What would readers prefer?

  • Pure narrative quest: no dice will be used, the author will have free reign to decide what happens.

    Votes: 25 59.5%
  • New dice system: the author will design a new, better dice system to add some randomness and risk.

    Votes: 17 40.5%

  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
Gah, I'm conflicted. On the one hand, the chance to make connections and allies is HUGE.

On the other, that invitation couldn't have come across more like bait for a trap if they'd scented it with roses. This is DEEP into "too good to be true" territory, with a side of strong social pressure to comply and no available help if/when something goes down.

Unfortunately, if it is a trap, it is one that will trip no matter what we do. We lose extremely necessary social currency by refusing, but we put ourselves at physical risk by accepting. Even as distinct a personage as we are, we cannot simply reject the summons of such a powerful individual without dire consequence.
 
[X] Accept the invitation.

I'm honestly more worried of Ryza being seen as a mere asset to be exploited and controlled, but it's not like we have many options here.

The whole thing reeks of a trap, especially given this is happening in the middle of our conflict with the Empire.
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…

This feels a bit too big to ignore, though based on the Messenger's words it doesn't sound like joining the war is on the table here. Unless the Empire does something very dumb Fire Emblem villain-y and launch some attack while we're there. :V
 
"It's the principle of the matter!" you say. "I promised that I would keep her from wandering around, especially out of the Kingdoms! I trusted her and Sister Selinda to not do that while I was busy, and they didn't!"

Belle shrugs. "So the girl wasn't completely honest. Don't tell me you've never told any fibs in your life."
You underestimate Ryza's goody-two-shoes...ness. It's three sizes too big. Her goody-two-feet are covered in blisters.

"Yeah, he's fine, just a little sore. You know how pegasi are, creatures of wind magic, so the anima energies disrupt healing a bit. Makes it harder to magically patch them up, which means that they get sore and cranky."
Seems like something manakete would be familiar with.

I wonder if healing magic works better on creatures of dark magic, since Light is strong against Dark the way Anima is strong against Light. Or maybe that causes its own problems.

It would have been really awkward if this had been an Imperial emissary group that you'd inadvertently run into…
Free omake idea


[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
Was going to try and catch some typos/missing text but JAGwin beat me to it.

As for the vote...

[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…

As much as it'd be great to go back, talk to Artemis, and then head over... I feel like that's not really gonna be feasible.

The downsides to this are that if the Empire mounts a new offensive while Ryza's gone, it's likely going to make people think worse of her (unless Ryza really does manage to get the Divine Realm to help sooner rather than later). Additionally, we're making the decision and leaving to do this without any real idea of how long it'll take. Also also, being told "don't worry this is totally not a trap" is... not exactly the most reliable thing to hear (as readers who know what "tropes" and "foreshadowing" are).

The upsides are that it'll be interesting to see more of the Divine Realm, especially after Ryza's earlier thoughts about their religion. And as Ryza herself says, an alliance with the Divine Realm is important, so helping with that is important even if it doesn't result in immediate aid - plus, Ryza herself making more allies is very good for the goal of getting people to accept Manaketes.
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…

If my big theory about the plot is correct, one of the other Manakete children sleeps somewhere within the Divine Realm. If we can find her, even if she doesn't want to fight, just having proof Ryza isn't the last will be a massive deal.
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…

If it's a trap? It needs to be sprung. If it's a meeting with the Big Good? It needs to be taken sooner rather than later. If it's a meeting with someone who's been keeping watch over a sleeping manakete? We should be there so they're not alone should they wake.

I realize a choice needs to be allowed but "Welp, we wanted to show maximum respect for your restrictions by bringing Melissa back but now we're going to not respect your religion or the requests of those in your authority" is only barely coherent.
 
Also also, being told "don't worry this is totally not a trap" is... not exactly the most reliable thing to hear (as readers who know what "tropes" and "foreshadowing" are).
Ryza's a manakete. She's strong and capable and airborne enough that it's safer to walk into a potential trap alone than with squishy, landbound friends. It'll be fine.
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
This is a nitpick, but "encyclical" is a public letter to the whole church (or at least the church in a particular region), not a private one.
 
[x] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
TFTC.

[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…

Let's go! This is good civilization.
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…

This is a big opportunity, perhaps too big to ignore. I wonder if we're about to discover the Princess that was Promised - the prophecy that Master Darktide brought up mentioned four 'wyverns' flying towards the giant smoke dragon, and we've heard mention of the Princess in terms that line up with options we could've made in character creation, and the Divine Realms are in former White Manakete lands. I can't think of anything else that would warrant urgently calling away Arigithe's Head Mage in the middle of a wartime scenario... Though who knows?
 
I wonder if we're about to discover the Princess that was Promised - the prophecy that Master Darktide brought up mentioned four 'wyverns' flying towards the giant smoke dragon, and we've heard mention of the Princess in terms that line up with options we could've made in character creation, and the Divine Realms are in former White Manakete lands. I can't think of anything else that would warrant urgently calling away Arigithe's Head Mage in the middle of a wartime scenario... Though who knows?
There is a nonzero chance that the Magic Pope thinks Ryza is the Princess.
 
[X] Accept the invitation. Artemis has been talking about how important an alliance with the Divine Realm is, and the Realmers do seem to like you. Perhaps, if you help the Sun Father with whatever he wants done, you can convince them to come and help Artemis and the Kingdoms sooner rather than later! This will take time, though, especially since you can't justify keeping Bucephila with you, she needs to get back to her friends. You also have no idea what you're getting into…
 
[X] You promised you wouldn't be gone long. True, it hadn't been a big, official promise, but you had told Artemis that you'd be back soon so that you can help her. You have no idea how long it will be before the Empire can get another army over to threaten the Kingdoms again. You can't afford to be gone too long, not when your friends might need you at any minute! At the very least, you should check in with Artemis first, though something tells you that you may not get the chance to come back if the Empire's on the move.

I can't in good conscience say "Let's go walk right into an obvious trap". Accepting the invite is handing our fate over to a theocracy, which is NEVER a smart call. I mean, we already dodged a similar setup from that snooty-ass noble in Mantrae's lands, and now you guys want to walk right into an even stronger gank squad with even fewer options to deal with the blatantly-telegraphed backstab?

Moreover, the way this alternative is phrased makes it obvious Ryza's support is going to be needed on the front line sooner rather than later.
 
Getting Jedi Temple as a lure post Order 66 vibes. This would be the covert way of luring in potential surviving menaket, to the realm friendly to them as opposed to the obvious extremely hostile Empire.

Hopefully just paranoia.
 
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