Dungeon Delver Quest (Original Fantasy... again)

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?

Food first priority, people talking and/or monster smashing comes second.

 

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?

 

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?
mmm food

 

~Sigh~

 

This isn't really a critical vote here. And both actions are perfectly reasonable and in character.
MC is hungry, thirsty, and suffering from a headach induced due to lack of alcohol. Getting some food is perfectly reasonable.
On the other hand, she is also direct and headstrong, going into the tower and bashing some monsters is also perfectly reasonable.

And neither choice is going to make a significant difference about anything. Not her overall personality, not the world, not her relationships, not her build...
This is seriously not sigh worthy

 

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?

As said, the MC is hungry (which makes for a non-optimal first forray alone) and it might be good to put her head down and feel better before going. Even something as basic as "Oh hey, there is a starter kit of a few healing potions for free over there" could double the amount of times we can spend in our first jump there. Or, you know, find a nice druid girl to do that.

 

Nice... how about making it a cute druid boy though? MC is a big strong amazon-like after all.

 

Changing vote to

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?

Hungry oni loli is hungry.

 

+coughs+
It is probably a reference to Linnea, the girl almost no one votes for.

 

doh. thanks for explaining.
She is a cutie pie according to the pic

wait, mc is loli?... i thought she was fully grown. it doesn't really indicate clearly in bio but the picture has her as being a bit young... more of a teen though

 

That was more of a joke than a serious evaluation of her age category. Plus 'oni loli' rhymes

 

Eh, a shota faun druid might also be interesting companion, I guess.

 

I can't read Darkened mind on the matter, but I'm writing Yuuka as being in her teens, so like 16-17, or the Oni equivalent. That said, can I get a vote count?

 

Vote Tally : Dungeon Delver Quest (Original Fantasy... again) | Page 4 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.2.1

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?
No. of Votes: 8

Spoiler: Voters

Minion #Q
Arkatekt
Arkeus
Bre Karn
CptTagon
Guile
mrttao
Nohbody

[X] You can eat later, and screw wandering around like a lost puppy. You came here for the tower. You want to check out the tower.
No. of Votes: 4

Spoiler: Voters

Xicree
Bailey Matutine
Sirrocco
Tavarokk

[X] No reason to go anywhere. Pick a person nearby and start talking.
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Darkened

Total No. of Voters: 13

 

We just handed you the seeds. Your interpretation is the one that actually counts here.

 

I have updated both of my Quests, so guess what, it's once again that time! Omake Time!

Spoiler: Summoner’s Woes

Murdan Mall’eoch was not one to get discouraged easily, oh no, he was not. However, he must admit that the first results of the training for his chosen path were not exactly as he had anticipated.

It had all started when he had been rummaging through the few chests containing the belongings the Mall’eoch had managed to smuggle out of their holdings, after the Elven Cenacle dispossessed them of their lands and titles; he had found it under a pile of old garments, probably forgotten in the first few months of their exile.

A leather-bound tome, written in classical Elven script, speaking of a ‘Hidden Job’ – which must have been a mistranslation, but he was stumped as to what the correct modern Elvish might be – called the “Dodekatheon Contractor” or something like that, with cryptic mentions of ‘statistics’ or ‘support skills’, or ‘shards’, ‘slabs’, as well as other terms which seemed a little more familiar – like ‘godsblood’ or ‘Tower’.

After deciphering as much of the text as he could, he had understood that this was the diary of Taldran Mall’eoch, one of their illustrious ancestors from a bygone era, who supposedly found ‘the Truth’ at the pinnacle of one of the mythical structures.

Within those lines he had claimed to have succeeded in clearing one of those Towers alone, shaping a perfect party from fragments of primal elemental power, the Twelve Great Spirits, or ‘Dodekatheon’. They contained, among numerous columns of numbers and letters which Murdan made little sense of, the instructions for reaching out to the Great Spirits, and make a contract with them in order to receive power.

So he had abandoned his classical magical studies – the fact that his family could no longer afford to pay him his tuition had nothing to do with that – and set out on the lonely path of the ‘Dodekatheon Contractor’, the path to Ultimate Power!

That was how, on the first full moon after the spring equinox, he was standing on his roof, a summoning circle, with which he would call upon Sylph, the Great Spirit of the Wind!

Focusing his mystical energies in the intricate patterns that would rend asunder the barriers between worlds, he called, and something answered.

Something prodigiously vast and without compare to the petty magics of Elves, Men, or whatever! A towering, evanescent silhouette as vast as his ramshackle – no wait, affordable – house, and then, in the blink of an eye, it collapsed – no wait, contracted, that’s right!

Into the shape of a thumb-sized disheveled little girl with diaphanous wings and a gauzy robe. Very short robe, by the by…

“Huuuuuh?” came the melodious – if a bit high-pitched – voice of the goddess from Beyond, “are you peeking up my skirt, Mr. Pervert?” she asked.

What.

“Eek, are you trying to eat me, opening your mouth like that!”

“Wait, no, great divine Spirit, I didn’t mean to offend you, I have called you to establish a contract, like you did with my ancestor, Taldran Mall’eoch…”

“Oooh, you know Taldrie? How is he doing?”

“Well, he’s been doing fine for himself, but he’s been dead for a couple millennia at least…”

“Oooh noooo, Taldrie! Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“What? Wait, don’t cry, o divine Spirit! Please let me fetch you a handkerchief…”

***
“I summon thee, Undine, Great Spirit of Water, to enter a pact and gblkghgr-”

“Oops, sorry for drenching you, your circle was a little bit sketchy so my aim was poor!”

“It’s nothing, divine Spirit, let me welcome you on the material plane and offer you my pledge of… why are you collapsing into a puddle?”

“Sorry, sleepy… Don’t you have something interesting to show me?”

“As I said, I am contacting you on behalf of my ancestor, Taldran Mall’eoch…”

“Oooh Taldrie! How is he doing?”

“Well, hum, fine, except his time was a few millennia ago… Oh please no, don’t cry yourself into a puddle!”

***

“Great Spirit of Earth, Gnome, I am named Murdan Mall’eoch, and I am petition you for a contract!”

“…”

“Divine Spirit, why are you not answering?”

“…”

“That’s impossible, a divine spirit cannot be shy… Tell me, does the bond my ancestor forged with you matter no more to you?”

“…Taldrie?”

“Well, yes, how do I break this to you… it appears you divine Spirits have quite a different notion of time, for while a mere blink of an eye has elapsed to you, many Elven lifetimes, however long they may be, have passed…”

“…”

“You do understand, right?”

“…”

“Is that oil you are crying?”

“… Yes.”

***

“Great Spirit Salamander, I am reaching out to you! May your brazen flame light my path, and incinerate my foes!”

“Oi, you jerk, it’s goddamn freezing in here!”

“My humblest apologies, divine Spirit, my heating budget has suffered from some restriction lately…”

“And you are calling on me to spare your expenses? Are you mad, mortal?”

“This indignant attitude would be a lot more threatening if you were not an inch tall… Ahem, no, great Spirit, I am retracing the steps of my ancestor, Taldrin Mall’eoch…”

“What, did Taldrie kick the bucket without telling me? And letting me cremate his remains? What a jerk!”

***

The eight other spirits were not much easier to handle.

Helios, Great Spirit of Light, chastised him for having impure thoughts – but how can it be helped, when the spirits adopt such nubile, scantily clad female forms?

Erebia, Great Spirit of Darkness, outright creeped him out when she told him she was the only Spirit he needed, and that he would always be happy with her.

Astra, Great Spirit of the Stars, barely listened to him as she was gazing at the sky, or peering into that strange scroll of hers – why did it remind him of a spider’s web?

Selene, Great Spirit of the Moon, was offended that he mistook her fox ears for mere dog body parts, and turned her tails on him with a huff.

Elsa, Great Spirit of Ice, was about as interactive as Astra, except she did give the impression of noticing his existence – it’s just that she gave him the cold shoulder, for some reason. Must have been that proviso against singing that his ancestor's journal advised be included in the summoning?

Volta, Great Spirit of Lightning, was even less attentive than Sylph and Salamander combined, always twitching and leaping around in her summoning circle.

Eisen, Great Spirit of Metal, was adamant in setting up a martial challenge for her would-be contractor – what need did he have of weapons with the power of Magic at his side? Besides, for a thumb-sized figure, she managed to nick him quite a few times. Blood doesn’t come easy off clothes, you know?

Sylvie, Great Spirit of Wood, managed to creep him even more than Erebia, with her
strangely… phallic vines swirling about excitedly as she whispered of the ‘seeds of our love’…

But finally, he reached the newest Tower, crossing the line of no-return, with his spirits at his metaphorical side, because damn was it tiring to have more than one or two materialized at the same time!

And understanding dawned on him, as the Tower fed him information about godsblood, and the tables and numbers in his ancestor’s diary suddenly started to make sense.

And horror dawned on him. Twelve Skills? One per Spirit, to be raised independently, wait, there were twelve Utility Skills as well, and a handful non-Spirit-specific ones? Stringent Presence, Power and Will requirements to have more than one spirit summoned?

Murdan Mall’eoch, heir to a disgraced line he was striving to redeem, sat down in shock. How the heck could his ancestor have managed to accumulate enough godsblood to maximize all Spirit Skills, and have enough statistics to have a handful of them simultaneously conjured? While he knew little of the economics of the Towers – these particular memoirs must have remained in the Mall’eoch holdings or been plundered – he suspected that it would take a lifetime for him to get even half of these unlocked.

He spent a lot of time in prostration, before his stomach noisily recalled him to the base necessities of life. Following another newcomer, a strange, foreign young girl with horns, he started making his way towards a campfire and the smells of food.

‘Ha, I will show them the worth of the Mall’eoch,’ he thought, pumping his fist. ‘I will not let this discourage me, even if it means I have to rely on others to carry me through the floors of this Tower of trials, and when I come back, they will rue the day they made light of my clan!’

The young girl gave him an intrigued glance, shrugged, and muttered something about ‘so many weirdoes in one day’. What the heck could she have been meaning? You were not weird, just determined!

 

Amusing. Poor dood, having such a req heavy class.

I'll bump up his appearance a bit then.

 

[X] You can smell some good food from one of the bigger pavilions nearby, and you really could use a drink. Maybe you can kill two birds and get some information and a meal?

 

It probably cascades. Seeing as due cite is the limiting factor he probably focused on one versatile or advantageous spirit and ground it and a mainline support skill like Yuna white magic then murdered midline mooks easily to grind 100 or so shards to boost wide swaths of his skills up to base line than camped an area with elemental advantage for him with each.

 

Or maybe it is the secret arcana mentionned in the margins of Taldrin's diary, the mysterious 'NG+'...

 

is that omake canon or not?

 

Not fully, since no one came in directly after Yuuka, but I'll probably use some of it for his skill set.

 

thanks for clarifying
so, he can lebel it as semi-canon then?

 

Well, he came in before the MC, since he has had the time to review just how fucking expensive his Job is and get apathetically depressed for a moment, he was just getting up when Yuuka started passing him by and going towards the campfire.

 

[X] Bring him along, if he tries anything funny, you’ll just squish him.
-[X] We don't know if he'll work even mid term, but we have a couple of potions for our own stamina and a guide that's also a nuker for some of the more difficult enemies can be useful.

Also huh, seems my character has made her appearance too! Too bad she came with a Guard Captain, means she probably won't be too tempted to party with a Oni right now.

 

[x] Bring him along, if he tries anything funny, you’ll just squish him.

Murdan's useful, and will become moreso over time.

 

[X] Bring him along, if he tries anything funny, you’ll just squish him.

As if I could answer anything else!

Though it's supposed to be Murdan, not Murdoch, unless you are changing things yrsillar?

 

Ah my bad, I'll fix that

 

[X] Nah, but you should look for a partner before you head in
-[X] Du Hansard