Void Ascension (ZnT/GW)

HecateGW · May 22, 2012

Chapter Four, Part Three: Veritas vos Liberabit

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Wandering down the various hallways and staircases, I was a bit busy wondering how I could have goaded Jean Colbert aka the Clumsy Bald Badass into a fight. All the while I was cursing my insatiable love of history and just how much time I had wasted in preparing Setsuna for a fight that never came.

"I mean, seriously. How hard is it to get into a fight with someone titled Badass anyway?"

"...."

"I suppose that I could have teased him mercilessly about our encounter of the personal nature. But that might only work if this were Mass Effect and I could do some kind of Renegade Interrupt," I mumbled to myself as I had no reached the entrance to the dormitories and slowed my characters' pace.

"...."

"Then again, I could have insulted the admiration he had for his country since he spoke with so much pride over how Tristain was capable of building such an advanced structure, even with magic," I continued mumbling to myself as I kept a distracted eye on the radar that showed the various names of the students, or rather, their titles if Setsuna had not gotten their actual names yet.

"Huh. Looks like Giovanni is down the hallway and one floor below the room of Master Louise," I said aloud even though there was no one in the hallway at this hour. "That's good to know in case I need someone to run menial tasks. If the Achievement List is to be trusted, then he will either be the loyal NPC that can get anything done or he is the double or triple agent that is planted in my party who will likely fight me in a duel to the death like Master and Apprentice."

And I had Setsuna stop at the entrance to the room of Louise Valliere as I spoke to myself.

"I suppose I could mold him much like Obi-Wan Kenobi molded Anakin Skywalker. But do I really want to deal with a whiny, emo brat for however long it takes to bring him up to my level?"

"Then again, it depends if the background character information included a broken home in which his last remaining relative is captured by Sand people, er.... do they have Sand people here?"

"Maybe I could make it Elves?"

*snort*

"He could barely keep his bowel movements under control when he was threatened by a mere human who was only going for brutal, but less than lethal strikes and, in his case, I didn't even hit him! How much more if he were threatened by Halkeginias' most feared and hated enemy?"

"Vampires?"

"Hmmm....that probably wouldn't work and he would get his ass kicked before he could survive long enough to pull of an attempted backstab on me during the games' climax."

"Maybe if I had his remaining relatives captured by some pirates who torture and eventually have said remaining relatives die in a dramatic fashion that sets him on the path to the Dark Side?"

"And once he gains enough levels, I could gain even more experience points and possibly some skills to capture after killing him in a suitably climactic battle over some land with a molten lava setting."

Thinking about a Darth Vader-like scenario lifted my spirits and I began to think aloud how such a fight could happen with some memorable quotes.

*mimes Darth Vader voice and breathing* "I've been waiting for you, Setsuna. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master," I said as I tried my best to imagine Giovannis' tenor voice transformed into the bass-like quality of the Sith Lord with his scuba diver breathing sounds.

"Only a master of evil, Darth," I imagined Setsuna responding as she readied her blade.

"Once the climactic battle reaches its' zenith, I proceed to use my best combos to take him out," I said as I text commanded Setsuna to nod to herself.

"But, it all really depends if Giovanni really cares for any of his family members, assuming he has any living family members left," I said as I realized that I really hadn't taken the time to do the standard RPG style interaction so that I could have a helpful summary stored on my Journal Log for future reference when planning on how to make my mook/apprentice become one with the ham.

"Choices, choices, choices."

"One option. I could set Giovanni up to become the most terrible Dark Lord of Halkeginia and I the Light Lady who destroys him in such a way that I am hailed as the second coming of a Founder of sorts," I said as I began to have Setsuna pace up and down the hallway.

"Another option is to have Giovanni become such a powerful figure in Halkeginia politics and use him as my puppet while I become the power behind the throne," I mused.

"Or I could just fashion him into the loyal servant that becomes a member of the Magnificent Seven or whatever fashionably epic and grand title our little group may have," I said as I noticed a familiar name move towards the entrance of her room: Louise Valliere.

"I'll have to think on this later. Time to face the music," I said as I approached the door to her room and used one of the bonus text commands of Void Ascension: knock on object.

After knocking on the door, the solid, wooden frame, which I noted looked similar to Oak, swung open quickly and I was exposed to a pink-haired girl in her nightclothes and showing a mixture of emotions on her face which would scrunge up one moment and change into a white pallor the next. This process continued for about ten seconds before I decided to put a stop to her emotional roller coaster that seemed to have taken hold of the tsundere loli in front of Setsuna.

"Oh for crying out loud Louise! Will you let me in or not?"

For a few seconds, she stood absouletly still in the doorway as her mouth mimicked one of those koi fish I had always seen in one of those documentaries that National Geographic had back in the 1990's.

"So?"

"...."

"Louise? Anybody home?"

"...."

*dramatic sigh* "I suppose I shall just have to sing a wonderful song once again and it goes like this:

I ache for the touch of your lips, dear,
But much more for-"

"NO MORE WHIPPING!" she shouted as she was shaken out of her stupor and yanked Setsuna inside the door with so much force that I noticed the Conditions called Dazed and Crippled had been added to my character at the top of the screen, much to my amazement.

Dazed is the Condition that causes all spells to take twice as long to cast and allows for easy interruption of all spells. This Condition is typically displayed on the screen by numerous bubble-like animations surrounding the head for as long as the Condition is in place.

Crippled is the Condition that causes any affected being, NPC, or player character to move fifty percent slower and this is often shown by a limping animation of the characters' leg, either left or right, depending on which leg was struck.

After she had shut the door and turned to Setsuna, I interrupted her as she opened her mouth.

"How did you do that?!"

"Do what?!"

"Inflict Dazed and Crippled on my stats?!"

"What?! I have no idea what you're talking about! And what was that about whips agai-"

"Was that some kind of Elite Skill?!" I said as I prepared my Signet of Capture just in case Louise had an actual, touch-based skill that inflicted two very useful Conditions at the same time that I could use for my Spiker build.

The Spiker build is just a series of skills combined together that is designed specifically to perform so much damage and Condition effects on one or two characters before any of the enemy support could intervene and effectively mission-kill the intended target.

"You are not making any sense at all?!" she shouted back at my character as her face began to take on a reddish tint, much like one of those cartoon animations back in the day.

"But you affected me! Look at how I am currently hobbling. I....oh that's right, you're not an NPC Skill Trainer, so you couldn't have come pre-loaded with that knowledge. Sorry. Go ahead with your tsun-tsun," I said as I text commanded Setsuna to make a flippant gesture with the hand as I noticed that the Conditions on Setsuna faded away.

"Wha- you, you. I do not know what this soon soon thing is or this en pee see, but I will not be insulted by the likes of my own Familiar!" she responded and as the words left her mouth, she immediately gasped in shock and covered her mouth while her face drained of all color.

"I-I," and before she said anything else, Louise dropped to her knees in some form of deferential posture and her head bowed so that her face was looking on the floor.

While she was in this kneeling stance, I could read the text bubbles above her head as she mumbled very quietly and I thanked the game mechanics of Guild Wars that made sure that all spoken words by NPC's had the accompanying script written out in text for the player to read.

"Mother's going to kill me. Mother's going to kill me. Mother's going to kill me."

While it was amusing enough to see the formerly, hot-headed girl take a full one-eighty in mood swings like one of those harem anime characters, I decided to head off this line of conversation and find out what was so important that Jean Colbert could not be goaded into a fight with Setsuna because he had to do an errand on behalf of Louise Valliere.

"Louise."

"Mother's going to kill me."

"Louise."

"Mother's going to disown me."

"Lou~ise," I said in a sing-song way.

"Mother's going to disown me, then kill me."

"LOUISE," I shouted.

"EEEEEEKKK," she squealed as she jumped nearly a foot into the air as I tried my best to analyze how she had accomplished such a Skill without any Activation Time or if it was just an inherent ability much like how certain non-human species could perform Skills that had no other explanation than racial talent or in this case, Halkegninia talent.

"Get up, Louise," I said gently.

"It-it is not proper of a member of nobility to stand in the presence of Royalty," she said as her stutter went away and her voice entered some kind of automated style of speech while she took on a kneeling position once again.

"So, you will not stand up if I request it?"

"Only if the Her Highness commands it."

"Then I command you Louise Valliere to stand in Our presence and relax," I said as my order ended in a chuckle on my part.

For a moment, I thought that she would defy my, or rather, Setsunas' order as I could see her body fidget in place as though she were debating with herself in her own mind.

Finally coming to a decision, she stood up, but continued to keep her head down.

Having thought that this would be one of her possible reactions, I text commanded Setsuna to begin to clap her hands, much like the previous time when singing the Masochism Tango. This time, I would be singing another Tom Lehrer song; the one that I had promised to share with Kirche.

"If you will not relax, then you give me no choice:

I love my friends and they love me,
We're just as close as we can be.
And just because we really care,
Whatever we get, we share!"

As I began my song, she steadfastly refused to lift her head as she shuffled her feet and I read another text bubble above her head:

"At least it isn't that whipping song again. Thank the Founder. I can handle this then."

I mentally grinned as I wondered just how quick she would change her thought process as soon as she discovered the hidden meaning behind this song as I continued:

"I got it from Agnes, she got it from Jim,
We all agree it must have been him, Louise who gave it to him.
Now she got it from Harry who got it from Marie,
And everybody know that Marie, got it from me!"

And the song continued until I saw her face snap up to meet Setsunas' as it was frozen in a rictus of horror and disgust.

"ENOUGH! FIRST WHIPPING AND THEN, THEN, THAT," she screamed as she began to enter some state of near-shock similar to hyperventilation.

*belly laughter* "Oh Louise. You would not listen to me when I commanded you to relax, so I just thought to help you relax in another manner altogether," I said between bouts of laughter as Louise stopped gasping and began to pout in Setsunas' direction.

"That was so mean," she muttered.

"But effective," I countered as my laughter had mostly gone away.

"How can Your Highness be so vulgar and-"

"Did I not say relax? Just call be Setsuna and I will call you Louise. Fair enough?" I proposed.

"I....suppose," she hesitantly agreed in a little girl voice that was completely at odds with her previous show of strength when she had first greeted Setsuna at the doorway.

"Come. Let us sit on your bed and talk of that which you wished to address with me. After all, it must have been important if you had Professor Colbert search for me," I said as I text commanded Setsuna to sit on the bed and planned on how I could fully exploit her emotional weakness in order to gain a connection to her parents, the Duke and Duchess Valliere for political support.

'After all. The best quests always come from the parent of the Tsundere and Female Protagonist/Sidekick in terms of experience points and loot,' I thought to myself.

And so, we began our long talk into the night.

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Feedback is appreciated and many thanks go out to all those who have helped me refine my writing style over the past few months.

Authors' Note: This snippet actually came a bit naturally as I haven't felt this inspired since the time I began this piece of fiction way back when we were still on the 20-page limit threads and we were burning through threads in the ZnT Crossover section like it was going out of style.

Anyway, the inspiration of the song comes once again from Tom Lehrer and it is titled 'I Got It From Agnes' and it never explicitly mentions what is being hinted at the entire time.

ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.

HecateGW · May 23, 2012

Vianca said:
Early Earth guns like a Gatling should be explained in a encyclopedie(?) from around the 80´s, those sets explain things way better then the more modern ones, since they include clearly drown pictures that help explaining things.

As for the Gatling, think Wild-West period of Early, like a certain westerns happen to show, especialy certain italian made ones, including a couple with Clint.

Good advice there!

The biggest obstacles I can see is mostly getting the right infrastructure in place, obtaining the correct connections to back my venture, and ensuring that Setsuna gets first dibs on all proof-of-concepts.

Flere821 said:
... *squints* is it just me, or did the player not even notice Tabitha was around and made some offhand replies? (I'm guessing the "..." and "Vampire?" was by Tabitha, Tabitha might have enough 'Sneak' skill or whatever the Guild Wars equivalent is to escape Setsuna's notice?)

Also, 'Dazed and Crippled' by physical contact? I was expecting this to happen by a Explosion, but just by yelling too loud?

The character is gloriously mad by ZnT standards, while being in-character as a enthuastic gamer. Bravo on that.

If I could only do the Dr. Evil smily, I would. So you'll just have to accept this.

Let's just say that the radar function the player was half-paying attention to is not infallible as those with the right skills and mentality can avoid detection and the player was a bit busy monologing, I suppose.

As for Dazed and Crippled, I wanted to show that Louise had physically yanked Setsuna into her room and that there were certain effects, much like how certain special effects can happen during holiday or special event only situations in Guild Wars but usually do not happen in combat areas.

And thank you.

Firethorn said:
It was the very much physical yank inside the room when Sets started up the whip song.

Exactly.

KaPe said:
If she actually used Explosion, Setsuna would be putting that SoC to "good" use by trying to grab "new elite skill" - note it was one of her first reactions. It's just an NPC after all and hey, maybe it would provoke "old badass" to fight, too. Shame about her mother "quests", but if the skill is good enough, it's worth it.

That's... not quite the "typical gamer". It's going straight for Renegade territory - in the old "renegade as an evil bastard that doesn't care about anyone except himself" sense, not the modern "I do what needs to be done, no matter the cost". Plus, talking to himself - yep, he's losing it.

The idea of using SoC was more to the old habit of keeping it in the skill slot whenever there were Named Characters around since, only bosses usually have names other than generic so and so.

However, the player has noticed that there is a much more freestyle of gameplay in Void Ascension due to being able to engage almost anyone so far and was honestly hoping that goading certain Named Characters might allow for the capture of certain skills.

Talking aloud is just one way the player is using to iron out some details without realizing that some people might actually be listening in.

dragonx99 said:
Eh, I wouldn't really call planning aloud as a sign that he's losing it (though that's mainly because I do the same thing whenever I try and make a battle plan in strategy games) but the willingness to kill for skills is definitely a bad sign. Maybe. I haven't actually played Guild Wars so for all I know it might very well be common practice to kill NPCs with good skills and then just wait for them to respawn and act like nothing ever happened.

Killing for skills is quite common in Guild Wars, but usually only Named Characters among the Bosses.

Also, you brought up a good point about how the player mentality thinks that respawn will just happen since this is just a game.

KaPe said:
Killing for skills is common in Guild Wars. However, you do it to your typical RPG enemies - well, bosses. You don't really provoke "civilians"/friendly NPCs into a fight to kill them. That's just wishful thinking on "Setsuna" part, hoping Colbert would go red so she can grab his "Flame Snake" or whatever. Would be kinda like murdering GW henchmen if they had some elite skill you needed.

In short, Lawful (or Neutral?) Evil? Will obey the rules, but the moment there's a chance, Colbert/Louise/whoever might end up on the wrong end of Signet of Capture...

That's almost an accurate description of how Setsuna is being played out: somewhere in the Lawful to Neutral territory if this were DnD and add the gamer mentality of grabbing the best skills off of Named Characters for the purpose of advancing the player character which results in someone who would be viewed as absolutely ruthless.

In this game, Setsuna thinks that because Guild Wars had Named Characters that carried the Elite Skills, that Named Characters would also have certain Elite Skills to be taken and add the little part that the player has realized implicitly the freestyle of gameplay where anyone can be targetted.

Raziel Tepes said:
I have a feeling Heavy Wind will be a easy skill to get, well good luck defeating that boss...

Capturing skills will be pretty much easy, with a few notable exceptions.

Defeating the character to get said skill?

Not so much.

Keter 682 said:
small typo.
now on with the show.

That was , Setsuna crazy aloud brainstorming (gotta love her lack of inner monologue), ninja Tabitha and Louise, oh God poor poor Louise .
This is gonna end like one of those Hollywood massive car crashes, and it's going to be GLORIOUS!!!.
You my good Sir truly have the favor of the muses, keep on your inspired writing.

Thanks for pointing out my typo.

Yeah, this really does look like a massive car crash in the making. Now imagine if you could watch a Hollywood car crash on IMAX.

Say goodbye to canon as certain events in the capital have give a big wake up call to those who were satisfied with the status quo that all is not right and the system needs a major overhaul.

Not everyone will be pleased by this.

Anyway, thank you for all that you have said.

HecateGW · May 23, 2012

Chapter Four, Part Four: Veritas vos Liberabit

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"And you were actually stuck in the middle of it all," I said in between bouts of chuckles as I could not help but be amused at how much trouble Louise had caused when the Tristain Royal Family had paid a visit to the Valliere Estate.

"Ye-yes. Big sister Eleanore was absolutely furious with me, but the look on her face was worth the punishment that came later," responded Louise as she broke into a fit of giggles after having described how she had embarrassed Eleanore in front of the Royal Family.

For some time now, Louise had been explaining to me a bit of the trouble she had gotten into as a child and how she was often punished by her mother and eldest sister.

While Setsuna was sitting on the edge of the bed, Louise was sitting with her legs tucked beneath her, in the middle, as I engaged her in some less than informative conversation. But this conversation had a purpose. It's not like we were gossiping. Nope. No gossip at all. Really, I was just doing this for another reason entirely.

In the beginning, I had attempted to get Louise to relax to no avail. So, remembering some of the methods used by modern psychologists and therapists, I began to touch on topics that were of much comfort and joy for her to talk about.

At first, there was not much to say as she would stutter every other sentence, until I asked her about her sisters. When she spoke of the middle sister warmly, I knew that I had hit the jackpot and exploited her emotional weakness and attachment to this person and she opened up like the Banqiao Dam failure in China of 1975.

Rather morbid analogy considering the death toll, but I could not think of any other metaphor that described just how chatty Louise had become after I kept asking question after question about her beloved middle sister who was now known to me as Cattleya.

Eventually, we reached the part about how she had been such a mischievous child, much to her mothers' and eldest sisters' consternation. And that was where we were now at. And no gossip either. This was just a means to my end. Really.

"Louise. You said that you were once given a gift from Eleanore before coming to the Academy. What exactly was that gift?" I asked after Louise had calmed down enough.

The response was not one I had honestly expected. Her face blossomed into a color that resembled an heirloom tomato at its ripest and I initially thought that it was anger that caused the remarkable change.

On another note, the scientist in me could not help but try to look at this situation in a more objective light and see just how far the gaming code took into account such reactions to the player character.

'Fascinating,' I thought to myself. 'I must find some way to document this and even create some tests and see if different topics produce different results. Maybe I could even hire some prostitutes to help further test the very limits of what the gaming code has stored away. I might be rewarded some kind of achievement and possibly some experience points since there has been a bit of encouragement to explore non-combative options in the past'.

While I was thinking, I paid only passing attention to her stuttered denials:

"Not my id-id-idea at all!" she half-shouted while she waved her hands in front of her face as though it would help her cause for some odd reason.

"N-No wh-whippings see?!" she denied more vehemently this time as I was still in my thoughts and had not verbally or physically responded to her and her hands were now waving even faster than before.

"H-Honest. I-I swear by the F-Founder!" she continued to plead with Setsuna as there was still no reaction and her handwaving had begun to slow down from apparent exhaustion.

"Pleasebelieveme!"

"Believe what Louise?" I asked as my inner thoughts ended on how to explore her various emotional responses since they were so refreshing from the typical RPG style conversational interactions and I really enjoyed how the script writers could make such impressive amounts of adaptive dialogue to fit the character profile in relation to the player character.

"Ireallynevermeanttowhipyou!" she said without pauses as she began to start breathing rapidly. For the second time in so many hours, she began to show signs of hyperventilation and I did not want her to pass out so fast without having pumped her for side-quest information.

I mean, I was getting a little bored with the free form RPG elements and I wanted to see if there were any treasures to be looted, ancient monster to be slain, damsels to be rescued, and so on.

"Breathe Louise. Breathe," I said firmly because I knew that I would never be able to effectively test any of my hypotheses if said test subject passed out prematurely and the chance for getting new sidequests would be lost for the night.

"There you go Louise. One breath at a time. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Good. Now, if the topic of the gift from your sister Eleanore is too much for whatever reason, we do not need to discuss it," I said while I mentally added 'yet' to the end of my assurance.

"Thank you, Setsuna. I would rather not speak on such a topic as it is v-very uncomfortable for me right now," she said as she smoothed out her nightgown in some measure

"Your welcome, Louise. Now, I am curious if you could answer a few questions of mine?" I asked as I began to formulate a somewhat, coherent plan that involved taking subtle control of the conversation so that I could inquire as to the viability of her parents acting as sponsors for some of my ideas.

"But of course, Setsuna. Ask away," Louise stated as she shifted slightly into a more comfortable position.

"I apologize for my bluntness, but I do prefer not to play with words when I can simply say what I mean and mean what I say. So, why did you seek me out? And why was Professor Colbert looking for me as well?" I asked with a somewhat gentle tone because I did not want to spend another half hour of conversational therapy that some would call gossip.

"Well. You see. How do I put it?" she said after she began to twiddle with her fingers and look down at her lap. "I felt that I had overreacted and I *gulp* owe you an apology for my words and actions as they were not befitting of a Valliere," she finished in a near whisper.

At first, I thought about accepting it outright, but then I did want to keep control of the conversation. And what better way than to keep her on her toes. Unfortunately, my chosen method might have been a bit overboard for her poor innocent mind.

"Apology not accepted," I said sternly.

In response, her snapped back up as her eyes locked onto Setsunas' own with a wide-eyed look of shock.

"Wha-"

"Apology not accepted because none was ever needed in the first place," I interrupted gently.

"I wha- huh?" she said as her face took on a gobsmacked look.

'By all that is holy is her face easy to read,' I thought to myself. 'I'm just glad that the programmers gave me the easily manipulated tsundere rather than the Xanatos-style Iron Lady template for a starting partner. I guess this is just easy or normal mode'.

Not wanting to get her back in full control of her mental faculties, I immediately gave a few stipulations.

"However, I would be most grateful if you were to assist me in more carnal matters," I teased.

"What!" she squeaked out as her wide-eyed face was rapidly turning red once more while her body became quite rigid in response to my sudden request.

"Maybe you could allow me to teach you in the more worldly ways?" I said while I had Setsuna move closer to the red-faced Louise who was now looking at Setsuna with even wider eyes.

*murgle* was the only response as she fainted on the bed with her hair somehow splaying out in nearly symmetrical fashion that defied the laws of physics.

"....well now. This blows," I said to no one in particular as the only other company was currently passed out.

"I guess I now know not to touch anything sexual in nature unless I want the lead female NPC to pass out before getting any plot-relevant information out of her," I said aloud as I took notes on what not to say the next time until I could properly de-sensitize her.

"Maybe I should bring her to the local brothels in Tristania. Could help the NPC if there is some kind of trigger mechanism that loosens her to risque dialogue, let alone the more vigorous activities of the physical nature," I pondered aloud as I had Setsuna stand up while I checked the Quests and discovered that there was one that I had started after delivering the goods to the hidden shed beneath the Earth Tower: The Transporter.

"Gotta wonder if it's related somehow to that Jason Statham movie, only set in the Renaissance era. Maybe I get to ride a horse or lead a carriage?" I asked myself as I was not certain just how such a side-quest would play out.

"Oh well. Won't really know until I try it," I tried answering my onwn question.

"Now. What kind of build would be useful for a quest called The Transporter. If it really is inspired by the movie, then I'm probably looking at, well, transporting some goods or people from one location to another while I am being chased down by mobsters, guards, constables, military, and anyone else that might be interested in what I am supposedly protecting," I mused as I text commanded Setsuna to mime violin playing.

"Maybe a modified form of the Minion Master for the extra meatshields? But the problem is that I can't be certain if there will be long periods between fights and I could end up bringing down the wrath of the Church if anyone escapes to tell of the monstrosities I summon," I wondered. "That would be one option until I can create my own personal army to fight off any attempts at an Inquisition on my activities."

"How about a Trapper? That definitely has potential provided I can actually visit the intended route of travel between point A and point B. But again, that defeats the sole purpose of transporting things since I probably won't have the luxury of time," I said as I stopped Setsunas' violin playing and text commanded her to mime guitar playing. "Just something to keep in mind as a just in case."

"I think that the Hexway build would be best. After all, transporting objects or people does not need to actually kill the obstacles, even if it would net me some pretty nice experience points, I just need to delay any opposition long enough for me to succeed," I said with finality as I felt that I had found the build I was looking for.

The Hexway build was specifically designed to place enemy opponents, especially the support spellcasters, into a lose-lose situation in which either their allies will take damage or the original victim takes damage. Also, the skills involved were generally chosen for their ability to be cast faster than the enemy spellcasters could remove them, with the exception of the big bosses.

"I guess it's settled then. Hexway it is," I concluded and took a look at the still passed out form of Louise Valliere who was now giving off a slight snore and shivered slightly as she curled up in a fetal position.

"You look a bit cold there and I can't have you dying from a cold, assuming mundane diseases can affect NPC's outside of combat, before you give me some really good missions and quests," I said as I used another of the bonus text commands that came with the Domestic Chores Novice Achievement: tuck in bed.

However, the action showed why the title still said novice as Setsuna carried Louise a bit too close to the headboard. Specifically her head.

*THUD* "munya, munya, munya," Louise murmured as her face scrunched in what appeared to be pain.

"Um....oops?" I said as I tried my best to hold in my laughter less I woke her up before I could leave this room for some exploring.

Once she was firmly tucked in, I took the opportunity to glance at my inventory in case I needed anything for the night as I saw the two moons shining brightly in the nightsky.

Once done with skimming over my combat-related items, Setsuna left the room and the LHoG runes began to slightly activate as though I were about to be attacked. A quick glance left and right showed that no one was there, but I remembered that I had been ambushed by Headmaster Osmond without his person ever appearing on the targetting radar.

"Oh....I guess whoever is there heard me talking out loud then?" I ventured because I finally realized that I might have blown whatever plans I had intended to enact.

For a while, there was no response.

Just as I was about to leave, the radar revealed one familiar name to my characters' back: Tabitha.

"Your Highness," I read in the text bubble even though I barely heard a whisper on the audio.

"Tabitha. I take it you want to talk," I said as I had Setsuna turn around slowly.

"Yes. Courtyard. Now," I read once more while she began to walk to the courtyard.

"Huh. Wonder what she could want," I said to no one in the hallway as I began to follow her path.

------

I really do enjoy all of the helpful feedback as they have really pointed out some of my obvious mistakes, help me write better in general, or just encouraged me to write more. Thank you all.

Authors' Note: Well, there were some who called it and kudos to you all as I wanted to show that there was someone, but the player was not paying attention as closely as could have been done because of not remembering the little encounter with Osmond and how frustrated the player was at not having the chance to get more Elite Skills (even though it would not have worked because Elementalist-based skills cannot be taken by those with Assassin/Mesmer professions not that the player was thinking that at the time).

We shall see what the Midget Dragon Rider wants in the next few snippets, hopefully.

ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.

HecateGW · May 24, 2012

Chapter Four, Part Five: Veritas vos Liberabit

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Following the Midget Dragon Rider, I could not help but notice for the first time that all of the burning light sources gave off no smoke.

Granted, I could not smell it from behind the computer screen, but I was a bit surprised that for a game that seemed to have so much realism, there was no physical sign of smoke, ashes, or bits of tinder flying out from their brass holders.

Then, I realized that I was in a magical Renaissance world.

"Doh!" I proclaimed aloud as I could have just facepalmed at missing the obvious.

Ahead, Tabitha stopped, turned her body to the side, and glanced at my character with an unreadable look. After a second, she merely shook her head and continued the walk towards the courtyard.

Now, when she said courtyard, I merely assumed the Vestri Courtyard as it was the most significant of the various courtyards within the walls of the Academy and it was also the largest in size.

While we walked in relative silence, I checked my skill bar and saw that I needed to adjust a few of those skills just in case this turned into a fight. In fact, I really hoped that there would be a fight as I had been denied once by that damn Clumsy Bald Badass.

'Okay. Let's try to remember what we learned from Siesta about Tabitha. She is a relatively quiet girl who is often found with a book in her hands, She is friends with the Germanian Kirche, her familiar summon was a blue dragon, her grades are in the top ten of her year, and she is rumored to be a line class mage and quite possibly a triangle class according to some of the other rumors,' I thought as I tried my best to remember everything I had talked to Siesta about during the first night.

"Stop," came a whispered, but firm command as Tabitha had moved to the side of a wall and placed her staff in front of my character.

Before I could say anything, Tabitha waved her unoccupied hand in a few swishing-like motions that resulted in some kind of semi-visible sphere to fall on our position.

"Tabitha, what's wrong?" I asked quietly in case something was not right and we needed the element of surprise to kill any intruders like how some RPG's use a castle or school invasion as a plot device to throw the main character headlong into a conflict. For a while, I mentally prepared myself for such a fight by running a quick exercise in my head for the best mob control tactics.

To my dismay, there would be no opportunity to gain experience points and possibly an achievement or three; only a few Academy maids passed by as they were talking about going shopping on the Day of Void and how they were grateful at the chance to get some well-earned rest.

At first, I was going to say something aloud, until I noticed that the maids who passed by Tabitha and I never noticed us and I realized that there were no enchantments, hexes, conditions, or environmental effects icons on the upper left hand of the screen. Normally, conditions like Bleeding, Hexes, such as, Backfire, or even the more recent LHoG rune would be displayed on the screen to show that something had happened to Setsuna.

Only, there was nothing other than a visual effect of what appeared to be looking from inside a sphere that gave off the effect of looking through a soap bubble. Apparently, anyone outside could not see us, but, judging by Tabitha not responding to my quiet inquiry, did not provide any protection from sounds coming from within.

'Maybe she was the one who said Vampires when I was monologuing in the hallway earlier?' I thought. 'Hmmm....I guess that would explain how I heard something, but did not see anything. I should really pay greater attention to Setsunas' surroundings next time. Maybe this is a beta version of the Thief profession who is said to have something similar to Invisible skills in Guild Wars 2.'

After the maids had disappeared down the corridor, Tabitha waved her staff in a semi-circular motion and the semi-transparent bubble around the two of us faded without any sound and did not leave any residue on the ground as far as I could tell.

After peeking up and down the hallway where the maids had come from, Tabitha turned to my character and said in low voice, "Clear. Follow....Your Highness."

"Lead the way," I responded as I had Setsuna do just that.

As I had suspected, we were now in the Vestri Courtyard and no one was anywhere to be seen except for one other: Tabithas' Familiar dragon that was titled Big Little Sister. Other than the occasional torch that dotted the walls and the moonlight from above, there were no other sources of light to illuminate the landscape of Vestri Courtyard.

The stone on the ground was finely cut and perfectly melded together from the limited vision available on my screen and I could see that Tabitha herself had not created nor carried any kind of light source.

'Probably to allow her eyes an easier time of adjusting to the dark by the pace of her slow walk and gain a bit of advantage or at least negate my own if she is preparing for a night battle.' I thought.

Even now, I could tell that Big Little Sister was flying in some kind of figure eight pattern according to the movement on the targetting radar as we walked towards the center of the courtyard.

Immediately, I analyzed the potential combat ground.

'So, it seems that she has chosen the site of the battlefield. She probably remembers how I said that I had laid out traps during that curbstomp fight with Malicorne and his thugs. That takes away my advantage for preparation then. The Courtyard is relatively open with very few obstacles, unlike the side garden, so she probably thinks that I favor uneven terrain and close quarters combat. Also, there is the rather large dragon flying above which means that any potential escape routes will be a bit difficult to find and potentially use and, quite frankly, I don't know if that dragon has any kind of breath weapons like the classic DnD kind of dragons or some other fantasy style dragons. Well, no more time as it appears she has just stopped.' I thought to myself

While I had been busy in my thoughts, I had prepared a mixture of two builds: the Pressure and the Shutdown.

The Pressure build is specifically designed to force an opponent to change key positions. And in my case, I truly believed that Tabitha had chosen the site of the battlefield like a veteran fighter. I specifically chose two skills and one signet that would likely serve me best in this build and they were Power Flux, Power Block, and Signet of Disruption.

Power Flux is designed to interrupt a spell or chant and cause gradual damage to the Energy Points of the target, which are used to cast spells and skills.

Power Block is an Elite Spell that interrupts and disables all skills that are closely associated with the interrupted skill. However, considering the different method used to classify mages in this version of Guild Wars, I was honestely uncertain if this would work the same way it did in the main game.

Finally, Signet of Disruption. This handy little signet does not consume any Energy, unlike the previous two skills and was only effective if the target foe was under a hex and would cause a moderate amount of damage.

One other feature of these two skills and one signet was that all of them were cast instantaneously and could not be blocked unless the enemy had enough time to prepare.

The Shutdown build is created for the purpose of making an enemy useless in the battle. In my case, I was using Assassin-based skills to render any of Tabithas' spells useless. I chose three skills called Black Mantis Thrust, Siphon Speed, and Iron Palm.

Black Mantis Thrust is a Lead Attack, when stringing together combo strikes, that will do minor damage but inflicts the Crippled condition if the target is hexed.

Siphon Speed is a hex spell that causes the target to move 33% slower and my character to move 33% faster. If I cast this hex spell while Tabitha was moving, then the recharge time of this spell would be halved.

Iron Palm is another Lead Attack that can cause the Knockdown condition if the target is under the effects of a hex or another condition.

All of my other skills in the rest of the slots were just a mixture of Shadow Step and variations of it and a few extra hexes and a few off-hand attacks in order to possibly string together a chained attack sequence.

In the end, I could only anticipate just what kind of skills the blue-haired mage had in store if the rumors were true that she was of greater power and experience than the five stooges of the curbstomp fight.

Waiting for Tabitha to make the first move, I checked the inventory and decided that Shiro's daggers would be a nice choice as my primary weapons.

"You should be more careful," were the first words out of her mouth as she held her staff in a somewhat relaxed stance that nearly fooled me, except I noticed that her hand gripping the staff was nearly white on the knuckles. She had stopped in the middle of Vestri Courtyard as I had expected as it allowed her a slight advantage in initiative and she stood approximately three meters away from my character.

'Huh. Just far enough that any touch-based abilities would take a precious second to travel the distance and close enough in case I try to make an escape, at least from what I know of the more combat-oriented mages of Halkeginia.' I thought somewhat distractedly as I did not want to pause too long in responding to Tabitha in case she thought I was buying time to prepare an attack.

"Careful of what, Tabitha?" I asked out of courtesy than any real desire for conversation as I mentally went over the best lead off spells to start the fight.

"Kirche might be hurt by you," she said with a slight frown on her face.

'If she had been listening in on me, I guess I can only feign ignorance. After all, like any first or second world government involved in military black operations: deny, deny, deny. Or try some other BS excuse and stick to it.' I thought.

"Wait, what? Kirche hurt by me? If you mean the song I plan to teach her, then I can hold off on it if you really think that it is too baudy and-" I would have continued had she not tapped her staff on the ground and interrupted my explanation.

"Not that. Ludwig is the uncle of Kirche," she said slightly louder than her typical whisper-like voice as her frown deepened slightly.

Now that last statement really caught my attention as I could just hear the brakes in my mind put on a full stop with screeching sound included. Quickly, I continued the conversation before she stopped giving away any pieces of information that could tip off anything plot-important.

"Ludwig? Who is Ludwig?" I asked in a fake confused tone as I tried to think where this conversation was headed as I really hoped that my cover alias of Hangaku Gozen had not been blown wide open so soon before I could establish a power base with the right titles in place.

"Your servant Hangaku Gozen visited Ludwig. Another servant of yours, the crazed, black knight. That knight is causing trouble in the Capital. Rein that knight in," Tabitha said with a deepening frown as her staff tapped the ground when she emphasized the word rein at the end.

Now, I really was surprised.

Did Tabitha collect all this evidence on my character only to come to a different conclusion?

'I, I could work with this.' I thought.

'If she really believes that my other costumes are actually servants of Princess Setsuna, then I could probably work with this. Maybe, just maybe I can pull this off. But, if I admit too easily then she might suspect something if she has been observing me with that handy little invisible technique of hers.' I thought quickly once again as another set of plans began to formulate.

While I was thinking, Tabithas' unoccupied hand slid behind her back and I kept a careful eye on that in case she planned to start a fight and all of this dialogue had only been meant as a way to take me off guard.

"And why would you think that I have any servants in Tristain? After all, I was summoned here as the Familiar of Louise Valliere, your fellow student of this Academy," I retorted as I moved my mouse towards one of the Shadow Step skills in the skill bar.

"Ludwig told me about Hangaku Gozen and I ran into a man named Olivier who said something about a crazed, black knight before he died from his wounds," Tabitha admitted in an unsusually verbose manner as her unoccupied hand came back to the front and a familiar-looking dagger was encased in ice. The same kind of dagger that I used in the skill Crippling Dagger.

'However, she has never seen Princess Setsuna use such a skill before. I definitely have to be careful if NPC's are granted some kind of memory recognition in their programming.' I thought.

"...." I said as I tried to make it seem that she had trapped me in a corner, when I was really hoping that she would come to her own conclusion, albeit the wrong one.

"I am correct, judging by your silence. Usually talkative. Even a bit crazy," she said as her frown went back into the neutral face I had seen on Tabitha during our first meeting. Also, I noticed that her staff was now in a completely vertical position as the butt end of the wood was resting on the floor in what I believed to be a more relaxed hold.

"Fine. What do you want? No one ever points out blackmail material without wanting something in return," I said with a slightly defeated tone while I tried my best to keep away any laughter from my voice because I did not believe that this was actually working.

"Do whatever you want. But, keep a tight leash on the black knight," she said in a tone of voice similar to how one would discuss the weather.

"And you want nothing in return?" I asked as I could not believe that an NPC dialogue system this adaptive would not have some kind of bartering recognition encoded.

"Only that Kirche is safe and not implicated," was the curt response.

"I see now. Because there are two, relatively recent additions of a seemingly noble persuasion to the Capital, you think that the two will be thought to be related to each other and might lead to Ludwig, the uncle of Kirche," I said as I tried to see just what kind of conclusion she had made because she just would not come out and say it.

"Yes," was her one-word agreement.

I thought that she was going to let me go scott free, until she showed what she had in mind.

"I will keep this dagger as insurance," she said while she placed the ice block containing the dagger back into some pouch or container behind her and beneath the Academy cape.

"I see then. Is that all, Tabitha?" I asked because I did not want to make this farce of a story become exposed. After all, the easiest lies to remember were the ones that were the most simple.

"Do not visit the Capital. Too risky. Good evening, Your Highness," Tabitha spoke in her usual half-whisper tone while she walked back to the dormitories, passed by Setsuna without a glance, and re-entered Academy building itself.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the dragon familiar of Tabitha had veered off course from its patrol route and headed towards another part of the grounds, probably to sleep or whatever dragons do at this time of the night.

Then, I realized:

"DAMN IT! I prepared so much for another fight and I get denied again!" I shouted in frustration.

However, my anger at being blocked from gaining more experience points was tempered by the fact that I had just convinced Tabitha that I had command over two servants, Hangaku Gozen and the black crazed knight.

This time, I did not speak my plans aloud: 'I need to come up with an alias for the black crazed knight as she called it. Gonna have to make up some name that is easy to remember. Now, the night is young and I guess I can see what goes on in countryside.' I thought.

------

Any comments, constructive criticisms, and advice is appreciated.

Authors' Note: I am still getting inspiration and I plan to take as much of it as I can get before any inspiration runs dry, despite already having an outline up to the possible death of the Gallian King.

This snippet hopefully shows that the player has not been as careful as could have been done. But then again, Tabitha might not have been the only one to have overheard or spied on Setsuna.

Edit: Slight word correction on rein/reign. Thanks goes to Flere821 for that!

ZnT/GW Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.

HecateGW · May 25, 2012

Chapter Four, Sidestory

Chief Constable of Tristania Snippet

Time: Day 3 (from the summoning)

Location: Royal Constable Office, Tristania, Tristain

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"And if your Musketeers had not called us off from our investigation, we could have properly interrogated the two remaining survivors before they died due to self-inflicted wounds!" shouted one of younger, recently promoted Gryphon Knights who went by a name I could not remember for the life of me.

"You are one to talk Gryphon Knight! We discoverd a scene of a massacre while you were merely chasing down only three thieves who angered the wrong noble for stealing! Stealing!" one of the female Musketeers shouted back at the young Gryphon Knight.

Before any response could be made by the Gryphon Knight, the Musketeer continued with a slight smirk on her face that began to give me a headache.

'I really should have retired when my son said so. But nooooo, I said that I still could be of service when the Heir Apparent, Princess Henrietta, asked if I could stay for another year. Damn my inability to say no to the Royal Family and damn my inability to say no to women in general, especially when they use that damned, wide-eyed, innocent look!' I thought as I was really beginning to get a headache from all this shouting.

"And self-inflicted wounds my ass! We all know that your brother was robbed by those three thieves in the past. How do we know that you were not the one responsible for their sudden, unexplained deaths? Or did you look the other way as he did the deed himself?!"

"HOW DARE YOU ACCU-" raged the purple-faced Gryphon Knight as he was restrained by two of his fellow Knights while spittle began to fly from his mouth.

What was supposed to be a cooperation between two of Her Majesty's loyal servants had turned into a verbal free-for-all between the Knights and the Musketeers .

"ENOUGH!" I shouted while I used a handy little Earth-Earth spell to simulate the sound of two, thin iron sheets banging on each other while I encased my ears in a protective covering.

The end result was that everyone not myself were now holding their ears in pain, much to my amusement and relief.

"We have all been brought together to investigate what is quite possibly the most terrible series of murders of mages in the capital of Tristain in centuries and the lot of you argue like little boys and girls!" I said with a loud, bellowing voice that I had gained from my years as a sergeant-major in the 2nd Regiment.

"I have a feeling that the lot of you will be the death of me before this is over. Even now, the Court Nobles are crying for blood. Some louder than others, particularly Count Mott. I know that the Musketeers have had a colored history with that man and I know that the Gryphon Knights look down on his attempts to cut your funding repeatedly, but we are servants of Her Majesty first and foremost." I said while I took the time to look at many of the audience in the eye. "I will do my best to relieve the mounting pressure, but know this: if this murderer or murderers are not found within a month, the Court Nobles will conveniently find a scapegoat. And I will not have an innocent put to the gallows under my watch."

"Am. I. Clear?" I said as I carefully enunciated each word in a tone that allowed no protest.

"Yes, Your Lordship." "Yes, Chief Constable."

"Good. You all have your jobs. Either act like mature adults who have responsibilities or I tell Her Majesty that martial law is imposed on the Capital because the Knights and the Musketeers could not function properly," I said as I knew that they understood the huge, political, military, social, and economic ramifications of an act in such perilous times.

Winces and frowns were the responses as they most certainly understood that more than just their occupations were under threat. The entire nation could be seen as weak to outside powers, especially when the Heir Apparent was still negotiating a treaty with Germania.

"Dismissed," I said with finality and went to my personal chambers where I hid a few rather strong drinks.

'Founder knows I am not going to be sober when I deal with Count Mott this afternoon.' I thought darkly.

------

Authors' Note: Just a bit of a peek on what is happening in the Capital.

As for ramifications, Albion is in the midst of Civil War and the last news that arrived on the mainland was that the Royals were now pushed to the most southern regions of the flying island and only the blind would truly believe that the conflict would stay in Albion once the Royals are finished.

Gallia has been making certain military exercises along its' northern border with Tristain that is making the Court a bit antsy at the possibility of a two-front war with Albion and Gallia.

Romalia has no love lost with Gallia, but has stated outright neutrality as war seems more of a question of when than if.

This leads to Princess Henrietta forming a treaty of sorts with Germania in an effort to secure the Eastern border, gain the backing of the premier power of Halkeginia in terms of mundane warfare, and possibly get access to the military industry of Germania.

And now this happens while Henrietta is away and the good Cardinal can only do so much when he is under suspicion as well for being a Romalian outsider.

Edit: Thanks goes to Keter 682 for pointing out two spelling errors.

HecateGW · May 26, 2012

Chapter Four, Sidestory

Agnes Snippet

Time: Day 3 (from the summoning)

Location: German Imperial Palace

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"Is Her Highness ready yet?" I asked impatiently while I paced up and down the side of the Royal Carriage while a few attendants of Her Highness packed away the last of the luggages.

"Almost, Captain. She is finalizing the details of the treaty with the Kaiser," said one of the ladies-in-waiting who I remembered was named Jeanne Charlotte Herault.

"Good. Good," I said distractedly as I checked all of my weapons for the fifteenth time this hour due to the disturbing news that had just arrived from the capital.

"Captain. If I may be so bold," Jeanne said as she waved her hand in one of those fancy gestures only nobles of high-standing ever learned, but I found to be needlessly wasteful in efficiency of movement.

"Go ahead," I said as I continued my pacing until she maneuvered herself close to my right ear, her voice carrying itself away from the German Honor Guard that stood at the side entrance to the Imperial Palace, not a dozen meters away.

"If Her Highness is truly as worried as you are despite her apparent slowness, then would it not be best if you were to present a calm, confident front as she does even now? After all, I have often learned that diplomacy is all about appearances, no?" Jeanne spoke quietly while she used her delicately embroidered fan to cover her mouth.

Inwardly, I felt like such a fool.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid. Here you are Agnes trying to rush Her Highness while she is trying to keep as much leverage as possible in negotiations.' I thought as I stopped myself from facepalming, just barely.

While I was busy with my thoughts, Jeanne gave me an enigmatic smile, "Good. You understand then. I can see why Her Highness praises you so highly."

As I turned to thank her, she grabbed the back of my head and gave me a deep kiss on the lips that did not leave me blushing.

I was not blushing.

That was just the cold morning air.

The sensation of her kiss was not on the forefront of my mind.

No sir.

Another part of my mind heard the German Honor Guard whistling and hooting in encouragement.

"And I have to say that you are absolutely adorable when your face takes on that look of realization," she loudly squealed while the other ladies-in-waiting laughed behind their fans.

"What do you think you are doing, Jeanne?!" I quietly hissed at her.

"Do you see now?" she asked quietly as her smile broadened to show her teeth and her left hand continued to stroke my right facial cheek in an intimate fashion.

"See what!" I quietly spat out.

"The guards will not remember your nervous pacing as they are now thinking with their second heads," she finished as she continued to gently stroke my face that caused my blush to return slightly.

"....You planned this all along?" I said with a slightly accusatory tone while a small part of my mind felt a bit hurt that I had been a pawn. The other, more pragmatic part could not help but whistle in appreciation for what the High Noble had done without having had to resort to physical violence.

"The guards are too distracted by our little rendezvous and they will think of little else." she whispered and then continued in a louder, more smoky tone, "But if the kiss left you wanting and after Her Highness has returned to the Capital safely, know that my shift for the year ends on the third Day of the Void."

As she left my personal space to speak with the other ladies-in-waiting, I had only one thought on my mind:

'I'll be in my cot.'

------

Authors' Note: For some reason I kept thinking of Jayne Cobb whenever I was trying to write out Agnes. Only a female Jayne Cobb. With fire mage issues.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy this as I might be a bit busy in the coming few day and my connection might be sporadic.

HecateGW · May 28, 2012

Chapter Four, Part Six: Veritas vos Liberabit

Time: Night 2 (from the summoning)

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Wandering around the Vestri Courtyard at the dead of night, I was busy in my thoughts over the conversation I had with Tabitha just a few minutes ago.

'She said that she spoke with Ludwig. Does that mean she is on speaking terms with Ludwig through Kirche? Or does that mean that she is a regular customer of Ludwig and he told her something of interest? Perhaps, she might have overheard something he said?' I thought.

Taking a quick look around and checking the targetting radar, I decided that a stroll in the surrounding lands of the Academy proper would do me some good.

Ordering Setsuna to get past the gated entrance through a quick Shadow Step, I continued in my thoughts.

'Or would it be possible that she is both a good customer and knows Ludwig because of Kirche? But then, she did not use the words favorite or any other adjective to describe uncle in a good way. Then again, she did not use any bad adjectives to describe Ludwig. However, she did say that Kirche would get hurt if my two 'servants' were linked to Ludwig.' I thought while I had Setsuna stop her run in the middle of the forest, confident that there was nothing that could possibly harm my character.

'She doesn't seem like the type to mince words and speaks only when necessary. But why would she confront me alone? Well, aside from her Familiar, there were no others around, unless they used some kind of scrying or invisibility trick. But, that would defeat the purpose of protecting Kirche as she seemed to be doing.' I thought while I began to change Setsunas' second profession.

"Enough thinking for the night. I really haven't explored the surrounding area like a proper player character. I need to remedy that and possibly get involved in a few adventures before advancing the main plot. I need to change that now," I spoke aloud as I began to follow the direction of the two moons in the sky.

Throughout the forest, I saw a variety of evergreen trees spread throughout this forest. It appeared, however, that the majority were cypress if I remembered my horticulture correctly.

Cypress trees rarely ever exceeded forty meters due to having rather shallow roots, which in turn, meant that the center of gravity would go so high to the point that the weight of the tree and the lack of sufficient foundational support would mean that plant would topple over.

However, the beauty of this evergreen was its' ability to tolerate a very wide range of climates, especially the colder ones, a variety soils, and high amounts of pollution. Also, cypress trees have been known to be rather fast growing plants that have often been used for screens or boundaries in many gardens around the world.

The only climate the cypress could not surive very well were the warmer climates nearer to the equator, which would be the reason why cypress trees and other evergreens tended to be found thriving in the more northerly regions of the world, like Europe, Canada, Russia and other such areas.

"I have to say that I really enjoy even such a small detail as the type of trees that can be commonly found in an alternate version of Europe," I said aloud as I circled one of the larger trees to see just how much detail had been invested in a single tree. "Only this Europe has magic. And tsunderes. Really easy to tease tsunderes."

Once my examination was over, I continued my walk as I changed my secondary profession from Mesmer to Monk for something I had in mind if I ran into some commoner villagers this late.

Unfortunately, I was interrupted by a single dot moving on the radar that was moving in my direction rather erratically, but still moving in my general direction.

Checking out the name of the person or being, I discoverd that it was Miss Longueville.

"Now what would the person previously titled as Suspicious Secretary be doing this late out at night? And away from the Academy when she has her own room and board there? Maybe she's just getting some fresh air?" I wondered aloud.

Then, in a more mischievous voice, I said, "Or could she be having a lovers' rendezvous and is a little inebriated from her encounter this late?"

Soon enough, my curiosity was answered when I saw Miss Longueville stumble over a tree root and fall down, face first, with a resounding thud that made me wince in reaction.

"Ouch," I said quietly as I could sympathize with just how painful that could be. From a glance, I could tell that her clothing was torn in several places and there were splotches of dirt and blood in scattered patterns all over her person.

Running to her side, I realized that she had somehow knocked herself out, pretended to be unconscious, or was too tired to move because she did not stand up from my close proximity, but she was not dead because I saw that her health bar showed that she was still alive and suffering from the condition called Bleeding due to the pink color that overlaid the normal red color.

Bleeding is the condition that typicaly causes a character to lose health over time.

Before I could come to a decision to help or not, I noticed more dots appear on the radar from the general direction Miss Longueville had come from. I also noted that there were approximately seven of these dots moving in some kind of search pattern after a few seconds of observation on the radar.

They were moving slowly and I noticed that they were titled, Gryphon Knights.

Coming to a quick decision, I chose to activate One With The Shadows in order to carry the injured Miss Longueville back to the Academy.

Achievement Unlocked:

Enlightened Self-Interest Quest Unlocked

"Huh," was my only response to the screen that had appeared.

After several more Shadow Steps, I appeared in one of the side gardens where I had had my conversation with a then, crying Montmorency.

Once there, I laid Miss Longueville on the bench and used my Monk skills to deal with her Bleeding condition. Standing on her right, I activated the Monk skill I had in mind while I searched my inventory in case she needed a change of clothing later on.

As soon as I had dealt with the Bleeding condition, the health bar of Miss Longueville turned into a green color.

"Poison as well? My my, Miss Longueville. Whatever have you gotten yourself into that got you poisoned as well," I said aloud while I had to change my secondary profession from Monk to Ranger.

"Hmph. I never understood how the Monk class that is supposed to be the healer never has any skill that can deal with poison. I guess that's just one of the methods the developers use to balance the game and make it more exciting and fair," I muttered as I loaded up the Antidote Signet of the Ranger class and targetted Miss Longueville.

The first attempt at cleansing the poison did not meet my expectations.

"That's weird now. Usually I can neutralize poison with one pass, but it seems that all it does is slow down the rate of health degeneration. Well, time to try again," I said as I activated the Signet once more.

"At least I only have to wait four seconds for the antidote signet to re-charge, otherwise, you would be in very big trouble Suspicious Secretary."

Activating the Signet two more times, I saw that the poison was effectively gone from her heatlh bar as the color changed from the green color that signalled a poisoned state to the color of red which meant that the character in question was more or less normal.

Immediately, I changed my secondary profession back from Ranger to Monk. While Miss Longeuville no longer suffered from any kind of health degeneration, she was down to approximately less than five percent of her total health. Out of habit, I decided to just go ahead and heal her.

"Besides, it's not like I'm giving up any rare materials to heal you. Although, I will definitely want a good answer or three for why you ended up just like that. Who knows? Maybe I just got my wish answered for an adventure or two on the side before advancing the main plot," I wondered aloud.

Meanwhile, I noticed two wands drop onto the ground. Deciding to see what special properties Halkeginia wands had, I stored the objects in question into my inventory for closer inspection.

The first thing I noticed was the name of the first wand: Crumbler. The name of the second wand was Generic Earth Wand.

Crumbler gave some bonuses to unlocking and analyzing all locks, gated doors, chests, and anything else that could not be opened without having either the keys or using brute force. It also gave another bonus to golem-making and rapid casting.

Generic Earth Wand gave a bonus to all Earth-based magic and granted the user a some measure resistance to damage from Earth-based spells.

I might have judged the various bonuses and other perks of the two wands as high, moderate, or low, but I was not certain of what number would correspond to what level. In fact, now that I thought about it, I really needed to consult any NPC guide or skills trainer in Halkeginia that could help me understand what was the baseline average for certain stats involving weapons, armor, and other goodies of Void Ascension.

"After all, knowing is half the battle," I muttered and began to quietly hum the old G.I. Joe theme from one of those retro re-runs I had seen a few years ago.

Once I was done humming the opening theme song, I re-directed my attention back to the sleeping form of Miss Longueville, aka Suspicious Secretary.

Taking a better look, I could see that some of the blood on her clothing was already dried, while the other blood stains appeared more recent.

"Hmmm....if I remember correctly, blood does not coagulate in a visible manner for several minutes over any wound and assuming that she does not have any kind of blood or organ disorder and she has not aggravated these wounds, then I can conclude that some of these older wounds were from only thirty mintues ago, give or take ten minutes," I reasoned aloud as I tried my best to remember some of my pre-med classes from several years ago.

It wasn't too long a wait because Miss Longuevilles' eyes fluttered open. Almost immediately, she sat up quickly while her hand went to her waist in an attempt grab something that was not there.

"Awake already, Miss Longueville?" I asked when she looked in the opposite direction of where I was at.

"Wha- who goes....oh, it's you," Miss Longueville said as she maneuvered herself into a sitting position with her feet firmly on the ground and her hands on her lap.

"Only me? Am I so insignificant that I am only deserving of the title you?" I asked in amusement while I tried my best not to let my eyes wander over the glimpses of skin that were showing through the various tears in her clothing.

"I apologize. I meant Your Highness," Miss Longueville said as she stood up and bowed to my character and inadvertedly revealed that she either did not believe in wearing bras or the bra had somehow been lost or damaged to the point that nothing was holding her assets from swinging freely.

"I was only joking, Miss Longueville. There is no need to be so formal in my presence. Besides, I think that you could use a change of clothing. Wouldn't you agree?" I asked while I removed a Mesmer Ascalon armor and placed it on the bench.

As last of the words left my mouth, Miss Longueville stood up from her bow and looked over herself. Upon noticing the state of her clothing, she gasped in surprise.

"I, I can explain, you see...." she nervously tried to say when her head snapped back up to meet Setsunas'.

"Hush now. I said that I have a change of clothing right here. For now, let's take this one step at a time," I reassured her while I was mentally giving off evil laughter because of where I was headed with this conversation.

"But why would you offer me clothing? It does not make any sense because you do not know me and I do not know you," Miss Longueville spoke in hushed tones while her hands tried their best to preserve her modesty.

Then, her eyes narrowed slightly, "Wait a minute. How did I get here and where are my wands?"

"I have your wands in my possession and you can have them back. However, I think that your wands might not be carried so easily in your clothing if they are ripped as they are now," I dryly noted to which Miss Longueville blushed slightly.

Coughing in her mouth to hid her embarrassment, "....You do make a good point."

Picking up the clothing I had placed on the bench, she noted, "This is not a dress."

"You are correct. I have found that I tend to like non-dress uniforms and fashion styles as I have less to worry about getting any piece of clothing dirty because it was not close to the skin," I lied because, in reality, I had no idea if Setsuna really ever needed to worry about such matters. Besides, if the clothing were ever destroyed, I would just buy a new one or trade from the local channels anyway.

"I see," Miss Longueville said as she began to take off her clothing, much to my joy.

She did not ask Setsuna to turn around, close her eyes, or even try to hide her body while she changed into the Mesmer Ascalon armor that had they typical green on white coloration to it. I had chosen this clothing largely because I thought that it would look nice on Miss Longueville and provide me with some eye candy.

'She probably thinks that we're both women and she doesn't trust me enough to turn her back to Setsuna. Also, she didn't ask me to leave maybe because I still have her wands and she isn't sure if Setsuna won't alert the Headmaster that his secretary was out so late at night and raise some rather difficult questions.' I analyzed in my mind.

Long story short, I found that she had a very appealing body underneath that clothing and I decided that if I were going to get another mook or two from this Academy, then I would see if I could recruit Miss Longueville.

'Heh. Maybe I could befriend her, Nanoha style.' I thought while I now enjoyed how the clothing fit her body perfectly.

"You healed me," Miss Longueville said while she made some last minute adjustments to the sleeves and gloves.

"Yes. I found you bleeding and poisoned while I was taking a nightly stroll around the countryside," I responded with the truth to see just how this NPC would react.

On revealing the state I had discovered her in, she stopped moving her clothing around and looked up at Setsuna with a neutral mask on. It also appeared that she had moved her body into some kind of semi-relaxed stance with both feet spread to shoulder length and her hands slightly away from her sides.

"Oh. Before I forget, here are your wands," I said as I removed the two wands I had found earlier and placed them on the bench.

Surprisingly, Miss Longuevilles' mouth dropped open in shock while her eyes widened.

"Something wrong, Miss Longueville?" I asked even though I believed I already knew the answer.

"Wha-, bu-that's not how you're supposed to do it!" Miss Longueville finished with a slight hitch to her voice while she pointed at Setsuna.

"Oh? Like how I was not supposed to heal you?" I asked with a bit of amusement dripping into my voice.

"Yes!" she exclaimed only to backtrack, "I mean no! I-you-why would you do all of this?"

"Because I felt like it?"

"What, that does not make any sense at all becau-"

"Or how about I did it because Panty Peeper would miss you?"

*eyebrow twitch* "Please do not mention that pest around me ever aga-"

"Or maybe I find you irresistably attractive and I want to ravage you right here and now?"

After that supposed confession on my part, Miss Longuevilles' mouth dropped open again while I noticed that she began to blush much like how Professor Colbert blushed when I had Setsuna tease him mercilessly about his supposedly insatiable lust.

"You what?!" she managed to squeak out as her blush reached past her face and down to her neck.

*snort* "Look at your face!" I proclaimed as I broke down in laughter.

Seeing Setsuna start to laugh at her expense, Miss Longueville could only huff, fold her arms, and look away.

"That was not funny at all," she muttered.

"I'm sorry," I said even though I continued to chuckle. "I was wondering just what kind of poison was in your body because it took me four attempts to completely purge it out of your body."

"Purge? Four times?!" she half shouted.

"Is something wrong?" I asked wondering if the poison had been some kind of special skill I could take from one of those Gryphon Knights that had been searching for her.

"....the poison is a rather potent one and it is often recognized as one of the deadlier kinds without resorting to Elvish poison. To attempt even a single purging would be taxing on most Line Water mages," she admitted while she began to look at Setsuna as though she were seeing my character for the first time.

"Huh. That's news to me."

"You probably do not understand the significance of that because you are a foreign royal from a far off land. But this poison is typically difficult to purge, even for some of the more skilled healers in Tristain, let alone the rest of Halkeginia," she said with a bit of awe in her voice.

"Skilled in what sense," I said as Miss Longuevilles' knees gave out and she fell back onto the bench in a sitting position.

"Skilled in the sense that it would have likely taken at the very least an extremely skilled Triangle class mage or even a low-end Square class," she finished with a whisper while I realized that the NPC appeared to have such a human-like response that I nearly let out a whistle in appreciation for the lengths the developers went to achieve such realism.

And so I waited for Miss Longueville while she appeared to be busy in her thoughts and did not move from her sitting position.

During the entire time, I had kept an eye on the radar just in case those Gryphon Knights had somehow followed Setsuna, but much to my disappointment, that was not the case.

"....What do you want?" she finally said, breaking the silence.

"Want? Why would I want anything?" I asked.

"No one ever does anything without having some kind of motivation behind it," Miss Longueville spoke in hushed tones while her hands began to play with the sleeves of the uniform I had given her.

"Your friendship," I said because I remembered that I had activated a quest earlier and I was hoping to get more experience ever since Tabitha said that the capital was off limits for the time being.

"....friendship," she muttered bitterly.

"Well, I do have to admit one thing," I drawled and Miss Longueville looked up with trepidation to meet Setsunas' face while her hands were now clenched tightly, showing white knuckles.

"What is it?" the green-haired woman whispered.

"When I said I would ravage you? I was not joking," I said and I nearly laughed out loud once again when the blush that had gone away only a few seconds ago came back with full force.

"...."

"But don't worry. I only ravage those who are willing. So, does friendship sound good?" I asked hoping that I could do the quest.

"....friendship does sound nice," she said with hesitation.

Achievement Unlocked:

Crumbling Dirt Friendship Achieved

"Do not worry Miss Longueville. Let us just say some of my subordinates, besides calling me Princess Setsuna, also gave me the title La Maupin on occasion," I said cheerfully with the knowledge that I now had achieved friendship status with Miss Longueville.

"....that title sound a bit ominous," Miss Longueville deadpanned even though her hands still shook a bit, probably from how nervous she had been only moments earlier.

"We should go inside where it is far warmer," I said while I ignored what my new NPC friend had uttered aloud.

And so, we headed towards the Academy.

------

Helpful feedback is appreciated, even if it is only a comment to say that I'm doing okay so far.

Authors' Note: Sorry that took so long, but the weekend was a bit busy. Now, I hope that the length can make up for my lack of updating in a while.

Anyway, I have now gained a new friend and possible ally.

Although, I leave it up to you all to figure out just what Foquet was doing that caught the attention of the Gryphon Knights.

ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC-Controlled Assassin.

HecateGW · May 29, 2012

Keter 682 said:
typos found highlighted, computer acting funny, sorry can't write more
great snippet.

No problem on not being able to write more.

I appreciate your help in pointing out my errors. Thanks.

Khaos said:
Oh, la Maupin, her (inaccurate) biography at baddassoftheweek.com is so fun! I assume you've read it?
Besides that, should I understand that Foucquet would have died without Setsuna?

Yes, I have read both the actualy history and the more exaggerated version online.

Even though the online one is not accurate, it is still quite entertaining.

Well, I don't want to give away that Fouquet would have died until I can get to the next chapter.

Let's just say that she was planning to rob something in the Capital, but chose the wrong day to do so.

Thanks for reading.

KaPe said:
Gee, what a terrible shame would that be. Well, at least Panty Peeper is happy.

Not really much else to say. I mean, something big is happening, but we really don't know what and why. It does kinda make sense that Foquet didn't do her golem trick, considering the capital is on high alert, but beyond that? "Gryphon Knights hunting Black Knight and finding Foquet instead" is kinda obvious, but I doubt it's merely this.

I suppose game mechanics failing Setsuna for the first time is somewhat important.

Yes, that would be a terrible shame wouldn't it?

This does appear more of filler as I am trying to set up how canon is going to rapidly diverge from the time that the Princess meets her best friend.

It does not necessarily mean that certain big events won't happen, only that a lot of what you might have recognized as ZnT canon might not be recognizable.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Flere821 said:
Good chapter, though I do have a few questions:

1) The player seems a bit prone to speak his thoughts aloud... personally when I play RPGs I might only verbalise a third of what he says (then again, it might just be me *shrug*). While it does push plot forward because you never know who might be listening to Setsuna, it's starting to feel a tiny bit forced.

2) Is 'hurt commoners in the middle of the night' a frequent occurance and/or a famous quest in Guild Wars? It seems a tad convenient for Setsuna to switch into Monk class and anticipating for someone to heal... IMO, it might be better for Setsuna to switch into Monk class after finding Foquet (as demonstrated when switching from Monk to Ranger, class change doesn't take that long to do?), but it doesn't break my SoD too much - assuming Monk class can heal yourself as well, I wouldn't find it wrong for a conservative player to have a method onhand to heal yourself when entering relatively unexplored territory.
(out of curiosity, just what character classes does Setsuna has access to at this point? Is there feasibly any situation that none of your character skills can handle? Outside of 'political clusterfraks', anyway)

The settings, character details and character interactions are good, keep it up

As for speaking?

It is a bit of a trait the player does have in MMORPG due to the heavily reliance on skype or other chat to verbally alert fellow players during PvP or PvE.

During my time in the guild wars games, the guild I was with had a pretty good system in place that ensured only the 'commanders' would bark out orders during combat. It was especially fun for me when I discovered that I had been elected (*cough*not by choice) as the Guild Leader because no one else wanted the damn job and I got stuck with it for about 8 months.

As for hurt during the night, there were quite a few missions that do happen during night time throughout the various Guild Wars games and it is usually my habit to rely on Monk class whenever I explore the new areas.

While professions can be changed even in combat, as the player will figure out sooner or later, the game world will not pause during the time the player has to allocate all the proper points and skills on the interface/HUD.

Anyway, thank you for your post and compliment.

Filraen said:
Panty peeper was both the game denomination and "in-game" nickname to the familiar. When the Player will start checking about other nicknames? He now knows Miss Loungeville is "Crumbling Dirt", but he doesn't know just how much that means "in-game".

Sometimes the player will make note of the name, sometimes the player will not, depending on the context of the situation as they arise.

Other nicknames will be noted as time goes on, but it is not something that I as the writer want to focus on too much or else I might lose sight of the main story. From here on out, I am trying to show what is the actual in-game time and it has only been two days from the players' perspective of within the game, but already several weeks in real-world time.

But thanks for reminding me as I do sometimes forget about the names/titles thing.

Thank you for your comments and advice.

KaPe said:
We've seen Mesmer, Assasin, Ranger, Monk. Seeing how much Setsuna wants to fight Colbert for his skills, Elementalist is pretty much a given. So, that's 5 out of 10 at least - if we assume full access to GW skills, that's like 5 square mages rolled in one. If we include EotN special skills, it's pretty much a god-mode.

Although, it's debatable how GW skills compare to ZnT spells. I mean, canon Foquet was a triangle I think? Yet that huge golem was way stronger than anything you could possibly summon in GW. Square level golem would be, what, half power Great Destroyer? On the other hand, Mesmer is pretty much anti-mage (and not merely limited to this) and would make even squares cry in frustration (possibly using the exact skill ) Can't say much about Assasin yet, Gryphon Knights with actual close combat skills might be quite a suprise to someone specializing in striking against soft targets.

Full access is something I can confirm without giving away future points of the story.

However, some things will definitely be far out of the league of Setsuna that it won't even be funny.

For example, if the golem that Fouquet summoned in the OTL were to show up?

Setsuna would probably have to pull all the stops just to survive.

Then again, Mesmer skills are pretty much broken in their ability to interrupt, stop, or even divert the magical abilities of most Halkeginia mages.

In my story, let's just say that the Halkeginia Elves are going to be frothing at the mouth when/if they learn of Setsuna's Mesmer skills and encounter them firsthand.

HecateGW · Jun 13, 2012

Chapter Four, Part Seven: Veritas vos Liberabit

Time: Night 2 (from the summoning)

------

Once we had re-entered the Academy from one of the side entrances, I decided to ask something before anyone else in this place would notice and it would be too late by then.

Just to be a little extra cautious and before doing any questioning, I moved towards one of the less used hallways that led towards the Tower of Void and not too far from the side entrance we had taken.

Fortunately for my character, Miss Longueville followed without any protest.

On the way there, the Headmasters' secretary remained quiet and did not engage any conversation with Setsuna.

On the targetting radar, I saw nothing out of the ordinary that would warrant any kind of use of Shadow Steps or any of the more recently gained abilities like One With The Shadows.

Arriving at the destination, I turned to face the woman, now friend according to the achievement alert, not to mention that she was also delicious eyecandy.

"I can take your old clothing if you'd like?" I asked because I was not certain if any of the Academy staff or teachers would ask some uncomfortable questions of Miss Longueville before I could attempt the quest I had recently unlocked and I was not sure the secretary would be necessary for the completion of said quest.

It appeared that Miss Longueville was able to sense part of my motive or, at the very least, see the reasoning behind my inquiry, because she grimaced slightly in response and said, "And where would you hide my clothing, Setsuna? No offense intended, but your clothing seems to lack a bit in the way of.... suitable hiding places or large pockets."

In the meantime, she looked over the torn clothing held in her hands.

"You hurt me so, Miss Longueville," I teased, but her grimace only deepened in turn. So, I decided to head off any further protests, "Besides, do you see any obvious places on my person that could hold an extra set of clothing? And I am not offended at all."

"I...." she had begun until realization hit her and her grimace turned into a thoughtful look while her free hand moved up to tap her chin.

For some odd reason, I thought of Rin Tohsaka in one of her poses and that made me wonder if I could convince the green-haired woman to wear something similiar to zettai ryouiki, but with colors that would contrast nicely with her green hair and those glasses.

"Just where did you keep that extra set of clothing?" she asked while keeping that pose.

"Magic," came my cheeky reply to which Miss Longueville gave a flat stare.

"....magic. *sigh* I suppose that you will not tell me then?" she asked while her free hand moved to rub her forehead in a way that reminded me of those Japanese comedy routines called manzai.

"I would tell you, but I am sworn to secrecy as a member of the Canthan Imperial Family unless specific conditions are met," I said more seriously to which Miss Longueville responded with a sigh.

"And telling that secret without certain conditions would likely have me killed?" she responded with a bitter smile as though she were remembering something unpleasant.

"Come now, Miss Longueville. Such a look does not belong on your pretty face." I said trying to cheer her up. "Besides, if you really need to mope, we can go to the local bar, grab some alcohol, and share stories while we get absolutely drunk!"

"I was not moping!" the secretary hotly denied with a half-hearted glare while it appeared she was trying to stop the corners of her mouth from twitching upwards.

"Do not worry, my friend. I can probably find you a nice, virile, young man or three who can cheer you up without ever having to use words," I teased but decided to change to course of the conversation when I saw that her face had begun to darken slightly and her head lowered to the point that the bangs of her hair covered her eyes.

"If you are my friend, please do not mention multiple men doing unspeakable things around me," she whispered and I could not hear.

However, I only knew that she had whispered because I saw the dialogue box above her head show the words and I decided that a change in the conversation might work.

"Or you could have m~e," I said somewhat smokily as I moved Setsuna closer to Miss Longueville.

Immediately, the secretarys' head snapped up to meet Setsunas' and her eyes were slightly widened while she backed into the wall.

"What!" Longueville whispered harshly as a slight blush appeared on her face again.

"You should see the look on your face, my dear," I said as I tried my best to hold back my laughter while I moved Setsuna back a few paces from the other woman as she sighed in relief.

"....It was not that funny," Miss Longueville muttered while her head glanced to the side after she had taken a few breaths to calm herself.

"It was funny," I shot back with a smirk. In turn, Miss Longuevilles' head moved to face Setsuna once again with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was not."

"Was too."

*snort*

"What is so funny this time, Setsuna?" the other woman asked as she tapped her foot in annoyance and took up a posture that seemed eerily similar to another of the Rin Tohsaka poses. The kind where she lectured Shiro on another facet of how the other world worked.

"Try to remember our conversation we just had a while ago," I pointed out.

"And?" she asked.

"You just agreed with me," I said with a bright smile that grew even wider when Miss Longuevilles' eyes widened in realization and then narrowed into a glare.

"You, you, you are so childish," she accused while pointing a finger in my characters' face, a few inches from the nose.

"I suppose so. But, my offer is still good if you want to keep your clothing," I said without responding to her accusation.

"....fine. Take my clothing. But if you try anything absurd with it-" she trailed off while folding her arms beneath her chest.

"Not to worry, my friend. I promise not to take this clothing to the Headmaster, describe how I could not contain my urges, and request some medical leave for his secretary who is suffering from dehydration due to vigorous activities the night before!" I cheerfully said as I stored the dirty clothing into an inventory slot.

"...."

"I see you agree with me!" I continued in a cheerful tone as Miss Longuevilles' shoulders slumped in what appeared to be defeat.

*groan* "I am seriously starting to doubt accepting your offer of friendship was a good idea," Miss Longueville stated in a facepalm.

While the NPC was speaking, I quickly checked that stats on the clothing marked Tiffania's Gift.

Achievement Unlocked:

Orphanage Caring Quest Unlocked

'Wonder who Tiffania is? Maybe some kind of child or a sister? Possibly a mother? Maybe a lover?' I thought while looking over the stats.

"Do not worry," I chirped. "Our friendship will be a most productive and fruitful one if I have anything to say about it!"

"....that is what I am afraid of," she said while I ignored it in favor of leaving the hallway since I had finally convinced my new friend to let go of her torn clothing.

------

Comments, Constructive Criticisms, or just drop by and say something is or is not going well.

Authors' Note: Finally resolved a few issues I had with ZnT in comparison to the OTL Renaissance/Early Modern Era and I think we might actually see some semi-regular updates from me.

I know it is a bit short, but the next snippet should (hopefully) be longer.

ZnT/Guild Wars Crossover with PC Controlled Assassin.

HecateGW · Jun 19, 2012

Omake 003

What would happen if Setsuna had numerous restarts with her pal, Derflinger leading up to the Battle of Saxe-Gotha?

------

Location: Approximately 2 leagues from Saxe-Gotha

Time: Night 55 (from time of summoning); Night 155 (from adding all restarts from last checkpoint)

Save Checkpoint: [REDACTED]

------

Standing on top of the hill before the armies of Albion and the mind-controlled minions from Tristania and Germania, the Gandlfr and her trusted friend, Derflinger were discussing some rather important matters.

"So, did you have fun with Matilda's little sister?" asked the talking sword.

Or maybe not so important matters.

"Well, she did ask if there was any way she could show her gratefulness for my donation of 100,000 gold coins and how could I ever reject her generous offer," I said to the highly knowledgeable, yet perverted sword spirit.

In the meantime, I checked my improved skills list as I had recently achieved Level 35 and opened an entirely new branch of skills that had seemingly come straight from the Guild Wars 2 beta.

"And the fact that you ran from the bed of your lover in a blind panic is because...." teased the talking sword as it slightly vibrated in its sheath.

"I said I don't want to talk about it," I snapped at the sword.

"You're just scared to face Matilda after she summoned that big-ass golem to punk your puny ass," Derflinger shot back with an amused tone while it tried to imitate a more baritone voice.

"I swear, that is the last time I leave you near that BET website," I grumbled half-heartedly, even though I was inwardly amused at how much lingo the sword had picked up.

Derflinger seemed to pick up on my amusement as he continued voicing his thoughts.

"I don't blame you, partner. I mean if I had to choose between your master's middle sister and the half-elf, I say choose the mountains over the molehills!" Derflinger cheerfully said, while completely ignoring my own statements.

"Have I ever told you that I am going to sell you to the lowest bidder the next time we reach civilization?" I asked.

"382 times now, partner," the sword said almost immediately.

In response, I paused in my thoughts and asked, "Do you actually keep track?"

"Nope!" came the all too cheerful reply. "Just thought of the first number!"

*sigh* "What will I ever do with you?" I asked with some exasperation.

"Put me down on the headboard with a very good view of the bed, ask me to keep quiet, and then order me to memorize everything I see whle you are busy with your latest conquest, La Maupin," Derflinger said. "And I have to admit that you really have good taste in badonkadonks. Especially that hot blonde nun in Gallia."

"Again with those words, Derflinger," I said, slightly annoyed, even though I could not stop my mouth from twitching upwards in an amused smile.

"Fo' shizzle my nizzle, my beautiful chink sista'," said the amused Derflinger.

"You do realize that this body is only an animated avatar, right?" I asked while I watched the army of over 70,000 march ever closer to our position.

For about a minute, nothing was said afterwards as a comfortable silence came over the weapon and the weapon user. Then, the silence was broken.

"So, how are we going to deal with the army this time around?" Derflinger asked with a bit of eagerness to his voice.

"Are we going to pursue terror tactics using your Black Knight persona? Or are we going to do some Vietcong style, guerilla warfare?" and Derflinger would have asked even more questions had I not stopped him.

"No, I think I shall do something a bit more straighforward. It might even net me an achievement or two," I said with some excitement that had nothing to do with fear.

"Oh? And what is it this time?" asked Derflinger.

Instead of answering verbally, I had my character unsheath Derflinger from his position on the back of Setsuna and begin a charge down towards the marching army.

And with a great cry, I shouted:

"LEEERROOOYYY JJJEENNNNKKIIINNNSSS!!!"

Several minutes later of panicked button mashing and mouse clicking ensued until Setsuna lay on her back after having dispatched over a tenth of the enemy numbers.

Just before the inevitable character death from enemy ranged weapons happened, a title flashed on screen:

Achievement Unlocked:

Had Some Good Chicken Achieved

------

Authors Note: Just something to, hopefully, show that this story is not dead, just a bit slow right now.

Void Ascension (ZnT/GW)

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