Witch Apprentice Quest #20

Wow, you really made it look like we samefagged that with my post just above yours, it's perfect

This, my vote was not for lying.

>"Stop please! We don't have to keep fighting!" [Plea]

Sorry?

No, really, it's uncanny. That's exactly how a samefag vote would look. Exactly 1 minute and 1 second apart. The minuscule change in the sentence (one > is missing from the second post).

It's great, I'm impressed.

>"That's what you get for kidnapping! It only works on bullies!"

>witchling
cute

>"Stop please! We don't have to keep fighting!" [Plea]

>"I can(not) fix it!"

>"Please stop trying to hurt me!"

>Third party voter.

Pleading it is.

Please roll d20 for this too!

Rolled 2 (1d20)

Quit! Nadja be cute!

Rolled 12 (1d20)

ORAORAORAORA

Rolled 13 (1d20)

Rolled 6 (1d20)

Maybe try to add the third party voter in somehow if the plea fails, it was pretty good

Rolled 12 (1d20)

Some people like to bully cuties. Sad but true.

>13
Eeeeeh...

Uhhh.. Good try. But elves are apparently heartless creatures.

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>so many votes, so many failures

Lucky 13!

"lucky"

It might work.

Nadja is dead. The elves got her.

RIPIP

Nadja won! She defeated the nefarious knife-ear!

Nadja's lifeless body being dragged across the floor soon.

"Stop!"

She doesn't.

"Please! We don't have to keep fighting! Nobody has to get hurt! Don't you see that we can just... stop?"

>13s are lucky, seriously!

She... pauses, at least.

"I threatened your friend. I threatened you. And now you have, effectively, disarmed me. Victory is in your hands, witchling. With a single move you can end the menace that is I, forever. What reason could you possibly have to stop now?"

"Eh?" Do crazy sword ladies always get so... philosophical?

"Reason? I don't know? I guess uh, I guess I just don't want anyone to get hurt? I mean, it's completely unnecessary! So we should just stop!"

"Hrh," She grunts dismissively. "I told your sister this test was pointless. She and I both know enough of you Eastern sorcerers, these 'witches', to know that a direct confrontation is a battlefield you will never master."

"Wait, what did she say about my sis-"

"But it seems something of worth has come of this test regardless."

"What TEST?"

"Your response was creative and, almost like a real witch, you sought to remove the battle from the physical world and turn it into a battle of minds. A battle you could win."

As she speaks, her eyes turn away from me, gazing down the dark path behind me, where I had just come form.

"But then, foolishly, you refuse to push your advantage. Just like a certain someone I know..."

"But uh, what's this about a te-"

"I have witnessed several of them in action already, within my short time in this land, and every single one of them has known this simple lesson, so listen carefully, witchling."

"Uh... O..kay?"

"If you want peace, if you 'do not want anyone to get hurt', you must -crush- the hopes of your enemy, completely and utterly. You must leave not a single sliver of hope that they can defy you, and then, only then, will you have your bloodless victory. Your peace."

>1/2

"Uhh... I'm not sure what-"

"Were I a real enemy I would simply have feigned surrender, then waited for you to lower your guard. You would have been forced to fight me again, possibly even until one of us was dead. After all, you just showed me you were not quite so strong as I thought, so why should I not think I could win?."

I... don't think I understand that at all. You have to be mean to be nice? That doesn't make sense! Maybe tomorrow I should ask Mistress what she thinks about it?

The strange lady is about to keep speaking when an all too familiar voice calls out from, if I'm not mistaken, exactly where she had previously been looking.

"Jeeeze Tam, do you really have to be heartless with my baby sister?"

Sis is here? Actually, wait, that's not surprising at all any more. So all of this was just...

"She deserves the chance to rise above your level. It is a kindness."

"Ouch!" She says, barely containing a giggle as she steps up beside me. "Anyway Naddie, I-"

>"YOU SET ALL THIS UP JUST TO TRICK ME! YOU... YOU... BULLYFACE!" [Yell at Sis]
>"YOU SCARED ME JUST FOR A STUPID TEST?" [Yell at the stranger]
>"Wait, if this all was just a test, does that mean that Cinnamon..?"
>Other stuff? (Write-in!)

>"YOU SET ALL THIS UP JUST TO TRICK ME! YOU... YOU... BULLYFACE!" [Yell at Sis]
Bullyface? A serious accusation, Nadja.

>turn it into a battle of minds. A battle you could win
Elf is overthinking it.

>"YOU SET ALL THIS UP JUST TO TRICK ME! YOU... YOU... BULLYFACE!" [Yell at Sis]
>"WHERE IS AMALIA!"

>>"Wait, if this all was just a test, does that mean that Cinnamon..?"

>>"YOU SET ALL THIS UP JUST TO TRICK ME! YOU... YOU... BULLYFACE!" [Yell at Sis]

>"What was this test even for?"

>"YOU SET ALL THIS UP JUST TO TRICK ME! YOU... YOU... BULLYFACE!" [Yell at Sis]
>"Wait, if this all was just a test, does that mean that Cinnamon..?"

Time to call out the bullies when you see them.

>Elf is overthinking it.

It's just her way of trying to be nice. Really!

Well bullying isn't nice!

"YOU!"

"Eh-?"

"YOU SET ALL THIS UP JUST TO TRICK ME! YOU... YOU... BULLYFACE!"

"Woah woah, wait I minute I was just-"

"YOU TRICKED ME INTO THINKING AMALIA HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"Hey now, that-"

"AND YOU MADE THE CRAZY SWORD LADY DO ALL THAT SCARY STUFF TOO!"

"But I-"

"AND YOU EVEN MADE MY NEW WITCH FRIEND HELP YOU TOO!"

"Na-Na-Naddie, please-"

"YOU! ARE! A! BULLY!"

"You don't-"

"Hrm!" I turn away, refusing to even look at her. That's what bullies deserve! "We're not talking until you apologize!"

"Naddie, come on, you're being totally unfair!"

...

"Come on, at least back me up a little here, she called you crazy!"
"It seemed fair, looking from her position."
"Ack, betrayed by my own ally too!"

...

"Jeeeze, fine! I'm sorry! Alright? S-O-R-R-Y! Sorry!"

"There. See, bullying doesn't pay. Oh!" I turn to face the strange woman with the ears. "Sorry Miss, I didn't mean to call you crazy but uh, I still don't know your name so-"

"Tamelia Salew-" She pauses for a moment and then, for the first time I've seen, smiles. "Apologies, just Tamelia."

"Huh?" What happened to the rest? "Well uh, about your sword, I'm uh, pretty sure I can fix it for you... If I ask for help, anyway. So uhm-"

"There is no call for that." In an instant, her smile evaporates as she turns her eyes on Sis. "The fault belongs to your sister, not you."

"He-hey now, that's a good offer, don't you think you should take the offer, Tam?"

>"It's okay Miss, I want to help if I can."
>"Uhm, how about I fix it for you anyway and we'll say Sis owes me a favour instead? A BIG one!"
>"You're right Miss, Sis should handle it on her own!"
>Something else? (Write-in!)

>"Uhm, how about I fix it for you anyway and we'll say Sis owes me a favour instead? A BIG one!"

>"It's okay Miss, I want to help if I can."

>"Uhm, how about I fix it for you anyway and we'll say Sis owes me a favour instead? A BIG one!"
Don't we still have a grow potion?

>"It's okay Miss, I want to help if I can."
Like a good girl.

>>"You're right Miss, Sis should handle it on her own!"

>"Uhm, how about I fix it for you anyway and we'll say Sis owes me a favour instead? A BIG one!"
Sounds fair to me!

Favors, one of the most valuable currencies in the multiverse, second only to souls. And now you have one!

>Don't we still have a grow potion?

Yes. Nadja now remembers that, thanks to you. If nobody had mentioned it, I would have had her bring it all the way over to Mistress or someone else, explain the entire situation, and ask for their help, only for them to take a brief glance at the 'Emergency Pack' and hand her that exact flask.

Good job, user.

>>"It's okay Miss, I want to help if I can."

I remembered it too, I just didn't mention it because I had no idea you were going to do things like that.

You see, sometimes user being on the ball is a bad thing, cause that sounds hilarious.

"Uhm, how about I fix it for you anyway and we'll say Sis owes me a favour instead? A BIG one!"

"Hm?" The lady-whose-name-sounds-a-bit-like-Amalia ponders my suggestion for a moment, a crooked smile growing on her lips. "Yes, that trade should be fine, so long as you promise not to go easy on her."

"He-hey, don't these kind of deals require me to conse-"

"Nope."
"Heehee, sorry Sis!"

"Ack, the cruelty! The true villains are revealed at last! But fine, I'll comply with your evil wishes, this once! So, what'll it be Naddie?"

"Nuh-uh!" I can't help but smile a smile that I'm very sure good girls shouldn't have. "I'm saving this one!"

Sis bows her head in defeat, lets out a long, dramatic sigh. "You stole my naive little baby sister, you monster."

"Heehee!" This feels really good, having Sis have to do things MY way! "Anyway, I'm not really sure how to reverse that, so I should probably ask- Wait!"

I just remembered! In the emergency pack, there wasn't just 'SMALL' potions, there were also 'BIG' potions! So if I use one of these, that should definitely reverse the effect!

Probably!

"Okay, just put the sword on the ground there!"

Tam hesitates for a moment, but complies regardless. I pick out the correctly labelled potion and then, as is -apparently- the standard procedure with these, smash it unto the sword. It takes a moment for the reddish goop to fully dissipate, but as it does so the sword quickly grows back to it's original size.

At least I think it's the same. "Does this feel right, Miss?"

I step away to let her pick up the sword on her own. I'm not touching that! She swings it around a bit, then stabs the air a few times. Finally, she returns the sword to its sheath, nodding affirmatively. "Thank you for your kindness, witchling."

"No problem? I mean it was the least I could do, so.."

>1/3

"Anyway, I really think it's time to go home now before Papa gets worried."

"Wait!" Sis cries as I pack up my stuff to get ready. "The adventure isn't over!"

"...adventure?"

"Of course!" She announced proudly with arms spread wide. "That's my gift to you, your very own little adventure! Since you said you started witch training, it's super important that you learn to go on adventures! And who better to teach you than the greatest adventurer in all the land, your very own loving sister!"

"...what?"

"And of course, any adventure has to have a villain," She says, pointing to Tam who appears to be busy rolling her eyes -that's a new one too- in annoyance, "And even more importantly, any adventure must end with rescuing a beautiful princess!"

"...You don't mean-"

"In this case, none other than the exotic, charming, Princess Amalia!"

"You... actually kidnapped Amalia?"

"Well of course!" She explains with a smug smile on her face. "You wouldn't have been interested at all if I hadn't!"

She actually...

"I THOUGHT YOU JUST MADE THAT PART UP! WHY DID YOU DO IT FOR REAL?"

"I have been wondering the exact same." Tam adds behind me.

Sis, in return, grunts in annoyance at us. "For authenticity, of course! You should be thanking me, now you get to kiss-"

"KI-KI-KISS?!?" She shouldn't say things like that! Amalia's my friend!

"Well of course?" she says with one eye brow raised. "How else would you wake up a princess?"

"You... actually..." I knew my sister was kind of silly and crazy sometimes but this is just... "WHERE IS SHE?"

"This way." Tam answers before Sis has a chance to resume her shenanigans, leading a short distance further into the cave, through the darkness. Sis quickly follows behind after picking up the somehow-still-lit torch I dropped earlier.

It's a good thing she did, too, because there is no other light down here at all. I wonder how Tam was walking so calmly even in the dark?

>2/3

Less than a minute later, we reach a dead end of the cave, and there lying on the floor-

"AMALIA!"

She's... She's okay. She's just sleeping. I guess I knew that, but seeing her like that still scared me a little. Even though it's technically not even the first time!

"Amalia, wake up!"

But she doesn't move, not anymore than a soft, calm snore.

"Sis! What did you do to her! Wake her up!"

"Hm-hmm, I can't do that. Only a kiss from the Princess' true love will do!"

"WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND THAT?"

She lets out a deep sigh. "Just kiss her already."

>Shake her until she wakes up. Sis is lying to trick me, sedatives don't work that way.
>Ask Tam to help carry her home. Sis is lying to trick me, sedatives don't work that way.
>Kiss her. Sis is almost definitely lying to trick me, but... what if she's not?
>Something else? (Write-in!)

>Shake her until she wakes up. Sis is lying to trick me, sedatives don't work that way.
If that doesn't work:
>Ask Tam to help carry her home. Sis is lying to trick me, sedatives don't work that way.

Sis pls
>Kiss her. Sis is almost definitely lying to trick me, but... what if she's not?
Just a peck alright?

>Kiss her. On the forehead.

>Shake her until she wakes up. Sis is lying to trick me, sedatives don't work that way.

>Kiss her. Sis is almost definitely lying to trick me, but... what if she's not?

>Shake her until she wakes up. Sis is lying to trick me, sedatives don't work that way.
If that doesn't work:
>Kiss her. Sis is almost definitely lying to trick me, but... what if she's not?

>Kiss her. Sis is almost definitely lying to trick me, but... what if she's not?

Sis is the best.
Wonder what we'll do with her favor though. Keep it for a rainy day? Then again she's not around all the time right? Might risk not being able to cash it when we need anyway.

That's a good way to go about it if the kiss wins.

I don't think we should hold it for ever and ever just to find the perfect moment, but we do at least want to wait until we actually want help with something Nadja can't do herself.

>>Kiss her. Sis is almost definitely lying to trick me, but... what if she's not?

>Don't play her game.

>Play her game.

>Play her game, but bend the rules.

The two last groups are basically the same, so I'll go with the compromise option. That way everyone gets a bit of what they want.

Then I'm sure you would have mentioned it when Nadja stuck the thing in her bag wondering what to do with it! Right?

The best spent favors are used on something the slave did NOT want to do. Just saying.

I wonder how she got elf-friend to go along with this plan in the first place.

>slave
Are you...are you suggesting Nadja should be naughty? That doesn't sound like good girl thinking...

Spoiler:

>Favors, one of the most valuable currencies in the multiverse, second only to souls.

Oh come one, you have to count my vote, it came in 20 seconds before your post.

Well, didn't really mean to bend the rules, just noting. I'm sure nobody expected anything more than a peck anyway.

I assume that's why it wasn't included user.

W...we dark souls now?

Then no vote should be included!

So, presumably after the post was written.

B-but that's just a regular story then!

I've seen you, don't worry.

How exactly does that make sense?

I obviously wrote and posted my post first.

Thanks, I just wanted a pat on the head to be honest

Because people take longer than 20 seconds to write out a post that long? Also because refresh times mean that you don't see posts until up to a minute after they're posted?

Writing =!= posting, user.
Auto-update isn't that on the ball.

Do you actually think the other post was written in 20 seconds?

Anons, the post timestamps are independent of the auto update. If you'll take a look at the posts you'll see mine was 25 seconds earlier. That means, assuming both of us have the same ping and his image took about 5 seconds max to upload, I still hit the post button at least 20 seconds earlier.

I'm not sure if you're doing this on purpose user...

user, nobody is talking about writing time. If you want to include that then you basically have an excuse to make up anything you want.

Don't worry, I'm sure he's just pretending to be retarded at this point. Just ignore his posts and he'll stop.

I'm not sure if YOU are doing this on purpose!

I'm not, I just pointed out that you were wrong. You could have used plenty of other legitimate arguments against me, the least of which is "the QM has no obligation to do anything he doesn't want to do", but you didn't. You used your ignorance and confusion about the difference between the auto update and the time stamps.

I like discussion in my threads, but this discussion is dumb.

Yes, I manually checked for new posts before posting. No, your vote was not there when I did so. You want to know why? See image related.

Now settle down and be nice to each other.

user, you're the one assuming everyone is talking about your vote not counting. We've all tried to explain simply why your post was not counted by FriendQM in his roundup (hence not 'included' rather than not counting).

I was talking about it counting the entire time, user. Maybe you should have been clearer about what you were trying to say instead of assuming I'd read your mind.

That's... That's not actually how it works, is it? I'm pretty sure it isn't! You couldn't make a sedative that only wears off when you get kissed!

"Amalia!" I call as I shake her wildly. "Amalia, wake up so we can go home!"

But all that seems to achieve is a few annoyed grumbles from her. I wonder if I'm interrupting a nice dream?

"No way. Not possible, there's no way you could actually-"

"Never underestimate the power of a Heart of Justice!"

She seems way too sure of herself. But the only way something like that would be possible if she had help from a...

From a...

Oh no.

"I am not obliged." Tam says before turning about to walk away. "I pray your vengeance will be great indeed, witchling."

And she's gone, leaving me alone with the increasingly smug face Sis is putting on. Why is she so proud of embarrassing me like this? It only worked because I trusted her!

But I did, and now it looks like I have no choice. I COULD have just carried her home and asked Mistress or someone to help me, but that would take a while, and Mister Gilbert would definitely be really sad! I can't let that happen!

But... She did only say a kiss! A kiss can be all kinds of things! It doesn't have to be so embarrassing! Haha, bet stupid Sis didn't see that coming.

I sit down beside her, feeling Sis' glee practically beaming off of her behind me, enough that I can almost see the cave lighting up from it. That'll be gone in a moment!

I lean forward, making sure to stall for time a bit just to annoy Sis, then after waiting long enough, give Amalia a single kiss on the forehead. Now to wait for her to wake up so I can rub it in Sis' face!

>1/4

...why isn't she waking up?

"Tch tch! Trying to cheat Naddie-girl? Sorry, but that won't do! Try again!"

No way around it, then...

Once again, I lean forward, this time not pausing for dramatic effect but just because...

This is so wrong! She's my bestest friend! How can I do something like that with HER? And... and it'd be my first too! All because of some STUPID trick! What did I do to deserve this?

Okay, deep breath. I gotta do it to help Amalia. I sure hope she won't be mad at me...

Deep breath. And...

There! Just a quick peck! So quick I barely felt it but it still counts!

Slowly, groggily, she finally open her big, pretty, amber-like eyes.

She smiles, slowly opening her mouth as if to speak, but only a low whisper that I can barely even hear at all comes out.

I lean closer to better hear her. "Amalia, are you- MMMPHMPH?!?"

In just one instant she leans forward herself, and she... she...

"WHAAH!" I push away from her in sheer panic, crawling backwards away from her. "YOU-YOU-YOU KISSED ME!"

She shakes her head softly, her eyes rapidly blinking before finally opening her eyes properly. "What... What's going on? Why are you yell-"

"WHY DID YOU KISS ME?"

"Wha-? Nahd?" She mumbles barely intelligibly as her eyes open wide and her face turns as red as I'm sure mine already is!

"Heehee, you did kiss her first, Naddie!" Sis giggles gleefully, even though nobody wants to hear your opinion at all right now!

"Nahd..? Nadja?" Amalia continues to mumble. "Dream... just dream... please?"

She slaps herself once. Then again, harder, then finally looks at me, muttering a single word before looking away again in a panic. "I..?"

>2/4

Sis is a bully for sure.

"Oh! Now I get it!" She doesn't look at me as I break the awkward silence. "You were still dreaming!"

"So you thought you were kissing someone else! Right? Amalia?"

She keeps looking away for a long time, even as I carefully crawl back next to her. Finally, as I sit next to her again, she turns her head, still beet red, to stare at her feet as she whispers just the one word: "...Yes."

"Haha, I knew it! It was just a misunderstanding!" I wrap my arms around her from behind. She definitely needs a hug right now! "Heehee, and don't worry, I won't ask who you were dreaming about! Unless you want to tell-"

"NO!" She cries so loud the word rings back and forth between the cave walls for a while.

"Haha, okay okay! Come on, you must be so confused! I'll explain it all on the way home!"

That ended okay after all! So then why does Sis keep grumbling angrily to herself? Didn't she get -exactly- what she wanted?

...

But if it was just a mistake, how come it felt kind of... nice?

>3/4

Justice Log

3rd of U, 347th of the Fourth Age

Executed Operation Princess Kiss.

Every step was performed exactly as planned.

Outcome: Dissatisfying.

I feel I have run out of options. Even when faced with the obvious, my sister persists in thinking up nonsensical explanations, and Amy is all to happy to confirm the delusions just so she herself can run from the truth!

Tam claims the operation failed because "One cannot coerce a flower into blooming, only by Patience is its beauty unveiled."

BUT I DON'T WANT TO WAIT!

I may not have a choice, however. I am left clueless as to how the situation can be escalated further. For once, I leave the matter in the hands of Fate.

Also, received letter from AP about some trouble she needs with in the North. It didn't sound THAT urgent, so I'll wait a few days before leaving.

>END OF THREAD TWENTY!

Sis
pls