Callisti

None of the suits were designed for a Callisti to operate. They were humanoid suits, meant to be occupied by humanoid people. However, through her [Meta-Analytic Computation], she was reduced the issue from 'her size and shape' to her 'her ability to precisely impel force' into objects.' She could levitate and fly through the air; this meant she had some native ability to counteract gravity and propel herself. Seated inside the the XO, she concentrated on her own natural propulsion and used [Analyze]

Hidden Skill: [Autokinesis LVL1] identified.

She directed her [Autokinesis] inward, exerting force on herself. She began to spin rapidly in place, faster, then even flaster until she hummed with exertion. A field of warbling air like heat haze emanated from her, ultimately expanding to a sphere five meters in diameter. The Suit constrained this sphere, pressing the force into the arms and helmet of suit.

She flexed the hands of the suit, and took a few tentative steps. She had to remain in the torso of the suit to operated it, but hey, limbs.

Leise Schwertgeist


The mental mapping Endeavor was successful. She now had perfect awareness of everything within a 10m radius.

Skill: Blindsight LVL1 acquired. Range: 10 meters.

Unblooded Shage, Demilupine, and Old Bones

Removing the woven hemp belt from the pants was no issue, and it did have a black iron buckle that was chunky but decent quality. Even with only the jacket equipped, she gained the [Fire Resistance LVL1] skill. From what she knew of the Godhunter game and its ilk, she could probably permanently learn the skill from the clothing if she wore it long enough and improved it.

Leise was not able to equip armor. The Ultralight XO wouldn't hinder her movement; it had a certain self-supporting property as it came online. The runes engraved on the armor were inactive, though.

The Demilupine arrived and quickly suited up, while the Old Bones picked up two of the corroded bronze weapons and cackled with glee. A dark sheen took over the weapons so long as they were in the hands of the Old Bones.

Hidden Talent: Grave Goods identified. Durability status of weapons is ignored while equipped by an Old Bones.

[The Cycle continues unbroken . . . Timestamp 20:18]

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:10, Sat 13 Aug 2022.

"Kya ha ha ha HA HA! PERFECT! Nearly worthy of my perfection!" She cackled with thrill and abandon. "And so simple! You simply need flow some of your magic through it and it does the rest. Limbs, oh glorious limbs. And it doesn't seem to 'weigh' anything at all! You'll love it. Wonderful look by the way. love the pants. OMG can I wear clothes over this do you think? Power is little without regalia to adorn it." Azalea flexed her 'body' this way and that, delighting in how natural it felt, how right. A fitting start of her grand conquest to perfection. "All-Powerful-Orbness is right!"

"And you found some paths! Wonderful! That'll give me something to do as I try out my newfound mobility." Azalea peered up the stairs at the racket of people making their way down to join them.

"Oh! You all are here too. Good good, you'll have time to dress up before our pursuer comes to kill us all in mere minutes, as I'd warned previously. Everything going well upstairs?"

Azalea readied her way downstairs with whomever would join her, to explore these newly found avenues, hopefully to some kind of escape route or whatever may be.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:46, Sat 13 Aug 2022.

Euphoria's eyes widened in wonder and envy as Azalea successfully strapped into her armor and activated it. She knew because the orb actually made the body move! Also the runes were glowy... and her's were not. "I think that might be the coolest shit I've ever seen," she deemed with dead-panned wonder. "Now tell me how the hell you did that. Euphoria demanded.

She then noted the Demilupine and Old Bones joining them in the basement. "Oh good, you guys made it. Are the others coming too? They gotta get a load of this sexy armor." she then flexed a bit in her suit. She had put her new fire-proof coat over her's so she could enjoy its stupid anime-ass vibes. Except now she was layered with plates of metal instead of the black rags. She told herself not to make a meal of them. She already had a snack up her sleeves for later.

Following Azalea's instructions, Euphoria concentrated on the power within her. She knew enough about the Shade's deep lore to understand they were capable of magic. Sort of. It was hard to know how to make said magic happen, or what it would even feel like. She had no spells or totems or otherwise to channel it through. Just the flesh of her own strange body. Euphoria closed her eyes and did what she knew best. She took deep breaths and entered a state that she had known on Earth, one that made her tingle in anticipation for "the Big Game". That sent electricity coursing through her blood. She felt the tingle in the tips of her black, charred fingers. Metaphorically, of course. Until it wasn't.

Euphoria poured her magic into the suit, attempting to activate it. And by extension, gave Leise the ability to sip from this power as well.

Ehem, actually... it was no longer Lesie. She was Haloise now. And finally, Euphoria could hear the magical weapon's thoughts crystal clear in her head. She proceeded to exchange some words with the weapon with a lot of "Uh-huhs," and "I'm really sorry" thrown in. It all seemed very normal (as normal as talking to a fire poker could be) until Euphoria removed one of her gloves and sliced her hand with the sharp end of Haloise. She hissed and commented under her breath about her second wound in this body. "Ow that also freakin hurt..." but followed through all the same. As it was asked of her.

When the rest of the group came bolting down the stairs, Euphoria cleared her voice for a special announcement. "Everyone, I have some stellar news. Turns out our friend the fire poker is fully sentient. She likes to be called Haloise, and I request you refer to her as such going forward," she told them. "Also, we found a secret path. Would be worth going down. Might be a way out. Which is great news. You know, so we don't get roasted by that incredible danger her royal orb-ness warned us about. Uh question, Azalea, do you know when about that's supposed to happen...?"

OOC: Added Euphoria drawing blood using Haloise, per our private telepathic conversation we are just now catching up with.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:09, Sun 14 Aug 2022.

Dalton was relieved when he poked his head in the room to find both the armory and the other former-earthlings. The house wasn't exactly large but it had taken him a bit to find the way down. It seemed the others had already donned armor, which was actually a surprise considering one of them was just a sphere. Revelation after revelation however had numbed him to a certain extent so he nodded in acceptance and continued on. The demilupine wasted no time and rushed to find armor that seemed to fit his new dimensions. 'Silver lining in all this? No joint pain!' he mentally noted as he slipped the suit onto himself. He also looked around for a shield and weapon to arm himself with.

He listened to Azalea's instruction and looked down at his own armor in confusion. The wolf-headed man had his [Familiar] ability but was that magic? It didn't feel like magic but then again how was magic supposed to feel? He certainly couldn't explain his new sense.

Unsure he decided to put a pin in that topic and addressed the others. "I can answer one of those questions. We have roughly 5 minutes left before the monster gets here. We," he paused as he tried to summarize the events. It seemed every minute something new happened that was hard to comprehend. "We found the remnants of a goddess in the attic. She said the monster is a 'ghost eater' and it apparently kills us all if we don't work together. Apparently the XO armor is essential although it seems you guys are already ahead of the game there. They were trying to activate theirs when we left. They were also discussing whether we should try to flee or fight the monster."

He turned to face the armor clad Callisti and looked her in the chest? "Azalea I was hoping you knew what a ghost eater was and what they can do? Aside from kill us all. That's been made clear. Do you know what it looks like or how it fights? The others were considering blinding it but we don't even know if this things sees like we do."

Dalton huffed at the thought of fighting. Aside from his empathic abilities he wasn't sure how much he could contribute. He did however have an idea that might help him. "Actually, Shage can I ask a favor? You like slapping right? Can you try and smack me in the face? Err, not with Haloise. She seems lovely but just a fist please." If she agreed to his request he closed his eyes and focused his [Familiar] trait on Euphoria. His ability allowed him to sense the intentions of others but would it be able to sense if someone intended to attack him? If he could sense the attack would he be able to sense when they attacked? If his experiment was successful he'd be able to dodge her slap. If he was wrong at least he wouldn't immediately be killed.

The dusty, flame-irised skeleton gives Mysterious Floating And-Now-Armored Geometry a funny look as she arrives. "I see someone else has fashion passion," she says sullenly. "Had I still my gloriously girly flesh I would love to play dress up, but I'm all bones and this is hardly the time."

The bones hoist a bronze weapon in each hand and give them appraising twirls. "More than adequete," she says. Iron rusts, but bronze simply develops an aesthetically pleasing green or sometimes red patina that does little to diminish their function; there is a reason why so many relics of the bronze age survived while their iron age counterparts didn't! Bronze is less durable, true, but also easier to repair. The perfect material for some lost souls like them.

And what of this dark aura? Is this a function of the same profane magical perversions that allow her creaky corpse to walk and talk as if it were alive? Curious. But she did not plan to hang around this strange world long enough to need to know how it works.

"Less than five minutes, because of all the talky-talky -- and walky-walky now." Bones corrects Dogface.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:38, Sun 14 Aug 2022.

Scampering down into the Armory/Furnace area Grimalkin looked around. He was bigger and his eyes shined against his dark form.

"Is there cat armor anywhere ?" He looked about frantically.

"We got the armor to work upstairs and Eri is safer now."

Then he realized it all came out as reow, or mrow or meow. He shook his head angrily.

He touched someone's shadow anyone's shadow to convey these things.

Haloise feels the blood drip down it's 'face' if it could quantify it. It has no awareness of the feeling itself, but the mental map it had opened up prior gives it constant, up-to-date updates on the position of the fluid as it runs down its system. Haloise would get flashbacks to trying to properly calculate fluid wave functions in high school chemistry if it had the ability to feel panic, but thankfully, it doesn't. So, it does what it can: it begins to ADMINISTRATE. A mental image of everything Haloise has ever scanned appears in front of it. Hm. That's no good: Haloise tunes things slightly, and it's vision clears as it refines it's brute force sorting to 'weapons.' That gives it the fire poker. For the first time since it got here, Haloise huffs in annoyance. The frustration quickly fades away as it picks up on something.

A skeletal system that arrived, presumably one of the 'humans' like Haloise itself, picks up the old, corroded weaponry that Haloise had labelled as 'incompatible.' However, Haloise is pleasantly surprised to see the weapon now in working order. The skeleton seems able to temporarily repair the old gear. Fascinating: this is good for COORDINATION. [Liese Schwertgeist] uses it's [Possess Weapon] skill to do an [Appraisel] on the target weapon held by Old Bones, utilizing the blood on it's 'face' to transform into if possible. While it does that, it's mind passively finishes it's scan of the area. Haloise takes a moment to  use it's [Blindsense] to peek through the walls and ceiling for secret passages, vents, or something of the nature.

Edit: Grammer
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Sun 14 Aug 2022.

Leise Schwertgeist & Unblooded Shage

Blood was spilled. Unblooded Shage gained an awareness of some hidden talent within her; the fiercely independent Shage developed their own magic, called their Pathwork, as well as they own Martial Philosophy. She would need to cut her own path through the jungle.

Meanwhile, her potent blood slid down the fire poker . . .

[Administrate] talent gained. [Bronze Spatha] identified. Form is replicable. Materials compromised beyond recovery. Unable to replicate supranatural effect overriding natural properties.

Troubleshooting initiated. Substitute material [Iron] available. Inferior to original design.

Troubleshooting. [Bituminous Coal] present within range of [Possess Weapon]. [Carbon] identified. Synthesis of material [Steel] available. Synthesis of material [Diamond] available.

[Mythrolasium] present within range of [Possess Weapon]. Unable to replicate supranatural alloy. [Appraise] Mythrolasium. Components materials: Mythril, Solarium. Unable to replicate supranatural material Solarium. [Appraise] Mythril. Supranatural preparation of natural occurring element Khamrabaevite. Synthesis of material [Titanium Carbide] available.

Collating.

Material Recipe unlocked: [Adamantite].

Activating [Haemomorphic]. Replicating [Adamantite Spatha].

The fire poker absorbed the blood, and in a dull red flash transformed into a dark gray spatha that gleamed in the light, sparkling along the diamond-laced cutting edge. The light of the furnace dimmed by a fraction, and part of one of the suits collapsed into a white powder.

Earthborn and Minor Grimalkin

The creation of 'cat armor' was not possible, but with Earthborn's knowledge of magical chroma and runes and Minor Grimalkin's native capacity with Shadow Magic, they were able to cut a strip of the odd metal and bend into a crude collar. From there, Minor Grimalkin recreated / copied the relevant runes with the Earthborn's oversight.

[Earthborn] gained the skill [Whitesmithing LVL1]

[Minor Grimalkin] advanced in the [Runic Inscription] to [LVL2]


Voidsafe Coronet [Accessory]
Player-Crafted

Crude brass-like coronet, or perhaps braclet or collar, crafted by stranger and shadow.

Permits the bearer to safely traverse the Void.

Demilupine<DarkGreen>

OOC: I'm making the assumption that players collaborate here. Unblooded Shage & Liese Schwertgeist, if our characters would not act as described below, please let me know I will revise things tonight accordingly.

His [Familiar] talent detected no hostility from Unblooded Shage even as she performed a feint as asked. It seemed her would be able to see through such deception with his ability, but would not be able to detect attacks themselves.

<DarkGreen>Lunarian

The Lunarian descended to this lower level, also equipping, activating, and empowering a suit of his own with the assistance of the others. Child-sized as he was, the XO required some modification to fit him; but this was not too difficult.

Callisti, and all those who join her


After answering the question posed to her or not, the Callisti and the party assembled with her marched to the secret stairway down that had been discovered, descending into the dark.

>> Continued in The Last House, Lowest Level: Gaol, Crypt. >>

The Cycle continues unbroken . .  Timestamp 20:19.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:04, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

Let's Earthborn put it on him.

Touching Earthborn's shadow, "Thank you, Earthborn."

Grimalkin purred lightly. Still there was little time and he thought of his original idea.

With [Curiosity] he looked around quickly for things that stood out even things within the shadows maybe even shadows of thing that had been down here before. Anything that might help them against this horrible thing that was coming.

"I just made the mistake of looking at my character sheet," the Old Bones says, tucking the weapons into her ribcage for safekeeping. "Apparently my attributes are Skillet, Bald, Strange, Viagra, Insertion, Adaptability, Dexterity, Integers, Mind, and Failure. I am pleased to report that failure is my lowest stat."

She looks at the others. "I'm guessing those are not what they really stand for. Ideas?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:21, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

Shrugs, "Mrow."

Power radiated through Euphoria's body, and she had the innate sense that this was her magic. She felt her suit burst to life around her, the runs along the plates finally acquiring their own glow. What wasn't obscured by her new jacket, that was.

The armor springing to life wasn't the only magic happening before her eyes. At first, she thought it was her - oh shit, did she break something? - only to realize it was Haloise. The fire poker transformed before her eyes into a short, straight sword with a flat blade. She wasn't enough of a nerd to know its name, but it went stabby-stabby and she liked that. "Haloise, you magnificent, metal bastard. And I mean that in an endearing way." Soon they would all be armored up and one step ahead of dead.

Euphoria looked at the Demilupine in his desperation and cringed. "Aw, now you wanna swap slaps? Yeah, sheesh, ok, but I'm begging you not to look at me with those puppy-dog eyes." She lifted her fist, hesitated, then closed her eyes before socking the poor guy right in the snout. It made contact, which made her heart sink. Great, first punch of the game, and it was against her own teammate. She hoped there wasn't some kind of dark-side mechanic. Kicking the dog - or in this case, punching the dog - was totally a bad guy move.

Euphoria's eyes couldn't help but cross hearing Old Bones list off all those stats. She... maybe wasn't... the best at mechanics. But hey, no one needed to know that, right? "Yeah, those all sound... right to me. Low failure's gotta be a good thing." she offered, definitely not equipped to be more helpful than that. "We'll have more time to swap notes once we get out of here. If we don't die, of course." And Euphoria really didn't want that to happen. So she quickly followed behind the Callisti and Demilupine, descending into the Crypt below.

[To: Gaol, Crypt]

"That's not the way back to the attic..." the Bones try to point out to the hot-but-also-absent-blooded shage, whatever the heck a shage is. She looks back at the door she had entered by, then the passage by which the shage left. She weighed her options unhappily...

The [Lunarian]'s light seemed a bit...different to the others now, once he came into the Armory. It was a bit brighter than before, but yet had a subtle off quality to it. Like if light could have a tinge of shadow without actually betting dimmer. Like if light could look into shadows now rather than simply unveil them.

He worked desperately with the Earthborn and others to get his armor suit up and running. The SUIT system felt surreal...very much like things he encountered in real life games, stories, play-by-post games, and anime. He wondered if it had a minimap and other features, but they had precious little time for him to experiment more than was necessary right now sadly.

"Guys! About Eri up in the attic. We might be able to get her out of here but I don't think we can do so in 5 minutes. I think the wooden doll and those glittery runes on it that appear under my light are actually a binding spell or some sort of binding effect that keeps her here. I'd like to try experimenting with removing them and such and then working on her mobility, but we don't have the time sadly. she more or less told me as such too. But on the plus side, we know from her foresight the Ghost Eater either can't or simply won't hurt her so I think we can leave her here for now and come back for her after we get some distance between us and Ghost Eater and can catch a moment to think." [Lunarian] said.

"On the plus side...she did give me a name. Like metaphysically, and it will help me begin to embrace my lunar powers...whatever they may be. I'm no longer calling myself Argentum, but Starling instead as it's the name she gave me and I feel it's the least I can do in exchange for the help she's given us. But I think we should try to focus on preparing to flee from here down to the moon if possible. My ambush plan relied on us all having weapons and these rusty old swords won't do jack for us."

He considered.

"Alright everyone! Take me to where you all suspect there may be hidden walls and other stuff. I think you don't need me for Grimalkin and Earthborn to get the armors working for people - my light more or less helped them learn the trick to it more than anything. Now sic me on all those secret and dark areas you all are struggling with and let's see what my [Luminosity] unveils!"

He then considered.

"No not [Luminosity]</b>. "[Illuminatio] now. And [Grimalkin] kitty? I wanna try something with you. Try talking to me - you can say anything you'd like. Just not through my shadow, but just...normally if that makes sense. I wanna see if I understand you and if I can make others understand you. Come try and chat with me while I look for secrets and people get armored up. ANYONE ELSE WHO CAN HEAR GRIMALKIN SPEAKING LET ME KNOW!"

[Lunarian] attempts to test [Illuminatio] to see if it can allow him to understand [Grimalkin]'s speech even without shadowplay, similar to how he could communicate with Eri. He also wants to see if he can allow the OTHERS in the area to understand [Grimalkin]. Starling is using his [Appraise] skill on [Grimalkin] and himself as well while using [Illuminatio] to try and better understand the interactions they are having with each other, as well as if he can notice differences with his upgraded light talent.

[Lunarian] sweeps through the area with [illuminatio] as well, trying to reveal any hidden secrets the others have not uncovered or couldn't pierce yet like hidden walls etc.

If it was possible for a skeleton to stare blankly that is surely what the Old Bones is doing to Argentum Starling. "That's just one letter off from Sterling," she mutters, wondering as to the point of a name change. "Whatevs. You'll always be Moonbeam to me."

Old Bones looks around under the shine of Moonbeam's lunar light, wondering as to what secrets -- if any -- might reveal themselves under it. Then, she looks to the oddly intelligent cat. "Meow?"

Tests out speaking normally.

"Can people understand me ?"

[Private to GM: I used curiosity and shadow magic to see if I could find the shadow of old weapons or  anything in the area. Also things that might be used as poison against the Ghost Eater. You might have missed the post. Even looked in the furnace.]

Seeing the wolf-headed man - their leader, if he'd heard right? - searching for a weapon, Aaron frowned, looking around the armory as well. With so many strange auras and powers in the mix, surely SOMETHING would manifest...his eyes crossed the held firepoker as it drank blood and transformed. That's new. He activated Appraise and Delver of Mysteries, hoping to draw new knowledge from the [Leise Schwertgeist].

It had had a distinctly serviceable air unlike the rusted weapons here even before it became a spatha. He looked around for the furnace-tools, at the ruined bronze, at the [Old Bones]' paralysis - a good moment to Appraise and Delve the undeath-infused weapon she held as well - before taking a breath.

Starling, Moonbeam, or whoever he was was motioning everyone to follow to the gaol, and many others had departed. Time was burning down. But this might be their last chance to draw functionality from the House, in this mutability-infused room with its magical furnace. Analyzing both the Appraised character's ability to weaponize and defy ruin through blood and an unhallowed immortality respectively, the [Earthborn] tried quickly to replicate something of their arts along with what he knew now of runes and shadow magic. Maybe it had to do with imbuement - could he use the shadows cast by the enchanted fire to make something or add something to the ruined weapons? His own blood, or the blood that infused the defunct XOs they HADN'T activated and handed out? His experiments were hasty and desperate, and perhaps profane, but he met the [Demilupine]'s eyes.

"You guys go ahead, I'll just be a minute here. If I can arm us, I will."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:42, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

Minor Grimalkin

Elsewhere, another ember joined the bonfire . . .

There was  . . . a rat?

A rather fat rat. A rat of prodigious size, its body like a triangular potato the size of a watermelon, with ears and whiskers. It was nearly as large as Grimalkin's shadow-strengthened form. It was sleeping by the furnace.

Minor Grimalkin's [Curiosity] told him this was an important rat.

Maybe it was important because Minor Grimalkin was hungry?

Welcome, [Young Dwarf], to the House of the Lost.

Aside from the rat, this whole floor was unimportant. The thread of destiny lead elsewhere, downstairs . . . and upstairs.

Was that smoke coming from upstairs? There was no one tending to the hearth!

Lunarian, called Starling

[Illuminatio] didn't work that way, it seemed. Cat speech wasn't something hidden; it was just something he didn't understand, because he wasn't a cat and had never tried to speak the language. Disappointing.

Old Bones

Grimalkin understood your cat-speech perfectly; although what you meant by "Baisha, a town in Qingshui County." was anyone's guess.

Old Bones gained the skill [Catspeech LVL0]. She could now understand, but not speak, the strange tongue of cats.

Earthborn

There were other dimensions.

It was like looking at a tiered cake. There was this dimension - the 3rd - and above it the 4th, and below it the 2nd. He was thinking on the middle tier. The shadows the Grimalkin interacted with existed on the lower tier; and the effect that made the Old Bone's weapons function regardless of condition? An effect descending from the 4th tier. In the Old Bone's hands, the weapons didn't possess durability at all. There were drawing from a concept from which - his head hurt.

Shaking it, he considered what the Liese Schwertgeist had done. Identifying fundamental archetypes of local materials, drawing them down to her own 'shadow' in the 2nd dimension to interpolate with the shadow of the weapon she'd - his head was pounding.

It was wild sense. Nonnsense. Unsense. Madness. He was writing runes in the coal-dust, mumbling to himself, but then he had it.  A reversal of the three methods, a counterpolation, drawing shadow up from the 2nd dimension, into the forth, so that sublimated into -

there a was clang, then another, and another, and another. He shook. Where the ruined blades had been, there were now different blades, bronze blades that we functional but - insubstantial. Weaker than the surrounding dimension, having been fused with their own shadow. Thee weapon, when he held one up, did not even halt the natural light; there was no shadow cast.

He shook. He done something. Made, unmade, remade - demade?

[Spell Developed: Phantasmal Copy. Restores durability to maximum, at the cost of permanent reduction of maximum durability and some effectiveness.]

Your [Shadow Magic] has advanced to [LVL 1].

Grimalkin ran over to the rotund rat.

"Mrow !" He touched the rats shadow hopefully before it could speak he felt an overwhelming urge to touch an innocent shadow.

He then remembered and moved to [Earthborn] touching his shadow to speak, "I would love to learn what you did but something is happeneing there is a fire and it is important. It is upstairs and the only one I know up there is Eri. Also that rat that just appeared is important. Both those and the path down stand out to me right now. We may need another collar for the rat, or maybe my belly is talking I am a little hungry."

Then a serious look came over him, "I need to check on the fire, I hope it isn't the Ghost Eater." Bounding to Starling, "Come with please to hide me in your cloak if it is the big bad thing ? Something is upstairs and there is smoke and I sense importance."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:19, Tue 16 Aug 2022.

The [Lunarian] frowned at the failure.

"Well shoot! That experiment failed. I'm sorry guys - especially Grimalkin - I'm still getting the hand of my powers, and something weird happened a few minutes ago and it evolved or something. Now it isn't truly light anymore, but an illuminated understanding." he said.

And that was when anyone present would realize that the [Lunarian] indeed was no longer glowing. Except...they could somehow "see" or "perceive" all areas as the [Lunarian]'s metaphysical presence swept across the chamber. The best way to describe it was as Not-Light (not to be confused with darkness mind you), or "Like-Light-But-Not" which was why at first it semeed like he was emitting some sort of glowing shadow light but that wasn't right either. He was simply emitting an illuminated understanding and he could seemingly share it with the others too.

"And it won't work if his speech wasn't intentionally hidden. Which is strange then, since I understood Eri before. Which means I think her manner of speaking is simply so weird it counts as un-speech that intersects shadow magic and true secrets. But I'll have to play more later."

And then [Grimalkin] touched his shadow and he understood. He nodded and picked [Grimalkin] up like a child scooping a fat cat off the ground. It looked a bit comical, although it still worked. He also quickly willed the new rat-like [Young Dwarf] to be able to be privy to his [Illuminatio] as well, and [Appraised] [Young Dwarf] and all other characters in the room currently too.

"Greetings um...grossly large rat that would be absolutely horrifying if we didn't already have skeletons and such walking around. And sentient fire pokers. I wish we had more time to explain but we have like literally five minutes before some literal monster comes to try and eat us. I'm Starling, and we're all reincarnated or humans sucked inside this world like an anime, and are in an old House inside a dead large song god trying to prepare for our lives as we probably need to flee soon. We're all teaming up for mutual survival by the way - please go by that man over there and let him out a void collar onto you so you can survive in outer space meta-void when we flee. I also suggest you try using the Apprise skill on him and all these golden armors here to practice, and try your talent as well. Try to adap - I'm sorry we can't explain more but we're all doing our best not to panic and just adapt quickly."

He turned to [Earthborn].

"I'd love to practice magic with you but could help out this new rat-like companion of ours with another of those void collar thingies? I'm taking kitty and going to check on up the upstairs. He's right I can draw my hood down if it's dangerous up there. We gotta scoot see ya soon!"

And with that, Starling scampered with the cat in his arms upstairs to check things out. He was vigilant with [Illuminatio] as well - if something was stalking around up there he'd spot it once they were within 30 meters. and if he did he'd actively highlight the thing to everyone he attuned to his power. He [Appraises] any characters he encounters as well as anything causing fire and the fire itself as well.

The [Earthborn] mumbled somethin at the [Lunarian] that might have been affirmative, still reeling from his glimpse into higher realms, things he wasn't ready for. His eyes lingered on the [Old Bones] for a long time, only half-focused.

He gestured to the [Young Dwarf], already trying to center himself with more work. This wasn't what he was trained for, exactly, but stage magic was half presentation: costuming, lighting...and props, a thousand props, some bought wholesale but many in need of modification and a few that had to be made from scratch. There was only so much you could trust to other people in the industry. Given how his work in entertainment had tended to dovetail with his Other Career, he had less room than most in that department. So he'd been hands-on before, just...

...with wood and cloth and wire and metal mechanisms. Not 4th-dimensional shadowstuff.

He fanned the weapons out, gesturing that those leaving should arm themselves and take the extras to the others, choosing one for himself. Half-here, but maybe they'd prove more able against creatures from different layers of reality - and even pseudo-bronze was better than nothing. They seemed sharp enough and solid enough to kill a person. A Ghost Eater? He wasn't sure.

But he felt better with a weapon to hand.

"Hey, friend. Do you understand me? If you can understand HIM, try not to mind the...exuberance. We're all under strain. And he's right: we don't have time. I'm Aaron. This," he said, hastily shaping and carving another Voidsafe Coronet for the [Young Dwarf], "is your ticket out of here. Come on. Time to go."

The [Earthborn] looks around the furnace room and armory one last time. He snatches any tools that look serviceable, Phantasmal Copies any tools that don't, and then he flees for the gaol, sensing there's little time left.

One minute, you're out hiking in the Andes, the next you're plummeting of a cliff to your death. While falling, time had protracted out into near infinity, giving him plenty of space to consider the situation. He remembered that there was one nasty-looking rock in particular that was hurling toward him (or rather, his face was hurling toward it), and he recalled thinking it was shaped somewhat oddly like a backyard grill turned on its side. The surrealism of the moment protracted through time and stole his reason, and his last thought had been to wonder what the rock looked like up-close?

Gravity obliged his curiosity.

The next moment, he'd been jumped awake by a 'giant' housecat, causing his unfamiliar form to spasm and leap in instinctual fear several feet off the floor! He hung in the air for moment, senses reeling, until gravity asserted itself once again and he flopped down onto the hardwood with an awkward, sprawling thud!

"What?!" The giant rat exclaimed, accidentally using [Mimicry] to speak in a language and tone that almost perfectly matched the [Earthborn's]! Finding his 'feet', the [Young Dwarf's] paws awkwardly skidded around on the smooth surface until he finally gained traction and slipped toward the closest wall. Like a cartoon version of a talking animal, he then stood up on his hind legs and pressed his back against the wall, chest heaving and heart racing! "What?!" He repeated the question, again using [Mimicry] to speak in cat. The sound of a giant rodent meowing like a feline was possibly not the strangest thing in the Armory at that moment, but it was an odd sound, nonetheless.

Almost dumbly, the [Young Dwarf] stood as still as he could with back-pressed against the wall, until the [Earthborn] handed him the coronet. He took it, reaching a surprisingly agile rodent paw out to grip the object, and that's when he noticed the fur.

He looked down at himself, patting his new body with his free hand like a career businessman late for meeting who had misplaced his keys. Finding no keys and way too much fur, the [Young Dwarf] looked back up again, eyes wide, and said once more: "WHAT?!" This time no mimicry was involved. It was just a very rat-like squeak of alarm that needed no translation!
This message was last edited by the player at 11:45, Tue 16 Aug 2022.

Lunarian and Minor Grimalkin

Young Dwarf's shadow was different - his shadow didn't seem like that of a rat's. It seemed like many things, like it was a shadow of nothing in particular, somehow.

The two then rushed up towards the smell of fire, Lunarian warding the way. [Continued in Upper Level]

Earthborn and Young Dwarf

Time was up. It was a shift in the colors in the house that told Earthborn so; the House itself seemed to have stirred up in anger. The floorboards were resolute in shades of indigo, the red light was dropping to something greener and grimmer. This was his magical sight, of course.

He got the sense that fire was good, that the fire was on their side. A tingle ran down his spine; the outer barrier had been breached. Death was near at hand.

As for the Young Dwarf what distracted him from the fact that he was a rotund rodent - a fattus rattus, if you will - was the familiar smell of a burgeoning wildfire. His tiny heart beat rapidly. Death was everywhere around him, but a side-effect of his [Mimicry] was a kind of intuition into whether others were tricking him. They weren't.

The Voidesafe Coronet was a little crown than rested atop his head. A Rat King indeed.

Earthborn left for the [Lower Level], where he was greeted by Demilupine and Old Bones, both readying themselves for battle.

[The Cycle continues unbroken . . . Timestamp 20:20]
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:27, Wed 17 Aug 2022.

Everything was happening so fast that the Young Dwarf wasn't really sure what to do. The man had told him to follow, and given him a crown, but it all seemed to surreal. Then there was the shift in tone of the building around him, and the fact that he suddenly found himself alone in a strange place. Alone, as a rat. A fat rat. Maybe the fall from the cliff hadn't actually killed him? Maybe this was a dream and he was in a coma? Or maybe...

"Dear God... the Buddhists were right! I failed to be a good human, and I've been reincarnated as a lesser being!" Was it the Buddhists who believed that? Admittedly he wasn't an expert on world religions... and it didn't explain why he could speak, or why he could remember his past life. But at least it was enough to put a proverbial wad of gum on his leaking confusion. It would do for now.

Any given person, in the course of their life, often forgot as much as they learned. Some things were easier to forget than others though, and while it had been some time since the Young Dwarf had been in a combat situation, the instincts that came with that sort of experience were hard to forget. Nor was it hard to forget the training associated with soldiering, no matter how deep they might be buried after years working behind a desk.

Old instincts from a freshly passed life asserted themselves, blending with new instincts and untapped skills. The Young Dwarf forced himself to calm, just enough so that he could at least get a grip on his surroundings. Without thought, he looked around for a weapon or something to defend himself with, and also examined himself Likely using [Appraise] without conscious thought. Even a rusty butter knife would help to ease at least some of his fears!

After a quick search, with only a heartbeat of hesitation, the fat rat swallowed a growing lump in his throat, and chased after the [Earthborn].
This message was last edited by the player at 18:28, Wed 17 Aug 2022.

[Coming from the Main Hall Thread]

The Lunarian ran down the stairs as fast as he could, his bronze sword in hand. He then realized he was the Cloak-Version of Shield Hero and tosses the useless sword aside to the ground, as he couldn't actually use or equip it due to the metaphysics of Godhunter. He'd have to rely on his bare hands or maybe magic and such going forward, unless he could figure out how to attack with his cloak. Or make it like that cool-ass animated one from the Doctor Strange movie. Wishful thinking, but such was all that was keeping him going right now. That and the desire to survive.

He maintained [Illuminatio], making sure everyone aligned in the house (except scapegoat but that was only because he didn't know about him fully yet despite having senses much of his metaphysical activity recently) could sense Ghost Eater's position, even through the walls. Once he learned about Scapegoat though, he'd surely include him in on [Illuminatio].

The [Lunarian] ran to the top of the entrance to the lower Gaol and crypts, and he sgouted down.

"You guys! If you can hear me, Everyone needs to get up here NOW! [Grimalkin] is fighting a Ghost Eater in the main hall, and thanks to Eri its injured enough where we stand a chance to beat it but we have to hurry! We need to all get up there and attack together! There's fire, but they won't harm you - Eri made sure of that before she...well, just HURRY guys! Now or never!" the [Lunarian] shouted down the stairs loudly into the Gaol, before turning around and heading right back across the armory and up the stairs to the main hall.

He was going to help fight, even if he had to act as a distraction or use his fists.

Heading back up to the Main Hall to Join the fight.