"Why hello there, other guy. What's going on? Why the no sun? Someone set off a magical nuke and now dust is clouding out the sun or something?"
Mr. Minstep appears to be of little help in these matters as well as somewhat preoccupied as he talks at the minder girl, who merely stares and gestures at him intently. Somehow you suspect he knows even less than you do. An overachiever in ignorance, it seems.
Whether he really is on about Albany, New York is a good question, however. It'd be something of a coincidence if there was an Albany here, too. But then, isn't there at least one Albany in every U.S. state? Some of them actually named after Albanies in other states. Township incorporation is a grim and incestuous business, possibly sufficiently so to cross even time, space and manifold astronomical improbability.
Hm, I don't know if I can reconcile this word with healing. Maybe... I lay my hands on the priest and picture the disarray that his body is in, even his cells thrown into disorder by the heat. "End this CHAOS."
Worst comes to worst, scratch one priest. And the anticipatory itch in the back of your skull is growing unbearable.
CHAOS
[Word: 3]
The priest's low prayers stop as a screech builds up in his throat, his limbs flailing, his back arching as he undergoes a full-body tetanic contraction. It sounds extraordinarily painful. Good thing it only lasts for a second. You're fairly certain the poor man couldn't handle much longer than that. As the injured man relaxes over the next minute, you notice he's stopped making any noises. Worried, you poke him with your foot again. He asks who's there, and also what devilry is this.
Well. You don't think he got
better, strictly speaking. But he's definitely conscious now. And less noisy. Might just be because he seems quite intimidated by your combination of unknown magic and the all-consuming darkness around him.
Welp. Time to go completely bonkers.
Position myself straight on at the bridge. Sprint towards it, and MOONjump over the river. Make sure I do it in a fashon where I can continue sprinting if I fail the word or land on the bridge if the word fails mid river.
The stoats will never expect this, you bet. You take off at a sprint toward the bridge and prepare for the longest jump of your life. As you get closer to the edge and are about to leap you start to form the word.
MOON
[Word: 3]
You jump! And you fly! And... you think you're not going to make it. The angle's a bit wrong. The word didn't feel right. But you're mid-air now. And you did have the presence of mind to steer yourself on a course that wouldn't take you straight into deep waters. Instead you aimed yourself at one of the half-built, quarter-destroyed supports jutting out of it. It was a simple matter, since the wooden tips of them are still on fire.
[Safe Landings: 1]
Come to think of it, maybe aiming yourself at something on fire wasn't a great idea. This impression is confirmed when the word runs out and you impact the remains of the support beam sharply, a selection of smoldering splinters of several sizes and extractions embedding themselves into your delicate flesh as wood disintegrates against heat-warped, but nevertheless unyielding stone block beneath.
On the other hand, you didn't fall into the river! So that's kind of a victory. You groan and roll on your back, soaking your feet in the river for a moment as you get your bearings. You become aware of the firefighting stoats on the side of the river you came from. They seem to have interrupted their efforts, being a lot more interested now in who the hell you're supposed to be. An armored stoat indecisively trains its crossbow on you. It's
probably supposed to shoot you, it thinks. So better to be safe than sorry.
Thomas barely registers Mr. Daniels. "An eclipse, I guess." His full attention is gathered by the girl in the well.
"Your tower is a dangerous operation! No handrails, fire extinguishers, stairs, adult supervision... it's a wonder this whole operation hasn't gotten shut down! Totally uninsurable. They're with me because when the tower started to collapse, we had to evacuate them. And... one of them was injured, I think. Stayed behind in the tower. You know, we had to catch them as they jumped; it's a miracle no one else was hurt!"
Sighing, he shook his head.
"That all said, I am told you are some sort of keeper of knowledge. Do you know how to get to Albany from here?"
The tower
started to collapse? Oh crap. She's been in charge of it for less than a day. She rushes up to your level, her shape becoming clearer as she floats up urgently, stepping out by the side of the well. Okay. You have her full attention. You... hm.
She looks at the tower. It seems unusually visible suddenly. It doesn't look like it's collapsing, truth be told. Though the roof is missing, this she will admit. Phew. It's not as bad as it seems, she assures you. She can fix this. She seems to repeat this to the children, who look at her attentively, a slightly glazed look settling over them again.
Okay. So, er, does she know how to get to Albany? You haven't found much in the way of helpful information, and she has been implied to be knowledgeable in such matters. This gives the girl some pause.
[Alien Geographies: 6]
Albany, she says. Albany, you confirm. Albany, capital of New York of the United States of America, on the continent of North America, on planet Earth. Third planet from the sun, in the solar system. You don't really mean to snark, honestly, but the feckless look on her face is just asking for it.
... how many planets are there, she asks after a moment's thought? You answer eight. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. You went to school, thank you very much.
That does sound very familiar, she says. The planets, she means. You start to sigh in frustration, but an image interrupts you. In the girl's hands is a sphere of light. The sun. She points to a point of light in the far distance. Earth. Third planet from the sun. It draws closer, a miniature representation of a shape you know rather well - a stylized globe orbited by the moon. Both lack details, the outlines of the continents a bit lazily done, if entirely recognizable.
This is where you're from, she says, seeking confirmation. You and the others, including Mr. Daniels over here?
Time to game the system. Leif walks back into the darkness.
"Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Time for business. I offer one connection.
My question is this: What are the questions I need to ask to gain superiour knowledge of minding?
My desire is this: To know answers for those questions.
Alternatively, if you don't fully permit that, I want to know what you are and I desire realization of my potential to alter reality. You know, the thing that is more advanced than minding.
Oh, by the way, how many connections I have left to trade? I'm guessing seven. Am I right?"
((Just thought about it but is this game perhaps related to that song? I see many connections with the lyrics.))
A low drone of anticipation welcomes you. While the well may hunger eternally, it is always more efficient to deal with someone familiar with protocol.
Your fulfillment: you are already compatible with more fundamental avenues of reality alteration (see magic, words, universality of language). Realization of your potential is most easily performed by giving you words to operate with. Choose one of three: INEVITABLE, PAROXYSM, DISCONNECT.
Your answer: formless, irrespective of space (see magic, extraspatial interactions, superuniversal cohabitations). Timeless, unknowable in terms of causality (see creator, creation, original truth). Foreign, entirely unbound by the four dimensions your template knows (see perception, frame of reference, four-vector). Curious, fascinated by the unknown (see connections, exchange, eternal hunger). Kin, closer to you than you are to those you superficially resemble (see template, interpreter, substrate).
Your price: a connection now belongs to the well. Two remain.
Eric Codeburn, COMPUTISTICS SPECIALIST
- Wounds: 3
- Body Count: 42
- Floral Nightgown (worn, burnt, wet, stoat-stained)
- 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
- Orbiting Moonstone (3 tons, darkened)
- Army of the New State: 475 Stoatmen
- Army of the New State: Is That Who I Think It Is?
- The Good Doctor: the Solitary Candidate
Leif Erikson, Miner
- Wounds: 1
- Reappropriated, Clean Skirt
- 1 gp
- Anglefork Castle: A Free Man
- The Box: ?
- Tower of the Mind: a Lack of Patience
- Induced Lucidity: An Example Realm
- The Prison Stone
- Elongated Affairs: A Noble Task
- Elongated Affairs: The Numbers of the Stoat
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Cormick's Condescending Riddle
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- Wounds: 1
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Word: CHAOS
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- 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: Crumbling Shell
- Touch of Flame: the Secrets of Flammability
- Inscribed Brick ('Water')
- The Voracious Dark: Two Connections Given
- Body Count: 1
- Never In: the Obvious Candidates
- The Impromptu Prophecy: Rude Awakening
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Wounds: 1
- Voluntarily Naked
- Uncoupled: Strength
- 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
- Tower of the Mind: Admission of Unhelpfulness
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Doomstones: ?
- A Place In History: Emergent Abomination
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Serpent
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Touch of Flame: the Second Degree
- Gross Incandescence: Unilluminated
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- The Impromptu Prophecy: ?
- The Voracious Dark: Two Connections Given
- Body Count: 2
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- Anglefork Castle: From Another Time, Another Land
- 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: Okayed by the Queen
- The New Queen: Spearheading the Inquiry
- Tower of the Mind: the Right Neighborhood
- Body Count: 1