Arc 1, Chapter 1.1.15: One End Up, One Next Start
Let's open with an example of a roll.
The night continues. Six more tries, in total.
You're getting the hang of the twisters. Team two's getting onto point. Then, you reach the next mechanic.
… Aaaand that's the night, as the next few tank swaps keep getting flubbed and everything falls apart. StarMember took the 'WTF Of The Night' when a mistargeted Dive accidentally launched him into an antistack.
Which at least means Reach99 isn't to blame for anything. No jokes about tits draining brains or anything. (... Are you dumber now than before, honestly? How would you know? That's a whole philosophical exercise to itself.)
Your performance is quietly appreciated, and as the group returns to the guild house, it's time to break for the night.
… Which still leaves, like, five hours until Eira and Helen have gotten enough sleep. Which you start by just doing some random dungeons with people, until everyone's petering out for the night and only a couple people are on.
[X] (Online Shopping?) Offer Helen the chance to research and pick a couple items.
[X] (Online Shopping 2) Introduce Eira to online shopping and let her pick a couple things.
… At which point you start thinking about your teammates. They've got opportunities whose implications… Well, Helen's openly admitted to thinking about it, but Eira probably not nearly so much.
For Helen, a starship captain who probably had access to matter replicator technology, the potential is something she's likely considered, but not had opportune to take action on much yet. Giving her the chance to order a few things - on your dime, which limits you to your Earth paycheck unless you're willing to eat credit card debt (probably a bad idea) - might help kickstart some of what she's hoping to pursue with technological innovations to improve the situation of this world. All in keeping with Solaria's vision of civilization as a force for Good.
Eira, on the other hand? Arnstey Keep's not the busiest market she's been to - there's much larger cities out there here - but it's still enough to wrap your head around. The scale of even just one of the 'marketplace' sites is likely beyond her imagination. Trying to get her to really understand what happens when you have hundreds of millions of people working various stripes of factory across an entire planet similar in size to Aridia is going to break her brain harder and in a less entertaining way than sexy hypnosis time.
But, if she actually gets to thinking about it, and starts to explore its potential… Well, she's pretty damn clever, which is great to have in an ally. The uses for some of what she could get are not to be underestimated.
Still, it's good to do some research and thinking about this. Be ready to answer many questions - fortunately, you've read a LOT over the years, so you at least know where to start on a lot of things.
You can broach the subject in the morning, alongside breakfast. Of course, this could… Take a while, with Eira. But it's still, hopefully, enough to get you started. And if things can help you with tracking down and besting the cultists, so much the better. Keeping an eye on that objective is still important.
Especially after the absolute scare of a fight you had yesterday. Thankfully, people seem to be handling that okay, but…
You shudder thinking about it, even hours later. Was it your calls, or just bad luck, that almost got all three of you killed by a camp of bandits?
Will you be able to handle the next threat? And the next? The next?
Are you actually up to this task? Or are you just a fool who wasted her wishes and is doomed to fall? What even happens if someone like you dies? The Goddess didn't answer that.
… And so the spiral begins. Just because you can recognize it, doesn't make it easy to interrupt. Breathing exercises don't help. Walking around the apartment doesn't help. Going outside might draw unwanted attention, that's out.
It continues. Fucking teleportation magic. Why did it fail you so badly back there? Can you count on that? It seems less reliable than things like your charm magic. Why?
It continues. You're useless. You're a threat to Helen's ability to progress. You're trying to play heroine, why, you know what you're good at now, why not embrace it?
It continues. You should just get out of the way, let yourself be greedy and enjoy your fresh lease on life. You won't be able to help with the quest, so -
"Stop thinking about this and play some puzzles or something."
(Wisdom Save versus your own suggestion: 9-1 = 8. Failure, obviously.)
You should play some puzzles or something. What were you thinking about? It doesn't matter. Back to the computer you go.
A bit after you start playing some Sudoku puzzles, you can't help but giggle at what you did a little - literally magicking your own brain out of a depressive spiral. Is that a common Succubus trick, or a fresh discovery?
… Is dealing with depressive spirals normal for lust demons? You rather doubt anyone's bothered doing sociological research on that. Still, it's a good trick to keep handy for your own purposes. Though one you need to watch out for how you use it, obviously.
But it's a good trick for low-risk depression breaking through the power of exploiting the inherent magic of your dark sexuality! So that's cool. And it means you can put more into relaxing. Into making sure your rest is rest, so you're better able to focus on your responsibilities.
---
Morning comes, and you hear Helen moving first.
You lean out from your door, glancing around. Yeah, seems like Eira's still asleep.
"Hey, Helen. Idea. Over here?"
Your associate blinks, and nods, walking on over. "Yeah?"
You present your computer, pre-opened to an online shopping page.
"You first. Given my current financial situation…"
Quick calculations. Eliminate rent from your bills. That's a big win. Paychecks are biweekly, and…
"... Seven hundred fifty US dollars for each of us to spend, give or take. Next payday's officially in nine days, but the funds may arrive as little as seven. That's without cutting into my savings, which, let's keep those off-limits for now."
Helen blinks. "... Well, I can't say I haven't been thinking about this, but… Why now?"
You sigh. "... Because who knows if we're going to have the next chance, honestly. I'm not even sure what to buy myself. Do I focus on the Keep's situation, try to work with you on the idea of technological uplift, or just focus on my own enjoyment in hopes of building my own morale to hopefully improve my fighting? Or something else entirely?"
Helen pauses, and… "You had a panic attack last night, huh?"
"Thankfully not during the raid," you say. "Managed to cut it off, but."
"... Mmm. You're doing a good job practically considering the question, at least, but-"
And then there's a blanket tossed over your shoulders. It doesn't literally pin you to your chair, but it makes moving a bit awkward.
The Paladin shrugs a bit. "I'm no ship's psychologist. But I know a fair bit, and the thing I most know, is that I can't fight those intellectual battles for you. A lot of that's up to you. But if we're going to do this…"
She steps outside for a second. You hear the door to the apartment close.
And then she's back. "... We're going to need a bit. For one, I don't really have a handle on what, to me, is historic prices. I still need to decide on which of my goals to focus on, too.
You blink. "Especially when I've presented you with a few alternatives, huh?"
"Three sensible baselines, yes. And if we take 'how to add more money to our stocks' out of the question for the moment - saving the Keep is enough to worry about for now - then those are kinda the broad options."
***
[ ] (Helen's Shopping Focus) Items to make the quest for Arnstey Keep easier. Adventuring supply alternatives, basically. Anything from weaponry, to tools, to medkits, to many ideas the QM isn't thinking of.
[ ] (Helen's Shopping Focus) First steps towards bringing technology levels up in the area. Picking a specific technology to focus on is a challenge, and what options can be assisted with magic quite another - if only the submissive floof were a wizard - but starting to improve one area could improve lives greatly, which could put a strong downward pressure on the influence of villainy around these parts.
[ ] (Helen's Shopping Focus) Improvements to your own morale. Solaria is not precisely hot on asceticism for asceticism's sake, and the only reason you've operated so close to it as late is because you had to carry everything since you didn't have the funds for a bag of holding. Now, you have a freaking apartment - okay, room of holding, and accepting the chance to get some nice things isn't out of moral range, particularly when they're basically a freeform gift from an ally and when some of the possible choices of 'nice thing' might double as improvements to your fighting chances.
You'll notice that the vote is dedicated to broad categories. This is because there's a second portion to this - an advisory line of thinking. Whatever category you vote for, give me ideas for things that could fill the categories. These categories are super broad, so helping me narrow the ideas down is a Good Choice.
Eira's shopping focus will come as part of the next post; Senaz's will either come with that post, or be the post after that, depending on how much gets written based on this one.
The United Kingdom brought me more than a few ideas that I may incorporate into this. (One that Americans may not be used to, is how tight historic streets could be.)
The night continues. Six more tries, in total.
You're getting the hang of the twisters. Team two's getting onto point. Then, you reach the next mechanic.
Dice Pool:
2 Proficiency, 3 Ability, 2 Boost
1 Challenge, 4 Difficulty, 2 Setback
End Result: 2 Failure, 1 Advantage… Aaaand that's the night, as the next few tank swaps keep getting flubbed and everything falls apart. StarMember took the 'WTF Of The Night' when a mistargeted Dive accidentally launched him into an antistack.
Which at least means Reach99 isn't to blame for anything. No jokes about tits draining brains or anything. (... Are you dumber now than before, honestly? How would you know? That's a whole philosophical exercise to itself.)
Your performance is quietly appreciated, and as the group returns to the guild house, it's time to break for the night.
… Which still leaves, like, five hours until Eira and Helen have gotten enough sleep. Which you start by just doing some random dungeons with people, until everyone's petering out for the night and only a couple people are on.
[X] (Online Shopping?) Offer Helen the chance to research and pick a couple items.
[X] (Online Shopping 2) Introduce Eira to online shopping and let her pick a couple things.
… At which point you start thinking about your teammates. They've got opportunities whose implications… Well, Helen's openly admitted to thinking about it, but Eira probably not nearly so much.
For Helen, a starship captain who probably had access to matter replicator technology, the potential is something she's likely considered, but not had opportune to take action on much yet. Giving her the chance to order a few things - on your dime, which limits you to your Earth paycheck unless you're willing to eat credit card debt (probably a bad idea) - might help kickstart some of what she's hoping to pursue with technological innovations to improve the situation of this world. All in keeping with Solaria's vision of civilization as a force for Good.
Eira, on the other hand? Arnstey Keep's not the busiest market she's been to - there's much larger cities out there here - but it's still enough to wrap your head around. The scale of even just one of the 'marketplace' sites is likely beyond her imagination. Trying to get her to really understand what happens when you have hundreds of millions of people working various stripes of factory across an entire planet similar in size to Aridia is going to break her brain harder and in a less entertaining way than sexy hypnosis time.
But, if she actually gets to thinking about it, and starts to explore its potential… Well, she's pretty damn clever, which is great to have in an ally. The uses for some of what she could get are not to be underestimated.
Still, it's good to do some research and thinking about this. Be ready to answer many questions - fortunately, you've read a LOT over the years, so you at least know where to start on a lot of things.
You can broach the subject in the morning, alongside breakfast. Of course, this could… Take a while, with Eira. But it's still, hopefully, enough to get you started. And if things can help you with tracking down and besting the cultists, so much the better. Keeping an eye on that objective is still important.
Especially after the absolute scare of a fight you had yesterday. Thankfully, people seem to be handling that okay, but…
You shudder thinking about it, even hours later. Was it your calls, or just bad luck, that almost got all three of you killed by a camp of bandits?
Will you be able to handle the next threat? And the next? The next?
Are you actually up to this task? Or are you just a fool who wasted her wishes and is doomed to fall? What even happens if someone like you dies? The Goddess didn't answer that.
… And so the spiral begins. Just because you can recognize it, doesn't make it easy to interrupt. Breathing exercises don't help. Walking around the apartment doesn't help. Going outside might draw unwanted attention, that's out.
It continues. Fucking teleportation magic. Why did it fail you so badly back there? Can you count on that? It seems less reliable than things like your charm magic. Why?
It continues. You're useless. You're a threat to Helen's ability to progress. You're trying to play heroine, why, you know what you're good at now, why not embrace it?
It continues. You should just get out of the way, let yourself be greedy and enjoy your fresh lease on life. You won't be able to help with the quest, so -
"Stop thinking about this and play some puzzles or something."
(Wisdom Save versus your own suggestion: 9-1 = 8. Failure, obviously.)
You should play some puzzles or something. What were you thinking about? It doesn't matter. Back to the computer you go.
A bit after you start playing some Sudoku puzzles, you can't help but giggle at what you did a little - literally magicking your own brain out of a depressive spiral. Is that a common Succubus trick, or a fresh discovery?
… Is dealing with depressive spirals normal for lust demons? You rather doubt anyone's bothered doing sociological research on that. Still, it's a good trick to keep handy for your own purposes. Though one you need to watch out for how you use it, obviously.
But it's a good trick for low-risk depression breaking through the power of exploiting the inherent magic of your dark sexuality! So that's cool. And it means you can put more into relaxing. Into making sure your rest is rest, so you're better able to focus on your responsibilities.
---
Morning comes, and you hear Helen moving first.
You lean out from your door, glancing around. Yeah, seems like Eira's still asleep.
"Hey, Helen. Idea. Over here?"
Your associate blinks, and nods, walking on over. "Yeah?"
You present your computer, pre-opened to an online shopping page.
"You first. Given my current financial situation…"
Quick calculations. Eliminate rent from your bills. That's a big win. Paychecks are biweekly, and…
"... Seven hundred fifty US dollars for each of us to spend, give or take. Next payday's officially in nine days, but the funds may arrive as little as seven. That's without cutting into my savings, which, let's keep those off-limits for now."
Helen blinks. "... Well, I can't say I haven't been thinking about this, but… Why now?"
You sigh. "... Because who knows if we're going to have the next chance, honestly. I'm not even sure what to buy myself. Do I focus on the Keep's situation, try to work with you on the idea of technological uplift, or just focus on my own enjoyment in hopes of building my own morale to hopefully improve my fighting? Or something else entirely?"
Helen pauses, and… "You had a panic attack last night, huh?"
"Thankfully not during the raid," you say. "Managed to cut it off, but."
"... Mmm. You're doing a good job practically considering the question, at least, but-"
And then there's a blanket tossed over your shoulders. It doesn't literally pin you to your chair, but it makes moving a bit awkward.
The Paladin shrugs a bit. "I'm no ship's psychologist. But I know a fair bit, and the thing I most know, is that I can't fight those intellectual battles for you. A lot of that's up to you. But if we're going to do this…"
She steps outside for a second. You hear the door to the apartment close.
And then she's back. "... We're going to need a bit. For one, I don't really have a handle on what, to me, is historic prices. I still need to decide on which of my goals to focus on, too.
You blink. "Especially when I've presented you with a few alternatives, huh?"
"Three sensible baselines, yes. And if we take 'how to add more money to our stocks' out of the question for the moment - saving the Keep is enough to worry about for now - then those are kinda the broad options."
***
[ ] (Helen's Shopping Focus) Items to make the quest for Arnstey Keep easier. Adventuring supply alternatives, basically. Anything from weaponry, to tools, to medkits, to many ideas the QM isn't thinking of.
[ ] (Helen's Shopping Focus) First steps towards bringing technology levels up in the area. Picking a specific technology to focus on is a challenge, and what options can be assisted with magic quite another - if only the submissive floof were a wizard - but starting to improve one area could improve lives greatly, which could put a strong downward pressure on the influence of villainy around these parts.
[ ] (Helen's Shopping Focus) Improvements to your own morale. Solaria is not precisely hot on asceticism for asceticism's sake, and the only reason you've operated so close to it as late is because you had to carry everything since you didn't have the funds for a bag of holding. Now, you have a freaking apartment - okay, room of holding, and accepting the chance to get some nice things isn't out of moral range, particularly when they're basically a freeform gift from an ally and when some of the possible choices of 'nice thing' might double as improvements to your fighting chances.
You'll notice that the vote is dedicated to broad categories. This is because there's a second portion to this - an advisory line of thinking. Whatever category you vote for, give me ideas for things that could fill the categories. These categories are super broad, so helping me narrow the ideas down is a Good Choice.
Eira's shopping focus will come as part of the next post; Senaz's will either come with that post, or be the post after that, depending on how much gets written based on this one.
The United Kingdom brought me more than a few ideas that I may incorporate into this. (One that Americans may not be used to, is how tight historic streets could be.)
