The OP Lich is a Returnee, Book 23 Prologue (Patreon)

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Magical World Disharmony Server, General Chat)

UsualSuspect, manoutoftime, muon, MewTwo, Avariel, Chummer, Golddigger, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, MacD, Inquisitor, OrangeQueen, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, BabyShark, Lichwatcher, Not_the_Face!, TheLichQueen, Scholar, Salty, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, BackDat@55Up and DarkAngel are in the chat.

Blaze: Holy shit! Did you see the video coming out of Atlanta?

Inquisitor: You mean the one where our favorite Lich was walking in a parade as a giant fuck-off undead dragon? Yeah, I think the entire aethernet has seen it, by now.

GrimDark: Fuck, if I had known that was going to happen, I would have paid for the teleporter to Atlanta. Talk about missed opportunities. I’m sure the convention would have gotten a huge boost if they’d told people about her being there. Why didn’t they advertise ahead of time?

DarkAngel: Probably because of ‘missed opportunities’. Remember, she has enemies. She has the raw power to crush any half-assed attack without thinking. And half-assed is the best you’d get with no time to plan against her.

Lichwatcher: According to my sources, that’s half-right, DA. Part of the reason her presence wasn’t advertised until that Friday morning panel was already seated is because they didn’t want anyone who might want to cause trouble to have time to actually plan things.

DarkAngel: What was the other part? Or parts?

Lichwatcher: Another part was that the convention staff didn’t want the convention to become ‘Lichcon’ instead of Dragoncon. Advertise too early, and everything ends up being about her, which wouldn’t be healthy for the convention as a whole.

DigDug: Yeah, I can see that. Advertising actual royalty showing up as a headliner for the con would fuck with the demographics a lot.

Lichwatcher: And the third reason is because apparently LQ was very late in asking to be part of the convention. She was a last-minute addition to those panels she was on.

TheLichQueen: Not entirely last-minute. I contacted the convention staff a month in advance, and asked if they would make an exception to their rules about the guest application window. I was also the one who asked them to keep things quiet, until my first panel, because I didn’t want to overshadow the other guests too much, and because, as DarkAngel said, it gave people less time to get bright ideas about stupid actions.

MightMakesRight: Damn, so, other than the parade, what were you doing at the convention?

TheLichQueen: Well, I was on a bunch of panels, obviously. Mostly talking about either anime or magic, though I was in a panel talking about mikos and worship in Japan, since I’d served as a miko for the Hie Shrine in the Nagatachō district, of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo when I was a girl. I’ve also established good relations with the various shrines and temples since my return.

TheLichQueen: I also showed up to a group cosplay photoshoot for the Mahou Shoujo Kikansha anime, which made a lot of people happy. Then, there was a Monday meet and greet. Oh, and I got added to a panel on Rule 34, which was amusing.

muon: Wait, the staff added YOU to a porn panel? WHY?

TheLichQueen: Part of the deal for making sure they kept things quiet until my first panel on Friday. I promised that I would join one of the ‘after dark’ 18+ panels. I guess they decided that the R34 panel would be better than me being on one of the fanfiction or smut-writing panels.

manoutoftime: I hesitate to ask, but they didn’t include any R34 of your anime, did they?

TheLichQueen: Of course they did! They were doing a showcase of the best hentai of the year, after all. And the two pieces they did featuring the magical girl Akagawa-san were suitably respectful, while still being ‘exciting’ for those who have a mortal’s libido.

UsualSuspect: Ah, as a skeletal undead, I guess you don’t really get those kinds of urges, huh?

TheLichQueen: Indeed. Sapient undead who are skeletal in nature are pretty much all asexual, even if they have magic or abilities that can grant them the necessary parts, or suitable substitutes. If you see one of them doing anything like that, it is typically a power play of some kind, rather than any actual desire.

TheLichQueen: The same is true for most spectral undead, as well. There are some exceptions with different types of ghosts, depending on how much of their personality remains, but that is usually a reflection of their regrets or unfulfilled desires, rather than actual lust. Or they are looking for some revenge by ravaging the ones who wronged them, or their descendants.

TheLichQueen: Though, I do have to admit that the artist who did the rendering of ‘Akagawa-san’ and Sailor Mars, both dressed as mikos, conducting special ‘rituals’ to cleanse the area of naughty spirits was very entertaining.

Backlog: Oh, yeah, I’ll say it was. (I was actually in the crowd for that panel!) But I wonder why they didn’t have any B/G stuff of your character?

TheLichQueen: Well, I was chatting with the other presenters, and they agreed that while there were extensive… examples, of such pairings, that the quality varied wildly. And they did not think they would play well with the audience, even before they knew I would be there.

Backlog: What do you mean?

TheLichQueen: Well, the demographics for hentai viewership is 80-90% male. And while there is a significant percentage that is into the femdom m/F route, the majority would not really care to see pegging. And the maledom M/f stuff was insulting, at best. Though, they did show me a clip that almost made the final cut, showing a seduction scene between Akagawa-san and Koyama, the government liaison that was nicely done.

Scholar: Hey, LQ, while you’re here, I’ve been getting some worrying reports from my sources at the University of Seattle’s thaumaturgy department. Something about magical energies gathering?

TheLichQueen: Yes, I’ve heard those reports, both from my sister’s friends in the department, and from other sources. While I cannot say anything definite without going to check on things personally, the fact that the energies are coalescing near the Awakening Memorial speaks volumes.

BloodForTheBloodGod: So, something like the veil between worlds being thin, or something like that? Like in a lot of anime and urban fantasy stories?

TheLichQueen: Actually, yes, that is my initial thought. The ritual which stole my class from this world literally punched a hole through dimensions, cracking the seal on magic that had been placed, here. From my studies in the other world, the local magical field would normally close that kind of small ‘wound’ in the barrier between dimensions over time. However, since the magical field was restrained by the seal, the wound did not heal correctly.

Blaze: So, like when you break a bone, but don’t set it, and it heals wrong?

TheLichQueen: Something like that, yes. And my return trip likely did not help much, even if I offloaded 99% of the energy used and all of the fallout into the other world. To use some urban fantasy parlance, ‘the veil is thin there’.

Scholar: So, any ideas on what might be happening?

TheLichQueen: Not without looking for myself, no.