"One out of three down and I only turned into an abomination against physics once. As far as dark fantasy tropes go, that's a fairly good track record.
Now then, let's check out that church, shall we? Probably something either priceless or purple in there that I can nab now that the priest's dead..."
Trot over inside the church I saw Mr. Explodey Moon Rock come out of a little while ago. How's it look as far as priceless or purple things go? Any stained glass or cool-looking idols or something?
You head inside of the chapel, and find nobody present. Excellent. The chapel itself is fairly bare and thoroughly looted as well as extraordinarily drafty on account of all the holes in the walls. Not exactly an ostentatious house of worship, really - that is, except for the stained glass. Tall and colorful, they form exquisite patterns on the theme of times of day on the right side and the phases of the moon on the left.
Clearly constructed with care over a period of years, there is no question that the windows themselves are likely priceless, at least in these circumstances. You assume they're irreproducible by any regular means, anyway. The problem is, you think they'd only really be properly priceless as a whole. And since each window is three stories tall, you foresee some issues with carrying one of them about for any useful purpose.
Well phooey; this won't do at all! Well, he had been stuck in a room with people before; it was just usually him giving the sales pitch. And if there's nothing else to do...
"Well, this is certainly a quandary. It's a nice place, this castle, though. You know, I am an insurance salesman, with a specialty in corporate accounts. As large as this facility is, I sure hope it's already insured. Even if it is, our firm offers highly competitive rates that I am sure compare favorably to your current provider. And if you're not currently covered... well, you should be! As I said earlier, we do offer wine insurance, which many of our competitors do not. And all those special effects, there's quite a bit of potential liability involved; did you know that? With the ever changing state and federal regulations, you want a business partner that can stay on top of requirements for you. Why, just the other day..."
Drone out a sales pitch
[The Art of the Pitch: 2]
They make a very good effort at pretending not to know what insurance is, you think, meeting you with bewildered and disdainful looks when they bother to listen at all. Or perhaps they have already thrown their lot in with the adversary. You have equally valid suspicions about both after about twenty solid minutes of attempting to interest them in your favorable rates and comprehensive policies. The once-jolly guard who led you here muses on the nature of damnation to himself, and you've noticed that all three of the guards are starting to drink with increasing quickness as you go on and on and on... and on and on... and on into infinity. Try as they might, however, unconsciousness does not strike them yet.
"Sure, please show it."
I'm starting to be in mood for spiked grapefruits again. Imaginary rock is not being very cooperative, despite how well I know it.
[Dark Neglected Fields: 3]
The black expanse of the hall grows deeper as you feel yourself drawn out of your element, the floor disappearing as you traverse the boundaries of perception. It is an almost instantaneous transportation, a flash of black and you're simply
there.
In this case,
there happens to be a small, barren island of rock suspended in a starlit void. Above it you see floating a sphere of pure crystal, inside which you see a smaller, luminous shape. It is a wriggling, quasi-spherical mess of shining snakes, their hissing muffled by the enclosure. Uh, okay, the minder - a small, droopy-eyed, slightly slack-jawed boy - says as he stands next to you. That's... not as bad as it could be. Looks like the snakes aren't really doing much. Maybe he ought to put them away, then. At a superfluous gesture he sphere flies off into the void, taking a place among the uncountable stars.
You try to manifest a spiked grapefruit, but nothing really comes to you. The boy looks at you. No real point in trying to imagine things here, he says. It's his world. You're an observer, yeah?
Right, time to go. Get dressed(call a servent to get clothes?) and go find the highest vantage point in the city.
We got some Stoats to burn.
[Ministerial Privileges: 3]
You look out the door and call for a servant. It takes about three tries, but eventually one shows up at the top of the staircase, asking what it is that you want. Clothes, you respond. Clothes are what you need, in fact. Can't very well walk about naked, can you? The servant agrees - have you tried your room's closet? People usually put clothes in those, she's heard.
You check the closet. Hot damn, she appears to have been absolutely right! A closet full of clothes right there in front of you. Nothing that really fits you, you think. But there's a pretty serviceable nightgown in there. A little floral, of course. But it's not like anyone's going to laugh at a wizard who's got a pet nuclear rock on hand, right? You put it on and head out. Now, vantage points. The town of Anglefork remains sadly beyond your reach still, naturally, so you look around for the tallest structure around - clearly the flat top of the minder tower, about nine stories up from the ground in total, is the unquestioned king of vantage points around here. So you head inside there.
What you see inside is Mr. Erikson, standing in a stairless hall looking a little gormless and preoccupied for no reason you can easily identify. The hall itself is something like a circular meeting room kind of affair, with seating arranged in concentric circles around a central hearth. The ceiling is vaulted with irregularly spaced holes in the ceiling, seemingly the only routes of access to the upper levels. One such hole appears to have the silhouette of a tiny guy standing in it, paying you no real attention. The others meanwhile look entirely empty.
"Woah. Sorry about that. I was hoping you could help me piece together what's going on here, but I'm not sure anyone can."
What am I even doing? I suppose I'm prepared to defend myself... now to focus on getting out of here, I guess. The well said I could defeat the stoats or work with them, but that sounds dangerous. Maybe I'll just escape. Whatever happens, I could probably use more help. So I leave the well to look for allies or something else to bring back to it.
You clamber out of the well, leaving the minder girl to it. She'll probably be all right as long as the door won't let her in.
Now then, you need to find somebody who'd be willing to come with you down there. Not that there's a real shortage of people around here. But you get the feeling the well wants something a little more specific. A connection, as it seems so keen on stating. Or a source. Wonder where those would be found around here?
Eric Codeburn, COMPUTISTICS SPECIALIST
- Naked
- A Word: SUN
- A Word: MOON
- Anglefork Castle: Minister of Moronic Affairs
- The Impromptu Prophecy: Child of the Sun and Moon
- Adherents of the Great House: Enemy of Memory
- Well and Truly Narked Upon: 1
- Friends in Low Places: a Successful Transaction
- Subordinate Shining Stone (guarding, 2 tons)
- Army of the New State: 600 Stoatmen
- Army of the New State: !!!!
- The Good Doctor: the Solitary Candidate
Leif Erikson, Miner
- Reappropriated, Clean Skirt
- 1 gp
- Anglefork Castle: A Free Man
- The Box: an Amicable Parting
- Tower of the Mind: Number Two
- Induced Lucidity: An Example Realm
- The Prison Stone
- Elongated Affairs: A Noble Task
- Elongated Affairs: The Numbers of the Stoat
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- Queenly Garments: the Humble Dress (damaged)
- Sticks: 0.95 (total)
- Rat Pantheon: Disliked
- Traces of Mischief: Mouthful of Blackness
- The New Queen: ?
- Origins: Witness to Dissolution
- Tower of the Mind: There's Something To Remember
- Gross Incandescence: Highly Illuminated
- Inscribed Brick ('Water')
- The Voracious Dark: Two Connections Given
- Body Count: 1
- Army of the New State: !!!!
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Wounds: 1
- Voluntarily Naked
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: the Sword of Destiny
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: Something Priceless?
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: Something Purple?
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: A Profane Megalith
- Doomstones: Efficient Conclusion
- A Place In History: Emergent Abomination
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Serpent
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Gross Incandescence: Unilluminated
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- The Impromptu Prophecy: Sol In Absentia
- Body Count: 1
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- Anglefork Castle: Deluded Resident
- Traces of Mischief: Sandy Groin
- Gross Incandescence: Partly Illuminated
- Tight Leather Pants
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Friday, July 23rd, 409 S.D.
- The Majordomo: Happy to Help
- The Queen's Guard: Agony of the Mind