The God Diversion
- Thread starter Birdsie
- Start date
- Original
I'm saying we will never be able to defeat the metaphysicist.
WHISPER
IS VERY TRANQUIL!
Uh what do you mean "A terrible person"? That Meta is one?
Rihaku
The Internet
Triangulation:
*On 10/30 Birdsie remarked 'you guys are almost as good as the Metaphysician was' on Discord, in reference to Sol getting one of boosted Eldritch or Dual Transcendence
*We later achieved both Dual Transcendence and Devotion (an EFB level effect) in one build vote
*We then got a 20% discount on Arcanum for that build vote
Given the immense variance of configurations possible for this vote, Birdsie was likely referring to "overall power level" or "overall XP" for the Sol vs Meta comparison. In "overall power," given we were already almost as good as Meta and then got an EFB and 3100 more XP, it is likely that Sol has overtaken past-Meta.
In "access to exotic effects" particularly, it may be possible that past-Meta was still ahead of Sol due to being hyper-focused on those via his Role and Aspect selection, but this would still depend heavily on which build Sol selected. A burst build with Fire can reach higher highs than King of Winter with its focus on consistency and Will generation. It's possible that a Wands Devotion Sol following a more optimized version of Simple and Good II could have stronger spellcasting than Meta had reality warping, at least while the Fire buff lasted.
I will say intuitively it seems unlikely we were 'almost as good as Meta' before getting an extra EFB and are still behind him after getting the EFB and the discount, which may be why voters seem confused.
*On 10/30 Birdsie remarked 'you guys are almost as good as the Metaphysician was' on Discord, in reference to Sol getting one of boosted Eldritch or Dual Transcendence
*We later achieved both Dual Transcendence and Devotion (an EFB level effect) in one build vote
*We then got a 20% discount on Arcanum for that build vote
Given the immense variance of configurations possible for this vote, Birdsie was likely referring to "overall power level" or "overall XP" for the Sol vs Meta comparison. In "overall power," given we were already almost as good as Meta and then got an EFB and 3100 more XP, it is likely that Sol has overtaken past-Meta.
In "access to exotic effects" particularly, it may be possible that past-Meta was still ahead of Sol due to being hyper-focused on those via his Role and Aspect selection, but this would still depend heavily on which build Sol selected. A burst build with Fire can reach higher highs than King of Winter with its focus on consistency and Will generation. It's possible that a Wands Devotion Sol following a more optimized version of Simple and Good II could have stronger spellcasting than Meta had reality warping, at least while the Fire buff lasted.
I will say intuitively it seems unlikely we were 'almost as good as Meta' before getting an extra EFB and are still behind him after getting the EFB and the discount, which may be why voters seem confused.
Last edited:
Yes, I mean Metaphysics, so much effort, so many donations and all that we have achieved is "you are practically as good as he is."
I was hoping that we could surpass him in learning speed and beat his record, but now I doubt that this is possible.
- Location
- 1
perhaps Birdsie was originally remarking on Solomon's overall effectiveness at growth and world-plunder, rather than his resulting power level. Given that, the Devotion doesn't fully count(or if world-plunder, doesn't count at all); Solomon already had a role with access to Devotions(and the Metaphysician's role was pretty optimised too), he just needed to pick one for 'only' 7 SC(and we already know the Metaphysician had One EFB: being the Metaphysician. So our Role selection only matches him, maybe is less if it was an EFurthererB). Similarly, the discount only counts in the former case.
It's also possible Birdsie was already assuming we'd take a Devotion by the time he said that, in which case we're only a 20% discount on about half our expenditures ahead of his earlier mention. (plus, we're taking the one Devotion that boosts something the Metaphysician definitely already had- more will than a sloth. So we might be putting a bit less into magical powers than expected.)
- Location
- Bologna
[X] Neo Penultimate Sloth
I like sanctum for sol. ^^
I like sanctum for sol. ^^
Does anyone know what intelligence gives in this system? Is it the speed of reaction, simplification of research or something else?
GildedSergeant
Tarnished Gold and Rattling Bones
- Location
- Over There
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Probably improves the ease of researching and making new spells & techniques, or perhaps it increases student credit gain or makes doing classes easier? A lot of ppl in the discord seem to think it improves our architecture as well
Ameliorata (pt. 2)
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Ameliorata (pt. 2)
After several minutes of stringent incantation and motions of shaping, the moment to decide came at last. Solomon felt a strange and uncharacteristic thrill of fear and excitement, as the future was rife with possibilities and dangers, most of them impossible to navigate save through luck: a heavy cloud of potential obscured his eyes, every path in constant flux. This action - this eldritch Rite of Absorption - was unequivocally the most meaningful and impactful thing he'd ever accomplished.
Closing his eyes, he concluded the rite's invocation with a syllable of finality, sealing their fates and waging them on the pyre of ambition.
From there, a feeling overwhelmed him and Penelope, a stomach-churning and unsettling horripilation, as if one had done something unthinkably wrong and misguided. It reached out - a massive intangible tendril of something that might've been an eldritch deity if allowed to evolve beyond the cradle of its yolk - and speared into their souls.
Like an industrial pipeline or a dual umbilical cord, it fed its mass into them, inhuman darkness entering human spirits. In any other situation, it would've mercilessly hollowed them out like a reveler pitting out a defenseless pumpkin: elemental chaos of the universe overwhelming foolish man, as punishment for hubris.
Here, with the scaffolding of Enrollment to act as a channel, it was different.
It felt like a sublime shattering, a cascade of discoveries that cracked the contour of individuality and would've driven them insane if not for the innovative vanguard of protections made beforehand: the humanizing and controlling effect of the Magician diffracting unearthly insights through a lens that swelled with new volume to encompass whole new trees of possibility. His knees shook, mind inflating like a cosmic supernova.
It felt almost as though Solomon's Aspects were gateways, and through the cave of endless potential streamed crowds made up of individual pellets of unrefined power, for him to direct like an orchestra conductor. Thinking fast on his feet, he split the streams; ponderous and struck with a cerebral analogue of fever, yet still attentive enough to optimize reasonably well. Outside of his control, one of them wilfully formed into an entirely new mass, one borne of discoveries derived from this anomalous ritual and dark world: a nearly sentient, pestilent influence within his soul, an outsider lodged within.
As if to match the event inside the spirit, within the physical world, a chest-throbbing cancer bloomed within Solomon's heart, a deadly eldritch sickness, tar-black tendrils creeping across the chambers and spreading darkness alongside crimson erythrocytes. He felt an aching sensation in every limb as it spread.
For seconds, he feared miscalculation; an infection of his body by the reservoir, a demonic possession that'd result in death or something worse.
Then Enrollment reached out and shone with a crystalline light, a stained-shadow not-radiance that wrested the parasite into an Aspect of itself. He burst out laughing as the ache became a blissful sensation, the symbiotic tendril now connected and piggybacking off his cerebellum sputtering out confusion at its new, intellective existence.
At Solomon's side, he saw Penelope uplifted with unearthly radiance, a celestial light that sang a hymn of disapproval at perceiving imperfection within reality. Her eyes glowed white like lightbulbs, and the back of her blouse ripped open to reveal an angel's majestic wings, small and immature, yet rapidly expanding and sprouting feathers.
His every mental element flashed with a sudden warning, predicting folly, as the Architecture finally resettled.
Ahead of them, the mountain shook and crumbled, entire facets of its mass falling down in a rocky avalanche. Solomon swung a hand and found the spell coming easily, simple will and desire formed into effect, a kinetic wave splitting the stonefall and dispelling the powder. He beheld the consequences of their ritual within moments, each one coming and threading into the next, thought accelerated beyond his previously mortal wits, almost difficult to accustom to. Nonetheless, he was forced to do it fast, shooting down a rain of rocks and boulders, as Penelope concluded the last stage of her metamorphosis: seraphic halo exploding with pale, wan light.
Tendrils as black as the midnight sky and as thick as the trunks of trees reached upwards like ribbons flung by a vent's exhaust, then set themselves levelly against the earth, before pushing with earthshaking force, slowly disgorging a mass almost as large as the mountain itself from the cavernous depths of the newfound quarry, a being coated in dark tar, overflowing with the substance like a grisly meatball. Its surface rippled with unnatural jaundiced eyes, each one swiveling to curiously drink in the world's vistas.
"I might've fucked up a little," admitted Solomon, words he assumed weren't the sort you wanted to hear from a wizard. "I sorta didn't predict the existence of a secondary, smaller reservoir."
It seemed the rite had awoken the secondary layer of eldritch matter, conferring rudimentary ensoulment, and subsequently caused it to absorb some of the primary reserve in a dismal reflection of their own action. The curse of above and below. His fundamental sense of destiny whispered of fates unfolding, that his or anyone else's attempts to stifle this being's further expansion wouldn't meet a lot of success, absorbing it was utterly in vain, and slaying it before the passage of a year at minimum was a nigh-impossible dream. That meant sealing it away or sending it down to slumber was the only recourse. As distasteful as it was, it seemed their juniors would have to clean it up.
Penelope's eyes widened. "Shit, Solomon, watch out!"
She cast out an aegis of pale heavenly light, a dividing miracle like a shield and a sword in unison, and cut a massive tentacle down the middle as it came. Its sides fell around them, the interior seamlessly cauterized, yet revealing hints of organs and chittering, animate veins.
In one moment of contemplation, he predicted six tracks of conversation. There was no convincing Penelope to abandon this monstrosity and allow it to feast on some unlucky Gothic villages. Even if there was, embers of guilt ate away at his heart still, from the memories of what inaction had resulted in last time.
They'd need to seal it away. Within moments, a plan of action was assembled.
"I'll draw a sealing array north of here," he promptly informed. "It's stupid but not senseless. If you hurt it, you should be able to guide it."
She nodded and looked skyward, at a firmament full of stars now shining with attention, as if looking down from above and judging their every move. After a second of focused contemplation, a single bat of the wings carried her over a hundred yards up. A second flapping motion swerved her off to the side, to avoid a diagonal tendril.
The Eldritch symbiote chimed with danger sense, a fuzz of warning around the edges of his consciousness. Solomon translocated to avoid a similar attack, its aftermath leaving a crater-divot as deep as a house, then moved once more, as swift as the wind, orthogonal to the creature's emergence point.
The symbiote now inhabiting Solomon's central nervous system and skeleton, spreading its essence through his circulatory system, enhanced every action - a potentiall premature estimate ranked his capabilities as around fifteen or sixteen times those of an adult peak-human male. He felt a corybantic euphoria, an exuberant and triumphant delight at being able to sprint almost half as fast as sound, a physical exercise that seemed easy and satisfying. He almost lost himself before a fuzz of warning made him swivel around and dodge a tentacle the size of a superlative coast redwood, dashing on through the space it would've fallen on with a surge of compressed, fluid wind.
After sprinting for almost a full kilometer, he surprisingly bumped into a shocked, wide-eyed Damien, who'd been running at a fraction of Solomon's own velocity in the opposite direction. They stared at each other for a second, neither sanguine about the situation nor seemingly certain about what to say.
"Solomon, what the fu-"
"Damien, I need you-"
A mutual interruption. Seeing Damien's reticence to speak again, Solomon continued, "I need you to help me. We've released a monster."
The Monster Beneath the Mountain, as Solomon was starting to call it mentally, had mostly extricated itself from its spawning pool now, and was crawling along the earth at a giant snail's pace, sedate if not for the ongoing battle with an archangel happening overhead.
It shot impaling tendrils and the occasional creatic spur of incarnadine bone at Penelope, who weaved around the attacks and replied with lances of sanctifying light; a lone and determined star battling an uncaring alien cosmos. It opened a dismal mouth full of crooked teeth, unleashing a terrifying but mundane roar of an emotion recognizable as anger. In response, she raised both of her arms and collected the light, as for a single instant, every photon in the radius of three leagues rushed into her hands. The resulting headache-bright orb was like a sun in miniature, casting everything with dusty, faded light: almost certainly seen for miles around.
He sensed Justice manifest, as she declared an edict that radiated across reality, hammering its own truth and asserting its supremacy over base matter, a feeling undeniable and materializing its noumenal content in every strand of thought. The edict ordered it back to slumber eternal.
She charged the photonic blast for a second more, and siphoned the miraculous power of her own mantle to empower it - then, mercilessly eyeing the now-unmoving creature, threw down the obliterating light, like a perforating thermobaric blast that almost certainly could've erased a city district.
And by the time the light settled down, all they perceived was a mass of stilled echinuliform clumps, individual tendrils still half-twitching with remnant animation; crispy or smoking depending on the preceding level of proximity to the monster's center mass.
"Nevermind," said Solomon, with blatant, unconcealed shock, as he perceived destiny's previous statements wipe themselves away, and the Architecture shift to accommodate the existence of the new world that Penelope had created. "I- I think we're good."
After a couple of moments assessing the destruction she'd wrought, Penelope dipped low, dove across the sky and promptly landed next to them, all twelve cloud-feathered wings fluttering with an apparent mixture of agitation and fatigue. She let out a deep sigh, looked at them, and experienced some kind of eye-opening revelation.
"Sorry about that, Sol," she said apologetically. "I don't know if you had any plans for it. Damn thing pissed me off with that roar. I wasn't thinking. Got a bit drunk on all the new power, I guess."
"No, it's... alright," said Solomon with slow and careful words, strangely acute in newfound awareness of how eminently he was in all-annihilating light-beaming range.
"It's not actually," said Damien, full of alarm and simultaneous indignation, "I have witnessed Yog-Sothoth explode. Either of you care to explain just what the fuck?"
"I did a ritual," said Solomon lamely.
"That doesn't even begin to explain just what the fuck, Solomon."
"He empowered us with a ritual," said Penelope. "And accidentally woke up a monster."
"That's a little better!"
She nodded.
"Anyway, we should return to the Academy, before half the countryside comes to investigate."
"Good idea," said Solomon. "We can explain more on the way there."
---
Somewhere in a castle on the horizon, a confused and slightly blood-drunk Lord Dracula the Third pondered the most strange disappearance of an entire mountain - he could almost swear it'd been there. He looked outside the same window right before he departed to celebrate among the peasants and partake in the night's festivities.
And then suddenly the torches had grown dimmer, the earth shook with tremors, and there was an unexplained luminescence across the sky. It cut the festivities short, as more peasants from the local villages came swarming in for shelter behind the walls.
"My Lord," said a pale-faced ghoul servant, entering the chamber with a bow. "I came to inform you, that the people request your permission to assemble and send out a team of scouts to investigate the reports of an, ah... 'monster explosion' over in Buffayette county."
"They must have amnesia," he replied with a snort, "They forgot that I'm him. Fine, send them out."
---
Good news, Penelope saved you from an otherwise atrocious and wholly inadequate sealing attempt!
Anyway, now that you've made it out, you should contemplate what you'll tell everyone on return:
[ ] Full Disclosure - Let everyone know you're awesome and fully capable of erasing them from God's green Earth with a mere thought.
*Incentivizes and encourages your classmates to work harder. No one wants to be outdone by a Slacking Loafer!
*Easier to deal with the logistics of testing out of the first-year curriculum and moving onto the Second Year stuff.
*Nets you a lot of power-seeking friends who'll want to bask in your (and Penny's) glory.
[ ] Secret Concord - Live in peace for a while more, safeguarded by an angel's actions.
*Pay Damien off with a magical trinket or three, or simply the porn you have on your phone. Bribery will suffice for him to shut his mouth.
*Less allies, but also less enemies!
*There is value in being underestimated.
Although Penelope is indifferent to your approach, she'll duly exercise the fullness of her powers in an immediate and productive fashion unless you convince her otherwise, mostly chasing down the Engine and giving it a harsh lesson in schoolyard etiquette.
Will: 100
Credit: 1.1
XP: 0
Given that your school trip has resulted in such progress, it'll be assumed you want to reassess the contents of your November schedule. You've progressed sufficiently to make a strong case for testing out of the first-year curriculum, although the Educator will (correctly) point out that most of your practical capabilities do not have a one-to-one translation to a theoretical comprehension of subject material, meaning there'll still be much you have to catch up on.
[ ] Classwork [-15 Will] - Standardized and individualized. At least a single action should be devoted to this each turn unless you wish to fall behind: more if you wish to excel.
-[ ] Standardized - Attend classes, turn in your homework on time, and prepare for the upcoming pop quizzes and tests. Learn Tarot history, mysticism, occult meanings, and more standard subjects! Modest advancement in your Enrollment.
-[ ] Individualized [-15 Will] - A set of more individualized one-on-one sessions with the Educator. The extra Will cost represents the effort spent on studying and cramming to earn these sessions. Awesome advancement in your Enrollment, as efficient as about 2.5 classes of standardized Education.
[ ] Improve Curriculum [-300 Will] - Move onto the second-year curriculum. Can be 'paid' in installments, but is only finalized once you foot the entire Will cost. Marginally increases the Will cost of lessons but also significantly raises the amount of XP reaped out of all collective endeavors, especially lessons. Cost slowly decreases on its own as you approach the second year of Education.
-[ ] Remedial Classwork - Almost no effort expended on Enrollment, if any.
[ ] Bonding [-5 Will] - Deepen your bond with a student or faculty member you know!
-[ ] Penelope
-[ ] Damien
-[ ] Harrison
-[ ] Write-in
[ ] Interaction [-10 Will] - Attempt to make contacts with your upperclassmen. Gain social advantages and earn favors!
-[ ] Visit Judas [-15 Will] - Maybe you should visit Judas and learn more about the dispute that led to this?
-[ ] Investigate Apostles [-25 Will] - Full effort spent on investigating the Apostles who accosted you. Learn more about the players on the chessboard. Can be delegated to Marids now, costing substantially less Will.
-[ ] Speak to Apostles [-5 Will] - Agree to, or deny their demands. If you'd like, you can instead ask them questions or interact normally.
--[ ] Agree
--[ ] Refuse
--[ ] Write-in
[ ] Exploration [-20 Will] - The Surveyors are looking for new members, although you don't have to be a member to get in on explorations. An exciting opportunity, as these worlds can hide arcane secrets that lead to furthering Enrollment, as well as the occasional artifact or potential ally. Many of these can be kept post-graduation.
-[ ] Join the Club - Commits a single action to Exploration, although at half the cost in Will. Leaving costs a variable amount of Will.
[ ] Decompression [+10 Will] - Default if nothing is selected. Just slack off.
[ ] Write-in
---
Here's a summary of your Eldritch Techniques, for posterity:
After several minutes of stringent incantation and motions of shaping, the moment to decide came at last. Solomon felt a strange and uncharacteristic thrill of fear and excitement, as the future was rife with possibilities and dangers, most of them impossible to navigate save through luck: a heavy cloud of potential obscured his eyes, every path in constant flux. This action - this eldritch Rite of Absorption - was unequivocally the most meaningful and impactful thing he'd ever accomplished.
Closing his eyes, he concluded the rite's invocation with a syllable of finality, sealing their fates and waging them on the pyre of ambition.
From there, a feeling overwhelmed him and Penelope, a stomach-churning and unsettling horripilation, as if one had done something unthinkably wrong and misguided. It reached out - a massive intangible tendril of something that might've been an eldritch deity if allowed to evolve beyond the cradle of its yolk - and speared into their souls.
Like an industrial pipeline or a dual umbilical cord, it fed its mass into them, inhuman darkness entering human spirits. In any other situation, it would've mercilessly hollowed them out like a reveler pitting out a defenseless pumpkin: elemental chaos of the universe overwhelming foolish man, as punishment for hubris.
Here, with the scaffolding of Enrollment to act as a channel, it was different.
It felt like a sublime shattering, a cascade of discoveries that cracked the contour of individuality and would've driven them insane if not for the innovative vanguard of protections made beforehand: the humanizing and controlling effect of the Magician diffracting unearthly insights through a lens that swelled with new volume to encompass whole new trees of possibility. His knees shook, mind inflating like a cosmic supernova.
It felt almost as though Solomon's Aspects were gateways, and through the cave of endless potential streamed crowds made up of individual pellets of unrefined power, for him to direct like an orchestra conductor. Thinking fast on his feet, he split the streams; ponderous and struck with a cerebral analogue of fever, yet still attentive enough to optimize reasonably well. Outside of his control, one of them wilfully formed into an entirely new mass, one borne of discoveries derived from this anomalous ritual and dark world: a nearly sentient, pestilent influence within his soul, an outsider lodged within.
As if to match the event inside the spirit, within the physical world, a chest-throbbing cancer bloomed within Solomon's heart, a deadly eldritch sickness, tar-black tendrils creeping across the chambers and spreading darkness alongside crimson erythrocytes. He felt an aching sensation in every limb as it spread.
For seconds, he feared miscalculation; an infection of his body by the reservoir, a demonic possession that'd result in death or something worse.
Then Enrollment reached out and shone with a crystalline light, a stained-shadow not-radiance that wrested the parasite into an Aspect of itself. He burst out laughing as the ache became a blissful sensation, the symbiotic tendril now connected and piggybacking off his cerebellum sputtering out confusion at its new, intellective existence.
At Solomon's side, he saw Penelope uplifted with unearthly radiance, a celestial light that sang a hymn of disapproval at perceiving imperfection within reality. Her eyes glowed white like lightbulbs, and the back of her blouse ripped open to reveal an angel's majestic wings, small and immature, yet rapidly expanding and sprouting feathers.
His every mental element flashed with a sudden warning, predicting folly, as the Architecture finally resettled.
Ahead of them, the mountain shook and crumbled, entire facets of its mass falling down in a rocky avalanche. Solomon swung a hand and found the spell coming easily, simple will and desire formed into effect, a kinetic wave splitting the stonefall and dispelling the powder. He beheld the consequences of their ritual within moments, each one coming and threading into the next, thought accelerated beyond his previously mortal wits, almost difficult to accustom to. Nonetheless, he was forced to do it fast, shooting down a rain of rocks and boulders, as Penelope concluded the last stage of her metamorphosis: seraphic halo exploding with pale, wan light.
Tendrils as black as the midnight sky and as thick as the trunks of trees reached upwards like ribbons flung by a vent's exhaust, then set themselves levelly against the earth, before pushing with earthshaking force, slowly disgorging a mass almost as large as the mountain itself from the cavernous depths of the newfound quarry, a being coated in dark tar, overflowing with the substance like a grisly meatball. Its surface rippled with unnatural jaundiced eyes, each one swiveling to curiously drink in the world's vistas.
"I might've fucked up a little," admitted Solomon, words he assumed weren't the sort you wanted to hear from a wizard. "I sorta didn't predict the existence of a secondary, smaller reservoir."
It seemed the rite had awoken the secondary layer of eldritch matter, conferring rudimentary ensoulment, and subsequently caused it to absorb some of the primary reserve in a dismal reflection of their own action. The curse of above and below. His fundamental sense of destiny whispered of fates unfolding, that his or anyone else's attempts to stifle this being's further expansion wouldn't meet a lot of success, absorbing it was utterly in vain, and slaying it before the passage of a year at minimum was a nigh-impossible dream. That meant sealing it away or sending it down to slumber was the only recourse. As distasteful as it was, it seemed their juniors would have to clean it up.
Penelope's eyes widened. "Shit, Solomon, watch out!"
She cast out an aegis of pale heavenly light, a dividing miracle like a shield and a sword in unison, and cut a massive tentacle down the middle as it came. Its sides fell around them, the interior seamlessly cauterized, yet revealing hints of organs and chittering, animate veins.
In one moment of contemplation, he predicted six tracks of conversation. There was no convincing Penelope to abandon this monstrosity and allow it to feast on some unlucky Gothic villages. Even if there was, embers of guilt ate away at his heart still, from the memories of what inaction had resulted in last time.
They'd need to seal it away. Within moments, a plan of action was assembled.
"I'll draw a sealing array north of here," he promptly informed. "It's stupid but not senseless. If you hurt it, you should be able to guide it."
She nodded and looked skyward, at a firmament full of stars now shining with attention, as if looking down from above and judging their every move. After a second of focused contemplation, a single bat of the wings carried her over a hundred yards up. A second flapping motion swerved her off to the side, to avoid a diagonal tendril.
The Eldritch symbiote chimed with danger sense, a fuzz of warning around the edges of his consciousness. Solomon translocated to avoid a similar attack, its aftermath leaving a crater-divot as deep as a house, then moved once more, as swift as the wind, orthogonal to the creature's emergence point.
The symbiote now inhabiting Solomon's central nervous system and skeleton, spreading its essence through his circulatory system, enhanced every action - a potentiall premature estimate ranked his capabilities as around fifteen or sixteen times those of an adult peak-human male. He felt a corybantic euphoria, an exuberant and triumphant delight at being able to sprint almost half as fast as sound, a physical exercise that seemed easy and satisfying. He almost lost himself before a fuzz of warning made him swivel around and dodge a tentacle the size of a superlative coast redwood, dashing on through the space it would've fallen on with a surge of compressed, fluid wind.
After sprinting for almost a full kilometer, he surprisingly bumped into a shocked, wide-eyed Damien, who'd been running at a fraction of Solomon's own velocity in the opposite direction. They stared at each other for a second, neither sanguine about the situation nor seemingly certain about what to say.
"Solomon, what the fu-"
"Damien, I need you-"
A mutual interruption. Seeing Damien's reticence to speak again, Solomon continued, "I need you to help me. We've released a monster."
The Monster Beneath the Mountain, as Solomon was starting to call it mentally, had mostly extricated itself from its spawning pool now, and was crawling along the earth at a giant snail's pace, sedate if not for the ongoing battle with an archangel happening overhead.
It shot impaling tendrils and the occasional creatic spur of incarnadine bone at Penelope, who weaved around the attacks and replied with lances of sanctifying light; a lone and determined star battling an uncaring alien cosmos. It opened a dismal mouth full of crooked teeth, unleashing a terrifying but mundane roar of an emotion recognizable as anger. In response, she raised both of her arms and collected the light, as for a single instant, every photon in the radius of three leagues rushed into her hands. The resulting headache-bright orb was like a sun in miniature, casting everything with dusty, faded light: almost certainly seen for miles around.
He sensed Justice manifest, as she declared an edict that radiated across reality, hammering its own truth and asserting its supremacy over base matter, a feeling undeniable and materializing its noumenal content in every strand of thought. The edict ordered it back to slumber eternal.
She charged the photonic blast for a second more, and siphoned the miraculous power of her own mantle to empower it - then, mercilessly eyeing the now-unmoving creature, threw down the obliterating light, like a perforating thermobaric blast that almost certainly could've erased a city district.
And by the time the light settled down, all they perceived was a mass of stilled echinuliform clumps, individual tendrils still half-twitching with remnant animation; crispy or smoking depending on the preceding level of proximity to the monster's center mass.
"Nevermind," said Solomon, with blatant, unconcealed shock, as he perceived destiny's previous statements wipe themselves away, and the Architecture shift to accommodate the existence of the new world that Penelope had created. "I- I think we're good."
After a couple of moments assessing the destruction she'd wrought, Penelope dipped low, dove across the sky and promptly landed next to them, all twelve cloud-feathered wings fluttering with an apparent mixture of agitation and fatigue. She let out a deep sigh, looked at them, and experienced some kind of eye-opening revelation.
"Sorry about that, Sol," she said apologetically. "I don't know if you had any plans for it. Damn thing pissed me off with that roar. I wasn't thinking. Got a bit drunk on all the new power, I guess."
"No, it's... alright," said Solomon with slow and careful words, strangely acute in newfound awareness of how eminently he was in all-annihilating light-beaming range.
"It's not actually," said Damien, full of alarm and simultaneous indignation, "I have witnessed Yog-Sothoth explode. Either of you care to explain just what the fuck?"
"I did a ritual," said Solomon lamely.
"That doesn't even begin to explain just what the fuck, Solomon."
"He empowered us with a ritual," said Penelope. "And accidentally woke up a monster."
"That's a little better!"
She nodded.
"Anyway, we should return to the Academy, before half the countryside comes to investigate."
"Good idea," said Solomon. "We can explain more on the way there."
---
Somewhere in a castle on the horizon, a confused and slightly blood-drunk Lord Dracula the Third pondered the most strange disappearance of an entire mountain - he could almost swear it'd been there. He looked outside the same window right before he departed to celebrate among the peasants and partake in the night's festivities.
And then suddenly the torches had grown dimmer, the earth shook with tremors, and there was an unexplained luminescence across the sky. It cut the festivities short, as more peasants from the local villages came swarming in for shelter behind the walls.
"My Lord," said a pale-faced ghoul servant, entering the chamber with a bow. "I came to inform you, that the people request your permission to assemble and send out a team of scouts to investigate the reports of an, ah... 'monster explosion' over in Buffayette county."
"They must have amnesia," he replied with a snort, "They forgot that I'm him. Fine, send them out."
---
Good news, Penelope saved you from an otherwise atrocious and wholly inadequate sealing attempt!
Anyway, now that you've made it out, you should contemplate what you'll tell everyone on return:
[ ] Full Disclosure - Let everyone know you're awesome and fully capable of erasing them from God's green Earth with a mere thought.
*Incentivizes and encourages your classmates to work harder. No one wants to be outdone by a Slacking Loafer!
*Easier to deal with the logistics of testing out of the first-year curriculum and moving onto the Second Year stuff.
*Nets you a lot of power-seeking friends who'll want to bask in your (and Penny's) glory.
[ ] Secret Concord - Live in peace for a while more, safeguarded by an angel's actions.
*Pay Damien off with a magical trinket or three, or simply the porn you have on your phone. Bribery will suffice for him to shut his mouth.
*Less allies, but also less enemies!
*There is value in being underestimated.
Although Penelope is indifferent to your approach, she'll duly exercise the fullness of her powers in an immediate and productive fashion unless you convince her otherwise, mostly chasing down the Engine and giving it a harsh lesson in schoolyard etiquette.
Will: 100
Credit: 1.1
XP: 0
Given that your school trip has resulted in such progress, it'll be assumed you want to reassess the contents of your November schedule. You've progressed sufficiently to make a strong case for testing out of the first-year curriculum, although the Educator will (correctly) point out that most of your practical capabilities do not have a one-to-one translation to a theoretical comprehension of subject material, meaning there'll still be much you have to catch up on.
[ ] Classwork [-15 Will] - Standardized and individualized. At least a single action should be devoted to this each turn unless you wish to fall behind: more if you wish to excel.
-[ ] Standardized - Attend classes, turn in your homework on time, and prepare for the upcoming pop quizzes and tests. Learn Tarot history, mysticism, occult meanings, and more standard subjects! Modest advancement in your Enrollment.
-[ ] Individualized [-15 Will] - A set of more individualized one-on-one sessions with the Educator. The extra Will cost represents the effort spent on studying and cramming to earn these sessions. Awesome advancement in your Enrollment, as efficient as about 2.5 classes of standardized Education.
[ ] Improve Curriculum [-300 Will] - Move onto the second-year curriculum. Can be 'paid' in installments, but is only finalized once you foot the entire Will cost. Marginally increases the Will cost of lessons but also significantly raises the amount of XP reaped out of all collective endeavors, especially lessons. Cost slowly decreases on its own as you approach the second year of Education.
-[ ] Remedial Classwork - Almost no effort expended on Enrollment, if any.
[ ] Bonding [-5 Will] - Deepen your bond with a student or faculty member you know!
-[ ] Penelope
-[ ] Damien
-[ ] Harrison
-[ ] Write-in
[ ] Interaction [-10 Will] - Attempt to make contacts with your upperclassmen. Gain social advantages and earn favors!
-[ ] Visit Judas [-15 Will] - Maybe you should visit Judas and learn more about the dispute that led to this?
-[ ] Investigate Apostles [-25 Will] - Full effort spent on investigating the Apostles who accosted you. Learn more about the players on the chessboard. Can be delegated to Marids now, costing substantially less Will.
-[ ] Speak to Apostles [-5 Will] - Agree to, or deny their demands. If you'd like, you can instead ask them questions or interact normally.
--[ ] Agree
--[ ] Refuse
--[ ] Write-in
[ ] Exploration [-20 Will] - The Surveyors are looking for new members, although you don't have to be a member to get in on explorations. An exciting opportunity, as these worlds can hide arcane secrets that lead to furthering Enrollment, as well as the occasional artifact or potential ally. Many of these can be kept post-graduation.
-[ ] Join the Club - Commits a single action to Exploration, although at half the cost in Will. Leaving costs a variable amount of Will.
[ ] Decompression [+10 Will] - Default if nothing is selected. Just slack off.
[ ] Write-in
---
Here's a summary of your Eldritch Techniques, for posterity:
- Eldritch Technique: Basin 3 - Creates a symbiotic magical energy pool that can be channeled from, currently worth about .6 Arcanum of raw energy. Symbiotic mana is more difficult to dispel and naturally lends itself to transmutative effects, making it slightly more precious than your natural energy.
- Eldritch Technique: Assessor 3 - Spellcaster HUD aiding with deployment and precision of magic and spellcasting, enhanced symbiote analytic capabilities, Spiderman-like danger sense.
- Eldritch Technique: Enhancer 3 - Improves efforts at spellcasting via automatic correction of all relevant mind-states, invocations, movement patterns, and similar actions. Inefficient but universal.
- Eldritch Technique: Fluxator 3 - Immediate, non-magical manufacturing and externalization of fluid matter. Synergy with Potioncraft, allowing for instant field creation of any sufficiently analyzed alchemically-valid substance non-reliant on exotic ingredients, time, or labor.
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I say we name our eldritch buddy Goopey or Gooper.
And that's why semantic superpowers are the best. Never mess with someone that can state: "BE THIS" and make reality obey.
- Location
- not doing my homework
- Pronouns
- He/They
Alright let's get over everything 'important' like extant events or whatever.
Hot damn we just exploded an entire fucking mountain lmao. Imagine the Gothic Horror class talking with this Count fella and being told 'yeah there was a mountain there but now it is gone and also yog-shoggoth exploded'.
On that note, Damien is putting in that (solo) work! Dunno what work, exactly, but he's been moving about. Nice to see we can bribe him - though idk if the optimal move is secrecy.
Penny, at least, is enjoying herself - and of nuking stuff from orbit. And of course Symon, the lazy asshole, hasn't bloody spoken yet. Cringe!
Anyways onto some planning - this will probably be the bulk of my analysis.
To be clear - we are sitting on 80 will, but I'll still be trying to minimize will expended vs work done just in case something that needs doing comes up and we need to spend the stuff to get something actually significant done. I do think that, in light of what happened in Pangothica, we should join the Explorer's Club. It is half-off for the first use only, so that should make it easier to swallow, and it has potential social benefits as well (always handy).
Now the second action I think should be performed is, of course, interacting with Damien. We have an in (he just watched Penny exploded a Monster) and it would be best to keep an eye on him - he's the potential catalyst for a classwide explosion supposing Penny finds out about Frankie and Josh's stuff so it would be best to get solving that ASAP. He's also clearly good at what he does - he survived in Pangothica alone, after all, so at this point either he's absurdly lucky or competent as fuck. A useful ally, if nothing else.
The last action is a bit of a flex, to me - while just investigating the Apostles now that it is at a discount would be handy, it WOULD spend something like half of our current reserve on the turn in total (-35 Will on that action alone). A better plan could just be the two cheaper actions I stated - totaling 15 Will - and Decomping for the last one. Alternatively, we could do a Remedial.
Thus, my plans are below. Assume that I am giving you free reign of which of the Secrecy votes you prefer to vote for. The first plan costs 15 Will but regains it all and some change from Decompression + Idle Comfort + Cups tomfoolery if my maths are right. The second costs 30. I threw in an Investigate Apostle plan, which does assume we're going full secrecy in order to prolong how long it takes for the Apostles to sniff us out before Sol is ready, as a bit of a meme (it costs 35 Will which is recouped by the twin power naps). Do note that these are my first written plans and if they're formatted wrong please let me know.
[X] Plan Finished Business
-[X] Full Disclosure
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Penny
---[X] Ask Penny to investigate the Apostles pretty please
-[X] Exploration
--[X] Join the Club
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Damien
-[X] Ask Samantha to make us 1 baller wizard fit.It's for optimization i swear
[X] Plan Touch (some) Grass
-[X] Full Disclosure
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Damien
-[X] Exploration
--[X] Join the Club
-[X] Classwork
--[X] Remedial
-[X] Ask Samantha to make us 1 baller wizard fit.It's for optimization i swear
Hot damn we just exploded an entire fucking mountain lmao. Imagine the Gothic Horror class talking with this Count fella and being told 'yeah there was a mountain there but now it is gone and also yog-shoggoth exploded'.
On that note, Damien is putting in that (solo) work! Dunno what work, exactly, but he's been moving about. Nice to see we can bribe him - though idk if the optimal move is secrecy.
Penny, at least, is enjoying herself - and of nuking stuff from orbit. And of course Symon, the lazy asshole, hasn't bloody spoken yet. Cringe!
Anyways onto some planning - this will probably be the bulk of my analysis.
To be clear - we are sitting on 80 will, but I'll still be trying to minimize will expended vs work done just in case something that needs doing comes up and we need to spend the stuff to get something actually significant done. I do think that, in light of what happened in Pangothica, we should join the Explorer's Club. It is half-off for the first use only, so that should make it easier to swallow, and it has potential social benefits as well (always handy).
Now the second action I think should be performed is, of course, interacting with Damien. We have an in (he just watched Penny exploded a Monster) and it would be best to keep an eye on him - he's the potential catalyst for a classwide explosion supposing Penny finds out about Frankie and Josh's stuff so it would be best to get solving that ASAP. He's also clearly good at what he does - he survived in Pangothica alone, after all, so at this point either he's absurdly lucky or competent as fuck. A useful ally, if nothing else.
The last action is a bit of a flex, to me - while just investigating the Apostles now that it is at a discount would be handy, it WOULD spend something like half of our current reserve on the turn in total (-35 Will on that action alone). A better plan could just be the two cheaper actions I stated - totaling 15 Will - and Decomping for the last one. Alternatively, we could do a Remedial.
Thus, my plans are below. Assume that I am giving you free reign of which of the Secrecy votes you prefer to vote for. The first plan costs 15 Will but regains it all and some change from Decompression + Idle Comfort + Cups tomfoolery if my maths are right. The second costs 30. I threw in an Investigate Apostle plan, which does assume we're going full secrecy in order to prolong how long it takes for the Apostles to sniff us out before Sol is ready, as a bit of a meme (it costs 35 Will which is recouped by the twin power naps). Do note that these are my first written plans and if they're formatted wrong please let me know.
[X] Plan Finished Business
-[X] Full Disclosure
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Penny
---[X] Ask Penny to investigate the Apostles pretty please
-[X] Exploration
--[X] Join the Club
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Damien
-[X] Ask Samantha to make us 1 baller wizard fit.
[X] Plan Touch (some) Grass
-[X] Full Disclosure
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Damien
-[X] Exploration
--[X] Join the Club
-[X] Classwork
--[X] Remedial
-[X] Ask Samantha to make us 1 baller wizard fit.
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[X] Plan Touch (some) Grass
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Damien
-[X] Exploration
--[X] Join the Club
-[X] Classwork
--[X] Remedial
-[X] Bonding
--[X] Damien
-[X] Exploration
--[X] Join the Club
-[X] Classwork
--[X] Remedial
- Location
- 1
[X] Exploration
-[X] Join the Club
I don't have strong opinions on anything else (besides, I guess, Improve Curriculum, where my strong opinion is 'no point paying it in instalments unless we're planning to use that to drop to 0 Will for bonus Coffee Jello Will and we shouldn't do that right now because Coffee Jello is of reduced efficiency from overuse').
-[X] Join the Club
I don't have strong opinions on anything else (besides, I guess, Improve Curriculum, where my strong opinion is 'no point paying it in instalments unless we're planning to use that to drop to 0 Will for bonus Coffee Jello Will and we shouldn't do that right now because Coffee Jello is of reduced efficiency from overuse').
Sol should be excited this moment is pure Hype after all.
This shows really well just how bullshit what Sol is doing is. He's pulling this off because he's a Genius with an Overpowered Role that is good at this kind of thing, has access to items that help with this and has Architecture bullshit. This is eating an Energy Field a lot bigger than your head and then pulling it off.
I'm getting some I Alone throughout Heaven and Earth Am The honored One vibes from Sol getting Symon and reacting to his changes.
Penny is also getting swole as hell, she's become a proper magical girl now.
Fate is a bitch like that, also really love Sol's sense for Fate being shown off.
Solomon upon seeing the Eldritch Monster he accidentally created, "oops my bad guys". Truly Solomon is the pinnacle of what it means to be a Wizard.
I'm really happy Sol has decided to make a choice this time. It's also showing that past choices matter and character development is a thing.
Sol is enjoying the physical buffs from Symon.
Penny is so OP please don't nerf. Looks like she leveled Lawbringer a lot given that she was able to enforce a Law.
Damien didn't sign up for this bullshit. Also love the references.
I think Penny bought enough levels of Truthseeker to see Solomon and Damien's issues, given the eye opening revelation line.
Okay just want to say I love this Dracula he's really cool. Man was just living his unlife and then this Mountain straight up disappears.
The Power of Friendship and getting other people to do work for you is Mighty.
It makes the Class more badass, lets us move on to the Second Year stuff, and gets us minions. Sure it paints a target on Sol's back but in my opinion it's worth it.
Being secretive about this has it's benefits given the fact it would draw a crazy amount of heat on Sol.
Penny is going to do her own thing and I'm okay with that. Her getting back at the Engine establishes the Tarot Class as badasses. Getting her not to do that would take a bit of effort.
YES!!!!!! This is such a great option especially because we've increased our Will generation by so much. Also the general XP boost is really nice.
Extra energy is always nice to have.
Spellcaster nice is super useful.
That would be really useful and I can see how it works given the fact that Symon is tied to Sol's mind.
We are a walking drug producing factory and I'm okay with that.
Symon is lazy like that.
- Location
- not doing my homework
- Pronouns
- He/They
There have been some revelations on the Discord - mainly that Sol gets to ask Penny to look into the Apostles as part of the cost of Bonding with her. I have hashed things out with GenericName (by which I mean he crunched the numbers while I nodded with great pomp and circumstance) and have modified the following plans:
Finished Business now Bonds with Penny AND Damien, as we had 20 will lying around ig. I also added in Full Disclosure, mostly to pick a side (and I am all for friendship and getting people to work togethermore on that soon)
Holmes got axed.
More changes may come as more information is produced (like the fact that Damien and the bullies is about to fucking exploded in a bad way)
Finished Business now Bonds with Penny AND Damien, as we had 20 will lying around ig. I also added in Full Disclosure, mostly to pick a side (and I am all for friendship and getting people to work together
Holmes got axed.
More changes may come as more information is produced (like the fact that Damien and the bullies is about to fucking exploded in a bad way)
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- Location
- Louisiana
[X] Plan Finished Business
If we want to move on to second year material after 3 months of will generation, we would need to spend <= 100 will within the next 3 turns. Cheap actions like social and exploration, and timely coffee jello usage, should be enough to get us there. Jumping a year is too extreme for how big the difference in xp gain is.
If we want to move on to second year material after 3 months of will generation, we would need to spend <= 100 will within the next 3 turns. Cheap actions like social and exploration, and timely coffee jello usage, should be enough to get us there. Jumping a year is too extreme for how big the difference in xp gain is.