FUCK! You need to get there NOW! The king said always keep that blade on you around Regulus, Saisai needs the same protection... That won't be easy or possible if the battle has already started.

Ask Maggie if she can create illusions or make things disappear with her powers.

>>302572
>Be invisible >Hang out in the battlefield and disrupt Regulus's hurdurpower

Flash Step x 5 GP:29 Artemis 2011/05/08(Sun)16:24 No. 302577 ID: 529eff
File 130489706541.png - (201.00KB , 769x714 , 572.png )

"What!? I gotta go!"

Artemis changes form and flash steps to the castle. He runs into the Arena and see the fight already in progress.

"Saisai, we can end this now, I've already drawn blood."

>"I won't stop until you're dead!"

".... Very well."

There are stone spikes floating around Regulus's hand and several more embedded into Saisai's body.

do you think you could discreetly cast gravity on one side of her hat? make it fall off.

>>302577
Get as close as you can, draw your blade and... lean on it. You know, don't do anything that would interfere with any human, but if a dragon were close to you for some reason it would have it's powers lessened. But no knight would be a dragon, of course. Be sure Saisai gets a glimpse of you and the sword, so she can bait him over. If Regulus sees you first then you may as well call to her.

also call out "saisai, stop this, you can't win. a selfless sacrifice only matters if you win!"

>>302579
We are in agreement.
Motion Saisai over to you if it won't get you in trouble.
If Regulus looks at you, then do this:
Glare back, point your index and middle finger at your eyes, then turn the hand to point directly at him.

Oh, also, what happens when you pour mana into the blade? Can you make the suppression effect stronger?
Remember: Your blade suppresses dragons, all knights must be humans, dragons are not humans, ergo it couldn't possibly interfere with two knights fighting.

[Pour GP into the blade to boost its dragon-suppressing power]

Remember, the dragons lose power just by you being close to them with the sword. Would it be legal to enter the arena as a spectator?

>>302590
that is a good question, remember that you are not longer a knight

Suspected dragon. Stone Spikes. Friend in mortal danger. You know what to do.
Even the odds.

Whatever you do, do NOT remove her hat to reveal her... you think she is angry and distrustful of you now? if you betray her like that she will never forgive you. Even if you think its "for her own good".

Artemis 2011/05/10(Tue)20:21 No. 303227 ID: 9f0b5c
File 130508411619.png - (326.10KB , 925x968 , 573.png )

Artemis tries to get Saisai's attention but she seems to be too focused in the battle.
She pulls out the dragon slayer blade and goes as close as he can to the edge.
Saisai tries get close to Regulus but he keeps throwing spikes at the ground in front of her.
He fires another one at her head, she dodges it but the spike catches one of her straps.
Another spike flies at her head. She ducks under it causing the spike to hit her helmet, knocking it off.

The crowd gasps.

>>303230
We're damned low on GP. I would be reluctant to fight in this condition unless we absolutely have to.

Pity we aren't in mage form; we could have gravity-pinned her hat to her head.

>>303231
What for? she cannot defeat regulus, she is already injured, she is trying to make it a fight to the death (which is almost certain to be her death) in order to keep her secret. Now that her secret is out she will live. This was a stroke of luck, you didn't have to blow her cover yourself to save her life... and charging into the arena would have made things worse for all involved.

>>303232
>Now that her secret is out she will live.

What the flying fuck makes you think this is even a slightly reasonable conclusion!?

Well... shit. That's that then. At this point her being kicked out is the least bad result. Get down there between them with Flash Step as the odds of him suddenly trying to execute her as a spy and traitor are pretty high. You won't get in trouble for interfering if she isn't a knight, the battle is off.

And be prepared to speak, because we have some parting words and nothing left to lose by saying them.

>>303233
because it was a battle to the death that she could not win and which she was not willing to retreat from. The only possible result would have been her death.

Now that she has been exposed she knows her knighthood has been lost, and will likely be amiable to escaping, with your assistance.

I would get READY to interfere but don't jump in just yet, the king might just declare the fight over and her expelled. If we immediately jump in it could potentially make things worse. If the king doesn't end it that way, or even sends other knights to help Regulus, then jump in of course and save your friend.

>>303240
Again. What the fuck keeps Regulus from putting a fucking stone in her face?

Artemis 2011/05/10(Tue)21:12 No. 303244 ID: 9f0b5c
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The spikes vanish from Regulus's hand.

>"Sire! This fight is over!"

King
"I agree. The Knights of Central is a human only organization. Saisai is not human.. Therefore she is no longer part of the knights."

"Must we continue then?"

"No. Saisai is not allowed to fight in this arena."

Regulus walks over to Saisai but still keeps his distance.

"This is terrible... A spy infiltrating our ranks."

The crowd gasps again.

>"What!? I'm not a traitor!"

Her voice is almost drowned out by the crowd talking.

"Were you honestly trying to execute me? Trying to take my position as General?"

>"What!? I only did that because you were trying to blackmail me!"

"Blackmail you? With what?"

>"What..?"

"I'm just as surprised as the others.. If I'd known about this sooner trust me you would have been kicked out. I wouldn't allow for such a thing."

>"But..."

King
"Saisai, please pack your things and leave. A knight will accompany of course."

Regulus begins walking away.

>"So you didn't know..?"

"Nope."

He leaves.
Saisai turns to leave, a knight by her side. She catches a glimpse of Artemis.

Oh how I would love to just scream our side of things to everyone... but we won't be heard. Shake your head and mouth the words "He's lying" to her. And "I'm sorry" if she doesn't turn right away.

Go catch up with her, homicidal tendencies be damned. The knights aren't going to heal those wounds for her.

Ok, this was the best possible outcome, seems like regulus is more of a manipulator... he lied to her and the crowd to make himself look good... he lied to her about not knowing to make you look bad. Doesn't matter, follow her, she will take her things, get kicked out and then approach and explain.

>>303243
Her dodging. He knocked her hat off while trying to put a spike in her head.

also, aside from the king, it is very difficult to tell who is saying what in the last post.

>>303258
no we didn't. We barely told her anything. She has no idea she is the host of the dragon of wind, she has no idea it will transform her into its new body (which essentially kills her) in some many years. She doesn't know that we were offering ourselves to the dragon of wind as a host, but it went for her because of said transformation (which we didn't know about back then). She has no idea regulus was the one who named all the "traitors". We need to assure her he did know and that him pretending it was a "surprise" was just a lie. We need her to know many things:
>>302199
>>302204

Also, she isn't the only one we need to get.

BTW, regulus fought by controlling the earth (dragon of earth suspicions)

I keep on worrying that Regulus is somewhat of a red herring, that he is really just a very very powerful human and that he really believes he is doing his best to protect the kingdom by removing "traitors" (the racially impure & sympathizers), but then again... that would still make him a bad guy, and he still had a lot to do with the various hurts we and our friends went through.

>>303253
Explain? We already told the whole sordid tale to her. What we need to do is apologize and... do something. Somehow swear to make it up to her. She still has her dad coming down, she needs help with that still.

We should try to get her to come down and talk with Kain.

>>303257
King has the first and third lines, all the greentext is Saisai and the rest is Regulus. Not impossible to figure out but it is kinda barebones formatting, yeah.

"he is lying, he knew this whole time, perhaps ever since you got here. everyone trusts him to the point that they cling to his every word. i KNOW he knows cause he mentioned your ears at the lakes. his blackmail was to kick you out of the knights, using your ears as evidence. he was going to do it sooner or later, whether i did anything or not. think meeting kain will explain everything."

>>303244
This is completely horrible. He would say the same thing either way, but Saisai is a rash person and isn't thinking clearly so she'll think Artemis betrayed her.

All I can think of is meeting her at the gate and telling her you wanted her to distance herself from you, or talk things out with the king, or buy a potion to hide her ears, or cut them off, or anything but fighting him because of this.
Then let her beat the crap out of you, but flee if she tries to land a killing blow.

Weeeeeellll... There IS one way to save her from this...

[Change Gender]
Shout something like "ENJOYING THOSE EARS I GAVE YOU? I WARNED YOU THAT NOBODY REJECTS THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ARTEMIS DISPO, AND NOW MY CURSE HAS LEFT YOU A FREAK FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE!"

Since her natural form is a child and she's possessed by the wind dragon she'll detect as being affected by some sort of body modification magic, and with both her parents being obviously human nobles she'll be able to point to them to prove her lineage. Regulus wouldn't be able to prove those are her real ears.

Her life gets easier, your life gets harder.

>>303293
While creative, its a bad idea. It leaves her in the corrupt knights with several people burning for revenge (regulus, the allies of her ex fiance whose balls she cut off, the allies of the first guy whom she defeated who murdered female knights out of mysoginy)... plus she is going to transform into the dragon of wind and lose her body unless she finds an alternative with you (say, finding a willing light elf to pass it on to)

Also, her natural form is NOT that of a child. She was magically youthened into one via time magic, then magically aged via time magic... both instances should not make her read as under an enchantment, just as a pile of ashes that used to be a house until set on fire with magic will not read as being magical ash. The spell caused its effects and is afterwards gone.

>>303297
This universe's rules of magic. Altering somebody's natural form is nigh-impossible, so magic that alters somebody's body persists as long as the alteration is in effect.
Time magic can skirt this limitation by rewinding or fast-forwarding the target to an earlier or later state.
This sort of possession counts as an altered form, though, because it's a physical change resulting from a possessing being manifesting itself.

>>303307

1. Her original form was that of an adult, so bringing her back up to adult form was the cancellation of previous magic.
2. Shape changing, yes... but time magic is crazy, it might not work the way you describe.
3. The dragon within her isn't going to alter her form for decades. You had it for 17 years, since birth, and all you can do is switch between two forms at your own discretion using magic power. And on a rare occasion call up the dragon to possess you

Artemis 2011/05/11(Wed)14:50 No. 303399 ID: ab117e
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Artemis mouths out 'He's lying' to Saisai.
She stares at him then walks away. Artemis tries to follow her to her room but the knights won't let him into the castle any further.
He waits outside for her. After a few minutes he sees a tiny Saisai walking to the gates trying, and failing, to hold back her tears and dragging her broken spear behind her.

She looks so sad... Maybe even sadder then last time.

>>303399
Mmmf, not a great time to hug her. Maybe wave?

just hold open your arms, if she wants a hug she will hug you. then after she finishes with the hugging and crying tell her "think there is someone you should meet" talking about kain.

>>303399
Stand there looking completely miserable and tearing up, which is basically what you're doing already anyway. Let her decide how this will go.

>>303406
Correction: Look completely miserable and tear up while you go hug her.

>>303406
Agreed. For once, being socially awkward and uncertain is the right response. Be the boy you always were.

Artemis 2011/05/11(Wed)15:18 No. 303424 ID: ab117e
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Artemis stands there looking just as miserable.
He starts holding out his arms but pulls them back.
His mouth opens to talk but nothing comes out.
Saisai walks past him.

"Don't talk to me. I hate you.."

Her voice cracks a bit.

"I'm going home."

She walks past the gates and away from him.

don't talk, just pick her up and start to carry her.

>>303424
Catch up to her.
Walk next to her.
Say nothing.

She is hurt, she is angry, she is sad.

GO BE A CHEW TOY!
No seriously, let her beat the stuffing out of you if it helps her.

But you must explain what is going on!

That or flee like a wuss and get Kain to talk to her.

As things stand EVERYTHING is in danger, Also try to get it into her thick skull that she doesn't want to be part of a group of increasingly corrupt/suspect knights.

>>303424
"There isn't anything I can say now that will help... but I think if you talk to Kain and his wife it will be good for you. I'll take you there, and after that I won't bother you ever again if you don't want me to. I promise. Well, until one day I'll need to remove the wind dragon from you. Don't argue that point."

If she doesn't want to go... pick her up and carry her there.

>>303424
That was a pretty obvious response to the "offer, but don't initiate a hug" plan.

>>303434
>>303440
These two... doing the one will naturally follow into the other.

Besides which, it wasn't your fault. The only reason she wasn't sacked with the other "race traitors" when they had the ethnic cleansing last chapter is because Regulus was trying to user her to blackmail you.

While she is being illogical and unreasonable, she has been getting one serious blow after another and just had her life dream snatched away from her unfairly... so be a good friend and put up with her.

End of Chapter 8 Artemis 2011/05/12(Thu)19:41 No. 303777 ID: 9f0b5c
File 130525451064.png - (150.14KB , 539x830 , 577.png )

Artemis catches up to Saisai and walks beside her.
She keeps walking straight, going right past her house.

"Saisai, you-"

"I know. I don't really want to go home."

She looks up at Artemis.

"You're just gonna stay silent?"

"I... Well... I..."

"Stop mumbling.. It's annoying."

she stumbles.

"Stupid body..."

She takes off her bag and stares at it. Artemis opens his mouth to speak when she begins stabbing her bag with the spear. He can hear metal being cut and fabric torn. After a minute of stabbing she stops.
She kicks the bag away and Artemis can see her Knight Armor inside it.

"....... Carry me. I can't walk like this."

"Where do you want to go..?"

"It doesn't matter."

Artemis picks her up.

"I really don't care anymore."

>>303777
Go rent a room at an inn.
Hold her in your arms all night.

kain may be a good idea. seeing another cat person may help.

>>303777
It would be awkward to take her to Morgans, for a few reasons. Might not be much room, and there'd be Mimi too. The bit about Morgan being your sorta girlfriend might be better left out for now. It would be good to remind her that you aren't the only person she can trust, that you met Kain and his wife and you think they'd be all to happy to let her rest there tonight.

>>303793
>>303779
or combine the two, get an inn room... have some private time. you can then later introduce her to the morgans.

I'm gonna have to suggest setting her up with Kain if he's got the hospitality to spare. If we're living with Morgan we shouldn't be sleeping around on her.
Also, you need to take care of that contract business soon.

:,(

Artemis I am sorry for what happened to you. We couldn't forsee this happening to you but I can suggest something. Please take her to your home whereever that is and make sure it is outside of the city.

Take her up to the bedroom and tell her that she needs to rest, if need be sleep next to her and hold her. Right now you need to be there for her and she is broken. Her defences are down and wshe is very weak right now. Just be there but also you will need to start planning for the long term.

You see you will need to start making decisions for her after she rests tonight. When she is more better you will need to explian to her what your plan is and explian to ehr why all this is happening. Be assertive with her but not domernearing, ask ehr what her take is on this whole thing. Once you have a plan formulated then to gather support from where you need and if need be from the dragons.

This king is tyranical and sick in the end, there will come a point where you may need to take him down but for now keep your friends close and make sure she is entact. Also after you get up get her a meal at the inn.

Acutally a very good piece of advice, I kbow of an inn from yourf father's travels.. it still exists and it will serve your needs. If you take the path out of central and follow the path neear the river for an hour... finally you will reach the inn.

One thing though when you meet the innkeeper tell him "You have a fragile situation" and he will get you the best room for both of you.

>>304175
>you will need to start making decisions for her after she rests tonight
What? no, you don't. First of all, we, the voices are the ones who come up with plans most of the time. And Artemis needs to suggest and convince not force his ideas (or our ideas) on his friends or he will soon have no friends.

>If we're living with Morgan we shouldn't be sleeping around on her.
Who said anything about sex?

Also, this thread is finished already.
Next thread can be found here: >>303814