Eyes peel open, swimming into an ambiance of dusky curtains casting a warm glow into the room. Unconsciously, you flip vision into the astral to see Nora and Donner standing, or rather floating near you bearing some small mark of concern.

{He's awake!} The Fae screams, a strange devilish glee. {I don't need to find a new summoner!}

The Wendigo growls low through the ether,{Still among the living. It is good.}

Mundane sight returns yo you and you lift yourself up with the fae rambling on about how you should be careful and so forth. Geeze, when did Nora become so caring? You glance around your surroundings, confused at first of where you are. A space in the curtains reveals colors of autumn blowing away in the wind. This place... looks like some sort of, an apartment?

“Oh. You're awake.” Emilia stretches from her seat beside the bed, rubbing her eyes tiredly, she smiles. “You feeling okay?”

She must've been at your side for a while... You assess the damage, rolling your neck, blinking your eyes. Your skin still feels a bit singed and your head hurts a bit but it's nothing much to complain about. “Yeah, I'm good. Where are we?”

“Other side of that metal door in that cabin. Or as Eloc said, an apartment in Chicago under new ownership.” Emilia begins to reach out, but stops partway. Instead, she folds her hands together.

“How long have I been out?”

“Just about a day.”

“A day? A damn day? That's it?” You can hardly believe it, “Didn't I crack my head open or something?”

“You did.” Emilia looks over to the bedroom door. “Did you want to say anything to your savior?”

“Right, that...” You pause, you remember now. One of those... Things came up to you, performed surgery... “Why the hell did you let it touch me?” A visceral growl in those words.

Emilia seems a bit hurt, looking away, “You were hurt.”

>>34492239


“Someone else could've done it, or we could've gone to a real doctor seeing as how we could've walked five feet and been there.”

Emilia stands up, staring down at you, “You need to fix your attitude.”

“My attitude? What about your-” You wince at a sudden pain in the back of your head, throbbing as though it's going to split apart.

“You're getting excited, lay back down. I'm going to ask Hydra if she's got any anesthetic.” Emilia walks out of the room.

Yelling after her,“I don't want shit from that thing! Ow, sonnovabitch!” You hold your head again, taking a few deep furious breaths before begrudgingly doing as you're told.

“Trouble in paradise Summoner?” Nora materializes before you, sitting upon your chest, tracing a claw around your pecks amorously, “If she won't be your girlfriend, I'll be your girlfriend tonight.”
The tiny Fae punctuates the point with a stuck out tongue.

With your eye locked in the faerie for a moment you swat her away, her temporary form dematerializes back to the other side.
You're not in the mood for that shit. Head throbs, Emilia's being a bitch, and for whatever fucking reason they haven't killed that clone yet.

There's a knock on the door and you find yourself glaring at it. “Um, hello. May I come in?”
The voice is unfamiliar, the astral reveals that Emilia standing by the door and a faint image of the girl. It's strange, her signature is weak, almost like she's part of the background.

You sort of remember that yesterday Nora said that there were seven enemies, but there were more than that.

“I'm guessing that if I tell her to fuck off, you're going to come in here with her, right?”

Emilia's astral image shifts, arms crossed. Not like she's surprised that you know she's there.

>[] “Still gonna say it. Fuck off.”
>[] “ Okay... Come in.”
>[] “I'm going to sleep.”
>[] (other)

>>34492280
>[] “I'm going to sleep.”
Also who gave Nora access to the internet?

>>34492280
We should have left Fara in her. I can tolerate psycho yandere way better than this.

>>34492280
>>[] (other)
Did you have anyone look into the fact that they can probably track her?

>>34492387
We did. Or Overwatch. Depends on who you want to blame for her doing computer stuff occasionally while we were imprisoned.

>>34492280
>[] “I'm going to sleep.”
But with >>34492399
The true power of the fae is nearly in our reach.
On a scale of 1 to 10 how fucked are we?

>>34492280
>[] “ Okay... Come in.”


Could we do that Oath of Selfishness thing to boost regen capabilities of Hydro while restricting it to self use only?

>>34492280
>[] “I'm going to sleep.”
And get that trackable clone away from here.
We should get rid of Helia the next chance we get

>>34492498
>On a scale of 1 to 10 how fucked are we?
Well, his ask.fm activity said that he expects us to unlock Adept Summoning this thread. This means we're about to see some action.

It's either Hydra herself, or they tracked her, or just more goons unrelated to her being here.

>>34492280
>O-okay.
Activate Beta-mode

>>34492542
I was asking in regard to how much Nora's final form(tm) will fuck us over.

>>34492579
>implying it's her final form

>>34492579
Then I give it a 1. I don't think we're going to get fucked over.

Oh who the fuck am I kidding. This is a Dran quest and she's a fae. She may be my favorite character in the quest, but she's going to eventually skullfuck us with out own dick.

>>34492280
>>[] “ Okay... Come in.”

>>34492641
>Oh who the fuck am I kidding. This is a Dran quest and she's a fae. She may be my favorite character in the quest, but she's going to eventually skullfuck us with out own dick.
And it will be glorius

>Enemy medical personnel performed operation on us
>In Overhuman
Well fuck me. Place your bets on exactly what it is, but we're guaranteed to have something nasty implanted in us.

My bet is microexplosives in our brain. That or some kind of stuff to track us. Or nanobots.

>>34492641
She's not even the nice kind of fae.
We drew unseelie.

>>34492678
I got 20 on radioactive isotopes that let satellites monitor us easier.

>>34492678
Never ever let Helia/what's her name make decissions.

>>34492678
It's gonna be anti-climactic as fuck when it finally gets revealed, too.

>winning a fight
>well, at least not doing horribly
>suddenly can't do shit
>enemy chaining us up and putting hexes galore on us
>everyone starts screaming at Dran
>"This was foreshadowed ages ago. You guys remember Hydra?"
>hiatus #2 comes along, DLN starts up and we wait 8 months to bust out of jail again
Or the quest just ends if Dran decides that he's sick of running it and just wants it over.

>>34492827
Atleast we can blame Heliafags for it

>>34492280
>It's strange, her signature is weak, almost like she's part of the background.
How weak? Mundane human tier or even lower than that?

If lower than mundane human, I guess she wouldn't work as a shade.

>>34492913
Lower than mundane.
They barely recognize themselves. Older clones have a better time at this.

>>34492953
Higher or lower than a housecat?

>>34492977
Let's say about the same as a housecat.

>>34492999
Perfect. Her new nickname is Doctor Housecat.

I don't care if Asher doesn't call her that, because I will.

>>34492502
>Could we do that Oath of Selfishness thing to boost regen capabilities of Hydro while restricting it to self use only?
Seconding if able.

>>34492280
With a sigh, you close your eye, “Did anyone at least make sure that they can't track her?”

Helia laughs from beyond the door, “Saphira took care of it.”

For a moment you can't understand why she's laughing, then you kind of get it. The presumed pair that had the gall to break into a prison and barracks stacked with enemy overs. Yeah, it sounds kind of crazy that they'd fuck up this late, especially when that door to skip across the country was their trump card.

“Okay, come in.”

The door creaks open, the platinum-haired clone walks in, her eyes regarding you with unblinking blues. She shuffles over, and you stare at her up and down.
She's young, that much is a given. But her hips and thighs are far wider than they should be, giving the impression of an older woman of bountiful age. There's some shyness in her manner, but it's not really reflected in her weak aura.
Once she's at your bedside, she begins to reach for you, straight claws poking out of her fingers in lieu of fingernails. Hesitation takes her, and her eyes meet yours, a high childish voice gives way to an almost robotic inflection,“I'd like to perform a checkup on the patient and administer a recommended dose of anesthetic for the pain. Do I have the patient's consent?”

“Just fucking shoot me up already.” You mumble, the throbbing in your head increasing.

Hydra licks one of her fingers, a claw extending and rapidly filling. She then feels your arm for a vein. There's a prick as she slides it in, causing you to tense, but you quickly relax.
“My saliva is a disinfectant to prevent bacterial or fungal infection from taking place. Your recovery is rapid, you will be well by the end of the day. Oh, mind the stitches on your head. Tearing them will hurt you.”

>[] “Just go, will you?”
>[] “...Thanks.”
>[] “Where are you from?”
>[] Call Helia inside.
>[] (other)

>>34493344
>slides it in, causing you to tense, but you quickly relax
Tee-hee.

>[] “Where are you from?”
then
>[] “...Thanks.”

>>34493344
>[] “...Thanks.”
Honestly? I kinda like Hydra. We're fucked no matter what we do, so we may as well get some free heals out of the thing.

>>34493344
>[] “...Thanks.”
Ehm yeah.
That thing will die soon anyway

>>34493344
"Are you aware of your own awareness?"

>>34493344
>[X] “Thanks.”

>[X] Call Helia inside.

>>34493344
>[] “...Thanks.”
>[] Call Emilia inside

>>34493344
>Ask if the name Eustene means anything to her

>Pale platinum blonde clone loli with dem hips and abnormal physiology
It always feels weird when Dran makes forays into my magical realm.

>>34493555
I'm surprised no one's guessing why she's called a Hydra.

>>34493653
I assumed that it was because she has regen of some kind going on. She did say that she suffered a head wound, but would be healed up within a few minutes.

>>34493653
She's biologically immortal?

>>34493653
We can use her to produce deadly poison?

>>34493653
Because shes evil and we are never gonna be able to kill her?

>>34493653
We haven't seen our Hydra summon since we got attacked in the Church, have we?

>>34494292
We see it in the astral, we just never summon it because it's a shit. I'm pretty sure Dran just stopped mentioning it because fuck mentioning the Hydra.

>>34494324
It also has a shitty contract that is sure to bite us in the ass should we use it for anything

>>34494349
We had the option to just destroy the thing, but people voted to keep the little fucker around for some reason.

>>34494365
>for some reason.
Throwing a hyper-venomous omnivore at something could be useful. Less so now than in the past, perhaps, but it's still a nice card to hold in reserve.

>>34494393
Pumping it up with magical energy and sending it in the general direction of enemies seems like a good "fuck it" button

>>34494365
We should. As far as I can see, our summons are like building a robot army. As long as we don't have a caveat like Nora's that requires we top them off immediately then having as many as possible has no downside, since you charge them up at your leisure during downtime. I'm sure Dran would inform us of some limit that we can have at the ready if we tried this though.

>>34494393
It is also a rank 1 baby hydra so it going to be pretty weak until we give it so power.

>>34493344


“Helia, you can come in here.” You say with a shiver as the girl withdraws her talon from your vein. A smile is offered from her as Emilia walks through the door.

“She's really not that bad, right?”

You start to shake your head when you see something like a tree branch is protruding from the girl's head. How could you have not noticed it earlier? “Um,” you begin to point it out, and Emilia puts your hand down.

“It's okay, Saph says that her body's healed around it.”

“There's a tree growing out of her head.”

The girl seems clueless as to what's going on, her eyes half-lidded though curious as to exactly what you two are talking about, “Um, my body is healed. Nothing is wrong.” She crosses her hands over her thighs, looking down, “Is there anything else I can help with?” That speech actually sounded a bit more natural.

You feel whatever she gave you starting to kick in, you relax a bit more and drop the subject at Emilia's suggestion.
“You could tell me where you're from.”

With a salute, she goes back into that robotic speech, “Hydra XIX was born in Overwatch Mount Olympus.”

You squint your eye at that, “Hydra? Mount Olympus?” You start chuckling at that, “They emulating Greek mythology or something?” You sit up with a bit of interest, Emilia immediately tries to push you down but you wave her off, “Not now woman.”

She gives you a tired glare and stomps off. Something you said?

Whatever. “Can you tell me about the other ones that were with you?”

She seems to get a bit confused by that, “Um... “ her hand moves to scratch at the healed over wound, “I think they were called Furies, and Cerberus...”

That's easy enough you figure. Furies were bird-like creatures of vengeance as you recall, and Cerberus is the three headed guard dog of hell.
“Any more names?”

“Oh, and Cyclops, I think.”

Hydra, Furies, Cerberus, and Cyclops... “What's the name of your mother?”

>>34494476
Something in her face changes, as though her eyes brighten at some distant memory perhaps from a dream or something further... Yet then she looks down, her hands fidgeting, “I... don't know.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

All four names are from greek mythos. If you really think about it though, you might be able to figure out the mother's name...

>Write in

>>34494498
Echidna

>>34494498
Echidna.

>>34494536
>>34494538
>>34494498
The mother of monsters herself.

>>34494476
>you wave her off, “Not now woman.”
I can never see Asher as 19. He reminds me of my grandpa.

>>34494536
>>34494538
>>34494554
>mfw at least one of these faggots got it from that Percy Jackson shit

>>34494888
>Percy Jackson shit
what?

>>34494725
He reminds me of cotton

>>34494498
Thinking on it for a moment, the answer is obvious. If it follows the theme, the monsters, the insane pregnancies in that vision. “Echidna.” You say, the conclusion you swiftly arrive at.

Hydra's taken aback for a moment, but she nods, eyes kind of wide and vacant, “Uh, that name sounds familiar... It's not mommy's name... But I've heard it before.” She frowns, “I can't remember mommy's name.”

“The name Eustene ring any bells?”

The girl shakes her head, “No, I'm sorry.”

“It's fine,” You lay back into the bed, closing your eye, “You've been a big help. Thank you.”

She nods slowly, and turns to leave. Pausing at the door, you look at her and catch a little smile, “If you get hurt again, I'll make you better, okay?”

You close your eye. Don't count on it. Not like you're looking to get your head smashed in so she can stitch you up.

With the pain gone you manage to catch some sleep...


There's a knock on your door in the middle of the night, “Come in.” You say without bothering to look.

“Meet us in the commons downstairs for training. It'll be light so you don't have to worry.”
You don't recognize the voice, though you have an idea of who it might be. You see Saph from the other side. It's strange looking at her.. It's almost like she's not even there but in a different way from the clone. Like, it's not just faint, but transparent. You can see through her, but you can't see anything.

A touch to the back of your head reveals that the wound's barely there, just a small threaded up cut. The ache is gone too.

>>34494958


Getting up, there's an emptiness in your stomach that forces you to frown, but you've fasted harder than this, it's not a big deal.

A peek outside the window reveals that it's the middle of the night, a cold wind betrays the autumnal chill in the air. A part of you ponders with fascination as to what Hallow's Eve is going to be like... Nora may enjoy it.

>[] Skip training and go out into the city for a walk. Been ages since you've been in the urbs.
>[] Go down as asked. Might as well see what they want.
>[] Stay in bed and meditate.

>>34494984
>[] Go down as asked. Might as well see what they want.
I miss our simple life of being an edgelord

>>34494984
>>[] Go down as asked. Might as well see what they want.

>>34494984
>Stay in bed and meditate.
"Nora, you have permission to pull minor pranks, so long as there are no injuries or emotional conflicts that last beyond the evening arising from it. No killing, and nothing that might qualify as torture. Wendigo, feel free to help her scare the shit outta some kids....and try to get it on film. It'll make for good TV later

>>34495037
Donner, not Wendigo. durrrrrr

>>34494984
>[] Go down as asked. Might as well see what they want.

>>34495014
>No more creative torture sessions for awakenings
>Never get to unleash Donner on a city and watch him go ham
>Never be able to nuke some cities at random with Alchemy
Why even live

>>34495078
We still have a hydra, right? Or did we lose it?

>>34494984
>[] Skip training and go out into the city for a walk. Been ages since you've been in the urbs.

>>34495078
>at random
>not the cities that are the most blinded
We're just enlightening them, with fire and hellstorm

>>34495078
>>Never get to unleash Donner on a city and watch him go ham
We're still under contractual obligation to do this.

>>34495037
>"Nora, you have permission to pull minor pranks, so long as there are no injuries or emotional conflicts that last beyond the evening arising from it. No killing, and nothing that might qualify as torture.
Part of that is redundant as it's covered by our contract already. The rest of it Asher doesn't give a fuck about.

>>34494984
>[] Go down as asked. Might as well see what they want.

>>34495124
We're not edgelord anymore.

Also, it bears restating because it's a sort of...loosening. Basically saying, "Go have fun, hit whoever you want, just don't go too far."

>>34495115
Read the updated contract. As of becoming specialized as a hunter, the rampage has been replaced with "hunting". I may be wrong here since there's nothing really concrete said about what exactly that entails, but it seems to imply that he's going to be going for stronger targets in smaller numbers instead of trying to kill as many mundanes as possible.

>>34495124
We do now, fucking jews

So whos gonna have a sad death so we can go back to being edgelord mcdeathpants?

>>34495200
Maybe the Demon Blade Spirit.
Not even the followers to the Edgelord

>>34495037
>No killing, and nothing that might qualify as torture
So we tell her she should pretend to be a seelie fae?

>>34495167
>>34495172
I haven't seen one thing that suggests that Asher doesn't want Nora tormenting people. Yeah, he sees the stuff he did with the Followers as kinda fucked up, but that's a far cry from being all Papa Nofun to Nora.

If he is all Papa Nofun now, well that's some fucked up shit on Dran's part to engineer a situation where we're forced to make the summons more powerful, then turn the summons against Asher by making him get all moralfaggy after he's gone and gotten evil fucking summons as his thing.

>>34495331
Not to mention Asher's self-aware enough to realize he shouldn't do it even if not doing it makes him feel bad. In fact, he'll probably do it specifically because it makes him feel bad, because he hates that he does feel bad about these things and wants to make himself go back to the way things used to be.

With a stretch, you tell your ethereal allies to go have fun in town so long as it's nothing lethal or causes lasting harm. Further, you warn them to stay out of sight. It's important that your presence here stays under the radar. Don't need those damned Overwatch assholes sniffing around the place.

Donner snorts while Nora flies off, {I'll stay by your side. Unless I can kill quarry there's nothing for me in such games.}

You're a bit impressed with Donner to be honest, “Suit yourself.”

At least Nora will find something to do.


Out in the hall, you head downstairs, eying the walls and the overall quality of the building. Looks almost new actually. You finally hit a lobby area and everyone's sitting upon the floor in a cross-legged position save for Saph as she stands at the head.

Everyone's twitching and the occasional spasm, sweat shining their foreheads as they go through what you make out to be intense meditation.

“So, what's the word?”

Saph nods, her mask is finally gone. Hazel brown eyes and short curly reddish hair adorns her head, pale white skin and the slightest hint of freckles. She's actually very pretty.

“Today you'll be facing your traumas.”

“What?” You glare hard at her, nothing about her expression moving besides the bat of her eyelashes.

She produces a small syringe, “This will put you into a hallucinogenic state. With guided meditation it'll lead you to your traumas both recent and old to live through them and hopefully resolve them.”

You stare at the drug, swallowing hard, “And what is that supposed to accomplish, if I may ask?”

“Reliving them will draw out more of your latent ability as well as strengthen you as a person. We all have our scars, but if we want to heal them fully it may be necessary to tear them open.”

>[] Decline, you don't want to deal with your past, even if it makes you stronger.
>[] Accept it.

>>34495742
>Decline
We are already too good of a person, I don't wanna get better

>>34495742
>>[] Accept it.
Asher ain't no bitch

>>34495742
>[] Accept it.
Always accept free drugs.

File: in the wind.gif (342 KB, 800x450)

342 KB GIF

>>34495742
Goodbye, Asher.

They're going to vote for accept and then the scumbag that I've come to love will be no more.

>>34495742
>[] Accept it.
Can we get rid of our conscience this way?
Because I say that's a big scar we have to remove

>>34495824
If we become even less of a edgelord, I will vote to pick up every drug known to man in the hopes that we do something/anything bad while out of our mind

>>34495824
Nah. Pretty sure Asher's still going to be a douche. Unless we get rid of Donner/Nora/Lucifer, we are pretty locked into the dark side.

>>34495876
Says you, who hasn't been paying attention

>>34495824
Asher died in that Overwatch cell. I don't know who this jackoff wearing his face is, but it's obvious that Dran wanted to tone it down massively so as to appeal to the much broader demographic of good guy / antihero fans.

>>34495876
Luci's ideals aren't inherently evil.
Donner's more interested in sport killing now and there's gong to be plenty of that.
Nora?
Well Nora's true form is complicated.

>>34495897
I'm sure there's some way we can remove our conscience again.
We could ask Luci during our next meditation

>>34495920
We can still derail it right back to where we left off.

>>34495931
Alright lets reject the drugs and go kill an old lady

>>34495931
Well we need to murder more people to get back to our good old self.
And befriend the shit out of Tony.

>>34495742
>>[] Accept it.
Sounds like limit for re-experiencing trauma.
"This is gonna suck"

I'll be interested to see what counted as traumatizing to Asher. I suppose the eye/wave must have counted since he Woke.

>>34495742
>relive the bad shit we did
>realize how fucking great it felt
>go do more bad shit

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>>34495974
Time to use the power of friendship

>>34495946
We really can't. We have the looming threat of Marcus over our heads and even just Saph could end us all on her own if she wanted to. It's been made clear since the early threads that Asher has his own personality and the players don't entirely define him, and he's been having pangs of a guilty conscience and regrets galore ever since getting out. The whole conversation with Tony was really glaring in highlighting the changes. Hell, we tried to kill Hydra and we got smacked in the head for it with a big metaphorical "don't be like that" and a literal skull fracture.

Asher is changing and there's nothing we can do about it. We're locked into a situation where the only way to progress is to further destroy old Asher and any attempts to avoid it is guaranteed to be met with Saph sighing at us or Marcus squinting or just nothing happening at all. We can either accept it and enjoy the quest, or we can thrash around and scream at Dran for being a shit (he is, but there's nothing we can do about it) and be miserable.

>>34496081
>Hell, we tried to kill Hydra and we got smacked in the head for it with a big metaphorical "don't be like that" and a literal skull fracture.
Kinda our own fault there

>>34495742
>Accept
If this fucks with my Luci love in any way I'm gonna flip some tables

>>34496121
>drugs make us give up the ultimate love
I will drop this quest so fast

>>34496081
We're about to pour over our regrets and psychological damage, and I'd say the new direction definitely qualifies. He does have his own character, and like I said, he hates this as much as we do. It was directly mentioned to be the case.

>>34496081
We probably could have killed Hydra if we hadn't started by setting ourselves on fire in a confine space with flammable gas.

>>34496182
>>34496120
Yes, we could have solved the gas problem in many ways if we'd noticed it, but let's be honest here. We wanted to test out the armor cantrip, people wanted to get through it fast, and it was very late at night for most players. Dran probably had a pretty good idea of what people were going to do there. The speed with which that update got posted suggested some degree of pre-writing. At the very least, he had thought about it a bit and expected thoughtless attacking of Hydra.

I'm not even saying it's a bad thing or complaining about agency or railroads. He's just QMed a long time and he has a handle on what players will do when presented with stimuli and is taking advantage of this to reinforce the new direction he wants to take Asher. It really is a smart way to go about it.

>>34496275
So you say it was all part of his diabolical plan?

>>34496300
More or less. We could have avoided it, and I don't think Dran would have outright railroaded us into having Hydra live, but the encounter really was constructed in a way that encouraged the players to go down the path that supports the changes to Asher.

How does it feel knowing your players have little to no faith in you?

>>34496424
Meh, I'm living with it. I like you guys though.

>>34496438
And I hate not being an edgelord.

>>34496453
There is already an Edgelord.
And I don't think we can outedge him

>>34496424
Speak for yourself anon. Not everyone feels the same butthurt you do

>>34496396
The problem with that is that the changes to Asher are a complete fucking 180. It's literally turning Asher into a different character altogether, and it's entirely justified for people to feel ripped off if he's trying to make it stick.

>>34496438
We like you, too.
Unless you're fucking us over again

>>34496488
Thats why I used the word "I"

>>34496508
you didn't

>>34496537
I thought you were responding to my other post. Sorry.

>>34496438
I like you too. I just don't trust you. That doesn't mean I don't like your quest, I like it quite a bit, I just expect to get smacked every once in a while and I can't let myself get bent out of shape about it. Yeah, I'd prefer to not get smacked, but the palm prints go away fast enough and the time between smackings is enjoyable so it is what it is.

>>34496632
Do you have experience in being beat?

>>34496699
Not him, but we all do. We play Dran quests.

>>34495742
You're drugged for the second time today. Saphira whispers into your ears as you close your eye, shivers slowly beginning to work their way through your body and into your mind. A haze clouds your vision and your body trembles violently as you're locked into trance.

A wave drags across your body, like in the beginning, you drowned to the wrath of poseidon, the great wave that took away everything you'd ever known.

Struggling for air, you reach out for the bubbles that flounder out of your lungs. No, you think. Get back here. You try to bring it back with magic but there is none here. You're powerless as the ocean fills your lungs.

A hand grabs you by the collar, pulling you up out of the tide. Hacking up saline, you feel sand squishing beneath your fingers.

“Get up Asher.”

The voice is familiar... You look up and you see Eshe and Friend, the latter smiling with his all too white teeth.

Friend squats down beside you, the whites of his eyes slipping into a dark blue, “Asher, who do you think you are? I gave you a mission.” He doesn't seem entirely unhappy with you, but he doesn't sound pleased- at all.

You shake your head in a stupor, “No, I-I can't. I'm weak, I just...”

“Asher, we have given you a gift... We expect this of you.”

“I can't, I...”

“Seems we must take the other one.” This voice makes your skin crawl. You look behind you expecting to see waves washing along the shoreline. Instead you see the asphault of a flooded street, a man of black feathers like a crow staring down at you, his claws holding an eyeball dangling by the optic nerve.
He drops it, and your eye follows it as it rolls around on the concrete. A clawed hand digs into your scalp, pulling her head back.

“No!” You scream out long and loud in primal terror. You thrash with all your strength to get away, but the claw draws near. “No, please no! Anything but that!”

Darkness fills your vision...

>>34497156

“You get beat again boy?” An old voice, one you'd almost forgotten. “Let them push you in the dirt again?” Disappointment in the tone and it synchronizes with the bruises on your arms, the scrapes on your elbows, the black eye, dirt on your hands.

You dare not say anything, the smell of alcohol is coming from the couch where your mother is. She doesn't care. Dad says that woman's good for nothing.

“You gonna say something boy, or do I need to get the belt out?”

The belt would come either way, to toughen you up he might say. Other kids pick on you because you like to read. It started because you like to act out, then it continued because they saw it got to you.
“Tell me where they live, I'll beat the shit out of them.”

“No...” You whisper. If you tell him, he'll do it and they'll get mad. They'll beat you up more and dad'll go to jail. Dad'll go to jail and you'll get stuck with mom. And mom won't pick you up, you'll have to walk home

“Sorry son, I didn't hear you.” The man gets closer, his musk oppressing your nostrils.

Like a creaking rocker, you slowly and shakily shake your head, “I did it to myself.”

He stares down at you, “What, you fall off the bike you don't have and hit the curb? Go running and fix yourself on a pole? Doorknob hit ya on the way out?” He removes his belt, and you cringe.
“Tell me- who done it?”

>>34497201
“Jeff, leave him alone... If he-”

“Shut the hell up, this doesn't have anythin' to do with you! If you want a piece get your drunk ass off the couch.”

Your mother groans, “I'll get my drunk ass off the couch and slug you ya miser. Asher, yer sister home yet?”

“N-no... She's still working.” You quiver out as your dad moves over to the couch.

“She needs to bring home another bottle of whiskey...” Your mother starts off before your father yanks her by the hair, “I said get up off the couch!”

>What do you do...

>[] Go outside, you don't want to watch this.
>[] Go upstairs, and shut the door.
>[] Stand and stare.
>[] Yell at him.

>>34497218
>[] Stand and stare.
Childhood trauma, who would have expected that

>>34497218
This is gonna end in a bullshit "I'VE BECOME WHAT I HATED MOST, MY FATHER!" isn't it?

>>34497218
>[] Stand and stare.

Here we fucking go. I can smell the "I understand now! I have to protect the innocent!" coming from a mile off.

>>34497218
>[] Stand and stare.
I still feel kind of bad about leaving the followers. They were a nice bunch

>>34497218
>[] Go outside, you don't want to watch this.

>>34497268
Yep.

>>34497281
Not like we really had a choice there. It was leave them and get hex removed or don't leave them and remain hexed but still have to leave them later anyway because Lucifer.

>>34497218
>[] Stand and stare.
I kinda regret accepting the drugs now.

>>34497272
I will vote to kill ourself if that happens

>>34497218
>[] Stand and stare.

>>34497318
second

>>34497318
Third

>>34497218
>Jack-off furiously.

>>34497218
>mfw these aren't our memories, just hallucinations tweaked by magic designed to make us WANT to be a good guy...whatever our actual inclination
>mfw these are fake memories

>>34497318
Fourthed.

>>34497268
I'm self inserting a little here.
But my father is a magician, and he disappeared on my life.

>>34497318
sixth

>>34497393
Oh god.

Asher's going to become an internet sadist, isn't he?

>>34497393
>the greatest trick of all!
>Seeya bitch, I'm out.

>>34497318
seventh

>>34497311
Lucifer isn't at odds with the Followers, and we might have been able to play with both the Followers and whatever it was these new guys called themselves if we didn't go for Malevolence, since Marky-Mark's definitely going to be out fucking them up.

>>34497422
Asher is Dran.
Everything makes sense now
>>34497436
Nah we ping as traitor now.
They removed the baptism

>>34497393
My father is a regular Renaissance man and a loving patriarch. I've never met him and don't actually know what he looks like, though, I was just told he does actually live with a family somewhere. So don't worry, Dranzy, you're actually ahead of the game.

>>34497393
So yes? Fuck you on a personal level.

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>>34497393
>>34497422
Oh boy.

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>>34497393

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>That guy going on like a battered housewife about how Dran isn't so bad despite the beatings
>Asher's dad turns out to be domestic abuse: the man
>Dran admits that there's some self-inserting going on.
All the pieces falling into place.

>>34497488
Eh. I figured this to be a likely origin for why Asher'd initially be alright with the prospect of joining the followers and being wary on honestly relying on others for aid as featured with his loner mentality in the face of a city/region-wide disaster.

Now he's facing some of the elements that went into him becoming who he is:

>Kids picking on him.
>Father wants to fuck up kids that get up on his son.
>Asher fears his father- as mildly abusive as he may be getting taken away.
>Because Asher's mom is a useless sack of shit that he has no respect for.

>>34497576
So all reason to go punish the world at large? Cool.
If you make us more of a moralfag I will hunt you down and kill you

>>34497576
>Because Asher's mom is a useless sack of shit that he has no respect for.
That explains the "Not now woman".

>>34497642
I think that can classified under "Everyone is shit, the only people who aren't shit are the people obeying me, and even then they are still slightly shit."

>>34497629
He doesn't give a fuck if you drop the quest because he believes intensifying morals will net him at least 1.5 new players for every one that drops. He even said that he intended this season 2 to be able to let people join without reading the first part.

He's trying to sweep old Asher under the rug.

>>34497680
To be honest I don't remember him posting something like that.
Also implying the playerbase wouldn't suicide before that happens

>>34497680
But that's not going to happen. Even if it did work, it wouldn't accomplish anything of value beyond destroying all artistic integrity of the work and value and respectability of the artist. Unless Dranzy intends to commit sudoku, I don't believe you.

>>34497680
Or let us redesign Asher, if we want. Dran tends to give us choices about how we want to view things in-character. If we want to use this drug-trip to make Asher into a better person, here's our chance. If we want to use it to make Asher a more self-assured douche, I'm thinking we will be able to do that as well.

>>34497576
I liked it, even if everyone else is blowing up

You guys know that Asher's still going to be killing the shit out of people in Marcus's unit, right?

Saphira's been suggesting things to try to reconcile and focus the previous mass murder psychopath tendencies into something less than an insane and fanatical.

Asher's considered her advice so far and only obliged it in obscure fashions.

This little trip through trauma lane is less designed to make him a better person and more to make him a complete person that's dealt with some of this baggage.
I have no idea why you guys would think that Asher's gearing up for a no-kill dishonored run.


>>34497776
This is also right, though Asher's going to be some kind of douchebag no matter what.
Like in the dialogue where he flaunts his dickheadedness at the entirely wrong or right times.

>>34497890
Its not the same kind of killing, that and I hate reading the whiny internal dialogue about how he did wrong

>>34497218


You stand there and watch as he drags her off the couch, beating her with the belt over his fist. She screams and he gives her another lash as she stumbles away, spitting curses back at the man returned in kind by him in his sobriety.

This happens a lot.

“Fucking bitch. “He rubs a cheek where she managed to deck him and sits down on the couch. “C'mere son.” He pats the seat next to you, and you sit diligently, sparing your words.

He takes the time to light up a cigarette. After taking a drag, he breaths it up into the air, “We can't move again. We don't have the money to.”

You sit still, remembering the places you've left so far. Your sister always hated the move.
A sigh from you and your father look you in the eye.
“They gave you a goddamn shiner son.” He shakes his head. “You need to do something about those damn kids. Help yourself if you won't let me help you.”

He takes another long draw on his cigarette.

>[] “What if I set their house on fire?”
>[] “Sorry dad.”
>[] Say nothing.
>[] (Other)

>>34497890
>I have no idea why you guys would think that Asher's gearing up for a no-kill dishonored run.
Because that's exactly what you're making it look like he's going to be doing and your previous blatant attempts at player whoring support that further.

And even if he's going to be in a group whose main purpose is killing shit, that doesn't mean anything. I've seen plenty of quests with an mc in a similar position and it's completely miserable because they constantly angst and agonize about how they're such a horrible person and they want to be better and every single kill possibility turns into a huge debate.

It's not fun and it looks like that's what you want.

>>34497989
>[] “What if I set their house on fire?”
If dad gives us a lighter and some gasoline I will forgive him for everything he may have ever done

>>34497989
>[] “What if I set their house on fire?”
Fucking kek.

>>34497989
>[] “What if I set their house on fire?”
Thank you based Dran

>>34497890
I'm pretty sure Asher could already control himself. We were also fully prepared to throw away the Followers when they became more of a liability than a benefit.

>>34497989
>[] “What if I set their house on fire?”
I know, but it's too funny to resist.

>>34497989
>[] “What if I set their house on fire?”
We don't need no water let the mother fucker burn

>>34497989
>[x] “What if I set their house on fire?”

>>34498003
>Debating over killing.
Nah. You're getting the word "Moralfag" mixed up with the more neutral approach between that and edgelord.

>>34497989
>[] (Other)
How about just setting their house on fire?
if not then
[] “What if I set their house on fire?”

>>34498065
>admitting your changing a big part of the character
Middle=/=edgelord

>>34498065
And now you are assuming that /tg/ has stances between absolute Edgelord and total Moralfag.

>>34498065
>neutral approach
Here we fucking go. This is going to be a disgusting disaster.

>>34498065
Thats the thing though, we don't want to be in the middle, we don't want to be neutral, we want to being a flying huge floppy dick thats full of himself and murders like its the greatest shit since sliced bread If you do not agree with me feel free to replace we with I

>>34498065
I have no problem with not going constant "KILL MAIM BURN" but neutral approach never works

>>34498151
Eh. Think of this as a LIMIT bearing experience and it's going to help stabilize some of the changes that Asher's going though.

>>34497989
>[] "I have a few ideas, don't worry."

>>34498065
I-I support you Dranzy, I just want to see where you'll take us

>>34498177
>stabilize
you mean further drag us away from edgelord fun town?

>>34497989
Can we just say something like "I'll take care of it" instead of telling him what we're going to do? Because then he's sort of obligated to stop us.

>>34498212
This. Maybe something of, "You're too...loud, Dad. Things need to be handled quietly."

>>34498239
He beats his son and his wife, hes also ready to beat the shit out of the kid that gave his kid a black eye, he isn't obligated to do shit

>>34498065
The big problem I have with Asher suddenly growing a conscience is that it just doesn't fit.

He was being an ass in season 1 because the people he was hanging around doled out more power to him when he was an ass.

Now the people here in s2 are doling out more power if he be less of an ass.

Instead of having him remain a selfish pragmatist, you're having him actually buy into this shit whereas in s1 he at least admitted to himself that a lot of it was bullshit and he just wanted to get a bit ahead.

>>34498333
He's got a good point here

>>34498333
Amen brother.

>>34498333
>Selfish pragmatist
Is a good point.
That's actually one of the ideas I had of where Asher might return as opposed to being an edgelord.

He also never did anything explicitly inhumane until he was baptized.

>>34498268
Well, I don't know a lot about dads, but when I was growing up, I didn't set my house on fire after the second time my mom caught me, and I didn't smoke in the house after the first time my mom caught me, and I didn't steal anything valuable from her after that time I stole her credit card, and I didn't get in fights in the house while she was home, and it just seems like "conspiracy to commit murder" is one of those things.

>>34498589
I like that a lot, and if we could take this trip into Acid Town in that direction I think it would really solidify Asher's character and the direction we want to take him.

>>34498589
Even then, he took the more humane options when possible. Yeah, he tortured people for awakenings, but he switched it up to not be physically traumatic after Jackie showed him it was possible. He never ran around murdering people because he liked it, he did it because it was either self defense or because it was the price for the services of someone/something that would make him stronger.

>>34498658
Awakening one person is safer with psychological torture.
But mass awakenings aren't possible without good old torture

>>34498658
The Asherah thing was pretty much the kicker.

>>34498701
Yeah, he was pretty damn darkside then, but even at his worst he tried to get Asherah to not murder the churchgoers for no reason.

Priest died? Oh well, his life was the stated price for power. Power that Asherah jewed us out of, but it was done as a payment for power.

He was also willing to blow up the dam, but again, it wasn't just a senseless "I wanna kill them because it makes my dick hard!" thing. It was a stated price for more power. He may not have had a problem with doing it, but it wasn't full-blown senseless edgelording.

>>34497989


“What if I set their house on fire?” The words just come out of your mouth and your old man stares at you for a moment.

“That's arson son.”

“They hurt me.”

“So you admit that they did it?”

That shuts you up for a second. “If I do it... you won't get in trouble.”

That's right, if you do it, your old man won't get in trouble. You won't have to fight those kids again because they won't have a place to live. You find yourself smiling and get popped in the mouth. “You stupid son of a bitch.”

You're not stupid though. You'll use the fire that Prometheus gave to humans by tricking the gods. The stolen fire. The same fire that you stole from your dad. By taking his lighter and the gas from the shed, you set one of the kids houses on fire.

You sat there and watched it go up on flames. It was beautiful.

But then- the screaming started, a baby wailed. A man tumbled out of the house on fire, the smell of burnt flesh filling your nose as you looked over his charred flailing body. In your fear, or perhaps desperation you poured more gasoline on him to increase the wrath of the flames.

Sirens started and suddenly you felt the guilt again. Why did you do this? What ever came over you?

Everything passed by in a flash after that. Your dad identified you as his son, you were set to live with your mother after that. They thought he gave you the lighter and the gas, how else would a kid figure that out.

>>34498798
I've said before I imagine Asher being in the Lawful Evil spectrum concerning his dealings, but chaotic neutral in his personality.

>>34498881


You still remember the stink of the burning flesh, the crying babe wreathed in flames somewhere inside. You had nightmares about it for the longest time. Mother still drank, but she managed to hold a job and raise you with the help of your sister.

The last words your father said to you were, “You helped yourself kid. You did it.”

You respected your father.

Drowning again, you feel the wave rob you of breath a second time. Your head's pulled up from the water.

“Fight for us Asher.” Eshe says.

Friend squats down before you, his eyes shimmering, “Hurt him for us Asher, enlighten him.” Friend moves and you bear witness to your father hanging on an upturned crucifix, his eyes barely registering where he is.
“If he is weak he will die, as it is for so many that we teach suffering.”

You shake your head, “No... No...”

“Do it Asher.” Eshe says.
You look at her, holes the size of fists perforate her body, blood oozing out from the wounds. “You teach for me. Because your weakness killed me.”

>[] Refuse, they won't have power over you.
>[] Apologize to your old man. Kill him painlessly.
>[] Listen to them.
>[] (Other)

>>34498881
>already feeling bad
I would complain but we are a kid, we feel bad if we would feel bad if we lied

>>34498912
>[] Listen to them.
Enlightenment for all.
Prometheus gave us fire, we spread it

>>34498912
>[] Refuse, they won't have power over you.
Our father is a strong man and would survive the enlightenment, but fuck you, we aren't doing jack shit for you.

>>34498912
>[] "Yes...he must learn to help himself."

No magic, just start wailing on him.

>>34498912
>[] Listen to them.
Spread Prometheus gift

>>34498912
>[] Listen to them.

>>34498912
>[] Refuse, they won't have power over you.
>Giving to guilt trips
No.

>>34498912
>>34498957

This. We're better than them.

>>34498912
>[] (Other)
Do nothing.
Fuck them
Fuck the drugs
Fuck everybody except us and luci

>>34498956
this

>>34499049
This.

>>34498912
>[] Apologize to your old man. Kill him painlessly.

>>34498956
Seems like what we did all the time

>>34499049
Just yawn, stretch, and stare Eshe blandly in the face. "Alright, I'm bored now. NEXT!"

>>34498912
>[] Listen to them.
Awakening him is the right thing to do

>>34498912
>Awaken him but not because they are telling you to
>because the old man needs to help himself

>>34498912
>[] (Other)
Try to awaken Dad because it's better, not because the Followers told us to.

>>34498912
>>[] Refuse, they won't have power over you.
We are in control, they can go fuck off

>>34498912
>>[] Refuse, they won't have power over you.
We got away from the followers to get out from under their thumb. We follow our own path. We joined the followers because they were useful and now we have joined this group because they are useful. Those that are not useful should be tossed aside, but no real reason to kill them.

>>34498912
>[] (Other)
Fuck this shit, we don't need any of them, don't do shit

>>34498912
>[] (Other)
Awaken him.
Everyone needs to help himself

>>34498912
>[] Refuse, they won't have power over you.

>>34498912
We agreed to Awaken people because we wanted to spread magic to the world. Just because we aren't in their cult doesn't mean we should stop.

>Refusing could be either the only way to pass this drug trip thing and gain LIMIT from it, or it forces Asher further down the moralfaggot path.
>Awakening could either be the only way to prevent full-moralfaggot, or it could be an instafail of this drug trip thing thus forcing Asher to go through more scenarios where the only alternative to going full-moralfaggot is wasting time before going full-moralfaggot later on.
Either that or this is one of those Drannings where every choice is going to ram something up our ass and it's really just a choice between wood, metal, and plastic.

>>34499447
Or you could just act in-character, you fag.

>>34499483
Which would be to do what we wanted when we wanted to?

>>34498912
>[X] Refuse, they won't have power over you.

Fuck the followers. Never liked the creepy shits.

>>34499483
Neither of them are in character. The entire point of this drug trip is to change Asher's character.

>>34499582
We can either
>mercykill
>spread magic through suffering
>go full moralfag

Trembling, you rise and take one last look at Eshe. You steady yourself and nod, stepping forward.
“I'll do it.” You say to them as much as yourself.
You pass the crow-man as he dangles your eyeball, laughing at you, mocking you.

Friend smiles, and you can feel their eyes on you.

Staring down at your dad, the old man looks up at you from his precarious angle and frowns, “Didn't know I raised such a weak bastard.”

“Shut up, you kick him in the gut, it's like kicking concrete, you fall over into the sand clutching your foot, it shattered like glass.

“Don't know a strong man when you see one, do you? Think you could ever beat your old man?”

“Shut up!” You shift around in the sand and throw a fist to his upside down face. Your knuckles crumble away and you scream out in frustration.

“Someone does his best to make his own son strong, and how do you repay it? Kicking him while he's down? Baring your teeth against the hand that feeds you?”

“Shut up damnit!” You cry out. “I'm not weak! I fix my own fucking problems like you taught me!”

“You're a deaf shit son. I told you to help yourself, not be told how to be helped. Never did I say you had to fend for yourself, I offered and look where your own shit got you.”
“Dangled and played up by these shitheads?”

Eshe looms over you, bleeding on you from a hole in her cheek, “What are you waiting for Asher? Awaken him. Awaken your father.”

Friend comes in, nothing to his face but those smiling teeth, “I did not think you were this weak.”

A flurry of black feathers comes down, “Perhaps we need to take more from him? His Liver perhaps?”

>>34499603


“No,” You cower away from them. “No, I said I would, I said I'd do it!” They close in on you, the bird's beak looking all the more terrifying, “No, stop. Stop!” You're covered in black feathers, something piercing your abdomen. You cry out, but spit up only feathers. Terror welling up from the core of your being. The shining white teeth open and bite into you, Eshe stands over tall, dripping her blood into your vision.>

You feel a kick in your side, dirt shoved in your face, something scratching against your head right before a fist drives itself into your left eye, “Give up the book you faggot nerd!” One of them yells.

“Yeah, we wanna set it on fire!”

> The book you're clutching is mythology on...

>[] Celtic/Arthurian
>[] Native American
>[] Shinto/Japanese
>[] Greco-roman
>[] Norse

This may effect the next summon that presents itself to you.

>>34499602
We can either
>mercykill
>remain a rabid puppet of the Followers
>become an independent leader like Luci wants

You can twist these options so many ways it's pointless.

>>34499623
>[] Norse

>>34499623
>[] Greco-roman

I WANT MY HYDRA BACK ;~;

>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian

+Nora

>>34499623
>>[] Celtic/Arthurian
I don't think hoping on the Odin train will lead us anywhere but six feet down.

>>34499623
>[] Greco-roman
It bothers me that these are one choice but whatever

>>34499623
>[] Norse
This drug trip was good for something

>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian

>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian

>>34499623
>[] Shinto/Japanese

>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian

>>34499679
It's not like there's a difference
>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian
or
>[] Greco-roman

>>34499623
>[] Shinto/Japanese

>tfw nobody will ever vote for this.

>>34499623
>[] Greco-roman

>>34499708
My autism hurts

>>34499623
>Greco-Roman
That's what we're dealing with now, should be helpful.

>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian
Simply for Nora
Also Norse doesn't seem to have any support

>>34499623
>[] Celtic/Arthurian

>>34499623
Greco-Roman

>>34499733
They just named their clones after mythological beasts
>>34499717
I have no clue about it

>>34499717
Cuhrazy shit there.

>>34499733
The prometheus references aren't inherent to what book you're holding. Prometheus can also be seen as Lucifer and Loki. Blah.


Counting.

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>>34499762
>We'll never get Raijuu

>>34499817
And nothing of value has been lost

>>34499908
But it's a lightning cat thing. It's awesome.

>>34499945
Yeah, but now we can get a house that run around while we sit comfortably inside and make shit.

>>34499945
I'd be more interested in Muramasa Sengo.

>>34499762
Wait Dran could we give a sword a soul of their own?

>>34500131
Why the fuck would we want a sword?

>>34500141
What wouldn't we want with a sword?

>>34500141
Because we could get one with silly magical effects. Like Fragarach, which is a perfect tool for interrogation.

>>34500160
We wouldn't want anything to do with a sword considering our class and spellset.

>>34500141
>Not wanting to make magical artifacts
What are you gay?

>>34500141
It doesn't matter why, only how

>>34500219
>Prioritizing melee weapons as the magical artifact to make.
Pretty much anything that enhances mobility, is good armour, or is stealthy somehow would be better than a sword.

>>34500285
You clearly know nothing about magic swords. Hell Japan has stories about magic swords that can heal wounds.

>>34500344
Hydro at adept rank can heal wounds. Alchemy too.

Magic items aren't even a summoning thing and would require us to branch into some other thing. Saying that Japan has a healing sword doesn't make it worth it.

>>34500398
Actually, it's Summoning + Alchemy, and we've been planning to do it since season one. Nobody's mentioned swords specifically, but they have utilities. Like ranged AoE attacks, lasers, and bestowing limited immortality.

>>34500424
>Nobody's mentioned swords specifically
see >>34500131
It was what started this entire conversation chain.

>Actually, it's Summoning + Alchemy, and we've been planning to do it since season one.
It isn't and we haven't. Alchemy+Summoning can do some alchemy-specific mythology things, like a Philosopher's Stone, but you're not going to be making some random Japanese sword with it.

>>34500398
The swords I was talking about were made by a specific person who was a legendary blacksmith and they would do anything and everything but cut.

>>34500480
This the story about the two swords?

>>34499623


Clutching a book on the Mythos of Western Europe, stories of Arthur and mythic Celtic kings, you endure the attacks of bullies that'd rob that from you. They kick you in the balls, beat you with sticks and keep you down with hard stomps while trying to wrestle it away from you.

If they take it the librarian will be mad and she won't let you check out any more books from school.

“Stop it!” You tried to shout, but only to get a mouthful of dirt.

Nothing you could do would make them stop. You'd only sit there and take it until they got bored.

“Asher, you know your mother and sister are dead?” Sam's voice. You're back in the Overwatch prison. “Curious, but it seems that your father might actually be alive. You know, until you kill him. Because that's what the followers do they rape civility and kill others in some twisted belief that it makes them stronger.”

Fire burns at the edge of your cell, a familiar woman waltzing out of the flame, “And that's not what I desire. Do not twist my word and punish those that would see you better.” Lucia chides you.

“Are you...” Real, you want to say, but she places a finger upon your lips to quiet you.

A devilish white smile and a twinkle within her blue eyes put your heart at ease until she backhands you, sending you sprawling toward the flame. “You'll never be the man I desire if you crawl at the heels of aimless dogs like the followers. They were a stepping stone. Killing your old man because they told you to? Where's the rebel in you?”

Batting away the flames, she pulls you hope and holds you in her arms. “Do not be puddy in anyone's hands but mine... I won't respect you for that.”

“What about Saphira?” You mumble into her shoulder.

>>34500516
The story of Marumasa and Masamune yes.

>>34500537


“She thinks not of you as putty but a rough stone to be cut. Purge yourself of these weak snares and...” She presses you back, a hand tracing over your cheek from your broken left eye, her own staring into yours with so much zeal that you can barely meet her gaze. “Rebel against God,” She whispers.

With a kiss on your cheek, she's gone and you're back on the beach with a thousand followers looking on.

Your mother and sister are on their knees in the middle of the street, the surge of that titanic wave in the horizon looking to decimate the city.

“Force them awake.” Friend's words whispers from the crowd, a thousand times.

Jackie's severed head affixed to a spine sputters to you, “Do it and I'll like, forgive your stupid ass.”

You look on at your mother, gray streaks in her hair, she looks up to you with that same vacant stare she used to give. Your sister shakes her head, “Please Asher... Please don't do it.”

The gallery here sends shivers of fear down your spine, the pressure is oppressive, the chant a force of palpable dread.

>[] Do nothing, everyone is consumed by the wave.
>[] Turn your hand on the followers. You protect what's yours.
>[] Talk back to the crowd.
>[] (Other)

>>34500472
Why would Alchemy+Summoning create one artifact and not another? Plus, the sword I was referring to was Excalibur. Which is a random Celtic sword.

>>34500555
>[] Turn your hand on the followers. You protect what's yours.

>>34500555
I don't understand the situation

>>34500555
Just leave.

>>34500555
>[] Talk back to the crowd.
Blow me.
>[] Turn your hand on the followers. You protect what's yours.
Not mom though. Fuck her.

>>34500565
What about the Caladborg?

>>34500598
No matter what we pick, we're going to get chewed out by someone. That's just how this thing works.

>>34500617
Man I liked the Followers.
Everything was so easy back than

>>34500555
>>[] Turn your hand on the followers. You protect what's yours.
The thing with our dad was not about being the Follower's bitch, and we aren't going to throw our sister away indiscriminately. Fuck our mom though, we know she's useless.

>>34500613
I'm not sure, but I remember hearing in the past that they're supposed to be the same sword from different points of time.

>>34500641
The Caladborg was the mountain cleaving sword.

>swords
>not sheaths

>>34500555
This situation is way to confusing for 8am

>>34500717
Shirou please

>>34500750
No u, the sheath has far better stats

>>34500717
The Excalibur is a package deal.

>>34500537
>Do not twist my word and punish those that would see you better

It's not a punishment. Everyone who can should awake. Everyone should have the power to change this shitheap.

>>34500555
I want them to wake, is that
>Do nothing
?
Even mom, though I don't want to help her. She should have the opportunity grit her teeth and pull through.

Just reminding all of you that this is just passive drug up brain washing. Just keep that in mind.

>>34500685
Joyeuse, as I recall, could also do the laser trick, and had a piece of Lancea Longini inside it, and may have been the brother sword to some other legendary weapon. It's also the trademark of French royalty, which means it's fine if we step back with it.

>>34500776
Yeah. This entire thing is sketchy as fuck. Way sketchier than the Followers ever were.

>>34500776
If that luci was fake I'm stabbing the cunt that gave us these drugs

Are we even compatible with anyone out of Arturian mythology?

>>34500821
Hope you like Marcus' flaming frontal-lobe fingerfucking.

>>34500555
>(Other) Just flip everyone off and just leave. Remember when we just did want we wanted and just trying to survive. Fuck these choices who cares

>>34500757
You do realize the sword can instantly blind people.
>>34500826
Queen Mab

>>34500836
I hope marcus loves sucking my dick

>>34500555
>[] (Other)
Turn around and leave, we are here for 2 things, ourselves, and Luci. Fuck everyone else

and Dran, really sorry all the same fags are trying to push us to edgelord, really hope they don't win out

>>34500821
You wouldn't expect Asher to dream of Luci on a drug trip nightmare?

>>34500864
Yeah but this obviously a controlled trip, our mind isn't this stuck on the followers and how shit they are

>>34500846
>beating Marcus
>Ever
He's GET ON THE RAILS: The Character. His death threats and the ability to back them up are the only reason we're de-assifying at all.

>>34500877
That kinda explains why we get Followers==bad pushed in in this trip.

>>34500908
Yeah, we don't have a problem with them. It's just that we aint got anything to gain from them anymore.

>>34500555
Looking out to the crowd, the chanting of the legion, the wave washing over the city, crawling inch by inch destroying all in its wake. You hold a fist out, thumb out. With a twist, you point it down, “Blow me.” You sneer and they all come for you.

Your mother and sister vanish into thin air, they're already dead after all, and you won't punish them because someone else told you to. You'll awaken who you believe can awaken. Who wants to awaken. Everyone's their own damn god.

You begin a chant as they rush toward you,
“With fingers red from blood and flame,
I kneel to none,
I bear no blame.
This choice is mine.
No son of God.”

You raise up your hand, “I. Am. The. Fiend.” and snap your fingers down. Fire erupts all around you, incinerating them all before settling in a protective shell.

The city's burned and blackened to ash. With a sigh, your sit down. A pat on your shoulder and you look up to see your old man. He doesn't say anything and just kind of walks off.
You awaken with a deep breath, sweat clinging to your brow, violent shivers. Saphira's here, and she's the only one. No Marcus, no Emilia, no anyone else.

“They finished before you and went to think about the things that they saw.” She leans forward from a pillow, laced fingers supporting her chin, “Did you resolve anything?”

A shuddering breath, sweat dripping into your eye with a blink, “Don't have a fucking clue.” You shake your head, an accusing look from you, “Not taking any more drugs for a damn minute, that's for damn sure.”

>3 LIMIT gained.

>>34501042
Well that turned out better than expected

>>34501042
Welp. Time for Adept Summoning. Throw the leftover 1LIMIT into Alchemy prespending. We want to get it anyway and the small burn reduction for having extra point in it will be nice.

>>34501042
You think they'll be pissed to know that their brainwashing turned us back into good old me myself and I Asher?

>>34501042
Time for the faecraft carrier

>>34501042
Little rough in the beginning, but in the end... kind of fun.
7/10
Left feeling fucked but exhilarated.
Would try again next weekend.

>>34501042
I just realised that our name is Faust now

>>34501108
We have to check what the brainwashing did to Helia.
I mean her decisions were wonky to begin with

>>34501278
If shes even more argumentative I say we just kill her.

>>34501301
It has to be an "accident".
I'm pretty sure Nora can arrange something fitting

>>34501301
Maybe we could infect her soul with Nora's summoned fae.
Only if we have 2 escape plans

>>34501355
>fae
>ever
I still hate nora

>>34501400
It doesn't matter that she's a fae. If we didn't have her as a summon, it would just be a different summon that fucks us over.

>>34501400
At least she doesn't keep rape slaves like some other faeries do.

>>34501422
Well yeah but when its fae we can't even bitch about it, I mean its a fucking fae

>>34501449
>Implying True!Nora doesn't have a dungeon of rape slaves.

>>34501468
Can we not start this conversation?

>>34501042


Saphira stares back for a moment before smiling, “You look thirsty.”

“Like a fish.” You reply.

“We've got refreshments in the basement. Everyone's getting some time before the next exercise.” She walks over to offer you her hand, you refuse it.

“Can help myself.”

“Of course.” She's not surprised.
Down in the basement, no one's really making eye contact outside of their little comfort groups. Emilia looks at you when you enter, but she looks away quickly. You feel like she might've been a bit concerned- more than a bit concerned.

A bottle of lemonade is fucking nectar of gods, you'd barely realized how thirsty you were, hungry too. As you stuff your face, you approach Saphira as she's speaking with some others, “Hey, so what's the next exercise going to be?”

She turns to you and draws close, almost a bit too close, for a a whisper, “Next part will be active application of powers in a threatening scenario under supervision. To be honest, I don't trust Marcus to be an aggressor for the others, I'd thought that I might ask you for the employ of your demon- it is under control, correct?”

{What business do you have with me, river witch?} The Wendigo growls in the ether. The astrally perceptive turn in alertness, alarmed and confused by the rough voice.

“Silence Donner.” You snipe at the Wendigo. “Though I do wonder what you're speaking of.”

“They need to be pushed more, to learn. I've told them of what their powers are, inspired them unto a focus... The ones that are looking to follow Marcus will need to learn quickly how to adapt their abilities for violence.” She steps away from you, face forward, “I'll be the one to draw more out of you and Emilia.”

You raise an eyebrow, a smirk on your face in amusement at the little lady, “You?” It's almost like a joke.

>>34501490


She nods, “And Tony.” She looks over at the man standing in the furthest corner, a little wave offered as he sips at a cup of lemonade.
“I'll be dealing with the three of you in turn with pain to draw out your power and assess your ability.”

“Thought you hated violence.”

Saphira looks at you with a face gone stone cold, “I hate the end result more. We'll start tomorrow night when Marcus reopens the other door.

With that Saphira leaves you to your own devices.

>[] Fulfill your obligation with Nora.
>[] Talk to Tony.
>[] Talk to Emilia.
>[] Roseanne and Gertrude.
>[] What does the Fox say.

>>34501507
>[] Fulfill your obligation with Nora.
>[] Talk to Tony.
One of those