There is no satification nor honor from killing the defenseless and weak.

What is your army's composition and number? How many shamans did you bring along? And where is your apprentice?

indeed. killing the helpless is no test. the only thing you would find out is how fast they can run, nothing about how good the golem is.

>>415303
Lets pick out some long term targets for our army.

Villagers would be bad test subjects and can be dealt with by our regular army.
But the prince's army that could be fun, where is it by the way?

AH! The voices are back! Don't worry, I've been good and haven't started slaughtering my own warriors, as tempting as it's been.

>>415330
I beg to differ. Killing villagers is very satisfying. And honor is useless to me anyway.

The army... right. Um... If I remember correctly, this is actually the smallest of the armies. Out of the 16,000 warriors available, mine contains some 4,000. 3,000 of them are close-quarters fighter, all of them I personally enhanced, and the remaining 1,000 are archers. I have 100 of the shamans with me to, to provide sparks and usage of rituals. Tongues I left behind with Nina, as magically he isn't ready for brutal, bloody combat. His fireballs have gotten a lot better though, and he can use a number of different spells, although he's mostly focused on trying to find ways to mess around with lightning. He seems to enjoy zapping people quite a bit.

>>415364
The army of the idiot prince is currently chasing Falshis and his strike team around the northern half of Everfrost. I could go hunt him down, but we would be passing by a lot of cities, such as Rivercross. I still have to pay that mage guy a visit. I really want to eat him. Oh yeah, before I forget, apparently the elves are going to start their little invasion after we take the first city in our path, and have agreed to offer us support once they have taken whatever that city was that was closest to their forest in the west. I have the map somewhere around here but... eh.

And since sparks are such a precious thing to keep track of at times like these...
Spark Count: 123,400
I have to congratulate you. Eating people would not have gained me that many so quickly. I might can probably take a minor god now. I'm almost tempted to go find one and try.

Now sounds like a good time to take Rivercross and do away with that mage. The prince's army would not be the best target for now because they are kind of on the other side of the nation we are about to invade.

Can we review our own magic capacities, particularly tricks we have to keep a slippery mage from running off once he realizes how much trouble he is in?

Lets get started on conquest. Rivercross sounds like a good bet.

Rivercross it is! Let's set the city on fire and place the mage bastard on a spike! Onward great army of mine!

... Or it will be, as soon as Curmas gets here so I can tell him to tell everyone to get moving.

>>415466
Tricks for keeping a mage in place once he's figured out he's screwed... kill him. I like that one. But if you mean keeping him alive and around, I learned from the elves how to screw with a mage's concentration. Spells and such won't be as easy to pull off anymore. "Fogging of the Mind" is what I believe that elf I learned it from was called. Amused myself for hours messing with the Shamans. I also learned how to lock someone's mind down, kinda like sending them into mental shock. I'm not too good at it though, and I tend to make peoples heads explode when I do it wrong, but that's fun in it's own way to. Ah I also know how to drive people mad now. Well... sorta. More like a give them a random mental problem. Elves call that Breaking Minds, but I just shove sparks in and hope for the best really. I could also place a tracking orb on him, or put a piece of myself in his mind, both are ways of tracking him. That requires a continual investment of sparks though, and I can't hold it when I'm sleeping. I could also just punch him into unconsciousness, but if I'm gonna do that, I figure I'd much rather just kill him and be done with it.

>>415806
Oh, we don't have any reason to keep him alive right now. Keeping a magic user prisoner is a risky proposition at best, with your own escape as a case in point.
What I was referring to was more the risk of this mage being on the cowardly side and teleporting away when he sees his walls blasting apart and augmented soldiers flooding in. I suppose though we might prevent that by seeking him out early in the battle and doing away with him before it gets to that point.

Infiltrate Rivercross, knock out the mage and plant a piece of yourself as a tracer/kill switch in him. Have your forces assault and take over Rivercross. When the mage wakes up you should be standing over him as a conqueror. Ask him to swear unconditional fealty or die.

>>415977
Won't work. Geas of loyalty to the King. Just kill the fucker dead.

>>415977
While the geass does prevent me from lording over the bastard(as entertaining as that would be), there's nothing stopping me from doing the infiltration part. Maybe I could do a bit of scouting while the army makes it's way to Rivercross. After all, while I can simply shadow-step my way there in a matter of minutes, the army can't. They have to march there, and that could take a few days. I wouldn't mind causing some havoc by myself. Really cut loose, since I won't have the restrictions of a bunch of people I'm not supposed to make into corpses.

"My king, you called for me?"

"Eh? Oh! Hey Curmas. Seems we made it to the edge. Start them moving again. Invasion is beginning, and Rivercross is the first target." I get up, stretching my limbs a little. I feel like taking another nap, but the excitement of finally starting towards the destruction of the first Child's children... it's almost all I can do not to simply rush the capital by myself and start killing.

"At once, my king. It will take us four days to arrive. The enemy wil know we are coming by then."

"Don't care. They'll die whether they know we're coming or not. Just a matter of fearing our arrival or being blissfully unaware when the heads start coming off."

"I understand. We will be moving within the hour."

>>416019
Speaking of yourself, you have enough Sparks to put more buffs on yourself. You should probably have a buff in each slot of your body at this point.

I can't think of anything else we would want to do before heading out.

>>416057
I suppose. Can't really think of anything I'd want though. I have fast-thinking on my head, monologuing on my tongue, shadow-step on the legs, telekineses on one hand, armored skin on the torso and strengthen on my arms. I think
i'm set for now. Unless you lot having anything you think would be useful on my other hand. Or my eyes.

Either way, I can handle that some other time. Right now... I feel like doing some infiltration. I strip myself of anything "barbarian" and drag out my old clothing from before. I small use of sparks and I'm back to a more normal human size, and quickly dress myself. I gather my barbarian belongings and store them with the rest of what's mine, then step out and inform Curmas that I'll be going on ahead, and to get the army where it needs to go. He seems a bit reluctant to let me go out by myself, but that's his problem, not mine. Besides, I'll be taking my golem along with me. So I won't really be going alone. Once I've given Curmas his instructions, I head by to my tent, this time to pick up my toy. I pause a moment as I reach it, having not really examined the thing after it's construction. It's body is mostly made of steel, although I covered bits of it with silver raided by the barbarians to make it more receptive to enchantment. The thing stands at rough 7-feet in height, which admittedly didn't seem all that large when I was in "Barbarian King" mode. For the most part it's rather crudely designed, but I don't have the skill or the patience to make anything more refined. One arm is a massive mace, for smashing through buildings and people, the other is a blade, for carving people up. Best of both worlds. It has the same armor enchantment that I do, although I hate to admit that the golem's is better than mine, and I also made sure to pump enough sparks into the thing to make it about as intelligent as a dog. It'll serve it's purpose well, at least.

"Get up and follow. We're going out."

The golem rises to it's feet and falls in behind me, while I make my way through the warriors to the outer edge of the camp. The warriors barely bat an eye at the thing, which is a far cry from what they did at first, which was to gawk and avoid the thing if they could. Once we're out of the encampment, I grab hold of the golem and begin shadow-jumping across the landscape, making my way to Rivercross. The process takes longer than expected, and I arrive at the city around noon, the guards outside the gate stopping me only to ask about my business and the golem behind. Both are answered with "Personal Matters" and "Bodyguard" respectively. Then, I'm once again in the city I first arrived in after escaping my prison. I pause just inside the gate, "sniffing" for sparks, and come up with some rather interesting finds. There's the smell of a good 20 mages in this place, coming from the city hall, almost all of them high-class. That seems odd, since that kind of power is rare. Furthermore, I can smell at least three angel class spark amounts coming from somewhere very deep below me, which is even more unnatural. There shouldn't be any angels at a city, even one like this. There's absolutely no reason for it. I consider this as I make my way towards the town square, but as I step into the busy streets, I'm almost immediately pounced on by someone vaguely familiar.

"Hey Mister! You need a place to stay? We got the finest inn in the whole town! Only cost you a few silver, and you get breakfast as well!"

I take in this sudden arrival, a female who despite her obvious fear of my metallic companion still has a smile plastered on her face, and get the feeling I've been annoyed by this particular annoyance before. I'd rather not waste money on an inn, not when I could just find someone's house, kill them and live inside for the duration of my stay. Three nights isn't long enough for people to start missing other people.

But if you stay at the inn, you get breakfast.

The twenty mages are likely the kingdom's preparation for your army. I forget, are you able to sense enchantments? They might be filling the fields outside or planning to turn the town hall into a giant golem or something.

Hmm, the guard's acceptance of the golem is interesting. Perhaps we might be able to find some professional golem crafters when we have captured some of the cities around here.

I'm about to tell the woman to leave me the hell alone when the promise of breakfast is brought to my attention. It's true I don't exactly have a need to hold onto coinage, especially because I intend to simply take the entire country over for my own use soon anyway. Besides, not having to worry about finding food isn't such a bad idea...

In the end, it's more the lure of not having to think about hunting down food that's makes me agree to the girl's request. And the lack of having to worry about setting up some defenses against something, since I highly doubt that something will happen to me if I'm a paying guest, short of thievery of some kind. My metal friend should dissuade that well enough.

"Fine. I'll go to your inn. I expect my metal friend here won't be an issue?"

The woman seems startled that I'm not ignoring her completely, then flashes a bright smile, the fear from earlier seeming to vanish altogether.

"Nope! Don't worry about it! That just mean he'll have to stay downstair, since I doubt the stairs would hold if he tried going up..."

She makes a good point, maybe I should think about lightening his weight a little. He's useless if he's stuck on the lower floors of a building when he could be helping me. I suddenly realize I'm giving the golem a gender, something it doesn't really have. How odd. Either way, I quickly get the location of the inn from the woman, and I'm ready to head off when I suddenly feel... something... enter the market square. Almost as soon as I do, the people within grow quiet, an almost electric amount of tension laying thickly over the entire area. Even the girl, full of cheer meer seconds ago, turns fearful again and quickly heads for the a nearby stall, probably to draw as little attention to herself as possible.

I, however, don't bother moving, instead finding myself interested in what could cause someone to go from cheerful to fearful so quickly. Minutes later, my question is answered, in what appears to be a rather drunken looking elf girl, who's mumbling things to herself as she lurches here and there, making her way my way. I catches snatches of her ramblings, most of it unintelligible by itself.

"... Gu... Time Space... ss of Rea........ Lovely.... Lovely..... Dead M....where..... Kings and Queens.... incess.... Minding Myse... Can't hear..... Mustn't think.... Candies and Rainbows.... painful.... so painful..... need.... need.................Loathsome.... dirty... wrong....... wrong........wrong........wrong.........WRONG........WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!"

The elf seems to scream this last drawn out word before suddenly bringing all her attention on me. She seems puzzled for a moment, then stumbles her way over and stares up into my face, as if searching for something that isn't there. She lets out a giggle then her face drops and she's gazing around drunkenly again, rambling on again, only now that she's next to me I can hear her words clearly.

"This one feels different mother, yes he does, yes he does. Others all feel wrong, but he feels right. Very right. Perfectly right. Not like the others at all. Must understand this. Why can't the others be right? Must they be wrong? Always, always wrong. ALWAYS WRONG!!! NEVER RIGHT!!! Never... right... But he is right, what makes him right? Why is he right? Feels right. I'm right. Must be right. Can't hurt me, cause I'm right. But he's right too. Maybe want him to be right as well? NO! Mother says only I can be right. Right Mother? Right? Yes, only I can be right... must be right... MUST BE RIGHT!!!

...But, if he is right, we could be right together? No. Yes. Maybe... must test... make sure he is right. Then decide. Then decide..."

The elf nods her head in decision, her ramblings finally stopping, then drags her attention once again to me. She pauses to stare at me again, then smiles brilliantly, as if she's uncovered the secrets of the world. Her hand comes up, brushing against my arm lightly, I almost don't feel anything at all. Then my golem springs forward, it's massive mace arm coming crashing down on the girl. Or rather, where the girl used to be, as she's sprung backwards in a perfect somersault, landing lithely on her feet, the smiling never leaving her face. For a moment, I can't think of why the golem reacted at all, it shouldn't unless...

A searing pain interrupts my thoughts, and as I glance at the source, I suddenly realize why it did what it did. My arm is no longer attached like it should be. In fact, I'm fairly certain that's my arm on the floor, cleanly cut off at the elbow. Right where the bitch elf touched me. My anger spikes, and I pump sparks into a regeneration spell, my arm growing back in mere seconds. The elf seems to delight in this, bouncing on her heels like a child, but my anger is already awakened. Fuck her, and fuck her crazy... whatever the hell she's doing. She's dead meat. The golem is already moving without direction, blade arm stabbing forward in a thrust the elf easily dodges, humming a lullaby to herself as she does so, and then the world slows to a crawl, my mind processing everything around me so I can think of how to do this. My personal preference is ripping her limbs off one by one, just to see how she likes it, but I might try roasting her alive, just for the fun of it.

Spark check. She must have at least one special ability if not magic if she can just pull your arm off like that. This sounds like that other immortal that was mentioned a while back.

Use telekinesis to stop her from dodging an attack from the golem. Preferably so that she gets one of her own arms cut off, but any solid hit would do to start with.

>>417139
Well, well. That's certainly a thing. I take it that you don't sense any particular level of magic from her, or enchantments on either her body or any items, or you'd have mentioned it? We do know that there is supposedly an elven immortal floating around murdering people, but this one doesn't seem to fit the description- I got more "sadistic murderer" and less "babbling madman" from the report on her. Which raises the question of who and what she is.

Regardless, there's not much point in putzing around here when the bitch cut your arm off.

Telekinesis seems a decent opening move- she won't be doing much dodging or attacking if you lift her off the ground; with nothing to push off she shouldn't be able to move at all unless she burns magic to do it.

If she somehow deals with that- well, she's fast but you're much faster as long as you burn the sparks for it. A blindingly fast charge attack should let you tear her apart before she could possibly have a chance to react or dodge unless she's actively spending sparks on speed enhancement as well.

Speed Punching Hated 2012/05/31(Thu)22:31 No. 417844 ID: a407a5
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Ah... spark check. Didn't think to do that. Whoops... I should, shouldn't I? I sniff the air a little, and catch a high-level mages worth of sparks in the elf bitch. Nothing that could really threaten me too much, but, but it also doesn't seem like she's activating any enchantments or the spells at the moment... weird but that doesn't matter to me. She's dying either way. I flick my hand in her general direction, just directing my telekinetics onto her form to hold her steady for the golem to smash... and she apparently decides to ignore that and continue her odd little humming session, her own hand brushing across the golems mace arm. For a moment, nothing seems to happen, then the golems arm detaches itself clean across the "forearm", as if someone had taken a blade to it. A blade the cuts straight through iron. The golem, of course, shows no fear or pain, and simply takes another swing at the elf with it's sword arm, which she skips away from.

Damn it! I try telekinesis again, but it doesn't seem to have much affect, if any. She simply keeps right on going, skipping away from the golem, humming that stupid tune. My anger spikes further, and I order the golem to stand down and get out of the way. The elf seems to pause in her movements, her attention drifting around the square rather awkwardly now that she has no reason to be dodging, still humming to herself. I pump sparks into a speed spell, enough to get my body vibrating visibly to the naked eye. Then I find myself laughing. Ah, hell, am I going to enjoy this.

"Let's see how well you deal with this, annoying bitch."

The elf eyes focus on me a half-second before my right fist collides with her face, enough force behind the movement that she's sent hurtling through a few buildings behind her, leaving holes and broken wood in her path. I manage to break my own arm, a couple of ribs and both legs with how fast I was moving, but regenerate within seconds again, sparks flooding along my body to repair the damage.

"HAHAHA! How do you like that, you littl-"

My words are suddenly cut off as my face is smashed into by what appears to be my golem's mace arm and I find myself crashing into a group of humans behind me, all of them dying spectacularly(blood, guts, a little bit of brain), while I find my bones broken yet again. I regen easily and pull myself to my feet. That... that had enough force in it to shatter my skull. Much as I'd love to say I can, I can't go regenerating my brain. It's kinda hard to regenerate something when it takes cohesive thoughts to form a spell.

"What in the fuck was that?!"

I turn my attention to my attacker, to discover the elf bitch again, a smile on her face. She's got blood covering her face and shirt, and I'm fairly certain that punch should have cracked her skull open, at the least. Instead, she looks like she's just had someone pour a bucket of blood over her head, and otherwise none the worse for wear. And she's now got some sort of hazy... thing... surrounding her. It smells vaguely of sparks, like a spell, but... it doesn't seem all that strong at all. Almost worthless, when one examines it. I rush her again, closing the distance within seconds, and smash my fist into her- wait. No. My fist misses her face by scant inches, admittedly cutting a small gash in her cheek due to the sheer force of it, but nothing that could cause a lot of damage. I try again, sending another punch in the direction of her abdomen, only to just come up short, barely brushing the egde of her stomach as she happens to take a step back at just the right time. I snarl in frustration, darting backwards to the safety of not within the bitches reach, eyeing the elf with more interest than before, as the bitch starts up her mumbling again. She's going to be more annoying than I thought...

"He's right. So very right... he's not dead, mother, just like you said he'd be. Mother, I want to make you happy sooooo bad, but... HE'S RIGHT! I don't want to.... yes mother, yes... I should stop wanting... thinking.... feeling.... just need to make you happy.... NO! Mother can't come here! Don't come, don't come! I'll get him for you mother! I'll get him! I'm a good girl!"

My usual method of beat her face in till she stops moving isn't going to work, and I don't like the sound of this "mother" person, especially with one of the demi-god class spark clusters beginning to move straight up towards us. I have maybe two minutes to finish this up.

... Hey, you lot stuck in my skull, I could use some help. What should I do? With the number of sparks I've got flooding my system, I'm not all that limited in what I can do, so give me the best ideas you've got.

My advice is to retreat. We have very little to gain even from victory, and much we could lose by defeat. There are too many unknown factors here.

Save a small portion of her body like some blood when you retreat. Then you can use that as a link to try and scry on her.

When we return to camp, we can make an item that should ignore her protection. Yes, I know it's more fun to throttle them to death with your hands, but unknown's who should not be able to threaten you who never the less manage to do so are probably more dangerous to you than almost anything you can encounter. Stack the deck as far as possible. If possible, capture her in the future for study, but if not kill her deader than the dragons.

Take the mace and superspeed over to her and aim a downward strike(so that when she gets hit she won't go flying)
When she goes to dodge shadow-step in whatever direction she's dodging and bring the mace down on her.

Activate your mental speed enchantment, and speed your body up so it can keep up~
Then dismember this crazy kid at the speed of thought~

Stay out of that spark haze; it sounds like some sort of magic concealing spell.

If the demigod-level spark source gets closer, can you shadowstep to the other side of town, so that it is between you and her? If we can get them to run into each other it should slow at least one of them down.

Meeting "Mother" Hated 2012/06/01(Fri)19:45 No. 418143 ID: a407a5
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>>417876
Fuck running! I refuse to back down, especially when everything I do SHOULD be killing her! I don't know why it isn't! That the most god-damn annoying thing about this entire situation! The little bitch IS going to die!

I grab the mace-arm and hurl it at the elf, which she again somehow manages to slide around, before closing the distance again, this time grabbing the mace-arm just as it misses and swinging it back around in a circular motion towards her face. Which she yet again just barely seems t dodge, the mace clipping her arm. The extra weight from the mace slows me down, though, and the elf seems to slide in next to me and brush her hand against my stomach before skipping away again, sliding past a kick I send her way in retaliation. I feel my legs suddenly give out, or rather, I feel my legs detach from the rest of me, but a regen is already taking place, and seconds later I'm back on my feet.

"Gods damn you! Stop doing that!"

The elf continues her odd behavior, although she seems somewhat distracted, muttering to herself and constantly glancing around her. I take the chance to pump myself full of more speed and thought-speed, then charge her again, my fist managing to catch her on her arm. Her arm rips itself clean off as the rest of the bitch spin, skipping across the ground till she comes to a rest imbedded in a wall. I find myself laughing joyfully. Hells, I finally caught the elusive piece of insanity. The girl, in the meantime, drags her body from the wall, and I get to watch this time as her body knits itself back together, flesh literally weaving together like cloth to repair itself. Her arm, interestingly enough, doesn't grow back, which makes me think it's very different from my own regeneration. Either way, the elf is back up and ready to fight just as quickly as I'd be, minus an arm, although she seems slightly more wobbly on her feet. I prepare myself to rip and tear some more, but upon charging her some more, things go back to near misses and lucky breaks, the elf seemingly "dodging" everything I throw at her, whether it be bits of metal, punches, kicks, her own arm, some bits of the people that had gotten crushed earlier, even a few bystanders using some telekinesis, although the living ones tend to get cut in half whenever they get near her.

"Isrenow! That's enough!"

Our little fight is interrupted by a voice that sounds rather like a tired old man. The elf blinks, suddenly gaining focus again, then looks ashamed of herself as she turns towards the source of the voice.

"I'm sorr-"

SHE'S interrupted by me punching her in the face again, sending her crumpling to the floor in a mass of blood and bone. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have killed her, since she's knitting back together again. I decide I might as well crush her skull completely, and raise my foot to bring it down on her soft squishy brain, only to find myself standing on next to my damaged golem, staring at the floor. I snarl as I turn my attention to where I'm supposed to have been, and find the elf bitch being cradled in the arms of a middle-aged man who smells like demi-god. Or at least the same amount of sparks as them, although no human should be able to get that high in sparks within their natural life-time. The elf clings to the man, apologizing over and over again for failing to please her, please don't hurt me mother, please don't hurt me. The man shushes the girl gently, telling her that everything will be fine, that she did a good job. Then he stands, girl still in his arms, and turns to me.

"So... it seems you've met Isrenow here. I'd apologize, but from what I can tell, your not exactly the worse for wear after coming into contact with her. Of course, that means you have to be a mage, at the least, which the presence of that golem suggests. More interesting is the fact that Isrenow took an interest to you at all. She generally just wanders around killing anyone who gets too close to her... yes, very interesting indeed. Perhaps we should relocate somewhere more private? We have some things to discuss after all."

The man smiles at me a little as he asks his question, but I can feel the malice behind it. I'm fairly certain he'd much rather be going for my throat right now, but he seems to at least be a bit more cautious than the elf bitch. I get the feeling this one is "Mother" dearest.

I'd rather not go anywhere with this guy, but he's strong enough to apparently move me without my say so, and do it quickly enough to match my speeds. This... I'm not sure what I should be doing right now. I did come here to scout of the opposition, maybe cause some havoc, but I'm not exactly confident in the social thing. What's your advice, voices?

Looks to me like 'Mother' here is some sort of body snatcher. You think you could take her on in a mental fight with the help of that mind mist power?

In the meanwhile, ask what she's up to around all these mortals.

He should apologize anyway. We used up sparks fighting her and didn't even get to smush her to bits 'cause he stepped in!

>>418176
except a "normal mage" could regen those in a few hours so it wouldn't be much of a waste

>>418172
You want me to attack someone's mind, in hopes that maybe some foggy thing I still don't really notice might help... hell, it would be worth a shot, I guess. I wouldn't recommend it though. When you get into mental duels, mind magics really all that's available, and I'm not that good at that particular magical field.

"I'd say... no. But I don't really think your going to let me leave peacefully. That and you owe me a golem's arm."

The man glances over at my golem, waiting off to the side, and nods lightly. "Yes, I suppose I can have that taken care of. You have my word that your golem shall be repaired. We could probably even improve it for you, whoever made that clearly doesn't know what they are doing."

My eye twitches, but I doubt she knows it's my handiwork, so I decide letting that particular unknowing jab at me slide. I'll kill her later, and maybe we'll see how she likes my work then, when her guts are spread across the floor in artistic patterns.

After collecting my golem, and whats left of its arm, I follow the man through the streets, eventually arriving at the town hall. We enter, and I find what looks to be the average town hall room, filled with chairs and a desk and some paper and bla, bla, bla. There's a group of mages, smell like highly powerful ones, who rush over as soon as they spot us.

"My lord! What happened? We swear Isrenow was with us until just a few minutes ago!"

"Yes, yes. Don't worry. I know how she can be. I'll keep her with me for now. In the meantime, gather Frail and Jacob, and get to work on this man's golem. It could use some repairs, and you might try improving upon the design if you can find the time and spare materials."

"Of course, of course. Right away." The group leaves, getting my permission to take the golem with them, and then it's only me, the elf bitch and the man. There's a few minutes of silence, interrupted occasionally by the elf bitch muttering something indiscernable, as the man cleans up the desk a little and drags over some chairs, then he sits, gestures for me and the elf to do the same, and finally speaks.

"Now then, since we're somewhere a tad less public. May I ask for your name?"

"No."

The man blinks in surprise, then begins laughing. "Oh... forgive me. I forget the need for manners sometimes. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Marfolso. Current Mage-Lord of Rivercross, although there has been some talk of relieving me from my post. This is Isrenow. As I'm sure you've guessed, she seems to think I'm her mother. Now, care to introduce yourself?" There's a little bit of force behind the question, almost but not quite a threat. Too bad. I could give a damn.

"No. I have no reason to be polite, and I don't particularly feel like it. If anything, I'd prefer to rip the elf's head clean off and shove it somewhere the sun don't shine, but I don't think that would stop her, would it?"

The man smiles at me, then steeples his fingers together and closes his eyes, apparently lost in thought. A minute passes, and I consider scrapping this little meeting and wandering off to go find my golem, then Marfolsa starts talking again. "I see where this seems to be going. Fine. It's clear you know more than your letting on, the same as me. I propose a trade then, as well as a deal regarding certain interests."

"Yeah? Fine, let's hear this deal of yours. I might consider it."

"Hm. Firstly, I propose an exchange of questions. A trade of 3 for 3. I ask one question, then you, then me, and so on. We'll each ask a total of three. As for the deal... well, I might have something that someone like you might desire. I do consider myself an expert on the subject of spark-stones, alchemy and of course, what my 'daughter' here really is. So then, do we have a deal?"

...Alchemy I could give shit about, hells, anyone could shove a few ingredients together, mix them up and call themselves and alchemist. Only reason I didn't mess with alchemy is the time involved. Way too much patience required for my interests. On the other hand... the fuck is a spark-stone? And if he's dragging around some crazy bitch elf... hell, that must mean something, especially her crazy regen thing. Different from mine, but I can only guess what that means.

"I'll agree to the first for now. I'll think about the other. You didn't exactly say what you wanted out of it, after all, nor what your giving."

"Hm... that makes things easier. But just to make sure we're both telling the truth..."

Eh?

The floor suddenly glows, and I feel a shock of something stab into me. I blink a moment, then the stabbed feeling disappears, to be replaced with the familiar feeling of spark absorption. Huh... that was interesting.

"I'll go first then. What is your real, full name?"

"I'm called Vincent." I'd used the name for so long now, that it comes without hesitation. I suppose that's better than having to talk truthfully. My real name is something I don't think I'd like to hand out.

"Hm? Only a first name? I said full name, didn't I? What is your FULL name?"

"Hey, only 1 question at a time, bastard!"

"Hmph. Fair enough. Your turn."

Damn straight it's my turn. Alright... what should I ask? Got all sorts of things I could ask about. I want to know about these spark-stone things, but there's also the elf bitch, and the dude himself(didn't one of you say the guy might be body-snatched? Would make sense, humans should not be demi-god class mages). I'm sure there's other stuff I could ask, but nothing comes to my mind at the moment.

Alright, you lot always seem to have questions to ask. What's your thoughts on the matter?

>>418321
Ask about spark-stones' full origin. He seems to have a lot of them with his demigod-level sparks, and the origin should cover where they're found/made and what they do,

Try to overcome your personal dislike of people in the future. You want to get the optimal amount of use out of everyone that you can. This man is powerful, and could complicate your revenge if he chooses to interfere. Conversely, he could also help it a great deal. The most likely scenario is that he stays neutral, which is still a net asset.

Body-snatching is a possible explanation for the whole 'mother' thing, though it might just be mind magic or the girl's delusion.

Ask him to tell you everything he knows about spark stones. It may get a bit tiring if he goes on and on, but questions are limited and we want to avoid him hiding anything useful (assuming this truth spell effects him any more than it does us).

(This guy says he is the mage-lord, and I think those guys have a magical oath of loyalty to that king we want to kill. So chaces are we will be doing away with this guy sooner or later.)

>>418326
Your right. I could try being nicer to people. Maybe I will. As soon as they stop trying to randomly kill me in town squares, or being annoyingly nosy into my affairs. Perhaps you should tell them to work on that. Or I could, I suppose.

"Spark-Stones then. Tell me everything you know regarding spark-stones. Please."

"Ah. That's not a question."

"Argh. Then, what do you know about spark-stones?"

Marfolso sits back, watching me a moment, then smiles a little to himself. "Spark-stones are like canteens for sparks. They let a person have more than they should." The man pulls up his sleeve to reveal three smooth clear rocks embedded in his forearm. "Each can hold quite a few sparks, and generally a mid-level mages worth, I should think. They are a rather... new... alchemical discovery, although the exact process for making them I am, sadly, unaware of. The general idea is that the larger the stone, the more it holds, although I'm also told that the clarity of the stone also affects it's capacity. One can either embed the stone into themselves, giving them the benefit of holding more sparks in their body, or one can set it up lack a fountain, gathering sparks slowly, which others can draw from to replenish their own sparks. The former only works for one person, while the latter will function for anyone, friend or foe. I could get you a sample, if your willing to trade, say... a small amount of your blood."

"No. Your question." I can easily get some once I've taken this town for myself. Maybe rip them out of this guy's arm. Bastard.

"Shame..." Marfolso's smile never leaves, although there's a sharpness in his eyes that clearly says he isn't pleased with some of my answers.Sucks to be him. "Alright then, how... no. That's not a proper question... hmmmm... What is your homeland like?"

I blink in surprise. That's... huh. I haven't thought about home in a long time. Although maybe home really isn't the right word for it. It's more like my birthplace, place of residence for the first decade of my life, then getting picked up and dragged around the world for the next decade. Still, I suppose it couldn't hurt to talk about it. Not like I have anything else to do with my time while I'm waiting for that golem fix.

"Can't really say. It's hard to recall, it was a long time ago. I remember it being cold, and not really all that sunny. More the opposite really. But at the same time... I also remember not really feeling all that safe. Like someone or something was out to get me. Eh, maybe I'm just paranoid." I also remember feeling like there was always someone keeping me safe, but for some reason I don't feel like saying that. Maybe cause it sounds too touchy/feely for my tastes. "My turn. Let's see..."

I pause to consider my options, while at the same time observing the mage-lord's reaction. He seems to have dropped into thought, mostly staring back at me without actually seeing anything. Like he's trying to look past me or something. I steal a glance at the elf bitch as well, just to see what she's up to, but she already gone back into la-la land, and is mumbling to herself about bees and honey and gods know what else.

Alright, we've got a little on spark-stones, and have two more questions to go. What's our next question?

Ask about him about the elf as he is likely to lie or omit things if we ask about him.

>>418527
I don't think he can lie. Or perhaps that's just us.

'Who and what is Isrenow?' sounds like a good next question.

Isn't she that immortal the elfs were looking for? That would explain why she thought we were similar.

Ask how to kill Isrenow most easily and effectively.

>>418663
Crush her skull. It's the only way to silence regenerative immortals permanently. I should know after all, I've killed dozens of immortals before. I'm the same way, just a little different in that I get my regeneration from magic. Regenerative immortals, like the elf here, regenerate at heightened speeds naturally, although I will say her's seems unnaturally potent. Heh, didn't even need to waste a question on that... although that cutting thing she does is pretty weird. Not standard at all.

"Who and what is Isrenow?"

"Hm. That really doesn't seem like one question... but oh well, I really don't see the harm. It's not like it matters, her minds already far gone. Let's see... I believe she called herself the Murderer when I first ran across her, and I must admit she showed up at quite the right time. You see, I've been... well, let's just say I've been doing some research into the various races, and immortals are a rather interesting enigma. Unfortunately, the way she was acting was a bit... uncooperative. So, I simply placed a few... changes... into her mind, and now she is the way she is. I was aiming for lover when I made the adjustments, but it seems she somehow rejected that. Perhaps because of me not being immortal as well. She's quite taken with you though. Seems to think your 'right', whatever that means."

Marfolso leans back in his chair a moment, staring at the elf a moment, then turns back to me. "To tell you the truth, I was actually quite lucky. Elves are known for mind magic, and this one was no exception. She practically drained me dry of all my sparks just to deal with her defenses. Barely enough to begin affecting her at all. Thankfully, it seems her immortal body doesn't deal well with certain drugs, so I can keep her drugged for the most part, to help keep her calm. Even her mother isn't above murdering, it seems."

Marfolso goes silent, and since it seems he's finished, I turn my attention to the elf bitch. So... it seems the elves will have their prize back. I still feel like killing the bitch, but from what I understand, immortals aren't exactly common anymore, and eliminating one would probably draw quite a bit of attention. I suppose, however, that this drugging thing will, be an issue, as well as whatever mental changes the mage-lord used on her. She probably won't want to leave with me. But, if she doesn't have any mental defenses in place...

"Now then, it is time for my final question, and then on to other business." Marfolso smiles slightly, eyes sharpening to slits, then he leans forward. "What, if I may be so bold, is the reason for another immortal to come into my domain?"

As the words leave the man's mouth, I can feel something pushing down on my body. The feeling is obviously something like multiplying gravity, and the increase is just enough to make movement very difficult, even for me.

"You see, I can't think of why someone would feel 'right' to Isrenow unless they were like her. And I know she cut pieces off of you, so you must regenerated. Oh, I can't wait to see how you tick."

Damn bastard. The weight is increasing steadily, perhaps to make sure I can't move, and it's doing it's job well. There's quite a bit more power in this guy then I thought. Or at least, he can wield what he has quite well. Other mages enter the room, apparently joining in on a mass chanting that starts to gather a large amount of sparks below me. The weight of gravity increases again, pinning me to my chair as the mage-lord stands, humming to himself a little. The elf seems to have roused from her mumbling somewhat, eyes watching me with some interest.

"I just can't seem to fathom why my fortunes seem to have changed. I'm not complaining mind you, two immortals stumbling their way int my city within months of each other, truly marvelous. Don't worry. I won't try cutting you open or anything even remotely as vulgar. Your body is completely safe. Your mind, however... well, let's just say your mental defenses are quite powerful, and it seems brute forcing my way into your thoughts is the only way I'm going to be able to gain access. Oh! Did I say that out loud? My apologies, I do tend to ramble on a bit..."

Marfolso wanders off to do who knows what, while I'm left pinned to a chair placed above a magic ritual. I've got mages chanting all around me, a crazy elf bitch who's drugged up and a control freak who wants me as I mind slave...

This has to be the most fun I've had in years.

Alright, options people! I personally can see at least 50 different ways to slaughter everyone in the room, 20 of which may or may not result in the complete destruction of a large part of the town. I could try calling my golem, but chances are it's dead to me for the moment, likely restrained in some way. Marfolso is out of eyesight, but I can still smell his spark cluster in the room. The elf is still staring at me, looking a little confused, but hey, I'd be confused to. Her mind though... Marfolso may have shattered her mind's defenses, but he didn't bother putting new ones in place. I suppose I could see about driving her batty with some illusions. I could also try, what did they call it... "projecting" my mind into hers, letting me toy with it, but that could be bad. I won't be safe in someone else's mind, although I could try taking control of her body, that way.

Anyway, let's hear your opinions. I want as much havoc as you can squeeze out of this situation.

How about a massive spark explosion.

Say, can you put a compulsion to protect you into her unguarded mind? It'd be like having your own personal murder-elf--a Sticks Mark II, if you will!

And then make a fog (to create a shadow), shadow step out of the circle, and proceed to tear out whatever organs are nearest with your (magically strengthened) bare hands, before setting your victims on fire.

Shatter the floor. That'll move you down and hopefully get you out of the effect range of the gravity spell. It'll also cause chaos and panic among mages, because the floor suddenly vanishing tends to a surprise to most mortals. Go figure.

The Elf is a threat, but if you feel up to it do your best to disrupt/cancel his mindwhammy or put your own headwhammy on her. You have an edge on him due to her psychosis. The most likely tack to work is lover due to her mind. I'd go with that, as you don't have enough skill in mind magic to go with complex things.

I'd advise you to try and smash the archmages mind so you can make him a battery, but he is likely too skilled in Mind magic for that to work. So just kill him. I would advise something nice and slow like Crufying him, but he has so many sparks that it is best to just kill him and feast.

>>418866
This sounds good. It'll work until she turns out to be over-protective.

We can just kill her when that happens, so do it.

Floor and/or elf sounds like a good plan.

...This mage seems to have a thing for drugging elves.

Mind Games Hated 2012/06/05(Tue)22:20 No. 419103 ID: a407a5
File 133896001583.jpg - (40.12KB , 500x358 , 216252_10150186663135818_291809725817_6787403_6018.jpg )

Soooo... we're going for the "mindfuck the elf" plan? Alright, works, for me. Let's see... I suppose I'll have to do split my attention for it... erm... this will be harder than I'm used to, especially with mind magic being my weakest magical ability, but hey, the worst that could happen is her head exploding, right? Win-win situation for me. Now then, need to focus that this way... then that... then...

I drag my attention away from myself and focus instead on the elf. She's still staring at me, so I flash her a smile for no real reason and prepare myself for my task. She seems a little startled by my action, but who the hell cares? The mindfucking will probably have to be quick, I don't have a lot of time to be playing around with someone's head. Plus, I've got to prepare for the escape and the ripping and the tearing... alright, let's get to work.

I pull on some sparks, wrapping a piece of my mind and attention into it, then launch it into the elf girl. She doesn't seem to notice it's presence at all, but I feel it. The moment, when that bit of my mind gets pulled into hers, and suddenly I'm feeling rather sick...

==================In Isrenow's Mind

Feel... thought... idea... memory... Change... MUST... change... God... I feel like shit... Crazy minds are... ugh... anyway, I've got to focus... focus on... just focus on something. I reach out, feeling around inside the elf's head... looking for anything solid, tangible and not constantly changing like a goblin hopped up on drugs. I find it, or I at least find a consistant thought. It roughly translates as "mother", although its more like a memory of Marfolso and the feeling of... comfort? Joy, safety... nothing I associate my mother with, the bitch. I latch onto that as a sort of island of stability, "catching my breath" if you want to think of it that way, then I start reaching out again, looking for other things. There has to be other things. I slowly bring together a few stable thoughts, emotions, feelings, and take a few moments to classify them:

-Marfolso is MOTHER: Basically what it is.

-Child: It's... how to put it... her state of mind? The way she thinks, I suppose. It's... she thinks like a child. I'm not sure how to put that better.

-Isrenow: This is... this is her history. Who she is. Her sense of... identity. This one feels like its been... overlaid? It covers something else. Probably who she really is.

-Mental Defenses: I'm assuming this is... her mental ability to stop people from fucking with her head? It's... difficult... to get a read on this... err... damn it, this is why I hate mind magic.

-Me: Well... more like a general memory of me, as in Hated me, or I guess Vincent, as she remembers me, sort of(she wasn't really paying attention when I said my name). It's.... it gives off this feeling of... interest? Want? I'm not sure how to describe this feeling, I'm not exactly familiar with it. Maybe... um... it's like she wants to... something. I don't know, I haven't felt this exact feeling before. It's very similar to what I feel when I want to kill something, but not quite so violent... I can't explain it better than that.

Anyway, those are the five aspects of her mind that are stable right now. I can probably affect maybe three of them. Maybe. I think, if I remember correctly, that mind magic used in the manner I'm using it in is very... delicate. The order I mess with things and how I mess with them will affect what happens in her mind. So, uh... an example... let's say I unlock this elf's past and sense of self. She regain all her memories, stops thinking her name's Isrenow, goes back to roughly default. This might cause her mental defenses to suddenly spring back into being and it also might cause that Marfolso "mother" thing to disappear, as it isn't within her past that he is, in fact, her mother. It would also almost definitely cause her child like state of mind to disappear, as historically she's progressed beyond that, and as such doesn't think like as child normally.

If I were to say, make it so that she thinks I'm her lover, and then break the bindings on her past, the lover thing might disappear, as historically, we aren't lovers, and that wouldn't fit. Of course, there's also a chance her mind might just rewrite itself to accommodate me being her lover for however long, but that's sort of up to chance.

Last few things to be weary of. Just remember that at most I could maybe affect three of them. Furthermore, if her mental defenses get triggered... I'm fairly certain I'd get kicked out at that point, so whatever changes we caused before then would be what she's stuck with.

Um... you voices are still around right? Otherwise I've just been talking to myself... Um... if you are, you mind helping me figure this out? Mind magic really isn't my thing sooo....

================= Back in the Real

With half my attention working on the mindfuck, I find it rather difficult to summon up the concentration required to form a spell. Meanwhile, Isrenow is blinking a lot, like she herself is a bit distracted, and Marfolso is still rambling on.

"Ah, but I can't wait to crack that skull of yours. Isrenow was insane to begin with, to some degree, and I have to admit that drugging her and making my little changes to her thoughts seems to have made it worse. A shame, all those memories from hundreds of years... all the knowledge... lost! Oh, but you... I'll be much more careful with you! To think! What have you seen? What do you know? History, literally playing out in front of my eyes! All that information! This, I think, could answer so many questions about our world. How exactly did the great war end? When, truly, did the dragons begin to disappear? What civilizations of been lost to time? Oh, this is going to be glorious! Simply glorious!"

Yeah, fuck you, bastard. No one's playing around in my head... ugh, I still don't feel to well, that bitch's mind is distracting at best....

First change MOTHER to ENEMY, then unlock her past and sense of self, and finally kickstart her mental defenses if they don't kick in automatically so Marfolso can't undo this new configuration so easily.

Alternatively; 1)MOTHER to ENEMY 2)CHILD to SANE ADULT 3)UNCOVER IDENTITY

Mother to enemy, Child to Sane Adult, and strengthen her feelings of attraction to you. That'll give you a new minion.

>>419114
Preferring this one. Mind-compelling her to like us seems redundant and might leave traces that would implicate us. (Even if we decide to kill her later, her mistrusting us is still counterproductive.)

>>419210
changing her to a sane adult without unlocking her self probably wont help to much and leave her fairly stunned

>>419626
Nah, it'll just have her start to form a new sense of self revolving around us. Which makes for the best minions, if carefully managed.

though freeing her without linking her to us probably wont do more than make her want to kill
Marfolso, which might help us but not to sure for how long. that and uncover identity will likely change her to well....insane adult seeing as she'll have her memory back like vince said

============== Isrenow's Mind

Uh... wow, you guys always seem to have different opinions... but hell, since we're here, let's start screwing with her. You all seem to agree that Mother becomes Enemy, at the least, so let's start ourselves off with that. I drag that stable thought to the forefront of my attention, then focus on the image, forcing my own ideas on the elf, with the help of a healthy mass of sparks. Moments later, the Marfolso of Isrenow's mind is being violently cut into pieces by the elf, who seems quite content to continue doing this in her own mind till it stops being funny. Suddenly, I notice a shift in one of the other stable thoughts, and dragging that in front of me, notice that Isrenow's mind seems to have rejected being a child. Not sure why, but if I had to take a guess... Marfolso treated her like a child, and if she's rejecting "Mother", she must reject the idea of needing a mother... something like that?

Well, whatever, let's move on to something else... let's see... um, you said sane adult... well... I take another look at the new adult Isrenow, and for a moment I don't notice anything out of the ordinary... then I notice that Isrenow is still muttering to herself. It's... well, it's changed from childish things to what she plans on doing once she gets her hands on Marfolso... I'm not sure how I'm supposed to change this into sanity, particularly because all evidence points to me being just as insane as her, so...

>though freeing her without linking her to us probably wont do more than make her want to kill Marfolso

...Well, if I'm fucking with her mind anyway, why shouldn't I just make her think of me as a friend or something? Let's go with that, besides, you guys always say having more minions is a good thing. I drag Myself to the fore, and stare at it a moment. I try to picture for a moment what the feeling of lover or friend would feel like, but I can't really come up with anything... instead, I drag some images of happy human couples and try modeling an image of myself and the elf after this, pushing that into her mind as best I can. The resulting image... I shrink back in instinctual disgust, watching myself apparently happily... what's the word... cuddle... I think that's right... cuddle with the elf. Said elf seems immensely happy, so I suppose that's a good thing... ah, whatever. At the same time, I notice again another change in one of the other aspects of her mind. Well... two actually. I don't have the time to check those, I already feel like I'm stretching my luck. Have to deal with that later. One more thing to go.

I briefly debate between unlocking herself and unlocking her mental defenses, than figure I should play it on the safer side and get her mental defenses up to speed. My own mind magic isn't going to be able to do much in the way of guarding her against mental attack, and someone else could easily erase my work, quick and sloppy as it is. Alright, let's just see about... Gah!

========== Real World (Roughly the same time)

The other half of my concentration focused entirely on Isrenow isn't helping at all anymore, as it seems to be actively doing something. But with a little effort, I manage to dredge up the needed amount of sparks and shape them to my will, a pure wave of force. That done, I drag my head up to glance around me. Marfolso over there, monologuing some more. Isrenow, looking very... confused? Angry too, by the looks of her. Need to get out of here fast. The mass of sparks converging around me is start to shape into a spell, and the mages around me are starting to chant a little louder, so I'd say that's a good sign I should be going. Almost on cue, Marfolso notices something that seems to rub him the wrong way.

"You know, I really expected more of the idle threats to start spewing from your mouth. Isrenow was quite the example of that, she spent days doing nothing more than just that as I peeled her mental defenses away... wait, you don't seem all that worried at all..."

"No, no I don't. I think I'll be going now. Try not to die till I can rip out your throat myself."

"Wha-"

I drag my right foot off the ground, which feels more like I'm trying to life a dragon with my leg, then let it smash into the ground, releasing my little wave of force straight down through my leg and into the floor below me. Every bone in my leg shatters instantly, but magic is already working to repair that as I pour some sparks into the task. The next thing to go is the wooden floor boards, the flimsy things splintering and flying in all directions, peppering everything in the area with wood. Thankfully, I'm at the center of the explosion of wood, the eye of the storm so to speak, and most of the wood misses me completely as it jets outwards, earning me some pleasant screams from some very surprised and squishy mages. What follows next is the stone underneath that, which crumbles and starts falling, taking me and almost everyone else with it. I find myself free of the oppressive gravity, and manage to land more or less on my feet and intact. It's about that time the other half of my thoughts arrives again, and I get a quick overview of what I did. Well... it went better than I expected at least. I was kinda hoping for a head explosion, bu-

"My LOVE!"

I find myself tackled from the side suddenly, slamming into the ground with quite a bit of force and nearly gaining a concussion. I turn onto my back and quickly find myself pinned, this time because there's in elf shoving her tongue down my throat. After a few minutes of struggling to get her off me, I manage to push her back enough to separate her from my face and allow myself some room to breath.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Heh, don't worry about it, my love. I just haven't seen you in soooo looooooong, I couldn't help myself... just thinking of the time we've been apart makes my heart ache... but your right, we have things to do right now. A Marfolso to be hunting down and cutting to pieces... bastard thinks he can drug me... thinks he can make me his daughter or some shit... We can have... fun... later~"

Oh gods... I'm hating myself right now. I can't even blame you lot for this, I decided to go ahead with it on my own. Alright, let's get to figuring out our next move. Marfolso is still running around somewhere, although that mass of sparks up above us is screwing with my senses a bunch, so I can't tell exactly where. We have ourselves a new minion in Isrenow, who's allowed me to stand up, although she remains practically plastered to my side. My golem is around here somewhere, although I don't really see the need of retrieving it, I'll be making the city mine soon anyways...

Alright, what's the plan, voices? I say we kill this Marfolso bastard now, but I think I've already fucked with the guys plans and defenses quite a bit, and that was the original plan...

Now seems like a rather good time to kill him, with his major trap sprung and practically no time for him to make a new one.

>>419726
Isrenow's not your type, either? Hrm. Well, in that case she's going to be a persistently awkward asset. On the one hand, minion; on the other hand, the role that you impressed on her mind was one of lover rather than, say, master, meaning that she'll expect to be treated as a relative equal and have you reciprocate her feelings- and if you don't, she'll feel justified in taking rather drastic action to force you to do so. They do say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Potential actions include attacking you, mentally altering you into whatever she sees as a more desirable lover, killing any other woman she sees as competition, destroying anything else she sees as taking up too much of your time and affection that should be reserved for her... oh, the hell an obsessive and powerful lover can inflict is near endless, and she's rigged up to be very much of both.

That said, there's a chance this could work out well. Just be aware that Isrenow needs to be handled delicately. For now, say nothing to her which implies that anything is more important to you than she is, phrase your orders like invitations or requests, and keep a close eye on her to try and learn more about how she thinks.

Anyway, with Isrenow here there's pretty much nothing here that should be able to stand against the pair of you. Whisper to her, "You know, seems Marfolso was the boss here... after what he's done, why don't we just kill every mage in the city? I was planning to conquer it anyway." Smile with all the glee you can muster at the thought of slaughtered mages.

Then go do it. Marfolso takes highest priority, but kill 'em all and tear the sparks from everyone and everything that has them to offer. Constructs, spell arrangements, and spark stones are nice and all- but really, they should all break just the same and you'd best recoup some of the power you've been burning. You could leave one or two of the mid-tier mages alive for interrogation by you or your shamans later to explain how all the magic around here works... but don't feel like you have to.

>>419726
oh god that was why i didn't specify what kind of link...was really hoping someone would come up with something other than lover, oh well at least we have a couple weeks/months before she runs into Nina

Eh, she'll grow on you once she proves how useful she can be. Now, I hear torturing people to death is a nice bonding experience. You just gained your first immortal minion, which is a major milestone.

>she'll expect to be treated as a relative equal and have you reciprocate her feelings- and if you don't, she'll feel justified in taking rather drastic action to force you to do so. They do say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Oh shit... I didn't think about that... fuck my life. Ah well, whatever. Not like anything can be as bad as anything from hell, woman or not. I've got you lot, and I just have to try not to be openly hateful of her, right? At the moment, though, we've got our course of action set. Time to go hunting. Let's find the bastard. I start "sniffing" the air experimentally, but come up with nothing. That mass of sparks is still up there, and it's annoyingly difficult to get anything when my senses are overloaded with the smell of it. Guess I'm searching the old fashioned way. I manage, after a few moments of struggling, to peel Isrenow off my side, and direct my attention upwards. The rather large hole I made in the floor is still there, so that seems the logical way to go. I launch myself upwards, leaving Isrenow to find her own way up, and land back on the upper floor, the ritual still stagnating in place as all the mages stumble around or lay uselessly on the floor, most having numerous wounds covering their bodies. I set about gathering up sparks, some who are still concious providing a little resistance, but I don't have time to be killing them in interesting ways. The minute the last mage falls, the ritual collapses and disperses, clearing my senses. Immediately I notice what I'm looking for, a demi-god level spark trace(although it's weakened considerably from the gravity thing, must have taken a lot out of him) about halfway towards a city exit already. Time to go hunting.

"That's wasn't very nice, my love! We haven't seen each other for soooooooo long!" I'm tackled again, although not with quite as much force as the first time, and I glance down to find Isrenow plastered to my side again. "And you didn't even leave anyone for me! Definitely not the best date you've ever taken me on."

"Now really isn't the time to be talking about this. Marfolso is getting away, and I think I want to rip his throa-"

"HOLD IT! MARFOLSO IS MINE! I'M THE ONE HE TURNED INTO HIS GODS DAMNED DAUGHTEr, NOT YOU!" Ah... I see what you mean by the whole hell hath no fury thing... well damn, that ruins that plan. "Besides, it's not polite to leave the love of your life behind when your on a date~" What date? Since when did this become a date?

"So... you know where he is then?"

"Um.... no. No, not really..."

Sigh. This is going to get very annoying very quickly... alright, fine. I can't leave her behind, but that's not really all that much of a handicap. I'll just have to drag her along with me wherever I go, at least for now. I wrap my arm around her to keep her with me(earning a little moan of what I assume is pleasure from the elf) and then begin shadow-stepping my way after the man, catching up to him just as he makes it to the cities edge. The man, who before looked ever so composed and elegant, is now looking a little worse for wear. Splinters sticking out of you like a porcupine will do that.

"Now, where would we be going? Didn't we have some talking to do?"

Marfolso spins to face me, fear clearly written on his face. "Go away! Leave me alone! Your... your not normal! Your not normal at all! Even an immortal shouldn't be able to do that! I know! I know what you are! WHO you are! They warned me! They warned me! They said you'd been freed! I didn't listen! I wasn't catiou- Isrenow! There you are! Kill him! Kill him now! I don't care how right he is, just make him die! If he survives, everything we know will be undone! EVERYTHING!"

Isrenow plasters a fake smile across her face, skipping up to her previous master while flexing her fingers. "I'm sorry. That little... mental control... has been removed. My love here did it. Oh, I can't wait till tonight, we'll have the greatest-"

"Th-That's... n-not possible. You... you undid... you undid her mental bonds! You! YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO!? EVERYTHING IS RUINED! EVERYTHING IS RUINED! IT'S ALREADY BEGUN! DAMN IT ALL TO THE PITS! I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS EXIST, I WILL NOT DIE LAYING DOWN!" Marfolso stretches his finger out towards me, eyes filled with rage, and lets out a jet of pure flame. I activate a rather simple spell to make me immune to the fire(picked up because of that fight with the dragon god) and simply stand there, letting the flames wash over me with a look of boredom.

"You know, I really thought a mage clever enough to catch me in a gravity spell would have thought of something less predictable than a jet of flame. Anything would have done, really. Hells, lightning is at least flashier. Ah well, your boring me. Have fun Isrenow."

"Of course, my love. Of course..."

"What? No... n-no, w-wait! I... I can... I can be useful... y-you... y-you d-don't have to... no... Wait!"

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

An few minutes later and with a carved up body of my earlier host(alive, conscious and missing body parts) laying on the floor, I find a new issue to deal with. Namely, the rather large crowd of people staring at me and my newest minion in horror, murmuring spreading like wildfire. Isrenow either doesn't notice or doesn't care, but the months I've been spending among the barbarians and not killing them has at least made me a bit more aware of people's feelings. I still don't give much of a damn though. There's doubtless going to be quite a few guards showing up soon, and I don't particularly want to waste time on the little bastards. Although, I suppose if I dealt with it all now, I wouldn't have to make my army do it. Two immortals should be more than enough for a town without any mages in it anymo- Wait... there were two more mages weren't there? Demi-god class ones to... where the hell did they get off to? I try testing the air for sparks, but find nothing. This... this doesn't seem like a good thing. Ah well, whatever. Something else to deal with later.

For now... Can I just kill them all? Empty town, nobody bitching about me killing everyone. Maybe finally satisfy my bloodlust for more than a minute...

If we kill them all now our army won't have anyone left to fight, and it would be rude to deny them that after all their preparation. We should instead track down the place where those meddling angels were hiding, and hopefully get their trail.

If you are going to leave mage-guy alive for any length of time make sure he doesn't have the required appendages to cast any spells.

Make sure to eat mage guys sparks. Don't leave him alive, though. He's dangerous now that he knows what you are.

If her idea of a date is horribly killing people who have offended one of you, I don't think you'll have too many problems.

As for killing the townspeople. . . That's beneath you. It's like stepping on ants. Sure it may sound fun at first, but it really just wastes time.

If you demolish the town now you can shrug off Isrenow's advances later by saying "Not tonight, baby; I'm exhausted!"

So yes. Kill them all.

>>420012
>Although, I suppose if I dealt with it all now, I wouldn't have to make my army do it.
What kind of logic is that? Personal armies do things so that you don't have to, not the other way around. The whole point of the army is so that they can give you power, kill people, and conquer people for you without you needing to do all the boring shit.

Dealing with this town personally would mostly be tedious anyway. You can rendezvous with your army later, blow apart their defenses, and maybe make a very loud and intimidating speech when your troops are actually there to invade and kill things for you. What's more interesting are these demigod-strength mages, and those angels if they're really there. Either of those would make at least a mildly entertaining fight.

So, let's turn to Isrenow. "There were two other mages here- strong ones. Would you care to take the lead in a bit of hunting? It would be a fine way to spend the morning together, I think." Hopefully she'll have spells to assist in hunting them down and killing them.

>>420046
It'll save time to just do it now and get it over with~

Plus they won't have time to prepare defenses~

Eh, you could just say that the mage had tried to turn you into a slave and had done the same to your love(if you can say it without gagging) and you killed him for it, also that you restored Isrenow's mind, I mean surely the townspeople will like not having a childish elf running around killing people randomly right? Heck they might even see you as some kinda hero if you spin it right and if things go south you can just go to plan B.

BTW how are you going to tell Isrenow that you have a wife? I suppose you could just tell her the truth and that you married Nina for political reasons(and to get a book).

Just order them to scram. They are nothing but sheep. You owe them no explanation.

>BTW how are you going to tell Isrenow that you have a wife?

Oh... damn it all! Stop bringing stuff like that up. Besides I'll have months before that becomes an issue... well unless I start putting up gateways, but that's for another discussion. For now...

"You lot. Get lost before I decide your a nuisance, like I did with this one." I gesture at the mangled body of Marfolso, and the crowd scatters instantly, although I'm certain guards will still be showing up eventually. I turn to Isrenow, who still humming a little to herself as she works on mangling the bastard further, and I debate leaving her here so she can deal with the guards. Then I discard the idea. You lot have already warned me of the consequences of that. [i]"There were two other mages here- strong ones. Would you care to take the lead in a bit of hunting? It would be a fine way to spend the morning... together, I think." I find myself struggling with speaking the words, particularly when I have to sound like I actually want to be around her, but she doesn't seem to notice.

"Awwww~ That sweet of you, love. Here, let me just..." Isrenow slides her hand across Marfolso's throat, and his head simply slides off a second later as the elf stands and latches onto my arm. "Now then, love, let's get a move on. Ah, it feels so good to be with you again. I can't wait till we can have ourselves some along time... ooooh, I remember it feeling sooooo goooooood~"

Dear gods in the heavens. Someone save me from the horror I've inflicted upon myself. I ignore the comment, seeing no way to answer that without gagging, and begin shadow-stepping again, this time back to the city hall, making sure to take Isrenow with me. I find the place much as I left it, a few guards poking around trying to find out what happened. I kill them simply because their in my way, then drop back down into the hole I'd made and take the time to examine my surroundings. Its a simple room, but not the room where those other demi-god sparks were. Those were... deeper. This room has three hallways branching off of it, and while I could just use sparks to start busting my way straight down, I don't feel like wasting the my magic on it. Instead, I turn to Isrenow.

"You have anything that can help us find them? They were somewhere below us, but... I can't feel their presence anymore."

"Deeper? Hmm... I think I know where your talking about. There's really only one place anyone would go to if they went deeper. Marfolso used to take me there with him, when he would go talk to some creepy dudes."

"So you know the way then? Good, let's get a move on."

"Now, hold on. I didn't say I was going to take you there."

"Excuse me?"

"You've been acting kinda cold, love,so I'm not doing anything till you give me a kiss by yourself." Isrenow plants herself in the middle of the room and stares at me, apparently refusing to move from her spot. I sigh, this is getting troublesome, the stride over, grab her by the shoulders as and plant a brief kiss on her lips before pulling away.

"We can go now, right?"

"Hm? Ah... yeah~"

Isrenow stumbles off, a blissful smile on her face, and starts leading me down hallways, through dusty rooms and down random stairs. It takes nearly 30 minutes to finally reach our destination, but once we do I find that quite a few questions have been answered. The room is filled with various magical symbols along the walls and ceiling, most of them designed to aid in the summoning of entities from the other planes. After examining it more closely, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that these are keyed particularly to the heavens, although with slight alterations they could be keyed to the Birthplace of the Angels. Either way, whatever was here seems to have left. There's a table with a book on it, open to a page on the goddess of secrets and forbidden knowledge, Arcana. She's... I've met her only once, and she's not someone you generally want to piss off. Either way, it seems the book is instructions on how to summon one or more of her children, known as the Keepers. I can guess this is what Marfolso was doing. Probably where he dug up whatever he had on me. Alright, moving on. I go a bit deeper into the room and find the mage-lord's circle, the physical place for things to show up in once summoned. It doubles as a protection ring, keeping things from coming and trying to kill you in case whatever it is you summoned isn't very happy. This one's protection is a bit half-assed, but that's easily remedied. For the most part, this is actually quite a good little summoning room, although it's too small to summon anything really big, like a major god or anything like that, but for small things it will suffice.

Anyways, it doesn't seem like anyone will disturb us down here, Isrenow is off looking blissful and useless, and we have a summoning circle all set up and ready to use... let's have some fun!

Alright, we have this book on godlings to summon if we want, or I could just try summoning something off of my own memory, which admittedly isn't the best. Although, I suppose if I wanted to summon some demons I'd have to repurpose the markings. That could take an hour or two. For now, Godlings or Angels is about the best I'm gonna be able to do on short notice. Anything else would require a few hours to set things up right. And some more materials, since demons tend to like their sigils drawn in the blood of innocents, and elementals usually require a gift of some sort.

((Summoning rules and such shall be posted shortly in the discussion thread. Suffice it so say that for now, you have all the required materials to summon minor angels and any demi-god you choose.))

Oh, Hated, in case you haven't put two and two together yet: I'm almost completely certain that "Isrenow" is actually Kiliana Moontouched, the one the elves were looking for that they believe is also "Murderer." Just a heads up!

So, what would the benefits of summoning be? Can you make the godlings do things for you, or do you have to be diplomatic?

>>420138
Look at the questdis, I think it answers your questions.

Will these also suffice to summon a demon, or do you have to key the symbols to Hell or Hades or whichever plane they're from to reach far enough?


Oh, and when you get your hands on the royal family? Make the father embrace the daughter like they were posing for a painting. Give the father four magical rings, and make the mother put the last "wedding" ring on, and make the son watch as Mommy kills Daddy, Sister, and herself via handsplosion.

Then put his eyes out, stop his nose and ears with wax, and force him to breathe with his mouth. Cover his legs with honey and put him in the middle of a lake on a crippled sailboat. Soon the flies will come and start biting. By then, all the boy will be able to see is his family's death and all he'll be able to feel are his legs swelling and putrefying. Gangrene, blood poisoning, etc. generally kill the victims of this after a couple of weeks, if I recall correctly.


Ought to be fun.

>>420164
That's nice, but he should really study Mind magic so he can torture them to death repeatedly inside their minds.

Oh, hey! A thought occurs. Weren't you going to learn how is babby (magically) formed at some point for Nina? I remember you saying you needed to learn how to make a mind and a soul, can you call up someone/thing on that?

Daughter of Fertility Hated 2012/06/10(Sun)11:53 No. 420422 ID: a407a5
File 133935440268.jpg - (28.12KB , 317x350 , Sun_Elf.jpg )

>Will these also suffice to summon a demon, or do you have to key the symbols to Hell or Hades or whichever plane they're from to reach far enough?

I'd need to key the symbols to the Pit, as it are sometimes called, and I'd need to "defile" the area with the blood of innocents. In all, anywhere from 3-4 hours of work. After that the sigils would be ruined though, since I'm not really the best suited to purify areas. Maybe Isrenow could, but I don't know if she even knows how.

>>420265
I... could. That would probably be... what's his name... uh... god of knowledge. Don't remember his name off the top of my head. Or the goddess of birth and fertility... actually, I could probably just ask her to do it... eh, since we're already connected to the Heaven's, will start with that. It's as good a suggestion as any.

I stride back over to the book and start flipping through pages, searching for the right entry. After a few minutes of searching, I find what I'm looking for and quickly memorize the phrase I need to use. Gods, it's filled with all that old tongue bullshit. Even four thousand years ago no one used this crap. Then it's back to the circle, fixing the little mistakes in it, just to make sure nothing escapes, then I take a step back to examine my work. Nothing like true professional(I've seen profesional work and it's insanely clean and precise), but it'll do for my purposes. Now then, throw a few sparks at the sigils to wake them up, get myself inside this little focus square here and...

[i]"I call thee, maiden of birth, maiden of life, maiden who gives the greatest of all gifts. I call thee to this world, to this existence, to this realm of mortals. I seek thy power, and ask that thou answer my summons. Grant me a measure of thy time, so that I might ask for a favor..."

I drop to one knee, the usual sign of supplication ask by gods when your the one going to them. For a moment, there's nothing but the hum off the sigils, then a shiver of power runs through the room as something very powerful directs it's attention to the room. Isrenow has ceased being blissful, all her attention having been dragged back to reality by whatever powerful thing it was, and she walks over next to me, her whole body tense, ready for something. Within the summoning circle I can feel sparks ripping through, tearing the fabric between the heavens and the mortal realm, and I see a gateway open up within. The minute the gateway finishes expanding, I smell flowers, feel warm sunlight, and hear the sound of children laughing. Moments later, a woman steps through the portal, and the portal closes shut behind her, cutting off the Heaven's once again. I examine the demi-god, and come to the conclusion that I at least got the right goddess to answer me. The woman appears to be an elf, probably because the damned goddess noticed I have an elf with me, and I can't say I find the idea of dealing with this goddess overly appealing. She glances around the room, then seats herself on a chair that wasn't there seconds ago. She smiles amiably at me as she turns her attention to me, and finally decides to speak.

Your call has been answered, Champion of Tirfuldin. My mother has long been neglected by tribes of the plains, and she is not pleased that she is being called by their leader. But... mother might just be a little too stubborn for her own good. At least in my opinion The woman laughs lightly, clearly amusing herself in some small way, but quickly quiets herself and replaces that smile on her face. How might I help you... Vincent, was it?

I stand, since my calls already been answered and the lady seems to not be hung up on the whole "gods above mortals" thing. Hopefully it stays that way, although I don't expect that to change. Most of the gods worshipped more openly and frequently tend to be fairly mild mannered.

"Um, my love, why'd you summon the fertility goddess? I mean... well... I can't really see a reason for it, unless... unless..." Isrenow blushes as she hides her face in her hands, and I get the distinct impression she's expecting me to say something along the lines off "I wanted you to bear my child" or something equally repulsive. Needless to say, it's not happening. The demi-goddess leans forward slightly, seemingly inspecting Isrenow, which just causes the elf to turn an even deeper shade of red.

Alright, how should I handle this situation. Both with the demi-god and the crazy elf?

>>420422
Blast it all we really should of waited till after we conquered the city and could get some free time for this. This is rather awkward.

>>420422
"So, since it's perfectly possible to construct living beings out of sparks, would it be possible to construct a fetus, specifically, or mimic the construction in any way?"

Play it off like "Someone else wants my child for her loyalty, and I'm not about to sleep with her." Which is technically true, even if it falsely implies that you could get Nina pregnant by sleeping with her--even better, it paints your action as romantic faithfulness to the crazy elf. Maybe throw in a kiss, too, if you can stomach it.

edit: Gotta handle the fertility goddess too, so add: "Not that that would give her a child, in my case. I'd thought to magical means of constructing one for her, but it struck me that it would likely be far simpler (and potentially less objectionable to some) to ask for a favor, in this case."

>>420505
I have no idea what a fetus is, so I'm going to say no to this one.

"Someone else wants my child as payment for their loyalty. And I'm not about to sleep with them to do it, especially because nothing would actually occur from it."

Isrenow's blushing ceases almost instantaneously, and her reply is in a voice that is dangerously low. "Someone else is trying to bear my love's child? That...that is not acceptable... I will find them, and I will rip their heart from their chest and let them watch as it beats it's last pathetic-"

"In any case, I figured a magical means would be the only way I could grant that wish, and actually thought to construct a child for her myself, but it's recently occurred to me that it might be simpler and somewhat less objectionable for me to ask for a favor."

The demi-goddess hums in thought, no longer interested in Isrenow at all, instead focusing on me. So... you wish to impregnate a mortal woman with the child of an immortal? How very... entertaining. I must say, that's never been tried before. Mother might even be willing to do it... it would require considerable effort on her part thought, you asking her to essentially erase the boundaries of race and make it possible for the girl to be impregnated by you... or something along those line, correct?

"I think that sums it up nicely, actually. Any method will do at this point, although I'd prefer not having to actually DO anything with the girl."

I'm afraid that might not be possible... The demi-god giggles to herself, then composes herself once again. But Mother could certainly allow the process to work. For a price... of course.

"Of course. The gods never do anything for anyone without a price or test of some kind. What'll it be? Stabbing some non-believer in the face or seeing how many young men and women I can get together in an hour?" I've had to do that before... I failed, as one might expect. The second one, not the first. That was easy.

"Wait a minute! I don't care how much this ladies loyalty is worth, or why we even need it, my love, but you are NOT having sex with her. I don't care what reasoning says otherwise!"

The demi-god laughs again, clearly amused. And she ignores the elf, apparently thinking her inconsequential to what's going on. No. No, nothing so difficult. There's actually a few prices one must pay, as performing your request will take multiple stages and a great deal of my mother's energy. Three prices wil be paid for this favor. The first, reinstate worship of my mother amongst your barbarian followers, and her... what were they called... shamans, must be the female mages among your tribes. Second, mother requires that you become her Champion, just as you are Champion of the barbarian god. Third, when the time comes to give the woman your seed, you must do so at a certain place, as a form of worship to her. This place shall be revealed to you when the time is right. That is all my mother asks. Your answer?

Well... there's that damn number 3 again. I swear to whatever god's care to listen, someone needs to change that trend. I don't really see a problem with agreeing with these, but at the same time... I don't particularly like feeling like championing ANOTHER god. Although really, in the Great Mother's case, that just means, I'll piss off the god of infertility. Decisions, decisions.

Well, that's the offer on the table. I doubt Isrenow will be very happy if we accept, but... anyway, what's shall I do about this proposed deal? And once I'm done with this demi-god, should I call up something else, and if so, what?

>>420682
A fetus is an unborn infant.

And that sounds good, though you might want to ask that the place required isn't something crazy like the Pit or an active volcano or on a cloud or some shit, just some old altar or temple.

Basically, ask that the location be reasonable.

Oh, and ask if the sex has to be public to support the whole champion the fertility goddess thing.

>>420682
Oh, and to try and calm Isenrow down, say this when we're done: "I appreciate your protectiveness and I certainly like how you think, but sacrifices must be made if I am to get my revenge on the bastards that bound me in that shithole for millenia. Wait until after we've murdered the royal family and taken control of their damned nation, at the very least, please? For me?"

Tell the demigoddess you'll consider it.

"Really darling, I'm not exactly happy with this either. However, I am a man of my word, one way or another. Anything you want to call up?" If not, call up something that can teach us mind magic...or at least some basic stuff. Like undoing this whole lover bit for something easier to manage. Maybe "Just Friends"

>And once I'm done with this demi-god, should I call up something else, and if so, what?

Perhaps you could ask the god of truth why all the gods you encounter keep pretending they don't know who or what you are.

And perhaps you might also ask why a being of chaos such as yourself is plagued by orderly voices that keep making you organise things. It sounds like a deity level plot to me, but it could just be angelic.

That's assuming the god of truth would be the appropriate deity to ask. I don't suppose there's a god of "spoiling other people's secrets and plans"?

If she offers to kill the royal family for you, point out that killing them is only part of the revenge. The truest revenge will be supplanting them. You just need to keep her mostly pacified until we can ask the elves for some help in toning down the crazy.

>>420682
All right, this is tricky. Basically we're going to get a kept promise out of it- and the cost is relatively high. Potential issues:

1. Reinstating worship of the fertility goddess and taking a post as her Champion could cause morale issues amongst Tirfuldin's devout, since we'd be seeing as betraying him. Worse, the god himself might see it the same way.
2. Female mages were supposedly brides to Tirfuldin or some such crap- co-opting them to work for someone else seems like it really wouldn't go over well with Tirfuldin, assuming he actually cares.
3. Does the Champion job carry some kind of obligations? This isn't really clear, but it could be inconvenient if it does.

So basically, I'm thinking that this stated cost is high enough we should try and bargain for more in return- not calling it that, of course, but making an effort nonetheless. Don't get just a child out of it, get a new capability, power and knowledge. This would also allow us to spin the issue in a way that Isrenow is more likely to accept.

"Quashing the issues from instating a second religion will distract me and them at a time when we can ill afford it- I say this to make it clear that your price is more costly than it first appears, in my view. Perhaps it would be simpler to approach the problem from a different direction- it's absurd for the champion of a fertility goddess to only be fertile with her direct intervention, is it not?

"Then, rather than focusing on creating a single child, grant to me the ability, knowledge, and inclination to create children with others regardless of race or compatibility, to see them born healthy and grow strong. If it takes a great deal of power and effort as you say, then that is a cost which I can pay personally, each time I wish for a child.

"For this, I will be Champion for your mother, I will order that worship of her be allowed under my rule and tell the female shamans to listen for her, and when I seek to make my first child it will be done at a place of her choosing, so long as the location is reasonable- I trust that venturing to the Pit or the throne room of an enemy who wants to murder me will not be required. Is this acceptable?"

If she agrees to this, then we can tell Isrenow, "I do hope you're not to bothered by this. I do try to keep my promises when given... and this knowledge might come in useful for more than just that, hmm?" That should keep it firmly implied that we had her in mind when we asked to generalize things without immediately committing us to much.

>I don't suppose there's a god of "spoiling other people's secrets and plans"?

There is, but he's a dick. I'm not summoning him, because that would get his attention, and that's something I don't want. Ever.

>>420690
Uh... Isrenow doesn't know I'm the Hated One. Or anyone other than Vincent for that matter. And I''m not telling her. NOBODY likes me as Hated. There's a reason for that, me generally killing everyone I came across, but that just reinforces the idea that I shouldn't tell anyone. At least, not yet. Not until it doesn't matter what other people think.

"Quashing the issues from instating a second religion will distract me and them at a time when we can ill afford it- I say this to make it clear that your price is more costly than it first appears, in my view. Perhaps it would be simpler to approach the problem from a different direction- it's absurd for the champion of a fertility goddess to only be fertile with her direct intervention, is it not?

"Then, rather than focusing on creating a single child, grant to me the ability, knowledge, and inclination to create children with others regardless of race or compatibility, to see them born healthy and grow strong. If it takes a great deal of power and effort as you say, then that is a cost which I can pay personally, each time I wish for a child.

"For this, I will be Champion for your mother, I will order that worship of her be allowed under my rule and tell the female shamans to listen for her, and when I seek to make my first child it will be done at a place of her choosing, so long as the location is reasonable- I trust that venturing to the Pit or the throne room of an enemy who wants to murder me will not be required. Is this acceptable?"

Honestly, I'm not too sure about spreading kids everywhere, but hell, your right in that the price is way too big for something like one favor. So we'll up the ante a little, see how they respond to that.

Hm... how... interesting... very... interesting... The demi-goddess giggles to herself, then seems to drop into thought, although judging the way her eyes glaze over she's doing more than simply thinking. A few moments pass, then her eyes refocus. Mother has agreed to your terms. The deal shall be completed now, so that she does not owe you anything later.

I feel a sudden massive attention center itself on me, then I feel like my stomach is being wrenched from it's place in my body. I drop to my hands and knees, the massive magical trace of sparks pouring seemingly out of nowhere and into me, and I can feel something shifting, warping and changing underneath my skin. Something very important to ones being. I feeling my stomach wrench itself again, and in response I empty my stomach's contents onto the floor. This definitely doesn't feel pleasant. I curl into a fetal ball as the process continues, my stomach dry heaving now that it has nothing to empty itself of, and I can feel Isrenow kneeling next to me, her hand on my arm. I think she's saying something, but I can't focus enough to catch it through the weird shooting through me. Minutes pass by like this before I feel my body return to normal, or as normal as it can be after having the fabric of my body get reassembled. I sit up painfully, and glance around. The demi-goddess is gone, her task done apparently, so I focus on Isrenow instead.

"What happened?"

"Um, you started convulsing and throwing up and... and..." Isrenow hugs me, shoving my face into her chest, which I quickly extract myself from to avoid too much contact. "I'm... I'm sorry. I know now really isn't the time to b- Oh! Before I forget. Um... the demi-goddess said... said... um... what did she say... Ah! She said that you should have the ability to make yourself capable of impregnating any female you have sex with. Said you could turn it on and off if you wanted, and that you should be careful. Immortal bodies don't have any immunity to sexual feeling and desires, cause normally they don't get them, while normal mortals gain resistance slowly as they go through puberty. Or something like that."

"Thank you Isrenow. Now then..." I stand and stumble back over to the book in the corner, regaining my senses quickly as I do so. I can feel... something, inside my body. But I'm not quite sure how to place the feeling. Like I've... gained something. It's on the edge of my magical abilities, so I leave it alone for now. I don't feel like experimenting with something like that at the moment. Instead, I flip through some pages in the book till I find what I'm looking for... there, Virtus. God of Truth and Revelations. That should suffice for finding some answers I guess. I would do something that can teach us mind magic, but... well... most gods don't view magic that way. They just make shit happen. Angels I'm not on good terms with, and I don't want to risk pissing them off quite yet, if I haven't already. Demons... are... not good teachers, and we'll leave it at that.

I memorize the chant, muttering curses to myself, as I still feel slightly off, then drag myself back to the circle. This one's probably a newer god, he doesn't have all the old speech bull-crap.

"Come before, god of truth, revealer of lies. Come before me and hear my call to this realm of mortals. Send me your messenger that we might speak. I summon you, Virtus."

Again I drop to my knee, and again there's the converging of sparks as another hole in reality is ripped open. Then a bumbling man of about 40 years of age steps through, adjusting his glasses as he tries to balance what look like stacks of parchment in one hand. He glances around the room, then turns his attention to me, his manner suggesting he's a little annoyed.

[b]Yes, yes. Father has heard your call, sent me, blah, blah. Hurry it up, I don't have all day. Too many truths to discover and catalogue. Much too many.[b]

I stand again, almost lurching to the side as my stomach protests, and Isrenow is instantly next to me, steadying me with her own body. I ignore the contact for now, it's helpful and that's all I really give a damn about right now.

... What was I asking this guy about again?

>>420856
Ah. Given that the Murderer was around in your own time, I had assumed that she knew and approved of you, given that she's the, well, MURDERER.

Unless the mind magic thing fucked up her memory. It probably did. Fuck.

>>420728
That's why. Basically, ask him why everyone pretends they don't know you.

>>420856
Ask him if he knows who you are. If he just answers Vincent or doesn't know, you can guess that he doesn't know, since he's the god of truth he probably can't lie. If he does, then ask him why all the gods are acting like they don't know who you are.

Ask him about the voices in your head too, but if he asks for a price, just turn it down politely. It might be from the crown, but either way its not really that important right now.

>>420870
She wasn't.

>>420871
No. No. No. We do not want the Gods catching on to us yet. We cannot take them, or even close to take them.

>>420911
Yeah don't tip the gods off

Do we want to ask him to fix "Isrenow"'s head? Truth seems as good a dude as any for that sort of thing, right?

>>420984
>>420911

Seriously? You'd waste this opportunity because you're a scared little rat? Forget the elf, or deal with her, but knowing who is manipulating Hated is the most important thing.

Truths and Unanswered Questions Hated 2012/06/11(Mon)22:16 No. 421045 ID: a407a5
File 133947816037.jpg - (131.59KB , 512x384 , intermission 02.jpg )

>>420984
How is Truth supposed to be useful in "fixing" her head? And why would we want him to even if he was? Remember, my little adjustments would count as "problems", and thus get removed as well. Although I guess I could just kill her at that point...

>>420871
Yeah... I'm gonna go with a no on announcing to a bunch of gods that I'm not exactly a normal imm-

>You'd waste this opportunity because you're a scared little rat?
AH! FUCK THAT! FUCK! THAT!

"Do you know who I am?"

Of course we do. What do you think we are, stupid? We keep track of every single truth there is. YOU are the Hated One, sometimes shortened to Hated, that every mortal in the realm is told horror stories about. Your the most dangerous existence to order that there is. And perhaps more importantly, your supposed to be imprisoned in a crypt just a few miles from here.

I can feel Isrenow has tensed up considerably, obviously not expecting to hear that the love of her life(she believes anyway) is the one who's killed more people than any other living being to date, god or otherwise. But she doesn't drop me, which is good, because I don't think I could hold myself up otherwise.

"So? Why haven't you and your godly pals done anything?"

Hmph. Father had no interest in you 4000 years ago, and he has little interest in you now. We did no participate in your capture then. We only record the truths of the many realms, little else. Other gods participated in your capture, aiding those that were called the Children of Light and even creating the artifact which drained you of your strength. The Prime Gods remained, as always, uncaring of what occurred on the plane of mortals. As for why the gods have not noticed your return, well... let's just say the Conceptual gods are not above the mortal tendency to forget that which they do not wish to remember, while the Racial gods remain... overconfident in the security their positions give them. That and the few gods that do know probably have their reasons for not saying anything. After all, you've already become a sworn champion of two gods. Nevertheless, your recent actions have begun to garner attention, and I have no doubt you will be found out soon. I would suggest, if for nothing more than interests sake, that you find more allies, strong ones, and quickly. Now then, is that all, because I have work to do.

"Well, there were these voices in my-"

Our records contain no truth regarding any voices. My time here is done. Goodbye. The demi-god cuts me off quickly, perhaps too quickly, and then the entire circle is forcibly ripped apart by something stronger than me, Virtus most likely. The demi-god vanishes in a flash of light, and I am left alone with Isrenow, wondering what the hell just happened. My thoughts, however, are quickly interrupted yet again.

"Your... not Vincent..."

"No. No I'm not."

"... Was there ever an immortal named Vincent?"

"If you mean someone other than me... no. I'm the only Vincent there ever was. And Pits, I'm not really him. I'm the Hated One, the enemy of the mortal and god alike."

"... I... I suppose I should hate you. Should want to kill you... but for some reason... I can't really bring myself to. You mean... a lot to me. So... so... just promise me you won't go killing EVERYBODY, alright? You gotta leave some for me."

I sigh. This elf... either she's naive as a child or my mental influences have rooted themselves deeper in her mind then I thought. "I'll TRY not to, I can't promise I won't go berserk though."

The elf laughs, then goes quiet as she descends into her own contemplations. As for me, I examine the room. The summoning circle is history, as are most of the sigils. Shame, would have been nice to keep using this. Oh well, I'm sure I can get another one somewhere. For now, my head hurts, my body is feeling like shit and I feel like I could use a nap. A long nap. Maybe a few days long... Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me...

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

((Welp, that ends our first little section of this chapter. Went better than I thought it would, actually. Least, I'd like to think it did. Anyway, Q+A time over in the discussion thread, so if you've got any questions regarding ANYTHING, to include things Hated wouldn't know, feel free to ask them over there. Thank you, share and enjoy!

UPDATE PENDING A FEW PAGES WORTH OF NOTES NEEDING TO BE ORGANIZED... BADLY))

I was calling the other voices scared, actually. I said 'Hated', so Hated wasn't 'you'

I've slept... I've slept a very long time. Whatever the goddess of fertility did to me, it was extremely tiring. I have sporadic memories of waking up and being forced to eat by someone, but these are broken and scattered. Every time I woke up, though, I found it just a little easier than before. Now I'm fully awaked, and feeling good. Or at least better. Much better than before. I drag myself to my feet before I take a look around the room, finding Isrenow gone, although a quick sniff of the air reveals someone of her spark level not too far away. Up some. And further inspection reveals hundreds of spark clusters, these all very small, seemingly all over the city. Nothing to worry at all about. I don't think anyone could have reinforced this place that quickly anyway. Must be something going on up top. Almost in answer to my question, Isrenow enters the room with an arm load of food, which she promptly drop in order to tackle me yet again, although now that I'm prepared for it I don't even budge. I push her back off me, even as she proceeds to start talking.

"My love! Oh, I thought something must have happened. Something very bad. You just kept sleeping, wouldn't get up unless I forced you to with magic, wouldn't eat unless I hand fed you, although I admit that was rather nice, but still, you weren't doing anything but sleeping. I had no idea what I should do, and when I tried going into your dreams something stopped me. I don't know what it was, and I didn't want to mess with it in case you got hurt... Gods above, it feels good to see your alright!"

I ignore her for the most part, only half listening in case she asks a question or something, while trying to figure out what's happened while I was asleep. As expected, the room doesn't really provide me answers. "Isrenow, calm down and tell me what's been going on. From the beginning."

"Oh! Um, after that whole summoning thing, you fell asleep. And kept sleeping. It's been nearly five days, and some army showed itself yesterday and took over the town. I left them alone, I was more concerned about getting you awake and feeding you. Making sure you were alright. But anyway, the town's pretty much in shambles after that army showed up, they did a pretty good job ripping through the town guards, hell, almost all of them have enchantments on them. It's kinda scary really. Someone went through the trouble of enchanting that many people." There's a long pause, then Isrenow continues. "Sooo.... how old are you? I mean, if your the Hated One, then your probably much, much older than I am. So I was just wondering what you-"

"Somewhere just below 7000 years. I don't remember the exact age anymore, and once you make it that far you tend to stop caring." Isrenow goes silent after this, and I choose to focus on other things. Mainly, that my army apparently decided to take the town when I wasn't around to lead it. That... is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Whatever, either way I need to figure out what's going on. I get Isrenow's attention, and get her to lead the way back to the surface. What I find there is both pleasing and annoying. It's pleasing to see that Rivercross has been decimated, building have been burned to the ground in places, there are massive holes in the town's walls, and dead bodies are piled everywhere. Glorious. But... I DIDN'T DO IT! ARRRRRGH! I didn't even to participate! I mean, I suppose I killed all the mages, but then I slept for ages. No fun at all. Ah well, there will be other chances. And far more powerful enemies that some army can't help me against.

I quickly find the nearest group of barbarians, who are busy trashing some store, and get them to tell me where Curmas is. They don't believe that I'm actually their leader, until I toss one through a wall. Then they happily tell me what I want to know. I make my way through the streets, happily enjoying the atmosphere of screams, death cries and the few remaining battles that are going on through out, until I find my destination, a building slightly less destroyed then the others. Apparently this is the last holdout for the defenders, some inn or something. I don't really care, but I find Curmas as well, who's busily trying to figure out how to break his way inside without bringing the whole building down.

"Hey! Curmas, what's up? Need any help?"

The barbarian looks surprised at being addressed directly, and his guards quickly move to stop my approach, but I grab them with some telekineses and hurl them to the sides, getting annoyed that people keep getting in my way.

"Ah... my king, I apologize. We couldn't recognize you... you are, ah... smaller.... than when we last saw you."

"Yeah, that happens. Why are you even here, now that I think about it. You shouldn't have attacked till I returned."

"Well... you didn't return by the time we reached here, so I thought that perhaps you'd been captured, and I ordered the attack in an attempt to fi-"

"He's lying through his teeth." Isrenow is staring at the barbarian intently, her eyes doing this weird glowing thing. Her expression is one of rage, directed directly at the object of her gaze. "He's lying to you, my love. I don't think he's was planning to save you at all..."

Curmas flinches, clearly not expecting to be called out. I, on the other hand, choose to ignore his actions and focus on Isrenow's little trick. "You can tell if he's lying? Mind magic?"

"Yes. One of the more difficult ones, although some people can get very good at it. He's lying though. Nobody should lie to their... what did he call you... king? Wait, since when were you a king?" Isrenow's gaze shifts to me, the glow fading, her expression going from anger to confusion.

"Long story. For now, let's focus on other things. Like Curmas here." I turn to the man, who's now towering over me by at least a foot. "Look, I don't care what your motivations are, to tell you the truth. I really could care less. You wanted to invade, go ahead and invade. As long as you stick to the plan, that's a good thing. You don't have to go lying about it. Hell, I like killing things. I freely admit that. Problem is, you still lied to me. We can't have that... So I'm afraid I have to punish you somehow... Isrenow, any ideas?"

Isrenow smiles evilly, giggling a little to herself, her eyes slitting as she goes into evil bitch mode. "I might have a few ideas. Little mental things I've been meaning to try out. I can right, long as I don't kill him?"

"Wait! I took the town! We didn't even have anyone get killed! No injuries! Please! I-I didn't think you would mind! I just... I just..." Curmas is visibly frightened. Elves are known for being good with mind magic.

Well then little voices in my head. Should I let her proceed? And after that, what should my next course of action be? I could easily open a gateway back into the barbarian lands, or even a gateway straight to the next town if I wanted to. Knowing you lot though, your probably going to have something else you want me doing... ah well, let's hear it.

He knows something about us that is not in the records, based on his wording. It is apparently dangerous enough that he does not want to talk about it. *wills Hated to double in Power*
Did that do anything?

Let her do whatever as long as it won't hurt his ability to do his job/usefulness to you.

Have at it, Isrenow--just try not to do anything you can't undo later~

Go ahead and revert to your god-king form, and help your army destroy the last hold-out of the defenders.

>>415303
>Demon's Rage- Chapter 2: Glorious, Bloody War

Wow. You actually did come back! I didn't actually think you would do it.
It seems I have some catching up to do.

Remind him that when he took the town there were no enemy mages, and inform him that this is because you killed them all.

He shall think something horrible has been done to his mind, when really just it is just an implanted suggestion that something horrible happened. The mind magic is involved to make it a very convincing suggestion.

He seems too useful to actually cripple in any mental or physical fashion, so this will punish him in a way you can afford - emotionally.

You don't want to try to be everywhere at once, right? If you can find useful commanders to terrorise the nonthreatening rabble in parallel then you'll be able to flush out the powerful ones all that much faster.

Lots of powerful enemies at once sounds a lot more fun than chasing them down one by one, doesn't it?

>*wills Hated to double in Power* Did that do anything?

? Did what do what?

Final decision then. She can do what she wants to him, as long as it doesn't spoil the guy as a commander. Works for me. "go ahead Isrenow. Just remember I need him to lead the armies. I can't be bothered to do it myself. Too much work. I'll just go kill these last bastards while you do your thing. I start walking off towards the inn, humming to myself as Curmas gives off a sudden squeal of terror and Isrenow laughs menacingly, clearly already at work. In the meantime, I strip myself of anything that would rip once my body changes back to the towering god-king form thing we came up with, and then I shift back. That leaves me wearing little more than my pants, but I could care less. Not like I normally wear armor anyway. Although I should look into that, not really all that of a bad idea, if we got some nice armor and enchanted it with insane amounts of endurance... hmm...

Something to think about. For now, I glance over at the building. I can't really see why Curmas was so hung up on not simply killing everyone inside, but hey, if that's his plan, that's his plan. I think I'll just stroll on in with this Ethereal ring I got here and well, would you look at that. Guards! Four of them! And look at them, all so scared of me. It's almost quaint. I yawn a little as a few manage to get the nerve to actually attack me, only to have the iron weapons they wield bounce harmlessly off my skin. Shame, I was expecting a little more effort. Or maybe a maul, that tends to work well. Still, you live with what you get. The guards are murdered without further waiting, two going through the barricade they made to keep the barbarians out, one going through the opposite wall, to open another hole, and the last having his limbs broken and left helpless on the floor, writhing in pain, just for the laughs. I then proceed into the main room, glancing around at the various women and children hiding within the place. the barbarians have come in after me, and have paused behind me, apparently waiting for some sort of direction. Well... I suppose I could kill them all here... but eh, there'd be no fun in it at all. "Gather them up and get them into some prison camp type thing. Don't kill any of them, and try not to hurt them. They can't work if they're broken." I leave the warriors to their work as I head back outside to find Isrenow still at work, although I suppose I don't really need Curmas at the moment. I have other things I could be doing...

Actually, maybe not. I've never started a war before(well, not as one of the sides in the war) so I'm not exactly sure what it is I should be even doing right now. Maybe... I don't know. I really have no clue. Guess I have to leave it up to you lot. What should I be doing right now?

>>421831
Finding everyone nominally in charge, sticking their heads on spikes, and commanding the populace's fear and obedience while leaving the bureaucracy and the people who actually get shit done alone generally works well.

Start checking over the strategic situation, and making sure that nobody else got ideas while you were gone.

>>421831
Where's your awesome helmet? You should wear it. It's stylish, plus it has nice enchantments on it.

>What should I be doing right now?
All right, so you've conquered a city. Fortunately you already have a casualty report for your side and don't need to worry about that. Since you declared that you wanted to rule this nation, there's a couple essentials you have to make sure of in your policy from here on out:
1. The populace are alive to be ruled.
2. The city is largely intact for them to live in.

So take a quick look around the city. How rough a conquest was this? How much of the population was killed? How much of the city was destroyed? Are the barbarians currently engaged in continued looting, rape, and general plunder? How much damage are they doing in the process of that? If serious damage is still being done and people are dying, then as you move around remind your men to make sure there's still a city standing and to leave the people alive to work when they're done. Otherwise, leave them to it; they conquered the city and Rivercross isn't that important and is very close to their lands, so it's not that important to keep them restrained.

With that assessed, grab a couple of Curmas' lieutenants- he must have a few, no one runs an army of thousands alone- get reports on the combat readiness of your warriors, anything interesting they found in the city, and their general assessment of events so far. Also find out who ran the city before and what's happened to them- not just Marfolso, but whoever worked for him in actually making things go smoothly. You'll need them to put the city back together.

Then get some maps and figure out where the next target city is. You're not in a critical rush, but you'll want to send the army for the next city within the next couple days. You'll also need to figure out how large a garrison to leave, and what its makeup should be- to decide that we need numbers of troops and their makeup, numbers of shamans, and size of the surviving civilian populace if possible.

We'll help you process that information; you can issue orders based on it once it's all together since there's no critical rush to conquer the next city.

For now, you'll need to talk to Isrenow when she's done, somewhere that no one else will be likely to hear you. The objective here is to cement her loyalty- our mind manipulation ensured that she won't randomly betray us, but that doesn't mean that she'll be happy if we do nothing but ignore her in favor of the immediate concern of the moment. Say something like this:

"Thank you for looking after me while I was asleep. I appreciate it. I suppose you'd like some explanations.

"When I finally got loose again, I decided that my highest priority would be to kill everyone who had chained me and their descendants. Of course, I was weak, and the moment that they hear about me being out they'll probably start trying to lock me right back up again. I'll need power to make sure I win, and that means sparks.

"I don't make my own sparks, like other mages; I absorb them from others or tear them out of them, but I can do it endlessly. No limits. So I needed sparks and wasn't in a position to go getting them the fun way- I wouldn't get enough fast enough. Enter the barbarians, who have hundreds of shamans willing to give up sparks regularly to their king and thousands of warriors quite happy to invade the country that just happens to be ruled by the descendants of a personal enemy of mine. I'm thinking I'll use them to conquer the country, then use the country to help me find and kill the rest of the wretches.

"So far, it's been good to be the king. That's basically it for my recent history. Questions about anything?"

Iirc, there was something we wanted to see from the library in this city. Were they texts on magic or strategic documents like maps?
Speaking of information and documents, we should raid Malfoso's study to see if we can find anything of interest. He did say that he was expert on spark-stones, so we could find something cool there. And speaking about spark-stones, what happened to his body? Why didn't we take his arm which was imbued with 3 stones holding demi-god level amount of power?

What happened to bubbly, happy girl that invited us to the inn? I'm... just curious.

What happened to our bitching golem? Where is it? Go look for it.

Ask Isrenow to teach and train us in mind magic. That shit is important. You saw how easy it was to subdue someone so powerful as her but with weak mental defenses, right? You wouldn't want someone exploiting your weakness in mind magic, would you?
Oh, and when you were fighting her, she wasn't dodging your attacks. That was one of her mental magic skills, if you were able to counter it, you would have won with no problem.
Also, should we tell her that we have a wife? Might want to let it out right now to avoid some horrible scenario down the line.


>>421976
I support this suggestion.
But, I think we should stop any looting, killing and raping if it is still going on. We want to rule place, so keeping as much assets intact as possible is important. Also, killing civilians is a general no-no.

Another thing to add to your list is to see if we're being supplied properly. The further we go into enemy territory, the harder will it be to keep supply lines going and keeping the army fed.

>>421834
That's usually the mage-lord, his attendants and the guard captain I guess? I killed all the mages, mage-lord, done... that leaves the captain. I grab a random barbarian and tell him to get it done. Can't have rulership without a little fear, right? Besides, we can arrange them in pretty patterns while we're at it.

>What happened to bubbly, happy girl that invited us to the inn? I'm... just curious.
Who? Oh, wait, the annoyance... um... give me a minute, I think I saw her in the inn. I stride back inside, glancing around as people are being rounded up, and find the woman clinging to what I'd assume is her mother... why did I come here again? Whatever, she looks fine, besides being scared and all that. Should I be... you know what, I'll drag her along. One of you seems to think I should care about her for some reason. Maybe you noticed something I didn't.

>What happened to our bitching golem? Where is it? Go look for it.
I grab another passing barbarian and set him on this task. It shouldn't take him too long... not that I really care, the stupid thing proved useless anyway. I should hunt down an actual golemcrafter, get him to make me a good body instead of cobbling one together myself.

>grab a couple of Curmas' lieutenants
Uh... I think that's what Curmas is... to me, I mean. Usually, if you want something done among the barbarians, you grab him and tell him to get it done. So... do I just grab anybody then? I mean, I don't really see how that's very helpful, but whatever. Besides, we're not really an army... more like a horde, I guess? The general strategy is charge it till it dies.

Anyway, quick look around, gotcha. I quite literally pick up the girl, her body going limp as she starts crying, and I walk outside as I throw her over my shoulder. Isrenow immediately seems to take notice, but by the time she starts moving I've already crouched down and launched myself through pure strength into the air, getting a nice birds eye view of the place. I orient myself towards north, then take a look at the city, humming to myself as I assess the damages. The rich district, up towards the north section, is decimated, the place probably looted for all it was worth. The merchant district and the slums don't seem too bad, some building collapsed and such, but overall fairly useable. The slums are left almost completely untouched, as there was nothing of value to rip off the walls or out of the ground. Probably no one who really tried resisting either, so used to being treated like shit anyway. The girl's screaming now, and it's getting rather annoying, but I decide against simply dropping her.

A shadow-step down to ground level leaves the girl unharmed, as I doubt forceful impact would really be good for her health. Not that forceful jumping helps any either, but oh well. Eh... what else... maps! Yes, we want maps! And magic! Maps and Magic! I find Curmas again, who's curled into a ball clutching his skull, Isrenow nowhere to be seen. Since he seems rather busy, I search his pockets and drag out what I want, a copy of the map the elves gave us. A quick look give me roughly to options of town to attack right now. There's Felmoor to the east, although that won't take us closer to the capital, and there's Whitemarsh to the north and west a little, which is the next city in our direct path to the capital. My votes for Whitemarsh, but hey, I just want to get this over with and take what is going to be mine, which is really an entire nation. If you want people to start organizing though... should I go get Nina? I mean, everyone here is a warrior, and they don't do the whole organize thing all that well. I suppose I could try to find some accountants or officials or something, but I don't think that'll turn out well. Barbarians are prone to killing all the males they find. Reduces rivals and such.

>Another thing to add to your list is to see if we're being supplied properly. The further we go into enemy territory, the harder will it be to keep supply lines going and keeping the army fed.
No issues there. I'll just pop a gate open when we need to resupply. Assuming we need to, with all the stuff we can take from this town. Food for everyone, raided from your nearest city! Oh right, the raping and the killing... yeah, alright. I'll get them to stop. I again grab the nearest barbarian and tell him to spread the word. The killing stops. So does the raping... unless your in the middle of the raping, then finish what your doing first. Seems kinda cruel to stop them if they are already in the middle of the act of doing.

What else... Oh yeah, Isrenow. I deposit the woman I have on my shoulder onto the ground and get someone else to keep an eye on her while I hunt down Isrenow. I quick sniff of the sparks and I have her location, then I shadow-step over.

"Hey Isrenow. We need to ta-"

"MY LOVE! Don't leave me behind like that! I can't take the idea of being apart from you for long! And with another WOMAN! One is bad enough but... but..."

I calm her down, then take her somewhere quiet, like the top of a convenient building. Well, here we go. Time to start with the history lesson.

"Thank you for looking after me while I was asleep. I appreciate it. I suppose you'd like some explanations.

"When I finally got loose again, I decided that my highest priority would be to kill everyone who had chained me and their descendants. Of course, I was weak, and the moment that they hear about me being out they'll probably start trying to lock me right back up again. I'll need power to make sure I win, and that means sparks.

"I don't make my own sparks, like other mages; I absorb them from others or tear them out of them, but I can do it endlessly. No limits. So I needed sparks and wasn't in a position to go getting them the fun way- I wouldn't get enough fast enough. Enter the barbarians, who have hundreds of shamans willing to give up sparks regularly to their king and thousands of warriors quite happy to invade the country that just happens to be ruled by the descendants of a personal enemy of mine. I'm thinking I'll use them to conquer the country, then use the country to help me find and kill the rest of the wretches.

"So far, it's been good to be the king. That's basically it for my recent history. Questions about anything?"

Isrenow is silent, and I begin to think she might not have any questions. I wait another moment, then move to get up, only to have my arm intercepted by Isrenow, halting my movement.

"You... the barbarians... they have... this thing... with... marriage..."

I visibly flinch, and that seems to be all that Isrenow needs. "What the hell! I thought you loved me! ME! And now your married to some barbarian woman, who probably won't ever be able to understand a damn thing about you, and won't even be able to live with you for more then... maybe 80 years. Maybe!"

I start to think as Isrenow keeps ranting, tuning her out expertly, then I nod once as I notice something she said. "Sooo... I married to her for 80 years, then she dies... and I keep living?"

"Exactly! That's just stupid! There should be... should... be..." Her ranting rolls to a stop as her own thoughts latch on to the same thing I'd noticed. I'm immortal. Isrenow is immortal. Nina is not. "Oh... um..."

"Don't worry so much. I got this all planned out. Sorta. Anyway, I have work to do, ruling the barbarian and kicking ass, and if possible, getting you to teach me some mind magic so I can do my job better." I shudder at the thought of hours of studying the SAME spell over and over, but if you lot think it's a good idea, it can't hurt.

>>422096
Wow that potential bomb was defused pretty easily....why do i feel that might bite us in the ass.

>>422096
>Should I be... you know what, I'll drag her along. One of you seems to think I should care about her for some reason. Maybe you noticed something I didn't.
No. I was, umm, just curious what happened to her. I didn't have any suggestion to do anything with her. I mean, she was the girl we ran into twice already, each time we got into this town, so I wondered what happened to this nameless recurring character.

We could go to the inn and ask for the breakfast. You know, as a customer since we rented out a room. Because the mental image of this happening makes me laugh.

>There's Felmoor to the east, although that won't take us closer to the capital, and there's Whitemarsh to the north and west a little, which is the next city in our direct path to the capital. My votes for Whitemarsh, but hey, I just want to get this over with and take what is going to be mine, which is really an entire nation.

You could send your army to Whitemarsh while you and Isrenow go to personally "liberate" Felmor. You could totally go to town and finally revel in carnage. I think we've been restraining you too much ever since you escaped. You need some happy fun time.
Go in, kill everyone defending the town. Open the portal and bring a small force to occupy the place/haul the loot back home.

>If you want people to start organizing though... should I go get Nina? I mean, everyone here is a warrior, and they don't do the whole organize thing all that well. I suppose I could try to find some accountants or officials or something, but I don't think that'll turn out well. Barbarians are prone to killing all the males they find. Reduces rivals and such.

You know, one Nina will probably be not enough to keep our whole kingdom organized. We should tell her to start recruiting people who have the knack for this kind of thing and have them trained. We will need one in each city, so it is an important task.

Also, like >>421976 said. Where is your totally pimping helmet? And bear belt?
And don't forget to loot Melfoso's stuff. He ought to have some intresting texts and those sparkstones are probably useful. Especially the 'fountain' variety which can substitute for your lack of natural spark regeneration.

>>422096
>Uh... I think that's what Curmas is... to me, I mean. Usually, if you want something done among the barbarians, you grab him and tell him to get it done. So... do I just grab anybody then?
...right, I forgot about you and organization. It's not that important now, but I'll explain what I meant anyway.

By "Curmas' lieutenants" I meant the people that he normally surrounds himself with. While there might not be an official organization or ranks, no barbarian leader is going to rule entirely alone- they'll keep themselves surrounded by a handful of people whose job is basically to be on hand when they want to grab someone and tell them to get something done. Since these people hang out around someone more important than they are and carry out his orders all the time, they get some authority by proxy, so it's good for them because it makes them more important. And it's good for the leader, because it means that he gets more reliable and loyal people who actually know what the hell is going on since they're hanging out around him all the time.

It's a different sort of "lieutenant" than Curmas is to you, because unless I'm quite mistaken you don't normally spend time in his company, just drop by occasionally to issue orders and rely on him to carry them out.

In any case, it's worth noting that that is a thing that happens, and if you can be bothered to notice who spends time with who you can usually get a better idea of loyalties, power structures... and who would be the most beneficial person to grab and issue orders to in a situation like this.

>talking with Isrenow
Well, this is going well enough. Let's see if we can lay the issue to rest for good.
"If you're worried about being apart from me, you could probably put together something for telepathy, right? Let's grab some rings or something, then it's not a problem.

"Don't worry too much about the marriage issue, it's nothing that gets in your way. Seems like the barbarians marry people all over the place. Want to take over a clan, marry someone. Kill someone and you get his wives. Someone has a spare daughter and wants to give you a present, you marry them. The way they do this, the last barbarian king probably ended up with hundreds of wives and forgot half their names.

"It has nothing to do with who I like, or spend time with. As it happens, I like people who give me sparks, delight in the slaughter of my enemies, teach me magic, and can work on their own to do things I want done. Sound like anyone you know?" (The implication here is that Isrenow fits all these criteria, in case that was not clear.)

Once that conversation is effectively dealt with, I agree with a more thorough looting of Marfolso's stuff. Bring Isrenow, she might notice something useful. Once we've got a handle on that... make sure that Curmas is functional. After that we'll attend to the matter of arranging for the town to be effectively occupied.

>>422150
>We could go to the inn and ask for the breakfast.
Let's not.

>You could totally go to town and finally revel in carnage.
>Go in, kill everyone defending the town.
I... don't think you understand what "revel in carnage" means in this context. If Hated goes to a town and really has some fun there, there will not be a town left to occupy afterward. And we do in fact want a country left intact to rule, not a vast field of smoking corpses and rubble.

The idea that Hated and Isrenow could conquer a city or two on their own is decent, though. Not right now; we'll want this city sorted first before we move on to the next one. But once that's done let's do it.

>Where is your totally pimping helmet?
Very important question. The artifact helm that wants you to be in charge is a good thing to be wearing while being in charge. Not to mention that with its spell boost trick it'd be a nice thing to be wearing in battle, too.

"If you're worried about being apart from me, you could probably put together something for telepathy, right? Let's grab some rings or something, then it's not a problem.

"Don't worry too much about the marriage issue, it's nothing that gets in your way. Seems like the barbarians marry people all over the place. Want to take over a clan, marry someone. Kill someone and you get his wives. Someone has a spare daughter and wants to give you a present, you marry them. The way they do this, the last barbarian king probably ended up with hundreds of wives and forgot half their names.

"It has nothing to do with who I like, or spend time with. As it happens, I like people who give me sparks, delight in the slaughter of my enemies, teach me magic, and can work on their own to do things I want done. Sound like anyone you know?" I finish off the little word for word speech, then stand, stretching out my limbs a little. Isrenow just staring at me, gaping in shock, then blushes red. "Come on. Let's go raid Marfolso's rooms, eh? See what he had hidden away in there."

I wait for Isrenow to stumble to her feet, looking a little lost, then shadow-step us across the city to the town hall. After searching awhile, we eventually find what can be assumed to be Marfolso's study and bedchamber, the study notably stacked with books on this subject or that subject. I can't smell any magical items, an oddity for a mage, so I get down to the business of rooting through everything in the room searching for anything useful. I try to get Isrenow to help, but she seems a bit preoccupied tracing things against the wall, a look of bliss on her face. Whatever suits her I suppose. And while I'm digging through all this I can answer your other questions.

>Where is your totally pimping helmet?
No idea. Probably with the rest of my stuff back at a camp which is likely not far from here. I didn't bother to ask.

>The artifact helm that wants you to be in charge is a good thing to be wearing while being in charge.
I guess. It's just so much of a hassle taking it on and off all the time. And I guess I could of thought of a better shape for the thing. Besides, Charred black dragon-bone doesn't look all that great with a bunch of furs for clothing... we really need to get some armor or something, if nothing more than because it would cause some real fear. And fear is ever so delicious to watch...

>And bear belt?
The one with the skull that spews fire that I completely forgot about... yeah, that's with the helmet if I remember correctly. I... don't wear that too much anymore. It's really awkward having fire spew randomly from your crotch.

>You know, one Nina will probably be not enough to keep our whole kingdom organized. We should tell her to start recruiting people who have the knack for this kind of thing and have them trained. We will need one in each city, so it is an important task.
Sooooo.... I should go get Nina? Shouldn't be too hard, a gateway back to... I forgot what I named the city... whatever. Not my problem. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, city. Anyway, gateway back to the city would have that supply thing you were talking about dealt with, and anyone we think we need over here can easily be over here.

>We could go to the inn and ask for the breakfast. You know, as a customer since we rented out a room. Because the mental image of this happening makes me laugh.
I think the inn is a bit busy being raided and looted for anything of value. Maybe some other time.

Questions answered, I spend a good thirty minutes digging through everything, at which point I get Isrenow to help, although she's still not completely focused on her task. After another thirty minutes, we drag anything of value into the bedroom, dumping it on the bed. A quick inventory of the items follows:

-4 Spark-Stones, 1 of which is as large as my fist, the other three barely large enough to be considered a stone.

-A book on Summoning Circles, mostly how to set one up properly.

-Another book, this one on the fundamentals of demons and angels. I found a chapter on named demon/angels inside, so I figured it could be of use.

-Finally, a book regarding the construction and production of Spark-Stones, as well as a few accompanying papers on methods to increase purity and size.

That's about it. Everything else is worthless at a quick glance and I don't feel like going through every single book. Maybe someone else can take a look later... anyway, what's the plan?

For starters, you should read the book on Stones. Kowing how to make them yourself will be handy, and you can then pass it over to your minions to start making them.

and by that, we mean speed-read

>>422265
Tell Isrenow "You see distracted. What's on your mind?" She'll probably start talking about something or other. Let her talk, don't interrupt, try to pay enough attention to be able to repeat the gist of what she said if you have to. Hopefully we'll be able to get her mind back on task.

>It's just so much of a hassle taking it on and off all the time.
Why not just generally leave it on? Last I recall it fit rather comfortably, didn't significantly impede vision, and it's a nice power boost. Not to mention the whole "makes your minions more hardworking and loyal" thing, which is incredibly handy.

>gateway back to the city
Decent plan. Nice for transporting plunder. There are elves at your city, though, right? At least a couple. You'll have to bring them up to Isrenow. "There are some elves- allies of mine- looking for you. Do you know what they want with you? Last I heard they wanted to imprison you, but they weren't really giving me a full story. Want to share some details?"

Once we have answers on that, spend some time reading that book on spark-stones while Isrenow makes a couple communication enchantment rings or whatever since she was so concerned about keeping track of us.

We can proceed to a gateway after that- we'll want it to be in a public location in the conquered city somewhere. That should let us transport loot and minions most conveniently.

>>422187
>I... don't think you understand what "revel in carnage" means in this context. If Hated goes to a town and really has some fun there, there will not be a town left to occupy afterward. And we do in fact want a country left intact to rule, not a vast field of smoking corpses and rubble.
I'm pretty sure that Hated got used enough to not killing people randomly that he can hold off killing civilians. But even if he can't, I see nothing wrong removing one town from the map. Come on man, let him have some fun once in a while.
Okay, I keed, but seriously, we need to have Hated take on an army at one point.

>>422096
>I grab another passing barbarian and set him on this task. It shouldn't take him too long... not that I really care, the stupid thing proved useless anyway. I should hunt down an actual golemcrafter, get him to make me a good body instead of cobbling one together myself.

Aww, come on man! That thing is awesome! It might not be great right now, but if you keep working on it, it will become amazing in the future! Besides, it is still great against mundane force, I bet it could take on hundreds of soldiers.
See it as a personal project, like a hobby, something else that you can invest your time and interest in besides murdering everything.

>No idea. Probably with the rest of my stuff back at a camp which is likely not far from here. I didn't bother to ask.
Grab it. It is an awesome helmet. If you are concerned about aesthetics, have our smiths craft you a personal armor that goes greatly along with your helmet.

How could you forget about your awesome belt? I mean this whole barbarian king thing started with that shit. If it randomly spews fire, then remove the enchantment on it and replace it with something else like, I don't know, protection against mind magic or something.


>I think the inn is a bit busy being raided and looted for anything of value. Maybe some other time.
Yeah, it was a joke suggestion anyway. And later on it wouldn't have the similar impact anyway. Making them serve us as a customer in middle of a raid, complete with paying for the meal and leaving a tip, is what would have made it funny.

>Everything else is worthless at a quick glance and I don't feel like going through every single book. Maybe someone else can take a look later
When we open the gate, have someone bring these books to shamans, maybe they will find them useful.

I say to read the book on spark-stones and learn how to set up a 'fountain'. Perhaps we imbue one in our body like Malfoso did and have passive spark regeneration.

>Sooooo.... I should go get Nina? Shouldn't be too hard, a gateway back to... I forgot what I named the city... whatever.
Yeah, lets go and see our waifu. See how she's doing, if there needs to be done anything by us.
Then tell her about getting more people who organize stuff like herself, minor governors for each city or something. If barbarians don't like men in charge, tell her to focus on females for the job but that doesn't mean she should ignore competent men. (mfw we inadvertently make a kingdom which does not discriminate against females in positions on power)

Holes in Space Time Hated 2012/06/15(Fri)12:49 No. 422574 ID: a407a5
File 133978977244.jpg - (785.06KB , 1920x1200 , The-Portal.jpg )

>Yeah, lets go and see our waifu.
What? What in the Pit is a "waifu" and why should I want one? Or why do I have one? Or... you get it. Just... what in the Pit?

>How could you forget about your awesome belt? I mean this whole barbarian king thing started with that shit.
You realize your talking to me, right? The one with almost no attention span unless it involves the killing of everyone and everything around me. Usually. Besides, the belt doesn't fit my little human form. I need a name for that. Incognito? No... um... we'll just call it my Human form. This giant barbarian thing was called God-King right? We'll use those terms to differentiate between the two.

"You see distracted. What's on your mind?"

Isrenow jumps at my sudden attention, blushes heavily, then begins talking, at which point I tune her out and start reading the book on spark-stones, taking my time cause she doesn't seem like she wants to stop any time soon. Maybe five minutes of talking later, I'm suddenly assaulted with a thrown spark-stone, probably the nearest thing the elf could grab.

"What? I'm sorry, I must have dosed off."

Isrenow frowns at me, then shrugs it away. "I asked if you'd marry me, since Barbarians do it all the time, apparently."

I open my mouth, pause, then close my mouth. That... I don't want to do that. It's bad enough I got one official one, I don't need two. Hell, I'm not even sure how that would work. Tongues is already got one side, Nina the other... where's the third one supposed to fit on the bed? That's how it works, right? Or am I just delusional? Whatever, distraction time.

"There are some elves- allies of mine- looking for you. Do you know what they want with you? Last I heard they wanted to imprison you, but they weren't really giving me a full story. Want to share some details?" The sudden change in topic seems to take her by surprise, and her frown deepens, but she ultimately let's the issue slide for now. Instead she pauses to consider this my question, then shrugs.

"Don't know. I mean, I guess it's because I'm a mass murderer or something? But I haven't really done anything worth pissing them off about. Maybe..." Her face scrunches up in confusion a moment, then it passes and she shrugs. "Nope, got nothing."

I nod, then stand and drop the book onto the pile of other valuables, along with the spark-stone that got tossed at me. Isrenow immediately latches on to me, used to my vanishing acts by now, I think, then I shadow-step my way to somewhere public, which I designate as the town square. We're taking this place over, right? So that means eventually this place will see quite a bit of use out of it. Town squares are were everybody get together so it gets the most traffic through it. Alright... I deposit Isrenow at the edge of the square, kick everyone alive out to the sides as well, then position myself in the center. I haven't fucked with time-space in awhile(not counting my 4000 years of imprisonment) so this could get very interesting. Or go off without a hitch, let's try. First off, the anchor point. I drop down to one knee and place my hand on the ground, forcing sparks downwards into a sort of ten-pointed star pattern, sigils come next, literally burning themselves into the ground in the same pattern I'd imagined, working as a focal point for the big magic. Something to which it can be anchored. The point I'm making now will have to be well guarded, or very bad things could happen. I'll see about getting some barbarians to guard it before I skip to the other side. After a minute of pouring sparks and fixing sigils into place, I stand again, my arm tingling from the amount of power that just went through it. This'll definitely be fun.

I reach forward with both hands, grasping nothing as if I was trying to open a hole wider. I hear Isrenow call out to me, probably wondering what I'm doing, but I don't have time to pay her any attention. This part is delicate. Rip a hole in time only, and people starting aging, getting younger, doing both at the same time. Rip a hole in space, and I might end up letting demons poor through. Not a good thing. I start shoving sparks down my arms, their one and only purpose to allow me to truly grab at the thin fabric that makes up space-time... and then I start pulling a hole open. Nothing happens where my hands are, but 10 feet away and about 20 feet up there's a hole, growing larger, as I drag my arms painfully away from each other. My physical strength has nothing do with this. Only pure magic and my own will. The hole continues to grow ever larger, even as I feel my breathing get heavier and more labored. I can hear those around me whispering at first, then the warriors and shamans begin chanting, a low rhythmic, tuneless song that doesn't seem to do anything at all. At least, not until a few shamans step up next to me and activate something, and I feel my body flood with strength. The hole, slowing in it's growth, suddenly picks up speed again, and the rhythmic chant picks up speed as well, warriors taking to slamming their weapons against shields, the ground, anything, even as their voices grow louder. Other warriors come from outside the square, drawn by the chant, and they add their voices. Soon, the whole town echoes, and I feel the portal reach what I want. The thing stretches like a massive gateway, towering above me, strong and powerful. The chant ceases, everywhere staring at it in awe, and staring at what's beyond it. For many, it represents home. For me, it represents a stepping stone. I wipe the sweat from my forehead, and let out a long breath. Damn, that was easier than I thought it would be. The shamans look drained and tired, so I tell them to go rest, then I gesture towards the portal while I glance at all the warriors.

"Well? You just going to stand there, or you going to start moving the loot through back home?"

Warriors start scrambling to get things going again, while I stand in front of the gateway and admire my work. I'm not big on the whole crafting thing, but it's always fun to tell reality to go fuck itself. Isrenow comes up next to me and takes my hand in hers, staring down at it.

"These hands... they... you... you just..."

"Don't think about it too much. Your head will explode. Hey! Hey you! Yeah you!" A random warrior about to pass through the gateway pauses, turning towards me. "Tell Nina to get her ass over here. She's got work to do, and I've got things to talk to her about. Don't just start gawking at me, get a move on!"

The warrior, originally hauling a mass of looted treasures, drops them unceremoniously on the ground and takes off at a dead sprint, moving through the portal without a second thought and charging off towards the city. Isrenow, on the other hand...

"Nina? Is that the bitch who you married?" There's a few glares from some barbarians, but they say nothing as they pass us by. I simply nod in confirmation. "Damn it. I still don't like this... even eighty years is a long time for us immortals... well, maybe not for you..." That comment earns us another couple of glances from some barbarians, but for the most part they keep moving. Oh yeah, they didn't know I'm one of the undying, huh... oh well. "Besides, I still want to marry you... you said I could make us some rings to stay in contact, and I don't see why they shouldn't be wedding rings! Which reminds me..." Isrenow takes off, making her way over to the mass of loot being piled in the square for ease of transport and starts digging though it, looking for rings would be my guess. I sigh and shrug.

Well, this we'll be about the only time I'll get any alone time. Shall I do anything before Nina gets here, or should I just wait around?

>>422574
I'm seriously contemplating mindfucking Isrenow again.
We should have chose something else instead of 'lover', like 'best friend' or 'brother'.

Elves are masters at mind magic, right? Perhaps we should bring her to them?

>>422574
>What? What in the Pit is a "waifu" and why should I want one? Or why do I have one?
Yes, a waifu. Nina is your waifu :3
Come on, everybody wants a waifu.


>Well, this we'll be about the only time I'll get any alone time. Shall I do anything before Nina gets here, or should I just wait around?
We could go and try to learn what happened to Malfoso's body and specifically those spark-stones he had imbued in him.

Or we could go and grab our helmet and the belt (unless this will take a long time)

Perhaps we should ask someone to call Sticks too, maybe she can somehow help us with our Isrenow problem without negative consequences?

Other than that, I've got no idea.

>>422574
>at which point I tune her out
I told you not to do that. Dammit.

>That... I don't want to do that. It's bad enough I got one official one, I don't need two.
I don't see why you really care. What's the downside? It's basically just another way to officially declare her to belong to you, which isn't exactly a bad thing. Isrenow could be a very handy servant for a lot a reasons, crazy or no. The bed stuff is just chaff that doesn't really matter. We've pretty much been setting Isrenow up to ask to do that, in fact- sorry if you didn't catch on. It'll give us an excuse to keep her as a servant instead of having the elves take her away.

>Her face scrunches up in confusion a moment, then it passes and she shrugs. "Nope, got nothing."
It is possible that her still-extant mental blocks are stopping her from remembering her history with them.

>Shall I do anything before Nina gets here, or should I just wait around?
Tell Isrenow, "I know you may not like Nina's position, but please do me a favor and respect the fact that she's been loyally working for me since well before I met you. She might not live long, but for the moment someone has to keep things running while I go off and have fun- and I think you'd rather come with me than stick around and do the work. No one could possibly replace you, but Nina's useful in a different way."

>>422597
>Yes, a waifu. Nina is your waifu :3
No. Stop that.

>>422620
>No. Stop that.
Never.

Joking aside, personally I do not like Isrenow. She is batshit insane, clingly and insane again. She's more trouble than she's worth. Unless we modify her mental state to make her a much reasonable person, I suggest we work on getting rid of her somehow.
Hatred has trouble enough in social interactions on his own, having some crazy bitch that clings to him like glue around him all the time is something we want to avoid.

We have a loyal subject capable of cutting anything and a master of mind magic and you want to risk fucking that up and kill her because she's a little bit clingy?
What the fuck is wrong with you people?

>>422639
She's not just clingy. She's crazy. Very much so.
I prefer my subjects to be sane and reliable instead of unpredictable mess.

Also, no one seems to care about Hated's feelings. We made him marry Nina against his will and now he needs to tolerate Isrenow?

Also
>What the fuck is wrong with you people?
I think it's just me.

I stride over to Isrenow, who's pointedly ignores me, continuing with her task. I sigh before speaking, annoyed by the need to constantly keep her somewhat satisfied. ""I know you may not like Nina's position, but please do me a favor and respect the fact that she's been loyally working for me since well before I met you. She might not live long, but for the moment someone has to keep things running while I go off and have fun- and I think you'd rather come with me than stick around and do the work. No one could possibly replace you, but Nina's useful in a different way." Isrenow doesn't pause in her work, but she does seem to relax a little, muttering something under her breath I don't quite catch, but otherwise seemingly ignoring me. Oh well, I tried. Time to go do something else.

>I don't see why you really care. What's the downside?
Yeah, yeah. I get it. I just don't see the point of all that physical contact. But I'll do it, since you lot seem to think it's a good idea. I reserve the right to complain a lot though.

> I suggest we work on getting rid of her somehow.
...Why not just make her the host body of an angel or demon or something? That would make her pretty loyal. Least, if we got said angel or demon to swear loyalty to us. But hey, just a suggestion.

I grab a nearby barbarian who doesn't seem to be doing much and get him to send out some people to find Marfolso's dead body. Within a few minutes they drag the thing back to me, and I find the three stones he has embedded in his arm are still there. I dig them out and inspect them, but they seem empty of sparks right now. Maybe not being embedded in something turns them off, or something like that. Well, whatever.

As that finishes up, I notice the portal react as someone comes through the other way, and find Nina looking very confused and uncertain. So about normal, really. I stride over, deciding to not draw Isrenow's attention to our newest arrival, only to be assaulted half-way to my destination by two very excitable people.

"Master! That was amazing! We were having lunch, and suddenly this huge glowing portal of magic starts tearing the sky apart. Then, when it's done, we notice that warriors are coming in with loads of loot. Can you teach me to d-"

"Out of the way, brat! Hell, Vincent! Your a hell of a lot stronger than anyone I've ever met. I mean, DAMN! Creating a gateway? Without even a ritual to back you up? Seriously, that's some crazy shit. I think I might actual-"

"Move it, stupid elf! Your just all talk anyway, Master doesn't do anything with you! So you leave him alone!"

"You little shit! Damnit, just because he's bothered to pay attention to you doesn't mean-"

And the two of them are off again, shouting at each other like a pair of rabid children. I simply shake my head at the stupidity, then slip out of their mess and finally make it to Nina, who was waiting patiently nearby. The moment I approach, she bows slightly, then straightens herself.

"It's good to see you, my lo-... My husband. I received word you... needed me for something. How can I help?"

>>423068
Okay, all these people are annoying.
Grab Nina and shadow-step away somewhere quiet and where no one will bother you. Don't go to Malfoso's dungeon because Isrenow might find you there. Perhaps the library or just some random empty house.

Then talk to her about organization and stuff.

"Since I'm planning on conquering these lands and ruling them instead of simply burning everything to the ground, someone needs to take organizing role, someone to put governors and mayor in charge of the cities we took over... and it sure as pits wont be me. Since I can't expect you to deal with the entire kingdom, I want you to be in charge of delegating these tasks to other people. So you should search for people who have knack for this kind of thing and put them in charge in every city/region we conquer.
Since you people are so competitive and I don't want to find a dead mayor every few weeks or so, you can give these jobs to other females. At least they wont be challenged to a mortal combat over their positions."

Now that we gave her the main reason we asked her to come lets move to other things, namely ask how the things are going back home. Tell her to give the short, condensed version since you have attention span of a flea.
Also ask her how the war effort on other fronts is going. How other armies are doing and if we have conquered any other regions yet.

Then we could ask her how she's doing. You know, make her think that you care about her.

After that, I think we should get ready for our next invasion.

"Nina, I need someone to run the cities we take over after we beat them into submission. I want them repaired, productive, and kept from rebelling as quickly as possible. If you need anything- orders, people, resources, magic- that you can't get on your own- but I'd rather you run things without needing constant help so I can worry about other things.

"Do you need anything to make this happen? Take a moment to think." The implication there, of course, is that she should use her mental speed enchantment. She should be able to give us a short summary of what she'll need fairly quickly, and then we can issue any orders needed to get her started. Pay attention to what she says- no zoning out on this one since we'll need to take direct action in response. Unless she wants something crazy, tell her she'll get it promptly- we can make that happen soon.

>>423088
>Also ask her how the war effort on other fronts is going. How other armies are doing and if we have conquered any other regions yet.
It is not Nina's job to keep informed of this; don't bother with it. We have communication rings for keeping in touch with the other armies if we want to.

>Then we could ask her how she's doing. You know, make her think that you care about her.
There is a better way to do this. Once we've gotten her new job hashed out, another topic.

"You will be interested to know that I did not forget my promise to you regarding a child. I made a deal with a fertility goddess; with her boon I should be able to keep it relatively soon."

Nina will probably have comments that needs specific replies to this, so don't dash off after a short conversation- we can give you more replies here.

>>423395
>We have communication rings for keeping in touch with the other armies if we want to.
Forgot about that.
But still, lets ask her how the things are in the capital. Later we will have a conference with our generals.



>"You will be interested to know that I did not forget my promise to you regarding a child. I made a deal with a fertility goddess; with her boon I should be able to keep it relatively soon."

Actually, I deliberately did not mention this. We should only let her know that when Hated is ready for the act or something.
Are we ready? The fertility goddess said that the deed must be done in a specific place. Where would that be?
And I got a feeling that Isrenow will fuck this up somehow being crazy bitch that she is.
We must make some contingency plans when Hated turn on his ability because I do not think he will be able to hold himself back... which is rather dangerous. I do not want him to go on a rape spree. We need to work up immunity to it too somehow, so that he can have it turned on all the time.

>>423068
>...Why not just make her the host body of an angel or demon or something? That would make her pretty loyal. Least, if we got said angel or demon to swear loyalty to us. But hey, just a suggestion.

Excellent idea, by the way, though it might attract attention and possibly make gods realize who you are sooner.

>>422584
Actually, maybe we should teaching both from her and from Sticks, and then at some point admit that we had to work fast when fixing her mind from the previous mindfuck it was under, so we would like to make sure that she's all right, could she please lower her mental defenses for a bit.

And then proceed to mold her more to our liking.

Personally, though, I think that we SHOULD keep the whole lover thing going on, since it's probably one of the strongest bonds there can be, and thus would be probably the hardest to remove we could get going, barring the angel/demon thing.

>Excellent idea, by the way, though it might attract attention and possibly make gods realize who you are sooner.
Yeah, that's true I suppose... eh, just a thought though. Besides, we could just summon a member of the lower house. That shouldn't cause too much panic. But thoughts for another time.

I grab hold of Nina and start shadow stepping to anywhere but here, ignoring the two fighting and Isrenow, who is still messing around with the pile of loot. I step across town first, then find a convenient roof and stop us there, figuring it as good a place as any. I let go and let Nina steady herself and take a look around, then get to the talking.

"Since I'm planning on conquering these lands and ruling them instead of simply burning everything to the ground, someone needs to take organizing role, someone to put governors and mayor in charge of the cities we took over... and it sure as pits wont be me. Since I can't expect you to deal with the entire kingdom, I want you to be in charge of delegating these tasks to other people. So you should search for people who have knack for this kind of thing and put them in charge in every city/region we conquer.
Since you people are so competitive and I don't want to find a dead mayor every few weeks or so, you can give these jobs to other females. At least they wont be challenged to a mortal combat over their positions."

Nina pauses to consider this a moment, then opens her mouth to speak. "I... I will do my best, but... I don't think that the men will be very inclined to obeying a woman. It's something that they aren't used to..."

"When is anything I do normal?"

"I suppose your right... well then, I'll begin as soon as I'm able, although I don't know how to run a city. I hope there are people that do know around here, who can help... is there anything else you need of me?"

"Yeah. How's home been doing? A short version, please."

Nina nods in understanding. "With the gold we get from mining, the dwarves have been recruited to build the city... and, um... I... I might have ordered them to build a little something for you first... as a... sort of... present..." Nina hesitates a moment, the pulls out a roll of parchment and hands it to me. I roll it open and stare at it a moment, then finally figure out what it is.

"Your having them build me a castle?"

"Ah... yes. Um... we barbarians have never really had a city... but now we do. And since your the king well, I figured it would be good to have a place for you to live, so that people can come to you when they need to. But... well, as tent isn't all that impressive, and eventually you'll have to deal with other nations and groups and things, so I thought..." Nina trails off, unsure of herself. She does make valid points though. Besides, having a castle built seems fun, so we'll go with that. Hell, it'll be nice to have someplace I can always go back to. Nina suddenly seems to notice she'd been sidetracked, and continues with her report. "Let's see... the elves have helped many of us learn to farm, and for the most part the woman have been doing that. Um... everything else hasn't really changed. I spend most of my time with Sticks, and Tongues has been focusing on his magic mostly. Mother... Mother won't stop badgering me about children, but I believe in you. You've done everything you said you would before, and there is no reason to doubt you now."

The woman gives me a smile, which I ignore in favor of pausing to consider my options a moment, and the points you voices have raised.
>Are we ready?
About as ready as I am ever going to get...
>The fertility goddess said that the deed must be done in a specific place. Where would that be?
The time will never be "right" unless I turn this thing in my soul on.
>I got a feeling that Isrenow will fuck this up somehow being crazy bitch that she is.
Probably, but not if she can't find us.
>We must make some contingency plans when Hated turn on his ability because I do not think he will be able to hold himself back... which is rather dangerous. I do not want him to go on a rape spree.
...Seriously? A rape spree? Sure, I've got no immunity to sexual influences whatsoever, but I'm not going to just randomly start raping people. I doubt Isrenow would let me. Besides, we could always do this somewhere nobody else is.

"Then I guess, you will be interested to know that I did not forget my promise to you regarding a child. I made a deal with a fertility goddess; with her boon I should be able to keep it relatively soon." Nina blinks in surprise, opens her mouth, closes it, the frowns.

"So then... how does that help? She will be giving me a child through magic, since you can't give me a child naturally?"

"Hm? Oh, no. She made it so I can get you pregnant."

Nina pauses again, the her face turns red. "I-I-I-I.... um... uh... that's... that's... um... I-I-I... uh..."

I watch her reaction a moment, confusion and embarrassment clear on her face. "Only thing to do now is get the act over with... should we do it now? I got time..." I feel amused at Nina's reaction to that, her face going even redder and her words ceasing to make sense as her mind goes in a million directions and once. Heh. Well, I doubt breaking it to her that soon and expecting her to be ready herself is too much to ask for. I might not care so much, but mortals tend to have to think about things like this. I start to turn away, saying something to move the conversation along. "Well, maybe now's not that best time. Come on, let's get ba-"

I find my words interrupted by Nina suddenly grasping my arm, her face calming quickly as words flash across her cheek. Oh. Forgot she had that. We did tell her to use that whenever she could, didn't we? She stays like that for a few seconds, face flickering through dozens of emotions within the given space of time. Then the enchantment deactivates and she's rejoined me in the realm of normal thought speed. She takes a deep breath, then stares me right in the eyes. "I'm... I'm ready. We... we can... do it now. Please..."

... Ah damn... should I?

>>423996
>... Ah damn... should I?
Yeah, sure.

"One more thing. One of the clauses for the boon was that we do the act in a specific place. I do not know where it is but we'll know soon."

"Wait a moment, I have to turn this on." Cue in shenanigans

>...Seriously? A rape spree? Sure, I've got no immunity to sexual influences whatsoever, but I'm not going to just randomly start raping people. I doubt Isrenow would let me. Besides, we could always do this somewhere nobody else is.
Good. I'll take your word as a GM on it, I didn't want this to be a part of the quest. And make sure that there is at least minimum amount of foreplay with Nina so that she's 'ready' and we don't hurt her.

Alright then. Let'sget started. I send some sparks towards that feeling in my soul, and feel something change as they connect, but I frown as nothing really seems to happen. How annoyingly pointless. You'd think a god would be a lot better at keeping he-

... Oh... that's... Ah god... Nina... Nina is... shit, she's BEAUTIFUL. I can't... how does someone descri- NO! Keep my thoughts focused. Keep my head straight... uh... damn it! Um... thoughts. Descriptions. You lot can't see. Uh... Nina is... um... Nina is looking somewhat confused... I... think... it's hard to tell. I keep... I keep focusing on her black hair... I briefly recall that black isn't the usual color the barbarians have when it comes to hair, usually light browns and blondes, but then I remember her entioning something about her mother being stolen from somewhere else... then my attention moves back again to Nina's hair... it's smooth, like silk, and feels really gooooood against my fingers as I comb the digits through her hai- Gah!

I snatch my hand back, unsure of why and when I decided stroking Nina's hair was a good idea. Nina herself is blushing softly, which for some reason seems extremely desirable. For the first time in my life I find myself WANTING a woman. Really wanting. Suddenly I find my hands sliding along Nina's face, feeling the contrast between my rougher hands and her soft skin. Her face is still red, but she doesn't pull away, if anything she tilts her head slightly to rest it in my hands. I lean in slowly and plant a kiss on her mouth, the woman seeming to be completely surprised by the action. I pull away almost the same instant I realize I'm kissing her, hating that I can't seem to control what I'm doing. I debate turning it off, then discard the thought. I'd rather get this over with.

I drag my attention to Nina again, which I find to be incredibly easy compared to when I'm normal and try kissing her again, which merits less surprise and more participation from my partner. Somewhere during the kiss I discover that I've wrapped my arms around her and pulled her body close to my own, and that Nina smells of flowers, the kind one finds growing around my city... can't remember what they were called. A moment of revulsion hits me, to be quickly replaced with something else. What I'm not quite sure. I decide to avoid thinking about it, and focus on what I'm doing instead. I'm not quite sure what else I could be doing, so I awkwardly try kissing her neck, and feel Nina shiver in response. That seemed like a good thing, so I focus my attention their for a little bit before yanking myself away as I feel a sharp pain in my head. Then I Know. I know where I'm supposed to go. North and East, to a forgotten place abandoned a long time ago. A waterfall? No, a fountain. That's where I need to be right now. I pull Nina tight against my body and rend time and space again, transporting us instantly to our destination. I pull away, recovering from the sudden brutal invasion of my mind simply to place a destination in my head, while Nina wanders off a little. A take a few minutes to center myself and take control of my thoughts again. I hear something like the rustling of clothing, and look up to discover Nina, her clothes in a heap on the floor, her face flushed red and her eyes glassy. She seems barely able to stand, and is staring at me oddly. My eyes etch her form into my memory without me wanting them to, and I feel my head start to get fuzzy.

"My lord, I... I feel... funny... feels... good..." Nina starts to move towards me, then stumbles slightly. Before I'm aware of what I'm doing, I'm there next to her, bracing her against my body. I suddenly feel bothered, my heart beating harder than it should be. For a moment, I pull back into full consciousness, trying somewhat desperately to remain in control. Then Nina raises herself up slightly and kisses me, and I feel my sense of awareness vanish.

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

I wake later, immediately deactivating the gift from the goddess as soon as I realize where I am. The moment I do...

My head is assaulted with a blinding headache, and I cover my eyes to try and calm myself. Eventually, I sit up and glance around, my headache having calmed somewhat. I find Nina asleep next to me, covered with a few articles of clothing most of them mine. There's that fountain or whatever, and I can sense the presence of something emanating from it. I stand and dress myself in what I can retrieve from Nina without waking her, mostly to avoid dealing with the aftermath, the wander over to the fountain to examine it. The area itself is unremarkable, overgrown like every other abandoned area. The fountain, however, is still pristine, pits,it even has water flowing out of it. The top of the fountain is adorned with a statue of a woman holding a child, who seems to be watching me with amusement, but other than that the area doesn't really seem all that spec-

"... Damn it. Judging by what I'm feeling right now, your my newest patron? Goddess of Fertility and Children and all that?"

Hm. No. Close though. Quite a bold way to be talking to a potential goddess though.

"Yeah sure. You always watch people when the have sex?"

No. But yours is a special case. Besides, I'm not the goddess herself, just one of her artifacts. Made to inform potential parents of success or failure, among other things. I think I'll let you in on what's happening in that new mother of yours. You've got a daughter growing in that woman there. Beautiful, bouncing IMMORTAL baby girl. It seems that immortals do in fact produce more immortals. Your daughter will be born in eight months time.

"Eh? Eight months? Isn't that not normal?"

The statue shrugs, amusement never leaving it's face. I don't know either. All I know is what I have been told by the magic inside of me, and that's what I have been told. Early delivery isn't entirely unheard of, so nothing to really worry about.

Damn it all... whatever. I kept my promise. I refuse to do that again unless I have to, I don't like losing control like that. Anyway, we're going to be stuck here awhile I think. Don't feel like dragging a naked girl around anywhere. I could probably do a bunch of things here. I could use the water in the fountain as a medium to talk to the other generals. I could ask this tatue some things, I guess, although about what, I don't know. Or I could just wake Nina up and get back to what we were doing. Calling up the generals, I think. And planning.

Which reminds me, whatever happened to Curmas?

First of all, you should turn the ability back on. Why? So that you get used to it. I know it is hard right now, losing control and all, but after some time you will be able to function like a normal person. Everybody has that, but it appeared gradually and they worked it our through years. For you, it will be harder but I am certain that you will prevail.
Anything that makes you enjoy and want something else than murdering is a victory in my book. You really need to work on your bloodlust, man.
Right now, you're alone with Nina (and the statue, but that doesn't count), so there shouldn't be any problem. If you feel like you're losing control, then turn it off again.
You should do this often when you're in private with her and try to restrain yourself. Trust me, after a while you will have your body under total control and you could have it turned on by default and never notice it. And as an added benefit, you will be able to enjoy the act immensely instead of, you know, blacking out.

Of course, you should definitely turn it off before you go back. Don't want Isrenow to take advantage... eh... of you.

Perhaps you could find some help from the statue regarding the matter?
Ask it for some advice on how to deal with it. Perhaps it can teach you a spell to make you more resistant and dampen the effects (you could, for example start with 90% resistance and gradually lower it till you don't even need it).

>Calling up the generals, I think. And planning.
Just call everyone up and have them give you a quick report.

>Which reminds me, whatever happened to Curmas?
Hell if I know. I wasn't there when others decided to mentally punish him, if I was, I would have opposed that. We chose our generals not for their physical capabilities but because they had mindsets we needed. Letting Isrenow play with his mind was retardedest thing to do. We should have just physically punished him, a public lashing or something would have been more than enough.
When we get back, we'll have to tell Isrenow to undo what she did.

It is difficult to judge these things, but the fountain may have an effect that increases physical attraction or lust in the vicinity. Easiest way of finding out is asking. So politely ask if the statue/artifact lady has any affect on one's desires.

On the whole "losing control" thing: it's a part of you now, it is no different than getting angry and wrecking something you didn't mean to. Well, I guess it is different to you because you aren't used to it, but the general principal is the same. The more you experience it, the less it will impact you. So go turn it on and snuggle with the mother of your child until she wakes up.

At which point you should go find Curmas, last we saw he was huddled on the floor clutching his skull. Probably should fix that. Well, not you personally, if there's actual damage to his mind. Don't want his head exploding, as amusing as that would be.

>You really need to work on your bloodlust, man.
Why? I don't see any reason to change. I like killing things violently, I just have to make sure I kill the things that don't want me around, instead of everybody. After all, I can't have minions if I kill everyone, right? But otherwise, why should I bother not killing everything that I can reasonably kill?

>Trust me, after a while you will have your body under total control and you could have it turned on by default and never notice it. And as an added benefit, you will be able to enjoy the act immensely instead of, you know, blacking out.
Which begs the question, why would I want to enjoy it? I believe I explained this before, the sleeping with mortals is like a human sleeping with a horse or something. I don't have any interest when it's off, so why should I care to turn it on unless I need to. Which I don't ever plan on needing to again, since that would just result in another kid being born. No interest, so I think we'll just leave it off, thank you very much.

>it's a part of you now, it is no different than getting angry and wrecking something you didn't mean to.
What? But I don't care about wrecking things I didn't mean to destroy. If they get destroyed, they probably deserved it for some reason. Sleeping with random woman isn't something I want to do at all. Refer to the whole humanxhorse thing I said earlier.

I ignore the statue completely, not caring about increasing lust or whatever it was, I don't ever plan on coming back, but instead focus on the water within the fountain. I sit on the edge of the stone so I can I dip my hand into the fluid and shoot the thing full of sparks, connecting it to the magical rings I gave the generals before our various campaigns started, and wait patiently for a response. After a moment or two, three images appear on the surface of the liquid, all rough depictions of the people I tried calling. I get a verbal reply seconds later.

"HEY! My king! Been awhile! What can I do for you?" Urthan, the one leading the defensive army back in the Endless Plains, if the need should ever arise. Loyal, as far as I can tell, and I'm certain he'll be pleased he's finally going to get a granddaughter out of me.

"My king. You called for me?" The second commander is more subdued in his reactions. Just like Falshis, I guess. His report will probably be the shortest, as he isn't one for words, really.

"My king! I'm sure you'll be pleased with my report!" The last is Kaldoth, the one leading the force straight up the coast to go deal with the competent army, and maybe get on good terms with that other human nation. Whatever they were called. Something about islands. Not important.

"Glad to hear that. Alright, let's here them then. All of you... uh... report... I guess." The leading thing isn't really as easy as one might expect. Especially when you have to fake interest in whatever it is they keep telling you.

"At once my king!" Kaldoth is the first to jump in, is happiness starting to get on my nerves. "We did as we were instructed, heading straight up the coast. Luckily, we had some those Horsehoof men with us, cause they really were great at leading the way. Anyways, a few days into Everfrost and we bumped right into those Islanders. We had a minor skirmish, but no one really got hurt, and some of the shamans managed to convince them we weren't trying to fight them, just like you said we should. They left after that, but we did manage to give them a message that we wanted to negotiate with their leader. Hopefully that'll get to them in time before we win this war, my king!" Well, that's good, I guess... even though they're the next target after I'm done with Everfrost. Might as well, right? Original plan was to make a spark eating paradise by ruling the world. Can't have an entire nation sitting around unmolested. Either way, I send back that he can continue on his course as confront the competent army, which Kaldoth responds to with agreement and signs off.

"My king. The army of the prince remains... distracted, although I think even he, dense as the boy has proven to be, is beginning to see this for what it is, merely bait to draw him away. I have maybe another week I can stall him, before I believe he will abandon the chase himself. I also believe that my own men are more than ready to return to direct service in your army, especially because we are beginning to run low on supplies with which to cause problems." I accept the report and tell him I'll get back to him. Falshis gives a slight grunt of acknowledgment then signs off himself. All that leaves is Urthan.

"NOTHING TO REPORT, MY KING!" The loud roar makes even me flinch, and I notice Nina stir where she sleeps, bothered slightly I would assume, before she goes back to sleep. I sigh in response.

"That's a good thing, I suppose. But try to keep it down, your daughter is sleeping at the moment."

"Ah! Oh... That reminds me! Nina hasn't even shown signs of pregnancy, and you should have sealed the marriage by now. Where my grandson? I want a grandson to spoi- Hey! Sumire! What are yo-" I hear rustling, banging and various shouts of annoyance come from across the ring's link, then another, unfamiliar voice comes across the link.

"King! It is your duty to provide my daughter a child! She's young and naive, but even she deserves that! Besides, without a child her culture would reject her completely, and I have long since forsaken min-" I tune out whatever the voice is saying, although I can at least assume this is her mother. I find I could really care less for my... I suppose they would be my mother and father? What do the humans call them... in-laws? Something like that. Either way, the mortal woman is still babbling when I return my attention to her a minute later, and I decide to get them to shut up with the truth, so that they will stop bothering me with the trivial things they are bothering me with.

"-and another thing! Just because your the king doesn't mean you can't introduce yourself to the mother of your wi-"

"Quiet! I'm busy enough as it is with my own tasks, and I didn't mean for the rings to be used as tools to berate me with some lecture! Besides, Nina is already pregnant, and you'll have yourself a granddaughter by the end of the year!"

The ring goes quiet, and the only sound I hear is the trickling of the water as it flows out of the fountain. With the respite from the woman, my anger abates, and I go back to simply being mildly annoyed. Then I hear the rustling of clothing and glance over to see Nina staring at me, wide eyed and hopeful.

"I'm... I'm..."

"Yes, you are. I promised, didn't I? A girl, from what I hear. Talk to the statue if you want details, I have other things I have to focus on." I gesture absentmindedly at the statue, who waves at Nina to show I'm not crazy. Nina simply stares, her gaze switching between me and the statue, before rising unsteadily to her feet making her way over to me. Once she arrives next to me she wraps her arms around my head and shoulders, dragging me into a hug, my ear pressed against her stomach.

"I... you... this..." Nina pauses to compose herself using her enchantment, then breathes out slowly. "This isn't just a gift you gave to me... this is... this child is yours as well. A life you helped start and bring into this world..." I say nothing, not really sure what I'm suppose to say to something like that and not really caring either way, but Nina realeases me quickly, probably not expecting a response, and begins shooting questions at the statue, who answers much more slowly. Most of it seems to be things like star signs, and exact dates and such, but I ignore them. I haven't got any interest. The ring's link is still open, but no sound is coming out, so after another moment of waiting I shrug and close it off. Not really something I feel I should worry about too much.

Nina seems busy, and I don't need to be anywhere right away, so I grab the rest of my clothing and put it back on, then return to the fountain waters and try calling up Curmas. I get no response, unsurprisingly. Well, I guess I should get back now.

I let Nina finish up whatever she's doing, make sure she gets herself dressed properly then head back to town, taking the slower shadow-stepping method. I arrive to find the process of treasure moving still going on, so I gather I wasn't gone too long, and I drop Nina off, instructing her to carry out her duties after she gets whatever it is she has to do done, since I'm sure the barbarians have some crazy ritual or something for pregnancy. Nina nods in agreement then dashes off, humming happily to herself. That out of the way, I hunt down Curmas again, who's been moved to a more comfortable bed, and find him still not right in the head... damn.

"THERE YOU ARE!" I turn to see Isrenow, anger clearly written all over her face. "What happened? Why is that barbarian bitch all happy? And where were you for the past hour? Why haven't you been doing what your supposed to be doing, loving me? Why haven't yo-"

"You mind fixing him?" I gesture at Curmas, and Isrenow shoots at glance at him then continues with her barrage of questions. Curmas' eyes go wide, then he sits up and rubs his forehead, clearly in pain.

"Welcome back. I can assume you've learned your lesson, yeah?"

"I... I have."

"STOP IGNORING ME!"

"Good. Nina is here to handle the administration of this place. The warriors who stayed behind to guard the Plains should be enough to keep control of the city. Let the men have a few days rest, and then prepare them to move again. I should have a plan ready by then." Curmas nods his agreement and sets some people to spreading the word while I turn my attention to Isrenow. "You called?"

"ARRRGH! Why'd I even fall for you in the first place? You barely seem to notice I'm around?"

"Well... I am quite a bit busier than I was before..."

"Whatever. Look, just save some time later tonight. I need to talk to you about some things, and set up the mental link. Right now... I need to go kill something..." Isrenow leaves, and a couple barbarians glance my way. I shrug, not really knowing what to tell them. I have no clue what her problem is, other than the fact she's a homicidal insane immortal, much like me.

For now though... I think I'll go pick up all my magical equipment and such. In the meantime, you voices gone any plans of action figured out yet? Next town to hit, poor sap to murder?

((There's a map over in the discussion thread, if anyone needs it))

You really should practice getting used of your lusts. Because if you don't, there's always a chance someone could use them against you. I mean, what if someone triggers it with mind magic or something at a REALLY inopportune time for you? You'd hardly want to be distracted during a fight, right?

As for Isrenow, she thinks you're lovers, and in her mind that means she should be the most important thing in your life, so she's taking offense when you're ignoring her for something that's more important to her. I think the best thing to do there is that you need to focus on ruling so that you can build her and you the best possible place to live in, and that you're only ignoring her to make sure that she'll have the best you can possibly offer. She's also upset because she pretty much knows that you schtupped Nina, so you should do something that you can apologize with. Get her something nice, a big old piece of jewelry or something, and tell her that she'll always be the one for us, but you have to keep up appearances. It doesn't make you any happier than it does her, and you'd be willing to listen to any alternatives she can come up with, but it needs to be done.

You'll need to find a way to make things up to her. I know it's a pain considering what somebody else feels rather than just telling them what to do, but she is very, very useful.

My bet would be to find a nice large group of people to slaughter together. Enjoying a hobby you share is key to a healthy relationship.

>why, why, etc
Because shit is getting old and boring, and because we said you should. "Oh look at me, I'm one-dimensional character who loves only murder and rampage and has nothing else going for him."
Seriously, its getting incredibly annoying to hear you always complain about shit you don't like (which is everything).
Here is something that you can genuinely enjoy and love if you would just get over yourself and stop acting like a damn child. Shit doesn't come easy to anyone and it shouldn't be easy for you, you have 7000 years of sudden hormones to overcome. Take up this challenge and overcome it and you will come out a better person after it. ('better', not in the sense of 'morally good'. Just a higher quality person)
Your blatant rampage already led you being imprisoned for several millenia, time to change things including yourself. Don't think the gods and your old enemies will let you have your way for thousands of years like the last time when they learn who you really are.

Besides, 'horse' analogy doesn't even remotely work. Horses are not sentient and sapient creatures compared to Elves, Orcs, Humans. Just because you're asexual (or at least used to be) doesn't mean everyone is. Haven't you heard of things like 'half-elf', 'half-orc', etc. People from different races are perfectly capable of loving each other.
Other immortals are capable of loving and I think demons are (at least) capable of getting carnal pleasures too. Heck, there are enough legends that tell of gods falling in love with mortals and having children with them.
I'm not saying you should start writing poetry and singing ballads to every woman you meet but, God damn, there should be more character to you than "I hit things with my fists"

Having said that, do not turn it on right now, especially around that crazy ass bitch Isrenow.

>For now though... I think I'll go pick up all my magical equipment and such. In the meantime, you voices gone any plans of action figured out yet? Next town to hit, poor sap to murder?
I think we should continue our march to the capital. Next stop, Whitemarsh!

>>424898
>>424909
We should start working on getting rid of her instead. Or, at least, remove her crazy yandere tendencies. I'm not against her being in love or anything but that shouldn't mean we need to tolerate her insanity. She is a nuclear bomb waiting to blow up, sooner or later she is going to do some irreparable damage that we are going to regret.
We already mind-raped her, so I don't think we're above mending her mind into accepting other women in Hated's life and being friendly with them.

>>424972
>mending her mind into accepting other women

I love how this implies that any woman who takes offense at us having other women is mentally unhinged.

I fully agree that we need to try and change her to be more to our liking, though I don't think we're good enough at it yet to fully realise what we want her to be like. Maybe try and find a stopgap compromise to keep her from going berserk until we've gotten more teaching in mind magics?

>>424976
>I love how this implies that any woman who takes offense at us having other women is mentally unhinged.
But Isrenow IS mentally unhinged. Upon her own dementia, her love towards us is artificial and that simply cannot be healthy especially since Hated doesn't act even slightly like the image we had implanted in her mind.
And the whole situation here is different anyway, we never wanted her in the first place and were forced to use what we had on hand due to the situation. We're not going to go around mind-fucking women, Nina is more than enough.

I prefer a sane, normal mortal over crazy, obsessive maniac. Frankly, I'd prefer just killing her but barring that, we should make sure she doesn't become a problem for us.

Alright! Alright! I get it already! I'll "practice" the damn sexual thing. But I'm not doing it around anyone other than Nina. So unless you want me dragging her around with me everywhere I go, it'll have to wait till later. Although... I guess I could do it with someone who's steril. That way we wouldn't have to worry about leaving kids everywhere. But hey, just a thought.

>We should start working on getting rid of her instead.
Isrenow? Sure thing. Should I do that now? I'm looking for the inn girl right now, but I could just as easily go kill the elf bitch. Although that's a waste of an immortal body. Why not just shove an angel or demon in to her and get rid of the issue that way? Not much of a problem really. Just need to find another summoning circle. Besides, we wait a few days, I'll have more sparks to play with. And I wouldn't mind having an immortal minion. You lot said minions were good, and that body has quite a few sparks in it. Don't want that to go away. Delicious sparks...

>God damn, there should be more character to you than "I hit things with my fists"
I hit things with fireballs sometimes... and swords on occasion... the infrequent lightning bolt, you know, just to very it up a little.

>I think we should continue our march to the capital. Next stop, Whitemarsh!
Sounds good to me. Send the army off to Whitemarsh in two days I think. That should let Nina do whatever she needs to do. Me personally... I don't like the idea of sitting around for two days doing nothing but consuming sparks, as delicious as they are, and I still have way more than necessary. And there is that Shadowmoor place to the east. I see no reason why I can't just drop a few balls of fire on the place on my own and laugh. Besides, there's bound to be a mage-lord there, and he's bound to have magic stuff of some kind on him. Once less super mage to worry about later, right? So... can I go? Pretty please? Unless there's something really pressing I need to do he- Hey look! My hat! Been looking for this!

I shove the helmet onto my head, the thing conforming comfortably and it's magic already beginning to work again. With the helmet retrieved and me back to being menecing, I decide to see about that golem. Someone mentioned it and I figure I might as well take a look at the piece of junk. I ask around a little and find out where it's been stored, and head over to discover it not only stored, but dismantled. Whatever they were doing to this thing, all the magic in it is gone, and it's little more than pieces now. Pieces I could easily slot back together, but... well, I'd rather not waste the sparks on something cobbled together. I suppose I could get the dwarves to make something worthwhile, we do have them available to us now, since we're paying them in gold and gems and such.

After checking over the golem, I head back to Curmas and inform him of our decision, which he simply nods in agreement to. I don't think his head is entirely back to the way it was quite yet, but he was nearly comatose for a few hours. Not surprising. After a quick calculation, Curmas informs me that it will take at least 3 weeks to reach Whitemarsh, at least using conventional travel. That seems a bit long, but I suppose I could shorten the time by setting up a gate near the city. Curmas actually asks that I don't do this, at least not without allowing him to scout the area, as he doesn't seem too keen on letting me go anywhere alone. I suppose it's a valid worry, me being the king and all, but I could care less.

Anyway, I leave, making my way back to the square and the gateway I've already set up. There I find Nina conversing with Sticks, both looking fairly pleased. Tongues is practicing his magic over in a corner of the square, doing something similar to what I did to get the gate open and making nothing happen. I don't think he gets the concept of gateways. Isrenow is here as well, although she keeps herself separate from everybody here, and throws the occasional glare at Nina, who doesn't seem to notice at all.

There's nothing much else to do today, I suppose, but I might as well figure out who I'm spending my extra time with. Isrenow already demanded my attention earlier, but I could try practicing this sexual thing with Nina, or I could try to help Tongues out. Or I could do something else. I am waiting around two days before things get moving again so...

Essentially, who am I spending the rest of the day with(maximum two, if you want to split the day between people, although that might reduce the results of interacting with them), and what should I do over the next 2 days?

>So... can I go? Pretty please? Unless there's something really pressing I need to do he-

I don't see any reason not to. It's a small place, isn't it? Try not to kill any non-combatants, alright? At least not deliberately.

>Isrenow? Sure thing. Should I do that now? I'm looking for the inn girl right now, but I could just as easily go kill the elf bitch. Although that's a waste of an immortal body. Why not just shove an angel or demon in to her and get rid of the issue that way? Not much of a problem really. Just need to find another summoning circle. Besides, we wait a few days, I'll have more sparks to play with. And I wouldn't mind having an immortal minion. You lot said minions were good, and that body has quite a few sparks in it.
If it depended entirely on me, then I would just tell you to go ahead and pop her head. But since I know there are others who will disagree, I wont suggest that unless much more people support this action. Do not want to piss them off with a irreversible decision which they might not have been able to oppose.
I'm liking the showing of a demon inside the body idea. I do not think we will alert our enemies unless they can sense that kind of thing, the demons, even if they knew who you were, are unlikely to sell you out. They will probably be overjoyed with the prospective chaos you can bring to the world.
Of course, we can always try to mend her mind in a different way.

Whatever we choose, I think we can all agree that it is dangerous to leave her in the current state.

>I ask around a little and find out where it's been stored, and head over to discover it not only stored, but dismantled. Whatever they were doing to this thing, all the magic in it is gone, and it's little more than pieces now. Pieces I could easily slot back together, but... well, I'd rather not waste the sparks on something cobbled together. I suppose I could get the dwarves to make something worthwhile, we do have them available to us now, since we're paying them in gold and gems and such.

Damn assholes! I wanted this to be your personal project which you would occasionally improve and work on. Sure, it looked like shit before but in time you would become more proficient at it and it could have turned into something magnificent. Asking dwarves to fix it is counter-productive to this idea unfortunately.

>Isrenow already demanded my attention earlier, but I could try practicing this sexual thing with Nina
As much as I would love to, I don't think you can't do this while Isrenow is around.

Isrenow is the priority at the moment because she is upset and likely to start killing your men if not calmed. Which might actually be funny but would probably cause more trouble than it's worth. Now before we stick an angel or demon in her, we should try understanding what she wants to keep her happy. It might not be all that much effort to keep her in line if we can find the right button to press. So talk to her, actually pay attention when it sounds like she's saying something important or useful for manipulating her.

If she just wants to spend time with you, the two of you could have fun taking Shadowmoor over. Once the enemy is destroyed or cowed, you can make another gate and have your home defense forces garrison it as necessary.

If we want to tweak the mind screw we did on Isrenow we should be able to convince her to let us with something like, "Isrenow, I don't think I put everything back in its proper place when I undid what that mage did to you. I'm, uh, not very skilled with mind magic. I'd like to fix you, if you'll let me, but I would need further training in mind magic."
It should pass lie detection magic, we're only implying that "fixing" her is putting her back in her default state.

As for overall strategy, there is no reason that you have to be with your army while it is making the march to Whitemarsh. You can make the trip significantly faster than three weeks, so there is no reason not to send them on ahead and catch up in time for the invasion. In the meantime you can use your time to study those books you found, learn mind magic and maybe that cutting trick from Isrenow, get a handle on your sexual urges using Nina, and maybe giving Tongues a few pointers. Oh, and consuming delicious delicious sparks. All while keeping informed on the progress of your armies through the rings.

It would also be wise to reinforce the gates with whatever defensive magic you can. They represent an enormous liability if enemy mages manage to screw with them.

>>425080
>Once the enemy is destroyed or cowed, you can make another gate and have your home defense forces garrison it as necessary.

I don't think Whitemarsh is big or important enough to warrant a gate. We can't make them in every town and city.

>It would also be wise to reinforce the gates with whatever defensive magic you can. They represent an enormous liability if enemy mages manage to screw with them.
I agree with this one.

I agree with taking Isrenow with you and going to ruin Shadowmoor. Try to sell it to her as a couple's outing, doing the things you love together. Other than that, feel free to indulge yourself! If you want, make sure she knows that wizards are yours if you want them.

I also agree with learning more mind magic and getting Isrenow to let you muck around with her mind later.

I actually disagree with indulging in your lusts with Nina. That doesn't let you learn how to control it, it just satisfies the urge. Try turning it on when you're alone instead, and keep in control of your decisions regardless of the throbbing of your loins.

And yes, fortify the FUCK out of those gates, yo.

So telling the immortal elf to fix her own mind wouldn't help things? It's not like she should be angry, you fixed her as well as the situation allowed AND didn't take any sexual advantage of the idea you planted in her head. (Women take offence at such things)

I figure she's got the skill to fix herself, but not the awareness that it needs doing.

>>425289
She's quite literally insane. I would much prefer we keep as tight reins on her as possible.

I would also prefer that she be herself rather than a demon or an angel, but really, that's preferrable to having her become free of our influence. What do you think, could we just brute force her mind right now to make her be like we want her to be?

>What do you think, could we just brute force her mind right now to make her be like we want her to be?

Nah, we need to have more mind magic training before we should try something like that.

Arrival in Shadowmoor Hated 2012/06/24(Sun)13:36 No. 425627 ID: 466404
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Alright. First things first, setting up some defenses for this gate of mine. I think a few dozen trapped spells, barbarian guards and some other more blatant deterrents should work for now. Maybe we could think about binding an elemental to the place as a guardian once we find someone who can set up a decent summoning circle. I wouldn't dare try it with one of mine. I end up spending a good 2 hours preparing the various traps around the anchor point, as well as putting spiked barricades of stone up to keep people from physically getting near it. Grab a few barbarians and instruct them to have the spot guarded by at least four people(and to stay well away from the place itself unless they'd prefer to be corpses) and I'm finished up with my defenses. Crude, but anything more elegant would have to be done by someone else. I don't have the patience to set up anything else.

Then I drag my attention to my next task. I relunctantly drag myself over to Isrenow and sit down next to her. She ignores me, although she clearly knows I'm there, and since I don't really know what to say, I simply sit and silently glance around, watching Tongues with amusement as he goes through all the motions I did(although they are skewed somewhat, as he apparently got second-hand information from someone who actually saw me do what I did) and get nothing as a result. My thoughts are suddenly interrupted as Isrenow begins speaking, and I try not to tune her out, although I keep watching Tongues.

"Your not known as the Hated One among your followers..."

"No I'm not. That's not something they need to know, and I don't care to tell them even if they did." I answer only after making sure no one else is in earshot and can hear our conversation. That would be the worst way to have my secret get divulged to the masses.

"... So I'm the only one that knows who you are? At least, among those of us here?" I simply nod in answer to this, and Isrenow goes silent a few minutes. I continue my observations of Tongues, noting that in his frustration he's losing focus on the spell itself. Amateur. I'll have to scold him for that later. "Somehow... that seems odd. You don't trust the people around you at all? Except for me, I mean"

"No. I've had bad experiences before with trust in my life, and I don't divulge information about myself to most people. I guess you got lucky, hearing about that from the godling." I stretch out my limbs a little, then decide to intervene in Tongues' little training exercise. "Hey! Little brat! Your doing it wrong! Stop freaking out and calm yourself down! Besides, gateways are beyond you right now." I pause a moment to consider some better training options while Tongues breaks off from his corner and comes running over, eager to have his first actual lesson in a very long time. After another moment of thought, I refocus on Tongues. "Alright. You've got an okay grasp on soul magic I guess, so let's see if you've got any aptitude for body magic. Try pumping your strength up. Think of... I don't know, it changes for each person. I tend to think of dragons and giants and such. Whatever personifies strength for you. Imagine their power as your power. Now off you go. When you can do that I'll show you some tricks." Tongues is off again, back to his corner to try out what I told him to do. I turn back to Isrenow to find her staring at me oddly.

"You seem to treat that kid a bit better than everyone else you talk to." I shrug in response. I treat him better because he's a valuable food source, and the first minion I gained. And it's fun to mess with him and give him impossible tasks. I doubt he'd figure out body magic at all, what with humans being bent towards soul magic so heavily.

Isrenow frowns slightly, but doesn't continue with that line of questions. Instead, she extracts two bracelets from her pocket, both exactly the same in design except for the color, one silver while the other is gold. She offers the gold one to me. "Here. These are the telepathy items you said I could make for us... it's... well, I don't like you being married to the bitch over there, so I'm going to marry you the elven way. You agree, right?"

I take the gold bracelet and stare at it a moment before sliding it onto my wrist. "Whatever makes you happy. Just don't expect anything else major from me for awhile." I watch Isrenow drag her own bracelet over her wrist, then she grabs my face and kisses me forcefully. It's thankfully short, and after she's finished Isrenow shoots a satisfied grin Nina's way, who's apparently noticed the contact and is looking a little down. Ah well, whatever. Last subject to open for the night, before I head to bed... "Now that that's over with. Isrenow, if you're up to it, I'm heading to Shadowmoor tomorrow to wreak havoc. You up to coming?"

Isrenow quickly gives an affirmative, then I pull myself to my feet and head off, finding my tent set up just inside the city walls and happily heading to sleep. Havoc and destruction tomorrow, and then we'll see about rejoining the army before it reaches Whitemarsh.

==========

Sometime in the night I'm woken up by movement near me. I sleepily investigate and discover Nina joining me in the bed, her body pressed against my side. Tongues has also apparently joined me, although I guess he made a lot less noise when he arrived, as he's already sleeping on my other side. I sigh and go back to sleep, resigned by now to the forced intimacy.

I'm woken up again later in the night, this time more by having some unfamiliar presence on Tongues side. Again I investigate and this time find Isrenow replacing Tongues, and Tongues is now located on the floor, although he apparently hasn't woken up. Isrenow must have dragged him off so she could take his place. I briefly contemplate kicking her out, but decide I don't care enough to bother and go back to sleep. Tongues or Isrenow, it doesn't really matter which is sleeping next to me at this point.

==========

I wake the next morning to find the tent tense, but relatively calm. Nina is going through her normal morning routine, and while she still seems quite happy, it's subdued quite a bit by the presence of someone she doesn't like. Namely, Isrenow, who is examining the contents of the tent with quite a bit of distaste. I debate going back to sleep, but the call of both food and the promise of wanton destruction gives me a reason to get out of bed. After breakfast and making sure that Curmas has his instructions to head towards Whitemarsh, I head towards Shadowmoor, Isrenow in tow. It takes me almost a full day to reach the outskirts of the city.

Shadowmoor. I remember how it was before my inprisonment. It was often called the thieves town. The place was almost lawless back then, the mage-lord actually preferring it that way. Everything was set up in such a way, so that it was a controlled chaos. What seemed like random deaths or burglaries were usually commissioned by the mage-lord. To say the least, the place was always busy, even at night, to the point of the place seeming to be two different places during night and day. Now...

The place is completely silent. It's night, and nothing is happening. I suppose a lot can change in 4000 years, but I admit it's a little unsettling. This is the first major change for me, and I can honestly say I don't like the idea of a silent night-time Shadowmoor. The city itself has grown from the city it once was. Originally the place was slightly smaller than Rivercross. Now the place covers nearly twice the area of its sister city, and the building are much more closely packed together. I wouldn't be surprised if the place had at least 3 times the people of Rivercross...

I stop us just outside the city limits, and Isrenow, having slept most of the day away while letting me do all the work, is awake and ready to go. I'm not too bad off myself, since all I really did was use the same enchantment over and over again, nothing all that tiring, so I suppose that makes this easier. I sniff the air for sparks and immediately have to stop. The place is literally covered in enchantments and spells. Observation orbs, by the look and smell of them, but why the city needs so many of them is lost on me. It's also interfering with my ability to find an actual mage, since it's effectively like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There doesn't seem to be any guards either, at least none that I can see.

Alright then voices... what's the plan? Am I ripping and tearing everything, or we going with a more cautious approach?

Dude this is a date with a murder-happy wife. You are going to just start killing and not stop until everything is dead.

I advocate a more cautious approach. Sure, you can rip and tear, but be on the lookout for traps and ambushes. Those observation orbs mean that wherever you go, whatever you, they will be right there waiting for you. If you have a nice magical solution to either blinding the ones in your surroundings or making you and Isrenow invisible to them that would be perfect. If that's impossible, just wade in and start slaughtering.

Either way, you should move towards the barracks first, to take out the non-magical opposition, and then try to figure out where the magelord is so you can eat all those delicious sparks.

Also, while doing this, try to engineer the events so that you can save Isrenow from substantial danger without being obvious about it. Maybe let her go ahead while you hang back a bit so she gets surrounded, or let her get targeted by a substantial enemy offensive spell. Bitches dig being protected.

Cautious approach. Sure, you could rampage your way through the city destroying everything, but our long-term goal is to own the thing so that would be counter-productive. No, the real target here is the mage-lord. Unfortunately his observation orbs mean you don't know where he is, and if you make a scene, he'll know exactly where you are. At which point there is a possibility he'll just run away, or call in reinforcements, or both.

For now, disguise yourselves to appear less conspicuous, Isrenow might have some mind magic that'll do the trick, and head to an inn or something to gather a bit more intel than none. If questioned on who you are claim to be newlyweds who decided to take a trip from Rivercross to Shadowmoor. It is amusingly true!

Considering the history of this city, and the current extreme level of security in place, I'm thinking that the change may have happened somewhat recently. Could be possible to take advantage of resentment towards the current administration to annex the whole place with appropriate use of speechification and a grand show of force of some kind. Need more info.

Seem I underestimated this city. I thought it was just a small town, nothing that would be missed if removed from the map.

Eh.... we came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Don't see any reason why we should do otherwise. The fact that the city seems ominous means that it is going to be much biggesr challenge!

Caution but go crazy? That seems to be the general consensus. I shift my form once again into my more normal looking human body, then drag Isrenow along, getting her to play the happy lover without much effort at all. She's clinging to me the moment I even suggest it's part of the plan to get in, and I leave her to handling all the cuddly bullshit. We make are way to the main road first, just a little something to make it look like we're actually travelers, and then I head towards the city outskirts. After another 10 minutes of travel, we arrive at our destination, and I get my first close up view of these observation orbs. To the naked eye, they seem like harmless balls of light, barely doing anything but hover in place on corners, above building, and down alleyways. But to someone like me, capable of feeling the magic around me, the things are far more active The minute I set foot within sight of one of the things, I feel it's magical "sight" focus on me and Isrenow. The closer we got, the more focused on us, examined us, searching us. I don't bother mentioning this to Isrenow, she seems happy enough to ignore the things and clutch my arm, but I have to admit that being watched all the time is a little unsettling. Particularly when no human mage should be able to set up this many of the damn things. Either way, we make our way through the empty streets, eerie silence filling the air except for the occasional creak of wood from this house or that.

In all, I feel like the place is more quiet then it should be, even with the streets deserted. You should still hear sounds coming from inside the houses, right?

It's then I feel Isrenow tense against my side, and I hear her mutter something to low for me to catch. She separates herself from my side and I watch her close her eyes and start spending sparks doing... something. I stand there, not really getting it, until I hear a soft moaning sound come from down an alleyway. And then I can taste it. Such a small amount of sparks it's almost unnoticeable unless it's close to you. Then another, and another and another. They're still a good ways away, but they'll be here in a few minutes. I turn to Isrenow, trying to see if she's got any idea what's going on. Only now is she starting to speak loud enough that I can hear her.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it... not this. Anything but this..."

Her words are tinged with fear, which surprises me, as most immortals generally aren't afraid of much, then my attention is brought back to my surrounding by two things. The first is one of the orbs floating up to me, and a voice seeming to come out of nowhere through it.

"Welcome, welcome. Oh, I do hope my little pet didn't harm you, that would be such a shame. Such a shame... Please, come in! Come in! Stay awhile! Play the game! Enjoy yourselves as long as you can! There's sooooo much to do! And I could always use some new play toys! But what's this? We seem to have a returning guest? Couldn't stay away, could we? How very... delicious..."

The orb floats away again, but while it was speaking I felt it. Some sort of barrier has gone up around the entire city, or at least I assume it to be the entire city, because I can smell the sparks coming from what I can feel of the barrier, and it's a massive amount. It's rather impressive, in its own way.

"Hey Isrenow, what's going on?"

The elf seems to snap back to reality at my words, and she quickly returns to my side and clutches it tightly. "I don't... I don't remember. I feel... I feel like I've been here before, but... I can't really seem to recall... we have to get off the streets. Find... find somewhere safe. A safe-house. There... I don't know. A church or something. We need somewhere safe. We don't want to be on the streets at night."

I decide to take her advice, as whatever is going on seems to spook the hell out of her, and I find that the nearest house is unlocked. I get us inside and close the door behind us, then follow Isrenow, who seems to be leading us higher up. we reach the second floor before she pauses, and I take the chance to sniff the air again. Those little moving spark masses are getting closer, and I can start to smell it. Something smells like blood and freshly turned soil. I can't place it better than that.

We have a few minutes till whatever is coming gets here, and those orbs are still watching us. Isrenow is practically shaking in fear, even though she can't seem to remember why, and I'm confused as hell...

Any preparations I should make before the little sparks get here?

Is it zombies? Punch the zombies.

>>426426
What in the Pit is a zombie?

Forget it, not important. In the meantime, if our plan is to just punch them to death, then I guess we're all set. Feels good, having a nice simple plan to go with for once. The orb floating nearby starts "talking" again, this time simply saying "They're heeeeeeeere....". I feel Isrenow tense next to me, but ignore it. I don't have the time to worry about her. Not when the things actually do arrive a moment later.

I don't see them at first. Of course not, it's dark outside and inside, except for the soft glow of the various observers floating around. But I can smell them. Lots of them. All bunched together out there, waiting for something. Perhaps looking for a sign that we're actually here. Then I feel one of them move, come up to the wall of the house below me, and start climbing the outside of it. It passes right by the window, but stays out of sight, although I can hear the wall seem to groan under it's weight. Then others start to follow it up, scaling the walls and covering the building in bodies, all the while avoiding the windows so they can stay out of sight. For a moment, the whole lot of them, whatever THEY are, settle down and do nothing. Then the screeching starts. And gods is it ANNOYING! It doesn't even seem to do anything at first, except rattle the windows and grate on the ears. And then the things start moving again, this time swarming over everything, this time actually targeting the windows, shoving each other out of the way in their efforts to reach the way in. I get a glimpse of a few as they push their faces against the glass to stare inside, and discover them to be some sort of humanoid-bat looking things. Either way, then don't seem all that keen on actually breaking the window pane open to get in, they just want to... stare at us, I guess.

Isrenow, however, is shaking uncontrollably, her face a mask of fear and pain. She's not even speaking any more, just burying her face in my chest and trying desperately to reduce the sound somehow. I let her do as she pleases for now, more interested in the things than in her reactions to them... Wait, someone said we had to save her from something, right? Alright then... let's see if we can help her out by not making her help me this time around. Besides, I really want to cut lose and kill everything in sight. I can't do that if I have to worry about some frightened bystander. But you also said to treat minions kindly so...

"Isrenow. Calm down. I'm here, remember? I won't let those things harm you. I won't let whatever happened before happen again. But you need to calm down and... sleep..." I enforce my will on Isrenow by using some simple body magic and flooding her body with the notion of sleep. I can feel Isrenow begin to collapse forward slightly, and I catch her in my arms so she doesn't fall flat on her face. Whatever those things are, they still don't seem like they're actually trying to get in, more like they just keep shoving each other out of the way so they can plaster their faces to the glass. I pick Isrenow up and go searching for a bedroom, instead of a study, which is what I seem to be in, and drop her off in the bed. Even that window has those things fighting to look through it, but by now they aren't even frightening so much as mildly annoying. I can even drown out their annoying keening thing, since I got all that practice over the winter with all those barbarians.

That task done, and once I've kindly set up a few magical barriers to keep the things off of the elf in case they do suddenly decide to bust their way in, I make way back towards the front door, intending to go outside and deal with the damn things via indiscriminate mutilation. Halfway down the stairs though, I pause, my magical senses picking up something else. Sparks, more than these things, but not much more than them. The smaller ones seem to avoid the larger, and the larger seems to be standing just outside the front door, simply waiting for something. I frown in further annoyance, something else that thinks in can get in my way, and I finally make my way to the front door to find it slightly open, just enough to allow whatever is outside to cast a very human looking shadow.

"Oh... well, isn't this nice? You've already got one of the stronger ones to notice you... This will be fun..." The orb seems to have elected to follow me for now, but I ignore it. It hasn't offered any useful information so far, and I don't feel like wasting my time getting rid of it. Before I can do anything else though, the thing outside starts to speak in a very drawn out form of the common tongue.

"Huuuuuuumaaaaaaaaaaan! Huuuuuuuuuuumaaaaaaaan! I.... I caaaaaaaaaan SMELL it'ssssss blooooooooood! Come Huuuuuuuuuuumaaaaaaaaan! Leeeeeeeeet ussssssssssssssss in! Leeeeeeeeeeeeeet usssssssssssss in soooooooo that weeeeeeee might feeeeeeeeeeeeast!"

I pause a moment, the drawing out of the words making it difficult to translate without thinking about it, then I get the gist of it. Soooo... it can't come in unless I tell it it can get in? How convenient. At least that means I won't have to worry about Isrenow, yeah? I smile slightly to myself, then stride up to the door and shut it, just to see how it will react. It get noticeably pissed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! LEEEEEEEEEEEEET USSSSSSSSSSSSS IN! LEEEEEEEEEET USSSSSSSSSSSS IIIIIIIIIIIIIII-"

It's cries are interrupted by the sudden introduction of a door to it's face, sending the critter hurling backwards into the building on the opposite side of the street. I stride out myself, letting some sparks loose to bring me back into the God-King form of myself while at the same time bringing another batch of sparks out to give myself some better night-vision. Now that I'm actually capable of seeing the world, I can see those things really have covered the house, or as much as they can, but now they aren't interested in the windows. They've got me now, and clearly they want prey to consume.

"Come and get me, you little bastards. I haven't got to cut loose in awhile, and I want to see what fire does to you lot."

The screeching increases in pitch, and then the whole lot of them come diving off the building, surging towards me in a swarm of bodies. I smile and snap my fingers, creating a burst of flame right in the middle of them, setting most of them on fire and turning them into flying balls of screeching meat. A quick step to the side in order to avoid one of the dead ones, then I grab one of those fortunate enough to be on the very edge and therefore not on fire, and hold him up so I can examine him, ignoring his ineffectual claws scraping against my arms and chest.

The thing really does resemble some sort of humanoid-bat thing, almost a perfect mixture of the two. It's arms are connected to it's legs with leathery "wings", although it seems quite awkward for it to use it's legs for actual walking now. It's feet and hands are tipped with claws(I might have mentioned those, they really aren't all that useful against me). It's also covered in some sort of fur or hair, but otherwise it's skin seems unremarkable. The only thing I can even think of as remotely intimidating is these sharp two-inch fangs coming out of this things large mouth. This entire discovery is... disappointing. I expected more of a challenge from something that could scare Isrenow. I sigh to myself as I snap the things neck and move on, glancing around me in hopes I'll find something else to kill. I find little, except for burning corpses, some scant few living... whatever they are, and some more floating orb things. Then the door I'd kicked earlier is hurled back onto the street and the whatever it is lumbers into view. I can't say I'm impressed with this thing either. It's like a more human looking bat-thingy, and doesn't have the fur or the leathery wings. Still has a rather nasty, if broken, face.

It lets out a shriek of rage when it catches sight of me, then charges me only to feel my fist crunch what's left of it's face and break the skull. I leave it to bleed out on the floor, and it's only then I take notice of something new to my situation. Namely...

The little spark packages have covered every building within a mile of myself. My magical senses tell me so just based off of a simple sniff of the air. There's the larger spark packages among them, scattered here and there, but they aren't much more of a challenge. It seems the enemy is going for the swarm tactic. And every single within sight of me is staring right at me.

"Well, isn't this interesting? Someone actually going outside at night. I thought he was delusional again. No one sane would do that, mage or not, if they were from around here. How very... entertaining..." The voice coming through the orb this time isn't the one from before. This one is feminine and... what's the word... can't recall. She sounds like a high-class whore from Felport. Can't really describe it any better than that. "I think... yes... I think it would be quite a bit more interesting to meet you in person. Come then. The center of town, come to the center of town before dawn breaks. I'll be waiting for you there... if you can make it there..." Her voice seems to almost purr as the orb she'd been speaking through floats away, and that only serves to make me think of Felport whores again... and how much they scream when you start ripping fingers and toes off one by one.

My thoughts are interrupted again by another voice, this one significantly more normal, although tinged with fear. "Hey! Hey! Get back into a building and wait it out till morning! It's too dangerous to be out at night!" The voice is coming from another nearby building, but the things ignore it in favor of me, an "easier" target.

Decisions, decisions. I don't think I should go back inside, that would be a pointless waste of time, but there is the matter of the voice that told me to go back inside. There's also that orb voice, telling me to go to what I assume she means to be the town hall. Or I could just commence with the killing. Your thoughts?

A few types of bat have a diet that consists entirely of blood. It appears someone has used transformation magic to merge these traits with people.

Given the number of these things, it's probably a contagious spell. The inability to come inside a building is most likely completely unnecessary for the batperson individually, but likely prevents the swarm from exhausting its entire food supply within a single night.

Someone's in control here, but again they're likely nothing compared to you. They have access to all this observation equipment, yet can't measure the actual threat you pose.

Perhaps you can find a way to attract them all at once? If they're enough like bats they'll be able to hear higher-pitched sounds than humans could. You might be able to get their attention by emitting some sort of high-pitched inaudible noise like a beacon.

Strange you didn't say they smelt really awful, I'd imagine a bat the size of a human wouldn't be smart enough to clean itself of its own stench.

well now, seems like you could have some fun now yes?
they aren't much of a challenge, so why don't you make it a challenge! like say... using only one hand, or only killing them using the door while telling knock-knock jokes.

You used to kill people and eat their sparks, did'nt you? And every one of them has a few. Can you suck the sparks out of the weak and boring ones and proceed to more challenging enemies? If you want to fight them normally for some time first, thats cool. Just remember, if they bore you treat them as snacks and move along.

"Pfft, yeah for them maybe. What's the deal with these batmen anyway? When did they show up? Who's controlling them? Come on, spill."

Hopefully they have semi useful or at least interesting information. They should be safe where they are, so once they're done talking, leave em there. You have a city to "save". Getting rid of this infestation should earn you plenty of goodwill in the city.

Make your way to the centre of town, killing or shadowstepping, whichever you find less boring. Just get there before dawn.

Oh, and consider sucking the sparks outa one of them orbs, just for funsies.

Murder, slaughter, kill every batman. They can't hurt you unless they literally crush you under their collective weight. Suck up sparks if you can. Finish before dawn, though, since you'll want to go meet batladyqueen or whoever that was. Maybe she'll put up more of a fight. Be prepared for mind magic shenanigans, though: I'm wagering she's the reason Isrenow doesn't remember this place.

Alright! Permission to kill everything and eventually make it to the center of town received. Let's get to the stabbing and the killing. I start to stroll away in the direction of the town center, only to realize that the other voice from inside the building hasn't been dealt with. Let's talk to them first.

"Pfft, yeah for them maybe. What's the deal with these batmen anyway? When did they show up? Who's controlling them? Come on, spill." I speak the words as the first of the massive swarm charges me, letting out what I assume to be a war cry or something similar. It's dispatched with a lightning bolt to the face, sending it's body back into the crowds of it's kindred, who scatter in surprise into the air, taking flight. Least that makes them slightly more interesting. Swarms of them start coming at me, but I decide taking the advice to limit myself somewhat will make this more interesting, so I just start hurling lightning bolts at everything that gets within ten feet of me. The voices take a little bit to respond, but do eventually get around to telling me what I want to know.

"We... We don't know! They just... Just showed up one night and started eating people off the streets! The mage-lord tried to do something about it, but he disappeared a few months ago! There's these two creepy twins in his place, and we think they're the ones directing these things... please! If you really can kill all those things, please do it, so that we can go back to living in peace..."

The voice goes silent, and I take that as a cue to move on, ignoring my shadow-stepping in favor of surrounding myself in lightning and hurling myself down the street like a spear of sparking death, everything that comes into contact with lightning-filled form dying. As I catch myself after hurtling down the street, I glance back to see the bat-things following me. Good, wouldn't want to get bored as I make my way to my destination. I hurl a couple lightning bolts back at them, just to make damn sure they know where I am, then I do my little lightning-charge again, this time through a building for the fun of it, halfway through the charge I come close to one of the orbs and snap my hand out, grasping the thing and sucking in the sparks. Barely anything is gained from it, but eh, I'm sure it pissed off somebody. Now then...

I continue doing this, traveling via lightning-charged movements and occasionally hurling some lightning bolts around as I smash my way randomly through the city until I decide to actually go to the small square that makes up the entry-way to the town hall. I can see the town hall from here, a rather large and obnoxious building, and I find I can smell something very "sparky" in there. Not to the level of myself, Isrenow or even that Marfolso bastard, but definitely something stronger than these things. Which reminds me... I drag my attention from my acquired prey and focus on the swarms of the things around me. I admit, I expected them to thin considerably after I've proceeded to kill dozens of the things, but they just keep replacing them with more from somewhere. Fine. I don't like the idea of just leaving these things hanging around, so...

I drag some sparks out of my soul and shape them, mimicking what Marfolso did to me, only this time the focal point is somewhere high above me. I create a gravity well, and then I start grabbing the things with mass telekinesis and hurling them into the air, the new little creation of mine dragging the lot of them into one, massive huddle of flesh and screeching. Well, fuck them. I've had about enough of the noise. I keep focus on the gravity ball a moment, then simply release the spell while at the same time creating a massive telekinetic ball of force around the things and simply collapsing it in on itself. The resistance from their bodies is massive, but I can hear it. The crunch of bone and flesh and muscle as they are all crushed from the amount of force pushing them further together. I doubt that will kill most of them, so I then decide to cause a sort of fiery explosion right at the center of my little ball of flesh and blood, igniting everything on fire. I hum happily to myself, the smell of the blood and the pitiful shrieking sound of dying bat-thing putting me in a good mood. I stroll inside the town hall as I release the telekinetics keeping the things floating in the air, and the entire batch of the dead and dying fall to the ground, producing wet slaps of meat against concrete and the occasional sound of another bone breaking. I didn't kill nearly all of them, I can still smell hundreds of the little things running around out there, but now they keep their distance. Whether it's because I just killed a lot of them or something told them to stay away, I don't care.

The town hall here is set up much like the one in Rivercross, although they seem to have decided that seats were unnecessary for anyone except the mage-lord governing the place. That particular seat, however, is not occupied by a mage-lord. It's not occupied by a mage of any kind. It's occupied by what appears to be a young woman, who upon noticing me lets out a small laugh.

"Oh! You really ARE interesting, aren't you? I can't believe you actually made it. And it only took you an hour as well. Although most of that time was you playing around with my pets, the poor things. They haven't done anything to you, except try to steal some of your blood..."

I briefly debate ignoring her, but she's the reason we even came here, so might as well deal with her. "Yeah? Let's just say the only use I have for them is watching them die. Now then, who in the Pit are you, and why should I not rip your face from you skull right now and take over this town?"

"Cut right to the chase, do we? Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I'm called Maria. Just Maria, I think. My last name doesn't really matter to me now. But, please excuse me, I'm not used to hosting a party. You must be hungry. Let's talk over dinner." The woman claps her hands together, and a few human looking things come out dragging two tables and a chair for me. The first table the set in front of the woman, the other they set on the floor a few feet from me, along with the chair. "Please, sit. I'm sure you'll enjoy the food I've had prepared."

I ignore her, instead sniffing the air. The mass of sparks hasn't moved. I don't know where it is is, somewhere above me, but those damned orbs are still floating around everywhere. I glance back at the table and the woman beyond that, who's watching me with interest, and I suppose I should at least play along a little while. I sit, and wait patiently for something to happen.

The woman smiles brightly as I sit down, then claps again and more bat things start dragging plates of food out. "Now then, I assume you have plenty of questions. Please, eat, and ask whatever questions you want to. I'll do my best to answer you."

alrighty then, two questions:

"who's upstairs?"

and

"why shouldn't i kill you?"

>>426903
These.

Check the food for poison or drugs if you can--otherwise just push it around on the plate, don't wanna risk it.

What is the deal with the bats? SERIOUSLY LADY.
And the orbs, what's up with them.
And why do the bats just smoosh their faces against the windows instead of breaking them in and eating people.

I ignore the threat of poison, mostly because I can purge my body if necessary(although it won't be pleasant) and start consuming food. I've haven't really eaten all day, because of all that traveling, so I figure a free meal isn't something I should really pass up. After a few minutes of silence, I slow down enough to get a couple questions out, continuing to eat as the woman replies.

"Who's upstairs?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"There's a mage upstairs. I noticed him on the way in. Who is it?"

The woman pauses to consider this a moment, her smile dropping away for a moment, then the smile returns. "My twin brother. He's quite capable at what he does."

"why shouldn't i kill you?"

That question seems to make her blink in surprise, then she laughs a little at no one in particular. "Ah! Yes, I suppose you didn't come here just to see the sights. Well, I can assure you that killing me isn't possible anymore. You see, I'm already dead. I'm what brother calls an... what did he call it... an undead."

"Scuse me? A what?" That term is new. It wasn't in use 4000 years ago, certainly I haven't heard it since I got back into the normal world. That must be something recent then. Or something older than my memory goes back.

"I don't know either. All I can tell you is that I died and came back... yet, not really. I don't eat, after all. Except for blood. I apparently need blood to survive." The woman pauses a moment, then her smile widens slightly. "Which reminds me... you wouldn't happen to be willing to give up some of you blood, would you? It smells ever so... delicious... even from all the way over here."

I pause to consider, then figure I don't know anything about what that means yet. "I'll think about it."

"Please do."

"What is the deal with the bat-things?"

"Them? They're my pets. If I drink all the blood out of someone, they turn into those things." Maria waves at one of the more human looking ones before continuing. "If those drink all of someone's blood, then the person turns into one of those ones." This time she waves at one of the more bat-like flying bastards. "They seem to obey everything I tell them to do. Quite interesting, someone like me having ability that can mimic those of magic, when I'm not a mage."

Yeah, interesting, let's go with that. "So why are they roaming around the town eating people?"

"Because I told them to. Why else? They have to eat to you know, and it's ever so hard to get them to stop drinking once they start. So why stop them? This town has hundreds of thousands of people. It's not like losing a couple thousand is really going to harm them too much..."

Seems like a lot more than a couple thousand to me, but I keep my thoughts to myself. There's no need to go making an enemy of her when I'm busy eating.

"And why can't the bat-things go through windows or an open door?"

"I'm not sure. I can't seem to do it either. None of us can unless told by someone inside that we can enter. It's very annoying. But my brother makes that easier for me. He usually sneaks inside and then gives me and mine permission to enter. Then we drink our fill." The woman's smile flickers slightly when I ask my question, obviously bothered, but I ignore it. Revealing a weakness of yourself isn't something most like to do, so it must have been a bit painful to do it for her. Although I doubt she'd have revealed that if she knew who I was and how strong I am.

"And the orb things?"

"Entertainment. Obviously, me and mine can't go hunting all the time, so I use those to watch the town when I'm hiding away. Otherwise I'd get so terribly bored, and that's just not something brother wants me to go through."

This brother person is sounding more like he's obsessive than helpful. But that's irrelevant, since he's on his way no-

"Sister! What are you doing? You can't just let him in here! Who knows how powerful he is!" A young man bursts into the room, riding what looks to be an eagle made purely of air. Elemental, I can smell the sparks coming from it, holding it together. A summoner? Maybe. Could also be an invoker, although they tend to be weaker than a full summoner.

"Brother. Brother. Calm down. Everything will be fine. See? He's eating right now, and he hasn't threatened me overly much." The sister still seems completely relaxed, while the brother seems close to collapsing from a panic attack. Whatever, not my business.

"Alright I guess... but we found that one that escaped a few decades ago! The one we needed to make you truly one of the undying! I sent some of the bats to go get her, but something killed them all..." There's silence for a long moment, then Maria turns her attention to me.

"I... I see... the immortal... hmm... this could prove to be a problem..." That whore sounding voice she had earlier is completely gone, replaced by what sounds like a slightly more sinister voice. That air politeness is gone as well, and I feel like something is trying to size me up. Something very, very unhappy. I pause in my dinner to stare back at the woman, my own eyes hard and my body tense, ready for something to happen, but after a few more tense moments, the smile returns and the feeling of something sinister is gone, returning to that polite air of a hostess. "Please excuse me for a moment, I have to consult with my brother..."

Maria turns to the man and gestures him forward, and once he arrives next to her they start speaking in a soft whisper. I stare for another minute, then shrug and go back to eating, uncaring of whatever plan they decide to hatch. I'm pretty sure we're going to get to the stabbing and killing again soon, but for now I figure I should fill my stomach. Oh look, THAT dish had some random poison in it... eh, some weak sleepy kind, I fight it off with an energizing spell and ignore it in favor of eating whatever it is. Looks like venison I think. Could use a little more spices to it.

The twins keep conversing, occasionally stealing glances at me, and eventually I finish up my meal and find them still talking, although now it sounds significantly more like hushed arguing. I frown a moment, bored now that I have nothing to focus on, and decide to get this thing moved along.

"So... thanks for the meal and all, and I'm sure you very nice people, or... something like that, but I'm still going to kill you. It seems like you two rule this town, and I want said town, and... well, you know how it goes. Nothing personal, just don't care at all about you." I start to fire up a nice fireball, only to be interrupted by Maria.

"Hold on! I have a proposition for you." Her voice still has that polite tone of voice to it, but it's slightly panicky, like she's suddenly realized she's not in a very good position at all. Sucks to be her. But hey, why not listen to her, right? Might as well, don't really have anything to lose.

"You got a minute, start talking."

"A minute? How am I supposed to explain the deal in a min-"

"Fifty-five... fifty-four... fifty-three..."

The woman finally seems to get that I'm serious, and immediately plunges into her deal. She speaks really fast, and generally without taking a break or pausing between words, but I manage to puzzle out her basic desires, as well as what she's willing to offer in return.

All she wants is for Isrenow to be bound and used in some sacrifice to The Death(one of those card thingies... what are they called? Anyway, the spirit of one of those.) so that she can finish the deal her brother made with the thing and so that she can be allowed to not have to worry about randomly dying cause the spirit got bored of not collecting it's due. Also, she'd rather prefer it if we didn't horribly mutilate her or her brother. And she gets to keep the town on top of all that.

In exchange, she's willing to work WITH me, and place her pets at my disposal when she can spare some. Her brother is also apparently willing, if unhappily, to teach me to INVOKE spirits and such, which I admit I don't know how to do, and don't really see the need to learn. She'd also provide us a small tithe of resources now and again, if we so require.

Which is bullshit, but I'm sure I could change the deal however I want in the long run, barring the major issue of giving them Isrenow. Maria there seems pretty adamant about that little tidbit, more on the hopeful side for the rest...

What's the plan then, useful voices in my head? Do I kill them both and the little bath things that I'm sure are going to attack me, or shall we consider this deal of theirs?

((First off, I apologize if the enemies at this point seem a little... weak. I'm feeling a little guilty, not really giving you lot any real need to get creative in actual combat. It's intended that way, as this is supposed to be chances to strengthen ties, let ME experiment and flesh out the world a little bit, and to give you a chance to select Hated's allies to suit your tastes. In this case, choosing one of the undead and an Invoker over the mind magic using Immortal psychotic elf. Also, there's some information on undeath over in the discussion thread, or rather, lack of useful information. Again, I apologize for the lack of challenges. That'll come soon enough.))

>>427250
It's cute and all that they think they can bargain with you, but no. And changing the deal in the long run is crap; just make it good now.

They can kneel and swear to serve you in any capacity you require, including teaching you whatever they know, sending any of their minions that you want to serve you, and giving you any and all resources that you ask for the moment that you ask for them.

In exchange, not only will you generously not kill them, you'll even hear out why they need Isrenow so badly and consider coming up with a way to help them out that doesn't involve sacrificing one of your most powerful (if psychotic) servants.

They'll probably object, but then you can remove one of their limbs and make the offer again (if they have difficulty kneeling while missing one or more legs, they can grovel in another suitably appropriate manner). Repeat, alternating whose limb gets removed, until they have no limbs to remove, at which point just tear off their heads and decision made. Make sure that you pause to make another offer each time; almost everyone would crack under that. If they fall unconscious or something heal them up enough that they can comprehend their need to surrender before proceeding.

That plan is a good one. Do that.

The only good thing about that deal is getting rid of Isrenow. The rest is bullshit.
They are not going to work with us but for us as subjects to their king, we will accept nothing less. They will stop making new 'pets' and the rest will be taken into our army. We will use them as cannon fodder and shock troops.
I guess these two are much better allies than Isrenow, so I really do not care about her that much.

>>427371
>They will stop making new 'pets' and the rest will be taken into our army.

I don't mind if she makes more pets. However some of them should always go to us (maybe a third?) and she should not have more than a certain number at a time. I suggest about 3000 but I don't care how many exactly. If she were to increase their number without limits they could become annoying pests very soon.

Yeah, no way are we taking this deal. These two have even less self-restraint than Isrenow. At least we can manipulate her to do things our way. These two are disorganized, wasteful and really, not that useful. Their batmen won't be that good for taking out anything apart from regular old troops, especially with their high cost in lives in keeping them fed, and we can do that just fine. Isrenow would be better for mage combat with her Mind magics, I think.

Tell them they can be your minions, not your equals, and they're in no position to demand anything from you. However you'll work on capturing them an immortal but they can't get Isrenow. One will probably inevitably oppose you. If they don't take the deal, start the hurt.

There is no way we are losing Isrenow. She's worth more than a quarter of our shamans in terms of spark generation and is a master of Mind magic. That's incredibly valuable to us. She represents no true threat to us and should be easier to control as time goes on anyway. We keep her.

>>427255
I support this, with the addition that we keep the mage alive, if disabled, in the event of total non-cooperation. We can work together with Isrenow to fuck his mind until he's loyal. Either make him think someone loyal to us is his sister who he is so devoted to, or try to make it work with any sybling relationship.

For the aftermath of this deal, if they do agree, they are to go into hiding so that we can make it look like we legitimately liberated the town. The minion bats will all be put down, and she can survive off of prisoners for the time being, we can make more later. As far as we know, neither of them have been seen during this whole event, so we could designate the brother to be the mage-lord when it is convenient to us. Anyway, small details, we can figure them out later but it works best for us if the public thinks we rescued them.

Yeah, no. You think she's annoying but she's your wife, and these guys are proposing to be JUST allies. Not a favorable exchange for you! They can sacrifice Beloved or whatever her name was that you hate if they find her, though.

But anyway the counter-offer you should propose is that they swear a BINDING oath of fealty to you and you don't obliterate them right here.

I seem to remember we came here to cut loose and cause mayhem and carnage. Doing deals is kinda counter productive to this. I support killing the fuck out of them no matter how good the deals is.
((don't worry about the challenge, OP. I like it when we steamroll everything, it means that our 'sit tight and gather our strengh' strategy was immensely successful. I hate when authors start jacking up "challenge" even if it goes against verisimilitude. Hated has 3 millenia of battle experience, has killed extremely powerful foes and it took collective effort of several powerful gods to defeat him and they did not even kill him.))

>>427500
I did not know she generates that many sparks. Besides we should not begin to sell loyal minions, if word of that goes around (and I have a feeling someone would learn of it sooner or later) it will create problems later on.

Pretty sure these twins generate enough sparks to off-set the amount we would lose from Isrenow. Besides, it is not like sparks are a problem anymore. I severly doubt that idf we lose a batshit insane woman who was seen with us only for few days no one is going to bat an eye. I really do not care about Isrenow and these two seem to be much better minions as long as we can put some soul-oath on them (anything less, we kill them)

First Geas Hated 2012/07/01(Sun)17:03 No. 427968 ID: a407a5
File 134118742657.jpg - (17.93KB , 420x420 , 39269.jpg )

The twins don't generate that many sparks. Hell, the dead one doesn't generate any sparks at all, she's just some weird not-dead thingy that has some weird powers. In terms of spark generation, Isrenow far outclasses them, it the point of it being almost funny.

So essentially... fuck their deal, they serve me or die. Works for me. Let's get to it then.

"I'm gonna go with... no. You serve me, faithfully and without backtalk, and a geas on top of that, and I'll let you live, or whatever it is you do, past today. Otherwise, I start with the killing, and I'll make sure to make it as painful as possible."

Maria face goes pale, but the brother steps in front of her, eyes defiant. "We refuse! There's no reason sister should have to-"

I make a cutting motion with my hand, and the boy flinches and ceases his little speech, then opens his eyes to find nothing wrong with himself. Then a scream of pain draws his attention to the girl behind him, and he discovers he wasn't my target. His sister on the other hand, is currently missing her right leg. Apparently, being dead doesn't save you from pain. Good.

"Strike one. Swear loyalty. Bow down."

The brother starts to open his mouth, but Maria cuts him off. "You... you could... ah... you won't... won't have my... my loyalty..." Her own eyes are filled with fear, but I get the feeling she's only trying to act tough. I frown, then shrug. Oh well, strike 1 for her then. I make another cutting motion with my hand, and this time the girl flinches, only to here her brother scream in pain. I took his left arm, hopefully that cuts back on him thinking about attacking me with magic.

"Look, I really don't care if you accept or not, either way. It would be nice to have a few more followers, and perhaps get my hands on some useful little troops, even if they are weird bat things, but it's not like I'm going to cry about it if I have kill you. Strike 1 for you, by the way."

The boy clenches his teeth once he's done screaming his head off, then he focuses on me. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna rip your head off you bastard!"

"Yeah? I doubt that. But I think I'll take that as strike 2." I start to raise my hand again, aiming for the dead woman's other leg, then make the downward cutting motion. The spell, however, seems to get reflected, the ground next to her getting cut instead. I hiss in annoyance, only to find the boy next to his sister, the figure of a robed man, a scythe in one hand, hovering over him. Power comes from it, I can taste it, but not the same kind of power as sparks. Something else. Either way, all that power is directed at me, and I glare at the thing in annoyance. I call up another cutting spell and direct it at the new figure, but again it seems to miss, cutting the wall next to them.

"By the fucking Pit! What the hell did you do?"

The boy grins, although he's clearly still in pain, and holds up a card at me. "Clearly, you don't know much about invoking. But... I'll be sure to educate you. I won't ever... won't ever let you hurt sister." The boy carefully places the card down on the ground, the hooded figure still focusing it's attention on me, then digs around in his pocket and extracts a small piece of cloth. He begins muttering, then pours sparks into the thing, and I can feel it light up with power. For a moment, nothing happens, then I get to watch as ancient warriors seemed to form in front of the twins, 20 in all. "Go! I invoke your contract, and command that you kill that man!"

The soldiers charge as one mass, and I try launching a fireball at them. Every single one is blown away instantly, the cloth piece the boy had losing it's power as the soldiers all "die". The boy gawks in surprise, while I look bored. I try launching a fireball at the twins, but again, it seems to just barely miss. Well fuck them to.

The boy seems to be fumbling for what to do, while the girl seems to be thinking. For a moment, I stand there, not really sure what to do myself, as I don't really think firing off more spells will do more than waste precious sparks, but the decision is taken from me as the girl decides to open her mouth.

"If... if I swear loyalty to you, will you promise to keep me and my brother safe? And you'll find us another immortal, to complete the contract with The Death?"

I pause to consider this, then shrug. "Yeah, sure. It shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure there are some immortals out there that aren't going to be happy with my plans. So yeah, I'll help you out."

The sister nods, then turns to her brother, who is gawking at her now, not really sure what to say. "Come on brother. You don't have anything else you can do that will harm him, and The Death is almost finished with this invocation anyway. Serving someone else won't be that bad, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to abandon us as long as we serve faithfully."

The brother is clearly wavering, and I simply wait. A the twins get into a whispering match again, and about halfway through it that robed Death thing disappears, leaving me with the thought that I could just kill them both now... but we've already got their promise, so their really isn't any need to go slaughtering them, however much fun it would be. And that invoking thing... it was strong enough to stop me. To stop ME. That isn't something I can overlook.

"We have an agreement then? You take a geas onto your souls that you shall serve me faithfully?"

The girl turns her attention away from her brother and bows as gracefully as she can, considering she's missing a leg. "I do swear it." A good enough response for me. I drag sparks from my soul and shape them, changing them into a shackle, a rope, a symbol.

"Girl, you will be mine. In all things, you will be mine. Your body will do whatever I want it to do. A tattoo explodes into being along the girl's back with a shower of sparks, the tattoo shaping itself into the crest of my lineage. Your mind will think whatever I will it think." Another shower of sparks explodes out of the girls forehead, and while no tattoo accompanies it, I can feel the magical power settling into her mind. "Your soul shall feel whatever I will it feel." Another explosion of sparks, this last one coming from the center of her chest, and again, no tattoo accompanies it, but I can feel the pulse of power as it resonates and binds her soul. "And not even the gods themselves shall break this bond, lest they raise the ire of Prime Gods themselves, they who first gave geas unto the mortal world." Not a true statement, there's books detailing it's research and discovery, but it's true enough that the gods can't meddle with another person's geas.

The girl collapses suddenly, the full weight of the geas finally settling onto her existence, and I suddenly find that I can feel something just on the edge of my soul. The connection, I think, to the geas, telling me of my first true servants condition. The connection itself feels weird, but that's just something else I'll have to get used to, I suppose. I suddenly realize that the girl is still missing her leg, so I hit her with a quick healing spells and watch as her leg is restored, nodding slightly to myself. Good, can't have damaged goods for servants.

The boy follows his sister's example, and I similarly place the geas on him, and repair his arm when I'm finished. By the time I'm done with the brother, Maria has recovered from the geas' weight and is standing a few feet away, hands clasped in front of her. Once she sees I'm done with her brother, she bows slightly and starts with the servant attitude.

"How might I be of assistance, master?"

I flinch slightly, the term master is new, but shouldn't take too long to get used to, and I decide it might be worthwhile to figure out exactly what each can do. "Well... what exactly does each one of you do? Or can do? I can't really get much use out of you if I don't know that."

Maria nods, then begins her explanation. Apparently, she's far more familiar with the exact limitations of both herself and her brother than even her brother is, as all he normally does is worry.

For Maria, the following rules apply:
-She requires blood to survive, usually about a pint of the stuff a week, although she can break that up into smaller amounts over the course of a few days if so desired.
-Anyone she drains completely of blood(or dies because of her draining their blood) is transformed into a bat-human along the lines of the non-flying ones. They follow her commands without question. These minions she creates apparently begin to look more and more human the more blood they drink, but she has yet to see if they can become completely human looking.
-She has found that shadows can be hidden it, quite literally she melts into said shadows. She also has a limited form of shadow-stepping, in that she can step from one shadow to another as long as it does not break any rules she is bound by, explained later.
-She has the limited ability to force weak-willed humans into a sort of mesmerized state, although they won't follow orders they will be dazed and confused. This requires eye to eye contact however, and she hasn't really tested it's limitations.
-She is limited in that she cannot enter a private residence unless invited in(although places intended for public use are considered to have open invitation to anyone), nor can she move into or through sunlight. Her created minions follow these same rules.

It's also been hinted by The Death Reversed that there are further abilities she can obtain, assuming she's willing to make further deals with it. Whatever that means.

As for her brother, Samuel, he is quite obviously an invoker. I have little knowledge on the subject, and admit as much, but Maria waves the truth aside. Invoking isn't a common practice, and is generally considered weak because of it's varied requirements and limitations. For now, she's just going to explain what her brother can do.

-Samuel can invoke three tarots(that's the name of those fucking cards!) both in their Pure and Reversed states. These tarots are The Fool, The High Priestess and The Death.
-Samuel has a few non-tarot pacts formed, namely with a Flag of Command, which calls ghostly soldiers to fight for him, and with a Hunting Stone, a small pebble that will point in the general direction of an object or person the invoker wishes to find.

Maria finishes her explanation just as Samuel recovers from the geas himself, and both stand around, waiting for me to tell them what to do. I stand there, not really knowing what to do... hey voices, what should I do? I can't really go around ripping and tearing everything to bits. I suppose I should go collect Isrenow again, at some point. And I still have to figure out a way to claim this city for myself. So... what's the plan?

"just so that you know, I was really, really hoping that you would resist so that I could murder everything here without remorse"
"Oh well..."

First thing, tell the girl to order her pets to stop terrorizing the folk around here. We will make an army out of it, make them shock/terror troops and just send them in the general direction of our enemies. Good thing about them is that they can be self replenishing and it will be incredibly hard to fully destroy them.
Give permanent enchantments to the girl: full shadow-step and an enchantment that calls for a dark dense cloud to hover over her and follow keeping the sun away forever or something similar.

In the morning we will announce that we took over the town and call up a portal in the town square, while Isrenow and the twins will keep guard when we do it. Then we will call our occupation force and start transferring valuables.

we need to learn more about Death and invoking from the brother

>>427968
>Samuel can invoke three tarots(that's the name of those fucking cards!) both in their Pure and Reversed states.
The hell does that actually mean? Okay, he invokes them, that's great. Nowhere in that explanation do I see the phrase "makes someone totally immune to magical attack". We need a practical summary of the useful effects and limitations here.

And what are the floaty lights? The limitations on their creation and use?

>I suppose I should go collect Isrenow again, at some point.
Well, that takes like ten seconds what with shadow stepping. Might as well do it now, and assure her that you geased them to your service and they will obey your will in all things if she's still freaking out.

After you retrieve her, get a summary of their history in this city, as well- apparently they took out a mage-lord? Let's hear their tale from start to finish, skipping over any excruciatingly boring parts.

Also, learn how many of the bat-men there are. There seem to be a lot, and that's worth knowing.

>And I still have to figure out a way to claim this city for myself. So... what's the plan?
Well, my current impression is that the people are so damn frightened, you could probably take over the city just by getting the twins to leave, declaring yourself to be in charge, and casually mentioning that if they don't like it the twins might come back. Wouldn't even have to station many troops here; the people will serve you willingly, for fear that you'll leave them unprotected from your servants.

>>428203
>Give permanent enchantments to the girl: full shadow-step and an enchantment that calls for a dark dense cloud to hover over her and follow keeping the sun away forever or something similar.
Giving her full shadow-step seems like a waste when she already has partial shadow-step. Some kind of darkness ability would be good, though. I'd also consider an earth-shaping ability, so that she can build shelter and transportation for her minions hidden away from the sunlight. Hopefully the geas will not nuke her ability to learn how to use enchantments; if it does, then don't bother with them since it'll be a waste.

UPDATE!!! Hated 2012/07/03(Tue)17:05 No. 428750 ID: a407a5
File 134136033592.jpg - (39.90KB , 200x250 , tarot-card-1.jpg )

>We need a practical summary of the useful effects and limitations here.
I ask about this, and I'm bombarded with with information by Samuel. I clearly look confused and annoyed, and I assume Maria picks up on this, as she interjects and summarizes everything.

In the case of tarot cards, invoking one of them brings their aspect into being in the material world, and allows a measure of their power to be used. The power and duration of invokation is dependent entirely on how many sparks one has invested into the invoking. In the particular case of Samuel invoking The Death earlier, he invoked it and called on it's representation of failure or bad luck. Samuel confirms this, and says he called on bad luck, which apparently caused me to miss what I was aiming. Just bad luck, really. Different invokations have different abilities or aspects they can work their magic on. As an example, they use The Death again. As a tarot, he can mean transformation, making way for the new, unexpected change, loss, failure, illness or death, bad luck while he's invoked in the Pure form, or stagnation, immobility, slow changes, a narrow escape, cheating death while invoked in the Reverse.

Other tarots have similar meanings, although the tarots themselves are unique in that respect. Most invokations will generally have only one ability, such as his Hunting Stone or the Flag of Command. Invoking itself isn't a difficult process, the pacts that need to be made in order to wield those invokations is a separate matter.

Samuel mentions that if I'd like to try, he has tarot cards I can use, and I can try invoking a tarot to see if I can fulfill the pact requirements.

>And what are the floaty lights? The limitations on their creation and use?
I don't even need to ask about that. I could do something similar easily. Especially the bound ones. It's like setting up an extra eye at a place. I mean... mine are a little more, uh... physical... then his(I assume they're his) but otherwise the same. Basically all they do is sit around and watch things. Don't even cost that many sparks to make, and almost none to maintain. Judging by the number of them, the probably take up a good amount of his available sparks for the day to keep them charged up, but otherwise nothing special. I also ask about the bat-men, and am given the number of 3500, roughly, although that was before I murdered who knows how many. They'll have to be recounted at some later date.

Then it's questions about how they came to be in charge of a whole city, especially one as apparently large as this one. They both start rattling off the story, and I filter out what I don't think is important while I drag the undead chick over to me and start weaving some enchantments. The geas shouldn't care about her using them, as long as they are in no way hindering her service to me or used in an attempt to go against me. Her brother twitches slightly as I start my work, but Maria waves him off, either not caring what happens to her or trusting in me more than she really should. Either way, I finish up just as they finish their story.

Apparently, they grew up somewhere near the coast, and it was discovered her brother had the gift for magic, and furthermore, a knack for invokations in particular. After a lot of events which I don't particularly feel like relating, they get to the bit where she ended up being murdered by some rival or something. Samuel invoked The Death Reversed and cheated Death(the god) and brought his sister back to life in undeath. This pissed off Death(the god), but he agreed to leave her alone in exchange for the soul of an immortal sacrificed in his name. Ass. They've been traveling for awhile, and eventually came here and found the city without it's mage-lord, so they decided to just take over.

I find the whole thing odd. They literally can't lie to me anymore, the geas I set up won't let them. So that means the mage-lord literally just up and left. Either he left because he was called by the king, or something very big happened and he was forced to leave. So either it's just one more person we'll have to blow through in order to get to the king himself, or something else is deciding to join this little game... either way, it shouldn't concern me directly at the moment.

Oh yeah, the enchanments. I decided since it seems likely this girl will serve in the capacity as some sort of body-guard servant thing(at least in so much as she can) that I gave her something to toughen her body up and that rock shaping thing. That should suffice for now. I don't exactly know what you mean by blocking out the sunlight, the stuff is everywhere during the day and I don't really understand how I'm supposed to stop it from reaching her. But that's something I can figure out later. For now, time to move on.

I take the opportunity to go retrieve Isrenow, and tell Maria to have her creatures stop terrorizing people and to converge here, at the town hall, till I can decide what exactly I'm going to have them do. I wake Isrenow in the process of dragging her back to the town hall and informing her of what happened. She seems somewhat relieved, although when we get back to the town hall she still places me between herself and the twins. The twins don't react at all, Samuel fidgeting in place and sweating a little, which I discover is because he went and retrieved his Major Arcana cards for me, if I wanted them, and Maria having seemingly decided her tattered clothing was unbefitting a servant and has since changed into a maid outfit retrieved from somewhere. I refuse to inquire about that further, as I get the feeling that will lead down very confusing and unwanted paths. Either way, I've now retrieved everywhere currently under my direct control, so, next step...

Whatever that turns out to be. We still have awhile till morning, and I don't exactly feel tired. Maybe I should try some of this invoking? Or should I figure out what to do with those bat-things and have them start doing it? I could also try digging through the mage-lords things to see what might have happened to him, but that might prove fruitless and a waste of ti- Wait... I have servants for that, don't I?

I tell Maria to get a move on and search the mage-lord's things for any clue as to where he might have gone, and she bows and leaves, heading off at a good pace. I get Isrenow to head off and help to, after spending a few minutes assuring her that Maria will not try to attack her for any reason, especially now that the geas is in full force.

That leaves Samuel. Since he's here...

"Hey you, explain to me what exactly I have to do for this invoking thing? I'm gonna see about trying it out."

Samuel jumps at being addressed, but quickly recovers and pulls out a random card from the little stack he has in his hands. "Um, first, you need a focus of some kind. For the Major Arcana of the Tarot, that would be a card representing their power. And not one of the cheap cards, the REAL magical cards. I have the full set here, minus the ones I use. Um... Then, you simply need to pour sparks into it and force your call into it, like your summoning, or, at least that what I'm told it feels like for true summons, I can do those... anyway, after that, the spirit of the invoked object, or in this case, of the Tarot will come forth and propose a pact, laying out the terms and conditions for completing and upholding this pact. Once the conditions have been met, you can invoke the spirit whenever you like, as long as you can provide the sparks for it. Um... so... if you want to try, which Tarot do you want to go for?"

I pause to consider this, not really being sure what the Tarots actually are, to be truthful... Well, let's get a description then. I get Samuel to give a brief description of each Tarot areas of influence, in both Pure and Reversed states, and then pause once again to consider my options... what do you voices think?

((Page being used for Tarots: http://www.themysticeye.com/info/tarotcardm.htm))

"The Devil" matches you already--it's too obvious a choice. Let's try "The Moon"--The "discovering deception before any damage is done" trait of the reversed Moon sounds especially useful.

>>428750
Since awakening, we've focused on conquest, leadership, making the world bow before us and amassing powers and followers so that we can bend it to our will.

Only one card really calls to that, and it's the Emperor. Learn to invoke the Emperor, and become the greatest Emperor with the world abased at your feet.

Mmm, power.

>>428769
I'd suggest The World Upright, actually.

"Completion, perfection, recognition, honors, the end result, success, fulfillment, triumph, eternal life "

>>428769
I agree with the Emperor. It is the role that Hated is on the path to take, and should be able to be used to fill in some of the gaps in his people skills. The reverse has some pretty darn good debuffs as well. We'll have to see what the pact conditions are first, obviously. Unless they are something totally simple.

As for the bat-things, have them gather up all of the corpses of their fellows, and pile them in the town square. If the pile is not suitably impressive, have the weaker/more animalistic ones slaughtered to add to it. You are going to make a speech and you need an appropriate backdrop.

Have all of the batmen hide in the manor, which is now yours and absolutely off limits to anyone who isn't Isrenow, the twins, or a batman.

Citizens will probably start coming out of hiding to see what is up after daybreak. You are going to wait in the town square, with the massive pile of corpses, until a decent number gather. Then, using your tongue enchantment, you are going to convince them the town now belongs to you, and that they should be grateful.

"People of Shadowmoor! Your nights are once again your own, I have freed you of the plague that afflicted you. Further, as of this declaration, you are free of the tyranny of Everfrost. For months you have been forced to cower in the dark, to fear that you may be taken next. And what has Everfrost done to help you? Nothing. For months they have been too cowardly or too inept to do what I have done in s single night. To protect their citizens as is their duty. A duty I will take up, if you will accept me as your Lord and protector. What say you, people of Shadowmoor? Will you take me as your Lord, my strength as your strength? Or are you content to cower in the darkness, fearing for your lives in your powerlessness? Tell me, people of Shadowmoor. Am. I. Your. King!?"

Not the greatest speech, but hopefully adequate with the magical assistance and giant pile of corpses behind you to act as testament to your power.

We already exemplify the Devil, I don't see us gaining much from a deal with that Tarot. We're also well on the path of the Emperor, and this is the Tarot that I think we should make a deal with. I see Emperor having better long term advantages than The World which seems to me to be very goal oriented, even if we do already exemplify Eternal Life.

Seems we have a consensus. The Emperor it is. I get Samuel to hand me the necessary card, then watch with amusement as the other mage dashes off, clearly not wanting to be near me if something goes wrong. I don't blame him, and don't really care what he decides to do at this point. I have better things to focus on.

Namely, the card in my hand. It's seem fairly unremarkable at first glance, a piece of paper that has a name and a picture on it. A rather well done picture on it. Said picture depicts a man, obviously an emperor, sitting on a throne. He carries a scepter in one hand, while his other hand is stretched outwards, a bowl overflowing with gold clutched in his grasp. The gold is literally pouring out of the sides of the bowl, and dropping below the man, to be caught by what I assume are supposed to be his subjects. Symbolism I'd guess, although I never was one to enjoy symbolism. Too much time wasted on trying to figure out the meaning.

I try flipping the card to its Reverse, and discover the image on the card has changed. The image remains much the same, an emperor sitting on a throne. This time, however, the scepter is replaced with a spiked mace, and the bowl overflows with blood instead of gold. The people below, instead of catching the gold coins from before, are drowned in the cascade of red, and I can't help but relish the idea. I've never tried a waterfall of blood before. Then I shake the idea from my thoughts. That isn't what I'm trying to fake. I'm trying to fake being the good guy. Or at least slightly better than everyone else. Well, might as well get started. I flip the card back to it's pure side, figuring that would be the better of the two aspects to deal with.

I draw in a deep breath, centering myself a moment, and then I begin to pour sparks into the card, calling out to the spirit it represents. Suddenly, I feel an immense pressure, not magical in nature exactly, but somehow very... ancient. There isn't any better way to describe the feeling, and I find myself blinking back tears as a blinding light strikes my eyes. Seconds later the light vanishes, and I find myself staring at the very Emperor depicted on the card. In one hand he holds that bowl, filled with gold, in the other, his scepter. He sits on a golden throne, and his crown is adorned with gems I've never seen before. For a moment, that feeling of ancient weight disappears, then it hits me full force, along with something else. It takes me a moment to decipher that feeling, that overwhelming presence, and then it hits me. I've only felt two others who could make me feel like this. That presence is the feeling of Command. Not the puny feeling that some mortal kings and queens give. A true Command, one that I have to fight whole-heartedly in order to stop myself from bending my knee in servitude to this thing. The Emperor regards me a moment, not bothering to even waste his time glancing at Samuel, then gives me a warm smile and nods his head in what I assume is satisfaction. Then he speaks.

You are a young King. A master of a single kingdom. You are not yet my equal. Become my equal. Become an Emperor, and I shall grant you my pact and my friendship.

The Emperor then vanishes in another flash of light, and that feeling disappears. Samuel struggles to his feet, clearly still feeling the influence of the things presence, and even I can feel my legs shaking from the release. Damn, that thing was strong. Stronger than I care to admit.

Samuel eventually rights himself completely and makes his way over to me, smiling weakly. "Ah... my lord? How was it, your first invoking?"

"Different from what I'm used to. That... the spirit. It isn't the same as a god or angel. There aren't any sparks in it." There weren't. I'm surprised, not at the absence of sparks, but that I didn't even notice until now. That thing was that powerful, and it didn't even have a single spark inside it. It was... simply there.

"None of the spirits do. Their influence extends in a different direction from true magic. Ah! Anyway, what would you like to try another, or do you have something else you wish to do?"

"No, I won't be trying another for a little while. I don't think I'm ready to face something like that again, not until I'm strong enough to resist that strength. Oh, your card..."

"Keep it, my lord. I don't think I'll ever be able to use The Emperor anyway. Um... what would you have me do, my lord?"

"... Go help your sister and Isrenow search the mage-lord's things. Tell your sister to have her minions drag all the dead bodies of their fellows to the town center and pile them up. I'm going to need a suitable backdrop..."

Samuel looks confused, but bows and does as he's told, disappearing off into the halls corridors. I pause to consider the card in my hand again, a little frustrated at what just happened. Some spirit is stronger than I am, and I can't stand it. Sparks! I NEED more sparks! I stand there grumbling to myself a little, then sigh and slide the card into a pocket. I head outside as my thoughts turn to the pact condition. What the hell is the difference between a King and an Emperor? I find a nice spot and think on this, even as the bat things start to fly around, dropping corpses into a slowly growing pile. A little time passes before I decide to take a nap, since I have nothing better to do with the night.

I'm woken up later, although by how much I'm not certain, by Isrenow, who's alone.

"Um... Vin-... Ha-... which should I be calling you?"

"Vincent should be fine, if you need to use a name. Why?" I'm slowly returning to the world of the waking, and I can't say I'm happy about being woken up rather roughly. But whatever, I suppose I need to look semi-awake for whatever's going on. I sit up from my position and try to rub some of the sleep from my eyes, glancing around and discovering a rather sizable mountain of dead bat things building up. Very nice.

"Er... I need to talk to you. About that Maria girl. It's... For some reason I don't like her, she makes me feel uncomfortable, and it's not that she's undead. It's... she feels like she's got two minds." Isrenow appears uncomfortable talking about it, and keeps fidgeting in place, but her words catch my interest.

"Two minds? What do you mean, two minds?"

"It's... I can't really explain it very well. I tried digging around in both their head's without them noticing, and I did. Samuel was fine, nothing really all that alarming. But Maria... she has two minds in her head. The mind that is Maria, you know, the actual girl, it's there. It's in control right now. It didn't even notice me digging around. But... there's another one, and it DID notice me. It got... really pissed to. I had to fight the thing a little, on my way out of it's mind. It had tried to set up some barriers to trap me there, and I busted through them but... those barriers weren't an apprentice's work. Whatever or whoever that mind is, they know what they're doing. Just... be careful around Maria, alright?"

I nod my agreement, hating that more issues seem to be piling on the more I stick to this king thing. At least with the murderous rampage my only real worry was everyone trying to kill me on sight. Either way, Isrenow seems to relax now that she's gotten that off her chest, and just in time, as Maria and Samuel arrive, Maria a roll of parchment in her hand.

"Here master. The list of everything I thought would be useful for from the mage-lord's things. Also, I hope I wasn't assuming to much, but I thought you'd prefer I wear something a little more servant like, what do you think?"

I take the roll of parchment, glancing over it and nodding a bit to myself. Some more of those spark-stone things, a few books here and there, but nothing really important. They did find a journal detailing some sort of research, but Maria and Samuel couldn't really understand what it was talking about. At Maria's mention of appearance I glance up at her, take in that she's wearing something a slave girl would wear, and decide it's good enough and I don't really care about what she wear.

"It's fine. Make sure to have all your minions get into the town hall before daybreak. That should provide you protection from the sunlight. Get yourself inside as well. I have things to do out here, we'll talk more later. Samuel, go take a gods damned nap already." Samuel is practically falling over from lack of sleep, and he nods wearily before heading off back inside the town hall. Maria stays close by, smiling a little to herself. Isrenow keeps me between her and the other girl, clearly still uncomfortable with the two minds thing. Which reminds me...

Suddenly, Maria jumps a little, then excuses herself quickly and dashes back inside the house. I frown in puzzlement a moment, then realize the reason just as a flash of sunlight lights up the courtyard. Sunrise. Seems this town didn't get as much mayhem and destruction as I thought. Boring. But we did get some new minions out of it, and hopefully we can take this town without too much trouble.

I wait with Isrenow in the courtyard for about thirty minutes before the first human arrives, gawking at the pile of corpses I sit next to. Over the next thirty minutes, more arrive as word spreads, and once it seems like I have a decent number I stand, turning my full attention on the crowd. This is going to turn out very well or very bad. Either one is a win in my book.

"People of Shadowmoor! Your nights are once again your own, I have freed you of the plague that afflicted you. Further, as of this declaration, you are free of the tyranny of Everfrost. For months you have been forced to cower in the dark, to fear that you may be taken next. And what has Everfrost done to help you? Nothing. For months they have been too cowardly or too inept to do what I have done in s single night. To protect their citizens as is their duty. A duty I will take up, if you will accept me as your Lord and protector. What say you, people of Shadowmoor? Will you take me as your Lord, my strength as your strength? Or are you content to cower in the darkness, fearing for your lives in your powerlessness? Tell me, people of Shadowmoor. Am. I. Your. King!?" There. Word for word. Isrenow at least seems to have taken a liking to it, but she's mind-fucking crazy, so her judgment is shot to hell. I keep my attention on the crowd, watching them. Most just stand there, but eventually I notice two that have pushed themselves to the front. Both seem to have rather divided opinions. Effectively, it's "Join the new guy, he actually helped us!" or "Stick with Everfrost, we've been loyal for years, and everything always turned out all right in the end". I glance between the two, and watch as the crowd starts to take sides. I can't stand this. I retreat a little, willing to let them figure it out, while I contemplate the various issues and wait for help from you lot.

We've got a lot of issues on our plate it seems, and many things to consider. What's your opinions on all this?

Leave the townspeople to figure out where their loyalties lie. I doubt they'd attack you now, and neutrality is actually probably the second best alternative to submission. We can move on now to the next town when the night falls, with Isrenow, Maria and the vampires, see how the vampires actually handle against human enemies. Try to capture enemies for Maria to convert, too, if you feel up to it.

You should Gate Samuel to the Barbarian camp since I think he'd be a bit squishy for combat, but if you think he can handle it, you can take him with you too. Otherwise, get him to mingling with your Shamans and teaching your apprentice, maybe get a few of them to invoke some tarots, especially High Priestess, Judgment and Magician.

While we wait for nightfall, we should probably Gate to the barbarian camp, and get as many sparks as we can, try to replenish our stock a bit. Take as much as you can from Isrenow and Samuel now, too.

Sounds like a fair plan of action.

Something that might prevent Sunlight from touching Maria is making an enchantment that cloaks her in her own shadow, which could perhaps be part of a toughness body enchantment if you can perhaps link that to the futility of punching a shadow.

Anyway, I think you should ask Samuel about the lesser Arcana. Upright Seven of Wands is a decent match for someone who enjoys conflict and regularly comes out on top.

It does not matter what they decide, we are taking over the city one way or another. We are going to make a portal gate anyway, so make it right now while they are arguing. Then, in middle of their debate, call a small occupation force and have them fortify their positions in key areas and have them patroll. Also, we are going to move valuables and loot back home.
Basically we are going to have good old American democracy: "you are free to choose whatever we say you to choose." The townsfolk here really do not have any say in the matter and I do not want to have a stupid civil war here. We have soldiers who can take up scores of regular footmen, let alone peasant militia.

Calling up a gatr in middle of the town will also be suitably impressive that it might throw the majority vote to choosing you as a king.

Later, I suggest resupplying sparks with our shamen and Isrenow. You used up a lot the past few days.

I think another speech will sway them, perhaps not to join you, but to be a lot happier when you eventually take control. Give them a bit to discuss things and then approach them.

"I understand that many of you are loyal to Everfrost and wish to remain under its rule. That's good, as a King I respect and value loyalty. But not blind loyalty. A nation -a ruler- must deserve that loyalty. Open your eyes and take a good look at Everfrost. It is a dying nation, long past its glory days, ineffectually ruled, and facing dangers on all sides, as well as from within. Mage-lords are going rogue, or simply disappearing. Marfolso, Mage-Lord of Rivercross kidnapped my wife and enslaved her mind with magic, forcing her to believe him her mother. Her mother! Luckily, I managed to rescue her, but are those the actions of Everfrost? Is that the kind of person you support? The kind of perversity you support? That a monarch worthy of your loyalty allows to happen? Worse still, Everfrost is raided by sea to the east and faces increasing tension with the elves to the west. All while the royal family does nothing. I don't know if they can't solve these problems, or they simply don't care, but in either case they are undeserving of the throne. So I'm taking it. Your options are simple. Side with me now and I provide you with military protection immediately, in return for token material support, or you can wait until I have seized the throne to serve me. I don't particularly care which option you choose. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure you have a lot to discuss. Oh, I'm taking the Mage-Lord's place regardless."

You can spend some time looking over that research journal, you might actually understand it. Place some wards on the mansion to keep out unwanted visitors. Make a couple more of those communication rings that you use to contact your generals, or something very similar, and leave them in the care of those two civilians who seem to be leading the discussion on whether to join you. Assuming they don't decide before we choose to leave, we can contact them to discover the conclusion they reach later. When we feel like it.

I guess pushing the locals a little more to siding with me would help. Let's just get the tongue enchantment fired up again and get this over with.

""I understand that many of you are loyal to Everfrost and wish to remain under its rule. That's good, as a King I respect and value loyalty. But not blind loyalty. A nation -a ruler- must deserve that loyalty. Open your eyes and take a good look at Everfrost. It is a dying nation, long past its glory days, ineffectually ruled, and facing dangers on all sides, as well as from within. Mage-lords are going rogue, or simply disappearing. Marfolso, Mage-Lord of Rivercross kidnapped my wife and enslaved her mind with magic, forcing her to believe him her mother. Her mother! Luckily, I managed to rescue her, but are those the actions of Everfrost? Is that the kind of person you support? The kind of perversity you support? That a monarch worthy of your loyalty allows to happen? Worse still, Everfrost is raided by sea to the east and faces increasing tension with the elves to the west. All while the royal family does nothing. I don't know if they can't solve these problems, or they simply don't care, but in either case they are undeserving of the throne. So I'm taking it. Your options are simple. Side with me now and I provide you with military protection immediately, in return for token material support, or you can wait until I have seized the throne to serve me. I don't particularly care which option you choose. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure you have a lot to discuss. Oh, I'm taking the Mage-Lord's place regardless."

There. I take a moment to survey the group, and they seem reasonably more uncertain about siding with Everfrost, even the guy who said they should. Well, whatever, that should at least sway it a bit more in my favor. That gate thing isn't a bad idea either, just got to remember to add more sparks than last time...

I flick my hand irritably at the pile of corpses and they vanish into the air, I having flung them upwards by forcing air under them and tossing. There, that clears the courtyard. I kneel and set up the anchor, then, making sure to add in at least double the sparks I did last time, I rip a whole in reality, placing the other end in Rivercross. I nod to myself, even as a few barbarian warriors wander through to my side catiously, then notice me and hurry over, eager for instruction. I give them the basics, hunt around and see if they can find anything we might want, but to avoid killing or hurting people. This place is already mine, we don't need to be killing the minions. The warriors nod and get to work, bringing more of their fellows through in order to help. Isrenow goes back to her usual self, annoying and relatively unhelpful, but I get her to hand over her sparks and feel a rush as I get a reasonable recharge out of it. I'll have to gather shamans together and eat my fill from them as well. That's something for later however, I make sure to get those wards placed around the mansion, keeping even my own warriors away from it, and give instructions for Maria and her little bat-things to go through the portal sometime tonight, and to find me once she's on the other side for instructions. Samuel I take with me, and I head back to Rivercross using my little gateway, finding the place already working towards clearing away debris. I get hateful glances from pretty much everybody native to Rivercross, but I could give a shit.

>>430025
Eeeh... that shadow idea isn't very practical. I don't know what happens if she really is caught by sunlight, and she doesn't seem to know either, but... well, the problem mostly is that shadows, while capable of being manipulated like that, are created by something blocking sunlight. By their nature, sunlight creates shadows, and therefore a shadow can't block sunlight. It makes no sense.

As for the minor arcana, I ask Samuel and receive a quick response. The Minor Arcana are not invokable. They don't have a spiritual manifestation like the Major Arcana do, so they literally are for nothing more than predicting the future and such things. That doesn't mean they don't have any power, you just can't invoke it in the same way as the Major.

That out of the way, I gather the shamans together and introduce them to Samuel, as well as the idea of invoking. Samuel says he'll try to find anyone among them who has the knack for it, but other than that, he can't promise anything. I also take the time to grab a few of the female shamans and explain to them our newest patron goddess. They seem reluctant to help me, mostly out of unease and fear of how Tirfuldin will react, so I tell them that I'll talk to the god of the barbarians about it. In the meantime, I instruct them to at least introduce the idea of a fertility goddess into whatever rituals they need to. They agree, more eagerly after I tell them that the goddess helped Nina get pregnant. That should help steer that along.

Speaking of Nina... where in the Pit did she get off to? I spend a few minutes searching around, then give up and ask one of the warriors. I get told she returned to the Endless Plains to talk with her mother and father and prepare some things that will be necessary for certain rituals, and that she asked that I wait until her return before heading out with the army towards Whitemarsh. I nod at the message, then start off again, this time towards what amounts as my headquarters and sleeping tent. Isrenow has been following me all this time, and upon noting that Nina isn't around and all the cooking supplies are, she gets it into her head that she's going to try her hand at cooking. I withhold commenting, uninterested for the most part and not very picky in what I eat, in favor of getting someone to find me that research journal and bring it to me.

It takes a few minutes, but I eventually get my hands on it, and I begin paging through it. For the most part, it seems to be little more than notes on various projects, both completed and failed. None are all that interesting. What does catch my attention is the last few entries, all of which mention finding evidence of beings that predate the gods of today. Not surprising, gods and concepts change all the time, but the exact thing this references seems to be something more like balancing forces or opposing sides. The notes are scribbled and scattered about, and the pages are messy to begin with, ut if I'm reading this correctly it has something to do with the demons and angels and the roles they play in the world. There isn't much more than that, besides a roughly drawn map and a scrawled note on the last pages, saying that "the information must reach her. Must reach the my mistress...".

It doesn't make much sense, but either way, I don't feel like sticking my nose into this, especially because the location mentioned is in the dead zone. Nobody goes into the dead zone. Me especially. I've learned that place isn't something anyone messes with. Not even the gods go near the place...

Either way, that seems to be the end of it. The book wasn't really all that useful aside from that, although if this mage-lord was serving someone other than the royal family of Everfrost, I wonder why his geas didn't go off?

Ah well, whatever. For now, I think it's time for sleep. Oh, and eating I gue-

..."Isrenow..."

"...Yeah?"

"What is this?"

"Um... breakfast?"

"Is that a question?"

"No... uh... It's breakfast!"

"... Whatever." It looks more like charcoal, but I've eaten charcoal before and it's not that bad once you get used to it. I shove whatever it actually is into my mouth quickly and prepare myself for sleep. Isrenow wastes no time in noticing my actions and immediately strips down to the bare minimum for sleep, and I simply fall into bed and go to sleep. I don't feel like arguing with her, and I've already let her sleep in my bed and I couldn't care what she does at the moment.

((Next half to come later tonight))

You should probably inform us of what you know about the Dead zone. Although it may not happen for quite some time, I suspect we will have to deal with it in some manner or other.

Ideally, it'll be when you have millions or even billions of Sparks, but I doubt you will be lucky enough to have things wait that long.

I could feel it. Something was calling me. Something was calling me. I needed to answer it, but my mouth wouldn't work. I needed to reach it. I found myself stumbling down a hallway, searching desperately, but I couldn't seem to find my way. I couldn't seem to find where I was supposed to go. Something called to me. Something was... it's calling to me. I had to answer. I had to respond. But its voice, its voice was so chaotic, so disorganized. I couldn't fix it into one location. I couldn't respond. Why? Why wouldn't my mouth move? Why couldn't I speak? Why couldn't my voice reach?

Then, I felt it again, after years and years. Something had taken the call away, but it was back again. But it wasn't as chaotic. Wasn't as uncertain and difficult to pinpoint. I could find it. I could reach it. And I Spoke for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. I Spoke, and I was Heard. The call could Listen. I couldn't contain my excitement.

But something else calls now. Something else calls. This call I'm with... it's still so chaotic, so difficult. It does not listen to everything I say. Will not do everything I say. So... chaotic. This new call... it feels organized. Almost painfully organized. I could go to it. I could Speak, and it might Listen. It might Hear me.

What should I do? Should I go? Should I answer this new call?

yeah sure, pick up the phone and see who's calling

Answer the call and demand to know who is calling. Be as rude as possible.

Since the only way to learn more is to go, do so.

This sounds like a character swap. Hated is in an alright place and we've set some goals for him. He'll probably fuck everything up, but at least he'll do it entertainingly. So sure, let's answer this new call.

I respond. I Speak. I Speak, and I am Heard.

Mind Traits:
-This new mind is unlike Hated's in the way it feels. Hated's is filled with a sort of unorganized chaotic mess loosely arranged into something tangible. This allows easy access to any information that Hated has. This mind, on the other hand, is very heavily controlled and segmented. Obtaining information will have to be directly obtained from the mind, instead of just looking at whatever you want.
-This Mind is very old. Older than Hated, although by how much you can't tell. At the same time, this Mind is incredibly active, more so even than Hated's. It seems to be constantly watching and analyzing everything, or at least attempting to.

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

...n't unders-

....ve to find it.

Wha... no... eems unhel...

DAMN IT ALL TO THE PIT! This damned body is unhelpful and unresponsive! I can't do ANYTHING useful in this situation! Why? Why in the Pit did I decide to do this the hard way? Heavens forbid that I actually get any closer to my goal.

I can't even sigh properly. I can only think about sighing, and that isn't even the same thing. Useless bodies... chaotic mess of useless flesh. Most Ordered magical requirement my...

... And who, might I ask, are you? Your clearly not from this body I'm inhabiting at the moment, and currently not in control of, and your definitely not my thoughts. So I suppose I should ask the most obvious question.

Why shouldn't I cause you to cease existing? I do hope you have a proper answer, because I really don't feel like wasting my time ripping whatever shreds of consciousness you have into little tiny bits, or something equally unpleasant.

>>432362
>why shouldn't I
>waste my time
It seems that you've answered your own question, there.

>implying

Seems like you've got problems of the corporeal nature there, chum. Just so happens we are very powerful outside of this mind field. And while you probably could rip and tear our brainbox to shreds, that wouldn't exactly help you out with your problem, would it? So how about we talk about what you've got bothering you, and how much it would be worth to you to get some extra muscle thrown at the issue, and we'll see if help can be had, okay? If not, no harm done, we'll go our separate ways.

Otherwise, you and I could fight, but I doubt you'd be able to focus on your problem during that time, and that you would come out unscathed. Just a thought.

>>432362
Because you have about as much chance of causing us to cease existing as an ant does a god. We exist on an entirely different plane where we cannot reach you and you cannot reach us. All we can do is talk, so talk as much as you wish, but you'll accomplish naught.

>>432384
>>432386
Hm. You've made your point. Or at least given me enough doubt that I could harm you that I'm not going to bother trying. And since you seem at least open to the idea of helping me, although the how of it eludes me, I see no reason why I shouldn't relieve my stress a little by talking to you. But as with all conversations, we begin with introductions.

I am called TB-

Ah, I forget that doesn't translate well... hm... how very annoying. How to translate to the common tongue... I believe it is something resembling Tabi. Made from the words TCA, or Tacisa meaning Princess, and BLR, or Biliro meaning Betray. I am the first of two remaining survivors of my destroyed home, and was the last to sit on the throne. That should suffice for an introduction.

As for my problem, my problem is that this body is currently disobeying me. Whatever happened, it appears I couldn't completely overwhelm the mind of this girl, and in the meantime, I'm stuck here, floating in a void and trying to figure out a way to wrestle control back without damaging anything. I also need to get my hands that journal the mage-lord from Shadowmoor had. It contains information regarding... well, information I desire. It would be helpful if you could determine how I might do this.

Now then, I don't suppose you all have a name you go by? It will be much more helpful than simply referring to you all as... well, you all.

>>432399
>I don't suppose you all have a name you go by?
Given that we are distinct entities with our own individual names, no. You can refer to us collectively as you please.

Please go over your potential abilities. How did you get into this position in the first place, and what made you think that you would be able to seize control of this body? We need more data on the situation to offer useful advice.

Well, there is a way to find names for us quickly, but sometimes they change even when describing the same entity. Allow me to give an example: I can currently be known as Green Lucky Breeze, but have also been called Silver Song, Orange Snow Fluff, and many other names. The entity indicated here >>432401 is currently displaying the name of Royal Sandy Bubbles (or if you prefer the unpronounceable names, 431fa8; and you may call me 4a328b)

Can you detect the names I speak of?

>>432562
And I'm Love Island, Sarda, or fa9f7e.

Inform us as to why you have not taken control over her body. We need info on the source of your problem.

>>432618
Purple Spirit Breeze (4dc3a0) has a good point. It may also be helpful for us to know the name of the body's original owner.

>>432562
>>432590
Hm. At the least I can refer to you as something. I think collectively I shall call you VGH. Voice. Or perhaps WTJ, Advice. I have not decided yet. Either way, I thank you for the introduction. One must always follow proper etiquette when talking with others.

>potential abilities
I'm a master at Mind magic, as well as being reasonable at Order abilities. What are they calling it... Chi? Ki? Can't remember off the top of my head, it's been centuries since I last was on the mortal plane. I have the ability to possess a mortal body and make it my own, and when I am in complete control of a body, I can manifest angelic wings. Which raises that next topic, of me being essentially an angel. Not really, but when it comes down to it, I count as an angel in the grand scheme of things.

>How did you get into this position in the first place
I needed a body to posses. For some reason, the current body I inhabit connected briefly to the angelic realm, so I took the opportunity presented to me. I didn't have the time to be picky about my options, with the changes occurring on this plane, it isn't long before the angels decide to actively influence the world. As for why I thought I could, because this mind is weak. Or should have been weak. Something has strengthened it considerably, so I can't just force the stupid girl to go away. Either I'll have to convince her to give me control over her body, I have to force her somehow to go away, or I'll have to find another body to jump into.

>>432653
Isenrow? She's also a master of Mind magic, so she might be difficult to subsume, but it'd solve a lot of problems if we did

Oh, I like the sound of WTJ. Try convincing her to let you use the body, first. Willing cooperation is preferred. Perhaps if you can offer an advancement towards her own goals as you work towards your own she will be willing to hand over control.

Please elaborate on what you mean by "not really an angel," if it's not too much trouble.

... Can we stick her into Hated's unborn baby?
I can't help but think that an immortal angel baby is awesome.

>>432658
But would TB be willing to wait for the body to be able to DO things is the question, isn't it? Unborn baby's gotta be born, and then develop muscles to crawl, and so on.

it's not Isrenow
It's Maria, the vampire chick

>>432668
I know, was suggesting Isenrow for the stick angel in different body thing

>>432658
... VML? You've met VML? Hmm... The only scenarios this works in is either WTJ going to his prison or VML escaping... either is not best of scenarios...

Furthermore, what's this about a child? I do not believe VML has the ability to produce children, nor would he have the desire to do so. Unless something has changed drastically... WTJ, you will tell me everything you know regarding VML since you've met him. It seems I'm an running behind when it comes to information.

As for possessing this child... I do not have the time to wait for years. My time frame is limited, more so if VML is free...

>>432654
Subsuming a Mind magic expert is not something I wish to attempt. I may be at the top of my chosen field of magic, but mind magic duels are... difficult... unless you happen to catch them by surprise. Besides, I would need to transfer my soul as well, and we would need a mage for that. And a summoning circle.

>>432656
I am not a born angel. I was later granted... how to put it... angelic essence when I struck a deal with an Arch-Angel. The particulars of the deal don't really matter, nor do they concern you, but suffice it to say I'm effectively immortal, which is all I wanted out of it. So, unlike an angel, which is an actual angel, you might say I'm a human with the soul of an angel... or something like that. It is every hard to describe through this limited language. If I could use my native tongue, this would work a lot better.

As for diplomacy... well, I would much rather not reveal my presence, but if I must, I must.

"You are called Maria. I would speak with you."

I can feel the other mind jump in surprise, then the hesitant response.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"I am in your mind. You thoughts. Your soul. I apologize for that. Truly I do. But I require the use of your body until I can find myself a new one to inhabit. I promise I will do nothing but the intended task of finding a new host."

I can feel the other mind's hesitation and uncertainty. The geas attached to it is also pulsing slightly, getting in the way of my efforts. "I... I think I should consult with master about this..."

"I'm afraid I do not have the time to wait so your master can debate it. I swear to you by the Birthplace that I will not harm you, or get in the way of you serving you duties. I simply need to find a new host."

There's a long pause, and then a sort of resolution. "What do I get for helping you out?"

"A single favor of equivalent value to saving my life.

The other mind pauses to consider this, I can feel her mind working over the issue... and leaving itself vulnerable. She still seems uncertain at best, but I could easily say something else to help tip the balance in my favor, or with her current distraction, I could simply force her mind down and take control temporarily.

>>432677
>WTJ, you will tell me everything you know regarding VML since you've met him.
If you tell us everything you know regarding VML prior to our meeting him, sure.

>She still seems uncertain at best, but I could easily say something else to help tip the balance in my favor, or with her current distraction, I could simply force her mind down and take control temporarily.
Brute-forcing it seems risky unless your 'temporary' is sure to last long enough for you to get a new host. Better stick with persuasion.

Given that she seems very concerned about her master and there's a geas involved, pointing out that she can use the favor on her master's behalf and it would likely please him if she were to acquire such a thing would probably tip the scales.

You may, in fact, wish to allow her to speak with her master first--if for no other reason than to meet him. I think you may learn quite a bit from that encounter.

>>432681
Ah--but don't tip him off that you're angelic. Just a word of advice.

>>432677
Hated made a political marriage to get an army. Wife was useful and wanted children. Hated made a deal with a fertility goddess for the ability to have children- have sex in one specific spot sacred to her and get the ability to procreate. It can be turned off at will, as can his lust.

I'd recommend against pushing Maria out of the body even if you could do it permanently. It's currently got some very specific things going on with it that lets it cling to life, and I think you would not want to be the one made to put up a payment for that. Especially since you claim to be immortal, so technically the payment could be your life.

Also, I'm pretty sure Maria's Master has the ability to bind you into a new body. He's also already got a summoning circle. Of course, you'd have to make it worth his while, but I doubt you'd object since it would mean you get to keep close eyes on Hated's actions through him and perhaps even influence them through him in the way you want...

What information from the journal of the Mage Lord of Shadowmoor do you need? It just so happens that we've skimmed through it, and might be willing and able to tell you, or at least find out for you since we know who has it and we can discuss things with him...

What country's throne did you hold?

What does VML mean? Hated?

And last, and most importantly... what are your goals on this earth?

>>432677
Hated has changed quite a bit in the time we talked to him. We seem to have some influence over him. He still likes to kill everything, mind you, but he can restrain himself. I am sure he would find (or create) both body and mage for you, if you became his ally. Current goals are to kill the descendants of those who imprisoned him and (although he does not know this) to become more reasonable and less bloodthirsty.

>>432740
Jeez Coconut Wonder way to be subtle here.

Hm. WTJ seems to imply that VML is this girl's master. I have no desire to meet VML, at least not yet. He is not very fond of me, I must admit, although I do not think he would actually do anything to me. I have certain... things... in place to prevent that. Either way, meeting with him is not something I wish to do at this time.

>>432699
Hmm... this is both worrying and somewhat joyful. I suppose I will have to meet this wife of his before I leave. I profess a certain interest in the matter. Political marriage or not, VML is not someone who does things he does not want to do, whether he realizes it or not.

>What information from the journal of the Mage Lord of Shadowmoor do you need?
The location of a particular structure. The last location I need, to speak truthfully. I have already discovered the locations of everything else necessary to complete my objective.

>What country's throne did you hold?
The name is no longer important. Suffice it to say that it was once great, then it was betrayed, it had it's people slaughtered, and I alone was left to live. Myself and one other, I suppose.

>What does VML mean? Hated?
VML means chaos. It is pronounced Vamili. It is the one you called Hated's first name. I do not know his second, or I would be referring to him in the proper manner.

>And last, and most importantly... what are your goals on this earth?
Oh? I should tell you why? I do not need to give out everything of myself. Suffice it to say that I seek to protect VML and his interests. More immediately, I am searching for particular objects and structures for that purpose. Once I have found the location of every piece of my puzzle, I will begin working towards my goals more actively. Is that sufficient enough for you?

>>432740
Hm... So his normal routine then. Good, my plans don't have to be sped up at all, it seems. Still, that information is hardly sufficient to make any concrete decisions.

>>432679
Heh. You are more cautious. Fine then. I propose a question for a question. This continues until one does not feel like answering. As the proposer of the deal, I am required to allow you to ask yours first. Ask you if would agree to this.

Regarding your suggestion however...

"You could just as easily use that favor on behalf of your master, and it would likely please him if you were to do so..."

That seems to settle the girl's mind, and she gives her enthusiastic agreement to my deal. Moments later, I am once again in contact with the outside world.

I glance around once I've oriented myself, and find my surroundings to be those of a barbarian encampment, set up suspiciously in the center of a town, with it being sometime in the middle of the night. I frown to myself in confusion, but banish the thoughts quickly when I discover something even more troubling. Two gateways have been opened right in the center of the town. This is... very troubling. Someone is ripping holes in space and time. If too many get opened... no, that would take a vast amount, it should be fine. In the meantime, I need to find a host, preferably female. I hate taking male hosts, their bodies always feel strange and uncomfortable. I set off into the night, the few people still awake at this hour not really paying me much attention. That suits me, as I do not particularly feel like explaining myself.

I reach out with my mind, searching for a suitable host amidst the city. Finding one is little issue, women are everywhere, but finding one I desire to use is more difficult. They have to be beautiful enough to warrant my attention, as the way I get what I want relies heavily upon persuasion. Eventually, I pick out a few which might be of sufficient quality, and mentally "persuade" them to join me in an empty house. It takes a few minutes for each to arrive, but unlike VML, I have far more patience for waiting.

Each arrives without issue however, and I view each as they stand, there, minds addled and convinced they should be there.

The first is perhaps 31 or 32 years of age, tall, perhaps as tall as most men, and one of the barbarian folk. Her hair is a dirty blonde, figure extremely curvy in all the right places men tend to look, but I doubt she is unmarried, given the barbarian way of doing things.

The second is one of the women from this town, her age similar to the one before her. Her hair is more of a brown color, of average height, and while not particularly beautiful in comparison to her barbarian counter-part, she is still likely to turn heads.

The third is barely of age, perhaps seeing 17 or 18 years. I frown at this, but decide against sending her away based on this. Her face is pretty, and while not likely to attract any attention from men for her sexual appeal, it might be worthwhile to inhabit a younger form. People tend to forget that the young are around them, and might not expect certain... abilities... to come from one so young.

The fourth and last is somewhere in her mid 20's and is once again a barbarian woman. She, however, has darker brown hair, and seems to be the most sexually appealing of the four. If I did need to seduce someone, she would be the best option. She's also the closest in appearance to what I actually look like, although she is somewhat taller than me.

...Hm, if I try deciding this one my own it could take all night. I am not ashamed to say I am both vain and picky when it comes to my appearance. WTJ, I leave the decision of my host up to you.

>>432999
The third. Mimicking your appearance too closely might alert Vamili, as he's quite intelligent when he bothers to think with his brain instead of his muscles. Especially with his enhancements. The third already met your criteria, or you wouldn't have called her, and the first two would, as you said, draw too much attention.

Now, one other survivor? Would that be Vamili, or someone else?

>>433002
I second the third, and the taking of the deal. Personally though, I would prefer to know what your plans are here, and in particular if they have something to do with the purpose of angels and demons, but if the majority do go with who the second person who survived was, we don't just tell us his or her name, we want more details than that. We're very, VERY curious about you, Tabi, and look forward to having a mutually beneficial relationship.

In return, could we perhaps interest you in where we think your next destination should be? You might not like it, though.

>>432999
>I propose a question for a question. ... Ask you if would agree to this.
Very well. What is the nature of your relationship, if any, with VML? I will attempt to match my answer to the level of detail that yours provides.

>WTJ, I leave the decision of my host up to you.
Prior to making this decision, some basic precautions are in order. Determine the names of the potential hosts and their positions in society- I assume that some level of subtlety is desired here, so anyone who is either of significant personal status or related/married/closely tied to someone of significant personal status should probably be discarded as a viable option. We don't need that sort of trouble. Of course, the bar for "significant personal status" can be set as high or low as you feel safe setting it, depending upon your planned methods and goals. Given the recent upset in this town- assuming that matters are as I recall- the personal status of any town native is likely to be nil for our purposes here.

Assuming that all remain contenders, the fourth choice seems most in line with your described methods and needs. Your concern for beauty in a host rather than seeking out one who is bland and unremarkable implies that subtlety is unimportant relative to attractiveness, so there is little reason not to maximize that criteria. I assume while making this recommendation that "closest in appearance to what I actually look like" does not by any stretch imply that she could potentially be recognized as you by someone familiar with your appearance, as that coincidence would stretch credulity.

the one you posses better not be Nina

Yeah. Be careful to check each one for relations to our primary host. He would not react well to something being taken from him.

Hey

TB

Hey

Why don't you want to see VML~?

>>433149
Allow me to... think on this question. It is a very important piece of information your asking for, and I have doubts about just handing it out. For now, I'll answer one of the others questions.

Regarding the fourth... there are very few mortals who know what I look like anymore. VML might be one of them, but... it has been a very long time, and he tends not to remember things he finds uninteresting. My appearance was one of those things defined as uninteresting. At least... I believe it was. Hm... I do not remember him ever taking an interest in how I looked. I suppose it does not matter.

>>433600
Who? Who is Nina, and why would I want her as my host?

>>433732
Personal reasons. And we did not exactly part ways under happy circumstances last time we met, although that was ages ago...

>Now, one other survivor? Would that be Vamili, or someone else? we want more details than that.
Hm. VML is the other survivor, albeit indirectly. There are certain circumstances that have to do with that, which I would rather not talk about at this time. It's partly my fault, I suppose, but I at least, am trying to make up for my mistakes...

Regardless, it seems the general consensus for my host is the youngest girl, so I order the others to forget this ever happened and return to wherever they came from. That settles that. Now, to find a mage. I cast my mental net out again and drag the first mage I can find to me, and find it to be some child barely old enough to know what's going on. He's rubbing sleep from his eyes, and I frown, but he will do. He's has enough potential to do what is necessary. Now then, I need to draw the circle.

I step away from the two and glare at the floor. The boards aren't the ideal thing to be applying a summoning circle to, but they will have to do. Hard stone, or even a nice silver plate would work better, but... One works with what they have. I sweep my hand across the floor, a slight smile appearing on my face. To me, this is something that no one else can take away. Creation has always been something I was good at, manipulating the essence of the world around me into the shape I desire. I watch with satisfaction as the summoning circle takes form, the various sigils, runes and patterns forming on the ground in front of me. I pause as they finish, reviewing the carefully made circle, and fixing mistakes here and there. Once I'm done with that, I direct the the new host to stand at the center of the circle, and myself into a circle along the outer ring. The boy goes there and...

"Begin."

The instructions hit the boy like a fireball to the face, but he quickly recovers and starts to pour sparks into it. I mentally guide him through the necessary actions, then feel my mind and soul get pulled away from my current host and overlaid into the new one. The transfer is jarring to put it lightly, as I feel like I have just been stretched in all the wrong ways, but I quickly get used to the new viewpoint and stretch my newly acquired limbs.

"Hm. Better than I expected. Although this body is limited in the physical aspects, I never had much use for direct confrontation anyway. Perhaps the best route to use would be the mysterious young prophet... yes. That seems the best course of action. Avoiding VML would likely be in my best interest as well, although I will have to slow him down as much as I can. If he gets too many... well, best not to consider that option."

By this time, the girl, Maria correct? Maria has roused herself from her own disorentation, and glnaces around. "Master Tongues? What is he doing here?"

"Is that the boy's name? He was of use to me. He can return to what he was doing previously." The command is laced with Mind magic, and the boy wanders away, mind still thoroughly addled. Then I turn my full attention on the girl. "Now then, I suppose you have a favor to ask of me. Will you be using it now, or keeping it for later?

Maria starts slightly, then frowns in thought before nodding her head in decision. "Later. I can't think of how it'll be of any use to master now."

"Alright. If you have need of your favor, simply think loudly. I'll come as soon as I can." I leave at that point, temporarily knocking the girl unconscious. That should help with the mysterious girl theme I'm going for. In the meantime...

WTJ, where can I find this wife of VML's? I am interested, and want to see who it is.

Which brings me two questions for two, hm? I answered two of yours, and in exchange, I have asked who Nina is and where VML's wife is. Please answer to the best of your ability.

Nina is Vamili's wife. Last I heard of her, she was talking to her parents on the Endless Plains.

>>433735
Yup. Third daughter of Urthan, former chief of the Bearclaw. She's becoming a far better manager of people than VML himself ever will be, in my opinion. She should be somewhere at the end of those holes in time and space--the one that ends in the barbarian homeland.

>>433733
>I answered two of yours ... Please answer to the best of your ability.
Tch. Cherry-picking the least sensitive questions and answering even those with virtually no detail hardly warrants answering to the best of our ability. We would be entirely justified in giving you minimalistic answers which show so little of the true scope of things as to be deceptive.

>>433755
Come now, it's not like most of us wouldn't do exactly the same thing when it comes to spilling our most guarded secrets... but yes, the fact that some of us DO answer everything does give you an unfair advantage. How about this, for every three questions you answer, we'll answer two completely to the best of ALL of our abilities? Feel free to suggest any other kind of redistribution, however I do feel that you are getting more than you are giving, no matter what. Especially since there is not much you'd probably want to trade out or trade for.

Since you're a mortal who got raised to angelhood, who did that for you? Who are you currently working for? And even if you aren't going to tell us what you're working on, please tell us how much it will affect the lands near here.

I would be interested in hearing just what consequences you are attempting to shield VML from, how those consequences are to come to be, and exactly how you plan to do spare him them. But I doubt you are willing to give me proper answers, so don't bother.

Really though, without knowing your goals, and your preferred methods of achieving them, we are rather severely limited in our ability to provide you with advice and relevant information. It is in your best interest to be forthright. Hell, even if you are planning on betraying our trust and simply using us, the more competent of us will be far more useful to you in the meantime the further you can manage to foster our trust.

A Meeting Hated 2012/07/17(Tue)17:47 No. 433976 ID: a407a5
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>>433813
It is quite simple as to why I don't wish to discuss this. You have already said you have talked to VML. I see nothing that will stop you from running off and telling him immediately upon leaving me. But as a show of goodwill, I will tell you, just to prove you wrong, if nothing else.

I am attempting to shield him from death via magical rift in space-time slowly growing in his soul. A rift I helped place. If you cannot guess what directly causes the growth of said rift, then you have worse magical knowledge than I thought.

>>433798
You are WTJ are you not? Advice? You give advice, and I take it. regardless, the two questions you've asked were already answered, if indirectly. The Arch-Angel who raised me to angel-hood is the same as every other Arch-Angel, an... what is that word... asshole. They are all assholes. And boring beyond belief when you talk to them. Order this and Order that. It is tiring in its own way. As for who I work for, technically I work for the angels. Literally, I work for myself, and siding with the angels just happens to work out best for me.

>>433755
You are correct. You are entirely justified in giving me no answer at all for my own non-answers. Unfortunately for you, you the ones stuck in my head, not the other way around. Besides, neither of us have a method to ensure the other isn't lying, and I haven't asked anything I think is highly sensitive anyway. Like how in the Pit you all managed to get into my head, or why it seems like VML has not succumbed to his chaotic essence and ripped everyone and everything within a ten miles into little bits.

... Which I suppose you all know nothing about. Fine, I will attempt to give you a warning, take it as you will. There is a reason VML does not usually go around making empires on a whim, and that is because it goes against his nature. Not how he thinks, but his very existence. I would tread very carefully around making him continue this course of action, as it is very likely his chaotic nature will decide to notice and end all of your handy work. Unlike most beings, he doesn't have three magical parts. VML has four. The body, the mind, the soul and a shard of pure chaos shoved into his soul. And no, I can not explain more than that at this time, because I have taken a number of oaths forcing me not to. His father was quite insistent that no one ever find out about... certain things.

If you must know about it, I would suggest finding someone who could tell you. Or who could be tricked into telling you...

Either way, I must be off to find this wife of his. Through one of these gates, yes? The Endless Plains... a barbaric place for a barbaric people. It somehow seems to suit VML, choosing a wife from this place. I extend my mental net out once again, this time searching for very specific signs and mental patterns. I frown in frustration at first, there are too many women thinking about husbands and children and gods knows what else, but I eventually hone in on one I know is VML's. The way she thinks and the name fits, anyway. I make my way to the barbarian encampment, frowning again as I notice it is more of a fledgling city than a camp, then I drag my attention back to the matter at hand. Some guards briefly try to stop my progress, until they forget I am even there. I slide through the streets of makeshift buildings and homes until I reach one that is slightly more extravagant than the others. I hear voices coming from within, and I pause outside to listen in.

"- traditional of our people! I don't care how much of your life you've spent among the barbarians, you at least must wear the proper clothing when meeting him again for the announcement of pregnancy and the naming! By the Immortals! To think you don't even have the sense to..."

"Th-That isn't your decision, m-mother. It is mine! I'm alright with wearing your homes clothing, but... it- it isn't my home. I-It never was..."

"To the Pit it wasn't! You are a respected daughter of the Islands, no matter what you or anyone else thinks, and since it seems that the king has the desire to establish himself something of an empire, you will be an empress. And I WILL ensure that you act the proper way! And name your child something proper!"

"M-Mother! That's not... you can't... It is my husband's duty to decide our child's name, not mine or your-"

"Again! What name could that muscled idiot possib-"

"DO NOT REFER TO MY HUSBAND THAT WAY!"

The sudden change in volume and intensity is jarring, particularly coming from the second woman, who seems to be generally mild mannered and easy to push around. Clearly this is as surprising for the mother as it is for me, as there is a long silence that follows, broken only by the occasional sound of clothing being moved.

"Hm. We'll see. In the meantime, I'll fetch your father. He has to bestow the usual blessings, whether he likes it or not." The woman comes out, briefly blinks in surprise at my presence, then promptly forgets I exist. She leaves, headed off into the city, and I wait a few minutes more before sliding into the tent myself and getting a view of this bride of VML.

My first reaction is one of disappointment. She looks like one of those Island women, slim and fragile like glass, and she looks even more so dressed the way she is, and the girl is probably only a year or so older than my current host. But closer inspection reveals her barbarian heritage. She is a bit taller than the norm for an Islander, and more so she has quite a bit more curves than the Islanders tend to have. Her hair is obviously from her mother, straight, black and shiny, while her eyes likely come from her father, the irises being a sharp ice blue, a very uncommon trait among those of her mother's side. Overall, she comes off as being pretty, with the potential to blossom into true beauty, and I could almost see her as being regal, if it were not for the reserved, unconfident air that seems to cling to her like mist. The woman blinks slightly in surprise at my sudden appearance, then she turns herself slightly to face me.

"Um... M-May I help you?"

I say nothing for a moment, considering how to play this, then nod to myself. Acting like someone who has knowledge will work well. For now, to test her strength of will. "I am someone and no one. Suffice it to say I come bearing questions and answers. Shall we play our little game? I will ask and I will answer." I let myself fall into a role I haven't played in ages, that of a semi-insane oracle, and I dance around the room, letting out little flashes of illusionary light from my body. Confuse and befuddle. Let not the girl figure out where I am or what I truly look like.

"W-Wha-"

"Bride of the King of Barbarians?"

"Y-Yes?"

"You answer with question? Unsure? Doubtful? Then you are married to VML?"

"W-Who? My husband's name is Vincent?"

Oh? Another alias? Hm. Lies. VML has never been good at lies. "BUt dO YoU KnoW WhO he ReAllY iS? WhAt HE rEaLLy Is?" I deliberately start to distort my voice, at the same time putting the illusion into her mind that I am changing shape, warping into something she would see as a messenger... ah! A Valkyrie! Warrior women! Perfect. They are a breed of Higher Angel, I can easily mimic that.

"Wha- Bu- I-" The girl is confused, her emotions caught between doubt, worry, trust, and awe. I don't bother to try to disillusion her. Her reactions to my words and my illusion are all I need. She is unfit. Unworthy. Little more than a pawn in a game. She has no right to stand beside VML. Well then. The easiest way to break them apart is...

"I am sure you have heard the stories. Everyone has. The one who brings destruction, pain, calamity..." My voice and form have taken on that of a valkyries within her mind and she can only sit and stare, her mind absorbing my every word. "He who even the god condemned in fear and anger..."

"...No..."[/i]

"He is the one who all mortal men fear. He shall cause the deaths of millions to satisfy his own thirst for blood. You are little more than a passing fancy. A plaything..."

[small]"...NO..."

I shift the illusion right into her face, making it seem as if the angel form I am projecting has moved to stare her right in the eyes. "THE HATED ONE!"

Then I cut the illusion, remove any trace of my presence from the room, and leave, satisfied with my work. Even if it doesn't work at first, the seed has been sown. As if I would let such a weak willed mortal near VML. He is far more deserving than that. In the meantime...

I believe someone mentioned the last location I need? Where would that be?