It is peculiar that nobody has attempted to stop us yet, considering how generally competent our captors seem to have been. We might want to talk to Jasaurersa about when they last summoned her.
Our captor's lack of response to enemies in their own vault suggests that they are preoccupied or are not what they once were.

Magnus 2011/09/30(Fri)09:41 No. 354289 ID: 3bad4c
File 131740091033.png - (87.27KB , 800x800 , 24.png )

Skipping the obvious option there, Thakenja? He smiles to himself. Alright. We'll talk to her, but first; Naramis seems to have volunteered for an experiement.
Ten minutes pass as Magnus delves into his own mind, straining to somehow pull Naramis back together. There's some metallic grinding and screeching as very resilient components of souls are rearranged. Finally Narmis' constituent parts are somewhat closer together than they were before.
There. Is that any better? Do you remember how to fight?

did it work? ooh, do me next!

dont think i can do anything without a body. my body would be best, but can make do.

it's like... i now have a very detailed set of instructions on how to fight, but i'm blind so i can't read it.

Magnus 2011/09/30(Fri)11:14 No. 354319 ID: 3bad4c
File 131740645862.png - (82.55KB , 800x800 , 25.png )

Hmm. Well, better than nothing?
We've only got the one purple sphere to share at the moment. I have ideas on how to get more, but nothing I can do right now.
How about you Kothar?

still a bit blurry. I feel like I know everything but have no way to use the knowledge... just gimme a bit to orient.

Interesting; I think I got a brief glimpse of the information you sent them.

The process seems functional enough that I will join in. (I admit it is quite embarrassing to know less about my own magic than you do.)

Hmm. Okay. This is heavy. A sort of crashing reverberation echoes throughout Magnus' mind.
Uh. I dropped you, sorry Thakie. What a mess. How about we leave that for now? Just.. remember that you're the one that's supposed to know everything. Until we obtain some spellbooks and get out of here, your spellcasting is kind of on the sidelines.

To the dragon shop!
Magnus decides to dismiss his invisibility and walk to the dragons. It wouldn't be helpful right now to give Eva orders she can't follow.
As the two of them walk towards the dragon's massive room Magnus has time to read a few of entries on the most senior prisoners. It appears that most of the other prisoners have notes on how they almost, partially or simply learnt how to break the world. Some are monstrosities of ancient evils, others are mad creatures of impossible biology. Only a few are powerful, humanoid mortals. Those typically have notes like 'worked with our enemies', or 'determined to expose us'. He doesn't manage to feel any sympathy for the majority of the other prisoners.
Through another hallway they pass he sees the larger cells. Much, much larger than the ones he's been familiar with so far. Curiosity beckons, but he has his priorities.
Entering the dragon room, he finds Jasa and the amethyst dragon are awake and conversing.
"Are we interrupting?" Magnus asks, strolling into the room.
>"Mm, who is this?"
>"That's Magnus. Today he just glows!"
>"Hello Magnus. I am Kerlstrasolix. Perhaps you would be familiar with my great grandson, Arvintraskux?"
"Hello Kerlstrasolix. The Emperor? Yes, I know of him." Quick calculation..this dragon is millenia old. Uh..and female, I think.
>"Ah, well he is not exactly an emperor anymore. The empire fell. Such a shame, it was some impressive work."
"The undead plague? That was still happening on the last day I remember before being here. I," he glances at Eva, " was wondering when the last time you saw your benefactors."
>"It's been a while for me, but Yori doesn't get out much," Jasa replies. Her crystalline eyelids glimmer as she waits for Kerl's response.
>"As with me. You'd best wake one of the males if you must know." She nods towards the topaz and the sapphire. "Alternatively you could move out of the storage areas and into their operational area. Just make your way upwards."
Mmm.. the two reasonably well behaved breeds don't know. The ones that do are .. unfriendly. They might fight first and ask questions later.
Or we can have a look ourselves. I suppose it makes sense that all of this is their base of operations.
Or we could look around some more? We'd just have to avoid going up.

let's look around, expand our options a bit.

Magnus 2011/10/02(Sun)20:55 No. 355231 ID: 3bad4c
File 131761409881.png - (107.00KB , 800x800 , 26.png )

Magnus wanders around the complex, looking for 'options' while avoiding ascending to upper floors.
He passes rooms full of objects in glass-like containers, but he cannot sense any magic coming from them. He can't read the descriptions either.
One room is large and square, empty except for three insubstantial spheres of light in the centre. As soon as he enters the room the spheres appear in front of him at chest level. The two smaller spheres are less than half a metre in front of him, one in near his left arm, one near his right. The larger sphere is slightly further away and lies between the other two.
As he retreats they move with him, suddenly returning to the centre of the room when he leaves it. Entering again, they follow in front of him.
Well.. this probably does something. Which do I touch first? A chorus of voices in his mind answer. Left it is then.
He touches the left one and the walls illuminate with indiscipherable text. He lets go, but the text remains.
There's no telepathic interface here. Why not? I don't know what any of this says.

Can you mentally "kick" a linguist sleeping in your mind, so that you can understand this stuff?

I'd do it myself, but I'm on a phone until late October, so I can't go on IRC to make a character.

>>355257
why do you need IRC? it says just type [REMEMBER] RIGHT HERE, that's it. we are given pre-made characters.

OOC
IRC not necessary, just faster. In IRC I can ask 'Hey, how about this name?' and the suggester can say 'Sure', or 'No that name sucks balls, give me another'.
The discussion thread is fine for this too, just slower. Just post [REMEMBER] in this thread so I know to check the discussion thread.
OOC OFF

OOC on
Oh.. and you don't need a name to suggest subconsciously. You just can't converse with the main character.

E.g.
You
Hey, EAT THAT PIE.
Man, I really hope that pie is full of worms.

Receives as:
[EAT PIE]
*evil intent*

to Magnus, but all other suggesters see it as you posted it.


Named suggester
Don't eat the pie!

Magnus
Why not?

Named suggester
You'll get fat!

OOC off

At a guess, I would say the lack of telepathic interface is due to the room's function requiring user concentration.

Mmm. Maybe. He ponders. Ohh. Thakenja! You're learned. I'm sure there's something in your head that can help. He rummages around inside himself, looking for something useful.
Oh. Nice. I never knew how good you were with languages. Languages and monsters and spells. So cool. If I get you a new body, will you marry me? Heh. He sighs.
Manifesting some ectoplasmic paper and pen (charcoal, at least) thanks to Xerxes, Magnus tells Eva to wait where she is and flies back through the complex. Thakenja's linguistic aptitude combined with the telepathic interface of each cell description allows him to quickly gain a solid handle on the language. As far as Thakenja knew the current language has very little in common with anything post-cataclysm. If it's not new, then it's a spectacular rediscovery. He finds himself thinking on her behalf. Hiding a language for how long? The nerve these people have! Ooh..that.. That was weird.
Returning to the square chamber he deciphers some of the language.
The room is displaying some sort of settings.
Radius, rounds, power, visibility, audibility, resistance.
Does this room create battles?! This seems like a good idea, right?
Suggest what Magnus should set the options at, 1 to 10 scale. (10 highest)

anything worth doing is worth doing on maximum difficulty.
10s across the board.
1-9 is for babies.

10,5,5,5,5,5

medium diffuculty in a large area. shouldn't be too hard. don't want to go full ten because that could possibly make something none of us have ever fought before.

Caution. Test what the numbers signify before you commit yourself. Set them low for a test run. Minimum, even.

>>355328
baaaabies.

>>355329
i bet you get into the shallow end of the pool and spend 10+ minutes taking off band-aids.

Ah to hell with it.

[remember]

(Kalchen)
Boss. We don't know what kind of scale these guys are working with. Test it in the low-end first, yeah?

if I were you, I'd create something weak and toy around with it to gain a good feel for all my new powers.

>>355326
What is fighting something- or watching something fight- going to do for us? Unless it will somehow give us power, it's useless.

It would be better to go back to the cells, extract one of the prisoners noted as determined to expose their captors, and enslave them before they realize what's going on. Then we can get some actual answers instead of simply wandering about and another powerful servant.

Magnus 2011/10/03(Mon)07:37 No. 355355 ID: 3bad4c
File 131765262484.png - (155.08KB , 800x800 , 27.png )

>>355352
Illen, hello again. While I understand that direct confrontation is not something that familiar to you, I do have reasons.
1. There are a whole lot of abilities riding around in here, but I can only employ one at a time. I need to be able to judge which is the right one for the situation. It's key to survival.
2. You want to know why I've avoiding doing that? It's because I've got a strong suspicion that we were let out on purpose. There's no doors in this complex, except those on the cells - most likely to keep the quintessence from slopping onto the floor. These 'people' are utterly confident in themselves. Why no reaction after all these golems were destroyed? We rested for eight hours right next to my cell. No, no.. they're either "gone", which I find unlikely because they bested Shade, or they're just watching to see what I do. So, releasing something they actually care about keeping locked up? I'm not convinced.
>>355330 [RECKLESS URGE FOR DANGER!]
>>355328
>>355336
>>355342
Well.. ok. Careful it is. Let's see.. lots of radius. Rounds? Uhm.. one. Power, just above lowest. Visibility maximum. Audibility maximum. Resistance least.
"Eva, we're going to fight. Um." He manifests a wooden club and shield for her. "I have no idea what is coming."
He places his right hand within the central sphere. Immediately the room grows upwards and outwards. As it expands it brightens, and the sound of his and Eva's breathing is easier to hear.
An overlay of large numbers appears on all of the walls, still visible despite being so far away. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
0.
A giant suddenly appears, not far from them. It is an ugly brute, troll-like even. It is holding a club, no, a tree trunk. Its skin glistens briefly, then the glistening fades. It's about four times as tall as Magnus.
I can see it, but I can't see its mind! It's not really alive. Telepathy won't be useful, spells are still unavailable.
We have the following (infinitely reusable) options:
• Dragon breath (pretty good ~ 24 damage + special)
• Warlock blast (pretty pathetic ~ 10 damage +3 if invisible, +7 if we move each shot)
• Magic flail (very pathetic ~ 25 damage, but we have to get close)
As for limited options (all of these belong to Xerxes):
• Create a monster to fight for us (very good)
• Shoot crystals at it (~45, but low range)
• Try to imprison it (?% success, can't hurt it while imprisoned)
Eva has uh.. :
• Slam (extremely pathetic ~9 damage)
• Blood drain (against this thing?! It's too big to hold still.)

And we have options to make it weaker too. Unless anyone has a strategy, I'm just planning on slowing it down and keeping it that way.

oh oh use my dread seizure so you can build up some distance between you an' him!

>Oh. Nice. I never knew how good you were with languages. Languages and monsters and spells. So cool. If I get you a new body, will you marry me? Heh
I see our relationship as more of a professional one, though I do enjoy flattery. Maybe if I get the rest of my mind back...

>I've got a strong suspicion that we were let out on purpose.
The way that they imprisoned (rather than destroyed) people who worked with their enemies suggests that at the time they were both cautions and opposed to waste. To allow this to happen (right next to Shade's cell) would mean that they are now neither.

>And we have options to make it weaker too. Unless anyone has a strategy, I'm just planning on slowing it down and keeping it that way.
A fairly standard but effective method for dealing with short ranged enemies.

>>355355
If they released you deliberately and really cared about keeping any of the people and beings here locked up, with their demonstrated level of power they could easily have relocated you to a place where you couldn't release anyone sensitive prior to allowing you to awaken. If they are indeed passively observing you to see what you do, then you have complete freedom of action- they're not going to decide "oopsie, maybe this was a bad idea!" and intervene after setting you loose in a sensitive facility. That would make them careless or incompetent, which the very presence of this facility and the fact that they overcame you in the first place belies.

There is the possibility that some of the cells are filled with dummies or replicas in case the original occupant was too dangerous to allow you access to, I suppose. But what causes them to deem any given occupant dangerous? Considering that you have free access to this facility and accordingly a great deal of seemingly sensitive information about them, accessing some more directly doesn't seem like something which would. People who were merely subversive or opposed to them in the first place should not be a problem to release.


As for your attempt to justify this combat, I find your logic entirely unconvincing and this encounter both a pointless risk and a waste of time. Your available powers are rapidly evolving as more of us become aware, and will continue to do so- even more once we escape this facility and gain access to spells once again. The majority of any practical experience you gain from this will thus rapidly grow obsolete, and there is a chance- however small- that you'll get squashed by that tree trunk like a fool.

At least take the basic step of ensuring that your slave is between you and the summon.

feh. theorize all you want, as long as you accept the fact that in the end, we don't actually know anything about any of this. all I want here is for us to kill something to see how good we're at killing.

>>355355
(Kalchen)
If this guy is just above lowest in power, I suspect the scale is exponential. Try a warlock blast on it first.

Ilen, you raise some excellent points, though your interpretation of events leading up to now is a bit off.
Magnus channels Naramis' soul, then breathes a wispy cloud at the giant. It latches on, slowing and impeding the giant's movements.
One, we want information yes? We can ask the dragons. I'm sure they'll help, I'm persuasive. I just have this nagging feeling that nobody will want to explore after we start finding out stuff.
>"Wow.. I'm not going any near that thing," says Eva. Regardless, she does 'something', raising her hand in the direction of the giant. Its struggles appear more clumsy.
"The compulsion would soon force you to, but there's little point. It's not a threat, and what could you do without magic anyway?"
Two, there's not an infinite amount of ability in here. In terms of ability it's Me, Thakenja and Naramis. Everyone else is minor. Kothar, Xerxes, you and the changeling are the next most adept, but you and anyone who wakes up after you will not be of tactic-shifting importance.
The giant stumbles towards Eva and Magnus, managing only a few steps.
Three, this combat won't take very long. It's occuring in a nice distraction free environment with ample space and warning. This is the perfect time to get to know these abilities, there are so many variables I don't have to consider.
The entangling cloud weakens on the giant, but Magnus is already acting. He splits his mind, allowing himself to act mentally twice as fast. Then Xerxes' power creates a slippery surface under the giant's feet. It slips and falls, still battling to free itself from the mist.
Yes, this doesn't make very much sense. I could have been released in some random windswept plain with no knowledge of what happened, so what I conclude is that "they" are not finished with me, or perhaps us. Or maybe it's all an illusion. It's just that the more I consider the stasis methods I observed used on the others, the less likely I believe they could have all failed.
Eva and Magnus exchange glances.
"Fine, be useless."
>"I'm not a bloodthirsty killer anymore." She backs away from the giant.
"Destroying a construct is not the same thing as killing."
The giant manages to find its balance, closing a few more steps.
Hmm, that breath was kind of useful, but not the proper situation.
Magnus lets loose an entangling net from Xerxes' knowledge, replacing the fading wispy cloud. He then attempts Kothar's seizing invocation, but the giant is far too resistant to such affects. His flight effect easily carries him further outside the giant's reach. Eva continues to retreat, and the giant continues trying to chase Magnus.
Well, this was somewhat interesting, but I didn't plan to do this for long.
The floor again becomes slippery, then Naramis' invocation is used. A heavy, freezing fog settles around the giant, its movement all but arrested. Magnus uses Naramis' most powerful variant of the breath weapon to finish it off. The giant has other ideas, but its feeble struggling fail to help. In less than a minute the walls close in, signifying the giant's defeat.
Magnus descends, looking unfulfilled. That wasn't as fun, interesting or revealing as I had hoped, and Eva disappoints me. Sanity has robbed her of her courage.
"Come on, Eva. We're done here."

Ilen's right. It's time to stop fucking around and get the priorities straight. Ask, find crown, leave.
Magnus walks through the complex to the dragons' room, Eva in tow. As he does so, he slowly rolls Thakenja's massive pieces of soul in closer proximity to one another. We'll get to know each other properly, Thakie. Just let me know when you see a body you'd like.
He nods to the awake females, then stands in the centre of the room.
"Dragons!" His telepathic greeting cannot be ignored, the others soon stir and wake.
>"What is this?!" Roars the topaz.
>"Calm yourself, friends. This one is known to us." Jasa explains.
>"It will explain itself, now!" The sapphire exclaims.
The emerald is silent, but her weight shifts as she readies herself to attack.
Magnus speaks, and his voice is clear and calm. He introduces himself, calmly explaining his situation. As he does so, he deftly portrays himself as honest, trustworthy and possessing dragonlike qualities of patience, strength and cunning. The remaining dragons are quickly swayed into thinking he's completely awesome.
"So, if you would be so kind, please tell me where the crown is."
>"Artefact of great power you say? Designed to assist psychics like yourself? It won't be here," the sapphire says.
"Then where?"
>"Somewhere outside. Anywhere. They 'lose' such things to encourage the development of powerful psions such as yourself."
"Why do they want powerful psions?"
>"Before they finished their little self-replicating project they were chronically understaffed. There's only eight of them."
>"There's only ever been eight," Jasa chimes in.
>"Since our time, at least. Sometimes they look for those comparable to them, for partial recruitment. They run a few organisations from the shadows, and it helps to have people on the inside all the time."
"You're kidding. Is that why I'm out of that cell? Two hundred years! I've missed two hundred years. I don't know what they want, but I'm not feeling very friendly."
>"We didn't say they wanted you. Just people like you." The topaz sneers a little.
>"It's not their normal method, definitely," says Jasa.
>"They didn't get to live this long without trying new things," muses the sapphire.
>"If you've done nothing wrong, why not confront them and request an apology and reparations?" Kerl's purple orbs shimmer as she speaks.
Magnus pauses. Confront? "When was the last time any of you saw one of them?"
>"Two days ago," says that topaz.

"So.. who are they?"
>Kerl explains. "They call themselves the Elder Council, and their names are Acslarnce, Caskin, Frathis, Ithmi, Mackil, Ronn, Woll and Yorianne."
"Which of them is the strongest?"
The dragons laugh.
>"As if they would work alone!" chuckles the emerald.
"Fine, fine. What do they actually do?"
>"Mostly fight aberration plots and keep them and others from turning off the world." The topaz snorts at his own explanation.
"Is that really a thing?" The shock is audible in his voice. That sounds ridiculous.
>"Reality isn't held together by an infallible divine will, Magnus. It's held together with machines. Ancient machines that they do their best to keep hidden." Kerl smiles.
"What." It wasn't a question, just his brain fizzing.
>"Yep." Jasa agrees.
"What about all those otherworldly powers? Deities! Concepts! The planes?!"
>"Emergent phenomena." The sapphire explains. Several others nod in agreement.
"So you're saying that these eight people have had the power to switch off the world for millenia?"
>"You'd rather nobody guarded them?" The emerald seems shocked. "How's that going to help anyone?"
"No.. I just. I never realised the world was fragile."
>"Time to grow up, Magnus." Jasa chides.
Where do we stand, everyone?

I'm not saying they're wrong... but I'm not saying they're right either. a grain of salt with everything, aye?

Yes, I have a similar influx of knowledge to what the others had. It is definitely better than complete ignorance.

Their tendency to 'lose' the crown gives more weight to a theory I was considering about why they freed you:
They want you to be a villain. They would let your break out from their prison, have you build up power and infamy, then sponsor some aspiring 'hero' to defeat you, gaining the loyalty of the 'hero' and the reputation for guiding the 'hero' on his quest and for helping to 'vanquish the evil'.

>>355797
It is doubtful that the dragons would take someone else's word on something that significant, which means that they've encountered sufficient proof themselves to satisfy a skeptical and highly intelligent mind. You have enough intellect and an adequate background knowledge base to comprehend advanced multiversal mechanics. If they can explain the details, you will both be able to confirm their story and potentially exploit that information later, whether that involves deciding to join with this Elder Council or to oppose them more effectively.


As for more broad strategy, I am disinclined to confront an observably extreme power openly. Unless you can learn enough of their personalities and strengths to confidently predict how to create or force a positive response from them, I would call direct confrontation a suicidal gamble. Someone with a duty as important as maintaining the integrity of the multiverse is unlikely to consider acting against you on nothing better than "I want his stuff and he might be dangerous later" anything which demands more than a curt apology in light of the cost of failure.

However, failing to confront them is essentially betting on your ability to conceal yourself from whatever divinatory prowess they have or gain power fast enough to be the victor after they track you down. Given that you can enslave any of the available captives to access their capabilities so long as they are weak enough of will, that is not impossible- but it would still be extremely dangerous, as they would be able to marshal their immense resources and act against you on their terms. My primary hope there would be that they either want you free for some reason, or are too occupied to focus any significant fraction of their resources upon you.

I think you were freed by some third party.

I think you guys overthink.

>>355924
Oh yeah? Your mom!

>conceal yourself from whatever divinatory prowess they have
Magnus thinks about it for a second.
No.. now that they've seen me in person a metafaculty power would pick out my location with no known effective barrier.
>>/questdis/353697
There goes that. As for immense resources, I imagine they removed all the other captives' fancy items as well. That's a huge hindrance to any mass breakout/riot.
Forgive me for sounding childish, but they just don't play fair.

Well, two options now as far as I can see.
Number 1) Teleport away, pretend none of this ever happened and speak of it to no one, forever.
• Outcome 1) I am ignored, so I get on with my life. We probably find some way to de-fuse ourselves in a limited manner, I remain a nervous, paranoid wreck until I die.
• Outcome 2) They come collect me again, then we are locked up until the world ends.

>They want you to be a villain.
Number 2) Find them, politely ask if I can leave. Maybe they let me go, but they won't be able to make me a villain that way.
• Outcome 3) They say yes. I get on with life, not looking over my shoulder for the rest of days. We split up a little, perhaps establish a tiny empire for the fun of it.
• Outcome 4) They say no, we are locked up until the world ends.
• Outcome 5) They say yes, but give me a dangerous task. We possibly survive said task, maybe end up horribly mutated or insane or otherwise crippled.

Number 3) Find them, presume too much, piss them off, get erased from existence.
• Outcome 6) What?
Yes, two options. The last one is not really an option.
and does outcome #5 look likely to anyone else? *frown*­

(Kalchen)
Even the dragons suggested you confront these guys. Sounds like that's what we should do, boss.

heh. there aren't just five possible outcomes to this, boss. the possibilities are infinite. what if one of them has died and you need to take over their place? what if they stopped caring about the world? what if the dragons aren't quite accurate in their description of them? what if? what if?

face it, boss- we just don't know anything. so I say we find 'em and get some answers.

Avoiding them does not seem any less hazardous than meeting with them (potentially being ambushed rather than being in their base), so meeting them sounds like the better option.

Magnus 2011/10/08(Sat)06:49 No. 356749 ID: 3bad4c
File 131808175787.png - (60.51KB , 800x800 , 28.png )

Magnus stands up straight and takes a few deep breaths.
"Alright. I'll do that," he says, half to the dragons present and half to his followers.
Waves of emotion ripple through Magnus' mind, buffeting the absorbed consciousnesses like ships on a windy ocean. The salty sea spray tastes like doubt, apprehension and courage.
He bids the dragons good day, and marches toward a staircase he spied on his earlier explorations. Eva walks quietly behind him, quiet and submissive. Magnus never learnt how to read people like an expert, he always found it was enough to just manipulate them into believing whatever he wanted them to believe. If he really needed to know someone's thoughts it was a matter of simply probing their mind directly. Eva was too resilient for that, and too wild. Perhaps it was something he should work on.
A vague feeling comes to you. It's as if Magnus is allowing his feelings to be felt and half-formed thoughts to be discerned. It's different than before. Before he was a void, mysterious until he acted. Perhaps this is significant somehow, as if Magnus is saying to his followers, "I will trust you."
Other, nebulous senses are becoming available. Kalchen's innate dwarven senses (sensitivity to air pressure, mainly) have informed Magnus that he is deep underground, information he did not share with the rest of you before. The absence of surprise at such a long stair climb is suddenly explained.
Naramir's dragon magic has given Magnus a limited ability to sense movement of the air through an altered sense of hearing. Her breath, the sway of her hips, the chiming of her hair. Magnus' own telepathy paints an empty void except for Eva. She's more intelligent than the average peasant, but nothing he finds special. Then there's the darkness. Though he can see through the darkness in full monochromatic glory, it beckons. Come to me. Hide in me. You will be safe. They are Ilen's natural urges.
Magnus is currently wondering how much of this trepidation is his own, and how much he is being influenced through everyone elses' abilities. Then again, perhaps he's not sure he wants to risk his entire little 'family' here. One body, responsible for many lives. He abandons the thought. Thinking without doing can't solve anything.
Finally the two of them reach the top. There is a complex of dark rooms up here. He would call it abandoned, but for the small patches of illumination on the floor. A pathway through the dark. They follow it.

For an ancient organisation, this place doesn't have much in the way of showing off. The ceilings are only twice as high as my head, there are still no doors and there's little decoration.
They pass an interesting room with a orange glow emanating from it, but Magnus decides to keep on task. He rounds a corner, seeing the path finish in a dark room. A spotlight illuminates a chair in the middle of the darkness.
Magnus can see through the darkness and see the eight figures just fine, but he plays along. He sits in the chair, quickly noting that one of the eight is completely insubstantial, there are three women and five men, and that he can rank them by intelligence.
The woman in the middle of the semicircular desk with the intense gaze speaks.
>"How are you, Magnus?" Her voice washes over Magnus like a cool, relaxing swim in a river.
"I am fine, thankyou. I had the most tremendous nap."
One or two of them make minor facial expressions acknowledging the joke, but none laugh.
"So what can I do for you?" Look at the old man, kids. That may well be the smartest man in the world.
>"We have a task for you."
"I understand. Tell me about it."
>"I will explain the history. Seven hundred years ago our construct project was ready for production. We put a single node in the world, underground and far from any other sapient race. We gave it the desire to fulfill its goals, but it did not know what its goals were. It made some assumptions based on the knowledge we gave it, and it prepared."
>"Two hundred years ago our simulations alerted us that it was about to meet its first humanoids. We were pleased with the progress, so we unlocked their primary goal – preserve humanity."
>"They soon met representatives of the dragon empire. A deal was negotiated, and they fought an advancing undead horde. They were successful and granted a title by the locals. The empire fell regardless, due to a different method of attack."
>"At the time the constructs were little more than plentiful labourers with the occasional warrior, but they allowed humans to investigate them. While they themselves and others cannot investigate the soul we created, they did find a way to improve the design of their bodies. Not everything can be anticipated."
>"The constructs discovered they could learn to be psions and even duplicate spells. Very soon our army became the most powerful single entity on the planet, and its attempts to fulfill its directive changed dramatically. It has created a city of learning and protection and various other social experiments as it tries to find the optimal solution."
>"However, this is not our concern. We have been monitoring its information exchanges, and after these last two centuries of preperation it intends to strike at the most problematic area of our world. It is a land full of aberrations and hordes of humanoid slaves, isolated from the rest of the world by vast oceans."
>"Our simulations predict that there will be excessive casualties, not because the constructs will target them but because the aberrations will sacrifice their slaves in warfare."
>"Your task would be to go to this land first and use your cunning and ability to influence to minimise the casualties. In exchange you will receive your freedom."
What a wonderful offer, not. "I feel I must accept."
>"That is what I wanted to hear. Now ask your questions."

"Why are you aberrations in charge?" Ah. That's what that was. Magnus' telepathy can discern the difference between types of creatures. Seven of them register as aberrant, though the insubstatial one feels like a dragon. It was as if he was keeping that fact to himself until now.
>"There's an important difference between being aberrant in body and aberrant in mind, Magnus. We were all human once, but humans are not programmed to live forever. What you are sensing is that our bodies cheat the laws of nature, no more. We are not full of madness nor tentacles."
"Then what is aberrant in mind? Though I think I can guess."
>"I will tell you a story. Not long before the fall of the empire our Acheron here pretended to be a senile renegade. We gave the impression to certain parties that we were looking for a replacement. Soon we found a candidate. He was a powerful human telepath, but he was no ordinary psion. An illithid elder brain had overwritten his mind with its own. This was our trap, as we had found evidence of such a plot earlier. What was unexpected was that the original telepath had copied his mind over a normal illithid. Therein lies the essential difference, Magnus. In one case an aberrant mind had control over a human body, in another a human mind had control of an aberrant body. We rectified this, and the telepath worked for us for a time."
"I understand. You're still humans, but you have enhanced bodies."
"Tell me about Eva. Should I take her with me?"
>"You may. Now that the Empire has fallen there is no one to want her arrest. She was brought back to life with silthilar grafts, her guardian (a human) sought to make her less fragile."
"The silthilar too are aberrant in body but not mind?"
>"Indeed, but these grafts were not sourced directly. Aberrant influences tainted them with fiendish evil, and one of those grafts was a blood replacement."
"So her body is rejecting her blood? That's why she needs to drink?"
>"Yes. It also catalysed some very powerful sorcerous abilites in her, she was not skilled before. Our enemies continue to experiment on us in many and varied ways, and she is the result of one."
>"Anything else?"
I don't have anything to ask about that's relevant. They seem legitimate, if uncompromising. Plus, Thakie knows all about aberrations, so there's no worry about the details of these monsters. I mean, I'll ask for stuff, like a map at least - but what to ask about?
I think we've got the "why me" part down. The Guardians didn't seem big on the talking. Maybe this boss lady could do it herself, but I still resonate as a humanoid, and I bet they don't risk themselves that much.

>>356751
(Kalchen)
Hey. The speaker implied they were all human. You know one of them's not, boss. Seems kinda odd. Care to clear that up?

You could ask about the world machines. A piece of information that big deserves following up on, yeah? Do they require maintenance? Are they gonna run down eventually? Who made them in the first place?

Then there's the question of your crown. Where'd it go?

aye, ask 'em about the crown. and about the construct you freed, the one that was suspected to be tainted by Fharious Grey.

I think Eva could be convinced to help you with this task- you're doing a good thing for the world, after all.

>>356751
Request detailed information on the target area before attempting this task. If they have been monitoring the world for untold centuries and can make accurate predictions, then they have extensive data which could be of use to us. To attempt infiltration without foreknowledge is far more dangerous.

We will also need a timeframe for this mission and more details on the anticipated finisher. How long do we have before the anticipated strike? Do they know what form it will take, at least initially?