Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
OneWingedDevil
Aug 27, 2012

Grond posted:

this "red aura" we've been talking about while in the rain.

The red aura is likely Jevica. Her aura was described with synonyms for red, but since she was standing with us during the battle it makes sense we'd be holding her in the rain.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Grond
Mar 31, 2016

OneWingedDevil posted:

The red aura is likely Jevica. Her aura was described with synonyms for red, but since she was standing with us during the battle it makes sense we'd be holding her in the rain.

Yeah, that makes sense. One of the flashbacks said that the Berserker had a thing for us, so it checks out. So then the Royalist red must be another thing. I think it's related to the Silver Mind. Three classes, three colors. And the word royalist hasn't appeared in any other context as far as I know.

Grond fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jul 22, 2021

Hodgepodge
Jan 29, 2006
Probation
Can't post for 209 days!
perhaps the silver mind can be upgraded to the golden path

hopefully with less transforming into a large phallic worm

t3isukone
Dec 18, 2020

13km away
Is it possible the Hell End proper could be the timeline we see a few times involving Smiercia and a TV show(maybe?)?

Black August posted:


Your show is watched religiously. You sing, you preach, you opera, you teach, you joke, you dramatic, you explain.

All the children of the world come to see you perform live. The brightest minds stand behind you, the creative unbound, painted by a legion of guest stars, speakers, witnesses. Puppets and costumes, machines and lights, fireworks and sound systems, telling the thousand stories that would reach across the decades to see the last to be born raised with a sense of unity inside of a terrestrial divine.

It's been three years of untold beauty in the collaborative expression of those who survived, and The Słońce Show will do all it promises and more.

You have not yet built up enough courage to ask Śmiercią to let you die.

Princey
Mar 22, 2013
It's starting to kind of sound to me like this rebirth cycle is an in-game explanation for the metatextual experience of the game itself being replayed. When the protagonist (of our version, Hell End) is killed completely by Smiercia, it prevents reincarnation, thus it's unable to ever be replayed - a onerun.

It seems like to some extent people may want to die completely and escape this cycle? But the protag is trying to escape this kind of final death. So I'm not sure what amount of killing or dying or soul-gathering is the kindest course at this point.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

Ok. Ok. Alright. That's poor reception but it works! Yes. Yes. Crap. You can't stop thinking like a Pluto. You miss Pluto friends. You hope they're doing alright. You don't want to think of that hyperyellow vomit dream and the forbidden room. No. No. You rub your head and think, feeling loose. You remember that your heart is stained with the colour of courage. That mighty emerald.



[Lionheart]

You're not going to shake that last little sliver of tense tense, no no, but you can keep it to only a thorn in the side with this warmed state of mind. You figure out what's going on after taking a second to shut your eyes and breathe in, arms wrapped around a thin pale tree, closing down even gravitysight to let your mind think and heart beat.

ANXIETY: [10%]

Okay. The Silver Mind. Completely gone in the darkness still, sent to somewhere in the black. The Dark is... just a sleeping weight way down in the back. It's you, just you, and the mushrooms. With the Silver Mind this out of shine, the fungal neurons have matured enough to be able to act as their own lo-fi psychic organ. It's all filtered through the fungus and their easyslow, but it's still something. You inhale, open your eyes, and realize the one little problem with having such a clear broadcast through your mushrooms. You look at the kobold.



O.K. That is fine. That's going to clear up and- there it goes. Normal again. The cost of thinking through the rainbow-sponge neurons is that you'll be dropping into and out of their psilodrenched views and ideas, without warning. That's alright. You keep thinking about the stunning shade of emerald the mushrooms believe your heart is held in. Magnificent ornate armor, crystalline caged.

You assess, sitting down for a second while the kobold stares at you. You're in a swamp of some kind. Reception of the area is bad, but it's given you a feeling for its immensity. You're just a few hours until some kind of cluster of colorful thoughtnoise, standing out among the rippling ocean of itty bitty thinks from a billions bugs and countless other colormaps of life. You think on the shape of the journey.




Wait. Wait. You're scuttling in a circle while you psythink. Stop that. You're not a Pluto. No claws. ...why do they share so many features with crabs, anyways? You swear that's significant somehow. Or its mushroom nonsense. You inhale air, stand up, and let the little dragon take you on. His swirlwarm of oranges promise to lead you to a destroying safety, price for price, but you feel that Lionhearted armor steady the beat of your heart to a sane and confident pace. Limbs crick and pop to relax, forgetting all the wounds and their barely-heals. You promised to Shop Kobold, and you're going to do just that. You need the supplies, the recon, the safety. You need a second to just sit the hell down and stop. There's a lot you need to think through without scythe at the heels. Eventually you'll find the Silver Mind again, likely when the Dark brings it back into orbit with its gravity near you again. Right now, it's gonna be you, kobold, and mushroom, out into the big stinky mess.



It really is a mess, as Rivergreen gives way to borderland Riverswamp. There's a reek like a dozen bizarre variants of displaced skunkweeds competing to kill. There's incredible smoked perfumes from lashy waterglutted leaves. The ground is uneven with brilliant moss, pocketed with dark little wells, thousands of tiny ecologies connected by nameless underground watertunnels. You feel the fungus network out into the blurry colored mess, returning evergladed miles of liquid kingdoms hidden under canopy heavens. The Rivergreens were so silent. Even a few minutes in, the wetlands are cacophony. So many insects! Avian shrills and reptile groans. Amphibians in score. Sounds of sliding gas clusters and twanged living fibers.

It's almost too much. You adjust quickly with the help of the fungus and your lingering taste of that gemclear rain. Your sword is out and easy, and you follow the kobold with quiet. It knows where to walk without risking a drop into a deep softgreen grave. Just a few rough spots to get past, and you'll be at the secondary market of Kobold, with 'Logon'. You're loose enough in spine to admit that, despite the destruction waiting, you're excited to see what kind of fortune you'll find. Thank goodness you have a magic suit and Red's shroud to keep you dry in the humid deep waiting.

Event Log posted:

You (and Kobold hi hello) do the scrabble through the borderlands. You're assured you're not far off from the market, only a few miles in. But swamp miles are different from Rivergreen miles, and there's a lot more to worry about.

Nearing the bend into the swamplands proper, you pass by a particularly dense cluster of mixed trees, covering a large lake. There's... something floating in it, a lot of somethings. Shadowy, but you can tell they're humanoid. The kobold keeps walking without looking at all. You pause for just a second, something nagging at you.

Wait-

[FORCED] (PE - I Recognize The Bodies In The Water!) 13 - [5]+[6]+[5] = 16 - Failure.

* You do not recognize the bodies in the water.
[Leave Immediately]

* Let me get closer to see better. Please.
[Repeat PE Roll]

What did you just walk by? ...forget it. You're thinking about the Silver Mind. It's so far gone this time. What happened? Will it reflect it into your memory when it returns? Is there anything to reflect? You just keep paying attention to the mushroom cluster's rainbow blacklights, psilopsychic senses focused on the goal. You're up and around the bend, where the tremendous miles of the watersink reveals itself. The dense moss wetland hides a distant red gloom somewhere far away in the sky, and you understand why you're walking so eagerly down the road the little dragon takes you.

Event Log posted:

Where there's strong dry ground, there's gross abundance. You rummage through foliage, and pay attention to what the kobold stops and nibbles from berry bushes and flowers. Your mind wanders over to the demands of your Garbage Disposal. You have to move fast and stay strong.

* Eat what the kobold eats.
[x3 HT Roll 14]

* Evaluate and pluck.
[!First-Aid 12]

* Trust the fungus.
[!ESP 11]

* Go hog wild.
[Chance Roll]



Your mind wanders to a rare soft medical blue. Skyserpent patterns that whisper about poison. You listen.

(!First-Aid) 12 - [6]+[3]+[2] = 11 - Success.

Some fingerlong transparent purple fruits. A few berries with a bitter grass flavor. Gnaw on the sap-drenched bark of a dark tree collapsing under the weight of its waterfed flowers. One beetle that looks just silly enough to bring yourself to crunch it. You think of the wolf and the ease it has eating as you get your fill. Must be nice. Is this what a hero does for lunch, then?

Garbage Disposal posted:

burger spell burger spell burger spell burger spell burger spell burger spell burger spell

No. Not yet. Not until safety. You're off around the bend. Towards a long narrow landbridge, wetland road of moss and stone down into the mountain blade that hides the deepred skies. Where there's Lord. Where there's Megalith.

Event Log posted:

You're gently scything your sword to claive way through the growing density of brush. The kobold is patient despite being able to move much faster through the rough patches, and does a good job of helping show where not to step. Each of the beautiful little mossy well-holes in the ground is suspiciously big enough to let a variety of creatures drop in, get trapped, and become part of the crystal clear waterlife.

In one such well, that's now collapsed enough to be easily scaled into and out of, you manage to find something recently dropped seated on a glowmoss stone next to a log hollow dripping water.

* There's treasure down there.
[x1 Moss Well Loot]

* Let it be.
[Leave]

You come back up to the waiting kobold, and look to see what you've gained. More to barter with come transaction time, at the least. It's sometime past noon and you're almost at sanctuary.

t3isukone
Dec 18, 2020

13km away
The poll didn't log my vote? That said, I want to know more Cult lore and am very interested in the Congregation's relic.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

t3isukone posted:

The poll didn't log my vote? That said, I want to know more Cult lore and am very interested in the Congregation's relic.

I see one for Congregation so far. It might just need a refresh or a wait. But if turns out to not be working again, I'll use a backup.

pumpinglemma
Apr 28, 2009

DD: Fondly regard abomination.

A relic is probably not too useful, since we can’t use it at the same time as Red’s cloak and the congregation are one of the more hosed-up cults. 101 sounds like a fairly basic weapon, and I’m guessing ogre-mage spellcasting is mostly based on things other than IQ (maybe WP or PE), so I’m liking the spell here.

e: My vote seemed to appear fine.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

[Better now. Blind status is gone. Both !ESP and !Darkness are still knocked out, but it shouldn't be long before either came back around. There's some hesitation about the fact that the kobold is clearly going towards the Rock Witch's place. It's impossible to know what state it'll be in based on what happened back at the Fire Witch quest. Chances were good by experience that there'd be at least one rest period before any more trouble.]

[It's a hard say what comes after. If it goes well, then there's a genuine window for an achievable low-level Bloody Megalith conquest. Depended on a handful more trades, events, rolls, and good passage into the Rainforest Concordance. The real gamble and worry is the food meter. If it really is the improper number it says, then there was about one week before Kwiat would be in danger. That was a strong window for getting in the quick ways, trying best, and then getting right back to the Hideout with some days to spare. It really depends on how the kobold market at Logon's goes.]

[Great to see the mushroom mutation advancing finally. What an incredibly lucky and strong find right at the start of the run. If dealt with right, it could end up being a difference between grindlock or quickslay ahead of the ruin each Lord brings.]

[Bleeder was already Hateful. Which might mean he was Fearful! The ultimate advantage the Tyrant can have.]

Arcanuse
Mar 15, 2019

Hm. says I voted, but not sure it actually counted it. Voted for the Ogre Magi book.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

Here, just in case, a backup.

I should say the IOI are letters, for 'Item of Interest'

pumpinglemma
Apr 28, 2009

DD: Fondly regard abomination.

…oooh. That could be either extremely good or extremely bad.

Regallion
Nov 11, 2012

Tbh a relic at least can give us valuable lore about the blood cult, so it's hard to pass up. It's likely valuable as a trade object.

That said, it's really great that we did not recognize any bodies in the water, that one SCP is a big oof.

Randalor
Sep 4, 2011



I mean, we know of at least one missing IOI weapon, and it's the masterless sword.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

VOTING CLOSED - Junk 2 Cash

Lost MC&D IOI, a weapon. - 1 / 18%
Carelessly dropped Congregation holy object, a relic. - 10 / 53%
Abandoned holy tome of an Ogre Magi, a spell. - 5 / 29%


LOADING...

...LOADING

Black August
Sep 28, 2003



[Got 'Oilstained Shield']

You yank it out of the ornate floodrotten case; a large shield. It's heavy, but not enough to slow you down further. It's filthy, but the grime won't rub off, even onto your hands. It's reeks, of tropic water and fresh fresh oil. You think there's a symbol on the front of it, but the smearing oil and terrible dents obscures it. It looks like the thing was smashed into something, over and over again, with incredible force.

The kobold doesn't react when you show it off. Shields aren't really your thing, but it feels nice to hold it along with your false sword. Might be worth a trade. You keep on with the mushroom sonar, wearing the shield on your back like a shell to keep you sa- God dammit stop that. Keeping the Plutobrains out is tough when the shrooms get this gung-ho.

The terrain slopes upward far enough to give you a better view of your surroundings, on the main land bridge that goes through the worst of the treacherously soggy earth. It's not frequent, but you're starting to see uncomfortably familiar signs, of red leaves and hooked vines. The same sickness that threatened your water supply. What about this, then? Does the threat grow on? Will this eventually make way to the sea, poisoned infinitely?

"It is time?"

Whu? You look down at the kobold. You shiver your eyes to see past the fractals that keep trying to bloom out of his orange-black patterns. You ask what he means, 'it is time'. You can't tell if he's paying attention, since he's standing stock-still on a rock and staring out at nothing. But he replies eventually. "Yes. It is. Counting quicker; too many limited time offers that kobold does not recommend. Diplomatic cross-company solutions."

(Mushroom Mind!) 11 - [1]+[5]+[1] = 7 - Success!

What is the kobold talking about, and why are your mushrooms sending out so many sudden strong surges?

Mushroom Mind posted:

Colourforms unfurl revealing the smearscape of living thoughts brought into sharp relief. Jellyfish float aside through gemhall minds to show the landscape of the future. The colours of disaster and doom, carnage and chaos, congealing into raw wet chunks of potentiality seen through the stressed enthusiasm of the fungal colony. It's clear now - at Logon's, there's convergence. There's chemical personalities in mingle, and they're about to enter your gravity.

Colour colour colour...

Colours like Might.

But which shade of Might?

Colours like Moon.

But which shade of Moon?

Colours like Magic.

But which shade of Magic?

Colours like Mania.

But which shade of Mania?

Black August
Sep 28, 2003



Mushroom Mind posted:

A pale yolk shade streaked with gray and gowned with red was speaking. He does so with a concerned cluck he has trouble repressing.

"What are we going to do?"

You play with your copper skullcap, methodical and gentle, doing your best to ignore the urge to start biting your fingers until they bleed. You remember what the Psychic taught you, and smile at the absurdity, since he's the one who helped confirm all the fearful information spread before you on the kitchen table. The yolk shade takes the coffee off the little stove, pouring you a cup. It's your second kettle and you already know a third will follow in not too long, especially when the Squire decides to finally show up. He'll be excited to know he's wanted for his military experience, at least.

He drinks half of his cup and goes over the list you've been writing. "Ok. Uhm, so we have... four... seven different groups. The cults, some are friendly and some aren't, the ogres, who are with the werewolves but not? Then the, the suit Fae people, with the weird sales obsession, who were with the ogres and werewolves but now aren't. We still have Anidus and no idea if they actually want the colony to succeed, or if we're just going to be gunned down when they arrive."

His feathers are puffed out again, as he reacts to the anxiety of assessing the threat. You'd hold his hand and comfort him, but you know you're in a tenuous mood where any affectionate contact would give your wounded brain an excuse for intrusive thoughts. You don't want that for him or yourself.

"Then, what? The locals, like Momma Fireswamp and her family, and anyone else out in the wilds who were here before the cults. Then there's. The..."

The seventh threat. The one you told him was waiting out there. No name for it, no face to it. Just an awful feeling, coming from somewhere in the back of the black. The one that's been there ever since you heard the sky crack open and found yourself staring into an impossible tourmaline sky. When you defined it on paper, it was a black streaked orb of angry pencil marks, small and deformed, and you knew with all your soul that was exactly how to represent it.

All your soul. You've confided a lot into the pale yolk shade, and it's been a loving liberation to slowly work your heart open to confide more and more as you develop those emotional muscles. But this was something you can't tell him yet, because you don't have the language for it yet. All your soul... felt it with every last photon, in that moment. You tested the waters by asking him if he had felt it when it happened. Despite the fact he knows it's all different now, he said he didn't feel a thing when it went down. He heard the thundercrack, saw the flash, and was outside in a world he didn't recognize.

You felt it, though. Reverse atomic flash. Light so bright it cast a shadow darker than night. You felt it, FELT your bond through the pendant to the... to your Mother. To the Sunsplitter. To what changed everything. You're still trying to figure it out by yourself, the answer awful with its growing gravity. At the first threshold of understanding, you're troubled by the idea that your soul has somehow infected the land itself. It doesn't make sense. If YOUR soul has painted the world around you like this, then,

Why would it end up this bright with holy?

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

VOTING CLOSED - Portrait of a Threat

-MIGHT-
Ogre King of the Blessed, Karsudan. - 7
The mighty sorcery, mirror blue. - 4
The mighty sword, steel green. - 5


-MOON-
HOWLING, King Claw Blue. - 3
HOWLING, King Claw Red. - 4
Werewolf King of the Hunt, Jono. - 10


-MAGIC-
Lipless grinning with the peridot veins. - 4
Gem-Grade Agent, Deimos. - 7
Murderous platformed, with the periwinkle blade. - 4


-MANIA-
God of Thunder Liaison, THE HOLLYWOOD VIPER. - 9
Sullen at the bottom of the glass, that sparkling shark shade. - 4
Silent without bright, that dusky summer brown. - 3


LOADING...

...LOADING

OneWingedDevil
Aug 27, 2012
I voted every shade of blue available for the choices. Blue bro through and through, though I do respect Burner's decision not to nuke us when we went crazy.

Also, I don't like the carnelian option. I associate that with one fae in particular that we can't intimidate properly right now.

Mushroom Mind posted:

If YOUR soul has painted the world around you like this, then,

Why would it end up this bright with holy?

Heaven End us is probably confusing their mind's anxieties with their soul's color. The Third seems pretty cool when they're kicking around, after all.

Grond
Mar 31, 2016

Black August posted:

The seventh threat. The one you told him was waiting out there. No name for it, no face to it. Just an awful feeling, coming from somewhere in the back of the black. The one that's been there ever since you heard the sky crack open and found yourself staring into an impossible tourmaline sky. When you defined it on paper, it was a black streaked orb of angry pencil marks, small and deformed, and you knew with all your soul that was exactly how to represent it.

I think this paragraph is very relevant for a couple reasons.

The first is that I think the seventh threat is us, the Herald. Holy End us is somehow aware of Dark End us and feels we're a threat to the colony. It's possibly not even intentional, but the fact is that whenever we encounter the colonists something dangerous ends up happening. This would mean that we've been leaping between timelines since the Sunsplit. Which would make sense, it was the soulstone reaction that called us into the Home timeline.

The second one is that this reads to me like the sky wasn't tourmaline before the Sunsplit. If so, the last shade of pink in Bella's vision wouldn't be caused by the Necromancer's soulstone but rather by the skies changing color. I'd have to recheck the third eye visions since this could potentially help maks sense of the Holy End timeline but basically this means that the Camp Holy End sequence happened after the Sunsplit. Which means the colony was able to establish a friendly relationship with Burner and Dancer during or after their walk to Megalith. Which could potentially mean we are bound to do so as well.

Grond fucked around with this message at 11:32 on Jul 29, 2021

Marluxia
May 8, 2008


Black August posted:

VOTING CLOSED - Portrait of a Threat


-MAGIC-
Lipless grinning with the peridot veins. - 4
Gem-Grade Agent, Deimos. - 7
Murderous platformed, with the periwinkle blade. - 4



I hope this means another opportunity to horribly scare the poo poo out of Deimos. :getin:

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

You don't have the Silver Mind, but you still try your best. You beg the fungal neurons to slow their roll, so you don't keep dropping into psilosoaked thoughts. You can feel tension eat into your muscles again, stiffening your gait, as you realize you're walking into an emotionally colorful and tense situation. Some of the colors feel dangerously familiar, and it's sending you back down again.

ANXIETY: [ X ][20%]

Flashbacks to suffocating under a quiet blue tree. You think for one terrible second you're falling, crashing lead into rotting wood. Your emerald armor is cracking. So strong until a single right hammerstrike shatters it instantly; CARNELIAN is dense enough. You're hidden by the dark of the Silver Mind and the Plutonic alien of the mushroom spores, at least. Shroud is pulled veil-tight over you, not even leaving one eye exposed for easy viewing.

You give up, and drop to scuttle on all fours after the kobold with your shield shell bulked out by locked case and cleanbot, ignoring those inner sirens that are starting their slow-moan rise to pitch terror shriek. Trust the fungus. Try to use its psychic enthusiasm without triggering a sporing into your biology. No Silver, no Dark. Just you, and a noisy alien neighbor. Gotta make do.

Focusing in on the other colors melt-waxed through the lo-fi helps as a distraction.


(Mushroom Mind!) 11 - [2]+[3]+[1] = 6 - Success!

You kick your foot mad when you climb over a root, feeling unsure if you're angry or not at the Silver Mind for not being this reliably potent. You know that's not how it works, but its absence of a heightened self-reflection leaves you sour. Thoughts leave and drown into the distinct shades now gleaming through the psychic organ.

Mushroom Mind posted:


It's too intense. Not ultraviolet, but ultrapink. Radiant with fanatic indignation. Too much energy in too powerful a frame. Ritual with thunderstone and evil speed. The kind of colour you need to keep a respectful distance from. Don't let it coil into storm. Do not provoke it to saturate.

Mushroom Mind posted:


It's admirable! Tiger-stripe, hyperorange and goldink smeared in the ways that strength expresses itself. There's faith here, warm and intense. It doesn't need respect, because it knows how to recognize the mighty. It's growing saturated with anger, though. There's tension. Fear.

Mushroom Mind posted:


It's a frightening colour. Menacing. Always saturated. Deforming. Yellow, spotted tipped spiked. Planning something, too quick to confront, of two minds at all times. Regal through sheer cunning. Looking for the exposed neck.

Other colours are there too, but they're more difficult to see where they're cannily hiding behind those three brightest hues and the gempale fourth. That sinister red gem. Will it ever break? Can it? What force is necessary? Will the understanding of the Silver Mind ever compete?

You try to not think of a great empty void.

It's shallow waters on either side of the landbridge, a naturally high spot in the soaked miles. The mushroom organ is hungry to find as many sensations as it can, communing with other local fungi to map things out as you muddle along, making the last mile terse but without event. You come upon it at last, rising from clear little ponds and dense stone foundations.




ANXIETY: [ X ][ X ][30%]

You suck in air through your shroud, and ready yourself once again for the quick kill reflex.

Brutal stone bisects cleanly through the wet earth, cubing patterns repeating in hive-hole shapes. Impossible to tell what kind of a moment of time it was drawing from. It's eerily clean and smooth, rainworn to a glossy bright finish. The pavement beneath is stained dark by swamp, birthing hundreds of little flowerplants in cracks steadily stealing it away.

Your eyes are assessing, seeing live what the psychic organ promised. Right in front of you, more fractal scales in beautiful destroying patterns. Four kobolds. The one who took you here, orange and black, and you understand now he's the commercial. He's the walking sell. Kobold is trying something out because a lot has gone down and their collars are off. There's one of the new sales associates now, colored all fancy flowery red. They're here to handle talking up new territory and outposts, and this location isn't really going all that great. It's probably a wash. That's fine with kobold. They've already secured the primary Lorded outpost, so they can take advantage of the sales chance with their goods here, and then retreat. The third is smooth gemstone blue, near the water they element with. Quality assurance was diplomat, making sure each transaction was beneficial to both ends and that all tender and product was up to snuff. They were also taking the temperature, so they could make the call to take off fast if it looked like the situation was breaking down. The fourth was plain lean little green, little dragon dragging its giant pack of goods and promises for a bizarre crowd. It makes sell, deal, and promotion.

It's promoting to three of them. Ogres! Faeries gifted the divine light. One of them was the important colour from before. A King, religious in measure, guiding the religious cult of their Emperor and the promise of his destiny. Clothed red and white with churchly might. Skin painted orange and gold to the measure of his station. Looks like he's buying something to eat. With him are two priests, Celebrants, painted dull brass and keeping eyes on your approach, the others in the plaza, and the many sliver doors of the structure.


Garbage Disposal + Six-Pack-Subscription + Compromised Cranial posted:

I'm speaking for all us. The gut. The heart. This is the process. You consume something substantial, like a BURGER, or anything, or our panic is going to leave scars. The fungus is eating calories like mad. We're getting nervous and near danger. We need to think clearly and nutritiously.



You have an hour.



You discreetly rub your pain-tense stomach. Think you smell food. Bread, maybe? Something good. Burgerspell burgerspell... keep assessing first. Gently. No power shows. Don't make direct eye contact! Look at that over one little pond- watersprites, bobbing up and down like overgrown fireflies, blipping the puddly surface. It's ok. You can peek. Because they're looking at the sprites too. The wolfdog with the jaw three growths too crowded toothed large, eyes crushed in with skulldense and body a weird proportioned build of enormous ripping claws and long-gaiting legs. It's under the care of the King who stands there, casual with his sociopathic. He's wild. Long-haired unkempt. Sharp sharp young face, yellow eyes not human but not wolf either, instead yellow and slit of the fox. His giant's frame is wrapped in dozens of pelts from conquests, hiding a build that's equally alien in too-strong shape as the hound. He emulates the full loving worst of his Emperor beloved.

You gotta stay smooth. Get some grub. Go hit up the vendor and see their deal. Do not start to act suspicious. Just pass through. Don't make eye contact. Don't show off the gun. Assess as you go. Easy. You look to your right and



























\̴\̷\̷\̷\̶\̸\̶\̷\̷\̵\̴ Oh hi, PAPROC. You'll need to remember to tell Momma Fireswamp how she's doing as promised. She's looking uneasy but good, her fireleaf foliage glossed with the light rains. She's keeping watch, while Momma Logon talks with the guests using her for mediation. You walk by with a quick nod, and head for the kobold so you can finally start shopping. This might be one of your last chances to figure out supplies before Megalith. You pray you pray, just one moment of normality and rest.

ANXIETY: [ X ][ X ][30%]

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

The Blue Book posted:

"...easy easy. So easy to kill him with dozens of setups. It opens so many roads. So many..."

"...does 666 damage, dropping to 665 damage in every surrounding hex, and so forth until it does only 1 point of damage, 665 hexes (2000 feet) away from the..."

"...desired being the Red Ribbon Regalia [Sevenfold Serendipity]; Firevelour [Immune to Fire+Acid+Thunder]; 12th Hourgown [Midnight Minute]; The Assistant [1dx1d DR]; Proof of Conquest [HP/Crit]; Caliginous Wrap [Immune to Dark]; Ultrablack Dress [Immune to Fire+Ice+Crits]..."

"...mean-tempting events, since the rewards for killing it (a huge cache of attribute-raisers, a new weapon or auto-blessing to remove the curse, some Levels, some..."

"...to worry about it. Sometimes she'll glitch out and just cluck nonstop for the rest of..."

"...about abusing Lulls in the fight. Going on full defense until a Lull is a perfectly valid strategy, especially against an enemy like..."

"...rumor chain about the Megalith Gauntlet is a bunch of made-up bullsh..."

"...when they hear 'prophetic precognition'. But there are a handful of universal and specific countermeasures, such as clock abuse risk, being a Psychic, learning the All-Red Mind, the Jandoubi Longwar method, the psychotic Moloch-kiting method..."

"...for KEEPS. All of their attacks will have a high chance of breaking a limb, often with the brutality of permanent crippling without healing from AAA-Tier or higher. Being so tough that..."

"...what does it take?! HOW? How is there ANY chance of success? The Level One Run couldn't do it. The Level 99 Run couldn't do it! The All-Fists Run, the Reaper Run, the Island runs, the Berserker Run, the Nuclear Run, the Masterless Sword Run, the Gun God Run, the FARMER RUN. NONE OF THEM. NONE OF THEM CAME ANYWHERE CLOSE TO..."

"...strongest of the Lorded Lands thanks to its randomization of encounters and their extreme ability to be any Level up to..."

"...color coordination of golden, white, jade, lime, cyan, green, blue, red, brown, yellow, iron, purple, black, and ultraviolet, plus the unique..."

"...conceptual power of darkness. Shares the concepts of the night, midnight, stars, singularities, shadows, intent, the ruthless nature, power, tyranny, violence, taking, death, dominance, ignorance, sacrifices, cold, negative emotion..."

Captainicus
Feb 22, 2013



quote:

"...does 666 damage, dropping to 665 damage in every surrounding hex, and so forth until it does only 1 point of damage, 665 hexes (2000 feet) away from the..."

Hexes!? I thought this game ran on a square grid! :catstare:

t3isukone
Dec 18, 2020

13km away
The lore on the oilstained shield on the character sheet is really fascinating:

Oilstained Shield posted:


★ [Relic]

★ [D-Rank]

★ [Cursed]

★ [???]

‘Tarnished solid-metal shield once held by the Giant of Light. Scratched, scarred, and scabbed from enduring those horrifying days on the Island. Permanently stained with oil, obscuring its symbol.’

Grants +3 to Defense. Enables the Block ability. The Traitor cannot bear the sight of it. Moulder understands what it reflects. Bleeder prays in private to what it once made possible.

Block: Passive ability. Every time you’re struck by a physical attack, there’s a chance it will be Blocked equal to ![ER_INVALID]+3.

More mention of the Giant of Light. Very interesting that Moulder can 'understand' anything, but I think this gives us a little more insight into the Island-it loves the Giant of Light more than almost anyone else, and the Giant's shield is hosed-up from the 'horrifying' things they underwent on the Island.

Of course there's the fascinating mention of Bleeder praying to what it made possible. But that we don't really know that much. This does seem to tentatively link the Traitor with the Giant of Light, though.

Randalor
Sep 4, 2011



Wait, who's the Traitor? And could this be implying that the Giant of Light is the Traitor?

I wonder if we can give this to Bleeder to get on his good side...

Grond
Mar 31, 2016

Randalor posted:

Wait, who's the Traitor? And could this be implying that the Giant of Light is the Traitor?

I wonder if we can give this to Bleeder to get on his good side...

We haven't seen much of him yet. He's part of the same group as the Singer of Cadanza and the Errant, we saw him on the Island beach. The Giant of Light forms a trio with the Mouse of Sight and the Bird of Night. They were on the beach as well.

Grond fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Aug 3, 2021

t3isukone
Dec 18, 2020

13km away

Randalor posted:

Wait, who's the Traitor? And could this be implying that the Giant of Light is the Traitor?

I wonder if we can give this to Bleeder to get on his good side...
During the beach party, the Traitor and the Giant of Light are described as being in separate conversations, but that's a really interesting theory-but that brings up something else I've been thinking about. A sudden realization I had on my reread is that possibly the 'beach' in the bizarre beach sequence might be the Island. In the dream with Dancer, she completely freaks out upon seeing a beach that is described similarly:

Black August posted:

Blue, Blue, why are you pleading? You're just sitting in topaz sands. You stand up slowly, to get your head above the sapphire waters. You push up, to move aside the emerald jungle. Blue, Blue, why are you crying? You're just in the shallows, swimming to the beach, walking under the canopy. Blue, Blue, why are you screaming? You're just handing her a pair of garden shears, the only sharp tool that was left. You're just following her down the hall, as she claws at the walls. You're just peeking at the crack in the door to the room, where the oil has to be cut.
The reference to the oil being cut is interesting too after the oilstained shield used on the Island.

(More beach party weirdness-in part of the listing of the food there's a description of roasted seeds right next to a plate of starry-blue jelly and now I'm trying to link the food with the lords. 'A whole towering mess of emerald and jade greens' sounds like Moulder, I think?)

EDIT: Right, I was out of the loop, other people said all of this and figured it out wayyy before me.

Grond
Mar 31, 2016
Yeah, we also have this snippet from the Silver Mind when we fought the Shale Giant:

quote:

Tropic waters.
You've never seen them, have you? They were all gone by the time the world ended. The only beach you ever stood on was coldwashed pale with a thousand iron claws.

Richest oil.
Gag-sweet awful. Profoundly pure. Nothing putrid about it. It's concentrated, heavy with the secret of self-multiplication, the very idea of the substance taken to the second power.

Accusatory meat.
Angry from lifetimes of boiling, rippling at the smallest passing of air, unable to slough off no matter the degree of rot. It cannot begin to express the weight that it drags in pain.

I think the part about "self-multiplication" might be interesting here. At the end of the beach sequence we saw all NPC's duplicating again and again, maybe this had something to do with it. It doesn't explain why they spawned in the first place, but then again, we don't know why we were there either. My initial theory is that we were dreaming after getting knocked out by the Zenith Noon, but then we should have ended up in the dreamlands, right? Unless the Island is inside the dreamlands. But that part is too obtuse to make any solid speculation.

Also now that I'm thinking about it, the oil might be what allows Doubler to do his thing. It might also explain why the Shale Giant grows ever larger as time passes, as a mass of rotting flesh stuck to the rock, self replicating endlessly over time, not ever being allowed to die.

Also, about this:

quote:

Blue, Blue, why are you screaming? You're just handing her a pair of garden shears, the only sharp tool that was left. You're just following her down the hall, as she claws at the walls. You're just peeking at the crack in the door to the room, where the oil has to be cut.

Interestingly enough Dancer has the garden shears as a confirmed drop, it seems she carried them with her after escaping the Island. Whatever happened here between Hunter and Dancer must have been significant. Maybe Hunter tried to kill herself with them or something. Which could have caused Dancer to get them back and keep them herself to avoid any more incidents or something. But I'll admit that's a hell of a long shot though.

Grond fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Aug 3, 2021

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

PAPROC says to you ̯͍̙ ̩͡ ̨̹̤̦ ͉ ̀ ̠̼̬̥̲














͖͙̳ ̢̰͕before engage with the vendor, you hear Karsudan speak. "One month of bread. I'll finish the trade at your beach store. The lunch was good."

A tigergold ogre adorned with Kaigen's holy symbols looms over you, pausing to look at your covered face. You act discreet and look at the green kobold, quieting your hyperactive mushrooms to a dull-colored static so you don't start to twitch and think loud enough that they can hear.


ANXIETY: [ X ][20%]

The kobold turns and looks at you, blinking wetly, before it begins its spiel.

"Yes. Seeing you enter, walking with commercial. This means sale and offer - welcome to new Kobold Market. Finest ingredient, best dollar. We take from Faerie, what is sold at premium which does not match marked of market. Price is reasoned with, talked down to reality. This is when kobold appears; product will spread, and value will become actual. Destroying artificial locks; this is kobold value. Please present interested questions, browse best discounts on multi-million affordables."

You stare at the kobold, who stares back at you. After a good twenty seconds of dead air the kobold breaks the staredown with your black-veiled face and turns to pull open a bunch of locked shelves, loaded with an eclectic of objects. A majority are things you can't really afford, need, or bring with you as you are now; large cooling boxes, components to channel electric and Mana currents, autochop cylinders, air-composition test consoles, royal maggot drapes, plastofluid bolts, wasterlouse repellent, 19 types of concept-scented candles, a crate of shorts in a dozen species styles, a petrified cake, canine chow...


KASH PRIZES posted:

After a few minutes of a more careful search, you manage to single out a handful of objects that look like they'd be worth considering. There's a sword, some weave, a medal, a magic card, a quick-inject chemical, a fancy wine bottle, a magic gem, some tea, and a box of cherries.

You feel a tug on your sleeve while browsing. Green kobold is there, with a surprise deal.

"Commercial response means benefit thanks. Please enjoy swampmeal provided by Market's abundance of advertising funds. Seating is not charged." You're handed a small menu, and shown to a tiny stool and table. You can feel the triple threat of your body, belly, and brains all snarling in hyperglycemic anticipation. You'll try this out, and then get a top-off full with a burger after. Perfect.



Which free lunch to get?
What looks like a good trade?
[Pick all that apply!]

Trade... you guess there's some stuff you can part with. The Black Silk, Thunderthread, Elixir, the Rusty sword, some Bullets, the Kadath Regalia, and the Oilstained Shield. The 12th Palette seems way too valuable to pawn for this stuff, the Moloch Buster is out of the question for now, and the cleanbot... you... just feel a manic obligation to keep dragging it with you, despite the bulk and weight.

While you look over wares and menu, you spy the colorful ogre and his two guards. They've gone to speak with the kill-lean man, whose eyes keep lingering too close to you. The fungal psychic organ blips, mushroom-shaping into a dish to subtly sense the colors of the bunch, lending understanding.



(Mushroom Mind!) 11 - [2]+[2]+[4] = 8 - Success!

Dammit! Even if it went off without a hitch again, you wish they hadn't done that. Stop celebrating! But you are in the clear, stooped on the stool and keeping your tense to yourself while the grown spores inform you of what's going on with the two. The ogre is talking to the guy, and they're both animated. Colored bile-green with a buildup of low-level tension. Though the fox-eye King is a lot less stressed about it. They're colored in the water-pattern ways of those who have been running around uncertain for too long. The ogre, crowned with a broken serenity, soft whites muddled gray. The King, emotions a weird stew of clever quiet and incoherent anger. They have no guidance and no security. The outer colors of their thoughts... these two are asking for favors on neutral ground. Worried worried shades of late-day orange. Something is going down. Has already gone down? WILL go down? Can't make it out.

You tap your foot impatient for the food to come. The organ is stressing your thoughts as it works, and you want something to eat before the colors of danger come true.


ANXIETY: [ X ][20%]

habituallyred
Feb 6, 2015
Rusty for the Weather Report and maybe Sharkmail. Only see one vote on the poll so putting my choice here.

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

Is the multivote one not working? I'll try to get an alternate up.

Randalor
Sep 4, 2011



I don't think Weather Report would be a good option with our speech impediment. I'm not sure if trading the Kadath Regalia is a good idea yet, even if we go with sharkmail. If we knew if fae and fairie were the same, I could see an argument for the cold-iron sword, as MC&D seem to be the only truly antagonistic party so far. I'm torn between the sharkmail, diamond secret, one of the wines, or the sun cherries, and see about trading rusty, the thunderthread or the black silk for some of them.

habituallyred
Feb 6, 2015
Some more results are showing up now. Maybe I screwed up by only voting for one thing?

I think MC&D are sufficiently fae for the sword to work on the top executives. But they have an awful lot of minions who don't count.

Some of the weather we have seen can be used to get us out of dangerous situations. And others could be used to wipe out anything that lacks the ability to run away or go inside. Even without counting Second Sun as a weather type.

OneWingedDevil
Aug 27, 2012

habituallyred posted:

Some of the weather we have seen can be used to get us out of dangerous situations. And others could be used to wipe out anything that lacks the ability to run away or go inside. Even without counting Second Sun as a weather type.

Tourmaline rain could also count. We have the spell, but our character probably can't use it under normal circumstances.

Stage Beans
May 16, 2007

throw a lengwine rager at the cult apartments imo

Black August
Sep 28, 2003

Oh, it is working! Ok good.

Regallion
Nov 11, 2012

Voted for the diamond and the mail. Extra DR never hurts, especially when you try to talk down someone who's aggressively trying to stab you to death.

The rest are either way situational, have unknown effects or are literal drugs.

The medal would be an interesting choice to cheese doubler, if we were ever intending on a kill.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

BigFactory
Sep 17, 2002
This story should be serialized on the front page when that’s a thing again. Also lengwine.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply