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Operation Weihnachtswunder (A CK2 Style Quest to Save Christmas!)

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Does Krampus have two mothers? Because it didn't call her anything even resembling Xistoria.
 
Oooh, nice preview!

Also, I recently read Juniper's Christmas by Eoin Colfer, and while its lore isn't really compatible with what's happened here I do feel some of the characters could be AU'ed in without much trouble. Might write an omake about that when I have the energy.
 
Novus Ordo Mundi said:
Never heard of it. What's it about?
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Santa has been MIA for almost the last ten years after constant cynicism about the greed of rich kids as well as the death of his wife, and basically just moving around doing small acts of magical charity, but gets found by the protagonist Juniper whose mom went missing. There's also a group of villains trying to steal Santa's sack in order to claim its power for themselves. It's a cute story and shouldn't take too long to read if you can find a copy.
 
Good Afternoon/Evening! So, at a 1000 words, just wrote a very important scene. Still need to write the connecting tissue, and the aftermath. Then probably look over everything once or twice.

GrayGriffin said:
Santa has been MIA for almost the last ten years after constant cynicism about the greed of rich kids as well as the death of his wife, and basically just moving around doing small acts of magical charity, but gets found by the protagonist Juniper whose mom went missing. There's also a group of villains trying to steal Santa's sack in order to claim its power for themselves. It's a cute story and shouldn't take too long to read if you can find a copy.
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Oooh, I'm going to go find it and give it a read, thanks!
 
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Turn 1 - Winter 2025 - Like Lightning (Part 4) New
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    • Turn 1 (Winter 2025)
    Like Lightning (Part 4)    ​


    Soon enough, you're at Cardiff-By-The-Sea.

    It's a rather nice beach town near San Diego. But you're not here for sight-seeing or playing on the beach. Okay, Ignorance and Want are, but they don't get out as much as they'd like, so their priority is fun over what's going on.

    But for the rest of you, it's figuring out what exactly is happening. The good news is, it's not that hard to figure out where to start.

    As soon as Krampus steps onto the beach, he can feel it. A wave of intensive pressure enters his mind. Telling him to forget. Go home. This area is not important, and there is nothing here that interests him. Take his mother Dianthus Plumarius, and your employer Ebenezer Scrooge, and leave this land. What happened here is not for them to know.

    (The Hush of Heaven vs. Krampus.)

    The Hush of Heaven - 78, 28. 28 - 33 (More Than Instinct * Holy) + 25 (Active Action) = 20
    Krampus: 88 - 50 (??? ???? ?? ??? ??????) = 38.

    Krampus knows this is the Hush of Heaven. The silence when the seventh seal is opened, weaponized to keep any demon from knowing what happened. Which makes him all the more interested in what is going on.

    It's not passive any more. It's active, brushing at the edges of his mind. Do not bring your mother here. Whatever you do, do not bring one that fell…

    "Why? Why do you fear one who's fallen?" Krampus asks. The Hush does not answer. It only wants his silence. Something he will not give. "What secrets do you hide?"

    There is only silence, and the sound of the wind.

    "Ebenezer." He calls out to you. "The Hush is actively trying to mess with my mind now."

    You look towards Krampus, concerned at this revelation. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

    He smiles, and shakes his head. "No need. If this is the best Heaven can throw at me, then I'll be able to handle it. In fact…" He looks over at a section of beach that's been boxed off with yellow tape and seems to have a nasty black scar inside it. "I think we should start over there."

    It tells him not to look over there. At all. There is nothing of interest. Just a crime scene of mortal affairs, not anything involving him.

    "In fact, I'm certain of it."

    –

    Normally, you wouldn't be one to cross police tape. Generally because the bobbies don't like having their crime scene contaminated. But needs must, and you really want to investigate what is so important that Heaven doesn't want anyone to know.

    But it doesn't seem like anyone is watching the place. So you cross the tape.

    Ebenezer Occult Roll: 29 + 36 = 65. Investigation: 66 + 16 (Learning) = 82.

    It's the smell that gets you first.

    You reel back as you suddenly get a whiff of charred flesh. You've smelled it before, dealing with burning spirits in London. It's the smell of charred and melting flesh, and burning rubber. Well, that would probably explain why it was taped off. But you've smelled worse, so you press on to the rather large charred area.

    As you get to the edge of the blackened sand and melted glass, you stop. For a moment, you worry about what might happen if you step on the sand. You don't think it's dangerous, but you don't want to chance it. However, you can still see the rather large hole in the ground.

    It's plenty long, and at least a dozen feet deep at its lowest point. It looks like whatever caused it hit the ground at an angle, rather than straight down. But whatever caused it isn't there. Vaporized on impact? Maybe. Could have also been taken by the police, which would be problematic.

    "Any thoughts?"

    "Maybe an asteroid?" Want asks

    "Like the one that killed the dinosaurs?" Ignorance adds, using his fist to act like the meteor, smashing into his fist.

    "That's an option." You don't think so, but you don't want them to be sad. And it's not impossible. "Krampus? Any ideas?"

    There is no response.

    You look over to Krampus, worried about why he's not responding. But he seems to be fine. Just looking towards the sky, an odd look upon his face. He is visibly confused about something.

    [The Hush Of Heaven Fail Condition: An Original Fallen Reaches the Site.]
    [The Hush Of Heaven Vs. Xistoria: The Hush of Heaven Auto-Fails.]

    But before you can ask him if he is okay, Xistoria speaks up first. "This feels all too familiar. Just like when we fell…"

    –

    You are Dianthus Plumarius, and you are one of the many angels rebelling against The Father.

    "He lied to us all!"

    You knew this was coming. The more time passed, the more Helel ben Shachar found wrong with everything. Things he shared with the Heavenly Host. Of course, being this public, he'd eventually come into conflict with his brothers.

    "He lied about it all, Michael! Creating the world, being the only God, all of it! I've seen it with my own eyes, brother!" Helel was now only inches from his face, spitting venomous fury that could only come from such a deep betrayal. "He even lied about where the Son came from. Does He even know that Yahweh created Him?"

    You gasp. Even though you were with Helel, it still surprised you that he would speak the Father's Name so casually.

    "YOU WILL NOT SPEAK BLASPHEMY." From where you stand, with the angels of chastity and sacrifice of self that sided with the Morningstar, you can feel the heat coming from the Archangel, as he draws his fiery sword from its scabbard. "GOD HAS NO BEGINNING NOR END. NEITHER THE FATHER, NOR THE SON, NOR THE HOLY SPIRIT. AND I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY DIFFERENCE. EVEN FROM YOU, BROTHER."

    "Then what will you accept?" Helel yells back. "I've shown you the proof. What more do you want from me? How can I convince you He's not fit to sit on the throne!?"

    "IF HE IS NOT WORTHY TO SIT ON THE THRONE, THEN WHO WOULD BE? YOU?"

    "Yes."

    While this whole rebellion was to dethrone The Father, there was some question about who would take his place. For the vast majority, Helel should take His place on the Throne . Though some had hoped to put The Son or one of the other high ranking Archangels. A few even wanted to vote for a leader, though most paid them no mind.

    But the silence is deafening, as all anger and fury leaves the Warrior Prince's face. He seems… disappointed. Resigned to what's about to happen. "THEN SO BE IT, BROTHER. YOU WILL SUFFER FOR YOUR ARROGANCE!"

    Helel draws his own sword, a manic grin on his face. "And you will suffer for your blindness!" And as he leaps forward, you move with the rest of the Rebellious Host, ready to take on the Archangel.

    מַסְפִּיק

    enough    ​

    With just one word, you are all stopped. Even Helel, his sword in mid-swing. But it's not Michael's power stopping you in your tracks

    It's His.

    He will not let you move forward. Or backward. You try to yell, or shout, or cry. But you cannot even do that, in the face of His Will.

    You can't see Him anywhere. But that's no surprise. Even now, He won't show his face and explain anything. He just expects to be obeyed without question, without reason. Obey, or face the consequences.

    The sad part is, He has the power to make the consequences stick.

    אני מפשיט אותך מכל מה שאתה

    I strip you of everything you are    ​

    You look on at horror as Helel's six wings start to melt off of him. Obviously he was expecting to win this. But as he continues to morph into something else, it becomes apparent he never had a chance. None of you did.


    אתה תהפוך למה שאתה באמת רוצה

    You will become what you truly want    ​


    Throughout the horde, you can see halos become horns, robes become flesh, and pale skin become a number of colors. You can feel your own halo twist, split, and fuse itself to your head. A flood of red changes you from the feet up… do you even have feet? You can't tell, and you're afraid to look.

    But most of all, you feel your desire to be pure and chaste change. Twist. Become inverted. You can feel your instincts overwhelm you. Drive you. Override rational thought.

    You are no longer an Angel. You are now a Succubus. You need to be rutted like a common animal, just to keep yourself from starving. For you can no longer live off of His Perfect Love. It is Anathema to you.

    Even your name starts to fade. You try to assert yourself as Dianthus Plumarius. But that is not your name anymore. For that is a name meant only for those in Heaven. A place you can no longer call home

    אני מגרש אותך החוצה, לעולם לא לחזור

    I cast you out, never to return    ​

    "You won't keep me out forever! I'll come back!" Helel Lucifer screams, for a moment being able to actually say something. "And when I do, I will rip you off that throne of lies! You hear me? I will…"

    נעלם!

    Begone!    ​

    And so he Falls

    And so do you.


    –

    "I'm not sure what hurt worse: the fall, or the sudden stop when we hit Hell." Xistoria just continues looking upwards. But He is not there. Nothing but a moonlit sky, and the feeling that something is wrong. "I only hit the second level. Lucifer didn't stop until he hit the bottom." Then she shakes her head, as if trying to forget the past. "But this… this hole looks awfully similar to when a lot of us crawled out of where we landed. No, not just looks. It is." She shivers, holding herself as if she were cold. "I can feel it."

    "Mother… we can leave if you…"

    "No, I'm fine." Xistoria holds up a hand. "It was a long time ago. I've… made my peace with it."

    (Ebenezer: 59. DC: 50)

    She might say she's fine, but she is clearly not. You look over to Krampus, and it's obvious he doesn't believe it either. However, she's also not in danger of breaking down, so you're not going to press her. You'll still make it a priority to leave the site as soon as possible.

    "But seeing this brought up some… rather old feelings I'd thought I'd buried." Xistoria continues. "The smell, the feel. I'd bet seven night's worth of…" She pauses, then remembers that Ignorance and Want are nearby "...the finest meals that God made someone Fall. Someone important enough to attempt to hide it.."

    That would make sense. But that brings up a question: Who would God want to cast from Heaven, but not let anyone know He did that? But considering spirits still managed to notice it, and Krampus just straight up ignored The Hush of Heaven, this wasn't a perfect cover up.

    (Ebenezer Learning or Stewardship: 30 + 36 = 76. DC: 50/100)

    This feels like a rush job. Like when one of your employees tries to get something done in a hurry, so you wouldn't notice they'd been playing Candy Crush for the last hour. That bit of sloppiness that can end with improper labels, lost inventory, or even injuries if it was safety that was rushed.

    "I think we'd best check in with the hotel." Krampus says. "Mother, could you…"

    "Already on it." And she shifts into a more human form, as if she was a blonde starlet who stepped out of Hollywood. "Who wants to hear a bedtime story?"

    "Me!" Both Ignorance and Want start following. Sure, they don't need to sleep. But they want a bedtime story.

    As they walk/float away, Krampus whispers to you. "We probably shouldn't bring her back here."

    "Agreed." You quickly whisper back. "I still would like to examine it a bit later."

    "Let me do it. I can watch the kids while they play at the beach." That makes sense. "Probably tomorrow night. Don't want to be seen by the locals. At least the hotel will have cable."

    "You do know that American soap operas are going to be different?"

    "Yeah, so?"

    You shrug your shoulders. You're not going to judge a demon on their television habits.



    –

    As a man, two demons, and two spirits walk away from the display of the Father's wrath, a surfer watches from a distance. They aren't taking notice of him, probably due to the surfboard and a building blocking their line of sight. But they had been looking over where he had Fallen some time ago.

    It is rather amusing. What's the first thing you do after being cast out of Heaven? You take up surfing, of course! Mainly, he took it up as something to do. Something to take his mind off of everything that had happened. But it turns out, he was pretty good at it. It's a lot more fun dealing with waves on a surfboard than on foot.

    Should he reach out to them? He knew who one of them was. Krampus was always a good dude, even if the angels and most of the saints refused to see it. They were too blinded by "demon" to see "good person". That was one of the many things that Heaven was stuck in its ways on. One of the many, many things.

    But what if He was watching? It was something he'd been worried about ever since he Fell. Now He was not as omni-everything as He claimed. But he'd already put a lot of effort into keeping people from realizing what's happened. What if He realized someone knew about his little spat of rage? Would He act, consequences be damned?

    He doesn't know.

    And that scares him.

    --

    QM's Notes: Well, this is going to be interesting. Updates may be a bit slow, but I want to do this well!
     
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    • wow, that's some drama. lore too, of course.
    if anyone's worried about divine reprisal I wouldn't be particularly unless this is really big (in which case it's probably worth some degree of risk), this version of the Abrahamic god seems particularly hands off based on the "expects everyone to just do what they say" deal they've got going
     
    hleghe said:
    wow, that's some drama. lore too, of course.
    if anyone's worried about divine reprisal I wouldn't be particularly unless this is really big (in which case it's probably worth some degree of risk), this version of the Abrahamic god seems particularly hands off based on the "expects everyone to just do what they say" deal they've got going
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    He's also... finite, in a pretty big way. He has a profound ability to punish his own people, but it doesn't go but so far.

    Also, this is not a world in which the abrahamic god works significant miracles with any frequency. It would look a lot different if it was.
     
    The Froggy Ninja said:
    Uh... Fuck. Shit. Is that Yeshua? Because notably the only significant figure in Heaven who doesn't hate Krampus is The Son.
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    So there's two things going on here, and it's important to separate them for the purposes of this story.

    - There's Yahweh. He's the actual creator deity. He made All The Things.
    - There's The Father. He is not the creator deity, though he likes to tell people he is. He has angels who work for him, and his control over them (when he chooses to flex it) is profound. He has demons who used to work for him but got cast out, and are still under the same system. His control over them is still pretty significant, but appears to be somewhat more limited. Actual power levels are unclear, but he's certainly swinging harder than we are.

    If smiting us somehow becomes The Father's sole priority, then that's likely to be a pretty bad day for us, but he's got a lot of things that he cares about and we are (at most) only one of them.
     
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    So the Father has cast out the Son, but what is the Holy Spirit doing right now? It is the most mysterious of the Trinity, but it does do a lot of the physical work. I wouldn't be surprised if it saw this coming and left when no-one was looking.
     
    Well that's a version of this mythos that I've never seen before. It does make me wonder how exactly the Trinity works here, and for that matter what the actual Creator God is doing, is He more of a "clockmaker God"? As in create and leave? Or something else?
     
    Sirrocco said:
    - There's Yahweh. He's the actual creator deity. He made All The Things.
    - There's The Father. He is not the creator deity, though he likes to tell people he is. He has angels who work for him, and his control over them (when he chooses to flex it) is profound. He has demons who used to work for him but got cast out, and are still under the same system. His control over them is still pretty significant, but appears to be somewhat more limited. Actual power levels are unclear, but he's certainly swinging harder than we are.
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    Uhhh? No? Yahweh is explicitly stated to be the name of The Father.
    Novus Ordo Mundi said:
    "He lied about it all, Michael! Creating the world, being the only God, all of it! I've seen it with my own eyes, brother!" Helel was now only inches from his face, spitting venomous fury that could only come from such a deep betrayal. "He even lied about where the Son came from. Does He even know that Yahweh created Him?"

    You gasp. Even though you were with Helel, it still surprised you that he would speak the Father's Name so casually.
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