Topic: Our Salvation: It Is Written (Read 249663 times)

TopHat · « **Reply #915 on:** April 07, 2016, 01:23:36 pm »

"You know, I have no idea. I just woke up here yesterday having gone to bed at home in London. Or rather, under here in a small dark tunnel, but I'd rather not think about that. The only explanation I've been given as to why involves being summoned by minders, along with something about rats, though the guy who told me that also talked about making deals with devils, so I'm a little skeptical to say the least. I take it that sort of thing isn't commonplace around here?"

Answer question to best of knowledge.

Harry Baldman · « **Reply #916 on:** April 07, 2016, 03:17:36 pm »

Quote from: Toaster on April 07, 2016, 11:39:06 am

"Can I help you, sir?" The question was directed backwards at the heavy breather.

Ask

Oh, er. He steps back, retreating a little into his shroud of rags. Er. Sorry there. He glances around, but finds nothing terribly distracting to point you toward that he doesn't happen to be equally terribly interested in himself.

So, he says. How's the stoat-killing going? He's heard there's a bit of progress made on that, eh? You've got any insights there, mayhap? He's really not looking further to getting murdered by invaders, he's got to say.

Quote from: Xantalos on April 07, 2016, 12:23:50 pm

Hmm.

Write 'do you remember me?' in the dirt. Let's see what the loss of a connection does to his memories.

He doesn't say anything, looking frightened as he examines your next ominous message. He looks away, but you force his head to look at it again. He freezes for a moment, then tries to look away again - you turn his head back and slap him weakly on the back of the head - he nearly falls over. You make him look at the message again, and he starts nodding furiously. He remembers you, he starts to mumble, he remembers you!

Honestly, you think he's lying. Quite badly at that.

Quote from: AoshimaMichio on April 07, 2016, 12:26:41 pm

"Odd is the word I too would use." Pour myself another drink and delude myself thinking it tastes better. Spill out secrets dunkenly. "Yes, you see, one evening I was minding my own business, mining gold and silver, went to sleep and then I woke up in a rat bath. There was these minder guys, all dead now, welcoming me and few others as their salvation. Against stoats. I think that's you guys. I think they were trying to summon demons, but fucked up and summoned us instead. Or rather they failed altogether and something formless, timeless and curious made us."

"Oh, now I remember! That second cousin of yours, she was eaten. By this Jack Daniels guy, one of us who were summoned to defeat you lot. Or so he claimed. With his mouth in his chest. I think he lied about that part. Then there was this other guy who was riding a shiny moon. I think he was going to laser your army a bit."

"Is it bad I'm telling you all this? I think it might be bad." Sober up.

The minders, dead? A shining grin creeps up underneath the helmet, more felt on your end than seen. Excellent news, friend, excellent! Though he's not sure what that implies about you with your minding and- oh wait, summoned? Dear him. And that laser man, was he summoned? And who is this Jack Daniels? My! Dear him indeed. This is getting him terribly excited, he's afraid.

Right! You stay right there for a second and he'll get a memorizer in here immediately. Get your thoughts in order. Compose a report, if you will. This summoning business is dreadfully intriguing. Dreadfully intriguing. He leans out the tent and shouts for someone to get over here, there's memorization to be done! Leaning back in, he tells you it's likely to take a moment. You may feel free to ramble on regardless, however. He assures you he's terribly interested in anything you can possibly tell him now, quite terribly interested indeed.

Quote from: penguinofhonor on April 07, 2016, 12:49:21 pm

I take a good number of steps back. "Ah, hello there, my king! I only want to speak with you!"

The whirring in your head begins to be backed by a horrendous, echoing roar as you step to the edge of the royal dais, nearly falling off in your haste. Stand still, it seems to be telling you.

[Feed The King: 1 vs. 5]

With a grinding of metal against stone and what sounds like other metal, you hear something erupt toward you in a storm of razor-sharp claws, at which you lean backward and off the dais itself, landing on all fours a short distance downward as something reaches over you, a tower of death leaning over. A sound of distressed and delicate structures bending follows, and you hear something decidedly ungracefully fall over right above. You do not have much time to evaluate this however, as before you even fully recover you already feel ancient artificial thorns quite literally nipping at your heels, a bramble of steel descending on you, howling with ancient metallic rage fueled by sixty centuries of concentrated horror. Brief glimpses of impossible understanding send shivers through your spine.

Quote from: TopHat on April 07, 2016, 01:23:36 pm

"You know, I have no idea. I just woke up here yesterday having gone to bed at home in London. Or rather, under here in a small dark tunnel, but I'd rather not think about that. The only explanation I've been given as to why involves being summoned by minders, along with something about rats, though the guy who told me that also talked about making deals with devils, so I'm a little skeptical to say the least. I take it that sort of thing isn't commonplace around here?"

Answer question to best of knowledge.

Minders! Them doing something useful's certainly news to her. D'you talk to them, maybe? Or maybe some devils, how about those. She's not feeling terribly picky, she'll be honest. Anybody who can help her out is welcome to do so, enlightened skepticism be damned. The spark in her eyes is unnervingly noticeable, a glimmer of remote and maddening hope.

Well, er, you begin to say. Don't you "well, er" her, she snaps back. You got in here somehow. That implies there's an entrance. And if there's an entrance, there's damn well got to be an exit. And if there's a way out in the middle of all this supernatural shit, she's not about to let it pass her by without at the very least having the decency to die trying to take it herself.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)

Xantalos · « **Reply #917 on:** April 07, 2016, 03:30:08 pm »

Write 'describe what you remember about me'.

AoshimaMichio · « **Reply #918 on:** April 07, 2016, 03:35:13 pm »

"Yeah, the laser man was summoned too, and it looks like he missed your tent by a bit. Jack is... a guy who doesn't mind walking around naked. Pretty strong too. Wanted the stone for some reason.
Though I must complain about that dark, formless and hungry thing in the well. It claims to fullfill wishes in exchange for relationships, but the cheapy ass bastard is rather stingy: I asked to become perfect minder, but instead it gave me ability to copy all minding techniques I see, and since the minders are dead there isn't really anything to copy from. Except the students. Oh, and it gave me a stupid word to alter reality. I think it's inevitable for it to screw over everybody somehow."

Take a look at the most INEVITABLE things in near future.

Toaster · « **Reply #919 on:** April 07, 2016, 11:09:08 pm »

Thomas looked slightly surprised. "Errr... killing? That's an awfully strong thing to do. Also illegal. Why would we kill them just for being stout? I've certainly never hurt anyone."

Miss the point, again

penguinofhonor · « **Reply #920 on:** April 07, 2016, 11:10:23 pm »

I try to find a sarcophagus to duck behind. "Please, my lord, stop this. I do not want to fight you, but I will defend myself if necessary."

TopHat · « **Reply #921 on:** April 08, 2016, 03:00:59 pm »

"Well, I guess we'd better talk to these minders, then; if the transport can be reversedthis sounds like they'd know about it. Do you know where they might be?

Ask for and hopefully follow directions to these minders.

Harry Baldman · « **Reply #922 on:** April 08, 2016, 06:05:11 pm »

Quote from: Xantalos on April 07, 2016, 03:30:08 pm

Write 'describe what you remember about me'.

The look on the priest's face is one of a man who has been unfortunately caught out on the eye color game during a pick-up attempt. Apologetic. Clueless. Insecure. Tormented. You suppose the fact that it seems like he's being haunted by some sort of nightmare demon from his perspective isn't helping (to be fair, this does not seem to be as far from the truth as your former life experience would lead you to believe).

Quote from: AoshimaMichio on April 07, 2016, 03:35:13 pm

"Yeah, the laser man was summoned too, and it looks like he missed your tent by a bit. Jack is... a guy who doesn't mind walking around naked. Pretty strong too. Wanted the stone for some reason.
Though I must complain about that dark, formless and hungry thing in the well. It claims to fullfill wishes in exchange for relationships, but the cheapy ass bastard is rather stingy: I asked to become perfect minder, but instead it gave me ability to copy all minding techniques I see, and since the minders are dead there isn't really anything to copy from. Except the students. Oh, and it gave me a stupid word to alter reality. I think it's inevitable for it to screw over everybody somehow."

Take a look at the most INEVITABLE things in near future.

Dark, formless and hungry? That sounds... why, that sounds quite uncanny. Quite incredibly uncanny. Especially that bit with the... oh dear, the knight says. That memorizer had better get here soon, he says. Disturbing are the revelations you offer. It would be very fitting to send a mouth to carry them onward. There is no time to waste if he understands correctly, no time at all! Certain events are-

INEVITABLE

[Word: 3]

The knight twists in thirteen places, emitting an unearthly groan as he is brought to his knees, flesh bubbling beneath the suit of armor. He starts to laugh wildly and artificially, and his grin widens to obviously forced proportions as he starts to repeatedly punch himself in the stomach. It takes him a lot of effort to simmer down, and a bit of time as well - the promised memorizer arrives just as he starts to get up from the fetal position he's assumed on the ground.

There are many ways this event goes, you feel. This was one of the ones that wasn't drowned out by terrible noise of unknown origin. You wonder what that's about, really.

Composing himself, the knight looks at you levelly. Ah yes. That... that must have been the word? Yes, that is probably what you meant. It sounded a lot like a word. Please don't use it again, though. He'd really prefer it if you didn't, would really prefer it indeed. Instead, why don't you tell everything to the memorizer here.

The memorizer, clearly a soldier of some kind, looks at you timidly. You're not sure if he entirely knows what he's doing if the frightened look on his face is any indication.

Quote from: Toaster on April 07, 2016, 11:09:08 pm

Thomas looked slightly surprised. "Errr... killing? That's an awfully strong thing to do. Also illegal. Why would we kill them just for being stout? I've certainly never hurt anyone."

Miss the point, again

But they're not stout, says the shrouded man. Not stout at all. That's a problem. One of the problems, you see. There's also a bigger one, which is that they want to kill everyone in this castle, and everyone in this castle feels that they ought to do something else instead. That's why you demonfolk were brought about, he'd guess, all naked and foreign and shimmering with alien power. To convince them otherwise, you see. Honestly, whether you kill them or not is not for him to split hairs about, he'd just like the bloody situation resolved somehow. He'd bloody well worship you if you could help. And he means it, too.

Quote from: penguinofhonor on April 07, 2016, 11:10:23 pm

I try to find a sarcophagus to duck behind. "Please, my lord, stop this. I do not want to fight you, but I will defend myself if necessary."

[Observations of Royalty: 2]

Your words are lost in the whirring in your head, sounding foreign as you try to reach the king from behind one of the less important sarcophagi, the metal armature coiling and bristling at you with grinding screams of fury, snaking from the dais as its will focuses upon you for a moment. Three blue gemstones align in the dark, your hiding spot within its sight. Its will aligns, and takes solid form as it barrels at you with solid, inhuman purity of expression.

SEA

[Word: 3]

The chamber begins to shake and rumble, and you feel little cracks appear on the floor beneath you, a little draft of wafting light forcing its way into your back like a dagger, your flesh foaming and bubbling at its touch. You yelp and bolt out of the alcove, which continues to crack as you leave, the sarcophagus disappearing in a morass of improbability. As you look back and observe a clearly visible recounting of a thousand deaths you will no doubt suffer for your insolence, you nearly trip over another buzzing bramble of steel and silken webbing - the pain in your back motivates you to jump far, high and straight into a different alcove. You somewhat doubt this will be any safer than the last, but at least it gives you a short moment to think.

Quote from: TopHat on April 08, 2016, 03:00:59 pm

"Well, I guess we'd better talk to these minders, then; if the transport can be reversedthis sounds like they'd know about it. Do you know where they might be?

Ask for and hopefully follow directions to these minders.

[Updated News: 2]

The tower, she'd think. But no way of getting up there unless they feel like coming down. And there was something of a stir there, too, and some of the minders are a little on the deeply frightening side, too. With no time to waste, you cut across the courtyard and over to the minder tower, where in the white-floored, black-walled lecture hall of the first floor you find what you seek beneath a bright spot in the domed ceiling.

It is a robed child currently lying in a pool of blood, head split open on the stone floor now speckled with blood. The girl checks him - very dead. One of the minder students, she believes - they keep child students in the tower, they're not supposed to come down... crap. Damn. Shit. Something's gone terribly wrong here, no doubt about that.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)

penguinofhonor · « **Reply #923 on:** April 08, 2016, 07:36:58 pm »

Jeez, this guy is a lot less diplomatic than I expected. I imagine the king's machinery crumbling to pieces and say, "Fall to CHAOS."

Toaster · « **Reply #924 on:** April 08, 2016, 10:20:24 pm »

"Ah. Um. Yes. Well, I must be going if anything is to be done about this problem! See you later!"

Abscond from the lunatic. Maybe the queen's up by now?

Xantalos · « **Reply #925 on:** April 08, 2016, 10:47:04 pm »

Write 'nothing? That's alright, it's what I expected. Have a nice life and good luck getting that window back into place!'.

That done, Daniels steps away from the poor man. Now then, what to do now that I've got this weapon of incomprehensible power? Wasn't there something we were supposed to do that got us summoned here?
...
Oh right yeah, the seige or whatever. Well, that can be dealt with in a bit, maybe they have a reason for wanting to kill everyone here. Hmm. Maybe there's a speaking trumpet up on the walls there?

Go up the castle walls to the nearest guard there and ask them if they have a speaking trumpet. Make sure not to get shot by any opportunistic stoats.

TopHat · « **Reply #926 on:** April 09, 2016, 05:25:38 am »

"Oh, dear. Not good. We'd better find out what happened."

Leave the tower and ask any passers by regarding these recent developments.

((As a heads up, I'll probably be offline for the next few days so don't wait for me before updating.))

AoshimaMichio · « **Reply #927 on:** April 09, 2016, 08:32:15 am »

"That wasn't supposed to happen. At all. You see, the word magic is rather unreliable. But you know what else is inevitable? Death."

Orchestrate this knight's silent and INEVITABLE decapitation.

Harry Baldman · « **Reply #928 on:** April 09, 2016, 03:20:17 pm »

Quote from: penguinofhonor on April 08, 2016, 07:36:58 pm

Jeez, this guy is a lot less diplomatic than I expected. I imagine the king's machinery crumbling to pieces and say, "Fall to CHAOS."

The king whirls and lashes out, crying out for your blood from the pit of his soul, screeching metal bearing down on your sarcophagus as thoughts of an ancient and impossible time pour out of him in murderous shapes, the physics of the room growing looser by the minute. You stand tall and hurl your word at him. He screams back at you. Two directives coalesce as you attempt to outshout one another.

CHAOS SEA

[Words: 3+4]

You speak simultaneously as time becomes momentarily nonlinear and space itself spasms in the vicinity. You and the king hold fast - the tomb does not, flashing up with thousands of illuminated, painted eyes, clear as day for an instant before the sea below rips into it with a distant spray, bubbles of light spearing through walls and air with equal ease, destroying most of it and shattering the rest, leaving you standing on a precipice before the brilliant ancient sea. It's bright, so very bright...

[And The Mountains Should Crumble To The Sea: 4]

The alcove is starting to fall, you realize. It is not anchored to anything in particular, you notice, and seems to be slowly rotating as it lazily starts to come down. You look down, and see only pure eye-burning white, and know it to be the place where time and matter end. Bubbles rise around you, falling slower than you are, popping into recollections from your life - a girl you once knew, a record you had, a day you remember. They are glimpses, but unlike memories. Oddly physical. Completely solid, but by that same measure entirely fleeting.

[Royal Position: 1]

You notice a fading roar in the air, then you see the king. lacking in any semblance of humanity, a misshapen tower of metallic tentacles, disintegrating rags and flickering gemstones in free fall, failing to keep any coherent shape as he flails every which way. He falls much faster than you, disappearing from sight and hearing within a few seconds. You suppose he must have been heavier. Or perhaps merely poorly situated at the time of his careless speaking.

You look away, and see the entrance you came in from, a tunnel suspended, slowly ascending in your perspective. It is a little too far to jump, you feel at first, but considering the physics of this place makes you think better of this judgment almost immediately, and settle into a comfortable realm of all-encompassing plausibility.

Quote from: Toaster on April 08, 2016, 10:20:24 pm

"Ah. Um. Yes. Well, I must be going if anything is to be done about this problem! See you later!"

Abscond from the lunatic. Maybe the queen's up by now?

Er, yes! You do that.

You get the sense that this meeting was no less awkward for the shrouded man. You are nevertheless glad to leave him behind as you go up to check if the queen's up yet, pausing along the way only to dispose of a terrible itch that kicks up in your nose suddenly.

[Early Birds: 6]

As it happens, the queen is fortunately up. Or so the guard tells you, at least. You're not allowed in yet - her morning routine ought to be done in an hour or so, so if you happen to have something that needs to be brought to her attention, you had best return at that point. Unless it's terribly urgent, of course, and not just that minder thing again.

Quote from: Xantalos on April 08, 2016, 10:47:04 pm

Write 'nothing? That's alright, it's what I expected. Have a nice life and good luck getting that window back into place!'.

That done, Daniels steps away from the poor man. Now then, what to do now that I've got this weapon of incomprehensible power? Wasn't there something we were supposed to do that got us summoned here?
...
Oh right yeah, the seige or whatever. Well, that can be dealt with in a bit, maybe they have a reason for wanting to kill everyone here. Hmm. Maybe there's a speaking trumpet up on the walls there?

Go up the castle walls to the nearest guard there and ask them if they have a speaking trumpet. Make sure not to get shot by any opportunistic stoats.

You give one of the castle guards a nasty start as you sneak up to her. You are told not to do that - false moves are all too often met with bolts up here on the walls, don't you know. Stoats have been very jumpy as of late - must have been all that weird sorcery that the sun man did, in all likelihood, given the way a large swath of the forest and the stoat camp seems to have been burninated, and-

You admit that you don't particularly care as you take cover behind a parapet, having let her go on as long as she did only because of an urgent itch on your face (side note, the murder-thought turns out to be pretty good at scratching literal as well as metaphorical itches) and speak you most pressing need: has she got a trumpet? A speaking trumpet, like the kind you'd use to amplify your voice.

[Miracles of Technology: 5]

She doesn't personally, of course. But there probably is one in the nearby castle tower. She helpfully tells you which cabinet it can be found in, even, and what to tell the paranoid guy who hangs around next to it so he doesn't think you're a stoat infiltrator, and a short list of things you're not allowed to say or be in a guard tower (peculiarly, "naked" does not appear to be one of the latter, a fact that makes the guard wonder perhaps a bit longer than it should).

In any case, her spectacularly helpful advice nets you a perfectly good speaking-trumpet. It's made of wood, of course, and probably not as effective as a proper megaphone, but you assume it ought to work. And it's only a little dusty!

Quote from: TopHat on April 09, 2016, 05:25:38 am

"Oh, dear. Not good. We'd better find out what happened."

Leave the tower and ask any passers by regarding these recent developments.

((As a heads up, I'll probably be offline for the next few days so don't wait for me before updating.))

[Somebody's Responsible: 6]

You go and find the elderly guard and his three-eyed companion in the courtyard, and tell them all about the rather distressing situation with the child in the tower. Oh dear, says the old man with what you're pretty sure is bored disappointment, better get someone to clean that up. That's not the point, you say, but he nods at the three-eyed man anyway, who heads right off to a nearby storehouse and comes out with a disturbingly child-sized sack, which he then carries into the tower and carries out a little darker, damper and laden with exactly what you'd expect. The girl looks on with bemused concern, but asks no questions, seemingly a little intimidated by the guard.

Anyway, you say, after spending a moment addressing a sharp itch on your cheek, what's that about anyway? Is that a common occurrence? The guard says no - much rarer than you'd expect with the minders' flagrant disregard for building safety. Apparently they moved out last night, however. Perhaps the child is from that event, he muses. There were quite a few confusing things happening at that time. He has been taking a hands-off approach on these things for the most part. It tends to be best for overall productivity and positivity.

Quote from: AoshimaMichio on April 09, 2016, 08:32:15 am

"That wasn't supposed to happen. At all. You see, the word magic is rather unreliable. But you know what else is inevitable? Death."

Orchestrate this knight's silent and INEVITABLE decapitation.

Oh dear, he says. Is this the way it must be? In your opinion, however, it is quite

INEVITABLE

[Word: 2]

This is not a point that the knight feels prepared to argue with, since he agrees wholeheartedly. His life is the greatest contribution to the work that he can give, just like that of any soldier. The greatest possible contribution indeed.

Nevertheless, while his death is inevitable beyond the shadow of a doubt, he was rather hoping he could postpone it a little. Later today, if you will, rather than right now. Right now is not a good time, what with the lack of outgoing information and somewhat terrible lack of coordination. So do be cooperative before he has to invoke the One, yes? It'd be terribly inconvenient if you weren't. Horribly inconvenient, in fact, to the point where he'd rather just start stabbing you in all manner of sensitive places first.

Spoiler: Hot Tip of the Day (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)

Xantalos · « **Reply #929 on:** April 09, 2016, 03:53:11 pm »

"Thanks, guard person guy or perhaps woman, I'm not really paying attention."

Jack lifts the trumpet up to his mouth.

"Ahem. STOAT PEOPLE! WHY EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO KILL EVERYONE IN THIS CASTLE? I ONLY JUST GOT HERE AND I'M A UNSURE AS TO YOUR REASONS."

Loud speaking trumpet-assisted question asking!

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Author Topic: Our Salvation: It Is Written (Read 249663 times)

TopHat

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Harry Baldman

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Xantalos

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

AoshimaMichio

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Toaster

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

penguinofhonor

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

TopHat

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Harry Baldman

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

penguinofhonor

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Toaster

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Xantalos

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

TopHat

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

AoshimaMichio

Re: Our Salvation: the New Shape of Murder

Harry Baldman

Re: Our Salvation: What I Bring Is Light

Xantalos

Re: Our Salvation: What I Bring Is Light