>>5440066
Jess rests his hand on hers and ask about the books she writes. He notices that she’s been staying up late to write those books - he doesn’t want to watch her deal with eye strain.

He proposes that he could help write the books if she really wants to get those done quick.

Pine goes silent for a while.
The reason she pushes herself so much is because she knows that she doesn’t have a lot of time left as a writer.

It’s not just her ears and eyes.
Moving her hands and arms can feel painful sometimes, due to the many years she spent as a cook. Her back is also strained from the years of carrying heavy objects and parkour when she was a camp follower and later on, an assassin. While she’ll still be able to work as cook, writing for a long time will become a problem.

Time is also an important factor - these manuscripts aren’t just journals of something she would like to remember, they’re for her students and allies to learn from.

For people in the life, the downfall of two of the major slave firms will result in newer groups sprouting out to take their place. Pine knows first hand how easy it is to be killed due to lack of information about the other side.

Jess doesn’t really need to do all this.
He’s not involved in the life.
Even during the two year plot against the cult, he hasn’t done much aside from assisting them by enchanting weapons and armor, which is basically his job.

While he wasn’t as involved in the life as her, but as her husband, he really wants to help.
If she really insists on writing by herself, then maybe he could get some tea and snacks for her during the night. On days that he doesn’t need to work, he could stay up late with her to give her massages or keep the aromatic candles lit.

Pine continues to say that all of this isn’t necessary, but if he wants to, then sure.

It’s time to sleep.
There’s still one day left to spend at Silverport.

(Cont)

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>>5440069
The first half of last day at Silverport is spent revisiting the entertainment district and trading vessels.

The two spend a few hours in the recreational potion stores, finally trying out the potions.

After experiencing the lucid dream state from the potions first hand, it’s easy to see why so many would like to stay in false world for hours. This.. freedom, unbound by how reality behaves, the lack of responsibilities or work…

But this fantasy cannot last forever.

It’s nice to not think about sometimes, but there’s no escape from reality. Pine won’t be in condition to take part in grand adventures or plots in a decade or so due to her health.

Of course, with Jess by her side, with Noi and those two kids as her friends, and the people of Red Winter as her allies, she won’t be alone in her future pursuits. Besides, as the assault on the hospital has proved, she could be part of a few smaller scale plots.

As Jess and Pine look at the ocean filled with sea serpents from a trading vessel’s restaurant, they feel a sense of fulfillment.

They’ll miss this place, and it’s unsure if this town will still be the same when they do visit again, but Jess has fulfilled his dream of visiting a beach and seeing the more magical parts of the world while Pine has accepted a farewell to her old life.

Before this visit ends, they would like to commission a painting.
While Pine is decent at drawing, she's not able to capture the finer details.

>>A painting of the viscous, transparent liquid in a flask.
The liquid in flask is what started her journey and made her life what it is today.

>>A painting of Pine and Jess at the beach
The first time she sat that the beach at sunset was when she was talking to Zeal and Cris, on her first visit to Silverport.
It’s a fitting end to her journey.

>>A painting of Zeal and Cris as serpent scholars
Pine still has paintings of those kids as reference.

Those two kids meant a lot to her.
Perhaps they’ll go down a similar path to hers. Perhaps they’ll succeed. Perhaps they’ll fail. But at least, they’ll be memorized.

>>A painting of all of her allies
Pine still has paintings of everyone as reference.

Jess. Makari. Fern. Zeal. Cris. Noi. Bow. Sira.

They all mean a lot to her.
Even if she somehow forgets, at least this painting will remind her of them.

>>Write in

>>5440066
This will be the last choice.

After I write the epilogue, I’ll post some behind the scenes stuff and answer questions if you guys have any.

Thank you RQM, Souv, and many other players that I don’t know the names of for being with this quest! It’s been an incredible journey writing this quest all throughout 2022.

Shout out to Bone quest QM, and many other people on the 4chan qst discord for posting threads or updates when I got banned. You guys are really cool for that.

>>5440070
>A painting of all of her allies

>>5440070
>>A painting of all of her allies

>>5440076
>>5440122
The two decide to commission a painting of her allies. Good thing she keeps illustrations of her friends with her.

The artist says that this painting will take a few days to complete, and it’ll cost extra to send it to Cinderpath. Pine pays for it anyways.

For their last night at Silverport, Jess and Pine decide to stay up late and watch the fireworks from their room.

While Pine can usually handle the explosions from afar, she does occasionally hug him for support. With him by her side, Pine can sit still and watching colors dance in the dark blue sky for hours.

Ugh.
Her ears begin to ring again for a few seconds.

Even with meditation and the most advanced medical personnel, the body will take a long time before her ears could be repaired. But she has somewhat gotten used to it now. These obstacles won’t get in the way of her life.

As the fireworks begin to die down, Pine considers his offer once again.

Much like the lightbearer she is holding onto, Pine has carried many burdens.
She threw herself head first into danger by investigating Zeal and the potion, risked everything to stop the cult, and defended Cinderpath with her life recently.

She doesn’t have to go through it alone.
Those kids. Her students. Jess.
They will be the ones that can help others.
Pine doesn’t need to push herself for others like before.

“About what you’ve said earlier.”
“Yeah. I could use some help in writing.”

(Cont)

>>5441115
It took about four days before the painting arrived to Cinderpath.

The painting was as nearly tall as her, needing Jess’ assistance to hang it properly.

The painting depicts Pine and her friends in a Serpent Scholars’ market during the late morning.

Pine and Jess are on the middle of the painting, with her looking at a blue brigandine on a wooden dummy and Jess looking at her and saying something.

On the left is Makari, sitting on a stool next to a sea serpent that slightly larger than him. They are both drinking something out of a large cup. From her small silver accessories, the sea serpent’s age seems to be nearly an adult.

On the far left are Zeal and Cris, who are eating popsicles next to the large metallic vat of the popsicle stall.

On the right are Fern and Noi, who are watching Makari with the sea serpent and whispering things to each other.

On the far right are Sira and Bow, who are observing everything from the balcony of a restaurant. She holds a walking staff in one hand, and the other rests on his shoulder to support herself.

The art is quite detailed, with even the blue brigandine’s rivets being depicted.

There’s a lot of references in it, too.
Pine’s blue brigandine that she bought on the Lucidity.
Makari and the sea serpent that he was dating.
Zeal and Cris wearing lightbending cloaks over their school uniform.
Bow’s wooden staff which tapers downwards, and wrapped in colorful cloth.

While this depiction only captures a fragment of her journey, it’s still an incredible reminder of her allies and her self.

But enough admiring.
The section on Shadowfall still hasn’t been completed.

….
“Pine?”
yes?

“Got some tea for you to try.
It’s from Pikebreak.”

Story concluded.

>>5441116
Thank you for playing my quest!
I’ll be posting notes shortly.
If you have any critiques or questions, you can ask here.

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>>5441117

Starting off with the first thread, Goblin Assassin


I actually didnt have that much planned out in regards to the setting at the start, hence why the names are a lot different.

I had the idea of Zeal and Cris before I actually had the idea of Silverport being serpent city

The serpents were based on Naga/Nak of Thai mythology, which led to Sablestream being primarily based on an alternate reality Thailand when western countries decide to colonize much earlier due to technological advancement.

This is why there’s a name difference between the original cast and the newer ones

Pine Zeal Cris Pike

Fha Sira Song Nhon Khao
(Bow is an outlier)

On the 2nd thread…

As for Galepeak, It’s based on Burma (myanmar)

There was a war between the two countries that ended in 1592 and after that, there wasn’t a war between them for about 200 ish years.

I decide to push that war back further into the late 1400s so that it would explain why there’s a lot more focus on diplomacy with foreign (western) countries and why certain methods like flooding Galepeak with drugs in order to keep them from having the western powers’ support would be understandable.

At the end of the day, both countries are no match for the more technologically advanced outsiders which mirrored reality

The anomaly is based on Preta, a ghost that is extremely tall and hungry but has an extremely small mouth.

As for the descend into hell, that was also based on two of the punishments in Buddhism

The forest of thorny trees where naked people are forced to climb it is punishment for people who have affairs

The pots of boiling water that singes people is punishment for selfish people

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>>5441185
The Reopened Wounds thread is where I really got the chance to add a few historical/mythological stuff due to the slower pace
A little here and there as background stuff

Some of the food is real
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kluai_buat_chi

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sato_(beverage)

The theater is extrapolated from reality - the shadow puppetry is real, but the theaters are usually a lot less professional for smaller towns

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nang_talung

The ‘fire arrow launchers’ firearms there are based on the Bo hiya - cannons from Japan which launch fire arrows

The birdmen are also lifted from mythology - their feathers and blood having magic powers is something I extrapolated

https://th.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%91


The giants and goblins also have some inspiration from thai mythology

The ‘fangs being bared when angry’, being guardians and several skin colors for giants (pink/green/red/…) are lifted from real mythology https://th.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A9%E0%B9%8C

I did take some creative liberties regarding the goblins, though.

Giants and goblins are one in the same in thai mythology, but description of goblins are a bit different- they mention that they are ugly fat people with abrasive personalities

Since Pine kinda deviated from that, a lot, I had to change it to be different races entirely.

Being different races, I also made them unable to breed with each other - I liked this design because it gives context to goblin-human-giants relationships and how each provinces and people view it.
It’s also a reason why Zeal didnt want to return to shadowfall.

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>>5441188
Speaking of Shadowfall, a lot of the names are references to stuff

The province “Shadowfall” is a reference to Sekiro’s combat art name

Red Winter is a reference to Rendog’s red winter faction in “Third Life” SMP

Aside from names, I take a lot of inspiration from things i watch or play

The ‘bearer’ magic system is inspired by Genichiro from Sekiro - he sacrifices his body to conjure lighting/bring back his grandpa, so I thought a magic system based on sacrifice would be interesting

The antigravity exoskeleton is inspired by Edgerunner's mecha

Black is a combination of Muscular from MHA, Godrick from Elden Ring and Adam smasher from Edgerunners.

The ‘immune to bullets’ part and his name actually comes from a real life bandit in Post WW2 thailand that was rumored to be able to withstand bullets due to his pendant

https://th.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%A3

>>5441185
>>5441188
>>5441190
You really went all-out on this! It shows, and I appreciate it. I look forward to Goblin Sellsword Quest! Thank you for wrapping this up so neatly.

>>5441230
Thread archived.
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5440066/
One last thing, the character of ‘Zeal’ and why abortion is such an prominent theme for my works

I actually got the idea from reading Alfie webcomic by buttsmithy (very nsfw comic about goblins)

At one point of the story, Marco and Lydia discover that Lydia got unintentionally pregnant.

Macro tries to propose a marriage but Lydia doesnt want to be tied down

This.. inherent non abortion stance is something I find interesting.

What if I made characters that have no qualms about that?

A completely ruthless character that couldn’t give a shit about children both inside or outside the womb?

That was the draft for Zeal and Cris

And the ruthlessness of characters also shows up for Returned to Highschool especially in the protag

What the fuck was this?

>>5448658
The conclusion of a two-thread story. QM did sau as much.