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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 3428132" data-attributes="member: 10689">Hey folks! Cerebral Paladin is having some computer problems, so he's asked me to post the next installment. He's still the one who wrote it; I'm just doing the posting <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Enjoy!--Alistair looked at the Princess for a moment.  Her face was very guarded, and he knew that his answer to this question would make a huge difference.  But he couldn’t quite tell what answer she was looking for-- did she want a peaceful response as her phrasing implied, avoiding the unpleasant realities of adventuring, or did she want Alistair covered with blood and glory, as might be expected from a princess of Gates?  Alistair held up his hand, asking for a moment’s delay while he chewed a bite.A sending from Kit cut into his thoughts.  <<Play the killing down!  She’s scared of your reputation-- she’s heard more lies about you.>>“I’ve had to kill some, when it was necessary-- drow slavers and some ratmen assassins.  It’s not what I would wish, but sometimes there is no choice.”Kit relaxed at that answer:  Princess Mirabelle’s relief was obvious.  Kit also resolved to look into this new set of rumors, as well-- Mirabelle gave no indications of having heard the rumors of mistreatment of women, but she had heard that Alistair and a merry band had taken down a small barony.  That was true enough, she supposed, but the version Mirabelle had heard omitted the fact that they had only killed a werewolf lord who had usurped and murdered the rightful rulers.  Instead, the story had Alistair and his raiders slaughtering the whole noble family, even putting the infant children to the sword.“Ratmen, your grace?  We have faced their depredations as well.  A small group of them destroyed the grain harvest in East Gate.  We had to institute new measures to prevent further attacks and to avoid starvation.  How any thinking being could destroy a grain harvest I don’t understand.”“They think very differently from how we do.  It comes from their close association with demons and chaos lords, I think.”“Anna said they could be redeemed.”“Anna, your highness?” asked Dame Brionna.Mirabelle paused for a moment as pain crossed her features.  “She passed, I’m afraid.  She was my twin sister.”With the additional prompt, Alistair remembered having heard that Princess Mirabelle had had a sister, only younger by hours, with a defect in her foot.  She was rumored to have died about 11 months earlier, although Gates had never made an official statement.“I’m very sorry for your loss, your highness.  I’ve had a very difficult time with the loss of my father and grandmother-- I can only imagine what your loss, so much more unexpected, would have been like.”“Thank you, your grace.”  She paused for a moment, clearly looking for a way to change the subject.<<Ask her about her own military service.  There's something there... she's tried it but doesn't feel that it's right for her? Or maybe hasn't tried fighting at all?>>Dame Brionna gamely asked, “Do you have any hobbies or pursuits?”“Jewel-setting is my only real hobby-- I studied at the Royal Jewelry Guild of my family,” she said with a certain amount of pride, gesturing at one of her rings.  “Trade in precious metals and gems is vital to our prosperity, so I thought it would help the family, but I believe I have some skill.  And then I have studied strategy.”“Your craftsmanship is most impressive, your highness.  That setting is beautiful, as befits a beauty such as yourself.”</blockquote>

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