To the beggar...

"Would you be willing to learn to be a blacksmith?  It is hard and hot work."

To the Aggressive Once man..."Associate Bob, I think I have found my Captain of the Guard."  I smile at him.

After Bob's offer..."Most generous Bob. Thank you."

No, I do not count them as 'such evildoers'.  I was looking more for aggravated assault combined with theft, or a constant thief.

To the two men who wish to leave..."You have my blessing if you wish to leave, but perhaps your lady and you would like to stay here.  If so, the offer stands for a place on my council."

To the businessman..."I understand the desire to leave behind bad memories.  But I really could use a man of your talents.  It is your choice of course."

I think a little bit about Bob's suggestion...."Let us at least have a dance and a bonfire tonight.  The people need to get over their shock.  But yes, the big celebration will be when King Heracles arrives."

OOC: I recently read something which suggested that celebrations help people deal with traumatic events....like fighting a battle.  You win, but even so, some of your friends died.

He just looks at you puzzled and says "Blacksmith? What's a blacksmith?"



He snaps to attention and says "Sir yes sir."

He agrees



"I am here to please, sir."



So constantly stealing food to keep your family alive doesn't count? Good to know.



They want to leave. Not leave the city, just leave the castle. They made promises and ya know.



He bows politely and says "Sir, I greatly appreciate your most generous offer, but I'm afraid I must decline. New challenges and new frontiers await."

And he bows and leaves.



Bob ponders and says "Accelerate the celebration. A five day party, slowly building." Then he looks you right in the eyes and says "Yes sir. Begin the celebration today. Slowly escalate it until Heracles arrives. Five days of revelry coming to crescendo when Heracles arrives. Extra points for anyone who can remain awake for the entirety of it. Yes sir. This is a most splendiferous idea!!!"

Then he steps away from you, pauses and turns saying "With your permission, I must go raid the treasury room. To pay for this celebration."

And unless you stop him, he walks away.



OOC) Makes sense.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 22):

"Heating metal and hitting it with a hammer."  If he does not take the offer then I give him a chance to come up with a suggestion, and if not then  a good quantity of food and I exile him.

"Oh," I say to the men.  "Well, I expect everyone to leave the castle.  If you have a place to stay or can build one." Hopefully that means I have seven in the Council.

I do point out again that I want a Chief voted for the Council.

I leave, and wander about, soaking in sunrays for my armor.  As I do, I look for ways to improve the village (bridges over creeks, mudholes in the road,  etc.), and I try to absorb what information I can about this town.  If anyone wants to talk to me, I'm amiable.  If they have complaints, I look into it, not making snap judgements.  But I also tell them to take it up to the new city council.

On my way back, I hope to see some tough looking guys who I hire to tear out all the torture equipment, and take it down to the river, outside the village, and downriver of the village,  and burn it, and then smash whatever does not burn to bits as well as they can.

After that, I study the hammer a bit.  Messing with people's minds seems like way dangerous magic.  I'm tempted to toss the thing into the deepest hole I can find, or to try to shatter it.  But it might be needed.  And then I wonder, perhaps I could 'heal' someone like I healed the zombies?  I put it off until King Heracles arrives.  I could use some advice.

I go back and enjoy the party, not dancing as I'm horrible at that.

At first he doesn't understand, but when you mention exile, he shuts up and agrees to whatever you say.



Seven it is.



They vote. Everyone votes for himself. Looks like you've got to break the deadlock.



Nobody has wheels. Nobody has iron. It's all sleds and sleighs and copper and stone.

A couple of people approach, asking you to bless their children.

Several people approach asking if you can remove their curses. Cherneth was apparently fond of inserting those metal rods into people. Your heads up display shows you the locations and your magnetic gauntlet can remove them.

There's a rather large river that runs along the south end of town. The kind of thing that would be perfect to power a waterwheel or some such thing.



You find a gang of giant bloods. Their leader stands over seven feet tall. They say they'll be happy to do it.

"You ain't gonna pacify us are ya?"

As long as you're not, they're fine.

However, one of them does ask what you did to be endowed with a full suit of armor from the giants.

"Not even Heracles himself has a full suit of giant armor."

And you will recall, no one giant skeleton had a full suit. You had to cobble that together from four different skeletons.



It seems to be a standard issue Chaos hammer. Black iron. Magehammer told you that there are three classifications of Order/Chaos magic users. Tool users, can do magic, cannot create black iron, cannot commune with the gods of Order and Chaos. Mages, can do magic, can create black iron, cannot commune with the gods of Order and Chaos. And priests. They worship the gods of Order and Chaos. Can do magic, cannot create black iron, can commune with the gods of Order and Chaos.

It's the only black iron you've seen, so Cherneth was apparently a tool user or a priest. But who made the hammer for him?



The party is just beginning. Nobody is dancing yet. No music yet. They're still preparing for it. Buffet tables are being set up. Musicians are tuning their instruments. It's not much of a party just yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:56, Thu 05 Apr 2018.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 24):

I laugh, and then tell them to talk it out, and vote again.  It may take a few hours or a couple days, but I'm confident they'll get a Chief.  Besides, its only for a year, and then a different Chief and so on.

=================

I pray for God's blessing on their children, and tell the boys to be good and brave, and the girls to be good and kind.

Hmmm, waterwheel. Well, I will consider it.  Not sure how much I want to change things yet.  Does it have a bridge or a ford?

OOC: Or maybe a Chevy?

===================

"Sir, that pacification is disgusting.  The Creator wants us to be free and good.  No, I'm not planning on pacifying anyone.  If I knew how, I'd free the ones enslaved, but I fear I'd do them worse damage.  And thank you for taking out that madman's trash."

To the question. "Its a long story."

======================

I'll put that question of how Cherneth got that on the back burner for now.

========================

I'll help by toting stuff for the party.  I'm not taking charge, just lifting and carrying and such.

They say they're going to settle it in The Old Manner and politely ask you to leave. It's apparently a very personal thing. Just between the participants.



They bow and thank you. Some of them offer you little trinkets, family heirlooms as a way of saying thanks.

Are you removing the cursed metals? You rip it out through their skin and then heal their skin. It's painful, but they're invariably relieved and grateful for it.



I think you mean a fjord. There's a bridge.



They're happy to destroy the dungeon. Wrecking is what they do best. Their leader is named Ralph. His catchphrase is "I'm Gonna Wreck It!!!!" They had some friends who were taken in there. Cherneth was so feared that not even this formidable gang of giant bloods wanted to oppose him.

The pacification generally only lasted for six months, tops. He would have these ceremonies every four months or so.



"You must have done something truly great indeed to be endowed with a full suit of armor from the giants. Heracles was awarded a gauntlet and The Hammer of Heracles for his noble deeds."

That's nothing to sneeze at. He never got a full suit of armor, but to be given a custom built magical warhammer is as close as anyone else has gotten. That's the highest award anyone has heard of until now. That's why only him and his descendants can use it.



And so you do.



Your presence there impedes things. Everyone kneels and bows and scrapes. Several people drop what they're carrying. The best way you could help would be to sit in a chair and supervise.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Sun 08 Apr 2018.

Two Posts



The giants go on to say that the armor pieces are given out as awards for acts of nobility, heroism, discovery, things of that nature. It's kind of like the Nobel Peace Prize or something. Curing a zombie plague would actually qualify as an armor-worthy act.

So you did earn that suit of armor.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:27, Sun 08 Apr 2018.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 27):

I leave my Council. Probably drawing lots, or punching each other in the nose.

Definitely removing the cursed metals.  I don't want their family heirlooms.  If they insist on a gift, I tell them to pay it forward.  Help the next guy who needs help.  That sounds like decently Biblical way to do it.

fjord. Heh. Good one.

OK, so I can just wait six months for most of them.  Good to know.  That's my new plan on that.

I smile at the Giant Blood and walk on.  My secrets are mine.

I take the first opportunity to leave the setting up.  Ah well, that did not work.

Go tell Bob I'm taking a nap, and to wake me when the part starts.

Indeed, when you see them again, they've selected a chairman. The other six have bandages on their faces and hands. The chairman just has bandages on his hands.



The cursed metals are slivers of the bluish iron alloy from which your armor is made. Your heads up display shows it radiating some kind of energy. So it's probably a technological curse, rather than a magical one.



In about 2 months the ones who were not pacified will start to show it. In four months after that, the rest.



"Heracles is gonna insist that you regal him with your tales of glory."

So you might want to start making something up.



You are invited to try different pastries and whatnot, to see if they meet with your approval. But you leave and head to bed.



Cherneth's bed is much too small for you. It's made for someone who is about 5 feet tall. You have to lay in it diagonally. But you sleep.

When you awaken, it's the next morning. You were apparently more tired than you realized. Associate Bob is standing silently at the foot of your bed waiting for you to wake up. When you do he says:

"Good sir. I have most splendiferous news!!! The Marathon runner tasked with retrieving Heracles returned late last night. He said Heracles is on his way and should be here within hours."

(Doing Therapy)

"SMSGHghga." I mumble, not up to English yet.  I sit up.  Blink, rub my eyes, and then focus on Bob.  Part of me wants to ask how long he's been standing there, but another part counsels me that its probably better I didn't know.

"Associate Bob."  Pause. Blink. "Good news indeed.  Would you happen to know where a bath, or shower, or failing that the men's bathing pool in the river is?"

Once, I get cleaned up, its food.  Hopefully some fruit and meat. After that, I feel pretty human. I ask Bob about how the party is going as I'm aware we were not planning on Heracles showing up so soon.

He's just standing silently in one spot, not moving. You'd almost think he was a statue except that he's blinking his eyes.



Associate Bob says "Good sir, Cherneth believed that cleanliness was the key to good health and long life. He had a one hundred gallon water tank installed on the roof. It leads to a pipe and a sprayer nozzle. Most inventive, Cherneth was."

The last said with obvious pride.

So there's a shower and strong lye soap. The water is cold, but you manage.

OOC) My father built something like that out of a water tank, a hose and a bleach bottle. So he could shower in the garage after working on cars.



Associate Bob tells you that he can order you something from the kitchen, but it might be better to wait and save your appetite for the party. Up to you. There is going to be a feast around suppertime.

(Doing Therapy)

"Well, he was right about that." I take my shower.

"No, Bob, its better for me to have food now.  Makes me ....better."  I don't feel like explaining low blood sugar to Bob.  But some food really will make me more 'human' so to speak.

I eat the food, and stay out of the people setting things up, way.  I send Bob back to work.  As I wander about the village, getting to know it a bit more, I do a short prayer for blessing for this meeting.  A really good meet could be most beneficial to me and the village.

So you do. Later you will see palace peons in a bucket brigade refilling the water tank. Carrying the water in buckets up from the river.



"As you wish sir. I'll have some food brought to you."

He brings duck eggs, pancakes and zandozan meat. It tastes like if bacon was made out of chicken. A zandozan is a large, bulky animal reminiscent of a hippo with six legs.

One thing worthy of note. Bob has never been pacified. This is really who he is.



You see copper workers and stone cutters. Some beggars in the street. You get offered all different manner of treats. Everything from spiced meats to pastries so sweet you can almost feel your teeth rotting.

About half of the people express gratitude for your destruction of Cherneth. Everyone still kneels when you walk past.

After several hours, Associate Bob comes running up to you just as fast as his little legs will carry him. He fairly screams "Heracles is almost here!!! Come!!! Come with me!!!!"

(Doing Therapy)

Might want to build a water pipe.

Beggars. Hmm. Might need work for them.  Something to think about later.

That zandrozan sure is tasty.

When Bob comes, I follow him.  If I see anyone, I urge them to go to the party.  I come to the center of the town near the campfire.  If King Heracles is already there, I walk up to him, and loudly...

"Welcome, King Heracles.  Thank you for coming!"  Big smile.

If he is not there yet, I go to the town gate, and do the same thing.

He's not here just yet. Off in the distance you see a green Stegosaurus plodding along, pulling behind it three large sleds. It's ten minutes away maybe.

So you wait at the gate.

Ten minutes later, Heracles pulls up in the sled. He's controlling the animal himself with the reigns. He jumps off the sled and approaches you, followed by about a dozen sloped-forehead guys wearing leather fur armor and carrying spears. They just kind of have a stupid "DUH" expression on their faces.

Heracles is five feet tall and muscles on top of muscles. He looks like a five foot tall Arnold with a beard. He's wearing one gauntlet and carrying the Hammer of Heracles in his left hand. When he sees you in your full giant armor, even king Heracles briefly drops to one knee before you and bows his head for a moment. When he stands erect, he says jovially "You must tell me what noble deeds you performed to be awarded an entire suit of giant armor."

Then he claps his hands twice. Immediately musicians, dancing girls, jugglers, the whole shebang jump off of his sleds and begin performing. He brought a party with him. You're surrounded by scantily clad, four foot tall belly dancers, guys playing stringed and blown instruments. His cooks are conversing with the locals on where they can set up. And then two skyrockets are lit and fire straight up into the air, with an earsplitting explosion and bright lights.

Heracles says "The rockets were gifts from Cherneth. I promised him I would fire them to celebrate his demise."

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Sat 14 Apr 2018.

"Its a long story." I say.  When he tells me of the reason for the fireworks, I urge him to come with me.  If he does, without too much difficulty, I privately present him with the barrel with the salted body of Cherneth.

"A gift, Great King."

Do I recognize the Hammer of Heracles?

"All the better." he says. "You will tell me over a bottle of my personal wine."



Heracles starts laughing and dancing around in a circle. He grabs your head and pulls you down so that he can kiss you on each cheek.

"You have done for me a great service. Cherneth was the one opponent I could not defeat. Too evenly matched, we were."

You've made his day.



Yup. The head is that bluish iron alloy, a perfect cube. The handle looks like many stalks and vines twisted together.

What's really freaky though is that looking closely at his gauntlet, you will see exactly the same scuffs and scratches on your own. It's a temporal duplicate.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:40, Tue 17 Apr 2018.

I blink at the gauntlet of Heracles.  OK, that's freaky.  I quickly understand what it is, but I'm still a bit smacked in the face over it.  This means I've travelled back in time.

I agree with telling him.  The guy's charming, and I do want him on my side.

We go back to the party with the campfire.  And I enjoy listening to the music, and seeing the smiles on my people's faces.

"Great King." I say to the man seated next to me.  "I do not know much of this land, of the rulers and cities in it...." I look questioningly at him.  After all, I asked for advice and counsel in my letter.

Old Man Heracles knew your name, you were the only one he would let into his room. And he called you "My old friend." Yeah, he knew you. You're both wearing exactly the same gauntlet. Yours is just a few hundred years older.



He says "After the festivities we will retire back to Castle Cherneth. You will tell me of your deeds over a bottle of the finest wine."

Curing a zombie plague would qualify as an act of nobility and heroism. So you did earn that suit of armor.



Heracles likes to cut in on couples dancing and take the lady for a spin whilst her former partner watches. He's quite the ladies man. Flirtatious and bold. You can see why he supposedly had so many descendants.

When he's not dancing, he's sampling food and wine. He seems to favor spicy meat over everything else. He drinks like a fish. You're surprised he can remain standing. But he never loses any coordination. Only slightly slurred speech.



"Rule your people with a velvet wrapped iron fist. Be kind and benevolent. But never be afraid to lay down the law."

Whilst you're watching, some guy gets a bit too drunk and, attempting to show off for the ladies, takes a swan dive off of a two story building. His head is cracked open. Heracles approaches holding his hammer outstretched. A white aura flows from the injured man and into the hammer. His injuries heal. The man opens his eyes to see Heracles standing over him. Heracles helps him to his feet and tells him to enjoy the party. All of the bystanders "Ohh" and "Ahh" and cheer for him.

When he returns to you, he says "When the giants offered to make for me a magical warhammer, I insisted that it have the ability to heal. So that I could beat my enemies to near death, then heal them and do it all over again."

And he lets out a loud belly laugh.

(Doing Therapy)

I laugh too.

I ask him about the road between his home and here.  I find out if he rules just one city or more.

I enjoy the party, talking to everyone I can just a bit.  Sitting back, and enjoying seeing the happy faces on the villagers.

He tells you that technically he is the ruler of the entire country.

"Five thousand square miles." He says with pride.

This one particular city was problematic because Cherneth was so evenly matched with him. Cherneth was kind of illegally running it. But Heracles, with all of his power couldn't oppose him sufficiently. So he just kind of turned a blind eye to Cherneth's doings here. Heracles certainly has more important things to worry about than one city. So he kind of ignored the mosquito to focus on the wasp.



A few village women ask you to dance, several other village women ask you to sample their cooking. Several people ask you and Heracles both to heal injuries, diseases or curses. Sometimes he uses the hammer, sometimes he uses his gauntlet.

"What features have you discovered in your gauntlet Tadeusz? Not even I can read the language of the giants."

So that back display panel is as much a mystery to him as it is to you.

"I'm sure there are features to it I've not yet discovered. And likewise features I've discovered that you have not. Let us instruct one another in its usage."

And he also asks about the rest of your armor. What else it can do. What have you discovered about it? Especially the sword. He asks if you would permit him to try out using your sword.

"I've heard stories that they could cleave solid granite with a single blow."

Heracles might be a party animal and a womanizing drunkard, but above all else he is a warrior. It would be an extreme privilege just to hold such a fine weapon.

(Doing Therapy)

"I would like, I think to be part of your country, King Heracles.  If I do, what laws would you lay on me, and these people?"

I do the math in my head, and when I realize its more than 200 miles by 200 miles, I am impressed.

===============

I pass on the dancing with a smile, claiming truthfully that I am a terrible dancer.  I gladly sample the food.

"Sure..." And I tell him what I know of the armor.

I shrug, and call a couple of the Giant Born over.

"King Heracles would like to test my blade.  Do we have some blocks of wood, or stone that he can do this on?"

If they find such, I stand and call the assembly to quiet attention.

"Great King Heracles wishes to test out my sword with these stumps and logs and rocks my good fellows have brought for him."  I speak loudly.

"I am officially declaring you ruler of this fine city, Tadeusz. The laws are yours to make."



OOC) I just did the math on a calculator. It's actually more like 71 miles by 71 miles. 200X200 would be 40,000 square miles.

IC) Heracles, realizing his error, corrects himself.

"Did I say Five Thousand square miles? I meant fifty thousand square miles."

OOC) That's 223 miles by 223 miles.



At this Heracles laughs. "Have a drink my friend. Alcohol helps everyone dance."



OOC) I never understood why MJ made me do this until I started running games. Tell me exactly what you're telling him. Tell me what you've discovered about it.



Ralph, the leader of the Giant Bloods says "Why not take a swing at Castle Cherneth??"

And the rest of the giants laugh at that.

But two of them carry over a large tree trunk that they were planning to turn into firewood. It's about 20 inches in diameter. Heracles is going to help them chop firewood.



Everyone quiets down. When Heracles takes the broadsword in his right hand, it shrinks down to a smaller size to accommodate his shorter frame.

On his first swing, the sword slices so cleanly through the tree trunk that Heracles isn't aware that it hit. He has a bit of a jarring jolt when it hits the ground. The tree is split cleanly. The people "Ohh" and "Ahh" Then Heracles starts dicing the tree like a chef dicing vegetables. It cleanly splits into one inch thick boards.

Heracles hands the sword back to you, it returns to size for you. He then retrieves the Hammer of Heracles.

"Impressive, that is. But no match for this."

And he swings the hammer down at the tree. An entire section of it the width of the hammerhead is reduced to sawdust.

People begin cheering for him.

(Doing Therapy)

"Thank you, Great King."

I shake my head and smile at the idea of drinking alcohol.  And then I try to move on to another topic.

"So, yeah, I can heal from damage, or even a lingering disease such as a zombie, and I've removed curses with these metal bits that Cherneth liked, what a scum, and I can zap people with light, and the sun gives my gauntlet strength.  And well, that's enough for now." I decide not to tell him about flying.  He'd try it and get himself killed.

"Ralph, I need another name for that castle.  Think on it for a few days, why don't cha?"  I expect that me relying on him for more than muscle is going to shock him, but it might be good for him.

I scoop up a big two handfulls of sawdust after the cheers die down a bit, and toss it into the bonfire.  It should make it blaze up nicely in a big gust of flame.  Making sure no one is too close.  I turn back and grin at Heracles.

"Small price to pay, to be rid of Cherneth."



He's going to insist that you have at least one glass of wine with him whilst you tell him of your heroic deeds. Just a heads up.



He'd need boots which he does not have for flying anyway.

When you mention "zap people with light" he says "Like this?" And taps a few buttons on the back, points his fist at the tree stump and makes a fist. A yellow bolt of energy fires from the gauntlet and hits the tree with the force of a shotgun slug.

You've found a stun laser. His is apparently lethal.

Heracles asks if you've found Cherneth's warhammer. After a bit of description, you're pretty sure he means the Chaos blacksmithing hammer.

"Cherneth stole it from one known as the Hammer of Mages. He was a giant blood who called himself a Werser, if I recall correctly. It was the source of Cherneth's power. I'd like to have it, if you've retrieved it. Fifty years past, that was."

Heracles doesn't look a day over 35 or 40.



Without really thinking too much, Ralph just blurts out "The Tower of Tadeusz?"



In awe, Heracles asks if you know how to make Cherneth's magical powder. The gunpowder, you think he means.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:24, Tue 24 Apr 2018.