Kaktus 2014/02/13(Thu)11:06 No. 562384 ID: 549d6c
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*Snore*
*Humming*

*Knock*Knock*

Hello? Who’s there?
It’s just me, my lord. I’m here to pick up the Prince for his training.
…one second and I’ll wake him up.
Nono… let us. We have a bucket of cold water for just that purpose with us… and a bucket of warm water to heat him up a bit.
…oh gods, what’s that smell!?
Why, it’s the third bucket. The… motivation, so to speak. Now, please unlock the door quietly and leave, if you so please. This might get a bit messy.
Mmm… Jer… *Snore*

Insert In this episode of Rust… Is Tera pregnant with Thaarks child? Is princess Elizah actually a man? Is the sultan secretly an alien spy!? Find out after these massages…_

oh hey we just came from the future... shit is going to go down as in the whole desert is going to be erased and no one could give us a straight fucking answer on how that happened so we kinda raged quit. how are you doing?

...please tell me this is an approved part of the training he signed up for and not just some terrible prank.

After that, you should probably clear out.

[Check current status of future pawns]

Yay, we're back! We missed you, Jericho! We went on an unexpected temporal excursion to the Northlands after we left you and Eliraz. Well, technically we were with Durach at Deadhollow Pass shortly then went on the excursion.

We need to check some things before we can explain further. First: [Check pawn status] Second: Jer, what's today's date? When we shifted we went first to the 23rd of the 3rd month of Thane’s season, year 3996, then to the 19th of the 1st month of Siegfried’s season, year 3995 for a little bit before coming back here. Um, you'll probably need to get something to convert those to the Serath calendar.

Whisper through the keyhole that you just need to get the books off the floor before letting them in. Don't want the "motivation" to spatter on them as Eliraz goes past, do you? Then, just to be safe, wait down the hall to make sure they're taking Eliraz where you'd expect.

So, um, how did your first time with Eliraz go? I hope more things went right than wrong.

>>562383
Aaaand we're back. You would not believe where we've been, Jericho. And when. We went off into the frozen north, 9 months in the future.

This sounds like part of the training. In that case you should support whatever methods he uses.

>>562388
I'm pretty sure the nonsense about the desert being "gone" means it's gonna turn into a grassland or something because the rains will return.

Looks like we are finally back, back from the future. It's wicked cool, they got airships and everything.

Kaktus 2014/02/13(Thu)13:44 No. 562408 ID: 549d6c
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>[Check pawn status]
[“The pebble”: Normal. “The Thief”: Sleeping. “The acolyte”: Bored. “The scholar”: Changing the world. “The warrior”: Sleeping, Horny. “The Shaman”: Executing Exodus.]
>[Check current status of future pawns]
[You’ve yet connected to the pawns you will connect to in the future of the past.]

>oh hey we just came from the future... shit is going to go down as in the whole desert is going to be erased and no one could give us a straight fucking answer on how that happened so we kinda raged quit. How are you doing?
Wha- huh? Um… hello to you too, voices? Err… what do you mean, “erased”? …and future?
>I'm pretty sure the nonsense about the desert being "gone" means it's gonna turn into a grassland or something because the rains will return.
Oh… well, Ilbir said something about this place used to be a jungle in the ancient times.
>It's wicked cool, they got airships and everything.
How the hell do you sail in the air? I find that very unlikely to happen.
>Get the books off the floor before letting them in. Don't want the "motivation" to spatter on them as Eliraz goes past, do you?
Oh, right, the books… better remove them.
>So, um, how did your first time with Eliraz go? I hope more things went right than wrong.
Err… well… um… it w-wasn’t really… um… I don’t think it was really… “first time” so to speak… we didn’t really… he… he does know how to use his tongue and… I never thought it would feel nice to… err… I guess he did finish himself off and… um… let’s not discuss this further, alright?

>Jer, what's today's date?
(Err… I don’t know? I’ve never really… wait…) Um… what date is it today?
Today? It’s the 12th of Eranos, 3995.
…is the 1st month of Siegfried far away?
…that’s the northern calendar, isn’t it? Why, it would be the 12th of the first month of Siegfried if you go after that one. Now, please open up before he wakes up.
>...please tell me this is an approved part of the training he signed up for and not just some terrible prank.
He is the Prince of this country. His very protective mother is my boss. What do you think, lad??
>In that case you should support whatever methods he uses.
Thank you… now, time to wake up sleeping beauty, eh lad?
*Splash!*
OH GODS, COLDCOLDCOL-
*Splash!*
HOTHOTHOTHO-
*Sploorghee...!*
… *hgn*…Oh gods… *HGN*… Oh- *BARF!!*
WAKE UP, SLEEPY HEAD! It’s time for your training! Don’t worry, the servants will clean this mess up… of course, we don’t know yet if you’ll be alive to see it, lad!
*Cough* Eh…?

>you should probably clear out.
Well, that was… a bit… yeah… so, you were in the future? How were things? Did I look any different? How about the rest, how are they in the future? And… err… what should I do? It’s rather early… sun hasn’t even come up yet.

Insert Training from hell and outer space… and back…_

Suggestion 2014/02/13(Thu)13:48 No. 562410 ID: dbe554

We were so far in the future you and everyone were gone. So we couldn't comment on your fates.

We actually had an entirely different group of pawns, starting with an amnesiac northman and a different group.

>>562408
Well we heard "the new Sultan" was on his/her way to the north, but we couldn't get anyone to tell us any details about anything! I can't imagine that being coincidence. I think we're being protected somehow from having knowledge about future/past events that we can influence, so things don't get all weird. It's too bad we can't reach the northlands in a week, because that's where one of our pawns is right now about to get in trouble in a ruin of some sort.

Ilbir is doing something important right now. Hmm, maybe we should go talk to him soon. Tera is currently awake and bored if you want to visit her, and of course there's Artemis right there.

>Don’t worry, the servants will clean this mess up
Be thankful that isn't you anymore.

>what happens in the future
Unfortunately, we were too far away from Serath to gather any relevant information on you guys.

Jer, we weren't with you, or anybody from here, in the future Northlands. Instead our king while we were there was a Windwalker named Bradford who'd had a brush with a daemon about a month before and lost his memories.

Now, don't take this as meaning that you met your demise. We may not have been able to connect because our future selves were still linked to you. However, we were told that a daemon came before the sky fell in the Serath and that more than one player lost their king then. I'm hoping we were not one of them.

From what we heard we did succeed in saving the Serath lands, and the Serath Sultinate was entering a golden age of technological and cultural advancement. That airship we mentioned bringing the new sultan to the Northlands was a Serath one. We also heard that the new sultan was a young girl, so I assume that's Elizah, meaning Leanah either stepped down, or, more likely, met her end.

There's a lot more. An undead plague was spreading down from the highest of the mountains in the Pillars of the Heavens, turning the dead into regenerating "super" undead in thrall to some daemonic force. There was daemon cults and cultists popping up in the last nine months, as well as an aggressive new order of paladins called the Order of Light in opposition to them. We actually met their deity, The Light, who prefers to be called "Steve." From Him we learned that a war against the daemons had just started, what happened on this continent was merely a flank of it, and the real fight is happening across the Great Sea.

Then we jumped to a week from now, to a guide leading Professor Varius up the highest Pillar of the Heavens. Varius was there to find a ziggurat built thousands of years ago and sealed by the gods as a bulwark against the incursion of incomprehensible all-devouring beings into this world; Presumably they're what we call "daemons." We jumped back here just as Varius and the guide entered it.

As for what to do right now, go see what Artemis is doing, and maybe get Tera; Our status for her is "bored," and I'm wondering why she's awake at this hour. Then visit Professor Varius' office at the Academy and see if you can get his notes and such. I want to find out what his intentions are for going to that ziggurat on the Pillar of the Heavens.

Oh, and there was a guard who appeared to have suffered brain damage from exposure to the wraith from the mummy. His state is similar to those who have been too close to a daemon and I'd like to get his life essence/soul checked for damage or corruption. I suspect it's the same or similar to the ones from the future Northlands.

Wait a second... Ilbir's status is "changing the world?" ...Jer, I think you should plan to be at the city gates to meet him when he arrives. He was given a mysterious package from the elder of the Sky Watcher tribe to deliver to "the person who needs it" and I believe that's you. Oh, and bring Tera along so she can take part in reattaching and reanimating Kranhon's severed tongue.

Also, make a note to do something special for Eliraz after his training is done for the day, 'cause he's gonna feel like he got caught in a stampede. A bath will definitely be part of it, along with a massage from the harem. Find out what his favorite

Well everyone seems to have filled in the important things but on thing I think I should mention is that when we asked about the outcome of the war between the royal family and the Tribals the only answer we got was that the fighting here was only just beginning and like everything else there no one could or would elaborate on what the hell that meant... also later we should send a message to pink saying we're going to appear somewhere in the future with no idea what the hell is going on so if she hears from us asking what happened since now to then that's us just finding out we can travel time and not us going full retard.

Kaktus 2014/02/14(Fri)07:29 No. 562526 ID: 549d6c
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>Be thankful that isn't you anymore.
And I’m grateful they were both undead with a lack of smell and gag reflex.
>Unfortunately, we were too far away from Serath to gather any relevant information on you guys.
Bummer.
>We were told that a daemon came before the sky fell in the Serath and that more than one player lost their king then. I'm hoping we were not one of them.
That’s not ominous at all, is it?
>We also heard that the new sultan was a young girl, so I assume that's Elizah, meaning Leanah either stepped down, or, more likely, met her end.
Hmm… maybe I should tell the Sultan this…
>Make a note to do something special for Eliraz after his training is done for the day, 'cause he's gonna feel like he got caught in a stampede. A bath will definitely be part of it, along with a massage from the harem.
Yes, I definitely need to come up with something to do for him… also as a thank you for yesterday…
>Wait a second... Ilbir's status is "changing the world?" ...Jer, I think you should plan to be at the city gates to meet him when he arrives.
Err… I’m pretty sure he arrived two hours ago… he’s probably asleep… but… um… you can’t really change the world when asleep, can you?
>Oh, and there was a guard who appeared to have suffered brain damage from exposure to the wraith from the mummy.
I have no idea where he is, though.

>As for what to do right now, go see what Artemis is doing.
OH, HI JER! Have you made little lizards wi-
No, and stop asking that… please. It’s not polite.
If you say so Jer… hey, do you know where there are any books about daemons? I’ve already read every book on the subject in the library here.
Already? That was fast!
Not really… there was only three books that wasn’t fiction.
>Maybe get Tera; Our status for her is "bored," and I'm wondering why she's awake at this hour.
Hey, Artemis, do you know where Tera is?
Oh, she’s with that tiny man’s love bug. She has to keep watch over him sleeping after they put his tongue back. Hmm… if tiny man dances with bug does that make tiny bug or more tiny men?
…Artemis, go read a book about the snakes and the nests… and then I mean reproduction… as in sexual reproduction… “Dancing” as you called it.
Artemis will become a master of these snakes!
Insert Remember, she is a lady with a snake called Pliskin_

Tell Artemis to also read any books she can find on etiquette so we can cut down on how often we have to tell her something she just said is rude. We could check some book store's on the upper districts for books on daemons as that knowledge will be useful and we can share it with Artemis so she can obtain her dream of being called Master B4T3, we'll have to ask if we can call her Bate to simplify pronouncing that.

Suggest that Artemis vist the Academy to continue her study on daemons. Their library might have more non-fiction books on them, there may be academics there who study the subject she could talk to, and I suspect that Professor Varius was doing research related to daemons, so his notes might help as well. She's probably going to need an official sealed note to get their cooperation, though. Perhaps the sultan could help there.

How about visiting Leanah to ask what kind of special thing you could do for Eliraz. She's probably the best one to ask what would make him feel better after today. Then you could bring up that we took a trip to the future and back and tell her what we told you. Then she could ask any questions of us she'd like.

If Ilbir's sleeping I wonder why his status is "changing the world" and "sleeping" wasn't listed at all. Eh, we'll find out what that was about when we meet him later.

>>562526
Ask her what she found out about demons from the books.

You should probably check up on Ilbir. They brought back the son of a guy who knew Horus, so he can be a line of communication between the Serath and the Nomads. We've got a common enemy in the demons, so maybe we can convince both sides to not murder each other long enough to stop the end of the world.

Kaktus 2014/02/14(Fri)11:10 No. 562541 ID: 549d6c
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>How about visiting Leanah to ask what kind of special thing you could do for Eliraz.
I have to remember doing that later.
>Ask her what she found out about demons from the books.
OH! There wasn’t much about them in today’s world but a lot of text from the ancient one! Like… there was this big war when they was all like pow powie kablowie rawr we’ll eat your pain and then this guy said he liked grapes better and they helped built a few stair buildings and the other guys said a few word that made all these guys trapped somewhere else including this guy who liked grapes even though he and his friends helped them trap the others with the help of a candle! Cool, huh?
…I suddenly realized having someone with a mind of a child doing research might not have been the wisest decision. Where are the books now?
I gave it to this guy with a mask. He asked if he should see them. I don’t know where he went with them, though.

>Tell Artemis to also read any books she can find on etiquette so we can cut down on how often we have to tell her something she just said is rude.
Yay! I’ll be master of etiquette!
>Suggest that Artemis vist the Academy to continue her study on daemons.
Oh! They are sure to have an even bigger library!
>She's probably going to need an official sealed note to get their cooperation, though.
Actually, I got my own seal now when I’m royalty. I’ll just make a quick trip back to my room and I’ll make something official looking. Besides, she’s a golem, I’m sure they are dying for a chance to study her moving around.

>You should probably check up on Ilbir.
Ilbir, you’re a genius!
…by making a flying basket?
This is just a test design. I’ve already drawn blueprints of bigger ones… big enough to carry people… fueled by magic itself. Imagine, ship sailing the air instead of the seas! Quite amazing, isn’t it?
Quite… so, you just… know how to make flying basket all the sudden?
It came to me in a dream, really… I know it sounds a bit cheesy but… when I was on my way home this… light embraced me in my dream and… I just knew.
>They brought back the son of a guy who knew Horus, so he can be a line of communication between the Serath and the Nomads.
Hmmm? Oh him… he’s still unconscious. Doc said he would wake up any minute, though.

Insert But… where is the balloon!? I WAS PROMISED A BALLOON, DAMMIT!_

you know Ilbir hot air works as well, it's light then the air around it so if you can contain it it lets whatever is holding it float. if you can have a flame to turn on at the driver or whoever's command it can add more hot air into the container letting it rise even higher and if you put a hole in the top that can be open and closed at will it also let's you release some of the hot air so you can go lower as well. As for how to make it move other then just up and down and not be at the mercy of the wind you could add propellers (basically giant fans) to create an air current to push you forward and if you can add some kind of rudder you can even steer as well.

Also we just got back from the future and yes your flying machine is a great hit, yes we actually met the light guy (he likes to go by Steve and has his own religion), and no it was the near future so no kick ass super gadgets yet or ground braking magical stuff other then some undead coming from the world towers that can regenerate and are going on a killing spree. Oh and don't bother asking about what happens in this war with the tribals, all the people we asked didn't know and the ones that did only gave vague answers because fuck them.

Ilbir, do you know about the ancient daemon war? If so, then could you give us a quick summary of it? We asked Artemis about it, since we had her do research on daemons, but her summary was... less clarifying than we would have liked.

So, is that floating effect directly fueled by magic or is it indirect such as heating air and capturing it in the basket? And how were you planning to move the airship forward? Using just sails and the wind or through some form of powered propulsion?

Ilbir, you might be interested in this: I had an idea earlier to use fire magic to create updrafts for a one-man glider by heating the air ahead of it and keep it aloft. That'd be great for messengers, scout units, and any other small unit that needs to move fast, and would work especially well over the desert at night.

Jer, I believe Ilbir has a delivery for you from the elder of the Sky Watcher tribe. At least, we think that it was their elder who gave it to him and it was meant for you. Ilbir, you still got that package from the crazy lizard?

Unless the librarians here wear masks I'm guessing that guy Artemis gave the books to was our mysterious Masked Man. I wonder why he showed up to take them. To remove them from play for some reason?

We're also gonna have to hammer out Artemis' legal status at some point. I'd rather not see her classed as "furniture" or any other form of property.

After we're done here we should go visit the Durach's son and see if he's woken up yet.

>>562542
Technically hot air is simply less dense, which makes it lighter per unit of volume.

I don't know why we didn't think of introducing hot air balloons to you folks, it should've been an obvious leap in technology. Hmm, what else can we do with fire and ice? Pasteurization? FYI that's almost-boiling milk for a while so that it kills most of the germs inside it, then cooling it quickly and keeping it cooled so that the germs take a long time to repopulate. This can be done with all sorts of liquids that are vulnerable to spoilage.

Oh, steam engines could work. Ilbir, if you heat up water in a contained vessel, the steam produced is at high pressure, and you can release the steam to cause motion in attached devices. For instance, with the proper piping and mechanisms you could make the steam rotate a wheel or propeller. Oh wait, you guys don't have the water to spare for that, nevermind. Maybe later.

Oh Ilber, in case you weren't informed the Golem head built itself a body out of some bricks when we left it unsupervised so we apologize that you won't be able to watch it do that and take notes. Also we've been a few months to the future and some sort of flying ship is already in use here in fact the next Sultan will be using it on a diplomatic mission to the north. We don't have any direct confirmation that it was made by you but how many people here could be simultaneously working on the same technological marvel. Also that daemon thing is worrying so any information you can give us about daemons would be great.

Kaktus 2014/02/14(Fri)14:25 No. 562574 ID: 549d6c
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>Oh Ilber, in case you weren't informed the Golem head built itself a body.
Yes, very interesting, but it has to wait. I’m too busy with this.
>Hot air balloons.
Actually, I know for a fact that they’ve already made some prototype balloons down in the academy. Man, are they going to be pissed when they found out what I’ve invented.
>Steam engines could work.
What, sir? You would make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense. Now, referencing people that don’t actually exist in my world aside, haven’t you notice we’re running low on something quite vital for that? You now, water?
>How were you planning to move the airship forward?
Why, by manipulating a rune like this! Weee! Look at it go!
Hey, watch it! You might poke so- OW!
Sorry. Anyway, as you saw… it’s extremely quick and agile. Why just think, if we only should make a ship sturdy enough to take the ocean winds we should be able to just fly right over the great sea!

>We're also gonna have to hammer out Artemis' legal status at some point.
Yea, good luck with that. We already consider other people furniture so you’ll have a hard time convincing anyone that the actual furniture is people.
>We just got back from the future an-
Nanana! No spoiling! …unless it saves my life… or the life on someone I hold dear… or saving lives in general.
>Ilbir, do you know about the ancient daemon war?
That old myth? Why, it is said that when the world came to peace in the old age, kind of like our world was before the Great War started across the great sea... Anyway, demonic beings began bursting forth from another world to create suffering to consume and some other beings came called the light bringers. They fought a bunch before humanity helped the light bringers construct a bunch of cages or something and locked away the demons forever… err… until now. Then there was something about stale bread doesn’t taste as great as a grape but is more filling? Hmm… I really need to re-read about that… You know, you should ask the expert in the academy… Varius, I believe he is called.
>Jer, I believe Ilbir has a delivery for you from the elder of the Sky Watcher tribe.
Oh, right… I got it right… here… um… where is it? …and where is my wallet!?

Insert Soon he’ll find the primed grenade I left there_

>>562574
Oh. Oh no. Ilbir when did you last have your wallet? Did we send Grey's new king over the seas before then? ...maybe Grey has another pawn in the palace somewhere. Or maybe it's some other thief entirely. Regardless we gotta figure out when it was stolen and by whom.

I think Varius is across the great sea right now try to explore those cages the deamons were sealed in.

Also it might not be grey, it could be the masked guy as well since he took those books against deamons from Artemis. And let me tell you I am just loving how people are fucking limiting our god damn knowledge so they can manipulate us. Seriously it's an old trick, keep all information you don't want them to know away from them, give them on select information in just small enough amounts they don't really learn anything from it but at the same time just enough to gain there trust. Then with the information you do give them you have it paint an arrow for them to follow so they do what you want them to do.

...Gods' dammit. If it turns out Gray and her pawn came back and did this after we explicitly told her to get the hell out of the Serath Kingdom then their lives are forfeit. No third chances!

Ilbir, when and where do you last remember having the package or your wallet, where did you pass through after that point and who was around you? I'm thinking that if we can narrow down the time and place then maybe Thuul can pick up the thief's trail.

You think you could you stick that flight magic on something like a knockout gas canister, then send it zooming over the enemy ranks with an open valve to gas them? I ask because we're in need of non-lethal weapons since the daemon cultists' power seems to flow from spilled blood and death; Both theirs and others. And since they've infiltrated the tribes we have no idea which ones are safe to kill. In fact anything more than skirmish right now could end up summoning a daemon.

We actually wanted to speak to Varius about the wraith possessions here, but he left on an expedition to the Northlands a few days ago. We'd talk to Varius' apprentice, except the apprentice's corpse turned up at the Academy yesterday, having been dead for a few days. We do know Varius will be high up the side of the tallest Pillar of the Heavens in a week, entering one of the light bringers' cage-ziggurats, because we jumped to the guide who led him up the mountain right before jumping back here, but that doesn't help us now. The best we could hope for right now is searching Varius' office for his research notes.

>>562579
I reluctantly have to agree. It's looking like we're getting cut off and channeled by the Masked Man. And since Steve is buddies with the Masked Man, anything He said is suspect, along with whatever the Archbishop said. That throws everything we heard from them into question, including all we heard about the fate of the Serath. It could all be an elaborate deception.

What the hell happened to that statue?

>No spoiling! …unless it saves my life… or the life on someone I hold dear… or saving lives in general.
How about if the desert disappears entirely and we loose all contact with you, with heavy implications of spreading demonic corruption and an undead apocalypse? Because if so then yeah that all happened. Will happen. Whatever.

Kaktus 2014/02/15(Sat)08:53 No. 562655 ID: 549d6c
File 139248319230.png - (18.85KB , 900x450 , 7.png )

>What the hell happened to that statue?
Someone ransacked the study yesterday, remember?
>It's looking like we're getting cut off and channeled by the Masked Man.
…hmm, I really want to know what that guy stake is in all this.

>Oh. Oh no. Ilbir when did you last have your wallet?
Last I remember I used it to tip the caravan leader before heading off from Then’dranil, the Keer harbor city...
>Did we send Grey's new king over the seas before then?
Ilbir wasn’t even here when we sent him away.
>Regardless we gotta figure out when it was stolen and by whom.
It should just have been some random pickpocket seeing the opportunity to get some extra cash. It would be impossible to find whoever stole this by now… I’m sorry, Jer, but it looks like your package is a goner.
>You think you could you stick that flight magic on something like a knockout gas canister, then send it zooming over the enemy ranks with an open valve to gas them?
Hmm… a weapon? Yes… a kind of… attack thrall… that would work… Thank you, now I have something interesting to work on.

>The best we could hope for right now is searching Varius' office for his research notes.
Right… so, my to do list is: Talk to the Sultan, prepare something for Eliraz, go find the shamans son, talk with Tera, ransack Varius office, start with today’s magic training at the academy, find more information about this war… give that masked guy a blue eye… am I forgetting anything?
You know… this masked guy reminds me about one of the characters in the fictional account of the war.
So, you know who he is?
Not really, the only thing I remember is that he ate a lot of grapes… of course, you can probably ask someone in the academy about the war. The expert might not be there but I’m sure there will be one or two students just dying for gushing about something like this to a person of your stature.
Ugh… I’ve got a lot to do today… things was easier when you only had two things to do every day… eat and survive…
The “curse” of being royalty, eh?

Ow! How are you expecting me to- this is impossible!?
Giving up already, you coward? Ha, I knew you were just like your sister, still sucking at your mother’s teat! This training was a waste of time, wasn’t it? Can’t train a weakling like this…
S-shut up! I’ll show you, you hairy bastard!

Insert Cursed with awesome_

eh we'll be there to help... assuming time traveling shenanigans, or being randomly pulled to someone else stays to a minim.

Also can you see the prince outside through the window? if so who's he doing?

Jericho, a touch of ice magic on the basket, if you'd please. Ilbir, I trust you'll get such serious glitches worked out right quick. How soon do you think you can get a one or two rider prototype ready for test runs?

Okay, we'll have to get creative with your scheduling and do some delegation. Unfortunately our choices for who to delegate to is limited today. Unless I'm mistaken, Ilbir, Eliraz and Tera are going to be busy, leaving only Thaark free. But I think we can work with that.

Write up and seal an official note for Thaark declaring that he's your agent and have it delivered to him. That'll grant him the authority to go where and do what we need him to do today.

Next write a note to the sultan asking her what would make Eliraz feel better after today and if she could write that up and have it sent to you while you're at the Academy so you could arrange whatever it is for him. Also add that we have some things we need to tell her and ask if she could schedule Thaark in for a short audience so we can. We don't actually need you there for that, Jer.

Jer, you head to the Academy and check out Varius' office before starting training. Hopefully Artemis will have gathered a satisfactory level of info on the ancient war by the time you're done training, but if not then you'll have to do it yourself.

Meanwhile we'll get Thaark up to the palace with Thuul to check in on their buddy Theen. Then Thaark can have a talk with Tera, followed by a visit to Durach's son so we can have a chat with him, and finally meet with the sultan.

Oh, and you forgot "investigating the royal crypts," Jer. We were planning for Eliraz to do it, but he's gonna be tied up all day and dead tired afterwards. We'll pencil it in after the Academy and before returning to the palace, but we probably will have to push it off to overnight after everybody else is asleep.

And I guess for now we'll just have to give up on finding that package. Honestly, it might not even have been meant for you, Jer. The elder pretty much didn't say who it was for, so we just figured it was for you. For all we know it was supposed to end up in the pickpocket's hands, or that it was a test that we could be trusted not to rip it open right away. Now I'm wishing we had opened it.

>a kind of… attack thrall
Oh boy. We just invented drone warfare. Great.

>>562655
Jericho, don't forget we can delegate. We have other pawns to undertake these tasks, you're just the first one to be awake really. I guess we can have Tera talk to the shaman's son since she's awake and bored. That clears up two items in your task list. Ransacking Varius's office could be done by Thaark once he wakes up.

>>562697
Tera's gonna be busy? With what?

Kaktus 2014/02/15(Sat)14:09 No. 562744 ID: 549d6c
File 139250216211.png - (28.18KB , 900x450 , 8.png )

>Jericho, a touch of ice magic on the basket, if you'd please. Ilbir, I trust you'll get such serious glitches worked out right quick.
Of course. I’m not going to make the bigger prototypes out of something as flammable as this. It does generate a lot of heat, after all.
>How soon do you think you can get a one or two rider prototype ready for test runs?
A month or two… a few weeks if we’re lucky.

>Can you see the prince outside through the window? if so who's he doing?
…I hope you mean what and not who... as for WHAT he’s doing he’s... err… climbing a pillar with his bare hands while wearing weights? …Hey, the soldiers around him are sabotaging him in secret! Those jerks!
>Okay, we'll have to get creative with your scheduling and do some delegation.
Right… royalty… I can do stuff like that now…
>Tera's gonna be busy? With what?
Well, Artemis did say she was watching over Kranhon… dunno how long she’ll have to do that.
>You forgot "investigating the royal crypts," Jer.
…investigate the what now? Err… I’ll put it on my to-do list.

>Write up and seal an official note for Thaark declaring that he's your agent and have it delivered to him.
Done… I think… on another note, I really need to work on my handwriting… and spelling…
>Next write a note to the sultan asking her what would make Eliraz feel better after today and if she could write that up and have it sent to you. Also add that we have some things we need to tell her and ask if she could schedule Thaark in for a short audience so we can.
Done and done…
>we'll get Thaark up to the palace with Thuul to check in on their buddy Theen. Then Thaark can have a talk with Tera, followed by a visit to Durach's son so we can have a chat with him, and finally meet with the sultan.
Sounds like a plan… wow, you guys are great at structuring a schedule! I’m almost done already!

>Jer, you head to the Academy and check out Varius' office before starting training.
(Let’s go! …and I just realized I have no idea where the academy is…)
Hey, Jerry, my man! Ha, just like the letter said!
Huh? Letter?
Yea, I got this package in the mail this morning. It had this really weird letter telling me to meet a purple clad mummy right here on the square and give it to him… oh, and that I should keep the dried apricots for myself that came with it. Oh, hey, I was supposed to train you today, right?
Err… yes?
Right, let’s get started right away. Make a small flame… and encase it in some un-melting ice.
Um… should I really cast both magic in the open like this and… start right away?
Don’t worry, you’re with us now. Just do the magic… and keep it floating around you… lower your arm… just imagine that you have your arm outstretched and… just keep it floating.
…and now?
Keep it floating for as long as you can. In an hour or two you’ll start getting a headache.
Right… so keep it going until I get an headache.
…and then take half an hour break and start over. Keep doing this until dinner and you’ll be done with you training for today. Now… I believe they are selling some really good chocolate dipped bugs somewhere around here…
…keep it floating… imagine you’re guiding it with your hand and… wait, what was I doing? Oh, right! The package!
Hmmm? Wops, completely slipped my mind, Jerry… here.
…thank you… hmm, there’s a not note here: “Dear Erthil Trustgiver, do exactly what this letter says or you’ll get cursed for stealing this package and wallet from that dwarf.” …and then there’s a bunch of instruction about sending this to the Magus and the wallet back to Ilbir… “PS: Keep the coin that’s left over… go two streets to the right and find the human selling a jewel shaped like a insect, your girlfriend would like that.”
Yea, yea, that was probably directed to whoever had the package before us. Now open it up, man.
…another letter and… dried apricots?
Oh! Those are mine!
“Dear Jericho, three stones. One is close to your heart, the other in the hand of your ancestor Elitrin, last one is three doves east of the city. XOXO A friend”… “PS: Yes, I need to be cryptic! Other people is reading this too, you know… sheez, once upon a time we oracles was respected for our cryptic messages but now? Kids today…”
…right, that was weird. Anyway, keep that magic going and I’ll see you later… I got bugs covered in chocolate to find… hmm… maybe I should find some “bigger” bugs covered in chocolate tonight~

Insert Welp, that’s a club I want to visit…_

>>562744
Hopefully "Elitrin" is just referring to the statue in the courtyard, and not his actual body. The stone on the end of the statue's staff is about the right size to hide a keystone. Otherwise, time to head on down to the crypts.

As for the other hint... I'm not sure what exactly a Dove is (you people and your birds!) so we'll have to investigate that later.

That's some top notch oracling right there! If we knew where the Sky Watcher tribe was I'd say send the elder a gift basket. Perhaps one of Ilbir's flying ones.

Well, this kind of training certainly frees up your schedule. I was expecting something more high-impact like yesterday. Lets continue on to the Academy.

I do worry you about your ability to keep concentration on your magic while reading, 'cause there's going to be a lot of reading once we reach the Academy. May as well check right now by looking in your book of prophecy for any new entries.

You ever try chocolate before, Jer? If not then you ought to, as well as white chocolate. Buy a bit of each before leaving the market. Maybe get a bag of those chocolate dipped bugs the magus was talking about if you can spot the stall selling them.

Now for the cryptic message. "One close to your heart" appears obvious; You've got two key stones next to it right now. However, it may refer to the heart the temple removed while turning you into a mummy. We'll have to find out where they disposed of it. Other than that possibility I have no clue.

"In the hand of your ancestor Elitrin" is also obvious, though Sultan Elitrin was technically cousin to your ancestor, Esiros. There's two possibilities I see here. One is the statue of Elitrin in the palace courtyard. It's holding a staff with a knob on the end that could be a disguised key stone. The other, more likely one, is that it's with Elitrin's remains in the royal crypt. We can have Thaark take a look at the statue and you can check Elitrin's tomb when you visit the crypt.

"Three doves east of the city" is not so obvious, but I think it refers to what Thaark said shortly after you first met him: "Our prices are as low as three doves a day!" Unfortunately how far east from the city that is is unclear. It could mean a day's travel to the east, but that's variable based on the kind of transport. It might mean how far a caravan would take you for three doves, or the width of three dove coins placed edge to edge on a map. All I'd suggest right now is getting a map of Serath Desert and seeing what lies in a narrow band to the east of the city.

>>562744
Okay, so to start you're doing endurance training. That's a good idea. I thought the purpose of this was to keep your emotions from affecting your magic, though. Ask him if he's got advice for that or if that comes with the extra magical endurance.

>>562766
I see what you're trying to pull with that white chocolate, but I doubt the kind they sell here will keep for 9 months. Better just make sure we get a package of it when the eventual trip over the sea happens.

yeah well the oracles in the past only pointed they way once and were never heard form again for the rest of the quest, having some guy in a mask watch you like a warden watches a prisoner and keeping useful information from us is simply manipulation.

But yeah close to your heart, don't we have a key stone in Jericho's cavity we had him put in so we could hide the key stone in him so no one could steal it? hand of your ancestor Elitrin, yeah the statue or the crypt. three doves east of the city is there some kind of caravan service or something that people pay to get from one city to another, cause if so maybe it means a city that would cost 3 doves to get to, if not then fuck if I know, we can worry about it after we get some crap off of our todo list.

>letter
Written by someone with knowledge of the future. They manipulated everyone else who would read it into getting it to you.

Now that's organizing a schedule!

Kaktus 2014/02/16(Sun)07:06 No. 562850 ID: 549d6c
File 139256320180.png - (28.58KB , 900x450 , 9.png )

>May as well check right now by looking in your book of prophecy for any new entries.
“The broken one meets the one of light that will guide him up the stairway to the heavens.”
“The apprentice reads the book of the futures past, finding his own name as the many comes to speak.”
“A spear gifted in the future descents in the past to cleave the darkness.”
...oh, and speaking of stones, remember what Esiros “journal” said about them? “He gave one to the stone that will start the avalanche to come and one to the proof of existence, sculpted in the past”?
>"One close to your heart" appears obvious; You've got two key stones next to it right now.
But why would they even mention it if I already had it? I mean, I’m pretty sure they want me to find another stone, not the ones that I’ve already collected…
>It may refer to the heart the temple removed while turning you into a mummy.
I’m pretty sure that was burned and used as fertilizer or something…
>Hopefully "Elitrin" is just referring to the statue in the courtyard, and not his actual body.
Hmm... “one to the proof of existence, sculpted in the past”? Well, a statue is sculpted… and it’s a proof that he existed…
> "Three doves east of the city".
…yea, I have no idea what that means… I don’t get how three coins can measure a distance…

>You ever try chocolate before, Jer? If not then you ought to, as well as white chocolate.
Of course I haven’t… but I’m rich now so… maybe I should buy some for the Magus too… going by his horizontal stature he probably loves the stuff.
> I see what you're trying to pull with that white chocolate, but I doubt the kind they sell here will keep for 9 months. Better just make sure we get a package of it when the eventual trip over the sea happens.
…huh?
>You're doing endurance training. That's a good idea. I thought the purpose of this was to keep your emotions from affecting your magic, though.
It’s not just endurance training. You’re not going to just sit still looking into a wall, are you?
>Lets continue on to the Academy.
Can you tell me where the Academy is?
Of course, just follow me!

…

And here we go, Varius office. You’re lucky you’re royalty, otherwise they would never have let you in there.
Aren’t you coming?
Hell no, that place is creepy! But thanks for the chocolate! Bye… oh, and remember to keep that ice ball thing alive… smell you later, Jerry.
…right, I’m here… and it is rather creepy, isn’t it?

Insert …yeah, Varius is definitely evil… I mean, just look at that lab!_

Let's climb the ladder and pull out your light crystal in case anything is hiding up in that darkened loft than check the two giant cylinder's after.

well other then a poster of a masked guy I'm not seeing anything that stands out to much. Lets look around first before we try to see what's in those tubes or ransack his desk, might be something here that could be useful that was hidden so people wouldn't stumble across it.

Peer in those two big tube things. Maybe check the book he left on the table? That one's more likely to be important. What's the writing all over the wall?

You appear to have let your fire / ice ball gone out.

Kaktus 2014/02/16(Sun)09:40 No. 562878 ID: 549d6c
File 139257242239.png - (26.21KB , 900x450 , 10.png )

>You appear to have let your fire / ice ball gone out.
No, it’s still there… it’s just not casting a lot of light when I’m not concentrating on it.
>Let's climb the ladder and pull out your light crystal in case anything is hiding up in that darkened loft.
Just a bunch of boxes… and blood? Old dried blood…
>Peer in those two big tube things.
Hmm… I think… I think I can see people in there? Two of them! Wriggling in pain!? WHAT KIND OF LAB IS THIS!?
>Maybe check the book he left on the table?
…it’s a book on poetry? The hell?
>What's the writing all over the wall?
It’s… hmm… most of it seems to be nonsense to anyone sane but… there is a picture of the masked man there with “Who is he? What does he want!?” and “Terror, Torment, Tyrant!” written on it. Some other things to note: “One in the mountains, one in the jungle, one in the old city of brass, one in endless fields.”, “They are all the same!”, “Note to self: look into getting a stable blood supply so you can start writing all your notes in blood. That would be wicked.”, “To call them: Light candle, call them by name in the old tongue, offer them something they like, the emotion they represent must be present. Just remember, they aren’t the only one listening.” and “Remember: Buy milk, bread, bananas, some of those delicious dried apricots and more cattle to experiment on in the tubes.”

Insert Suddenly puzzle_

check blood boxes?

well unless he has something in his shelves the only thing we really got out of this was where he is going and unless we're going to be pulled into the jungle, city of brass, or the endless fields like we were with the mountain don't think we can really follow him much either.

Check that book on the desk, for any ways to free the wriggly people, and check out that neon blue thing behind you.

I think I see something wedged between the crate behind you and the wall, so check that out. It might be a piece of paper.

Take a look in the boxes for a possible source of the blood. If there isn't an obvious source then I don't know how we could find out where it came from. It may have come from Varius' apprentice, but there's no way to test that that I know of. Maybe the Magus knows of a magic way to see if dried blood came from a particular corpse.

Hey, the human in the picture to the upper right of the mantis one has a hairstyle like Horus, and what looks like gray clothes, same as him. That deserves closer inspection. Jer, you think you could form a wedge shape out of that sphere of ice, float it over and push it behind the obscuring papers to knock them away from in front of the picture? Otherwise you're gonna have to get a pole or ladder to do so. In fact, Varius might have one in here, since he had to have a way to get those papers up there in the first place.

Prop the door open to get a bit of fresh air in here, since it has to be horribly stuffy by now, what with all the alchemical fumes and suchlike. Take a peek behind the bookcases as well while you're down there to see if anything is hidden back there.

It's probable the people in the tubes are undead, what with Varius being a necromancer and all, but they could be alive for all we know. However, we're going to need some assistance in draining a tank enough to check. That fluid is probably dangerous so we'll need equipment to siphon it safely out and store it. We better go track down the Magus and ask him about that.

Kaktus 2014/02/16(Sun)11:41 No. 562893 ID: 549d6c
File 139257966881.png - (19.13KB , 900x450 , 11.png )

>Check out that neon blue thing behind you.
That’s just my light crystal. I put it there to make sure the whole room was lighted up.
>Take a look in the boxes for a possible source of the blood.
…there are bottles of blood in one of the boxes? I guess that were the leak came from…
>Hey, the human in the picture to the upper right of the mantis one has a hairstyle like Horus, and what looks like gray clothes, same as him.
Wait, let me just use some ice magic and… you’re right, it’s Horus… and it says “Slaver or slave? Good guy or bad guy?”.
>Check that book on the desk for any ways to free the wriggly people.
It’s just a book of poetry… wait, there’s a note stuck in it… “Nickname: The blood god, real name...” Err… something written in some language I can understand… ugh, it looks like the text is almost moving by itself… anyway, “Likes: Blood, poetry. Emotion: Pain. Light the candle, call out...” err… “Ghar’ke Kakcha (the real name) and offer him some poetry and blood. Make sure the cattle is feeling pain and he’ll come. Initiating first test…” “First test was a success… I need to go further… I need… I need to venture up the mountains… he sings…” …this is starting to sound bad…

>We're going to need some assistance in draining the tanks. That fluid is probably dangerous so we'll need equipment to siphon it safely out and store it. We better go track down the Magus and ask him about that.
Right… I just need to find the Magus somewhere in this giant building… whelp, let’s ge-
OH! I’m sorry! I didn’t… I’ll see myself out at once!
…who are you?
I’m… err… I’m nobody really… I… I just took the wrong room, that’s all… sorry sir.
…I demand that you tell me who you are… err… with the authority of… the royal family?
…Um… I’m just a student, sir… working on my thesis… it’s about Daemons and… I just wanted to see if I should borrow some notes and books from master Varius while he was away, sir… please don’t tell anyone…

Insert Don’t trust him! He clearly got a roll of toilet paper with him, the knave!_

hmm... tell you what kid, we're also doing some research into deamons as well, but unfortunately Varius is on a trip across the sea so we're being forced to search threw his notes in hopes of finding something relevant, if you would help us we'd probably be so grateful that we'd completely forget we ever saw anyone in here, and if we never saw anyone how'd we know if someone has borrowed some of his research papers.

Also, like pain, blood, and poetry... am I the only one that thinks this guy is starting to sound like pride? what with his weird ass fetishes. That or that one asshole that was making him evil, after all the "singing" sounds way to familiar for my liking.

Ask if he is really here to borrow the notes or if he's experiment sitting whatever is in those tubes.

Maybe he can help us. We have good reason to believe Varius has gone from 'eccentric' to 'mad', so we'll need as much help digging through this mess as we can. If the kid no use deciphering the wall of crazy up there, send him to get the magnus.

Actually...Let's keep the kid AWAY from the crazy. When Text is moving and things like that? That's a sign you're not mad enough to understand, or rather, you're not mad enough to read it and then think it's a GOOD idea to go through with it.
But regardless, I'm thinking mister 'Singer' here slipped Varius the idea to write notes in blood so that his research could do the 'moving text' thing, that would allow him to increase his influence on the guy until he was corrupted. It's how the Cultists spread Corruption to us back in the future-letting them talk to us was bad news.

Wait, if he's been researching this subject, he has knowledge that is useful to us. Congratulations, your thesis just went from theory to relevant.

>>562893
Tell her it might be a bad idea to do that considering Varius was not of sound mind from what you've seen of his notes. He actually summoned a Demon for chrissakes.

But ask her if he knows what these tubes are and who's in them, maybe she can help us release whoever's inside? Or knows someone who has the expertise to do so?

Kaktus 2014/02/16(Sun)13:31 No. 562922 ID: 549d6c
File 139258629459.png - (19.15KB , 900x450 , 12.png )

>Congratulations, your thesis just went from theory to relevant.
Huh? Why is it relevant? The whole demon invasion was ages ago.
Well, I do know for a fact that there is a cult here worshipping someone called the dark one.
Dark one? Oh, I know him… I think. He was one of the Daemons who tried invading us in the ancient times. Hmm… I do believe he was the one who kept going off course to hunt down people who kept servants and thralls for some reason…
>Varius has gone from 'eccentric' to 'mad'.
Oh, no, he’s always been a bit… not all there…
>Ask if he is really here to borrow the notes or if he's experiment sitting whatever is in those tubes.
Huh? What in the… are those… they are undead but… they… gods, this isn’t right. This isn’t right at all! I need to report this to… err… you need to report this to someone in charge here at once! This is quite clearly breaking the rules of the academy!
>maybe she can help us release whoever's inside? Or knows someone who has the expertise to do so?
Um… I’ve never seen a tube like this… I have no idea how to operate it.
>He actually summoned a Demon for Christ sakes.
Daemon… with an A! They aren’t your religious boogie men, you know. They aren’t all evil, they are just… they got a weird morality, that’s all, what with them being immortal and experiencing time in some weird nonlinear fashion. I mean, some of them even joined our side when most of them invaded in ancient times… without their help we wouldn’t stand a chance! In fact, see that guy up there with the mask? He was one of most prominent allies to us at that time… Gatekeeper they used to call him… or jailor… or, as someone jokily called him, “Bob”. Wait, did you say he summoned one!? That’s clearly against regulations! …and a very bad idea! You don’t summon one of those things unless you know what you’re dealing with! Now, changing the subject… err… you don’t happen to know how he did it, do you? I would easily get a dragon mark if I included that in my thesis… Oh, and you were right, Varius is bonkers. You probably should talk to someone about this… err… someone that isn’t a student that shouldn’t be here…

Insert Summon a demon to get better grades? Deal!_

>>562922
Wait what. That describes us. We're Daemons! Finally, we know our true nature! Or maybe we're the souls of Daemons? Wait, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. Ask how some Daemons helped them in the war. What did they do, and what did they look like?

On the other hand if the Dark One is a Daemon too, how did he do that weird shit that wiped out the entire town? Was that a Demon masquerading as a Daemon? Or was that a specific Daemon that has that kind of power, unlike others?

Oh, ask about the whole "emotion they represent" thing. Does he know any specifics on which emotions apply to which Daemons?

No, we are not going tell him how Varius did it; It's too damn easy to do if you know how. The last thing we need is more people without a lick of sense knowing how to summon the Blood God. We're gonna keep the notes on that locked up and only share them with extreme care.

Speaking of the Blood God, ask him what he knows of him. How did the Blood God behave in the ancient daemon invasion? What's he known for?

Ask if he knows of a daemon who appears as a humanoid in the middle of a brilliant aura of light and goes by the name "Steve." Has the ability to stop time in a localized area and possibly has the ability to grant flashes of brilliant ideas to people in their dreams.

Tell him what we saw happen to the Keer city of Then’dranil and ask if that's in line with what he knows of the Dark One. In case you don't know what happened, Jer, a cultist used his dying breaths to offer up his life to summon a Daemon. Then a gout of darkness shot out from his corpse and snuffed the lights in the city. When investigated it was found that all life in the city was gone, down to the smallest insect, and the cultist's long dead corpse was smack in the middle of it, yet hardly any time had passed in the city. When observed the corpse showed the illusion of a piece of jewelry that kept shifting, with no two observers seeing the same thing.

Ask if he knows of that new necromantic reattachment and reanimation technique Varius was working on; The one that can attach parts from another person. I know Tera was very interested in that after Thaark told her Varius used it to perform his sex change. Is that knowledge lost with Varius? 'Cause if so then Tera is gonna be bummed she missed out on it.

I think the lightning arcing from tank to tank is part of what is causing the undead pain. Empty out that glass flask on the table into the test tubes on the shelve, then slip the flask over the pole on the tank. Glass doesn't conduct lightning so that'll block it.

Now, we're gonna be taking this directly to the Archmage and the senior faculty, and this guy is coming along. It'll be better for him in the long run because there's going to be a full, in-depth inquiry and covering up his presence will be very bad. Jer, put in a good word for him for his help here and see that he isn't reprimanded.

Thank the student for his help, escort him out, and lock the door behind you.

We're going to need some assistance taking that room apart, I think. Get some more experienced mages in there, who can be trusted not to just go mad with power and abuse whatever's there.

Tell him to run and get the magnus. If he doesn't want the magnus to know he entered when/if he wasn't supposed to, just make up a story where you stuck your head in the hall and called him over. Try not to muck with anything until the professionals show up.

Kaktus 2014/02/17(Mon)08:01 No. 563084 ID: 549d6c
File 139265291578.png - (19.73KB , 900x450 , 13.png )

>I think the lightning arcing from tank to tank is part of what is causing the undead pain. Empty out that glass flask on the table into the test tubes on the shelve, then slip the flask over the pole on the tank.
…at least they stopped wriggling… but they haven’t stopped scratching at the glass…

>Ask how some Daemons helped them in the war. What did they do, and what did they look like?
Um… well… they mostly guided them and gave them supplies… there was that masked guy for example, he helped us build the seals that would end the war… and then there was this guy made of light that entered people dreams to give them knowledge and… other things…
>Ask if he knows of a daemon who appears as a humanoid in the middle of a brilliant aura of light and goes by the name "Steve."
That’s the one… except I’m pretty sure he isn’t called Steven… just as the masked man isn’t probably called bob…
>Tell him what we saw happen to the Keer city of Then’dranil and ask if that's in line with what he knows of the Dark One.
Huh? That’s… are you sure they killed them all? I mean… I know they can manipulate the world to an extent but killing of a whole city? …maybe they did something else?
>Was that a Demon masquerading as a Daemon?
For the last time, demons doesn’t exist!
>Speaking of the Blood God, ask him what he knows of him. How did the Blood God behave in the ancient daemon invasion? What's he known for?
Um… let me check my notes… err… he tried to raise an undead army and… um… create something called “harvesters”… according to the masked man he failed because he don’t understand this world completely… he would need someone who was an expert in necromancy to create something like that, apparently…
>Ask about the whole "emotion they represent" thing. Does he know any specifics on which emotions apply to which Daemons?
The emotion they represent is really more like their favorite emotion to… um… “eat”… let’s see… blood is pain… dark one is hope… err… I think masked man’s was something like anger or… something…
>Ask if he knows of that new necromantic reattachment and reanimation technique Varius was working on; The one that can attach parts from another person.
Oh, that… yea, he’s already sent in his notes on that… They have apparently already been able to replicate his findings.

>Thank the student for his help, escort him out, and lock the door behind you. We're going to need some assistance taking that room apart, I think.
No problem, glad to be of help and all that… now, let’s get out of here… this place is starting to cree-
*Crash!*
Holy sh- WHAT IS THAT!?
Scratch scratch…

Insert Box expectancies_

It looks like another Wraith but this one can be seen as something other than a reflection. It may be a Wraith possessing a corpse. We need some backup but we can't just abandon you here with this thing. Let's message Player Pink that there is a wraith in Varius' office. Ask the student if there is a simple way to get the building evacuated, I'm sure they won't mind us pulling the fire alarm or what have they if a wraith is about.

...How the fuck did you miss that thing, Jer?! Oh, wait, you didn't check all the boxes. Probably for the best, since if you had you would have been within within "horrible dismemberment" range.

The glass in one of the tanks looks like it's starting to crack, and with the weight of the fluid it'll shatter any second now. The both of you ought to get up on the table right away, 'cause that fluid is probably nasty stuff.

This could be more wraith mind-fuckery like we saw back in the palace. The undead in the tanks might be wraith possessed, or corpses possessed by wraiths, and capping the lightning off brought their focus back to here. So pull the glass flask off the tank pole and hopefully get the lightning flowing again.

If that doesn't do it, then you're gonna have to resort to blasting the monster with magic. I suggest ice magic since you can thaw and recover from that if you lose control, unlike with fire magic.

Launch your ice-fire globe at the monster to get rid of it, then focus on slowing every particle of its being to a stop. That'll aim your magic. Then pull your magic damper off for a split second to dump the full force of your magic on the beast.

if that's a wraith then the only bodies we know of are in those tubes and it looks like one is trying to brake out

Also (needed a skilled necromancer)(Varius is one of the best if not the best necromancer of our time)... god fucking damnit might as well message pink this news and hope she can do something about it later... and maybe to send guards our way if she thinks they can help

As for what to do... If this is a wraith then watch out these things attack you mentally via illusions so if you notice anything off about the world you're in chance are you're in a illusion. so other then run like a bitch the only things I can think of that might help would to be to burn/freeze everything or finish off those undead bodies.

>>563084
It's possible that the inhabitants of the city were teleported rather than killed...

Oh by the way the "harvesters" sound like Wraiths. Like this one. You could light it on fire? Or maybe it's time for us to try out our [SPEAR!]

Kaktus 2014/02/17(Mon)10:51 No. 563106 ID: 549d6c
File 139266307595.png - (19.88KB , 900x450 , 14.png )

>Also (needed a skilled necromancer)(Varius is one of the best if not the best necromancer of our time)... god fucking damnit might as well message pink this news and hope she can do something about it later...
[Message sent!]
>maybe it's time for us to try out our [SPEAR!]
…what spear? I don’t have a spear?

>Ask the student if there is a simple way to get the building evacuated.
Screw the building, how are we supposed to get by that thing!?!?
>The only things I can think of that might help would to be to burn/freeze everything.
I’m standing in the middle of a room filled with fumes and liquids that have a large chance of being flammable. Let’s not start throwing around fire without reason.
>This could be more wraith mind-fuckery like we saw back in the palace. The undead in the tanks might be wraith possessed, or corpses possessed by wraiths, and capping the lightning off brought their focus back to here.
Oh… more illusions… weren’t the first time enough!? Wait… why is that lightning still arcing between the poles? Didn’t I stop that with the glass bottle?
>So pull the glass flask off the tank pole and hopefully get the lightning flowing again.
What can the harvest hope for but a swi- wait, don’t touch tha-
-and the undead start wriggling in pain again and the illusion fades… a bit of a letdown, if you ask me.
Die monster! You don’t belong in this world!
Please don’t tell me you just lit the bookcases on fire?
There was a monster there! Didn’t you see it!? Err… is it just me or are that fire spreading awfully fast? …and do you hear something boiling?
Scratch scratch…

Insert but the care of the reaper man?_

for now, let's focus on chilling the fire, and that this student doesn't lose it-we need the information he has, it'd suck if he was silenced too.

the sound of a wraith about to come out for real and not just a mere illusion this time and you just block the only exit by a wall of flames... Jer ice magic if you can please and then let get the hell out of here.

I wonder what kind of volatile liquids may be in those boxes probably should stop the fire quickly.

>>563106
Freeze the flames, drag the student out of there, lock the door, and alert everybody that there's a wraith.

Kaktus 2014/02/17(Mon)12:09 No. 563138 ID: 549d6c
File 139266776465.png - (24.56KB , 900x450 , 15.png )

>For now, let's focus on chilling the fire.
Right… I’ll try to get it under control…
>I wonder what kind of volatile liquids may be in those boxes probably should stop the fire quickly.
Hey… now I recognize that smell… and the boiling sound…
…let me guess, it’s something very flammable that’s about to blow up?
How did you know!?
>Protect the student -we need the information she has, it'd suck if he was silenced too.
GET DO-
*KABLAMMO!!*
-Off… ugh… I had to use all my magic to just keep the flames away but at least we’re alive, right?
…
…of course, how did I not see that coming… and now, everything somehow gets worse than it alrea-
>The sound of a wraith about to come out for real…
*Clirr!*
HERE’S JOHNNY!!
…who’s Johnny?
Give up, cattle, you’ve already lost. There is no hope for yo-

Kaktus 2014/02/17(Mon)12:09 No. 563139 ID: 549d6c
File 139266778169.png - (27.52KB , 900x450 , 16.png )

>[SPEAR!]
*Blarg!*
*Ominous Latin Chanting!*
*Church Organ Music!*

…WHAT… THE… FUCK DID JUST HAPPEN!? …oh, right, and I’m slowly burning to death… almost forgot about that…

Insert Suddenly spear, suddenly spear… next time increase your drawing distance_

well grab spear as I thinks it's going to be very helpful in the near future. Also I'm noticing a little bubble of light in front of your face so there's that. But as for the flames... Just do what your where doing with the iceball flame. Just focus on keeping the ice shield up and since we're in the middle of a fucking school I'm sure someone had to here that explosion. So just focus on keeping the ice bubble around you and the student for now.

>>563139
HA! Now I wonder if we can [retrieve the Spear] or if you've gotta carry it around from here on.

Anyway just focus on putting out the fires. Start from the bottom up.

That would be the precision delivery from nine months hence of one Spear of Light, a gift to us courtesy of Steve, God of Light. I was wondering when it'd finally arrive.

[Message to Pink: Tell Artemis to grab fire fighting equipment and get to Varius' office in the Academy NOW. Jericho and a student are trapped in there by a raging inferno. They're protected by a sphere of ice magic Jericho made, but we don't now how long it'll last. Also tell her to alert the Academy that Lord Jericho is in danger to get their assistance.]

If that Spear of Light is an actual physical object, I'd suggest taking it, then stab it through the other tank to destroy its occupant. The lightning appears to be out on the tanks, so expect more wraith illusions. Pocket the book of poetry with Varius' note in it as well.

If you have control of the position and size of the ice sphere, shrink it down to just you and the student and start moving it towards the door while dragging the guy with you.

But if you can't move the sphere, then all I can say is pull the student to the center of it and hunker down. We sent a message to Pink to send Artemis here to save you and alert the Academy fire response team on the way. Hopefully she'll be in time.

Kaktus 2014/02/17(Mon)13:59 No. 563164 ID: 549d6c
File 139267434462.png - (24.68KB , 900x450 , 17.png )

>That would be the precision delivery from nine months hence of one Spear of Light, a gift to us courtesy of Steve, God of Light. I was wondering when it'd finally arrive.
…I’m just going to pretend whatever you just said made sense. Yay, a spear, I guess?
>If that Spear of Light is an actual physical object, I'd suggest taking it, then stab it through the other tank to destroy its occupant.
That’s one less undead around.
>Pocket the book of poetry with Varius' note in it as well.
The note is important, yes, but the book… I’m not really a fan of poetry…
>Anyway just focus on putting out the fires. Start from the bottom up.
If I do any more magic the one thing keeping us from becoming grilled meat disappears and let me tell you… I’ll probably taste horrible grilled.

>[Message to Pin-
HI GUYS! Hey guess what!? I’ve read a bunch about those d man’s and I-
Artemis!
Oh, right… hello… err… wow, it’s hot in here? …wait, is this one of those saunas? I’ve read about those! You’re supposed to only wear a towel, silly jer! …and girls and boys aren’t supposed to be in the same sauna either! I better leave!
ARTEMIS!!
Huh?
Fire! Put it out!
…put if I put it outside it will start a fire there too…
…you got to be messing with me, right? You can’t get stupider every time we meet…

Insert Clearly, she’s losing brain cells just being close to you, Jer_

>>563164
Tell her to extinguish the fires.

I wonder if golems have a limited amount of headspace for understanding things. Might want to figure out what she's learned that's useless and tell her to forget it so she can learn more important things.

extingush the flames, make them disappear, Just get all of us out of here alive and untoasted.

This fire has gone far beyond what Artemis could stamp out on her own, and her carting the burning material out will just end up setting the hall and the rest of the building on fire. We're gonna need more help than her to deal with this. You also don't want her getting near your magic ice bubble. She's a magic sink so one touch and it'll pop.

Tell Artemis to listen very carefully to the directions you're about to tell her. She's to run to the room below this one, repeatedly shouting the entire way that there's a raging fire in Varius' lab and that Lord Jericho is trapped in there and needs help. Once she gets to the room below, she's to knock a hole in its ceiling at a position nearest to the point in front of the tanks in this room.

If she can pull that off that'll allow you and the student to drop down and escape without Artemis touching your protective bubble. If she can't then it'll get the Academy to respond to the fire.

I'm wondering if a fire mage's ability to control and direct fire would mean they could pull the fire away from its combustion site, contain it and put the fire outside. Maybe all these fire mages in the Academy would actually not be worthless in fighting a fire.

>>563167
That's a possibility. Once Jer gets out of this mess he can find whoever is the expert on golems at the Academy and ask them about that. Or he could ask Artemis directly how much of her mind is filled and by what.

We're in deep shit aren't we. Now we only have the kid's word that there was heretical shit going on in here, and he might lie to save his own hide, or not remember entirely.

Could you try to burn up all the oxygen in the room?

>>563230
Unfortunately removing all the oxygen from the room to smother the flames would asphyxiate the poor student. Besides, Jer's out of magic so he can't even try anything like that anyway.

Hey, Jer, try stabbing the floor with the spear to see if it has any magic power that'd blow a hole through it. It's a long shot but worth a try since it's easy to do.

Kaktus 2014/02/18(Tue)09:08 No. 563322 ID: 549d6c
File 139274330653.png - (17.81KB , 900x450 , 18.png )

>Hey, Jer, try stabbing the floor with the spear to see if it has any magic power that'd blow a hole through it.
It’s doesn’t really do a lot more than what a normal spear would do… besides, I’m pretty sure I’m as far down as this building goes already.
>Ask Artemis directly how much of her mind is filled and by what.
Hmm… voice in head tells me I’m currently using up 78 0 line 0 of my head to compile everything about Daemons, war, sex, etiquette, fiction, ethics, porn, history, hard porn, historical hard porn and fetish porn… and it’s supposedly 65 0 line 0 done. Do you want me to use all of my head to help you instead?
YES!
Oh, alright… FIRE! OH NO! JER IS BURNING ALIVE!
>Extinguish the flames, make them disappear, Just get all of us out of here alive and untoasted.
YES, FIRE WILL BE DEAFETED! Artemis got plan! You’ll see!
Err… can’t you just get the Magus or so-
ARTeMIS got plan! Perfect plan!
>Maybe all these fire mages in the Academy would actually not be worthless in fighting a fire.
Fire mages fight fire with fire… thus Artemis can fight fire with fire!
Wait, do-

…

*Snore!*
…at times like this I wish we’d hired a room each instead of just one.
Hey, we’re saving almost three crows a day like this.
…but you can’t really bring a girl over here…
The girl that think you’re a bore?
I’ve overcome worse.
Yea… I don’t think dragging her to somewhere private and putting your D in her B repeatedly until stuff start coming out the other end will work this time… “boss”.
You know very well that it was more to it than that.
What I’m saying is that if you want her to become more than just a fuck buddy then you’ll have to work for it more… build a better foundation. …personally, I hope she becomes just another fuck buddy… we can have one of those share parties then…
…wait, when did you even come here, Theen? Aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital or something?
I’m not Theen. I’m your conscience taken form of someone you’ll listen to… and I’m here to tell you to not just put your D in her B! Be more romantic… exiting… funny! Girls usually loves your jokes… either because they got a terrible sense of humor or they are desperate to get your giant mantis D inside their B’s… or between their other B’s… or P…
…are you really my conscience?
Of course not! They didn’t want any freeloaders in the palace so they kicked me out. Apparently, with the medication they are feeding me I’m supposedly stable. I came here almost half an hour ago but you were moaning about Tera and humping your bed so I didn’t really want to wake you up.
Oh… Wait, why would I put my dictionary inside her box?
…please tell me you’re kidding?
My dictionary isn’t even that big! It’s the same size as any other male mantis, right?
Mhng… are you two comparing dictionaries again? Didn’t Thaark already win that one?
He’s a freaking mantis, of course he’ll win…

Insert Give her the D inside a B with some W around it and a nice C telling her that you love her… and maybe some F too…_

Hey guys, how are you for putting out fires? I'm not being figurative here, Artemis may be about ready to intensify a fire that Jer is sitting right in the middle of down at the academy.

Don't worry I'm sure Jericho will be fine... the school... not so much I fear.

glad to see you three are still doing fine, so what happened since we last talked?

>>563322
Hi, Jericho's about to die. Could you go out and alert a guard that Jericho is trapped in a burning room in the Academy?

*ding*

>>563325
what he said.

Welp. Either Artemis will pull off something brilliant and save Jericho from the fire in Varius' lab or we won't be around for very much longer. Not enough time to get over there and do anything about it now, so may as well act like Jer was saved until we find out otherwise.

Up and at 'em! We got a bunch of things scheduled for you today. We've got checking in on that lizard guy you saved from the cultists so we can have a chat with him on the list. Then an audience with the sultan so we can inform her of what we saw on our cross-temporal trip. Then we have visiting Tera so she isn't bored while watching over Kranhon's recovery.

Check your mailbox or the front desk for a signed note from Jericho with the royal seal on it. It'll declare you his agent so you can move and operate with nearly his level of authority.

I know that Tera likes visiting the park because she likes listening to the birds there. If you want to be romantic that'd be a good place to start. Just try to avoid alcohol with her from now on. Romantic gestures are no good if can't remember them, after all.

Hey, you got any idea as to where "three doves east of the city" would be? Maybe ask Theen and Thuul about it. See, Jer got a letter from an oracle and that was one of the three cryptic directions.

Oh, do you remember Varius? He's the guy who performed your sex change operation. Turns out a bit afterwards he summoned and had a chat with "The Blood God," a daemon, went insane and is now en route to the Pillars of the Heavens to loose said daemon from its prison-ziggurat about a week from now. But the good news is, he submitted his attachment technique research to the Academy beforehand, so if you want to get anything else - such as an eye - put in, the Academy will oblige. Assuming it hasn't burnt down from whatever trick Artemis is pulling.

Kaktus 2014/02/18(Tue)12:59 No. 563343 ID: 549d6c
File 139275718078.png - (17.82KB , 900x450 , 19.png )

>*ding*
*Ring-a-ding-ding!*
Huh?
I got voices in my head.
Oh, that’s good to hear. Here I tough you’ve gone crazy.
>Hey guys, how are you for putting out fires? I'm not being figurative here, Artemis may be about ready to intensify a fire that Jer is sitting right in the middle of down at the academy.
The academy? That place has a fire like every day. It’s a school for fire mages, after all, they got to have some kind of system for that kind of stuff. Besides, it’s in the high city while we’re just in the middle part. Either the fire would be under control or that Jer fellow burned to ash when we get there… hopefully the former.
>Glad to see you three are still doing fine, so what happened since we last talked?
Err… slept? I guess?
>Oh, do you remember Varius? He’s gone nutters.
…yeah, he wasn’t really sane when he did this whole thing to me a year ago.
>I know that Tera likes visiting the park because she likes listening to the birds there. If you want to be romantic that'd be a good place to start.
Hmmm… she’s blind so… there isn’t a lot of entertainment she can experience… except… maybe I should take her to a musical with dinner and then to the park? That would be romantic, right?

>Hey, you got any idea as to where "three doves east of the city" would be? Maybe ask Theen and Thuul about it.
Do you mean the bird, the coin or something else?
Hey guys… have you ever notice that the dove coin is smaller than a crown but still more valuable? Isn’t that kind of weird?
Well… three coins on a map, maybe? Of course… what map? They aren’t all the same size…
>Check your mailbox or the front desk for a signed note from Jericho with the royal seal on it. It'll declare you his agent so you can move and operate with nearly his level of authority.
*Knock*Knock*
Welcome to the Larvate brotherhood, cheap experienced swords for hi-
*Trumpet music!*
By order from his highness, his grace, duke of West Ul’dan, Lord Jericho Drah’kon the second, knight of the Serath army, lover of the prince, the antipode sorcerer supreme and mage apprentice…
*More trumpet music!*
…you are hereby, Thaark Larvate, officially named an agent to the royal throne with all perks and responsibilities that comes with it. Long live the sultan and the royal family! HAIL!
*Lonely trumpet solo!*
Err… thanks? But the… trumpets were a bit much…
*HONK!!*

Kaktus 2014/02/18(Tue)13:00 No. 563344 ID: 549d6c
File 139275719915.png - (15.47KB , 900x450 , 20.png )

>Up and at 'em! We got a bunch of things scheduled for you today. We've got checking in on that lizard guy you saved from the cultists so we can have a chat with him on the list. Then an audience with the sultan so we can inform her of what we saw on our cross-temporal trip. Then we have visiting Tera so she isn't bored while watching over Kranhon's recovery.
Right, to the infirmity then.
Actually, boss… I have some other matters to take care of…
Let me guess… mantis lady with nice legs?
Wait, everyone’s getting laid but me!? The hell!?
Well then… seems like I’m going alone.
No you’re not. Doc said I can walk around on my leg as long as I don’t jump or run or anything. So I’m coming with you…
…you’re not going with Thuul? Make it a threesome?
Yea… like that ever happen. Besides, it’s more fun to ruin things for you, isn’t it?
Glad I can always trust having you protecting my back.
Huh? Did you say something? I was busy polishing this dagger that weirdly enough has your name on it…

…

-on the wall… 132 bottles of beer! Take one down and pa-
-hink it was over here…
Look, there’s Tera!
Thaark? What are you- you know what, screw it. Just come here in your shining armor and save me from this horrible place, oh brave insect knight lady man… or at least, that’s what I would have said if my job didn’t require me to watch over this sleeping insect… you don’t happen to have a deck of cards on you?
…you’re blind?
I know, I just like to fling them around. So… you’re either desperate or lonely coming here at this hour… or both…
Actually, I came here to talk to the one we saved. Seeing you was just a bonus.
He’s over there… still sleeping… woop… 132 bottles of beer on the wall…. 132 bottles of beer!
Err…

Insert Don’t drink them all, Tera!_

Right. Dead things. Not living. Crappers how does this thing keep being a thing that happens!

Krannon done bugged out! mobilize the troops we got a runaway!

>>563344
Wait, did they seriously put a blind girl watching the patient without a guard on duty outside or something?

Let someone know there's an escapee. Ask Tera when's the last time she heard the captive make any noise at all. She's supposed to have good hearing, dammit!

uh, are you sure you're watching the right room, cause there's no one here. On the bright side we now get to kill boredom by looking for the missing or misplace patents so there is a bit of a silver lining here.

What condition was the patient in last you checked? Would he be limited Physically in that state? Hopefully he hasn't been able to get too far in his condition.

Time for a manhunt!

Don't worry Tera, shit's about to get exiting.

It shouldn't be that hard to find a lizard in tribal clothing that doesn't speak the language, right? On the other hand, it won't be that hard for some paranoid or bludgeon-happy guard to find him either. Better get moving.

Thaark, add playing cards with raised ink to the list of things you could buy for Tera.

...Okay. Three possibilities as I see it: 1) Somebody is played a cruel joke on Tera, for which they deserve a punch to the face. 2) Tera went to the wrong room. 3) The patients were taken from the room without Tera knowing; Possible if she left and came back or dozed off at some point.

Tera, I hate to break the news to you, but both beds are empty. They don't even look like they were slept in, but that just might be our lousy vision. Feel them yourselves if you don't believe us.

So, if this turns out to be a cruel joke on you, would you prefer Thaark to punch whoever did it or for him to pin them down while you punch them?

We're gonna need to grab whoever is in charge of keeping track of the patients here and ask them where Kranhon and the captured lizard guy went. Also, the guards on this floor might know where the lizard went since they ought to have had a guard watching the room.

>>563343
...Looks like Vizier Reizn was the one Jericho gave the note to to deliver. Trust me when I say this pompous display definitely wasn't Jer's idea.

Kaktus 2014/02/19(Wed)08:26 No. 563494 ID: 549d6c
File 139282716067.png - (16.25KB , 900x450 , 21.png )

>Thaark, add playing cards with raised ink to the list of things you could buy for Tera.
Hmm… of course, I probably going to need to teach her how to play... alone… just the two of us…
>...Looks like Vizier Reizn was the one Jericho gave the note to to deliver. Trust me when I say this pompous display definitely wasn't Jer's idea.
I’m pretty sure that’s the standard delivery speech for royalty.

>Wait, did they seriously put a blind girl watching the patient without a guard on duty outside or something?
Of course not. There’s a guard just outside the door, silly.
I didn’t see a guard!
There was one standing outside the bathroom further down the corridor.
>Tera, I hate to break the news to you, but both beds are empty.
Ha, stop kidding around. Of course they are still there!
>Ask Tera when's the last time she heard the captive make any noise at all. She's supposed to have good hearing, dammit!
Why, one of them snored a bit right before I took a na- napkin to… err…
You feel asleep, didn’t you?
Whaaat? Don’t be silly, of course not!
>So, if this turns out to be a cruel joke on you, would you prefer Thaark to punch whoever did it or for him to pin them down while you punch them?
Hey, you don’t go around punching people just like that! You play prank on them instead! That’s real revenge!
>What condition was the patient in last you checked?
Hey, don’t ask me, I’m just here to make sure the mantis doesn’t drown in his own tongue.
I think you mean blood…
No, she means tongue… I’ve almost choked on it myself once…

>Time for a manhunt!
Right, we got a savage on the lose somewhe-
Oh? We have visitols? Wait… alen’t you those melcenalies Ilbil hiled?
Yes… and I’m pretty sure you didn’t talk like that last time we met.
He’s still not used to have his tongue back. Give it time.
Well, at least he doesn’t have to pee blood fo- Ow!
Wops, I slipped~
Tlal’na cal? Dula nad a ban tlal…
Tkanla tall. He said he’s glateful that you saved him… oh, and thank you fol saving me too.
Hey, Ilbir already thanked us enough with his bonus.
A bit of gratitude have never hurt anyone, Theen.
Oh, right… where the fuck have you two been!? I’m supposed to keep watch over you guys!
Err… we wele just in the bathloom? Lecho hele really needed to go numbel one so… and you wele sleeping so soundly and…
Wait, does the savage even know what a bathroom is?
Well… plobably not… I’m pletty sule he did it in the flowelpot but at least he used the rilght loom.

Insert No need to water those then, I suppose_

>Oh… more illusions… weren’t the first time enough!?
You have no idea how many times we've had to ask that.

>bathroom
Yeah, no worries, Terra. Your supervision doesn't extend that far.

>132 bottles of beer...
How high did you start?

so if it's not to much of a problem, could we ask why our tribal friend here was being chased by a deamon cult?

>>563494
Oh, speaking of demon cults we found out it's Daemon and their powers are a bit overstated. The Daemon that got summoned on that town probably didn't kill everyone in the town. It did something else to cause them to disappear. My bet's on time displacement.

We might even be a Daemon. Daemons are immortal, experience time nonlinearly, and have a favorite emotion to "eat". We're hella nonlinear and... well, I think you can guess what emotion we're affiliated with!

Anyway, ask Recho if he knows of any way of getting in contact with his father or the other tribals. We are interested in an alliance against the incoming Daemon invasion.

If nobody has told Recho what happened to Then’dranil after he passed out then fill him in on the whole thing. Then you can ask how and from where those daemon cultists got into the tribes' ranks.

Tell Recho not to ask how, but Durach knows that he is alive, well, and in Serath custody, as well as been warned about the daemon cultists.

The language barrier is going to be troublesome, even with Kranhon as translator, and some things we shouldn't share unless we can speak directly, so [check pawn eligibility of Recho]. If he's eligible and free then we can take him on board.

>>563508
We also found out the favorite emotion of the Dark One - the daemon we think was summoned at Then’dranil - is "hope." That's an emotion I suspect might be riding high in the tribals' minds right now.

Kaktus 2014/02/19(Wed)12:33 No. 563518 ID: 549d6c
File 139284203976.png - (16.29KB , 900x450 , 22.png )

>How high did you start?
Four billion!
…how about no.
Fine… 335…
>Could we ask why our tribal friend here was being chased by a daemon cult?
*Unknown language…*
Hmm… let’s see… I think he said… err… He didn’t know they were connected to… bad one? They chased him because he released some people they’d taken prlarlrall…
Prlrlr?
Stupid tongue… wait, I think I got it… rrrrlll… rrrrr…. Rrr… there… prisoners. He freed some people they’d taken prisoners and were going to sell as slaves… and… um… something about the worshipping the bad one would explain why they were trying to sacrifice them instead of selling them.
>If nobody has told Recho what happened to Then’dranil after he passed out then fill him in on the whole thing.
*Speaking mumbo jumbo*
Err… the bad one has made his… people bigger?
>Then you can ask how and from where those daemon cultists got into the tribes' ranks.
*Speaking out of his arse*
He doesn’t know… they probably were tribes men before they started worshipping the bad one.
>Tell Recho not to ask how, but Durach knows that he is alive, well, and in Serath custody, as well as been warned about the daemon cultists.
*Sounds like someone having sex with a goat while on fire*
“Thank you.”
…that sounded far too complex to be “Thank you”.
Trust me, thank you is enough.
>Ask Recho if he knows of any way of getting in contact with his father or the other tribals. We are interested in an alliance against the incoming Daemon invasion.
*He’s speaking another language, alright?*
Err… they have something… I don’t really know how to… I have no idea what he meant, really… something about spirit speaking to the mother?

>[check pawn eligibility of Recho]
[Recho currently belong to player blue!]

Insert What an interesting sounding language…_

ah, same way we talk to them, invisible head voices that can jump from person to person. Seems we're not the only ones that have players on both sides. But just how many people does blue have and who? I also wonder if pink has players on both sides, I mean pink is very selective of who she lets us know is on her team and we have no idea who she'd have player under her banner on the tribal side.

>>563518
Ah! He's a pawn of the tribals' player. Tell Recho that if possible we would like to speak to his spirit. Guiding voice. Whatever he calls it... in a room with mirrors.

Huh. Recho's identified by name and not by title.

Should we try to contact blue directly? It could be faster.

Oh, maybe Pink would want to get in on this alliance stuff! Let's find the Princess. Also the Sultan, why not.

Hey, the painting changed. There's a beam of light shooting up from the mountain peak now. That wouldn't happen to be a painting of the highest Pillar of the Heavens, would it? Because we saw a beam of light just like that one on that mountain nine months hence.

Kaktus 2014/02/20(Thu)08:57 No. 563600 ID: 549d6c
File 139291546353.png - (16.41KB , 900x450 , 23.png )

>Hey, the painting changed. That wouldn't happen to be a painting of the highest Pillar of the Heavens, would it?
Err… I think it is? At least, that’s what it says on the painting.
>Should we try to contact blue directly? It could be faster.
[Message to blue sent!]
[Message from Blue: DIE SLAVER!]
[Blue has declared war on Teal! All blue pawns are now hostile to you!]
Grrr…
(…and I suddenly got one hell of an urge socking this Recho guy in the face… err… let’s get out of here before I start some diplomatic incident…)
Boss, wait, where are you-
See you later, big bug.

>Let's find the Sultan.
You may not pass!
See, I told you they don’t let just any old peasant see the Sultan.
I got this letter from lord Jericho.
Ah, in that case… you may still not pass. The Sultan is buys and won’t see anyone right now. Instead direct any matters you have to princess Elizah, her office is just down the hall to the right.
>Also the Princess, why not.
-but it would make a large dent in our coffers, your majesty.
Our coffers are one of the few thing we have which can take a bit of damage, Vizier. Besides, it will still be a lot cheaper than losing the tax and bread the peasants of the lower level provide in the long term.
And knowing that their families are safe will increase the morale of the soldiers too, little lady.
Ah, both wise and sympathetic, my lady. You’re becoming more and more like your mother each day, you know. Of course, this is all a bit… fruitless, what with the supposed “horde” already splitting up…
It’s more of a “just in case”… we haven’t updated our plans for evacuating the lower levels in years. Next time maybe we won’t have several days to prepare, after all.
Just don’t work yourself to death, little lady, you have a lot more to do then just planning theoretical wars you know.
Yes, I know, let’s hurry and talk to… wait, who are you? Have we met?
…
So… beautiful…

Insert THIS MEANS WAR!!_

yeah I think the tribals are splintering because the deamon worshiping side of the tribals are either being forced out by the normal tribals or are leaving of there own will. Not to sure on that but it sounded like deamon worship was getting to be the biggest problem the tribals were facing.

Oh and for the princess, ask if she has a moment or not. If she doesn't have time to spend just tell her Jericho would like to speak to her when he gets a moment... and assuming he got out of the academy fire alright.

>Message to blue sent!
What message? Check sent messages log.

>DIE SLAVER!
The Kingdom of Seraph was using slaves long before any of its people came under our influence. We don't approve of their institutionalized slavery, or how they treat the tribes. Unfortunately, getting a society to change is slow and difficult work.

We saved one of your pawns, and are not interested in any conflict with you. If anything, conflict between our forces would only serve to reinforce the kingdom's current view of the nomads and further entrench slavery as a practice.

>Blue has declared war on Teal!
Someone reach over and toggle the hold fire button on our UI, please. We're not going to shoot first if we can help it.

Crap. Good news, the Horde is splintering. Bad news, apparently we players can declare war on people and Blue just did that to us, so all our pieces have an instinctual? Irrational? hatred of anyone Blue owns...
Now, Blue SEEMS to be buying into the whole 'slavers and tribals' war thing, so we should warn Pink to not talk to Blue. It's bad enough we're aggro'd at Blue, let's not get her involved if we can help it!

Kaktus 2014/02/20(Thu)11:29 No. 563615 ID: 549d6c
File 139292454033.png - (16.04KB , 900x450 , 24.png )

>What message? Check sent messages log.
[Teal: Torturing and raping tribal is super fun, did you know that?]
[Blue: DIE SLAVER!]
>The Kingdom of Seraph was using slaves long before any of its people came under our influence…
[Blue is ignoring you. Automatic message from blue: You will burn with the rest of the scum!]
>Someone reach over and toggle the hold fire button on our UI, please. We're not going to shoot first if we can help it.
[You are neutral against Blue!]

>Ask if she has a moment.
Hmm… aren’t you Ilbir’s hired sword?
Actually, Jericho hired me… kind off…
…ah, of course! Some privacy, please.
Of course, my lady.
…like a lonely desert flower… pure and untouched…
>Good news, the Horde is splintering.
Ah, so you’ve heard? Most of them are apparently following a Shaman back into tribal controlled areas. My scouts heard something about preparing for the coming darkness… of course, there are still about a hundred being led by the warlord on their way here… but we don’t expect them to do much harm.
And an ass to die for…
>We should warn Pink to not talk to Blue.
One second… actually, she already has… they are at war, so to speak. He’s rather… quick to anger, the blue one. So… was there something else, Mr… err…
Thaark… of the Larvate brotherhood… and this is Theen. We are honored to be in your presence, Princess.
Be at ease, Thaark and Theen, no need to be so regal. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
The pleasure is all my, sexy…
Hmm? Did you say something?
Simply grunted in pain from my wound, oh beautiful desert flower…
Hey, desert flower is my line, you little dweeb.
So… was it something else?

Insert The flower and the kaktus, a romantic comedy starting two potted plants and a cat_

._. Next time we send a message SPECIFY WHAT SAID MESSAGE IS!
That said? It sounds like even if we had been cordial things would not end well.
Good news is from what I can tell, it's only an army 100 strong. BAD NEWS is that said army likely has a massively powerful superweapon or two to think it's still got a chance. Plus, yanno, the benefits of having us around, which could mean near-instantanous communications, so they can maintain co-ordination even if they get split up.

ask if she can ask pink what did the last message pink sent to blue before he declared war on him cause APPARENTLY we sent him a message saying, and I quote "Torturing and raping tribal is super fun, did you know that?"... WHO THE FUCK WRITES THAT SHIT!!?!

also can we send a ping to all players saying "To whoever is fucking with our messages... YOU SIR AND/OR MADAM, ARE AN ASSHOLE"
also if we send this message we should be to be sure to reread it after it's been sent just incase some fucker changes it.

...What the fuck? "Torturing and raping tribal is super fun, did you know that?" ...WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO WROTE THAT?! WHO FUCKED WITH OUR MESSAGE TO BLUE?! Gods' fucking dammit, we got a saboteur in here! I saw it before, here >>/questarch/557901 adding extra lewd suggestions to Jericho, here >>/questarch/558578 changing "Eliraz" to "freak," and here >>/questarch/558579 where it told Durach "it's a trap." None of us said that!

Thaark, tell Elizah that, and that it appeared after your run-in with that wraith; The one we think resonated up our link to Jericho and caused his freak-out yesterday. I have a theory we have a piece of that wraith stuck in here from that. But if we don't I have no idea where these twisted words are coming from.

...Wait. Why is Elizah wielding a pole-ax? And where'd her other guard disappear to? What's with that? Could you ask her about that first.

Ask if Pink could check her message logs to Blue to make sure they were what she intended to say and not altered in any way. I want to be sure they're right, because if somebody or something is altering inter-player messages we'll have big trouble doing diplomacy. Also ask if Pink got Teal's message from earlier today, and if so what it was.

Also tell Elizah that the shaman she mentioned is Durach, and that he's with us. We warned him about the daemon cultists right before the Serath's undead ambush at Deadhallow pass, so that's why the horde fragmented. ...We also warned him about the ambush, but it was too late to do anything about it.

Also, Durach's son Recho, the one you saved, is with Blue. We'll have to keep him locked up until we deal with Blue. But before Blue declared war on us, Recho said that what happened at the Keer city made the followers of the Dark One "bigger," so we can't count on those 100 tribesmen being pushovers.

I suspect the Dark One is has its claws deep in Blue. According to what the student at the Academy said the Dark One kept getting distracted in the ancient daemon war by going after those who kept thralls and "servents," AKA slaves. Before I found out our message was altered to be extra inflammatory I would say that'd explain Blue's extreme response to us, but now I don't know.

Kaktus 2014/02/20(Thu)13:16 No. 563630 ID: 549d6c
File 139293099811.png - (16.03KB , 900x450 , 25.png )

>...Wait. Why is Elizah wielding a pole-ax? And where'd her other guard disappear to?
Huh? What are you talking about? They are both there? Behind her? …why do I have a feeling Theen would say “I would love to get behind her in bed” after that…
>"To whoever is fucking with our messages... YOU SIR AND/OR MADAM, ARE AN ASSHOLE"
[Message sent to Pink!]

>Ask if Pink could check her message logs to Blue to make sure they were what she intended to say and not altered in any way.
Huh? N-no… she says that he got hostile as soon as he heard she was allied with the royal family.
>Ask if Pink got Teal's message from earlier today, and if so what it was.
…do you mean the one about pink being an asshole or the one about the wraith and daemon info?
Err… about the first one.
>Thaark, tell Elizah that someone is sabotaging our messages, and that it appeared after your run-in with that wraith.
Well, that does explain the message you just send. Luckily, we’re skeptical enough to not take something like that at face value. Hopefully you’ll be more careful with your messages henceforth.
So… what do we do about this?
Hmm… we have to find someone who know about both the players and wraiths… and I can’t really think about anyone who knows about both… hmm… someone that know a lot about what is going on but for some reason haven’t divulged all the information yet…
I would love to divulge into you, hubba hubba!

>I suspect the Dark One is has its claws deep in Blue.
Hmm… he doesn’t seem corrupted, just… very outspoken about this servant thing. Of course, that doesn’t leave out the possibility that he’s being manipulated by the dark one.
Oh, mistress, please manipulate my Tralala…
Theen… please shut the fuck up before she hears you…
>Also, Durach's son Recho, the one you saved, is with Blue. We'll have to keep him locked up until we deal with Blue.
I’ll see to it that he’s kept out of harm’s way.
>Good news is from what I can tell, it's only an army 100 strong. BAD NEWS is that said army likely has a massively powerful super weapon or two to think it's still got a chance.
Actually, they’ve already given us their demands. Apparently they were… special, as mother called a emergency meeting as soon as we got them.
So… what were the demands?
I don’t know… the only thing I know was they weren’t the standard “water and bread” kind of deal.

Insert Touch my ding ding dong…_

>>563630
I think we need to prune that piece of us that got in direct contact with the Wraith. I know we aren't corrupted overall but that doesn't mean we don't have one piece of us going rogue. We could see if we can track down the Masked Man to get his help on the saboteur problem if we can't handle it internally.

[locate saboteur, and EXPUNGE]

Hmm, I wonder if Theen has any chance with the princess? Ask the princess to turn off her beauty enhancement so that Theen calms down. I think it might be to much for him.

Anyway, we were going to warn her about the news we received 9 months in the future. A demon will descend, the deserts will be no more, and a "young girl" will become sultan which probably means her. We don't know where the demon falls, what it destroys if anything, if the deserts become jungle or are destroyed, or if she becomes sultan due to her mother's second death or if she just steps down. I suspect we may be able to influence the details.

well first off, sorry pink.

secondly does this include Jericho, cause last we saw he was trapped in the middle of a fire down by the academy and Artemis was going to help put the flames out by using more fire... I'm sure they're fine.

Whisper to Theen that if he doesn't knock it off we'll convince the Princess to lock him in a soft padded cell with absolutely nothing he could ever possibly be hurt with.

>>563630
Tell Elizah that all of our messages to her are being tampered with.

Thank Pink for her temperance.

[check message edit logs]
[check corruption levels]
[use counterintelligence]
[locate demons/ wraiths]
[purge the ranks like it's 1934]

Our ability to communicate has been compromised, so we're pretty much sidelined until this gets sorted out. Unless Pink knows anyone else, we should probably ask Elizah to ask the sultan what she knows. The only other people I can think of are Steve or Bob, and I can already tell they're going to be as painful to find as that crazy necromancer.

>>563632
You got that partially right, and you forgot to mention that we jumped to the Northlands, were only there for a day, and had a new king for the duration we were there. Oh, and that this happened last night, so we weren't holding out on anybody.

While there we heard that the "sky fell down" in the Serath Desert, and that the desert is nearly gone by then. We also heard the Serath Sultanate is still around and was even entering a new golden age, so I presume the "sky fall" was it started to downpour and the desert didn't just vanish.

But we also heard that before that happened a daemon came, and that when it did multiple players lost their kings. When this happened we do not know, nor do we know if we lost Jericho. We're assuming Pink wasn't one of them, since the new sultan was "a young girl," presumably Elizah.

With all this in mind I would be very, very wary of any demands the tribesmen made. Whatever they are could all be part of summoning the Dark One or even another daemon, or they could just be a distraction.

We'll also have to keep in mind that the Dark One's favorite emotion is "hope." Whoever tries to summon the Dark One will need a strong source of it.

>>563640
Oh, we know exactly where Professor Varius is heading right now, we just can't get to him. That is unless we can come up with a way to get to the foot of the Pillars of the Heavens in less than a week.

[Policy change: all outgoing messages to other players will now be moderated, and require independent approval. New messages will be added to a delay queue, where they will remain indefinitely until they are approved or rejected by collective action.]

There. Hopefully that will help.

>she says that he got hostile as soon as he heard she was allied with the royal family.
...Blue may have an unfortunate view of slavery, Serath's treatment of the desert tribes, and the royal family's and our player's roles in those.

And sorry about the insulting message. One got through to Blue too, which only made things worse. Our communication channels appear compromised. We're working on it. If we appear to say something totally out of character or completely inconsistent with our actions or goals, we'd ask you to use your judgement and disregard.

>get the saboteur!
It's not necessarily a turncoat. We could be hacked, as well. Might do to check in a mirror.

Kaktus 2014/02/21(Fri)08:51 No. 563715 ID: 549d6c
File 139300147175.png - (16.46KB , 900x450 , 26.png )

>[locate saboteur, and EXPUNGE]
[You are currently in anarchy! Saboteur found! Do you wish to expunge… 100% of the current players?]
>[check corruption levels]
[62% and rising very slowly…]
>[use counterintelligence]
[You lack the intelligence to do that, pathetic worms…]
>[locate demons/ wraiths]
[Check under the bed... or maybe the closet…]
>Policy change: all outgoing messages to other players will now be moderated, and require independent approval. New messages will be added to a delay queue, where they will remain indefinitely until they are approved or rejected by collective action.]
[Policy enacted!]
[New message made... From Teal to Teal: How does it feel? How does it feel to just dick around while Brad is slowly gutted alive… while Jericho is slowly roasted? You’ll soon lose both your kings and you aren’t even trying to stop it… you’re pathetic…]

>Hmm, I wonder if Theen has any chance with the princess?
Let’s see… Theen is a smelly, rude mercenary with a face so scarred not even his mother would love him while the other is a super beautiful and charismatic princess of an extremely rich country. …yeah, they’ll probably cut off Theen’s head if he even tries to flirt with her.
>Whisper to Theen that if he doesn't knock it off we'll convince the Princess to lock him in a soft padded cell with absolutely nothing he could ever possibly be hurt with.
I’ll b-behave…

>Thank Pink for her temperance.
Think nothing of it.
>Does this emergency meeting include Jericho?
No, it only included the Sultan and her most trusted advisors.
>Warn her about the news we received 9 months in the future.
Hmm… that is troubling news… and mother stepping down? Already? Does she really think I’m ready?
Err… it can be far worse than that…
No, if she died without giving me the throne I wouldn’t get it before she’s had a proper burial. Simply the preparations for a royal burial take almost a year.
>Our ability to communicate has been compromised, so we're pretty much sidelined until this gets sorted out. Unless Pink knows anyone else, we should probably ask Elizah to ask the sultan what she knows.
I’ll talk to her when she has the time… but I don’t know what she knows that I don’t.
>The only other people I can think of are Steve or Bob, and I can already tell they're going to be painful to find.
…if only we know what this masked man was… and how to contact him… I’m sure someone has to know something about him.

Insert Let the mighty Helix fossil guide you!_

Corruption? Son of a beep. It all makes sense now.
SOMEONE around here...Is a cultist, or linked to the demon, enough to corrupt us, slowly and minorly, but enough that it is in fact happening.

@Opposing Teal Ilfiltrator-Granted you've got us in a tight spot. But from what I gather...You win this round, perhaps. Dunno how, or when, but you seem to win, judging by the leap to the future. HOWEVER, you win this round, and possibly the next, by making moves that we're unaware of-and each time we learn more about how you operate...
So, how many rounds can you gain via the advantage of being an unknown factor?

>purge!
Yeah that's not going to work. Stop it with the heavy handed rhetoric, it only seems to feed it and fuel corruption.

>corruption: 62% and rising
...I don't suppose we have corruption logs? Or that we can get that in plot versus time? Be nice if we could correlate events with spikes or increases in corruption.

I think if we can resolve the rising corruption, that'll let us with our control problems, at least.

oh looky here, someone looking for an ass whoopin. If your wondering what that was about Thaark it's just some fat kid who thinks he's hot shit because he can put 2 words together and eats paste.

But yeah if we got nothing else here might as well move on. Also can we check out the academy that's burning down now, I want to see how much of the damage is going to be blamed on us.

...Dammit. Thaark, tell Elizah that we have corruption: 62% and rising very slowly. That's what's been fucking with us. No idea what the source is, but it has to have been near us for quite some time to get to that level at that rate. Could be a person that's the source and we're far away from it, but the low rate also makes me think it could be an object.

Ask if Pink could check on Artemis and see what she's doing. Last we saw she was about to do something either crazy, brilliant, or crazy brilliant to save Jericho from that fire. Since we're still around I'm assuming he didn't die, but there's a lot of damage that can be done before that point.

I suggest we head down to the courtyard. We were planning on checking Esiros' statue for a keystone. We'll keep it to Thaark, Theen, Ilbir, Kranhon, and Elizah if she wishes to come too.

[Policy change: Continually monitor corruption] We're gonna need to keep an eye on this at all times to figure out where the corruption is coming from. We're also going to have to test for it by separating our pawns from everyone and everything else one by one and checking the rate.

[Increase corruption counter precision to 16 digits; Monitor rate of increase and extrapolate time of 0% and 100%] A linear plot will be inaccurate but could give us some idea when it started and how long we have left at this rate.

Kaktus 2014/02/21(Fri)11:55 No. 563738 ID: 549d6c
File 139301253687.png - (23.98KB , 900x450 , 27.png )

>[Policy change: Continually monitor corruption]
[Policy changed!]
>...I don't suppose we have corruption logs?
[Corruption have steadily increased since infection by wraith. Warning! Full corruption within 14 hours! Please seek medical soul attention as soon as possible.]

>...Dammit. Thaark, tell Elizah that we have corruption: 62% and rising very slowly.
What!? That’s… not good at all! I… I don’t… I’ll trust you for now, you’ve earned that much, but if it gets any worse we will need to detain you and all your subordinates… or worse.
>Ask if Pink could check on Artemis and see what she's doing.
She’s getting lectured about basic fire safety together with a student in the academy… apparently something she did forced Jericho to get his clothes and silk wrappings repaired for burn damage… he’s alright, if you are wondering.
>I suggest we head down to the courtyard. We were planning on checking Esiros' statue for a keystone. We'll keep it to Thaark, Theen, Ilbir, Kranhon, and Elizah if she wishes to come too.
Actually, my schedule is rather full at the moment, so if you’ll excuse me.
Huh? Sorry but… um… I got to take care of some stuff for our tribal guest.
Hmm… I was actually busy with something else but… a stone? Here? This I got to see.

…

Pull! Pull like you mean it, you worthless piece of shit!
*Hrrrng!*
My grandmother should pull better than that! Bah, this training is pointless. You’re always going to be a weak little freak, Eliraz.
W-WHAT!? You little- I AM NOT A FREAK!! *ARRRGH!!*
See, pulling it wasn’t that hard, now was it?
…why is the prince pulling around a large rock clad only in loincloth and chains?
Better not ask…
Aw man… why shouldn’t that have been the other royal sibling?

Insert If Elizah knew about this she would have come too_

>Please seek medical soul attention as soon as possible
I don't suppose you have a list of resources for that? Or a service or emergency number we can call?

>we'll need to detail you or worse
Well, we've got 14 hours to fix this before you have to.

>>563738
Um. Okay we aren't looking so good. Even what little we can see in that reflection... This will probably be scary, but please walk further in so we can see how bad it is. Investigate the statue since we're here.

AH! Necromancers deal with souls, right? We need to head to the head necromancer immediately after this.

huh, we're not looking to good. Aw well no point in getting worked up about it. So do you see anything that might be a keystone on the guy's statue? We think it might be the staff but we're not 100% sure. Also we might need to go see Tera again soon to see if she can do anything about our corruption.

Time to crack that statue open!

Kaktus 2014/02/21(Fri)16:23 No. 563757 ID: 549d6c
File 139302861392.png - (25.95KB , 900x450 , 28.png )

>I don't suppose you have a list of resources for that?
[Light a candle and make an offering to whatever filthy god you believe in. I’m sure they will help you~]
>Or a service or emergency number we can call?
[555-there’s no hope for you, just give up… call now for an extra soul flaying for free!]

>This will probably be scary, but please walk further in so we can see how bad it is.
…
Huh…
What? What are you guys looking at? The water?
>AH! Necromancers deal with souls, right?
Well, they generally deal with dead souls, not corrupted ones. You’ll need some kind of.. daemonologist or a real daemon or something…

>Time to crack that statue open!
You know, if you’re wrong this will come out of your paycheck.
Bite me, dwarf.
*Clirk*
…there it is.
That’s it? It was right here all this time? No booby traps or fake outs?
The guy who hid it wanted it to be found… err… I think…
Well then… now that’s over with, how do we fix this corruption? I rather not lose my mind anytime soon.

Insert HI, BILLY MAYS HERE with soul flaying’s! Call now!_

well no one we've asked on the spiritual side of things has been any help and the only place that I think we could find anyone that might be a daemonologist would either be at the temple or the academy so if Jericho is still there I guess we can switch to him and see if he can't ask around, same with Tera to see if anyone around the temple could help us. Unless either of the two of you have an idea for where we should look to getting cured.

>>563757
Well, we know the Light is one, and the Masked Man is one, but if we switch back to Bradford to try to contact the Light that will cause us to switch to our future selves which aren't corrupted. I mean, when we were with Bradford our corruption level was falling. Here, it's rising, and has been since we accidentally let ourselves be infected by the first Wraith, and that was before we switched to Bradford. So basically I'm saying that when Bradford is our king, we don't have corruption, but when Jericho is, we're in trouble.

This means we are forced to go to the Masked Man for help. Problem is we have no means of contacting him. Or do we?
[message to Masked Man: OH GOD PLEASE HELP]
If we can't send a message, well, I think we might encounter him if we go to that storage area with all the masks, he was there briefly once before. Or maybe there's something new in Jericho's book that will point us in the right direction?

As a last resort we could summon a Daemon. I think we know enough that we could summon the Blood God. "Likes: Blood, poetry. Emotion: Pain. Light the candle, call out... Ghar’ke Kakcha (the real name) and offer him some poetry and blood. Make sure the cattle is feeling pain and he’ll come."

However, um, is the Blood God one of the Daemons that helped fight the invasion, or is he an invader? If he's an invader we should definitely not summon him because he won't help. In that case, our only option is to either find the Masked Man or try to find his real name and summon him.

I think we ought to get Eliraz over here and fill him in on the situation. Ilbir, could you ask Temrock to interrupt Eliraz's training for this. Eliraz can keep the rock on, though.

I'm thinking that Eliraz can do something similar to what he did to Gray to this wraith. We just need Elizah's dagger and a lot of reflective surfaces so he can see exactly where it is for him to cut it loose. That room with the long mirror from earlier would work. He could also try the Spear of Light Jericho got as well as the dagger. We'd switch to Jericho, and only he and Eliraz would go in for the fight. We'll have to get Jericho's magic siphoned off beforehand, just to be safe.

Unfortunately I don't know if this wraith can jump to any of our pawns. If it jumps to Eliraz that'll be a problem. We may have to release Eliraz as our pawn for the duration of the fight. And to make sure the wraith can't take him while he's a free pawn we'll ask Pink to take him as her pawn then return him to us afterwards.

Temrock knows a thing or two about wraiths, so ask him if anything can be done if one starts to get its claws into you. Is there anything that can be done to break it loose, or anyone with the power to pull it out?

I'd love to summon The Light/"Steve" or the Masked Man/Gatekeeper/Jailor/"Bob" to help us out of this mess, but we have no idea what their summoning rituals or true names are. The only daemon we know how to summon, thanks to Varius' note, is the Blood God, and I strongly suspect he's connected somehow to the wraiths we've been running into. Summoning him will almost certainly leave us far worse off.

The Academy probably has a daemonologist, or at least a person who's an expert on daemons who'd know where to find one. Unfortunately that person was probably Professor Varius and he's currently in the Northlands, never to return. Maybe there's another, but if there isn't that leaves us with the student that was studying daemons for his thesis, assuming he didn't die in the fire. And perhaps Artemis once her mind finishes processing all of those books on daemons.

Ilbir, we found this keystone because of that package that was stolen from you. It circuitously found its way back to Jericho and contained a letter to him from the oracle of the Sky Watcher tribe with cryptic directions to three keystones. This one was the easiest, since it had Elitrin's name. The other two were "one is close to your heart" and "three doves east of the city." We got no idea on the former after exhausting the obvious choices, and the latter could be too many things. So do you have any ideas on where that could be, Ilbir?

Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps the former clue is related to Jericho's locket. I think he's worn it close to his heart for a long time, and it does contain an unidentified ancient era magic artifact. Reizn looked at it yesterday and said he was going to share his findings with Ilbir as soon as he could. So did you get them yet, Ilbir? Or were you too caught up in making flying baskets to check your mailbox?

I just realized that "multiple players losing their kings" could refer to us having defeated Grey and in the future defeating Blue.

Kaktus 2014/02/22(Sat)06:54 No. 563815 ID: 549d6c
File 139308089918.png - (16.45KB , 900x450 , 29.png )

>[message to Masked Man: OH GOD PLEASE HELP]
[Unable to find player “Masked Man”!]

>lbir, we found this keystone because of that package that was stolen from you. It circuitously found its way back to Jericho and contained a letter to him from the oracle of the Sky Watcher tribe with cryptic directions to three keystones. The other two were "one is close to your heart" and "three doves east of the city."
Hmm… three doves? I’ve never heard someone measure something in a bird before? Maybe they mean three coins on a map? As for close to your heart… either something he’s wearing close to where his heart used to be or someone that is close to his heart.
>Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps the former clue is related to Jericho's locket.
That’s… actually, that’s a rather good theory.
>Reizn looked at it yesterday and said he was going to share his findings with Ilbir as soon as he could. So did you get them yet, Ilbir?
No, I haven’t had the time to check my messages yet… maybe I should do that as soon as possible.
>I'd love to summon The Light/"Steve" or the Masked Man/Gatekeeper/Jailor/"Bob" to help us out of this mess, but we have no idea what their summoning rituals or true names are.
I’m pretty sure all the rituals are the same, except that you change the sacrifice and name. Can’t say I know the ritual but… I’m sure there’s someone in the academy that knows. As for true names… those things comes from a world without sound, their names would be unpronounceable… or even unimaginable by our minds. I’m pretty sure they have other names they listen too.

>Temrock knows a thing or two about wraiths, so ask him if anything can be done if one starts to get its claws into you.
Huh? You kill it, of course! I’ve never heard about one leaving their body to infect someone that’s still alive though…
>Ilbir, could you ask Temrock to interrupt Eliraz's training for this?
Can you wait an hour? We’re almost done for today.
>We may have to release Eliraz as our pawn for the duration of the fight.
[Pawns can only be released by death. Either by the pawns death or the players!]
>I'm thinking that Eliraz can do something similar to what he did to Gray to this wraith. We just need Elizah's dagger and a lot of reflective surfaces so he can see exactly where it is for him to cut it loose.
[No! NO! I WILL NOT LET YOU HURT ME! You will die! WE WILL WIN! Dark one, accept my sacrifice! Infest them! CORRUPT THEM!!]
[Wraith infestation have been dealt with!]
Well, that was-
[WARNING! Corruption level rising! Full corruption in… one hour. User Corruption imminent! Seek medical spirit attention immediately!!]
SON OF A-

>[Switch to Jericho.]
Luckily, the academy is built to withstand fires like this… what with it being filled with fire mage novices. Don’t worry, we were able to save some of the things in Varius office and… why are you looking at me like that… it’s like you’ve seen a ghost.

Insert Infected with HEV_

Jericho. We're sorry but we're set to be completely corrupted in 1 hour. Unless you can get back to someplace with a reflective surface and use the Spear to strike down whatever's causing the corruption...Well, good news is all that's happening is only an illusion. It LOOKS freaky, but most of it is likely benign.

Jericho! The things you are seeing aren't real we're about to be corrupted and shit's going down and hoo boy we're all going to be screwed if we aren't fixed in an hour

>Pawns can only be released by death. Either by the pawns death or the players!
>Full corruption in… one hour
Well, that's it. There's only one logical course of action now. If we want to prevent ourself from going insane and turning all our pawns into crazy monsters, we have to die. Unless there's a magic fix, it's time for player Teal to retire. Dunno if we'll still respawn from a suicide, but it's the one play we have. Let's just set up a deadman's switch, here...

[Queued actions:]
[in 59 minutes: [Message to player Pink: Sorry. This was the only way we could stop it. Look after our friends, and good luck]]
[in 59 minutes: [Player Teal Retires]]

>it’s like you’ve seen a ghost
It's not real, Jer. We've been attacked by corruption, and that's affecting your perception. It's an illusion.

Jericho, please don't freak out. What you're seeing is corruption induced hallucinations. Stay calm and I'll explain what happened.

We found out what was messing with our messages and suggestions: A wraith. Either the one Thaark encountered or the one Eliraz faced had infected us and was slowly increasing our corruption level. We had 14 hours left before total corruption, but when we started talking about cutting it loose and hit on Eliraz using Elizah's dagger the wraith sacrificed itself to the Dark One, opening a direct channel to the daemon's corruption. ...I'm sorry, Jer, but we have slightly less than an hour before we fall to the corruption.

Talking in the open like that was an epically stupid blunder on our part and we're deeply sorry for it. The only halfway decent thing to come from it is we now know the wraiths we've been facing are connected to the Dark One.

Grab Artemis and tell her we have slightly less than an hour before we succumb to daemonic corruption and to relay that to Pink/the voices in her head. We need her to devote 100% of her mental and physical resources to devising a way to stop that from happening.

We're gonna need the full resources of the Academy on this, so tell the Magus everything. About us, the wraiths, the daemons, the whole lot. Full disclosure. We can't afford to leave out anything out because we don't know what info might save us. And that we have less than an hour to save ourselves.

It's looking like the only chance we have is to summon The Light/"Steve," the Masked Man/Gatekeeper/"Bob," or possibly any daemon that isn't the Blood God or the Dark One. We need to gather everyone at the Academy that knows about daemons to see if we can gather enough info to setup the proper ritual and get a name we can use.

>>563828
The wraith sacrificed itself, so I doubt there's anything to strike down but you never know. Seeking out a large reflective surface so we can see what we're dealing with would be a good idea anyway. Does the Academy have any extra large mirrors or reflecting pools?

[Determine source of corruption]
[Analyze corruption rate to determine exact time remaining until total corruption]

So pawns can't ever be manually released. We did see that they can possibly be seized by another player when we touched the guard that's Red's pawn. Other than that perhaps pawns could be traded between players if they're allied? If so then we could give our pawns to Pink to keep them safe in case we fail to stop the corruption.

>>563815
You know what now that the Wraith is gone and it's the Dark One directly influencing us I think it might be time to switch focus.

See you in a bit, Jericho.
[switch to Bradford]

yeah don't freak out, this is kinda our fault here and we have an hour before things get to far out of hand. Anyways if he see anything that looks just wrong ignore it, if people start saying weird things, ignore it and we'll filter it for you. Ask if anyone here knows anything about how to and spiritual medical work or if they've ever heard of it and where we could find it. Also if this doesn't pan out, while you know that spear you got, you remember when grey tried to kill you but you kill her instead by finding her reflection? Yeah your going to need you to kill us in about 50 minutes or less or bad shit will happen to you and all the friends you've made... sorry.

Kaktus 2014/02/22(Sat)10:52 No. 563856 ID: 549d6c
File 139309512269.png - (19.43KB , 900x450 , 30.png )

>[switch to Bradford]
[You’ve yet claimed Bradford as a king! Please wait to the future before switching!]
>Let's just set up a deadman's switch, here...
[Self-destruction set in… 59 minutes.]
>[Determine source of corruption]
[You… are… filthy slaver…]
>[Analyze corruption rate to determine exact time remaining until total corruption]
[59 minutes, 12 seconds…]

>It's not real, Jer. We've been attacked by corruption, and that's affecting your perception. It's an illusion.
It’s all an illusion… it isn’t real…
…what illusion? I can’t sense any illusion magic around here?
…forget about it.
>Grab Artemis and tell her we have slightly less than an hour before we succumb to daemonic corruption and to relay that to Pink/the voices in her head. We need her to devote 100% of her mental and physical resources to devising a way to stop that from happening.
*BEEP!* Compiling all data about subject Daemon… please stand by… 15 seconds remaining…
>We're gonna need the full resources of the Academy on this, so tell the Magus everything.
…right, I’m not really a daemonist but…
But I am! And I’ll definitely get a dragon mark on my thesis if I help you!
>It's looking like the only chance we have is to summon The Light/"Steve," the Masked Man/Gatekeeper/"Bob," or possibly any daemon that isn't the Blood God or the Dark One.
Summon one of them? Isn’t that a bit… dangerous?
So… we need something they like and something feeling the emotion they like…
and the name?
Err… the name they’ve given themselves in this world… I… I don’t actually…
The masked one gave himself the name of “Bob” to his human allies during the war. He is also known as the gatekeeper… or jailor, tyrant, fear bringer, the end and/or the nightmare by his enemies. Apparently, the daemon invading this realm didn’t like him a lot… I can’t find anything about… “Steve” or the light that’s useful though…
>We need to gather everyone at the Academy that knows about daemons to see if we can gather enough info to setup the proper ritual and get a name we can use.
So… what do we need? Let me just read the note again… “To call them: Light candle, call them by name in the old tongue, offer them something they like, the emotion they represent must be present.”
Well, I can easily get you a candle… and a room made out of mirrors just in case…
Hmm… we know their names and I think I can call them… but not the emotion or an proper offering… what do they like? There has to be some kind of clue somewhere in the old text!?
Commencing search… unable to find anything about likes / dislikes and emotions…

Insert 404 file not found_

>>563856
Bob likes anger or maybe frustration, and we know prophecy is associated with him, but... nothing is clear about him.

Steve likes prayer and devotion. We might have a better chance of summoning Steve than Bob. In fact, I think that's how we contacted him in the future. That was a summoning in the chapel! Light a candle, and pray devoutly to the Light. MEAN IT.

Also Dark One: We're not slavers, we'd actually kindof like to abolish that eventually!

OH FUCKING HELL, this is how Steve get's his religion started isn't, through us. damn he's good. Alright then, room of mirrors, candle, and then pray like mad to the light... or steve, try both just to be safe.

I don't suppose the book of auto-prophecy has any useful commentary at the eleventh hour?

>>563861
...that would be a rather interesting paradoxical origin.

Jer, tell the daemonologist everything we've seen of "Bob," since it might help us here. Start with the glimpses of him we saw after we first came to you and ending with what happened at Ilbir's dig after we defeated Gray. Tell him about the book of prophecy "Bob" left for you, and that Esiros had one as well. Pull the book out to show him and check it for any changes. We may need to consult Esiros' "journal" too. I don't suppose the Academy have a copy of it, do they?

However I don't know if our encounter with "Bob" will help us here. From what he said I think that he was using the hallucinogenic state we were in to bypass having to be summoned in order to speak to us.

Ask Artemis to search for any gods, daemons, or any other supernatural beings who appeared as a grossly incandescent figure with a pair large stylized wings behind it, possibly made of blades. It'd also have the power to either freeze time except for a localized area, or accelerate time in a localized area so that everything else appears to have frozen in time. Maybe that'll turn up "Steve."

Kaktus 2014/02/22(Sat)12:46 No. 563868 ID: 549d6c
File 139310201601.png - (11.03KB , 900x450 , 31.png )

>I don't suppose the book of auto-prophecy has any useful commentary at the eleventh hour?
“In his desperation, the mage of two essences summoned the jailor of slaves, the lord of terror to assist him see through the lies laid by the corrupted dead.”
>Dark One: We're not slavers, we'd actually kind of like to abolish that eventually!
…he doesn’t seem to be listening.
>Jer, tell the daemonologist everything we've seen of "Bob," since it might help us here.
Err… a book of prophecies, you say? It doesn’t really help but… hmm… everything you said, while very intriguing, won’t really help us right now, does it?
>Ask Artemis to search for any gods, daemons, or any other supernatural beings who appeared as a grossly incandescent figure with a pair large stylized wings behind it, possibly made of blades.
…Lightbringer, gave his strength to mortal men so their blades would be able to harm the invaders forces. Nothing else is known about him… except… he had a mortal wife? Huh…

>Steve likes prayer and devotion. We might have a better chance of summoning Steve than Bob. In fact, I think that's how we contacted him in the future. That was a summoning in the chapel! Light a candle, and pray devoutly to the Light. MEAN IT.
Right… let’s pray for something I don’t really believe in…
Err… I’m pretty sure you have to call them by name in the old tongue… Ghar’ke Kakcha Light… or Ghar’ke Kakcha Steve? …err… we offer devotion to you?
*Crunch* Try summoning this masked guy to while you’re at it… *crunch* mmm…
Ghar’ke Kakcha Bob? Ghar’ke Kakcha Jailor? …and what the hell are you doing?
You said you needed something to offer so I thought… *crunch* hey, some of those old pagan gods usually took fruits and stuff so… I brought some fruit.
…I don’t think you’re supposed to eat it yourself.
Eh, I was hungry, so bite me… want an apple? Maybe a pear? Grapes?

[10 minutes remaining…]

WHAT!? ALREADY!? It can’t have been an hour already!?
Well, I dunno… It took a while to set up all this stuff…
Didn’t take an hour… twenty minutes tops.

[Corruption rate increasing! 5 minutes remaining before complete corruption!]

That can’t be right… that can’t be… I… no… I can’t… I’m doomed, aren’t I… I… I didn’t think it would end like this…
>Summon the blood god… it’s the only way!
I… I need some blood… and… I think I know where to get blood… and pain…
Err… why are you looking at me like that?
>and poetry…
In every clime and under every sun…
Lord Jericho!?
Death laughs at ye, mad mortals, as ye run…
JERICHO!?!

Insert GRAPE OF WRATH!!_

We are not fully corrupted yet daemons! *RESIST JERICHO RESIST*

ah fuck... can we accelerate the self-termination thing to now?

At least this explains why the whole fucking mirror is black... and why the hell is the green guy not casting a reflection?

>>563868
Light, if you are out there, if you can hear us... please. In our hour of need, please help us. You are our last hope. Shining Light, glorious holy Light, bane of the corrupt undead, cleanse us of this infestation!

...as a last resort, aside from killing ourselves we could switch to the Shaman. Maybe Mor'Kay can help us out, or we could just use the incoming complete corruption to unleash the negative consequences on the tribals/Blue instead of the city/Pink. It's a lesser evil.

...and then there's the option of switching to The Sacrifice, if we can manage the jump 3 days into the future or whatever. There's like, nobody there, and besides Varius was gonna summon the Blood God there anyway.

Kaktus 2014/02/22(Sat)14:28 No. 563887 ID: 549d6c
File 139310808326.png - (15.14KB , 900x450 , 32.png )

>Ghar’ke Kakcha…
…no, this is stupid. I’m not that desperate.
>We are not fully corrupted yet daemons! *RESIST JERICHO RESIST*
No need to yell…
>Light, if you are out there, if you can hear us... please. In our hour of need, please help us. You are our last hope. Shining Light, glorious holy Light, bane of the corrupt undead, cleanse us of this infestation!
…He doesn’t seem to hear us… maybe this is the end? I… I don’t want to die…

>Why the hell is the green guy not casting a reflection?
Huh? What are you talk-
You called?
AH!! Holy sh- you scared me!
And your fear is appreciated… and these grapes are good too...

Insert Why, hello there handsome_

>5 minutes remaining before complete corruption!
[Reschedule self-destruct. Set it to go off when Corruption exceeds 99.9%]

>Insert Why, hello there handsome
...that's quite the reflection you have, there. Even the grapes have a soul you're eating?

If you can do anything to help us stop or reverse the rising corruption, we need your help, quickly. We're minutes away, or less, from killing ourself before we lose control.

>>563887
What... the fuck are you? You know what I don't even care. I don't understand why grapes are somehow represented by a SOUL of all things but HELP US. We have minutes left before complete corruption.

Actually I wonder if that reflection is fake because of the corruption. I mean, we can't even see ourselves in the mirror anymore.

>>563900

The grapes might even be altered for all we know, all we really know is that this daemon has been helping us, hopefully will help us, and not let us rot away.

...Grapes? Grapes!? It was GRAPES?! How could we have know- Wait... Oh, dammit... We had it, right there in what Artemis first told us she learned about daemons, and also in what Ilbir remembered when we asked about daemons. We had the clues, totally missed them, and were only saved 'cause the Magus brought a fruit bowl. I'm sorry, Jer, but we blew it.

Hello, uh... "Bob?" Or would you prefer a different name in this era? I'll call you "Bob" for now. Anyway. Bob, as you can probably see we have a corruption problem. A critical one. We urgently need your help to turn it back, or at least stop its advance. Just anything to keep us from falling to it. I can only hope you can help, because otherwise our only remaining option is self-destruction.

Also, why did you remove those three books on daemons from the palace library after Artemis read them? That is, if that was you who did that. ...And if you didn't just re-shelve them. Dammit, we didn't check if they were actually gone, did we?

And is that really what a grape looks like to you, Bob, or is what we're seeing fear? Or grapes combined with fear?

Hey, Jer, you notice how Bob arrived right after you asked the Magus why he has no reflection? You asking that made the Magus afraid. He's hiding something, and in this situation that makes me very nervous. I suggest pointing your spear at his fat middle and propose that he figuratively spill his guts or it'll become literal.

>>563898
We really shouldn't tie our self-destruct to any status notification or value because it looks like the corruption was screwing with them. I'd rather not blow up if we get a fake 99.91% corruption level when we're only 95% or some such.

>>563900
Yeah, where is our reflection? I think it might be missing because we're filtering out the visuals from the corruption, but we'll have to drop the filter to test for that. Jer, I'm sorry for this. Brace yourself. [Disable visual filtering for 3 seconds]

>>563923
I agree the self-destruct has problems as is. The big problem is we can't tie it to a clock if the target time keeps decreasing. If we hit 100% before we self-destruct, our corrupt self is free to cancel it. We have to die while we're still in control.

If you've got a better alternative to time than corruption levels, I'm all ears.

>>563923
>grapes, we missed it
Well personally I thought it was a big metaphor. I didn't think grapes meant literal grapes.

Well, I can certainly say I myself am terrified at the prospect of our lives being held in his hands, but better this then corrupted..

...well I don't know how to handle this but I do have to say the the whole warden joke I made now seems very appropriate. Assuming that his reflection isn't just a corruption based illusion I'm now even more wary of this guy...or maybe his true self can only be seen by the corrupted.

But yeah... we have a corruption problem here and we're kinda grasping at straws at this point. You know of any way for us to get uncorrupted or if not... at least make it that we won't drag anyone in our group down with us.

Kaktus 2014/02/23(Sun)05:42 No. 564005 ID: 549d6c
File 139316294866.png - (15.57KB , 900x450 , 33.png )

>[Reschedule self-destruct. Set it to go off when Corruption exc-
I would advise you not to do that.
>HELP US. We have minutes left before complete corruption.
Minutes? Hardly… it will takes days for you to be corrupted at this pace.
But… it said I had-
…you have a piece of a wraith infesting you. A being of lies and illusions… and you took everything it said at face value?
I… It was all a lie!?
A very convincing lie, I have to admit. It almost succeeded making you desperate enough to kill yourself… or worse, summoning one of my brethren. Here, let me take care of this wraith for you…
No! P-please! Don’t! KILL ME! DON’T LET HIM TAKE ME!! AAH!!!
Kill you? You’re already dead, aren’t you?

[Corruption at 16% and falling!]

>What... the fuck are you?
He’s a Daemon! What did you think they looked like? Cute bunnies?
>Actually I wonder if that reflection is fake because of the corruption.
My reflection is… well, you can’t understand my true form unless you can see five dimensions and see it from several directions of time at once… so you’re simply seeing an image of what your brain believes I am.
>Hello, uh... "Bob?" Or would you prefer a different name in this era?
Bob is… suitable.
:UnknownRUST: Err… excuse me for asking, but what is your real name?
Hmm… it would be like explaining a song to a deaf person… or color to someone blind… my name is like the sound the taste of purple makes when it’s shitting itself in fear.
…so, like a *frrttt* sound?
…No. Not at all.
Psst… don’t make fart jokes at the immortal, extremely powerful being of evil…
>...Grapes? Grapes!? It was GRAPES?! I thought it was a big metaphor.
Well… it is a metaphor of sorts… of course, I still love grapes… mmm…
>Even the grapes have a soul you're eating?
Of course not. Don’t be silly. It’s simply a metaphor, that’s all.
>why did you remove those three books on daemons from the palace library after Artemis read them?
To keep it out of the hands of others. You aren’t the only one seeking knowledge about us. The books here are still safe for the time being, on the other hand.
>Hey, Jer, you notice how Bob arrived right after you asked the Magus why he has no reflection? You asking that made the Magus afraid.
Actually, I came for the fear you provided when you called my name… you fear of death and the apprentice fear of failure.
>I suggest pointing your spear at his fat middle and propose that he figuratively spill his guts or it'll become literal.
W-wait! Can’t we t-talk about this!? I got a reflection, see! I don’t know what you’re babbling about!
Hmm…
Probably just another illusion from the wraith. It was probably hoping that you’d spill his blood so it should summon the blood god.
…if you say so…

Insert Don’t fart in the general direction of the god killing abomination_

Hm multiple dimensions..We can barely see 3D, let alone five.

So others are seeking knowledge, do you mind telling us who they are?

Maybe their general location as well so we can make some nice trophies.

...so bob you got any tips you can give us for dealing with wreaths in the future? Also thanks for the help.

Oh one more question since you're here, why do you have a physical body... or is that just a pawn. I mean if he is a pawn he's talking in first person, if that is you, how did you get a physical body?

Thank you.

So... is there anything you could do to help us prevent that from happening again? A way to know which lies are lies, or to prevent re-infestation? Or do you have a number we can call if we need a soul-exterminator?

>wizard
Leave him alone, guys.

...wait, why aren't we showing up in the mirror?

[Cancel self destruct and other queued actions]

...Dammit. We totally knew we were dealing with a wraith, an entity who's whole power basis is lies and illusions, and we didn't question anything we saw. If it weren't for the Magus, we would have doomed ourselves. We've really been dropping the ball, haven't we?

Bob, I thank you greatly. Now that we know just how much wraiths can do we'll be much more careful when dealing with them from now on. But if we do get infected again, what can we do or who can we go to to get the wraith removed? If possible we'd like to fix it ourselves and not have to bother you again if we or, somebody we care for, gets infected.

So, is this wraith fragment from the one that infested Aviris' corpse when he was in the skrang? Even if it isn't I'm still wondering where the wraith that got into Aviris' corpse came from.

And as long as you're here, you got any advice on what to do about the Dark One's servants? Or anything we could do to further sticking the Dark One back in its box or at least lessening its influence in this world?

Oh, and what did the Dark One do at Then’dranil? Where did all the living creatures from there go? How would it doing what it did that further its goals?

Jer, I think you ought to apologize to the Magus. After all, if he hadn't brought the grapes we'd be done for. Perhaps offer an invitation to the next royal banquet.

Kaktus 2014/02/23(Sun)12:16 No. 564034 ID: 549d6c
File 139318661855.png - (15.34KB , 900x450 , 34.png )

>Thank you.
We serve…
>Jer, I think you ought to apologize to the Magus. After all, if he hadn't brought the grapes we'd be done for. Perhaps offer an invitation to the next royal banquet.
…is the food any good?
…”Royal”.
Oh right… well, count me in!

>So others are seeking knowledge, do you mind telling us who they are?
I can’t tell you.
…you know, this would be a lot easier if you didn’t keep information from me.
No, I mean I don’t know. I simply know that there are people seeking information that we would do better that they didn’t know. It was they who ransacked the scholar’s office for example. But… if you feel I’ve been keeping you in the dark… please, do ask away.
…err… can’t you see the future or something?
Technically I am in the future and the past right now… but I do not know it in the future either… at least, not in those futures I live in right now.
>So... is there anything you could do to help us prevent that from happening again?
Use your spear and a mirror. Draw blood... or in your case, simply wound yourself and the pain will draw it out to the slaughter. The pain will probably dispel any illusions it has made too.
>why do you have a physical body?
Because I will it… at a price, of course. I’m far weaker then I would be without it… and I have to… feed a lot to keep it functioning… but, it enables me to manipulate this world to my content.

>So, is this wraith fragment from the one that infested Aviris' corpse when he was in the skrang?
As far as I know, this necromancer, Varius, created four artificial Wraiths. Two of them you killed in his lab, the third infested Aviris, killed his guards and went out into the desert hunting for one of the keystones before being killed by a Vildman… VildWoman… err… Vildkvinna? …and this one, the one we just took care of, was inserted into a dead mummy body and released out into the city by Varius before he left.
>You got any advice on what to do about the Dark One's servants?
Kill them… and try to keep them from Keer owned cities. I can protect the Serath people from the dark ones direct influence, but they are beyond my domain.
>What did the Dark One do at Then’dranil?
He used up most of his power to move the people somewhere… either to feed on them or turn them into undead… or maybe both? I don’t know yet. Now… any more questions before I leave? Oh wait… one more thing…
*Scribble*
“And so it came to past, the antipode, the jailor, the guardian in green and the apprentice successfully purged the infected… oblivious that the true horde of the daemon marched ever closer…” Shouldn’t you just have told me directly?
No. This is more fun. Now ask and be enlightened.

Insert How many licks does it take to get to the center of a wraith? …also, what do they taste like?

Can you offer us any advice for what we should be doing with Brad and the others in the future? You should be there, somewhere, even if we haven't made contact in that time period, yet.

>>564034
Ah, finally, we can see ourselves again.

Bob, how did we summon you without speaking your name in the old tongue? Or was that Gar'cheka whatever thing the right way to do it? Knowing the proper way to summon you would be useful later on.

Secondly, what are we? You should know. Are we daemons? Souls of daemons? Normal lost souls, what?

Thirdly, do you happen to know how to summon Steve? That could come in handy later too.

Fourthly, err, what do you feed on? Souls? It kinda looks like you have a bunch of souls chained to you. Considering what we know about souls (there is no afterlife anymore and they're just sortof energy now) I guess that's not a bad thing in the end...

Fifthly, we have a link to Varius's assistant a few days into the future. What should we attempt to do with that link? Can we stop Varius, or is that impossible because he's already succeeded in the future? Should we just try to gather information, or what?

Lastly, any hints on how to interpret the "three doves" thing? Is there a specific map we should put coins on?

What's the deal with Blue? We have very little intelligence on him right now. Are there other players kicking around?

Is the oracle/elder of the Sky Watcher tribe getting his-her premonitions and such from you or is it from one of your comrades? And could you help us with the "three doves east of the city" direction in the oracle's letter? We don't expect you to spell it out, of course. Just a small hint, if you please.

Just what is warlord Mor'Kay? Durach said his body is metal and magic, but is the body a prosthesis for a living lizard? A construct with a transplanted soul? A golem?

Where did the corruption that infected Red years ago come from? And what was the source of the corruption that infected Gray?

What were the "harvesters" that the Blood God was trying to make but failed to because he didn't have a master necromancer? I'd like to know because I have a strong feeling we're going to be facing them later and I'd like to prepare for that.

I think we can also let the student ask a brief question. Nothing in-depth since Bob has other places and times he has to be.

>>564038
Yeah, what is up with Blue? And why does he totally hate the Drah'kon royal family? Is he being manipulated by the Dark One?

Also, where's Red in all of this? The only recent activity we've seen of him has been a single pawn in the palace who he asked about Jericho. What's he up to, and who's side is he on in this fight?

>>564036
We can't change anything about Brad's fate we've seen, but we can change things we haven't seen to put us in a better position. Doing something like arranging for a letter to arrive at the Order of Light immediately before Brad is abducted telling them to get a couple rangers out to tail the abductors would fit that.

My question is do we need the spear to purge wraiths or will anything do really? cause when we switch to Brad or whoever we might get pulled to we won't have the spear anymore, Jericho will... unless we get 1 spear for each king or something?

>>564064
I'd figure any weapon blessed by the Lightbringer would do just as well against wraiths as the spear, meaning Brad's warhammer would be effective. He would have to do something like smack his nose with it for the blood and pain part, though. Maybe hit his thumb if just pain would do.

Which reminds me: Is Elizah's dagger one of the weapons the Lightbringer empowered during the ancient war? Or is it more recent work? I ask because it's power is similar to his other handiwork we've seen.

Kaktus 2014/02/24(Mon)10:21 No. 564150 ID: 549d6c
File 139326606131.png - (11.37KB , 900x450 , 35.png )

>Bob, how did we summon you without speaking your name in the old tongue? Or was that Gar'cheka whatever thing the right way to do it?
Ghar’ke Kakcha roughly translates to “I summon thee” in the old tongue… and Bob is my name in this world in all tongues.
>do we need the spear to purge wraiths or will anything do really?
Anything that is blessed with our powers will do.
>Do you happen to know how to summon Steve? That could come in handy later too.
I’m sorry, all I can tell you is that his emotion is devotion.
You don’t know what he likes?
No, I promised him not to tell you… because he’s a bit embarrassed about it.
>We have a link to Varius's assistant a few days into the future. What should we attempt to do with that link? Can we stop Varius, or is that impossible because he's already succeeded in the future?
Impossible? No. Just very unlikely. Do what you think is best.
>Can you offer us any advice for what we should be doing with Brad and the others in the future?
I’m sorry, but my place is here, not in the north. Just go with the flow.
>Is the oracle/elder of the Sky Watcher tribe getting his-her premonitions and such from you or is it from one of your comrades?
He gets it from the system of this world.
>Could you help us with the "three doves east of the city" direction in the oracle's letter?
I have no idea. I haven’t heard that before, not until you said it right now.
>What's the deal with Blue? We have very little intelligence on him right now.
He’s… well… let’s just say players tends to become like their minions… and his king hate you with passion.
>Are there other players kicking around?
There are currently 346 artificial gods... no real ones. Of course, there are only four players you need to concern yourself with here.
>Just what is warlord Mor'Kay? Durach said his body is metal and magic, but is the body a prosthesis for a living lizard?
She’s… a wild card, that’s all I know.
>Where's Red in all of this?
He controls Mor’kay… and as I said, he’s a wild card. I don’t know exactly what their agenda is… or who’s manipulating them to what end… or if anyone is actually manipulating them at all.
>Is Elizah's dagger one of the weapons the Lightbringer empowered during the ancient war? Or is it more recent work? I ask because it's power is similar to his other handiwork we've seen.
No, It’s not… and I can’t tell you because you didn’t bring it here for me to study.
>What were the "harvesters" that the Blood God was trying to make but failed to because he didn't have a master necromancer?
They are a construct, undead in nature and are made to harvest food for us.
>What are we? You should know. Are we daemons? Souls of daemons? Normal lost souls, what?
You’re… different. You aren’t artificial like the other players… you aren’t a daemon… and you can’t be a soul because they don’t exist, daemon or otherwise… in fact, you don’t seem to be an product of this artificial world at all, like the rest of us…
>What do you feed on? Souls? It kinda looks like you have a bunch of souls chained to you.
Normally, emotions… but with a physical body I need… more. Don’t worry, those that was consumed will not be missed.
Wait!? YOU EAT PEOPLE!?
Well, yes… your fear as you’re slowly digested is delicious after all…
And… those things behind you? You said souls don’t exist but…
They are unnourished Daemons. Sentence to spend an eternity locked within their own bodies. We can’t die, no, but if we don’t feed we’ll slowly lose ourselves… Unable to move… unable to scream… only being able to watch… and dream… and lament…

>I think we can also let the student ask a brief question.
Um… why are you helping us?
As I said, we need to feed, and we do so on the emotions you feel. Happiness… hope… love… they are like stale bread, filling but tasteless. Pain, suffering and despair on the other hand… they are like a grape, delicious but… we need a lot of grapes for it to be as filling as the grapes. Those that are invading are sick on eating stale bread and instead what grapes, even if it means that a majority of our people will starve into nothing.
Err… and you eat people?
Only if we have a physical form in this world. Emotions carries over to our world, you do not.
Don’t you… feel bad about that?
It is hard to pity something that is alive, dead, not even born or will never be born depending on witch direction you look at it… and you’re like mayflies to us. Your lives are barley a wink in our eyes.
and Wraiths?
Aren’t they like… people you’ve eaten and then shat out?
I… what? Where did you- never mind… no, they are… well, sometimes memories of your people linger after their death… they become ghost… a ghost touched by one of my kind will be… corrupted and turned into a wraith, a twisted mockery of its former self.
…and the whole player, artificial world and all that stuff you said…
If I would tell you I would need to eat you afterwards. Trust me, you don’t want to end up in my gut, little man…
Err… r-right… and-
That’s enough. I’ll need to leave.
You have something more important to do?
No, if I’m going to exist for much longer I’ll need to eat one of you… and you don’t want that, now do you? So… goodbye.

…bye?
…so… that was… something…
Aw yeah… I’m so going to get a dragon mark!
I’m pretty sure you’ll be expelled if you mention summoning a daemon without the arch mages permission.
…son of a bi-

Insert A wild WALL OF TEXT appears! What do you do?
-Fight-Magic-Item-Run-

on the bright side you did learn a hell of a lot about deamons so you should still be ahead of most in the field of deamons.

But yeah, we're better now and I have no idea what we have left to do on our list. What's next on the list cause I say do that... or at least check on the prince.

>>564150
That was some delicious exposition. Unfortunately we're back to square one about what we are. Hmm. Daemons with physical form need to eat people, and digest them slowly... like skrangs?

Well, now that the corruption business is dealt with we can get the remaining two stones. Jericho, one of them is in your locket, I believe. The other one is three doves east of the city. Sigh. Find a map, I guess.

We're okay and floaty again! *Nibble on Magus in celebration*

We're gonna live! Well at least for a while longer, since we still got player red and blue to deal with and all. We should probably alert pink that we're fine.

Kaktus 2014/02/24(Mon)14:07 No. 564175 ID: 549d6c
File 139327962539.png - (15.32KB , 900x450 , 36.png )

>We should probably alert pink that we're fine.
[Do you wish to send the message “Crisis averted, we’re fine”?]
>We're okay and floaty again! *Nibble on Magus in celebration*
*Scratch* Damn bloodsuckers, biting everything they can find.
Err… you mean vampires?
He was talking about mosquitos. Insects they exist in wet areas… so you would be hard pressed to find one here.
I wasn’t talking about a mosquito… but never mind…

>Hmm. Daemons with physical form need to eat people, and digest them slowly... like skrangs?
Let’s not make the Skrangs even worse, alright?
>Well, now that the corruption business is dealt with we can get the remaining two stones. Jericho, one of them is in your locket, I believe.
Hmm… I need to ask Ilbir about the locket… it’s fully possible that’s there a stone hiding under all the copper…
>The other one is three doves east of the city. Sigh. Find a map, I guess.
But what kind of map? Just the general area or the country or what?
>What's next on the list cause I say do that...
Hmm… we did do some delegation so… visit the royal crypts and… finding that guard you were talking about is the only things I can remember we haven’t done yet.
>or at least check on the prince.
…
Hey, wait! Before you go, remember the ice sphere!

…

That’s it for today, maggot. I have to say… you’re the worst student I’ve ever had. You’re a disgrace to your title, “Prince”. I hate to say it but… if you are really set to completely fail some more, meet me in the courtyard tomorrow at nine! Do you understand, or are you too much of a chicken to even try?
Oh, I will be there… and I’ll show you! I’ll complete your stupid training… and then I’ll kick your ass… you… big… mean… err… hairy… ape?
…you really need to work on your insults.
JER! Oh thank the gods…you’re a sight for sore eyes…
How did the training work? …and you smell… rather badly, love.
And you smell divine as always… and well… he didn’t allow me to clean myself yet after… this morning and that wakeup call... and the training… well… I don’t know… I keep failing at everything and Temrock keep yelling at me how useless I am and… I… somehow I want to try even harder to prove myself to him…
I’m sure you’ll make him proud to call you his prince, beautiful. Just like I am.
Heh… thank you… but don’t let me bore you with my talk about training… how’s your day been?
Well…

Insert What’s that boy? The well has fallen down the well? Quick well, let’s get well so we can save the well in the well!_

>>564175
Message acceptable. I wonder if we should end the policy of screening our messages now?

Howdy Eliraz. Jericho has had an interesting day all told. Two artificial wraiths were still in Varius's lab, but we managed to kill them with the help of a spear delivered from THE FUTURE. Then the lab caught fire and Jericho almost burned to death. After that we found out the wraith from that old mummy was infesting us and managed to trick our status messages so that it looked like we were swiftly being corrupted. Thankfully we managed to summon the Masked Man who killed the Wraith- that was the last one we'll see for a while, by the way- and gave us a juicy infodump.

Hey, I have a question. How far can a dove fly? What is east of the city, anyway? Are there any landmarks nearby?

We should probably check up on The Shaman sometime today.

perhaps wo should add something like "echo corruption%" right above the insert so we can see it instantly if the corruption rises again.

I wonder if "three doves east of the city" is a lot more literal. Finding the point that is exactly due East of the outer city wall, the width of three coins out, and some indeterminate distance below the ground, isn't a half-bad hiding place.

just grab a bunch of maps and get three doves, if any of them come across and landscapes like a city or rune we can see if we can't send someone there to check it out for us.

Kaktus 2014/02/24(Mon)17:24 No. 564199 ID: 549d6c
File 139329145093.png - (11.13KB , 900x450 , 37.png )

>Message acceptable.
[Message sent!]
>We should probably check up on The Shaman sometime today.
…as you’re still here, I’m guessing now is not the time?

>Howdy Eliraz. Jericho has had an interesting day all told…
Wait, the masked guy was a daemon!? I’ve been lead around by a freaking daemon!?
Well… he is a nice daemon… kind of….
…and here I thought my day was bad…
It probably was worse, actually… it looks like you were hit by a herd of rampaging raptors, even after you cleaned yourself.
It feels like I was hit by one too… at least, it does until you starting rubbing my back… purr~
>Hey, I have a question. How far can a dove fly? What is east of the city, anyway? Are there any landmarks nearby?
To the east? …well, how far east? …and funny you would mention doves… I remember there was this place not far to the east that Elizah and I used to call the dove nest. It had these rocks that almost looked like white birds and there was always a water spring including a lot of plant life there every spring… it’s been years since I was there… last time was when we had a picnic with mom there… a bit lower… there… perfect… oh~

Insert …wait, no rubber ducky song!? WHAT A RIP OFF!! I demand my money back!!_

we've got nothing else to go off of so why not, we'll check it out later, so once you're done her lets check on the guard that got messed up by the wraith and then maybe check out the royal crypts.

>>564199
That's it! That's where it must be. We'll have to organize an expedition. You guys rest up, we'll get Thaark to do it, he still hasn't done much today. Oh, we have to ask Ilbir about the pendant, first, actually. See you later!

[switch to Ilbir]

These bird shaped rock formations, there wouldn't happen to be at least three of them would there? That would be about the best lead we have so far.

I think the training is to test strength of will; that tends to be a thing when dealing with illusions and whatnot.

Okay, we've been saying we need to check the royal crypts for like three days and almost as many threads, so we should go to Ilbir and Threen and, I don't know, as least get the paperwork started? You kids have fun.

Eliraz, the letter said "three doves east of the city." Does that fit with what your "dove nest" looked like? Maybe the "three doves" are Elizah, Eliraz and... Leanah? Jericho? ...Eliros? Well, whatever. It's the best lead we've got and it's not far so we may as well check it out.

Does Eliros know about the "dove nest" too? Because if he does we'll have to be careful and bring extra guards along for the trip. Not because I think Eliros would be going there for a keystone, but rather because it's a water source he would have told his allies of and there could be tribesmen camped there. Heck, for all we know Eliros could be camped there.

Oh, Jer, you also need to get the keystone we recovered from Elitrin's statue from Ilbir or Thaark and put it in your internal storage ASAP. And make sure to incinerate Varius' note on the Blood God right away and spread its ashes to the wind. The last thing we need is it getting loose and more people learning how to summon him.

Okay, here's the plan: You two finish up here and then maybe Eliraz could take advantage of the massage his harem offers. Meanwhile we'll jump over to Ilbir, tell him about the wraith and that we're not corrupted, and ask him to look over Reizn's findings on Jericho's locket. Then we'll grab a map and a mirror and go see Elizah. We'll have her check us in the mirror to see we're not corrupted, tell her it was a wraith fooling us, then ask her to show Ilbir on the map where the "dove nest" is. Next we'll jump to Thaark, reassure him we're not corrupted, go meet up with Ilbir, and then gather up Kranhon, Thuul, and some guards and supplies for the trip to the "dove nest."

While they're en route: Jer, find out where that catatonic guard from the mess with the mummy is, have him brought to the mirror room, and use the counter-wraith technique Bob told you on him to check if he's infected by a wraith fragment and put it down if he is. If he isn't then collect some of his blood and send it to the Academy to test its life essence for corruption. Then Jer and Eliraz can investigate the royal crypts if Eliraz is still up for it. Otherwise Jer could go there with Artemis instead since neither of them need to sleep.

I think suggesting a bath might be in order.

>how’s your day been?
Way too much demon stuff.

Kaktus 2014/02/25(Tue)10:52 No. 564280 ID: 549d6c
File 139335435465.png - (15.25KB , 900x450 , 38.png )

>Make sure to incinerate Varius' note on the Blood God right away and spread its ashes to the wind.
I already burned it… did it before we summoned Bob.
>Oh, Jer, you also need to get the keystone we recovered from Elitrin's statue from Ilbir or Thaark and put it in your internal storage ASAP.
I’ll take it the next time I meet them.

>I think the training is to test strength of will; that tends to be a thing when dealing with illusions and whatnot.
Huh… that would be logical, yes… why didn’t I think about that?
>These bird shaped rock formations, there wouldn't happen to be at least three of them would there?
I… can’t remember… I remember a lot of rocks there but… can’t recall if there were three that looked like doves or just two…
>Does Eliros know about the "dove nest" too?
He does… but he has no reason to be there. It’s all dried up this time of the year.

>Okay, here's the plan: You two finish up here and then maybe Eliraz could take advantage of the massage his harem offers.
>Jer, find out where that catatonic guard from the mess with the mummy is, have him brought to the mirror room, and use the counter-wraith technique Bob told you on him to check if he's infected by a wraith fragment and put it down if he is.
>Then Jer and Eliraz can investigate the royal crypts if Eliraz is still up for it. Otherwise Jer could go there with Artemis instead since neither of them need to sleep.
Sounds like a plan.
We should take lunch somewhere in there too… I’m starting to get a bit peckish… now, my knight, turn around and I’ll return the favor~

>[switch to Ilbir]
Hmmm… we didn’t hit anything on this map either.
Of course we didn’t. If we already know it was there it would have been plundered years ago. Just keep marking the locations on the map.
How many maps do you even have of this area!?
Don’t worry, I only got two more. Now, hand me the doves.

Insert Yaar! Check ye map and dig for booty!_

>>564280
Hi guys, we figured it out. There's a water spring east of the city called the "dove nest" with some statues that look kindof like white birds.

Ilbir, have you got that locket open yet?

[ding]

hey Ilbir, we think we might have found something, every heard of dove nest?

*Coo coo* (It's a dove call, okay.) Hey, guys. Anything happen since we left you? Other than pouring over maps, that is.

You'll be glad to hear the source of our corruption is gone, and it turns out we weren't nearly as corrupted as we thought. The source was actually a wraith fragment from that mummy that got stuck in us. It was screwing with our perception to try and get us to either suicide or summon the Blood God. Thankfully we summoned the Masked Man and he took care of it. There's a lot more that happened, but it's too much to say here. Just ask Jericho for the whole story later.

Ilbir, did you take a look over Reizn's findings yet? 'Cause we really need to find out what the magic artifact in the locket does soon.

You can also stop putting coins on maps. We mentioned the "three doves" direction to Eliraz and he remembered an old picnic spot east of the city that he, Elizah and Leanah use to go to years ago that had rock formations that looked kinda like doves that they called the "dove nest." We think that's our best lead right now, and it's not far so we may as well check it out. Considering that the rest of the directions are linked in some way to Jericho, I strongly suspect it'll be there.

Grab a map of the surrounding terrain and we'll go find Elizah and ask her to point out where the "dove nest" is on it. Also bring along a mirror so she can check that we're not, in fact, corrupted and tell her about the wraith. We already sent Pink a message that we're fine but this'll confirm it.

Now, who's going to go on this trip? I'm thinking we want a small group, and one not in Serath Kingdom colors, since either might draw attention for an ambush. So Thaark, Thuul, and maybe Kranhon if he drops anything that IDs him as Serath Kingdom military and wears civilian clothes.

Kaktus 2014/02/26(Wed)09:05 No. 564438 ID: 549d6c
File 139343430310.png - (15.35KB , 900x450 , 39.png )

>[ding]
Ring-a-
No.
Aw…
>You'll be glad to hear the source of our corruption is gone, and it turns out we weren't nearly as corrupted as we thought.
Well, that’s good news.
Really good news. I didn’t want to be eaten by some kind of demonic entity today at all.
>Anything happen since we left you? Other than pouring over maps, that is.
Um… nothing really…

>Ilbir, have you got that locket open yet?
Kind of hard to do, as Jericho still got it. Hmm, I’ll ask about it the next time I see him.
>Ilbir, did you take a look over Reizn's findings yet?
I took a quick peek but… it’s possible that it’s a key stone… or some other artifact from the ancient time… either way, we better take a look at it.
>There's a water spring east of the city called the "dove nest" with some statues that look kindof like white birds.
Dove nest? I’ve never heard about it… are you sure?
It isn’t on any of these maps either…
>Grab a map of the surrounding terrain and we'll go find Elizah and ask her to point out where the "dove nest" is on it.
The princess is somewhere in the city right now, talking with someone about gods know what. Either way, she isn’t available right now.
Aw… I wanted to watch that nice, perky- Ow!
Theen…
I was going to say eyes! Honest!
>Now, who's going to go on this trip? Thaark, Thuul, and maybe Kranhon?
Kranhon got a busy schedule right now so he’s out.
Wait, what about me?
You’re still hurt, Theen. No more missions for you until you’ve healed properly.
But I can still fight, dammit! Don’t just leave me here!
Well, you can’t leave the city like that! You’re going to have to be content sitting this one out, Theen.
*Grumble* I really wish for some action right now…

Insert Like a fight against two assassins bursting through the door?_

you mean like those two guys point crossbows at your back right now? Either way you man what to move unless an arrow in the ass sounds like a good way to kill an evening?

Alert: Hostiles! Two lizards in the doorway, both wielding crossbows! Take cover or dodge!

Ilbir, yell for help, and if you have the magic to make a bright flash of firelight right in front of the attackers faces, do it! That'll temporarily blind them.

[Emotion/thought to Theen: DANGER! GET DOWN!] Ilbir, dive behind your desk! Thaark, shove Theen over and get behind the desk. Get low, grab it and use it as a shield from the bolts as you charge the attackers.

[Touch attackers to read pawn status and ownership]

It looks like after we're done here we'll have to meet back up with Jericho and Eliraz to deal with the locket and to find out where the "dove nest" is.

Attackers behind you, guys.

Give Theen a smack in the back of the head with the words "BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!"... after you survive this that is.

Kaktus 2014/02/26(Wed)11:47 No. 564457 ID: 549d6c
File 139344402344.png - (14.20KB , 900x450 , 40.png )

>[Touch attackers to read pawn status and ownership]
[These pawns aren’t owned by a player!]

>Attackers behind you, guys.
GET DOWN!
AH!!
>Ilbir, yell for help.
Guards! GUARDS!!
Pull back and burn them out!
AAAH!! He got my leg!!
Got one!
Just throw it in and run! We need to regroup with the others!
B-but… my leg…
Do you guys smell something burning?

Insert Chest high walls… the arch-nemesis of projectiles everywhere.

>>564457
Hmm, no Player affiliation? Looks like either demon-worshippers infiltrated the castle, or these are hired mercenaries by Blue. Or even members of the army given orders without being pawns.\

They're about to throw in some kind of firebomb. Um, I'm not sure what you can do about it. Either rush out before it starts a fire you can't get past, or redirect it out the window.

they're probably torching the place. So how high are you guys off the ground? and how the hell did all three of you get behind that puny ass desk, I mean that thing is barely big enough to cover Ilbir let alone all three of you.

>>564457
They're trying to burn you out. Your best bet is to attack now before they can block off your only exit.

Shit! They're about to throw a firebomb in here! That is, unless they threw it in the hall. Either way, Thaark, grab Theen's walking stick and rush to the door to push it closed. If they throw anything in here use the stick to either knock it back at them or out the window.

It looks like the hallway is on fire... Somehow. Isn't the hallway stonework? That shouldn't burn, so there'd only be carpeting and furniture to fuel the fire. Just how much of that is out there? Anyway, it's looking like you're not going out that way.

Ilbir, if there's a secret exit from your office now would be the time to use it. And if there isn't one, then how secure are those window bars from this side? And how high up are you? Hmm... Maybe if the fire isn't too bad you could wait it out, or even pull those banners down and use them to smother it. ...Or we can switch to Jericho and get some ice magic up in here. Yeah, that sounds like a good option.

Also, Ilbir, grab whatever book or document you consider the most important from here, 'cause there's a fair chance everything in here is going to burn.

And those two were pawns, but they weren't claimed by a player. Unfortunately all that tells us is they weren't directly influenced by a player. There's still plenty of indirect ways a player could have gotten them to do this. Or a player might not have even had a hand in this. Or a daemon. All we know is there's others they're regrouping with, so this is bigger than just two lizards.

Kaktus 2014/02/26(Wed)13:43 No. 564473 ID: 549d6c
File 139345101659.png - (15.43KB , 900x450 , 41.png )

>They're trying to burn you out.
But there’s books in here! THINK ABOUT THE BOOKS!!
>So how high are you guys off the ground?
We’re on the fifth floor… we’re probably not going to make it if we jump.
Neither will the books!
>Um, I'm not sure what you can do about it. Either rush out before it starts a fire you can't get past, or redirect it out the window.
Right, I’m charging. Theen, cove-
EAT FIRE, BOOK BURNERS!
…oh son of a-

*Boom!*

…What did you do?
I started a fire inside the flask holding all the volatile liquid. No one burns a book on my watch!
Well… now we got a raging fire between us and the only way out of here…
Relax, it exploded in the stairwell. There’s nothing flammable out there, just stone.
They said they were going to regroup… there’s probably more assassins out there right now.
…son of a- they are going for several people at the same time… who else is on their hit list?
We should have asked those two… if we didn’t burn them alive…

Insert They were real ASSassins… get it? …get it? …he…ehh… I’ll be quiet…_

so if you guys just waited in here you don't have to be worried about being burned right? If so we can switch to someone else and work on this thing from the outside.

Thaark, knock the door closed with your port-a-pole then rip a banner down and stuff it in the gap under the door. That'll block the flow of air up the stairwell into here and out the window, hopefully keeping the flames out there and also starve them of fresh air so they'll burn out sooner.

Point out to Theen that if they hadn't burned alive we would have burned alive, which would make catching up with and interrogating them just a wee bit hard what with being dead and all.

There is one good thing about the fire keeping you in: It'll also keep the other assassins out. Just don't walk in front of the window so they can't shoot at anybody in here, but if possible keep an eye on what's going on out there using a mirror.

We're gonna switch over to Jericho or Eliraz and see if we can find the other assassins before they strike; Maybe capture one. We'll also send a message to Pink so she can warn Elizah to be on guard.

[Send message to Pink: Failed assassination attempt on Ilbir. Two would-be assassins, one wearing palace guard uniform. One mentioned "regrouping with others." Presume multiple other assassins, targets unknown. Alert Elizah.]

[Switch to "The Pebble" or "The Thief"]

>>564473
I think we'd better go check on Jericho and Eliraz. The Acolyte is probably not on their hit list. Be safe.

[switch to Jericho]

Huh, forgot Ilbir is a bit badass when he wants to be.

Anyways we should check on the others.

>burn us out
...they set wooden doorway and on fire in a stone castle. Take down the phallic curtains, and there's nothing for the fire to spread across to reach the books, or you guys. Just let the fire burn itself out, and you'll be fine. Heck, there's even an open window, so smoke won't be a problem.

Kaktus 2014/02/27(Thu)09:55 No. 564581 ID: 549d6c
File 139352373679.png - (11.47KB , 900x450 , 42.png )

>[Send message to Pink: Failed assassination attempt on Ilbir. Two would-be assassins, one wearing palace guard uniform. One mentioned "regrouping with others." Presume multiple other assassins, targets unknown. Alert Elizah.]
[Message sent!]
>Thaark, knock the door closed with your port-a-pole then rip a banner down and stuff it in the gap under the door. That'll block the flow of air up the stairwell into here and out the window, hopefully keeping the flames out there and also starve them of fresh air so they'll burn out sooner.
A bit overkill but…
Keep that flame away from my books!
>Point out to Theen that if they hadn't burned alive we would have burned alive, which would make catching up with and interrogating them just a wee bit hard what with being dead and all.
I’m just saying, if no one was burned alive we should have had information we don’t have right now.
>Give Theen a smack in the back of the head with the words "BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!"
Ow! Thank you sir, may I have another? …wait, what do you mean, careful? This was awesome!

…

>[Switch to "The Pebble" or "The Thief"]
Hmmm… how about this one… Why do the Keer wear nightwear when they are riding raptors?
Because… they get… err…
Because they lie down when they sprint!
*Snrk*
Why do they wear knitted caps instead of steel helmets?
Hmm… dunno…
One of them dropped a steel helmet and a knitted cap from their highest tower. The helmet broke while the cap was fine!
Oh, I got one! Why do they wear slippers when they are riding raptors?
I… haven’t actually heard that one…
Because it fits so well with the nightwear and knitted caps! Why does the Keer have a headache?
Hmm…
Because some dumbass dropped a steel helmet from a tower!
Ha! I have to remember that o-
*Click*
Did someone just unlock the door?

Insert It’s not racist if the race is made up! Honest!_

>>564581
Ilbir was just attacked by assassins. I expect you are about to be visited by more. I'm thinking you could make some fortifications with thick ice.

oh hey guys, just use, we just want to let you know that assassins are roaming freely through the palace so you might want to be on guard.

Jer, ice up the door hinges and latch mechanism solid! Quickly! Ice the whole thing into the frame too if it won't use up too much magic! And if it opens inwards then the both of you shove that cabinet in front of it!

Okay, here's the reason for that: There was a failed assassination attempt on Ilbir. The two would-be assassins are dead, but what we overheard them say indicates there is an unknown number of other assassins, targets unknown. So right now paranoia and extreme reactions to doors unexpectedly unlocking is totally justified.

Also, one of the assassins was in a palace guard uniform. One you're out of here you shouldn't totally trust any guard you run into until we root out all the assassins.

We've alerted Pink to this too, so hopefully Elizah will be on guard if any of them come for her.

And we also brushed them to check their pawn status and they were both pawns, but not taken by a player. Unfortunately that only rules out a direct player connection, though. We'll need to capture at least on of the assassins for interrogation to get to the bottom of this, so if you get the chance try to do that instead of killing them.

>>564581
Ah, those must be the assassins. See if you can't just freeze them through the door.