>>41121110
Oh they wouldn’t dare.

“Yeah!” They surge from out under the burning trees, and you run.

It would almost be funny, how much like a child you are, this second time around in your life.

“Just leave me alone!” You shout, half remembered cursewords springing to your tongue. But you know better than to fall to that level. Pointless insults will do nothing but spur them on even more.

If there were less than three of them, maybe you would respond with fists.

“C’mon, get her!” In the end, it’s the river that catches you.

You fall into the water, its cool hands hit your face with a slap. You don’t flounder, but rather, bob back to the surface, glaring at your pursuers. They’re laughing at your damp hair and glistening scales, having stopped short of the water.

You… remember this now. This was your first encounter with bullies in this life. Though it would be far from the last.

You swam away last time, not waiting to hear what asinine words these three boys used to mark their victory. This time, they talk too quickly.

“Stay right there fish face.” Their leader commands with a smirk. “Where you belong.”

The last time. You left, deeming these buffoons not worth your time. This time you…

>Jump out of the river and attack them
>Swear at them, in every language you know
>Do nothing

>>41121126
>>Jump out of the river and attack them

>>41121126
Welcome to RE: Human quest!
In RE: Human quest, you play as Adria, fledgling adventure and instrument of change, as she makes her way through a beautiful and terrifying world.

Last time, you left Reiln with your friends in a Caravan headed towards Bleakwind Citadel, to learn more about the increasing number of raids upon the Riverlands.

Voting period is 10-15 minutes in length. Write ins are accepted but I reserve the right to veto any that I deem unfeasible. Dice are 1d100 and best of three, roll high with modifiers as I give them. I will ask for other dice as needed.

During Combat scenes I cut the voting period to about 7 minutes to keep the pace up. So far that hasn’t been a problem.

Important information:
Twitter: @argentorum
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=RE:%20Human%20Quest
Character Sheets: http://pastebin.com/TYYV4u7r

>>41121126
>Jump out of the river and attack them

>>41121260
>>41121137
Bit of a slow start, but we're rolling with it.

Writing!

I'm sorry if the first post is weird, dream sequences have always been hard for me to write.

>>41121126
You climb out of the river and slowly, purposefully, shove the boy back a step. “Why don’t you make me!” you say, eyes flashing. He says something back, but you’re already swinging.

Your tiny fist makes a pretty good dent on his face, all told. A quick follow up kick sends him to the ground and you’re about to follow up on the other two when-

“Adria!”

-your eyes flutter open revealing your mothers concerned face and the canvas roof of your tent.

You blink once, staring up wordlessly as you try and reorient yourself. Reaching up with one hand you slowly rub the sleep from your eyes, blinking rapidly as your thoughts settle back into patterns and trains.

“Adria, are you okay?” Your mom asks as you go through the motions of waking up. You glance over at Sylea, seeing both her and Tamamo looking down at you worriedly.

“…Huh?” My, how eloquent you are this morning.

“Tamamo told me you were thrashing,” she says “and you didn’t wake up when the caravan master blew the horn, so I came to check on you.” At a second glance, she doesn’t look worried so much as she is maternally concerned. You suppose that bad dreams really never were a problem for you growing up.

Still, your mom is nothing if not collected. She’s managing this perfect mix of ‘hands off’ and ‘I’m here for you’ that you swear must have taken practice.

And now your thoughts are wondering in strange places again.

You let out a sigh. “Its nothing.” You say. “Just a weird dream. I guess I’m a bit more nervous about this than I thought…”

You look towards the flap of your tent, trying to sort out the odd swirl of emotions in your chest.

[1/2]

>>41121815
The dream disoriented you. And apparently you’re late for wake up as well, which means that you have to hurry if you want to get all of your gear stowed in time. This will be made even harder by the fact that it’s probably only a few minutes or so after dawn.

The only reason why you can see the inside of your tent is because your mother is holding a glowing mote of light.

You move to get up, but your mom places a hand on your shoulder. “Adria, what’s wrong?” She asks. “You’re acting off, like something happened.”

You shake your head again, in part to put her off and in part to clear it.

“I’m fine, it’s just…”

“Just what honey?”

You sigh, leaning against your mom a little bit. What to even say right now, when you aren’t even sure yourself how you feel?

>It’s really nothing.
>I was a bad dream, bad memories.
>Shrug
>Write in

>>41121842
>I was a bad dream, bad memories.

>>41121842
>>I was a bad dream, bad memories.
>Shrug
Im fine.

>>41121842
>I was a bad dream, bad memories.
>Shrug

>>41121842
>>41121869
This. No need to make a big deal of it, but lying to pallymum seems like a bad idea.

>>41121937
>>41121904
>>41121869
>>41121865

Calling it for bad dream and writing.

Made it! I will actually be here for this one!

>>41121842
“It was just a bad dream.” You say with a shrug. “Bad memories are nothing I can’t handle.”

Your mom gives a wane smile. “That’s my girl.” She says, rubbing your back gently. “You should start moving then. The caravan leader will have us heading out soon, and I’d hate to leave you behind so close to Reiln.”

You smile as you move to your knees so you can crawl out of the tent. “Still on about that? I already told you mom, I’m coming to watch out for you, and that’s final.”

“I’m not some infirmed old lady that needs looking out for, I’ll have you know!”

“Never stopped you from worrying when I said stuff like ‘I’m not just some kid’, if I remember correctly.” You reply.

“It’s a mother’s prerogative to worry.” Sylea says with a sniff. “You should know that by now.”

Your head snaps up. “What?”

“You have Tamamo and Sree to look after.” Your mother smirks at you. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the lack of boys around the house either. Now, if you’re anything like me that just means you’re smart enough not to bring them home, but…”

You roll your eyes. “There are no ‘boys’ mom.” You say. “None of the guys my age in Reiln were worth my time. Though I guess Carter turned out to be less of an asshole than I expected.”

You exit the tent while bantering with your mother. The easy back and forth has woken you up some and now you’re ready to face the task of packing up all of your belongings in the early morning twilight.

[1/2]

>>41122413
You hold the tent flap for your mom and Tamamo before you begin stowing your kit.

Sree finally wakes up when you begin to take down the tent, squawking indignantly as she stumbles out of it, still half wrapped up in her nest of blankets (which she carefully sets up every night).

“Early bird gets the worm Sree.” You say playfully.

“Don’t eat worms!” She protests. “Eat other birds who eat worms and get lazy with a full stomach. Waking up late is better to catch the lazy birds!”

“Tamamo was up on time.” You say.

“Tamamo wakes up so she can watch you sleep.” Sree mutters.

You blink and turn towards your kitsune friend. She has the sense of decency to blush and look away. “Z-z-zenzen shimasen!” She shouts. “Ah!” You swear the only reason why you can see her face right now is because of that blush. “I-I n-never do that!”

You laugh lightly, patting her one head as you finish wrapping up the tent.

As soon as everyone is finished, the caravan sets out. You join up with your mother and Neru just as the sun crests the horizon. As always, it will be a supremely annoying first few hours as the caravan is heading southeast, but the leaders all agree that it’s best to get everyone used to moving during the cool hours of dawn and dusk. Once you reach the desert proper, those will be the only times you’ll want to travel.

Tamamo and Sree are riding on the second horse that you picked up from the raiders a few days ago. You named him:

>Write in

Its day three of the journey. Day one and two were primarily spent organizing and assigning people to squads (you are part of your mother’s but that isn’t really a surprise). Soon scouting parties and the like will begin sweeping the area around the caravan, but for now everything is quiet and uneventful.

Or at least, the day promised to be uneventful up until your mother rode up next to you and says.
“Today you’re going to work on:

>Maps and tactics
>Handsigns
>Horsemanship

>>41122427
>Seb
>Handsigns

>>41122427
>Uma
>Handsigns

>>41122545
I see what you did there,

>>41122427
>>Handsigns
Peregrine for the horse.

>>41122539
>>41122545
>>41122603
Handsigns it is.
Horsename unchosen, so I'll just leave it open for a bit more if anyone else shows up.

Otherwise dice.

Writing!

>>41122745
Shouldn't we be naming the horse something obnoxious like "Lucky Day"?

>>41122764
You can. It would certainly be in character.

Or perhaps something like gift horse?

>>41122793
Definitely voting for "Gift Horse"

>>41122816
Seconding.

>>41122793
>>41122816

Start calling it G.H. when we remember our former grandkids "cool" phase.

>>41122793
This is groanworthy. Good job.

Sucks to miss the start due to being out and the rest to needing sleep, but I'll get to catch up in the morning at least. Thanks for writing.

>>41122427
“Today we’re going to work on teaching you and your friends hand signs.” She declares.

You blink. “What?”

Sylea smirks at you. Truly, you didn’t think your mother’s face was capable of such a devious expression. “Hmm? Did you think I was just going to let you waltz into a life or death situation without so much as a how do you do?” there is a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach “Did you think that I had you assigned to my squad so I could baby you?”

The smirk has evolved into a full blown grin now. Neru is hiding her laughter behind one fuzzy chintinous claw. “No ma’am” You mutter.

“Of course not!” Sylea says. “For the next week and a half, your ass is mine! And I expect you to do whatever I tell you.”

You pause for a moment.

“Mom.” You say. “That sounded really dirty.”

Neru’s suppressed laughter erupts into full blown cackling.

Your mother shoots her friend a quick frown before coughing and turning back to you. “Nevermind that.” She say. “However, my point still stands. Until we see combat, and even after it, I am going to do my best to make sure you and your friends are prepared for it.”

You nod once. “Okay. So I guess we’re working on hand signs then? Stuff like stay there, retreat, attack and such.”

“That’s right.” You mom says. “Neru and I know what works and what doesn’t, so we’ll be helping you come up with some basic structure. Remember, they need to be easily distinguishable and easy to remember.”

You nod, makes sense, then Sree speaks up. “Uhm… miss Sylea’s mom.” She says, holding up a talon. “No hands…”

[1/2]

>>41123438
Sylea laughs. “You act like I’ve never worked with a harpy before.” A pause. “Though in all honesty… it’s always a bit of a problem.”

You sigh. “So where do we start?”

“With the easy ones of course.” Your mom says. “Not point in making things needless difficult. Unless they have to be.”

“Wait.” You say. “How does something -have to be- needless difficult.”

“I asked your father the same thing when he finally asked me to marry him after a three month long elaborate courtship ritual.” She replies with a smile.

“Ha-ha.”

“Anyway, this is usually the best sign for ‘stay’, mostly because it’s so needlessly obvious…”

You spend the rest of the morning learning the basics and spending time to memorize them.

What do you want to do when the caravan breaks around noon?

>Talk to someone (who?)
>Work one something else (what?)
>Write in

horse is now named gift horse

>>41123459
>>Write in
Look the Gift Horse in the mouth

>>41123459
>Work on our horsemanship

>>41123459

Let's work on the Tailor job, repairing fabric and clothes in the caravan, especially since we have Neru here we can follow and learn and help

>>41123459
>Work one something else
Work on the Tailoring Job, maybe by checking through our stuff and seeing if anything needs stitching. We can also ask Neru for help in learning weaving and sewing, because she's an Arachne.

>>41123459
>Work one something else (what?)
Tailoring. No better time than when you're travelling with a walking sewing machine.

>>41123624
>>41123594
>>41123546
Sewing it is. And chatting with the spider that first taught you to weave.

>>41123486
You were supposed to say "check Gift Horse's teeth for cavities, examine its mouth carefully"

>>41123459

You sit down next to Neru when the caravan finally breaks near the middle of the day.

It isn’t yet hot enough to warrant such measures, but it’s certainly a nice reprieve after waking at dawn and most of the people who haven’t been assigned a specific task are napping.

Like Neru.

Still, you set up your tent next to her and, after grabbing a bit of food and making sure Tamamo and Sree are both comfortable (lazy bums decided to sleep in the tent as well), you break out your very much unused tailoring supplies and being to work on something.

A bit latter, Neru wakes with a practically deafening rumble of her stomach, and trundles off to get some food, or all of it. When she sits back down next to you with a dear in hand, you make your move.

“So do you have any advice for this?” You ask, holding up the piece of fabric you’re working on. Right now, it’s… a work in progress.

Neru seems to agree, if her laughter is anything to go by. “Kid, I taught yah weaving, not how ta use a needle.” She says before sinking her fangs into the haunch of meat.

“I know but… you’re an arachnae right? Don’t you have some sort of practical experience with this stuff.”

She swallows. “Now that’s jus’ racist.”

“Neru!”

“Does it look like I’ve ever used a needle to you, wit’ these hands?” She waves her spiky appendages at you with a grin.

[1/2]

>>41123925
“Hell I don’t know.” You shoot back, knocking her hands away. Neru lets you. “All I know is that I’ve seen you wear at least one shirt with embroidery on it, and like hell you’d pay someone else what you could do yourself.”

She laughs. “Well, yah got that much right.” She says. “I suppose I can giv’ an up and coming tailor some advice ‘n all that.” You smile “But!” She continues. “You hav’ to pay me retainer.”

“Pay you what now?”

“Foooooood!” She says. Tossing the remains of the dear carcass away. Gods below when did she find time to eat that!? “I’m still hungry.”

With a much put upon sigh, you go over to the cook’s wagon to get some more grub for your insatiable aunt.

In return, she does show you a thing or two, and with her help you manage to bypass the whole “what am I even doing?” phase of learning a new job. Which is nice.

Tailor increased to level 10 skill unlocked

At the very least it will save you money on clothes.

In other news, the break during the middle of the day lasts a few hours, and there’s no reason for your friends to waste all of that time. You still have a good hour before it’s time to move out again.

>Wake up Sree and Tamamo
>Eh, catch some shut eye yourself.
>Write in

>>41123943
>>Wake up Sree and Tamamo

>>41123943
>>Wake up Sree and Tamamo

.....do we have binoculars?

>>41123943
>Get up on the caravan, have a look at our surroundings in the distance.
Perhaps we've been too lax with Sree scouting for us.

>>41123943
>Wake up Sree and Tamamo
Just throw them over a shoulder and start walking. They'll probably wake up by the time we find something interesting.

>>41123943
>Eh, catch some shut eye yourself.
Get sleep when you can, not when you want.

>>41123943
>Wake up Sree and Tamamo

>>41124095
>>41124033
>>41123980
>>41123973
Waking up the kids.

>>41124146
There will be a brief delay as I feed the pets.

Hey Argent? I've forgotten what Adria looks like, sorry.

>>41124333
There were some pictures first thread.

Final verdict was dark brown hair, olive skin tone, and silver eyes which match the scales that line her cheekbones and corners of her eyes.

Nobody suggested anything as far as hairstyles go, but I always imagined she had a shorter boyish cut of hair.

>>41124410
Thank you.

File: Peregrine.jpg (85 KB, 459x700)

85 KB JPG

>>41124479
Actually, I never really gave picture of Sree either.

Have a picture of a peregrin falcon.

Now, I'm not asking you all to spam harpy pics until we finda match (that's sigils thing) but
I totally want the picture spam. Even if it's not harpies.

>>41123943
You brush yourself off and then open the flap of the tent. Inside, both of your friends are sleeping in the semi darkness provided by the canvass. It’s a simple matter to pick them both up, throw them over your shoulders, and exit the tent.

The sudden increase of brightness causes both of them to start squirming. “Morning girls.” You say, smirking, as you make for a nearby hill overlooking the camp.

“Fishy~!” Sree moans plaintively. “Was sleeping…”

“Netai...” Tamamo agrees. Or at least, you think it’s an agreement. She doesn’t seem to have the energy to provide you with a translation at the moment. After a bit they both settle down and seem to resign themselves to go wherever you’re taking them.

“Was there s-something you w-wanted Adria-sama?” Tamamo asks as you start up the hill.

“Just to spend some more time with you all.” You reply. “Plus, I unilaterally decided that you two shouldn’t spend so long sleeping.”

Sree grumbles mutinously under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Could have just stayed in the tent.”

“Hmm… maybe.” When you reach the top of the hill you set them both down before laying back on the grass. “But then you two would have fallen back asleep.”

“Yes.”

Tamamo giggles. “It would have been nice to s-sleep a bit longer…” she says, before curling up at your side, twin tales resting over her legs like a blanket.

For her part, Sree just sprawls out on the grass and lets her wings splay wide, soaking up the noon day sun. She doesn’t even seem bothered by the brightness, though you have to keep an arm up to shadow your eyes.

What do you want to do?

>Actually… napping sounds pretty good
>Talk to Tamamo about her past (or something else?)
>Talk to Sree about stuff (what?)
>Write in

>>41124631
>Actually… napping sounds pretty good

>>41124631
>>Actually… napping sounds pretty good

>>41124631
>Let's spar!

>>41124631
>Practice "Falconry"
>Practice those hand signals

>>41124734
This.

>>41124734
Supporting.

>>41124734
>>41124631
this

>>41124734
>>41124780
>>41124839
>>41124862
Mommy would be so proud!
Writing

>>41124734
To elaborate, start with the basics of teamwork
>Sree throws the target up into the air
>Pincusion+lightning shocked

>Mark a target for Tamamo to circle around and flank while Sree gets in position to descend from above

and if we're feeling ballsy:
>chaining attacks one after the other, barely missing each other

>>41124901
Will add this in

Roll me 1d100

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>41124949

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>41124949

Rolled 55 (1d100)

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>41124949

>>41125000
53 it is. Writing.

>>41124631
“C’mon” You say after a moment. “We’ll go over the hand signals one last time then we’ll practice some combat drills.”

“Hmm?” Sree perks up. “Like what?”

You think on it for a moment, than grin. “Want to see how well we can combo our attacks together?” You ask. Casting a glance around you see a perfect target. “Hey Sree, see that rabit over there?” She nods. “Think you can toss it up into the air so Tamamo and I can shoot it?”

Sree blinks once, before comprehension dawns on her face, with a grin she’s off speeding through the air like a bullet.

There’s a ripple of grass as she dips and snatches the rabbit off the ground, circling back towards the both of you before letting it go.

You gather your mana to you before letting out a thin lance of lightning. It arcs towards the target, clipping the rabbit before it vanishes into thin air.

Tamamo’s arrow, on the other hand, misses by a narrow margin.

In the end, to your disappointment. It’s the fall that kills the small animal, not your superior teamwork skills.

Well, you suppose. It’s a good thing you decided to try this out now instead of in a live combat situation. After a few more tries (with varying luck) you go over the hand signals some more before you come up with another idea.

“Well… there will be a lot of enemies Sree can’t pick up right?” You say to you friends. Tamamo nods.

“For now!” Sree adds with a grin. The exercise has really increased her energy levels. You smile encouragingly at her.

“Yeah, so for now… maybe we should work on hitting a target on the ground. I can draw someone’s attention while you two set up for ambush. If we time everything right, we could knock almost any enemy out of the fight, or at the very least off balance for a finishing blow.”

Tamamo nods, and Sree hops off your shoulder. “I will find something to practice on.” The little fox says, before heading off down the hill.

[1/2]

>>41125342
A few moments later she returns with a concerned look upon her face. “Adria sama.” She says. “I found something.”

You’re immediately on your feet. “What?” You ask, hand going to your sword.

“This way.” She takes off down the hill and Sree shadows you from above. Shortly, past the crest of another hill, you see what Tamamo had found.

In the small valley, nearly hidden by the taller grass of the plains, are the bodies of a human and a single horse.

The horse’s legs are broken and the man’s back rent open by what looks like claw strikes. He lies face down, a short distance in front of the animal, and both bodies show signs of being eaten by various scavengers. Tamamo said she had to chase off a flock of vultures when she first arrived.

What is more concerning however, is the weapon wound at the man’s waist. He’s been cut in half, legs and torso separated by a jagged wound that goes straight through his spine like it was so much tissue paper. It’s far to ragged to be a bladed weapon, but only another person could do something like this.

After a moment, you work up the nerve to roll his upper body over. On the front of his torn and bloodied surcoat is the blazing sun of Bleakwind Citadel.

“Damn”

[End Part 11]

>>41125359
And that's it for part eleven.
I was aiming for more character interaction this thread, but I apologize for the slow and somewhat awkward start.
I've been tired today, and I was just out of it at the start of the thread.
But I said I was gonna run and didn't want to put it off again.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Next thread will hopefully be sunday, and that's when we get into the meat of Arc 2.

Expect more character driven plot in the future, as well as events getting heavier and more connected to the state of the world as a whole.

>>41125405
Thanks for running, boss.

>>41125359
You know the phrase "Don't kill the messenger"... Because I think somebody doesn't know it.

>>41125405
Thanks for another run Argent!

>>41125359
got our work cut out for us. Hope we have more military remaining than just that Citadel and this caravan.

>>41125405
Aww. Came in too late to play.

I guess I can look forward to next thread if I have to.

>>41125414
>>41125462

Your welcome.

>>41125434
This is madness!

>>41125465
The caravan is composed primarily of fighters and healers of different types. So you're about as military as it gets without a standing army.

>>41125465
We can't figure out anything about the situation at that destination other than there IS a situation going on and whoever is causing it is both probably fielding monsters (or constructs), and does NOT want people finding out yet. Or at least he didn't want people finding out, its possible that raid signaled that part of the plans success and we are walking into a trap and/or to a destroyed city while the actual army heads on our home.

>>41125509
Or we could be catching them before they have a chance to completely take over the citadel. Either or, really.