Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[IncompetentFortressMaker]

It's you.

Well. Something wearing your face anyway. And whilst it seems jovial enough, it demands a blood price for the wound you dealt to its retainer, that feywolf you shot. Why that wasn't its own blood price for the wound dealt to Jack, I couldn't tell you. However, it does know where Fírinne is.

+1

That it knows where Fírinne is really is more of a problem than anything else, since she's doing the sensible thing and hanging back a reasonable distance outside this everchanging not-grove of things that shouldn't exist.
Also, the entity itself doesn't just appear to be wearing your face; it's copied everything you're wearing and holding, right down to the jumpsuit and even a replica Key that you can immediately tell isn't the real thing. There's something not quite right about its jovial demeanor; it never blinks, and are you imagining it, or does that smile have too many teeth?
Also, it seems you really are quite androgynous, or at least this thing wants you to think you are. It's speaking in a voice that is masculine and feminine simultaneously, despite being a single voice, which... really shouldn't be a thing? You think?

[Megam0nkey]

Well it wasent so much as tap as lift you up by the scruff of your shirt, but it was certainly something. And something big no less, quite annoyed it nearly stepped out into the Sun outside of the spirit worlds it travels. The sun of the mortal world, the one that would transform it into stone if he was ever revealed to it. It seems as if you have summoned a troll.

[NUKE9.13]

Okay. A facestealer isn’t the worst thing it could be. Not great either, but I’ll take what I can get. They usually only steal people’s identities for prank purposes, rarely for malicious reasons. Although some of them really like to use-
“With your stolen tool, you shot my pet.
With its violet blood, my grove is wet.
Now on the edge, of one and two.
A blood price I, demand of you.
You who serve, that which is not.
Promise me, what you forgot.
Else she, who waits beyond.
I'll take, when I abscond.
Choose, but take your time.
And, respond in rhyme.”
-poetry.

As instructed, I take a moment to parse the message. I think it’s either saying it wants my missing memories (presumably guaranteeing I never recover them), or it’s saying it wants a thing I have forgotten (which could be something very important). If I refuse, it’s going to kidnap Fírinne, and take her to the First World.
If it only wants my missing memory… I can probably deal with that. It’d be annoying, but anything that matters I can just re-learn, right? But if it wants an actual thing I’ve forgotten, that could be trouble.

“Is what you seek just in my head, or is it an object instead?”, I ask it. Shut up, it rhymes. It didn’t say I needed to rhyme well.
The facestealer cringes at my awkward delivery, but answers quickly- “A thought, a dream, a motivation. No solid, gas, or condensation.”
Well, I’m pretty sure that’s fine. Better than having to fight a facestealer (and whatever allies it summons) to protect Fírinne.
“I accept your price, since it sounds nice. Take the thought that you have bought.”
“You suck at poetry”, the facestealer says, in a far more guttural tone, as its appearance reverts from a near-perfect copy of my own to a faceless grey humanoid.
It holds up a three-fingered hand, and draws- with some effort- something from my head. Sort of a sparkly gold cloud. I feel no discomfort in the process. The cloud is absorbed into its head, and it makes a grumbling sound, before dissolving back across the veil.

I quickly leave the grove, and after circling around the edge, return to where I entered. Fírinne is there, with Jack- and the outlander, surprisingly.
“As long as I’m your ‘companion’, the Treant can’t touch me”, they explain. Fair enough reason to stick around, I suppose.

We return to our campsite. Jack, despite still missing a chunk of arm, is surprisingly stable. After changing into clothing we took from the militia outpost, he’s ready to get moving. I do make sure he’s carrying the lightest of the four packs, but I’m not going to patronise him by insisting he carry nothing.

My desire to leave the forest ASAP wars with my desire to use its cover to avoid devil patrols. In the end, the outlander shows us a route that will skirt the edge of the forest, whilst moving in the direction of Hell’s Ridge. We spend the next two days uneventfully trekking through the woods- keeping a watch at night, just in case, but nothing of the natural world attacks us (per my deal with the Elder), and the Fey seem content to let us pass as well.
Unfortunately, the forest doesn’t stretch all the way to the mountains. We can see the peaks in the distance- or rather, the storm clouds wreathed around them-, but we’re not there yet. And wouldn’t you know it, the armies of Hell are keeping an eye on the area we need to cross. They might stay away from the peaks, and it might be unlikely that anyone from the Kingdom side would try to cross over anyway, but there’s at least one fort en-route, along with numerous outposts.

So, what exactly am I facing?
-What’s the terrain like between me and the mountains?
-Are there any unusual additions to the devil garrison in the area, or is it just a standard assortment of footsoldiers?
-What’s the outlander gonna do now? Do they intend to split off now that we’re out of the forest?

[IncompetentFortressMaker]

The terrain between you and the mountains is initially fairly flat, only sloping upward nearer to the mountains. There are two terrain features of note: a medium-sized stream, and visible holes in the ground that the outlander believes may be sinkholes or cenotes. The outlander explains that the local terrain appears karstic. The stream has a bridge across it for ease of use by devil forces. Given the unusual terrain, you might be able to use these holes in the ground (whatever they turn out to be) to your advantage.

The garrison is mostly composed of foot soldiers, yes, but there are a few more troubling additions. From least to most troubling: some commanding officers of those foot soldiers, with the skill and experience to match, and what seems to be a few devil scouts, presumably stationed here to keep an eye out for intruders like you. Finally, and most troubling by far, is what probably used to be a drake. The unfortunate creature has had a real number done on it, and at a glance you can tell it'd never end up this way naturally, so the devils must have done something magical to it. Probably involving questionable experiments. Also, you think you can still see the creature's ranking rings. It appears to have three bronze rings, two around its talons and one around its tail, which would indicate it's a higher-ranking member of the Bronze Flight. The Bronze Flight is one of the lowest-ranking flights, and you'd usually see recruits placed there. How did one of their drakes get out here, and what happened to the recruit? (Given the drake's rank, the recruit and their drake were probably close to moving on to the next flight, that of Iron.)

((OOC: I have no comment on what the outlander may choose to do. I'll let someone else decide that.))

[Megam0nkey]

The outlander seems to be sticking with the group. They reason that their head will be on a pike if the devils ever see em again, since working with you guys, even for a bit, is dessertion or more likely treason…and helping you guys as he did already would certainly count. Not to mention being in Hells army isn't exactly pleasant, and they don’t have much places to go anywhere considering the occupation by the devils. If they get out with you guys they think its the best Chance of survival, even if they seem doubtful of the success of this mission your undertaking.

[Kashyyk]

Karstic terrain and cenotes mean underground cave systems are highly likely, and in other regions people have made whole livings down there. Whether the network is interconnected and traversable, and thus what or whom you may find below ground is unknown.

[m1895]

The fort has a sizeable portion of traitor militia, humans are preferred here because 600ft drops or cave ins are as instantly fatal for devils as (expendable) humans, originally drawn from the local mountain settlements, they maintain patrols between a couple outposts near the lower middle of the ridge, as well as exploring the caves looking for escaped prisoners, or worse. The original montagnards have been depleted and replaced with loyal, well-equipped recruits from elsewhere, you even see a couple hellfire 'pistols' amongst their numbers (something that could eventually harm a devil if repeatedly fired at a weakpoint.) something beyond even the hostile terrain is causing attrition, though the devils are about as clueless as you on what it could be and are giving them higher grade weapons to cope.

[NUKE9.13]

“Is that a drake?”, Fírinne asks.
“No”
“That a drake”, Jack states.
“No it isn’t”
“Huh, I’ve never seen a drake before”, Sam (the outlander) marvels.
“You still haven’t”
“Agent… there’s a drake. We don’t need to cross the mountains if we can capture it”, Fírinne insists.
“Even if we captured it, none of us know how to pilot a drake”
“You’ve apparently forgotten that I am an honorary Silver pilot”, Fírinne counters.
“There’s not enough room on a drake for all of us”
“You and I can escape, then send a full drake patrol to retrieve Jack and Sam. You keep saying that I’m the priority.”
“With all that metal bolted to it, who knows if it can even fly?”
Fírinne’s left eye twitches, and she gestures angrily towards the drake. In fairness, yes, it is flying in circles around the devil fort.
“Okay fair, but what about-”
“Agent —”, Fírinne interrupts, in an authoritative tone. “I hereby order you, as your Princess, to capture that drake.”
“But-”
“You are loyal to the Kingdoms, are you not?”
I clench my teeth. There’s no way out of this. “...fine. I will investigate the possibility of capturing that drake.”

With this extremely ill-advised side quest in mind, I move closer to the devil fort. Fírinne insists on accompanying me. Like she doesn’t trust me to accurately report on the feasibility of capturing the drake.
We slip past a few patrols without issue, but as we get closer to the fort, things become trickier. The fort is well positioned- there are two cenotes very close together, and the fort sits in the middle, between walls that stretch from one to the other. We saw the drake landing behind those walls earlier.

Of course, I don’t need to bother with climbing over the walls. I can just use my Key to bypass a cenote. Even though I’m, for some reason, feeling a bit apprehensive about Travelling. I mean, we’ve definitely left behind any Fey influence, my Astral connection is fine here, and I’ve not done anything to annoy Father recently. It’s probably fine.
There’s a suitably shadowy nook between two buildings in the ‘courtyard’ that I can see from here, so I grab Fírinne’s hand, and-
I’M SORRY I’M SORRY IT TRICKED ME I’M SORRY NO PLEASE I CAN FIX THIS PLEA-
-violently expel the contents of my stomach, collapse to the ground spasming. I’m crying? No, that’s blood. My eyes are bleeding. Fírinne is saying something. She’s shaking me. She looks terrified.

SHIT.

Father is angrier than I’ve ever experienced. That facestealer… it didn’t take some harmless trivia. Clearly. It took memories that were extremely important.
And I couldn’t remember why they were important. And now, I never will. They’re gone, and I get the feeling that nobody else in the world will be able to remind me.
…hang on. You. You’ve been watching me for a while. You know things you shouldn’t be able to. You can help me. You have to help me.

I manage to regain control of my own body, and shakily get to my feet. Okay. I have two questions that I could answer myself, and one that I inherently can’t.
-Did my louder-than-intended arrival alert any guards in the area?
-How is the drake being housed, anyway?
-What caused my amnesia? I should be able to tell if you get the right answer to this. If not, I guess I’ll try a different question next time.

[Shadowclaw777]

Yes, your panic attack alerted an outskirt of a pair of devil guards that were making a lazy patrol around the perimeters, heard your shouting, and made a quick movement to inspect the perimeter where you were at.

The drake is being housed in an Arcane Cage Prism, a cage made out of pure Arcane and Void energy where straight pure arcane leylines form the “lines” around the cage to house the creature, some form of dispelling is needed, though if you don’t have the magical knowhow, the Beast Ward (often being a Devil) carries an magical device that you can click to turn the leyline off the Arcane Cage.

Your amnesia has been caused by your messing with the Astral from a long time ago, messing with things way beyond your control. You and Father were originally citizens of the Kingdoms, and you were just a young pluck apprentice just serving as the assistant to the Executive Archmage (This being Father) and the Arcanist Guild (The guild of all the magic-using Users in the Kingdoms that work here), you think your were chosen to be this apprentice due to your innate connection to the Astral, like the Astral chose to connect and live inside you before even birth, predestination. However, the World never always had the Hell’s Legion inside it, but that’s before rogue Arcanists who were never really pleased with Kingdom rule, and wanted their own separation from the Kingdoms (A complicated political Dissent, you don’t know much about), a century ago they created a horrible Arcane ritual in which they hoped to control Hell to use against them for a Civil War against the Kingdoms, however this led to the horrible side-effect of Hell’s Legion pouring in from their Realm, and eventually taking over this Rebellious faction, and now existing in the Material World, conquering more and more land from the Kingdoms, with no hope for the people to stop it. Father was the greatest Archmage, and even Void Mage to ever known to exist in the Kingdoms, and you were his greatest apprentice learning much from him, the Kingdom’s Royalty preached to both of you to use Void Magic to help save the Kingdoms from annihilation. This all led to you both due to take a grand-adventure into the Astral, through a ritual of Astral Projection to try and seek a method to stop Hell’s Legion from invading the World, which Father thought was possible. Whatever happened during your Projection led to Father’s body being destroyed in the World, and only his consciousness now exists as splintered remains in the Astral you can commune with, you lost all of your memories and then next you know you were in a prisoner’s camp in a Hell’s Prison, you think you found the Key through this projection?

[Kashyyk]

-Did my louder-than-intended arrival alert any guards in the area?
Not any Guards, no. But you did draw the attention of a pair of enslaved humans. They were busy hauling crates when your arrived, but now they're both arguing over whether they should investigate or not.

-How is the drake being housed, anyway?
There's a wrought steel cage in the central courtyard, where the drake is locked way outside of its scheduled patrol flights. Uncomfortably small, by drake standards, and no doubt a symptom of its general mistreatment.

-What caused my amnesia?
There's a reason very few people are capable of using Astral Keys. And there's a reason you are one of the most capable of the bunch. Whilst Father isn't literally your father, he is family. You don't know why, cos amnesia, but Father was the one who caused it.

[King Zultan]

Yes, your panic attack alerted an outskirt of a pair of devil guards that were making a lazy patrol around the perimeters, heard your shouting, and made a quick movement to inspect the perimeter where you were at.

The drake is being housed in an Arcane Cage Prism, a cage made out of pure Arcane and Void energy where straight pure arcane leylines form the “lines” around the cage to house the creature, some form of dispelling is needed, though if you don’t have the magical knowhow, the Beast Ward (often being a Devil) carries an magical device that you can click to turn the leyline off the Arcane Cage.

Your amnesia has been caused by your messing with the Astral from a long time ago, messing with things way beyond your control. You and Father were originally citizens of the Kingdoms, and you were just a young pluck apprentice just serving as the assistant to the Executive Archmage (This being Father) and the Arcanist Guild (The guild of all the magic-using Users in the Kingdoms that work here), you think your were chosen to be this apprentice due to your innate connection to the Astral, like the Astral chose to connect and live inside you before even birth, predestination. However, the World never always had the Hell’s Legion inside it, but that’s before rogue Arcanists who were never really pleased with Kingdom rule, and wanted their own separation from the Kingdoms (A complicated political Dissent, you don’t know much about), a century ago they created a horrible Arcane ritual in which they hoped to control Hell to use against them for a Civil War against the Kingdoms, however this led to the horrible side-effect of Hell’s Legion pouring in from their Realm, and eventually taking over this Rebellious faction, and now existing in the Material World, conquering more and more land from the Kingdoms, with no hope for the people to stop it. Father was the greatest Archmage, and even Void Mage to ever known to exist in the Kingdoms, and you were his greatest apprentice learning much from him, the Kingdom’s Royalty preached to both of you to use Void Magic to help save the Kingdoms from annihilation. This all led to you both due to take a grand-adventure into the Astral, through a ritual of Astral Projection to try and seek a method to stop Hell’s Legion from invading the World, which Father thought was possible. Whatever happened during your Projection led to Father’s body being destroyed in the World, and only his consciousness now exists as splintered remains in the Astral you can commune with, you lost all of your memories and then next you know you were in a prisoner’s camp in a Hell’s Prison, you think you found the Key through this projection?

+1

[Rockeater]

Your entrance wasn't noticed by anyone nearby but a devil on a watchtower noticed and signaling to the camp.

The Drake is placed inside a small alcove and a large metal door closes him in when not patrolling.

The Astral sea is connected to your mind, your thoughts, your being, as it ab and flow so does your memories disappear and reappear.

[NUKE9.13]

Let’s see…

Your amnesia has been caused by your messing with the Astral from a long time ago
You and Father were originally citizens of the Kingdoms
This all led to you both due to take a grand-adventure into the Astral, through a ritual of Astral Projection to try and seek a method to stop Hell’s Legion from invading the World
Whatever happened during your Projection led to Father’s body being destroyed in the World, and only his consciousness now exists as splintered remains in the Astral you can commune with, you lost all of your memories and then next you know you were in a prisoner’s camp in a Hell’s Prison, you think you found the Key through this projection?

No... no, this doesn't sound right. I'm almost certain Father was never human, and I already know that my amnesia is a recurring problem- not a one-off thing.

There's a reason very few people are capable of using Astral Keys. And there's a reason you are one of the most capable of the bunch. Whilst Father isn't literally your father, he is family. You don't know why, cos amnesia, but Father was the one who caused it.

Well, sure, I'm aware that Father isn't literally my biological father. Presumably there's a human out there who impregnated my mother, although I've never met him.
And while He may have been involved in my amnesia... that doesn't explain why me making it permanent led to such a negative reaction. This sounds... right-ish, but I need to know more.

The Astral sea is connected to your mind, your thoughts, your being, as it ab and flow so does your memories disappear and reappear.

Maybe... but it didn't feel like the Astral was closed off to me in the prison camp, so I feel like this isn't it.


Alright, the existential threat of Father’s displeasure aside, there are also immediate dangers in the here-and-now. I can hear a pair of devil guards getting closer, although from the sound of their voices they are pretty relaxed.
I gesture to Fírinne, and we both take cover behind a stack of crates. They’re rather neatly stacked, but there’s a gap between the stack and the wall that seems almost intentional. My guess- somewhere for slaves to slack off.
I can hear the guards step into the nook, but after a moment, one of them says the devil word for ‘nobody here’ (one I’ve heard quite often), and they move on. I wait for another minute before moving, just to be sure.

“What happened?”, Fírinne whispers.
“Trouble in the Astral”, I whisper in reply. “We… might not be able to use my Key to get back out.”
“Then how do we get out if the drake isn’t accessible?”, she asks, clearly concerned.
“The outlander mentioned this region has extensive cave networks. We could check if there’s a way to get down into the cenote, and from there into the caves.”
We carefully make our way to the edge, which isn’t far from where we landed. As one might expect, there’s no easy way up from the cenote- it wouldn’t be a very good natural barrier otherwise. There is, however, a wooden platform extending over the edge, with what looks like a retractable ladder beneath it. And while it’s difficult to make out at this time of day (the sun has set, but there’s still a bit of light), down at the water level there’s what looks like the entrance to a cave.
Not a perfect escape route… but better than facing Father’s wrath, if I can’t alleviate it soon. And roughly equally bad as flying out.

I agree that we might as well do what we came here for, so we sneak further into the compound. It’s quite a big area, actually- the two cenotes are rather large, and the keep is relatively small, leaving a lot of room for secondary buildings, what looks like a drill square… and a drake enclosure. It's behind the keep, in the middle of an open area.
Now, obviously devils aren’t used to housing drakes. I’ve never even heard of them capturing one before. The enclosure reflects this, being far too small for the beast- it looks like the sort they use to house their more conventional, land-bound warbeasts. The walls are made of thick steel bars, with an equally imposing gate… but the roof of the enclosure is much weaker, just sheet metal that a drake could easily tear through- which is probably why they’ve reinforced the roof specifically with an arcane grid.
The gate is presumably locked, but more importantly, the mechanism to open it is one of those hand-cranked things that take several minutes to operate. And unless the devils have been really meticulous about keeping it oiled, it will squeal loudly when used. So, no. Not a good option.
That leaves the roof. If we can shut down the arcane grid, and Fírinne can get inside, she could direct the drake to slice its way to freedom.

Very unfortunately, the arcane grid is probably being powered with a well-secured method that I have no chance of disabling. Right?
-Yes, of course, there’s no chance of disabling the grid, caves it is. (Good) / Well actually, it’s not that well secured, it might be possible to disable. (I hate you)
-Whilst I’m here, is there anything else I should take note of?
-If Father was involved in giving me amnesia, why would He be upset about it being permanent?

[Iris]

Shutting down the arcane grid is possible, but it's a specialised task and you probably don't have the knowledge. Maybe ask Jack what's going on here? He might have experience with demonic wards. Nevermind, you left Jack and Sam behind. That might complicate things.

So. About your amnesia. Yes, Father caused it, but not intentionally. It was an unfortunate side effect of a... well, let's be blunt, you made a rash decision ages ago and you're paying the price for it now. The short answer is that you're currently in a liminal state, half in your normal reality and half in the Astral. This is why you can use the Key, it's a big chunk of your amnesia, and it's also why you can hear us. The slightly longer answer is that the Astral is composed of thought and knowledge and concepts, and your self-identity is probably floating on the other side of the Sea by now.

The pressing issue is that being submerged in the Astral Sea is rather unhealthy for all parties in the long term, and the knowledge that would enable you to mitigate those effects - both on yourself and on the rest of the Sea - is part of what you've just signed away to the facestealer. Father is quite mad at you for that.

[Kashyyk]

Most Arcane Grids depend on specifically designed support networks to spread the load, and the connections to them can be weak. If you're magically inclined you can spot them pretty easily. There'll likely also be the mage responsible for maintaining that grid somewhere around here  if you'd prefer to delegate the problem.

Regarding the amnesia, it's not that Father is angry you've permanently lost the memory (altohugh hes not happy abput it either), he's most angry that this Fey now has it. He trusts you with this valuable secret, he does not trust some random third-party.