Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
Then Eldingar shall not belong to you!
Dragon Harem Quest - Or: Saying You Were Gay Wasn't The Conversation-Ender You Hoped For
- Thread starter ZerbanDaGreat
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Castle Oblivious
You made a mistake there.
...crap I did not want to point out, just point out that Amima is clearly the true bosss here.
She even sends us on vaction so she can run it in peace without the dragon running it going beserk.
Now Amina is smart birb girl, she knows how handy it is to have a dragon in charge and that he can get shit done.
If needed atleast.
Amina is the one truely in charge, and Eldingar is just the muscle/nuclear option.
...I just realised, this chapter comfirms that everyone in Söfen (or however it is called) knows that we are a dragon and it is an open secret.
Eldingar plushies when?
Also, ofcourse it took Eldingar 40 years to figure out that people know he is a dragon.
...wait, what is 60 in dragon years?
Was Eldingar in angsty dragon puberity when he settled here, or at the very least, created his business as Lord Elding.
Hopefully Amina is just amima and not Takara in differant guise.
Which she very wel might be.
But lets assume Amima just a very birb lady and befriend her.
We need a friend, not a boyfriend (or wathever you would call Abzu or Takara as the former is neither gender and later is whatever they want to be), but just a friend.
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
Hmmm. Is nobody else going to ask the obvious question of how the Secretary Bird was able to find us in Takara's safe house?
Because, like, that implies that either there is (at minimum) some link between Amina and Takara, such that Amina would accept 'Your boss is crashing at my place, here are the directions', or Amina has some other way of tracking us down.
Because, like, that implies that either there is (at minimum) some link between Amina and Takara, such that Amina would accept 'Your boss is crashing at my place, here are the directions', or Amina has some other way of tracking us down.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
Need to meet the inevitable adventurer-boyfriend. Also, gold.
Need to meet the inevitable adventurer-boyfriend. Also, gold.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
There's a lot of different names (partner, lover, sweetheart, etc), but I always found personfriend amusing.
Vaalintine
Wild Wondorous Wolfalope
[X] Speak with Amina about what the House will be focusing on during your short vacation. She's probably not going to burn it down or rob you while you're away like the last secretary, but maybe what little useful input you have to offer will mean something.
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Dragon's really are just cats. Big lazy scaly cats that will puke fire in your shoes if you ignore them too much and want to rub up against you to claim ownershipe.
Eldingar: "I-I'm not going to start grinding on people just to prove we're a thing-"
Shut your lying whore mouth. The only reason the scaly fuckboi doesn't sleep on people's chests with his claws somehow right in their lap is because a. he's too huge and b. he likes being the little spoon too much.
>hypercompetent bird secretary who never skips leg day
zzzerrrbaaaan~
you've been watching aggretsuko too haventcha~
WHEN DO WE GET THE CUTE GNOLLBOY YOU FUCKER, WHEN'S !HAIDA
Haha, it's a cute little touch but, like, past this exchange the narration starts getting her name right as Eldingar actually Pays Fucking Attention to her. Like say what you will about his personal and professional flaws (they are many and varied) but he knows enough to at least recognize competency and people who he should Take Seriously. Eldingar's never really going to be cut out for the kind of corporate cutthroatery necessary to run a Merchant House, but it's good to see he's not completely hopeless.
Elding honey
you're a bit of an idiot
Since she's a riff on Washimi she's a -badumtish- secretary bird.
These guys, they kick shit to death.
More generally she's probably some kind of !aarakocra, the setting itself seems to borrow pretty generously from D&D and Eberron-style stuff in the broad strokes (elves, dwarves, orcs, humans) so it's probably to be expected that there are some more monstery races around. Bird people, lizard people are likely, sahuagin (the shark guys) or merpeople idk. I do actually kind of appreciate the worldbuilding, it's hardly front and center but it's used to good effect. There's the Republic, Plutocracy, and Sultanate all with pretty distinctive aesthetics. Orcs, elves, humans, and dwarves are shown across all levels of society (insofar as the MC pays attention to them) and by and large it seems to duck the "EVERY NATION IS ONLY ONE RACE" thing. Magic exists and is widely utilized but it's not getting tonguebathed for having Rational Uses. It's a couple nice touches overall, it's polished about as much as it needs to be and new stuff is introduced organically. Ie. we know clockpunk/gaslamp stuff is a thing, established with the automaton servant so the Dragonslayer having an artificial magitech arm isn't out of left field and we can focus on the "holy fucking shit she hacked off her own arm to make a dragon-killing machuatil".
I think @Mechasaurian's got it about right tbh. The previous secretary just skimmed shit off the top, unloaded a bunch to the Rossos and then legged it for somewhere tropical. Amina's smarter and seems to be actually interested in power, and she knows Eldingar's like fractally incompetent and basically only pops in to withdraw funds and feel all important. Simply by making herself indispensable, especially in the aftermath of all this she's maneuvering herself into a pretty solid position. Because Dragons take betrayal and theft really badly and being made a joke out of even more so and she at least seems to take him seriously and has been keeping him more or less informed while she cleans up this mess. In the end she's getting pretty much everything she could want: it's guaranteed that she has access to all the House assets, broad authority to do pretty much Whatever she has to, and she herself seems more comfortable operating in the shadows than being the out and out overlord. Plus, like, she has a dragon on tap and can call him in if there's a Serious Problem.
It'd be trouble if Eldingar actually was invested in the minutiae of his little merchant empire beyond, like, liking the idea of having one. If he had actual strategic goals or grand designs. But he...well he pretty much doesn't. The idea of paperwork makes him want to cry and he's way more preoccupied with all the handsome men crashing at his house. So the arrangement suits both of them.
[X] Buy a gift or two for the others back at the spire (and a few for you) before you go home. You're sure you can make... ffffairly good guesses as to what they would like, even at this early stage. Retail therapy still works when it's to impress someone else.
Let's be real, Eldingar straight up doesn't understand accounting, economics, politics or any of the myriad other Stuff that goes into managing a gaslamp-setting trading company. He doesn't know, he doesn't much care, Amina probably has better stuff to do than to cram a couple three credit-hour courses into the space of an afternoon conversation (especially since he'll forget most of it anyway). Like from the way it's couched he's just asking out of something like obligation and maybe genuine curiosity. It's an I Feels Like I Should kinda thing that's probably going to play out into Amina gently guiding our suggestions from stupid shit into sensible stuff that she already had planned anyway.
Besides, Eldingar needs to do something nice for himself 'cause it's been a rough few days and tbh the people back at the spire have to be a little worried 'cause we told Belial we'd just be looking into some stuff for contractors (oh god contractors alone trying to manage all our guests) and then vanished overnight. Nothing big or serious, but doing something thoughtful for all of them wouldn't be amiss and it'd help keep things amiable. Plus the big blue dumbass is still getting the hang of this "thinking about the needs of others" thing and this is good practice. Beyond that stealing the paper money wasn't really satisfying and at least this way he can feel like he got something tangible out of the vault raid 'cause passing up all those gold and jewels and magical items had to hurt.
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Assuming she's not an alternate ID for Takara, yes.
Given how easy it was for Eldingar to find stooges when he looks for one, I'm pretty sure the company has some kind of tracking charm or something, yeah:
[x] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
Eldingar's stressed out and angry. Not, I think, the best shape to try to handle his boyfriends, some of whom will give him shit.
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- Location
- Ohio
I am picturing Eldingar with a bell and collar like a cat so people know where he is, mostly so he does not hurt himself.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
To everybody who voted for this: you are all monsters. how dare.
Ah, yes, they bought anti-teleportation wards but failed to buy anti-anti-anti-teleportation wards. A rookie mistake to make.
Pfft.
Whatever else is true of Eldingar, he recognises talent when he sees it.
But no, seriously, I liked this. It strikes of nice balance of Eldingar the pathetic dork in the first half, and Eldingar demonstrating that he is actually good at some things. Even if he does feel like this;
[X] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
I broadly agree with Tenfold that Aamina has this handled far moreso than we ever will, and if we actually ask what's going to happen it's going to be... well, he said it best; "Amina gently guiding our suggestions from stupid shit into sensible stuff that she already had planned anyway."
But I disagree with getting gifts for our homeboys. I like 'em, obviously, but ultimately we're only a day or so overdue from when we said, and we've recently been spending time with most of them anyway. I don't think it's a big deal.
What is a big deal is that Eldingar's hoard is sorely depleted and in absolutely dire need of replenishment, something which I have been looking for opportunities to remedy ever since we first blew up the core of it. It's something that's been stressing Eldingar out basically since the quest began, and we just went through major stress passing up an opportunity to do something about it in order to fix another problem.
We're a dragon. At a certain point, we need to act like one, be selfish and think about our hoard.
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Tbh on the contrary I think like...there aren't any hard limits on Doing Too Many Things exactly, but there's been some softer consequences for pushing kinda hard. To sorta clarify because jeez that's a bit garbled: Eldingar is a pretty introverted character (with the self esteem of a potato 'cause wow Mama Eldingar is a piece of work), he gets tired out pretty fast, especially doing Responsible shit like the dragon equivalent of "going out for groceries" or "cleaning up to look nice", with "managing my business" or "hiring contractors" sort of falling in line with that. And he actually recharges a fair bit in more personal social situations where he gets to hang out at home and just chat or hang out with one or two
Buying some stuff for himself and his friends (yes they are your friends now Eldingar) is a good way of easing into that. I don't disagree that getting an expedition going is a good idea, just that atm the scaly dumbass needs some downtime.
Edit: Also I mean I'm not particularly opposed to the "talk to Amina" option I just feel like people are voting for it without, like, really taking into account the MC's personality or, uh, skillset. Or aptitudes. Or interest.
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Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
I mean I can see that, I just think organising an expedition is downtime for him, since it's very much uh... basically dragon self-care. It is a thing which directly benefits him and soothes this whirling pit of anxiety inside him screaming "MY HOARD MY BEAUTIFUL HOARD LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO YOU", and recall that in the first few updates the way Eldingar thought of adventurers was sort of... fond? It was all, "dohoho those poor saps, still I guess I should keep an eye on whether any of them are getting ideas."
Like, one of his ideas for shits and giggles involved siccing adventurers on a rival dragon. I don't actually think dealing with adventurers is particularly stressful for Eldingar - especially not when he's contracting them to feed his greed.
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hrm, yeah point.
[x] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
Personally more satisfying and also more, like, Actually Productive than trying to learn Macroecon in thirty minutes as hilarious as that'd be. And this way we can get some confidence back, soothe some of that anxiety, pretty up our cave and afford more nice shit for our boyfriends.
Although I do maintain that we should try to do more nice shit for them in general.
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Oh, yeah. Certainly.
We should be picking out special pieces of loot for each of them.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
[x] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
[QUOTE="TenfoldShields, post: 10756195, member: 542]
Since she's a riff on Washimi she's a -badumtish- secretary bird.
These guys, they kick shit to death.
[/QUOTE]
Which a lot of birds kinda do.
When you think about it, an eagle attacks its prey with twin high speed flying jumpkicks.
Since she's a riff on Washimi she's a -badumtish- secretary bird.
These guys, they kick shit to death.
[/QUOTE]
Which a lot of birds kinda do.
When you think about it, an eagle attacks its prey with twin high speed flying jumpkicks.
- Location
- Castle Oblivious
[X] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
I voted for the talking to Amina thing mostly to build trust, but thinking about it, Eldingar needs this. He NEEDS Some rest from all the new bois and stress surounding him.
Especially after the BLASHEMY that was the bearer bonds.
Also, Although Eldingar has a clear personality He is sculpted by us. I have the feeling or choices made him So scared of his mum.
I might be wrong on that and I have No evidence, however.
I voted for the talking to Amina thing mostly to build trust, but thinking about it, Eldingar needs this. He NEEDS Some rest from all the new bois and stress surounding him.
Especially after the BLASHEMY that was the bearer bonds.
Also, Although Eldingar has a clear personality He is sculpted by us. I have the feeling or choices made him So scared of his mum.
I might be wrong on that and I have No evidence, however.
- Location
- Ohio
[x] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
This is like being on the other side of the board in Pokemon Mystery Dungeons.
This is like being on the other side of the board in Pokemon Mystery Dungeons.
Jack_Trade
Chasing the Green Fairy
- Location
- Scotland
[X] Speak with Amina about what the House will be focusing on during your short vacation. She's probably not going to burn it down or rob you while you're away like the last secretary, but maybe what little useful input you have to offer will mean something.
Archeo Lumiere
The Prince's Archivist
- Location
- Lumiose City, Kalos
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
*BWEEP BWEEP!*
[PLEASE STAND CLEAR AS THE MISSIONS ARE UPDATING]
*KERCHUNK*
[x] Head to the Adventurers Guild in town and arrange for an expedition with your new influx of funds. You're in a Mood and the only cure is gold, jewels and magic trinkets - and the Beyond is the best place to get all three of those quick.
*BWEEP BWEEP*
*KERCHUNK*
[YOU MAY NOW RESUME ADVENTURING BUSINESS AS NORMAL]
Mechasaurian
Big Bossu
- Location
- Lost among fields of history
- Pronouns
- They/Them
You don't make a bad argument, @TenfoldShields and @Imrix.
You just don't make a sufficiently persuasive argument to override my liking for Hypercompetent Secretary Bird Who Never Skips Leg Day.
I do wonder what previous events have looked like from Amina's perspective. Yesterday, she had inherited the position she coveted as the omnipotent, omnicompetent effective ruler of Merchant House Elding...because the previous secretary had stolen the treasury's contents and ran off. And because the fuckboi who "owns" the House was too bloody inept to stop people from skimming and outright stealing his wealth. Thus, she gets to run a House sinking in red ink. Hooray.
I mean, look at Amina's demeanour here.
...and then she receives word that House Rosso is in chaos and the entire contents of their treasury is now gone. What would you know - that good-for-nothing idiot dragon is actually good for something!
Just imagine the gears turning in her head as she realizes that if she acts nownownow, she can make herself indispensable to Eldingar and secure her position as acting Overlady of a significant merchant House. And she'll even have a freaking dragon as a nuclear option! Not that impressive as dragons go (or maybe his is, given that he stealthily robbed the Rossos blind?) but a dragon nonetheless.
I'm just imagining her standing outside the door to the safehouse where Eldingar sleeps with his big bag of money and psyching herself up to make her best omnicompetent impression on him. So she kicks the door down and - why the hell is he dressed like a hooker? Nonono, focus, Amina. This is your big chance, you cannot blow this.
...anyway, it's...subtle...but I think Amina's estimation of Eldingar has risen. She still sees him as rather foolish (because he is), but he has displayed initiative in bailing out the House* - and with it, her ambitions - and essentially recognized her brilliance to her face.
...I just really, really like hypercompetent secretary crow lady.
*Well, okay, Shapeshifting Catwoman handed Elly a solution on a silver platter, but she does not need to know that.
You just don't make a sufficiently persuasive argument to override my liking for Hypercompetent Secretary Bird Who Never Skips Leg Day.
I do wonder what previous events have looked like from Amina's perspective. Yesterday, she had inherited the position she coveted as the omnipotent, omnicompetent effective ruler of Merchant House Elding...because the previous secretary had stolen the treasury's contents and ran off. And because the fuckboi who "owns" the House was too bloody inept to stop people from skimming and outright stealing his wealth. Thus, she gets to run a House sinking in red ink. Hooray.
I mean, look at Amina's demeanour here.
She's just barely restraining herself from saying "you are a motherfucking idiot." She's bitter because she has presumably been working away with some time and some effort to rise to become acting Overlady...and now "Lord Elding" has thrown it down the drain. But she'll still do her best given the circumstances, because she's a professional, darn it.
...and then she receives word that House Rosso is in chaos and the entire contents of their treasury is now gone. What would you know - that good-for-nothing idiot dragon is actually good for something!
Just imagine the gears turning in her head as she realizes that if she acts nownownow, she can make herself indispensable to Eldingar and secure her position as acting Overlady of a significant merchant House. And she'll even have a freaking dragon as a nuclear option! Not that impressive as dragons go (or maybe his is, given that he stealthily robbed the Rossos blind?) but a dragon nonetheless.
I'm just imagining her standing outside the door to the safehouse where Eldingar sleeps with his big bag of money and psyching herself up to make her best omnicompetent impression on him. So she kicks the door down and - why the hell is he dressed like a hooker? Nonono, focus, Amina. This is your big chance, you cannot blow this.
...anyway, it's...subtle...but I think Amina's estimation of Eldingar has risen. She still sees him as rather foolish (because he is), but he has displayed initiative in bailing out the House* - and with it, her ambitions - and essentially recognized her brilliance to her face.
...I just really, really like hypercompetent secretary crow lady.
*Well, okay, Shapeshifting Catwoman handed Elly a solution on a silver platter, but she does not need to know that.
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- Location
- Castle Oblivious
In that Case they are an AMAZING actor.
As @Mechasaurian is not wrong, when we meet her she acts condescending but when we meet her again it feels like she has new respect for us.
True, both of those could be Takara trying to convince us to help her and then using the identity to control the house.
However, I have a simple answer why it isn't Takara.
Takara clearly is hammy as fuck and loves heisting, to the point of wearing silly sneak suits and being overtly sexual about it.
She could still be Anima, but Anima is more responcible, clealry more interrested in rulling the trade house and keeping Eldingar around as her secret weapon.
Amina is the brains and power behind the throne while Eldingar is the muscle for when going gets tough.
Yeah, Eldingar is clearly socially akward but he is not stupid.
Dumb? Yes. Stupid? No.
That and we have never seen Eldingar in a real combat situation. For all we know Eldingar is a fucking scary warrior that can take out most foes.
And he is not feared because he is so lazy.
Now, this is probally not the case. As Eldingar cannot dragon wel and he got fooled by Makram.
(Granted again, he did have Djin at his mercy, which is impressive).
In any case, Eldingar is better at being the muscle rather then being the brains.
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
I'm not sure if Amina is, or is not, Takara at this point in time.
What I'm leaning towards is that Amina and Takara know each other- One being a Probably Kitsune and the other being a Maybe Tengu, and both being in the same general area, I have this sort of gut feeling that they ended up knowing each other as part of the (presumably small) number of Not Asian fantasy peoples in town.
So, my personal headcanon is that Amina is that they are childhood friends and/or drinking buddies, and Takara learned about us being a dragon because after shit started falling apart in the last couple of days Amina vented about her stupid dragon boss who couldn't balance a fucking checkbook much less run a merchant house and how he had let the entire place fall into disorder and now she was stuck holding the bag after the prior second in command pulled a fast one and ran and this is just terrible, while Takara sat back and went all "I see, I see," and plotted about how to use this to their own advantage while also helping their BFF out of the mess that they got into.
Or, like, they could be the same person.
But that's kind of boring.
What I'm leaning towards is that Amina and Takara know each other- One being a Probably Kitsune and the other being a Maybe Tengu, and both being in the same general area, I have this sort of gut feeling that they ended up knowing each other as part of the (presumably small) number of Not Asian fantasy peoples in town.
So, my personal headcanon is that Amina is that they are childhood friends and/or drinking buddies, and Takara learned about us being a dragon because after shit started falling apart in the last couple of days Amina vented about her stupid dragon boss who couldn't balance a fucking checkbook much less run a merchant house and how he had let the entire place fall into disorder and now she was stuck holding the bag after the prior second in command pulled a fast one and ran and this is just terrible, while Takara sat back and went all "I see, I see," and plotted about how to use this to their own advantage while also helping their BFF out of the mess that they got into.
Or, like, they could be the same person.
But that's kind of boring.
