Dog Days Quest Episode 108

Snap.
"Eek!" A pair of tiny hands wrap around your waist.

"Keiko." You pat the girl on the head, "It's fine, that's just a thrush. Besides-"

You gently push her off of your waist.
"It's still light out! There's like, two hours before it gets really dark!"
"All the more reason to turn around now." Keiko tries to bury her face into your shoulder once more.

You are Louise Lacerte! The beautiful princess hero of Gallete! Tonight, you are going to cure a friend of her fear of the dark.
This is quickly becoming a chore rather than an adventure.

"Hey, Keiko, calm down." Kayda, your other best friend, tries shaking her by the shoulder, "It's just the woods, you've been out here many times before, right?"

"Yes, but-" Keiko's green tail puffs up in your face, "-With Atsuko. I wouldn't EVER go out in the woods by myself."
She frowns, eying you eagerly.
"We're not really staying out until dark, are we?"

"Of course."
"Why?!"
"Because, that's how we're going to cure you of your fear of the dark!"
"This is silly!" Keiko insists, "This isn't going to cure me! W-where are we even going?"

"Keiko, it's fine. We're just going to a big castle on the eastern coast. It won't take us more than an hour of walking." Kayda sighs, "There's really nothing to be worried about."

That's a great change of attitude from Kayda! Earlier, she was sound just as scared and defeated as Keiko when asked if she wanted to visit that place.

"You do know where you're going, right?" Keiko blinks.

>Of course! (Roll 1d100)
>I-I was following Kayda.
>Sure! This is East, we're going east! Easy. (Roll 1d100-25)
>Um, want to sit down and rest?
>Other?

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Rolled 96 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>Of course! (Roll 1d100)

Rolled 12 - 25 (1d100 - 25)

>Sure! This is East, we're going east! Easy. (Roll 1d100-25)
this should be right

Tie between

>Of cours!
>This is east, we're going east. easy.
with a roll of 89, not bad
1Rolling a tiebreaker. WRiting!

Going with of course if vote is still open sice I don't see any roll?

I tried rolling twice but the post didn't go through each time. So I guess we're going with.

>Of course!

Next post almost done.

"Of course!" You confidently smile, "It's clearly that way." You point off down a makeshift-path you've been following.

"A little more that way." Kayda points slightly right of where you're pointing. "But otherwise, yes. We're right on course."
Hmph, always a stickler for detail that Kayda.

"Are we going to stop anywhere along the way?"
"Nope, walking the whole way there."

"Oh."
"Are your legs getting tired?" You grab onto her tail and swish it back and forth, "You can ride on my back for a while if you are."
"I'm okay, it's just-"

She looks back at your hand, still tightly grasping her tail.
"This is about the farthest point I've gone in this direction away from the shrine." She's biting her lower lip, "The only time I've been farther was with Jack."

"Atsuko didn't take you ANYWHERE?" Kayda seems almost appalled. "How did you, hunt food, or go fishing? Or even take a bath?!"
"There's a river near the shrine, but-" Keiko snatches her tail out of your hand. "This is way farther away. It's almost like-"
"Shh!"

Kayda slowly kneels down. Your hand immediately clasps over Keiko's mouth as she squeaks.

"There's a- glowing animal." Kayda points past the brush, you can see something faint shimmering in the underbrush.

"(Oh, Kayda-)" Keiko regains control of her mouth, "(That's a local deity. They sometimes show up around the shrine.)"
"A.. Deity?" Kayda blinks, and her hand is still gripped on her rifle.

Keiko nods, "(They're like ghosts. It's hard to explain. They're forest spirits.)"
"Forest... spirits." Kayda mouths the words again, as if she can't believe it. "You can, see them? With your eyes?"

Keiko nods.

>Let's go pet it!
>-Continue on our way. Let's not make it angry.
>Let's take it with us!
>Go around it, try not to make too much noise.
>Other?

Folks, I've been having MAJOR connection issues thanks to the Verizon outage. nothing crippling, but it's been slowing me down a lot.
Just FYI in case it gets worse and I disappear for the night.

>Let's go pet it!
Well ask if it's okay to try to pet it first I guess? Sometimes people can be real sticklers about this kind of thing!

>Let's go pet it!
>...Or respectfully... do something?

>Let's go pet it!

the curse
the cuuuuuuurse!

>Let's go pet it!
>respectfully, pet it.
>Always pet responsibly.

Writing!

The curse is getting more technical as time goes on.

So how're you doing today announcer?

"Let's go pet it!" You immediately perk up, "Of course, we should ask it first. Some people can be sticklers about that."
"Go pet it?" Keiko's tail starts to sway.
"Louise." Kayda takes an almost scolding tone. "There's no way it's going to stand there and let you touch it. Most animals just flee when it sees people."

"Oh, can't hurt to try!" You confidently stand up, and stride past Kayda.

The small creature, resembling a cross between a fox and some kind of dog, is playfully nipping at a vine. Carefully, it pulls one leaf off after another.
"Doggie!" You call out to it.

His (or her?) head snaps upwards, and regards you with caution.
You're not going to take that, though!

"Sit!" Your hand gestures toward the ground.
The animal, clearly confused, gently settles its rear onto the forest floor. Success!
Its ears perk with curiosity.

"Can I pet you?"

You're not entirely sure what you were expecting, as your response is for it to twitch its ears.
That's close enough to saying 'yes', you guess!

Slowly, your hand reaches toward its translucent scalp. The glowing skin gently meshes under your very-real fingers.
It's soft, it's like petting a cloud. Your fingers gently sink below its soft and unbelievably silky fur.

"Good doggie."
Slowly, there's a very light crunch behind you. Kayda's hand reaches out and starts stroking the animal.
Soon, Keiko's hand reaches out and does the same.

The sudden attention doesn't seem all unwanted. The creature is even leaning into the scratches and the pats.

Gently, it stands on its hind legs. It sniffs something in the air, and then slowly begins to pursue it.

"Well, that was cute. She's really friendly." Kayda comments.
"That was a girl dog?"
"Yup."

>Let's follow it!
>No! no! Stay on task!
>Are those things, common?
>There aren't any more like that, like, ghost-bears, are there?
>Other?

I'm doing pretty good. I had that scare with not being able to sleep last night. But, I took a half-way, and I was able to recover enough to get some good work done and start this thread at a reasonable pace.

So I'm happy.

I won't be happy tomorrow, I have all-day training and it sucks. But for now, I'm happy.

>Let's follow it!
>>Are those things, common?

>No! no! Stay on task!
>Are those things, common?

>Ask if you should follow it

Glad to hear you're doing ok today.
Sad about how tomorrow is apparently shaping up to suck for you, though.

This is more of a "ask Kayda if we can safely go after it without getting lost" thing.

>Where is it going?
>Change of plans!
>Let's find out!

Guess we're going with following it?

Yeah that works

Just think of what Jack would do and then do that.

But with even less forethought and responsibility.

But we tried touching tail and that was stopped - and we have nothing to drink!

Rolled 80 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>Ask Kayda if we should follow it and if we can do that without getting lost!

By the way, can everyone roll 1d100?

Rolled 43 (1d100)

I think I can

Rolled 2 (1d100)

How many rolls we looking at?

Rolled 71 (1d100)

Best of three, but it would have been only two if that was one less.

Rolled 95 (1d100)

Damn I knew I shouldn't have rolled

Ah if only you rolled sooner.

Well at least we got a 71?

Solidly "not failure" should be good enough, yes. That 95 is a (light) slap in the face though.

"Kayda! Hey Kayda. Can we follow that without getting lost?"
"Uh, sure- But."

Kayda looks back at you, "What about the castle?"
"Oh it'll be there later. Besides! This wouldn't be an adventure if we didn't stay out past dark!"

"I don't like this." Keiko shivers, "No one knows where they live, what if it just wanders deep into the forest and we get lost?!"
"Keiko, calm down. You don't really know if that will happen until you try!"

"Yes I do, we could get lost in the woods."
"Oh we're fine. I know exactly where we are."

You think.

Slowly, you tail the glowing apparition. It slinks beneath the forest brush, aptly dodging stickers and weeds.
With a faint glow, it stands in front of a large tree trunk and slowly fades out of sight.

"What was that?!" Kayda gasps.
"That's what I was saying." Keiko huffs, "No one knows where they live. They just kind of, come and go."

"Is this a common event? Spirits just walking around in the day?" Kayda still seems shocked.
"No, it's not common-" Keiko corrects herself, "-but I see it every few days. A lot show up when Atsuko performs the weekly rituals."

"I would like to see that next time." Kayda still seems shocked. "I didn't, well, I didn't even know that spirits really existed. I thought those were just dumb stories."
"Nope, it's good luck to see one out in the wild, too." Keiko shrugs, "It's not really different when I see one, though."

"Oh, um-" Keiko turns to you, "You know the way back to the path, right?"
"Yup, it's right over this way."
"Mm, good." Kayda smiles, "That's the way I would have said, too."

"So- now can we get back to this stupid adventure?" Keiko crosses her arms, her tail sags a little.

>No, let's look for it!
>This is fun!
>Okay, back to the castle, we shouldn't be too far from it now.
>Is there anything else we can see?
>Other?

>Okay, back to the castle, we shouldn't be too far from it now.
Can't really keep pursuit with something that fades in and out of existence.
>...But let's investigate this tree first!

>This is fun!
>Okay, back to the castle, we shouldn't be too far from it now.

I guess we could stare intently at the tree for a bit first

>This is fun!
>Is there anything else we can see?

>>Okay, back to the castle, we shouldn't be too far from it now.

>This is fun!
>Is there anything else we can see?
Keiko please, it's not stupid.

>This is fun!
>[Examine]: Tree
>okay, back to the castle

Writing!

"Not yet!" You smile, "This is fun!"

Keiko audibly sighs, and Kayda leans in closer to get a better look.

"I want to know why it disappeared into the tree." Your face draws closer to the relatively normal looking tree.
Nothing out of the ordinary on the surface. It's some kind of oak, from your knowledge of trees. The bumpy texture on the bark and the bell-shaped leaves are a giveaway.

Your head turns to Keiko, she shrugs.
"Don't look at me, I don't know why it disappeared into the tree."
"Do they live in trees?" Kayda seems the most interested in this out of everyone. "Are they like, tree spirits?"

"I don't know." Keiko frowns.
"But do they, talk? Do you ever hear them talking to you?"

That's an odd question, Kayda.

"I-" Keiko tries to think of a way to answer that question. "I don't think they can talk, or make noise for that matter. They just kind of come and go."

Kayda continues her close inspection of the tree. You circle around to see if there's anything remarkable about it.
Again, you feel your plant knowledge isn't good enough to distinguish what makes this tree so special.

Did.. Did Kayda just whisper at the tree? No, you must be mistaken.

"Okay, enough of that!" You stand up, grabbing Kayda by the arm. "Let's get back on course!"
Back on course before something else weird happens.

--

Slowly, the smell of the salt water reaches your nose.
In the distance, past the treeline, the ocean sinks into view.

"Is it around here?" You ask.
"Just along the coast, we should see it soon." Kayda carefully pulls a tree branch back so Keiko can pass.

It has been a strange, awkward silence for about ten minutes, now. You feel, as the leader, you should say something to keep it at least a little bit lively.

>Talk about the ocean
>Want to go swimming?
>Talk about Keiko some, Why haven't you been this way before?
>Talk about Kayda some, earlier, you said your maid was talking to herself in the mirror. What's with that?
>Other?

>Want to go swimming?
>Talk about Kayda some, earlier, you said your maid was talking to herself in the mirror. What's with that?

>>Want to go swimming?
>>Talk about Kayda some, earlier, you said your maid was talking to herself in the mirror. What's with that?

That second one is really important

>Talk about Kayda some, earlier, you said your maid was talking to herself in the mirror. What's with that?
Maybe swim when the sun is up and we have towels, no sense getting sick.

>Want to go swimming?
hold on, nobody brought swimsuits...

Well,time to invoke the backup plan

>Want to go swimming?
>Talk about Kayda some, earlier, you said your maid was talking to herself in the mirror.

It's a little before dusk. So no getting sick here.

Huh, isn't that a problem.

Writing!

according to manga logic, it's ok to bath naked as they're all girls
it'll be like a midnight bath, it'll be fun!

"Girls!" You grab Keiko and Kayda's shoulder. "It's too quiet! I want to do something!"
They blink, almost as if they're dreading the answer.

"Like what?"

"How about we go swimming! We're at the beach, after all!"

"I don't have a swimsuit." Keiko mutters.
"What's a swimsuit?" Kayda blinks.

"It's fine! It's good to swim now, just before it gets dark. We'll be dry by the time we can't see."

"I think we should- really-" Keiko tries to think of a reason, any reason, to get out of this one.
Meanwhile, Kayda has already started taking off her clothes. You quickly follow suit as Keiko remains shocked.

"Oh come on! Keiko! It's fine!"
"But-" Keiko looks past the small cliff, onto the sugar sands of the beach. "We're at the ocean, and what if someone sees us?"
"There's no one here, Keiko." Kayda pulls the rough-looking coat from her back. You can see the indentations on her skin where her own barrier jacket is chafing her. "Even if there were, we still have our rings on; we can still fight."

"That's true." Keiko takes a step toward the beach. You notice that she's not taking off her coat. What, does she plan to swim in her clothes?

Quickly, you sneak up behind her and grab Keiko's coat. With a lift, it slides right off. This is accompanied by much complaining.

>Cont.

"You were right, Louise." Keiko lets her soft, white skin become buried by the dampened sands. "This was a good idea."

"That's the second time you've said that today." You cross your arms, "Just listen to me and everything will be easier."

Kayda practically collapses into the water. You, yourself, waste little time submerging in the warm summer tide.
After walking for what feels like an hour in those adventurer-style clothes; you really needed this. Even if it was just to be out of them for a minute.

The salt water, as sour as its taste can be, is pure bliss to your bare skin.

That's when you look over and notice Kayda's skin is still marked from her clothes. Which begs the question: why does she wear clothes that mark her skin like that? It's not like she can't get more.
It also raises another question.

"Kayda."
"Mm." Her head sinks into the surf. Slowly, the sea retracts, just to bombard her with another wave of ocean.

"Earlier, you said your maid was talking to herself in the mirror. What was she talking about? Is that.. normal?"

Her brow scrunches. Her head shifts, and turns away from you.
"I don't want to talk about it."

>Okay, leave it at that.
>No, I think we should talk about it.
>Keiko! Help me out here!
>Just, enjoy it.
>Where's the castle from here?
>Other?

>Okay, leave it at that.
>>"So, what's with the marks?"

>Okay, leave it at that.

>No, I think we should talk about it.

>Okay, leave it at that
>So, what's with the marks?

Writing last post of the night!

Yeah, not very long. But I'll make up for it. We'll have a thread later in the week.

I say as real life chuckles at my naivety

>Just listen to me and everything will be easier.

nothing could, that's what.

Louise is a master tactician.

Yeah, in the same vein as Jack.

"No, I think we should talk about it."
"I don't think we should." Her black hair wisps in the ocean breeze, and her hand quickly corrects it. "It's just my summoner's maid being strange. I'm not the least bit worried about it. I just understand now why the King didn't want her."

Ow, that's a harsh thing to say, Kayda.

"..You don't like her very much, do you?"
"No." She shifts her weight to keep from sinking further into the sand. "It's probably just my fault."
"Don't say that." You scold her. "You could be right, talking to yourself for hours just sounds just downright creepy."

"..That's why I don't want to talk about it."

You lay in the sand, letting the waves gently wash the stress away.
As gentle and welcome as they are; they still can't wash that nagging question away.

Your head flops over, toward Keiko. She's almost fallen asleep in the tide. Then it swivels to Kayda, and you're presented with yet another strange question.

"Kayda."
"Mm?"

"Your skin is still indented from your clothes." You frown, "Is your outfit too tight? Around the chest, maybe? It's time to buy new clothes. Or ask for another barrier jacket."

"No, it's not from that." She sighs, "I'm not allowed to take the coat off while I'm on duty."

Those words sink in, much like the saltwater.
"On duty?"
"Mm."
"Aren't you.." You think back to your conversation in the castle, "On duty all the time?"

"Just when I'm with the princess, or with Jack. So all the time."

That-
"That's cruel! You have to wear your barrier jacket all the time?! What about when you go to sleep?"
"I wear it in my sleep."
"What about when you wake up for breakfast?"
"Wearing it."
"What about taking a bath?"
"I don't get many baths."

"Who gives you these orders?!"
"The maid."

Oh.

Oh, now there's a picture starting to be painted in your head. It involves a bear in maid outfit with two tiny devil horns.

>Thread End.

Thanks for the thread everyone. Sorry it wasn't a bit longer.

But I end at a healthy 2 AM, and I have a long day to look forward to.

In terms of a bonus day. I haven't decided yet. Keep an eye on my twitter account (@announcer_QM) and I'll post an update there about it.

In the meantime. Thanks to everyone who participated today! Let me know what you thought of it.

Thanks for running, Announcer!