Bladebound Retainer Quest #3.5

>Try and get him to the ground.
If he can't cast spells, we can just CQC him and end it with efficient submission. No need for daggers.

>Custom Option

KICK HIM IN THE BALLS

HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY!

That would be useless user, they're protected by the chastity cage bitch princess keeps on him.

Now’s your chance.

You close the distance, transitioning from one form to another as water over stone. It is not laughably easy to sip past his defenses, but noticeably easier than his prior speed before. Silverow is still trying to recover his breath, and his sluggish movement shows it.

The minute you deprived him of his ability to cant spells, it was all over for him.

Never let a mage fight by themselves, against opponents with the superior physical advantage.

Especially against someone of your caliber.

>You do not have to roll.

Cold steel flashes in the dim light of the torchlight as you attack the mage. One strike with the flat of your blade to knock the tome out of his hands, and another strike to the temple of his head with the pommel. From the way blood comes away from his head, you had to have at least made some significant impact.

It shows. Silverow wobbles once, twice before his legs give way underneath him. But you’re quick to follow through with your work. You catch him before he hits the floor, throwing one of your blades to pin his tome into place. The other weapon moves towards his throat, now an angry shade of red, and you press the dull edge tight against the jugular.

There’s nothing to worry about. Because it isn’t going to cut through anything.

Not that it’s going to stop the desperate fear of being vulnerable to a lethal blow. The confidence and haughty nature is gone from his eyes. All that’s left is an adrenaline-fueled terror.

>“Yield.”
>“Surprised now?”
>“Was that all?”
>“You’re pretty good.”
>Custom option.

>“Yield.”
>“Surprised now?”

>“Yield.”
after he does
>“Was that all?”
>"I've killed tougher in worse condition."

>“Yield.”

>>“Yield.”

>>“Yield.”

>“Surprised now?”

>“Yield.”
>“You’re pretty good.”
Sound surprised, not a lot of mages have that kind of physical fortitude

>>“Yield.”
>“You’re pretty good.”

I'm honestly pretty impressed at how well he's able to keep focus.

...

“Yield.”

Your voice comes out a little more savage than you originally intended, a sharp contrast to your flat neutral tone of voice. Perhaps it was the stress and events of the last week finally catching up to you. If that was the case, Silverow’s arrogant demeanor only helped to fan the flames.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the blood in your veins that rejoices at combat.

Regardless, the voice does the trick. Swallowing as best as he can with your steel against his throat, Silverow drops his dagger and raises his hands in supplication. “I…I yield!” He gasps out, in-between huge gulps of air. “…yours…is this…victory…”

You look to your audience. Palme’s neutral expression betrays nothing, but the glint in his eyes speaks enough of his approbation. The Ingulan’s expression has narrowed significantly, eyebrows furrowed into severe lines. Bellatrix struggles to scrape her jaw off of the floor, her wager long forgotten.

With that and a grunt of your own, you release Silverow and sheathe your blades. “You’re pretty good.”

It takes a moment for him to realize that you’re addressing him. Coughing once to clear the rasp out of his voice, he answers in a disbelieving tone. “…I…I beg your pardon?”

Hmph. He thinks you’re mocking him. You shake your head. “It takes a good mage to keep their concentration, let alone their weapons in their hands in close quarters. Whoever trained you did a damn good job of it. Better than most are ever going to get in their lives.”

“Ah…” At the unexpected praise, his cheeks color. It could have been anything: shame, embarrassment or mortification. Receiving compliments from one he was fully intent on barring from the Crowngard certainly did something for his ego.

“With that said…” The corner of your mouth curves up into a slight grin. “Surprised now?”

>Help him off the ground.
>Just leave him there.

>Help him off the ground.

>Help him off the ground.

>>Help him off the ground.

>Help

>>Help him off the ground.

>Help him off the ground.

>Whoever trained you did a damn good job of it.
>his cheeks color. It could have been anything: shame, embarrassment or mortification.

Maybe the way we trained Serena to keep her concentration using lewds wasn't that unusual after all.

Maybe he's just not used to being praised.

Nah, he's clearly a prancing lala homo man.

Well, yeah, but that's not any fun.

>his cheeks color
Calling it now, it's a female mage pretending to be a man for whatever reason.

Are we going to have to deal with him having a crush on us after this?

>reverse trap
Dammit Kaz, one of my greatest weaknesses.

Of course user. Our actions will always unintentionally cause us headaches, even when we try to be nice. This is our cross to bear.

You’ve never been the exemplar of chivalry. The most decent thing you’ve ever done that even pertained to that flowery code of conduct…barring addressing Ellana with her proper title, there was little else. Running the Black Alley Locusts had you using more of a ‘tough love’ approach when it came to things.

But then again, this is a new turning point in your life. Your…third chance at trying to make something out of yourself. And if Palme’s silent approval was any indication, then these were the people that you’re going to be working with for a long time. Best to make good impressions while you still could.

You extend a hand out towards the fallen Crowngard. Silverow’s eyes widen in surprise at the gesture, searching you for any ulterior motive, false sympathies. The only thing on your face is a pleasantly neutral expression, the ideal look for your persona.

Eventually, he relents and accepts your hand, gripping yours with a surprisingly strong grip. His hands are surprisingly rough to the touch, and show no signs of pale coloration along his knuckles. A sign of an efficient mage. Anything other than an almost constant skin tone meant that they were wasting their energy whenever they cast their spells.

After standing on his own, his face resembles one who had swallowed something particularly sour. Either a lemon, or a very hard truth. His mouth works to form words, but eventually he speaks to you. “…I am…indeed surprised,” Silverow mutters slowly, as if carefully picking which words he wanted to use, “…that…a commoner such as yourself would have…such proficiency in battle…”

…well, at least it’s an upgrade from ‘vagrant’. You nod slightly at his backhanded compliment. “It’s either learn quickly or die out there.”

(cont.)

We're going to have to deal with him having a crush on us even if he really is a guy ala ocelot

Great OP picture, but the typesetting desperately needs work. At the very least, slap a darker red or black border around the text, it looks completely out of place right now.

“…indeed…” For a moment, he trails off before his eyes regain their sharp edge. “But do not think that this is over…Painel! Yes, Painel…I was merely…caught-off guard by your disarming appearance. I have done you a great disservice by underestimating you.”

You tilt your head in confusion. Hold on, what-

“I shall not make this mistake again. Come sometime later, you will face me once again on the Floor, with your weapons and my magic. And this time, I’ll bring the full extent of my abilities to bear. You deserve that much at least.”

…it’s an odd sight. The words coming out of his mouth don’t quite match the look in his eyes, as well as the blood pouring down his cheek from the head injury you left him.

“But I will show you that I have the superior skill in combat. That, I swear to you. I bid you good day.”

With that, he bows stiffly to Palme and the others and brusquely walks away from the arena. As he stoops over to retrieve his tome, he stumbles. Just as you and his fellow Crowngard move to assist him, Silverow regains both his balance and his tome. He continues his exit as if nothing happened.

…what the hell was that?

Bellatrix snorts. “Stuck-up bastard’s still prideful as ever, even in defeat. Still, nice job taking him down a notch, Painel. ‘ve been meaning to do it myself, but I didn’t have the heart. Glad to see you don’t.”

The Ingulan taps her shoulder, and holds out an outstretched hand. It takes the knightess to realize what the gesture means, before cursing and pulling out a pouch of coins. He smiles and says a few words in Tathal before pocketing the purse.

Ignoring their exchange, Palme walks up towards you and claps a hand on your shoulder. “That certainly cleared the air,” He says with a grin. “And left no room for doubt that I made the right decision. The prince would have to be blind to not have you sworn to our service.”

I've reached the time limit where I have to be off to take care of some shit. I'll be back in...four hours. I only started this thread to wrap up the previous one, but if you like, we can keep going when I return from Civil War. Keep the thread bumped if you want to continue when I return.

Fuck he really is Ocelot.

Sounds good man, I appreciate it

>[desire to fight the rest of the crownguard intensifies]

I won't be satisfied until we get our face pushed into the dirt so hard we strike oil.

...

Fuck you man.

Enjoy yourself.

So is this second duel actually happening? What happened to Palme's "official" terms?

He's pulling the rival shit of "I'll beat you next time". He's just tsundere though.

gay tsundere confirmed.

Or just punch drunk. Did fuck up his throat and head.

bump

Another weapon we should get.

Between the shit lighting and all the retarded spinning, I can't see shit.
Where's the blade come from, given that the blade is quite a bit longer than the hilt?

A dagger-sized switch blade?

Meh. Too much trouble to safely pull out, weakened durability due to moving parts.

The point of folding knives is that they're easy to conceal. Making them big makes that pointless. A butterfly knife would be more practical for a hidden poisoned blade that can do flashy tricks and won't slice your fingers on a bad swing.

this, but in ballistic knife form, except we handwave the implausibility of it actually flying straight

>Shit lighting

Get better eyes

It's a full folding sword with no reduced combat capabilities.

Did you not read the part where throwing knives are not intended to hurt? Distraction weapons rely on accuracy and risk of damage, rather than the gravity of damage.

You don't throw stabbing weapons, especially this one, a weapon that sucks in every way compared to other weapons until it hits.

>folding sword
that is by definition reduced combat capabilities

who would even make this shit? It's not exactly easy to design and smith this stuff.

Explain to the class how you can make a blade that folds in the middle and doesn't have shit for structural integrity nor a tendency to fold when force is applied.

Let's not

Hey, give that stabbing device some credit, it wouldn't be as easy to break as a regular knife.

true. I don't see how that's a concern when we can carry a lot and loot the rest, though.

Sometimes it's better to not worry about your stabby device breaking in half at all. Rather than having your stabby device break mid-swing and be stuck for that short moment with half a weapon.

are improbable weeb weapons like razor floss on the table or are we stuck just garotting people?

how about slingshots with a variety of delivery options to take advantage of our explosives/poison training? Seems more concealable than conventional ranged weapons

Sorry, are we sure Releigh is a guy? I keep on staring at his picture but I just can't see it. His face is way too feminine, holy shit.

He's a dude.

Been referred to as a he multiple times.

even money says tsundere reverse trap

source art is apparently a dude for what it's worth

Oh, you're talking about using it as a melee weapon.

I would NEVER have Markus use this as a melee weapon, the shape is absolutely crap for parrying. Curved edge and no guard makes it pointless to try.

If you wanted a sturdy parrying weapon, I'd rather a thicker than average swordbreaker, triangle blade if you're so insistent on commiting war crimes, or just a damn regular dagger.

All that means is Marcus THINKS he's a guy. Doesn't mean he physically is one (though the source image is a dude).

Clearly, it's made out of some kind of special metal. It functions just fine and, in some cases, is even superior to a normal sword.

Great! Now justify why those same flaws would not resurface when compared to a normal sword made of the same bullshit!

I would rather have a normal shaped sword that is ALWAYS superior to a normal sword.

Or a handwavium dagger that can somehow parry arrows or greatswords.

this is why I called you out on posting so much dishonored stuff

>parrying
>for any reason

Psht, nothin personnel.

Seriously though, optimally we shouldn't need to parry, we should just dodge and stab a motherfucker.

Bellatrix called him he as well.

I mean, honestly. I'll be disappointed in Kaz if he turns out to be some tsundrere reverse trap. It's just grossly typical and reduces the character to nothing but waifubait, And Bellatrix being here, in the position she's in. Shows that there's not much of a problem for women getting into jobs like the fucking crownguard so that's no excuse.

have you not read the first 2 threads of this quest?

not that guy but I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic there broseph

>yfw it's one of those dummies who is ashamed of their gender and demand everyone call them by what they "identify" as

The advantage is it's a normal sword that's concealable without losing the qualities that make a sword a good weapon. An equivalent blade made out of the same material would probably be quite a bit heavier, expensive or both.

...maybe he's trans?

Can't imagine there's been many advances in sex-change operations in this setting.

it has moving parts. It's going to be heavier than the standard blade.

>concealable
I direct you to

topkek
every player thinks they've figured out the character but they've latched onto the wrong trope
releigh is actually a genderfluid BBR-universe sjw equivalent whose seeming tsundere tendencies are actually just him/her/it/they/whatever being offended by everything. And Marcus can't shank them because they draw their strength from their mental illness and are actually a useful asset

To be completely honest I wouldn't have too much of a problem with that but I know people would come out in droves, screeching about the tumblr boogeyman. Even if it's not written in a tumblr way.

>the best course of action is to not waste energy turning blades but instead avoiding them entirely and murdering people

>this, apparently, means that we should never ever parry and that the user in question deserves a snide remark

Optimally, you are not connecting with them in any fashion other than killing them, or hampering them to make killing them easier.

Just because we have two blades and are utilizing them properly (blocking with one and striking with the other simultaneously) does not mean our go-to strategy should be to lock blades with people.

The only reason you should be getting yourself caught up in that is because you couldn't dodge and let them overextend.

But it clearly isn't, judging from the way it flips around.

And it's a hilt. That's pretty concealable.

and this means we should completely remove any capability to parry with the weapon?

Where the fuck did I say that? Jesus, dude.

yeah to be fair, given the lack of real healing in this setting and the fact that we're not really 'durable' so much as able to power through immense amounts of what should be crippling pain we probably don't want to be doing that much front line fighting anyways

especially since we've been recruited for an infiltrator/sneak role; can leave that tanky combat shit to the guys in heavy armor. Even the first few threads were us being successful because of high rolls ambush tactics and sneak attacks. We still won our 1v1s but we def took lots of damage in them.

>ashamed of their gender

Think you mean 'sex' rather than gender, mate. Sex is the physical, gender is the mental.

It's like calling a fetus a baby. It's literally wrong, because a fetus is a human between the embryonic and birth stages of its development while a baby is a post-birth human between the ages of one month and two years of age.

I don't give a fuck about your politics, just get the goddamn terminology right, yeah?

Yes, optimally we shouldn't need to parry.

But there's nothing wrong with keeping options open.

No where did I say "We should not be able to parry"

Quit moving the goalposts.

Gender is a reference to the social stigma attributed to the genitals you possess.

Being a woman typically means people picture a housewife.

Being a man typically means out making the bread.

If you are not happy with your gender, a.k.a. you don't want to be the demure princess who marries the gallant prince because royal marriages and shit, you are ashamed of your gender.

If you don't like being a woman because of what being a woman entails, you are ashamed of your gender. If you don't like being a woman because you don't have a dick to put inside of things you are ashamed of your sex.

Perhaps you misinterpreted me.

.....so what were you trying to say? Did you think I thought we should ALWAYS parry?

I pointed it out as a loadout issue because Markus is clearly able to parry, and using the twisty knife completely removes the ability to do so.

You replied by joking about the edge(which is ironic in itself given you got this far), and you argued against my criteria for choosing. I assumed you meant that parrying at all was not something we should be doing, and so directed you to the previous threads that indicate that Markus HAS parried before. You repeated the notion that parrying is not optimal, I took it as you saying it's a "bad" action rather than "sub-optimal".

So I would assume your initial goal is accomplished? That of "parrying isn't everything"? What's your beef?

Nigga. I ain't the nigga who was talking about that weird twisted knife thing.

I ain't got no beef, you're just insisting on arguing something for no reason.

>implying people aren't just funposting retarded implausible shit because we know kaz isn't coming back

>Raleigh is a dude. End of discussion, no more fucking around. Original draft had a female Mage disguised as a male, but I scrapped that.

BOOOO, fuck you Kaz, you eat all the fun.

Not really, I just noticed this was posted literally 17 seconds ago when I saw it. And I'm not even whatevered to see twitter updates. Subscribed? Whatever.

I am back. Getting on my computer now....

>Raleigh is a dude. End of discussion, no more fucking around. Original draft had a female Mage disguised as a male, but I scrapped that.

Oh poor Kaz

Huzzah!

For the record, how good is Combat Skill 3? Like, is that equal to Jaime Lannister or what?

Again, we have a +30 on a d100, even the shittiest rolls are gonna be around average and we're starting, judge by yourself.