>>4267454
“I find that had to believe,” the Inquisitor counters.

“It’s still dressed like one of you!” another voice counters. “You can go in there and see it yourself!”

“Even some of your own were there too,” the first man who came out after you insists. “They had no idea what was blending in with them.”

“You people are supposed to be rooting this sort of thing out!” another voice shouts over the growing agitation of the assembling crowd. “How can we trust you if a yōma can hide inside your own organization!?”

“At least those witches can sniff a yōma out,” yet another new voice adds, to a chorus of agreement. “At least they can’t be infiltrated!”

“There’s no evidence that this is anything but a single...” the Inquisitor begins to plead his case.

“How can you be sure?” a man shouts. “You missed one… what makes you so sure it’s not two? Or ten!?”

“Please...” you plead to the crowd. “Please, just hang on for a moment!”

“What have you been doing these past few years!?”

“Why can’t you spot a yōma that’s right under your nose!?”

“How are we supposed to trust you people!?”

“QUIET!”

Your roar cuts through the crowd’s questions for just a moment, giving you the time you need to de-escalate. The seeds of the Inquisition’s downfall may have just been planted, and justifiably so… you didn’t set this up. All you did was expose it for what it was, all you had to do was make people start to see the Inquisition the way you do: as a poor excuse for the abilities you and your kind sacrificed your own humanity for.

>Declare that what’s needed right now isn’t more fear and hatred, but patience as the Inquisition digests this new threat. If their proposed solution is inadequate that will be the time for violence.
>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.
>The plan has changed. Declare your true identity and offer the Inquisitor safe passage out of this town in exchange for information. Caution the townsfolk not to take any reckless action against the Inquisition, as it will do more harm now than good.
>Other?

>>4267469
>>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.

>>4267469
>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.

>>4267469
>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.

>>4267454
>>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.

>>4267469
>>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.

>>4267469
>>Declare that it’s not your place. You’re Hazari. But these people need to determine their own future, and whether the Inquisition has any place in that future.

>>4267469
Will continue tomorrow, with Noel bowing out of the situation as best she can to continue with her mission.

>>4268217
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 9, 10, 5 = 24 (3d10)

>>4269358

Rolled 1, 10, 1 = 12 (3d10)

>>4269358

Rolled 9, 6, 3 = 18 (3d10)

>>4269358

Rolled 9, 1, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>4269358

>>4269358
“I’m Hazari,” you declare curtly. “This isn’t my home. I have no right to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do… but this changes things with the Inquisition.”

“I’m certainly reconsidering how I feel about them being here.”

“What does that mean!?” the Inquisitor demands.

One of his own comrades who was actually there when you killed the yōma grabs the Inquisitor by the arm, and shakes his head. “Not now, sir.”

“You can’t expect me to just...”

“Sir,” the eyewitness insists curtly. “With respect, you weren’t there. If you were, you’d have doubts too.”

“Are you questioning your faith?” the Inquisitor demands.

“No, but I’m doubting whether faith alone is enough.”

“I need to get out of here,” you insist. “I need to go home. I’m sorry, but like I said… this isn’t my homeland.”

…

After getting clear of the crowd, which is still agitated by the time you leave, and return to the tavern where your soldiers are staying. You retrieve the key from the porter downstairs and head up to your soldiers’ room.

“Things went well enough,” you explain to them after they let you in. “My identity wasn’t compromised, the yōma is dead, and the locals are pretty angry that the Inquisition allowed a monster to impersonate one of its people.”

“What will be the repercussions of this?” their commander asks you. “Not too serious, I hope.”

“Even several of the Inquisitorial agents inside that tavern are having doubts,” you add. “It might not be immediate, but word’s going to spread of what happened here, and trust in the Inquisition is going to disappear like a morning mist.”

“It’s just a question of whether it’s sudden or gradual.”

“I assume you’ll want to leave first thing in the morning?”

>We’ll rendezvous with our assets across the border as scheduled.
>I think we should leave tonight, for a variety of reasons.
>We may want to delay until later in the morning. You’re supposed to be drunk after all.
>Other?

>>4269708
>We’ll rendezvous with our assets across the border as scheduled.

>>4269708
>We’ll rendezvous with our assets across the border as scheduled.

>>4269708
>We may want to delay until later in the morning. You’re supposed to be drunk after all.

>>4269708
>>We’ll rendezvous with our assets across the border as scheduled.

>>4269708
>>I think we should leave tonight, for a variety of reasons.

>>4269708
>>We’ll rendezvous with our assets across the border as scheduled.

>>4269708
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 5, 10, 2 = 17 (3d10)

>>4271542

Rolled 2, 4, 7 = 13 (3d10)

>>4271542

Rolled 7, 9, 4 = 20 (3d10)

>>4271542

>>4271542
I'll update after I get some food in me.

>>4271617
“We’ll continue as planned,” you declare. “I want to be out of here by dawn, are we clear?”

“Yes, ma’am!” comes the expectable reply.

…

Before dawn you and your men leave, you and Alysheba in the lead. Thankfully the general upset after your run-in with the yōma last night dragged out into the small hours of the morning, meaning that you catch the town in a lull in activity as some of the locals are just now trying to snatch what little sleep they can while those who suffered through the noise have yet to get up for the day. Because of that, you manage to slip out and onto the road totally unnoticed.

…

“How do you think things will go from here?” one of the men asks after the sun has begun clawing its way into the sky for the day ahead. “With the Inquisition I mean?”

“With any luck they’ll be thrown out of town,” the commander shrugs. “Their control may start to slip all across their territory all at once, or they may start to lose their furthest holdings altogether, and their territory may contract.”

“If it were me making the decisions I would abandon all my marginal holdings,” you reason aloud, “and withdraw. Concentrate what support I still had on areas where my authority was more certain.”

“Wouldn’t the opposite make more sense?” the first man enquires.

You shake your head. “That’s a rookie mistake. When the unrest is widespread trying to quell the worst of it in the periphery just leaves your control in the core compromised. And if the core goes, then it doesn’t really matter if you’ve held the periphery.”

“If you hunt two rabbits at once you’ll catch neither.”

“I guess that’s why people like you get to make those decisions,” the commander muses.

“Meaning what, exactly?”

“It’s a question of attitude, right?” the commander clarifies. “I’ll see your turn of phrase and raise you another: if all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail.”

“Perhaps you’d make a better politician than you give yourself credit for, commander?” you muse.

“Hey now, we were just having a nice conversation,” the man replies. “No need to get nasty, ma’am.”
>1/2

>>4272007
You ride across the border, meeting with your ‘man in black’ and Aurora by noon.

“What’s the news?” you ask Aurora. “Didn’t they take the bait?”

She shakes her head. “Evidently not. How did things go with you?”

“We stirred up a fair amount of trouble,” you admit. “So any intel we could get on the Inquisition’s standing from someone captured before last night won’t be good for long anyway.”

“Why’s that?”

“There’s revolution in the air,” you muse with a grin. “I caught a yōma masquerading as an Inquisitor and killed it without arousing suspicion. The whole region will be in an uproar over this, the Inquisition’s reputation will be in tatters as rumor spreads that any man wearing the Inquisitorial insignia could be a yōma.”

“What of our plans to track down Camila?” Aurora asks you with a frown.

>I don’t think this is going to work. We should try to find her some other way.
>If she needs to speak with us she’ll find us. At least this wasn’t a waste of time.
>We could try to set the trap one more time with the same bait.
>Other?

>>4272022
>I don’t think this is going to work. We should try to find her some other way.
The Inquisition will likely be distracted from looking for handlers by internal problems.

>>4272022
>>I don’t think this is going to work. We should try to find her some other way.

>>4272022
>>I don’t think this is going to work. We should try to find her some other way.

>>4272022
>I don’t think this is going to work. We should try to find her some other way.

>>4272022
Am baking cookies, will update when they're out of the oven.

>>4272022
“We should probably withdraw,” you decide. “The Inquisition’s going to be far too busy with its own problems to take the bait now anyway.”

“We’ll come up with some other way to figure out what Zoe and Camila decided.”

“And if we can’t?” Aurora asks you grimly.

You shrug. “Then we wait. If we don’t hear back from them, that’s our answer.”

…

“Reports of unrest to the south are likely to trickle in over the next few days and weeks,” Helen muses after you update her on what happened in the Inquisition’s territory. “It’s too bad the bait didn’t work, but this is a good consolation.”

“Glad you think so,” you shrug. “But that still leaves us in the dark, about a lot of things.”

[Zoe would have been a good source of information.]

Serana’s expression is unusually pensive this evening, and she catches your eye. [You’ve met her. You know how she is.]

“Yes,” you agree. “I bet she has her own reasoning that’s guiding her actions.”

“If only we knew what that reasoning was,” Valentina pouts. “She could at least write a letter or something!”

“I’ll send a message to the Regent asking to increase surveillance on the Inquisition situation,” you declare. “That should help, but we still have the mercenary situation to the north and the Organization to the east to think about.”

“No threats to the west?” Helen muses. “Yes… if memory serves your western neighbors here in Hazaran are fairly stable.”

>I could head for Tarsus. Convince the merchants’ guild to siphon us information.
>We could try contacting warriors to the North and West. At least establish our neutrality towards them.
>One of us might be able to contact the Organization directly. It’d be bold, but it might just work.
>Other?

>>4273827
>>We could try contacting warriors to the North and West. At least establish our neutrality towards them.

>>4273827
>We could try contacting warriors to the North and West. At least establish our neutrality towards them.

>>4273827
>I could head for Tarsus. Convince the merchants’ guild to siphon us information.

>>4273827
>I could head for Tarsus. Convince the merchants’ guild to siphon us information.

>>4273827
>>We could try contacting warriors to the North and West. At least establish our neutrality towards them.

>>4273827
>>I could head for Tarsus. Convince the merchants’ guild to siphon us information.

>>4273827
>>I could head for Tarsus. Convince the merchants’ guild to siphon us information.

>>4273827
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 10, 4, 2 = 16 (3d10)

>>4275000

Rolled 6, 7, 5 = 18 (3d10)

>>4275000

Rolled 3, 7, 7 = 17 (3d10)

>>4275000

Rolled 3, 10, 8 = 21 (3d10)

>>4275000

>>4275000
“I’ll go to the merchants’ guild in Tarsus,” you decide, “try to have them and their contacts feed us information directly as well. If I run into whichever warrior is positioned there I’ll try to make it clear what our intentions are.”

“That sounds good to me,” Helen nods. “Give my regards to the merchants.”

“Partners?” Justina asks you curtly.

“Sure,” you agree immediately.

“I mean...” Justina replies at first, before giving up before she can even finish the sentence. “Very well.”

…

“Sorry,” you muse as you and Justina travel towards the border of Tarsus. “I meant that as a joke.”

“Forget it,” Justina replies calmly.

“We’ll be meeting with the guild,” you reiterate. “I know you usually don’t feel like talking, so I’ll take the lead.”

“Thanks,” Justina nods.

…

The rest of the trip isn’t difficult, and Justina of course isn’t particularly talkative along the way. In terms of travelling partners she’s actually a nice change of pace, a lot like Serana in that sense. You arrive in Merced late in the evening, and settle in for the night at a small inn where you rent a single room.

In the morning you both depart for the main office of the merchants’ guild.

“We have business,” you inform the woman behind the desk in the entry. “For your boss.”

“We don’t simply take visitors off the street, I’m afraid,” the receptionist insists sternly.

“A name?” Justina suggests.

“Would Lawrence happen to be here?”

“He is,” the receptionist replies. “But he...”

“Tell him Noel is here,” you interrupt. “Do it quickly.”

“Very well,” she eventually replies, before disappearing down the hall.

She quickly returns, following closely on Lawrence’s heels.

“Your highness!” he greets you with a polite bow. “Sorry for the mistake, my office is open of course!”
>1/2

>>4275220
“Highness?” the receptionist repeats.

“Yes, this is Queen Noel Tiberius di Hazaran,” Lawrence instructs the young woman, “and the next time she turns up at our doorstep you send for me immediately. Understood?”

“… yes, sir!” the woman stammers.

“It’s fine,” you shrug. “You know as well as most that I’m not used to any special treatment.”

“Sure,” he replies. “To be fair I’m still wrapping my head around it myself.”

“Please, come with me.”

Lawrence leads you down the hallway to a large office, evidently his own, and gestures for you to sit on a comfortable-looking couch at a low table. Once you have he steps aside to a small waist-high cart packed with glass bottles and pours an amber liquor into three small glasses. These he places onto a silver tray, then he places the tray onto the table.

“Here, have some brandy,” he insists. “Please.”

“Thank you,” you reply politely, taking a glass.

“Now what is it you’re here to discuss, miss Noel?”

“There’s a lot going on around our borders,” you admit. “Unrest among the warriors of our former Organization, rumors of powerful mercenary groups to the north, and the evolving situation within the Inquisition.”

“I’ve heard that there was some kind of disturbance,” Lawrence muses. “But I don’t have many details yet.”

“A yōma,” Justina informs him. “Disguised as an Inquisitor.”

“That sort of discovery was bound to shake the people’s confidence in the Inquisition,” you declare, “and since it was a confidence game of sorts to begin with, the Inquisition will be losing its control in many places.”

“That seems likely,” Lawrence agrees. “So you want information?”

“As much as you can get to us, as regularly as possible,” you confirm. “Not as the queen of Hazaran but as a half-blood warrior trying to do the best she can for humanity itself.”

“The merchants’ guild can’t be your onmipresent eyes,” Lawrence admits, “though I’m sure most will agree that helping you is in everyone’s interests.”

>Then I’ll give you a small handful of specific leads to chase down.
>Then focus on the mercenary threat to the north, we’ll deal with the Inquisition in the south.
>Then focus on the Inquisition. We’ll deal with the mercenaries as best we can.
>We need to know about the Organization’s movements. Anything else gets into the realm of Hazari politics rather than the business of ‘Claymores’.
>Other?

>>4275262
>>We need to know about the Organization’s movements. Anything else gets into the realm of Hazari politics rather than the business of ‘Claymores’.

>>4275262
>Then I’ll give you a small handful of specific leads to chase down.

>>4275262
>then I'll give you a small number of leads

>>4275262
>We need to know about the Organization’s movements. Anything else gets into the realm of Hazari politics rather than the business of ‘Claymores’.

>>4275262
>>We need to know about the Organization’s movements. Anything else gets into the realm of Hazari politics rather than the business of ‘Claymores’.

>>4275262
>>We need to know about the Organization’s movements. Anything else gets into the realm of Hazari politics rather than the business of ‘Claymores’.

>>4275262
>>Then focus on the mercenary threat to the north, we’ll deal with the Inquisition in the south.

>>4275262
“We need to know about the Organization’s movements,” you declare. “Anything else crosses the line into Hazari state politics, and that’s a line I’d like to maintain.”

“That can be arranged,” Lawrence inclines his head politely.

“Thank you,” you nod in response, and Justina does the same. “You can contact us at the Blackthorn keep in Scaithness.”

…

“That went well,” Justina muses as you begin to make the return trip to Scaithness the next morning.

“Sometimes things do,” you shrug. “You have to figure it all balances out in the long run.”

“Here!” a voice shouts as you walk the road out of Merced. “This is her!”

You glance at the speaker, a young woman… one whose face it takes you a few seconds to recall. “Nina?”

She smiles for a moment. “So you do remember me.”

“Back then there were few strangers who went out of their way to be kind to me,” you admit. “It makes for a lot fewer faces to remember. How have you been?”

“Well, thank you,” she replies courteously. “I live in a nearby village now.”

“And these are the villagers,” Justina muses as several other people join her… these are much less friendly faces.

Nina’s smile fades slightly. “We heard rumors of two Claymores in Merced. Of course I hoped you were one of them… but I didn’t expect to be so fortunate.”

“You need our help, I take it,” you muse.

“Yes,” Nina admits.

“Who is she?” Justina asks quietly.

“A former barmaid in Merced,” you explain. “I did a job at her bar years ago, and she… showed me some courtesy afterwards.”

“I see.”

“What seems to be the problem?” you ask the group of villagers.

“A yōma,” one of the men delcares.

“I could have guessed,” you sigh.

>I need more context. Give me the whole story, now.
>Why didn’t you go to the Organization first, using the normal channels?
>I’d be happy to help. The price can be negotiated when your people are safe.
>Other?

>>4277050
>>I need more context. Give me the whole story, now.

>>4277050
>I need more context. Give me the whole story, now.

After they have told the story continue with this.

>Why didn’t you go to the Organization first, using the normal channels? But I’d be happy to help. The price can be negotiated when your people are safe.

>>4277050
>I need more context. Give me the whole story, now.

>>4277110
>>4277050
supporting this

>>4277050
Let's go with this >>4277110

>>4277050
>>Why didn’t you go to the Organization first, using the normal channels?

>>4277050
>I need more context. Give me the whole story, now.

>>4277050
“I’ll help,” you declare, “but I need the full story.”

“Of course,” Nina agrees. “A week ago our village contacted the Organization after a murder… the third in as many days where the victim was partly eaten, with some of the… remains… left in the center of the village overnight. Five days ago a Claymore came to our village to locate the yōma we assumed was responsible.”

“That was the last time we saw her alive.”

“Dead?” Justina wonders.

You nod curtly. “Sounds that way.”

“More so, we know it to be fact,” Nina admits. “One victim has appeared each morning since the first. Two days ago, it was the Claymore. Just her head, and one shoulder.”

“What color was the Claymore’s hilt?” you ask. “And do you know their name and rank?”

Nina nods quietly. “I was the only one polite enough to ask. She said she was Ingrid, number thirty-seven, and the handle of her sword was red.”

“A rookie offensive type,” you declare.

“Did you know her?” Nina asks.

Justina shakes her head slowly. “No.”

“Thirty-seven,” you repeat. “It could have been a regular yōma.”

“Maybe.”

“Excuse me, Noel,” Nina interrupts. “What do you mean, normal?”

“Not all yōma are created equal,” you muse. “Some of them are more powerful and dangerous than the ones you watched me butcher, even enough to give Justina and me pause.”

“This one sounds exceptionally cruel, but there’s nothing to indicate that it’s something we can’t handle.”

“I see,” Nina muses. “That’s good at least.”

>Still, it’s good to be careful. We’ll do some scouting to see what it is we’re dealing with.
>Justina, please relay a message to Scaithness. Bring reinforcements to meet me, just in case.
>We’ll go together. Miss Nina, please take a group of your fellow villagers to Blackthorn Keep.
>Other?

>>4279558
>>Still, it’s good to be careful. We’ll do some scouting to see what it is we’re dealing with.

>>4279586
>>4279558
This
Shadowrun mode: it's an AB that is trying to lure us in/feasting on claymores

>>4279558
>Still, it’s good to be careful. We’ll do some scouting to see what it is we’re dealing with.
>We’ll go together. Miss Nina, please send a message to Blackthorn Keep describing the situation and telling them what we are going to do.

Btw during the timeskip, did the large concentration of Claymores in Hazaran cause a noticeable decrease of Yoma in there or were there as many missions as before?

>>4279598
Sounds like a bait. Throw few bodies around to lure a Claymore there, then kill her and do it again in hopes of stronger Claymore coming.

>>4279558
>Still, it’s good to be careful. We’ll do some scouting to see what it is we’re dealing with.

>>4279558
>>Still, it’s good to be careful. We’ll do some scouting to see what it is we’re dealing with.

>>4279558
>Still, it’s good to be careful. We’ll do some scouting to see what it is we’re dealing with.

>>4279558
>Justina, please relay a message to Scaithness. Bring reinforcements to meet me, just in case.
This may be a trap by the Org to pit us in a battle where they can observe our directly from what little information they may have figured out in that previous battle with the other Claymores and the Awakened with the Yoma Army..

>>4279558
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 4, 5, 4 = 13 (3d10)

>>4281435

Rolled 7, 3, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>4281435

Rolled 1, 4, 10 = 15 (3d10)

>>4281435

Rolled 1, 3, 2 = 6 (3d10)

>>4281435

>>4281435
“It’s best to be careful,” you declare. “We’ll scout the area, then make a decision once we have an idea what it is we’re actually facing.”

“Suppressed?” Justina asks you.

You nod in agreement. “That’d be fore the best, I think.”

…

You follow Nina to her new hometown, a lovely little place in the hills. and begin the search in a pattern. Out and back, in each of the cardinal directions, using your senses to seek out any yōma that might be present in any amount. First north into the hills, then south. Then east towards the border with Hazaran. You eventually head west, and when you do, it’s Justina who notices it first.

“There.”

“You’re right,” you realize. “It’s strong too… and running.”

“Awakened?” she asks.

You nod curtly. “And it noticed us coming a mile away.”

>Pursue the awakened
>Occupy the village for now and wait
>Withdraw to Scaithness and report
>Other?

>>4281645
>>Occupy the village for now and wait
>send message to scaithness

>>4281645
>>Occupy the village for now and wait

>>4281645
>>Pursue the awakened

>>4281645
>>4281712
in with this guy

>>4281645
Let's go with >>4281712

>>4281712
Concur

>>4281645
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 8, 1, 9 = 18 (3d10)

>>4282655

Rolled 5, 3, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>4282655

Rolled 7, 1, 8 = 16 (3d10)

>>4282655

File: __flora_claymore_drawn_by(...).jpg (135 KB, 1024x1097)

135 KB JPG

>>4282655
“Let’s stay in the village for a while,” you suggest. “We’ll sleep in shifts during the nights and spend the days repeating our search pattern. We should also send a message to Scaithness.”

“Agreed,” Justina nods curtly.

…

After returning to the village, your first priority is to bury what little remains of Ingrid by the roadside, with her sword marking the grave as is tradition. Then you find a nice quiet spot under a tree in the middle of the village, where the path running through splits around a little grassy hill. This is where Nina eventually finds you.

“What news?” she asks.

“Dunno,” Justina admits.

“It seemed pretty strong,” you clarify, “but it fled when it sensed us. We’ll be staying here for a few days just to make sure it doesn’t come right back, or mount an organized attack.”

“Do you think there’s a high chance of that?” Nina inquires.

“Maybe,” Justina replies. “It depends.”

“If it’s one of the really strong ones it might be unpredictable,” you admit. “But all my experience tells me it’s more likely to flee and reestablish itself somewhere else.”

“But you’re waiting here to make sure?”

Justina nods curtly. “Exactly.”

Nina sighs wearily. “I guess there’s nowhere really ‘safe’ from yōma, is there? This makes twice in two different settlements...”

“True,” you agree. “It may seem like bad luck to some people… but the thing about it is you’re still alive. So you could also think about it as being good luck.”

Nina chuckles grimly. “I guess I know how you must have felt.”

>Scaithness may be safer than most places, but only because so many of us live there.
>Putting a Claymore in every settlement may change things… but it’s pretty distasteful.
>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.
>Other?

>>4283002
>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.

>>4283002
>>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.

>>4283002
>>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.

>>4283002
>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.
>Putting a Claymore in every settlement may change things… but it’s pretty distasteful and no one to our knowledge has the resources for it

>>4283002
>>Scaithness may be safer than most places, but only because so many of us live there.

>>4283002
>>Scaithness may be safer than most places, but only because so many of us live there.
>>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.

>>4283002
>>Scaithness may be safer than most places, but only because so many of us live there.
>>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.

>>4283002
>If we knew true origin of the yōma we could treat the problem at the source… but we don’t.

>>4283002
“If we knew were the yōma actually came from we could treat the problem at the source,” you sigh. “But since we don’t… we can’t.”

“Even Claymores don’t?” Nina wonders aloud.

You shake your head. “No, even if the Organization knows anything we don’t.”

“If?” Justina repeats.

“It’s possible,” you admit. “I’ve certainly considered it… if the Organization destroyed the yōma at their source, then there’d be no need for them. There’d be no need for us. I’d be fine with that, but the old men on the council?”

“Point,” Justina admits.

“You mean,” Nina presses for the sake of clarification, “that they might be keeping that a secret so they’ll stay in business? Are they that scummy? Would they do that?”

“They would,” you muse, “but I have no evidence that they have.”

“No evidence,” Justina adds, “no action.”

…

By the next morning you and Justina have run two more patrols with no sign of the yōma returning, and so you take a few moments to relax and have a light, late breakfast… of one sausage, an egg, and a handful of juicy red berries between the two of you.

“Your friend,” Justina alerts you as Nina returns.

“Welcome back,” you greet her politely. “You know, you’re the only person here who seems to want to come near us.”

“I suppose I just don’t find you frightening at all,” she admits. “I was thinking.”

“Oh?”

“About what you said yesterday,” she continues. “About not having evidence.”

“I see,” you gesture for her to continue.

“How could you get that evidence?” she asks you. “If it even exists?”

“I don’t know,” you admit. “I supposed there’d have to be an interrogation, or we’d have to get someone who knows to admit to it.”

“Lavinia?”

You see what Justina is talking about. “I guess.”

“What about Lavinia?” Nina wonders.
>1/2

>>4284738
“The Organization maintains training grounds and a fortress there,” you explain, “covering most of the island. I don’t think any of us have seen all the facilities.”

“… could we?” Justina muses.

“Go to Lavinia and poke around?” you complete the thought.

Justina nods silently.

“I… guess?” you wonder. “It’s possible of course.”

>I’m not sure, but a ship could be sailed around the north side of the island.
>We could probably swim there, actually. It’s only what, twenty miles? Thirty?
>I’d probably notice us, so the Organization probably can too. It’d be profoundly unwise.
>There are some civilians living there. We… COULD get someone to do it for us.
>Other?

>>4284830
>>I’m not sure, but a ship could be sailed around the north side of the island.

>>4284830
>I’m not sure, but a ship could be sailed around the north side of the island.
>I’d probably notice us, so the Organization probably can too. It’d be profoundly unwise. Too dangerous to do.

>>4284830
>We could probably swim there, actually. It’s only what, twenty miles? Thirty?

>>4284830
>There are some civilians living there. We… COULD get someone to do it for us.

>>4284830
>I’d probably notice us, so the Organization probably can too. It’d be profoundly unwise.

>>4284830
>I’d probably notice us, so the Organization probably can too. It’d be profoundly unwise.
>Also we don't even know what to look for.
>The only way would be to convince someone they trust to do it for us. Like Zoe.

>>4284830
>>I’m not sure, but a ship could be sailed around the north side of the island.

>>4284830
“It would be deeply unwise to land on Lavinia without a plan,” you sigh deeply. “I could probably sense my own presence, so there’s no reason to think the Organization couldn’t. But it might be possible to charter a cruise around the north side of the island.”

“Camila?” Justina muses.

You nod curtly. “Camila would be ideal due to the range of her sensing abilities, but Vanessa is a sensor as well. And I think she’s over her sea sickness… mostly.”

“Mostly?” Justina frowns.

“Okay, so it’s wishful thinking,” you admit. “But I have no idea. She’s avoided sailing since she joined our cohort.”

“Could a normal person do it?” Nina wonders aloud.

Justina shakes her head. “No.”

“No?” Nina replies. “Just… no?”

“Just no,” Justina insists.

“A normal person wouldn’t know what to look for,” you explain, “and may not be able to survive long outside the port town.”

“Really, what we’re hoping for is that Zoe and Camila make a decision.”

“Zoe...” Justina muses quietly. “Does she need to defect?”

“You may be right,” you admit. “If we were to go to her and ask for information only she might be willing to cooperate, but the problem is that we’d have to approach her in the first place.”

“Fair point,” Justina agrees.

There’s no easy answer…

…

After two days with no sign that the yōma is going to return at all, you decide that there’s no point in staying in this village. So you return to Scaithness, with Nina coming along with you as a refugee… in her words, she ‘might as well follow the Claymores she knows instead of relying on them to keep turning up when they’re needed’.

Which you can’t argue with, of course.

“Do you think it was an awakened being?” Laura asks you patiently after you give your report on what you’ve been doing for the past few days.

You shrug. “I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think so, yes.”
>1/2

>>4286338
You briefly overview your thoughts regarding Lavinia to the cohort, and reactions are mixed… especially from Vanessa, who would be a prime candidate to go on such a mission.

“So what way of approaching it do you favor?” Valentina wonders aloud.

Serana casts a sidelong glance in your direction. [I bet you want to go yourself.]

>I’d be willing to go with Vanessa in a small team.
>I’d be willing to go it alone.
>I think we need to wait until we know what Zoe and Camila plan to do.
>Other?

>>4286341
>I think we need to wait until we know what Zoe and Camila plan to do.

The recon boat trip feels like too much of a risk to undertake.

>>4286341
>I’d be willing to go it alone.

>>4286341
>>I think we need to wait until we know what Zoe and Camila plan to do.

>>4286341
>I think we need to wait until we know what Zoe and Camila plan to do.

>>4286341
>>I think we need to wait until we know what Zoe and Camila plan to do.

>>4286341
>>I think we need to wait until we know what Zoe and Camila plan to do.

>>4286341
“I think it all hinges on Zoe and Camila,” you admit.

Serana frowns slightly. [I don’t disagree, but that’s a surprise coming from you.]

“I know that,” you sigh, “but let’s face it. Camila’s the one who stands the best chance of sensing things on Lavinia without being detected and Zoe’s the only one who could get us information from the inside. Either way we could use their help.”

“And either way, having them against us would be a problem,” Helen completes your thought.

“That’s true,” you agree, “but I prefer positive thinking in times like this.”

“And that’s why I play the realist,” Helen counters. “But I have to admit, you have a point. It doesn’t make sense to rush into it before knowing who we have to work with.”

“Still… shouldn’t we have heard from now?”

Valentina’s comment is on point… you have to admit you’d have hoped to hear back from Camila or Zoe by now, and their silence to now suggests that either something has gone wrong or they’ve given you your answer already.

“I find it hard to believe Zoe would refuse the courtesy of a straight answer,” Laura muses.

And you have to agree with that as well.

“We have to find a way to progress without relying on outsiders,” you declare.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Valentina raises her hand. “We could kidnap a handler.”

Every one of you turns to face her slowly.

“… what?”

“That’s an idea,” you admit. “I’d considered it at one point...”

“And?”

This time it’s Helen asking.

>We could do it. Use a call for Warrior assistance somewhere outside Hazaran as a trap.
>I hate it… but I COULD try to find my own former handler. In his own way he always liked me.
>I hate it… but my mother could get us the information without us confronting the Organization.
>Other?

>>4288195
>>I hate it… but I COULD try to find my own former handler. In his own way he always liked me.

>>4288195
>I hate it… but I COULD try to find my own former handler. In his own way he always liked me.
>And if that doesn't work, we could do it. Use a call for Warrior assistance somewhere outside Hazaran as a trap.

>>4288195
>>I hate it… but I COULD try to find my own former handler. In his own way he always liked me.

>>4288195
>>I hate it… but I COULD try to find my own former handler. In his own way he always liked me.

>>4288195
>I hate it… but my mother could get us the information without us confronting the Organization.

>>4288195
>>I hate it… but I COULD try to find my own former handler. In his own way he always liked me.

>>4288195
>>I hate it… but my mother could get us the information without us confronting the Organization.

>>4288195
“I hate to even suggest this,” you grumble, “but we might have some luck with Tomas.”

“Tomas?” Valentina asks, furrowing her brow in distaste. “Your former handler? Why him?”

“He… always seemed oddly fond of me,” you admit quietly. “He was my mother’s handler too.”

“Can he be trusted?” Laura asks you.

“I never have,” you make another admission. “But he always had a way of dropping information on me bit by bit… always deliberately.”

[But how do we find him?] Serana asks you silently.

You consider your answer carefully… in reality you have no idea where Tomas might be at the moment. Unfortunately, you don’t even have any real answer to that. Though you do know someone who might have an idea.

“I need to contact my mother,” you sigh dramatically. “Sorry, but I see no other way of figuring out where Tomas is now.”

“Are you sure of this?” Aurora asks you grimly. “I… still don’t trust this you know.”

“I’m not thrilled about it either,” you admit.

[I’m coming with you,] Serana declares.

“I’m not going to tell you no,” you reply with a smile. “I doubt I could convince you.”

[Smart girl.]

…

You head across that night to the ruins on the other side of the loch, taking a seat on the shattered foundations and setting your sword across your lap. Serana sits to your left on… either a boulder or a chunk of wall, it’s difficult to tell at a glance.

[And so we wait?] she asks after planting her sword in front of her.

“And so we wait,” you confirm with a curt nod.

The signal is your yōki, released at twenty percent and held there evenly from noon to well after sundown.

“Hello, dear,” your mother’s voice greets you from out of the dim. “I see you have need of my… expertise?”

“I do,” you agree, before glacing at Serana. “Stay calm.”

[I know,] Serana signs back.

>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.
>For now, I just need to capture Tomas. Can you help?
>We’re entering a dangerous period. We need to coordinate closely for a while, capturing Tomas is only the beginning.
>Other?

>>4289983
>>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.

>>4289983
>>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.

>>4289983
>>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.

>>4289983
>>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.

>>4289983
>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.

>>4289983
>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas.

>>4289983
>>Mother, I need information. Zoe’s status, Camila’s status, and Tomas. I need to capture Tomas. Can you help?

File: 9a7747c6cf97a45f6ca322727(...).png (428 KB, 567x800)

428 KB PNG

>>4289983
“Mother,” you bow politely, “I’m afraid you’re right… we need information, and we’re not even sure where to begin getting it.”

“I see,” she replies, pulling up a chunk of wall out of the ground and dropping it in front of you so she has someplace to sit, tucking her pretty green dress carefully to keep it clean as possible. “What do you need to know?”

“The status of two warriors currently with the Organization,” you clarify, “Zoe and Camila.”

“Two key allies,” she recognizes immediately. “At least, potentially. Their defection would be a massive coup in terms of both their unique abilities as well as their influence. Particularly Zoe.”

“We also need Tomas,” you add.

At this, your mother frowns. “Why?”

“We need to interrogate someone within the Organization’s hierarchy,” you explain. “We have serious questions about their background, their funding, their logistical operations… the sort of shady stuff we’ve come to assume they do but that goes on out of their own warriors’ sight.”

“And Tomas is the one you’ve chosen for this.”

You nod curtly. “He’s the one most likely to cooperate.”

“He was my handler too,” she admits. “I have no fondness for him, and I suspect you don’t either.”

“You’d rather not see him again.”

Your mother nods curtly. “That’s right, my darling.”

“I’m sorry, mom,” you admit to her. “I get it… I really do believe that your past is painful for you. But I wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t important.”

There are a few seconds of quiet consideration.

[Do you think she’ll agree?] Serana signs across to you, a concerned look on her face.

“This is quite a favor for a grown daughter to ask of her mother,” Sabela replies. “So I will do as you request… but for a price.”

You shake your head and sigh. “What price?”

“I wouldn’t ask for something you could never pay,” Sabela smiles placidly. “All I ask is that you give me a chance to be a mother to you. Just for a few days, to at least pretend to have some semblance of normality.”

“For one who can obtain anything else she wants through force, that would be the only thing of value to ask in trade.”

>I accept.
>Only if I can bring a chaperone.
>No deal. It would only hurt you in the long run.
>Other?

>>4291629
>I accept. But I fear that it would only hurt you in the long run.

>>4291629
>I accept.

>>4291629
>>I accept.

>>4291629
>>I accept. But I fear that it would only hurt you in the long run.

>>4291629
>I accept. But I fear that it would only hurt you in the long run.

>>4291629
>>I accept. But I fear that it would only hurt you in the long run.

The
>Only if I can bring a chaperone.
vote is pretty much 'I NEED AN ADULT'

>>4291629
>>I accept.
>No nagging about grandchildren, though.

>>4291629
>I accept.

>>4291629
>>>I accept. But I fear that it would only hurt you in the long run.

Mommy is going to feed us human meatloaf for dinner.

>>4291629
“I accept,” you agree quietly. “But are you certain this won’t end up hurting you more in the long run?”

Sabela considers her answer carefully, while Serana signs back to you.

[Are you really okay with this?]

You give her a single, subtle nod. [I’m no monster, and she IS my mother.]

It’s with an emphatic movement of your hands that you drive that second point home. She is still your mother, and because of that you can’t help but feel some concern towards her.

Eventually Sabela replies. “If I have one fond memory of my daughter to cling to, how can that hurt me ‘in the long run’?”

You incline your head politely. “That’s good.”

“Then we have an agreement,” Sabela smiles

Serana glances at Sabela, then back to you. [I will accompany you.]

“Serana wishes to come with me,” you translate.

“That would be fine,” your mother agrees warmly. “I’d like to offer you the option of coming with me now, as I go about getting the information you seek.”

[Counting as the week she wants?] Serana asks, raising her eyebrow.

When you repeat the question, your mother merely shrugs. “I think a fair compromise would be to add a few days. Make up for the travel time, and the work I’ll have to be doing.”

“Oh, and I’ll ask that you dress in plain clothes.”

>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.
>Serana, please remain here. I’ll leave in the morning.
>No, I’d rather keep the work aspect separate.
>Other?

>>4293632
>then give me until morning, we'll leave at that time

>>4293632
>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.

>>4293632
>>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.

>>4293632
>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.

>>4293632
>>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.

>>4293632
>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.
We gonna learn some cool mommy skills!
inb4 that one anons screeches about her eating people.

>>4293632
>Then give me until morning. We’ll leave at that time.

>>4294103
>NOOOO YOU CAN'T JUST EAT THE SCUM OF SOCIETY THAT RAPIST HAD A FAMILY

>>4294161
>THAT RAPIST HAD A FAMILY
I suppose a rapist would have several.

>>4294442
That makes it all the worse! Our mother is tearing apart so many families with her parasitic actions! She's a leech sucking the life out of society!

>>4294640
Or shes giving them closure, since the rapist wasn't paying alimony or child support and was a deadbeat absentee parent.

>>4294103
>>4294161
There's no way there is enough scum of society in her territory to feed her. Unless you start to lower the bar.
Also how does Sabela even find them? Rapists have no yoki. How carefully does she check her suspicions? Does she take measures to weed out false charges and malicious rumors? If so, how? With her vague powers of plot convenience? Does she consider extenuating circumstances once the bar gets lowered to pickpockets? If she finds a confirmed rapist but is not hungry, will she allow him to rape on until she gets peckish?
This is a copout to not think of the actual implications of the situation and you know it.

>>4293632
“Then I’ll be back in the morning,” you tell Sabela. “See you then.”

Sabela bows politely. “I look forward to it.”

…

“You agreed to what?” Aurora demands sharply.

Even Helen frowns at you after you declare what deal you made with your mother. “I wouldn’t have struck that bargain...”

“Thank you!” Aurora adds.

“… but it’s not my bargain to strike,” Helen finishes the thought. “My mother wasn’t an Abyssal one, so I can’t tell you how to handle this particular subject, except that I hope you’re careful.”

“That’s a remarkably lax attitude,” Aurora counters.

“It’s an unusual situation,” Helen insists.

“I’ll make no apologies,” you eventually declare. “She’s a monster, but she’s also my mother. Both of those things are true. Both of these things have to factor into my decisions… and I’m getting you the information we need.”

After considering your reply for a few quiet moments, Aurora nods wordlessly. She clearly still doesn’t like it, but she can acknowledge your position.

“I’ll be leaving in the morning,” you declare. “Serana insisted on coming with me.”

Helen nods curtly. “Agreed.”

Serana bows her head in quiet gratitude.

…

It’s still dim when you arrive on the far shore of the loch the next morning, in plain Hazari dress together with Serana, your great swords covered over in cloth and wrapped up with Alysheba’s pack saddle. Your mother is there at the ruins waiting for you, as you could sense she was all through the night.

“Welcome back,” she greets you warmly, before putting her hand on Alysheba’s head. “I trust that there weren’t any problems with your companions?”

“Only what you could’ve expected,” you admit.

>Let’s deal with the information-gathering first. I’d be interested to know your sources.
>We’ll travel today, get settled wherever it is you want to go to first, then discuss what happens next.
>I’ll leave the details entirely up to you, mother. After all this is for your benefit to begin with.
>Other?

>>4295139
>We’ll travel today, get settled wherever it is you want to go to first, then discuss what happens next.

>>4295139
>>We’ll travel today, get settled wherever it is you want to go to first, then discuss what happens next.

>>4295139
>>We’ll travel today, get settled wherever it is you want to go to first, then discuss what happens next.

>>4295139
>We’ll travel today, get settled wherever it is you want to go to first, then discuss what happens next.

>>4295139
>>I’ll leave the details entirely up to you, mother. After all this is for your benefit to begin with.

File: Map-June_2020_The_West.jpg (42 KB, 485x370)

42 KB JPG

>>4295139
“Let’s get the travel out of the way first,” you suggest. “Settle in elsewhere, then discuss our next step once we have.”

Your mother agrees, and soon you’re on your way.

“As you’ve probably suspected I have a rotation I tend to keep to,” Sabela explains as you work your way northwest. “I follow the eastern and southern borders of Hazaran, then travel across Tarsus from Applecross to Annecy. From there I skirt the borders of Sakia and Tarsus to Kraljevo, on the Sakian side, then skirt the northern border of Hazaran to Acerrae.”

[Does she have a series of stops, I wonder?] Serana muses idly as you lead Alysheba on the road.

“I can ask.”

[Please.]

“What was that?” Sabela asks you. “I take it Serana here has a question for me?”

You nod. “Where do you typically stop along the way?”

“Acerrae, Scaithness, Balloch, Bladnock, Drumbeg, Applecross, Annecy, Kraljevo, Daria, and Voi,” she declares. “Though I wouldn’t call them regular. Sometimes I stop and stay for longer, sometimes I skip a settlement. It depends.”

“On what?”

“On a variety of things,” she admits. “On my mood, on whether I need something, on whether a given settlement can… provide what I need if you follow me.”

[As far as I care to,] Serana rolls her eyes.

“So which one are we heading for?” you ask.

“Kraljevo,” your mother tells you. “Or more accurately, a small castle that once stood on a hilltop near Kraljevo.”

“Why there?”

“Because I have a useful contact there,” she explains. “One who can help us in your search for answers.

[One who feeds her?] Serana wonders.

“What is it this time?” Sabela asks you, having noted the movement.

>Serana wants to know if you plan to feed on humans while you’re there.
>She was asking if this was someone who… “provides what you need”, as you put it.
>It was a question I don’t think I want you to answer. Keep separate matters separate.
>Other?

>>4296751
>>She was asking if this was someone who… “provides what you need”, as you put it.
we all know where this is headed, but lets be civil for now, the sad ending will come eventually

>>4296751
>She was asking if this was someone who… “provides what you need”, as you put it.

>>4296751
>>She was asking if this was someone who… “provides what you need”, as you put it.

>>4296751
>>She was asking if this was someone who… “provides what you need”, as you put it.

>>4296751
>It was a question I don’t think I want you to answer. Keep separate matters separate.

>>4296751
>It was a question I don’t think I want you to answer. Keep separate matters separate.

>>4296751
“She was asking if this contact of yours was a...” you struggle to find a diplomatic way of phrasing it. “Provisioner of yours.”

“Very diplomatic of you to put it that way,” Sabela responds tactfully. “Yes, he is. You’ll find that I know every warden, every mayor, and every work camp marshal along the edges of what I consider ‘my territory’, and whether they know what I am or not they all know me.”

“For many of them, I can be relied upon to ‘resolve’ certain otherwise thorny subjects.”

“Work camps?” you ask.

“For prison details,” Sabela explains. “They’re not officially condoned in Tarsus or Petraea, but even in those two states they’re often overlooked along the borders, where prison labor is useful in defense works. Since Annecy is at the far extent of Tarsus, bordering both Petraea and Sakia, that is one such place where work camps are a common sight.”

[So what’s in Kraljevo?]

“Serana wants to know about Kraljevo.”

“The military governor there is my contact,” Sabela explains, “after his predecessor met an unfortunate end. He gives me whatever I ask for at the cost of the asking, and in exchange I don’t pry his chest open and play cat’s cradle with his organs while he watches.”

“You’re scary sometimes, you know that?”

Your mother nods curtly. “Do something distasteful once and you may never need do it again. So far, it’s a theory that’s worked well for me.”

“And… so will you have to do something ‘distasteful’ in Kraljevo?”

She shakes her head. “I can tighten my belt for a week or so longer, if we can avoid having to fight or push ourselves at all. Try not to think about the implications of that schedule.”

[She means when she saved us at the battle in the mountain pass,] Serana signs to you with a troubled expression. [The one where we faced Constanzia and Rafaela.]

You nod almost imperceptibly. [That battle already had a high cost.]

[But HOW high?] Serana frets.

Sabela spares her a glance. [No sad.]

Serana’s eyes widen slightly. [You…]

“Don’t hold yourselves to account for my actions,” Sabela continues, in a format she’s more capable of nuance with. “We abyssal ones are most comparable to natural disasters… would you blame yourself for the aftermath of a hurricane?”
>1/2

>>4298065
After a full day of travel you make camp, with the Dari pass somewhere ahead of you… you’ve made excellent time so far. It seems your mother was very precise when she requested three or four days’ leeway, since that’s going to be about the amount of time it will take to travel to Kraljevo, then to see your back to the Hazari border.

“This seems like a good point to stop,” Sabela declares.

[Grazing?] Serana asks you with a glance.

You nod. “Yeah, that’s right. Alysheba’s only...”

Both of your companions look at you expectantly. Even your horse seems to stop chewing and raises his head for a moment.

“I was about to say he was only human,” you admit.

You get a contented chuckle out of your mother, and a smirk out of your mute friend.

>Start a little fire, be sociable.
>Stay away from the road, no fire.
>Other?

>>4298115
>Start a little fire, be sociable.

>>4298115
>>Start a little fire, be sociable.

>>4298115
>Start a little fire, be sociable.

>>4298115
>start a fire, be sociable
Alysheba is best horse

>>4298115
>>Start a little fire, be sociable.

>>4298115
>Start a little fire, be sociable.
Alysheba best horse

>>4298115
You decide to start a little fire as Alysheba grazes… no sense going out of your way to make this a miserable experience. With a few little sticks you get it going, before tossing somewhat larger dry pieces onto it, keeping it low but warm.

After a while, you hear your mother’s voice. Quiet, smooth, and melodious in the flickering light, to the tune of a lullaby unknowably old.

Tha mi sgith’s mi leam fhin,
(I am tired and all alone)
Buain na rainich, buain na rainich,
(Cutting the bracken, cutting the bracken)
Tha mi sgith’s mi leam fhin,
(I am tired and all alone)
Buain na rainich daonnan
(Forever cutting the bracken)

‘S tric a bha mi fhin’s mo leannan,
(Often my love and I)
Anns a’ ghleannan cheothar,
(Were in the misty glens)
‘G eisteachd coisir bhinn an doire,
(Listening to the sweet choir of the grove)
Seinn sa choille dhomhail
(Singing in the verdant forest)

O nam faicinn thu a’ tighinn,
(If I saw you coming)
Ruithinn dhol nad chodhail,
(I would run to meet you)
Ach mur tig thu ‘n seo gam shireadh,
(But if you don’t come here to search for me)
Ciamar thilleas dochas?
(How can I hope to return?)

Your voice joins your mother’s in the third verse, sung in the old tongue of Hazaran… a song of fairy-story love without a fairy-story ending, where the two lovers aren’t allowed to be together in the end. A song of bittersweet love only just worth the inevitable pain of its eventual end.

You sing for some time by the firelight, and Serana only listens quietly.
>1/2

>>4299591
[That was a sad song, wasn’t it?]

You nod quietly. “A lot of Hazari folk songs are… we like our stories bittersweet.”

“None of those syrupy-sweet ballads from back east,” Sabela adds. “I always thought the Hazari tongue was naturally inclined towards it.”

[What was it about?] Sabela signs to you, a curious expression on her face.

“Two lovers who meet in the forest in secret, who end up being kept apart,” you explain. “They don’t get to stay together in the end.”

“It’s sweet because they knew it would end that way,” Sabela adds. “But they tried it anyway… because love doesn’t always make sense. Sometimes it hurts.”

[I was never much of a singer,] Sabela asks, [but I always enjoy listening to people who are.]

Sabela leans and raises an eyebrow at you, waiting for a translation.

“Serana never could sing anyway,” you clarify, “but she enjoys listening.”

“I know a fair few more,” Sabela offers. “And I’ve practiced controlling the length of my vocal cords to adjust my range… I can even do male roles.”

>I’d like to hear THAT.
>So… what else do you do to pass the time?
>You miss him, don’t you?
>Other?

>>4299626
>You miss him, don’t you?

>>4299626
>[I was never much of a singer,] Serana admits, [but I always enjoy listening to people who are.]
It's been a long day.

>>4299626
>>I’d like to hear THAT.
>You miss him, don’t you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqfKigp99cY
For the record.

>>4299626
>>4299655
this

>>4299626
>>I’d like to hear THAT.
>>So… what else do you do to pass the time?

>>4299626
>You miss him, don’t you?

File: Comino_St_Mary%u2019s_Tower.jpg (108 KB, 800x600)

108 KB JPG

>>4299626
“That’d be interesting to hear,” you admit with an amused chuckle, which slowly dies away after a few moments. “You must really miss him.”

“You think so?”

You nod. “It was fairly obvious, yes.”

She shakes her head. “We yōma will never coexist with humans, it’s not our fate. But that wasn’t what I was thinking about.”

“Then what?”

“I was thinking about you,” she admits.

After a few moments you nod in understanding.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Sabela insists quietly. “I wish things could have been different with your father. I really did love him. But nothing in the world can change what did happen.”

“No… the love that may not make sense isn’t what I felt for him. It’s what I feel for the daughter who is, one day, to kill me. And for what I have seen you must, in some amount, feel for me.”

[Danger,] Serana warns you silently.

[I can’t deny it to myself that she has a point,] you admit curtly.

“Your friend is right to be concerned,” Sabela tells you quietly. “But she also does not understand my message to you… we can love one another, and still accept the necessity that one of us must kill the other. I have done so.”

“After this pleasant little diversion, you must do so as well.”

You avoid speaking of it for the rest of the evening, only spending an hour or two sleeping before rounding Alysheba up and resuming your long walk into Sakia.

…

“This is it,” Sabela declares later that afternoon, at a hillside right along the border. Atop that hill, which forms a long ridge covered in dry shrubs and thornbushes, is the mostly-preserved shell of a fortress.

“Another castle,” you observe. “I’m detecting a pattern with you.”

Your mother simply shrugs. “It’s a nice location to hold, and these castles are often either held by bandits or feared as haunted. Either way there’s no real barrier to my taking over.”

>Head in, get settled. See what resources will be available here.
>Search the area for any evidence of bandits or lesser yōma.
>Find a point where you can overlook the town itself.
>Other?

>>4300306
>>Head in, get settled. See what resources will be available here.
>>Search the area for any evidence of bandits or lesser yōma.

>>4300306
>Head in, get settled. See what resources will be available here.
>Search the area for any evidence of bandits or lesser yōma.

>>4300306
>>Head in, get settled. See what resources will be available here.
>>Search the area for any evidence of bandits or lesser yōma.

>>4300306
>Search the area for any evidence of bandits or lesser yōma.
>Find a point where you can overlook the town itself.

>>4300306
>>Find a point where you can overlook the town itself.

>>4300306
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 1, 4, 4 = 9 (3d10)

>>4301402

Rolled 2, 1, 10 = 13 (3d10)

>>4301402

Rolled 10, 8, 6 = 24 (3d10)

>>4301402

>>4301410
That was a good roll. You saved us anon!

>>4301402
The castle would be nigh-impossible to approach for an ordinary human: a ramp of stone masonry topped with a hard-packed dirt path once led to a drawbridge, which crossed a short gap to the top of a steeply-sloped stone platform… a glacis, atop which is a small amount of usable space which runs around the base of the castle’s main walls. The ramp now lies in ruins, meeting a crumbled segment of the stony glacis where the two pieces of stonework seem to melt together into something that falls decidedly short of passable.

At the base of the glacis however, on one side, is a spot where a heavy iron gate once stood, fragments of which are still visible embedded in the masonry arch. Here there is even a wooden awning that provides some cover.

[Strange,] Serana frowns. [This design I mean.]

“It’s a gun platform,” you explain. “Or at least, it was at one point.”

“That’s correct,” Sabela confirms. “It was only abandoned in the last few years, due to a structural flaw in the tower itself. That flaw caused much of the inner walls of the tower to collapse under the weight of a set of new bronze guns, ruining it for the purpose.”

“The cannon would have gone atop the tower,” you guess, “on the corners. The lower shelf around the base of the tower, which is above us now, would have been a musket gallery.”

“Also correct,” Sabela confirms. “If you want to go upstairs, there’s a spiral staircase under the northwest corner that goes straight to the gun platform… or rather, what’s left of it.”

“I’ll check that out in a bit,” you decide, hitching Alysheba just outside the gate, where there awning can keep the sun off him. “I’ll want to arrange some feed and a water trough.”

“There’s a well on-site,” Sabela informs you. “I’ll see to your trusty steed here.”

Alysheba snorts curtly at her, but remains otherwise calm.

…

Using the time that buys, you head out on a walk around the immediate area, never straying much further than a mile or so away from the abandoned tower. You hope to find any evidence of yōma or civilians alike having been here recently, so that for the next week you can rest easy knowing that you shouldn’t expect any unwanted intruders.

What you find is encouraging in that you don’t see any evidence of yōma having been here any time reasonably recently, but discouraging in that you do see some evidence of horse tracks that aren’t Alysheba’s. They don’t approach the tower, but they do pass quite close, and there was a reasonable number of them. You count maybe eight individual sets of tracks, probably around a week old.

>Follow the tracks as far as you can, see where they went.
>Follow the tracks to see where they came from.
>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.
>Other?

>>4301654
>>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.

>>4301654
>>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.

>>4301654
>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.

>>4301654
>>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.

>>4301654
>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.

An excuse to have more conversations with her.

I still think we won't kill her but her love for us will be what kills her in the end and probably not by our hand directly.

>>4301654
>Just ASK Sabela why there might be horse tracks out here.

>>4301654
You decide that it would be far simpler and quicker to just ask Sabela about the tracks you found than try to investigate it yourself, and the odds of wasting a bunch of time on an eventual non-answer are a lot less that way. So you head back to the tower and into its lower level, where you find Sabela has gathered some dry grasses while you were away.

Serana signs to you. [We have water and some feed.]

“It’ll stretch the oat mix we brought along,” you nod curtly. “Though I’d like to find some fresh food for him too, and we’ll need some small amount of provisions.”

“There is a river nearby,” Sabela suggests, “at some point someone could go fishing.”

“That sounds remarkably wholesome,” you admit. “But it’ll have to come second.”

“Of course,” she agrees.

[It seems things are under control here,] Serana declares. [What did you find?]

“I found evidence of riders,” you declare. “Maybe a week old, more than six but less than a dozen. Mother, is there any reason riders would come out this far but not approach the tower?”

“You’re looking at her,” Sabela admits. “My contact is absolutely the type to send out a patrol on a regular basis to see if I’m here or not. He’s a coward after all, who collaborates with an Abyssal One, so you can’t really trust him.”

“You’re different of course,” she quickly insists. “You couldn’t trust a child who could be totally cold and cruel towards their own mother after all… at least, I wouldn’t think too highly of it.”

“Let’s just not think too much about it.” you sigh.

“Yes, of course my dear.”

[How do you usually contact this person?] Serana asks, this time directing her comments towards Sabela personally.

You quickly translate. “How do we let him know we’re here?”

“We don’t,” Sabela insists curtly. “I don’t want him to know that we are in any way related.”

“I will go alone.”

>Agree. Sabela has a good point.
>Disagree. You don’t plan to be sidelined here.
>Surely there’s SOMETHING you could do.
>Other?

>>4302455
>>Agree. Sabela has a good point.
i see this as a good opportunity to see for ourselves how abyssal ones live/how sabela lives her life

>>4302455
>Agree. Sabela has a good point.

>>4302455
>>Agree. Sabela has a good point.

>>4302455
>Agree. Sabela has a good point.

>>4302455
>Agree. Sabela has a good point.
enjoy this time, ask pesky questions later.

>>4302455
“Okay,” you nod politely. “I see your point.”

[Are you sure about this?]

You turn to Serana. “It’s not a question of whether either of us trust her completely, because she’s right. If too many people start to wonder if Sabela and I have any sort of relationship it’ll make our position untenable.”

After a few moments, Serana nods. [Sorry. I’m letting my suspicions towards her motives get the better of me.]

“I get what you mean,” you admit. “Sometimes it’s a bit much for me to believe… having an abyssal one on anything less than intrinsically hostile terms? Too much to hope for.”

“And yet here we are,” Sabela muses. “Please try to understand, Serana, that regardless of what anyone else may think I really do love my daughter, and I trust her to do the right things. You should also try to remember that your survival is due in no small part to that love.”

[How do you mean?]

“She asked why?” Sabela turns to you briefly, and you confirm it with a curt nod. “I would almost certainly have come to save your lives even had my daughter not been in danger, but her presence there made my response a certainty. I also may never have known that you were being sent to your deaths were I not already keeping an eye on her to begin with.”

“It was because I was there that any of you survived your encounter with Constanzia and Rafaela, and it was because Noel was there that I was there.”

“You were keeping watch over me?” you ask with a frown. “All that time?”

Sabela nods, with a warm smile. “Ever since you were first deployed to inner Tarsus all those years ago, yes. I was watching over you, at a healthy distance, as you grew into the person you are now.”

After a few moments, you quietly thank her.

“It was my privilege,” she insists.

That night sleep comes easily, with a small fire in the fireplace to keep the otherwise dark, almost dungeon-like lower level of the tower lit and warm.

…

You wake to find that Sabela has already gone, and Serana is sitting against a nearby wall with her eyes shut, waiting for you to stir.

“Morning,” you yawn.

[Morning.]

>Head down the hill to scrounge up some firewood and maybe do some fishing.
>There may be small settlements in the area other than Kraljevo itself. Go and pay one a visit.
>Other?

>>4303376
>>Head down the hill to scrounge up some firewood and maybe do some fishing.

>>4303376
>>Head down the hill to scrounge up some firewood and maybe do some fishing.

>>4303376
>Head down the hill to scrounge up some firewood and maybe do some fishing.

>>4303376
>Head down the hill to scrounge up some firewood and maybe do some fishing.

>>4303376
>>Head down the hill to scrounge up some firewood and maybe do some fishing.

>>4303376
“Come on, Serana,” you suggest. “Let’s head down the hill and take care of a few things, maybe collect some firewood first?”

She shows you her one good hand with a wry grin. [As much help as I’ll be.]

“We may find some good-sized pieces,” you muse. “You can chop one-handed.”

[True.]

…

Just as your mother told you, there’s a little creek that runs in the valley just below the ridgeline the tower you’re staying in is built atop. Here you find more green and less dry, with more than just some thick thorny shrubs to collect off the ground. There’s a fair bit of dry wood that you gather under your arms, and Serana grabs a small tree trunk to throw over her shoulder.

Up at the tower you and Serana chop up the tree into freshly-split pieces, which thankfully are dry all the way through to the core, so you can stack them up near the hearth… which as you quickly learn is of a design similar to a lot of kitchen hearths in wealthier Hazari homes: above the firebox is a thin layer of polished slate which heats up evenly for baking.

“Perfect,” you muse. “If only we ate like normal people do.”

[It’s nice though.]

“Definitely.”

You retrieve the fishing twine and hooks from one of the bags you had Alysheba carrying, and ride him back down to the creek to let him graze on something green, and drink the swift-flowing shallow water.

Upstream you find a birch switch and cut away the excess, leaving you with a simple rod to tie your twine to. You do the same for Serana, who takes the rod somewhat skeptically.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” you assure her as Alysheba swishes his tail contentedly beyond her.

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 4, 7, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>4303833

Rolled 7, 4, 8 = 19 (3d10)

>>4303833

Rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8 (3d10)

>>4303833

>>4303833
It takes some time to find a few small worms on the shore of the little creek, and some time longer to find a good spot where the water forms deep enough pools. Eventually you find a nice, quiet hollow with some shade and a deep, slow pool to sit by and fish.

By noon you can only come back with two small fish, though to your relief you and Serana each caught one. Serana had to hold her rod up and walk backwards, since she doesn’t have two hands to work with, but she did eventually land it on her own despite the awkwardness.

With the wood you collected first thing in the morning in the hearth, you quickly grill the fish on little spits over the open flame.

[It smells good.]

“It’s satisfying when you catch it yourself, isn’t it?” you muse. “My father taught me that.”

[He had a point.]

“That was part of why we’d go hunting and fishing when I was little,” you explain. “He wanted me to have that experience.”

Once you’ve eaten you haul out the hot ashes and the bones and guts of the fish and throw it all into a shallow pit outside to burn itself out, then Serana pours a little water into the ashen mix after a while to ensure that it’s cooled thoroughly. You also take some time to ensure that the cupboards are thoroughly cleaned.

Your mother returns in the mid-afternoon, leading a small pony with saddlebags. “I’ve brought some fresh feed, and some staples.”

“That’s good!” you reply. “Inside, the cupboards are fine now.”

“Good,” Sabela agrees, heading inside.

When she comes back out she finds you sitting in the shade by the base of the tower, with Serana seated at your side.

“So what news?” you ask her.

“I have to return to the city with this pony,” she informs you, “so I should know more by then. He’ll have had a chance to make some enquiries.”

…

Sabela returns next late into the evening, after you’ve lit the fire.

“I have some news,” she informs you first thing. “Why don’t you fix yourselves a small meal and we’ll talk.”
>1/2

>>4304710
Over a little bowl of hot oats with a little honey and dried fruit, shared between the two of you, you and Serana listen to Sabela’s explanation.

“I’ve had my contact at the prison begin making enquiries,” she tells you, “into the topics you wanted to hear about. He’ll have contacted traders who do business in Lavinia by the end of the week, though it will take some time.”

“And news of our former handler?” you ask with a frown. “Much as I’d like not to have to care about the old bastard ever again.”

“That’s a bit trickier,” your mother admits. “I think the easiest way to do it is to set bait and bring him to us instead.”

“Bait?” you repeat. “What bait have you set for him?”

“He’s such a meddlesome man,” Sabela smirks. “What better bait then rumors of his greatest failure?”

>What did you do, mother?
>I guess you’re using yourself as bait?
>I trust that you were careful.
>Other?

>>4304746
>>What did you do, mother?

>>4304746

>What did you do, mother?

>>4304746
>What did you do, mother?

>>4304746
>>What did you do, mother?

>>4304746
New thread tomorrow, will link here, update on my twitter handle, etc.

>>4304746
>>What did you do, mother?