You are Lorina de Lindan, princess, weapon-autist, inquisitor-in-training, and recently the victim of a large political conspiracy led by someone you don’t know, for unknown reasons, and with unclear goals. Honestly, you probably should have expected something like this would happen after joining a secretive society, the Inquisition to be exact, whose been tasked with the handling of Strangers, dangerous people from a dimension known as “Earth” before their Cheat Skills wreak untold havoc across your kingdom. Recently, you’ve returned to the Royal Capital after being attacked by a suicidal(?) thug only to be greeted with a city on lockdown as anti-noble arsonists have attacked many estates, including your families. You were then unceremoniously grounded by your father and forbidden from associating with the Inquisition after a startling revelation leaving you to do the only logical thing you could, run away with a maid. Now, you’ve managed to sneak back into the city with your fellow inquisitor-in-training Marie Sarodieu, formerly known as Midori Suzuki, to investigate on your own terms. Archive: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=The%20Isekai%20Inquisition
>>6064507The estate of Duke Edwin de Cendre stands in front of you, well what’s left of it does anyway. You’re not exactly certain how made predominantly out of stone can burn, yet burn it does. Truth be told it doesn’t even look to be stopping anytime soon, the efforts of the bucket line only seem to be working to keep the flames from spreading to the surrounding acres of garden. Though you are rather curious why a mage is not simply dealing with the flames, you’re in the Capital, there should be a plethora of them. It’s not like there’s no water around to move either, the bucket line is originating from a small pond on the Cendre grounds, after all. So Why?“You two!” A voice of a rather tired-sounding man says as a château guard runs up to Marie and yourself, “You more muscle from the guild?!” His breathes are raspy and by the smell he seems to have sweat through his armor. Ugh, commoners.“We are, where do you need us?” Again, you let Marie do the talking. It would be a shame if you were found out now.“Bucket-” He holds his knees with his hands, “Goddess, one second-” You wait, “Huff huff, bucket brigade. We already saved what we could but now we gotta douse this dastard!” “Excuse me-” You say without thinking before immediately pounding your chest coughing and changing your voice to a much more manlier tone, “Ahem, excuse me but I have a question.”“Yeah?” The guard is totally convinced by your acting, nailed it!“Why haven’t any mages put out the flames by now?” Another cough, “They tried,” He points to the line where an elven man wears an enormous and floppy hat, “But the arsonists must’ve snuck in and put anti-magic wards throughout the house. Though I bet the flames are magic themself somehow, no one’s managed to get in and find them. Too hot and too much smoke.”“I see, was anyone hurt in the attack, is the Duke okay? The guild didn’t inform us.”“Lord de Cendre is away at his summer estate, though we’re certain a few servants didn’t manage to escape the flames. Based on the screaming I heard at least,” He’s talking more than a guard on duty probably should, seemingly enjoying the small break you’re supplying. Or maybe you’re too used to the Royal Knights? “What about the attackers themselves, did you manage to find anything else?”“Hey, you girls some sort of Inquisitors or something? What’s with all the questions?”“The guild receptionist told us to ask these questions and report back to them, they’ve hardly been informed about the attacks around the city,” Marie quickly lies.“Ah, right sorry. It’s hard to imagine a couple of pretty girls like you working them, ya look closer to priestess anyway.” “Right… Anyway, can you answer my question?”
>>6064508“Sure, no one’d get mad at me for telling some cute guild girls. Attack was in the early morning, guys must’ve snuck in or disguised themselves and placed the wards around before lighting the place up. Then they tried to bar the doors from the outside, didn’t have more than knives to arm themselves though. Those we captured refused to say a word and soon enough the Royal Guard came along to take 'em away.” “And the châteaus been burning ever since? That’s quite a while.”“Yeah, why I’m pretty sure there’s something not right about it. Hell, everything that's able to actually burn in there should be nothing but cinders by now!”“I see, thank you for the information at the very least. You may return to your job now,” He looks at you strangely? Why? Shouldn’t he know you’re his superior- Ah, undercover, right.“Uh, right. So are you helping or not?”>”Yes, we are!” Marie again swoops in with an answer. This time it’s not a lie as she leads you to the bucket brigade.>”No, well- yes but not in the way you’re thinking,” Sure a couple of second-rate guild magicians couldn’t find dispel a few wards but they aren’t you. You doubt you’ll even break a sweat!>”The guild only sent us to get some information, sorry,” You got all you needed from here, perhaps it’s best you left already.>[Write-in]
>>6064509Good to see you, QM!>”No, well- yes but not in the way you’re thinking,” Sure a couple of second-rate guild magicians couldn’t find dispel a few wards but they aren’t you. You doubt you’ll even break a sweat!>"Are there any servants still trapped inside? Or perhaps survivors who need healing magic?"
>>6064509>”No, well- yes but not in the way you’re thinking,” Sure a couple of second-rate guild magicians couldn’t find dispel a few wards but they aren’t you. You doubt you’ll even break a sweat!Hopefully we can do this in a way that doesn't immediately blow our disguise
>>6064509>”No, well- yes but not in the way you’re thinking,” Sure a couple of second-rate guild magicians couldn’t find dispel a few wards but they aren’t you. You doubt you’ll even break a sweat!
>>6064509>>”No, well- yes but not in the way you’re thinking,” Sure a couple of second-rate guild magicians couldn’t find dispel a few wards but they aren’t you. You doubt you’ll even break a sweat!
>>6064514>>6064552>>6064624>>6064625>>6064632>>6064747Counted, writing!>>6064552>Hopefully we can do this in a way that doesn't immediately blow our disguiseNo comment.
>>6065162-No, well- yes but not in the way you’re thinking. Say, Guardsman, do you think there’s anyone that could still be inside?” The man has the audacity to laugh at you! The peasant! Okay, maybe it’s more like a strained choke but still, the principle! “Ma’am this fire started hours ago and hasn’t calmed one bit. Anyone still inside has been with the Goddess for quite a while.”The peon! Commoner! Plebian! “U-uh, okay. Is there anyone that might need healing magic? Or help?”He shakes his head, “Some priestesses came awhile ago and healed what they could and took awhile those who required more work, thanks for the offer though.” “They were able to heal outside the building?” He nods, “But anything inside is instantly snuffed. Gotta be some pretty strong wards or something.”“Hmph, we’ll see about that. Come, Midori,” With those words you march straight to the burning building and don’t look back. Not even at what must be a horde of admirers seeing such an elegant woman bravely sacrifice herself to break the enchantments. How little they know--Thiswasamistakethiswasamistakethiswasamistakethiswasamistakethiswasamistake! The words repeat themselves in your mind over and over as your body once again tries to expunge the gathered smoke in your lungs. It hurts to touch anything, even your own skin, even your everpresent companion Sturmfahrerin! Well, maybe you shouldn’t be surprised about that last one but she’s practically betrayed you! The heat is driving you insane and you’re pretty sure you’re somehow disfigured, it feels that way at least. Fuck! You looked so cool entering the burning building too, like a heroine about to save the day but only a few seconds later Marie had to retreat. Now, you’re lost and only able to pinpoint one of the wards! A tiny little pebble hexxed to Hell and back! The worst part is that even when you threw it out a window your magic and the buffs you cast on yourself didn’t return! How many of these fuckers still are there?!You only have the vaguest of magic sense to try and find the wards and you’re too distracted by the heat, by the pain to even think about going after them. Too bad you’re in way too deep to get out now and you’re pretty sure that you yourself are on fire! It’s then that the realization strikes you, you’re going to die. Promptly, you begin to freak out. You probably shouldn’t, it’d be much more logical to calm down and seek a way out of the building where you can use your magic and heal yourself. The thing is though, you’re currently not logical. You’re thinking of hypotheticals, what happens when you die? Are you really going to the Goddess? Will Asher reverse time and save you? But shouldn’t you not remember if he does that? What happens to the timeline anyway? Will it be another Lorina that gets saved and not you?
>>6065216Needless, to say with so many questions flooding your head you’re currently not exactly in the sanest of minds. Perhaps, one could even say you’ve gone mad. Mad enough that when you turn a corner and instead of seeing the remains of the master bedroom like you should, you instead see a coordinate that should not exist. With a checkered floor and blue walls and many a clock that tick an insane chime and most importantly a corridor without the fire and the heat. And as you finish your dash into the strange corridor, with far too many doors, you expect to cough, cry, and simmer from what the château has done to your body. Only to find that you feel fine, better than fine even, great! Though it’s such a jarring experience you find yourself falling onto your buttocks after a brief stumble, only for your back to hit a wall where the “portal” you suppose was there. And as you sit there, breathing and calming from the recent not self-made ordeal, you are beholden to a most peculiar sight. As the rabbit, yes a rabbit a totally normal rabbit that just so happens to walk on two feet and wears a fashionable suit, walks out from one of the doors while fiercely trying to affix a flower pendant on his suit. A weathered and gruff grunt ushers in, “I’m late. I’m late for a- Gah, I’m getting too old for this hooliganism!” He grumbles before opening the door opposite of him, emerging from a different door on that side and repeating the process thrice more. In one of them, he even uses the upside-down doors and walks on the ceiling! “Damn kids, always getting themselves killed right after brooding. Why, does no one ever take my advice? And where’s Bill when you need him-”“Uh, hello? Mister rabbit, hello?!” You call out to the peculiarly large, or are you just small(?), rabbit.“Hm? Oh, hello Mabel, what are you doing here?” The rabbit barely passes you a glance. “What? Have you confused me for someone else? My name isn’t Mabel?”“Bah, news travels fast in what remains of Wonderland, and everyone knows you’re not Alice, so you must be Mabel.”“W-who is that?”“It doesn’t matter, you’d forget it anyway. Mabel knows very little, don’t you know? Ah, it would seem you wouldn’t, since well-” This rabbit claims you’re an idiot when he speaks in riddles that don’t make a lick of sense! Goddess, you hate it every time you come to this “Wonderland,” Or storybook place or whatever Asher and Marie said! And why does he sound so familiar?!“No, my name is Lorina! Lo-ri-na! You hear me!” That does get him to stop fiddling with his pendant and take out a broken pocket watch. He makes a rather stumped face after that. How a rabbit can make such a face you don’t claim to know. “Hm, seems I’ve led you in the wrong direction! What a terrible guide I must’ve been! Maybe the Wicked Queen, or was it the Red Witch, was right and the end of the world really is at hand if even I’m getting too old for my role!”
>>6065217“Yes, that’s all well and good but can you please help me leave this place and return to my home?” Wait why are you talking like this? You meant to curse out the beast! And why are your hands so tiny?“You even sound like her, good chap that one, if you came from Earth that is! But I’m getting ahead of myself, would you accompany little Lorina to the croquet match? Alice should be playing with the duchess today!”>Mental corruption is low [9%] you have free will>”Why yes, mister rabbit, I’d love to go with you.”>You bite your lip and storm off in a random direction away from the rabbit.>[Write-in]
>>6065217...I really wish our good nature would stop getting abused by these stupid book characters.>>6065223"I'd love to go with you, Master Bunny, but I seemed to have misplaced my ruby red shoes... Would you help me find them?"
>>6065223>[Write-in]How can I accompany Lorina? I am Lorina!
>>6065223>>You bite your lip and storm off in a random direction away from the rabbit.
>>6065390>>6065568>>6065682>>6065758>>6065228>>6065270Writing.
>>6066641“How could I accompany myself? I am Lorina, you got that right?” The rabbit flicks a dismissive wave towards you, “Pah, no one really cares who are what you are around here. You’re just one of the many Alice surrounds herself with. I can hardly remember every name around here even with the amount dwindling. It’s not exactly a nice thing for reality to collapse, don't you know?”You’re about to snap at the animal before coming to your senses and hatching a devious plot. One that’s sure to get at least some new information, “Y-yes, I’d love to accompany mi-master rabbit, sir! B-but I seem to have misplaced my ruby red shoes, could you perhaps help me find them?”The next thing you know a playing card slams into your face, it feels like a stone! “Not yours, not yours! You’d do well not to mention such things here!” The rabbit shouts, “Didn’t your mother, or Lewis, ever teach you any manners?” You bring your small hands to massage the pain away, “Hey! Maybe if you were all more honest with me, I wouldn’t!” The rabbit sputters a bit more, like an Inquisitor just told you wished to help Strangers, before calming unsettlingly fast, “Ah, it seems you’re not yet knowledgable of our customs despite originating from our world,” You bite your lip to stop from shouting at his untruth, “Let me guide you to a bit of advice, Mabel, so you know so little!” After he tops off the final word with a flourish of his rabbit finger to his cheery tune his face drops immediately to deathly seriousness, “The denizens of Wonderland are all lies, every single one, even to ourselves. Don’t you forget that, little miss lie.”You storm off, shoving the rabbit away as you leave down the endless corridor. He says something about how it’s a really bad idea to wander without a guide, but didn’t he just admit he was a liar? You’ll be fine, you don’t need him or anyone else in this twisted place. Almost immediately once he’s out of earshot you get the sensation that a lot of magical energy is emanating from, well, everything around you. The corridor shifts, one moment you walk on the floor, then the wall, then the ceiling, then back, over and over again. It’s not even a loop either, you’ve yet to pass the same scenery twice, every door has its difference, and every tile its cracks. What even is this place, some kind of pocket realm? But that’s magic that only exists in the realm of myth, like teleportation. Maybe a Stranger could do it but someone else? Not a chance.
>>6066700Eventually, you tire of the same scenery and no exit being in sight and take the, admittedly foolish decision, to open one of the doors and walk through. You say it was foolish as you found yourself in a forest that made you forget your name for a spell. Stepping back you try another door, leading to a land where the trees were mushrooms and the mushrooms were trees, there a disgusting overgrown caterpillar blew smoke in your face. Well, what about a third door? Oh, yes, of course, why wouldn’t you expect a giant egg to be trying to avoid falling off a wall and into a pit of spikes? That makes perfect sense. Then, who could forget the tea party through the next door with the two familiar faces of a hatter and hare? They’re too busy arguing to even give you, the Royal Princess, the time of day. Oh, how you hate it here!You run down the corridor but every door you open leads you to an equally disgusting and unhelpful site that makes you run away even further from where you entered. Why you don’t think you’ll be dealing with trees that grow mouths and eyes nor a dumb-looking flightless bird desperately trying to run from its hunters, which happen to be other running birds? Maybe you did die in that fire and this is Hell? The Goddess would surely never allow Heaven to be a sickening place like this.“Hm~ no courage, no heart, and certainly no brains. My o~ my, you’ve surely got a lot you need to gain unless you mean to feign in your vain attempt to reign~” Quickly you turn around after a poof of magic energy revealed a creature behind you. A fat purple thing that likens itself to a cat with a grin far too large for its face, it lies atop a shelve whose previous inhabitants have been pushed off to shatter on the tiles below, “But perhaps if she strode along the Yellow Brick Road she wouldn’t be so easy to goad~!”“I am not easy to goad!”“Behind you.”To your great shame, you do indeed look behind you. But you have a perfectly logical explanation for it! Another surge of magical energy appeared and you were preparing to deflect an attack with Bedelia (forgetting she isn’t here in this realm), only to see the same cat lounging on the floor behind you. His obese belly is up like he’s a normal version of his species wanting it to be rubbed. You snarl.A paw is flipped down in your direction, “So used to being the boss you too forget that you’re indeed lost. It’s true, so am I but I can’t always rely on my eye when I spy a lost little Inquisitor cry. Woe! What a terrible job I’ve secured. It doesn’t even cover my dental~!” Somehow the thing's grin gets even wider, “See~?”“What is it you want? Speak clearly,” You order.
>>6066702It rolls its eyes, “Fine, I can’t exactly insult the divine, now can I? It would certainly be crossing a line that would see Alice’s design fall right into these paws I always shine~” You’re half tempted to kick the cat away as it licks its paws and continue your search for an exit before it continues speaking, “But who about this? You agree to help one of mine by giving him a sign and I’ll assign your fate to be one that's more kind~”“And how exactly do you want me to help you?” “Go through that door,” His tail snaps up, and points to an emerald door that conveniently has [The Land of Oz] written on it. You turn back for more questions only to see the cat has somehow disappeared, leaving behind only a small cloud of smoke. Did it turn itself invisible or something? You check around for a bit but cannot find it at all. How irksome. >You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barrel wasteland>You thrash and dash to find your way out until eventually smoke returns to your nostrils and heat to your skin>[Write-in]
>You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barrel wastelandAs much as I don't like making deals with anything with teeth that big, I really don't want Lorina or Midori to be burnt to a crisp from going into a fire... Is all this going to lead to a negative trait: Pyrophobia?If only we could take a flight out of here... And yes, I did indeed forget the relevant picture.
>>6066745>>6066704Just in case linking my vote matters.
>>6066704>>You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barrel wasteland
>>6066704I knew I recognized this particular image>You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barrel wasteland
>>6066704>>You thrash and dash to find your way out until eventually smoke returns to your nostrils and heat to your skin
>>6066704>You thrash and dash to find your way out until eventually smoke returns to your nostrils and heat to your skin
>>6066704>You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barren wastelandDang isekai worlds stealing our fairy tales
>>6066883>Dang isekai worlds stealing our fairy talesDEYR TAKIN ERH JERBS
>>6066704>>You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barrel wastelandThis is the second time a fire-related incident has provoked one of these trips, yeah? There was the not-Scotish village before.
>>6066704>You thrash and dash to find your way out until eventually smoke returns to your nostrils and heat to your skinStop taking corruptive trap options
Rolled 3, 3 = 6 (2d6)
>>6066704>You decide to walk through the door, finding yourself in a barrel wasteland
