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Dragon Summoning

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OH YEAH thats a good idea.
[X] Leave an authorization that If you leave the facity before deactivating anyone can enter your lair to grab anything they might need. Also leave a report in that armored human to whom it may concern.
 
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Update 17
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    • Nate700 said:
    [X]Kiss him.
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    Half Moon said:
    [X]Kiss him.
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    ...
    WorldOfHurt said:
    [X] Don't give up. Never give up.
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    foamy said:
    I ain't about to give up. Go ahead and hug Tieran, but we've got wings, a cutter, and the green energy thingamagummy is just in front of us. We may be able to go over or under it. Or, indeed, backtrack, but that's not something I'd like to try if avoidable.
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    "Tieran..." Zalan says softly. He shakes his head. "We're not finished yet."

    Then he turns and sees more green wisps snaking intangibly through walls. At the outer hull, they must be everywhere.

    "We can- we'll have to move all the way through to the far side," Zalan says.

    His eyes dart. The situation is deteriorating by the second. He tries to imagine some way, some string of actions that will let them gallop straight through the station in seconds despite all the closed bulkhead doors and the growing minefield of ghostly energy.

    He lets out a breath, and not in relief.

    There is a terrible howling silence. Zalan struggles to do anything useful. Anything at all.

    Tell him how you feel! Embrace him! Kiss him, fool!

    ...

    Toboe said:
    [X] Leave an authorization that If you leave the facity before deactivating anyone can enter your lair to grab anything they might need. Also leave a report in that armored human to whom it may concern.
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    ​
    ...Sure. Fuck it, it's just his possessions.

    No time for a real report, but Zalan accesses the arcology through his personal attendant to change the permissions and compose a few frantic sentences he doesn't even read before submitting. There. Done.

    There's a pile of private messages waiting for him. None of that seems important right now, but one catches his eye. It delivered some spirit scripts to the entire institute. They're made for personal attendants. Zalan gives a snort.

    "Someone sent out translators for a bunch of languages..." Zalan says.

    "That could've been useful twenty minutes ago," says Tieran-Sha. "Hm. I don't suppose they have one for being sent to Hell?"

    "Uh, one says 'demonic IV'."

    "Well, give it here."

    Zalan makes a huff which stops short of a hysterical laugh. "Sure." He copies it to Tieran-Sha.

    Seyr seems lost in thought. It looks like he's vanished into his own private communications. Calling for help? Arranging some final message? Zalan supposes he should feel a sense of pity. But he hardly even has time to pity himself. For now, it's as close to privacy as they can expect, and Zalan has a final message of his own. One he can't assemble using words.

    They stand there for awkward seconds. They only have seconds.

    He can't waste them in uncertainty. But still he hesitates. He may be about to expend them making one last mistake...

    "Listen, Tier... Tieran-Sha," says Zalan. "I've just, while I can- if I can, wanted to say- Always wanted to say..."

    Tieran-Sha looks at him, puzzled. He blinks. Then, his eyes widen fractionally as realization dawns. His body language changes suddenly. He looks into Zalan's eyes and moderates his epiphany.

    ​
    "Zalan..." Tieran-Sha whispers.

    That realization makes it real. Something Zalan resolved, in so many words, to keep a secret forever, now a secret no longer. Something he can't make secret ever again, no matter how much he might want to back down now. For long seconds they stare at each other.

    Zalan takes a hesitant step forwards. He leans in.

    ​

    CedeTheBees said:
    [X] Hold him tightly. If you don't now, you never will.
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    ten11 said:
    [X] Pray to God that all of you survive whatever happens next.
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    Zalan prays to her in all her aspects. Not since he was a wrymling has he felt pious yet reckless enough to call to all five.


    ​
    To She the Nurturer, who cherishes the world, I pray to let this sickly green heat give way to cool green grass and warm sunlight.


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    To She the Sorceress, whose will is glory, deliver us from this collapse. Might your sovereignty undo our hubris, and make whole the great workings which protect the world.


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    To She the Tyrant, whose mercy is justice, look favorably on your faithful servants! Your treasures! I pray, do not expend us cheaply.


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    To She the Muse, whose whim is revelation, whisper your secrets. Guide me through my fate. Sing, and let your song carry everywhere. Let it be a beacon to call us home again.


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    To She the Slayer, whose glance is horror: Contemplate who has wronged you. Visit your majesty on your enemies.

    ​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • really hope that second to last picture of that update with all the fireballs weren't all dragons who can teleported to who knows where. Not really sure our dragon boy is up for a rescue mission once his drugs finally were off.
     
    "To She the Slayer, whose glance is horror: Contemplate who has wronged you. Visit your majesty on your enemies." - aka "don't f... with dragons.". I have a feeling that little dimensional mishap might escalate ...
     
    Beautiful.

    Oddly it reminds me of All Night Laundry's chapter transitions. Probably all the falling and greenness. Hopefully our lad's kneecaps survive this eh?
     
    x0Nothing0x said:
    really hope that second to last picture of that update with all the fireballs weren't all dragons who can teleported to who knows where. Not really sure our dragon boy is up for a rescue mission once his drugs finally were off.
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    Honestly my first thought at seeing this was "Oh... There go the others..."

    Love the update, the art and everything. Emotions in both text and art, the feeling of doom and catastrophe and people doing their best to do anything, something at all with that last ditch translator dump. Might be a protocol, might be just someone running in panic for last thing they can do before everyone is gone.

    But yeah, I can't imagine how cathartic it is to see a flood of messages, some probably being panicked communications from outside, goodbyes, and just the sheer mass of "we have no idea what's going to happen, have this everything", a last thing you will receive before you are cut off from your world, potentially forever.

    And damn, I was right. They really should have hugged... But they kissed, and I'm so glad for them.

    Overall... Bittersweet, absolutely delightful and emotional. Thank you so much for your work and for the update!
     
    Also the prayers are really good and detailed, and I want to compliment the smooth worldbuilding that keeps treating these as mundane things to him.

    And I bet that translator script is gonna be really convenient in a minute!
     
    Saphire said:
    And damn, I was right. They really should have hugged... But they kissed, and I'm so glad for them.
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    Hey I suggest a group hug between all three dragons so they'd get teleported together but everyone wanted to go for the kiss instead. Oh well for all we know if they did go for the group hug they might have fused together and become a three headed dragon and look like some kind of mini Tiamat light.
     
    Ralson said:
    End of Act One
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    Well that was beautiful.

    You have created a truly fascinating setting and I look forward to seeing more of it.

    Interesting to think about the 'What if' moments. This has been a very flexible and responsive narrative. Not just with the big obvious things like hiding in the shelter (which given all the contrails in the second-to-last image probably didn't work) but the little stuff like someone noticing the purple light.
    The destination was most likely inescapable, but the paths were myriad.
     
    That was beautiful. Especially kiss and separation scene with the prayer and descent to the void adding even more to the moment.
     
    Ralson said:
    If that's happening to anything magical, then they're in some real fucking trouble, because dragons literally can't live without it. Every dragon in the arcology has a tap in their Core node that keeps their reserves topped up with mana from power distribution, and even if they removed it, they'd eventually need to respire using local mana instead.
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    Doing a quick skim over it again...

    I feel like this is also about to come up very soon?
     
    Wherever we are going there is probably some strong local mana sources otherwise how could this new land do *vaguely waves claws at everything*
     
    Welp, let's see where we end up. This is going to be interesting. They included dozens of languages, which means that it wasn't one tear. It was dozens at the least. And we could have ended up in any of them, or somewhere else entirely.
     
    Just found this quest thread. Looks amazing! I'm too late to frantically demand Zalan check where his towel is, but am I early enough to make "Hey, you. You're finally awake." jokes?
     
    A great introduction chapter, and I think I am happy with where things ended up.
    I don't think being in the shelters saved anyone here, but there is one dragon in better shape thanks to the choices made.

    ... that said, a part of me wishes we could have made sure that Tieran-Sha had not gotten caught in this. It seems unlikely, and would have probably made things a bit worse for some, but that is one of those unsolvable regrets left at the end of this.

    Beautifully done.
     
    Well then!




    Gonna be interesting to see what happens next. That last scene, with the dragonfall meteors, kind of reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle, where the fire demons are falling from the sky.
     
    So any bets on where Zalan ends up? Personally I'm hoping for sci-fi to see him in zero-g.

    In all seriousness this is now my favorite quest on the site.

    Also something about that monster from before is familiar I just can't think of where I've seen it before.
     
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