Dog Days Quest Episode 103

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"Well, in any case." Madeleine puts her hands on her hips, "You said you're looking for your sister?"
"Yeah!" The boy happily seems interested once more.

Something tells you that this 'date' thing you had planned with Madeleine has now gone off the rails. Just to be sure, you feel around in your pocket for your emergency flask of alcohol. Your senses tell you that you'll be wanting it sometime in the near future.

You are Jack Albator, expert ladykiller, dashing hero, and you may be on the way to running an orphanage if this keeps up. You decided to take a day off and go on a date with a certain snake-like lady. You went around to the various shops in town; mostly sticking around the potions shops. Those seem to interest her the most.
On your way out of one of them; you ran into a familiar face. A small kid wearing a hood that did a tremendous favor for you just the other night by picking open some very tricky locks. He has talent, and you'd like to see him turn out to be more than a street urchin.

Then Madeleine saw him, and she's acting as if she would rather see him as her adopted son.

You're not running an orphanage here! The shrine where you live has enough kids that you can stand running around!

"We would be glad to help!" Madeleine stoops down and wraps her tail around him into a hug.
This causes his eyes to light up. "Yeah! Thank you!"

This day gets further off track, it seems.
You walk with the boy in tow, as Madeleine talks his ear off.

>Cont.

"So, what does she look like?"
"She has big, long black hair! She lived alone, in a big house. They kept her locked up often, so I would bring her things!"

"Oh, is that how you learned your special skills?"
"Yup! They were always trying to make bigger and better locks to keep me out. But Dad taught me how to get past every one of them."

"Mm, anything else?"
"I can climb really good!" The boy boasts, "And once I pickpocketed everyone in Gallete's bar in a single night!"

You give him a light nudge, "Kid, one thing ye needa learn about bein' a lowlife. Don't brag about yer exploits."
"Oh!" His eyes are still lit up like a candle, "That's a good tip! Anything else?"

>Yes, never do it drunk.
>Yes, stop being a lowlife now while yer ahead.
>No, tell us more about your sister.
>Madeleine, any tips?

>No, tell us more about your sister.
>Madeleine, any tips?
>How big of a house

Is it the castle? Is the kid half-royalty?

>Yes, stop being a lowlife now while yer ahead.
But make clear that the skills are still good to have. But regardless of why he uses them-
>Yes, never do it drunk.

Oh this is good, seconding.

...Guess I'm voting for everything and then some. Dammit.

>Madeleine, any tips?
>Tell us more about your sister.

Welp it's the black cat girl who's name I can't remember.

Let's just go to her and not pussyfoot around

this:

Okay, with that out of the way, big discussion topic of the thread that I want everyone to put some thought into while I'm doing my usual extremely-slow-update process.

/qst/ exists now. My archive is in the Veeky Forums archive. I COULD move to /qst/, pray that the doomsayers are wrong about it, and just continue like I always have.

Or.

I could move to Akun. Get the benefits of running there. Start-up with the big final arc I have planned for the quest as the introduction. Then I get the benefits of running on Akun. I get to have a constant thread which I update occasionally at my pace with no real set runtime.

We should also discuss runtimes. Should I run until quests are kicked off of Veeky Forums, or should I make the move now?

Please consider this. The last week has been very stressful for me thinking about it, and it has killed a lot of enthusiasm I had for the move. I think it's best that you guys have a say in this as much as I do.

Just stay here. All the ones saying to go to /qst/ get their posts deleted.

>Yes, Quit while you're ahead and never do it drunk.
>Tell us more about your sister.
>How big of a house

Writing!

i'd say stay here as long as you can then move to akun
anonkun is pretty convenient for both players and QMs

Run until quests are kicked off, and as far as where to go IF they do?

Whatever is more convenient for you.

Well as long as we follow you on twitter we can follow you wherever. I dunno how busy akun is though, for considering picking up new people. I think /qst/ would work out fine, and it's slow enough that you can spread a thread over a few days. But for working slower than that, akun might be better. Never used the site myself, though.

"Yar, just one." You look down at the kid, as he gives you his undivided attention. "Quit while yer ahead, and never do it drunk."

"Oh, um. How do I quit?"
"Find somethin' else to do. Ye don't need to steal in order to feed yerself."

He seems confused by that. In a way, you're a little confused yourself that you just seriously gave life advice that ended with 'ye don't need to steal'.

"So, how do I eat?"
"Yer young and healthy, go find a merchant ship or find a rich girl." You sneer, "Yer handsome, and yer sneaky. Ye can find some other holed-up rich girl to charm. They're everywhere."

"I don't-" he seems confused, "I don't see how that's any better."
"Argh, but it totally is, kid-"

"What Jack means to say." You feel Madeleine's hand on your shoulder. "Is that you should be seeking out a more honest trade. You know a lot about locks, maybe you can demonstrate your skills and be an apprentice smith, or an herbalist?"

You blink at that last statement. It seems like Madeleine is still considering adopting him.
"Besides, there's no reason to scower the streets at night like an urchin. Especially when you're SO CUTE!" Madeleine stoops down and squeezes him once more.

He seems a little uncomfortable with that last statement.

"Tell us more about yer sis." You interrupt the awkward mood. "Can ye describe her a bit better?"

"Not really." The boy grumbles, "We're twins, you see."
You stop.

"Twins?"
"Uh huh."
"But, you're a boy."
"Uh huh."

"Jack, that COULD happen, it's just the odds are really, really low."

You think about this for a few more seconds.

"How big was this house?"
"Oh, it was like a mansion! It was in a garden on the rich side of town" He seems happy for a moment, then a little sad. "She was kept deep inside of it. It was hard to get to her after a while."

>You know who this kid's sister is (Write in)
>Okay, let's go ask some likely suspects
>I know someone who knows a lot about Gallete.
>Madeleine, any ideas?
>Other?

>I know someone who knows a lot about Gallete.

>Okay, let's go ask some likely suspects

Very tempting to just go with the first answer, but lets be sure first.

>>Okay, let's go ask some likely suspects
>>I know someone who knows a lot about Gallete.

>Okay, let's go ask some likely suspects
>I know someone who knows a lot about Gallete.
>You sure you don't know her name, kid?

>Okay, let's go ask some likely suspects
>I know someone who knows a lot about Gallete.
>You sure you don't know her name, kid?

Good suggestions!

Writing!

>You sure you don't know her name, kid?
Forgot to add, mention that girls name to him, see if it rings a bell.

"Well." You scratch your head, glaring back at the castle.
You do know someone who would have some knowledge of Gallete that would MAYBE know the name of this kid's sister.

The pieces are coming together in your head, though. White-haired catboy, about eight years old, has a twin, with long blonde hair, was kept locked away.

Coincidence has never strayed too far from you.

"'ey kid." You look down at him. "Ye sure you don't know her name?"
"Of course I do!" The kid happily responds back, "It's Elise!"

Elise?
That is unexpected.

"'Elise'? Sure it ain't 'Esther'?"
"..I think I would know my own sister's name."

Aye, he does have a point there.
Okay, so maybe coincidence is sometimes just coincidence.

"Aye, let's go ask some likely suspects, then."
"Really? You sure?!" He seems excited, now.
"I'm sure, and I have just the person in mind."

--

You stroll back into the castle library. Madeleine unfurls from around your body, and you gently set her down.
Those splinters, she's terrified of them.

"Aye, is Gougere around?" you ask one of the passing maids.
She points toward the inside of the library, and you graciously step inside.

There she is, asleep on a big pile of books.

"'ey, wake up." You nudge her. She groggily sits up and rubs her eyes.
"Oh, hey Jack."

"Hiya yerself. Listen, this kid is lookin' for his sister. Ye recognize him?"

She blinks twice, adjusting her glasses to view more of the small lad.
"Afraid not."

>Tell her your suspicions
>Ask if there's a way to do a magic paternity check
>Try to think of someone else to ask
>Maybe see if anyone else you know can help.
>Other?

>Tell her your suspicions
>Ask if there's a way to do a magic paternity check

>Tell her your suspicions
>Ask if there's a way to do a magic paternity check

>>Tell her your suspicions

>Other?
Relay the details he's given so far.

>Tell her your suspicions

I'd advise against akun. The site layout is hot garbage.

>Tell her your suspicions
>Ask if there's a way to do a magic paternity check

Writing!

So far, the consensus on our future seems to be

>Stay here until we're kicked out
And
>Move to whatever is more convenient.

Which I don't know, I am really soured on the whole qst thing because of how it has been (mis)managed. But I may not feel that way forever. Akun's layout IS hot garbage, and that has been a common problem since its inception.

So, I really don't have any answers yet. A part of me does want to just hit a stopping point to this arc and pick up on akun. Might get some new readers that way. Another part of me doesn't want to bother with how akun behaves, it's very complicated and cluttered.

I don't know, keep giving me opinions.

Just stay here. Familiar is best.

But that would "support" /qst/

I'm not sure what's worse

>Stay on Veeky Forums
>"support" /qst/
Wot?

i don't know how it is on the QM side, but on the players side you can vastly improve the akun interface simply using the site's "reading settings", resizing the chat and your browser's page zoom

I thought you meant stay on Veeky Forums

Can the QM adjust the default settings for that in his own quest?

I'm kind of confused about it, honestly. I should ask for a crash course in it. I might end up doing that if we decide to move there.

And if we do decide to move there, I might have a reason to not shelf these quest ideas that I had in my head. I was thinking of starting another project after the last CPM epilogue airs later this week, but the uncertainty has made me want to wait.

not really.
the only default you should worry about is disabling mancom (it's some passive aggressive thing named "i don't want comments" or something like that that you have to untick in the story settings)

I'm of the 'stay here' group, but if you really gotta move, I'll follow. Far too into this quest to let it just go

As much as /qst/ sucks I don't see the point of stamping feet and moving to akun. I'd still much rather quest in a thread when the time comes. I've been in two quests that have tested out /qst/ and it's literally the same.

I've also fallowed some stuff on akun and it's not terrible but sometimes people go live for like one vote and I feel that happens more often on akun just because you can.

Except buggier, slower and in a ghetto.

And a trial board with new features. One of which caused of lot of random arts some of which well done, but sneks aren't hard to draw.

"Mm." You rub the boy's scalp. His hood flips off, and reveals his cat ears. "Lemme tell ye what he told me."

You tell her about the boy and his sister. How you found him wandering the streets, picked the locks for you to help save the dinner party, and even opened that little magic lockbox later.

She seems really into this story, like she can relate in some manner.
You relay the information to her about the kid's sister, where she lived, what part of town, and what mansion she lived in.

"That sounds like-" Gougere let's the thoughts process, "The head butler's estate, really."

That doesn't comfort you in the least.

"Well, He says that her name was, what was it again, kid?"
"Elise." He responds.

Gougere seems really interested, now.
"That's a common name for Gallete children, it's named after the 15th-"
"-Aye dun care, Lass." You stop her. "Put it bluntly, aye think the kid is related to that girl we found in Gallete."

She blinks.
"What makes you think that?"
"She matches the description of his sister."

"Jack, lots of girls in Gallete have long, black hair."
"Aye don't believe in coincidence. Do ye have a magic paternity test or somthin'?"

She sighs, "There's something faster, look here-"

She turns the boy around, and pulls his hood off just a little more. "Royalty has a mark on them, that denotes their royal lineage. It's found somewhere on their body."

Yeah, you're aware.

"Charlotte's and that girl had it right here, on the back of their-"

She pulls up his hair. Sure enough, there's a tiny marking on the back of his neck.

"..Okay, so he's related to a Gallete noble. Still no proof that noble is related to Elis- Esther."

>What was that last part, Gougere?
>Aye, but ye have anything more in-depth?
>I just want to be sure, is all.
>Okay, thanks.
>Go take him to the shrine, see how he reacts
>Other?

/qst/ has some neat stuff going for it. But, there are still several glaring issues and I'd rather stay off of it until those have been addressed to keep the mods working on fixing shit if nothing else.

Which is why I might add there is nothing in the global rules yet about quests belonging on /qst/ so there is no rush until all of that shit is sorted out anyway.

It's slow because people refuse to use it, but they also have the right for now because it is buggy. As for in the ghetto, well migrating to the questing site is also ghettofication, which is also buggy and slow I might add.

But I'm not trying to argue this, I hate it too but the sky isn't falling.

>>What was that last part, Gougere?

>What was that last part, Gougere?
>Go take him to the shrine, see how he reacts
just hae the two meet, problem (possibly) solved

>What was that last part, Gougere?
>"If it ain't her, what do you think about the king having had another couple kids off the side?"
>Go take him to the shrine, see how he reacts

backin' this

this

>Unconsciously pat the boy's head.

>What was that last part, Gougere?
>"If it ain't her, what do you think about the king having had another couple kids off the side?"
>Go take him to the shrine, see how he reacts

Writing!

I half think Esther/Elise forgot what her own name was.

What else is still wrong with it?

The time limit autosage, I think the OP privileges thing is still a problem for people who post from multiple devices or if the power goes out, the carpet ban on meta-threads, and the fact that the board rules requiring every thread be a running quest prevents any sort of real community from developing and keeps the board from having the speed and posters it needs to survive for no real reason.

Wait.
"What was that last part there, Gougere?"

"Uh! Well, Elise. That was the girl's given name."

The boy turns around really quickly to meet Gougere's eyes.
"You know where Elise is?!"
"Well, no, I don't. I know someone named Elise went to the shrine."

"OH?!"
The boy suddenly turns to you.
"Can we go to the shrine?! Please? Please?!"

"Hold up just a minute, tell Gougere here yer full name, just to be sure."

"Well."

He turns to the catlady, and bows slightly.
"Ethan."

"That's it?" Gougere seems confused, "Just 'Ethan'?"
"Yup."

"One last thing, Gougere. If it ain't her, what do ye think about the king having another couple a' kids off on the side?"
"Not great, I'll tell you that." She frowns. "It worries me how many others his highness must have sired, being away from the castle for so long."

"Why is he away, anyway?"
"Him and Biscotti's king go on hunting trips together. Sometimes they last for years."

"Does he even know his daughter is stayin' here?"
"No way to contact him." Gougere sighs, "As far as he knows, his little princess is being protected by a strong hero. A knight of knights, he never even got to see Louise being summoned. I hope he doesn't return to Gallete and have a huge fit."

Yargh. Great father ye have there, Charlotte.

>Cont.

Did announcer died?

Yes I banished him to a world without fluffy tails

You 'borrow' something to ride back to the shrine, so the kid or Madeleine doesn't have to walk.
Turns out it's Atsuko's bird, but she'll forgive you later. Maybe.

You start your slow trip through the forest, and toward the shrine. You can't effortlessly bound there like you would normally be able to do. Instead, you focus on trying to see if the kid remembers anything as to how his sister got locked up below that mansion in the first place.

"First off." You rub his ears, as he sits in front of you. "Ye know why she calls herself 'Esther'?"
"Nope."

That's kind of strange.

"Ye know why she was locked down there?"
"It's because, Gallete. That's the only reason I know."
"What does that mean, Lad?"

He leans slightly into your palm as you pull against his scalp.

"Well, Gallete. It's a weird place. Apparently we're, I don't know the word."

He flicks his ears, and turns his head toward you.
"Accidents? I think that's the proper word."

"Never call yeself that again, ye hear me lad?"
"But- That's what-"
"No questions."

The shrine comes into view, and you can see Keiko happily sweeping outside. She tufts the dirt from side to side, never actually getting it off the stone walkway. What matters though, is that she's trying.

>Cont.

"Jack!" She yelps, dropping the broom and running over with speeds faster than the human eye is meant to see.
"Aye Lil' Lass." You get down, and help Madeleine, and Ethan off. "How're ye been since I left?"
"Great! I'm getting all the chores done!" She has the biggest smile on her face. "I tried playing instead, but the new girl didn't want to leave the building. So it's just me now!"

You pat Keiko on the head, her green tail happily swings back and forth.
"Is she in there?"
"Yup!" Keiko grabs the reins of the bird. "I can put her away!"
"Thanks Lass."

You walk into the shrine proper to notice the black-haired girl curled up on the edge of the porch. She glares out the door, but doesn't get near it.
"Sis?!" Ethan immediately recognizes her.
"Huh?" The girl spins around, ears twitching.

"IT'S REALLY YOU!" The boy yells, he darts across the interior of the shrine. He collapses on top of the poor girl, hugging her tightly.
"Uh! Um?"
"It's been so long! I was so worried about-"
"S-stop." The girl pushes him off.

"What? Esther, don't you remember me? It's Ethan."
"S-sorry."

She keeps an arm out, and slowly scoots away from him.
"I-I don't know who you are, I'm sorry. You must have me confused with someone else."

Oh, the look on that boy's face. That is heartbreak incarnate.
You take your flask out of your coat, and top the lid open. It is time. You knew this would be needed.

>Thread End/Pause.

Thanks for the run, Announcer!

Okay, thanks for everyone who participated today. I am whipped.

So.

I could continue tomorrow, provided someone can keep the thread up until I get home.

If not, we can just stop here, and I may be able to run another thread on Friday.

Please let me know what you would rather try to do. Another thread on Friday may last longer because I don't have to travel that day.

Oh, and heads-up. Next week's thread on Tuesday is probably canceled. I have a business trip to attend to. Next week's thread will probably have to run on Friday or Thursday to make up for it. We'll see.

Thanks for everyone who participated today. Let me know what you'd rather do.

Whichever one you can. Keeping the thread alive is a simple task.

Friday works

Fuck you Announcer I saw the image of Ethan's face in my head, I didn't need these feels

I think I will continue on Friday.

Thanks for the thread everyone. Have a nice night.

Also: Still no real consensus on what to do regarding the move. It seems like a lot of people want to stay here, on Veeky Forums. There is an argument to be made for akun, though.

I need to think about it some more. But I've been agonizing over it for the past week. If I have an epiphany before next thread, I'll let you know over twitter. Until next time.