>>18230315
So, lets head up/down that staircase then?
And get to unknown Kadath.

>>18230315

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygvvpv7CPus)

>Germany, 1921

It is time. You stand in the basement of the house that has belonged to your family for centuries. It took you so long to prepare, but you have accomplished it. Studying the family notes, seeking the answer. And now you have it. But it was not easy to obtain the pieces. Finding the book, you had to journey to Arabia for that. Then, the Jotun. The Society would not approve of you killing such an obvious link to antiquity, but its components were vital, the blood, which now lies semi-congealed on your floor, and the bone. And of course, digging up your mother's grave. That was more a personal sacrifice than anything. But now your plan is complete. And you *will* wake the undead god. The blasphemous and unspeakable coffin likes sealed at the center of the circle, before the podium at which you will perform the ritual. As you walk to the center, Eliza catches your sleeve. "Wait, darling." She says. "Are you sure? Is this the only way?" She clenches the obsidian knife you have given her for the purpose. "Yes, my dear. In all my studies, this was the only way to accomplish my goal. But once the soul cycle is complete, I will be the strongest magus in all Europe. Possibly in all the world!" She doesn't seem convinced. You kiss her gently on the cheek, and step over to the podium, and get ready to read from the book.

>>18230442
Reassure Eliza one last time, and then lets get this rite started.

>>18230442
Um, who exactly are we summoning?

>>18230679
I think we are re-living Gespenst's life.

>>18230696
Okay, so more precisely who is Gespenst summoning? And why?

>>18230705
No idea

>>18230705
An undead god in order to become a lich/revenant. This is where it all starts.
>>18230442
Touch her cheek and remember the feeling forever. Take it with you the way a vampire carries its last sunset with it.

>>18230442

You step up to the podium, and undo the lock that was added to the book, in a feeble attempt to keep its knowledge hidden. You begin flicking through the pages, looking for the passages to need. Eliza takes her position across from you, on the opposite side of the coffin which holds the corpse of a god, and you nod to her. You begin to recite the words, in a language that has not been spoken in this world since the cradle of civilization as you knew it was torn down. The irony that you could very well be repeating their mistakes does occur to you, but now is not the time. Eliza looks nervous. Stupid woman should no better. She's helped you before in rituals, many of which were much less appealing to watch. The unspeakable container, which your father had to have dug out of the Egyptian Sands, begins to rattle and shake. Eliza gasps, but you give her a look, and she nods, tightening her grip on the sacrificial knife.

>>18230785

The candles begin to flicker as you continue, a wind filling the dank cellar. The finally go out as you raise your voice, invoking spirits living and dead to rise! The vessel is ready! You proclaim in the dead language of Thule. They are replaced as a source of light, as the blood on the floor bursts into violet flame, the flames spreading to every corner of the massive array you built. This represents fire. At each of the four corners, copper bowls containing the grave dust and the pure spring water mixed with Eliza's tears (It took some getting to get her sad enough to cry, luckily you needed only a small amount of grief) to represent earth and water. You being to chant the dead god's name, over and over again. This is the apex of the ritual. Eliza spares a moment of attention from watching you to pour the four essential salts into the four bowls built into the coffin. The eye holes light up a eldritch hue, and the chains go taught. Now is the critical moment.

Using the force of you will, not breaking the chant for a second, you command the locks to open, which they do, the chains unwinding and flying to the far reaches of the room, before collapsing into piles of rust. The lid trembles, and you can hear the whispers of the Forsaken One. No time to look back, you thrust the lid aside, and let it out. The snuffed candles suddenly flair with a black flame.

>>18230848
SHIT IS GETTING REAL.

>>18230848

You can see it, as it comes spilling out of the coffin it was sealed in since it died, from days long past. Your chant awakening it from its eternal slumber. Or rather, you can't. It is a void, an unerring darkness in reality, to which all light and life is drawn. It turns to look at Eliza, who closes her eyes for a second, and prays, of all things. But the thing which is no longer is distracted by your invocation. Your invitation.

It reaches its hands to draw the very breath from your lungs, but you can continue chanting, you flick to the marked page in the book, and change rites. The first circle, the one done in the Jotun blood, fades to just a purple glow akin to embers, as the second array, you etched into the foundations of the house and filled with running quicksilver lights up. The dead god cannot escape. But it doesn't want to. The first right was still completed, and the shadow moves to engulf you. Blackness fills your senses, but you command your unfeeling lips to finish the chant. It mocks you, deep in the shadows of your mind. You, the feeble mortal, to think to make a sacrifice of a god. You grin back at it, and all you respond is, "Not for much longer." The shadow clears, suddenly, as you feel a sharp sting in your chest, right over your heart. Eliza has done her part, and sinks the sacrificial dagger up to the hilt into your torso. Black blood pours from the wound, and from your lips, spattering her porcelain face. Tears run down her cheeks. You don't know why you're so fixated on it, it is your greatest moment. You knew what was coming next, but the sensation is still surprising. Knowing is not the same as experiencing. And what you experience is the feeling of your body and soul, down to the smallest particle, collapsing into dust and falling into the coffin.

>>18230315
Hi there, I was hoping you'd show up.

>>18230993

Reduced to your vital components, you feel every speck that used to be you, filling the black void of the coffin. You gather them up in your will, as the act of spilling the blood of a god awakens your final ritual, rebinding the components of yourself back together. Immortality is painful, you decide, as the electric sensation of reforming fills your bones, the solid ones, and the ones in your soul. But the only emotion you feel is joy! You have done it, you have killed a god, and taken his soul, you have burned it up to cast the most potent necromancy ritual ever done. There is only one thing you can say as your skeletal form recalls itself, rising from the coffin.

"I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!" Your cry shakes the very foundations of the house. The fact that you can shout at all, being a skeleton with no lips, is a joy in of itself. "Eliza!" You exclaim. "I have done it!" She doesn't respond. You look around for her. The basement is quiet dark, though, even for your new ghostly eyes. You snap the bones of your fingers together, lighting the candles again.

Eliza lies crumpled on the floor, her face still stained with your god-blood. The hilt of the knife, the only thing left after the blade entered you, lies smoking in her hand. She looks like shes asleep, her eyes closed, a slight smile on her beautiful face. You reach down with your hand, and press it to her throat. You do not feel its warmth, its softness. Nor does the bone move, as if disturbed by a pulse. You sigh, which causes the candle to snuff out. So, the stories were true. Of the terrible price to be paid for slaying a god. Funny, all you can think about is the last sensations you ever had. The knife in your chest, and your hand, as it brushed a tear away from her cheek. Immortality is painful, you decide.

>>18231107
>manly tears...

>>18231140
>You were looking for this?

>>18231107

>Present Day

(2x2 and 2x4 on Trauma Check for the whole experience)

You, Daniel Fortesque, who are definitely not the Necromancer Gespenst, tumble backward to the floor, out of your chair, the skull being swept off the table and landing on the floor with an almost comical "bonk" noise, and rolling away, while someone inside it swears in German. You feel sick to your stomach, your skin feels cold and clammy, and you have a pounding headache which makes it hard to think at all. You manage to keep yourself mildly under control as you roll onto your hands and knees, your heart pounding after the vision you just had. No, not a vision, a memory. You attempt to get a hold of yourself, but a primal terror of the undead god, and the memory of dying are keeping you on the edge of all out panic.

The door to the study bursts in with a slam, and you swing up to one knee, your hands read to deal death in several flavors. Amelia has rushed in, scanning the situation in an instant. She's holding two automatic handguns which you don't recognize immediately. Seeing only you, she levels them at your chest, snapping off the safeties and pulling back the hammer on one. Your instincts scream out in self-defense, while your brain, still racked with pain, tries to catch up to the situation with a rational response, but keeps failing. After half a second, which feels like an instant, she hasn't pointed the guns away, and every fiber of you calls out for you to act.

>Options:
>ATTACK HER
>KILL HER
>DESTROY HER

>>18231296
Barrier Up
Psibolts Up
Ram them down her barrels.

>>18231296
>>ATTACK HER
>>KILL HER
>>DESTROY HER

Wait. I don't like any of those options.

Barrier up.
A magic spell to slow her down.

>>18231296
BARRIER UP. Spend willpower as needed to get a pool of 10.

>>18231296
I was scared we'd actually be possessed by besteid now. Wait, that's still an option. He just took over our body, and we're just trying to fight his influence, but failing.

>>18231326
This, not sure if we can invoke a relationship in this though, seeing how we're kinda going berserk.

Also, I doubt this, seeing how fucked up we are, but do we get WP for self improvement for the whole necromancy stuff?

>>18231377
>This, not sure if we can invoke a relationship in this though, seeing how we're kinda going berserk.

Sure we can. Evokers Club.
We want to succeed in not being drunk on power / possessed so that our friends don't hate us or something like that.
Besides, we have 10WP to spend. I suppoert the idea

>>18231402
Good idea on the relationship thing.

>>18231311
>>18231323
>>18231326

(3x4 on Barrier)

You flare two psibolts, one in either hand, and cross your arms over your body to conjure your barrier, which harkens to life before Amelia can pull the trigger. Or so you thought as half a dozen bullets smack into your chest plate before you're even done getting the barrier up.

Realizing her tactic is in effective, she hurls the guns at you, one bounces harmlessly off your chest, but he other clonks you in the forehead, right between the head, and the pain in your brain triples, and you feel like your head may explode, as you stumble up to your feet. Your vision clears you can see Amelia drawing another slender gun from a holster on her inner thigh, which she brings up and fires twice with a hiss of air, before you can even count the shots. You feel a pair of sharp stings in your neck, and a cold, numb sensation begins to start in your neck, and flows into your chest. You feel a little sleepy.

>Response?

>>18231377
>>18231402

>possessed

>>>18231296

>the skull being swept off the table and landing on the floor with an almost comical "bonk" noise, and rolling away, while someone inside it swears in German.

>>18231456
What the... hell did you do that for... *faint*

>>18231456
Use necromancy to push the effects of the tranquilizer onto her. That's an appropriate use of life force manipulation, right?

>>18231456
Fire Psibolts.
Then sleep.
Call on relationships for the sleeping part, willpoer for the psibolts part.

>>18231484
Oooh, this. Because seriously, let's not bring lethal force to bear. That will only make the situation worse. Let's turn our weakness into a strength, and her advantage into a disadvantage. Willpower may be appropriate here, since we aren't that good at necromancy yet.

>>18231467
Oh, right.

>>18231484
>>18231501
We just saw a vision of gespent, nothing else. We probably don't even know necromancy yet.

>>18231553
Check the sheet.
>>18231296
Let's do this.

>>18231571
derp, thought it was just a repost of our previous sheet, didn't think this memory/vision thing would have updated it like it has.

>>18231486
>>18231483

You try to hurl your psibolts at her, if nothing else but for smacking you in your head with a gun. You notice you no long have psibolts ready. When did that happen. You're arms actually feel a little noodly. You ineffectually waggle your noodle-arms in her general direction, which causes her expression to become slightly amused. She tracks the muzzle of her gun up a few inches, and pops you in the forehead with another dart. This one doesn't stick, instead bouncing off your skull, which still feels like she'd just punched you there, as stars fill your field of vision. "What... what did you do that for?" You stumble a couple steps forward, as your vision starts to get wavy. Your legs feel very tired. You decide to take a nap. For the second time in about 5 minutes, you collapse into blackness.

>>18231501
>>18231484

(An interesting tactic, except for two key points. 1( Dan is already *really* fucked up from the vision he just had before Amelia gave you two darts full of the fastest acting tranquilizer money can buy, and 2( Slight issue of you still being filled with a drug, and she's not. Pushing the effects does nothing when body functions decide to take a nap)

>>18231618
Well, at least we didn't get a few extra holes in our body.

>>18231618
MOTHERFUCK. Also, damn it. In that case, could we have, say, drawn vital force out of her to repair whatever functions keeping us awake were being delivered shot-term damage? I.E. whatever enzyme it was suppressing, we draw energy from her to de-suppress it?
>>18231644
Sure we did. Little, tiny, needle-shaped ones.

>>18231652
Yeah, well, I meant minus the new skin piercings.

>>18231652

For future reference, yes. You could have basically dealt her shock damage to heal the shock damage being done to you by the tranquilizer. Of course, I wasn't running this like normal "poison" exposure anyway, since Dan was really in no position to handle being drugged at that moment anyway.

So are we going to wake up or what.

>>18231793
Nah, sleep is nice.

>>18231793
Of course we are. Give Omega time to type.

>>18231456
>>18231618

Dammit. I look away for a moment and this.

You should have used the damn healing necromancy to get rid of the agent, drawing life-force from other part of the body

>>18231826
We've been over this. We were in no mental or physical state to use magic. Even our extremely-reliable better-than-guns psibolts fizzled. The tranqs were simply way too fast-acting.

>>18231709

You're taking your nap on a couch. A very comfortable couch, made of leather, with your feet propped up. And a pillow. After the freaky stuff which keeps filling your days lately, you're kind of happy to finally relax some, even if it is a little warm.

Suddenly the wind picks up. It is a very hot, abrasive wind. Then you get a mouthful of sand. You quickly spit it out, sitting up from your repose. You notice the sand tastes like iron. Then you look around. You think your in the sitting room of Ashwood's penthouse. If the penthouse was also on ground level, and looked like it was on a Mad Max/Fallout movie set. Considering you were just asleep, and not cryogenically frozen, you're pretty sure you're not in the far flung future. You look down at the couch, and realize your pillow was a sandbag. It is helpfully labelled 'sand'. You get a sensation at the back of you neck, and turn around. In the real world, the spot you're looking at would be a wide wall of glass, which gives Ashwood a commanding view of the Liberty City skyline. Now, it is a slightly sideways open space in the wall, as if the building were tilted, which opens up to the outside. You see three figures in shadow, standing out there. Waiting for you.

>>18231843

I mean, Amelia was using the Metal Gear Solid tranquilizer gun. What do you expect?

>>18231793

>The Dreamlands of Unknown Dans

>>18231869
Barrier up. Walk to the figures and greet them Charmingly.

>>18231869
Walk towards them, but carefully, they might attack you.

>>18231911
>>18231913

You swing your legs off the couch, and get shakily to your feet. You cautiously tromp through the reddish sand, over to the opening. You clamber out, and have to shield your eyes for a second, as you notice the sun. Wait, no, that can't be the sun. It's huge, but dim. It's actually the moon, only really huge and bright. You see a couple more moons, in impractical colors, sitting in the hazy red sky. You are reminded of something, but can't put your finger on it.

(cont)

>>18232097
shit nigga we on mars

>>18232097

After your eyes adjust to the weird thing with the lighting situation, you managed to get a look at the three figures. They're pretty surprising. The one in the middle clearly looks like you, standing in a battered leather jacket, with a fedora on his head. There's a gun at his belt, and a satchel thrown over one shoulder, with darkly tinted goggles, appropriate for desert climbs, rests over his eyes. He hasn't shaven, and he's holding a scimitar casually in his right hand. You wonder how the one on your left can stand it, standing there in a dark cloak and robe, which covers his whole form. A black, pointed hat sits atop his head, casting a shadow over his face, which is also shrouded with stubble. He's leaning against a tall crooked staff, with arcane symbols carved into it. The handle of a longsword juts out from under his cloak. Its hard to tell if this one looks like you. The third figure kind of looks like you. Except his skin is a deep indigo color, his hair is white, and doesn't hang like yours or the others, and hides his ears. Cyrean symbols track up his bare arms, palms and up his neck in two lines to his eyes, forming glowing blue strings of symbols like tears. He is wearing armor like a Cyrean warrior, including gauntlets and a shoulder pauldron indicating his rank as Unit Commander. A ghostblade is strapped to his back, and in one hand he casually holds a plasma rifle.

>Wat do?

>>18232105
So, three possibilities for what we can become.
Gentleman adventurer, full time wizard taking after blackstone, or going to SPAAAACE and being a Cyrean/Human dude.
Is that it?

>>18232105
Kill all three and eat their hearts

>>18232105
>Having a premonition.
>Looking at johnny and our 2 sons in the future.
>mfw.

"Urgh, who are you? what is this place? What the hell just happened? etc."

Walk to the guy in the middle. He seems most likely to give us answered we'd actually understand.

>>18232105
"So, chaps, what's this, a vision quest or a regular hallucination?"

>>18232172
yes this

>>18232150
Oh wait, misread the staff part as the skull cane. What the hell is wrong with me today?

>>18232172
NONCHALANT AS FUCK

>>18232215
Suave up to 11?
Is that still a thing we do?

Just caught up, are you feeling okay Omega? You're making an unusually large number of mistakes today.

>>18232221
If not we're bringing it back.

>>18232221
>>18232235
We have never done anything else to people we weren't really familiar with. Except perhaps in combat.

>>18232172
>>18232180
>>18232215

You casually saunter up to the other yous. "So, we having a vision quest, or a regular hallucination?" The archaeologist you reaches out a hand, and raps his fist a couple times on your head. "You're dreaming, dummy. Do you not remember that Amelia chick shooting you with tranquilizer darts?" "Now that you mention it, yes." You respond. "I'm kind of surprised at her, actually..." You say. "I mean, she was *fast*. Shot me half a dozen times before I even knew what's what." "She was fast," Says the Cyrean you, who totally speaks in Cyrean, so the other three of you have to take a second to translate him. "Faster than normal people. Those are combat reflexes." "She wasn't magic, that's for sure." Says Wizard!You. He speaks in a slightly gravelly tone, sounding very mystical, and wizardly. "So, dreaming." You say, casually. "What's up with you guys, then?" You gesture at them. "Nothing much." they say, simultaneously, all shrugging their shoulders. "Were just here because you're here." Says Indy!Dan. "And I'm here?" You prompt. "Its a Jungian Collective Unconsciousness thing." Says Wizard!Dan. "This place is some chunk of the Spirit Realm carved out by dreamers. You're here because you're all attuned to this sort of nonsense now. Also, cosmically speaking, shit is going down."

>>18232332
"So is there some kind of message of dire import that you have to tell me before I wake up? Because if fiction is anything to go by, you'll get cut off right before the really really important part."

>>18232332
Elaborate, my wizzard, about the cosmic shit that is 'going down'?

>>18232332
"Go on. We need to finish this exchange up before I wake up one second too early."

"No shit, Wizard!Dan? Aside from Red working to summon her patron into our world?"

>>18232415
>>18232433

"So is there some kind of message of dire import that you have to tell me before I wake up? Because if fiction is anything to go by, you'll get cut off right before the really really important part." They all shake their heads at once, which is really eerie. "You've been drugged, again, hoss." Says Wizard!You. "If they decide to bring you out of it, it'll still take some time. You haven't been asleep that long."

>>18232423

You look for a place to sit, if you're going to be here a while. Oddly enough, you find a good sitting rock just behind you. "Alrighty the, my wizard friend, could you elaborate on the 'cosmic shit' which is 'going down'?" You're sure to add in some air quotes. You bet you love that. All three of you simply point up. You follow their gaze and find the sky filled with roiling reddish storm clouds, which crackle with red lighting. They seem to radiate from a point you can't see behind you. "That's why we're here, and not dreaming normally." Says the Wizard, while the other two nod in agreement. You look back at them. "Conclusions, mes?" The Cyrean one, who you understand is also the you that understands people, Since he represents the Psion in you, speaks up. "Syrpent is dreaming to." You'd say that's an outlandish conclusion had you yourself just not concluded it.

>>18232482
"So Red's about then? Think we can find her? She owes us a new pair of shades."

>>18232482
"This is bigger than Howard and Phillips and Blackstone think, isn't it? Prophetic, destiny big. Where I'm given the choice of either dealing with the situation or or letting people get hurt."

>>18232482
Access to the thoughts of our current "arch-nemesis"? Time to get our spy on.

>>18232542
Let's give her a nightmare! Attack her with ALL FOUR OF US.

>>18232560
This.

>>18232560
>>18232564
Might not be the greatest idea. What if she's intentionally lucid dreaming as part of a ritual?

>>18232560
Don't be a chicken-shit, be smart. We're in her dream. It's time for an Inception plot arc, featuring Dan, CyDan, InDan, and WiDan. We need to steal/destroy sufficient information possessed by her to make her unable to complete the summoning. Failing that, we need to talk to her, try to convince her to help us.

>>18232578
THIS IS THE BEST PLAN

>>18232560
If we have 3 aspects of ourselves with us, would she not have at least one? Outsider her?
Either way, >>18232578
sounds better. Let's be smart about this.

>>18232593
Yeah, but maybe we could appeal to her human side. Maybe that part of her would be willing to help.

It's worth taking a look to see I think.

>>18232519
>>18232506

"Maybe," They say in unison. You really wish that you'd cut that out. "We don't know. We're just you." You start soaking that one in. "So, if I'm stuck here while the sedatives run through my system, what should I do?" They all point at you. "Only you can decide for you, Daniel. We are but parts of the whole. We can only offer advice and counsel. Never decide for you. We tell you only what you already know." You prop your head in one hand. "Gee, you guys are real helpful." They all shrug again.

You hear a voice in the distance. Sounds... female? You jump to your feet, and get into your ready stance. No idea who you'll run into down here. You look for your yous, but find them gone. Then you realize your outfit has changed. You have the belt, and battered leather jacket of Indy!Dan, along with some new blue tinted sun-goggled. Your shins and forearms are encased in the armor plated of Cyrean!Dan, and you're wearing his shoulder pauldron. You're also wearing blue jeans, and a black t-shirt which says "I put on my robe and wizard hat", and clutching Wizard!Dan's staff. Just as you make this realization, you see a woman, maybe in her thirties, in a flowing formal Chinese dress, crests a dune of red sand. She's wearing a slim Chinese sword on her back. "Hello down there!" She shouts. You think her voice is familiar, but you can't place it. She squints down at you. "Mr. Fortesque, is that you?" She starts approaching. When she says your name, you place her. It sounds like Detective Philips.

>>18232578
>>18232576

>her dream

>>18232332

>"And I'm here?" You prompt. "Its a Jungian Collective Unconsciousness thing." Says Wizard!Dan. "This place is some chunk of the Spirit Realm carved out by dreamers. You're here because you're all attuned to this sort of nonsense now.

>>18232599
If nothing else we can find out why she thought it was a good idea to confront us at that diner like she did.

>>18232631
Whaaaaat.

>>18232631
"Detective Phillips?"

Well, at least we found a friendly face,

>>18232631
http://youtu.be/66TuSJo4dZM

>>18232631
Be cautious. could very well be something else "disguised" or whatever as her. </paranoia>
Suave. Say hi casually, leaning on the staff.

>>18232665
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

No need to break up the link.

>>18232631
"I think I'm me. Unless I did something very stupid with an old necromancer, Detective Phillips. Not that I did, of course."

>>18232692
No, don't say that.

>>18232698
Probably not, no. I just had to get it out.

>>18232639

>>18232576 What? It's not possible she's here on purpose?

>>18232674
>>18232650

"Detective Philips?" You ask, very astounded. She slides the rest of the way down the the dune, revealing that under her formal wear, she's got some high-heeled boots on that are the latest in Paris fashion. Or are they last season? You could never keep track of that stuff. She slides to a halt, standing in front of you, the heels making her actually taller than you are. You chalk her ability to walk on the sandy terrain up to dream logic. "The hell are you doing here?" She asks, unceremoniously. "I was about to ask you the same thing." You say. "Oh, me?" She gestures to herself. "I could always do this. In fact, I have to go out of my way to not." She stifles a yawn. "It was a long night, last night. I was just catching a cat nap while Raph called some contacts. Guess I forgot to meditate properly before hand." You point up at the sky with a free hand. "Or that." She looks up at the storm. "Or that." She agrees.

>>18232752
"I'm considering trying to go all Inception on Red. What do you think we should do? You apparently have a lot more experience than me with all of this dream stuff. Nice shoes, by the way."

THE COMPLIMENT IS GENUINE, NOT SARCASTIC. Since we already complimented her drawing, this should cement us in her good books. It's always good to be in cops' good books.

>>18232752
"I got hit with tranqs.

Y'know, maybe the dream just makes it more ominous, or maybe it's the fact that last week I didn't know about half the things going on - but this whole ritual", gesturing to the storm, "seems to be a much bigger deal than everyone is making it. I was actually just considering going after Red myself, for information if nothing else. Care to join me?"

>>18232803
>>18232805

"We'll, since you're here, wanna help me find Red? I was gonna go maybe inception her a little." You pause. "Nice shoes, by the way." She nods a little "Thank you. Dream-me likes to be on top of such things." She pauses for a second, getting all thoughtful. "A point, though, as good as that movie was, trying to go all Inception on people doesn't really work here." She gestures around you two. "Us dreamers come here from our own dreams, become a part of this collective space. Red just happens to be very strong, mentally. Or her new powers give her more power over this place. You could try speaking to her, though, converse with her mind to mind." You nod.

Detective Philips looks up at the sky again. "Though why you're both asleep in the middle of the day..." Something Professor Blackstone told you last night drifts back through your mind. "Maybe the day is the only time she can get enough peace of mind from her, uh, friends, to sleep." You suggest. "A good theory." Says Philips. She smiles a little at you. "Sure you don't want to be in law enforcement, kid? You'd make a great detective." You shake your head a little. "Well, C'mon then. You're here for a reason, I'm sure, and strong or no, I'm not turning down a chance to interview my suspect." She starts walking off, around the post-apocalyptic ruin of a building you came out of.

>>18232929
Let's see if we can use a reasonable facsimile of magic here. Being able to air-boost our way around this landscape sounds useful. Hell, if we do it right, we could probably literally surf something flat across the dunes.

>>18232960

As you follow a couple paces behind Detective Philips, wandering through some weird, decimated landscape, you decide to check your magical aptitude. You are carrying a wizard staff, after all.

You reach for the power of evocation. You try and feel for the force of air pervading the space around you, but don't find it. Because its a dream, and there isn't actually air, dumbass. But, after you berate yourself, you have another idea. You'd just going about it all wrong. You simply focus your will like you were casting a spell, envisioning the result, and let it go. You don't even have to say the words, your will just shapes itself into a little twister of wind that goes shooting by. Okay, so you can do magic here. Kind of. You get ready to whip up a little something to make your journey toward the eye of the storm easier, when you hear a horrible screech of badness. The clouds open up, and an blood red spotlight, for lack of a better term, comes zooming across the landscape toward you, Eye of Sauron style. Just before it passes over you, Detective Philips grabs you, and pulls you behind what appears to be a wrecked monorail car, and you both duck out of sight.

"Okay," She says, panting a little from the excitement. "Don't do that again." "Not entirely sure what I did." You admit. "Changed the dreamscape. Since the majority of it is shaped by Red. Or maybe her 'friends', clearly somebody can sense when it gets altered drastically." "I thought you said this wasn't like Inception." You say, a little heatedly. She shushes you. "It isn't, really. But I still don't want that big light to catch me, do you?" You concede the point.

>>18233149
"Understood. Any idea where we should actually get to looking for Red, or are we just wandering until we find her?"

>>18233149
gotta be careful then. Also, if we 're harmed in here, how does that translate back to us when we wake up?

>right, good night to all of you, I'm off.

>>18233224
Probably loss of our dreamself means never coming back.
not that terrible.

>>18233254
Or it could mean we go completely and irrevocably insane.

>>18233224
YOU DIE IN THE GAME
YOU DIE FOR REAL

>>18233273
Bad news, either way

>>18233171

She points at the "eye" of the storm. "Not 100% sure, but that seems to be the epicenter of weirdness, so I say we look there." You agree. After waiting a couple of minutes, you proceed around the far side of the car, and get back to walking, the pace picked up a little now. Occasionally, in the distance, you can see the red spotlight sweep the ground, looking for you. You don't know what would happen if it caught you, but you're sure you wont like it.

You walk for like fifteen more minutes, maybe. The sky gets darker and darker. You really hope it doesn't rain, because that would suck. Your spooky sense tingles. You feel like you're being watched, but last time you checked, the searchlight of doom had to be miles away, moving in the wrong direction. You check your distance to the center of the storm clouds. You thought you were farther away, but actually you seem pretty close now. The terrain has changed slightly, from sand to a red rock desert, with high, tall plateaus and mesas jutting from the ground in a random assortment. You look up at one of the shorter ones, and think you catch a glimpse of something canine. Too big for a fox. A wolf perhaps? Or a coyote? You're not sure. This place is starting to give to the heebie-jeebies though.

>>18233368
>Too big for a fox. A wolf perhaps? Or a coyote? You're not sure.

Could it be that wolf girl that we fought in the museum? Can't think of anything else that would match up to this, although it may be someone we've never met before.

>>18233368
Quell both the heebies and the jeebies. Time to find Red.

>>18233384
An intriguing proposal.

>>18233391

You suppress your spooky feeling, decide to keep moving. You come to a plateau which has a large, carved staircase in the side of it, leading up. The top seems to match perfectly with the eye. No where to go but up now.

Suddenly you hear footsteps behind you. Heavy footsteps, like something armored. You wheel around, and see the Voice guy bumrushing you, at a dead run, a strange weapon like a bony guillotine blade on a stick in his arms. "Mortal!" It shouts, echoing back and forth among the mesas. "No more watching and waiting!" It shouts with glee. "Now I kill!" Suddenly, the detective steps between you, and is now wearing some manner of armor, probably chinese as befitting her earlier theme. "Go on up." She says, with calm determination. "You talk to Syrpent, I'll handle this one." She flicks our her hands, and suddenly she has half a dozen jade daggers, all of which she hurls at once at the Voice. He knocks them aside effortlessly with his weird weapon, and keeps coming. Philips draws her sword and slashes across the ground, cutting a deep gash into the earth, and sending a wave of sand and debris down toward the enemy. You turn away, and start jogging up the stairs.

>>18233666
TIME TO TURN CHARM AND COMMAND ALL THE WAY UP TO 6.

>>18233714
Suave it up to 11?

>>18233666

Well I guess we're just the man of Syrpent's dreams, eh?

>>18233733
The way you said that made me feel dirty.

>>18233726
I think superhuman levels of charm and/or command would count as such, yeah

>>18233666

You jog up the stairs, which seem much longer now, as you run up them. Must be a dream thing. You hear the clashing of steel behind you, and you think the ground quakes beneath your feet. You shoot a glance over your shoulder and see a totally Crouching Tiger thing going on behind you. You remember that Detective Philips carries a sword with her. On duty. She's probably pretty good.

You crest the stairs, and come to the top of the mesa. It's level, and looks like some kind of open air temple, or something. An arch welcomes you in at the top of the stairs, and rows of long stone benches sit along the ground in regular intervals. At the far end, four pillars stand, and you think they have something wound around them. In the exact center of this set up is a big black stone altar, on which sits a form, crouched in the fetal position. The air suddenly feels very hot, and you look up, and see what's in the eye of the storm. A massive, blood red, eye. It glowers down at you impotently from the sky. You flip the Great Old One the bird, and keep walking.

>>18233860
>You flip the Great Old One the bird, and keep walking.

This is the best quest.

>>18233860
>You flip the Great Old One the bird, and keep walking.
Yes, yes, good. Continue.

>>18233884
Yes, yes it is.

>>18233860
>Cthulhu vs. the Flying Nun

I don't believe I've laughed this hard in a long, long time.

>>18233884
There are contenders if you're into weeaboo bullshit, but otherwise, damn right.

>>18233898
>>18233884

(Note, if you're squeamish, you probably don't want to see the image full size)

You walk up to the altar, slowing down as you go. You stop just at the edge of the quartet of columns, so your dream-eyes can process some information. First, yes, the columns are wrapped in something. A spool of barbed wire. They wrap around them in a spiral, then run down to the altar, where Syrpent lies curled up.

You're pretty sure that she's naked, except for what has to be yards of barbed wire wrapped all around her. Doing some mental comparing, you figure the razor wire digs into her flesh all along the locations of her tattoos in the real life. It would be pretty horrifying if today you hadn't already had visions of being confronted and eaten by a couple Old Gods already today. To be frank, the barbed wire is smalltime.

Red doesn't move at all, but simply says, "Go away, Daniel." Like a teenage girl in crisis telling her parents to kindly fuck off.

>>18234028
Did we tell her our name?
And in response,
"How about no."

>>18234028
Have a seat.

"Nope. We're going to talk."

>>18234028
Go up and sit down next to her. "I can't. Or won't. Same thing, really. Let's finally talk. I can honestly say that we haven't gotten a chance to do that yet."

I actually kind of feel sorry for her now.

We're still having that talk though, young lady.

>>18234028
"Hmmm. Nope, not yet. I'm in no hurry to get anywhere, and you seem a little tied up, so I figured we should chat."
Gesture to the wire.
"That can't be pleasant, and you don't seem the type to be into pain, so I guess ol Sparky up there made this choice?"

>>18234042
Nope. She knew it anyway, by the museum encounter. On the theory she is a fellow student, she probably looked us up. We never managed to get an actual ID on her.

>>18234066
I like it

>>18234100
>>18234066
>>18234050
>>18234042

"NOPE." You announce, calmly, duck under the barbed wire, and decide to sit on the altar. Her head pokes up slightly, and you can see her, relatively normal, face. Her hair is black, and her eyes are normally brown, not sulphurous yellow. She glowers at you. "The fuck do you want?" She sounds more tired than angry. The deep, dark circles under her eyes reinforce this. "We're gonna have a talk, young lady-" "I'm older than you." She cuts you off. "Yeah, I figured." You brush her off. "But there are more important things going on here. Like how you're trying to kill me. And all of humanity." She smiles a grim smile. "We all have to follow the paths we've chosen." She kind of pulls a hand out from her huddle, confirming that yes, she is naked, but yes, any of the bits that normally cause objections when you're naked are wrapped in several coils of the barbed wire, preventing indecency, as it were. She points at your right arm. "We've made out choices. We have to see them through." She says this like she's said it before.

>>18234263
Paths can always be changed.

What is at the end of yours, that you are so willing to follow it.

>>18234263

"Did you really make that choice? You don't seem to be enjoying the barbed wire wrapped around you right now. How did this really all start?

I didn't choose to get thrown headfirst into all this shit either, you know. "

She might be more open to talking if we start explaining some thing about ourselves first.

>>18234263
"These don't give me a destiny or a part to play. I'm still me, just me with some exotic tools. Every choice I've made and every choice I will make is because I'm Dan, not because I'm beholden to the alien technology and magic crammed into me. Every choice you've made is because you've made it. Every choice you will make is because you will have made it. For good or bad, no matter the consequences, our choices are always our own, not paths we're forced to follow."

Then, after a moment of contemplation.

"What's your name, by the way? I've been calling you Red, and I don't want to call you... 'Syrpent...' A first name will do."

"I think we both know Dr. Moreau isn't going to allow you to just kill everyone. She's a humanist.

That being said, I'd be willing to offer amnesty, even help to get out of all this, if that's what you want. I can't imagine that it's a terribly pleasant experience for you.
You'd have to stop trying to kill people for that offer though."

"Uh, no, we don't," we counter "Anymore than you have to stick with the name your parents gave you, or this Syrpent one you picked out. We aren't bound to our choices, we can make new ones. That's what being a person is, is the ability to decide who and what you are."
Gesture to our bands
"I asked for this, because it fit who I am. If I change that definition, I can tear them off. It'll hurt, yes, but that's what mistakes do. You live, you learn, and you heal. You, here, in your head, see yourself as bound to this oath, so you are. But I don't think this entity can kill you. It can hurt you, yes. It can exact a terrible price. But you always have the choice to tell it no. Right now, you're its doorway. It needs you to affect our world. If it kills you, it slams the door in its own face. But if you get rid of it? Cast it out? Forsake its pact, and its influence. You're smart enough to find another path to power. One less... binding."

>>18234327
>>18234301
>>18234295

"Uh-huh. Paths, right." You say. You reach out to tug on one of the barbed wires, when decide that would be a bad idea. You instead just point at it. "Sure seems like a fun one you're walking down." You switch gears. "I mean, we can change. I've never done anything because I've had to. I do it because I'm me." It starts to rain. Oily, black rain, that smack the ground like tears. You find neither of you getting real wet, though. He laughs a little, bitterly. "You have to pay the piper, Daniel. And I've been in it longer than you have." "Figured that too. I mean, I've only been superhuman like, three days now." She nods, which seems to cause her some pain, because then she winces. "Yeah, I know. I watched her make you. I thought I was special, y'know. She actually contacted me. Asked me if I wanted a shortcut, to cut out the middleman, as it were. Such an interesting woman..." She shivers a little, you don't think its the cold or the rain. "Found what I wanted. But when I found out she was picking another... I knew I needed to be stronger to keep up. So I bargained more strength." She looks you right in the eyes. "Now the devil's due his soul." "So, what's you're name?" You ask, out of the fucking blue. "I mean, you keep using mine. Only fair give me yours. At least so I can stop calling you 'Red'." She curls back up. "I'm Anna. Anna Ellsworth."

>yfw professor Martina Ellsworth is the director of the Esoterics Department, and teaches the Arcaneomathematics classes.

>>18234415
>>18234327
Something like this. Bring down the 'free will, no destiny' hammer. Do it in a way that makes it clear that we don't approve of her ACTIONS, but we support HER.

>>18234459
Ask her specifically who she owes her soul to.
Is it the Red Star?

And if so, what can we do to help?

>>18234459
... who?
Ask her what her price is.

>>18234480
Make a joke that she'll owe us her soul if she accepts our help.
Copious air quotes on soul and owe.

>>18234459
Find somewhere not covered in barbed wire to put a hand - ideally shoulder or back, somewhere comforting. This is a situation utterly devoid of sexuality. "Anna. I'll punch out the devil himself if it means getting you out of here. Nobody deserves to be somewhere like this. I don't approve of what you've done, but I'll fight tooth and nail to help free you if you'll let me. God knows I wouldn't have survived the past few days without help - help from everywhere I turned, really. Nobody can get by in this life without leaning on someone else."

>>18234459

Why does she want so desparately to be better than us? We have nothing to prove, this isn't a competition, we aren't Highlanders (not YET anyways, at the rate we're picking up new skills, we're going to be a ninja robot science alien psychic wizard or something before we're finished).

>>18234459
"So you're doing this to impress? Because I figure Dr. Moreau is using us to determine what the best evolutionary path for humanity is going to be.

How do you figure trying to wipe out humanity is gonna make her feel about you? Besides, the way I see it, the stronger, better path is the one that makes allies instead of destroying enemies.

I'd be willing to help you out of all of...this, if that's what yo wanted."

>>18234530
WHITE KNIGHT TRAIN ALL ABOARD WHOOOOO
She made her choice; if saving her is the easiest way to stop the world getting fucked, then we'll do it. If killing her is easier, we do that instead.

>>18234530
This. A thousand times this. Dan refuses to see himself as a big damn hero. He doesn't try to be a vigilante or stop bad guys. But he keeps getting put in situations where a hero is needed. And he keeps fucking stepping up.

>>18234459
Might not be good, but I want to mention that she wasn't the first, either.

"Funny thing, Anna, I heard yesterday that you weren't the first, either. Dr. M grabbed some kid, and stuffed him full of cyberwear. Seems he's working as a bike messenger now. Semi-insane she may be, but she's still a brilliant scientist, and you can't depend on just one case. Or some shit like that.

>>18234459
"Come on, you're smarter than that. No one ever pays the Devil in the old stories. The Devil wants his soul? See if he can reach out of Hell for it."
(I don't remember a lot about the Star, so correct me if this is inaccurate.)
"The Star needs you because he can't fit in our world. That's how important you are to him. How important is he to you? He almost made you better than me. And look at what he charged for it. Right now, there's a cop fighting his Voice, and I couldn't tell who was winning, but I can tell you the Voice wasn't having an easy time of it. Here, in your dreamworld, his chosen servant isn't enough to beat a single detective. This is YOUR world, not his. Here, YOU make the rules."

>>18234586
It's a collective dream thingy, not her dreamworld.
But otherwise this sounds good.

>>18234567

If there's a way to stop the world from getting destroyed AND saving her, we go for that first.

Killing her is only an option if there is no other choice. We won't kill her just because it's the easy way out.

>>18234487
The Red/Crimson Star is the big bad elder god Outsider she made her pact with, and is/has been making an effort to bring into this universe.

DAN FORTESQUE: ACTION THERAPIST

>>18234634
FUCK YES, WE ARE THE BIG DAMN HERO

>>18234634
DAN FORTESQUE: ACTION WIZARD
DAN FORTESQUE: SPACE PSYCHIC
DAN FORTESQUE: GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER

>>18234646
No matter how much we say that we aren't.

>>18234605
>>18234581

True. But the waking world? That's hers, not Old Red's

You know what? Let's Frodo this shit.

Bend the dreamscape. This isn't some mesa in a burnt desert. This is the street where we met her. We're there, she's there, and there's the store.

"You can come back."

See if we can will the chains as part of the dreamscape.

Who cares if the eye sees us now? We're at the heart of it.

>>18234652
Action Therapist: ivory-coloured business card, gold ink.
Action Wizard: black business card, silver ink.
Space Psychic: blue business card, white ink.
Gentleman Adventurer: brown business card, black ink typed by an antique typewriter with a crooked 'a.'

>>18234674
Note to self/dan : acquire at least one of all of these.
Hand them out when we meet people, picking the appropriate one.

>>18234480
>>18234501

"Okay, maybe we can work out something with this devil of yours." "She curls up tighter. "It's an expression, Daniel." She says, into her navel somewhere. She sounds like she's getting tired of you. "Not literally true, but might as well be." She uncurls a bit, to look right at you again. "You're new to this magic thing. Deals have power." She feebly gestures up at the BLOODY GREAT EYE which is watching the two of you talk. "Me and him both made our bargain in good faith. I have to hold up my end. Breaking them... takes something away from you." She curls back up. "And I didn't have much to begin with, in that department. No, I'll keep what I have. Damn the consequences." You're pretty sure she sounds like she's convincing herself again. The sounds of battle draw suddenly close as the Voice comes sailing through the air and smacks into a bench. As he stands up, Philips comes sailing across the mesa sword extended, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style. The servant of the Red Star swings his polearm around, slapping her flying charge aside. She turns it into a sideways roll, and tries to recover, but hits the lip of the mesa and goes tumbling backward first, with an "Oh fuck!". The knight of blood and bone turns to face you. Then the fucking eye talks. "LEAVE HIM. FINISH THE DREAMWEAVER FIRST. HE IS NOTHING." Goddamn that eye has no indoor voice. He Voice points at you with a clear 'You're next' gesture. Then he jumps off the mesa after Detective Philips.

(cont)

>>18234741

>>18234581
>>18234553

"You realize Doctor M isn't going to stand for this, right?" "Fuck her." Anna says, again, somewhere at her naval region. "Don't need her any more. Never was interested in this better humanity bullshit. I just wanted me to be better. Better than Eve, better than you, better than *her*." The last one she says with some vitriol. You're pretty sure she's not talking about Doctor M, who she seems to have some sort of love/hate thing going on with, (or maybe lust/hate, hard to tell with Red) but someone else. Something more of a hate/hate. Of course, you are talking to her fucked up dream-time self.

>>18234765
"What if I gave you enough to resist? To break free? Would you want to?"

>>18234765
Oh, Divines...... well what did your mum do to make you hate her enough for you to get mixed up in all this nonsense?

>>18234851
Let's not make wild, baseless assumptions. A good guess though.

>>18234765
"Better than Professor Ellsworth? Is that why you pursued this? Let me tell you about my father. He's a Professor too. An archaeologist, and a damn good one. An Action Archaeologist too, apparently, since Professor Blackstone confirmed my dad's mummy stories. He's the reason I pursued history, trying to follow in his footsteps and be like him. I'm not him, though. I'm not going to be better than him, or worse than him, or the same as him. I'm going to be different - I'm going to be me. People who try to measure themselves against others will always, always find themselves lacking. There's always someone smarter, always someone stronger, always someone more pretty or just plain better. Something I came to know - TRULY KNOW, not just believe, I just learned today. I saw the birth of a lich, saw the cost of it."

"If you try to better than everyone else, the only thing you end up doing is destroying yourself in the process. Forgive me for sounding like an afterschool special, but you can't be better than everyone. You can only be the best that you can be. If you can't accept that, you end up like this."

Gesture to her.

"Or worse. If you keep down this path, it's not going to get better. It's not even going to stay the same. It will just keep getting worse and worse. After all, how much did it cost you just trying to get better than little old me after the cafe? How much will it cost you when the next person comes along? Let me help you - leave this behind before it's too late. It may cost you a terrible price in the short term. In the long term, though? How much might it save?"

>>18234827
Fucking white knights.
First the wolf girl, now the chick who is attempting to basically DESTROY THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD.
But oh no she's just misunderstood and in pain and we have HELP her!
OP, if you actually go with this, I am fucking out.

>>18234765
>Of course, you are talking to her fucked up dream-time self.

Wait, so we're talking to her shadow?

>>18234871
If we remove her without killing her, not only do we stop the Red Star thing, we get a person to help us.
How is this a bad thing? We have command at full and charm right behind, we should be trying to convert people.

>>18234868
Holy shit, anon.
>>18234871
Then fucking go already. I agree with the wolf thing, but this is the most obvious path to ending this Red Star shit. If we fight her now, best case scenario she just wakes up or loses some willpower. Worst case, the eye in the sky blasts our mind into vapor. This is the perfect time to try the white knight option. If it doesn't work, then later, we kill her.

>>18234871
We're going with majority here. If you're going to pitch a fit every time majority isn't going to go with you, or every time anyone suggests being chivalrous, then I'd rather you didn't participate at all.

>>18234765

"You know, I bet this Eve chick, and me, and whoever "her" is, (I suspect your mother) all have something in common: we've never saved the world. But you can. Here, now. Will it cost you? Yes. Anything worth having has a price. But you know what? That's what everyone else is for. I don't hate you, Anna. And if you need it, I will help you with this.
That guy up there, he thinks I'm nothing. You're important to him. That means you can hurt him. Like he's hurting you. That's one way you're already better than me. I am new at this magic stuff, but you aren't. You know what the cost of your pact is, you know how to end it."
Clear our throat
" Out of the night that covers you,
Red as Hell from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For your unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
you have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
Your head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, you unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
You am the master of your fate:
You are the captain of your soul. "

>huzzah history studies and poems that inspired Nelson Mandela

>>18234959
>>18234868
Both of you anons are fucking ballers.

>>18234959
FUCK YEAH

>>18234871
What the hell makes you think Dan's a killer, or a thief (If you're the one that was belatedly stealing the cyrean nuclear batteries), simply because it's expedient?
It's not about being a "White knight," it's about being a goddamn decent human being.

>>18234959

This is GLORIOUS

>>18234871
You sir, are a buzzkill.

>>18234959
Omega, you gotta use this somehow. Invictus is not a poem recited lightly. This anon just went full-on inspiration mode.

Well if we didn't deserve that "ACTION THERAPIST" title previously, we sure as hell do now.

>>18234959
>>18234868
Fucking combine these, man. Goddamn epic. I am willing to wait as long as it takes for a story post that suits these.

Looks like this will be winding up soon. Can we, like, poke the giant eye with our staff before we leave? Just one really good jab right in the pupil as a farewell fuck you?

>>18234868
>>18234883
>>18234827
>>18234851

(OH SHIT SON. YOU DUN FUCKED UP NAW.)

"What, you wanna be better than Professor Ellsworth?" Anna hisses, low, and dangerous, like a pissed off cat. "*Don't* talk about her. *Don't* even try to feed me some bullshit about how we're alike." She pauses, then says the next part to herself. "Insufferable bitch." You feel like you're walking on thin ice. The next couple lines are gonna be critical. "Look, you can't be better than everyone, right? Always somebody better than that. I know it, you know it. Dr. M knows it, Professor Ellsworth knows it." Red clenches her fists, which causes drops of blood to spatter the altar stone. You think about bringing up your dad, but the very notion of you doing some classic "we're not so different" spiel made her pretty pissed, and you don't want to send her over the edge.

(cont)

>>18235130
>>18235130
OH GOD DAMN IT.

>>18235130
>OH SHIT SON. YOU DUN FUCKED UP NAW

B-but those posts were so awesome....

>>18235130
HA! I fucking knew it! I KNEW that bullshit was going to set her off.

>>18235163
Anon, kindly shut the fuck up if you're this guy:
>>18234871

>>18235161
He didn't reply the poem, though.
So maybe there is hope, in the next post?

>>18235175
He's not, I am, and I am laughing SO HARD right now.

>>18235177
If you really thought that would work you must be all kinds of naive.

>>18235163
>>18235187
Fallback options still exists.
This changes nothing, you realize.

>>18235130

"Look, you and I both know down this way lies self-destruction." You say. "You know because you're walking it, and I know it because I've rubbed elbows with the memories of some intense shit today. So, just let me help you, maybe together we can-" "Help...me?" She says, in a distant voice, like she's trying to understand what you just said. "You? Help me?" Shit, now she's annoyed. You get the idea this was the wrong thing to say. Faster than you thought she could move, she lashes out, trying to get on of her hands around your throat, only stopped by the tangle of barbed wire, which causes more blood to spatter on the altar. You leap back, up off the altar, as she rages at you. "YOU INSOLENT PIECE OF SHIT!" She snarls, her eyes back to the yellow color you're more familiar with. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I DON'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP!" She starts struggling against the wires, but all it does is get her a little more tangled. "I'm stronger, faster, BETTER." She berates you. The pillars creak ominously. "I don't take help from anyone, you condescending bastard!" You feel calling her out on her hypocrisy would not help the situation. After a few more moments of impotent struggling, she lets her arm flop to the surface of the altar. You take a cautionary step back, anyway. She's still glaring at you, and if looks could kill, you would be a smear right now.

>>18235248
This would be borderline taunting, but should we mention that she was unable to hurt us just there?

Shoulda used the poem.

>>18235248
Wheeeee. Time to wake up!

>>18235248
Dan Fortesque: AMATURE Action Therapist

>>18235177
>>18235161
>>18235148
>>18235002
>>18235029
>>18235026
>>18234959

Your attempts we rad and all, but you're laying it on a little thick. For normal people, this is probably really inspiring, but for people teetering on the edge of madness who's self-declared archnemesis has come to bug you in your dreams? Not as cool.

Just sayin'.
Don't look at me with those puppy dog eyes, I'm only running it like how she'd feel.
Fine, have a cookie.

>>18235248
"Then help yourself. Look at where the Red Star has you right now - what it's done to you. Can you really stand to be beholden to it like that for the rest of your life? Can you really stand for it to have beaten you - for it to be BETTER than you? If you say you don't need my help, then you don't. That's fine. I accept it. But I'll still give it to you if you ask for it, and I won't ask for a price like the one you're paying now."

>>18235248

We're not giving her pity. We're not trying to take her hand and be a shining knight to sweep her off her feet.

We just want her stand up and FIGHT BACK TO FREE HERSELF.

>>18234959

>>18235302
This.

>>18235248
Can we be done here now? We got a name, that's potential progress. Fuck not pissing her off, let's give her an incredulous "oh really?" look and point at the giant eye then get Phillips and get the fuck out of here

>>18235288

Fine then. We're not going to help anything if she's not willing to help herself. Lay off of it for now. But we'll keep trying if we see her again while awake.

>>18235296
>>18235302
These. She doesn't need or want our help, fine. We're not going to stand by and let his pretend she doesn't need to help herself, though.

>>18235312
Break her down, and then

>>18235302
Build her back up.

>>18235248
I kinda want to say: "The big eyeball has you so tied up you couldn't even get a hold of me when I was sitting right next to you and you think you have any strength of you own?"

>>18235375
Add to this:
"In fact, I've NEVER see you use your own strength. You've done nothing BUT take help."

>>18235302

Note: I am not actually advocating punching her in the face.

Because that would be dumb. And dangerous.

>>18235388
>>18235375

You saw how she reacted to our previous attempts at inspiring her. This is just going to make it even worse.

>>18235414
Agreed. We want her to see reason, not make her rage harder.

>>18235414
Frankly I don't think we can "inspire" her out of this. We don't even know how much of this she'll recall when she wakes up. Or how much we'll recall for that matter.

>>18235459
I think it's more important that we make the effort.

>>18235302
>>18235312
>>18235322
>>18235324
>>18235333

"Fucking fine," you say, throwing up your hands. "You want to say here, in freaky dream land, with the giant goddamn eye up there," You point at the eye. "Be my fucking guest. Pardon me, for trying to prevent the apocalypse." She laughs, again. Only now its twisted, creepy laughter. Her eyes are still yellow. You put a couple things together. You're asleep because you've been drugged unconscious. *She's* asleep because she's tired, probably crashing after being up all night. You're able able to put up a relatively solid front, psyche-wise, because you don't have some outstanding conflicts with yourself. She may not be so united. The landscape is influenced by her dreams, after all. So why is *she* all tied up? Your thoughts are interrupted when she talks to you again. Now she sounds like she does normally, when she's awake. "It's not some freaky dream, Daniel. This is what it'll look like when he comes. I will herald his arrival, and he will stalk down and drink the blood of this world." Great. Now you're talking to the crazy part. Well, might as well stick with it. "And this is a good idea, HOW!?" You say. "Didn't say it was a good idea, Daniel. Just the only idea. Told you already, I wont give up what I have, what makes me, me, now. No more than you would." She smiles at you, with teeth. "I told you, deals are important. My master has held up his end of the bargain, now so must I."

>>18235476
Why?
What can he take from you that you can not take back?
What can he do to you that you cannot stop?
Are you so weak that you are at his mercy?
Whatever you lose from breaking the deal, wrest it back from him yourself! Whatever power he has over you, destroy it!
What can he do to stop you?

And if you are willing to accept help from one so weak as I, then I will gladly give it. What do you have to lose?

>>18235476

Fuck it. We're not going to reason with her like this.

We might be able to try and wheedle some more information about what she's planning though...

>>18235476
"Wouldn't give it up? I would give it all up, the Cyrean powers, the magic, the pacts, if it would get you to climb out of that barbed wire and send Red on his way."

>>18235476
Aww, we didn't point out her failure to stand on her own >>18235375
>>18235388
Oh well, let's make sure Phillips isn't an inch from death or something.

>>18235476
Yeah, well sorry to have to break this to ya anna, but if you really wish to persist with this bullshit, then I'm just gonna have to find yer waking self and drag your sorry ass to a real therapist.

>>18235476
I think it's time for Dan to accept that he may just have to kill her to stop her, I'm also wondering if we could get a relationship with her? Like some kind of determination to stop her.

>>18235511

Out of character, she's talking about how breaking her pact will cut off all of her bitching miracles. Also it will eat into her Base Will. Which, also mechanically speaking, is the thing that differentiates her from normal people, having a Base Will score. She would literally lose a part of herself, same as Dan would if he broke the ties with Veritas or Nerio. This just is. She can't say "fuck you" and bail out with out backlash, just like you don't opt out of the contract in blood when the devil comes a knockin'. Which is why she made that allusion earlier. And, at this point, she seems like she prefers to not make that sacrifice when she can sacrifice humanity instead.

Keep in mind, you are also talking to crazy her now.

>>18235560
I think you can get antagonistic relationships. If you're familiar with Homestuck, it would be a kismesis.

>>18235531
>>18235511
I think you're misinterpreting things, Dan isn't who he is because of his powers, but Red is. She's wrapped her whole identity around this "herald" thing. One has to wonder what in a persons life would make them give themselves up like that, but that questions is for the psychologists.

>>18235560
Do we really need that given the relationships we can call on when opposing her? Don't those already make us hit our dice cap?

>>18235608
Need? Maybe not. Most relationships are mostly fluff, though. Even in situations where we can use all of ours, it usually pushes us over the 10 limit.

>>18235476

"Has he? Has he held up his end of the bargain? Was it to make you better than me? Because I don't see it. Sure, you can open a door, and let some big monster do your dirty work for you. That's not impressive. Pushing a truck downhill's an easy trick. Pushing it uphill? That takes effort."
Gesture to the eye.
"Tell him to go fuck himself. I didn't come here to help you, or even to see you. I got stuck here, because that motherfucker doesn't know how to do things with a light touch. You want me to leave? He's the asshole keeping me here. He's the reason I keep finding you.
You could stay here, and be Queen of this Infinite Space, if not for the Crimson Star."
Gesture to the pillars
"Just now, in your anger, and your hate, you bent those. You bent them with your hatred of me, a man you've met three times. I can't imagine how much more you must hate him. He's demanded so much of you, and you're still not winning. It makes me wonder: the strong don't negotiate with the weak. Why does he torment you so, and demand so much, if he has all this power?"
Turn away
"Now, your boss's pet is trying to hurt my friend. I'm going to go see what I can do to stop him. Because that's what people do. I don't have to like you, or you me, to put down a rabid dog. If you want some help with your leash, just call."
And go see what we can do to help Philips

I'd still like to call her on that whole "I don't need help" thing as: >>18235375 >>18235388

But I guess we really should be checking on Phillips right about now.

>>18235573
Any chance we can roll Charm + Empathy + Roxy + Johnny + Evokers to try to say all the stuff we're trying to say in a way phrased to NOT make her lose her shit?

>>18235608
Just an in character thing really. I mean sure we can call on our other relationships because the world is going to end but they're not really in the same situation as Dan, I just don't like the idea of Dan suddenly thinking of EVERYONE but the person he's fighting and somewhat trying to save just to cap out our dice.

>>18235573
>>18235476
Yeah, I dont think we can actually wrap our heads around the messed up scope of here thinking to get through to her rationally right now.
So yeah, " Well, I dont think youre thinking this through, or Why you think this can happen if you dont let it. Seems like a submission to me. I just wanted to give you an out. Sleep tight...Such as it is. " Then lets grab the detective and skidaddle.

>>18235580
>>18235580
>>18235580
>>18235580
>>18235580
THIS, A THOUSAND TIMES THIS! Omega, I don't care if you think this is something that we can't redeem. We think we can, therefore Dan thinks we can. /tg/ is filled with white knights, so when you put an option in front of us to white knight, it is what we will do. To Daniel, sure, we may lose base will points, but to us, we don't give a shit, we knew what it was like being normal, hell, we have tried to be normal even after taking on the powers, granted due to circumstance it's not possible, but the point is, being normal isn't so bad. It gets back to the discussion about how we are the neutral data sample and our character motivations now. If this isn't a crisis where we pull out all the stops and bring to bear the fact that, being just human, is good enough, then I don't know when it will be. Revolve a response around the fact that we aren't here to say she needs help, we are here saying that if she wants it, even a little, we are here to give it. We aren't going to be her knight in shining armor, she can be her own, we will try to be her brother in arms. To show the fact that yes, she doesn't need our help, but guess what, it's up to her, and always has been, to make her decisions. Pacts and things have power, sure, but guess what, that whiplash that takes a part of herself to go against, it will also show herself that she doesn't even need that part in the first place.

Be awesome, not because we think you can be, but because we think that you know that you can be awesome.

>>18235704
Oh for crying out loud man, just let it go.

>>18235732
He's not the only one who's been advocating it. Myself, for example.

>>18235704
Honestly I don't take part in the quest most times, despite following it from the first thread, I tend to read the logs more like a story. From that story perspective I've been wanting to see Dan begrudgingly accept he has to kill her and have him grow more into his newfound abilitys as he realises the responsiblity he's been given. I mean really, we've been doing cool shit, fighting crime when it pops up and what not but I don't think in character Dan recognises the weight his powers hold.

>>18235580

Well, there's a whole buried Freudian Excuse thing buried under here, compounded by staring to much into the Abyss. And talking to the Abyss. And letting the Abyss teach you things.

I can give you some hints, though. She didn't have any proper miracles until she found out Dr. M was uplifting Dan. She just had some new knowledge. She's basically been digging herself a deeper hole since then, bargaining more and more to try and compete with Dan.

Yeah, its really fucking irrational. But she was in a dark place when Dr. M picked her (In fact, this is why she was picked, for her despiration).

Oh, yeah, and the little fact that Red had sex with Dr. M a couple times. That particular aspect of the relationship may have influenced some things.

>>18235663

Yeah, we're not saying that. Y'know in that spot where Dan's character sheet says "Friends" and "Humanity"? Syrpent's says "Dr. M" and "The Red Star". She is just as defined by those things as Dan is by his own.

>>18235704

Son, you seem to be under the impression we're at the climax of this particular arc. We're not even at the top of the arc. This is something I thought of this morning when I needed something to do to fill in this thread. These results do have me hope for the best when the ultimate time comes, though.

Now everybody gird their loins now, so I can finish out this thread.

>>18235793
hey >>18235704 here

I figured it wasn't, too early for that, timeline wise. It's more of us trying to plant a seed of hope, or putting a chink in her armor as it were, so it sits there, and festers/grows/expands as time goes by.

>>18235793

>>Oh, yeah, and the little fact that Red had sex with Dr. M a couple times. That particular aspect of the relationship may have influenced some things.
>>Oh, yeah, and the little fact that Red had sex with Dr. M a couple times.
>>the little fact that Red had sex with Dr. M

Im torn between Feeling this is Awesome, Creepy,worthy of grudging respect, and Jealousy.
It is a complicated feeling

>>18235476

"If that's how you feel." You say, taking a couple steps back. Clearly talking wont work right now. Well, you've said your peace. Now time to find Detective Philips and ask her how to get out of here. "If you keeping that part of you is worth killing off all humanity, and probably all the other stuff living in this universe, you go right ahead. Like you said, we've all chosen our paths." You turn away from her, then look back over your shoulder. "But did you ever consider, maybe the parts you'd lose, were the parts you didn't want in the first place?" Her expression falters a little at your parting shot, then you hear someone giving you the sarcastic slow clap.

You snap forward to see some buffoon in a plague doctor costume walking up the aisle between the rows of benches. "So poetic." He booms, in a deep, ominous voice. "Syrpent. I may have failed you before, but our deal still stands." Recognition hits you. "Miles!?" You ask, astounded at how wrong this image fits what you know the little punk to look like. "Why are *you* a badass?" He ignores you. "I will remove this dreamer for you. Will you hold up your end?" You turn back to look at Red, who is now sitting kind of comfortably on her back, staring up at her friend, the eye in the sky.

(cont)

>>18235923

"Sure, Miles." She says, casually. "Go ahead. I'm bored with him now." Gee, thanks, Red. Miles raps his staff on the ground, and blackness pools out, and from the ground rises a graveknight, a skeleton clad in black platemail. With a huge sword. You get ready to defend yourself.

Suddenly, a shadow moves across the ground, quick as lightning. It parks under the graveknight, and a pitch black skeleton lurches out of the shadow and grabs the dream-undead, dragging it down into the shadows. You and Miles stand there confused for a couple seconds, before the shadow rises back up again.

It reveals Gespenst, all in his uniformed glory, though his bones are still oily black. He brushes some dirt off one of his jackboots, straightens his coat, then adjusts his officers cap. He looks right at you. "Boy, you haff been asleep to long. I have come to get you from this place, and rouse you, so the insufferable cretins will stop pestering me about putting you in coma." Huh. Gespenst turns to face Dream!Miles. "And this one. Amateur. I will send you crawling back to your mother, and we shall be rid of this place!" Gespenst starts casting a spell.

METAHUMAN RENAISSANCE PART 19 END

>>18235923

I smell a boss fight. Time to smack some sense into this little punk properly.

>>18236031
Gespenst saves the day!
We should totally fist-bump him next time we're in a situation where he has hands.

>>18236031
Fuck yeah, Gespenst.

>>18236031
...fucking hell. We can't leave without Phillips, though.

>>18236031
I love the idea of the Nazi lich being bullied into going and begrudgingly saving us by an old woman wearing aviator's goggles.

>>18236031

Wait. Why did I say 19 at both ends.

That makes no sense. Where was part 18?

>>18236061
I for one think that any such situation were that becomes Applicable, we should instead run for our lives.

>>18236072

Dan's been unconscious for over an hour, actually. So a number of women have been badgering Gespenst. You may take a guess as to who and how many.

>>18236031
>"And this one. Amateur. I will send you crawling back to your mother, and we shall be rid of this place!"

Gespenst may be evil, but fuck it, I like him anyways.

>>18236097
Well, if that were a situation to arise, I think Gespenst would actually not be that hostile. If anything, more like, you know, "I like you, you funny guy, I kill you last." Or along the lines of, join us etc, etc...

>>18236110

I have spent much time in making Gespenst both PANTS-WETTING TERROR EVIL and also somehow a very likable guy.

I suspect the flashback to his life at the beginning of this thread helps too.

So, I'm out for tonight. If you leave questions, they may be answered in the morning.

If the thread is still here in 8 hours.

>>18236193
>I suspect the flashback to his life at the beginning of this thread helps too.

That it did. Before, I really just thought of him as a wacky German skull dude, but that flashback really hammered home the fact that he's a terrifyingly powerful wizard who's done some pretty awful things to attain that level of power in the first place.

>>18236333
Also, the mad regret.

rolled 75 = 75

So I say we make a plan the culminates with red stabbing s with a ceremonial dagger as we kill The Red Star" as we become lich who is with me?

>>18237101
The cost of becoming a lich was the person he cared most for dying. I refuse to accept having one of our friends or family die to eat Red Star's soul. That's fucking unconscionable.

>>18236333
It makes me wonder how many truly powerful magi didn't get a bulk of their powers either gifted to them or siezed by them.

rolled 93 = 93

>>18237757
no just the person who killed him that's y suggest red

>>18240626
Regardless, there's no way of knowing whether or not the Red Star counts as a deity for the purpose of such a ritual. Also, I seriously doubt that Dan would actually want to become a lich. As a final note, is English not your native tongue, or are you just borderline illiterate? Your posts are almost impossible to read due to your abject lack of punctuation.

rolled 60 = 60

>>18237757
Well Dan seams to like a few things one is power, the other research ,and when a plan comes together. I be leave this has all 3 of course we should find out weather TRS counts but that's a minor point

>>18240843
More to the point, regardless of his hobby of self-improvement, Dan has always opted to continue his life as normal, just with super powers in his back pocket. If he turns himself into a fleshless immortal skeleton without a sense of touch, his life will never have even the remotest semblance of normalcy ever again. It takes an idiot, a lunatic, or a desperate man to throw away their humanity like that, and Dan is none of those three. What our Nazi Lich friend did is the absolute paragon of a really bad decision.

>>18241901
>>18240843
Also, we've never actually sought power for power's sake, aside from this necromancy push, which I still don't entirely agree with, but whatever, it's done.

We picked up the magic to better protect ourselves, and those we care for, not to attain the power infinite. If we even can reasonably hit that level.

Gespent was an incredibly powerful wizzad when he went through the ritual, and so far as we know, there was no guarantee that he would succeed. We just know that the crazy strong Mage is now a lich. We've had magic for all of a day. We're not that good yet.

>>18242695
The necromancy thing was justified with twofold reasoning: The first is that we needed some type of healing magic. Or wanted it, I guess. Point is we were hurting and a big component of protection is recovery. The reason why we ended up choosing necromancy rather than restoration was due simply to Knowledge and Veritas. We had a source of cool, exotic, rare knowledge available from and amazing tutor on one side. On the other, we had a fairly generic book. The choice was obvious.

It was utility, not power for power's sake, and knowledge, also not power for power's sake.

>>18242752
Succinctly put, anon.

>>18236116
Thats really not disproving my "We should really be running for our lives" statement
>>18237101
Somehow I knew when the Necromancy thing came up this was going to go there. Agreeing to absorb part of the old, wise, Insanely powerful, evil Necromancer(who is currently UNWILLINGLY confined to a Skull) soul just reinforced the warning bells.
They are Warning SIRENS now.

>>18242752
You are entirely correct, and I misspoke. Or something like that. I would never claim that I am the cleverest of men. I still don't really like that we went with the necromancy, but that's because it's necromancy, not the why.

>>18244021
Well, that's a disagreement I'm fine with leaving be, since that's a personal thing, now that we've gotten the concrete rationales out of the way.

>>18241901

This is something that isn't clear in the flash back, but Gespenst wasn't clear on the exact results of his plan. He just knew that the end result, if it worked, was to basically forge a self-perpetuating cycle of his body cannot be destroyed unless his soul is destroyed and his soul can't be banished or destroyed while his body exists. To do this he burned up the nigh unlimited power of the soul of an old god, who happened to be dead and buried at the time.