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Character and setting info: http://pastebin.com/u/MagicalPrincess
Archives: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Start+Over+Quest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagicalMarquise
Ask.fm: http://ask.fm/MagicalMarquise
Collection of character descriptions (WIP, courtesy of anon): http://pastebin.com/pzYffs0R

>>37704710
>>Keep following the current
>>Try to get closer to the bank
what the hell is this dream? well time for me to go dream too seeing as its 0730 and I haven't slept yet, thanks for the thread in advance MP

>>37704710
>Try to go against current
>Take a peek beneath the surface
>Try to get closer to the bank
Oh god what why

>>37704710
>Keep following the current
>Lift your tail out of the water

>>37704710
>>37704782
Backing!

>>37704726
>that bulge in the front
<_<

You don't feel like fighting with the current. While it doesn't feel too strong you suspect fighting it is going to cost a lot of effort in the long run; besides, a quick peek behind yourself shows that even if you did backtrace you wouldn't really get anywhere.

That considered, you decide to instead head towards the closest bank. Such detour is nearly devoid of effort and after a relatively short walk you are close enough to the edge to hoist yourself up, as apparently there is a rather steep drop to get in the river, as the bank is knee high even when you're close enough to touch it.

Free from the current, you have the chance to look around yourself and take the almost nightmarish landscape in better view. Unfortunately, you can' really see much better than before even though you're higher, it seems like there's slopes and drops all around, and the various rivers of blood don't quite cast enough light for you to see clearly what lies around them. Your feet feel thick earth beneath them, but your eyes can only spy its burnt sienna colour in the darkness; moreover, you feel not so faint and regular vibrations coming from below. They feel like breathing.

The blood on your lower body slides off and floods back into the river, as slowly as you'd expect blood to go. It's only after a while that you notice the flow never really stops, and a second look at your own body makes you realize that the colour of your skin was carefully hiding the fact that you too are losing blood.

You don't spot any visible wounds, but there's no denying that it's your own blood that continues to slide off your body and flow back in the river. You must've been bleeding this way from the beginning, and yet you don't feel hurt or wrong. Something tells you this is how it's supposed to be.

Something also tells you the river is more than it seems.

>Get back in the river
>Stay on the bank, examine the river
>Check your own bleeding
>Venture away from the river
>Other?

>>37705017
>Stay on the bank, examine the river
Weird river.

>>37705017
>Get back in the river

>>37704997
She's a Futanari mate.

>>37705017
Are we wearing anything?
I think we should get back in the river. Man this is confusing.

>>37704997
Best bulge.

>>37705017
>Stay on the bank, examine the river

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So it's currently a tie for staying on the bank or getting back into the river.

As they're mutually exclusive, I need a tie breaker.

>>37705017
>Get back in the river

New to quest, no idea what the fuck is going on, get back in the shit.

>>37705257
You should probably read the archives. Our futanari protagonist's been through a lot.

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That's good enough, thank you.

Writing...

>>37705257
You're still welcome to contribute, the second post contains all the links you need if you want to get deeper in my magical realm.

>>37705257
Neither do we have any idea what the fuck is going on.

You hop back into the river of blood. You suspect you won't have many more chances to savour the feeling of getting into a thick liquid like this one, nor find it in such large quantities, and feel it right against your skin. You realize just now you're not really wearing anything, but it's okay, it's just a dream, you don't need clothes in this kind of dreams.

Now that you're aware of your own contribution to the river, you start to understand it a little better. You are still gently pushed onwards by the current, but your blood is trailing behind you. And to the sides. And... Well, directions don't really seem to be what they look like in this place, or maybe your mind just can't wrap itself around what's happening. Not entirely.

You start to be capable of distinguishing various trails in the river: to your eyes, all blood looks the same, but it feels different. By touching, sniffing and just wading, you can tell that there's a countless number of trails, threads, streams... All tied and yet all different and individual.

Your own trail isn't alone, by focusing on it long enough to understand how this works, you have a vague idea of its point of origin, and it earned an identity of its own from the entwining of two different trails of which you are faintly aware of.

It doesn't take you much to understand that this holds true for everything in the river of blood, and you start to be able to distinguish one trail from another, although all of them belong to people you don't know. Still, by focusing faintly on them, you start to gain knowledge of some basic facts: gender, race, parents and offsprings... You even come across siblings, and understand you can recognize them, even if they're just step-siblings.

Some trails are familiar, however. You can focus to get more information if you want, but you are strangely aware you only have time to do it once...

>Focus on your trail
>Focus on Tahenohan's trail
>Focus on Bryld's trail
>Focus on Astreya's trail
>Other?

>>37705383
>Insert menstruation joke here.
>Focus on your trail
Lets not be rude here.

>>37705383
>Focus on Astreya's trail
Let's see where it goes.

>>37705383
>>Focus on Tahenohan's trail

>>37705383
>Focus on your trail

>>37705383
>but you are strangely aware you only have time to do it once...
thats just teasing you big meanie

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>>37705527
Choices, choices, choices... Make yours carefully, no refunds!

>>37705383

>Focus on your trail

>>37705557
I only want to look at one of them. It's rude to look at other people's lives like that

>>37705383
>Focus on Tahenohan's trail

gotta find out our girl's mysteries

>focus on your trail
Lillith's or Astreya are the best, cause Ishtar and her misteries.

Also, awful moment to be confined to mobile internet, ugh.

You decide to focus on your own trail more. Even though you're aware you have both the power and the opportunity to discover more about other people, you kind of feel like taking advantage of this strange place you're not supposed to be in would be tantamount to cheating.

Most of the information you gain about yourself you knew already, but when your own mind starts to ride your own trail of blood backwards, you come closer to knowing something you did not. You had two parents, which really is common sense, but it's the first time they're something more than just an assumption. Amongst the realm of blood, you find your father's trail: human, male, forty-six years old; you are distinctly aware of the immediate surroundings to that trail as well, in that he too had two parents, and apparently two siblings too, from the same set of parents.

Unfortunately you have no idea where he is, what his name is, what he looks like or anything. Well, if you focus a lot on him, you know you can expect him to have black hair and be somewhat hairy, but that's not enough for a precise picture. Moreover, you are distracted and hit straight in the chest by a sudden realization.

You can't find your mother.

It's odd, it's way too odd, you feel that you share your blood with some other being, but her own trail is nowhere to be found. There's enough of a hint that it exists for you to perceive it, but it's not there, it doesn't flow here, it's a complete outsider to this realm.

Your heart starts pounding heavily with disappointment. Rationally, you should have expected this: one of your parents is not a mortal, and therefore not bound to their rules, including blood bonds. At least, now you know that your human side comes from your father, which makes the demon your mother.

Or so you can only guess, you didn't feel any solid data from her hint of a trail, not even gender. Still, common sense dictates that-

Oh, right. Demons and common sense.

>Continue

>>37704997
Newfag, pls.
It only gets smuttier

>>37705741
>Continue

>>37705822
It means to be continued. As in, there's another post.

>>37705822
don't worry, guy

you don't have to input a command for these parts

>>37705787
Our lewdness is perfectly chaste and innocent, thank you very much!

>>37705741
>Stop, pick your father's trail and mix it with yours

You don't know for how long your eyes have been open, or when you woke up exactly. It's the same story every time you have a dream like this one: it feels like you just came back from another dimension rather than having just woken up. It's also rather early in the morning, barely dawn, which makes you feel somewhat cheated: surely you had enough time to sleep soundly some more and follow another's trail, right?

But even after the strange dream and its odd rules start to fade, the awareness that this isn't how it works stays.

Having Tahenohan's face pressing against your breast makes you more easily aware that your heart is still pounding hard, and you feel a bit of her saliva dripping out of the corner of her mouth and on your skin. Again. Well, at least you have ready access to water.

Bryld is still sleeping as well, her back turned to you, just to your side; she's not close enough for hugging but she's nonetheless quite comfortable in sleeping with you. You hear the not-so-light snoring that comes from Arianna, who must've returned recently from her night time strolls, as she's apparently quite active in that period. Leiana is asleep as well, or so you can guess since you can spy both arachnes' huge figures and none of them are moving.

The air feels fresh at this time of the day, it's going to get rather hot in just a few hours and you honestly don't feel sleepy any more. Moreover, you're supposed to go visit Susanna, who's supposed to be an ogre of some sorts and also have a school for monsters to her name, which means you're going to leave early in any case.

You are now aware that you can perform a rite to examine a person's blood and discern its ties with other people, but as you're probably not going to be allowed in that place a second time, you'll have to get the source material in the old fashioned way.

But for now, you have other things to do...

>Get up, make early breakfast
>Get up, take a stroll outside
>Screw getting up, stay in bed
>Other?

>>37705912
>>Screw getting up, stay in bed
Who would give up this?

>>37705912
>Get up, make early breakfast

>>37705923
Me

>>37705912
>Get up, take a stroll outside
Random encounter? But who would we even meet in here? Curiosity~

>>37705912
>Screw getting up, stay in bed

snuggle Tahe

>>37705912
>Get up, make early breakfast
Might as well!

>>37705912
>Get up, take a stroll outside

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>Still tied between two mutually-exclusive options

I missed you, anons.

>>37705912
>take someone's blood and examine it
You know, with this rite...I'm pretty sure Bryld and Tahenohan can be easily persuaded to give a small smple for us to try it, and Lillith can take hers whenever.

That means Astreya was the optimal choice back there.

>>37705912
>Get up, make early breakfast

>>37706031
I missed you too.

>>37706037
I don't think there was an optimal choice in the way you put it. I think we made the best choice.

>>37706066
Well, not 'optimal', per se, but 'can do/can't do'.

Astreya is not ehre with Lillith, see? Can't take her blood for this new rite.

>>37706031
SLEEP AND SNUGGLES

>>37706094
That's ok. I wouldn't want to do it without her consent anyway.

You know what bathing in a river of blood, flowing from the bodies of all mortal beings, does to people? It makes them hungry, that's what.

The thought definitely does make you pause. Why are you so hungry after such a dream? Then again, it was an odd dream, and lately you haven't been eating tremendously filling food, due to being travelling and having to make do with what you had. Also, the two arachne eat a lot, a real lot of food; can't blame them really, with bodies that big they do have to eat a lot to sustain them, but that means you need to forage plenty of food to have some left for you.

Fortunately, you're in one of their houses, and Arianna does like to stock up on things now that you have an idea of how her house works and which stone lids you have to move to get into the pantry. Unfortunately it's not the properly built one you'd expect from a real house so food can't really be conserved for very long there, which drives you to make up excuses to eat it.

Gently pushing Tahenohan aside, you get up and go wash her drool away from your chest, then you take your time to properly prepare breakfast. You don't feel like lighting a fire as you're still not sure how Arianna does it when it's this tremendously humid underground, also you're kind of afraid you're going to choke everyone with smoke if you don't get the firepit exactly right and make sure the smoke will head up towards the opening.

It sure is hard to cook properly without a decent kitchen. You've been camping and eating on highways a lot, but proper wilderness exploration is another thing entirely.

In the end, you only manage to wash and cut pineapples, then wash some dried fruit that Arianna was keeping aside, you don't even recognize it, but you already ate it and it's safe. Or, at least, none of these fruits made you feel sick until now.

>It's not enough, go forage something
>It's not enough, muster the courage to light a fire
>Wait until everyone wakes up
>Go wake everyone else up
>Other?

>>37706200
>It's not enough, go forage something

>>37706200
>>It's not enough, go forage something

>>37706200
>It's not enough, go forage something
No lazy!

>>37706200
>It's not enough, go forage something
Unanimous voting, ho!

>>37706200
>It's not enough, muster the courage to light a fire
Can't be THAT bad.

>>37706200
>It's not enough, go forage something

You don't feel like you're doing your fellows justice with this kind of breakfast that anyone could have made. You just grabbed some things and put them in bowls, what kind of guest are you? Food is important, no matter how plentiful it might be around here. You have to contribute to the cause.

Confident that there is little actual danger in these jungles, at least according to what you've encountered so far, you set out and enjoy some fresh early morning air, savouring the cool feeling of light breezes winding through the trees and vegetation and caressing your skin, giving it some relief from the relentless heat that is going to make you sweat throughout this day as well.

Thanks to yesterday's stroll with Bryld you've familiarized yourself a little with the surroundings, as you don't plan on straying out that far from Arianna's house. Now that you put your mind to it, you start recognizing some of the plants that Bryld took sketches of. You're not sure if they have any particular uses or are edible, but judging from the bright colours and particular shapes you suspect she picked them just because she liked them.

Now, you know which mushrooms are okay to eat and some of those that are not okay at all, but unfortunately you don't see any of them around. You can recognize fruits you've already eaten, nuts you've already cracked and eaten, but not much more.

If you had a bow you could go hunting though: many colourful birds, some of them quite large, flap around, chirping in their odd bird language and occasionally staring at you and tilting their heads before taking off again. Alas, you have no projectile weapon with you.

>Those pink and blue berries look edible, take them
>The bush with the bubbly white berries should be safe to eat
>Those long yellow roots look crunchy, take them
>Those long, red hanging fruits must be good for eating, take them
>Screw bows, throw rocks at birds, you're bound to hit one
>Other?

>>37706200
Craaaap, forgot this was running!

>>37706474
>Those long, red hanging fruits must be good for eating, take them
Red is good, right?

>>37706474
>bubbly white berries and yellow roots

>>37706474
>The bush with the bubbly white berries should be safe to eat
If you say so Lillith...

>>37706474
>she picked them just because she liked them.
The most scientific critera of all.

Also, since when can Lillith use a bow?
>Screw bows, throw rocks at birds, you're bound to hit one

>>37706474
>Screw bows, throw rocks at birds, you're bound to hit one
Fuck you birds!

>>37706567
>>37706541
And then Lillith accidentaly a harpy.

>>37706591
I think Lillith can tell the difference. I mean, she can't exactly throw THAT high.

>>37706474
>>Those long, red hanging fruits must be good for eating, take them

>>37706474
>>Those long, red hanging fruits must be good for eating, take them

>>37705107
>>37705117
>>37705787
i've been tapping to futas for two years =_=
just was pointing it out for some reason

>>37706716
*fapping -______________________________-

>>37706743
>>37706716
>>37706716
Just stop posting anon.

>>37706716
Watch the faces, man. And don't worry, we all love the dick around here, it's just that the picture's been there for, what, ten threads? It's not hard to notice.

The bubbly white berries are soft to the touch and somewhat squishy, like raspberries, except they're white. The bush housing them is a little tall, which makes them all but easier to reach: its branches only start from halfway from the base, on a relatively think trunk, and covered in triangular leaves with sawed borders. Despite your previous experiences with similar plants, this one doesn't seem to give rashes to the skin, and you don't feel itchy after having taken them.

You look at both these and the roots, but in the end you figure that the hanging fruits are your best options. They are full and somewhat saggy, like eggplants, but they feel more like tomatoes to the touch and are surprisingly sturdy even as you pull them down from the crawlers that grow on other trees. The majority of fruits hang from the lower branches too, as if the plant wants to be eaten, which you presume isn't terribly wrong in a plant's mind. Assuming plants even have minds.

But the constant chirping, along with the sound of scuttling somewhere around you, keeps reminding you that there are animals, and animals are edible. Well, most of them are. Birds are certainly edible, you ate a few last night and it felt good to sink your teeth into some white meat. Besides, neither Leiana nor Arianna have bows with them, so how did they manage to catch them?

You realize they might have simply sneaked on them, as they are incredibly silent when they move despite their size, to the point they could easily be right behind you and you wouldn't be the wiser.

It doesn't matter how stupid you feel after doing it, you still turn around at that thought.

You don't actually need to do that: you have your supplemental fruit, and wasting too much time might have you end up being late to your own breakfast, but still, those birds... Chirping and sitting just out of your reach, just looking at you and daring you to try...

>Do it, try and hit them with rocks
>Screw birds, go back with the fruit
>Other?

>>37706716
Please, go away.

>>37706819
>Screw birds, go back with the fruit

>>37706819
>Do it, try and hit them with rocks
Lilliths versus Birds, the fight of the century

>>37706819
>>Screw birds, go back with the fruit
Fuck you, birds.

>>37706819
>Do it, try and hit them with rocks
They will appreciate more meat.

Also, same choice given twice in a row? I feel this is special.

>Do it, try and hit them with rocks

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>>37704710
The River of Blood soon is covered by a top layer of solidified gunk due to contact with oxygen. Currents cause breakages here and there in this layer, but this only serves to expose more blood to the air causing it to coagulate. In and around rocks there are big gross mounds of the stuff.

>>37706819
>Do it, try and hit them with rocks
Delicious bird meat.

>Do it, try and hit them with rocks

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>>37706939
>implying there was air where we were
>implying that was really blood and not some wibbly wobbly concept represented through blood

>>37706819
>rock dem birds
be a predator

>>37706939
Dude, it's a metaphysical dream. Science don't mean shit in these parts. Though thanks for the effort.

>>37706939
I'm pretty sure magic blood rivers you dream about don't necessarily have to exactly simulate what an actual river of blood would do.

>inb4 bait taken

You want meat. Their meat. The meat of that specific green and blue bird with the long feathers and the red crest on top of its head. It's staring at you, it's taunting you, and it looks stupid. Who goes around with a red mohawk like that.

You move slowly, knowing that birds are annoying and never do what you want them to do, and stare at him hoping to still be able to hide your true intentions. You put the fruits safely in the small basket you've seen Arianna use yesterday and that you borrowed before leaving and feel the ground for a rock large enough to throw.

Unfortunately, there's not much of that ammunition to be thrown, you suspect there's going to be plenty closer to the mountain but here? There's two stones large enough to stun or kill a bird and at the same time small enough to be thrown at considerable distance. You're confident about your arm strength but you're no rock throwing professional, you don't even have a sling.

You take aim, you slowly charge the shot, and then, with a proper twist of the hip and a swing of your throwing arm, you cast the rock towards the stupid bird with the stupid red mohawk.

*WHACK*

The rock hits the tree square in the trunk, bouncing off and hitting something on the way down, producing a soft sound and some distant grumbling as the bird flies away, chirping what must certainly be a bird's assumptions about your mother.

Well, drat.

Nothing to be worried about though, the jungle is full of birds and your one throw, while it did alarm some of the other birds who are now also staring at you, did not make everyone flee in panic. Humans are, after all, rare, and the animals aren't used to be hunted with thrown rocks.

Still, that doesn't mean they're going to hang around strange beings for very long. And you only have one more stone...

>Take aim against another bird
>Take aim against a lemur instead
>Go and recover that rock, you're going hunting now, it's a matter of pride
>Give up and head back home
>Other?

>>37707117
>Give up and head back home

>>37707117
>Go and recover that rock, you're going hunting now, it's a matter of pride
And then Lillith was never heard of again

>>37707117
>Take aim against another bird

>>37707117
>>Give up and head back home

>>37707117
>Go and recover that rock, you're going hunting now, it's a matter of pride
FFFFF

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Come on anons, which is more important? Your breakfast or your pride?

>>37707384
Breakfast.
We need to get a bird so we can eat breakfast!

>>37707117
>Go and recover that rock, you're going hunting now, it's a matter of pride
Now it's personal.

>>37707384
>Go and recover that rock, you're going hunting now, it's a matter of pride
Sigh, fiiiiiiine.

It was nice knowing Lillith.

>>37707117
>Go and recover that rock, you're going hunting now, it's a matter of pride

>distant grumbling
Treeman friend acquired?

You're not letting that slide.

You move ahead and recover the rock you threw. It fell on a very large flower, tucked next to a large boulder and a tree, it must have bounced off and hit its pink leaves before hitting the ground; it did no damage, which isn't surprising considering that flower is about as large as you are, with plenty of light green leaves at the base.

But you're not here to admire the local flora, you're here to eat the fauna, and you're going to add white meat to the menu even if it costs you your life. You grab a third rock that you feel is about the right size, or maybe you just want to have extra ammunition because you feel like going on a throwing rampage.

Despite your best efforts you don't see the same bird any more, but you still see others of its ilk, or maybe it's the same? You're not sure, you can't tell birds apart from each other, they're all the same. Besides, that flat beak of theirs? Makes them look like they're sneering at you and your efforts, which just pisses you off so much you MUST hit them square in the face.

And you throw again, and miss, with the rock flying over the branch and bouncing somewhere on some tree. You're in a jungle, whatever you throw it will hit something else before falling down. You think you hear a light whimpering before it falls, but your hopes are once again disappointed as you find your projectile didn't hit any stray animal as it fell, it must have made that sound as it slid across yet another of those huge flowers, this one with red leaves and yellow polka dots.

Unfortunately, you don't think flowers are edible, but if they are, there'd be plenty to eat there. Then again you're not here to eat flowers, you're here to eat meat.

You also have to admit that throwing from that distance isn't doing much, you just don't have a good enough aim, you have to change your tactics.

>Sneak closer before the throw
>Throw multiple stones
>Try and craft a sling from the lianes
>Give up after all
>Other?

>>37707655
>Try and craft a sling from the lianes
Lillith make tools!

>>37707655
>Poke the big flowers to see if they're an alraune

>>37707655
>Try and craft a sling from the lianes

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>>37707655
>Hone our skill for decades using this rock until we can finally hit the swallow.
Hiken: Rock Gaeshi!

>>37707655
>Sneak closer before the throw

>>37707655
[x] >>37707740
PLANTGIRL WAIFU GET

>>37707655
>Sneak closer before the throw
Work that Solid Snake.

>>37707655
>>Sneak closer before the throw

>>37706743
>>37706793
>>37706829
>best way to troll everyone on every chan imgeboard
>use gaia/tumblr-tier emoticons
works like a charm .w.

>>37707846
>I was just pretending to be retarded!

>>37707872
i've been trolling you faggots on every board and chan since 2012 when i discovered the power of emoticons

>>37707872
Hey, posting emoticons doesn't mean someone's retarded! (´･ω･`)

>>37707912
>>37707918
>I'm STILL pretending to be retarded!!

>>37708002
And so are you. No, seriously anon. Cut it out and stop responding to people

You decide it's time to sneak closer to th- Wait a moment.

This is the second very large flower you've seen in a short amount of time. You've been too distracted by your tropical bird hunt to pay much attention, but it's odd, you haven't seen this kind of vegetation before, and you're not sure if it's because you weren't paying attention or you just didn't come across any other specimen. You cautiously poke the petals, they feel soft to the touch but you instantly realize they're also rather thick; even if there's something good and tasty inside, you'd have to put some actual effort into prying it open.

You also see there's some pretty thick and solid-looking lianes on the ground with which you could craft a proper sling if you wanted, but then again you've never done that before and you're probably going to need to do some particular carving, and while you do have a utility knife you're not even sure where to begin.

So you decide to do the more sensible thing and try and sneak up on the birds instead.

You move slowly and carefully, trying to hide your intentions and gauge just how close you can afford to get before throwing. Unfortunately, those stupid birds let you get stupidly close even if they stare at you all the time, but at the first sudden movement they just fly away. And they don't get the hell out either: they just fly to a nearby branch or circle around and then get back where they were as soon as you move away.

They're clearly not afraid of you. Either that or this is their house and they don't want to go away or something, or maybe there's something they want to eat and are just waiting for you to get away.

You get as close as you think you reasonably can before throwing, but the bird gets away right as you're moving your arm. Still, you're pretty confident you would have hit it if it stood still.

>Third tim- fourth time's the charm, your aim's improving too
>Craft that sling after all, you need range
>Stop wasting time, you're no hunter
>Other?

>>37708105
>>Stop wasting time, you're no hunter

>>37708002
>.<

>>37708105
>>Craft that sling after all, you need range
Fine, we'll poke that bait. Prepare for alarune bondage or something!

>>37708105
>Stop wasting time, you're no hunter
Fine. FINE.

>>37708105
>>Stop wasting time, you're no hunter
If we keep this up we'll end up like >>37707774

>>37708105
>Stop wasting time, you're no hunter
Knock on a flower petal instead

>>37708105
>Stop wasting time, you're no hunter
Pout all the way back.

>>37708105
>Investigate flowers

>>37708267
I figured that's what the whole first paragraph was about.

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>>37708289
It is. If you want to go more in detail I'm going to need a bit more of a write-in as to what you want to do, specifically.

>>37708328
>Poke the flowers' genitals

>>37708328
>Fuck the flower
Naaah I'm joking, we can skip them for all I care.

>>37708289
>>37708328
>Investigate flowers WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE

You stare at the birds with eyes that could burn, you attempt to summon your demonic powers to shoot a scorching ray of hellfire from your very gaze and roast them on the spot, bringing back gloriously already-cooked breakfast, but as you already know you can only wish you actually had that kind of powers. You don't, all your mother gave you was a strange complexion, horns and a tail, and you guess your hermaphroditism is to be blamed on the demon blood too. Well, not really, but in your case it might.

You give them another long look and motion them to watch themselves because one day you'll get back at them, but in the end you decide to drop your rocks and recover your basket. The hanging fruits are still there, looking ripe and full and you can't help but look forward to discover what they're going to taste like. Assuming they're edible, but you have two indigenous arachne to rely on and you're pretty sure they'll warn you if they're poisonous.

As you turn around to return, you can't help but stare at the huge flower you touched before, the one with red and yellow polka dot leaves. You begin to wonder if the birds want to go eat something from its insides, but then you remind yourself that that's what bees do, and to be honest you don't really see bees around. Which is weird because bugs are all over the place in the jungle as you've had the displeasure of finding out, but then again maybe its pollen is just really bad or something.

There's ants, that's for sure, but they crawl mostly on trees, the leaves of various other plants and the occasional boulder, not on this flower in particular.

You try and knock, as if expecting an answer, and receive none. As before, you feel it's very soft to the touch, but also rather thick. Whatever is inside better come out of its own volition because you're not sure you can pry it open.

>Leave the flower alone
>Knock again, just in case
>Try to pry the petal open
>See if there's anything edible about it
>Other?

>>37708669
>Knock again, just in case
Be polite

>>37708669
>Knock again, just in case
Juuuust in case.

>>37708669
Apologize to the flower for throwing rocks at it.

>>37708669
>>Knock again, just in case

>>37708669
>>Knock again, just in case
You know, just in case someone's home. Could be a fairy condo or something.

>>37708669
>See if there's anything edible about it

>>37708669
>Knock again, just in case

You knock on the petal again, hoping you can get a reaction of some sort. You're used to very strange stuff by now, so you don't feel stupid in the slightest in doing so, even though talking to a plant isn't really what defines a sane or wholesome person.

"Hello?", you ask, but get no answer. You attempt to knock a little harder, figuring that if the petal feels so thick it's possible you need to hit it harder for whatever is inside to even feel it; it's kind of like with horses, where you have to hit their sides hard if you want to send them onwards because otherwise they won't even realize you're hitting them.

It doesn't work.

"I'm sorry I hit you with that rock, I was aiming for the birds, honest", you explain. The complete and utter lack of answer, however, makes you suspect you're talking to an actual giant plant instead of something that can actually hold a conversation with you. That or it's a rather shy plant, you can never be too sure.

Still, you're running out of ideas to get a reaction out of this specimen of local flora; you take a better look at it, circling what you can since it's in a corner between a boulder and a tree, but you don't see anything peculiar about it that you can forage: there's no berries, no fruits, and the larger leaves don't look edible, so it's not worth the effort to yank them. Besides, if it really is a living thing, it will not like that, at all.

Dawn came and the sun is steadily rising, along with the temperature. It's still comfortable enough, as you've gotten more and more used to the local climate, but it's going to get only hotter with time and by now at least a good chunk of your friends will be awake. Maybe not Arianna, but the others probably are, and some might even wonder where you are right now.

>Head back with your glorious foraged fruit
>Add the white raspberry things to the basket
>Add the pink and blue berries to the basket
>There's still something I want to do to that flower (what?)
>Other?

>>37709107
>>Head back with your glorious foraged fruit

>>37709107
>Head back with your glorious foraged fruit

Remember to ask if they're poisonous or not first.

>>37709107
>Head back with your glorious foraged fruit
Ask spiders about big flower.

>>37709107
>Add the white raspberry things to the basket

>>37709107
>Add the white raspberry things to the basket
Oh, Lillith, if someone was watching this all unfold, you'd be called crazy.

>>37709107
>>Add the white raspberry things to the basket

You decide to add the white raspberry things to the basket because raspberries are tasty and why not? Plus, going out for just one thing might make you look like you're either too lazy or have no idea what you're doing, and while the latter is true you're still technically at the head of this expedition, so you should do your best to look like the part.

Now that you think of it, from what you've been told, you're probably one of the few that actually have an Exploration Charter for the Shadow Marches, largely for bureaucratic reasons, and the fact that you're so (not) thoroughly qualified for this very important job that you and a handful other people are doing is sort of hilarious. Well, yes, it is, because in the end it's going to be someone else's problem if something goes horribly wrong.

When you return, you see that everyone but Arianna is awake, and Leiana has lit a fire to let Tahenohan prepare that herbal tea the arachne seem to like doing with some indigenous herbs. Your half-elf friend seems eager to learn how to prepare it, you found it good enough and certainly refreshing but it leaves a strange, somewhat stingy taste in your throat; they assured you it's normal and you'll get to appreciate it, eventually.

"Ah, you're back!", the necromancer greets you with her usual smile, "We were just wondering where you went".

"I wanted to prepare breakfast, but then I felt like contributing something so I went to forage some fruits", you explain, putting the basket down and looking at Leiana, "These are edible, right?".

"Yes- no wait, are those pale chokers?", she frowns as she looks at the white raspberries and picks one up, "Uh, yes, they're pale chokers".

Well, that name doesn't sound promising, "Are they poisonous?".

She makes a strange face, "No, they're just... Arianna knows how to prepare them, they don't grow where I used to live". She puts it down, and grabs one of the hanging fruits, "These will do, though".

Yay, you were useful!

>Continue

>>37709503
Lillith confidence boosted by 2!

>>37709503
Shoot, we should be taking notes of the fauna and flora we're finding, huh?

In the end, breakfast is enough of an excuse to have Arianna wake up. Once she stops being so groggy, you have the chance to ask her how to prepare pale chokers, and she mumbles something about having to boil them in a large pot of water and then drain it before using them as seasoning. It's very similar to the way Leiana cooks the fly amanita, which you're pretty damn sure is a poisonous mushroom, like the most obviously and well-known poisonous mushroom, but according to her it can be eaten if you cook it right and only use the correct parts.

Pale chokers seem to be the same, Arianna explains that they have an extremely sour taste that's good for making mustard for fruits, to be used instead of custard for the sauce, and other sweet-and-sour sauces that, according to the arachne, go really well with vegetables and bird meat.

And now you regret not persevering on your hunt. Then again, the arachne seem to be able to get white meat when they want to, so you're likely better off just taking lessons from them, assuming they don't just expect you to move without making a sound.

"So what kind of person is Susanna?", you ask as you're eating. The red hanging fruits feel like eggplants when you sink your teeth in them, but their taste is amazingly sweet.

"She's kind. And patient. And very wise", Arianna helpfully explains, "She knows a lot of things".

"She schooled us when we were kids", Leiana adds, "And has done so to our parents as well, and many other of what you call monsters that live here. She has a good collection of books, although she keeps saying she'd like to add more to her collection".

"I guess she hasn't been in a good relationship with humans either. I remember they tried to kill her once".

"More than once", Leiana corrects, "Well, she is a giant, I guess they're afraid she might be a Fomor, or turn into one".

>"Could she turn into a Fomor?".
>"What kind of books does she have?".
>"Who does she teach to exactly?".
>"I'm ready, let's go".
>Other?

>>37709794
"Wait what, TURN into a Fomor?"

>>37709794
>>"I'm ready, let's go".

>>37709794
>"Who does she teach to exactly?".

>>37709794
>"Could she turn into a Fomor?".
>>"What kind of books does she have?".

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>>37709794
Knowledge check: fomors

>>37709794
>"Could she turn into a Fomor?".

>>37709794
>>"What kind of books does she have?".

>>37709885
Yeah pls.
Not exactly familiar with the term in a spider-girl context.

>>37709960
Fomors are detailed in >>37704726
Setting info.

>>37709960
They're talking about the ogre, Susanna. Fomor are a race of giants who were at war in this area for a long time.

>>37709960
Here, read http://ask.fm/MagicalMarquise

MP already answered that in her ask. It's there...buried somewhere under the almost 800 questions.

"Turn into a Fomor?", the thought makes you cringe. Fomors are basically the scary bedtime story that gets all the children scared, except it also gets the adults scared because every few generations there's some kind of war against them somewhere and lots of people die. It is legitimately and truthfully scary, because it's absolutely true and possible, "Can this even happen?".

"Well, we don't know for sure", Leiana quickly answers, with the face of someone that regrets even mentioning the issue, "Nobody knows where Fomors come from, not for sure, I mean, they were giants before and they somehow became... Evil, but there's no way to know if the Fomors we sometime wage wars against are still from the same stock that fell the first time or if more join their ranks every once in a while".

"I don't think they do", Arianna shrugs, extremely chill about it, "Fomors are evil. Susanna's too kind, she'd never do anything bad to anyone".

"Anyways, please disregard what I just said, and for the love of Gaia don't bring it up when she's there", it takes just a look at Leiana's intent stare to tell that she really means it.

"Well... What kind of books does she have?", you ask, eager for a change of topic.

"All sorts", Arianna bites, "History, mathematics, plenty of old literature, some children's books, she has a few books about strange languages that she says come from very far and we'll probably never ever have a chance of using, some spellbooks...".

"Spellbooks?", Tahenohan's ears perk up.

"Spellbooks?", Bryld's flop a bit, instead.

"Spellbooks", Arianna nods, "Don't know how to use them, though. I think Leiana does".

"Mine's not that kind of magic", she waves her hand dismissively, "I tried to read them but I just don't understand".

>"You can do magic, Leiana?".
>"Would she be willing to share spellbooks?".
>"Do you not like magic, Bryld?".
>"Who does she teach to?".
>"I'm ready to leave, let's go".
>Other?

>>37710127
>"You can do magic, Leiana?".

>>37710127
>>"Do you not like magic, Bryld?".

>>37710127
>>"Would she be willing to share spellbooks?".

>>37710127
>"Do you know anything about the big flower nearby?"

>>37710127
>"You can do magic, Leiana?".
>"Would she be willing to share spellbooks?".
Maybe Lilith can learn something? I wish she had learned the familiar summoning ritual.

>>37710127
>"You can do magic, Leiana?".
>"Who does she teach to?".

>>37710127
>"You can do magic, Leiana?".
>"Would she be willing to share spellbooks?".
>"Do you not like magic, Bryld?".
>"Who does she teach to?".

"You can do magic, Leiana?", you're surprised, you did see something odd about her when you were under the effects of that hallucinogenic mushroom that's supposedly only good for wizards, but you thought it just had something to do with arachne physiology.

"No", she explains, "No more than the sort of magic anyone can do. It's not proper magic use, I don't know anything about the winds of magic and I can't use them. I've just trained my body, anyone can do that".

"It's difficult to explain but as soon as you get some experience you'll learn to understand what that means", Tahenohan calmly adds with a smile and a pat on your arm, "Maybe when we get back we can have Astreya and Agnes demonstrate the difference, I'm pretty sure they'll make everything clearer".

You're not sure you understand, but if Tahenohan says so... "Would she be willing to share spellbooks?", you then ask, remembering the obscure inside joke the two wizards had about those back in New Royo, "Or is it a bad thing to ask?".

The arachne look at each other, "Well she wasn't stopping us from reading them", Arianna shrugs, "I guess she knew we weren't going to understand it".

"I think actual magic is a lot more difficult than that", Leiana shakes her head, "It's not something you can just learn from a book. You're either born with it or have a teacher and access to something to practice with".

"Or you work it off your body".

"But that doesn't make you a magic user", Leiana underlines, as if she suspects Arianna doesn't really know the difference either. Whichever it is.

"You mentioned she teaches to other monsters", you wonder if you should bite your tongue, but the two arachne don't seem to mind the term too much, "Who are they?".

"Harpies".

You pause, and stare at the two arachne in silence for a while.

"... Harpies?".

"Harpies".

>"... HARPIES?".
>"Do you not like magic, Bryld?".
>"I'm ready to leave, let's go".
>Other?

>>37710435
>>37710435
>>"I'm ready to leave, let's go"

>>37710435
>"... HARPIES?".

>>37710435
>"Do you not like magic, Bryld?"
Tactical change of subject.

>>37710435
>"... HARPIES?".
How do you teach them shit?

>>37710435
>>"I'm ready to leave, let's go".
Meanwhile we're going "ohshitohshitohshit".

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>>37710435
>"... HARPIES?".
>"Does that mean there are harpies that can contain themselves?"

>>37710435
>>"I'm ready to leave, let's go".

"... HARPIES?", you fail to put your words into any other, more sensible way. Fortunately, everyone knows what you mean, as if your expression and gestures weren't clear enough.

"Don't ask. Just... Just don't ask", Leiana shakes her head.

"How do you even teach them anything? How do you... How... How?".

"She's very patient", Arianna nods to herself. That kills the conversation.

Harpies have just been mentioned and you're already having a headache. You decide to turn to Bryld for a small shower of normal in your morning, "Do you not like magic?", you ask in a complete U-turn of subject.

It takes her a moment to bite the bait, "It... It's not that I don't like it, I just... I don't really trust things that aren't very predictable", she frowns a little, then chuckles, "Well, you remember how I was worried about this expedition and everything? Well, I... I don't think I could handle magic very well, I wouldn't know what to expect, or how to control it, or... I don't know".

"Magic requires thorough discipline, yes", Tahenohan helpfully nods, "But discipline gets in the way, because you have to improvise a lot and never take anything for granted".

Bryld blinks, "Isn't that... Contradictory?".

"Yes".

Silence falls again. Unfortunately, Tahenohan is the only magic user in the whole company you have, so you can only trust her word when it comes to it, and unfortunately it's the word of a half-elf.

Deciding you've had enough of this, you clap your hands, "Well, we're ready to leave. We can go and meet Susanna any time you want".

"Right", Leiana nods in agreement, "Let's get moving then, since you only have two legs it will take a while to get there".

"Just follow me, it's not that far", Arianna claims as she takes point, "We'll be there in time for lunch".

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And this is it for Episode 19! It's pretty late as I have stuff to do in the morning, so I'll close it here.

Thanks to everyone that participated, stay tuned on twitter for news about Episode 20!

>>37710819
Thanks for running.
I love you.

>>37710819
Thank you!
This session was long and good!

>>37710819
See you next time.

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Aaaand I accidentally archived this as Episode 20.

Herpaderp. Teaches me to run until this late.

>>37710917
You could ask the owner to change it.

>>37710819
Thanks for running! Great as always.

>>37710954
Probably won't get done until the quest is over, 4chan has shut down and the concept of linear storytelling is extinct.

>>37710917
Eh, just archive the next thread as 19 then.

>>37711023
What, why? Suptg is unrelated to 4chan in regards to owners

>>37710917
Just archive the next one as 20-2, or Twenty-Two.

>>37711043
The guy who runs it is notoriously lazy with fixing that kinda shit.

>>37711051
Yeah, I'll do that. Seems like the best option.

Thanks again for bearing with me, see you on the actual Episode 20!