Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 151 152 [153] 154 155 ... 161

Author Topic: Our Salvation: It Is Written  (Read 262422 times)

penguinofhonor

  • Bay Watcher
  • Minister of Love
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2280 on: August 17, 2017, 07:39:29 am »

Hm, so is it dead, or just gone? I suppose I should take a look around. I wish the innkeeper well, then leave the Nuts and Humphrey to search the neighborhood for more signs of ghoul... affliction? Haunting? Whatever it is that ghoul was doing.
Logged

Harry Baldman

  • Bay Watcher
  • What do I care for your suffering?
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2281 on: August 19, 2017, 08:21:06 am »

"It's quite all right, Shores, I'm happy for the opportunity to learn from you in and of itself. Let me know when you'd be ready to resume."

After she leaves, Daniels turns to regard Linda. "Would you like to go meet some of my other friends? Maybe we'll go find Dan and my assistants, see how they're doing."

Go find Dan.

On the background of Linda's all-encompassing delight for existence itself the additional joy of finding more friends is but a slight blip.

[Distractions in the Hold: 4]

Dan seems to be having a bit of fun, apparently at the behest of your assistants. You find them all in the hold below, surrounded by crates upon crates of goods both looted and smuggled from the collapsing kingdom you're on the cusp of leaving entirely behind. In the past two days they seem to have discovered the joys of having a creature around that can produce a stupendous variety of mucus for a vast variety of purposes, including most pertinently a sort that looks a lot like rubber cement, which your assistants have wasted no time in abusing for the purposes of terrorizing their fellow crewmates. The latest of these is a sleeping woman that, you discover, they had Dan soundlessly retrieve from her hammock after a night of heavy drinking and stick to the ceiling. All three of your assistants appear to be hiding behind some crates while Dan sits below, watching and clicking softly, having been instructed to drool corrosively on the ground.

When the woman wakes up and quite reasonably begins to suspect that she is about to have some highly suspicious eggs laid in her chest cavity by your xenomorphic friend, her muffled screams underneath the excessive amount of mucus are impressive. Fires snickers along with Day from their hiding spot while Pines just has a calm smile plastered across her face as she keeps nodding slowly.

Oh hey, Fires says as she notices your arrival and the snickering immediately quiets down, uh, hey boss! They were keeping the juggler amused, as you said. He's a cool guy once you work out a rapport, it turns out!

Yeah, like, Day also starts to nod, he can make all kinds of fun party favors with those salivary glands of his! They've been having an enchanting time, like.

Pines begins to chuckle as well. Shoulda seen Dipper when they had your boy drool into his rum, dude's been locked in his room screaming about all the fun colors since yesterday, haha. The other two begin to make gestures at her about keeping quiet, but she doesn't appear to notice.

So, like, Day begins to steer the topic of conversation as she adjusts her shawl reflexively, anything they can help you with? Training's going well, right? No problems here if you were just checking in, they've been handling things quite well as you can see, like.

Dan finally notices you as well and gingerly trots over to your position on his multitude of legs. Hello, he clicks at you. While you were away he was practicing humor. It is a lot like intimidation and he thinks he is getting good at it. The captive crewmember on the ceiling looks at you pleadingly as she notices you and your assistants off to the side.

... And I still need to collect a sample for the tape. Good job, Wilde.

Take advantage of my regained mobility to look around for another sharp thing, preferably one which won't violently disagree with being used as such. Hey, maybe I can just cut the clothes free again.

[Dangerous Angles: 6]

You wander around a little while along the catwalks on the lower levels, looking for something that'd be suitable for carving these spider nets at the bottom of the alleyways. There ought to be something sharp around (and preferably non-hostile at that) that you could use, you think as you wander along the beshadowed streets.

Eventually, you're not sure in how long, you manage to locate a particularly derelict-looking ex-alleyway between a leaning temple and a petrified nunnery, slightly outside the merchant quarter proper (not that it's easy to make a distinction here in the properly abandoned levels). The floor appears to have collapsed downward in a landslide of cobblestones and accumulated garbage, all starting from a crack in the wall at the dead end of the alleyway. Lodged in his crack, and presumably originating it, seems to be an ancient battleaxe. Next to it, in the nunnery's corner, sits a long-immobile, somewhat short figure mummified with age that appears to have put on a set of plate armor slightly less than halfway, a few of the missing pieces still unstolen at the bottom of the landslide. A row of fossilized girls peers petrified at the figure from the nunnery's ancient windows with what might be worry or amusement, or a mixture of both.

"It's just a pleasant walk in the woods, really; why not just go straight for it?  Least chance of trouble, really, since it's the fastest way, right?"

Right?  Encourage to go straight for it.

Your followers seem terrified at the prospect, but then you are the man with the sword and the can-do madness to see them through - turning around now might very well be as certain a death as going straight on, and so you head on.

[A Walk In The Woods: 3]

Tabernacle keeps an eye out, and so do all others, not daring to speak or make a sound as you go on the final approach and the trees thin out - about a mile off to the side a group of clansmen in extremely colorful garb or perhaps body paint wander, indubitably keeping an eye on you and proceeding roughly at an even pace with you. Treefrogs, Lily whispers, no mistake - never seen them this close before. They're not attacking... yet. Wonder if that's a good thing, Helen mutters. Probably not, responds Tabernacle, clanfolk letting you know where they are is seldom a good thing - probably expect you to turn back at the sight.

You pass along one of the minor bluffs toward the looming metropolis of Elizabeth, her five tall towers regarding you with strange curiosity, a few winged shapes circling around her outskirts that seem to be making your people more nervous the closer you get. This is nothing compared to how they react when you notice half a dozen tall figures emerge from their well-chosen cover to greet you. Whereas you may have had doubt about certain others, these resemble clansmen in a broader, non-Australian sense that you're quite familiar - to a man and woman they are garbed in white robes, with a few off-turquoise and light green numbers in the back, each one streaked with reddish-brown swirls, points and more accidental-looking flecks. Each has at least one spear hoisted along their backs with a head that seems not so much fashioned to facilitate stabbing as it is to make the stabbing as painful and brutal as inhumanly possible. In every fold of their filthy white smocks a sharp knife or two appears to hide, as you discover when you hear a good dozen or two more being drawn in the brush around you.

[A Curious Case: 5]

A tall fellow in a turquoise smock with particularly rich ornamentation slinks forward from among the Shrikes, the look in his eyes being the sort usually reserved for a five-alarm clown fire. The clansmen all keep low and mostly out of sight (oh my, there must be really quite a lot of them, Silver whispers), just enough to make their fifty-odd numbers and murderous intent only barely kept in check by sheer bewilderment clear.

Wayward Rabbits, he points to you with a very well-used gutting knife, you approach the site where the clans are set to meet - your trespass is unprecedented in the history of the unspoken agreement. Explain yourselves, or they will conduct a divination on the spot.

The Treefrogs watch from a distant bluff as your followers shrink into a small crowd, slowly encircled by Shrikes. The towers of Elizabeth look down from several miles off. The Shrikes are already sharpening knives.

Hm, so is it dead, or just gone? I suppose I should take a look around. I wish the innkeeper well, then leave the Nuts and Humphrey to search the neighborhood for more signs of ghoul... affliction? Haunting? Whatever it is that ghoul was doing.

[The Investigation Continues: 4]

It becomes clear soon enough that you've addressed the symptom rather than the cause - while the innkeeper's well-wishes and the general merriment inside the Nuts & Humphrey do much to assuage your concern, the docks area still looks to be under a shroud of a broader sort of fear, thrown into sharp relief by the power of your strange cure creating a golden, shining oasis of joy in the middle.

What's interesting is the border region between the inn and the rest of the area - the fear and the synthesis pushing against each other as a cautious few people ebb and flow around the area, almost as if the fear itself were alive in a sense, and suddenly wounded as it twitches throughout the district.

More than that, you can't shake the feeling outside that you are being closely watched, much more closely than before - as if a pair of eyes were fixed on the back of your head at all times, staring unblinkingly. As Oggie looks around instinctively as well and the doctor seems momentarily unnerved, you know that you've all been marked to one degree or another.

[The Doctor's Insights: 5]

Aha, the doctor says, that just about settles it in that case! Don't you see? You seem to be dealing with some variety of minder on the loose - happens now and then, she'd suppose, what with the uprising and such. Stoatfolk really are a bit superstitious about them, it seems. Can't really blame them, of course, what with the feedback loops they must be exploiting here - she's heard anxiety is a considerably untapped resource in common minding practice, especially when dealing with crowds. Can't say she's familiarized herself directly with the theory in question, but minding warfare, particularly the mythical variety, was certainly a subject of study in the towers, this much she is aware of.

You can't help but perceive a tinge of momentary panic in the air as the doctor explains all this, followed by a hasty retreat of the sensation of surveillance.

Oh my, says the doctor, seems like they're quite close as well! How fortuitous!

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Logged

Xantalos

  • Bay Watcher
  • Your Friendly Salvation
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2282 on: August 19, 2017, 04:30:43 pm »

Daniels regards his gaggle of assistants with amusement. Seems that old saying about idle hands was true, but they hadn't really hurt anyone save maybe Dipper's dreams and they'd discovered new things about Dan. "Heya, guys. Don't worry, I'm not pissed, you didn't hurt anybody as far as I can tell. I'm currently in a break in my training for a bit and thought I'd introduce you to Linda here."

He motions to the joyful manikin. "She's with me, so if you see her around make sure to help her out, alright? Anyhow, while I'm here just a few questions. You on anything right now, Pines? Like drugs or whatever? You seem a little ... disconnected. Though this is the first time I've met you, so maybe you're always like this. Just curious. Secondly, for the interest of cataloging this stuff, what sort of stuff have you had Dan make? And also how'd you figure out how to talk with him, if you have? No one else seems to be able to."

Finally, he turns to his juggler friend. "It kind of is, if you view it a certain way," he agrees. "It's basically an excersise in testing another's mental flexibility, whether through convoluted wordplay or putting them in unexpected situations like you have with that woman there. Humans derive amusement from the practice because it's customary not to inflict serious mental or physical damage on them with jokes, allowing them to freely engage in competition without having to devote energy towards not becoming wounded. That's why jokes typically end in laughter, as a social cue to the subject of the joke that the subject matter was in jest. I'm glad to hear you've been getting good at it."

Speaking of which...

"Don't worry," he shouts to the lady stuck to the roof. "We'll get you down in a minute."

Introduce Linda to everyone, meet Pines for the first time (upon reading back, I never actually talked to her since she was away when I recruited them), do a bunch of talking.
Logged
Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
Quote from: Toaster
((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))

TopHat

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2283 on: August 21, 2017, 02:49:11 pm »

"How fortunate... if most curious." Especially the lack of looting or burial.

Retrieve the axe and examine it closely. Have a look at the armoured corpse as well, on the off-chance an obvious cause of death is still evident or the thing is still alive.
Logged
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

  • Bay Watcher
  • Minister of Love
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2284 on: August 23, 2017, 05:43:15 pm »

Okay, I'm getting pretty confident that this job is not monster hunter territory. More like a mage slayer or something. Somehow I doubt the speaker will let me off the hook that easily, though.

Anyways... I do need to find a minder to fix up this sword. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone here. I search the nearby area for the minder, focusing on anything like a vantage point that they could be using to watch the effects of their magic. If I find them, I try to make it clear that I do not want to hurt them, but I will not hesitate to defend myself.
Logged

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2285 on: August 23, 2017, 08:54:23 pm »

Thomas quickly realized he was going to have to handle this one.

"Ah, hello!  I am Thomas Minstep, actually not of this clan, but I travel with them.  You see, I have come to Elizabeth to the air... ride the metal dragons, and I met these delightful folk on the way.  We have a common destination, here at Elizabeth.  Are they not a... clan like you, and therefore should be entitled to meet with the clans?"

At this point, Thomas adjusted his position to ensure that the hilt of his sword was visible.  Not drawn, just present.

"Both alone and with these fine folk, I have overcome many trials.  At this point, I feel our entry to Elizabeth is a done deal."

Thomas swallowed a bit.  Was he coming across too strong?

Introduce self.  Don't be intimidated.
Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

Harry Baldman

  • Bay Watcher
  • What do I care for your suffering?
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2286 on: August 24, 2017, 02:41:20 pm »

Daniels regards his gaggle of assistants with amusement. Seems that old saying about idle hands was true, but they hadn't really hurt anyone save maybe Dipper's dreams and they'd discovered new things about Dan. "Heya, guys. Don't worry, I'm not pissed, you didn't hurt anybody as far as I can tell. I'm currently in a break in my training for a bit and thought I'd introduce you to Linda here."

He motions to the joyful manikin. "She's with me, so if you see her around make sure to help her out, alright? Anyhow, while I'm here just a few questions. You on anything right now, Pines? Like drugs or whatever? You seem a little ... disconnected. Though this is the first time I've met you, so maybe you're always like this. Just curious. Secondly, for the interest of cataloging this stuff, what sort of stuff have you had Dan make? And also how'd you figure out how to talk with him, if you have? No one else seems to be able to."

Finally, he turns to his juggler friend. "It kind of is, if you view it a certain way," he agrees. "It's basically an excersise in testing another's mental flexibility, whether through convoluted wordplay or putting them in unexpected situations like you have with that woman there. Humans derive amusement from the practice because it's customary not to inflict serious mental or physical damage on them with jokes, allowing them to freely engage in competition without having to devote energy towards not becoming wounded. That's why jokes typically end in laughter, as a social cue to the subject of the joke that the subject matter was in jest. I'm glad to hear you've been getting good at it."

Speaking of which...

"Don't worry," he shouts to the lady stuck to the roof. "We'll get you down in a minute."

Introduce Linda to everyone, meet Pines for the first time (upon reading back, I never actually talked to her since she was away when I recruited them), do a bunch of talking.

Pines just shakes her head when you ask her if she's on anything at the moment. She's high on life, says Day, got a real philosophical bent when it comes to busywork of all sorts, like. Her philosophy being that if someone fuckin' wants something done, Fires adds, they can damn well come out and do it themselves 'cause she's not gonna help. Pines looks at both of them a little sharply before turning back to you and shrugging with a slight grin. She's just, heh, thinking a lot about things is all, sir.

As for what they've been making, er, that's a strong word for what they've been doing, Day says. It's more that they've just been looking into, like, what sort of things you can do with Dan's fluids and secretions. The stuff that isn't way too poisonous to give to people, anyway. There's a lot of that in him. Including the blood. Should ask the man himself, Pines suggests, they've just been fooling around. Trying to work out a language, feeding him stuff they've got lying around, gesturing a whole lot, trying to get a read on what he's saying. It's not too complicated, she shrugs, if you've spent time watching bugs.

Dan tries to follow the conversation as best he can. He is pleased to corroborate the testimonies of your three minions, and is glad that you approve of his outreach to the rest of the crew. He will continue to investigate these... jokes, and report to you later.

"How fortunate... if most curious." Especially the lack of looting or burial.

Retrieve the axe and examine it closely. Have a look at the armoured corpse as well, on the off-chance an obvious cause of death is still evident or the thing is still alive.

[Wall-Breaker: 2]

You tiptoe over to the axe and grab its handle, a soft vibration going through your arm as you do. You give it a tug, but it doesn't budge, so you put your other hand on as well and pull more properly, putting your foot up against the wall to brace yourself, and suddenly the vibration intensifies a hundredfold as you manage to budge it a quarter of an inch, the crack in the wall spreading upward in three different directions. The wall groans, and several hundred tons of stone temple as well as nine more stories of buildings above it lean toward you. Not particularly wanting them to lean further in, you draw your hands back.

There is dry, strangled laughter as a mailed gauntlet rests on your shoulder, the dwarfish knight having soundlessly gotten up and approached you. You look at him and he shakes his head - no good, tried that already. Too dangerous.

Your presence seems to have reminded him of something, however. He nods toward the building with the petrified girls - come inside with him? Axe not going anywhere soon.

Okay, I'm getting pretty confident that this job is not monster hunter territory. More like a mage slayer or something. Somehow I doubt the speaker will let me off the hook that easily, though.

Anyways... I do need to find a minder to fix up this sword. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone here. I search the nearby area for the minder, focusing on anything like a vantage point that they could be using to watch the effects of their magic. If I find them, I try to make it clear that I do not want to hurt them, but I will not hesitate to defend myself.

[The Pursuit: 5]

All things considered there aren't really that many places to run away to around here, not without exposing yourself further. And by now you're quite used to following the vague sense of dread and panic all the way to its destination, which seems to be a warehouse right by the waterfront slightly less than a block away - not the fabrics warehouse, this one (as you find out when Oggie kicks in the door with shockingly little effort) is filled with timber, stacked up in a veritable labyrinth.

[No Harm: 5]

As you enter, the sense of dread weakens considerably in a last ditch effort by the minder to keep themselves hidden, until it quiets down entirely and you're just left in a building smelling of sawdust with a slightly confusing stack layout, the darkness of the shadows and the mystery of the unknown inadvertently muted along with the more unwelcome artifacts of your entry.

You decide to take the direct approach and declare that you don't mean the minder any harm but that this may change if you are subjected to any manner of assault or, indeed, anything less than them just coming out and explaining themselves.

Yes, the doctor nods and says, do come out - it's quite clear they're not very good at this or you'd all be ruined as soon as you came in.

There is a moment of silence, and from one of the stacks you see a head pop out - it does look human, although its hair has thinned in a manner suggesting something other than male pattern baldness, its eyes shining yellow as it looks at you cautiously.

You're here to hunt him. Don't lie. But you want something else too. What is it?

Thomas quickly realized he was going to have to handle this one.

"Ah, hello!  I am Thomas Minstep, actually not of this clan, but I travel with them.  You see, I have come to Elizabeth to the air... ride the metal dragons, and I met these delightful folk on the way.  We have a common destination, here at Elizabeth.  Are they not a... clan like you, and therefore should be entitled to meet with the clans?"

At this point, Thomas adjusted his position to ensure that the hilt of his sword was visible.  Not drawn, just present.

"Both alone and with these fine folk, I have overcome many trials.  At this point, I feel our entry to Elizabeth is a done deal."

Thomas swallowed a bit.  Was he coming across too strong?

Introduce self.  Don't be intimidated.

[Compelled to Explain: 6]

The Shrikes are bewildered at first. Of course you are a Rabbit - if you are not of the other clans, you are a Rabbit by default and thus fair game for any horrific abuse a member of an actual clan may care to visit upon you. Such is the law of the clanlands, it's preposterous that you would maintain-

-did you say you want to ride a dragon? You did, didn't you? You have no idea where you've found yourself, do you? Just some absolutely mad bugger who wandered in from the crumbling empire, not a care in the world, and now you're going to go in there and tell the Dragons you'd like a ride, is that it? With handful of other absolute madfolk to suffer with you, no less!

Frankly, the lead Shrike says, it'd be a damned shame to not at least watch you try from a safe distance with some fresh cartilage to snack on.

They don't seem to have noticed your sword, which you suspect is probably because you haven't drawn it - it occurs to you suddenly that it doesn't have a sheath of any particular sort. It just seems to be there when you need it, which you figure it best not to question much.

Chattering between themselves, the Shrikes part slowly before you. They appear to have decided to let you make an appeal to the Dragons for a lark, which seems to only make your followers substantially more uneasy. Save for Tabernacle, of course, who just motions for everyone to keep going. The Shrikes watch you head on, and after you've put some distance between yourselves and them, begin to follow - some Treefrogs wander up to ask them some questions from the looks of it, and leave bewildered.

The final approach proves simple enough despite two arriving clan contingents of several hundred each accreting behind you, over a thousand eyes watching you as you head up the path to one of Elizabeth's many gates. The particular gate you approach is at the top of a flight of massive steps that are flanked by a legion of stone statues in poses suggesting light guard duty mixed with a quite a lot of drinking. The gate itself is at least three stories tall and the width of your average house, made of black iron weighing in at too many total tons to easily contemplate. Torches burn with blue light on both sides of the gate, but you see no signs of people about.

From the distance the Shrikes and Treefrogs continue to watch, poised at a considerable distance from one another.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Logged

TopHat

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2287 on: August 25, 2017, 06:55:06 am »

"Sure. Oscar Wilde, pleased to meet you." How nice it is to say that without it being seen as a joke.

Follow them inside and introduce myself.

Logged
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.

Xantalos

  • Bay Watcher
  • Your Friendly Salvation
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2288 on: August 25, 2017, 12:01:36 pm »

Quote
She's just, heh, thinking a lot about things is all, sir.
A button labeled Wizard Minder Detected starts blinking in Daniels' head. He doesn't give an indication of this realization, instead nodding, saying something along the lines of 'fair enough'.

"Well, good effort," he says as he addresses his minions, both humanoid and juggler. "I'll let you get back to it, I'm just showing Linda around the ship. I'll be around if you need help or something."

Minion check-in complete, results good! Let's go find Big Dipper, see if he's still trapped in hallucinations.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2017, 06:19:39 pm by Xantalos »
Logged
Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
Quote from: Toaster
((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2289 on: August 25, 2017, 12:32:13 pm »

Thomas idly wondered if this gate was insured.

"This is all interesting, isn't it, Evey?"

Ask.  Then let's knock, I guess?  Pass through if it's open.
Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

penguinofhonor

  • Bay Watcher
  • Minister of Love
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2290 on: August 25, 2017, 04:37:48 pm »

"Hey now, if I was here to hunt you then I would have at least tried to sneak up on you. Probably wouldn't have worked, but you have to give these things an honest effort. What I am here to do is stop you from terrorizing the city. If I can do that nonviolently, I would really prefer to. So I'll make you an offer: I'll help you escape the city alive as long as you help me repair this sword. Never-made, I think it's called."
Logged

Harry Baldman

  • Bay Watcher
  • What do I care for your suffering?
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2291 on: August 26, 2017, 07:26:49 am »

"Sure. Oscar Wilde, pleased to meet you." How nice it is to say that without it being seen as a joke.

Follow them inside and introduce myself.

Hrmhrmr, says the dwarfish knight, and it takes a moment even for you to parse this as his name. Probably more foreign than most. You follow him as he stumbles into the building by the temple, kicking up a massive helping of dust as he steps through the back door which disintegrates as he starts to open it.

[The Petrified Nunnery: 1]

You make it three steps through the door before you come face to face with a fossilized madame staring forward almost motionlessly - her limbs creak a little as the light from your helmet is shed on them, and her face twitches slightly as well. Her mouth slowly opens as she draws out a single long syllable.

Taaaaaab.

Hrmhrmr stops and looks at you. Yes, he says, tab. Big tab. Forgot. Been some time. He searches his various possessions, undoing a few of the remaining plates on his armor before coming to the conclusion that he is completely penniless. He looks to you - help a hospitaller out?

A button labeled Wizard Minder Detected starts blinking in Daniels' head. He doesn't give an indication of this realization, instead nodding, saying something along the lines of 'fair enough'.

"Well, good effort," he says as he addresses his minions, both humanoid and juggler. "I'll let you get back to it, I'm just showing Linda around the ship. I'll be around if you need help or something."

Minion check-in complete, results good! Let's go find Big Dipper, see if he's still trapped in hallucinations.

You leave your minions to their shenanigans and after a few wrong turns find Big Dipper's place of residence to be right next to Peaks' cabin.

[Adventures Across The Ninth Dimension: 1]

A minor noise war appears to have broken out between Peaks' occasional cackling coming out of her locked cabin versus Big Dipper's much more consistent screaming coming out of his own locked cabin. You wonder if either of them need help, professional or otherwise, but then you notice the concerned ship's doctor standing by his door, apparently having roped Alphonse into being his assistant for the time being - Alphonse seems none too pleased to see you, but at least makes a token effort at hiding it.

Thomas idly wondered if this gate was insured.

"This is all interesting, isn't it, Evey?"

Ask.  Then let's knock, I guess?  Pass through if it's open.

Interesting's a word for it, says Evey. Personally, she'd go for something more like bizarre, or weird, or maybe puzzling, puzzling's a good word. Freaky northern yokels and their sentient cities. Good thing they know not to mess with you, else you'd need to teach the idjits a lesson they'd not soon forget.

There's a 'hear-hear' from the others, although they seem slightly less than convinced about that last part.

[You Keep A-Knockin': 2]

You go up to the massive gate and give it a polite knock, your knuckle making little to no noise against the bulk of iron before you. You push and pull at the gate, but it doesn't even begin to budge. You then shout for it to open up, no luck with that either.

Turning around, you consider what to do next. Your followers stare back, and you notice the clansmen off in the distance appearing to draw closer, perhaps not in the friendliest of ways now that you think about it.

[Sterling Observation: 4]

... hm, is it just you or is one of those statues looking this way now? You don't recall it doing that before, as strange as it may seem.

"Hey now, if I was here to hunt you then I would have at least tried to sneak up on you. Probably wouldn't have worked, but you have to give these things an honest effort. What I am here to do is stop you from terrorizing the city. If I can do that nonviolently, I would really prefer to. So I'll make you an offer: I'll help you escape the city alive as long as you help me repair this sword. Never-made, I think it's called."

It'd be easy for him to leave on his own. Your offer is- a never-made sword? Produce it. Show it, proffer it!

You draw your scimitar and show it to the distant minder-head, and its eyes gleam. A filthy blade, one that has forgotten its purpose. It could be a great instrument of fear.

But still, there is no reason for him to help. The stoats must be made to fear. They must know terror. They must die. Die screaming.

This is the offer, made in terms that make the shadows deepen suddenly - kill the speaker and take her corpse. Bring it here. Then he will remake this sword for you. There can be no other bargain made here, for there is no other outcome he will accept. The terms are clear and indisputable. Stoats must fear, stoats must die.

[Ghouls Under Bridges: 5]

The doctor leans in to whisper - she may have jumped the gun ever so slightly with that assessment. That's... not quite a minder, she should think, although the relevant power appears to have curiously been either retained or obtained elsewhere. There's a distinct strangeness about the way it keeps prodding about, can you tell?

And now that she mentions it, you do sense it ever so slightly - you've been in contact with minders, and this does feel a bit different. There's a certain greed to the way it pulls at you, as if it can't resist poking at your thoughts with its greedy tendrils.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Logged

TopHat

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2292 on: August 26, 2017, 03:38:34 pm »

"Oh, of course. How much is it?"
Might as well pay. Doubt it'll be more than 4gp.
Logged
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.

Xantalos

  • Bay Watcher
  • Your Friendly Salvation
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2293 on: August 27, 2017, 02:50:18 am »

Daniels waves. "Hiya Alphonse, and ... I'm afraid we haven't met, mister doctor. This is Linda, I'm showing her around. Is Dipper okay?"

He pauses as another shriek echoes from the poor man's cabin.

"Relatively speaking, that is."

Assess situation, introduce happy manikin.
Logged
Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
Quote from: Toaster
((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))

penguinofhonor

  • Bay Watcher
  • Minister of Love
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: The Precipice of Revelation
« Reply #2294 on: August 28, 2017, 08:27:50 am »

I love the idea of an evil fear sword, but I'm not helping this guy in his sadistic stoat genocide. I already talked Oggie down from massacring innocent people. Guess it's monster hunting time.

"Get ready," I mutter to my companions as I create an explosive cyst, then lob it at the not-minder. "I'm afraid I can't take your offer!" I shout.
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 151 152 [153] 154 155 ... 161