Turn 7: Dagon Is Your Friend!Kill Enoch - Glass, SC
Spread Suicidal Volunteer Goo about the castle - Dolosus
rescue Sally we are going to fail the contract if we don't soon, budget is running thin already- Ziizo, Doomblade, ZBridges
+1
"I SWEAR, É̱̻͍ͦV̺͇ͨͥ̒E̺̞͎̬͍̭̍̃̓̓̀R̻̰͓ͬ́̈́̂͗ͥŸ̼̙̜̠͈̺͚́T̠H̙͉͔͑͛̾ͮͮͭI͇̼̮̱ͬ͗ͤ̉̅̆N͎͕̻̜̼͕̋ͭ͑ͨ̓̓͋G͖̘ IS UNDER Ĉ̤̩͇̤̟̻͇ͯ̑̍̈O̰͉N͎͈͍̩͔̞ͩ̔̌T͙̬̂͗̔Ṟ͋͆ͭͣͮ̓͒O͎̜ͮͮ̈L̓͌̒!"
More lessons of Dagon Magic for the princess. She must learn about the things that lie beyond this reality.
[2] Your fingers tremble as you try to instruct the princess in yet more Dagon Magic. Maybe it's the horrifying rents in reality covering you, maybe it's horrifying parasites slipped into your ears in the dead of night, maybe you just need a vacation from teaching, but whatever the cause, you're now screaming about eyes in the walls and the princess doesn't look like she's learning much.
That's Weird->Mild Screaming((Hold my beer; I'm going to stop us from hallucinating.))
Use Polling Magic, from everyone in the tower, on the just-started etheric caterwaul. Write down my findings afterwards so it counts as research.
[6] You try to sort of link everyone together which works, but when you say link everyone together you meant, like, average out everyone's experiences to figure out what's up with the echoing screams, not
actually link everyone together into some kind of quasi-dreamworld. The good news is that now you know one of your colleagues is responsible for everything weird you see, which you suppose counts as back to normal.
Everyone: Lightly Melting Walls->Worst Shadow Play
+2 Polling MagicUse summoning circle to summon a puppy. A cute puppy.
[6] You summon a puppy. A cute puppy! It has too many faces to be counted, but that's just more adorable eyes!
E Y E S T H A T S E E A L L
+2 Dagon Magic
That's Weird->Nagging Feeling
Cute Puppy!Lead Enoch and Marcy out of the basement, protecting them from the monster bits. Then spend the rest of the week regenerating my organs and meditating on sea cucumbers.
Kill Enoch - Glass, SC
Spread Suicidal Volunteer Goo about the castle - Dolosus, Questorhank
Rescue Sally, dammit- Ziizo, Doomblade, ZBridges, Egan_BW, Enemy Post
[4] Through your knowledge of squeezing yourself and others like tubes of goo, you manage to wriggle past the obtrusive yet pliable mushroom blocking the basement. You then spend a long while relaxing and regenerating all those organs.
Both: +1 Sea Cucumber CareCio was flabbergasted at the mess of everything--not only did the tidy halls become amuck with one of the more esoteric mages' stuff, but also all of her mail was not replied to! The rudeness intensified her wish for people to stop playing with human beings; inasmuch as she could tell, the only reason why vitamancy or life magic did not work, was because of the more exotic mages' actions!
And none of them cared that she or others cared, and only acted for themselves!
She tried to recall a few people she could trust (or at least were neutral to the situation) and sent a letter to Nallihan.
Apologies for disturbing your Goo, but I wish for you and I to work together to at least accomplish something of export this week, instead of focusing on individual goals ourselves. Priority being the Princess' health and humanity. The Dagon mage and the other exotic artists do not respond to my queries, reports, or messages (despite filling in their weekly reports, now that whatever happened last week, happened), and I know no one else but you who would kindly read whatever I write, even if you do not respond.
Also the situation in-tower is strangely growing worse. Items running amok as usual, but I'm assuming whatever power is possessing our princess or having control over her domain, is affecting our vicinity.
With a whisk of air, the paper was off to Nallihan's supposed area of operations (given his notices and reports). Cio knew that anything she did would be overt, if using her masterals--illusion craft and life healing was only within bounds of an apprentice. She had to be creative, as she knew her limits explicitly. Having recalled spooky stories and stories of ghosts, she wondered if she could replicate the image of the princess...as tentacle-y and inhuman she was now, for the schedules of the more self-centered mages...
Illusion time! Other than spending my time consoling the Princess (more on persuasion towards inner strength and other personal notions, to fight off the...corruption of...exotic magic, so this fits into the notion of 'Illusion'), do illusion to absorb the time of the more exotic mages' actions. It'll take up their teaching time, and thus give them experience, but it'll hopefully divest the princess from harmful results of their actions.
> Kill Enoch - Glass, SC
> Spread Suicidal Volunteer Goo about the castle - Dolosus, Questorhank
> Rescue Sally, dammit- Ziizo, Doomblade, ZBridges, Egan_BW, Enemy Post, Tiruin
[2] You try. You really, really try. You try crafting nice illusions to shelter the princess and maybe ward off her... somewhat well-meaning assailants.
Alas, the gentle facade just makes it all the more dramatic when strange and terrible things burst through the veil.
Princess: Basement Phobia->Fear of the DarkMaxime listens with distaste to the screams from the basement. Preferring to die human, she goes upstairs to de-possess Sally using the dreamlice. Evil spirits are just neuroses capable of hitting back, really.
Maxime also finds time to talk to Mordred as he polls, perching on a table and scrutinizing him intensely.
"Mordred. People have told me that you have rather advanced ideas concerning the importance of monarchy. In light of present circumstances, perhaps you would be willing to discuss them with me? Confidentially, of course."
[1] Your lice, uh,
hatch. They were already hatched, of course, so this
rebirth into glorious darkness is mildly concerning, especially as they seem to join forces with Sally's insolent neuroses.
Sally: Lightly Possessed->Cabal PossessedNallihen cringed as his magnificent wizardry outfit was covered in the goo that had a moment ago been one of his crazy followers. That was disgusting even if he had been expecting that sort of problem. There was no escaping the nastiness of people-slime when you were dealing with newbies. That was also a pretty clear sign he'd been correct to try and refine his teaching technique with a single guinea pig before teaching more advanced techniques to the rest of his flock, since that week had basically been a waste.
"NO! Come on, you fool! I told you to control the amount of power, you were not supposed to pop like that." he huffed, trying to clean himself and splattering some of the goo back on the floor. He was about to try and help the volunteer put themselves back together when he received a letter from Cio. He didn't want anything to do with the eldritch princess and her eldritch handlers, but he didn't dislike the other mages, and Cio was a particularly nice person, so he retrieved his inkwell and wrote a reply while idly picking goo off his hat and cloak.
Cio, while I appreciate your letter I am afraid my status is not respected in the mage guild. They also turned the princess into something horrible and I refuse to return to teach her anything unless that is fixed. You are welcome to come and visit me, as I am currently working on making my cult understand that I am not a crab and also teaching them the arcane secrets I was prevented from thanks to the actions of some of our companions.
Keep me updated and come help me. We could have some stale biscuits together while helping the peasantry discover the true power of magic.
Grand Black Dragon of Doom, Nallihen Talandr.
With the letter written, he sealed it and send a runner to the tower before getting back to the matters at hand: rebuilding his volunteer. Well, that was going to be quite the experience for both of them!
Nallihen magically helps the suicidal volunteer polymorph themselves back into normal.
[4] It works! He gloms back into a person again!
You don't really notice or care whether it's the same person as before or not.
You and Volunteer: +1 Polymorphing
Volunteer: No longer clogging janitor worklogArcheux had desired to learn just enough of Dagon magics to formulate a cure...two weeks ago. But a misfortunate glance at the wrong page of the wrong tome left him in a daze that he had to rewind his own memory to undo. He remembered this much of the prior weeks, but not much else. Thankfully, he had left himself a potent note;
"Look into/for a tertiary branch of magic that would act as an anti-Dagon measure. A magic based on worldliness, not otherworldliness, one based on sending away and purging, rather than calling forth and corrupting. A magic capable of protecting the world from that which was outside it...
P.S., avoid page 147.3 of Bare Elder Entities and their Creation".
[4-1] Through trial and error, you uncover
Sealing Magic. It helps you stuff things inside other things, like keeping a vampire lord in his coffin, an eldritch horror in a circle of runes, or a troublesome colleague in a clay pot.
+1 Sealing MagicNinjas:(1) Kill Enoch - SC
(1) Spread Suicidal Volunteer Goo about the castle - Dolosus
(5) Rescue Sally, dammit - Ziizo, Egan_BW, Enemy Post, RGU, Dustan Hache
(7) A fair(ly inflammatory) compromise - Radio, Glass, Atomic Chicken, Doomblade, ZBridges, Jilladilla, Maximum Spin
(1) Set the eldritch vents on fire while saving Sally - Questorhank
[2] Needless to say, Sally ends up on fire. There's no use pointing fingers, pondering who should have done what and was told to do which part, the point is Sally's on fire and Enoch's in the bag. As ninja missions go, this is actually fairly standard.
Sally: !!Could Be Better!!
Enoch: In The Bag!Get some more reading in?
[5] Oh hey, there's a way to banish evil spirits! Apparently it's a ritual or something? You'd need to find the right tomes for the magic words. You hope magic means they just magically work and not that you need to be a mage to use them.
+2 Research!
[5] The vents mostly mend on their own, reality returning to its proper state.
With a goodbye kiss, of course.
Light Terror Vents->Faint Terror Vents
Gentle Caress!
[6] A good chunk of your vents slough off. If you're wondering how vents slough off something, you're probably screaming in white noise right now, so maybe don't do that so much.
Heavy Terror Vents->Moderate Terror VentsPrincess Marcille
SKREEEEEE
-
+2 Apprentice Dagon Priest (1/8)
+1 Novice Sea Cucumber Mage (0/4)
+1 Novice Magical Theorist (0/4)
+1 Novice Consoler (0/4)
+0 Dabbling Vitamancer (0/2)
+0 Dabbling Public Speaker (0/2)
+0 Dabbling Sea Cucumber Carer (0/2)
-1 Incompetent Sacrificer (1/2)
-1 Incompetent Air Mage (1/2)
-1 Incompetent History Mage (1/2)
-
Scorn For Life Magics: Life magic, Vitamancy, Mutationsim... none of it works, none of it helps, NONE OF IT IS WORTHY!
Enthusiastic Magical Theory: You don't have to be a sea cucumber when you love your classes!
Noodle Armed: Poor Marcy is not very martially inclined, tending to quake and quail at calls to valorous combat.
Cuddly Tentacle Empress: Princess Marcille will lead the awakening of a new age, an age shaped by her will and her will alone. None may stand against the inevitable, but her precious dollies will be well cared for.
Fear of the Dark: The Princess gets nervous when she can't see things, such as in the dark or behind a veil of illusion.
Patient Cucumber Princess: Little Marcy insists she's a sea cucumber whenever somebody tries to drag her out of the sea cucumber tank to force her to learn eldritch magic. She also claims the day of the Boned Ones is drawing to a close.
Humanoid Graft: Has a long and branching mass of tentacles protruding from mouth. The tentacles are extremely vibrant and healthy, while her actual body is sickly and frail. Understandably swearing eternal vengeance against all of you over this.
YAK NAK VAR AIE: Ashul'adan ok'phur man'or u'k ver'fal'fal'mroa tshu'mar mor'ai ko'vak ko'vak ko'vak ab'tul mo'ka.
IT COMES: The princess seems rather distraught about something?
Faint Terror Vents: Faintly covered in eldritch stuff that is not stuff, but rather vents in the world through which things may reach...
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Gentle Caress: The princess knows the things between worlds have plans for her. They have assured her all will be as it should be.
Nallihen Talandr (Caellath)
Healthy and Goo-Free!
-
+3 Adept Polymorpher (4/16)
+2 Apprentice Vitamancer (2/8)
+1 Novice Resilient (0/4)
+1 Novice Charismatic (0/4)
-
The Great Crab: Worshiped by a nearby cult of terrified peasants who occasionally leave offerings to The Briny One. Attempts to explain that he is an evil and fearsome dragon rather than an arctic crab have failed.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
High Priests
Incompetent
-
+0 Dabbling Polymorphers (0/2)
Suicidal Volunteer
Not Doomed!
-
+1 Novice Polymorpher (0/4)
Maxime Pfeiffer (NJW)
Healthy
-
+3 Adept Psychoarthropodist (4/16)
+2 Apprentice Subterfugist (1/8)
+2 Apprentice Gemcrafter (0/8)
-
Overlouse: Seems to have some kind of cultural or spiritual significance to the dream lice now infesting the tower, and who will occasionally leave her strange offerings or... maybe just garbage for her to take out? She's not really sure.
Sally: Pet merchant's daughter, highly sought after by deadly ninja.
Nightmare Lice: Tiny, cute little scuttlies that crawl into victims ears and give them horrible nightmares of the things living in the deep. Hopefully persuades people to stop summoning things dwelling in the deep.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Id Plan: You think you know how to get Marcille to manifest an arthropodic aspect of herself...
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Sally
!!Could Be Better!!
-
+1 Novice Accountant (0/4)
+0 Dabbling Researcher (0/2)
-
Lightly Melting Walls: You keep seeing things that should not be, cannot be, and by all subsequent investigation are not. However, lately they've seemed more frequent and less exploitable in arcane magic.
Cabal Possessed: You're infested with nightmare lice and their mysteious overlord. From their towering citadel within your own nightmares, they plot and scheme for ever greater power...
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Nji (Secheral)
Healthy
-
+3 Adept Mycomancer (3/16)
+2 Apprentice Life Mage (0/8)
+2 Apprentice Dagon Priest (4/8)
-
Above the Law: Your reckless disregard for civility and law has earned you a fearsome reputation as a ruthless outlaw, not to be lightly crossed.
Nagging Feeling: You feel like you're being watched all the time. Presumably by your all-seeing puppy whose gaze knows barriers of neither stone nor time.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Cute Puppy!: Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy who S E E S A L L ?
Enoch (randomgenericusername)
EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL
-
+3 Adept Dagon Priest (5/16)
+2 Apprentice Archarus Priest (0/8)
+2 Apprentice Hag Magic (0/8)
-
Starsucker: Has a knack for sucking nightmarish abominations into the world. Does not have a knack for controlling nightmarish abominations.
Moderate Terror Vents: Absolutely covered in eldritch stuff that is not stuff, but rather vents in the world through which things may reach...
Mild Screaming: You shriek in terror kind of a lot, especially where Dagon Magic is concerned. Maybe it's the flu?
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
In The Bag: You've been stuffed into a sack when you weren't looking. Could this be the work of... NINJAS?!
Dennis the Mage (enemy post)
Healthy
-
+3 Adept Sea Cucumber Mage (6/16)
+2 Apprentice Sea Cucumber Caretaker (2/8)
+2 Apprentice Chef (0/8)
-
Cucumber Lord: Has a deep affinity with sea cucumbers. This might not sounds useful or remarkable to the untrained ear, but lots of things sound different to mages than to normal people.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Archeux "Archie" Venison (OceanSoul)
Healthy
-
+3 Adept Academic (0/16)
+2 Apprentice History Mage (1/8)
+1 Novice Enchanter (0/4)
+1 Novice Polymorpher (0/4)
+1 Novice Magical Theorist (0/4)
-1 Incompetent Sealer (1/2)
-
Arkanikon: Has glimpsed the terrible truths of basic magic and recorded these unspeakable secrets into a blasphemous tome, available at most book shops and read widely by children. Has more familiarity with basic and intermagic principles, and haunted by swarms of living and ghostly children wanting autographs and deeper fell knowledge.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Cio Cioae (Tiruin)
Healthy
-
+3 Adept Air Mage (1/16)
+2 Apprentice Prophet (0/8)
+1 Novice Life Mage (0/4)
+1 Novice Illusionist (0/4)
+1 Novice Consoler (0/4)
-
Philosopher: Renowned as a guru and philosopher, granting improved understanding of foreign, sometimes downright alien and inexplicable, psychology and conditions.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.
Mordred (Nirur)
Healthy
-
+3 Adept Public Speaker (3/16)
+2 Apprentice Poll Mage (4/8)
+1 Novice Tactician (0/4)
+1 Novice Sacrificer (1/4)
+0 Dabbling Dagon Priest (0/2)
-
Noble Hero: Celebrated as a noble hero, especially by the vile aristrocracy and hungry wraiths of the Untouchable Wastes.
Cracked Mirror: You've glimpsed the terrible truths lurking beyond... and within.
Mild Grumbles: Your colleagues keep accidentally hiding your keys and unscrewing the specimen jars. Or maybe the specimens are unscrewing the specimen jars.
Worst Shadow Play: Your subconscious is linked up with everyone else's, resulting in a sort of shared dreamscape that sometimes crops up in the waking world.