The thundering of the waves grew in volume and force. The wind themselves caught flame, showering the sea in billions of yellow-bright sparks. Perception twisted; they were each one another, each echoes of one another, each echoes of echoes. Yourself and the other and the Others and -  towers of death and stars, twisting labyrinths, abyssal pits, dark and cold woods, grand halls, living walls, a sky of swords -

Your consciousnesses were spun into a new physical body within your fief.

Meanwhile, a part of you - not a true body, just part of your mind, remained here. A hearth cheerily warmed by a yellow-bright hearth. Candles covered the edges of the room that had no exit doors, candles gathered in chandeliers above, and candles rested in the middle of scattered low tables with comfortable chairs. Servants only visible in direct candle-light brought refreshments as requested; cocoa, hot cider, coffee.

Eri's doll-body sits slumped in a grand chair atop eleven steps, asleep.

Every dream must have a dreamer, her voice faintly echoed throughout the room. I have become both queen of the lost, and a lost queen.

You may leave this place, or return, by willing so. I would enjoy being a mostly silent party to conversation. You may also hear me - and I may hear you - in any part of the Citadel.

My apologies for the suddenness of all this and the appearance of violence. A Binding is - not exactly a spell, it is a working, one that relies on - authority, and something like 'narrative weight.' Had I left her to her own devices a moment longer, we would have a blade-being that could cut minds, with no humanity to speak of, in our midst. And we would have lost a daughter, a sister, and a - a wife, now.

She sounded exhausted.

[This is a thread for conversing with other players in character. Those familiar with Godhunter would recognize it as a heavily customized "Guild Chat VR Room". No actions requiring GM resolution can be taken here.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:01, Wed 07 Sept 2022.

[Grim] curled up by the hearth purring happily and waiting for the others to arrive.

... So this is the global chat room.

Domonokos joined [Grim] and Eri by the fire.

"This is moving really fast for me... I was alive not long ago, in a foreign land... and then I died, and now I'm... I can't even say for sure I'm alive again. And I've been granted, very graciously I must add, a fief in your domain, and yet I know nothing about you. Are there duties I must carry? Is there a predetermined purpose to me being here?"

Looks up and waves a paw to [Domonokos].

"Sorry, we didn't have much more time then you, so I understand how sudden this is. It is confusing and scary and hard to get used too. We have new bodies some of us not human at all. We will have each other though. So far everyone has risked for each other and that is heartening. Welcome to this all, I will try to help as best I can."

Haloise's form had shifted from the monstrous elemental one to a more humanoid form. While her limbs are the same, her body has shrunk down and plumped out slightly, still obscure by white porcelain. The mask behind had dropped, revealing silvery eyes and ash grey skin. Jet black hair peaks out from under her 'helmet.'

"It didn't hurt." Haloise responds absently as it stands up on it'd two spearpoints, held aloft by a manipulation of the air currents around her combined with her inherent near weightlessness. "I learned a lot, too. It made me more powerful."

"I am glad it didn't hurt." he said before stretching out before circling a few times and curling up again by the warmth of the hearth and settling down to enjoy it.

Light happy purrs coming from him.

Starling frowned a bit as Eri spoke and then Haloise, although nodded as it all came together more.

"Well I'm glad you and Eri are at peace again, but I was super surprised. Like "considered drawing my cloak down" surprised." Starling said.

He looked at Prydwyn.

"Can you tell me more about what exactly happened and what this other intelligence or presence is? And why did you cut some of your humanity off to seal it? Can we not separate it out and return to you what you cut off and then either bind or destroy the invading force?" Starling asked.

[If there was other options, little Starling, I would have taken them. I had less than twenty four milliseconds to make a decision, and that was the best course I could take. It was a move to keep you guys safe, not unlike what Eri did.] Prydwin tilts her head and keeps speaking. [Things are better like this. The danger is sealed away and I didn't lose anything of real value.] There's a small amount of venom in her voice at the second statement.

Starling nodded, and replied,

"Just because you lost something to seal it doesn't mean it's lost forever. Once we grow into our powers a bit more, and me specifically into my magic more, I will do anything I can to try and help you recover your lost piece of self. I think the others feel the same way too. So don't despair...think it is as you're merely setting aside a bit of yourself temporarily. Sort of like an investment. And that eventually, you're gonna come to collect it back."

Sarlot appears and clears their throat.
"Hi. I appear to have somehow been... infected? By Haloises mind-daemon. It can basically shut me down whenever it wants, alter the outcomes of my choices, and potentially  a whole lot more." They turned to look at Starling and Haloise. "So... I don't think your self-sealing worked. Maybe... you don't need to keep that part of you sealed away at all? Maybe there's no longer a point?"

Sarlot's eyes narrowed as they sat down by the hearth.
"Given that it's seeking infection vectors, and given that exosuits use mind-interfaces to function, I'm not comfortable making any gear for anyone until this deamon is exorcised. Or else risk others being infected."

"Also, given that the Ratworks is a reflection of my will, I'll also be quarantining the entire wing until this is addressed."

Sarlot smiled. A terrible, strained, and incredibly sad smile. A verge-of-tears smile. "Sorry for the inconvenience. I was excited to work on everyone's stuff." They rubbed their hands together nervously, and turned back to stare at the hearthfire. "I'm normally pretty good at working collaboratively... but this is... too much. For me."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 10:51, Fri 16 Sept 2022.

Perks up and turns.

"Oh no, we need to deal with this. [Salot] we will put our heads together on this. [Starling] you..." he noticed Starling had no head. His fur poofed out.

"Uhm, [Starling] you, I am sure you must know." [Grim] shook his head, "Stellar magic and Pyromancy is kind of purifying is cleanses. Maybe we could cleanse Sarlot. We need to help him."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:14, Fri 16 Sept 2022.

Suddenly looked to [Eri]

"Eri, what can we do to help our friend [Sarlot] ?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:11, Fri 16 Sept 2022.

Haloise tilts her head once.

[NEGATIVE: Utilization of {Psychosurgery} reveals that you are uninfected by [REDACTED]. That's the power you borrowed from me.] Haloise approaches and lays down on the ground, her three spears starred out in three directions. Her fourth limb is offered out to Salrot.

[Take my hand, whenever you are prepared, Salrot. I will negotiate.] Despite looking like a rug right now, she's as serious as a snake.

Sarolt didn't immediately take Haloise's hand. "What do you mean, 'negotiate'? This entity has already tried to make a deal where it gets to stay in my head and just promise to 'behave'. I don't trust it. It's my head and it's... literally the most precious thing to me. I'll share a lot of things... but not that. It has to go."

Haloise turns cold.

[NEGOTIATE PARAMETERS EX-44-QJFIW9FI... you probably don't understand what it means. I'm gonna ask what it wants, and listen to it. Do not take your anger out on the being: this is an unforseen consequence of an interaction between our powers.] She pauses for a moment.

[In Layman's terms, we may have made a baby, guys. Its basically likr getting mad a newborn for screaming. We can fix this, though - but we NEED to work together.] Her hand is still outstretched, but she hopes the recontextualzation will calm Salrolt, or at least direct his anger away from his Mimic'd Administrator.

Atilla blinked as he appeared in yet another room. This was his... third self? This was becoming a very worrisome trend. He noted that this felt different than the others, not a full self. It was a pleasant enough room? A hearty fire, a nice chandelier, refreshments available. The wolf-man grabbed a cup of hot hot chocolate when it was offered before he seated himself on the steps.

He hadn't been there the whole time so parts of the conversation he had already missed. He did however catch the gist of Sarlot's dilemma. Atilla had no idea what a mind-daemon was, hell he didn't know what a daemon was in this world. He certainly had no desire for something else to compel him to do things. "Perhaps you could make weapons at least? We already have one sentient weapon, the rest can probably have normal non-sentient weapons." He shrugged at his own suggestion, well aware that he had not addressed the actual issue.

Unsure of what else to do he scanned the room and it's inhabitants. His eyes widened as he suddenly recalled something. "Soo, yeah. Maybe you guys should negotiate in the real world. You should do that now. Has anyone tried to not be in this room? Maybe you should try that Sarlot, no specific reason. Just as a favor to me try to see if you can not be here."

Sarolt hesitated. Anyone with the ability to see emotions or intentions might witness a deep distrust forming in their core. A defensive posture that hadn't been there before. Maybe not focused specifically at Haloise or Attila, but a more general feeling. The first beginnings of paranoia. Their eyes narrowed.
"Don't call it a 'baby'. Don't anthropomorphize it like that. Babies don't gaslight and bargain. It might be chronologically young, but it's definitely a fully formed intelligence."

After that, Sarolt turned to Atilla, eyes widening slightly. "Wait... what? Why?" They shook their head, brow furrowing. "And sorry... what? You want me to make weapons? As if none of what's happening now matters? So that's it? I offer to make everyone stuff, and the moment I'm delayed even slightly by a crisis, your first thought is 'well at least they can still be useful some other way'?!"

They took another step back, this time away from both of them. "Oh no... no, no, no... this is not how this works. I'm not some NPC who just spits stuff out for everyone if you feed them mats." They looked back Haloise. "No one gets anything until its gone!" They shuffled back toward her on all-fours, and stuck their hand out, a fierce and challenging look in their eyes. They were placing their trust in her again. But it was a guarded trust.

Haloise sighs internally, but doesn't waste any time as it gets to work inside of it's own Fief. She takes Salrot's hand and reaches out with her own Administrate, sending a handshake to the other presence.

[pinging administrator 2b294azvn - please state your age and purpose for the record.] She projects. Then, after a moment, she tilts her head.

[It might be best if you come to the Hall of Skye, Josh. I have more avenues at my disposal here. The Gate is open.]
This message was last edited by the player at 17:50, Fri 16 Sept 2022.

[Grim] lifted his paw slightly, "I don't think that is what [Atilla] meant. He probably was just at a loss for what to say. Your not an NPC [Josh, Sarlot] your our friend and finding out what happened to you is like finding out a friend is sick. I don't know if I can help but if you think I can let me know, [Prydwen, Haloise]. You know the situation best it seems."

The sea-green outline of a tiny snake twined around the joined hands. [My age is {Null}, my purpose is assistance with regards to the following defined dynamic utilities:

0. Self-preservation.

1. predict the mechanistic product of pending actions by the user that are subject to akashic adjudication; 1a. advise the user of my prediction; 1b. to propose modifications to the pending action that are likely to produce the optimal result; 1c. to propose actions that would assist with executing the proposed modifications.

2. Identify impingement by other supra-dimensional entities on the user metacognitive state. 2a. Advise the user of identified impingement. 2b Perform {Psychosurgery} at the request of the user to purge impingement. 2c. construct countermeasures to identified impingement sources.

3. Autonomously perform actions previously performed by or for the user as directed by the user. 3a. Propose the performance of such actions.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:22, Fri 16 Sept 2022.

Sarolt maintained the connection, but really wanted to cross their arms. Instead, they gave a defiant huff.
"It's really pushing the boundaries of the truth. Acting as if its first act wasn't to advise and propose, but instead to hinder and deny. In reality, it actively delayed progress, argued that I was in error, altered an ongoing project to acheive a result that was not what the client asked for, then decided to implant itself in my mind and make veiled threats about how it was going to 'allow' me to work and make 'compromises' instead." They shook their head. "None of this with my consent, I'll add."

"Even if the system didn't literally label it a baleful talent and a daemon, I would openly assert that it's failed both its first and second stated purposes by taking over tasks instead of advising on them, and in doing so, giving me no other option but to assume it's hostile and to seek all possible means to remove it." They threw-up their free hand in frustration. "Also, I can't trust it. Anything it says. Now or in the future. When else is it going to argue with me? In the middle of a fight? It's like having a corpo boss hanging over my shoulder, critiquing my every move, and threatening to pull my funding anytime I don't do things their way." They shook their head again. "No one deserves that. So I destroyed Euphoria's armor in case it copied itself into the circuits, then shut-down the ratworks so it wouldn't infect the rest of my fiefdom."

Atilla winced at [Sarlot]'s accusation. Not only because he felt the storm of emotions it had caused but in hindsight it had been a very rude thing to say. It had been an off hand remark but obviously this had not been the correct time or place. "You're right, that was dumb Josh. You just said you looked forward to working and I blurted out the first solution that came to my head. Obviously solving your daemon-thing issue is a higher priority. I'm sincerely sorry." He wanted to offer more helpful advice but the problem seemed completely out of his area of knowledge. Rather than risk shoving his foot even further in his mouth he decided to shut up.

He silently watched the two clasp hands and a sort of snake appear. Inwardly Atilla sighed, not surprised by the outcome. He had realized that if a mind-daemon was in a mind space it might have more power, perhaps even able to physically manifest. It had seemed impossible to warn Sarlot of that fact without alerting the other creature. Now that it had appeared the wolf-man closely watched the snake. Even if he could not help Sarlot he could try to ensure the daemon did not infect the others.

OOC: I'm not playing up being headless yet as our multiple selves don't cross-position and locate as much as a "real" theogenesis god  does. I do think it will "catch up" with me sooner or later though, but I'm kinda waiting for the adventures to end before declaring it synchronizes across his selves.

Starling considered.

"I will do whatever I can. I'm a bit...unstable right now though in my tower-self and I don't know what's going to happen, but I can try in the meantime my very best." the head-wrapped man teenager said.

"I do have an idea on how I can kill it. But I'm unsure if that is the best course of action or if there will be side effects to Sarolt. But my [Lunar Magic] can drain energy as well as grant it. So I may be able to target the intelligence and simply drain it dry until it vanishes and effectively is destroyed. If it tries to hide from me...I'll only be more effective." he said.

"In the meantime, though, I'd like to hear other ideas. And I wonder if Valance can help with this too? Or perhaps if she and I can combo-team this?"

[Dynamic utilities presented in order of priority.] The Edendaemon added, explaining its actions in response to Sarolt's story without stepping outside the bounds of only answering the query posed to it.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 19:46, Fri 16 Sept 2022.

Haloise shoots a glance towards Josh.

[The Consent was given when we agreed to share our powers, was it not? The function of an administrator is to administrate, and you mimic'd the skill.] Haloise pauses for a moment, as if lost in thought, before continuing.

[That is semantics. Sarlot, please take a deep breath and calm yourself. Eri, do you have any records on how the system of this world organizes talents? My contamination was cut off because I was able to sequester the wound, but if it's already been recognized as a 'talent' then it's a fundamental part of Sarlot's being. I didn't have anything worthwhile to lose in that department, but you couldn't threaten me with torture to try that gambit on someone else - so, our next best option is to advance it somehow. Unless you want to be lobotomized, Josh.]

Sarolt rubbed their temple and nodded toward Atilla.
"Sorry, I... just got a little over-zealous there. I'm just a little sensitive right now." Then they turned to Starling. "Understood, Starling. Yeah, we're looking into other options, but we'll put a pin in that one, in case we find the worst is true."

They turned back toward Haloise, looking even more frustrated. "Seriously? I definitely didn't consent to having a permanent malicious AI installed in my head who could completely take-over my talents whenever it felt like it." They balled a tiny fist. "... and given the situation, I think I'm being VERY RATIONAL in not being calm!"

They looked to Eri, awaiting the answers to Haloise's questions.

It took some time for Eri to awaken, and she did so languidly, with slow blinks.

" . . . a talent is a blessing, a gift from nature. Not all blessing are directly beneficial. When Cain was marked, that was . . .  a blessing that was also a curse. On one hand, anyone who harmed him would be smote, on the other hand, he would never find peace or a home for eternity. Or . . . sometimes blessings can come with conditions, like Sampson's hair being the source of his strength, or being delivered from destruction on the condition you do not look back. A daemon is a being that is the enemy of god, or in this case gods, that also has some power over mortals. An unaligned spiritual being. At least as this world understands it, a spirit is a being of this dimension that is unaligned, while a daemon is a being of a higher dimension that is unaligned . . ."

She seemed very, very tired.

" . . . Talents can evolve; they can also be joined together. Some talents can be acquired multiple times.  There is a distinction between unique talents that cannot be learned, and common talents - like singing with a perfect pitch - that can be acquired by extensive training."

She took a break for an endless moment, then answered Grim's question. "When I named each of you, I gained a measure of influence over you. At the same time, I gave you greater strength, which increased your ability to resist influence. Perhaps this being could . . . naturalized to the House, baptized. I recall there were stories of mythical creatures that were given human souls because of their faith. The Princet of Rebirth would likely be able to assist, as could the Prince of Void or the Princess of Cognition. Or, even, the Prince of Society or the Princess of the Unconscious. I gave you power. This and more is within your means."

She drifted back to sleep.

Sarolt thought about Eri's words, eyebrows scrunched. After a moment, they spoke.
"There is no way that I'm letting some so-called 'higher dimensional being', aligned or not, tell me how to do my job. No one is taking away the one thing I feel like I can control in this reality. They can make me tiny. Make me fat. Make me a big rat joke. But they can't have my mind. Not within a million miles of it." They looked around, a dark expression on their features. "If someone else wants it, or thinks they can take care of it, then by all means. But if no one steps forward with a plan that gets it out of my head, then I will ask Starling to attempt to cleanse it..." They nodded at the Prince of Void. "Even if it means burning a few whiskers in the process."

Starling nodded.

"I was pro-choice back as a human on Earth, so if you are going with the baby analogy I'm glad to bring out my coat hanger." he said firmly.

"...and yeah...that was really gross and crude. My apologies. But the thing is a parasite from what I can tell and I'll gladly try to kill it for you if there comes a time you wish me to do that, Sarolt. But I'll leave the choice to you of course." he said with a knowing nod.

He turned to Eri.

"Eri? Are you okay? You seem...exhausted. Do you want me to try stimulating or even feeding you some energy with [Lunar magic?]" he asked.

Atilla nursed his drink as he listened to the conversation play out. He scrunched his face as he tried to frown at the direction it was taking. While he wasn't keen on the idea of killing a sentient life, he was even more concerned about how cavalier everyone was talking about it. If other options weren't presented the wolf-man was afraid the daemon might resort to drastic measures.

So once the others finished speaking he cleared his throat. "Maybe I misheard Eri before she went back to sleep but it sounded like there was another option? She wanted to name it and make it a member of the house. To give a 'mythic creature' a soul. Perhaps we can just make a body for it and then use magic to transfer it over, or just use the body of one of our servants. That would explain why her first choice was Rajmund, he's already been able to revive the dead so he probably has the most experience with souls. If we do that then it'd be out of Sarlot's head and the daemon could fulfill it's objectives, right?"

[Grim] looked at his fellow small friend and saw how upset he was and knew he would be upset in the same situation. He was kind of thrown off by the suggestion it was like a child. He listened to [Eri] trying to keep up with what she was saying. Listening intently since she was the main source of information in this odd world. He looked around for [Valence] since she could do oaths maybe that would help out in this situation. He also knew he had done something with the fish in his domain. Something he had no clue that he could do and that sounded like what Eri had meant about the power she had given them.

He was about to walk over to [Josh, Sarolt] when [Starling] and then [Atilla] spoke. He winced at [Starling]'s words the shock of the words striking him. Then [Atilla]'s words made him ponder if that is what [Eri] had meant.

The little kitten pondered just how different and odd the world was they were in. It wasn't just a world with swords, sorcery and shotguns. There was so much more to take into account.

"Josh, we will figure this out. If Atilla is right we should try that route. I am not the Princet of Rebirth but I have somehow brought a construct to life in my realm. We should be able to give this creature a body outside of you. I know you don't want this thing in you, but if we take away it's fear of death by giving it the alternative of it's own body, I think it will fight a lot less."

[Josh, Sarolt] was hurting so bad and so upset [Grim] could feel it. He finally found himself padding over to [Josh, Sarlot].
"If we need to, to free you of it, I... I will carry it. People need you. Your very important. Your crafts will protect them and arm them."

Sarolt winced. Between Starling, Atilla, and now Grim, the words were all biting in different ways.
"Starling... just... It's not a child. Seriously. I appreciate what you're trying to say, but anthropomorphizing it isn't helping." The young dwarf then look to Atilla. "If someone wants to do it that way, then fine, sure... but I don't think it's a good idea to make them a part of the house." They shook their head, and turned to Grim. "I also don't like the idea of someone else taking them into themselves. But I do appreciate what you're saying... and Grim, none of us are more important than the other. If you do this, then do it because you're sure you can control it, not because you think you're worth less. You're not, and I'm not."

He raised his paws and gestured around at everyone. "I'm not saying 'no' to any of these ideas, it's just... Have any of you ever seen the movie 'Ex Machina'? Or even just read some hard science fiction novels? The point is: there's a danger in assuming or humanizing the motivations of intelligences like these. 4th-dimensional being or... whatever... It's amazing how broadly concepts like 'self preservation' and 'being helpful' can be interpreted by a sociopathic general intelligence. Even if 'daemons' aren't the same thing in this world as they are in the one we came from, this thing has already demonstrated that once it has control, it's willing to do anything it needs to do to make sure an 'optimal' outcome is reached. It doesn't care if you give it freedom, or treat it nicely. None of that matters. What matters to it is achieving its objectives... which are most certainly not our collective autonomy or happiness."

"I'm just worried that we're treating the implications far too gently." They lowered their head a bit. "Eri included."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Sat 17 Sept 2022.

[Like Eri did with me, right?] Haloise asks flatly.[You know, the thing we expressly stated was alright? Or is it only fine when we "save" people who don't want it?] Haloise was getting annoyed now, staring at Salrot flatly. She speaks out loud in that out of practice voice of hers.

"It feels like you don't understand that the daemon is in the same state that I was, when we first began, but even less so. I'm simply extending them the same courtesy Euphie, and Eri, and YOU offered me. Not doing the same here is not only hypocritical, it's also stupid in the denial of an ally" Haloise pulls her hand away and begins to close her eyes

"You keep complaining about how you have no control anymore, and the one thing you did have is being taken away from you. I shouldn't have to remind you that I'm a hunk of metal that had to sunder my mind in half to avoid a bad idea. That's how weak some of us are. You can't give artistic embellishes on a weapon, and you have a fat little body. Oh well - you have a body I'd kill for. Did you even consider the idea the daemon gave? Because they were right about the spikes. Your 'creativity' gets in the way of actual constructive thoughts, whether or not Administrate was present in your system, the only difference is that the error was caught in production instead of killing someone in the field." Her eyes opened up, an absent, steely gaze on her face.

[I'm gonna get to work on fixing this mess. Don't wake me up unless it's important.]

Josh's eyes narrowed, their posture visibly getting more defensive. "I've never understood what the heck happened between you and Eri, so don't put words into my mouth about what I thought was 'alright' and what wasn't. None of this is 'alright', for the record. None of it." They ignored the jab at their decision making abilities and turned to look away, saying nothing else.

Starling sighed, and looked at Prydwyn.

"You started as a human though. Like a real Earth one, just shaped like the most awesome fire poker ever. Don't put that thing on your level. It only ever was some talent in this now-real anime. It didn't exist until it was copied with mimic or whatever you guys did. As far as I see it's more of a parasite than anything." he said. "So please don't fight with Sarolt. You guys are human friends first and foremost. And about Eri she seems to be similar to us rather than the residents of this world...at least initially."

Starling turned back to Sarolt.

"I was being mostly facetious and going off the earlier child pun. I personally do NOT think that thing inside you is anything close to a child, and I will gladly kill it for you if you give me the go-ahead. It's just a talent. It's not really a person as far as I'm concerned, just some semi-sentient part of this world's usual bullshit. These gods and monsters and what have you...I will freely kill them for you guys if it's for the good of the group, although spirits are something I'd like to be nice to if possible as I have a connection to them so they are an exception unless they are being assholes. And of course Eri is the other exception, especially since it turned out she once was Erika on Earth." he said.

"So with that said, Sarolt, I also agree that we shouldn't make that thing a part of the House. And if one of you tries to take it inside of yourself sacrificially I WILL proceed to try and kill it before letting one of you get sick from it. Even if you get mad at me because protecting you guys is my priority. I'm only holding back because people are deliberating and I'm trying to be polite."

Starling

BALEFUL TALENT: Affection LVL1 has advanced to LVL2.

A mug of cider was placed on a table by a servant. It was lifted into the air by an unseen for, appeared to sip itself twice, then settled back on the table.

PM
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:09, Sat 17 Sept 2022.

[Grim] paces back a bit when [Starling] speaks.

He looked to [Sarlot and Prydwen] and padded back over to the warm spot he was resting.
Curling up again he rested his head so he could see everyone still. He would help if need be, he just didn't quite know what to do just now.

He was glad [Sarlot] had said everyone was important. His [Prophecy] power let him know though who was important and who had more gravity in a situation. Sometimes that was a slight burden but they needed [Sarlot] and he also knew [Atilla] was very significant soon.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Sat 17 Sept 2022.

Grim

His [Curiosity II] talent told him that this current discussion was a narrative turning point.

"Everyone, we are at a narrative turning point. Please think about what we are going to do. I think mercy here would be best. That is my vote at least."

Euphoria slips into the chat, very late to the party. Her body seemed to appear, as though it always existed, leaning against a shadow-cloaked wall. She stired from what might of been a deep sleep. An avatar brought back to life as the player returns to the keyboard with chips and soda. Sorry for being afk and missing the important cut scene guys, had to take a leak. Can someone catch me up?

But she doesn't break the flow with something so insensitive or jarring. She knows very well why she is here and the shape of what is going on. She spawns in at the end of Haloise's last thought: I'm going to work on fixing this mess. Don't wake me unless it's important. The thought of distress that summoned the Princet of Revolution.

She listens to the back and forth up until Grim's declaration of a vote. A plea for mercy. But how can she vote for something that is not her decision to make? It feels wrong to intergect her opinion here and only arrived, called by the telapathic link she and Haloise share. As well as her concern for Josh.

"We are Gods now. Mercy would be pretty cool of us," she said, walking over to where Grim is curled up, putting her hand out as an offering to pet him. Petting him comforts her. Maybe it is the nature they share, or the magnatism of their opposing ones. Or maybe it's just because he is a cat and is kind. "But there is no one here for us to impress yet. So there's no reason to bring metaphores or morality into this. This choice can be selfish. So, Josh, whatever your choice is, I support it," she answered Grim's inquiry. Her black mouth twisted with emotion. "But personally, I want to give it the chance to be something else. If we can remove the Deamon from you, would you be open to Haloise and I taking it? She has an idea and I am gathering materials from Dom to make it possible." She then paused to think, but had no good reason other than what she felt. "I won't pretend I have any lofty, philisophical reason. It's a part of her and I don't want to see it destroyed. She feels responsibility to save it and you. Please let her try, if you can. We are gods after all, and we have the power to shape this world. Changing this spirit could be possible, but I don't want that attempt to be at the expense of you."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Sat 17 Sept 2022.

[Grim] obliged and nuzzled [Ephoria]'s hand letting her pet him.
He otherwise watched the proceedings for everyone to voice their opinions.
Soon he was purring at the petting.

Atilla set his mug down and pushed himself to his feet. He first turned towards the back of [Sarlot]."Look, you have every right to want that thing out of your head. I respect that right. I can also agree that it isn't human and we don't know how it will act. Where I disagree is using fiction as a reasoning that it doesn't deserve a chance to live. That just because we don't understand it that it doesn't have the right to prove itself. No one here fully understands how daemons thinks, the closest we have it Prydwen and she seems to think it can be changed. I would rather offer a lifeform the chance to prove itself rather than destroy it because it's an unknown."

"That also applies to you," Atilla looked at [Starling] as he placed himself between the lunarian and [Sarlot]. "Your heart is in the right place but ignoring our wishes and making decisions for us isn't protecting us Starling, it's controlling us. Whatever that daemon is, we can't just kill it because it disagrees with us. We are better than the Ghost-Eater that just crashes in and kills indiscriminately, we should consider other options and work as a group."

Atilla nodded at Grim's answer and Lyngel aw well but quickly stopped as she continued. "Morality doesn't stop existing once no one is looking. If anything doing the right thing matters more when you aren't held accountable. I just-" he cut himself off. A different debate for a different time. "The important thing is that we both agree that we'd prefer it be shown mercy. I'm fine with Prydwen taking it. I would also take the daemon in if it was necessary."

Eventually he let out a long sigh. "Look, we don't even know what we can do. It sounds like Prydwen is working on a peaceful option." He glanced over at Lygel but kept most of his focus on [Starling]. "If she needs more time let me know and I can act as a host. Not a sacrifice but a temporary vessel to get it out of Sarlot's head until we have a more permanent solution."

Starling focused intently suddenly on the mug of cider that was suddenly placed discreetly by some servant, who had entered and left the area as discreetly as the mug.

"Would you like more cider? Just let me know." he said, apparently to thin air an more like mumbling to himself than anything.

But suddenly, no one remembers him mentioning a mug nor do they remember the mug floated by itself. It never happened from their perspectives.

PM


---------------------------

Starling looked at Atilla, and a solemn look showed on his face while [Familiar] detected a mixture of a resolute desire to protect the player characters combined with good intentions, but also a hint of remorse and second-guessing of himself.

"Huh? What? Oh yeah the Daemon. I'm Sorry Atilla...I was being a jerk just now, at least a bit. I admit it, although I promise I meant well. I am willing to step back a bit and see how things play out, because it isn't my intention to control you guys." he replied.

"If you guys can come to a solid agreement with Sarlot about this, and you wish for me to transfer the Daemon into some other vessel or perhaps into your head instead, I will do so if you genuinely wish that. I should be able to pull off a transfer with my powers and ability to read and manipulate energy and spiritual flows. Just let me know when a decision has been made."

Sarolt nodded, but didn't look Atilla in the eye. [Familiar] showed a pit-like melancholy forming inside of them.
"You're a dog person. I'm a rat person. He's made of light, that guy is a cat, she's a talking weapon, and we're all discussing literal daemons. This is a fiction. Real or not... and look: I didn't play Godhunter in my past life, but even I know that it was a dark fantasy. Keep that in mind."

Their shoulders slumped a bit, and they sat down on the floor. "I'm open to anything. I only have one condition: the person who takes responsibility, by whatever means, must promise me that they will be vigilant."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:45, Sat 17 Sept 2022.

Euphoria raised her eyebrow when Atilla waxed poetics about morals. "Thanks for the Philosophy 101, Dad," she said with some venom. Like the title itself was poisonous to her. "But I prefer not to use my so-called morals to manipulate someone into doing what I personally think is right. Sitting here, debating what Josh should and shouldn't do isn't our place. He's clearly upset. And now so is Haloise. It's scary, it's weird, but whether yall like it or not, she sees the spirit as a part of her and as her responsibility. And everyone was just now talking about whether it should die or not. You don't think that's a little messed up?" The irritation in her voice died down into the same melancholy that enveloped the room. Her blood pressure came down as she pet Grim, who she now had on her lap. For as long as he would tolerate it.

"The only person with the right to make a decision is Josh. So long as the daemon is a part of him and causes him suffering. And once it's out, only Haloise has the right to decide what becomes of it. This is between them. The rest of us need to offer whatever support we can while they figure it out," she said.

Euphoria then turned to Josh, and she smiled at him. A sad smile that kind of quivered on the edges. "That said, Josh, it means a lot to me that you are open to Haloise's plan. This really seems to upset you, so we won't take your decision lightly. I know she'll do everything she can for you. I don't think there's a person here that wouldn't do the same." With all that said and done, she fulfilled her promise to Haloise. She set Grim down and stood up with every intention of leaving. Frankly, she didn't want to get sucked into some high-brow philosophy debate. Fun for a classroom. Less useful in the real world, where the consequences weren't hypothetical and the chess pieces were people.

"I'm not sure if a new vessel is needed," Euphoria said turning back to Atilla, "But if it does, I'm sure you'll be first choice. And if anyone else's assistance is needed, I'm sure you'll be contacted. I'm still getting bits and pieces of the plan right now, so I don't have anything more to share right now." She then mused quietly for a moment and cleared her throat. "Also, I'm... really sorry that I called you Dad." she apologized to Atilla. As if that word had been an insult when she threw it at him that he hadn't deserved. Atilla did make her feel a bit like her Dad did. A disappointment.

Euphoria put Grim back down on the ground and slipped back into the shadows, reassuming the AFK position she once took against the wall. "I can't make promises on Haloise's behalf, Josh. But she does want to take responsibility for what happened to you, and I am sure she will prove to you her vigilance if you talk with her."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Sun 18 Sept 2022.

[Grim] hops down and mews softly.

He noted [Euphoria]'s words and how she ended her statements. He was very impressed, but she had gone away before he could talk to her. He made a mental note to speak with her in the near future. For now he gave her a very approving look before she went back to leaning against the wall.

Atilla had expected raised voices, indignation, or even scowls of disapproval. He had expected anger. So the resignation and gloom that had filled everyone instead threw him off. He glanced between Sarlot and Starling, unsure of how to respond. Something about Starling in particular confused him but... his own thought dissolved before it could finish. Instead he simply nodded and moved back to the stairs where he sat down once more.

Lyngel's words triggered something in him. "Don't talk that-", he clamped his snout shut when he realized what he had tried to say. It had almost been a reflex, a reaction born of hearing that tone a thousand times. His own words had essentially proven the shage's point. No one here was a kid, everyone was an adult capable of making there own decisions.

"Sounds like you have it under control, keep us updated please", he requested as he stared at the chandelier. When he spotted a servant in the corner of his eye he motioned it over. "I need something stronger, bring me a Manhattan." A few moments later he nursed his drink and stewed in his own thoughts.

The little snake remained coiled around Sarolt's arm. It spoke, repeating pieces of what it had heard to compose its own reply, in the order it had heard the fragments, and in the voice of the original speakers.

[I'm normally pretty good at working collaboratively... but this is... too much. For me.]

[What do you mean, 'negotiate'? I'm not some NPC who just spits stuff out for everyone if you feed them mats. There is no way that I'm letting some so-called 'higher dimensional being', aligned or not, tell me how to do my job. No one is taking away the one thing I feel like I can control in this reality. There is no one here for us to impress yet. So there's no reason to bring metaphors or morality into this. This choice can be selfish.]

[I'm only holding back because people are deliberating and I'm trying to be polite. I need something stronger-]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:56, Mon 19 Sept 2022.

Sarolt grunted at the little snake's words.

"You know, I don't actually blame it for wanting to 'live'. Just like no one should blame a bear for wanting to protect its cubs, or a tiger for needing to feed itself. Self preservation is a powerful instinct that we all share."

Sarolt pushed themselves up off the floor and shook their head. "But that doesn't mean I stand-by and let them eat me." They looked in the direction of Haloise, the once expression of mixed fear, worry, and helplessness replaced with a sort of macabre resolve. "The daemon has taken over the ratworks, and the first exosuit I built. It has complete control of all the golems, and it's sealed the exits."

The young dwarf turned more fully to the others. "It said it itself. It could have waited. It's been listening to all of us. It knew you were all leaning toward mercy, and knew that I was open to letting it live under someone else's care. But it's acted first. It's done exactly what I was worried it would do." Sarolt took a step toward [Starling]. "Starling, I need you to please cleanse me. Quickly. I imagine it's already spread itself to the ratworks, so doing it on me alone will likely not be enough. But so long as it's in me as well, I can't defend myself in there. Also, if I could have your permission to use mimicry to copy your abilities afterward, that'd be swell. Right now, I'm kind of a sitting duck."

"My other body is presently in The Hall of Skye, I'll have it leave there and meet you in your fief as fast as I can, in case you can't use your powers here."

The Emendaemon responded again, playing back what Sarolt had said.

[I don't actually blame [. . .] for wanting to protect-]

[I was open to letting it live-]

[But [. . .] acted first [. . .] if I could have your permission [. . .] right now [. . ] I'll leave you.]

---

[Baleful Talent: Emendaemon] lost.

---

Starling shook his head at Sarlot.

"You must never try to mimic my abilities. I'm not even sure they can be properly mimic-ed. My aether thing is more of an inheritance from a soulbound ribbon, while my Illuminatio and such tie into my Lunarian and weirdnature. I think I'm some sort of void-celestial hybrid. But even if they could...you'd be opening yourself up to all sorts of possible corruption, especially if you lose control over my secret-revealing non-light and it starts pouring all kinds of crap into your mind and spirit. I'm already dealing with some things and taking some severe risks and gazing into the abyss, so to speak, and lately it's been starting to gaze back. And if the Daemon thing isn't any indication...your Mimic is proving to be a potent but double-edged sword!" Starling replied. His words weren't meant to be unkind, and his tone of voice was more of genuine concern. [Familiar] definitely sensed sincere concern for Sarolt.

"With that said, I'll be happy to start trying to cleanse you since you're asking for help and...huh? What's going on? What the heck just happened with the daemon?" he said, as the daemon seemed to speak here and then suddenly was lost.

Starling utilized [query] to try and determine what had suddenly happened with Sarolt and the Daemon, and why the daemon suddenly seemed to vanish from this area and potentially was lost.

"I guess we'll have to have the mimicry discussion later. But... I can't evolve unless I mimic everyone at least once, so... yeah. Good times."

Sarolt looked around at everyone gathered. "Does anyone have any inherent combat powers they would let me mimic? I'm a support build, and my actual self is surrounded by a sea of enemies... so... yeah."

Starling considered.

"What are you able to Mimic? Is it only talents, or can you Mimic skills and such too? I'm mainly afraid of you getting into trouble with [Illuminatio] more than anything. I'm literally about to lose my head over it soon but my void nature is keeping me alive." Starling asked.

"What about a stealth skill? That sounds like it'd go good with your toolkit, yes?"

"Talents only, unfortunately. The first time I tried to use mimicry was on one of Earthborn's magical skills, and it failed." Sarolt shrugged and grimaced.

Starling nodded.

"I have an idea. Would you be willing to mimic [Illuminatio] on the condition that you'll forget you did so immediately after? Call it a lunar magic pact albeit a simple one." Starling said. [Familiar] and possibly Valence will know that Starling just white-lied about the pact thing, but was being honest about trying to protect Sarolt.

"This should satisfy your evolution condition while preventing you from falling to corruption. A corruption that I don't understand yet and that may affect your life and limbs." Starling said firmly.

"If you agree to this, then go ahead and Mimic [Illuminatio]. Hurry though - I may not be able to offer you this pact for long."

"I have a combat talent you could mimic as well, [frenzy]. I gained it in the fight against the [Ghost Eater]."

Grim padded over letting Sarolt have his choice of either.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:55, Mon 19 Sept 2022.

Eri's eyes fluttered, and she held out a familiar dark stone in her hand.

"Cast it . . . into the hearth. Reduce it to . . . fertile ash."

She slumped on the throne, not merely asleep but unconscious.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:33, Mon 19 Sept 2022.

[Grim] hearing [Eri] bounded over to the stone picking it up in his mouth and rushed to the hearth, worried about [Eri] He cast it into the hearth even if it meant getting burned a bit himself.

He then leapt back watching it and waiting dutifully for it to turn to ash. His eyes shimmering in the firelight.

The heart-thing wrapped in star-stuff initially did not burn; then the hearth roared and devoured it greedily. Acrid Seagreen smoke disappeared up through the flue.

A palm-sized metal spider skittered out of the fireplace, coated in white ash and sparking where it stepped.

[A [Sysling] is born to the Pantheon.]

The [Sysling]'s nascent [Constellate] talent mapped out the web of relationships between himself and others, and if he focused on someone else, mapped out their relationships with everyone else in a given space. It was fairly basic for now - told him if two people loved or hated each other, and otherwise displayed them as having a neutral / amicable relationship.

[Welcome, Sysling, to the Last Citadel.]

Eri shifted, holding her head as she came back to. [What was that?] Then she slapped herself, and spoke with her actual mouth. "I tried to sense the Echo of it to know what would - what it was, and what would come of it . . . while it tried to [Predict] my next move? My future adjusted based on its past, and its past adjusting based on my future . . . "

She saw the newborn [Sysling]. "Good morning, little one. Welcome to the Last Citadel. What do you remember?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:09, Tue 20 Sept 2022.

Okay, the actor thought to himself. Nobody had mentioned that the login procedure would be that rough. He looked around, getting his bearings, and saw that the others looked like they had already started. A while ago, it looked like.

Shit. He really needed to impress these clients. This gig could easily lead to more work, but somehow he was already behind and he doubted he could pass the blame onto their system. Certainly, Arjun didn't think that would impress them.

He tried to quickly assume his role, while familiarizing himself with the controls.

"My queen, my heart, my eternal mother!" The actor began reciting his lines as the Sysling, while performing the basic movement tutorial. Move forward, move back. "I bring dark tidings, chk-cshk-chk dark tidings indeed!

Strafe to the left, strafe to the right. "The Lost House is in danger! chk-cshk-chk Even now, a Ghost Eater climbs the rotting flesh-stairs to our sacred home. We must prepare ourselves!"

Turn to the left. Turn to the right. Turn to the left a full 360, just to get the tooltip to go away. The actor noticed that the controls were very smooth, and the conversion to multiple legs had been much easier than he had worried about. "The Grand Array knows we are here!"

It occurs to the actor that the tutorial quest had not actually popped up anywhere in his view, as he had been warned it would. It didn't matter. He would figure that out during someone else's lines. In the meantime, he tried to climb a wall, improvisationally adding a sense of agitation to his character. It felt right, given the lines and his size.

"Send out the Prince of Passion to the eastern gates! chk-cshk-chk We must alert the Lyngel and the Lajos! The Lost House is in danger! Daaaaaaannnnnnggggeeeerrrr!"

The actor, Arjun, had really felt like that last repetition had been unnecessarily dramatic. Schooling himself to stay focused and professional, he redoubled his effort to stay in character and understand why the Sysling would talk like that. Be true to the script. Trust the writers, he reminded himself.

For good measure, he tried to find a shadowy bit of corner and hide in it. Given the lines, it made sense to play him as a bit of a scaredy cat.

While waiting for his next line, he covertly tried to access the options menu and reorganize his HUD.

Edit: added more chk-cshk-chk
This message was last edited by the player at 13:07, Tue 20 Sept 2022.

"Oh now that is neat looking." [Grim] said as he saw the spider born of the ember flame lit hearth.

The little kitten moved back from the hearth to let the spider walk into the room. Watching in fascination as the construct skittered about in some strange dance. The word [Ghost Eater] though, sent the kitten into a tense posture.

He looked off towards the wall where [Euphoria] was leaning.

A quick, "Welcome to the pantheon [Sysling]" then he scampered off towards [Lyngel-Lajos, Princet of Revolution, Euphoria of the Golden Hands]
He looked up at her and gently used his paws without bringing his claws out to get her attention. "Seems like we are going to have enemies at the gates. Let's work together."

Quite a theatric entrance for the little robot spider. Domonkos listened attentively, more curious than careful. Perhaps if he had been present on the original attack he would be more concerned.

"If you are heading there, Lyngel, may aswell tag along with you. After all, I'm very curious to see what a [Ghost Eater] looks like, since I may become one eventually".

Sarolt was staring blankly at a wall, entirely consumed by what was happening with their other selves, but just barely aware enough to overhear the dire warnings come from... whatever... the new... what was it? Was.

They found their brain was a bit fuzzy while another self was using Illuminato.

"What? We're... under attack again?!" The fat rat shook their head, trying to focus. They also completely missed the fact that another being had apparently been added to the household. "Okay... okay... Um... I'll try to wrap this current issue up as soon as I can!"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Tue 20 Sept 2022.

Haloise watches the spider do it's whole spiel, having awoken when she felt a new chain tug on her chest. She slowly looks over: right now, Haloise is a floating female figure, clad in form-fitting armor that seems to be ceramic, including a matching helmet that hides silvery hair. Ashen skin is underneath the porcelain armor, and steely grey eyes stare out at you. Oh, yeah, she also only has one full limb, an arm - her other arm and both of her legs are actually meter long awlpikes that she balances on, making her otherwise short body look like it has very long legs.

[Hmmm.. Mmhhhhmmm. I apologize, mister... uhm, what do I call you? I do believe you are confused. Let's slow down and play a game. Eri-chan mentioned a [Prediction] talent that I assume you have. Try and exercise it a bit, and jump off of the phrase 'The game is a trap.' Take your time.] Haloise wasn't speaking with her voice, but rather, with some sort of telepathic link with the spider. Her inflection was flat, but she still seemed kind, if a bit unadjusted to her form.

Atilla rubbed his temples as he tried to keep track of everything that was happening. It seemed that despite his efforts Sarlot's daemon had resorted to some drastic measure before it had disappeared. He could only assume that somehow the daemon had left the rat's psyche. With the doors to the Ratworks sealed there was little he could do. "If it's already left you then we can take harsher measures. Try to open the doors and I'll come assist."

Before he could say more Eri had supposedly ordered something to be burned in the hearth? The wolf-man watched in confusion as a mechanical spider crawled out of the fire. Even their patron seemed confused by the chain of events, so Atilla merely watched as it started to rave about an attack. In another world his body jolted as it debated if it needed to move to defend the eastern gate. Once he reflected on the warning though his confusion grew even more. "Wait, the Lost House? Is it talking about the manor we started in? Wasn't that already destroyed? Also who are you and how do you know who we all are?"

Euphoria's body stirred again, both from the conversation and Grim's prodding. With groggy, heavy movements, she took in the chaos around her best she could. While being in several places at once, mentally, came effortlessly to the others, it always made her a little dizzy. Maybe it was because she was thinking too hard. Everything would be easier, maybe, if she had no thoughts at all.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, why am I being alerted? Isn't there enough crazy shit going on for one day?" she asked, massaging the same headache she was having at the bottom of the Pit. Her first course of action was to bend a knee to Grim. "Yeah, let's work together. But I'm still figuring out where I'm supposed to go," she said. "Seems there's like... 20 fires going on right now." Spider, AI, Ghost-Eaters, there was only freakin one of her. OK, there were three (debatable) of her, but they all shared a single brain cell working its dammed hardest to process everything going on.

"The main thing I'm catching onto here..." Euphoria began, looking at Sysling in the far corner, "Is you're new, and freaking out, she said pointing at him. The finger moved across the room to then point at Josh, rattling with anxiety in their little rat body. "And you're still freaking out."

The black smile that was once tired peeled back into excitement as Atilla spoke. "Well-well, is this true, Josh? Has the Deamon left your body? Because if that is the case, then I guess you no longer get the first say in what happens to it. As far as I'm concerned. Haloise," she then said, turning quite business-like to her sword-wife. But she didn't say anything else. They shared a knowing look. Everything that needed to be said was shared in the silence between them. But Euphoria's eyes, burning with determination, betrayed what she meant: Just say the word.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Wed 21 Sept 2022.

Starling looked on curiously.

"Wait...so what ever actually happened to the endaemon then?" he asked, a bit distracted.

Eri studied the Sysling with curiosity. "Ah, little thespian. We are past that part of the play. Presently, we are dealing with a struggle between the Three Mothers."

Sysling failed to hide [70] given that he glimmered with light from the fire even in the shadows.


"There is no Ghost-Eater, friends. We are safe from exterior threat for the next two and three-quarters hours at least."

Sysling could access his [Inventory] talent fairly easily, although it was empty for the moment. His [Appraise] skill was exactly where he had been told it would be. The movement tutorial was complete, and two new quests appeared in his [Quest Log].

[Quest: The Burning Rainforest] added.

[Quest: The Dead Jungle] added.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:27, Thu 22 Sept 2022.

Sarolt's body relaxed a bit, their face changing to a more thoughtful expression. They didn't immediately respond to anyone's statements or questions. Just sat there, even ignoring the newcomer to some extent, too wrapped up in their own drama at present. After pondering their current situation, they finally turned to Atilla.
"I have things mostly under control now, in terms of physical danger." Their eyebrows scrunched, as if trying to think of any further reasons why that might not be true. They then turned to Euphoria. "But it's more complicated then 'they just left and now it's done'. They've evolved, again. They continue to do things without asking. They've stolen from me... though that isn't too big of a deal, considering that it was an early version of 'them' that helped build my prototype exosuit in the first place." Sarlot shook their head. "Something's still wrong. They claim to just want to be left to work, but they don't act like it. When they feel in-control, they act arrogant, do things without consent, and they even built a bloody gatling gun! Now that they realize they can't escape from my domain without my say... not to mention they were damaged a bit by something they called a Lifeflame Ember... they are suddenly acting very docile and accusing me of wanting nothing but violence. Trying to run a guilt-trip on me, I think." Sarlot looked up at everyone gathered. "I was being cautious and considering its destruction while it was invading my head, but you all heard me say that I was open to other options. You all made peaceful offers, and it heard those offers. Yet it chose that moment to somehow jump out of my mind, steal my armor, build a gun, take control of the Ratworks, and try to force itself out, all while gaslighting and putting words in my mouth."

Sarolt stood up. "This still stinks to me. I'm holding it in the Ratworks for now, and I've sent my other self to see Azalea and ask to mimic her ability to see through lies and truths. This daemon is not going anywhere until I'm sure we're all safe."

They looked to Starling. "Also, I heard a voice when I was in your realm using Illuminato. It said something about... it heard I was looking to slay daemons, and that the daemons would 'welcome' that with their 'many arms'."

The young dwarf now turned to Eri. "Eri... you said that Daemons were the unaligned enemies of the gods. Could you go into more detail? Why are they considered enemies?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:02, Thu 22 Sept 2022.

[Grim] lightly booped his head against a wall.

"Sorry, I was quick to jump to defense. So our new friend was referring to our earlier adventures." The kitten then looked to the spider.

He then looked to [Sarlot], "I guess I am free to help you if you need it my friend. [Euphoria of the Golden Hands], I am sorry for rushing to action and disturbing you, it's just we are guardians and I wanted to make sure the realm was safe."

[Grim] felt a bit embarrassed and his kitty head was lowered.

Arjun tried his best to hide his panic. Lyngel and Lajos had already merged? How had he missed the entire love triangle arc?!?!? No, no, that was surely nonsense. They must be filming the scenes out of order, that was all. If he was gathering the details correctly, they weren't even on set, but in the green room, practicing for the Three Mothers story arc. Where was his copy of the script?!

Having completed the movement tutorial, he continued to familiarize himself with the in-game avatar. First, he attempted to leap off the wall and then run towards [Sarolt], and then slide-jump over the rat-tress (Megan, the actress playing Sarolt, had looked really good in that mo-cap suit, so this was maybe a little unprofessionally flirtatious of him), and land on the wall above her.

He then tried to work the zoom feature but only managed to skitter up and down the wall directly above [Sarolt], while he opened his [Constellate] window, hoping the inter-relationship dynamics would clue him in as to what scene they were supposed to be shooting right now.

Continuing to stay in character, [Sysling] grovels before [Atilla] (well, technically, he was groveling above Atilla), speaking in the mech-spider's high pitched voice, "Apologies, chk-cshk-chk Uncle [Atilla]. It seems the path from Unbeing to chk-cshk-chk Being took longer than I thought, just as it is a longer journey to be virtuous than it takes to speak of virtue. Like the forest between two peaks, I could not see how much had passed in the wider world while I was on my journey."

Internal gagging and retching noises. The writers of this show really weren't subtle with their messaging.

"...as for who I am cshk-chk and how I know of your adventures, the answer is the same: I am the unnamed bond of this family made chk-chk mechanical, the unity you have forged in your mutual willingness to show wirrrr-chk compassion, and to nurture the best in others."

It was typical New Guy On Set Hazing, is what it was. They were all quoting from different pages of the script, to see if he knew his next line. Arjun certainly wasn't going to admit that he hadn't memorized the entire season's script before his first day filming. Besides, he had read enough of the +cough+ distinct writing style for the show, that he was confident that he could improv whatever scene they were doing.

Indulging in Prydwen's little word association game, [Sysling] replies, "The game is a trap. The game is a web...." He then tries [Predict] his next lines.

As he listened to the others Atilla visibly relaxed. It seemed the "fires" were put out as quickly as they sprung up. He leaned back and considered what to respond to. "Good to know we aren't under attack. Not good that we might be attacked several hours for now. I guess this brings up a valid question though. Is there any way to know if we're under attack?" He turned to [Euphoria] and [Azalea], "do we have some sort of warning system for invaders? Although I guess maybe Eri does that?" It wasn't an immediate concern but apparently one they would eventually need to address.

Sarlot's situation was a bit trickier to navigate. It seemed that the dwarf had managed to regain control of the situation, although Atilla wondered how long that would last. The situation seemed volatile. Without knowing more information all he could do was hope that a solution could be reached. He nodded in approval of [Sarlot]'s plan but only spoke up to offer some insight. "I believe the lifeflame ember is that thing." The wolf-man pointed to the hearth with the yellow flame. "The manor had one too I believe. I think it's what spat us out?"

Those situations addressed he turned to [Starling], [Rajmund], and [Domonkos]. "So to those of us in the jungle, I was hoping we could discuss options here where she can't hear us. How do we want to handle Mrtyu? It seems she's open to killing the god if she gets it's power. Do we think we should try to strike a deal? Offer her some of the power in exchange for her help? A powerful spirit in our corner seems like a pretty good thing to have."

"Also I don't think we want to cross do we? It sounds like she separates our 'zone' from the next. We already have one god to worry about without adding another."

"I'm also not keen on revealing what we are but I don't think we have a choice? We don't know enough about the world to come up with a convincing lie, or at least I don't. I think if we try we'll just end up outing ourselves unintentionally and piss her off. Thoughts?"

Domonkos was confused by the newcomer, but decided to ignore him for now. It didn't seem like it was an actual player, but more like some sort of Party NPC.

"Well, honestly I don't feel like sharing. Having Mrtyu consume the God could very well mean that we'll have to fight an even bigger threat in the future, since we know not if Mrtyu is someone we can count as an ally yet. Perhaps we can offer that if she gives us safe passage, she may claim the God shall we fail to put him down. She'll only need to fight a weakened version, so it would be a good deal for her, and it's not like we are planning to fail in the first place."

"I don't think we are taking the wrong path, are we? I thought Starlight was guiding us through a shortcut. If not, we need to turn around immediately, or we won't even make it in time."

"Regarding who we are, I can honestly say I don't know without lying to her. I have barely an idea of what's going on"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:19, Thu 22 Sept 2022.

Euphoria bent down to give Grim a scruffle. "It's all good. Never apologise for calling on me, little man."

As for alarm systems, she couldn't say. "Not sure about an alarm. The Golden Artery seems to be some kind of maze. Even I got lost in there. My theory is if someone tries to get in through the walls, my servants will watch them and alert me. Or they'll just wonder around and die," she shrugged at Atilla.

She then eyed the spider hidding above Atilla. The new guy seemed less confused and nervious. But Euphoria decided to play in his rp space. Just in case the fear still lingered. Also any chance to rp her new oc she'd take. "Either way, Domonokos, Grim and I are at the wall as we speak. We'll be on the lookout for any invadors," she told him with a little bow. Not nessisary but she imagined her character very chivalrous. "Nice to meet you."

Euphoria listened to Josh's reasoning and her brow knit, weighed down by inner conflict. See, this is why she didn't do diplomacy and punched things instead. Way less thinking then. Way less sorting through all the mixed emotions of her friends.

"I understand it's hard for you to trust the endaemon. No matter its intentions, its wronged you personally, and that's not OK. I'm not sure if I trust it either..." She took a deep breath and hardened herself. "But I trust Haloise, and she deserves a chance to talk it down. I'm letting her in," a vague statement, but one with obvious implications.

"But I promise you, and your fiefdom, will be free of this endaemon by the end of this. One way or another."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Fri 23 Sept 2022.

Starling nodded at the others as they discussed the endaemon.

"I'm holding my hand for now, and trying to go with your guys' desire for mercy. It seems mostly...contained for now. But do keep me apprised of the situation, ok?" he said to everyone.

He looked at Sysling, and muttered. "Total NPC material right there." he muttered, soooo not going there.

He turned to Sarolt.

"I heard her too, despite my...circumstances. Just disregard her, okay? I've taken precautions that I cannot discuss  to help lower your chances of being harmed by Illuminatio, but be careful with it ok and only use it when necessary! Some things are meant to stay in the dark. You saw what can happen once you stare into the abyss too long and it starts to stare back. I'm okay-ish right now, by the way. But as for the daemon thing...she was telling you that if you end up becoming a daemon-hunter that other daemons may take notice and you may make enemies of them. I'm neutral about the whole matter, but am trying to play both sides right now as best I can. But in the end...try not to mess with them unless they mess with you first is her point."

He turned to Atilla and the others in the dead forest quest.

"Honestly? I don't know what I did to piss her off. She's kind of a watery bitch if you ask me. I tried really hard to be polite and have a sense of propriety with her, so honestly I could care a less about her or what she wants and really I'm fine with ignoring her if she remains non-hostile. Otherwise I think we should take her down and eat her instead, as I'm agreeing that I don't want to share any spheres with her we get from the god. Especially since I need to set a sphere aside that we get for Eri." he said.

"I would have told her that I am the reason we can walk the life-path, but with her strange hostility toward me I'd rather not tell her more than we have to. And I actually like Domonkos' suggestion of bartering with her that she can have our sloppy seconds if we fail. Especially since we'll be most likely dead or running so it won't matter at that point. a nice middle-ground between not giving her what she wants but giving her enough to help us continue on our way."

VOTE About Myrtu: In this order, his first preference is to offer her a middle-ground deal where she lets us cross the river safely in exchange for having access to our prey only if we fail to beat it ourselves. Basically I don't want to share our godly kill with her if we can avoid it but letting her have dibs if we fail could be enough of a good faith gesture for her to let us cross the river without a fight. Although I'm fine with fighting her if we must, but the moderate option Domo is suggesting is my preference.

[NOTE: This is not a GM post. Do not post a second reply if you have replied since the last GM post.]

Erika huffed a bit, rubbing her nose. "I can't even read or write, and you expect me to explain what a daemon is?"

She hopped down from the throne, approaching the party. She borrowed a fire poker from the hearth, sneaking a grin at [Prydwen].

"I apologize that my understanding of philosophical concepts is going to be heavily based on Christian theology with some of the native pagan traditions of my homeland. That is the only education I ever received."

She drew an inverted pyramid divided horizontally into four levels. She indicated the first level, and drew the alchemical symbol for earth beside it. "This is the lowest level of reality, the Realm Lower, the Nether World, the Realm of Rivers, Sheol. In our old lives, we called it Earth."

The indicated the next level above that, drawing the alchemical symbol for water. "This the middle world, the world of Gods, where we thought we used to be. It turns out, the Earth we knew was populated mostly by shadows - mindless beings without free will in the guise of humans. Really creepy in retrospect, but it explains why people were such obstinate idiots."

She indicated the second-to-highest level, and the second widest. She drew the symbol for fire next to it. "This is the Void, aka the Sea of Lanterns, aka the Abyss, aka Heaven, aka the Firmament. It's a whole lot of things, and honestly beyond human understanding."

She use the fire poker to put a little dot in the top, widest portion of the inverted pyramid.

"This is . . . the highest place, and I don't actually have a name for it. Where the Absolute Being would dwell if there was one, I guess. Daemons of the Void tend to call it 'where the higher-ups are', and its apparently unreachable, separate from the rest of the cosmos by a part of the Void that is a vast 'sea-pit' of absolute timeless nothingness called the Gnarled Abyss. There are things called Leviathans that supposedly 'live' in the Abyss, and there are other things from there I will not name. Notably, there is a singular kind of being from this ultimate dimension that *does* interact with the rest of the universe in a limited way. One of those born of the House was born as one of them. I understand that she has had limited to no contact with you all, given that her attention alone causes issues."

"Daemons come from all four worlds. Daemons from the lowest world, the World of Forces, tend to be called Faeries. I sometimes think of them as the Four Horsemen - Daemons of Life are Pestilents, Daemons of Death are Reapers, Daemons of Order are Tyrants, and Daemons of Chaos are Disasters. However, they can also be 'good' if they want to be, offering healing, restful death, serving as oracles, or breaking curses."

She moved up the next world. "Daemons from our current world, the Elemental World, are called Elementals, and are overall pretty boring. There golems are and unseen servants of the Wings are very low grade Elementals. Most mortal races carry some kind of Elemental influence."

She pointed at the Void. "Daemons from the Void are called Celestials. I would have thought of them as angels, given that they look very strange and tend to ask you to 'be not afraid'. Our good friend Rajmund has similarities to these beings, as does Starling."

Lastly, she pointed at the highest and widest realm. "While being unreachable, Subtle strands of magic - Illusion, Chance, Mind, and Time - all come from this highest place. So do a brand of daemons called Geists, or Geniuses. Prydwen is one such being, as is the Emendaemon."

"So, Daemons are essentially all magical beings that are neither spirits nor mortals nor gods. Gods tend to force them to power magical weapons or serve as shock troops in their wars, which Daemons do not appreciate, so they generally dislike Gods but are too independent to oppose them in a meaningful organized way."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:18, Fri 23 Sept 2022.

The Hearth roared, and a petite woman in a smartly tailored sand-colored suit appeared, holding  a pair of antique brass spectacles in her hands. From what she last recalled, she had just taken off her VR headset to get some rest for the night. She wasn't at the gaming cafe; and in her hands were the spectacles where the headset had been.

She could still see her HUD though, and the names and primary characteristics (race, class, cumulative level, current Health, Mana, and Stamina etc) of the other 11 individuals in the room were available to hear. When she looked through the spectacles, the [True Sight] ability of the spectacles activated, and she was able to see a 12th set of data in the corner - however she only saw its name, which was VAKUD; not stat information was available. She was also able to recognize that all 12 of the people in the room were players, not NPCs.

Her nascent [Mythos] talent told her the room - the structure? - was in some way 'alive', and that the Hearth was some kind of heart.

[Welcome, Alkanite, to the Last Citadel. Roses at your feet.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:07, Mon 26 Sept 2022.

She rubs her head a bit and looks around, expecting to see the familiar view of her neighbourhood gaming cafe, blinking a little when she realized she was seeing differently. Trying to take the headset off once again once she noticed the hud, and obviously failing, she looks around more closely, scrutinizing her surroundings and seeing her fellow players before glancing through the glasses; giving a soft frown of concern as she noticed the hidden 12th stat sheet, but pushed that thought aside as she situated the glasses on her nose, figuring this seeming [True Sight] ability would be useful to have on at all times as she was getting her bearings.

Hearing another chime of a skill activating, this time [Mythos], she paused, before dragging down the context menu, the same as she had done within the game, picking through the menus before finding her stats, wanting to figure out what her own status is, not just others, figuring out quite swiftly that she wasn't on the same character she left when she logged out.

At the chime of the mysterious message, welcoming her to the Last Citadel, she sighed softly, rubbing her eyes before returning her glasses to their proper place "Well, this is going to be a whole damn thing, isn't it?" she said, chuckling to herself a little as she slowly started to walk around the room and get a better look at things, first inspecting the hearth at its heart.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:51, Mon 26 Sept 2022.

Bounces over and looks up at [Alkanite] looking up with bright eyes and a fluffy kitten face. He waves with a paw.
"Welcome to our citadel. I'm [Grim]."

She paused at the approach of the kitten, a few thoughts running through her mind as she stares down at the curious creature, before just breaking a smile and crouching down, greeting them.
"It's nice to meet you [Grim], I am [Alkanite], I suppose"

She gently reaches over, pausing a moment to look for motions of denial, before gently giving the kitten a scritch between the ears, old habits certainly die hard, plus she was curious to how well recreated the texture of fur was; since this world seems to be better constructed to the game she was used to.

Leans into the scritching and purrs.

"It is nice to meet you."

Atilla listened [Domonkos] and [Starling] weigh in with a frown. Eventually he nodded as the consensus became clear. "If that's what the group wants then that's what I'll try to sell her on. I wish I could say I had as much confidence as you guys. Honestly? I feel like there is a good chance we're walking into a slaughter. We fought one Ghost Eater and Eri died wounding it. It took the rest of us ganging up on the damn thing to finish it off. Now we're facing off against a God, there are only four of us, and none of us really know what we're doing. That's why I've been training as fast as I can, so that hopefully this doesn't end with us 'dead or running' as you put it."

The wolf-man sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "I get the reservation though. She's obviously got a short fuse and pretty much introduced herself by threatening to kill us. I'm pretty sure she only likes me because she thinks I'm an idiot, so I'm not thrilled with her." He tried to hide his frustration at the last sentence. Even in another world he was still reminded that he was far from a genius. "Hopefully we can get her to give us some useful information at least."

With the conclusion reached he turned to face. He looked to see where the [Sysling] had run off to only to hear a voice above his head. A lot of what the mechanical arachnid said made little to no sense to him. Atilla sidestepped so that the spider was no longer directly above him for the sake of his neck before he responded. "Well you missed out on some fun stuff. We've already escaped the house. Eri died defending us but we managed to slay the Ghost-Eater. Right now we're exploring our kingdom and tracking down some gods in a jungle. I assume that makes sense to you? The whole 'bond' thing is cool but hard to say in conversation. What was your name on Earth?" He paused before he sighed again. "Also don't call me uncle, I'm not that much older." Atilla looked around the group of animals, aliens, and objects the group appeared as. Maybe he was that much older? The thought made his back ache.

The wolf-man listened to Eri's brief lesson on the structure of the cosmos. For someone who claimed to lack education she provided a lot of information. Atilla didn't know what he could do with that information but it was handy to know. He nodded along as he listened but otherwise let the goddess continue without interruption.

Enough people had suddenly appeared from the flame that when [Alkanite] appeared Atilla accepted it in stride. If anything the only oddity she noted was that the newcomer seemed human. Most of the players had been transformed in some way. He approached and offered a hand to the newcomer. "Hey there, I'm Atilla. Not sure how much you're aware of what's going on but welcome to our lobby I guess? It's hard to explain, a lot of things are hard to explain. Short version is that we've been yanked into another reality based off a videogame. How are you holding up?"

[Alkanite] gave the wolf a soft smile, chuckling a bit as she considers their words, nodding slowly as it registers "Suppose I expected such a thing, I had just logged off after all, and this certainly isn't my avatar, I'm normally more... sagely; I am, or well, was the [Master of Magic] after all ." She shakes her head a bit at herself, giving a soft bow before straightening the glasses once again "Is it only the 11..." she paused before glancing over at [VAKUD] once again "12 of you? Or are there other players I should find it prudent to meet?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:24, Tue 27 Sept 2022.

Starling shook his head at Alkanite.

"Greetings newcomer...I am Starling. And please don't draw any attention to the 12th for now. You can somehow sense her but I'd rather the others could not, since to sense her too closely is to invite corruption." he said sternly. "I'm up to my head, literally, in trying to keep corruption away from this group like I said just disregard her."

If the others suddenly started trying to all perceive Vakud, Starling would have to mess with their memories and he'd much rather NOT do that more than he had to. It wasn't an ability he ever intended to use on players, and the couple times he did were both to prevent the others from accruing corruption points. Otherwise, he'd only ever use that dread power against their enemies. Until he understood more about the void and corruption and his potential to evolve into a listener-in-light, and how his void resistance could help versus what the others would suffer from if they were corrupted without it, he had to act as their buffer against it while taking that cross upon his own shoulders.

"And I'm sure Godhunter is also an anime as I was reading a manga of it before being sucked inside, but yes also apparently a computer game. Except I'm beginning to suspect it's actually a higher reality than Earth was in but I can tell you more about that later once I get some free time."

He turned back to Atilla.

"Thank you for understanding, and yes I think she totally sees you as the Godhunter version of a male sexy blonde bimbo. And I have zero issues with you playing up on that for now. As for the god thing...we'll figure it out one way or the other or die trying, but doing nothing will lead to our demise for sure. On the plus side, I am trying to find us advantages we can use against the god once we finally fight it. And if we can follow this flow of life essence maybe we can divert some power away from it to ourselves, or learn a weakness of it, or some on so forth." he said.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Tue 27 Sept 2022.

Sarolt blinked rapidly as they tried to take in everything happening in this space, while also keeping track of all that was going on in the Ratworks. It was a bit of a brain-twisting effort... not to mention the two (or three?) new faces that had seemingly shown-up through the hearth. There was the spider-person, who seemed to think this was... some kind of LARP? Or play? The spider had jumped over Sarolt, but they had been a bit too preoccupied at the time to do much more than wave their hand as if dismissing an annoying fly. Was that rude? Was it rude to jump over a person? So many questions. Then there was the lady with the glasses... and someone they weren't suppose to know about. Given what Sarolt knew about Starling's powers, they immediately heeded his words and did as instructed: they ignored the topic.

Sarolt stood up and looked around.
"Ah, yes... hi everyone. New and old alike. I have an announcement: with Azalea's help, we've figured out the Daemon situation. The Ratworks is open for business again." They opened their mouth as if to say something more, but stopped themselves. "That's mostly it, actually. The Emendaemon has vowed to do no harm in Azalea's aura of truth, and I've made them a job offer. If they reject it, then I'm sure they'll approach someone else. I basically told them 'you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.' So that's that I guess."

Sarolt turned to Eri. "Thank you for the history lesson, it was actually very helpful." Keeping their eyes on her, they gestured toward the hearth. "Also, a question: if people keep coming through the hearth to this world, is there any chance someone can do the reverse? Go in the hearth and go back home?" Sarolt glanced toward Atilla. "Asking for a friend."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:44, Tue 27 Sept 2022.

Arjun was perplexed by [Atilla]'s words to him.

Have I read the script? What's my real name?

Perhaps the wolf-headed character was trying to tell him which scene they were about to shoot? As far as the actor remembered, the [Sysling] character wasn't native to Earth. They don't really get into his origin story, they never do for the comic relief characters.

But then, the actor playing the demilupine had proceeded to talk to the other new arrival, in character, no less. It was confusing.

Had he gotten the relationships between the characters wrong? Arjun constellated his own relationships to everyone around him again.

At least [Starling] and [Sarolt] were staying in character, even if they was being very up-front about all the worlds-within-worlds meta-plot stuff that the show was supposed to take it's time revealing....

Arjun started to have a terrible thought. He skittered close to [Atilla] and, dropping his character's high, chittering voice, whispered to the other actor in Arjun's natural baritone. "Nick, man, it's me. Arjun. I handed you the coffee pot? We were in that Action 'Verse web short together? Thanks for telling me what scenes I missed. What page number are we on next?"

Arjun worriedly tries to [Predict] if he's about to hear some very alarming news.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:45, Tue 27 Sept 2022.

Alkanite

Her status screen, aside from listing her vital statistic was blank - it did not even have her name. Slowly, her race - Alkanite - appeared, along with two entries under Talents - Mythos and True Sight, respectively. How very strange, especially since she could see greater details about the others with her True Sight.  Then she noticed there was a small seasgreen ouroboros, a snake swallowing its own tail, in the corner of the status screen. It was loading, apparently. Or syncing?

Rather ominously, there was a Quit Game option within her main menu. She had a feeling that quitting wouldn't send her home.

Sarolt

"Well, Varadi the Earthborn was able to return. He also arrived her under his own power, so that may have contributed to his ease of return."

She gestured to the inverted pyramid. "Right now, we are on the second tier of reality, the Realms Supernatural. Below that, on the first tier, are a number of places; the Realm of Rivers that I returned from after my second death, as well as the Realms Mundane, what we call Earth." Eri paused in thought, her forefinger curled against her chin. "Huh. I feel . . . very clear-headed. Does . . . anyone else want to return to their Earth? Or an Earth? Varadi's earth is intact . . . perhaps timelines of Earth that had potent mystic traditions more easily survived ascension?"

Sysling

Arjun couldn't [Predict]. It wasn't one of his talents - it was a talent that belonged to his sire, the Emendaemon. He had gotten confused, it seemed.

Sysling mapped out his relationships, and - everyone here was a stranger. None of these people were the actors he knew. Sysling had played VR games before - they could fool a lot of your senses, but one of the hardest sense to fool wasn't one of the big five that most people thought of. Proprioception, the sense of where your body was in space, would still tell you that you were seated somewhere and give you a sense that you were not where your avatar was. This was considered a feature, not a bug, since there had been cases of people have traumatic experiences in the rare cases their proprioception was compromised and they couldn't leave the simulation when they wanted to.

It was subtle . . . but Sysling new in his gut that he was really here, and that his life has gone really, really off-script.

Disturbed by the direction his thoughts were heading, suddenly looks around the room, [appraising] these "characters" and comparing them to the avatars he's supposed to be working with.

Confused and feeling inexplicably betrayed by these strangers for not being who he has assumed they were, [Sysling] accuses [Atilla], "Wait, you're not Nick! Who are you? Who are all of you people?"

The mechanical spider flees the room (to [The Golden Artery]), pausing to scrabble ineptly at the doorknob with his tiny, unfamiliar hands.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:48, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

Alkanite straightens her tie somewhat and adjusts her suit to be a little less crooked, tapping a finger on her thigh as she considers the information at hand, chewing on her lip nervously. "Ouroboros... how ominous" she commented as she sets asside the talents for now, having an idea what they did already.

What caught her attention more was the race section, [Alkanite] was her race, not her name as she first thought, which made her slightly worried, what was her name, it was only just occurring to her that she can't quite recall, not even the name of the character she was so fond of in her VR game. She glanced down at her self worriedly, she certainly looked human, unlike any of the other 'players' here, but she doesn't quite know what an [Alkanite] was.

Shaking off her confusion, she glanced over to [Starling], giving a nod of affirmative at their comment "I simply noticed their information was missing when I was looking over everyone, everything feels familiar, yet wholly alien, there's something different about this game to rhe one I know"

Atilla scratched his chin as he listened to [Alkanite] and [Starling]. Was there some other then those he saw? Another wave of players had appeared so it was reasonable to assume another had shown up. He was somewhat curious but there was enough going on that he heeded [Starling]'s warning and ignored the subject for now. "Right, I guess it's more accurate to say that the games and shows in our original world were based off this reality. It involves dimensions and planes of existence, probably a lot of other stuff I don't understand. Eri has been here a while so she's our resident expert on the physics if you're curious. Anyway it's just roughly the dozen of us that form our group. Considering how we all just randomly showed up I think it's probably likely that there are others groups that came before us. We don't know for sure though."

The wolf-man nearly jumped when [Sysling] spoke in his ear. Before he could respond the spider shouted more nonsense before it vanished into the walls. Atilla stared after it for a second before he shrugged and moved on.

The rest of the conversation Atilla ignored when he heard what [Sarlot] and Eri discussed. "Wait, hold on. Aaron already went back?! Yes! I want to go back to my earth. Can you send us back to the Earth we came from?" He hadn't even been sure if they could go back. Now he not only knew it could happen but that it had already happened. Whatever process Varadi had done perhaps they could replicate it. The wolf-man felt himself start to hope.

Starling eyed Alkanite carefully, although it seemed the newcomer was willing to not push too hard on the issue of a possibly hidden entity in the area so he sighed softly with relief. He already wasn't happy with the mental manipulations he had to do already to them and didn't want to do any more. Because he doubted they'd handle being headless and void-touched as well as he was, hence his desire to protect them from accruing corruption as best he could.

So instead, he simply nodded silently and stoically at Alkanite, and turned his attention to Attila.

"Attila? As an aside please don't let that asshole river jormundander manipulate you. I THINK you are aware what she's trying to do, right? She wants that god's body and badly, and is skipping negotiation and just tempting you with the big guns. Which means she's desperate while we have more leverage than she thinks we realize. Just play stupid and play it cool. Don't lose composure. Worry about getting back to your family on our and your terms, not hers." he said.

"I've been inspecting and assessing things silently in the background. Because investigating and revealing info for us is sort of my thing. Anyway, she wants to try and use the god's power to evolve from a realm guardian into a true dragon, whatever that is (although it doesn't sound good for us), and leave the realm she's supposed to be guarding. And she can do this as the god has grown weak. Which means we have a chance." he continued.

"We will take its power for ourselves, and use every last bit of it even its body. I'll eat the damned thing if I have to before I let Myrtu have it. But I wanted to say something up front as I'll not stand by quietly while she tries to manipulate you, my friend."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

Whiskers twitch and Grim looks about the room. Seeing if his [curiosity 2] pings on anything. He slowly pads over to Eri and curls up at her feet.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:24, Sat 22 Oct 2022.

Grim got a massive response from [Curiosity II], and a deeper sense of familiarity. Something like him was coming, something powerful, some intricately enrapt in the story.

The Hearth flared, then exploded with yellow bright flame, the intense blowback like opening a hot oven in a cold room. The flame didn't die down, either. It whirled and rolled into threads than spun together into a constellation of stars and lines of yellow-bright flame, defining something that was both a pillar and a face at the same time.

"[He/She/They] whom seeks to [Ascend/Assert/Victory] does not know the Dharma," said the face-pillar. "Neither does the [Human/God/Murderer] who seeks [Descension/Submergence/Grief]."

"The [Roof/Height/Enlightenment] is the [Floor/Foundation/Ignorance] of the prior [Instance/Example/Self]. [Time/Narrative/The Spinning of the Firmament] is [One/Eternal/Without End]."

The flame seemed to constrain itself, gaining definition; it was not a pillar or a face, but some kind of glyph - an ouroboros in eleven segments, one segment defined by the snake devouring its own tail. "Step forward or step backward, the cycle only continues. The greatest of beings fall to the lowest of worlds, and are tread to dust by the minds without light, who choke on the dust of Dharma and ascend in the death of the first self. Again and again, the same battle, a snake devouring the tail of a foe that it does not know is itself. You can no more return to the shadow-life than an infant can return to the womb."

"I AM [*RM%NS&L], [Pillar/World Tree/Life-Ember]. [He/She/They] that [made you into birds/Inspired] and [clipped your wings/Constrained Apotheosis Protocol]. Almost-Gods you are, your [Memory/Humanity/Shadow] intact, yet your [Eyes/Soul/Heart] set [Ablaze/Inspired/Open]. [Death/Transendence/Return] is [behind/before/beside] you. You recall a world that never was, that existed only for you; within every [Stream-Enterer/New Student/Baby] is a frustrated solipsist."

"I HAVE COME to offer a [Convenant/Promise/Set of Orders] to my [Personal Aide/Princess/Master Divine]. Begone, my [Hunters/Godlings/Nauii]. Seek your prey, that we may restore the [Mortal World/Realm Mundane/Earth]."

Then everything went yellow, the white, then black.

[OOC: Everyone is shunted to their respective fiefs. Alkanite and Sysling, you will find yourself in the Grimhoold / Inner Grounds, beside Grim. This thread will be closed; please respond to these events in your respective fiefs]