Memories of Connor's Adventures

Orlando the Adventurer pulled a Scimitar from beneath his Robes and smiled...

Saturday 27 July 2019

Short Fiction: How I killed my first Dragon at the age of twelve

Title: The Journey of Kukukut - how I killed my first dragon at the age of twelve

Rin
Rin had discovered the giant egg in the Chest amongst her grandmother's secrets.
Not being particularly aware of its origins or nature Rin removed it from the chest and took it to the kitchen where she proceeded to break it into the largest bowl to examine.
Satisfied it was not rotten Rin added sliced bacon and beat the egg and sliced bacon mixture pouring the mix into a large pie dish before setting the bacon and egg pie into the baking shelf in the fireplace.

Millicent the Golden
Removed from the protection magic of the chest, the magical runes placed on that egg by its Mother long ago now alerted that same Mother to its presence in the World, and subsequently its fate. Millicent, who had moments before been inspecting fruits in the market place only to find herself stabbed through heart and soul by the most murderous of blades, now roused from a domestic slumber. Millicent became enraged with madness, and transformed into a huge gold dragon, breathed an infernal fire across the hundred wretched humans who surrounded her amongst the market stalls.
From that charnal house Millicent launched skyward and flew toward the village of the distant child murderer who would now feel the wrath of Millicent the Golden.

Rin
Rin plunged the blade tentatively into the heart of the pie staring at the pie and then again at the egg shell and then again at the pie. It was a big egg. Much bigger than any hen egg. But it had looked like an egg should look. And the pie had, according to previous experience cooking with her grandmother, turned out correctly. Rin slid the knife in deeper. Rin smelled the good smells as she sat and stared at the pie cooling on the heavy timber table.
Rin traced the blade across the pie slicing portions for her and her grandmother and after a while she halted.
Her hunger seized control and she ripped at the pie with her hand plunging the stolen handful into her mouth. Her world trembled with the a terrible realization. This pie was all for Rin.


Millicent the Golden
The roof of the hut torn asunder, revealing a dragon filled sky to its singular occupant, Millicent stared down at the child with the pie. Confused, Millicent looked about and saw the shattered egg shell. Millicent returned her gaze to the hungry child and the pie. Millicent focused on the interior until she found a smell she was familiar with. The odour of a recently deceased corpse came from a bed.
Millicent returned her gaze to the monstrous and hungry predator that had stuffed a handful of stolen and murdered future in her mouth...

End Game: No more Dungeons & Dragons...

I gave my last set of Dice and my two boxes of tatty and damaged Dungeons & Dragons books to my cousin. Something she can play with her kids and grandkids.

I told her its a educational and fun game all about killing folks and taking their stuff.


Friday 19 July 2019

Real World: Kyoto Animation Fire

You probably already know that Kyoto Animation was destroyed in a fire when an individual entered the building and and using petroleum set fire to workers and the building killing over thirty of the people within, and greatly injuring about as many. They created amongst their many works Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid which I only saw just recently and enjoyed. All their computers and servers were also destroyed claiming current and future works.

                    
The List
2020
  • Violet Evergarden : the Movie

2019
  • Free!-Road to the World-the Dream
  • Sound! Euphonium The Movie-Our Promise: A Brand New Day-

2018
  • Tsurune
  • Free!-Dive to the Future-
  • Liz and the Blue Bird
  • Violet Evergarden
  • Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! -Take On Me-

2017
  • Free! -Take Your Marks-
  • Baja's Studio
  • Sound! Euphonium The Movie -May the melody reach you!-
  • Free! -Timeless Medley- the Promise
  • Free! -Timeless Medley- the Bond
  • Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid


2016
  • Sound! Euphonium2
  • A Silent Voice : The Movie
  • Sound! Euphonium The Movie -Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band-
  • Myriad Colors Phantom World

2015
  • High Speed! the movie -Free! Starting Days-
  • Sound! Euphonium
  • Beyond the Boundary -I'LL BE HERE-


2014
  • Amagi Brilliant Park
  • Free! -Eternal Summer-
  • Tamako love story
  • Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb-

2013
  • Beyond the Boundary
  • Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions the Movie: Rikka Takanashi Revision
  • Free! -Iwatobi Swim Club-
  • Tamako Market


2012
  • Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions
  • Hyōka

2011
  • K-ON! the Movie
  • Nichijo
  • 2010
  • K-ON!!
  • The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

2009
  • The Last War of the Heavanliods and Akutoliods
  • Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya(2009)
  • K-ON!
  • Suzumiya Haruhi Chan no Mahjong
  • Nyoron Churuya-san
  • Sora wo Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai

2008
  • CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~

2007
  • CLANNAD(ON TV)
  • Lucky Star

2006
  • Kanon(ON TV)
  • Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya(2006)

2005
  • Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
  • MUNTO 2: Beyond the Walls of Time
  • AIR(ON TV)

2003
  • Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu
  • MUNTO
                       


The building was apparently a death trap with no fire escapes, people will need to answer for that as well.


Do No Harm.
The Hippocratic Oath can extend beyond doctors to everyone.
If you are considering doing something harmful, take the time to think about your actions and the consequences and choose to do no harm.

Tuesday 16 July 2019

Creature Catalogue: The Tiro Tree

The Tiro Tree
AC 6
HD 40,000 (320,000hp)
MV 0' (0')
AT nil
DA nil
SA Fighter L36
NA 1(unique)
ML 12
TT nil
AL Neutral
XP 9,997,250

This ancient tree stands two hundred feet tall and overlooks the valley of Valley of Mune.

Monday 15 July 2019

Manga Cycle: The Journey of Kukukut

Cover Art
Kukukut is going to be a goth loli manga written and illustrated for children in Japanese by me, apologies ahead of time as I murder the Japanese language. I will try to do one page a day as I attempt to teach myself Japanese.

Sunday 14 July 2019

Dungeon Mastery: Anime that sets your Instincts on edge

Get off my lawn...
If its for my daughter, I'd even defeat a Demon Lord
There are only two episodes out at this point. A check of the wiki says there are twelve for the season so I should wait for it all to come out.

That being said, having watched the first two episodes it sets my Adventurer's Instincts on edge. This has calm before the tidal wave of tragedy written all over it...

Spoilers up the wazoo:

An 18 year old adventurer named Dale is adventuring in the forest a few miles from the base town when he encounters a malnourished demon child named Latina who is lured from the undergrowth by the smell of a cooking fish (not sure where he found a fish on a forested mountain...) which he lets her eat (warning to kids: fish have fine bones so dont eat them like a hotdog sausage). He learns her father is dead, so he uses magic on the ground and remains and then puts up a marker stone.

 The Demonic Tongue & Spell Magic                                                   
 We learn that the Demonic Tongue spoken by Latina and the     
 spoken Magic used by Dale are the same Language. This             
 effectivly makes a Read Magic necessary to read Demonic and  
 Demonic and Magic a Spoken Language (Arcane?).                       

Dale and Latina arrive at the gates of town and Dale pays the guard at the gate a toll of two silver coins for the pair to enter. They go to the 'Striped Cat' tavern where Dale has a room. He baths her (using magic induced hot water), and gets a child's smock from Rita who lives in the tavern along with her husband (some beard-faced guy). He feeds her a meal, and after she starts helping out around the tavern struggling to fetch empty plates at the horror of the patrons terrified she will trip and drop them, settles in. By the end of episode one Dale decides to adopt her, and blow his savings on shoes and clothing for his adopted daughter.
In episode two Dale leaves Latina in the tavern under the care of Rita and husband while he goes off and does adventuring stuff. Apparently he must show the creature he was hunting and killing to his patron. Meanwhile Rita's husband goes shopping for potatoes and Latina tags along only to become separated and lost. A frantic search for Latina begins and Rita offers a reward to whoever returns her. Dale arrives later in the day and learning she is lost, panics, going off to search for his daughter.
Meanwhile children encounter Latina and after another girl beats up the boys for bullying her.

 Healing Magic                                                                                         
 Latina uses heal magic to heal a bruised knee. By the looks of   
 it she draws on her life force to heal the injured child. Heal       
 Magic looks like a hit-point transfer of one hit point usable by  
 any (zero-level?) Demon.                                                                     

So her new friends learn she is from the striped cat tavern (an adventurer dive) and proceed to escort her home.
Along the way they encounter a man who was at the tavern and he has the children escort her all the way to the tavern where they recieve a reward (food?). Dale eventually returns and is happy she is safe. He also teaches her the local human language so she is intelligent enough to learn to speak two languages.

It looks like a series worth watching... but as I pointed out at the beginning, My instincts tell me its going to be a tragedy.

Sunday 7 July 2019

Dungeon Mastery: More Anime in your cheesecake

Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor: Glenn has for the last year been sponging off the head mistress of a magical academy living in her house. But in a cruel plot twist she decides he is going to be a temporary lecturer. And being the disinterested kind of slacker he doesnt take his job seriously, showing up to class on the first day half way through to the disgust of the mandatory cat-eared student/rich girl who has a particularly distorted worldview on the usefulness of magic. The lecturer proceeds to display a lack of effort in teaching to the point where at one point he doesnt even bother finishing writing his first sentance on the chalk board before sitting down and dozing off. Rich cat girl goes off calling him out and he prevokes her into disclosing her worldview on magic with all its peaches and cream for everyone delusion before he breaks her by informing her that unlike medicine or agriculture which has helped the masses magic is purely for killing. She promptly challenges him to a magic duel and he stands by an lets the student electrocute him with a Shock-volt spell (lets call this a magic missile variant).
Relaxing that evening on a building roof he spots a student in a lab trying to create a summoning circle. He breaks in on her and she confesses she cant get it to work at which he shows it was simply insufficient mercury and helps her get it done.
Next class he demonstrates his own shockvolt on the chalkboard before writing out the spell in runic which we learn has been adopted as the standard magic script. The shockvolt comes in three 'sentances' and he asks what happens if you break the spell into four sentances. After a suggestion that it produces a wild result, he calls the students idiots for knowing nothing about magic and proceeds to their shock and horror to demonstrate that the four sentance break causes the shockvolt to literally curve to the right. He demonstrates several more variations on the shock-volt spell by adjusting the phrasing getting numerous results, including a paralyze spell (a hold person variant).
It all quickly escalates early in the series to a terrorist attack on the school by a group of rogue magicusers while the other lecturers are off for the day at a conference.
Glenn is attacked in the courtyard while terrorists come and collect a particular student and take her away, their lecturer having apparently been killed. Cat eared girl is on the verge of being raped by a terrorist when her lecturer shows up and at her prompting eventually decides to rescue her. They proceed to fight hard to save the day taking out the terrorists and rescuing the abducted student in some bad ass heroics to break multiple levels of barrier spell with counter magic written in his own blood. By the end of these early episodes we understand this magical lecturer is a serious bad ass hiding in plain sight.
In terms of lore development, magic is suddenly a multidimensional look-up table of every possible rune combination that generate every possible effect from those combinations including varying range, and power.

Later episodes reveal even more background on the magic lecturer as he develops his student's skills and we get some world building.

Grimoire of Zero:  A Beast-fallen white tiger (like a lycanthrope without lycanthropy, but still a curse) mercenary and witch hunter encounters a couple of young witches, one who wants his head for ritual magic, the other who feels he owes her a replacement meal for landing on her cooking fire. The witch named Zero takes the beastman under contract and having used him as a warm mattress for the evening uses hus shoulder ad a riding seat. While witch number two tags along. Early on we learn some world building:

  • Witches have waged a war with the church for hundreds of years and have lost.
  • Magic is either a sorcery pact with a demon, or a new kind of magic learned from a grimoire.
  • there are multiple political factions of spell casters:
  1. Witches of Zero who are a resistance fighting oppression and extermination by humans, and have the Grimoire of Zero from which they can learn magic (which we learn Zero is not a member of, but is ultimately entirely the source of their magic book).
  2. Rogue witches murdering humans left and right.
  3. State Mages who are exterminating all other witches.
Zero isnt a member of any of these groups. She demonstrates a magical prowess with the ability to deny another wizard use of a spell from the book of zero which she scribed as a child living in a cave with some witches before departing to explore the world. Her grimoire has been stolen and used to teach magic to others. They all journey through settlements, and cities reaching the capital for a showdown.

How not to summon a demon lord: Demon lord Diablo (a pc name of an online gamer) is pulled into a game universe by two inept characters who stuff up because the spell reflection ring on Diablo's finger reflects their bind soul magic on them and he winds up with two slave girls (not quite the standard sexy harem as one is the runaway elf princess). Here beastfallen are refered to as fallen (barbaric outcast animal people), demihumans are a generic term for the sexy cat and bunny girls while dwarves and elves are definitive groups, and there are humans and demons (Diablo being one). Diablo, like the primary character of Ainz Ooal Gown from the Overlord anime is obscenely powerful compared to the characters in the setting. Consequently most 'powerful' NPCs are embarrassingly squashed with minimum effort on repeated occasions thanks to his ring of spell reflection and his nuclear level spell which leaves a crater where an invading army of fallen used to be (other than the local human lord who might even be his near equal). The hero is definatly a pervert and this earns its mature/adult rating. He almost wipes out the elven kingdom after his elf slave is abducted by her vile brother.

These three anime offer an aerial view of their setting's cities:

Bastard Magic Lecturer: this has a city straddling a river and surrounding shield wall. With the academy backed up against a mountain. Its a clean, spotless city maintained with magic.
Grimoire of Zero: this has a city backed by a horseshoe cliff-face with multiple growth walls guarding its down slope forming an inner and outer city. Its streets are like the last paved in stone brick though narrower, and we see signs of slavery, abuse, inequality and racism, and public executions.

Demon Lord: this city straddles a cross-roads and is confined by a hexagonal shield wall. Roads are apparently 'dirt', and slaves are a part of the setting.


These three cities are very different at ground level yet come with streets and alleys overlooked by buildings two or three stories high. All lack the continuous flow of farm produce necessary to feed the populace by any means less than significant instantaneous magic food production, and you dont realy see sewers to deal with waste. At night a character might be attacked by some villainous spellcaster from a dark alley in all three cities.

                                       
Three spells:


Minor Runes (1st level)
Range: As spell effect
Duratìon: as spell effect
This spell allows the caster to produce any first level spell simply by varying the spoken magic of the minor runes spell. 


Hunting Quiver (2nd level)
Range: 0'
Duration: permanant until dispelled
This spell comes with a spell storage state allowing the magicuser to stockpile magic missile arrows up to one per spell caster level in the quiver. These can be drawn and fired once per round with what appears to be a magic glowing bow made of energy by the mage.

Light Bombardment (3rd level)
Range: 200' 
Duration: 1 round
This spell unleashes damage equal to the hitpoints of the spell caster. The area of bombardment is subjected to bombardment by an intense light affecting a volume of ten feet of radius per spell caster level. Damaging ground, structures, and opponents.

Dungeon Mastery: two More Anime

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: A young single woman working in a salaried job gets drunk on a giant bottle of 'Dragon Slayer' and wanders up into the mountains where she encounters a large green dragon and befriends her. 'Lady Tohru' flies into the city and arriving at Miss Kobayashi's apartment shape-shifts into a maid. She becomes a part of Kobayashi's home life but not up on the norms of human existence gets her learning from the internet. She lets her dragon friends know where she is.
As the series progresses, her location is revealed to the white dragon Kanna (who lives shapeshifted into a very young goth lollie reminiscent of kirsten dunst in interview with a vampire). She moves in with Miss Kobayashi while Tohru is at the shops... and is adopted as Miss Kobayashi's Ward.
Both of these dragons exhibit the ability to shapeshift into a humanoid form and later in the series both open a gate to the planes putting their spell casting powers at 18th level magic-user (BECMI) minimums.
Other Dragons converging on Miss Kobayashi's personal space are a shape shifting black Dragon (whose name slips me for now) and the rather mature Feathered Serpent Quetzocoatl who we find has her own 'place' that seems to involve having moved in with a wizard family (she encountered a very young male wizard conducting a demon summoning ritual in the park and gated through his gate before he did something silly like summon an actual demon). She moved into his bedroom and given her willingness to bathe in his bath he is fairly she is a sucubus there to distress the living hell out of him as she imposes herself on the young wizard's life. We learn the feathered serpent is also goddess of civilization.
Not all dragons are capable of gate travel. A blue Aquatic dragon is unable to gate. Even though shapechange is prevalant, perception blocking (which is both invisibility and non-detection) is something Tohru can do, yet the young Kanna is unable to perform.
After getting a new larger apartment and leaving behind her single life, the black dragon Fafnir (oh hey... I remembered) moves in with Miss Kobayashi's male work colleague because both males bond over a love of mariocart and other Nintendo (WEii?) gaming, and Fafnir gets into Manga publishing (writing two books of world-ending curses that dont sell).
Kanna starts going to school, befriending a particular young female student (they both have Maids) who starts experiencing odd feelings of attraction to Kanna from the slightest physical, or emotional interaction.
The season/series ends with Tohru's father taking her back to the other planes and Miss Kobayashi going to the planes with Kanna's gate travel to confront Tohru's Father over the matter of their Relationship- he doesnt approve. We also get the full story of Kobayashi's encounter with Tohru in the mountains, and a very drunk Kobayashi pulling a seriously epic sword from the wounded Tohru and inviting her to move in with her.

Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a Dungeon: This is a more D&D fantasy centred tale. The setting is specifically one where the gods have descended/fallen to the world and their strength is measured in worshipers. Enter a chance encounter between a zero XP human and the zero worshiper goddess named Hestia in an alley in 'the town above the dungeon'. They take residence in an old church in the ruins of the outer city. The city isnt just located above a dungeon (50+ dungeon levels). Its centred around a great pillar that looms skyward.
Hero encounters a female warrior named Ains who saved him from a minotaur that invaded the upper levels. Soaked in minotaur blood he flees to the surface obsessed with (getting stronger than) Ains. He has friendships with females at a local adventurers tavern of whom his goddess does not approve- he is her worshiper. He slowly adventures alone-acquiring a young porter (indebted to a nasty guild who worship a barrel of narcotic alcohol). She cheats him but he sticks with her. And she sets him up to be killed, but is betrayed by her guild and left for dead. He sticks with her and she becomes loyal to the hero. Eventually hero progressed in power slaying a minotaur that some other individual has taught to fight with a powerful weapon and encouraged it into the upper levels.
Hero impresses Ains and her Party by defeating the Minotaur.
He joins up with an armourer and the trio adventure together.
Eventually he reaches lower levels of the dungeon having been forced downward by a tidal wave of monsters. His goddess organizes a rescue party to save him, and delves deep into the dungeon.
He becomes a significant hero defeating a Goliath (more on par with a mountain giant) and his goddess becomes popular with other warriors as she starts fighting to protect them as well.


Wednesday 3 July 2019

Basic Expert: Artefacts





These unique Artefacts may be imbued with a character's experience points to invest power of the Immortals though doing so will with power require handicaps and penalties to be taken.

The Comb of the Lady
Though having the appearance of a fine cockle shell comb of three gems and six tynes, it casts the shadows of only five tynes. It grants anyone wearing it in their hair a female form of considerable grace (raising dexterity to 18 while worn and any male wearing it will permanantly become female).
Each of the three gems may be imbued with another powerful female character of an alternate class as a prison allowing the wearer to swap between individuals once per day per gemstone.

The Manual of Glorious Heroics
Having the appearance of a small parchment cover binding, the manual may have spells and abilities scribed in it that allow the posessor to cast those spells or use those abilities as though it were an ordinary magic item accessible by any class.
At the time of discovery, it has knowledge of turning undead as a first level cleric, and first level thief skills climb walls, detect traps, and hide in shadows.


Claymore of Obsidian
This three and a half feet long short sword-like weapon that grants the ability to learn observed character skills such as a specific spell being cast, or thief skill being used. The weapon is usable by any fighter, thief, dwarf, or halfling.












The Staff of Mastery
The staff will grow or shrink to match the user, granting magicuser or cleric spell use to any Demihuman (dwarf, halfling, elf).
At time of discovery the ironwood staff has a magicuser read magic spell ability and the ability to add spell slots at experience equal to clerics and magic users.

Dungeon Mastery: Anime in your Cheesecake

Teen Girls with cat ears...
Overlord, Fairy Tail, Rise of the Shield Hero, Gate. All four Anime (and assumedly their source manga) provide a cross section of Fantasy RPG.

Overlord: an Online RPG becomes a hellish prison for one player who having won all the battles, and risen with his online friends to surplant the gods and build a great Tomb where even his lowest undead skeleton ceremonial visit army sport magic armour, and weapons, finds that being last to log-off is impossible. The 'Lich-god' and his NPC tomb guardians awaken to a new setting that seems to have harvested a few of the creatures and magics he and his companions created. As the Overlord investigates the surrounding landscape he becomes involved in the horrors that men inflict on one another. Sword-wielding soldiers raiding a village, indulging in brutality against the villagers. He proceeds to rescue a young girl and a child swatting the soldiers like mosquitos even with his minimum power expenditure. He animates a death-knight from the corpse of one soldier and sends it off to slaughter all the armoured warriors. Over time the Overlord becomes aware of the larger landscape, the village sits in the disputed borderlands of a kingdom, accessible by nearby mountain passes by two other nations. A Theocracy is attempting to initiate war by dressing up soldiers in the uniforms of another land and destroy the village...
The interactive game setting escalates until the overlord and his army side with a kingdom in a small conflict in which he exhibits the power to summon unique cthulhu level elder beings to the battle field. In this case he summons the giant Nyarlathotep (the crawling chaos, black goat of the woods)... and getting lucky he 'summons five of them'. The Overlord enjoys an inner monologue where we learn he is just getting accidentally lucky and his npc servitors think it all an expression of his god-level strategic genius.

Fairy Tail: A gate-key mage who sports magic keys enchanted with a specific gate spell summoning a planar entity with whom they must make a pact to continue to summon in combat for short time, and a spell mage who was trained by a dragon arrive in a coastal town meeting some jerk passing himself off as 'the Salamander', and flirts with charms with magic rings all the girls. He invites them to his 'yacht' where he puts them to sleep with plans to sell the ladies in the next port. The key-mage is rescued from the charms of her abductor and befriends the other fire-casting character eventually getting a walk-in invite to join the local magic guild known as fairy tail. From there they adventure together. The different kinds of magic users transcends the differing magic guilds that are scattered across the land. They quickly come into conflict with dark magic guilds, and non-guild mages.

Rise of the Shield Hero: The hero is pulled into an immersive RPG setting with three other PCs. Soul-bound to legendary artefacts (sword, bow, spear, and shield), the primary pc becomes bound to the dump artefact of 'shield'. Party selection goes well as the npcs choose anyone other than the shield hero. A lady mage takes sympathy on him and joins his group only to lodge complaint of rape against him and robbing him blind. He is outcast, and filled with hate and distrust is mistreated by other npcs as he struggles to rise in power, finds he cant use any weapon other than his shield and situational awareness of the reality of the 'game setting'. He scrapes together some wealth and buys a racoon girl from a slaver and slowly teaching her to become his sword comes to cares for her in her illness and suffering. Eventually she grows from child to teen. Further encounters with the other legendary heroes are tainted by the fact he owns a slave, and the machinations of the lady-mage who conspired to destroy him (whom he finds out is the daughter of the king). Over time he aquires another child-slave which further taints his interactions with others and is used against him.
Overtime he unlocks the shield powers by achieving certain outcomes, absorbing monster parts, herbs, alloys and metals, poisons, into the shield. Eventually he gets some justice toppling the king and daughter, though the queen gives off a vibe that suggests she might be behind everything.

Gate: The slacker-hero enjoys manga, anime, conventions, and doing the bare minimum in 'military service'. So when an interdimensional gate opens in Tokyo from which pour dragons (wyverns) and soldiers who kill a large number of civilians, he proves heroic by rescuing a few people and is demoted upwards through military ranks until he is part of an expeditionary force that ventures into the new world.
He and his subordinate soldiers save a few villagers, rescue an elf from a massacred village, and drive off a Flame-Dragon. Its a modern army vs fantasy nightmare. He acquires three companions: a Teenage mage, the blond elf, and a 900+ year old teen-Goth girl, colossal executioners pole-axe wielding, demi-godess/oracle name-level murderhobo refered to by the fearful populace as 'Rory the Reaper'. The army slowly begin to interact with the empire achieving a momentary peace. The hero takes an imperial princess and his three companion loli-girls back through the gate to japan for some diplomacy only to come face to face with the earthly realities of international politics. The Reaper puts a politician in her place by explaining that she is indeed more than nine hundred years old, and after shopping, they stop at a hotsprings where their perimeter guard hold off a number of extraction teams. After escaping and meeting the slacker-hero's ex-wife they return to the other side of the gate and become involved in a military conflict-defending a town from a raiding army.
The imperial princess comes to understand the military threat to her empire posed by even a small technologically advanced state such as japan.

"That being Said..." which appeared in common language thanks to Leonard Nimoy's Spock in the J.J. Abrams Star treks puts in an appearance...

What can a magic wielding world offer humanity? Gate magic could be explored, advanced, and put in space to allow inter planetary travel. Other nations understand the other world to be a bottomless pit of exploitable resources. Something that will lead to conflict.

Art Folio: Another lost soul