- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2024 22:49
|
|
- Poland Spring
- Sep 11, 2005
-
|
3,7
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 18:45
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
Bad news is we cost Tal an eye.
quote:It was my fault Tal lost her eye.
You were working as a runner for the local hunters, including Tal, letting them know when monsters were spotted in the area. But when you were supposed to report a manticore to Tal, you happened upon some ruins of the ancients along the way. You thought you didn't tarry long, but it was just long enough that you reached Tal just as the manticore slashed her across the face. Facing two of you, the beast then flew off.
Tal has worn an eye patch ever since then. It taught you a lasting lesson in caution. (Increased Caution.) (%-10 Optimism = -5% Optimism)
But by knowing Tal so long, you have also learned her own secret. Because you have caught her peeking with the eye that shouldn't be there. She doesn't know you know; she didn't see you saw. But you don't think you imagined it.
There is no way Tal's injury could have healed if she were a normal human. But Tal is not a normal human. She is a shapeshifter, a race reviled ever since the Great War with the Neighbors, when they were engineered by the Neighbors to be assassins. That must be how she regenerated her eye. You've hesitated to bring it up with her, because you're not certain what would happen to your friendship. Shapeshifters are captured and never seen again. If Tal thought you couldn't be trusted with the secret, she would probably disappear forever.
Good news is she appeared to have walked it off. May not want to bring it up though.
Tie between cleaning things up and understanding how it got to be such a mess. Coinflip says we want to understand.
quote:I wanted to understand the world and how it got this way.
The remnants of the ancients' civilization are like a great puzzle that you wanted to piece together. You felt that if only you had more answers, something truly remarkable might happen. (Gained Divination.) (Increased Calculation.) (+1 Divination) (%-10 Empathy = -5% Empathy)
quote:Methodically exploring the ruins, you head clockwise around the quadrangle to the next building, a tall, wide tower that looks as though it has some kind of crow's nest jutting above the crenellations on top.
You pass through a columned portico and open a pair of heavy bronze double doors.
When you open the doors, you find the golem you scried upon earlier, standing in the middle of a great dining hall with long dusty tables. The stone golem, eight feet tall and wearing the livery of the academy, appears to have just emerged from a door on the opposite side.
On seeing you, it booms in the dialect of the ancients, "Visitorii non legitimus. Egress or au thanatize vu."
"Leave or die, basically," you translate for Tal.
"I was getting that," Tal says.
If you incapacitate the golem, you can probably find a way to reprogram it to serve you.
You scan the room for anything worthwhile to use against the golem. The old crystal chandeliers are fairly large, and the golem is standing almost directly under one of them. There's also a lot of mass in all the wooden tables and chairs that might be shaped into something else via vivomancy, although you're uncertain whether you have the power to do so. The place settings are bare—no silverware to hurl.
1. Toss a ball of negative energy large enough to destroy the golem.
2. With vivomancy, I reshape the tables to entrap the golem.
3. Lure the golem under a chandelier, then magically disintegrate the rope.
4. Use glamor magic to convince the golem I belong here.
We found a potential golem friend. How do we handle it?
quote:Foo Barschild
Appearance
A stylish person wearing a feathered hat and some sparkling garb picked up in an ancient academy
Magic
Negation 0
Automation 2
Glamor 2
Divination 2
Vivomancy 1
Skills
Ancient History: 1 (Bad)
Fighting: 1 (Bad)
Subtlety: 4 (Good)
Charisma: 3 (Decent)
Personality
Optimism: 49% Caution: 51%
Humor: 59% Solemnity: 41%
Empathy: 50% Calculation: 50%
Relationships
Romances (Interested in men and women)
None
Tal: 53 (Fine)
Church: 50 (Fine)
Undiscovered relationships: 4
Kingdom
Adoration: 50% Vilification: 50%
Inventory
Gold: 100 gold
Sword
Glamorous Shirt
Ring of Camouflage
Golem Manual
Students
None
Pets
None
The Dead
Nobody
Plot Points
Chapter 1
You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You glamored yourself and ordered the inquisitor to scout ahead for you.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2019 08:53
|
|
- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
-
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
|
Interesting developments. Wonder when Tal will trust us enough to reveal her power and what she can Shapeshift into.
3. Chandelier drops are fun.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2019 11:16
|
|
- Deadmeat5150
- Nov 21, 2005
-
OLD MAN YELLS AT CLAN
|
We look fabulous for a reason! Glamour that sumbitch!
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2019 16:02
|
|
- CourValant
- Feb 25, 2016
-
Do You Remember Love?
|
Vote: 4. Use glamor magic to convince the golem I belong here.
We didn't dress up in a millennia old glamor tunic to NOT cast glamor!
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2019 23:55
|
|
- Lemniscate Blue
- Apr 21, 2006
-
Here we go again.
|
Y'all know what a golem is, right?
2
Lemniscate Blue fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Feb 1, 2019
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2019 00:44
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
When you're as fabulous as we are, you can't help but make friends.
quote:Use glamor magic to convince the golem I belong here.
You cast a glamor, crossing your arms in front of your chest and drawing on your life force. When you begin to glow gold and smell sweet, you say, "Philautia omnes, kleos venenum!"
The golem bends to one knee. "Mea culpa, dominex," the golem says. "Non agnosco vor magna magnitudo."
"Looks like it worked," Tal says, surprised.
"Naturally," you say, though you weren't at all sure it would. (Gained Glamor.) (Increased Optimism.) (+1 Glamor) (%+5 Optimism = +2% Optimism)
You take advantage of the golem's glamor to flip through the book on constructs that you procured from the library. It claims all golems in the ancient days tended to share the same password, "mentis rasa," for clearing their instructions, so that any trained wizard could handle a golem run amok. You deliver this password and proceed to look up the rituals for giving new instructions to the golem.
During this time, your glamor wears off. But the golem remains docile as you follow the golem manual's instructions.
"Defend us, and try not to break anything unless we tell you to," you tell the golem when you are done.
"Certere, dominex," the golem says with a nod.
With that, the three of you proceed to the kitchen.
Achievement: Certere, Dominex Gained a golem servent
quote:The kitchen shows off the ancients' ingenuity when it comes to automation-based improvements to daily life.
The room is chilled by a large automatic cryovault, its metal door open and exposing spiky white ice within. You wonder how much power this ancient machine has drawn from the heavens in the two thousand years it has been down here.
On the kitchen counters along the other two walls are an assortment of handheld automatic devices equipped with drills, whisks, and blades of uncertain purpose. One amuses you: a small trivet equipped with three black wands, all pointed in toward the center. You think this is a piconegator, a device that could heat food quickly by hurling tiny balls of negative energy into the food. Near the end, the ancients apparently became lackadaisical to the point of casual self-destruction. The inert flying serving trays, equipped with metal claws and feathered wings, only reinforce this impression.
You notice some interesting items on top of the cryovault. There is a full alchemy set up there, with test tubes and distillers and magical burners. Behind the alchemy set are stacked wooden barrels.
An alchemy set would be an excellent addition to your basement laboratory. Making potions is as easy as following a recipe, as long as you have the right ingredients.
"Hey, golem," you say, calling to your new servant behind you, "do you think you could reach that alchemy set up there?"
"Certere, dominex," the golem says, and it lumbers with crashing steps over to the alchemy set. You wince as the automaton reaches quickly for the alchemy set, afraid the golem will knock down one of the ominous-looking barrels sitting nearby. But it retrieves the whole thing on a platter in one swift motion and offers it to you.
Success! You have an alchemy set, and someone to carry it for you too. This day keeps getting better. "Just hold on to that for me, please."
"Certere, dominex."
While you're thinking about it, you also pillage the most useful-looking parts from the kitchen tools and automatic serving trays, and throw them on the golem's platter as well. (Gained Automation.) (+1 Automation)
Looking for more places to explore, you find a trapdoor near the oven. You throw it open to reveal stairs leading down.
"This must lead to where I saw our golem friend, in my vision," you say.
"Nice to know he's polite enough to close doors behind him," Tal says.
"I think I saw a map on the wall in the golem's room," you say. "Let's head there and plan our explorations from there." You look to your golem. "Lead the way, if you please."
"Certere, dominex."
You, Tal, and the golem descend the stairs to the service tunnels.
And we got a nifty alchemy set out of it too. Nice.
quote:Dust-dimmed magical orbs on the ceiling glow to illuminate the grimy service tunnels. Two-thousand-year-old graffiti has been burned into the wood of the tunnels with negation magic: initials of long-dead students, declarations of relationships, identities of cheaters, unkind words for bad professors. You wonder what the vandals would think if they knew the graffiti would be their only lasting legacy. They'd probably be pretty excited to have a legacy at all.
"You said the Neighbors pulled academies like this underground so they could be looted later," Tal says. "So why didn't they loot this one?"
"I guess the Negative Sea must have appeared between us first," you say. "It stopped the Great War cold."
"But then what about the Neighbor spies the queen is said to sometimes find?" Tal says. "Why didn't they dig this up?"
"I guess if there are spies, there can't be that many of them," you say. "But you can't trust all those stories. Neighbors kidnapping babies for no reason, Neighbor shapeshifters taking the place of the royal family…I think they're just that: stories. Because if the Neighbors really could cross the Negative Sea, we'd already be conquered. They probably never had to give up magic in the first place."
With your golem's help, you quickly find the station where your golem was manning controls. You have little idea what any of the levers, dials, and buttons in this alcove mean, but there is a helpful map on the wall.
According to the map, there are three large rooms in this tower that stretch nearly to the top: the laboratory, the auditorium, and the arena. From your knowledge of ancient history, you can surmise a little about each one.
The laboratory is marked with three symbols: a tree for vivomancy, a dark sun for negation, and a gear for automation.
The auditorium would have been a place for school plays, with the actors glamor-enhanced to make the performance more exciting.
The arena would have been a place for harpyiabala, or harpyball. The ancients had a conflicted attitude about the place of violence in sport, which they resolved by having monsters play for them, manipulated by magicians on the sidelines. Perhaps if you went there, you would find something left behind by those sideline magicians. But you'll almost certainly find harpies too.
You look to Tal. "What do you think?"
Tal shakes her head. "It's your call. You and the golem know much more about the ancients than I do."
"Golem, do you have any opinion about which of these three paths would be best?" you ask your new servant.
The golem stabs a finger at the laboratory. "Lemure malum," it says. "No." Then the auditorium. "Legion arachnes. No." Then the arena. "Harpyiabala. No."
Bad spirit, legion of spiders, harpyball.
"Could you…elaborate?" you say.
The golem looks at you as if you're the dense one. It circles all three rooms with its hand. "No."
It seems any of the three paths would be equally good for getting to the roof aerie—not counting their unknown dangers.
1. Let's head to the laboratory.
2. Let's head to the auditorium.
3. Let's head to the arena.
Which way?
quote:Foo Barschild
Appearance
A stylish person wearing a feathered hat and some sparkling garb picked up in an ancient academy
Magic
Negation 0
Automation 3
Glamor 3
Divination 2
Vivomancy 1
Skills
Ancient History: 1 (Bad)
Fighting: 1 (Bad)
Subtlety: 4 (Good)
Charisma: 3 (Decent)
Personality
Optimism: 51% Caution: 49%
Humor: 59% Solemnity: 41%
Empathy: 50% Calculation: 50%
Relationships
Romances (Interested in men and women)
None
Tal: 53 (Fine)
Church: 50 (Fine)
Undiscovered relationships: 4
Kingdom
Adoration: 50% Vilification: 50%
Inventory
Gold: 100 gold
Sword
Glamorous Shirt
Ring of Camouflage
Alchemy Set
Golem
Golem Manual
Students
None
Pets
None
The Dead
Nobody
Plot Points
Chapter 1
You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You glamored yourself and ordered the inquisitor to scout ahead for you.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
You gained control of the golem.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2019 08:19
|
|
- CourValant
- Feb 25, 2016
-
Do You Remember Love?
|
Vote: 1. Let's head to the laboratory.
Let's work on our negation stat.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2019 08:45
|
|
- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
-
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
|
Laboratory sounds best for risk vs reward.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2019 11:23
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
Onwards to the lab!
quote:Let's head to the laboratory.
"Let's go through the laboratory," you say. "There are bound to be some toys left over we could use."
Tal nods. "Makes sense."
You chart a path to the laboratory and set off through the service tunnels. Your golem helpfully points the way at various junctures: "Cet via."
quote:When you reach the end of the corridor where the door to the laboratory should be, you find that the academy has turned it into a dead end, with its symbol depicting the five magics painted above the message "Caveat Scholasticus."
"Beware, student," you translate.
"Thanks, very helpful," Tal says.
The barrier, grown from the tree, could be parted with vivomancy. But it seems something dangerous was walled off here.
Let's part the barrier.
Something's not right here—let's try the auditorium instead.
Something's not right here—let's try the arena instead.
Well, we did just vote to come here...
quote:Let's part the barrier.
You cast a vivomancy spell, and light swarming with tiny living motes streams between your hands and the barrier. You smell sweet resin, halfway between maple and pine, as you force the wood to part along its grain. (Gained Vivomancy.) (+1 Vivomancy) The act of parting the wood leaves you physically exhausted. (Lost Temporary Fighting.) (-1 Fighting for a bit)
Behind the barrier is the original door, a steel door that stands in contrast to the wood of the rest of the academy. You open the latch, and a shimmering curtain of light separates you from whatever lies beyond.
You break off a piece of wood from the retracted barrier and stick the long splinter into the curtain of light. You pull back the stick: no damage.
"I think this field is keeping something in, not out," you say. "It shouldn't harm us."
"Great," Tal says. "You can go first."
You plunge through the curtain of light.
A polished metal cylinder stands in the center of a tall room, the walls of which have been covered with equations burnt into the white paint. In the center of the cylinder is a skeleton reclining on a leather chair, sealed behind closed glass doors. The metal cylinder is covered in automation runes, as well as some symbols you have seen in vivomancy and negation tomes. It seems clear that whatever this cylinder was intended to do, it was the subject's final experiment.
A metal scaffolding surrounds the cylinder, with ladders leading up to different landings. On each landing of the scaffolding are piles of automation-related metal parts and tools, some still in good condition. On the landing five floors up is a door out.
"Well," Tal begins to say, and she gives a start as her voice echoes through the chamber: well well well well. "I don't see—"
A specter made of writhing negative energy bursts through the cylinder, its glowing blue eyes trained on you. The roiling darkness coalesces into a skull around the blue eyes, and its jaw opens to emit an excited screech that reverberates through the chamber, causing Tal to put a finger to one ear.
The chamber turns cold as the specter draws near.
"Bene venitus, Metakines Zern," your golem says in greeting.
But the specter ignores it. It points a finger of roiling darkness at you. "Liberize mau," it says. "Liberize mau, ou-t-au mange vo pneuma!"
Free me or I …eat your air? You're not too sure about that translation, but you don't have time to ponder alternative interpretations.
1. Cast a glamor and try to befriend the specter.
2. Quickly cast a spell to dissipate negative energy.
3. Negate the light curtain on the door.
4. Destroy the physical skeleton with negation magic.
5. I sprout wings and carry Tal to the exit.
6. Cast a divination to find out more about the specter.
What do we do?
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2019 09:03
|
|
- Regallion
- Nov 11, 2012
-
|
If divination is good enough for the Orlanthi and Riders, it is good enough for us.
Oh no no no, you don't want to give a malicious ghost some info on us.
Glam
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2019 13:17
|
|
- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
-
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
|
Glamour seems to be helping us best so far, though I worry about the situation where it won’t.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2019 15:44
|
|
- Junpei
- Oct 4, 2015
-
Can't post for 11 years!
|
I dunno, guys, I feel like using too much Glamour would hurt us with that rot thingy too much. 4 so we can get a little bit of Negation magic, just in case.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2019 20:18
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
Turns out that divination is an option you can choose along with another choice. We had some interest in the specter, so let's look into things.
quote:Cast a divination to find out more about the specter.
Putting one hand on your forehead and stretching the other toward the specter, you create a magical bridge between its mind and yours. "Mysterion gnomai, apocalypto istoria!"
You have a vision of a scholarly-looking man in wizard's robes working tirelessly with his more threadbare apprentices to create the cylinder you see in the center of the room. The walls are not yet covered in equations. The room is tidy.
You see the man sit down in the chair in the center of the cylinder, you see the glass doors close around him, and you see the whole cylinder crackle with energy, alternately white and black. After a particularly intense cycle of this, only a skeleton remains in the chair, but the specter of negative energy comes forth.
The apprentices applaud.
What you see next, you're not sure you entirely understand. A man dressed in white comes to visit the specter. They discuss equations and esoteric diagrams, and seem to part on good terms. But then the visitor returns with a small contingent of wizards similarly dressed in white. He points an accusing finger at the original specter, and the wizards retreat to create the shields of light that seal the specter within its laboratory.
Not long after, the academy rumbles, and the Neighbors' spell pulls the whole academy underground. The end of the vision shows the specter doing math on the walls to pass the time.
You blink. For some reason, you itch and burn all over, as if you've walked into a negative-energy cloud yourself. (Gained Divination.) (+1 Divination)
When the vision fades, the spirit gives you an expectant look, as if it knew what you were doing, and wanted you to see. "Liberize mau," it repeats. "Placere."
Back to making friends.
quote:Cast a glamor and try to befriend the specter.
You duck behind the light curtain to hide your spell. "Philautia omnes, kleos venenum!"
Tal passes through the curtain too, just as you finish the spell. "Good plan," Tal says. "It probably can't reach us out—hey, where are you going?"
You pass through the light curtain and into the laboratory once more. The shade now seems merely petulant. It crosses its shade-arms. "Whet de vu volunt?" (Gained Glamor.) (+1 Glamor)
"I'm inspecting your research progress," you say. "You've been working here for two thousand years—surely you have something good to show me."
"Spectarize!" the shade says, gesturing at its own shadowy form. "Immortalitatem!"
"Sure, but what have you done since then?" you say, hoping it doesn't eat your soul.
The specter gestures to the equations scrawled all over the white walls. "Mathematica, kyrios. Ze studium supremum pour passize de tempus."
The meaning is clear from context, even if the words aren't decipherable. "Anything more tangible?" you say.
The specter grumpily flies off to the various junk piles to look for a way to impress you.
Tal peeks her head through the light curtain, before cautiously stepping through. "What are you doing?"
"It's fine, it's friendly now," you say.
"You're really something now, aren't you," Tal says, half-amazed, half–creeped out. (Decreased Tal Relationship.) (%-5 Tal = -2% Tal)
We can have all the friends we want Tal.
quote:The specter flies back with a handful of trinkets it drops at your feet.
The first is a tiny handheld cylinder. "Luxgladius," the specter says dismissively. "Inefficax sur ze lux carbasus."
Though the specter seems disappointed it couldn't carve through the light curtain, you could probably find a use for a sword of light.
The next item is a simple metal torc etched with alternating symbols of dark suns and trees. "Ma-t-assay-t-oo confabricize a magicae augeretizor. Simplex, efficax."
A magic augmenter: nice.
The final item is a pair of dull metal bracers engraved with symbols related to negation magic. "Cet metallum bracchias shut aetherize de velator, sed zey ne operize optimally."
So, they should…vaporize the wearer? But they don't work well? Seems like another attempt to escape gone wrong.
The spirit gestures to all of them. "Arbitize unum," it says. "Ne avarize."
1. I choose the luxgladius.
2. I choose the magic-augmenting torc.
3. I choose the bracers that partially "aetherize."
Our new friend is offering us a gift. What do we want?
quote:Foo Barschild
Appearance
A stylish person wearing a feathered hat and some sparkling garb picked up in an ancient academy
Magic
Negation 0
Automation 3
Glamor 4
Divination 3
Vivomancy 2
Skills
Ancient History: 1 (Bad)
Fighting: 0 (Bad)
Subtlety: 4 (Good)
Charisma: 3 (Decent)
Personality
Optimism: 51% Caution: 49%
Humor: 59% Solemnity: 41%
Empathy: 50% Calculation: 50%
Relationships
Romances (Interested in men and women)
None
Tal: 49 (Bad)
Church: 50 (Fine)
Undiscovered relationships: 4
Kingdom
Adoration: 50% Vilification: 50%
Inventory
Gold: 100 gold
Sword
Glamorous Shirt
Ring of Camouflage
Alchemy Set
Golem
Golem Manual
Students
None
Pets
None
The Dead
Nobody
Plot Points
Chapter 1
You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You glamored yourself and ordered the inquisitor to scout ahead for you.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
You gained control of the golem.
You found a laboratory with a trapped specter.
You saw a vision of someone else becoming a specter and betraying the trapped specter.
You befriended the specter, who offered you gifts.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2019 07:15
|
|
- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
-
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
|
2. Magic Enhancer!
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2019 07:55
|
|
- Regallion
- Nov 11, 2012
-
|
Dudes, he offers us a LIGHTSABER it is even described as a cylinder! like c'mon, other options are illegal at this point.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2019 08:29
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
A tie between options, and the coinflip says lightsaber luxgladius.
quote:I choose the luxgladius.
You take the small handheld cylinder that the spirit called a "luxgladius." Willing it to do its magic, you're delighted to see a beam of yellow light emerge from the cylinder with a bssshhht to form a thin, flat sword blade. You wave it around, and it continues to make fun noises: Vwum. Vwum. Vwum-wum-wum-wum. (Gained Fighting.) (+3 Fighting when wielding this weapon)
"Nunc, egress," the spirit says, pointing to the door.
Suspecting that greed will not serve you well with this angry spirit, you bid the spirit adieu and make your way to the exit above.
"Rementir, liberize mau," the specter calls after you, though the glamor has ceased its threats.
"The next time I'm passing through, sure," you promise the specter. Tal gives you a questioning look, but you shrug in response. You're certainly not coming back.
"Idee mal," your golem opines. Bad idea.
You make it to the exit without incident.
Achievement: It's Homage, Not Infringement- Found a luxgladius
quote:Meanwhile, your glamor goes down.
A corridor of maintenance closets which you rifle through for spare parts, (Gained Automation.) (+1 Automation) leads to a stairwell at the intersection of four corridors.
You think this corridor presents an opportunity to explore the rooms in this tower you didn't already thoroughly explore. Passing through the arena, the auditorium, or the laboratory would have landed you here, and you could "go in the back way" to any of these rooms to try to extract more treasure.
Take the path that leads to the arena.
Take the path that leads to the auditorium.
Continue up the stairs to the aviary and airdock.
I could put this to a vote, but does anyone think we'd actually vote to pass up treasure? The previous runner up for the exploration vote was the auditorium, so let's go check that place out.
quote:Take the path that leads to the auditorium.
You follow one of the corridors to what should be, according to the map you saw in the tunnels, the second balcony of the auditorium.
When you open the door, you see that any audience's view from this balcony today would be blocked by giant spiderwebs. You also see the shadows of giant spiders the size of horses crawling on the webs, illuminated by some red light coming from the stage area.
You contemplate just blasting everything, and Tal seems to recognize what you're thinking. "No," Tal whispers sharply. "We have no idea how many spiders are crawling around those webs. We grab anything left up here and go."
1. Whatever. I start blasting spiders.
2. I do a quick search and leave.
Spiders! Blasting them off the face of the planet leaves clouds of magic behind, obscuring whatever treasure may be in the area. We can search through them thoroughly, briefly, or not at all depending on how much loot we want.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2019 09:59
|
|
- Regallion
- Nov 11, 2012
-
|
Wait what? WHAT? what? We didn't even get an OPTION to honor the deal? I call bullcrap on that! No, seriously, it's one thing if we chose to take stuff and run, but if that ever comes back to bite us in the rear end i will be very stern.
Well, gently caress it then, MAXIMUM GREED, we don't deserve to play anything but a greedy rear end in a top hat now.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2019 10:41
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
We do get an option to honor the deal, but it only shows up if you choose the aetherizing bracers.
quote:You pick up the bracers and put them on. Your body and clothing become light and translucent and you can see the floor through your shoes.
"Ne suffi pour mau," the specter says forlornly.
"You made these to try to pass through the barrier containing you," you say, and the specter nods. It leaves to hide away its other gifts.
You cast a questioning look at Tal, who sighs exasperatedly. "Oh, for Abraxas's sake. You're not feeling sorry for it, are you?"
Negate the light curtain, freeing the specter.
Rend the spirit with negation to put it out of its misery.
Proceed to the exit.
Freeing it after this point also gives you the torc for your troubles.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2019 10:51
|
|
- Regallion
- Nov 11, 2012
-
|
We do get an option to honor the deal, but it only shows up if you choose the aetherizing bracers.
Freeing it after this point also gives you the torc for your troubles.
I'm gonna be very blunt: that's goosebumps-level quantum bullshit. I'm gonna retroactively change my vote to free the spirit if that's even an option, but i'm really mad that you need to be dickweed to get the lightsaber for no good reason.
Oh and if we can get both we basically become Harry Potter? A magic dork with invisibility.
Regallion fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Feb 4, 2019
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2019 11:22
|
|
- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
-
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
|
Search throughly! The spiders can be introduced to our luxgladius if they have a problem.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2019 11:33
|
|
- CourValant
- Feb 25, 2016
-
Do You Remember Love?
|
Vote: 2. I do a quick search and leave.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2019 21:13
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2024 22:49
|
|
- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
-
Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
|
Hell of a spider infestation you've got here, but we can clear it out in no time.
quote:Whatever. I start blasting spiders.
You have the element of surprise, at least. You draw as much of the dark sun's power as you can to prepare to begin hurling explosive balls of negative energy. The dark power snakes up and down your whole body, smelling like burned meat and charcoal.
Finally, you hurl a ball of negative energy at the shadowy form of a spider on the other side of the cobwebs. "Nihilo magna!"
The cobwebs explode with dark energy, leaving only a black-and-purple cloud where the spider had been.
You begin to see the stage area more clearly: a red spotlight shines on a spider at center stage, which sits atop a pile of collapsed scenery. You blast the spider in another big fireball: "Nihilo magna!" The spider and the pile of rubble are both consumed in the explosion, again leaving a purple cloud.
You blow up five giant spiders in this way, until all is quiet in the auditorium.
Though channeling all that dark energy was good practice, it has left a variety of dangerous negative-energy clouds in its wake. (Gained Negation.) (+1 Negation) How thoroughly do you want to search for treasure where the negative-energy clouds are?
I'd prefer not to go into those clouds at all.
I'm willing to go briefly into a cloud for treasure.
I search thoroughly, ignoring the sting of the clouds.
We demand maximum compensation.
quote:I search thoroughly, ignoring the sting of the clouds.
You decide to search thoroughly for treasure, disregarding the clouds. Though it is painful to duck into these clouds, searing your eyes and skin, you can't risk leaving behind any treasures of the ancients.
You have your best luck center stage, where one of the spiders you blasted had been. You see a glint of gold amid the murky black-and-purple cloud, and grab a gold ring that remained unharmed by the blast. You instantly feel like you belong center stage all the time, the focus of attention and the star of the show. You wonder whether others will see you the same way. (Gained Charisma.) (+2 Charisma)
Persisting in the cloud, you look for treasures that may not glimmer so much. You feel around for more items, even as the negative energy burns you.
Finally, you find what you're looking for: another ring, harder to see in the seething darkness because of its dark iron construction. You emerge from the cloud with your trophy and slip it on. Sadly, it appears to do nothing. You inspect it: it's etched with a symbol of an eye crossed out. You're uncertain whether it's meant to blind or if it's warning you not to cast divination spells on it. You don the ring, at any rate, as a successful actor seems unlikely to wear a cursed ring while performing.
You decide that the destruction of your health is not quite paying off in this room, so you give up your search of the clouds. In the stands, you find a simple program for the last production that was staged here, Spider and Web, which you keep to help you practice your ancient dialect later. (Gained Ancient History.) (+1 Ancient History)
Finished exploring the auditorium, you return to the place where the corridors intersected.
Take the path that leads to the arena.
Continue up the stairs to the aviary and airdock.
Achievement: Lord of the Rings Found the rings of charisma and antidivination.
And then there's still one area we haven't poked through yet.
quote:Take the path that leads to the arena.
You follow the corridor down to a humble door marked with the words OMADA DEFENDERE, or "defending team." Behind the door is a nest of eleven harpies, all gathered around a silver tureen eternally bubbling with a bright-red beverage.
"Yikes," Tal says, taken aback at the gathering of harpies.
The giant birdmen and birdwomen begin to squawk angrily at your intrusion, a disturbing sight since their heads are fully human. Behind them, you can somewhat make out the rest of the arena below, tall and cylindrical with several tiers of seating, but there certainly are a lot of harpies between you and there.
You see an ancient crystal ball nestled among the eggs in the nest. You think you could grab it, but at the expense of potentially being pursued by angry harpies through the rest of your subterranean adventure. Fighting eleven harpies, even aided by magic, seems unlikely to work when you're already this close to them.
1. Grab that crystal ball, harpies be damned, and run.
2. Maybe there's lower-hanging fruit elsewhere. Let's go.
3. Let's fight! I gather some negation energy.
Loot detected, with potentially even more hidden somewhere behind these feathery guards. What's the best plan?
quote:Foo Barschild
Appearance
A stylish person wearing a feathered hat and some sparkling garb picked up in an ancient academy
Magic
Negation 1
Automation 4
Glamor 4
Divination 3
Vivomancy 2
Skills
Ancient History: 2 (Decent)
Fighting: 3 (Decent)
Subtlety: 4 (Good)
Charisma: 5 (Good)
Personality
Optimism: 51% Caution: 49%
Humor: 59% Solemnity: 41%
Empathy: 50% Calculation: 50%
Relationships
Romances (Interested in men and women)
None
Tal: 49 (Bad)
Church: 50 (Fine)
Undiscovered relationships: 4
Kingdom
Adoration: 50% Vilification: 50%
Inventory
Gold: 100 gold
Sword
Glamorous Shirt
Ring of Camouflage
Charisma Ring
Alchemy Set
Yellow Luxgladius
Antidivination Ring
Golem
Golem Manual
Students
None
Pets
None
The Dead
Nobody
Plot Points
Chapter 1
You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You glamored yourself and ordered the inquisitor to scout ahead for you.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
You gained control of the golem.
You found a laboratory with a trapped specter.
You saw a vision of someone else becoming a specter and betraying the trapped specter.
You befriended the specter, who offered you gifts.
You went around the back way into the auditorium.
You retrieved the rings of the lead actor.
You went around the back way into the arena.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2019 09:00
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 16:19
