I'm a pretty pretty Princess! Let's Play Long Live the Queen

I'd ask if you're sure if that's what color hair the children would have but I think trying to determine the dominance of anime hair color traits is a sure path to madness.

Especially here; I'm pretty sure there's no apparent source of Briony's green hair.

(I have no idea what constitutes a spoiler with this game, so I'm being super-paranoid about it.)

Maybe spoiler dyes it? *shrug*
Or it could be a curse. Or some magical portent.

Who knows...

OFF WITH HIS PANTS!

Before we get started, there is one important thing I think needs addressing:

I always figured it was like blending two colors on a color wheel. I figure Elodie and Talarist will have some nice violet haired children.

Let's get hitched and find out for sure!





Doesn't look like we'll be getting King Dad's blessing though.



Joslyn: Your Grace, are you not aware that my daughter has only fourteen summers?

Elodie: It's my decision.

Oh right, that whole age of consent thing. Welcome to Novabama!



Ok, an arranged marriage is slightly less disconcerting.

Talarist: If I might be of service in any way, please, send for me. I will be happy to offer my protection or advice.

Joslyn: ...

Doesn't mean King Dad has to like it though.

Let's go visit with Fidelia and see if we can remember any relevant life lessons she taught us.





Nope. Just spooky, depressing foreshadowing. Thanks Mom!

On to more important matters: new clothes! One of the quality of life improvements in the big content patch that came out while I was on hiatus was that the menu screen now shows you when you have a new outfit to try on.





For getting all our Demeanor skills up to snuff, we get the princess's coronet and royal garb.



Now we look like royalty!

As an added bonus, each outfit boosts all the skills in each category of it's origin group by 10 points. These will help you pass skill checks, but doesn't have any impact on training times. Only innate skills and mood bonuses can speed that up.



Now then, let's finish training up Presence so we can get the magical mcguffin that is our birthright!



We pretend to be a tree and pretend to acknowledge others in the morning,



then practice imposing our will upon everything and everyone in the castle.



Before we move on however, someone is requesting the Queen's justice.



That's what I said...



Meet Kevan, the angriest noble in all of Nova.

Let's see if we can get a little background before we go handing out pardons.



Kevan: Corisande, the Duchess of Mead.

Elodie: Is she all right? (Novan History -> Failed)

Kevan: She is unharmed. We caught the culprit in the kitchens before anyone could eat her foul spew.

Elodie: Well, what do you have to say for yourself?



Poor lady doesn't even get a portrait to plead her case with.

Condemned Woman: Lied to her, they did, when she went to see why he'd not come back. Said he'd gone for a soldier, when he never would!
He weren't the only one neither. I waited ten years for my chance to get my own back. That's justice!

Kevan: You see? She's completely unrepentant! Hang her and be done with it.



Great, now we need to decide this woman's fate while being completely in the dark as to what actually happened. Being the highest authority in the land sure is fun.



Decide this woman's fate Talking Time!

killing is wrong. let's kill her.

She only attempted murder, so put her in prison.

Does Nova have anything like the Code of Hammurabi?

Test -> Novan History (Failed)

I don't even know if they have a Comics Code.

Put her to work, I say. Can always use more workers.

Someone's going to be pissed no matter what we do, so it might as well be the convict. Kill her.

When it says "put her to work", does it mean like, as an assassin? She doesn't seem all that capable if so.

More like a slave.

It's more of an indentured servitude state where she'd be doing hard labor as punishment.

Also, start thinking about the next long term goal for training. I'm pretty sure it's going to be 'max out Lumen and laugh as they fall before our mystic might' but I wanted to check

Medical skills and history. I wanted you to be a doctor THE WHOLE GAME and now we're just failing history checks left and right so...

Our lost History opportunities are sunk costs by now. Battlefield Medicine and Dance might still save the day!

Hand to hand combat is for the help. If a Queen has to murder people with her hands herself, things have gone way wrong. Murdering people with magic tho, that's a queenly thing to do (especially in this weird anime world)

So then I guess you've never heard of Queen Boudica?

I'm all for learning magic stuff if possible. If not, battlefield medicine and dance are good ideas.

I am 100% good with putting all our training into magic

We're still running a three way tie as to what to do with the prisoner. If anybody else has thoughts on the matter, speak now, or I'm going to leave her fate to Fortune's whims so I can get the next update out this weekend.

Happy new year everybody! Let's dispense some indiscriminate justice!

Since we were stuck in a 3 way tie on what to do with our prisoner, random.org came along and just decided to split the difference.





Elodie: You will be imprisoned for the rest of your life.

Condemned woman: Ye'll not have me!

All of a sudden, she breaks loose from her guards and rushes you! In your Court dress, you are unarmed - you grope for a weapon and find only a heavy golden ornament which you hurl in her direction. Your missile flies wide of it's mark. (Archery -> failed)

Before you have a chance to do anything else, your personal guards step into action, cutting the woman down before she can endanger you. Her lifeless body lies bleeding on your carpet.



Damn. I think all the princessing is starting to get to her.

Let's take our mind off the slaughter by going and grabbing the mcguffin we've been working for all this time.





You're damn right nobody is going to bar me from my own treasury.

The glitter is dazzling, but some sixth sense draws you towards one little locked box in particular. This is what you need. THIS is the crystal that will make you a Lumen. You tuck the box into your pocket. You can show it to your mentor later and get instructions on what to do next.

Alright! We finally got our crystal. Now we just need to go see Julianna to find out how to work the darn thing.

Here's where we stand right now:



The general consensus seems to be to focus on Dance, Battlefield Medicine, and Magic - not necessarily in that order. Since we already have a decent number of points in Agility, I go ahead and train up Flexibility so we can start pumping Dance as much as we want.



It's all basic exercises at this point, but still useful.





Plus we get a new outfit out of the deal! Before we get a chance to try it on though, there's some business back at the castle that needs tending to.





So something's up with that owl, but we aren't sure what. Eh, I'm sure it's nothing, let's go see what King Dad is up to.

When you return to the castle, your father is waiting for you.





All those years of skipping history classes at school continues to bite us. Just remember, if your kids ever ask why they need to know this stuff, tell them that it'll be important in case of eldritch creature attacks. Fortunately, King Dad can fill us in on the gist.

Joslyn: A beast with the body of an enormous golden cat, a sharp beak, and spikes on its back.
Elodie: Eek!
Joslyn: Several disappearances in southern Caloris are already thought to be the work of this creature.
Elodie: What do we do? Should we send hunters?
Joslyn: The traditional policy on stray beasts is to hope that they return to the forest and stay there.
Hunters are no match for such creatures. You would only make it angry and waste more lives.
Elodie: So... we just let it eat people?
Joslyn: Everyone dies in the end.



Man, that was depressing. Also, I don't think King Dad is coping as well with Fidelia's death as he lets on.

Enough screwing around - let's go see a woman about a crystal.





Elodie: What do I do now?





This is it Talking Time - do you want to play fast and loose with the laws of the universe, or do we play it safe and do things the old fashioned way?

Do it!

Do it!

Our skillset is so odd I'm not sure we can survive without magic...

Magic is not the answer.

Magic is the question. The answer is yes.

Yesssssss

Do it! Live out the American Novan dream!