>>2357971
The chanting abruptly stopped on some difficult to pronounce syllable at which the glow of the light increased. Oh yes, now you could feel it. the presence of some interested third party. You remove your hand from the doorway and the other from Moira and raise them up temptingly. You had felt the power hesitate, some gaze across time and space and other dimensions unsure of what to do. Clearly it had been a chant for demon-slaying or some such but the entity on the other end could not make heads or tails of you.

"Show me what you have." You said plainly.

That seemed to do the trick. A fraction of a moment later and your mortal flesh burned and bubbled and petrified and melted all at once. Of course it also reversed that damage as swiftly as it had come, little more than a wispy smoke wafting from you any indication you had been harmed at all.

You turn down to Moira and shake your head.

"I would have chosen the company of better gods, if I had need of them. So are you ready to hear me out now?" You ask bluntly. You had been amused to let her act as she wanted for now but you really wanted to make your offer.

Again, the insufferable hesitation. This wont do. You flex a distant part of your attention and nudge her in the right direction, her hands coming away from you and dropping the idol to the floor uselessly.

"Aye, well, worth a shot." She says looking between you and the doorway.

"Quite." Was all you said, stepping in after ushering her into your office.

>Will roll successful! No negative effects!

>Offer a job (be specific)(write in)
>Other (Specify)
Additionally
>Offer a boon (Be specific) (Write in)
And Choose
>Amusingly torture the god who smote you
>Forgive the ignorant Deity.
>Bind it to a pen and give it to Moira

>>2358048
>Offer a job: Slay a lesser demon, and recover a sword he stole from us
>Boon: Enhanced endurance - Last longer during heavy physical activeties
>Turn the god into a human, which will help our dwarf in her adventures

>>2358084
>Turn the god into a human, which will help our dwarf in her adventures

This pleases me.

Glad this is back, US. Keep it up!

>>2358048
>Offer a job: Slay a lesser demon, and recover a sword he stole from us
>Boon: Enhanced endurance - Last longer during heavy physical activeties
>Turn the god into a human, which will help our dwarf in her adventures

>>2358084
This sounds good

Feelin frisky tonight. Going to give it another 10 for clever answers and then go with
>>2358084
Which seems to have consensus.

>>2358084
>>2358187
>>2358220

Though you made a show of entering the doorway physically you immediately dis-incorporated once you passed the threshold. Already your head swam with ideas and deigned to make some swift adjustments. With a thought you were in the domain of the offending deity, a rather nice place all things considered. There were hosts of many winged angels of some description, penitent halls of marble and gold filled with the sound of ringing metal and turning paper, and a great spinning wheel upon which sat the being you were after. There were minor things of note, the angels had too many heads and too few faces, the halls bent away upwards and warped in strange ways, and the great wheel throne was hung with burning screaming demons at its spokes. If you had been given a few minutes to design an afterlife for paladins and demon-slayers you might be tempted to adopt a similar design. Of course you would have done it better though. Your essence swirls near the throne and with a moments focus the great burning many winged god sat upon the wheel buckles and warps under your overwhelming power. You had considered a few options for the fool. Maybe an aasimar, perchance a deva. But inspiration struck profound. Oh how devilish. You slam the god with some great force into its new mortal coil and bind its power suitably before manifesting a pair of new chairs in your office and setting yourself to your chesterfield just as Moira enters.

Moira for her part keeps her composure now quite admirably. She makes no show of hiding her curiosity as she examines the room and the two beings before her. You could tell she was confused as to why the Tiefling unsightly as it was joined the two of you, but at the beings stoic silence she resigned to not asking.

"Come come, take a seat, lets talk. I am quite eager to see what you can do. Especially after that nice show you gave me!" You reply from your seat tapping your fingertips together.

She steps forwards briskly and sits with some difficulty on the chair. Ah, that perhaps was a mistake of instinct. After she is seated you adjust her mahogany Bergère, adding a small step for her and adjusting its height. Now that you were satisfied you put your hands to the table and smiled down at your two guests.

>>2358336
"So, I said I had an offer for you." You pronounce proudly smiling across to Moira. "However in a fit of utmost benevolence I have seen fit to give you more than a single boon!"

Moira turns again uncertainly to the tiefling before looking to you. There was an unspoken question but it appeared her will was not wasted as she had elected to wait.

"Yes! Two boons! A little extra spring for your step, and a friend to help you to your goal. And don't worry there..." You spare a moment to scry the name of the errant god. "Yothep? Terrible name. How about I call you Yotam? Well fear not Yotam, this will be a job you might have some fun with too!" You continue.

The Tiefling remains quiet though now at least not so shell shocked to miss your words. He attempts to speak with alien lips but finds no words will come. Moira continues to ignore the obvious problem but now she has furrowed her brow quite appraisingly. Clearly she knew you had withstood the miracle she had sent upon you, but either she didn't understand the implication or thought it too ridiculous to entertain.

"I lost a trinket, just a simple little thing. Some miscreant imp must have snatched it while I was looking the other way. Clearly I could go fetch it myself but really, such small matters should be beneath me. That's where you two come in!"

Now the tiefling was mad. You could tell Yotam was struggling as hard as it could against the seal that kept it quiet and still in its seat, tearing fruitlessly at the bondage you had placed on its power.

"I want you Moira, to take Yotam out and kill the little blighter, grab my knife before someone gets hurt, and get it back to me. Simple as can be. Now I understand this task might be a little out of your depth so I am going to offer you a little extra vigor. Just enough to see you where you are going in good time. And that just about does it I think! Interested?" You finish leaning closer over the table.

Moira clears her throat a moment and spares a look for Yotam again before replying. "Ah, just a few small questions. You had said at the bar er- this was an offer?" She asks.

"Correct!" You reply as you lean back into your chair.

"Do I get any choice to refuse?"

You stifle a smile. "Well, I suppose, but you should believe me when I say choosing to take this job would be in your best interest."

Unnerved but on the verge of giving up Moira too leans back in her chair. "Next question. Who is this sop really? Why cant I just do this alone?"

You frown slightly, drumming your fingers on the arms of your chair and sparing a glance for Yotam who still seemed to be struggling quite hard just under the surface of his skin. "Well I suppose you could go alone if you wanted, but if you don't want Yotams help Ill just unmake him. I'm sure he can make quite the case as to why you shouldn't let that happen cant you?" Your last statement was directed more at the tiefling, who with a twitch of your finger and a fraction of a though was freed.

>>2358390
The moment you restored the command of his limbs and throat to him Yotam stood and began shouting and emoting a litany of great and small curses towards you. Every charm, binding, blight, and smite that he knew of the mortal reckoning was hurled at you fruitlessly. Clearly the being formerly known as Yothep had crafted the thought that if you had stripped it of its power it could still spite you with more mundane magic. Commendable you suppose for one so hopelessly outmatched, but his will wasn't the one you were interested in. After a solid minute and a half of exhaustive and utterly unresponsive spell-casting Yotam finally gave up, balling his fists and glaring at you with rage. The poor thing must have run through a dozen languages and a hundred spells in the time you afforded him only to see that all the brands of magic he was familiar with were impotent here. With a wave of your hand you compel him to sit. This elicits yet more curses from the being, this time of a more domestic variety. Honestly this was the least interesting part of the exchange. You had suffered the tongue lashings of minstrel gods of a caliber and ranking far beyond this pathetic beings. The art of speech was clearly not its strong suit.

"-aped into the blade witherer to be sated by-" With a rather showy wave of your hand you command him to silence and turn your attention back to Moira.

"As you can see, Yotam here is quite the capable magician. Its no stretch of the imagination that had I not put measures in place this room would be filled with quite the display of destruction. You are a strong woman no doubt, but where flesh fails maybe you can lean on him." You say disinterestedly. You had made a playmate for her, but honestly if she wasn't interested you were far from caring.

"Aye, might be handy." Moira says raising a hand to stroke her chin. "Suppose I only have a few more questions. Who in the nine hells are ye, and will a condition of my service be that ye wont steal me soul or some such?"

You shrug. Clearly this was the last thing Moira was expecting who is immediately dumb struck, mouth agape slightly as she gestures with he hand towards you.

You just smile back. "Who knows. I don't really deal in souls. Not what I am interested in. When I need those I tend to re-purpose ones people wont miss or make my own. As for who I am, does it matter? I enslaved the god of justice for my own amusement. Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know?"

Moira doesn't look away, she already you could tell she was trying to look for some tell or giveaway. "Bullshit. Damn fine magician. Perhaps the finest, but no one can enslave gods."

>>2358449
You answer with another shrug, aggravating Moira further.

"Who is to say whats possible and whats not? This mission will take a little while. Why not ask Yotam about it along the way? So do we have a deal or not?"

Moira looks uncertainly between Yotam and yourself now offering an outstretched hand.

"Last question?" she asks slowly.

You retract your hand and sigh heavily. "Fine. Last question. But no more! I am not made of patience!"

"Ye said you'd buy me outta my debts. That all that's on offer?"

You smile reassuringly, again offering your hand. "Ill buy your debts, Ill let you keep your boons, and Ill give you better work in the future. Hows that for an offer!"

Moira takes one last look at your hand and leans in to take hold. "Fine"

"Wonderful!" You exclaim shaking with one hand and covering hers with the other. "This will be a good decision. You'll see!" A warmth spreads from your hands into hers, and for a moment she attempts to pull back. Holding her steady you impart a degree of vigor, empowering her soul and body. Its always hard to guess how much is a lot to mortals so you ere on the side of the caution, but when you release your grip Moira is grinning and flexing. Clearly she enjoys the sensation at the least.

"Damn, pep in my step indeed! So wheres this im-" Moira stops looking up from her hands to the bar, back as it was before her outburst and joined by the sparsely clothed Tiefling who scowls down at her. A scowl she answers with a smirk.
"Aye chose to accept. Gonna go ahead and guess yer damn well stuck with me. Don't worry. Aye don't bite. Much."

Well that's settled. Now comes the planning. Sending them directions will be easy. But what exactly are they up against?

>How powerful should the demon be?
>How powerful should the Sword be?
Additionally
>Do we recruit a demon now and arm them
or
>See what Moira and Yotam get up to at the bar

>>2358490
Goddamn that was a mountain. Anyway, that is probably all I am going to write tonight. Send me suggestions! Discuss! And as always ask questions! Ill be in tomorrow to continue. Maybe.

>>2358490
>Demon powerlvl: Challenging, but doable if she uses her new boon
>Sword powerlvl: "Almost a toothpick" lvl
>Demon recruitment: Yes, one that is powerful but with a clear weakness. He stronk, no weapon needed
I cant wait to see her react on recovering a useless sword

>>2358490
>How powerful should the demon be?
Incorporeal, and only vulnerable to a battle of wills. They need to have sufficient power or minions to keep Yotam from interfering too much.
>How powerful should the Sword be?
If the sword is completely mundane, that could sour the relationship we have with our prospect, unless it's a gift we got from Lucy or otherwise holds great sentimental value. One idea is to have it be enchanted so it can cut through some level of magical bindings, so Moira can use it to release Yotam or some such nonsense if she wants. Speaking of Lucy, we need to make sure she's there to witness our ultimate confrontation with Moira at the end. She is our loving wife, after all.
>Do we recruit a demon now and arm them
Yeah, we need to start getting this whole quest together before our heroes begin moving. Otherwise, it'd be highly unprofessional.

Any other votes? Going to leave this open for most of today before responding. Hopefully I get a tie breaker.

>>2358490
>>How powerful should the demon be?
quite challenging but not unbeatable, it has a weakness that can be exploited. Otherwise it is highly resistant to magic or reacts to it in strange ways (this is here mainly to keep Yotam on his toes and thinking). And if our adventurers come unprepared, kill them without mercy (idiots dont deserve to live and we should not waste our time with them).
>>How powerful should the Sword be?
One idea is to have it be enchanted so it can cut through some level of magical bindings, so Moira can use it to release Yotam or some such nonsense if she wants. (it will be interesting to watch what she actually do. also only she can break the binding, sword can be wielded only by her, etc.)
>>Do we recruit a demon now and arm them
must we now? cant we just top time, magic it into existence, and sculpt to our desired picture whenever we want? we are omnipotent afterall
>>See what Moira and Yotam get up to at the bar
lets watch these two, it will be fun

Something they can beat with a challenge, a sword that heals instead of cuts and watching the entertainment is my vote

Well, we've the option of the Demon knowing of her heritage and talking shit henceforth- or the sort that loves fucking with people.

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>>2359027

A fucking Golgothan.

A shit demon

>>2362051

also make sure to restart time in the bar.

>>2362053
Muahahahahahah!! :D

I have a tabletop game tonight. Dont expect an update soon. I am playing with ideas for the next post so look forwards to that

>>2359099
>must we now? cant we just top time, magic it into existence, and sculpt to our desired picture whenever we want? we are omnipotent afterall
Yea thats fair. Lets do both then.

Also I lied about not writing tonight. I feel inspired having killed my first player character.

Writing

>>2358513
>>2358794
>>2359099
This was exactly what you needed. You had your doubts at first about going back to playing with mortals but had a distinctly good feeling about Moira. Yotam not so much, but you find it hard to keep entertained with gods. Having dealt with so many of their ilk for so long has ruined your patience for them. Often times there was little new to be seen of gods but always were mortals pleasing. Considering how gods often play with mortals themselves it seems quite obvious that their short lives contributed to their variety and spontaneity.

From your seat you play with a few ideas, resting your head on your palm as you scry one of your many junk dimensions for a suitable blade. You consider giving your champion a meager blade, little more than a trinket for the triumph. Eventually you settle on something more tailored. You reach through the aether and pull out a long slick ghostly white blade with a rather nice brass hilt. You remember that you had wielded it against some sorcerer king long ago on one of your adventures. Upon it was a enchanting of your own immutable will, that it could break any earthly binding, and repel any magic. A well tailored blade indeed. It had served you once and would serve again. You could almost swear the blade was happy as you set it on your desk and set to designing the demon to hold it.

Briefly you considered buying the favor of an actual demon from whatever hell this crystal sphere held, but of course that would be a waste. Agents of your own creation are much more reliable, though so much less likely to surprise. You drum your fingers on the chairs arm as you consider the near infinite possibilities available to you. Clearly you needed a demon that would be more a match for Moira than Yotam. It vexed you that the god had such extensive knowledge of mortal magic. Clearly the blade would aid supremely in this regard, but maybe something to tip the scale harder?

Ah! A curse of the senses! You design a truly dreadful creature. More an animate filth golem than a demon. You decide that instead of being a matter of physical power it would test Moiras stomach and desire to win. She would have to grapple or dismantle the thing as it reforms and strike its core to break it, all the while resisting its stench. Similarly you imbue it with a powerful aura to ward off a great deal of spells that the sword itself could not break.

You grimace at the demon you have created. It was everything you wanted and a little more, somehow its reek escaping the bubble of energy you held it in to keep it from sullying your office.

It gurgles and groans, its developing mind looking to you for understanding. "Grod... Serb?"

>>2363647

You wave your hand lazily at the creature, floating the sword through the barrier into its awaiting... pseudopod. Again you can just barely sense the sword which is displeased with the circumstance. For its part most of that was directed at Grod instead of you. "Take this, and make some trouble. Ill send you somewhere rather remote, but I want you to make a fortress of some kind and prepare it for someone I am sending to you."

It chortles in understanding, and with another flick of your wrist you send it to the other side of the mountain range that Moira inhabits. She would have to cross some rather perilous terrain, but there was at least a single dwarf home between here and there. Plenty a distance for a first task.

Turning your attention back to the bar you set things in place for your two adventurers. Not a moment had passed since Moira and Yotam returned to the bar. A little tweaking and both the bartender and the other patrons would have nary a trace of a clue who the man was that she had spoken to nor what about. You snap your finger and time resumes.

"Damn, pep in my step indeed! So wheres this im-" Moira stops looking up from her hands to the bar, back as it was before her outburst and joined by the sparsely clothed Tiefling who scowls down at her. A scowl she answers with a smirk.
"Aye chose to accept. Gonna go ahead and guess yer damn well stuck with me. Don't worry. Aye don't bite. Much."

Before Yotam can respond Remmy speaks up from across the bar-top. "How ye manage to always scrounge up the worst of this city never ceases to amaze. Turn my back for but a second and ye bring in more riff-raff." He holds the holy symbol from before, rubbing it thoughtfully as he appraised the Tiefling across from him.

Yotam hesitates to speak, still undoubtedly upset with his situation. Unfortunately Moira steals the chance from him.

"Lay off the new blood Rem, hes new in town. And I need the twerp. Ain't that right Tom?" Yotam scowls harder, clearly even more upset with the continued bastardization of his name.

"Hold your tongue. I do not know how you gained the favor of that *thing*, but I'll smite you the moment I can for abiding such heresy." He spits. Moira remains unfazed and merely deposits a few coins on the counter which Remmy scoops up and turns to obtain her drink.

"Sure ya will. Don't know how you get around being all high 'n mighty but I'm not buying it just yet. That freakazoid was mighty powerful, but you ain't no god."

As the barman goes to draw Moiras drink Yotam catches sight of the symbol that he placed upon the counter top.

"You! You are faithful? An adherent of the wheel of justice?" He nearly shouts across to Remmy.

>>2363700
The barman silently draws Moiras drink, turning and bringing it to her as he turns to him. "Aye dabble in faith. You aughts watch yer mouth though fiend-blood. Say that too loud Yotheps bound to smite you dead daring to speak 'is name."

Moira smiles into her drink, but remains silent. Her mood sours slightly when she realizes she was drinking a more familiar brew than the fine drink you had offered her.

"A faithful man, stars align! It is I mortal! The one for whom the wheel turns and the filth of time erases! You even know my name!" Yotam grins down at the dwarf, who slowly replaces the symbol under the bar and dries his hands on his apron. The deadpan look he provides quickly wilts Yotams enthusiasm.

"Ye watch your tongue filth. Sacrilege maybe be tolerated in the wetlands, but I'll kill ya soon as hear you defile the good lord like that again."

You don't have to be a mind reader to know that Yotam is rapidly twisting between despair and rage speaking to this dwarf. Clearly some part of him was pleased that he was respected, but another desperately screams that he was wearing such filthy skin and the dwarf was right.

Amusing as it was to watch them make small talk, your attention was rapidly dwindling. With a thought you deposited a simple cloth map into Moiras pocket displaying in no unclear terms where you had put the demon.

You wave your hand and dispel the window from which you observed your pets.

Bored. Terribly horribly bored. You couldn't count on ten hands how many times you had watched gods you tortured react in similar ways. So mind-numbingly boring.

>Move time forwards a bit

>Micromanage the Demon

>Look for more adventurers. You will have to do something about Remmy eventually. Maybe you could send Moira new friends that don't require creating a cosmic power vacuum?

>Prepare some new plots for Moira to conquer after the demon is dead

>Take Lucy out to play

>Reminisce (Write in)

>>2363707
Third option there is a typo. Meant to type Yotam, should be obvious enough.

>>2363707
>>Look for more adventurers. You will have to do something about Remmy eventually. Maybe you could send Moira new friends that don't require creating a cosmic power vacuum?

>>2363922
Agreed

>>2363707
>Look for more adventurers. You will have to do something about Remmy eventually. Maybe you could send Moira new friends that don't require creating a cosmic power vacuum?
Maybe we should get the dark lord from earlier and add him to the party? Getting some competition for Moira wouldn't be a bad thing. We can just uplift whoever is alive at the end. They should have the strongest will after all.
>Prepare some new plots for Moira to conquer after the demon is dead
The quest for a sword is a bit boring and pretty cliche. We should send Moira to a setting completely unfamiliar to her and see if she can make her way back. Perhaps a plane-shifting Manor that is controlled with a musical organ, or a cottage that travels on the back of a cosmic whale, though that might be a bit grandiose.
Heh. Maybe we could have Moira wake up Lucy for us and see how she handles her.

>>2363936
>Isekai shit
Please no. Not unless someone can come up with a way to skip the boring, overdone fish-out-of-water sequence everyone has already seen a million times now.

>>2363936

What we should do is frame Moira.

Send word out to all the religions that Yolath has been bound in mortal form. Lay claim that a great evil has done it.

Then send a message to all the evil deities that Yolath, in order to observe the comings and goings of the mortals and better preserve the law and order of the world has descended unto them in mortal form and is vulnerable.

Then send another message to all that a great blade has been unearthed, from time before time and age before age, one that darkens the sun and brightens the void, possessed of a will eternal has been freed and is now clutched in the hands of a lesser demon. The one who claims it is rumored to be able to sunder and weaken even a god.

Of course, put all the necessary preparations in place so no god can cheat and just divine where it is. Just give the tiniest pulse (like an earthquake, or a solar eclipse) to all the great magicians, adventureres, and gods that it's too legit to quit.

Then watch the fun.

>>2363994

I was thinking we pull a meet joe black on the Necromancer, whispering shit in his ear like Brad Pitt did to Anthony Hopkins saying "No"
at random times. When he sleeps, giving him visions of a world of green and grass, of a loving daughter and family, friends and a cold frosty mug of beer, then the whisper "No" and all of it vanishing.

Doing it everyday. Then, giving him visions during the daytime, just sounds, of a clink of mugs of beer, of a child swinging, smells of fresh rain amongst forest and leaves and and an itchy sweater that you always put on to make your wife happy even though you hated the goddamn color and fabric.

Then, when ready, descend to him like in this scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY8FVrexwek

And say, "No", the answer to your question.

And what was his question?

"Was it worth it?"

And offer him a choice to come to this new world, and perhaps try again a different route. Give him back his old body before lichdom? and then watch the battle royal as he tries to live a normal life while all the gods are fighting for the sword.

>>2364074
>>2364084
can we do both?

>>2364087

I was thinking that we do.

>>2364084
>>2364074

If we really want to get Inception level on this shit send info to Yolaths followers that it might be that Yolath has descended because of the local trickster god convinced him to do it, thus robbing him of the power of godhood and leaving him vulnerable (which would explain why he is in a tiefling of all things)

Also claim to both sides that the local god of war and local Evils are preparing for an all out war to either protect or destroy Yolath as friend or foe.

Then whisper among the dragons that the sword, in addition to doing all the above, was found on a buried mountain of gems and gold that the Demon, in his lust for power, ignored.

>>2364097

Thinking through things even further, cause we need to get the elves in on this war, claim the demon (since its a golgotha, or a shit demon), now is able to wield corruption on a massive scale and must be put down before it withers crops and nature and fairies and makes children cry and whatever.

I think that would cover the Fae too if they are in this setting, it not then whatever i don't like them at all. Fuck em with a bag of dicks.

To get the dwarves involved, spread the rumor that it is a ancient dwarven sword forged in the heart of the earth by one of their dead kings that put to slumber a dead god that only the dwarves can truly wield, and now since it is found it begins to rumble and stir again.

I don't like merfolk either, they can sit this one out.

Then, when the entire world is in civil war and chaos and race fighting and shit is burning, and all everything is going to piss just show up randomly and say "that's where i put me fookin steak nife" , pick it up, shrink it, and then happily just start chowing down in the middle of the carnage.

>>2364105
Back up a sec
I think we are getting way ahead of ourselves. What we are trying to do here is giving Moira some challenge, and see how it turns out. We are a god, and we are bored. We have seen plenty of wars, our attempt is to see how far we can get our dwarf up in the world.
I do like the idea of building up some controversy around Yolath, but that can wait until after Moira succeds or fails the task at hand

>>2364116
Sheesh... Moira is Big Girl and an Adventurer to boot. She will be fine.
Besides, most of these baddies are going to beat each other into pulp and ignore some isignificant dwarf and her half-demon sidekick anyway.

Oh cool. I woke up to a bunch of replies. That makes me happy.

>>2364087
yes

>>2364116
There is a non-zero chance that some of this might happen with or without your active intervention. Yothep was a major deity, and you did kidnap him from heaven. But you are in complete control here, the players that is.

>>2364153
Moira *is* a big girl. But shes not dragon and godswar big.

>>2364084
That movie looks good.

>>2364173

it is very good. I do not usually watch drama and/or romance films, but it has a damn fine hook and the acting is excellent.

Im gonna give it a couple more hours and see if we can get a more straight forward consensus going. Im not sure what you all want right now since everyone has a different idea. Just finished my work for the day so Ill be doing 2 or 3 updates tonight if I can.

If something doesnt emerge in that time Ill just start an aside with the necromancer until there is a plan. No reason we would have to make any concrete plans right this moment after all.

>>2363936
>>2363994
I'll rescind my suggestion and vote for
>>2364074
This.

>>2365240
Fuck. Well. Im sorry. I already wrote up a gigantic update. Woops.

>>2363707
>>2363922
>>2363936
>>2364084

(Oh hey DATS is running again tonight! How spooky! So much undeath!)
You think again to the lowly lord of death, alone to himself on some forlorn stone in the crystal sphere below you. You consider for a few moments how to go about recruiting this being. Clearly it was hostile to the idea of life. The former... man? You deigned not to scry its identity. No, you had a better idea. Someone you keep around solely for her personality would take the lead here.

You stir slightly on Acheron, old stone having warped under a thousand years of silent weight. Annoyingly several parts of your Crimson steel leggings have fossilized from their dormancy and fused to the venerable seat. As you get comfortable again you allow yourself to slowly come to wakefulness. If all went as planned after your ten thousand year slumber the mana dredgers will have restored your reserves of power. Long had you waited, sorely lamenting the ages you wasted waiting for the power to create your God-Stone. But at last, the waiting ended.
You rose from your seat in the small sealed chamber and usher a mental thought to the petrified undead servants around the room. You spend a moment checking the state of yourself, staring at the faded runes of Glana'tel. The gauntlet was a well earned trophy of the Horizon god, last of the pantheons to fall, and the only great artifact of that age you did not consume for power. Time had clearly worn it tired as the rest of your armor, which groaned to meet your demand to stay standing. You silence the complaints of your garb. Time would not make them insolent if your will remained.

Having confirmed yourself whole briefly, examining with idle hands all the parts of your person, cape dissolved into spectral thread, swords thirty to near true death, helm secure, you blink your eyes open for the first time in ten thousand years.

The chamber is empty, and deadly quiet. The great seal you had placed upon the door to your tomb designed to expire after ten thousand years slowly hummed. Had you awoken early? And where were your servants? You turn your head with a groan of grinding bone and scraping metal, nearly deafening in the utter silence of your mausoleum. Around you were the bones of a dozen doomgaurd, the last of your great army. Most you had consumed for their precious power, but these you had decided would follow you into the stars... Or so you had planned. They lay hidden in alcoves dug into the walls, swords still in hand as watchful statues around you. All of them had been called, you know you had uttered the word for them to rise, and knew well also that your magic would hold them living so long as you willed it. So why did they not come to you? You raise a hand to one of the alcoves and silently urge the being to rise.

>>2365357
And its empty eyes stared back into you. No flame of undeath, no will to rise and answer. A dread builds in your gut and you march agonizingly across the room to doomgaurd, resting a hand upon its chest and whispering forwards.
"Come to me Sacharil, you were my wisest, wake, move!" Your voice barely answering at first swiftly rises to a strained plea. The words echo a dozen times around the stone chamber, to no answer.
Your armored hand stays on your cherished admiral. He had stood with you at the fall of the Star Council. A host of angels feeding his gluttonous rage as he battled to join your duel with the wind god of the Slurn. Lost now, dead, truly dead.

A distant sound, like the passing of wind and warmth. At first you were almost unsure you had heard it, for it seemed to have passed the vault of your seal in the chambers beyond. And then it repeated, louder and yet softer also. Like the ringing of bells and the fall of leaves. Leaves? Your tomb was a league beneath the cold dead earth of Acheron, you were alone here, and more over this world was dead.

Immediately you restore your guard. Clearly there had been some manner of failure. Someone had come to sabotage your dread sails, interrupted your ambient collection. Perhaps they had killed your friend? You doubt it. You taste the air, the same mana depletion it had been for millennia. But again you hear the sound urging you forwards.
Anger. How dare they. You walk to your vaulted door and devour the magic of the seal. You could set it again if needed, but these interlopers must be silenced. With a heave you throw open the stone and march into the empty unlit abyss, stopping as you reach the small chamber that waited beyond. Here were a number of massive glass phials stretching from floor to ceiling, meant to have been filled with liquid mana from your dread-sails, but dry and empty. Now you were worried. How had this come to pass? The room bore no signs of entry, but surely they had been emptied hadn't they? Was this a dream? A nightmare? Undeath had not given a single dream in the thousand years since he rose to lich-dom, and forever long after that you had slumbered had been serene silence.

'This was real. You felt this, this was real.'

You repeated this thought a few times like a mantra before stopping yourself. You could not panic. You could salvage this. You just needed to reach the surface. To see what had stopped the dread-sails. Easy.
You storm forwards, your strength slowly returning as you march the long halls and channels that lead to the surface. Again, tauntingly you hear sounds around you in the darkness. At first you thought there was a phantom ringing in your ears, but after the second clear thought spell failed to remove the ringing you were left to understand it was real, real as the sound of laughter.

>>2365366
You stop your marching, the distant metal clinking of your armor disappearing behind and ahead of you in the empty blackness. You could hear it clearly now. There were children somewhere, maybe human, maybe elvish, and they were laughing.

You throw out your hands and sense life, scrying the earth around you for miles. Nothing. Not even a mote of single cell life to be found. But now the laughter wasn't distant, perhaps an illusion?

You cast clear thought again, frantically shedding precious mana to find the source of your torment. You had written this particular version of clear thought to be flawless, nothing would escape your senses under its effects. Your spell lied to you.
You found no trace of magic again, the air nearly devoid of mana. No illusions were present, not even the faint traces of magical undead like gheists or wraiths. The tomb was barren. The world was barren. And you still heard the laughter.

'Is this real' You question to yourself, dreading the nature of this madness that gripped you.
The distant laughter faded, and clear as a sky you had never seen you heard the unmistakable voice of a woman.
"Yes"

Now you hurried, sprinting up narrow passages unto the door that awaited you. With a mighty kick you sent it open, the great metal slab deteriorating at your touch as you climb to the first sunlight you had seen in... You weren't sure how long. Your eyes, perfect in undeath needed not adjust as you took in the sight around you. From horizon to horizon in every direction were your Dread-sails, untouched by the passage of time, but silent and still.

A warm wind blows, somehow piercing your armor. You look the way the wind came, a great billowing gust meeting you as you stared with utter confusion at the madness before you. The sails refused to spin in the gale, and from the horizon a great wall of dust rose and came rushing forwards. You watched utterly helpless as the wave of wind and dust and grit ripped your sails from the ground millions at a time and threw them like they were nothing.

It was madness. You had designed these genius devices. They could eat storms three hundred miles wide and just as fast, and here this warm gale obliterated them. It was unnatural. It was wrong. But still you could sense no magic. Only the faint solar mana which permeated the dead surface, and the failing dying undeath of your creations.
You fell then, gasping on empty lungs, beating your hands into the ground as the storm raised around you. You don't understand.

'Was this for nothing?'
"Yes"
You hear it again, that voice taunting you.

>>2365367
You succumb, sitting on the empty ground as this unnatural, un-magical wind destroyed your only shot at immortality. Your only hope to leave this world. You doubted there was enough mana in the whole of Acheron to recreate even one of these perfect sails. 'Doomed.' That was your only thought. Without the God-Stone you couldn't break the vault of the sky, the last spiteful curse of Galahir before you struck him and that bitch of his down. The great work of the failed gods. To seal you on this world to rot... They did it after all.

You struggled to find the will, eventually the storm passes and around you are heaps of flesh and sinew, shattered metal and bent poles. The sails were all gone, an empty flat veranda heaped with ruin your only sight.
The laughter returned, but it brought other things. You could smell grass, and water, and living earth. You shake your head violently. You had no sense of smell, this was madness. This was wrong, you shake with rage.
The laughter ebbs and flows and you hear men and women, loving, living, in peace. The thoughts come against your will, and they hurt. Some violent intrusion into your mind. You throw out a hand and summon the power to cast a dispelling ward. You had no power to recover, but you would not suffer this intrusion. The ward erupts upon the ground you stood, a great pentacle erupting and sealing all magic from its borders. Instead of abating the sounds of life rise in crescendo.
You hear the rushing of streams and brooks and rivers. You hear the clinking of glasses and the cutting of scythes on grass and grain. You feel the warmth of humble hands and the brightness of the world around you.
It burns. You collapse to the ground in pain and begin to scream.

From within the sphere of obfuscation you stood next to Lucy, who looked sadly down on the necromancer, even as her be-ringed hands plucked the air like strings and summoning an endless barrage of suffering life upon the creature.
"I don't think this is working." She says, a quiet sadness creeping in to her tone. "This is sick. I don't think I ever met someone who didn't love *something*."

You rub your chin thoughtfully as the translucent woman kneeled and continued her silent concert. "Indeed. This may take longer than I had anticipated."

>Directly speak to the Necromancer.

>Leave Lucy to play with the necromancer

>Do something entirely different (Write in)

>>2365373
>Directly speak to the Necromancer.
I like this edgy guy. Let's talk with him and see if he's going to give up on life now that his plans are ruined.

Once we're done with him:
>Do something entirely different (Write in)
>>2364074

>>2365373

I would say have lucy descend down there as a little girl with pigtails. Have her be really shy and say sorry about the noises that he was hearing, thinking that he might remember what those were and what those things looked like and be a bit happy.

Also if he asks her questions have her act like a five year old continuing asking why.

Make it seem like she is a being that was born after all the shit he pulled trying to remember what the world and those noises were.

>>2366096

Yes, I agree that he is edgy and I will fully enjoy taunting him with this.

Is this thread in autosage yet?

testpost

>>2365373
>>Directly speak to the Necromancer.

Yikes. Good luck with this, it was more than I could handle.

>>2368883
What the fuck. You are still lurking?

I am honored. And thanks, I'm quite sure Ill need the luck.

Just a heads up, Im out of town and dont have a dedicated computer I can use to write and format my posts. Expect updates saturday. New thread will be linked here if I end up making one.

>>2369290
Bump?

>>2369290
Ded