Staging Area
Hmm.
"Hey Zero, how do the Move, Stop, and Reconfigure buttons work? I can't get them to do anything."
<When depressed the buttons allow electricity to flow through them. A circuit creates a signal that reaches the core unit, where it is interpreted. Their respective functions are activated if the environmental and internal parameters are correct.>
<They are currently operating within acceptable parameters as intended.>((I'm sure D would be happy to paint a smiley face on your helmet.))
((Facial expressions aside, that would make Saevus even more terrifying to the ordinary man, I think. Imagine a soldier frozen in terror as a giant clad in armor effortlessly crushes and maims his brothers in arms and friends before the figure moves in to kill him as well. The last thing he sees? A smiley face covered in blood.))
What's this about tapping into the Staging Area? Sounds mighty interesting. Do it.
((Heeeeeere's Johnny!))
You wish you were more powerful. The air around you distorts and becomes brighter. And now you suddenly are, the runes on you glowing more vibrantly, changing colour more quickly. You feel like you're 200 years old again.
Campaign
"No, He is under my protection. I won't put him at risk for my gain."
I sigh
"The problem is, you've made yourself quite clear. You think I'm a monster, and intend to use me for your own benefit as best you can, and you'll try to destroy or enslave me if given half a chance. You even said that it's what any good man would do. By your own words, you aren't trustworthy."
"and I believe you."
"I think we'd both benefit if you cast the divination you desire, but if I give you permission to try it, that isn't what you'll do. instead, you'll attack me with whatever spell you think has the best chance of disabling or killing me, and then perform your experiments on my body. If this is how your people treat all nonhumans, then I see why they're all are hostile to you."
"Why should I trust you, xenophobic mage of unknown capability?"
I tilt my head to my right side and meet him eye to eye, watching for him to look away, my next words calm and quiet.
"Why should I trust someone who judges people by what they are, instead of whom they are?"
I pause for a moment, still staring at him.
"Go ahead and ask your questions."
"So this is how it is? I treat you well, I try to forget what you did to us and what you are, I give you food and water and offer you shelter, I share with you secrets few know and all you have to offer me are useless answers, mistrust and insults? This is how you repay me for my hospitality?"He doesn't look happy. The flame inside the lantern starts wobbling slightly.
"All right then. I have a question for you."He gets up from his seat, puts his hands on the table and leans forward, staring at you aggressively.
"What kind of fair compensation can you offer? What do you have to offer that would make up for what I have given you? What can you do... What...
What in the Void is going on out there?"Kassiver's attention shifts to somewhere behind you. A moment later, he starts walking around the table.
"Stay here. We are not finished." he orders you as he starts walking away.
Campaign, Ike!
Continue to listen.
But also begin to recontextualize the events of the past, present and future in the light of potato. It is an involved process, naturally.
"You said something about me?"
"No."
"Hey, I'm trying to be good here man. But if you're going to be like that then let us go at it, right here right now!"
"That's not what I-"
"I try to talk to you, nothing."
"Look, all I want is a quiet shift and I really don't-"
"Well maybe I don't want a quiet shift. You've been nothing but boring. I want something to happen."There's a soft sound that quickly alternates between loud and quiet, something like the vibration from a particularly loud bus somewhere very far away reaching you, barely audible.
*quiet*
"I just want you to know, I blame you for that."((I have no idea what an involved process is. Or know much about your past other than that you are from a forest that has a university. And I'm pretty sure you can't predict the future. I can try to recontextualize your missions. Let's see...))
Well, you suppose some of your enemies were treacherous, like potatoes hiding underground. And one of them literally tried to peel you with its scythe-hands. One of your companions is a couch potato, literally in a way. Could perhaps everyone that you have met be considered to have the traits of a potato? How could your current companion resemble a potato, you wonder.
You have persevered like a potato. And you listen like a potato listens to the ground and the air and the sun to change and grow, to act at the best possible moment. Potatoes have no ears though, they do not listen as well as you can... or do they? Perhaps they listen to the entire world, every vibration reaching them through the ground. Perhaps they listen at a different level, a mystic level.
OOCHave you ever read You are a Necromancer? If not, go read it here:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96692.0Monk started updating it again. Yay!