>masturbate to sleep

>>1288114
>>”Hey Enlia, you don’t think it’s time to tell me what the plan is?”

>>1288114
>”Mr. Brogir, Any fun tales you have of Sir Francis?”

>>1288114
>”Hey Enlia, you don’t think it’s time to tell me what the plan is?”

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“Hey Mr. Brogir, any fun tales you have of Sir Francis?”

“If I have? Of course I do, dear. He was never a levelheaded kid, always got our troop in trouble. But I do remind one particular time, there was this pigeon, you see, everyone was lamenting how our rations where tasteless. So our only Francis took out his sword and throws it in the direction of the pigeon. Then he looks at us and said in his most heroic tone: ‘There, now we have something else to eat’ too bad he missed by a mile and almost beheads our captain at the time. Never saw that man more furious. Poor Francis had to wear a chicken hat for the remainder of the campaign.” He says half laughing for most of the story.

“Ugh, dad always was a little bit overconfident.” Enlia facepalms.

“I think it runs in the family.” He gives you both a kind smile.

“What do you mean Old man?”

“Hey Enlia, you don’t it’s time to tell me what the plan is?” You interrupt.

“Always so eager for training! Unlike some old man here who randomly retired!”She stands up with her cane in hand. “There is an uninhabited mine nearby… well aside from weak monsters. I want you to take a particular red crystal in there.”

“Red Crystal”

“Yes, Miss Nora, the Red Crystals inside the mine have magical properties.” Brogir says.

“Indeed, plan is to use it to make you and Francisword make a pact, so you can summon it whenever you want.”

“I…. Uh…”

“Don’t worry, you can remake the pact with another weapon, but you’ll need another Red Crystal.”

“Try to not take too much; a powerful beast will wake up if you do so. Since dividing such mineral frees waves of energy.” Brogir adds.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Ohoho. Don’t worry, I’ll be outside if things go south, so if you need to call me I’ll be there in a second. My best years are past me, but you never know with old dogs like me, our fangs and teeths could be ready.”

“I’ll be close to with Brogir’s carriage. So you have an escape plan.”


>”It’s time for a nap!”
>”Where are we going to sleep anyway?”
>”Your story was kind of lame, Mr. Brogir…”
>”Are you going to tell me now why Iged is not here?”
>Write In.

>>1288268
>"You say that dividing it gives off energy, buy what if we were to take the whole crystal and split it somewhere a bit safer?"

>>1288268
>”It’s time for a nap!”

>>1288268
>”It’s time for a nap

>>1288273
Seconded, but it'll probably be too heavy I'm guessing.

>>1288114
Sad Gretchen is herald of bad things happening in this thread. Everybody be as careful as we can.

>>1288268
> nap time!.
Does Enlia still have nightmares?

I may be mis remembering but were we the kind of hero who, ummm... specialises in delegation? If so we should figure out a way to get Brogir to do all the work for us.

>>1288350
No, that's Helmaer.

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“You say that dividing it gives off energy, but what if we were to take the whole crystal and split it somewhere a bit safer?”

“Nora, it’s an enormous rock, like the size of our house and twice as heavy.”

“Oh…”

“That question reminds me of someone…” Brogir stares at Enlia.

“W-what… I was 10 when I did this! 10!”

“You were at least 14 when you did it Enlia. Stop lying. But it’s good you’re letting this young girl use it. If only my pals did the same thing, but their stubbornness stood on the way…”

“It’s not well seen a Knight using magic…” Enlia clarifies.

“Understood, I guess it’s time for a nap.”

“I hope you gals don’t mind sharing room for the night.”

“Of course not! We’re friends after all.” Enlia says with confidence. She still sobs in her sleep by the way; it’s tamer now since you bought her a teddy bear. But you haven’t seen it anywhere since you left the house. You get closer to Enlia and start whispering to her ear.

“Did you bring your teddy bear?”

“O-of course not. If Brogir finds out I’ll be embarrassed for life.”

“It isn’t worse that he finds out you cry in your sleep?”

“You’ll act as my teddy bear, it will be okay!”

It will be not okay.

What do you do?

>”There is a barn here, right? Let me sleep in there.”
>”Enlia wants to sleep in the barn, she wants me to be in my best condition for tomorrow.”
>Accept your fate, time to be a Teddy Bear again.
>Tell Brogir Enlia’s secret. Fuck it.
>Write In.

>>1288376
>"You realize that I'll also be extracting my payment as well, right? Perhaps it's a good time to find out what ERROR means..."

>>1288376
>Accept your fate, time to be a Teddy Bear again.
Just think of it as another trial.

>>1288376
> accept your fate

>>1288376
We do need to be in the best condition tomorrow. But let's remind Enlia of our catastrophic failure last time we didn't get any sleep because of this and ask that she's the one to bring up the idea that to leave the whole bed to us she'll go sleep in the barn instead.

I understand, all too late, why the prompt suggestion "take a nap" kept popping up.

>>1288430
Didn't we not get much sleep that time because it took us must of the night to figure out to sing a lullaby to her? If we do that right away why wouldn't we get a good night's sleep

>>1288447
I thought we weren't able to sleep even after that because she kept moving and squeezing us, but I could be wrong.
However, if she didn't want to bring a teddy bear, I doubt she'd let us sing her to sleep while Brogir is in the same room.

Maybe we should "threaten" her with that. Say that she may want to sleep in the barn because if she doesn't, we're going to start singing lullabyes whether she wants us to or not.

Accept our fate

>>1288456
Oh yeah, that's what happened. I suppose we need to get her to take this seriously.
Changing to.
> "go sleep in the barn, you can cuddle a hay bale"

>>1288467
It's better than being up all night, but how do we justify that with Brogir?
If we get Enlia to do it, she can say she wants us to be as rested as possible and therefore to have the bed for ourselves.
The other way around, what do we say? "I sleep best in the hay surrounded by farm animals"?

>>1288376

>Accept your fate, time to be a Teddy Bear again.
This is part of your training!!

>>1288487
Last time it was part of failing it.
But given the amount of support it's getting I guess failure is in our stars.

>>1288515

We gots to be able to comfort sad ladys

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“I’ll think about it as another trial…”

“Good, I knew you were in the same pa –“

“I hope you don’t mind if I sing again, that’s the only way to stop you from… you know…”

“Oh… right I…”

“And I’m not sure what I’ll do if you keep ‘moving’ too much… Perhaps it’s a good time to find out what ERROR means in my paper…”

“ERROR? Yeah, Gretchen said something about that a long time ago… Then you ki—” She gets all red.

“I’ll suggest you to sleep in the barn; you can cuddle a hay bale.” You wink, she has no option but to sleep in the ba—

“Girls, I was going to be the one sleeping in the barn.” Brogir says. “I thought you would want a comfier bed, But I guess not.” Wait, he was hearing all of these?

“There is no nee—“ Enlia tries to say.

“Don’t worry, girls, I got the message. Enlia moves a lot when she’s sleeping, right?”

“I… Uh…” You don’t know what to say. Enlia just nods by instinct.

“It’s settle then! There is plenty of space in the barn, so don’t worry! Here is the key. I’ll see you girls at morning. Now my bed calls me.” He goes to his room… I guess both of you are sleeping at the barn.

You two leave to the barn.

“I’m sorry, Nora… I think this was the worst possible outcome.”

“…” You jump over a big straw pile. “Wow, this is extremely comfy!” You cannot believe it.

“Really?!” Enlia asks.

“C’mon Jump and I see it for yourself.”

“Real funny.”

“I-I didn’t mean it like that…”

Enlia giggles and gets on another pile, after two minutes she falls completely asleep.

“Wow… I guess these are too comfy…” She’s only snoring a bit; you can deal with that no problem. You wonder if Brogir’s bed is the best thing ever since he didn’t want to sleep on these great straw piles. But why are they like this?... Anyway, you use a small hay bale as your pillow and doze off…

In your dream a voice calls you again, different from the one a long time ago. Also, for some reason, you are dressed up as a tree.

It’s morning! Brogir wakes you two up, you slept great, so did Enlia, and she’s somehow by your side hugging you... You didn’t even noticed. He tells you it’s time for breakfast. You eat delicious stake, eggs and bacon, what a great meal!

Off you go, Brogir is leading his carriage. You two are in the back.

>”We need to buy his bed.”
>”time for a mission briefing! Right?”
>”So you already did this, right? What do I have to expect?”
>Write In.

>>1288583
>"I think we need to get some hay for the house! I barely noticed you last night."

>>1288593
Seconding, followed by
>”So you already did this, right? What do I have to expect?”

>>1288583
>>”So you already did this, right? What do I have to expect?”

“I think we need to get some hay for the house! I barely noticed you last night.”

“Really? I don’t remember a thing.”

“You slept like a baby while I slept like a human being should.”

“I guess we could ask him for some.”

“I would take the whole barn.” You joke. “Now let’s get into business… So you already did this, right? What do I have to expect?”

“How familiar are you with Kobolds?”

“The small lizard people?”

“Yeah, they are outside the mine. This is where your abilities will be tested. I don’t mind what approach you take, if you want to kill them so be it. But everything we have worked is about stealth. These are not particularly smart, even less in ground.”

“Ground? Oh right, most monsters adapted to living in the sea and they are slowly crawling back to the surface.”

“Correct. The abandoned mine seems to have leaked some water inside. They are coming from there, the Crystal is luring to it too. Here” She gives you a small pickaxe. “To take a piece of the Red Crystal.”

The carriage stopped.

“We’ve arrived ladies.”

“Head north, until you find the mine, is in open field and most of the grass will disappear by then. I have not the pleasure to meet the beast and I hope you too will be stranger to each other for life. Nora, I’ll wait here. Brogir will be with you until you spot the mine, he will be ready to help in case something goes wrong, and if you think everything is going in that direction, just run. Okay? ”

>”Sure. I know when it’s the right time to bale.”
>”Don’t worry. I don’t plan to die in the easiest mission.”
> “I bet you I’ll be here in less than an hour.”
>Write In.

Items List:

Silver Pieces x 15
-‘Francisword’ [Equipped]
-Rogue Adventurer’s Clothes. [Equipped]
-Small Pickaxe.
-Torch
-Wood Bow
-Wood Arrows x 20
-Small Dagger

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>>1288710

ate my pic, damn it.

>>1288710
The word you're looking for is bail, unless you're making a pun. In which case, fuck you.

>Twirl your sword, "Mind if I get a kiss from the princess beforehand? Heh, no need to worry madam teddybear, I don't plan on dying to this."

>>1288710
>”Sure. I know when it’s the right time to bale.”
No need to appear overconfident.

>>1288710
>“I bet you I’ll be here in less than an hour.”
Arrogance breeds success, guys.

I think we should approach the kobolds and tell them that a racist hero is coming to slay all their younglings and point back toward Brogir and let him handle them while we walts through the adandoned cave.

>>1288710
>>Twirl your sword, "Mind if I get a kiss from the princess beforehand? Heh, no need to worry madam teddybear, I don't plan on dying to this."

>>1288733
Not really supporting this (but neither opposing), however if it does get picked, we should specify "for luck".

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You twirl your sword, “Mind if I get a kiss from the princess beforehand? You know, for luck? Hehe, no need to worry anyway madam teddybear, I don’t plan on dying to this.” You tried to mimic a heroic voice, but you couldn’t contain your laughter, Enlia laughs too.

“But you’re the teddybear! You’re so inconsistent!”

“You being my princess remains truth! I’ll bet you‘ll be here in less than an hour.” After saying that, you stop your jest. “Now, seriously, I know when it’s the right time to bail.”

“C’mere Teddybear” She gives you a kiss on the cheek, it felt rough, like when your dad kisses you for good night. That felt awkward. “My dad did it when I jumped out to do this. B-but don’t get used to it.” That explains it.

You’re a bit surprised, but then you smile and leave the wagon. You’re with Brogir. After 10 minutes walking, you spot the mine.

“Here it is young lady. I’ll hide behind this huge rock. You do as you please now.” He smiles, he’s wearing his armor, it barely shines since he hasn’t kept it in good shape.

You peek from the rock. The mine seems to be inserted in a hole. At the entrance you see a small group of kobolds, there are around like 4 or 5 of them. They are barely opening their eyes, seems the sunlight is bothering them, they don’t have weapons, but their claws seem sharp. They are going in circles in front of the mine, which seems to go almost straight down, like a hole in the earth. Around the mine is just sand, like a dessert. You have the high ground.

What do you do?

>Jump on them, time to attack!
>Shoot them from your position, take as many as you can!
>Use Brogir as bait to sneakily get inside.
>Write In.

>>1288878
>Use Brogir as bait to sneakily get inside.
Throw some rocks at each other near him or something and hope they go investigate.

Also
>roll around in some mud (there is mud round here, right) to defeat their excellent thermal senses.

>>1288878
>keeping the sun to your back, snipe them. Time to show that all this training wasn't for nothing.

>>1288878
>like a dessert.
Eat the dessert, then they will have nothing to stand on and fall out of the world.

Nah, just kidding.

I'd like to do this stealthily, but I feel like relying on Brogir already would be like admitting failure before we start.

Considering the Kobolds can't see very well, what if we tried lighting an arrow on fire and shooting it into a tree some distance away, enough that they'd need to get closer to inspect it but not so far that they wouldn't see the fire.

Hopefully that would draw at least some of them away from the entrance. We can shoot the ones left behind (if any) first, and then the ones that went to check the arrow as they come back.

If everything goes well, we might be able to take them all out before any kind of alarm can be given to the ones inside.

>>1288896
>roll around in some mud (there is mud round here, right) to defeat their excellent thermal senses.

I'd love to support this as something to do before my post >>1288911 (if my plan gets picked).
Camouflage, both visual and olfactive could be a great asset.

>>1288878
thow a rock to make them cash after the sound

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You roll around in mud. Good thing water has started to pour out of the sand near the mine to create some.

“Oh…” Brogir looks at you confused. “Forget it…” He smiles.

To assess the situation first, you threw a rock to ground near them. Every single one stopped moving and went towards the rock, the moment one identified it, they separated and went their ways.

You take your bow, put the tip of an arrow on fire with a flint and a piece of steel, it was for the torch but you improvised. With the arrow ready, you shoot at a tree nearby, well more than a tree it’s a piece of log, most trees around here seem dead. The fire slowly spreads to it. One of Kobold spot the fire and quickly goes to it, their brothers follow them except one. At the genesis of the fire, the Kobold yells something, the one Kobold who didn’t follow goes inside the mine.

You keep the sun in your back and start sniping them. Once the first arrow hits, the Kobolds got closer near each other in a line formation and quickly stated to run towards the mine, in other words, they made it easier to you and all of them died. You lost more than half of your arrows though. 4 of them are dead, while one got inside. The fire continues rising and goes to another dead tree, but do not be afraid, it’s just a small group of already dead trees that would catch on fire.

You’re still in the higher ground.

What’s next?

>Get near the entrance.
>Move the Kobold’s corpses elsewhere.
>Get inside.
>Wait in your position.
>Write In.

Item List Update:

-Wood Arrows x 7.

>>1289018
Collect some burning sticks and put them at the front of the cave.

Smoke them out.

Also, collect the Kobold corpses. Let's see if you can't dismantle them and also recollect your arrows.

>>1289018
>Get near the entrance.
Listen first to see if anyone is coming up, if not we might as well go in. I'm guessing we won't be able to use our bow much in there anyway.

>>1289018
Shit, this time combining submissions ended up biting us in the ass. At least I assume we could have gotten them all after throwing the rock.

Well anyway, let's scope the entrance, see if the remaining Kobold is still there and if we can snipe him. It's going to be difficult without being spotted (if the Kobold IS still there), but we did train to be a stealthy hero.

If we manage to snipe him or no one is there, we may want to quickly recover the arrows from the bodies, they may still be usable.

>>1289018
>>Move the Kobold’s corpses elsewhere.
hang them up

>>1289086
Is that supposed to be psychological warfare?

>>1289110
yup and draw more of them out

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You go near the entrance to see if anything is coming up. You hear something happening inside, but it echoes goes deeper and deeper inside the cave, it’s not coming out, in fact, the opposite. The sound was like a series of small splashes. You peek inside a bit and see the mine leaking from the ceiling with big spots of water inside. Kobold that escaped is not there.

As no immediate danger is coming, you got back and recollect the useful arrows from the poor kobolds’ corpses. It’s not much. Its scaly skin broke most of them, being water resistant may have something to do with it. You move the bodies outside the entrance and hang them up to the wall… it didn’t work as intended, in fact you pile them. I guess this could work for psychological warfare…

It didn’t seem to work… you just touched a bunch of dead kobolds for nothing! Eugh! Maybe there is something to learn about this.

Anyway, you slowly go inside the mine cave. The drops of water slowly fall nearby you, as you get deeper in the cave, the sunlight fades behind you, instead the mine starts turning into a dark red, not exactly crimson, but very close to it. You have evaded in your best of your abilities to make any distinct sound. The place looking red means you’re closer to the Red Crystal.

You feel the need to lighten the place a bit as everything started to look the same and the narrow view doesn’t help, but you don’t know what dangers could lay on front.

What do you do?

>Light up the torch. Whatever it’s inside here will be blinded by it anyway.
>Don’t light up the torch. Use it a possible surprise blinding attack. Just keep going forward, the redness will be your light!
>Go back. Something is off.
>Write In.

>>1289168
Hard to make a call on this one, not being inn Nora's shoes we can't really tell exactly how necessary a torch is right now, whether the red light can suffice or would give the enemy, more adapted to it, an advantage.

I'd say let's light it up.

>>1289168
>Don’t light up the torch. Use it a possible surprise blinding attack. Just keep going forward, the redness will be your light!
But arrange pebles in recognizable piles or scratch markings on the wall (warning, will be loud) so that we don't get turned around.

>Maybe there is something to learn about this.
Hmmm, nah.

>Don’t light up the torch. Use it a possible surprise blinding attack. Just keep going forward, the redness will be your light!

Don't light it up. Monoxide poisoning is a thing.

I'd say learn how to dismantle them. If you know how they're structured, that means you can also learn their weak points. Or in other words, where the scales are the weakest and so you won't break them every single time you fire them.

Also, how many did we recover?

>>1289226

Oops, I forgot to write that. You guys recovered 3 arrows. You're at 10 now. I'll make it official in the next reply.

>>1289168
>>Light up the torch. Whatever it’s inside here will be blinded by it anyway.
thow it and back off to see what comes to it

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While the need feels like a must, you used all your might and decided to continue, you took some pebbles from the floor and place them in recognizable piles every now and then. You haven’t come across any of them so far, something that soothes you a bit.

Finally you arrived in front of the Red Crystal, and oh boy, it’s big.

“DUMB KOBOLDS! FIRE IS NOT AN ENEMY! YOUR WARNING IS USELESS TO ME! THE GREAT MIGHTY BIG FISH!” A voice comes from far behind the Red Crystal. “NOW, GO TO THE BACK AND BRING MORE OF YOUR LESSER KIND AND PROTECT THE ENTRANCE! THIS RED CRYSTAL ONLY BELONGS TO THE GREAT MIGHTY BIG FISH! AND THAT’S ME! YOU UNDERSTAND?”

You hear 4 loud whimpers and then steps going far away from your position, almost the same sound you heard before, the ones you thought were small splashes.

“POSSIBLE ENEMY ATTACK? WHAT DUMB CREAAAAATURES! BLUBLUBLUBLU” What’s that supposed to be a laugh?! You hear something getting closer. It hasn’t noticed you. A big part of you does not think this is the monster both Enlia and Brogir talked about…

What do you do?

>Light your torch and blind your enemy, then stab him with your sword.
>Your mission is to take a piece of Red Crystal and that’s what you're going to do.
>Tease the enemy, he sounds dumb as fuck.
>Write In.

Last Reply of the day, I don’t think we will continue tomorrow (maybe received one update), but we will Wednesday.


Item List Update:

-Wood Arrows x 10.

>>1289300
>Assassinate the creature and subordinate the kobolds.

They seem capable of thought, and if they fall out of line then they'll probably be killed. Besides, who's going to help Enlia when we're off adventuring?

>>1289300
>Your mission is to take a piece of Red Crystal and that’s what you're going to do.
I don't really want to fight a fish.

>>1289300
Circumstances aren't clear enough here: how concealed is our position? Decently? Not at all?
In short, how likely does Nora feel it is that we may sneak past this thing unnoticed (or that it might walk past us without seeing us)?

If we're sufficiently well hid, we can wait for it to leave.
If not, it's flashy stabby time.

>>1289300
>>Tease the enemy, he sounds dumb as fuck.

>>1289327

To make it clear. Nora is in front of the big crystal, the fish (?) is behind it, the crystal is thick enough Nora can't see through it even with the torch lit. The Red Crystal is as big as a house.

If you cut it, it's not clear if the wave of energy is going to alert the fish though. So keep that in mind.

>>1289360
Anyone else in the mood for sashimi?

Also I really want to domesticate the kobolds, they sound cute.

>>1289360
Uh, but if that's the case and the step are coming towards us, does that mean the fish is walking around the crystal?

If so, we could circle it as well and remain undetected. Then he may hopefully leave or if he doesn't we can still enact the blind and stab strategy.

>>1289300
>Tease the enemy, he sounds dumb as fuck.
A rogue should be crafty and brash.

>>1288878
Could you please stop making Nora a lesbian on the basis of a single anon's write-ins?

>>1289325
>Your mission is to take a piece of Red Crystal and that’s what you're going to do.

We can always come back later to secure the mine but right now we should focus on the mission; we have no idea how dangerous that fish(?) might be.

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You decided to finish your mission; you bring out your pickaxe and take a piece out of the Red Crystal, a small red ring of energy comes out, like small burst of air, it took you by surprise but didn’t last long enough to be noticed by anyone but you.

The piece of Red Crystal is finally yours! Time to escape.

As you leave, you start hearing a troop of Kobolds coming from the depths of the mine. They are moving fast, in fact, faster than you, it’s only a matter of time for them to catch up with you. You are not sure how much you walked to find the Red Crystal, but you have found the last pile of pebbles you assembled before.

What are you going to do?

>Run. They are not going to catch up with you if you go faster. But they will find out you were here…
>Hide. They can’t catch up with something they don’t know exist. But those Kobolds have good sight inside the mine…
>Keep Walking. You’re close enough that you don’t think it’s necessary to change approach. But what if they catch up?...
>Write In.

Item List Update:
-Red Crystal Shard x 1

>>1289760

My bad. I'll be stricter with any type of kinky write ins in general from now on.

>>1290179

>Run. They are not going to catch up with you if you go faster. But they will find out you were here…
Light all the fire sticks and thow them behind you to make a fire wall

>>1290179
>Run. They are not going to catch up with you if you go faster. But they will find out you were here…

>>1290179
>light a fire and go aways away to find a dark cranny.

They bright light should make their pupils dilate causing them to see less light meaning that it'll be easier to hide.

>>1290179
>>Hide. They can’t catch up with something they don’t know exist. But those Kobolds have good sight inside the mine…

>>1290179
>Hide. They can’t catch up with something they don’t know exist. But those Kobolds have good sight inside the mine…

Running in a dark mine where there could be more enemies is dangerous.

>>1290179
>Run. They are not going to catch up with you if you go faster. But they will find out you were here…

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(I threw a coin, hiding won.)

You decided to hide in the darkest of the mine, not knowing what dangers could lay ahead you think this is the best approach. You’re behind a wooden post that’s supporting the mine. You hide the shard under your clothes; you don’t want the red light that emanates to be seen.

The group of Kobolds appears, they are marching in two lines of 5 lead by a kobold with a hat on. You recognize the kobold in a hat; it’s the same you saw running away before… where did it get that hat?

One Kobold speaks up to the leader, you don’t seem to understand a thing they are saying, but between its claws you see a bunch of pebbles. The Kobold leader scratches his head desperately; then gives an enormous sigh and the troop starts moving back. For a second there you thought they were going to inspect the area, but it seems they thought there was someone else inside thanks to the trail you made.

After they finally disappear, you swiftly leave the mine. You heard something from the cave:

“WHAT? SOMEONE TRESPASSED?! THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” The fish starts yelling. Too late for that mister fish...

I guess its mission acom—

“…” A kobold is staring coldly at you, his eyes are wide open unlike the others; maybe he was patrolling elsewhere when you destroyed its friends. He’s in front the piles of corpses of its comrades. “Rugh!” He yells at you.

What are you going to do?

>Run.
>Kill it.
>Calm it.
>Write In.

(Next reply is going to take a while)

Calm it

>>1290243
>Run

>>1290243
>>Calm it.

>>1290179
>My bad. I'll be stricter with any type of kinky write ins in general from now on.
So because one anon complained about the posts by one other anon (and it wasn't even one really considering how many posts wanted to go with be the teddy bear), we're all not allowed to have fun anymore? Kinky write ins ara great way to keep things interesting.

For the records, I'm not the anon pushing for lesbian overtones, I'm the one that always objected "but Nora showed interest in Iged, she may at most be bi".
I did groan a bit at all the "be the teddybear" and "request a kiss" prompts, but for the former it was due to the fact we would get no rest and the latter because it was so out of nowhere. However, you've managed to handle both situations perfectly well and I was quite happy with how they turned out.
So please, don't let anyone bully you into cramping your style.
On the other hand, if what you meant by stricter was simply "I'm not going to let things get weirdly implausible" (like it would have been is, say, Nora had requested a kiss without any hint of jest, or if someone especially after we learned about Nora's discomfort with nudity was to randomly prompt "let's get naked!") then by all means I fully agree.

>>1290243
I don't think we can go "Wait, it's all a misunderstanding!" when he has a paw on the pile of corpses we piled up.

It's either run if we can do so while staying out of his reach or kill if that isn't possible.

>>1290243
Apologise and run.

>>1290243
>Yell "Rugh!" back at him

>>1290243
>Calm it.

>>1290243

>Kill it.

>>1290243
> calm it
Maybe show it the tiny piece of crystal we got and shrug, surely it isn't a big deal. Hopefully it ignores the fact that we are both standing beside a pile of dead kobolds.

>>1290293
I agree with not letting anons bully you into changing your style. You make good stories despite your players, not because of them. Except for the boat mystery arc.

>>1291353
>You make good stories despite your players, not because of them.
Correction: he makes great stories together with us, not because or despite. Though it is mostly him of course, yes, and he should use our input freely, no restrictions other than being fair to what the majority picks.

One of the things I like most about this author is his penchant to combine prompts so that more anons can see their input shape the story. Sometimes though this can be taken a bit too far (like with using both a rock first and then a flaming arrow as a distraction. Anything more clever than a Kobold would have figured this was an enemy tactic, so the two prompts should have been mututally exclusive).

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You’re trying to calm it. You show him you’re unarmed and then you bow.

“Rugh!” You yell to him.

“Ruuuuuuuugh…” A sad whimper comes from the sad looking kobold. Then it starts staring at the corpses again, waiting futilely for them to move.

You left him grieving his falling comrades. You found Brogir behind the rock.

“How did it go?” You show him the red shard. “Ohoho, nice job lady. Now let’s go.”

You start hearing the fish talking from afar.

“DID YOU CATCH THE TRESPASSER?!” You peek again from the rock; the fish is... just a big fish with goofy legs. “WHAT’S THIS?”

“Rawr rawr rawr!” The Kobold with a hat says.

“THOSE ARE THE ONES WHO DIED? PFFT! THEY ARE WORTHLESS! JUST LIKE THIS ONE!” He points to the grieving kobold. “C’MON, MOVE! MOVE! THEY ARE NOT GOING TO MOVE, EVER!” He starts kicking the corpses. The grieving kobold clenches his fist and jumps to attack the fish, he had enough! But the fish quickly retaliates with a quick kick to the gut. The other kobolds look in awe after seeing their comrade crying in pain next to them.

“I’M SO TIRED OF YOU! DUMB DUMB DUMB!” With every dumb a kicks connects in the poor kobold’s gut in the floor. The rest of the kobold attack too pissed at how the fish treat them, except the one with the hat. The fish quickly repels them.

“HOW DARE YOU?! I’M THE GREAT MIGHTY BIG FISH! I’M MIGHTY BECAUSE I CAN BEAT YOU WITH EASE!”

The 10 kobolds move near their brother and start showing their claws to the fish.

“YOU SEALED YOUR DEEESTINY!” The Fish is ready to attack.

“Young lady Nora, that’s not our battle. Let’s go. ”

>Shoot the fish from range.
>Leave.
>Jump into the rescue.
>Write In.

>>1291965
>Fuck the fish up.

The Kobolds did nothing wrong. I know I sound like a little kid wanting a puppy at this point but fuck it. I WANT TO ADOPT THE KOBOLDS.

>>1291965
>Shoot the fish from range
If it's not dead run

>>1291965
>Shoot the fish from range.
And before doing so tell Brogir "I want to be a hero. Not someone that only acts for her own gain. I made a mistake. I can't fix it... but I can try to make things better."

>>1291994
No, bad anon, bad.

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“I want to be a hero. Not someone that only acts for her own gain. I made a mistake. I can’t fix it… but I can try to make things better.” You take your bow out.

“I’m not going to let you commit the same mistake Enlia did. Even if this is a small offense, I cannot let that small seed grow inside you.” He tries to grab you by the waist. You get away from him.

“What are you doing?” You ask while aiming to the fish from your position. You’re 100% sure you’re going to hit it.

“Let nature run its course. They are just vile creatures, if you see anything alive as worth saving you’re going to lose sight of what’s important… And losing a functional leg will be the least of your problems. Now if you shoot that arrow I’ll have to take drastic measures and I’m not known for being tactful.” He cracks his knuckles.

The Kobolds jump on the fish, which repeals them once again. Big Fish puts his feet on the throat of one of kobolds who fell near him.

“DIE YOU FILTHY LIZARD.” The fish exclaims. the kobold is angrily resisting.

There is no time! You need to do something!

>Shoot.
>Don’t Shoot.
>Write In.

(Tomorrow we'll have a decent session. Sorry for today's lack of activity.)

>>1292109
>"Huh, funny thing is.."
>Fire the arrow.
>"Neither am I."
>"I choose my morals. Not you."

This guy really cemented my decision. One of the things I hate the most is people thinking for me.

>>1292109
>Don’t Shoot

>>1292109
>"If I understand what you're trying to say, it's that in your experience as a warrior you've learned that Kobolds are not capable of peacefully coexistence with civilized races, is that right?
>I admit I do not have enough experince to know any better. It's possibble killing their leader will just unleash them on the nearest village.
>Very well, I will trust your judgement. Let's leave.
>But Brogir.
>I'm not a Kobold. If you want to get your point across to another peson, threats and physical coercion are not the most persuading means."

>>1292109
>>Shoot.

>>1292109
>Shoot.
Tell him to open his eyes and look at that fucking abominaton. It is a fucking magikarp with legs, there isn't even any water for it to splash in! Are you really okay with letting that thing continue existing?

What the fuck is going on. Maybe one of those kobolds found an old rod and caught more than they could deal with.

>>1292109
>Shoot.
>Try to hit the fish in the eye and kill it instantly, because we might not get a second shot because of Sir Stick-Up-The-Arse

>>1292109
>Shoot.
>"I decide what's important."

>>1292109
>>Shoot.

I'm not surprised the decision to shoot is winning. Not really gonna fight it, but I'd like to point out that we're sort of being manipulated/pressured into this.

Consider: we didn't get to see a kobold until we started killing them. Then it was revealed that they are cute and easily teary eyed >>1289018
Then we managed to convince a mourning kobold (author going "guilty about killign those yet?" even though we obviously had no other way into the cave) not to attack us; it's impossible to tell if it's because he forgave us or, which I think is more likely, was not bright enough to realize that the seemingly unarmed intruder is the one that killed his fellow bolds.
Then we see the kobolds being Darth Vadered by a weirdo fish with legs (what a freak: not cute!)
And when we decide to shoot it, the experienced warrior that came with us tries to prevent this but not by reasoning with us, which could have worked, but by being a massive douche.

All of this was carefully put togehter to pull at our heartstrings and make us sympathethic with the lizard doggos and antagonistic towards the fish and our guide.
However, when it comes down to hard facts, we have no reason to believe that our brief run in with the Kobolds taught more to us than a lifetime of adventuring has to Brogid.
Sure, we've seen kobolds showing empathy to one another. However that does not mean, in and by itself, that the kobolds in this setting are capable of peaceful coexistance with humans.

It's entirely possible that if we do shoot the fish and kill it, rather than being thankful the Kobolds will see us as another threat and swarm us, forcing us to either flee or kill them all.
And even if that doesn't happen, there's always the possibility that leaderless they will become an unpredictable threat to passerbys and nearby villages.

Of course the opposite would be just as possible: without the fish the Kobolds could become friendly and peaceful. But the guy with far more experience than us is telling us this is not the likely outcome (or at all possible, he makes it sound). He could be wrong, of course, but as a beginner adventurer can we really say we know better?

Finally, if we weren't so mad about him trying to manhandle us and force his decision on us, we may have taken note that he claims he's doing this because by being sympaththic towards monsters we might be getting on the same path that led Enlia to losing her leg.
Sounds like she didn't tell us quite the whole tale about that and that the "Let's try being nice to monsters" is what led to it.
At any rate, Borgid, while acting like a douche, is apparently doing so out of concern for us and to make amends for a time in which he feels he could have made a difference but wasn't determined and forceful enough.

So, in conclusion, I realize this is a lost cause, because the beaten up doggo will always get the intended visceral response (plus the votes are already overwhelming).
Just know that we may be fucking up big time.

>>1293056
At least we'll get the XP points if they decide to swarm us.

>Dont shoot

We can make a comeback, maybe

>>1293056

This post was pure gold

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“Funny thing is…”

You shoot! The arrow strikes directly to the fish’s right eye! The monster screams in pain! The rest of the kobolds jump over the fish and attack it.

“AAAH! AAAAAH! THIS CAN’T BE THE EN— AAAAA!! STOOOOP THAT!! AAAAH!!“

“Neither am I.” You smile. “I decided what’s important.“

Brogir knocks you out. He got closer while you were aiming for the fish.

…

You wake up inside the back of the carriage that took you to Bullhane, your head is resting in a hay bale and Enlia is next to you.

“Nora, are you okay? I’m so sorry…”

“Where… are we?” You have your head bandaged, it hurts a bit.

“We’re in a carriage going back to Aliheath. This always happen when I try to rely a bit with those psychos my father used to call friends. I can’t believe Brogir did that you and then pretend it was your fault, like I wouldn’t notice he punched you... He did apologize and asked me to tell you when you woke up… But he had only one job, damn it! He had to take care of you…” Enlia looks furious.

“Wait, what happened?”

“That’s what I want to know too. Only thing that old man did was blaming me for not teaching you ‘the right way’, how much of an insubordinate you were and how he kind of expect it since a naive troublemaker with no understanding of how the world works is her teacher... Anyway, at least we got the shard with us.”

“I… uh… my head hurts a little…” It really isn’t that bad.

“It’s okay; you don’t need to tell me right now. Keep resting, we are still far from our home anyway.”

What do you do?

>Tell her what happened.
>”We could do the thing with the shard you want to do right now, you know?”
>"Don't you think it's time for you to tell me what happened to you that left you crippled?”
>Rest.
>Write In.

(Extra reply, session hasn't started yet.)

>>1293056

The Great Mighty Big Fish is supposed to be cute too... Well, he's mostly goofy.

You're mostly right about everything else though.

>>1293108
>>"Don't you think it's time for you to tell me what happened to you that left you crippled?”

>>1293108
>"Don't you think it's time for you to tell me what happened to you that left you crippled?”

>>1293108
>"Don't you think it's time for you to tell me what happened to you that left you crippled?”

>>1293108
>"Don't you think it's time for you to tell me what happened to you that left you crippled?”

>>1293108
Holy shit we need to kill that cunt. He probably gave us brain damage if our head is bandaged up like that. Next time we see him we better chew him out or stab him to fucking death jesus.

>>1293108
>Tell her what happened.
She seems worried and motified already.
We can ask the true story about her leg after we've told ours.
Hers is far in the past, what just transpired is more likely to have consequences soon.

More importantly though, is the carriege moving? If so, who's driving?

>>1293261
Anon, the post literally goes:
>It really isn’t that bad.
We were simply knocked out, I doubt we've lost INT.

>>1293285
Were a tough girl of course were gonna say it isnt that bad. Either way that guy deaerves a vandetta.

I think that Enlia's back story is alot similar to ours. So I want to hear her story before telling her about what happened.

>>1293261
Nah, we need to engineer a situation where he gets totally screwed over, then laugh at him.

>>1293056
Nah, he is just old and jaded. And avoiding doing something just because someone else wants you to is just being pointlessly contrarian.

>>1293556
I see you missed the part of this post >>1293108 where the author says I hit it on the nail concerning more or less everything minus the fish also being meant to be cute.

>>1293575
I guess you missed the part where I didn't say you were wrong, just that being manipulated into something isn't a substantial argument against doing the thing.

>>1293625
However a substantial part of my post was also about how we had no solid basis to believe we know better than a veteran adventurer.

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“Don’t you think it’s time for you to tell me what happened to you that left you crippled?”

“Where did this come from?”

“It seems related to what happened to me.”

“I already told you anyway.”

“Yeah, a giant wolf attacked you. But what happened? Like, in detail.”

“Well, we do have some time to kill… I already told you I had multiple adventures with my dear father. But once we were fighting the biggest menace that attacked our town… The Gingerbread man.”

“The what?”

“The Gingerbread man.”

“That’s the biggest menace ever?”

“I-I mean it’s biggest human treat of ALL TIME!”

“In our town?”

“Yes, exactly. He was a sicko; he was a serial killer that feed people to wolves, especially children! It was all over the news years ago.”

“I think one of my classmates was one the victims.”

“Uhm…”

“I was like 9, I don’t remember much. Maybe if we ask Gretchen.”

“Anyway, the Gingerbread man was proven to be one of the strongest men in the whole world! The last man known for using magic spells before it was outlaw. At that point the guards and us knights were working together to stop him. And he did one of his misdeeds once again and stole a young boy… I don’t remember the name... But I followed his trail. Eventually I found his headquarter and the Gingerbread man saw me spying on him, that’s when we battle…”

“Wait. You alone fight the Gingerbread man?”

“Yes.” She says proudly.

“Where was everyone?”

“Uhm… Uh… Dad told me not to meddle with him… But I kind of, you know… took matters in my own hands.”

“I see…”

“He tried to use his cheap sorcery, but I quickly defeated him. That’s when he let free all of his wolves, and… they are kind of hungry when they are caged. So I had to kill them… But then… A giant wolf appeared. He stared at the corpses of his friends I killed; I knew for sure he was smarter than the average wolf I could see it in his eyes… I tried to reason with it, and I thought it worked, as first he ate The Gingebread man. I took the kid and when I was about to get away. The wolf attacked me, I retaliated and blind him from one eye… but when help arrived, he took the kid and ran away. To this day I don’t know what happened to them. ” She touches her leg with both hands.

“Wait a minute. I almost died because hundreds of men failed to kill a fucking rat in a dungeon, but a giant wolf roaming freely is okay? What the actual fuck?”

“No one knows what happened to them… My dad never found him. It’s like they disappeared.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Now tell me how this is related to what happened to you.”

You explain what happened.

“…And then I woke up here.”

“…How is that even related to what happened to me?”

[1/2]

>>1293747

“Uh… I dunno, maybe the ‘trusting the giant wolf’ part? Animals and monsters don’t really care about you, they usually act on instinct…”

“You weren’t there! You have never seen a creature like this! I saw it in his eyes.” Enlia gets mad.

>”Calm down. I was not trying to argue against you, I’m just guessing.”
>”Yeah, mine was 10 times safer and 10 times less dumb.”
>”It’s more like not letting my feelings decide in the heat of the battle… I don’t know, I’m just a novice.”
>Write In.

[2/2]

>>1293752
>>”It’s more like not letting my feelings decide in the heat of the battle… I don’t know, I’m just a novice.”

>>1293752
Let's just tell Enlia we're not judging her, but we see why Brogid wanted to stop us now.
It could well be that the kobolds would have attacked us even after we tried to kill their weird little tyrant.
And it probably didn't strike a good note with him when we said something quite similar to "taking matters in our own hands", even if it means disregarding the advice of older more experienced adventurers.

>>1293752
>”Calm down. I was not trying to argue against you, I’m just guessing.”

>>1293752
>”Yeah, mine was 10 times safer and 10 times less dumb.”
>"Don't worry. I believe you."
>"I'm just a bit bitter from... Getting... you know... Punched in the head?"

>>1293791
Myabe I'm misunderstanding, but if we go with
>mine was 10 times safer and 10 times less dumb
aren't we insulting her?
Like, aren't we basically saying "the situation I butten in wasn't as mortally dangerous as the one you put yourself in and my actions weren't nearly as dumb"?

>>1293752
>”It’s more like not letting my feelings decide in the heat of the battle… I don’t know, I’m just a novice.”

>>1293752
>"To be fair, the Koboloids are capable of making tools so they are sort of intelligent, giant wolves might just be, you know, giant wolves."

>>1293803
Hmm. How about instead
>"Weel, I guess I'm lucky that mine didn't have the ability to bite my head off, and had the brain capacity of a goldfish."

I thought that OP messed up and meant to type more instead of less.

>>1293752
This >>1293827

>>1293769
All he said was that it wasn't our fight. Why not, because we weren't getting paid? Because there was nothing in it for us? Did you miss the but where he sent us into the kobold cave in the first place? If he didn't think we could deal with them he wouldn't have done so.

>>1293848
He said a good deal more than that:
>>1292109
>They are just vile creatures, if you see anything alive as worth saving you’re going to lose sight of what’s important

In other words, according to this adventurer who does have much more epxerience than us, in this setting alignments are a thing and kobolds don't have a good one.

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“It’s more like not letting my feeling decide in the heat of the battle… I don’t know, I’m just a novice! B-but I’m not judging you, I’m just guessing! I do believe you. Besides I’m lucky mine didn’t have the ability to bite my head off and had the brain capacity of a goldfish.”

“… You’re right. I’m overthinking it… But you know, it’s hard to let these things go when you have to deal with the sequels every day.”

“…uh, question, who’s driving?”

“The same guy who brought us here. We had to pay for this, remember?”

“Oh okay…”

“Nora, you’re always so forgetful.”

“My head just got banged! Give me a break…”

“Take a nap then, I brought those hay-bales you were so fond of.”

“Those are more for you than me. But okay, time for a nap.”

After a long travel you part your ways with the driver and walk towards home, you’re finally back! It’s night time. Your head doesn’t hurt anymore and you feel full of energy.

“Remember to take it easy, Nora. I don’t want to see you unconscious on the floor again. Uh?... what’s this?”

Iged appears he’s running towards you. He was waiting outside the house.

“Nora! We have a big problem!”

“Uh? Iged, what happened?”

“Your sister is in jail!”

“Gretchen?! What happened?!” These are bad news…

“Something about a dead guy’s horse wagon, I don’t know the details. C’mon, I’ll lead you to her.”

What are you going to do?

>We have to save Gretchen! Follow Iged to prison!
>Sorry Gretchen! To the port, au revoir Aliheath!
>Write In.

>>1293948
>>We have to save Gretchen! Follow Iged to prison!

>>1293948
I suppose we should have told her to stop drinking.

Eh, Hindsight is 20/20.

>>1293948
>We have to save Gretchen! Follow Iged to prison!
We should find out the details first before rushing in.

>>1293948
We're gonna have to flee I suppose, but only after we bust out Gretchen (or get captured trying).
Just blindly going to the prison though seems like a great way to get ourselves thrown in as well.
We need to first gather information and form a plan.
First off, do we know what the authorities have on us? Was only Gretchen accused? (Unlikely, but we can't just assume we're on the wanted list too, however probable that may be).

>>1293948
>We have to save Gretchen! Follow Iged to prison!

Look through the town first, see what happened. Unless she got drunk and did the same shit again.

>>1293948
>>1293970
This

>>1293948
>We have to save Gretchen! Follow Iged to prison!
Fucking jailbreak time!

>>1293970
*addition: even if it seems like we are not wanted, we may still want to keep a low profile.
The authorities may just be pretending not to be looking for us in the hope that we'll presume we're fine and just walk into the jail with our own legs, expecting to freely discuss Gretchen's charges and not be arrested.

In fact, we should find somewhere secluded to hide right away.

I'd love to talk to gretchen's parents, but if we are wanted, then any contact with them could get us found.

>>1294041
Oh, also guys... what do we do with Enlia and Iged? Do we trust them now with the truth of what happened with SilverGrin, or do we plead innocent even though we immediately dismiss trying to clear Gretchen of the accusation against her (and possibly us) and instead opt to break her out and flee as wanted criminals?

If we tell them the truth, they may refuse to help us. Iged may even try and turn us in.
But if we don't, they are not stupid, they'll know something is up.

>>1294061
I say keep quiet like a proper rouge.

>>1293948

>>We have to save Gretchen! Follow Iged to prison!

>>1294029
>>1294065
Guys, Iged doesn't look like he has a plan. Are we really going to rush there and repeatedly punch the bars in the hope that they give in?

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“I’ll follow you!”

“I’ll stay, if you guys need anything I’ll be prepared with our stuff packed.” Enlia says. She fears the worst.

“I-I don’t know if that’s going to be necessary!” You reply while running.

“Don’t worry! Say hi to Gretchen on my part!”

You and Iged are running towards the guard’s barracks, the cells are nearby it.

“Tell me everything you know, Iged!”

“She got detained while she was working, I heard about it two hours ago and pay her a visit. They didn’t allow me to meet her, but fortunately she’s on the very back of the cells and we could talk a bit through the window.”

“What did she said?”

“She said you’re not in danger yet, and to call Zaina and her parents, then to wait for you to arrive. I already did all of it, but it seems your father got detained for beating up a guard.”

“Oh my god…”

“They did say they would let him free after he calms down. Anyway, she didn’t tell me much as she didn’t trust me enough.”

You arrived, behind the prison cells. Zaina is talking to Gretchen.

“Oh finally! Nora!” Gretchen sounds like she’s about to cry.

“Good. Good. You finally arrived.”

“Nora, get me the fuck out of here, please.”

“Hey, you. Thank you for your concern but you can leave now.” Zaina says very rudely.

“Sorry Iged! This is a private matter! Next time we see I’ll give you a great bottle of rum!” Gretchen yells.

“Are okay with me leaving?” Iged asks you.

>”Yes, go and help Enlia in whatever she’s doing.”
>”No, stay, I think we’ll need manpower and I trust you.”
>Write In.

>>1294086
>"It's fine."
>Wink at him.

Hopefully, he has the half brain cell nessecasry to know that we're never this quiet.

>>1294086
>”Yes, go and help Enlia in whatever she’s doing. We may actually need it.”
Don't wanna make Iged feel useless.

Anyway, I can admit I was wrong and there was a plan already being hatched (therefore there was a point to simply running to the prison like this. The way Iged said it I assumed he would take us in through the front door).
Although it seems weird that the prison is so poorly guarded that plans can be discussed like this.

>>1294101
That's not a bad idea, but I'm not sure how much we can trust Iged. Certainly not as much as Gretchen, and she wants him gone.

The real question is: how much can we trust Zaina?

>>1294086
>”Yes, go and help Enlia in whatever she’s doing.”
Eh, we can run and get them if we need them. Not much point making plans (lol) without knowing what's up.

>>1294086
>”Yes, go and help Enlia in whatever she’s doing.”

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“Yes, go and help Enlia in whatever she’s doing. We may actually need it.” You give him a thumbs up.

“Alright, I’ll trust you. See you later. And please don’t do anything stupid…” He runs away.

“Stupid? I’m a scientist!” Zaina says.

“Can I ask real quick what is she doing here?” You whisper to Gretchen.

“I’m helping my friend Gretchen here. Anyway, we don’t have much time; a guard could appear in any second.”

“To keep it short, let’s say she’s part of this mess too, you know, about smiley shekels.”

“We had a small talk and we came to the conclusion it’s best to take her out and for you two to leave town.”

“That damn guard, he said it was only a matter of time to find evidence about your involvement. They can’t back up that we… help that guy find a place in hell, but they found something that links me to stealing the cart and some toxic waste that ruined a river nearby…” Gretchen stares at Zaina.

“Ehem… Details, none of us here is guilty free.”

“Aren’t you a justice maniac? Wha—“

“Nora, focus! Get. Me. Out. Shiiit, the guards! I’ll talk you girls in a bit. Decide what we are going to do, I’ll follow.” Gretchen hides. You move away with Zaina.

“Future Great Heroine, we have 2 real alternatives and an impossible dream. Tell me which one sounds better to you:

Plan A: I have explosives, we tear down the wall, we take Gretchen out and you girls get your stuff inside Gretchen’s boat and leave forever. Of course we’ll get your things ready.

Plab B: You’re a rogue, I’ll make an explosion nearby the cells as distraction and you’ll have to get inside and take her out, same procedure as before for escaping.

Plan C: We fight in court. We’ll have to proof Gretchen innocence.

We’ll have stuff ready in an hour, so you girls will have their stuff ready. I’ll deal with your parents. Which one do you think it’s better? Gretchen’s trial is tomorrow.”

>I like Plan A
>I like Plan B
>I like Plan C
>Every single one sounds terrible (Write In).

>>1294262
>"As much as I would like to go with Plan C, we don't know enough about the situation. So, if you'd like, let's look around for clues to prove her innocence?"

I dunno how this world's government works, but here in Burgertown, we have a nifty thing called the ammendments that say that you can't be tried for the same crime twice.

>>1294262
>Every single one sounds terrible (Write In).
Plan D: We fight in the media.
Didn't we get a medal and a front page spread and shit like that? We can spin some bullshit story about cronyism and corruption in the guard stringing up a poor waitress because she refused their advances while working.

>>1294262
Hold on a second, stealing the cart? That's what Gretchen is in for?
How long would the sentence even be if she pleaded guilty?

I mean suppose she just said "Ok, it's true, I stole the cart but I didn't realize Silver Grin was still on it. He knocked me out, tied me up and then things went as I said they did: took me out of town, kidnapped my frined Nora too and was going to do who knows what to us until we broke free and tied him up instead, then he made us loose control of the cart and got himself killed.
I just figured I could leave the part about stealing the cart to go help my friend at the dungeon out. I'll do my time for it!"

Wouldn't that make for a fairly simple case?

The only issue is Zaina's toxic waste. When did that happen? How?
Seriously how does that fit in the timeline? Did Gretchen take the waste to the river before coming to rescue us?

>>1294323

>Seriously how does that fit in the timeline? Did Gretchen take the waste to the river before coming to rescue us?

Yes. That's what it exactly happened and that's the main thing she's in trial for. Zaina's stuff ended up destroying this year's harvest from a nearby village. I told before that Gretchen's story about how she came to rescue was more complex.

>>1294323
Uh, yeah. Maybe we should ask the crazy lady about that. I still think it is easier to not challange the allegations directly though (because they have beurocracy on their side if we play their game) and just make it not worth pursuing for them.

>>1294342
I see (kind of surprised you're telling us directly rather than having Nora ask Zaina that, but eh, saves us time).
So the -actual- situation we are dealing with here is that Gretchen is in jail for Zaina's crime (a VERY serious crime. People could end up starving), but we can't turn her in because she knows the truth about SilverGrin and would drag us down with her, right?

Well that's great.
Anyway, let's try to deal with this without letting personal issues and grudges get the best of us.

Gretchen isn't getting out of this clean, that much is obvious. But that doesn't necessarily have to reflect on us.
Suppose we went with plan B: Zaina orchestrates a distraction and we bust Gretchen out. If we manage to do this without leaving any evidence that it was us, then we'll be in the clear and only Gretchen will have to leave.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the idea of joining her eventually, but it'd be nice to do so without a bounty on our head as well.

If something goes wrong and it does become known that it was us who got her out of jail, then we'll flee all the same, but at least we can try not to end up a wanted criminal.

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“Okay, before I say anything I would like everything clarified to me. What’s Gretchen in for?”

“Very well, I hope this doesn’t take long”

Zaina explained her versions of the events of that day. Basically Zaina had a lot of magical toxic waste from magic items she brought with her from her home in far far away land (Almost implying being an otherworldly place) and the usual everything went wrong experiment’s waste. She had to get rid of them because they were slowly making her sick and everyone in town too.

That’s when she met with Silver Grin and stroke a deal with him. But the day of the deal, Silver Grin asked for 10 times more money explaining that it’s too dangerous of a risk to the mad scientist. Zaina refused and in her way out meet with Gretchen who already had an argument with Silver Grin. Zaina and Gretchen agreed to help one another and together to knock out Silver Grin in an unspecified manner. Gretchen promised to get rid of the wastes in exchange Zaina had Gretchen a boat ready to escape otherwise she’ll confess about the toxic waste. Gretchen’s plan was to never come back so everything was perfect. But you know how that went.

“…By doing the impossible, you ended up screwing our plan. We got another plan ready in case of this unfortunate event happened, main reason Gretchen wanted a boat from the government. But someone wasn’t on town today.”

“She didn’t tell me, it wasn’t my fault.”

“Ha ha, I’m not blaming you. But you happen to screw us somehow anyway. Well, my toxic wastes ended destroying a nearby village’s harvest… just today they found out the damage.”

“What village?”

“Bullhane, it’s very small and won’t affect Aliheath. Don’t worry.” That’s Brogir’s village…

“How did they even found out? How it even connects to Gretchen and the wagon?”

“Our friend here had the brilliant idea to keep one of the boxes with some remains of toxic waste inside the wagon in case I would betray her. She would have used it to prove I was linked to the fiasco.”

“So to blackmail you?”

“Exactly. I didn’t mind. But I never figured out this could happen… This is my mistake too.”

“Obviously.”

“Ugh…”

“Anyway. How any of this is not linked to me too? I was there.”

“That my friend, I do not know. I guess that’s why Gretchen implied it was just a matter of time for the authorities to get you.”

“I’m inclining to pick plan B, but maybe we should look around for some clues to prove her innocence.”

“The wagon was confiscated so I don’t know if we can get any clues.”

“…”

What do you do?

>Time for Plan B!
>Blame Zaina! Technically all is her fault; you have an outstanding reputation against a Mad Scientist. You could even spin it as Gretchen being blackmailed. Hell, the only thing you need to prove is that is ‘Magic’ Toxic Waste.
>Who needs clues? Fight it on court!
>Write In.

>>1294532
>>Who needs clues? Fight it on court!
and get ride of the clus and suduce the peopel talkign agest her

>>1294532
I'd go with "Blame Zaina" (because what the fuck, starve a village not a hint of remorse?) but Gretchen let her in on what actually happened to Silver Grin, so we can't.

Plan B it is.
But how exactly are we doing this? Ideally we should plan it in such a way that we can get Gretchen out without anyone identifying us (yes, despite their concerns that it may all eventually be linked to us, I'd still rather try not to end up on a wanted list along with Gretch).

>>1294532
>toxic waste inside the wagon
Silver Grin's wagon? Why can't we blaim him? He was on his way back from dumping waste when he snatched up Gretchen. Where that waste came from though ... Sorry miss Zaina

>>1294588
...I'll be, that's actually not a bad idea.
We don't even really need to blame Zaina, we can just say we have no idea where Silvergrin got the shit from.

Actualyl why was it assumed in the first place that Gretchen was responsible for dumping this thing and not him?

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“Wait… why don’t we pin this on Silver Grin? Why is even Gretchen the one getting busted?”

“First, One guard has a hard on in getting you two on prison. Second, guards want someone alive to take the blame so the people in Bullhane don’t go berserk on them, I heard about some riots right now, some of them appease when they heard they found the culprit alive. They want her head. Third, there is a witness.”

“Witness? Who?”

“I have no idea. They are keeping it in secret.”

“I remember Gretchen having her hood on, I didn’t even recognize her at first. Maybe we can convince this witness he’s wrong.”

“That’s true; I do remember her not taking it out even when talking to me that day. But we will have to find who he is and convince him, even if that’s possible, we don’t even know what he really saw.”

“It’s true; maybe busting her out would be less troublesome.”

What do you do? Remember its night time.

>Plan B
>Search for information about the witness.
>>Ask a Guard.
>>Ask Gretchen. (Would she even know?)
>>Ask People in the bar.
>Write In.

>>1294705
>>Search for information about the witness.
break in

>>1294621
Let's do this.

Assuming that Gretchen hasn't fucking blabbed to the moon about it.

>TO THE TAVERN!

Perhaps we could go to the town and appease them somehow?

I mean, maybe we could strike up a deal with the kobalds with labor and in return we'll guide them into becoming a less hated thing?

>>1294705
>want someone alive to take the blame so the people in Bullhane don’t go berserk
You got it right there guys, someone's gotta get the noose. We're not dealing with a fair and just system, it's full on witch hunt.

I don't think we have any chance of clearing Gretchen's name, not without throwing someone else under.
And seeing as that's the opposite of what a hero would do, I guess we have to go with plan B.

I would like to honestly compliment the author for thinking this in sufficient detail to stump our attempts at getting out of this easily. This is going to be a challenge but areasonable and well crafted one.

>>1294776
It would be a bad idea for the both of us to go meethinks, and what about our parents? By having the both of us leave, they'll be widowed by their children and implicated by association. We need to get her out of town, whether we'll see her again, who knows. But it's better than having her hung.

>>1294816
I'd love to agree. Exceeept, that if they are looking for a scapegoat, they will immediately turn to us if she's gone since we were on that carriage with her.

It's best if we don't leave any evidence that we bust her out, but we do need to make ourselves scarce too (i.e. flee the town with her).

Our parents will have to cope. I don't think they'll be directly accused since there is absolutely no evidence of their involvement.
...or maybe we can all sail off together?

>>1294705
I still want to do >>1294300
Put them on the defensive. If they want a target we will give the people the shitty guard trying to blame innocent girls.

>>1294840
https://youtu.be/xLnTWxpTQt4

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“Nora, I know you’re thinking about this through with all your might, but I do hope you have an answer for me now.”

“We have to find the witness… I think.”

“Convince him one day before the trial? That’s the willpower I know you have and by your qualities… I think you could find him and convince him.” What did she mean by that? “It’s futile for me to help you in your efforts to find this person, mainly because if I do find him I can’t help convincing him, you know everyone thinks I’m crazy and all. And being by your side would be detrimental. ”

“What do you propose?”

“Easy, I’ll have Plan B prepared while you search for the witness. I’ll map out the plan with Gretchen’s assistance. You have 2 hours; I want you immediately here by then, I’ll wait 20 minutes tops. If you aren’t here at the time, I’m out. I also have a plan d and my own boat. If you come back early, it’s better for us. I’m not banking in you convincing him or anything, so no pressure.”

“Right...”

“One thing before you go, I’m sure, even if you convince this person that Silver Grin is the culprit that the guards will blame Gretchen anyway, the news already spread about the culprit being alive and the people want someone beheaded.”

“So you think my efforts will be futile.”

“Absolutely. But who knows? Maybe you’ll find a way to take Gretchen immaculate out of this. Ha ha. I’ll pray for your success, Valiant Heroine Nora.”

“There is nothing heroic about this.”

“That is true.” Zaina grins.

“Maybe there is another way. They think I’m a hero now…”

“If you find another path, you still have 2 hours if you want my help. So treat lightly.”

“…” Off you go! To the tavern! Maybe to ask some questions! Maybe to stir some shit! Who knows?!

How is Nora going to deal with everything? Will she remain unscathed? Or maybe all Gretchen’s wrongdoings are going to catch up with her too? We are probably going to find out in the next thread of “From Pleb to Hero Quest!”

>>1295016

I hope you guys enjoy it even if the Schedule was weird and I didn’t get to update that much. Feedback of any type is welcome.

Next week chapter is going to be fun! It’s going to be full of new things if we get to them.

If you want updates about the quest:

Discord: https://discord.gg/AmjbaTR
Twitter: https://twitter.com/91m10

Remember its next Monday! Same time I think.

Maybe I’ll dump another Sidestory during the week, I dunno. Anyway, Thanks for playing again!

>>1295040
>going to be full of new things if we get to them.
>if
Oh boy.

Anyway, this was easily the most exciting thread so far. And I generally like the direction this is going in. Only thing I would kinda call bullshit on is Gretchen being so worried about us to go through all that mess with Silver Grin, but then taking the time to dump the magic crap -before- coming to get us (we could have already been killed by the time she got to us and Zaina wasn't there to check in what order she did things).

I agree with Zaina's assessment, finding the witness seems like a waste of time.
It would probably be best to use the time we have to instead tell Gretchen's mother everything she needs to know (what actually happened that night, what we are planning now and why it's the only reasonable option).

I would have felt much more at ease if we could bring her parents along with us on the boat (like another anon pointed out, it's not entirely impossible that without either of the girls here the charges will eventually be laid on them).
Problem is, Zaina's two hours are probably going to be up long before Gretchen's father is let out of his cell.
But maybe we can break them both out of prison? (It's a small town, the cells can't be that far apart)

>>1296359

>Only thing I would kinda call bullshit on is Gretchen being so worried about us to go through all that mess with Silver Grin, but then taking the time to dump the magic crap -before- coming to get us.

The smell was unbearable to her and the horses to the point one of them almost fainted. I think she endured it at least for 4 hours and a half before dumping the toxic wastes in the river.

>>1296759
Haha, okay, objection retracted then.
Can't rescue her dear sis if the horses pass out on the course to her.

Oh, hey author, if it's okay to ask now, was Brogid right?
Are alignments more or less unshakable in this setting, meaning that while cute and empathethic kobolds will always be monsters and always be a threat to civilized communities?
Or is he wrong and it would be possible for them to not be disruptive?

It's alright if you don't want to answer that and let us find out as we get to know more of the world in later threads. Quests do not mandatorily come with manuals and bestiaries stating alignments.

>>1297028

It's a tough question to answer really, because it will change how you guys will approach every encounter from on with any type of monster, I don’t want you guys to go full pacifist or full beast hunter. So I’ll prefer saying it depends from case to case, but as a rule of thumb treat every monster like any wild animal, tigers are cute, tigers are neutral and tigers are dangerous, you don’t need to annihilate every tiger because the ecosystem and such.

In this case in particular, those kobolds were feral, and at best they wouldn’t attack you, but that doesn’t make them peaceful creatures to the rest of the world.

In every future encounter with any type of beast I’ll try to give you guys a small description about them and their behavior, so you don’t felt cheated or wronged. Except special beasts like the Big Rat and the Great Mighty Big Fish, they are supposed to be unique.

>>1297403
Sounds cool, though I wouldn't have felt wronged even if you went with "no comment" because Nora might simply not know this things.
In fact, it could be argued that this is a kind of subject that could even split the people in the setting we're looking at ("Not all Kobolds!", "Kobold lives matter!")

Anyway, I hope this is the last time Gretchen's past comes back to haunt us. I like her and I don't want her to turn into the blue haired teen from Life is Strange (but I'm fairly sure the quest isn't gonna conclude with the dilemma "do you save Gretchen or do you let dozens of people die?". I believe we've got a much better writer than that, so no worries)

>>1297447
*specifically, I meant something other than what we've already dealt and are currently dealing with.
It is of course only natural if these things will always loom over her and, by proxy, us. The world isn't gonna forget just because we move across the sea.