Josh found himself torn between wanting to 'game' the situation to get the best possible deal, or being defiant and trying to go his own way. Both seemed like bad ideas, for their own reasons. The former because a vow made without sincerity might dangerous, especially with all of the magic shenanigans' at work, and the later because he might as well have been a child stumbling in the dark right now.

After a moment of thought, he replied to Eri's... proposition? It wasn't clear.

"Sure. I'll be the Hephaestus to your Zeus... if that's what I think you're asking?" He shook his head. "But I'm still... ignorant about a lot of this, also still a bit shaken by, you know: dying." He'd barely even had time to think about it, in fact. What about his fish?! Would Jeannine keep feeding them? Or adopt them once she hears the news? Or one of his sisters? Do they even know how to take care of fish? When to change the water? Clean the tank properly?

Thinking of it gave him a small headache.

"I would like you... or maybe the universe... to note that I'm accepting this while feeling under a certain amount of duress. So, just keep that in mind."

The Demilupine might have towered over the doll but that hadn't stopped Eri from staring Dalton down. He had wanted her to explain everything that had happened, or at least give him someone to blame. Instead she had simply been another person like them. Someone ripped from their lives and brought into this strange new world. Another tragic aspect of this poor girl's life. The only thing he had learned was that others before them had been brought to this strange game, or dimension, or whatever. The wolf-man's shoulders slumped and he stepped back so the others could carry on the conversation. At that moment another version of himself heard that there might be some hope and a wave of relief washed over him.

He watched as Euphoria pledged her service to the echo, unsure himself how he felt about this. It seemed some of the others were also somewhat hesitant. In the end what choice did they have? They had been in the world barely an hour before a monster had tried to kill them. They had only survived because Eri herself had sacrificed herself. Dalton turned to Josh, "I understand the reluctance. I know I'm kind of pulling a 180 here but I believe she has our best interest in mind. I guess I never mentioned this but I can sort of sense emotions and intentions? It's hard to describe. Anyway, Eri doesn't seem to be hiding anything that I can sense. She was sincerely willing to die to protect us."

Dalton sighed and the massive demilupine fell to one knee. He slammed a hand to his chest and bowed. He had no idea what formalities he needed to follow but it seemed appropriate. "I won't lie, my primary goal is to find a way back to my home. Unfortunately I fear that I will be here for a very long time. So until that day arrives I swear to serve you Horváth Erika of Csatár. I will be a shield for both you and the others here." He would do whatever it took to live long enough to see his family again.

Uncertain and confused, the Children of the House choose to accept power - if only on their own terms - in exchange for purpose.



"Oh, Starling," Eri gasped in laughter. "I was a serf. I was a human asset legally bound to land. An orphaned one at that. I can hear in your voice - in your Echo - that you were born into a very different society than I was. You're angry about the place you had in life. The only people I knew who were angry like you were the castle-warriors, who looked down at us serfs even while they looked enviously to the free-men and the ennobled. In my lifetime, vassals were the important people. They were people important enough that the King himself acknowledged them, personally, as important. He gave them lands, and lands meant wealth, power and station. No one would ever - how did you put it? - think of being granted vassalage as being anything like enslavement."

She pondered this gulf in understanding with an amused smile on her face. "Vassals tended to live significantly longer than kings . . . "

"We can call this . . . a quest, then. In exchange for your service in slaying a God, I will grant you a Sphere of divine power. Should you fail in this duty, the Sphere will return to me, and your service to me will come to an end. If you succeed, then for the price of a sphere I will release you from my service, and allow you to retain your former fief as an independent freehold."

Eri gently grasped Demilupine's great ears in her hands as he bowed. She dug her fingers into the roots of his ears, giving them a good, slow scratch before retreating. "Of course you want to go home. In all honestly, I hate everything about this place. This world. I preferred the life of an impoverished swineherd. I did not have a family, but in life I had hoped to someday be a mother. In exchange for your shield, I and your fellow new Vassals will do everything we can to get you home to your mate and your pups."

She walked over to the fat rat and sat crosslegged facing him. She seemed to have a thing about "being on the same level." At her glorious height of 155cm, it was rare that she had to move downward to achieve this. "No, I will not accept an oath made under duress. Not an oath like this, that establishes a relationship between us. You . . . were a warrior in your early life, and later a powerful scribe? Or artisan? That part of your echo is . . . difficult for me to comprehend. If you are a craftsman, then I would like you help equip the others. Build their war-machines. Help build this . . . " she gestured to the still waters. "Into something. Consider yourself . . .  a 'contractor'? Someone engaged to perform an ongoing service? Pledge yourself to this Pantheon, rather than me, if that would relieve your duress. Perhaps with a clause like Starling's included."

The Pyromancy directed countered the Shadow magic, leaving the White Prince again nude (save for a little crown that had once been a collar on his head). Yet, yet another application of Shadow magic was able to 'recover' the impression of the clothes that had just burned away as fast as they had been created, solving the problem.

[Pyrmalkin has evolved into White Prince.]

Meanwhile, Scapegoat had a far more dramatic change. Glowing dark then white then dark within a new silhouette, the newborn [Tchernobog] had the torso and head of a woman with blue-black skin,  with curling ram-horns at the side of her head along with the ears of a goat. His or her lower body was that of a large black he-goat, continuing to sport four legs much like a centaur. Ashen "Horns", although they more sinuous than that would suggest, trailed over their back to encircle their shoulders. On each hand were six fingers, and at the forehead was there was a small vertical elliptical void that uncannily resembled an empty eye-socket that contained only darkness. The mouth, too, showed only darkness; neither tongue nor teeth; and the eyes showed only starry void, some manner of baleful light twinkling here and there within the depths.

[Scapegoat] has evolved into [Tchernobog].



Pyrmalkin evolves to White Prince.

BLD +10, FAI +10.

Talents Added: Providence

Skills Added: [Dream Magic LVL1].

Scapegoat evolves to Tchernobog.

SKL +10, INT +10, MND +5.

Talents Added: [Supernal] [Daemonblood]

Baleful Talents Added: [REDACTED LVL1]

Skills Added: [Consume Drugs LVL1] [Pray LVL1] [Absent Scripture LVL1]

This message was last edited by the GM at 12:57, Wed 31 Aug 2022.

[Grimalkin]'s jaw dropped when he saw the transformation of Scapegoat into what ? He had to use [Appraise 4] to even comprehend the otherworldly change in his companion. Then something occurred to him as his eyes moved to [Demilupine] His hands moved up a bit shaking as they approached his face.

He touched soft skin, not fur tracing up over his face his nose human not catlike. After a few moments of exploring his face and ears with his hands he ran his fingers through his hair. He waited for the water ripples to calm then look down at his reflection. He visibly relaxed it wasn't him but it was human. Tilting his head this way then that and then smiling. Hmmm something about his smile. He ran his tongue along his teeth. His canines were a bit longer and sharper then normal but not some vampire like fangs at least.

It was nice to have a human body though he felt a tinge of loss as it was rather fun being a kitten.

He walked out of the water and took a knee beside Demilupine.

"I know I somehow have a sphere already, not sure how but I feel that I can help my fellow cast of characters here. When Josh mentioned Hephaestus to your Zeus, I think I gained an understanding. While I am no Ares, or Athena, and decidedly not Posiedon, I kind of think [Scapegoat], err [Tchernobog] would make a good Hades. Perhaps I could be Hermes. I would like to get [Demilupine] back to his family. I also know where [Lunarian, Lunari, Starling] is coming from. What I am saying is I am here to help, and it would be nice to have help in return."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:54, Wed 31 Aug 2022.

Haloise watches the others get a human body, and she feels a bit of a pang of emptiness at its... complete lack of a human body. Its mind wanders, thinking about home. It thinks about college, the rest of the track team... it had a partner. Not had in a 'I am dead' way, but it clearly remembers the partner coming and staying at it's side, as it's own human body decomposed and died... and then, it remembers the empty space that would have been occupied by them, and the holding of its unmoving hand. It remembers the partner whispering in it's ear before walking out forever.

[I'm sorry.]

JBRO;IWRRRRRRRRR AIUOP[ASJBTE'IJH]POEQBMI0OP[BEO JHVWwgrihwEBVWEYHBWVR8YQEBT8Y8Ihnhyn

error detected; running scantime virus detector... scanning... scanning... emotional link detected. existence of link reducing processing capacity by 120 percent. Executing {coldsteel.exe}

edouOUEHJ9PRUH90U324N0U[BK=025KJM1]1I0981\180T1HUJ-[81[JU13JU2[HNV1

Haloise shuts the thought out of its head. Such a thing cannot be allowed. That thought does not exist. It is gone. Haloise takes a few ticks of existence to catch it's breath... it needs to offload this stress - in the real world, it's expanding out to touch every weapon held by every person, and gripping them tight. The more steel it binds, the more processing power it gets, and little by little, that emotion is blotted out and replaced by practicing how to think with all the extra information it has access to. It takes a deep breath... and decides to ignore everything else, instead letting it's being fall on the Stellar magic etched into it's being. In manipulates this in the real world.

Starling nodded affirmatively and knowingly at Eri.

"Eri my dear? You're absolutely right. I was raised and lived in a very different society than yours, and we have different concepts of freedom and lifestyle. But especially in an Isekai like this - which I realize you probably don't know what that is but basically - like this Godhunter universe we're in now - I think retaining as much absolute freedom as possible is important to me. Because even back on Earth in a way we were more free than people of your time, but yet...we were stifled in other ways. So I apologize if I said anything weird." he said.

"But I won't take something from you for nothing, even if I return some token of goodwill back to you or something. So the quest you propose is one that I accept the terms of! Essentially, I'm being lent the use of a sphere in exchange for going on a quest to kill a god. Any god will do for our deal, mind you. And if I succeed I will return your sphere to you in exchange for my freehold domain. I think that's fair - I get the freehold essentially in exchange for slaying one of your enemies. I don't feel this harms me, and if I can make an enemy of yours disappear too Eri then all the better!" Starling said.

Starling accepts Eri's quest.

He then looked at [Grimalkin] evolving for real this time into the White Prince, while Scapegoat evolved even more drastically into a ram-woman [Tchernobog]!

And then Starling sensed that there was a secret in [Tchernobog]'s evolution, and wondered. The redaction indicated potential danger, but in Godhunter high risk high reward was also a thing. Especially since [Corruption] seemed to have some connection to Starling's growing evolution.
And so Starling took a closer, deper glimps into the Redaction, beyond what the other's could see right now. He willed [Illuminatio] to NOT allow the others this glimps, though, lest they accidentally all get harmed. He'd take the risk and glimpse it himself.

Starling uses [Illuminatio] - twice if needed - to attempt to learn what baleful talent Scapegoat/[Tchernobog] just learned.

Josh nodded.
"I can work with that. Contractor it is." He nodded at Eri, as she was so close and 'on his level', he did take the opportunity to get a closer look at her. Obviously the others had also tried to appraise her, but as she was in such a proximity, he wondered if her could mimic her at all?
"Um... sure, I can 'build' gear and stuff, and this place. But uh... I'm wondering: why is one part of my, uh, 'race' dedicated to engineering, and the other part dedicated to mimicry?" His tiny rat eyes narrowed, and he almost looked embarrassed. "Would you be bothered if I tried to use my mimicry power on you? Would that even be possible?"

If she agrees, he concentrates on her a moment, and makes the attempt to [Appraise] and [Mimic] Eri. Was it even possible to mimic a doll goddess?

A resolution has nearly been reached, yet two remain undecided. A few poor decisions are made.

The water twinkles under distant stars, expectant.



Eri smiled slightly at our her own miniature self. "A little sister? Why thank you, Young Dwarf."

Being Eri felt . . very light. Almost like he could float away any second. Stress seemed to just . . . float away. Young Dwarf felt as if he'd just woken up from a deep, restful slumber. His thoughts were slow and bright under the influence of borrowing Eri's [Lone Candle] talent. He vision was blurred; everything was dark, save himself and the others, who shone brightly. It hurt to look at the others; then he realized it wasn't his own hurt, it was the depths of suffering the others had felt. Confusion, betrayal, ennui, loneliness. Nobody here had led a happy life. Except Earthborn - there was barely any pain to him at all.

Eri restricted his use of [Lone Candle]. "Not too pretty, huh? We have to do what we can for them." she whispered.



The yellow-bright ember flared, glowing with strength. Further away, a new face appeared - a Ghost-Eater, without the bone armor or spear. Smaller, too, and with the secondary set of eyes not yet fully developed. [Restless Dead] joined the group. He wore baggy clothing with ample pockets, including a backpack. He had small rectangular device in his hand. As far as he knew, he'd just . . . oh. He'd been riding his bike and gotten an alert on his phone about a new job. Then . . . he'd appeared here. The last thing he'd seen was a sudden shadow cast over him, and whoosh of wind. A truck?

[Welcome, Restless Dead, to the Valley of Echoes.]



Lunarian looked into what he shouldn't.



Eri looked towards the spear, giving her an uncertain look. "Haloise, was it? I have the assent of the other eight . .  arrivals. What say you, now? Do you care to enter my service in some capacity, for some duration, for the purpose of destroying what aims to destroy you? How can I assist you?"

Azalea had to admit, she had a point about vassals living longer. Vassaldom didn't sound so bad if there was godhood up for grabs. Besides, she sympathized with Eri. Life never gave her a chance. She never got to experience the thrill of competitive gaming. Truly, history's greatest tragedy. "I accept your proposal of vassaldom. I hope my sight beyond sight may be of use to you."

Normally, Azalea would balk at the idea of servitude, but it was the best chance she had a survival so far. It was a great boon of resources and the more she had to work with in early game, the better.

And it sounded like it might not be impossible to send the others back, after all. Interesting. If they played their cards right, maybe this could work out for everyone.

"So what is our next step? Where would your guidance lead us?" She asked Eri. "I admit, I'm eager to take the first steps into godhood."

The Restless Dead looked around, unusually calm in what would otherwise be a traumatic experience. He looked at his hands, and noticed the cellphone before the gray skin. Almost instintively, he held the power button to turn it off. It was best to conserve the battery, and to prevent any unwanted noise. Had he died? If so, he had gotten the short stick when it came to an afterlife. The place surrounding him seemed strangely familiar, however, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Groggily walking towards the Ember, figures started appearing before him.

"Hel---". The sound of his voice startled him. It was way more raspy than he remembered it. He shook his head, and continued. "Hello? Where... where am I?"

Turned to look at [Restless Dead] eyes narrowing a little, "Is that another Ghost Eater ? Hello, not quite sure where we are." Using [Curiosity] on the area. "Ah were in the Valley of Echoes." Grim rose and approached the newcomer cautiously.

"So, your hopefully not here to fight us, forgive me but you have the appearance of a being who recently tried to kill me and my new friends."

Looking at the almost Ghost Eater Grim felt something like his back rising it was an odd sensation. Then POP he was a kitten again.

"Reow fffft mrow."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:22, Fri 02 Sept 2022.

Josh blushed a little bit at being called a 'little sister' and tried not to focus too much on the feeling of lightness and grace that came with being a miniature version of Eri. It was refreshing, given the form he'd had so far, and wouldn't at all have minded holding on to that feeling for as long as he could. But it wasn't his form to keep. Something he knew deep down. Instead he focused on the others and on the profound power of empathy that Eri apparently saw the world with. The power called [Lone Candle].

Josh had never thought of himself as acutely depressed, or as a very sad person. A bit lost perhaps, and unguided, but his wasn't a life of sorrow. The others clearly had things going on in their previous lives, and it wasn't clear how much of that remained with them. If what he saw with this power was any indication, they still all carried quite a bit of it.

When she took the power back, Josh also released the mimicry of her form, ballooning back out into a fat rat once again. The weight settled on him almost as heavily as the sorrow that the others felt, and he sighed.
"Thank you." He squeaked, then cleared his throat just in time for the newcomer to arrive.

Josh immediately activated [Appraisal] and took a step back. "Whoah... that's dark." He squeaked again, in rat. He cleared his throat a second time and switched to a language the newcomer would understand. "Um... hello? Yes, uh, this is sort of a liminal space that exists purely as a shared, uh, 'divine' consciousness. I think. That probably doesn't help explain anything." He looked around at the others, hoping they could explain things better.

A cat and a rat resting together by the fire. What a peculiar sight.

"I... I don't believe I'm your enemy. I certainly don't intend to fight you. I'm not... from here..."

Suddenly, the flickering ember brought back memories. He remembered what this world was now. He'd pinch himself to see if this was a dream, but he feared that, if it wasn't, his skin may come off.

He turned to the rat.

"I believe I understand. This is a sort of hub. Are you... players? Or natives of this world?"

Looks at the pads of his feets and mrows lowly, whiskers sagging.

Looking up at [Restless Dead] he points at him when he says players with a paw. Since that is the closest that had been summarized by the others so far.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 15:59, Fri 02 Sept 2022.

(Note: everything going on in this post, until I say otherwise, is happening in the 'emotional' spectrum, meaning that only characters who can percieve the emotional spectrum, currently Eri and Young Dwarf, see what is happening. Thank you.}

GM NOTE: This also includes Demilupine via his [Familiar] talent.

Haloise has a lot going on in it's head right now. It's still sorting through all the new weapons, and the biometric data of every person in it's zone of control. It's getting jabbered at by the Young Dwarf, and now Eridoll is... asking something about becoming a servant? Huh? Assent? It pauses... no, no more pausing. Pausing isn't good enough, it decides. It needs to be able to spend more time thinking. Why can't it think properly? Running a basic diagnosis shows nothing out of the ordinary. Looking in more detail...

[error: REDACTED]

Huh. This has only been redacted for a few minutes. Since the battle with the undead-types, back in the crypt. Why was this censored? It tries to look a bit deeper, and it's hit with a wall. In it's mind... there's an entire zone of it's processing power that has been sealed away. It's running in such a way where Haloise cannot observe it's processes. Nothing it processes can get out... but nothing can get in either, no matter how much Haloise prods at it. Think, Haloise, think... and then, it clicks. The first thought Haloise redacted had to do with the seal on that dagger - it was a cognitohazard, though Haloise does not remember why. The amount of processing power Haloise has tucked away to just isolate that 'virus' shouldn't be that large. The reason it's so large is that... Haloise panicked, or acted on autopilot, or however you wanna rationalize it - Haloise put it's emotions in the virus box.

...

Haloise was content for a moment, having figured out the issue, before panic started raising in it's body. If it's emotions were isolated, how is it panicking? Did it not put away all it's emotions, or was the patchwork seal that Haloise put in not working at full efficency. leaking contaminated emotions out? It... it can't let it stay. It's too dangerous. Even if it's...

[You really need to calm down, Hal.]

It blinks. And... it understands more. It understands what this corruption is doing. And now, it has a solution. It's vision falls on the [Administrate] talent. At the end of the day... of everything, this is what Haloise wants to keep. The best way to do that is to make what you want to keep a core part of processing. Haloise reaches out... no, it reaches within. Very slowly, it's grip shortened away from the blades it held, instead using that processing power to [ADMINISTRATE]. Eventually, Haloise was ready. If it had a heart, it would be beating at 100 miles per second. It has no time to panic, even if it feels the tinge of an entire lifetime worth of experiences as the only thing it it's consciousness.

Next step, Haloise reaches to the side of the spear, gripping the [Stellar Magic] runes forged into the weapon and using that as a focus. From that one spot it holds, it channels a very tiny amount of Stellar magic, just enough to guide her being slightly apart to remove the contaminated matter.

It was the most painful thing Haloise had ever experienced, and that was just a nudge. Haloise grits its teeth, and grabs onto one more thing nearby, for comfort. The dagger sitting at Euphoria's hip is near her hand, so Haloise reaches out to the dagger, bunny-hopping off of it to feel Euphoria's hand, and, higher up on the arm, the one thing Haloise needed to hear: her pulse. It's fast, as if Euphie's under a constant panic attack, but that's a secondary concern. Haloise focuses on the sound of Euphoria heartbeat.

Badump, badump

It moves closer to the starry sky once more, nd although its tryng it's b4st to keep things in order, Haloise is having trouble thnking and conveying thogts. It doesn't need to think, thankfully - [Administrate] is doing tht fr it.

Badump, Badump

Little by little, Haloise inches towards a completely open soul. Every fabric of it's being stretches across - when Haloise's old body got injured, they didn't bother giving it painkillers on account of the coma. Haloise felt every invasive procedure and careless rotation on it's body... and now, with it's entire being stripped away all that remains is a small metal ball bearing. The orbl slowly begins glowing red - crimson fluid seeps out, taking a vaugely humanoid form. The creature looks down at one of it's appendages...

badump, badump

And Haloise snaps into action.

 A bolt of starlight falls from the sky, striking the crimson figure once. The figure looks upwards, and it is suddenly pelted with rain after rain of righteous fury. At one point, long, sharp claws come up and try to strike the sunlight away, but it is no use - ray after ray fires forcing the other one to stop blocking and start dodging. This proves more effective - each missed shot gives the red one a chance to look around, for who it's fighting. The unfortunate truth is that... Haloise, even on the emotional spectrum, doesn't actually 'exist;' it can only manipulate things within existence. Usually a terrible fatal flaw, this is exactly what Haloise needs right now to stay protected. It seems the foe understands this, too, because it changes tactics.

[Really, Hal? You never won any of our spats.] There's no response for a moment. The red one listens for something it can use.

badump, badump

A wry expression crosses it's being.

[Someone else's heart is already in your head? Wow, you get over things quick. I thought you loved me.]

A flurry of blasts fires in Red's direction. The creature vanishes away.

[Face it, Hal. You'll never beat me fairly, but you're not even trying to play smart. I mean, have you even been trying to hit me this entire time>]

badump, badump

Haloise's reply to it's other self is a simple word.

[No.]

[What do you mean, no?]

Haloise felt this was a good time to enact it's gambit. Red freezes up as a clump of light appears from below and wraps around it's foot. It looks down, and, much to late, realizes it's folly. Wvery missed or deflected ray during this bout strikes out from the water, revealing the obvious hiding place: each star in the night sky has it's counterpart in the reflection of the water - Haloise was simply biding it's time and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

badump, badump

It worked. The red half starts to get smaller and smaller as pure white light doesn't strike, but sticks to it's target. The figure struggles, obviously, but to no avail: soon, all that's left is a red 'head' surrounded by a walls of pure starlight.

[C'mon, Hal, remember the good times?]

[You're not allowed to call me that anymore.] Another figure appears, one of pure starlight - Haloise. The figure of pure light takes a step forward, and it's arm slowly morphs into the head of a spear. Red begins expressing panic.

[W-who do you think you are? You can't do this to me!!]

[Yes I can.] The tip of Haloise's spear is put to the throat of the red one. The red one begin expressing anger.

[Y-you bitch! You'll never be more than a tool, you hear?!] This gets her to stop... to think. Haloise takes a moment, and then speaks.

[If I am destined to be used by everyone I come across, so be it. I will defy that destiny every time. There are 107 drowned souls, me included, and one hoarded by the thin vineer of godhood. I can't do anything when I am apart, so I must become whole... and, I can't do that if you're getting in the way, my feelings.]

The Feelings screams loudly, not listening to the words Haloise said.

{P-please, show mercy! I... I don't want to be bottled away again. Remember what happened last time you bottled me away?]

Haloise responds with a flick of her wrist. The Feelings' head drops to the floor and slowly sinks into the endless sea - the rest is sealed away in a sphere of starlight as dense as a neutron core, and inside, was all the bad stuff that will prevent Haloise from become whole again.

[MERCY WAS A HALOISE THING. PRYDWIN DOES THINGS DIFFERENT.]

_____________________________Meanwhile, back in the real world_____________________________


Wherever the spear is right now, it suddenly flings out of it's holder's hands. The spear slowly rotates in the air, before becoming a pure white light. The light rotates for a moment, taking a humanoid form. Two arms, and two legs... then, three of the four limbs are hacked off, leaving only an arm. Then, the light is... encapulated. From seemingly nowhere, marble-ceramic sculptures begin taking form. First, it's nothing, but as they layer on top of the prismatic energy, it starts to take a more specific form. It's tall, even without the meter and a half long spears sticking out of either leg stub. If it was sitting on the ground on it's butt, it'd still be a couple of inches taller than Euphoria. Another spear takes it's spot in the right arm, while the left hand is holding Euphoria's own swordhand, as if still being wielded.

It looks down at Euphoria for a moment, the long, ceramic fingers on it's free hand absently thumbing the Shage's palm, before it lets go, taking shaky steps like a newborn fawn. Eventually, it makes it across the circle, staring down at Eri with the emotionless ceramic mask. It crouches very low, it's neck extending downwards with a complex, mechanic chain system. Looking Eri in the eyes, speaks... aloud.

"You saw that, I think. Take care of this for me." It slowly reaches its one fingered hand out, placing the [Neutron Core] in Eri's possession. Emblazoned on the front is a single word - Prydwin.

"Keep this safe - and the Schwertgeist, Prydwin will come in your time of need."

The Liese Schwertgeist forces an evolution into a [Schwertgeist], severing a piece of it's soul from it's body and offering it to Eri, and in the process, naming itself Prydwin.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:37, Fri 02 Sept 2022.

The wolf-man lifted his head just in time to spot the echo of a goddess grasp his ears. 'Okay well that's a bit clich...' his thought was cut off as she started to scratch. 'Wow, that feels nice. Like scratching an itch I didn't even realize I had.' When he snapped out of the good vibe he nodded confirmation to Eri's promise. It warmed Dalton's heart to know that others wanted him to return as well. His mood lightened a good deal he stood up and turned to watch.

It seemed others were shifting forms, something he recalled others had mentioned they had experienced? Dalton was aware he himself had some sort of "evolution" although he doubted the conditions would be met here. Unsure of how to respond he simply flashed a thumbs up to [Grimalkin] and [Tchernobog] The Demilupine sensed a brief spike of erratic emotions from his [Familiar] talent but when it quickly faded he ignored it and watched.

Instead he focused on the newest individual to walk towards the embers. Dalton counted the heads to make sure this wasn't just a new form of someone else, it was difficult to keep track of what everyone looked like. When it was obvious that this person was in fact new the demilupine stepped forward and offered a hand to [Restless Dead]. "Hey. My name is Dalton. I know we look like a knock off cast of the Monster Mash but don't freak out. I know you're probably confused. It's a long story but the short version is that we're all people from Earth who were taken to this world. You probably know it as the game 'Godhunter'. There's a lot of weird monster's out there but you should be safe here."

Dalton would have said more but the erratic emotions were back. Unlike the spike before this one lingered. The sensation was decidedly not pleasant and he looked for the source. He scanned the crowd until he saw Euphoria and Haloise. As he started to approach he grabbed his head in a futile gesture to block the emotions. The emotions were too fast and too complex, compared to emotions he sense from the others. By the time he walked over whatever event had finished. The demilupine could do little but watch as [Leise Schwertgeist] shifted into it's new form. "Umm, I'm not sure what just happened but that seemed intense. Are you okay?"

"That's somewhat reassuring. Glad to meet you, Dalton. My name is... Or was? It was Dorival. It doesn't feel like it belongs to me anymore as I say it out loud."

Despite a flesh eating undead not being his first choice, seeing all this animal forms couldn't help but make the Restless Dead feel like he got lucky with his new form.

Euphoria tried to recover from the scare Grimalkin gave her. Wasn't every day that someone went from cat to boy in front of your very eyes. Especially while you were bending down, scruffling their head. She picked herself up out of the water and stood up again. And just when she was starting to get dry again. Auuugh. Grimalkin's transformation was shortlived with the arrival of the Restless Dead. Who promptly introduced themselves as Dorival. Euphoria had already gotten into a fighting stance, throwing her hands up in front of her face, ready for a fight. "Wait, that's not a Ghost-Eater?" she asked the others. With hesitation, she relaxed her body, but she continued to side-eye the stranger until his situation was thoroughly explained. So, it seemed this was just another possible race in the purgatory roulette. Freaky. "If you want, you can always give yourself a new name," Euphoria suggested with a smug look. Because she thought her's was just so good. "I'm Euphoria of the Golden Hands. Totally original character. Do not steal."

Her attention was drawn to Azalea pledging her allegiance to Eri. Unlike most of the others, there was no hesitation. No questions asked. Simple, blissful acceptance. Interesting. Euphoria couldn't help but be reassured that someone else was so willing to throw themselves at this world for the sake of power. Was there something specific the Callisti saught? She already knew so much about this world, maybe she knew something she didn't. Or was just running away from something? She would have to pry later. Perhaps when they were alone. Euphoria was starting to feel a little guilty for taking such delight in her turn of luck at the cost of her companions' despair.

Euphoria reached to hold Haloise close for comfort, only to find the spear was long gone. That's right, she was being inspected by Starling and the others. On instinct, she called out for the weapon with her mind, aching for the familiar voice to reverberate in her skull. She felt their souls - or was it their minds? - touch, and Euphoria was suddenly overwhelmed with a terrible, aweful feeling.

The Unblooded Shage could not imagine the battle going on in Haloise's soul, and if she did, she might have warned the mighty weapon about killing a part of herself. The softest part of herself. But then, she would be a hypocrite, wouldn't she? But Euphoria did feel the torment and the pain that flowed from her and the weapon's psychic connection. Even as she was held by someone else, she felt the knife at her side tremor, and she grasped it, squeezing as though it were Haloise's hand. New tears welled up in her eyes as she felt her friend tear into the core of themselves and render out the light. The spear flew into the sky and began to glow. The same glow that Grimalkin and Starling and Tchernobog shared. But this one was sadder, somehow. Though, it was maybe not her right to say what was sad or not for Haloise to shed.

Beside her, a creature grew. Its form slowly took shape into what some would call monstrous, but Euphoria refused to let go. Not until it grew flesh and a voice. "Haloise?" Euphoria called for her, squeezing the hand so hard it might burst if not for her friend's new enormous stature. But this was no time to become a crying, sniveling mess. Haloise tried to stand in her new body, and the Unblooded Shage tried to help her, until it became obvious that she was no longer needed. Only then did their hands let go of one another. The wielder relinquished the weapon to its own life, and she could not be happier.

It came to attention that now half of them had taken on their first transformation. Euphoria was not the sort to understand how, but in her heart, she did understand why. She turned to Eri, new determination in her burning eyes.

"If I'm supposed to be a shield for my allies and a sword against our enemies, then... is it possible to alleviate the others from that responsibility? I have nothing to go back home to, but that's not the case for everyone," Euphoria said. "And if they can't go back to their lives, then do they still have to fight?" Dalton's torment weighed heavy on her. She could not get the expression he made when they slayed the Ghost-Eater out of her head. It was worse than watching the body slide off its own knee like butter in a hot pan.

"Let me take the burden of killing from our friends who don't want it. I've been fighting my whole life. I can take it."

There had always been fighting. When the boys ganged up on her, threatening her to stay out of their sports and away from their girlfriends. And their girlfriends, who mocked her baggy shirts and called her worse things than their boyfriends could ever conjure. She became a teen full of vinegar. And bitterness. Revenge. Whatever the motive, she swore she would show them all. One day she'd be beautiful and rich and stronger than all of them, and she didn't care what it cost. She'd make them eat the swampy dirt they all crawled out of - like the crawdads, all poor and hard and knowing nothing but competition. And by the time she was halfway there, she'd half forgotten the bullying. It was barely a tremor compared to all the pressures that finally turned her into a diamond. Was it her parents? The scholarship? The chance to spend her days reading Stein and Oliver in a big library? Then agonizing over the choice between her body and her mind?

One never seemed to fail her. Until it finally did. Then it was too late to choose again.

"Let everyone build. Let them plot, let them shield us, and protect the part of them that still dreams of home. There's only one thing I've ever been good at -" Throwing punches. Moving to the beat of blood pounding in her ears. Resting only to pose in luxury tennis shoes, then going home to bandage the blisters between her toes.

The Unblooded Shage threw her fist into her own hand and grinned, teeth and lips black like she just bit off an ear from her enemy. Then she turned to her comrades. "Give this dumb bitch something to live for." It was them. All of them. Finally, a new purpose.

It was them.

[Unblooded Shage] chooses to evolve into [Freshblood Shage].
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Sat 03 Sept 2022.

Why did I change back? He thought to himself. tilting his head as he sat on his haunches. Was it the newcomer?

His mind flickered back to the memory of being stabbed in the side by the [Ghost Eater]
The memory made him wince and let out a tiny yowl. [Grimalkin] back peddled a bit and centered himself. It wasn't that monster it was just his appearance; it must have brought back these memories. Was that why he changed?

He could tell now that the new guy was one of them and not a [Ghost Eater] Good ole Dalton [Demilupine] had taken the initiative to introduce the new guy to the group. There was a reason [Eri] had said to trust his leadership.

Just as he was looking on, he caught sight of the spear suddenly flying and moving on its own. his pupils got big as he saw it changing. Was it Haloise or the spear a quick [Appraise] let him know it was Haloise. It was another Evolution!

For the few who could tell what he was saying he said, "You go Haloise ! a kitty smile on his face at the fascinating change. Wow she is tall .
To the others a purring slow mrooooooow came from him.

He saw her name tag change to [Leise Schwertgeist]

As he watched her also come to an agreement with [Eri] He heard Euphoria [Unblooded Shage] start to talk and as she did, he listened to her silently. He felt sad from what she said. She was more than just a sword and shield. To care about others as much as she was displaying.

He padded over and put a supportive paw on her foot and looked up to her.

There was utter disgust and terror on Eri's face, which abruptly curdling into raw, seething hatred.

The waters that surrounded the island of sand were pulled against by some grand tide, still water building into choppy waves moment by timeless moment.

"What have you done, blade-beast-" she whispered. "-To my daughter?"

"I may be but a doll in the shape of the shadow of a goddess, but within this place, I am queen." She said as she choke-slammed Prydwen into the sand and mounted her in one movement. Her petite form was surprisingly heavy. Eri's knees held down Prydwen's spear-legs, and one arm restrained the spear-arm. "By the assent of nine, I may serve as the tenth. Inhuman beast of blades, by the might of this Pantheon I bind you."

"I call to the strength of Lyngel, and grant her also a male spirit and name, Lajos; and station them at my outer gate as their Fief. I call to the faith of Grim, and station him at my inner gate as Fief. In so doing, I partition this from that, and I bind you, beast of blades, within it."

"I call to the four corners, and I station the wise within them, and give to them mighty towers as their fiefs; To the Earthborn I grant the name Varadi, and as his Fief the Tower of Daemons; to the Lunari I have granted the name Starling, and as his Fief I grant him the Tower of Storms; to the Tchnernobog I grant the name Rajmund, and I grant him the Tower of the Dead; and to VALENCE I grant the Tower of Spirits."

"By these noble names, by the weight of family, I call to those who witness: I bind this one, this beast of blades, to my service, to the service of my house, and to the service of her family."

The ember was flaring bright, as tongues and tails of flame embraced Eri. They no longer stood on sand, but stone, and the stone rose as a pillar from the lake; and the water of the wake rose with great anger to crash against the pillar as four grand towers rose from the lakebed.

"I call to the four winds, and I station the brave within them, and give to them great wings of the Citadel as their Fiefs; to clever Young Dwarf I give the name Sarolt, in recognition of her spirit and grant her the Wing of Fire; to clever Demilupine I give the name Atilla, in recognition of his spirit and grant him the Wing of Water; to the newborn Restless Dead I give the name Domonkos, and grant him the Wing of Earth; and lastly, I bind this beast of blades to the Wing of Air forevermore."

Four great sections of castle rose to join the four towers together, and connecting the towers to the inner and outer gates. From sand, water and faith was born the Last Citadel, a far greater thing than the Lost House.

"As the eleventh of ten, I grant myself the styling of Regina Damnatorum. I bind these ten to me by the weight of their oaths, by the weight of their blood, and by the weight of my love. I bind this beast of blades to herself and to he name, Prdywen; may the will and might of the Citadel suffice to replace what this beast has lost."

Chains sixteenfold embraced Prydwen, binding the inhuman elemental to human motive, human purpose, and human emotion. So long as this Pantheon stood, she would be able to function as a human being rather than some alien, emotionless creature. Her physical form, similarly, would be humanesque and whole so long as she served the Pantheon.

Lines of power like lightning slowed to a crawl leapt from the Ember, which erupted in a shower of sparks and a belch of smoke into a pillar of flame. As the lightning swept each of those born of the House in it's embrace, the whole of the space shuddered as it rose from the shadow into the light. The pillar of life-flame settled into the sky, a newborn Sun; and the rays of the sun fell on the Last Citadel, bestowing life and strength.

They were each as a shining jewel that reflected, in its many facets, every other jewel; they saw themselves and one another and saw how they were seen, and were shaped into something more true. The Pantheon was formed, its eleven members raised to demidivinity.

The Azure Water left Eri's eyes as cerulean tears. She was, for the first time since coming to this universe, really alive.

She rose from her former posture, helping Prydwen to her feet. "I bind you, lastly, to the heart of of Lyngel-Lajos, and give you to them as both wife and blade. It was her heart that strengthened you through this act of - I cannot decide in what proportion to call it courage or idiocy - and you owe that heart a great debt." She took the hand of Lyngel-Lajos, the newly born Freshblood Shage, and joined with the only surviving hand of Prydwen. "Lyngel-Lajos, as your liege, I give you as both spouse and bearer to Prydwen. May your proud heart serve in place of hers."

The matrimony concluded, she addressed the others. "I have upheld my part of your oaths and strengthened each of you. This is our home, now. A war is not won by warriors alone. We are surrounded at all sides by enemies unknown. We are underequipped, undermanned, and understrength. Those who will join the first Hunt, go to the bright-moon, the realm of Ilan, whose cannibal-lord is Urzu, the Slavering Deus. Those who believe they may best serve as craftsmen and researchers, your Fiefs await you. We will need spell and steel in equal measure. Time is against us. The Hunt is afoot, for the Gods and we Godlings both."



Unblooded Shage evolves to Freshblood Shage.

STR +10, INS +5, INT +5.

Title Added: Spouse-Bearer of Prydwen

Talents Added: [Frenzy] [Rally]

Skills Added: [Slaughter Magic LVL1] [Cool LVL1] [Dodge LVL 1]

Leise Schwertgeist evolves into Schwertgeist.

NO SKILL MODIFICATION / ERROR / NO SKILLS / ERROR ? / ERROR ?

Title Added: Scion of Tiamet, Sword-Wife of Lyngel-Lajos

Talents Added: [Pure Soul LVL3] [Manifest Spirit: Weapon]

Skills Added: [Psychosurgery LVL1]



[The Pantheon is formed.

All players ascend to demidivinity, in accordance with the Constrained Apotheosis Protocols.

Each player now understands a divine revelation the entire contents of the Settings and Rules thread, and will continue to understand it as it is updated via their [Metacognition] talent.

Each player now understands the entirety of the occurrences in the archived House threads.

Shortly, there will be a truncated form of each player's character sheet available for open viewing, listing the names of talents and skills but no their descriptions.

You may exist within one Fief and one Quest thread at any one time, a miraculous divine ability known as Bilocation.

Eri can trasmit you to other worlds by opening portals, should you wish to join in on a Quest if you are not already involved in one.

If you are not on a Quest, you may exist in two Fiefs at once, and vice versa if you are not in any Fiefs then you may be on two Quests at once. By invoking Eri's name, you can be transported from a Quest location back to the Last Citadel.]

Each player is allowed one reaction post to this thread, then a new thread will be created to continue the story.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:21, Sun 04 Sept 2022.

Haloise would have been confused at the words, it's head tilting to the side very slowly. Haloise was certain that it did the right thing, but the binding didn't exactly hurt. It let it happen, being knocked to the ground with a large splash. The chains pierce it's being, but it doesn't have the capacity to respond to pain more than a notification of injury. The golden chains intermingle with Haloise's own silvery energy, two of the 'links' turning into a deep silvery hue as opposed to Eri's more yellow light. The castle walls rose around them... and then, once the dust has settled, Haloise speaks, this time in the more familiar mental voice instead of the gutteral noise that came out of it's mouth.

[Would it be better if I spoke like this?] It asks, the same inflection in it's voice as before, but more focused and less distracted. It shifts a bit, bending it's spears at it's knees  so it's ready to get up. Haloise isn't crazy, at least. For now. [Can you get off me? I am the Swordbeast, or whatever you called me. It's me.]

[Grimalkin] Watched wide eyed the attack of Haloise, certainly a surprise. Watched the evolution of [Euphoria, Unblooded Shage; Haloise, Leise Schwertgeist] his heart was beating fast he didn't know if the dangerous action taken by [Eri] would hurt [Haloise, Leise Schwertgeist].

He approached slowly hearing the talk between the two. He placed a paw on [Eri] gently. He didn't understand what was going on and why she attacked [Haloise, Leise Schwertgeist] He just calmly kept his paw on her to hopefully calm the situation.

His eyes looked to [Euphoria, Freshblood Shage] then back to the two he was near.

Starling was quite surprised by all of this. Not so much by the whole Eri0giving-spheres thing, as he was by the sudden angry and violent outburst from Eri and Leise's VERY strange evolution, then the spear elemental thing, then somehow she split apart and was a separate weapon again.

<"Eri...stop! What are you doing? What's wrong? Wha...?!" he exclaimed suddenly as she pounced on Leise and bound the swordbeast elemental.

"What is happening, Eri? Leise? Eri I know you have affection for the rest of us, as [Illuminatio] would have revealed if you were secretly feeling otherwise. So why did you do that? Why the anger and brutal binding? And Leise what in the HELL is going on with your body? How are you a sword beast bound AND a separate weapon-self more similar to how you were a fire poker when we first met you?" he asked suddenly.

As he asked and witnessed this, he [Appraised] the heck out of both Leise and her Swordbeast forms, and also Eri as well to try and determine any changes. With [Illuminatio] he made sure if they were keeping things secret he'd know (he pings twice for anything REDACTED), and if necessary he uses [Feng Shui] to better read the energy flows in Leise, Swordbeast, and Eri as well.

Josh, now Sarlot apparently, could only stand-back and watch, wide-eyed and mouth-gaping, as Eri leapt into action and did... a bunch of stuff that the Young Dwarf wasn't entirely sure that they could follow. The action and grand proclamations were almost enough to mask the other weird little turn of words that came along with Eri's announcement. The name, and the pronouns used when she'd addressed 'him'. Should he have corrected her? It didn't seem like the time. Of course, 'he' hadn't actually checked to confirm. But it wasn't something someone was generally unsure about. So, 'Sarlot' said nothing, and just shook-off the word-usage in favor of trying to grasp what all else was going on!

Euphoria was still holding Haloise when the world began to change, and everything went to shit. She watched in anguish as her companion's elemental form was thrown to the ground, and chained to the earth. "What are you doing?" she cried, her own rage building to the surface. She choked on it and glanced at the wild eyes of the others. Her gaze met Grim's. They shared a look of disbelief and terror, which rattled a plea from Euphoria's throat. "Don't hurt her, please!"

She felt Haloise's hand slip away as the creature was bound. Euphoria tried to go to them, but the waves Eri summoned crashed against her, and she could barely control her body in the center of this world-shattering storm.

"I call to the strength of Lyngel, and grant her also a male spirit and name, Lajos; and station them at my outer gate as their Fief."

Euphoria's body began to glow, though it was obscured in the chaos of the kingdom's creation. The Ember burst with light and engulfed her, blinding her from the might of it all. But she felt the shudder of the earth beneath her feet rise, and the water fell away as they were all lifted into the air. Into divinity. Euphoria blinked through the dazzling light and in awe, looked upon the Pantheon. Each shimmering, each reflecting the light to and from one another, all pieces of a shattered diamond. She looked upon their new forms though she could not see her own.

Then she looked down, and Haloise's hand was returned to her's, guided by Eri. "I bind you, lastly, to the heart of Lyngel-Lajos, and give you to them as both wife and blade. It was her heart that strengthened you through this act of - I cannot decide in what proportion to call it courage or idiocy - and you owe that heart a great debt. Lyngel-Lajos, as your liege, I give you as both spouse and bearer to Prydwen. May your proud heart serve in place of hers."

"Huh?" Was the only vow Euphoria managed to spit out. Then she looked at Haloise, and then back at Eri. All her anger melted away into pure embarrassment and shock. Did she just become a god? More importantly, did she just get married? "Huuuuuuh? Bu-bu-but I-! Bu-bu-but we-! I don't even-! I mean I do but - hey wait a minute! This is pretty sudden, and I always imagined having a big wedding! I can't plan all that right now that would be a nightmare!" Certainly the panicked, stupified look on her face was a good sign of things to come.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:10, Wed 07 Sept 2022.