I think her smiling and trying to keep the proper note of grief is indicating she's faking the obsession, using her unfaked outburst when Eleanor was taking the gauntlet as a guide for her acting.
Overlady: Attack of the Minions (Thread II)
- Thread starter EarthScorpion
- Start date
- Fantasy
I think her smiling and trying to keep the proper note of grief is indicating she's faking the obsession, using her unfaked outburst when Eleanor was taking the gauntlet as a guide for her acting.
- Pronouns
- Reader
The reward here is comedy of Louise doing the Right thing! The GOOD thing, and EVIL finding a way anyway, in the most comedic way possible, which forces Louise to do more evil things.
I think she's faking, but not for the reasons most would think. This might be an attempt to mollify Gnarl by "Failing" in a sufficiently tasteless way to amuse him and soften the blow of not getting the helmet or the music box(for now).
Now, I think I understand something about the void selection that Louise doesn't. That the objects are alive and choose for themselves what makes a worthy bearer. It's not enough to kill the user, or Joseph would have gotten the music box instead of Tiffania when he personally beheaded Cearl. You have to satisfy their particular ideals for acquisition to inherit in a none lineage based manner.
The gauntlet prefers personal combat, hence why Joseph had a chance to claim it if he had beaten Louise. The Helmet must be acquired through us of intricate planning, which louise fit the bill for in this personal instance. Which leaves the question, what does the Music box want? Well loyalty obviously. Possibly convincing one of the hearts lieutenants to betray them, or, earning there loyalty yourself, would be sufficient, which begs the question, whether Tiffania is about to make some grand gesture of gratitude and willingness to follow Louise's lead because she and Henrietta screwed up, and gift Louise her music box, losing her power to Louise and becoming a loyal Lieutenant.
first the music box is an artefact, but it isn't a EVIL piece, you have Louise gauntlet, the helmet, and other gauntlet that would empower beasts, we don't know what is Tiffa piece, it may be a locket, also Louise had the Void before she found the gauntlet, so the piece completes the inner power of the Overperson, so now the power will move to an heir, and without the helmet to ease the EVIL magic, it will be Louise all over again.
- Pronouns
- Reader
It's the music box. It's a metaphorical heart of evil that taught Tiffania her void spell and later louise used it to learn the same void spell. It didn't bond with louise when she accessed it because she didn't meet it's qualifications, but that can change, and may well have.
I wouldn't count on it. It's a bit of a leap between "Louise saved my life and I appreciate it" and "Louise saved my life and I will give up my power and follow her orders."
Even if Tiffania was willing a large part of this chapter was Louise doing her best to avoid getting more of the corrupted void inside her. Her saying yes to that offer would be very out of character.
- Pronouns
- Reader
Oh I don't think Tiffania will be aware she's giving away her powers. Unlike Louise she doesn't have a Gnarl to explain anything to her. She likely does think the Music box is just a keepsake of her mother that inspires her to learn magic. Her journey as an overlady has been shorter and a lot less informative than Louise's.
I could see her feeling she really owes louise one, and deciding to gift her this important memento, not realising the weight of what she's doing. Louise used it before, so like with Joseph, she'd be under the assumption that it's fine to accept it so long as Tiffania is alive.
Of course I could be wrong, but it feels like a valid guess.
- Location
- Canada
Really surprised to see Joseph actually die here-as the man manipulating the coucil and the Albionese, I had assumed he would survive until after his pawns were dealt with. I guess the story is wrapping up much faster than I thought.
I wouldn't be too sure on that one. I think we're going to find out very soon whether Louise managed to cut the head off the snake, or if she just took off the head of a hydra.
UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
My read of it is Louise reject the artifact because it's Evil, so she punt it to the sea. But she craves power, so it made her sad. She fibs to Jessica about it, who knows about Louise rejection and willing to go along with her fibs.
- Location
- Canada
Joseph's death was pretty unambiguous there- we saw a body, and his dying speech had no implcations that he would be back or he had planned for his death here. And the story hasn't been building up the remaining antagonists very much. Cromwell is an idiot, and Richillue and Wards are respectively kinda smart and pretty damgerous, but not as smart or dangerous a Joseph was.
Really, it seems like the only threats left are the Heroes. I had really been expecting Louise to work with the Hreoes to defeat Joseph and the Albionese, but with those threats off the board, I predict that the next arc would have Louise fight Kirche's group to overthrow the council.
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- Pronouns
- Reader
The Arc is rapping up, possibly with Albion Sinking into the ocean, and especially with Albigone being defeated. To be honest by the time Jessica Kills Joseph, it's entirely possible that the Albigone Army is entirely defeated. Joseph threw the ones with him into death by golem operated minion, Louise downed most of their airships and dragons at the start while destroying the windstone stores any ships she missed would inevitably need to keep fighting, and with their leadership no doubt collapsing in the face of these setbacks, a retaliatory push by Tristain as their forces panicked would have been enough to defeat them.
Oh, no, the direct threat of Joseph is very much gone. But just because he's gone, doesn't mean things are going to be good. His portion of the void had to go somewhere, after all, if Louise didn't grab it, and I don't think she did. That alone will be cause for concern, espically if it latches on to, say, Tabitha. And while Cromwell is an idiot, even idiots can do considerable amounts of damage, even when hobbled.
And the Council themselves have means of dealing with Louise that Joseph simply does not. Plus, now all of Joseph's is no longer around to keep his pawns in check. This gives them the ability to evolve into larger problems, now that the one holding their leash is dead.
- Location
- Canada
You may want to re-read this last arc. Louise knocks only a few ships out of the sky when she broke the Isle of wights free, Port's Mouth is only one of multiple ports supplying the invasion, and the golems Josph was using were still a fairly small amount by the standards of armies.
- Location
- Nice try
Louise finally starting to accept her role as the Overlady, it would not surprise me if she end up as ruler Albion after this whole mess is over, as a right of conquest.
Gnar will be so proud. She found two hives, kill one of the contenders of the throne and conquer her first country.
Gnar will be so proud. She found two hives, kill one of the contenders of the throne and conquer her first country.
- Location
- in the trash
I think the golems are just completely neutralized though, with Joseph dead that means Sheffield can't animate them and they'll just go back to being inert lumps of metal.
- Location
- Argentina
Eh, not dramatic enough, the helmet will be found by an old fisherman who will go crazy, be defeated by certain group of heroes and the helmet will end in the hands of a certain dragon riding princess.
Because evil always finds a way, more so if it hilarious!
Because evil always finds a way, more so if it hilarious!
- Location
- in the trash
Well actually, I do think it's probably out of the story for now, though.
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- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Nah. Remember, Louise's plan has always been to be the Overlady for long enough to put Henrietta back on the throne, then for Louise to "escape" from the Steel Maiden's dungeons and slay her before showing back up in Tristain as a hero. She doesn't want the helmet, any more than she wanted the Mind of God fraction of the Void (which is associated with the helmet but not literally the same thing).
But she can't let anyone know that. Because if Gnarl, or quite possibly even Jess, found out that she's planning to betray the cause of Evil and go back to her heroic origins, they could turn on her. And if she was in the Overlady business for realsies, she'd be absolutely furious about the loss of the helmet. So she has to play the part.
Also, I'm not sure why people are thinking the music box is analogous to the Gauntlet or why giving it away might transfer Tiff's fraction of the Void. The Gauntlets, Helmet and probably Breastplate are the evil artefacts that Brimir was wearing when he got dismembered, and are evil artefacts closely associated with the four Inheritances of the Corrupted Void - but not identical; Louise was heir to the Left Hand of God before she ever became an Overlady or put on the Gauntlet. When Eleanore took both Gauntlet and Void magic, that was through conquest - she beat Louise and took the Gauntlet and the power decided Louise wasn't worthy. There are additionally some other artefacts of Brimir, like the prayer book and the music box and so on, which are associated with the Void due to that being Brimir's original magic that he recorded some of his spells for on them, and which are also Evil due to him having taken the power of the First Overlord after killing him (which infected the Void and all it touched).
As for the helmet, it's pretty clearly gone for good. The entire point of that scene was that it was a temptation where Louise had to choose between sticking to her plan and remaining uncorrupted by its additional Evil or embracing the lure of power and showing herself to be no different from Joseph in the end. By kicking it down the chasm of a disintegrating sky island into the North Sea, she's clearly passed that trial and meaningfully, narratively demonstrated her choice - and as she says, it's very in-genre with the pattern of this world for evil artefacts to disappear for hundreds of years before inevitably cropping up again. Evil always finds a way, yes, but that means the helmet has to be lost for a few centuries first - with Louise overcoming its temptation, it's out of the plot and won't be a problem for another few generations.
Louise's plan was rather elegantly based on the preface from 14-4; Brimir's own words.
In other words, the power of the Void is DRM-locked so that its "pass to the victor on kill" condition flat-out bans anything with demonic blood from qualifying - and so Louise had Jessica kill him on her own timetable without Louise ever giving an explicit order for her to do so, which meant it couldn't go to Jess and Louise hadn't done enough against him for it to decide she was a worthy successor. Who will it go to next? Unclear. Possibly Isabella. Possibly Tabitha. Possibly a baby who won't be a problem for another few decades - Louise gained her fraction of the Void at a young enough age that she never knew she had any other kind of magic.
Regardless of who it is, I'm inclined to doubt they're going to seriously impact the rest of the plot, since Overlady as a narrative is focused on Louise's scheme to kill off the four members of the Council who deposed Henrietta and return to her life in Tristain rather than on the four inheritors of the Void - Tiff's existence and Joseph's schemes just happened to wind up getting wrapped up in that goal. Nor is Louise likely to set herself up as THE DARK LADY OF ALBION, since, again, she just wants to get her friend back on the throne and then go home. And lastly, I've no idea where the concept that she's found two minion hives came from; the only minion hive she has is the knockoff one that can only make pure Evil minions that go BLORT within ten seconds.
- Location
- Lost amidst hungry sheep
- Pronouns
- They/Them
In canon, his daughter (the totally not evil cousin of Tabitha in this story) inherits his void so maybe we'll have that here as well.
- Location
- The Old Dominion
From what I recall It was Tabitha's unknown twin sister Josette who was put into a monastery instead of killing as per the Gallian tradition of killing one twin who inherited the void in canon not Joseph's daughter Isabella.
The Pope later used Josette to replace Tabitha who had become Queen of Gallia and impersonate her as apart his greater plans.
- Location
- Lost amidst hungry sheep
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Ah, yeah, maybe. I'm not racist, but all Gallians look the same to me tbh u.u
Chojomeka
Behold! QUEEN MONKE!
Well yes that's because they're all blue haired and barely able to be understood verbally.
Revlid
blob of bugs
- Location
- England
Yeah, Josette inherited the Mind of God and became a puppet of the Pope, who used her to coup Tabitha.
Which in this set-up seems less like something Louise would be interested in dealing with, and more like an issue for Gramont Adventuring Concern Inc. (monmon-owned patent pending). Speaking of...
***
Brand Infringement
The party stood in silence, clothing tattered and stained by their narrow escape from the Grande Garrison de Gallia - not to be mistaken for the Petit Palace de Parie, much less the Moyenne Moat de Marsaye. The alleyway was safe, for the time being - safe enough to catch their breath, to regroup, and to await word of the safe haven that must, surely, be waiting for them soon. It was a silence punctuated by pained hisses and hushed groans, a silence laden and heavy with expectant glances levelled at the group's deadliest fighter.
"Zere eez somesing I must tell you all", the wind mage murmured at last. "Somesing I have not told anuzzer soul. Anuzzer, currently living, human, soul. At my birth, zere were... complications. Matters zat were decided to be kept secret. I-"
"You have a twin."
There was a moment's pause before Guiche threw up his hands.
"Kirche? Please! Tabitha was expositing! You know how rare it is for her to open up, even with the application of very specific qualifiers. We should be encouraging her to use her own words! Please continue, Tabitha."
"Non, non", she said, her expression totally unchanged yet somehow conveying a deep sulkiness. "Kirche eez correct. I 'ave a twin sister. Her name eez Josette. Eet eez she who sits on ze throne of Gallia, bearing my name and wearing ze crown I never wanted."
"Thank you, Tabitha", said Guiche. "I am very glad you decided to share this part of your life with us-"
"But your name isn't Charlotte?" asked Danny.
"-and I hope that you will feel empowered to further trust and emotionally engage with us in future, regardless of how insensitive certain party members are being right now."
"Oh, come on", Kirche scoffed. "It was obvious from the moment she showed up on the throne. Evil twins pop up all the time, especially in royalty. She looks just like Tabitha, but acts the complete opposite. Hells, she even recruited our evil opposites. She hasn't got a Danny, yet, but there's that blonde Papal prettyboy swordsman, the obviously powerful confidante with an amazing figure and great taste in translucent dresses, and that scheming forehead girl with the greedy eyes."
Privately, Guiche offered a prayer of thanks that Montmorency had gone ahead to secure trustworthy lodging. Much like back-alley surgery, black market bartering could take some time, and was seldom pleasant to watch.
Plus, Kirche was being unkind. Isabella's gaze wasn't greedy, just... occasionally aimed in two directions at once.
"I guess I can see why she was hidden away", said Danny. "If the queen gave birth to twins, and one was good but the other was evil... they'd want to hide that, right? To avoid a scandal?"
Tabitha considered this for a moment.
"Oui. An evil twin and a good twin were born zat night, and Josette was sent away to a monastery."
"So now she's back... and you have an evil twin..."
"I do 'ave a twin, oui."
"Then our path is clear!" Guiche raised one hand, finger pointed boldly forward at nothing in particular. Tabitha wondered if he was still slightly concussed. "We must depose this foul imposter - who, it now occurs to me, is actually a totally legitimate heir herself with the apparent blessing of the Pope, but nevertheless - we must depose and expose this foul imposter, scatter her cheap imitations to the winds, and see our dearest friend seated in her rightful place as Queen Charlotte the I assume First, whereupon... medals and titles and feasts and such. To be provided by the newly-instated monarch at her discretion, of course. Bit odd for an adventurer to be issuing her own reward, but there must be precedent-"
"Non. We should leave."
Guiche and Danny stared. Kirche raised her hand. "All in favour, say aye."
"I do not want ze crown", Tabitha said, simply. "I do not care about ze throne. I do not care about Gallia. My sister eez une pauvre conne, but she eez welcome to all zis. My uncle eez dead, and with him my only reason to remain at all."
"You must have cared about him a lot", said Danny, sadly.
"Thoughts of 'is final moments 'ave often intruded on my sleep, zeese last few nights."
"Oh no! But I thought you were sleeping so much better! You even woke up smiling yesterday-"
"But- but be that as it may", Guiche sputtered, "Tabitha, I can't just leave this country in the grip of an evil tyrant! Er. Again, I mean. Even if you don't wish to take the throne, surely there's a trustworthy... well, not a vizier, obviously, but some kind of regent?"
"Ze next in line would be Isabella. My cousin."
"Well, perfect! We'll form an underground rebellion with her as an insider, rally the people and the true loyalists with a few stunning victories and a well-timed public relations campaign, and be home by the Silver Pentecost!"
"She eez also evil."
"No, no, she's a nice girl deep down, I'm sure of it! And she seemed deeply conflicted about her role in all this. I know you two don't have the best relationship, but we spent a lot of time alone, talking together. We've even been exchanging letters, and I know there's good in her! All she needs is a friendly ear and a willing shoulder to-"
"And who, exactly, are you talking about?"
The voice from the alley's entrance was sweet as honey, and had the same general association with an arsenal of painful venomous stings. In Guiche, it evoked a Pavlovian response - which is to say, he deflated like an underbaked meringue.
Kirche stepped in with a helpful grin. "Tabitha's cousin". She helped some more. "The evil you".
Montmorency glared at her fiancé, one set of ringlets and several sets of patience utterly undone by the day's unexpected exertions.
"Guiche. We have spoken about this."
"Yes."
"I've acknowledged that many villains hold the possibility of redemption, which we as heroes must champion."
"Yes."
"And you've acknowledged that a lot of the villains you try to redeem are pretty young women."
"Yes, but-"
"And we've discussed, Guiche, the healthy boundaries around this kind of behaviour."
"Yes, but under the circumstances-"
"What circumstances, love?"
"Well, she's-" Guiche flailed for adjectives like a blind man in an armoury, hastily discarding words like 'complicated' and 'different' as the hiltless blades they were. "As Kirche says. She reminds me a little bit of you, in a way. Before... before us, I mean. Caught in unfair family circumstances. Forced to match terrible pressures. How could I not help?"
As far as gambits went, Kirche thought, it was pretty risky. A solid placating feint, and he'd avoided a disastrous diamond analogy in the bit about pressure, but there was still serious room to backfire. Would this maneouvre win the defending champion the breathing room he needed to survive the round, or would 'I only pursued her because she looks so much like you, my real true love' prove as flimsy a defence as it did in the great Von Zerbst Uncivil Proceedings Of 864? Odds in, bets locked, and-
"We'll talk about this later", Montmorency sighed. And there's the bell, it's a bloodless victory by timeout! The crowd is on its feet! "When I've had a bath. And you've had a cold shower."
"And Tabitha's got Sylpheed out of the sewers", Danny added.
"And they've both had two showers", Kirche noted.
"And then, and only then, will Tabitha tell us about her cousin's tragic past. Focusing, preferably, on any details that indicate exactly how well she's likely to reward anyone who can make her Isabella the First."
Tabitha nodded.
"You do not need to worry. Guiche eez faithful. Ee is not interested in Isabella like zat."
Montmorency's gaze turned to Tabitha, softening with surprise. A comforting word was rare from her - any kind of word was rare from her, in fact, but intentional comfort was a particularly lesser-spotted species.
"Ee did not do anyzing even when she locked 'im up in her boudoir and 'ad her maids prepare ze special lingerie-"
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- Location
- Nice try
Tabitha even allowed Josete stay in her place. Shame it never was proper show the consequences of this action.
I mean you give someone that was raised and lived in a monastery all her lifd the throne of a powerful coubtry, either she is hopless naive or a religious zealot while is the puppet of another manipulative zealot.