Fanwork#2707 Words
Reaction: "War and Wind"
One of the subtler pleasures of reading these chapters and doing the reactions afterwards is trying to figure out the (probably nonexistent?) second and third meanings of the less straightforward titles. Sometimes they're easy to guess, sometimes they might send one on a research spree to guess possible interpretations.
Assuming this isn't about the eponymous young adult fantasy book, - otherwise we might have to prepare for a royal marriage proposal and sea battles! - the first layer is pretty simple and describes what happened in this chapter, namely that we fight a tough battle and flee like the wind afterwards.
But it is still peculiar to have a small engagement against some of the weakest enemies here called a war. If it isn't just literary hyperbole, the title might also hint at the larger situation in the Temple we've stumbled upon. A war implies conflict between two active factions. We've so far mostly considered the Temple a fairly passive actor in all this, with adventurers slowly exploring it, fighting mobs and dismantling traps to get at the treasure. So a typical dungeon, if a dangerous and mysterious one.
Yet is it possible that there is a guiding intelligence behind the Temple's actions? We've been lured here by that map and chalked it up to Apocrypha and weird magics, but what if we've been actually
led here by something that can think and plan? The Apocrypha can't create encounters out of nothing, and if it is going to sit back and watch in the foreseeable future, I can see it doing that because it is passing the buck to another actor that is going to make our life
interesting.
The question then becomes what the intentions of this hypothetical intelligence would be. That it pointed us to a Really "Scenic" Route and is Apocrypha's "hire" doesn't speak in its favor, but things aren't always quite that unambiguous. While I don't think it has our best interests in mind, it's not like we were
forced to take that route - and we chose another way indeed - so maybe it was a method of filtering unwanted candidates, or possibly even an opportunity to level up beforehand if it knew about our Progression. It doesn't seem very concerned about our survival, but that doesn't preclude the possibility of cooperation should our interests align.
Assuming all of that is true, which is a very big if, in time we might see the Temple adjust its tactics to us and even try to manipulate both us and the other adventurers towards some goal.
There you have it, a whole conspiracy theory spun from just three words.
The moment he stepped across the threshold, the doors boomed shut behind him. Uncanny speed, given how reluctantly they'd opened. He examined the gates for any latch or release mechanism, but there were none. Instead there was a sigil of a moon unfilled which hung over where the handles would be. Perhaps the gates could only open once a night, or worse, once per lunar month. He hoped it was not the latter. The gates were magnificent pieces of art and it would be a shame to destroy them.
It's a trap(tm)! Well, there is still the possibility that something about this place's magic necessitates such rules, but suspicious Temple remains suspicious.
Nice to see that Hunger retains his dry sense of humor even in the most perilous of circumstances. It's worrying that the way back has been barred for now, though hopefully he's right about it opening at night. Once more having some intel beforehand would have been nice, though maybe we couldn't have freely used the backdoor if we somehow managed to establish a cooperative agreement with the adventurers.
Before him was a vast marble entrance hall, part forum and part antechamber, flanked by carven pillars that rose skyward to the opalescent ceiling some ten stories above. The chamber was well-lit by enormous braziers of dark gray, each the width of three men around. The braziers housed crackling bonfire-flames that exuded the warm merriment of a cherished hearth, upright and proud as if boasting to the visitor of their mighty hospitality. There was no one else, no signs of life, not even stray vermin.
I feel so welcomed already! Though that offhand remark about no vermin either implies some serious hygienic concerns of the Temple builders or confirms someone's theory about the Temple draining life from the nearby territory. Meeting yet another entity Afflicted with Decimation would be a bit too much of a coincidence, but well, maybe there is a reason some Decimation Mitigation options were named after the Moon.
He began to walk. Onwards and forwards the entrance hall crept, half a mile or more in length, until slowly the marble bricks of the wall and ceiling began to fade before him. Bricks increasingly hung unsupported in the open air, a patchwork caricature of wall through which the blue of an unfamiliar sky shined through. As he walked further the entire hall bowed open, thinly populated "walls" and "ceiling" curving up and away, yielding to grass and sky.
The builders really shilled out on the design, making the architecture outright magical. Did they really simply suspend the bricks, or is more of their spatial fuckery involved? The views imply the latter, so we might have found ourselves in a closed dimension.
This was a wholly different landscape from that outside the Temple, a vast grassy plain whose sun was gentle and bright, a paradisiacal sweetness in the taste of the breeze. His ring hummed and he dropped into a crouch, sword held before him, but no enemies emerged. Instead the hum only intensified, a low mournful keening that steadily worsened over time.
Reminds me of the Manifest Realm. Would Gisena have sensed
findross in the air if we took her with us?
Common sense tells me that finding such a picturesque landscape inside the dungeon just make things
more dangerous. In nature the brightest colors often hide dangerous poisons, after all, and a trap has to look attractive for someone to bite. I have a bad feeling that things will look far less friendly when night falls.
Something was calling to him, a will that was not quite an entity in its own right, but which nonetheless was suffering greatly. It begged for an end to its torment, to the great depth of exhaustion to which it was interminably forced, each scraping-away of essence like a screw driven endlessly deeper. It promised vast and bounteous power to whosoever tore it free, or merely put an end to its wretched existence.
And we can certainly believe promises from desperate sealed entities! Someone called Moon can't be a bad person in any case!
Well, we're at least getting a sense of what we were drawn to and what the bait was, some being that was chained in the depths of the Temple and was being drained for power all this time. That it doesn't care about dying might be a sign that it doesn't have bad intentions, but some people - I don't want to point fingers - don't consider death a permanent condition.
This might be one of the reasons our venture into the Temple was time-sensitive. If we arrived right when the sealed being found itself on its last legs, as is dramatically appropriate, this chance could have disappeared into thin air after a while.
He stepped forwards, in the direction of the call, and the hum lessened. He stepped backwards into the antechamber and it worsened. Suspicious.
You don't say. The whole thing couldn't be more suspicious if the builders printed the word in bright bold letters over the Temple walls. That something is trying to force us forwards isn't the best news, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of doubt because of its current dismal conditions.
Now that he was aware of it, he doubted the not-quite-scream of the Calling would desist even if he left the Temple. Perhaps Gisena would be able to dispel it, though his instincts told him that the Call itself could not be faked, could in fact be nothing less than the truth. There really was something deep in this Temple whose essence was being drawn upon endlessly, and which suffered terribly for it.
Even if our instincts aren't deceiving us - which I'm willing to believe of an Accretion-empowered Hero - something being imprisoned and tortured endlessly does not mean it's a good guy, just that its capturers took serious measures and had no qualms about the means they employed. It could be Moony, the Destroyer of Worlds for all we know.
The power of his ring was modulating the Call, clarifying its message while reducing its intensity, rendering it more comprehensible and bearable as well. Strange. The ring had never exhibited such powers.
Maybe the Tyrant liked to listen to otherworldly radio programs in his spare time and adjusted his Artifact accordingly.
Hmm, maybe this capability doesn't stem from its basic Progression-focusing properties or its connection to Decimation that we've established, but from the shadow of one of its future evolutions. The Ruling Ring's descriptions often imply that it is not the only one, so maybe that's what we'll find at the Temple core? It did say that the Caller was not quite an entity yet still possessed a will, which fits an Artifact.
Alternatively we've switched genres and the reason is [Outer Sorcery], with some sort of Lovecraftian Horror hiding behind the scenes.
But the Call was a distraction nonetheless. Best to resolve this matter before he faced the blue swordsman again. With the gate closed behind him, he would proceed forward. He'd return after nightfall to see if the doors would open, and cut them down only if they remained closed.
Or maybe we could lure Bearic here and see if he was affected by the Call too. We seem to be less affected by it thanks to the Ring, so if others can hear it too, this could prove quite advantageous for us. We get Ranked down, but if others do as well, we could abuse this to kill our enemies. Of course that's until Apocrypha kicks in and starts helping them, but that's some time off.
I doubt this is going to see much use though, since the matter of the Call should get resolved one way or another soon.
Having slain thousands of monsters on their path to the Temple, he was stronger and faster than he'd even been in this world, and many times tougher as well. And if forced to the absolute brink, there was one final card he could now play, power that transcended flesh and spirit alike.
We haven't encountered insurmountable challenges that let us advance by leaps and bounds, but this is still a sizable jump in power and a safety net we're going to sorely need in the future. I do wonder what sort of deeds produced a legend that let the Forebear enter all these Forms.
Was he just such a resilient and stubborn bastard that people started believing he didn't die when killed? Was he so cunning that always having one more trick up his sleeve even when pushed to the bring became expected? Was he famous for his darkest sorceries that let him transcend death?
All our Artifacts were taken from others, but the Forebear's Blade especially bears a heavy mark of its former wielder. Yet despite the legends that surround it currently, once upon a time it was just a sword the Forebear used to carve out its kingdom and all those abilities are something he painstakingly carved out on the skim of reality.
They could tell a lot about the kind of person he was if we manage to separate the dross of myth from the gold of true history. Given what we've been told about his connection to the Hidden Ones, this could become relevant in the future.
He grimaced. The thought of it reminded him too much of his final blow against the Tyrant, an uttermost exertion of the self. The consequences of its use should not be quite as severe, but... he would use it only as a last resort. Only if all else failed.
Probably for the best, even if it's not the most efficient use of the ability. Best not to get too used to dying for power, it could form bad habits. I suspect it's too late for that even without the Form of Rage, seeing how eagerly Hunger enters the Second Stage when pushed, but that one is a bit less demanding.
He'd walked only a few minutes before coming upon a creature, a shadowy giant in gothic armor with an enormous blade sheathed against its back. As it sighted him it rose from the hill on which it was situated. It moved with a ragged exhalation, creaking of disused metal and the slithering of chainmail against plate. Without warning or preamble it attacked.
How uncouth! Someone should teach it some manners, and it looks like that someone will have to be us. It appears to be pretty old going by the mention of disused metal, so maybe this part of the Temple is rarely visited by other adventurers.
Despite its towering bulk it was fast, gray thunderbolt of smoke and force whose opening blow split the air as he ducked. Plunging his own blade into the monster's chest, he sprinted around the side to avoid the follow-through of its tremendous strike. Then calling his blade to him he stabbed its leg, where in a normal man its hamstring would be. The shadow-knight was unimpeded, nimbly leaping away, preventing him from hugging the inside of its reach.
Despite having a humanoid shape and wearing knightly armor, it looks like there isn't anything truly human beneath if it doesn't have critical points. Is it undead? A smoky ephemeral shadow manipulating the armor with magic? Or maybe the armor
is the monster and there is nothing underneath the surface.
Still unclear if its behavior is a sign of intelligence and an understanding of tactics or just basic rules programmed into it to make it more effective.
He pressed the attack, an onslaught without hesitation or mercy, blade winds in a ghastly flurry tearing into its armor and through whatever passed for flesh beneath. Still it showed no signs of concern, barreling forward with terrible, redoubtable speed, its arm lashing out to grab him as he dodged. Caught in its armored claw he struck out wildly, seeking to sever the limb, focusing his energies to perform a spirit-rending stroke, but before he could finish he was dashed against the ground, pulverizing strength that tore muscle and cracked bone. Power enough to reduce an ordinary man to a blood-handed smear upon the grass. The protection afforded by his cloak had kept him alive, but only just. Every inch of his opponent's armor was imbued with ferocious might, magic that tore at the star-stuff of his shroud and thinned its impervious weave.
Oof. That was seriously unlucky. We've tried kiting it till this point, but the difference in stats was just too great. Knowing we still have two more Forms to go through takes away some of the tension, but being smashed around by what amounts to a mook in this Temple is quite uncomfortable.
Also, I wonder what sort of magic its armor is enchanted with. Just strength enhancements or some kind of close range dispellation? If it's the latter, Gisena might have found herself struggling against them.
Unrelenting, it whipped him around to smash him into the earth again, but he ignored the damage, single-mindedly focusing on its arm even as its crushing grip splintered his ribs and broke open his torso. At last he carved through that Herculean wrist, extricating himself from its hand as it fell free. The knight withdrew, its enormous sword held in a warding position, slowly backing off as he charged forward, broken body shrieking at the imposition when they clashed. Diverting the force of the blow, he whirled and sprang up the monster's arm, sprinting across its armor as his blade lashed to and fro, launching blade-winds that spun and buzzed in circles around them, searching for any point of weakness.
He just went Hulk on us, didn't he? That's a dangerous road to tread, because we're far better at getting angry than him. Good thing we didn't tell him we were a god and just cut off its hand, or Apocrypha might have been tempted to intervene despite its vacation. At least he can't heal cut off limbs mid-battle? One ought to look for silver linings when there is so little good news.
I do like the way Hunger makes even the most difficult and ridiculous-looking stunts feels so natural. Not a fan of physical fights in fiction usually, but Hunger makes them entertaining and varied enough.
The knight struck him with the tree-trunk stump of its wounded arm, hurling him from its shoulders and into the hard-packed earth of the hill, even as his blade-winds descended, striking joints and gaps in the armor, preventing it from finishing the job. His body now ruined beyond repair, he quickly slew himself with a blade-projection and emerged as a being of spirit, dashing around to flank the knight with renewed vigor. A series of blade winds struck it in quick succession, each widening the wound that the previous opened, until one at last struck true and erupted out its other side, dark grey blood in an arterial spray as it found the creature's heart.
So it had a heart at least, despite lacking other weak points. Taken together with the grey blood, the undead theory is looking more likely by the minute, not that the monsters have to obey any kind of theme.
I should feel surprised about the suicide empowerment, but I'm really not. This is going to become our signature move, isn't it? We should acquire some additional means of healing before Hunger starts stabbing his heart after stubbing a toe.
At last the monster seemed to quail, falling to one knee, palm upraised as if to plead for mercy. He approached it warily, but as he neared its stance tightened, lunging forward to crush him within its embrace. But his body of spirit was a lighter thing than flesh, and he darted easily out of the way, twin projected thrusts striking its heart as it passed.
Well, that's the question about intelligence answered. That was downright
smart, and it seems to be aware enough of human habits and gestures. It was still laser-focused on murdering us though. Maybe mind-controlled?
Rather craven for a creature with the appearance of a knight. He leapt back, unleashing several further blade-winds to cover his retreat. Bleeding out, its tremendous vigor at last exhausted, it was unable to close the distance again, and slowly he whittled it down until at last it fell defeated to its knees. Taking no chances, he carved away with projected strikes at its chest until he could see its exposed heart, and finished it. Its essence destroyed, the armor fell inert, toppling slowly to pieces as the smoke within dissipated. There was a low, sepulchral boom as it perished, shock of force and sound like a tower-bell's final knelling.
The old mass ranged blade-wind trick against slower enemies serves us well once again. No sense risking one last hurray from the monster if we can just slowly dismantle it. If only it wasn't so tiring we could make it our mainstay.
Discontentedly he surveyed its remains. Fresh power surged within him from the ring, but he could not bring himself to be pleased with what had just occurred. The monster-knight had been his superior in strength and speed, though only by a modest margin. What rankled was that it had forced him into his wraith form so easily, and its was only that form's superior agility that had carried the day. Had he been a being of flesh alone, this would likely have been the end.
We would likely have had some other power, so Hunger shouldn't be too hard on himself. It sucks that we had to invoke our Second Stage against the very first opponent we met, especially when it was so unimpressive, but we'll get over it and do better next time. Now if the knight managed to push Hunger into the Rage Form,
that would have been embarrassing.
Movement on the horizon. Perhaps called by the death of their comrade, more ghostly knights had appeared, a dozen or more bristling with weaponry: curved blades and heavy pavises, pick-axes and enormous hammers, ballistas wielded as siege-crossbows, their cruelly barbed bolts glinting in the noonday sun.
They appear to have quite a wide variety of weapons. Not surprising if they're former humans, drawing the weaponry and skills from their previous life. Are there any ghostly blacksmiths that take care of repairs and ammunition somewhere in the Temple? Maybe a whole city of the dead even!
One angled its crossbow upwards and fired, the bolt landing soft inches from his foot. He withdrew.
Was it an intentional warning shot, or does their aim suck? The former could be interesting, as that implies they're not all unrelentingly murderous. I don't expect peaceful cooperation with the ghost knights though, so the question will likely remain unanswered.
Fleet of foot and light of body, his ghost-form easily outpaced the clanking mass of his pursuers. Soon they disappeared over the far horizon as he returned to the antechamber-hall. He set himself down on the marble tile and looked out upon the idyllic fields. Hours more before nightfall, when he would test the gates once more. What now to do?
We're lucky these enemies are too slow to keep up with our Second Stage, but disengaging isn't going to be so easy every time. Still, they seem quite intelligent, so couldn't they have checked the antechamber seeing how it is one of the few exists out of the Temple? Looks like either there are some rules preventing them from wandering freely or some other kind of limits that don't let them reach this place.
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[X] Bright Vanquisher with [X] Conservative and [X] +.1 Rank was the winner. What is your next course of action?
The Call of the False Moon imposes a -.25 Rank penalty on you when you travel outside the Temple, and a -.1 Rank penalty inside the Temple when you do not intend to rescue the False Moon. The power of your ring has attenuated it significantly; you can scarcely imagine how aggravating it would be to defy the Call without its unnatural aid.
Ugh, we did quite a lot to get that quarter Rank, so losing it once again outside doesn't feel great. Not sure I want to get rid of the Call though, even were Gisena capable of it. The Call might serve as a useful guide once we decide to rescue the False Moon.
[ ] Pick Off Stragglers - If successful, will add +1 pick to your next Experience spend. Now that you're aware of their fighting style, further engagements should proceed more smoothly, especially as you've grown in power after slaying the first. Locate and destroy other isolated knights. Do not engage monsters of other kinds, if found. Much time will be consumed in travel to find knights and evade their reinforcements, but this task should not be overly risky.
The Balancebro option. We don't charge our pursuers in defiance after that knight kicked our butt, but we do let off some steam and try to accrue power slowly. Overly risky doesn't mean there is no risk at all, but we still have Rage for the worst case, so it's not too bad.
[ ] Vanquish The Pursuers - Momentum is key and you cannot afford to waste time. Though the first knight's reinforcements have lost your ghostly trail, you're fairly certain you could find them if you so desired. Engage and attempt to destroy them with the power you've gained from the first. Even should you fall, you would arise as a being of thunder and light, power enough to scour these giants from the earth and erase the fell shadow of their passage. If successful, will re-establish [I Am the Danger] and add +2 (!) picks to your next Experience spend.
REEEE! Take back our honor and show them we're not to be trifled with. The call of vengeance is strong with this one, and it has the greatest mechanical advantages, giving us two additional picks and regaining the Danger we lost by being a
wimp cautious sort. Still, I don't think they're worth Raging against, and choosing this would require a 2-Arete advancement if we don't want that, so it's a pretty expensive option.
[ ] Wait and Hope - Meditate in the antechamber and hope the doors open tonight. Maybe Gisena can dispel the Calling, which would prevent you from being bound to this Temple. [+1 Arete as you review past battles and tactics[
Hope sounds good, especially when the Hero has such a hard time holding on to his.
This looks to be something of a turnaround for the Hero's characterization, cooling off and taking the time to plan things out rather than charge into battle for once. And it is an Arete-positive option! Just for that it has become my favorite.
[ ] Look for Others - Perhaps some sort of... adventuring party, with specialists covering separate relevant areas of expertise, would be helpful in venturing further. Wield your Pressure to call such a group to you. Anyone so affected would likely be substantially weaker than you, but there's no helping that. Any form of aid or support would be helpful in these circumstances, though the Doom of the Tyrant looms large.
A wave of mooks is chasing us. What do? Summon our own mooks of course! Trouble is they'll likely die all too easily against the knights, and whoever survives will be our responsibility from then on, but we do have all those pluses in Charisma that only our two ladies have enjoyed so far. Why not spread the love?
Slaying the craven giant has yielded 2 picks. Rather than selecting picks individually, choose one of the following. You currently have 4.25 Arete.
[ ] Brute Force - Fuck yeah. Double Echo of the Forebear. There's simply no substitute for the power of muscles, be they physical or spiritual in nature. Raw speed was the answer to these things, speed and the striking power to reach their armored hearts.
If you can't solve the problem with your sword, that means you aren't swording enough!
The Muscle Wizard slumbers in the nether where all lost options go, but his dreams still manage to reach us and offer such jewels. Thanks to Ruin we don't encounter the problem of something being immune to physical damage, so it all comes down to is hitting hard and fast.
[ ] Peerless Shroud [2 Arete] - Opalescence + Iridescence. With every plate and greave of their armor infused with destructive runes, greater coverage against magical attacks is a priority. With the power of the Evening Sky heavily augmented and attuned to the tenor of their magic, you should be able to weather the majority of their attacks with impunity. It'll also make you more terrifying to oppose, should you run into any other adventurers here.
So it was destructive magic rather than dispellation. Better magic defenses are always a good idea when we don't know what we'll be up against next. That it can even attune to specific types of magic isn't something I knew about it previously and makes the option more awesome, but it costs Arete...
[ ] Slayer Knell - Conjunctional [Evening Sky + Forebear's Blade]. Upon slaying an enemy of a particular type, gain increased damage and overall effectiveness against other enemies of that type. A substantial immediate boost, plus a small permanent boost that stacks indefinitely. After slaying roughly one hundred peer-level opponents of a type, you would murder them in a single blow and dance untouched around their attacks. More powerful enemies yield more effectiveness per kill.
These knights seem to have some kind of deathly connection to each other, which is likely where this option came from. Useful for fights against groups of same enemies, less so against boss fights. Then again, with Rage we're basically a boss ourselves...
[ ] Swift as Death [2 Arete] - Gain +++++Agility, +Willpower in Second Stage only. Substantially improves your powers of phasing in Second Stage, allowing you to evade most corporeal attacks. Second Stage now restores its own health completely within one hour, though returning to corporeal form still takes a day and night.
Another one we got from the undead knight? They didn't seem especially fast in comparison to their other traits, but Accretion advancements aren't always logical. This makes the Second Stage
very useful, but does nothing for our other Forms. Still, given how eager we are to enter it at first provocation, that might not be such a disadvantage.
[ ] Buy Undying Vanguard [5 Arete] - You may purchase Undying Vanguard for 5 Arete, as you have already bought its pre-requisite for 2 Arete. This does not take a pick and can be included with other options. However, you're not even sure if you can open the gates at this point. You're pretty sure you can cut through them, though who knows what the consequences of that would be...
When missing Gisena spills into advancement choices. Unsurprisingly this doesn't seem very popular, as it costs a bunch of Arete without helping us immediately. This is pretty much a prerequisite if we want to take her with us on the dungeon crawl though.
