Jeez, this guy is a lot less diplomatic than I expected. I imagine the king's machinery crumbling to pieces and say, "Fall to CHAOS."
The king whirls and lashes out, crying out for your blood from the pit of his soul, screeching metal bearing down on your sarcophagus as thoughts of an ancient and impossible time pour out of him in murderous shapes, the physics of the room growing looser by the minute. You stand tall and hurl your word at him. He screams back at you. Two directives coalesce as you attempt to outshout one another.
CHAOS SEA
[Words: 3+4]
You speak simultaneously as time becomes momentarily nonlinear and space itself spasms in the vicinity. You and the king hold fast - the tomb does not, flashing up with thousands of illuminated, painted eyes, clear as day for an instant before the sea below rips into it with a distant spray, bubbles of light spearing through walls and air with equal ease, destroying most of it and shattering the rest, leaving you standing on a precipice before the brilliant ancient sea. It's bright, so very bright...
[And The Mountains Should Crumble To The Sea: 4]
The alcove is starting to fall, you realize. It is not anchored to anything in particular, you notice, and seems to be slowly rotating as it lazily starts to come down. You look down, and see only pure eye-burning white, and know it to be the place where time and matter end. Bubbles rise around you, falling slower than you are, popping into recollections from your life - a girl you once knew, a record you had, a day you remember. They are glimpses, but unlike memories. Oddly physical. Completely solid, but by that same measure entirely fleeting.
[Royal Position: 1]
You notice a fading roar in the air, then you see the king. lacking in any semblance of humanity, a misshapen tower of metallic tentacles, disintegrating rags and flickering gemstones in free fall, failing to keep any coherent shape as he flails every which way. He falls much faster than you, disappearing from sight and hearing within a few seconds. You suppose he must have been heavier. Or perhaps merely poorly situated at the time of his careless speaking.
You look away, and see the entrance you came in from, a tunnel suspended, slowly ascending in your perspective. It is a little too far to jump, you feel at first, but considering the physics of this place makes you think better of this judgment almost immediately, and settle into a comfortable realm of all-encompassing plausibility.
"Ah. Um. Yes. Well, I must be going if anything is to be done about this problem! See you later!"
Abscond from the lunatic. Maybe the queen's up by now?
Er, yes! You do that.
You get the sense that this meeting was no less awkward for the shrouded man. You are nevertheless glad to leave him behind as you go up to check if the queen's up yet, pausing along the way only to dispose of a terrible itch that kicks up in your nose suddenly.
[Early Birds: 6]
As it happens, the queen is fortunately up. Or so the guard tells you, at least. You're not allowed in yet - her morning routine ought to be done in an hour or so, so if you happen to have something that needs to be brought to her attention, you had best return at that point. Unless it's terribly urgent, of course, and not just that minder thing again.
Write 'nothing? That's alright, it's what I expected. Have a nice life and good luck getting that window back into place!'.
That done, Daniels steps away from the poor man. Now then, what to do now that I've got this weapon of incomprehensible power? Wasn't there something we were supposed to do that got us summoned here?
...
Oh right yeah, the seige or whatever. Well, that can be dealt with in a bit, maybe they have a reason for wanting to kill everyone here. Hmm. Maybe there's a speaking trumpet up on the walls there?
Go up the castle walls to the nearest guard there and ask them if they have a speaking trumpet. Make sure not to get shot by any opportunistic stoats.
You give one of the castle guards a nasty start as you sneak up to her. You are told not to do that - false moves are all too often met with bolts up here on the walls, don't you know. Stoats have been very jumpy as of late - must have been all that weird sorcery that the sun man did, in all likelihood, given the way a large swath of the forest and the stoat camp seems to have been burninated, and-
You admit that you don't particularly care as you take cover behind a parapet, having let her go on as long as she did only because of an urgent itch on your face (side note, the murder-thought turns out to be pretty good at scratching literal as well as metaphorical itches) and speak you most pressing need: has she got a trumpet? A
speaking trumpet, like the kind you'd use to amplify your voice.
[Miracles of Technology: 5]
She doesn't personally, of course. But there probably is one in the nearby castle tower. She helpfully tells you which cabinet it can be found in, even, and what to tell the paranoid guy who hangs around next to it so he doesn't think you're a stoat infiltrator, and a short list of things you're not allowed to say or be in a guard tower (peculiarly, "naked" does not appear to be one of the latter, a fact that makes the guard wonder perhaps a bit longer than it should).
In any case, her spectacularly helpful advice nets you a perfectly good speaking-trumpet. It's made of wood, of course, and probably not as effective as a proper megaphone, but you assume it ought to work. And it's only a little dusty!
"Oh, dear. Not good. We'd better find out what happened."
Leave the tower and ask any passers by regarding these recent developments.
((As a heads up, I'll probably be offline for the next few days so don't wait for me before updating.))
[Somebody's Responsible: 6]
You go and find the elderly guard and his three-eyed companion in the courtyard, and tell them all about the rather distressing situation with the child in the tower. Oh dear, says the old man with what you're pretty sure is bored disappointment, better get someone to clean that up. That's not the point, you say, but he nods at the three-eyed man anyway, who heads right off to a nearby storehouse and comes out with a disturbingly child-sized sack, which he then carries into the tower and carries out a little darker, damper and laden with exactly what you'd expect. The girl looks on with bemused concern, but asks no questions, seemingly a little intimidated by the guard.
Anyway, you say, after spending a moment addressing a sharp itch on your cheek, what's that about anyway? Is that a common occurrence? The guard says no - much rarer than you'd expect with the minders' flagrant disregard for building safety. Apparently they moved out last night, however. Perhaps the child is from that event, he muses. There were quite a few confusing things happening at that time. He has been taking a hands-off approach on these things for the most part. It tends to be best for overall productivity and positivity.
"That wasn't supposed to happen. At all. You see, the word magic is rather unreliable. But you know what else is inevitable? Death."
Orchestrate this knight's silent and INEVITABLE decapitation.
Oh dear, he says. Is this the way it must be? In your opinion, however, it is quite
INEVITABLE
[Word: 2]
This is not a point that the knight feels prepared to argue with, since he agrees wholeheartedly. His life is the greatest contribution to the work that he can give, just like that of any soldier. The greatest possible contribution indeed.
Nevertheless, while his death is inevitable beyond the shadow of a doubt, he was rather hoping he could postpone it a little. Later today, if you will, rather than right now. Right now is not a good time, what with the lack of outgoing information and somewhat terrible lack of coordination. So do be cooperative before he has to invoke the One, yes? It'd be terribly inconvenient if you weren't.
Horribly inconvenient, in fact, to the point where he'd rather just start stabbing you in all manner of sensitive places first.
((As a heads up, I'll probably be offline for the next few days so don't wait for me before updating.))
In this event it's best to leave a plan of action behind, which will then be fully resolved upon your return.
Leif Erikson, Miner
- A Word: INEVITABLE
- Wounds: 3
- The Queen's Guard: A Roaring Good Time
- Reappropriated, Clean Skirt
- 1 gp
- Anglefork Castle: A Free Man
- The Box: ?
- Tower of the Mind: Convenient Relocation
- Induced Inebriation: Comfortably Drunk
- Induced Lucidity: A Concert For The Gods
- The Prison Stone
- Elongated Affairs: Civilized Hostilities
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Cormick's Condescending Riddle
- Tricks of the Mind: Perceptual Rebuke
- Tricks of the Mind: Erikson's Inexplicable Grapefruit
- Tricks of the Mind: Speak With The Mob
- Party in the Courtyard: Celebration in Earnest
- Never In: Swallowed By The Pit
- Gods of the Underground: Did You Just What
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Tunnel-Literate
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
- Army of the New State: 455 Suspicious Stoats
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- Wounds: 1
- Traces of Mischief: A Bubbling Scar
- Reclaimed Hooded Robe (worn, quite comfortable)
- An Arm And A Blade (blunted, bloodstained)
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Word: CHAOS
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- Rat Pantheon: Disliked
- Traces of Mischief: Mouthful of Blackness
- Traces of Mischief: Loosened Smile
- Origins: Witness to Dissolution
- Tower of the Mind: There's Something To Remember
- The New Queen: And Something To Forget
- The Queen's Guard: Bringer of Doom
- Touch of Flame: the Secrets of Flammability
- Inscribed Brick ('Water')
- The Voracious Dark: Two Connections Given
- Body Count: 1
- Never In: the Obvious Candidates
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Above An Ancient Sea
- The Impromptu Prophecy: the Sensible Solution
- Sweet Little Children: Kindness
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Naked
- Dusty Wooden Speaking-Trumpet
- A Word: REND
- A Word: SILENCE
- A Weapon: Murder-Thought
- Traces of Mischief: A Bisected Left Kidney
- Traces of Mischief: Ruined Left Hand
- Uncoupled: Strength
- Wooden Door (held)
- The Majordomo: ?
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: the Path Revealed
- Tower of the Mind: Endless Well of Mystery
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Doomstones: ?
- A Place In History: Emergent Abomination
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Serpent
- The Obsolete Class: Suggested Victims
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Touch of Flame: the Second Degree
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- The Impromptu Prophecy: There's A Mountain Higher Than We Knew
- The Voracious Dark: Three Connections Given
- The Good Doctor: A Recommendation
- Body Count: 2
- Wounds: 1
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- A Word: ABSENCE
- Anglefork Castle: From Another Time, Another Land
- Gross Incandescence: Partly Illuminated
- Tight Leather Pants (worn, wet)
- Incredibly Tight Blue Dress (worn, mutilated, mildly provocative)
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Saturday, July 24th, 409 S.D.
- The Majordomo: Busy Morning
- The Good Doctor: House Call
- The Queen's Guard: Okayed by the Queen
- The New Queen: Starting The Day Right
- Tower of the Mind: A Friendly Suggestion
- The Obsolete Class: Let Them Be
- Body Count: 2
- Army of the New State: 455 Stout Strangers
Oscar Wilde, Chemistry Teacher
- Wounds: 1
- 6 gp
- Poor Misshapen Dice
- Lock of Hair (unidentified)
- Iron nail, unused
- An Inauspicious Key
- Burlap Foot Wrappings (worn)
- Burlap Hand Wrappings (worn)
- Moth-Eaten Hat (worn)
- Respectable Brown Skirt (worn)
- Old Brown Waistcoat (worn)
- Bright Yellow Tunic (worn)
- Blue Shards of a Probable Bottle
- Blue Glass Shiv
- A Wealth of Burlap Ribbons
- An Obsolete Class: Trustworthy Individual
- The Flip Side: An Unclear Trail
- A Frightening Door: An Understanding
- The Voracious Dark: Backed Away