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Author Topic: The Left-Hand Path  (Read 110497 times)

Egan_BW

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #120 on: March 31, 2019, 03:43:51 pm »

Just to be contrary I'll suggest that we run off and create our very own necromantic murderrealm, with the eventual goal of ruling and/or killing everyone.
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Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #121 on: March 31, 2019, 06:38:45 pm »

This amnesia would make that very hard. If we knew what this world was like, then sure. But right now we would have to learn about how this world works on top of how necromancy works. Better to use her for whatever knowledge she can offer us. We can always conquer the world later. I mean, for all we know, the world has already been conquered, so conquering it again would be a huge waste of time. Much easier to usurp the current ruler in that case.

Which makes me wonder why we know some things and not others. Whoever left us the note clearly expected us to suffer from at least some memory loss. But did he cause that memory loss? Or was it a result of some sort of memory transfer spell? Perhaps whoever created us found a method to create intelligent undead by copying parts of their mind to it. Or maybe they intentionally didn't transfer some knowledge in order to force us to go meet Esme. And they also want us to be a necromancer. But then why not give us full knowledge of necromancy or a better teacher? Unless they don't really want us to be a necromancer but rather act as a demonstration of our Creator's abilities. A way to deliver a message. Or maybe what we can do isn't really that impressive, maybe all people can do necromancy if they have a ring. Or maybe all undead can do necromancy but usually lack the intelligence required to do so.

So many questions...

King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #122 on: April 01, 2019, 04:53:55 am »

Hm. I feel like we're made of weird shit that could get us shot in an alley, so sticking with other weird shit that could get us shot in an alley would be... "safer" probably isn't the right word, but it'd probably synergize better.

Plus we literally have no goals at the moment. Going with forbidden whatsits is as good a starting point as any, and probably our thing in general.
+1

Also, Alexander Kelley probably had a reason to create us. Since Esme knew him, she is the biggest lead to the reason why and our past we have.
+1
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Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #123 on: April 01, 2019, 01:45:11 pm »

Hm. I feel like we're made of weird shit that could get us shot in an alley, so sticking with other weird shit that could get us shot in an alley would be... "safer" probably isn't the right word, but it'd probably synergize better.

Plus we literally have no goals at the moment. Going with forbidden whatsits is as good a starting point as any, and probably our thing in general.
+1

Also, Alexander Kelley probably had a reason to create us. Since Esme knew him, she is the biggest lead to the reason why and our past we have.
+1

+1
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piecewise

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #124 on: April 04, 2019, 12:48:20 pm »

Esme sighs and the tension seems to lessen, her shoulders slumping slightly.

"Alright. Well, lets get this done with.  Follow me."  She continues on to the stairwell and you follow her down. She leads the way down a line of shelves to one of the large stone support pillars. She places her hand on the pillar and closes her eyes for a moment. There is the sound of a metal clink and then a section of the pillar swings open very slightly. Esme gets her finger tips into the space and with a grunt pulls open the section, revealing a hollow space within. A metal deadbolt, retracted, sticks out of the inner side of the door and a hole with a metal ladder leading down.

Esme mounts the ladder with a bit of difficulty and motions for you to follow.

"Close the door before you do though."

You wait for her to climb down a bit before you follow, closing the door and climbing through the dark tunnel for at least a minute before coming out in a small, bare stone room containing nothing but an overhead light and a large metal door. Esme sits down  against the wall and adjusts her shawl a bit before starting to speak, very quickly.

"Ok. Here's the big stuff.  I'm a spy. Nicholas is too, though he's really more of a bodyguard...anyways.  This entire building is a front. Well...kind of. We do actually run the library and it is actually a library but its paid for by..." She stops, apparently realizing she's blurting all this out, and sighs, tapping her hands together at a loss of what to say.  After a moment she lets her hands fall limp into her lap.

"Me and Alexander knew each other when we were children. We're both from a country called Eurstoya, across the sea. He left, 15 years ago I think, and came here. This country  is called Milos; it used to be a monarchy of sorts but a few years back there was a military coup and it became whatever this is now.  Might makes right...fascist...Darwinist Oligarchy, I don't know.  Alexander was pretty high up in the government before the coup and got even higher afterwards thanks to his talents. But then the war between Milos and Eurstoya started and he was called a traitor, enemy of the ministry and the state.  There are still posters of him around, rewards for his capture and propaganda against him.  I'm not really sure what happened to him; just sort of vanished.  Might have been killed right at the start and just reported alive as a boogeymen man, might have got away."

She's quiet a moment, mind somewhere far away, trapped momentarily in reminiscence. She shakes it off.

"Anyway, the military back home approached me to help in the war effort.  My talents are good for implanting information and pulling it out again so I'm pretty invaluable for agents who need to learn skills quickly or pass off a field report in a few seconds instead of a few hours.  Or interrogation, but that hasn't happened yet.  So me and Nicholas stay here, run the library, and help when we're needed or when someone needs a safe house. That's what this is by the way," She gestures around her.

"So, that's the gist of it.  Now I'm guessing you have questions?"

IronyOwl

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #125 on: April 04, 2019, 01:26:29 pm »

Well that's distressingly mundane. Oh well.


"What use does the other place have for information in here? Is this city important for the war effort somehow?"

"Why are you risking your life for this? Some big moral thing or country pride or what?"

"Am I a necromancer, then? And if so, how do I get better at it or figure out what I can do with it?"

"Who or what are we up against? Does this place have ancient necromancer generals and mindreading spyhunters and demon-summoning factory bosses, or do they make a habit of ousting their most valuable leadership?"
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Mathel

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #126 on: April 04, 2019, 01:43:16 pm »

"If I am a necromancer, and from what you described you are some kind of thought transfer person, what other kinds of 'talents' are there?"
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #127 on: April 05, 2019, 01:15:09 pm »

"What kind of weapons to these people use, are they like conventional ones or are they like attack demons or something?"
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Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
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Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #128 on: April 05, 2019, 01:45:27 pm »

Quote
My talents are good for implanting information and pulling it out again so I'm pretty invaluable for agents who need to learn skills quickly

Can she teach us [kung-fu]?

Also yes, how common are our magic powers and who do we need to look out for? Are there government bad wizards? Also, we don't know anything about these factions, really, the military could have coup'ed because of the previous regimes propensity for talking in the theater.
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piecewise

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #129 on: April 10, 2019, 10:03:40 am »

Well that's distressingly mundane. Oh well.


"What use does the other place have for information in here? Is this city important for the war effort somehow?"

"Why are you risking your life for this? Some big moral thing or country pride or what?"

"Am I a necromancer, then? And if so, how do I get better at it or figure out what I can do with it?"

"Who or what are we up against? Does this place have ancient necromancer generals and mindreading spyhunters and demon-summoning factory bosses, or do they make a habit of ousting their most valuable leadership?"

"What use does the other place have for information in here? Is this city important for the war effort somehow?"

"This city is a major port and home of lots of manufacturing, but mainly its home to the Ministry of Defense headquarters and a lot of RnD sections. Agents here do both information gathering and sabotage, among other things."

"Why are you risking your life for this? Some big moral thing or country pride or what?"

Esme is quiet for a few moments. "I'm not sure I can give you an entirely satisfactory answer.  The war has hurt a lot of people, including people I care about.  And its always good to go somewhere where you can make a difference. And...maybe I thought I'd see Alexander again.  All these things really.  It just seemed the right thing to do."

"Am I a necromancer, then? And if so, how do I get better at it or figure out what I can do with it?"

"I assume so. You said you bound that skeleton to you. I don't think anyone could do that without necromancy.  We have some texts around here about necromancy; but just the basics.  Necromancy is pretty tightly regulated around here. We'll need to get hold of someone who knows it better or...I think there's another way but we'll need to check if its actually doable."

"Who or what are we up against? Does this place have ancient necromancer generals and mindreading spyhunters and demon-summoning factory bosses, or do they make a habit of ousting their most valuable leadership?

"Talents are not that common. I think about one in 50 has a talent of some level?  And of those the people with combat effective powers are only a fraction.  Average patrolmen are generally gonna be normal; anyone who has any really good talents is gonna be promoted up the ranks fast. But once you get up a few levels in the organization things get rather frightening. Scryers are one our biggest threats, its why we carry on this library thing. Summoners...well they come in a few types. Normally a summoner is a mobile warehouse of sorts; they can 'take in' objects and summon them back out when they need them. Some can only do inanimate, others can do living creatures. Most dangerous are the godtongues who can literally bring something out of nothing; create objects or living things from nowhere. Projectors can manifest and control certain materials... there's a lot and some people have mixed talents which just throws in all kinds of different issues.  We should either cover this on a case by case or maybe I can get together some general info. In any case you just have to know that the higher ranked a member of the Ministry is, the more magically adept and powerful they are. Its literally their central tenet: He who has the talent should have the power. "

"If I am a necromancer, and from what you described you are some kind of thought transfer person, what other kinds of 'talents' are there?"
"I'm not sure if there is a master list of all possible talents thanks to mixed talents and other things like that, but I'll put something together."

"What kind of weapons to these people use, are they like conventional ones or are they like attack demons or something?"
"Patrols will use rifles, maybe enchanted equipment if they're well outfitted. They also have gyrocopters and pseudobirds, armored cars, sometimes they're mounted on armored crawlers. Higher up than patrols and they're gonna be more talent specialized. Often projectors mixed in with normal soldiers and summoner support. "

Quote
My talents are good for implanting information and pulling it out again so I'm pretty invaluable for agents who need to learn skills quickly

Can she teach us [kung-fu]?

Also yes, how common are our magic powers and who do we need to look out for? Are there government bad wizards? Also, we don't know anything about these factions, really, the military could have coup'ed because of the previous regimes propensity for talking in the theater.

"I could put the entire contents of a self defense manual in your head but there is a difference between knowing something by memory and knowing it, especially in terms of physical actions."





Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #130 on: April 10, 2019, 12:17:19 pm »

Holy geez I was joking but that is a REALLY COOL POWER.

Anyway time to become the very best necromancer like noone ever was. Also, since we are apparently fairly nondescript we should go hit up a diner, stroll about town, get our bearings, see if there is some kind of public information center where we can learn more about the local goings-on and government, etc.
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KitRougard

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #131 on: April 10, 2019, 12:53:00 pm »

...Could we get that self-defense manual in our head really quick? A theory of combat is better than what we have right now, which is nothing. And besides, we can train using its guidance as we go about our overthrowing of the government and all that.
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Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #132 on: April 10, 2019, 12:58:53 pm »

...Could we get that self-defense manual in our head really quick? A theory of combat is better than what we have right now, which is nothing. And besides, we can train using its guidance as we go about our overthrowing of the government and all that.

Unless the government isn't actually evil! We only have one side of the story! They are prob evil AF tho.

Anyway wow dang yeah you are right, +1
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FACT III: "All life begins with Post-it notes and ends with Post-it notes. This is the truth! This is my belief!...At least for now."
FACT IV: SPEECHO THE TRUSTWORM IS YOUR FRIEND or BEHOLD: THE FRUIT ENGINE 3.0

Mathel

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #133 on: April 10, 2019, 01:15:54 pm »

...Could we get that self-defense manual in our head really quick? A theory of combat is better than what we have right now, which is nothing. And besides, we can train using its guidance as we go about our overthrowing of the government and all that.
How about something that is useful as information instead? Like the map of this town. Just in case we get in trouble on our stroll and have to run. It would be useful to know where to run to.
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The shield beats the sword.
Urge to drink milk while eating steak wrapped with bacon rising...
Outer planes are not subject to any laws of physics that would prevent them from doing their job.
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Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #134 on: April 10, 2019, 01:28:28 pm »

...Could we get that self-defense manual in our head really quick? A theory of combat is better than what we have right now, which is nothing. And besides, we can train using its guidance as we go about our overthrowing of the government and all that.
How about something that is useful as information instead? Like the map of this town. Just in case we get in trouble on our stroll and have to run. It would be useful to know where to run to.

Why not choose both? /zoidbergvoice
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FACT I: Post note art is best art.
FACT II: Dunamisdeos is a forum-certified wordsmith.
FACT III: "All life begins with Post-it notes and ends with Post-it notes. This is the truth! This is my belief!...At least for now."
FACT IV: SPEECHO THE TRUSTWORM IS YOUR FRIEND or BEHOLD: THE FRUIT ENGINE 3.0
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