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Multiverse: Paying The Price

Janus said:
"You'll have to ask the King. But you have no Judicial Powers, since the King was informed by the powers that be, he would be basically handing over the secret part of his estate to total strangers. he wasn't happy."

"You are free to represent the country as Lords yourselves if you want to, but for all intents and purposes, this is a Holy City that's partially owned by the Lords, the King, and you."
"Anywhere outside the City limits and immediate surrounding area isn't yours."
"Save a few disputed border towns.
"Your titles are effectively Counts, or maybe Prefects under older systems of authority."
"It's a grey area around the Main Keep's area, you could probably have some kind of authority there."
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This... Sounds a lot like...

I narrowed my eyes.

"What are you saying is that we don't have any effective power over what is happening in this castle. Oh, sure, we will have some money"

I waved my hand, still focused on him.

"But for all purpose, we are basically guests."
 
Yuki no Yue said:
This... Sounds a lot like...

I narrowed my eyes.

"What are you saying is that we don't have any effective power over what is happening in this castle. Oh, sure, we will have some money"

I waved my hand, still focused on him.

"But for all purpose, we are basically guests."
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"Eh, it's a bit weirder than that. If you control the Main Keep you effectively have control over everything but you officially don't. The Emperor says that you can earn real control over the city if you want."
 
Janus said:
"Eh, it's a bit weirder than that. If you control the Main Keep you effectively have control over everything but you officially don't. The Emperor says that you can earn real control over the city if you want."
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I almost snorted. Almost.

Here's the catch.

"Really? So we just need to make a little favour or two to the emperor and he will grant us sovranity over this keep. How benevolent."

Still...

"And, to be precise, what would we need to do to gain the keep?"
 
Yuki no Yue said:
I almost snorted. Almost.

Here's the catch.

"Really? So we just need to make a little favour or two to the emperor and he will grant us sovranity over this keep. How benevolent."

Still...

"And, to be precise, what would we need to do to gain the keep?"
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"Oh no, you have the Keep. You would just need to complete imperial favor or two in order to excersize certain authority around the rest of the city as Counts. You still have your wealth and land, and your tax cuts."
 
Janus said:
"Oh no, you have the Keep. You would just need to complete imperial favor or two in order to excersize certain authority around the rest of the city as Counts. You still have your wealth and land, and your tax cuts."
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That was... Mh.

It seems like I misunderstood something.

"Ok, sorry for me repeating, but I want to be certain to have understood everything: The castle is ours and, as long as we are speakibg of the inside, we can set our own laws, rules and regulation. We get all the land that the castle own and everyone who lives on that land is essentially our subject. When you talk about the keep you mean this?"
 
Yuki no Yue said:
That was... Mh.

It seems like I misunderstood something.

"Ok, sorry for me repeating, but I want to be certain to have understood everything: The castle is ours and, as long as we are speakibg of the inside, we can set our own laws, rules and regulation. We get all the land that the castle own and everyone who lives on that land is essentially our subject. When you talk about the keep you mean this?"
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"Yes, the building you're in now. But you'd have the power of Counts. Higher aristocracy could over ride you."
"If, however you earn IMperial favor, you'd be absolute under the Emperor"
 
Janus said:
"Yes, the building you're in now. But you'd have the power of Counts. Higher aristocracy could over ride you."
"If, however you earn IMperial favor, you'd be absolute under the Emperor"
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"I never guessed I would end ina place where having a nobiliar title is still a thing. Shame that mine is back in my house." I muttered, before focusing again.

"Well, if things are like this, I guess we should do these favours... Depebding on what these favours are, of course."

I turned to the others.

"What you all think?"

(@Spectre558, @always_confused, @Lizard Knight)
 
Yuki no Yue said:
"I never guessed I would end in a place where having a noble title is still a thing. Shame that mine is back in my house." I muttered, before focusing again.

"Well, if things are like this, I guess we should do these favours... Depending on what these favours are, of course."

I turned to the others.

"What you all think?"
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I make a face like I just bit into something extremely sour. "We don't have much of a choice, do we? One way or another we're being dragged into local politics....As long as what they ask isn't too extreme, I agree we do these favours and play politics. But only up to a point. I fully expect us to grow in power as we face greater and greater threats. Ideally this scenario should never happen, either because all the players - ourselves included - are smart or diplomatic enough to avoid these sorts of fuck ups, but if - and this is a big IF - we ever get pushed into some sort of "hard men making hard decisions while hard" situation, we should prioritize the Citadel and ourselves over any local politics. Up to and including facing off against them on the battlefield if need be."
 
Yuki no Yue said:
"I never guessed I would end ina place where having a nobiliar title is still a thing. Shame that mine is back in my house." I muttered, before focusing again.

"Well, if things are like this, I guess we should do these favours... Depebding on what these favours are, of course."

I turned to the others.

"What you all think?"

(@Spectre558, @always_confused, @Lizard Knight)
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Yuki turns to see the space that previously held a Joestar empty.

<Meanwhile, in the dungeons>
I walk down and find the dungeons (thanks Hermit). I see a figure rooming the halls. I tap them on the shoulder "Exuse me youngster, can you tell me where to put these two ruffians? I assume your the keeper of these dungeons." I ask at the robed figure, holding the orcs in hand.
 
"Well we might as well get started." I turned to the mage that had healed my face from Shantoto's attack.

"Porom, mind showing me around this place? Maybe to the stores, or stockpiles or whatever? First step is going to be figuring out what we have to work with. We can plan a bit more after that."
 
Spectre558 said:
"Well we might as well get started." I turned to the mage that had healed my face from Shantoto's attack.

"Porom, mind showing me around this place? Maybe to the stores, or stockpiles or whatever? First step is going to be figuring out what we have to work with. We can plan a bit more after that."
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"Sounds like a fair idea. I'll join you." Seeing as how Joseph had apparently run off elsewhere..."Yuki, what about you? Looks like Joseph has gone off to do whatever. Might as well get some work done until he gets back here and is ready to go meet the locals."

@Yuki no Yue
 
Spectre558 said:
"Well we might as well get started." I turned to the mage that had healed my face from Shantoto's attack.

"Porom, mind showing me around this place? Maybe to the stores, or stockpiles or whatever? First step is going to be figuring out what we have to work with. We can plan a bit more after that."
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always_confused said:
"Sounds like a fair idea. I'll join you." Seeing as how Joseph had apparently run off elsewhere..."Yuki, what about you? Looks like Joseph has gone off to do whatever. Might as well get some work done until he gets back here and is ready to go meet the locals."

@Yuki no Yue
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"Yeah, just one thing before."

I pointed to Shantotto, who was starting to recover her colors, signaling that the Stop spell was vanishing.

"What do we do about her?"
 
Yuki no Yue said:
"Yeah, just one thing before."

I pointed to Shantotto, who was starting to recover her colors, signaling that the Stop spell was vanishing.

"What do we do about her?"
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I was half-tempted to suggest killing her, but thought better of it. I was still annoyed about the fireball, but I wasn't that vengeful.

"I vote we find a portal and throw her through, get her out of our hair. Trying to imprison someone who can blast through walls could be kinda hard." I shrugged slightly. "If she comes back we deal with her."
 
Spectre558 said:
I was half-tempted to suggest killing her, but thought better of it. I was still annoyed about the fireball, but I wasn't that vengeful.

"I vote we find a portal and throw her through, get her out of our hair. Trying to imprison someone who can blast through walls could be kinda hard." I shrugged slightly. "If she comes back we deal with her."
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"We don't have a portal." Sadly.

"That might put a slight hitch in your plan."
 
Spectre558 said:
"Can't we use the ones the Orcs did? Or are those gone?"

I frowned a little, wishing I knew more about Final Fantasy Magic. I'd have have to ask the two resident mages about it at somepoint, get a basic rundown at least.
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I frowned at that.

"I don't know if they are still open or not, but I don't think that sending her into the place where all the orcs are from is a good idea. Either she die or she control the orcs and take revenge."

I shaked ny head.

"No, we need another way."
 
"I'll show you another way. MY WAY!" A familiar, bratty voice states from behind from what appears to be. . . Shantotto. "Hand over the Crystals, lolly pops." She states angrily. "The good ones always are mouthy, just like my counter part, Shantotto."
She launches two flares at Ulti. By now the Orcs are beginning to awaken. Unfortunately they are choosing to make their way out of the castle, slowly, they can still be caught if pursued, but you have other problems. Shantotto has been followed by what appears to be four other interesting visitors. A lich, a snake tailed, four armed woman, a Kraken, and a five headed dragon who barely fits through the gated doors.
 
Janus said:
"I'll show you another way. MY WAY!" A familiar, bratty voice states from behind from what appears to be. . . Shantotto. "Hand over the Crystals, lolly pops." She states angrily. "The good ones always are mouthy, just like my counter part, Shantotto."
She launches two flares at Ulti. By now the Orcs are beginning to awaken. Unfortunately they are choosing to make their way out of the castle, slowly, they can still be caught if pursued, but you have other problems. Shantotto has been followed by what appears to be four other interesting visitors. A lich, a snake tailed, four armed woman, a Kraken, and a five headed dragon who barely fits through the gated doors.
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"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

She is unsufferable.

"Reflex!"

The spell snapped around me, a second before the two Flares hit me. Then, they bounced back, against her. Let's hope this resolve our problem, but in case it doesn't...

"Sleep."
 
Janus said:
Shantotto has been followed by what appears to be four other interesting visitors. A lich, a snake tailed, four armed woman, a Kraken, and a five headed dragon who barely fits through the gated doors.
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Since Yuki seemed to have a good handle on dealing with Shantotto, I pushed my way out of the room and caught sight of the group of horrors that had also decided to storm our castle, including a Kraken that was somehow sliding in with no water in sight. I chose to blame magic. And Q. Mostly Q.

"Ghost! Give me something here!" I yelled as I jammed my helmet back on.

"One weapon pattern finished repairing." came the droning reply.

"Gimme!" Immediately a weight appeared on my back. I reached back and found a grip to pull the weapon off my back. I found myself holding a full size rifle, colored in the white, orange, and dark blue of the Tower Vanguard. Another text box popped up on my display.

Origin Story
Your inciting incident is their tragic ending.

Huh. So that was how Guardians saw the little blurb descriptions for weapons. An auto rifle would be useful if they ever saw any more orcs, but against the new arrivals I had been hoping for a rocket launcher or maybe a fusion rifle. As if on cue, my ghost spoke up again.

"Your light is ready." And then it clicked off. I blinked in confusion. What the hell did that mean? Unless... I focused for a moment. I felt something inside me. Power, waiting to be unleashed. I think I see...

I turned back to the others, stowing my new rifle on my back as I did. "This may be a bad idea, but I'm going after the Dragon thing. I've got something for it." I turned and ran out of the room, straight towards where the beast had just managed to get through the gate.

If this goes wrong, I'm going to die kinda stupidly. I thought. As I approached the dragon, I put all the strength I could into my legs, and jumped up, far higher than I ever could have before getting shoved into the body of a Guardian. As I reached the apex of my jump and reached for my power, I raised my hand in front of me. I knew I should be afraid. But I wasn't. The Light was with me.

There was a flash of light, and a wave of heat. A sword of Solar Fire ignited in my outstretched hand. I felt power and light flood through me. I didn't need to look back to know that transparent wings of flame had appeared on my back. I felt stronger than ever before in my life as I unleashed the power of a Dawnblade.

If the Dragon was surprised it didn't show it. All of its heads collectively snarled, the middle leaning forward to snap it's jaws at me. Still a good twenty feet away, I swung my new fiery blade at it. Midway through the swing, my sword flared, and a slash of fire soared through the air, searing into the middle head. It jerked back with a roar of what was most definitely pain. With an application of will, I sent myself shooting forward, intending to bury my sword in the dragon's chest.

 
The first thing I noticed was that I was really big.

I have always been pretty big among my peer, but it was a combination between above average height and just being fat. Now I'm probably over 8 feet tall and, as a quick glance down could confirm, was built like a brick house if a brick house was made of Rambos and encased in the very concept of bling.

Which brought me to my next point: I was bedecked from head to toes in shining golden armor. On my shoulders was a sinfully luscious fur mantle which extends into a cape made of golden fucking thread. Pretty sure I was wearing a third-world nation's entire GPD right now. In my hand, was a butt-fucking huge cross thing, slightly longer than I was tall, which practically made it more a flag pole and a weapon. In my other hand, I was carrying a coffin large enough to hold someone of my bulk. The coffin was not empty, as I can feel the macabre content within rattles with each movement.

Next thing that came to mind that I felt hollow. Not hollow like "having a bad day" hollow, but actually hollow kind of hollow. The armor I wore felt like it was my entire being. I felt the metal as if it was my flesh, yet I did not feel anything within this golden shell.

I wanted to panic, to scream and lash out and curl into a ball and cry, yet I didn't. I couldn't. Something took hold of my soul, grasping my metaphorical hands. A presence, or perhaps memories, as cold as death and still as a tomb. It devoured my fear and anxiety before flooding my mind with sheer detachment. There was no time to run around like a headless chicken, only my action matters now. Assest the situation, then act accordingly.

And, amazingly enough, I just knew what was happening. The exposition was shoved into my head like the laziest, most literal info-dumb ever. It was kind of like putting a Candy Crush enthusiast into the middle of a Dark Soul game with a manual and tell them to have fun.

Fuck you, Q.

"I shall bring great suffering." Not quite, but close enough.

Also, holy shit my voice. My voice sounded like the a rockslide. heavy metal, and Sauron had sex on a bed made of souls.

Then, whatever passes for my eyes caught side of the dragon, and I grinned. Well, I would if I had a mouth. Gently, I set my coffin down to the ground, wincing slightly internally at the sheer lack of security over it before deciding that there's nothing I could do about it for now.

"Dib" Ah, much better.

I walk toward the scaled beast, my mind effortlessly calling upon dark power that I could not possibly understand mere seconds ago. With a perfectly executed evil Mwuahahaha laugh, which had the pitch and reverb of concentrated evil overlordism, I reached out and marked the dragon with my curse. Already, I could feel its life slowly draining into mine, the withering agony of the curse fueling my shield.

Not content with waiting on the curse, I approached further, the cross-mace in my hand hummed with malevolent power, eager to inflict pain even as a hurricane of metal sharpnel rose around me.
 
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The five guardsmen, plus the Captain of the Guards run towards the creatures. . . predictably, the Kraken merely snaps one of his tentacles, crushing them all in one fell swoop. The rest of the castle's servants run. As Palom merely stands there with his mouth open, Porom does something surprising. A flash of white light flickers throughout the Crystal Chambers as the real Shantotto, just awakening from unconsciousness awakens. The Dark half of Shantotto, an evil doppleganger feels the flare spells slam into her magically defended body, still suffering majorly from her archmage's spells. Her clothes were not damage, but even though Dark Shantotto was harmed enough to be staggered, the sleeping spell did nothing. Also strangely, the flare spells caused no burns, but harmed their targets with a very fierce concussive blast instead.

Tiamat, the five headed dragon breathed fire towards Palom. Surprisingly he survived this. At this same moment, Porom's flickering white magic attack she cast earlier released from a strange sounding incantation from her mouth, and it slammed into Tiamat, hard, enough to distract her from Palom, causing her heads to turn towards Porom. Ironically, the astonished guards of Porom stalled, but woke up to attention fast once they figured out all of this was really going on. Pulling out their long swords they would attempt to defend the Crystals in the chamber with their lives.
 
I watched as the five goons were crushed underneath one of the Kraken's many suckered limbs and let out a scoff.

Wood play.

"Death is not an excuse. Your services shall continue." And with that, their broken bodies pulled themselves off the floor, baleful dull blue light pouring from eyes and mouth and open wounds. "Onward. "

And with that, they fell into formation and marched forth again, as eager as undead thralls could be.

I continued my advance on the five-headed dragon who had the audacity to overlook me. The sharpnel storm raked and sliced at its hide, tearing long, ragged tear on the beast. My mace, shrouded in dark power, rose and fell, crashing onto its leg.
 
The big threats were being taken care of by our own mages. Besides which, I was a mook blender not a monster slayer.

Janus said:
Shantotto has been followed by what appears to be four other interesting visitors. A lich, a snake tailed, four armed woman, a Kraken, and a five headed dragon who barely fits through the gated doors.
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I leap in front of the Human-Snake warrior and begin to engage her in single combat.
 
I tap the hooded figure, seeing a flicker of steel and the flash of a lantern. A yellow eyed, green skinned(?) creature looks me in the eyes.

"Umm...Excuse me, sir of madam, are you the keeper of these dungeons?" I ask the creature. One of my friends is a ratman and the other a space revanent, this creature could be friendly. The creature simple nods. "Alright Then, do you have a name." It nods "...Will you Tell me your name?" It shakes its head "...So, is it oké If I nickname you morte?" It nods. Good, morte fits for someone taking care of the dungeon.
I hear slight scrapping as the orcs wake up and try to stand. I stand behind them and Knock them out cold...Again. I point towards two cells "Can I put them there?" Morte nods.

I Hear the room shake and Hear an unholy screach "...that is my cue to leave. Got it handled here morte?" The Tiny creature nods as it points to the now closed and locked Doors. Which is weird, as I never saw it release its lantern or knife but KNOW it locked the Doors...probally magic. "Wel in that case, good luck friend!" I saw boistoursly as I see the Tiny creature wave as I leave.

As I step outside I see what can only be described as a clusterfuck. A five headed dragon getting kicked in by Helios and some pimp-in looking armored fellow and some zombie guards (wait I recognize that armour...those are our guards. Shit). Past that I see a waterless kraken, a thin fellow how is probably a lich and a multi armed lady fighting tempest. There two shantotto's, the shadowy one fighting her doppelgänger and Yuki. The mages are guarding the crystal room. How? Oh... we are missing walls right now...
Joy.
My hands snap to my face as I scream "OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD!"


After I finish screaming (and everyone is looking at me confused) I swagger towards the lich {Menacing Menacing Menacing}. The Lich finally snaps out of its confused stupor as I point at it "Hmmm, this one a challenge but 'Tremble and rejoice human, for you have the privilege of serving me' hmm?" The lich opens its mouth and gloats "Tremble and rejoice human, for you have the privilege of ser-EEEEH!?" It screeches in surprise and I take that moment to snap out my [Hermit Purples] vines to completely bind the creature. I look at the pimp-in armour "I assume the skeleton posse is yours, hmm? If your undead, I advice staying away from the energy I create." As I slam my hand into the hermit sending a massive wave of Hamon {SHHHMMM} into the creature, the life force causing the creature to ripple and burn before exploding {BOOOOOOM} until nothing but ash remains. "My Hamon is lethal to undead you see, it destroys them and blocks any form of regeneration. Granted I have no idea how interacts with phylacteries or whatever liches use." I take a moment to take in the suroundings, I see the lich won't be making a return as I crack my knuckles and approach the multi limbed lady and Tempest "Need some help friend? Don't worry, the orcs are secured in the dungeons by a pleasant...fellow? Creature in robes with a knife and lantern. I think they have it covered." I look the multi armed woman "Now young lady, I advice you surrender before you are beaten into a pulp." I say, grinning and letting the Hermit cover my arms.
 
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