Your group follows the pathway up to the manor, led by one of the gate guards. Upon arriving at the house he hands you off to a guard standing by the front door after explaining who your group is. The new guard leads you through the building, giving you a short briefing on what the situation is. The other family, the Claine family, claims that Augustus' daughter, Estelle, assaulted the daughter of the Claine family head. Conversely, Estelle claims that it was Rosette, the other person directly involved, that assaulted her. Rather than allowing the city constabulary to step in and resolve the issue peacefully both sides decided to hole up in their estates and demand the other party be arrested. When no progress was made in the case mercenaries were brought in, mundane initially. The Claines brought in the first mages.

“Why didn't they hire us first instead of whoever they got,” Robert interjects, “wouldn't we be the first option for hiring mages?”

“The Association probably rejected the contract the first time around on grounds of not meeting criteria,” you respond. “They probably accepted this contract as a response to the presence of non-Association mages.”

“Makes sense, I suppose.“

Your group enters what would normally be a luxuriously furnished office with a view of the grounds, although rather recently it appears that the windows have been barricaded for the occupants' safety.

Behind an ancient wooden desk sits an aging man, well-dressed if a bit disheveled. Judging from the bags under his eyes he has not slept well for quite a while.

“About bloody time you show up,” he snarls, “I paid good money for you to teleport onto the grounds.”

[1/2]

> tfw 3 quests I follow are all active at once

>>31832442
“Whoever the Claines hired anticipated our arrival and had measures prepared for a teleport. We arrived outside of town and had a party sent out to intercept us,” Amelie calmly replies. Augustus grunts in response.

“I suppose Charles told you the situation, yes? Any further questions before you get started?”

Have anything to ask?

>>31832467

Clarify what Augustus told us again...are we going to be assaulting the rival house? With or without additional support?

>>31832467
Ask if he knows how many mages we're up against.

>>31832518
At this junction he expects you to defend the house and family against attacks, although that may change depending on how the job progresses.

>>31832537
does he know who the Claines have hired?

>>31832655
Sort of.

Writing, if it wasn't clear.

>>31832655

Aside from this and asking him if he has any special requests like taking prisoners or causing lots of property damage I cant think of anything.

I am super excited for this Bone-Montague vs Bone-Capulet battle.

>>31832442
Can we waifu Rosette and Estelle for super boner love triangle?

“Do you know who these mages are that he hired?”

“I don't know for certain, but I have my suspicions. There have been rumors circulating about a group of mages that will do anything, called the Spectral Oscines I think they were called. Aside from them, I don't know who else it could be,” he answers.

“What about taking prisoners,” you ask.

“I don't care for taking prisoners, not at this stage. However, it might be in your best interest to take any enemy mages you can, I'm certain that your Association is very curious as to their past activities,” Augustus says, a scowl dominating his features. “At this point, just stop these bastards. Every night they've assaulted us, the attacks getting more and more violent each time. With your arrival, I'm hoping to bring this to a head,” he says, his mouth twisting into a grin, a touch of madness in his eyes.

Augustus' sentence is punctuated with a loud explosion coming from outside, shaking the house.

“Damn them, damn them to the three hells! They started early,” Augustus shouts, throwing himself onto the ground.

What do you do?
>Take up defensive positions (specify who goes where (for example, placing yourself on the second floor/placing Frederick outside, etc))
>Bring the fight to the enemy
>write in

>>31833258
>Take up defensive positions (specify who goes where (for example, placing yourself on the second floor/placing Frederick outside, etc))

We should try and get on the roof, Frederick should get outside with the speaker guy, and the other shaper should stay inside the house with the lord

>>31833258
>Take up defensive positions
Volkov and the girl on the second floor. Staff guy also if he has any ranged attacks. The other guy on the main floor to stop anyone that might enter the house.

>>31833258

Write-in

Scramble to outside so we can ascertain the situation. Dont want to dispatch anyone when we don't even know where we're being attacked from or with what. Also don't want to go charging into a group of mages and soldiers who know that we're here because their scouts didn't come back.

Writing.

Sorry, I'm writing a lot slower than normal tonight, please bear with me. Nearly done.

>>31834063
It's okay Saucy. We're here for you.

You bolt out of the room, rushing up the stairs and to any unblocked window you can find. You soon find one that overlooks the front of the estate. In the distance you can see a smoking crater of notable size in the ground. The explosion seems to haven't actually injured anyone clearly, unless there was someone actually at the epicenter of it. You draw your rifle and scan the grounds with the scope, trying to find any signs of movement with the enhanced motion detection function. Eventually you see it, a small grouping of people coming out of a thicket of bushes near one of the walls surrounding the property. You are about to leave your spot from the window when you bump into Frederick.

“Volkov, we were worried about where you ran off to all of a sudden,” he says. He glances out the window and then looks back to you. “See anything?”

“A small group has appeared near the southern wall, near a thicket,” you say, trying to get past Frederick, “we must tell the others.”

“Hold on,” he replies, a small glow coming from the tip of his staff. He focuses for a moment before turning his attention back to you.

“It is done,” he says, “With Susurration I'll relay any information from you to the others.”

“If you can communicate with all of us why don't you move to a different spot,” you ask him.

“Unfortunately, it only works one way. And since you can see the furthest of all of us with that rifle of yours, I must stay with you so we all know what's outside. Robert has taken up a position in the main entryway while Amelie has taken to personally guarding Augustus and the rest of the family, last I saw.”

You grunt, and look back out the window. You can see a much larger force of people charging towards the main gate, each person armed with a rifle. You tell Frederick to relay this new development.

What do you do?
>write in

>>31834286
open window
start shooting

Rolled 6, 4, 10 = 20

>>31834286

Fire at the small group (marrow charge and seismic charger if we can still make it accurate enough), tell our slayer to move to defend the front gate because god knows mages can be terrifying.

also warn everyone that something smells fishy. Why set off an explosion that didn't do anything excepf to distract.

>>31834286
Shoot everything

Alright, roll 3d10, best of 3.

>>31834286
Don't shoot them exactly shoot in front of them to warn them off first, then if they keep going, shoot 'em.

Rolled 9, 3, 4 = 16

>>31834624
Here you go.

for shooting the small group.

Rolled 7, 3, 9 = 19

>>31834624

Rolled 6, 10, 4 = 20

>>31834624

Writing.

You tell Frederick to have Robert move out front to deal with the riflemen approaching while you take aim at the small group. They move quickly against the wall, but not quick enough to evade your line of sight. With practiced ease you load your rifle and bring it back up. You carefully aim for the person at the back of the group and fire, the now familiar report and recoil doing nothing to upset your posture. The bullet finds its mark, tearing a massive hole through the man's torso. You reload your rifle as Frederick relays this latest development.

You scan the wall for the men again, however it seems that they managed to find locations to hide in amongst the brush that grows along the wall. You turn back towards the main gate to see Robert charging into the thick of the enemy riflemen, his lance tearing through bone and steel with ease.

You turn back towards scanning the walls when you feel rather than hear another explosion rock the building, this time close enough that you can tell it actually damaged the building itself.

What do you do?

>>31835255
Retain position, attempt to spot mages, and shoot them once spotted?

>>31835255
o shit, I saw this update, went to the bathroom, and totally forgot about it
uuuuum

I guess keep shooting, and keep an eye out for the source of those explosions

Alright, roll, same as always.

>>31835856
God damn 4chan X taking my trip off, I thought I was done dealing with this.

Rolled 8, 2, 7 = 17

>>31835856

Rolled 3, 2, 10 = 15

>>31835856

Rolled 7, 5, 1 = 13

>>31835856

Alright, writing.

This will be the last update of the night.

You decide to stay in position, watching over the yard and ready to shoot anything that looks like it might be a mage as well as anyone that manages to slip past Robert, who is still tearing through the riflemen with gusto. As you watch over the yard you hear the unique report of magic-based firearms going off in two-shot bursts.

“It seems the house has been breached,” Frederick says, “most likely by that last big explosion. I'll head on down first and call for you if needed.”

You give a grunt of acknowledgment as you remain focused on your watch, occasionally taking a shot at a rifleman. As you do so you continue to hear Amelie's shotgun, now joined by the sound of Frederick’s spell casting.

You feel another explosion rock the building, this one larger than even the last. You decide that enough is enough and to go investigate the first floor to see what the issue is. On your way down you spot a pair of intruders that somehow managed to slip past the others downstairs and made it to the stairs. Acting on reflex you bring your rifle up and fire, bringing the man down. The other man is shocked enough by your sudden appearance that you are able to close the small gap between your position and the stairs, slamming his face with the butt of your rifle and putting him down as well.

You continue down the stairs, panic beginning to set in. As you approach the office you can see a mounting pile of bodies, your compatriots' work no doubt. You announce your presence before entering, attempting to prevent itchy trigger fingers from taking your head off. Inside the office you can see Amelie crouched behind the desk, shotgun resting on the surface and leveled at the entry. Scanning the room, you see Frederick has taken up a spot in a corner near the door, ready to put down any intruder that manages to slip by Amelie and her gun. Aside from a few scrapes both of them seem to be alright.

“Where is the family,” you ask, puzzled to not see them anywhere.
[1/2]

>>31836720
“There is a trapdoor under this desk that leads to a reinforced shelter, they're hiding in there,” Amelie answers, straightening up and relaxing momentarily, before a heavy thud impacts the blockaded windows behind her. You all turn to look at them, the impacts getting heavier and heavier before a gloved hand breaks through. It feels around the new hole before gripping the edge of it. Suddenly light fills the room as the wall is torn down with a mighty tug from the hand. Standing on the grass on the other side of the former wall is a figure dressed in a black cloak and a red-orange set of armor.
[2/2]
That's it for tonight, standard Q&A time I guess.

>>31836747
thx 4 runin budi gud thred

>>31836747
Have been lurking hard for many installments. Keep up the good work basedsaucy.

>>31836747
hey so I noticed you moping a bit in the hugbox
your quests do kinda run late at night so if you have earlier open you should run them earlier
maybe about 5 hours earlier

also write faster, your updates take really long
that is all