>>2894319
Steel meets steel as swords clash. The space in the crowd widens as the duel demands more space and more and more passing people stop to watch. This is nothing new to any of them. To the citizens of Aquitae Cogituum, duels are a consistent and free form of street entertainment.

Not that the crowd could hope to inconvenience the duellists even if they wanted to. Their fight was sanctioned and seen by the arcane laws of the city itself and so both of them passed through errant citizenry and architecture as if they weren’t there at all. In the city where magic is law, law defines reality and the right to trial by combat is one of the oldest laws there is.

Of course, you don’t have the time to think about all that nonsense right now. In fact you’re not even really in the scene we just described at all. You’re aWake. And the only thought on your mind, though it’s one you can never speak aloud, is that you’re a big dumb idiot and that everything that led you here was just a series of awful mistakes.

You’re giving up ground to every exchange with feet skidding hopelessly over the water’s surface. Head reeling, you look down to see your reflection staring up at you in horror.

How did you even get in this mess?

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>>2894323
Let’s think backwards for a moment and risk the journey into memory.

….

It had began with a dawn. This was hardly a surprise. What city is more blessed by the sun? Aquitae Cogituum is every shade of sunrise and sunset, a cluster of ochres and neon. The dawnlight spreads across the water, staining it with reflections of bright blue and pink and embraces the city. And in a much more relevant sense, it shines through an open window and across an unsheathed sabre sitting atop a table. And there upon the edge the shaft of light stops, bisected.

And already once again, you are not here. You should be. It’s your bedroom. It’s your sword. But the life of a professional duellist can be a demanding one and one of those demands is often rising well before the dawn! You’re already out the door, down the stairs and out the building, jogging down the canal outside.

It’s an excellent dawn and the cold of night is already lifting or at least, lifting as best it can for a city with foundations of water. You’re making a good pace, your reflection on the water below almost keeping pace with you. This early the canal-street is fairly empty and so there’s not enough footsteps to ripple the surface of the water into incomprehensibility. It is a near-perfect mirror of the sky and you.

You pause to take a breath at the D’Amare, the fountain at the corner just past your small apartment. Out of the city’s reputed ten hundred thousand fountains, it is one of the smallest and clumsiest looking. A stained and mossy statue of a dove overlooks the disreputable affair as if it was grieving for what its sculptor had done to it. They say that if you drop a coin into it every day you’ll be guaranteed to find true love. After over sixty coins you’re pretty sure that’s a lie but who can say? Maybe it works in subtle ways.
You drop the sixty-first coin in and watch it sink into the murky depths. Someday…

When you turn back to look out at the canal you’re standing on, you catch your reflection still looking at the fountain. It moves to match you only a moment later, a slight and striking young woman with her dull red hair tied up in a messy ponytail. You’ve been jogging this loop for a fair while now, waiting for the dawn, so you’ve gotten relatively sweaty and frazzled looking. But of course, if you ever asked anyone they’ll only ever tell you were the most beautiful and darling girl in all the world.
Living with a curse can be hard sometimes.

1/2

>>2894328
But as quiet as the streets and the canal might be compared to midday, it was far from empty. You spot the first few vendors setting up their stalls on the edge of the water and jog over, leaving a trail of ripples. This is a fine enough neighborhood, though a far cry one from the one you’ve been used to. The streets and the water are clean and the buildings are colourful, covered in complex murals of trees and brightly coloured birds. Some of the painted birds take flight as you pass them.

It’s another bright and beautiful day but this one has a special meaning to you. It’s your first day as a properly licensed duellist. You’d just been informed yesterday after all, that the City had accepted your request to be on retainer. You’re now officially a professional defender, a subset of duellists on retainer to the City itself to act as representatives and seconds to those challenged to a trial by combat but lack the means to employ a pro. It’s not the most glamorous job and it’s certainly not what people think of when they think of duellists these days but you have your reasons…

What’s important is that you are now technically on call and an assignment could come at any time. You’re not allowed to turn them down either so you could say it requires a flexible schedule. You keep stealing glances at nearby fountains as you pass them, growing paranoid of any approaching summons. Will you really be called up on your first day? Does the City- no, the people have need of you?

In all honesty? Probably not. After five minutes of what could be charitably called a staring match against architecture, you decide to relax a little. It’s just another day. But what should you do first?


>Return to your room and train.

>Patronize the market stalls. You’ve got money to burn!

>Return to your room but don’t train. When was the last time you just relaxed and had fun? You’ve been wound real tight these last few days.

>Go get your coin purse and then return to D’Amare. Today is the day you crack this shitty romance fountain by brute force.

>>2894339
>Go get your coin purse and then return to D’Amare. Today is the day you crack this shitty romance fountain by brute force.

>Patronize the market stalls. You’ve got money to burn!

I'm glad you're back Ouro

>>2894339
>Train
It's our moneymaker

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OuroQM
Ask: https://ask.fm/OuroQM

Also, props to Cegremo for doing a bunch of drawing stuff for this!

>>2894339
>>Go get your coin purse and then return to D’Amare. Today is the day you crack this shitty romance fountain by brute force.

>>2894363
this

>>2894339
>Return to your room but don’t train. When was the last time you just relaxed and had fun? You’ve been wound real tight these last few days.

>>2894339
>Return to your room and train.

>>2894339
>Return to your room but don’t train. When was the last time you just relaxed and had fun? You’ve been wound real tight these last few days.

Vote called, writing.

>Return to your room and train.

No, there’s no excuse for slacking off! This little morning jog is all well and good but it’s not proper exercise until every single muscle in your body is burning. Let’s see...you can just head back to your room and once you’re there, you can start with tossing your weighted ball at the wall repeatedly to practice your arm thrusts. You’re pretty sure that the other people sharing the building with you hate it but they can’t exactly complain about it. You could do it in their bedroom if you wanted to and they still wouldn’t.
But you’re a nice person. You won’t do that a second time.

Your home is a small townhouse right near the corner and like the rest of the street, heavily adorned with a very specific sort of mural. Painted birds soar from every corner of every wall, dodging and ducking past two-dimensional branches. Well, most of them did. Some lout dinged the wall hard enough to chip off one of the bird’s faces about a month ago and ever since then, one of the painted birds on the mural has just spasmed incoherently like a faceless feathered slug around the wall’s base. It was a little unsettling at first but you’ve gotten well and truly used to it by this point.

And it is while you are admiring your building’s unique charm point that you are cornered by your greatest foe.

“Sofia!”

You turn and scramble towards the safety of the townhouse but it is too late. Far too late. A cloaked woman almost as wide as she is tall cuts you off, her braids swinging to and fro as she advances upon you. You frantically reach for your sword but it’s no use, you left it back in your room! You can’t defend yourself!
The woman flips open her cloak, revealing a dazzling display of tiny idols carven from stone, wood, bone and metal. This is how she always begins her assault!
“Sofia! Lawdy me, you’re too fast for an old woman like me. How have you been?”
And then without waiting for an answer, she comes in for the kill.
“Fancy one of my wares? I’ve got some new ones, special made.”

Damn it. You have fought this woman every other day since you moved here and you have always lost. It is your greatest shame as a duellist.
“Hello Greta,” you say, already assigned to your fate of purchasing one of her cut-price deities. “I’ll admit that the last one I bought has lost its shine. But you said that it was a great war god and good for at least three days. I’ve been praying to twice a day and he’s already gone bad!”

“But did you lose any wars since I sold him to you?”

“...No, I guess not.”

“Well if he’s lost his shine, that’s just how it is. Gods don’t last. So you’ll be looking to buy a new one to replace him?”
She gestures once more with her cloak full of fetishes.

You sigh, knowing yourself defeated before the battle ever even began.
“Sure. So I’ve just gotten my license, I got told yesterday.”

“Oh, wonderful!”

1/2

>>2894527
“It is! Do you have any small gods that could help me with duelling? I think I misunderstood what the war god was about.”

“I have a few I think might be relevant. Look at this one!”
A figure carved of bone. It appears more monkey than man.
“Shibleth. I named him just this morning. He is a determination spirit and a god of great warriors. Strong but untested.”
Something you could swear is just a silver spoon.
“Or maybe Sofiana? She is a goddess of insight and clear vision. Nobody will take you by surprise while she protects you.”

“Oh, it’s even named just like me!,” you say weakly. You’ve begun to suspect that she is directly targeting you with some of these gods. But despite your best efforts, your eyes are drawn to something ugly lurking near the bottom of her coat. It is jet black coal, a tiny figurine shaped like a demented little baby.
“What is that?”

“Oh that? That’s Nou, don’t worry about him. He’s second-hand so he’s only got a day or so of worship left in him. I was also told that he might be cursed in the way some gods are. Now about Sofian-”

“You know, I’m cursed myself,” you interrupt her. “Maybe they’ll cancel out?”

It takes her less than a second to reorient herself from Nou being a regrettable stain on her inventory to Nou being the prize of her collection. You can see the gears turn.
“Oh yes oh yes, could be, could very well be. And I suppose I can part with him for just a small amount of, miniscule really…”

You groan. You know how this ends. You are not getting out of this until you buy a new god to replace your old one.


>Shibleth

>Sofiana

>Nou

>>2894532
>Shibleth

>>2894532
>Sofiana
You dropped LL for this? It's already worse.

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>>2894532
>Sofiana

>>2894532
>Nou
or
>Sofiana
if not possible

>>2894540
Nothing's been dropped. This is just something for me to do while I recharge on Lamplighter.

Nou sounds fun, let's go with him.

>>2894532
>Sofiana

>>2894532
>Sofiana

>>2894532
>>Nou


Femc? Brave choice. He's hoping she's not Hiss or Bea.

>>2894532
>Nou

>Sofiana

“Whatever, I’ll take the lucky one. Sofiana. Can’t be worse than what you’ve already sold me.”

“A good choice. That’ll just be-”

“I know the price.”
Defeated, you exchange money for religion. You understand that’s it a bit different for people down below. Apparently there are people down there who spend their whole lives with just one god. It honestly boggles the mind and seems more than a little fascina but it somehow works for them.

You stare down at the little silver figurine in your hands.
“Is there anything special I need to do with him?”

“Just put it where you had the old one or wear it when you’re out. Congratulations on being blessed! Will I see you again?”

“Yes,” you say dejectedly, your bright mood thoroughly ruptured. “In a few days no doubt.”
You pin Sofiana to your coat and stand there for a moment as Greta bustles off, pondering the likelihood of this small god being literally named after you in a predatory marketing ploy to get you to buy it. But still, maybe that’s just a good omen! And if she grants insight…

A movement in your peripheral. Your reflection, having paused looking in a slightly different angle than you are, ducks wildly. You don’t have the time to follow that example, a sealed scroll-case hurtling out from the nearest fountain and smacking you across the back of the head.
You catch it by pure reflex before it can hit the water, unrolling it desperately. This can only mean one thing!

The fountains of the city are a common source of mysticism and rumour, each and every one of them having a property and a blessing ascribed to them. You know for a fact that some of them are vastly more effective than others. But beside that, they are conduits of the city’s water and a well to the City itself. It is through the fountains that civil servants are summoned.
And as of yesterday, that includes you!

The message is rather direct..

Sofia Pseudonym, you have been called upon to fulfill your side of the contract. Your assignment awaits you in four hours.
Following that is a name and an address you don’t recognise at all. Well, you guess this is it. You’ll have to admit, it’s not as dignified as you’d been imagining.

Is this really all it is? Your first duel just like that? You start to feel a little queasy. Well, at least you’ll still have time to train like you wanted to. But how close can you cut it on your first day?


>Train the full three hours. It’ll be fine if you show up on the dot.

>Cut your training short and show up early. You’ll have more time to talk!

>Actually, forget training. You should head over there right now. What if something happens to you that fucks with your schedule?

>Other (Specify)

>>2894532
>>Sofiana
Resist the mystery box

>>2894629
>Train for 2 hours then get ready and get there early after freshening up to look your best.

>>2894629
>>Cut your training short and show up early. You’ll have more time to talk!

>>2894637
>>2894629
I'll second this. Gotta look sharp. First impressions and all.

Apologies for the delay on these posts by the way. I'll try to speed things up a bit.

>>2894629
>Cut your training short and show up early. You’ll have more time to talk!
Preferably nothing that fatigues us

>>2894629
>>Cut your training short and show up early. You’ll have more time to talk!

Vote called, writing.

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>Cut your training short and show up early. You’ll have more time to talk!
>Train for 2 hours then get ready and get there early after freshening up to look your best.


There’ll be no shame in showing up early. These people are likely distraught and they need your help. Some twist of circumstance has prevented them from having a proper representative and lacking any better option, the City has sent you. And while that might sound insulting, that’s just a bad perspective. There’s no shame in being someone’s last hope.

There is, however, a lot of responsibility. And it’s going to be your official debut. You really can’t afford to screw this up.

So with that in mind, you’re going to have to keep your training light and short. You don’t immediately recognise the address but it shouldn’t be hard to find, you know the district. So provided you make the journey short, you’ll have time to freshen up and look your best and plenty of time to speak to your clients before your esteemed opposition arrives.
Your opposition....they won’t be a public retainer like you. Odds are, they’ll be a genuine pro of some kind. All you can hope for is that they won’t be very good.

By the time you leave your townhouse, you’re dressed in your proper duelling outfit. Significantly more ostentatious than your usual attire, your blue and gold cloak hangs heavy on your shoulders. It doesn’t just look good, mind you. It’s heavy enough that unrolling it and tossing it into someone’s face will have a good amount of heft behind it. You don’t imagine it’ll catch a sabre blade in any save the best circumstances but it’s better than not wearing a coat at all.
Beneath it, you wear a cream vest and a white lace cravat done up all nice with a black bow. Short trousers and stockings of course, for proper movement than any sort of fashion. And on the other end of the practicality spectrum, a bunched up ceinture around your waist acts as a vital splash of contrast.

But this is all just frippery. The only vital thing to take, your true badge of office, is your sabre. Having spent all morning up against the window, sharpening itself on the light of dawn and the morning breeze, it is as ready as it’ll ever be. And you suppose that applies to you as well.

The Somn district is only a short walk from your neighborhood and from there you join the morning crowds as the city truly begins to wake and the canals stretching between the city blocks bustle with all sorts of activity. More than a few times you have to hastily step aside to let a gondola pass, the little cargo boats sailing through the water that everyone else simply walks across.

>>2894835
By the time you find it, you have time to spare. It’s a dinky little coffee shop but one with a certain kind of cozy style to it, the kind that marks it as something more than any of the dozens of others you passed on your way here. The sign simply reads ‘Caffe’, confirming your suspicions. No name, a carefully cultivated rustic feel, in a district that isn’t wealthy but isn’t actually poor either...this is where rich kids go to slum. And you would know!

And since this was the address, you’d wager that your client is the owner. Perhaps business has been poor?

You step inside, the bell by the door ringing out as you immediately lock eyes with the man behind the counter. He’s a large dark-haired man, at least in his late thirties and with a bit of a paunch. But under that is muscle and hair. A lot of body hair. You could probably make a carpet from this man’s chest hair alone.

Not that you would!

Somewhat suspiciously, the shop is empty of customers. The seats are empty, the tables unlaid and the only other person is a small woman sweeping the floor. His wife? His daughter? Either way, she could not look less like him. She’s even shorter than you, barely five feet at most and in her delicate black dress, brings to mind a porcelain doll. She stares straight at the ground as you walk in.

“Good morning,” the man says. “But we’re not serving customers right no-”
He stops talking the moment he sees the scabbard by your side.
“Are you the duellist?”

You don’t know the reason or the nature of it all, but there’s an unbelievably tense air to these two. It’d make you feel awkward if you were the kind of person to feel awkward.


>”Yes. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.”

>"You don't sound too happy about it."

>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”

>”I’m sure as shit not carrying this thing around for show. What do you think?”

>”Yes. I don’t suppose you could serve ME, could you?”

>”Why are you closed? Is it that serious?”

>Other (Specify)

>>2894841
>>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”
Keep it professional. OR at least try to.

>>2894841
>>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”

>>2894841
>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”

>>2894841
>>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”

>>2894841
>>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”
Don’t worry, I’m here to help.”

>"You don't sound too happy about it."
Maybe we ought to adress that before getting into too much details

Vote called, writing.

>”Yes. Could you give me the details?”

There’s no point in being rude to them, though you certainly could. These people, whatever your opinion of their probably awful caffe, are depending on you. It’s for things like this that made you want to be a public defender. You lose nothing from just being professional here. Maybe they won’t even notice that you’ve never fought a single real duel!
“Yes I am. Could you give me the details?”

“You’re just here earlier than I expected.”

“I hope there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No, not at all. Please take a seat and we’ll talk.”
He rounds the corner and sits down at a table before you do, waving you towards the seat opposite him. The girl keeps sweeping but somehow contrives to be sweeping right next to the table the moment you sit down.
“Thank you for answering our call.”

“Oh it was nothing. Just doing my job.”
You also literally couldn’t refuse it.

“Now before we get to talking, could I ask a personal question?”

You’re not sure whether it would be more professional to deny or allow such a thing but when in doubt, you should probably err on the side of being nice.
“Sure.”

“I understand that a lot of people in your line of profession use their record to advertise their services. Of course you’re a public defender, you’re under no such obligation but….”

“But you’d feel more comfortable knowing my record before entrusting your case to me?”
You can understand the impulse though you question the usefulness of it. If they wanted to be picky, they shouldn’t have requested a public defender.

“Yes. I-”

You’re coming dangerously close to running up against your curse right now and you’d rather not wish that confusion on your own client so you decide to simply interrupt him.
“I am undefeated. I have never lost a single official duel. Now, could I confirm your name and hers too, if she’s involved?”

Meanwhile, the girl has given up all pretense of sweeping.

“My name is Lorenzo Rizzo. This is my daughter Leonarda and yes...she is involved.”
His voice grows grim.

“My name is Sofia. The surname’s not important. I think you’d best explain the issue.”
Letting your eyes roam, you notice a CLOSED sign on the door you’d just come through. You’d somehow missed it before, even when you were pushing open the door. A bad habit. You’re too used to places and people being open for you.

“It’s a clientele issue.”

You nod, not terribly surprised. Your instructor had left you many words of wisdom in the craft of being a duellist and chief among them had been ‘If it’s a business and a crime of honor, it’s always a customer’.

“Over the past few months, we’ve been patronised by a man named Paolo d’Rosarre.”

1/3

>>2895140
Now that takes you a little off-guard. You’ve never heard of this man yourself but you’ve certainly heard of his surname. Rosarre is one of the middling Houses of the city, higher than the merchant syndicates and lower-circle nobles but not quite one of the Electors. That’s a name with a lot of trouble behind it.
“I think I understand the issue but continue.”

“At first he was free with his coin and we were grateful but he began to take...liberties with Leonarda. At first he seemed to be trying to court her. I thought we were so lucky.”

“But that didn’t last?”
Of course it didn’t. Someone from a family like that is either married or is swarmed by possible fiances and political alliances. Whatever his intentions for Lorenzo’s daughter, he had never meant to follow through. But you can’t fault him for being ignorant and hopeful, you suppose.

“I...I don’t know what to say. I let a lot slide because of his money. Even after he and his friends started to drive away from the other customers-”

“How so?”
Considering the current circumstances, you have a suspicion. There’s a habit that young oafs like him are famous for, after all.

“He was...very particular about his honor. The moment anyone would gainsay him or do anything, he would read an implication in it and threaten rights of offense. And you know a lot of people can’t afford that.”

You’re not happy being right. Seems like this Paolo is a bit of a matador or a sword-bull. The kind of man who has more than enough wealth to hire a professional to represent him surrounded by people who’d have a lot more trouble. He wouldn’t follow through of course, not usually you’d bet, but just the threat is enough to make most people buckle.
The irony of course, being that the trials by combat was originally introduced to prevent things like this. Back when crimes of honor and personal redress between citizens was handled by the high courts, by the lawyers and magistrates and High Law, the binding functions of the city itself, the process had been slow and unwieldy and benefited only those who could afford to recompense the courts for their time. So early on in Aquitae’s history, a clause had been introduced into the constitution that defined the city, one dictating that ‘crimes of honor’ would be settled under Sword Law. A simple trial by combat, to first blood only, while the city watched and judged. Money wouldn’t matter.

But the clause also let people choose a champion. It had been intended for those too old or infirm to reasonably duel but the loophole in it had been seen and exploited from the very beginning. A caste of champions quickly arose, professional duellists who would hire themselves out to represent people under the champion loophole and because those duellists spent their whole lives honing their skill, it quickly became foolish to to be represented by anyone save a professional.
2/3

>>2895147
And of course, only those who could afford a professional benefitted. The system had moved, the wheel had turned, and everything had gone back to the way it was.

The only stopgap to this process were public defenders like you, the result of an additional law passed a few dozen years after Sword Law took hold. Duellists who earned a wage rather than a commission and were on retainer to the city itself, to fight for those unable to afford one. And you have to admit, your kind don’t have the best reputation.

“At first I let him do whatever he wanted,” Lorenzo continues. “It was bad for my other customers but if he wanted to pay what he was promising to pay and if he wanted to marry Leonarda, he could do whatever he wanted. I know, you don’t have to say anything. I was a fool.”

“And when did that change?”

“When I told Paolo that he was cruel,” Leonarda says, still standing by the table. “He didn’t take that well.”

“And after she came home that night with bruises all down her, I demanded that he marry her and make good on the money he promised,” her father says gruffly. “And he accused me of trying to slander him and stain his honor.”

“So what he was doing to everyone, under your watch. But this time you didn’t back down right?”

“Yes. And I can’t afford any professional, he’s driven away all my business. I let him do that because he kept promising to pay more and more but I haven’t seen a single coin. And now he’s accusing me of slander! What am I supposed to do?”

Well to be honest, this seems like a grave partially of his own making. But he doesn’t deserve this and his daughter certainly doesn’t. And who else is there to stand for them if not you?
“You don’t have to do anything. That’s my job now.”

Lorenzo slumps down, his head in his hands.
“That’s why I wanted to know your record. With his family, I know he’s hiring a real pro. Are you really undefeated?”

In all honesty, he’s probably not hiring anyone. A family like that would have duellists on retainer. Probably not the best time to point that out though.
Stopping shit like this is the whole reason your career exists. But can you really do it?


>"I meant what I said. Undefeated."

>"I've never lost a match. Never won one either. Never had one at all!"

>"You don't need to worry anymore. It's out of your hands."

>"Signore Rizzo, I promise that I will handle everything."

>Other (Specify)

>>2895157
>"I meant what I said. Undefeated."
It might be a front, but it might help to instill some confidence.

>>2895157
>"I meant what I said. Undefeated."

>>2895157
>>"I meant what I said. Undefeated."
>"You don't need to worry anymore. It's out of your hands."
Telling the entire truth won't change anything besides making him more anxious.

So, we've got a curse. Looks like we can't say or have said anything bad about us, at a guess?

>>2895157
>>"I meant what I said. Undefeated."
>"You don't need to worry anymore. It's out of your hands."

>>2895177
>>2895181
+1

Vote called, writing.

>"I meant what I said. Undefeated."
>"You don't need to worry anymore. It's out of your hands."

Truth has no inherent value, you know that better than most. What would either of you gain from telling him your real record? Nothing. Not to mention that speaking on it at length would be tricky due to the circumstances of your birth. You idly flick the silver spoon hanging from your coat for good luck and insight. From what you imagine your opponent to be, you’ll need all the religion you can get.

“I mean exactly what I said. Undefeated. You don’t need to worry anymore, it’s out of your hands. Let me do the worrying.”

“I know that. But what else am I supposed to do?”

“You can stand back and watch me win.”
You stop, your attention caught by something through the wide window looking out into the canal beyond. A large covered gondola is being slowly maneuvered to the side of the street outside.
“And I think you better get ready because I feel like the other party has finally decided to join us.”

“What? But he’s early too!”

There’s no good reason for the challenger to show up this early to the negotiation of terms. Was he hoping to undercut you? To arrive before you did and intimidate Lorenzo into submission? You unhook your scabbard from your belt and lay it out on the table beside you. Whatever arshole’s been paid to show up, you mean to show them that you mean business.
“It would probably be best if you let me do the talking here. Just standard procedure.”

“Leonarda! Go clean the kitchen and don’t come out!”

Flashing a hateful look at the door to the street outside, she vanishes into the room behind the counter. This leaves you and Lorenzo alone and not a moment too late, the door sweeping open hard enough that the CLOSED sign falls to the floor as a young man storms in.
He’s tall, about six foot and with the kind of classical young dandy prettyboy build and looks that you’ve seen on a dozen suitors in the past. His blonde hair is shoulder length, almost as long as yours and dressed in a loose silk tunic and unnecessarily tight black pantaloons. Is that a codpiece?

“Signore d’Rosarre, I assume?”
You try to subtly push your scabbard to a more prominent position on the table but it just makes a loud scraping sound. Honestly, you can see how he could be a bit of a rake. He certainly has the looks for it. It’s not really for you personally, you’ve seen and known too many arrogant twats just like him but for a commoner girl like Leonarda? He must have been like a dream come true.

“Yes. And wh-”

“I’m here to speak to your representative,” you interrupt him with clipped tones. “The clients will not be taking part in negotiations.”

1/2

>>2895321
You take a certain smug joy in watching him briefly gape. How often does anyone speak to him like that, you wonder? But some of your joy and truth be told, the majority of your smug, is purely in expectation of what must be coming next.

“And you are just an incredibly beautiful and intelligent young lady,” he replies before looking baffled.

“Thank you for noticing. Did you have any other kind words?”

“I meant that you look like a fantastic duellist.” He’s not the only one confused at this point. Lorenzo is staring. You very much doubt this is the Paolo he’s used to.

“I must warn you, signore, that attempting to woo your opponent’s representative is frowned upon.”

“Whatever,” he says stiffly. “Before this all starts, I want to see Lenny. Where is she?”

“Lenny? Oh. Leonarda. I get it.”

“I know she’s here. I want to see her! She’s my woman, no matter what father thinks.”
He sneers the word ‘father’ hard enough that you can practically feel it.
“It’s what she wants.”

Lorenzo’s fist clenches. Looks like this is going to be up to you.


>”Both clients will be silent.”

>”Where is your representative?”

>”You want to see her? She doesn’t want to see you.”

>”If she is I can’t imagine she’d approve of you so brazenly flirting with me.”

>”Just leave the room, Lorenzo. Everything will be fine. You don’t have to be here.”

>Other (Specify)

>>2895329
>”If she is I can’t imagine she’d approve of you so brazenly flirting with me.”
regardless
>”Both clients will be silent.”
>”Where is your representative?”

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>>2895329
>“I know she’s here. I want to see her! She’s my woman, no matter what father thinks.”

That should be 'her father' not just 'father'. Whooops.

>>2895329
Backing >>2895338

>>2895345
Honestly, I thought it was intentionally him being a pompous presumptuous ass.

>>2895329
>>”Both clients will be silent.”
>>”Where is your representative?”
Professional, and we don't give him an inch.

>>2895329
>”Where is your representative?”

>>2895358
This

>>2895329
>>”Where is your representative?

Vote called, writing.

>”Both clients will be silent.”
>”Where is your representative?”

You’ll admit, you’re a little out of your element here. When you signed up to be a duellist you had mostly been thinking about the swordfighting, not the actual ‘Law’ part of Sword Law. But even you can see that it’d be a very good idea to remind Lorenzo to keep his mouth shut lest he incur further challenges. And as for Paolo, you have no idea what he thinks he’s doing anyway. You don’t care how many d’s he has preceeding his surname, this isn’t his place!

“Both clients will be silent.”
You don’t bother being polite about it. You have an authority here that everyone has to respect.
“Where is your representative?”

Paolo is still regarding you with some confusion, no doubt from having run face first into your curse but you get the feeling that he’s the kind of guy who bounces back real easy. And wouldn’t you know it, it only takes him a second to match you with a twisted smirk of his own.
“My representative is right here.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s me. I’m representing myself.”

“Uh...Uh...are you a duellist?”
You’re taken entirely off-guard. You know it’s very common for boys of prestige to do a little swordsmanship training growing up but for a scion of a fairly major family to actually become a duellist? That’s not right. Children are worth far too much!
“What, are you a fifth son or something?”
Your facade of professionalism is showing some cracks. You’re going to be fighting him directly?

“Third actually and no, I am meant for far greater things than being some hired snake. But I have trained in it quite a bit, I’ll have you know. Quite talented, I’ve been told.”

Everything you had been expecting about a calm and sensible negotiation is rapidly draining down into the canals themselves. What are you supposed to do about this? You don’t care if he’s talented or not, there’s no way he can better than whoever he can just hire! Surely he knows that. Surely.
“I’m going to need you to repeat that?”

“There was never any question about it, I have to represent myself. Would any duellist let someone ese represent them?”

He’s right there. It’s a huge faux pas for a professional duellist to not represent themselves if challenged or challenging. It’s admitting that you don’t trust your own skill. And if you don’t, why should any of your clients? But there’s just one little tiny eensy-weensy little flaw with the nonsense he’s spouting.
“Yes...but you’re not a duellist!”

“Nevertheless.”

You just don’t understand why he would do something so stupid. Is his head jammed that far up his own codpiece? Why does your first duel have to be something like this?


1/2

>>2895421
>”Listen, I’m sure you think you’re great. But you are a...a hobbyist! Hire someone!”

>Who cares if this isn’t right? You’ll take fighting this dumbass over an actual professional.

>”What, do your parents not know about this? Are they going to suspend your allowance if they catch you using their money to pay for a duel over a caffe waitress?”

>”I guess this god IS good. Doesn't seem related to insight though."

>Other (Specify)

>>2895422
>"Do you do this often?"
>If all his idiocy is because all his effort went into dueling....

>>2895422
>Other (Specify)
Begin dueling. Don't underestimate him and remember that it's not our responsibility to pry into his nonsense.

>>2895422
>Accept the fight, implying it isn't breaking regulation or a custom of dueling

>>2895422
>>Who cares if this isn’t right? You’ll take fighting this dumbass over an actual professional.
Weird? yes. Stupid? yes. Great opportunity for us to gain some practice on a soft(er) opponent? yes.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

>>2895422
>Have you signed the releases and do you have a license? If no hire someone who has. If yes then we may proceed.

>>2895422
>”What, do your parents not know about this? Are they going to suspend your allowance if they catch you using their money to pay for a duel over a caffe waitress?”

>>2895422
>>Who cares if this isn’t right? You’ll take fighting this dumbass over an actual professional.

>>2895445
Guys we need to make sure this is legal and binding. If not we are breaking the law ourselves.

>>2895445
>>2895454
thats a fair point, i guess. Getting the family on our ass would not be fun.

>>2895454
Agreed

Vote called, writing.

>Let it happen. Just let it happen.

You’re not objecting to this just because it’s strange. A duellist’s first fight is pretty important. It’s your debut and if you ever become big, though that’d almost be a first for a public defender, it’ll be the one that people look back on and discuss. And in your case it’s just going to be you against a fop.
He’s out to tarnish your future reputation and he’s doing it entirely by accident.
That said, you’re not going to object. Winning is more important than pride. And even though he isn’t a proper duellist, it’s not like you need to be one. It’s just highly recommended.

“Alright,” you say. “Good. That’s settled then. It’ll be the two of us. Let’s talk terms.”

“If I win,” Paolo says, “This idiot isn’t allowed to get between me and Leonarda anymore. We can do what we want. And if he slanders me again or interferes we kick this up to High Law. Understand?”

Lorenzo, who up to this point had been fuming in silence, rises from his seat.
“You’re damn right I understand you son of a-”

“Woah woah woah!,” you shriek to cut him off. “Sit down. I told you not to worry. He’s not going to win!”

“And why not,” Paolo asks. “Is it because you’re absolutely a better duellist than I am?”
The smug look instantly drops from his face.

“Those are your terms? Accepted! Here are mine. If I win…”


>”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least.

>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.

>”...you must marry Leonarda Rizzo and do what is financially appropriate by her and her family.” This is the most damaging to him personally. There’s a good chance he gets disowned.

>Other (specify)

>>2895488
>>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.
>You must also publicly apologize for the emotional and physical harm you have caused Leonarda Rizzo

yeah no, Leonarda hates the guy

>>2895488
>>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.

can we add a restraining order too? >”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least.

>>2895488

Okay, debating the options:

>>>Stay away
Emotionally healthy, but leaves the family in the lurch.
>>>Pay them
Helps with the damages, but just kinda resets the situation, honestly. It puts a price tag on his emotional abuse, one he may be willing to pay.
>>>Marry her
I mean I dunno if that's entirely what he wants, but it feels like meeting him halfway, and fuck that.

I'm not sure what to go for.

>>2895488
>”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least.
>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.

Both of these. Otherwise the guy might just try this again.

>>2895488
>”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least.

The last one is just going to have him take it out on Leonarda when they are married.

>>2895488
>>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.
If reasonable, also add
>”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least

Doesn't do any good to keep him away if they go bankrupt.
Marriage is a terrible idea. Both of them would be miserable, not just him.

For the record, you can pick multiple choices but doing so will give him cause to raise his own stakes. Yes, it is kinda biased towards the challenger.

>>2895498
>>”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least.
>>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.

changing to this

>>2895488
>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.

Vote called, writing.

>”...you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of your life.” This, while it doesn’t pay for the loss of business, will keep Lorenzo and Leonarda safe at least.
>”...you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you have caused my client.” This is the most sensible.

You can’t ask Lorenzo for his opinion on the matter and you’re sure he knows that. Part of the loophole that has lead to duellists like you dictates that the person actually doing the fighting gets to set the terms without interruption or undue influence. That’s why it’s best for clients to stay quiet. Of course, you’d been hoping to discuss this beforehand with Lorenzo but Paolo’s early arrival spoiled all that.
You just gotta go with your gut! ...And your somewhat extensive knowledge of the rules of Sword Law, though that’s less exciting to proclaim.

“Then if I win, you must stay away from both my client and his daughter for the rest of his life. You will eschew all forms of contact, physical, mental, emotional or through proxy. And in addition, you must pay a sum of money, to be determined later, that will cover the financial damage you caused my client through sabotage of business and fraudulent promises!”
It feels good to add superfluous words. Makes it feel more important.
“Failure to comply with any of these, Signore Rosarre, willl, how did you put it, ‘be kicked up to High Law’.”

“Hold on,” Paolo objects. “That’s not equivalent! I get to demand something else!”

“Go for it.”
Let him demand the whole world. If he loses, it’s all moot anyway. You’ll take whatever he wants as long as you can get him to both pay for his damages and to leave this family alone afterwards. Just one without the other doesn’t feel right.

“Then I demand ownership of this caffe. He can’t pay me recompense for his slander after all, so this is worth it instead.”

“Hold on! You can’t prove damages!”

“I wouldn’t expect a wonderful girl like you to understand but a gentleman’s honor is his pride. This man’s unwarranted slander has cause untold damage to my standing!”

“Oh, I doubt that. But fine. Accepted!”
You have to accept it if you want your double clause to work. The system is unfair.

“Wait,” Lorenzo shouts. “You can’t just sig-”

“It’ll be alright, I promise. Didn’t I tell you I’m undefeated? Just trust me.”

“Whatever,” Paolo continues. “And as the challenged, you pick the time and place. I would have your answer on that now.”

“You’ll have my answer on that when I please.”
...Which is now. And as much as you want to pull out some crazy duelling location to surprise him, you don’t actually have any that would definitely give you an advantage.
“I choose the canal right out there! Right outside this shop! And as for the time…”

1/2

>>2895599

>”...Right now! Let’s go!”

>”...An hour from now.”

>”Tomorrow.”

>Other (Specify)

>>2895605
>figure out a time where the sun shining can provide an environmental advantage.
a professional might be better trained for this, and it's unlikely for a hobbyist to practice during uncomfortable times of the day.

>>2895599
>”...Right now! Let’s go!”
I don't think we have any special shit we can prepare and I'd rather not give him anytime to pull something.

>>2895605
>>”...Right now! Let’s go!”

It's better to get this over with before he can fuck with us through proxis

>>2895605
>”...Right now! Let’s go!”
Unless we have some easily reached contact that can fill us in on what this guy's deal is

Vote called, writing.

sorry about the delay, big post incoming

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>”...Right now! Let’s go!”

“And as for the time? Right now! Let’s go!”
You stand up and point to the door, as if expecting him to march out right away. You can’t help it, the negotiation has gotten you feeling fired up. So what if you’re feeling a little boisterous?

“Wait? Right now?”

“What’s the matter, signore? Did you have something you wanted to do beforehand?”
You understand the value of preparation before a duel but considering your opponent is a total duelling nobody, you doubt you’ll find anything out about his style. Any time you have will just give him more time to ply his financial advantage over all of you.
You rise to your feet, doing a few basic stretches after you do so.
“I don’t know about you but I feel just fine.”

There’s no way he can back down now without looking like both a fool and a coward.

And so, he in turn rises too. And as he does, you feel your enthusiasm wane just a little. You’d almost forgotten he was six feet tall. He’s got a full six inches on you and in the duel, reach can be all-important. Just a few inches of extra reach is the difference between a miss and a hit, a loss and a victory.

You nod towards Lorenzo and the hidden Leonarda as you reach towards your sword. Strange. You barely know either of them. You’ve had no time to talk to them, see them as people or even to confirm their story. But none of that matters. This is a feeling that you’re going to have to get used to from now on. To fight for strangers is your destiny.
You pick your sheathed sword up from the table and draw it, hooking the empty scabbard back to your belt. Though neither of you speak, you can see Paolo’s eyebrows raise as he stares at the sabre. What, was he expecting it to be painted? Oh no, you’re not that cheap. Or at least, you weren’t that cheap back then.
The steel of your sabre’s forte is blued, coloured in the very forging of it. Engravings filled with gold match the spiralling patterns of the blue and then, the moment the forte ends and the debole begins, it is nothing but respectable edged steel. It’s not the sword of someone who loses a duel or at least, so you hope.

Without saying a word, both of you walk past the tables and the counter and step outside. Step by step, you make your way down the stairs, past the sidewalk and onto the water of the canal itself. The surface ripples under both your tread as the crowd seems to part almost automatically. It’s not the City’s doing or at least, not yet. The coloured sword of a duellist, something that must serve as both weapon and badge of office, is unmistakable.

1/??

>>2895766
You stop when you’re in the middle of the canal, standing atop the surface of the water all by yourself. Paolo has stopped, whispering something hastily to his gondoliers. One of them scurries away into the crowd as Paolo reaches into the covered boat and returns with a pristine white scabbard. He draws his own saber as he walks towards you across the canal. The blade itself is surprisingly restrained, stained a bright white with the forte of the blade blackened in the same way your sword was blued to produce an intricate and flowery pattern in the steel of the sword itself.

“I showed you mine, you showed me yours,” you can’t stop yourself from remarking. “All good and correct.”

“Are you sure about this? I know duelling atop a canal is a classic but what if you drop that fancy sword of yours?”
Paolo punctuates his remark with an offhand sweep of his saber down, pointing at the depths of the water below your feet.
“Do you have a swimming permit? If not, I’m afraid you might lose it forever.”

“Let that might be my problem. Now come on, do you know you the ceremony or do I need to walk you through it?”

“I know it just fine,” he fumes. “Shall we begin?”

You turn to face him and hold your sword aloft as he does the same. In hushed silence, you let your sword meet his and with a gentle scrape, run down the edge before parting. With the ‘kiss’, your swords have met one another and will know each other even through the Wake. And in turn, you have seen something of each other as well and you’ve done it with something deeper than mere eyes.

Paolo’s Composure: 2d4,???

Sofia’s Composure: 3d4,1d6,1d8,1d12

You see the totality of yourself for just a moment and in turn, see just a shade of him. It’ll be the same vice versa. And what you see lifts your heart. He’s no proper duellist. But then again...you still have that same kind of weakness. Both of you lack the composure of a true professional.
But you will change one day. He will not.

The two of you then turn as one, still synced together from the kiss, your backs to one another, as you make five long strides across the water away from him. You keep your back to him but in the reflections on the water you can see him turn around and face you.

“Representing myself, I claim the right to offence!”
Paolo might be a fool but he seems to know the ritual just fine. Actually, it’s entirely possible that he’s entered the Wake more than you have. You’ve only done it once before and just as a practice.
“Should I triumph, I demand that the challenged refrain from all further slander of my personage, that he no longer interfere with my pursuit of his daughter and that he surrender his business to me as recompense! Should the challenged neglect this, I claim the right to punishment under High Law!”

2/??

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>>2895769
As he finishes, the wind stops and the crowd parts around you like a flower. The City has been tempted. It shall soon gaze upon the both of you.

“Representing the challenged, I claim the right to redress!”
You’re sure as shit not going to let him upstage in your big debut! You mirror the action he just took, turning to face him and speaking before the echoes of his claim have even faded.
“Should I triumph, I demand that the challenger to pay a sum on money, to be determined later, that will cover the damage he has done to his business and that the challenger will eschew all contact with the challenged and his family forever more! Should the challenger neglect this, I claim the right to punishment under High Law!”

You raise your sword once more so that you can see your reflection in it. The words are spoken. All that remains is the final pact. You and Paolo speak the next four words at the exact same time.

“See and be unseen!”
You close your eyes. Your reflection does not.

You See.

The world fades and twists as you enter the Wake, the state of reality that is what it means to be seen by the City. Colours shift hues before settling on a bizarre palette that paints, among other things, your hair pink and your cloak green. It’s different every time but your sword is always the same.
The crowd of people around you are nothing but shadows now, two dimensional things twisting in the air and above the water. The buildings, having become flat blackened mockeries of their usual forms, deconstruct whenever you gaze upon them, walls and ceilings fading and reappearing as you turn away from them.
The sky is frozen into a broken kaleidoscope of neon and there is no sun in the sky. In its place is a noumenal presence, something beyond phenomena and framed by the distant cityscape as it crawls and climbs like a wounded animal up into the sky.
This is the Wake and it’s realer than real.


You are Unseen.

And just as that happens, your mind inverts and dissociates. You are now spiralling up above the scene, above the two technicolour duellists who are the only real people in a crowd of shadows. A woman and a man. The woman is painted in various neon shades of green, pink and blue and upon her brow bleeds a wound of void. The man is a dark and ill-fitting thing, dyed into black, purples and deep midnight blues with the only colour being the shining third eye sprouting between the other two.

And you have no idea which one is you. Are you either? They are both strangers to you. Why would you even be concerned with them anyway? You can drift ever higher and higher up towards the Font, leave these two strangers behind forev-

3/??

>>2895773
*!

You snap back to yourself. You are Sofia. You are Sofia! You are Sofia d-...Sofia Pseudonym! You’re still not used to it, to the ego death that accompanies the Wake.

The mortal ego cannot easily survive the gaze of the City or the sight of truth. Upon contact with either, ego death occurs. The self is crushed and you lose all internal knowledge of yourself. All memories, all personality, you can’t even see your own thoughts.
For the briefest moment, you didn’t exist.

But now you are back and judging by his movement, Paolo is too. As is expected. You both stand with one foot in the Wake and one foot in the City. The crowds back home are seeing the two of you as if you are still on the canal and nothing has changed. You and Paolo are gazing into the Wake.

Both are true.

“Haha, you say lightly, your words producing a filthy stain in the air around you. “I’ve sure done that lots of times.”

You and Paolo circle each other, walking through the phantasms of the crowd freely as you search for an opening. Soon...Soon...Soon...and there!

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>>2895775
>The duel between Sofia and Paolo has begun!
>Allow me to explain the duel system to you.
>Each duellist has three special pools that they can keep various kinds of dice within. Their Composure Pool, their Technique Pool and their Strike Pool. The Composure Pool is the only pool that starts with dice present, the rest rely on Techniques to gain dice.
>If a duellist’s Composure is depleted of all dice, they lose their composure and can no longer stop the other effectively. A Strike made against a Composureless Duellist ends the duel.
>The main way to lose Composure dice is from taking damage. Whenever you take damage, all dice with a total number of sides equal to or less than the damage dealt are destroyed.
>Each duellist also possesses six Techniques, moves that they can select and use during the duel.
>Techniques come in four types: Strikes, Flourishes, Tricks and Stances.
>Flourishes all generate dice to various pools, usually to the Technique Pool.
>Strikes shift dice from other Pools into the Strike Pool, at which point all the dice in the Strike Pool are rolled and consumed to determine the total damage.
>Tricks move dice around from one pool or another or otherwise change dice for you or your opponent.
>Stances are Techniques that once activated, will grant a persistent passive bonus for as long as they remain active. Stances can be broken by reducing Composure past a certain threshold.
>Duellists both select their move at the same time and enact them in the same turn. Tricks outspeed Strikes and Flourishes, which are equal to each other in priority and everything outspeeds Stance activations. Techniques that move at the same priority act at the same time, progressing through one sentence of the description at a time.
>If a duellist loses at least one Composure dice through damage, they are Rattled. Rattled duellists cannot use techniques of the same type as the one they selected on the turn they were Rattled. But if the damage destroys dice of multiple different sizes at once, the duellist forces themselves to defend and will not be Rattled.
>Have fun! It’s not as complex as that makes it sound.

Paolo
Composure Pool: 2d4,?????
Abilities: Unknown

Techniques: Unknown

Sofia
Composure Pool: 3d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d12
Technique Pool:
Strike Pool:

Abilities: Monkey Sight, Never A Pale Word. (Neither ability relevant to this duel)

CURRENT TECHNIQUES (Choose one)

>Brute Strike: [STRIKE]Siphon the lowest value dice from your Composure Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>Focussed Blow: [STRIKE]Siphon all dice from your Technique Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

>Gritted Teeth: [TRICK]Move the highest value dice from your Technique Pool to your Composure Pool.

>Elegance: [FLOURISH]Declare either Strike, Flourish, Trick or Stance. Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. When your opponent makes their next move, if it is the same category of move as declared, generate a dice of equal value to the lowest value dice in your Composure Pool.

>Unassailable Rookie: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, all dice that your opponent rolls out of their Strike Pool take a -1 penalty to their final result. Can only be active while you have a d4 in your Composure Pool.

>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

>>2895780
>Brute Strike
Ouro, you're crazy.

>>2895780
>>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

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>>2895776
>>2895780

>>2895780
>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

>>2895790
>>2895792
So yeah, when I said I wanted to do a quest different from LL I really meant I wanted to do some absolutely baroque game mechanics to let some steam off.

>>2895776
>It’s not as complex as that makes it sound.

Good, because that sounds RIDICULOUSLY complex. Gonna have to take some time to figure this out.

>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

“How many times have you entered the Wake,” Paolo yells as he steps back away from your assault, ducking away from your swinging blade with every appearance of ease. “Three? Four? Surely not more than that!”

The curse doesn’t work here? You barely have time to register that thought as Paolo responds to your outstretched blade with a thrust of his own! It won’t kill you, not here, nothing can kill you but it still makes you dart back!

“You’ve got nothi-”

Letting your coat flow from your neon-slick back, you roll it around your arm and whip it straight into his face! His gloating breaks into immediate sputters as he recoils in an undignified mess. It’s hardly a duel-winning move, it never will be but who can deny the positional advantage of a good cloak?

>COUNTING COUP

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d4

“That’s fine, it’s all fine!,” Paolo blusters as he takes another step back. And then he does something you don’t expect. He...lowers his sword? It’s still kept in front of him but down by his thigh, where it can’t possibly block or strike anything? What’s the point of this unorthodox idiocy?

>Paolo activates a Stance called Strength in Weakness!


>Strength in Weakness: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, generate a d4 into your Technique Pool for every dice you lose from your Composure Pool. Can only be active while you have d6 remaining in your Composure Pool. If you lose your final d6 in an attack, this Stance will not apply to that attack.

"What's the matter, are you confused? Good. Stay so."

>>2895820
Paolo
Composure Pool: 2d4,?????
Abilities: Unknown

Techniques:
>Strength in Weakness: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, generate a d4 into your Technique Pool for every dice you lose from your Composure Pool. Can only be active while you have d6 remaining in your Composure Pool. If you lose your final d6 in an attack, this Stance will not apply to that attack.

Sofia
Composure Pool: 3d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d12
Technique Pool: 1d4
Strike Pool:

Abilities: Monkey Sight, Never A Pale Word. (Neither ability relevant to this duel)

CURRENT TECHNIQUES (Choose one)

>Brute Strike: [STRIKE]Siphon the lowest value dice from your Composure Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>Focussed Blow: [STRIKE]Siphon all dice from your Technique Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

>Gritted Teeth: [TRICK]Move the highest value dice from your Technique Pool to your Composure Pool.

>Elegance: [FLOURISH]Declare either Strike, Flourish, Trick or Stance. Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. When your opponent makes their next move, if it is the same category of move as declared, generate a dice of equal value to the lowest value dice in your Composure Pool.

>Unassailable Rookie: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, all dice that your opponent rolls out of their Strike Pool take a -1 penalty to their final result. Can only be active while you have a d4 in your Composure Pool.

Also, after some advice from folks on the interest of speed I'm gonna do a quick hotfix of this absurd combat system! The changes are as following:

-You are now vote for THREE Techniques at once, queued up in order to make rounds go quicker.

-If you get Rattled, all Techniques in the queue with the same type as the Rattled Technique are negated. So keep things a little diverse or else you take a risk!

Thank you for baring with me in this trying mechanical time.

>>2895825
>Counting Coup
With that stance, he's basically declaring he only has 6 hp and we can burst him down.

>>2895825
>>2895826

>>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]
>Elegance: [FLOURISH] Declaring Flourish
>>Unassailable Rookie: [STANCE]

>>2895825
>>2895827
>Counting Coup
>Counting Coup
>Focused Blow

>>2895825
>Elegance (Flourish)
>Unassailable Rookie
>Counting Coup

>>2895840
Don't attack him too early, his stance is counterattack-specced. We need to take him out in a single blow.

>>2895825
>Counting Coup
>Counting Coup
>Focused Blow

>>2895907
1d4+1d6+1d8 is average 10.5, very likely to blow past the d6 boundary for his stance.

I'm not even sure if he has a d10 somewhere in there.

>>2895910
Hm, I understood the damage mechanics differently. Let's see how it goes.

>>2895825
Backing >>2895836
and hoping for the best.

Sorry guys, I dozed off for a bit there. Vote called and writing!

Wait nevermind, the vote's not called. I just realised it's at a tie. I'll give it a bit longer then!

>>2895825
backing >>2895840
Charging the Spirit Bomb!

>>2895825
>Counting Coup
>Counting Coup
>Focused Blow

Here we go.

>Counting Coup
>Counting Coup
>Focussed Blow

You take another step forward across the water, keeping your coat wrapped around your free arm and your sword held high. You’re not sure what kind of awkward looking stance that is but you’re not going to be uncautious just because he isn’t a proper duellist. You’ll attack only when you’re good and ready, once you’re sure you’re in the perfect position for the perfect strike!
Until then, you’ll keep herding him until you can split his defence right open!

You step into his reach and, expecting the attack, you pull the distance as best you can, leaning back on one leg and tilting back so that his sword whips right past you! And as it does you reach out with your free hand and grab it!
It’s a gamble but you manage to grasp his sword by the forte, the half of the blade nearest to the hilt. Sabres, after all, are usually only sharpened at the cutting end. This section is just a length of metal!

Wrapping your fingers around the blade near the hilt, you yank it forward and pull him off-balance! The advantage is yours!

>COUNTING COUP

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d4, 1d6

And now, with his sword firmly under your control, you can-

He punches you in the face with his free hand. You let go of his sword and immediately disengage with a backwards leap, silently thanking every arduous minute spent repeating reverse long-jumps over and over again during your training. But he doesn’t even follow you, he lets you disengage. Instead he circles around the side where your guard is weak and you have to match his pace to keep him away!

Your head is ringing but the fist didn’t split the skin. You know it didn’t or else the duel would have been over right then and there.

>Paolo uses a Counting Coup of his own.

>Paolo’s Technique Pool: 1d4

But so what? A little knock to the head is nothing! You’ve still got the advantage. You just need to lower his guard a little further and you have the exact tool to do so! Swinging the coat loose from your arm you prepare to throw it forward.
But just before you do, he kicks the water between you and sends it spraying right up into your eyes!

“Shit!”

>Paolo uses a Trick called Underhanded Deflection!

>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d3, 1d5.

But as irritating as that might be, that doesn’t stop you from just throwing the coat right at him! It unfurls as you throw it and even as he catches it with his free hand, it masks his vision! And if he can’t see you…

>COUNTING COUP

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d3. 1d5, 1d8

You lunge forward right behind the thrown cloak, starting from outside his reach, you launch yourself forward, sabre outstretched and swinging with a quick and perfect fleche, your arm extending out to catch him right above the belt!

1/2

>>2895940
But just as your back leg crosses your forward, he abruptly stops struggling with your coat and instead simply thrusts it right back at you as if it was the easiest thing in the world! It smacks you and the chest and knocks you off-balance halfway through!

>Paolo used an Underhanded Deflection!

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d2. 1d4. 1d7

You push your own coat away, knocking it with your free arm into the shadowy crowd but the damage is done. You feel resistance against your sabre but you have no idea if it bled him or not! And you’re not stupid enough to try and find out either. Instead you just let the fleche carry yourself forward and past him as if the two of you were jousting, dodging around him and fleeing back out of his reach.

Once you’re sure you’re safe you let it turn into a stumble, shadowy people evaporating around you as your own momentum carries you out of the circle and into the incorporeal crowd. To those outside the Wake it must look as if you are blundering straight through them, flesh fading through flesh.
But that’s not important! Did it work? Did you bleed him?

You turn, just in time to see Paolo turn as well. The world seems to freeze and sink into an even deeper set of hues as you try to find a rent in his now-black tunic, a pool of deeper darkness against the silhouette…

>FOCUSSED BLOW

>Roll a 1d2, a 1d4 and a 1d7 to calculate Sofia’s damage!

Rolled 2 + 1 (1d2 + 1)

>>2895941
beep boop dice

>>2895942
I have failed to roll multiple dice.

Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>2895941

test

Rolled 4 (1d7)

>>2895941

So a total of 7 damage. Writing.

>7

He turns and you see the tear in his tunic, just above his belt as you had intended. That was the slight resistance you felt, you had sliced through despite having your own trick with the coat turned back on you. But even here in the Wake, where Paolo is a mix of dark midnights, you see nothing seep forward from his smoking silhouette. You cut the tunic...but the tunic had been loose. You didn’t so much as touch as the skin beneath.

You’re not sure how but somehow he kept his head enough to dodge even as it was passing right past him! Does this idiot really have that strong a nerve?

>Paolo’s Composure: 2d4, 2d6, 1d8

>2d4 and 2d6 destroyed by 7 damage.

>Paolo’s Composure: 1d8

>Paolo’s Strength in Weakness Stance has been broken. No effect!

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: Empty

“Close,” you hear Paolo speak, a hoarse voice that is half a whisper. It sounds like he barely believes it himself. He’s abandoned that bizarre stance as well and is back to holding his sword like a normal person. And then, with slow step after slow step, he starts to close the distance between the two of you.
“How does it feel to have come so close and yet so far?”

“What are you talking about? I can just do that again. I get you now, I’ve seen all your tricks. You’re sneaky and you like to do some tricky shit but it’s just a gimmick. You’re not a duelist and once you’re out of tricks you’ve got no proper skill to back it up. You might as well just give up now before I embarrass you further.”
Unlike him, you’re more than happy to speak as loud as you want. You want everyone back in the City to hear you and more importantly, you want him to know that they are. And maybe, if you’re loud enough, he won’t notice how hard you’re breathing. Maybe he won’t notice that you’ve been doing a metric shitload of running and jumping while he’s mostly stayed still.

A fool’s hope. A dandy or not, he has some spirit. He’ll not abandon the fight.

>>2895964
Paolo
Composure Pool: 1d8
Technique Pool: 1d4
Abilities: Unknown

Techniques:
>Strength in Weakness: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, generate a d4 into your Technique Pool for every dice you lose from your Composure Pool. Can only be active while you have d6 remaining in your Composure Pool. If you lose your final d6 in an attack, this Stance will not apply to that attack.

Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

Sofia
Composure Pool: 3d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d12
Technique Pool: Empty
Strike Pool:

Abilities: Monkey Sight, Never A Pale Word. (Neither ability relevant to this duel)

CURRENT TECHNIQUES (Choose three!)

>Brute Strike: [STRIKE]Siphon the lowest value dice from your Composure Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>Focussed Blow: [STRIKE]Siphon all dice from your Technique Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>Counting Coup: [FLOURISH]Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. Next time you use this in the same duel, upgrade it by 2 sides.

>Gritted Teeth: [TRICK]Move the highest value dice from your Technique Pool to your Composure Pool.

>Elegance: [FLOURISH]Declare either Strike, Flourish, Trick or Stance. Generate a d4 into your Technique Pool. When your opponent makes their next move, if it is the same category of move as declared, generate a dice of equal value to the lowest value dice in your Composure Pool.

>Unassailable Rookie: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, all dice that your opponent rolls out of their Strike Pool take a -1 penalty to their final result. Can only be active while you have a d4 in your Composure Pool.

>>2895965
question

is brute strike taking all de 3d4 or just 1?

I think it's a good idea to use it soon since our opponent will probably attack us next pass and most likely break our 3d4s

>>2895967
Oh, just one. Wording could stand to be more clear on that one. It generally becomes stronger the more your Composure's been damaged.

>>2895965
>Elegance - Declare Flourish
>Unassailable Rookie
>Counting Coup

>>2895965
>Counting Coup
>Elegance: Strike
>Brute Strike

he only has a 1d4 right now, which is a weak chance of breaking our composure. He needs more dice, so I presume he'll coup - We can do the same to gain a d10 to our Technique pool.

After he has 1d4+1d6 in his technique pool, he'll be more confident and try to break out composure with a strike. By doing this we can gain another technique dice of 1d6 or higher.

Brute Strike then drains our 1d10+1d6+1d8 (or higher) to end the duel.

>>2895965

>>Counting Coup
>>Elegance: Strike
>Focussed Blow: [STRIKE]Siphon all dice from your Technique Pool to your Strike Pool. Roll all dice in your Strike Pool to inflict damage.

>>2895973
I don't think brute strength uses our technique dice, only the lowest composure dice

>>2895965
>>Counting Coup
>>Elegance: Strike
>>Brute Strike

Nice a new Ouro quest. Hope you enjoy this one OP.

Brute Strike doesn't use Technique dice at all I'm afraid. It's there to have a means of Striking even when your Technique Pool has been drained.

>>2895975
Misread, I'll support this, then.

let's go for focused guys, we will have the counting coup and the elegance dice in our technique pool, both can be enough to end the duel

>>2895975
Change my vote to this

Vote called, writing.

>>2895965
>Elegance: Strike
>Gritted Teeth
>Brute Strike

>>Counting Coup
>>Elegance: Strike
>>Brute Strike

“Just tricks, huh?”
Paolo darts forward, relying on his superior reach to harry you backward. Blade meets blade as you parry, counter-attack, are parried in turn and so on for almost a full minute of perpetual back and forth motion. Neither of you are really trying to over-extend to land a sure hit. You’re both aiming to wear the other down,jockeying for position.

>COUNTING COUP

>Paolo uses Counting Coup!

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d10

>Paolo’s Technique Pool: 1d4, 1d6

And just as you had told him, you came out on top. It begins when you catch the tip of his sabre upon the forte of your own. The forte might not be sharp but this close to the hilt? It’s so much stronger! And against that severe difference in leverage, any superior strength that he might have over you ceases to matter!
All it takes is a twist of your hand to push his sabre away and leave his arms dangling useless and open.

He overreacts and does so quickly, leaning back in an absurd attempt to pull the distance made even more absurd by the fact that you don’t even try to capitalise on it. He laughs shakily and then, taking your lack of offence as a weakness, uses his position to surge forward low to the ground with his sabre raised up ahead of him!

How predictable.

>Paolo uses Focussed Blow!

>ELEGANCE: Strike

The moment he took your goad and tried to outskill you was the moment he sealed his own fate. His tricks might have been just gimmicks but that didn’t mean you actually knew how to deal with them. But a bread-and-butter lunge? One of the basic fundamentals of the sport?

>Sofia Technique Pool: 1d10, 1d4

You step back as his blade arcs up...

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>2896012

Rolled 2 (1d4)

>>2896013

...and the sword passes just by your face, lopping free a curl of pink hair as it does so. Close indeed but not enough to make you back down.

>Sofia’s Composure: 3d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d12

>3d4 destroyed by 5 damage!

>Sofia’s Composure: 1d6, 1d8, 1d12

>Sofia is rattled and cannot use Flourishes for the remainder of the queue!

>Paolo’s Technique Pool: Empty

It’s not something you’ll ever get used to but all in all, everything went exactly as you thought it would. And so as the sabre arcs above your head, you grab hold of his wrist with your free hand!

>Elegance Prediction Bonus: 1d6

>Sofia’s Technique Pool: 1d4, 1d6, 1d10

Using his stumbling momentum against him, you twist him around by his wrist and shove him into the wall of the caffe. The two-dimensional building decomposes around him as you practically throw him into the counter of the shop he’d despoiled.
To the people in the City, it must have looked as if he slipped straight through the wall.

“Wait! Wait a moment!”
He scrambles up as best he can, trying to maneuver or to escape, anything that would give him an advantage. All of it pointless in the face of you just sprinting through the building to catch him with your sabre held high!

>Paolo uses Counting Coup!

>FOCUSED BLOW

You bring it down. It’s not a recognised technique. It’s more of how you’d chop into a block of wood with an axe. The appropriate amount of dignity.

“Next time!,” you scream, “hire a fucking professional!”

>Roll a 1d4, 1d6 and a 1d10

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2896021

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>2896021

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>2896021

>>2896024
>>2895946
I dedicate this win to everyone but you.

Writing. Props to the anon who perfectly figured out Paolo's upcoming queue by the way. You nailed that one.

>>2896028
I swear I was rolling well in Lamplighter

>>2896030
two questions,

1 after the terms are negotiated and a time and place is set, is it possible to change duelists, for example, if we scheduled the duel for tomorrow, would Paolo be able to get a pro in the meantime?

2 if it wouldn't spoil much, what would have happened had we waited to duel with him?

>9

He somehow manages to pull his sabre up to block your chop but after one look at his shaking hands you just twist it out of his grip, let it clatter to the floor and then, making sure that he’s watching, you kick the beautiful sword out through the wall and back into the canal. You both watch it disappear into the neon water. You and he might not be permitted to sink below the surface but the sword sure as shit isn’t.

>Paolo’s Composure: BROKEN

“Boy it would be a shame if you lost that, huh?”

“H-”

“No. You can’t use it properly anyway.”

And with that, you kneel down beside his fallen form and slit his throat. Black blood is spilled though only a little, each droplet falling through the floor and into infinity. And as it does, you feel the Wake shake around you.
“It has been seen!,” you proclaim. You don’t have to but it felt like the thing to say.

And then, with a complete lack of ceremony on the part of the world around you, you cease to See and you are Seen. You have only the briefest glimpse of the ego death before the world returns to normal, a faint sensation of oblivion that passes as quickly as it comes.

You are kneeling over the fallen Paolo just in front of the counter inside the empty coffee shop. The tables and chairs all around you are completely undisturbed. The crowd outside is pressed up against the windows and as you thrust a fist into the air, they cheer.
They would have cheered for either of you.

“I don’t understand,” Paolo moans, rubbing the shallow nick running down his throat.

“Well, understanding isn't really a necessity.”

“You only won because you’re a much better duellist than I am!”
It is amazing that he hasn’t figured you out yet. He keeps running into it every single time.

“Gosh, thanks! Now get out of his shop before you break your end of the contract. The only time I see you around here again, it better be with a big sack of coin.”

With some exertion, you stand up. It’s not as easy as it sounds. The duel might have been short but it was exhausting. You’d been pushing your legs and arms to the limit for basically every second you’d been fighting, moving in bursts in explosive power. And that’s the way it should be, it’s the way that duellists should move. Paolo hadn’t understood that. But right or not, you’re going to be feeling it tomorrow morning regardless.
Paolo remains slumped, kneeling before you. You raise your sabre, aware of the still-watching crowd outside. This is your debut, isn’t it? Time to give them a taste of your real deal, of which your compulsive god collecting is just a symptom of.

It’s time to take a trophy.


>Lop off some of his hair. It’d be pretty enough without the person attached.

>Take his belt just to humiliate him further.

>Slice off his silk collar.

>The codpiece! Take the codpiece!

>Other (Specify)

>>2896055
>The codpiece! Take the codpiece!

>>2896055
>Don’t. He’s not a real duelist so it doesn’t count and anything you do now might be seen as bullying by his family, who would take offense.

>>2896055
>Slice off his silk collar.

>>2896055
>>Slice off his silk collar.

>>2896055
>>Slice off his silk collar.

>>2896055
>Silk collar
let's recognize that he was pretty good, all told.

>Slice off his silk collar.

You grab the exhausted rake by the collar, prompting a strangled squawk as you run your blade along past his neck.
“What are you doing? Don’t-”

“Relax, I’m not killing you. Just taking a little memento for myself.”
You slice his collar free, a tattered rag of silk that you stuff into a pocket. You’ve always had a fascination for collecting the little things. Specifically, for the little things taken from others. But it’s not enough to just steal them. It doesn’t work that way. But here, claiming it as a token of conquest? That’s power and it’s power you can use.

Everyone’s skilled at something, right? Some people are just naturally inclined towards being good at carpentry or sculpting water or writing or seeing the future. All the usual things. And you, you’re real good at learning. But it has to be something you’ve seen someone else do and it can only be after you’ve beaten them fair and square. Isn’t it natural for conquerers to demand something of the conquered?

>Sofia’s Monkey Sight ability allows her to claim trophies after besting someone in a contest of skill. Once she has done so, wearing that trophy later will let her do something that she has seen them do. ‘Learning’ in this case covers skills, techniques or even physical attributes. There is no real difference between them after all. Through the collection of these trophies, Sofia builds up a repertoire of different techniques and abilities, though she can only have six for any given duel.

“You had some fancy tricks. Maybe they’ll do better work in the hands of a proper duellist.”


>Strength in Weakness: [STANCE]Once this Stance is active, generate a d4 into your Technique Pool for every dice you lose from your Composure Pool. Can only be active while you have d6 remaining in your Composure Pool. If you lose your final d6 in an attack, this Stance will not apply to it.

>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

>>2896079
>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.
this is a real nice defensive move. The stance really only works if you can keep the damage to 5 or below, which basically means you already nullified it. That's lame as hell.

>>2896079
>It's Mega Man meets Ace Attorney meets sword fighting
I love it already

>>2896079
>>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

>>2896079
>>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

That stance relies on us getting hit which probably isn't the best.

>>2896079
>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

Just to clarify, since I was asked this in discord, this is in fact a vote. It's totally different from all the other times this thread that I have thrown around non-vote prompt greentext, trust me.

>Underhanded Deflection: [TRICK]Lower the sides of all the dice currently in your opponent’s Technique pool by 1.

If you were to learn anything from this, it’s that finding strength in weakness is all well and good but it still means you’re weak. You’d rather find strength in strength. And a few extra tricks sure won’t hurt. You pat the distraught Paolo on the shoulder.
“For what it’s worth signore, you did pretty good. You just need to fix that pale attitude of yours.”

And that’s that. You’ve given him enough attention. You stride out the door and, having paid no thought to making your exit, are immediately mobbed by the crowd. You spend a few frantic minutes waving and saying nothing much at all while the people slowly dispersed back across the canal. The people love to watch a good duel but such a fascination is transitory. In another five minutes you’ll just be old news to most of them.

But not all of them.

The moment the crowd clears, Lorenzo scoops you up into a suffocating bear hug, pinning you to him hard enough that you’re in serious danger of inhaling his chest hair. You give up the struggle almost immediately. If this is how you must die, you are ready to accept it.
“Thank you, signorina!,” he finally chokes out when he lets you go. His eyes are swimming with tears. “I’m so sorry for not believing in you! I just-”

“It’s alright, really! I just did my job.”
And you totally understand why he might not have had faith in you. You, an untested and young public defender, last resort of the duelling world. But these are words you can never speak aloud. Lost in the emotional commotion, you try anyway.
“And now you know! I’m invincible and undefeated! My perfect record continues for yet another day!”
It was worth a try.

“This calls for a celebration,” he says. If he notices anything about your secret plea for help, he doesn’t show it. “Drinks are on me!”

“What, coffee?”

You couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out that not only was a bar just down the canal, it’s owned by one of Lorenzo’s friends. Part of the same merchant league or something. You can’t say anything more detailed about that because it’s at this point that you start drinking.

Turns out Lorenzo has a lot of friends! Or at least, he has a lot of people in the bar who are happy to call him a friend when he’s constantly buying everyone drinks. And as the guest of honor and brief street entertainment sensation, you are more than happy to treat them as your friends as well and they do.
Well, it’s not like they had a choice in that matter.

At some point someone gives you back your coat. You don’t even remember who. One thing you do remember however is that after getting well and truly drunk, you eventually leave the spontaneous party behind to spend time with…

1/2

>>2896178
>Lorenzo. It would be good to spend some time with your client before you must part ways.

>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

>Is Paolo still around?

>Other (Specify)

>>2896178
>Lorenzo. It would be good to spend some time with your client before you must part ways.

File: fleksnek.png (13 KB, 400x400)

13 KB PNG

Anyway, I'm going to sleep. Vote will remain open until I wake up and continue the thread tomorrow.

I hope you all had fun!

>>2896181
>>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.
her dad planned to marry her to the guy. She must be pretty miffed all around.

>>2896187
Thanks for running

>>2896181
>>Is Paolo still around?

>>2896235
Are you voting for this choice just to see what would happen? Or do you genuinely think this is a good idea?

>>2896181
>>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

>>2896181
>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

>>2896181
>>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

>>2896181
>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.>>2896181

Oooh, this is good. I'm a bit too dumb to understand the dice system, though.

Keep up the good work, Ouro, and glad to see you back!

>>2896181
>>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

I went to bed, but woke up to see that we chose the debuffing trick over the stance. Why?

It spends a whole exchange debuffing the enemy very minutely, which means it's only ever going to show worth in its investment when the enemy has a ton of dice stored up, or when we instead spend MULTIPLE exchanges lowering their dice pool. In the former circumstance we would be better served participating in the arms race rather than trying to plink away at it, while in the latter case we would have wasted our turns doing no damage to our opponent, not accumulating future damage to be dealt to him, and otherwise just letting them control the flow of the fight unobstructed.

Someone please explain why this was the unanimous choice, it's a god awful use of turn economy in almost every circumstance I can think of.

The stance only works for d4s and had a low damage threshold, true, but as Sofia has 3d4 in composure and ALL of them will break essentially on the first tap of composure loss, we lose at most ONE turn prepping ourselves to reap a 3d4 boost in offense, which is a substantial boost of damage to be added on top of our own efforts.

>>2897127
The way the stance was described makes it sound gay af, my dude. And if you find any skill particularly odious, then we can just get rid of it when the qm forces us to pare down our skillset as we learn new stuff.

>>2897127
Probably because none of us really have much experience with this combat system, a stance that only gets it's worth out of being hit (and with a low damage threshold to boot) seemed bad on paper, and I honestly forgot that Sofia had 3d4 in composure. The instant debuff of the Trick seemed like the better choice at the time, but you spelling it out like this makes me reconsider.

It probably doesn't help that the people that played the combat were asleep for the technique vote as well and vice versa.

We'll make better decisions as we get more practice I imagine.

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>>2897157
>We'll make better decisions as we get more practice
Here's to another Ouro Quest!

>>2897172
I didn't play Snakecatcher or LL actually so I guess I'm looking forward to seeing whatever got you guys so much notoriety.

>>2897185
wait, this is the same qm that did the Fume Knight obsessed snek quest?

>>2897204
Maybe? It was called Snakecatcher, that's all I really know about it.

>>2896181#
>>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

Question: Do we have to use sabers, or are there other acceptable dueling weapons? Are there any limits to off-hand weapons, such as daggers, bucklers, etc.?

I'm awake. Vote called, updates will resume in an hour!

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After thinking about it slightly further, I realized the trick is actually even worse than I initially expected.

Counting Coup is a permanent increase in the persistent arms race of dueling, increasing what size damage dice it generates by +2 every time it's used. The time spent using this trick will reduce the overall damage of any stored attack in the opponent's technique pool, but the overall effect of this is ultimately a net increase in the enemy's average damage as more dice are added to their pool. More importantly however, the increases garnered through usage of Counting Coup are permanent, meaning that any FUTURE assault leveled against us is instantly backed by a much larger dice size, creating terribly potent swing damage.

Y'all unanimously voted for a technique that shoots us in the foot.

>>2896181

>Other (Specify)
Time to go home.
We did our job, held drink with our benefactor that's enough for today

>>2896257

>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.
>Is Paolo still around?

My gut feeling tells me none of this is good idea.

>>2897316
We picked it anticipating that OP will rework the system so that spamming CC isn't objectively the best strategy for any situation.

Oh yeah, I'll be looking at CC. It'll probably get a cap at which point it can't increase any further but that's it.

>>2897390
yeah, we used other things for the sake of the narrative, our techniques the way they are now we should always spam cc,cc and focused.

maybe a look at brutal strike too, when it starts to be useful when we are hurt and using it as a semi-last resort it wouldn't do that much damage to an opponent since if we use a d12 our only chance of defeating a d12 opponent is rolling a 12 in it and leaving us unprotected and without tech dice for the next pass

maybe if the brutal strike depleated the entirety of the lowest side dice pool, it's penalty would be greater, completely eliminating a damage class and it's usefulness would be better too, because as of right now, there is no real difference in having 2d4 in composure or 5d4

>>2897127
>>2897316
You have to keep the damage to a very specific range of 4-5 to get any benefit out of it. I don't see how-

>>2897390
....wait. Fuck. Does, does Strength in Weakness activate from Brute Strike?

>>2897532
I completely disagree. With that 3d4, Brute strike is primarily useful for dealing appreciable amounts of damage before we lose those first dice to an early Strike.

>>2897574
maybe, but I just don't see when it would be useful, early in the fight the damage is pathetic, late in the fight it leave us too exposed deals not enough damage to finish a fight and prevent us from building up tech die.

maybe if it used the tech pool together with the composure dice?

>Leonarda. You feel like you barely met her.

Somehow, you wound up following Leonarda out of the bar. She’d been there the whole time but as far as you can tell, she didn’t drink. But that’s alright, you drank more than enough for both of you! You stagger out onto the canal behind her, kicking up little sprays of water as you call out.
“Hey! Leonarda! Wait for meee!”

She whirls around in surprise as you get your foot lodged in one of your own ripples and fall face-first into the water. You slide gently across the surface, only stopping when she bends down and grabs hold of you. And with her help, you wobble back up onto your feet.
“Thank you.”

“Look at you,” Leonarda says, “you’re exceptional.”

“Damn right I am.”

“W-what? That’s not what I-”

“Don’t think too hard about it.”
You drape an arm over her shoulder as she slowly walks you down the canal.
“I don’t dri...drink too much. Got carried away.”

“Here, uh, um, let me just take you back home. I’ve got something for that.”
Clearly uncomfortable with this whole situation, Leonarda half-walks half-drags you back over to the Caffe. You hang off her limply as she unlocks the door and herds you inside.

You slump up against a table or at least you try to and slip. You end up just lying atop the table instead, your legs dangling off the side.
“Oh no, I slipped. Help me.”

You stare up at the roof for a few minutes before Leonarda comes into view again. She’s holding a small bottle of something black and when she uncorks it, you smell shoe-shine and cinnamon.
“Here, drink this.”

You do and it is terrible! The fluid turns to a thick tar in your mouth and you choke and cough, spasming across the table. It tastes exactly how it smells and it’s fucking solid! You can’t breathe! You can’t-

You roll off the table and bolt upright almost immediately, coughing up a thick wad of black phlegm. The world swings into quick and dirty focus. Your adrenaline is racing, your heart beating a mile a minute and you sure as shit don’t feel like a happy drunk anymore.
“What the fuck was that?”

She flinches away from you and with the lens of drink wiped from your eyes, it strikes you once again just how fragile she looks. Her dark hair and dress up against the pale skin of her face and arms just makes her look more like a doll than a person.
“It’s a sober-upper. I mixed it myself.”


>”Please never do that without my permission ever again.”

>”Yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”

>Thank her.

>”It’s fine. I just feel like I’ve inhaled a cat.”

>Other (Specify)

>>2897619
>”It’s fine. I just feel like I’ve inhaled a cat. I can say it definitely works though.”
>”Yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”

>>2897619
>”Yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”
>Thank her.
>”It’s fine. I just feel like I’ve inhaled a cat.”

>>2897619
>”Yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”

>>2897615
It wouldn't be strange to get a move later on that adds dice to the Strike pool without actually expending it. Adding 3d4 to that is VERY nice.

3d4 by itself is ALREADY pretty nice, good odds at 6 damage with a possibility of 8. And if we really want to be ballsy, we can Gritted Teeth or elegance to bring that 3d4 up to 4d4.

>>2897619
>”It’s fine. I just feel like I’ve inhaled a cat. I can say it definitely works though.”
>Thank her.
>”Yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”

>>2897619
>It's incredible. You're amazing.
>I never want to drink it again.
>I'll take 5

Vote called, writing.

>”Yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”

Even after the coughing has stopped, you feel like you’ve drunk a liquid panic attack. Your chest is heaving, your breathing strained and every hair on your body feels like it’s standing on end.
“You...hold on, I’m fine, I’m calm. You mixed that yourself? I thought you were a waitress.”

“Yes? Brewing drinks is part of my job.”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

”Really?”

“Okay it’s- well...do you promise not to tell Pa?”

“Sure. He’s not my client after all.”

“Then follow me.”
She hesitantly leads you past the counter and into the kitchen beyond. At the back is a staircase going up to the second floor, no doubt to where Leonarda and her father live. You follow her up into the attic and just as you thought, it’s been partitioned into a living space.

Leonarda’s private room is small, almost a closet and one that is almost entirely taken up by the mattress on the floor. She kneels by it and then from beneath it produces a flat little wooden case. She opens it to reveal a small array of tiny glass bottles. Each one is filled with a different coloured fluid.
“Pa always thought I was going to see P-Paolo but I was going to the…”

“The hospital?,” you say, finishing her sentence. You recognise those bottles now. They’re extracts, vital body humours drained from living people and corpses alike. They carry the experiences and the emotions of their host within them, suspended in the syrupy fluid.
“Can’t those be bad for you?”

“I help out there when I can,” Leonarda says, not answering the question. “They say I’m gifted at it. That I have a natural talent. And that I could be a great humourist one day.”

“So why don’t you? Why not just tell you father and let him find another waitress?”

“Well at first there was Paolo…”

“Right, I understand. But you can’t trust a man who looks that good. You wanted to marry him so-”

1/2

>>2897808
“I didn’t!”
Hearing Leonarda raise her voice is like watching a mouse maul someone.
“I never liked Paolo! I a-always thought he was awful but I knew Pa liked him. And I knew that he wanted us to marry and that if we did, we’d never have to work again.”

“So you lead him on?”

She stares at you with a betrayed look on her face.
“No! It’s not my fault!”

“No, you’re right. He’s still an ass no matter what anyone else does.”

“I needed to stay here for Paolo and Pa.”

“Well good news, he’s gone!”

She just shakes her head.
“But Pa’s still here. I don’t think he’d want me to stop. He can’t afford to hire any help..”

“He’s literally about to receive a large sum of money. He’ll be fine.”

“You think so? I wouldn’t be abandoning him?”


>”You should do what you want to do. He might be your father but you can’t live in his pocket forever.”

>”I’m sure he’ll be happy for you. You’ve convinced yourself that he’d be angry but why wouldn’t he want you to do your best?”

>”You should have been honest with him about Paolo from the start. So at least be honest about this.”

>”Honestly, take it from me? Family ties are worthless. If I ever see any of my family ever again, it’d be too soon.”

>”There’s nothing wrong with staying here until Lorenzo is back on his feet.”

>Other (Specify)

>>2897815
>”I’m sure he’ll be happy for you. You’ve convinced yourself that he’d be angry but why wouldn’t he want you to do your best?”
>”You should have been honest with him about Paolo from the start. So at least be honest about this.”

>>2897815
>”You should have been honest with him about Paolo from the start. So at least be honest about this.”
>”There’s nothing wrong with staying here until Lorenzo is back on his feet.

"It'll be easier for him to let go if you let him know beforehand and make sure he can take care of himself before you do. Parents sometimes have an irrational fear of being abandoned by their children, so you've got to grease the wheels."

>>2897815
>”I’m sure he’ll be happy for you. You’ve convinced yourself that he’d be angry but why wouldn’t he want you to do your best?”

Vote called, writing.

>>2897815

>”You should do what you want to do. He might be your father but you can’t live in his pocket forever.”

>”I’m sure he’ll be happy for you. You’ve convinced yourself that he’d be angry but why wouldn’t he want you to do your best?”

>”I’m sure he’ll be happy for you. You’ve convinced yourself that he’d be angry but why wouldn’t he want you to do your best?”

Oh boy, you’re really not the best girl to go to for family advice. If you never saw any of your family again it’d be too soon. But you know that’s not the way for everyone. And if Lorenzo really didn’t care about Leonarda, this duel would never have happened.
“I’m sure he’ll be happy for you.”

“How do you know?”

“Well I don’t but I think you’ve just convinced yourself he’d be angry. But why wouldn’t he want you to do your best? If you tell him that this’ll make you happy, why wouldn’t he let you do it? He’s going to have plenty of money real soon, he can hire as much help as he needs.”

“I suppose.”

“And you can still live here, can’t you? Look, coin’s not an issue anymore and neither is Paolo. Do you really think he thinks his happiness is more important than yours? And if he really does, then you don’t owe him anything more and you should do what you want anyway.”

“I’m sure Pa doesn’t think that way…”

“Then what’s the issue? Am I mistaken?”

It looks like she wants to say something else at first but then..
“No, you’re not. B-but…”

You think you understand. It’s not that just she’s concerned about her father, she’s also a little scared of taking the plunge into the unknown. Well in that case, you’ll happily help give her a push.
“If it makes you feel happy, you should absolutely try to be a humourist. Look at that thing you gave me earlier! You absolutely have the knack. Does that make sense?”

“Yes-”

“So then if it makes sense, you should do it. Am I wrong?”

“R-right. You’re right. That’s what I have to do.”

You’ve been wrong about a lot of things but you’re sure you’ve got the right idea here. You attempt to say so.
“I’m always right.”

“You are! I- I just want to be as strong as you”
Poor Leonarda just looks confused. You can tell she probably didn’t intend to word it that way but somehow, between her mind and her mouth, the words got mixed up. That happens a lot around you.
“I mean...No, I guess I meant that. Did I thank you before?”

“It’s not necessary.”

“But I should. Thank you. You did save me and I couldn’t do anything to help myself. You just do whatever you want, don’t you? How can I be like that? Do I need to be a duellist?”

“You don’t need to be anything. And certainly not a duellist, you don’t have the physique for it.”


“I might!”

“Pft, not without a lot of training. But that’s really alright. Look Lenny, whatever you want to be is the best thing possible. I mean, if I worried about who I was supposed to be I would have never become an undefeated duellist in the first place!”

“Lenny?”

1/2

>>2898014
“Oh sorry, that’s what he called you, isn’t it? But I really can’t keep saying Leonarda. How about…”


>Lenny anyway. She’ll be fine.

>Leon.

>Nards.

>Len.

>Leo.

>Other (Specify)

>>2898022
>NARDS
Fuck it, let's go.

>>2898022
>Lea.

>>2898022
>Lea

>>2898022
Nards. It has to be this way now.

>>2898022
>>Len.

I see we are establishing our 'underground' doctor when shit goes nuts and we are on the run from the law somehow.

>>2898069
Or just a doctor we can go to cheaply because we're liable to get cut up a lot.

>>2898022
Lea

>>2898076
That too.

Vote called, writing.

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We could have had a companion called Nards.

Damned cowards, the lot of you.

>Lea

“Lea! Do you mind if I call you Lea?”

Lea gives the only answer she can.
“Go ahead, it’s fine.”

“Right, it’s just that Leonarda is a bit of a mouthful. And Lea is a bit better than Nards, isn’t it?”

“Nards?”
Now she’s just incredulous.

“Yeah that was my other idea. Aren’t I great with names?”

Whatever tension was left vanishes as Lea chokes back a chortle which quickly becomes a giggle and from there, spreads into open laughter. It wasn’t even that funny but you guess she’d been on edge.
“You really are,” she wheezes. “Nards!”

“There’s nothing wrong with Nards!”

“Of course there isn’t. But..but still!”
She starts laughing again. You don’t join in. But after a minute, once she’s calmed down, she’s gesturing back towards the open case again.
“Here, take whatever you want?.”

“Pardon?”

“These humours are all a lot more pleasant than the phlegm I gave you earlier. Just a sniff can send you far away to where nothing matters. W-we can take some together if you want. Pa won’t be home for a while.”

“Wait, you do this often?”

“Whenever I can. It's the least I can do to thank you."

"Uh..."
This is not what you'd been expecting when you first decided to spend time with her.


>Accept.

>Decline.

>>2898164
>>Accept.

Yoooo, she got that GOOD SHIT?!

That's whassup.

>>2898164
>Accept
You fuckers stole Nards from me, you won't steal the drugs.

>>2898164
>Accept.
popping in to accept drugs

>>2898164
>>Decline.

Ladyrape incoming. It's always the quiet, demure ones.

>>2898164
>Accept.
this.....might.....ACTUALLY be useful for practice with the whole ego death thing

>>2898164
>Accept.
>can these be sued for painkillers? Because I try not to overindulge in these otherwise.

Vote called, writing.