File: al1.jpg (138 KB, 707x1000)

138 KB JPG

>>38200786

Damn she’s coy. Despite her easygoing demeanor, she’s one of the few people you never felt having to slow down for.

“Well, you’re not going to keep me waiting are you?” You look her over for any peculiar items.

The sun’s last sliver of light on the horizon finally slips past.

“Actually this time, I will.” Ali straightens her body. “Let’s see if I can explain it properly.” She cups her chin in thought for a moment. “Do you agree with the concept that if you want something, you have to give up something in return?”

“Of course.” You answer hardly giving the question any thought.

“Right!” She nods energetically to your answer. “Well then, what if you want it all?”

“All?” You ask.

“Everything!” She flings her arms out in front of her and twirls around. "Ev-very-thing!"

“You’re being vague.” You answer shortly.

She stops twirling and looks at you. “You know full well what I mean, Soph! Now if you find that one day you being an Occultist could give you everything, wouldn’t you go for it?”

That’s one hell of a question. Just what did she get that’s inspired her so much? You can’t say that you’re not curious, maybe answering her question will provide you with the information you want.

>”Of course.”

>”I wouldn’t want to.”

>Write in

>>38200822
>"I dunno about that, everything is pretty abstract. And there's always a catch."

>>38200822
>Depends on the price. Sometimes it costs thing you don't know you'll miss or need badly until far after the fact

>>38200822
>Depends on the price.

>>38200822
>"Of course."
Why not go for it if we can?

Hello everyone!

>>38200909
>>38200955
>Writing

>>38201025
Good to see another session going on!

Anyone else find this question kinda spooky?

>>38201108
Par for the course. remember the slug?

>>38201130
Yeah that was weird too. It's just kinda unsettling, especially with the lighter fluffier elements of the quest. It just feels like something scary is lurking just below the surface.

>>38201130
You mean the sexy slug?

>>38201214
We're basically demonologists plane hopping into hell and other places.

>>38201257
His undulations were almost too much for my body.

>>38201025

Everything sounds quite nice, but like you said earlier, all things have their cost.

“Depends on the price.” You look Ali directly in her eyes. “Sometimes the cost might be something you don’t know you’ll miss until after the fact.”

She thinks for a moment and then shrugs. “I suppose I can’t blame you for answering that way considering you can only imagine what I’m asking.” She rummages through her pack and then pulls out a small leather bound tome.

“A small gift in hopes that one day you’ll see what I see.” She pats the book as she hands it over to you. “You know Soph, it’s easy to simply watch the play, but to star in it means you know what’s going on behind the stage.”

“Thanks.” You answer unsure of what else to say.

“You’re very welcome!” Ali smiles genuinely. As you take possession of the tome Ali does a strange thing with her injured hand.

With her thumb pointed up and her index finger only a few inches from your forehead, she grins. “Pew~” She finishes and then stares as if she’s unsure about how she should feel.
[1/2]

>>38201808
>"...bless you?"

>>38201808

She pulls her hand away. “I’ll be in my old stand for a few days to catch my breath, be sure to pay me a visit!”

“I’ll try.” You respond feeling incredibly confused as to what she just did.

“Bye!” Ali marches off into the darkening street marching proudly and humming a tune.

You go inside to take a better look at what Ali gave you. Your apprentices sitting in the parlor room looking exhausted, you walk in peering through the beginning of the tome.

>“The contents of the pages are what I could remember from the real thing. In that fever dream of a delve I was in, I devoured those words as quickly as I could, I took care to remember the details, but some things may have been lost from the true practice of Necromancy.”

Marissa steps next to you quietly. “I got the tablets out of the leech, are we going on a delve tomorrow?”

You snap the book shut. Necromancy was always only a rumor, something thought impossible. You want to do nothing else but engross yourself in this book and its practices. You have your duty of teaching your apprentices the conventional knowledge of being an Occultist, but perhaps some different curriculum can be done as instead this time?

>Delve tomorrow.

>Work through the book tomorrow.

>Write in.

>>38201837
>Work through the book tomorrow.
Duty first.

>>38201837
>Go through responsible(or at least not stupid) use of power with Marissa tomorrow.
>Make sure Marissa actually KNOWS the chant.
>Get a late start on the book

>>38201837
>Work through the book tomorrow
We want it all.

>>38201837
>>Work through the book tomorrow.
but deal with apprentices first.

>>38201837
>Work through the book tomorrow.

>>38201862
>>38201928
>>38201941
>>38201943
>>38201953
Busy, busy.
>Writing

>>38202022

“Not tomorrow.” You answer and then begin absentmindedly tapping the book in your hand. “We’re going to be busy tomorrow, but we’re not delving quite yet.”

“I see.” Marissa turns and returns to her seat, but not without visibly showing her disappointment.

She’s quite eager to delve again. It probably has to do with the form she took when she delved, but does she actually expect to take that form so often? Then again, the very fact that she can transform in this realm is quite unusual. How can one be sure of what’s possible and what’s not?

“It won’t be too long, Marissa. Don’t worry about that.” You assure her. “In fact we’ll practice your transformation tomorrow.”

A small smile forms on her face. “Okay.” She answers quite satisfied with your promise.

“We’ll help you practice too, Ellie.” Marissa comforts your younger apprentice at the sight of her souring face.

“I have some other things set for tomorrow as well, but now..” You motion for them to stand up. “You two prepare our breakfast.” You settle into the couch they were sitting and begin pouring over the newly acquired tome.

The three of you eat a quiet dinner together and then you retire upstairs to your room. It’s plainly clear that the two of them aren’t getting exactly what they want right now, but for now they’ll just have to deal with it.

Ugh, you’re going to have to buy another metal tub to replace the one that you lost, and maybe another so that all three can have one for yourselves. That should placate them for a bit.

After a quick bath you settle into your warm covers early for the day, taking extra rest for the busy day you know you’ll have tomorrow.
[1/2]

>>38202622

~
Breakfast is another uneventful affair. You send Ellie out to get the metal tubs for delving, you can say good-bye to another five gallons of blood credit. An unfortunately necessary expense since you don’t know the safety of delving in the same tub.

You pull Marissa into the backyard for the practice you promised her.

“I think I’ve been getting better at it.” She informs you happily as the two of you head outside. “It’s starting to feel a little bit more like how it was when we delved.”

“That’s great.” You respond while pondering just what powers her form is capable of. It seems like the more she familiarizes herself with the form, the more she power she can pull from it. But as far as you can tell she seems to be focusing entirely on her aura.

You remember the diminutive shadows that surrounded her body. Those are quite clearly far away from how they were when you delved, perhaps it would be wise to have her practice manifesting those instead of her aura. You're not sure what else she could practice since you're not quite familiar with the extent of her powers.

She looks at you eagerly for orders.

>Let her transform as she wishes.

>Tell her to transform but to focus on the shadows.

>Write in

>>38202646
>Let her transform as she wishes.
I'm interested.

>>38202646
>>Let her transform as she wishes.

>>38202646
>Let her transform as she wishes.

>>38202646
>Let her transform as she wishes.
I like her form.

>>38202695
>>38202724
>>38202764
>>38202794
>Writing

>>38202811

“Alright, transform like you want.” You hardly finish your sentence before you feel the intense change in the air pressure.

Many shadows begin to coalesce around her body, but only the tail seems to materialize, the shadows choosing only to linger close to rest of Marissa’s body.

Her skin seems to become paler, closer to the shade that her form took in the other realm, and even her hair seems to lengthen, but that could be just a result of the shadows.

She hugs her body tightly with her arms as if reunited with a long-lost loved one. “Sophia, look!” She flings her arms open. “It’s almost like it was when we delved.” The irises of her eyes have darkened to an intense black and widened to encompass almost the whole front of her eyes.

Her unworldly beauty has left you without words, hell even without thoughts. Your mind seems to wait for her next command, and is largely blank.
She revels in her form and hardly notices that you’ve yet to say anything about it, but she soon quietly focuses on something. “Hey Sophia, remember what you said in the other realm about…lust?” She quiet for a few moments. “What do you think now?” She asks shyly.

Only at the prompting of her question that your thoughts return to you. It seems that her aura has strengthened to this terrifying point. Whatever the case, you don’t like the fact that your thoughts are subject to her will and you should stop this. Maybe you can ease her out of it without her noticing her power, maybe if she stopped focusing on her aura.

>Have her return to her normal form immediately.

>Tell her to try focusing on her shadows now.

>Write in.

>>38203317
>>Tell her to try focusing on her shadows now.

>>38203317
>Tell her to try focusing on her shadows now.
Let's at least try to get something out of our lewd assistant's experiments.

>>38203317
>Tell her to try focusing on her shadows now.

>>38203317
>Tell her to try focusing on her shadows now.
Normally I'd suggest to do something lewd but I don't like the whole losing thought thing.

>>38203438
In this quest I'd be scared to go for it without a non-custom prompt to be honest, haha! Things are 2spooky.

>>38203385
>>38203390
>>38203409
>>38203438
>Writing.

>>38203531
I mean we could try initiating it with Marissa once, it shouldn't be bad if nothing too crazy is happening at the time.
Does anyone else have anything to say about this?

>>38203594
I'm saying we need a mindsheild asap.

>>38203594
I'm not vehemently against it or anything but
>>38203632
we probably need some protection of the mental kind first.

>>38203632
That sounds like it would be quite rare if it existed.

>>38203668
We can find one or make it, We have a new tome, gramps old one ,and our pin.

>>38203685
Yeah, we could probably ask around, but I wouldn't put too much trust into that pin, I don't like the way Auri described it in the quest and in the pastebin.

>>38203632
Oh cmon it's too early to get off this ride.

>>38203533

“You look great.” You answer hazily. “But it’s not quite the same as when we delved. Maybe you try to focus on your shadows now?”

She looks over her body disappointed that it’s lacking somehow. She’s quiet for a long time, then suddenly her shadows begin to pulsate around her. Her wings begin to materialize again and even her tail becomes more tangible. All the while her compelling aura seems to be lessening allowing you to regain control of your thoughts.

Her tail brushes against the grass below her and you observe it bending in reaction to it. Suddenly her whole form disappears and she returns to normal.

She pants tiredly on the ground trying to regain her breath. “I focused on the shadows like you said, but then I started to feel more like myself, so I tried focusing on both…” She looks down sadly.

It seems what the slug said is true. She can’t maintain the whole of her form at once, and can only choose a few aspects of it while in this realm.

You walk over to her and help her off the ground. “Come on now, you’re making a lot of progress. You just need more practice.” You say to assure her, but not entirely sure if you want to help her with it.

“Thanks.” She brushes off dirt from her clothes. “It just feels like I’m more myself when I transform, like this…” She motions to indicate her whole body. “This is the oddity.”
[1/2]

>>38204339

You shake your head. “No, you’re perfectly fine as you are. Come on, we have to practice your incanting so we can delve again.”

Her eyes lighten up at your words, both from the compliment and from the promise of delving again. She follows you inside excitedly.

She’s been practicing the incantation in her free time, but you’ve yet to have her recite the whole thing for you.

You settle down into a chair. “From the top.”

She begins a strangely enunciated and slightly stuttered version of your grandfather’s chant. It appears that being engrossed in this stuff from youth has a lot of benefits that Marissa will have to work hard to catch up to.

You rub your eyes in frustration. Your apprentices are both lacking in unique ways, so you can’t take the same approach for the both of them.

“Start again.” You order in the midst of Marissa’s chanting. “This time no stuttering.”

The stuttering problem only seems to worsen, she nervously looks at you every time she realizes she made a mistake.

She’s panicking just like she did with her first encounter with the leech, and again it falls on you to correct her mistakes. You’re getting quite experienced dealing with your apprentices and you have quite a few tricks, but what to use in this case? You don’t have all day to try everything with all the things you have planned.

>Yell at her harshly to get it right.

>Encourage her to continue.

>Chant it yourself and have her repeat after you.

>Write in.

>>38204363
>>Encourage her to continue.
then
>Chant it yourself and have her repeat after you.
feel her up when she gets it right.

>>38204363
>Chant it yourself and have her repeat after you.

>>38204363
>Tell her to imagine her delving self pronouncing the chant
this could go wrong in so many ways

>>38204363
>Chant it yourself and have her repeat after you.
>>38204385
Seconding the feel up, but keep it light since its the first time
>>38204455
That sounds like not a good thing for us.

>>38204385
(Last part needed a second.)
>>38204420
>Writing

>>38204573
Some of you guys have a talent for slipping in the post at the last sec, haha.
>Chant and then lewd acts on the apprentice.
>Writing

>>38204608
That means its meant to be.

>too late to vote
Oh well.

File: 1404553306932.png (46 KB, 216x193)

46 KB PNG

>joyfully enters quests I like
>always late for votes

>>38205126
I bet the quest ends next update too! Just because you posted that!

>>38204608

(I didn't finish the whole of my write up yet, but here's the lewd part for those interested.)

“Okay.” You say to stop her. “You’re getting there, but if you want to delve you still need a lot more work.”

Your words don’t seem to sink into her, but she nods regardless.

You sigh. “Alright then, I’ve got an idea. I’ll recite a section of the incantation and then you repeat after me, pronouncing it exactly like I do.”

“Don’t do too much at one time, please.” She requests.

“Fair enough.” You begin to recite the words flawlessly, chanting them with such ease that Marissa can only look on in awe. You stop before you get too far and nod for her to repeat.

Her chanting vastly improves, with enunciation being fixed and stuttering almost all gone.

“Good, I’ll do a little more this time.” You show off the years of your practice yet again, going almost all the way to the end of the incantation.

Again, Marissa impresses you with how much she improves, and the two of you finish the rest without a hitch.
“Now from the top.” You instruct and stand from your seat, with clear idea of how to reward this apprentice if she succeeds.

[1/2]

File: 3a.png (505 KB, 1180x1451)

505 KB PNG

>>38205463

She focuses on her chanting and hardly notices you wrap around her. Her solo try is almost as good as her repetition and it gives you great hope that she’ll be ready soon.

You wait until near the end of the incantation to make your move.

Your finger brushes lightly against the inside of Marissa’s thigh, causing an immediate reaction. She shivers, her whole body tensing and reddening, but she doesn’t pull away in the slightest.

“Continue…” You breathe lightly into her ear and nibble on it gently as your hand continues its journey upward her stocking.

She obeys.

You reach around with your other hand and slip it under her blouse. You plant it slowly on her warm stomach which retreats at first, but soon finds its way back to your hand.

Marissa shakes madly by the time she finishes the chant, but she says nothing else, not wanting to interrupt you.
You grab her firmly and turn her to the couch arm. “Bend over.” You order again.

Your hand continues upward her blouse, finding the fabric of her bra. You decide not to slip your hand under it but begin to trace lightly with your finger through the fabric.

Your hand pushes against her small breast roughly but your fingers only tease her hardening nipple.

Not to deny her the whole experience, you trace your finger up and down her thigh, the sensation of your finger like static. You take an agonizingly long time to make it up her skirt and to the outside of her underwear. The heat of her damp mound transfers to your fingers for a singular rub and then you stop it all.

>"Then you stop it all"
Whhhhhyyyyyy? Why would you do that to me and Marissa?

>>38205486
Well this got lewd in a hurry!

>>38205527
Because he's a sick twisted bastard that's why.

Wait what
that was unexpectedly...
uh.

>>38205486
Well, it's certainly quite a scene to go to bed on. Thanks for running!

>>38205643
I'm sure that's how Ellie is reacting.

>>38205654
Good night! But the quest isn't quite over.

>>38205673
It's 4:30 AM so I'm not waiting up I don't think!

>>38205656
Uh
I.
uh.

>>38205673
Quest, or thread?

>>38205727
I meant thread, sorry about that.

>>38205656
No doubt but lewds seem to be a better motivator for her than the merchants screaming at her..

>>38205748
No problem, just wanted to make sure.

>>38205656
yeah I can bet. When is she going to mind blank us to be a sex slave?

>>38205797
Think positive anon, we can prevent this!

>>38205834
>not wanting to be mind blanked into a sex slave
I'm already thinking positive.

>>38205486

Her butt lowers to find your hand, but it’s already at your side.

Marissa turns around quickly and gives you a pitiful look in hopes that you’ll continue, but you shake your head mischievously, luckily your timing was good, since at that moment Ellie comes stumbling into the main hall with one of the two large metal tubs.

Her exhaustion gives Marissa the time to compose herself and then rush over to help Ellie.

You grin to yourself, how different things would be if she came back just five minutes sooner, you walk over to supervise the hauling of two tubs inside. It seems that Gilligan was kind enough to loan her a cart.

With the two tubs hauled upstairs with much effort and straining from everyone but your part. You walk back to your room to get the tome that Ali gave you.

You read over as far as the first ritual and figure that’s a good as place as any to begin, but there still lies a huge, maybe insurmountable problem.

You need rats, three dead ones, or something around that size, but you only know where to get rats. The building across the street has quite the infestation in its crawlspace, but you certainly don’t want to be the one to get them. It’s a narrow space, so if two people go, any support they might get from having each other might be lost if they get stuck.

Your two apprentices look at you with great hesitation on their faces, your body language must give away that you’re going to give a harsh order.

>Have Ellie get the rats.

>Have Marissa get the rats.

>Have both of them get the rats.

>Write in.

>>38205975
In a fic perhaps, not ideal questing situation though.

>>38205986
>Have both of them get the rats.

>>38205986
>Have both of them get the rats.

>>38205986
haha I forgot to paste in an option
>Have both of them get the rats.

>>38205986
>>Have both of them get the rats.

>>38205986
>Have Marissa get the rats.

How else CAN we train Ellie?

>>38206037
Agreed anon, great idea.

>>38205986
>Have both of them get the rats.
This gonna be good.

>>38206013
>>38206060
>>38206070
>>38206073
>>38206116
Harass both the apprentices.
>Writing

>>38206176
Gotta treat em equal after all. We will lewd them both at the same time!

>>38206202
Efficient I like it.

>>38206176
“We’re going to be studying an Occult practice that I doubt very many people alive today know.” You say mysteriously to gain their attention.

Ellie’s eyes light up instantly, but Marissa’s reaction is a little bit more reserved, seems that she has a better grasp on the kind of person that you are.
“Necromancy.” You state simply causing Ellie to practically jump on the spot, Marissa seems to not know how to react.

“In this field, we’ll all be equals, I know as much about the practices as you do. But to start, I need the two of you do something very important.” You say gravely.

Even Marissa perks up at the serious nature of your words.

“Follow me.” You lead your apprentices to their fate.

You pull off the tattered grate off the crawlspace of the neighboring house. Immediately a rate scurries away into the neighborhood.

They better not find their way to your house, although that would be convenient, but better not.

You stand stiffly, trying to look as formal as possible. “To start we’re going to need three dead rats from down there.” You point to the practically living hole.
Never before have you seen them regret being your apprentice before this exact moment.

“The both of you will go down there as part of your delving training and collect them.” You lie about the training part.

You walk around them and forcefully goad them closer to the hole, but they don’t seem to want to go any further and you’re certainly not going down into that hell, so they’ll need a bit of motivation.

“Forget everything that I said earlier, the first one to come back with two rats gets to come on the next delve.” You announce dramatically.
[1/2]

>>38207135

Your words send them into a scramble inside the hole, a testament to how much they each want to delve, kind of scary actually.

The hive-like den of rats begins to screech at the moment your two apprentices crawl inside. The screams of your apprentices are almost equally matched by the screeches of the many rats. You take the time alone to laugh heavily, this mentor thing gets better and better each day.

Even a passing scavenger stops nearby to observe the commotion.

After only a few minutes later, you see a pair of legs covered in tattered stockings begin to crawl out of the hole backwards. Marissa’s legs make it to the outside, when suddenly she stops.

Then she’s pulled by some unseen force back inside the crawlspace. It’s Ellie!

“My money’s on the one further in.” The traveler remarks to you.

“I wouldn’t count any out just yet.” You both peer in to observe the action.

The two of them are locked in the strangest form of wrestling, even flinging dead rats at each other. What a battle!

Marissa breaks free from Ellie's grasp and sacrifices dignity and slides out of the crawlspace, with her skirt sliding well up to her chest.

She jumps up and down in victory, not even noticing the state of her clothes, simply jumping up and down while clutching a dead rat in each hand. You and the passing scavenger take time to note the color of her underwear.

After she finally slides her skirt back down, you and the traveler nod your farewells to each other. You felt like you’ve known that guy for years.
Ellie crawls out of the hole dejectedly, and adds two more rats to your strange collection. Four dead rats.

It kind of bums you out to see her that way, she tried her hardest after all. Maybe you should reward her for that fact, but then again a punishment is a punishment for a reason.

>Reward Ellie with delving permission.

>Console her but don’t reward her.

>Write in.

>>38207178
>I lied, this had nothing to do with delving permission.

>>38207178
>>Reward Ellie with delving permission.
If she can prove she can be clam about it.

>>38207178
>Reward Ellie with delving permission.
We can't be a jerk all the time.

>>38207178
This >>38207225
Say that you should never trust another persons word.

>>38207178
>Console her but don’t reward her.

>>38207178
>Reward Ellie with delving permission.

>>38207250
>>38207264
>>38207323
>Be nice to the apprentice.
Writing

>>38207384

You gather both of your apprentices.

“I like the way you both gave it your all collecting these things.” You hold up a dead rat. “Because of that, I think I can allow the both of you to delve with me next time.” You shrug. “We do have three tubs now.”

They both celebrate at the news, hugging each other and jumping up and down excitedly. They turn to include you, but you vehemently decline not wanting to be touched with the rat feces that’s smeared all over the both of them.

“Wash up and then join me in the backyard.” You nod for the two of them to collect the rats and then you head back to your home.

You begin to set up the ritual as the tome instructs.

It doesn’t indicate anything about time of day like delving, so that’s good, and even better is that there’s no extensive use of a fluid medium. But the form of the ritual has a much higher focus. Alternating shapes painted in blood are drawn, triangle inside circle, inside triangle, and so on. It finally reaches the outside, with three candles forming a triangle with as close as you can get to exact equal angles.

It requires intense focus and a trained eye so the task will probably have to fall on you for a long time. You labor to form three ritual areas with the exact same specifications as written in the tome.

You choose the fresher looking of the four rats and place them at the centers of shapes. Just as you do your apprentices both walk outside to join you.

You straighten your aching back to greet them and hand them each a copy of the incantation that was written in the tome.

“I have it mostly memorized, but this time is the only time we’ll be reading from the text.” You explain to them.

You don’t like reading from the text since you can’t focus on the ritual going on, but you wanted to show them this so you make an exception.
[1/2]

>>38208119

“Pick a rat and cover it fully with candle wax.” You instruct your apprentices, who promptly act out your orders.

The wax acts as a collecting shell, or so the tome says, you remember how the information in tome was gathered, so you keep your skepticism to allow for any chances to improve on the ritual.

With all three of your rats fully covered in wax it’s time to begin.

You open the tome to the right page. “One last thing.” You say to your apprentices. “This incantation is a bit different from the one we use from delving. You have to impose your will on the creature in order for it come back to life. So that means if you’re half-assed about it, it’s not going to work. Got it?”

“Got it.” The two girls answer in unison.

“Let’s begin.” You announce.

You start reciting the guttural words from the book, focusing your mind on the mental image of the rat bursting from that wax shell.

The words come out of your mouth clearly and fluently, the sound of the others is completely drowned out in your deep concentration.

Then you see it.

Nearing the end of your incantation, one of the rat’s legs twitches slightly, cracking the thin wax shell surrounding it.

You’re nearly there, just a few more words…

You feel something wet splash on your face and into your eye. You turn to see what caused it, only to find that Marissa’s rat has seemingly exploded in front of her, sending blood and viscera all over the three of you.

This certainly was not mentioned in the tome.
~

>>38208156

Okay, that's where I'm going to end it for tonight. As always, I want to thank everyone that played today. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them in the thread and I will do my best to respond to them.

If not, then I wish you a good day/night and hope to see you again next time!

>(Twitter)
https://twitter.com/QM_Auri

>>38208156
>Marissa's rat has seemingly exploded in front of her sending blood and viscera all over the three of you.

Lovely...

>>38208195
Thanks for running. I take it the explosion stopped our incantation?

>>38208156
Corpse explosion skill? That's awesome, thanks for running Auri!

>>38208228
Being an Occultist sometimes has its drawbacks. The blood and guts being one of the main ones.
>>38208275
You're very welcome, and yes the explosion was enough to distract you from your incantation.
>>38208282
That's certainly a unique way to look at it, and you're also very welcome!

>>38208337
Thanks for running! I wouldn't say the corpse explosion skill is too unique a perspective, since I thought the exact same thing.

Diablo 2 necro players 4 lyfe

>>38208156
>rat explosion,guts everywhere
yuch...

Thakns for running!