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>>3433358
All of the strangeness culminates as your eyes are drawn to a figure lounging atop the padded bench. The steady, even movement of her shoulders implies some sort of trance if not sleep proper. The arm thrown over her face to shield it from the steady light overhead makes it difficult to discern which. In the moment it takes your eyes to adjust to this unexpected development a spark of recognition ignites. There is no mistaking the vibrant streaked hair and gilded, if immodest garb the woman wears. She’s absent a few arms from the last time you met, but this is the second time you’ve found her snoozing where no sane person ought to be. Something cylindrical and golden is clasped in the hand that rests at her side, winking enticingly in the half-light.

You lower the snout of the Collider slowly as you look with confusion and suspicion upon Marisol’s supine form. Her arm shifts a few inches upward, and one eye cracks open to fix you with a withering stare.

“Fuck’s sake,” she slurs, her tongue and eyelids heavy with the weight of one stirred from a nap. “Not you again.”

“Nice to see you too, red.” You holster the Collider at your hip, glancing behind you. Is this some kind of trick? “We’ve gotta stop meeting like this.”

She extends a rude finger in your direction, otherwise unmoving from her comfortable recliner. “Eat me. The last time you showed up I lost a house. I worked hard at setting up these digs, so kindly take a hike.”

You scoff incredulously. “You decided to set up a summer home in a Firstborn prison? On the other side of the Mists?”

She shrugs. “Sure. Why not? Seems cozy.” Her arm drops away from her face. She looks, charitably speaking, like shit. Puffy purple bags swell under her eyes, and her once-perfect makeup is marred by lines of sweat and dirt.

> “You okay? You look like you got in a tussle with a bottle of rotgut and lost.”
> “Really, though. What are you doing here?”
> “I don’t have time for this. Is there a downstairs to this cozy little cabin?”
> “What happened after the Gardens exploded?”
>Write-in

>>3433361
>> “You okay? You look like you got in a tussle with a bottle of rotgut and lost.”
>> “Really, though. What are you doing here?”

File: Area Map.png (2.54 MB, 1310x1038)

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>>3433361

–------------

You are Osyki, journeyman Totemist and first line of defense for your village against the rabid Behemoths wandering the land. Your master, the previous Totemist, fell in a battle against a terrible Behemoth, leaving the duty of defending your settlement to you. In search of a guardian spirit to watch over your village, you’ve delved deep into a Firstborn prison in search of an Avatar of Hope. After a rough brawl with a trio of Eidolons you’ve discovered an old acquaintance within the belly of the beast.

[[Previous Threads: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=totem

> Primary Missions and Side-plots: https://pastebin.com/EJbaMKcg
>The Cast Thus Far: http://pastebin.com/VsJpEUx3
>Binder's Log / Misc Inventory: http://pastebin.com/XvvRSk4W
>Transformations and Unions: http://pastebin.com/0v9XMEv0

>Ask: ask.fm/DiarcaEXE
>Quest Twitter: @TotemistQuest ]]

>>3433361
>> “You okay? You look like you got in a tussle with a bottle of rotgut and lost.”
>> “Really, though. What are you doing here?”

Welcome back.

>>3433361
"Sorry about that. Word of warning, most places I go end up exploding, being attacked by dark legions, or otherwise experience sudden drops in property values. One of the many perks of being me. So if this is your home, I'd recommend you start packing."

>>3433361
>“You okay? You look like you got in a tussle with a bottle of rotgut and lost.”

>>3433365
Oh, hey, a map, sweet!

Abbreviated To Do list, in no particular order:
1. get avatar of Hope, enshrine it in villege.
1a. open newly unlocked drawer, hope (heh) for a Spark.
2. follow up on avatar of Faith. we have a direction at least, and happier avatar would be nice to have, especially with hunger offline.
3. check up on Poinstmar. Looks like they're getting close to their final destination.
4. fix Hunger. He's unpleasant, but powerful.
5. if no spark in (1a.), start really working on killing the Tyrant. We need that Spark.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure I'm missing something.

>>3433361
>I take it the big red hairy friend over there makes it hard to sleep?

>>3433454
>Unlocking Ellana's seals

>Potentially get a healing binding from Sylvia so we aren't constantly on our last legs every fight.

>>3433461
>“You okay? You look like you got in a tussle with a bottle of rotgut and lost.”
>“Really, though. What are you doing here?”

>>3433461
We don't necessarily need Sylvia. Boand has some healing properties, too. And I can maybe see one of our snakes (NOT the basilisk, though) being useful for healing, skin shedding and all that. Let's experiment with binding them to some bandages or bags of healing herbs or whatever.

>>3433454
I feel like quite a few of those are low on the priority list.

Also, just repeating tentative strategies for the big guy:
>Thane Lantern may or may not work on the fiery fur it has
>Siren Key will most likely work on the fiery fur, but requires being too close to be practical.....unless locking it ALSO locks its central power source for a one hit kill
>Drake Mask+Sonic gloves+enclosed tunnel=steady stream of explosions but also we might need earplugs
>If interrupts are the name of the game, Honed Cordia in a bow might make it vibrate enough to make it easy to dodge
>Boand on some bandages might help right about now

>>3433503
I agree, but Sylvia would be like 3 birds with one stone considering we need the wood for the Tyrant killer, this potential healing binding, and harp lessons that are on a time limit.

> You good?
>>3433362
>>3433377
>>3433413
>>3433503

> Here? Localized entirely within this prison?
>>3433362
>>3433377
>>3433503

> You're locked in here with me
>>3433389

> What's with the monkey?
>>3433460

Writing.

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You give a low whistle as Marisol sits up. She doesn’t appreciate it, by the expression on her face. “You alright… Marisol, was it? You look like you got into a tussle with a bottle of rotgut and lost. Did you have to mix it up with big ugly back there?” You jerk a thumb over your shoulder to the door at the far end of the room. It’s folded shut since you arrival, but you can still hear the faint echoes of the massive Eidolon shuffling to and fro in the chamber behind you.

Marisol shakes her head. “What do I look like, a moron?” She flips her hair with the hand clasping that glittering emblem. “That thing weighs like, ten tons. It could break me by moving too fast near me.”

“So how’d you get in? I don’t imagine it was very accommodating about you pulling your cot in here.”

She snorts, brushing her bangs over one eye. The shock of teal conceals one half of a deadpan stare. “I’ve got my ways. Seriously, can you beat feet the fuck outta here? I’m trying to get my beauty sleep and I don’t need this whole place capsizing like my last cabana.”

You wince at the memory. The shattered dome of the Moon Gardens, the necrotic flame racing through its innards—you wonder if Eluneia has finished repairing the damage your duel with the Magus’ splinter wrought. Or if they ever will. “Yeah, sorry about that. One of the perks of being me is a predilection toward everything suddenly exploding. They should probably send me with a note of apology pre-written.”

Marisol picks at the embroidery on her skirt, waiting for you to get to your point. She tucks the golden emblem in her hand behind her back, though she doesn’t do it very discreetly.

“I, uh, do think my presence here might be causing an alarm. You might not want to get too comfy,” you tell her. Her face drops into her hands, and you ask your next question past a muffled groan of frustration. “Seriously, what are you doing here? The Moon Gardens were on our side of the Mist. This is a long way to go for a private room.”

“Not far enough, evidently.” She drops her hands back into her lap. “After you torched the Gardens I had to find a new place to stay. The guards in the royal prick’s quarter didn’t take kindly to me skulking around—didn’t manage to get all of my shit back, by the way.” She jabs a finger into your chest. “I’ll bill you for the outfits later. Anyway, I had to relocate pretty quick-like. Snuck aboard a caravan heading west to one of the border towns and here I am.”

>>3433577
You glance around at what is distinctly not a border town around you. “I think we’re missing a few steps.”

“Yeah? I think you’re missing my compensation for blowing up my house.”

“It wasn’t your house. You were squatting on Eluneian holy ground.”

“Pssh.” She blows her hair out of her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. “Not like anyone else was doing anything with it. Holy ground.” She says the last phrase in a mocking parody of your voice.

“It’s not like you’re going to get a lot of sleep with big red clunking around next door.”

She pushes herself to her feet in a flurry of silks and gold. She would be standing almost nose to nose with you, but she’s a few inches shorter than you are. Maybe not as intimidating as she had hoped. “Alright, you’ve heard my piece. What are you doing here? Are you stalking me or something?” She jabs her finger into your chest again, hard enough for Gnome Garb to bristle with spikes in reply. “I’m not interested.”

>> [1]
> “Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t even know you were here.”
> “Can’t say I’m not glad to see a familiar face.”
> “Seems more like you’re stalking me, to be honest.”

>> [2]
> Tell her about your hunt for the Avatar.
> Deflect. She doesn’t need to know.

>>3433578
>“Seems more like you’re stalking me, to be honest.”
>Looking for something. Any way down from here?

>>3433578
> “Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t even know you were here.”
>Looking for something. Any way down from here?

>>3433578
> “Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t even know you were here.”
> Tell her about your hunt for the Avatar.
Nah, lady, we're here on professional Totemist business. Remember, we told you about this, how we take spirits and put them inside things? Just weird luck that you happen to have the same taste in accommodations as the spirit we're looking for.

>>3433578
>> “Seems more like you’re stalking me, to be honest.”
>Looking for something. Any way down from here?

>>3433577
Well, she neatly dodged why she looks like she does.

> Snuck aboard a caravan heading west to one of the border towns
And where those might be? We only know of our village, Pointsmar, and the moon city.

>>3433713
Probably all over. City-states like Eluneia are never really just one city, there are going to be smaller communities inside the territory they hold that they're dependent on for food and other resources. Osyki just hasn't taken the time to go explore any of them. An artifact of his fast-travel abilities, I'd say, when you don't take the roads you're not going to pass any towns along the way.

> “Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t even know you were here.”
>Looking for something. Any way down from here?

Welcome back, Diarca!

> No u
>>3433592
>>3433630

> Begone thot
>>3433602
>>3433614
>>3433757

> Vagueblogging
>>3433592
>>3433602
>>3433630
>>3433757

> Own Up
>>3433614

Writing.

You plant your hands on your hips, doing your best to loom forward over Marisol. You’re not much taller than her, but you’re broader of shoulder and you’re not going to let this girl intimidate you. You don’t even know her, for heaven’s sake. “Don’t flatter yourself,” you say with (what you hope is) a terribly dismissive toss of your hair. “I didn’t even know you were down here. It’s hardly my fault that you share housing preferences with my quarry.” Nice and non-specific.

“Hmm.” She narrows her eyes, not giving any ground. Did she have to stand so close? Don’t they have personal space where she’s from? “Not really an answer to my question.” She peers up at you from beneath her dyed bangs.

“I’m -looking- for something here. Not you,” you clarify. “Something important.” You break eye contact with a wrench of mental effort, glancing around the room. “I don’t suppose there’s a downstairs around here, is there? Maybe a service hatch or something?”

You don’t see anything immediately obvious in the chamber. No air vents or chimneys, no trapdoors in the floor. Maybe something to do with the crystal chandelier? It would make sense if the Firstborn pattern thus far holds true.

Marisol scoffs, taking a step back. “You insult me in one breath and ask for the grand tour in the next? What a charmer you are.” She mirrors your stance, hands on her hips. You resist the urge to self-consciously fold your arms over your chest. “Nah. I picked this spot because it’s a dead end. Only one door to watch for nosy Totemists, see? Oh-see-key.” She sounds your name out like it’s a foreign curse. You had forgotten that you’d introduced yourself to her—but you must have, or Thane’s obfuscation would prevent her from knowing it. “Looks like you went the wrong way. Tough luck. One in three odds.” She shrugs, and as she does you can see a pulse of spiritual material ripple at her back. “Better luck next time.”

>>3433828
You’re not convinced. Could she be concealing the Avatar from you for some reason? Your spiritual compass didn’t lie. The Avatar was almost directly beneath your feet, though a long way below. It’s possible she just didn’t know, but you doubt if any of the other paths would double back on themselves so severely. There must be some concealed way forward. You don’t doubt that you could take Marisol in a fight if it came down to it. She looks exhausted, and you’re sure she would fare worse against the like of the Collider than the eidolons before her did.

“Hey!” she snaps her fingers, drawing your gaze back to her. “I’m talking to you, fashion disaster. What’s it gonna take for you to clear out of here and leave me in peace?” She leans forward. The motion causes the adornments hanging from her top and skirt to clang together, a cascading chime of impatience. You do your level best to keep your eyes on her increasingly unhappy expression.

"Fashion disaster?" Boand can't decide if she's amused or offended in the back of your head. "I guess you could stand to work a little on your color coordination, Osyki. Maybe we can find you a glamour prism or something...?|

> Apologize and request her help with this search. The sooner you find your Avatar, the sooner you can leave her alone.
> Brush past her and search the room. You don’t need her permission or her help.
> Maybe this is more trouble than it’s worth. The entryway might be in the previous room with the big Eidolon after all.
> Write-in

>>3433835
>write In
Literally the fastest way to get us gone would be for her to point us to the way to go down from here. If she just wants to stay here with whatever is making her so miserable, thats her business. Though we might want to point out, even if shes fine in the Mists, this is a prison, and there might be something in here to weaken those who stay overlong. It'd certainly help keep the kinds of prisoners they keep in.

>>3433835
>> Write-in
Compromise between
> Apologize and request her help with this search. The sooner you find your Avatar, the sooner you can leave her alone.
> Brush past her and search the room. You don’t need her permission or her help.
Reasonable, but insistent. We don't want trouble, but this is the most likely route to what we're looking for, and we're not going back across the monkey pit without making really sure we won't have to come back this way again. Plus, the sooner we find what we're looking for, the sooner we can get gone.


>“Not really an answer to my question.”
Same way you didn't answer mine.

>>3433835
>> Apologize and request her help with this search. The sooner you find your Avatar, the sooner you can leave her alone.

>>3433835
Blast her before she can react.

>>3433844
>>3433846
These.

>>3433835
>Apologise
>Ask if there's anyway down

>>3433835
> Apologize and request her help with this search. The sooner you find your Avatar, the sooner you can leave her alone.
> Write-in
"Come on, do you really want to stay in this room until your supplies run out? If there's another path then you'll at least have someplace to put your bed a little farther away from the stomping."

>>3433835
> Apologize and request her help with this search. The sooner you find your Avatar, the sooner you can leave her alone.

Though, we should extend an invitation back to the village, if she wants. Nice place to live, and we're LESS likely to run into her there on accident than, apparently, anywhere else in the world.

>>3434088
>Living in our village means she's less likely to run into us than whatever isolated and dangerous corner of the world she squats in next
It's sad how true that is.

Sorry for the delay.

“Look,” you tell Marisol bluntly. “You picked a shit spot to hole up. This is a prison, constructed before we started keeping track of things like ‘days’ and ‘years’. You stay here for long enough and you’re not going to be able to climb back out when the mood strikes you. The vents in the room back there are pouring some kind of poison mist into the air. I don’t think these doors are airtight--what’s going to happen when the whole place fills up with it?”

Marisol’s brow furrows. She glances behind her with momentary uncertainty. You press your momentum.

“The quickest way to get me out of your hair is to help me out. I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. I’d just as soon be out of here, believe me.” You gesture to the full raiment of heavy armor you’re wearing. “This isn’t exactly comfortable. I’m looking for something that should be more or less -directly- below us. Will you help me find out how to get there so I can let you get back to your nap?”

“Don’t play hero with me,” she mutters. Throwing her hands up in exasperation—only two of them, for the time being—she relents. “Fine. Fine! But only to get you off of my lawn.” She bends down and retrieves a length of cloth from her bag, embroidered red silk that matches her outfit. She ties it off around her face like a mask, her eyes daring you to comment on it. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. I combed this place top to bottom before I started setting up shop here. There’s not exactly a rug to hide a trapdoor under, right?”

She points to the bare stone floor beneath you. It’s true-—no apertures or seams are readily apparent in the smooth stone construction. With her permission (and cooperation?) secured you have free reign to make good your search.

You ponder briefly if your village wouldn’t be a safer hiding spot for Marisol to settle down. Last you met with her, she told you she was ‘keeping an eye on’ Eluneia for a friend whilst ducking the royal guard. She’s no longer under those constraints. You’re looking for a protector for the village. Would having two be so bad?


Can you really trust her, knowing as little as you do?

>> [1]
> Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.
> You really don’t have time to play with this. Use a binding to blast through the floor.
> Take the opportunity to look for the real reason Marisol is here. How did she even get in?
> Write-in

>> [2]
> Invite Marisol to return to Grisoch with you instead of squatting in an otherworldly prison.
> Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.

>>3434165
>> Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.
> Take the opportunity to look for the real reason Marisol is here. How did she even get in?
If I remember right, she was in the Moon Gardens because she was "waiting for someone".

>> Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.
We don't know her well enough. She's not weak, and using a completely unknown type of magic. I'd be worried about her being able to do serious damage in the village with us gone. Maybe eventually we can bring her by for a visit, but inviting her to stay is a rather large step for someone we've met twice, and just tried to start a fight with us.

>>3434165
>Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.

>Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.

>>3434165
> Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.
Try not to smash anything else in the ancient Magitek prison.

> Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.

>>3434165
>Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.
> Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.

>>3434165
>Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.
Ideally we'd unbind Cordia and Amal and double-bind them to our map. The Earth Sage Tablet shows our surroundings and is especially good at finding things hidden in stone. But that takes a fair bit of energy, and Osyki is probably going to walk into another fight soon. Let's use what's on hand instead.

> Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.
She's got some beef with Eluneia, and we're about to literally pave a path for Eluneia to come right to our door. Even if we were friendly with her, she wouldn't want to come to Grissoch. Maybe tell her about Pointsmar, though. She might like it there. It's underground, secure, has a lot of secluded places, and is full of fire elemental essence. Once it finishes crossing the mountains it could be a nice city for her to live in.

>>3434165
>Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.
>Take the opportunity to look for the real reason Marisol is here. How did she even get in?
More interested in the latter than the former since even if our sneak strategy worked, I have no idea how good a roll we need to repeat it.
>Invite Marisol to return to Grisoch with you instead of squatting in an otherworldly prison.
Or at least try to tactfully ask if she'd like to leave with us when we're finished here, I'm a bit worried that she's trapped and is too proud to ask for help but we're not nearly socially adept to ask without offending her.

>>3434282
Also a bit concerned that the only way to the Hope Avatar is beneath the giga Eidolon.

>>3434302
Wait, wasn't it clawing at the floor? What are the odds that the giant Eidolon is going to crash down through the ceiling and give us a boss fight?

>>3434310
Very low. The rooms was regenerating any damage done.

Consensus appears to be:
> >Use Aria Nymph and the Grimoire to search for a hidden mechanism.

> > Forget it. If she likes it here, she’s welcome to stay. You don’t know her.

> Roll 1d100.

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>3434415
Nat 1

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>3434415

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>3434415
looky looky

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>3434415

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>3434415
BONES

>>3434380
Unless the Hope Avatar was somehow powering the barrier.

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>3434415
Nice job dodging the waifubait, boys

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>3434513
>>3434310
>>3434302
stop giving Diarca ideas

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Forget it, you decide. You’d never hear the end of it if you offered every (admittedly) pretty girl with a sob story a place in your village. Especially this one, given your burgeoning relationship and soon-to-be trade road with Eluneia. Electing to think with the correct head, you wisely decide to allow Marisol the chance to choose her own fate and domicile.

You pull the crystal slate of the Grimoire Potentiate from your belt, sweeping it around the room. Amal’s codex vision doesn’t reveal any hidden glyphs in the superstructure of the room. You ignore Marisol’s complaints as you shove the furniture she’s painstakingly arranged toward the walls of the room, pacing in a circle around the floating crystals overhead. They must be the key. You concentrate for a moment, prying your third eye open and—

A wash of heat prickles your skin. You wince, raising your hands to ward off the sudden corona of flame that waxes bright to eclipse your vision. Marisol stands, thumbs hooked into the waist of her skirt at the edge of the room. Her silhouette is traced with unabating, voracious flame. A nebula of pure flame erupts from the core of her being, twisting into six powerful limbs of coruscating flame behind her. You can hardly believe that the walls behind her haven’t started melting to slag, that her clothes and hair don’t catch alight from the sheer brilliance of the blaze.

“What?” The dark shape of her form raises a (material) arm to scratch at her nose. “I got something on my face?”

You slip your third eye shut and the vortex of elemental fury surrounding her winks out. Curious. You’d assume beyond the veil as you are, there wouldn’t be a distinction between the immaterial and material. Perhaps you’re not so deep into the Mists as you had assumed?

“Hello?” Marisol waves a hand in front of her eyes, then points to yours. “You’re creeping me out, Totem Man. Say somethin’.”

“Uh,” you begin lamely. “Sorry. Thought I saw—nothing.”

>>3434863
You turn you back to her and open your senses to the spiritual world again, doing your best not to wince as that terrible radiance floods back into your senses. The chandeliers do appear to have some sort of net of latent, inactive connections strung across the room. It should just be a matter of aligning the crystals in such a way that one of the arrays is powered.

> 71

You pull the padded bench back to the middle of the room, then clamber atop it.

“Oh, nice. Real nice. Just track mud all over the furniture,” Marisol grumbles. You’re reasonably certain none of the mud made the transfer when you re-bound your boots, but you don’t spare a thought to check. The crystals move smoothly beneath a feather-light touch, and one by one you shift them into an array that catches the invisible strands of aether-light and focuses them downward. As the last crystal slides into place the entire complex shudders. You close your third eye in time to see Marisol stumble as the room itself begins to revolve, the walls rotating to cut off your previous entryway. The floor itself cises open into the center of the room, a circular aperture snapping open to reveal a long, long drop.

Marisol watches wordlessly as her cot tumbles through the new gap in the floor, vanishing from sight.

“Oh, shit.” You glance back at her, then peer carefully over the edge.

There isn’t a neat stairwell connecting the room you’re in to the chamber below. In fact, there’s no structure whatsoever. You look down through the ominous purple-tinted void and catch the hint of a structure far below, a stone cube aligned precariously with Marisol’s erstwhile apartment. Wince as the bench slams into the top of the structure below and rebounds, tumbling out of sight into the void.

That’s… probably not coming back.

You have a few options. You could tie off a rope and try to lower yourself down, or trust Marisol to help belay you there. You could simply -leap- and trust in the power of your bindings to protect you. Alternatively there might be some arrangement of the crystals here that could bring the cube below closer--though manipulating them is going to be a neat trick now that the floor directly beneath them is conspicuously absent.

> Tie off a rope and have Marisol keep an eye on it as you descend.
> Take a leap of faith. What could go wrong?
> Attempt to further manipulate the crystalline controls.
> Consult one of your spirits. (Who?)
> Write-in

>>3434870
Cant we just use some of our many flight and earthshape bindings?

>>3434885
That is an option, but you've rebound your full panoply several times today. Every binding you swap will cut into Osyki's stamina.

>>3434885
For reference:
>Current Loadout:
Armor: Gnome Guard
Boots: Seneschal Step
Bolt-thrower: Ejecta Collider
Bow: Crystfire
Buckler: Resonata
Journal: Grimoire Potentiate
Gloves: Fist of the Mantle
Mask: Aria Nymph
Pants: Bulwark Aurum
Sword: Horizon Kyklos

>>3434898
Is right, we've done way to much rebinding today already. Edge of Dawn would work great here though.

>>3434870
> Attempt to further manipulate the crystalline controls.
We're probably going to need to use the controls to get the cube open, anyway. This is a really awkward layout for the room. Serious question, were the Firstborn giants? Because they'd need to be pretty tall to safely operate these controls. Let's ask Zahn that next time we see him, if people were taller in prehistory.

>>3434870
I kind of just want to gripe with Marisol about who designs a room like this?

>>3434870
>> Attempt to further manipulate the crystalline controls.
We don't have the right binds to safely descend, nor anything to reduce fall damage.
> Consult one of your spirits. (Who?)
Might as well ask Boand, as she's likely watching anyway.

>>3434921
Zahn is a First, I think.

>>3434929
I know, right? Absolutely garbage design, how is a jailer supposed to operate an oubliette when opening it up risks dropping him into it?

>>3434932
>Zahn is a First, I think.
He actually predates them. Civilization didn't even exist on the large scale when Zahn was mortal, he's basically a caveman.

>>3434870
> Attempt to further manipulate the crystalline controls.
What could possibly go wrong?

>>3434870
>> Attempt to further manipulate the crystalline controls.

>>3434870
>Consult one of your spirits. (Who?)
Amal and Tryd seem reasonably smart, maybe they have a better idea of how to make the crystal stuff work? Boand isn't dumb by any means, but she doesn't really seem to be the puzzle type.

>>3435013
Some binds restrict the spirit's ability to talk with us. Tryad is free, but can Amal talk while bound in the book? If so, He's most likely to know something.

>>3434870
Can bulwark aurum remain stationary on a wall? Its either that or we do repeated wall slides every time we adjust the crystal.

>>3435133
Or we just pile up more of the furniture near the edge. By the end of the day, all of Marisol's home decor will have fallen into an endless void.

Wait, how far down is that cube?

>>3435133
No, Bulwark Aurum's power is only active while you are in motion.

>>3435023
Amal would need to be unbound to speak to you, as he is not part of a Celestial Binding or one of the few exceptions to that rule (Cordia being one of them due to how much of your spiritual signature she shares).

>>3435246
Far. Maybe seventy feet straight down.

>>3435283
Im ready to eat that spirit battery and just rebind, but it looks like were in for cryatal wiggling

>>3435336
Is that what that battery would do?

>>3434870
Even if we're just fiddling with the crystals, we should probably still tie a rope around ourselves just to be safe.

Crystals it is. Let's see if Osyki's got that big man magic brain.

> Roll 1d100.

I'll probably have the next update up in the morning.

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>3435357
100 incoming. Galaxy brain Osyki

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>3435351
Good idea. We;ve got plenty of heavy furniture in the room, too, if Marisol doesn't want to hold the rope for us. I guess she has a bag of holding or the like.

>>3435357
Rolling.

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>3435357
no death by falling plz

File: 1382333527971.jpg (77 KB, 500x468)

77 KB JPG

>>3435365
well. that's the last time I roll tonight

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>3435357
Not sure where the cutoff is, but why not.

>>3435377
Best of 3, with crit override out to 5.

>>3435357
See you in the morning, Diarca. Good night.

So should we apologize to Marisol or would that just be adding insult to injury in her mind?

>>3435365
Since Totemist Quest came back, we've gotten a 2 in both threads, even though I know it doesn't really mean anything it still feels a bit like the sword of damocles.

>>3435455
well, the first roll upon return was my 100, so we had to have a roll that was low at some point or another.

>>3435339
>[[Artifact Discovered: Eidolon Core. Can be consumed to provide a temporary surge of spiritual energy that empowers effects rooted in flame.]]
that's what it sounds like to me.

>>3435799
I guess my understanding was that the spiritual energy specifically will only boost any fire-type attacks, like it would make the Deep Siren hit even harder, or any Tryd bindings probably more effective, but not something we can direct wherever we'd like.

You stare down at the dizzying drop to the next chamber. There’s no way the Firstborn wardens of this place were some kind of birdmen, right? It would be absurd in the extreme to expect you to fling yourself bodily into the void of this strange Mist-space and hope to hit the right point on a distant target. You look back up at the crystal controls hovering over the void in the floor. There must be another layer of complexity that you’re not yet aware of. The only question now is how to -get- to those hovering crystals to reel in your destination. You glance around. The option of sacrificing another piece of Marisol’s furniture is available, but you get the distinct feeling from the way that her eyes bore into the back of your head that she’d sooner dunk -you- through the open aperture in the floor. You don’t want to risk re-binding the Skyscythe Drake to your cloak, either. You might have to fight that massive Eidolon on your way out, and who knows what kind of trials await you below in the way of the Avatar?

You heft Magni’s spear, standing at the lip of the opening in the floor. Holding the spear by its very end you can use it as a sort of rough prodding stick, clumsily shoving at the crystals overhead.

Marisol watches you from the wall of the room with mounting frustration as you wobble at the lip of the pit. Though there’s no real risk of you slipping in with Cordia’s steadying touch at the small of your back, you do nearly drop the claw-bound spear into the void.

“Oh, for… Enough.”

You let out a grunt of surprise as a hand sudden seizes your collar, hauling you back from the brink. You whirl to find your companion rolling her shoulder, staring at you as though she could set you ablaze with naught but a thought.

“Just… tell me where you need them. This is embarrassing.”

She shoves past you, facing the open space in the center of the room. You watch in fascination as her aura of spiritual power threads and weaves into itself, extruding one of those blazing spectral arms into the material. The limb, powerfully muscled with strands of translucent spiritual power, burns with crackling runes not dissimilar to those which build themselves into your flesh when your elemental corruption grows to dangerous heights. It extends from a roaring sigil that flares to life in the center of her spine, stretching to unnatural length and taking a firm hold of one of the floating gems.

You look to Marisol with muted surprise. You’ve seen the technique before, briefly, but the extent of the manipulation possible with the spiritual limb is surprising.

>>3436232
“So can you just, like, -do- that whenever you want?” you ask, ducking behind her to examine the rotating sigil crackling at her back.

She shrugs. “More or less. It’s something my family has always been able to do.” Her breath catches in her throat and she looks away, her expression darkening. When you open your mouth to ask her another question she holds up a palm. “No, uh-uh. We’re not getting into storytime.” She wraps her (physical) arms around herself, shifting her weight uncomfortably.
That’s fair, you suppose. You do your best to peer past the flickering corona of astral flame that radiates from her arm in your second sight, directing her to push and pull the crystals into an arrangement that tugs the strings of immaterial energy like a cat’s cradle.

> 79

You work with Marisol for twenty minutes re-arranging and experimenting with the crystal controls overhead. It takes approximately five of those to work out a system of what ‘forward’, ‘back’, and ‘over there’ mean in the context of a circular room. Eventually, through a great deal of pointing and gesturing with Modi’s spear, Marisol threads the final crystal through a tight weave of spiritual threads and -tugs-.

A titanic groaning sound echoes up from the aperture in the floor as the cube below jolts into motion. A flicker of silver energy flashes across the surface of the structure. It rises in a spiraling, creeping ascent through the whorling Mist. A slot in the top of the cube cises open to thread a spiraling staircase upward. The base of the stairwell latches with a -click- to the edge of the hole in the floor beside Marisol. She steps back, dusting off the spectral hand against one of her own.
“Damn,” she mutters, peering through the hole in the floor to regard the yawning abyss outside. “What is this place?”

You’re already taking the stairs two at a time. You can feel the mangetic pull of the ritual burning in your forehead. It pulls you inexorably downward. You’re so close.

“H-hey!” Marisol reaches out after you, her brow furrowing. “You’re going down there on your own? Are you stupid or something? That looks like, y’know, maximum security.”

You gloss over the usual point of never really being by yourself. “I told you, I’m looking for something important. Maximum security sounds like the obvious destination.” You glance up at her, then back down at the sparking argent-limned doorway below you. “It’s fine. Stay here. I’ll be back through in a minute and then we can swing the room back how we found it.”

You don’t spare another moment for her consternation, hopping down the stairwell and through the doorway. As you do the pressure of your spiritual compass dissipates. You’ve arrived.

>>3436234
The stone cube—the cell, you suppose—is a cavernous structure. As you descend your stomach does a flip, and you find yourself climbing -up- out of a hole in the floor. The trick of perspective bends your thoughts into a knot for a moment, and as you steady yourself the lights within flicker on.

You stifle an exclamation of surprise, holding your breath carefully.

The vast majority of the room is dominated by a single massive body. Half of one, at least. Humanoid in shape, if not in scale, a torso armored in rippling silver flesh lies slumped across the far wall. Two powerful arms fall to either side of it, lying unmoving to encircle the chamber nearly end to end. The giant’s neck ends in something that can’t reasonably be called a head: a quicksilver jawline quickly gives way to a sublimating nebula of raw spiritual energy, a storm of pure creation that raves within the confines of some invisible shell. You recognize runes of Firstborn language carved and hammered into the titan’s flesh in neat, straight blocks and sections. You don’t dare draw the Grimoire from your belt to take a read of them. Not yet.

You hold your breath for twenty seconds before slowly exhaling. The titan is unmoving. Insensate. Perhaps even dead? Is this the Avatar?

Four great spires of blue-black metal impale the massive form to the far wall, two columns of two driven through the giant’s body and into the gray-green stone behind it. The floor is adorned with gilded tracework here, a gleaming path emblazoned in the floor leading to what appears to be a small pulpit or plinth of some kind.

Nestled in the space where the bottom of the giant’s torso melds seamlessly into the floor is a bundle of cloth. You catch a glimpse of a cerulean and crimson as the light from the titan’s nebula-head flares.

> This creature defies scale and imagination. Open up the Grimoire and try to sort out what it is.
> If this thing wakes up it could flatten you with a flick of its wrist. Stay low and quiet while you search the chamber.
> The bundle of cloth may hold a clue to the Avatar’s identity. Risk moving close enough to investigate.
> Write-in

>>3436236
>> This creature defies scale and imagination. Open up the Grimoire and try to sort out what it is.
>> The bundle of cloth may hold a clue to the Avatar’s identity. Risk moving close enough to investigate.
so is this thing pandora, and something else in the cage hope, or the other way around

>>3436236
>> This creature defies scale and imagination. Open up the Grimoire and try to sort out what it is.

>>3436236
>> This creature defies scale and imagination. Open up the Grimoire and try to sort out what it is.
Looks like the Avatar is providing power for whatever this thing is.

>It extends from a roaring sigil
I wonder if we could replicate that. Aryen made those sigils on the drawers, so it's not impossible.

>>3436270
>providing power for whatever this thing is.
wait, would that mean that unplugging it might set free all those crystals we saw above?

>>3436236
>> This creature defies scale and imagination. Open up the Grimoire and try to sort out what it is.

>>3436236
> This creature defies scale and imagination. Open up the Grimoire and try to sort out what it is.

You move by inches at a time. Your hand drifts in miniscule increments to the slate hanging from a hook at your waist. Every inhalation is deafening in the sudden, complete silence of the chamber. You’re certain your heartbeat alone will alert the creature to your presence, a wardrum beat that sends rivulets of sweat trickling down your spine.
The crystal pane flickers to life as you sweep it across the blocks of runic scripture inscribed upon the titan’s chest. The readout -chugs-, lines of text unspooling in frenetic jumps and leaps as Amal feverishly translates the dense blocks of text. You clench the Grimoire tight, your grip white-knuckle, as you read across the brief summaries the the Grimoire highlights in the Firstborn code.

A saga of creation—the hand and mallet that forged the gate.

A story of strife—the fist and maul that broke the tide.

A tale of loss—the gentle caress and broken tool cast down into darkness.

A blacksmith-king. A primordial force of creation. A guttering ember of some celestial blaze, the remnant of the world’s first faltering, nascent steps.

A Sidereal Titan.

A storm of the first flame churns in kaleidoscopic color within the Titan’s empty, infinite brow. Quicksilver flesh encrusted with history from history before time quietly rearranges itself, arranging and rearranging the scripture of the original midwife.

You don’t fully understand the scope of what you’re reading. That much, you’re certain of. The thing that slumbers before you is a leftover fragment from an age before time, a contributor to the selfsame conflict that Hesheza Zahn earned his stripes in. If the scripture carved into the holy flesh before you is to be believed, this is one of the beings responsible for forging the gate that sealed the World’s Grave. Perhaps an architect of Azeo Sicros itself, or another structure of similar magnitude and import.

Your eyes flicker again to the spires of dark metal that afix this holy titan to the wall. How—why did the Firstborn see fit to imprison this creature? How did they manage it? Does it still live?

This place is a wellspring of questions and you find yourself sorely wanting for answers. Your concern has shifted quite suddenly from that of a prey animal to one in the presence of royalty. Of… divinity?

You grip the haft of Magni’s spear as the bundle of cloth shifts slightly. You allow yourself a shaky exhalation.

> This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.
> This being could answer so many of your questions; about the Pact, the World’s Grave, even the Firstborn. You must find a way to rouse it.
> Imagine what you could do with the spark of power this titan contains. Perhaps you could extract it somehow. It’s certainly not in a state to fight back.
> Write-in

>>3436641
>This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.

Lets just focus on our main objective for right now. Once we have it in our possession then we can revisit old Titan here.

>>3436641
>Consult with Boand, this feels a bit beyond you.
Also regardless of potential risk, if we wake this guy we probably won't understand him but at the same time killing something that definitely looks like it would be sapient while it's helpless rubs me the wrong way.

Of course, it could be that Hope is keeping this guy comatose.

>>3436641
> This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.
Don't get greedy. Doesn't matter if this thing is benevolent or malevolent, either way Osyki isn't experienced enough that I think he should be considering whether he can vivisect a primordial world-forging titan. That's something for a Totemist with more than four months experience under his belt. This thing isn't going anywhere, unless we wind up collapsing the prison on our way out we have other opportunities to examine it.

>>3436641
>> This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.
>>3436654
Agreed. We have enough problems with beings beyond our comprehension and getting distracted from our mission is a bad idea. Let's find the avatar first and either they can fill us in or our ghosty boy back home will tell us.

>>3436641
>> This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.
It's been here for a long time, it'll keep a little longer while we ask Zahn what hell is going on in this place, after we get what we came here for.

Of course, that's assuming that Marisol won't want to come down here herself after we leave, which I'm not sure is a safe assumption to make since she probably remembers how to adjust the crystals and can do it better than we can.

Should we show it to her first just so we can ask her to leave it be while we check with people who would know more?

>>3436641
>> This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.
Yeah, the FIRST thing I want to do when we get out of here is talk to Zahn about this place. We just dont have the knowledge to make the right decisions about this stuff yet. I'd say we should be taking notes, its a lot to take in.

>>3436641

>inspect the plinth quietly and quickly.

This is where our ritual guided us. It seems to be a single room. If this being is not Hope, then Hope must be nearby. Maybe in the cloth, or maybe within the Titan/ within a space accessible via the Titan.

The Firstborn code implies the Titan is both being and object, the actor and the Tool. Perhaps it is the prisoner AND the Prison.

The plinth may be the map, control panel, or other tool for using this place.

>>3436942
>If this being is not Hope, then Hope must be nearby. Maybe in the cloth,
Seeing as it just the cloth just moved, that would be a good bet.

>>3436950
Yes, I suspect so as well, but I can imagine a couple other outcomes, depending on how you interpret some of the description, and the plinth is at least closer than the cloth.

If we get to the plinth without being discovered, we can get a better look at the cloth, AND potentially gain more information.

It's win-win.

Unless standing at the plinth activates it.

>>3436998
My guess is that the plinth is either a control panel or lock.

>>3437108
Might be a monitor, too, give feedback on the prisoner's condition.

>>3436641
>> This thing was imprisoned for a reason, and it’s certainly not your Avatar. You need to find it and get out.

Nah man, we get the avatar and get out. It's bad enough there's a massive organic firebeast right behind us, technically speaking, and there's likely just one exit. Don't poke things and hope it works out, especially not when this thing's taken massive damage it seems, and it's behind said giant fire beast.

>>3437249
Speaking of that giant Eidolon, if ever we do fight it, I wonder if its mane is just really hot or actually made of fire. If it's the latter, this might work:
>Key: Vulcanis Clavis: A ruby key that glows with inner light. Inserted into an open flame it can 'unlock' the fire, causing it to rage wildly out of control while rapidly consuming its fuel, or 'lock' the conflagration to extinguish it immediately.
I feel like "locking" the fire and seeing where that gets us is the safest bet, but even if it does work, we still need to worry about that tail, the gas, and it just being really big.

> Visiting time is over
>>3436654
>>3436683
>>3436722
>>3436787
>>3436865
>>3437249

> Phone a friend
>>3436662

> Fieldwork
>>3436942

Cheese it ASAP wins by a wide margin.
> Roll 1d100+5

Rolled 97 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>3437890
A modifier huh? First time we've had one of those I think.

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>3437890

>>3437898
well then

Rolled 68 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>3437890

>>3437898
Nice.
Diarca's changing with the times, I guess.

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>>3437898
>Rolled 97

File: 1473360925221.gif (2.66 MB, 300x237)

2.66 MB GIF

>>3437898

>>3437898
Hahaha, what the fuck. The luck continues.

Writing.

>>3437898
>>3437922
Wait, didn't it use to display the sum? Or was that another website.

So what are we thinking for why the Avatar is locked in here with the Sidereal Titan? I can think of three possibilities: First is that it's a warden/power source for the Titan's bindings. Second is that it was just a being associated with the Titan, and so was imprisoned alongside it. Third is that the Hope that the Avatar embodies is the Titan's own hope to someday leave, and the Avatar formed inside the prison. That's probably the best option for us, the spirit would be naive and impressionable and want to go see the world. Hopefully it won't have any loyalty to the mind whose emotions spawned it, though.

Rolled 59, 94 = 153 (2d100)

>>3438056
It only seems to display the sum when multiple dice are rolled, like this.

>>3438063
The last one is definitely the best case scenario, though depending on how intelligent it is now, other might want us to free its... Creator, I guess?

>>3438226
depending on how the talk with Zahn goes, that could still be in the cards?

Rolled 16, 55 = 71 (2d100)

>>3438063
The first is the most likely, but the third would be the easiest to deal with.

If it's non-hostile, how are we going to bind it? Celestial? How would that interface with our plans to enshrine it?

>>3438056
/tg/ might add the modifiers, I'm not sure. I think akun does as well.

>>3438066
testing a roll option...

>>3438297
nope, didn't work. ah well.

>>3438297
Yeah dealing with the Hope Avatar was always gonna be tricky since I don't know if it's sapient enough to bargain with considering Hunger certainly didn't seem to be, and our binding method is kind of either making a runic circle around something and killing it, or physically carving the runes into its body.

>>3438321
It embodies a less basal emotion, so I think it will be smarter. Hunger is about raw instinct, it takes some degree of intelligence to have hope. You can't have wishes for a better future if you're not smart enough to imagine the future. I don't know if we'll be able to communicate with it via language, but I think there should probably be enough intelligence there to lead it out of here like you would a clever animal.

No telling what the big man—the titan you amend in your head—is in for. You don’t need to go pissing off some primordial force of nature if you don’t absolutely, positively need to. You slink down low to the ground, moving with padded footfalls across the room. Your free hand steadies the Collider at your hip. You can’t think of a more disastrous, loud accident than the weapon accidentally discharging whilst strapped to your side.

As you move further, the bundle of cloth stirs again. A hint of crimson; a scarf, a hood. You’re nearly up to the dias when it suddenly shudders and produces a thin, pale limb of soft blue-white light.The pile seems to -inflate-, ballooning upward in a raggamuffin whirl of various scraps and sundries. You catch a leather jerkin, a pair of long cobalt boots, some kind of deep blue cloak, and other various odds and ends of protective clothing in the sudden surge of fabrics. One by one the outfit constitutes itself around that glowing pale limb. After a moment a twin arm emerges from the other sleeve.

The thought that this might be some trap or creation of this Sidereal maker flashes across your mind in an ugly instant. You ready your spear, fingers curling around the handle of the Collider.

With a sound like a handful of chimes tumbling down a staircase, a pair of eyes flicker open underneath the deep shadows of the being’s hood. It glances left, then right, swaying unsteadily on its feet.

Then its gaze snaps to you. You freeze, calculating how fast you can draw and fire.

”Oh.” The voice that echoes out from the depths of the spirit’s silhouette is downy soft. ”Do mine eyes deceive? Our wardens come to levy sentence, or else free us from this ponderous fate?”

You gawk at the spirit for a moment before you feel Boand’s invisible hand gently shut your jaw. You straighten under the auspices of the Aria Nymph, bowing to the creature as low as you dare while keeping it in your sights.

”Good morrow and good morning, Judicar,” the spirit titters. ”Too long, too long he sleeps. He feared you had forgotten. I knew you had not.”

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>>3438381
You chew your lip. The spirit seems genuinely pleased to see you, though you have your doubts that it knows who you are at all. How best to play this, though? If you don’t go along with the charade it may grow restless. You don’t know how long you could keep up such a front, though. Long enough to bind it to an agreement?

Maybe. Maybe not.

”Wherefore are you come with naught to accompany, Judicar?” The spirit glances about. “No wayward soul for him to judge today?” It seems to realize something suddenly, and it stiffens. Vanes of silvery power creep alongside its head like laurels, and a starburst of energy forms between its palms. ”You look to me as though… tell me, Judicar. Am I apparent to your sight?”

> Go along with the charade. You have need of this being under the auspices of your… ‘office’.
> This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.
> Consult with a spirit. (Who?)
> Write-in

>>3438381
...Oh no, this guy speaks in 3D glasses.

>>3438387
> This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.
I don't think we have time to workshop this and if the whole reason we came here is to get this guy to protect our town I feel like we shouldn't start off by weaving a tapestry of lies and hope we can smooth things over later.

>>3438387
>This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.
Osyki is too far out of his depth to weave a web of deceit

>>3438387
>> This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.
Even if we could lie long enough to bind Hope, it would almost certainly be unhappy when it eventually uncovered the truth.

>>3438387
>> This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.

>>3438395
I'm pretty sure Aria Nymph would prevent Osyki from fumbling his words at least but yeah I don't see it going well.

Also, I feel like the guardian plan might be a bust. If this guy was in jail for thousands of years, I doubt he wants to be anchored to one spot again. And if it turns out that this guy actually did sommething to -merit- being locked up forever, I don't really want him to be the village guardian period. Well, we'll see how things play out.

>>3438387
> This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.
> Write-in
Explain that while we are not the warden, we are empowered (by the very rites its cellmate helped instate, in fact) to intercede on matters of human dealings with spirits. So while we might not have any official authority over this prison, in the absence of the Firstborn we are the closest the spirit will find.

>>3438404
If he's in here for a reason, yeah, we might not want him, but being in a village, surrounded by living, breathing humans should take the sting out of being stuck somewhere again. We could also bring him along for a time before enshrining him, so he can travel at least a little first.
I wonder if he can recognize the other avatars we have on our person. Modi is right outr in the open, but if we brought Hunger with us his current state might make him unrecognizable as an Avatar.

>>3438417
At the very least they'd have a larger space he could move around in, bound to the village. Plenty of things to do and people to interact with, as well. If they really want to roam free, it would be a problem, but a lot of people just want to settle down in a nice town. I'm sure that applies to spirits, too.

>>3438417
>>3438431
The second problem is that he's definitely friends with this guy, and while"I have absolutely no idea how to free this guy and I'm afraid that if I just mess around I could kill him or maybe even cause the entire prison to blow up" IS a really good excuse for right now at least, and one Hope(?) will hopefully listen to, it doesn't really address the "I'm also not sure if releasing him will trigger the apocalypse or something" aspect of things.

>>3438445
Perils of being honest with him, I suppose. If we were pretending to be the warden, we could say no to releasing the Sidereal Titan on the grounds of his sentence not being so lenient. If we're just some Totemist that found them, then it's trickier.

>>3438387
>> This is pointless. Tell this spirit—avatar, probably—that the Firstborn are long gone.

I'd also like to back this write in:

>>3438406

>>3438507
I don't know if this guy really respects authority, given that he already seems to be charging up to give us a zapping.

>>3438511
My intent with that write-in was not "respect my authority" but "we can probably swing some symbolic 'right' to sentence you so if that's what it takes to get you out don't be upset".

>>3438445
>t he's definitely friends with this guy,
Not necessarily. If they've been cell mates for as long as it appears, they'll be at least familiar with each other, no matter how much they actually like each other. Nothing so far says they're more than acquaintances.

>>3438521
Fair point yeah.

>>3438516
Ah I get you. It doesn't really seem like the Firstborn were into conceptual bindings like that though if they do, or this guy is weirdly law based, we definitely could swing it.
Similarly, I was mulling over if we should introduce ourselves as a follower of the path of Hesheza Zahn, since I'm not sure whether he'd recognize the name/try to kill us upon hearing it.

Your mind flashes over the possibilities. Judicar? Sentence? This Avatar thinks you Firstborn. Maybe if you claimed Marisol was your prisoner, you could sentence the Avatar to—

No. Stupid. Too many ways it could go wrong, especially for something you want to keep a benevolent eye on those closest to you. You plants Magni’s spear in the ground, leaning on it in a familiar slouch. Time to rip the bandage off.

“I can see you,” you confirm. The spirit stiffens in surprise, dancing back a step to rest against the curve of the Titan’s abdomen. “But I think you’ve been down here longer than you expected. I’m not your Judicar. I’m not really a member of this, uh, tribe.”

The Avatar leans forward. Its eyes flare with curiosity, the spark of starfire dwindling to a pinprick of light.

“I’m a medium between spirits and mortals,” you elaborate. “A Totemist. Your, uh, friend here,” you say gesturing to the slumbering Sidereal, “made it possible for people like me to do this work. To watch over people.”

”Totemist.” The Avatar seems to toy with the sword, its eyes bouncing within its hood as it turns the phrase over. ”If you are not the Judicar, how have you come to this place? Only he and those of equal nobility are allowed access to this place.”

“The Judicar…” you shake your head. “The whole Firstborn are gone. Passed on. I can’t even begin to guess at how long ago.” You gesture down toward the stairwell that would lead you back up to Marisol. Your stomach flips just considering the conundrum. “This place has been abandoned for a long time. I came here to find you.”

The Avatar lets out a soft gasp of surprise. ”Me? Not…” It gestures behind it to the titan. It swoons forward through the air, coming to rest across the plinth from you. It props its head (hood?) up on its palms, leaning on its elbows against the smooth stone. ”When last the Judicar came I was not yet manifest. A bare glimmer in the all-smith’s flame, the hint of an idea. Truly, to have been wishing for salvation all this time…”

>>3438563
That explains its earlier surprise. “So you were made from…”

It nods, jingling merrily. ”A dream. A wonderful, wistful dream of freedom. Freedom to roam again, or perhaps to die.” It glances fondly over its shoulder toward the titan. You note that every move it makes seems to jingle or clink pleasantly. ”My oldest and only companion. He only ever spoke to me once. It was all he had left.”

You can’t help your curiosity given bait like that. “What did he tell you?”

The Avatar hums to itself. ”Perhaps I’ll tell you later, Totemist. Why have you come for me?”

Honesty seems to have bought you some credit thus far. At least it hasn’t started swinging, a marked improvement over the last two avatars you’ve interacted with. “I came here hoping to recruit you for a job.” Shit. Is it rude to use the word ‘hope’ when talking to this avatar? Is there an etiquette for this sort of thing? Just another thing that Ayren never got around to teaching you. You realize that you’ve been staring into the depths of the spirit’s hood without blinking and hastily pull what you hope is a winning smile.

”Recruit. A job? Hmmm.” It drums its fingers across the darkness beneath its hood. Each fingertip tap produces a strangely hollow sound. ”I’ve never had a job before. Tell me more.”

> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
> You must assume stewardship over my home. With your aid it will grow into a shining city, I just know it.
> As a Totemist, I’m empowered by the same contract your friend forged. Your place is not here. You belong back in the world, among people.
> Write-in

>>3438565
>> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
Probably best to be straightforward.

>>3438563
>>3438565
>>3438063
So it was option three after all, I was just thrown off by its conversational abilities.

>>3438565
>> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
>Your place is not here. You belong back in the world, among people.


>Your, uh, friend here,” you say gesturing to the slumbering Sidereal, “made it possible for people like me to do this work.
We seem to be implying something I've apparently missed. Is Sidereal something we recognize?

>>3438565
>> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
>Your place is not here. You belong back in the world, among people.

>>3438565
> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
"For a while my village was isolated from the world, with the rare exception of travellers it felt as if we were a light in the darkness. But recently it has made contact with the wider world, and is entering a period of great growth and change. Out of everything in the world, I sought you because I believed you could guide and encourage that growth, as well as help my village face any challenges that change can bring."

I don't really know how to say it well, but we've definitely got the opportunity to compare Grisoch's situation with this guy's existence, as long as we take care not to trivialize what he went through.

>>3438581
On the runes carved into the Sidereal Titan's body, it was revealed that he was the one who created the Vault that contains that which from which all Behemoths spring, and Totemists are the ones tasked with stopping that vault from opening and killing any Behemoths out there. The whole reason we're doing this side quest is apparently having people do Totemist stuff without being properly initiated actually weakens the Vault which is Bad.

>>3438565
> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.

So an avatar made just from the hopes of one single giant being like this, and it's clearly strong enough to ping off a massive response from our search.

Mention that our job is basically to help the vault-maker's work keep functioning properly, and maybe play to a sense of duty.

>>3438565
>It nods, jingling merrily. ”A dream. A wonderful, wistful dream of freedom. Freedom to roam again, or perhaps to die.” It glances fondly over its shoulder toward the titan. You note that every move it makes seems to jingle or clink pleasantly. ”My oldest and only companion. He only ever spoke to me once. It was all he had left.”
I was right, it is an Avatar of the Sidereal Titan's own hope. Kind of sad, it sounds like it liked him.

> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
> Write-in
Make sure to lay out the implications of their taking this position. Honesty serves us well here. Let them know that they'd still be bound, but in a much larger space, and we expect that with their help it may grow larger still. And despite the limitations that would be placed on their movements if they took this position, we plan to make their new home a pleasant one. We're not asking them to trade one prison for another.

>>3438581
>We seem to be implying something I've apparently missed. Is Sidereal something we recognize?
According to the Grimoire's reading of the runes, the Sidereal Titan was one of the beings that helped cage the World's Grave. By extension, they contributed to the founding of the Totemist's Pact, though possibly not directly.

>>3438565
>write-in phrasing for option A
"I do not know what he told you of the outside world, but it is a place of troubles. It is my task to defend those whom the world would do harm to unjustly, first and foremost my home. But I need aid to do it. In that, I am empowered to treaty with man and spirit, to serve the needs and desires of both. But I have much left to learn."

"My master and teacher was taken from me before my training was done. To complete my training, I must travel far and wide. When I do this, it leaves my people vulnerable. What if I am slain in my travels, and they are left waiting for a protector that never returns? What if they are attacked and I cannot return in time?"

"So I seek someone to be a comfort to them, as maybe you were to him. To be their guardian, while I am absent. To aid my apprentices, ans few could give me aid, and to give my people the hope to be free to roam, to love, and live.

"I do not know if it is a painful task, or an easy one, as I have never done this working before. It will be new to me, as it is to you. But it will let you see the world outside. And maybe you can return here, and tell the all-smith of the things you've seen. A comfort for him, who dreams of freedom."

Unless this guy is a really good liar, which I don't think is reasonable to predict, I don't really feel comfortable forcing him into doing anything, but I'm not sure if that goes without saying or if we need to spell it out for him.

...Also unless he can get a lot more portable, I'm not sure how we're gonna get him past the Boss Eidolon.

>>3438565
>> My village needs a protector. Someone must watch over my loved ones while I am away.
>It won't be overly difficult to make my way back here. After you tell me about him, maybe there's something I can do that WONT unleash whatever else is in this prison and remains alive.

>>3438609
Maybe leave out the last bit about returning to speak to the Titan? That might make Robes here upset that we're not freeing them. Leave that conversation for if they ask, so we aren't the one to bring up the imprisonment and have to be the one to say "listen, I have no idea who your dad is or if it's safe to bring him out".

>>3438631
simple: kill the boss eidolon. We can take a break and meditate for upgrades/possibly info on the sidereal while we're here, then gear up to take it down.

>>3438609
Wait, do we know for sure if guardians can persist past the death of the one to enshrine them? Like I thought some of Ayren's totems expired when he did.

>>3438642
>>3438641
I know our initial assumption was that the bindings were keeping the Sidereal Titan in some kind of coma, but the impression I'm getting from him talking to Hope once is that he's either dead or catatonic.

>>3438656
He has to be coherent enough to have created Hope himself.

>>3438664
He was at some point yeah, but I don't think Hope is dependent on the titan's supply.

>>3438656
Sounds like it, yeah. He's been here too long to wake safely. Either way, we need to be delicate about it. How about we shift it from "return and tell him of what you've seen" to "he'd be happy to know that his hope has left this place for a brighter home"?

>>3438664
Yeah, and then he apparently fell into his sleep after that.
>”My oldest and only companion. He only ever spoke to me once. It was all he had left.”

>>3438668
Eh, bringing up any sentiments regarding the Sidereal Titan feels a bit too manipulative and shaky to me.

>>3438717
I was thinking only if the Avatar is the one to bring up the Titan in the first place. You're right, it's bad form to be the one to lead with that. I meant if the Avatar asks "but what about my creator?"

>>3438668
>>3438656
Even though there's no rational basis for it, I vaguely feel like if the Titan was completely dead, the lightshow it has instead of a cranium would have gone out.

Phone-posting, please excuse the lack of appropriately colored text.

“It’s… sort of a long-term position,” you tell the Avatar. You look past it, gazing into the formless star of the Sidereal Titan’s brow. “My village lost its protector, recently. A good man.” Whatever failings he might have had, you still believe that is true. “I’ve taken up the mantle in his stead, but I am still learning. I have a long way to go before I can be the guardian he was.”

The Avatar hums melodically, watching you with rapt attention.
“I can’t be everywhere at once. My duties as a Totemist take me away from my village. From the people I love. I don’t know when the last time you were out of this room was—”
The Avatar shakes its head with a chime.

“Right. Well, it’s not exactly safe out there.” You grimace. “Monsters, and men, and things worse than both roam the land. The people in my home are good, strong people, but they’re only human. They can’t stand against the weight of this world. Not on their own. I need someone to act as a guiding light through the darkness for them, as they did once for me.” You gesture to the Avatar. “Someone to nurture the spark of humanity in this time of tumult. To be an ally, a friend in times of strife. I came looking for you because, of everything out there in the wild, wide world, I think you will be the one to guide my home to a place of prosperity.”

He gasps, placing a hand to his chest. “Me?” he asks quietly. “Flattered though I am, I know not what I can offer to one such as you. I have lived only here, existed only beside the great Titan in this place of penance.”

“But you were born from it,” you argue. “Shaped from the dreams of the one who hammered the world into shape. I—” you sigh, running a gauntleted hand over your face. “I’ll be honest: I don’t truly know what it is I’m asking of you here. I don’t know if this will be an easy task, or a taxing one. I’ve never done this before. This is all really very new to me.” You drop your hand back to the haft of the spear. “But I do think you’re meant to do more than -wait- in this room for a Judicar who will never return. It seems a poor repayment to your creator to waste that potential. Think of how pleased he will be when you return one day and tell him of the people you propelled into greatness.”

>>3439094

The Avatar is quiet for a long moment, looking between you and the slumbering Sidereal. It wrings its hands together, shifting from one foot to the other nervously. “I have dreamed, too. This offer is tempting Totemist. I yearn to see the sky that my Titan carved from the Mists. And yet…” it turns, placing a gentle hand upon the abdomen of the giant. “To abandon him… how could I? Could you go on when your last hope walked out the door, Totemist?” He chimes quietly, a mournful tone. “My father and mother. All that I am is naught without this being. For too long have we slumbered here, restrained from fulfilling the purpose that burns within our belly.”
He turns, regarding you over his shoulder.

“I believe that this Titan still has a part to play in the story of the world, Totemist. His last song is not yet sung. Even diminished as he has become, the weave of possibility still curves in his wake.” It nods, jingling with determination. “If this is no place for me then it is no place for him, either, for I am only a pale reflection of his splendor.”

The Avatar turns on his heel, bounding over to you once more as if the constraints of gravity only loosely applied to him. “I feel the same great swell of possibility from you, Totemist. I would like to aid you. But I must know that you will work to rectify this… sad perversion of potential. If I come with you, you must plainly swear to me that you will free my Titan, and find him a new station befitting his splendor. One day the world will have need of his peerless skill again.”

> Write-in. This is your time to define the terms of your pact with the Avatar of Hope.

>>3439095
>I intend to trust you with the lives of my people, and that comes with the trust that what you say of your Titan is true.
>So weave to me a story of tales long past, a tale of Titans and Mists. Let both our doubts be dispelled by truth, and in that truth we will find just what it is we can do for him.
>Though strictly speaking, it will likely involve asking our ancestral mentor to lend us a hand and solve most of the technical problems for us. I really don't know anything about how all this works.

>>3439095
>>3439111
Oh wait, terms. Um. We'll need to has out some specifics at the village with the elders.

>>Assuming we trust each other's backgrounds to be true:
>the Avatar will be a protector of Grisoch: it will not extend to the(or any future) trade roads, and if there is a deal to include the forest or swamp or even underground, that will need to be brokered in a future pact with relevant parties.
>Unless Grisoch is assuredly not in any danger and the avatar is willing to grant a favor to the forest or swamp, or etc.

>Protection of Grisoch extends to its people, its infrastructure, as well as the plantlife and waters in it. That said, provisions will allow for planned changes in river layout, cutting/moving/harvesting of trees, and accidental harm, etc.
>Protection includes measures against weaponized pollution, but the Avatar is not obligated to bear the brunt of cleaning up in general situations.
>Protection does not immediately refer to violence or barriers: restraints and/or mercy is acceptable and expected for situations involving children, minor injuries or the like.
>Protection includes attacks originating from the Mists, although the specifics of that are not quite known as we are inexperienced
>Protection does NOT extend to a location specified specifically for the testing of powers of Totemists. Because that place is going to be wrecked multiple times with great force.
>Protection will likely involve working together with totems and slayers. It will not be a competition, and considerations should be made to maximize the efficiency of totems and allow slayers to gain experience.

>Visitors and guests are not necessarily allotted the same level of protection, but how much is up to the Avatar's judgement.

>The Avatar will have access to Azeo Sicros, technically as territory within the same space as Grisoch, but not necessarily obligated to defend it. In there, the avatar should have access to the biggest store of ancient knowledge he's going to get for the forseeable future, and being able to talk directly to Zahn may prove enlightening, or at least comforting to both parties.

>In the event of an extreme emergency(Behemoths, behemoths, behemoths, etc.) the Avatar reserves the right to directly contact us through the foci. If this can include forcing a quick recall, include that.
Yes, this is "bad" for us, but call it a show of faith/trust in principle.

>If the Avatar wishes, it can participate in the education and general mingling with the people of Grisoch, as well as tasks aimed at increasing the prosperity of Grisoch, but it is not obligated to.
>If the elders are willing, the Avatar will have a place in meetings between elders and on decisions to be made for Grisoch as a whole. To what level of participation and influence requires checking with the elders.

>>3439162
> Osyki will work to free the Titan while dealing as little damage to existing structures and/or purposes of the Titan's work as possible.
>Contributions to this can take the form of finding information, studying the mechanisms imprisoning the Titan, applying measures to prevent harmful consequences, and the actual freeing of the Titan.
>The Titan will not be obligated to pay or do anything in compensation for his freedom, though if he wishes to bring the Avatar with him we'll have to negotiate.

>Osyki will not be able to constantly and consistently work towards this goal. If there is a need to require weekly or monthly quotas for contributions, let it be so barring extreme emergencies or serious injury.
>In the event that the Titan is freed but a significant amount of harmful consequences are caused, the Avatar can aid Osyki in dealing with these consequences so that the Titan is not obligated to feel responsible for them. This is the only situation the Avatar is free to leave Grisoch while its safety is not certain.
>If neither party will be harmed by it, the usual clauses of Celestial Binding apply.

Okay, I think I'm done.

>>3439095
> Write-in. This is your time to define the terms of your pact with the Avatar of Hope.

"I'll see what I can do. If we are doing this we both need to make sure he lands on his feet right and make sure the world is ready for him. The world is going to be a very different place from the one he left.

I will say though that if in spite of our efforts if he is hostile to the people I care about I have to take action against him."

>>3439162

> but the Avatar is not obligated to bear the brunt of cleaning up in general situations.
Drop this. We don't know how this works well enough to make those sorts of declarations.
>>Protection does NOT extend to a location specified specifically for the testing of powers of Totemists.
I see what you're intending, but this is a terrible idea. This leaves a big hole in the middle of the defenses. If someone or something manges to get to the training grounds, they'd have a safe haven inside the city.
>It will not be a competition, and considerations should be made to maximize the efficiency of totems and allow slayers to gain experience.
This should be a suggestion, not a contract line. In case of emergency, it could hamstring Hope from bringing it's full power to bear.

>>The Avatar will have access to Azeo Sicros,
We don't understand the mechanisms involved there well enough to enforce that, and I don't think Zahn would be happy with it.
> the Avatar reserves the right to directly contact us through the foci.
Once enshrined, we won't have it's focus on us any longer. If it needs emergency communication, It can call via Boand.
>If this can include forcing a quick recall, include that.
No. We do sensitive work on occasion. How well would that have gone if we had been recalled during our confrontational conversation with the Iron General? We can trip the recall ourselves if needed, and it would give us time to plant a checkpoint recall totem like we've talked about.

Otherwise, not bad.

>>3439226
>>3439162
>>3439226
Not bad overall, but don't forget this has to be written in Celestial tongue, which we only have a loose grasp of at best.

>>3439226
>We don't know how this works well enough to make those sorts of declarations.
yeah but the avatar is not a glorified janitor

>this is a terrible idea.
okay, but how do we not drain massive amounts of the guardian's defensive abilities whenever we test stuff?

>We don't understand the mechanisms involved there well enough to enforce that, and I don't think Zahn would be happy with it.
it would be nice to still be able to hone the avatar though. besides, this is about providing value to the avatar as well.

>No. We do sensitive work on occasion.
I know. We can't demand EVERYTHING to go however is most convenient for us. This clause could be potentially bad for us, but it is also meant to be proof that we trust the Avatar to be just as if not more concerned about the immediate safety of the village as Osyki. It's a matter of principle rather than control.

I agree with the other stuff.

>>3439267
okay, but how do we not drain massive amounts of the guardian's defensive abilities whenever we test stuff?

I feel like that's a moot point. Unless I am misunderstanding, it isn't as if the guardian would need to instantly react and prevent any damage done to the land done by our tests. It's a sentient, intelligent being, it will know the village isn't under attack and therefore isn't in need of active defense.

I see it like a farmer plowing the fields, technically he is damaging the land, but not in meaningful way that requires the guardian to stop him, it's simply part of his job as is out testing

>>3439174
>This is the only situation the Avatar is free to leave Grisoch while its safety is not certain.
From what I recall the Guardian binding is less a matter of "the spirit is kept within its new territory by oath" and more "the spirit is now actually part of the territory". Giving Robesy here a situation in which it has permission to leave wouldn't actually allow it to leave without undoing the bindings entirely. That's why we didn't just enshrine Cordia with the clause of "but she can totally keep following around that cute Totemist she's crushing on if she wants to".

>>3439320
Yeah, it should be able to tell the difference between an attack and just weapons testing. It may actually be able to contribute. We want an Avatar of Hope to help bolster up the people of Grissoch, and seeing the Totemist try out all his cool spirit-weapons has been noted to be good for morale.

A thought just occurred to me: We need a clause for what we do if we don't wind up enshrining this guy. We do still need to vet the Avatar with the village elders and with Sylvia. How do we handle the obligations to free the Titan if the Avatar is rendered unable to fulfill their end of the bargain by the village rejecting them? There needs an out clause. Something somewhat conciliatory, it feels like bad faith to say "well, the village doesn't like you, so I'm off the hook". How about we have it in the contract that a period of renegotiation will happen if/when the authorities over Grisoch decide they do not want this spirit watching over them? That deals with the issue and provides a means by which the Avatar can potentially be fired if there's a serious disagreement between them and the village. Have the negotiation be with whoever is the current designated Totemist of Grisoch, too, because the Avatar may be here long after we're gone.

>>3439517
Man if the village can't get down with a literal avatar of hope... they're fucked

>>3439537
Perhaps, but the Avatar is still an unknown. Smart to take precautions just in case. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

>>3439095
People are raising good points so far, but I feel like maybe Boand should go over what we're saying if possible, because I don't think we really know what we can or can't promise to do.

>>3439807
Seconding. It would be invaluable to have the feedback of a third party experienced with pacts like this one.

>>3439807
+1

>>3439885
I'm just a bit worried that asking her help would be considered really rude, which is another thing that we don't know.

>>3439895
How do you think it might be considered rude, out of curiosity?

>>3439916
That the pact needs a certain heartfelt quality and someone pretty much coaching us on what not to say could go against that, especially since the Avatar doesn't have someone helping him. But I'm probably wrong about that.

>>3439320
>>3439267

We could also just change the line to:
>This protection will not extend to damage inflicted BY Grisoch Totemists or their apprentices within a specified region reserved for the experimentation with and practice of their abilities.

I would also make a clause that If both parties feel that it is a safe and proper time to do so, the Avatar will be allowed to leave the village, whether to return and visit his progenitor, or to see the world.

And some kind of termination clause. I don't know much about contracts, but I know one of the most important parts of them is how they end.
>The terms and details of this contract can be reviewed and renegotiated, if desired, upon the death of the current (head?) Totemist of Grisoc, or every 10 years.

Lastly, and it's a tricky one, but I'd make it a requirement of these negotiations that the Avatar explain the Titan's "purpose" as he sees it, as well as any details he has about the conditions and reasons for its imprisonment. This would help us to determine the correct time-frame and methods to use for its release.

>>3440065
I'm not sure if the Avatar can leave after being enshrined even if we both agreed to it. I don't know what thread it was that Village Guardians were originally discussed.

>>3440155
They can't casually leave while still being the Guardian, but I don't see why it would be impossible to end the contract.

>>3439931
I hadn't considered that, point taken.

>>3440155
We literally don't know.
When we discussed it with Cordia, we didn't know if it would bind her to the location but she could walk around and interact with the people, or if it would diffuse her into the village as a general presence.

I'm just noting that, for a being with a connection as strong as Hope has for its creator, we might want to build in a "go home and check on your dad" clause.

If it's a contract we make, we can presumably build in a clause for "pausing" it for set lengths of time.

You could even make it an automatic and recurring thing. "The last day of every month/year shall be given to the spirit to return to its creator, inspecting their well-being, during which time its duties as guardian shall be suspended." and we just tell the people to be extra careful that day or something, (probably build in a signal or something that allows us to override the free time if like, there's an attack on the village, or a lasting siege or something.)

>>3440495
That's not how this works. This is a two step process: 1st step is creating the initial Celestial contract, same as our one with Fourth and Boand. 2nd step is enshrining Hope as a land guardian. We don't know what that entails, or what it will do to Hope. Thus, we can't know how a "pause" clause would affect things. It's a layered system.

>>3440515
So should we just make like a provisionary contract now for him to travel with us, and hash out the more complicated part later?

I don't know, did we have a better handle on this in the past and we just forgot?

>>3441020
>I don't know, did we have a better handle on this in the past and we just forgot?
Na, we've never done anything like this, and we don't really know what we're doing, which is why we're having these issues in the first place.

It looks like the general consensus is to agree with the Avatar's demands... with some provisions. Let's clarify first.

> Consult with Boand regarding the process of enshrining, and for aid with your celestial binding.

> Attempt to make a pact now with the Avatar, stipulating that it will guard your home in exchange for your research into freeing the Sidereal Titan.

> Ask the Avatar to accompany you out of the Oubliette first. You can make a pact when you're in a more comfortable climate.

>>3441111
In a way, this is making me about as nervous as fighting those Eidolons earlier. I kind of would like the Avatar to acompany us first, but I have no idea how we're supposed to leave.
> Consult with Boand regarding the process of enshrining, and for aid with your celestial binding.
Maybe tell the Avatar we're doing that first/ask permission?

>>3441111
> Consult with Boand regarding the process of enshrining, and for aid with your celestial binding.

>>3441111
> Attempt to make a pact now with the Avatar, stipulating that it will guard your home in exchange for your research into freeing the Sidereal Titan.

>>3441111
>> Attempt to make a pact now with the Avatar, stipulating that it will guard your home in exchange for your research into freeing the Sidereal Titan.

>>3441111
> Consult with Boand regarding the process of enshrining, and for aid with your celestial binding.

Im leaning towards doing the actual pact once were out.

>>3441151
If we are asking for Boand's help, we should definitely ask the Avatar if it's okay to do so. We don't want to seem as though we're totally taking advantage of the Avatar's situation.

>>3441353
Yeah, that's a fair point. Like I don't really want to weaken our own bargaining position, but at the same time I'm wondering if we should just stick to honesty with this guy, because I feel like the general consensus is that we want to give him pretty much the best deal we can but don't know how.

>>3441111
> Consult with Boand regarding the process of enshrining, and for aid with your celestial binding.

>>3441151
>>3441353
Yeah, we can do this tactfully. Just tell them that we'd like to bring in an experienced spirit we know to offer assistance on wording this pact. We do this not out of desire to have leverage, but because the Celestial Tongue is a hell of a language to do legalize in and we don't want to bind either of us to a deal we don't want. Always get someone to double-check your runes.

>>3441367
And one important thing is that his becoming a guardian does seem to be conditional on approval from Sylviannis (non-negotiable) and the village elders (not actually necessary, but polite). Even if we're pretty sure that won't be a problem, I'm not sure if that means we can ignore it either.

>>3441404
>approval from Sylviannis (non-negotiable)
Isn't the village technically on a plain, not in the forest? It's a good idea to clear it with her, but I don't think it's strictly needed.

>>3441404
Though maybe we're overthinking it? Like I re-read the scene where we made our pact with Fourth, and while Boand was actually present then, we made the Celestial Pact without her help.

>>3441419
I don't know, the character bio says that she's the local Land Guardian, but that might just mean that she's the one closest to the village and not that our village is under her jurisdiction?

>>3441419
Sylvia prefers a forest aesthetic, but she's actually the Land Guardian for the local plains, too. Everything south of the mountains but north of the swamp is her territory.

>>3441419
>>3441456
Found it.
Thread LXVII(68)
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/43623257/
>>43624292

>A very old contract made with the Land Guardian of this region.-

>“Sylvia?”

>She shakes her head. -You're not in the Brush, Osyki. The land guardian of the plains Grisoch is built upon.-

>You weren't aware there was such a spirit. “Okay. I don't have time to bargain with an earth spirit for entry.”

>>3441467
Well... damnit. So does that mean we actually need to find the Plains Guardian and petition him?

>>3441467
Huh, I forgot about that. But Sylvia's claimed authority over the life in the plains, before. We've talked with her before going hunting there. Maybe there's some distinction there, like she's the Guardian of the things living in the plains but it's the Guardian of the plains themselves?

>>3441473
Also here's all the facts we know so far
> Enshrining a spirit as a Guardian requires the approval of the present Land Guardian.

> A specially constructed vessel must be prepared to enshrine a guardian spirit.

> A guardian spirit's shrine must be maintained regularly to avoid spiritual corrosion.

> The Guardian's domain gains traits over time related to the spirit enshrined to protect it.

> Enshrinement is an irreversible process. Once a spirit is enshrined its makeup changes fundamentally to become one with its domain.

So it doesn't really look like we can give the Avatar vacation days. And I'm starting to feel dubious about doing this to a sapient being at all, especially someone whose entire existence until now was being in jail.

>>3441483
See, I think this is the sort of thing that could only be done to a sapient being, because it would be able to consent to it. You take some random beast spirit and enshrine it, it's not going to understand what's happening. It's going to be scared and confused and probably make things really uncomfortable to everyone in the village. A sapient being can understand what's happening to it and agree to the process, so you'll get something much more inclined to work with you.

But you're right that perhaps this is unkind to the Hope Avatar (we really need to get them a name), given that they've lived their whole life confined. We'd make their new home as pleasant as we could, but it does feel wrong for the embodiment of a hope for freedom to not know freedom itself. Maybe we should look for another spirit, or at least give Hopesy here the chance to see the world first. You know what, I'm going to change my vote.

>>3441111
> Ask the Avatar to accompany you out of the Oubliette first. You can make a pact when you're in a more comfortable climate.
Because it deserve the chance to know what it might be giving up before it agrees to do so.

>>3441500
The problem is I feel like we need to make a provisional contract first like just a simple "travel with me and I'll research the Sidereal Titan" first to make Hope more portable, because he fucking jingles when he moves.

>>3441502
Okay, good point. So a provisional contract. Actually, that's probably the best idea. Boand would yell at us if we called her up and said "hey, can you help me make a deal to free an ancient titan from a prison it's been placed in for reasons I know not?". Much better to phrase it as the beginning of figuring out if this is a good idea on anyone's part. Not rushing in, just taking a calculated risk before doing anything big.

>>3441502
Well, I guess "lend me your power" instead of just "travel with me" but still, I feel like that's what we should start off with first.

>>3441500
For all we know, the Hope Avatar was already given a name by the Titan, neither of us introduced ourselves.

>>3441483
It's not as if we're forcing it to become a guardian, this is a negotiation. Do you think the Avatar would prefer to remain sealed in a tomb for all time until it withers away because the Titan has died? We are providing it a new place to be, one that flourishes with life, one with people it can bolster with hope and protect. However, if it decides this isn't something it wants we can leave it where it is.

It seems to me that we're looking at it from the wrong perspective. It will be the guardian of Grisoch. Right now the town isn't all that big, but it is much bigger than the single room the avatar is stuck in. However, over time I imagine Grisoch will grow, and with it (I assume) the boundary within which the Avatar will need to protect, and will be able to roam. Either way, it appears that time is perceived on a different scale for things such as Avatars and the brief stint in which our people exist may not be all that difficult to deal with for a being such as it. Seems more like we are providing it with a chance to grow and breath and interact with good people rather than caging it in.

>>3441500
On the other hand, we've seen that the spirits of beasts can be 'uplifted', for lack of a better word, with the endowment of spiritual import and meaning. The identity of the Skyscythe Drake was overridden by its use as our spiritual mount, for instance.

Thus, it's possible that turning a creature into a Guardian naturally imbues it with purpose and meaning.

The reminder that Enshrinement is irreversible is a worrying one, however. I don't know that I would wish to accidentally do something like that to this entity.

I vote
>Consult with Boand on the process of enshrining
AND
>Ask the Avatar to accompany you out of the Oubliette.

Make a temporary pact that you'll take the Avatar to your village, while the two of you research the process of enshrinement, and decide if that course is agreeable to him. If not, he can return to his creator having at least a taste of the outside, and we will have brought a little more hope into the world.

The more we look at this, the less tasteful it seems to force a sapient being into it. But who knows, maybe he'll love the town.

>>3441523
Oh, sure, it's going to be a big habitat it's confined to. I don't think it's going to be unhappy in Grisoch, really. I just think it deserves the chance to know other places than Grisoch, so when it decides to dwell there it's a true decision and not it having no better options.

>>3441523
I'd also like to mention that I feel this moral issue is one we're going to have no matter who we pick as the guardian as they're essentially confined to the area. However I think Hope is a pretty damn good choice since the avatar influences the people and the area. I'd rather our people become more hopeful than say, defensive or guarded etc etc.

That being said, I suppose I can see the points of letting it travel home with us first to consider the subject and see a few places. I just think we've found an excellent candidate and we don't really have all the time in the world to spend on this. We need to get our co-tomists up to speed and brought into the fold properly asap

>>3441111
>>3441151
Yeah I guess I'll amend it to in addition to asking Boand for help, the
> Ask the Avatar to accompany you out of the Oubliette first. You can make a pact when you're in a more comfortable climate.
As in the provisional contract thing.

>>3441525
>>3441523
...I'm not really seeing the binary here that the only choices are "be stuck in this cell forever" and "be stuck in Grisoch, also forever." Like the Avatar of Hunger was one of our strongest bindings, and I don't really see much reason to think that this guy would be completely useless? Also if it looks like to the best of our knowledge the Sidereal Titan -won't- try to destroy the world/kill all descendants of the Firstborn then freeing him is probably something we wanna do -anyway-.

...When we get back to the village we probably are gonna need to tallk to Zahn, not only is he probably the only person alive...ish who can tell us about the Sidereal Titan, but he also probably knows a thing or two about Enshrining Guardians, considering he likely invented the process.

File: 1468351055204.png (21 KB, 180x204)

21 KB PNG

>Ethics in bindings

>>3441537
Well yeah I want to free the Titan, I suppose freeing the Titan and letting them both go is an option, although not one I'd vote for. Although I didn't consider binding the Avatar (if that's what you're getting at?) because iirc that would involve killing it... which just seems cruel considering what we've seen so far.

>>3441542
I'm pretty sure it would be similar to how we bound Fourth, which doesn't seem to have been violent
>The threads of language that swirl around you are a literary blizzard. You hear Fourth make a small noise of interest as the dome of swirling runes expands to encompass the two of you and the river below, the runic seals of light practically buzzing with restrained potential. You focus in through the onslaught and narrow your focus along with your eyes, seeking out and plucking the terms of your contract with the odd thing known as Fourth from the very air around.

> 68

>It's far from a perfect binding. The seals inlaid into the iron rod seem almost crooked to your eyes, and there is a sense of grammatical imperfection to the way the characters interact with one another. Still, the intent is clear. In exchange for freeing Fourth from the confines of the river, he will travel alongside you and lend his power to whatever endeavor you see fit. The structure of the language forces you to set a time limit, and with Fourth's consent you agree that you will revisit the contract when you find the first shard of his scattered self.

>The immediate problem you run into is a fairly glaring one: there doesn't seem to be a word in the celestial alphabet that circles you for what Fourth is. You work around it as well as you can, leaving blank spaces to return to when you should include his personal sigil. As you near the end of your work the pale thing leans over and presses his finger to the first of the blank spaces. The metal rod shifts and warps under his touch as your contract mentally clicks into place.

>The sphereoid of celestial tongue orbiting you and your newfound spiritual partner collapses in on itself, packing a small dissertation of content into a few spiraling lines of celestial text inlaid upon the surface of your new Focus. Fourth shimmers and wavers at the edges as he did before, but this time his outline breaks entirely. The cold milky color of his flesh flows into the metal rod, suffusing it with pale radiance. The outline he leaves behind is filled with utter darkness for the briefest moment before it collapses entirely into nothingness.

>When the dust settles, the river flows anew and you hold a new Focus in your grasp.

I mean I guess it -could- have been incredibly painful, and Fourth is either stoic or is too alien to feel pain, or that it would somehow be different for sapient Avatars, but it doesn't really sound like it to me. I think it's more that spirits are made of a fundamentally different kind of stuff than animals.

>>3441550
Fair point, I admit I had completely forgotten that we had a non-kill binding

>>3441541
All our bindings (except for Modi, whose origins are shrouded in PLOT) were made because they were either non-sapient animals (though some either acquired or re-acquired sapience later) or fair agreements (though I think we did threaten Tryd a bit first). And becoming a guardian sounds like a fairly serious duty.

>>3441558
>either non-sapient animals (though some either acquired or re-acquired sapience later)
I think that the Skyscythe Drake was actually always sapient, and just had a predatory mindset so it didn't care about social interactions. But that thing tried to eat us, so fuck it. I think "if you try to eat me, you lose your right towards my consideration" is a reasonable thing to have in Osyki's moral code.

There's also Thane, who we bound after killing a shadow-panther. But it's heavily implied that Thane was actually something else merely riding the beast, and that got caught up in the binding. That's why he was twirling that severed Stalker claw when we first called him forth, he had just gotten through devouring the beast spirit sealed into the Focus with him.

>>3441564
Fair points to both, like it's probably no coincidence that we bound that shadow-panther thing around the same time we called upon the spirits of darkness and secrecy to conceal our village (if I remember correctly).

On a side note, I wonder how long that Avatar-finding ritual lasts, like would it still point us to the Avatar of Faith, or do we just have a general heading and hope we run into something that looks important? Since at the very least it's probably powerful.

>>3441572
I think we only get to pick one per ritual and it locks on and that's it. If we want to find the other one (like more than just the heading we saw) we'd probably have to do it again

>>3441574
Eugh, I don't really want it enough to sacrifice another book, I'm already really unhappy with how people sacrificed the book on dangers from below, especially since the Lord Restrained is now in the "enemy" section of the character bios.

>>3441575
I agree that we shouldn't go sacrificing more valuable info

>>3441575
Yeah, I found this was back after that vote, I thought it seemed a bit premature. Oh well, maybe we can convince the General to let us raid his records on subterranean threats, I'm sure he knows plenty. Still upset that the Lord Restrained considers us a deal breaker, though. We never had a deal, dude. Learn to restrain your expectations, telling someone "if you kill this guy I'll reward you" is not them taking a job to do it. Really, aren't we taking the most restrained route, by being willing to negotiate with the Iron General and treat him as something to investigate as a threat instead of jumping straight to violence? You're one big hypocrite, Lord Restrained, and if this is how you always act I think we'd wind up being enemies no matter what.

>>3441590
Huh, I completely forgot that he actually did offer us a boon. I just remembered him telling us -how- to defeat the Iron General.
>"I am willing to offer you a boon, Totemist," the Lord tells you. "The Iron Tyrant is one of many corrupted spirits in my domain. Rid your plane of his presence, and I will reward you."
>""I thank you for both your counsel and your offer, oh Lord Restrained. I will take your words to heart. I know I must fight him, if I do not then sooner or later he will assault my home and all those I have sword to protect, however the reward you offer for the task is appreciated."

Yeah, I guess we -technically- didn't agree to do so, but agreement was definitely more implied than I initially thought it was.

>>3441602
Implied but never actually agreed on. Like I said, if the Lord Restrained wants to make a deal he can make a deal, not just offer vague promises that Osyki was too polite to follow up on.

>>3441537
>not really seeing the binary here

Oh, I'm fine pursuing making a general binding with this guy if the enshrinement thing doesn't work out.

I just think making a formal contract with Hope is the easiest way to get him out of the Oubilette with little fuss. We were recognized as roughly equivalent to the entities that ran this place, so I assume a formal spiritual binding with us is roughly akin to a write of release, as far as this place's protections go.

Like, to use a much more modern terminology, we walked up to the gates of a prison, and flashed our FBI badge. They let us in. We fucked around and accidentally triggered an automatic alarm, but that seems to have only been in that one wing. (more eidolons did not spawn in the ensuing rooms)

Now we want to leave with Hope. If we just try to walk out, with him at our side, that's one thing. But if we use our already-recognized authority to establish "he's with me", I think it's a little more likely to be accepted by whatever magical hinkery runs this place.

>>3441590
>>3441585
Actually, here's something I just thought of, if we write out the Avatar-finding ritual that the General gave us, could we use Amal's current form to translate it? Since from what I remember, the General didn't know what it said, only what it did.

>>3441611
Maybe. He can get a halfway-decent translation of ancient Firstborn script, another culture's language shouldn't be much harder.

>>3441531
I mean in all honesty, it feels pretty unlikely that the Behemoth Spark will be in this specific drawer.

>>3441627
It may not be, but we've got no clear evidence either way. If it's not though we've still made progress towards getting it as we'll have another tool or piece of information that will help when we hunt the Behemoth. We've done a lot of side stuff and I've enjoyed all of it, but we need to really put in some time on finding that spark as soon as we can

>>3441627
Im betting its in a Mu related drawer, actually.

I imagine you need to be some level of enlightened to wield a behemoth spark as a weapon, and why would ayren leave the spark as is when he could experiment with it?

Between a lot of excellent theory crafting it looks like we’re divided as below:

> Consult Boand
>>3441151
>>3441153
>>3441202
>>3441367
>>3441525

> Down to business
>>3441171
>>3441182

> Reconvene
>>3441500
>>3441525
>>3441537

Writing!

You’re sorely tempted to make a pact with the Avatar and be done with it. The slumbering form of the Sidereal Titan looming overhead, the spiritual pressure prickling at your third eye, and the oppressive atmosphere of the Oubliette sorely test your patience. You can feel an itch building in your spine, a desire to be -quit- of this stagnant hole in the fabric of space and time. Still, you retain an expert on all things spiritual for a reason. It would be foolish to jump in with both feet without at least consulting her first.

“Allow me to seek the counsel of an ally,” you tell the Avatar. “She would know best if what you seek is feasible for me to promise.”

The Avatar seems content to wait. He swings himself up to perch atop the Titan’s perfectly chiseled forearm, feet kicking in the air with tiny jingles. Though there is no face beneath the hood, you get the distinct impression of an excited smile. He watches you intently.

You raise a hand to the Aria Nymph, closing your eyes and concentrating on the Celestial connection to the Whirlpool Pearl. Your connection to Boand’s spring is thin here. The sheer volume of spiritual residue poses a problem; the latent energy of the Oubliette makes maintaining a connection from this distance akin to wrestling a wriggling fish. You… probably ought not mention that particular comparison to her.
“You been listening in?” you mutter under your breath.

-”Much as I can,”- Bond confirms. You can see her silhouette in your mind’s eye, the details of her face obscured by opalescent blue fog. -”A Titan. I thought they were all dead, you know? A myth, or… it’s like meeting your grandfather’s grandfather, you know? So far removed that it’s hard to believe you came from the same place.”-

You nod. “I’m still processing it myself. I get the feeling that I don’t really understand the full picture. We can fix that later, though.” You crack an eye and glance at the Avatar. Still watching you. “For now, I need to sort out what to do with this guy.”
-”You went out of your way to find him, right? Like, way out of your way.”- Boand’s silhouette shrugs. -”I’m not sure if you need to make a binding to free him from the prison. He was never technically an inmate, right? It sounds like he was born of that Titan’s dreams.”- She sighs dreamily, placing a hand to her cheek. -”Very romantic. The binding might make him feel better about you holding up your end of the bargain, but… I don’t know how much you’ll need to convince someone who embodies the virtue of Hope. Right?”-

You shift your weight onto your back foot, scratching your head. “I guess. Seems a little like I’m taking advantage of the guy. It’s kind of a big thing to ask of someone who’s never seen the outside of a cell.”

>>3441865
-”For what it’s worth, I think Grisoch is a great place for a fledgling spirit to earn its stripes. Friendly people, plenty of spirituals wells nearby, and the Guardian tends to be pretty hands-off with micromanagement of his little fiefdom. As he grows alongside the village he’ll be able to roam further from its borders, too.”-

That does a little to loosen the knot in your gut. “Okay. I think I’d rather have your help in person to make this agreement. I’ll see what I can do to get him out of here, and then we’ll head back for the village.”

-”Sounds like a plan.”- Boand nods, silhouetted curls bouncing in your mind’s eye. -”You won’t be able to pull him through the Mists with your totem if he isn’t bound to you. I can meet you further down the river and ferry you from there?”-

Better than walking for days back through the swamp and the Brush. That road can’t come soon enough. “Thanks, Boa. I owe you.”

-”You do,”- she says smugly.

When you open your eyes the Avatar is scant inches from your face. You start, taking a step back and raising a hand instinctively. “Uh.”

“You sound as though you’ve reached an accord with the voice in your head,” the Avatar says. There’s a lilt of joy in his voice, a breathy excitement that you can’t prevent from bringing a little smile to your face.

“Uh, more or less,” you say with a laugh. “Here’s the deal. I’ll agree—provisionally—to assist you with freeing this thing. I can’t promise that it’s within my power, but there are people I can consult with who would have a good idea on how to go about doing it, assuming freeing him won’t… I don’t know, unmake the world.”

The Avatar nods rapidly, the sound of a wind chime in a hurricane gale.

“For now, I’d like you to accompany me out of this place. We can return to my home and consult with my, uh… elder.” You suppose referring to Zahn as such isn’t technically inaccurate, though it does feel strange. “With his advice we can make our agreement formal and bind it to law. I have some ideas regarding the exact duties and privileges your guardianship would—”

“I accept!” The Avatar exclaims.

You gape at it for a moment, struggling to right your train of thought. “Oh. You, uh—yeah?”

It extends a glowing claw to you. “Yes! I will put my trust in you, Totemist. Only—what may I call you?”

>>3441867

“Oh. I apologize,” you say with a grimace. “I don’t think I caught your name either.”

“I haven’t one to give,” the Avatar chirps. “Perhaps you can furnish me with one?”

>> [1]
> Name the Avatar of Hope?

As you open your mouth to reply, you hear a sharp intake of breath behind you. You whirl to find Marisol stumbling through the portal in the floor. As her eyes re-focus she fixes her gaze on you, brows knit in irritation. “There you are. Did you find my couch, or…”

Her eyes wander past you to the Avatar, then make the long, slow trek upward to the faceless visage of the slumbering Titan. Her mouth works open and closed a few times, and you see the sigil of hearthfire roar to life at her back.

“W-what… what the fuck?” She takes a healthy step back, looking to you askance. “What the fuck?” she repeats articulately.

>> [2]
> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.
> Give her the short version and brush past her. This doesn’t concern her and she’s made her opinion clear.
> Ignore her, but be prepared to draw on her if she does anything stupid.
> Write-in

>>3441869
>> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.

With the proviso of

>but be prepared to draw on her if she does anything stupid.

We can't have he fucking things up here.

Thinking of a name will be difficult

>>3441869
>Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.
do you WANT to trigger security measures? If you want to help him, then don't.

>>3441877
>>3441869
Perhaps we can call him Espero (Hope in the Basque language)

Sovè (Savioer in Haitian Creole)

Or fuck it, just call him Chimes or something, cute little chimey bastard

>>3441902
Saviour*

>>3441869
> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.
Remember the fucking monster guarding this guy?

>Avatar name
Maybe Spero or Elpida?

>>3441902
drop the e, Spero sounds good

>>3441907
>>3441906
Spero works for me, cute little chimey bastard of hope

>>3441869
> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.
> Give her the short version and brush past her. This doesn’t concern her and she’s made her opinion clear.
Somewhat a mix of these two?

>>3441869
> Name the Avatar of Hope?
Vetus, from the Latin term "Spes vetus", "ancient hope". It was the epithet of the goddess Spes, one of the Imperial Virtues embodying hope. Our friend here is an Avatar of Hope born from the dreams of this ancient being, I think that works. Going with Latin mostly because "Sidereal" comes from a Latin root word, but also because "Spes" makes me think of "space" and the Titan's face is a galaxy.

> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.
Ah, I want to be flippant here, go "hey, it's just the slumbering body of a world-forging titan that bound the primordial chaos at the dawn of time, nothing to get upset over", but I think that would actually make her more upset if we don't take this seriously. So let's just quickly and calmly explain that it's an ancient and powerful being, but one that's asleep and of no threat to her, so she doesn't need to go flaring her solar prominences like that.

>>3441928
Actually, I think I'm going to switch to Spero. This guy's so friendly, he needs a cute name more than he needs cultural dignitas.

>>3441869
>> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.

>>3441869
>name
Just 'Hope' is fine.
>> Calm her down. You all need to make yourselves scarce before this place catches on to what you’re doing.
She stumbled in, "re-focused" her eyes, and asked a silly question. Are we sure she's all here at the moment?