“The Southlands.” That’s what the races of the Northwest call them, as if they were one place—a realm unified under a single nation or people. In truth, the Southlands are a molten mosaic of humans, beastmen, and sundry others flowing over and through each other in coexistence and in conflict. The land itself is a tapestry of desert and jungle, of low savannah and high plateau, where even the Race of Man is far from uniform: the hides of the humans here range from a ruddy tan to a deep blue-black that nearly equals the Drow of Wevenore.Not that you got to see much of it.You are James Efron, Senior Initiate of the Hawksong Mages’ Tower. At your age—twenty-three—you really ought to be a Mage Apprentice. You should be studying in some stuffy laboratory back home in the big city like Izirina Henzler, or maybe taking a practicum under some smaller adjunct Associate Tower like your old pal Testa. But nooo, you craved a life of action, of adventure! ‘<Fireball> is meant for the field!’ you used to boast of your favourite spell. So you’d taken the field, first as a formal Field Researcher and then later as a freelance adventurer-for-hire.And that had led you here. To the Southlands. To this dungeon.It isn’t the cool kind of dungeon, full of monsters to kite and <Chain Lightning> for coin, alas. It’s the kind where Southrons store their prisoners-of-war, for that seems to be the size of your sad situation: a prisoner, at the beginnings of what is shaping up to be a full-scale intercivilizational conflict.The Men of the South may be myriad, but tensions between their ilk and the fairer folk of the Northwest—your homeland, Hawksong’s aegis—have been a unifying cause as of late, and not only for the human races. Relations have been fraying since before you were born, when a sinister cabal of dark-skinned demon-worshippers staged a terrorist attack on the Mages’ Tower itself, assassinating the Archmage and destroying the much-beloved Eternal Fountain.
For a couple decades, tensions had been limited to trade friction and limited immigration. In recent years, though, certain factions of caravan-traders and their princely backers had shifted their approach from gouging prices to gouging eyes, so to speak. That is to say: border raids by blackmen and beastmen had been striking northern trade outposts with alarming regularity, with organization beyond the capability of bandit bands, and better equipment than they ought to have been able to scavenge.And so there’d been work for adventurers, protecting those who would brave the hostile natives to do business with those few sultans and sheikhs still willing to trade rare spell-components, luxury goods, and foodstuffs from the South for Northern food, gold, and Dwarven technology. And so, chasing coin and the old thrill of your youth, you’d followed the opportunity south.And so, you’d determined the truth of the rumors for yourself.You’d arrived in Chiffchaff to support a garrison and patrol the outskirts of the outpost for signs of trouble. You’d expected maybe some sabre-rattling camel-riders, or a few exotic animal-headed savage furry-folk with a dangerous proclivity for homophagy. You’d found both, but so much more: gnolls equipped with strange, stony armour, commanded by strange Southman sorcerers. The dwarven technology the Southlands had purchased had not gone to pot in the absence of regular cultural exchange: rather, they had augmented it in unwholesome fashion with the nefarious and reckless demon-magic of the Southron mages in their Black Tower, producing infernal artillery that blasted apart wooden palisades and <Shield> spells alike.They weren’t there for robbery or for ransom. They had arrived in numbers suitable for invasion, for conquest. And they’d done it, too. You, as with the other adventurers and the garrisoned militia, had been woefully inadequate to stop them swarming over you like so many black ants over a zebra carcass out on the plains.
>>6320523Now you lie shackled beneath the town you’d been sent to protect: once called Chiffchaff by the colonists, it is now known to its new management as Al-Duarah.For the last year, you’ve shared a cell with your party’s dwarven axeman, Brorfor Granitechest. Of course, in his current condition, he’s unlikely to be doing his duties as frontliner in the near future… assuming you ever get free. Still, it’s a better fate than your other fighter, your fellow Northman, Tyson Handler. Handler had fallen ill with a fever, made worse by this damnable region’s oppressive heat, until finally his miserable wailing had grown intolerable to the guards, and they’d hauled him out. You’d hoped, for a time, that they’d seen sense and taken him to a healer… but he never came back. You’ve since come to suspect that the giggling gaolers of this awful place simply butchered and ate him.And that’s to say nothing of your party’s female members, Enid and Denise. The Southrons seem to take a strong stance against the intermingling of the sexes—ha! Imagine employing maneaters as mercenaries while pretending at morality!—and so have stowed the distaff members of your adventuring company elsewhere. You haven’t seen them in many months, and fear for their fate.Only in your dreams are you free—you shaggy face shorn of this prisoner’s beard, your wrists unburdened by chains, your future still bright. In your dreams you are with her again: with Zith-Zi. You and she had parted on bad terms—not your first fight, no, but probably your worst. You only wanted the best for her: safety, stability, the sort of proper civilized life that a goblin girl like her could never have dreamed of.
Even now though, as a ‘nilbog’, Zee couldn’t seem to settle down: she couldn’t tame her tongue, or resist the urge to roam. It seemed every time you turned your back she was off gallivanting somewhere: the Goblin Wastes, or the deep-country and high-mountains on the border of the Bloodrise Mountains.It was a sticking point for your folks. They could just BARELY accept you seeing a demihuman, since she was (apparently) some bastard half-human sired by an errant nobleman of the much-beloved and sadly-collapsed House of Yosef. And as for you…You loved her. You still love her. It’s why you dream of her—of the life you could have had, if you’d never come to this dark and Hellish place, far from the Gods of Light and the Paladin Kings’ Pax Argentum—the Silver Peace of the Northwestern Realms. But inevitably, every dream ends, and you wake: bearded, emaciated, shackled, caged, doomed, and damned, across from a grumbling dwarf with a ruined leg, while the marching feet and South-Common commands up above attest to a renewed offensive in the making—a war on your own lands, your people.And without Zith-Zi.You can only thank the Gods Above for that. If you have any solace, it’s that you spared her the Southlands.…
Welcome back to Cambion Quest!For those of you just joining us, or who need a refresher—or who just want to vote—the previous threads in this quest can be found at:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=ReptoidQM , as can its predecessors in this setting. This quest follows the split-self sisters Zith-Zi and Carazzi ‘Cara-Zi’ Yosef, a demon-tainted goblin girl split in two by a <Clone> spell, with each half transformed by time, circumstance, and esoteric magic.This quest was intended to only last a few threads, but I’ve come to really enjoy the unexpected turns it’s taken, and the writing of such dynamic characters. I hope you’ve been enjoying it as well!This will likely be our final thread. Thank you all for joining me on this wild ride. Let’s do our best to give ZZ and CZ a happy (or at least interesting) ending, shall we?
…You are Carazzi Yosef, the purified and perfected shadow of a transformed ex-gobliness. About six or seven years ago now, a mage pal of yours separated you into two parts: Zith-Zi, the real and original ‘you’, became a pretty pink ‘nilbog’, while you embodied the ugliest aspects which she had abandoned. You were ‘born’ a deformed freak, greener and wartier than even other goblins, with a burning heart of Hellfire that drove you to lust, wrath, envy, and instability.You were—are—a cambion, the secret spawn of a half-reptilian, half-human occultist’s demon-fueled gender-bending tryst with Mama Yen-Zi decades ago. Only with the help of your friends and family did you go on the long and winding journey which led you down from New Goblintown and to the far-flung Orient—the Eastlands—where you and your sister built a strange little found-family of freaks and weirdos, seized control of an ancient dungeon and its aeons-old forge, and found a way to use it to remake you into a transcendent being.For the first time in your short life as an independent being, you have known peace.But now, that peace is broken—shattered as the black-glass interface of your dungeon’s magical bio-spiritual ‘forge’ following your failed attempt to use it to bring back the dead. You meant well—really!—but sometimes good intentions and the whisperings of the Dark Gods aren’t enough, you suppose.You did your best to make it right, using astral projection and the Akashic Record to locate your old demon-buddy Maladoo and his gaggle of teenage companions. While ZZ was off solving some sort of medical mystery in a Far Eastern court, you and some of the reawakened proto-Dwarven goblins who built this place worked with your fellow occult apprentice and reforged monster Dura of Steelwood—now a pretty pink ‘porc’—to repair what the botched resurrection had wrecked. When the members of Maladoo’s gang arrived, Frederich Johannes and Vel Dinh proved most adept assistants, with cost-saving connections and useful skills to bring to bear.
>>6320538But they’d also brought news from the Southlands. News that changed everything.Jimmy—James Efron, your other half’s humie squeeze—was in trouble. If he was even alive, he was a captive of the Southrons, who were apparently mobilizing actual ARMIES against the Northwestern Realms of the Paladin King—well, Paladin Queen right now, technically. The rest of the Maladoo Gang was still down there, helping a platoon of paladins (or something like that) battle back their forces… and Chiffchaff, the little trading-town with the funny name where Jimmy’s party had gone adventuring, was occupied by that army—an army of dark-skinned demonists and cackling hyena-men.“…Shit.”Needless to say, Zith-Zi hadn’t taken the news well when she came back. It had hurt you dearly to see her wide smile collapse into ruin upon her return. What made it worse was that the forge still isn’t fixed (Johannes and Vel are still working on it right now), and you’re down a frontline fighter (Murbal the half-orc had run off somewhere in shame and despair when you’d failed to bring back her dead little brother).She’d stared, eyes wide, nostrils flared, fingers twitching with strangling intent as you listed the litany of woes, and when you’d told her the tale of James Efron’s fate, she’d screamed a string of slurs in every language she knew and stormed off to lock herself in her room, alone.You know not all of this is your fault, exactly, and you’ve made major strides toward setting right what went wrong, but even so… ZZ trusted you with Patmo-Shoka while she was away, and you can’t help but feel you made a real mess of it. The timing couldn’t be worse, either: right about now, a fully functional forge capable of remaking a warrior into a super-soldier would be MIGHTY handy.“Fuck.”
>>6320539Now you and the rest of the Monstrous Regiment can only await your leader’s emergence and instructions. You know your soul-sister as well as yourself—you were once one, after all—and you know her heart will lead you south, to save (or at least avenge) her lover.You share something of that urge—you’d worked hard to bury the sense memories and sentiments, but you were Jimmy’s lover too, once, sort of. You were a part of Zith-Zi when the relationship first started, and if your memories of your time as a unified Zi are hazy and half-formed, the clearest among them are those tied to lust, and to love, and to violence.You remember the shared escapades and adventures—in the wilderness, the crypts, in the pubs to celebrate successes, in the bedrolls on the road and beneath the sheets of more civilized spaces.You can remember how your—her—heart stirred when Jimmy would run his knuckles gently across her jaw, tilt her head up, and stare into her eyes.But here, and now, as you are? You think…>You ought to head out immediately—or as immediately as feasible—to go save Jimmy>You should first finish fixing the forge, and attempt to use it for an added edge… Even if it means a delay>You ought to be gearing up and recruiting for the adventure ahead—you have coin for equipment and reinforcements, after all>You ought to check on the Monstrous Regiment’s morale, and make sure your ‘contractors’ are all on board>Write-in
It seems our two options are to wait here awhile to repair the forge and build an army big enough to help invade Chiffchaff. Or we go there immediately with a small force and try to rescue jimmy covertly. If we wait jimmy could die in prison making liberating Chiffchaff pointless. I actually wonder why the southern's haven't tried to ransom him to his apparently rich family. Hopefully they aren't planning on sacrificing their prisoners in some demon ritual to push back the paladin. Our best bet for jimmy actually surviving is to go there now with some of the forces we have on hand. >You ought to head out immediately—or as immediately as feasible—to go save Jimmy
>>6320546>You ought to head out immediately—or as immediately as feasible—to go save JimmyEven before the forge broke it always had a sky high failure chance, not worth waiting for it now.Stealth mission.
>>6320546>You ought to check on the Monstrous Regiment’s morale, and make sure your ‘contractors’ are all on board
>>6320546>You ought to head out immediately—or as immediately as feasible—to go save Jimmy>You ought to check on the Monstrous Regiment’s morale, and make sure your ‘contractors’ are all on boardWe’re not going to save the world. We’re not going to save chiffchaff and repeal the invasion on our own. We just want Jimmy, and maybe whoever’s left along with him that we can bring out safely. In that case, speed and surprise is our biggest ally. Inform our company. They can opt in or out.
>>6320537>This will likely be our final threadI felt I read that 3 or 4 time... In cambion quest
>You should first finish fixing the forge, and attempt to use it for an added edge… Even if it means a delay
>>6320763[What can I say? I expected this to last 4 to 8 threads. I have nothing planned after the rescue arc and epilogue, though. With how long threads stay on the board now, I am pretty confident we won't need a tenth, though!]
>>6320764>>6320746>>6320742>>6320624>>6320559“I figure we oughtta just go, ya know? Like, the forge is already, uh… like, not the most reliable fer fuckin’ around with non-gobs to begin with, even if we wait. And what if the Southmen decide to, like, execute or sacrifice him or something in the meantime?!”You look across the table you are sharing with Ayla and Veigar. The three of you are enjoying a selection of snacks they brought back from their recent journey to the east: tangy fermented vegetables rolled in rice and seaweed and dipped in some kind of fish sauce, some barbecued pig ribs, and some golden flower-shaped biscuits soaked in honey, accompanied by Dura’s heart-fruit herbal tea. The two of them chew and sip thoughtfully as you conclude what has become a rather long rant about your preferred approach to Jimmy’s liberation: an urgent extraction, without delay.“You make a lot of sense,” Veigar says levelly, though you aren’t blind to his nervous glance towards your sensei, Ayla, who continues to masticate a while longer.“Agreed,” she finally says, once she’s swallowed her food and washed it down with her own cup of tea.You breathe a sigh of relief. These two are some of the smartest people you know. If they say you’re making sense, you can truly trust your instincts are rooted in good sense rather than residual emotionality. You’ve come a long way in that regard: prior to the forge transforming you inside and out, you wouldn’t have even thought to double-check that!“THEY should heed your advice when THEY go.”Veigar winces at Ayla’s pointed words, which take you a moment to parse. Even when you do, you find yourself confused.“H-huh? Whaddaya mean?” you ask, looking between the two. “You guys are gonna come, too, right? I mean… ya GOTTA! This is Jimmy! He was YOUR friend before me ‘n ZZ even met him!”“Izirina’s friend. Ezreal’s friend.” Ayla sets her cup down with a crack and thump, staring you down. “Not ours. Zith-Zi’s boyfriend, for that matter—not yours.”
>>6320804You laugh nervously, and look to Veigar for help in persuading his wife-or-whatever. Instead, you find a more sympathetic restatement of the same:“When I was created and named by, ah, the OTHER me… it was to live my own life. Not HIS. Ayla and I are our own people. By necessity, we’re cut off from the rest of mankind—and elvenkind, for that matter—by what we are. We don’t intervene in world affairs like these. We can’t, even for a friend like Efron. It would draw attention to us.”“Well, uh, that’s…” You swallow what you were about to say, modulating your initial outrage. “But Jimmy’s still important to ME. -I- gotta go.”“No,” Ayla says sternly, “you DON’T, actually. And you shouldn’t.”She snaps her fingers and traces a symbol in the air, and a small spark materializes and travels a winding path towards you. You flinch in startlement for a moment, but it is no attack: the cantrip only alights upon your abdomen, like a firefly, before flickering out.“Don’t forget, you’re carrying our child,” Ayla reminds you, her eyes flashing dangerously. “What part of our agreement makes you think it’s okay to take them into a warzone?”The accusation skewers you, stammering, in place. There’s no way she can be serious, is there? She and Veigar can’t expect that just because you agreed to be a surrogate for their weird Dark God–approved Master Race baby, you’re going to just bail on Jimmy’s rescue mission?“I’m not joking, Carazzi. You agreed to follow our instructions in regard to this pregnancy, remember?”Veigar reaches across the table to gently place his greenish fingers over your own, drawing still more irritation from his cambion paramour. Wisely, he quickly withdraws the gesture, but his expression remains gentle, as he tries to soften her words:“We can transport the Regiment to the Southlands… or the outskirts, anyway. Neither of us have been to Chiffchaff, but we could transport the team to Turtledove or somewhere else nearby. We’ll gladly offer assistance…”Ayla finishes: “At a distance, where we—and OUR child, Carazzi—will be safe, from Southern soldiers AND Paladin zealotry. If you want our help at ALL, you’ll follow our lead.”
>>6320805You chew on this development for a while after brunch. You know Dura is on board—privately, you’re pretty sure the porc has a thing for you. You don’t doubt for a moment that you could spin this in a way that would appeal to Empy—that is to say, the amorphous hundun demigod called by his flock of Unseelie fairy-friends ‘The Naked Emperor’, with whom you’ve had an undefined but very tentacular tryst or two. Khorine’s been pretty clingy with ZZ, so you mentally count her in, too.But as for Yeb-Uit and An-Yii, your Regiment’s OGs (original goblins)?“Sure,” says Yeb, as ever a male of few words.“SURE?” demands An, your team’s medical expert, incredulously. “It’s a war! Between paladins and demons! What part’ve that says ‘this is a problem for goblins’?”Yeb-Uit just shrugs his forge-broadened shoulders, offering no justification. Perhaps he feels a debt for his multiplied strength and speed, and his reinvigorated youth. Maybe he just wants to test out his fancy new body and soul. You couldn’t say for sure, nor do you pry—it’s enough to know he’s with you, for which you’re grateful. But as for An-Yii…“I signed up for this to do some adventurin’, an’ mostly for money to fix up New Goblintown. REMEMBER? Where we LIVE? Where people NEED us?”The goblin-girl places her hands on her hips, giving you a reproachful look. “Now, I’m happy you’re… like you are now, rather than how you were before. But I need assurances, ‘cause where I’m standin’, I ain’t seen a whole lotta good comin’ my way, or New Goblintown’s way. Shit, I ain’t even seen me get PAID yet.”Yeb-Uit’s face shifts slightly as, with an apparent start, he realizes the same is true of him.At least Chang Lanseoul is easy to persuade. The Eastering came back with Zith-Zi from his hometown—some place called Durumiho Wangguk, or ‘Crane Lake’—and apparently pledged some sort of life-debt to your sis while they were out there getting her all fixed up.“My sword is at your disposal, milady,” he says with a deep bow. “Myself and Lady Yeong-baek owe a great debt to your sister, Lady Zith-Zi, which we can never repay. I am pledged by honour and by my master’s word to serve her until death.”“Oh, uh, cool…” You clear your throat. “We’re gonna try ‘n avoid that last bit, if it’s all the same.”“Of course.” He smiles a gentle smile as he stands up. “Though all the same, I believe Yeong-baek should remain here, if I could beseech your continued hospitality?”“Oh, uh… yeah, I guess that’s prob’ly fine…”
>>6320807The Maladoos are all in, too, of course, but Vel Dinh points out a valid consideration which you’d overlooked:“I’m not much of a fighter to begin with. My battles lay in the library!” She says this proudly, which strikes you as pretty dumb, though you don’t say so. “I also need to keep working on the forge, and I can’t finish without Freddie’s help.”“Awww,” Frederich Johannes moans, crestfallen. “But I wanna go fight alongside the Paladins, Vel! It’s… it’s the PALADINS!”“It would slow down progress considerably,” Vel addresses you both. “Your engineering acumen is absolutely vital.”By the same token of divergent duty, the Blueberry Brigade—that is to say, the surviving blue-tinged goblinoid warriors who lay in suspended animation here in Patmo-Shoka for untold centuries—also show no willingness to leave on an ‘away mission’. Brand-Hrok is the youngest and greenest—metaphorically, not physically—and you’re pretty sure you could convince him to come, but you aren’t sure the others have any inclination to abandon their eternal post as defenders of this place.
>>6320808So it is that when you arrive at Zith-Zi’s door, you hesitate to knock. You have about about equivalent amounts of good news and bad: with Xoldur and Murbal dead and gone respectively, Ayla and Veigar paranoid about paladins, An-Yii trying to haggle some sort of deal, and the Maladoo twosome busy refitting the forge, you’d have… ZZ, you, Dura, Khorine, Empy, three gyrfalcon fairies, Yeb-Uit (you think?), and Chang Lanseoul. For a small-scale stealth mission that might be enough, you guess… but Ayla and Veigar won’t even teleport your crew close unless you agree not to participate in any battles when you get there!What are you gonna do about this? ALL of this?Ayla & Veigar:>Accept Ayla’s terms in exchange for teleportation and indirect aid>Refuse their terms—you need to do whatever it takes to save JimmyYeb-Uit & An-Yii:>Offer a generous advance to An-Yii & Yeb-Uit to ensure they attend>Agree to move New Goblintown here to Steelwood if they come along>Leave well enough alone—they’ll come, or they won’tChang Lanseoul & Yeong-baek:>Chang is good enough—Yeong-baek can stay put in Patmo-Shoka>You need all hands on deck—if Yeong-baek has useful skills, she should come, tooFrederich Johannes & Vel Dinh:>Forget the forge—bring them both!>They should stay put and keep working hereWrite-in arguments or negotiations are valid for each of these, too. Leaving behind any of the party members who I’ve listed is also allowed—you don’t NEED to bring Dura, Khorine, The Naked Emperor, or the Unseelie ‘gyrfairies’, but please specify if you don’t want to bring them, and why.
>>6320809>Refuse their terms—you need to do whatever it takes to save Jimmy.If alya and veigar refuse to fight in order to protect their secrecy but they also refuse to allow cara to join the fight as well. They can get bent, these bozo's cant seriously believe that taking two weeks off our journey is worth losing cara zi as a fighter. >Agree to move New Goblintown here to Steelwood if they come alongWe have dura's potions so we don't really need an-yi's med kits. but yeb might be useful especially if he obtains a useful spell. We did promise to help out the people of goblin town, I guess the people of goblin town, can help the blue goblins safe guard the base while we are gone.We do need to save our money, need to see if we can buy anti-demon weapons or charms for our crew while on the road to Chiffchaff>You need all hands on deck—if Yeong-baek has useful skills, she should come, tooI think chang is downplaying yeong's usefulness. She is a skilled spell caster and can transform into a giant crane and can carry people on her back. If chang is worried about her protection. We can lend yeong our vajra for this mission. She has 4 in religion and can manipulate divine magic, she can can probably quickly figure out all its uses. >Forget the forge—bring them both!The forge doesn't help us in this mission and freddy and velma might have information about the enemy forces in the area.
>>6320905>We do need to save our money[Oh, right! For the record, you have 92 points of unspent wealth right now.]
>>6320809>Accept Ayla’s terms in exchange for teleportation and indirect aida pain in the ass, but that's the only way we can quickly get there>Offer a generous advance to An-Yii & Yeb-Uit to ensure they attend>Chang is good enough—Yeong-baek can stay put in Patmo-Shoka>They should stay put and keep working here
>>6320809>Accept Ayla’s terms in exchange for teleportation and indirect aidNot much choice if we want to get there in a reasonable time.>Agree to move New Goblintown here to Steelwood if they come alongPay them on top of that too. 92 wealth saved up, no reason not to. Pay An more since yeah part of Yeb's payment is the forge treatment he got.>Chang is good enough—Yeong-baek can stay put in Patmo-ShokaIf they don't think she's a good combatant I believe them.>Forget the forge—bring them both!Not in a hurry to get it working again.
>>6320809Ayla & Veigar:>Accept Ayla’s terms in exchange for teleportation and indirect aidTeleporting in and out is too good to pass up. Yeb-Uit & An-Yii:>Offer a generous advance to An-Yii & Yeb-Uit to ensure they attendWe have a lot of money but moving an entire town is a big deal. There’s maintenance and all that, Chang Lanseoul & Yeong-baek:>Chang is good enough—Yeong-baek can stay put in Patmo-ShokaIf Chang says she should stay here, that’s enough evidence of her skills not being applicable to our current circumstances.Frederich Johannes & Vel Dinh:>They should stay put and keep working hereWorst case scenario, we need it up again for Jimmy. Help Tips and Veigar out.Emperor and his troupe is… loud. He’s probably a good distraction if shit hits the fan. I think we should have him on standby. >>6320746
[Hmm, interesting. I'll return tomorrow evening to see if the tie(s) are broken, and roll if needed.]
>>6321056>>6321050>>6321036If Cara can't fight and Yeong-baek isn't coming. Our ONLY real spell caster is going to be Khorine. Meanwhile the southerners have enough mystical power on their side to stalemate the paladin order.
>>6321110I mean if your goal in bringing the couple is to out-mystic the Southlands, not even Ayla and Veigar can match an army. We're not going there to win a war, we're going to quietly spring Jimmy and hustle on out.
>>6321110Having a magic user could come in handy while sneaking around.I’ll amend this. Khorine could be on the team. >>6321056
>>6321205[The people on the final list of 'gimmes' are a given. That includes Khorine, unless people opt to leave her behind.]
>Agree with Ayla>Pay Advance>Just Femboy no gay Femfem>Fix the forge
>>6321339>Just Femboy no gay Femfemhello there, soj
>>6321364Sojourner draws too much juicy ladyass, especially svelte courtly lady-ass, to turn down a Yeong-baek.
>>6321364>>6321372[The duality of man.]>>6321339>>6321056>>6321050>>6321036>>6320905[Locked and writing!]
>>6321402“...So, like, that’s what I figure. We pay An-Yii ‘n Yeb-Uit, since they’ve been waitin’ an’ all—AND it’s a helluva lot cheaper ‘n faster than movin’ a whole-ass town in here! Chang seems pretty tough, but his girl’s a l’il twiggy, so she can hang here with the Blueberries. Empy ‘n the gyrfairies oughtta be good enough for backup, anyway... But they’re a little loud, so maybe we have ‘em hang back ‘n wait for a signal?”Zith-Zi doesn’t say much as you rattle off your thoughts, which tangle up in themselves and in your urge to set things right and prove your improved ability. She is preoccupied with running her pink fingers over her white-furred winter-wolf cloak, newly refitted with regalia from her trip to Crane Lake. She seems a lot calmer than when she first came back, at least—which gives you a false sense of security until she speaks up:“And yer gonna wait in the back with them, ‘cause you went ‘n decided to get pregnant.”You wince a little. ZZ’s voice is level but low, and you recognize the roiling resentment in her feytouched aura.“Well, like, it just seemed like a nice thing ta do fer ‘em, after all they did fer us, ya know?”“For YOU.”Zith-Zi stands up suddenly, causing Hershy to flutter off her shoulder to his perch, where he stares down with his bulging, froggy eyes as your other half stares you down.“We came all this way for YOU, CZ. All this shit... To give YOU that body you wanted, to make YOU safer, and stronger, and to get rid of YOUR dick. Runnin’ up the forge, riskin’ our lives—shit, KILLIN’ Copperbelt—for YOU. An’ the moment you’re all powered-up, you break the thing—”“W-well, like, Johannes ‘n Vel are gonna fix it up!”“—and you’re not even gonna use that power to help save Jimmy?”You bite your tongue before you snap back. Zith-Zi's spiritual energies are ablaze, unstable and flaring every which way. She doesn’t mean it, or at least doesn’t mean it how it’s coming across. She’s just worried for her boyfriend. You get that—you DO, more than anyone else ever could, because she is a part of you.“I’ll be there,” you promise. “I just... can’t be a frontliner this time.”Zith-Zi's jaw grinds. Her nostrils flare. You can tell she wants to say something mean, something fierce... but instead, she sighs, turning away and waving you off.“Fine.”“Fine?”“FINE,” she repeats, louder. “It’s a good enough plan. Makes sense. Go round ‘em up ‘n get ready.”“...Right now?”She rounds on you, green eyes nearly aglow, and snaps: “We’re payin’ the price for Ayla to get us there fast, ain’t we? So stop draggin’ ass an’ GO!”You hurry out, shutting the door behind you. You wait there for a moment, meditating on your breathing before finally exhaling a long, loud sigh as you slide down the cool stone....
Sisterly Bond bonus reduced by 2 to 7 as a result of the last few choices in Volume 8 and now.
>>6321421...You take a while to stop buzzing after your little ‘altercation’ with CZ. You realize on some level you were perhaps a little unfair, but on another level... WERE you? It’s not all on your doppelganger, what’s gone down since leaving New Goblintown, but sometimes it does feel like it’s been one never-ending cascade of consequences and complications between you and any sense of stability.(Is this what Jimmy was on about? Is this why he wanted you to give up the life—to settle down?)When you step out of your quarters, you’re pleased to see that CZ has at least done as you asked. The whole Regiment is there, give or take a Yeong-baek.Away party consists of:Zith-ZiCarazzi Yosef*An-YiiYeb-UitKhorineAyla*Veigar*The Naked Emperor*Three Unseelie ‘Gyfairies’*Chang Lanseoul* Asterisk indicates they’re in reserve, not going directly into the conflict zone.Current funds after advances were paid to An-Yii & Yeb-Uit: 52If either sister ever took a Mercantilism skill, it would have been reduced.You spare a glare for Ayla and Veigar, but only the latter does you the courtesy of withering a little—Ayla stands proud and imperious, like she thinks SHE’s the Big Boss around here. You feel another flare of irritation as you remember why you never liked the Henzlers to begin with, but you suppress it when you see CZ’s expression. As annoyed as you are right now—as fearful as you are for James Efron, if you’re being real—it was on YOUR initiative that you prioritized ‘Carazzi Yosef’ over all the rest of it… And ‘Sensei Ayla’ made good on helping her, whatever her other faults.(But after this mission, you’re going to have WORDS with that hedge-witch bitch about issuing ultimatums to you and YOUR sister...)“Aight!” you say aloud. “You’ve all been briefed? Good. The way I hear it, Jimmy—Efron—has been down south for months ‘n months already. So! We ain’t wastin’ any more time here.”A chorus of agreement, at various pitches of enthusiasm, follows. The hundun in particular is elated, as it espouses to its entourage of falcon-fairy friends:“Oh delight! Oh delicious dalliances in exotic locales! Just when we’d begun to grow weary of the local fare!”(Huh. Well, you guess you can see why the overgrown dumpling might’ve gotten bored holed up in the dungeon for over a month, yeah. Hells Below, you can even relate! After all: hating sitting still is what you an Jimmy fought about... When you last saw him...)
>>6321423“Now,” you continue, “the only question is where we’re gonna embark from. It’s gotta be somewhere where at least one’ve us has been before, or else Ayla can’t <Dimension Door> us there anyway.”“Correct,” Ayla chimes in.“Don’t interrupt me, Henzler! I won’t tell ya twice!”Seeing Ayla seethe at her long-renounced surname takes the edge off your earlier irritation a little, and so you continue at a more even tempo and temperament:“The way I see it, we got two options! Option one: Turtledove.”“Ooo, that’s where Testa is, right?” CZ asks.You shoot your clone a pointed look.“R-right, no interruptions. Sorry, ZZ.”You sigh and shake your head, but carry on, explaining: “That’s correct! It ain’t properly ‘south’ south, but it’s pretty damn close, and we have a contact there! It’s also got a lot more resources on hand, bein’ a trade-port and havin’ a local Mages’ Tower… Though it’s a pretty rinky-dink one. Mainly deals with enchanted clothing ‘n shit. BUT, where you have magic ‘n money, you got info and equipment, you can bet yer ass.”“But also way more humans,” Veigar says, wincing as you turn your glower upon his interrupting ass but continuing nevertheless. “Potentially Paladins…”You want to chew the green dweeb out for being the THIRD godsdamned interruption in a row… But damn it all, he’s right.“Well… Option two’s not perfect either. Seems the Maladoos—of which we have two handy to grab some mental coordinates off’ve—have been holed up in some private tower, owned by, uh…”“Vincent Al-Ghul,” provides Vel Dinh from the back of the crowd.“He’s, uh… a really UNIQUE guy,” Frederich Johannes adds, with his tone saying volumes. “I guess he’s from the North, but inherited this creepy old castle on the inner edge of the Shieldwall Mountains, full of—”“ALLEGEDLY full of,” Vel interjects sourly.“—ghosts,” Johannes finishes. “But hey: it’s not under siege any MORE! The Paladins already pushed forwards. And our friends are there! Maybe they could help?”“You really think, like, NORVILLE would help us?” CZ asks skeptically. “I like the guy ‘n all, but, uh…”“You’d be surprised,” Vel says darkly. “Being out there in the thick of war? It… AWAKENED something in him. Some kind of… killer instinct.”“Yeah,” Johannes groans glumly. “Cyrene noticed, too…”You blink a few times at the pair of humans, unsure what to make of their dumb teenage drama.“Well,” you conclude, “the way -I- see it—which is what counts, anyway—we oughtta go with…”>The border-town of Turtledove>Castle Al-Ghul>Actually… What if you found where Martyn Meadowgrass was? He’s been to the Southlands…
>>6321424>The border-town of TurtledoveCastle Al-Ghul seems like a whole god damn sidequest and Martyn would not help us after that parting.
>>6321424>Castle Al-Ghul
>>6321424>The border-town of TurtledoveTesta’s a friend. A friend of a friend, at least. Good enough.>>6321056
>>6321424>Castle Al-Ghul. Avoiding people who know them and potential paladin patrols. Is Veigar and Alya main goal. I imagine that making our base turtledove will mothball them even further. And I can't imagine the Emperor can go wandering around in public city streets. Castle al_ghul is closer to our destination, and is more private.Me>>6320559
>>6321804>>6321600>>6321529>>6321451[A tie, huh? We'll hood our for a tiebreaker, and roll for it if none emerge in time.]
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>6321827[Writing!]
>>6321827>>6322005Turtledove had been your decision. It had its own share of hindrances associated, of course, but so did the other option. CZ had appeared about to interrupt you, but thought better of it, and by the time you are all packed up and ready to go, she’s positively excited.“Do ya think Testa’ll like the new me?” she asks eagerly. “Ooo! I KNOW she’ll like the new you!”“That a crack about the scars?”“Wh—no! I meant ‘cause ya got that snazzy cloak ‘n that oriental skirt ‘n shit!”You steal a glance down at your new duds and puff up your chest in pride. “Ya think so?”“Oh yeah!” CZ grins and nods. “She’s all about that, uh, sar-toh-ree-al shit!”While you’ve never been a ‘girly girl’ by the standards of mankind—not at all like Nicolette Testa herself—you admit some satisfaction at that thought, even if you’re pretty sure your sis is buttering you up to get back in your good graces. Testa is more of a friend-of-a-friend in all honesty, and in the past has been more of a frenemy, but over the years apart you’ve managed to grow a little fonder of one another. At the very least, her fashion sense is something you can’t deny, nor is her loyalty or ability to keep a secret.(And speaking of secrets…)“That pet hundun of yers is gnna have ta lay low,” you tell Carazzi.“Huh?” She blinks, then chuckles. “Oh, duh, because of the whole…”“Bein’ a giant freaky monster?”“…I was gonna say bein’ the descendant of a Dark God.”“Yeah,” you agree, “that too.”“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” CZ assures you. “They’ve all been pretty well-behaved! Well, like… as far as I KNOW.”(…Huh?)“A-anyway, let’s go!”You give your sister a look, then sigh as she keeps her cool and remains clammed up. Whatever… how bad can it be?You heft your pack, she hefts hers, and with your two chimeric drakes in tow you join the rest of the away party and pass through the portal which Ayla has prepared, and into the low, dry heat of a southerly night.…
>>6322042Meanwhile, across the patchwork of splintered and schismatic settlements that is the Steelwood, evening has only just begun. Human women call their children in from their playtimes with uncommon urgency. Men stand guard with rusty relic-weapons or freshly purchased pikes and hatchets, and eye the woods. Still elsewhere, in the deeper woodlands, the half-human mongrel elves of the local clans raise prayers to their ancestors’ gods and invoke their Seelie spirit-guardians against the threat which has all the piecemeal peoples paralyzed of late.It is not the orcish warband who stalk the hills to the north, occasionally daring raids on settlements when times are tough. They have been quiet of late.It is not the bruised and black-eyed chittering child-things which plucked and picked at the abandoned battlefields of old, and which once haunted the dreams of young children and their parents. They seem to be gone entirely, for which the locals are glad.It is not even the wolves of winter, who have retreated many months ago with the coming of spring. They will return from the Orcwilds and deepwoods, but not for many months, for that is their cycle.No, there is a new nightmare in the Steelwood nights. It comes singing lovely songs, whistling on unseen wings. It is accompanied by an ominous omen: an eclipse of the moon, as if by another heavenly sphere. Some say it has tentacles, and others say it has talons. It has been said it has a sharp and jagged beak, like a great shrike, and massive paws like a lumbering bear. Some say it is the one who sings; others say it is orbited by spectral emissaries or envoys. The humans deem it demonic; the elves say it is Unseelie.Only one easily overlooked individual, who has been waiting out the winter and working off the debt incurred for shelter during that time, knows its true nature, its origins, and where it might be found when it is not terrorizing travelers, collecting ransoms of alcohol or entertainment, or flattening fields of crops in unusual and occult-looking arrangements.Martyn Feurmeadhoin—Meadowgrass, to those who call the Bwbachod ‘halflings’—hears the rumours, and is forced to decide what, if anything, he ought to tell the people of Steelwood about the strange visitor which has come among them these last few weeks.
>>6322043…You are practically blasted off your feet by the climatic clash between Steelwood’s early-spring chill and the comparatively sweltering and summery weather of the realm outside Turtledove. Even under the light of the moon, the rugged turf here still carries the heat of the sun; Veigar once told you how ‘Holy Sol’ sails low and lingers long here most days, bathing the ochre soil and reddish rocks so that grass grows in broken, water-hoarding clumps of precious shade beneath ancient—yet still small, gnarled, and knotted—grey trees with waxy, light-green leaves.“Oh my! How exotic—and yet it reminds me of home. Is it not so, my little friends? Or maybe it IS not so… Maybe I’ve been here before, in another life? My, what a twist that would be—me, indigenous to such a queer place!”Something in The Naked Emperor’s muddled musings must stimulate his Unseelie servants’ poetic inclinations, because they burst out into a song to accompany it. It’s lovely, as all fairy songs ever are, but you see the vein threatening to pop out of your other half’s pretty pink forehead, and you hastily hush them.“What part of stealth… fuckin’… MISSION… do you chumps not GET??”You grimace a little, for even in the torrent of tumultuous and ephemeral emotions which characterize Empy’s aura, you can see anger flare at being spoken to like that by your sis. You know it’s a product of stress—she always gets like this when things are especially dicey or when she feels disrespected—but you don’t think a hundun used to being called ‘Emperor’ is going to suffer it long-term. You jump between them, interjecting yourself and providing a diversion:“Hey, Ayla, how ya feelin’?”“Exhausted,” Ayla admits, supported by dutiful Veigar and holding aloft the faintly glowing vajra-wand which you seized from a certain lich’s collection. “If I didn’t have this, there’s no way I could have transported so many all at once…”Vajra: Exact stats unknown, but this double-headed club of a wand can shoot bolts of lightning doing 2d8 damage, provide some sort of protection to its wielder, and is a powerful recharging mana-battery for mages.“…especially not goblins,” the winded witch finishes.“Well excuuuse us fer bein’ khoblis-proof,” An-Yii retorts with a roll of her eyes. “It might not be a bad thing ta BE, if we’re fightin’ demonists.”“Ain’t wrong,” Yeb-Uit agrees.“Yeah, that’s true,” you chime in, with an eye towards Empy’s bristling array of spines and spikes, and ZZ’s crossed arms and wide, bossy stance. “Like, there’s lotsa times two people can both be sorta right ‘n sorta wrong, right? Life’s, like… funny that way.”
>>6322064Zith-Zi at least seems to take your meaning, huffing and turning away to survey your destination. You gravitate to Empy—who isn’t exactly your boyfriend, or even a BOY, but even so—and smooth down his spines until he’s flat and faintly gelatinous once more.Turtledove itself has changed since you last saw it. It’s still a little patch of greenery amidst all the brown, sandwiched between the foothills of the brown mountains beyond and thus trapping rain and tapping mountain streams to slake the thirst of plants, animals, and people. Where once it was a welcoming little oasis for those few traders still doing the south-north schlep, though, it is now armoured-up: wooden walls with spear-like points have been erected on the side facing the north, and a bigger barricade of imported timber and local stone blocks off the southern pass entirely.“Huh,” you comment, “guess they don’t want any of what they’re sellin’ anymore…”Khorine, meanwhile, hews closer to Zith-Zi and looks down with her oblong-pupiled eyes wide, and asks: “Zith-Zi, did you not say this was a SMALL settlement…?”“I would not call it overly large,” Chang comments neutrally.“Well it ain’t no Hawksong or River’s Mouth,” ZZ agrees, “but it’s definitely grown…”When last the two of you visited, Turtledove was a town on the outs, in all honesty. With such limited trade between the Southlands and the Northwestern Realms, there was little purpose for such a port. Now, though, it is a curious contradiction: with open war on the horizon, it has exploded, such that shanties, shacks, and many a tent have spilled out beyond the smaller wooden wall, and lanterns are still alight in many quarters as people go about their business.“Garrisoned soldiers can become a captive market, in a prolonged campaign,” Chang notes.“Like a bandit camp economy, ey?” ZZ sniffs. “Been there.”“Testa must be thrilled, at least,” Veigar says with a rueful smirk. “She always did like a big, strong man in uniform… Poor Pearce.”While your wizard-friend reminisces about his school days, ZZ approaches you and nods for a sidebar. You join her, eager to prove yourself.“Whaddaya figure?” she asks. “I mean, obviously we can’t bring the hundun, but I figure we can maybe gather some intel, if it’s just a few of us… See what’s goin’ down, who to watch out for. Recon.”You consider this, grateful even to be asked after everything, and suggest…>Who will you bring? Who will stay? >What instructions will you give those who remain outside Turtledove? Will you have any sort of signal for them? >What is your objective: go straight to Testa, or roam around the night-markets and alehouses? Remember CZ’s spell-list includes Transmogrify now…
>>6322043Oh right the hundun is rather mischievous like that. Hope it hasn't killed anyone.>>6322065Let's bring uuuuuhNot Veigar, he might want to see Testa but he'd want to expose his existence less from what he's said in the past. Ayla stays behind too because she's a huge antisocial bitch. Gobs should probably stay back since they don't have the best reputation. I guess that leaves CZ, ZZ, Chang, and Khorine? Maybe a single Gyfairie too that we can send back to the external group in case of emergency? Since they're essentially invisible.>Right to Testa
>>6322091>+1
>>6322091Supporting that.Missed the vote to beeline for Norville.Too bad.
>>6322065>Roam around the night-markets and alehousesI like roaming (mainly just curious if we’ll see an old friend), but if we do go with Tessa, trolling her with with shapeshifting the build of Pierce seems like a wonderful way to surprise her with how we changed.
