Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)07:45 No. 744186 ID: 0fb132
File 147204990282.png - (155.43KB , 1600x1200 , ded.png )

Second: my master died an asshole's death.

That's pretty much all I’ve have gathered so far... Hmmm...

Equip yourself with that knife.

Dissect your master for magic augmentations. Burn the rest.

That means you're free! Free! Nyeheheheh!

Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)08:31 No. 744190 ID: 0fb132
File 147205268097.png - (161.33KB , 1600x1200 , Murder scene.png )

>>744189
Hooray, for whatever that means or is!

>>744188
That’s very dirty, and right now I don’t have anywhere I could clean myself. And I don’t really feel like starting a fire, especially because I could light myself on fire by accident, so I try to stay away from it while I can.

>>744187
I… Don’t think I can… It looks like this knife is longer than it looks, and it’s stuck on something, so it’s hard for me to remove it. It would be quite hard to handle it with my body’s lower density anyway.

It means you're free to inflict whatever mischief you want upon the world! You could possess this wizard's corpse, or perhaps something else, anything more physically capable than a burlap doll! (How did you do any fetching for him without a MANLY PHYSIQUE?)

Use some scissors and cut the sleeping bag open to loot your former master.

I doubt you performed your cleaning duties in a forest. Where are you? Where is your former master base located? How far you are from that place? Did you master worked alone? Do you know if someone will inherit his possessions? If not, do you think you could claim that hole place?

Wizards often have books. books with magic in them. Find his books.

You could look around to see if the killer is still around, who knows if they would destroy you as well.

Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)11:43 No. 744204 ID: 3323f7
File 147206418383.png - (173.89KB , 1600x1200 , Soft and Squishy!.png )

>>744191
It’s not like I can change my body whenever I want or to what I want, as far as I know, I have this body until I cease to exist. It’s not like I’m complaining, though! This body is just perfect! It’s Soft, comfy and squishy! What else could I ask for? This is the Best!

Anyway, I can carry stuff such as this knife from one place to another, but I can’t handle them pretty well, so even if I could take it out, I wouldn’t be able to use it effectively for cutting.

Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)11:43 No. 744205 ID: 3323f7
File 147206421984.png - (156.15KB , 1600x1200 , In the Bag.png )

>>744199
I don’t see him or her anywhere nearby, but I saw them running away soon after the deed was done. But I don’t want to stick around to see if they come back.

>>744193
Right now we are near some roads. My master worked alone pretty much all the time at a village north of here, at least 2 days of traveling, but the people started to get suspicious about him. In the end, they ended up discovering that he was using magic, perhaps the kidnapping of people helped on that, so they burned the whole place down, and my master was forced to run away, so I don’t think there is much to be reclaimed back there.

>>744196
Hmm, let’s see… There are many things in his backpack… potions that would be troublesome to carry; there are also some of his annotations, the closest thing to a book there is in here, but I see no magic on them, so they are probably just annotations. Quill, Ink, Some food and water… There are also some needles and threads, which means he was still thinking on keeping me around… and I think that’s pretty much it.

Can you carry it with your soft, squishy, and huggable body.

an you wield the needle as a weapon? Also try and take the thread. Maybe tie it to your back or something.

>>744205
Is magic particularly frowned upon? What about magical creatures?

Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)21:29 No. 744266 ID: 28f03e
File 147209934314.png - (161.40KB , 1600x1200 , HNNNG.png )

>>744210
HNNNGGgh… No, it looks like I can barely move it a bit… Anyway, it’s not like all of this stuff is useful to me. I guess lucky whoever finds these things first. Or perhaps unlucky, I don't even know what's inside of half of these bottles.

Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)21:29 No. 744267 ID: 28f03e
File 147209938301.png - (157.34KB , 1600x1200 , Needless to say, I use needles.png )

>>744230
Can’t say much, since I have only seen my master, and a very few other magical users that he spoke with, But taking in account how much secrecy there was, I think that people chases off every one who uses magic. Or it could be that they only hated my master in particular, and wanted him to be gone for good. Or it could be both. Until I have a clear answer, I think it will be better if I keep some prudent distance from human society for now.

As for magical creatures and the sort, I’m not really sure. They say that a long time ago they disappeared, but that's, of course, assuming they existed in the first place.

>>744221
I should be able to… I don’t know how effective they would be, but I guess it’s better than nothing. I have never fought before though, but I know how to use needles… That’s got to count for something, right?
Anyway, I will just take all of them, and the threads too.

Got 7 needles and some threads

Claudio 2016/08/24(Wed)21:32 No. 744268 ID: 28f03e
File 147209952448.png - (155.32KB , 1600x1200 , Chose destination.png )

Well now, unless I’m forgetting to do something, I would say that it’s time to leave this place before anyone comes by. And try to find somewhere secure where I can gather my thoughts…

There is a road that goes north to south, north is where my master and I came from. There should be another town or city up ahead, if I want to continue the road. At the east there is a forest, where it should be easy to hide, but at the same time I don’t really know what I will find there.

On the other side of the road, there is a river, but I think the current will probably defeat me before I can get across by swimming

Sew your button back on.

I guess head to the city, but remember these wise words. You'll have to leave the name of your master behind you, for that name is not safe outside the wizard tower. Travel only by day. And stay off the road. You should be able to cut across the country easily enough.

Lets find a caring little girl to carry us around for maximum stealth.

What was your master heading to the city for? I've a strong urge to head back north and use the newly vacated wizard tower's resources to open a tear to the demonic plane.

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)07:08 No. 744534 ID: 3d33c0
File 147222051376.png - (154.78KB , 1600x1200 , AGH!.png )

>>744269
Yes, I better do that before moving any further, it somewhat uncomfortable to have it this way.

…ok… Careful… Careful…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH-HAHAHA

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)07:09 No. 744535 ID: 3d33c0
File 147222056234.png - (142.50KB , 1600x1200 , Just kidding!.png )

HAHAHA haha...

Dumb humans and their sensitive existence...

Alright, seems like that’s done.

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)07:11 No. 744537 ID: 3d33c0
File 147222067421.png - (131.87KB , 1600x1200 , on my travels___.png )

>>744322
I think my master was only escaping, perhaps he planned to hide in the society again without anyone suspecting anything, and continue with his experiments and studies, but I'm pretty sure his main goal was to live.

We weren’t living in a tower at all, we lived near the town, on a shack, my master tried to keep himself hidden, a tower would call too much attention, but even that didn’t stopped him from kidnapping, which is why I think they found him.
Anyway, as I said, they burned the whole place down at least two days ago, if there was anything of value left, it is probably already taken.

>>744270
“Leaving my master’s name behind”?! Already done, I don't even remember his name.

Alright, let’s get moving and see what city or town lies ahead. The sun isn’t out yet, but I think there’s not much left until sunrise. I head south, it doesn’t take a long time until I find some houses scattered here and there, although I don’t see people, so I think I’m fine for now… Do- Do I hear some barking…?

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)07:11 No. 744538 ID: 3d33c0
File 147222069916.png - (137.44KB , 1600x1200 , Encounter.png )

*bark *bark

…No…

*bark *bark

….NO…!

Yes! Yes!
It's no little girl, but it's still excellent cover!

Bad past with dogs?

so, how good are you at climbing trees?

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)11:44 No. 744550 ID: 33522e
File 147223706175.png - (122.28KB , 1600x1200 , RUN Doll! Run!.png )

>>744539
No! I’m not getting covered in drool! I will not get rip apart by maws, and I will definitely not be played with until my insides spill out all over the place!

>>744540
More like bad entire existence with dogs! They always have it against me, always! They are the second worst being I have seen until now!

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)11:44 No. 744551 ID: 33522e
File 147223708575.png - (137.88KB , 1600x1200 , Tree!.png )

>>744542
Apparently… - Good! A light body like mine surely must help!

Ok, perhaps I was exaggerating a bit earlier… I didn’t have many experiences with dogs, but even when I’m not moving, they always look at me, sometimes they even stared… It’s almost like they know…

Claudio 2016/08/26(Fri)11:46 No. 744554 ID: 33522e
File 147223721605.png - (141.05KB , 1600x1200 , Come On!.png )

It’s still down there… Barking at me… Go Away!

Why…? You won’t gain anything if you get me! I’m not food, and I’m definitely not a threat to you!

Why do humans love them so much?! They are not soft or squishy, and they are ugly!

Actually humans find them cute, also a dog can be loyal to you.

>I have this body until I cease to exist.
Are you on a time limit, so far as you know? Did your wizard have to resummon / recreate / recharge you at regular intervals?

>>744554
Humans originally domesticated them to aid in hunting, and to act as sentries. A barking dog is a pretty good alarm.

You should stop yelling and flailing your arms about and start acting more like a regular doll. Maybe it will get bored and go away.

If there's a barking dog, then there is a chance that a human is not far behind. Get in those leaves soldier! You can't be spotted this early.

Claudio 2016/08/27(Sat)09:42 No. 744731 ID: 96dd83
File 147231613447.png - (135.49KB , 1600x1200 , Stealthy.png )

>>744595
>>744594
Yes, I will hide here and stay quiet, and hope it gets bored or the human comes to take it away…

>>744576
>>744580
Huh… I guess that would make sense… But cute? Perhaps when you don’t have to run away to avoid being destroyed, then I will stop to think if they are cute...

Claudio 2016/08/27(Sat)09:44 No. 744732 ID: 96dd83
File 147231624746.png - (155.00KB , 1600x1200 , The Dog.png )

>Are you on a time limit, so far as you know? Did your wizard have to resummon / recreate / recharge you at regular intervals?
I don’t really know. My master used a magical bond on me to force me to do his bidding, why wouldn’t any other mage use it? If I must say the truth, I expected to cease to exist before my master died, or just when he died. I never hoped to outlast him…

And no, he didn’t had to do any of that, I’m not really sure how all of this is working, perhaps it has to do because I’m a being with magical origins, and thus, magical affinity, but for all I know, I should have gone back to inexistence…

…Well, It’s not barking as much as before, which is nice, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to move away just yet… should I keep waiting?

What else is there to do?

Claudio 2016/08/27(Sat)12:50 No. 744741 ID: eb5599
File 147232745628.png - (157.76KB , 1600x1200 , Unharmed.png )

Well, I have some needles and, even If it is weak, I can use some magic so… No, Now that I’m thinking, it’s probably a bad Idea… I guess it will just wait until it leaves…

…

… Any second now…

“There you are! Where were you going?”

*bark

“Let me guess… Another squirrel?”

*bark *whimper

“Well, if it’s up there you aren’t getting it anytime soon”

*bark! *whimper *bark! *Bark!

“Come on, boy, stop it, let’s head back to the farm, you may have another chance later.”

*whimper *bark!

“I say we go back to the farm, now”

*whimper…

... Well I guess that has done it. I will wait until they are on a good distance, and then move on.

Claudio 2016/08/27(Sat)12:52 No. 744742 ID: eb5599
File 147232754097.png - (128.21KB , 1600x1200 , on the Horizon.png )

Once I’m down, I’m glad the dog doesn’t bother on trying to chase me again.

I continue my travels following the road. It’s still early in the morning, and luckily I still don’t see any humans nearby, but I don’t know how much that will last.

I’m starting to see a city at the distance, the closer I get the larger are the chances of finding humans, so I think it will be better to be cautious right now. So, Am I going to infiltrate into the city, or will it be better to just explore the outskirts?

Some pretty high walls there. Unless you can somehow waltz through the front gate without getting spotted, I suggest the outskirts. Just try not to get a doge to chase you.

Claudio 2016/08/28(Sun)16:41 No. 744960 ID: 358e3d
File 147242769003.png - (123.67KB , 1600x1200 , outskirts partially explored.png )

Alright, perhaps I can also find a place where I can try to gather my thoughts…

There are many farms surrounding the walls, and from the distance, I could count at least one dog per farm… Well, I guess they have to be very damn good at guarding if the humans get that many, and at least some of these seemed disciplined, especially one that I could swear saw me dead in the eye, even when I was hiding and at a long distance, yet stayed on its post watching over its master’s farm. Now If only all the dogs were like that one, I probably wouldn’t hate them that much.

As for what I can tell of the city, well, it’s certainly seems big, but it’s walls makes it hard to see what’s inside, aside from that high tower that seems to be in the middle of it. The walls seem to be ancient, but well preserved; it really seems impenetrable.

The sun is out, and the roads are starting to fill with humans going from one place to another, not many though, so if it stays like this, I should be able to get through roads without being seen.

Claudio 2016/08/28(Sun)16:42 No. 744961 ID: 358e3d
File 147242772064.png - (193.29KB , 1600x1200 , what now.png )

In the end, I find a little “cave” below a tree, it doesn’t seem to be housing any other kind of animal aside from some bugs and worms that are minding on their own thing, and I think they won’t care if I stay here for some time. This place is dirt and somewhat wet, bur with all the dogs out there, I think this is the safest place I could find, for now at least.

So… is this what "being free” is like? It’s far from becoming one of my most crazy days since I came to be if I have to say it myself, although that’s coming from a magical being that was pretty much isolated within its masters hut, while performing experiments on other living humans, sometimes just because his master wanted to cause pain to something.

The Idea of not having to hear my master’s thoughts or having to carry on his orders is refreshing. That’s something I know. But what now…? Hmmm… Perhaps this is why I hadn’t seen or heard of many freed familiars; maybe they all go back to inexistence voluntarily?

You could find someone who needs an assistant, and work for them voluntarily.

If you succeed in remain undetected pretty much any unoccupied structure would accommodate your proportions comfortably. Basements, attics, warehouses, anywhere people rarely enter would be ideal.
As for a purpose, you could try to learn more about magical constructions of your kind. It's important to know if you have needs like sustenance, how long can you live, if and how you can prolong your existence, how to perform maintenance of your body, how to improve you abilities and maybe even if it's possible for you to create other familiares.

Hmm. Dunno, has there ever been anything you thought, "I'd like to do that"? 'Cause now maybe you can.

Claudio 2016/08/30(Tue)11:43 No. 745332 ID: 029218
File 147258259459.png - (149.53KB , 1600x1200 , Decided.png )

>>744978
I don’t really know about that. Most of the beings I know of probably don’t need help, while humans can be quite weird sometimes. That’s not considering that I’m still not certain if they dislike magic and everything that has to do with it, or they only hated my master in particular. Also, I don’t feel like bounding myself again to someone and having no choice but to do their bidding.

>>744984
I could do that, yes, but at least I know that some of the things needed to keep me here is maintaining my body the best as I can. I can do that with the right materials. As for magic, yes I could try to look into that, but if there is anything like that to be found, like a book, I would presume it could be on that city.

>>745185
That’s an interesting question… Well, What I love the most in this existence are soft and comfy things, like my body. As for doing something, I really never thought about it. Perhaps I will find something interesting that I would like to do later.

Claudio 2016/08/30(Tue)11:44 No. 745333 ID: 65e27a
File 147258266038.png - (116.52KB , 1600x1200 , That's an horizon.png )

Alright, so it’s settled. My primary objective is finding out more about how fragile could my existence be, for that I may have the need to enter in that city and find out what humans know about magic. Secondly, it could be useful to know if humans will consider me a threat, if possible, without putting myself at risk. Thirdly, avoid the fucking dogs. And lastly, find something that I would like to do.

That should be all, unless I’m forgetting something. Now, how and where should I begin…? I could try to continue exploring the east side of the city, but that could take a lot time, perhaps until dusk.

So our current objective is to enter this city undetected.
The biggest obstacle are the dogs who seem to be specialists in locating and alerting. There isn't much to done other than locating them and moving as faraway as possible.
Approaching the gates is also a problem. If you move in the road or in an open field someone will probable see. If the grass is tall enough you can move under it's cover.
You may be able the pass the gates depending of how many people are there, but it's safer to use pasages people aren't capable of crossing. The river seem like a good option.
Alternatively you could wait for a caravan and hide with the belongs. If you find a merchant or someone with children you can even pretend to be a doll if you got caught.

>>745332
>Also, I don’t feel like bounding myself again to someone and having no choice but to do their bidding.
Then don't bind yourself to them. Just help out and get compensated for it. Or at least in exchange for living space. Wait, can you talk at all?

Anyway get into the city and explore around.

>But cute? Perhaps when you don’t have to run away to avoid being destroyed, then I will stop to think if they are cute
It's a lot easier to see cute when the dog is smaller than you.

>I could count at least one dog per farm
Yeah. The farms will have dogs as protection against theft, and vermin.

>So… is this what "being free” is like?
Not really. You've been too preoccupied with your survival and safety to have the chance to enjoy it yet. You need safety and security to start climbing the hierarchy of needs.

>but if there is anything like that to be found, like a book, I would presume it could be on that city.
...can you read? Maybe you need to set up camp in a library. Hide during the day, read up at night when the humans are gone.

Claudio 2016/09/01(Thu)08:26 No. 745525 ID: 34a48d
File 147274355934.png - (127.44KB , 1600x1200 , Move out!.png )

>>745340
Yes, I can talk by using magic, of course, and I know the human language, at least the local one, so I don’t think I would have problems on my side for trying to communicate, but it’s possible some humans may not try to listen to what I have to say.

>>745347
>Can you read?
I would believe so, I often had to clean and keep organized all the books and my master’s annotations, and sometimes they were so mixed that I had to read them in order to know in which order they went…

>>745336
Alright, we are going in then. I like more the idea of using the river. No human would be able to get through, but I think I will be able to get in, and if not, I can try the caravan, although doing that seems very dangerous.

Claudio 2016/09/01(Thu)08:26 No. 745526 ID: 34a48d
File 147274358350.png - (93.37KB , 1600x1200 , Coming through.png )

I try to keep myself near the river, trying to put as much distance from the dog of the farm nearby. Luckily, it doesn’t see me and I manage to pass them without complications.

Alright, yes I think I can get through here!

Claudio 2016/09/01(Thu)08:28 No. 745527 ID: 34a48d
File 147274373305.png - (71.32KB , 1600x1200 , Inside the city!.png )

I made it in, and it seems that there are no humans nearby, but I can hear them, a lot of them, on the other side of this building, I believe.

From here I can see three ways of proceeding. There seems to be an entrance of a sewer near the river, it’s dirty and wet but I’m not picky, or I can continue along the river and see what I find, or I could also climb up that pipe, I think it reaches to the top of this building.

I think I should be very cautious from now on.

>>745527
To the rooftop! It gives you a good vantage point to see a lot, and people rarely look up.

The river is too exposed and the sewer will be difficult to navigate. From the rooftops you will be able to map the area.

>>745540
Yeah, climbing the drainspout is a good idea. Gets you out of sight, and gives you the lay of the land.

Claudio 2016/09/03(Sat)13:22 No. 745872 ID: cc2c71
File 147293413145.png - (66.73KB , 1600x1200 , going up!.png )

Good, then up we go.

Claudio 2016/09/03(Sat)13:22 No. 745873 ID: cc2c71
File 147293415030.png - (119.60KB , 1600x1200 , exploring.png )

I’m on top of the building; it was a very long pipe, luckily it doesn’t seem like there is anyone here, although there are some stairs leading into the building.… Now, let’s see what we find…

Claudio 2016/09/03(Sat)13:23 No. 745874 ID: cc2c71
File 147293421937.png - (69.80KB , 1600x1200 , Another Rough Map! When Will I, the author, learn.png )

This seems to be some sort of residential area. There are some houses scattered around. Behind them I think there is some sort of a park before getting to another street.

There are some people walking on the street but it doesn’t seem like they spotted me, so I’m good for now. Most of them are going south.

It also seems there are some stores further down the street, but from here I can’t tell what they are of.

That’s roughly all I can gather from here…

>>745874
Lets fill out our map. I think these shops should be partially explored. At the very least try and see what they sell.

Claudio 2016/09/04(Sun)11:55 No. 746050 ID: 1cbc16
File 147301531777.png - (24.08KB , 1600x1200 , Hang in there!.png )

Many of these buildings have different sizes, but At least I can try to climb up this one.

Taking a closer look it seems that one of the stores seems to be a tavern while the other one seems to be a tailor shop. A lot of people seem to be just passing by this area.

I used a nearby tree to climb up the tavern; there isn’t anyone on the ceiling. On the other side of the street there seems to be another important building... Is that…?

Claudio 2016/09/04(Sun)11:55 No. 746051 ID: 1cbc16
File 147301534164.png - (103.27KB , 1600x1200 , Fura!.png )

“There is smoke coming out of the library!”

Oh… OH! The people near here are panicking and it looks like the fire is spreading inside the library… I… feel like I shouldn’t be here…!

I personally think you shouldn't be in this area as well, But if this library burns to the ground we will loose the main way to gain info about this place, maybe how they feel regarding magic, or even info about how you work. People should be more focused on leaving the building, so they might not notice you. However, if you're spotted then you might get blamed for whatever caused this.

Something tells me that you are very flammable, so lets avoid this confrontation. I would like to hear what other people think we should do.

Oh no! You need the books intact so you can steal them later. Do you know any spell to put out fire?

If there is nothing to be done you could use the distraction to enter the tailor shop.
Unless you find a vacant house, attics are the best places you will find to live. The tavern would be good for listening rumors but will have too many people to avoid. The tailor shop should be a nice home full of materials for self-maintenance.

Claudio 2016/09/04(Sun)18:01 No. 746087 ID: c7f21b
File 147303727815.png - (148.76KB , 1600x1200 , Extended Fura!.png )

>>746056
Something that could put down a fire?! I can control the elements a bit, and use some magic to change object's properties, but all of that is weak! I couldn’t possible put down a fire this big! I don’t think even a familiar more powerful that I could do it!

>>746055
Yes! I’m definitely shouldn’t be here! I’m VERY flammable and there is nothing I can really do!

But… there is information I could use there… Well… There is no way this is the only library in this city … Right? Well, At least I hope so…!

Claudio 2016/09/04(Sun)18:03 No. 746089 ID: c7f21b
File 147303740695.png - (102.97KB , 1600x1200 , Why so scared.png )

> you could use the distraction to enter the tailor shop.
Yes, Yes… I could do that, everyone is distracted! I – I could make a run for it! I Think I would be safe there! But… if they somehow see me…? I don’t Think I can escape humans as easily as of dogs…

Wh-what should I do…?

>>746089
Just stay hidden. If any of them see you running away from a burning building they might think you set the fire.

>the library is on fire
Well that's just terrible. All that information, lost forever, and it will be a considerable cost to replace all those books.

Really inconvenient for you, personally, too. Hiding out in the library and reading and researching on topics relevant to you would have been a very useful way to start out.

>Wh-what should I do…?
There's a river right nearby, shouldn't the humans be forming a bucket brigade before the fire spreads? This place looks somewhat rural and pre-industrial, in which case fire spreading through the town is a serious concern. Odds of containing the blaze get better if they've got an actual fire department of some kind.

...you should probably be ready to throw yourself in the river if the town starts to go up.

If you don't feel confident in your chances just wait until it's dark.
Since you have time, you could enter the library through the roof, if possible, and help contain the fire as much as you can in places people don't have access yet. You don't need to do all the work, just what you feel safe enough to do.

Claudio 2016/09/05(Mon)17:50 No. 746365 ID: 64898e
File 147312301272.png - (139.15KB , 1600x1200 , Weirdly drawn humans.png )

>>746118
>Fire Spreading
Well, I can’t have that! Who knows how much attention it would bring towards this area if that happens?! That assuming if I still exist after all of that!

“Use the water of the river! Stop the fire!”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that…

“But what about the Arbiters? “

“I don’t see them anywhere nearby. They always arrive late to these areas… if we at least don’t control this fire, who knows how long it will spread! We have to do something!”

“B-but the arbiters…”

Almost all of the humans start moving, getting some tools and buckets, using the river to get water and then throwing it at the library to stop the fire. I was lucky that no one looked at my direction when I yelled…

>>746125
Yes, I could help. Now the only people who are on the street are the ones helping to put the fire off. While other got back to their houses or probably went in search of those “Arbiters”, they are mostly focused on their task so I don’t think they will see me…

Claudio 2016/09/05(Mon)17:51 No. 746367 ID: 64898e
File 147312307669.png - (168.54KB , 1600x1200 , pussyplush.png )

But it looks like they have situation under control now, I don’t think they would need my help.

>>746092
Yes, perhaps I should le…

“… Did you just tried to lead the mob towards me…?!”

…Why is this happening…?

>>746367
>“… Did you just tried to lead the mob towards me…?!”
How is shouting “Use the water of the river! Stop the fire!” supposed to lead anyone to you?! I was telling them to put out the fire!

>>746367
...unless you're the river, or a water bucket, no.

Do you want the town to go up like a torch? We're both still inside it!

What. Who are you?

Claudio 2016/09/05(Mon)19:24 No. 746417 ID: 564533
File 147312866152.png - (169.01KB , 1600x1200 , Not convincing enough.png )

>>746369
“-Oh, so you are just a concerned citizen, and should I say a familiar too? That just wanted to help, telling them to use the river instead of waiting for the dammed arbiters, just when I was moving near it to escape… Why I’m not buying it!? “

>>746375
“This whole city could burn to the ground for what I care. The number of deaths would be quite a waste, but that’s not my problem, It's not like they can't run away. As for me burning, I would like to see it, the flames themselves avoid angering me, and perhaps you should do the same.”

>>746382
O-ok, those are sharp!

“I should be the one doing questions here! … If you must know, my master calls me Leo, but that’s a peculiar question coming from a “fellow” familiar. Why do you even care about human things such as names?!”

Personally I don’t know...

Alright, from what I can gather, this is another familiar, apparently one meant for combat, and he probably has fire affinity… And is carrying a book that seems to have some magic on it.

>Why I’m not buying it!?
Humans don't look up, silly.

Besides, if I was previously aware of you, and I was hostile to you, I would have taken more direct action, not put myself at your mercy.

>>746417
If I wanted them to catch you I would've said, "Hey! Someone stop that familiar by the river!" Which I didn't.

Also, I'm new in town, so I have no idea what an arbiter is. And I think they should be fired if they take this long to get here to put out a fire.

And another thing, do you see how high up we are and how small we are? I didn't know you were down there because I didn't see you down there!

I asked who you are, not your name. Ir's an existential problem.
That aside, your presence and this conflict are confusing. Why are you here? What do you expect from me?
Since we are already having this conversation: What do you want? That is you, not your master.

Claudio 2016/09/07(Wed)10:47 No. 746810 ID: 1fcbd7
File 147327045358.png - (170.87KB , 1600x1200 , that's funny.png )

>>746435
“hmmm… perhaps, or perhaps you expected the mob to be faster than me.”

>>746438
“If you have yelled that, everyone could have entered even in more panic, and wouldn’t have done anything at all! Asking them to go to the river was the best way to make them take a closer look and witness me…”

“… Wait… New in town? Now I don’t know if I should believe that… I don’t think you are lying, but it’s hard to tell… And yes, I would love to “fire” those Arbiters too, alas, I can’t. “

>And another thing, do you see how high up we are and how small we are? I didn't know you were down there because I didn't see you down there!
“ … Perhaps! But you COULD have seen me, especially since you could have seen this book or the magic on it “

>>746455
“I… heheh you are funny! “Existential problems”?! You can’t be serious! hahaha”

I knew that would happen…

> Since we are already having this conversation: What do you want? That is you, not your master.
“That’s a very dumb question. I obey my master on whatever he asks me to do; I have no choice on the matter. But right now, I’m trying to decide if you could be a problem on my future tasks. You may consider this somewhat personal, if you will.”

>Why are you here? What do you expect from me?
“Well, I originally wanted some answers, and probably shred you to bits, but since you made me laugh, perhaps I won’t do the latter, especially if I find your answer satisfying.”

Claudio 2016/09/07(Wed)10:47 No. 746811 ID: 1fcbd7
File 147327047725.png - (172.58KB , 1600x1200 , My turn.png )

“Alright, if you are done with your questions, here are mines; they are simple so I don’t think you would have problems answering them…”

“Who is your master and why are you here?”

Dead via piece of sharpened metal.
Wandering aboot

I'm my own master. I'm here hoping to learn more about familiars.
You may think it's absurd, but our servitude are not eternal. I asked questions about your individuality because I'm forced to face them, maybe one day so will you.

Well, my master got killed a few hours ago, so I guess that means no one is my master. Or I guess I'm my own master.

As for why I'm here, well, I was out in the forest with my old master's corpse, when I just felt like wandering around. I got too close to a farm when a stupid dog chased me up a tree, so I had to wait for it's owner to take it away. And I decided it was safer to be in the city away from all the dogs out on the farms, so I went into the city. And that's how I ended up here.

>>746811
He was an asshole, and he died like an asshole, so he's not either of our problems.

I was thinking that if I was gonna survive solo, sneaking into the library might be a good source of information, but then someone set it on fire while I was exploring the rooftops.

>I obey my master on whatever he asks me to do; I have no choice on the matter.
Well sure, but you have some leeway. For instance, I doubt your master had the foresight to give you explicit orders as to what to do if you encountered a rogue familiar on the rooftops. He isn't making you parrot his words, either. So how this goes, and where we go from here, is very much up to you.

Claudio 2016/09/11(Sun)08:01 No. 747444 ID: ea275c
File 147360610766.png - (172.86KB , 1600x1200 , Threatening.png )

>>746813

… Why I got a bad feeling about this…

“…!”

Oh no…

Claudio 2016/09/11(Sun)08:02 No. 747445 ID: ea275c
File 147360613552.png - (126.56KB , 1600x1200 , I must go, my master needs me!.png )

>>746841
>>746871
>>747336
“…”
“… pfff…. Hahaha…! “

“”Your own Master”? Alright! Hehe, I expected you to lie to me! You could have said pretty much anything, and it could have been a lie, but this? This is just hilarious! For a second there I thought you were telling me the truth! Hahaha!”

“ahhh… ok, I won’t push you anymore, you just made my day considerably more enjoyable, so, even if you lied to me, I won’t destroy you, at least for now. Also, since you may have helped me to cover my tracks, I won’t tell my master of your presence, if I can avoid it, he is quite paranoid, and he probably will want to take you out, no need to thank me though!”

Claudio 2016/09/11(Sun)08:06 No. 747446 ID: ea275c
File 147360636942.png - (67.01KB , 1600x1200 , Goodbye.png )

“Oh, also, you were lucky it was I the one who found you first. The others aren’t looking to have a good laugh. If your solution to everything is to talk, I would suggest you to stay clear of them.”

“Alright, “free guy”, I will take my leave, and perhaps you should leave too, you may not want to be caught by the arbiters.”

... Alright, I’m still in one piece, so I think that went well…

>>747336
…The fire seems to be natural, not created by magic, but it could have used something else to start it.

I think that every familiar has some leeway, helps us serve our masters; it would probably be more of a waste of magic to create mindless servants, if they can be created in the first place.

How can you avoid the others? They are just as likely to see you as you are to see them. Sooner or latter you will meet them like the same way you meet Leo, and they may be aggressive or maybe they will take your words more seriously.
Unless you get lucky the library collection just become much less likely to help you learn about yourself. You should investigate when things calm down. Your best chance now seem to be whatever possessions this mage have. Maybe the familiars will be willing to help you, but maybe to get pass their loyalty you will need to arrange this mage death.
Either way, it's time to leave. Your light body should be able to fall without suffering damage, so just jump somewhere isolated. Having your scape secured, see if it's possible to invade the tailor shop now or if you will need to wait until night.

Well, okay. There are multiple casters in this town with the ability to create familiars.

That means they likely have information you want about yourself, but you can't exactly safely approach them to get it.

...and you now have to endeavor not only to avoid humans in general, but their agents, who might be a threat to you, because they assume you're going to be butting in on their masters' interests.

You need some place to hole up, and a way to safely gather information. It would be nice if you could find a human ally too, to act as some kind of cover (although for that we'd need to scout people out- observe people unseen and see who might be a sympathetic or trustworthy candidate. ...a lonely child? Someone on the social outskirts, who might be more willing to accept the companionship of an "imaginary friend"?).

Once move might be to gain more free familiar allies by assassinating their masters, but you don't seem very well equipped for that. And most mages would be able to defend themselves, and you probably wouldn't be a match for the familiars helping defend them.

Claudio 2016/09/15(Thu)08:13 No. 748075 ID: 5932a6
File 147395242823.png - (56.21KB , 1600x1200 , last peek.png )

>>747481
>>747560
Suddenly, I feel more uncomfortable with my actual situation than before. Well, it’s not like I felt safe before to begin with…

>Unless you get lucky the library collection just become much less likely to help you learn about yourself.
The Fire still rages on inside the library, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to expand any further, the people managed to stop it, and the fire is slowly being put out.

Yes… I don’t think there could be much for me there, books are highly flammable Right? … I wonder if I could have used that book that “Leo” was carrying… I could see some magic on it, but I couldn’t catch a glimpse of its contents. I would have probably had to fight for it if I
wanted to see it though…

>That means they likely have information you want about yourself, but you can't exactly safely approach them to get it.
Yeah, right? I wonder how they would react when they find out that I really don’t have a master…

>kill the mages
Emm… I don’t think that’s going to work... It was my choice to not care for my master’s death, but I got the feeling that some of them may take it a bit more personal if I try to “free” them…

With that said, I don’t even know if I could get closer to them… “Leo” seemed very dangerous, even if it wasn’t using its magic, who knows what those “others” have or are capable of doing…

>How can you avoid the others?
Who knows? My best bet could be to try to stay away of anything suspicious, but what is and isn’t suspicious around here?

>Hide from both humans and familiars
Yes… This is going to be quite a trouble, but finding a hiding place and, if possible, an ally should be my priorities.

Claudio 2016/09/15(Thu)08:14 No. 748076 ID: 5932a6
File 147395246115.png - (57.93KB , 1600x1200 , once down.png )

>Time to leave
Yes, and I don’t think I should use the stairs here.

*pomf

That should do it… actually it was kind of fun.

Alright, about getting to the tailor shop… almost everyone seems to be concentrated around the library, so nobody should be able to see me…

Huh… there is a group of humans arriving…

Claudio 2016/09/15(Thu)08:14 No. 748077 ID: 5932a6
File 147395249151.png - (198.10KB , 1600x1200 , The arbiter.png )

Oh-oh… the one who is in front… Looks like the one who lead the people of the town against my master and burned his house…

They stop in facing the people that were fighting the fire on the library… The one who seems to be the leader doesn’t seem to be happy.

Anyway, they seem distracted; I could use this as my chance to make my way towards the tailor shop, but it’s a long run, at least for me… or perhaps I should wait and see if they leave?

Unless the mere written knowledge emits a magical aura you should start looking for something more basic. Walk before you run kind of thing.

If you are considering fight other familiars you should make some preparations. Knifes shouldn't be as efficient against something like you as they are for living creatures, but a feel layers of good fabric over you would make almost impossible to cut you with this method. Facing a similar problem, to damage your adversary I recommend finding a good scissor and carefully sharpening all edges. No idea how magic will work.

Now, those arbiters are probable have witch hunting duties. You don't want to get anywhere near their line of sight, but it may be worth watch and, if possible, listen. If you understand how they think you can guide them. You will still need more information on the mages before you can act.

>Yeah, right? I wonder how they would react when they find out that I really don’t have a master…
Kill you or enslave you, probably.

>>748077
Top priority is to stay out of sight. They kill mages, and I'm sure they're more than willing to kill a mage's servant. If they see you near the fire, they'll likely assume you were responsible, and seek to end you.

Claudio 2016/09/17(Sat)09:29 No. 748277 ID: d9bf7a
File 147412975469.png - (60.17KB , 1600x1200 , hide.png )

>>748097
… Then, perhaps it may be better if I lied next time I met another familiar, or the mage himself, about me not having a master? But then they could think of me as a larger threat... hmmm...

>>748092
… The only “weapon” I have available right now are these needles… Perhaps, when I get the time, I should train and see what I can do with them. If I can’t really use them to hurt someone else directly, then perhaps I should try to find another way?

Also… about magic… It’s kind of hard to explain, at least for me. After all, for me, using magic is like when humans breathe. It’s something natural, but I don’t know exactly how it works. I know it has to do something with the connection between the realm of existence and the realm of inexistence.

>stay out of sight.
Done, it’s perhaps for the best… I don’t really know what to expect from these guys…

Claudio 2016/09/17(Sat)09:30 No. 748278 ID: d9bf7a
File 147412983842.png - (132.03KB , 1600x1200 , certainly not happy.png )

“… Does anyone of you understand what you did…?”

Everyone seems too scared to even talk to him.

“You better haven’t made me come here for nothing…”

“Why? Because we did your job…?”

“… Do you have any idea who you are talking to…?! You better watch your mouth next time, unless you want to be arrested and taken for questioning in suspicion of cooperating with the mages! Now, stand aside!”

… Everyone swiftly moves away, it seems they are waiting for the Arbiter to say something…

“Sir, what do we do about the fire…?”

“… There is no use for it now, sergeant, tell your men to help this people to put out the fire… I only have the need for 3 of your soldiers to escort me; I will send them back as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir… What are you going to do…?”

“I don’t see any evidence that this fire could have been caused by magic… And for all I know I’m wasting my time here. The chances that a mage is involved in this are low and I have more important things to do. Do whatever it needs to be done and then report to me, especially if you find anything that could tell us that there was a mage involved. ”

Huh… They can’t tell the difference between magic fire and normal fire? How can they expect to catch anyone, but the dumbest of mages, like that? ... I don’t understand…

The Arbiter seems to be leaving, escorted by 3 of the 10 soldiers with which he came with. The others are focusing on the fire right now… The one who was referred to as “sergeant” seems uneasy…

Does a magical spark makes all the subsequent flames noticeable magical? Perhaps the kind of clues they can find were put out by the towns folk.
Do you want to throw a bonne to the sergeant? If you start a small magical fire on a corner of the library those part time inquisitors will focus their investigation on magical users. It will put the mages on edge, but Leo will know and it will be difficult for you to live so close to the crime scene.

>>748278
Okay, they're dealing with the fire. You should go, now.

Tailor's shop, or trying to figure out where else we could go to gain information, or to try and find allies.

Claudio 2016/09/20(Tue)07:40 No. 748732 ID: 5d63e7
File 147438243981.png - (97.79KB , 1600x1200 , Moving.png )

>>748357
Pretty much. If a fire was made by using magic, even if it grows in size it will have some magical residue all over it. The only way to make sure that the entire magical residue is gone is by making sure that all the fire is put out… Well, I guess human perception is different from mine, so perhaps it’s possible that some clues that I don’t know of were destroyed when they tried to stop the fire…

>Do you want to throw a bonne to the sergeant?
…”throwing a bone”? That would be very dangerous… I feel these soldiers would attack me on sight and be on high alert if they saw me, and angering the mages can make my existence more dangerous…

>>748359
This is a good area to start if you ask me, at least until I find a better place. I guess I will move towards the tailor shop.

Claudio 2016/09/20(Tue)07:41 No. 748733 ID: 5d63e7
File 147438246924.png - (140.01KB , 1600x1200 , this one is for myself.png )

Well… I arrived to the other side of the street without being seen… apparently…

But Now… I feel like doing something for myself…

…

…Why would anyone want to destroy a body like this one…?

Claudio 2016/09/20(Tue)07:41 No. 748734 ID: 5d63e7
File 147438249213.png - (70.12KB , 1600x1200 , a little problem.png )

… Well, with that done… The tailor shop is up ahead, I don’t think I can get through the Front door, there seems to be a lot of people there. But I found a tree that can help me to reach one of the windows behind the Shop… The only problem is that the window seems to be closed… I can’t see from here what’s inside, but I think it may be a bedroom.

>>748734
Drop on the sill and take a look? Worst case someone sees you and you have to scram.

>I can’t see from here what’s inside, but I think it may be a bedroom.
Well, if it's an adult's bedroom, you're in luck. It's probably empty. If it's a kid's bedroom, he or she might be in there.

Can you get a better look?

Claudio 2016/09/21(Wed)21:44 No. 748995 ID: 971db1
File 147451948924.png - (55.44KB , 1600x1200 , The Bedroom!.png )

>>748879
>>748940
Ok, here we go.

Yes, it seems to be a bedroom, I don’t see anyone inside, nor can tell if this room is for a kid or for an adult… The window doesn’t seem to be locked, but it is hard for me to try to push and open it, I hardly have enough space for me to stand on...

>>748995
Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. All the commotion outside has probably drawn people outside, or to doors or windows facing the fire. Unlikely there would be someone in there you can't see.

Claudio 2016/09/24(Sat)14:12 No. 749598 ID: 261930
File 147475155914.png - (301.28KB , 1600x1200 , this is not ok.png )

Well… A fucking window just stopped me… At least this tree isn’t the worst place I have been lately, and I don’t seem to be in danger right now.

… Now that I think of it… What are mages doing in this city if they are being chased by the locals…? Wouldn’t it be better for them to get away from the city? … Well, the same could be said of me, right?

Alright, Should I wait here until I get the chance to sneak through the window into the tailor shop, or should I try to find another entrance? Perhaps I could also wait until the fire is out, and everyone disperses, so I can get into what’s left of the library and see if there is anything of interest there…

Was the window locked, then?

>What are mages doing in this city if they are being chased by the locals…? Wouldn’t it be better for them to get away from the city?
Well, if they're not idiots, they can probably conceal that they're mages. Living in a city has advantages over living alone and having to everything yourself, especially if you want to acquire wealth, power and/or influence.

>what do
Might not hurt to look for another entrance. Maybe there's a back door, or an open window.

Just be careful not to be seen.

Claudio 2016/09/25(Sun)11:11 No. 749723 ID: cc4dcc
File 147482706331.png - (122.56KB , 1600x1200 , Gathering my options.png )

Author: Looks like I may have committed some mistakes while trying to explain the situation. Sorry for the troubles that this may have caused.

Alright, I better check my options before deciding anything…

A: I could find a way to open the window, I can’t open it by pushing it since it’s hard for me to move it, and I don’t have much space to stand there.

B: Or I could look for another entrance, most of the people seems to be more concentrated on the fire, so I think I may be able to move unseen as long as I stay behind the Tailor shop.

C: Or I could wait for a better opportunity to go either to the library or to enter into the tailor shop. I would guess that once the fire is out, at least the guards will leave…

Those are all of my options so far, unless I’m missing something.

>>749723
Kneeling on the windowsill might give you enough leverage... or you could pry between the pot and the window with your hands to use the pot as extra leverage.

Claudio 2016/09/30(Fri)10:38 No. 750412 ID: 2c1b03
File 147525710955.png - (66.28KB , 1600x1200 , Not really nice.png )

I… Don’t really have knees… But… I guess I can bend like…. This?

Alright… this is nasty, unlikable and uncomfortable… And I hope this works because I wish to not have to do this ever again…

Hngg… It seems like I’m making progress… With one at least…

Claudio 2016/09/30(Fri)10:39 No. 750413 ID: 2c1b03
File 147525715414.png - (54.93KB , 1600x1200 , layout.png )

Alright! I managed to get through the window. One of the halves seems to be stuck and won’t open, but I slightly push the other one until I had enough space to get in and stand on the table.

There is no one in the room, but there is what appears to be wardrobe, a bed and … a strange machinery near one of the corners…? I never saw something like it…

Should I try to move further in, or should I inspect this room in more depth?

>>750413
Strange machinery? And we're in a camera angle where we can't really see it? YOU TEASE.

From what I can see, it might be a loom?

Given the door is closed, I'm not sure you have much choice but to explore in here. Or can you manage doors?

Why are we here again? ... We want to make this your (possibly temporary) home, is that right? Well, in that case, best to try to find your way to a secluded area now. You can examine things in more detail later.

Unless you can't open the door, of course.

>>750413
Look around the room for hiding spots in case you hear someone coming and need to disappear quick.

Stop and listen: can you hear anyone in the house? Do they sound like they're coming this way?

You might want to close the window behind you so no one entering notices it was opened, and no one feels the change in temperature and comes looking for an open window. It'll make retreat slower, but help overall stealth. And there's really no reason if you get caught you can't hide behind or under furniture until the person leaves again, or goes to sleep.

See if there's anything of note in this room before moving on. Get a better look at the machine, maybe look at that paper on the desk- is anything written on it?

>>750518
>Strange machinery? And we're in a camera angle where we can't really see it? YOU TEASE.
No, look again. We can see it perfectly fine from here. He's talking about the top left corner, which looks like it could be a heating unit for when it gets cold outside.

>>750413
>What to do?
I say you should inspect the room, but do it carefully! That round circle thing next to the door looks like a pet bed, meaning there could be a cat or a dog somewhere in here!

>>750564
Well, yes we can see it, but it's hard to tell what something is looking at it straight from one face. Is what I meant.

Claudio 2016/10/02(Sun)11:43 No. 750779 ID: 666aa8
File 147543379432.png - (162.10KB , 1600x1200 , Only 50 gold!.png )

>>750518
>From what I can see, it might be a loom?
Oh, so this is a “loom”? Hmmm… I heard of these but I never got to see one this close. I guess it has some resemblance to how I imagined them…

>Why are we here again?
Well, right now, I’m trying to find somewhere safe where I could stay, I expect this place to also have some materials to fix my body should it come to harm. And once that’s settled, I think it will be better if I try finding out more about familiars, avoiding trouble if possible.

>can you manage doors?
Well, I never tried, but I think I know how a door works, I may be able to open it myself if I find a way to get to the doorknob.

Claudio 2016/10/02(Sun)11:43 No. 750780 ID: 666aa8
File 147543383531.png - (63.94KB , 1600x1200 , Window.png )

>>750563
I believe I don’t hear anyone coming this way at the moment… And I can’t tell if there is anyone inside this building with all the commotion outside. But it would be useful to know some places where I could hide.

… Well, the best places I can see as good hiding spots are either below the bed or behind the wardrobe, where there is a small gap in which I can get in.

As for the window, I’m unable to close it; I can’t reach it from anywhere as it is way up and far from the table or the bed

Claudio 2016/10/02(Sun)11:45 No. 750781 ID: 666aa8
File 147543392483.png - (93.75KB , 1600x1200 , sound.png )

>look at that paper on the desk- is anything written on it?
In fact, it’s a book… But I don’t see anything that could tell me about its contents, after taking a glimpse; it seems to be written by hand…-

>>750564
- A pet bed?! … I don’t think there is a dog around here… Right?

Well… if there is one, it isn’t in this room, at least, not right now… perhaps is for the best if that window stays open… I hope it’s a cat … They usually don’t bother me…

… I think I just heard something coming from the other side of the door!

>>750781
Hide.

>>750781
Hide somewhere, watch what happens.

Claudio 2016/10/03(Mon)20:13 No. 751033 ID: 2db499
File 147555080251.png - (57.95KB , 1600x1200 , There she is.png )

I hastily hide below the bed and soon after, the door opens.

A girl enters the room. It seems that the open window caught her attention at first, but it doesn’t seem like she suspects anything… In fact, instead of closing it, she is just looking outside.

She closed the door soon after she got in, and it looks like she will stay where she is for some time...

This quest is giving me a sense of Deja Vu lololol, Cause its familiar lolol kill me.

Move close to the wall away from the edge of the bed and go toy-story mode. Just lay on the floor completely still and pretend to be a toy. If she does spot you she wont instantly know you are a familiar.

Claudio 2016/10/04(Tue)12:23 No. 751176 ID: 7858a7
File 147560898132.png - (44.31KB , 1600x1200 , familiar under the bed.png )

If she does spot me, I think it will be better for me to run away... I don’t see any other toy that could look like me in any way, or any toy in the first place, I think she will suspect something just by me being here, even if I don’t look like a familiar… But I do think that I should go further below the bed, just in case…

Oh… I didn’t notice this small box below the bed before…

Claudio 2016/10/04(Tue)12:23 No. 751177 ID: 7858a7
File 147560899846.png - (80.82KB , 1600x1200 , That's a pestle, you perverts!.png )

In this box there seems to be a mortar and pestle, some sort of a small bottle and a notebook below it. There is a noticeable layer of dirt on almost everything here with exception of the bottle; these things have been here for a lot of time… I don’t think that it is good to store stuff like this under the bed…

Check out the notebook.

>>751033
A little girl might be sympathetic to an animate toy / imaginary friend, but unfortunately, you don't know anything about her character. Children can also be little terrors, and exposing yourself blind is a risk.

>book
Check it out. It it's a diary or anything like that (although not one she's used recently?) it might give you insight as to her character.

Claudio 2016/10/06(Thu)07:01 No. 751618 ID: 32b7a4
File 147576246218.png - (89.80KB , 1600x1200 , Reading.png )

>>751245
… Hmm… Yes, maybe she can be of use to me, and also, if she turns out to be dangerous, I can defend myself or escape… I mean, Humans still hate needles, right?

>>751188
I carefully move the small bottle away to try to get the notebook, trying my best to not make any kind of noise… If I were human, all this dust would make me cough.

All these writings... are in some sort of code I don’t understand… and in some pages there are even some drawings, most of them, of plants… There is one page though; there is a note I do understand. This note is loose, and almost fell when I opened the notebook.

“Well, you already know these flowers, don’t you? In short, you have get the petals of the first one, and the seed of the second, grind them with the pestle, put them on water, and mix them. The result should be sort of syrup, similar to honey.”

"Every time you don’t seem to be able to ignore it, and you think you can’t take it anymore, take a sip of this substance from the bottle. This won’t make it go away, but it should calm you until you can get some sleep or find someone who can help you.”

There is something on the other side of the note:
“I almost forgot: I know this may be asking for too much, it’s hard for me to understand what you are going through, but try to use this as little as possible. Please, only use it when you can’t ignore it, no matter how hard you try…”

The notebook and this note were written by hand, but the handwriting differs from the other…

Well, it was no diary, and I couldn't read most of its contents... Was the note intended for the girl? She seems healthy...

>Was the note intended for the girl? She seems healthy...
Might have been for the prior occupant of the room. Might explain why it appears dusty and forgotten.

Seems like a herbology book of some kind, and the drink was either some kind of painkiller or antidepressant, depending on what they were suffering from.

>I mean, Humans still hate needles, right?
Well, to an extent.

Claudio 2016/10/13(Thu)18:34 No. 752928 ID: da10da
File 147640888775.png - (29.79KB , 1600x1200 , inminent profit.png )

Author: Sorry for taking long with this update, I’ve been busy these days, and I may be a bit rusty with my drawings for not practicing. I can’t tell how fast the updates will come since I still have other things to do, but I will try my best to keep up.

…a herbology book? I think my former master had some of these, though he rarely ever looked at them, I can see why humans could use them, but I don’t think I got much use for it, herbs, concoctions and the sort don’t affect me, or at least, I don’t think they do.

“Thalia! Could you attend the shop for a second?! “

That scream seems to have come from below…

“Alright! I will be right there… Have you seen Serra by any chance...?”

… She rushes to the door while still talking; I couldn’t hear all of what she said, but it seems she will not come back for now, so I can finally stop hiding, which is nice because under that bed there was a lot of dust and dirt… I will have to find somewhere to clean myself after this.

Hmm, it seems that in her hurry, she left the door slightly ajar…

Claudio 2016/10/13(Thu)18:50 No. 752937 ID: da10da
File 147640985082.png - (51.67KB , 1600x1200 , second floor hallway.png )

Looks like she went down stairs, I think I hear 3 humans in the floor below; one of them must be “Thalia”.

There are two other doors in this hallway, and more stairs going upward at the other end of the hallway... and not a single trace of any sort of pet... Either it's my lucky day, or the pet that used to live here passed away some time ago…

>Have you seen Serra by any chance...?
>and not a single trace of any sort of pet... Either it's my lucky day, or the pet that used to live here passed away some time ago…
I think the "Serra" that human was asking about is the name of the pet. Which means don't relax, just because you don't see a pet, doesn't mean there isn't one!

>>752958
Yeah, this feels likely.

...although if the little girl has recently lost a doll or pet, that maybe gives you more of a chance of being accepted if you approach her.

>I don’t think I got much use for it
Well, you might, if you were interested in medicating, drugging, or poisoning humans. Or dogs. It's one way to get around your small stature.

If Thalia is being called downstairs to tend the shop, that means her parents / guardians / whatever adults are around had to step outside.

Claudio 2016/10/18(Tue)10:49 No. 753618 ID: 14d751
File 147681296968.png - (83.29KB , 1600x1200 , doubtful.png )

>>752958
… And thus, the little bit of sense of security I had, has been brought down… I had forgotten that humans tend to give names to everything… Yes, "Serra" could be a name for a pet, but it seems like it went missing… I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried because of that…

>>753238
>using poisons.
I don’t know how effective poisons and the sort could be, or how I would be able to carry them, but using them that way is something I could take into consideration… But I will have to get another book or instructions I can actually read before I can try to make my own.

Anyway, it seems that these two doors are closed, that only leaves the stairs… I could go down the stairs and take a peek… If the girl is alone, and is willing to listen, perhaps I could use this opportunity to try to approach her, perhaps even make her an ally, or at least, gather some information… although that seems very risky…

On the other hand, I could go upstairs, and see what I find; there must be some materials somewhere around here, and perhaps another hiding spot.

>>753618
Peek off the top of the stairs. See what's going on down below.

Claudio 2016/10/21(Fri)13:42 No. 754323 ID: 4c9c58
File 147708253623.png - (147.73KB , 1600x1200 , are these clothes.png )

I take a look on the room below. The girl is just sitting there on the counter of the shop. I can’t tell if she is worried or bored, but she is alone, and even with the multitude of people outside, it doesn’t look like anyone is going to buy anything.

There are a ton of clothes and fabric being shown, some simple, other more delicate. There is also a door leading outside, and another door leading further inside the shop.

From here it seems like the people finally managed to put down the fire, but there is still a large commotion outside, with a lot of guards talking to different people, it looks like they have grouped them.

... It would seem that no one will notice me. Now, How should I proceed...?

>>754323
Okay. Wherever you talk to her from, you want a path of retreat in case it goes badly or she gets hostile. The staircase actually isn't a bad place, in that regard. You've got the railing between you and her, and the options of retreating upstairs, or hopping through the rails down to the first floor if she comes up.

>Now, How should I proceed...?
Say hello?

Claudio 2016/10/27(Thu)07:57 No. 755682 ID: ce7b73
File 147758023364.png - (144.64KB , 1600x1200 , !.png )

... Alright, let’s try to start a conversation… I better get some distance first, just in case.

“Hello?”

“Ah!”

She doesn't look inside the shop at first...

“I’m here, on the stairs”

She turns her head to find me, but she only looks at me by the corner of her eye before suddenly looking away…

Claudio 2016/10/27(Thu)07:57 No. 755683 ID: ce7b73
File 147758026282.png - (156.77KB , 1600x1200 , looking concerned.png )

She seems ... concerned… perhaps scared? At first I thought she was going to call for help, so I prepared to run, but she doesn't seem to be doing so... or doing anything at all… Is she just ignoring me…?

>>755683
I think she thinks you're a hallucination. You could prove otherwise, but this might actually be convenient for you?

That is, if you're willing to put a little girl through the stress of thinking she's crazy.

Um. Hey. Are you okay?

I promise I'm not here to hurt you, and you're not going crazy either!

Please don't tell on me! I just want to be friends!

Claudio 2016/10/30(Sun)08:51 No. 756145 ID: 7e5276
File 147784266167.png - (148.36KB , 1600x1200 , Not listening!.png )

>>755697
... She could have hallucinations...? And she may be thinking I’m one of them...? I actually wouldn’t believe it if It wasn’t a possibility here...

How could this be useful for me? If she believes me to be non-existent, I don’t think she would or could really help me. I mean... If I don't exist, why would I need anything?

>>755733
She tries to ignore me, but every word I say… seems to calm her…? Although soon after she gets stressed out again…

>>755734
As soon as I say that, she starts covering her ears… and I think she is mumbling something? I get closer to try to listen… But I can barely tell what she is saying…

“No… You aren’t real… shut up!”

It doesn't seem like I'm going to make much progress only with words...

It's time to risk it. Approach her, let she grab you.

>How could this be useful for me? If she believes me to be non-existent, I don’t think she would or could really help me. I mean... If I don't exist, why would I need anything?
It means a few things. For one, her credibility is already shot if anyone knows about what she's seen. She doesn't have the ability to reveal your presence and be taken seriously.

It likely means she's isolated. Anything that sets you apart, especially a mental illness, can have that effect. Someone who needs a friend is more likely to be receptive to you than someone comfortable with what they have.

>It doesn't seem like I'm going to make much progress only with words...
I guess we'll have to go down there and prove you're real. Move an object or something. "Ha, see! It's rude to tell people they aren't real, you know."

Exposes you to some risk / makes escape harder getting close to her, but I don't think it's likely she's going to really hurt you, and we can probably get away playing dead doll in front of the adults if any arrive. Unless she runs right to the magic hunters.

Claudio 2016/11/02(Wed)19:02 No. 756752 ID: 013238
File 147813854385.png - (74.54KB , 1600x1200 , Reach for the skies!.png )

>>756147
I can see why humans wouldn’t believe her, if she can’t even believe in herself…

… She could be useful for me, if I can befriend her she could keep me hidden and even talk to people for me, yes, I think that making her an ally is a priority right now.

>>756146
I don’t see anyone coming; I guess it’s safe to get closer… But seeing as she isn’t looking at me, I doubt she will try to grab me…

Instead, I reach and grab her skirt, pulling a bit to catch her attention…

Claudio 2016/11/02(Wed)19:04 No. 756755 ID: 013238
File 147813869133.png - (111.33KB , 1600x1200 , Fall.png )

She clearly panics, and for some time it looks like she doesn't know what to do. Luckily, she doesn’t scream… Did… Did I do something wrong?

In her hurry, she pushes me away with her foot and runs upstairs…

“…shut up…”

… I didn’t say anything…

"Shut up"? Maybe she does hear voices.

>>756755
Is she still on the stairs or atop the stairs, or has she retreated to her room? (Ie, can you still talk to her, or has she retreated).

If she's still there "this... is not how I expected my first encounter with a strange human to go. I thought maybe I might be in danger. I didn't expect to scare anyone."

Claudio 2016/11/07(Mon)16:30 No. 757318 ID: 5bc364
File 147856501620.png - (55.71KB , 1600x1200 , upstairs.png )

>>756778
Alright… That’s awesome! If she hears voices and Sees things, how am I supposed to look real in any way?!

>>756787
She rushed her way up stairs, but once she got on top, she stopped for a second…

“W-wait! This is not what I expected to happen; I didn’t expect to scare anyone!”

She takes a moment to catch her breath… soon after, she just sits with her back on the wall.

Claudio 2016/11/07(Mon)16:33 No. 757320 ID: 5bc364
File 147856520632.png - (65.23KB , 1600x1200 , I draw big heads.png )

I go upstairs… it’s not like have many other options right now and staying here is dangerous shall someone come around.

She still seems scared… but somewhat calmer than before… still, she is worried. There is only silence for some time, until she speaks…

“… How can you be real…? No one else saw you…”

… Is she mumbling to herself, or is she talking to me? It’s hard to tell… But I think she is starting to lend me an ear…

Well, the only options I have are to talk to her and try to get some information, or to find a way to earn her trust or show her that I’m real…

Oh. Wait. What if she saw a familiar before. One of the others. And no one believed her. And now everyone thinks she's crazy, including herself.

>“… How can you be real…? No one else saw you…”
I don't know how I'm real. My master mad me with magic before he died, somehow, but he was kind of a jerk.

And, uh, I've been kind of careful not to let people see me, mostly. A lot of people seem to not like magic, or things made with it. I don't want to get hurt.

This is my first time meeting you, though. If you saw me before, I think it was probably one of the other familiars. I know there's at least one other in the city (and he was kind of a jerk). I imagine they were staying hidden to be careful, too.

>>757320
>“… How can you be real…? No one else saw you…”
Because everyone else will try to kill me and I don't want them to do that! But.....you looked lonely and I thought you could use a friend.....and to be honest, I could use a friend as well. So, do you want to be friends?

Claudio 2016/11/20(Sun)13:49 No. 760401 ID: b7e77f
File 147967859662.png - (70.03KB , 1600x1200 , acceptance.png )

Author: I'm Sorry for the big delay with this update. With luck, I may be able to make updates more regularly from now on.

>>757321
>Oh. Wait. What if she saw a familiar before. One of the others. And no one believed her. And now everyone thinks she's crazy, including herself.
… That’s possible, although it makes me question how much humans know of mages… I mean, as far as I’m aware of, familiars are used constantly by mages, mostly for combat, but also for other stuff, such as spies…

“I don’t know how I’m real, I was made by my former master‘s magic… He’s dead right now, but he was an as… not very nice person…”

She remains silent…

“As for why no one else saw me… I have been trying to stay out of sight for the most part… I got the feeling the humans on this area don’t like magic and would try to hurt me if they see me… This is the first time I have meet you though, but you may have seen another familiar, I’m aware there is at least other one in the city”

“… I saw you, when… someone yelled from top of the building…“

“Oh… well, that was me.”

“ … No one would have tried to use the river knowing how the arbiters tend to react to someone tampering with their investigation…”

Claudio 2016/11/20(Sun)13:50 No. 760402 ID: b7e77f
File 147967864417.png - (69.81KB , 1600x1200 , Contact.png )

I get closer, reach for her arm, at first she seems worried, but then she calms again…

“I… Guess you could be real but, why you decided to show yourself to me? You said you would be in danger if someone sees you…”

Good, I think I’m making progress…

>>757338
“I thought you could help me… You seemed lonely and I thought you may listen to what I have to say, perhaps even become friends. It wasn’t my intention to scare you… Sorry for that. ”

“... You want to be friends…? Well… You have been trying to be nice so far, and you tried to help with the fire at the library… “

… I wonder if I should say that I did that for my own safety and helping wasn't my first motive…

“But… I still have a lot of questions, and I’m still not sure if you are real or not... although I hope you are…[ “

“How could I probe that I’m real?”

“Well… Serra usually helps me… she somehow knows when I’m… seeing things… and helps me recognize what’s real and what isn’t…”

“Who is Serra?”

“She’s my pet… a dog that was given to me by my father but she is not here right now“

If Serra is a dog; perhaps it won’t attack me as long as its master is on my side, right?

“Do you know where she is?”

“No I didn’t see her… Oh!”

“…oh?”

Claudio 2016/11/20(Sun)13:51 No. 760403 ID: b7e77f
File 147967867326.png - (117.43KB , 1600x1200 , Not sure about the fur though.png )

“GAH…!”

Why!? Now I have drool all over my back!

“Serra, stop!”

The dog stops and walks around me to get to Thalia…

Claudio 2016/11/20(Sun)13:52 No. 760405 ID: b7e77f
File 147967873142.png - (78.13KB , 1600x1200 , heavy petting.png )

… I hope that dog hadn’t eaten something recently… Now I feel really dirty!

“… You are real… I’m sorry for what I did earlier… And I’m sorry for Serra too.”

“I will have to clean myself later… but at least there is one problem solved...”

I better focus on the conversation instead… and I better stay at a prudent distance from that dog…

“… What’s your name? Mine is Thalia.”

“I don’t have one.”

“What? Why?”

“We familiars don’t care about names, some may give us nicknames, but in the end it’s all the same for us.”

“But you said you had a master right? How did he call you?”

“He called me many things: servant, familiar, helper…”

“That’s weird… But I don’t feel right with calling you any of that… Do you want me to give you a name, or would you prefer to think one on your own?”

What’s with Humans and names…? If I really have to, I guess I could try to pick something good…

Since we don't care for names Just let she chose. Maybe she will call we something normal, like "Chuck" or "Gustav".

So what is the plan? Are we going to keep seeking knowledge about familiares and prepare ourself to face magical users or are we going to become the pet friend of a confuse girl? The question may seem biased, but living vicariously isn't all that bad.

>“ … No one would have tried to use the river knowing how the arbiters tend to react to someone tampering with their investigation…”
Sorry. I didn't get why no one was doing the obvious, and the library was gonna get worse in the meantime.

>you tried to help with the fire at the library
Well, letting the fire spread would be dangerous. And honestly, my first idea was to check the library. I thought checking books first would be a safe way to learn stuff before going to people. I've only ever been with my jerk master, and he avoided towns because people didn't like him. So I know there's a lot of stuff I've missed out on.

>Serra the dog
Well, at least this one is smaller than you. And isn't aggressive? Just slobbery.

>Do you want me to give you a name, or would you prefer to think one on your own?
Why don't you give me a name. People aren't supposed to name themselves, right?

>name (Suggesting for her suggestion).
Menno.

>Serra usually helps me… she somehow knows when I’m… seeing things… and helps me recognize what’s real and what isn’t…
Um. Why do you need help seeing what's real? Do not-real things bother you?

(I wonder if she's really crazy, or if she's a nascent mage. Just because she's seeing things that aren't there, per se, doesn't mean she's seeing things that are entirely unreal).

EEK!!! A dog! Please don't let me be a chew toy! I'd taste terrible!

Claudio 2016/11/24(Thu)16:19 No. 761215 ID: 5ab00f
File 148003317891.png - (76.36KB , 1600x1200 , Confidence.png )

>she chooses its name
“Alright… let me think… Do you like “Menno”?”

“”Menno”? If you like it, I gues it will work.”

“Good, Then I will call you Menno from now on… would this make me your new master..?”

“Not really, for that I would need to bind myself magically to you, and that would make me do what you tell me to do even if I don’t want to, which is something I don't want to go through again.”

“Oh, I see… So you were some sort of a slave?”

“Yes, but It seems I'm free now.”

>>760451
>>760445
>Well, at least this one is smaller than you. And isn't aggressive? Just slobbery.
“Serra is not going to try to attack me or anything, right?”

“No, I don’t think so, In fact, I think she feels curious of you, and it seems she likes you”

“Not as food or a simple toy... right?”

“I don’t think so, and even if she did, she normally stops once you tell her to do so.”

>Um. Why do you need help seeing what's real? Do not-real things bother you?
“… They... sometimes talk to me, or move around trying to get my attention… I try to ignore them the best I can but sometimes they become harder and harder to ignore… Most of the time I can tell they aren’t real but even so, it takes to much of me to try to ignore them…”

“And how does Serra Help?”

“I think Serra was the only one I could trust… No one else knows I have these… hallucinations… I haven’t told anyone because I don’t know what they will think… not because of the arbiters, they barely get any cooperation around here, but because I don’t want people to know that... I’m unreliable… or to think that I’m dangerous…”

“… Does it bother you if I now know it too?”

"No ... I'm relieved that you're real, you seem to be friendly and understanding, but in the other hand ... If there are others like you, then I'm not sure how I'm going to tell if they are real or not... "

Claudio 2016/11/24(Thu)16:21 No. 761216 ID: 5ab00f
File 148003326114.png - (74.20KB , 1600x1200 , thoughts.png )

>I wonder if she's really crazy, or if she's a nascent mage. Just because she's seeing things that aren't there, per se, doesn't mean she's seeing things that are entirely unreal
I don’t remember my master or any other mage in particular having any sort of hallucinations, aside from visions of power if they count. But that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be a mage.

Those things could easily just hallucinations created by her mind that she can’t control. The other option could be that she has a strong connection with the world of inexistence, but that wouldn’t make her a mage, after all, everyone has some sort of connection with it, both directly and indirectly...

>>760441
>So what is the plan? Are we going to keep seeking knowledge about familiares and prepare ourself to face magical users or are we going to become the pet friend of a confuse girl?
I became friends with her just so I can have somewhere safe to stay, this place could work just perfectly, and I guess helping her in some way would be part of the deal. Searching information about familiars is still my main goal, at least for now, since I have no idea what could possibly happen to me from now on.

I haven’t been feeling any weaker or anything, so at least I’m not seem to be decaying or something of the sort, even if that is something that happens more on the living.

That said… I would rather try to avoid any sort of confrontation... I may be able to face some weak magic, but at least that other familiar seemed pretty strong, even if I ended in its good side somehow… Fighting mages could be problematic if I also have to face their familiars.

“So, what are you going to do now, Menno?”

“… huh? Oh, right! Well, my first idea was to check the library in hopes of learning about people and magic in general, and also about familiars. My former master and I lived pretty much isolated, so there are a lot of things that I still don’t know. “

“I don’t really know how to help you with that… This library was the only one I knew, there are others in the city, but I don’t know where they could be… maybe some books were saved, but I don't know how useful will that be for you. “

“I should go back; I need to tend the shop, I’m sure my caretakers will come back soon, but they will have a heart attack if they don’t see me around as soon as they’re back... Feel free to look around, there is no one up here. Before I leave though, Is there something you will need of me?”

>If there are others like you, then I'm not sure how I'm going to tell if they are real or not...
Um. Well, most familiars would probably try to avoid being seen. Their masters want to stay low key, and not get in trouble for using magic. If one is trying to get your attention, it's probably not real? Unless something weird happens.

The only other familiar I've seen so far in town had ears and a tail, and looks like an angry mouse or cat. He had claws too.

>The other option could be that she has a strong connection with the world of inexistence, but that wouldn’t make her a mage, after all, everyone has some sort of connection with it, both directly and indirectly...
What would that make her then? A seer?

I guess it's a moot point until we find a way to check. Maybe if you're around the next time she's seeing things. You're a magical creature- can you sense magic?

>maybe some books were saved, but I don't know how useful will that be for you.
Even if some books were saved, people are going to be on alert, and there are those angry looking investigators. The library isn't a safe place for me to poke around right now.

>Before I leave though, Is there something you will need of me?
Are you too old to have a doll? I might play dead if someone walks in on us at some point on the future. A mage or arbiter might recognize what I am, but most people would just see a doll.

Can you spare some sewing apparatus? I was thinking about making some modifications. Leo was nice, but I fear the mages won't be.

Claudio 2016/11/28(Mon)13:01 No. 762079 ID: 188d9f
File 148036686721.png - (72.32KB , 1600x1200 , Go to your room!.png )

>>761223
>You're a magical creature- can you sense magic?
To a certain extent, yes. I can tell when magic is being used and was used for something in particular, and I can see magic on objects, but only If see it or hear it, but I can't detect it in any other way, not right now at least. She was hearing some things recently, just before I managed to calm her down, right? During that time I couldn't sense anything of magic origin, although I don't know how much that helps...

>What would that make her then? A seer?
…Perhaps? I'm not really versed on the terminology used, so I can’t tell if this would be correct or not… I should investigate that too when I get the chance…

>Are you too old to have a doll?
“I’m 13, but I never had a doll before... Why you ask?”

>I might play dead if someone walks in on us at some point on the future. A mage or arbiter might recognize what I am, but most people would just see a doll.
“Oh, I guess no one could notice, although if we have to do it, but I should think of an excuse if any of my caretakers asks…”

>>761238
… Most of the tools I saw are human sized, I don’t think I can use most of the things they could have, but let’s ask just to be sure…

“Well, the only thing I have in my room is a loom; I use it for training when I have time… Do you know how to use it?”

“… No, I heard of them but I never saw one being used, let alone try to use one myself…”

“I guess I will see how I can help you with the loom later, but if you need materials, there should be some in my room, although try to not use them all... There are other tools behind the shop, we use them for making what we sell, but my caretakers will be back soon, so I don’t think you should go there.”

Well, looking at the size of her loom, it will be somewhat hard for me to use it, and I may break it if I tried to use it without knowing what I’m doing, so perhaps it will be better if I don’t touch it.

“Well, I will leave now; I will come to my room as soon as I can.”

She leaves, Serra following her at a close distance. I go back to her room and start looking for anything I could use.

Claudio 2016/11/28(Mon)13:03 No. 762080 ID: 188d9f
File 148036701509.png - (131.24KB , 1600x1200 , organizing.png )

Well, she gave me permission to experiment in her room, although I still have no idea about what I could do… I’m surprised how easily she decided to trust this much in me…

... I have gathered everything I think I could use on top of the table, trying my best to keep it organized: there are some needles of many sizes and threads, and a measuring tape ... I got the feeling that maybe she lost some of these…

I could also wait until she comes back, perhaps preparing myself for questions she may have or make some of my own, or try to explore this building’s third floor; after all, she said there was no one around.

>The library isn't a safe place for me to poke around right now.
Yes, I will have to give some time until things calm down, there is a chance some soldiers are going to be left behind to guard the remains of the library.

>>762080
I would explore, for now.

As for experimenting with sewing tools, uh, well I'm not sure where to go with that. Repairs would be obvious, if you needed them. Otherwise, basic reinforcement? You could consider modifying or improving yourself, but just slapping on extra limbs or parts would get weird quick.

Claudio 2016/11/30(Wed)16:18 No. 762756 ID: f00555
File 148055149774.png - (132.69KB , 1600x1200 , This isn't even my final form!.png )

>slapping on extra limbs or parts
With the help of these threads, needles and Cloth, I have managed to become an unstoppable bringer of destruction! AHAHAHA~!

Claudio 2016/11/30(Wed)16:18 No. 762757 ID: f00555
File 148055152461.png - (72.35KB , 1600x1200 , day-dreaming.png )

Alright… I have mixed feeling about that idea… On one hand, it looks somewhat awesome? On the other hand, it also looks bad, and it will reduce my chances of going unnoticed to cero, even if she is carrying me… Anyway, I don’t think that extra limbs could help right now.

As for repairs, luckily I only have to fix some treads that were going a bit loose, but nothing problematic or hard. And as for reinforcing, I don’t see why not, but I don’t know how much some extra cloth is going to help me.

Claudio 2016/11/30(Wed)16:19 No. 762758 ID: f00555
File 148055159740.png - (61.97KB , 1600x1200 , the third floor, one room.png )

>I would explore, for now.
Yes, let’s see what I find on the third floor first.

There’s an entrance but there is no door. It’s a small room, somewhat dirty, and with some furniture here and there, as well as some boxes, there also is a window, which, with this layout, it’s very accessible for me.

The window has a ledge going both inside and outside the house while the other one didn't.

Claudio 2016/11/30(Wed)16:20 No. 762759 ID: f00555
File 148055162555.png - (184.17KB , 1600x1200 , I regret everything.png )

I can easily open this window and from here I can see some of the buildings nearby, more at the west, I can see that high tower, just at the side of this window there is another pipe that goes from the top of the building to the bottom.

is one thing you can add to yourself. an ownership tag, "property of Thalia". then if someone sees you, you can pretend to be lifeless doll, they will check you over, see the tag, and return you to this house.

>>762757
If you decide to modify yourself in the future, you'd want some kind of coherent theme so you don't look like a weird monster frankendoll. Then you avoid the weirdness and sticking out.

>>762823
Might weird her out a little if we basically tattooed her name on us after one meeting. It also gives her name away to any familiars we might encounter, which could be a bad idea. Not all these wizards (or their servants) are nice people and we don't want our friend a target.

>>762758
Let's poke around what's in this room. See if there's anything useful. I'd rather not venture outside again just yet considering how riled up things have been with the library fire.

Claudio 2016/12/03(Sat)14:33 No. 763348 ID: e3e735
File 148080439949.png - (82.38KB , 1600x1200 , useless stuff.png )

>>762823
>>762840
> Might weird her out a little if we basically tattooed her name on us after one meeting. It also gives her name away to any familiars we might encounter, which could be a bad idea. Not all these wizards (or their servants) are nice people and we don't want our friend a target.
Yes… perhaps getting her name somewhere in my body could be a bad idea. Although it may be helpful, we should also consider that there is a chance not everyone knows her, or where she lives. In fact, I would have troubles finding this place again if I wandered off; most of these buildings look the same to me…

>If you decide to modify yourself in the future, you'd want some kind of coherent theme
Yes, I should take that into account. Although I have no theme in mind right now, but perhaps I can think one in the future.

>Let's poke around what's in this room. See if there's anything useful
After searching through the room, I find nothing useful or important… There are some toys lying around, a book filled with barely readable scribblings, if readable, and ugly drawings, and a bag with some shinny coins inside of it. Nothing of this seems extremely valuable to me. I couldn’t check inside the wardrobe though, it’s impossible for me try to open it since I can't reach the door knob.

>>762080
Just throwing this out there, I don't expect much from it but-

Can familiars create other familiars?

>>763348
Yeah, toys aren't much use to you here.

We could use some reading material (man that library fire is annoying), or at least a map of the city to study.

Any rooms left to explore? I'm still leery about heading out again so soon.

>>763348
Jump on the toy horse and go for a ride. Pretend you're on an adventure around the room!

Claudio 2016/12/13(Tue)12:51 No. 765603 ID: 1ce8f3
File 148166227372.png - (63.45KB , 1600x1200 , Size_difference.png )

Author: Sorry again for taking long with the update, I don't seem to be able to keep them coming rather regularly and I have been having some troubles lately...

>>763360
I don’t know what it needs to be done to create a familiar, and I never heard of familiars making another familiar, so I don’t really know if it is possible…

>>763618
I… almost feel tempted to do that… Sadly, it is somewhat small, so no matter how strong this steed is, it won’t be able to take me far away before collapsing...

>>763596
>Any rooms left to explore?
Well, there were the other two rooms on the second floor, but the doors were closed so I couldn’t get in.

I better wait for Thalia on her room, at least for now, since it doesn’t look like I have many options, I try my best to put everything back in place, I don’t know if anyone comes here but its better if I'm cautious.

Claudio 2016/12/13(Tue)12:52 No. 765604 ID: 1ce8f3
File 148166236155.png - (63.02KB , 1600x1200 , I feel like I'm drawing badly.png )

I arrive at her room, since the most comfy place in the room is Thalia’s bed, I will just get up there and enjoy softness while I wait, I hope she doesn’t mind. Soon I hear the door open, and Thalia enters, with Serra following her.

“Hi Menno, sorry to make you wait, my caretakers where worried when they saw no one on the shop, and they asked me a ton of questions. Have you been doing well?”

“So far so good, I guess…”

She takes seat on the chair near the table, while Serra just goes to her bed and gets comfortable.

“Are you hungry? I managed to get some snacks for you”

“I don’t need to eat, but I appreciate the thought.”

“Really?”

“Yes. As far as I know, I only need to keep my body in a good condition.”

She leaves the food she brought on top of the table.

“… Even so, how I was going to eat it?”

“Hehe, I guess I didn’t think of that… Where did you find these? I lost them I think two days ago…”

“Oh, one of those was below the table, behind the table’s leg. The other one was in middle of the floor, and I happened to come up with it.”

“… Thank you… Although that only shows that I really should start cleaning my room…”

Claudio 2016/12/13(Tue)12:53 No. 765605 ID: 1ce8f3
File 148166240109.png - (64.73KB , 1600x1200 , it watches you.png )

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t really know, as I said, the library was my first idea, and even if some books survived, it would probably be heavily guarded right now…”

“Actually, most of the guards are gone. The owner of the library is back… He was quite shocked about what happened, but right now is trying to find and organize the books that survived. I think only two guards were left behind to guard the place, and the streets seemed empty… I hope everyone is not afraid of coming over here now..."

Well that could be useful. It looks like the guards didn’t found anything at all. Perhaps she could take me to the library. Or she could take me somewhere else, but I think the library is my only lead, , right now if I want to learn anything about magic, even if it there could be nothing… That or perhaps going where the guards or arbiters gather, there is bound to be something there too, but it could also be dangerous…

“ Menno… could you try to explain me what is going on? What happened on the library? Did you have anything to do with it? And can you explain to me what is magic and why is it considered evil…?”

“… The only thing I can possibly try to explain to you is what happened at the library. Everything else, I don’t think I know much more than you… In fact, I would like to know many things that you just asked, but for that I could need your help…”

“It’s ok… If you really need my help, I will trust you, but please promise me you will tell me what you find... Right now I’m confused, and I can’t help it but feel uneasy…”

… I could try to explain the little I understand of magic, but I fear that will only serve to confuse her more than she already is or give her more questions that I probably won’t be capable of answering.

As long as she understand showing knowledge of magic in her society is dangerous there is nothing wrong in introducing her to the concept. Just make sure she understand the need for discretion.
Anyway, time to snitch Leo. This little tale of crime will also help to explain why you want to reinforce yourself for a possible future conflict.

>What happened on the library? Did you have anything to do with it?
Tell her the truth, and about your encounter with Leo. Doesn't really make sense to you. What book would be so valuable it justifies covering it's theft with fire?

>And can you explain to me what is magic and why is it considered evil…?
Well, Leo wasn't very nice, and his master must not be so either to have ordered such a thing. And you know your master was an asshole who was never nice to anymore. Maybe the jerk magic users just gave magic a bad name?

And heck, the spell that created you made you a slave, which isn't very nice either.

I mean, I guess it's kind of easy to imagine the bad things people could do with magic? A jerk with a lot of power and no checks on them is scary.

You hope magic itself isn't evil, and it's just the way some people use it. You don't really want to be powered by something evil.

>I could try to explain the little I understand of magic
You should probably lead by explaining you don't actually know that much about how magic works, even if you are magic.

>>765605
Hey! You on the table behind the cupcake! I see you back there!

>>765648
Instead of going over everything, start with this, then.

"I guess some people don't like magic because other rude people use it for spying."

Claudio 2016/12/22(Thu)19:30 No. 767655 ID: 6dd388
File 148246385259.png - (152.18KB , 1600x1200 , no cupcake for you!.png )

>>765648
“Hey! Who is there?!”

“Eh? … Oh, Serra!

Serra tries to rush for the cupcake, but Thalia gets it first and keeps it away.

“I already gave you food; you know I can’t let you eat more! You will get fat!”

Serra whines for a bit, but after another “NO” from Thalia, I guess it resigns in obtaining it…

“For a second I thought it was another familiar… Alright, now let me try to explain what I understand has been happening thus far…”

Claudio 2016/12/22(Thu)19:32 No. 767657 ID: 6dd388
File 148246395546.png - (173.54KB , 1600x1200 , Reminiscence.png )

>>765607
>Just make sure she understand the need for discretion.
“Before anything, you must remember to not tell anyone about anything I’m about to say, they could get suspicious, and I don’t know what they could do, alright?”

“Alright...”

>>765639

>Tell her the truth, and about your encounter with Leo.
>Anyway, time to snitch Leo
“Well, let’s start with the library. The fire wasn’t magical, as far as I could tell; it was started by normal means … Although I got the feeling it could have been caused by a familiar… And I had just arrived when it all started, so I was having problems trying to understand what was happening, I even panicked for a bit.”

“Why you think the fire was made by a familiar?”

“Soon after everyone was working on the fire, I met another familiar; it was carrying a book, probably taken from the library and that book had some magical presence on it, yet I couldn't get a glimpse of its contents. It started questioning me, trying to tell if I was a threat or not, luckily, I managed to get in its good side, and it left without attacking me, I don’t know if I would have a chance if they had chosen otherwise as I wasn’t made for combat, but that other familiar was clearly built for combat, and is very dangerous, so if you find it, you are better pretending you didn’t saw it, or run away.”

“… How could I tell it from… the things I see?”

“… I don’t know if it can help, but it was doll like me and more or less of my size, somewhat like a cat, and his eyes were static. It also had claws, and it seemed to have an affinity towards fire.”

“… I will try to remember that.”

>What book would be so valuable it justifies covering it's theft with fire?
I don’t really know… It didn’t have that much of a magical presence, so I don’t think it could be very important… On the other hand, it could have just been one huge diversion for all I know…

>This little tale of crime will also help to explain why you want to reinforce yourself for a possible future conflict.
“Anyway, it said that there were others, and they may not be as merciful, so I think I should prepare myself to fight if by any chance I end up facing one of them again…”

“... I only know about tailoring, perhaps that could help you, but I don’t really know how much I will be able to help with that…”

Claudio 2016/12/22(Thu)19:33 No. 767659 ID: 6dd388
File 148246402470.png - (127.66KB , 1600x1200 , fire explanation.png )

>You should probably lead by explaining you don't actually know that much about how magic works, even if you are magic.
“Now, as for magic, I can’t understand what magic is exactly, for me, using it is like breathing or eating, I don’t know how it really works… As far as I know, magic is a way to make things that don’t exist to exist in front of us. It has a lot to do with the connection between the “existence” and “inexistence”, but I don’t really know how it really works. By example, if a mage makes fire, he is using his connection to the world of inexistence to bring something that doesn’t exist, thus being in the inexistence, and bringing it into existence, and once it is there, the fire will act pretty much the same way as any other fire would.”

“Can you use magic?”

“Yes, I can, but my magic isn’t very strong, it was mostly used for utility, I never tried using it to defend myself.”
“C-can you show me?”

…She seems very eager to see...

“Alright… watch very carefully.”

Claudio 2016/12/22(Thu)19:36 No. 767661 ID: 6dd388
File 148246420556.png - (123.35KB , 1600x1200 , levitating, sorta.png )

I let myself fall from the bed, and then proceed to use magic to create wind currents to brake my fall and move towards different directions for a bit, thanks to my light weight, until I get to the floor.

“… Wow… What else can you do?!”

“Well, I can make small fires to lit candles and the sort, or create some water to put down small fires, but that’s pretty much all…”

I never found much utility on earth magic…

“… I’m still having problems to understand this, but all of that sounds very useful… Why is magic considered bad?”

>the spell that created you made you a slave, which isn't very nice either.
… I never really thought of that… I was never given too much of a choice now that I think about it…

>I guess it's kind of easy to imagine the bad things people could do with magic? A jerk with a lot of power and no checks on them is scary.
Hahaha…. Come on, Humans aren’t THAT stupid, the same way a jerk can become powerful with magic, so can someone who isn’t a jerk… I mean... don’t humans have that saying that goes “fighting fire with fire”…? And… trying to deny magic, is trying to deny the existence itself too…

>Maybe the jerk magic users just gave magic a bad name?
“…What?”

“I mean… you said your master wasn’t a very nice person, right? Perhaps it’s just that people don’t see how useful magic could be and only see it as something dangerous…”

…

“… There is also the fact that it can be very dangerous… Familiars are often used for combat, or for spying… And many mages that I met seemed to be assholes too… I guess your idea is possible…”

Claudio 2016/12/22(Thu)19:46 No. 767666 ID: 6dd388
File 148246478863.png - (65.46KB , 1600x1200 , lost in thought___.png )

“… This is a lot of information and I will need some time to organize everything you just told me, but thank you for telling me all of this.”

“… You are welcome…”

…

“Soon it will be dark outside… what are you planning on doing, Menno?”

…

“Umm, Menno?”

>You hope magic itself isn't evil, and it's just the way some people use it. You don't really want to be powered by something evil.
…

… …

… When something is “evil”…?

…

“Menno! Is there something troubling you?”

“Oh… no, it’s nothing I guess… let me just think…”

Well... Now what options do I have…?

We could investigate the library in search of any sort of clues or information, or she could take me somewhere else, but the only other place where I could find something is wherever the arbiters are…

I could also try to find better ways to defend myself, be it by figuring out some way I could fight or to find something that could increase my chances… Although if I’m going to some sort of extra gear I should take into account the possibility of it hindering me more than helping me.

Or just call it a day, Thalia may need some rest after what happened, and I could use some time to clean myself, or maybe is there something else I'm not taking into account?

I presume we don't need to sleep. At least I hope so, the night is the best period to move undetected and we will need to be somewhat active during the day to interact with Thalia.
Let's explore what was left of the library. Not a thoroughly search, after all the place could be under vigilance, just a quick scan for books that emanate magic. We can also get some leather pieces from the covers of burned books.

>>767661
>Hahaha…. Come on, Humans aren’t THAT stupid, the same way a jerk can become powerful with magic, so can someone who isn’t a jerk… I mean... don’t humans have that saying that goes “fighting fire with fire”…? And… trying to deny magic, is trying to deny the existence itself too…
True, but think about when two really powerful mages get into a fight with each other in the middle of a city. They would probably do a lot of damage to the city before they stopped fighting.

And if it was just one really nice mage, he/she could end up accidentally setting a house on fire when he/she only wanted to light a candle.

Magic is limited to try and prevent the bad guys from learning magic (which they've done a terrible job at preventing) and to prevent the good guys from getting too powerful and causing accidents.

>I never found much utility on earth magic…
Jamming machinery? Tripping people? Pitfalls?

>I only know about tailoring, perhaps that could help you
Well you'd made of cloth, that could be very useful for repairs or modifications or even weapons versus other familiars.

>what are you planning on doing, Menno?
Well long term your goals should be staying alive and learning more about yourself and the world. Be nice to discover more about how magic and familiars work, and what the other magic users in town are up to before you run afoul of them.

You made a friend and found a safe place, that's pretty good for the first day.

What are Thalia's goals? If she's going to be helping you, maybe you could help her too.

Claudio 2016/12/30(Fri)07:54 No. 769100 ID: ab6ccb
File 148311324283.png - (90.61KB , 1600x1200 , This doesn't look so good.png )

>>767678
>I presume we don't need to sleep.
Of course we don’t. Only the living need to sleep. As far as I know, I’m tireless.

>>767684
>They would probably do a lot of damage to the city before they stopped fighting.
… That’s true, which I can see how it would develop into a hate towards magic in general… With what I know of humans, whoever intends to save the city would also be blamed for its destruction…

>he/she could end up accidentally setting a house on fire when he/she only wanted to light a candle.
Heh… that’s a common joke on the inexistence… Normally, mages that make fool mistakes like that tend to not last long, defeated by their own powers… hmm… I just noticed how sad that joke actually is… Anyway, it’s rare the occasion of mages failing to control their own power, since it’s almost impossible to get more powerful if you are incapable of storing and controlling that much magic.

>Magic is limited to try and prevent the bad guys from learning magic (which they've done a terrible job at preventing) and to prevent the good guys from getting too powerful and causing accidents.
With a plan like that, it almost sounds like if any of both parts failed, everything would go terribly wrong… Are humans even capable of doing that? It seems nearly impossible…

>>767842
>Jamming machinery? Tripping people? Pitfalls?
Yes, all of that could be useful for me now, but at the time when I was serving my former master, earth magic seemed very useless, now I should be considering practice a bit more with it.

>That could be very useful for repairs or modifications or even weapons versus other familiars.
“I see… Well, I don’t really know anything about weapons, but if you require clothes or something, I will be happy to help.”

Claudio 2016/12/30(Fri)07:54 No. 769101 ID: ab6ccb
File 148311328493.png - (62.11KB , 1600x1200 , worried.png )

>Well long term your goals should be staying alive and learning more about yourself and the world. Be nice to discover more about how magic and familiars work, and what the other magic users in town are up to before you run afoul of them.
… I still don’t know how to deal with them… For all I know, they could be potentially hostile towards me, although for reasons unknown… On the other hand, they could be potential allies… There is also the fact that I am free, not bound to obey anyone, I don’t know how they could react to that, probably not fondly… BUT, I Think they are endangered by the arbiters as much as I am, right? That could help if we tried to make an alliance…

>You made a friend and found a safe place, that's pretty good for the first day.
I guess this does help with my immediate needs for now. Good work, me.

>What are Thalia's goals? If she's going to be helping you, maybe you could help her too.
“… My goals? I never really thought about it… I mean… I love Tailoring, and I hope I continue to do so… I would love to create a beautiful piece that everyone would like… But… Well… I also would like to know what else there is in the world and see new things… although… my hallucinations make it kind of hard to focus and it becomes hard to talk to people… And now that I know what magic is… I’m… afraid… just by thinking how it could mix up with… the things I see…"

She suddenly grows quiet… I don't really know how I could help her with that, if I can help her…

“If you think you could use help for something, just let me know, it would only be fair after all.”

“I could use some help in cleaning my room later, hehe…”

Now that’s something I know how to do.

Claudio 2016/12/30(Fri)07:55 No. 769102 ID: ab6ccb
File 148311332642.png - (71.20KB , 1600x1200 , sleeping dog.png )

>Let's explore what was left of the library. Not a thoroughly search, after all the place could be under vigilance, just a quick scan for books that emanate magic.
Yes… I guess it is for the best to try and see what I find there, the humans may not have found anything, but perhaps I will, especially books. That familiar may have left something behind; perhaps that’s why it started the fire?

“I intend to go to the library now; I may find something that helps me there.”

“I will go with you; I have that I borrowed from the library some days ago and I already finished reading it. Just let me get my things...”

Huh… she looked tired before, but now she seems alright…

“Is Serra coming wuth us?”

“...Doesn’t look like…”

Serra seems to have fallen asleep in its bed… she seems to be really comfortable...

Thalia gets a purse, and she puts the book inside of it.

“I don’t think I will need to take more than this, so are you ready to go?”

“Yes, I think I’m ready.”

Claudio 2016/12/30(Fri)08:01 No. 769104 ID: ab6ccb
File 148311371424.png - (137.65KB , 1600x1200 , so far, no problem.png )

... It feels weird being carried on arms instead of moving by myself or inside a backpack...

The shop seems to be closing when We go down, and we found Thalia’s fath… err "caretaker"… What's the difference between the two? Maybe I should Ask thalia about it later...

“Oh, Thalia, Where are you going?”

“To the library, I’m going to return a book…”

“Wh-what? At this hour and after what happened?”

“Yes?”

“No, I-I can’t let you go there… It could be dangerous! Not to say it’s almost burned to the ground a few hours ago… and… Just… I can’t let you go there alone.”

“It’s just there crossing the street and there are some guards waiting there, and it’s not like I’m going far or anything, I will be back soon, don’t worry.”

“I… Fine, but do what you have to do, and be back for Dinner!”

There isn’t anyone around, and we get closer to the library pretty much without problem. Once inside the library, we met one guard on the door.

“The library is closed for now; no services shall be given until further notice. What brings you here?”

Thalia takes the book and shows it to the guard.

“I thought that I may give back a book that I borrowed from the owner, can I go in?

“Huh… Yes, I think you can, it’s not like we are stopping the public from entering, we are just making sure that no other incident happens… And since you are going to see the owner, could you tell my partner that it’s his turn to guard the door?”

“If I see him, I will tell him.”

“Thank you.”

It looks like he isn't suspicious about me...

Claudio 2016/12/30(Fri)08:05 No. 769105 ID: ab6ccb
File 148311391473.png - (243.05KB , 1600x1200 , the library.png )

The library is covered with ashes, and there is rubble and marks of the fire everywhere, but the building seems steady and it doesn't seem it suffered a lot of damage...

“I need to give the book back, so do you want us to stick together or do you want to look around for something that may help you?”

I’m already seeing one thing that is suspicious… I don’t remember this library pretty much leaking with magical essence, or it being all over the place… Two of different origins to be exact, although the second one is pretty small and almost unnoticeable…

Stay close to Thalia. There may be some danger at the end of this magic trail, and keeping her safe is more important than finding out what it is.

The mages put out the fire with ice magic or something, that's what the blue stuff is, I think. The red stuff is the tracks of the other doll since it used fire magic to start the fire. Follow the red tracks.

Tell about the magic you see. There are blue squiggles all over the place, and a trail of red dots.

>>769125
I agree with this logic. The blue was most likely some ice / cold / water effect used to put out the fire, which implies the arbiters use magic. (Does Thalia thinks that makes sense? Are they known to be magic users by the public).

If the red dots were left by the other familiar, we might find the point of ignition, or what he took.

>stick together?
I'd say there's nothing wrong playing junior investigator, and the state of the place gives her a pretty good excuse for not getting the book immediately where it needs to go.

Claudio 2017/01/03(Tue)17:34 No. 770317 ID: 52b301
File 148349368503.png - (241.06KB , 1600x1200 , taking a closer look.png )

>>769178
>>769119
>Stay close to Thalia.
>I'd say there's nothing wrong playing junior investigator
“I think we should stay together for now. But don’t you feel curiosity about what happened here?”

“Yes but… after taking a closer look, this place scares me a bit… Also I don’t really want to worry father…”

“Don't worry, if something happens, I will be there to help you, now let's see what we find”

I don’t know how much I would be able to protect her from someone who’s magic could be more powerful than mine…

>>769125
…The arbiter didn’t try to stop the fire; he simply left after taking a look… It would have been impossible for him to use any magic of any sort… That would only leave the soldiers and the people that came in here…

As for the red dots, yes they can only be the tracks of that other familiar… But the question here is why they exist? The Fire wasn’t started by magic...

“… Did you find something suspicious…?”

>Tell about the magic you see. There are blue squiggles all over the place, and a trail of red dots.
“There is magical essence in this place… A lot of it…”

“You mean… There is magic here?!”

“Yes, and it’s all over the place too…”

“But you said that the fire was natural, not magical…”

“It was… I don’t know where all this came from, it wasn’t there the last time I saw the library… Are there any public mages or anything of the sort?"

“As far as I know, there aren’t any public mages… Magic is entirely forbidden and everyone who uses it is supposed to be chased by the arbiters...”

Claudio 2017/01/03(Tue)17:37 No. 770318 ID: 52b301
File 148349385828.png - (572.02KB , 1600x1200 , The left room.png )

>Follow the red tracks.
In the way they look, it’s kind of hard to tell which way they go… I think they may be going to the left room, but I’m not sure…

“Let’s go to the left room… There is a magical essence of different origin that may lead there, and although it’s minimal, I think it may belong to the other familiar…”

“… Alright, here we go…”

This room is somewhat large, and it was also affected by the fire… it’s still mostly covered by ashes… There seems to be rest of what appeared to have been bookcases, but also a lot of rubble that it’s almost impossible to tell what it was before the fire…

“… Nothing here looks like what it used to be…”

There is a lit candle next to the door that leads to the other room next to this one, to the right… laugher from two humans can be heard coming from there, and it looks like that room is well lit, although the door is half closed and they don’t seem to have noticed us…

“That door leads to the Study… It looks like the owner is there, but I don't recognize the other voice, it may be the other guard…”

“…There is a lot of magical essence here too… Maybe even more than at the entrance… Does any this make any sense to you in some way?”

“No… it doesn’t… but if you say that there is magic around here, and that it wasn’t here during the fire… Then it must have come after everyone started putting out the fire… But it couldn’t have been a mage, there were many guards around, they would have noticed and they would probably arrest him…”

The tracks of the other familiar “end” on a bit larger pool of magical essence of the same origin… I think that’s the place where that familiar casted whichever spell that made it leave tracks in the first place… although I wonder why it did that… anyway; I think it is safe to assume that the tracks start there.

>>770318
Tell Thalia to go ahead and return the book to the owner. And if that other voice belongs to the guard's partner, tell Thalia to go ahead and pass along the message of "It's your turn to guard the door."

After that we should go ahead and leave. I don't want to endanger Thalia anymore than necessary.

Do all damaged objects seem to be in their current state because of the fire?
If not those could be blind attacks aimed at a familiar capable of cast invisibility spells, making the smaller magical track.
If so those could indicate the presence of a magic user in the library attempting to contain the fire before your call for help. In that case the familiar may have created that trail before or after.

>“As far as I know, there aren’t any public mages… Magic is entirely forbidden and everyone who uses it is supposed to be chased by the arbiters...”
>Then it must have come after everyone started putting out the fire… But it couldn’t have been a mage, there were many guards around, they would have noticed and they would probably arrest him…
Maybe you were looking at this wrong before. Maybe magic is against the law because the people in charge are trying to maintain a monopoly on it. The arbiters have magic in secret, and they don't want rivals.

Might explain how there was someone here using magic after the fire when no mage should have been able to get past the forces of the law safely.

>I think that’s the place where that familiar casted whichever spell that made it leave tracks in the first place… although I wonder why it did that… anyway; I think it is safe to assume that the tracks start there.
Maybe the tracks are like a fuse? He needed to leave them so he could start the fire at a distance?

Or maybe the tracks are a side effect or cost to the spell he actually wanted to cast.

Maybe ask Thalia if she knows what was kept right here before the fire. If this is where the fire started, this might be where whatever was taken used to be stored.

Claudio 2017/01/13(Fri)07:18 No. 772092 ID: d9ceb7
File 148432071689.png - (234.80KB , 1600x1200 , the pool.png )

“leave me here for a moment, I want to take a closer look.”

>>770341
>Do all damaged objects seem to be in their current state because of the fire?
Well, most of the damage is due to the fire, but there is some damage that was probably done while everyone was fighting the fire, probably to stop the its spread. I don’t know if it counts as damage, but some of the wood that survived the fire is still wet from all the water that the people brought from the river.

>those could be blind attacks
I don’t think so… Even if someone could do something like invisibility, which is hard to do, it would only work for those who don’t know much about magic it the first place, you would leave tracks like these ones everywhere you go.

>>770400
>Maybe magic is against the law because the people in charge are trying to maintain a monopoly on it.
…

“… Do you think that maybe the arbiters are trying to keep a monopoly over magic?”

“What’s… a “monopoly”?”

“Ok… To say it in a different way, I think the arbiters could be trying to keep all the magic to themselves, although I don’t know for what purpose.”

“Y-you think so? …Do you have proof?”

“Umm... It’s mostly just a hunch… but They are the only ones so far that seem to know how magic works."

“… I know they are probably hostile towards you, and that they seem to be handling magic in the wrong way, but I would find it hard to believe that they would be doing something like that without anyone noticing or trying to stop them. I don’t think we should jump to conclusions just yet…”

... I guess she could be right. I still have a bad feeling about what are the arbiters' intentions though…

Anyway, one way that this magical essence could have arrived here, is if one of the guards had been a mage, then the others could have ignored him while he was using magic… Yet, there were a lot of people fighting the fire too, and someone would have seen it… Right? I think that would have raised a lot of suspicion.

Claudio 2017/01/13(Fri)07:19 No. 772093 ID: d9ceb7
File 148432077076.png - (314.37KB , 1600x1200 , doorstudy.png )

>Maybe ask Thalia if she knows what was kept right here before the fire.
“In this room the owner used to display a book he was proud of having… It was secure on a display in the center of this room… the only thing that’s left of that display seems to be that wooden pillar… “

“Why was that book special?”

“I don’t really know… I think it had something to do with history, knowing the owner, it was probably an old handwritten book that has already been copied, but he managed to keep the original… It was probably from a renowned author of some sort, but I never asked him if I could read it.”

That Book does sound very valuable… The book the other familiar was carrying was old and had some magical presence on it… If those two books are the same, then it is safe to say that the book here had magic on it, and the other familiar managed to get it without the book being damaged by the fire…

>Maybe the tracks are like a fuse? He needed to leave them so he could start the fire at a distance?
That’s highly unlikely… it would have left a long line of magical essence and continuous, not dots that are isolated of each other… for not saying that I wouldn’t know what purpose the familiar would have to do something like that…

>Or maybe the tracks are a side effect or cost to the spell he actually wanted to cast.
That’s what I guess it would have been… That familiar casted a spell on its own body probably… and with that they left trails… Perhaps that spell was to keep the book safe from the fire…? Although that would mean the familiar didn’t anticipated the fire…

Claudio 2017/01/13(Fri)07:21 No. 772094 ID: d9ceb7
File 148432091020.png - (279.25KB , 1600x1200 , the study.png )

>>770331
>Tell Thalia to go ahead and return the book to the owner. And if that other voice belongs to the guard's partner, tell Thalia to go ahead and pass along the message of "It's your turn to guard the door."
We move towards the next room, the laughing only becomes louder as we approach… once Thalia opens the door, I see a guard and who I presume is the owner, sitting on a makeshift table...

“… And wait haha… It gets better... later we told another rookie that if he took a piss on the gunpowder, it would improve its quality, and he believed it!”

“Ah-hahahahahe…!”

“In- heh… in the end, the quartermaster was Very mad at us… the captain later punished everyone involved, but I think it was worth it… For all the rookies!”

“For all of them…!”

They are both drinking that strange liquid humans like to drink… although it seems the guard isn’t drinking that much… The owner in the other hand doesn’t seem to be in his right senses…

“Emm… Hello?”

“Oh, looks like we have a visitor.”

“Uhh… Oh, Hi Thailia…. What brought you here…?”

Thalia doesn’t seem to feel comfortable right now...

“Ah-I brought you back the book I borrowed…”

“Oh… ah…. Thanks dearie… You have always been so… punctual….”

He weakly reaches for the book but he starts to lose his balance, instead, Thalia simply leaves it on the table…

“… ah…huh... thanks…”

The owner falls again on his seat, still having some problems with his balance.

“… You are the other guard … right?”

“Well, you can call me that, yes. What is it?”

“Well… the guard on the entrance said it was your turn to watch the door…”

“Ah!... Sorry old man, duty calls. See you around.”

“Uhh… What did you said?

“I said that I have to go now! See you later.”

“Yes… goodbye…”

The guard gets up and grabs his stuff, and after giving a last farewell to Thalia and the owner, he leaves heading towards the entrance…

The owner just stays silent for a moment… I Think he may have drank too much… I wonder if he knows Thalia is still here… and Thalia seems to be a bit uncomfortable with this situation.

>After that we should go ahead and leave. I don't want to endanger Thalia anymore than necessary.
…Risking Thalia would be unneeded… but do we really have to go? Magical essence stays for a time, yet not forever; it takes around a day for it to disappear completely…

Author: I have decided to open a quest discussion thread of this quest. Link:http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/107705.html[/spoiler][/i]

Let's ask him questions. He is probable too drunk to notice Thalia talking to her doll, so just let her carry her and whisper.
Is he feeling alright? What happened with the old book from the pedestal? What he think started the fire? Do the arbiters believe a mage was involved? Let's see how much information we can get from an inebriated broken man.

>I don’t think we should jump to conclusions just yet…
No, we're not there yet. This is just a hypothesis suggested by one interpretation of the evidence we're seeing at the scene. (That someone used magic to put the fire out). We don't have hard proof that we're reading the evidence right, or that the suggestion implied is valid, yet.

>Perhaps that spell was to keep the book safe from the fire…? Although that would mean the familiar didn’t anticipated the fire…
If the book were valuable enough, it could have had a fail-deadly anti-theft mechanism of some kind. (So it reacted to attempted theft by igniting). In which case, the magic attempt to put out the fire might have been the familiar's (protect the book, try to put the fire out before it draws attention).

Of course, if a book is dangerous enough that someone would willing set a trap to burn down the library they're storing it to prevent theft, that's... pretty concerning.

>The owner just stays silent for a moment… I Think he may have drank too much… I wonder if he knows Thalia is still here… and Thalia seems to be a bit uncomfortable with this situation.
If he's drunk, that might mean he doesn't have his wits around him. Thalia might be able to ask a question or two and get more of an answer out of him than he might give otherwise. (Like, if she asked him about his book, he might let slip why it was valuable, or what it's for). You don't have long before the other guard gets back.

Claudio 2017/01/23(Mon)10:44 No. 774196 ID: 39688a
File 148519706709.png - (199.49KB , 1600x1200 , behind her head.png )

>>772095
>He is probable too drunk to notice Thalia talking to her doll
Yes, if I just whisper, I do not think he will notice me. I try to signal Thalia to get me closer to her, and she puts me on her back ... Her hair annoys me a bit, but otherwise, it's perfect.

>>772096
>Let's ask him questions.
>Thalia might be able to ask a question or two and get more of an answer out of him than he might give otherwise.
“Thalia… I think we could ask him some questions before the other guard arrives… do you think you can do that?”

“I… I guess…? What do you have in mind?”

>Is he feeling alright?
“emmm… are you feeling alright?”

“Huh…? Oh hi Thaila…. Yes… I am feeling well hehehe… I’m perfectly… huh… fine…”

>What he think started the fire?
“… What do you think it started the fire?”

“…”

Claudio 2017/01/23(Mon)10:48 No. 774198 ID: 39688a
File 148519728475.png - (107.08KB , 1600x1200 , sadness.png )

Uh oh… He doesn’t seem alright…

“… I don’t know...”

Is he… Crying…?

“When I left… I made sure that every candle wasn’t lit… and… and no one saw anybody trying to set the place on fire… nor entering the library… yet… when I came back… everything was like this…! I don’t know what happened, nor the guards do… and the Arbiter wouldn’t even talk to me!”

… Alright… Thalia seems to be even more uncomfortable right now…

>What happened with the old book from the pedestal? -
>if she asked him about his book, he might let slip why it was valuable… -
“… and Thalia…”

>You don't have long before the other guard gets back.
“…someone is coming…”

…

“Hello again, and I thank you, as I expected my partner forgot the time.”

The guard appears behind us. I’m back at being just a doll…

“… You are welcome.”

“*Bluuuagh! ...”

… Well, the owner seems calm right now... although I can tell he was crying moments ago…

“Um… Sorry for that…”

“Girl, it’s getting late already, shouldn’t you be going home now?”

“Well… yes, but…”

“She lives close by; I don’t think there’s hurry.”

“…If you want me to escort you to your home, just ask.”

“Thanks, I wanted to know… Did the book that was on the display survived?”

“… I don’t really know the details, but most of the things that could be saved from the fire were taken to the guard’s storeroom to keep them safe, they will be brought back by tomorrow.”

“Well, I hope it survived… Sir, can you tell me more about that book? It seemed really old…”

“Oh, I would like to talk about it too… Now listen closely, girl:”

The owner suddenly seems to be eager…

“… Really…? Right now…?”

The guard, on the other hand…

Claudio 2017/01/23(Mon)10:51 No. 774199 ID: 39688a
File 148519747494.png - (49.48KB , 1600x1200 , The old book.png )

“It‘s a very old book, you know? According to my father and grandfather, it has been passed down my family for generations. They say it was one of our ancestors who wrote it, but I’m not sure about that because the author didn’t put his signature anywhere, for all I know, it could have been a writer from the times when my family was of the nobility!”

Thalia seems amazed by this; although she still seems to be uneasy… the owner has lost himself in his story. The guard doesn’t seem to be listening.

“It was written in a very old language too… I couldn’t even read it when my father showed it to me… In fact, I never tried to read it, I was always more worried with trying to learn and add more books to the library… My father was the one who built this library, and I inherited it, and with it, the book… I got the feeling my father cherished it, even more than I do, really. He even locked it on the display you saw, and then gave me it’s only key. I never opened it since then…”

“I don’t remember much about the book tough… My father used to tell me that it was about… science and theories of times long passed… Probably like an encyclopedia? I hope it survived… It would be sad if it didn’t, but at least most of its information would probably be obsolete or inaccurate… Yet at the same time it could be helpful for those who wanted to study our history. I also think It probably is worth a ton of money too, as an antiquity”

… Well, we may have found the nature of the book… If it wasn’t by the fact that the book may had some magical essence on it, perhaps I wouldn’t be worried… But suddenly I got the feeling there may be something else hidden within those writings…

Claudio 2017/01/23(Mon)10:53 No. 774200 ID: 39688a
File 148519761862.png - (126.11KB , 1600x1200 , Not sure about the Hair Though___.png )

“… Well, if it survived, it will probably be on the storeroom, But with all that we found, I have my doubts it did…”
“Well, I will be surprised if it didn’t. Those books are though, even if they are old... Oh, here, drink a bit; it’s the least I can do for you keeping me company”

“… I really shouldn’t… But, hells, since you are offering, I will take one I guess…”

The guard sits on that makeshift table, and gets the jar that the other guard was using… Meanwhile, Thalia went back onto the room we where before… I don’t think anyone noticed that she left…

“… Menno… Did that information helped in some way?”

“It probably did. I think I may have found something out but I will need to think a bit more about this, but what about you? ... Are you alright Thalia..? You seem stressed, is there something troubling you…?”

“… It’s just… I didn't like to make him cry… He’s a friend and he really seems to be having a bad time… I never saw him drink that much…”

“… I see… I’m sorry… I didn’t expect him to cry…”

To be fair, I didn’t know that humans could cry without the need of pain or fear…

“… Is that all? You still seem uneasy”

“… Well, there’s something else but… it doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t be able to help me with them anyway…”

“What?”

“Don’t worry… I can hold on, Just tell me what to do, ok?”

…Thalia is putting up a brave face, but its obvious that she’s worried… Why is she pretending to be alright…?

Make it clear she can talk about whatever she want. If possible you will help.

Know, thinking about the magic in that room: if the red spots truly are footprints, what kind of magic would allow this familiar to walk on walls? Also, does it look like that window broken in what direction?
About the book: If his father used to tell him but he doesn't remember we can conclude the subject isn't outrageous or interesting for a common scholar. It's something that can be described as science, so it probable have something to do with the nature of some phenomenon and experiments related, but it also shouldn't contain any explicitly description of magical spells.

>>774200
I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable. I was just trying to find out what happened, I really didn't expect him to react that strongly.

I guess I don't have a lot of practice handling people.

>Just tell me what to do, ok?
I'm... not sure what else we can do at the moment. I doubt there's much to be found poking around in the rubble (certainly not worth risking getting her in trouble over), and it's probably not the smartest idea following those magic tracks to "Leo". They probably stop before catching up to where he is now, and we wouldn't want to be caught following his trail.

Claudio 2017/01/27(Fri)18:02 No. 775161 ID: dd5574
File 148556894160.png - (159.37KB , 1600x1200 , Slightly less worried.png )

>>774216
>if the red spots truly are footprints, what kind of magic would allow this familiar to walk on walls?
They shouldn’t be necessarily footprints… The familiar could have covered itself on the spell, and thus, everything they touched would leave a trail, with exception of the air, unless it was a very strong spell.

That said… in order to leave a trail in that way… Perhaps it could also have used some earth magic? Those stairs were mainly made of stone; perhaps it could have used that to make it so that its legs would "walk" on the wall… Another way would be that they just climbed, maybe using their claws, although they should have been careful to not leave any sort of recognizable mark…

>Does it look like that window broken in what direction?
Between the ruble and destruction, and the fact that it’s getting darker, it’s nearly impossible to tell… I would bet these windows were broken towards the outside of the building. At least, I’m not seeing any glass on the inside…

>It's something that can be described as science, so it probable have something to do with the nature of some phenomenon and experiments related.
…Perhaps… But magic on its own is a part of nature, and a science, or at least my former master used to say that, although… his methods... would make you think he did it for fun…

>But it also shouldn't contain any explicitly description of magical spells.
I guess… I suppose the arbiters wouldn’t just leave something like that unchecked, right? Although there is the possibility that the magic on the book was to hid its true nature…

>>774276
>it's probably not the smartest idea following those magic tracks to "Leo". They probably stop before catching up to where he is now
When I met them on top of the Tavern, it had already taken off whichever spell they used, so yes, I think those tracks wouldn't give us many clues outside the library...

>we wouldn't want to be caught following his trail.
Yes… I guess doing that would look suspicious even to those who can’t see the trail... but only if they see us.

>I doubt there's much to be found poking around in the rubble

And searching randomly would probably be a waste of time…

Claudio 2017/01/27(Fri)18:08 No. 775163 ID: dd5574
File 148556932185.png - (79.99KB , 1600x1200 , hold onto something.png )

>I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable.
“It's ok, I'm surprised to see him like that too... and the smell of alcohol doesn't help much..."

>I guess I don't have a lot of practice handling people.
Well… The best experience I had so far on that regard was when I met Thalia, and that’s not a lot of time ago… So far, Humans seem to act in random ways.

>Make it clear she can talk about whatever she want. If possible you will help.
“... I appreciate it but…”

She suddenly stays silent… It’s almost annoying…

“... But…?”

“… Sorry… I was about to say that… I don’t think you could help… you can’t see them… Don’t worry, alright? It’s not the first time, I can hold on, just tell me what to do… I need to distract myself…”

Ok… I’m not seeing any sort of movement nor there seems to be magic involved… That means that whatever those things are, only she can see them… this is worrisome in some way…

“Ok, Hold me.”

“…W-What?”

“Just focus on me, alright? That’s what you would do with Serra, right?”

“…Y-Yes… But..."

She holds me in front of her, she's still trying to keep a straight face, but her eyes seem to be somewhat erratic. Hmm… how should I deal with this…? It would be easier if I could know what she's dealing with… I know something that may, or may not, help with that but… well… it’s painful and intrusive… If possible, I would like to avoid using it on her…

Looking at you may be difficult to remember you are alive. Talk to her. Ask if she fear what she see.

I know it seem she have intense hallucinations, but remember, you can see things most people cannot, it's entirely possible that there are invisible realities to be perceive that you are unaware of. Don't offer to replicate one of your old master's cruel experiments if you are not sure it will solve her particular problem.
If and when she decide to tell you about what she sees in what conditions we can speculate about her problem and the possible solutions. Until then the best you can do is make it clear to her this isn't a taboo subject and you won't judge.

Oh she's not upset about what happened? That's a relief. She's being harassed by things no one else can see? Less so.

>what do
Don't leave your hands handing uselessly at your side. Pick them up and hold her hands back as a gesture of emotional support.

Do you want to try and talk about what's happening to me? An outlet might help. Or would you prefer it if I tried to distract you, give you something else to think about?

>I know something that may, or may not, help with that but… well… it’s painful and intrusive… If possible, I would like to avoid using it on her…
What are you thinking of? Could you explain it in more detail to us?

And if it's painful and intrusive, you should absolutely discuss it with Thalia before even considering using it on her. And preferably, when she's not in the middle of an episode, so she can consider it objectively instead of desperately agreeing to something that might offer relief.

>>775163
>Ok… I’m not seeing any sort of movement nor there seems to be magic involved… That means that whatever those things are, only she can see them… this is worrisome in some way…
She's suffering through hallucinations. Remember, she thought you were one also, until you touched her and proved that you're real.

Claudio 2017/02/01(Wed)17:52 No. 776425 ID: e3bf42
File 148600037745.png - (81.09KB , 1600x1200 , moral support.png )

Author: Just noticed I forgot to put the darkness on the previous image, sorry.

>>775490
>Don't leave your hands handing uselessly at your side. Pick them up and hold her hands back as a gesture of emotional support.
Right, that may help a bit… I think…

>>775491
>until you touched her and proved that you're real.
…

“…Remember, I’m here, if you manage to think on something I could do to help, just say it…”

She nods…

>>775178
> Talk to her. Ask if she fear what she see.
“… No… It’s just… They talk… and say things… but... they aren't nice... ”

>What are you thinking of?
I don’t really know all the details; but I know there is magic involved… I saw my former master doing it… all the times… And I had to do it once, when he had more than one "guest"… To put it in a simple way, by doing this, I would be able to know what she’s feeling without causing any sort of damage to me … I thought that maybe, it would help me to see her hallucinations if I tweaked this method a little bit … But it will be intrusive, as I will need to get to one of her nerves, and it will be painful, because not only it would hurt her when I get to the nerve, but the process could also cause involuntary contractions, at best…

My former master used it to learn the best ways to torture each of his victims…

>you should absolutely discuss it with Thalia before even considering using it on her
It would only be fair that way, but as I said… If possible, I would like to avoid using that on her… Should I really mention it later? That could also lead to a lot of questions of which I don’t know if she will take kindly the answers…

>Don't offer to replicate one of your old master's cruel experiments
… I… Didn’t intend to… But it was an option…

Claudio 2017/02/01(Wed)17:53 No. 776426 ID: e3bf42
File 148600042876.png - (106.91KB , 1600x1200 , Help me.png )

>Until then the best you can do is make it clear to her this isn't a taboo subject and you won't judge.

“… But… You can’t see them…”

“Yes, in the same way you can’t see the magical essence that I was always pointing out in this place, yet you trusted in me.”

“… But… they aren’t re… al…”

“… Perhaps, but still, when you say they hurt you, I believe you, even if I can’t see them, and even if they aren’t real. I believe you in the same way you believe in what I said.”

“… Thank you…”

She suddenly takes me closer and traps me with her arms so tightly that I almost feel my insides trying to escape, and I have to be careful with the needles that are stored inside my body in order to not hurt her accidentally…

“… Sorry…”

She’s not letting go though… and being like this makes it hard to see her face…

>Do you want to try and talk about what's happening to me? An outlet might help. Or would you prefer it if I tried to distract you, give you something else to think about?
“… Just give me something else to think… that should help… I hope… shut up.”

Alright… something that could distract her...

“Thalia… I think we should head back to your home too, it's getting dark, and I don’t think we will find much else"

Not to mention that I don’t think she should be here during one of her “episodes”…

“… I don’t think… we should… I don’t want my caretakers to see me like this… Even if they get angry at me…”

>nerve technique
So you link yourself to someone, so you can see what they see? Potentially useful, but yeah that would hurt.

Reiterate there's absolutely no way you do that to someone unless you've discussed it and she's agreed to it.

>If possible, I would like to avoid using that on her… Should I really mention it later? That could also lead to a lot of questions of which I don’t know if she will take kindly the answers
You could wait till you trust each other more before you breach the subject of darker magics.

Should you? I dunno, it depends on if you really think this could help her.

Ideally we should return home, but if she adamantly against facing her caretaker we can go somewhere else. Lingering in a crime scene under unknown magical influence can be dangerous and raise uncomfortable questions.

Claudio 2017/02/16(Thu)08:29 No. 780026 ID: 786d7d
File 148726256048.png - (140.94KB , 1600x1200 , waiting___.png )

>>776432
>Reiterate there's absolutely no way you do that to someone unless you've discussed it
If possible, I would like to avoid using it at all, but things change with time... I may have the need to use it later…

>Should you? I dunno, it depends on if you really think this could help her.
As I said, I probably would have needed to do some changes and tweaks to the procedure in order to be able to see what she sees, and that would take time. It was a bad idea, but still, a possibility…

>>776439
> If she adamantly against facing her caretaker we can go somewhere else
“I don’t think we may find much else here, at least not now, if there is anywhere you would like to go, we can go there. At least until you get better.”

“A- All right… I wanted to leave this place…”
We go outside; she almost doesn’t notice the guard on the door until he greets her. At first, we head towards her home but then, she stops and goes a bit to the right, and finds somewhere to sit on the side of the building, and she starts looking at the sky…

“… They will leave… eventually… I hope … “

“Well… you asked me to try to distract you so… What do you think happened on the library?”

“Huh? I don’t really know… It’s confusing... I believe you would know better than I…”

“We have gathered some information so far, yet I still don’t know how it all happened… Since you know more about this place than I do, you may be able to come up with something that I didn’t notice, just listen and then tell me if you find something curious…”

I explain her about everything I have gathered so far, including the magical essence on the room in which the owner was...

“So, what you think?”

“…There is something that is bothering me… Why the familiar went first towards the other side of the library… and then he went back to the Study when he could just have gone there in the first place?"

“Perhaps its escape route was blocked by the fire?”

“But couldn’t it easily just pass the fire with its supposed fire protection? And there are many windows in that area of the library… the Fire couldn’t have blocked them all.”

“… That’s a good point… You may have given me something useful here, thanks.”

Why would it do that? I don’t know much of protection spells, but I know they would make you nearly invulnerable to said element… so in short, it could have escaped from there, but it didn’t…

I don’t know how much time passes now; I learned that once you forget that time is important it goes away rather fast, Thalia seems calmer, but I can tell “they” are still there…

“… Are you alright?”

She remains silent for a moment…

“…Yes… don’t worry… stop... laughing… ”