Kaktus 2014/07/28(Mon)10:18 No. 586404 ID: 65a774
File 140656791132.png - (1.33KB , 900x450 , 2.png )

…
…
…Where am I?
…
…Who am I?
…What am I?
…I…I can’t remember… who…
…hello?
…
…I’m… I’m s-so alone… I d-don’t want to be a-alone again…
…

Insert You are what you are in the dark_

We are with you, do not fear.

Hear our voice and follow.

>>586404
Jericho, listen to us. Your core's been separated from your body. Sense the magical ice doing this, and take control of it. Grab your body and shove your core back into it!

>I’m s-so alone
You're not alone. We chose you, Pebble, and we won't leave you alone in the dark.

>>586409
>>586407
First off we don't even know if that is Jericho and secondly, it's dark, so you may be eaten by a Grue.

>>586414
Jericho is the only one with a reason to have amnesia and be unable to see anything. Unless this is a new pawn?

Oh right. [check status of pawns]

Kaktus 2014/07/28(Mon)11:30 No. 586417 ID: 65a774
File 140657224432.png - (4.39KB , 900x450 , 3.png )

>[check status of pawns]
[Error!]

>We are with you, do not fear.
…who… w-who are you?
>Jericho, listen to us.
…Jericho? …yes… I remember that… Jericho…
>Your core's been separated from your body. Sense the magical ice doing this, and take control of it.
…my core? …I… I can’t… feel anything…
>It's dark, so you may be eaten by a Grue.
…grue? What is a grue?
>Hear our voice and follow.
Follow where? I can’t… hear you… I can just… I just know… what you said… I… I didn’t…

---s—ta—t-h---d---

…who was that?

Insert Alone in the dark_

That's bob, you've met him before. Can you remember him? I'm... not quite sure he has our best interests at heart, right now. Try to communicate in any way you can that you can't hear him, and that you need help.

>>586417
Stay the fuck away from our King's soul, Bob. It's not over for him yet.

Jericho. Remember. You were raiding a ruin, and watched Mari die right in front of you. Then you were captured by slavers, executed, and raised from the dead as a mummy in a really painful way. Then you were enslaved, but it wasn't so bad. You met Tera, Ilbir, Khranon, Elizah, Eliraz, Thaark, Thuul, Theen. The sultan. You found out you were a dipole mage. You found out you had royal blood. You fell in love with Eliraz. Thaark and Thuul died, because of a Daemon. Oh hey, it's Bob. He's a Daemon too, who claims to be on our side. Try to stay away from him, they eat souls and you might be a bit soul-ish right now. Best not to tempt him.

So anyway, you also found another ruin, and had hallucinations about it being all shiny and with wires all over the place. You met a "robot" named B4t3. Turns out it was a functional golem, who was later named Artemis. That's where you saved Eliraz from being possessed by Gray.

Right now you're in a Vault. You evaded a trap, got severely wounded by another, then killed by your doppleganger because we gave you bad advice. You died a second time and it's our fault.

You need to live, to see Eliraz again. You need to live to claim the Vault, to save the world.

[List available commands][Display help for available commands][Scan all targets in area]

Jer, who you're hearing is Bob, the daemon who's helped us out and we're sorta allied with. Please don't freak out about that. He's okay, although he does have a massive ego and has been less than forthright with us in some ways. But he's probably our only way to save you, so try moving towards him and shouting so he can hear where you are. Bob, can you hear us?! We can't make out what you're saying! Please repeat what you said and speak up! We can't see anything! Where are we?! When are we?! How can we save Jericho?! What do we do?! What can we do?! Or should we be asking what we can do to help you save him and us?

Jer, I think the reason you can't sense or feel anything is 'cause your core is separated from your body; No body means you can't see, hear or feel anything. I also think the reason you're still around is 'cause your core was encased in ice from the magic strike that "cored" you but we don't know how long it'll be until it melts. Can you feel any magic flowing through you? If so try to create a real small ice sphere centered on yourself; Judge the size by how much magic you've used before to make a similar sphere. Remember the training with the Magus where he had you create a floating ice sphere with fire inside and do the same here except substituting the fire with yourself.

[Message to Pink: Alert! Jericho's been cored by a powerful ice magic strike in the second test in the hall to the Vault! His core is encased in ice but we don't know for how long! Wake everybody the fuck up and get Sultan Lenana down here to stick his core back in and drag him out! She's the one who can get here fastest, has access and can get through the tests. We're also gonna need master necromancers down here to patch Jer up, so send some down as well.]

>>586423
Bob is not going to eat the soul of our king! We're to important to his plans to throw away for less than a light snack! It's almost certain he's here to try and save us from our own stupidity.

Kaktus 2014/07/28(Mon)14:22 No. 586446 ID: 65a774
File 140658257280.png - (7.71KB , 900x450 , 4.png )

>[Message to Pink]
>[List available commands][Display help for available commands][Scan all targets in area]
[Error!]

>Jericho. Remember.
…I…I remember… so much… the last few days… so much has happened… my death… the ruin… the royal family… the keystones…
>You need to live to claim the Vault, to save the world.
Yes, I can’t give up now… I need to go on… I… I need to…
>Remember the training with the Magus where he had you create a floating ice sphere with fire inside and do the same here except substituting the fire with yourself.
I feel a cold envelop me… I… I feel more focused… more… centered. I’m not drifting apart anymore… I… I can think clearly again… remember clearly again!
>You need to live, to see Eliraz again.
…Eliraz… no… I can’t die. Not without seeing him again! I WON’T DIE! If death comes for me he better be ready for a fight as I won’t go down easy!

>That's bob, you've met him before. Can you remember him?
…yes, Bob… I remember him…
>I'm... not quite sure he has our best interests at heart, right now.
Has he ever?
>Stay the fuck away from our King's soul, Bob. It's not over for him yet.
Really? Jeopardize all my plans for a light snack? …and here I thought I’ve earned some respect from you. Alas, it’s the curse of the superior to instill jealousy in lesser ones.
>Please don't freak out about that. He's okay, although he does have a massive ego and has been less than forthright with us in some ways.
…Bob…
That is one of my names, yes…
…so, are you here to help?
I have a lot more to gain with you being alive rather than dead… well, deader…
>Bob, can you hear us?! We can't make out what you're saying!
:UknownKAK: W--doe--eh---gra-e--n-is--e--?
That’s not me… that’s someone in the real, “living world”.
Who?
Beats me, I can’t see where your corpse currently is.
>We can't see anything! Where are we?! When are we?!
You can’t see because you don’t have any eyes. As for where and when, I’m guessing where you “died” and when you “died”.
…that’s not really helpful.
I can only tell you what I know.
Ugh---he-vy---a—mmy. Bett—th----im-way.

>How can we save Jericho?! What do we do?! What can we do?! Or should we be asking what we can do to help you save him and us?
Unless you can summon me to the your realm I can’t really do a lot… I can give you some advice, if you wish.
…like “don’t die” and “try to live”?
No need to be snide, Jericho. I do not know where you are, but if you can get whoever you can hear talking to put you back in your body you’ll be back in business.
----d—s---stupid Mummy…
If you can find a way to communicate that is… of course you can always try to give me some grapes and I’ll do it for you?
…I don’t really have any grapes on me the moment, not having a body and all that.
Aww…

Insert I’m going to grape you!_

Do you know how long you've been out, Jericho? The people are calling you just a mummy rather than your title, so they don't know who you are.

The people are moving your body- can you use your magic to communicate with them?

What are these plans you speak of, bob?

Maybe imagine the mental thought of grapes and try to offer them to him.

>>586446
Okay, the person talking in the real world is the golem. See if you can draw a message with ice or fire instructing it to put your core back in the mummy body. Actually, it's focused on the mummy body right now so what you need to do is get its attention. A fireball might work there. Maybe put a burst of fire around the ice you made already? Just temporarily. You want to attract attention, not burn the golem.

It's too bad you're not becoming a ghost, then you wouldn't need a core or mummy wrappings at all. Also you'd be impossible to kill except with anti-undead magic. Physically-manifested ghosts are OP.

Oh, while we have your ear... Bob, the Blood God has told us that he wants to bring some undead through the gate to the other side so that their emotions can be fed on far more efficiently. That sounds like a good idea, why don't we do that AND seal off the daemon realm?

well we're a core so unless Jericho learned how to form a magic eye or something or maybe even just a way to séance where his body is he might be able to magic his way back to his body.

Also bob, why don't I see any mantis souls on your chain?

Okay, you're almost certainly hearing the golem that was following you along the hall to the Vault; It sounds like it's clearing away your fallen body. This is good since it wanted you to survive through to the end so you'd give it the order to dismantle itself. That means if you can get its attention and show that what it's seeing is an act of intelligence and not just random magic going off from your core dissolving it'll very likely stick you back in your body.

It sounds like its hauling your body off so we gotta get its attention quick before it's out of earshot. Jer, pop off a small, sharp explosion of fire all around the surface of your ice sphere; One just strong enough to create a loud "pop" or "bang." That ought to get its attention. Then, since we don't know which way is up, rapidly push out eight narrow ice rods evenly spaced over your ice sphere to raise yourself up; Try to keep them fairly short so they don't break off. Hopefully that'll show the golem you're still in here.

The ice rods will also help you hear better by transferring sound vibrations to your core, but in case they don't work as well as I hope you can try forming up the surface of the ice sphere to create inverted cone hollows all over its surface. That ought to help you hear.

Try writing out "put my core back" by extruding the letters out from the surface of your ice rod "legs" and in multiple languages if you know any more than Serathian. Though I doubt the golem knows how to read anything other than Ancient, just forming letters and words will show there's intelligence at work. In the likely case it doesn't know how to read that, try forming a heart shape around your core; Preferably shaped like an actual heart and not the heart symbol. It'll likely get the hint from that.

Since sound is just air vibrations, and fire heating air causes it to expand, maybe you can speak by creating a small flame and modulating its intensity like you would with your voice; Perhaps put it in a ice funnel to direct its sound. Unfortunately I don't think you have enough time to really learn how to speak with it, but it's worth a shot. If you can even make some simple sounds that'll be good.

>Beats me, I can’t see where your corpse currently is.
You can't? Well, that's interesting. Very interesting. And here I thought daemons could see pretty much anywhere; At least, they've seen everywhere at least once in all their time-lines. And in case you care to know, Jer's corpse is in the corridor on the way to the Vault under the Serathian capitol.

Oh, and Bob, I don't remember if we told you this already, but you know how no matter whether your side wins or loses everything just resets soon after? Well, we strongly suspect that's us; We're the ones who've been doing that all those times. So it appears no matter which side wins or loses, in the end we in some way find the outcome totally unacceptable and revert the world. Unfortunately it also seems our memories are reset as well. However, since these golems down here remembered all the cycles so I think the World and its systems remember everything, which would explain why they're half-bonkers by now.

But the long and short of it is that in every time-line so far the result of every side's plans has resulted in everything cycling back again. So if we're ever to break out of the cycles we'll have to do something that hasn't ever been done in any of the other time-lines.

Oh, and could you tell us when everything cycles back about what point in time it goes to, if it's consistent. If every time it's right before we first enter the world as a player then that'll be circumstantial evidence we're probably cycling things back.

>Also bob, why don't I see any mantis souls on your chain?
I think Steve takes the Mantises away. At least, he would be the one to take Mantis females. Maybe Libby took the Mantis males?
>unless Jericho learned how to form a magic eye or something
...Jericho, can you focus a flame into light to see with, instead of heat to burn with? Maybe that will do the trick.
And as for speaking, well... Shoot, I got nothing. Your power in fire and ice is with fire and ice directly, so you can't manipulate them in ways that aren't fire or ice. Maybe ice can entrap sound, since it's what's holding your body together now, but that doesn't help you to talk, unless you can form an ice funnel to sort the sounds of a crackling flame into a voice, which is just absurd, you'd have to be an expert biologist to even know how to do that.
Let's just focus on seeing for now, yeah?
>rapidly push out eight narrow ice rods evenly spaced over your ice sphere to raise yourself up
Tell me we aren't becoming an ice spider like our enemy? Although, I suppose that would still be better than death, so if that's what it comes to, go for it. We can figure out ways to use our magic to talk as well later, if need be.
> create inverted cone hollows all over its surface. That ought to help you hear.
Ooh, fancy methods of using ice to hear! I like!
>Preferably shaped like an actual heart
Do you know what an actual heart looks like? I don't know how to describe it, and frankly, I probably don't even remember all that well anyways.
>I don't think you have enough time to really learn how to speak with it
Who knows? Maybe just being a powerful antipodal mage is enough to be able to use it effectively without fancy means.
>And here I thought daemons could see pretty much anywhere; At least, they've seen everywhere at least once in all their time-lines
I said this to our Savage group, but I think it's more that the Daemons see the previous savestates. This is possibly the first time Jericho survived death in the Vault.
That, or the Vault being another Daemon's domain blocks anybody but The Human In Green from seeing it. Is that how it is, Bob, or did you see the Vault up until Jericho's death?
>we strongly suspect that's us
We are the Player of Time.
>the World and its systems remember everything,
Thank goodness we've only been at this for about five months! These few days all in a five month loop.
>we'll have to do something that hasn't ever been done in any of the other time-lines.
Do I have my idea on a primer yet? I don't think I do. I want to release a select few Daemons at any given time as players with a self-created king unit, and when they lose they get sent back to their realm and another Daemon gets a chance.
Hey, question, has the Blood God always sounded honorable, or is this something new to you? We've had a habit of bringing up the unexpected when it comes to you, so I'm thinking it's a good chance that anything "out of place" at this point is new.
>what point in time it goes to, if it's consistent
Even if it isn't consistant, I especially would like to know the answer if it seems your "All time" presence is more spread out during the following nine months than any time before! That suggests it is actually us resetting time.
>If every time it's right before we first enter the world as a player
Aren't all 250-something players in existence since the start of the game? I think it's just that we suddenly start playing for keeps a few days prior. Uh, mortal time, not player or Daemon.

>>586466
Um, could you... focus more on suggesting, rather than mostly responding to other suggestions?

>>586446
I just had another idea. How about a steam whistle made out of ice?

>stupid Mummy
It's that asshole golem that was following us around when we died isn't it.

Kaktus 2014/07/29(Tue)05:44 No. 586591 ID: 65a774
File 140663789807.png - (7.67KB , 900x450 , 5.png )

>What are these plans you speak of, bob?
The plan where you collect the four runes and seal the daemon realm, thus ensuring everything goes back as it was?
>Bob, the Blood God has told us that he wants to bring some undead through the gate to the other side so that their emotions can be fed on far more efficiently. That sounds like a good idea, why don't we do that AND seal off the daemon realm?
We’ve consider that option, but we’ll need to open up the way to the daemon realm for that. Let’s just say that’s probably not the best outcome for the mortals.
>Oh, and Bob, I don't remember if we told you this already, but you know how no matter whether your side wins or loses everything just resets soon after? Well, we strongly suspect that's us; We're the ones who've been doing that all those times.
Really? Interesting…
>So it appears no matter which side wins or loses, in the end we in some way find the outcome totally unacceptable and revert the world.
So, not only do we have to ensure our victory, but that you’re content with it? Hmm… I can’t see how you’ll find sealing the daemon realm unacceptable…
>Oh, and could you tell us when everything cycles back about what point in time it goes to, if it's consistent.
Our sight always starts at the same time, which is just a few days ago.
>Here I thought daemons could see pretty much anywhere; At least, they've seen everywhere at least once in all their time-lines. And in case you care to know, Jer's corpse is in the corridor on the way to the Vault under the Serathian capitol.
I know, I saw him venture in there. I can’t interact with that place unless I got a corporeal form on your side.
>Why don't I see any mantis souls on your chain?
They are starved daemons. They take whatever form you believe they have. A better question is, why do you not see any mantis souls? Do you believe mantises don’t have souls?
>Hey, question, has the Blood God always sounded honorable, or is this something new to you?
The Blood God barely speak at it is. I think you mean “The righteous one”, one of the blood gods daemon lackeys. He’s always been a bit of a twat.
>Maybe imagine the mental thought of grapes and try to offer them to him.
…no thank you, I rather have real grapes instead of pretend ones, if you mind. We don’t really have time for a little pretend tea party, do we?

>It's that asshole golem that was following us around when we died isn't it.
…yes, yes it is! I recognize that voice!
Stupid chandelier, always in the way…
>It's focused on the mummy body right now so what you need to do is get its attention. A fireball might work there. Maybe put a burst of fire around the ice you made already?
*Crackle!*
Huh? What was that?
>Then, since we don't know which way is up, rapidly push out eight narrow ice rods evenly spaced over your ice sphere to raise yourself up; Try to keep them fairly short so they don't break off.
…oh, it’s just his remains that are leaking magic…
>See if you can draw a message with ice or fire instructing it to put your core back in the mummy body.
…I don’t think I can make something so… um… fine and precise.
>Since sound is just air vibrations, and fire heating air causes it to expand, maybe you can speak by creating a small flame and modulating its intensity like you would with your voice; Perhaps put it in a ice funnel to direct its sound.
…err… that’s… a bit beyond me, isn’t it?
Hmm… maybe I should get that golem with a gun to blow it up… just to make sure it doesn’t unleash a fireball or something…
>I just had another idea. How about a steam whistle made out of ice?
*EEEEE!!!*
OH SHIT, IT’S GOING TO BLOW!!! I KNEW IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO STEAL ITS GRAPES!! AAAA!!!

Wait, no, that’s not …dammit!
Not working out as intended, huh?
I need to make him see that I’m not just random magic!

Insert Gingers- I mean mantises do have souls!_

>>586591
>I can’t see how you’ll find sealing the daemon realm unacceptable.
As it turns out, ofter we seal the daemon realm all the players go to war with each other.

Also “The righteous one” said that the daemons were only going to take a few people, like criminals and asshole nobles. Will this be enough to sate all the currently starving daemons?

>I need to make him see that I’m not just random magic!
Try the fire in an ice ball trick then make it float into him!

Attempt to create some semblance of morse code with the steam whistle sound.

...You do know morse code right?

>I need to make him see that I’m not just random magic!
A pattern, maybe? Something blinking on and off to a rhythm?

There's also the old blink-pattern for answering questions if you can't talk. One for yes, two for no, three for its complicated / that doesn't have a yes or no answer. Of course, you need to 'ask' a question first, so you can answer it, and then hope he's bright enough to catch on.

>Do you believe mantises don’t have souls?
Maybe we just don't think they're old enough to have demon-analogues. They are younger than humans and mantises...

Dammit. Alright, no more sudden or strong magic or the golem will run off and have you shot from a distance...

Okay, you need to create a pattern of some sort and repeat it over and over. A repeating pattern will indicate it's not random magic going off.

Start by reducing the strength of your steam whistle, then vary it as well as turning it on and off to toot out a simple tune. Also create a flame that hugs the surface of the ice sphere your core is in that flickers on and off in time with the tune. Or if you created a floating ice sphere with a flame in it like >>586612 suggested then flip that flame on and off in time. Keep repeating the same pattern until the golem gets it and asks if you're still in there or it's apparent it's not working.

>Hmm… I can’t see how you’ll find sealing the daemon realm unacceptable…
Well, the problem is that sealing the world away means you don't see what happens in it afterwards. According to that golem out there the outcome of the daemon realm being sealed is a large majority of the "artifical god" players taking advantage of the chaos in the aftermath to expand their national borders and end up going to war with each other. And combined with the advances in military technology and the military buildup from the battle to seal the daemon realm it'll be a horrendously bloody war that'll engulf the world, laying waste to much of it. Of course we only have the word of a half-mad golem on this which is why we're being cautious.

The golem also said there were two other possible futures: The one where the gate to the daemon realm is opened and the Blood God and his allies sweep over the land, killing many, and another where due to something we do the world withers away and the sun fades out. No idea what the hell we do in the latter one, but it sounds like we break the world systems while trying to avoid the other two futures.

I KNEW IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO STEAL ITS GRAPES!!
...What? This is just the golem being bonkers and you weren't actually carrying grapes on your person, right?

Kaktus 2014/07/29(Tue)09:15 No. 586628 ID: 65a774
File 140665050512.png - (14.36KB , 900x450 , 6.png )

>...What? This is just the golem being bonkers and you weren't actually carrying grapes on your person, right?
Err… well… I might have left some in my chest after I ate some with Eliraz yesterday…
>As it turns out, after we seal the daemon realm all the players go to war with each other.
It’s like that adorable little proverb you have… how was it again? When the cat is away the filth comes out and plays?
I think it’s supposed to be rats.
Same thing. They are vermin either way.
>Also “The righteous one” said that the daemons were only going to take a few people, like criminals and asshole nobles. Will this be enough to sate all the currently starving daemons?
“A few” is still going to be several thousand… including your little royal family. They have no love for people who keeps slaves, for obvious reasons.
>The golem also said there were two other possible futures: The one where the gate to the daemon realm is opened and the Blood God and his allies sweep over the land, killing many, and another where due to something we do the world withers away and the sun fades out.
Well, the first one is if they win, no? As for the second… hmm… interesting… you have to find out the source of this… this entropy and stop it.
>Attempt to create some semblance of morse code with the steam whistle sound.
Marsh code?
…don’t look at me, I have no idea…

>Try the fire in an ice ball trick then make it float into him!
Hey! First the whistle and now an ice ball!? This magic is really weird…
>A pattern, maybe? Something blinking on and off to a rhythm? Flip that flame on and off in time.
…weird enough to be… not… random? …wait, you’re still alive? Err… still functional?
>There's also the old blink-pattern for answering questions if you can't talk. One for yes, two for no, three for its complicated / that doesn't have a yes or no answer.
…you blinked… does that mean yes? …you’re a human? …ah, so one for yes, two for no… right… but if you’re still alive… hmmm… sit on tight, I’ll fix you up in no time!

…well then, next time I’ll see you, you’ll either be dead or victorious. I do hope it’s the later.
Hey, wait… Bob? …Bob!?

---

*Snore*…mumble*
*Twitter*
*ugh* …morning already?
*FaceBook*
…morning, Honey Mummy…
*Tumblr*
Honey Mummy? …oh, he’s probably just outside reading again… better… better go back to sleep… mm…

Insert Die peep scum!_

>>586628
Aaaand we're back. This must mean Jericho's recovering.
[check status of pawns]

Sorry Eliraz we sortof got Jericho almost-killed. He'll get better though, he managed to stabilize his detached core via ice magic and then get the attention of one of the golems down there so that it could put his core back and fix him up.

>They have no love for people who keeps slaves, for obvious reasons.
Man, that did not answer our question.
>oh, he’s probably just outside reading again…
Oh, hello, Prince. You must have been fairly tired last night. Does it feel like you can get up, or is it too early for that? I don't think anything's urgent at the moment, so if you need more sleep, we can try and check on everybody else.
[Check status of pawns] [Message Pink: Not sure about the specifics, but our King piece was drifting out of life for a while there. We caught a glimpse of a lot of fire and smoke rising from the city, as well as some other things outside the city. I'm hoping this a false vision, but even if it is real, we know you can find a way to keep a majority of the people alive.]

Morning Eliraz, morning social media bird.

>I think you mean “The righteous one”, one of the blood gods daemon lackeys.
That explains a bit. The dark god could be lying to him, too- he does sound a bit like the revolutionary who gets unpersoned for not being loyal enough.

Bob needs to work on his people skills. There's definitely something he's not telling us.

>…morning already?
JERICHO'S CORE HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM HIS BODY IN THE RUINS, SCHNELL!

AND BRING A WEAPON AND BACKUP, HIS EVIL TWIN IS PROBABLY STILL KICKING AROUND.

[message to Pink: at least two Skrangs are going to attack the city at some point. Prepare.]

Kaktus 2014/07/29(Tue)10:40 No. 586640 ID: 65a774
File 140665562629.png - (18.58KB , 900x450 , 7.png )

>[Check status of pawns]
[“The pebble”: Unconscious. “The Thief”: Tired. “The acolyte”: Sleeping, Happy. “The scholar”: Sleeping, Happy. “The Heir of Savagery”: Sleeping. “The Shaman”: Preparing for combat.]
>[Message Pink: Not sure about the specifics, but our King piece was drifting out of life for a while there. We caught a glimpse of a lot of fire and smoke rising from the city, as well as some other things outside the city. I'm hoping this a false vision, but even if it is real, we know you can find a way to keep a majority of the people alive.]
[Message from Pink: What? That’s… troubling news. I’ve already received some other troubling news this very morning… I’ve sent Reizn to talk with the prince about it, so please be present there.]
>[message to Pink: at least two Skrangs are going to attack the city at some point. Prepare.]
[Skrangs? But… this isn’t a Skrang area… and the city is on solid rock! Skrangs can move over rock!]

>Morning Eliraz, morning social media bird.
…morning, voices…
*Hitler hated Jews, Jews are pigs, therefore it’s wrong to eat pigs! Become vegan today or be like Hitler!*
…is it just me or does it almost sound like they are talking when they sing like that?
*Peep!*
>JERICHO'S CORE HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM HIS BODY IN THE RUINS, SCHNELL!
WHAT!? BUT THAT CAN’T BE I DON’T NO IT’S NOT AAA!!!

>He'll get better though, he managed to stabilize his detached core via ice magic and then get the attention of one of the golems down there so that it could put his core back and fix him up.
Right right right… I… I need to calm down… he’s not dead… he’s fine… he’s probably fine… I… I just need to… Wait, Reizn? What are you doing here?
Ah, my lord, Prince of the vast sands, the exalted-
Skip the titles, Reizn.
Err… yes… of course, my prince… I… Um… The Princess, heir to the throne, sent me to deliver a message of utmost importance. Our scouts have detected a large army of vildmän marching towards the city! They will be at our gate later today!
What? How did we miss that!?
They have apparently been marching through the middle of the vast desert. We didn’t think anyone would be able to go through there thanks to all the Skrang activity out there and the unforgiving scorching sun. But… the scouts reported that they are coming, seemingly fresh from battle as most of them are covered in blood, and they are being led by two… um… weird colored floating balls with tentacles? We thought it was just that one of the scout had gotten a sunstroke but the others reported the same thing.
…that’s odd.
Oh, and your mate, Lord Jericho, is being taken care of by the royal necromancer… err… you haven’t happen to know where his new apprentice is? He’s rather mad that she wasn’t in her room this morning…

Insert Insane troll logic is the only logic that is sound, which means that the sun is actually blue and there’s a great conspiracy led by illuminati, the stonemasons and the lizard people from Alpha Centauri to make us believe it’s yellow so they can sell more orange juice! It all make sense now!_

>>586640
I think Tera fell asleep in your harem. Also, those vildmen are most likely undead. Just fyi. I think those floating balls might be Enlightened...
According to a book written by a Daemon:
"The enlighten are beings who suffer the corruption of the soul. The creatures shed their physical form and become a being of pure magical energy. Though frail physically, these creatures possess an amazing amount of raw magical power, including the daemon magic to bend time itself to its will, thus they are very dangerous foes. Only blessed weapons or magic can harm these creatures."

[message to Pink: The incoming Vildman army is most likely undead. That's what our vision showed. The skrangs in the vision are smacking into the sand near the cliffside, not in the city proper. Could that cause earthquakes?]

>Become vegan today or be like Hitler!
b-but Hitler was a vegetarian! I CAN'T WIN!! AAAAAAAA!!!

> “The Shaman”: Preparing for combat
[check corruption of the shaman]
... I think we should see what he's up to.

>Lord Jericho, is being taken care of by the royal necromancer
Thank god, he's out of the ruins?

That mantis on the title card is Akena- I think we last saw her when we convinced Durach not to kill those mine owners. If she still has her tribal sensibilities, I'm not sure what she's doing around a bunch of undead.

Oh shit that reminds me. Since we failed to guide Jericho through, we need to get someone else down there to claim the Vault.

>>586642
Actually the last time we saw Akena she was licking blood off her swords.

(sigh), even 1000 years after the fall of civilization they still find a way to sneak adds into games... damn birds.

But yeah blind chick is with your harem, and I think Jericho is now out of the ruins it seems so that's good... but now we're going to have to go back... next time through I suggest just nuking everything and marching through it's remains of whatever is left.

Kaktus 2014/07/29(Tue)13:01 No. 586656 ID: 65a774
File 140666409154.png - (18.63KB , 900x450 , 8.png )

>[check corruption of the shaman]
[Corruption at 0%! Purification at 2% and rising extremely slowly.]
>[message to Pink: The incoming Vildman army is most likely undead. That's what our vision showed. The skrangs in the vision are smacking into the sand near the cliffside, not in the city proper. Could that cause earthquakes?]
[The undead Vildmän is pretty obvious. As for the Skrangs, it’s possible it would cause earthquakes… but I believe they aren’t strong enough the make the mountain shake. No, they probably have another purpose…]

>Thank god, he's out of the ruins?
I’m going to see him at once!
My sincerest apologies, my lordship, but the royal necromancer asked to be left undisturbed. The procedure is apparently rather delicate, oh exalted one.
>I think Tera fell asleep in your harem.
I do not wish to question your judgment, oh grand star of the sky, but is it really wise to lend your personal royal harem to a… simpleton? I guess you aren’t using it yourself, oh grand one, and she seems like a friend to your radiant immortally, oh magnificent-
If you don’t stop with the stupid titles I’ll have you kicked out of the palace…
SORRY!

>Oh shit that reminds me. Since we failed to guide Jericho through, we need to get someone else down there to claim the Vault.
…wait, are you sure he only got one chance?
>But now we're going to have to go back... next time through I suggest just nuking everything and marching through its remains of whatever is left.
Right, because attacking things that are several hundred years more technological advance then you is a bit… right…
>I think those floating balls might be Enlightened...
Enlighten? Like a monk that’s been meditating?
>According to a book written by a Daemon…
…they can only be harmed by magic? Luckily we got a lot fire mages around…
>That mantis in our vision is Akena- last time we saw Akena she was licking blood off her swords.
Licking the blood from your swords doesn’t really sound sane. My guess would be that one of those demon things have driven her mad… or that’s she’s just an especially vile tribal. It can’t be sanitary to clean your blades like that… of course; they are already covered in shit so it’s not… err… what was I doing again?

Oh, and I forgot to mention. The leader of the tribal army will be arriving in just a few hours.

Insert He’s not covered in shit so he has to be the king!_

>>586656
What the fuck does purification mean?! I really want to see what Durach is doing now.

I guess we could send Jericho down again, sure. I was just worried about the time. How long until he's repaired?

As for the tribal army leader, I think we might have to shelter her and her army in our walls. The vildmen and Enlightened that are approaching are almost certainly not allied with her.

Oh, and take that impossible dagger with you. Whatever it is, we need to keep it safe... I feel as though it will be absolutely crucial in saving the world. Somehow. Is there anyone that can analyze magic items in detail? If we can find out what it does, that would help a lot. Just make sure it's someone that can keep a secret, because the Daemons are afraid of it and we'd rather them not know what it's capable of.

>Purification at 2% and rising extremely slowly.
Well that's new.

>…wait, are you sure he only got one chance?
I'm sure he'll be out of commission for a good amount of time and we need this done last week, although yesterday is acceptable.

>…they can only be harmed by magic? Luckily we got a lot fire mages around…
We'll need to hit the enlightened with something they'll never see coming, or else they'll react.

We should go talk to Durach and see what the situation is.

well only royal blood can enter the vault so either Jericho or Eliraz can go down but still... really hate that place.

so our options are either head down with Eliraz and try again... this time with more purpose, wait for Jericho to recover and try again, wait for the tribals and see what happens and... what am I missing? Oh and how long until the undead army of Vildman show up?

[Check general corruption level and corruption level of all pawns and display any non-zero levels]

[Message to Pink: To clarify our vision: We saw two skrangs breaching over and moving through the sands around the city, not on or through the stone. There are very likely more than just two and they're almost certainly undead skrangs raised and controlled by the Dark One, same as the one that attacked Temrock near the ruins to the east and was gutted by him. And judging by the fact that the vildmän army is coated in blood after crossing skrang territory I'd bet they killed several skrangs on the way, so that's where the Dark One probably got them from. But wherever they came from, make sure our forces know to NOT engage the enemy on or near the sands; It's your discretion whether to tell them about the undead skrangs or not.]

[Message to Pink: We haven't encountered them before, but the two weird colored floating balls with tentacles leading the vildmän army are quite likely daemonic creatures called "Enlightened." We'll repeat here what we've been told of them: “The enlighten are beings who suffer the corruption of the soul. The creatures shed their physical form and become a being of pure magical energy. Though frail physically, these creatures possess an amazing amount of raw magical power, including the daemon magic to bend time itself to its will, thus they are very dangerous foes. Only blessed weapons or magic can harm these creatures.” Unfortunately the only weapon we have that we're sure is blessed is Jer's Spear of Light. Elizah's dagger possibly has a similar effect but we're not sure. So we're gonna be leaning on magic heavily for a fight against the Enlightened, but they're going to be expecting a load of fire magic from the front and surely have counters. And their ability to warp time means that near them they could accelerate their forces while slowing ours, making for a very dangerous close encounter. I'm not sure how we're going to handle them...]

[Message to Pink: I dunno how the vildmän army got across the desert without a bunch supply lines for water. Perhaps they've been drinking skrang blood along with ice and water the Enlightened magic up and only traveling at night.]

[Message to Pink: Did anything come of us warning you of the shape-shifters? Were any intercepted? We also have some intel on them. They're called Shape Stealers and are the "special" corrupted cultists of the Deceiver. They can take on the shape and voice of anyone they see and hear of the species they were before becoming a Shape Stealer. They can fake player scans, showing as any pawn or person they want. They also have a proboscis that, when inserted into a victim's brain, can suck it out along with their memories, allowing the Shape Stealer to near-perfectly impersonate that person. Thankfully Shape Stealers are as weak, relying on stealth and ambush, so a solid strike to their core vital organs will kill one. Also, Shape Stealers cannot impersonate skeletal undead, so Captain Uri and Sultan Leanah can be totally trusted as safe right now. As a precaution against Shape Stealers our people should stay in groups at all times. We'll also need a search through the hidden parts of the palace and other official buildings for bodies that have had their brains sucked out, as well as check for any reports from the city of them. If any show up then whoever the deceased was is being impersonated by a Shape Stealer.]

[Message to Pink: Our recent check of our pawns' status shows that "The Avenger" is missing. Did you happen to claim Theen while we were out. If you did that's fine, but if you didn't then he's either been killed or seized by another player and both are damn serious.]

[Echo last group of messages to and replies from Pink to "The Thief"]

Eliraz, take Elizah's dagger from the table and keep it safe; It is extremely important. See, last night Bob manifested in your bedchamber to inform Jer of something urgent that none of the daemons saw coming: A new god entering the world for the first time since the Ancient Age. That's big news, but it isn't related to the dagger. What is is when Jer and Bob came out here, Bob freaked out when he saw the dagger. He said it shouldn't exist and that he can't see it in any of the time-lines and futures he can see. He used the analogy that if the world is like a chessboard, that dagger is a saw right through it. So a weapon that no daemon can see coming will likely be very valuable to us.

>Oh, and your mate, Lord Jericho, is being taken care of by the royal necromancer…
Hey, how'd Jer get out of the corridor to the Vault anyway? Did the Vault guardian golem that stuck his core back in drag him to the entrance? And what about the contents of his chest compartment? He was carrying five keystones and I dunno what else in there when he was impaled by the magic ice spike so how much got back with him?

>...of course; they are already covered in shit so it’s not…
Eliraz, remember your argument with Jer about this and that they don't have any choice about their cleanliness since they don't have any spare water. So please try to keep your royal attitude in check.

>The leader of the tribal army will be arriving in just a few hours.
That's Mor'Kay, isn't it? Dammit. Jer was looking forward to meeting his mother, but he's probably not going to up in time for that.

>…wait, are you sure he only got one chance?
I doubt he only got one chance, but how long will it be until he's up for another go? Ask Reizn if the royal necromancer gave an estimate of how long it'd be until he'd fixed up Jer, or even a hint. If Jer's going to be down for hours or even days, then we're not only going to have to change our plan for the Vault but also every other plan we have that involves him. He's our magic heavy hitter and with him down that'll put us in a bind.

Other than Jer the only two who I'd even consider sending down there are you and Sultan Leanah; Elizah is right out since we can't risk the heir to the throne. And of the two I prefer Leanah go. The Test of Courage Jer faced was designed to take something from the person who faced it without killing them; In Jer's case it took his eye. Anything it takes from Leanah can be relatively easily replaced with other lizard bones since she's a skeletal undead, unlike your living flesh. And since she's a powerful fire mage she'll be able to do the Test of Power. That leaves the Test of Wisdom and we don't know what that entails, but I figure Leanah can handle it.

However, since we don't have eight keystones nor the lesser rune needed to open the Vault we should reexamine whether we should even be going for it right now. While it'd be good to have the corridor to the Vault cleared in case we have to make a run to open it, if we have to make a run for it then things likely have gone terribly wrong and we're going to lose anyway. Maybe we should put it off until we have what we need to open the Vault.

Eliraz, right now I suggest you have a good breakfast since with the way things are going you might end up missing lunch. And go roust Tera so she can come with you to breakfast or get over to assist the royal necromancer if that won't disturb his delicate procedure on Jer. Oh, and check if Theen is in your harem as well and wake him up; His status last night looked like he might have partaken of it as well as Tera. Get them up to speed on what's happening and what we've told you.

We're gonna switch over to Shaman Durach for a bit. His current status is "preparing for combat" and we want to check in on him. He might have run into the Dark One's forces.

>>586672
If the Vildmen are undead they don't need water.

Kaktus 2014/07/29(Tue)15:49 No. 586689 ID: 65a774
File 140667418911.png - (14.33KB , 900x450 , 9.png )

>[Check general corruption level and corruption level of all pawns and display any non-zero levels]
[All corruption levels are at 0%!]
>[Message to Pink: To clarify our vision: We saw two skrangs breaching over and moving through the sands around the city, not on or through the stone. There are very likely more than just two and they're almost certainly undead skrangs raised and controlled by the Dark One, same as the one that attacked Temrock near the ruins to the east and was gutted by him.]
[So they have Skrangs… hmm… we’ll be prepared for that, then.]
>[Message to Pink: We haven't encountered them before, but the two weird colored floating balls with tentacles leading the vildmän army are quite likely daemonic creatures called "Enlightened." We'll repeat here what we've been told of them…]
[Time manipulation? That doesn’t sound promising.]
>[Message to Pink: I dunno how the vildmän army got across the desert without a bunch supply lines for water. Perhaps they've been drinking skrang blood along with ice and water the Enlightened magic up and only traveling at night.]
[Or if they can manipulate time, they simply sped them all up. That’s probably the reason we didn’t detect them earlier.]
>[Message to Pink: Did anything come of us warning you of the shape-shifters? Were any intercepted?]
[We caught two of them trying to get to the princess chambers and prince chambers. Whoever was ordering them around wasn’t really good at the whole being subtle thing, luckily.]
>[Message to Pink: Our recent check of our pawns' status shows that "The Avenger" is missing. Did you happen to claim Theen while we were out. If you did that's fine…]
[My apologies, but I needed him to take care of the one of the shape stealers. I hope you don’t mind.]

>What the fuck does purification mean?!
Um… getting purer, I guess?
>Eliraz, take Elizah's dagger from the table and keep it safe; It is extremely important.
My dad’s old dagger? What’s so important about that?
>Is there anyone that can analyze magic items in detail?
Um… well, we do have some really good artificers here in the city but they’ve already been analyzed it with a fine comb. The only thing they found out about it is that it’s very good against magic.
>Just make sure it's someone that can keep a secret, because the Daemons are afraid of it and we'd rather them not know what it's capable of.
…they are afraid of it? …great, that means we have a weapon against them!
>See, last night Bob manifested in your bedchamber to inform Jer of something urgent that none of the daemons saw coming: A new god entering the world for the first time since the Ancient Age.
…what? A new god!? As in… a god god!!?
>Eliraz, remember your argument with Jer about this and that they don't have any choice about their cleanliness since they don't have any spare water. So please try to keep your royal attitude in check.
Yes, yes, sorry…

>Hey, how'd Jer get out of the corridor to the Vault anyway?
According to the guards, a golem dragged him to the entrance.
>And what about the contents of his chest compartment?
The chest compartment was unharmed, so everything should be in order.
>I guess we could send Jericho down again, sure. I was just worried about the time. How long until he's repaired?
Oh, at least a few days. We need to prepare the finest silk there is to find and replace the bones with gold and jewels which-
How long before he’s up on his feet without all the “jewels, gold and silk”?
He should be fixed at midday, but surly you jest? Having a prince walk around like a common… err… commoner?

>Since we don't have eight keystones nor the lesser rune needed to open the Vault we should reexamine whether we should even be going for it right now.
Hmm… maybe we should keep away from the vault at the moment and focus on something a bit more important… like the army that’s marching for the city.
>Eliraz, right now I suggest you have a good breakfast since with the way things are going you might end up missing lunch. And go roust Tera so she can come with you to breakfast or get over to assist the royal necromancer if that won't disturb his delicate procedure on Jer.
Right, let’s dig her out from under that pile of males she’ll be under…

…

>We should go talk to Durach and see what the situation is.
Thank you for sending an angel to guide us… thank you for the warning against the demon whom sailed across the stars… and thank you for the weapon forged in the very heavens. we will not fail you in this moment…

Insert A common commoner problem is being too common for the common good_

uhhh should we come back later or is this a good time to talk? Also who are you talking to if you don't mind me asking?

>>586689
Hello. How have things been going on your end? We have learned much in the time we've been gone. Are you aware of the approaching undead Vildman army? And the "Enlightened" creatures with them? We are spreading the word, so here's a description we have of them:

According to a book written by a Daemon:
"The enlighten are beings who suffer the corruption of the soul. The creatures shed their physical form and become a being of pure magical energy. Though frail physically, these creatures possess an amazing amount of raw magical power, including the daemon magic to bend time itself to its will, thus they are very dangerous foes. Only blessed weapons or magic can harm these creatures."

Now, we have noticed something very interesting about you. Normally we can sense corruption on our pawns, and 0% is the baseline. However, for you, we've noticed 2% Purification. What have you been doing today? This bears further research... I'm not sure Purification is a good thing or a bad thing. It could be a buffer against Corruption, or it could just be a different type of Corruption.

What demon are you talking about and what weapon did you get? There's a new Player/God arriving in a few months but it is not a threat. We've met it, it's just a traveler from beyond the stars, unfamiliar with this world and difficult to communicate with. I wouldn't call it a God either, really. It is a mortal, alien being with very powerful technology at its disposal.

...Durach, what are you doing and how do you have directed energy weapons??? You aren't talking about those floating tentacled balls, are you? Those are daemonic!

Oh, apologies if we're interrupting some prayer, Durach. When we saw a status message about you being purified, we were curious as to what was going on. To our knowledge, all of the old Gods are dead, and anything related to holy matters, be it "Holy," "Unholy," "Demonic," or "Angelic," is actually Daemonic in origin. But Pure, that's new. Uh, I guess if it's cleansing you of Player intervention, that's cool, as long as it's something lasting that prevents Blue or Red from claiming you.
I'm hoping it's just some sort of immunity to corruption, though. Like, an extra ≤100% buffer. Maybe we've got some information on that in our manual.
[Check Glossary for Purity, Purification]If you want to know the specifics yourself, just ask and we'll echo the results to you... Assuming we get any. We can also try checking for other terms you may have come across, but the manual is kind of... Lacking. It's not an encyclopedia, it's more of a Beginner's guide, telling us the most important things to know right off the bat.
[Echo index requests from The Shaman through Player Teal; echo results back to The Shaman] We got a little too focused on using the Daemon's Encyclopedia and forgot about our own manual, didn't we...
Anywaaaaiit, what's that thing sitting on your bed, next to your skeletal mask? It looks like a visor, using a form of glass to see through rather than hollow slits. Is that your "Angel"? [Scan objects sitting upon Durach's bed; echo any results relating to Daemons, corruption, and divine-ness.] I would recommend caution trusting anything Angelic, but I trust you to have looked into that.
>or it could just be a different type of Corruption.
I swear, if it's player based corruption, I'm gonna murder whatever player is attempting to take over. The only player who has our permission to take control from us is Pink, and I don't think she's got a connection to The Shaman. If it's relating to the New Gods, then... Hoo boy, I don't even know what to think about that. I don't like the idea of somebody taking them without knowing the intentions of said person.
>how do you have directed energy weapons?
...Durach, if you have any weapon that appears to fire out a beam of holy SMITE, please inform us immediately. Those weapons are not necessarily Daemonic, and, in fact, were made by the "Gods," but they're very dangerous without instructions. It sounds like you were instructed, but I'd still like to know of them.

"Divine" has to do with the old Gods' power. We've been told repeatedly that they are dead, so any Divine creatures/objects should be mere remnants.

Hello, Durach. It's been awhile since we last spoke. Well, for us it has. For you its only been, what? Somewhat less than a day? Anyway, we've been busy. Very busy. But before we ask what you've been up to we have some news.

Remember last time when we said if all went well we'd soon have the keystone that, with your two, would give us eight total? Well, it didn't go well, to put it very mildly. Our guy who went into the ruins to retrieve the keystone had it and could have escaped with it, but due to a massive misjudgment of the situation on our part his soul was devoured by the Dark One. When we went to dig out his body from the collapsed ruins the keystone was gone, presumably taken by the Dark One. So we're down a keystone and don't have a lead on another one. This puts a bit of a

But how was the Dark One there, you ask? It was Horus. Well, actually his body. Turns out Horus was killed months ago and the Dark One has been using his body as a puppet and a means to project his power into this world; An expensive means at that. The ruins where strewn with the gore of tribesmen the Dark One had eaten to top off his puppet's power. But thankfully our man Temrock managed to destroy Horus by impaling him on the Spear of Light; A gift from our daemon ally Lightbringer.

Our suspicion that the Vault of the Greater Rune of Fire is located under the royal crypts of the Serath capitol was correct. We broke through the ceiling of the end of the corridor to the Vault yesterday afternoon.

We got a scout report this morning that a Vildmän army is marching right through the middle of the desert towards the Serath capitol. They're being led by two daemonic beings that are most likely what we know as "Enlightened." They're physically weak but very powerful magic casters and have a lesser form of the daemonic power to warp time. They also can only be harmed by magic or blessed weapons. So it pretty much goes without saying to steer well clear of them.

Here's something that'll be rightly terrifying for you: The Dark One has the capability to raise skrangs as undead and control them. We saw one in action at the ruins where our guy got his soul eaten by the Dark One. Thankfully Temrock took it out after destroying Horus, so we don't have to worry about that one. But still be extra wary out on the sands, especially if you are anywhere near the Dark One's forces.

Now, with all that said, what have you been doing? We saw your status was "preparing for combat" right before we switched to you, so who are you gearing up to fight and when?

We heard you thanking the gods for sending an angel to guide you, so who is it, what do they look like, and when did they arrive? How do you even know they're an angel sent to guide you? And how did you get the warning against the demon whom sailed across the stars? What does it look like? Have you seen this demon? How do you know it's really a demon? Just from what you've been told? What demonic things has it allegedly done?

How did you get that weapon laying next to your bed?! I assume that it's the one you said was "forged in the very heavens," yes? Because we've seen one just like it only once before, wielded by the alien "god" that descended on a beam of light from the center of Aerathin's Belt three months from now. As far as we know it is the only one that will have such a weapon in this world, so how the heck did you get that weapon?

[Display number of active AI and non-AI players] This'll tell us if Hugo is in play right now.

>>586827
Technically Temrock just cleaved Horus' head in two, and we summoned the spear of light to impale him, which was rather unnecessary.

Kaktus 2014/07/30(Wed)08:32 No. 586860 ID: 65a774
File 140673437751.png - (14.69KB , 900x450 , 10.png )

>[Check Glossary for Purity, Purification]
[Purity is the influence the gods have over a pawn. A fully purified being will be bound completely to the will of the god.]
>[Scan objects sitting upon Durach's bed]
[Error! Gun model not in data base!]
>[Display number of active non-AI players]
[3 players found! Player Teal is currently playing! One player is in the lobby! One Player is in the Admin Lobby!]

>Oh, apologies if we're interrupting some prayer, Durach.
Ah, you’re back… good… I do hope you bring good news.
>Who are you talking to if you don't mind me asking?
Why, to the gods, of course.
>We saw your status was "preparing for combat" right before we switched to you, so who are you gearing up to fight and when?
We are close to the city now. Soon, we’ll march to try an attack the daemon forces from behind. They will not see it coming.

>Are you aware of the approaching undead Vildman army? And the "Enlightened" creatures with them?
I knew about the Vildmän but… enlightened?
>According to a book written by a Daemon…
Hmm… they sound dangerous. We better be careful.
>Here's something that'll be rightly terrifying for you: The Dark One has the capability to raise skrangs as undead and control them.
Skrangs!? Luckily we’ll be arriving from the rocky wastes and not over the sand dunes…

>Remember last time when we said if all went well we'd soon have the keystone that, with your two, would give us eight total? Well, it didn't go well, to put it very mildly.
…then we need to get back the stone from the Dark one before all is lost!
>Turns out Horus was killed months ago and the Dark One has been using his body as a puppet and a means to project his power into this world; An expensive means at that.
That would explain Horus sudden change of personality… he’s always been aggressive, but never outright murderous like he’s been the last few weeks.
>thankfully our man Temrock managed to destroy Horus by impaling him on the Spear of Light; A gift from our daemon ally Lightbringer.
Good, that will probably delay him further.
>Our suspicion that the Vault of the Greater Rune of Fire is located under the royal crypts of the Serath capitol was correct.
…then we’re only missing one last stone… the stone the Dark one is keeping. He’s bound to have a minion who carries it to the battle later today… he’ll probably focus all his forces to get down into the crypt.

>We heard you thanking the gods for sending an angel to guide you, so who is it, what do they look like, and when did they arrive?
It was a lizard made out of holy light, descending from the sky on glorious wings just a few minutes ago. He came with a warning, a warning of a daemon that had traveled across the very stars to corrupt our world!
>I would recommend caution trusting anything Angelic, but I trust you to have looked into that.
…yes, he was a bit… odd, even for a supposed angel. He didn’t seem to fully know how our world worked and… he seemed rather upset and left when he saw a human and mantis nearby… it was… odd, to say the least but he did give me a weapon to fight the dark one.
>How did you get the warning against the demon whom sailed across the stars? What does it look like? Have you seen this demon?
He said it would be a beast made out of green tentacles, with three golden eyes. I’ve heard descriptions of daemons that look something like that and when I told him, he gave me a weapon to defeat them.
>How did you get that weapon lying next to your bed?!
As I said, the angel gifted it to us. Supposedly, it will only work against the daemon he was hunting. I simply need to aim and press a button.
>Because we've seen one just like it only once before, wielded by the alien "god" that descended on a beam of light from the center of Aerathin's Belt three months from now.
…really? A “god”? …he wasn’t supposedly a beast made out of green tentacles with three golden eyes? …hmm… maybe he wasn’t hunting daemons… maybe it’s a war between gods? This is starting to get complicated.

Insert What happened to the simply story of Good vs. Evil!?

>maybe it’s a war between gods?
That must be it. That must be the entropy Bob spoke of. Green is trying to be in charge of the north, pink already runs the serath, and black is trying to take over the empire in NUMB. Throw two gods into the mix and you've got more ambition that a dozen secretary generals.

Durach, if you think you can trust him that's fine, but you should know- 'purity' is functionally indistinguishable from corruption. Once someone is fully corrupted or purified, they're under total control of a daemon of god.

> Supposedly, it will only work against the daemon he was hunting.
I think it will work spectacularly against the enlightened. Just watch your backdrop.

>What happened to the simply story of Good vs. Evil!?
It turned into a kind of rage against the heavens, fight for the age of man kind of thing. I think. It could also be a metaphor for the eastern front for all I know.

The gun will likely work against the enlightened, but have a backup plan in case it doesn't. If it does work, be ready for the remaining one to go after you with everything it has.

>It turned into a kind of rage against the heavens
Which are themselves busy raging against each other. Aside from us there are two demon factions, the players who are mostly their own factions, and now two new gods who have it in for eachother.

>3 players found! Player Teal is currently playing!
Hey, that's us!
>One player is in the lobby!
There's Hugo Perry. Three months and an extra 36 hours, was it?
>One Player is in the Admin Lobby!
...What? We have an admin now? I don't think we even have the right to belay any messages to them, so please word messages carefully!
>It was a lizard made out of holy light,
Truly? Perhaps the Old Gods did not fully die out, then.
>a warning of a daemon that had traveled across the very stars to corrupt our world!
Please understand, there are different forms of corruption. Daemons bend cultists to their will, Gods the devoted. Even should a nation believe in something wrong, to have their views changes is to have their traditions corrupted. This new God is something entirely different from anything seen before, completely out of place in the world. His very presence, therefore, is a form of corruption, but not of the Daemonic sort. We will look into it with our people themselves and try to understand what form the corruption will take. If it proves more harmful to the world than it does beneficial, we will assist the Resurrected God in containing and fixing his influence.
>he seemed rather upset and left when he saw a human and mantis nearby
...Pride? It figures that he's the Resurrected. He's the only Old God who could never truly die.
Shoot, this might not be good, he is true to his name and won't accept benefactors of any sort other than lizards.
And I don't know if you've noticed but we're not exactly lizards!
>I’ve heard descriptions of daemons that look something like that and when I told him
Ah, so your weapon is to deal with the False Daemons, rather than the New Gods. That is good. Still, use caution. Pride is capable of his own form of corruption, called Purification. He will have complete and total control over you just as a Daemon would anybody they corrupt.
(Somebody give me a primer, here? I woke up with The Magician and only studied this game, I haven't reached anywhere near understanding the world before)
>Supposedly, it will only work against the daemon he was hunting. I simply need to aim and press a button.
...That would certainly explain Perry's distraught when his weapon did, in fact, smite corrupted civilians into dust. That weapon is either stronger than the Gods expect, or it effects all forms of corruption. I can only hope it can treat corruption as separate from purity. Above all else, do not aim it at others in service to the Gods, unless you know their Gods to be malevolent.
(Somebody who knows Pride mind sending a message asking about these new entities?)

>>586860
Green tentacles with three golden eyes? I don't think that's what Hugo looks like, but he's wearing a suit so I can't be sure. Probably not, though. There's another player about to enter the game anyway, so it's quite possible that the "demon" is someone else. It's certainly not an actual daemon. Also, it's strange that the "Angel" would visit you. From what we know, the tentacle creature wouldn't show up anywhere near here. The description sounds so familiar though...

So uh anyway Durach we just looked up what Purification means and it's bad, like another form of Corruption. When Purification reaches 100% you will be taken control of by the "Angel" that visited you. You might think that'd be a cool thing and all but that guy was not a God nor had anything to do with the gods you worship. He's a mortal from outside this world that somehow has special access to the world's inner workings. It's like he stole his divinity. Thankfully your Purification levels are rising extremely slowly. I'm not sure if it's because you were praying or if the lizard is trying to take you over himself. I just hope it stops so you can retain your free will and so we can keep talking to you.
[check corruption of the Shaman]
[check admin messages]
[locate nearby sources of Purification]

Hey, you wouldn't happen to know of any locations where the Gods arrive in their Avatars? Come to think of it, where did this Angel descend? Is he still around? Speaking of people that are around, who else is with you now?

>>586876
>...Pride? It figures that he's the Resurrected. He's the only Old God who could never truly die.

No, if we have the timeline correct, by this time Pride was fine with the other races. It's some other racist lizard.

Also the player in the lobby right now is most likely not Hugo, unless he decides to wait 6 months for no reason. We're skipping around time, remember? Hugo must have entered the lobby at some point inside that gap.

Kaktus 2014/07/30(Wed)10:35 No. 586897 ID: 65a774
File 140674175902.png - (15.34KB , 900x450 , 11.png )

>[check corruption of the Shaman]
[“The Shaman” is 0% corrupt and 1% pure and falling slowly!]
>[check admin messages]
[No unread admin messages found!]
>[locate nearby sources of Purification]
{Null}

>Durach, if you think you can trust him that's fine, but you should know- 'purity' is functionally indistinguishable from corruption. Once someone is fully corrupted or purified, they're under total control of a daemon of god.
…I guess darkness truly is on the other side of the coin to light, isn’t it?
>The gun will likely work against the enlightened, but have a backup plan in case it doesn't.
I… I wasn’t actually planning on using the gun on them, but to save it for the real daemon… but maybe I should give it a try?
>Aside from us there are two demon factions, the players who are mostly their own factions, and now two new gods who have it in for each other.
…and if my information of the outside world is correct, then most of the nations of the world are at each other’s throats. It won’t be long now before our peaceful world will erupt into war.

>...Pride? It figures that he's the Resurrected.
Pride? He didn’t seem particularly prideful… that’s was another thing that was odd about him… he seemed… rather distressed when some of the other lizards went on their knees and prayed for him… I think I overheard him muttering something about “ruining the Sakkilian legacy for a dead plant” or something…
>It's some other racist lizard.
I think you mean speciest… and I wasn’t so much… um… looking down at them as he was completely surprised that they even existed.
>Hey, you wouldn't happen to know of any locations where the Gods arrive in their Avatars?
…what? Can’t they just… you know, come down anywhere they want? They are gods, right? Gods don’t give two magpies about laws.
>Come to think of it, where did this Angel descend? Is he still around?
He came from the sky right in the middle of our camp. Said something about finding traces of something here that would lead him to the daemon? I think he said player? Oh, and as I said, he kind of left… he just flew away all the sudden.

>Speaking of people that are around, who else is with you now?
I got a camp full of the best soldiers all the tribes should muster in such a short time. We are preparing to end this demon threat once and for all!

Shaman? We are ready to march again.
Good… (Well then, voices, was there something else before we leave for war?)

Insert I know I’ve heard that name somewhere else before_

>>586897
Oh good, the Purification is falling. It looks like it's based on proximity. You got 2% from the length of your exposure to the lizard admin, so compare that to how long you were talking to him and that will give you an idea of what the safe exposure length is. What did he say about a "player"? Was he talking about the tentacle creature, or maybe us?

You might want to save the gun for a last resort, actually. It's probably not magical. Hmm, it sounds like this world was originally made with just lizards, and the other species were added in later, most likely by the gods you worship.

Wait, how are you gonna end the daemon threat? Do you know where their main compound is, or something? Oh! We should warn you about other daemonic creatures. There are Corrupted, which are one-eyed tentacled cultists. The tentacles inject some sort of poison that causes rapid corruption of the victim, but it can be stopped by amputation of the wounded area. Then there are Shape Stealers, which are far more fragile Corrupted that can take on the shapes of others. They don't have a perfect act or secret knowledge the target knows, so you can often tell when you're talking to a Shape Stealer. There are also Death Knights, near-unstoppable warriors which carry swords they can extend at will to great lengths. You'd probably have to take them out at range, with "holy" weapons if possible.

I'm guessing the avatar thing isn't for admin players, but rather regular non-AI ones. Too bad you don't know where the tentacle creature would arrive. I guess it's possible that Hugo is the one the admin was talking about, but it's not like we have a gun like that where and when Hugo is.

Man, I really want to meet the admin now. Next time you meet him, tell him to send an admin message to player Teal.

>{Null}
That's... disconcerting. The fact that it says Null means that it should work, but for some reason the, uh, magic behind it is missing. Otherwise it would say error.
I suppose maybe Purification was only added in the most recent change made by the Gods all those millennia ago... Or perhaps the Resurrected made it a thing.
>completely surprised that they even existed.
Yeah, considering the Plague Against Divine that killed all the gods (who were Human, Mantis, and Lizard, by the way), I suppose Pride would be surprised to see any that still lived. This may be a chance to repopulate the "heavens"...
...Did that sound as "weird" on your end as it did to me? Or perhaps wrong. I dunno. This world was made to be a game, the people having no actual free will and all that, it was only because the Gods died that people grew into, well, people.
>rather distressed when some of the other lizards went on their knees and prayed for him…
So, he's either the Administrator or he's sitting up in the lobby right now. I don't think he intended to appear as a God.
>you know, come down anywhere they want?
Administrator Gods can do so, yes, but there are also Player Gods. That's sort of what we are, only we chose guidance mode instead of avatar mode. The Gods that come down as an Avatar, which is what The Resurrected did, are limited in where they can come down at. I'm fairly certain that limit is for one specific location, and that's way in Amun. If I'm right, it means Resurrected is an Administrator God.
>I think he said player?
...I'm going to ready a draft to him, and leave it to vote whether or not to send it.
[Ready draft to Administration and Player Lobby, do not send: Are we the Demon, or is it the corrupted players? Please keep in lore, the magic of the Old Gods has attacked us over ignoring it. Our intention, in the whole, is to help everybody we can, although there are cases where we must erase certain objects or people. Corrupted Players, we have found, will be reborn free of corruption when slain by another player, but with a "Crossbow of the Gods," they might be erased completely.]
Durach, please do not pray to this lizard as though he is a god or an angel, but do not let that stop you from praying to him. Your prayers are recieved, but he is still mortal, just with access to Divine Armaments. That glow is probably some form of Divine Projection, where he appears to be there when he really is not.
>You might want to save the gun for a last resort, actually.
Oh, that's right! Let's summon the [Spear] for you. And call that weapon a Divine Crossbow to avoid the Old God's magic attacking us for using terms that should not exist, unless you were told a different name for it.
>Shape Stealers
Also, Shapestealers are the children of the Deciever. They may work under the other gods, but she is the one who can make them.

>Well then, voices, was there something else before we leave for war?

Don't die

Oh and shit you can expect to face would be the enlighten which we have warned you about already, shape-stealers which are shape-shifting deamons that can devour someone and steal not only their form but also memories, and lastly Death-knights which are tough sons-of-bitches that are highly skilled fighters, know at least some magic, and have an enchanted weapon.

We don't know how the enlightened fight, but we have seen one of those guns work at some point in the future. From what we hear of the capabilities of the enlightened, that weapon is near-perfectly suited to destroy them- it's unstoppable and invisible, meaning they can't magic their way out of harms way. However, it should probably be reserved as a last resort- there are plenty of Serath mages who may be able to deal with enlightened, and if you were only asked to destroy one target, you may only get once use out of it.

In the meantime, you be safe, and guide your people to victory! We'll see about convincing the Serath to flank them, and we'll make another try for that stone.

Where's the Lesser Rune? Does Mor'Kay still have it? If she does that'll be good. She's already heading to the Serath capitol. Oh, we forgot to mention this: Mor'Kay gave her demands to the Serathians and it was just for her, and her alone, to visit the royal crypt to pay her respects at the grave of her father. Of course it's certain she has something else in mind, but the Serathians still granted her demand, albeit with her escorted by a heavy guard. I dunno what she'd do once she's in there. She doesn't have the means to open the Vault, and she can't even get near it due to the guardian golems... Could she be planning to hand the Lesser Rune over to us?

Do you know if Mor'Kay's body has any hidden compartments in it or hollow areas that could be made into them? 'Cause when she comes in we want to make damn sure she isn't sneaking in a proverbial ace up her sleeve that'll fuck us over. Actually, for that matter, where did her body come from? A big metal lizard golem body and the means to transplant a soul/mind into it is far from common.

>…what? Can’t they just… you know, come down anywhere they want? They are gods, right? Gods don’t give two magpies about laws.
Uh... Have we told you that this world was built as a game for the gods? Well, it was, and thus it has rules for how the gods can behave in it. The player gods couldn't just drop out of the sky like that, but the gods who were tasked with managing the game and fixing problems can. Those were the admins. In fact, the admins could go anywhere and alter pretty much anything in the world. They also had the power to punish or expel any player gods who got out of line or broke the world somehow. But that makes me wonder why this lizard "angel" who appeared before you and has admin powers doesn't just expel the player god he's looking for from the game. Hm... Perhaps that god entering the world broke something, or it is so alien to the system design the exit system doesn't work for it.

>I… I wasn’t actually planning on using the gun on them, but to save it for the real daemon… but maybe I should give it a try?
Make sure to give it a try from a good long ways away since it almost certainly has a longer range than a crossbow. Just don't expect it to work. It was probably designed specifically to kill the "demon" and not anything else. It might not even activate if the target isn't what it's meant for. But do look at it after for any indication its ammo or power has gone down; There might be number or symbol that goes down, or a lit bar of light that shrinks.

Here, let us summon the Spear of Light so you'll have a weapon that we know works against daemonic entities. [Summon Spear of Light] Also, Jericho can summon the Spear to himself at will just by thinking or willing it, so perhaps you could to. Try that out and if it works it'll be very, very useful in a fight. If not then make sure not to lose grip of the Spear; We won't be around to summon it back for you.

>I got a camp full of the best soldiers all the tribes should muster in such a short time. We are preparing to end this demon threat once and for all!
Uh... It's going to take a lot more than the best soldiers of the Tribes to deal with the demon threat for good. I even doubt they'll do well against the Vildmen, let alone the Enlightened. I mean, the tribesmen are brave but realistically the Tribes don't have the gear, training and such to go up against Vildmen soldiers who've been fighting for years. I just... I have this bad feeling the Tribe soldiers are gonna be slaughtered out there.

Why don't you tail the Dark One's forces until they reach the city, then attack them behing once they're preoccupied attacking the city? Is there some reason you didn't choose that?

We know Jericho is looking forward to meeting you, so please don't die out there. If the battle looks like it's irrecoverably turning against you, flee and try to get away with the keystones. Them and your intel from the fight will help us more than you futility throwing yourself against the enemy.

[Message to Admin: You mind telling us who you are, what you are, how you got admin access and why did you gave our man Durach a gun and a mission to kill a "demon?" Especially without contacting us about it first. And what's this "Sakkilian legacy" he told us you mumbled about and why it's being ruined for a dead plant? And why were you so surprised to see humans and mantis in here?]

>>586919
Hmm... I bet the lizard doesn't have full admin access.

Kaktus 2014/07/30(Wed)14:01 No. 586925 ID: 65a774
File 140675410161.png - (15.85KB , 900x450 , 12.png )

>[Message to Admin: You mind telling us who you are, what you are, how you got admin access and why did you gave our man Durach a gun and a mission to kill a "demon?"]
…

>Why don't you tail the Dark One's forces until they reach the city, then attack them behind once they're preoccupied attacking the city?
Err… that’s the plan?
>Uh... It's going to take a lot more than the best soldiers of the Tribes to deal with the demon threat for good. I even doubt they'll do well against the Vildmen, let alone the Enlightened.
Indeed, one of our spear men won’t stand a chance against a vildman, but we will hopefully have the element of surprise. Not only that, but we do have a lot of things to help us on the way, like our holy ice magic, weapons dipped in blessed water, better knowledge of the land and a lot of other interesting weapons. Besides, as far as I know those undead giants are mindless. If we kill whatever necromancer that controls them, probably those “enlighten”, they will simply cease.

>Where's the Lesser Rune? Does Mor'Kay still have it?
Indeed, she does.
>Mor'Kay gave her demands to the Serathians and it was just for her, and her alone, to visit the royal crypt to pay her respects at the grave of her father.
That was part of her plan, yes… she supposedly has a way to reach the vault as soon as she can enter the crypt.
>Do you know if Mor'Kay's body has any hidden compartments in it or hollow areas that could be made into them?
Most of the “body” is hallow.
>Actually, for that matter, where did her body come from?
Her body is simply a raised skeleton. Her armor, on the other hand, is made from a fine enchanted steel from the marches to the south.
>Yeah, considering the Plague Against Divine that killed all the gods (who were Human, Mantis, and Lizard, by the way), I suppose Pride would be surprised to see any that still lived.
…err… what?
>So, he's either the Administrator or he's sitting up in the lobby right now.
…
>Uh... Have we told you that this world was built as a game for the gods? Well, it was, and thus it has rules for how the go-
You know, those things are a bit… beyond me? Maybe we can go over them after the whole… err… war?

>Oh, that's right! Let's summon the [Spear] for you.
Ah, thank you. This will do nicely. You have my gratitude.
>We know Jericho is looking forward to meeting you, so please don't die out there.
Do not worry, I wish to meet him as well. Now, it’s time for us to march…

…
…
…

{Admin message: …who are you? What are you? Are you part of this… game?}
>You mind telling us who you are, what you are, how you got admin access.
{…I am a marine of the Sakkilian army, I am here to hunt down a… a criminal.}
>Why did you gave our man Durach a gun and a mission to kill a "demon?"
{The logs said he would meet the only player online in just a few moments before I gave him the gun. It has to be the plant!}
>What's this "Sakkilian legacy" he told us you mumbled about and why it's being ruined for a dead plant?”
{…This… construct was created by the mighty precursors to the Sakkil! I will not have some plant despoil it before we can dismantle it for knowledge!}
>Why were you so surprised to see humans and mantis in here?
{How can the Sakkil of old create Humans and Hivers!? They are far younger than their legacy! And having them… frolic with the Sakkil? We’re bitter enemies! The Great war has been raging since we first saw one of those monkeys and insects! …and now those plants and parasites too…}
>Are we the Demon, or is it the corrupted players?
{…what?}

Insert A new challenger appears!_

[message to Admin: wait war, according to what we know there was some kind of plague over 1000 years ago that nearly wiped everyone out, before that this world was simply a game for people (who where mantis, humans, and lizards who where the only know intelligent races at the time) to kill an afternoon or something. This whole thing is basally an arcade game. Then the plague hit everyone died until about 9 months ago when we somehow ended up in here and have been seemingly trying to get the game's good end without much luck. Everything between the plague and truthfully a few days ago (which is as far back as we can remember) is just a giant blank... at least outside of the game, we got some good hints on what we've been doing in game for those nine months. Oh and we have absolutely no idea what the hell we are, I'm not even sure if we have a body.)

so is there anyone we should go see now or are we just waiting for things to start?

>Are you part of this… game?
We were in your world once, before some great disease killed everyone like a thousand years ago. I guess that's nearly everyone, now that we know you're still alive. Anyway, we never had a physical body- we were just voices in peoples heads. Still are. We drift from person to person, giving advise as needed.

>They are far younger than their legacy! And having them… frolic with the Sakkil? We’re bitter enemies!
What do you mean 'younger than their legacy'? And every time we've been in your world, all the races coexisted. What's changed? Hell, give us a history lesson. It's been hundreds of years. You, the Sakkil, are lizards, correct? Who are the plants and parasites? And what did this plant do, anyway?

>dismantle it for knowledge!
Don't- you might destroy the simulation or kill everyone in here.

[message to Admin: Your precursors sound rather different from what we know of the precursors who build this construct. What do you mean about the Humans and Hivers being younger, and how exactly did you get here?]
I suspect that his own world is another game-world.

>>586925
Ah, a VR sim, like we thought. No, we're not a normal part of this game, but we are considered to be a Player. The plant will not arrive in the game for quite some time, and for that matter we would greatly appreciate it if you would not try to kill it.

As for why humans and mantids are here... Well, I hate to break it to you, but lizards, humans, and mantids have been around for far far longer than you know. Let me tell you a story.

Untold millenia ago, there was a planet. The planet where everything started. An advanced civilization made up of Humans, red and green Lizards, and a now-extinct subrace of short hairy humans called Dwarves lived there. Their technology advanced to the point where most of the world had weapons capable of destroying the planet's surface, and war was brewing. A group of six scientists, representing all the races, developed a device called Virtue that could suck out the life force of things as they died, or even kill them to get it. Said life force could be considered a creature's soul. Alongside Virtue, they either created or contacted us (we're not sure which), a sentient mass of that soul energy with the ability to perceive time nonlinearly and speak to people telepathically. They called us the Voices of the Many. With knowledge of the future, we tried to avert the apocalypse, but it happened anyway one way or another, at which point Virtue was activated. After the surface was destroyed and rendered uninhabitable due to Virtue sucking the souls out of anything that went aboveground, a civilization still survived underground, and were able to use ambient soul energy to do things that one could quite easily call magic. Golem creation, time manipulation, elemental manipulation, that sort of thing. We gathered up a group of skilled adventurers, claimed the focus stones that were needed to access Virtue while fighting evil golem replicas of the scientists and the insane AI inside Virtue itself, and gained control over it. We were able to deactivate the suction and promise a happy future for those on the planet. It also turned out the scientists involved had trapped their still-thinking souls inside Virtue.

At some point after the origin planet was saved, mantises showed up there. We're not sure where they came from, actually. It's likely that they evolved in a different underground sanctuary, and the races discovered eachother after the surface was made safe to live on. Anyway, it turns out that some of the more-crazy scientists were able to escape Virtue, and that anyone who is attuned to Virtue can claim the focus stones and take control of it. We guided an artificially Virtue-attuned mantis and her friends to find the focus stones before the reincarnated scientists could, claimed its power, and decided in the end to destroy the stones so that Virtue could never be used for evil nor wars waged over its power, and also so that the scientists inside could no longer reincarnate. Eventually, the mantis died, and we thought that was that. However, we did not realize one complication. We had spared one of the scientists, and while destroying the focus stones broke the link for those who were inside Virtue, the living scientist, nicknamed Pride, was still linked with it. Without the focus stones he could not use Virtue's power, but he was also unable to die. He reincarnated, over and over, living thousands of lives, dying in thousands of ways...

Now, cut ahead a few millenia. At some point, those on the origin planet had developed space-faring technology and spread out amongst the stars. At some point, however, archaeologists discovered the ruins of the ancient civilization on the origin planet, and came across the Virtue machine. The AI inside it tricked the scientists into re-activating the soul suction, and it was amplified to the extent that the ambient soul energy of the universe was drawn into and trapped in the machine. People near the source of the suction began to die, and those further away suffered from stillborn births. The universe faced extinction of all life. The AI was going to take in all the life force in the universe and destroy it. Before everything died, a last-ditch research effort was undertaken by Pride and a few other engineers I assume. Several AIs were designed to oversee a re-enactment, using biological robots, of the final few days on the origin planet. The purpose of this experiment was to attempt to create in a controlled environment an artificial soul which could withstand the suction of the Virtue machine, while also luring the insane AI into a trap to release all the stored soul energy. The plan succeeded with our aid, and life was once again possible throughout the cosmos. Those involved with these events go out and help re-seed the universe with new civilizations.

Fast forward some unknown amount of time, to the present day. From what you've told us, I am guessing you are the descendant of one of those new civilizations which were apparently NOT mixed-species, and our old friends gave you a fictional history, or you just plain lost track of history. Now you're talking to us, stuck in a simulation where we're trying to save the simulated yet still pretty much real world from a war between two factions of "Daemons", but we never quite succeed. There's always something that goes wrong. So we reset it, because we can do that for some reason. We try again, over and over, forgetting what we did last time each time we reset. So hi! You've found our purgatory.

So uh, that leaves me with a few questions. 1) What logs are you reading, that can predict the future? 2) How do you intend to disassemble the artifact the simulation runs on without killing everyone in the simulation? Simulated life still deserves to live. 3) What sort of administrator access do you have? What can you do? 4) Can you help us in our task to save the world from this war?

Feel free to ask us about the precursors.

>…who are you? What are you? Are you part of this… game?
[Message: Not by choice of our own, but we are a part of the game. We were implanted four months ago, and are one of three active "players." There is one in the lobby right now, and then there is you, the Administrator.
>I am here to hunt down a… a criminal.
A criminal? We do not have the authority to demand anything of you, as we are at most a civilian, and from a group unaffiliated with yours, but could you tell us anything about this criminal, such as what his crimes are?
>The logs said he would meet the only player online in just a few moments before I gave him the gun.
I am sorry, but while we are, indeed, the one active player, that time has both already passed and is yet to come. Should you wish to deputize us, we will not use the power to make an immediate arrest, but we will investigate the circumstance and inform you of what is going on. You will have to wait <three> months, however, until he arrives before us shortly after you got the message.
...Yes, I am aware that sounds confusing. We are just as confused as you are.
>…This… construct was created by the mighty precursors to the Sakkil! I will not have some plant despoil it before we can dismantle it for knowledge!
Is that the fear, then? So far, this criminal has done nothing to the planet itself, only three denizens who had been corrupted.
Please understand: Corruption is not of data, but of mind. The game was built with Daemons included, and when they take control of somebody, be they a person or a player, that somebody is then considered corrupt. Conversely, players and administrators can take over the minds of the people in the game, through a process referred to as "Purification." For all we know, you might be purifying us just through this communication, since an Administrator is much, much more powerful than a standard player.
Corruption of data, or "Glitches," would be present in two locations that we currently know of. One is a dagger, held by our Queen piece, gifted from the King piece of Player Pink. The other is the criminal. I assume this glitch is why you have to resort to using the people of the game to catch him. If a player were to kill him, as another player, he would likely still be alive, just booted out of the game. If he is killed by an external weapon, such as what you gave The Shaman, Durach, it may result in a permanent death. Are you after his capture, or his death?
>How can the Sakkil of old create Humans and Hivers!? They are far younger than their legacy!
"The Sakkil of old"? They were known as Lizards back then. Humans were still Humans, but "Hivers" were known as Mantises. They did not have these fancy names, just their species. Your species had a precursor, so did theirs. While the precursors found peace with one another, do not think this requires the Sakkil to find peace with the Humans and Hivers--it simply took their species far longer to return than it did yours. If peace is to come, it will find its way through all three species. But, please, do not think of the people of this world as those without-they are modeled after the precursors, after all.
>…and now those plants and parasites too…
Plants and parasites? I believe we met a plant, though he's wearing a suit that hides his appearance, but the parasite? We haven't seen anything of them yet. We were a friend to many of the precursors, and could tell you much about them, but we've also been... absent from the universe at large, since some time before they vanished.]
>until about 9 months ago
Uh, it was four months ago. Beyond that, we've been jumping around since here and nine months in the future.

>>586939
Well, this is basically the summary of our history I wanted to say except said better than I could have said it, so kudos to my fellow voice for that.

Of course we don't expect that you'll believe at all what we've said of our history and that's perfectly understandable. But there is evidence to part of what we've said right here and you even saw it yourself. This construct you're in, presumably built by the Sakkil's precursors long, long before the Sakkil's first contact with humans or mantis, contains people of both of those species. This shows that all three species existed together back then. Can you come up with a more reasonable explanation then that?

Do you know how long it's been since the precursors died out? If so could you please tell us what it is in the precursor's calendar years, since those are the ones we'll know the length of; We'd check the system clock but it's broken. And could you also tell us the ratio of time passage in here compared to outside. We have a rough estimate that it's at least a hundred times faster (from when it took two or three game-time hours for that real world minute to pass before Daithi leveled up) but we'd like to have a more solid number.

Could you tell us where this relic of your precursors is located, how it was found and the situation around it currently. Just how did this plant person you seek manage to get at it at all? I'd figure it would be guarded in some way. And why have a marine come in here to hunt the plant down? And for that matter, why do you need to seek the plant out within this world? I don't know what kind of hardware is used to connect into this world from outside but wouldn't the plant's body be connected to a machine and basically stationary and defenseless? Why not track it down out there?

And your people plan to dismantle this construct?! That's terrible! It would destroy it and all those who live in it! While it may have started as a mere game, in all the time its been going the pieces within have grown and become truly intelligent; They're people now. The construct and the world within it should be carefully studied as is, not pulled apart and the pieces examined.

Kaktus 2014/07/31(Thu)02:18 No. 587110 ID: 65a774
File 140679829450.png - (21.14KB , 900x450 , 13.png )

>Wait what war? According to what we know there was some kind of plague over 1000 years ago that nearly wiped everyone out.
{The great war between the Sakkil, Humans and Hivers of course! It has been going on for hundreds of years! …wait, a plague? Are you speaking of the great cataclysm that killed of the precursors and ensured the great collapse of the Sakkil Empire of old? That happened thousands of years ago!}
>What do you mean 'younger than their legacy'? And every time we've been in your world, all the races coexisted.
{…every time you have seen the world? You mean the world in the game?}
>Hell, give us a history lesson. It's been hundreds of years.
{About four thousand years ago, the great Sakkil empire that had conquered the galaxy crumbled from an unknown catalyst. We survived on our new home planet of Patria but were cast back thousands upon thousands of years technologically. Two hundred years ago we were able to leave our star system and colonize our first world… then we met the Humans and Hivers… and since then the Great War has been raging across the stars. We reached a standstill until two years ago, when those freaking Plant people attacked us.}

>You, the Sakkil, are lizards, correct?
{Lizards!? LIZARDS!? How dare you! Do not stoop down to the level of those… monkeys and insects!}
>Who are the plants and parasites?
{They call themselves the Uredo and Cibic respectably. They are evil creatures allied to another and only wish for the complete destruction of all other species.}
>And what did this plant do, anyway?
{Our first contact with the Uredo was when they torched one of our colonies killing thousands without warning. Since then we’ve been in a bloody war.}
>Are you after his capture, or his death?
{We accept no surrender.}
>The plant will not arrive in the game for quite some time, and for that matter we would greatly appreciate it if you would not try to kill it.
{…it will need to pay for the crimes it’s species has done. We will not allow it to destroy anything else!}

>Let me tell you a story…
{…that’s… what? Most of that was gibberish but… some of it does fit with the data we’ve found… but… it’s not…}
>Well, I hate to break it to you, but lizards, humans, and mantids have been around for far far longer than you know.
{…so the rumors are really true? The Sakkil supremacy is just… just propaganda? Both Human and Hivers both have the same legacy… no…}
>This construct you're in, presumably built by the Sakkil's precursors long, long before the Sakkil's first contact with humans or mantis, contains people of both of those species. This shows that all three species existed together back then. Can you come up with a more reasonable explanation then that?
{…it has to be true… all this time; we’ve thought we were destined for greatness…}

>What logs are you reading, that can predict the future?
{Predict the future? It simply said a player was transferring to that location.}
>How do you intend to disassemble the artifact the simulation runs on without killing everyone in the simulation?
{…they seem to be functioning without the aid of the machine that surrounds them, do they not?}
>It would destroy it and all those who live in it! While it may have started as a mere game, in all the time it’s been going the pieces within have grown and become truly intelligent; They're people now. The construct and the world within it should be carefully studied as is, not pulled apart and the pieces examined.
{As interesting as this simulation is, the technology surrounding it is far more important.}
>What sort of administrator access do you have? What can you do?
{…I do not know… I simply accessed one of the terminals with username “Admin” and Password “password”.}
>Can you help us in our task to save the world from this war?
{…why would I care what happens in the simulation?}

>Could you also tell us the ratio of time passage in here compared to outside.
{…it’s changing the passage of time? …yes, I can see it… when I’m connected to this terminal time almost stands still outside… intriguing… wait… let me count… it seems… if my math is correct, one second in the real world is… about… 720 seconds in the simulation.}
>Could you tell us where this relic of your precursors is located, how it was found and the situation around it currently?
{We found a grand steel cylinder on a barren world in the middle of nowhere space; we accidently stumbled upon it when we were chasing a fleeing Uredo.}
>Just how did this plant person you seek manage to get at it at all? I'd figure it would be guarded in some way.
{We’ve yet found any kind of defense mechanism in here. This place seems to be unguarded.}
>Why do you need to seek the plant out within this world? I don't know what kind of hardware is used to connect into this world from outside but wouldn't the plant's body be connected to a machine and basically stationary and defenseless?
{Because he isn’t connected to a machine, he entered the simulation in the flesh… err… plant! Your world isn’t digital, you know. Either way, I… you have said much that we need to take into… consideration… I need to log out… do not worry, I will find the criminal and ensure everything goes back to how it once was.}
{Admin has logged off!}

…
…
[Unregistered beings detected in the main compound… Exterminate? Y/N?]
[…]
[N]
…
[Please select a character to follow!]

>he entered the simulation in the flesh
wait, if he entered does that mean others can leave?

>[Please select a character to follow!]
Wait, can we follow Mor'kay? I'm guessing not, it probably means select a pawn, since administration conversation seems to disconnect us partially. Let's check on Ilbir, "The Scholar" No, wait, Tera should have been woken by now and is with Jericho. Let's check on her.

We should check up on her, we've been accidentally ignoring her a bit. Hey Tera wake up people are looking for you!

>>587125
I don't think Tera will be with Jer. The royal necromancer said not to be disturbed due to the delicate procedure he was performing on Jer, so he's very likely not going to want her coming in midway.

>>587127
Eliraz was on his way to wake Tera up when we left him, so we really don't have to do it ourselves. And if I remember correctly, Tera was actually with us quite a bit last time we were here, up until she started playing Q&Q with the harem.

Actually, the one we haven't seen in quite awhile is Ilbir. He left for his dinner date to propose to Kranhon before we even reached the chamber with The Human in Green's flawed Harvester body. I say we switch over to him, see what he's been up to and then he can join the rest of the group so we can get him up and the others up to speed on what's happened. [Switch to "The Scholar"]

>Unregistered beings detected in the main compound…
What does this mean? That we were detected and the Sakkil chose not to exterminate us? But it was after he logged off... Or could it be the "main compound" is where the Sakkil are and it was us who said to not exterminate them? Hm... [Define and indicate location of "main compound"] [Define "unregistered beings"]

Maybe we need to keep the players at peace so we can prove to everyone on the outside, that peace is possible. If the war inside stops, the gods will see the coexistence of the past and- with a little pushing from us- may try for peace. If the war outside stops, they won't rush to scrap the simulation.

We need to have a big peace conference with all the players to explain the situation.

Kaktus 2014/07/31(Thu)09:26 No. 587144 ID: 65a774
File 140682398092.png - (12.33KB , 900x450 , 14.png )

>[Define and indicate location of "main compound"]
[The “Main compound” is the core of the ARP project. It houses the main computer and admin access.]
[Warning! Unregistered beings detected in main compound!]
[Warning! Unregistered being has accessed Admin controls! Locking down vital admin commands!]
>[Define "unregistered beings"]
[Unable to find creatures in database! Unable to find regi-
[Your access to these functions has been removed by AI (Main Core)!]

…

>[Switch to "The Scholar"]
~♪
Can you stop being so damn happy! This is serious!
Sorry…
Right… so where were we?
We were discussing were the daemon army will strike. Hmm… do we have any dead lying around for them to claim?
I don’t believe we do, we burn all our dead, after all.
Hmm… yet, it feels like we’re forgetting something…
We do know they have undead down in the wells. They will probably strike down in the lower city, surrounding the walls from both sides.
There are some wells in the middle city too. What if they strike there too?
There’s thousands of drunkards in the middle city right now thanks to the festival the Princess pulled. There’s no way we can get them out of there in time…
Hmmm… an army of undead giants coming from the north being led by demon spawns and an army of undead coming from down below… they are probably being led by demon spawns too… this is a rather sticky situation… can someone pass the salt?

Insert Meetings behind closed doors_

Ilbir? Are you there? We can't see you, give a little jump or something so we can tell where you are.

[scan Xaldin, scan uri]

We have information, some more immediately urgent than others- a great number of tribals are behind the vildman army and are prepared to flank them as soon as they attack. If we can take out those enlightened, they won't be able to lead the army.

Second bit of good news- the gods are back, we've spoken to one. A thousand years ago, a disease spread across their civilization, and the three species somehow became separated. They've only recently gained the ability to travel across the stars again, and each species warred with each other as soon as they made contact. This world here- which the gods say is more than a simulation, for those of you with existential crises- is a remnant of the old, precursor civilization where all three species coexisted, and each species has no recorded history of that time.

Now the bad news- one of the empires- they call themselves the sakkil, we believe they are the lizards- are planning to disassemble the world so they can learn how it works. We've slowed them down by explaining the precursor origins of this place, but we'll need a more long term solution. That's where we need pinks help. After the daemons are dealt with, we need to prevent a war between nations. If the gods can see how they used to coexist thousands of years ago, they might, with some pushing, try for peace. With the was effort gone, they won't need to take this world apart.

>>587144
[message to AI(Main Core): Hello? Can you speak with us? What is the ARP project? Did those unregistered beings just kill the Sakkil we were talking to? That would explain why he's not here when the Uredo arrives in the game. Can we get a physical description of the unregistered beings?]
[query species information: Cibic]
(hmm, considering the time dilation, 6 months on the inside is 6 hours on the outside.)
Oh my god is that drumstick STILL stuck on the chandelier?

Oh, we have some good news. A small army of tribals will be ambushing the undead from behind once the battle starts. We have a man on the inside who will be leading the strike force. He carries with him a powerful unearthly weapon that could turn the tide. We also know the enemy's objective is to get inside the Crypt and access the Vault. However, we should expect the bulk of their forces to simply try to kill everyone in the upper and middle cities- only a small force will be sent to the Crypt, because they only need to get the carrier of the keystone inside there. I suggest we set up a trap/ambush to get the keystone, then access the Vault with Mor'Kay's help while the battle still rages so that we can maybe use its power to win.

Now, we've been told this by a daemon in the future:
"No, the lower city wasn’t supposed to be harmed… but, if I remember correctly, the reason why that attack failed was because of the player there and the mad Jailor used the innocent of the lower city as human shields to protect themselves when the attack on the higher city came."
Now, I'd like to immediately point out that this is information given to us by an enemy, but so far the enemy seems unaware that we are experiencing the future and the past at approximately the same time, so it's unlikely this is misinformation. On the other hand, it's quite likely that it's propaganda. For instance, there's more than one "player" here. There might even be THREE if Mor'Kay gets here before the battle starts.

As for the drunkards in the middle city... can you try to funnel the enemy forces into the upper city so that the minimum amount of innocents are killed?

>[Your access to these functions has been removed by AI (Main Core)!]
...Man I hate the Old God's Golems sometimes.
>>587150
He's right infront of the raptor's image.
[Message AI (Main Core): We keep learning more and more about the remains of the Old Gods. Are you a part of their game, or something brought about by the new players? There are questions we wish to ask, but not all of them pertain to the game's lore, so if you feel our questions are out of place, just give us another warning, please. It is much to difficult to know what questions are considered "cheating" until we are told.]
>which the gods say is more than a simulation
Specifically, it started out as just a game. It was after time with the people being alive with no Gods to guide them that they started to gain souls. After about four thousand years (We have a number now!), the strength of your souls matches that of the people outside the game, and so they no longer treat this as a game as their ancestors did.
Say, a little unrelated to the current situation, but we've met Mor'kay, and by extention, Player Red, have we not? How come we've never actually contacted Player Red?

Hello, Ilbir. Uh... Where are you? Ah, there you are, behind the roast raptor... Do they really need to serve a whole roast raptor at breakfast...? Um. Anyway, going by your status last night and chipper attitude this morning I assume Kranhon said "yes," so congratulations! Now we just have to win this thing so you two live to see your wedding day.

Oh, and we have a free pawn slot now, so we're probably going to claim Kranhon soon so there isn't a risk of a hostile player taking him. There won't be a problem with that, will there?

Now, we just spoke with Shaman Durach; He's the leader of that big group of tribesmen that broke off from Mor'Kay after Deadhollow Pass. He's rounded up as many of the best soldiers the tribes have he could get on short order and is planning to attack the undead Vildmen army from the rear while they're attacking the city. Durach says they have holy ice magic and holy water, plus a few other tricks, to use against them, so it's not going to end up with tribesmen slaughtered all over.

Durach also said that Mor'Kay has the Lesser Rune needed to open the Vault and supposedly has a way to get directly to the Vault entrance once she's in the crypt. Since her plan that Durach knows about hinged on it we have to assume it's for real.

Also, Durach told us that after Deadhollow Pass Eliros broke off from both his and Mor'Kay's groups with those loyal to him and that he's making his own way to the capitol. We have no idea what his plan is for when he gets here or even who's side he's on.

Since the Enlightened float, I wouldn't consider it a stretch to imagine they can fly as well. That means one of them could bypass all our ground defenses and go right for the middle or upper city. How many mages do we have on hand that could be stationed up there to watch for that.

While you do cremate your dead which does prevent the Dark One from claiming them, that doesn't keep him from claiming those that are cut down during the fight.

I assume all the wells in the middle city have been already been greased, capped, and have soldiers guarding them, same as in the lower city, right? If not, do that. And would it be possible to relocate all the people in the middle city into the upper city to protect them while the battle is going on?

About how long is a skrang? If they're longer than the city's cliffs are tall, then perhaps the Dark One will use his undead skrangs as troop carriers to get the undead Vildmen up into the city. Either they ride on its back or down its gullet and it pukes them back out at the top.

Ilbir, that flying basket you put together yesterday, how far away and how high up from the person controlling it can it fly before they lose control, and how much weight can it carry? 'Cause I've got the idea we could rig it up with strong explosives or holy water (whichever would be more effective against the target) and use it to make a precision strike against a high-value target. Send it up high into the sky really slowly so the flying runes don't overheat, position it over the target, then guide it in real fast.

What's the limit for how much water can be blessed into holy water at once? 'Cause I just got the crazy idea to bless all the water in the wells and subterranean lake.

[Message to Red: We hear you're fond of the long game, so how long have you been playing this particular game, and who is it against?]

Can't you just block off the wells? I mean just put down giant stone slabs or something and bolt them down and when everything is said and down just remove the slabs and BAM wells back.

Also make sure that every company of solders has at least one guy with a mirror, we can expect to be fighting Wraths, Enlighten, Shape-stealers, and death knights so something that can see through illusion bullshit will be really nice. Also since they're going to be attacking with undead can our necromancers do anything about that?

>[Your access to these functions has been removed by AI (Main Core)!]

heh, makes you wonder whether or not we're prisoners as well.
[message to main Core: Hello, is someone there?]

>Hmm… yet, it feels like we’re forgetting something…

Well, its a fight against undead forces, and if You go deep enough then everything is littered with dead Material. Wouldn't suprise me, if they had something crazy like siegeweapon that assemble themselves with bonematerial hidden under the sand.

Sir Daniel Anderson mentioned this Fight, and something about the nobles using the others as living shields. I guess that was some kind of "interpretation" of the decision to bring the people up into the higher city.

>>588734
I seriously doubt that the Dark One is going to expend the very large amount of energy it'd take to pull enough bone fragments out of the sands to assemble into troops or war machines, let alone the energy needed to animate them. However, are there locations in the Serath that have a large number of the remains of the dead? We know that Deadhallow Pass has, or maybe now had, a large number of tribal remains that were raised in ambush against Mor'Kay's forces, so are there any other places in the Serath that have bodily remains like that pass?

...Huh. Now that I think about it, why did the tribes leave the remains of their dead in Deadhallow Pass in the first place? With their strong hatred of necromancy I'd figure they'd cremate or otherwise render their dead unable to be raised as undead every chance they'd get; Especially if the bodies are where Serathians would know where they are.

Also, we should be watching in all directions from the city, not just north and under, and not commit our forces totally to defending those two directions since that'll leave us open to a surprise attack from any of the others. Since the Dark One has undead skrangs, I'm thinking one way that he could use them is as troop carriers for undead under the sands; Deep under the sand, since undead don't need to breathe. So a undead skrang with an Enlightened and a contingent of undead in it could worm through the deep sand around to the other side of the city undetected, pop out there and disgorge its contents.

Oh, and we know that the Blood God used yeti bones in addition to human and lizard ones in a "bone wagon" demonic construct, so the remains the Dark One could use for undead or constructs aren't limited to just those of fully intelligent beings. He might be able to use animal bones and flesh as well, so we have to take that into consideration and render any animal remains unusable for that.

And speaking of the undead; How goes the Academy's work on Varius' notes? Is it looking like they'll be able to duplicate his necro-attachment procedure in time to stick Thaark and Thuul's heads on new bodies and raise them before they decay too far?

Have a message sent to the Magus telling him that Bob told us that today The Human in Green's link to this world would be severed and he, or rather his mind, would die due to having been in this world for so long it wouldn't survive in the daemon realm. We don't know if there's any way we can stop that from happening, but we can speak with the Magus about any possible actions he or us could take.

We also scanned Sultan Leanah last night and saw that she is a free pawn, although with the strong notice that "this pawn will fight back." We'd like to talk with her about the possibly of us claiming her and if she'd agree to it and not fight back. Though, we might not even claim her if agrees to since we'll likely use our free slot to claim Kranhon and may not release another pawn to make room. But if the situation changes and we either lose or release a pawn and we have the opportunity to claim Leanah, we'd best hash this out ahead of time so we don't end up making her angry with us for trying to.

[Message to Pink: Do you have access to the command that shows the number of both AI and non-AI players? If you do please use it and tell us what it says.]

Kaktus 2014/08/08(Fri)15:27 No. 588748 ID: 65a774
File 140753683790.png - (12.55KB , 900x450 , 15.png )

Warning, this update was made under the effect of jetlag. I haven’t slept for about 36 hours so expects some errors. You have been warned… also, I can’t for the life of me remember if I’ve given Xaldin a pawn name or not…

>[scan Xaldin, scan uri]
[“The Knight of light” belongs to player Pink!]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Guard Captain!]
>[message to AI(Main Core): Hello? Can you speak with us?]
[Error! Unable to find AI(Main Core)!]
>[query species information: Cibic]
[… … … no information found under the subject “Cibic”…]
>[Message to Pink: Do you have access to the command that shows the number of both AI and non-AI players? If you do please use it and tell us what it says.]
[Message from Pink: I am sorry, but no. I can’t access that information.]
>[Message to Red: We hear you're fond of the long game, so how long have you been playing this particular game, and who is it against?]
[Message from Red: It’s against several, and for several. Do not worry, part of my plan require you to succeed… I will move some of my pawns to make sure you do. Oh, and Blue has yet to reveal his hand, so be cautious. He is working for the demons, even if he doesn’t know it…]

>Ilbir? Are you there? We can't see you, give a little jump or something so we can tell where you are.
(Huh? I’m right here? Next to the roasted raptor?)
>Do they really need to serve a whole roast raptor at breakfast...?
(Well, it’s actually leftovers from yesterday but… um… it is kind of a special occasion… for me, at least.)
>Um. Anyway, going by your status last night and chipper attitude this morning I assume Kranhon said "yes," so congratulations.
(And he said it in such a wonderful way… err… either way, thank you.)

>We have information, some more immediately urgent than others- a great number of tribals are behind the vildman army and are prepared to flank them as soon as they attack.
Wait? Tribals? Aren’t we fighting-
There are more than one faction among the tribes…
Either way, that’s some great news! We need every sword arm we can get!
>We also know the enemy's objective is to get inside the Crypt and access the Vault.
Well, yes, that is a pretty obvious target…
>However, we should expect the bulk of their forces to simply try to kill everyone in the upper and middle cities- only a small force will be sent to the Crypt, because they only need to get the carrier of the keystone inside there.
Hmmm, why wouldn’t they focus on the lower city? There are more people there… err… normally, that is, to turn into undead then in the upper cities.
> Now, we've been told this by a daemon in the future: "No, the lower city wasn’t supposed to be harmed…”
Ah, so they have some decency to spare the poor?
They probably want living slaves…
Or they want to take over the city and its people. Those in the lower city can’t afford servants, so they probably don’t see them as an enemy.
>Since the Enlightened float, I wouldn't consider it a stretch to imagine they can fly as well.
I’ll order some mages to keep watch over the sky, then.

>Can you try to funnel the enemy forces into the upper city so that the minimum amount of innocents are killed?
That would give the enemy direct access to some far more important structures… like the palace, grand temple and it’s cold storage, the main water reservoir and not to speak of all the noble families.
>Would it be possible to relocate all the people in the middle city into the upper city to protect them while the battle is going on?
There’s not enough space to put everyone up there… and not enough time either.
>Durach also said that Mor'Kay has the Lesser Rune needed to open the Vault and supposedly has a way to get directly to the Vault entrance once she's in the crypt.
We are going to put her under constant watch when she arrive. She will need to have a rather large ace up her sleeve to get into the vault undetected.

>About how long is a skrang?
Um… really long?
>If they're longer than the city's cliffs are tall, then perhaps the Dark One will use his undead skrangs as troop carriers to get the undead Vildmen up into the city.
…is that even possible?
…that would explain why they are using them. They would be rather worthless otherwise thanks to all the hard rock around here.
We’ll need extra men up on the middle city wall.
Aye, let’s surprise them by being prepared for their little trick.
>Ilbir, that flying basket you put together yesterday, how far away and how high up from the person controlling it can it fly before they lose control, and how much weight can it carry?
Err… that thing is still in its testing phase, alright? There’s still some way to go before we can make a weapon out of it.
>What's the limit for how much water can be blessed into holy water at once? 'Cause I just got the crazy idea to bless all the water in the wells and subterranean lake.
Blessing water is more than just some priest saying some words over a body of water. There are rituals, sacred artifacts and containers to consider. Short answer, no, we can’t bless a lot of it at once.

>Also make sure that every company of soldiers has at least one guy with a mirror, we can expect to be fighting Wraths, Enlighten, Shape-stealers, and death knights so something that can see through illusion bullshit will be really nice.
We’ve already distributed as a many mirrors and reflective surfaces as we should find.
>Well, it’s a fight against undead forces, and if You go deep enough then everything is littered with dead Material.
That won’t work! You need most of the original body to make an undead… well, you can make miss and match skeletons… kind off… they are rather weak and… err… right, so making leather armor into an undead raptor won’t work… there’s a reason why we got a cold storage in the grand temple, you know.
>However, are there locations in the Serath that have a large number of the remains of the dead? We know that Deadhallow Pass has, or maybe now had, a large number of tribal remains.
Deadhallow pass was the closest… and we already used it. Besides, those skeletons barely lasted ten minutes.
>...Huh. Now that I think about it, why did the tribes leave the remains of their dead in Deadhallow Pass in the first place?
Mostly because they generally think that place is cursed and generally keep away from it. They aren’t really… organized, you know.

>Second bit of good news- the gods are back, we've spoken to one.
Wait, what!?
WHAT!?
Are you sure!?
…
>A thousand years ago, a disease spread across their civilization, and the three species somehow became separated. They've only recently gained the ability to travel across the stars again…
…they are starting to sound like old Red… are they being corrupted or are they just going mad?
Um… let’s… err… let’s just roll with it for now, right?
>Now the bad news- one of the empires- they call themselves the sakkil, we believe they are the lizards- are planning to disassemble the world so they can learn how it works.
Oh, great, not only do we have to worry about demons invading the city, now the gods wants to destroy the world too!?
>If the gods can see how they used to coexist thousands of years ago, they might, with some pushing, try for peace.
Err… you do realize there’s thousands of years of feuds in the world, right? They won’t just mend because we defeat some demons.
Same goes for those “gods” you spoke of. I don’t think they will stop fighting because a bunch of squids tells them.

[Message from Player Blue: I have come to join the cause against the demon lords. I have soldiers willing to join and information about their plans and strategies, so please let my pawns into the city.]

Insert Back from the dead_ 

>>588748
[message to Blue: Which pawns, how many soldiers? We know how gung-ho you are about waging war against slavers, and we've already witnessed you kill one of your own pawns. What assurance do we have you won't betray or deceive us? Knowledge of the enemy's plans can be relayed through us, anyway.]

Blue wants into the city. I don't trust him, he's too kneejerk anti-slaver to ally wholly with us.

You know, we were also told that a "player" in the city used the citizens of the lower city as human shields. It's possible that's propaganda spread through the enemy's own ranks, but it's ALSO possible that the enemy will be killing lower city citizens to raise them from the dead and bolster their own forces. Actually, the middle city citizens will definitely be raised as enemy forces since we can't evacuate them, and they aren't supposedly protected like the lower city. What can we possibly do to prevent that?

>We are going to put her under constant watch when she arrive.
I, for one, have trust in Red and his King. I believe Mor'Kay will want to see Jericho, in adition to visiting the tomb. Red's victory involves our victory, and our victory requires, well, careful use of the keystones. It's probable that, before we got reset and made Jericho our king, we recruited Red into our attempts. As a non-AI player, we have a set goal that will not change just because we have been reset. (That's another thing AI can stand for--Alternating Ideas!)
>Short answer, no, we can’t bless a lot of it at once.
Not unless we decide to summon Bob to bless it all for us.
No, I don't believe that's a smart idea; Bob loves fear, and generating enough fear to convince him to bless the water reserves would be harmful to the civilians.
> …they are starting to sound like old Red…
...Are you serious? Did Red recruit us? I... I'm going into a lot of speculation over this, but I think that Red must have seen a non-AI arriving into the game and steered them into being Teal, to help with his plans. That non-AI is us. And like I said, our advantage is that we don't change our ideals just because of a reset. AI-based players, on the other hand, only lose a certain amount of progress. Red had enough progress to keep his ideals, at least, even after the Sultan killed him. Furthermore, we've been at this for four months... That's about twelve cycles through this.
...And even with twelve cycles through, Red dies before the cycle. There are three possibilities to explain around this: One, he's a non-AI just as we are. Two, he's being lead by a Daemon. He has not given signs of being corrupted, though, so if it is a Daemon, it's one that does not force others into their ways. Three, he doesn't know that we loop around, and sent his King's Son to us when it was time to start our work. That third one sounds the most likely, but then, how would he have known about us in advance?
[Message Red: What is our history? Something must be guiding you to make the choice to entrust your victory with ours, but our history, from our perspective, started when Jericho became our king, and stretches into around twelve circles covering the following year's worth of time in each circle.]
...Or maybe a fourth answer is the truth. It's possible that we, the squids, were once Player Red. When we, as a non-AI, are slain, we don't get to reset, and instead lose our status as Player and have to go back to watching. If we are able to enter the world once more, it would be as another color.
[Message Red: What is our relationship? Are we the metaphorical offspring of your old self? Did you once hold the mantle we now carry? Er, forgive me if that sounds odd, but I cannot think of a better way to word it.]
>Message from Player Blue
...Blue just started talking to us. [Echo messages from and to Blue]
[Message Blue: How many pawns do you have? After the corruption encountered in previous pawns of yours, we will likely need to have a wizard accompanying any, possibly even have a priest ensure that they are not corrupted. It is a matter of not simply our pawns, but some of our allies' pawns as well, to agree whether or not to allow you in, under any circumstance. The fact that we cannot directly scan your pawns has lead to some paranoia as to whether they were simply corrupted, or if you had taken control of them, so please understand our caution.]

>are they being corrupted or are they just going mad?
>Are you sure!?
...[check corruption]
What are you talking about? We've always been insane. But yes, we're sure- the weapon Durach has should be proof of that.

> you do realize there’s thousands of years of feuds in the world, right?
Feuds are fine- just put them on hold until the fate of the world doesn't depend on it. We just need the gods to see something other than a momentous clusterfuck of a land grab going on down here when we ask them to give peace a chance.

> I don’t think they will stop fighting because a bunch of squids tells them.
We 'bunch of squids' have existed since before the dawn of their empire, and the empire before that, and the empire before that. We 'bunch of squid' saved every soul in existence- that's all life that ever was and will be- from certain doom, three times. Were the closest equivalent to a higher power saying 'cut that shit out' as can be. So unless you have a better idea, we're giving this a shot.

Now, red says he's shuffling some pawns so we succeed, and not to trust blue, as blue works for the Deamons without knowing it. Blue says they are willing to join against the daemon lords, and have soldiers and knowledge of the daemon's plans, with a request to let in their pawns. I think that Blue was fed false information by the daemons and allowed to come to us. Let them in, but take the information with a grain of salt.

>>588786
I'm not sure how you arrived at any of those conclusions. It's possible that old red just knew about the gods, or was similarly crazy like us.

Kaktus 2014/08/09(Sat)08:38 No. 588820 ID: 65a774
File 140759871247.png - (12.35KB , 900x450 , 16.png )

>[check corruption]
[Corruption at 0%]
>[Message Red: What is our history?]
[Message from Red: …how should I know your history? As far as I know you suddenly appeared as an asset to consider a few days ago. I do not know where you were before that.]
>[Something must be guiding you to make the choice to entrust your victory with ours, but our history, from our perspective, started when Jericho became our king, and stretches into around twelve circles covering the following years’ worth of time in each circle.]
[…what? What are you going on about? Have you been corrupted?]

>[message to Blue: Which pawns, how many soldiers?]
[I have three pawns waiting outside, not including the one already inside the city, the shamans son. They are all great warriors who will be of great aid to our cause. As for soldiers, they are few, only twenty five, but they are the very elite of all the armies of the harsh desert sands.]
>[We know how gung-ho you are about waging war against slavers, and we've already witnessed you kill one of your own pawns. What assurance do we have you won't betray or deceive us?]
[The demons are far a greater threat than any slaver. We need to work together to defeat them! As long as we are guests we will honor the hospitality of your people.]
>[Knowledge of the enemy's plans can be relayed through us, anyway.]
[No, most of it needs other mediums then just speech to be understood. I need to see your pawns in person.]
>[After the corruption encountered in previous pawns of yours, we will likely need to have a wizard accompanying any, possibly even have a priest ensure that they are not corrupted.]
[Corrupt!? How… how dare you! WE ARE PURE! WE ARE CLEAN! WE WILL NOT… not… no, we are not corrupt, we fight the corruption! We are the pure ones!]
>[The fact that we cannot directly scan your pawns has lead to some paranoia as to whether they were simply corrupted, or if you had taken control of them, so please understand our caution.]
[…yes, it is understandable… hmm… how about a gift… a gift of knowledge to show we are on the same side? I know for a fact that the demon has located a large mass of dead bodies inside the city, and he aims to turn them all into his servants. Using one of those… those “Enlighten” ones he will drop Wraith into the city to control them… I can’t say were in the city they are located, but I do believe it is somewhere in one of the higher cities.]

>...Are you serious? Did Red recruit us?
Huh? What? We never said that?
>What are you talking about? We've always been insane.
Not… that insane. Before Red was vanquished, he started blabbering about new gods too, new gods that had come to free the true people of the Serath. Then he started planning on completely wipe us all out to “free” the people in the lower city and our servants.

>...Blue just started talking to us. [Echo messages from and to Blue].
…we do need more swords…
I don’t like it. It might be some kind of trap.
>I don't trust him, he's too kneejerk anti-slaver to ally wholly with us.
Exactly. Even if he doesn’t turn on us during the battle, he’s bound to after we defeat the demon.

>Feuds are fine- just put them on hold until the fate of the world doesn't depend on it.
You do realize some of these feuds runs very deep, right? Through generations and families, blood has been spilt hundreds of years ago and it still bare hatred. A direct threat like the demon might slow some of them down, but a more indirect threat like these new “gods” probably won’t.
>We just need the gods to see something other than a momentous clusterfuck of a land grab going on down here when we ask them to give peace a chance.
There’s always been war in this world. The most peaceful time we’ve ever had was thanks a simple calm before the storm, as all the nations started preparing for war against their neighbors. If the demon hadn’t come there would be war and conquest all over the world right now. War, after all, doesn’t really change, does it?
>We 'bunch of squids' have existed since before the dawn of their empire, and the empire before that, and the empire before that.
And you think they will believe you? Heck, I hardly believe you. While you are a rather good at making sure things goes the way you like, I still find it hard to believe you’re really some immortal, endless being.
Either way, we need to start preparing for the battle. Any last inquiries before we end this war meeting?

Insert How many licks does it take to get to the center of a spiked mace?_

> Have you been corrupted?
[reply to player red: 0%, but we've been getting that a lot.]

>we fight the corruption!
[reply: We are in no way questioning your intentions. However, the daemons also have anti- slavery leanings for reasons we do not know. It's possible furthering those goals will somehow help the daemons. We are willing to work together on the issue after the daemons are vanquished, however, and hopefully we can convince pink to do the same. ]

Blue says that there is a mass of dead in the city that the daemons will use by dropping a wraith out of an enlightened. I don't particularly trust blue, and I'm pretty sure blue hates our guts, so we should talk to Recho first and then see about letting them in.

>a more indirect threat like these new “gods”
Are you saying we need some awesome displays of power to get the gods taken seriously? Because we might be able to pull some strings. Seriously though, we need a way to deal with these guys- we can only talk them down for so long.

>>588825
I keep pointing this out but it seems some of us have yet to understand it. Insane is our DIFFICULTY. "Erratic" is our behavior type. And THINK about what you're saying to people, please!

>>588820
Look, we're not corrupted, one of us is just babbling nonsense. As for the new god thing, don't worry about him deconstructing the world. He said he was just going to mess with the outside layer of it, and that wouldn't affect the inside, where you guys are. Also don't worry about us going nuts over it, we have no allegiance to him.

Anyway, Blue just told us that the demon forces are going to Enightened-drop Wraiths into the upper city where they've hidden a large amount of bodies somehow. So as long as we keep Enlightened out of the sky that plan should be foiled.

As for Blue, I think we should go check out the group he wants to send in, with mirrors and such. Also, get them to consent to a search, for strange items or whatever. Lastly, we should only allow in a small group, because the main think we'd want from him is information. After he talks to us, send him back out.

>>588830
...oh right, Recho! We don't need to let any Blue pawns into the city at all. We already have one.
[message to Blue: Why don't you just have Recho tell us the rest, then? I'm sorry, but we don't need soldiers desperately enough to let yours into the city.]

Kaktus 2014/08/09(Sat)12:04 No. 588845 ID: 65a774
File 140761107118.png - (12.44KB , 900x450 , 17.png )

>[Message Red: Sorry, it's just our pawns suddenly mentioned that you once said the exact things we're telling them.]
[Red: Ah, that most have been before I died, then. I can’t remember past my rebirth, though…]
>[We are 0% corrupt, but we've been getting that a lot.]
[You’re blabbering like a mad man about new gods. It’s understandable that people would think you’ve gone mad.]

>[Message to Blue: We are in no way questioning your intentions. However, the daemons also have anti- slavery leanings for reasons we do not know.]
[Blue: …what? How? They are evil incarnated! There is no way they can even feel sympathy for us slaves!]
>[Did you happen to see the Shining Lizard that Durach did?]
[…lizard? What lizard?]
>[We are willing to work together on the issue after the daemons are vanquished, however, and hopefully we can convince pink to do the same.]
[Ah, good… then you will let me into the city to see you?]
>[Why don't you just have Recho tell us the rest, then?]
[Because… um… because the others have maps, scrolls and items on them to be used to explain and prove our word is true.]
>[I'm sorry, but we don't need soldiers desperately enough to let yours into the city.]
[…I ask you to at least consider the proposal. Talk to the Pink one, explain the situation. I am sure you’ll change your mind.]

>You put an unusual emphasis on free. Do you not mean to remove them from their state as slaves and peasants? Because, while we oppose slavery, we understand that it cannot be undone so easily.
What I mean is that their freedom will only lead to death. Besides, I do not know how much freedom these tribals will give… they are well known to take slaves themselves. Oh, and last time I check the only shackle the peasantry of the lower city had is that of the coin. There simply aren’t enough jobs for that many uneducated people.
>Understandable, since when it comes to the other players, they may be endless but they're not immortal; case in point, we managed to slay Gray. She came back, but at a great loss.
Either way, the whole “I’ve always existed” thing sounds like raptorshit… or madness…
>As for the new god thing, don't worry about him deconstructing the world. He said he was just going to mess with the outside layer of it, and that wouldn't affect the inside, where you guys are.
I really hope you’re right, rather not just cease existing because of some “God” got bored.
>Also don't worry about us going nuts over it, we have no allegiance to him.
You better not.

>Blue just told us that the demon forces are going to Enlightened-drop Wraiths into the upper city where they've hidden a large amount of bodies somehow.
Bodies? Here? Where?
Hmm… they need a large place to hide them… where could that be?
Well… there’s the water reservoir… and the palace… grand temple… lots of noble houses and the academy…
Most of those aren’t really plausible. The water is regularly checked and the tanks are clean enough to see the bottom of, the palace is well guarded and doesn’t really have a lot of unused nooks to hide corpses in, last time I checked dead bodies is not something the nobles really want in their homes and the academy is full of mages that won’t take part of the battle. If they spawn in there it will just end with a zombie barbeque.
And the grand temple?
It’s enchanted to make sure no necromantic magic except that is wielded by the priesthood can work in its stone halls. There’s a reason why we can have a cold storage of soon to be servants and reborn nobles so close to a magic academy without creating neutral undead.

>So as long as we keep Enlightened out of the sky that plan should be foiled.
They are bound to have some way to avoid detection or armor themselves. Flying out in the open will just leave them a juicy target.
Let’s see… they are supposed to be great at magic so… some kind of invisibility or shield? …maybe they can manipulate time somehow to keep themselves safe? You said they should manipulate time, right?

>Since he wishes to have our pawns meet face to face, would you be willing to let the pawns in, with some mages to ensure that any ice brought forth unwarranted can be fended off?
Of course we will have a heavy guard keep a check on them if we let them in. We’re not stupid.
>I think we should go check out the group he wants to send in, with mirrors and such. Also, get them to consent to a search, for strange items or whatever.
I’ll see if I can spare a few people to check them out…
>...oh right, Recho! We don't need to let any Blue pawns into the city at all. We already have one.
Right, the tribal… Reizn, go and wake up the translator, we got a… “guest” to interrogate.
Ah, at once, Commander!
Interrogate isn’t really the word I would use…
So… um… where is this huge pile of undead they were going to resurrect? I’m rather worried that we’re sitting right on an army within our walls.
There’s no time to search through the whole upper city! We need to focus our search!

Insert Searching for love… and dead people… but mostly love_

> …what? How? They are evil incarnated! There is no way they can even feel sympathy for us slaves!
[Reply: It's probably means to an end. To what end, we have no idea. It could be destabilization, or they could just need them to feed on their emotion. ]

[Message pink: Blue is offering information and soldiers if we let them into the city. We trust blue as far as we can throw him, but since it's your city, you have the final decision. Would you rather we talk to the pawn we already have first and then make a decision, or let blue's pawns in now?]

>“I’ve always existed” thing sounds like raptorshit… or madness…
Well not always. We're just really really old. I'm sure the gods will have an easier time believing us, at least on that issue.

>Bodies?
Possibly related to that plague, or the crypts. I believe we misspoke, blue says they 'located' the bodies, not 'hid'.

>>588845
You know what, the whole corpse pile in the upper city thing could be Blue trying to get us to worry so that he can get his soldiers in. Maybe we should just call his bluff; he's not acting very trustworthy. Allow only one of his pawns into town, with the items he says need to be delivered. Then we should treat the items as bombs until we know they're not.

[message to Blue: No soldiers. If you need to bring us stuff, you can send one person in with the stuff. We'll look at the items, then we'll decide whether we can trust you further.]
(DO NOT tell him that some of the daemons are slaves in their world, he'll side with them before we get the information he's offering)

...wait. The undead servants in the crypt! They're mindless. Can wraiths take control of mindless servants?

Dammit. I'm taking so long writing my posts I keep missing the updates and having to rewrite them.

[Message to Red: Apologies for the strange reply earlier. In case you didn't know we're a collective instead of a singular intelligence, however not all of us have been active and aware all our time here. While we do have a shared memory of what we've experienced, those who were "asleep" when it happened don't automatically remember it and have to actively "read" them. And it appears some of us who woke up late haven't read them well enough, or maybe at all, and got some strange ideas of what's going on, so sorry for that.] [Echo message to Red to nearby pawns] I hope this explains to you guys why we sometimes say weird things or ask questions of or reiterate points we ought to know already.

[Message to Red: Blue has messaged us offering to aid us in our fight against the "demon lords" with three pawns, 25 soldiers, and the intel he has which includes maps, documents and other physical items to show he's telling the truth. We're mulling over what to do about him, but what's your opinion of how we should handle this?]

[Message to Blue: Are you the dead bodies you're speaking of those taken from Then'dranil? Because if they are then we've already found them; They were teleported into the underground lake that feeds the lower and middle city wells. The ones we've retrieved appear to have been killed by extreme fright, likely to feed the Dark One. And the daemon magics that put them there also tainted the water. It kills those who drink it but keeps their bodies going by daemon magics, presumably so the bodies aren't destroyed before the Dark One's forces arrive to raise them as undead.]

[Message to Blue: What do you know of Red and Mor'Kay's plans? Because Mor'Kay's only demand to the Serathians was to be allowed entry to the royal crypt alone to pay respects to her father. Of course that's total bunk but the demand was still granted, albeit with the provision of putting her under heavy guard escort. Would you consider allowing her access a mistake on their part?]

[Message to Pink: Blue is asking that three of his pawns and 25 of his soldiers be let into the city to aid us in the fight against the demons and to share intel he has that according to him requires them bringing in maps, documents and items as well, and he asked that we confer with you about it. But the way he's talking is rather... sketchy. And he's being rather insistent to meeting our pawns in person too, which I think is odd. Plus Red said in his message to us that Blue is "working for the demons, even if he doesn't know it," but we don't really know where Red is in all this either so we can't really trust that... I'm thinking we request that he send one of his men into the lower city to deliver the intel items, then we treat them with utmost scrutiny. Scan and check them for any magic including daemonic magic; We'll need the Magus for that. If they're clean we'll bring them up to Recho and have Blue explain them through him.]

Tem, could the questioning of Recho be done in a room with a peephole or other means of viewing the room without being seen? I'd like to have either one of our pawns or Pink's watching him with a mirror in secret to see if Blue shows up to speak with him. And get the Magus in there as well. I think he could hear what we were saying to our pawns, so perhaps he could do the same for Blue. Better ask him if he can before putting him in, though. Oh, and if Recho goes hostile due to Blue, make sure to restrain and not harm or kill him; Perhaps have some knockout gas on hand for that case. While he may be Blue's pawn but he's also Durach's son and we promised him that Recho would not be harmed.

Blue's intel about the dead bodies in the upper city could very well be misinformation, either from him or fed to him by the Dark One's people, or that it was in relation to the bodies in the underground lake and he's making assumptions about where the bodies would actually go. But whatever it is we have to consider that perhaps some of the bodies were teleported into someplace in the upper city. So we have to think of ANY place or places in the upper city or directly connected to it that could hold enough bodies to actually be worthwhile. Unfortunately the only possible space I can think of off the top of my head is if the upper city sewer system has a collection tank or other area that nobody checks often.

There might be another possibility. Xaldin said the Grand Temple is enchanted against necromancy by those who're non-priests, but what about other magics? We already know the Dark One teleported a mess of corpses across the desert, so what about all those from inside the cold storage to someplace else in the upper city where he could raise them? Though that sounds quite energy intensive, so perhaps he'll use a more subtle approach. How does the Great Temple's enchants detect if the person who's performing a necromantic act within it is a priest and authorized to do so? Something similar to the royal crypt's system? Then maybe the Dark One has a temple priest in his control, or a means to falsify the "signature" the temple enchants check.

Also, make sure that our mages watching for the Enlightened have mirrors to check for any invisibility illusions they're using. Might not work but better to have them than not. And we should ask the Magus whether he could sense the daemonic magic of an Enlightened from a distance and even if it's cloaked. If he can he'll be a great help there.

Missed replying to >>588748 with this, but from checking back I think you did give Xaldin a pawn name. In >>/questarch/564833 the message from Pink mentioned that her pawn "Defender of Crowns" was defending Recho, and then Xaldin appeared in the following update, so I assume she's the pawn mentioned. Of course we haven't seen three of Pink's pawns, so you can just say it was one of them if it comes up again.

>>588859
Pink gives her units nicknames anyways.

Kaktus 2014/08/09(Sat)16:42 No. 588862 ID: 65a774
File 140762773589.png - (17.10KB , 900x450 , 18.png )

>[Message to Red: Apologies for the strange reply earlier. In case you didn't know we're a collective instead of a singular intelligence, however not all of us have been active and aware all our time here.]
[Message from Red: Ah, that does explain quite a few things.]
>[Echo message to Red to nearby pawns]
No wonder you guys are so… crazy at times.
>[Message to Red: Blue has messaged us offering to aid us in our fight against the "demon lords". We're mulling over what to do about him, but what's your opinion of how we should handle this?]
[It’s a trap. He wishes for you to let his troops inside the walls so he can ambush you. Blue is nothing but lies and deceit. I would suggest that you answered his request with an ambush.]

>[Message to Blue: Are you the dead bodies you're speaking of those taken from Then'dranil?]
[Message from blue: What? No, I don’t what he did with those… no, he said he found bodies already inside the city, not that he brought them there.]
>[Reply: It's probably means to an end. To what end, we have no idea. It could be destabilization, or they could just need them to feed on their emotion. ]
[Ah, of course they would have some darker purpose behind it!]
>[message to Blue: No soldiers. If you need to bring us stuff, you can send one person in with the stuff. We'll look at the items, then we'll decide whether we can trust you further.]
[…my soldiers needs food, water and rest to be of any use in the battle. Oh, and there’s a sandstorm coming and we’ll need shelter as soon as possible.]
>[Message to Blue: What do you know of Red and Mor'Kay's plans? Would you consider allowing her access a mistake on their part?]
[Red is a manipulator. Do not trust him. He got his own goals and will stop at nothing to achieve them. He is using you as just another pawn! Do not trust his lies!]

>[Message pink: Blue is offering information and soldiers if we let them into the city. We trust blue as far as we can throw him, but since it's your city, you have the final decision. Would you rather we talk to the pawn we already have first and then make a decision, or let blue's pawns in now?]
[Message from Pink: We must hear him out. Gather more information before we decide.]

>Possibly related to that plague, or the crypts. I believe we misspoke, blue says they 'located' the bodies, not 'hid'.
Hmm… but where?
>...wait. The undead servants in the crypt! They're mindless. Can wraiths take control of mindless servants?
There aren’t really enough of undead down there to make an army… but I’ll order a few necromancers to make them move somewhere safe… for us, that is…
>You know what, the whole corpse pile in the upper city thing could be Blue trying to get us to worry so that he can get his soldiers in.
Even if he lies, we should keep vigilant. Most lies have some truth in them, after all.
>Unfortunately the only possible space I can think of off the top of my head is if the upper city sewer system has a collection tank or other area that nobody checks often.
The pipes up here aren’t big enough to hold a body… and the tanks are located in the lower city so they can be used as fertilizers.

>Xaldin said the Grand Temple is enchanted against necromancy by those who're non-priests, but what about other magics? Maybe the Dark One has a temple priest in his control, or a means to falsify the "signature" the temple enchants check.
The priest are far too loyal to be swayed to h-
He got being who can possess and corrupt anyone… and he’s planning on dropping them on the temple!
I’ll gather up some extra men and head out there myself! We need to make sure those wraiths don’t get into the temple!
>Also, make sure that our mages watching for the Enlightened have mirrors to check for any invisibility illusions they're using.
As I said, we’ve already handed out as many reflective surfaces as we can.
>Tem, could the questioning of Recho be done in a room with a peephole or other means of viewing the room without being seen? I'd like to have either one of our pawns or Pink's watching him with a mirror in secret to see if Blue shows up to speak with him.
We got a interrogation room which fit that description perfectly.
>And get the Magus in there as well.
Right, I’ll go get the Magus then…
I’ll prepare this Recho character.
I’ll go fortify the temple.
I’ll… um… oh, right, we needed to check out those blue guys… I’ll do that.

…

Careful! He’s still very delicate!
Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.
No you don’t. That’s why you’re an apprentice! Now, keep his core beating!
It’s already stabilized, don’t worry.
Hmm… he really must have a strong will… either way, keep him “alive” while I get his head ready…
I don’t know if you can hear me, pebble, but everything will be alright.
Of course he can’t hear you! He doesn’t’ have any ears yet!
Oh…

Insert Don’t lose your head over it, Tera_

>>588862
We can though. Jericho, your body's almost ready. They just gotta put your head on. Tera is there, she's saying everything is gonna be alright.

Hello Tera, doing good work under your current master?

[Message pink:
Blue said this about red-
>Red is a manipulator. Do not trust him. He got his own goals and will stop at nothing to achieve them. He is using you as just another pawn! Do not trust his lies!
and red said this about blue-
>It’s a trap. He wishes for you to let his troops inside the walls so he can ambush you. Blue is nothing but lies and deceit. I would suggest that you answered his request with an ambush.
We're out of the war room so we can't warn Xaldin, but Blue has made some sketchy excuses to be let into the city- he has claimed we need to let the troops in because they have scrolls and maps that we need, that they need food, water and rest, and that there's a sandstorm coming. It's ultimately your call, but I'd keep a few sharpshooters near the gate if you let Blue in. Both blue and red have ulterior motives, we just don't know what yet. ]

[scan everyone]
Tera, you're in the grand temple, right? Expect some commotion, we have reason to believe the cultists are planning on bringing a wraith here, and Temrock is coming to take preventative measures.

>he said he found bodies already inside the city
[reply: who said?]

>>588863
Not just us, but Jericho can hear as well, even if he is just a core right now. I mean, his hearing is incredibly muffled, so he probably can't make out any words, but it's something.
[Scan royal necromancer]
>It's ultimately your call, but I'd keep a few sharpshooters near the gate if you let Blue in.
[Message Pink: A planned ambush is better than an unexpected ambush. This fragment's recommendation is to have soldiers at the ready, but to give them shelter. We aren't in this to win as a tyrant, but as a diplomat, much as yourself, even though some parts of ourself forget that. Oh, here:]
[Echo message about collective intelligence to Pink]
[I can never remember who all we've told this, so, to be safe, I'm echoing it to you as well.]

Hmm.
[show difficulty/player type for Red and Blue]

Hiya, Tera. It's been awhile. And your new boss sounds like he's a bit of a jerk, doesn't he? Or is it that he's just stressed? I hope he isn't like that always. And don't let him deter you from talking to Jer 'cause I think Jer can actually hear you... At least Jer could hear when his core was encased in magic ice and outside his body, so maybe not so much now when it's in his chest. Hey, Jer, can you hear us? If you can, could you hear Tera speaking? Or for that matter could you hear anything after the golem stuck your core back in?

Tera, just how badly was Jer's body damaged, how much could the royal necromancer repair, how much did he have to replace and what did he replace it with? And once he's back up and moving is he going to be at 100% right away or is it going to be awhile?

...That's odd. Why do I have the feeling we've seen the royal necromancer before? I don't think we've met him... Oh, now I remember. He looks like the necromancer that went with Temrock to the ruins; Same kind of robes and same scale and eye color. Did Temrock really drag the royal necromancer out on that mission or is it just our lousy vision not being able to tell lizards apart again? ...And now I remember seeing a lizard that looks like him in a gay bar in Ängladal nine months from now... What...? Oh, maybe he came along with the Serathian delegation... Uh... Sorry. Went off on a tangent there.

Huh... I just noticed something. Tera, how come your scalp hasn't sunburned beet red by now? I'd figure someone with fair skin and a bald head who lives in a desert and doesn't wear any head covering would have a serious sunburn going on up there, or at least major tanning. You just apply sunscreen all the time or do you have some kind of magic sunblocker thingie? ...Dangit, I went on a tangent again.

Damn, that's one bigass magic crystal up there. It might actually be the biggest one we've seen in this world. What part does it play in necromantic procedures? Magic flow filtering? Spell stabilization? Thaumic charge capacitor? Or is it just a really, really big and expensive light fixture?

So, Tera, how'd you enjoy that Q&Q game with Eliraz's harem? You going to play with them again? And afterwards how much did you enjoy them in their "professional capacity?" 'Cause from your status last night and this morning we gathered you quite ~thoroughly~ enjoyed them. I'd imagine you're going to want to make visits to them a regular thing, yes?

Oh, and here's something you might be very interested to hear: We've found out that we amplify the skills and abilities of those who're our pawns as well as greatly increase the rate at with they learn skills. That probably explains how Jer can read entire bookcases worth of books in a night and learned how to command his magic so quickly. So Tera, you might want to take advantage of that while we're around to cram in as much necromantic knowledge as you can. Heck, with our boost you might even be able to make sense of Varius' work if you got someone to read the notes to you.

And speaking of Varius, have you heard anything of how well the Academy is doing making sense of his notes? They on track to recreating his necro-attachment technique before Thaark and Thuul's heads are too far gone?

[Message to Pink: We didn't think of this before Temrock left, but it's quite possible the Grand Temple may have also been infiltrated by a Shape Stealer that has taken the place of a priest, so could you get word of that to Temrock for us. Also, we know that Shape Stealers are harmed and repulsed by holy symbols wielded by those with strong beliefs, so get a few priests who're known to be very devout to test those in the Temple. Have them test each other first just to be safe too.]

Oh, just to be safe...
[Relay messages between Tera and Jericho until his body is restored]

Kaktus 2014/08/10(Sun)09:46 No. 588943 ID: 65a774
File 140768919046.png - (18.02KB , 900x450 , 19.png )

>[Scan royal necromancer]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Grand Necromancer.]
>[show difficulty/player type for Red and Blue]
[Red Player: (Hard)(Manipulating).]
[Blue Player: (Normal)(Fanatic).]
>[reply to Blue: who said?]
[Message from Blue: The old man… what was his name… he was taken by the demon… I do believe you killed him?]

>[Message pink: Blue said this about red- … -and red said this about blue- … -]
[Pink: Ah, they blame each other then… hmm… let’s be skeptical of both for the moment.]
>[Blue has made some sketchy excuses to be let into the city- he has claimed we need to let the troops in because they have scrolls and maps that we need, that they need food, water and rest, and that there's a sandstorm coming.]
[Hmm, yes, they should be in need of water and rest- wait, sandstorm? Here? That’s not really… there’s a reason the city is here… either he’s full of… excuse my profanity… feces or something is very wrong.]
>[Message Pink: A planned ambush is better than an unexpected ambush. This fragment's recommendation is to have soldiers at the ready, but to give them shelter.]
[I’ll make sure they won’t have to option to stage an ambush.]
>[Echo message about collective intelligence to Pink]
[I already know about your fragmented mind, yes…]
>[Message to Pink: We didn't think of this before Temrock left, but it's quite possible the Grand Temple may have also been infiltrated by a Shape Stealer that has taken the place of a priest, so could you get word of that to Temrock for us.]
[…I’ll send word at once. We need to weed out any enemy agents there as soon as possible!]

>Jericho, your body's almost ready. They just gotta put your head on. Tera is there, she's saying everything is gonna be alright.
(…)
>Hello Tera, doing good work under your current master?
Oh, hi guys! Um… well, I think I am? I’ve just been here about a quarter of an hour though…
>Your new boss sounds like he's a bit of a jerk, doesn't he? Or is it that he's just stressed?
I hope he’s just stressed. Having to save the Prince from death would be rather stressful, wouldn’t it?
>Tera, just how badly was Jer's body damaged, how much could the royal necromancer repair, how much did he have to replace and what did he replace it with?
Let’s see… the only thing that completely busted is his eye… otherwise, it’s just his chest that was really damaged, and that we can fix with others means.
>And once he's back up and moving is he going to be at 100% right away or is it going to be awhile?
Well, he’s not going to look as good as he did before, he needs a lot more work for that, but give us an hour or two and he’ll pretty much be at 100%... mostly…
>I just noticed something. Tera, how come your scalp hasn't sunburned beet red by now? I'd figure someone with fair skin and a bald head who lives in a desert and doesn't wear any head covering would have a serious sunburn going on up there, or at least major tanning. You just apply sunscreen all the time or do you have some kind of magic sunblocker thingie?
Wait… I’m fair skinned? Aren’t I like… um… kind of brownish? I mean, I know the north folks are supposed to be really fair skinned while we are a bit more brownish but… err… either way, I generally stay out of the sun if I can… and apply a sun blocking oil every morning when I clean myself.

>Damn, that's one bigass magic crystal up there. It might actually be the biggest one we've seen in this world. What part does it play in necromantic procedures? Magic flow filtering? Spell stabilization? Thaumic charge capacitor?
Um… it’s mostly used as extra magical storage. Basically, to make sure the necromancer can never run out of magic. The kind of procedure we do in these kind of places are generally so magic expensive that it would be impossible to do it without one… unless you were several necromancers taking turns, like they did when Serath was a new nation.
>Or is it just a really, really big and expensive light fixture?
That’s another function of it, yeah.
>So, Tera, how'd you enjoy that Q&Q game with Eliraz's harem? You going to play with them again?
Oh, it was so much fun! I was playing this blind monk who was kicking ass and taking names like nobody’s business! They did invite me to play with them tomorrow too!
>And afterwards how much did you enjoy them in their "professional capacity?" 'Cause from your status last night and this morning we gathered you quite ~thoroughly~ enjoyed them. I'd imagine you're going to want to make visits to them a regular thing, yes?
I… err… I… that’s a bit… um… l-let’s just say they m-made me feel like an sultan and l-leave it at that, alright?
>We've found out that we amplify the skills and abilities of those who're our pawns as well as greatly increase the rate at with they learn skills. That probably explains how Jer can read entire bookcases worth of books in a night and learned how to command his magic so quickly.
…huh, and here I thought I was just a natural. That would explain why I suddenly pretty decent at necromancy. I mean, I was just a newbie a few days ago, barely capable to bring a body back to life and here I am now, fixing up the prince of a nation.
>Speaking of Varius, have you heard anything of how well the Academy is doing making sense of his notes? They on track to recreating his necro-attachment technique before Thaark and Thuul's heads are too far gone?
I’ve heard that they are doing progress, so don’t worry. As long as nothing happens to the cold storage everything will be fine… err… nothing is going to happen to the cold storage, right? Right?

Apply forty Kilothaums into his core and keep it stable.
Roger dodger.
…and please never say that again.
You got it, chief!
…*sigh*
Excuse me, lord necromancer?
What is it now!?
Well, um… you see… these crystal orbs he had in his chest that you asked us to guard started to glow… is that normal?
How should I know!? I’m a necromancer, not a artificer! …you didn’t touch it, did you!?
Of course not, sir!
Bah!

Insert The balls aren’t inert!_

>>588943
Cold storage might turn into a bunch of hostile undead, but with all the mages around that won't be much of a problem.

Jericho: There's one or two hours until you're at 100%.

Well shit. The keystones are glowing? I do not know why that is happening. Maybe... it's because the lesser rune is getting closer? At any rate, just keep security tight on them, and make sure no shape stealers can try to grab them. Maybe get an Artificer to examine them, after confirming the Artificer is legit.

Keystones glow based on proximity to one another. Ilbir told us this when we first met him. That just means that Morkay's collection is nearby, and she's got the lesser rune, right? That would likely cause a greater glow than the keystones themselves.

The keystones started to glow? Or is it they're glowing more intensely? 'Cause if I remember correctly Ilbir said a keystones' glow is stronger the closer it is to other keystones, so the five we have should already be glowing. So is it that they're glowing more now?

Tera, could you pipe up and say that you remember Ilbir mentioned that those keystones glow more the closer they are to another keystone so maybe another one is approaching. Also say that you do know they're really, really important, so the guard should probably get word to Ilbir about it since he's the expert on them and to ask him what it means and what to do. And putting even more guards on them wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[Message to Pink: We're with Tera right now and the guard watching over the keystones Jer was carrying just came in and said they're glowing. If we remember correctly Ilbir said they glow when another keystone draws near, but they might also glow when a Lesser Rune approaches. We presume Mor'Kay is carrying a Lesser Rune, so has she just arrived? Whether the answer we'll probably switch to Ilbir and ask him about this directly.]

Oh, I just realized we could use our keystones to figure out the location of other nearby keystones or anything else that makes keystones glow. We have our and Pink's pawns take them out to equidistant points in the upper city, then we could use the intensity of their glow to detect the direction of what's effecting them. We'll have to bring this up to Ilbir when we speak with him.

Tera, something might happen to the Grand Temple cold storage We got some intel that the Dark One has his eyes on using the dead there in the upcoming battle, either by infesting them all with with wraiths or mass raising them. We suspect that he has an infiltrator in the temple already; Likely a priest he corrupted and turned so he'd have a means to circumvent the necromancy restriction wards. Unfortunately the intel is rather dodgy as it came from Blue, but we can't rule it out so we're being extra careful.

Do you remember if any of the temple priests have traveled outside the city relatively recently? 'Cause that'd be when the Dark One's people could have nabbed 'em. Hm... I remember Master Geron mentioned right before Jericho was raised that he always wanted to try creating a wraith, which in hindsight sounds rather worrying. Tera, was that normal for him or unusual?

[Message to Pink: Could you get word to Temrock to give any of the Grand Temple priests that have traveled recently extra scrutiny, since that'd be an opportunity for the Dark One's people to take and corrupt them. Also, it's probably nothing but we remember that right before Jericho was raised Master Geron mentioned he always wanted to try creating a wraith. Give him extra scrutiny as well. Oh, and also see that Thaark and Thuul's heads are moved out of the Grand Temple and into cold storage someplace that'll likely be out of the way of the fighting just in case we fail in protecting the Grand Temple.]

[Message to Blue: This area doesn't get sandstorms, so why did you say there's a sandstorm coming?]

[Message to Pink: Blue saying a sandstorm is coming might just be "feces," but we also can't rule out that the Dark One may be able to throw around his power to kick a sandstorm up to cover his forces' attack. So distribute sandstorm protection gear to our forces and do what you need to to get the populace indoors and protected from it; They should probably be indoors anyway with the battle coming. ...And dangit, I just realized how many big open glass- and shutter-less windows the palace and the other city buildings have. It's going to be a giant mess if a sandstorm does hit.]

[Message to Pink: I have a few questions that are off-topic to the current situation, but if you don't mind could you answer them: How far back can you remember? What's your earliest memory? 'Cause we know that all the AI players like you were placed in the world right before the Dark Age began, so how much of what happened since then do you remember?]

Tera, we're gonna switch over to Ilbir to ask him about the keystones glowing. You keep doing your best to keep our Jer alive and get him back on his feet ASAP, alright. And maybe tone down the chipper attitude and be a bit more professional while working with your master. He seems to be the grumpy type and you're probably going to be his apprentice for awhile so avoiding getting on his nerves is a good idea. Well, anyway, we're off! Bye! [Switch to "The Scholar"]

Kaktus 2014/08/10(Sun)14:11 No. 588981 ID: 65a774
File 140770507734.png - (18.26KB , 900x450 , 20.png )

>[Message to Pink: We're with Tera right now and the guard watching over the keystones Jer was carrying just came in and said they're glowing. We presume Mor'Kay is carrying a Lesser Rune, so has she just arrived?]
[Message from Pink: She said she would arrive at noon and that’s about an hour away. It is possible she’s early or close enough for the stones to react.]
>[Message to Pink: Could you get word to Temrock to give any of the Grand Temple priests that have traveled recently extra scrutiny.]
>[Also, it's probably nothing but we remember that right before Jericho was raised Master Geron mentioned he always wanted to try creating a wraith. Give him extra scrutiny as well.]
[Word sent.]
>[Oh, and also see that Thaark and Thuul's heads are moved out of the Grand Temple and into cold storage someplace safe.]
[They will only survive about a day without the cold storage, but hopefully the battle won’t last that long. This isn’t really a siege, after all.]
>[Message to Pink: Blue saying a sandstorm is coming might just be "feces," but we also can't rule out that the Dark One may be able to throw around his power to kick a sandstorm up to cover his forces' attack.]
[My scout should have spotted a sandstorm by now if it was coming, but let’s be cautious.]
>[Message to Pink: How far back can you remember? What's your earliest memory?]
[… … …It was on the princess sixteenth birthday, she was praying for guidance for the coming trails that would determine who would inherit the throne. I answered her prayers and bestowed on her my wisdom, her ability of diplomacy and the mastery of the flame to ensure she would become the next sultan of the Serath people.]

>[Message to Blue: This area doesn't get sandstorms, so why did you say there's a sandstorm coming?]
[…]
>Jericho: There's one or two hours until you're at 100%.
…

>Maybe tone down the chipper attitude and be a bit more professional while working with your master. He seems to be the grumpy type and you're probably going to be his apprentice for a while so avoiding getting on his nerves is a good idea.
But that’s no fun! …*sigh* maybe you’re right…
>Keystones glow based on proximity to one another. Ilbir told us this when we first met him.
Um… well, that would explain why they were glowing faintly when we got them but… err… they are starting to glow really bright right now… almost pulsating.
>Maybe... it's because the lesser rune is getting closer?
That would explain the glowing, yeah…
>Oh, I just realized we could use our keystones to figure out the location of other nearby keystones or anything else that makes keystones glow.
Err… I guess it would work with the lesser rune if it got this effect but… um… I’m pretty sure Ilbir said they didn’t start glowing before you got really close. I mean, in the same room kind of close.
>Also say that you do know they're really, really important, so the guard should probably get word to Ilbir about it since he's the expert on them and to ask him what it means and what to do. And putting even more guards on them wouldn't be a bad idea either.
At once, my lady!

>Cold storage might turn into a bunch of hostile undead, but with all the mages around that won't be much of a problem.
What!? But… Big Brave Bug is in there! You better make sure he’s alright!
>Do you remember if any of the temple priests have traveled outside the city relatively recently?
Err… well, I wasn’t really invested in the others doings but… I guess Master Geron was traveling to hold some lectures in some other cities but that’s about it…
>Hm... I remember Master Geron mentioned right before Jericho was raised that he always wanted to try creating a wraith, which in hindsight sounds rather worrying. Tera, was that normal for him or unusual?
Err… well, he’s always been a bit... but there’s no way he’s… no… that’s not… he’s been like a father to me! I… I need to go talk to him… err… right after I’m done here… hmm… I better hurry this up a bit!
…wait what are you- where did those ribs come from!?
Um… wops?
What do you mean ops!? Where did-

…

>Tera, we're gonna switch over to Ilbir to ask him about the keystones glowing.
Ah, there you are! I’ve been looking for you.
…
We need your help, lord Magus, should you… err… you… what’s wrong? You seems a bit… pale?
I’m going to die in twenty minutes…
…what?
Everything just go black in twenty minutes and I’m… I’m scared…
Err…

Insert Always count on death, he’s never late_

>>588981
Hmm, he's going to die before Mor'Kay arrives, then. Why don't we get him a really good last meal?

Hey Ilbir, would a lesser rune getting within kilometer or so of the keystones cause them to grow brightly? Because they're glowing now, and Mor'Kay is the only person we know of with a lesser rune.

...is that like a natural passing on, or do you mean you'll be killed? And are you sure it's your death? Another daemon we know says he'll loose his future sight after he becomes mortal, could this case be something similar?

[Message Pink: Thank you for all your assistance. We really seem to be taking your help for granted, and upon realizing that, I would like to apologize for such action. Even if we should help one another out as allies, it's also something that allies should do to keep each other's morale up (Please don't worry yourself over ours, our "council" existence lets us do that for ourselves most of the time). By the way, it's been quite a long while for us, but reading back over the history, we never did ask you: Do you prefer to go by the alias of Rose, or by your official name, Pink?]
[Message Pink: If you ever need our own pawns to help out in your plans, please, instead of asking us to give them orders, ask for shared control. Contrary to what you would expect from our fragmentation, we actually cannot focus on multiple pawns at the same time. I have theories on this being the affect our shells have, but unless you feel like sitting through absurd theories, I'll spare you the speech.]
[Message Blue: ...Even Pink is wary of you, but both of us agree that taking a diplomatic approach to things is better than a tyrannic approach. While she has not come to an ultimate decision just yet, please don't make us regret giving you a chance. Regardless of beliefs of purity, Daemons can be way too sneaky, and guide you through noncorrupt means. We've fallen victim to such methods several times, ourselves.]
>I’m going to die in twenty minutes…
Magus, just because you can no longer see the future doesn't mean you're going to die... I really hope it just means you go mortal, and not that you die, because you dying would really suck. You're an awesome dude, man!
There's something kinda crazy I wanna try, but I don't know if the Gods ever made it something possible to do in the first place. Ilbir, I'm going to check if this ability exists and echo the results to you. If it does exist, it's something for The Human in Green to consider, since it might just save his life due to replacing any other cause of his future-blindness with this one.
[Search glossary for: Recruitment, in relation to Players and Daemons; Alliances, in relation to tiers; and Assuming Control or Stealing pawns from others ¦ Echo non-error results to The Scholar ¦ echo error results as "Invalid entry: <Searched phrase>"] (That error echo should prevent it from trying to echo jargon that would be harmful to Ilbir's mind)
Becoming a lower tier Player may actually work, at the cost of Daemonhood, and allow him to continue existing without the loss of his life, I hope this is possible.

[message to Pink: you know what, I'm going to express a voice of dissent. I think we should ambush Blue's forces, and wipe them out, along with him. Kill his king piece and he's done.]
[message to Blue: Tell you what. Bring your King piece and we'll let you in. That would be Eliros, am I right?]
[echo second message to Pink, and any reply Blue sends.]

>>589029
We called his BS on the sandstorm, he probably knows we're onto him and will expect an ambush.

I say we leave dealing with Blue up to pink for now,and focus on the daemons and Red.

Ah, right, Ilbir, you don't know who and what the Magus actually is 'cause you left for your date with Kranhon. Okay, quick recap: The Magus is the latest in a long line of bodies possessed by The Human in Green, a daemon in a flawed Harvester body hidden down in the crypt who was charged with guarding the Vault from mortals. This became quite boring when mortals nearly died out during the Dark Age and forgot about the Vault, so to pass the time he's been possessing the corpses of stillborns and the like, living the lives they'd never have and enjoying all the foods. Also, his daemonic powers are extremely limited since the flawed Harvester couldn't contain even a majority of his daemonic form, thus stringing his mind between it and his body in the Daemon Realm leaving him unable to operate either. That the gist of it, Magus?

Magus, we should have informed you of this sooner, but Bob came to Jericho last night to deliver some serious, unprecedented news: A new god was about to enter the world and absolutely none of the daemons saw it coming. Huge news, but not relevant to your current situation. What is is that afterwards we asked Bob about your future-vision cutting off and he knew why it would. I'll repeat the conversation here verbatim: Bob: "He will die. His mind has been in this world for too long, so when his link to this world is severed he will die… or his mind will die. His body will be… reborn, so to speak." Jericho: "Are you sure he'll die!?" Bob: "Yes… at least I hope so. The other fate that can befall him is too horrid to even consider."

From what Bob said it sounds like in twenty minutes something will happen to break your tether to this world, so what could cause that? The flawed Harvester being destroyed or damaged could do it. You mentioned disintegration mines in the floor, so would one or more of them going off while your Harvester chamber is under them destroy it or its support systems? What about the energy flow feeding it being disrupted? Would that break the tether? Hm... What would happen if your summoning ritual was performed now? Could that possibly mess with your link to this world? And is there anything at all in your future-sight that might give a clue to what happens?

Do you have any idea what the fate "too horrid to even consider" that Bob spoke of could be? Knowing Bob I half-think he'd consider your mind ending up in a mortal body and living as one as such a fate, but what else could happen?

Even though it looks like your fate is sealed we're still going to try and head off whatever it is that's going to break your link to this world; Who knows, we might actually pull off the seemingly impossible and stop it. But as a contingency plan what would need to be done to get your mind into a mortal body for good? 'Cause we know it's possible since Steve is planning to do so himself. And while we know you're already possessing one we don't know if it'll keep going without your daemonic power.

Ilbir, we should tell you the reason we switched to you before we forget: Just a short while ago the five keystones that Jericho was carrying all started glowing with a very bright, almost pulsating, light. You said before that they glow brighter when other keystones are near, but this is way beyond that. We thought it might be proximity to the Lesser Rune Mor'Kay is most likely carrying but she's still an hour out from the city. Do you have any idea what could be causing the keystones to act this way? Could it be they're being "pinged" by some kind of locater the Dark One has? Magus, you got any idea why the keystones are glowing like that?

Magus, we've been told that Mor'Kay supposedly has a way to go directly to the Vault as soon as she enters the crypt, bypassing all the defenses in the way. Is there anything you know of that she could possibly have or know that'd allow her to do that?

[Message to Pink: On second thought, leave Thaark and Thuul's heads in the Grand Temple cold storage since we don't know if there'll be any unforeseen delays in the Academy recreating Varius' procedure. I doubt the enemy will be interested in taking heads that don't have bodies so they'll probably be fine. Still, could you have them split up, placed in backup cold bags and hidden out of the way in the cold storage, preferably inside armored containers.]

[Message to Pink: The Magus says that his future-vision goes dark twenty minutes from now which we think means something will happen to the Harvester he's in to then sever his link to this world. Has anything happened or is scheduled to happen down in the crypt that might cause that? Do you have a pawn down there that can check if anything is wrong? And could you get a message to Eliraz right away to get down there as fast as he can and to bring the "special" dagger with him.]

Oh, I just realized since we have a pawn slot free we could take Recho away from Blue, ensuring that Durach's son doesn't go to war with us again.

>>589029
[Belay these messages]
If Pink wants to do that, she'll do that. She's already considering that, you don't need to tell her, and there's no reason to tip Blue off.

Kaktus 2014/08/11(Mon)07:08 No. 589056 ID: 65a774
File 140776612901.png - (18.20KB , 900x450 , 21.png )

>[Search glossary for: Recruitment, in relation to Players and Daemons; Alliances, in relation to tiers ¦ Echo non-error results to The Scholar ¦ echo error results as "Invalid entry: <Searched phrase>"]
[Unable to find any information regarding Daemon recruitment or alliances.]

>[Message Pink: Thank you for all your assistance. We really seem to be taking your help for granted, and upon realizing that, I would like to apologize for such action.]
[Message from Pink: No need to apologize. We are allied and are working for the same goal.]
>[By the way, it's been quite a long while for us, but reading back over the history, we never did ask you: Do you prefer to go by the alias of Rose, or by your official name, Pink?]
[I prefer Rose.]
>[If you ever need our own pawns to help out in your plans, please, instead of asking us to give them orders, ask for shared control.]
[If you so wish… then my pawns are open for you too.]
>[On second thought, leave Thaark and Thuul's heads in the Grand Temple cold storage since we don't know if there'll be any unforeseen delays in the Academy recreating Varius' procedure.]
[Very well, I’ll keep them well protected. Commander Temrock has just arrived in the cold storage and is setting up a fortification there at the moment.]
>[The Magus says that his future-vision goes dark twenty minutes from now which we think means something will happen to the Harvester he's in to then sever his link to this world.]
[That is troubling, but I do not know what’s going on down there.]
>[Could you get a message to Eliraz right away to get down there as fast as he can and to bring the "special" dagger with him.]
[Eliraz is on his way.]
>[You know what, I'm going to express a voice of dissent. I think we should ambush Blue's forces, and wipe them out, along with him. Kill his king piece and he's done.]
[That’s a bit… brutal. I’ve already got a plan to neutralize whatever ambush he got planned without that much bloodshed. Trust me.]

>[Message to Blue: ...Even Pink is wary of you, but both of us agree that taking a diplomatic approach to things is better than a tyrannical approach.]
[Message from Blue: Good that you see reason. Pink has already agreed to let us in.]
>[Regardless of beliefs of purity, Daemons can be way too sneaky, and guide you through noncorrupt means. We've fallen victim to such methods several times, ourselves.]
[We are pure! WE ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT IS PURE! You better remember that!]
>[Tell you what. Bring your King piece and we'll let you in. That would be Eliros, am I right?]
[My apologizes but Eliros is… busy with other important matters.]

>Hey Ilbir, would a lesser rune getting within kilometer or so of the keystones cause them to grow brightly? Because they're glowing now, and Mor'Kay is the only person we know of with a lesser rune.
I… err… don’t know? I’ve never actually seen a lesser rune before?
Yes… yes, they would. An active lesser rune would make the stones light up like fireworks.
>...is that like a natural passing on, or do you mean you'll be killed?
I… I don’t know…
>Are you sure it's your death? Another daemon we know says he'll loose his future sight after he becomes mortal, could this case be something similar?
…
>Why don't we get him a really good last meal?
I’m not really hungry…
What!? But you’re always hungry!
>Ah, right, Ilbir, you don't know who and what the Magus actually is 'cause you left for your date with Kranhon. Okay, quick recap…
…so you’re a demon?
…yes…
That’s… well, I have to admit, my first thought was to commit some test on you but… err… it’s hardly the time for that, is it?

>A new god was about to enter the world and absolutely none of the daemons saw it coming.
…what? But… how? They are dead?
>"He will die. His mind has been in this world for too long, so when his link to this world is severed he will die… or his mind will die. His body will be… reborn, so to speak."
I knew it! I FREAKING KNEW IT!!
>From what Bob said it sounds like in twenty minutes something will happen to break your tether to this world, so what could cause that?
I… I don’t know… something happening to my body? Maybe the undead that I’m connected to? I don’t know…
>Do you have any idea what the fate "too horrid to even consider" that Bob spoke of could be?
I… I don’t even want to consider it. The Jailor is rather… clever when it comes to horrible fates and even he thinks this is bad…
>Magus, we've been told that Mor'Kay supposedly has a way to go directly to the Vault as soon as she enters the crypt, bypassing all the defenses in the way.
…I… how? I don’t know someone should be able to do that but… that doesn’t seem possible.
>Oh, I just realized since we have a pawn slot free we could take Recho away from Blue, ensuring that Durach's son doesn't go to war with us again.
That would be a prudent choice, yes… Kranny would be with him right now if I’m not mistaken.
Wait… wait wait wait… I… I feel something… Weird energies… time? Something is happening with the time!
Something is… what? Where?
…in… in that direction… both right forward and downward…
Forward and downward… wait, you were pointing at the grand temple and… the crypt?

Insert it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff_

Oh shit, the undead that feed the harvester body! That's what they're after!

uhh, shit, I think it'll be too late to stop the enlightened now. They're either moving the undead to the temple, or someone in the temple to the crypts. The temple is heavily defended right now and won't need help if there is an attack, so move to the crypts to see what's happening. Dammit, we should have predicted this.

>>589056
Fuckin' time magic.
[message to Pink: Aw hell. The undead feeding the harvester are a target too. Do you have any mages near there?]

Tell Magus there is still a slim hope left- from what we've discovered, the daemons' "future-sight" is actually just a result of them remembering what has happened in previous instances of the game. They can't predict the future with certainty, so we may yet be able to prevent his death. For instance, perhaps if he wants to survive for a while longer he could fully claim this mortal body he's possessing. Become mortal, and never see his death coming again.

[message to Pink: Oh, and a word of warning- there's already time magic being used, so the Enlightened might already be there.]

>[I prefer Rose.]
[Assign alias to Player Pink: Rose]
>Commander Temrock has just arrived in the cold storage
>[Eliraz is on his way.]
[Share communications and observation of pawns with Rose]
[Message Rose: ...We're causing enough trouble, I'll share the same level of connection that we have with our pawns with you. That is to say, the ability to see what they're doing, and to talk with them. I don't know if this works for our King piece, though. Uh, if you feel like doing introductions, please do back away from anybody who panics over it. Leanah managed to kill Red, after all, they might think you're attempting to steal them if you're too direct.]
[Echo Rose's messages to pawns to Player Teal as "Rose to <Pawn name>: <Message>"]
[When Rose is actively viewing the same pawn as Player Teal, echo Teal's messages to pawn to Rose as "Teal to <Pawn name>: <Message>"]
[Message Rose: We'll be watching the conversations so that you won't need to tell us when they're attending an emergency on your behalf. You will additionally hear us directly if we are actively watching the same pawn(s). The former is a bit invasive of privacy, but I know that some voices will oppose the decision otherwise, and the latter is to make it a bit more fair, for what little it counts.]
>WE ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT IS PURE!
[Message Blue: Actually, following the encounter with Sakkil Marine, that "Shining Lizard" God, Durach was pure. I mean that he actually scanned as pure. I'll stop questioning your purity, and assume you managed to encounter a God and get purified, but I cannot promise that the other voices will agree with that choice.]
>[My apologizes but Eliros is… busy with other important matters.]
[Message Blue: Ack, sorry about that. I attempted to cancel that message, but it appears I was too late. Fact of the matter is that some of us would prefer if Eliros remains as far from the capital as lizardly possible.]
Oh! Regarding names, we should probably decide on something. ...I can only come up with Manny, as in "Voice of the Many" with an extra N.
[Message Blue & Red (separately): In the interests of diplomatic approaches, I've come to a wondering. Pink has her own alias for allies to know. Do you have one, and are you willing to share it with us?]
>Oh shit, the undead that feed the harvester body! That's what they're after!
Crap! That's actually brilliant!
>Kranny would be with him right now if I’m not mistaken.
...That poses an incredible problem. Blue has met him through Recho, meaning if we manage to grab Recho, Kranhon will be taken by Blue, and quite probably killed. The only way to make it safe is to abandon one of our pawns that hasn't met with Blue, or for Rose to take up a pawn.
[Message Rose: Our plan to steal Recho from Blue has hit a snag. If we grab Recho, Blue is free to grab Kranhon. Do you have an open slot, or are we going to have to either forget the plan or abandon one of our pawns? ...Actually, come to think of it, Gray might be able to grab a pawn, unless there's a distance restriction.]
[Message Gray, blind echo send and reply to Rose: I hope this message reaches you, Shadow! We're in a bit of a bind, and if you've got the pawn slot to spare, I'd guess you'd be interested in keeping an eye on things here. Are you familiar with Temrock, Ilbir, or Kranhon? We can't just give you Jericho, Eliraz, or Durach, and I doubt you know Tera, so it falls to those three.
Oh, and if you require titles in order to grab a pawn, I can safely say that Kranhon's title is "The Speaker". Temrock's is "The Heir of Savagery". ]

[message to Blue: Did you know that Purification is just another type of corruption? It makes the "purified" victim act at the whims of the "god" that purified them.]

[Check pawn status] It's been awhile since we did and I want to make sure everyone is okay.

Fuck! It's the Dark One's Enlightened. They're already here. [Message to Pink: Rose, the Magus just sensed "weird time energies" in the direction of the Grand Temple and downwards in the crypts. It's almost certainly the Enlightened; They've slipped in and they're making their move. I dunno just how we're gonna deal with them, but we're gonna need magic for this fight. How many mages do we have up in the Temple and down guarding the crypts? And what pawns do you have in or near either of those locations?]

Magus, we need you to tell us and Ilbir everything you can remember about Enlightened, starting with the extent of their temporal powers. We've been told they have some of the daemons' ability to bend time, but just what does that mean and how much can they do before they exhaust themselves? Can they accelerate or decelerate time in a area, and if so how large an area and can people and objects move into and out of it. Do they have the future-sight ability of daemons and if so to what extent? What about their magical abilities? What forms of magic can they wield? Is there any way we can detect them if they turn invisible? And do you know of any tactics that work against the Enlightened? How have they been defeated before?

...Wait. Kranhon is questioning Recho? But Kranhon is a free pawn! Blue could claim him! It'd be an incredibly rash and hostile action to do, but we know Blue is a short tempered hothead and he just might do it if his mood swings that way. We're messaging Pink to get Kranhon out of there. [Message to Pink: Get Kranhon away from Recho and scan him. Kran's a free pawn and we don't want to risk Blue getting in a mood and claiming him. We'll have to pick up Recho's questioning later with a non-pawn or one of ours.]

Since Eliraz is still on the way to the crypts we're going to switch to Temrock and alert him to what's happening and deal with what's happening in the Grand Temple. Ilbir, we probably don't have to say that you should get away from here ASAP. Magus, can you help us in any way with what's going to happen in the Grand Temple? Can you sense where a cloaked Enlighted is or wield magic in a fight?

>>589059
Yeah, the world keeps getting reverted to state shortly before we came to Jericho, but the minds of those daemons in the Daemon Realm don't. So the daemons have been remembering all those times and using them to predict the future. That's why they couldn't see the new god coming; It came from outside the world and it's cycles of reversions.

>>589078
Blue likely has a free pawn slot 'cause he iced one of his pawns right in front of us a few days ago, when Jer was returning from Ilbir's dig. That means he could claim Kranhon no matter what if he got in the mood to do so. Also, I think a player can only directly claim a pawn when they can see them through one of their own pawns. If I remember correctly all the times we've seen where us or a player has claimed a pawn sight unseen was when the game world did it for them, as happened in Amun. We can test if that's true right now with this command: [Claim pawn "The Speaker"] I'm sure it'll give us an out of range error.

Kaktus 2014/08/11(Mon)10:32 No. 589083 ID: 65a774
File 140777832279.png - (18.69KB , 900x450 , 22.png )

>[Assign alias to Player Pink: Rose]
[It is done.]
>[Echo Rose's messages to pawns to Player Teal as "Rose to <Pawn name>: <Message>"]
[Error! Function not found!]
>[When Rose is actively viewing the same pawn as-]
[Error! Two players can’t view the same pawn at the same time!]
>[Share communications and observation of pawns with Rose]
[Making it so.]
>[Claim pawn "The Speaker"]
[This pawn is too far away!]

>[Message Rose: ...We're causing enough trouble, I'll share the same level of connection that we have with our pawns with you. That is to say, the ability to see what they're doing, and to talk with them.]
[Message from Rose: Thank you, you might do the same with my pawns.]
[Rose is fallowing your “The Heir of savagery” pawn!]
>[Message to Rose: Get Kranhon away from Recho and scan him. Kran's a free pawn and we don't want to risk Blue getting in a mood and claiming him. We'll have to pick up Recho's questioning later with a non-pawn or one of ours.]
[Kranhon hasn’t yet arrived. I will keep him away from blue, do not worry.]
>[message to Rose: Aw hell. The undead feeding the harvester are a target too. Do you have any mages near there?]
[…there are two at the entrance. That would be enough to stop any direct attack.]
>[message to Rose: Oh, and a word of warning- there's already time magic being used, so the Enlightened might already be there.]
[Time magic? …does that mean they can go around our defenses?]
>[Message Rose: Our plan to steal Recho from Blue has hit a snag. If we grab Recho, Blue is free to grab Kranhon.]
[Why don’t we just block him from claiming him? If both of us do it he won’t be able to claim him.]

>[Message Gray]
[Player Grey is to far away!]
>[Message Blue]
[Blue is ignoring you!]

>Since Eliraz is still on the way to the crypts…
Actually, since the Prince was down in the middle city with the Princess, I’m pretty sure he would be in the crypt by now…
>Oh shit, the undead that feed the harvester body! That's what they're after!
Oh crap! They are going to kill the Magus!
…
Err… I mean… we… got save him?
>Tell Magus there is still a slim hope left- from what we've discovered, the daemons' "future-sight" is actually just a result of them remembering what has happened in previous instances of the game.
It’s to late…
>Magus, we need you to tell us and Ilbir everything you can remember about Enlightened, starting with the extent of their temporal powers.
…ow…
>Move to the crypts to see what's happening. Dammit, we should have predicted this.
Err… you better get someone else to run down there. My legs are a bit short, you know. Before I got there everything would already be over and-
*Ugh*
-and suddenly there’s a lot of blood… are you… um… a-alright?
What is… this? I… I’m… not well? I can’t… describe… ow…

Insert First blood_

I have no clue, but it looks like a sharp aneurysm if he's bleeding that sharply from the nose.

>>589083
Time magic is bullshit.
[switch to Eliraz]

[Scan the Magus] Ilbir, I suggest you back up. We don't know what's happening to the Magus' body, but I have the feeling it's going to get a heck of a lot messier.

Magus, we're sorry we couldn't stop this from happening, but we have something up Eliraz's sleeve that might have a slim chance to save you from your fates; Something that hasn't been in any of the other cycles. If it works we'll see you relatively soon. If it doesn't, then we'll do our best to make sure your fate isn't the horrible one.

[Extend to allied player Rose permission to summon the Spear of Light to both her and our pawns and access to all commands and functions related to such] [If permission extension is successful send following message to Rose: We've granted you permission to summon the Spear of Light and all related commands and functions. It'll do well in Temrock's hands against the Enlightened. It is currently being held by Durach, so do a status check to make sure he's not in combat before summoning it.] [Check location of Spear of Light]

[Switch to "The Thief"]

Kaktus 2014/08/11(Mon)12:47 No. 589094 ID: 65a774
File 140778643012.png - (18.98KB , 900x450 , 23.png )

>[Extend to allied player Rose permission to summon the Spear of Light to both her and our pawns and access to all commands and functions related to such]
[Error! You do not have permission to share the “Demonic Lance”!]
>[Scan the Magus]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Human Arch-mage.]

>I have no clue, but it looks like a sharp aneurysm if he's bleeding that sharply from the nose.
*BARF!*
And now he’s puking blood too!
>Ilbir, I suggest you back up. We don't know what's happening to the Magus' body, but I have the feeling it's going to get a heck of a lot messier.
Right, err… I’ll-
Get a doctor! This man needs aid!
Wait, do-
Stay with us! Help is on the way!
Err… right…

…

>[Switch to "The Thief"]
Pff… why did I even have to come down here? It’s-
Sound the alarm! We’re under attack!
Oh…
Prince Eliraz!? What are- never mind! You need to leave! We’re under attack!
Attack? From where? Who?
I don’t know! The room changing machine just went haywire, changed the room to that chamber with those weird tanks and broken down, then suddenly three giant undead appeared from thin ear and started waking up those that were in the tanks! I have no idea where they came from! Oh no! Run! Here they are!

Insert In your crypt, rezzing your dudes_

If they wake up all the undead, the magus will die. If you're sure it's just the undead in there, try sneaking in. If there's something nasty like an enlightened, it's far too dangerous.

Also check your mirrors.

>>589095
Even if it is the Enlightened, they can be defeated with the dagger.
...Did Rose manage to get the Dagger to you?

>>589094
Do NOT let them wake up all the undead in the tanks! At some point you will want to gather up the undead servants in the crypt and put them in the tanks to replace the ones that were taken out. If we can handle this fast enough, we can save Magus's life. I'm not really confident in it though since according to both daemons we've asked he's died in timelines matching this one. Prioritize your own life.

We could summon the spear but we'd have to return it to Durach afterwards.

It's an Enlightened. It must have magic'd itself invisible, used its time bending power to zip in undetected, operated the room changer, then teleported in the wraith'd Vildmen. No idea where it is, but it's very likely still down there. And with its time powers it probably can move as fast as you can. We can just hope that doing all that exhausted its time powers for awhile.

We need to get the mages from the crypt entrance down here right away. Either yell back to someone to run up and get them down here or have a soldier run up to get them. There's probably a soldier running up to raise the alarm already so he can get them.

Mirror-check everything and order the men to do so as well. We can't trust what we see or even what the soldier said he saw. There might be more or less Vildmen or other forces that were dropped in. [Scan all targets in area] Why is one of our guards with the enemy? Did they manage to kill and raise a guard already?

Try to avoid targeting the unarmed skeletal undead. They're rather wimpy and we're going to need them mostly intact to throw back into the tanks powering the Magus' Harvester body. Aim for the wraith'd Vildmen first since they're controlling the undead, followed by any armed undead or ones actively attacking.

You should know that wraith can't cause illusions and control undead at the same time. So once we get them down to one wraith'd undead Vildmen any illusions will stop if they're still controlling the undead.

Using the undead powering the flawed Harvester as fighters doesn't make sense. They're weak unarmed skeletal undead and there are only 21 from the Harvester chamber and two from the room changing machine. It most likely was to take the Magus/The Human in Green out and secure the entryway to the Vault.

Is the room changing machine totally broken or only partially broken? 'Cause shifting the rooms while the Enlightened might be in them would probably destroy it. Even if those controls are broken I remember there was an "oh, shit" emergency button on it that might do something. We'd have to throw the undead back into the tanks to power the machine, though.

Holy water would be very good in this fight so is there any on hand? If there isn't, is there any nearby, either in the crypt or close enough that the soldiers can run and get it before it's too late?

Eliraz, if Durach isn't using the Spear of Light we're going to summon it to you, so be ready to catch it. [Check status of "The Shaman;" If status is not in combat or about to enter combat then summon "Daemonic Lance" to "The Thief"] Give yourself a cut with the Spear to protect yourself against wraith illusions.

[Message to Rose: It looks like an Enlightened dropped into the crypt, operated then broke the room shifting machine to get the Harvester chamber, then teleported in three wraith'd undead Vildmen to start controlling the undead in the tanks. Is there anybody you can get down to the crypts in short order to back up Eliraz? Or any weapons and supplies? Explosive bolts, grenades and holy water would help.]

Kaktus 2014/08/11(Mon)16:12 No. 589129 ID: 65a774
File 140779875849.png - (25.01KB , 900x450 , 24.png )

>[Scan all targets in area]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath guard] x6
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath guard Sergeant]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath guard Corporal]
[Neutral Creature (Hostile): Undead Vildman] x3
[Neutral Creature (Hostile): Skeleton] x21
[Neutral Creature (Hostile): Wraith]
>[Message to Rose: It looks like an Enlightened dropped into the crypt, operated then broke the room shifting machine to get the Harvester chamber, then teleported in three wraith'd undead Vildmen to start controlling the undead in the tanks. Is there anybody you can get down to the crypts in short order to back up Eliraz? Or any weapons and supplies? Explosive bolts, grenades and holy water would help.]
[I am sorry, but I got no pawns close enough. They should have explosive bolts and fire water down there already. It should work as both as fire grenades and a fire enchantment for weapons.]

>...Did Rose manage to get the Dagger to you?
Rose? What rose? …and no, because I grabbed it before I left my room, remember?
>We need to get the mages from the crypt entrance down here right away. Either yell back to someone to run up and get them down here or have a soldier run up to get them.
There’s already someone running up for reinforcements.
>Do NOT let them wake up all the undead in the tanks!
Err… seems a bit late for that, don’t you think?
>We could summon the spear but we'd have to return it to Durach afterwards.
Wait, no! I don’t really know how to fight with a spear. Really, I’m more adapt with the whole cloak and dagger style.
>It's an Enlightened. It must have magic'd itself invisible, used its time bending power to zip in undetected, operated the room changer, then teleported in the wraith'd Vildmen.
Are you sure? They shouldn’t have reached the city yet… and where is the rest of the army? Wait, how does their time magic work? Can they go back in time or rewind it and stuff?

>Mirror-check everything and order the men to do so as well.
We are mirror checking what we can. In fact, I’m the official mirror checker in this group.
Keep them back! Use your superior reach!
>Is the room changing machine totally broken or only partially broken?
It was smoking pretty badly, so I guess yes?
>Why is one of our guards with the enemy? Did they manage to kill and raise a guard already?
Sarge and a few men went in to check just before the Vildmän appeared and was taken by surprise. Now they are cut off.
That would explain the fighting I’m hearing… and the fire further down the corridor!
Eat fire water, scum!
*Crash!*Woosh!*
…and I better get going before the whole corridor is an inferno.
What? Going wh- my Prince!? Where did yo-

>If you're sure it's just the undead in there, try sneaking
Well… it seems I’m a bit late to… yeah… a bit late…
Come on, you cowards! Step right up and taste my flame!

Insert Fighting fire with a lot of fucking fire_

Dammit, the vildman already axed the harvester. The magus isn't getting out of this one.

is the Vildman sufficiently far enough from those two casualties to reverse-pickpocket some firebombs? and where is that rope on the ceiling going to?

>>589129
This seems to have happened much faster than 20 minutes. So much for future-sight. Also, goddamn. This is a ridiculously overpowered ability.
[message to Pink: Time Magic of this caliber must be the ability to freeze time. There is no counter to it, aside from completely blocking whatever they're after. In our experience it can only be done for a few seconds, so this is uh... a really overpowered version of it.]

Did those idiots attack the daemon in the tank? That's Magus! Or did that axe belong to the vildman? At any rate, steal a firebomb from someone, light it, then reverse-steal it onto the vildman. The vildman is carrying the wraith so that should leave the remaining undead mindless again. If you can get some of them back in the tank, and move Magus back into his tank... he might be able to recover.

[Scan all targets in area and echo results to "The Thief"] We scanned a moment ago and only one wraith showed up in the results. It's odd that it showed at all and not just its host body, but that might have been 'cause it's controlling the undead and can't focus on illusions. Anyway, the undead Vildman with the violet eyes is almost certainly the wraith's host so target him. Still, keep checking for illusions; I think you can use the reflections in the tank glass to do that on the move.

>>589130
>>589131
While planting a firebomb on the undead Vildman, possibly along with an explosive bolt, would quite thoroughly destroy the body, it wouldn't destroy the wraith. The wraith would just take a new host body, most likely one of the fallen guardsmen, or try to jump into one of the living guards or even Eliraz. Eliraz, that means you're gonna have to stab the Vildman with the dagger in order to destroy the wraith. Pick somewhere vital looking you can strike quick but leave yourself enough of an opening to get away if it doesn't work.

If the wraith and undead Vildman don't go down, or destroying the wraith in the undead Vildman doesn't stop the undead, then pull back to where the guardsmen are. We'll summon the Spear of Light and you'll hand it off to one of the guards to wield; They'll know how to handle it better than you.

There's also another way out of here through the ceiling. If things go badly then you can escape that way and lower the rope down for the guardsmen... In fact, I think someone might be lowering a rope for the guardsmen right now since if a rope was left dangling down it would have been sheared off by the rooms shifting.

>Are you sure? They shouldn’t have reached the city yet… and where is the rest of the army? Wait, how does their time magic work? Can they go back in time or rewind it and stuff?
Unfortunately we don't know how their time magic works, how powerful it is or how often they can use it. But we're pretty sure it was Enlightened 'cause the Magus pointed out that he sensed "weird time energies" coming from down here and the Great Temple; Enlightened are pretty much the only option for that right now.

Oh, and don't worry about the Great Temple. Temrock and a contingent of soldiers are there defending it and Pink is guiding him. Also, we gave Pink permission to switch to and speak with our pawns and she did likewise so don't be surprised of a singular female voice pops into your head.

>Rose? What rose? …and no, because I grabbed it before I left my room, remember?
Rose is the name that Pink prefers to go by and which some of us have chosen to use. Sorry that wasn't clarified.

What're those blueish bandage-looking things stuck onto these undead Vildmen? The one in here has one on his leg, and the one we saw in the other room had one over his eye. There's no point to bandaging undead like that, so what are those things?

[Message to Pink: We're too late to save the Magus. All the Undead Energy Sources are broken and the enemy has smashed the Harvester tank open and directly attacked his body. It's near certain he's a goner... Dammit... We're dealing with the enemy wraith and undead now. So far no sign of the Enlightened. What's the situation in the Great Temple? We can try to summon the Spear of Light to Temrock if you wish.]

>>589138
We were told that the firebombs/explosive bolts counted as magic.

WAIT what happens to Enlightened when they are killed, what if they explode or something, what if this is the battle where Eliraz dies?

Kaktus 2014/08/12(Tue)06:40 No. 589163 ID: 65a774
File 140785084129.png - (25.12KB , 900x450 , 25.png )

>[Message to Pink: We're too late to save the Magus. All the Undead Energy Sources are broken and the enemy has smashed the Harvester tank open and directly attacked his body.]
[Message from Rose: He is still alive, if barely. My finest doctors are taking care of him this very moment and are trying their best to keep him alive. There is still hope for him.]
>[We're dealing with the enemy wraith and undead now. So far no sign of the Enlightened. What's the situation in the Great Temple?]
[They were attacked by three undead Vildmän controlled by a wraith that appeared in thin air. Luckily, Commander Temrock got a quick wit and was able to neutralize them before any damage had been done. Though, the most troubling part was a trophy one of the Vildmän was carrying. …it was the severed head of the princess… even though she is still unarmed in a safe place. What are your theories about that?]

>Did those idiots attack the daemon in the tank? That's Magus! Or did that axe belong to the vildman?
That’s quite clearly a Vildmans axe. It’s nearly the size of a guard, for Jove’s sake.
>We scanned a moment ago and only one wraith showed up in the results.
Good, then we only got one target, right?
>At any rate, steal a firebomb from someone, light it, then reverse-steal it onto the vildman. The vildman is carrying the wraith so that should leave the remaining undead mindless again.
Um… wait, would that actually kill the Wraith or just destroy its body?
>Is the Vildman sufficiently far enough from those two casualties to reverse-pickpocket some firebombs?
Yeah, those two casualties are rather dead… and I’m pretty sure they aren’t covered to be raised as undead either.
>Eliraz, that means you're gonna have to stab the Vildman with the dagger in order to destroy the wraith. Pick somewhere vital looking you can strike quick but leave yourself enough of an opening to get away if it doesn't work.
Right… let’s find a vital point in his armor and…

What!? W-what is h-happening to-to-to me!? AAAH!!!

Kaktus 2014/08/12(Tue)06:41 No. 589165 ID: 65a774
File 140785089106.png - (25.43KB , 900x450 , 26.png )

[Error!]

-Off… what in the…
Huh!? Where did the Vildman go!? Prince Eliraz!?
The undead have stopped in their tracks! Are we victories?
What just happen?

>Unfortunately we don't know how their time magic works, how powerful it is or how often they can use it. But we're pretty sure it was Enlightened 'cause the Magus pointed out that he sensed "weird time energies" coming from down here and the Great Temple.
Great, so they are manipulate time somehow and we don’t know what they actually can do… wait, Grand temple?
>Oh, and don't worry about the Great Temple. Temrock and a contingent of soldiers are there defending it and Pink is guiding him.
Oh, good, then it’s probably safe…
>Also, we gave Pink permission to switch to and speak with our pawns and she did likewise so don't be surprised of a singular female voice pops into your head.
Right, still don’t know who this Rose character is though.
>Rose is the name that Pink prefers to go by and which some of us have chosen to use. Sorry that wasn't clarified.
Pink? Oh, that pink! Right… rose… I see…
>What're those blueish bandage-looking things stuck onto these undead Vildmen? The one in here has one on his leg, and the one we saw in the other room had one over his eye.
Those are arrows… you know the feathers on the end of an arrow? I think they are there to make them shoot straighter.

…can someone explain what just happened? First they just appeared from thin air and now they transformed into the Prince?

Insert Time shenanigans_

I wonder if you can command these undead now.. oh but you should probably calm down the trooper first so they don't think you are some kind of imposter. Tell them to check their mirrors for illusions to start with to confirm you are not some kind of illusion, actually if they haven't done that yet on their own then give them a harsh reprimand as checking for illusions when things seems wrong could save their lives.

[scan EVERYONE!!!]

Unless that fire-sword wielding guard just asked the stupid question, he's due for a promotion.

>Great, so they are manipulate time somehow and we don’t know what they actually can do
Yeah, we've established relatively quickly that time manipulation as a power is bullshit.

>What are your theories about that?
[reply: We think that it's the same principle as daemon future-sight. These events have repeated possibly hundreds of times, each time being reset for some reason. The daemons are able to remember their- I don't know what to call it, past lives?- and apply it to events in the future. We think cloned characters are holdovers from before a reset. Other theories include 'the enemy has access to creative mode and/or hax', and 'Shapechangers, shapechangers everywhere'. We'll refrain from mentioning that 'trophy' to anyone so we don't start rumors and upset people.

[error!]
Eliraz, I think you have the debug dagger. An unassuming weapon never intended to be used by mortals nor gods. [scan dagger]

get to work helping that harvester body and putting those undead back into the tanks- it looks grim, but pink says there's still hope.

>…it was the severed head of the princess…
[Message Rose: Temporal clones. We've seen it in action: Sir Daniel Anderson, aka "The Sacrifice," about a week forward in time, had an undead temporal clone show up before him, while also looking at about thirty temporal clones of a wraith. ...Then again, it might just be the work of a wraith. Since we're dealing with wraiths and Enlightened, I would say either is possible. Do not believe a temporal clone means that is the guaranteed timeline, though, every time we have seen them they are not connected by any sort of fate.]
>[Error!]
...Tell me our new Sakkil god didn't just break the game.
>Pink? Oh, that pink! Right… rose… I see…
I thought that part of the conversation between Jericho and Elizah was before you left, but I suppose you were more focused on watching than listening.
>First they just appeared from thin air and now they transformed into the Prince?
...How are your shadow powers doing? I'm assuming that you had to reveal yourself as soon as you stabbed, but I want to make sure it wasn't somehow sealed?
>debug dagger
...Thaaaat would make it very dangerous. Any debug item is dangerous, period. Ben's claim that it is a sawblade through a chess table would be quite serious in that case. However, Debug can also grant you power when you wield it, so I don't understand why you got booted out of your shadow sneak, unless it's an auto-debug item, patching up everything around itself, including the wielder.

[Message to Rose: From what you said of the undead Vildmän having a trophy of Elizah's head our current theory is that the Enlightened or the Dark One himself is pulling forces from somewhat into the future of time lines where the Dark One is victorious. Since the Dark One is extra-temporal he can position his forces in the locations in those time lines where they appeared in our time line for him or the Enlightened to pull into ours. Though so far it looks like he's limited to a small number of troops. Even so, this is very bad for us. It means the Dark One could drop in a small strike force anywhere in the city he knows we'd be vulnerable, though likely only spots where our vulnerability is stationary for awhile. So where would...? Dammit! Jericho! If he knows Jer is in the state he's in he could drop a force into the royal necromancer's lab and kill Jer before the guards even get through the door! We need guards stationed in there right away, ready to defend if the Dark One does pull that. And could you please warn Tera of this for us.]

[Message to Rose: You should also know that Eliraz just used that dagger Elizah lent to Jer on one of the undead Vildmän down here and within a couple seconds the Vildmän just popped out of existence! No corpse, no flames, no nothing! We guess that the dagger is an item created by the gods who designed and built this world to be used by them to remove things that should not be in this world yet somehow got into it, be it either intentionally or through an error in the world's design. An undead Vildmän from another time line shouldn't be here, so the dagger removed it. That plus Bob saying that he couldn't see it coming means it's going to be invaluable to us in this fight.]

[Echo last two messages to Rose to "The Thief"] Eliraz, don't you go running off to protect Jer right away, okay. We have to try and save the Magus and there still might be an Enlightened down here that we'll have to deal with. Trust that Rose and the palace guards will protect him.

Rose said the Magus is just barely hanging on so we might still be able to save him. Do whatever you need to to get the guards to trust that you're really Prince Eliraz, then order them to get the Harvester body back into the tank immediately and prop it up any way they can so they can reconnect or splice together the wires that were leading into it. All the undead from the smaller tanks need to be dragged back into them as well. And we're probably going to need to get some of the crypt servants to replace any of the energy source undead that were destroyed.

If the Magus doesn't get better we might end up needing to activate the machine next to the big tank that summons the Magus/The Human in Green to ask him what to do. For that we'll need a cookie and someone who's hungry. Place the cookie in the slot and press the big red button the machine. Don't do it right away since summoning him might end up killing him.

>Those are arrows… you know the feathers on the end of an arrow? I think they are there to make them shoot straighter.
Ah, so it's fletching. ...Yeah, in case we haven't told you before: Our vision is lousy.

Also, have the room shifting machine taken apart and the undead from the tanks powering it brought down here. We don't want to leave any possibility of the rooms being shifted and killing everyone in them.

[Message to Rose: Please keep us updated on the Magus' condition. We're going to try having him and all the undead put back in their tanks. Even though the glass on them is broken and the suspension liquid is gone maybe it'll still work.]

Kaktus 2014/08/12(Tue)11:06 No. 589194 ID: 65a774
File 140786677702.png - (26.08KB , 900x450 , 27.png )

>[scan EVERYONE!!!]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath Fire Mage]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath guard] x6
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath guard Sergeant]
[Neutral Creature (Friendly): Serath guard Corporal]
[Neutral Creature (None): Undead Vildman] x1
[Neutral Creature (None): Skeleton] x18
>[scan dagger]
[ERROR!!]
>[Message Rose: Temporal clones. We've seen it in action: Sir Daniel Anderson, aka "The Sacrifice," about a week forward in time, had an undead temporal clone show up before him, while also looking at about thirty temporal clones of a wraith.]
[Temporal? As in… they are from another time? Did they send these forces back in time? Hmm… these Enlighten ones are a fearsome foe, indeed.]
>[We'll refrain from mentioning that 'trophy' to anyone so we don't start rumors and upset people.]
[That would be for the best, yes. I’ll destroy it as soon as I can.]
>[Message to Rose: Please keep us updated on the Magus' condition.]
[He has stabilized. As long as nothing else happens he will live, it seems…]
>[Dammit! Jericho! If he knows Jer is in the state he's in he could drop a force into the royal necromancer's lab and kill Jer before the guards even get through the door! We need guards stationed in there right away, ready to defend if the Dark One does pull that. And could you please warn Tera of this for us.]
[Good call, sending guards.]

>I thought that part of the conversation between Jericho and Elizah was before you left, but I suppose you were more focused on watching than listening.
What? Oh, oh right! I forgot about that… sorry…
>I wonder if you can command these undead now.
I’m a Prince, not a necromancer…
>oh but you should probably calm down the trooper first so they don't think you are some kind of imposter.
Yes, we’re victorious. Now-
He’s an illusion! Kill h-
Check your mirror, you idiot! He’s real! …and if you’d actually paid attention in guard school you should know the Prince is a master of stealth!
Oh… sorry…

>Unless that fire-sword wielding guard just asked the stupid question, he's due for a promotion.
I’ll leave that for Commander Temrock to decide… of course, it seems he’s the only one here with a lack of sense…
>...How are your shadow powers doing? I'm assuming that you had to reveal yourself as soon as you stabbed, but I want to make sure it wasn't somehow sealed?
They are fine. I just lost my consecration when the giant I was clinging to suddenly disappeared.
>Eliraz, I think you have the debug dagger. An unassuming weapon never intended to be used by mortals nor gods.
…The bug? What bug? What does insects have to do with daggers?
>...Thaaaat would make it very dangerous. Any debug item is dangerous, period. Ben's claim that it is a sawblade through a chess table would be quite serious in that case.
Hmm… this “The bug” thing sound dangerous… and you mean Bob, not Ben… who’s Ben? Either way, maybe we should save the dagger for some real threats, like the demons?
>Get to work helping that harvester body and putting those undead back into the tanks- it looks grim, but pink says there's still hope.
With all due respect, Sir, not only does this corpse wight a ton, the machine it was held in is quite clearly broken. I don’t see how putting it back in there would help.
Hmm… maybe you’re right… that thing is rather… dead already… let’s just hope the Magus is alright…

[Message from Rose: So, what should we do with Blue? His army is feasting in one of the halls in the palace at the moment and will soon be naturalized, but what about his pawns? Especially Durash? …and what should we do about Kranhon?]

Inser-
[Message from Rose: I just received a report that Mor’kay’s army has been spotted at the horizon. She will be here in just a few minutes… and… err… and the stones have stopped glowing… well, they are still glowing, just not as much.]

Insert How rude…_

>>589194
[check status of pawns]
De-bug. A bug is a glitch in a game. Debugging a game removes glitches. The dagger does so violently. We could use that thing to do very nasty things to the world, if we find the right targets.

It sounds like Magus' human body did not die, but his Harvester body did. I wonder if it's still Magus in the human body.

At any rate, we need to re-secure the area and then check to see if we can still access the Vault. With the room moved and the machines unpowered... how are we supposed to get back in there?

Also I have NO IDEA why the keystones stopped glowing as much, now. It's like Mor'Kay getting closer with her lesser rune wasn't the reason they were glowing. What else could cause that though?

DEbug. Prefix de-, like un-. A 'bug' is a term for an inconsistency, like... abusing the wording of rules in q&q to get something impossible and overpowered. The weapon, if it is a debug weapon, was made to find such abusable exploits so they could be eliminated by being able to bypass other threats.

hmm, check your mirrors- our scans say the undead Vildman is still here, but 'none' is listed in the place that usually says disposition. Same with the skeletons.

I’m a Prince, not a necromancer…
...And as a member of the royal family, you can command undead just like you commanded Jericho back when you were Grey's pawn. Are you sure you're not distracted or something? You're recalling things with the reliability of a shape changer.

>what should we do with Blue?
[reply: Well he's ignoring our messages since we called his sandstorm BS, so I suppose we need to find out his game- it could be he's only trying to get Recho out of the city, or just get some information. And who's Durash? Do you mean Durach the shaman?]

>The bug
DEbug. D-E-B-U-G. Dangerous Existance Bug. And it's not the insect type of bug that it's referring to, but an "error" that exists in golems and games. It's dangerous to them, not actually one of them itself. Remember, this is the game of the gods, and those viildmen came from a time that does not exist, meaning they're a "Bug." That dagger, as such, erases them.
>and you mean Bob, not Ben…
Right, got a little caught up and forgot his name. I don't know anybody named Ben, actually, it's just another B name is all.
>and the stones have stopped glowing… well, they are still glowing, just not as much.
[Message Rose: Either something has taken the rune from Mor'Kay, or she has a way of masking it. She probably did not know it would have an effect from so far away and wasn't masking it until just now.
As for Blue's pawns, well, we did agree to have one of our pawns meet one of his. Better to take a chance than to miss out on something beneficial. I believe that Kranhon would be the best to send. Since Eliraz is no longer facing any immediate danger, we'll take care of it.]
[Switch to The Acolyte]
*Ding* Tera, do you have the chance to go to Kranhon? We need somebody near him to actually recruit him into our team. If you're busy, we can switch to Ilbir and get him over there.

>>589206
Actually lemme rephrase that DEBUG bit. "Dangers to the Existance of" might make more sense.

[message to Pink: Durach isn't one of Blue's pawns. He's one of ours. As for Blue's pawns... well, we should probably claim Recho from him, but we have to get near him with one of our pawns. As for the others... well, if we imprison them, consider that he will be able to abandon one of them and claim a different pawn once he has an open slot, and we know Kranhon is vulnerable to this. PLUS we know that Blue can kill his own pawns via ice magic. We haven't seen any other free pawns however, so we could just keep Kranhon away from Blue's pawns to prevent Blue from claiming anyone new. I am interested in talking to his pawns to see how loyal they are to the cause, however. If any of them are reasonable, we could consider allowing them to go free once Blue is defeated. Oh. I just realized Red could claim Kranhon as well. We'll have to keep Kranhon away from Mor'Kay and any of Red's other pawns. I'm also a bit tempted to set Blue and Red's pawns against eachother to try to eliminate both players at once, but I don't want to kill Mor'Kay. I mean, she's Jericho's mother.]

>We haven't seen any other free pawns however,
Shadow/Gray actually owned a few of them before she was slain. Those pawns pose a risk, especially since it seems his pawns are in the castle.
...I really don't think we should leave Kranhon at risk just to claim Recho. If it becomes necessary, we could ask the Sakkil marine to purify Recho and free him of Blue's control.

>>589211
That's not how purification works. He would be under the control of the Sakkil at that point, and we've seen what Corruption-control does to people. It changes them. Purification-control would likely do the same thing.

If we're not gonna claim Recho then we could claim Kranhon to protect him from being claimed, and try to defeat Blue so that Recho is free.

Kaktus 2014/08/12(Tue)15:00 No. 589219 ID: 65a774
File 140788084345.png - (17.88KB , 900x450 , 28.png )

>[check status of pawns]
[“The pebble”: Terrified. “The Thief”: Tired, annoyed. “The acolyte”: Concerned. “The scholar”: Stressed. “The Heir of Savagery”: Content. “The Shaman”: Marching.]
>[reply: Well he's ignoring our messages since we called his sandstorm BS, so I suppose we need to find out his game.]
[Message from Rose: Yes, we need more information before we act.]
>[I believe that Kranhon would be the best to send. Since Eliraz is no longer facing any immediate danger, we'll take care of it.]
[Very well… also, an important bit of tidbit. His “army” is snoozing at the movement. Apparently someone drugged their food… wops~]
>[And who's Durash? Do you mean Durach the shaman?]
[Duruch, Durash, Darash… those Tribal names sound all the same to me… I meant the son of the shaman person… um… Reche the son of Dashur? …or something?]
>[Message Rose: Either something has taken the rune from Mor'Kay, or she has a way of masking it.]
[Either way, the glow didn’t just disappear. It looked like the rune was moving away from the stones.]

>DEbug. D-E-B-U-G.
Right… Debug…
>A 'bug' is a term for an inconsistency, like... abusing the wording of rules in q&q to get something impossible and overpowered.
Oh! I get it now! …that’s a bug? Never heard that word used like that before… either way, this dagger is dangerous, then…
>It sounds like Magus' human body did not die, but his Harvester body did. I wonder if it's still Magus in the human body.
Hopefully he’s become mortal or something…
>hmm, check your mirrors- our scans say the undead Vildman is still here.
We’ve already checked our mirrors… and the Vildman is standing a bit down the hall. I ran past him on the way, remember? Of course, he isn’t moving as much as he did then…
>As a member of the royal family, you can command undead just like you commanded Jericho back when you were Grey's pawn.
If they were raised in our lands with the necessary rune, yes. These guys were resurrected in the ancient age, long before our family even existed! Besides, they were meant to be locked in tubes, so I doubt they have any kind of control runes in them.

>At any rate, we need to re-secure the area and then check to see if we can still access the Vault.
The area is secure, my Prince…
>With the room moved and the machines unpowered... how are we supposed to get back in there?
By digging a hole like we did last time, Sir? It’s only this room that moves and not the room under it, right?
It’s worth a try… let’s see… which star was it…
I got everything we need to know written down in the room above…

…

>[Switch to The Acolyte]
Dammit, Geron, where are you?
>*Ding* Tera, do you have the chance to go to Kranhon? We need somebody near him to actually recruit him into our team.
Oh? Um… I… err… just a moment, I need to find Maester Geron and speak with him first… if only I sh-
Tera? Oh, just the one I wanted to see! Quick, I’m in need of your assistance!
Huh? Wha-
The guards in the Grand Temple aren’t allowing me to finish some very important work I have, but now that you’re here… come!
Wait, what are yo- Hey!
Talk while we walk, miss…

Insert Everyone walk the dinosaur!_

>Apparently someone drugged their food… wops~
...I think I'm in love.
>The guards in the Grand Temple aren’t allowing me to finish some very important work I have, but now that you’re here… come!
TELL ME IT'S NOT HIM.
Tera, are you a strong, devout believer in anything spiritual or religious? We need you to smack a symbol of whatever you strongly believe in onto him and will it to prove it's truly Geron, your fellow enthusiast of chaotic fun~. Seriously, something's been throwing chaotic bore around, and part of chaotic bore is involving anybody you can.
...As for how to go about doing that, I leave it up to you. I'd ask if you need our help or if we should head for Ilbir, but given the situation at the temple, I think it's important we observe.
[Message Rose: Do you have an active eye on the temple? It seems The Acolyte is getting dragged over there, due to a situation there. It might not be the temple itself, and instead, Necromancer Maester Geron, so there may yet be reason to stick to the situation. Everything's getting a little too chaotic for even my tastes, and that's saying something!]

Something's been on my mind unrelated to all this.
[Check Glossary for AI Players and Active Players]
[Check Glossary for rulesets, especially if there are differences between regions]
[If ruleset varies, check Serath's rules for Pawn capacity]

...A bit more on subject, we've never once scanned Geron, have we?
[Scan Geron]
[If Geron has any pawn status, echo to Rose]

>Apparently someone drugged their food… wops~
[reply: oh goodness me, I hope it's nothing trivial.]
... well that's the most terrifying use of the word 'naturalization' I've ever seen.

Tera, slow down and say you can't, you need to be somewhere important. Ask him what this work is.

[beg the glorious huge cactus for assistance, blessings, mercy and cookies]

>>589219
The guards aren't letting him finish his work? Then... I'm sorry Tera, but he might be doing something bad. We need to know. Try to get him to spill the beans. Use your friendship with him to get it out of him. Just... be careful. He might be dangerous, too.

How is Jericho? He's apparently terrified. Did you get your screwup corrected?

Okay, Tera, I'm just going to assume that Geron isn't behaving the way he should and will consider that he's likely an enemy agent until proven otherwise. We'll alert Pink and she'll get Temrock up here to lay in ambush ahead of you; Don't worry, we'll have him aim for non-vital spots. Just listen and be ready to run when things go down.

Go along with Geron but drag your feet a bit and keep him talking so it'll be easier to find you; Ask him about this "important work" he's doing or bring up Varius' work. Don't let on you have any suspicions of him being an enemy agent. Also tell us your location as best you know so we can relay it to Pink. And keep track of which way you're going so you can keep us updated on your position.

[Message to Rose: Tera came to the Grand Temple looking for Geron and he showed up but he's acting oddly; Says there's some "important work" the guards are keeping him from finishing that he needs Tera's help with and is actually pushing her along. We don't know if he's just acting eccentric or he's an enemy agent so we need to test him. Alert Temrock and get him up here to lay in ambush for Geron, but make sure he knows we want to take Geron alive and to aim for non-vital spots. Do you have holy water on hand he could spash Geron with to check if he's corrupted? 'Cause otherwise we're going to have to summon the Spear of Light to Temrock so he can poke Geron to test him.]

[Message to Rose: We don't know Tera's exact position, but we can see it's a corridor parallel to and on an exterior wall and going by the view out the windows it's above ground level. We can see out the right window a large building with many windows, a single gold onion dome on its roof and a tower with a red roof, and out the left window we see a large red roofed tower with windows in a triangle formation and two smaller towers next to it. That should tell which side of the Great Temple Tera's on. There's also a painting of the Sultan's Palace between the windows and a huge potted cactus next to the right-hand window and a bookcase next to it, so Temrock can ask the priests if they know where that is. And Tera and Geron are moving to the right relative to looking out the windows. We'll update you with where Tera says she is in a moment.]

[Scan Geron and echo results to The Acolyte and Player Rose] [Message to Rose: Just sent you Geron's scan results]

[Message to Rose: Red probably made the sensible decision to have the Lesser Rune taken away from the city, likely by one of his pawns, instead of Mor'Kay carrying it in. Hm... I have an idea. I'm thinking we can use a keystone to track down the Lesser Rune. We shadow whoever is carrying it and if Red turns out to not actually be on our side in this we'll take it. Do you have a pawn who can get out of the city with a small fast strike squad and do this without Red/Mor'Kay's forces noticing?]

[Message to Rose: Do we have a necromancer that we can trust to keep their mouth shut? 'Cause before you destroy that trans-temporal trophy head I'd like to have it checked to determine just how long it's been dead. ...And if it's really fresh then we... Uh... Well, we would have the option to place it on a skeleton and have it raised so we might be able to ask the Elizah from that time-line what went wrong.]

[Message to Rose: I do hope that none of Blue's pawns were around to see his "army" fall asleep. We'll have enough trouble dealing with Blue without him flipping his lid over drugged food and declaring war on us.]

[Message to Rose: Get Ilbir and Kranhon back together at the Palace. Once we're done with Tera we'll jump to Ilbir and deal with questioning Recho.]

[Message to Rose: I have an idea for how we might be able to kill Blue without having to find and kill Eliros: We try to recreate how we killed Gray. We'll need to get one of Blue's pawns in front of a mirror - a big one - and get Blue to switch to that pawn. Then Eliraz will shadow-walk and try to stab Blue with Elizah's dagger. Of course if it fails Blue'll see it and go hostile so we'll keep this for if there's no other option or he's already gone hostile.]

[Help system queries: What are the rules and mechanics of blocking another player from claiming a free pawn? If a player attempts to seize another player's pawn and succeeds can they choose to not claim the pawn, and if a player has no free pawn slots are they still allowed to make the attempt?] We want to release Recho from Blue's grasp but don't particularly want to keep him as a pawn. This'll tell us if it's possible for us or Pink to do so without claiming him.

>>589222
Tera, don't do this! While a symbol of devotion held by someone with strong beliefs does repulse or harm corrupted and Shape Stealers, that is the most it does. If Geron is effected he'll still be able to recover to chase you down and retaliate. Also, if this is a Shape Stealer impersonating Geron then it's likely a strong one that can shrug of such things since it's in the middle of a temple full of those with strong beliefs and their symbols.

My fellow voice also seems not to have noticed that the color and shape of the stonework is not that of the palace but rather that of the Great Temple as we saw back when Jericho was raised. ...And what the heck is "chaotic bore?"

>>589223
It's "neutralization," not "naturalization." Big difference.

>...And what the heck is "chaotic bore?"
Well, there's chaotic friends, chaotic enemies, chaotic fun, and then there's chaotic bores. People who use chaos in such a boring manner.
>but rather that of the Great Temple
...I blame our bad eyesight! Also, Geron kind of implied they aren't in the Grand Temple. It's likely that they do the training resurrections in a separate temple.

[Scan the cactus, all hail the cactus]

Can we send massages to prawn we're not currently following?
If so [massage to "The Thief": Think of that dagger as one of the tools the old gods used to create the world]

>chaotic bore
You know, like "lawful anal" or "neutral hungry"

Kaktus 2014/08/13(Wed)05:46 No. 589272 ID: 65a774
File 140793399643.png - (10.04KB , 900x450 , 29.png )

>[Scan the cactus, all hail the cactus]
[Pointy, the consumer of worlds, destroyers of civilizations, drinker of seas and the blessed cheese maker is the avatar of the Grand Cactus in the sky! Fear his needles! REPENT! REPENT or a thousand NEEDLES will rain down upon thee!!]
>[beg the glorious huge cactus for assistance, blessings, mercy and cookies]
[There will be no mercy from the Cactus lord! Only death! DEATH AND COOKIES! …but only if you sacrifice fifty virgins and a next gen game console in his honor.]
[The Exalted Cactus is angry with your lack of devotion! You will be punished for this sacrilege! All Cactuses are now twice as pointy! FEEL HIS WRATH!!]

>[Check Glossary for AI Players and Active Players]
[Active AI players you’ve met: Blue, Grey, Pink, Red.]
[Active Players you’ve met: None.]
[You can’t see Players you haven’t met yet!]
>[Check Glossary for rulesets, especially if there are differences between regions]
[Unable to locate Glossary… *Rule Glossary will be implemented in the next Patch – Admin*]
[There are no rule change between regions.]
>[Help system queries: What are the rules and mechanics of blocking another player from claiming a free pawn?]
[To Block someone from claiming a pawn you must use more “Claim power(Name pending)” then the one trying to claim the pawn. All players has 100 “Claim power(Name pending)” and it will be replenished every 3rd hour. Pawns that already been claimed by someone got a base power between 25-100 depending on the loyalty and strength of the pawn and all pawns also got a base between (-100)-50 depending on willpower and loyalty, except for King pawns that are always unclaimable.]
>[If a player attempts to seize another player's pawn and succeeds can they choose to not claim the pawn, and if a player has no free pawn slots are they still allowed to make the attempt?]
[You must have a free pawns slot to try and claim a pawn, the pawn will be claimed if you wrest control of it from another player and you can’t unclaim a pawn until 24 hours has passed from when you claimed it.]

>[reply: oh goodness me, I hope it's nothing trivial.]
[Message from Rose: Don’t worry; they’ll just sleep for a bit before waking up in the cells in the cellar.]
>[Message to Rose: I do hope that none of Blue's pawns were around to see his "army" fall asleep.]
[They went to bed for a “quick nap”. Even if one of his pawns was with them it would be fast asleep too.]
>[Message to Rose: Get Ilbir and Kranhon back together at the Palace. Once we're done with Tera we'll jump to Ilbir and deal with questioning Recho.]
[I’ll see what I can do.]
>[Message Rose: Do you have an active eye on the temple?]
[Only your pawn Temrock is currently there, why?]
>[Message to Rose: Tera came to the Grand Temple looking for Geron and he showed up but he's acting oddly; Says there's some "important work" the guards are keeping him from finishing that he needs Tera's help with and is actually pushing her along. Alert Temrock and get him up here to lay in ambush for Geron.]
[I need her location if I’m going to set up an ambush.]
>[Message to Rose: We don't know Tera's exact position, but we can see it's a corridor parallel to and on an exterior wall and going by the view out the windows it's above ground level. We can see out the right window a large building with many windows, a single gold onion dome on its roof and a tower with a red roof.]
[That sounds like the Palace… I think I know where you are then…]
>[Scan Geron and echo results to The Acolyte and Player Rose]
[“The Betrayer” is currently unclaimed!]
[Message from Rose: That’s… ominous…]

>You know, like "lawful anal" or "neutral hungry"
I have to remember those two!
>How is Jericho? He's apparently terrified. Did you get your screwup corrected?
Screw up? I freaking fixed his ribcage without any bone fragments! As for Jer… I believe it’s pretty normal being afraid after coming back to life like that…
>Tera, are you a strong, devout believer in anything spiritual or religious? We need you to smack a symbol of whatever you strongly believe in onto him and will it to prove it's truly Geron!
Err… I don’t have a holy symbol on me… and being blind is kind of a hurdle to overcome trying to find one.

>Tera, slow down and say you can't, you need to be somewhere important.
More important than spending time with old Geron? Nonsense!
>Ask him about this "important work" he's doing or bring up Varius' work.
Oh, it’s some grand work I’m finishing, nothing else… wait, Varius? How do you… never mind… yes, I’ve spoken with him at lengths recently… he had some quite interesting ideas and plans, I have to admit. To confess, he’s the one who suggested the project I’m doing right now.
>Also tell us your location as best you know so we can relay it to Pink. And keep track of which way you're going so you can keep us updated on your position.
I was in the northern part of the second floor and I… think he pulled me into the eastern wing… err…
Where are we?
Right now? Nowhere important. What’s important, though, is the secret entrance to the Cold Storage that’s located here. Not even the guards know about this one… now…
*Click*
…did you just lock the door?
Just to make sure we aren’t disturbed, my pretty little flower… now, just a second and I’ll open the way forward… let’s see…
(…I get the feeling I’ve made a horrible mistake…)

Insert …implications_

[Echo Tera's directions to Rose]
[Message Rose: This just got a heck of a lot more worrisome. Geron worked with Varius, "Lord of the Dead," before he ran off to start the undead war in the northern lands, and, as you saw, is named "The Betrayer" himself. He brought Tera into a dead-end room claiming it was a secret route to the cold chamber and locked the door behind them. Either he's lying, and Tera's in grave danger, or he's being honest, and there's a secret route that, despite our ability to see somewhat into the walls, we cannot see.]
Tera, perhaps he just wants to test out Varius's techniques? He might even be able to give Thaark a new body! You should totally ask him if that's his plan. Because that would be awesome.
[Message Rose: We could claim him, and try to guide him in to our own goals, assuming he's a malevolent individual for the time being.
We could leave it be and trust that, despite his actions he is already on our side.
Or we could still believe he's a malevolent person and instead of taking control, just blindly, pre-emptively echo this conversation and any status changes to you. If we don't decide for ourselves to act upon the first one, then I'll trust your decision on which of the second two choices to go for. ...Might even be worth echoing anyways, at that.]
[If Rose suggests to do so, echo conversation and any status updates between Tera and Geron to Rose]
Well, guys, should we try and claim Geron to steer him into helping us? His "Betrayer" title might imply he betrays Serath, or he might betray Varius. We don't know.
[Message Rose: Oh! He could be a betrayer of Varius, instead of Serath.]

> I’ll open the way forward
Tera, it looks like he's using a secret passage. Do you have anything you can use to leave a trail of breadcrumbs? A token or necklace or something we can use to identify the room?

[Message to Rose: Tera says that she was in the northern part of the second floor and that she thinks that Geron pulled her into the eastern wing. He's taken her into a room with a single entrance, locked the door and taken the doorknob. That means he doesn't want Tera to be able to flee so it pretty much settles that his intentions are bad. Geron says that there's a secret entrance to the cold storage located in here that not even guards know about and he's currently standing at the back wall and looking for whatever it is that opens it. That means this room is either over or near the cold storage. There's a single window so that means the room is on an exterior wall and looking out we can see that looks like that big building with the gold onion dome we saw before that you said was likely the palace. If that's right the room's somewhere on the west side of the north half of the east wing. Get Temrock and his guards up here as fast as you can, tell him to grab something that can bash down a door, then knock down the one that's locked who's doorknob he can just pull out; That'll be the one Tera and Geron are in since Geron took the doorknob from the other side. And if you can send guards to the cold storage near this room to try and find where Geron might come out. It'll probably be in or near a locked room where he's been doing work.]

[Message to Rose: Tera brought up Varius to Geron and Geron says that he spoke with Varius at length recently and that the "grand work" he's about to finish that he's leading Tera to was a suggestion of Varius. Is is very bad 'cause Varius was under the influence of the Blood God recently, right before he took off to the Northlands. That means Geron has likely been influenced by the Blood God as well. Thus whatever he's working on is almost certainly Bad News for us. We can't let him complete it.]

Tera, we're feeling exactly the same way. Geron is talking creepy and he not only locked the door, he took the damn doorknob! That means he doesn't want you to be able to even try to run! That clinches that his intentions are bad. And he was speaking with Varius recently and is doing a "grand work" based on his' suggestion and that raises all the red flags 'cause Varius was under the influence of the Blood God recently, right before he left for the Northlands! This is bad! Geron's probably been corrupted or at least influenced by the Blood God. He might not even be Geron but a Shape Shifter who sucked out Geron's brain and is impersonating him! You can't let him take you in there! You'll be killed or worse!

We've already alerted Pink to your likely location and she's rushing Temrock and the guards here but they might not make it in time. We can't risk Geron taking you. We need you to do something drastic to stall him. To your right there's a large open window with a table in front of it. We need you to either get over that table as fast as you can or shove it out of the way and stand in the window, gripping the frame with both hands. Shout to Geron that you're not going with him. That you'll jump rather than go with him into who-knows-where for who-knows-what. And lay on the tears and cry that he's been like a father to you and how could he betray you like this? And if worse comes to worst, you can jump. It's only the second floor and you're rather thin and light so as long as you land on your feet the most you'll get are broken legs. And compared to what Geron has in store for you broken bones are a cakewalk, especially when you have the finest doctors and healing magic in the land to fix them.

If you feel you can't do that, then just find any other way you can delay Geron. Like wrap yourself around the table leg and don't let go. Oh, there's one of those Serath hammer thingies on the table on the far end from you, past the candlestick. Are those considered holy objects? 'Cause if they are then you could grab it and hit Geron with it. For that matter we can summon the Spear of Light to either you or have it drop in above Geron upside-down so it hits him.

But if things look like they're going bad and you're in immediate danger of dying then we'll [Claim pawn "The Betrayer" and grant permission for direct control to allied player Pink] That'll stop or at least slow him down while he fights off her control. [Message to Rose: We may claim Geron and if we do we'll grant you permission to take direct control of him. Keep checking your status and if he shows up then jump to and control him. Do whatever you can to stop him or at least slow him down.]

>>589272
There's a hammer on the table. I think you might want to grab it.

Oh, man, I almost forgot: Us squids can BITE HIM! EVERYONE, PILE ON! BITE GERON! ENGULF AND BITE THE BASTARD!

Kaktus 2014/08/13(Wed)12:33 No. 589323 ID: 65a774
File 140795842896.png - (9.61KB , 900x450 , 30.png )

>[Echo Tera's directions to Rose]
[Temrock is on his way.]
>[Message to Rose: Tera brought up Varius to Geron and Geron says that he spoke with Varius at length recently and that the "grand work" he's about to finish that he's leading Tera to was a suggestion of Varius.]
[That’s bad… very bad… he’s clearly been taken by the Dark one…]
>[Message Rose: We could claim him, and try to guide him in to our own goals, assuming he's a malevolent individual for the time being.]
[Hmmm… I don’t know if that would work but… if anything it would delay him and time is of the essence at the moment.]

>Tera, we're feeling exactly the same way. Geron is talking creepy and he not only locked the door, he took the damn doorknob!
…oh… oh gods…
>Tera, it looks like he's using a secret passage. Do you have anything you can use to leave a trail of breadcrumbs? A token or necklace or something we can use to identify the room?
I… I don’t really have anything I can leave… not anything recognizable… I… I can maybe tip something over?
>There's a hammer on the table. I think you might want to grab it.
Yes, a holy symbol!

>You can't let him take you in there! You'll be killed or worse!
There, the way is open. Be careful, there are some stairs when you enter, but don’t worry… I’ll-
NO!
…what?
I’m not going! You can’t make me!
…Tera, please, I’m doing this for you!
>We need you to do something drastic to stall him. To your right there's a large open window with a table in front of it. We need you to either get over that table as fa-
*Crash!*
OW- stupid tab- HEY, HANDS OFF ME!
Tera, you’re acting irrational! Calm down!
>Lay on the tears and cry that he's been like a father to you and how could he betray you like this?
H-How can y-you do this!? Y-you raised me! You w-were my f-family!
That’s exactly why I’m doing this! There others are doomed, but I’ve made a deal… a deal for you! You will be spared! We will be sp-

>Are those hammer considered holy objects? 'Cause if they are then you could grab hit Geron with it.
*SMAK!*
OW!! YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU!! That’s it! No more Mr. Nice guy! Get into the damn secret passage!
Wait, don’t- AAAH!!

Kaktus 2014/08/13(Wed)12:34 No. 589324 ID: 65a774
File 140795844059.png - (7.92KB , 900x450 , 31.png )

Ow…
I… I’m sorry, I don’t know what… are you alright, my pretty little flower?
You threw me down a flight of stairs…
And you hit me in the face with a hammer… either way, I can sense your bone structure and nothing is broken… so everything will be fine… of course, none of this would have happened if you’d been a good girl… but no, women today always has to get it their way. They always think they should be in charge!
…wha-
Your kind are timed and weak, you’re not supposed to decide who or what happens. You are supposed to be good girls and be with the people who help you, not some… transsexual insect!!
…I… are y-you tal-
*Crush*
Oh… oh gods… what am I lying in?
These corridors used the house a mass grave… plague victims of old… now, the only thing remaining is useless bone fragments and eternal grins… not the bedfellows I would have desired for our first embrace but it have to suffice.
…w-wh-Embrace!!?
…you’ve always been such a beautiful, delicate flower… so… weak and helpless… yet… such a gorgeous temple to defile… now, be a good girl and stay still… I don’t want to hurt you any more, my little necromancer… hmmm… heh… maybe it is fitting that we’re surrounded by the dead… being master of it and all… having such a lovely embrace in a bed made out of the very thing we love… don’t you think so?
…Freeze in hell, you son of a b-bitch…
No?

> Oh, man, I almost forgot: Us squids can BITE HIM! EVERYONE, PILE ON! BITE GERON! ENGULF AND BITE THE BASTARD!
…are there mosquitos down here?

Insert The love is dead, they say_ (Also, I feel kind of icky after writing Geron here…)

>>589324
Yep we, need a distraction alright.
[claim Geron]
Mortal. Do not defile this place with your disgusting fleshy urges. Have respect for the dead, or else the dead will be turned against you. This is your only warning.

[message to Rose: There are skeletons EVERYWHERE in here. This is what Blue was talking about!]

Force claim Geron!

[scan everything]

Shit again. Tera, the hammer is in front of you, and there's darkness in front of that- if you move there, he won't be able to see you either.

[message Rose: Tera overturned a goblet and a candlestick and grabbed a hammer symbol before she got dragged through the secret passage. Also, someone put a mass grave in the walls. We may need backup if the necromancer gets any ideas or a wraith shows up. ]

Kaktus 2014/08/13(Wed)14:03 No. 589331 ID: 65a774
File 140796380727.png - (7.61KB , 900x450 , 32.png )

>[message Rose: Tera overturned a goblet and a candlestick and grabbed a hammer symbol before she got dragged through the secret passage.]
[From Rose: A locked door and sign of a struggle will not be hard to pinpoint. We will be there soon.]
>[Also, someone put a mass grave in the walls. We may need backup if the necromancer gets any ideas or a wraith shows up. ]
[…yes, I’ve heard about that. It’s an old mass grave for… plague victims, I believe? Rather gruesome sight, if you ask me… of course, most people doesn’t know about it and sometimes, ignorance is bliss. As for a wraith… those bone are too old a brittle, not to mention rather smashed as it is. The only use they would serve is kindling at this stage, really…]

>Shit again. Tera, the hammer is in front of you, and there's darkness in front of that- if you move there, he won't be able to see you either.
…
>[claim Geron]
[You have Claimed “The Betrayer”!]
>Mortal. Do not defile this place with your disgusting fleshy urges. Have respect for the dead, or else the dead will be turned against you. This is your only warning.
WHAT!? NO! YOU PROMISED TO STOP WHISPERING TO ME, BLUE ONE! YOU PROMISED! I’m trying to do as you asked, so you’ll spare us! Please, give me more time! I need more time so I can finally be with… with… where did you go… Tera? Tera, where are you!? TERA!? No… nonono… it’s almost too late! Please, Tera, I’m trying to save you! SAVE YOU!! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!? THE CITY WILL BURN!!!

Insert Going into the deep end and you can’t swim_

>>589331
Who is the blue one? You're going to die here, fleshbag. YOUR BONES SHALL JOIN OURS.

Tera, you can hear where he is when he steps on the bones. Your hearing is better than his, you are better at dealing with blindness. Lure him into the dark. Beat him senseless. Actually, before you do that, toss a skull at him. He's a bit spooked, maybe we can scare him off so you don't have to risk yourself at all. Well, if you want to, anyway. I wouldn't blame you if you'd rather beat the shit out of him.

The city will be saved, none will burn except for yourself if you do not give up. You may have her 'safety' at heart but all you are about to do is cause pain, she does not want this!

[message rose: we've got him talking- it looks like he was one of blue's pawns. Good call knocking those soldiers out.]

Blue's gone now. You're alone here. With us!

[Message Rose: Apparently, Geron was formerly a pawn of Blue. Contrary to the old pawns of Gray, we don't get a warning for abandoned pawns--just those who were claimed when the player dies, I suppose. We're focused on Geron, but it might be possible for you to--hold on.]
Tera, if possible, we're going to send Rose to talk to you, okay? She might be able to help.
[Focus on The Betrayer, not The Acolyte]
[Message Rose: Okay, you should be able to talk to Tera now. It seems Geron was panicked when he heard voices (Yes, plural! Blue is probably a multiple form like we are) and thought "The Blue One" had returned. He's also saying that "The City Will Burn." This means that Blue either found a very powerful fire mage, will take over Elizah, or has a way of severing the limiters the mages place upon themselves. Combined with the vision we told you about this morning--that of the City indeed being on fire... I don't like this. I can only hope that Durach and/or Morkay have some ice mages in their groups to help put out the fires.]

>>589337
>blue angel
Dude. What? No, Geron is a former pawn of Blue. He was likely claimed when Jericho's mantis associate was still a servant.

I don't know why you're trying to bring him over to our side right now. You should save that until after Tera is safe. Also, two can play at the muffle game.
>all that
[MUFFLE THIS VOICE]

>>589337
Stop projecting our movements and openly giving information to people who who most certainly do not have our best interests at heart and people who are likely insane. Having headvoices ask nicely isn't going to make Geron calm down, and Red is not our ally. His playstyle is 'manipulating', he's not even trustable.

Actually, you know what.
[Revoke previous messages and commands from this voice, excluding the messages to Rose (I'm keeping that!). This clearly means including focusing on Geron, though]
Let's start rewording things to fit more along with the group ideas.
---
Blue? Blue?! Fuck that bastard! We're already hurting him quite a bit but if he's been causing trouble to our little devout Acolyte here through you, then we'll just cause it all the more!
As you can plainly hear, there's quite a bit of zealousness here. You want to be safe? Then stay here, and stop trying to harm the dear Acolyte. We will not have the Necromancers who have stayed true to the teachings be harmed. Return to the teachings and accept your punishment, and you will be spared a horrible fate.

[Check corruption level of "The Betrayer" and echo results to "The Acolyte" and player Pink]

Blue?! BLUE?! You call us by the name of that CRETIN?! That LIAR!? That collaborator with DEMONS?! No, we are NOT him! We are far more and far older than him. And we are here to STOP his actions and save this city!

You have been DECEIVED, Master Geron, by a tool of the very ones who seek to see this city burn and those in it die! By your actions you have made their goal possible; Not the inevitability you were told. But you may still redeem yourself. Tell us all that the Blue One has said and had you do so that we might stop the doom that they would bring. Only by saving this city from doom will you be saved yourself.

And know this: Tera is under our watch and protection. Bring harm to her and our wrath will fall upon your head and you will not live to see another day.

(Whisper to "The Acolyte:" Stay still. Listen for his footsteps in the bones. If he draws near aim for a hard hit to a kneecap first. He could sense your bone structure, so does this mean he can see your skeleton? If so then stay down so he can't distinguish you from from the bone pile. And do you have the same skeletal sense you could use to aim for him?)

[Grant permission for direct control of "The Betrayer" to allied player Rose/Pink] [Message to Rose: We have claimed Geron and granted you permission to directly control him. Please switch to him and if he makes a hostile move attempt to take control and stop him. But if you wish to speak with him to try and keep that from happening, please do.] [Lock follow target to "The Acolyte"] (So we don't inadvertently block Pink.)

[Message to Rose: Geron mistook us for the "Blue One" when we spoke to him and said he's "trying to do as you asked." It's pretty certain he was a pawn of Blue and it looks like Blue is aiding the Dark One, either intentionally or not. From what Geron said it appears he's doing what he's doing so he and Tera would be spared from the doom he believes Blue will bring on the city.]

>[Grant permission for direct control of "The Betrayer" to allied player Rose/Pink]
I think you need to have a loyal pawn to take direct control, actually...
[Check Glossary on this]
And then even if she can take direct control, we know that pawns can fight back against their players. I, personally, don't want to put her in that danger.
[Message Rose: Do you wish to speak with Geron, or Tera? We will focus ourselves upon the other, so that you can speak with the other. Perhaps it will be easier for you to convert Geron back to the Serathian side than us, although we do not have audio support-anything we are supposed to hear is transcribed for us to read, so if you happen to sound like Elizah or Leanah, I would recommend talking to Tera instead.]
[Focus on whichever target is the one Rose did not suggest she talk with]

[Message Rose:] Do we still have that duplicate Elizah head the undead had? It occurs to me that we might be able to raise her as undead to both save that instance of her and get information on what happened in that timeline.

Tera remember that in the dark he's almost as blind as you but you've had your whole life to adjust so your other senses are heightened.

(Whisper to "The Acolyte:" Hold your hand out and we'll summon the Spear of Light to you. If Geron comes in your direction get a good grip and hold the pointy end up at gut level for him to run into, then shove it in if it connects.) [Summon "Spear of Light" to "The Acolyte"]

Kaktus 2014/08/14(Thu)07:37 No. 589401 ID: 65a774
File 140802705744.png - (8.04KB , 900x450 , 33.png )

>[Check corruption level of "The Betrayer" and echo results to "The Acolyte" and player Pink]
[“The Betrayer” is 100% Corrupt!]
>[Check Glossary on direct control]
[Direct control can currently only be done by AI players on weak willed or loyal pawns!]

>[Message Rose:] Do we still have that duplicate Elizah head the undead had? It occurs to me that we might be able to raise her as undead to both save that instance of her and get information on what happened in that timeline.]
[Message from Rose: It’s been boiled and emptied to make it a real trophy. It would be pointless to try and raise it as it wouldn’t be the Princess if we succeeded.]
>[message rose: we've got him talking- it looks like he was one of blue's pawns. Good call knocking those soldiers out.]
[Speaking of Blue, his other pawns are… acting strangely… Ranch or what is name is… the shaman’s son is lying on the floor, begging for the whispering to stop while his other two active pawns are… chanting some weird alien language a few rooms away… it’s… err…. Unsettling to say the least…]
>[it looks like Blue is aiding the Dark One, either intentionally or not. From what Geron said it appears he's doing what he's doing so he and Tera would be spared from the doom he believes Blue will bring on the city.]
[…that would explain the madness that seems to be a theme with his pawns…]
>[Message to Rose: We have claimed Geron and granted you permission to directly control him.]
[I don’t believe I’m strong enough to take control over such a twisted mind, sorry…]
>[Message Rose: Do you wish to speak with Geron, or Tera? We will focus ourselves upon the other, so that you can speak with the other. Perhaps it will be easier for you to convert Geron back to the Serathian side than us]
[I’ll see if I can speak some sense into this Geron… just give me a minute first…]

>The city will be saved, none will burn except for yourself if you do not give up. You may have her 'safety' at heart but all you are about to do is cause pain, she does not want this!
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE WANTS!? What she wants isn’t relevant! She’s a woman! A STUPID WOMAN WHO KNOWS NOTHING! NOTHING!!!
>Blue's gone now. You're alone here. With us!
You’re not the savior!? WHO ARE YOU, DEMON!?
>Blue?! BLUE?! You call us by the name of that CRETIN?! That LIAR!? That collaborator with DEMONS?!
NO! HE’S THE PURE ONE!! YOU’RE THE DEMONS!!!
>You want to be safe? Then stay here, and stop trying to harm the dear Acolyte. We will not have the Necromancers who have stayed true to the teachings be harmed. Return to the teachings and accept your punishment, and you will be spared a horrible fate.
NONONONO! LIES AND… and… deceit… no… it can’t be! You are lying! STOP IT!!!
>Tera is under our watch and protection. Bring harm to her and our wrath will fall upon your head and you will not live to see another day.
I will not harm her! I will save her! It might hurt a bit at first but when she comes back… she will never be in pain again… and she will be so obedient… she will be a good girl… a perfect girl… Tera… please…

>(Tera remember that in the dark he's almost as blind as you but you've had your whole life to adjust so your other senses are heightened.)
(…Stay in the darkness… if only I knew where the darkness was…)
NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!
>(Whisper to "The Acolyte:" Stay still. Listen for his footsteps in the bones.)
(I can hear his breath… his heavy, disgusting breath…)
PINK! BLOOD! YOU’RE WITH THE BLOOD GOD, PINK! CORRUPTED!!!
>(Actually, toss a skull at him.)
AAH!!! …oh… oh, it’s just you… Tera… please… I’m sorry… here… let me make it right… just… just come out of the darkness and give me a hug…
…
…I…I’m sorry… I… I’m coming Tera… please… give me a-
>(Whisper to "The Acolyte:" Hold your hand out and we'll summon the Spear of Light to you. If Geron comes in your direction get a good grip and hold the pointy end up at gut level for him to run into, then shove it in if it connects.)
*Urgh*
…die, you bastard…
*Gasp* …T-Tera… no… *cough*… … … …
…I… I just killed s-someone… and… and it felt good?

Insert The first one is always the hardest_

...What? If he's dead, why would he have a look of glee?
[Scan Geron, echo to Tera]
Tera, please get out of there.

>I… I just killed s-someone… and… and it felt good?
Relief, a release of fear, and panic and anger. A threat gone. Giving someone dangerous or crazy what they deserved. Putting down someone broken or damaged beyond the ability to talk down or fix. Pride at success, in overcoming an opponent, the drive to survive realized. And then there's the old primal, instincts. The ones that drive people to conflict, and find pleasure in it.

There's all kinds of emotions at play that could lead to it feeling good, even if you've thought killing was a terrible thing. You're probably affected by more than one. It's nothing to be ashamed of, or panic over, or to go questioning your whole worldview over. It's just... what it is. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sorry, Terra.

Tera, Geron's expression right now is happy, almost gleeful. Why...? Oh, shit. Is this one of those things where his death was the final step in his plan, spell, ritual or something? Dammit! Tera, get out of here quick. The stairs are about ten steps ahead of you so just follow the wall. Leave the Spear; If Geron's death triggers some kind of daemonic magic then having a weapon that counters daemonic power in his corpse might disrupt it. As soon as you get up the stairs start yelling for Temrock.

Please don't remember Geron as he was today. That was the corruption twisting him, making him insane. And if our worry about his death triggering something is wrong then we'll have his body collected so he can be raised ASAP. His death should have cleared the corruption so he'll mentally be back to his old self once he's raised. We'll still have servant binding runes installed at first just to be safe and also so we know he's telling the truth since we want to question him to find out just what he did for Blue.

[Message to Pink: Geron had a happy expression when he died, so that might be 'cause his death will trigger something bad for us. Assuming it doesn't, or if it does and doesn't destroy his body, we should collect his corpse and raise him ASAP so he can be questioned. Just with servant runes installed at first for safety and to make sure he's telling the truth.]

[Message to Pink: Tell Temrock we're going to need him to follow this secret passage and find whatever hidden hole Geron was working in; Bring lanterns, a skilled necromancer to make sense of Geron's work and maybe Tera as well. And tell him to not take the Spear of Light from Geron's corpse; We don't know whether or not it's keeping some ritual or spell triggered on his death from activating.]

[Message to Pink: It sounds like Blue's pawns are performing a daemonic ritual of some sort and the target is likely Recho. We need to knock them out or silence them right away but try to do so without killing them; Their deaths might be part of the ritual or power it or something, similar to that cultist who offered up his life to bring the Dark One to Then'dranil. Try to disrupt them with knockout gas, tranq darts, a blow to the head, or anything else before lethal force.]

[Message to Pink: We're going to attempt to seize Recho from Blue, but after claiming Geron we don't know if we have enough "claim power" to do so. Could you aid us in this in some way? Even if you can't we'll still try to. We'll need to get both our and your pawns in position for it. Recho was placed in a room with a peephole or similar so he could be watched is secret while questioned, right? We'll need Ilbir and one of your pawns watching him from there; Blue wanted us to bring our pawns near him, so we don't want him to see them if possible. If Jer is up and about get him just outside the door to Recho's room so we can bring him in with the Spear of Light if we need it or magic support. And place another of your pawns out there if you have one to spare. Oh, and make sure to keep Kranhon and any other free pawns you know of away from Blue's pawns. We'll switch to Ilbir now.]

Sorry, Tera, but we have to leave. Blue is doing something to Durach's son and we have to try and take him from Blue before it's too late. [Switch to "The Scholar"]

[Check "Claim power" level] [Check all pawn and player corruption levels] [Check pawn status]

[Help system query: Can allied players transfer their "claim power" from one to another or otherwise use it to aid an allied player in claiming a pawn or seizing a pawn from a player?]

>>589401
Dangit, we'll have to get the Spear back to Durach after this.

[message to Rose: Alright, he's dead, and Tera is still fine. We'll leave the rest to Temrock. As for Blue's pawns... um... you MIGHT want to shoot them with tranquilizer darts or outright kill them. Whatever they're doing, it can't be good. We need to claim Recho to get him out of Blue's control, now. Who's nearby?]
[switch to whoever is closest to Recho- taking the view of one of Pink's pawns will work.]

Tera, just sortof stick around. Temrock will be arriving shortly to retrieve you.

>…I… I just killed s-someone… and… and it felt good?
The way he was rambling about the voices, how only he was pure, and the fact that he was completely corrupted... you may have done him a favor. In any case, you probably shouldn't stay here.

[summon spear to 'the Shaman']
[message rose: It looks like you can forget about talking sense into Geron. Alright, we have to keep moving- we'll grab Recho, you try to shut those soldiers up. ]