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Voting over for 'Who Waits At The Hideout?' Kaigen, 'The Beast' - 4 Merkja, 'The Iron Saint' - 6 [Over time, players would begin to correlate small differences in events that would let them tell a little in advance what the RNG had decided on, many of them written down in the Blue Book. In this case, when entering the Hideout, appearing on the LEFT side of the screen meant dealing with Merkja. On the RIGHT, and it was the Beast who spawned. The @ comes in on the left this time, so... the Iron Saint was here.] LOADING...  ...LOADING
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Oct 22, 2020 18:06
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You're still , not entirely there. But the The Silver Mind posted:THIRD EYE can look into the infinite reflection for guidance, against the backdrop The Dark posted:of that immobile night, staring off into the reflection of itself distorted by colored whorls. you're hearing Iron though. You're feeling the truths it presents of its divinity- Iron, pure element, the elder metal, one day to be eldest as the last metal alive in the fading universe. Cold Iron. That unhallow witchcraft necessary, of sharping raw iron without the touch of magic or humanity. Steel, the ascension unnatural of Iron, diamond-sought strength that made dominion possible. These all were being sung by the palegold swirlstones as you come inside of the Hideout. It was a difficult and tricky descent down a steep stone half-hill troubled with waterfall ponds and irregular bisections of the building. The sound of water was echoing louder and louder and louder and filled your entire soul with the blue reverberations that promised sanctuary. (Perception 10 - [4]+[2]+[1] = 7 - SUCCESS¡) ANXIETY: [ ???% ] Your PSI power comes aware of its own. Like tensing a muscle and narrowing your focus down to a single barely-audible sensation. You hit float point. Your body, mind, and soul all expand to comfortable limits. You're tethered with silver under foundation midnight. You walk with the same confidence found in a storybook dream, stepping loose-limbed into the courtyard of the structure - it looked like a school, this close. Memories flit back and forth with unfamiliarity, sparking away on the rainbow neurons without attachment, leaving only the certainty of pattern recognition. Old strong structure. Decrepit but still fortress. Arching peaks and stained windows, hidden overgrowth shrouding the rest, which then goes unknown depths into the bisected waterfall rock. In the strident square courtyard was the Iron Saint, who had already turned to face you, your scent unmistakable to her kine. OST: Sainthood  She stared at you with her one good eye, dull as the metal that coursed through her veins. Your inner eye third had already spoken with the Iron, with Silver liaison, recognized Element Royal of honest intent. [PSYCHIC] - Your neurons flare with the empathy empowering them, and they sing about the Iron's Saint as you walk to meet one another. PSI ESP β! posted:Her name - Merkja. You walk dream-steady still. As Merkja approaches, your mind scintillates with all it was seeing hidden behind her one iron-bright eye, the other one a filmy milk that remained fixated on the void. She looms far over you, drawing your scent into the awful iron permanence of her memory. You notice it makes her flinch, once, before she leans to speaks. "I hear it. Iron bending under gravity, gently facing towards you. They read that singularities ARE very small, didn't they?" Her voice had a strange quality. Monstrous and hyena for sure, but it had a human cadence about it, speaking with a high-pitch deep-throat tone, sleepy and humoring, menacing only by inference from each sentence - a matron singing to the morning birds as she skins as lamb. She swoops and leans around to your side, hand and iron clasped behind her back as she takes in what her Iron fibbed on about you, just as your PSI managed to spark off the conductivity of her element. You stay calm, leaning back to keep your eyes facing hers, aware of the WEIGHT her presence brings down on you at this uncomfortable-close. "Why, shadow, are you making trouble? Is this YOUR haunting? I'm taking it for my own. Go. SHOO!" (Merkja's Intimidation 20 - [1]+[4]+[3] = 7 - SUCCESS) Her hand slams down fiercely behind you, demonstrating the speed with which she could snap-sling her wrecking ball fist. (I Won't Flinch (Willpower-13) 5 - [1]+[4]+[3] = 6 - FAILED [BY 1]) 'Lionheart' gave one one reroll. You slam your eyes shut - but don't move an INCH otherwise. She notices your flinch, but steps back anyways to reassess; you were now even. "Suicidal? I won't humor that unless you mean it, gremlin-thing. The Fae'll be here soon for collection. Scram, or BITE me, so I can grape-pop you." She was stressed. On edge. No nonsense, no time. Merkja bares teeth as her burned skin stretches and weeps clear through the cracks, as iron fingers tense into a killing shape. Your heart is racing, but you still feel a strange relaxed detachment from the threat of the towering Saint. Many options begin to flare over your colouractive neurons.
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Oct 22, 2020 21:31
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PLAYER CHOICE Merkja Wants Me Gone. I Should... Voting will end around 9:00pm EST
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Oct 22, 2020 21:32
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VOTING CLOSED - How to deal with Merkja? [Psychic] (PE) Read her mind to figure out a way to disarm the situation. - 3 [Tyrant] (WL Contest) Challenge her to a duel of your terms. - 0 [Mushroom] (?) Trust in the fungus. - 4 ATTACK!!! - 0 LOADING...  ...LOADING
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Oct 23, 2020 02:24
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AWARE OF CHICKEN ############### There's Been A Patch ############### ZHE 0.1 * Dice rolls are now being done by a Roll20 log, for ease of review and roll commentary. Also to help properly highlight the real reason you're all here -  -because it's fun seeing these rolls while gambling with someone's life.
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Oct 23, 2020 02:43
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Strength & Health posted:Keep me tense. Hi. This is your Six-Pack Subscription, and I'm with the nightmare garbage disposal capable of breaking world-record hotdog intakes; it writes my checks. We're the only ones left able to talk it turns out, and only because you actually fed us. Good job. [This is why most players who picked Psychic and lucked into 3 coins enjoyed picking the burger combo. It was easy HP, no-downsides full satiation, and the early mushroom status would often proc synergy with any Psychic passives.] You trust (FUNGUS ? - [3]+[6]+[2] = 11) - BIOLOGY INTEGRATION ATTEMPT) oh wait oh no wait (The Silver Mind (Technique) 10 - [1]+[1]+[2] = 4 - CRITICAL SUCCESS!!) - PARASITE INTEGRATION INTERVENTION  The Silver Mind posted:You had been going to the tent every couple of days for weeks now. Sometimes with Aitvaras, sometimes just, him, or just you. He trusted you both enough out of everyone in the colony to know he existed, and to share in his library of knowledge. He said 'The Silver Mind', a technique he mastered in order to purify himself of his Glamour Psychosis, told him enough about the both of you to feel secure. He liked sharing his collection of scholar scripts of Dreamlands, occult, and practical knowledge, books gathered carefully to help rebuild the new world.  quote:You're still here? Good. It means you were smart enough to use the Silver Mind to reflect the warning back out to yourself from inside the altered state. While it keeps you distracted with a perpetual procreation of its primary chemical in your glands, the parasite gets to ride along until you're fried. No, no, I think your stomach would have beaten it off just fine. But it IS your first time with it, and that's why I'm here. I can trick once it attaches to your neurons, and make them think their job is done. It'll be unpredictable... but it'll be safe, and the fungus does help conduct PSI. quote:The bad news is that you are suffering the peak of your dose while it does this, and getting into the Saint's mind is difficult with her now alert on you. She's angry. So let me take control.  ̴̡ ̵̕ ̕͏̴̵͞ ̵͢͡ ̶̶̧́͜ ҉̶ posted:They often argued with Aitvaras among my bookstacks. Sometimes over what they read, what we had discussed together, or sometimes personal things. I heard it all, what with their thoughts so honest and open near the reflection of my Silver Mind. Merkja puts Ironfist up to shield her head, leaving a grimace as she backs a few more steps around to circle in. You know she saw a reflection of what had just passed through the Silver Mind, as it mantles the mushroom-scrumpled neurons of the one who used you. You were in the seat for a precious few seconds. You move against the mushroom high with Silver clarity, ready as the Saint advances. You're not prepared when she strikes, iron lightning. (Merkja Ironstrike 20(-2) - [4]+[1]+[4] = 9 - Success!) too fast TOO FAST SHE'S GOING TO (Ironstrike Damage 1d6-1 - [4] = 3) HP: [ 6 / 18 ] ...shove you, which sends you sprawling backwards into a hard tumble. Owww. Wild PSI ESP Readings posted:Merkja is creeped out! Whatever she felt seeing the reflection, it made her react. You have enough time to press the advantage for one genuine channeling of the true Silver Mind, before you had to cede neuron back to the fungus fusion process and its psilo-soak. The Iron Saint is on guard and suspicious.
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Oct 23, 2020 05:34
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PLAYER CHOICE The Silver Mind is in control enough for a single immense psionic use to try to set up the off-kilter Merkja for a clean end - else it risks provoking a full Boss Fight. The values after each PSI is the skill value that will be rolled against to use it. Voting will end sometime in the noon after people get a chance to read and decide. SUPERPSI
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Oct 23, 2020 05:34
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voted silver flash, feels like the best offensive option
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Oct 23, 2020 06:07
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Thank you for your comment and vote. Never be afraid to discuss your choice and its reasons. You never know how you may end up altering fate.
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Oct 23, 2020 06:13
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sourdough posted:voted silver flash, feels like the best offensive option Yeah, and a little easier to hit than some of the other choices.
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Oct 23, 2020 13:40
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voted pseudomimic - figure that it'd give us some extra strength, maybe help us understand our opponent better and might be harder to resist than a direct attack
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Oct 23, 2020 13:42
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I'm guessing metal hyena grandma is gonna turn us into paste regardless since she nearly killed us with a slight shove lol 
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Oct 23, 2020 17:08
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(Voting will end in a few more hours. It looks close- pick your PSI power wisely!)PROTIP posted:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOADING...  ...LOADING
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Oct 23, 2020 17:15
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drat horror queefs posted:I'm guessing metal hyena grandma is gonna turn us into paste regardless since she nearly killed us with a slight shove lol But at least we can make her feel some mild nausea when we narrowly fail the silver flash roll haha
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Oct 23, 2020 19:42
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VOTING CLOSED - What PSI Power To Use on Merkja? PSI Collodial Biology ε - 0 PSI Silver Flash ε - 4 PSI Braincurse Ω - 0 PSI Mirror Ω - 3 PSI Clouding ε - 3 LOADING...  ...LOADING
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Oct 23, 2020 20:31
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 You know what to do. Deep breathing was one vital component to the Silver Mind, and you take advantage of the exceptional lung-health of your student's form to draw a slow intake, minding the burn from them having strained so hard during the morning swim. You create a single captured moment of purity. Blood oxygen 100%, peak awareness, full relaxation from the confirmation of lungs full in a satisfying breath. That was one of the secrets of the Silver Mind state. It allowed you to have that single-second of true calm satisfaction, stretched across minutes at a time. Inside this state you watch as Merkja stalks close, leaned far over. Her motions are still off-balance, mentally and physically. You KNOW she heard those three words spoken. She was taking you seriously now, unsure, pressed for time, tensed like iron, her divine arm raised with palm open in a warding motion that could also grab when within reach. Let her a little closer... ...and now, with her divine iron hand at peak conductivity about to touch, you duck just around her palm to look up into her face - she hesitates, seeing Kwiat's head behind your own, and then makes full eye contact with you. You strike, concentrating your stare with all three eyes- when you combined the darkest red, dimmest green, and deepest blue, those colours could find unity in the idea of being Gray. With the bright of your inner ethereal light, that soon quickened to gleaming Silver. You were COUNTING on the Saint's Iron for this attack to work. You flash at her neurons with the reflection of light off of your infinite inner Silver. Her holy iron mind tells her that flashes of of the most incredible silvance were shocking her senses with rapid-flash patterns in shapes that each assured her with the certainty of her [CRYING]-[RETCHING]-[GAZING]-[CRASHING]. (The Silver Mind tried PSI Silver Flash ε! 16 - [3]+[6]+[1] = 10 - Success by 6!) The light reflects brilliance off the inside of her eyes, her own Iron keeping it captured just a little longer and a little stronger for that extra edge that would get through her titan resilience. Merkja suffers a penalty to her considerable HT roll to resist the stages of the mental attack, due to the base trained task penalty, the Silver Mind's success margin, and the compatibility of Silver and Iron. (Merkja tries not to cry! 6 - [1]+[5]+[1] = 7 - Failure [By One].) (Merkja tries not to feel sick! 8 - [4]+[6]+[1] = 11 - Failure.) (Merkja tries not to be confused! 10 - [1]+[4]+[4] = 9 - Success.) (Merkja tries not to pass out! 12 - [1]+[5]+[4] = 10 - Success.) STATUS EFFECTS posted:NAUSEA Merkja stops in her tracks, immediately dropping to all fours to shield herself and retreat to a distance while she wrenches her head around with her eyes shut. She howls "BRUTE! TRICKER! SHINING SHADOW! BITER, BITER!" Your influence of psychic control over your mushroom'd student dissolves, all spent on the effort of the full-power psionic attack. You hope it's enough. You go with a thought sent into the void for Merkja to feel - that this was what mastery of the「The Silver Mind」 was capable of.  You're waking up, and so is the Tyrant. The Silver Mind was dim silent. You felt queasy, and the world still swirled dangerously with dark and rainbow rain, but you could stand again as a wave of strength comes back through you. Your will was tensing back up from its confusion; it had the clarity of adrenaline warming it, making you suddenly aware of the threat still posed by the albino hulk now at the other end of the courtyard. ANXIETY: [ X ][ X ][30%] (I'm Drugged?) OST: Anxious Fungus Your senses are warped, echoing and sloshy. As you try to shake it off, the Saint doesn't say anything for some tense moments, as she struggles with nausea keeping her head down, drooling bile and dripping tears from the pain shock in her eyeballs; rain washes the impurity away steadily. She wipes at her eyes, and finally admits "I feel gravity from you, I smell magic in you, then you strike with thoughts? I can't afford this. I'll leave your home alone. I'll go. You BIT me! I respect that, but I'll remember it if I see you again. If you're not a friend of the Fae, then never mention you saw me. I have your scent. Smells like - falsegold. Gravity warps things, they read." (I UNDERSTAND CLEARLY [INT] 8 - [3]+[1]+[4] = 8 - Success?!) You waver on your feet, heart starting to race with a surge of anxiety making you hyperaware of your situation. Yet, despite that, the mushrooms now nearly fused to your neurons enrich you with their pure surge of payload, sparking your wits as you lean nervously off balance, leaning as you point at the Saint, making a serious gesture of clear understanding of her concession. ...your brain told you that's the kind of pose that he'd make, when getting too dramatic with the use of his psionics. That sounded like a good idea to you, so you did it with his lingering muscle memory. The miracle is that despite working only with your psilo-soaked brain, Merkja begins to retreat from the waterfall-hidden hideout, pressed for time and already unsettled by the visions she suffered before the light seizure shock. Her kine was born from Famine, and to them, nausea was unspeakably unpleasant and rare to suffer from. Soon, it's just you. Standing alone in the rain. The Tyrant is thankfully just as lost as you are, your psychic powers burned out for the moment. Your brain swims with the patterns of every surface and texture flowing like water into the reality of the rainfall - the world was made of liquid, and you needed shelter. You go wild. Animal. You bend down and gnash your teeth, eyes glaring around the melting world as the rain echoes louder and louder inside of you. Your PSI couldn't lead you through the confusion anymore, and you felt it coming back. A surge, seizing. ANXIETY: [ X ][ X ][ X ][40%] (I'm Drugged!!)(HOW AM I ALIVE) Oh inside inside just run inside. Run! GO! room room room hallway room check duck peek inside darksight picks up the shadows like the flick of silk with the eyelashes, no no no, vines underfoot and it's growing darker by the minute, caught after school in the dark, need a place to hide gotta hide (FIND A DARK SPACE [WL] 18 - [5]+[1]+[4] = 10 - Success!) found a place!! it was a huge cave dark cave? a waterfall echoing loudly. could see parts of the sky through a tattered roof and there was a great grand stair and so many seats and little water ponds but there there, curtains! huge curtains, heavy curtains, do you smell that? clean enough and dry! Massively heavy and floor-embracing. scramble underneath and hide hide hide hide hide hide hide hide could they?? could they... HEAR YOU? (the curtains muffle me!) SEE YOU? (the curtains hide me!) SMELL YOU? (the curtains cover me!) SENSE YOU? (my breathing and subtle motions are masked!) TOUCH YOU? (they won't feel me when brushing by!) (It's just not exactly comfortable...) ANXIETY: [ X ][20%] (I'm Hidden...)(Ouuuugh I'm Drugged) You're shaking. Warm, but a little uncomfortable on the hard wood floor. You take Kwiat out of your pack and hug her, noting her breathing nervously, hoping she lives. You're shivering. Your neurons needed rest to finish the mushroom fusion process, and until then, you'd be swirled up bad. It was only 7pm, but it was already getting dark. Your empty psychic space was starting to echo with your anxiety, expanding to listen to the night outside of your hiding spot. Nothing but colournoise comes back. You're too tired to even cry. Your body is shocked. Your mind is empty. Your soul is squirming. You look back at your first day, and stroke Kwiat's head absently. You survived a lot. But you were ok. You're fed, and you'll sleep this off. You're not safe, but you'll BE safe. Tomorrow you can start to explore. Tomorrow, you can worry about your death sentence. You can't keep your eyes open. But despite that, like every other night, even at this point of exhaustion, there's always the chance that... (Disquiet 9 - [4]+[3]+[1] = 8 - Success!) ...not tonight. A full belly, an exhausting day, a living chicken, a mostly-alive body, a new base, and a few seconds of the strangest bliss of eerie gem caverns revolving at holy speeds inside of your mind's eye, neurons dimming with a permanent stain of color- what was once a uniform of mutant ethereal glow-blue was now many-coloured, whispering with a weak but safe garden of fungal psionics. But what it all meant is that you could SLEEP. You needed a lot of it, and now. You let go of every racing thought, and pass into dreams, mind empty dreamless. You'd wake with the dawn, and begin again.
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Oct 24, 2020 00:30
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QUEST LOG posted:Capture The Hideout!
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Oct 24, 2020 00:32
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Some real lucky rolls lined up Merkja for a favorable hostile-but-neutral ending. Psychic thankfully turned the mushrooms into a helpful transformation, and using the Silver Flash for a bonus for the resonance was just enough to make her consider just leaving before she was pushed any further - she's stayed alive for so long for a reason. Following later tonight will be a First Night post and cutscene. The Tutorial has ended. Thank you for playing the full Tutorial! You were awarded +1 Level for doing so. You now have a general idea of how the game mechanics work. Polls with choices will ebb and flow with frequency, but most important decision points will have a vote waiting. This is intermission open for Q&A for a little while for how people feel so far about the start, and what you might want to spend your first Level on. The game officially begins on the Second Day, with the full itinerary laid out.
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Oct 24, 2020 00:39
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I feel like there are so many stats and notes and systems in play here that I struggle to conceptualize how they play against each other. I'm glad we survived the Tutorial. Dying here would have been a true disappointment! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next, but I've also got a pretty heavy feeling of dread.  This is wild! Thank you for all of this, so far.Twice in the thread I've opened the tab, gotten distracted with other reading, returned and voted only to discover that I was minutes too late for an update! 
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Oct 24, 2020 01:43
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I understand the overwhelm. I'll explain by saying it might help to frame this as a Fallout-like system, because in lineage it is. Fallout was going to use GURPS originally, before it instead used the much-like-it SPECIAL system. Most of this game is simply rolling against the primary six stats (muscle, reflex, brains, health, ego, and senses), as well as skills and powers derived from those stats. The tutorial was systems-heavy to help teach how it works. This is all done to evoke the sense of a roguelike / CRPG game, with complex systems under the simpler shell. You can just see the mechanics for the sake of understanding what the hell you're getting when you're vote-shocked into picking a life or death option.
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Oct 24, 2020 02:16
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Oh, it's not just the systems. It's knowing that there are so many names Lords, their sycophants, and named characters in the world. It's my own failing at juggling so many names and motives and etc.  Not a knock on this at all--just explaining why I personally am glad to have so many more attentive posters along for the ride! This is really cool.
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Oct 24, 2020 03:50
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XkyRauh posted:This is really cool. 
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Oct 24, 2020 04:02
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XkyRauh posted:Oh, it's not just the systems. It's knowing that there are so many names Lords, their sycophants, and named characters in the world. It's my own failing at juggling so many names and motives and etc. Oh yeah! That's by intention. The idea is to leave a lot of crumbs around you can look back to at your leisure, or just focus on the visceral of the moment. Outline of the full shape shape given that can then be filled in more leisurely. I appreciate it.
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Oct 24, 2020 04:17
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I got an early and full day of work and other activities tomorrow, so I'll delay updates and leave this open talk until then.
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Oct 24, 2020 05:27
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this may be my favourite thread ever posted man. its just too good. im fascinated
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Oct 24, 2020 05:32
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Black August posted:I understand the overwhelm. I'll explain by saying it might help to frame this as a Fallout-like system, because in lineage it is. Fallout was going to use GURPS originally, before it instead used the much-like-it SPECIAL system. Most of this game is simply rolling against the primary six stats (muscle, reflex, brains, health, ego, and senses), as well as skills and powers derived from those stats. The tutorial was systems-heavy to help teach how it works. This makes sense. Does make me think that at least early on, branching out to diversify perks/etc makes sense, so we'll have something that can be used in any given situation. Maybe we should boost something weapon or dex related.
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Oct 24, 2020 06:38
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I should explain that Levels work with important caveats- one is keeping in mind the A+ cap on everything without limit-breakers like Lionheart (and Will is at cap already). Another is that while sometimes you’ll get freebies, most times you’ll need Levels for a LOT of stuff, like getting new Techniques, paying for favors, restoring lost Levels, buying class powers once they’re unlocked, all on top of stat ups or new Perks. Last is that spending is not instant! You’re allowed to spend your current Level as a freebie from the Tutorial, but in the future you won’t be allowed to spend Levels outside of special places/times/NPCs/items. This given Level is so you can discuss and decide “yeah let’s beef that up” based on how you saw the character perform.
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Oct 24, 2020 06:50
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LOA ̶͢͜͞DING... ...LOADING
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Oct 25, 2020 03:27
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A Black August CYOA? I am so incredibly happy. (every few years I still do a reread of your In Nomine recording!)
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Oct 25, 2020 09:04
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Yeah, just wanna pipe in and say this is excellent so far. I get a little lost in the stat/ability talk but starting to figure it out more as we go along. Excited to see more.
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Oct 25, 2020 10:16
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This is absolutely amazing.
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Oct 25, 2020 12:27
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̨͞s̨̢͡o҉̷̛͞m̷̷̢͟͡t̶̡į̵͟͞m̕҉e͢͠s̛̀҉̢ ҉̢̕ỳ̸͢͏͟ờu̢͢ ̴̛͞͏͡h҉͟͜ad to sit on the floor with ҉̀҉͟ ҉̀҉͟ ҉̀҉͟ in the cabinet when eating breakfast, yours on the floor by the cracked little door. ҉̀҉͟ ҉̀҉͟ ҉̀҉͟ didn't feel safe enough with all the windows and light to eat at the table. You didn't say a word. You just let ҉̀҉͟ ҉̀҉͟ ҉̀҉͟ sit in the dark space, and spoke wh͏̶̕͠͝i͟͜҉̴͘l̸̸̡͘e̛͝͞ ̶̨̨e͢͠҉á͜͝t̀͠i͠n҉̵̀͝ģ͡͞͏ OST: Dawn Your eyes open slowly this time. You didn't startle awake - you can't afford that. Your hand still reached for your gun, but it was a comforting motion. Kwiat. Kwiat? ...breathing, but still unwell. But alive. Alive. You shift uncomfortably under the curtain, stretching from the hardwood floor coma. You were sore, but rested. Hidden in the warm dark. You wanted to stay here. The Dark posted:Get up. You know... you know. You are. Just. One minute. Ok? To savor it. The sound of the waterfall echoing over the wood and stone. The warm weight of the heavy curtains. Kwiat's breathing. The sting in your limbs after yesterday's exercise in pushing limits. ... Finally, you come out from under the curtains, keeping Kwiat close as you glance around. THE SECOND DAY ANXIETY: 10% HP: [ 8 / 18 ] [+2 HP healed] FP: [ 14 / 14 ] 'Mushroom Mind' Perk added You shake your head and body out, feeling light and poppy in the joints. Last night's unintended trip was fun and all, but it was spoiled by the situation you were in. You feel a little zappy in the brain, knowing that your mutant neurons did SOMEthing to the mushrooms trying to jazz up your innards. It let you think clearly, at least. You had a quest. You had nothing to get it done by save will. But more pressing than that, you had a sick chibber, and somewhere east you were pretty sure you could secure a means of healing. But you had ways to approach your priorities. You had to make the most of each day, and plan out its content to the minute. It was around 6am. You first look at where you are. What seemed like a cave in last night's panic turns out to be a huge auditorium with stage. The roof had several cracks and holes, revealing the palest of dawnlight creeping through. Some of the waterfall bisected through this end of the building, flooding half the room with walls of dimshine water. The stage itself was open and grand, the back blown out and revealing rock wall. You stroke Kwiat and pace around the stage, forcing out the lead and trying to think past your growing anxiety. You walk a pattern as you mull it over. Three steps east... you had to GO east, to find some plants to keep your little egg-maker going. Three steps northwest... You needed to scout out two areas - this building, to learn it inside and out and to find a better sleeping space. Three steps southwest... You also had to scout the valley itself, searching the south side and what was past the river. So you had three things to do, and any order to do them in. One and a half steps east... turning sharply north for one step, before you turn around and look at the empty audie□□ ie□□ ie□□ ie□□
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Oct 25, 2020 15:48
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[Strange.] [There were random events and spaces in the game where a prompt would come up, asking for a Skill or Power to be used on something. Like Climbing for a difficult wall that leads to a hidden treasure chest.] [Looking through the Blue Book mentions nothing about a prompt in the Auditorium.] SKILL_use_prompt
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Oct 25, 2020 15:49
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Picked [INVALID] because it's a well-known trick in unfamiliar circumstances to use glitch commands while rubbing against level geometry to get missed flags to trigger or uncover hidden items.
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Oct 25, 2020 15:58
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Hostile V posted:Picked [INVALID] because it's a well-known trick in unfamiliar circumstances to use glitch commands while rubbing against level geometry to get missed flags to trigger or uncover hidden items. I'm sold
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Oct 25, 2020 16:13
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![ER_INVALID] - 4 ![ER_INVALID] - 4 ![ER_INVALID] - 4 ̢͘ ́ ͜ ̵͠ ҉ ̶ ͡ ̕͢͏ ͝ ̡ ̷͠ ́͏͞ ̵̀͟ ̸ ͢͟ ̶̴ ̶̛ ͟͢ ͡ ̵̛ ̵̀͜ ͟͞ ̢ ҉̡you ̷ stand on the stage and  Announcer posted:"The wait's all over kids! Here __҉_ is, the __҉_ 'With A Smile Like The Sun!' " The applause. The cheer. The final faces of youth the world would ever see, all looking at you in adoration. They were the only ones you'd look back at with a sincere smile. You draw in the air, and you begin to ҉ ANXIETY: [ - ] You blink, leaving the moment you were in. Your lungs felt warm, and your throat tingled. Kwiat was by your feet, fast asleep. You felt relaxed, but weren't sure why. Was this from the mushrooms? Wait, how long have you been standing here?! It was definitely brighter out, looking at the roof. You begin to hurry, worried about how long it'll take you to get to the forest and back.
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Oct 25, 2020 17:01
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[It wasn't often something genuinely new got noted down in the Blue Book. But that was worth the submission. The screen colored an off-pink when you selected the broken Skill, and it seemed to call for a sound file to play. When it ends, it skips the game clock ahead by 2 hours, and anxiety was reset to the rare 0.] [At least it didn't skip the day. That meant no time left deliberate over whether to search the Hideout first, or to go directly to the Flowering Forest. Dealing with the Bubblepod quest there at night was a bad time.]
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Oct 25, 2020 17:02
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A HANDY SLAPDASH GUIDE TO YOUR MAP While You Wait For The Game To Load
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Oct 25, 2020 17:58
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Christ. It was already sometime past 8am. You had to move it. The first thing you do is look for a room in the hideout that was secure, warm, quiet, and had a working door you could close securely. You worry over Kwiat, having cut some of the curtain up to wrap her in it like a little nest. You tuck her under a moved collection of dirty desks, in a dark corner, where there's some water running nearby to mask her sound. You'll be back. You'll be better. You PROMISE. ANXIETY: 10% Space in the pack. Sword sharp. Suit dry and metal inserts secured. Gun clean as it was going to get, five bullets left. Shoes laced up. Hair pushed back. You repeat it to yourself, as you were taught - Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. You peek outside. The sky was iron, masking the Sun from seeing you. The morning was colder and sharp, the wind death-still, only to interrupt at random moments with howling gusts that tore back away into the sky to leave silence again. ... Nobody here. The waterfall sends bass through the stones of the hideout, giving you a sense of security as you scuttle back out the way you stumbled in the night before, eyes sharp for any movement in the gloom.  ANXIETY: [ X ][20%] Alone alone alone. Quiet and alone. You move irregularly as you find your way south to the Holy Land, where you could reorient and aim yourself towards the east. You were shaking against the chill. It bit in far deeper than it had to, snaking around your flesh to kiss the bones, teeth chattering and nerves alight as you duck under a tree once in sight of the Holy Land, to wrap arms around yourself. You wish you had Kwiat to hold. (Disquiet (9) [6]+[1]+[3] = 10 - Failure [By One]) ANXIETY: [ X ][ X ][30%] What do you do? What are you supposed to DO? You didn't want anyone to see you. You were uncomfortable, frightened, unsure of your purpose. You think. Had to think. Don't be stupid - think! You had to get it - the, the flower. The healing herb the Farmer told you about. Right? For Kwiat. Then she'd stay alive. You had to go to a forest, and look for this thing. You had to hold onto that. Your belly was cramping and the cold was uncomfortable, but you had to start moving or you'd stay squatting under a tree for the rest of the day. Moving from the field, you try hard to not think about your encounter on the barren hill yesterday. You didn't want to think about her. The deathly quiet forests surrounding the Holy Land start to gradually change as you meander east through them. Moss, vines, and flowers begin to infest the water-weighed trees. You can tell this is a place of strong Magic, the air crisp with the ozone of Mana, and made most obvious by the wild discoloration of the now-abundant flora. Animal life begins to present itself - tiny dark birds with long sharp beaks and glaring eyes. Small rodents scurrying with gray camouflage through the saturated foliage. Evidence of larger things, where brush and dirt are broken up from their passage. You grow more withdrawn, feeling stark against the dizzying colors of the flowering forest, and pick up your pace with sword drawn. The Silver Mind was still dim in your skull, and the Dark felt lethargic about responding to your heart tensing up. You didn't feel safe. There was HOURS to cover, and you had to work your way in deep in a hurry. As you blunder through the fuzzy flowerbrush, you spot something blocking out the wane light of the midday sky. A huge tree, dark colored and spreading out like a bouquet the further it grew upward. Your panic finds a landmark to tether itself to, as you break into a steady jog, every touch of a flower or branch made you flinch and scrape at your hypersensitive skin. Get to the tree, work from there.  OST: Flowering Forest Event Log posted:You're sick with panic over the silent land, while you run through the Mana-stained forest. If you can reach the tree, you can tether yourself and figure out where to go from there. Your psychic sense is still burned out, leaving you only blood to burn for power. While running, you choose to... (!Tyranny 12 - [4]+[6]+[2] = 12 - Success!) FP: [ 12 / 14 ] You had nervous energy to burn. You start to RUN- legs pumping madly, lungs expanding with engine performance, your eyes bright-wide as the Dark washes over your blood and begins to move you with diabolical focus. The forest fades into nothing but a colorful shape to move over and around, momentum rarely ceasing while eyes constantly sweep the skybreaks to find the tree. Soon an hour has passed, and you're less winded than you thought. ANXIETY: [ X ][20%] You lean over, dragging in air, sat on a wet flowerlog while staring out over the colorful waters of the river bank you found. You don't feel a lot better, to be honest. You were here, so now what? The tree was seated on an island across from you, surrounded by the river on all sides. It cast a long shadow over the already-dark sky, folding your way under the noon Sun hidden by the clouds. It looked unusual- its branches appeared blackened or burnt from this distance, and its million of crowning leaves were of a red so deep you had a hard time seeing their shade without light passing through. During your contemplation, Event Log posted:Three flashes of green light burst up from the tall flowery reeds next to your log. Each is the size of a small animal, and they move FAST. They startle you badly, and you react before you can think to protect yourself. You end up... (!Darkness 14 - [1]+[5]+[4] = 10 - Success!)  You... react. Not with your sword trying to hit a rapidly moving target. You let your fear itself bolt out, a silky-black net unseen. The panic in your chest doesn't go away- it SHARPENS, a singing heat making your eyes water and throat catch. But you follow that startled sensation down the bolt, and see it holding one of the green lights there- you see it with the detail panic could discover, see it's a small faerie creature of immense speed, a greenpixie blur of angry chattering motion. You're staring at it, feeling it through your fear. Feeling your gravity gently pinch it. Little thing. Stupid thing. Ugly thing. Idiot thing. Offensive thing. DEAD THING. The other two green blurs, having flitted well away, both stop to react to the loss of their third- just in time to glance back and see that green bioluminescence go dim, as your Will snaps shut on it with the hatred of a singularity. The pain goes cold, leaving you numb. A little life given, but blood paid better than gold- it bought the death of what startled you. You only had to will it. While the smell of boiled blood passes through the cold of your nose, the two faeries run off in a much quicker hurry. You don't spend long savoring the sensation. You realize you're here, at the tree, in the forest. And in your stress, your mania and mood, you've completely forgotten what the Silver Mind had told you about where to go... and it still wasn't picking up when you called. poo poo! Where Was I Supposed To Search From The Tree? HP: [ 7 / 18 ] FP: [ 12 / 14 ]
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Oct 25, 2020 20:06
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| # ? Apr 30, 2024 00:53 |
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Black August posted:Three steps east... you had to GO east, to find some plants to keep your little egg-maker going. Black August posted:Alone alone alone. Quiet and alone. You move irregularly as you find your way south to the Holy Land, where you could reorient and aim yourself towards the east. You were shaking against the chill. It bit in far deeper than it had to, snaking around your flesh to kiss the bones, teeth chattering and nerves alight as you duck under a tree once in sight of the Holy Land, to wrap arms around yourself. You wish you had Kwiat to hold.
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Oct 25, 2020 21:36
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