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Author Topic: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Prague  (Read 13285 times)

PrivateNomad

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Re: (SG) You are an eldritch entity
« Reply #60 on: March 23, 2014, 06:20:03 pm »

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   You materialized into her large pentacle, and she uttered the words of binding.

 "Not even three minutes, and you already summon me..?" you questioned. You look beside her where a man stands; his stature is tall and his hair is long and grey, and with his wrinkled features and tired jet black eyes, he seems pretty old. He wears a blue leather cloak with runes inscribed onto it's edges and the symbol of Solomon's magic court. The man blinked in disbelief.
 
 "-You- summoned a djinni..? But we haven't even ascended to that level in your studies!" the man said to Ariana.
 "...Yes master. I am sorry." she responded.
 "You have endangered all of us by doing this, girl. You will be punished dearly after this--you, djinni... What is your name..?" the man asked, turning towards your raven form. Humans don't usually call you by your actual name or class, only the word demon. He's probably wise or something.

 "My foliot also tells me that you have called yourself one of the king's court magicians? You foolish girl, perhaps some day, but not now." the man said with a frown. The girl jumped in surprise to his statement, shuffling nervously about like a shamed puppy.

The girl moves the ball of her foot the slightest distance from her protective circle.

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LordBucket

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Re: (SG) You are an eldritch entity
« Reply #61 on: March 23, 2014, 06:32:21 pm »

"You have endangered all of us by doing this, girl. You will be punished dearly after this--you, djinni... What is your name..?" the man asked, turning towards your raven form. Humans don't usually call you by your actual name or class, only the word demon.

This guy probably isn't an idiot. Don't mess with him. Answer his question within proper bounds, but don't give anything away unnecessarily. Treat the whole affair neutrally: If the magician does her job right, they get what they want. If not, they probably die. Nothing personal. It's just business. He probably knows the drill. There's no point making threats or getting angry about it.

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The girl moves the ball of her foot the slightest distance from her protective circle.

Noted. But take no action at this time.

not to this.

Would you prefer we simply eat her? That's an option, but hoist by her own petard is kind of traditional in stories involving djinn. She seeks to enslave us. It seems more proper to respond by enslaving her than by killing her.

Xantalos

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #62 on: March 23, 2014, 07:20:10 pm »

Is it outside? If so, kill her and her master, then laugh heartily as we go back to the Other Place.
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PrivateNomad

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #63 on: March 23, 2014, 07:26:41 pm »

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 "I am Zusfadyn the Dread of Uruk." you honestly answer. The man approached you (keeping his distance from the pentacle) and eyed the raven down.
 "Ah, I read your name in the list... You are a level 4 djinni, correct?" he said.
 "That is correct." you respond.
 "Hm, an old and wise one you must be. Ariana, why have you chosen Zusfadyn?" he turned to Ariana.
 "I-I read the demon's name in some books and decided to summon it." the girl weakly replied. The man gave a slow nod and turned back to you.
 "What charge did she give you?"
 "I was under order to roam in a 100-meter radius of this tower until tomorrow where I would participate in the War of Essence." you responded. The man simply nodded.

 "The War of Essence? No, that isn't a proper position for a djinni such as you. Ariana, you may continue to be the master of Zusfadyn," he said. Ariana gazed at him in surprise. ",but on one condition."
The girl nodded.
 "This djinni must serve under King Solomon in constructing his great temple." the man said with a smile. Construction work? Well, it isn't worse than battle--you'll likely die in the field if you fight, but construction is rather dull in itself.

 "And that you clearly state her charge so that she cannot evade her task." he said. This may be trouble--amateur magicians make wording mistakes all the time, but wise ones like this never do and will probably tell her what to say.
 


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Xantalos

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #64 on: March 23, 2014, 07:28:23 pm »

Continue subtly trying to break out and kill them while trying to charm them into complacency.
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Urist Mc Dwarf

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #65 on: March 23, 2014, 08:02:02 pm »

Offer to punish the girl for him in return for returns to the Other Place

ShadowHammer

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #66 on: March 23, 2014, 08:11:43 pm »

Offer to punish the girl for him in return for returns to the Other Place
Well, this is almost guaranteed not to work, but +1 anyway.
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3man75

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #67 on: March 23, 2014, 08:12:22 pm »

Offer to punish the girl for him in return for returns to the Other Place

+1
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LordBucket

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #68 on: March 23, 2014, 08:27:49 pm »

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This djinni must serve under King Solomon in constructing his great temple."

Hmm. I think this does not benefit us. Solomon is bad news, and a chaotic battlefield is more likely to grant us opportunity than a construction site. Plus, we've already found sufficient loopholes in the phrasing of our previous instructions: we can fight for any side we choose. In fact, we could even personally attempt to conquer the site for ourself and still be within the bounds of our orders. If we're given new orders here, now, with the guy who knows what he's doing watching, it's very likely that we'll lose the previous loopholes and the new orders will be phrased better.

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Offer to punish the girl for him in return for returns to the Other Place
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Well, this is almost guaranteed not to work

Yeah, not going to happen. It doesn't benefit him, and he'd be asking for trouble. Would you let a demon punish your apprentice? No chance.



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charm them into complacency.

+1

Try to tempt Ariana. Look her in the eye and point out that she was the one who summoned us. Remind her that she saw through our deception and contained us when we tried to trick her before. Clearly she knows what she's doing, and is stronger that her teachers give her credit for. This man is simply envious of her power and trying to hold her back. Then ask her what she thinks should be done. Don't tell her. Let her come to our conclusion on her own.

Xantalos

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #69 on: March 23, 2014, 10:21:13 pm »

Keep in mind that this is based off the Bartimaeus Trilogy; we hate humans by default because our very existence in this world is an act of slavery.
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Yourmaster

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #70 on: March 23, 2014, 10:38:29 pm »

conjure a minor detonation on his tounge.
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10/10.
Wants to rape and enslave my innocent night faeries ;-;

LordBucket

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #71 on: March 23, 2014, 11:28:49 pm »

Keep in mind that this is based off the Bartimaeus Trilogy;

Oh? I missed that. Most of the conventions at play here look to come from real world magical traditions. True names, the Seal of Solomon and so forth is pretty standard fare. Though there's a definite jewish/islamic flavor to it. For example, this whole "temple building in Jerusalem with the help of djinn" scenario is straight out of various parts of the bible and the quran.

I did notice that the guy called his familiar a "foliot" but other than that, anything in particular those of us who haven't read these books should know about?

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we hate humans by default because our very existence in this world is an act of slavery.

That doesn't  make attempting to manipulate our summoner any less of a good idea. I don't expect her to immediately turn on him or anything, but I think it benefits us to plant seeds of foolish overconfidence and to encourage her to be suspicious of the only person in the room who probably actually really does want the best for her.

Xantalos

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #72 on: March 24, 2014, 12:16:42 am »

Um.
Avoid silver and iron.
Bow and scrape to anything more powerful than you (afrits, marids, and certain named spirits).
Staying in one shape too long hurts, so shapechange periodically.
Water bad, earth bad, because we're associated with fire and air.
If we find out our summoner's true name we can do basically whatever the hell we want with her, since she can't inflict magical punishments on us without us turning them back on her, and it's implied that if we spread her name she'd probably be torn to bits while crossing the marketplace Abdul Alhazared style.
Treat any spirits lower than you (imps, foliots) with a certain measure of disdain and don't be afraid to bully them.

I'll probably come up with more info as the game progresses.
Also don't fuck with Solomon because he has a functional omnipotent in his ring.
Oh! Spirit rankings. Top is most powerful, bottom is least.
Above marids: warp reality just by being there. If we try fighting them we lose period; if we even go near some of them we die. Examples: Spirit of the Ring from Solomon's ring: can do pretty much anything (summon an army of 50,000 marids, give complete magic immunity, hurts the wearer's soul just by being there - and he'd be more powerful unbound).
Marids: pretty fucking powerful. The Titan Atlas was one of these, charged with holding up the Parthaneon for doing a shit job at construction. They exude so much magic it lingers in the air behind them, leaving a trail for those who know how to see. If we tried to fight one we'd die, period.
Afrits: bigger, more badass djinn. The most powerful commonly summoned type of spirit (marids take 2 magicians to summon successfully). If we fought one we'd likely die.
Djinn: the all-rounders. Pretty powerful (enough to catch a small building to the face and throw it right back at their attacker), but more resourceful due to their lack of godlike power. They can range in power within their class, but is think we're about the middle.
Foliots: they're basically the mooks of the spirits. Commonly used, get stomped on by anything above the, but fairly capable. They know how to bow and scrape, though.
Imps: these guys are basically only good for spying and delivering messages and stuff.
Below imps: these are stuff like spirit hornets and such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartimaeus_Sequence
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LordBucket

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #73 on: March 24, 2014, 02:28:40 am »

Bow and scrape to anything more powerful than you

Treat any spirits lower than you (imps, foliots) with a certain measure of disdain

You've phrased these as imperatives. Why? Just because our neighbors beat their dog doesn't mean we need to.

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If we find out our summoner's true name we can do basically whatever the hell we want with her, since she can't inflict magical punishments on us without us turning them back on her, and it's implied that if we spread her name she'd probably be torn to bits while crossing the marketplace Abdul Alhazared style.

She already knows ours. It's in a book. Any human in the world who wants to know our name, can. If we learned hers too, why would knowing her name give us the advantage despite her knowing ours too, but knowing ours would no longer give her an advantage once we knew hers too?

Seems inconsistent.

Anyway, unless in this world she has to say it to do magic, or inscribe it into tools or something, I'm not sure how realistic it is to expect to be able to get her name at all except via deus ex machina. She's obviously not going to tell us, unless...(holds down backspace a bunch)

Ok, so I think I've just come up with an incredibly simple way to get Ariana's true name, assuming she knows what it is. But I think I'm not going to mention it when the GM's next update is likely to include a new set of command instructions with input from the wise elder magician who would probably immediately tell us to not do that thing.

Xantalos

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Re: (SG) Eldritch Entity: The Dread of Jerusalem
« Reply #74 on: March 24, 2014, 03:48:19 am »

It's not necessary, but it's common amongst the spirits and stuff. Plus it's easier to write up a list that way.
By true name I mean birth name, however, the one her parents gave her. It's incredibly unlikely we'll be able to get it. Knowing hers means that if she inflicts a magical punishment upon us, we voice the appropriate counter spell along with her name and voila, she gets hit too. She's effectively forced to bargain with us like with the classic djinn tales instead of the usual arrangement, which consists of 'I brought you into the world. Now you're my bitch and you have to do what I say or I can kill you or leave you trapped in a silver box at the bottom of a river forever. Oh wait you don't have a choice anyway because not obeying my commands gives you physical pain.'
Plus it's canon that one magician let his birth name slip accidentally to a common imp. That imp told a foliot, that foliot told a djinn, that djinn told an afrit, and that afrit told a marid. One day a few months after that, he got swept up by a whirlwind while going to go get a sausage at a market, and his screams frightened passerby for hours while chunks of him rained down from the sky.
Of course that's thousands of years after us, but it happened.
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Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
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((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))
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