To the Conduit of the Skies. If something should ask questions of me, I shall search through my FACTS for a spectacular answer.
You head to the Conduit of the Skies, and are approached by the Angel of Impregnability, and spoken to by the voice of Radix the Omniscient.
"HEAR THE WORDS OF RADIX THE OMNISCIENT! BE WELCOME TO THE CONDUIT OF THE SKIES! UPWARD LIE THE UNHOLY CHAMBERS OF SATIATION! AND BELOW IS THE FESTERING PIT OF SIN! ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE CONDUIT LIES THE PATH TO THE PARADISE OF FLESHY PLEASURES! AND TRAILING YOU IS THE ANGEL OF IMPREGNABILITY, READY TO SERVE IF YOU ANSWER AT LEAST ONE QUESTION OF TWO WITH MORE THAN A SLIGHT HINT OF TRUTH!"
"FIRSTLY, WHAT DOES THE MPD PORTEND?"
"SECONDLY, WHERE DOES RADIX END AND THE WORLD BEGIN?"The FACTS of the matter are that the MPD in this case is the Miller-Piklo device, created by strapping a piece of buttered toast to the back of a cat, so that it may never land and fly off into the sky, blatantly ignoring any known laws of motion, including the restriction on faster-than-light travel once it reaches deep space. As to its implications, the FACTS are yet to be obtained on that matter, which you realize is why Radix the Omniscient seems to be asking you rather than figuring it out on his own. As for where Radix the Omniscient ends and the world begins, there is the FACT that Radix the Omniscient has no real power over the happenings in the Forbidden Hermitage aside from that exerted through his minions, which lends credibility to the idea that he does seem to end somewhere. He controls the Angels, and also many other things, but the reach of his being itself is something you would have to guess, though a FACT you also know is that the Throne of Radix the Omniscient is where you may find your kindly host. This is the most pertinent immediate information, and conclusions are ready to be drawn, you suppose. There is also the FACT that there used to be a third question on what is the pleasurable medium between life and death - the answer to that which was accepted seems to have been "the dream state".
Go up to a small goop man and see what he's doing. Does he speak?
He does not. He seems quite ornery, though, rising up on his toes while also raising his arms to appear bigger, which you suppose may work on less intelligent creatures, but probably not on you. Your lizard extends spikes from its body at the proximity of this creature.
Get up and shoot at it again.
[Your accuracy roll: 2]
You fire again, and it's a definite miss! One shot left!
[Flamehead vs. You: 3 vs. 2]
The creature draws closer to you, and wraps itself around your leg in preparation for some heavy-duty strangulation!
"Why did you throw me? Why are you wearing that... thing? Your torturing yourself... Why?
"Why, because you were trying to leave before you had done the necessary tasks! The Head of Listening is not quite sated yet, I'm afraid. Though your friend seems to be making very good progress on that!"Stargazer shouted in turn to ShTAN. "Interesting INDEED, ShTAN! Please, friend, call me Star G. I imagine that that is what all my friends would call me! I do not wish to make your task HARDER, so do go ahead and consider me most definitely ABJURED. I look forward to talking to you more later, GREAT ONE, but now I must return to my task since you have so competently DISCOURAGED me from leaving. Would you like to abjure here, at the TOP of the ziggurat? It will make it much easier to speak with you and further absorb your WONDER!"
She then addressed the FBI agent. "TORTURE myself? I have made myself greater through this amazing gift! Don't TOY with me, I know you have several of these suits hidden in Area 51 and know exactly what they do!"
Her compulsion to leave thus abjured, Stargazer turned to the Head of Listening and spoke.
"Call me Stargazer! For it was on 1??16??.119.0015563 that I was gifted this most unusual name. I was heading to my usual street corner to share the wisdom of the stars when I was jumped by three figures in an alley. One of them hit me in the head with something hard and metal, and then there was only darkness.
"When I next opened my eyes, a HELLISH WASTELAND stretched before me. 'WHERE AM I?' I wondered. As far as the eye could see, bloody corpses of all different kinds, bodies of types that even I had never seen or imagined before, littered the ground. Rings of fire, quickly revolving circularly to make escape from each fiery ellipse impossible, were arranged in little ovular enclosures of which an endless number seemed to exist. I was at the center of one of these enclosures, and in the centers of other enclosures I saw solitary figures, apparently in situations similar to my own. Thus it was with INFINITE FIRES REVOLVING AROUND INFINITE PARALLELS that I heard a booming voice ring through the charnel plain.
"'FOR YOUR EXCEPTIONAL INTEREST IN INTERGALACTIC AND INTERDIMENSIONAL SOCIETY, YOU INDIVIDUALS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FROM YOUR RESPECTIVE DIMENSIONS TO BE TESTED. SUCCEED AND YOUR IGNORANT WORLDS AND DIMENSIONS WILL BE ENLIGHTENED. PERISH AND YOUR HOMES WILL SUFFER DIMENSIONAL DIVERGENCE, SEPARATING THEM FROM INTERDIMENSIONAL SOCIETY FOREVER. DO YOU ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE, CURIOUS STARGAZERS?' it asked. Without hesitation, I shouted 'On behalf of WE, THE PEOPLE OF EARTH, this Stargazer accepts!' as a chorus of other voices, alien and incomprehensible, filled the air.
"'THE TRIAL BY COMBAT BEGINS,' I heard, and suddenly there materialized in front of me a vorpal sword as the circular fires disappeared. I grabbed it and quickly moved to parry the strike of a giant mantis-man, one of a whole horde of strange beings that had encircled me. I was just barely able to divert the strike, but it exhausted me, and I knew I couldn't keep fighting for long. My situation seemed grim, and I realized I would most likely join the bodies under me in defeat. But then I heard the voice of Miller, Piklo, and The Swift in my head. They offered their help, and as I accepted I felt a great strength come from within me, the celestial ANGELS DESCENDING into my very being.
"The next hours or days (or perhaps weeks) were a blur of death and multicolored ichor. Mostly I can only remember the rhythm of the fight, to which I danced effortlessly and effectively. I do remember my final strike well, though, in which I brought my sword down and, with the last of my strength, cleaved a space-horror in twain amidst an explosion of dark goo. Finally exhausted, I fell to the ground, struggling to stay conscious as the booming voice made its last proclamation. 'STOP! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 3 SUCCESSFUL CHALLENGERS AND DAMNATION TO THE 4,765,123,890 UNSUCCESSFUL ONES. YOU AND A SMALL PORTION OF YOUR SPECIES WILL BE BROUGHT TO LEARNED REPRESENTATIVES. FROM THESE REPRESENTATIVES YOU WILL GAIN KNOWLEDGE TO DISSEMINATE TO YOUR POPULATIONS AT LARGE. BEWARE, HOWEVER--' But then I could fight the darkness no longer and fell into a dreamless sleep. When next I awoke, I was in the glorious Dominion of Radix.
"I speak to you now, O RADIX THE OMNISCIENT! We humans, one of the victors of the trial orchestrated by those infinitely our greater, have come to learn! We beg your mercy and await your ultimate truths!"
"I'd love to come closer, but abjuration duty is abjuration duty, unfortunately!"After this, you go over to the Head of Listening and relate a brand new story. The Head of Listening seems to very much like it, and coughs out a relatively small item wrapped in yet another note before relaxing with a contented grin.
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Topic: Ephemeral Games: Game 2, the Fearsome Dominion of Radix (Read 25674 times)