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>>5614284
In actuality, ‘Long Wang’ is a fiction. It is just a mask, a name to accompany the Amulet of Disguise you wear around your neck. You’re no Easterling, not a human of ANY stripe—at least, not fully. In other parts of the world, beneath the surface, you are better known by another name: Theral, of the Blodorise Mountains. Still others now you by reputation, by title. To the dark elves of Wevenore, you are Destroyer of the Devourer, Slayer of the Shoggoth, Ghoul-Gutter Supreme. To the kobolds and dwarven slaves under you, you are simply called The Copper Dragon King. Those who have heard you speak call you Dark Prophet of the Coming Age. The Master Race who engineered you called you their Chosen Champion. Lately, you have done a great deal to give proof to your first and foremost title:

You are the DRAGONBORN ANTIPALADIN!

When you left for Hawksong a fortnight-and-half hence, it was with a simple (albeit ambitious) mission: you would find the princess of this place, and fulfill a bargain with the Dark Goddess of Motherhood of Protection by impregnating her. In this way, you would relieve yourself of a terrible burden which she laid upon you: a roiling turmoil which, even now, troubles you physically and spiritually to think of: the ephemeral embryo of your demigodly spawn, sired in a trust with that same deity and implanted inside of you. To that end, you made your way in stops and starts to the home of the Paladin King, and did what needed to be done.

You earned your place. You secured an audience. You seduced his daughter—the surprisingly-endearing Princess Ekaterine. You bested his firstborn son—the shockingly strong Paladin Prince Alexos.

And that’s when things got... Complicated.

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>>5614286
Well, these things happen. At least it has proved an opportunity for personal growth! In pursuit of your dark designs, you honed your skills, further developing your…

>Fisticuffs: you have been forced to adapt to this limited human form you wear, and have become adept at striking and grappling, without benefit of tooth, claw, tail, or wings

>Athleticism: Whether dodging patrols or blows, your adventures through Hawksong have made you nimble, mobile, and tireless

>Spellcraft: You have confronted magic demonic and divine, and broadened your horizons—and, trapped in your room, you’ve had a LOT of time to read up on magical theory as the humanoids understand it

>Divination: You have floundered to follow the threads of fate and fortune these last few weeks, relying more on luck and physical skill than on the power of destiny; it’s time that changed

>Elementalism: Stoneshaping and earth-magic have been your greatest ally, against Green Knight Yosef in particular—you have chosen t focus upon this facet of your magic

>Illusion: Your Amulet of Disguise has been a great boon, but you are in the home of a Paladin King who knows of the Great Conspiracy—you must be prepared to conceal yourself from even the most refined senses

>Diplomacy: It will be difficult to convince the royal family and their supplicants of your intention, but it won’t be long before you need to… Best to polish your rhetoric, yes?

>Seduction: You ARE here to impregnate (and maybe abscond with?) a princess… And while your attraction is clearly mutual, you also made several missteps, and will have to work hard to win her love

>Religion: You are an Antipaladin, now facing your opposite number directly—you will need the FULL favour of the Dark Gods Below and Beyond to survive this ordeal, and to emerge triumphant!

>Write-in

[Choose ONE. Remember: you can only max one more stat at 5, though doing so will net you an additional bonus.]

>>5614287
>Religion: You are an Antipaladin, now facing your opposite number directly—you will need the FULL favour of the Dark Gods Below and Beyond to survive this ordeal, and to emerge triumphant!

Woohoo, we back baby.

>>5614287
>Seduction: You ARE here to impregnate (and maybe abscond with?) a princess… And while your attraction is clearly mutual, you also made several missteps, and will have to work hard to win her love

I didn’t expect you to use the fanart as the thumbnail. Very cool, rqm!

>>5614287
>Seduction: You ARE here to impregnate (and maybe abscond with?) a princess… And while your attraction is clearly mutual, you also made several missteps, and will have to work hard to win her love
We gotta impregnate her after all.

Would also be fine with Spellcraft, Divination, Elementalism, or Illusion- our magiks need buffing as well.

>>5614287
>>Spellcraft: You have confronted magic demonic and divine, and broadened your horizons—and, trapped in your room, you’ve had a LOT of time to read up on magical theory as the humanoids understand it.

Since we cant use the shogoth sword or our dragon form in polite company, we need to make up for with spell craft incase someone attacks us.

>>5614287
>Seduction: You ARE here to impregnate (and maybe abscond with?) a princess… And while your attraction is clearly mutual, you also made several missteps, and will have to work hard to win her love
Id go for religion but I think getting her bagged is most important right now, keeping up Long Wang for subversion long con would be better IMO, nothing says we cant leave to "go home" after we knock her up we can even bring "eastern physicians" to take care of Ekaterine before we have her converted and taken to Bloodrise if thats the course we decide to take, obviously it has some holes but nothing we cant work on together

>>5614287
>>Seduction: You ARE here to impregnate (and maybe abscond with?) a princess… And while your attraction is clearly mutual, you also made several missteps, and will have to work hard to win her love

Trying to rape her was a misstep? Damn humans and their complicated mating rituals

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>>5614432
It was a misinput, misinput! Calm down! You calm the fuck down! It was a misinput!

>>5614471
yeah, happens to me all the time, IRL, my Grope and Greet buttons are too damn close

>>5614432
>>5614471
>>5614476

[You jest, but a social superior asserting sexual dominion over an in-season subordinate they want to breed with is entirely acceptable in Reptilian society, if their breeding is deemed acceptable by the Fleshweavers and nobody in the subordinate's family has means to stop it. Stopping when she said "no" and made it clear she legitimately didn't want would be regarded as an act of weakness given her lowly status as a mammal. Theral would probably think himself unusually generous and kind for not going ahead; even in his limited expedience and from his perspective as a part-mammal, most of his other sexual encounters have been with a woman whom he literally owned.]

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>>5614629
>society where women are not given agency over sex and birth

Yes sir glory to the reptilian masterrace

>>5614292
>>5614313
>>5614320
>>5614343
>>5614372
>>5614432
>>5614679
Given the nature of your mission here, you have made it a priority to better understand the mind of the human female. Among your self-appointed titles is Prince of Love, and yet despite an early success—your first kiss, in fact!—the Princess Ekaterine rejected your attempt to rut with her… Only to then accept a wager for her hand in marriage. You won that bet by way of battle, but found you could not go through with it—or, at least, you reckoned it would be unwise to do so, if you wish to avoid assassination attempts, and if you desire the mother of your son to be ally rather than adversary in the Age of Darkness ahead.

Truly, human courtship is a far cry from that of the Reptilian Master Race. Among your kind, it is sufficient to outrank your chosen mate, to petition her family or the Fleshweavers and Rookery Priestesses for breeding authority, and to take her to a breeding pit... Not that you have any actual experience with that process, admittedly.

>Seduction: Level 4

>>5614733
So here you are: much like Princess Ekaterine lamented of her own position, you have become a prisoner in a gilded cage. You have been ‘guest’ here for over a week now, but cannot leave your quarters without guards. Their diligence keeps you from your Ekaterine, who you mean to court, but also from your nearest ally, Irinnile-as-Yosef. Elsewhere in the city, your Reptilian Infiltrator allies await your return or report: Roth, Oluwadamilare, Halle. Further afield, you know events are unfolding outside the narrowed span of your control: war in the Bloodrise mountain range, engineered turmoil in the Southlands, and your true love Sseztlussth the Novice Fleshweaver and her scheming Serpent Priest father overseeing it all in your absence, according to their own agendas.

Worst of all, thoughts of the Princess (and rare glimpses, across busy halls and under supervision of the guards) have done little to calm your <appetite> (that is to say, your overactive libido, product of your mixed mammalian blood. When it stirs, so too does your spiritual affliction inflict pain and discomfort. It is a reminder of your incomplete mission. You can still remember the softness of her body, the floral scent of her perfume, her tongue and lips, her warmth…

You grip your turning guts and lean forward, closing your eyes until the pain passes. This will not do—action must be taken, and soon.

What will you do?
>Try to sneak out and to visit Ekaterine’s room—you can hardly advance your cause without speaking with her!
>Call for a meeting with one of the princes, to discuss the courtship which they owe you, and to make your case as a mate [Alexos, or Rufos?]
>Try to make contact with Irinnile, that the succubus can coordinate to advance this mission of love and lust (or at the very least help you plot an escape)
>You just need to take your mind off of your condition… You will demand a visit to the city proper, to mingle with the locals and experience Hawksong’s famous markets
>Write-in

>>5614735
>>Try to sneak out and to visit Ekaterine’s room—you can hardly advance your cause without speaking with her!

>>5614735
>Try to sneak out and to visit Ekaterine’s room—you can hardly advance your cause without speaking with her!

We've got plenty of magics to make this happen.

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>>5614735
>Try to make contact with Irinnile, that the succubus can coordinate to advance this mission of love and lust (or at the very least help you plot an escape)

>>5614818
>>5614875
Oh no bros…

Backlink>>5614313

>>5614735
>You just need to take your mind off of your condition… You will demand a visit to the city proper, to mingle with the locals and experience Hawksong’s famous markets

>>5614735
>Try to make contact with Irinnile, that the succubus can coordinate to advance this mission of love and lust (or at the very least help you plot an escape)
>You just need to take your mind off of your condition… You will demand a visit to the city proper, to mingle with the locals and experience Hawksong’s famous markets
Get over here you slut, we needed to get a moving a week ago!

[We have a three-way tie, so I'll hold off on an update for now. I may get too drunk and high to write a decent update since this is my Friday night; if so, next update will be tomorrow after Vampire the Masquerade.]

>>5615278
isnt it a two way tie

>>5614818
>>5614875
sneak

>>5614902
>>5615089
contact

>>5614983
visit

[>>5615089 voted for contacting Iri AND heading to town. As a result, 40% of voters support each option.]

>>5615278
Enjoy your VTM, man. I'll add >Try to make contact with Irinnile, that the succubus can coordinate to advance this mission of love and lust (or at the very least help you plot an escape)

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>>5614818
>>5614875
>>5614902
>>5614983
>>5615089
>>5615336
As much as you sometimes wish you could deny it, the success of this mission in Hawksong hinges upon your mother’s demonic lover, the questionably-loyal succubus Irinnile. You’ve bound her by pact, but the desire-demon remains of mixed loyalty, for her other pact-mate (apparently beloved for reasons you don’t fully understand) is her host, Heinrich Yosef… Also called the Green Knight, for his emerald-hued anti-dragon armour, inherited from his father after he slew your mother. Irinnile insistence on preserving and protecting the Green Knight ahs put you at odds at times, even as you are bound tother by your mutual loyalty to the mission which you both inherited from your mother…

A mission of love.

It is a trivial thing for you to get by your guards with strategic use of your <Shadow> spell. You may be no MASTER of Illusion magic—Elementalism has long been your forte—but since you never demonstrated such capacities in your pivotal play-battle with Paladin Prince Alexos, the royals never knew to prepare for it. The guards stationed by your door ‘for your protection’ are utterly oblivious of your passage to the adjoining rooms. One by one, you creep into them, until a few doors down you finally find the room playing hos to Yosef and the demon within him.

Or, rather… Atop him.


Your eyes widen as you shut the door to he room behind you. You have not found a knight possessed, but a knight mounted—by a glowing, green demon-woman. Irinnile, half-translucent, rises and falls above the human male, who clutches at her spectral hips and waist and stares, dead-eyed, into and through her half-visible visage. Only when you clear your throat does the female demon sink into the male human, her sly expression supplanting his pleasure-consumed and pain-wracked face, in fusion of the two.

“Sorry, baby,” Irinnile apologizes without regret, “just keepin’ our boy under, so he don’t pop up when we don’t expect it. A man regularly milked is, like, a guy that’s not gonna’ fuck shit up unexpectedly, ya’ know? It’s how we tame you bad boy types, right?”

You say nothing. You aren’t sure what to say.

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>>5615392
“Woop!” Irinnile seems to realize her faux pas. “Uh, I mean, how can we—I! I… Uh, help ya’?”

The effete demon possessing the muscular Knight Errant Yosef makes for a parodical display, as devilish instinct positions the well-proportioned male into an ill-suited position of coquettish seduction. You stifle a laugh at the ridiculous contrast, and instead address your purpose here:

>You need help suppressing and controlling your <appetite>, so you can court Ekaterine chastely and honourably in the silly fairy-tale way the sheltered woman seems to expect
>You would seek Irinnile’s aid in corrupting, perverting, and subverting the morality of the Princess until Ekaterine is your warped-but-beautiful plaything
>You wish to ally with Irinnile to meet with Prince Rufos, and reassert demonic control over the once-possessed princeling
>You have questions for Irinnile about some aspect of her knowledge about your predicament [feel free to bring up any questions you’ve had for Irinnile over the course of the last thread and this one]
>You seek Irinnile’s company (as Ysoef, of course) as you pay a visit t Hawksong proper to take your mind off of matters lustful and lovely
>Write-in

>>5615393
>>You would seek Irinnile’s aid in corrupting, perverting, and subverting the morality of the Princess until Ekaterine is your warped-but-beautiful plaything
As the vessel of ours and TMOAD presumably trueborn demigod dragon child it would be preferable that we control her so the interest of the master race are maintained in its upbringing if she survives the process and cares for it

>>5615407
+1
its metamorphosis time

backlinkr>>5614902

>>5615393
>You would seek Irinnile’s aid in corrupting, perverting, and subverting the morality of the Princess until Ekaterine is your warped-but-beautiful plaything
>You wish to ally with Irinnile to meet with Prince Rufos, and reassert demonic control over the once-possessed princeling
What, no form-change to please our eye? You’re slipping Irinnile.

>>5615393
Also
>You have questions for Irinnile about some aspect of her knowledge about your predicament [Is there any way to address the appetite without the affliction causing us pain?]
I do think our Dragonborn would ask about alleviating his pain- those gut pains alway make me wince.

>>5615393
>>You would seek Irinnile’s aid in corrupting, perverting, and subverting the morality of the Princess until Ekaterine is your warped-but-beautiful plaything

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>>5615407
>>5615413
>>5615448
>>5615492
>>5615598
“You are slipping,” you address the succubus-turned-knight, slipping back into the True Speech of the Master Race for the first time in nearly a week. “I would have expected you to adopt a form more pleasing to my eye.”

Irinnile smiles a wicked little smile.

“You expected it, or you WANTED it?” the succubus teases, momentarily shifting the octave of her host’s voice to resemble the feminine pitch you associate with the unclean spirit animating Yosef. “Truth is, the longer we stay here, the more energy it takes ta’ keep Ricky under. Shiftin’ form and maintainin’ it takes a decent chunk a’ change, mana-wise, so unless you want ‘The green Knight’w akin’ up on the wrong side a’ the bed an’ raising a BIIIIG ol’ stink…”

“Understood,” you interrupt, getting the gist of it.

That is… A little troubling, though Irinnile seems unbothered. The demon wiggles the knight’s feet, crossing their legs at the ankles and cupping their masculine puppet’s face in his calloused warrior’s hands, awaiting the reason for your visit. Well, you suppose that if you will benefit from Irinnile’s aid, then time is of the essence, even more now than ever.

“My affliction—”

“Yoru whole ‘demigod m-preg thingie?”

“—AFFLICTION is troubling me,” you conclude, brute-forcing your way through the succubus’ teasing interjection. “Princess Ekaterine must be impregnated. But more than that… It is preferable that we control her. If she is to survive the birth of my offspring and to care for the child, we must ensure that the interests of the Master Race are maintained in its upbringing.”

“Ooo, so you want blondie all twisted up and evil?” the succubus coos, sitting up with sudden interest. “Kinky!”

“Not evil,” you correct the succubus. “We are not EVIL. That is a propagandistic lie by the false ‘gods’ of light, to justify the usurpation of our—”

“Yeeeeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah YEAH,” Irinnile groans. “I knoooow, okay?”

You narrow your eyes, a little annoyed at the demon’s sass—exacerbated by their form, that of the man Irinnile loves, the man who killed your mother and who has exposed and attacked your race. Irinnile seems to sense your irritation, and stands up, , taking your arm to their chest and stroking it soothingly. It is… Disconcerting, coming from Heinrich Ysoef’s flesh, to it at elast prevents any more pangs of stifled, spirit-troubling <appetite>.

“Well, how do you wanna’ do this?” Irinnile asks. “Th way I see it, ya’ got a couple options, but if ya’ wanna’ use ME ta’ do it, the best way’s a dream-delve.”

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>>5616352
“A what?” you ask.

Irinnile flicks your human guise’s reddish beard playfully, gently admonishing you: “Baby, DREAM-Delving. Remmber? I tolja’, didn’t I? I can go into, like, the collective unconscious of mortals at night. If we were to do that at night, you could visit your honey without ever leavin’ your room, an’ start steering her all subconscious-like!”

Hm. Well, it’s certainly one option…

“But I’m gonna’ need somethin’ in exchange.”

You narrow your eyes, turning your full attentonto the scheming succubus.

“We have a pact,” you point out. “You are to serve and me, and my cause, and my heirs.”

Irinnile puts up their hands placatingly, and soothingly says: “I know all THAT, babycakes! I ain’t tryin’ to PLAY ya’ or nothin’. I just need the JUICE, right? This kinda’ thing takes mana, and Aunty Iri’s usin’ all she’s got to keep Ricky all beddy-bye, jus’ like I said before.”

You tilt your head, and Irinnile places her hands together and pouts pleadingly.

“Come on, I’m beggin’ ya’, baby! You’re fuuuull of that dragon-mana, right? What’s a little bit for little old me?”

It isn’t just the donation of mana, however. You remember the feelings which swept through you during yours and Irinnile’s attack upon the Incubus cult prior to your coming to the Paladin King’s palace. You’d been utterly consumed by a sort of bloodlust battle frenzy which you had never before experienced. It wasn’t just the thrill of battle, it was a perversion of your instincts, beyond your ability to control or direct… And you liked it. You were changed by it, you sense, ever so slightly. Your sexual fantasies, when they arise and trouble you, are more aggressive and violent than once they were. Your desire for bloodshed in battle is piqued more easily. It’s as if an accelerant were dumped upon the fire of your carnal urges.

If you do this thing, it won’t only be Ekaterine who may suffer a sort of corruption.

What will you do?
>Go with Irinnile in dreams to corrupt Ekaterine, though it means empowering irinnile and risking yor own corruption
>Dream-delve with Irinnile, but you will NOT engage in any sort of congress with tehd emn—though it means you must act fast, or else risk the Green Knight’s waking
>Might it be less taxing for Irinnile to go alone, and to manipulate the Princess without bringing you along? It means putting rgeater trust in the succubus, though…
>Wait, can’t Irinnile just implant Ekaterine with some demonic ectoplasm, as your mother had her do to manipulate the local Archmage years prior?
>This is needlessly convoluted and dangerous—you would just have Irinnile help sneak you to Ekaterine’s room, and serve as a watchdog while you woo and convert her the old-fashioned way
>Write-in

>>5616354
>Go with Irinnile in dreams to corrupt Ekaterine, though it means empowering irinnile and risking yor own corruption
Iri needs the mana to keep the GK under, and I don’t trust her enough not to put other thoughts in Ekaterine‘s head.

>>5616354
>Go with Irinnile in dreams to corrupt Ekaterine, though it means empowering irinnile and risking yor own corruption
We have the diadem of clarity now, so just make sure we're wearing it before going beddy bye bye.

>>5616354
>Go with Irinnile in dreams to corrupt Ekaterine, though it means empowering irinnile and risking yor own corruption

Acceptable risk
>>5615413
Backlink

>>5616354
>>Might it be less taxing for Irinnile to go alone, and to manipulate the Princess without bringing you along? It means putting rgeater trust in the succubus, though…


Going with her on a dream dive means opening up our soul to her.

And while she swore to serve us she said nothing about not corrupting's or influencing us.

>>5616391
+1

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>>5616376
>>5616391
>>5616500
>>5616598
>>5616725
You reach up to touch the circlet of metal upon your brow—the Diadem of Clarity, taken from the fallen form of the Green Knight upon your victory. This artefact, like Irinnile herself, is your inheritance—tools used by your mother as a Reptilian Infiltrator, to great effect. In theory, the diadem should protect your mind and spirit against the demon, allowing you to avoid corruption.

In theory…

“Let us do as you have proposed,” you agree.

Irinnile grins a too-wide grin, and waggles Yosef’s eyebrows. Ooo, we’re gonna’ do it? Let me just… Settle in, then…”

As you sit cross-legged upon the floor in your usual meditative position, you find your focus disrupted by a heavy weight plopping into your lap. You open your eyes to find a twisted and twisting column of flesh and bone astride you, vaguely the shape of a human. You recoil slightly, nearly leaping to your feet, but in stops and starts the lumpy, tumorous mass shrinks and shifts into familiar proportions: the ‘true’ form of Irinnile, curvaceous and feminine, horned and hooved, tattooed with green-black line-art of violent and lascivious, she sheds Yosef’s ill-fitting attire, revealing bare breasts, and presses against you, sliding hands around your neck and shoulders and though your hair. Blazing yellow eyes regard you; breath as hot as the winds in Hell feel as if they will ignite your skin with pure experiential sensation where it washes over you.

Only when Irinnile works this dark magic, it seems, can your <appetite> stir within paining you—or, at least, with such pleasurable desire as to drown out the pain.

With trembling hand, you reach up. Irinnile opens her mouth invitingly, for you to insert a finger, but instead to clasp your diadem and squeeze your eyes shut until the disorienting flood of physical and emotional <hunger> pass.

“Party pooper,” the succubus complains.

You ignore her until, with a sigh, Irinnile stops her grinding upon your lap and simply settles upon you. You take a deep breath, calming yourself still more fully. You still mind, body, soul. You focus upon the essence of the True Dragon within—long your ‘north star’ to guide you to a place of spiritual introspection.

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>>5617026
Your spirit and the demon’s essence are at odds in many ways, but you find the commonalities—you find each other, in the unfamiliar mystical space between your spirit and the world without. Irinnile—fully green of hue, now, and even more ‘herself’ in appearance—appears as if from a thick fog around you, and takes your astral projection by the hand.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Irinnile cracks at you with a smirk. “I guess they’ll let just anyone in these days, huh? But, say… Is that the form you’re goin’ with, big boy?”

You blink a couple times and tilt your head, confused as to her meaning. You are on the plane of spirit and mind—how can you be anything but yourself?

Irinnile sighs, and with a snap of her fingers she materializes an illusory mirror. You gaze into it, and see…
>’Theral’, King of Bloodrise, glorious copper-gold king of a dark empire, clad in armour made specially for his massive <Dragonshape>
>’Long Wang’, the shoggoth-cuirassed and shaggy-bearded human, who has bested princes in battle and wooed princesses in the arena of love
>Your true, natural form—bronze-pink of skin, orange-red of hair, long of snout, of more human proportions
[This will affect how the Princess perceives you, but your choice will also reflect your self-perception moving forward]

>>5617033
>>Your true, natural form—bronze-pink of skin, orange-red of hair, long of snout, of more human proportions

>>5617033
>Your true, natural form—bronze-pink of skin, orange-red of hair, long of snout, of more human proportions

We can only keep up the 龙王 act for so long…

backlink>>5616500

>>5617033
>Your true, natural form—bronze-pink of skin, orange-red of hair, long of snout, of more human proportions
dang that self perception bit

>>5617033
>Your true, natural form—bronze-pink of skin, orange-red of hair, long of snout, of more human proportions
The goal is her raising the child in accordance to our beliefs, I dont wanna end up with some weird demigod who is trained in the way of the steppe people that weve been bullshitting about this whole time

>>5617033
>’Theral’, King of Bloodrise, glorious copper-gold king of a dark empire, clad in armour made specially for his massive <Dragonshape>
We can at least have some fun with this with Iri. Also, you lads take too much stock in the self-perception bit- even Long Wang would be a fun improvement.

>>5617033
>’Theral’, King of Bloodrise, glorious copper-gold king of a dark empire, clad in armour made specially for his massive <Dragonshape>

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>>5617375
>>5617338
>>5617078
>>5617075
>>5617041
>>5617468

The face that looks back at you from the mirror is… Familiar. That is remarkable in and of itself, you suppose, since you haven’t really seen this version of yourself in many months. It makes sense, though. To your soldiers and disciples, perhaps Dragon King Theral is the ‘real’ you: your potential, your draconic-tinted Reptilian heritage fully realized, face and body armoured in shining scales. It definitely how you’ve portrayed yourself to the world, as you took on more and more titles and made more and more promises. Prince of Love! Copper Dragon King! Knight Ascendant! Heir to Bloodrise! You are the hope of your forsaken and struggling race—once and future MASTER Race—made real!

But… That’s not really you.

Obviously, neither is ‘Long Wang’. That’s literally just a name you recycled from ancient history, in a spur-of-the-moment decision. The flat face, smoothly scaleless and beige-pink, DOES echo certain of your features… But it is not YOUR face. It never will be. You may have a human grandparent, but that heritage is a stolen thing, acquired strategically. It is not your TRUE heritage, your TRUE identity. You will never, EVER be a human, nor would you aspire to such a sorry state. Oh, you may be more tolerant of the mammals than most of the Master Race, more similar and sympathetic to the warm-blooded ‘surface scum’, but you are OF the Master Race—THEY are your people!

The face that looks back at you… THAT is your face. It is not masked by layers of <Dragonshape>, molded by your Novice Fleshweaver’s carefully-crafted magical manipulations to be more human OR more dragon. It is the face of the Dragonborn that looks back at you from every limpid pool of stale water you drank from as a young male. It has the yellow-pink, not-quite-copper scales and accursed reddish locks of hair which you lamented so often as a youth. Why did you never shear them? Maybe it’s the same reason that, even now, your subconscious regards it as your TRUE self. This is you, ‘warts and all’ as the dwarves say, and it is THIS self that you embody in your dreams.

“Uh, well, that’s real sweet an’ all,” Irinnile interjects, “But our pretty l’il princess ain’t gonna’ like it.”

“Are you sure?” you ask, still surveying yourself. “She HAS SHOWN AN ATTRACTION TO THE… Exotic.”

“Babycakes, there’s a biiiig fuckin’ difference between fuckin’ with some hunky oriental guy’s long wang and, like, doin’ the do with a double-dicked dragon-dude, ya’ know what I’m sayin’?”

>>5617478

You do. It’s the difference between the sort of cross-caste breeding which produced your lieutenant known as the Bastard—already stigmatized, as evidenced by his nom de guerre—and the human admixture which even now you hide from most every one of your allies. One is a variant of the same race, frowned upon but neutral of value; the other is an abominable, degenerate thing, such that it shames the Infiltrator called Roth to even acknowledge his parentage of you, in spite of your auspicious reputation. You don't know if the same principles hold sway over human society, but with the menace of hidden reptilian agents and secret demon-cults filling the darkest dreams of the city's populace (thanks in equal part to you and the Green Knight Yosef), it seems likely that humans will reciprocate your race's antipathy to their ilk.

Irinnile takes your hand—interlacing her fingers most lewdly-and guides you through dark clouds of empty psychic space, past shining, cloud-clearing beacons which she tells you represent sleepers’ souls. As she guides you towards the bright and shining light of Princess Ekaterine’s own private dreamscape, you plan your approach—how to appear to her, appeal to her, manipulate and reshape her into YOUR creature. Despite your best efforts, and Irnnile’s efforts to help you, you can’t seem to restructure what you look like on a fundamental level here—can’t suppress your natural self-perception enough to simply embody Long Wang. Instead, you must make your subconscious case to her through…

>Raw sexual magnetism
Even as a ‘dragon-dude’, you have made mammalian females melt at your touch, surrender to your passions, long for your heat! Can this one be so different? You made her swoon and give into you as Long Wang, now you’ll do so again as… Well, you!

>Philosophy
Reason and religion, theological and ethical debate—you will convert her to your cause, fully and truly! She may be the daughter of a Paladin King of the Gods of Light, but she has expressed a skepticism for her people’s practices, a distance from her family… You can use that!

>Fear and force
You will demoralize her, break her down bit by bit. It will be easier to make your own case once you have eroded what remains of her faith in her father, her false gods, her Paladins, her city! You will give her visions of the collapse to come, and the Dark Age which will swallow up the light… Let her know that only YOU can provide her safe harbour!

>Love
Love is all you need, love and truth. You’ll begin with memories of your own loves, present and lost, your dreams and ambitions, your care for your people. She is a compassionate creature, isn’t she? She will see how you and your race have suffered,and the relief you have brought, and surely she will understand…

>Write-in

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>RetpoidQM
Fuck my life

>>5617481
>Raw sexual magnetism
It worked with Devora, and we killed her husband and enslaved her people beforehand- this should be easy, by comparison.

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>>5617485

>>5617481
>Raw sexual magnetism
>Philosophy

We are a force in both of these arenas and appeal to her in both senses.

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>>5617514
+1
if philosophy doesnt work we can attract her physically

backlink>>5617075

>>5617485
picrel

>>5617481
>>Philosophy
>Raw sexual magnetism

>>5617481
>Philosophy
can't vote for the magnetism until we confirm that she's a degenerate scalie like Davora was

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>>5618072
>>5617800
>>5617627
>>5617514
>>5617493
[Well then. Locked and writing!]

>>5618687
>sexual tyrannosaurus
>philosoraptor

My fuckin' sides.

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>>5618687
Your most immediate frame of reference for how to approach this seduction is, of course, Davora. There are differences—of station, of relative position—but the dwarven herbalist Davora, like Princess Ekaterine, was a mammalian female and a follower of the false gods. Ekaterine, like Davora, seems… Kindly-disposed, somewhat sheltered an unsatisfied in her life. You can offer this sort of female something, you feel: excitement, stimulation, experiences and ideas beyond the world they know! This will be your approach: you will seduce her in mind AND body, at once!

Perhaps it is because of this thinking that, when you and Irinnile finally arrive to hover spectrally over Ekaterine’s sleeping form in her rather ornately-decorated personal chambers, your previously-nude astral form is now clad in a mix of different garb: something like a lighter form of the imposing ceremonial armour which you wore when you conquered Davora’s people and claimed her for your possession, with the gown-like, billowing coat and silken shirt which you donned at the Wevenore Winter Ball, in the capital city of the ball. Lover and leader at once… Appropriate!

“You look like a pirate from a harlequin novel, baby,” Irinnile notes.

You tilt your head, and ask: “Is that good, or bad?”

Irinnile taps her lower lip thoughtfully, placing her other hand on her hip as she orbits around you in the open air.

“Well, shit, I’d fuck you!” she decides, though given her rather over-active and indiscriminate libido, you’re not sure if that means much.

Still, it is with well-earned confidence in your sexual magnetism and your persuasive eloquence that you delve down into the personal dreamscape of your target. As you descend towards the princes’’ sleeping body, it grows massive, until her every feature is like a geologic monument: her face and bosom mountainous, her gown-clad abdomen a field of purple, gauzy plains stretching out to meet a rising tide of finely-woven blankets which threaten to swallow you up. Your raise your arms to shield yourself against them s everything seems to swirl about you…

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Rolled 18, 11, 16, 16 = 61 (4d20)

>>5618707
And then you are once more in the waking world. You are startled for a moment, eyes stunned by the sudden transition from surreal night to the brightness of day… But the stunned status does not last as long as it naturally would, you and this is your first giveaway that you are in a dream. Other hints emerge as you walk through the grounds—areas that are hazy and indistinct exist between those realms with which you are more familiar. You walk the gardens, and find that only some flowers have a scent; for those which do, it is a more vivid and FULLER scent than seems natural, as if the princess’ own attachment to these blooms makes them more real here than even in reality. Statuary and topiary shift and change at times—you look away from an elegant sculpture of a swan to find a hedge trimmed to look like a human dancer. Changes made throughout the years to this small realm which seems so central to Ekaterine’s experiences of the world?

When you find the Human Princess herself, it is by following your ear: the ground are mostly quiet, but eventually you make out a… Well, melody is the wrong word. It is a discordant and clumsy music, coming haltingly over the hedges. You walk them warily, trained warrior’s instincts telling you to be on-guard as you stroll this unfamiliar world alone, but you find no threat—just Ekaterine, princess of Hawksong, wearing a loose blue-purple dress which contrasts well with her emerald eyes and brown-blonde hair, and with a simple necklace of pearls set against her smooth, fair hide.

“Ack,” she exclaims, then growls softly at the string-instruments which she teases and plucks with a strange bow-like implement upon her lap.

The Princess sits upon an elaborately-cushion stool, incongruously surrounded by bookshelves, furnishings, and dioramas better situated to be indoors than out. Before her is a wooden stand, upon which a book is unfolded, filled with strange symbols you do not understand—though, by how intently the woman stares at them while she again runs her odd bow across the musical instrument’s strings, you infer they must convey the intended tune of the music which Ekaterine is presently butchering.

“Gggghhhrrr,” she vocalizes again when the instrument turns from its eerie, squealing song to something more like a vibrating warble and abrupt screech. “The Gods Above have DAMNED me, haven’t they? Cursed me to these stupid lessons that never make me ANY better…”

“Well then, the Godss Above are foolss,” you suggest amicably.

The Princess looks up with a start… And then her eyes widen to veritable saucers, lips parting in a gasp.

“Or perhapsss,” you smoothly segue as you approach her, “the weaklings fear that one of their creationsss, already sso beautiful, would become truly DOMIANNT if she wass alssso a masster of musssic?”

You thought it a rather good line, so it’s rather disappointing when the Princess responds by screaming.

Rolled 15, 6, 3, 3 = 27 (4d20)

>>5618709
The Princess raises her string-instrument like a club, then fumbles and drops it. She waves the bow-thing around like a sabre—well, like child or invalid wielding a sabre, really—then seems to realize that this, too, is futile. She lobs it at you, missing—you don’t even need to move to dodge—and then attempts to stand and flee… Only to totter upon her queer perch, and very nearly to fall.

As if you’d allow THAT.

You rush forward, snatching her up in your arms before she can tumble to the ground and… Well, you suppose she wouldn’t HURT herself, would she? This is all a dream. But what if she startled herself awake? That won’t do. At the very least, your chivalric act seems to interrupt her hysteria.

“Careful,” you admonish her.

>18

You lift her up, holder her and gazing into her eyes and upon her fine features a little longer than strictly necessary. Her breathing is quick and shallow, still fearful. Her expression is hardly one of arousal or romantic interest—not like how she looked at ‘Long Wang’. Still, the feel of her dream-body against yours feels… Nice. You are wearing less armour now, for one thing—the soft ’squish’ of her mammalian chest against you is a pleasing sensation, the feel of her cotton-clad back and hip under your claws so pleasant that you can’t help but linger.

“W-w-what are you?” the Princess asks, before arriving upon her own indelicate assessment. “You’re a—a monster! One of those, those… Reptoids! The lizardmen, from beneath the earth!”

You tilt your head. It seems pointless to deny it… But Ekaterine is not a TOTAL stranger to you, nor are you entirely unfamiliar with her thought process.

>“Mister Long, you may not know this, but ‘barbarian’ is a derogatory exonym… Ah, an insulting thing that outsiders call your people. It means you are uncivilized, crude, lesser. It is… It’s not nice. It’s wrong.”

“’Monssster’,” you tell her, “is a derogatory exxxonym… An insulting thing which outsssiders call my people. Likewisse, ‘Reptoid’ or ‘lizardman’. We are not misshapen or crude thingsss. Thosse wordsss aren’t inaccurate… But on a deeper level, they are WRONG.”

Ekaterine stares at you blankly for a time, then slowly a pinkish blush rises up from her collarboens to her hairline, bit by bit.

“I’m… Ah, I can’t believe I’m apologizing to a…”

“Well,” you bemusedly interject, “not like THAT you’re not.”

Ekaterine seems to catch herself, raising her hands to her mouth and gasping.

“Oh Oh Gods—gosh! Oh, I’m being so, so rude. You are… I am sorry. What, um… What am I to call… You… Then?”

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>>5618725
You nearly smile, but you remember the effect this has on mammals when you are wearing your true visage, and so you merely bow your head respectfully.

“I am… A Dragonborn. The Copper Dragonborn, I wass called, growing up.”

Ekaterine regards you with fresh eyes—you allow it, flexing slightly, shifting to a properly heroic stance as you might do before a crowd of your supplicants and slaves to make clear your majesty. You lament the lack of wings to spread, but then, the human female hardly seems to miss their absence. She is, you sense, impressed.

“You do look, um… Dragony. Well, from what I’ve read and, ah, depictions and drawings. But aren’t dragons all…”

She pauses, seeming to realize the question is rude. You finish the inquiry for her:

“Dead?”

She nods, almost imperceptibly.

“Yesss,” you admit. “Your racesss… The mammalian racesss sslew them all. Our great kingssss and queensss… Our lordsss and leadersss. Our connection to the Godsss…”

“In the War of Knights and Dragons,” Ekaterine nods, then seems to take stock of you a third time, and takes a wary step back. “The dragons were horrible creatures, who slaughtered indiscriminately and ruled their vassals like tyrants… Demanding tribute, making humans, elves, dwarves, and others into… into slaves, into livestock!”

“Sso go the ssstoriess,” you point out, “of the victorsss… But you well know how these sssortss of talesss can be sspun, when one ssside fearsss and failsss to underssstand and resspect the other, yesss?”

The Princess looks thoughtful at that, then nods slightly, albeit with obvious uncertainty upon her face.

“Well then,” she says. “Tell me your version? I… Rather think myself a student of history. It should be interesting to hear how a DRAGON tells that tale…”

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>>5618727
You tell the tale as it was told to you, more or less: the tale of woe and horror, of loss and shame and bitter spite. You sand down the rougher edges—the forswearing of blood-vengeance against all mammals, the conspiring to subvert the governments, erode their institutions, weaken their wills and hamper their happiness. These things are all true—you’re actively furthering those goals right now—but they’re not important. What you attempt to communicate to Ekaterine is the glory of the Age of Darkness—

“A misssnomer, in ssome waysss,” you point out. “It wass an age of LEARNING… Of technologies and magicksss that have ssince been ssdly lossst. We lived in great citiesss, populated by sssundry Reptilian racesss… Mossst now exxtinct, or elsse degraded.”

“It sounds… Lovely,” Ekarine says, politely if not entirely convincingly.

“I wouldn’t know,” you admit with a shrug. “I wasss born… Afterward.”

You tell her of the life YOU know—of a hollow-hearted people, cast into a TRUE darkness, a darkness of the spirit. You tell of the empty and deprived existence of the world below—of cowering, never seeing the very stars which once dictated your people’s lives and destinies. You tell her of the empty halls and eroding monuments, of the stale and half-rotten meals of pallid bug-meat, of an entire world that could fit within a single city-block of Hawksong.

“I grew up locked away in a boxx,” you hiss, surprising yourself with how bitter is the venom of this truth upon your tongue.

“I understand that much, at least,” the Princess says. “But… Well, not like that, obviously. I’m sorry. That is quite presumptive of me to claim… I mean, I’ve never been… Not like that.”

“No,” you agree, looking around at the shifting but ALWAYS resplendent ‘cage’ wherein the Princess has lived her life—roughly, you suppose, as long as you’ve lived yours. “Not like that.”


As you tell the tale—particularly of your first sight of the sun, the moon, the stars, the forest and mountains and lakes and SEA!—you start to speaks with greater enthusiasm. You find yourself not just relating a story, but engaging in a true dialogue: the Princess is a sheltered creature, but she has read much more widely than you, and seen samples of the world beyond, and seems very well-educated in the world’s wonders.

“Oh, I wish I could SEE the Silverwood! I’ve always… Well, it’s a silly little girl’s fancy, but a piece of the Feywood, or the moon’s own forests, placed upon the earth?”

“I hear that the deer are so tame,” she tells you, “that they’ll eat from your hand, if you know the right elven words! And the birds are supposedly ANGELIC!”

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>>5618755
>18 for Seduction


She sighs happily, wiggling slightly at the thought. At some point, the two of you found yourselves seated upon a small, perhaps somewhat UNDERSIZED sort of seat intended for PRECISELY two people; with your size and anatomy, the Princess of Hawksong is almost in your lap. You rather wish she was, but her easy proximity to you belies some success, you feel—she doesn’t regard you with any sexual interest, but you often catch her staring at your face, your scales, your claws or tail, your hair. She seems to regard you as, if you had to guess, a beautiful and strange sort of animal, if not yet a ‘man’ in the sense you’d prefer.

You tell her—veiled, without specifics—of what you’ve seen of this world’s wonders—the Bloodrise and its more ‘mundane’ but no less lush and populace woodlands, of the underdark’s strange and terrible beasts and the peculiar insectile and arachnid pets of the Drow, of their crystals and crude-but-spirited patchwork cloth-craft, of their massive and black oasis.

“Though Hawksssong,” you admit, “may be the mosst wondrousss of all… The fieldsss without, the ssoundsss and ssightsss and peoplesss within… And the occeaan, by the GODS! I think everyone should sseee these thingsss… Be ALLOWED to.”

“Yes,” Ekaterine readily agrees.

“But your people, and your ‘godsss’, deny mine these thingsss.”

>15 for Religion

Ekaterine pauses, uncertain how to reply.

“Your, ah, people… They killed and enslaved thousands, millions. You don’t deny this, do you?”

“My race isss not EVIL,” you insist. “We do what we mussst… In the apssst, we did what the Dragon Kingsss dictated, waging war and committing terrible actsss asss any fighting forcce might in sssuch dire timesss.”

Ekaterine frowns.

“Did you great ancessstor, the Paladin king, not do the sssame to my people, to render usss sso few?” you point out. “Both our racesss committed were guilty of great crimesss, by your logic… But the Sssilverwood, the sssea… They belong only to you. Only my people ssuffer.”

“That… Is rather unfair, yes.”

You feel your heart lift, warm. You’re getting somewhere! She isn’t just comfortable with you—she UDNERSTANDS you!

“Are we not due our Age of Sscalesss… Our Age of Dragonsss?” you press.

The Princess frowns again, and narrows her eyes. You hesitate. Have you said too much?

“What,” she asks pointedly, “does that look like, for the rest of us?”

>>5618757
You tilt your head in question.

“I seem to recall that MY people did what WE had to… To escape being subject to the abuse of YOURS originally.”

“We owned thsiss world firssst…” you begin.

“So YOU say,” Ekaterine sharply interjects, “but what did YOU do with it? Did YOU share all the seas and special places of your glorious Age of Scales with we humans, when we got here? Don’t WE deserve to enjoy our lives, too?”

“You have enjoyed them for aeonsss now…”

“And we shouldn’t be allowed to continue?” she demands. “I seem to recognize, sir, an undercurrent of… Of ‘us versus them’ in your understanding of the world! But even if you have less than you deserve and I… I have… Maybe a little bit MORE than I ought to… Why should every humble and kingly person suffer so you can thrive?”

“I never sssaid—”

“Then WHAT,” Ekaterine demands, “does your Age of Scales and Darkness and Dragons LOOK like, Mister Dragonborn?”

The female beside you is suddenly fiery and intense… But not, oddly, angry. She pokes a finger into your chest, accusatory… Yet, rather familiar. She does not move away from you, rather turning to face her upon the seat you share, one leg by necessity pinned by your sprawled tail… Which, you note, she lays her other hand upon, unconsciously, rubbing fingers over the texture of its scales and spines.

How do you reply?
>You... Actually agree. It would be best if your peoples could live in harmony, alike in stature and dignity, and that’s what you’ll strive towards, and lead ALL the races towards if you have your way. You’ve seen too much of the world to believe any longer that other races are simply inferior.
>Her view is naïve—painfully so! The strong eat the weak, and rule what remains… This is what the Serpent Ascendant teaches, what you KNOW is true! You are benevolent in your way, but not some… Egalitarian ALTRUIST!
>You don’t think what she envisions is possible, even if it’s a pretty picture to imagine, but under the strong stewardship of True Dragon King like yourself… Maybe some measure of leniency can be granted, to those who renounce their faith and embrace the way, as loyal servants of your kind.
>Write-in

[Sorry for the long one. I wanted to do some character and worldbuilding, and it's sort of a focal scene!]

>>5618759
>Write-in
>You do agree, however, there were situations in the past where conflict was inevitable, and force is required. You want to share the world, but you want to make sure the other races can’t backstab you again. You want to unite the people, for your and her people’s sake, but also for the prevention of any threat of attacks.

Bring up that dwarf story as well ‘theres this dwarf faction that we commissioned to build weapons for us but they didn’t, and our people nearly got wiped out’
Embellishments and changes to make theral look like the good guy, of course.

backlink>>5617627

>>5618759
>You... Actually agree. It would be best if your peoples could live in harmony, alike in stature and dignity, and that’s what you’ll strive towards, and lead ALL the races towards if you have your way. You’ve seen too much of the world to believe any longer that other races are simply inferior.
But
>You don’t think what she envisions is possible, even if it’s a pretty picture to imagine, but under the strong stewardship of True Dragon King like yourself… Maybe some measure of leniency can be granted, to those who renounce their faith and embrace the way, as loyal servants of your kind.
I'd love the lizardmen to be less comically evil in the future

>>5618759
>You... Actually agree. It would be best if your peoples could live in harmony, alike in stature and dignity, and that’s what you’ll strive towards, and lead ALL the races towards if you have your way. You’ve seen too much of the world to believe any longer that other races are simply inferior.
optimism go

>>5618759
>You... Actually agree. It would be best if your peoples could live in harmony, alike in stature and dignity…

But

>You don’t think what she envisions is possible, except under the strong stewardship of True Dragon King like yourself…

A utopian society needs a strong guiding hand to ensure that racial and religious animosity does not lead to war and genocide.

We are Hobbes’s Leviathan!

But I expect that the men of the surface will never see our people as worthy and they will resist all efforts to create a more equal world…

That is why the old world will have to be cast down and a new one forged in its place!

>>5618824
+1
My people are too bitter and yours too proud to achieve this without tearing down the order of things.
Only by tearing down both we can emerge the victor and create something grander; the logical and tempered thought of the lizardman with the creative flexibility of mammals.
All in the gaze and glory of the mother who makes children grander than their parents, the seeker who makes us crave discovery, the champion who makes us strive to surpass our station and the end that makes us all equal.

>>5618759
>Her view is naïve—painfully so! The strong eat the weak, and rule what remains… This is what the Serpent Ascendant teaches, what you KNOW is true! You are benevolent in your way, but not some… Egalitarian ALTRUIST!
>You don’t think what she envisions is possible, even if it’s a pretty picture to imagine, but under the strong stewardship of True Dragon King like yourself… Maybe some measure of leniency can be granted, to those who renounce their faith and embrace the way, as loyal servants of your kind.
I’d love for the lizardmen to be more comedically evil in the future.

>>5618759
>You don’t think what she envisions is possible, even if it’s a pretty picture to imagine, but under the strong stewardship of True Dragon King like yourself… Maybe some measure of leniency can be granted, to those who renounce their faith and embrace the way, as loyal servants of your kind.

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>>5618759
>>5618824 +1
Creating a realm never before seen and becoming King of Kings? Even if I don't think it will be utopian it does sound like the start of something greater and more magnificent.

>>5618804
+1

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>>5619583
>>5619244
>>5618962
>>5618925
>>5618844
>>5618824
>>5618818
>>5618804
>>5618767
[Locked, writing!]

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>>5619647
You stop and think for a moment. You suppose you should have anticipated this turn of events. Your chosen mate here is the flower of a walled garden, yes, but she is a scholar as well, and has demonstrated this more confrontational side before, when pushed. This time, at least, she doesn’t seem ANGRY—not exactly. You get more of a playful sense from her tone and demeanour, and she watches you with patient attentiveness as your formulate your answer. Is this philosophic debate… Sport, to her?

“When I envisssion the Coming Age,” you finally say, “I musst admit… Yesss, it iss ass you ssay. I have sseen too much to think that your ssurfacce racesss are without merit. When I picture it in my mind, all the racess of are alike in ssstature and dignity.”

Ekaterineblinks,s eemingly surprised, then smiels widely.

“That’s a wodneful thing, sir, and—”

You hold up your hand, and the Human Princess silences herself.

“But it’sss naïve… Unrealisstic. It’ss jusst a vision, a dream…”

(Ironic, given the setting of your rendezvous)

“Utopia isssn’t real. There siss not paradise on Earth,” you assert. “A sssociety needs a sstrong guiding hand to enssure that hissstorical enmity does not lead to war, to genocccide.”

Ekaterine shakes her head, hard enough that her bundled locks of hair fall loose.

“That isn’t true!’ she defies you. “That’s what people BELIEVE, but if they could be shown otherwise, there would be no need to, to, to FORCE it upon them.”

“Love mussst sometimes be forced,” you say, paraphrasing your noble Dragon King ancestor, the last King of Bloodrise, in his advice to you. “The ape-men of the ssurfacce will never ssee we ‘monsssterss’ as worthy. If I bring them equality, they will resssent it—rightly, perhapss—asss a sstep DOWN from their current ssuperiority…”

And, in truth, your Master Race is little better. Your people are too bitter and too proud to achieve this vision—a vision that you are admittedly happy to see Ekaterine shares—without tearing down the order of things. Only by tearing down both the world above and the rigid structure of the old order of your own society can you emerge the victor and create something grander; the logical and tempered thought of the lizardman with the creative flexibility of mammals. A New World Order for the New Age of Darkness!

You don’t voice this aloud, of course—you want this female to think well of you, to see your best characteristics rather than the beast she screamed to spy in her garden, or the forward foreigner she slapped in the waking world. As you watch her now, you see her expression crumple, lips pursed and nose scrunched with distaste, and you fear for a moment you have misjudged the balance. But…

“You’re right, of course,” she sighs. “I was… rather, ah, quick to judge YOU, wasn’t I?”

You tilt your head in surprise. She’s… Upset with HERSELF, then?

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>>5619722

“Father speaks—spoke? When last did we speak… He speaks like you.” The Princesss sighs, seems to deflate a little “It’s why the world NEEDS a Paladin King, rather than simple a, a… I don’t know, council of scholars and elders. HE says. It’s why men must rule with strength of arms while women like me…”

She trails off, and you sit in silence for a moment, while she lowers her eyes, continuing to stroke your tail, to fiddle with the forked tip. She’s not doing so idly, not anymore, but more consciously.

“You called me beautiful,” she notes. “I… Am surprised, upon closer consideration. It’s flattery, yes? We are… Quite different. Beauty standards aren’t universal, or so I’ve read. Not even among distant HUMANS, let alone…”

You reach out and cu her face. She flinches slightly, but doesn’t take flight. She meets your eyes.

“There isss beauty all throughout thiss world,” you tell her. “Sstrength exissstss to protect that which iss beautiful to usss…”

The human female shivers a little, before reaching her smaller hand to clasp your larger, clawed one… And gently, to remove it. She places it back upon your lap. Her own hand withdraws from your tail.

“Is that all I have?” she asks then. “Is that all that the… The beautiful, the weak, the gentle ARE? Never the masters of our own destinies, never free… Always protected, treasured, KEPT?"

You feel as if you’ve fallen into another rhetorical trap of this woman, but she regards you not with fury—just a sort of sadness, and a resigned disappointment. Up immediately begin to formulate a response, a means to extricate yourself and to score another victory for your shared vision—your inevitable future…

But you are interrupted.

“Hey, lovebirds! Or, wait, should that be lounge lizardssss?”

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>>5619729
You narrow your eyes and turn to face the source of the familiar voice, in an unfamiliar guise: Irinnile, disguised as a tiny green cherub, still cloven-hoofed but now bird-winged and a plump little thing—albeit plump primarily in the chest and rump.

“Is, uh… She with YOU, Mister Dragonborn?” the Princess asks.

You’re a little surprised at how calm Ekaterine is at this but, well, once you spend a while in placid and pleasant conversation with a ‘monster’, perhaps you become less prone to surprise and fright?

“What is it?” you hiss at the succubus, displeased at the demon’s unexpected appearance.

“It’s almost time for wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!”

“Oh…” Ekaterine mumbles, then louder: “Oh! I’m dreaming! Of cours,e this is all—”

To your own surprise, the Princess of Hawksong no sooner realizes she is asleep than she ceases to be, popping out of existence.

“She awoke,” you quicklu piece together.

“Yeah,” irinnile says urgently, “an’ you better get back to your hot bod, Big Boy, or we’re gonna’ get caught out here an’… Well, you don’t want that, aight?”

You nod, and reach out to take the succubus’ little hand. The demoness takes you back the way you came—though it isn’t a route you could map, short though the distance is in real-world terms. You arrive at your body, to find it positioned upon the floor of Yosef’s bedroom, legs crossed, still meditating—or sleeping, maybe? It is surreal, to gaze down upon ‘Long Wang’, the exorcist from the nebulous east, as if he were a separate entity, and yet to know that he is you. You begin to descend, to reunite with your disguised corporeal form—

“Hey!” Irinnile squeaks. “Ain’t you forgettin’ somethin’?”

Ah, right. You turn to find the squashed and reshaped little pixie-demon grinning widely, hands outstretched expectantly, fingers clutching greedily at the empty air. Her nipples, exposed and green, are pointed like cut emeralds. To maintain control of The green Knight—presently sprawled fully-clothed upon his bed—she requires energy. It’s a small price to pay, you suppose, and you have mystical power to spare thank to the soul of the Red Dragon King within you. You step towards her, open your mouth to speak, and immediately find your attempt stymied by the small and curvy body hurtling into you.

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>>5619734
Irinnile clings to you face and neck, riding astride to your chest as her legs wrap around your shoulders in a deadly grip. You wheeze, unable to breathe, as she slavers your Face in longs and a freakishly disproportionate tongue. Unable to kiss you—your true face doesn’t really have the proportions for that humanoid form of affection—she makes do as she can.

With every kiss and lick, you feel a tinging tingle across your astral form, Your clothing and armour melts away, and as you look down upon your newly nude form, you find you solidity of form dissipating and wavering. You grow half-transparent, flickering in and out of being… All save for your hemipenes, emerging from their internal sheathe, growing large and swollen, looking almost ‘hyperreal’. In the same way the scent of the flowers in Ekaterine’s gardens were amplified by scent-memory and personal attachment, Irinnile’s attentions have awoken and amplified your shared hunger… Your lust, still unsatisfied.

The pain of the Mother of Dragons’ ‘gift’ and the pleasure of the succubus’ ‘kiss’ merge, mingle, war with one another. Your soul is their battlefield, and it is afire.

“Fffuuuuck,” Irinnile gasps, drooling slovenly upon your abdomen as she crawls down your body toward your throbbing genitalia. “Look at how BACKED UP you are, baby! She left you all blue-balled, right? Maybe I can… Help ya’ with that?”

Already, you can see that the demoness is growing back to her original proportions, and that her green, tattooed flesh is taking on more and more vibrant colour—practically IRIDESCENT with stolen energy. The world around you is swirling, ‘Long Wang’ and the unconscious Green Knight a distant shore that seems ever further away as the tide of Irinnile’s influence pulls you deeper, deeper…

But by all the GODS, you want it. Her breath is hot as hellfire across your groin, and wet, and the <HUNGER> is eating away at you from inside and outside at once!

What will you do?

>Refuse
Irinnile has eaten enough! You will wake, and master this affliction in your own way—meditation, physical activity, self-control!

>Give in
Let Irinnile relieve your burden, and strengthen herself yet further. An empowered ally, relief from the pain and distraction… Why not enjoy yourself for the first time in... God Beyond and Below, almost a YEAR?

>>5619738
>refuse
dont we need to wake up and shit

backlink>>5618767

>>5619738
>Refuse
Doesn't seem like the best of circumstances to indulge.

>>5619738
>Refuse
Fuck that entire noise, I dont like this demon stuff one bit, its helpful but I dont want to have her demonic influence to grow faster if at all and there is no way on this fucking planet should we donate any part of our demigod nut to her in any capacity, "Moms ex gf" is still a demon and we have the diadem on specifically to resist these advances

>>5619738
>Refuse

This may cause some problems with Heinrich, but I think we can handle it.

>>5619738
>Give in
This has the added benefit of keeping Yosef submerged subconsciously.

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>>5619774
>>5619778
>>5619795
>>5619796
>>5619803
[Seems like a pretty decisive vote, so...]

“W-wait,” you manage to protest, a little angry with how weak and mewling you sound. “We need to wake up, yes? These are not… Ideal circumstances.”

“We’re sooOOOoo close to our bodies, though,” Irinnile says, wiggling her own body enticingly against yours as she begins to massage your nethers with her inborn expertise. “We can spare a minute for a QUICKIE, right?”

You bite back a guttural groan that threatens to rip forth from your throat at the much-needed attention—and the agony which accompanies the ecstasy, for that matter.

“Ooo, your gods are so MEAN to you baby” Irinnile coos, beginning to lower her salivating mouth between yoru legs. “Let Auntie Iri make it all better~”

“N-no,” you growl through gritted teeth.

The pain has reminded you of another complication: the demigod’s essence brewing within you, meant for delivery to a worthy mate to incubate it and give it physical being. What if Irinnile drains it away from you—takes that power, that growing life, for herself? Your mother’s one-time lover is STILL a demon, after all, and demons are never to be fully trusted—even allied ones.

“Is that all you’re worried about?” irinnile asks innocently, as if she didn’t just pluck the concerns from your mind. “I promise, I’ll be gentle—we’ll leave all that baby-gpd-nu inside while I just slurp and suck the ~mana~ right out of you!”

“P-promise?” you gasp. “Like… A pact?”

“Sure, sure, whatever BIG boy wants…”

You lose your composure—and metaphysical consistency—for a moment as Irinnile tongue delivers a sample of this promised pleasure. Your hips buck and thrust, provoking the unclean spirit hovering over you to giggle mischievously.

“You’re pretty easy to play, aincha’?” she asks. “You’re always playin’ so BIG and CONFIDENT, I forget how young and inexperienced ya’ really are…”

You narrow your eyes a little. ‘Easy to play?’ And this succubus… She agreed to this pact so readily. Do demons not dread to bind themselves so readily, so such vague and amorphous contractual terms? The binding of pact-magic is the closest this to a sacred rite which demons abide by, is it not? Something is WRONG here…

You reach your wavering, immaterial hands up towards the aggressive sex-demon, eliciting more laughter and encouraging words:

“Ooo, returnin’ the favour? That’s good, baby, dig right and eat UP!”

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>>5619897
You do no such thing, though. Instead, you reach up to your forehead and grasp your diadem—still solid, even as (most) of your body wavers in and out of consistent form. Your mother’s Diadem of Clarity, which grounds and steadies the mind, protecting against outside influence and clearing your perceptions… THIS is your salvation! You cling to it with white-knuckled grip, and somewhere out in the hazy, amorphous fog of the unconscious realm around you, a sapphire light gleams—the match to the diadem’s gemstone!

With a sudden surge of spiritual strength, you bring your knees to your chest—catching Irinnile in the head and shoulders and sending her spiralling through the air. Trying to ignore how much this experience feels like being underwater, you push off against the succubus—cursing and swearing now—and ‘swim’ towards that beacon of bleu light. Eventually, ‘Long Wang’ appears in your vision again. Your physical body, like your astral projection, has raised his hands to grip the diadem upon his brow. With Irinnile hot on your heals—pleading, promising, offering whatever you want and more—you put on one last burst of speed and hurtle into your body.

You awake with a start. Your body is trembling. Your arousal is gone, a queasiness taking its place which causes you to retch. You are stiff in leg and arm, as you are no longer stiff in groin, and your effort to stand and find somewhere to throw up is in vain. You tumble to the floor, laying tehre for a moment as you steady yourself.

It was NOT a restful sleep.

You prop yourself up on your elbows and look to the bed. There, Heinrich Ysoef—onetime Green Knight—jerks and spasms upon the bed as if undergoing a seizure. He cries out in silent agony or outrage (or both), and these twisted feelings only seem to amplify when he fixes his gaze upon you. He shrieks a silent accusation, before his face and body go as rigid as a mortis-stricken corpse… Then limp and languid, as a pouting expression appears upon his face.

“You’re no fun at all, baby,” Irinnile-as-Yosef complains. “All work, no play, DULL boy, ya’ know?”

“Do you have the power you need to control the Green Knight?” you ask.

“…Yeeeaaaah,” Irinnile sighs, eventually. “You know, if you just gave me what I wanted, I’d have the power ta’ keep Ricky all locke dup neat ‘n tidy AN’ do all kinds of other stuff for ya’…”

As the demon-possessed-knight speaks, they lean back in a stretch that pushes forwards Yosef’s nonexistent ‘assets’ .Where a dimorphic human female (or demonic mimic of such) might manage to look enticing in such a pose, the Last Heir of the Yosefs looks laughable… But you’re in no mood to laugh.

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>>5619898
“What are you playing at?” you demand. “We have a pact: you must serve and protect me, and my bloodline, my RACE, and NEVER attempt to control or dominate me.”

Irinnile looks a little nervous at that, immediately protesting against the accusation.

“I didn’t!” the demonic knight whines, the quailing sound a poor fit for the Green Knight’s gravely throat. “I promise, okay!”

“A promise should be unnecessary,” you reiterate. “We have a PACT.”

Irinnile looks away, grimacing a little and then suppressing a nervous laugh. You narrow your eyes.

“Well, like,” Irinnile begins, then halts. “See, well, like… Umm… Do we?”

Your eyes widen.

“I-it’s just, like, we didn’t do no RITUAL or nothin’. You kinda’ just made me, like… Pinkie-swear, without any like… Rituals, or circles, or incantations, or…”

“You TRICKED me!” you roar, realizing too late why most Reptilians who work with demons do more than lightly dabble in the occult—and why, after all, you keep an Occultist on-staff.

“I didn’t, like, take ADVANTAGE or nothin’, though,” Irinnile offers, by way of a defence. “I coulda’, but look at how good we are together! We’re doin’ great things, getting’ ya’ laid—”

You reach for your sword and take a step towards the Green Knight. Henrich Yosef, terror of your people and haunter of your dreams for many months, comically hops up onto the bed and shies away. Under Irinnile’s cowardly control, he is no threat…

But you are pact-bound not to harm him—ACTUALLY bound by your word, unlike the demoness within the knight. You stop short, and another wave of nausea hits you, sending you sliding down to the floor again. Miserably, you are helpless to so much as slap away Irinnile-ben-Yosef’s hand when the demon-knight comes to pat you comfortingly.

“Eeeasy, babycakes,” they whisper.

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>>5619899
Before you can reply, the door swings open. There stand two of the royal guards assigned to supervise you and your fellow ‘guest’ They evidently came to investigate the commotion in the room, and are shocked to find you have snuck out of your quarters and into Yosef’s during the night. They look between the two of you, and at one another. They seem unsure how to proceed—after all, while you have been under their watchful eye for this past week, neither you nor The Green Knight are formally PRISONERS, or TECHNICALLY forbidden from visiting one another… Even if you did so secretly, under cover of knight, and dodged their supervision to do so.

How will you proceed?
>You just need some air… Fresh air, out on the grounds… Maybe a trip into the city? You need to clear your head, get some space, plan your next move…
>Yosef is a traitor—a betrayer, a danger to Hawksong! This man should be arrested and detained!
>You would like to arrange a meeting with Prince Rufos—you, Yosef, and the Prince—to discuss some matters of great importance (and maybe activate the demonic taint within him, to influence him to your cause)
>You would meet with Alexos—the Paladin Prince—to demand he end your confinement and finally make good on his oath to you!
>Write-in

>>5619901
>You would like to arrange a meeting with Prince Rufos—you, Yosef, and the Prince—to discuss some matters of great importance (and maybe activate the demonic taint within him, to influence him to your cause)

oh god
I don't remember mom needing any rituals for her incubus pacts, I guess Iri must have covered all that
we're still bound by our word though? I thought it was phrased as this for that, not as we'll do this and you'll do that.

>>5619908
>I don't remember mom needing any rituals for her incubus pacts, I guess Iri must have covered all that
[Essentially. The 'sealed with a kiss' bit and The Infiltrator being soul-bound to a demon were both key components of those negotiations. Binding and 'taming' Irinnile herself in RIQ was a much more involved affair... And she's only become more intelligent and (having fed quite a bit now) more powerful since then.]

>we're still bound by our word though? I thought it was phrased as this for that, not as we'll do this and you'll do that.
[The oath to not harm Yosef was made unilaterally, prior to any effort at a demon pact, to reassure Irinnile that you weren't going to kill him and that she should come with you as you left the Mages' Tower.]
Technically, you can break that vow, but it will violate your oaths as a Knight Ascendant

>>5619738
>>Refuse

>>5619901
>>You just need some air… Fresh air, out on the grounds… Maybe a trip into the city? You need to clear your head, get some space, plan your next move…

>>5619897
>baby-gpd-nu
*baby-god-nut
[Funny, spellcheck doesn't recognize either as a word, somehow. Kek.]

>>5619922
Chat-godNut 4.0

>>5619901
>You would like to arrange a meeting with Prince Rufos—you, Yosef, and the Prince—to discuss some matters of great importance (and maybe activate the demonic taint within him, to influence him to your cause)

>>5619901
>You just need some air… Fresh air, out on the grounds… Maybe a trip into the city? You need to clear your head, get some space, plan your next move…

backlink>>5619774

>>5619901
>You would like to arrange a meeting with Prince Rufos—you, Yosef, and the Prince—to discuss some matters of great importance (and maybe activate the demonic taint within him, to influence him to your cause)

>>5619901
You’re lucky I like you Iri, and that you’ve only helped us so far- if you had betrayed us like you betrayed my trust, I do promise that you’d live to regret it.

I have half a mind to say fuck it and take a long walk.

>>5619914
I’ll be straight with ya, I don’t like being hoodwinked like this, nor do I appreciate returning to the paranoid mess that was the Infiltrator- if Iri wasn’t so helpful of her own volition, I probably would’ve voted do something even more drastic.

This also raises a serious question- if she needed rituals and shit to be bound to the pact, how, IN THE FLYING FUCK, did a newb Yosef bumble into to sealing a goddamn pack with her? It beggars belief, it honestly does.

>“I promise,” you continue, doing the interrupting this time, “not to kill the Green Knight so long as your pact with him remains intact.”
And we promised not to personally kill the Green Knight, we make no mention of his physical or mental well-being, and no mention of bare necessities.

The other deal- the ‘pact’- remains contingent on her keeping her side of the bargain, for WE made no oaths on that deal, only an agreement apparently not bound by ‘the unbreakable laws of demonic dealmaking’, but by her word and her word only.

>>5620043
>I’ll be straight with ya, I don’t like being hoodwinked like this
[Sorry, anon. Sometimes NPCs are untrustworthy. Soemtimes your character's knowledge is incomplete. I've been pretty up-front, I feel, with including lots of danger flags about Irinnile's intentions and loyalties, and Theral not being omniscient or skilled in matters demonic.]

>how, IN THE FLYING FUCK, did a newb Yosef bumble into to sealing a goddamn pack with her?
[Coercive use of a legendary holy weapon, sealed with a magical demonic kiss that had other, dire effects upon him]

>WE made no oaths on that deal, only an agreement apparently not bound by ‘the unbreakable laws of demonic dealmaking’
[Pacts with demons are only 'unbreakable' on the demon's end under most circumstances. They physically cannot go against the letter of an agreement made under the right circumstances, or properly-sealed. A mortal making the deal generally can, just at the cost of freeing the demon from their end of that bargain at the same time.]

>>5619901
>You would like to arrange a meeting with Prince Rufos—you, Yosef, and the Prince—to discuss some matters of great importance (and maybe activate the demonic taint within him, to influence him to your cause)

>>5619914
fuck, that's right
we were thinking we already made the oath so we wouldn't lose anything by making the pact, only gain
I guess it's not even too much of a setback in that case, just need to find a demonologist to make this pact official

>>5620125
Eh. Having some time to think on it, she’s loyal enough without the demonic kiss (at least in non-Yosef matters), and given our unique situation, we can probably coerce her into pact-like adherence if we promise to make Death single her and Yosef out for….special treatment in Hell, if we aren’t satisfied with her actions and loyalty. Can’t escape the Reaper forever Iri.

I do hope I don’t have to coerce her though, it’d be a shame to lose our last link to Izzy.

>>5620217
I mean, we don’t have to- our unique in with Death puts us in a position to enforce our will without suffering the consequences of the demonic kiss. Besides, we don’t need a demonologist if you really think hard about our situation ;)

>>5620187
>>5620011
>>5619966
>>5619929
>>5619918
>>5619908
You exchange a silent look of displeasure with Irinnile. This matter of manipulating you and betraying your trust WILL require redress… But not now.

“Uh,” one of the guards finally speaks up, “You aren’t really supposed to be—”

“Enough of thisss,” you say, standing up and waiting for your gut to settle and head to clear. “I will not be kept here any longer. I am a free man, yesss? I go where I wish.”

“Are you alright?” the other guard asks, a it more compassionate—or maybe you just look that unsteady.

You repudiate his concern, declaring: “I’m fine. Fine enough to have a meeting with Princcce Rufosss, to disscusss my ssstay here, and the conditionsss under which it will continue.”

“Well, we can transport that message,” the second, seemingly-swifter guard suggests.

“That isssn’t all we wish to sspeak with him about,” you clarify, and gesture to ‘Yosef’ as you do so. “The ressst isss not for mixxxed company. It isss a matter of grave importanccce.”

Irinnile-as-Yosef waves, and hops delatedly down from the ebd. Both the guards look at them, then at each other, and finally back to you. “We’ll be right back,” the second says.

“Stay here,” half-commands the first.

“Or elssse?” you ask.

Neither human male ahs an answer to that question, and so they go and you remain.

“Baby—” Irinnile begins, egntly reaching out to you.

“Sssave your breath, and adjust your inflection,” you command succinctly. “We will disscusss this later.

The two of you wait in uneasy silence, as you stew in your wounded pride and lost trust, trying to figure out where you went wrong. You miss your loyal lieutenants, your trustworthy allies. Hawksong is a den of vipers—and not, to paraphrase Irinnile, the good kind. Your captivity here is driving you to paranoia.

What comes next does little to abate that feeling.

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>>5620756
The guards return, and the first announces: “Prince Rufos will meet with you, Mister Long.”

“Of courssse,” you say, maybe a little snappily.

You and Irinnile both step towards the door of the Green Knight’s room, only for the guards to hastily close ranks behind you, and the second to hold up a hand.

“Only Mister Long,” the first knight says.

“Am I, like, under arrest?” Irinnile asks, surprised more than offended.

The guards glance at each other and shake their heads in near-unison.

“No, no,” the second guard says, as they part to allow the secretly succubic knight to exit the room. “But… Prince Rufos requests the private meeting of Mister Long. Alone.”

That’s the sort of thing to set your <Danger Sense> atingle… or, well, it would if it were a direct, immediate, physical threat. It’s still an unusual request, though.

“Why?” you ask.

The guards have no answers, for noen were given to them. ‘prince’s orders,’ and no elaboration besides.

>Oblige the Prince
>Refuse the request—you’re BRINGING Irinnile!
>Nevermind then, you’re going to…
>>Find Ekaterine—she is awake as well, after all, and you know where her room is
>>Find Alexos—you will engage with the more REASONABLE brother, then!
>>You’re leaving—you are sick of this palace
>Write-in

>>5620757
>Oblige the Prince
>Get a private moment with Iri to discuss if contact with her ectoplasm is enough
Ultimately, she decided to tell the truth, which works in her favor. Let her stew in our displeasure though.

>>5620804
+1 to this. No reason not to talk to Rufos, and maybe we can still touch him with some ectoplasm or somethin'.

>>5620804
+1
backlink>>5619966

>>5620757
>Oblige the Prince
we can at least complain about the babysitters

>>5620804
let's go

[Heads up: expect a delayed or misse dudpate today. Staff party after work!]

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>>5620804
>>5620810
>>5620846
>>5620909
>>5620983
“Yess, alright,” you decide.

You will oblige the Secondborn Prince.

It’s an odd request, but you have no reason not to talk to Rufos, and maybe you can still complain about the rude appointment of these guards… And maybe touch him with some ectoplasm or something? Before you leave with the guards, you decide it wise to ask Irinnile about your options in that regard.

“Oh, so now you trust me?” the succubus-infested-knight pouts.

“You’ve given me reassson not to,” you acknowledge bluntly, “but I will hear what you have to sssay.”

Irinnile winces, but in the end their sheepish reply is simply:

“M-maybe? I mean, I think it’s gonna’ have ta’ be more involved than, like, ‘‘haaaack, here’s a glob of ectoplasm, plop, go slap ‘im with I’’, ya’ know?”

You think you understand. The exaggerated pantomime of Yosef hocking up a wad of demonic spectral-essence (which draws raised eyebrows and mutterings from your guards) is rather vivid, at least.

“The proccesss iss more involved,” you acknowledge. “I am on my own.”

You glower at Irinnile, wanting the succubus to feel yoru displeasure, and add: “Maybe I alwysss wass, yesss?”

You turn your back to the demon-knight, leaving Irinnile to stammer and stew in your disappointment.

“Let’ss go.”

The guards guide you to yet-another heretofore unseen chamber stocked with minimalist furnishings and small shelves. The shelves are stocked with books on religion, philosophy, trade—well, the titles on the spines suggest such, anyway, from ‘Ye Economies of ye Easte and Weste Compared and Contrasted’ and ‘Meditations Upon Ye One Hundred Known Godes and Godes’ Children, OR Which to Worshippe?’. In actuality, you note layers of dust and a firmness of structure which indicate they have rarely been removed or opened—they are here for show. The prince, too, sits in a chair higher, more ornate, and more comfortable than the admittedly well-crafted one which you claim for yourself. He looks down upon you—deliberate posture of dominance. You recall meetings with dark eleven princes, with the Chaplain. You don’t like it, but you understand and (to a point) can respect it.

“…Sit down, please,” Prince Rufos says dryly, as if you had already done so without permission.

You smile. He narrows his eyes.

“Stop that,” he says. “Easterlings do not smile so much.”

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>>5621977
You blink, uncertain how to reply to that.

“I… Feel asss if I might know more of the Easst than you?” you eventually hazard, to fill the silence.

“I rather doubt it,” he says, pensively tenting his finegrs and leaning evr the desk.

“…What do you mean?” you ask, warily.

The guards are gone. The door is sealed. It is just the two of you.

“You could not even ATTEMPT to geographically pinpoint your origins, ‘Long Wang’. You must improve upon that, if THIS is how you plan to present yourself, in your human guise.”

No, you take it all back—paranoia was, indeed, the correct stance. You start to shift, ready for combat, but the Prince snorts derisively and waves at you to settle.

“Calm yourself, lizardman,” he says, confirming your suspicions. “If I planned to attack and end you, wouldn’t I have sent more than two guards? Would we be alone in this room together?”

You remain leaned forward, tense, ready to spring. You don’t speak for a time, waiting for HIM to explain himself. Eventually, frustrated, he does so.

“I did NOT do this for the same reason I will NOT be meeting with your demonic associate, nested within poor, stupid Yosef.”

This time, YOU break the lengthy silence which follows.

“…Why do you think I am a ‘lizardman’?”

“I know you are BECAUSE you travel with my… With the demon.”

The Prince fidgets a little when he mentions Yosef and Irinnile, you note. He is sweaty, pallid. Does the proximity of your demonic assistant—infused with the essence and the power of the incubus she consumed—irritate or otherwise affect this Prince of Hawksong, once bound by the pair of hellspawn?

“I recognize your kind,” Rufos continues, bitterly. “I have been befuddled by your folk once. Never a second time. And the demon… It has played with me long enough. I was freed, likely in tandem with whatever conflict you engaged in to break and tame the beast.”

“You’re welcome,” you say, a little smugly.

“Yes, well, forgive me if I don’t gush with gratitude, given that the air of you arrived here to reconquer my mind,” he says, glaring.

You meet his gaze levelly, saying nothing, mind racing.

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>>5621982
“I could have you killed, and easily,” he says, matter-of-factly. “Do you really think you could fight your way through my guards, Father’s Paladins, the entire CITY?”

“Maybe,” you say, though you can’t be sure. “You ssaid thiss iss not your plan, though. Why are you NOT doing thiss thing?”

The Prince says nothing, but you consider what you know of politics and power—and the jockeying for station which is taking place here, compared to your own struggles to assert dominion over Reptilian culture. This Secondborn Prince… He is waging a war for dominion against his brother, and he is ALREADY at a disadvantage. His claim to fame, his sole merit, is his firmhanded handling of Hawksong’s security concerns—economically stifling, but popular with a populace who have learned to fear foreigners and any unusual denizen who might be a ‘lizardman’ in disguise. You think you get it—who would still support this Prince of Protection, after learning his policies were guided by a demon-cult in alliance with the Reptilian Menace for DECADES? And if he was to just kill you and somehow do away with Yosef-slash-Irrinile WITHOUT revealing your true nature, would his brother not jump upon the opportunity to discredit him as an opportunist who violated oaths and laws to do away with a mouthy and presumptuous (but NOT criminal) foreigner?

“What do you want?” you ask him, pointedly.

He laughs humourlessly, and counters: “A funny question, from the one who demanded the meeting. What do YOU want? Keeping in mind, of course, that I have no reason to grant it to you, if it’s too egregious.”

You blink startled, and consider the question. Before your mind can wander too far, the Prince of Hawksong drums his fingers in noisy irritation upon the arm of his chair, and shifts his stance.

“My price, as a STARTING position, is that you remove Yosef from this palace IMMEDIATELY,” he adds. “Any breakdown in negotiations—any betrayal on your part—will result in your utter destruction.”

What will you say or do?
>Propose an alliance of interests—you will help him surpass his elder brother in status and acclaim, and send Irinnile away, if he enables your continued courtship of Ekaterine
>Suggest mutual non-interference, and promise not to stay long or draw untoward attention to him—you are here for a brief spell, and you and Irinnile will leave soon, and just wish to move and act freely
>You are here to take his city, but you will spare his miserable life and offer him a place in your retinue if he bends the knee and does your bidding
>Why would you need ANYTHING from this weaselly ape-man? He’s a threat—provoke him to violence, and end him here in ‘self defence’!
>Flee—you’ve been found out, and you need to get out of here YESTERDAY
>Write-in

[More generous offers have lower DC, but any promises made will be treated as knightly oaths if he fores the issue, which he VERY LIKELY will.]

>>5621984
>Propose an alliance of interests—you will help him surpass his elder brother in status and acclaim, and send Irinnile away, if he enables your continued courtship of Ekaterine

And say something along the lines of.,

Fine, you got me. I was sent here to spy on hawksong. Didn’t do a good job it. But now, my priorities have changed now — Ekaterine means more to me than everything else now. All I want to do is to fade away in the background and court her.

Backlink>>5620846

>>5621984
>Suggest mutual non-interference, and promise not to stay long or draw untoward attention to him—you are here for a brief spell, and you and Irinnile will leave soon, and just wish to move and act freely

Yeah, I feel just saying him "It's cool we're banging your sister then we're out" won't work

>>5621984
None of these options appeal to me. I actually hate these options quite a bit, all for different reasons.
>Propose the alliance of interests, sans Irinnile. If that doesn’t work, default to non-interference, but do not set a timetable down in stone.
I want to ensure that Yosef remains under Irinnile’s, and I’m willing to sacrifice an opportunity to expedite our plans just to keep him near us.

>>5622167
>Irinnile’s control

>>5621984
>You are here to take his city, but you could use a local guide with some power and the ability to calm the sheep- if he is willing to assist you, you could consider installing him as regent when the time comes for a change in leadership

Note the specific wording of "CONSIDER" and not "WILL". Weaseling around the oath as much as possible and not committing to it.

>>5621984
>Suggest mutual non-interference, and promise not to stay long or draw untoward attention to him—you are here for a brief spell, and you and Irinnile will leave soon, and just wish to move and act freely

>>5622167
>None of these options appeal to me.
Agreed

I think staying out of each other’s way would be best.

He clearly knows too much and is a massive threat to us - but with his inferior position relative to his brother, it is a manageable risk

Best to finish our business with the Princess and move on

>>5621984
>Propose an alliance of interests—you will help him surpass his elder brother in status and acclaim, and send Irinnile away, if he enables your continued courtship of Ekaterine

>>5622074
There're a few problems with that though. I think we'd be better off claiming we were truthful about everything but land of origin - we are reptilian nobility and do want to court his sister, because we represent a more peaceful faction among our people and want a strong alliance instead of war. Just try not to admit to being a reptilian straight up though.

>>5623295
Doesnt he already know we are a lizardman?

I like the idea of representing a more peaceful faction tho

>>5621982
>“Calm yourself, lizardman,” he says, confirming your suspicions.

>>5623326
the fuck

I didnt put shit on my name

Must be some april fools shit

>>5623326
He says he knows, but better to not confirm it for him. Plus he could have people listening in.

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>>5623295
>>5623034
>>5622981
>>5622167
>>5622105
>>5622074
[Locked and writing!]

>>5623331
it is

Rolled 9, 15, 13, 4 = 41 (4d20)

>>5623403
You consider your response carefully. First and foremost, you make the tactical decision to speak vaguely on the matter—what if he has someone listening outside the chamber, to confirm his suspicions of you and to give him just cause to execute you? It would be a double-edged assault upon your position, endangering his own, but it’s still a possibility.

“Let’sss ssay that what you ssusspect iss true,” you begin.

“It is.”

“Well, then we share interessstss, do we not?”

Prince Rufos shakes his head slightly.

“I don’t see how,” he says.

“I have exxxtracted an oath which bindsss your brother, to whom you are… Shall we ssay, officially ssubordinate?”

That terminology visibly rankles the Secondborn Prince, but you don’t let that stop you from pressing on.

“You wish to have power here, In Hawksssong. Your brother, Alexxxosss, is an impediment. I could help you sssurpasss him…”

“As your pawn?” Rufos scoffs.

“Asss a partner,” you say, diplomatically.

“Equals? You and I? Absurd.”

“I agree,” you say, and you mean it, though for different reason. “Ssstill, we DO share thiss interessst… Thisss obssstacle… And all I ask in exxxchange isss that you ssstay out of my way… And give me Ekaterine.”

Rufos’ fingers interlace atop the desk, their grip upon one another tightening. His expression hardens.

“I ssstill mean to court her,” you explain. “It’sss my primary goal, in fact. I am not here to conquer your cccity.”

(Not yet, anyway.)

“It is a good thing, lizard, that you are not here to do the impossible.”

“I am not a ‘lizard’,” you correct him.

“Do not—”

“If you mussst persssisst in thiss notion, consider me… A dragon.”

The Prince regards you coolly, obviously not understanding the significance.

“I will not sssend away Yosssef,” you say simply. “I do not need to. I will ssimply keep my ally away from you… And you will arrange for a meeting with Irinnile. In exxxchange, I will help you gain the power you sseeek.”

[DC 15/17]

>>5623510
>15
The Prince of Hawksong glowers at you over his desk. You regard him calmly, awaiting his reply.

“I make no promises,” he says.

You still say nothing. He has not called guards, drawn steel, or done anything else to preicipate your ‘utter destruction’, so you know that negotiations are not yet over.

“Prove your worth,” Rufos says, “and I will see to it you are given leave to meet with Ekaterine… Maybe even give my blessing.”

He stands, and so do you. You make to leave, but to yoru surprise—and mild outrage, honestly-the smaller man circles around to block your exit. Does he really think he can stop you leaving?

(Well, maybe. Your jaunt as you dream-self reminded you of who you are, in the end: the same Dragonborn you ever were, here deprived of even your <Dragonshape>. You have been victorious more often than not, but you are not INVINCIBLE. What is this human prince capable of, given his less-astute brother’s impressive martial capability?)

“Make no mistake, ‘Long Wang’: you may think me some sort of lever to pry open Hawksong and extract… Whatever it is you want… But I love my sister. I will NOT let you bring ruin upon her.”

You blink, trying to parse his meaning.

“Ssso, you WON’T grant me your blessssing?” you ask.

“I will on TWO conditions, beyond that which we have already discussed,” the Prince of Hawksong states, and holds up his hand—first displaying one digit. “Firstly, you will NOT harm her, EVER. Ekaterine will be SAFE, unblemished, and unviolated.”

“Hm,” you reply, noncommittal.

“Second,” Rufos continues, raising a second finger to accompany the clause, “you will NOT reveal your… TRUE self… In any way so as to embarrass her or bring her harm. Long Wang the auspicious Eastern exorcist may be seen with Princess Ekaterine. NEVER a lizard.”

“I already told you,” you say, pushing past him. “I am no ‘lizard’.”

Prince Rufos grabs you by the shoulder.

“I mean it,” he says.

You hesitate, then shrug him off. He made you swear no oath…

But will you, anyway?
>No
>Yes
>Yes, but modified [how?]

And how, exactly, do you plan to strengthen Rufos’ claim to the throne?
>Seek out the Paladin King of Hawksong, called Archos, to manipulate his favour
>While Irinnile has betrayed your trust, the demon is still broadly ‘on your side’, and a useful tool—perhaps dream-delving could be used to affect the course of succession?
>Take a trip into town to meet with your Infiltrator allies, and set about procuring ACTUAL poison, to wield against your foes—the king, or maybe his eldest son directly?
>Your victories in war and the hunting of great beasts earned you respect—perhaps taking Rufos on a campaign or hunting trip could grant him the same prestige among his people?
>Write-in

>>5623530
>Yes, but modified [how?]
>Ekaterine will be kept safe
>I will only reveal the lizard self ONLY IF she manages to figure it out
No reason to be hiding it at that point.

>Seek out the paladin king

dream delving is a little too risky
poison sounds too obvious
Campaigning and hunting is a little too dangerous for theral. Too many opportunities for accidents to happen.

backlink>>5622074

>>5623530
>No
He made no promise, nor swore any oath. We can say we will take care to ensure her wellbeing, but I ain’t putting an oath on it if he won’t reciprocate.

>While Irinnile has betrayed your trust, the demon is still broadly ‘on your side’, and a useful tool—perhaps dream-delving could be used to affect the course of succession?
Spilling poison in the King’s ear LotR style is too good to pass up.
>Your victories in war and the hunting of great beasts earned you respect—perhaps taking Rufos on a campaign or hunting trip could grant him the same prestige among his people?
I like this idea as well- a hunt and campaign sounds really kino right about now.

>>5623530
>Yes, but modified [how?]
WE won't harm her (huehuehue)
with an exception for hymen tearing if that would count as harm

>you will NOT reveal your… TRUE self… with the intention of embarrassing her or causing her harm
lets us reveal for self defense/other reasons, plus we can reveal all we like after we conquer the world because then a reptilian husband will be a status symbol and not embarrassing

and of course, both of these are contingent on him doing his part, which frees us from any one sided commitment.

>Seek out the Paladin King of Hawksong, called Archos, to manipulate his favour

>Your victories in war and the hunting of great beasts earned you respect—perhaps taking Rufos on a campaign or hunting trip could grant him the same prestige among his people?
also seems good, sure the risk of accidents is there but if we organize the trip it shouldn't be too bad

>>5623530
>No
>Seek out the Paladin King of Hawksong, called Archos, to manipulate his favour

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>>5624137
>>5623601
>>5623590
>>5623558
[We seem to have a toss-up at the moment, so I'll leave this open a little longer.]

>>5623530
Make no oath but we can say yes we wont hurt your sister, we dont have to swear anything plus we dont plan on hurting Ekaterine while we court her afaik

>>5624528
>>5619795
Backlink

>>5624528
>>5624530
[And the second part of the vote, anon?]

>>5623530
>>Yes, but modified [how?]
Not be revealed to any of your subjects.

>Seek out the Paladin King of Hawksong, called Archos, to manipulate his favour

Rolled 12, 3, 18 = 33 (3d20)

>>5624528
>>5624137
>>5623601
>>5623590
>>5623558
>>5624663

“I have no intention to harm Ekaterine, nor to exxxpose or embarasss anyone."

“Tell that to my brother,” Rufos sniffs, though he doesn’t sound all that miffed about Alexos’ humiliation in truth.

“I vow to bring no 'ruin' to Ekaterine, no physical harm or deliebrate shame. I will ONLY reveal mysself for... Who I truly am... If she asskss, and forccesss my hand, or in an effort to protect her, or to those who have already dissscovered or otherwise know."

"Rather specifically-worded, isn't that" Prince Rufos criticizes.

"I sswear you no other oath, though,” you add, ignoring his interruptions. “After all, I don’t hear YOU moving to do sso, either.”

There’s little he can say to that, it seems, or perhaps he simply doesn’t see any need. You’ve both said your peace. An uneasy alliance is struck, for now. You don’t necessarily trust this human not to betray you, but nor do YOU have any sense of loyalty to HIM. You are bound together by convenience and mutual risk—that he might reveal your true nature, that you might reveal his compromised status. It’s the sort of careful balance an Infiltrator often works best within…

A shame, then, that you are no Reptilian infiltrator. Frankly, the whole act is exhausting and stressful to you. You have long ago resolved not to hide your true self, even pledged yourself to a Dark God who glories in boastful revelations of truth as an expression of power. You are a Dragon King, sneaking about in the skin of a monkey-man, in the court of another, enemy sovereign. It is anathema to you.

Well, perhaps it is time that king met king?

You could do so in dreams, but… Well, you aren’t certain how much you trust Irinnile, after last night and this morning. The demon’s loyalty to you seems predicated on the same sort of passing mutual interest as Rufos’ cooperation, albeit (possibly) strengthened somewhat by fond remembrances of your mother. Hinging this next, delicate stage of your operations upon the succubus seems a foolhardy thing to do, however one looks at it. Instead, you use <Guidance> to divine the whereabouts of the King of Hawksong—the Paladin King, Archos, long a priority target of your race’s machinations.

>>5624669
>18
It is… Surprisingly difficult. You are able to do so, but it takes time, effort. Is he shielded from the crying eye of those who can perceive fate and fortune, by his false gods or by some sorcerous machination? Sneaking to him, even with <Shadow> and <Dazzle> your shield, would risk discovery and confrontation, but demanding an audience would bring attention to your next move…

What IS your next move?

>Discuss the feud between the Paladin King’s princely sons, and the deleterious effect this is having upon the kingdom’s security—he must choose a successor, and YOU believe it should be Rufos.
>Try to persuade the Paladin king of the necessity of a war against the Southlands, and that he must personally command it—accelerate your original plan!
>You wish to meet with your future father-in-law to discuss that very matter—your bet with Alexos, your desire to court and wed Ekaterine, and the blessing you wish to earn with him—maybe you could hunt and destroy some threat to the kingdom, to prove your worth?
>Write-in

How will you gain access to him?
>Conspiracy—have Rufos grant you access, though it means he will be privy to discussions
>Subterfuge—try to find a corruptible guard or councillor to bribe or coerce
>Stealth—it will be DIFFICULT to sneak into his chambers, but not IMPOSSIBLE
>Demonic dream-delving—Irinnile really IS your best bet, isn’t she? Ugh…
>The direct approach—demand that Alexos introduce you to his father
>Write-in

>>5624676
>The direct approach—demand that Alexos introduce you to his father
having him give us access to his dad only to trash talk him and promote his brother instead is based

>>5624676
>Try to persuade the Paladin king of the necessity of a war against the Southlands, and that he must personally command it—accelerate your original plan!
>You wish to meet with your future father-in-law to discuss that very matter—your bet with Alexos, your desire to court and wed Ekaterine, and the blessing you wish to earn with him—maybe you could hunt and destroy some threat to the kingdom, to prove your worth?
Two birds with one stone.
>Demonic dream-delving—Irinnile really IS your best bet, isn’t she? Ugh…

>>5624676
>Discuss the feud between the Paladin King’s princely sons, and the deleterious effect this is having upon the kingdom’s security—he must choose a successor, and YOU believe it should be Rufos.
>Conspiracy

Rufos is listening in? Good.

Backlink>>5623558

>>5624676
>>5625171
Support.

>>5624824
Supporting this

>>5623034
Backlink

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>>5625330
>>5625216
>>5625171
>>5624824
>>5624823
[Locked and writing!]

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>>5625580
Earning Prince Rufos trust IS key, if you’re to have any success in your MAIN objective in this place. You are simply not accustomed to working under the direct supervision of an enemy, and you even if you and the male human will never be FRIENDS, you can at least be amicable enough that he leave you alone to do what you must with Princess Ekaterine. At least, you hope so. Regardless, promoting him up the line of succession should keep him busy and, as the humans say, ‘out of your hair’.

You plan your approach carefully. A direct approach appeals most to you, or at least the arrangement of a meeting through Rufos… But you cannot fail here, or create a situation where the Secondborn prince PERCEIVES you as failing. He must see you as a useful tool in his machinations if you’re to avoid exposure or confrontation, and gain access to Ekaterine in the waking world. HA! Imagine: you, the humans’ tool, as if it were not truly the reverse.

And speaking of tools, that’s where Irinnile comes in.

“So… You forgive me?” Irinnile ben Yosef asks, when you return.

It is late in the day, after dinner has been brought to both of your quarters, when you finally deign to visit the possessed knight again. Partly, this was to avoid undue scrutiny or raising any alarm bells from Rufos, who is wary of the creature within the Green Knight. Partly, it’s because you share some of his misgivings. At present, though, the demon’s dream-delving capability is your best bet to prime Paladin King Archos for the ‘real’ meeting ahead.

Ugh. It is what it is, you suppose.

It is a testament to Rufos’ limited extension of trust that, though you can heard guard patrols outside the room, none check in on you. As night falls, you take up your meditative position upon the floor once more. Irinnile—rather, YSOEF—plops into your lap, leaning back against you.

“…You are not going to transform into your female shape?” you ask, after a long enough period of time has passed that this does indeed seem to be the case.

“Soooome~one doesn’t wanna’ give me any more mana than he absolutely NEEDS ta’!” Irinnile reminds you.

You still can’t help but feel the succubus is trying to manipulate you—after all, ‘he’ shapeshifted into a ‘she’ last time, and the demon surely has more mana now than before your kiss. Bah! You squeeze your eyes shut again, focusing on the mission rather than the impudent imp—

“SUCCUBUS, thank you VERY much! I ain’t no shitty l’il IMP, baby.”

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>>5625639
You open your eyes, and are about to chastise your demonic ally for invading your thoughts again… Only to see the green-skinned, tattooed devil-woman hovering in open, misty ‘air’ before you. You look down, and find yourself once more in your own default form—your dream-form.

“Go-time?” Irinnile asks.

“Yes,” you agree.

Irinnile leads you through the palace—or, rather, its shadow-archetype, a dark and somehow dingy place, silent like an empty shrine. Grey, spectral shapes, those of guards and staff still awake, drift by ephemerally, their footfalls muffled to your astral ears. Only when you drift by the quarters of the sleeping servants do you hear the quiet rhythm of voices, the occasional burst of laughter or panicked cry. A dull orange-white glow peers out from under their doors—the light of dreams, which you could enter, influence, as you plan to affect those of their sleeping king.

Your earlier use of <Guidance> grants you rough geographic knowledge of the Paladin King. Irinnile, your guide in this warped mirror-realm, helps triangulate it in reference to the subtly-shifted dimensions of the architecture here, moulded and reshaped by popular unconscious perception. Important or oft-frequented chambers are larger-than-life, dull hallways and rarely-visited wings are vague and foreshortened.

“Trippy, huh?” Irinnile chirps, cheerfully.

“Hm.”

“Still sour at me?” she pouts. “Come ooon, be cool! How about, like, a quick little handy to make it up to ya’?”

You glare at her, ignoring the suggestive motion of her cupped hand until she stops and sighs.

“Eyes on the prize?”

“Yes.”

You soon approach that prize: the private quarters of Paladin King Archos. There is the say glow of dreamlight emanating from between the two great doors to his overlarge sleeping-chamber, symbol of mammalian decadence. But there is also something… Else. A different, bluish sort of glow. You and irinniel exchange a glance.

“Wards?” you ask.

Irinnile nods, cringing, and gingerly presses upon the door with one finger. She yelps at a quasi-electric spark which snaps at her offending digit, and draws back her hand, suckling upon the afflicted finger for a moment as she considers her options.

“I guess it’s, like, no big SHOCKER that th’ Kinga a’ the Pallypals is hidden behind anti-demon wards, ‘specially with all the hubbub about demon cults and Southern demonists ‘n all that shit, huh?”

You seethe silently. Why did you not consider that? Was this all wasted effort? Maybe you should just return to your own body, or pay a visit to Ekaterine…

“Hey now, my blue0balled baby boy, lets’ not get all defeatist YET!” Irinnile says, reaching up to squeeze your cheeks.

You resist the urge to bite her, and wait to hear your options.

Hands on hips, one thrust out to the side, the succubus outlines her analysis of the situation:

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>>5625642
“Way I see it,” she begins, “I sure as fuck ain’t getting’ in there, but YOU just might…”

“Might?” you interject.

“Yeah, well…” Irinnile trails off, giggling nervously. “He MIGHT have other defences, an’ you still got here through, like, demon-y magic, right? If his defences are too strong, or YOU fuck-up—like, no offence, just sayin’, just sayin’, IF!—then your spirit’s gonna’ be all, like, vulnerable, an’ trapped, an’ away from yoru body, an’ I can’t do shit about none of that.”

Your displeasure deepens.

“ButbutbutbutBUUUUUUUT—BIG but!” Irinnile turns around popping her hips the other way and inflating her astral form’s rear to a pleasantly-jiggling bounciness to seize your attention and emphasize the point. “You give in and give ME a bit more juice, an’ maybe I can use my Greater Demon mojo ta’ crack that open an’ offer you some more protection.”

She looks you up and down appraisingly.

“Maybe make you look less lizardy, too, while we’re at it. Can’t imagine Archy-poo’s gonna’ wanna’ talk shop with you all scaley an’ shit, no offence or whatever.”

You don’t’ exactly like the idea of powering the succubus up, especially when it risks losing any fragment of your divine ‘package’. You look towards the door, and wonder… Is there another option? You are in a realm of dreams, and the Red Dragon King’s immortal souls ‘slumbers’ within you… Maybe you could awaken it in this place, and ally more directly with him, rather than having this unclean spirit siphon his power to wield.

“Heeey, hey now,” irinnile begins warily, floating around to meet you at eye-level. “You really think you can trust that big ol’ stinker more than Aunty Iri? Come on—just ‘cause you can’t, like, literally CONTROL someone with binding magical whatsists doesn’t mean they’re, like… Not your friend!”

You remain silent. The succubus grows visibly nervous, fidgeting where she floats.

“Come on, babycakes, we’re still friends… Right?”

You consider Irinnile…
>A friend
>An ally, maybe, but NOT a ‘friend’
>A tool of convenience, but no true ally
>A dangerous wildcard, potentially a liability or foe
>An enemy, though you shield that thought from her with the Diadem and your shamanic willpower

What will you do about the magical barrier protecting King Archos?
>Attempt to force your way in yourself [Spellcraft DC 18]
>Give Irinnile some more power [Risk of corruption [Religion DC 15], unknown other risks [???], Spellcraft DC 10]
>Awaken the Red Dragon King [Unknown risks [???], automatic success to enter the Paladin King’s dreams]
>Forget this—you’ll dream-delve elsewhere tonight [Ekaterine? Roth or Olu? Someone else? Please specify.]
>Nevermind—return to your body and tackle this in the material realm tomorrow
>Write-in

>>5625643
>An ally, maybe, but NOT a ‘friend’
Open to future friendship but we've only known her for like a week? Also she's kinda in love with our archenemy.

>Forget this—you’ll dream-delve elsewhere tonight [Ekaterine? Roth or Olu? Someone else? Please specify.]
Even if we break through these wards, and there are no others, and we successfully influence the king, what's gonna happen tomorrow when they notice the wards are broken and the king is like "yeah I had this weird ass dream that I should give the throne to Rufos". Brute force isn't the answer here.

>>5625643
>A dangerous wildcard, potentially a liability or foe


>Awaken the Red Dragon King [Unknown risks [???], automatic success to enter the Paladin King’s dreams]

We should have been getting the red dragons help from the very beginning, he is a skilled sorcerer and would have prevented us from signing the one sided pact with Irinnile.

>>5625643
>>An ally, maybe, but NOT a ‘friend’
Not a friend yet. Ready to trust her.

>Forget this—you’ll dream-delve elsewhere tonight [Ekaterine? Roth or Olu? Someone else? Please specify.]
Time to swoon some princesses

>>5625774
>Please specify
[Who do you wish to dream-delve instead?]

>>5625826
right, Eka

>>5625826
Supporting this.

Full Princess plan

>>5625826
+1. Honestly, if we can convince Ekaterine to elope with us, we don't need to continue fucking about with the rest of it.

>>5625826
>>5625868
+1

Backlink>>5625171

>>5625774
>>5625780
>>5625826
>>5625893
>>5625945
>>5625868
>>5625980

“I am not looking for a ‘friend’,” you say, phrasing your doubts as diplomatically as you can, “but a reliable ally.”

“…An’ that’s me, right?” Irinnile asks hopefully.

You shrug, and afford a slight nod. Better to have her with you than against you, at any rate. It seems to make the demon happy enough based upon her too-wide, too-gleeful smile. It’s vaguely unsettling, especially knowing that she is willing to lie and manipulate you in service of her own Hellish whims… And is still bound by ties of love and loyalty to the Green Knight.

Hm.

“So,” Irinnile asks, snapping you out of your introspection, ‘what’s the play, big boy?”

You regard the door to the Paladin King’s chamber once more, and consider ways by which you might enter… btu what then? What if you fail to best the wards or what if, having bested them, you cannot reconstruct them? Would it not raise an instant alarm if, upon waking from a peculiar dream in a room with mysteriously-shattered mystical protections, the king suddenly altered his line of succession? Surely the humans are not THAT careless, even in this citadel city of theirs?

“We leave,” you declare. “The risk is too great. I would see Eka, instead. Her father can wait until morning.”

“…Eka?” Irinniel asks, hovering alongside you as you stride back the way from whence you came.

“Yes?” you say, suddenly uncertain. “It is a… Nickname, yes? Like the shortening of ‘Irinnile’ to ‘Iri’.”

“Yeah, no, I get that,” Irinnile replies. “But… Why ‘Eka’? Not, like, ‘Kat’?”

You tilt your head, trying to parse the significance.

“Like, you know, ‘nyan~’?” Irinnile suggests helpfully, materializing a headband with what you gather to be the ears of the surface animals known as ‘cats’., and making some strange paw-like gesture with one hand.

You’ve seen a few of these small, semi-feral mammals around Hawksong, in passing, though they mostly skittered away from you with obvious displeasure. They don’t really resemble Ekaterine in any obvious fashion.

“She is a primate, not a felid,” you eventually say, voicing your puzzlement.

“Nevermind,” Irinnile sighs, and the ears vanish as you arrive at the door to Ekaterine’s chamber.

This door is not sealed by magic, at least—a remarkable oversight in the palace’s mystical security-measures, when one considers how easily the Princess might be manipulated into a weapon against her father.

(Well, there’s certainly a thought…)

>>5625992
You push a palm against the door, and a moment later you are inside—passed through the portal, as if a ghost or intangible entity. You ARE a disembodied spirit, after all. Irinnile is instantly at your side, both of you peering down upon the faintly-luminescent sleeping figure of Princess Ekaterine.

“She is dreaming,” you note.

“Looks like a peaceful one,” Irinnile adds, then looks slyly at you through narrowed eyes, smirking broadly. “Gonna’, like, sex it up a little? You two were getting’ real cozy on that bench, weren’t cha’?”

You narrow your eyes at the succubus.

“I can help with that much, ya’ know,” she says, lifting and lowering her eyebrows slightly. “Come on, let your ally give ya’ a ahnd, if I can’t give ya’ a handy, hmmmm?”

What is your plan, upon this visitation?
>You are, indeed, here to fan the flames of the Princess’ stifled lust, and to prep her for further daylight visitations—and, should it come to it, an expedient emergency impregnation
>You’re here to further encourage Princess Ekaterine’s independent streak—you want to bring to light the crimes of the Gods of Light, and share something of your own True Faith with her
>You wish to wield Ekaterine as a weapon against Alexos and Archos, Paladin Prince and Paladin King, in order to advance Rufos (or her own?) claim to the throne
>Write-in

Will you accept Irinnile’s direct aid in warping Ekaterine's mind through magic?
>Yes, you will do whatever you must, and you only need a 'quick and dirty' solution
>No, you'd rather win her over on your own merits, for a more lasting effect

>>5625993
>You are, indeed, here to fan the flames of the Princess’ stifled lust, and to prep her for further daylight visitations—and, should it come to it, an expedient emergency impregnation
>You’re here to further encourage Princess Ekaterine’s independent streak—you want to bring to light the crimes of the Gods of Light, and share something of your own True Faith with her

>Yes, you will do whatever you must, and you only need a 'quick and dirty' solution
I do hope Iri earns her ‘friend’ status eventually. Also don’t mind a more lasting effect desu.

>>5626052
+1
backlink>>5625980

>>5626052
Supporting

>>5625993
>>You are, indeed, here to fan the flames of the Princess’ stifled lust, and to prep her for further daylight visitations—and, should it come to it, an expedient emergency impregnation
>No, you'd rather win her over on your own merits, for a more lasting effect

Although the sex demon can set up the mood, let's not be overreliant

>>5625993
>>You are, indeed, here to fan the flames of the Princess’ stifled lust, and to prep her for further daylight visitations—and, should it come to it, an expedient emergency impregnation
This is our true goal, the deal with the prince was just to buy time.

>>No, you'd rather win her over on your own merits, for a more lasting effect
We chose not to force her in the waking world, is this not the dream equivalent?

>>5625993
>You are, indeed, here to fan the flames of the Princess’ stifled lust, and to prep her for further daylight visitations—and, should it come to it, an expedient emergency impregnation

>Yes, you will do whatever you must, and you only need a 'quick and dirty' solution.

>>5626364
+1.

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>>5627417
>>5626699
>>5626382
>>5626364
>>5626273
>>5626154
>>5626052
[Locked and writing!]

>>5627558
These repeated setbacks have only, ultimately, served to remind you of your true purpose here. You AREN’T some human suitor come to ingratiate yourself to your chosen mate’s family, and to win their favour. You are here to impregnate, and if need be KIDNAP, Princess Ekaterine. The rest is mere set-dressing, add-ons and advantageous addendums. If you can dismantle and subvert the royal household, that is well and good, but you aren’t HERE for them—you’re here for HER.

And so, you accept Irinnile’s aid.

“You won’t regret it,” the demoness assures you, stroking your chin ad sensually kissing your cheek. “You’re gonna’ get fuckin’ LAAAAIIID tonight, baby!”

You’re willing to take her word for it—if anything, THIS is her forte. You can only imagine the dreams and fantasies which imprison the rebellious spirit of the Green Knight, even now. Guided by Irinnile, you return to Ekaterine’s dreamscape—a world of shifting, but always sterile and empty, gardens and studies. They blend and meld into each other, a womb-like prison of constant development, without any true emergence or realization of herself. It almost reminds you of…

“Hey, HEY, none a’ that!”

Irinnile snaps her fingers repeatedly before your eyes, breaking your philosophical reverie.

“You’re here to stuff some cock in some cooch,” she reminds you, adopting a helmeted militaristic persona, hand behind back (albeit clutching a rather fetishistic riding crop). “Don’t get all lost in the weeds, big boy. We got a JOB ta’ do, if ‘Eka’ si gonna’ give you a ‘job’, ya’ knw? Bitch is a VIIIR-gin. Frigid as SHIT, ya’ get me”

You’re not sure you do, entirely, but you nod along nevertheless. Irinnile smiles, and explains:

“You gotta’ sweep her off her feet. It’s easier, when it’s a dream. Take advantage fo that, like, feeling of unreality. Get her all comfy and cozy and warmed up. Let her know that she can do whatever she wants, an’ there ain’t no consequences. Get her used ta’ thinking that you’re her, like, sexual FANATSY—a big, strong, double-dicked lizard-guy. Ain’t gonna’ be TOO tricky, apart from the ‘lizard’ bit, ya’ know?”

You slowly nod.

“Look,” Irinnile says, placing a hand upon your shoulder. “I got your back. Just… Get in there. Both senses of the words, aight?”

You nod again, and proceed into the Princess’ ever-impermanent inner garden.

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Rolled 7, 12, 13, 10 = 42 (4d20)

>>5627575
This time, it is… Different. The hedge-maze guide you inwards, past near-explicit sculptures. You see carved stone evocative of entangles bodies, topiary eliciting artistic nudes of heroic (and erotic) proportions. When you find the Princess, she is half-clad in a loose, gauzy nightgown—a translucent parody of what she wears in the real world—and fanning herself.

“Ah! Mister, um… Dragonborn, yes?” she asks, laughing nervously. “I… This isn’t the best time?”

You take a step forward, feeling the gentle pressure of Irinnile’s encouragement pushing you forwards.

“Isssn’t it?” you ask.

Ekaterine, Princess foo Hawksong, looks at you in confusion and alarm, but you press on, advancing towards her. The clasps of your tunic come undone, exposing your chest; your armour seems to fall away, except where it strategically will not get in the way of what you intend. Ekaterine’s own gown blows open, exposing hints of soft, supple, pale human flesh to your hungry gaze. The two of you lock eyes only when you can tear your eyes away from each other’s bodies. It is only then that you see the green, spectral hands undoing your garb, caressing your extremities, pressing you together.

“I…” Ekaterine begins, looking up at you in confusion. “I feel… Strange. When did you… How did we… Where ARE we?”

You look down at her—far taller than her even in your natural form—and slowly move your arms around her waits, pulling her to you.

“We are where we are meant to be,” you say, your voice a quiet rumble. “We are together. We have been kept apart too long.”

[DC normally 15, 10 with Irinnile's aid; normally 20 for a cit, currently 17]

>>5627576
>13
>>Normally a failure, ONLY a success due to Irinnile
Ekaterine squeaks cutely in protest at your close contact, your familiarity… But before she can so much as voice a protest, the green-skinned, tattooed form of your ‘Hot Aunty Iri’ slides into place behind her, sandwiching her between the two of you. The demon is almost imperceptible, a half-illusory form, but her effect is real enough: she gropes at Ekaterine, nibble and kissing the human princess’ neck and earlobe, cupping and kneading her breasts The Princess arches her back, pressing into you and gasping, shocked and almost APALLED at her sudden surge of desire. She clutches at you, but it is like a woman lost at sea—frightened, confused, lost. She looks up at you, as if seeking safe harbour….

“NOW.”

…And you offer no such thing, instead letting your demonic wingman guide your hands to mirror her movements. The Princess writhes, struggling weakly in your gas, but before long she gives into pleasure—raw, primal indistinct and abstract. He clothes fall away, as do yours. Your astral organs swell, as well your physical equivalent must be doing even now. Where you fail to kiss for lack of primate lips, you instead lap at her face, her throat—she gasps, moans, curls into you. You lay her down upon a loveseat, and make use of it—and of her—for their intended purposes.

In dream, both of you controlled almost as puppets of the succubus, you take Ekaterine for your own for the first time.

“Nnn… Dr-dragon… Dragonborn, you need… I need… Please slow down!”

But you don’t. Won’t. CAN’T. Even in your conjured conjugal interlude with Irinnile, you never experienced… THIS. Buoyed by succubic bliss, you experience sensuality in this dreamworld such as you never have in the waking one. The Princess’ body is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced—so hot, so warm, more pliable even than Glowie or Davora. It is as if, in dreaming, Ekaterine’s flesh moulds to your whims, and crumbles and breaks as her willpower does. She clings to you like a film, squeezes around you like putty, squeezes you like a velvet vice. Her eyes are ever on you—dazed, confused, half-empty, but for NO ONE ELSE—and you feel as if you fully own her, and she you.

“Why can’t I… Why must I…” she gasps. “Why… Why like this? With YOU? Why… Why do I get to feel this freedom only in DREAMS?!”

Her hips move in contrast to her conflicted words—with such enthusiasm as you have never felt, legs locked around you prevent escape.

“Not only in dreamssss,” you hiss. “Thisss isss real!”

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>>5627590
As orgasm takes the Princess, she can only cry out in agreement—wordless, but unmistakable. To her, now, consumed with this fleeting dream, this is real anything ever could be.

“Come with me,” you beckon her thereafter, stroking talon-nails across her skin in the afterglow, setting her to shuddering. “I will come for you. Will you be mine?”

Princess Ekaterine can only shiver, and mutter indistinctly… But her small, human hand clings to our great, clawed one. You tilt your head a little, hoping for a better answer. Perhaps another round—a chance for YOU to find your OWN release—will grant you the answer you seek?

“Babycakes...”

You look away from Ekaterine for a moment, following the ethereal voice. You see no form to match the sound, but when you look back upon Ekaterine, in is instead Irinnile entangled with you, cooing gently, stroking your still-inflated heimpenes.

“She woke up,” the succubus explains, before comforting you “woke up wet, ready, still THINKING about you…”

“She will leave with me, if I request it?” you ask.

“…Maybe,” Irinnile says, with less certainly, hand’s motion halted for a moment. “If you move quick.”

You nod again, considering your options. Before you can think too deeply, you are interrupted by a provocative contraction around your split-tipped genitals—Irinnile, hand squeezing both shafts, while her other massaged the base. Her eyes meet yours.

“Took a lot of juice to keep her under, AND Ricky,” she says pointedly. “Only seems fair you give me a bit a’ yours… An’ smart, right? Don’t want anyone waking up an’ spoiling the plot a’ your little bodice-ripper, amirite?”

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>>5627592
“Irinnile…” you snarl, rejecting this imposition automatically.

“Come oooon,” she whines, beginning to pump you more aggressively. “You want outta’ this shithole, right? Well, so do I! You don’t want me—fine! Ricky does, an’ YOU want ‘Eka’. The rest is all, like… Set-dressing, right? You do me, I give you the Princess, you get the fuck outta’ dodge an’ me… Me an’ Ricky go our own way! Why draw it out?”

You gnash your fangs, half-consumed with <appetite>.

“We’re not friends,” the succubus pointedly acknowledges, “but we’re, like, birds of a feather. Do me a solid, I do you a solid, we both go our own way. I mean, why not?”

Ekaterine is primed for an elopement and impregnation—that much is true. If your only objective is to spirit her away from this place, this is your best opportunity… Though she may well regret it later, when she regains her faculties. It is a more ‘genteel’ form of the same rape your ejected earlier… But ‘rape’ is no bad word, in your culture, unless perpetrated in defiance of the Fleshweavers’ breeding authority, and you are WELL beyond violating those ancient taboos, aren’t you?

And even if you remain… Well, Irinnile has expended additional energy to render your Princess impressionable, ready for ‘Long Wang’ to seduce. You suspect that keeping the Green Knight under her control will require another ‘kiss’, another donation of mana and power. It will further exhaust you, and empower this out-of-control demon.

What will you do? Will you…
>Abscond with Ekaterine—take her away from the palace, away from her interfering family, on a daring date
>Kidnap Ekaterine outright—take advantage of her discombobulated state to escort her far from Hawksong and into your embrace
>Visit ‘Eka’ in the waking world, while she is impressionable, and woo her as ‘Long Wang’, without leaving Hawksong or abandoning her position in the royal family thereof
>Let Ekaterine continue to stew in the waking world, while you focus on building influence with her family

And what of Irinnile? Will you…
>Empower her with another ‘kiss’, to keep the Green Knight under her control for a day or two
>Embrace her fully, giving her enough power to leave the city with Heinrich Yosef under her control, and go your separate ways
>Refuse her manipulations and seductions, and reject her entreaties utterly
>Attempt to seduce the succubus and bend her completely to your will, over and above the Green Knight’s? [VERY high DC, failure has consequences]

[Write-ins allowed for either, but they better be clever. Having your cake and eating it to results in either instant failure or crazy-high DC

>>5627595
>Visit ‘Eka’ in the waking world, while she is impressionable, and woo her as ‘Long Wang’, without leaving Hawksong or abandoning her position in the royal family thereof
>Empower her with another ‘kiss’, to keep the Green Knight under her control for a day or two
I wanna work on our relationship. We may be just allies now, but I do hope that we can call Aunty Iri a genuine friend soon, if only for the sake of our Mother.

And I ain’t letting Yosef become unsupervised.

>>5627595
Also, I do hope to seduce Iri from the Green Knight later on, if only because I find that whole affair irksome on a fundamental level.

>>5627600
Supportin'

>>5627600
Supporting this

Get Long Wang to focus the discussion on how free our life is - how we’re able and encouraged to indulge our passions

We need to win Iri over (or dominate her) - we can’t let her leave with the Green Knight

>>5627600
+1
Seems like the best option

Backlink>>5626154

>>5627600
+1, adding a note that Irinnile values her freedom greatly and will never fully have that with Yosef, whereas we could be convinced to let her fully run rampant with a coterie of demons if it was to our ends.

>>5627595
>Empower her with another ‘kiss’, to keep the Green Knight under her control for a day or two

>Abscond with Ekaterine—take her away from the palace, away from her interfering family, on a daring date

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>>5628214
>>5628034
>>5627671
>>5627665
>>5627612
>>5627601
[Seems like we have a pretty clear consensus, more or less. Locked and writing!]

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>>5628455
You pry Irinnile away from you while she whines in protest.

“You will go nowhere,” you say sternly. “You are needed here.”

“Ooooh?” she asks, smiling slyly and licking her lips. “What kinda’ need?”

“I am not done with the Princess,” you clarify. “You are a useful asset.”

Irinnile pouts, but brightens somewhat when you step forward to embrace her. You only afford the demon a ‘kiss’, but it is enough to sate her for now, and to replenish her energy reserves. At least you certainly hope so—two nights of dream-delving and granting the demoness your mana have left you feeling tired even in spite of technically taking your torpor, while your adamant refusal of her repeated entreaties to partake in GREATER pleasure have left you restless in other ways. This arrangement, you realize, is not tenable in the long run… Yet still, you are reluctant to lose Irinnile as an ally, dubious though her intentions may be. She was your mother’s great love, after all, and is a useful enough fiend…

And leaving the Green Knight unsupervised? THAT is an anxiety-inducing notion, even bound to the lust-demon as he may be at present.

You decide to take your breakfast in the palace’s dining hall rather than in your chamber, an arrangement that the guards do not attempt to intercept as they once did. You suppose Rufos has removed your proverbial shackles somewhat, to see what you will do… Or perhaps he hopes that, with a loose enough leash, you will hang yourself. Regardless, you make the most of the opportunity to socialize with Irinnile in less prison-like confines.

“Thisss arrangement, you begin, setting down a fork with a half-eaten sausage impaled upon it, “it isss… unpleasant.”

“Well yeah,” Irinnile-as-Yosef remakrs, mouth still full of a mishmash of every available foodstuff, mushed together on the demon-knight’s plate and now shoved into Yosef’s ravening maw. “But SOMEONE said I gotta’ stick around, even though eh won’t even FUCK me or nothin’.”

You give Irinnile a meaningful glare, and they grin sheepishly and lower their voice. Luckily, it doesn’t seem the guards overheard the outburst—they’re strategically maintaining their distance, though they do hover near the door to keep an eye on your comings and goings from one are of the palace to the next.

“I meant in termsss of our imprisssonment,” you say, affecting a sympathetic tone. “I have alwayss preferred freedom, autonomy. Are you not the sssame?”

Irinnile blinks a couple times, then asks hesitatingly: “Like, ME-me, or HIM-me?”

“The true you,” you clarify.

Irinnile sets down their fork and stretches, considering their reply.

>>5628481
“Well,” they say, “like, YEAH. But I can’t ‘member ever HAVIN’ in. The me I am today was, like… FORMED when I got summoned by this occultist prick. Then your momma’ got me all tangled up in HER biz, which was fun an’ all but not exactly FREEDOM, an’ then there was Ricky, and NOW I’m stuck here helping YOU, so…”

Irinnile seems to consider, then shrugs and grins dopily.

“It’s nice havin’ the reins for a change, I’ll say that! Can’t wait to finish up here an’ take this body for a cruise through every brothel between here ‘n wherever-we-end-up!”

“Freedom doesssn’t require that we part company,” you suggest, meeting the eyes-behind-Yosef’s-eyes. “Why not become a ssort of… Demon General, in my ssservice?”

Irinnile laughs aloud. You take another bite of your breakfast, to hide your irritation.

“See, you SAY freedom, then OFFER service,” Irinnile points out, gesturing at you with their fork. “An’ this is after ya’ like… Tried ta’ bidn me with a pact, right? You’re only even TALKIN’ about ‘freedoms’ for me ‘cause you fucke that up, amirite?”

You frown, saying nothing.

“Right,” Irinnile scoffs, and licks the last of the carb-and-protein mess they made of their meal from their plate, drawing uncomfortable looks from the guards.

“I could be… PERSSUADED to afford you sspecial privileges.”

Irinnile regards you neutrally, and then stands.

“Baby, I can’t even convince you ta’ dick me down,” the succubus-in-the-knight replies. “You think I buy this shit for a single copper coin? Mmmnope. Sorry, but let’s do it you-style, keep this all… professional, aight?”

You watch the knight leave in silence, then finish your meal. Perhaps Ekaterine will be more receptive.

“Freedom on the high plains…” she murmurs, a little dreamily. “The life of an adventurer… My brothers and the Paladins look down on it, of course. It’s mercenary work of a low and undisciplined sort, as they tell it… More, ah, ‘tomb-raiding and barely-sanctioned banditry than proper heroism’, as I heard Paladin Mackie put it once.”

“I’ve sssaved no shortage of livesss, and ssanctified tombsss rather than plundered them,” you say, truthfully.

“Well,” Ekaterine says with a small smile and a giggle, brushing her hair aside to glance sidelong at you, “you are, um, rather an unusual adventurer, are you not?”

The two of you remain on the palace grounds, under your usual guards’ careful supervision. As in dreams, you walk past statuary and topiary, flower-beds and arches, monuments and fountains. The palace’s gardens are expansive, and much more concrete in their daylight detail than in the fuzzy, shifting half-memory of Ekaterine’s sleeping mind.

“‘Unusssual’ in a bad way?” you ask.

>>5628482

Princess Ekaterine looks away, not saying anything. You scrutinize her quietly. She has been… Different, today, as you expected—the lingering effects of Irinnile’s influence, and the erotic dream the two of you inspired. It isn’t EXACTLY as you’d hoped, though—she is no heat-stricken, lusty creature, hanging on your every word. Rather, in as many ways as she is impressionable and pliable, she is also withdrawn—quiet, reticent to make the same sort of physical contact with Long Wang that she did with Theral. She blushes more readily than ever, maintain a careful distance, and seems distracted. She speaks less than normal, but stares more than she typically did.

The dream must linger in her mind, as it does in yours.

“I will say,” she eventually admits, “your… Lifestyle… It seems rather DIFFERENT than what I’m used to, and I envy you that.”

You look around at the finery with which she has, quite obvious, ever been surrounded. In spite of this, you nod.

“I have exxxpriencced the ressstrictionss you sspoke of these lassst two weekss,” you acknowledge. “It issn’t to my liking, either.”

Princess Ekaterine seems to focus upon the conversation, then, and points out rather bluntly: “You can leave whenever you’d like, Mister Long.”

“I could,” you agree.

“…Why don’t you?” she asks, though you both obvious know the answer.

“You,” you reply, for her benefit.

Her flush deepens. You walk in silence for a time.

“I must admit,” she eventually speaks up, “I was surprised—pleasantly, that is!—when you didn’t pursue your, ah, ‘claim’ upon me.”

“Am I not doing that right now?” you ask.

Ekaterine twists her hands , looking down as she walks.

“Yes, well, you know what I mean. This… ‘Courtship’ is a different sort of thing than what you, ah, seemed inclined towards before, between our… Encounter… And then your bet with my brother.”

You regard her for a time and, eventually, shyly, she meets your eyes.

“Why didn’t you just… Take what you wanted, if marriage is what you are set upon?”

How do you respond?
>It’s because you truly love her, and value her consent [half-truth; can no longer be FULL truth, since you have wielded Irinnile to manipulate her]
>It’s because you truly love her, and value her consent [outright lie]
>You value freedom—THAT’S what you want to offer her, an escape form this place!
>You wish to have her father’s blessing—perhaps she can make an introduction?
>You feared her father and brothers would have you assassinated if you did so [sort-of-joke]
>You were worried EKATERINE would kill you in your sleep one day if you did [kind-of-kidding]
>Write-in

>>5628492
>You value freedom—THAT’S what you want to offer her, an escape form this place!

Eh. This sounds like the best option? The ‘love’ ones seem a bit dodgy and the jokes one might not cut it

backlink>>5627671

>>5628492
>It’s because you truly love her, and want her to love you in return
>You were worried EKATERINE would kill you in your sleep one day if you did [kind-of-kidding]
Hehe.

I want to keep trying with Iri. All of her observations can be summed up in a lack of trust- and she did take advantage of our trust first, especially when we indulged her in her wishes (eating Inky, keeping an avowed enemy alive and healthy, etc.). I don’t want to keep it professional- I want a personal, deeper relationship. I’d like to keep working on it.

>>5628492
>You value freedom—THAT’S what you want to offer her, an escape from this place!
>You were worried EKATERINE would kill you in your sleep one day if you did [kind-of-kidding]

>>5628503
Not gonna lie, I'm pissed off at Iri right now. We've done nothing but help her and she's bitten the hand more than once. I'm down for one more shot, maybe two, then I'm over it.

>>5628512
I get that, I’m frustrated about this situation as well. Frankly I just want to occupy a greater part of her heart than Yosef- he’s ultimately the source of this relationship strife, and I’d appreciate a fair chance at winning her back. We should consider visiting a brothel Iri- something nice for her, and chance to bond.

>>5628492
>It’s because you value her consent [half-truth; can no longer be FULL truth, since you have wielded Irinnile to manipulate her]

>>5628512
>We've done nothing but help her
we've been helpful, but we did also try to pact her into eternal servitude, I wouldn't say that was nothing but helpful. I'd want to give her and Yosef space but without the pact preventing her from working against Reptilian interests that's no longer a viable option.

>>5628529
To be fair, she asked to literally eat a greater demon with significant connections we could’ve used, and this was after her professed love of our arch-nemesis over our mother came out- without even explaining the nature of Yosef’s pact and shit, and after we fed her starving ass.

Maybe we can get a reptilian demonologist to make the pact preventing her from working against our and Reptilian interests? Bare minimum.

>>5628539
Yeah that's what I suggested a while back, redoing the pact but binding with a demonologist.

>>5628492
>>It’s because you truly love her, and value her consent [half-truth; can no longer be FULL truth, since you have wielded Irinnile to manipulate her]
NGL, We should have had the confidence to woo her on our own. This shouldn't have had to be a half truth else we'd have done the deed and been on our way a thread ago.

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>>5628568
>>5628529
>>5628512
>>5628503
>>5628498
[Alright, doing one more update before bed, since we have a fair few votes in!]

>>5628604
>>5628604
“I don’t want marriage,” you say simply, “I want love.”

The Princess stops short, and you slow down once you realize this. You pivot to face her, and find her clutching her cheeks, which are as rosy as they’ve ever been.

“S-sir, I fear you go too far.”

You tilt your head, then catch yourself and turn it into a roll of the shrug.

“Marriage isss NOT too far, but love isss?” you ask.

“Well, marriage to, to a PRINCESS of HAWKSONG… I don’t mean to sound full-of-myself, but it makes SENSE. Alexos warned me that… That you wanted me for your own gains, and I can… It makes a certain amount, of, of, of SENSE. But LOVE…”

“Well,” you half-joke, “if you do not LOVE me, I foresse the ssort of marriage which doesss not end WELL, most essspecially for ME. Ssomeone who livesss in ssuch opulence can SSURELY procure any number of ssubtle pissonsss, yess?”

The princess looks at you, gasping as if affronted… But then squints her eyes.

“Youa re joking,” she realizes. “playing with my feelings.”

“A little,” you admit, forcing a smile. “Iss it working?”

The Princess glares, and you step forward. She shrinks a step bac, but you raise a hand in placation. She holds steady as you approach closer, and even glances back and gestures to her approaching guardians to maintain their distance for the moment. You take advantage of the momentary distraction to take her dainty hands in yours. Your own hands feel strange to you, foreign in their human flesh… But it is pleasant, to feel hers in the flesh, so much more real and tangible even than they were in the sensuality of the demon-manipulated dream last night.

“I wass joking about the mariticccide,” you clarify. “Not the love. I wish for you to WANT me… To CHOOSSE me, Eka.”

And it’s true… To an extent. Oh, it’s not below or beyond you to manipulate Princess Ekaterine’s mind, to put your mystical thumb on the scale with your succubus ‘ally’, but you have no desire to force this female into anything through overt aggression or politicking—not mating, not marriage. ‘Eka’ is… An unusual creature, not exactly your usual type, but something about her holds your interest. Moreover, she is to be the mother of your spawn-a DEMIGOD SPAWN, no less, destined to rule a conquered Hawksong if you have your way. It behooves you to make sure she is made a willing participant in your dark designs, rather than a mere war-wife or sex-slave.

Ekaterine is speechless, though her mouth flaps as if she is trying to form words. She doesn’t pull her hands away at least, merely squirming in place. You decide to resolve the dilemma for her, sparing her further embarrassment.

You lean down, and kiss her.

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>>5628626
>No seduction roll needed

The lingering influence of the dreams of draconic intimacy do their work. Ekaterine lets loose a single muffled cry of surprise, but quickly melts into your arms. You take handfuls of her flowing gown, and she clings weakly to your arms as she slowly shuts her eyes and returns the kiss. The guards rush to break up this blatant impropriety, and the two of you quickly part as the furious defenders of your fiancé’s chastity rush to remove her from you and to form a blockade to further fraternization…

But Ekaterine’s flushed face is still focused upon you, her pupils dilated, her breathing heavy, lips still parted. She idly touches a finger to her lips, tracing where they touched yours.

“Mister Long,” she says, before the guards lead her away as per some Princely mandate, “you are… Full of surprises.”

“You have no idea,” you say, again truthful in ways she cannot comprehend.

You’ve made real headway in subverting, swaying, and securing your target today—an unqualified success! However, you have the whole day ahead of you now, before evening comes again and you must decide whether to delve again into the realm of dreams. Having chosen not to simply slip away with Ekaterine, you must make the most of your time in Hawksong—in the palace complex—both day and night.

>>5628628

What is your plan for the days ahead, over this next week? Choose NO MORE than THREE main objectives:
>Advance your relationship with Ekaterine as Long Wang, within the confines of the palace
>Attempt to strongarm Alexos into granting you and the Princess leave to visit the broader city on a proper, authorized ‘date’
>Make good on your alliance with Rufos—seek an audience with his father, and attempt to impress upon him the secondborn son’s superiority
>Discuss goings-on in the South, to determine how your machinations are coming along, and attempt to manufacture further conflict
>Investigate the conflict in Bloodrise, to discover how your forces are faring, and whether your aid is required elsewhere
>Attempt to make conflict with your Infiltrator allies in the city—Olu, Roth, and Halle—to learn how they fare and to learn what is happening in the city
>Build upon your relationship with Irinnile—attempt to forge true bonds of trust, and even friendship
>Reach out to the Hawksong Mages’ Tower, to seek counsel or aid from Archmage Henzler—privy to your secrets, freed from blackmail by your actions, yet still a great unknown in all this

When the rest of the palace sleeps, and night falls, what will you do? Choose ONE:
>Get some rest—further dream-delving and ‘donations’ to Irinnile will leave you suffering physical and mental fatigue, at this rate
>Continue to meet with Ekaterine as Theral in dreams, further manipulating her emotions with demon-magic
>Visit Eka, but do not rely overmuch on Irinnile—you wish to further advance your mutual understanding
>Wield Irinnile as a weapon to invade and investigate the dreams of others [who?]
>Focus upon Irinnile herself—give her a little of what she wants, being careful to keep your demigodly ‘embryo’ secure

[Write-ins allowed for both. Expect the results to be broken up into a series of updates with their own separate votes in some cases, possibly a cross a few IRL days depending on how they flow.]

>>5628630
>Advance your relationship with Ekaterine as Long Wang, within the confines of the palace
>Attempt to strongarm Alexos into granting you and the Princess leave to visit the broader city on a proper, authorized ‘date’
>Build upon your relationship with Irinnile—attempt to forge true bonds of trust, and even friendship

>Focus upon Irinnile herself—give her a little of what she wants, being careful to keep your demigodly ‘embryo’ secure
I want to build up the relationship before we focus on our other priorities.

>>5628630
>Advance your relationship with Eka
>Make good on your alliance

>Visit Eka

these sounds like the best options while keeping the princes happy

backlink>>5628498

>>5628630
>Attempt to strongarm Alexos into granting you and the Princess leave to visit the broader city on a proper, authorized ‘date’
>Make good on your alliance with Rufos—seek an audience with his father, and attempt to impress upon him the secondborn son’s superiority
>Reach out to the Hawksong Mages’ Tower, to seek counsel or aid from Archmage Henzler—privy to your secrets, freed from blackmail by your actions, yet still a great unknown in all this


>Commune with the SHOGSORD

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>>5629036
>>5628697
>>5628647
[We have only three votes so far, and a wide spread, so I'll revisit this later tonight and post then.]

>>5628630
I'll back >>5628697

>>5628697
+1, yeah. I'll support that.

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>>5629658
>>5629628
>>5629036
>>5628697
>>5628647
[Alright, locked in for seduction and sedition.]

>>5628697
+1 to this
>>5628647
I dont know why this anon wants to fuck iri so bad I get shes a powerful ally but she was literally made to rail our mom, failed to protect her, and is in love with the enemy, if anything lets make a pact when were done here that she and heinrich are forbidden from meddling in the affairs of reptiles or Hawksong again

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>>5629702
>>5629693

You set aside your ambivalent feelings about Irinnile (and what, if anything, should be done about them) to focus on the increasingly-pleasant feelings which Eka inspires in you, and vice versa. Over the next week, you never leave the palace grounds—in fact, rarely leave the palace at all-and yet it’s hard to feel like you’re missing much. In truth, the two of you actually grow quiet close. In Eka you find something truly unique: a sort of kindred spirit.

Oh, there are differences, to be sure—fundamentally, unbridgeable gaps between your life experiences and yours. However, the similarities only seem to grow as you spend time with her, revealing themselves piecemeal until you behold a patchwork tapestry of a soul not unlike your own beneath the squishy, stuttering mammalian exterior—an exterior you’re ALSO fairly fond of. Eka, like you, has a certain FIRE in her, you learn: a need to know, understand, and to experience. She cares deeply for her people and her nation, for the hearts and minds, their fates and fortunes. She is curious about the outside, of course—the exotic, the other—and curious without automatic judgement or condemnation. It’s this that allows her and ‘Long Wang’ to bond by day.

You aren’t left alone together, of course—not after your impulsive kiss was reported—but the two of you are permitted to continue your courtship within the confines of the Princess’ favourite area besides the garden: the palace’s extensive ‘study’, a place stocked with books on the world’s peoples, politics, geographical wonders and legends. Having seen relatively little of the richly-populated surface world yourself, you can’t help but find it all fascinating, and Princess Ekaterine seems to delight in educating you on her favourite fancies.

“…And of course, just as before, the so-called ‘Eternal Empire at the Centre of the World’ shattered, again, because of a dynastic dispute, AGAIN, and the so-called ‘barbarians’ whom they underestimated swept in to establish a new dynasty… AGAIN. How many times have we heard the same story, there as here? With the humans of this world, the dwarves in their won way..."

"The elvesss in theirss," you agree, recalling the succession crisis which led to the bitter estrangement of Wevenore's dark-skinned Drow from their surface-kin, in their own histories.

The mammals really do rise and FALL with shocking speed, and perhaps with some regularity. The thought is, of course, a comforting one to an enemy of the current order.

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>>5629739
Ekaterine take a deep breath, and shakes her head with a rueful, sad laugh.

“It sometimes seems as if people just move in circles, doesn’t it?” she asks. “I… I mean, it sounds arrogant, and I don’t pretend to be a GENIUS, but I sometimes wonder if everyone sees it? Or… is it because I don’t really live in the world, that I’m… Somehow privy to the patterns, because I can be dispassionate about it?”

You regard her cute frown, her flushed cheeks, and chuckle inwardly. You wouldn’t describe this female as ‘dispassionate’ by any means. She’s skeptical, almost cynical at times, about the rise and fall of nations, the firmly-held truths of her society, JUST like you are… But her idealistic insistence is always that it should be fixed, mended in some way.

“If people could just SEE the shape of these, these… ECHOES… maybe we could finally stop squabbling, jockeying for power, trying to separate everything into ‘our side’ and ‘their side’, and work TOGETHER,” she often says, in one way or another.

“You mussst remember that these booksss are written by the victorsss… No, the victorss’ hissstorianss,” you remind her. “Thingss might sseem to repeat becaussse the writerss are TRYING to communicate a ccertain theme.”

It IS difficult to miss the similarities to the repetitive (and, you’ve learned, not entirely unbiased) sermons of the Serpent Priesthood During your youth. It’s to Eka’s credit, maybe, that she spotted the holes in things on her own, locked in her ‘gilded cage’ with only her books, her brothers, and her servants for company. You learned the truth of the world much later, and it was not always an easy lesson.

“Well, what of you, then, Mister Long?” she asks.

You blink. Wait, what?

“Me?”

“Yes,” she presses, scooting a bit closer to you upon your long, plush bench—close enough that one of the guards nudges the other, and both begin to watch you more closely. “You haven’t just READ of the world, you’ve LIVED in it—really fought for it, been a PART of it.”

“I ssuppose,” you grant her, feeling a bit wary under her sudden intense appraisal.

“Lately, I’ve…” she pauses, and blushes a little. “I’ve been having… Thoughts. Strange notions, I suppose, when I dream.”
“Oh?” you ask, raising an eyebrow as you fondly recall some of those same dreams.

“Yes, well, the IMPORTANT thing,” she hastily pushes forward, “is that I’ve begun to wonder… Maybe, human, so-called ‘demihuman’, non-human… Maybe we’re all bound up in that same sort of, of, of PATTERN… Almost like we’re playthings of fate. But… Like we don’t HAVE to be. Like there’s another way, a way to break free!”

She pauses, and sighs, gripping her head in her hands.

“I’m sorry, these dreams… I haven’t, um, been sleeping as RESTFULLY as I normally do. I fear I must sound positively deranged... Delusional!”

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>>5629740
“No,” you hastily raise your voice to banish the thought. “No, I think… You make a lot more sssensse than you give yoursself credit for, Eka. Thiss world iss broken. It isss up to those like USSS to fixx it.”

The princess smiles at your peculiar diminutive for her name, and at your echoing of her own idealism.

“Mister Long… Rather, Wang…”

She reaches out, and places a hand upon yours, and seems to want to say something… But then withdraws it sheepishly, glancing at the guards and tilting her head apologetically.

“I am quite glad I met you,” she says. “You have… My life is much more interesting, with you in it.”

“Then marry me.”

Ekaterine’s face sccrunches up, and she laughs, but not mean-spiritedly.

“That’s… Not entirely my decision, in truth, is it?”

Indeed, it’s not. Her elder brothers, and her father, will determine that. As with The Novice Fleshweaver, your (other? truer? greater?) love, you are placed in a position where your breeding rights are blockaded by a wall of caste and political circumstance. However, you are the DRAGONBORN ANTIPALADIN. You have yet to meet a wall you could not bring crashing down, and this will be no exception.

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>>5629741
“You wish to meet with my father?” Rufos asks.

You meet with the younger Prince again in his out-of-the-way meeting-room—small, humble, furnished to intimidate and impress but seemingly little lived-in, cleverly selected for a certain distance and privacy from the finer discussion-spaces favoured in his less clandestine affairs.

“I wish to marry Eka,” you raffirm. “To earn your blessssing in thisss, I will earn you your father’sss blessing to be king. It isss a ssimple exxxchange, yess?”

The Prince leans back, crossing his arms.

“Oh, yes, VERY simple,” you replies with dry disdain. “Don’t be stupid, creature. Birth is birth. I can no more be Paladin King with a word from you than I can knight you and make you a man.”

You gesture to your adopted form, and counter: “I can passs well enough for a man, yess? If I can make you heir to the throne, can you passs sso well for a King?”

He frowns, and you raise a hand to appease him.

“I mean no offenccce,” you add.

“Yes, well,” he says, then looks down at the desk. “A king… Certainly. But a Paladin…”

Ah. So it is not birth alone that is the issue here. Alexos, elder son, is also PALADIN Prince—and paladin-trained, Paladin-capable. He is favoured of the Gods of Light, as you are of the Gods of Dark, if perhaps not quite so individually and personally singled-out for greatness as you are by your (superior, truer, greater) pantheon.

Well, perhaps you can work with that…

“Arrange the meeting with King Archosss,” you say again. “I will do the ressst.”

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>>5629742
Rufos bids you leave without confirming any intent… But over the next few days, you find yourself summoned, not by a Prince of Hawksong, but by its Paladin King.

By light of day, you pass through the portal which barred your invasion in the realm of dark and dreaming. You hesitate only momentarily at the portal, wondering if its wards will affect the illusion and fleshcraft which make ‘Theral’ into ‘Long Wang’… But you take the step, ever-bold and fearless as a Knight Ascendant ought to be, and you do not burst into flames or sprout horns and tail.

The Paladin King sits upon a throne, of sorts, but it is more like a great and well-carved wooden chair with a single plush, red-and-gold cushion for his tailless posterior. Your eyes flit behind him and to the side, where you see a smaller, more humble door—entrance to his sleeping quarters, you’d assume. This chamber where you now meet him is no great and ceremonial chamber of auspicious office, but a sort of guest-room. Perhaps he is no longer well enough to leave it, even to hold such meetings?

Still, he is flanked by both of his sons, and by his worried-looking daughter—your would-be mate, your technical-fiancé, Ekaterine!

(Oh, and a half-dozen guards, though none with the same unmistakable air you’ve come to recognize as ‘Paladin’)

You approach the throne and, as you were instructed by the male humans who escorted you here, you drop to one kneed before the throne and bow your head. He is, after all, a king, and if a Paladin King is a lesser thing than a Dragon King, it is at least worth noting that the former has been known to slay the latter. Perhaps that’s worth some respect, even if it’s mostly feigned?

“Rise,” the man upon the throne croaks.

You do so, and regard him. Archos is… Not well. He is still powerfully-built, and if he can stand straight at all you imagine eh would stand at nearly seven feet in height. He is less a human as you have come to know them, and more a giant. Neither of his sons, muscular though Alexos is and leanly-built though Rufos may be, is taller than six-and-a half feet, and even Alexos lacks the breadth of this giant-among-men in the shoulder and chest. Ekaterine is small among them, uniquely so—perhaps her sex and her youth are not the only reason they are protective of her?

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>>5629746
“I welcome you to my home, Mister Long Wang of the East… Though I understand you’ve been here for some time, hm?”

You bow your head again, in acknowledgement.

“I am told you would have words with me,” the King says, sounding rather skeptical. He regards you with eyes that, though somewhat obscured by bags of hanging, loose pink skin, are still a piercing blue-green hue, and focused as any young warrior’s might be.

“Yess,” you agree, drawing a sniff from Alexos, and a quick glance at his brother.

“Prince Rufos tells me you have rid my realm of a great evil, with the aid of Sir Heinrich Yosef. I am in your debt for this, and so I am inclined to listen.”

Rufos’ expression remains impassive, a careful mask. Ekaterine’s eyes are searching, looking to you for explanation.

“So,” this greatest King of Men and Chosen of the Gods says, “speak. I’m getting no younger, nor healthier… Nor, fi I’m being frank, am I inclined to be awake longer than I must be, at my age, unless it is to attend to important matters. I will thus assume this important, and that you will get the point, so I am wasting no time nor asking you to repeat yourself for the sake of my old ears and failing memory.”

You can’t say that the king, ill and old though he may be, strikes you as anything less than razor-sharp in his mind and keen in his senses. Even the (ceremonial) sword which he leans upon like a cane as you shifts forward in his seat radiates a sense of… <Danger>. Your instincts scream at you, from somewhere deep inside. Though he never had the chance, this man is a true scion of his ancient bloodline, possessed of all Alexos’ combat abilities and all Ekaterine’s inner fire. He may not be a dragon-killer, but it is only for the lack of opportunity, not a lack of will or power.

>>5629747
What will you do?
>Tell the Paladin King of Alexos poor hospitality, his impetuous bet, and how he has seemingly reneged on it—you have been treated like a prisoner, and denied your prize, and you DEMAND to take his daughter on a proper date outside the palace!
If successful, you may earn yourself a date and cast aspersions upon Alexos’ honour; failure may enrage the king and cost you dearly

>Describe the sorry state of the city’s slums, the demon-infested apartment complex where you found the Incubus, and the weakened state of magical security brought on by the neutered Mage’s Tower, the lizards infiltrating the ranks of the bourgeois under the Paladins’ noses—all failings brought on by ALEXOS’ poor leadership, in spite of RUFOS’ wise counsel and best efforts
It’s certainly a compelling argument, but it will draw more attention to your own allies… Wherever they are, whatever they’re up to

>Tell of the dread armies to the South which you have spied in your travels (a lie) and of their imminent invasion (you’re working on it), and how you have been speaking with Prince Rufos on how you might meet this challenge… if only he and Alexos will allow it
It advances your cause, and will mean immediate action… But if you’re going out on expedition or campaign with Rufos, you’ll hardly be bringing Eka

>Ask about events in Bloodrise—you have heard mutterings, but nothing specific—and whether Alexos has even shared these rumours with the King of Hawksong; if not, why no? if so, what are they doing about it?
How are your friends? Is your home safe? Maybe you can diminish Alexos in his father’s eyes AND get a quick status report?

[Choose one, please. Write-ins are allowed, too.]

>>5629748
Describe the sorry state of the city’s slums, the demon-infested apartment complex where you found the Incubus, and the weakened state of magical security brought on by the neutered Mage’s Tower, the lizards infiltrating the ranks of the bourgeois under the Paladins’ noses—all failings brought on by ALEXOS’ poor leadership, in spite of RUFOS’ wise counsel and best efforts

The first option sounds a little too arrogant. Keeping the lie of thr third option is gonna be difficult. Fourth option doesn’t do much for rufos.

Backlink>>5628697

>>5629748
>Ask about events in Bloodrise—you have heard mutterings, but nothing specific—and whether Alexos has even shared these rumours with the King of Hawksong; if not, why no? if so, what are they doing about it?

>>5629702
It’s less about fucking her and more about stealing her heart away from Yosef and rectifying that ‘loving the soulmate killer’ idiocy- I played as Izzy back in Infiltrator quest, and this point really irks me.

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While we wait for more votes, an art update!

>>5630238
Wicked RQM!

>>5629748
>>Tell the Paladin King of Alexos poor hospitality, his impetuous bet, and how he has seemingly reneged on it—you have been treated like a prisoner, and denied your prize, and you DEMAND to take his daughter on a proper date outside the palace!

Preferred option.
Lovin' the art

>>5629748
>Tell the Paladin King of Alexos' poor hospitality, his impetuous bet, and how he has seemingly reneged on it—you have been treated like a prisoner, and denied your prize, and you DEMAND to take his daughter on a proper date outside the palace!


We can absolutely prove this, so I think it's the best choice.

>>5629775
>>5629777
>>5630276
>>5630324
[Leaving the vote open another 45-to-60 minuets while I go grab a couple libations for the evening, then I'll lock the vote and start writing]