you don't have all that much time before the mission. Remember, you were going to see Ella about a gift for Tsure, then you have to get to Tsure's bakery and back before three 'o clock. It might take longer than you'd expect, so better be safe and leave plenty of time. And if anything does goes wrong and it's urgent I'm sure Gray will message us.

While you're en route you could fill us in on the details of the mission. I'm particularly worried that there'll be more of those one-eyed fuckers like the one that jabbed Dooriya. If there are we should take precautions like wearing helmets and padded armor to protect from poison stinger tentacles.

...Dangit, now I'm getting that mild nagging feeling that we've overlooked something and I don't know what it is. Eh, it's probably just some stray paranoia.

>now I'm getting that mild nagging feeling that we've overlooked something and I don't know what it is
Well, Jal, Vlad, and Alex are at the tavern, Brad's with the people who hauled Anna away, we've been following Drina... Wait, where's Dooriya been? [Check status of Sister of Wisdom]

>>582691
Actually, let's just check the status of everyone to be safe. [Check pawn status]

Kaktus 2014/07/03(Thu)17:33 No. 582693 ID: 65a774
File 140443401342.png - (27.25KB , 900x450 , 30.png )

>[Check pawn status]
[“The Savage” Status: Concerned. “The hunter” Status: Happy. “The priest” Status: Happy. “The Alchemist” Status: Depressed, completely smashed, freezing to death. “Sister of Wisdom” Status: Intrigued. “Sister of Power” Status: Stressed out. “The Valkyrie” Status: Depressed, Tired.]

>[switch to Anna]
[Your connection to “The Valkyrie” is blocked by Grey! Automatic message from Grey: Please do not disturb Ann-Sofie while we are “interrogating” her. It’s for her own good.]
[Do you wish to try and force your way past Grey’s blockade? You have 100% chance of succeeding.]

>Err, what? You wanted to see the guy get arrested or whatever?
Well… kind off, yes… it feels like a bit of an anticlimax if you ask me.
>Personally I just kind of want to hear from Tempest what made him do such a thing. The killings were years ago, weren't they?
Um… actually, according to what we know, she killed her parents about three weeks ago…
>We should talk to Jal and prevent him from falling to pieces.
Eh, I’m sure that bastard is okay… so far he’s always been at least tipsy when I’ve met him so I’m pretty sure he can handle a bit of alcohol.

>Go ahead and take this time to get the early apology-warning to Tsure in case you do wind up being a little late due to your mission.
Oh, right! I better get moving then!
>Remember, you were going to see Ella about a gift for Tsure.
Right… next stop, the market.
>While you're en route you could fill us in on the details of the mission.
Um… let’s see… we’re supposed to ambush some kind of supply caravan north of the city at about three… it’s supposedly be carrying captured people and stuff to keep them alive like food and stuff… but most of it will be… um... what did the captain say they were called? Feeder tanks or something? I don’t know… he didn’t know exactly what they were but Steve insisted to have them destroyed as soon as possible so… err… we don’t really have a lot more information than that, really…
>I'm particularly worried that there'll be more of those one-eyed fuckers like the one that jabbed Dooriya. If there are we should take precautions like wearing helmets and padded armor to protect from poison stinger tentacles.
Yes, helmet is a must this time… we were a bit arrogant going without them last time. As for padded armor… personally, I rather have the mobility with my sword arm instead of extra protection… and I have no idea if those thing can pierce plate armor… hmmm… oh, and here we are… that’s her stall right there.

Insert Familiar faces on strangers_

>Do you wish to try and force your way past Grey’s blockade? You have 100% chance of succeeding.
No. ...Wait, really, 100%? I thought Gray would be stronger than us due to nine months of consecutive experience. We've got, like, three days worth. Even less if you count our King's death as a power reboot.
Still, no. Let's leave the barrier up.
>“The Alchemist” Status: Depressed, completely smashed, freezing to death.
Okay, all in favor of checking on Jal? Seriously, let's get him indoors before we lose a pawn here.
>Familiar faces on strangers_
[Scan ...Larvate brothers?] Are these more members of the Larvate Brotherhood? The three we met did say they were part of a bigger organization, but I think they also said that it was Ilbir's idea to wear the masks? [Echo scan to Drina] If at least the two show up as Thuul and Thaark, or as undead soldiers or something, then they're our old friends. If not, then they're of little importance, most likely.

Oh, and if you're wondering: The reason I'm only mentioning two of their names is because if the Lizard is the one we know, he'll scan as "The Avenger" instead. It's possible that Thuul and Thaark would still scan as "The Hunter" and... whatever the hell Thaark scanned as, but they did die, and we never got our connection back to them. (Or did we?)

[scan everyone]
I don't think that's our old mercenary group, but they wore similar clothes and masks.

>Please do not disturb Ann-Sofie while we are “interrogating” her. It’s for her own good.
Those quotes around 'interrogating' and 'for your own good' make me very nervous. It say's she's tired and stressed, which is somewhat standard for interrogation, though, so I guess we should leave it be for now. Still, we should be wary around green and grey in the future.

>“The Alchemist” Status: Depressed, completely smashed, freezing to death.
Oh for fucks sake- Jal got drunk enough to drown in a mud puddle. As soon as you're done here, you'll need to pull his abdomen back to civilization. How the hell did he even get his hands on that much alcohol?

We tried everything we could to keep him out of the alcohol, god dammit we will remove his ability to process the alcohol enzymes at this rate.

>>582693
Aw, I thought that was Thaark for a moment but it probably isn't. Man, as soon as Grey is done talking to Anna we need to ask him if we managed to get those two some new bodies.

That is a huge cactus.
[scan that cactus] [scan all the plants come to think of it]

Also we have to go see where Jal is about to freeze to death. Be back in a moment.
[switch to Jal]

Oh, for fuck's sake! Status check shows Jal is completely smashed and freezing to death! Drina, we're gonna have to switch away in a moment to save his drunk abdomen. And don't worry about it. You just keep going to Tsure's and if we need you we'll switch back, okay.

When you approach Ella make sure to thank her for what she did for you last night and introducing you to Tsure. Then ask if she knows what would be a good I-might-be-late-or-not-make-it-to-our-dinner-date-due-to-work gift to give Tsure when you tell her that.

[Scan the three masked individuals] There's next to no chance any of them are from Thaark's crew. They're probably just visitors from the Marches or something like that. ...And it's odd seeing a mantis that's completely missing both antennas.

>Feeder tanks or something? I don’t know… he didn’t know exactly what they were but Steve insisted to have them destroyed as soon as possible so…
The tanks are some kind of life support system the prisoners are gonna be stuck in to keep 'em going while they're subjected to intense daemonic illusions to create fear, terror, agony and all those other filling bad emotions for the Blood God. At least, that's what we guessed and Steve confirmed it. We still want to have a gander at them before they're destroyed, though.

>As for padded armor… personally, I rather have the mobility with my sword arm instead of extra protection… and I have no idea if those thing can pierce plate armor…
Alright, but I still think you should put extra armor on your torso, abdomen and... hips? Whatever the name is for the part where the legs connect on a mantis. Basically armor all the parts that can't be amputated. And remember to check in with Dooriya when you get back and ask her to lookup in her book just how much armor those stinger tentacles can punch through. We've seen one stinger get half embedded in a stone block before, so I suspect it'll take either real heavy armor or specialized armor to defend against them. I wonder if blessed armor would help at all.

Another problem if there are any of those one-eyed bastards is they could hunker down long enough to make a tele-portal so one or more of our targets escape. That ability makes any of those corrupted fuckers we encounter on this mission top priority targets.

Alright, time to rescue Jal. [Attempt switch to "The Alchemist;" If switch fails attempt switch to "The Priest" or "The Hunter"]

>>582695
Gray probably could put up a stronger barrier, but that'd just break any trust we have in her. As it is she likely put up a weak one just to give us a warning so we don't drop in and screw things up with Anna. For now we'll show Gray we trust that she's going the right thing by not barging in, but we're definitely going to ask Brad or Anna later what happened to her during the 'interrogation.'

>>582696
>How the hell did he even get his hands on that much alcohol?
His room is in an inn attached to a tavern and we didn't ask Vlad and Alexandra to tell Sten to not serve him. Or he went to another tavern. Or there was booze still hidden in his room. Or he took some of the alchemical strength alcohol he has for his work and diluted it down enough to drink. Or he jerry-rigged a small still with his alchemical gear. ...Man, we really shouldn't have left him alone. I guess we thought he could hold it together longer than he did.

[message to player gray: We've found that the order from the king was faked and even got one of the royal guards to talk about there mission which supports our findings even further. If you want more information speak to Andrzej, so please don't give Anna any lasting damage. She's suffered enough]

and since everyone else is being paranoid
[scan corruption levels]

But yeah now we have to go make sure our lovable drunk who is responsible for making the things we need to capture one of the mantises and for burning everything doesn't die do to exposure to the elements.

>a2's primer on feeder tanks
Basically, we saw a bunch of them (and I mean, at least 30) back in Serath, feeding the local demon there (Who happened to be a benevolent one, fortunately)--Since "Living" sources actually die out, they used undead sources, since even after they lose their mind, an undead can still feel.
But, uh, yeah. Best to get a look to make sure that's what we're seeing. Cylindrical glass containers with a metal top and bottom sealing them shut, with red fluid inside--though these might not yet be fully assembled.
Oh, and if you happen to see anything that looks taller than you, is completely black, and has h ands that don't look completely attatched to the body, huge gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth, and fingers that are the size of a mantis claw and sharper than one... That's a harvester body.
[Protocol update: Scan any such bodies when encountered, echo to nearby pawns]
There, now you should learn immediately upon finding one if it's owned by a friendly or not. Assume Hollow, Uninhabited, Unclaimed, or any other such words pertaining to them means it's for use by a hostile.
>[scan that cactus] [scan all the plants come to think of it]
I bet the cactus is going to read as "Decorative large cactus" or something like that, and, while I'm not going to bet it, I won't be surprised if the flowers read something about the Druid or player Green.

By the way, Player Green really reminds me of us, not just that his AI setting is "Insane" but that he's got a mishmash of pawns. Pink has stuck to the sultanite, Red to his "current" nation, Blue to "Anti Serathians," Gray to The Order, Purple to The Legion... And White seems to stick to his low cast, opting instead to give each pawn insane powers. Green is the only player I've seen go for everybody, everywhere.

Also, I wanna test something out. [Message Sister of Wisdom: Testing out an ability. Try willing a message to us, starting with "Message Teal" with a focus on those two words being imagined on a piece of parchment.]
[Protocol update: Autoreply to one pawn based message in next five minutes, "Message recieved! Ability seems valid!"; clear this protocol after five minutes or after trigger.]

>>582754
Just to clarify, the daemon was bound to watch over the Vault to keep random folks from discovering it. It was occupying a flawed Harvester body and hooked up to Undead Energy Sources; mindless undead in tanks subjected to painful stimuli to generate emotional energy. The Blood God is actually one of these watch daemons turned traitor.

And I very much doubt there'll be a fully built Harvester in that caravan, but there might be materials that'd be used for one since I'd bet good money that the Blood God is building a fully functional Harvester up there to transfer himself to. A fully operational Harvester will require more energy, so the feeder tanks and prisoners are likely part of that plan as well.

>>582761
I just had a mental image of a daemon pulling along a large cart full of feeder tanks, just so he could be kept fed as he travels the world.