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Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium


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Hafnium

Hafnium

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, Has a Hot Date with a Goat

"Okay! I'll come and find you after I close my shop tomorrow!" Though Lyra was still struggling with embarrassment, the faun seemed to be quickly recovering from hers. She looked about ready to sing out of joy that the knight had accepted. Perhaps thankfully for the sidhe's embarrassment, however, she managed to suppress that desire and instead turn her attention to the other things the knight had to say. "Feel free to come by whenever. I'm sure I can get whatever you need. This shop might seem small but I've got great trade contacts. Wish I could offer more help than that, but I've always had more of an eye for selling things than crafting them."

"I'll, uh, see you later tonight at your performance then, huh? Good luck, though I'm sure you'll do great," the faun suggested with a grin. She appeared to be offering a polite out between all the awkwardness and embarrassment so that Lyra could take her leave and continue on with her tasks for the day.
 

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

"Yes, I'll stop by once I've figured out what I need." Lyra nodded, the change in topic helping to stem the embarrassment a bit, at least on Lyra's part. Kalila's mood seemed to have turned around the moment she heard her answer. She would need to keep in mind when the performance was going to be, to make sure she made time for it.

"I hope so. I have new clothes and a new sword for it, so it'll be a little different. I usually do this in armour." Lyra shrugged a little sheepishly, knowing the reputation she had for doing everything in her armour. "I should get to the practising though. I hope I'll see you there tonight!"

And with that, Lyra made her exit, heading back towards the oasis to find somewhere out of the way to practise. She was planning to do her performance once the sun had gone down, the enchantments on her clothes and sword would be more impressive that way. That was the main thing she needed to practise, a way to adapt her usual style to make best use of those enchantments. For best effect, she needed to remain in constant motion, so she had to minimize the time she spent still. She also had a few ideas of minor tweaks to her appearance that would add to the performance, especially with her hair...
 
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Hafnium

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, 80s Style Practice Montage?

In what was potentially a cosmic effort to give the knight a break for all the awkwardness she'd been forced to endure, her next trip would be as easy as the last few. Her journey took her back to the oasis and then all the way to the opposite end of the lake in order to get to the training grounds, but once she was there she found an isolated area with firm, flat land where she could practice without too much risk of spectators. She would have several hours to herself before a first curious spectator even happened across her. A white-haired faun would spot her and choose to have a seat so that she could quietly watch for a short time, at least as long as the redhead didn't shoo her away. If Lyra did ask for her privacy then the goatkin would respect the sidhe's desires and leave.

Even if Lyra didn't ask for her privacy, the faun would eventually return to her own business after ten or so minutes. The next to stumble upon the knight's practice was a group of pixies, who fluttered their way into seats on the vegetation in order to serve as a miniature audience in several senses of the word. Like the faun, they would leave if Lyra requested it or on their own after about half an hour. The second-to-last to find her was Hessa, a fellow knight who simply grinned at her and then continued on her own way without pausing to watch. The final person to find her was, of course, Abla, who would come to the clearing near the end of the redhead's practice, when most of the day had already passed. She took a seat and waited until Lyra took a break so that she could speak to the practicing knight.

"Ooh, does this mean I'll get to see you in action soon?" The impetuous blacksmith questioned Lyra with a wide grin on her face. "Can't wait~"
 

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

It came as a relief to Lyra that no other interruptions popped up along the way to the training grounds, finally allowing her to get something done in peace. Setting what she was carrying aside, Lyra walked out a few metres from where she'd left her things and began her practise. She began with a familiar routine, the last one she'd performed, to re-accustom herself with the lighter weight of both the sword and clothing. Her armour wasn't as heavy as steel plate would have been, but it still had a fairly significant weight, and restricted movement a little. It was designed for her fighting style, so it was flexible, but it still provided some resistance to certain movements. Little that would affect her ability to fight, but it did limit her range of movement a little in her dances.

Being free of those restraints was somewhat liberating, she had to admit, and she gradually began to work it into her dance as well. She didn't think something like this was appropriate for ever performance—She still preferred to keep the image of a knight—but it wouldn't be bad to do something like this on occasion. The enchantments were nice as well. She couldn't tell exactly what they looked like to an observer, but she was fairly certain that it was a nice effect. The dance she was working on incorporated a lot more twirling and exaggerated movement than her usual performances, but that was the best way to make the most of the enchantments' effects.

Lyra's usual dances were much like mock battles, but choreographed to flow smoothly and gracefully. Her belief was that swordsmanship itself was an art worthy of admiration, and while she could certainly appreciate ordinary dancing, she did her best to mix the two arts in a way that stayed true to both. She was compromising a little on the swordsmanship side this time, but sometimes that was necessary for the sake of the performance. The style was still the same as her usual, but her focus was on constant motion, to keep the enchantments active the entire time. It was rather disorienting to get used to those at first, but after the first hour or so she had grown accustomed to the extra distraction.

Several observers stopped by to watch, but Lyra paid them little mind so long as they only watched quietly and didn't disturb her. Several hours after she had begun, once she was free of observers for a time, Lyra finally took a break, sheathing her sword and taking a short walk over to the edge of the water. Kneeling down and splashing a little water onto her face, Lyra stared down at her reflection once the water calmed again. She'd had an idea or two about what else she could do to prepare for the performance, and this seemed as good a time as any to try it out. Concentrating on her hair, Lyra first shifted the colour. It remained her normal red at the base, but gradually grew lighter, and took on an orange tint, before eventually becoming pure white at the tips, which hovered only a couple of centimetres above the ground when she stood. She turned around to the to get a good look at the effect in the water, nodding in satisfaction before moving on to the second step. After a few moments of further concentration, the tips of her hair began to glow, mimicking the glow of her sword and clothes. It wouldn't have the same effect, but she thought it would be a nice accompanying effect. Twirling once in place to get a view of it in motion, Lyra was satisfied with the result.

With that done, she returned to her practise, refining the dance she was planning for that night. All of her sword dances tended to be mock battles against phantom opponents, and this was no different. Instead of a single opponent, she modelled this one around the idea of fighting alone amidst a horde of enemies, constantly changing from one angle to another to facilitate the constant movement required for the enchantments to trigger. It was fast-paced, and incorporated many more spins and kicks than she usually made use of, but she was happy with her progress.

When Abla showed up, Lyra didn't react to her at all at first, finishing her current routine before lowering the sword to her side and turning to face the blacksmith. "Yes. I was planning for tonight, after dark." Lyra answered, taking the opportunity to catch her breath and take a short break. "That seemed like the best time to show off these enchantments. I think I'm nearly ready. Took a bit of getting used to, but this all certainly lets me do some unique things." She motioned to the sword and clothes in general as she approached, before taking a seat next to Abla.
 
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Hafnium

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, (Will Be) Dancing in the Moonlight
Notes
If you want to spend XP on sword dance-related trade dice right now feel free. Consider it a small reward for the practice post, since I can't really make a matching reply at this point.

Lyra's practice would go as well as she could've hoped for it to go. The isolated practice spot she'd found had more than enough range for her to move in any way she liked without bumping into any boundaries or stumbling onto uneven ground. It was more or less identical to the arena she'd probably have as a stage when she did her performance. Beyond that, what few visitors she had in the many hours that passed were perfectly polite and remained quiet so that she could maintain her concentration. Nobody tried to play any jokes on her either, which was normally an unfortunately common act against practicing performers among the younger fae especially. And she was even lucky enough to have her break all to herself in order to enjoy the cool water, and to iron out the last detail of her appearance when she decided to shift her hair as best she could to match the flame of her outfit and sword.

"I'll grab one of the stages for you and invite a few people after this then," Abla grinned. The blacksmith would take a copper flask from her belt, pop the lid off, and take a swig from it before continuing. "It's going to be a sight to see, you dancing with all that fire and your hair glowing like that in the darkness. I bet the others will be talking about this for months to come. It's almost hard waiting even just another few hours for it," the perpetually impatient sidhe admitted. By then, nightfall wasn't even too many hours away. Lyra had crammed well for her performance. "But that'll just make it all the sweeter to see my work in such capable hands~"

The darker-skinned redhead took another gulp from her flask and then offered it to Lyra. The smell would quickly make it evident that it wasn't water in the container, but rather a fruity-smelling wine. "Want a drink? A, ahem, touch of courage, as the humans are so fond of saying? Not that it'll really help there. It just tastes better than water."
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

"I hope so. I usually take longer to prepare for something like this, but I have a good feeling." Lyra leaned back as she spoke, taking the interruption as an opportunity to rest for a little while. She'd been at this since morning, and now it was only a few hours before dark. She was satisfied with what she'd come up with, but practise was still important. She needed to make sure she had every detail down by the time it came time to perform. Lyra hesitated for only a moment when Abla offered her a drink, before sitting up again and taking the offered flask. "Thanks. I suppose I could use a drink after all this. I'll need to get back to practising afterwards though,
need to make sure I have everything perfect.
"

Taking a swig from the flask herself, Lyra let her mind wander for a few moments. Hopefully Kalila would be able to find her fine, she hadn't been able to give any specific details because she hadn't planned for a specific location, or time besides after dark. This was really just an impromptu performance, so she wasn't expecting too large a crowd. If it went well, she could work on it further, and perhaps hold a proper performance another time. After this, however, she needed to train. Farah's offer had barely left her mind all day, even while she was practising. She couldn't afford to be lax in her training, not with such a competition awaiting her.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Lyra suddenly blurted out, remembering the other thing she had intended to ask Abla about when she saw her next. "Thank you for the drink, and please wait just a moment. I have something else I wanted to ask you about." She passed the flask back, making her way over to where she'd left her things. Collecting the old shield, she returned to the blacksmith. "I came across a rather interesting shield yesterday. It's quite old, but I was thinking about getting it restored. I was hoping you could take a look at it.
" If Abla seemed interested, Lyra would hand the large shield over to her. "The enchantment is the most interesting part, and with some work I think I can repair the degradation to it, but I'm not particularly skilled in the physical side of it."

Will also spend 2 Exp to bump Lyra up to 6d10 in Dancing.
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, (Will Be) Dancing in the Moonlight

Abla's estimate of the wine's effectiveness seemed to be correct. A human would've needed to down an entire flask of it to get any effect. A faerie like Lyra would've probably needed an entire bottle. It had a pleasantly sweet taste, at least, and Lyra could detect a few different berry flavors on it. The blacksmith would only take the flask back once Lyra was truly done with it.

"Sure, sure," Abla answered cheerfully when Lyra asked her to wait. The shield would visibly pique the woman's interest as soon as the knight retrieved it. The blacksmith would eagerly take the ancient thing from Lyra in order to give it a once over. The tattooed sidhe hummed as she inspected it, flipping it back and forth, running her finger over the bronze and various worn engravings, and poking her finger through the hole that had been rotted through it. After several minutes of effort, she would deliver her own opinion on it. "It's... really impressive, actually! It looks like mortal make. You can kinda tell because the wood and bronze aren't magically strengthened, and our craftsmen have been using that sort of trick on everything basically forever in order to create strong gear that won't burn our fingertips off. But for a mortal to make a shield out of a single piece of wood instead of leather or cloth-wrapped planking is really something!"

"I'm more a sword kind of girl myself, but I've done enough to know my way around a shield. I could repair the metal and wood back to its original condition, and probably even improve it. Restoring the holes would be the hardest part, but a particularly talented alchemist owes me at least three more favors. You'd have to cover the materials, but I think you'll find my labor fees quite reasonable~" A mischievous grin spread across Abla's face. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to figure out where she was going with her offer.
 

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

"Yes, I thought the same. Mortal make, but impressive craftsmanship. It's old too. The enchantment is also quite interesting. Designed to absorb or nullify magic somehow—I still haven't figured it out completely.
It's about as degraded as the shield itself, though. Anything reasonably strong will overwhelm it as it is. I think I can fix that, given some time, but the actual repair work is beyond me. If you could manage that, it would be a great help.
" Lyra explained excitedly, though her enthusiasm faded a little with the mention of cost. Of course she hadn't expected Abla to do this without asking anything in return, but what had slipped her mind was just what she had asked for last time.

"This is about the modelling again, isn't it?" Lyra sighed, glancing between Abla and the shield a few times. She really did want to get this shield restored, and she knew Abla did good work, but she dreaded the idea of the price the blacksmith had proposed the day before. "I can cover the materials, of course. I actually did a good deal of trading recently, so I should be able to afford that without even worrying about favours. As for your price, well..." Lyra shook her head with another exasperated sigh, already regretting what she was about to say. "We can probably work something out. I'll have to hear the details before I agree, though. You know how I feel about this sort of thing, I'll have conditions."
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, "Really, Abla just needs to try harder. 3:"

"You know me too well," Abla replied with a giggle, her grin threatening to reach both ears. "Yes. Yes, I know~ You're all shy about showing off how pretty you are. Don't worry, what I have in mind isn't as bad as you've probably built it up to be in your head! I don't think it'd be something worth getting embarrassed about even without clothes on. But here, let me show you what I want without the nude part if it'll help you make your decision," the blacksmith set the shield aside and hopped to her feet.

She would put her hands on Lyra and gently began to position her, at least as long as the sidhe warrior allowed her to do so. First she brought the redheaded swordswoman to full standing height. Abla moved the knight's hands next, guiding Lyra to clasp them on the back of her own head with elbows tucked in to either side of her face. The blacksmith then guided her to tilt her chin up ever so slightly and to push her chest out. She adjusted one of Lyra's legs so that her knee was slightly bent. Then she moved to the other side of the posing sidhe, beginning to adjust the knight's long red hair. She collected two thick tresses of warrior's nearly ground-length mane and threaded them over her shoulders, draping each across Lyra in such a way that they would've covered her nipples on their way to the ground if she had been nude. Abla then proceeded to fan the rest of her hair out to bring it to its full, impressive width. She concluded by returning to Lyra's front and guiding her into squeezing her bent knee toward the other one, bringing her legs together in a way that would conceal her sex if she were nude.

"There. That's exactly the pose I had in mind," she remarked as she stepped away from Lyra, put her hands on her hips, and admired the pose she'd set the knight in. "It'd be in my workshop with all the windows covered. I'll even promise to jab any potential witness's eyes out if they get cheeky and try to get a look anyway! Any other conditions?"
 

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra nodded, allowing Abla to move her into the pose she had in mind. It was a little strange, having someone else move her body around like that, but Abla hadn't done anything inappropriate, so she didn't protest. Once the blacksmith was done, Lyra took a few moments to consider what Abla had done. It wasn't quite what she had expected, and while the pose certainly wasn't entirely modest, it wasn't nearly as bad as she had thought it might be. Abla had even positioned her legs and hair is such a way as to provide some coverage.

Overall she couldn't find much to complain about, she had to admit that Abla had already thought about all on her concerns. "No, it seems like you already thought this out." Lyra finally replied, dropping the pose and brushing her hair back over her shoulders. "I can work with that. That was everything I was going to mention."

She hadn't realized Abla was so serious about this particular project, to have already figured out the pose she wanted and to have considered all of Lyra's likely issues and addressed them. Lyra had though it had only been on a whim that Abla had suggested it on her return, but maybe she had just been waiting for something to come up where she could ask it in exchange. It would still be embarassing, of that she was sure, but she had decided to try to be a little more daring, why not take the plunge here? At worst, there would only be one person around her her to embarrass herself in front of. "I'll leave the shield with you for now then, if you don't mind. I need to get a bit more practise in yet, and I think I've taken a long enough break. You're free to stay and watch if you want, unless you'd prefer to keep this a surprise for tonight."
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, As an Immortal Faerie Will Live to Regret Basically Everything She Does

Abla's ensuing victory dance probably didn't help Lyra's resolve when it came to trying a more daring lifestyle. She squeed with delight and pumped her fists in trumph. Her following assurance might not be that useful given the body language that had preceded it. "You won't regret this, I promise!" With that, she would pick up the shield and prepare to go on her way, at least for the time being. "I'll go ahead and take this to my workshop, then I'll come back and handle the stage and everything else. Come and find me when you're ready to start the performance." The blacksmith would give a nod in farewell and then take her leave to allow Lyra to practice in peace.

With her last spectator of the day gone, the knight would be free to spend the remaining hours until the sun had set doing as she pleased, practicing or otherwise. Nothing else would interrupt her, nor would anything of significance happen unless she had a change of heart and decided to spend remaining time until her desired performance time window doing something else.
 

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra shook her head with a smile on her faced, amused by Abla's sudden turn in behaviour. She was already beginning to wonder if this was a bad idea, as anything that made Abla this happy tended to be, but she had agreed to it now. "I'll see you then." Lyra waved to the other sidhe as she left, before making her way back to the center of her practise area. She still had a few hours left, and she intended to use them to make sure she was ready.

Drawing her sword, Lyra started from the beginning again, rehearsing her dance from start to end. Repetition had always been the most effective way for her to learn. She continued until the sun had nearly set, repeating the same motions again and again until they were practically instinct. There was only so much a single day of practise could do, but she was confident in her results. She had never returned to her tent, so she needed to continue carrying her armour along with her, but that wouldn't be an issue. She gathered up her things and set off towards where she expected Abla to have gone to find a stage for her, keeping an eye out for both the blacksmith and Kalila, if she had managed to make it.
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 50, Status = Fine, Guilty Feet May Still Have Some Rhythm
THE RULES:
Lyra has 10 rounds in which to do her performance.

Each round consists of her rolling her dance trade dice. For every 5 successes she accumulates (even if they're spread across rounds), she gains another boon from a list (which can be found below the rest of the rules).

Successes are handled as per normal, except failures will reduce her EP by 4 while critical failures will reduce her EP by 8.

She may opt for three different strategies, and you can choose these on a round by round basis in order to attempt to maximize her performance.
  1. Normal, where she plays it normal. Trade dice are rolled normally and all successes and failures are handled normally.
  2. Aggressive, where she goes all out on flashy moves. This allows her to spend 4X EP, where the X is the number of successes she wants to affect for the round. This is only used on successes and will work its way from critical successes through normal successes. So if you spend 8 EP, it will boost 2 successes (so long as she gets 2 successes that round). Under this effect, critical successes are worth 4 successes and normal successes are worth 2 successes.
  3. Passive, where she holds back in order to recover. Successes don't add to her accumulated success score when in this mode. Instead, they allow her to regenerate 4 and 8 for each normal and critical success respectively. In addition, failures of either type don't drain EP in this mode. This can be used in order to recover after failures or use of aggressive leaves her resources low.
In addition, you may choose not to roll all 6 of her trade dice if, for whatever reason, you don't want to do so. I don't know why this would come up, but am just going to note it's an option in advance just in case.

Obviously she wants to avoid running out of EP, because if that happens she loses all remaining rounds. Otherwise, all that's necessary here is to maximize the number of successes so she can grab all prizes on the board.

And for the fabulous prizes, for each 5 successes she accumulates she can take one of the following prizes:
Reduce the number of XP needed to buy Duelist by 2 (down to 2).
Reduce the number of XP needed to buy Quick by 2 (down to 2).
Reduce the number of XP needed to buy Hard to Hit by 2 (down to 2)
Free bonus skill: Battle Dance
Free bonus skill: Lightning Strikes
Free bonus skill: Evasion
Free bonus skill: Tantric Durability

Pretty good for a bit of dancing, IMO. But at 5 per bonus, you'll need a total of 50 successes to get them all. That's 5 a round on average. Best of luck!

The actual stages weren't far at all from the practice areas, and it wasn't difficult to find the one Abla had picked for her. It was a relatively simple design, owing to the desires of its builders to foster a sense of community and a connection to the performers. The stage was a circle of land with a forty-foot diameter built to specification for the type of sword dance that Lyra was about to perform. A thin, flat layer of sand sat atop firm, packed earth. The combination of the two would allow Lyra to be as acrobatic as she liked without fear of treacherous ground betraying her footing, but also would allow her to fall, purposely or otherwise, and be cushioned by the sand. Many enjoyed working the sand into their routines as well, leaving intentional art traced into it even as they cut and thrust through the air.

The audience area consisted of a flat ring around the sand made of continuous polished stone. The audience would generally sit on the stone itself, or lay out blankets atop it, and enjoy the show from there. It was that desire for connection to the performer that had led to this custom. Unlike expansive amphitheaters, the simple ring allowed a small group of faeries to enjoy the performer's skill from the closest distance possible while also enjoying the company of other audience members. Sometimes that proximity led to accidents, but fortunately faeries generally healed quickly.

The blacksmith stood in the center stage while a small group of a little over a dozen faeries waited on the stone floor for the performing knight. Among her waiting audience Lyra spotted Hessa along with three other fellow knights, Kalila, two satyrs, a gruff, the other faun from earlier, two nymphs, one of the younger sidhe who hadn't chosen a path yet, and a few others. Abla would wave Lyra over as soon as she was spotted, motioning for her to take her place in the center stage. As the redhead knight moved to do that, the blacksmith would grin and take her own seat in the audience. All eyes in the audience would move to Lyra then, waiting to see how she started her performance.
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

One everyone had taken their places along the edge of the stage, Lyra walked slowly to the center of the area. She was glad to see Kalila had managed to find the right place, and that Abla had rounded up a decent crowd on such short notice, but she pushed those thoughts from her mind for the time being. She needed to focus on herself now, to block out all distractions. A light wind kicked up from the ground beneath her when she came to a stop, a simple magic trick that sent ripples across the material of the pants she was wearing, and more importantly blew her hair back, the glowing tips fanning out behind her. In the same moment, she drew the glass sword in a flourish that cut a glowing arc through the air in front of her.

Wasting no further time, Lyra launched into the routine she had been practising. She had modelled everything after the idea of a battle against an overwhelming number of enemies. Of a lone warrior fighting an unending horde. The first stage was also among the fasted, a series of quick, sweeping strikes and acrobatic dodges. Each slash with her sword was an enemy felled, and so she was constantly changing directions, as if being closed in on from all sides. She spun, kicked, and never stopped moving, the enchanted material of her clothes and sword drawing patterns in the air with every movement.

She had realized the potential for a secondary performance, to actually draw something in the air with the glowing trails left by her movements, but that was too intricate a process for a single day's practise, so she had settled for the simple effect they added this time. The darkness only accented the light show accompanying her dance, or so she had planned.

Going to jump right in here and hope for 10s. Will go Aggressive for the first round, spending 8 EP.
 
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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 70, PP = 60, EP = 34/50, Status = Excited, Living to Regret This
Rolls
Lyra rolls a 6, 7, 8, 8, 1, and an 8. This adds up to a total of 7 successes thanks to EP spent. She then loses 1 of those successes along with 16 EP for the critical failure.

Total successes so far: 6

Pleasure damage: None, this round. But Lyra gains Excited.
The part of the rules I didn't share...
The audience can't help but offer applause for her successes, and each round of applause triggers an enchant that causes her clothes to vibrate in an incredibly distracting manner....

Each success Lyra earns will deal 1d6 pleasure damage to her through the vibrations of her pants and shirt.

She may choose to resist the pleasure, in which case each failure will cost HP damage along with EP damage at an equal amount (i.e. 4 HP damage for a normal failure and 8 HP for a critical failure) along with the normal damage from resisting pleasure.

In addition, she has to watch the amount of pleasure damage she takes in any given round. Taking pleasure damage greater than her reflexes will cause her to stumble, negating 1 success from her total. Taking pleasure damage greater than her willpower will cause her to be unable to keep silent and maintain a straight face, which has no mechanical penalties but will surely start some rumors. Orgasming will cause both, along with a stun that costs her a round.

As before, the passive strategy will allow her to recover either from her HP, PP, or EP based on successes, but only one of the three. Use it well or risk Lyra cumming in front of everyone.

Best of luck!

:D

The knight's focus allowed her to tune out the oohs and the ahs of the small crowd as she started off her routine. With martial and acrobatic prowess she began to cut through a horde of imaginary enemies on that dark, sandy stage. A fiery phantom followed her, its movements mirroring her own because her motions were what spawned the glowing trail created by her hair, sword, and clothing. And the crowd was with her every step of the way as she fought that horde, bursting into applause as one particularly spectacular move had her spinning in a motion that made Lyra look like a fiery tornado....

And that was when it happened. As if triggered by the applause of the dozen faeries watching the redhead, her pants and top began to vibrate incessantly against her nipples and crotch. The stimulation was overwhelming, and the blood which had already been pumping due to the physical nature of her performance began to quickly flow to more stimulating places. It persisted as long as the clapping persisted and seemed to react more powerfully based on the number applauding. It would eventually force her to halt for a moment so that the spectators would stop lest it cause her to let out a gasp or lose her footing. It seemed her performance had just gained an extra challenge.
 
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Astarte

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra nearly stumbled as the clothing she was wearing suddenly started vibrating, and against some very sensitive places at that. She was lucky that it was dark, and that the enchantments would already be tinting her in their fiery glow, or the flushing of her skin would be more visible. She should have known Abla had ulterior motives, that there was some trick behind all of this. Should have checked the clothes first, figured out all of the enchantments for herself.

She was forced to stop for a brief moment, keeping a fighting stance to make this look like it was just a part of the performance, the vibrations becoming too intense to ignore. Fortunately when the applause stopped the vibrations stopped too, leading her to believe that was the trigger, rather than being under Abla's control directly. If they had been alone, Lyra would have stopped right there and stormed over to give the blacksmith a piece of her mind, but she had more than a dozen sets of eyes on her. She knew the sort of rumours that would spawn from this if they found out what was going on, and her pride wouldn't let her stop without finishing for something like this. It had been unexpected the first time, but she could bear this.

Transitioning smoothly into the next part of her routine, Lyra's movements became less flashy, but more methodical. She was on the defensive now, as if slowly being overwhelmed. She dodged and parried, no longer confining herself to the center of the stage, but moving within a small radius around it. As she reached the climax of this scene she dropped to one knee, another cantrip scattering the sand beneath her and throwing her hair back once again. She paused there for a brief moment, just long enough for the dust to settle and her hair to drop back down, the glowing tips fanned out across the ground behind her, with her sword raised as if blocking a strike from above. The pause was only brief, and just as the glowing trails left in her wake faded, she sprang up from her position in a sudden reversal of the defensive fighting she had been doing, a sweeping parry into a quick riposte, followed by a series of swift strikes, finishing with a full spin into a roundhouse kick delivered to her phantom opponent.

Just going to go with Normal for this round. And resisting pleasure for now.

She is not going to be very happy with Abla when this is over.
 
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Hafnium

Hafnium

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Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium

Lyra: HP = 31/70, PP = 54/60, EP = 26/50, Status = Excited
Stuff
End of Round 2:
HP = 55/70
PP = 54/60
EP = 26/50

Total Successes: 10

End of Round 3:
HP = 31/70
PP = 54/60
EP = 10/50

Total Successes: 13

End of Round 4:
HP = 31/70
PP = 54/60
EP = 26/50

Total Successes: 11

Beginning of Round 5:
Total Successes: 11

Lyra's willpower held strong against the vibrations, allowing her mostly to ignore any of the pleasure they might've otherwise caused as she proceeded through the next part of her sword dance. More than anything it was the distraction of needing to ignore that stimulation which tripped the faerie up and made the dance much more exhausting for the supernatural humanoid than it would've been otherwise. Trying to kick, cut, and flourish in such a way that used the full effects of her enchanted weapon and clothing and allowed her to avoid revealing the additional enchantments on the latter was tiring and split her attentions badly.

One such example came when one of her more impressive roundhouse kicks caused a round of applause that triggered vibrations strong enough that she had to drop her leg to the ground in order to avoid being thrown off balance and crashing into the dirt, only she did so a little too quickly and stumbled forward a few steps anyway, which at least had the result of stopping the applause and by extension the vibrations. Another came after a stunning moulinette with her sword that had it spinning through the air parrying and turning aside the blows of a dozen unseen enemies, which sparked more applause which in turn forced Lyra to become more conservative with her sword's motions lest she cut herself due to the distraction of the vibrations.

But despite it all, the knight had thus far done relatively well. The audience still watched her performance with rapt attention and overall seemed to be enjoying it. And Lyra had come almost halfway through it without doing anything to make anyone spectating her the wiser about what her clothing was doing to her as they watched. Her first showing of this particular dance would surely be considered a reasonable success even if she took it easy throughout the remainder of it. The only real question was if reasonably successful was enough for the prideful knight, given the extra circumstances making it harder for her to perform.
 
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