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OTOH if Kefka is actually loving dead, we need a new big bad.
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Jun 20, 2023 20:16
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I still like A, then B. Get answers and then kill him anyway. Do some hosed up poo poo then stew with the consequences.
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Jun 22, 2023 23:26
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A, with a little C. You're never going to work for Cid again, but maybe if he does a good enough job of working for you he can make it out of this alive.
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Jul 17, 2023 06:41
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Should be an update this week! Lost a big chunk of writing to a goofy tech issue, but we're back in the mix now.
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Oct 15, 2023 23:54
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Hey, nice to hear from you again.
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Oct 16, 2023 12:48
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Ahh, the LP curse strikes again. Good luck, I'm looking forward to the update!
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Oct 16, 2023 16:55
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20. The Sting in the Tale What does Rekha want? A) Pry some answers from Cid. Find out how your magic works - and what happened to the kids that came in with you. [3] B) Howitzer Cid, and smash his life's work while you're at it. [4] C) Use your leverage to swing a better position in the Imperial war machine. [0] And, submitted by you guys... PepperedMoth posted:A) Answers... perhaps followed by a slightly-modified B D) Get some answers, then wreck this horror show. You don't need to howitzer Cid - he's not worth it. [6]  Yeah. That's right. You think back to South Figaro, where your "commanding officer" (read: the soldier responsible for making sure you ate and didn't wander off) had you locked in the brig after you mouthed off one too many times. Chained to the wall, fingers locked up, because they knew you were dangerous. Then, when you got to Narshe, they were gonna let you off the chain, like a hungry dog. They were so sure you wanted violence: the way the soldiers treated you, it was like they thought Magitek Research had put violence into you with the needle, and now at the slightest provocation you'd burst like lit gunpowder. That was kinda how you felt, too, for a while. Maybe it still is, some. But you don't wanna be the hungry dog they made you. You made yourself something different: let Cid be afraid of that. [Rekha's Bravery 1 > 2] You burst into the lab by arcing plasma down the heavy door. It hisses as it melts. It's a huge space: you remember it, this cold metal-and-glass box where fleets of scientists and little gaggles of soldiers and Cid and his assistants presided over everything, where kids were moved through the process one by one, complaining, hungry, tired. You came back once after that for a follow-up test, to check if the fever you developed had broken, and then all your "testing" was in the barracks target range a few miles away. Cid's here, alone. Magitek Research is opened up, and you'd bet everyone else has fled. He only didn't because he thought he was safe here, behind his sandblasters and his security doors.  You tense up tight and sweep your hand, not punching out at the enemy but letting the magic skid into the ceiling, which warps and heaves as the space around it scrunches up. Plasma flickers across the lab's fixtures.       Underneath the peaked hood of his labcoat, his eyes meet yours.      Cid waves his hand, irritated at the distinction.      Cid doesn't answer for a second. He looks at you as if he's both surprised and annoyed that you're no longer scared of him.       Cid has the decency to look away, if not ashamed.   Jadate sets a hand on your shoulder, and surprisingly, it actually helps a little. You can feel yourself simmering, the world-ripping magic in your fingertips dancing up to form a circuit with the veins of your wrist. You pull the thread of plasma back and forth, feeling it like a achey pull in your tendons, so much yours that its heat doesn't even singe the fine hairs on your arms.       He presses his teeth together, forcing himself to use words that'll make sense to the person threatening him.          He's underselling it. You still remember the feverish, crazy feeling of it. For a while you felt sure that you'd died and were climbing out of your body through your throat. The nurses had to strap you down - bored, unsurprised. It had obviously happened to all the other kids too.  You're surprised, and a little disgusted, by how Zekiye can talk shop with Cid like they're across the table at a dinner party.     Cid takes a step back. He saw the thread of plasma pull between your fingers.      That tears it.   [Rekha's Anger 3 > 4]   There's a crash as the half-slagged door bursts off its hinges. Metal thumping across metal - the march and heave of magitek walkers, and just behind them -   Cid looks at Nalaal then looks back.     That's why Cid was so ready to talk - so eager to use big words, slow it down, make you force him to explain things twice. He probably thought the security system in the stairwell would take you by surprise, and then his goons could catch up and collect you. When that didn't happen, he figured he had to stall, throw out some patter, waste your time.          You see Nalaal blanch a bit, and her fingers track along the tattoo at her throat. At least, you always figured it was a tattoo. It's a silver tower, halfway hidden by the fur collar of her robe, slightly shiny under the stark lights.  Nalaal looks alarmed. Zekiye is holding herself very stiff, staring at Cid.    Zekiye, shorter than Nalaal by more than a head, is standing in front of her with her fists clenched. She looks like a lapdog with its hackles up. [Zekiye's Compassion 0 > 1]      The floating creature (woman?) has sharp little features, hungry-looking, and barely any nose. She manages to scowl anyway.              Soldiers advance in close ranks: the thumping step of magitek armour resounds behind them, forming a wall of steel blue silhouettes. Wasp flitters at the head of them, drawing a long, hooked knife from a belt worn around the chitin plates on her waist. Her dog, a big Kohlingen doberman, bristles at her side. She hasn't noticed you.  The glaring overhead lights cast twisting beams, the light bending around you like a rock in a river. You're aware of yourself shouting, but the sound of it is swallowed as you point your tensing arm and rip space open. Everything descends into mute ear-thrumming vacuum.  The gantry under you buckles and tears. Jadate, Zekiye and Nalaal split one way: you split the other. You bound up, muscles still trembling, and throw a wild glance at Jadate.  The soldiers are scattered, some gone, but the magitek walkers are crossing the crumpled gantry where they can't. You're still cornered. You just have a moment to breathe.   You think Jadate's gonna hightail it, but she doesn't move. Zekiye tugs on her shoulder, then the test tube next to her explodes, and Nalaal has to haul her away. In the fountain of shattering glass, you see her stumbling in Nalaal's grip, both of them funhouse mirrored by the blue heat and the steam. She's still trying to get back to you, but Nalaal is strong and knows it's dumb. That's right: it would be dumb. Plasma skates up your neck and through your hair, your arms tensing like you're lifting the world, and as you breathe out hard and starry nothing reels the air, you realise for the first time that she actually did care about you. [Rekha's Friendship 0 > 1] Rekha became friends with Jadate. You are now Jadate Jhaum.  You can't go back up there. For one, the elevator shaft's fuselage sparked up and then began to melt shortly after it deposited you. That gave you enough time to collect your head. Time: exactly what you don't have. If they knew you were coming, then they know about the airship, and your exit plan is patchy. Hopefully Minna and Ziqiya have been able to bring the Side Bet around, but even if that's so, the Empire will be on high alert now. You don't like the odds on their magitek vs. your floating casino. The kicker is that you didn't get one of the things you came here for - at least one, because you have no idea if the Mysidians got out, but the fact that there were only two Espers left to rescue is a kick in the teeth.  This is what you're thinking when Zekiye beckons you over to her discovery. It's a broad metal case, about the right size to be ferried up and down to the lab on the (now extinct) cargo lift. With a little legerdemain, you finagle it open, and breathe out. You're not quite in a whooping mood...  ...but this appears to be the rest of Cid's stock of magicite. It hasn't been pounded into shards or reduced to a slurry just yet - so maybe you can still save the Espers inside.  You are now calling yourself Mille, apparently. Finally, outside! It has been so very long. Decades, you think, or years. Spans of time less than a century seem about the same to you. In either case you have the metaphysical equivalent of cramps. You stretch yourself out inside the body, glorying in its agility, its ligaments, its thin fine cords of muscle. It is a good find. The mind, on the other hand, is dull to riffle through. Dry and dusty, books and diagrams - a library of turned pages and carefully acquired knowledge. The mortals who rescued you asked with increasing exasperation whether or not you knew the way, and of course you COULD have known the way, but doing so would have been like thinking your way through a big heap of sawdust. You explained (quite patiently!) that it was inedible, tasteless, and likely to induce a bad mood. They asked you to do it anyway, and eventually you complied. You suppose piety should come with occasional rewards. Several of the robed creatures, Esper-worshippers you think, got snatched up while you were lost. Most of them did not, though, so that's alright. They all look essentially the same. There's a surname somewhere in here, but you neglect to pick it off the shelf. You want the flexion of limbs, the glance of sunlight off the body, and the freedom to move. You don't really care about this woman's - you pry briefly - commonplace loneliness or her sublimated desire to usurp her boss. Well, alright, that's a little interesting. Certainly more so than all the memorised formulae and mnemonics, which you summarily dumped into the subconscious, to intrude on you only by accident.  Now you are on a flying ship! You remember these. You think they had just been invented when you went away. The mortals gabble about returning to Vector, which, now freed, you might consider. This limited body is a mitten that insulates the core of your magic, but you suspect you can still produce a startling amount of heat. Once the body is used to you, and more of its pith has been replaced with your pith, you will be even stronger.  They turn to you with a vague sense of apprehension. You think they are mulling your role in the plan. How does the Esper in Mille feel about her rescuers? A) Gratitude. These gnawing things nibbled you free - they've made a lovely gift to thee. And for a gift, there's grace required. You'll beck-and-call as they desire. B) Amusement. Scurrying like mice they go! To watch their war's a pretty show. And if you soon should lob a shot, the Empire caged you in a pot, and may deserve it, mice or not. C) Expectation. Worship's a treat too long denied; now, with these Returners on your side, more could be apportioned yet. A prayer's a lovely thing to get! Android Blues fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Oct 20, 2023 |
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Oct 20, 2023 20:50
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Huge one! I lost most of this update maybe six weeks ago, and had to rewrite it from memory, a trial for sure. We're seeing the payoff of some much earlier votes here, and it feels good to finally make that move - and to see Dora's dog Tongue Hunger again. She's the real star of the show here.
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Oct 20, 2023 21:13
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"Mille" seems like she just wants to have a Ball.
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Oct 20, 2023 21:35
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Guess we've got a jester in our midst now. B
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Oct 21, 2023 01:03
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The esper "Mille", it seems to me Would be inclined towards answer B Fantastic update! Android Blues posted:Plasma skates up your neck and through your hair, your arms tensing like you're lifting the world, and as you breathe out hard and starry nothing reels the air, you realise for the first time that she actually did care about you. Gosh, I loved this bit. TT_TT
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Oct 21, 2023 01:19
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I gotta go with C, it's the most consistent with what we've seen of Esper culture so far. Plus, a little intra-party conflict is good for the story  This was an excellent update! Dr.
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Oct 21, 2023 02:36
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Oh this was a treat, I must say~ Anyways, leaning towards B for our Esper friend. I considered C for a bit, but they do seem focused on whether things are worth it for them overall, particularly that line about the thoughts of books and such tasting like sawdust.
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Oct 21, 2023 03:12
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This update was Beautiful! I especiallly loved this line: “For a while you felt sure that you'd died and were climbing out of your body through your throat.“ That rules.
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Oct 21, 2023 19:34
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C. What are they gonna do, say no? Not worship you? That'd be pretty rude.
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Oct 22, 2023 01:49
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Oh, and who can forget extra character prompts? Ziqiya: you've recovered your wife, but what have you lost? Will she understand who you've become? Zekiye: this trip has been illuminating, to say the least. Have you managed to acquire any more fragments of magicite? How do you feel about what you've learned about their origins? Dora: you're going to be seeing those idiots again soon, no doubt. And they're going to want to...ugh...talk to you. Maybe you can mix up some kind of poison that'll constrict their vocal chords? You'd better come up with some kind of plan...
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Oct 22, 2023 02:13
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Just found this thread, hell yeah OP.
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Oct 22, 2023 03:39
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Voting C But like, don't be a dick about it. You're a benevolent deity after all. At least to those who haven't wrong you.
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Oct 22, 2023 06:50
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Gotta vote A, but who knows how a diety would express their gratitude?
bbcisdabomb fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Oct 22, 2023 |
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Oct 22, 2023 07:35
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I am going to vote C, because of course they busted you out and helped you. That's their purpose, after all. And the dull thoughts you were forced to think! Yes, yes, you are not above a little quid pro quo, the concept of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" applies even to those of your lofty nature, but you did your part. Now it's their turn to uphold their end of the bargain. Especially since you're stuck in this vessel. What a frightfully dull being you've taken! Couldn't there have been someone more fun to use? But ah well, it wouldn't do to complain too much. You can't simply hop to a more entertaining vessel, after all. Their gratitude might not stretch far enough for you to snatch up someone better suited as a body.
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Oct 22, 2023 19:22
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Mille is a frighteningly detached and removed from the mortals around her. Let’s make her a bit silly. B
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Oct 24, 2023 18:34
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Update should be this week! We wend steadily on.
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Jan 22, 2024 22:35
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I'm sure these updates are an absolute ton of work, but I'm loving reading them. Looking forward to it! 
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Jan 22, 2024 23:25
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Android Blues posted:Update should be this week! We wend steadily on. TooMuchAbstraction posted:I'm sure these updates are an absolute ton of work, but I'm loving reading them. Looking forward to it! I can't fathom the amount of work these take. I had a hard time in my LP just posting pictures and commenting on them. I don't know much about the way this LP is being done, but at the very least I imagine it's a mix of writing, commenting, and editing. Either the pictures the game itself. And that seems like A lot. So take your time and you're doing great.
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Jan 23, 2024 00:28
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We gotta go with B, right? This story could use a little blithe chaos. Who knows, maybe that kind of perspective will be of value to the some of the other ladies at some point. It'll be interesting, at least! I'm really glad I found this thread, this has been fun to read!
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Jan 23, 2024 18:14
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21. Rekha's Song How does the Esper in Mille feel about her rescuers? A) Grateful. These gnawing things nibbled you free - they've made a lovely gift to thee. And for a gift, there's grace required. You'll beck-and-call as they desire. [1] B) Amused. Scurrying like mice they go! To watch their war's a pretty show. And if you soon should lob a shot, the Empire caged you in a pot, and may deserve it, mice or not. [7] C) Expectant. Worship's a treat too long denied; now, with these Returners on your side, more could be apportioned yet. A prayer's a lovely thing to get! [4] You cause your face to smile. It is beginning, slowly, to feel like yours, which is always a pleasant feeling. The eyes crease brightly and they are your eyes. The chin juts proudly and it is your chin.  The older one gives you a tight nod - but the big one crosses her arms, looking at you sceptically. You are not a devoted study in the expressions of mortals, but scepticism is a crucial one to know.   You think very hard. It is difficult to collect up enjoyable rhymes for 'fun'. You consider the cruel irony of this momentarily, and a laugh crosses your new mouth.  Of course not that, you tiresome woman. Who would quit the zoom and crack of tumult for the mild country of escape? A duller Esper than yourself, that's sure. You think of how to phrase this in acceptable words.     You are now Jadate Jhaum. This wasn't how you'd planned to get out - the sketch of the plan involved a fly-by pickup from the access catwalks outside the lab. Being on the lower level makes everything more difficult, but Zekiye laid eyes on the freight transit system when you were casing the layout. It runs for about a mile under the open air on its way to a foundry on the city limits. She thinks you might be able to hop off there, then - you add sardonically - wave frantically and hope the Side Bet can swoop down and grab you. Sprouting wings might be about as likely, but it's all you've got. Nalaal isn't contributing much to the confab. You can tell she feels guilty, so much violent fuss over her Esper mark, but there's no time to crack open the feelings box. You all load onto the freight car, and Queen Zekiye pulls the lever.  Stale air rushes past you; it smells like oil and smoke. As you watch the tunnel behind you, there's a skidding sound from distant rails, and a track junctioned parallel to yours disgorges something horrible.    They look like they've been grown around the rails, snippets of something alive encouraged to cling to metal and make its home there.   The gravel beneath the rails fountains up in a spray; the sleepers that the rails rest on heave like ocean waves. Zekiye is flung to one side, thumping hard against the guardrails of the freight car. Nalaal keeps her balance for a moment, then hurtles backwards as another ruction hits, rolling limply towards the freight car's open edge - - and the runed waistcoat you ferreted out of a locker in the facility above soaks in the roaring magic, stabilising you like a gyroscope. You grab the trim of Nalaal's fur collar, haul back, and rely on the rooted firmness of the enchantment to drag her against the guardrails, next to her sister. She's unconscious. Your heart is pounding. The Mag Roaders know Quake. This is one of the game's many cataclysmic "everyone takes damage" spells, and normally it's consigned to a few bosses. Beyond Chaos doesn't really factor in which spells should be "rare", just which tier of randomisation they're in - and unfortunately for us, because it deals damage to the enemy party too, Quake's a valid swap-out for Fira. Fortunately for us, Jadate is wearing the Gaia Gear we found in Magitek Research! With it on, she absorbs Earth elemental damage, so she's our insurance against enemies rolling into this disaster of a spell. The Gaia Gear's a huge find, here and potentially elsewhere: if not for it, Quake would simply knock out the entire party. Instead, Jadate stands alone.  You're clinging to the edge of the freight car, your hair blowing in the onrushing air, the vanishing flute rattling uselessly on its chain, and Nalaal and Zekiye are flat on the brushed metal trolley, and all you can think about is how Rekha's still up there, all on her own. You tried to get back to her - you really did. You think you would have died doing it. She felt like your kid, from the first or second day you knew her, even if she never really wanted to be. You couldn't have done a thing about all those soldiers, but you still wanted to stand between them and her. You'd have been cooked ten times over in Magitek Research if it wasn't for Rekha. You've heard of Dora the Wasp, quick-smart and merciless. You bite your lip, not hearing the skid of the freight car's rails. Esper or not, it would take ten of her to get the better of the kid who ran that opera house con. She's alive. Has to be. Without really thinking about it, you part your lips and sing a single, clear note.     [Jadate learned Quasar.] So here's an interesting thing. Learning Lores is streamlined in Beyond Chaos: normally, you'd need to have an enemy cast the ability while your character with Lore is alive, not blinded, and not under a debilitating status condition. To cut out having to travel the world and farm enemy encounters with your Lore user, Beyond Chaos instead teaches you the Lore the first time you see it used in combat, whether it's used by an ally or an enemy, and regardless of whether or not the Lore user is in your party. Rekha's QuasMud ability opens up with Quasar, a spell from the Lore list. Mechanically, the first time she ever saw Rekha use QuasMud, Jadate learned Quasar. Narratively, though, I felt like it was way more satisfying to have that be the result of Jadate and Rekha growing to understand each other - so until now, it's remained untouched in her spell list.       Zekiye cracked her head when she went out; Nalaal is huddled into a ball on the vibrating metal, barely conscious. You don't think either of them can move. It's up to you. "The muscle" isn't a role you're used to, but the song inside you feels huge, and each time you sing it out, the freight system's guardians buckle and wail. The tunnel's curved ceiling bends and ripples; the stars glare, partly real, and when the asteroids collide with the solid world, they split apart like clouds. It's not quite Rekha's magic, but a memory of it - the shadow-play version of it, the story of it.       Fleets of the monsters chase the wake of the freight car. You twist the cap off a tincture and inhale it, feeling the magic flow back into your body, enough to keep singing for a little longer. For Rekha, Quasar is on tap. For Jadate, it costs 50 of her 154 total MP. She's guzzling Tinctures to keep the heat on here.  The whistling air ahead of the freight car takes on a different quality. You're near the foundry line, the open air. Then there's the click of a heavy rail changing tracks, and the huge, pulsing bio-mechanical thing at the centre of this security system screams out of the darkness.  Its blade-like arms whang into the guard rails, dragging on your freight car's momentum, leaving deep scrapes a few inches from Zekiye's prone body. You throw back your last healing potion, the taste incongruously fruity, just as a blade shears through your trousers above the thigh, sending you staggering back against the rail.   This is Number 128. The main body of the boss has a tonne of HP, and its Left and Right Blades regenerate a few turns after you destroy them. It's often a difficult fight in Beyond Chaos - this whole section can be a gauntlet. You have no opportunity to heal between battles, and the four different types of Mag Roader all have decent odds of rolling into scary spells. Here, our heroes are in a particularly terrifying spot. The Right Blade has auto-runic. This is absolutely wild: it's lifesaving, but also ruinous. In the base game, Runic is a player ability that causes the user to absorb the next spell cast, nullifying hostile spells and restoring MP each time a spell is nullified. Auto-runic, however, doesn't stop at absorbing a single spell. Unlike the player ability, it's permanent. The Right Blade absorbs all targeted spells - including those cast by Number 128. It casts Ice, Shimsham and Blaster, the last of which causes instant death and would spell disaster for the party, but each time it does so, the particle simply shlorps backwards into the Right Blade and is harmlessly absorbed. Jadate just used her last healing item. Nalaal knows Safe, and Zekiye knows Shell and Regen - but even if Jadate revives them, they can't use any of those spells while the Right Blade is alive. If they try, it'll just steal the magic for itself. We're out of Potions. We have a handful of Phoenix Downs left, but once Nalaal or Zekiye come back up, they can't be healed past the ~50 HP they're revived with. If Nalaal can cast Safe on her and the Right Blade absorbs Number 128's offensive magic, Jadate can last for upwards of twenty turns against physical damage, but she'll go down eventually, too. She has absolutely no way to heal herself. There's only one way through.   You sing Rekha's song with your whole chest, angled low on the freight car, your diaphragm squashed and fraught as you duck the swing of knife-like claws. You throw your arms into it and see the ends of your fingertips ripple, painted like stars. Your vision blurs in the way it does when you're really belting, looking at nothing but the music. The stabbing claw drags away from the freight car, receding into its body, the magitek gantry stapled to the oily ellipse of the thing's arm sparking and fizzing. It can't handle the twist and ripple of space for too long.  You dig in your satchel and hurl your last few quill-lengths of phoenix feather over Zekiye's crumpled form. They glitter red and gold, burning as they drift over the queen of Figaro, disappearing in the air.  Jadate knocks out the Right Blade with Quasar, and throws a Phoenix Down to Zekiye - but before Zekiye gets a chance to act, the Right Blade regenerates.      Together, they throw on a Rage and a Quasar, knocking it out again while Zekiye clings to life, and this time, Zekiye is able to cast Regen on Jadate in the brief window of the auto-runic absorption field being offline. Regen will last for the entire fight. With a trickle of healing active, Jadate might be able to outpace Number 128's physical damage.   Our heroes get lucky, and a Vanish lands on Zekiye, too. A few things could remove Vanish - including another miscast Vanish from the vanishing flute playing up - but while the Right Blade is absorbing all offensive magic, the 100% evasion from Vanish effectively blocks everything 128 can throw at us. Zekiye's effectively immune to its physical attacks, and is able to stick around for much longer than anticipated.    Runic absorbs all magic, but it's Magic with a capital M - that is, everything you could cast with the Magic command (it also absorbs a few powerful enemy abilities, but none that are relevant here). Lore isn't Magic, and neither are summons, so Jadate can cast Quasar and Ramuh just fine. (There's a really weird and cool interaction with ?-VaRam here: because Vanish is from the Magic list, while the Right Blade is alive, if the roulette targeting lands on a party member, auto-runic will redirect Vanish onto the Right Blade and subsequently cast a single target (!) Ramuh on same. This makes knocking the Right Blade out somewhat easier.)       The vanishing flute stays pressed to your lips. Eyes searing, metal rumbling under you, you play for Ramuh, knowing the sharp metallic notes of his song a little better now. Each note thrums a harmony with the magicite in your satchel, and lightning scrapes the rails until the stifling air smells burnt.    Its body splits, bubbling, the surface of it breaking not like skin but like an oily cloud. One claw clings on to either rail as the freight car hauls away from it, the rippling shape of it unmoored from its mollusc-like grip on the rails, and if there was ever a suggestion of eyes in that strange mass of manic magic, it's vanished now.  The freight car screeches as it rolls onto the exterior portion of the foundry line. Zekiye pulls the brake, heaving herself against it, having to use her weight to shift the cantilever. You pile off, and then there the three of you are; in a factory rail yard, colonnades of smoke staining the sky. Your ears are full of the wail of sirens. That's when you see it. Up above: the distant shape of an airship, a shadow on a cloud, circling Vector. The Side Bet is still here. You don't feel delectation about the prospect of being rescued, exactly. Your focus isn't on yourself right now. You are dimly aware that if it was just you, just Jadate Jhaum in hot water again and you were this exhausted, you might seriously consider lying down flat and letting them arrest you. But it isn't. The story's about someone else and you have to make sure it gets sung, you think, unclearly. Then you nudge Zekiye and tell her your idea.  Lifting her arms, Zekiye sends up swirls of dust and wind, her feet planting in the ground. The components of a good, healthy Vector smog are picked up and thrown by the queen's magic. The three of you stand in the centre of an oil-smeared dust devil, eyes watering. You have to imagine that, from the sky, it looks like an ashy smear on the map. Scratch imagine, actually. This is what you have to hope. There's an agonising pause, and then the shape in the sky cambers low, swaying towards the Vector skyline like an interested balloon. You can make out the tiny shape of Ziqiya on the deck. She waves her arms overhead, holds up a hand as if to warn you, and then swings down a knotted ballast rope, the sandbags tied along it swaying wildly as the airship dips lower still. The makeshift ladder catches on a weathervane in the shape of a cockatrice, dragging it away from its shingles as the Side Bet bears down perilously towards you. Supporting Nalaal with one arm, you make for the swaying rope. It's hard going - the sandbag on the end is like a mace-head, and it's only with a sway and a jump that you manage to hit the cord before the ballast hits you. You hear a huff of loosed breath, and then Nalaal is holding on a few inches below, her forearms wrapped around your waist. It's a good thing she's strong. Her eyes are dizzy, like she barely knows where she is.      The Side Bet thrums as it lifts, trying to build up speed again, the ballast rope dragging like a kicked dog's tail behind it. The ship passes Magitek Research as it caroms through the skyline, Minna's back heaving as she wrestles the wheel, and then there is a sudden scraping.  Against the hull of the ship, a vast mechanical arm drags. On the starboard side, another - an unfolding crane, a docking arm built into the airship port near the Imperial palace. It grabs at the rigging and tangles itself in it. Suddenly the Side Bet's engine is thrumming against nothing. There's a lurch as the prow dips, the aft deck kicking up with the stop in momentum and sending you scattering!   You sing out, and space ripples as you beat up the drums of Rekha's story. It sings in your heart: it's bardic magic, the old stuff, and it works better because it's taking up so much of you. Rekha is nearly all you can think about : the sky, the clouds, the danger, are just backdrops to hoping and fearing for her. Asteroids batter the mechanical gantries, breaking apart their underslung hydraulics, as they judder and grab.  An Esper folded into the body of an Imperial scientist, Mille is a powerful spellcaster currently under some restraints. For one, her host body's Magic stat is very low - so even though she has X-Magic, allowing her to cast two spells per turn, her magic damage is weak enough that she'll need to doublecast just to keep up with stronger mages casting once. That should all change when she gets enough AP to Morph, but for now, she's limited by the confines of a shabby human form. Utility spells work wildly well with X-Magic, though, even with a low Magic stat. Mille flexes her fingers, and Nalaal and Jadate feel their shoulders jerk and muscles stiffen as she throws Safe on both of them at once. She also has Control. Fun!   The woman in the labcoat waves her arms in jerky fashion, and the arms of the cranes begin to follow them. Her sleeves flop around her skinny wrists, and when she steps back dartingly, the vast gantries locking the Side Bet now scrape and judder in slow motion.    The crane scraping along the Side Bet's port side, rattling the glass in the portholes, bursts into smoke and begins to fall like a lowered flag.   You see Nalaal move like a sunbeam towards the metal armature, and it shudders, but when the light recedes she looks punch-drunk and dizzy.  The starboard crane lurches across the deck suddenly, tumbling Zekiye over. The woman in the labcoat looses an affronted yelp as it hits her midriff, folding her like a receipt, and you see Ziqiya haul her floppy body back from the fray, towards the ship's companionway. Nalaal is flagging - you can see it. Potions can only go so far - the wounds are healed over, but her clothes are singed, boots are oily, and the adrenaline's running out. You see it just a moment too late. The articulated arm swings for her, gleaming like a sword, and folds her at the midriff, dragging her off the deck of the ship. The Side Bet turns, canting against the wind - you think Minna must be trying to turn back for Nalaal - but the Imperial airships dotting the clouds are swooping in on the port side. They're smaller than your boat of a craft, hornets, and they have guns. As the cannon-fire starts, Ziqiya shakes at Minna's shoulders, and she turns the wheel. The Side Bet rises through the only opening left to it, darting like a harried bird, away.  Zekiye is folded against the Side Bet's guardrail, her body folded into itself so tightly that it looks like her monarch's robes are empty.    Zekiye turns away from the guardrail, her eyes fixed coldly on Minna, and (you think wisely) Ziqiya of Mysidia steps in. Good.    You're sure she's alive. You think you're sure. How could one reedy Esper with a snarling dog measure up to Rekha, tearing Cid's lab to ribbons, warping the metal and boiling the glass? She couldn't have gotten near her. None of the soldiers could, magitek walkers or no. They might as well have been flying paper planes at her. Of course Rekha's fine. Of course she is. But you'd really like to go back and check.  It's a gamble, but you think it's your only shot. There's only one person on your side who might know enough to sneak past the Empire's raised defences.  Party select.  The Returners know the Empire's plan - to open the Sealed Gate once again. Even now, Nalaal is doubtlessly being ferried deep into Imperial territory, and Rekha Halfpenny is somewhere in Vector, cornered at best, captured at worst. Jadate's banking on Chayma having returned from her sojourn in the Esper realm. As an Imperial defector, her knowledge may be the only way to save either of them. Vote for a party and a leader! These'll be the people heading to the Sealed Gate to rescue Nalaal. Chayma is mandatory, but whoever you guys vote for as leader will be the perspective character for this leg of the adventure. You can also junction some Espers! We have a tonne of them now, and a great deal of flexibility is on offer for characters with the Magic or X-Magic commands (which right now is everyone but Jadate).  Palidor - Movement, Hunger, Glamour   Zoneseek - Emptiness, Enlightenment, Departures   Siren - Ballads, Yearning, Rivalry   Shiva - Winter, Bells, Festivals   Terrato - Faultlines, Hibernation, Disasters   Maduin - Mammals, Acidity, Rebellion   Unicorn - Grace, Intimacy, Danger   Golem - Loyalty, Eternity, Construction 
Android Blues fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Jan 29, 2024 |
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Jan 29, 2024 00:46
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Holy poo poo, that was a gauntlet. I love having Jadate pick up Rekha's techniques that way, what a good story beat. I forget, can we junction multiple espers to the same person? I remember you had some restriction on how they can be allocated. Mechanically, these espers seem largely unexceptional. Golem has a pretty good spell list, the +2 speed on Palidor could be handy, ditto the +30% HP on Terrato. None of them seem like they're going to break the game open, though, which I guess is a good thing.
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Jan 29, 2024 23:32
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I'm just going to vote for OP's choice on the esper assignment question. For the party: Chayma (leader) Minna Ziqiya Mille
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Jan 29, 2024 23:35
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The song of the stars calls from the beyond, it seems. Good for her.  As for party stuff, this is what I've got for our mix-and-matchables: - Zekiye (leader) - Golem - Minna - Siren - Mille - Maduin
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Jan 31, 2024 00:38
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Oh, right, voting. Assuming I'm remembering correctly, and we can junction multiple espers to a single character, (and also assuming that our new esper-in-human-clothing is allowed to junction espers, odd though that sounds), here's my assignations: Palidor: Chayma. The stealthy assassin, who needs to be able to move quickly and get close to her quarry, seems a natural match for Palidor's high-flying, dazzling plumage. Zoneseek: Mille. What better partner to a once-empty shell, now puppeted by a spirit possessed of deep knowledge of the world? Siren: Zikiye. Now of course, you see "Ballads" and think of Jadate, but Zikiye has "yearning" and "rivalry" stitched into her soul. She wants that magic, she wants to match her sister so badly. Terrato: Chayma or Rehka. They can both make a fair claim to being the focal point of the driving wedge that will split the Empire in half. Unicorn: Minna. C'mon, Unicorn stands for grace and danger, she's a perfect match! Golem: Zikiye. Golem's traits make a good match for a queen who would do anything to protect her nation. I have no strong opinions on Shiva or Maduin. Perhaps Mille will spot an opportunity, and gobble them up. The party to go to the Sealed Gate: Chayma, Minna, Zekiye, Mille, with Chayma as party leader/viewpoint. Jadate's talents are best-used keeping an eye on Vector. Or at least, that's what she tells everyone. Of course, she's also hoping against hope to find a sign of Rehka. Ziqiya's priority is her wife and the remnants of her people. That leaves Minna, Zekiye, and Mille as our spare party members. Finally, some character directives: Zekiye: once again, you're having to cover for your sister. How do you feel about this? It's not her fault that she got captured, sure, but it must still rankle. Mille: you don't rush a good banquet, but by the same token, you don't just eat it with your eyes. Start getting a taste for one of your new compatriots...Chayma, maybe? Get to know her, figure out how to read her, get the contours of her soul. You want that context, so that when the fireworks start up, you have a deep understanding of what exactly is exploding.
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Jan 31, 2024 02:33
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glwgameplayer posted:I can't fathom the amount of work these take. I had a hard time in my LP just posting pictures and commenting on them. I don't know much about the way this LP is being done, but at the very least I imagine it's a mix of writing, commenting, and editing. Either the pictures the game itself. And that seems like Thank you! Yes, it's a tonne of work. When I started this LP I was way less busy, but these days I work a fairly demanding job and it's a challenge to find time to write, edit and upload a hundred panels of brave heroes having emotions. But I will never stop. Bank on it! Cambria Bold posted:We gotta go with B, right? This story could use a little blithe chaos. Who knows, maybe that kind of perspective will be of value to the some of the other ladies at some point. It'll be interesting, at least! Hooray! I'm glad you found it too. Thanks so much for enjoying the story! TooMuchAbstraction posted:Holy poo poo, that was a gauntlet. I love having Jadate pick up Rekha's techniques that way, what a good story beat. Mechanically they can only junction one at once, but if we want to junction multiples, I'll just treat that as "I can switch between them for mechanical reasons, and the espers have jousting influence narratively." Easily done, makes enough sense in the story, and cuts out me going back to you guys for Esper polling. Which I think we'll probably do much more rarely in future! It is not a source of excitement for the masses, even if it's cool in theory. Re: the mechanics of this new batch, Zoneseek, Golem and Terrato have the best spells (Haste 2 is huge, Cure 3 would be prohibitively expensive right now but handy in a pinch, and Stop is strong for problem enemies) while Terrato, Golem and Palidor have the best level up bonuses. +2 Speed is a big deal if you start building it up early enough - Speed modifies how fast a character's ATB builds, and while the scaling is slow, sticking with Palidor for a while would add up. In the base game the only esper that offers Speed is Odin, who you get late enough in the game that it won't matter. Here we have a lot of levels ahead of us, so we could stack up a big difference from Palidor. +30% HP is less handy than it sounds (it's +30% of the HP you would normally gain on level up, rather than +30% of max) but it adds up too. +30% MP is just really solid. +2 Strength on Unicorn isn't bad either - Strength scaling isn't that good, Magic scaling is much better, but for anyone who's going to be physically attacking it could be a cool way to go. (Most of them are also just cool to summon. I am personally excited to use Palidor, I love that flashy bird.)
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Feb 6, 2024 00:03
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Hey, it's nice to get caught up with this! Let's see now: Zekiye and Minna are my favorite characters, so put both of them on the team. They almost had a scuffle over Nalaal getting captured, too, so it'll be good for them to work together to get her back. Mille is new, so let's give her a chance to show off. Give her Zoneseek, because Haste2 and X-Magic seems like a fun combination. And let's make Minna the leader/perspective character, because I don't think she's ever been the viewpoint before? If she has, and someone else in the party hasn't, my leader vote is for them instead. Minna (leader) - Palidor Mille - Zoneseek Zekiye - Golem Chayma - Terrato
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Feb 8, 2024 16:06
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Man, that ruled. And I once again have to say holy crow you are great are describing huge magic in ways that feel distinct yet mighty. I loved the description of the copied Quasar spell.
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Feb 23, 2024 13:38
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Loving this LP. I binged the whole thread and now I'm eager for more, how dare time be linear and require us to exist between updates. I don't usually get a chance to vote in these, either! And now you've got a lot of choices up in the air for us. So let's see, uh... Minna for party leader, with Mille, Chayma, and Jadate. The Figaro sisters deserve a break, Chayma's been on the sidelines and we gotta know what went down with her, and Jadate doesn't seem the type to kick up her heels if she can make progress on helping Rekha. In fact, I'll even throw in a bonus command: Chayma: talk with Mille about the experience of being an Esper. I can only imagine how confusing it was, but maybe Mille can give you some perspective, since she's now been in both positions... at least once. (Maybe more than once?) As for the Magicite, hm... * Palidor and Mille should bond. Mille is exploring the kinesthetic joys of physical movement, and X-Magic is gonna eat through MP like nobody's business, so Osmose will help with that problem. * Zoneseek and Chayma should bond. Chayma should know something about departure in search of enlightenment now. * Siren and Minna should bond. Minna wants a rival and better ballads, maybe she can pair with someone who knows about both. * Shiva and Jadate should bond. Shiva's Bolt spell might give Jadate a bit of Ramuh's power for herself, and maybe they can bond over bells and festivals. * Maduin and Dora should bond, someday. They're both dog people. * Unicorn and Rekha should bond (whenever we rescue Rekha, which I'm sure we will someday). This is a totally off-the-wall choice, and terrible mechanically, but Rekha is still unraveling the difference between intimacy (friendship) and danger. Maybe Unicorn can help with that. And I'm going to say Golem and Terrato should be saved for future characters, or remain unbonded for the moment. And finally: whenever you update the Dramatis Personae, would it be possible to include the Espers everyone's bonded to in there, as well? So future picks can better know who's got whom and who's not got anybody.
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Mar 1, 2024 23:14
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Should be an update this weekend! Thank you for your patience. Elemental Knight posted:Loving this LP. I binged the whole thread and now I'm eager for more, how dare time be linear and require us to exist between updates. Woo! So glad to have you on board. Thank you for these meticulously excellent ideas. I cannot wait to debut a few of these in action! quote:And finally: whenever you update the Dramatis Personae, would it be possible to include the Espers everyone's bonded to in there, as well? So future picks can better know who's got whom and who's not got anybody. Excellent idea. In true webcomic tradition, the cast page needs a refresh and this is a good thing to add to it! BassMug posted:Man, that ruled. And I once again have to say holy crow you are great are describing huge magic in ways that feel distinct yet mighty. I loved the description of the copied Quasar spell. Thank you! I had that moment in my head for the longest time. Sometimes the mechanics just offer you up a scene ready-made and it's like, oh hey, thanks random number generator, you landed on a character beat! Mildly Interesting posted:Hey, it's nice to get caught up with this! Let's see now: Minna was the leader in the run to Zozo, but then Rekha snagged the reins, so she only had a single update to flex it. But Zekiye and Mille have never been party leaders, so this vote goes to one of them, and since it going to Mille would prevent a tie between Zekiye and Chayma, it goes to Mille and Chayma will be our party leader for the next leg.
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May 29, 2024 22:44
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oh hell yea
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May 29, 2024 22:48
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aww yeah we're so back
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May 30, 2024 04:43
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GIRL FANTASY VI lfg
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May 30, 2024 12:03
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22. The Esper Realm You are now Chayma Ludos.   You’ve seen his magicite. Not the Esper himself - only a sketch of him, annotated in Cid’s orderly hand, brown grease-pencil on wax paper, the patterns of fur and the curl of talons pointed out. He has been a list item in the Empire’s stock of magical resources since before you were old enough to read it. An asset, a battery, to be fragmented and used when the more promising resources were exhausted. Your father.    He laughs, his voice underlapped by the sound of a clanking chain. Fenrir is bound within the earth, in the caverns beneath the sunlit, grassy steppe above. Moonlight does not fall in the Esper realm, though night comes. When you first met him, he told you that this was because of him.      You have perhaps the dimmest memory of this. Without colour or shape you can summon up recollections of warmth and fur, the ripple of the wind through the grassland, the tense puzzling feeling of being alone and not knowing for how long.  The shadow of a vast dragon drifts overhead. There are several dragons here, shapes in the sky that sometimes fall close enough to gleam instead of being merely huge silhouettes. One of them is Lord Bahamut, but he does not descend to speak with Espers that walk on the land.   Cyclops rarely speaks, but today, he seems garrulous. He scans the horizon with a single, flat eye, creased between his nose and brow like a pencil mark.         Cyclop’s sonorous voice rings out over the valley below, but the air seems to keep and castle his words, bounding them in so that the twilit grass rustles. Cyclops posted:Wasp was a young Esper with three items in her purview, the same as most. In her case they were trickery, venom, and community. Wasps live in nests, after all.   He seems utterly unaware of your sarcasm. Instead, he gives you a look, as if to say, yes, you are an Esper. You understand how these things are.   "Cyclops” posted:If she had developed even a modicum of respect for the Empire she betrayed her people to, she might have been alright: but as it was, she violated community, and punctured her own animating forces in the process. She enjoyed a few weeks of notoriety and power before she realised what she'd done. You mull this for a second.          You consider that word 'rebellion', and wonder if your hard-fought moral stand against the Empire was pre-ordained. Not a pleasant feeling.        Wendigo is no charmer, but he’s frank with you, will talk to anyone, and stopped salivating when he found out you were summoned by Lord Ramuh. He looks nothing like an Imperial courtier, but in this quality, bloodthirstiness blunted by deference, he makes you oddly homesick.    You search your soul, such as it is, for - what? Relatable concepts? Guiding principles? [Chayma’s Bravery is 1.] You couldn't face Kefka on the field of battle, and now she's dead. Joining the Returners took backbone, but now you feel that stiff courage may be turning to sand. [Chayma’s Friendship is 1.] Jadate's name swirls up. She protected you when she had every right to loathe you. Nalaal, too - at Narshe, in the bloody clutch of snow and soldiers, you saw her bravest side - and even Zekiye, distant and mercurial, but ready to treat you with a certain respect. Only Jadate's feels like a name you can hold onto with both hands. But someone else's name can't be your animating idea, you're certain. [Chayma’s Fear is 3.] There's a sense of loss at finding nothing. This journey's changed you, but the answers you wanted about your true nature are nowhere in it. Here's the truth: you went hunting for a parent, someone who could answer the question your existence posed. But you already had an answer to that question.You know exactly who shaped you. She went mad, and now she's dead. It’s time to leave. Being here is as warm and as weightless as sunlight. It can’t sustain you any longer.      You consider this for a second. Do they? And if so, on what grounds?   You lean down, touch a hand to the grass, and will yourself to vanish. There is a long period of silence. Then, just as your consciousness is beginning to drift and the Esper realm is beginning to haze like mist around you, Cyclops speaks once more.      You appear in a room half-remembered. You got a glimpse of it when the Vanishing Flute pulled you through Ramuh to the Realm of Espers - a strange scattered disordered place for an esteemed god to live. You are disoriented, your eyes filmed with a thick glaze as if the tawny sunlight of the Esper realm has come with you. Jadate is there, and it seems right that she should be. She looks drawn and sad, so you find her hand and tell her it will be all right, full of a lightness that seems to flow off you, lessening as the rough edges of the world come in. You must be slurring your words, because she doesn’t understand you. It takes a couple of hours before anyone can, and, the fog having lifted, you are apprised of the situation. You can’t stop looking at Mille Merriweather. She is an Imperial scientist and you know her - spoke to her several times while you were gathering information for your unsanctioned mission north, using your rank to get her to speak freely, not disliking her company but not, if you’re honest, being all that sincere. An hour later, you learn that she has not defected per se. She is possessed, in fact. Well, that is not the word Ziqiya uses when she tells you - “hallowed” by an Esper, she says. An escape raft for a trapped Esper, the just deserts of her work in Magitek Research, a “little creepy” (per Minna). Jadate, who you trust most, has no opinion. Normally deeply interested in new people, you can see that she’s retreated into herself, and that it’s all she can do to be glad to see you. You give her a tentative hug and think quietly about the list of Espers you are familiar with, the inventory of Espers the Returners freed, and the name spoken to you in the Esper realm, just as you were fading back into the real.    You regroup at Narshe. It has gone from contested battleground to a place of real safety. No longer a quiet movement, the Returners are now at war, the Empire’s northern vanguard smashed, South Figaro held onto by the occupiers’ fingertips. Reconnaissance through the desert tells of a depleted Imperial frontline on the edge of total retreat from the northern continent. If they can re-open the Sealed Gate, though, and repeat the coup you just refreshed yourself on, all of that will change. You have met Espers, now, in their dozens. Some are very powerful. But most are indolent. They do not believe that they are truly threatened, or that Wasp’s trick can be repeated. They think that mortals are worshippers-in-waiting. Ramuh knew the Empire was dangerous, of course. But he is now sleeping in Jadate’s pocket, so enacting his will on that point is down to you.   TooMuchAbstraction posted:Ziqiya: you've recovered your wife, but what have you lost? Will she understand who you've become? You are now Ziqiya of Mysidia. Now that there is time, you take conference with the freed black mages, count their numbers. Some died in the escape. There was a terrible moment where you got boxed into the brushed metal corridors, looped around a block of laboratories to escape pursuit, and some half-starved Mysidians fell behind. Some remain. You are a rescuer.  Later, there is Nasreen, space together, her head in your lap. You hold her for a while before you speak much. Eventually, as you hoped she would not, she asks about Palazzo. She still fears her - you can hear this in her tone. The Mysidians had been half-mad with fear that she would return from war victorious. On this point, at least, you can reassure her.  You must say the next words, also.  Nasreen watches you, the hollows of her cheeks limned with the lights of her eyes.  You must say the next words, also. But you cannot. You mutely shake your head. Nasreen clutches your hand, folds her fingers over your knuckles. After a while, you are able to speak.       Nasreen says nothing. You think there is a limit to the expanses of her comfort, that her love has an edge and you have walked past it. There is silence for some time.  .You nod, your throat tight, overcome. How to balance your joy at that with your disgust at yourself? To walk in the joy seems a harsh repudiation of what is right. To shun it, though, is to shun Nasreen, and that you cannot do. [Ziqiya’s Fear 3 > 2] TooMuchAbstraction posted:Zekiye: this trip has been illuminating, to say the least. Have you managed to acquire any more fragments of magicite? How do you feel about what you've learned about their origins?  It is hard to place things correctly in your head. You are aware, like a sort of formal mannerism, that you should be aghast at what was done to the Espers. You want to be aghast. You consider yourself an ethical person, and it would be good if you felt horror on their behalf. But mostly what you feel is curiosity. How did it work for them, being broken apart piece by piece? At what point was consciousness removed from the equation? Was it, ever? Then a real chill strikes you as you realise that, if it was not, these very thoughts could be an Esper’s thoughts. You know you were not always so detached. As a child you were emotional, intense, had passionate cares that touched the world - mostly about your father or Nalaal, a child’s selfish cares and not a queen’s rote considerations, but things were felt intensely. Now everything seems to be felt from an odd angle, as though someone is painting your life while leaning sideways. Even Nalaal being taken - it fills you with a sick rage, a yearning to be back with her, a desire to stop existing and cry. Are contradictory emotions like this usual, or has the magicite seeded you with them? Does an extinct god cry that you should take vengeance, or is that your pride, Zekiye’s pride, roaring up from under the ice? You want Nalaal back. It has been good to see Chayma, to talk with her. She has a glass layer, like you, something hard and clear that wants to make decisions more than it wants to talk about feelings. But -   You agree that, to some extent, you can.  She touches your forehead, lightly tousling your hair, and then touches your forearm. Taller than you, she does this like she’s posing a doll, unselfconsciously.  You’ve always been quick, but the perfect copying, the gleaning at a glance, came with the magicite infusions. If you are like Rekha, then, it’s in your blood. Only yours would filter out if you stopped the treatments. Should you stop? For who? It wouldn’t help your kingdom. It wouldn’t help the Returners. It certainly wouldn’t help Nalaal -  Minna interrupts your train of thought. You make a cornered face at her, unable to discern where this interaction is going.    Previously you’d been intrigued by Minna’s magic. Now you just throw yourself into sparring with her; the snow drifts around you as you throw your frustration out, and she weathers it easily, catching your forearms and forcing you to figure out how to escape. It’s good to improvise, to tackle a fleet of small, temporary problems for your body instead of one huge one for your mind.  You can’t hang in there for long. You are confronted with the fact that your stamina’s mostly adrenaline, so when nothing’s on the line, you’re winded after a few minutes. Minna graciously lets you take breaks.  That evening, when you reach out your hand and junction Golem, you feel a deep sense of certainty flow through you. It seems to alloy with the exhaustion Minna gave you, and you know that you will not stop until your sister and your people are safe, but that you are allowed to rest along the way. Golem seems to clink against Shoat, and you feel a strange, irked shifting from the other piece of magicite tucked away in your robes. They balance each other out, you think. Zekiye junctions Golem, who is made of loyalty, eternity, and construction. [Zekiye’s Anger 3 > 2.] Mille picks up each unoccupied piece of magicite, eases it end over end, inspects its facets, before she finally picks Zoneseek.  Mille junctions Zoneseek, who is made of emptiness, enlightenment, and departures. You are now Chayma Ludos. You hold Maduin’s magicite in your hands for a long time. Eventually, you set it carefully aside, and hold up Terrato. The stone sleeps until you focus your intention on it, and then, slowly, it begins to send a bone-deep thrum down both your arms and into your chest. It feels at once peaceful and like the last sentence that will ever be written. This is a powerful weapon. Chayma junctions Terrato, who is made of faultlines, hibernation, and disasters. You see Minna holding up Siren’s magicite, letting its pale beauty catch the light. Eventually, she slips it into a bandolier, and you see her half-smile as she sings a few notes. Her voice is a rich contralto. Minna junctions Siren, who is made of ballads, yearning and rivalry. After a second, Minna catches up Palidor, as well, and the magicite seems to paint a lissome arc into the other side of her bandolier. She grins at you, as if to say, why not have two? Minna also junctions Palidor, who is made of movement, hunger and glamour. Still musing, Jadate picks up Shiva’s magicite, and holds it in both hands for a second. She breathes in, as if tasting something good, and rubs the magicite’s surface with her thumbs, as if to warm it. Jadate junctions Shiva, who is made of winter, bells and festivals. You catch Jadate’s eye. You’ve spoken a little, but you wish there was more time to talk. When you joined the Returners, she was always with you, instantly supportive, easy and quick. Now she’s taken a blow and you wish you could be there to brace her up. But she is set on returning to the outskirts of Vector on foot, to hide and scout and look for trace of Rekha, and you have a task that sends you elsewhere.  The Side Bet is flying south, protracting its arc around the edge of the southern continent. It’s not the most direct approach, but being spotted by the Imperial air force would be fatal. This is an unarmed ship, and not that fast. You’ve been briefed on its escape from Vector, and it is your quiet belief that this in itself was a small miracle.   You moor in the mountains. You know how Imperial military bases are disposed, and while the Sealed Gate is guarded, this precise position leaves you with only a bridge fort to move through. Precision will be better than force here. Fortunately, you are a trained assassin, and if the others can follow your orders, you simply will not be detected.  When you were young and her mind was still whole, Kefka sent you ghosting through forts like this to train you, getting you ready to walk where you weren’t welcome. Most Imperial forts are built to a template, blocky and predictable. Even then, there was a certain joy in the ease of it.  This one is like the rest.  You picked your own team for this mission. Minna, because she is light on her feet, perhaps your best combatant (barring, your ego says, yourself), and good in the wilderness if she needs to be. Zekiye, because she is the most intelligent person you know, and would have come anyway if you told her not to. And Mille Merriweather, because you need to formulate an approach to your suspicion, and you want to test her in the field. You don’t know exactly what Cyclops meant when he warned you against Marionette. It could mean many things to provoke fear in an Esper - they fear Ramuh, Alexander and Bahamut, their festooned lords. Despite the scorn in his voice when he spoke of her, you think Cyclops feared Dora the Wasp, too, for the upstart spite of what she’d done. It could simply be that the Esper realm thinks Marionette’s continued imprisonment a moral good, and knowing what you do of Esper morals, arbitrary and fierce, that could mean anything.  You don’t have much time. But if she’s truly dangerous, leaving her in Narshe, or with Jadate, was a bigger risk. Better that you should take the weight of it. And after all, Cyclops’ warning could be completely unconnected to this woman. You remember the inventory of Espers held by the Empire, the lists of notes and names. Marionette was not amongst them, but there were several whose true names were not known, who had little codenames given by Imperial scientists, Lopear, Bluetop, Trouble. She could simply be an unidentified Esper guilty of nothing but striking back at her tormentor. How should Chayma pursue her suspicions? A) Speak outright. Ask Mille who rides her, her history, and make clear that she will have no future with the Returners if she lies. B) Pretend friendship. Be kind, friendly, open - all things you know the shape of and are occasionally genuine in. Once you have her confidence, find her secrets, and use them to assesss whether or not she is dangerous. C) Take her down now. You remember the tracery of fear, the strange prophetic urgency of the message. If you can’t intercept the Empire first, you are going to the Sealed Gate. If she is a double agent, if she might help the Empire in a critical moment, it could be better to force the Esper out of their mortal shell immediately.
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Jun 2, 2024 16:05
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 00:13 |
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B would be ideal, but we haven't the time, and C could easily make an enemy out of a friend. Gotta go with A, cut straight to the heart of the matter, either by openness or deceit.
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Jun 2, 2024 17:02
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