Tick 3: Everyone Loves Ants
The Lock and the Key is briefly known as The Lock, having used his key to answer the as of yet unlocked Gate's gauntlet challenge! The gate may or may not respond to this later.
Petra takes the gauntlet and re-gifts it to the Pismire, informing them that she had been the one to grant them defenses! They are now much more confused before, but grateful for the Goddess's protection. They place the strange gauntlet in the castle's armory, those soldiers that have taken to maintaining weaponry taking turns examining the strange device.
Choosing a unique way to answer the Gate's challenge, The Lock and/or the Key bless the Sunson with a mission to seduce the far-away Pismire. At first the Sunson, tuned to Nothing, rejects this offer. He is quite happy to sit and do Nothing all day, with no reason to follow a foreign God. The Eternal NEET's willpower is broken by The Lock and The Key's constant heart-based nagging breaking his wonderful symphony of silence. As he attempts to leave he is stopped by the rest of his kin - they have seen the gates and wish to visit them, but need the light of his towers to do so. After explaining how he would much rather stay inside and that a God keeps nagging him to have kids (with several putting their ears to his heart to confirm this nagging), they decided to allow him to leave so long as he promises to return to give light once more to their land. He does so and makes off to the promised land alongside many of his countrymen!
They return after a day (which is "exactly as long as it took him to return to his tower" given the alternate sun has yet to be spilled) since the SunSon realized this was going to be a
lot of walking. Still the nagging and his heart becoming an object of worship eventually broke him down to make another attempt, this time carried on a lock-shaped litter carved by followers of the Lock and the Key. They arrive at the Gate as ordered, only to be met by the paranoid, Lust-crazed, and still very confused Pismire! SunSon, who already has exactly the number of children as there is Nostars in the night sky (None), immediately attempts to return home.
The Nornals prove unable to wrest control of the gate from the unaffected non-breeding cast, which has seen the inexplicable madness in their fellows and hardened their defenses around their young queens in their castle, along with many drones who have locked themselves deep in its holds after realizing the outsiders have some sway over them. Any attempt to reach either closer to the gate or the queens is met with violent defense. ((The Lock and the Key -2II))
The Lock and the Key attempts to award the Sunson for obeying his nagging with blood! He immediately trades this to his litter bearers as payment for a trip home. They keep the blood-filled litter as a sacred artifact, but it otherwise doesn't seem to do anything. (The Lock and the Key -1 SI)
The Lock and the Key then bleeds over the Minor Gate in an attempt to claim it! It doesn't seem to work either, and the Pismire (perhaps due to being a non-bleeding species) doesn't seem to react any more than had it been smeared with water. It just kind of sits there. (The Lock and the Key -2 SI)
Stiria creates a Temple for the Pismire, the second permanent building of their ever expanding settlement. Currently it is being used as a second headquarters for the Pismire patrols, which continue to chase off the Nornals attempting to get closer to the gate. Currently they tend to pray on a very fixed schedule, upon leaving and arriving from their patrols, likely as a holdover from whatever religion they worshiped before. Current inspirations seem entirely useless for their current objective and quickly discarded as a result, such as recipe for Great Vine Wine and a hat that tells you what direction the sonlight is coming from for exploratory navigation. (Stiria - 2 II)
Now filling filling the sky is three new Constellations brought out of the Major Gate Minor Gate courtesy of Stiria! First is a perfect circle of different colored stars making a halo above the world. It rotates at a seemly randomly speed, changing direction of rotation randomly so that at times it will make a full cycle in a night while others it will take many days. Second is a line of bright white stars ending in what vaguely looks like a fanged snake's head. This one seems to hover above major events as if it is interested in seeing them unfold, currently it is taking position above Minor Gate and the trash heap. Finally is a formation of Ununstars, the polar opposite of Unstars, which proceeds to Not perform battle for control of the nightsky with its Uncreated arch enemy. (Stiria - 3 OI)
After a full turn of preparation, Dakka attempts to take the Major Gate! With the home field advantage, Stiria attempts to stop him! They begin a storm-like battle that probably would have left a much greater mess if they didn't start the fight in a junkyard. Both races scramble for cover as shells and chaos rain down across the terrain, the Pismire bunkering down in their God-granted buildings while the Nornals fled further from the Gate. When the dust and various debris clear, Stiria has awesomely retained the gate! While both fighters are covered in scrapes and bruise equivalents, they both manage to heal this minor damage by the end of the Tick.
Calnoch blesses the Pismire's scouts against the effects of hunger and sleep! Currently those furthest out are Drones who have fallen for The Lock and the Key's spell and have gone out in search of the SunSon or other Nornals. Thanks to this blessing many are able to reach their destination, including those who have found themselves with bands attempting to move on the minor gates that they would otherwise be unable to find. A large portion of the Pismire drones are now living among the Nornal population, with the largest chunk in the settlement of the Sun Tower. (Calnoch -2 II)
Hannah dreams of Cheese while pulling out two new additions of the world from her gate! First she pulls out a strange mushroom that quickly grows into circular colonies. She quickly discovers that sounds and images from one circle of mushrooms are projected into another circle at random, but the sounds muffled to a whisper and images cloudy and ghost-like. They begin to sprout colonies around her gate. Next she pulls out an plant-loving insect, receiving something that looks like a cross between a butterfly and a wasp. It has four large, painted wings with an amazing array of colors that wouldn't be out of place in a tie-dye shirt, but in a wasp-like configuration on its back that it moves rapidly to fly. It seems that it is highly poisonous to anything that attempts to eat it, and as such it quickly begins to spread across the world. (Hanna -2 OI)
------GATE ACTION-------
Minor Gates A and C close! A majority of the original Minor Gates are now gone! Minor Gate C had the dubious honor of being the only gate never to be claimed, despite the initial rush for power.
Three new Gates appear across the world! First is a Medium Gate, which will only manage to stay in this world for 2 turns! Following it is two new Minor Gates, in close proximity to each other relative to the other gates.
Something emerges from Medium Gate C! It appears to be another new race! They're large even compared to those who eat the Golden Berries, with a stocky build that makes them look like moving houses. They appear to be both furred and wearing primitive furs, with long snouts and pointed antlers on their head. They have two hooved feet and a hand with three fingers, which they seem to use as additional feet when moving faster than a slow walk. Their equipment is primitive stone tools, they appear to be a lost tribe of hunter-gatherers. Their language is apparently mostly bugling, translating it to writing and removing the unnecessary letters they call themselves something like "Bweer".
Name: The Lock and the Key
Sphere: Sealing
OI: 0
II: 2
SI: 8/10
Name: Petra
Sphere: Stone
OI: 0
II: 1
SI: 10/10
Name: Ik
Sphere: Emptiness
OI: 0
II: 5
SI: 10/10
Name: Hannah
Sphere: Civilisation
OI: 6
II: 5
SI: 10/10
Name: Dakka!
Sphere: Awe
OI: 0
II: 0
SI: 10/10
Name: Resol
Sphere: Losing
OI: 8
II: 8
SI: 10/10
Name: Stiria
Sphere: Chaos
OI: 3
II: 2
SI: 10/10
Name: Calnoch
Sphere: Homeward Longings
OI: 4
II: 3
SI: 10/10
Name: Ezpé
Sphere: Hope
OI: 8
II: 1
SI: 10/10
Major Gate Minor Gate: Stiria
Medium Gate B (2 Ticks): Hannah
Medium Gate C (4 Ticks): Resol
Medium Gate D (2 Ticks): Unclaimed
Calnoch: Minor Gate D, Minor Gate E
Unclaimed Minor Gates: 2 (F, G)
Author
Topic: Gatekeeper Gods: Tick 5: Aggressively Inactive (Read 4391 times)