Pet thing.

Gnuk 2015/01/29(Thu)12:30 No. 622786 ID: e9ec23
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>PET IT!

>Oh it's adorable!

>Pet thing.

You reach the thing's head with your hand and start petting it

???: Kyuuuuu~

Gnuk 2015/01/29(Thu)12:34 No. 622787 ID: e9ec23
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???: WOAH! HEY! STOP IT! How dare you touch the great S'shi'mh's head! That's not the way to treat your future queen!

Wait WHAT?
Future Queen?
oh god, we´re gonna have to explain the current state of our race, there´s no way thats gonna end well

Gnuk 2015/01/29(Thu)12:46 No. 622791 ID: e9ec23
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>Ask who they are, and why the demon seemed to want their egg so much. Oh, and what this place is, exactly. It seemed to have Ranidae living in it, but you'd never heard of Ranidae with such an advanced civilization.

>Usual questions. Ask who or what the egg-Dragon is, what that monster was, why it wanted it so bad, what the heck is going on.

>How long has it been here, why was this egg so venerated, what happened?

You start questioning the weird creature

S'shi'mh: What? Has the previous Wielder taught you nothing?

You explain the situation to her, telling how you ended up in the dungeon and how it looked abandoned for a long time.

S'shi'mh: Oh... well that explains why no one has showed up in the hatchery for all this time...
My mother built this temple so that i could grow strong enough to hatch. She is one of the most powerful water dragon in this realm. We dragons do not follow the usual mortal rules. Our spirit and mind grows stronger way before our bodies. Mother wanted me to gain all the knowledge i needed before the priest could start the ritual that will let my egg hatch

You stop her asking to explain better what she meant by letting the egg hatch. Shouldn't that be come natural?

Gnuk 2015/01/29(Thu)13:00 No. 622793 ID: e9ec23
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S'shi'mh: Didn't you pay attention when i said that we dragons do not follow the natural cycle? We can either choose to let our spirit grow or our body hatch normally. by doing the latter we risk to lose the connection to the great spiritual cycle and even worse we might let our mind regress to an animal state. Such is the burden of our power. Your race and my race has been linked together since the dawn of time. My ancestor taught your race all they know, especially the manipulation of water magic and slime magic.

I know this thanks to the linked meditation period i had with the previous Wielder. He and the priests are tasked of teaching me everything i need and make sure that my spirit grows stronger and stronger. They haven't showed up in while though. The last i remember was feeling one of the priest closing the door of my hatchery. And then you bursted in and fought that demon. Not going to lie, that was a nice distraction. But i'm officially ready to hatch now. Summon the other priests and prepare the ritual.

>oh god, we´re gonna have to explain the current state of our race, there´s no way thats gonna end well

You try to sugarcoat as much as you can the situation. How your race has been living in the swamp since your tribe can remember, that you have never heard of water dragons nor about the temples built by your own race. And in particular that you have no idea about any kind of ritual

She doesn't seem to take the news really well

S'shi'mh: WHAT?! ARE YOU JOKING? HOW MANY YEARS HAVE BEEN PASSED SINCE THE DOOR OF THE HATCHERY WAS CLOSED?

You shrug and tell her that it's probably more than a century. Maybe even more for all you know.

S'shi'mh: For the love of the water spirits, what the hell happened... what am i going to do now... I don't want to be an egg forever

>>622793
"Given the demon, I'm gonna guess an outright demon attack. You may be the last water dragon left alive. Well."

"Do you know how to do the ritual? Or where that information might be?"

also loot

Um. I don't suppose other priests could help? There must be a lot of priests out there. Or... Other dragons? Although that's scarier to contemplate visiting.

Or do you know anything about the ritual? Could you teach someone?

Failing that, I guess we have a quest. To try and hatch a water dragon. You are an adventurer, now. That's what adventurers do, right, quests?

I see, that's all very incredible.


Pat it on the head again.

>>622793
Tell her you may be able to find records of how the ritual was performed. You haven't fully explored the dungeon, after all. If not, maybe there is another temple somewhere?

well we'll have to ask Swabluff what he knows when we regain conciseness

Alright, dragon... do you know enough to be able to initiate somebody as a priest yourself, and/or teach them how to do the hatching ritual? If so, that could save a lot of time. Any information about the layout of this place at all, really.

Also, is resurrection magic a thing in this setting? Bringing some of those who fell defending this place back to life would be another handy shortcut, possibly.

we should try and find out why the demon was after the dragon egg. knowing its motive might shed some light on the situation.

Gnuk 2015/01/30(Fri)13:00 No. 622874 ID: 7542cc
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>Pat it on the head again.

You reach your hand again to the dragon's head, trying to comfort her, but she reply with a cold glare. You decide to not pursue the petting anymore.

>also loot

That... might be kinda difficult. You seem to be floating in an empty space, you don't even have your equipment on.

You ask the dragon where exactly you are.

S'shi'mh: This is the mindlink. It's a spiritual place where our spirit can meet and talk to each other.

Gnuk 2015/01/30(Fri)13:17 No. 622876 ID: 7542cc
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>"Given the demon, I'm gonna guess an outright demon attack. You may be the last water dragon left alive. Well."

>we should try and find out why the demon was after the dragon egg. knowing its motive might shed some light on the situation.

You start asking S'shi'mh if she knows anything about demon attacks or why would that monster was aiming for her egg in particular.

S'shi'mh: I have no idea. From what the Wielder told me demons are horrid creatures that are essentially made of evil spirits. They either find way to become material by sheer willpower or they are brought in this world with magical stones that bind flesh of other creatures and shape them into their own forms. He told me that they aren't particularly intelligent and they should not be capable of complex plan of attacks. I doubt they are powerful enough to even fight my race.

>Um. I don't suppose other priests could help? There must be a lot of priests out there. Or... Other dragons? Although that's scarier to contemplate visiting.

S'shi'mh: Well... i guess. I know for sure i'm not the only egg that was laid in this world and other dragons might know of the process. Or their servants.

>Or do you know anything about the ritual? Could you teach someone?

>Alright, dragon... do you know enough to be able to initiate somebody as a priest yourself, and/or teach them how to do the hatching ritual? If so, that could save a lot of time. Any information about the layout of this place at all, really.

S'shi'mh: No, i do not know how it works. It wasn't my job or my duty to know. All i have to do is gather strenght, power and wisdom. Enough to be ready to hatch. The rest was my mother's servants duty. I spent almost all my life in this hatchery. The only one allowed in here was the Wielder. I don't even know how the outside world look.

>Tell her you may be able to find records of how the ritual was performed. You haven't fully explored the dungeon, after all. If not, maybe there is another temple somewhere?

>well we'll have to ask Swabluff what he knows when we regain consciousness

You try to comfort the little creature by telling you'll do whatever is in your power to make her hatch. You tell her that you know a person with a lot of experience and knowledge and that he might help with this.

The little dragon seems to cheer up a bit.

S'shi'mh: I am in your hands, Wielder of the Trident. May our races prosper together.

>Also, is resurrection magic a thing in this setting? Bringing some of those who fell defending this place back to life would be another handy shortcut, possibly.

You are not really knowleadgeable about magic, but you are rather sure that resurrection magic might not exist or might be an extremely powerful and rare branch. You have been always taught that no one should ever dabble with life and death.

Gnuk 2015/01/30(Fri)13:22 No. 622877 ID: 7542cc
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The dragon starts shaking her tiny paws and your vision turns blurry.

After a couple of seconds you finally regain consciousness.
Swabluff is sitting in front of you, in front of a little campfire. Your back is resting on a statue.

Swabluff: Oh hey, you finally woke up.

You try and adjust yourself so you can get up and closer to the fire. But something seems to block your movements.

Gnuk 2015/01/30(Fri)13:23 No. 622878 ID: 7542cc
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That something seems to be a good amount of rope tied over you.
And a knife, stuck in the middle of your chest.

>>622878
Ask why you are tied up, and what's with the knife. There's no blood so this must be some weird magic item. (it's the healing knife obviously)

Where's the egg?

Don't panic, it's a healing shiv!

Um, thanks for getting there in time to help with the demon. Why am I tied up?

>>622878
"I feel like this should hurt more than it does."

We aren't dead and he isn't gone with all the loot, so that rules out most betrayals. Ask if we were convulsing or something.

>>622878
Demonism is not contagious, is it?

>>622877
what is this big fuzzy thing behind us?

>>622911
That would be a rock covered in moss.

>>622878
"ok... Do I have to ask the question or can we just skip that part and you start telling me what the hell is this?"

Also what kind of dagger is this?

Ask if our good friend Gianni is alright.

>>622925
this sounds like about the right tone.

alos looking at Swabluffs sheet he has a magical healing dagger, he probably tied us up because he has had people see the dagger make assumptions and try to kill him in the past.

I agree with the 'don't panic' comments. I disagree with their general assessment of the situation.

It strikes me that Swabluff seems to have done an awful little cartographing so far, demon business aside. It strikes me he seemed a little well prepared and a little too eager to hire some unknown novice adventurer no-one else would touch. It strikes me he seems to have been far more knowledgeable about your culture than the norm in regards to, oh, certain naming conventions it has.

It strikes me he might never have been your friend, and that he knew this was a ranidae dungeon and that he needed a ranidae stooge to find a way to help him break through the front door. Someone who would 'trigger' the outside device to enter the dungeon, and could open the door from the inside, maybe, hmmm?

As all that strikes me, I wonder if it's at all a good idea to have a needle-like dagger filled with what seems to be demon blood, or some manner of poison, stuck in your chest while you can do almost nothing to remove it.

For the love of goodness, the guy's called himself SwaBLUFF 'youcantrustme' McBLUFF.

So, right about now you should totes try to get in mental touch with your little dragonliege and wonder to her whether she knows any purifying magics and slippery slime spells so you can get out of the bind you find yourself in. If unable to do that at the moment, you should at least try to consider the most relevant questions of the hour.

Why DID he bind you up and stick you with the dagger? What does Swabluff want with all this? What's in the dagger, coating it? Why have you been left alive, for now?

I may be paranoid, but for crying out loud he called himself the equivalent of BLUFFY 'trustme' McBLUFFINGTON.

Ask him what is up.

>>622970

The problem is he hasn't exactly known much, if anything about the culture at all, none of the naming conventions, and the cartography comes to the point where most of his time was locked outside while there was a potential demon inside.

He hasn't exactly had much time to do anything at all really.

>>622985

That's fair. I also misread the 'my homeland' thing as 'the ranidae part of the kingdom' instead of 'the entire kingdom' in reference to nicknames being earned unironically.

I agree with should give him a chance to explain, but... well, as I said. Paranoid. Green demon blood + green dagger goop + BLUFF BLUFFY McBLUFFINGTON = leaping to conclusions.

Gnuk 2015/02/01(Sun)12:55 No. 623138 ID: 400f27
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>Ask why you are tied up, and what's with the knife. There's no blood so this must be some weird magic item

>Don't panic.Um, thanks for getting there in time to help with the demon. Why am I tied up?

>"I feel like this should hurt more than it does."

>We aren't dead and he isn't gone with all the loot, so that rules out most betrayals. Ask if we were convulsing or something.

>"ok... Do I have to ask the question or can we just skip that part and you start telling me what the hell is this?"

>Ask him what is up.

You decide to not panic. That there is probably a logic answer. And you decide to ask Swabluff to give you one.

Swabluff: "You better not move too much boy. After you fainted i had time to check the demon."

He pulls out a large book from his backpack and opens it on a page showing a picture that looks like the demon you just fought

Swabluff: "That was a Fetcher Demon. An horrid relentless assassin. Their soul are born from the bitterness of liars and killers that were betrayed. They produce a really powerful toxin that coats their claw. A single drop is strong enough to usually put a person out of consciousness."

Well that might explain the dizzyness you felt.

Swabluff: "I am actually surprised you even managed to not only move, but even manage to still fight. You must have the spirit of a true adventurer, boy."

You point out that he still hasn't explained why there is a dagger stuck in your chest and why you are tied up.

Swabluff: "OH! Yeah. That's the magical dagger of Kitekura. It's a magical healing dagger that is able to drain all the poison from a body. The process takes a while, and i had to tie you up because i was afraid you'd pull it out or had convulsion and remove it. Right now it's still extracting the remains of the demon's poison. Good thing you passed out for eight hours straight, at least you didn't have to get bored"

Gnuk 2015/02/01(Sun)12:59 No. 623139 ID: 400f27
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>Ask if our good friend Gianni is alright.

>Where's the egg?

You start looking around the room and ask Swabluff where Gianni and the egg are, and if they are fine.

Swabluff moves a bit and points to your left.

Swabluff: "Your Framelock friend was adamant about the fact that no one should touck your stuff and that he was going to guard it till you'd wake up. It seems to have taken a like to you. He hasn't let go of that petrified dragon egg for a single moment."

>>623138
"I thought it would something like that."
Mention that you actually weren’t simply passed out but that you were communing with the dragon egg. He doesn’t conveniently know the location of any helpful adult dragons, does he?

Gnuk 2015/02/01(Sun)13:20 No. 623144 ID: 400f27
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>It strikes me that Swabluff seems to have done an awful little cartographing so far, demon business aside. It strikes me he seemed a little well prepared and a little too eager to hire some unknown novice adventurer no-one else would touch.

As you are looking to gianni hugging the egg, a weird tought crosses your mind.

You ask Swabluff a single question.

Why did he pick you out of all the possible adventurers. You know you have seen other veterans or at least capable people in the village.

Swabluff: "Oh, you figured out i see"

His face turn from a smile to a concerned look.

Swabluff: "I'm sorry boy. I haven't been completely honest with you. I knew this dungeon belonged to your race.
It's not the first time i have seen one. And when one of my employee report told me that a ranidae walked out of their swamps and started living in the village of Bluemoat i had to seize the moment.
No one has ever been able to enter into one of these dungeons. They must be ripe with history and knowledge. I always imagined your races decided to retreat into the swamps due to something horrible or for the darkest reasons. I didn't tell you about that because i was afraid you would have forbidden me. But apparently you have no memory or knowledge of this place, so i imagine your race has forgot about these places as well."

He takes a break and points to Gianni

Swabluff: "And what we found here is probably greater than both of us! Look! Your race was linked to the ancient water dragons! That petrified dragon egg is a proof of your ancient lineage!"

He stops again and look at you with a mortified look in his eyes

Swabluff: "But i swear to you. I had no idea a demon was lingering in this place. And i will never give myself peace to have made you risk your life like that. I promise, Flycatcher Vattelapeska, that i will make up with you in any way i can"

"Well, do you know how to hatch dragon eggs? Because that thing´s still alive and kicking. We need a ritual to hatch it and you´re kinda knowledgable about those things."

>>623144
Tell him you can make it up to you by helping you find more of these temples, and restoring your race and the race of water dragons to their former glory.

huh... how long does it take before we can take the dagger out? Also who's idea was it to make a healing dagger? It sounds more like something made as a joke then anything practical.

But yeah ask what he found since you where out. Also what does he know about dragons in general. I mean if we're going to be stuck here till the dagger has drained all the venom might as well start killing time. wait, is the dagger draining out the venom or putting anti-venom in?

>But i swear to you. I had no idea a demon was lingering in this place. And i will never give myself peace to have made you risk your life like that.
It's okay. You didn't do it on on purpose, and any escort or protection gig comes with the risk that you might run into something more than you can handle, or worse than you expect.

Plus hey, you could have run but instead you saved my hide.

>petrified dragon egg
Tell him that unless it was just demon blood fever dreams, you don't think the egg is a fossil. There's a little dragon in there wondering why no one ever preformed the ritual that to wake it up.

...and the fact the demon was really trying to get to the egg kind of supports that. No point in trying to assassinate something that's already dead.

Maybe now we can sell some of the things we collected to Swabluff, like those pearls we've been hanging on to.

>>623144
dragon talked to me while I was passed out, ain't dead. demon was trying to kill it or something.

apparently the water dragons were our... rulers? In this weird mutually beneficial relationship. Despite the slight deception, you've been nothing but truthful otherwise, and a great help Swabluff. I have no doubt other dungeons of similar nature have great rewards... and lingering demons.

>>623144

So, wait, there are MORE dungeons like this one? This... this actually sounds like the beginnings of a very interesting, and potentially profitable, partnership.

Swabluff gets to chart dungeons no-one has been in for centuries, and you get to try to find more information on the process of hatching your little dragon friend.

And we're not even done exploring this dungeon, yet. Wasn't there a ring, somewhere?

Gnuk 2015/02/05(Thu)12:44 No. 623658 ID: ade8ba
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>It's okay. You didn't do it on on purpose, and any escort or protection gig comes with the risk that you might run into something more than you can handle, or worse than you expect. Plus hey, you could have run but instead you saved my hid

Swabluff smiles and chuckles: "That's the least i could do"

>"I thought it would something like that."

>huh... how long does it take before we can take the dagger out? Also who's idea was it to make a healing dagger? It sounds more like something made as a joke then anything practical.

Swabluff: "Kitekura was a weird guy. Kind of a dick, to be honest. he was known to be one of the greatest healer in the world, but he also really disliked people. He swore like any other healing to help everyone, but he decided to also have fun with it. So he created horrible tools to scare people. You should see what i have at home. A horrible mask with needles and saws that is able to repair any damage in your face. The thing is so scary and freaky that i didn't even want to try it when i lost my eye hahahahah! ANYWAY! The dagger is extracting all the poison at the moment. The only real problem is that you moved a lot after you were stabbed so it had time to move all around your body. It should not take much more than an hour still i think."

>But yeah ask what he found since you where out.

Swabluff: "Not much to be honest. I searched for the entire dungeon and all you might have missed was the entrance where a giant blob of slime was blocking the entrance. Fortunately your friend Gianni managed to remove it and we were close enough to come to your aid. For the rest the dungeon doesn't seem to have anything of interest. There are no books or runes aside the ones in this room and Gianni told me you already saw those."

>"Well, do you know how to hatch dragon eggs? Because that thing´s still alive and kicking. We need a ritual to hatch it and you´re kinda knowledgable about those things."

Swabluff stops for a second, staring at you like you just said the weirdest thing possible

Swabluff: "W-what did you say, boy?"

Gnuk 2015/02/05(Thu)12:57 No. 623662 ID: ade8ba
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>Mention that you actually weren’t simply passed out but that you were communing with the dragon egg. He doesn’t conveniently know the location of any helpful adult dragons, does he?

>Tell him that unless it was just demon blood fever dreams, you don't think the egg is a fossil. There's a little dragon in there wondering why no one ever preformed the ritual that to wake it up. ...and the fact the demon was really trying to get to the egg kind of supports that. No point in trying to assassinate something that's already dead.

>dragon talked to me while I was passed out, ain't dead. demon was trying to kill it or something. Apparently the water dragons were our... rulers? In this weird mutually beneficial relationship. Despite the slight deception, you've been nothing but truthful otherwise, and a great help Swabluff. I have no doubt other dungeons of similar nature have great rewards... and lingering demons.

>Tell him you can make it up to you by helping you find more of these temples, and restoring your race and the race of water dragons to their former glory.

As you start explaining all the situation the expression on Swabluff's face passes from complete surprise to curiositi to concern.

After you finish explaining and asking for his help, he takes a long pause.

Swabluff: "At first i thought you were either trying to joke or that the poison might have given you fever dreams too. But. You really don't strike me as a person with a sense of humor, no offense. And as you point out, yeah. The demon was aiming for the egg. So this mean... Inside the egg lays a real dragon..."

"Flicatcher... Listen... There hasn't been a dragon sighting in over 9 centuries. They suddenly disappeared long time ago. They were incredible creatures. From ancient ruins and statues we know that there were a lot of different races of dragons. Each one of them linked to either an element or a specific magic. Their history is clad in mistery, we just found out that your race was linked to them so who knows what else might have happened in those ages."

"And getting to the point. No, i have no idea how you could hatch a dragon. I doubt no one might know. BUT! As i told you before, i know the locations of other Ranidae dungeons. My best shot is that you might find your answers there."

You agree. That's clearly the best place to start.

Swabluff: "But it's probably dangerous to go alone. Let's head back to town. I'll see what i can do to help you out."

>Maybe now we can sell some of the things we collected to Swabluff, like those pearls we've been hanging on to.

You tell him you also need to probably sell what you found in the dungeon.

He tells you that you two can take care of that as soon as you get to town.

Gnuk 2015/02/05(Thu)13:03 No. 623663 ID: ade8ba
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You spend the night making camp inside the dungeon.

The morning after you, Swabluff and Gianni pack up and start going back to town.

During the entire trip Swabluff remains quiet, pondering on what knows what, while Gianni seems to be unable to stay still as he keeps turning around and around, enjoying the outside world after being stuck for years in the dungeon.

This leaves you with your own thoughts. This was surely an interesting beginning for your adventuring career. You started only few weeks ago and you already discovered ancient secrets of your own race, rescued the probably last living dragon in the world and killed a demon.

Sure, you almost died. But all in all this surely is a great start for your new life.

You keep walking, wondering what the future will bring you.


[END OF CHAPTER 01]

All right. Thank him for the help. Guess we've got a quest.

Hmm. If no one's seen a dragon in centuries, maybe we should be careful who we tell what we've got.

>>623663
I hope we find more eggs! I hope we find leads to where other types of dragon eggs might be, too. Maybe we can bring back all of them! Dragons for everyone!

> I hope we find leads to where other types of dragon eggs might be

Quest 'pet all the dragons' is go!

I really hope that S'shi'mh knows about other dragons then just water dragons. Might be able to help us peace things together about what happened to them or at least where we'd likely be able to find where they use to live.

Nice work with this quest Gnuk! I'm looking forward to the next chapter.