New thread for Tadeusz, GMed by JohnA1nut.   :)

As your body slams into the ground, you see visions of skeletal giants teaching Campbell how to use the giant armor and pointing out to him the plant which will cure the zombie plague.

Then you wake up. You're laying on hard-packed earth outside. You see two people, a man and a woman, both kneeling and laying prostrate before you. Behind them is a vegetable garden and a stone house.

The man gingerly raises his head and says "You are a giant and you wear the armor of the gods. Please do not harm us, as your giant nature no doubt compels you to do."

Then he returns to laying face down, prostrate.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 2):

I sit up, hoping that Campbell actually succeeded.  Now, I'm somewhere else.

What type of clothing is the man wearing?

"Please, man, do not bow to me.  I have no desire to harm you.  Nor you, woman.  Please, let us be at peace."

They both wearing mustard yellow tunics that look like they were woven as a single piece of material. The waists are tied with a leather belt. They're wearing sandals.



They both rise to their feet, as do you. They're both a shade over 4 feet tall. The man is slightly taller. They're keeping their heads bowed and their eyes raised, in fear and respect.

The woman nudges her husband and whisper-speaks "Yrem, he can help me."

And the man whisper-says back "Tracy, he is a giant blood and our better. He is not to be bothered by our trivialities."

But then she bursts out crying to you. "Good sir. Cherneth desired me on my wedding night. When I refused to submit myself to him, he cursed me so that I could not bear children. I wish to have many fine sons, and also daughters, but I have none. My husband is a good man. He did not forsake me. But he's all I have. Can you help us? Please?"

As a few tears roll down her cheeks. Her husband looks like he's either expecting you to slap somebody or like he's going to slap her.

And through the head's up display in your helmet, you see a metal rod about the size of a small nail embedded in her stomach. It's radiating some form of energy. It looks like it could easily be removed by a guy with a magnetic gauntlet.

OOC) You should recognize this world. It was Magehammer's favorite.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 4):

I kneel to one knee, and look up.

"Lord God of Heaven, aid me to help this good woman, and good man that your Name be raised high."  And then I gently reach out, and try to pull out the nail.  As I do so, I try to put out of my mind this Cherneth fellow, but yeah, I'm thinking a conversation with him is in my near future.  The type of convo where my fists do the talking.

OOC: Heh.  :)

You pray, then you place and activate the magnet. She screams in terror and in pain, but begs you not to stop what you're doing. (Remember, your magnet hand just rips it out from underneath their skin.) You rip it through her belly and through her tunic. Leaving a nice bloody mess. However, a second placement of the gauntlet heals that wound completely. She's left with a bloody hole in her tunic and no injuries. There's not even a scar.

And somehow she can tell that it's been removed. She asks to see it. It's a piece of the same bluish iron alloy that your armor is made from.

But they both drop to their knees before you giving thanks. You are welcome to stay with them, or they can tell you which way is town, if you prefer.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 6):

I say as politely as I can.

"Which way to Cherneth?"

I take off running at a good run, then lower it to an energy saving, distance eating lope.  It must be my 'giant blood' but I'm feeling the need for smash.

They point you in the direction of the city in which he lives. He rules it, actually.

The man ponders for a moment and says "I believe this is the week of pacification. He should be there."

But they won't tell you more than that.

So you take off running. Glancing back, you see them gleefully running into the house. Your boots have charged sufficiently that "A good run" as you put it maxes out at what you would estimate to be about 50-60 MPH. This continues for about 30 minutes. But then the energy cells are drained and your "energy saving, distance eating lope" is just you jogging at 5-6 MPH. But you're in good shape. The boot-assisted run didn't drain your power cells at all.

The town is just ahead. It's a walled city. The walls are maybe 6 feet tall. At the gate stand two guards, both about 5 feet tall. They're wearing leather and copper armor and carrying copper swords and spears. When you approach, first they both drop down on one knee and bow their heads before you. Then they rise to standing and stand aside whilst you enter.

Most of the people you pass are about 4 and a half feet tall at the median. A few five footers. The people are milling about doing this and that. There's a pottery maker, coppersmith, leatherworker. And people milling about. When you walk past, everyone drops down on their right knee and bows their head until you pass. After you pass, they stand up and resume what they were doing.

You see a young boy of about 10 years old. He's 3 feet tall. He must be the town crier. He's calling out "Pacification week. Pacification week. All men are required to line up at the temple to be pacified."

When he sees you, he again kneels but says with fear and respect "Cherneth says that includes you Giant Blood."

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:35, Thu 15 Mar 2018.

"Thank you, young man." I nod, smile faintly, and head to the temple.  I'm not good at it, but in between spatters of prayer, I try whistling 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'.  Roll my shoulders, pop my neck, flex my knees.

I walk into the temple, quiet, and reserved, my emotional mask up, ready for trouble.

OOC) But NOT letting your armor charge......



As you walk, people continue to kneel before you, rising and resuming once you pass. When you get to the temple, it's an outdoor kind of place. There's a line of men at least 100 yards long. Even a few giant bloods. No one other than Cherneth with the armor though. Cherneth is about 5 foot 6 and hairy. He's probably got hair on his palms and the soles of his feet. He's taking the men one by one in a headlock, and tapping them on the head with a hammer. Briefly a white aura flows from their heads into the hammer. Cherneth is wearing a gauntlet and boots just like yours.

Before the men get to Cherneth, they're being men. Talkative, complaining about the wait. Loud and what not. When he finishes with the men, they're quiet and serene. You could hit them with a baseball bat and they'd just smile and wave at you. About half of them run delightedly to a woman who is waiting for them. His wife, you'd assume. The man drops to his knees and begs forgiveness for some wrong or other that he's done. Sounds like mostly just guy stuff. Things your wife has complained about a thousand times that you'll never fix. The rest just smile proudly. Their faces say "Duh, my name is Dun-Can." (OOC) If you heard me say that, it would make more sense.) They're completely wiped of all aggression and hostility.

So are you getting in line or what?

(Doing Therapy)

Walk to the front of the line.

"Stop!" I shout out, not wanting another guy broken.  I walk up to him.

"Hey, Cherneth." Punch his lights out.  Haymaker time.  If he is still standing, I go full tilt at him, kick, punch while charging into him.  Its not pretty or elegant.

Seeing this armored, Giant Blood approaching, most of the people present, including several of Cherneth's own bodyguards kneel before you. Cherneth draws back his hammer in his left hand and goes into a fighting stance.



But it doesn't really matter. He tries to hit you with the hammer, but it's a lost cause. Your breastplate easily absorbs the impact. His face absorbs the impact of your gauntlet too. His brains go flying out through the back of his skull and his head is stuck, wrapped around your fist. It takes a good bit of shaking and prying to get his lifeless body to hit the ground.

Turning to face the crowd, they all stand, wide-eyed, mouths open staring at you. Then one by one, they start to kneel before you, laying prostrate on the ground. Hundreds of people. Laying prostrate on the ground before you, like they're expecting you to do something.

(Doing Therapy)

I clean my hand off a bit, gathering myself.  Then I turn and stare at them, coldly.  After a long minute....

"You are men, are you not?"

Long pause.

"Made by the Creator to enjoy freedom, and to stand brave beneath the blue skies?"

Shake head.

"Why did you allow this man to break you to slavery then?  What is the meaning of this? Tell me, please, I want to know." Toward the end I soften.

They all remain laying prostrate. They're used to that posture.



GE 17

Some of the men raise their heads and glance around at the others. Like they're expecting someone else to say something. A lot of murmuring and glancing, but nobody moves.



This illicits a few weak cheers of "Yes Sir." from some of the braver men. But mostly they just continue to lay prostrate.



A man who was standing on the stage rises to his feet and steps forward. He's wearing a garishly bright colored robe. He looks like a priest or something.

He clasps his hands together and bows politely. Then he says "Good sir. I am associate Bob. Cherneth ruled with an iron fist. All who did not voluntarily be pacified had their lands stripped away. Their goods were confiscated. They were imprisoned. Fined. Their families were tortured. Do not judge us too harshly."

Then a pause and he says "I am an excellent associate sir. I would be happy to help you organize things under your administration. The first order of business is to contact king Heracles. I am certain he will be indebted to you as Cherneth was his fiercest rival."

He's a Yes Man. A gopher. He will blindly follow and assist whoever is in charge. And that would be you at the moment. But he does seem to command some level of respect with the people, so perhaps not a bad guy to have around.

But it seems to be unanimously agreed that you are The Boss.

(Doing Therapy)

"Rise.  There will be no more of this foul 'pacification'.  The mere word disgusts me.  Rise, and go about your business."  I make sure to take the hammer thing with me.

I turn to Associate Bob.

"Walk with me, Associate Bob." I walk with him off to one side out of the area of where people can overhear us.  "Bob, I'm Tadeusz. Uh, your suggestion to contact King Heracles seems wise.  Who do you suggest might be interested and able to go?  Also, Bob, you mentioned men imprisoned.  Can you take me to this prison to free those brave souls?"  I'm speaking far softer, and my face is sad.

They look around at one another. Nobody seems to want to be the first one to move. But finally, at a prodding of "Up, up!!" from Associate Bob and they're rising.

The "hammer thing" is of course a Chaos hammer. It will be told to you that Cherneth would remove a white aura from their heads when he put them into a headlock.

You are apparently right in front of Cherneth's Castle. Associate Bob tells you that it is your castle now. You see a blacksmith shoppe with an unfinished gauntlet sitting on the anvil. You're not close enough to see if it's high tech or just iron.

At any rate, you've just killed the only indig who knew how to blacksmith. It's your shoppe now and you know how, but he never taught them.

Searching Cherneth's body (Are you doing that?) You find a small cloth bag containing what appears to be gunpowder. Rather well refined too. Associate Bob tells you there's a chemistry shoppe in the castle. Cherneth was an accomplished alchemist. That substance you hold, it's his Magic Dust. He'd throw pinches of it into fires to make his point when publicly speaking. Nice big flare up, get people's attention.



He ponders:

"Go contact King Heracles? There's an entire staff of trained individuals at the castle sir."

Cooks, butlers, guards, Marathon runners and two Pony express for the long ones.

"Heracles should be at home this time of year. Velociraptor season isn't for several months."

The prison is inside the castle. Associate Bob leads you. You're just going past doors. Lots of bedrooms. Lots of closed doors. You go through the kitchen. Every person drops to a knee before you as you walk past.

The dungeon is in the back. There's a remarkably clean medical chamber. Crude instruments. Bones stripped of flesh. And a notebook which would make Doctor Phlox say something like:

"Did you say this is a pre-industrial society? His methods may be unrefined but this man is using forensics techniques far more sophisticated than I would have expected."

So he was well studied in human anatomy as well. Human test subjects.

But there's maybe 30 people in there, of all ages and genders. Nothing special about them, except that Cherneth had not gotten to them yet.

They all bow and ask how they can serve you.

OOC) I kind of find it quite brazen of you to interrupt the pacification ceremony with no idea what the people are like. For all you know, everyone is a brute savage who just as soon Kill Maim Destroy Murder Death Kill as live peacefully. You might have just unleashed thousands of savage beasts.

Just saying.

(Doing Therapy)

I may be able to fill in, or these folk may suffer a bit of a tech relapse, but still better than mind  control.  I don't check Cherneth's body.  Instead, I order it stored in salt in a barrel, if they have such things.

I nod to Bob.

"Write this message, Associate Bob, and send it with either the marathon runners or the Pony riders as you think best.

'Great King Heracles, my name is Tadeusz.  I have slain Cherneth for his evil deeds, and the town now answers to me.  I would appreciate your advice and counsel if you could spare the time to come.  Also, I have placed Cherneth's body in salt as a gift to you."

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

"Are you the ones who refused to bow the knee to Cherneth?"

You could teach somebody to blacksmith.

But as far as the barrel of salt, yes, they have that. Salt is a well-known preservative. The men tasked with putting his body in the barrel and filling it with salt are all laughing riotously the entire time. One of them is singing something which reminds you of "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead."

Someone points out to you that you destroyed Cherneth's face. That might make it more difficult to convince Heracles that this is indeed Cherneth. But you've got hundreds of witnesses.

Cherneth had a gauntlet and boots. Did you put those in the salt barrel too? The partially finished gauntlet that was on the anvil was just iron. Looking around some more, you find a half-dozen or so gauntlets discarded as garbage. Apparently he was trying to unlock the secret of it but couldn't.



Associate Bob writes this out four times, each time with a personal addendum from himself, verifying that Cherneth is indeed dead. He presents these to four Marathon runners. One is tasked with going to Castle Heracles and the other three are tasked with heading to his three favorite hangout spots, just in case he's not at the castle.

Associate Bob tells you "He should be here within a week at the outside. You'll know when he's coming. A stegosaurus pulling a sleigh is rather difficult to miss."

When Bob says "Sleigh" you realize you've not seen any vehicles that are on wheels. They're all sleighs that ride on runners.



Most of the men are here for that. Most of the women are here because they refused to submit to him. There are a few children. From what you gather, they were just being children. One threw an apple at him. Things like that.

When they see the medical room and realize the fate that you spared them, they all pledge undying loyalty to you.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:37, Fri 30 Mar 2018.

Hmmm, an excellent idea.

And yes, the gauntlet and boots go in the barrel.  It helps to ID him.

I join in with smiling with them.  It helps to confirm a plan of mine.

"Well done, Associate Bob." I smile at him.

Hmm, wheels.  I shall have to think on that.  Right now, the people don't need further disruption to their lives.

I find out why the other men are there, and unless they are there because they are chronic thieves, or acts of violence (not counting fair fights and bar brawls), I pardon those men who are there with a warning to 'stop being a lawbreaker, and work hard.'  My example for this motivational speech is the Bible which had somewhat similar comments.

Talking quietly to Bob. "Bob, do we have something to award these women....say lengths of pretty cloth?  And do we have gifts of honeycomb for the children here?"

If any of the men are such evil doers, I tell them that I will give them food, and water, and a weapon, but they are exiled from the city.  Then I have them sent out with guards.  Hopefully there are no such cases.

If Bob says yes. "Thank  you, I accept your promises. Let us put this horror behind us. If you need help in the next days, come to me.  You men (I point to the pardoned) are free to go about your business." I wait until they leave. "You children, wait outside, Assocate Bob will have honeycomb brought to  you, and you may go then to see  your parents.  If you need help, please, please ask. But wait for the women.  You women, lengths of beautiful cloth will be brought to you, and I ask that you see that these children be brought back to their families. Now you may go."  Once they leave, I turn to men who are left, who did not bow.  I bow to them, and get Bob to do likewise.
"Brave men.  It is an honor to speak to you." My eyes gets a little wet.  "I have need of a council of men to rule this city for me as I know little of this place.  I will retain the right to overrule you, but you shall have the rule of this place mostly, if it works.  So choose one amongst you to be your Chief Speaker, but let each man have a vote.  In somewhat similar times I have heard that such a council would meet in the city gates.  Thus might all hear their thoughts who wished it, and all might bring their concerns to them.  If this seems wise to you, then let it be done.  What say you?"

If they agree, and if Associate Bob says we can I ask them to proclaim a feast of celebration of the Creator's Freedom for that night.  We will sing, there will be speeches, poetry, dancing, short foot races with small prizes, a bonfire, and food or so I hope.  I leave the making of it up to them.  Have to get them used to being in charge.  Start with easy things, and eventually you can move on to harder things ....like taxes.

There's about 30 people here. 10 men, 15 women, five children. Of the men who are here, eight of them refused to bow to Cherneth. One is here with his wife and child because they were poor and he got caught trying to steal food for them. The whole family was imprisoned for it.

The other non-kneel actually tried to assassinate Cherneth. Cherneth tried to pacify him and had a botch effect making the guy momentarily 20x more aggressive. Cherneth kept telling him "You're last. After I finish perfecting my.... Technique."

Seeing the medical room, He's the most grateful for sparing him. Who knows what this "Technique" was.



Bob spreads out the cloth of his own ornately colored robe. It's every color of the rainbow and then some. And it's soft. He bows and says "Good sir, at your desire I will supply them with cloth from my personal stash."

The cooks have honeycomb and maple syrup for the children.



Do you count those guys as evil doers? The beggar family are still going to be beggars unless you do something there.



So the women and children leave. What happens to the two guys who did kneel?

You bow, they bow, everybody was bowing, bowing.



So we've got eight guys left? Two of them wish to leave. They fell in love with two of the women who were here. Ya know, in the constant fear of death they had to have something to hold onto. Promises were made, etc.

A third guy was a successful businessman. He wants to leave the city entirely. He has to start over from scratch so he'd rather do it somewhere else.

But that leaves five guys for your council.



Associate Bob thinks it's a marvelous idea..... in about 5 days. Heracles should be here right about then. One thing he loves is a good party. Also, some of the more elaborate food dishes can take 3 days to prepare.

What do you think?

(Doing Therapy)