Reconciliation

Alide speaks, "I can answer a few of those questions. The demonic spell book is an offensive spell, what spell exactly I don't know, what the price is, I also don't know. As for the possible prices... As stated you have had the threat of a curse before, but let me tell you a bit more about curses. There are a few, but the most common ones are, Obedience, Famine, Lust, Narcolepsy, Absentminded and Atrophy. From the name you can probably guess what they do, but I'll explain anyway.

Obedience makes it so that Yulia will be powerless to resist any command given, this includes those from the voices. Essentially it means that you'll have to be much more careful with how you guide her and that sapient threats will be potentially much more dangerous.

Famine makes it so she will acquire half as many materials from each gathering point.

Lust is pretty self-explanatory, Yulia will suffer from a constant growing arousal that will undoubtedly affect her decision making if not kept in check.

Narcolepsy means that Yulia will occasionally simply require rest at times and be unable to resist the urge to sleep, no matter where she is and what she's doing.

Absentminded will cause all of Yulia's spells to become unmastered and she will no longer be capable of mastering spells. She will also occasionally require twice as much mana to cast a spell.

Atrophy is actually what Yulia started with essentially. Her physical body weakens considerably. She's less durable and she'll have a harder time dealing with anything that requires physical prowess," Alide explains, "as you can probably tell, Curses are not good and can absolutely doom a chosen. That being said, the possibility that the price of these demonic boons is potentially so devastating, is indeed reflective of how beneficial they can be," she continues.

Yulia seems horrified by the potential of these curses and she shakes her head, "well... I'm not sure about the spell book, now especially, but we all seem to be on the same page regarding the bow. We don't need it and would like to exchange it. I think we'd also like another support spell," Yulia states and hands the bow over. Alide nods and the bow disappears and is replaced with a spell book and a gleaming dagger with a strange rune carved into the hilt.

Yulia takes both, unsure what to think of the dagger, but she reads the name of the spellbook, "Undermine?" she reads and then she blinks, "This is the opposite of energize isn't it. I remember the high priest hit me with something that counteracted my energize. This is that spell right? It weakens targets the same way Energize strengthens them?" she asks and Alide nods.

Yulia hesitates for a moment and then opens the book, learning the spell and instantly mastering it as well.

"If you do decide to trade in the book, you will get a random offensive spell, I'm afraid I am not allowed to let you choose the spell," Alide clarifies. Yulia thanks her and keeps the book for the moment. She's scared of using it, but the voices seem uncertain about it, so she decides to hold off for now.

Instead she and Cherchiel head to the Faidhalm Elder. He greets them warmly and Yulia asks him the questions about the horn, "the horns effect does not increase no matter how many times it is used, but I do believe it will further empower someone who has already been empowered, unfortunately if the horn is blown by someone else, the initial effect ceases and is replaced, so no you cannot use it then immediately have someone else use it to empower the first user," he explains with a slight chuckle, obviously amused by the cleverness of the suggestion, "as for whether the cloak can hide you from the Tower Below... I don't know what that is, but I imagine not. It only hides you from physical sight," he answers. Yulia thinks about it for a bit and then accepts the horn. The Elder hands it over with a simple reverence and so Yulia takes it with the same reverence.

Once that's done they head back to the caves, arriving to find Goma and a small group of goblins waiting for them, "Beasty dead!" Goma yells and runs up to hug Yulia, "Yoo Lee Ah did it! Goma and friends, feel Beast Plague fade! No more plague, no more need for toy!" Goma states then hesitates, "well... Maybe Goma keep toy anyway," she says looking away for a few seconds as she blushes. She then pulls away and tries to drag Yulia forward again, "come! See Queen! Queen give big reward!" Goma says, but Yulia stops.

"We actually want to go visit... The pretty lady first," Yulia states and Goma stops and then nods.

"Okay... Pretty lady first, then Queen!" Goma says and then stops, "where pretty fly?" she asks. Yulia looks confused for a second and then realization hits.

"She's dead... The beast killed her. She gave her life during the battle and because of her we won," Yulia explains and Goma looks sad.

"Oh... she gone... like Gali... Goma sorry..." she says and Yulia nods.

Goma seems much less animated as she leads Yulia and Cherchiel in silence towards the meeting hall. They arrive and Dahlia is indeed still there. Yulia hesitates and then approaches, "Hey, Yulia!" Dahlia greets her with a big smile, which Yulia fails to return. Dahlia looks annoyed, but shrugs.

"It's tough, but you're probably going to lose many more before you're done here. I mean if you don't succeed your entire world is doomed so..." Dahlia states idly and Yulia hesitates and then sighs.

"Can I have the strap on?" she asks quietly and Dahlia nods and hands it over. Yulia puts it away and then Dahlia speaks.

"Obviously my basic offer of my services in return for fetishes also still stands," she says in a sing song voice and Yulia hesitates and then turns to leave, but suddenly as she turns to leave she drops to one knee, her hand moving to just under her breast as Dahlia has spread her hand pointed towards her and speaks, "The Tower Below has marked you. You will belong to us soon enough, victory or defeat in the tower won't change that, but you'll want to win, you don't have the luxury of being risk averse anymore," she states and then closes her hand and Yulia begins to breathe heavily, before standing back up.

Cherchiel looks horrified and goes to support Yulia as with Goma they leave the area. Goma then leads them to the queen. When they arrive the queen is standing up, staring down from the edge of the cliff face and then speaks, "You did as I asked. The Beast is dead. Our people can start to heal now, we're not done here by a longshot, but... Goma is yours," she says and Goma blinks.

"Queen?" she says confused and Magritte continues.

"Goma, you don't mind going with... birdy, do you? Serving her? It would of course just be for a bit. Once she's made it through the tower, you can return here," she says and Goma hesitates.

"Goma... Goma go with birdy Yoo Lee Ah... Yes," she agrees and The Queen nods, still staring down into the darkness.

"You know... the goblins wouldn't like it if you killed me of course, but it would be real easy to just push me off the ledge right now... You'd be able to leave this floor quickly..." she suggests suddenly.

"I wouldn't do that... To you or the goblins, besides I still have to kill Lumberer and get Dreg to leave you all alone," Yulia responds and Magritte chuckles.

"You're a good person. Honestly I wish I could give you more than just Goma, don't get me wrong, Goma is a very skilled alchemist and a wonderful ally to have, I just wish... there was more I could do," she says and then sighs and turns away from the dark and goes over to her throne before sitting down, "I think Dreg is mad. I don't know if he's mad we're trying to get rid of him or just that you didn't go to see him yet or what, but he... well he showed up... right here in this throne room and just... stared at me. It was only after he vanished again that I learned Lumberer had entered the caves. He hurt some of the goblins... I think Dreg purposely did it to let Lumberer in, some form of punishment," she sighs again.

Goma seems surprised by this news and Yulia looks down, her hands curled into fists, "I'm going to deal with both of them, Muma said no one had successfully tried to kill Dreg... Maybe I'll be the first," she mutters quietly to herself.

(Health: 200%

Mana: 45% (three uses of repair at 20%, 20% and 15%)

Equipment: Ceramic Beaked Mask, Monastic Scapular , standard bra, Standard Panties, 3 poison gas grenades, 3 healing kits, 1 syringe of poison, 1 syringe of adrenaline, 1 syringe of poison antidote, 1 sewing kit, 1 vial of unknown liquid, 8 days worth of rations, 3 two liter water jug, 1 half filled two liter water jug, 1 health potion, 1 mana potion, A boar mask, 2 vials of sticky white liquid, Ornate Rapier, 4 arrows, Quiver, God's Favour (Halo), 1 pouch of alchemical ingredients, 1 sack of cooking ingredients (Apples), Bone Spear, Demonic Spellbook, Runed Dagger, Ash's Quiver, 6 charm arrows, The Hunting Horn.

Spells known: Great Heal (Lvl 2, Mastered, Cost: 25%)

Great Cure (Lvl 2, Mastered, Cost: 15%)

Energize (Lvl 1, Mastered, Cost: 25%)

Icicle (Lvl 1, Mastered, cost: 15%)

Unlock (Lvl 1, Unmastered, Cost: 15%)

Repair (Lvl 1, Mastered, Cost: 5%-20% depending on factors)

Undermine (Lvl 1, Mastered, cost: 25%).

Fetish: Bondage Rank: 1, Masochism Rank: 1,

Status Effect: Permanent increase to physical attribute. Combat level raised to medium

Psychosexual Break: In order to deal with her trauma, Yulia has begun to subconsciously fetishize her experiences.

Deflowered: Virginity Lost, sexual experience changed to: Inexperienced, non-virgin.

Marked by The Abyss: The Tower Below wants you.

Companion: Cherchiel, Blacksmith, Goma.

Cherchiel Equipment: Ultra Durable Spear, Ultra Durable Shield, Reinforced Bodysuit.

https://forum.chyoa.com/threads/the-tower-of-voices-voting-thread.3460/ )