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Author Topic: Our Salvation: It Is Written  (Read 262405 times)

Xantalos

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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2235 on: June 11, 2017, 07:12:30 pm »

"Oh, no bother, truthfully," Daniels says as he sits up. "Defeat helps just as much as winning a fight for learning things, I've found. Hopefully she isn't too torn up about that, I'd quite like to go again whenever she has the time. Oh hello Dan. Thank you for the concern, but I'm alright - that doesn't even rank on the top 5 most painful things I've had happen to me."

He stands up, assuming Peaks lets him, and stretches. "Oh Peaks, I have a question for you. Do you know anything about how those manikins of the Captain's work? I recovered one of them last night and it seems to have gone kinda still. Ran out of charge or something?"
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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2236 on: June 11, 2017, 11:05:01 pm »

"Ah!  Did not see you there, quite sorry.  I'm Thomas.  We should be able to get out of here; Gamble has the rope held for us.  We'll just say goodbye to...
 sorry, I didn't catch your name.  Also, I'm sure I will regret asking, but what do you mean by fulfillment?"


What is that anyway?
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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
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AoshimaMichio

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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2237 on: June 12, 2017, 01:13:14 am »

Ultimately all that matters is that gods have living world to play with.

"To be entirely honest, I only made this place. It was the elder who invited you all there probably, not that I oppose this in anyway. Say, while we are talking about freedom of mind, who do you want to wake up next to? I think I can arrange that, since I'm not fully asleep yet."

Arrange sleeping conditions in other reality according May's wishes. Also consider possibilities of this for minding; shouldn't levitation and spontaneous matter generation be easier now since these people are more connected with me? Less minds to object and more inclined to agree with me?
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penguinofhonor

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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2238 on: June 13, 2017, 10:03:41 am »

Uh oh, I haven't heard good things about the speakers. Just one of them couldn't be that scary, though. Hopefully.

"Okay, we'll go, but we don't need a whole armed entourage. Just one guy to show us the way. Trust me, you'll want as many guards stationed out here as you can get. I've been tracking a dangerous beast through the area that could endanger civilians."
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TopHat

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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2239 on: June 13, 2017, 10:26:31 am »

Well, certainly not theft. Might be good to take a look, though...
Drop a coin on the counter and then hop over to take a look.
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I would ask why fire can burn two men to death without getting hot enough to burn a book, but then I read "INEXTINGUISHABLE RUNNING KAMIKAZE RADIOACTIVE FLAMING ZOMBIE" and realized that logic, reason, and physics are all occupied with crying in the corner right now.

penguinofhonor

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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2240 on: June 26, 2017, 07:29:12 pm »

((Hey, hope you're doing well! Starting tomorrow I'll be out of the country for a week and a half and won't have consistent internet access, so I might not be able to post here.))
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2241 on: June 27, 2017, 11:03:56 am »

Truth be told, I've been having trouble working up the enthusiasm to update this and have also been busy with other stuff, so I'll just go ahead and put it on hold until August.
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2242 on: August 01, 2017, 06:18:06 am »

"Oh, no bother, truthfully," Daniels says as he sits up. "Defeat helps just as much as winning a fight for learning things, I've found. Hopefully she isn't too torn up about that, I'd quite like to go again whenever she has the time. Oh hello Dan. Thank you for the concern, but I'm alright - that doesn't even rank on the top 5 most painful things I've had happen to me."

He stands up, assuming Peaks lets him, and stretches. "Oh Peaks, I have a question for you. Do you know anything about how those manikins of the Captain's work? I recovered one of them last night and it seems to have gone kinda still. Ran out of charge or something?"

Shores was mostly worried she'd accidentally caused permanent damage, especially to that fascinating thought-construct. She would emphatically state that this was a purely professional and not at all personal concern for a useful sparring partner, Peaks relays amusedly, lest someone get the wrong idea.

Personally though, she thinks Shores likes you, which is even worse.

[Completely Knackered: 5, 2]

When you produce the manikin, Peaks is surprised. Nabbed that during the feast? Yes, yes. It's not out of charge or anything, they last for a good bit of time. It's instead a failsafe of sorts, she explains - you'd be surprised at the kind of trouble a tiny clay man can get into when lost in the world without its master. In fact that's how the inventor of the manikin died, a very interesting-

-anyway, it's turned itself off for safety reasons. Suppose she could circumvent those. Give it here and she'll get back to you a bit later, it'll take a bit of work. You're going to be stuck here for a few days anyway as you proceed toward the Sky Rig, and from there into the heartlands.

It occurs to you that you'll probably have a lot of free time on this ship in the coming days. You may want to plan accordingly. Dan may need amusement as well, and your mildly paid minions presumably would be prepared to help you with things as well.

"Ah!  Did not see you there, quite sorry.  I'm Thomas.  We should be able to get out of here; Gamble has the rope held for us.  We'll just say goodbye to...
 sorry, I didn't catch your name.  Also, I'm sure I will regret asking, but what do you mean by fulfillment?"


What is that anyway?

Your answer: a fulfillment is made in response to a request in a manner different from merely the provision of trivial amounts of information, which is covered by the separate category of answers. As answers require far fewer resources than practical assistance, they are more freely given and tracked separately. Possible fulfillments include template customization (see: selective untethering, identity reassignment, integrated weaponry), Word provision (see: Words, research initiatives, deconstruction) and others. If you have a fulfillment that interests you, asking for it costs nothing. All available information on Albany, due to quantity and retrieval expenditures, would be a fulfillment whereas a question about Albany's location merely necessitates an answer, to illustrate.

Due to improvements in interface design in response to feedback from dissatisfied templates, the above answer has been made free due to relating to the reward mechanism, thus being deemed equally beneficial to both parties to share as needed.

Your answer: what you currently refer to has many designations: "well" (non-descriptive, efficient), "voracious dark" (descriptive, incomplete), "mother of ghosts" (incomplete, uninformed), "death-which-lurks" (misleading), "eater of souls" (imprecise), "unmaker" (close match, incomplete). The alternative preferred suggestion would be "student-of-templates", companion to "student-of-substrates" (active), "student-of-kingdoms" (discontinued) and "student-of-worlds" (idle) (see respective entries for more information).

You have one answer and one fulfillment remaining.

Ultimately all that matters is that gods have living world to play with.

"To be entirely honest, I only made this place. It was the elder who invited you all there probably, not that I oppose this in anyway. Say, while we are talking about freedom of mind, who do you want to wake up next to? I think I can arrange that, since I'm not fully asleep yet."

Arrange sleeping conditions in other reality according May's wishes. Also consider possibilities of this for minding; shouldn't levitation and spontaneous matter generation be easier now since these people are more connected with me? Less minds to object and more inclined to agree with me?

May would prefer to wake up next to her actual husband - as fun as these fantasies are, their appeal is greatly enhanced by their impermanence. When the dream is done, all things should return to their assigned place, wouldn't you agree?

You're not really in a mood to argue, so you just pick her up in the actual world and lay her down next to a small and hairy fellow who looks to be in a bit of a state, kicking and rustling in his sweet dreams of Jehwlheimr. You then turn your attention to broader concerns - the concerns of minding.

[Mining of Minds: 5]

... hm. The Moth Clan may indeed be useful, you reason - the powers of the elder in particular seem rather useful in directing the rest of the clan, and the unmistakable power that your catastrophic combination of the mead of poetry and the crystallized insights of minding possessed is also nothing to scoff at.

Thus far you've been toying around with the possibilities of the power of minding and mindscapes, experimenting playfully with the combinations thereof like the supernaturally enabled dilettante you are. Maybe it's time to get serious about it, you think as you look at the 200 or so Moths you've gathered in Jehwlheimr, some of which aren't even present here. You've enabled some measure of minding for them as well, in a sense. You could use this...

... yes, you think you could indeed use this. Instead of waiting for them to wake up you could do the opposite, softly deepen their dream, let Jehwlheimr envelop them softly and draw them into thoughtless, deep sleep. It wouldn't harm them in any way, you don't think, only put their talents to use. When you're done, they could wake up.

Wouldn't take more than a day or two of them sleeping here, if you forfeited sleep yourself. And with their minds at your back as completely as they surely would be during the deepest parts of their trance you dare say you could guard them from a great deal more than a few hungry dragons. You could become a true mastermind.

Uh oh, I haven't heard good things about the speakers. Just one of them couldn't be that scary, though. Hopefully.

"Okay, we'll go, but we don't need a whole armed entourage. Just one guy to show us the way. Trust me, you'll want as many guards stationed out here as you can get. I've been tracking a dangerous beast through the area that could endanger civilians."

It's no trouble at all for them all to go with you, the sergeant leading the patrol insists, they've gone about far enough as it is and found no trouble yet. Besides, if there really is a dangerous beast running about, surely they'd benefit from a briefing about it back in town rather than, say, running straight into it by accident and getting partially, if not entirely eaten.

[Our Old Bridge Is Falling Down: 4]

The other guards seem to find this wise, and all of them choose to escort you back to the city. For stoatmen you find them not at all unfriendly once the initial routine of accosting you on the way is done, and seem outright intrigued by your self-description as a monster hunter. What kind of monsters have you hunted, one of them asks, and you volunteer a semi-accurate description of that king-creature from down beneath Anglefork Castle (you don't specify the location, obviously) and a not entirely untrue description of how you managed to defeat it, which goes a long way toward breaking the ice. You also mention the dread fungoids of the northern plains, which lurk at night and seek corpses to make their own - their weakness, you see, is that they only move when you're not looking at them...

The conversation becomes quite lively before long as the stoatmen ask you about various monsters they've heard of or, more likely, personally invented, and the doctor gets involved too with her own passing knowledge of various bestiaries. The sergeant seems like they'd disapprove of the fraternization if it weren't so fun to listen to. Patrolling Speaker's Bridge doesn't appear to make for a stimulating day's work, apparently. One of them asks if they can touch your pet monster, and you carefully advise them not to.

Meanwhile, city itself looms in the distance and bustles with activity, the first proper city you've seen in this entire world - it's nothing compared to the cities back home, but in comparison with the ruins and desolation of Anglefork Town the place looks to be teeming with life, the memory of the civil war that ripped the old Kingdom of Benzerwald to shreds carefully quashed at every turn. This is most emblematic in the centerpiece of the town, the Kingsbridge, permitted to keep its name because it seems to be in the process of being torn down by several hundred stoatmen and humans alike, the stones of it going directly to the construction right next to it: a new bridge, grander, longer, designed to be so robust it'd put most fortresses to shame and so ugly it'd petrify any well-trained architect.

Just as contrary to Anglefork Town is the liveliness of the city itself and its immediately surrounding lands, free of war and allowed to nurse itself back to health. Lumber mills operate at full capacity along the riverside, their water wheels spinning contently in the calmed-down waters of the Southbound, mostly human farmers till their fields under stoatman overseers, who seem more bureaucrats than slavemasters. Boats travel up and down the river, the docks filled to capacity in lieu of a functional bridge to carry goods over. And life inside the walls seems to have grown even wilder. Every public house you pass seems to host either a party, a massive bar fight (usually with the involvement of the guards) or a mixture of both, and stoatmen and humans in revealing outfits stand on many a corner, keenly showing you their teeth and wondering if you see anything you like, the guardsmen making promises to come back when their shift is done and asking occasionally if you'd like an introduction as well.

After no small amount of detouring around the Bridge's many diversions you come to the Speaker's hall, which isn't quite what you'd expect from apparently the most important building of the local government. For one, it looks nearly deserted, and the guards seem unwilling to accompany you inside. The door is open and doesn't appear to even have a lock. Several windows look freshly mended. If you had to guess, this might have once been a workhouse, or perhaps an orphanage. Now it looks more like a temple, so solemn and strange in the middle of the city that the rest of the city's traffic seems to take great pains to go around it.

You are ushered into the lobby, which is unlit and quiet. A minute or two passes as you look at Oggie and the doctor, who appear to have little idea what's going on either.

Eventually somebody comes down the stairs - a small (a full head shorter than you, in fact), sad-eyed stoatman wearing a sumptuous gray-gold cloak that only mostly conceals the fairly plain clothes they're wearing underneath. They stop in front of you and each of your companions for a moment, examining you dimly for a second or two before stepping back.

Welcome to Speaker's Bridge, they say to you at last in a grandmotherly voice, seemingly having established that you're the leader by virtue of standing in the middle. Where do you come from and what is the nature of your visit?

Well, certainly not theft. Might be good to take a look, though...
Drop a coin on the counter and then hop over to take a look.

[Show Me The Goods: 5+1]

After you've put up a single coin for the trouble of examining the actual merchandise and slide over the counter, you find that the actual back room is full of a great deal of tat accumulated by unknown means. But even in the Kingdom of the Dead, a veritable land of refuse, this particular back room stands out for how replete it is with junk from an untold prehistory that you can even barely conceive of, let alone readily believe as it stretches before you. The stone floor has collapsed inward a little from the sheer weight of crap in here, so epic in scale must have been the ill-fated wholesale purchase of it all.

You find tiny rotten wooden masks, ancient clay faceless bobbleparts of fertility goddesses, styli themed after famous scribes whose names are ironically unwritten, tablets with painstaking and mostly worn-out depictions of forever-lost wonders of an ancient world, the ruins of some of which you realize you've seen in the general shapes underlying the Tell of the Setting Sun. So much stuff in here that nobody appears to have treasured enough to even bother stealing, the massive weight of buyer's remorse clinging heavily in the stale air...

... until you realize, of course, that the styli, crude as they are, are fashioned out of cheaply mined graphite, and the bobbleparts are wound with robust springs of native copper...

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AoshimaMichio

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2243 on: August 01, 2017, 08:43:01 am »

((It's wonderful to have you back again.))

Well, if I give them this much I suppose it's fair if I also take something back. Better mention about it to the elder first, he knows how useful this can be, he even said that much himself, though he doesn't exactly need to know everything. Oh, and maybe he has ideas what other clans we could safely introduce to Jehwlheimr?

Begin the plan mastermind! Odin knows they sure could use some extra rest.
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TopHat

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2244 on: August 01, 2017, 10:55:39 am »

"Bingo!"

Harvest the graphite and copper, drop another coin on the counter on the way out, and commence the search for the last item on the shopping list.
((It's wonderful to have you back again.))
((I couldn't agree more. Also, the format of the character sheets is excellent for coming back to, so thank you for that even if it wasn't a planned feature.))
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I would ask why fire can burn two men to death without getting hot enough to burn a book, but then I read "INEXTINGUISHABLE RUNNING KAMIKAZE RADIOACTIVE FLAMING ZOMBIE" and realized that logic, reason, and physics are all occupied with crying in the corner right now.

penguinofhonor

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2245 on: August 02, 2017, 06:45:48 am »

((I am also excited you're back!))

Hm, speakers are less scary than I have been lead to believe. "Your speakerness, I am a traveling monster hunter and these are my companions. We are merely looking to rest and resupply as we pass through your beautiful city. Then we will continue on our journey to find glory and make the realm a safer place."
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Xantalos

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2246 on: August 03, 2017, 12:26:42 am »

Quote
Shores was mostly worried she'd accidentally caused permanent damage, especially to that fascinating thought-construct. She would emphatically state that this was a purely professional and not at all personal concern for a useful sparring partner, Peaks relays amusedly, lest someone get the wrong idea.

"Yes, professional concern, of course," Daniels repeats, nodding assuredly. He's grinning just slightly, though.

Quote
When you produce the manikin, Peaks is surprised. Nabbed that during the feast? Yes, yes. It's not out of charge or anything, they last for a good bit of time. It's instead a failsafe of sorts, she explains - you'd be surprised at the kind of trouble a tiny clay man can get into when lost in the world without its master. In fact that's how the inventor of the manikin died, a very interesting-

-anyway, it's turned itself off for safety reasons. Suppose she could circumvent those. Give it here and she'll get back to you a bit later, it'll take a bit of work. You're going to be stuck here for a few days anyway as you proceed toward the Sky Rig, and from there into the heartlands.
"I shall leave it in your care, then," he says, handing the thing over to her. "I recall you were saying before the mishap you were considering experimenting on my substrate to find out some of its properties. I'm game to go forward with that so long as it doesn't involve mashing me into a pulp with a hammer like last time I tried it; did you want to try some of those now, or should I come back sometime in the next few days?"

Ascertain when a good timeframe for some experiments with Peaks would be - if now, let's go ahead, if not, we can slot time in in what appears to be an approaching timeskip. With that in mind, I'll list a few activities I'll try to accomplish during those few days:

- Go talk to Two Shores, assure her I'm alright, try to arrange another duel with her - perhaps we meet every morning for one if other duties don't interject? Try to ask about those scars she has and what her background with martial training is - she's understandably very impressive with the sword or without. Maybe have breakfast with her before these matches once or twice, it's a nice ritual, as she said.

- Interact with Dan some - get to know him - his personality, capabilities (without damaging the ship), that sort of thing. Maybe do some training with him or somesuch? Maybe Shores would like a friendly go.

- Experiments and such with Twin Peaks, as well as the manikin thing (see above).

- Fires, Pines, and Day are mostly free to do as they want provided they stay in easy contact with me so if I need them for something like entertaining Dan or figuring out what the manikin can do or carrying messages or whatever I can call them. See what my impressions of them are and such.

- Other than that, see if I have any duties as a member of the Vault of Heavens - get those done as well as I can if so. Try not to accidentally upstage the captain again, I'd be alright with trying my luck against him but he might be petty towards Shores again and I can't have that.

- Preemptively apologize to Harry Baldman for sending a small hill of text and contingencies his way.


((I'll echo everyone else in saying that I'm very glad this is back on - it's pretty much my favorite game on this whole forum.))
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XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2247 on: August 03, 2017, 08:29:16 am »

Well, if I give them this much I suppose it's fair if I also take something back. Better mention about it to the elder first, he knows how useful this can be, he even said that much himself, though he doesn't exactly need to know everything. Oh, and maybe he has ideas what other clans we could safely introduce to Jehwlheimr?

Begin the plan mastermind! Odin knows they sure could use some extra rest.

[Useful Input: 3]

You find the elder engaged in a thundering contest against Thor himself off in the sidelines while several Moths watch. Apparently there was a challenge thrown about after somebody mentioned that the thunder god doesn't seem nearly as loud and angry as you'd expect - surely not as loud and angry as the elder! Rather shockingly they might be quite right.

You catch the elder while he has a drink in between rounds and ask him if he'd particularly mind if you, say, took a day or so to get this whole minding thing on lock before you get over to Elizabeth for the clansmeet, and you find that he DOESN'T MIND AT ALL. AS LONG AS YOU DON'T LET THEM KNOW ANYWAY. Who's they, you consider asking, the other clans? THEM TOO, HE GUESSES! DON'T TAKE ANY GUFF FROM THOSE SWINE OR THEY'LL WALK ALL OVER YOU!

You pat him on the shoulder, good talk! Good talk indeed. You then let him get back to his thundering as you step back into the field and take a minute or two to arrange the Moths into a many-tiered circle around you, and sit down in the center as you count down.

10. Jehwlheimr quiets, the thundering contest ending inconclusively. 9. Lee senses something is off, but can't quite slip free of the mindscape's seductive grasp. 8. Earnest slumps quietly on a log beside Išunn, who sighs and places him sideways on the log and places a bit of cloth under his head before walking off on her own business. 7. Two dozen Moths lose consciousness as, one by one, they fall face-first into their dinners. 6. Jehwlheimr groans as two hundred minds root into it. 5. You alone remain awake.

Without delay you begin to weave together the fragmented dream into a solid net, the minds of all the Moths readily permitting your manipulations as you examine the crude methods used and begin to refine them - starting with the elder, as is proper, and working outwards. It is slow at first, but you find the tools at your disposal grow more powerful with every mind included, whose unharnessed and unquestioned belief in whatever you impress upon them gathers behind you. As the work of hours proceeds and the day goes on, you begin to realize how humble your initial ambitions were, and the sheer potential available here.

By the next morning the hill you are on has grown taller and upon it stands a shadowy feast hall that you have gathered the Moths into - those who were not present you have materialized, those who were broken or injured you have reformed, those who were hungover you have cured like some manner of alcoholic prophet. The hall stands long enough to accommodate them all, the sort of hall you'd see in Hel itself, windowless and lit by blue flames, millions of troglodytic lifeforms infesting the ceiling like an entomological garden, the roof covered in chimneys like bizarre ribs stretching out to the sky. Barrels line the walls, filled with hard liquor, mead and any number of other delights you could think of, quite literally. The sheer power of a deep dream is something to behold. It's almost a shame to let go of it as the Moths wake, unharmed but full of wonder at this place you have materialized from nothing in accordance with their wishes, transposed from Jehwlheimr into this reality stone by stone.

This place is your masterpiece, in that you are now a true mastermind. The belief and attention of the two hundred Moths feeds and empowers you - while they observe you can work miracles that most minders will never achieve.

Haha, says the elder, now that's the kind of minding he can get behind! Led by him, the Moths raise their drinks in your honor - you may have been raised under the sun, but they'll be damned if you don't know how to party.

"Bingo!"

Harvest the graphite and copper, drop another coin on the counter on the way out, and commence the search for the last item on the shopping list.

You grab the nicer-looking styli and crack open a few of the bobbleparts to get at the springs, getting generous helpings of both as you pick through the supply of tat available. On the way back you drop another coin on the counter.

[Your Patronage Is Appreciated: 5]

You hadn't noticed this before, but when you dropped the first coin the glow in the proprietor's eyes intensified briefly - on your way out the shopkeeper's mask actually twitches, and the roots of the store begin to grow ever so mildly in the direction of your payment. The body of the proprietor leans forward with a long and tortured creak as its eyes burn.

[Would You Like To Know About Our Customer Card: 4]

The creak resounds powerfully in your mind as its fumble for meaning finally resolves into language.

THANKS

It seems like it would like to say more, but the single Word seems to have required such an effort that something cracks within it and its eyes darken again, the head leaning down as its body withers - not dead, for nothing can truly die here, but drained. It does however look satisfied in a deep and long-forgotten sense as the two pinprick glows of eyes focus solidly on the two coins.

You leave the fellow to contemplate where it'll invest this newfound fortune and begin walking around in search of some sticky tape.

[When In Doubt, Duck: 3]

As you might expect in the darkened, ancestral desolation of the merchant quarter, a consumer-ready variation of sticky tape is vanishingly rare. Probably nonexistent, in fact, as you strongly suspect the wizzard isn't from here.

If you had to guess, you'd need to order sticky tape specially from a skilled artisan, or repurpose something else to work as sticky tape. The pawnbroker might have something, or possibly Lady Craik if you feel you didn't wear out your welcome last time, or you suppose you could keep looking elsewhere for raw materials and do the legwork on actually making it yourself. Surely this can't be all the tell has to offer you.

Hm, speakers are less scary than I have been lead to believe. "Your speakerness, I am a traveling monster hunter and these are my companions. We are merely looking to rest and resupply as we pass through your beautiful city. Then we will continue on our journey to find glory and make the realm a safer place."

[Cutting to the Chase: 2]

Got a pet monster, the speaker says, like you'd expect of clanfolk (Oggie softly grumbles), but you're dressed like traveling nobles and don't have clan insignia. Came from the north from up Anglefork way and you don't have the look or sound of El natives - in fact, your companion there looks she's from the heartlands, real college girl look to her, correct them if they're wrong (the doctor shuffles nervously). So if they had to guess, you're probably refugees from what happened up in Anglefork - got a runner from over that-a-way, said the Option had been deployed and the castle ought to be clear (you raise an eyebrow). And you speak the language real clearly, so you're probably well-acquainted with the capital. All in all, probably some kind of spy.

Before you say much more though, the speaker raises their hand, can you actually hunt monsters though? 'Cause they do have a bit of a ghoul problem at hand and they've heard things about you northfolk - plus you've got one of them minder sword things from the looks of it, and the pet monster does look capable too.

So maybe you help with that and don't cause any trouble, and the honored speaker here will see about letting you off on your way without many more questions?

Oggie looks at you with her trademark "neck snap, Y/N" look, the feats of deduction straining her already low patience.

Quote
Shores was mostly worried she'd accidentally caused permanent damage, especially to that fascinating thought-construct. She would emphatically state that this was a purely professional and not at all personal concern for a useful sparring partner, Peaks relays amusedly, lest someone get the wrong idea.

"Yes, professional concern, of course," Daniels repeats, nodding assuredly. He's grinning just slightly, though.

Quote
When you produce the manikin, Peaks is surprised. Nabbed that during the feast? Yes, yes. It's not out of charge or anything, they last for a good bit of time. It's instead a failsafe of sorts, she explains - you'd be surprised at the kind of trouble a tiny clay man can get into when lost in the world without its master. In fact that's how the inventor of the manikin died, a very interesting-

-anyway, it's turned itself off for safety reasons. Suppose she could circumvent those. Give it here and she'll get back to you a bit later, it'll take a bit of work. You're going to be stuck here for a few days anyway as you proceed toward the Sky Rig, and from there into the heartlands.
"I shall leave it in your care, then," he says, handing the thing over to her. "I recall you were saying before the mishap you were considering experimenting on my substrate to find out some of its properties. I'm game to go forward with that so long as it doesn't involve mashing me into a pulp with a hammer like last time I tried it; did you want to try some of those now, or should I come back sometime in the next few days?"

Ascertain when a good timeframe for some experiments with Peaks would be - if now, let's go ahead, if not, we can slot time in in what appears to be an approaching timeskip. With that in mind, I'll list a few activities I'll try to accomplish during those few days:

- Go talk to Two Shores, assure her I'm alright, try to arrange another duel with her - perhaps we meet every morning for one if other duties don't interject? Try to ask about those scars she has and what her background with martial training is - she's understandably very impressive with the sword or without. Maybe have breakfast with her before these matches once or twice, it's a nice ritual, as she said.

- Interact with Dan some - get to know him - his personality, capabilities (without damaging the ship), that sort of thing. Maybe do some training with him or somesuch? Maybe Shores would like a friendly go.

- Experiments and such with Twin Peaks, as well as the manikin thing (see above).

- Fires, Pines, and Day are mostly free to do as they want provided they stay in easy contact with me so if I need them for something like entertaining Dan or figuring out what the manikin can do or carrying messages or whatever I can call them. See what my impressions of them are and such.

- Other than that, see if I have any duties as a member of the Vault of Heavens - get those done as well as I can if so. Try not to accidentally upstage the captain again, I'd be alright with trying my luck against him but he might be petty towards Shores again and I can't have that.


Oh, Peaks figures she'll have plenty of work to start with just from the samples she collected - well, maybe just one more for the road, something from the back, she says as she gets the forceps. She's got some very sharp scissors too, you notice, barely hurts at all by your standards. Now on your way, she'll get back to you when she's done with the manikin - probably sometime tomorrow.

Anyway, you decide to catch up with Two Shores first and foremost - she seems to have settled down to a dinner of bread and water, sipping the water microliters at a time, alternating with nibbling on the bread softly. Both of these she sets down as you find her - oh, Mr. Daniels, she sighs in relief. Good to see you in fine health.

You sit down opposite her with Dan at your side - she has a more nutritious dinner and a small log (for the murder-thought to scratch at instead of scuffing the deck like it usually does) brought to you by an acid-scarred crewman that doesn't meet your gaze, and takes the time to offer apologies about the way the last sparring round went - she got overexcited and, well, she is a little quick on the blade, her instructors always said. It was unprofessional to sunder your sword to that degree without testing it a little more extensively first and she is deeply, truly sorry for this lapse in sparring etiquette.

You do accept the apology while trying to minimize the injuries suffered - it really only scrambled your mind a bit, you wave off the concern, really only took a bit of sleep to put things back in their right places.

Shores, however, does not relent - had that been an actual sword she had broken while she was in the Academy, she would be honor-bound to make restitution for damaging a valuable instrument due to clumsiness. A master should only hurt those that she means to, and to minimize the injury suffered is to pathologically excuse her incompetence. In a word, unacceptable.

No, she continues, there is only one plausible way forward from this. She will have to train you, free of the usual charge, as a way to make amends for damages suffered. Against normal policy she will have to share her knowledge of how to use a sword or, in your case, deadly sharp thought construct in line with the best practices of the School of Move Like This. This would constitute a fairly strict training regimen beyond your normal sparring that would require you to spend almost entire days practicing your forms and strikes until your unrefined techniques and assorted supernatural techniques are whittled into perfect, optimized tools of personal combat.

So yes, despite her terrible misgivings at teaching her exclusive and very expensive arts to someone not even from El, she absolutely must clench her teeth on this matter and do her utmost to teach you everything she knows. There is simply no other way, Two Shores concludes, as her honor and that of her school is on the line. You can't help but notice that her expression has turned a little mischievous.

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« Last Edit: August 03, 2017, 08:32:14 am by Harry Baldman »
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TopHat

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2248 on: August 03, 2017, 03:04:43 pm »

"You're welcome."

I'd rather not impose further on Lady Craik, and it still seems a bit like cheating to just get the stuff from the pawnbroker, so DIY it is.

The backing should be easy, just use some burlap ribbons. That leaves the adhesive. Let's see: Half a candle, probably tallow; one rat, complete with bones and maybe internal organs, aspirin. Yeah, it's not coming to me. Go for a wander and a think. This place is decrepit enough that there may well be something useful growing out of a wall or floor.
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I would ask why fire can burn two men to death without getting hot enough to burn a book, but then I read "INEXTINGUISHABLE RUNNING KAMIKAZE RADIOACTIVE FLAMING ZOMBIE" and realized that logic, reason, and physics are all occupied with crying in the corner right now.

AoshimaMichio

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Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2249 on: August 03, 2017, 04:32:26 pm »

"Haha, party is my middle name and I'm not stranger to underground either, being a professional miner churning away tons of stone just to find those precious metals in hiding. Can't compare to you, though, I merely visit where you live."

If two hundred faithful can do this, then what about two thousand? If Moths are the spirit of party, then wouldn't Dragons be excellent spear? They say hunger grows when you eat, and it seems to be true. Though there seems to be a lot of distrust between clans, so better leave that thought until after clansmeet. For now DRINK AND EAT, WE HAVE A LONG TRIP AHEAD.

PS. Not DRINK drink, but normal drink drink.
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I told you to test with colors! But nooo, you just had to go clone mega-Satan or whatever.
Old sigs.
Games.
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