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This is an interactive story. Use votes to decide how the story progresses.

So! You're Felissan! And you're going on an adventure! Heck yeah!

But before you start, you need to really know what you're getting into. First, what exactly are you? That is to say, what would be the best word to fill the phrase "You can't be Felissan without being a ____"?

princess peach with whatever those freaking concrete circles are called riding a cat

An absolute beast with a sword.

For the record, I currently can't advance the story because it's tied. Come on, guys.

An absolute beast with a sword.

Indeed! You're a wandering swordswoman, said to be one of the finest on the continent. You've been traveling all over the world for years with your sword Arondight, a legendary blade that was gifted to you on one of your first adventures. You're always looking for new challenges to hone your talent, and become a legend that won't be forgotten anytime soon!

Speaking of which, you're on a road to your new quest - you can finally see your destination on the horizon! But where are you going, and why?

swordslands the sowrdplace that makes swords
u r to receive the legendary blade coolbaled and kill like a hydra or something with it
but you gotta collect the 8 things in the 8 architectural structures to make the key to make the coolbaled or something idk

swordslands the sowrdplace that makes swords
u r to receive the legendary blade coolbaled and kill like a hydra or something with it
but you gotta collect the 8 things in the 8 architectural structures to make the key to make the coolbaled or something idk

Ah, right! You really need to stop forgetting important things like that, it's getting annoying.

Coolbaled is the central element of this region's founding myth - it was the final sword made by Mardatin, the Lord of the Forge, before his apotheosis. It was used to vanquish evils thought to be invincible, and rallied the people's souls through tales of its deeds. When Mardatin was ready to leave this plane of existence, he unmade Coolbaled by turning it into a powerless chunk of metal, that could be forged back into its former self by a forge enchanted with eight artifacts. He entrusted those to his followers, commanding them to guard them until the day Coolbaled would be needed again.

Since then, over twenty thousand years have passed, and human civilization was nearly annihilated several times - but the buildings the artifacts were kept in still stand to this day. Mere centuries ago, Mardatin's followers have once again reclaimed the Forge Palace and made it their nation's capital, but the other sites still stay undefeated. The royal family embedded Mardatin's Heavenly Amethyst into their crown, and pledged to offer it to whoever would enter the palace with the other seven artifacts, as surely that person would be a worthy inheritor of Coolbaled.

The tale of Coolbaled resurfaced throughout the world when the hydra Jhenurohs started its rampage through the Swordslands, destroying cities in its wake. Indeed, it was found out that an old prophecy had foreseen its rise, and told that this very sword would be the weapon that would defeat it. Adventurers flocked to the Swordslands on their quest to fulfill the prophecy and earn Coolbaled, but not a single one has succeeded so far. Will you be the one to change this?

Of course you will. Duh! This is far from the first time you've dealt with quests of this magnitude. This world is overcrowded with deities, as people ascend to godhood every other day or something. All that backstory may make it sound like the stuff of legends, but you know what else is the stuff of legends? You are.

Anyway! After gathering some info in town, you've made yourself a map of the artifact sites, planning to go through them one by one, starting with the crater of Mount Dalorick. It is where the Last Leaf of the Ancient Tree is kept, and according to unsuccessful adventurers, it's guarded by a demigod that tested them to see if they were worthy of Coolbaled. And that's where you are now. You enter a shrine on a ridge in the crater, and find yourself in a dark room with an old man standing in the middle. He seems to be waiting for you to do something first before he'll talk to you.

do an epic swords trick like with an apple

In post 10, Invisibility wrote:do an epic swords trick like with an apple

don't eat the sword tho, a sword a day does not keep the doctor away

But what if we need a doctor to help with the quest?

do an epic swords trick like with an apple

You start juggling with Arondight. You're pretty damn proud of how you're able to make it roll on your entire arm without cutting yourself! But that guy isn't, apparently. If you had to put the look in his eyes into words, it would be along the lines of "You want to be proven worthy of our most precious treasure, and is how you do it?"

In hindsight, you're really glad you didn't eat Arondight at the end of your tricks.

insult his mother

Invisibility wrote:insult his mother

"Your mother is so fat, she, uh... she can't g-"

The old man sighs. "Sorry to interrupt you in what I believe could have been a fascinating fact, but it's nothing more than a mere depiction from her worshipers, as is often the case with any being associated with abundance."

"Now that the silence has been so eloquently broken, I take it you've come here to be tested in hopes of being Coolbaled's next wielder. And your performance so far would leave a bit to be desired... If I was the one to test you, that is. Fortunately, there's someone else here with us who can speak much more about you than I ever will..."

Seeing the confused look on your face, he points to your hip...? You glance at it to see if there's something weird with it, but nothing's changed with it since you've entered the shrine.

"Your sword." Oh! Right. Wait, your sword? "I take it you've never spoken to a sword before? It's not as complicated as it sounds. You'll just have to place it on this pedestal, and I'll handle the rest myself. Of course, you're free to decline, but I don't see how you could earn Coolbaled otherwise..."

He slowly walks to the back of the room, to take his place behind the pedestal he mentioned. It's so far away from the entrance, the darkness almost entirely hides him now.

Do you trust him?

yeah sure fam

yeah sure fam

You draw Arondight from its sheath, and put it down on the pedestal. The old man places one hand on the hilt, and one on the blade, before closing his eyes. The sword starts to glow faintly at first, but progressively brighter. As the room gets flooded with the reddish light, it seems to fade away from existence. Soon, there's nothing in sight but you, the man, and a blinding flare. You shield your eyes from it, until it suddenly seems to stop. Where your sword used to be, you see a strange little creature that seems to be in a deep sleep. It's like some sort of fairy, except it really doesn't look like a fairy at all - it's more reptilian in nature, and its wings look like those of a bat rather than a bug. So, a dragon fairy? Why are you thinking about this? It's probably all going to be contradicted in a moment anyway.

"Just as I thought, your sword comes from the Swordslands. But I didn't expect such a precious relic! It's none other than an orphan blade. If the legacy of the First Kingdom of the Blades was still known to this day, kings would surely declare wars over such treasures."

"Orphan blade?"

"Sorry, I keep talking as if our culture wasn't lost to time. After the ascension of the Lord of the Forge, we proudly inherited His mission to create the world's finest swords. But as we quickly found out, a sword made by a mere mortal couldn't ever be considered worthy of our task. So instead of limiting ourselves by remaining as ordinary smiths, we took an approach that defined our civilization for this whole era: we would strike deals with greater beings, where they would grant us a sample of their power, which we would use to create vastly superior weapons for them. One key aspect of those deals is that we were always allowed to keep a single sword from each deal, so they wouldn't all be lost to divine battles - and those are known as orphan swords."

"Ah, so you're telling me Arondight was made with a dragon's power or something?"

"Exactly. To be more precise, its metal was alloyed with a dragon's blood. I was no smith myself, so I couldn't tell you what it means for your sword. But I can assure you that makes it one of the greatest swords ever made by a mortal. Anyway, I should wake it up, so I can hear what it has to say about you."

Arondight slowly gets up on its feet, and flaps its wings, as if it was pulled up by a puppeteer. It then opens its eyes, and looks around.

"Am I... back to the Swordslands? It's been an eternity since someone last talked to me... Oh, hey! Felissan!"

The moment it noticed you were here, it tackled you in what was most likely supposed to be a hug. You didn't expect so much force in something the size of your arm!

"I guess its reaction to finally being able to meet you in person speaks volumes about its opinion of you. But enough of this! Arondight, can you introduce yourself?"

You sigh in relief as the weight on your chest flies back up.

"I am Arondight, orphan of Nelind. I was an heirloom of the Queinnec family until I was lost in the war against the necromancers. Since then, I've been found and lost again by numerous adventurers. In the current cycle, I was donated to a monastery, then lent to Felissan during a quest, and she could keep me as a reward. I've been her only weapon since that day, and now here we are."

"Right. Now tell me, how did your first meeting go? After all, your first impressions of her are more than relevant to this test."

"Of course! But first, we'd probably need to hear the story from her, since I missed most of the context back then."

"Sure! You see, it all started when..."

You can't believe it was confirmed to be a dragon fairy, by the way.

wiat what are we supposed to input an action for

or are we just waiting

In post 19, Invisibility wrote:wiat what are we supposed to input an action for

The prompt is for you to give the backstory for that quest where you got Arondight.

Also in general if I don't give a prompt, you can do pretty much anything as an action.

She says, "Back in the olden days of yore, I was walking down the dilapidated path of the forest I once called home when a Princess came across me and shouted, 'Miss, I know that you are a fair maiden such as myself but I desperately need your help to attack a evil ogre and I have yet to pass a noble knight in these woods outside of my kingdom.'

'Ha ha ha!' I laugh uproariously 'There are no knights in these woods! The peasantry here like their money too much to tolerate such ruffians! But regardless of any knights, I shall agree to your quest.'

We traveled many a days until we stumbled upon said ogre. The ogre gave a mighty roar. The princess and I took out our weapons. I had a lowly wooden stick since I was of said peasantry and we are not known for our abundance of wealth to afford strong weapons. The princess surprised me by taking out brass knuckles.

The three of us all fought valiantly. Despite this, the evil ogre could not withstand the barrage of attacks from the princess and I. Just as we were about to kill said ogre, it deals a moral wound to the fair princess.

The ogre dies and the princess turns to me, 'thank you for your help, here is your reward.' She began to glow and turned into a most brilliant sword. I picked up the sword and knew that I could no longer be a peasant any more

I began my new life with the sword which shares the same name as the fallen princess,

Arondight."

She says, "Back in the olden days of yore, I was walking down the dilapidated path of the forest I once called home when a Princess came across me and shouted, 'Miss, I know that you are a fair maiden such as myself but I desperately need your help to attack a evil ogre and I have yet to pass a noble knight in these woods outside of my kingdom.'

'Ha ha ha!' I laugh uproariously 'There are no knights in these woods! The peasantry here like their money too much to tolerate such ruffians! But regardless of any knights, I shall agree to your quest.'

We traveled many a days until we stumbled upon said ogre. The ogre gave a mighty roar. The princess and I took out our weapons. I had a lowly wooden stick since I was of said peasantry and we are not known for our abundance of wealth to afford strong weapons. The princess surprised me by taking out brass knuckles.

The three of us all fought valiantly. Despite this, the evil ogre could not withstand the barrage of attacks from the princess and I. Just as we were about to kill said ogre, it deals a moral wound to the fair princess.

The ogre dies and the princess turns to me, 'thank you for your help, here is your reward.' She began to glow and turned into a most brilliant sword. I picked up the sword and knew that I could no longer be a peasant any more

I began my new life with the sword which shares the same name as the fallen princess,

Arondight."

"That's... nowhere near what I remember. Of course, only seeing the world through dream-like visions is a massive hindrance, and I think I can roughly see how this got deformed into my memories of being given by a monastery... But seriously, taking a human form? You'd think I'd remember that."

The old man seems angry about what he's heard. "It is only natural that these memories are gone. Trying to alter a sword can leave it damaged forever, even moreso when giving it the shape of a living being. There's a reason this was seen as a great crime! But let's get back on topic: Felissan's story makes it sound like she was inspired to start her adventures by a bond she felt with you. When she first held you in her hand, did you feel something similar?"

"Yes! I've met many swordsmen in my life, but I could tell from the start that she was unique among them."

"Then that can only mean one thing. You are linked in what was known as a master's bond. Felissan won't ever wield any sword as well as Arondight, and no swordsman will ever wield Arondight as well as Felissan. The two halves of a master's bond rarely ever meet each other; you two are the first I've seen with my own eyes since the Lord and Coolbaled themselves."

You turn to Arondight for a second to see how it reacts to this. It's dancing in place and crying tears of joy, probably holding screams back to avoid interrupting the conversation.

"I suppose this is in our favor for this test?"

"It sure is. In fact, it's enough on its own for you to pass my trial."

Oh. That was easy.

"But there's something I must warn you about. There was a time when you wouldn't have had a chance at this same test. Coolbaled is a divine weapon, that no mortal is worthy of. But now, it's in grave danger: when the Forge Palace was taken, I had a look at the new royal family. And there's no doubt about it: they're some of the most corrupted people I've seen in my life. It was only a matter of time until they took the artifacts by force and defiled Coolbaled. So I took the seven remaining artifacts and hid them in a place only I know. Now, all you have left to do is to get the Amethyst and leave this land with Coolbaled so it doesn't fall in the wrong hands."

"Wait! What about Jhenurohs? It will keep destroying the Swordslands if nobody can use Coolbaled!"

The old man shrugs. "Then so be it."

Silence falls between you. You plug your ears by instinct, just in time to not be deafened by Arondight letting out a loud scream of joy it's been holding for a while now.

He tells you where to find the artifacts, making sure you don't forget since even writing it down on a map would be too dangerous.

"Do you want to know anything else, young woman?"

dog idk