DISCO IMPERIUM (Disco Elysium/Warhammer 30k)

[X] Get that cool-ass Sword out of the mirror. You need a friend (and a weapon) in this strange place.

ARCHETYPE: Oh yeah, baby. Let's do this thing.

OVERLORD: An acceptable course of action, I suppose. At least having the sword will make us look like a proper warlord.

SHIFTING TENDONS: You approach the embedded sword, running a single digit along the flat of the blade. The surface is slightly warm to the touch. It almost seems to vibrate under your fingertip. It is forged of some silvery metal, so deep and rich it almost seems to gleam blue.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Success]: The metal is not perfectly smooth. Spiderwebs of small imperfections spread out across the blade. Leaning closer, you can see small scratches spread across the sword like a map; written in infinitesimal perfection. Copper and black against the silver.

GOLDEN THRONE: Cracks in the structure?

FORGEMASTER [Medium: Success]: No. Circuitry. This is no ordinary blade. It is a power sword.

RHAPSODIST [Challenging: Success]: A finely-crafted weapon, but not ornamental. This is a tool for shedding blood. Murals and paintings will add curves and filigree, the better to show the wielder's kingly nature, but this belongs in the hand of a warrior.

1. What's a power sword?
2. Is it mine?
3. How do I get it out?
4. [Archetype - Medium 10] Pull the Sword free from the wall.

1. What's a power sword?

FORGEMASTER [Medium: Success]: A "Power Sword" is a type of "Power Weapon". They are rare tools, wielded only by the elite or wealthy. Power weapons generally exude a hazy field of bluish energy that wraps around the primary impact region of a melee weapon, be it a sword's blade or a warhammer's head.

1. Okay, and? What does it do?

FORGEMASTER [Challenging: Failure]: ...I don't know. It's blue? That's pretty powerful, right?

2. Is it mine?

OVERLORD: Who cares? One way or another, it's yours now.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Trivial: Success]: There is a twitch in your fingers. Your hands shape unconsciously around the hilt. Whether this is your sword or not, your hands remember how to hold a blade.

SYNAPSE [Easy: Success]: There is a moment of remembrance as your fingers slide onto the grip. Hacking. Slashing. Spurting blood and sounding horns. Death all around. It passes like a whisper on the wind.

GOLDEN THRONE [Challenging: Success]: This is our implement, by which the world is changed. The Sword *is* yours. You are incomplete without it.

[Task Updated: Who are you?]

3. How do I get it out?

FORGEMASTER [Easy: Success]: The sword is deeply embedded, more than half the blade driven into the wall. Structurally, the sword does not seem to have been damaged at all by its impalement through solid rock. A testament to the craftsmanship involved. It is unlikely that the tip is damaged or bent. Removal should merely be a matter of sufficient leverage and positioning.

ARCHETYPE: I've got all the leverage you need *right here*.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Success]: Positioning yourself to the rear and side of the hilt should allow the maximum application of grip and strength, while also keeping you out of the direct line of the blade, should the worst happen. Be cautious of the dresser, however. One wrong move with your musculature could send it toppling, sending glass shards across the floor. The mirror is already cracked and shattered, no need to make it worse.

FORGEMASTER: Hmm. A correct assessment. Stabilizing the dresser with a spare hand should keep that possibility remote.

GOLDEN THRONE: Can you even pull that thing out with just one hand?

ARCHETYPE: Are you kidding? Did you see those fucking biceps? I've got this.

4. [Archetype - Medium 10]: Pull the Sword free from the wall.

+1 Well positioned
+1 Incomplete without it

DICE: 4, 4. TOTAL: 12

ARCHETYPE [Medium: Success]: Flexing muscles, you grip the hilt with a single hand and steady the dresser with the other. With the barest hint of resistance the sword slides free. The last of the mirror's shards cascade downwards, disturbed by the removal of the blade.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Failure]: As you pull the tip free, glass fragments seem to tumble in slow motion. They spin, giving you brief glimpses of your own reflection, but too fast for any image to form. Flashes of bronze and burnt umber. Crimson red and darkest black. The moment of their descent stretches for an eternity. You feel as though you could stretch out a hand and pluck them from the air...

SHIFTING TENDONS: And then it passes. Your perception of time flows freely again. The shards complete their fall, breaking into minuscule pieces as they impact. No more mirror, just an empty frame.

SHOCK AND AWE: NO! Now we'll never know if our flowing locks are as immaculate as they should be! We could have food stuck in our teeth, or sleep crust in our eyes! This is a disaster.

OVERLORD: Yeah, yeah. Broken mirror, shattered glass. Whatever. *Look* at this sword!

GOLDEN THRONE [Medium: Success]: It feels right at home in your hand. Like a weight to keep you anchored. Like a tool slotted into its appropriate place in the collection. Almost like a *friend*.

Item Gained: Blazing Sword

OVERLORD: Hell yes.

ARCHETYPE: Hell *fucking* yes. This is the blade of a warrior. We could split a tank with this thing.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Failure]: Wait, what was that thing with the question mar-

SHOCK AND AWE: Okay, yes. Sword. Very cool. Very on-brand. Can we move onto the important business of our appearance? When we confront whatever lies beyond that door, I don't want to do it in a piss-stained robe. It's not *appropriate* for a man of your station.

1. What do you mean "of my station"? I don't even know my station.
2. We never conclusively determined that it was my piss.
3. No, I actually like the Stains. They're growing on me. It's a fashion statement.
4. Good point, I need to find something else to wear.

1. What do you mean "of my station"? I don't even know my station.

RHAPSODIST [Easy: Success]: But look at the room around you. The elegant (albeit thoroughly wrecked) furniture. The engravings on the walls. The attempts to elaborate on this brutal architecture with class and style. There is respect in that action; subservience and deference. This effort would not be made for an unimportant man.

FORGEMASTER [Trivial: Success]: As previously mentioned, your blade is of a type not seen amongst the Rank-And-File. Power Swords require such expertise to manufacture and maintain that only the wealthy can hope to keep them in working order. In all likelihood, you are *someone* of importance. What form that importance takes is unknown.

OVERLORD [Medium: Success]: You are a warrior, obviously. A warlord of unparalleled skill. That's why the sword feels so familiar, Conqueror.

GOLDEN THRONE [Challenging: Success]: But that doesn't feel right, does it? The word does not rest comfortably on your shoulders. Warlord is too small a term for what you are.

SYNAPSE [Easy: Failure]: ...Nothing up here to add, I'm afraid.

[Task Updated: Who are you?]

SHOCK AND AWE: I think we get the idea. Everyone agrees that we aren't a nobody. We're somebody important, and important people don't walk around in robes soaked in our own piss.

2. We never conclusively determined that it was my piss.

FORGEMASTER [Trivial: Success]: C'mon man. Yes it is.

GOLDEN THRONE [Medium: Success]: Look, you're going to have to accept this at some point. You pissed yourself in a moment of unconscious bladder rebellion. It's not a reflection on who you are, you don't even have to tell anyone. But if you keep denying reality like this it's probably going to cause some kind of psychological strain.

SHOCK AND AWE: I don't care about the source of the stains, only that you're still wearing them.

4. Good point, I need to find something else to wear.

SHOCK AND AWE: *Thank you*. Grab a fresh robe from the dresser and then we can get out of here.

ARCHETYPE [Medium: Success]: I have a suggestion, chief. Why even bother with the robe? You're a physical masterpiece. If you wanna impress people then you should let them bask in the glow of your chiseled physique. Let it *hang*, brother.

RHAPSODIST [Easy: Success]: In ancient times, craftsmen would carve statues of warriors and poets in the nude. The grace and perfection of the human form on full display. Often, these pieces were considered great works of art, honored throughout the centuries. You have a build to put any stonework to shame. It would be a *statement*, no doubt.

GOLDEN THRONE: Okay, no. Don't do that. You *are* buff as hell, but going out unadorned is just asking for trouble.

ARCHETYPE: Bah! Don't listen to the chair. You wanna make an impression? Drop the robe and face the world.

1. I can't seriously be considering going out into unknown danger completely naked, can I?
2. I am grander than any statue, and everyone must witness my glory.
3. Everyone can appreciate my glory, but I'm keeping it covered. Mostly.

1. I can't seriously be considering going out into unknown danger completely naked, can I?

SHIFTING TENDONS: No, no. He's got a point. Imagine it: No barriers between your senses and the world around you, full immersion in the currents that whirl and writhe through the physical realm. Nothing to weigh you down. You would be free to run wild across the landscape. Completely unburdened by things like cotton, silk, or leather.

FORGEMASTER [Trivial: Success]: Also completely unprotected against things like the weather, judging gazes, or the very real bullets, blades, and bombs of your foes.

SYNAPSE [Trivial: Success]: Your skin ripples with sense-memory; winds blowing cold across grasslands. The feel of tree bark under your palms, and dirt under your feet. Freezing rain and scorching sun.

3. Everyone can appreciate my glory, but I'm keeping it covered. Mostly.

SHOCK AND AWE: An excellent decision. Sometimes the best way to make an impact is to pull your punches a little bit.

SHIFTING TENDONS: You pull on a clean robe, an exact copy of the stained one you have discarded. Silken smooth across your skin, it is perfectly tailored to your measurements.

Item Gained: Silken Robe (Unstained)

RHAPSODIST: Take the old one with you, just remember to find a pit to burn it. A valiant soldier requires a proper burial.

GOLDEN THRONE: And now... the door, and whatever awaits beyond it. At least we have the sword. A comforting tool in case of nasty surprises.

FORGEMASTER [Medium: Success]: The door itself is solid, thick, and metallic. Likely reinforced against violent entry. Much like the rest of the room, the scale seems slightly off. Obviously, any blast door will be of a different size than a regular threshold, but this one seems... a little small? You're going to have to duck a little to make sure you don't bang your head. Again.

1. What's waiting for me out there? Do I remember anything?
2. [Open the door]

1. What's waiting for me out there? Do I remember anything?

SYNAPSE [Challenging: Failure]: ...something about Apes? And a ball?

FORGEMASTER [Medium: Success]: If this is a fortress of some kind, as this room indicates, it is likely there will be a connecting corridor leading towards a central chamber. Easily locked-down in case of hostile assault, probably with additional blast-shutters or choke-points. Rockcrete construction with Plasteel reinforcement.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Success]: Watch your corners. If this place is hostile, foes could come from any shadow.

GOLDEN THRONE [Challenging: Success]: Out there? Violence. Plots. A world in shambles. Just remember: All of this is merely the prelude. The True Path begins beyond the doorway.

2. [Open the door]

SHIFTING TENDONS: With sword in one hand, and the stained robe thrown unceremoniously over one shoulder, you grasp the cool, gray handle and turn it slowly. The door opens with a heavy thud.

SHIFTING TENDONS: The hallway is as your room was, before the luxurious additions; bare, stony, and brutal. It extends in both directions, curving slightly. Weak illumination is provided from small wall-mounted lumen globes evenly spaced along the corridor. Support pillars and alcoves break up the smooth walls. Above your door, you see, is a Vox-Speaker. Likely the source of the noise that awoke you. It sits silently. The air is still. Sterile.

RHAPSODIST [Easy: Success]: This is a place of solid, unchanging strength. No art has gone into its design. Only considerations of durability. It feels *old*.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Medium: Success]: There is little sound, but somewhere at the edge of your hearing is a soft hum. The low buzz of high-energy power flow and the micro-movement of machinery. It bounces off the hallway, coming from the left, just out of sight.

1. What is that noise? What's causing it?
2. [Go left]
3. [Go right]

1. What is that noise? What's causing it?

FORGEMASTER [Challenging: Success]: The low purr of active servos and motors. The soft *clink-clink* of armor plates tapping against one another. The tensing and relaxing of fibre bundle muscle-cables. This is the sound of active Power Armor at rest. One set. One power armored individual.

1. What's Power Armor?

FORGEMASTER [Medium: Success]: It is the battlefield attire of the modern age. Thick, reinforced plating and life-support systems combined with reflex and movement enhancing machinery. In combat, the armor is practically impenetrable to conventional small-arms, requiring specialized equipment or purpose-built weaponry to counter. It is valuable, expensive, extremely difficult to manufacture and maintain, and rare.

1. Is this a threat?

ARCHETYPE [Medium: Success]: Hmm. Possibly. It will depend on who is wearing the armor. Theoretically, you might catch whoever it wearing it off-guard, but they'll have the advantage in both speed *and* strength if you don't take them out in one swift movement. The Sword will be a valuable tool, if this turns violent.

OVERLORD [Trivial: Success]: Oh, it's gonna get violent. Nobody stands in our way for long, if they know what's good for them.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Success]: There are gaps in any armor. Joints, limbs, the eyes. Places that cannot be armored out of necessity. Strike there. Start with the arm, disable their ability to retaliate. Then into the neck. A quick and quiet kill.

ARCHETYPE: Fuck yeah. Now you're speaking my language, twitchy boy. Let's do this thing.

GOLDEN THRONE [Easy: Success]: Or! If I may interrupt the murder-fantasy, maybe you can see who it is first? Let's not attack the first person we've seen here.

SHOCK AND AWE [Easy: Success]: If you kill them, they cannot gaze upon our glorious form. No one would dare mar your sculpted figure once they've laid eyes upon it. All we need to do is step around the curve, and they will drop to their knees in reverence.

RHAPSODIST [Medium: Success]: I have no doubt that, whoever it is, we can surely convince them to stand aside.

1. [Shifting Tendons - Challenging 12] Rush around the curve and attack.
2. [Go Left, without attacking anyone.]
3. [Go right, away from the noise.]

2. [Go left, without attacking anyone.]

SHIFTING TENDONS: You step down the corridor, sword held securely - but not threateningly - in one hand. Ahead of you, the hallway terminates in a set of double doors, the same gunmetal gray as your own. They are reinforced against entry, and guarded by a single figure in bronze-and-gold Armor which comes into view as you round the curve. A shining helmet with a long red horsehair plume covers their face. In one hand they hold a massive spear, the head of which seems to *also* be some form of firearm. They are... measurably shorter than you. Even in the armor, they seem to only come up to your chest.

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Failure]: The armor is ornate, covered in symbols and heraldry too complex for you to analyze at a glance. Only one thing stands out: the head of an Eagle crossed by four bolts of lightning upon the figure's right pauldron.

FORGEMASTER [Medium: Success]: Woah! Okay! Recalculating here. If this figure is 'average sized' for a human, then you've gotta be huge! This makes more sense than everything around you being too small. You are easily eight, maybe almost nine feet tall. Watch out for doorways.

RHAPSODIST [Medium: Success]: The instant you arrive in view, the stance of the figure changes. They were already standing guard, official and watchful. A sentinel. Now they are alert, responsive. Your arrival has not changed their duty, but it has caused a significant reaction.

SHIFTING TENDONS: Their free hand, the one not grasping the spear (which is still held steady), forms a clenched fist, which they bang on their breastplate, knuckles right over the heart. At the same time, a voice emits from the speakers in the helmet, unwavering and deep.

KADAI, THE NINTH TRIBUNE: "My Lord!"

OVERLORD [Trivial: Success]: A formal salute. A sign of respect and recognition.

RHAPSODIST: 'My Lord'? This guy knows you?

SHIFTING TENDONS [Easy: Success]: As the Salute is completed, the figure seems to freeze. Shock spreads throughout his form, easily visible even under the power armor. His helmet travels up and down, just barely, as he takes in your form in its entirety.

KADAI, THE NINTH TRIBUNE: "My Lord, wha- Are you injured? Your eyes!" He steps forward, to your side, looking down the hallway behind you. He raises his spear up, defensively, as though to strike anything that may come, "Are we under attack? Shall I summon the Guard?"

GOLDEN THRONE: Okay, you seem to have spooked him, somehow. Take a moment to reassure this warrior, before he starts stabbing things that aren't there.

RHAPSODIST: There he goes again! 'My Lord'! Capitalized and everything. This guy obviously knows who you are, and you are a person whom he calls 'Lord'. Why?

OVERLORD: Aha! That means he recognizes you as an authority! Let's get some answers. Really *grill* this guy. Who are we? Where are we? Where can we get some pants? All the important questions.

SHOCK AND AWE: Didn't you hear what he said? Something is wrong with our eyes! We need those peepers, they bring this whole money-maker together. Find out what's wrong with our eyes immediately!

Choose One (Some might still be available later, but which one comes first?)
[] Calm the warrior. Reassure him that everything is alright (Even though it probably isn't).
[] [Rhapsodist - Formidable 13] Figure out why he is calling you 'My Lord'. Who does he think you are?
[] [Overlord - Medium 10] Get some answers out of this guy. All the important questions. Including the one about pants.
[] Find out what's wrong with your eyes.