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>>27835051
“Not a bad idea. We can use the special alchemical arrows that are already made to disable the guards if we can lay an ambush.”

“I heard about those. I wouldn’t mid the chance to try them out myself.”

“Excellent. Here, come with me. I’ll introduce you to your fellow archer Princess Felìcita. I’m sure you’ll hit it off.”

“Umm, before we go… Do you remember what I said when I asked about you and Princess Felìcita’s relationship… can you not pass that on? I don’t care for the monarchy but it still would be in poor taste given… well everything about the Golden Sabers really.”

“It was in poor taste before that too, but I’ll keep it to myself.”

Well this is going to be pleasant.

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>>27835072
After introducing the two elves to each other, something I may come to regret eventually, I moved on to meet with Sieghild to come up with plans for using the city guard to the best effect.

“You know, it seems a bit daft to be planning troop movements for a group of elves who currently want to kill us,” Sieghild said wryly.

“Tell me about it. But they are our best chance of driving out the Golden Sabers and we should have some idea of what to do with them once we free Captain Rina from Mr. Aldric.”

“Yeah. If we tarry too long who knows what those scum will come up with?”

Martina looked over our plans with a careful eye. “You should try to add more counter caster measures and plan to take those siege weapon positions sooner,” she said as though pointing out an inaccuracy in a child’s math problem.

I nodded, “Hmm. Good idea Martina. That way we can take advantage of your dragon form as much as possible. However we do need to be careful. There are still innocent servants and prisoners in the palace so we can’t just burn it to the ground. Also I’m concerned about Mr. Aldric and that General Zinoviy character. We overheard that Mr. Aldric was preparing ‘their contingency operations’ whatever that means. I suspect that it may mean they have another trick or two up their sleeves.”

Sieghild furrowed her brow with concern, “We also need to find a way to keep Mr. Aldric from simply running away. From what you told me he has already disappeared into smoke several times, how do we keep him from doing that when we try to kill him?”

“Good question. The easiest answer is to kill him before he can escape, but somehow I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Perhaps the mages can come up with something? Martina, you know the most about magic, what do you think about this?”

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>>27835090
Martina pulled up a chair and plumped down in it. I took a moment to enjoy the way gravity played with her human form’s chest before she began to speak.

“Its almost impossible to say exactly what we would need to do to counter his teleporting. No teleport spell I know of has the visual effects that you described and since you didn’t hear any incantation I can’t even find out what the spell might be based on.”

“Based on? What do you mean?”

Martina sighed, “Alright sometimes I forget I’m talking to a human without an innate understanding of magic. All spells are based on some form or school of magic. Most of the time this is fairly self explanatory. For instance if you are raising zombies or skeletons from the grave, you are probably using necromancy. However things get dangerous when you have clever wizards who start switching things around. To continue our example from before, imagine a wizard who creates skeletons and zombies by animating the corpses the same way that one would animate an ordinary object. That wizard would be using transmutation rather than necromancy. In the case of Mr. Aldric, a normal teleportation spell would use conjuration, but whatever he is using creates a different effect and thus may use a different form of magic. This makes it difficult for a mage to counter.”

>>27835105
Anti-magic circle.

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>>27835105
I frowned, “That’s… discouraging. I don’t like the idea of this scum getting away.”

“It’s worse than you think. If he’s using something other than a spell, such as a magic item or something it becomes even more difficult to counter. I’ll do what I can, but if you get the opportunity to kill him then take it. We may not get very many of those.”

I nodded in agreement. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Martina looked satisfied with that, “Good. Then I’ll leave you two to planning the gruntwork and I’ll go prepare spells.”

Sieghild gave Martina a sharp look, “Really? Gruntwork? Really?”

Martina shrugged, “If you’d like I’ll take on the combat role and you can try to study magic?”

I decided to interrupt before this could erupt into a full fight, “Say Martina, could you prepare a bunch of those telepathic spells that you told me about on the day of the attack? Sieghild can you help me figure out how best to use them to coordinate the guard movements? Thanks.”

A few hours later we crashed, resolving to continue this in the morning.

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Dear Journal,

Since I last updated you a lot has happened. We spent the next few days going over the same plans and details and preparing more and more for the raid itself.

Over the last few days I have come to worry about Felìcita’s and Veila ‘s partnership. The two of them have began a rather intense personal rivalry. It began when Felìcita took offense to the way that Veila constantly referred to me with nicknames like “Knight boy” and such, Veila started teasing Felìcita about how she really seemed to want me to be her “Master.” This only became worse when Aimèe let Veila in on how Felìcita started to call me that. I’d lost count of the times I had to break the two of them apart. Eventually I had to sit the two of them down and tell them that they had to cooperate or everything involved in this plan could fail. While Felìcita of course readily consented, Veila had to be reminded of what was at stake before she would agree to work with Felìcita. The first thing I had them do with each other was sit down and talk about what the Golden Saber did to each of them. While I would like to say that by the end the two of them were crying and hugging, nothing that dramatic happened but it did seem like the two had a newfound respect of sorts for each other. They still trade barbs from time to time, but its less venomous and I rarely need to intervene at all.

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>>27835268
Better news has come in with regards to Captain Rina. We think we have an opening to free her from the influence of Mr. Aldric and his magic in the near future. She will be traveling along with a small contingent of guards from the north end of the city to another district. Along the way we should be able to ambush her, disable her guards and remove the headband that is keeping her under Aldric’s control. Hopefully with her help, we can rally the city guard, and hopefully some of the palace guard against Mr. Aldric and the Golden Sabers.

We have our position set for the ambush and the date of the proposed attack. The only thing left to do is practice, practice, practice. With scum like Mr. Aldric and his men out there, I don’t want anything left to chance.

Hopefully when I next write in you Albero Città will be free!

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Hey, how is the story going? Is the quality still acceptable?

>>27835539
yes

>>27835539
Though, like I said last thread, I think Veila recovered a bit too quickly from losing her team

>>27835539
All I can say is thank god for the auto-refresh thing, otherwise my F5 button would have been broken days ago. This is possibly the best /tg/ story I've ever read.

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Thanks, its good to hear that people still enjoy this.

On an entirely unrelated note, I'll be back in about an hour.

>>27835539
Love it. Can't wait for more.

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>>27835524
Dear Journal,

Well, these have been an eventful few days. To keep things understandable, I’ll start at the beginning.

On the day of the ambush we made our way through the city towards the spot where we were to ambush the Captain and her men. Felìcita and Veila set up station in a nearby tower, Martina went invisible and took to the skies to provide watch for us, Siegbert waited on a nearby roof with some alchemical surprises that he assured me wouldn’t be lethal to anyone. Aimèe was watching from the distance, ready to alert us the moment the patrol started heading our way. Me and Seighild stayed on the ground level, waiting for the patrol to come near.

After a few hours of waiting, we got the telepathic message from Aimèe that the patrol was approaching. She reported that Captain Rina was leading, and there were six guardsmen trailing her. I acknowledged her report and asked that she continue to follow them in, just in case we needed her assistance with the attack itself. I drew my blade and from the sounds of it Sieghild did as well. In the distance, I could see Felìcita and Veila readying themselves to support us.

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>>27836337
Finally Captain Rina and her guards came into view. Fortunately Aimèe’s report was accurate so there was no need to reevaluate plans or make changes. Combat was initiated by Siegbert when he threw an “alchemist’s web” onto the six guards in the rear, coated by the sticky material, the guards could only flail helplessly as Felìcita and Veila began to pelt them with knockout arrows.

Captain Rina was another story altogether. As soon as the first guard was webbed, she drew her blade and got distance from the rest of her patrol, taking cover near a building to prevent being shot by arrows. At this moment me and Sieghild moved in to engage her. As we came into view, Rina glared at me and said “You. I should have known it would be you. You’ll pay for what you did to my father!”

A part of me knew that this was just the effects of Mr. Aldric’s mind control, but it was disconcerting to hear none the less. Of course I had little time to think of this as Captain Rina ducked into an alleyway. Me and Sieghild ran after her hoping to chase her down before she escaped, but were surprised to find her just inside the entranceway waiting for us. Immediately I realized that I had misread the situation and that Rina had positioned herself here to prevent Felìcita and Veila from shooting her and to remove the advantage of numbers that me and Sieghild held.

As she cut at my face with her blade I raised my shield to parry and called out, “Rina! I need you to let us help you! We know about the circlet that Mr. Aldric has placed on you! We can get it off and break this enchantment!”

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>>27836987
For a moment I saw a flicker of relief on her face but it was immediately replaced by an entirely blank expression and Rina redoubled her efforts to kill me. I was immediately placed on the defensive, franticly parrying as many blows as I could and taking many to my armor. I saw a few openings to perform a lethal strike, but that wasn’t my objective here. I told Sieghild to fall back out of the alleyway. As she complied, I began my own retreat. Sure enough Rina followed me and for a moment I hoped that she would follow me out into the open where Felìcita or Veila could take her down with a knockout arrow. However Rina, even while mind controlled, was too clever to fall for that. She began to fall back again, feigning another retreat. While I was sure that this was another feint to draw me into the alley, I had to follow in case it was an actual retreat. However this time she ran further into the alleys and I pursued until I came to an intersection in alleys. For a moment I thought I lost her, but then I heard the unmistakable noise of a bow being drawn back. I ducked just in time as an armor piercing arrow flew over my head and turned to face the shooter. Sure enough Rina had gained enough distance on me in my armor to feel comfortable using ranged weapons. Not wanting to go directly against bodkin fire, I ran further down the alleyway and took a parallel street hoping to circle around her. However Rina was ready for that too and the distance she had was even greater than before! I took cover near some crates of water and watched several arrows fly overhead. “How many did she have?” I wondered to myself as fire continued. Guards usually carry about sixty at a time, she must have fired a dozen of those by now. That still left over thirty more in her quiver.

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>>27837012
This would not do. So sheathing my sword and dropping my shield I picked up one of the massive water barrels and began to charge down the alleyway. I heard arrows plug one by one into the barrel but they only caused small leaks to form in the barrel. As I neared her position I heard the clatter of wood on dirt as she dropped her bow and drew her sword. A quick glance confirmed this and revealed that she had closed the distance between us and was lunging with her sword. I quickly stepped back and tilted the barrel, spilling water everywhere and intercepting her blade with the bottom of the barrel, getting it wedged in there. Before I could use the opportunity to disarm her, she managed to pull both her sword and the barrel bottom back. A quick smack against a nearby wall was sufficient to break the wood off her blade and she quickly got into position to attack again.

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Hey, sorry about the intense slowdown between posts. Its reaching the end of the day and I'm nearly burned out. I can still keep going a bit more but expect slower updates.

>>27837107

It's alright. Always appreciated, Sir Knight.

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>>27837027
At this point a rather ridiculous idea came to me. It was a bit silly but it would work and it would keep her alive. I turned the barrel back upright and dropped it right over her head, pinning her arms to her side and causing her to drop her sword to the ground. Wasting no time I immediately pulled her helmet off and began to pry the golden circlet off her head. With some effort, it was removed successfully. Then I had to step back as Captain Rina began to scream.

It was a long drawn out scream, one that was the reaction to every indignity and obscenity that occurred to her while she was controlled. When she calmed down though she looked me in the eyes and said, “It looks like my father was right to trust your character, Sir Knight.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. For a moment there, I was afraid I did something wrong.”

“Not at all Sir Knight. Not at all.”

After helping her back to her feet, the two of us headed towards her patrol. By this point, some of the guards were beginning to wake up and find themselves surrounded by a gang of dangerous fugitives that they were hunting. It took a bit of work for Captain Rina to assuage their fears but when she explained what happened a burning anger that I knew all too well emerged in their faces.

>>27837107
Still enjoying the story, but I can be patient.

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Not dead. Just really slowed down and burning out. I'm going to probably call it a night here. As always, comments, criticism, wild guesses, and other remarks are always appreciated!

Keep the thread alive/archived and I'll see you tomorrow.

Thanks for being such great readers.

Knight of the Realm

>>27838268
Sleep well!

Oh boy, thread 5 is here!
Loving the story so far, as usual, though I feel like a bit more description between rina getting the circlet off and returning to her men might of been in order. On the other hand, I *really* want to know what happens next!

Loving so far the story Brave Knight!

Readed the other 4 threads from yesterday night and todays morning and so far the only thing i want it's maybe a bit more of screentime for "Lagerdorf".

Maybe after the palace battle Mr.Knight showing him how to defend himself in a fight or something like that.

>>27838268
See you tomorrow, Sir Knight.

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>>27838268
I saw this on the front page and read from thread one out of curiosity, all i can say now is hooooly balls, my dick was not ready, and by dick i mean my anonymous knight saving the day story boner, looking forward to whenever you write next

bump, someone may want to archive this thread in case it dies overnight

Another bump.

Asleep well, my good knight anon. The story is captivating so far.

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I approve of knights.

Bumpin for the knight

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I'm back. I'll be posting again in a few.

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>>27844124
So by a few I evidently meant a few hours. I'm back to writing but expect my schedule to be erratic.

>>27835565
She's not recovered yet. The last few days have been full and active enough that she hasn't had a lot of time for the loss to truly sink in. Of course she felt grief when they died, but she hasn't had a chance to really mourn the loss yet.

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>>27837171
When we arrived at the guard precinct, there was a bit of an uproar about our presence. Fortunately Captain Rina knew her men well and was able to calm them down enough for the truth to come out. Soon messengers were being sent to the other guard precincts and a small army of guardsmen was being assembled outside. Captain Rina turned to me and asked, “So what’s your story with Mr. Aldric? Don’t get me wrong, I’m entirely in your debt for freeing me, but I do wonder why he’s after you.”

I shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure to be honest. All I know is that he’s after a magical item of mine that I’m trying to destroy.” I decided that she didn’t need to know the full details of Isocrates’ Rod just yet, but she should at least have some idea of what’s going on.

I continued, “He’s been trying to obtain it for weeks. He started with mercenaries and hired criminals but now he’s evidently moved up to seizing a nation and turning its resources against me.”

Rina nodded, “That story works with my timetable of events too. I was wondering why he showed up out of the blue so suddenly, but if you were heading towards Albero Città that would explain a lot. And now thanks to my experiences with Mr. Aldric’s unique brand of persuasion, I know how he did it too.”

“Do you know of any other officials that may-“

“May be mind controlled? Yes, and I’ve already sent guard teams to liberate them from control. Don’t worry about that. Now, form what the Princess tells me you have a plan for my men? I normally don’t like relinquishing control like this to a man I just met, but you did save me and I can certainly see the advantages of acting before Mr. Aldric can come up with a backup plan.”

>>27845253

Welcome back.

here and reading.

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>>27845253
I explained the basic details of my plan to attack and seize the palace and thankfully Captain Rina agreed with it. She had one request though, “When you and your friends enter the palace, I want to be there with you. I have a few scores to settle with Mr. Aldric and General Zinoviy.”

I nodded to her, “That’s more than fair. Incidentally, I really, really want to apologize for not being able to free you earlier. I wanted to break those bastard’s necks as soon as I saw what they were doing to you.”

To my surprise she smiled back at me, “So you were in the walls that day! Well, fortunately for your conscious, you did save me that day. General Zinoviy was so damned concerned with securing the castle and interrogating the prisoners that he didn’t want to waste any time exploiting his control of me. So in a way you did save a maiden’s honor yet again, Sir Knight.”

I sighed with relief, “You cannot begin to imagine relieved I feel to hear that. In fact-“ I started, “Did you say interrogating prisoners? Were there any survivors?”

Captain Rina nodded confused, “Yeah. There were a few. I don’t know how many, but they were there. I don’t know if they are still alive or not though.”

“Thank you! Veila will be damned pleased to hear that! I’ll be right back after I tell her. Remind me to buy you a drink when this is all done!”

Captain Rina leaned back in her chair and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, “You buy me a drink? Please, you saved my life and are about to free my city from a megalomaniac. I’ll be the one buying you a drink!”

I just realized something. As this is a typical fantasy setting we can assume that there are several quests to save the world in a particular area at any given time.
Normally we would be picking up an assortment of companions, including one or two female love interests.
Due to some mistake, we have accidentally picked up almost ONLY female love interests with the exception of the alchemist (unless your into that sort of thing).
This also implies that we have deprived several other heroes of their woman, meaning their party will just be a giant sausage fest.

>>27845412
A couple poor heroes are going to have to go without their fade to black scene before the final confrontation.
Of course some are wondering why they got two of a particular brand of companion that always show up in bioware games.

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>>27845364
I smiled at her, “I’ll take you up on that! I’ll be back in a minute.”

I hurried downstairs looking around for Veila, finally I spotted her playing a game of cards with a few of the guardsmen and guardswomen. From the looks of things, several guards would be out of their drinking money by the time the attack begun. I politely waited for her to finish her hand and then called her over.

“Veila, I was speaking with Captain Rina.”

“Yeah, the guard captain. What of it?”

Putting her tone aside for the moment I continued, “She says that after our mission, that General Zinoviy was busy interrogating prisoners. There’s a chance that some of your friends survived.”

The sardonic smile on her face remained fixed, but it seemed to be frozen, with all the playful scorn behind it evaporated and only remaining because the mind behind it couldn’t think of another one to replace it.

I continued, “I don’t want to get your hopes up too high, I don’t know if they are still alive but I just wanted to let you know that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that as many of them come back alive as possible.”

Veila blinked a few times and stammered a reply, “Th-thank you Sir – I mean – Knight Guy – I mean Knight Boy. I don’t really know what to say… I haven’t had a lot of time to think about their loss, I suppose you think that I’m a terrible person for that but –“

“No, not at all Veila. I’ve been a soldier most of my life. I understand what its like to lose comrades. Sometimes the grief hits immediately, sometimes it waits for a quiet moment then hits you like a warhammer to the gut, sometimes it’s a bit of both. Don’t worry. And if you need someone to talk to about it, I’m always willing.”

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>>27845412
>>27845469
A terrible error indeed.

>>27845506
Well, i suppose they could always make due with the plain girl next door companion. I don't think we've picked any of those up, and every other adventuring party always has one.

>>27845552
>>27845506
>>27845469
>>27845412
Guys, what if all the lonely male adventurers find out why they lack female company?
What if, in years to come, they all band together on the ultimate quest; To take vengeance upon the greatest cockblocker the world has ever known?

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>>27845475
Before Veila could respond, an alarm rose up amongst our perimeter guards. A guardsman burst into the room and called out, “The Golden Sabers have sent a messenger! They wish to speak with the Knight!”

I turned to Veila and placed a hand on her shoulder, “We’ll pick this up later if you want. I should see what this is about.”

“You’re certainly not going alone though,” Captain Rina chimed in as she descended the stairs. “I want to see what this is about too.”

In the end everyone in my party and then some of the guards wanted to see what this was all about. The small squad marched towards the street where the Golden Saber messenger waited. As we walked, I noticed that the streets were utterly deserted. Evidently the tension in the air could be felt by the citizens too and they decided to hide indoors until the violence stopped.

The Golden Saber messenger was atypical for the organization I had come to know and loath. This woman was lightly armored and lightly armed. Her armor was colored gold with black highlights and symbols, rather than the black armor with golden details that the other soldiers wore. She looked… fast; like she could dart away at any moment. Suspecting that my intuition wasn’t entirely inaccurate I conferred with Martina.

“Well Sir Knight. You’re right. Everything on her is enchanted to enhance her speed. Must be why she’s a messenger, if we try to capture her she can be gone before we draw a blade.”

The messenger looked at the small army approaching her with boredom of all things. Finally settling her gaze on the heavily armored human male of the group she waked towards me and called out, “Sir Knight I believe? I am Lieutenant Faina of the Golden Sabers. I bring a message for you from General Zinoviy.”

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And with that, I've got to go for an hour or two. I'll be back after that to write more of this story.

Thanks for your patience,

Knight of the Realm

>>27845552
I thought that's what Aimèe was going to be, before she turned would-be-special-agent-Jane-Bond on us...

Kniiight! We need a nice, pure, girl-next door tyyype! But I guess she really wouldn't fit, in a group full of this much ass-beatery.

>>27845632
What would be worse is if every party only ended up with one type of companion.
Like one guy only ends up with 10 of the best friend (allister, kaiden, dawn star)
one guy has a full party of the "unique" companion (shale, ya zen, justice, construct)
one party is full of the enemy turned ally (deaths hand, Logain, ammon)

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>>27845755
Actually those sound like pretty fun parties. 10/10 I'd play them.

>>27845778
Well, it would depend on which one you got. If you got only the bastard companions or the needy whiners it would suck, but if you got all the brawlers you would be unstoppable

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>>27845755
>>27845778
And now I'm picturing the party composed purely of mentor characters. Its better when they give contradictory advice.

>>27845804
I'd play it

>>27845755
I pity the poor fool who only got the noncombatant shopkeepers

>>27845647
Oooh! Oooh! Is it a challenge to single combat? Because I REALLY hope it's a challenge to single combat!

Also: What's up with the messenger? Suspicious...

>>27845667
Everything okay there, Knight? You don't need to keep this up, if it's cutting into your personal life, you know.

>>27845755
Dibs on the brotastic bros party. But only because Sir Knight has already snagged the love interested. ALL OF THEM. I'm not sure to envy him, or pity him, come to think of it...

>>27845874
messenger might also be an assassin in disguise

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>>27845874
Everything is fine actually. I just have errands I need to run during the day. And I want to keep writing this.

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By the way, how is the overall story still?

I've tried to add a little character to our less developed party members. Has that been working out or not?

>>27846431
Seems nice

>>27845802
>nothing but brawlers
>entire quest plays out like an Old Spice commercial

>>27846431
After this story arc is done, you should rest and prepare the future adventures. Maybe then some "filler arc" could be done. No huge fighting, but bonding and adding character to party members. Maybe even one of those pastebin stories...

>>27846431
Yep, for me is working.

Go on Sir Knight i'm loving the story so far.

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>>27846617
That was the plan. Hence the aforementioned hot spring stop.

>>27846644
Good, good. Carry on then, I will be checking this thread next morning.

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>>27846599
by the gods! that would be a most manly display

>>27846617
>>27846644
Down-time, relax after a hard battle...

Then a new enemy rises, the quest continues...

And the stakes have never, Been. Higher.

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>>27845647
With that she pulled out a scroll, unrolled it, cleared her throat, and began to read, “The Mighty General Zinoviy, Terror of the Reka Valley, Slayer of the Derevo Lyudey, Bane of Maidens and Virgins, Doom of His Foes…” his list of titles went on for several minutes before I interrupted.

“You don’t really need to list off every title the man was ever given. What are you trying to do?”

The messenger cleared her throat and replied, “The General has recently ordered some Golden Saber specialists on a mission that he would like completed before battle. This –“

I laughed, “Does the General expect us to wait until they return? I didn’t think he was that foolish.”

Lieutenant Faina got an angry flush on her face and continued, “He’s not. However this mission would be of importance to you and your plans so he felt that informing you of your place in it was only polite.”

Martina stepped foreword, “So he sent you to fill us in on his plans?”

The messenger shook her head, “No. He sent me to buy time for the specialists to get into position.”

>>27847590
Oh dear, time to fight off assassins and/or save helpless innocents.

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>>27845804
Dear god.
Kreia, Keldorn, Deckard Cain, Jolee, Auron
All in the same party...

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>>27847590
With blinding speed she then pulled out a wand and activated the spell stored within. A burst of energy that I recognized as the wingbider spell burst foreword and struck Martina in the chest causing her to wince and fall. As I ran to catch her before she hit the ground I was wondering why they used a wingbinder spell on a dragon who was already on the ground. The only purpose it could serve was to keep her grounded. Since there were too many of us for an ambush to be a good idea, the only reason they could want Martina grounded was…

A shadow passing overhead was the only clue that I was right before a massive bird swooped down, seizing Captain Rina in its claws and soaring away. As I looked up enraged I recognized the Golden Saber soldier known as Kuzma riding the giant creature. He gave me a sarcastic salute and shouted, “Sorry Sir Knight, General’s orders!” as he flew off.

The messenger began backing away slowly. The General’s message was that he was going to be recovering the stolen property that was Captain Rina. However he was willing to make you an offer. If you come to meet him for single combat with one of your own women accompanying you, then he would be willing to face you in single combat. The winner would take the loser’s woman as his own.”

As I drew my sword and lunged at the traitorous messenger, she leapt back and shouted “He’ll meet you in the ruins of the park in one hour!” and ran off in a blinding burst of speed.

“Damnation!” I swore. I turned to look at one of the lesser officers who was following Rina, “How long until we’re ready to attack?”

“Huh? Oh, it will be at least three hours before the first of the border guard begin to return to aid us.”

I turned to Sieghild, “How necessary are the border guard to our plans?”

She responded, “Their eagle mounts will be amazingly beneficial towards a victory, especially if the Golden Saber have more of those giant birds.”

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>>27847624
“Damn. All right, I suppose that the General will have his duel.” I turned to the woman following me. “Now I won’t force you, but anyone who is willing to volunteer to be the ‘reward’ for this duel would have my eternal gratitude.”

Surprisingly everyone, even Martina, volunteered. She said to me, “I’m not going to let you get yourself killed in a duel over some stupid elf captain. If it even looks like you’re going to lose, I’m shifting form and ripping everyone apart with my claws, wingbinder spells be damned.”

With that settled we all began our walk to the ruins of the old park to fight General Zinoviy.

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>>27847683
When we got there, we could see that General Zinoviy was prepared for us. The hulking figure stood alone in the center of the park, with a small unit of his men standing nearby. A giant bird mount for each man sat nearby, pecking at the ruined vegetation. The General himself looked intimidating with his massive form, his ominous black armor, a sword that would be a two handed weapon in the hands of any other, and a tower shield slung over his back.

Martina growled under her breath at the sight of him, “You know, I could shift to dragon form right now and roast him. Just say the word and this giant pile of scum becomes so much slag.”

However, as if he could hear us, General Zinoviy unsung his shield from his back and presented the face towards us. To my shock, held by chains to the four corners of the shield was a naked elven woman. As she looked up, I could recognize her as Captain Rina, an expression of equal parts shame and fury on her face.

I turned to Martina, “I think the option of burning them all with your breath has just been taken off the table.”

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>>27847855
The group of us walked slowly into the park. As I stepped foreword, General Zinoviy approached me as well. He removed his helmet and I could see a giant smile beaming across his face, “Ah! The man of the hour! I cannot possibly express how glad I am to see you! I knew the moment I heard of you that you’d be the sort of fellow I’d like! And I see you brought all your women! Five in all, eh? Not bad, not bad at all. You know, if you’d lose that code of honor of yours, I could probably find a place for you in the Golden Saber. Hells, I’ll even throw in little Rina here as a signing bonus! What do you think?”

I sighed, “I think you’re a disgusting creature; a monster in human form; apiece of low filth that defiles women and slays men. I would sooner die than work alongside you and I look foreword to killing you in this duel.”

“So that’s a no on losing the code of honor? Ah well. I try never to judge another man by his personal decisions, but I do have to kill you now. Nothing personal, just business. So, how do you want to do this? Count to ten then have at each other or what?”

>>27847971
Knight, smite this fool.

>>27847971
There's obviously gonna be cheating. But which side will cheat the hardest?

Suddenly the heroic party that ended up with all of the absent minded and/or uncontrollably destructive wizards bursts in

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>>27847971
At this moment I was seeing red. This… this monster’s casual disregard for the tenets I had lived my life around, his loathsome inability to recognize the differences in between us combined with the casual goodwill coming from a monster like that made it almost impossible to think. I drew my sword and slashed at him shouting, “I want you to die!”

He stepped back and drew his own massive blade, “All right then. Straight to battle it is then!”

As I attacked again, he moved to parry. Suddenly the shield with Rina bound to it was in the path of my blade! I froze, my hot blood going cold. I had nearly hurt the woman. I growled at the General, “Let the woman off your shield.”

The General smiled and replaced his helmet. “No, I think not. I did just get a new paint job on this shield and I’d rather not get it scratched up just yet. Fortunately I own the best shield cover one can find, a dumb elven whore!”

The way he emphasized the words own and whore were getting my blood up again. I tried to strike at him twice more but he continued to force Rina’s body in the way so I had to pull back each time. Then he moved to attack. I was immediately on the defensive, trying to dodge each strike of the massive blade. As much as I loathed this man on a personal level, I had to admit he was a master of battle. He moved that blade as if it was a rapier and seemed to effortlessly know how to counter my every attack. IT wasn’t long before I was wondering if I was going to be the one losing this battle.

>>27848282
I Think this isthe perfect time for Dwarf bro to make an inventive intervention

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>>27848282
With each aborted strike I made, the General grew more and more confident. After pulling back from one particularly close call, the General began to taunt me, “You know Knight,” he began as he drove me back with his blade, “You should really take the time to enjoy life more. Stop a moment and smell the burning ash of the trees and enjoy how our little Rina jiggles and winces when I jerk my shield around.” He laughed again, “After all, our little fight is the only reason she’s on here after all. I don’t usually fight with whores on my shield, but today I found out that I’d have a chance to challenge you Sir Knight and I said, you know what? I’m pulling out all the stops today! Bring me some cheap chain and let’s put this whore to some use!”

As I dodged back to take cover behind a burnt tree something struck me. Admittedly so did General Zinoviy’s blade as he cut clean through the trunk, but my armor took care of most of that. Something in his words, “take a moment to enjoy how our little Rina jiggles and winces…” “I don’t usually fight with whores on my shield…” and “bring me some cheap chain and let’s put this whore to some use…” I had an idea.

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>>27848484
I focused on Captain Rina, tired to feel the terror and fury that she must be experiencing and again I forced those sensations down my arms and into the blade I wielded. As it burst into flame, I struck out twice, not at the General, but at his shield. More specifically I struck the chains binding Rina’s arms to the upper corners of the shield. As she fell I shouted, “Rina, grab the remains of that trunk now!”

A look of understanding crossed her face and she held on to that stump for dear life. I quickly circled the General who tried to pull back to face me, but his shield arm was being held in place by Rina’s death grip on the stump. He bellowed, “Damn whore! Let go of that!”

But by then it was too late for him. Seeing my opening I closed and with my blade burning brighter than ever before, I stabbed up into the weakspots near the arms and was rewarded by a spurt of blood.

General Zinoviy fell to ground in pain. He made a noise, it took me a moment to recognize it as a laugh, “Well done. Well done indeed Knight. Your reputation is quite well deserved. Its been a while since someone could do something like that to me.”

I looked down coldly at him, “You can be as good of a sport as you want to about this. I can’t let you live.”

“Oh I know. I know. Your code of honor and all that. It’s a shame really, I think we could have had a splendid partnership if I had one or you didn’t. Unfortunately I don’t have one.”

“Indeed. You could have been a good man with one. The world is a worse place for your lack of it.”

“True, but I may have misspoke with that last sentence. It is especially unfortunate for you that I don’t have a code of honor.”

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>>27848859
Suddenly a bright light was blazing in my eyes. The Golden Saber soldiers that the General brought with him rushed forward and began to pull him away. As he was dragged off, he dropped his shield and Rina with it. “Go on,” he called out, “take her. You’ve earned it!”

When the light faded, I could see me and my friends were all staggering around trying to maintain balance. Rina was regaining her composure as well. She looked up at me with a smile, “Sir Knight, remember what I said about buying you a drink? Forget it, I’m buying you the nicest dinner I can find in this city instead! What do you say to –“ at this moment she seemed to remember her current undressed state and flushed a deep red. I gracefully offered her my tabard to cover herself until we could find another uniform for her and she gratefully accepted. With that we headed back to the precinct to get ready for the real battle.

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And on that note, I have a family dinner to leave for. I'll be back in a few hours to write more!

Comments and criticisms are still greatly appreciated!

Thanks again,

Knight of the Realm

>>27848924
You're doing pretty damn great!

That General sure is swole as fuck. Full armor, what I presume to be a sort of greatshield and a whole elven maiden and still managed to swing around his sword like a it was a much lighter weapon.

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>>27848924
Excellent work, sir knight! Have this barbarian

>>27848987
He's a Dark Souls dickwraith, only explanation.

>>27849014
Damn. That is barbaric.

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>>27849014
oh shit.
That was not the barbarian I had in mind.

>>27848987
Can we assume he's got magic 'roids up the ass?

>>27849084
>>27849014
10/10, would lol again.

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>>27849147
While he certainly does have magic enhancements, he is also unnaturally strong without them too.

>>27849203
It's a bit insane though. Guy has 50+lbs in armor, a sword that is upwards of 7lbs, no clue bout the shield's weight but it is gonna be weight down by at least a 100lbs of elven maiden.

>>27849423
You'd be surprised how little the armour would weigh someone down. If it's properly fitted, the weight is distributed enough to make it fairly easy to move in.

>>27849602
I think the Elf wielding part is where he would need some serious mojo on his side

>>27849980
I will definitely concede that part.

I would like to see some of that fire of righteous fury burn him from the inside out. Magical swords, they're a good thing.

>>27850217
I'll give you another bump before I go to bed.

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Still at dinner. Will be back soon.

>>27849203
And Sir Knight is just an ordinary human, albeit well-trained, experienced and with a magic sword.

Actually, come to think of it, all the party's on a par, power-wise... Except Martina, who is massively MORE so, but never seems to have a chance to show it. You're going to have to have her go nuts soon, KotR, or she risks becoming that character everyone SAYS is a badass, but you never actually get to see take the gloves off. Wingbinder spells and so on can only be used so many times, before they stop being an interesting limit on her abilities and start being over-used and frustrating for the audience.

I'm guessing the downtime will give everyone a chance to level up a little, as well as develop interpersonally. That way, Martina will have less to worry about, over-shadowing everyone else. I mean come on; in a party with a dragon, the knight has to be at least a Dragon Knight, the thief has to be a Shadow-Walker, the elf archer has to be a Fey Warden, etc. just to keep from fading into the background! Or would that be too game-like for a story?
>Biting my tongue to keep from offering more opinions. This is KotR's story! Not mine!
>Need moar soon, or this urge is going to make me develop a twitch. Need my fix!

>>27851032
>well-trained
i feel like Sir Knight is a bit better then just well trained if he kicked the shit out of Martina on their first meeting.

Hey for other POVs instead of having them say who it is all the time you could always describe the handwriting in brackets.
For example, Martina's writing could be impeccably neat and proper, Felìcita’s could be frilly and feminine, Aimée's could be messy, Sieghild's and Siegbert's could be blocky printing similar to some dwarven script.

>>27851032
Also, i get the impression that the knight is a cut above any of the others (except Martina in dragon form) in single combat, considering he could have killed Rina when he was trying to disable her.
He IS the hero though, so that makes sense.

>>27851414
I would say he is a bit better than that considering he managed to drive off Martina in the tower and only struggled with her when she was flying in the air.

>>27851440
Yeah, and she's the only one who is a more experienced fighter then him (assumption due to her age)
The others are either maids, bar wenches or have been rotting away on guard duty. Where as our knight is a full time soldier.

>>27851485
Actually, how did Sieghild learn to fight?

Is it dwarven tradition or did she do something else besides being a tavern wench?

>>27851654
She slapped unruly patrons with a hammer for practice

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>>27848881
On the way there Rina and Veila started to chat with me a little more. Rina spoke first, “Say Sir Knight, have you ever considered working as a guard? I know that you’re in the Realm’s military, but if you ever want to move on, I’m sure I could find a position for you in the Albero Città guard. You’d make a great lieutenant. If you’re interested just let me know. You’d have good hours, a great wage, and you’d be working directly under me so you wouldn’t have to worry about an unreasonable boss. Any thoughts?”

Before I could answer Veila spoke up too, “You know… if you are interested in more, call them lucrative, opportunities you should talk to me. I could use a man like you at my side in some of the places I’ve been. You’re great with a blade and pretty quick witted too. You’d be good in my line of work.”

Rena retorted, “Hah. I’ve heard of you Miss Veila. What makes you think that a honorable knight would be at all interested in joining up with you?”

“No clue. Maybe it’s the money? Maybe the glory? Maybe not having to deal with someone who gets kidnapped twice a day?”

I could see this was about to get ugly so I decided that I should intervene here. “I’m sorry to have to turn you both down for the time being. You see, I’m on a quest of sorts already. I still need to destroy the Rod that our mutual enemy Mr. Aldric is after. After that, I’ll review my options a little.”

Just when I thought that the issue was settled, Felìcita decided to offer her two coppers, “Of course after that, you’ll always be welcome in the Court. I’m sure I can find several openings for you to fill or positions to take…”

And then the whole argument started up again. I merely sighed and kept walking.

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>>27851032
>>27851339
>>27851375
>>27851414
>>27851440
>>27851485
>>27851654
>>27851704
>>27851704
Actually Sir Knight came incredibly close to outright killing Martina on their first meeting. It was only her (Or perhaps their?) luck that kept her alive. I'll tell the whole story later but essentially Sir Knight used his horse as bait in a canyon while he climbed up to the sides of it. When Martina went for his horse, thinking he was on it, he jumped on her and stabbed her in the equivalent of her shoulder blade, where her wing meets her torso. He significantly damaged her joints there and cut some major arteries. If it wasn't for his footing slipping, he would have effectively severed her wing entirely. As it was, they both fell to the ground and survived relatively intact, allowing Martina to limp off while Sir Knight was reorienting himself.

Sieghild learned to fight as a combination of dwarven tradition and another career which hasn't come up yet, but can probably be guessed.

And if this were a game, the characters would have way better titles by now. They just don't come up as often in game.
Although Sir Knight will probably be an acknowledged dragon rider (or "rider") by the end of this story.

>>27851803
>I’m sure I can find several openings for you to fill or positions to take…”
I see what you did there

>>27851803
>that Felicita
I think the sword's enchantment works a touch better on elves

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>>27851945
>>27851981
You two got that but missed "you’d be working directly under me" and "I could use a man like you at my side?" Just because Felìcita has no sense of subtlety doesn't mean the others are any better.

>>27852303
Well played, i failed my spot check twice

>>27852303
Well shit

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>>27851803
When we got to the precinct things had finally begun to get into motion. The first of the border guard had joined us and we were starting to get a considerable army. When Captain Rina came into view a cheer rose up from the assembled guards. When they saw that she was wearing nothing more than my tabard, several more cheers and a few wolf whistles rang through the air as well. Rina quickly went to her office to get changed into something more decent, before returning.

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>>27853061
After that, we went strait to the pre-battle meeting. Many of the guard commanders were there and while I got a few quiet warnings about Felìcita’s abilities, I assured the doubtful that Felìcita had indeed improved since they last met her and began the meeting. I explained to the assembled commanders the methods that Mr. Aldric had used to seize control over Albero Città and what he had done and what he intended to do. I glossed over several details about the specific magic item he was hunting and exactly what had been done to those in his power, I figured it wouldn’t help morale if they learned what had been done to their king and queen. Of course they knew something bad had happened to them, but I allowed them to think it was particularly harsh imprisonment rather than the truth. After getting their cooperation through outrage at Mr. Aldric’s actions, I then told them what I intended, to free Albero Città from his grasp. I explained the resources at his disposal including mind control and the Golden Saber soldiers. Finally I told them what had to be done. I explained where the guard units would be stationed and what I expected them to do. I also assigned units to attack the palace itself and begin sweeping it of the Golden Saber.

I concluded by saying, “While I expect that the inner palace is where most of the Golden Saber is concentrated, the outer layers will likely be highly defended as well. Fortunately with the border guard eagle riders here, we should be able to clear those well enough. Just follow the same procedures that you would normally use for clearing a building. Are there any questions?”

The men as a whole had none so I dismissed them leaving only the few of us there to iron out last minute details. Captain Rina had the first major question, “So Sir Knight, where will you be in this battle?”

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>>27853081
I looked at her surprised, “Huh? I was planning on being with the front line troops, helping out there. Why do you ask?”

Rina shook her head, “No, that won’t work. If you’re in the thick of things you won’t be able to command effectively. You’re effectively the one in charge here and hearing your side of this story made a lot of the men and women respect you and your leadership.”

I was about to voice my contempt for sitting back while other men died for your cause when Sieghild broke in, “She’s right Sir Knight. I know you’ve fought in cavalry units and sometimes commanded them, but leading an army is different from that. You can’t be with the men, you’ve got to be emotionally distant enough to send them into difficult places expecting them to die and you need to be physically distant enough to be able to spot those positions. Neither of those work on the front line. You should try to grab one of those eagles or something and monitor the battlefield from there.”

“He can mount me,” Martina broke in, “Err, I mean he can ride me – Ride on my back. That way he can get a good view of the battle and participate when I strafe their soldiers. As long as your counter mage procedures are up to par it should be perfectly safe.”

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>>27853109
The other women looked a bit flustered at this but eventually reluctantly agreed that the idea would work. Rina broke open the guard armory and got me a lance and harness that were sized for massive mounts. She looked at me, “This lance was originally made for a mammoth rider who was causing trouble for Albero Città a few years back, I think it will work well on dragon back too. The harness comes from a lizard rider who came from the east and got himself killed in a bar fight. It lookes about the right size for a dragon, but I’m not exactly sure.”

I responded, “Thank you for these. They look perfect for the job. By any chance would I be able to buy these from the city after – “

“No you can’t, I’m already giving them to you for free. Consider them a gift,” Rina put her hand on my shoulder, “and be safe up there. It could get pretty dangerous,” suddenly she smiled, “and I can’t have you dying before I get a chance to buy you that dinner!”

“I look foreword to it! I’m off to mount Martina, I’ll see you at the palace gates!”

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>>27853140
>I’m off to mount Martina

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Assuming a proper saddle/platform, just how many people can our dragoness carry? How big is she anyways? (wingspan, nose to tail?)

>>27851803
> I’m sure I can find several openings for you to fill or positions to take

Heh.

Didn't she just get wingbinded?

>>27853154
It will eventually happen anyways.

>>27853516
That was before the duel with the General. Wore off by now.

>>27853516
Yeah, but she was already grounded, so it apparently didn't hurt at all. It's probably worn off by now anyway

>>27853536
Breakfast? Well that is true

As the story continues, it seems to me that the knight is becoming more of a rogue archetype hero. In virtually every major confrontation he's won by either a massive sneak attack bonus or by laying some sort of improvised trap.

Basically, he's more Conan than Lancelot. Which is perfectly fine, just a bit surprising to me.

>>27853777
A Paladin is not one who is dumb. A paladin is smart, cunning, and knows how to cheat. The paladin just chooses not to.

>>27853777
Why do you have to be a rogue just to be smart enough to not smack your head into a brick wall and consider it an attack strategy?

>>27853140
>I’m off to mount Martina

i hope she was listening in.

>>27853777

he would be a spec ops soldier by modern standards.

>>27853878
Dragon hearing + mage. You know as well as I what she is doing.

Will she take to a saddle though?

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>>27853140
I met Martina in one of the precinct’s break rooms. She was standing there alone looking nervous. When she saw me enter she ran over to me and said, “Alright, I may have made a terrible mistake. I saw some of the border guard with their birds earlier. You should try to take one of those! Trained to work with riders in combat! I’m not! I don’t know what to do!”

I patted her shoulder to put her at ease, “Its pretty easy Martina. Horses can figure it out, surely a mighty dragoness can too. Most of the training is getting the animal to ignore its instincts and run at things it normally would try to avoid, getting it acclimated to battle, all those things. You don’t have to worry about that. You’re already one of the toughest girls in this group!”

“Well… I don’t know the commands of a mount! What you tell me to go some direction and I go the wrong way and get you killed? What then?”

I sighed, “The commands are pretty easy and mostly self explanatory. In horses, it involves a lot of instinct on their part. I can run through some of them with you though if you’d like.”

“Yes! Er, yes that would be helpful.”

“All right then,” I sat down in a tall chair and pulled Martina in close so that our hips were touching.

“Wha – Sir Knight, what are you doing?”

“Relax Martina, I’m showing you the commands. It would work better in your dragon form, but there’s hardly enough room to transform in here and I’d rather not give any wizards a chance to throw a wingbinder at you before our counter mage procedures are ready. Is that okay with you?”

“Y-yes it is. I just didn’t expect you to… er… let’s just get started.”

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>>27854111
“Alright Martina. I’m going to be using a shield and lance while I’m on your back, you don’t need to worry too much about me staying on as Rina gave me a harness for riding that should help. Since I’m going to have my hands full I won’t be able to use a bit and bridle with you, and it would probably interfere with your breath weapon anyways, so I’ll be guiding you with my legs.” As I wrapped my legs around Martina’s waist, I felt a shiver go down her back. I continued, “The basic tool to guiding a horse with your legs, or in your case guiding you with my legs, is pressure. If I increase pressure in a certain way, it is an indicator that you should be turning. Normally on a horse, I’d move my legs around to apply pressure on its outside or inside legs to guide it, but on a dragon that won’t work as well. Its going to take some time to get this perfect, neither of us are exactly used to this. I’ll have to learn how to give commands on dragonback while you’ll have to learn to receive them correctly. In short, if I apply pressure with my right leg,” as I said this I pushed with my right leg against her hips, “then you should move left, or away from my push. If I push with my left leg, you should move right.” I switched the pressure and again pushed against her hips. Martina was a bit flushed and beginning to but her lip here, but I continued anyways. “Now I don’t normally work with flying mounts, but I understand that the commands to dive and rise use the same sort of system. If I remember correctly, I squeeze both legs and lean foreword to indicate a dive,” I suddenly squeezed both my legs around her hips and pushed into her lightly. Martina gasped and flushed harder. “Whereas if I lean back it indicates a need to go higher,” I finished pulling away from her slightly. She was trembling all over now and was panting a little.

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>>27854133
“Now, even if I have you in a bit and bridle and with reigns, I won’t have a free hand to use them. So the cue to stop or slow down is going to be a little more subtle than usual. It is going to be another squeeze, but this will be done with my calves rather than my thighs,” as I said this I wrapped my legs around her and this time pulled her hips into mine, eliciting another gasp from Martina and an even deeper flush. “Fortunately the cue to go faster is easier and even harder to confuse. It is going to be a swift kick to the flanks as it were.” As I said this, I took my hand that was resting on her hip, slid it lower and slapped. She stiffened and her face took on a hue to match her dragon form’s scales. I continued as though I hadn’t noticed, “Fortunately I don’t have spurs so it shouldn’t hurt too much when I need to do that. Multiple kicks though,” and here I couldn’t resist giving the proud dragoness a few more playful slaps to the hindquarters, “mean that I need you to go really fast, right now.”

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>>27854164
I got off the chair and stepped away from Martina, who was still flushed, breathing heavily, and biting her lower lip hard enough that I was worried that she’d draw blood.

“Those are the basics of being a mount in combat. Do you think you’re up to it?”

Martina took a moment to try to regain her composure, failed and then spoke anyways, “What happens if I forget one of the commands? What will we do then?”

I shrugged. “Its not a major deal. We can iron out the details using that telepathy spell you have after all. I’ll expect I’ll be doing most of the commands through that anyways.”

The outraged look in Martina’s face was something I will treasure until the end of my days. Admittedly at the moment it looked like that could be coming up soon though. Martina shrieked, “What? We can just do that? Why didn’t you say so? What was the point of all that – that – that training?”

I shrugged again, “You asked Martina and I figured that you wouldn’t forget about your own spell. And from the looks of it you didn’t mind it too much. Now come on, we have a war to win.”

>That was too much fun to write.

>>27854133
So lewd.

>>27854198
It was very close to going full Pastebin.

>>27854193
>>27854164
>>27854133
KotR you are a lewd writer

>>27854255
Imagine what they will be like in bed.

>>27854256
Well, the knight said he will mount her. So he did.

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Martina was still fuming, but for the time being was okay. She told me, “It’s a good thing fire dragons like me don’t have to take cold baths after something like that. Otherwise I’d have to take one that was so long I’d miss the entire battle.”

I looked at her with what must have been a deeply amused grin plastered across my face, “Sorry about that. You can still take one if you want.”

“Nah. Fire dragons don’t typically do well with cold, especially cold water. We need to maintain a very high body temperature to stay alive. We can survive brief douses but we’d better get dry and surrounded by warmth pretty soon.”

I filed that away under “Things that are important to know” and let the matter drop, well mostly. I still made a few jokes about not being able to wait to see her in nothing but a harness and a saddle that made her blush even harder but apart from that the preparation time for the battle went smoothly.

>>27854617
>We can survive brief douses but we’d better get dry and surrounded by warmth pretty soon.”
This will totally not come up again later

>>27854111
>>27854133
>>27854164
>>27854193

looks like the knight knows exactly how to tease them dames. wonder what training he went on or would it be pure instinct?

so i just want to ask you guys now, who do you think has a better bum, martina or felicita?

>>27854863
the knight just slapped them, i doubt he actually took the time to REALLY feel them.

my best bet is the maid though

>>27854647
I love foreshadowing

>>27854883
It is a difficult task, that one.

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>>27855065
>I filed that away under “Things that are important to know”

So does the Knight.

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>>27854617
Finally the time had come for the main assault. I met Martina in the courtyard, she was indeed wearing nothing but a harness and a saddle but as she had shifted to her draconic form the sight was a fair bit less attractive than it could have been. Never the less, I still kept up the playful banter as I got my self strapped into the saddle, “Hello Martina. Ready for another riding lesion?” For the sake of decency and Martina’s pride I used our telepathic link to message this.

To my pleasant surprise the dragoness’ telepathic voice sounded like her pleasant human one rather than the roaring hiss of her dragon body’s voice, “You’re lucky I’m so fond of you Knight. This form always reminds me of how small and edible you really are.”

“And that voice always reminds me that you’re adorable when you’re blushing.” I leaned back and slapped her flank and was rewarded with a familiar gasp as Martina took to the air.

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>>27855401
I’d forgotten how splendid the view from a dragon’s back was. From here I could see everyone on the ground below. When you combined this viewpoint with Martina’s telepathic spells the effect was incredible. I could guide men to exactly where they needed to be and use them to devastating effect. Although the Golden Saber soldiers were probably tougher and better trained than the elves, we were able to simply guide the soldiers into the best positions. There were several attempts by the Golden Saber to set up their own aerial positions to fight us with their giant birds, but Martina and I took care of most of them with ease. Soon the Golden Saber troops were falling back to the inner palace. Me and Martina made another circle above the palace, checking for stragglers before getting ready to breach the inner palace. We then spotted the small garden where Aimèe, Siegbert, Sieghild, Felìcita, Veila, Captain Rina, and several of the important guard commanders were waiting for me before breaching the palace.

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>>27855424
We landed and I dismounted Martina and stood to the side as she transformed from her draconic form into her humanoid form… which was wearing nothing but a harness and a saddle.

Everyone reacted differently, many of the men took the opportunity to stare and a few catcalled or wolf whistled, Siegbert’s jaw simply fell open. Many of the women looked at her with amusement tinged with envy and Aimèe and Veila even joined in with the men in cheering. Martina for her part looked horrified, covered herself as best as she could, and shrieked at Rina, “Damn it to the Hells! Rina, was this harness enchanted?”

Rina, still looking shocked stammered, “Er… Yes, the previous owner may have had it enchanted to some extent. What does that have to do with –“

“If its enchanted it will change shape with me! Damn it all! Someone get me a robe or something!”

I took off my cloak and wrapped it around her, “Its not much but it will cover you until we can find something more decent.”

>I'm pretty sure this picture is still safe for work, but it comes close so spoilered anyways.

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>>27855447
While someone ran off to find a spare mage’s robe, the rest of us got to talking tactics. Or at least got to talking.

Aimèe and Veila took up spots on either side of Martina and leaned in.

Aimèe gave Martina a coy smile, “So… how was your first time being ridden by Sir Knight?”

Veila picked up where Aimèe left of, “And did he get that harness just for the occasion? How cute. I’ll bet you felt all tingly when you put it on.”

At this moment I saw the runner coming back with a wizards robe. I decided to take the opportunity to rescue Martina from the two rogues and took the robe from the runner.

I walked it over to Martina, still blushing from the jokes that Aimèe and Veila were throwing her way and handed it to her, “Here you go Martina. This should help,” and when she stood up to leave I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She lit up like a fireball at that, but she smiled back and ran off to go change. I turned to the absolutely stunned Aimèe and Veila. “Alright you two, I understand that you like to tease people from time to time, but watch out that you don’t become too mean. And back of Martina a little, okay? She’s already had enough teasing for today.”

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So, who'se still here?

How's the story coming?

What did you think of those last few parts?

>>27855621
still here. you lewd bastard.

>>27855621
still here any enjoying it, loving the banter between the har-party members

>>27855621
L-L-Lewd
I want more

>>27855621
Just as I like it.

>>27855621
Perfect, I loved the teasing part.

>>27855621
Lewd.

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>>27855595
Martina returned and we set to work laying the final plans for the entrance into the palace. There were a few crude jokes and a few sideways glances that I didn’t care for the tone of, but cracking my knuckles loudly near the heads of the perpetrators seemed to get the point across.

Interruptions aside, soon enough we had a plan of attack prepared for the palace. Several guardsmen had formed a makeshift battering ram out of a heavy cart and a large log and were starting to batter down the palace doors. I cautioned everyone to remain careful, without aerial reconnaissance, we wouldn’t have as much of an advantage as we did last battle. As I finished speaking, the battering ram burst through the door, heedless of my warnings, the guards swarmed in and were cut down by crossbow bolts.

“TAKE COVER! GUARDSMEN TAKE COVER NOW! AGIANST THE WALLS BY THE DOOR!”

With their comrades dead, the rest of the guardsmen were quick to obey my orders. I quickly moved over to the wall next to the door and pulled out a small mirror from my belt pouch. I angled it around the corner and used the reflective surface to see what was beyond. I immediately noticed about twelve Golden Sabers standing guard and was puzzled, twelve people shouldn’t have been able to take down almost twice their number of city guards, but then I saw their weapons. Repeating crossbows, emblazoned with runes. The guards were probably able to cut down a guard or two each before they ran out of targets. These would be difficult to deal with. I was wondering whether or not I could clear the distance between them in time before I got shot (probably not), when I felt a tugging at my tunic. I turned around to see Siegbert standing there. “What is it Siegbert? Is something wrong?”

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>>27856615
“Quite the contrary actually. I think I may have the solution to our problems right here.” With a smile that I can only describe as wicked, Siegbert held up a large flaks of some opaque orange solution. “This little baby may be my claim to immortality should I fail to find the perfect Lager mix that is. You are familiar of course with traditional alchemist’s fire, yes? Well I took that recipe and made a few adjustments to it. Behold: Siegbert’s Challenge! Oh, quick question, is there anything in the way there that can be burned that you don’t want burned? Might be important.”

>>27856636
You took my napalm idea?

>>27856636
>not even alchemist's fire that burns stuff that doesn't burn.

>>27856636
Best alchemist!

>>27856685
Once he mixes up some White Phosphorous and agent orange as well we can commit some proper war crimes.

>>27856747
Why did I laugh.

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>>27856636
I looked in the mirror again. No hostages, no wooden or otherwise flammable support pillars or scaffolding, no vital documents, no valuable scrolls (that I could see). “It looks clear Siegbert. Have at it.”

With another wicked grin Siegbert hurled the flask with all his strength into the room near the Golden Saber. I heard a crash, something that sounded like a strong wind, and then silence. I looked at Siegbert quizzically. “Shouldn’t there have been… some sort of boom? The sound of fire crackling? The smell of smoke? Something?”

Siegbert was looking worried and confused and trying to think what may have went wrong. I looked in the mirror again hoping that the soldiers would at least be distracted, and was surprised to see what was inside. I stepped into the doorway and called out to Siegbert. “Hey, you may want to see this. I think when you were doing your alchemy equations do you think you might have dropped a plus or a minus somewhere? Cause I think you dropped a plus or a minus somewhere.”

He looked at me, noticed that I wasn’t being shot to pieces and stepped closer to see what I saw. The soldiers were still there, standing in position ready to fire, but a thick layer of ice covered each of them. One had tried to fire his crossbow, but the entire mechanism froze up and the bolt was only just exiting the bow before it too froze in place. It was quite the tableau. Siegbert looked around and shrugged. “I guess this works too.”

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>>27856791
We continued on into the palace afterwards. I sent out guard teams to begin to clear the area. Others would, with any luck, be entering through the old smuggler’s tunnels in the basements while still others tried to climb in sufficiently large windows to try to clear the area of soldiers that way. Naturally we encountered resistance. We encountered resistance all over. Similar set ups to the one before, and Siebert’s Challenge kept on working its magic (or in this case alchemy). Suddenly we heard the voice of a Golden Saber sergeant ring out, “Men, fall back! Fall back to the portals! We’re retreating!”

Martina turned to look at me, “Portals? You didn’t say anything about them having portals!”

“I didn’t know! I didn’t see any, what about you Captain Rina?”

The elf shook her head, “I heard nothing of them, and I was amongst them longer than you. They must have been recently added.”

“Damn. ALL RIGHT MEN! WE’RE DOUBLE TIMING IT TO THE ENEMY! KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND ALERT! LOOK FOR ANYTHING THAT COULD BE A PORTAL!”

Martina looked at me, “They should also look for something that is powering these portals. It would be big and encased in a crystal cage of sorts. If they shatter it, the portals will cease to work. And you do have that telepathy spell with their commanders, you can use that and they will relay those orders. You don’t need to shout.”

“Sorry Martina, force of habit.”

>>27856791
>Tries to make a badass alchemists fire

>Makes badass ice bomb instead

That's science for you.

>>27856931
He forgot a plus or minus in his thermodynamic equations. Made a immensely powerful endothermic reaction, rather than an immensely powerful exothermic reaction.

>>27856957
Hey, whatever works, works. And now you have a rather effective stun bomb.....maybe.

>>27857035
Stun? Bro if you get flash frozen solid your fucking dead. The very rare survivors of freezing had time to adjust to the temperature.

>>27857035
Sorry, but its both simultaneously too cold and not cold enough to be a stun bomb. Too cold to leave them alive and not nearly cold enough to have a cryogenic effect.

>Captcha: involuntary zedwrot
It is indeed captcha. It is indeed.

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>>27856931

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>>27856914
I relayed what Martina told me about the potential for a portal power source to the men and we set off at an increased pace for the heart of the palace, the throne room.

When we got there, the Golden Saber retreat was already underway. Men were pouring into the portal in rapid succession and very few were left. There were only two sources of consolation in this, one that they at least didn’t appear to be taking any prisoners with them, two that Mr. Aldric, General Zinoviy, and that messenger woman Lieutenant Faina were still amongst those still present. I quickly halted my squad and began to approach as quietly as I could. Lieutenant Faina appeared to be busy casting some sort of healing spell on General Zinoviy. Mr. Aldric was standing a fair distance back. As the Lieutenant finished her work, Mr. Aldric moved in closer.

“I see your cleric is finished with her… distasteful work.”

“I’m sorry about that sir. I’m not quite ready to follow your path into undeath just yet. Maybe when I’m getting up there in years, but not today.”

“As you wish General. As you wish. You still have failed me however… do you intend to make this up to me somehow?”

“Don’t worry Sir, this is only a minor setback. We’ll find another way to recover your Rod.”

“Good. It is vital that you do so General. For your sake as well as mine.”

Rolled 30

>>27857119

Obvious Isocrates liche is obvious Isocrates liche. (and has been since he said "MY PROPERTY")

>>27857182
Yeah, that was never a big secret. I would honestly be more surprised if the had nothing to do with him.

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>>27857119
Suddenly they began to move, realizing that I was loosing my only chance to get these bastards, I charged into the room. The three of them whirled around to face me. To my surprise, General Zinoviy quickly pushed his messenger/cleric into the portal saying “Get going girl! I’ll see you on the other side!” before drawing his sword.

As he was about to step foreword to challenge me, Mr. Aldric placed his hand on his shoulder, “General, we haven’t the time for this. The Knight has won this day. Even if we slew him, his allies would keep the rod from us.”

With that he left through the portal, as the General turned to follow him I lunged desperately at him but he parried my blade as before and said, “It is a shame that we cannot test blades against each other again. But hopefully soon. Yes… then I will – AUGH! MY EYE!” As I looked up, an arrow had found its way through his helmet’s eye slots and into his eye. I turned to see Captain Rina with her bow out.

“Oh no you don’t you scum! You aren’t getting away after what you did!”

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>>27857279

General Zinoviy managed to stand straight despite the pain he must have been in and looked Captain Rina dead in the eyes, “For that Captain Rina, I will get away. And I assure you that I will be back to repay this injury tenfold. Goodbye Captain,” and with that he stepped into the portal. I lunged forward hoping to dive in after him, but the portal flickered closed and I only stumbled through empty air.

While I said at the end of my last journal entry that Albero Città would be free, I still feel like I have failed. Not only have I failed to permanently stop the danger that is Mr. Aldric and General Zinoviy, but I feel as though I’m still no nearer to understanding why they are targeting Isocrates’ Rod in the first place. While the mood of the city is festive and joyful, there is even a celebration planned in our honor next week, I still feel like I should have ended this today. Hopefully the next few nights will ease my mood and relieve some of my stress.

Goodnight Journal.

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All right, I think I might call it a night for right now. I've got work tomorrow morning and it goes late. I expect that I won't be back until after 4:00 Pacific Time Zone. Hopefully the thread will still be up by then but if not can someone archive it before it dies?

Thanks for being such great listeners!

Knight of the Realm

>Next time on Fookin' Princesses:
>The Knight dines with royalty at the celebration ball and gets a bit closer to Felìcita!
>More riding lessions with Martina!
>And finally the long awaited trip to the Druidic Grove Hot Springs!

I'm going to have to resist the urge to do a cheesy television style preview of the next writing session after every day of writing aren't I?

>>27857390
Nothing wrong with previews is there?

I might have skipped that part, but did Sir Knight ever mentioned to Martina that the spell binding him to the rod got trashed rather easily?

>oh hey, you know that dragons are among the most powerfull being and that their magics are up there as well?
>Yeah that spell didn't even last 10s against that guy.

>>27857119
>minor setback
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W9aqPDNpeQ

>>27857390
Previews are nice.

More riding lessons is either going to be hilarious again or pastebin.

>>27857501
To me, her finding out that the knight is still doing this for her without the binding sounds like one of the classic preludes to a pastebin scene

>>27858113
It also prelude him to end up as king of the dragon or something close to that.

I'd like to see a scene where Regulus goes "wut? a lowly human dispeled my spell as if I where a pisspoor wizard?" and Maximus saying "well...seems like this human is getting more shit done than you. I for one would welcome our new overlord" with some terrible pun thrown in.

>>27858442
>"a lowly human dispeled my spell as if I where a pisspoor wizard?"
>"More like a pisspoor lizard" and Maximus winks and laughs all the way down the treasure chamber.

>>27857390
How the hell do you have the willpower to write so much, so fast, so often? It takes me hours just to brainstorm essays, and even then, I never make deadlines.

Also, since I'm not gonna be able to read this now, hi everyone on Suptg!

bump

>>27856615
Daaaaww.
Looks like the other girls will have to up their game

>>27857390
that's ok i love dairy products anyway.
REST WELL NOBLE SIR!

i am more excited on what other villains the party will encounter.

Bamp

keeping the thread up

Once more into the bump, dear friends

Bumb for the Bumb God!

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So lads can we all agree that this is the knight's themesong? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwS66EBUcY

>>27864118
Aye

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You are awsome KotR, and you should feel awsome

Let's keep this alive

Unless i miss my guess, knight bro ought to be back soon

>>27868413

>fa/tg/uys becoming the harem for Knight of the Realm

I... LIVE!

Sorry, long day. I'll be posting again soon though.

>>27868519
Let's not kid ourselves. We're nowhere near attractive enough.

>>27868738
Welcome back

This has caught my attention. +1 for Martina as best companion.

>>27868965

I dunno. She's certainly the most powerful right now, but the others are all strong contenders.

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>>27857298
[This entry appears to have been added at a much later date by simply insertion of the relevant papers in between regular journal entries]

A recording of the the most honorable proceedings of the Fourth Dragonmoot Council on the Fate of Isocrates' Rod held on the Eve of Winter's Advent. The proceedings were held in the Dragonmoot Council Chambers and the surrounding environs. The meeting was presided over by the most high Regulus the Terrible, Chairman and Speaker of the Council. The minutes and transcription of this meeting were performed by Decimus of the 10th Chair of the Council.

Regulus enters the Chambers followed by his guard. All present rise out of respect for his station.

Regulus: Sit down everyone.

He takes his seat and the council followed suit.

Regulus: I now call to order the Fourth Dragonmoot Council Regarding the Fate of Isocrates' Rod. All in favor?

There is a general chorus of agreement.

Regulus: [Deep sigh] I now allow any who feel unwilling or unsuitable for ruling on this matter to withdraw and spare their honor.

There is a shuffling of feet and draconic councilors who primarily took this position for the additional glory, monetary compensation, or other perks leave the chamber. The only councilors left are Regulus and those of us who were unlucky enough to be forced into duties for this meeting, such as myself.

Regulus: [Deeply sighs again] Typical. Just typical. I move to abandon normal proceedings due to the fact that I'm evidently the only councilman with an actual opinion on this matter. All in favor? [He raises his hand sarcastically] Well the ayes have it. Doorman, please call in my agents.

The first of Regulus' agents enter the chambers and stand at attention.

Agent: Special Agent Valerius reporting as ordered, Chairman.

Regulus: At ease Agent Valerius. What have you found out about this… Mr. Aldric?

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>>27869073
Valerius: Sire, he appears to have been behind several attacks on your chosen agent for the Isocrates' Rod disposal mission. I tracked him to the elven land of Albero Città where I was able to observe him from a distance. It appears that your suspicions of his undead nature were correct.

Regulus: And have any clues to his identity?

Valerius: Regrettably no, sire; we are no closer to confirming your suspicions. However it is notable that his trail begins in the land of Omrachena Zemli, formerly known as Édra ti̱s Exousías.

Regulus: Hmm... indeed. Tell me Valerius, what of the Knight himself? Is he still... what's the word? Bound to the mission?

Valerius: Err... well sir, it appears that the binding you placed on him was... err... removed by this Mr. Aldric. None the less he still remains dedicated to the mission and its success.

Regulus turns to Petronius, the Keeper of Prophecy for this meeting.

Regulus: So Petronius. Do you still think me paranoid for thinking that the Prophecy of Vengeance is upon us?

Petronius sits up for perhaps the first time this meeting.

Petronius: Hrmm? Uh... the signs and portents are unclear...

Regulus: Of course they are. Valerius, you may continue. What was this Mr. Aldric doing in Albero Città anyways?

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>>27869101
At this point the agent launched into a long and detailed story about mercenaries and mind control and guards. I'll confess that I tuned out for much of the story. Only coming back when the agent mentioned that "she was abducted by a soldier of the Golden Saber mounted on a giant bird of some kind."

Regulus: I'm sorry, who did you say got abducted?

Valerius: That would be one Captain Rina. Another elf who seems to have gotten caught up in the Knight's wake.

Regulus: That is odd... if Mr. Aldric is who I suspect then he would normally target a dragon whenever possible, which is why I entrusted this mission to a human after all…

Valerious: Well sire, if it makes any difference, this seems to have been orchestrated purely by the mercenary commander.

Regulus: Hmm... possibly. However I still would have expected a similar avian attack on Martina as well.

Petronius: Hah! As if! A human would have to get up pretty early to pull one over on a dragon!

Guard: Perhaps the humans spoke true when they said that the early bird gets the wyrm.

Regulus: Maximus, Petronus, thank you for your... contributions. Now Valerius, what are the Knight's current plans?

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>>27869124
Valerius: Sire, now that the Knight has succeeded in foiling Mr. Aldric's plans in Albero Città, it appears that he intends to stay in the city for a week or so and then head Northeast to the Druidic Groves to enjoy their hot springs.

Regulus looks surprised. I am noting this down as it may be one of the few times in history that this has happened.

Regulus: I’m sorry… did you say the hot springs?

Valerius: Yes sire. I did.

Regulus: As in naturally occurring hot water? Humanoids tend to use it to relax?

Valerius: Yes sire.

Regulus: And the Knight is heading there? Why?

Valerius: While I wasn’t lying when I said the Knight was still committed to his mission, he also can perform his own actions now. He apparently wishes to reward the women that he is traveling with for their hard work and perseverance in dealing with Mr. Aldric. Would you like me to try to sabotage the trip to divert the Knight back onto Mr. Aldric’s trail?

Regulus: By the Lords, no! With the way things are going, the mission would fail and he’d track the attack back here and try to kill us all. Just let them be, but keep me informed if they decide to linger too long there.

Valerius: Yes sire. Out of curiosity, how long is too long?

Regulus: [Sighs] Use your own discretion.

Petronius: Hah! A hot spring. I’m pretty sure that none of the Prophecies of Vengeance mentioned a hot spring in them.

Guard: No, but it is a harbringer of the Age of the Half Dragons….

Petronius: Er… yes, yes it is at that. The stars and portents indicate that that is more likely than the Prophecy of Vengeance.

Regulus: [Deeply sighes again and places his face in his hands] Petronius, there is no such thing as the Age of Half Dragons. Maximus, quit making things up.

Guard: Sorry sir.

Regulus: You know what? Meeting adjourned. I’ll meet with my agents on my own time. Everyone is dismissed. Get out.

>>27864118
I'm going to take some flak for this but I've always liked Jennifer Saunders' version better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EasWdq7Njgo

>>27869138
>early bird gets the wyrm
>age of half dragons
Maximus confirmed for best dragon.

>>27869124
>Guard: Perhaps the humans spoke true when they said that the early bird gets the wyrm.
He really is the broest of dragons

>>27869138

The portents ARE strong for the age of half-dragons coming though.

>>27869230
>>27869299
I can only imagine his internal grin as this goes completely above everyone's heads.

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>>27869138
Dear Journal,

The last few days have certainly lightened my mood. We were being hailed as heroes for a change rather than villains and it was a pleasant change. We could hardly pay for a drink on our own, we were that well regarded. It also was a relief to my party as well, after so long of fighting Mr. Aldric and his minions, it was nice to see them smiling again.

Siegbert was taking advantage of his newfound fame to try to import dwarven beer culture (with a particular emphasis on Lagers) to Albero Città. I would often hear him at the other end of a tavern expounding on the differences between the various forms of beers. “No, a stout is an ale, not a lager. You see, you know dwarven porters right? They needed to eat something filling and often they were so busy they didn’t have time for anything more than a drink. So some genius brewers came up with the idea of making a dark, rich, and bold beer that would be filling to them, naming it a porter after the main drinkers. A few years late someone upped the ante and made one that was even darker and richer than that and dubbed it a stout. Neither is a Lager. The main difference between a Lager and an Ale is…”

>>27869299
"At that time shalt the blood of dragon and mortal mingle,
And begat by Dragon Knight and One of True Flame shalt be born the egg of prophecy.
By hero sired and in hero's shadow raised shalt it be,
With face full-heavenward, shalt the child dwell in the depths.
Shouldst sky e'er meet flame, red shalt turn all horizons,
As the sun caught betwixt Earth and Firmament.
And lo shalt the world's fate pass into hands bereft of scale,
With [untranslatable - blade/claw/wit?] sharp, to rend[?] fate most cruel[ly?]"
- Prophecy of the Age of the Half-Dragons. 247, Second Age

There are other verses and many translations. No-one ever said foretelling the future was a straightforward business.

>>27869585
Well done sir! Well done!

I've never had a good handle on verse, but you're great at it!

>>27869624
Years of being ForeverGM and not being allowed to play the high fantasy shenanigans you love, leading to the pressure building up under the weight of constantly having to run yet another grimdark, 40k snorefest, tends to do that. It's like working off pent-up aggression, except instead of blunt force trauma, it manifests as ominous prophecies about the Chosen One.

I personally hate having to write prophecies though. You have to cover every possible angle. Which is why I love presenting the future as, "It could be THIS prophecy, or THIS one! They are both referring to the same thing, but until it happens, either one could be valid!" Giving bad or fragmented translations is a good way to fuck with your players, too. Then someone passes their Int check and realises, "Oh wait! That rune was meant to be a NEGATIVE! DON'T plunge the Sword of Prophecy into the skeleton of the Twice-Born King! Wait... Shit, you just did that, didn't you?"

Buuut I'd be here all night, if I wanted to write EVERY prophecy of the Age of the Half-Dragons, so what you got is all you're getting. Besides, I need my pillow, soon.

>Forgot even to say thanks for the compliment. Thank you!
>Not satisfied with how it came out, but then, I never am.

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>>27869753
I've been a ForeverGM too. I never got the hang of prophecy because my players tend to change their characters on the fly so a "chosen one" type deal never made sense to work with. However their antics lead to them never staying with the plot, so I got good at making up stories on the fly, so that helps.

>>27869793

That explains a good deal.

>>27869585
In years to come, historians managed to quote one of the contemporary commentaries of the prophecy; a being known only as 'M'. It reads thus:
"Holy shit, there really WAS a prophecy?!?!"

>>27869124
>Guard: Perhaps the humans spoke true when they said that the early bird gets the wyrm.
Dat pun

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>>27869565
Veila was also having a better time. When it turned out that several of her gang were still alive she was overjoyed. Unfortunately this relief didn’t last long as they had to bury the remains of their friends who weren’t so lucky. After the funeral, they disappeared for a while before Veila returned alone saying that they had agreed to temporarily disband in light of recent events. “It just wouldn’t be the same without Agata and Catriona,” Veila said when I asked her what brought this change about. “Plus, I wouldn’t be able to join you to hunt down this Aldric bastard if I was busy leading a gang.”

“It would be a pleasure to have you with us.”

“Thanks, Aimèe told me that you’d say that. She promised to take me shopping later today to buy me ‘some decent armor,’ evidently you got her started on this idea so I’m probably going to be blaming you for this later.”

“That’s fine as long as you thank me for it when it saves your life,” I replied with a smile.

>>27870071

[desire to know if Felicita, as the princess of the realm, is forced to stay intensifies]

>>27869753
>>27869793
For fucks sake, why are people like us always forced into the GM roll for life
I just want to have a game as an adventurer for once

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>>27870071
Felìcita was also enjoying her week. She got to see her family again after all. Fortunately they were found alive in the palace dungeons where they were locked to prevent their escape during the battle. After speaking with them for a long time about what happened (I decided that that was a conversation best left to themselves) they evidently moved on to what she was doing the past few weeks. Thus I’ve been invited over for dinner in the palace to meet the royal family, even more so than normal for a national hero. To my immense surprise, they were quite supportive of Felìcita coming with me to hunt down Aldric. I asked the king in private about that later, “Sire, I know its not my place to ask, but you seem to be unusually accepting of your daughter’s choice here. I value her companionship and her work at my side, but I would have thought that you’d have more concerns about her going off into danger.”

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>>27870158
The king patted my shoulder affectionately. “My boy,” a term he’s begun to use to refer to me ever since Felìcita told him about what she’d been doing recently, “I am concerned about her. But there are other things to consider too. When I refused to streamline her admission to the border guard, it was because she was – to be quite frank – spoiled. She didn’t care for much of her training and instructors and it showed. She would have been killed several times over if she joined. Then after being forced to admit her by Aldric, she met you. All of the sudden she’s taking preparing for combat seriously and I think she might actually live through a fight. She’s also less spoiled than she was before and she seems to listen to you. I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know, why she listens to you, but she does; and that may save her life one day. So now that she’s disciplined enough to survive a fight, and wants to risk her life in service to Albero Città, all that I can do is pray that she finds a worthy cause for it. And I personally can’t think of any cause worthier than hunting down the scum that is Mr. Aldric. I only have one request of you, my boy.”

“Whatever it may be sire, I’m always willing to assist.”

“Be good to Felìcita, okay? Don’t just keep her safe, but be good to her if you can? She’s still my little girl deep down and… well…”

“I… I’ll do what I can…”

“Thank you my boy. That’s all I can really ask.”

>>27870118
Indeed, with the king and queen(even more so in her case) having to deal with the trauma of being mind controlled, she'll need to step up her game and make the realm go in the right direction untill they get their heads fixed.

>>27870195

Looks like the Elven King is tougher than that shit. (which I can credit to him probably being a seen-everything-twice badass)

>>27870173
>>27870195
Apparently living for a century or two (I'm guessing nobles, with better access to white magic and healthcare, diet and healthy lifestyles, live longer than the Elven average), give you something of a resilient mind to stuff like trauma. I'm guessing as Elves get older, they can better cope with difficult situations, which gives them their wise appearance, as they're just so un-flappable. By the same token, however, this is why they take to adventuring and active roles in the kingdom, while young; that's their only chance to actually feel any kind of excitement, before they naturally reach their near-permanent mellow in their later years.

Not that elves past 110 CAN'T feel extreme emotions, or be mentally scarred, it's just no-where near as common as their youth.

>Off to bed. Someone archive this, please! I'd like to be able to catch up in the morning!
>Love you all. Yes, including you.

>>27870218

You just want to see Felicita stick around.

>>27870173
>mah boi
My implication radar is pinging

>>27870299
>Love you all. Yes, including you.
You're lying! You have to be...

>>27870331
>:3

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>>27870299

"I was there three thousand years ago, when the strength of Men failed.""
— Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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>>27870195
>>27870218
>>27870299
Actually if you want a rough characterization of the King, you should know that he's very similar to the Knight in many ways, except he served in the Albero Città Border Guard (the closest they have to a military) and only caught the attention of one women. Its why he trusts his daughter with the Knight, he recognizes a bit of his own character in him.

>>27870313
No. NO. NO. Fuck you. NO. That game NEVER happened. Do NOT go there!

>>27870299
>Addendum
When your race lives to be that old, I'm guessing your physiology and mentality would evolve to cope with the strain, or we'd be seeing a lot more mental diseases in older elves. Darwinian Evolution: It's even in your fantasy settings.

Don't ask me about dragons and stuff. Bitches be magic. I don't got to explain shit.

>>27870331
Even you, Anon. I'm sure there's at least one thing about you to love. So rest assured: someone out there loves you. And until you meet them, I'll be there, in their place, to remind you that you're worth loving.

>Good night. For real, this time.

>>27870399

Hmm, and the Knight has already put the moves on Martina.

Alright guys, pack up your bags.

>>27870399
But the Knight hasn't only caught the attention of one woman...

>>27870450
>>27870455
That was supposed to indicate that the King only had one woman in his (romantic) life rather than an entire harem.

>>27870450
I can't help but wonder if the other girls are going to step up their game, given that the age of half dragons is nigh

>>27870566
We got that part. We were mentioning that the knight did have a harem.

>>27869585
>many translations

Llegará entonces un dia
que linaje de dragon y de mortal se mezclarán,
y engendrado por Draconico Caballero
de Aquella de Verdadera Llama surgirá,
el huevo de la profecía.

Fidalgo nacido y como fidalgo criado.
por la sombra de su padre oscurecido,
siempre vivirá con el rostro alzado
y el cuerpo hundido.

Si por ventura el cielo a la llama
nunca a unirse alcanzara.
el rojo en lontananza reinaría
cual luz del ocaso derramada.

Y tornará que el destino del reino
gobernado por descamada mano
será por acerado y rojo filo
amargamente sentenciado.

>sorry for interrupting

>>27870568

Looks like Britfag should've written in something about fierce competition during the start of the Age.

>>27870568
....
does.... martina have any... sisters?

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>>27870173
While I’m on the subject of the elven women in my party, I should probably include Captain Rina. She has requested permission from the King to join me in the hunt for Mr. Aldric. While there were a few questions at the appeal about whether or not her emotions would get in the way of her duties, I pointed out that that would be true of every member of my band and that Captain Rina had some first hand knowledge of how Mr. Aldric works from the brief times she was mind controlled by him and accepted orders from him. Thus she was granted the permission.

As we were leaving the appeal Captain Rina spoke up, “You know, I’ve been meaning to buy you that thank you dinner, but it looks like you’re already getting most of your meals for free at the royal palace and you’re moneys no good in this town the rest of the time. At least if I go with you, we can probably find at least one nice restaurant that hasn’t heard of you.”

“I’ll have that to look foreword too. Plus I have a small surprise of my own for you girls. Something I readied as a way of saying thank you for the hard work you’ve done lately. I think you’ll like it.”

I then deflected all the Captains questions and left to meet Martina at the Albero Città Arcane Library.

>>27870670
it was said she was an only kid.

cousins however...

>>27870699
Where did it say she was an only kid?

>>27870671

forward*

>>27870071
Honestly, I think the party's getting a bit too crowded now.

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>>27870760
>See this
>Realize my mistake
>ctrl+f foreword
>8 results on this page alone
>All my shame

Sorry /tg/.

>>27870807
>Checked the overall master document
>ctrl+f find and replace all foreword with forward
>11 replacements total
>Maybe I'm just slipping lately?

>>27870786
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LIMIT
>>27870807
the only punishment worthy of your crime is... commit Sudoku.

>>27870786
there is always room for more

catgirl pls

>>27870786
i am sure KotR will find a way to lessen the party members...

>>27870885
>commit Sudoku
You know, I was thinking of dropping a reference to that somewhere in the story.

>>27870885
Are you up to the challenge, knave?

>>27870904
there will be cat girls but they are the bad guysthe girls will be forced to watch as the cat girl tribe NTR's their knight.

>>27870786

I think it's fine.
Captain Rina is going to get killed off at the very least, I'm sure others will drop...but it's fine for now.

>>27870807
goofed with a few "lesson" as well.
It's all good though

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>>27870954

>>27870956
Hah, no.
Martina will take a leaf out of a korean cookbook if that happens

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>>27870786
>>27870885
>>27870904
>>27870908
>>27870972
I wasn't planning on doing any more party changes in the near future, or at least until I can decently develop what's here already, of course things may change one way or another...
Of course now I have an image of a cute but naïve druidic initiate who becomes fascinated by the mysterious Knight who commands such an entourage...

>>27871081

It's okay, just rip everyone's hearts out and have a shit-ton of them die all at once in an ambush.

>>27871081
I'm now imagining said druid having a problem understanding most people are embarrassed if seen nude.

>>27871081
at this point I see the knight settling down in some hidden lair after his quests are over and instead of a treasure horde, he has a bitches pile and everyday wakes up covered in bitches

I see nothing wrong with this

>>27871125
plot twist!!
she's an orc!

>>27871081
i want you to verify this posts please?
>>27870670
>>27870740
>>27870699

>>27871153
a quest with one of his descendants would be interesting.
I imagine nearly all people in his country are distant relatives.

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>>27870671
While I had been juggling three different elven women, which isn’t a mean feat, Martina had been hard at work researching Isocrates’ Rod. I went into the library, pestered a few of the librarians into telling me where Martina was conducting her research, and walked over to the private room where she was researching. She seemed deep in concentration so I didn’t want to disturb her initially; finally she sighed and put down the book. I crept over to her, and suddenly leaned in and kissed her on the neck. I was rewarded with the familiar gasp and flush that I had come to love, this time there was even a small puff of smoke with the gasp, which is surprisingly adorable. “Hello Martina, how’s the research coming?”

“It was going fine until you distracted me with your – with your l-lewd advances! S-stupid human…” Even as she said that last bit I could see her smiling before she continued, “So where were you all day? I was expecting your help hours ago.”