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What? None of you know anything. Only the Man With The Golden Flute is awesome enough for us to emulate!
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Aug 15, 2013 17:52
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 02:42 |
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Update ETA: About two hours.
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Aug 15, 2013 23:17
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The music, the unseen song, soothing you, lulling you, the stars dancing jubilantly to the tune, all is right in the world. Danal still slumbers on the floor, a happy smile on his face and upon the face of Monkey who sleeps contentedly in his arms. You lift him up. You begin to walk towards the edge of the structure. The distance seems to have grown even greater than before. The image beyond, the forest, is not simply blurry and distorted, it is no longer visible in any meaningful way, the trees of the forest are almost entirely gone, only the mere suggestion of their outline occasionally hinting through the light which is growing increasingly bright at the outer boundaries of the structure. The inside of the structure again somehow seems... larger. The columns seem to tower hundreds of feet into the air and the structure seems even wider. It took you seconds to run into the middle of the structure, it takes an hour or possibly longer for you to reach the edge. Time is difficult to judge in this place, the moon, glowing far brighter than normal, has not moved at all and a vague suggestion tells you to sing, to dance, to enjoy all the wonders that it is to be alive. You finally reach the edge. With a few steps, you leave the structure and the forest is perfectly clear and the night again, dark. The music, the beautiful song, is gone. The world seems a dim and joyless place for a moment and whatever suggestion there was to be joyful is no more. Danals eyes flicker, a happy smile on his face. He reaches out looks up to you and tries to say something, but you can no longer understand him. He then yawns, his arm goes limp and he goes back to sleep. You turn to take a look at the structure and it to is no more. You stand within a small clearing in the forest with no hint the structure was ever there at all, indeed, a few small trees growing where the structure was are evident that it could not have been there. Judging by the moon, which is now low in the sky, you may have been inside for four or five hours though it seemed like much less. It is going to be morning in two or three hours. You sit to put the sandals on. They seem different somehow but it is tough to tell in the dark. You have never worn footwear of any sort before so your frame of reference may be limited but they are fantastically comfortable and seem to have molded themselves to fit the shape of your feet, perfectly. You have lived an active life but your feet have been bothering you a bit from the days of walking. Your feet now feel perfectly fine and you feel as if you could walk without further aches while wearing them. You touch the flute. You can still feel the music inside waiting to be let out and still feel as if you know how to play it when you touch it. Something is odd about it now though, but it is tough to tell in the dark of night. You have never used a flute before. This is apparently, not a problem for you place the flute to your lips and blows. Your fingers dance along the holes as if guided by an unseen instructor and the song you play is complex and beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI3wIHFQkAk When you cease to hold the flute, you seem to forget how to play it further but the knowledge returns as soon as you touch it. When you finish, you turn towards where you thought your camp to be and carry Danal back. The sentry is still sleeping. You replace the spear and put Danal back into his tent. Along with Monkey who is firmly latched onto him. You look down at your prizes. The flute is no longer smooth white stone and looks to be made of wood, in fact, it resembles a flute such as your own village used to use, color no longer dances across it's surface. The sandals are no longer beautiful white leather. They actually look a little worn out and beat up and are brown leather now, there is even a little mud on them. They are still very, very comfortable. Your new treasures most certainty do not LOOK like treasure anymore, despite their apparent properties, they are not obviously fantastical upon a casual observation. You... A. Wake up the men, tell them everything and lead them back to the structure. B. Catch a few hours of sleep before you have to get up for the next day. Also, if you go to sleep, you decide in the morning to... (Pick as many as you want to) C. Tell Tudiya and the other men everything. D. Tell them nothing. E. ...and if asked about the beat up sandals and flute, shrug and say you found them as if it was not important. F. ...but you do want to tell your mother what really happened. G. ...but you do want to tell Danal what really happened, as best as you can manage, anyway. If you want to, feel free to join us on irc #madgod on synirc.net. The channel tends to always have some people in it and is especially active when updates go up. If you do not know what IRC is, here is a web based chat version which will not require you to register or download anything: http://chat.mibbit.com/
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Aug 16, 2013 00:28
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B+D After tooth-gate they probably won't let us keep our snazzy toys if we say anything. Best to keep mum. EDIT: I'd also like to point out the wisdom of the childhood playground applies here, ie: It is better to beg forgiveness than ask permission! 
FoxTerrier fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Aug 16, 2013 |
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Aug 16, 2013 00:59
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BD and play the flute for everyone. If our mother questions us, I'm fine with telling her but be very clear that the place was one of peace and beauty. Also, the statue had wings as if it were meant to be sky giant-y. edit: Removed G vote. I think this was meant for us, and this is why Danal slept despite being the son of a king and great hero. We will keep it to ourselves.
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Aug 16, 2013 01:13
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B + C
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Aug 16, 2013 01:15
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B & C Secrets will lead to another "tooth incident". Fess up!
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Aug 16, 2013 01:18
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B and D, it's only a lie if they ask!
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Aug 16, 2013 01:23
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Disargeria posted:B + C Oh yeah and HAH! The Man With the Golden Flute rules all!  & 
Deadmeat5150 fucked around with this message at 07:37 on Aug 16, 2013 |
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Aug 16, 2013 01:25
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B and D
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Aug 16, 2013 01:33
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B,D,E
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Aug 16, 2013 01:54
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B and D
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Aug 16, 2013 01:56
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B and E
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Aug 16, 2013 03:00
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B & C: with a small caveat: by 'tell them everything', I mean tell them that we heard strange music in the night while awake and playing quietly, and went to investigate. Make no mention of our routine night-time shenanigans, although don't pointedly lie about it either if questioned, and don't suggest that we were playing particularly far away or anything. But yeah, B.C., we're bound to be questioned eventually, and lying about it just seems like a recipe for disaster. Might as well score some points and come clean first, ourselves.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:00
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B & D If we do talk about it or are asked we might try representing it as a dream (Danal was asleep most of the time) and are confused about how the flute and sandals are real from the dream. Its funny they look nothing like they did in the dream etc. Don't claim absolutely that it was a dream, just we think it must have been. This is pretty close to the truth. We can then also be free with the details and maybe learn something. Was that place really there at all? I don't know about full regalia, but we might see if we can score something like a belt and simple bag or small pack. (And wow, we can really play that flute. If we can hold on to it we probably can use it to 'play for our supper' at some point as was suggested.)
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Aug 16, 2013 03:05
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Raserys posted:B and D, it's only a lie if they ask! Honesty by omission works for me. When noone's watching try and play something badly. Is it possible to make something that sounds like rear end on the flute?
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Aug 16, 2013 04:09
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B+D If they do ask, tell them the truth. If Danal asks, just say that yes, we had a great adventure. Voting to ask for some clothes, so we can look like the other men (and also carry our flute)
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Aug 16, 2013 04:11
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&  Don't forget we still have these available, guys.
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Aug 16, 2013 06:09
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B+D
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Aug 16, 2013 07:33
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B and C, the king and his men seem pretty on the level and frankly they probably know way more about this kind of poo poo than we do. If there's any hidden caveats or catches it'll be better if they know now than later. Plus, if there's any kind of weird long-term effect on Danal, again, better if they know about the probable source now than later.
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Aug 16, 2013 08:32
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B and C It's adventure time!
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Aug 16, 2013 09:03
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B and C. Team Honesty is the Best Policy represent!
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Aug 16, 2013 09:17
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  Be careful to not lie if Tudiya asks, so the *shrug* "I've found them" is actually perfect, as it's not a lie. Also voting to ask for some clothes (in the morning, not now) ShadowGlass fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Aug 16, 2013 |
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Aug 16, 2013 10:49
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B & C If the king can tell if we're lying with our words he can probably tell if we're lying by omission.
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Aug 16, 2013 11:27
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Seems to me that the items we found were things that other people left and they only looked amazing and wonderful, and reverted to their normal appearance once they were taken out. But they got enchanted by virtue of being left there.
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Aug 16, 2013 13:24
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Seems to me that the items we found were things that other people left and they only looked amazing and wonderful, and reverted to their normal appearance once they were taken out. But they got enchanted by virtue of being left there. Statue-dude said the items were made by the same guy that made him. Diog: Do we still get the knowledge of playing the flute if we touch it?
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Aug 16, 2013 13:31
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Merely touching the flute seems to give you the knowledge of how to play it beautifully.
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Aug 16, 2013 16:08
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B, D, F Secrets!...except for mom. Let's tell mom. Tudiya and his men aren't going to notice/care that Enkidel Underfoot has some beat up shoes and a flute. No real reason to tell Danal - he'll think we're awesome either way. If anyone is going to notice we never knew how to play a flute before but suddenly are a maestro, it's going to me mom, and she's going to wonder. So just get it out of the way and tell her. Might also be good that someone knows about them and what they do; if our magic shoes suddenly start shooting out laser beams or something, hopefully mom can tell the men who will quickly get it under control.
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Aug 16, 2013 16:43
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B And I only want to tell Tudiya
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Aug 16, 2013 22:14
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Hot Dog Day 80 posted:B My vote as well, Barkof is gonna steal our flute and take it on a road show. We should be giving him the evil eye as much as possible to let him know we're on to him.
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Aug 17, 2013 05:51
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I'm voting [A] and [C]. At this point it'll be hard to hide what's happened; might as well come clean right now.
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Aug 17, 2013 06:35
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and  , and it warms the cockles of my heart that people are using the vote icons even when I'm away.Edit: My rationale for telling Donal and not telling anyone else is that Enkindel is getting a sense that there are 'adult' things, things he has not yet been told and that adults are, for good or ill, keeping secret - and so he feels the need to try and find and keep secrets for himself. He might mention to them hearing music in the forest, but nothing more than that; other secrets of what happened are only for himself and Donal. And Monkey, of course. Canuck-Errant fucked around with this message at 12:21 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 12:00
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Canuck-Errant posted:Reasons My rationale was "secrets are fun".
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Aug 17, 2013 18:23
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B C What is the point of being a hero if no one knows about it? If we can't show the men that we are more than a random illiterate savage we're going to end up stuck working as a fisherman.
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Aug 18, 2013 03:12
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& Tudiya wouldn't take the flute from us right? That's something DAD would do.
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Aug 18, 2013 06:43
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 and I think that counts as "something extrordinary", or however Tudiya put it: I mean, we stayed awake! And scored this sweet treasure! And the statue looked like a sky giant, and told us it was made by the creator... I think they'd want to know of El's presence ASAP, really... Also, I want us to play this by the fire some night...
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Aug 18, 2013 15:25
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B C G , You gotta brag about that sweet loot, and your partner deserves to know that you are becoming a hero as well! Now I'm wishing that we took more stuff... Or at least drank from that cup.
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Aug 21, 2013 18:17
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Update shall occur tonight! Voting remains open till then.
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Aug 22, 2013 21:07
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After placing the spear back and putting Danal back into his tent, you decide to catch a few hours of sleep. You have little difficulty going to sleep and awaken the next morning. You ultimately decide to tell no one of the events of the night before. Your journey continues. The days seem to take a semblance of a pattern. Each day your band rises with the sun and you continue your long journey north. Each night you make camp, the men sing songs and tell stories of great heroes and of the sky giants. Your band is attacked two more times by monsters. Once, a giant boar the size of a house attacked your camp and on the other occasion, a strange giant snake with a woman's head, which turned monstrous when exposed in the light of the moon.  When its gullet was cut open a number of valuable gems were found, much to the satisfaction of the men who slew it! Your journey is almost at it's end, three months have passed as your band traveled. From the dense semi tropical forest surrounding your once home village, the forest has given way to less tropical vegetation and gradually thinned till it was gone. You have spent most of the last month, the third and final month of your journey walking through a more arid land. It is not a desert, not by any means, there is ample water to be found in small lakes and rivers and even small forests, but much of the land is barren or has patches of grass. All of the components of life are here and there is a great deal of wild life. Large flocks of birds fly overhead and great herds of shaggy creatures you are told are bison can be seen on some days. It is not a wasteland, but it is, utterly uninhabited. There has not been so much as a hint of any human habitation anywhere since the journey began.  You have walked three months through a remote and unpopulated wilderness. And for the most part, you have loved every minute of each. These may have been the best months of your life. Danal was beside you, or upon your shoulders each and every day and he very probably did not keep his mouth closed for a moment of it, much to your benefit. Your language skills have increased dramatically. Your speech is still seen by the men as hilarious and primitive but you generally can understand what is being discussed, even if you lose track if men talk too quickly. You can generally communicate what you wish to say now, even if you cannot do so artfully and sometime need to think about it. Danal has learned a great deal of your language and the two of you are able to generally communicate without any trouble, filing in words from each others languages as needed. When you stumble talking to the men and are unable to clearly express yourself, he has often helped you. The men of the band still find you hilarious. Things you say or do still invite rounds of laughter and your ignorance and backwardness remains a source of endless entertainment. You are very probably too young to understand it and far from worldly enough, but the King found a number of treasures on his journey. A woman of Baitel rescued from cannibals. A large basket of pearls. A number of valuable gems taken from the gut of the snake monster. Stories of glorious conquest, a number of monster skulls, pelts and strange plants. Do his treasures include a pet cannibal child he has tamed? As Labaras tamed Enkidu? If they do, you are surely oblivious to that fact. You have been having the time of your life. Unlike your "father" who inflicted violence in some manner upon you almost daily, no one has hit you, or threatened to hit you, not even once, not even when you accidentally broke the last pot of that foul smelling drink the men all like so much. Your mother has been making up for a lifetime of love she wished to lather upon you and has paid you a great deal of attention. She has even used some of the plants she found growing out here to make your favorite food, seaweed cakes! Or so she claims, they do not look like seaweed cakes but they sure taste like them! The men have endless stories about their own adventures, the stories of the Sky Giants or the adventures of others and seem to delight in sharing them around the fire each night. Tudiya's personal stories are the greatest deeds claimed by any present. Ishamal's stories may be the most entertaining or at least the best told and unlike the other men, he seems to scarcely boast of his own deeds. While you are an endless source of laughter for the men, you are not mistreated. When you have questions, they are generally answered and when your questions were about El or the Sky Giants, Tudiya or Ishamal sometimes chastised the other men for their laughter. You have during your journey had opportunities to practice with your new flute. The music it can make is amazing and vastly beyond your natural skill with a flute, which does not exist. The music is likely to entertain and perhaps awe others who might see you dance your fingers cleverly and deftly over the flute. You also found that while you wore the sandals, your feet no longer tired, no matter how many miles your jolly band might march. A brief recap of who is in your jolly band. You. Enkidel, formally known as Og. An eleven year old boy from a very remote fishing village. You wear a loincloth which leaves very little to the imagination. You are as far as the men in your band are concerned, a savage, though they have been friendly in an exceedingly patronizing way, you were named after a famous savage, after all. You are rather tall for your age. Your possessions in this world consist of your loin cloth, magical sandals and magical flute. Your mother, Jalitha. A woman in her 30s or late 20s who has lighter skin than you and appears to be of the same ethnic group as the Zepathan men. She is an excellent cook and loves you a great deal. For most of your life, she was your "fathers" slave and was forced to hide her true relationship from you. Tudiya. A hero in his late 30s, or so it seems and King of Zepath, a descendant of the Land Giant and hero, Labaras, builder of the city of Baitel and the founder of their religion. He gave you your first proper hair cut and gave you your new name. He is very obviously more than a normal man, being the tallest man you have ever seen at seven and a half feet and muscular enough to manhandle Uncle Jorah with ease. The fact he ate lightning which melted through metal armor is also a testament to the fact he is more than a normal man, as is the fact he has supposedly killed a dragon and used it's skull as the gate to his city. He is very probably a perfect description of what a "hero" is from your mother's stories. He has other obvious supernatural powers . Barkof. A man almost as tall and as well muscled as Tudiya who looks to be in his early thirties. A relative of Tudiya in some manner. He has a large bushy beard and is the second in command of your group. Aron. Another of the men, the youngest of them in his mid 20s. He is generally given the least desirable tasks of labor in the group. He is rather fast. Ishamal. The oldest man in the group and the oldest person you have ever seen with gray balding hair, perhaps in his 60s? He intervened in some manner when you went flying and then cushined your fall when you fell out of the sky. What the hell he did that night is unclear. Even if he is not in charge, Tudiya often seeks his advice and generally, but not always, do as he suggests. Ten other Mighty Men. Unnamed so you don't have to worry about more names! Together, they are Tudiya's "Mighty Men". All of them are tall and well muscled and all are related to Tudiya in some manner. Cousins? The relationship has not been spelled out to you. All of the men have skin lighter than you, skin like your mothers. Keza. A servant woman brought along to help cook and clean. Not abnormally tall, through like your mother, she would be a bit tall by the standards of the women of your village. Danal. A five year old child, though rather tall for his age, as one might expect being the son of Tudiya. The only friend you have had your entire life and your best friend. He is somewhat bossy at times, you have chosen, largely, to do as he says and just have fun, though you have at times been firm. Monkey. A small monkey and a creature not native near your village. Danal's new pet. Other notable individuals, not present. This list is far from exhaustive. Shushem. Your "father". High Priest of Asherah in Athar, the village of your birth. Jalitha told you he was not truly your father. Decapitated by Tudiya. Uncle Jorah. Your uncle. Younger than Shushem. The biggest and strongest man in Athar and an excellent fisherman. You loved him and he loved you. Jalitha lived with him after your father beat her. Uncle Pagam. Brother to Shushem amd Jorah. A hunter and tool maker. Asherah - ???. HUNGRY! Your "mother". The woman you once thought to be your mother. She was not abusive but not very warm ans loving. Presumably still in Athar. Near the end of the third month, you climb over a hill and then in the distance, you see it, the object of your long journey, the city of Zepath.  Tudiya turns to the rest of the band and says "BROTHERS! We return home, in GLORY! Praise be to El!" The group lets out a great and exuberant cheer. Tudiya motions to Aron, the youngest of the adults to go ahead, he bows his head and runs ahead, to tell the city of your coming. Danal points ahead excitedly towards the southern gate of the city. Everything in the city looks so... big, even from this distance, but not so big as the strange and other worldly structure you found one night in the forest. As you approach the city, you see many cheering people upon the walls of the city and gathered beyond the gate. A gate you have been told of before, made of the skull of a dragon slain by Tudiya.  Tudiya waves happily to his cheering people as he walks down the street, you and the rest of the band behind him. Keza brings him the basket of pearls, the pearls you collected for many years as a gift to Jalitha, for she found them beautiful and they seemed to make her happy. The same pearls that she took and gave to Tudiya when he approached the village. He now throws handful of the pearls to the crowds of people as he passes, they cheer and catch them. You did not know there were SO MANY people in the world! Danal rides upon your shoulders and cheers as well and seems very, very happy to be home. He waves to the people of the city as you both go by. Everyone around you seem rather happy, many people point at you and speak to each other at the appearance of you, though what they say is lost over the roar of the crowd. The procession continues to the middle of the city, where a great crowd has gathered to hear Tudiya's words, he and the rest of the band, including you, climb a stone platform in the midst of a great plaza in the center of the city. "MY PEOPLE! We have gone where El has sent us and we have seen many great and wonderful sights and done battle with great and horrible foes!" Tudiya tells the crowd the story of his journey, the crowd cheering at various portions which involve slaying beasts, apparently several were slain on the way to your village. The crowd seems especially happy when Tudiya gets to the bit where he received a vision from El to go rescue an innocent woman held by an army of cannibals and demons! He goes on at length about how he and his Mighty Men slew an army of a thousand cannibals and a thousand demons lead by the great and evil dark sorcerer, Shushem! He tells of how he rescued your mother and then, at the last moment, slew Shushem in single combat as he was about to sacrifice you, a noble but savage child to the demon Asharak! During the story, the pelts and skulls of some of the monsters slain on the journey are brought forth for display, drawing ooos and aaaas! The crowd seems to particularly like this portion of the story and lets out a great cheer as Tudiya describes the great feats of martial valor that each of his Mighty Men engaged in to save you! When he finishes, he brings your mother up who says to the crowd. "All that the GREAT king has said is true! His bravery and skill is exceeded only by his justice and the purity of his heart! Were it not for his holy wrath I and my son would be dead! Praise El! Praise Tudiya! Praise Zepath!" The crowd seems rather happy at that and lets out another happy cheer! Ishamal, the "old man" from your group has always been the least boastful of the band, telling perhaps, the best stories, but the stories of other, or of the Sky Giants, rarely speaking of his own deeds, whatever they may have been. During the story he seemed to at times, snicker at the most ridiculous exaggerations, though the crowd hardly noticed in the roar of the noise and the clamor of cheers. Barkof guides you beside your mother and Tudiya. Your mother leans down and smiles, then whispers to you quietly. "Tell them how all the Great King said was true and how much he has helped us, Sweetling." You decide to.... A. Keep it short and sweet and say what your mother told you to say. Tell the crowd that Tudiya's story is true and how happy you are he saved you! B. That is not good enough! Embellish! Make Tudiya's deeds even greater! Hell, he slew another dragon while he was at it! And some other monster of your imagination as ridiculously terrifying as you can come up with! C. That is not good enough, but someone else deserves some credit! Tell the crowd how great Ishamal was! Tell them how he saved you from Asherah! D. Tell the crowd that the story is a blatant exaggeration and that while Tudiya and his men slew several monsters, they did not even kill a small fraction as many as they claim. E. Act confused because you do not understand why you are being asked to tell the crowd a story which is mostly lies and exaggerations, is true. F. Stammer a bit because wow, its a big city and so many people and the NOISE and this is a rather new and intimidating experience to see so many people! G. Stammer a bit because wow, its a big city and so many people and the NOISE and this is a rather new and intimidating experience to see so many people! BUT! You manage to yell out "PRAISE EL!" before stepping back. H. Take your mothers hand and step back, say nothing. I. Say nothing. J. The music has been hiding inside of you for too long and you got to let it out! Play the flute to the crowd! I have no idea what the reaction to this would be, we will figure it out if it wins! K. You do or say something else! Fill in! If you want to, feel free to join us on irc #madgod on synirc.net. The channel tends to always have some people in it and is especially active when updates go up. If you do not know what IRC is, here is a web based chat version which will not require you to register or download anything: http://chat.mibbit.com/ Diogines fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 01:20
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J is the obvious answer. I'd like to praise Ishamal as well, but I honestly don't think he'd like it if we do. He's not boastful so we should respect that. Playing the flute seems the most interesting choice, and being an enchanted item it should hopefully make a good first impression. We also may not need to worry about stammering out a statement or something. Basically, the flute just speaks to me and I wanna play it. Perhaps it's cursed and reaching through the game to me 
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Aug 23, 2013 01:38
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