Void Ascension (ZnT/GW)
- Thread starter HecateGW
- Start date
- Location
- Estonia
Missed the previous part, reading both now.
Not much to give feedback on, but what did Louise do during the long scene of someone swearing allegiance to who should be her own obedient servant? Try to pick her lower jaw up from the floor? And after that, of all the things that she could fully concentrate on, (fight, magic, royalty, dangerous traps) Louise chose a simple insult from Kirche?
Not that she wouldn't usually fiercely defend herself, but she gets called Zero all the time. And right now there is a much bigger threat to her position as a noble than a regularly thrown insult. Her familiar is currently her best proof that he really is a noble mage. A very important religious proof in local culture.
Combined with her mother's "Rule of Steel" that demands absolute control over one's power, that traditionally includes the familiar, it should be shown as a more existential issue for her. I'm not saying that she would be stupid enough to automatically try to whip and call a "bad familiar, bad!" someone who obviously has shown magic and could be royalty, but she should still demand, ask or even plead for answers and try to desperately assert some authority. And I'm not saying that she would not be willing to negotiate and compromise, if she believes that she has no other choice (having the absolute obedience of the familiar is still the desired ideal ), but first finding out what the situation and her options actually are, should be her first priority to her.
Even without the romantic subtext, there is a good cultural and personal reason for Louise to try to assert tsundere dominance over her familiar. She would only truly stop if she is convinced that it is impossible and even her mother could not achieve it, thus removing the constant pressure of duty for her to try it.
And remember that even if people believe that she is royalty, she is non-Brimiric royalty, bound as a familiar with a super holly Brimiric ritual. Plus no one has ever even heard of her country, which means that most people would consider possible retaliation for "kidnapping" to be logistically impossible. While Vallieres are one of the most important local noble families. So in the eyes of most locals, Setsuna would not really have a choice as to whether to remain as a familiar or not, but how difficult she could make the situation for her master, including potentially even hurting or killing her.
Not much to give feedback on, but what did Louise do during the long scene of someone swearing allegiance to who should be her own obedient servant? Try to pick her lower jaw up from the floor? And after that, of all the things that she could fully concentrate on, (fight, magic, royalty, dangerous traps) Louise chose a simple insult from Kirche?
Not that she wouldn't usually fiercely defend herself, but she gets called Zero all the time. And right now there is a much bigger threat to her position as a noble than a regularly thrown insult. Her familiar is currently her best proof that he really is a noble mage. A very important religious proof in local culture.
Combined with her mother's "Rule of Steel" that demands absolute control over one's power, that traditionally includes the familiar, it should be shown as a more existential issue for her. I'm not saying that she would be stupid enough to automatically try to whip and call a "bad familiar, bad!" someone who obviously has shown magic and could be royalty, but she should still demand, ask or even plead for answers and try to desperately assert some authority. And I'm not saying that she would not be willing to negotiate and compromise, if she believes that she has no other choice (having the absolute obedience of the familiar is still the desired ideal ), but first finding out what the situation and her options actually are, should be her first priority to her.
Even without the romantic subtext, there is a good cultural and personal reason for Louise to try to assert tsundere dominance over her familiar. She would only truly stop if she is convinced that it is impossible and even her mother could not achieve it, thus removing the constant pressure of duty for her to try it.
And remember that even if people believe that she is royalty, she is non-Brimiric royalty, bound as a familiar with a super holly Brimiric ritual. Plus no one has ever even heard of her country, which means that most people would consider possible retaliation for "kidnapping" to be logistically impossible. While Vallieres are one of the most important local noble families. So in the eyes of most locals, Setsuna would not really have a choice as to whether to remain as a familiar or not, but how difficult she could make the situation for her master, including potentially even hurting or killing her.
Actually, given the level of technology shown and the obvious parallels with the events of real world history, I would but in about 17th century era, think English Civil War and The Three Musketeers age. Renaissance is much to wide of a term to accurately describe the feel of that age, so I recommend the second half of Early Modern instead.HecateGW said:
- Location
- Estonia
And they are one-man armies because of being descendants of Brimir. I doubt that the Emperor of Germania is a one man army or is treated as one for example, one of the reasons for him to pursue marriage with Henrietta, bonus legitimacy plus super powerful genes for his heirs. And no one will believe that any human country could exist inside the elven lands and living behind them would be seen as an almost absolute defense against invasion, elves would not tolerate even air fleets crossing their domain.Hypothesis said:
Thanks for still reading.Flere821 said:
Hope you get some rest.
Hmmm....all very good points about how Louise should have reacted in accordance to what would amount to legitimacy of her noble status and all the religious doctrine and family upbringing that has reinforced the belief that magic is proof of nobility.Iron Roby said:
I was originally trying to show that there were so many events happening in a single day that Louise is essentially in BSOD and that Kirche's taunt was somewhat like a lifeline and implied offer of some kind of normalcy that she could latch onto. The player would not have seen it that way, but I was trying to give off that undercurrent of overwhelming the tsundere in a single day to the point that an automatic insult would initiate an automatic response without switching to the third-person POV narration and showing that Kirche has a much greater understanding of things around her, including her rival/pseudo-friend.
The negotiations would likely deal with Setsuna's familiar status as pretty much set in stone, but the player would try to get some concessions that allow much more freedom in movement as familiar's typically have to follow master in everything.
As for the Early Modern instead of Renaisssance, thanks for that advice and I will look into that as it may help me show that this may be an age with magic, but it is not a typical fantasy setting drawn from the Middle Ages or Dark Ages.
- Location
- Estonia
I just made a summary in my own words about all the hypotheses I agree with, that have come up in the countless ZnT crossover threads. Ironically, Louise, who would ordinarily be thought about and treated as just another abusive two-dimensional tsundere, has become on of the most psychoanalyzed fictional characters in entire Creative Writing, with enough accumulated speculative material about her to be potentially usable to someone's literature degree.HecateGW said:
You don't need to switch POV, but just mentioning, once or twice, Louise simply standing there with a stunned and overwhelmed expression or something like that in the middle of that long conversation and loyalty swearing, would help to not make it feel like she just disappeared from the important scene where she was present. Otherwise, future readers might be left with an impression that you are one of those authors who can't keep tract of their own characters and what they are doing or saying at a certain time, leaving in unnaturally longly uninterrupted monologues, unintentional awkward pauses and have certain character "lose their turn and all action points" and "forgot" to speak, when it would have been in character for them to say something.HecateGW said:
I will probably have to ask Flere who is the resident expert on ZnT.anthonyl6892 said:
I have certainly heard of the Weatherlight and seen the ship in passing, although any such building of a personal airship might have to come much later once Setsuna has gained some high-ranking friends.Vianca said:
So true on the psychoanalysis part.Iron Roby said:
Got it. I will go back and see where I can insert some more hints or observations of Louise and her reaction or lack of it during the 'big reveal'.
And thank you for reading and for the compliment.mkire said:
You're better off taking questions like this to the 'ZnT: Back to Basics' thread, rather than asking in a story thread.anthonyl6892 said:
Off the top of my head, they have three kinds of coins (Ecu, sous, and deniers), as shown in Vol5 Ch4. I'm not entirely sure how much sous is one ecu though (and how much deniers is one sous), it could be metric like dollars and cents (100 cents = 1 dollar) or it could be something bizarre like in Harry Potter (17 silver Sickles to one gold Galleon IIRC)
16
Chapter Three, Part Ten: Sowing the Seeds
------
Originally, I had intended to start the conversation by politely greeting the various people present in the room, but, the decision was taken out of my hands by what appeared to be a tomato attached to a human body by the sheer amount of redness that had suddenly appeared on her face.
'Wonder if she would mimic a steam kettle if I goaded her enough like a lot of the older Western cartoons. Heh, only one way to find out.'
"You, you you!"
"Me, me, me," I responded in a dry voice to Louise as she appeared a bit angry.
"You acted like the perfect Familiar! I allowed you the opportunity to have a meal in the Alviss Dining Hall! I even went so far as to protect your reputation and, and, grrrr...."
While the accusations were flying from her mouth, I text commanded Setsuna to take on a bored posture in order to show just how much her words had an affect on Setsuna. That is to say, none at all.
After a few seconds of nonsensible sounds and growling coming from the pink-haired loli, I decided to take the conversation back under my control before she could start a rant that would probably bore me to death.
*sigh* "Can you blame me for my supposed deception, young Louise? Besides, if you don't stop growling and frothing at the mouth I might think that you have rabies or something similar and I have no desire to get bitten right now."
"Deception! Rabies! Frothing! You will not insult me, Louise of the House of Valliere, with such, such, such common words from your lying mouth. How can I ever forgive such trickery of my person when I was so gra-"
"I apologize for the interruption, but please note that I appeared in a new land, surrounded by an unknown, potentially hostile number of beings surrounding myself, and I was separated from the rest of my Guild."
"Hostile! We are nobles and nobles never strike unjustly against commo-"
"Like that time one of your fellow nobles nearly struck the poor maid whom I doubt you would have bothered to learn the name of had I not informed you."
"Of course, I would not know the name of all the commoners! They live to serve the nobles and the nobles live to guide and prote-"
"You really believe that? Considering the way you so-called nobles treated the staff as nothing more than furniture, I hardly think many other nobles share your views."
"I DO believe it and I will tell you that no one who calls themself a Tristain noble would ever willingly harm a commoner unless they deserv-"
"Blah, blah, blah. Right now you should just open your eyes and take a good long look at your fellow nobles and see if they are actually practicing what you preach. I can believe the older generation would follow such ideals, but after seeing the younger generation of nobles at this academy? I hardly think so."
"STOP INTERR-"
"That is enough Ms. Valliere," came the soft, but surprisingly stern voice of Professor Colbert as he placed a hand on the shoulder of Louise.
While the hand and voice of the bald badass calmed Louise enough that she stopped arguing, the same could not be said of the other people in the room. Both Tabitha and Miss Longueville raised an eyebrow in a somewhat eery synchronization, while Headmaster Osmond's face appeared to be holding back a smile.
I also noticed that Kirche seemed to be fanning herself with her hand as she seemed to take in the form of Jean that made him shift slightly in place, as Headmaster Osmond had suddenly been taken by a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like covered up laughter at the expense of his slightly, red-behind-the-ears subordinate.
I had Setsuna lean closer to the one known as Tabitha and asked quietly, "Is your friend Kirche always like this?"
"Yes," came the curt response.
"Must never be boring around her, I take it," I continued quietly as Headmaster continued to cough and Miss Longueville helpfully began to slap his back with some rather forceful strikes that had the old man coughing much louder.
"Yes," came another curt response.
"Do you always speak with such efficiency?"
"Yes."
"I suppose it does tend to stop needless talk from the more annoying people who attend this school, am I right?'
"Yes."
And that was the end of my somewhat, one-sided conversation with the other, more quiet loli in the room.
Once the furor had died down, Louise took a number of calming breaths as Colbert spoke a few soothing words into her ear. Fortunately for me, all text spoken aloud from NPC's in both regular gaming and in the cinematics always had a text bubble that I could read and it said something along the lines of 'act befitting as your status as both a noble and a Valliere', 'do not stoop the level of a commoner and argue like one of the street rats' and a few other nonsensical pieces of advice that were probably only meant to calm the recipient than anything else.
After a few seconds of silence, I decide to take the lead in the conversation once more in the hopes of seeing more fascinating interaction with such life-like dialogue responses from the script that appeared to adapt to the player.
"May I speak now?"
"Please, Setsuna, continue and do try not to provoke Louise anymore," Colbert stated in a controlled voice that would have sounded more like an order than an actual request. Unfortunately for him, it had no effect on Setsuna and even less on me.
"I cannot make such a promise as both Louise and I hardly know each other and our respective cultures with enough depth to avoid any provocations," I responded in a more polite tone of voice than the one I had been using on Louise earlier. Then, I took on a more teasing tone, "Besides, she was the one who offered to whip me and I believe that some people in my own culture might take that as a sign of sexual inter~est or even a first step in courtship if Louise likes to have relationships in th~at manner."
"Oh Setsuna, you must share this knowledge of whipping and pleasure as Founder knows that Louise needs to let off some steam," Kirche interjected before Colbert or Louise could get a word in. As for Colbert, he took on a more embarrassed look, whereas, Louise looked absolutely mortified and tried to sink into her chair.
On this scene, I had a rather mischievous idea pop up.
"If you like to hear it Kirche, I could share the wonderful piece of music you and Tabitha must have surely overheard, but not in its entirety. It goes like this-"
"Whipping aside, we must get back to the discussion at hand," interrupted Osmond as he wiped away some drool from his mouth.
'Heh. Old pervert.'
"Very well, Headmaster. Kirche, if you are willing to meet with me tomorrow, I could share with you an equally delightful song called I Got It From Agnes by the very same one who wrote the Masochism Tango," I said as I texted Setsuna to grin widely.
In response, Kirche gave an equally wide grin and said, "Of course I am willing. We shall meet in the Vestri Court and we shall show Tristain nobles how to have some real fun."
While I thought it was impossible, the face of Louise appeared to be going even whiter where Colbert's face was turning even more red.
Of note, Miss Longueville looked like she was breathing a little heavier than she had been earlier, as it added a delightful bounce to her chest, and, if I looked closely enough, her pupils looked slightly dilated, which I was able to notice thanks to the very realistic graphics.
'Guess the old man ain't the only pervert here.'
After allowing about ten seconds for the more easily provoked girl to settle down somewhat, I turned towards the Headmaster.
"Now, in all seriousness, I would like to begin the negotations regarding my status as I understand that the Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite in both your culture and your religion. However, my culture highly values personal freedoms, especially among the higher ranks. Adding the fact that I am the leader of my own guild of warriors and various fighters, they might not look too fondly on my departure from their ranks."
"I can see that that does present a rather interesting problem as it would appear that we are at an impasse. However, I think that we may have rushed to attempting negotations so soon when emotions are too high and not all present may be capable of adapting properly to the stress in such short notice. So, I propose a two day recess and all present shall return here after having enough time to re-orient and prepare for a serious undertaking that is present. Agreed?"
"Yes, Headmaster," stated Miss Longueville.
"Of course, Old Osmond," said Jean.
"Yes," came the simultaneous reply from Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha. In the case of Louise and Kirche, Louise looked surprised then glared at Kirche, who, in turn, merely smirked back at the other girl and mimed the motion of a whip with her hand, which elicited a small blush from the smaller girl who continued to glare.
"That sounds agreeable," I said after everyone else had spoken.
"Very well. We shall all gather back in my office two days hence."
At that, the five other occupants left with Kirche and Louise continuing their silent, but amusing staring match.
I made certain to have Setsuna wait until all the others had left and the door had closed with a resounding thud.
"If you like, Headmaster. I would not mind sharing the song I promised to share with Kirche at a later date."
*drool* "Yes, of course. Now off with you as I do have some paperwork to sort through and it will not write itself."
After checking the radar and finding that there was no one in the way of my intended path, I left for one of the secluded gardens in order to open up the 'teleportation' ability of my character and pulled down the list of known towns, outpost, villages, and so on. On that list, was the name of Tristania, the capital of the nation of Tristain and the location of where I would secretly meet with Ludwig and see if he was already gathering his secret band of miscreants and lowlifes or whatever a Germanian does in the capital city.
"Time to go!"
------
Hoping some feedback comes so that I can continue to improve my writing.
Author's Note: I know I said that negotiations would happen, but I just let the flow of the conversation and the feel of the characters take me to what I think would have been the more natural outcome of rushing things too quickly, from the perspective of the in-game characters as most of the more stressful events have occurred in only one day.
Maybe, the negotations might come a few snippets later, after meeting with Ludwig and his band of miscreants.
ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.
------
Originally, I had intended to start the conversation by politely greeting the various people present in the room, but, the decision was taken out of my hands by what appeared to be a tomato attached to a human body by the sheer amount of redness that had suddenly appeared on her face.
'Wonder if she would mimic a steam kettle if I goaded her enough like a lot of the older Western cartoons. Heh, only one way to find out.'
"You, you you!"
"Me, me, me," I responded in a dry voice to Louise as she appeared a bit angry.
"You acted like the perfect Familiar! I allowed you the opportunity to have a meal in the Alviss Dining Hall! I even went so far as to protect your reputation and, and, grrrr...."
While the accusations were flying from her mouth, I text commanded Setsuna to take on a bored posture in order to show just how much her words had an affect on Setsuna. That is to say, none at all.
After a few seconds of nonsensible sounds and growling coming from the pink-haired loli, I decided to take the conversation back under my control before she could start a rant that would probably bore me to death.
*sigh* "Can you blame me for my supposed deception, young Louise? Besides, if you don't stop growling and frothing at the mouth I might think that you have rabies or something similar and I have no desire to get bitten right now."
"Deception! Rabies! Frothing! You will not insult me, Louise of the House of Valliere, with such, such, such common words from your lying mouth. How can I ever forgive such trickery of my person when I was so gra-"
"I apologize for the interruption, but please note that I appeared in a new land, surrounded by an unknown, potentially hostile number of beings surrounding myself, and I was separated from the rest of my Guild."
"Hostile! We are nobles and nobles never strike unjustly against commo-"
"Like that time one of your fellow nobles nearly struck the poor maid whom I doubt you would have bothered to learn the name of had I not informed you."
"Of course, I would not know the name of all the commoners! They live to serve the nobles and the nobles live to guide and prote-"
"You really believe that? Considering the way you so-called nobles treated the staff as nothing more than furniture, I hardly think many other nobles share your views."
"I DO believe it and I will tell you that no one who calls themself a Tristain noble would ever willingly harm a commoner unless they deserv-"
"Blah, blah, blah. Right now you should just open your eyes and take a good long look at your fellow nobles and see if they are actually practicing what you preach. I can believe the older generation would follow such ideals, but after seeing the younger generation of nobles at this academy? I hardly think so."
"STOP INTERR-"
"That is enough Ms. Valliere," came the soft, but surprisingly stern voice of Professor Colbert as he placed a hand on the shoulder of Louise.
While the hand and voice of the bald badass calmed Louise enough that she stopped arguing, the same could not be said of the other people in the room. Both Tabitha and Miss Longueville raised an eyebrow in a somewhat eery synchronization, while Headmaster Osmond's face appeared to be holding back a smile.
I also noticed that Kirche seemed to be fanning herself with her hand as she seemed to take in the form of Jean that made him shift slightly in place, as Headmaster Osmond had suddenly been taken by a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like covered up laughter at the expense of his slightly, red-behind-the-ears subordinate.
I had Setsuna lean closer to the one known as Tabitha and asked quietly, "Is your friend Kirche always like this?"
"Yes," came the curt response.
"Must never be boring around her, I take it," I continued quietly as Headmaster continued to cough and Miss Longueville helpfully began to slap his back with some rather forceful strikes that had the old man coughing much louder.
"Yes," came another curt response.
"Do you always speak with such efficiency?"
"Yes."
"I suppose it does tend to stop needless talk from the more annoying people who attend this school, am I right?'
"Yes."
And that was the end of my somewhat, one-sided conversation with the other, more quiet loli in the room.
Once the furor had died down, Louise took a number of calming breaths as Colbert spoke a few soothing words into her ear. Fortunately for me, all text spoken aloud from NPC's in both regular gaming and in the cinematics always had a text bubble that I could read and it said something along the lines of 'act befitting as your status as both a noble and a Valliere', 'do not stoop the level of a commoner and argue like one of the street rats' and a few other nonsensical pieces of advice that were probably only meant to calm the recipient than anything else.
After a few seconds of silence, I decide to take the lead in the conversation once more in the hopes of seeing more fascinating interaction with such life-like dialogue responses from the script that appeared to adapt to the player.
"May I speak now?"
"Please, Setsuna, continue and do try not to provoke Louise anymore," Colbert stated in a controlled voice that would have sounded more like an order than an actual request. Unfortunately for him, it had no effect on Setsuna and even less on me.
"I cannot make such a promise as both Louise and I hardly know each other and our respective cultures with enough depth to avoid any provocations," I responded in a more polite tone of voice than the one I had been using on Louise earlier. Then, I took on a more teasing tone, "Besides, she was the one who offered to whip me and I believe that some people in my own culture might take that as a sign of sexual inter~est or even a first step in courtship if Louise likes to have relationships in th~at manner."
"Oh Setsuna, you must share this knowledge of whipping and pleasure as Founder knows that Louise needs to let off some steam," Kirche interjected before Colbert or Louise could get a word in. As for Colbert, he took on a more embarrassed look, whereas, Louise looked absolutely mortified and tried to sink into her chair.
On this scene, I had a rather mischievous idea pop up.
"If you like to hear it Kirche, I could share the wonderful piece of music you and Tabitha must have surely overheard, but not in its entirety. It goes like this-"
"Whipping aside, we must get back to the discussion at hand," interrupted Osmond as he wiped away some drool from his mouth.
'Heh. Old pervert.'
"Very well, Headmaster. Kirche, if you are willing to meet with me tomorrow, I could share with you an equally delightful song called I Got It From Agnes by the very same one who wrote the Masochism Tango," I said as I texted Setsuna to grin widely.
In response, Kirche gave an equally wide grin and said, "Of course I am willing. We shall meet in the Vestri Court and we shall show Tristain nobles how to have some real fun."
While I thought it was impossible, the face of Louise appeared to be going even whiter where Colbert's face was turning even more red.
Of note, Miss Longueville looked like she was breathing a little heavier than she had been earlier, as it added a delightful bounce to her chest, and, if I looked closely enough, her pupils looked slightly dilated, which I was able to notice thanks to the very realistic graphics.
'Guess the old man ain't the only pervert here.'
After allowing about ten seconds for the more easily provoked girl to settle down somewhat, I turned towards the Headmaster.
"Now, in all seriousness, I would like to begin the negotations regarding my status as I understand that the Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite in both your culture and your religion. However, my culture highly values personal freedoms, especially among the higher ranks. Adding the fact that I am the leader of my own guild of warriors and various fighters, they might not look too fondly on my departure from their ranks."
"I can see that that does present a rather interesting problem as it would appear that we are at an impasse. However, I think that we may have rushed to attempting negotations so soon when emotions are too high and not all present may be capable of adapting properly to the stress in such short notice. So, I propose a two day recess and all present shall return here after having enough time to re-orient and prepare for a serious undertaking that is present. Agreed?"
"Yes, Headmaster," stated Miss Longueville.
"Of course, Old Osmond," said Jean.
"Yes," came the simultaneous reply from Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha. In the case of Louise and Kirche, Louise looked surprised then glared at Kirche, who, in turn, merely smirked back at the other girl and mimed the motion of a whip with her hand, which elicited a small blush from the smaller girl who continued to glare.
"That sounds agreeable," I said after everyone else had spoken.
"Very well. We shall all gather back in my office two days hence."
At that, the five other occupants left with Kirche and Louise continuing their silent, but amusing staring match.
I made certain to have Setsuna wait until all the others had left and the door had closed with a resounding thud.
"If you like, Headmaster. I would not mind sharing the song I promised to share with Kirche at a later date."
*drool* "Yes, of course. Now off with you as I do have some paperwork to sort through and it will not write itself."
After checking the radar and finding that there was no one in the way of my intended path, I left for one of the secluded gardens in order to open up the 'teleportation' ability of my character and pulled down the list of known towns, outpost, villages, and so on. On that list, was the name of Tristania, the capital of the nation of Tristain and the location of where I would secretly meet with Ludwig and see if he was already gathering his secret band of miscreants and lowlifes or whatever a Germanian does in the capital city.
"Time to go!"
------
Hoping some feedback comes so that I can continue to improve my writing.
Author's Note: I know I said that negotiations would happen, but I just let the flow of the conversation and the feel of the characters take me to what I think would have been the more natural outcome of rushing things too quickly, from the perspective of the in-game characters as most of the more stressful events have occurred in only one day.
Maybe, the negotations might come a few snippets later, after meeting with Ludwig and his band of miscreants.
ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.
If I ever choose to unlock the S&M Route, despite saying that it was avoided in an earlier chapter, it would take a rather drastic set of actions on Setsuna's part that would make Roman orgies tame and would be severely frowned upon by this sites' rules and I would most likely be banned for a few months.Flere821 said:I have no problem with how things are playing out right now, though I am kinda surprised there's wasn't anything like 'S&M route unlocked with Kirche/Louise/Longueville' after that exchange
Or Heaven forbid, Osmond... *slams face onto desk HARD to prevent horrible mental images*
Osmond?!
....
....
Definitely need to slam my head into the wall right now.
BRB.
Just kidding.
In all seriousness, the S&M route is something I am not certain how to play out right now as I only have a rough outline of this story up to the suicide between the Mind of God and her Void Partner via Firestone.
I am really wracking my brain as to how to deal with the Windstone threat and I have a few ideas, but I feel that it dips into the Deus Ex Machina territory or something like a cop out without trying too hard.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read and respond.
Already slamming head into wall to cleanse mind right now.anthonyl6892 said:While I agree with you about the Kirche/Louise and longueville routes... I'm going to have to punch you for the mental image of Osmond, mainly because he has already shown to like that sort of thing.
Also, thanks for answering my earlier question.
The route with Longueville will be much harder to achieve as she is much more worldly than most of the people in the Academy when it comes to the pleasures of the flesh due to her alternate lifestyle.
Hmmm....I was trying to show that Louise is still latching onto anger and desperation as a measure of comfort for herself due to still recovering from the BSOD in the previous snippet and how it is far easier to fall back into the normal routine of insults as she normally does with Kirche.
Hopefully, I can show in the next few snippets that this Tsundere has her tsun sides and her dere sides, as well as, her Oh Founder! Mother's going to kill me! side when she finally let's her mind finally digest everything she has encountered for the day.
Besides, Louise has only seen Setsuna the faithful Familiar, Setsuna the proud defender of female virtue, Setsuna the tease, and finally, she has seen Setsuna the mage princess and she cannot cope with the amount of information overload right now without taking the time to process it all.
Also, she does have doubts about the claim of royalty, except when her thoughts go back to the end of the fight, she will remember the use of strange, high-level magic and go back into BSOD.
Almost like breaking the cutie kind of scenario.
Anyways, thank you for reading and thank you for providing helpful feedback as I find it very useful when there are outsiders who can point out any of my obvious and not-so-obvious mistakes.
Darn you and your common sense and use of logic!anthonyl6892 said:
Seriously, I might try to rewrite parts of the snippet number nine to show that Louise is focusing almost completely Setsuna in a tunnel vision sort of scenario and that she is somewhat aware of her surroundings in such a way that she is able to function automatically, but not enough to respond except when Colbert finally touched her on the shoulder in snippet number ten.
If the edit in the previous snippet, that is to say number nine, does not go well, then I will see if ten can be changed to fit better.
Thanks for pointing out something that should have been obvious to me.
Well, thank you for the compliment!anthonyl6892 said:To be fair, I was only able to think of all that after reading the chapter three times. (It is a very good story)
I think that you should just make a omake chapter from Louise's POV, this will give us readers a sense that Louise, and the others, are real people and not just characters in a game, which Setsuna thinks they are.
I also just had a horrible idea. At some point you should have it that Louise dies, during a quest or something forcing the game to reset, then have Louise, and other characters if they died as well, tell Setsuna about nightmares in which they were killed. Setsuna(you) would realize that they are talking about how they died during the mission, from their pov, and could start to wonder why the characters knew about that kind of stuff, dispite the game resetting, realizing that there is no way the programmers could make something that complex.
Aren't I evil.
As for the omake chapter idea?
I think that might be a really good way to show outside POV's without breaking the overall flow and narrative structure of the story. Thanks.
*snort* You are evil! In a good way that is.
We'll just have to see if I decide to use that or some of the other ideas I have had on how to show the player that Halkeginia is very much a real world.Once again, thank you for your input.
I liked that anime, especially the concept of the interactive MMO and all that it entailed.anthonyl6892 said:
You really are evil, you know that right?
But seriously, I might decide to make a VR interactive fic with a different or same anime in the future, after I finish this one. Hopefully.
All very interesting ideas there!Vianca said:
As for the omake, it might have to wait as RL is in the way for the next few days.
I was planning on incorporating certain functions of GW, such as, the ability to instantly teleport from one safe zone to another safe zone after having traveled the distance between the two locations only once.
As for airships?
Sadly, GW never had those, but that does not mean the player will not try to get one after discovering just how useful they could be when combined with certain, shall we say, military advancements, like rifling the barrels of the cannons, making a Minie ball as opposed to the regular round ball, creating indirect Howitzer cannon fire, forward observors, CAS, and so on.
In other words, the player is an avid student of the history of war which translates into skipping decades if not centuries worth of trial and error in weapons, infrastructure, logistics, command and control, fire-team tactics, and etc.
Not to mention advice to perform guerilla style warfare and spec ops infiltrations/exfiltrations, pre-emptive strikes, and what not.
Thank you for your very helpful input and I hope you continue reading.
Thank you for the compliment.Rushil said:
As for the omake, it might have to wait until tomorrow or the day after as my schedule is a bit busy right now.
17
Chapter Three, Side Story
Louise Snippet I
------
And so Louise traveled through the halls of the Tristain Academy of Magic, chasing after her rival and throwing insult after insult about the debauchery of Germanians, the von Zerbsts' questionable mating practices, and anything and everything to keep from freezing up in a manner that would be most unbefitting of a Valliere.
That, that, that!
How dare that Familar make claims that she is some kind of Princess!
And a commander and general of legions and armies?!
Impossible!
As if a Valliere, let alone a Founder-blessed noble would ever do such a lowly act as to bind a member of any Royal Family, let alone any honorable, high-ranking authority in the military!
After all, the holiest of rituals, the Sprintime Summoning Ritual, could never be wrong as it always summoned only what complements the mage.
Setsuna is only a commoner and a summoned one at that and I will show her the proper place as I am the noble and she is the Familiar.
In the back of her mind, a smaller voice tried to warn her about the political and social implications of binding a person of higher status as dictated by the Founder Brimir, the laws of Tristain, her respect of the Royal Family of Tristain, and her fear of her Mother.
At that last thought, all thoughts in Louise momentarily stopped at the sheer terror of her Mother. Not mother, but Mother with a capital M. Outside of her mind, Louise physically paled and stopped all movement for a time as she only uttered three words:
"Rule of steel."
Stopped until she heard an all too familiar taunt, "Oh is Louise the Zero showing that she has zero control over her own body? Shall I have to whip you like you secretly des~ire?"
"ZERBST!!!"
In response, the red-haired girl merely continued to walk quickly in the direction of the Headmaster's office as Louise had to jog in pursuit due to her smaller strides.
If I ever discover that Zerbst had a hand in corrupting my Familiar, I will, I will, will....
Unfortunately for Louise, another, more suppressed and lecherous voice whispered into her mind at the wrong moment about whips and other things she had read in some of those books that she had once borrowed from sister Eleanores' collection.
In response, her mental thought process nearly underwent another brain freeze until she reminded herself that she was already engaged and she certainly had no desire to whip or be whipped.
After all, the color of her face was its normal color and was not attempting to emulate the color of a red dawn rising.
Any further thoughts halted when she finally found herself standing before the office of the Headmaster and she took a moment to recompose herself.
The Headmaster will sort this all out and everything will go back to the way things were before my Familiar went crazy.
After all, what's the worst that could happen?
------
Author's Note: This scene takes place just after Louise chases Kirche in Chapter Three, Part Nine. It will not be the last of the side stories and we might actually see the POV's of other characters in other scenes if I am unable to effectively use the first person POV to show what is going on in the background.
Or I might just write another side story or three to show how the other characters are thinking, reacting, and/or planning with regards to Setsuna.
Louise Snippet I
------
And so Louise traveled through the halls of the Tristain Academy of Magic, chasing after her rival and throwing insult after insult about the debauchery of Germanians, the von Zerbsts' questionable mating practices, and anything and everything to keep from freezing up in a manner that would be most unbefitting of a Valliere.
That, that, that!
How dare that Familar make claims that she is some kind of Princess!
And a commander and general of legions and armies?!
Impossible!
As if a Valliere, let alone a Founder-blessed noble would ever do such a lowly act as to bind a member of any Royal Family, let alone any honorable, high-ranking authority in the military!
After all, the holiest of rituals, the Sprintime Summoning Ritual, could never be wrong as it always summoned only what complements the mage.
Setsuna is only a commoner and a summoned one at that and I will show her the proper place as I am the noble and she is the Familiar.
In the back of her mind, a smaller voice tried to warn her about the political and social implications of binding a person of higher status as dictated by the Founder Brimir, the laws of Tristain, her respect of the Royal Family of Tristain, and her fear of her Mother.
At that last thought, all thoughts in Louise momentarily stopped at the sheer terror of her Mother. Not mother, but Mother with a capital M. Outside of her mind, Louise physically paled and stopped all movement for a time as she only uttered three words:
"Rule of steel."
Stopped until she heard an all too familiar taunt, "Oh is Louise the Zero showing that she has zero control over her own body? Shall I have to whip you like you secretly des~ire?"
"ZERBST!!!"
In response, the red-haired girl merely continued to walk quickly in the direction of the Headmaster's office as Louise had to jog in pursuit due to her smaller strides.
If I ever discover that Zerbst had a hand in corrupting my Familiar, I will, I will, will....
Unfortunately for Louise, another, more suppressed and lecherous voice whispered into her mind at the wrong moment about whips and other things she had read in some of those books that she had once borrowed from sister Eleanores' collection.
In response, her mental thought process nearly underwent another brain freeze until she reminded herself that she was already engaged and she certainly had no desire to whip or be whipped.
After all, the color of her face was its normal color and was not attempting to emulate the color of a red dawn rising.
Any further thoughts halted when she finally found herself standing before the office of the Headmaster and she took a moment to recompose herself.
The Headmaster will sort this all out and everything will go back to the way things were before my Familiar went crazy.
After all, what's the worst that could happen?
------
Author's Note: This scene takes place just after Louise chases Kirche in Chapter Three, Part Nine. It will not be the last of the side stories and we might actually see the POV's of other characters in other scenes if I am unable to effectively use the first person POV to show what is going on in the background.
Or I might just write another side story or three to show how the other characters are thinking, reacting, and/or planning with regards to Setsuna.
Good work on the side story, it makes the thoughts of Louise a lot clearer than the indirect way in the normal story. I think it would be nice to have these side stories once in a while to show how different characters deal with the situations Setsuna will thow them into.
18
Chapter Three, Side Story
Louise Snippet II
------
Once she had entered the safety of one of the most respected nobles of the Academy, if not Tristain, Louise felt a calm wash over her as she believed that all would be right with the world.
There, she saw the Headmaster give her a polite nod and gestured her to a seat in the far corner where there were some refreshments. In response, she gave a polite nod in return as was only proper and proceeded to walk over towards the area in question.
Unfortunately, Kirche and Tabitha were already there. While she had no quarrel with the blue-haired girl, she could not say the same with the red-headed Germanian and could only wonder how the two ever became friends.
Once again, Louise took a calming breath, approached the table, and pointedly ignored the von Zerbst sitting on the other side of the small, circular table.
As she poured herself some wine and placed a few pieces of unleavened bread, she was drawn inward to her own thoughts as she thought about how she would deal with her Familiar.
The Headmaster, as a fellow noble, would fully understand the situation I am in and will rule in my favor as I am clearly the wronged party here.
Then, I can show that pesky Familiar who is the Master in this relationship!
Once again, that long-suppressed voice whispered in her mind about whipping sessions and hearing her Familiar's voice cry out 'Master' and 'more' in pleasure-laced tones.
Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!
I am the Master of my Familiar, I am the Master of my own mind, and I am the Master of my own life!
I will not be ruled by such debased thoughts like that Germanian whore who sits beside me because I am a Valliere!
Besides, I already have an intended.
On the last thought, she blushed as she began to imagine the calm, collected, and smiling face of none other than Jacques Wardes, the man who she was to wed.
Before her mind could travel down the more naughty dreams involving Wardes, the door opened and she saw both Professor Colbert and Miss Longueville enter.
When she made eye contact with Professor Colbert, she gave a polite nod, but did not stand up as that would have been improper of a lady of her social standing, despite the higher authority that the Mage Teacher represented. In turn, the good Professor smiled and gave a simple greeting before he unloaded all the papers he had onto the Headmasters' desk.
Miss Longueville did not stop to make any pleasantries as she walked over to the Headmaster and whispered a few things in the mans' ear.
HA!
I see that the Headmster was wise to bring along witnesses who shall testify that my Familiar has been an unruly and undeserving creature that deserves nothing more than to be whi- whi-, er, punished!
Then, I shall prove that the third daughter of the Valliere family is a real noble and not some failure to be cast aside!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Everything is going according to plan!
"Enter, your Highness."
"Gurk," came a strangled noise from Louise' mouth as she froze in place.
------
Author's Note: This scene takes place inside the Headmasters' office, while Setsuna is busy talking to the Familiar of Osmond in the garden, and Louise is left to her own thoughts.
Also, darn you ninjas for jumping ahead and taking my idea for this snip on the last few lines!
Just kidding!
Anyway, hope that you all like this new method of showing other character thoughts of certain scenes that may not properly convey how they are reacting when seen from the players POV only.
Louise Snippet II
------
Once she had entered the safety of one of the most respected nobles of the Academy, if not Tristain, Louise felt a calm wash over her as she believed that all would be right with the world.
There, she saw the Headmaster give her a polite nod and gestured her to a seat in the far corner where there were some refreshments. In response, she gave a polite nod in return as was only proper and proceeded to walk over towards the area in question.
Unfortunately, Kirche and Tabitha were already there. While she had no quarrel with the blue-haired girl, she could not say the same with the red-headed Germanian and could only wonder how the two ever became friends.
Once again, Louise took a calming breath, approached the table, and pointedly ignored the von Zerbst sitting on the other side of the small, circular table.
As she poured herself some wine and placed a few pieces of unleavened bread, she was drawn inward to her own thoughts as she thought about how she would deal with her Familiar.
The Headmaster, as a fellow noble, would fully understand the situation I am in and will rule in my favor as I am clearly the wronged party here.
Then, I can show that pesky Familiar who is the Master in this relationship!
Once again, that long-suppressed voice whispered in her mind about whipping sessions and hearing her Familiar's voice cry out 'Master' and 'more' in pleasure-laced tones.
Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!
I am the Master of my Familiar, I am the Master of my own mind, and I am the Master of my own life!
I will not be ruled by such debased thoughts like that Germanian whore who sits beside me because I am a Valliere!
Besides, I already have an intended.
On the last thought, she blushed as she began to imagine the calm, collected, and smiling face of none other than Jacques Wardes, the man who she was to wed.
Before her mind could travel down the more naughty dreams involving Wardes, the door opened and she saw both Professor Colbert and Miss Longueville enter.
When she made eye contact with Professor Colbert, she gave a polite nod, but did not stand up as that would have been improper of a lady of her social standing, despite the higher authority that the Mage Teacher represented. In turn, the good Professor smiled and gave a simple greeting before he unloaded all the papers he had onto the Headmasters' desk.
Miss Longueville did not stop to make any pleasantries as she walked over to the Headmaster and whispered a few things in the mans' ear.
HA!
I see that the Headmster was wise to bring along witnesses who shall testify that my Familiar has been an unruly and undeserving creature that deserves nothing more than to be whi- whi-, er, punished!
Then, I shall prove that the third daughter of the Valliere family is a real noble and not some failure to be cast aside!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Everything is going according to plan!
"Enter, your Highness."
"Gurk," came a strangled noise from Louise' mouth as she froze in place.
------
Author's Note: This scene takes place inside the Headmasters' office, while Setsuna is busy talking to the Familiar of Osmond in the garden, and Louise is left to her own thoughts.
Also, darn you ninjas for jumping ahead and taking my idea for this snip on the last few lines!
Just kidding!
Anyway, hope that you all like this new method of showing other character thoughts of certain scenes that may not properly convey how they are reacting when seen from the players POV only.
When she gets tunnel vision, she tends to become a rather one-tracked mind and loses a lot of the more intelligent functions of her brain.NecroMechanoid said:
Combine that with her teenage hormones and her desire to succeed at all costs, it become a rather potent combination that is not conducive to the wiser, more cautious decisions she could have made.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Thank you.Feuerklinge said:Good work on the side story, it makes the thoughts of Louise a lot clearer than the indirect way in the normal story. I think it would be nice to have these side stories once in a while to show how different characters deal with the situations Setsuna will thow them into.
Now that I have really thought about it, I may just put these side stories here and there to show how other characters deal with Setsuna.
Heh.koolerkid said:
Her thoughts definitely follow this route as she is experiencing a bit of shock and information overload to the point that she will fall back to that which was always drilled into her.
Oh she certainly saw that part, but as koolerkid pointed out, Louise is not exactly using logic and common sense right now as her mind is not running on all cylinders, if you know what I mean.Hypothesis said:
Thank you for reading.anthonyl6892 said:
I can't believe you were able to take my idea for the next snippet before I could even refine it!
Anyway, thank you for the input, but I have not really planned for any of the outside POVs' to be too long as I do want to focus the majority of my attention to the main story, but thank you for the suggestion.
Hmmm....Arcadia?Vianca said:
There are many possibilities to be had when there is magic to help sidestep many of the bigger problems when dealing with maintenance and operating issues of a single airship so you will just have to wait and see.
As for the ship entering GW, you'll just have to wait for that as I might allow a bit of crossing over between the online game and Halkeginia under very specific events that are limited in time and rairity. Can't say much more than that.
- Location
- Estonia
Does the protagonist first person narrator really know, in character, enough about Colbert do already describe him as a "badass" at this point of story and didn't it took him showing his awesome fire magic and fighting skills for Kirche to start crushing for him? Because I really don't think that just speaking sternly and showing some presence for a moment is enough to work, especially since he is quite much older than her and Kirche is not shown normally preferring older men.HecateGW said:
First Louise Snippet seems kind of "meh" to me, while the second one being much better, but that has probably more to do with their narrator, their themes and shortness, than your writing skill. So, eagerly awaiting for the next proper chapter part about negotiations.
- Location
- Estonia
I know about the protagonist-Setsuna relationship. But yes, I managed to miss/forget that specific HUD title somehow, but then the "bald badass" should have been written with capital first letters in the part I quoted, signaling it to be a title. Because otherwise right now it's not clear in the narrative, whether it is a title or narrators given opinion and the Kirche part still applies regardless.koolerkid said:
19
Chapter Three, Part Eleven: Sowing the Seeds
------
I nearly took off for Tristania, the capital of this small nation when I realized that I had already promised Headmaster Osmond that I would deliver the goods within the hour.
When I typed in the text command to check the in-game time, I realized that I only had ten minutes left.
"Surely the old man would be lenient enough to give me some leeway? Eh, whatever, I'll just get it done now before I forget," I spoke quietly as I had Setsuna walk up and down the hallway and keeping a close eye on the radar to see if I had anymore surprise visitors like Malicorne and his band of fools.
"Well. Maybe not all fools as I did get my first mook," I said as I absentmindedly had Setsuna sit down on the ground in one of the hallways adjacent to the other hallway with the Headmasters' office.
"Maybe I should call him my First Prime?"
*snort* "As if he would respond to the command of Jaffa Kree!"
"Or, I could refer to him as my Padawan?"
"...."
"I'm not exactly Jedi material and all that."
"Oh! He shall be Number Two!"
"...."
"...."
"I knew I shouldn't have watched the Austin Powers movie marathon at two in the morning."
"I'll think about this later," I said as I took Setsuna out of the seated position and prepared to leave with one last check on my inventory and seeing that the first delivery of items were there, as well as, the Familiar mouse of the old man.
Once I had gotten Setsuna beyond the visual range of Louise, Kirche, Tabitha, Miss Longueville, Professor Colbert, and anyone else, I had Setsuna use her Shadow Step techniques carefully. I made certain to keep a very close eye on the targetting radar as I moved quickly towards the hidden sheds within the foundation of the Earth Tower.
Fortunately, the radar not only provided a constant visual watch on anyone or anything around Setsuna (with the exception of invisible characters as Osmond showed earlier), the radar also had a handy navigation pointer that, well, pointed the way to my intended goal.
While I continued to keep an eye out for anyone following my character, I moved back and forth between the main game, Factions, and to the add-on, Void Ascension, as I carried all of the items I had promised to Osmond in exchange for all the things I had asked for.
In the end, I completed the task in only five minutes of game time, whereas in the real world it had taken me a good thirty minutes as I had to wait for the loading screens every time I moved from Factions to Void Ascension and back. Also, I made certain to keep track of only the inventory I had planned to give away and I had no intention of accidentally dropping any of the more valuable items that had the same name, but were enchanted to have special features.
On the last run back towards Ascension, I changed Setsuna's secondary profession to that of the Warrior as I had a feeling I might need it in the future.
"Done and done."
"Hmmm....now that's rather interesting. Guess I could make a play at being Jason Statham what with the name not being so subtle and all."
I checked the game time again as soon as Setsuna was outside of the hidden shed and found that I only had a minute to spare.
I decided to wait and see if there were any penalties, traps, or special magical effects that would happen if I had not made the one hour deadline.
Much to my disappointment, nothing flashy or awesome occurred.
So, I proceeded to leave for the Headmasters' office by using a zig zag route and the occasional Shadow Step to move about and confuse any potential stalkers just in case there were any other mages with similar abilities like Osmond.
Along the way, I noticed the name of Miss Longueville linger around the school vault as it had been part of the general academy map found in the library I had explored the first night.
"Well, given that her title had been Suspicious Secretary, she might just be some kind of serial murder or even a Robin Hood kind of character," I whispered to myself as I continued towards the door of the Headmaster.
"Enter, your Highness."
At the greeting, I had Setsuna enter the door and wait until the door had closed shut.
Once the door had closed, I immediately began to talk before the Headmaster could get a word in.
"Room secure? From eavesdropping and scrying I mean."
"But of course, your Highness."
"No need to keep referring me to my title. In private, just Setsuna will do."
"Very well, Setsuna. And why have you returned so quickly?"
"The delivery is complete and I trust that they will not be linked back to my person?"
"Yes. I must confess, however, that I had not expected you to complete the transfer of all the items on the inventory list so quickly. I see that the magic of your line is rather powerful to be able to use such a quiet, efficient, and powerful teleportation spell," Osmond said in a rather probing manner as he tried to use his 'Wise Sage' stare on Setsuna.
"If you're trying to get some information about how it works, then you will be very disappointed as this type of magic cannot be learned only inherited," I deadpanned in response.
Besides, it was true as no MMO characters within Guild Wars ever learned any kind of teleportation spell that could travel between different worlds, let alone different continents, save for the game mechanics.
"Never hurts to try."
"True. Now, before I leave, have you contacted your Germanian connection? The one called Herwald?"
"Ah yes. I have already sent out a message that should have a response by tomorrow. I am curious as to why you have decided to take up my offer."
"Let's just say that I need some more protection and even if you believe that I am royalty, I have no way of transporting other people with me to prove my claim. So, I need to gain some kind of title here that would help legitimize my person somewhat and I can see that Germania has the easiest route of all the countries."
"Hmmm....that does make some sense. Well, off with you, as I do have paperwork to do," he said as he made a shooing motion.
"See you later Headmaster," I said as I had Setsuna leave the office and head towards one of the side gardens before opening up the menu and transporting Setsuna to the capital of Tristain, Tristania.
After a few seconds of the loading screen, Setsuna appeared on the furthest edge of the capital city, just on the outskirts of one of the neighboring forests and the radar showed only a few people milling about at extreme range.
It was there that I had Setsuna change her outfit back to the Shining Blade uniform I had her wear during the meeting with Ludwig.
"Time to see Ludwig and see what he's doing right now," I said knowing that I was far too early for the appointed date, but I just wanted to see if had any side quests for my character.
Just as I was about to enter the capital itself, I heard a feminine scream emerge from one of the alleyways that led to the merchant district.
"THIEF! THIEF!"
"You alright miss," I asked as I had Setsuna run up to the brown-haired girl.
"Three men wearing grey cloaks have stolen the money that I was going to use to pay our taxes as we are due by the end of the day! If we can't pay, then we will lose our Inn!"
"Not to worry, I will take back what those thieves stole."
The first Grey Fool was found only ten seconds worth of running distance away as he was busy panting and leaning against a wall, behind some crates. Before he could even register my presence, I had Setsuna launch a Disrupting Chop from the Warrior skill set unarmed and watched as the man dropped like a sack of bricks as the strike connected with the man's neck with a resounding smacking sound.
"One down, two to go."
Once I checked to make sure that he was out cold, I retrieved the 1/3 Bag of Coins after searching his body and finding it inside his inventory and little else other than some rusted knives, dirty used clothing, and a couple of cheap wine bottles.
Thirty seconds later, I encountered the second Grey Fool who had been in more shape than his counterpart, but not fast enough as I caught up to him. As he turned the corner, he caught sight of my character.
In his panic, he tried to run faster as he kept his eyes on me. Problem was that he kept his eyes on my character and not on the boxes in front of him. What resulted was the second Grey Fool tripping over said boxes and knocking himself out.
"Damn it! I knew it said fool, but I thought you idiots would have provided me with at least some challenge!"
And so, I retrieved another item called 1/3 Bag of Coins from the inventory of the second of the three Fools.
The third Grey Fool had stopped moving according to the navigator arrow and I became suspicious that a trap was being set.
"Maybe you will be lucky number three."
As I rounded the corner to a dead-end, I caught sight of the third Grey Fool, holding a knife to the neck of a struggling, little boy with his mouth covered by the mans' other hand.
"Stay back and the boy wont get hurt."
After pausing for only a second to assess the situation, I continued to walk towards the scruffy looking man.
"I said, STAY BACK, or the boy gets it."
"Go ahead. I don't care as long as I get the quest done."
At my matter-of-fact tone, both the boy and the Fool looked strangely at Setsuna as if they could not believe what she had just said. As a result, the boy began to struggle even harder and the man began to tighten his grip on said boy.
"Quest? I don't know what you're talking about but you had bett- urk!"
When he had started to panic, the Grey Fool had begun waved around his knife away from the boy's neck as he tried to warn Setsuna again. At that moment, I activated Crippling Dagger and watched as the flying projectile strike the Fool right between the eyes.
"BOOM! Headshot!"
In response, the boy ran away as he screamed like that kid from the Home Alone movie series when he had put on some of the aftershave.
"Ha! At least you were entertaining enough," I said to the corpse as I began to search his inventory for the final quest item.
And so, I retrieved the final 1/3 Bag of Coins which combined with the other two 1/3 pieces to form the Bag of Coins.
"Real inventive there with the names," I dryly stated as I made my way back towards the brown-haired girl.
Fortunately enough, there hadn't been too many people noticing the entire chase and most of the people would look away as soon as my character walked passed them.
Once I had made eye contact with the brown-haired girl, she made a sigh of relief and ran up to my character.
"Did you get them? Are you hurt?"
"Yes, they were pretty easy to deal with and I believe that this is the Bag of Coins they took? And no, I am not hurt."
*sigh* "Yes. Thank you so much for your help. I don't know what to say or do, but if you are ever in town, please visit the Charming Fairy Inn and tell them that you know Jessica, that's my name, and they should treat you well."
"Your welcome, Jessica. You know what? Why don't I escort you to your location so that you wont have to worry about being robbed again, alright?"
At my request, Jessica bit her lip and frowned slightly, but after some thought, she nodded her head and said, "I wouldn't mind the help. May I know the name of my savior?"
"Gozen is my name and it's nice to meet you, Jessica."
"You as well, Gozen. You must be strong like Matilda to have been able to take down those three so quickly."
"Let's just say that I have a bit of talent for dealing with scum like them."
And so, we continued idle chatter as we continued our walk towards the location of the tax collector site and I learned of some other troubles that had befallen the inn recently.
'Interesting, since I haven't received any confirmation that the quest is done, I suppose there's more to do. Maybe it might actually be entertaining.'
------
Any feedback, especially the helpful kind, is appreciated and enouraged.
Authors' Note: Normally, the corrupt noble that collects the taxes in this area would be dealt with in the OTL in the undercover mission, but I am jumpstarting that and we shall see a bit of fallout in the coming snippets.
ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.
------
I nearly took off for Tristania, the capital of this small nation when I realized that I had already promised Headmaster Osmond that I would deliver the goods within the hour.
When I typed in the text command to check the in-game time, I realized that I only had ten minutes left.
"Surely the old man would be lenient enough to give me some leeway? Eh, whatever, I'll just get it done now before I forget," I spoke quietly as I had Setsuna walk up and down the hallway and keeping a close eye on the radar to see if I had anymore surprise visitors like Malicorne and his band of fools.
"Well. Maybe not all fools as I did get my first mook," I said as I absentmindedly had Setsuna sit down on the ground in one of the hallways adjacent to the other hallway with the Headmasters' office.
"Maybe I should call him my First Prime?"
*snort* "As if he would respond to the command of Jaffa Kree!"
"Or, I could refer to him as my Padawan?"
"...."
"I'm not exactly Jedi material and all that."
"Oh! He shall be Number Two!"
"...."
"...."
"I knew I shouldn't have watched the Austin Powers movie marathon at two in the morning."
"I'll think about this later," I said as I took Setsuna out of the seated position and prepared to leave with one last check on my inventory and seeing that the first delivery of items were there, as well as, the Familiar mouse of the old man.
Once I had gotten Setsuna beyond the visual range of Louise, Kirche, Tabitha, Miss Longueville, Professor Colbert, and anyone else, I had Setsuna use her Shadow Step techniques carefully. I made certain to keep a very close eye on the targetting radar as I moved quickly towards the hidden sheds within the foundation of the Earth Tower.
Fortunately, the radar not only provided a constant visual watch on anyone or anything around Setsuna (with the exception of invisible characters as Osmond showed earlier), the radar also had a handy navigation pointer that, well, pointed the way to my intended goal.
"Well of course they are," I said to no one in particular as I unloaded all of my inventory into the hidden shed as per the agreement I had with the Headmaster.
While I continued to keep an eye out for anyone following my character, I moved back and forth between the main game, Factions, and to the add-on, Void Ascension, as I carried all of the items I had promised to Osmond in exchange for all the things I had asked for.
In the end, I completed the task in only five minutes of game time, whereas in the real world it had taken me a good thirty minutes as I had to wait for the loading screens every time I moved from Factions to Void Ascension and back. Also, I made certain to keep track of only the inventory I had planned to give away and I had no intention of accidentally dropping any of the more valuable items that had the same name, but were enchanted to have special features.
On the last run back towards Ascension, I changed Setsuna's secondary profession to that of the Warrior as I had a feeling I might need it in the future.
"Done and done."
As soon as I had said the words, a message had popped up about a new quest unlocked.
"Hmmm....now that's rather interesting. Guess I could make a play at being Jason Statham what with the name not being so subtle and all."
I checked the game time again as soon as Setsuna was outside of the hidden shed and found that I only had a minute to spare.
I decided to wait and see if there were any penalties, traps, or special magical effects that would happen if I had not made the one hour deadline.
Much to my disappointment, nothing flashy or awesome occurred.
So, I proceeded to leave for the Headmasters' office by using a zig zag route and the occasional Shadow Step to move about and confuse any potential stalkers just in case there were any other mages with similar abilities like Osmond.
Along the way, I noticed the name of Miss Longueville linger around the school vault as it had been part of the general academy map found in the library I had explored the first night.
"Well, given that her title had been Suspicious Secretary, she might just be some kind of serial murder or even a Robin Hood kind of character," I whispered to myself as I continued towards the door of the Headmaster.
"Enter, your Highness."
At the greeting, I had Setsuna enter the door and wait until the door had closed shut.
Once the door had closed, I immediately began to talk before the Headmaster could get a word in.
"Room secure? From eavesdropping and scrying I mean."
"But of course, your Highness."
"No need to keep referring me to my title. In private, just Setsuna will do."
"Very well, Setsuna. And why have you returned so quickly?"
"The delivery is complete and I trust that they will not be linked back to my person?"
"Yes. I must confess, however, that I had not expected you to complete the transfer of all the items on the inventory list so quickly. I see that the magic of your line is rather powerful to be able to use such a quiet, efficient, and powerful teleportation spell," Osmond said in a rather probing manner as he tried to use his 'Wise Sage' stare on Setsuna.
"If you're trying to get some information about how it works, then you will be very disappointed as this type of magic cannot be learned only inherited," I deadpanned in response.
Besides, it was true as no MMO characters within Guild Wars ever learned any kind of teleportation spell that could travel between different worlds, let alone different continents, save for the game mechanics.
"Never hurts to try."
"True. Now, before I leave, have you contacted your Germanian connection? The one called Herwald?"
"Ah yes. I have already sent out a message that should have a response by tomorrow. I am curious as to why you have decided to take up my offer."
"Let's just say that I need some more protection and even if you believe that I am royalty, I have no way of transporting other people with me to prove my claim. So, I need to gain some kind of title here that would help legitimize my person somewhat and I can see that Germania has the easiest route of all the countries."
"Hmmm....that does make some sense. Well, off with you, as I do have paperwork to do," he said as he made a shooing motion.
"See you later Headmaster," I said as I had Setsuna leave the office and head towards one of the side gardens before opening up the menu and transporting Setsuna to the capital of Tristain, Tristania.
After a few seconds of the loading screen, Setsuna appeared on the furthest edge of the capital city, just on the outskirts of one of the neighboring forests and the radar showed only a few people milling about at extreme range.
It was there that I had Setsuna change her outfit back to the Shining Blade uniform I had her wear during the meeting with Ludwig.
"Time to see Ludwig and see what he's doing right now," I said knowing that I was far too early for the appointed date, but I just wanted to see if had any side quests for my character.
Just as I was about to enter the capital itself, I heard a feminine scream emerge from one of the alleyways that led to the merchant district.
"THIEF! THIEF!"
"You alright miss," I asked as I had Setsuna run up to the brown-haired girl.
"Three men wearing grey cloaks have stolen the money that I was going to use to pay our taxes as we are due by the end of the day! If we can't pay, then we will lose our Inn!"
"Not to worry, I will take back what those thieves stole."
And so, the chase began as the navigator pointer showed the way towards the three suspects that were moving in three separate directions. On the titles of the three, they were known as the Three Grey Fools.
The first Grey Fool was found only ten seconds worth of running distance away as he was busy panting and leaning against a wall, behind some crates. Before he could even register my presence, I had Setsuna launch a Disrupting Chop from the Warrior skill set unarmed and watched as the man dropped like a sack of bricks as the strike connected with the man's neck with a resounding smacking sound.
"One down, two to go."
Once I checked to make sure that he was out cold, I retrieved the 1/3 Bag of Coins after searching his body and finding it inside his inventory and little else other than some rusted knives, dirty used clothing, and a couple of cheap wine bottles.
Thirty seconds later, I encountered the second Grey Fool who had been in more shape than his counterpart, but not fast enough as I caught up to him. As he turned the corner, he caught sight of my character.
In his panic, he tried to run faster as he kept his eyes on me. Problem was that he kept his eyes on my character and not on the boxes in front of him. What resulted was the second Grey Fool tripping over said boxes and knocking himself out.
"Damn it! I knew it said fool, but I thought you idiots would have provided me with at least some challenge!"
And so, I retrieved another item called 1/3 Bag of Coins from the inventory of the second of the three Fools.
The third Grey Fool had stopped moving according to the navigator arrow and I became suspicious that a trap was being set.
"Maybe you will be lucky number three."
As I rounded the corner to a dead-end, I caught sight of the third Grey Fool, holding a knife to the neck of a struggling, little boy with his mouth covered by the mans' other hand.
"Stay back and the boy wont get hurt."
After pausing for only a second to assess the situation, I continued to walk towards the scruffy looking man.
"I said, STAY BACK, or the boy gets it."
"Go ahead. I don't care as long as I get the quest done."
At my matter-of-fact tone, both the boy and the Fool looked strangely at Setsuna as if they could not believe what she had just said. As a result, the boy began to struggle even harder and the man began to tighten his grip on said boy.
"Quest? I don't know what you're talking about but you had bett- urk!"
When he had started to panic, the Grey Fool had begun waved around his knife away from the boy's neck as he tried to warn Setsuna again. At that moment, I activated Crippling Dagger and watched as the flying projectile strike the Fool right between the eyes.
"BOOM! Headshot!"
In response, the boy ran away as he screamed like that kid from the Home Alone movie series when he had put on some of the aftershave.
"Ha! At least you were entertaining enough," I said to the corpse as I began to search his inventory for the final quest item.
And so, I retrieved the final 1/3 Bag of Coins which combined with the other two 1/3 pieces to form the Bag of Coins.
"Real inventive there with the names," I dryly stated as I made my way back towards the brown-haired girl.
Fortunately enough, there hadn't been too many people noticing the entire chase and most of the people would look away as soon as my character walked passed them.
Once I had made eye contact with the brown-haired girl, she made a sigh of relief and ran up to my character.
"Did you get them? Are you hurt?"
"Yes, they were pretty easy to deal with and I believe that this is the Bag of Coins they took? And no, I am not hurt."
*sigh* "Yes. Thank you so much for your help. I don't know what to say or do, but if you are ever in town, please visit the Charming Fairy Inn and tell them that you know Jessica, that's my name, and they should treat you well."
"Your welcome, Jessica. You know what? Why don't I escort you to your location so that you wont have to worry about being robbed again, alright?"
At my request, Jessica bit her lip and frowned slightly, but after some thought, she nodded her head and said, "I wouldn't mind the help. May I know the name of my savior?"
"Gozen is my name and it's nice to meet you, Jessica."
"You as well, Gozen. You must be strong like Matilda to have been able to take down those three so quickly."
"Let's just say that I have a bit of talent for dealing with scum like them."
And so, we continued idle chatter as we continued our walk towards the location of the tax collector site and I learned of some other troubles that had befallen the inn recently.
'Interesting, since I haven't received any confirmation that the quest is done, I suppose there's more to do. Maybe it might actually be entertaining.'
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Any feedback, especially the helpful kind, is appreciated and enouraged.
Authors' Note: Normally, the corrupt noble that collects the taxes in this area would be dealt with in the OTL in the undercover mission, but I am jumpstarting that and we shall see a bit of fallout in the coming snippets.
ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.
