Vote closed
- Pronouns
- She
Not Quite Lovecraft
- Thread starter Blacksheep
- Start date
- Fantasy Historic Mystery Horror
The earlier votes count right? Just go with general consensus and what works with the story..
- Pronouns
- She
That puts us at a tie between the original Subversion and Subversion 2
So basically we talk to Elle or don't. The rest of the plans pretty much remains the same..
- Pronouns
- She
That hinges it towards talking to Elle! Alright, give me a bit and I'll start writing
Shattered Painting
- Pronouns
- She
Well, you had come here for a reason. Perhaps that reason had not been clear to you when you headed out, simply unable to resist the allure of facing the King in Yellow again, and Elle. But you wanted to put this behind you, and strike a blow against the horror that had struck your life. You pulled out your paint, and murmured a blessing meant to sever ties over it, before crossing to Elle. You would leave slices through the King in Yellow's production with your paint, and leave him to struggle.
"Elle," you murmured softly.
She turned to you, and her face lit with a soft glow. "Oliver! You came! I had so hoped you would."
"It's been a long time."
"What is time?" Elle giggled, a faint sound of chimes in her voice.
"I've-I've missed you. I've looked for you since you vanished."
"I vanished?" Elle tilted her head. "I-I don't recall doing that." Her serene expression flickered for a moment. "Well, it must have been important."
"The King took you," you told her.
"I'm a bride!" She smiled and spun. Your heart broke a little watching her. Were you reaching her at all with your words? You took a deep breath, and began to tell Elle of what you had seen since she had left. She hummed as you spoke. You thought she was listening as you worked to touch up her costume with your blessed paint, but it was hard to tell. You told her how you had promised to stand against the darkness of the world, because you'd seen too many harmed by it.
"It sounds beautiful," Elle said wistfully. "Like our play."
"Do you miss your home?"
"Why would I? I haven't misplaced it."
You nodded and quietly excused yourself to continue adding your paint across props and costumes in the back. One of the stage hands spoke to you backwards with instructions, leaving you to struggle with figuring out what you'd been asked to do. Maybe they wouldn't notice you didn't do it?
Finally you stepped back, the cracks in the painting in place throughout the props and costumes. You took a deep breath, and offered up a small spark of your innermost self. You would sacrifice willingly to break this play.
Sanity Loss: Permanent Loss of 10 Points
Permanent Loss of 1 Point of Constitution
Memory of Man to Animal Spell Lost
Everything froze. As one all the stage hands and actors turned to look at you. Decadance flickered with madness. You broke the charade. They laughed without opening their mouths. You suddenly realized that the curtain between the Other and the stage was much thinner than you had anticipated. You turn and ran. Things flickered in and out of existence around you. Doors warped, paintings screamed, and chairs buckled as they changed into things that were not meant to exist in this world. You broke down the stairs unable to stop running. Something with a deer head watched you with haunted eyes and let out a haunted bugle.
You fell out the doors of the Old Deer bar, and turned around. Just as suddenly as it had shifted, everything had gone back to normal. Or, well. It was more like something vital had been drained from the place, leaving it a little more grey, a little less full of life. Cautiously you stood up and peered inside. You could hear complaints upstairs from theater goers about the play having suddenly been cancelled without warnings. Had you really done it? You hadn't thought it would be so easy. You coughed into your fist, exhaustion crashing into you. It had taken so much out of you, fighting that strange place.
At least you had briefly been able to speak with Elle, even if you didn't understand most of what she had said, or known if she understood what you said. That had to be something, right?
You walked away, pushing down the sense of things unfinished. You had stopped the play, and ruined what had happened. That had to be enough.
[ ]Check the theatre the next day to make sure everything's truly back to normal
[ ]Rest to recover
[ ]Return to see Emily
[ ]Write-in
"Elle," you murmured softly.
She turned to you, and her face lit with a soft glow. "Oliver! You came! I had so hoped you would."
"It's been a long time."
"What is time?" Elle giggled, a faint sound of chimes in her voice.
"I've-I've missed you. I've looked for you since you vanished."
"I vanished?" Elle tilted her head. "I-I don't recall doing that." Her serene expression flickered for a moment. "Well, it must have been important."
"The King took you," you told her.
"I'm a bride!" She smiled and spun. Your heart broke a little watching her. Were you reaching her at all with your words? You took a deep breath, and began to tell Elle of what you had seen since she had left. She hummed as you spoke. You thought she was listening as you worked to touch up her costume with your blessed paint, but it was hard to tell. You told her how you had promised to stand against the darkness of the world, because you'd seen too many harmed by it.
"It sounds beautiful," Elle said wistfully. "Like our play."
"Do you miss your home?"
"Why would I? I haven't misplaced it."
You nodded and quietly excused yourself to continue adding your paint across props and costumes in the back. One of the stage hands spoke to you backwards with instructions, leaving you to struggle with figuring out what you'd been asked to do. Maybe they wouldn't notice you didn't do it?
Finally you stepped back, the cracks in the painting in place throughout the props and costumes. You took a deep breath, and offered up a small spark of your innermost self. You would sacrifice willingly to break this play.
Sanity Loss: Permanent Loss of 10 Points
Permanent Loss of 1 Point of Constitution
Memory of Man to Animal Spell Lost
Everything froze. As one all the stage hands and actors turned to look at you. Decadance flickered with madness. You broke the charade. They laughed without opening their mouths. You suddenly realized that the curtain between the Other and the stage was much thinner than you had anticipated. You turn and ran. Things flickered in and out of existence around you. Doors warped, paintings screamed, and chairs buckled as they changed into things that were not meant to exist in this world. You broke down the stairs unable to stop running. Something with a deer head watched you with haunted eyes and let out a haunted bugle.
You fell out the doors of the Old Deer bar, and turned around. Just as suddenly as it had shifted, everything had gone back to normal. Or, well. It was more like something vital had been drained from the place, leaving it a little more grey, a little less full of life. Cautiously you stood up and peered inside. You could hear complaints upstairs from theater goers about the play having suddenly been cancelled without warnings. Had you really done it? You hadn't thought it would be so easy. You coughed into your fist, exhaustion crashing into you. It had taken so much out of you, fighting that strange place.
At least you had briefly been able to speak with Elle, even if you didn't understand most of what she had said, or known if she understood what you said. That had to be something, right?
You walked away, pushing down the sense of things unfinished. You had stopped the play, and ruined what had happened. That had to be enough.
[ ]Check the theatre the next day to make sure everything's truly back to normal
[ ]Rest to recover
[ ]Return to see Emily
[ ]Write-in
[X] Finish that painting of Elle. Until the Yellow silhouette fully form into her visage.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
This is tragic what has happened to her. We may have stopped the play, but it feels like a loss. The masquerade lifting was really good writing though.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
This is tragic what has happened to her. We may have stopped the play, but it feels like a loss. The masquerade lifting was really good writing though.
Yellow Sign - the King knows you. Madness follows your steps. What is reality but an illusion a flicker away from breaking?
- Pronouns
- She
Huh, thought a permanent sanity loss would worry you guys more, as well as the health loss
We were sabotaging the King in Yellow in a place infused by his power. I was expecting us to lose a hand or eye if we made it out at all. Or need to find our way out of another dimension.
Not to say I'm thrilled by the permanent SAN loss, but I was expecting something much worse.
Should we choose to replenish San we should put some directed efforts into it. Visit Emily, and talking about our feelings about the whole affair. Paint our pain. Drinking with Jackson and giving an after action report. Coordinating for other report of the rises of the plays.. Visit the orphanage spending time with our students. Phone our family, check up on Oliver's niece and her poetry development.. And hanging out with Nemo of course. Communing with the goddess and seeking solace. And asking after The King in Yellow.
Actually now that we think about it, fighting Eldritch is kinda our job mandated by Isis. We can probably ask her for some sanity healing boon after the fight and doing our duty stopping innocents from being claimed by King. There's narrative momentum for her to help us.
Actually now that we think about it, fighting Eldritch is kinda our job mandated by Isis. We can probably ask her for some sanity healing boon after the fight and doing our duty stopping innocents from being claimed by King. There's narrative momentum for her to help us.
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[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
[X] Finish that painting of Elle. Until the Yellow silhouette fully form into her visage.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
[X] Finish that painting of Elle. Until the Yellow silhouette fully form into her visage.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
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[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Finish that painting of Elle. Until the Yellow silhouette fully form into her visage.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
I kinda prefer painting it out tbh.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
I kinda prefer painting it out tbh.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[] Finish that painting of Elle. Until the Yellow silhouette fully form into her visage.
-[] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
-[] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
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- Location
- Earth
I primarily wanted to save Elle (and possibly as many other victims as possible). Bopping Koy on the nose was more of a side benefit.
I thought the best plan to save her required talking to her, so I didn't care for the plans cutting her off from us.
Voting in favor for an entire plan of steps 1 to n, when step 1 will likely reveal crucial information about the viability of subsequent steps, seems like rolling the dice when you don't even know what number you want to come up on top.
Anyway, it's just a story, I got busy these past few days, and these things happen.
[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
JayTar
Idea briefcase
Okay permanent sanity and heath loss is ow, but at least it worked?
I'm not sure we can "recover" it per-say, but I wonder if we can use magic to permanently increase our stats. I imagine it wouldn't be easy, especially if we don't want to do anything evil like sacrifice people for it, but it seems it should be possible.
Like, we cannot undo our wounds, but we can build forward and keep improving. Maybe eventually increase our max sanity not by returning to our old sanity, but by establishing a new normal.
This also ties into my desire to stop being so reliant on other gods magic, and start developing our own. With time and effort we can use painting to make magic. Why don't we use it more?
We don't need to beg for gifts, we can make our own!
Like, she is gone. She is happy where she is, and we can't get her back. Burning more of our self just to see her once more is self-destructive.
Anyway my vote:
[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Start work on a new painting. A painting of self-improvement. Not merely a fragile mask of paint, but something which promotes your improvement and development in reality. You cannot undo the things that have happened, but you can build anew.
Basically we need to be stronger. In multiple ways.
So it's time for a training arc! No reason not to cheat with magic however.
Edit:
[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
You know what, I will also vote for this just to avoid trying to pull Elle back.
I'm not sure we can "recover" it per-say, but I wonder if we can use magic to permanently increase our stats. I imagine it wouldn't be easy, especially if we don't want to do anything evil like sacrifice people for it, but it seems it should be possible.
Like, we cannot undo our wounds, but we can build forward and keep improving. Maybe eventually increase our max sanity not by returning to our old sanity, but by establishing a new normal.
This also ties into my desire to stop being so reliant on other gods magic, and start developing our own. With time and effort we can use painting to make magic. Why don't we use it more?
We don't need to beg for gifts, we can make our own!
Ahahah no no no no. This sounds like 100% the worst thing to do.
Like, she is gone. She is happy where she is, and we can't get her back. Burning more of our self just to see her once more is self-destructive.
Anyway my vote:
[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Start work on a new painting. A painting of self-improvement. Not merely a fragile mask of paint, but something which promotes your improvement and development in reality. You cannot undo the things that have happened, but you can build anew.
Basically we need to be stronger. In multiple ways.
So it's time for a training arc! No reason not to cheat with magic however.
Edit:
[X] Return home
-[X] Talk to your friends. To Emily, Jackson and the Reverend.
-[X] Tell them about Elle being so lost. You tried so hard to reach her. And then you decided to act so not another soul can be claimed by that wretched creature calling itself a King.
-[X] You have stopped him this time, but this feels like a loss all the same. Digging away at your soul.
-[X] Make an invocation to Isis. To talk to the mother. Ask her about King in Yellow and how you might protect the world from his influence.
-[X] You have done as you have pledged, and your soul grows weary from wounds. Ask for a boon so you maybe put yourself further in her service in the war against the dark.
You know what, I will also vote for this just to avoid trying to pull Elle back.
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[X] Finish that painting of Elle. Until the Yellow silhouette fully form into her visage.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
-[X] Sacrifice the memory of the Painting of Many arms, to pull her across the worlds.
-[X] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close. Now while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
- Location
- Earth
What's your goal with this plan? Or maybe a better of my question is: what do you see as the possible outcomes?
Ideally, it seems to me, Elle gets both pulled here and cut from Koy. The latter seems unlikely to me. We're already severely weakened, so weakening ourselves further in order to bring a victim who is yet also currently an agent of Koy in reality in front of us seems really risky.
On the darker side, Elle gets cut in half, as the madness part of her is left behind. Killing her seems possibly like a mercy, but do you think that is an acceptable outcome?
I think I'd like to anchor Elle's sanity to the painting, such that she can't be further corrupted by Koy until the painting is burned out. We're weak currently and can't push a fight right now as well as we could at our best. I think retrenching and holding onto ground, setting the stage for a winner takes all round three, is better than trying to finish the job right now after sending Elle all the way back into Koy's realm instead of getting her out of the theater (Not that I'm trying to argue that there was much difference between Koy's realm and the theater, only that sending her back likely hasn't made the task easier and that was also before we permanently spent a bunch of sanity and health).
I don't like this following plan much, but I feel like it's double or nothing for getting Elle back.
[x]Anchoring
-[x]Finish that painting of Elle.
--[x] Sacrifice the memory of Elle's sanity, putting into the painting and making it a part of her through the painting.
--[x] You can't give up like this, not when you were so close, so anchor her to her original self while the connections between the worlds are frayed.
At least this next time, Koy will likely be coming for us. That way, we won't have to find him. Silver lining on that madness tornado, I suppose
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JayTar
Idea briefcase
Agh! Why!
Why are people voting for this. It's not double or nothing, it's noting or -1000!
By all appearances the Elle we talked to is too far gone. Even if we succeed she will not thank us.
And the worst case scenario we invite the King In Yellow right in. Because that is what we are literally doing.
Sacrificing more parts of our self just to tug on a lost thread turned yellow.
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- Location
- Earth
Are you sure you meant to quote me? I don't think anybody else is voting for my plan, and my plan is not about bringing her here now. I edited my comment for clarity, if that caused confusion.
JayTar
Idea briefcase
It's more my frustration with either variation of "Finish the painting". I suppose I could have been a bit more clear. It's not you in particular, it's more of just the trend.
Even if we don't try to bring her here, anything that ties to reach into the King in Yellow's domain seems like a massive risk for no gain. His eyes are upon us, and opening any sort of connection would be asking for something bad to happen.
In fact risk may even be the wrong word. It implies there is only a chance. The way I see it, trying to do anything involving the King In Yellow is guaranteed to go very badly because of this:
Our best bet is to set our mind to recovery and improvement, not a last desperate grasp that will only hurt us more.
- Location
- Earth
The gain is saving Elle from a fate worse than death.
Also, while I'm not psyched about how the prior vote went, I considered getting Koy's attention to be unavoidable. I don't think I'll give up on trying to get Elle back or give her rest, unless who she was previously can affirm that who she is now is who she intended to become through originally participating in this play.