Damsels and Dragons

[Silanon]

>Let Matilda take credit for it.

No need to become a goddamn hero in this bloody world. Let them celebrate her if they want to, we'll quietly do our best to help. At some point, we might have to take the lead - but not right now, not yet.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

>Control yourself.

His temper boiled just below the surface, but with a supreme effort of will, Jason managed to take that anger and frustration and shove it down inside him where he could safely ignore it. Odds are that wouldn't work well in the long run, but for now he didn't care. Right now he needed a level head to deal with the vampires and their army of undead.

They were currently attempting to banter with Matilda, alternating between mocking monologs and threats. They way there were going at it was so typical it was almost a stereotype. Matilda didn't seem to want to give them the satisfaction of rising to their bait, nor reacting to any threats they made. Likewise, Jason could tell that the vampires weren't growing board of monologging about how doomed they and the rest of the caravan were any time soon.

So he blew them up.

The ring on his finger flashed crimson as he triggered it, a bead of light no larger than his fingernail shot forth at speeds almost too fast to see, striking the ground under one of the vampire's feet. The instant it made contact, it blossomed in to a massive fireball that shook the ground like the fury of an angry god.

For several seconds after the blast, Jason could hear nothing but high pitched ringing. His vision had gone blurry as well, and he had to struggle to maintain his balance as a wave of nausea overtook him. In retrospect, it was not a smart idea to be within several dozen meters of a spell that was effectively an artillery strike.

The ringing and blurry vision subsided, and Jason surveyed his work. The vampires and several of their undead minions had been pulverized by the explosion, and lay strewn about in one or more pieces. A thick cloud of dirt filled the air, and small fires could be seen dotting the breadth of the crater that had been left behind as a result of the explosion.

A scream of rage suddenly burst out from the cloud of debris, and Jason could see a figure struggling to stand up from inside the crater.

"YOU!" The figure roared, and Jason could see it was one of the vampires. "How DARE you!" It continued to scream. It finally stood upright, and Jason could see that it's body was ravaged thanks to the explosion. It's whole body was shredded and burned, muscle and organs could be seen under skin that had been incinerated. The vampire's left arm was completely gone, and the left half of it's chest was missing most of it's... everything. Despite this, the damned thing was still alive! It's eyes glowed with a fiery red light that was soon mimicked in every undead minion behind it.

"I will tear off your head and feast on your blood! I will take-" What exactly the vampire intended to take form Jason was unknown, as Matilda was standing before the vampire, sword drawn. She had moved so fast that Jason hadn't even seen it happen until he realized where she was.

The vampire screamed in rage again, and tried to attack Matilda in it's fury. It's flails were utterly ineffectual, and before it could even come close to her, Matilda's sword had separated the top half of it's head from the rest of it's lower half in a single swipe of her blade.

The red glow of the vampire's eyes, now in four distinct locations, grew dull, and in turn so did the lights in the eyes of the undead behind it. One by one, they fell to the ground in a heap of motionless meat. Matilda observed them for a moment, before coming to some kind of conclusion and turned her back to them, facing Jason.

"Well." She said, surveying his handiwork. "I do appreciate a pre-emptive strike, but please do not use that spell so recklessly." She said.

"I'll try to avoid that in the future." Jason said, still feeling some resents of the after effects of the blast. "What happened to them?" He asked, pointing at the undead hoard.

"Without a master, the living dead cannot function." Matilda said, looking back at the now rotting bodies. "I was waiting for the right moment to launch an attack myself to avoid losing the vampires in a sea of corpses, but you beat me too it. Well done."

"Yeah, well I figured if you were going to be a big shiny distraction I might as well make use of it." Jason said. It was technically true that he had intended it as a preemptive strike, but if he was completely honest with himself, there was also a small part of him that just wanted to blow up a bunch of stupid vampire assholes.

Because fuck vampires.

The sound of hoofbeats caught their attention, and Jason turned around to see that several armed men here bearing down on them. The reinforcements that one of the rearguard riders had gone off to retrieve.

They looked quite impressive, armor gleaming in the moonlight, spears at the ready, sharpened to a razor point. Jason could tell by the seriousness on their faces and the speed of their gallop that they were approaching with every intent to murder everything that was not an ally. Of course, the work had already been done by Jason and Matilda, and the knights could see that as they slowed their mounts to a canter, and eventually a full stop.

Jason watched as their eyes traced the ruins of the vampire's bodies, to the fallen corpses that they had enslaved. He knew, just by watching, that they were about to profess their thanks and admiration for Matilda, who stood in the center of the crater, surrounded by bodies and ruined earth.

What do you do?

>Take credit for what you did.
>Let Matilda take credit for it.

>Let Matilda take credit for it.

Don't even bother explaining to them what happened or they'll give you the evil eye. Just look at how they flock to the Incarnate to acknowledge her divine powers and kiss her ass. Though this is not bad at all, Matilda is a good person and I believe she has our best interests at heart. I trust her to represent Jason's case on his behalf and do him justice.

 

[wonderandawe]

Let Matilda take the credit.

Less attention on us the better.

 

[JayTee]

Been thinking about it, and I wanted to give a small apology for introducing the Vampires and then immediately removing them after hinting at a possible brawl. I was worried I was falling in to my old trap of transiting from fight scene to fight scene (which I enjoy writing more than I should and would lead to the inevitable decline in this quest, like my old one) and I wanted to avoid that.

 

[wonderandawe]

Been thinking about it, and I wanted to give a small apology for introducing the Vampires and then immediately removing them after hinting at a possible brawl. I was worried I was falling in to my old trap of transiting from fight scene to fight scene (which I enjoy writing more than I should and would lead to the inevitable decline in this quest, like my old one) and I wanted to avoid that.

No worries. I think we have the exact opposite writing problems. I was half way though the first chapter of my quest and realized I hadn't planned on any fight scenes yet. Family drama is all fine and good but can't have a werewolf quest without fight scenes!

 

[JayTee]

Fight scenes are addiction to me, I'm constantly choreographing them in my head.

I have more or else sequenced out an alternate version of the Matilda vs The Black King fight, A fight of Jason vs Matilda which I sketched out for kicks as a way to iron out the differences in their styles, and even a 1v3 of The Black King vs Matilda, Jason and Gregori.

The problem with them though is that I always want to write more, and eventually I know it will just lead to a downward spiral where the quest is all fight scenes all the time. I'm already on the fence if I want continue with Damsels and Dragons, as it has several core problems which are too ingrained to easily fix, and I don't want to artificially accelerate that spiral.

 

[JayTee]

Sigh, alright. So I've done some thinking, talking and reflecting, and I've come to the conclusion that I no longer enjoy the quest as much as I once did. I could force myself to continue, but I feel like the quality has already started to decline, and if I kept going with something I didn't enjoy, I don't think it would end very well.

So, with that, I think I am going to have to formally end the quest. I want to thank everyone who suck around so far, as your enthusiasm and participation kept this quest on life support for far longer than I would have if it had been a solo project.

For better or rose, the quest itself and too many problems for me to overlook. The intended plot, that of a stranger attempting to adapt to a strange land, was overtaken by the conflict between the Black King and Matilda. The pacing also alternated between too fast and too slow, and and the focus was all over the place between the protagonist, the war and the strangeness of the world itself.

I think I'm going to take a week or two off from questing, before I start up again with a new project, for which I have several ideas. I enjoy questing so if anyone is interested in participating in the next adventure, keep an eye on the quest interest forum. You'll see me there sooner or later.

Thanks again everyone. It's been a fun, if bumpy, ride.

 

[Silanon]

Probably a hard decision, and one that makes me somewhat sad - I really enjoyed the story thus far, as well as your writing in general. But I can certainly see the problems you mention, and while they weren't as apparent to me thus far, I understand the struggles caused by them.

Thanks for all the effort you put into this quest, for awesome posts that seemed to include every single vote, rememberable characters and a great world. Thanks for sharing all of this with us, thanks for letting us know that we've reached the end, and good luck with any future projects. Probably forgot to mention something - maybe someone else can add that. I don't look at the quest interest checks all that often - could you tag me if something goes live? Otherwise, I'll hopefully find it regardless, certainly want to at least give your new projects a look.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Sigh, alright. So I've done some thinking, talking and reflecting, and I've come to the conclusion that I no longer enjoy the quest as much as I once did. I could force myself to continue, but I feel like the quality has already started to decline, and if I kept going with something I didn't enjoy, I don't think it would end very well.

So, with that, I think I am going to have to formally end the quest. I want to thank everyone who suck around so far, as your enthusiasm and participation kept this quest on life support for far longer than I would have if it had been a solo project.

For better or rose, the quest itself and too many problems for me to overlook. The intended plot, that of a stranger attempting to adapt to a strange land, was overtaken by the conflict between the Black King and Matilda. The pacing also alternated between too fast and too slow, and and the focus was all over the place between the protagonist, the war and the strangeness of the world itself.

I think I'm going to take a week or two off from questing, before I start up again with a new project, for which I have several ideas. I enjoy questing so if anyone is interested in participating in the next adventure, keep an eye on the quest interest forum. You'll see me there sooner or later.

Thanks again everyone. It's been a fun, if bumpy, ride.

You gave us a beautiful story, JayTree, and that's what really counts. Though I'm sad to see this end, I understand the hardships of writing and of creating a good plot for readers to enjoy. We will probably never know the sacrifices you took to create Damsels and Dragons and the frustrations that followed, but we can say that your story brought us happiness.

Also, don't forget to tag me too if you can!

 

[wonderandawe]

I'm sad the quest is ending, but I completely understand the heartache when a story goes off the Rails. You give up some control when you run a quest. Sometimes the plot goes in different directions you never thought of and it is wonderful. Other times, you find yourself staring at the screen and thinking "I don't want to write this."

I look forward to your next quest. Be sure to tag me!