"Alright, I guess I'll just have to tell my father to watch his feet." Carna picked up the dog in the blanket and held it tightly, she turned towards the town gates.

"Is that okay? Is it?" You followed her, keeping your hands above your head as if it'd keep the downpour out.

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Carna made quick paces back to town, rushing to escape the rain. You're sure she'd heard the same lectures on approaching dogs, but Carna never cared much about the rules. Mischievous, courageous and never one to care, that was the Carna you knew.

"What're you going to call the dog, Carna?" You yell through the rain.

"That's silly, Carna's my name! I'm going to name the dog... Dog!" Carna yelled back.

On a later date you'd tell her how silly that was, but when Carna set her mind to something she wasn't one to back out.

The rain didn't stop until the next morning, but you'd remember the soft eyes she had when she cradled the runt back to town every time it rained there-after.

>CONT

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>Year 484 of the Raschan Calendar

Ten years ago you lost her, Carna; who was never good with names. Now ten years later, you'd brave any storm to find her.

At the start of your second month with The Seekers of Catus, an organization said to hold all the mysteries of the world, the city Deneb received a sudden downpour. Your usual mornings were eating breakfast with Yu'yan, Leona and Rein before making way to class. It was normally a nice little stroll through the gardens, but today the four of you practically raced for first to get to The Archives from the dorms.

When you arrived at the classroom, you hung the coat you'd bought with Rein up against a newly placed hangar beside the door. As the case often was, Sheryl had already beaten the four of you and secured a nice spot in the corner. Anlak your remaining classmate would arrive just before classes began most days, or just after if his paces were bad.

There wasn't a seating arrangement, but you'd gotten into the habit of always sitting in the same spot alone. It felt strange to move somewhere else. The rest of your friends made way to their usual spots, and you waited for your teacher Masoch to arrive.

>CONT

About five minutes after class was supposed to start, Anlak pulled himself in. His heavy Daktori robes and his messy unkempt hair was weighted down by water, he was leaving wet trails behind him as he took his seat closest to the door.

About ten minutes later, Yu'yan got up from his seat and started pestering you about places around town with decent eating.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes in that you heard a heavy rumbling, a figure you didn't recognize, a rather feisty looking lady with a blonde up-do and hazel eyes strolled into class, behind her an oversized bag scraped against the floor. Blades and blunts poked out of it, she tossed it forward with a heavy motion with her right arm, which you note seems to be the only one she has.

"Alright class, line up and pick one. Let's begin shortly." The stranger declares.

Hesitantly, your classmates approach where the items laid. The bag came undone when it hit the ground, leaving an armoury sprawled across the floor.

"C'mon, just take whichever one suits you best."

When you lived in Ridaela, the kind soul that took you in also taught you a little bit about martial arms. You weren't adept with most, but you had a particular talent with...

> Short blades, your cunning gave you an edge when you sparred in the fields.
> Knives, the lightness of the weapon complimented your speed, you'd learned some tricks with them and could manage a good throw.
> Staffs, an uncommon art for Raschans but your tenacity helped you learn.

>>31283517
>Short blades, your cunning gave you an edge when you sparred in the fields.
Since knife is it's own choice I assume short blade means short sword?

>>31283517
> Short blades, your cunning gave you an edge when you sparred in the fields.

Cunning is our best stat might as well get something that goes with it.

>>31283517
>Knives, the lightness of the weapon complimented your speed, you'd learned some tricks with them and could manage a good throw.

>>31283517
>> Staffs, an uncommon art for Raschans but your tenacity helped you learn.

>>31283582
Yessir.

>>31283517
> Short blades, your cunning gave you an edge when you sparred in the fields.

We aren't the hardy type to always lug around a staff, and knives have a more rogue~ish quality than we posses.

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You pick up a short sword, a not particularly fancy blade with a Raschan make, straight-edged and steeled.

"Alright, let me get your names. I just arrived in Deneb the other night and haven't had the chance to go over Masoch's folder yet." The lady points at each of you one by one and you quickly answer with your names, Yu'yan also drops in that he's currently single but she doesn't let him continue past that. Curiously, she skips over An'lak entirely.

"Alright, I'm your new teacher for the month. Black Cat Kran, we're going out in the fields, I hope you all brought your hoods because I'm not giving you a chance to go back and get them. Let's meet at the doors." Kran exits, not bothering to clean up her mess of the remaining weapons.

Sheryl always ready leaves first, holding a short sword similar to yours.

Leona and Rein chat with each other, Rein's got a spear on hand, appropriately enough for a Belgran woman. Leona picked up some small knives.

"Why did it have to rain today, I hate the rain. It's cold and wet and my hair flattens out..." Yu'yan lazily makes his way to the door, using the quarterstaff he picked like a walking cane.

Anlak silently walks past you. He didn't seem to grab anything from the pile, but again you hear a metal clatter under his heavy robes.

You steel your mind against the weather outside, and go to join your new teacher.

>CONT

Walking through the downpour, your group makes way towards the gates of Deneb. Kran has slipped a cloak over her head, and Sheryl constantly wears one even when in-doors. For the rest of you, the rain beats against you mercilessly. Anlak doesn't seem phased but Leona and Rein both do their best to stay under covers and keep themselves dry, you hear Rein mention needing to buy an umbrella after this.

Yu'yan has the worst of it. His standard outfit as a short-sleeved buttoned shirt that occasionally closed. His pants were longer, but all they did for him was drag up more water. He spends the entire way complaining about the rain, and unfortunately you're the one he's complaining to.

There're some small cheers when you past by the gates and make ways to the heavy forests that surround the city, the thick leaves providing some degree of cover. Kran leads you through the woods without any words on where you're going, one lesson you've learned in your time here has been to pick your questions carefully.

Rein has not learned that lesson, "Hey um... Mrs Kran? Where're we going?"

"Oh? We're going demon hunting."

Your group of seven enters a small clearing, much to Yu'yans discomfort.

>CONT

"The Seekers have put me in charge of your weapons training, you must've heard right? Normally I like to kick off with some sparring, but word is that some goblins have cropped up through the seams. I figure it'll be good to get some field work in your lot, I know I hate studying." Your teacher gives a casual shrug.

"We're not honestly going to fight demons are we!?" Rein leans forward and sticks her arms out towards the ground with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"Hm? Well they're just goblins. You'll have to do it sooner or later right?" Kran removes her arm from her cloak and wriggles her fingers against the air, her shadow begins to sprout up behind her, "Graps, how many are in the area?"

Kran's shadow exits from the grass forming it's own body. From it a horse-like head forms, and two heavily muscled arms cross over each other, it opens two bright yellow eyes and begins to speak, "Milady, there're three in the area. West, north and east. I recommend dealing with them before they devour each other and grow."

"Fantastic, split up into groups of two and go hunting." Kran smiles at your group and makes way over underneath some trees, planting the bottom of her foot against one and leaning into it.

Her casual attitude didn't make the strange any less so. Your class stands frozen trying to process the situation, even Sheryl has surprise on her face. Only Anlak holds himself straight. But a job is a job, you go to...

>Anlak
>Leona
>Rein
>Sheryl
>Yu'yan

>>31284479
>Sheryl

>>31284479
>Anlak

>>31284479
lets keep our perv friend alive he is uncomfortable he is not doin well....if any of them were to be pegged to befall an accident this mission it would be him i would bet on it eing

>>31284479

>Anlak
there are mysteries to be learned, and he's the most immediate start to them

>>31284479
>>Yu'yan

>>31284479
>Yu'yan

>>31284479
>Yu'yan

>>31284479
>Anlak

"Yu'yan, let's work together."

Yu'yan stands in a lowered position, half-way to a crouch. He turns his head to you and nods. Leona and Rein naturally work together making ways towards the western parts of the forest, you're more worried about them finding their way back than them getting jumped by an angry goblin. Anlak and Sheryl wordlessly head east, hopefully it won't be too much a problem that neither of them ever say anything.

You and Yu'yan make way north. The direction you take doesn't look any different from the others, it's all forest all around you, but you should be able to quickly make way towards one of the others if you hear them run into trouble barring the rain being too loud.

"I b-bet our teacher is Belgran. Only a Belgran woman could stand this cold. Why is it so fucking cold!?"

"Deneb sits on the borders to Belgrand Yu'yan."

"Yeah, but Rascha is warm and Belgrand is cold. We're on the Raschan side, so it's s-supposed to be warm here!"

You consider Yu'yan's logic as you chop some branches out of the way with your new-old sword. Yu'yan makes a comment about turning his quarterstaff into firewood, you dismiss it on the merit that you're surrounded by trees already.

"Damnit friend."

About to cut further forward, Yu'yan grabs your hand and stops you, "Hold on... look at that."

Peering through the gaps in the trees, you see your target.

>CONT

Large cat-like ears, a fanged mouth that wraps around nearly half it's head, and two glowing eyes, red. A black goblin prowls around in the rain, it's long prehensile tail whipping about in the air. It's movement leaves trails of dark mist as it moves back and forth erratically.

"It's kind of cute." You say.

Yu'yan raises an eyebrow at you, he moves himself forward to get a better gaze on it, "Well, let's get rid of it fast. I want to get out of the c-cold."

You're pretty well-versed on demons, and most goblins are hardly much more dangerous than a large dog. Still, you've heard of enough cocky young men dying in their attempts to prove themselves capable of fighting demons, and it'd be best not to rush in stupidly.

The thing hasn't noticed you yet, when a demon escapes into the world their first order of business is always to eat enough to keep their form together. It can be a real mess when one manifests into a town, but more often than not the real problem is when one crops up in the woods and consumes small animals until it can start spawning more. Someone more experienced should've handled this, but it's your job now.

>[Cunning] Sneak around the goblin, prepare a pincer attack.
>[Alacrity] Don't wait, strike the goblin before it notices you.

Im shipping Belgran women x Yu'yan so hard

Rolled 11

>>31285158
>[Cunning] Sneak around the goblin, prepare a pincer attack.

>>31285158
>>[Cunning] Sneak around the goblin, prepare a pincer attack.

Rolled 9

>>31285158
>>[Cunning] Sneak around the goblin, prepare a pincer attack.
go for the tail

>>31285205
Brutal cunning or Cunning brutality?

>>31285158
>>[Cunning] Sneak around the goblin, prepare a pincer attack.

You flatten your free hand and wave it down at Yu'yan, gesturing for him to wait. He nods to show you that he understands.

Quietly, you move through the trees, carefully avoiding the twigs and stepping where the soil hasn't yet turned to mud. You watch the goblin roam forward and do well to stay some paces ahead of it still hidden.

The perfect opportunity doesn't seem shy to reveal itself, the goblin slips against some of the wet grass, and in that instant you burst from between the trees onto the small clearing where it lays. Pulling your short sword, you swipe through it's head, cleaving off a large chunk of it's body. Rather than flesh hitting the ground, strands of black mist come off of where you hit, the body of the goblin stumbles backwards, and Yu'yan slides out from the woods sweeping his quarter-staff low, tripping the demon, he continues his motion around in a full-circle and slams the top of the staff down into the demon's chest.

It lets out a large screech and it's body scatters into all directions. The job is easily done.

It takes the two of you a moment to process what just happened, without any words between you, Yu'yan turns and swings his hand up high, you do the same. Your hands connect into each other as they pass through the air, for a moment your powerful clap breaks the noise of the rainfall.

>CONT

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>>31285409
Fuck yea

"To Nyne's embrace, we banished the goblin!" Yu'yan cheers as the two of you make your way back, the rain hasn't lessened but the cold doesn't bother either of you with your blood still rushing.

Ten years ago you helplessly watched Carna get taken away, but today with little efforts, you defeated a demon in your first encounter. Even rock-wielding children were a tougher match.

"Hahah, we'll have tales to tell the ladies when we get back. I bet that Kran will be shocked that we finished our part of the job so soon." Yu'yan pats you on the back, waving his staff around in the air as he marches. You deftly dodge it when it comes uncomfortably close, but the mood is too good for you to interrupt it now, it's taking all of your will not to break out your sword and thrust it up against the clouded skies.

The mood doesn't last though, a heavy crack breaks through the air and the skies flash for just a moment. The two of you freeze, and seconds later a loud roar shakes the woods, coming from...

>The west where Leona and Rein went
>The east where Sheryl and Anlak are hunting

>>31285582
>>The east where Sheryl and Anlak are hunting

>>31285582
>The west where Leona and Rein went

They seem more likely to be the one's who messed up

>>31285582
>The east where Sheryl and Anlak are hunting

>>31285582
>>The east where Sheryl and Anlak are hunting

>>31285696
but the other 2 seem to be better suited for something unexpectedly strong

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>>31285722
Thats what im afaid of

"East." You rush on ahead of the shivering Yu'yan, worried about the noise. It certainly wasn't human, and few animals in the region could break the storm with their cries.

"Hey, wait up!" Yu'yan catches up behind you, even chilled by the rain his speed was something impressive. He used his staff well in keeping his balance against the wet ground as you cut away the branches in front of you.

A second roar determines where exactly you need to head, and the closest you get to the noise the more worrisome it gets. You can hear wood being chopped down and you can see the puddles shake as you approach.

Soon enough you come across it.

Like the one you just felled, it stands on two feet with a tail whipping about, cat like ears, a giant maw and glowing red eyes. Unlike the one you just felled, it stands the size of three men, and it's claws extend twice as long as the short sword you'd picked. Bits of tree fall inbetween the space between it's blades, the ground underneath it's feet sink lightly.

Sheryl's cloak has been torn already, she clutches her sword in a gashed arm, her free hand clasped against the wound where her blood meets the rain.

Your attention is pulled one way where you see Anlak pulling himself out from between a pile of collapsed trees, his injury is worse than Sheryl, claw marks run up his chest. He quickly pulls himself steady, and charges back at the beast with two Daktori weapons in hand. A curved blade, and one of their famous bone maces.

>CONT

"I'll see to the lady, you see to him." Yu'yan hops past you onto the field ahead, he taps his quarterstaff against the ground and bounds over towards Sheryl before running the remaining distance.

The giant goblin whips it's tail at Anlak, who does a hop over it, twisting his body and swinging his blade swiftly as he passes over to leave a small cut against it. He lands on his feet and continues towards the demon and running between it's legs, it makes awkward movements trying to stomp him down.

You need to act fast, Anlak has a decent handle of the situation but it's clear it's too much for any of you to handle alone. You draw your short sword and make to join the battle.

> [Cunning] Pull the goblin's attention two ways and try to trip it.
> [Tenacity] Slam into it's legs, they're still thin even as tall as the demon is.

Rolled 2

>>31286114
>[Cunning] Pull the goblin's attention two ways and try to trip it.

>>31286114
> [Cunning] Pull the goblin's attention two ways and try to trip it.

>>31286114
>[Alacrity] Try to sever the tail, or at least disable it. It's the least predictable attack it can do.

>>31286114
>> [Cunning] Pull the goblin's attention two ways and try to trip it.

Gotta max out that Cunning. Also, why did you pick Tiz Arrior as the MC silhouette picture thing? And why can't I stop imagining Yu'yan as Ringabell in his slut costume?

Rolled 12

>>31286114
> [Tenacity] Slam into it's legs, they're still thin even as tall as the demon is.

You approach the goblin trying to take it's attention off of the injured Anlak, but you underestimate it's reaction after the battle with the other of it's spawn.

Barely glancing at you, it whips it's tail out and knocks you airborne. In short moments, you land against the ground. You thank your fortunes that the grass is as soft as it is.

Your momentary distraction isn't fruitless however, Anlak finds the time to chop into the base of the demon's heel and it stumbles some steps which he smoothly avoids. He runs towards you as you pull yourself up, and twists his body around to face the demon again, kicking up wet grass as he slides.

He doesn't say anything but he turns his glance to you, waiting for you to say something. You glance over the demon quickly, it's balance is off-guard and a blow to the other leg will likely knock it over.

>[Alacrity] Split and rush both legs.
>[Tenacity] Draw another hit and let Anlak catch the feet.

>>31286240
I like this.

Rolled 9

>>31286386
>[Alacrity] Split and rush both legs.

>>31286386
>>[Tenacity] Draw another hit and let Anlak catch the feet.

Rolled 8

>>31286386
>[Alacrity] Split and rush both legs.

>>31286386
Tenacity, tank that hit like a man.

Its is possessive, it's is it is, you keep using the wrong one.

>>31286386
>[Alacrity] Split and rush both legs.
They both seem like tenacity to me but whatever

"You take the left leg, I'm going for the right." You look for Anlak's confirmation but he just starts his run forward, hopefully he's following your instruction.

Your steps are painful, your body is still reeling from the blow earlier but you push it to follow through anyways. You dash towards the demon's right leg where Anlak had already cut into, it steps forward but stumbles onto its knee, whipping it's tail forward at you. It's too slow, the tail smacks against the ground behind you kicking up the ground. You continue your path, moving past it's knee and shoving your blade into its calf, thankfully you don't need much force to dig into it, and you smoothly drag your blade along the calf splitting the shadows into the air. You turn after you've run past its foot and watch parts of its leg vanish.

Anlak has similarly done his end, the demon falls forward balancing on its knees and arms, you've done some damage but it hardly seems deterred. Its tail whips out at Anlak who takes it head on, sending him rolling across the grass. It doesn't waste time recoiling, and just swings sideways at you afterwards. It's too long for you to back out of comfortably.

>[Cunning] Run towards the demon, it'll be easier to avoid the claws.
>[Tenacity] Don't avoid the tail, grab it and hold on.

Rolled 3

>>31286803
>[Tenacity] Don't avoid the tail, grab it and hold on.

Rolled 4

>>31286803
Ride that tail like a mechanical bull.

You steel yourself to grab onto the tail, it isn't until it hits you, that 'it hits you'.

Perhaps if you were in better condition this would've worked more easily, but the first blow from the goblin has left you battered. You manage to grab onto the tail a moment before it slams into your body, but your strength isn't sufficient to hold it back, it knocks you down and drags you across the dirt, sending you a ways away.

The demon crawls towards you as you struggle to get up, it has lost a considerable amount of its speed but you've lost more of yours. Lurking over you, it lifts an arm up, rain washes against the blades it holds, each one a polished scythe ready to send you to the valkyrie.

But you're not prepared to die yet. Carna's waiting for you.

>[Cunning] Wait until the blades are near, dodge and skewer its hand.
>[Alacrity] Pull yourself together and run.

Rolled 10

>>31286803
>[Tenacity] Don't avoid the tail, grab it and hold on.

Rolled 12

>>31286975
>[Cunning] Wait until the blades are near, dodge and skewer its hand.

Rolled 8

>>31286975
Dodging is your thing, probably. Go for it!

>>31286975
>>[Cunning] Wait until the blades are near, dodge and skewer its hand.
We're gonna get ourselves killed someday soon

I once heard quests were a prolonged game of Russian Roulette. Now I get it.

>>31286618
Thanks. I always screw that up.

>>31287066
d12s in the future. I appreciate the participation though.

>>31286975
>>[Cunning] Wait until the blades are near, dodge and skewer its hand.

>>31287081
Not if we keep rolling like this.

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>>31286999
Yay were still alive

>>31287085
This is why you use multiple rolls

Or, yknow, stop using dice

>>31286975
>[Cunning] Wait until the blades are near, dodge and skewer its hand.

Since you've arrived at Deneb, you've been made to pick bird seed out of the ground, you've been stoned by small children, you've even literally gotten beaten into the ground by flying books.

But by the Shepherd, you aren't going to die to a demon now. You sharpen your vision as the blades down down, and moments before they'd take off your head, you crunch forward and roll beneath the hand of the demon. His blades stick into the ground behind you, easily piercing through Earth. Twisting your short sword around and holding it in both hands, you jam it with all your might into the palm of the beast, digging straight through to the back of it's hand. From the hole you leave, it's arm begins to unravel into small threads, vanishing away.

For a moment you stare off against the demon without legs, minus an arm. You try your best to keep your strength about you, but it seems unlikely that you'll be able to repeat your stunt when it reaches for you with its second set of blades.

A gargantuan black arm bursts through the trees where you came from, smashing the demon in the side and dragging it into the ground. You turn your gaze there where Yu'yan, Leona, Rein and Sheryl emerge behind Kran. The black arm you saw comes from where she should be missing one, and it vanishes again into her open sleeve.

In your relief, your adrenaline fades. You pass into unconsciousness.

>CONT

>Year 473 of the Raschan Calendar

You laid in bed, stuck with a cold. The winter had crept up on you and stolen away your good health.

You didn't have any plans for today or anything, you and Carna were the only children in the village and any decision was made on the spot when it came to her. But being sick was the worst, whoever came up with 'sickness' had an ill mind.

"Ding-ling!"

You turn your head to your room's door, Carna walks in with a folded paper hat over her head carrying a cup of water in her hands, it's been filled to the top and splashes drops on your floor with each of her steps.

"Doctor Carna is here! Ding-ling!" She sets the water on your bed-stand, pulling up a chair and sitting beside you.

"No need to say anything, I have you handled. Now where's that apple..." Carna reaches into her pocket and pulls out a dirty apple, pieces of string caught from her dress are stuck to it. She rubs it against your face, "C'mon, you have to eat it to get better."

Doctor Carna was your least favorite doctor, worse than Doctor Mom or Doctor Hythas. But sick days were the few days that your relationship with Carna wasn't entirely her having her way. She'd come over, play nurse for some hours then go home.

"Alright, tomorrow you should be better!" She'd say.

"How do you know?" You'd ask.

And always, she'd answer, "Don't worry about it, okay?"

And so the dream ends.

>CONT

>>31287532
Carna confirmed for Apple Witch.

Carna is so adorable when will we get to dick the demons out of her

>Year 484 of the Raschan Calendar

Your eyes open up to an unfamiliar ceiling, but the smell of all to familiar herbs and the uncomfortably organized shelves stocked with medicine tell you exactly where you are. You made a point to avoid having to visit the infirmary here, when you got flocked by books a week ago you just washed out the cuts with running water. You spent a good amount of time in stuck in a bed like this after the event ten years previous, and you'd prefer not to see more of your life go that way.

You scan the room to see what time it is, the clouds have cleared and the sun is out brightly in the sky, but it must've been coming into the afternoon when you ran into the demon. You had to have slept for at least a day.

Continuing your search, your eyes meet Anlak. Like you, he's bound to a bed, you wait a little bit but he doesn't start a conversation, you should have expected as much.

>Ask about the slave pools, he still owes you answers.
>Ask about what happened with the demon.
>Ask about Anlak's past, he seemed awfully familiar with combat.
>Write-In Always assume this is an option, I'll only write it down if I'm well above the character limit and it seems like a really good opportunity for one.

>>31287702
>Ask about Anlak's past, he seemed awfully familiar with combat.

>>31287702
So, did you already know the instructor? She treated you differently.

>>31287702
>Ask about what happened with the demon.
>Ask about Anlak's past, he seemed awfully familiar with combat.

>>31287823
This

"You're pretty impressive aren't you." You start a conversation with Anlak, it takes him some strained seconds to respond.

"You too."

And you're back to nothing.

"Even Sheryl backed off of fighting the demon, but you just ran back in didn't you." You put on your eighth of ninth best smile.

"I suppose." He's not making this very easy.

"Did you... used to fight in the Slave Pools?" Dear Shepherd, that was not what you meant to say. Anlak takes another extended pause before speaking.

"They don't make us fight in the pools, we sell better if we look healthy."

"So erm... where'd you learn to fight?"

Anlak shifts his gaze away from you and to the door, "When I was rescued from the pools, I followed someone around for awhile and copied them."

You shift your gaze to the door as well, hearing light footsteps. Leona, Rein and Yu'yen enter together, Yu'yen is holding two bags of something or other.

>CONT

>>31288146
well, we're terrible at talking to Anlak

>>31288185
lets ship him with Leona quietest fuckers ever

The three of them sit around you, Yu'yen and Rein make a lot of noise but it doesn't seem that there's staff around to stop them. Leona sets herself down closest to your bed while the other two occupy themselves with chatter about your injuries and whether or not erotic literature is an appropriate gift.

"Geez, you really worried us, Rein and I got back first and we saw Yu'yen dragging Sheryl in with this massive gash! Oooh, when we caught up to you, you were battered up like The Prince of Noste," Leona can't seem to keep book references out of her conversations, "Here, I brought some books I said I'd lend you." She plops some novels onto your bed, you hold back from tearing up when they press on your injuries.

"Hey friend, forget about that, you want these right?" Yu'yen approaches you and tosses just one book at you, unfortunately the corner hits you square where it hurts. 'Naked Princess Under The Moon, Vol. 5'. They made five volumes of this? You put the book to the side and don't get involved in Yu'yen's debate.

"I assume you haven't been sleep eating so I made something. Can you eat on your own?" Rein reaches into one of the bags Yu'yen had set down and produces a basket of sandwiches, you'll never understand why some women put baskets in bags, it defeats the purpose of the basket.

>CONT

>>31288319
Shipping is worse than waifuing, let's not.

>>31288340
Ohh man, I don't think I could refrain from getting a bit sarcastic if someone did the same to me with those books.

>>31288340
Were a snarky fucker arent we?

Yu'yen grabs at the sandwiches before you have at any and begins eating two at once, "Fer a Belgranf, yaar coofing ain't baf."

"Hey stop that." Rein smacks Yu'yan on the back of the head as she moves to take the seat opposite of Leona between you and Anlak.

"Youf got fo manaa off them."

"Those are for the ill, but if you're really so hungry maybe we can arrange something." Rein cracks her knuckles.

Leona lets out a small giggle and leans across the bed to pick up a sandwich, there's a little bounce to her movement. She plucks one out of the basket and holds it one hand, when she pulls back she doesn't return to her straight seated position but instead leans forward on your bed, one palm to her cheek and the other holding the sandwich to you, "Open up now."

You aren't looking at them right now, but you can feel the glares coming from Yu'yen and Rein behind you.

>Let Leona feed you
>Decline, you can feed yourself

>>31288492
>>Let Leona feed you

>>31288492
>Let Leona feed you

D'aaaawww

Good, good, yes let the spaghetti flow

>>31288492
I feel a bit bad for Anlak, getting ignored during all this.

>>31288492
>Let Leona feed you
"Maybe you should feed Anlak, too. He might appreciate it."
I'm not actually shipping them, Anlak just needs to open up more, and we are NOT the best person for that task.

>>31288546
this

>>31288546
Yes, yes this. We need to find a way to open up Anlak.... and it's painful watching us try.

You can think of it as her returning your favour with the lizard sticks. You open your mouth and lean forward, Leona sticks the end of the sandwich into your mouth and you bite down on it. She lets out a small giggle and feeds the rest to you playfully.

Yu'yan had the courtesy to let her finish feeding you the first sandwich before he cuts into teasing you, "I thought you had a lady waiting for you, shouldn't get too cosy right friend? Belgran women are said to keep a vice-grip on their men." He snickers as he watches, Leona blushes and hides the lower half of her face behind her hands, "It's not like that." Yu'yan continues to tease the two of you into the afternoon.

Leona's reactions are a lot stronger than yours, and when Yu'yan catches onto this he takes to teasing her harder, giving you a break. While they're distracted you peer over to the side, Anlak stares out the window of the room into the mid-day sun, you got fairly battered up but Anlak had been hit about as much from what you saw, and already took a heavy wound before you arrived. His bandaged arms rested on his lap, his exposed chest like-wise patched over.

Although he didn't respond to her, you could see that Rein had pulled her chair closer to Anlak's bed, waving a sandwich around his emotionless face. Her lips were moving but Yu'yen and Leona were making too much noise for you to tell what she was saying.

>Cont

>>31288752
I suppose that works, too.

After they had their fun, Rein came to take Leona and Yu'yen back to the dorms insisting that you needed your rest. The pile of books they brought you would probably be a fair bit more than you could finish off by the time you could leave the infirmary, even putting aside the volume of 'Naked Princess Under The Moon'. You reach down to pick something tasteful out from the pile, when Anlak suddenly asks you a strange question.

"Is it fun?"

The situation is reversed, this time it's you confused and thinking up an answer.

"Sorry, I meant, are you having fun with those three?" Anlak corrects himself.

"Ah... yes?" You answer, still not completely sure what he's asking despite his correction.

He nods and goes back to staring out the window. You pick out your book and get to reading.

It isn't for some hours still, when the sun is near set and the moon is emerging that you get another pair of visitors.

Kran enters, and Sheryl somewhat uncharacteristically follows hiding behind her, peeking out at you and Anlak as they approach. It seems that in the meantime Sheryl had replaced her cloak to cover her ears again, but you're not sure whether or not it's worth her trouble since you're certain Anlak and Yu'yen at least have seen them.

"Hey there, if you boys are feeling a little better, I'd like to chat about our mission today." Kran waves her hand at the two of you, her face has a strained smile on it.

>CONT

>>31288987
"Anyone in trouble?"

>>31288987
>her face has a strained smile on it.

Oh boy ere we go

"Sorry, I didn't expect the situation to go out of hand the way it did and it's entirely my fault the two of you got injured, I can promise you that Masoch will have my ass on this later. But any ways, I need you three to cooperate with me on something." Kran gestures to Sheryl who comes out from behind her, Sheryl is usually poker-faced but right now she's avoiding your gaze and you have a feeling it doesn't have anything to do with your little demonstration last week.

"Graps," Again, Kran's shadow takes on a life of it's own, hovering above the ground above her. Sheryl jumps a little when the demon comes out.

"My apologies my sirs and my ladies, I let my guard down after the initial scan." Graps hangs one of his arms in front of him and bows his head.

"Tell them what you told me Graps."

"Yes milady, while the three goblins were recently manifested and shouldn't have been a major threat, it seems that the one on the east end of the forest was... inflated shall we say by external factors. When I awoke, I felt a fifth demon other than the three and myself leaving the forest. It is my failure to be better versed as seeking out others of my kind unfortunately."

Kran nods and Graps shrinks back into her shadow, "I understand that Silvest hasn't taught you about demons yet? The long of short of that is that some contractor is prowling around here riling up the demons and opening seams. A demon wouldn't do this on their own, nothing to gain."

>CONT

"The Seekers of Catus are in a particular position. Because Deneb is stuck between Rascha and Belgrand, we're often caught in the political tension. We also have a fair amount of enemies across the rest of the continent, the nature of being a band of intellectual thieves and assassins you know?" Kran pitifully laughs while rubbing the back of her head with her hand, her up-do has come half-undone throughout the day.

"Anyways, Masoch told me that you three deserved to know what you got drawn into, but we don't expect you to do anything about it. Just do your best to rest up, for the two of you stuck in bed, I'll make sure you receive full marks for the next week due to your good show. Again, my apologies!" Kran gets up and bows her head down, similarly to her demon earlier.

Something about the situation doesn't sit quite right with you, but you don't press on it immediately. After the apology, Kran makes way over beside Anlak and the two begin small whisperings between each other. You wonder how many other people he's keeping secrets with.

More importantly though, Sheryl is still there looking less confident than usual. You ought to help her with that tension.

>Ask about the demon earlier.
>Ask what she's worried about right now.
>Bring up the 'bird-seed' again to lighten the mood.

>>31289280
"Did you come here expecting we would be safe?"

>>31289280
>Ask what she's worried about right now.

>>31289280
>>Ask what she's worried about right now.

>>31289280
>Ask what she's worried about right now.

"Something bothering you?"

Sheryl's head jerks in your direction, eyes wide. Without her characteristic composure, her voice is sounds more girlish, "No, nothing at all."

"Seems like you're worried about something."

Sheryl takes a seat on the chair Leona left beside you, "...demons are scary aren't they?"

It's such an obvious thing now, but when you and Anlak had fought the goblin earlier your blood was rushing too much to give any thought into it. The normal reaction in that situation was to back out quickly like Sheryl and Yu'yan did, anyone else would've called you mad for fighting like you did. Still though, for someone who always seemed so calm it was odd to think that Sheryl had ran away, you can't see any marks with her sleeves over her arm but her injury was certainly less severe than Anlak's was when he re-entered the battle.

"Yeah, demons are scary." You reply to her.

"I thought I was ready to fight it, but I froze up when we came across it and that Lunese had to drag me back to the safe clearing." Sheryl spits out the words, she pulls the lower lip of her hood over her mouth, "I'll be better prepared next time."

You'd hope she'd be more worried about you, but you can't blame her for being afraid in an actual battle, especially not when it was so much more than expected.

Catching her cool again, Sheryl gets up and makes way for the door, "Get well." She exits.

>CONT

It seems Kran has finished up whatever she had to talk to Anlak about and prepares to follow Sheryl as well, but you still have some questions to ask don't you.

>Ask about Kran and Graps
>Ask about Kran and Anlak
>Ask about Black Cats, the field agents of The Seekers
>Ask more about demons
>Write-In

>>31289630
>>Ask about Kran and Anlak

>>31289630
>>Ask about Kran and Anlak
"you CANT expect me to NOT ask about how you two know each other.

>>31289630
>Ask about Kran and Anlak

>>31289567
>Ask about Kran and Graps

I want a shadow elemental/Demon thing
His name shall be Mr.Shadow or Erebus

"Do the two of you know each other? From before The Seekers?"

Kran stops walking and turns to you, "Oh, did I make it obvious? Ah, I guess it was before The Seekers for him, but for me, hm..."

Anlak looks away from you while Kran thinks.

"I had a mission awhile back, I'm not very good at the subtlety part of the job so they usually have me on assassinations but I'll spare you the details of the job. Found this kid here in a cage, you should've seen him, he was tiiiiny." Kran makes gestures with her hand, but given that there's only one of them it's a bit hard to gauge exactly how big she's talking about.

"I brought him back to the city, but he started following me. You should've seen him, barely talked. Kept trying to lose him, even left him behind in a wolf den once but it looks like Rasc didn't want him. When I didn't give him anything to eat he'd go out and come back with berries." Kran laughs about the events, it reminded you of the way your mother would tell stories about your little accidents, the content of Kran's memories seem a lot less cute though.

"Stop." Anlak says flatly, "It's embarassing."

He doesn't really look embarassed, his face is as flat as you've ever seen it been but it looks like you're seeing new sides to everyone today. Well, not Yu'yan.

"I'll be on my way then, you two boys try to get along alright?" Kran waves the two of you goodbye and departs through the door.

>CONT

Later in the dead of night, you lay awake holding a book over your gaze. You're not really paying any attention to the text, but you can't seem to fall asleep, the dim moonlight doesn't make for good reading any ways.

"So you get embarrassed too huh?" You whisper over to Anlak on the opposite bed, not sure if he's still awake.

It's some minutes before he responds, "Of course I do." His back faces you, he seems to really like that window.

You don't expect him to open up the way Leona did, he's still contending with Sheryl to be the aloof character in your merry class but you've probably made more progress today than you have in the month you got here in regards to him, and a few other things.

You probably shouldn't keep him up, but if he's still awake, even if it's your fault you might as well get one last conversation out before you fall asleep.

>Ask more about Anlak and Kran
>Ask about Anlak and Rein
>Ask about the slave pools
>Write-In

>>31290196
>>Ask about the slave pools

>>31290196
>>Ask about the slave pools
It's about time we finally got the run down, how longs it been since we first asked, a month?

>>31290196
>Ask about the slave pools

"Say, about the conversation we had a month ago... do you remember it?" You drop the book lazily to the side, you're not ready to fall asleep but you're too tired to bother keeping things neat.

"Yeah." A surprisingly quick answer.

"Could you tell me more about yours? Anything you know?"

Not as quickly this time, Anlak responds, "My slave pool was owned by a Lunese crimiminal, so my name is in their language. They kept us groomed, and fed enough to look healthy... not fed enough to fight back. I don't know how many of us were there at the start, but many of us were sold or... well, there were still four my age when I was rescued..."

Anlak's sheets ruffle when he turns over to stare at the ceiling, "I don't know much more, they kept us in a large cage unchained so it was more comfortable than what I saw the other slaves get. I think... I think I had it pretty easy. Not as easy as I do now though."

He doesn't seem to look at his past like a happy memory, but he seems willing enough to talk about it. What's curious to you is the way he counts his blessings.

When Anlak stops talking, and you're sure it's not just another one of his pauses. You close your eyes. Hopefully your wounds heal up soon, you don't have time to waste. Out there in the world, Carna could be hostaged by a demon, she could've been captured by a slaver.

With those worries in mind, you gradually pass into sleep.

And so life goes on.

And we'll leave things there tonight. Thanks for participating, felt like a pretty good count today, especially early on.

As usual, I'd love critique things like its vs it's definitely help and any opinions on things you're enjoying.

I may be able to run tomorrow, I've got to study for a license in the evening but I've been doing that while running today anyways. I'd have to start later than I did today though, but I guess the Twitter is there to help out with this kind of thing.

>>31290615
You should probably switch to best of three, or even two, now that you've picked up some more players.

>>31290615
Thanks for running later man

>>31290634
I'd prefer average of three. That way high numbers are more meaningful.

>>31295763
Averages suck. Best of one is fine.