I realized after I saw sof's flip, maf team could have basically farmed me for items, nightly protecting me to bring me back after each kill, and killing me each night to take the newly made item.
I'd be sad about that, but that was an ideal answer for my D2 item, please, scum take that, please... (instead, TM handled it another very effective way) and if I'd kept original role you betcha I'd have been trying to wordscribe for items that were not worth stealing, such as what I got D2.
Fal did suggest maybe I post my item requests, specifically suggested the D3+ ones, but here's all for the interested.
Also, my artifact of the week request for today:
There once was something called Anor-stone, a palantír held stable in the city of Minas Tirith. It was one of the chief means by which Gondor communicated with other realms and gathered information. Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, will use it to keep watch on the enemy and maintain his knowledge of the ongoing war. (I hope that timing means it won't just show me two flaming hands, and that I don't end up like Denethor
)
Imp:
You walk by shelf after shelf, row after row of stable and unstable artifacts, wondrous creations and dreams bound of aeons long past.
You turn and face one particular item, and a small smile lights on your face. This may be straining to use, but it may prove useful.
You gain Anor-stone.
(Item, Night) Anor-stone [target]: One of many stones of far-sight, known for the unfortunate end of its most noteworthy user. Choose one:
-Write a message. The moderator will pass this message to your target anonymously.
-Learn how many players acted on your target this Night.
Due to the great willpower required to utilize this stone, this action cannot be used two Nights in a row.
The Flying Dutchman, enshrouded in legends both intricate and
unstable, traces its genesis to the goddess of the sea, Calypso, and the enigmatic pirate Bartholomew Roberts (presumed dead in 1722). Roberts, known first as Black Bart and later as Davy Jones (earliest mention dated to 1726), predates any mention of the Flying Dutchman, which history does not reference until 1790. However, 'Pirates of the Caribbean' reveals some of the truth behind how these legends combine.
Renowned for crafting the unconventional Pirate Code and for wearing aristocratic attire into each battle, Roberts required his crew to entrust his body to the sea upon his death. He fell in battle from a throat wound and, amid the chaos of battle, was hastily consigned to the ocean. Countless stories have since circulated about Roberts' fate, some declaring his death. But no body was recovered and some tales insist upon his survival and rescue.
As revealed in 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' Roberts' Pirate Code profoundly fascinated Calypso. She forged a deal with Black Bart that he would Captain the Flying Dutchman in her service and take as his own the name Davy Jones. His code became intertwined with Calypso’s fate and ultimately led to her binding in human form as a voodoo priestess and Caribbean soothsayer, 'Tia Dalma'.
Tasked with guiding souls lost at sea to their proper afterlife, Davy Jones instead succumbed to temptation, causing the Flying Dutchman itself to suffer greatly during that dereliction of duty. Events have severed Davy Jones from the Flying Dutchman, leaving the ship without a captain and Calypso wiser about the nature and limits of what sort of Captain she might choose to entrust so much power in.
Davy Jones, charged with guiding souls adrift at sea to their destined afterlife, strayed from his sacred duty as indicated in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. This dereliction of its Captain's duty caused the Flying Dutchman itself to experience torment and despair from being misused. Severed now from Davy Jones, the Dutchman drifts into a newfound understanding from Calypso about the qualities needed of its next Captain.
The demise of EuchreJack, a 'Pirate King' of genuine nobility, captures the Flying Dutchman's immense interest. Yearning for a leader who embodies honor and integrity, and drawn to this freest pirate of all seven seas, one who throughout his life freely chose honor and decency, the ship eagerly seeks to extend an invitation to EuchreJack to assume its Captaincy.
What sacrifices must be made to liberate the Dutchman from its haunted past, enabling it to appoint its chosen captain? And should EuchreJack embrace this role, what trials await him too given the ship's complex history, its spectral nature, and the unresolved fates of its indentured crew?
Imp:
You smile a little bit at the death of a traitor, but shake your head. You have work to do.
Now, perhaps for the sake of your memory of a certain innocent lord of pirates...
You break down a brick wall, crack the seal, and step into an underground lake.
There she is. What a beautiful corpse of a ship. You shudder in fear and delight.
You have gained the ability The Flying Dutchman!
(Item, Auto) The Flying Dutchman: A legendary husk of a ship, yet still breathing. You do not captain it, you merely offer it port. While you remain alive, the player with the role 'Pirate King' may take action during the Night, as the haunted ship carries them beyond the grave. This fact is revealed in deadchat. However, woe befall you if this ship has no port! If you die, this ability is publicly revealed and destroyed, and all dead players not of your alignment may take one action each during the next Night, as they hijack the Dutchman while she slips beneath the waves for the final time.
With regards to your question: Item abilities work just the same as other abilities, with the addition of the unique properties that Items have.
Keep in mind that you may only use one action per Night (though actions used as a result of your Team's effect do not count towards that limit).
Sning the Unstable is a benevolent demon initially identified by the human Norton, who later transforms into Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, in the 'Bearing an Hourglass' novel from the 'Incarnations of Immortality' series.
Norton was given Sning by Orlene, a woman married to a ghost she can never see and only has been told exists. Sning normally appears to be a ring with the form of a small green snake, which a properly informed viewer would recognize as a particularly green-hued Enhydris chinensis. This seemingly innocuous ring displays Sning's slightly raised head in lieu of a traditionally placed precious stone. Sning's eyes, which may be mistaken for gems, shine with oozing tears of purest Snake Oil.
Today, 'snake oil' is considered symbolic of fraud and deception, but the term traces roots back to ancient Chinese medicine. A Chinese water snake, the mildly venomous Enhydris chinensis, has as a fish and frog eater a body containing highly concentrated amounts of the same healthy omega-3 fatty acids that people sometimes eat fish or algae to benefit from. Chinese medicine has traditionally boiled those snakes to render an oil reputed to actually ease joint pain and offer some other health benefits. Chinese American immigrants brought some of that oil to the US in the 1800s and shared it, as well as stories of how it was made, with those they befriended. Stories grew as those those fortunate few shared their amazement and health improvement.
Most snakes in the US don't exclusively eat fish and US-made snake oil works the same (not at all) regardless of if it has American snakes in it or not. Perverted, this useful concept has to come to mean trickery, treachery, and fraud; one of the reasons Sning almost constantly cries. The other reasons for its tears include the treachery, fraud, and manipulation that Sning has seen happen so often to those it has come to know. Orlene chooses to die from an error made by her ghost husband, who then goes on to manipulate Norton into choosing to become an Incarnation of Time, thus empowering him but also dooming him to die early and without hope of self-change, forever out of step with those around him, unable to connect or care, because he lives backwards and rarely understands what is actually going on around him.
Sning has several notable powers, any of which it may not choose to use. Sning's magic is something it does, and something it is. It is both animate and inanimate and has a non-lethal poisonous bite that can incapacitate a person for many hours, but requires time to restock its poison after any bite. Sning was with Norton through all of his adventures, watching the man become the Incarnation of Time and always be heavily manipulated, tricked, and coerced by others. Most keenly, he watched Norton be used to transport a demon back in time to where a very evil man was dying, where the demon administered an antidote and allowed the man to instead survive to cause tremendous harm that was never intended to happen.
Norton found Sning fit him comfortably but could not be removed unless he asked the snake to uncoil. When he first mused aloud to it about if his inability to remove it was the extent of its magic, he was shocked to feel it squeeze his finger twice - Sning answers yes or no questions with squeezes (and can squeeze a number count, also using 3 in response to a question that cannot be answered as yes or no). At one notable moment Sning uncoils from Norton's finger and launches across the area to intercept an almost assassination of Norton, biting that Evil Sorceress and, perhaps because she was currently in the act of attempting murder, this once the bite causes the Sorceress's immediate death.
Sning becomes involved with FBYOR 6 at this point because of a similarity of events to those of its time of greatest trauma. Imp is now tied to a ghost that Imp can never see, almost a marriage of sorts for all the manipulation and betrayal may be absent, much like Orlene's tragic ties to her ghost husband who was distinctly manipulative. Of those around, the Esteemed ToonyMan, with his confusion and judgement errors in and out of role, and history of always traveling so far, is most like Norton, whom Orlene gave Sning to. Driven by past experiences and a renewed desire to champion goodness, Sning takes the initiative, approaching ToonyMan with a set of specific objectives:
1) It intends to ensure Toonyman is not assassinated as that fine Tony-man does his doctoring, wishing to preserve his life. This is most likely achieved by contact with those Snake Oil tears that Sning constantly cries, and may preserve Toonyman similarly to how Toonyman helps others.
2) It intends to ensure this tanuki-tonakai-like player does not act as that demon once did and as a tonic-giving being, give any antidotes to those who are evil that they might live to cause future harm. How it intends to interfere this time, if needed, is unclear but its intention is very strong and just giving a squeezing warning didn't work with Chronos. Perhaps it might deliver an incapacitating bite to those evil folk after Toonyman has tended them, if they are evil, and accepting the tending of those not anti-town.
3) It may wish to communicate with Toonyman and attempt to guide this confused being towards a good ending similar to how it once guided Norton/Chronos.
But what price might this would-be help carry? Sning is associated with profound confusion and a distortion of understanding for all it tries to clearly answer in the most simple terms possible. Toonyman's alignment and actual intentions are not known to the Warehouse at this time. And the Incarnation of Satan himself once declared, "Enough of this," and snatched Sning, declaring, "This rogue demon is Mine!" Chronos rescued Sning and himself, but Satan may remember and may still be after Sning. Taking action may not be the safest thing Sning could be doing, for itself or any of the rest of us. And how might the subsequent events of Day 3 have affected Sning, and Sning's decisions?
It is difficult for outsiders to say, and there is only unstable understanding of why The Stuffed and Mummified Remains of a Crocodile or Alligator are so often seen within the workspaces of wizards, alchemists, magicians, sages, and others who practice the scholarly, rather than the emotional, side of occultic arts. Even separated widely by multiple centuries, artwork of such abodes have carefully included depiction of these remains in the images of antique laboratories, workrooms, and sundry similar spaces. Known and remaining 'Cabinets of Curiosities', also called 'wunderkammer', also almost always include at least one of these remains. Though faithfully reproduced in the images and stories, supposedly 'none know' why The Stuffed or Mummified Remains of a Crocodile or Alligator is so prominently a part of most such stories and spaces.
The first mention of crocodile tears comes from Herodotus, a Greek historian and geographer who died in 5th century BCE. Famous for having written the Histories, a detailed account of the Greco-Persian wars, he is the first known writer to systematically explore historical events. This caused him to become known as the Father of History with 400 years of his death, but he also wrote of crying crocodiles, which shed tears while devouring their prey. The reason for this is believed to be clear; that a crocodile knew if it appeared sorry for the harm it did, it could easily lure future victims in.
The term 'crocodile tears' came to be known across the world and throughout widely diverse cultures as a term for deceptive and cunning tactics designed to elicit and hijack sympathy and forgiveness from those that would mistake the tears for genuine remorse. As with much of deception and 'common knowledge', that's a misunderstanding. The rising floodwaters of the Nile have to come from somewhere, and the circle of life, death, and rebirth doesn't require trickery or falsehood, though we might all cry from it seeming that most think it does.
The deepest roots of this artifact trace back to Sobek in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, during the Age of the Pyramids, where this crocodile-headed-man-figure, or simply a crocodile-figure of a god, was said to be both guardian and creator. Entwined with the lifegiving floodwaters of the Nile, Sobek empowers fertility, renewal, and all aspects of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
During that early period, Sobek was especially associated with the pharaohs of Egypt, guarding the pharaoh during his earthly life and guiding him in the afterlife. So key and core is this connection of crocodile-to-magic, especially transformative magic, that the city Crocodilopolis (Krokodeilópolis) was named for it.
That city is now the modern and thin-veiled name-hints-of-magic Faiyum (So thin the veil with this; so many names leak into the modern world's stories, from Phaerimm to Faerûn; all tie to the merge with 'faerie' and 'Pharaoh', though so far the modern world remains blind to Faiyum containing one of the largest two-way gates between modern-day and a 'fairyland' most strange.)
The mysteries here are intricate and immense. Research has not concluded:
Why Sobek takes crocodile form;
Why so many scholarly-styles of magic insist on including a mummified crocodile or alligator within their 'cabinet of curiosities/wunderkammer,';
Why Pharaoh/Faerie are not recognized to be so similar or connected - instead nearly everyone insists there is no connection;
Why crocodiles and their kin actually do usually cry while eating (confirmed in 2006, neurologist Malcolm Shaner and assistants studied caimans - smaller, easier to control, and available - and found that five of the seven were seen 'weeping' while eating even during the short time of the study);
Why so few realize that wonder is strongly present, even in today's world which is surely part of a complex Masquerade.
Despite all illusion and vast mystery, The Stuffed and Mummified Remains of a Crocodile or Alligator still has key roles to play in the events that happen these days, as witnessed by those Stuffed and Mummified eyes somehow even now tracking the events of play. What intent this artifact has, what price involved and who must pay it how, surely can only be discovered as events continue to unfold.
We have only unstable understanding of the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends. What is 'known' about this work is actually only thought to be understood, thus the 'author' is attributed to Pseudo-Apollodorus, because at least we've finally established that the actual Apollodorus probably could not have written this work, or not written all of it, because of chronological inconsistencies including reference to Castor the Annalist, understood to have lived around 100 years after Apollodorus.
Even the scholastic 'common world' considers this Bibliotheca amazing. It was called "the most valuable mythographical work which has passed down from ancient times," by Aubrey Diller of the American Philological Association in 1935. It contains this epigram: 'Draw your knowledge of the past from me and read the ancient tales of learned lore. Look neither at the page of Homer, nor of elegy, nor tragic muse, nor epic strain. Seek not the vaunted verse of the cycle; but look in me and you will find in me all that the world contains'.
The events of FBYOR6 have drawn the attention of this story-filled artifact because of a correlation between some of the game's events and some of the Bibliotheca's contents, for parts of Homer's Odyssey are discussed within. Aeolus was designated by Zeus to be "keeper of the winds, both to still and to rouse whatever one he will," and was king of the floating island Aeolia, itself surrounded by an unbreakable wall of bronze, marking it as a place of perfect banishment were one to find oneself there.
Aeolus favored Odysseus, hosting that Captain and the crew for a month and learning all about their adventures so far before Aeolus decided to bind all the blustering winds, all but the gentle, homeward-for-Odysseus-west-wind, into a bag and give the bag to Odysseus. Aeolus' intent was to ensure that Odysseus would get home safety, guided by that one gentle true wind, then release the other winds back into the world so they could return to Aeolia without causing new troubles.
Except Odysseus's crew feared treachery and believed this bag filled with material treasure that Odysseus meant to keep from them. While Odysseus slept during the long journey back home, members of the crew opened the bag. This released all the blustery winds, which carried Odysseus's ship all the way back to Aeolus's floating island during their rapid rush home.
Odysseus, not a fool except perhaps when hiring his ship's crew, simply asked Aeolus for help again. But Aeolus decided this return must mean that Odysseus did not have the favor of the gods and refused to help. But even this refusal came in a possibly somewhat helpful way, saying only "Begone from our island with speed, thou vilest of all that live. In no wise may I help or send upon his way that man who is hated of the blessed gods. Begone, for thou comest hither as one hated of the immortals." And despite that 'curse,' Odysseus is known to have finally made it back home, though it took that worthy 20 years and he came home so disguised and changed that only his dog could recognize him.
Esteemed CrystalizedMire, with that one's double-return to banishment, may have caught the unstable Bibliotheca's attention. The similarity of events may cause this fantastical and wonder-filled 'tome of all things the world contains' to act, participating in ensuring that twice-banished one does have a way back home after all. It's important to note that at this time, whatever remains of the Warehouse is not certain of Esteemed CrystalizedMire's alignment, if that one is goodly or one properly termed 'vilest of all that live' or even 'hated of the blessed gods'. But Aeolus did not keep a person long either way, and would want a person of any alignment sent back into the world, not kept within the perfectly protected floating island of Aeolia.
But what else might come with the returning Esteemed CrystalizedMire, should Esteemed CrystalizedMire make it back home? What Odyssey-like epic quests and challenges might Esteemed CrystalizedMire, and perhaps others in FBYOR6 face, because of this immersive and inclusive tome's involvement? For this fabled book holds many tales, and makes mention of even more wonders. So much is impossible to know until the next page turns, revealing whatever it may.
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Topic: FBYOR 6 - Game Over - Last Laughs Of The Dead (Read 86456 times)