Bladebound Retainer Quest #2

>In Plain Sight: Take 75 when Disguising/Hiding/Sneaking
>Nimble Fingers: +30 to non-attack actions involving your hands (lockpicking, pickpocketing, etc.).

>Atelier of Death: Craft your own Bombs and Poisons
>>Nimble Fingers: +30 to non-attack actions involving your hands (lockpicking, pickpocketing, etc.).

>>Nimble Fingers: +30 to non-attack actions involving your hands (lockpicking, pickpocketing, etc.).
>Tainted Blood: +30 to Poison/Venom/Toxin Resistance Checks

>Atelier of Death: Craft your own Bombs and Poisons
>In Plain Sight: Take 75 when Disguising/Hiding/Sneaking

>Atelier of Death
>Nimble Fingers

Years spent mixing components together, years picking objects out of rigged compartments. The price of failure was high, always high. At the best, the bomb would fail to explode, the poison only gave the target an upset stomach. The key would scrape against the drawer, and the pouch of coins jingled in the air. Mild and passing, nothing too dramatic.

But at the worst, the bomb would explode prematurely, the poison takes too long to bring down a mark. The trap is sprung, the sensation of a thousand needles being driven into your hand, and a desperate flight from an irate peasant determined to cut your fingers.

Pain was the greatest reinforcement your mentor used, more often than not. Never lasting, not to harm the body. But he knew how to hurt without leaving permanent damage, how to inflict pain with only the slightest of stimuli. You were quick to rectify your mistakes and learn from them. Seldom was the part where you would repeat the same error.

Only the most alert of men and women can feel you reach into their pockets, retrieving coin purses, jewelry and other miscellaneous valuables. And while he never taught you the more dangerous of formulae or concoctions, it took the most careless of errors to prematurely detonate a bomb or ruin a poison.

>Bomb Formulae:
>Hellscape (Hallucinogen)
>Night’s Breath (Smoke)
>Splintershard (Fragmentation)

>Poison Recipes:
>Bodylock (Paralysis)
>Hangman’s Noose (Asphyxiation)
>Widow Fang (Necrosis)

The only redeeming part of Lucien was his effectiveness. As much as you’d like to, you cannot deny how well his lessons lingered. The price was high and costly, but you stood far above the rest of Aderaveth’s combatants. It didn’t matter whether or not they were thieves or brigands, knights in armor or men-at-arms.

All fell before the dance of your blades.

>“What do you want, Lucien?”
>“Get out of my head, old man.”
>“You’re supposed to be dead.”
>Custom option.

>“You’re supposed to be dead.”
>“What do you want, Lucien?”

>>“What do you want, Lucien?”

>>“What do you want, Lucien?”

>“What do you want, Lucien?”

>“What do you want, Lucien?”

“What do you want, Lucien?”

That always gets him. Anything other than ‘sir’ or ‘master’ always pissed him off. And even in this dream, that trait still carries over. He scowls at your casual impertinence and snorts derisively. “Is it too much for a father to wonder how his son fares after all these years?”

“Not when it’s you.”

He shifts in his position, sitting up straighter against the wall. “That hurts, you know? Even more than the thirty nine times you stabbed me to death with that dagger of yours.”

“Excuse me if I don’t share any sort of misguided sympathies,” You spit out, your teeth clenched in anger. “So don’t try to kid yourself by playing the doting parent. That isn’t going to work on me.”

“Good lad,” Lucien’s smile returns, even wider than before. “Had you come running up to me with your arms open and outstretched, begging for an absolution, I would’ve gutted you myself. The last thing I wanted to bring into this world was bleeding heart.”

You scowl. “So is there a point to interrupting my dreams? Because the last time I checked, you’re supposed to be dead. And I’m not above ‘double tapping’ in my sleep, Lucien.”

“Dream…I suppose that’s one way of describing this little reunion. And as for why I’m here, I’m here to give you a message of sorts.”

A message in a dream. From your dead mentor, nonetheless.

You’d laugh at the surreality of the situation if it didn’t give you pause. Because in all the dreams that you’ve had of your father, this is the first time he’s actually talked back to you. Normally, it just involves kicking the corpse or adding a few new lacerations, but this time was significantly different.

Your eyes narrow. “What kind of message?”

(cont.)

He directs a glowering look at you, and your feet involuntarily take a step back. That was the kind of look he gave you whenever he was serious. Serious, or about to give you a beating. Some habits are just too deeply ingrained for you to completely excise from your body.

Lucien opens his mouth, maintain the glare, and says in a soft and serious tone, “You forgot to say the magic word, boy.”

For the briefest of moments, you stand there, stricken by the abrupt nature of his words. But then the moment is ruined when the look on your face sends Lucien into a fit of bloody laughter. Literally. Every time his body shakes in amusement, blood continues to flow from every gaping wound along his body.

The dig at your expense nearly sets you off. Just as you’re about to take two steps to close the distance between you and your mentor and return the dream to the status quo, he waves a bloody hand in your direction. “Did I not teach you to keep a stoic front? You disappoint me, Marcus-”

You can’t cut his throat since it’s already a bloody mess. But what you do is hold your blade right above his good eye, crouched real close and personal with him. You can smell the scent of blood and iron, death and decay coming from his body, his breath and mouth. “Get to the fucking point before I give you another thirty nine wounds.”

The familiar sensation of falling suddenly envelops your body, and it takes every ounce of willpower not to fall flat onto the ground. The ground begins to shake, and dust comes falling from the ceiling as the dream begins to end.

“Mark my words, boy. And be sure not to forget them between your new duties,” he says the last word in disgust. “They will come to collect what is due.”

You strain as hard as you can against the vertigo to shout, “Who is coming? When? What are they going to collect?”

(cont.)

ohshit, caught this live.
Randomly found this quest in the archive; I think this might actually be the first really good original fantasy quest on Veeky Forums in a long time. Mad props for being a good writer who doesn't just rip extant content off and ride the fandom/preexisting characterization wave. Loving the writing style.

Have you read Snakecatcher Quest or Valen Quest?

Even as the world around you fades, all Lucien does is laugh that infuriating laugh of his. “I don’t know when, boy, but I do know who’s coming, and if my instinct is correct, and it usually is, I know what they intend to collect.”

“Then tell me!"

“I’m afraid that’s all the time we’ve got together. But don’t be too sad, because I wasn’t planning on telling you more. Because that would spoil the surprise…”

With a frustrated roar, you plunge the knife deep into your father’s skull, with every intention of carving that smug smile off of his face…

…only to wake up lunging against your bed sheets in a tangled mess of limbs and cloth.

“Hey, he’s a-WHOA!”

A small shape falls off of your bed, toppling to the ground with a loud THUMP and a mewling cry of pain. “Owwieee…”

You ignore that, rapidly falling into the instinctive response to check your surroundings. Stone walls, circular room, one large wooden door, fire crackling merrily in a hearth. Single window no bigger than a rain barrel. What skyline is visible affords you a glimpse of a parapet off in the distance, with the city beyond the stone. A fortress of some sort.

The absence of a familiar weight at your hips confirms that you’ve been stripped of your weapons. But that doesn’t matter. A good assassin knows how to fight without the need of weapons, bladed implements or otherwise.

You check the floor where the noise came from. A small child, in a white dress, no bigger than eight. You can't hold back the frustrated groan to to come out of your throat.. You’ve never liked using hostages-

(cont.)

Thank you!

-but the sword hovering at your neck does a good job of dissuading you from your hastily-formed escape plan.

The man glowering from the opposite end of the sword is a hair’s trigger away from going through with the deed. Steel eyes stare at you from a stern brow, and his mouth is clenched tight in a prominent jawline. His armor is well-maintained, but it doesn’t blind you in the slightest. More concerned about functionality than showing off the shine.

He’s dangerous. You can tell that much. From the way he holds himself, it’s clear that he’s a seasoned warrior. There’s no wasteful movements, and his body is positioned in a way to react to almost every possible move you could take.

“Calm yourself before I’m forced to do so in front of Ellana," He says in a clipped tone of voice. "The only reason I haven’t beat you for accidentally knocking her down is her distaste for violence, and a desire not to spill any more blood in this room."

He leaves you just enough room to swallow and try and find the words to respond.

>“Who are you people?”
>“Where am I?”
>“Where is my stuff?”

>>“Who are you people?”
>>“Where am I?”

>>“Who are you people?”
>>“Where am I?”
>>“Where is my stuff?”
All of the above

>“Who are you people?”
>“Where am I?”

>“Who are you people?”
>“Where am I?”
>Why am I still alive?

>>“Who are you people?”
>>“Where am I?”

Never ask where your weapons are to the clearly protective guard,

>“Who are you people?”
>"Why aren't I dead?"

>>“Where am I?”
>>“Where is my stuff?”

Why did you save me?

>>“Who are you people?”
>>“Where am I?”

>“Who are you people?”
>“Where am I?”

have read the first couple of Snakecatcher and found it promising but haven't gotten around to archive diving the rest of it though it's on my list. Heard of Valen but know nothing in particular.

don't have the time to do more than skim new quests or go off recs so I tend to archive dive and see which ones do decently though, so I'm aware a lot of good stuff goes unnoticed under the radar (and archive rating is admittedly a crapshoot since a lot of bad QMs get high votes from fans of previous work and hide subpar writing by riding existant fandom of popular characters--cf. germanschteel, guide, merc command, etc ugh) It does give you some idea of how likely a QM is to follow through without getting discouraged though

I'm not really the be all end all arbiter of quest quality but the fact that a relatively new (

>without a huge fandom from his other quest
But Kaz has that.

Both the 2 aforementioned quests are new qms and their first major quests. Both write and characterize very well. Be wary of user retardation though.

>“Who are you people?”
>“Where am I?”

apologies, then? I'd never heard of him and browsing his other quest it doesn't seem like threads are overly long or have large numbers of replies. Intending on checking it out though.

Not him, but I wouldn't really call it huge. That said the TF666 crew definitely got the ball rolling for BRQ and having the first thread bumped for a whole day helped garner interest from other people.

Everybody is Lucifer Quest is pretty awesome. Kinda sad it's postponed this week, honestly.

>Everybody is Lucifer Quest
Don't know what you're talking about, it's only Louise Fierre here.

I always check everything everyday in the archives because of what you said, however if a QM is more interested in attention than he is in a good playerbase I tend to drop that quest fast, because it always ends up badly with the pandering.

>Who are you people?

The knight’s eyes narrow. “I can understand not recognizing me, but to not know who your own-”

“Peace, Ser Palme…ow…” The little girl rises up from her prior position, rubbing the spot of her head where she had fallen onto the floor. You notice her eyes slightly watering from the pain, but she discreetly wipes them out of the corner of her eyes with her sleeve. “It’s…it’s alright. He’s only just woken up.”

At her actions, the now-identified Ser Palme sheathes his blade and moves towards the girl. “Milady, are you alright? The stones of the castle are far from a pillow’s cushion. I shall summon the healers immediately. I shall take care of your…” He pauses to find a word suitable for you, “…guest by myself.”

Ellana holds up a hand, only wincing briefly as she lets it fall from her head. “No, it’s alright. Father said that it was my…responsibility. And I cannot shy away from this just because of my age.”

Ser Palme looks hesitant before reluctantly nodding. “If that is what you desire. But do be careful.”

She smiles. “Am I not always?”

As they carry on, you take the time to examine your body. The hand where the crossbow bolt went through the palm has been heavily bandaged, as have all of the wounds covering your body. You attribute the lack of pain to Balmleaf, a painkilling drug; its telltale numbing and throbbing sensation is one you’d never forget.

Because only in the most severe of training injuries did Lucien administer the concoction to you. Something about it being hard to find in the wild, and even harder to find in alchemy stores and herbal shops. Its rarity had just enough effect on its price as much as the effect it had.

And so far, all the evidence and instincts are telling you that this Lady Ellana is higher up the social ladder than anyone you’ve ever met in your life.

(cont.)

With their little exchange finished, they both turn to you. Palme grabs a nearby chair for Ellana to sit down on, and she scoots as close as she can to your position. She frowns in consternation when her knight pulls her a good foot back and positions himself right between the two of you.

After giving her knight a petulant glare, she returns her attention towards you. Bowing slightly in her seat, she says, “Doubtless you are temporarily impaired by your injuries. But you have nothing to worry about. You are in good hands, ser. To answer your question, I am Ellana Crowmond, second daughter of King Lionel Crowmond and fifth in line to the Aderaveth Throne.”

…

What.

Hold on.

Just…what?

At your stunned expression, she continues, “And this is Ser Oricai Palme, one of my father’s retainers and my guardian.”
Palme only graces you with a brief incline of his head. But you ignore it anyway. You’re still trying to reconcile the fact that out of all the people to save your life, it was a noble. And not just any noble, but one of the royal family of the Empire itself.

You are not ungrateful as much as you are in shock. Because all of the stories you’ve heard about nobles have given you a less-than-flattering descriptor of their arrogant attitudes and unsavory appetites. Not that you've ever actually met one.

Lucien taught you to read, and you snuck occasional glances at the contracts he received. From the descriptors of the noble targets that came from time to time, they were the only people you ever felt no semblance of regret for.

“And as for where you are,” Palme continues for the Princess, “You are currently residing in Karthmere Keep, in one of our esteemed guest rooms, I might add. I initially advocated for you to be housed elsewhere, but the princess insisted that you stay here. To keep a better eye on you.”

>“Why did you save me?”
>“So what happens now?”
>Custom option.

>>“Why did you save me?”
>>“So what happens now?”

Why would you waste your times and resources on saving a slum rat like me?

>>“Why did you save me?”

>“Why did you save me?”
>“So what happens now?”

>“Why did you save me?”
"Not to sound ungrateful, but I am a nobody from the slums. I'm surprised a noble would even be down there in the first place."

>>“Why did you save me?”

>I'm surprised a noble would even be down there in the first place."

Remember we ran out of the slums at the end of thread 1. We likely were nowhere near them.

Did we? I thought we dropped after we took down those two badasses.

>“Why did you save me?”

Nope ran out of the slums because we didn't want to die there in the same place as the men we slaughtered.

>“Why did you save me?”
>“So what happens now?”

What do we know about the Royal family, even if it's just rumours amd hearsay? And the kingdom in general? Doing well? Monarchy undermined by nobles squabbling? Dispute between princes for the rights to succession? King well known, just ruler, warmongerer, on his deathbed, what?

That's what I thought too

Oops no I was wrong. We killed the two bodyguards and then just wandered away half delirious from blood loss, just trying to get away from the slums

Didnt we fell down after battling one of the two twins/brothers/whatever? We killed the asshat and burned his house down then we rescued the kid on the roof and then one of the brother bodyguards found us, we did our last battle and that was it, or that's how I remember it.

We wandered around a bit after, dying from bloodloss.

>this is an unfamiliar street…
>…one that you’ve never walked down before
>…you don’t know where your steps are taking you…
>…but you don’t care…
>…as long as you escape from the slums…

So guys.

Assuming we have the capability to have magic and assuming this kind of magic even exists...

We get some of dat Blink right?
youtube.com/watch?v=3ZgnXjXk2N0

....late, but all of these are pretty cool anyway.

Would have liked to try out a "Take X" move in a quest just to see, but ah well.

Rather be more than a blatant copy of an existing character.

Not him, but how is teleportation magic, something you can find in most fantasy settings, blatantly copying another character?

That's like saying Marcus is copying Ryu from Ninja Gaiden cause he throws knives around too.

Que?

But Ryu doesn't throw knives.

I hope magic is cooler than just fucking blinking and your run of the mill spells ala fireball.

He's already got parkour down, so I'm more in the market for magic that silences landings and footsteps.

And blades that extend past their physical forms, except for mindfucking PARRIES rather than "you didn't actually dodge"

Mostly because, he brought it up. Called it blink. And posted a video of Dishonored gameplay. Its not hard to see what he's aiming for.

>All these implications.

Holy shit dude, I posted that cause it showed some useful applications of it. I'm not saying Marcus should be Not!Corvo.

Alright man, sorry. You see too many people in Quests that just wanna model the MC after some vidya or anime character and I'm tired of it.

Got caught up in an emergency. Please keep thread bumped while I take care of it. Should be back soon.

>All of this is hearsay and rumor.

>Crown Prince Emeron, firstborn of the king, is currently leading his Silver Company of knights to combat roving bands of highwaymen and monster packs. An honorable man, but he is no diplomat, prefers fighting to parleying.
>In every city, there is at least one family who has been screwed over by the nobility, either literally or figuratively.
>Gangs run rampant in the capital slums due to undermanned city guards.
>King is currently sick, Queen is too busy focusing on latest fashion trends and other imports. Emeron in command.
>Princess Adriana, second child, is a slave to fashion, but is nowhere near as bad as her mother in terms of wasting the royal treasury.
>Prince Alanus, third child, is sickly, more focused on studying to help Emeron fix the Empire, idolizes older brother.
>Princess Ellana is relatively unknown. Spent her early years fostered with the Silverow family.
>Famine and food shortages in the more distant borderlands of the Empire.
>Houses Goodyre of Sellsmere and Silverow of Branmoore are regarded as the best noble families in that they are the embodiment of nobless oblige

tl'dr - If this was Total War 2, Empire morale is kind of at a low.

If anything Marcus should learn enchanting to have equipment with special properties rather than spending our precious stamina in unneeded moves. Pure physical+enchantments sounds better than mage-rogue hybrid.

I'm with that user, posting it now and someone posting the same with regards to Mia, I kinda felt you wanted a carbon copy too.

>>“Why did you save me?”

As long as Marcus can actually lift a wagon with little effort I'm fine with whatever. Because that shit will fuck people up when they see some little dude and don't realize he can put his fist through plate.

Wasn't it already said that Marcus doesn't have any magic potential?

I dont recall we ever checked that? I mean I'd be cool with Marcus not having it too, I'm fucking tired of casters.

good thing what I suggested is more like enchanted boots and daggers rather than activated spells.

Well I learned my mistake. I will never post anything from or get any ideas from any other media for this quest again.

I think you're right.

If he has magical talent we can do it ourselves, if not we spend them assasins moneys into that, either way I dont want Marcus to focus on something that he wasnt specced towards. Sounds more reasonable to work with what we already have a headstart in than spending unneeded time in something we werent trained for.

just switch it up. I know there aren't exactly a lot, but there's more than 1 example of implementing blink.

But really, we're drenched this far into the edge already, kinda hesitant about going any further.

Honestly, we may have murdered our way through a shitload of people for revenge, but sparing that kid and doing this whole revenge streak on a bunch of real fucking bastards makes me think we aren't terribly edgy. A little for sure though.

>teleports behind the boy
>rescues him by the back
>nothing personal

We're a mass murdering psychopath.

But at least we're a good person?

I dont see the edge when they raped and murdered your !notgf and boasted about it. I think it's a pretty natural reaction.

>I-It's not like I wanted to you to keep taking care of your sister or anything.

To be fair, short range teleportation and timestop gimmicks notwithstanding, a lot of that video is how I've been picturing the combat in the first thread.

Lots of really fast, brutal sneak attacks out of nowhere, ambush hit and run tactics and guts

Am curious to see how magic pans out in this setting, since the blood magic guy seemed like he had fairly unwieldy ritual casting, but Serena was apparently more like a final fantasy evoker type

OTOH apparently healing potions are rare shit, and the fact that we're handy with poisons and explosives seems to imply that mages and rogues/warriors have at least some level of parity

He was a hunted man even before that too. They were looking to wipe his crew out, and he and Serena were the last survivors. There was clearly some kind of gang rivalry going on.

This seems sort of like a dark childhood > love redeems > tragic loss bait and switch > underhanded(?) Royal protector buildup

Honestly, given what I've seen so far, I think Marcus is going to turn into an edgier pic related.

I'd be down with being Joshua
I need the 3rd game on steam already

I got some vibes yeah. Man I have SC installed but still haven't gotten around to playing it. Not in a JRPG mood you know?

>3rd
Yay, five more years of waiting!

But that's not edgy. Edgy is being dark for the sake of being dark, kid days he was in the trade because of his father, then he killed him to get out which seemed like the only plaussible way since he wasnt gonna let go and I bet he wouldnt've remorse in murdering him if he tried to be diplomatic.

Love redeems is an overused trope but really no edge in there and tragic loss it's pretty logical in this enviroment considering they were in a gang doing crimes with no regards to stablished gangs, because they were trying to accumulate wealth quickly to drop all that shit behind and they didnt have time to be careful since they disliked this business.

And the royal protector in the shadows is if we decide we want that, we havent even gotten there yet, maybe we say fuck it and start another thing on our own, that's the beauty of quests.

Homestly the assassin asshole father that we murdered is what makes it edgy. Not that edgy is always bad but it's usually better if it's a little less cliche. I've been kind of toying with the idea of making a character that was basically a triggerman in the mafia in a more fantasy style, not an edgy psychopath but someone who kills for his family because if he doesn't people he loves will get hurt. A more realistic approach to a killer in the criminal world.

>five more years of waiting!

There hasn't been a guarantee of the 3rd game yet has there?

Who is that?

This is you chance to vote against that to take Marcus in a different/interesting direction!

Marcus is already different, don't worry. You can still be super original.

There was just some similarities in their backstory.

Plz no boneing any adopted family members