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quote:Let me tell you a story of a peaceful place. A beautiful place.  quote:Once upon a time, a witch and a glass-maker made a dragon out of glass and taught it to hate the world. It raged and it would have destroyed everything; only, it shattered, instead.  This is going to be a third-person CYOA, based on 'The Glass-Maker's Dragon' campaign for the 'Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine' RPG. It will eventually feature multiple characters, but it will start with Chuubo, the Wishing Boy. I'm going to be using the CMWGE rules, but hopefully arranging matters so that everyone can follow along without needing to know them. Key Points The game is divided into Books, which are themselves divided into Chapters, which are themselves divided into Scenes. Characters have 8 points of Will per chapter. Certain characters have extra points of Miraculous Will, which refresh whenever they're in a scene where they or another character performs an XP action. Characters start with a number of Miracle Points, and regain 1 per chapter (except Miramie Mesmer). Both Will and Miracle Points can sometimes be regained faster. Characters gain rewards from completing quests, and they complete quests by gaining a sufficient amount of XP. XP for quests can be gained by accomplishing quest-related goals. Bonus XP can be gained (and then invested in any quest) by performing 'XP actions' (only twice per chapter), by invoking a particular emotion (only once per scene), and by dealing with 'Issues'. Character Sheets (accurate at the end of Chapter 20) quote:
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Wishing Map (this will be important later):  Chuubo is an everyday, ordinary boy, age 15, who has constructed a machine to grant his wishes, and lives with his family (has anyone ever seen them?) in the place known as Horizon. His best friend is Seizhi Schwan. He has recently been troubled by clouds of the material known as Outside Dust blowing into his home, and intrigued by dreams of a masked woman. He may or may not be a dragon or similar creature, and may or may not have a shard of glass inside him. The Outside Dust comes from the Big Lake next to the Fortitude area. Chuubo has started visiting Fortitude in search of answers. What is his hobby? A: Fishing? B: Video Games? C: Reading? D: Exploring? E: Something else? Twiler fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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The Story So Far: Beforehand: Chuubo has seen Miramie Mesmer in his dreams, and is bothered by Outside Dust around his house. Miramie Mesmer is watching Chuubo in his dreams, and is bothered by thoughts of her former self, Melanie Malakh. Leonardo De Montreal is planning to use his grasp of Nightmare Science to investigate the Outside that lies beyond the boundaries of Town. Jasper Irinka, a sun goddess, is adjusting to life in the mortal realm. Seizhi Schwan was created from Chuubo's Wish-Granting Engine to be his best friend. Entropy II is the King of Evil and runs Horizon Academy. Rinley Yatskaya is part of a shrine family, and has received special powers from a dragon. Natalia Koutolika is an immigrant from Russia. Melanie Malakh helped her and her family escape the Outside. Chapter 1: Chuubo goes to visit Fortitude in the hopes of dealing with his Outside Dust problem. He finds the Archive, an informal library. He meets a man called Hideo Hayashi, and takes a look at a book containing a picture of a Glass Dragon. He borrows some books to read. He takes them home in a cart he conjured out of his dreams. While this has been going on, Miramie Mesmer gathers the other people living at the Archive and takes them out to work on converting a nearby manor into an Art Shop. Irritated with her fatigue, she umakes her need for sleep, and grows more warped. Chuubo takes a sample of the Outside Dust and tries to find Leonardo De Montreal to show it to him, knowing something of his skills. He encounters the robot ALVIN at a laboratory in Horizon, who puts him into contact with Leonardo. Chapter 2: Leonardo De Montreal analyses the Outside Dust and determines that there's something odd at Chuubo's house, and that something unusual is happening. He decides that they need to take a trip into the Outside in the hope of finding clues. They agree to build a vehicle that runs on Outside Dust, and Chuubo goes to fetch some. While he's doing that, he meets the shrine magician Edric Sosunov, who advises him that he's 'leaking dreams', and has 'something stuck inside him'. Meanwhile, Miramie Mesmer realises that her lack of sleep means that she hasn't been appearing to Chuubo. She consumes a bag of Outside Dust in order to return to dreams. She follows her connection to him, and finds him in the Outside with Leonardo. She enters a world of nightmare inside Leonardo, and finds herself under attack by monsters. Leonardo and Chuubo head out to the Bleak Academy deep in the Outside. Along the way they encounter Riders. Leonardo fights them off. Outside the Bleak Academy, they meet its Headmaster. He suggests that the two of them should sign up for courses. Leonardo accepts, but Chuubo refuses. The Headmaster attempts to hypnotise him, but Miramie Mesmer emerges from Leonardo and helps him fight the Headmaster off. They flee, and Miramie guides them through a magical door leading from the Outside to the Archive. Miramie rejoins with her sleeping body, then explains her identity to Chuubo, along with the fact that the thing inside him is a piece of the Glass Dragon that Melanie Malakh created. Chuubo agrees to help her investigate the shard inside him, and suggests that they visit the Sosunov family. Chapter 3: The Sosunov family open a gateway to a Glass Labyrinth inside Chuubo. Edric, Miramie and Chuubo step inside. On the walls of the labyrinth, the memories of the Glass Dragon appear. Chuubo breaks a Glass Splinter from one of the walls. This attracts the attention of some dragons made of light. Chuubo persuades the dragons to take them to the centre of the labyrinth. There, he encounters an incarnation of Melanie Malakh, who tries to persuade him to help her escape. When he expresses reluctance, she tries to grab hold of him, and accidently pushes him into the storm at the heart of the labyrinth, which causes all the intruders to be expelled. While this is going on, Jasper Irinka visits Leonardo De Montreal in the Archive and convinces him to do some dusting. They discover Miramie's Hidden Room. Leonardo explains his concerns about the Outside to Jasper. Jasper responds by growing Outside Sensitive Retinas. She then perceives something of the Outside residing inside Leonardo. He promptly begins building a machine to analyse it. Chuubo goes to visit the Hayashi family to see if they can tell him anything about the Glass Splinter. Jasper goes to get a job at a pipe shop, working under Piros Sun. Chapter 4: Jasper Irinka meets a Jotun of Fortitude. Before she can finish questioning him, she's surprised by Miramie Mesmer who starts asking questions about Chuubo. They discover indications that something has happened to her memory. Jasper suggests that they talk to Leonardo De Montreal. She also grows a Conversation Tree HUD as a result of talking to Miramie. Meanwhile, Leonardo De Montreal completes his machine and starts to try and analyse his nightmares, only for a creature called Simon Brambles to emerge. Simon explains to him that he comes from the Nightmare World and that the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy created an overlap between Leonardo's essence and that place, forming something that his people know as the Blasphemy. He then leaves to deal with some of his own business. Leonardo tries to read his intent and discovers that it involves 'the Yatskaya girl'. Miramie and Jasper arrive and start to question him about the shared past of him, Jasper, and Chuubo. He admits that he did something to alter their memories. Miramie decides to go to his main laboratory to fetch his Kidney of Friendship whose removal facilitated the process. While this is going on, Seizhi Schwan arrives to talk to Chuubo, who's watching the Hayashi people dig up his garden, looking for shards of glass. Seizhi suggests that Chuubo try to solve his problems by installing some dust catchers. They go to buy them from the market of Fortitude. Chuubo buys some catchers, incurring a debt. Seizhi then goes to get a job at the Ridiculous Seafood Restaurant. Jasper attends a gathering of the Jotun. Miramie is obstructed by Leonardo's robotoic assistant ALVIN, but unmakes his ability to impede her. She's able to return the kidney to Leonardo. A little later, with Jasper present, Leonardo places his Kidney of Friendship back inside his body, but it fails to restore the lost memories. Chuubo finds himelf being bothered by dreams of Melanie Malakh. Shortly afterwards, Miramie and Jasper arrive and explain the facts of the lost memories. He uses his Wish-Granting Engine to correct the problem. With their memories restored, they start to discuss their past, and Jasper explains that the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy is her father. Miramie goes back to see Leonardo to discuss what they've learned. They decide to meet with Entropy II, who played an important part in fighting the Glass Dragon. They enter Horizon Academy, only to be captured and brought before Entropy as prisoners. Seizhi confronts a young man called John Bull who interrupts everyone at the restaurant with a mad speech. He panicks, and begs for help. Seizhi distracts him until the police can deal with him. Chuubo and Jasper arrive, and Chuubo introduces his two friends to each other. Chuubo takes them with him as he goes to meet with the Hayashi family for advice on his dreams, but they simply redirect him to the Yatskaya family. Meeting with the Yatskaya's, he offers to give them a wish in return for help. After an examination, they devise a plan, but tell him they need their sister Rinley to proceed. Chapter 5: Miramie and Leonardo are hauled before Entropy, who demands that they complete terms of community service for their 'crimes'. He changes guise into the Angel of Fortitude and drives them into Fortitude. There, Leonardo is assigned to fix a fountain. Miramie attempts to force information from Entropy, but fails, and is imprisoned. Meanwhile, Chuubo starts to search for Rinley Yatskaya. He asks for ideas from Seizhi who suggests he talks to the rats of Fortitude. He tracks down Rinley and Prince Eduard of the rats, and finds them fighting the golden dragon, Typhon. He strikes Typhon with a Peace-Splosion, injuring it, and catching Rinley's attention. Back at the Yatskaya shrine, he makes a plan with her and her family to trap the shard of Melanie Malakh inside him in a prison. Rinley crafts a glass bottle to act as such a prison. They journey through dreams into the Glass Labyrinth and successfully trap Melanie Malakh. John Bull reappears at Seizhi's restaurant and apologises for his actions. Seizhi suggests that he should order something to eat. Later, he goes to buy some clothes, and discovers that the owner of the store has a special mirror that leads to a city in the Outside. He resolves to help the city's inhabitants. Jasper causes a sunny day to fall upon Fortitude. She subsequently meets with Entropy and Leonardo, and they decide to go and eat some icecream together. Leonardo criticises Entropy's works. Chuubo, Rinley and her siblings travel to Chuubo's house, where they make a wish that the two siblings should know what happened to their mother. They are promptly captured by birds and taken to the Evil World. Chuubo conjures up a bike and Rinley gives it the power of flight, making it possible for them to follow. Miramie escapes confinement through means that she doesn't understand, and decides to go to the Bleak Academy in search of more information about Melanie Malakh. She discovers that Melanie was given the cornerstone of reality by the Headmaster. Seizhi gets a job in the city, and tries to make the place become more real. Local bully Billy Sovereign starts to bother Leonardo, who has been assigned to dig drainage trenches by Entropy. Leonardo resolves to build robots to deal with the problem. Entropy explains his ideas about redemption to Jasper, and they decide to search for an evil to redeem. They encounter a ghost inside a house in Fortitude. They try to talk to it, but it captures them and starts to drain energy from Entropy. Leonardo completes his robots and fights off Billy Sovereign. He goes to find Entropy to report, and distracts the ghost. Jasper transforms into her Kaiju form, wrecking the house, and freeing both herself and Entropy. Rinley and Chuubo encounter some nomads in the Evil World, who are able to direct them to food. They are eventually able to locate the birds' nest and free Rinley's siblings from inside. The two of them resolve to stay in the Evil World until they discover something about their mother, and tell Rinley to return home. After going to sleep on his journey back, Chuubo finds himself inside the Glass Labyrinth, which then transforms into a Glass Castle. He sits on a throne as dragons appear, and gains the power to summon the dragons out from their world. Upon waking, he uses the power to call a dragon forth, and requests that it carry him and Rinley home. Chapter 6: Seizhi meets Rinley and Chuubo outside the Yatskaya shrine. He invites them to come and visit his city and they fly there on the dragon. He explains that it's called 'New York'. When they get there, they discover Riders attacking people. Rinley boosts the power of Seizhi's heart so that he can summon his brother Laodemus to fight them off. Miramie and Leonardo talk, and Miramie persuades Leonardo that he needs to examine the cornerstone of reality. He agrees to construct a machine to help find it. Taking pleas from supplicants, Jasper meets Natalia, who asks her for help finding Typhon. She successfully scries upon its location, and tells Natalia where to go. After she's left, Jasper is then visited by Ioanna Shichida and her son Keiichi, who is suffering from nightmares. Jasper grows a Misery-Eating Arm, and uses it to extract the source of said nightmares. It takes the form of a black sphere, which she devours. This causes her to have visions. Natalia finds Typhon on top of the Archive and throws it into the sun. Miramie hears the noise and emerges to ask about what's going on. Natalia spots a resemblance between her and Melanie Malakh. Entropy arrives at Chuubo's house to inquire about his absence from school. He discovers the bottle containing the shard of Melanie Malakh from inside Chuubo, carelessly left behind by Rinley. He subsequently travels to the Archive to talk to Miramie about it, and finds Natalia trying to locate an entrance to the Hidden Room. She succeeds, and Entropy is able to enter. He shows Miramie the bottle, and she decides to try and absorb the shard. More Riders appear in New York, and manage to grab Rinley. Chuubo conjures up a motorcycle and Seizhi drives it after Rinley. He infects the Riders with his essence, forcing them to become Chuubo's friends. Miramie seemingly succeeds in absorbing the shard, and undergoes a transformation. She proclaims that she's going to recreate the Glass Dragon. She goes to the Hayashi shrine, with Entropy and Natalia following her. Rinley and Chuubo return to Fortitude with the now friendly Riders. They meet with Jasper and witness a storm rolling in from the Outside. Bolts start to emerge from the storm and strike Jasper, and she grows the Outside-Diminishing Tongue to lick it away. At the Hayashi shrine, Miramie orders a new Glass Dragon to be crafted. She tells Natalia to go and talk to Leonardo and see if the machine to locate the Cornerstone of Reality is completed. When she arrives at his laboratory, she finds Chuubo and Rinley already there, planning to ask Leonardo for help themselves regarding the matter of New York. Rinley is able to help complete the machine rapidly, and it indicates that the cornerstone is inside Chuubo. Meanwhile, Entropy smashes the new Glass Dragon to pieces. Miramie responds with force, but he manages to snap her out of the state she's in, knocking her unconscious. The others all agree to go and meet with Seizhi, and meet Entropy carrying Miramie as they travel. He challenges them to name personal projects to justify their failure to appear at school. Chuubo offers to push back the Outside, and Natalia offers to take care of Miramie. After they reach New York, they decide to bring out Jasper to deal with the problem. She uses her Outside-Diminishing Tongue to make a wall of blackness, sealing off the city from the rest of the Outside. Seizhi talks to Natalia about the possibility of raising Russia out of the Outside. A few days later, Rinley meets a girl named Sessily playing a reed flute near a river. She decides to make her own flute and join in with the playing. She's distracted by a wolf appearing, and when she turns back, Sessily has vanished. Moments later, the wolf vanishes, turning into mist. Leonardo De Montreal reviews his recent adventures, and invents equations that will drive back the Outside. Miramie Mesmer recovers from her recent shocks, and learns how to transmit her 'curse' into other people. When she wakes, she finds Natalia in her room next to her. She shows Miramie a series of animated paper figures she'd found hiding, which seem to be influencing the thoughts of people nearby. Miramie destroys them and feels a lot better. Natalia explains how the cornerstone was located inside Chuubo, and Miramie starts to think about the implications. Chuubo looks through the Archive for information about how to deal with the Outside and finds a book written by Entropy's father, that suggests that wishing can draw the attention of the Outside. Rinley talks to the cats of Fortitude about Sessily, and they suggest that she might be one of the Fey. She decides to give Sessily an opportunity to play a trick on her in the hope of making her appear again. Chapter 7 Jasper Irinka returns to her mortal form. Seizhi Schwan is bothered by dreams of Jasper's mother, Jade Irinka, and decides to go ask her about it to see if she can help. He finds her talking to Leonardo De Montreal at a Jotun festival. The three of them talk, and Jasper explains to Leonardo that after eating the black sphere she's been having visions, and that something seems to be growing inside her. She wants him to study it, and he takes her to his laboratory. Unfortunately, his Inner Nightmare Analyser has broken down. Instead, he strengthens his connection to Jasper via the heart he gave to her, and sees inside her mind. He then realises that there's something relevant to her visions at the Bleak Academy. Seizhi and Jasper agree to follow him there. Miramie and Natalia fail to come up with a working theory concerning the events surrounding the cornerstone of reality. They decide to switch to investigating why Melanie Malakh helped Natalia and her family. Rinley fails to lure Sessily, and ends up being abducted by someone else instead. She's taken to a chamber made of thorns inside a dark forest. She manages to free herself, and tries to call for help, but her captor is the only one who responds. She manages to distract him and tries to run free, only to be recaptured as the vines of the forest come to life around her. Chuubo is worried that wishing might be a bad thing. He decides to try and get help from Seizhi Schwan. He finds Seizhi at the Archive, preparing to journey to the Bleak Academy with Jasper and Entropy. Miramie and Natalia hear the noise, and come downstairs. They all agree to go to the academy together. Upon arriving, Leonardo explains that they need to reach the House of the Sun. Natalia is able to sneak them all across the campus. When they get there Leonardo is able to use his Vent of Villainy to deduce that Jade Irinka is inside. A student surprises them, but Miramie unmakes his suspicions and he leaves. Natalia, Miramie and Chuubo subsequently decide to split off from the rest of the group to see if they can find out something about Melanie Malakh. Leonardo attacks the House of the Sun, but fails, and is frozen in a block of ice by one of its keepers. Jasper uses her Outside-Diminishing Tongue to force the ice inside him, and they flee with Seizhi, Jasper escaping an attempt to trap her. Natalia, Miramie and Chuubo decide to try and retreive Melanie's thesis from the records of the College of Emptiness and Dream. Miramie successfully tricks the record keeper and acquires the document by disguising herself as Melanie using her Changeling magic. They all return to Fortitude. Natalia and Miramie start reading through the thesis, while the others take Leonardo home to recover. Chuubo starts talking to Seizhi about his concerns regarding wishing, and inadvertently lets slip that he created Seizhi with a wish. Leonardo explains that he himself created Bill Sovereign in a similar fashion, and insists that they're both monsters. Jasper starts quizzing Seizhi about he feels, making Chuubo feel guilty about the situation. Entropy sits in his study thinking, until a cat arrives. He follows it, and it leads him to Rinley, whom he rescues. He confronts her captor, Simon Brambles and terrifies him into explaining himself. He tells Entropy that his people need Rinley in their plan to leave the Nightmare World and make a new home in the world of the dragons. He also explains how the Nightmare Seed will create an exit from their world, and how it's growing inside someone's nightmares. He takes Simon with him to Fortitude to investigate, and discovers that the seed has ended up inside Jasper. He arrives at Leonardo's Fortitude lab and talks to Jasper about the Nightmare Seed. She explains that she was hoping Leonardo could study it. and learn something to help him with his problems, and Simon tells Entropy about how his people are fleeing the Blasphemy which is part of Leonardo's spirit. Entropy has Simon remove the seed from inside Jasper. Seizhi offers to examine it with Leonardo's equipment. Left to her own devices, Riley decides to explore the forest, and deduces that Simon has assembled it from pieces of other forests. She's attacked by snakes and subsequently flees. She returns to Fortitude and talks to the people there to see if they know anything about Sessily. Leonardo and Chuubo both take naps while Seizhi examines the seed. Jasper explains that Leonardo's nightmares can be released from inside him when he sleeps. They promptly get him to release some and plant the seed in them. A gateway to the Nightmare World opens, and they're all drawn into it. It seems as though they're going to be detained by nightmares, led by a being called Ill-Made, but Jasper triggers a Cynicism-Plosion, compelling them to cancel their plans for an exodus. Natalia and Miramie finish studying the thesis and decide to go and talk to Hideo about the subject matter. Natalia talks to him, and he explains that he has a piece of Melanie inside his head. Miramie subsequently tries sending her spirit into Hideo, where she sees the piece. She tries to absorb it, and learns some things about Melanie's past with Natalia, but is pushed out of Hideo. She explains to Natalia that Melanie simply wanted to use her as a tool, and Natalia leaves to give the matter consideration. Rinley discovers that the Fey were seen more frequently during the time of the Old Gods that the Jotun worshipped, and decides to investigate them. She goes to Chuubo's house to look for the temple of the dragon that she remembers being in the vicinity, believing it to be connected. She promptly gets caught in the rain. After everyone returns from the Nightmare World Leonardo decides to commit himself to freeing Jade Irinka from the House of the Sun. Entropy talks to Jasper about an event to help to cleanse the souls of the people of Fortitude. They agree to hold a festival of the Sun. Rinley meets with Chuubo and Seizhi near Chuubo's house and Chuubo talks to his two friends about the concerns he has concerning wishing. Seizhi decides to take them to meet with Wish Spirits in Fortitude. Seizhi and the spirits talk to Chuubo, and they advise him that he needs to take responsibility for his actions and consider his limitations. They decide to spend some time helping people in Fortitude. Seizhi decides he needs to try and help Jade Irinka again. He recruits Chuubo, Rinley and Jasper to help him try and break into the House of the Sun. Rinley super-charges Jasper's heart, and the Headmaster appears to demand that the Keepers of the Sun allow her to enter. Once inside, they talk to Jade Irinka, who tells Jasper to beware her if she should appear outside the building, and that she herself needs to fully understand the nature of being the goddess of the Sun. Jasper explains that Leonardo De Montreal helped her become real. Jade Irinka also tells Seizhi that she caused his dreams by calling Jasper to come and see her, and tells Chuubo and Rinley that they have duties. Entropy successfully holds the festival of the Sun. Jasper pulls the Sun from the sky for a moment, and holds it in her hands. Natalia leaves Town, travels into 'New York', collects money by playing poker, and then takes a plane to Russia. Chapter 8 Natalia Koutolika decides to start travelling around Russia to see if she can discover a pattern in what she now observes. Leonardo De Montreal is abducted by Ill-Made and some of her cohorts. He's taken somewhere, and they start cutting him open. Rinley talks to Chuubo and Seizhi about the dragon she met in the temple. They go to the Archive to do research on the subject and meet with Miramie Mesmer. They check some maps and decide to go and check on another temple they see marked elsewhere. Jasper Irinka meets with the Prince of Cats, a young man from the Bleak Academy. He explains that her father has sent him to help work through her issues. She insists that they have to have any conversations on the ground, rather than up in his Skyship. He advises her that she shouldn't worry, because everything will work itself out. She's uncertain as to whether her mother would agree, but he points out that she inherits a nature from her father as well as her mother. She sense that something's going wrong with Leonardo, and rushes to his laboratory, where she finds signs of his abduction. Entropy discovers that New York is starting to float out of the Outside and is intruding on Fortitude. He constructs a City Traffic Controller to direct New York away. This works, but John Bull appears to protest. He says that he and Seizhi were trying to separate the city from the Outside. He apologises for the consequences, but Entropy promptly imprisons him in an oubliette. Jasper gathers up some Jotun and meets with Entropy. Accompanied by the Prince of Cats, they enter into the Nightmare World to rescue Leonardo De Montreal. They follow tracks to a series of tunnels, and Jasper calls on the Sun to guide Entropy to Leonardo. He finds his pupil being subjected to experimentation, and engages Ill-Made in battle. Chuubo, Seizhi, Rinley and Miramie arrive at the location marked on the map, and find an orphanage there. They manage to get inside, and discover a dead angel in a chamber beneath the building. Rinley guesses that it's one of the Old Gods that the Jotun mentioned, the angel who ruled over nightmares. Seizhi realises that it's had its heart removed. They manage to bring it back to life for a moment by placing a substitute heart in its chest and removing its injuries. After it awakes, it explains to them that both it and the dragon who ruled over dreams went into hibernation to survive the Excrucians. It then started to wake from its sleep, only for the part that awoke to be taken to the Bleak Academy where it was 'torn open'. It starts to have some sort of seizure and the room transforms. Everyone starts to flee, but Seizhi is caught by the phenomenon and vanishes. Entropy manages to intimidate Ill-Made into fleeing as the others arrive. He then frightens her associates into telling him everything. After they explain how they were motivated by their desire to defeat the Blasphemy, he decides to fight it himself. Jasper and the Jotun remove a series of tubes from Leonardo. Fortunately, being away from the Sun for enough time strengthens his regenerative abilities, and he's able to fix his injuries rapidly. The two groups meet in Leonardo's laboratory. Chuubo's group starts to tell Leonardo about their meeting with the angel, and about how they brought it back to life. Entropy cuts them off, and explains the nature of the Blasphemy, that it is something of the Outside growing inside the Nightmare World. Leonardo then explains that the Blasphemy is an overlap between his soul and the Nightmare World. Rinley suggests that the angel is one of the Old Gods who ruled over the Nightmare World. They discuss what the angel said about part of itself going to the Bleak Academy. Rinley remembers an old story about the people of the Outside turning other people into creatures called Mimics that resembled 'parodies' of their original selves. Miramie deduces that Leonardo himself is the Mimic of the part of the angel that woke. Seizhi suddenly bursts out from inside Leonardo's body, which forces Leonardo to realise that Miramie is correct. A few days later, Chuubo, Miramie, Seizhi and Rinley decide to go in search of Sessily in the woods near Fortitude. Chuubo summons a dragon to help search, but it explains that it can carry them to the world of the Fey directly. Chuubo agrees to the suggestion, and they find themselves transported to another realm. Chuubo notices the Glass Castle from his dreams, standing on a hill. He then lands the dragon near a Fey village. It transpires that the Fey people don't like the dragons, who have been bothering them. Sessily is among the villagers, and she gets into some trouble when it transpires she's been visiting 'the human world', which invites the attentions of the Death Wolf. Rinley starts asking the Fey questions about the details, but Seizhi intervenes, and asks about the dragons instead. It seems that the dragons having a new ruler is the source of the recent problems, so he suggests that they visit the castle check to see if any ruler is in residence. The group start the journey to the castle with Sessily, Totem, and two of the Fey Entropy turns up at Leonardo's lab, where Jasper has been trying to get Leonardo to come out of his room. He demands that Leonardo come with him to the Nightmare World. Jasper uses the Misery-Eating Arm to help deal with Leonardo's problems. He, Entropy, Jasper and the Prince of Cats then enter the Nightmare World. Natalia goes up onto the roof of the Archive and discovers that Typhon has returned. She tries to discuss their animosity, but it dismisses her words and attacks. After Chuubo's group arrives at the castle, he reveals that he himself is the new ruler, and a pair of dragons appear. Rinley boosts the power of Chuubo's heart, and he calls the Death Wolf to appear in the room, intimidating the Fey. They subsequently manage to arrange a compromise between the Fey and the dragons. Seizhi then realises he should get back home, and Rinley helps him locate a door in the Glass Castle leading to the Archive. Natalia twists Typhon's body into a knot, but it transforms into a girl of comparable age to her. She tries to escape, but Natalia corners her. Failing again to persuade her to listern, she breaks her limbs, and takes her to Horizon Academy. Miramie and Rinley find that they have trouble sleeping on beds made of glass, so Rinley softens them with a hammer that Chuubo conjures up. Entropy's group travels through the Nightmare World and discovers an Obsidian Castle. Jasper manages to open the gates by shrinking herself down to the size of an insect and slipping through the gap between the door and the frame, then unlatching them from the other side. The Prince of Cats talks to Jasper about her Kaiju form, suggesting that it's a sign of the time of the birth of her species. They find a throne inside the castle. Both Entropy and Leonardo try to sit on it, but it tips them off by itself. Jasper talks to Leonardo to see if he can remember anything about the castle, but he remembers nothing clearly. Chuubo's group decides to visit the Fey in the village. They're served blood and fruit, but Miramie manages to get them out of eating by using her curse to make the Fey lose their appetites. After that, music starts to be played. It starts to seem dangerous, so Chuubo induces a sense of peace, which results in music that puts everyone to sleep. After they all wake up, Chuubo starts to entertain people by making his daydreams visible. Miramie sees a vision of Melanie Malakh and ends up panicking. Seizhi decides to join the Wish Spirits in their work. He pledges that he will come to help anyone who calls. Entropy's group proceed towards the Blasphemy. They are drawn down into a bog, but decide to dive inside it to explore. Chapter 9 Genies arrive at the Glass Castle, and request that Chuubo allow them to make their homes in his realm. He decides to ask the Fey what they think about the issue. When they arrive, it transpires that the genies had already been trying to make a separate deal with them, and an argument promptly starts. Rinley and Chuubo summon up the Death Wolf to try and restore order, but it promptly attacks the genies. Rinley asserts that it can't attack them within the castle, but it simply takes the fight outside. The genies ask Chuubo to have them grant a wish to save them, so he wishes for everyone to get along. Unfortunately, the Death Wolf is the only one unaffected, and it kills the genies, stating that they are minions of the Outside. Seizhi meets Natalia and offers to help fulfil her wish. They decide to try and discover what happened to New York in the hope that it will give them an idea of how to free Russia from the Outside. They find that New York is now up in the sky. As they try to decide on how they could get there, Laodemus Schwan appears and grabs hold of Natalia, believing her to be Typhon. Seizhi persuades him that witnessing the existence of her family should be proof enough that she isn't. Jasper explores Leonardo's hopes, and finds herself inside a hypothetical future where he has used his expertise to harness the power of the Outside to create devices to grant wishes, and then distributed them to everyone. Old Molder has been renewed, and a statue of Leonardo has been built. She enters his laboratory there, and finds both her mother and another version of herself meeting with him. She promptly proves that she's the real Jasper by demonstrating her power over the Sun, and the pocket of reality breaks down around her. She then enters into Leonardo's perceptions and tries to talk to him. Entropy finds himself inside Leonardo's fears. He demonstrates that the apparitions he encounters there are unable to harm him, and the reality falls apart. He travels into Leonardo's perceptions, where he meets Jasper. He breaks down this reality as well, by filling it with light that destroys the darkness. They travel into Leonardo's memories, which are fixed on the point when he received the Blasphemy at the Bleak Academy. Entropy forces a new memory into place, breaking down that reality as well. With all these things gone, they're left with Leonardo, and a reappearing Prince of Cats. He suggests to Jasper that she should trust Leonardo to get better by himself, rather than helping him. She suggests that he himself should take action, but he states that it would contradict his orders. She decides that having a Wicked Mode proves that she does need to take action in these circumstances, and helps Leonardo wake. After Leonardo wakes, they find themselves back in the Nightmare World again. Leonardo explains that bringing him near the Blasphemy in the Nightmare World made his conflict with it become tangible such that Jasper and Entropy could interfere with it. Chuubo, Miramie, Rinley and Sessily all discuss the Death Wolf and decide that they need to find a way to defeat it. Chuubo and Rinley call it forth again. Rinley attempts to intimidate it and is promptly swallowed whole. Chuubo demands that the wolf swallow him as well. It does, taking Miramie as well as she deliberately stays close to Chuubo. Seizhi and Laodemus have dinner with Natalia and her family. Laodemus admits to Seizhi that he was wrong about her. Seizhi discovers that Natalia's parents don't agree with her efforts to save their homeland, and suggests that raising Russia out of the Outside might be plausible after all. Laodemus shows them to the sky-ship owned by the Prince of Cats and suggests that they might make use of it. They board, and start exploring. Entropy quizzes the Prince of Cats about his identity and decides that he needs to be removed. He tries to hypnotise him, but the prince responds by striking at him with his Soul-Carving Sword. Entropy expends all his miraculous energy just defending himself, and the prince then does something to force Entropy to become friendly towards him. Leonardo promptly reads the prince's wicked thoughts, and discovers that he has some sort of sinister plan regarding Jasper. After he warns her, she uses her Outside-Diminishing Tongue to dissuade the prince from staying. Entropy expresses confusion with this action, and Jasper and Leonardo realise that there's something wrong with him. They persuade him to return to Fortitude with them. Chuubo and Miramie awake inside a tunnel. Miramie realises that this is a labyrinth inside the wolf, similar to the way that the Glass Labyrinth was a labyrinth inside Chuubo. Chuubo decides to try and break the place apart by changing into dragon form and expanding his body, but he's unable to succeed. He wishes that Seizhi was present, inadvertently summoning him. Natalia, puzzled by Seizhi's sudden disappearance, reverses the process by calling him back. She grabs hold of him as he appears, and when Chuubo calls Seizhi again, the two of them are both drawn inside the labyrinth. Natalia and Miramie are pained by seeing each other again, and Seizhi notices. Rinley arrives, and recognises Chuubo in his dragon form as being the dragon who gave her her powers. He denies this, but as he then starts mentally communicating with the Death Wolf, who confirms it, and also explains that he himself is a creature responsible for enforcing the law. The wolf then induces monsters analogous to anti-bodies to appear and attack Miramie, because of her association with the Outside. Natalia objects, and Seizhi and Rinley unsuccessfully try and persuade him that he should stop. Rinley tricks the monsters into thinking that they can't attack and the group flees (excluding Chuubo, who's stuck in the tunnels, being dragon-sized). Natalia grabs Miramie, Rinley and Seizhi and accelerates away from their pursuers. They pass through a slime-filled tunnel and emerge into a forest. Leonardo, Entropy and Jasper return to Fortitude. Along the way, Entropy recovers from the effects of what the prince did to him. Once they arrive at Leonardo's lab, Leonardo decides that he and Jasper should start work on a plan to free Jade Irinka from her prison. Having heard about the Prince of Cats's skyship from Jasper, Entropy decides to pay it a visit. Looking at it, he notices a resemblance between it and the Evil World. He begins to explore it, and is confused and annoyed by the feelings of well-being and contentment inside its rooms. He follows a set of power lines down to a generator. He realises that the way the power system works indicates a connection between the sky-ship and the Moon. Noticing indications that the skyship has taken off, he heads up to the control room. He finds the Prince of Cats there, but decides to talk with him. They agree to work together to help teach Jasper. The Death Wolf is standing near Natalia and the others in the forest, but decides to leave without further action. Rinley demands that it return Chuubo, but it ignores her. After it's gone, Rinley and Seizhi agree that Chuubo will probably be all right, but Miramie isn't so sure. They agree to help Natalia reach New York. Seizhi phones his old employer in New York and has him summon him to New York, bringing the others along at the same time. He and Natalia then begin making plans to investigate the properties of the place. Rinley decides to go talk to some cats and tour New York with them. Miramie finds herself overwhelmed with fatigue and decides to go to sleep. Inside her dreams, she finds herself inside a facsimile of the Hidden Room, where she confronts the part of Melanie Melakh that she met inside Professor Hayashi. Melanie is trying to wreck the room, so Miramie projects her own curse onto her, inducing her to stop and curl up on the bed. Noticing Outside Dust coming in through the window, Miramie sweeps it out, impelling Melanie to flee through the window as well. Rinley wakes Miramie up, and she discovers that a mural has appeared around her. Annoyed, she agrees to go and look around the city with Rinley. She finds yet another mural, but subsequently manages to deduce how such murals are made, and how she might exploit them herself. Rinley thinks about the Death Wolf and discovers a trick she can use to see the true forms of the people that she meets. Seizhi receives a message from Jade Irinka calling him to come and see her, but decides to wait for a more convenient moment. Twiler fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Apr 23, 2019 |
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Mar 31, 2018 02:46
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A: XX B: C: XXX D: X E: Chuubo's hobby is reading! Chuubo likes to visit his favourite book and comic shop 'Eclectic'. In Fortitude, he has found a bookshop called 'Ah, Those Words', which sells books, perfume and stationery. He's aware there are a couple of libraries in Fortitude as well, somewhere, and he hopes that he can locate them on one of his weekend trips. He used to have a pristine collection of comic books, but since the Outside Dust started to creep into his home, they started to get covered in some sort of 'rust'. "It can't actually be rust, right? Some of them had those shiny covers (and their value was going to skyrocket any day now), but even if I didn't get those air-tight containers that serious collectors use, they should still be fine, shouldn't they?" He'd like to buy new editions, but they'd surely just rust again. So, this whole business with Fortitude needs to be sorted out first. "Perhaps this is all some sort of weird weather conditions. I wonder if I can get a big enough fan to blow all this stuff away? I might get one from Leonardo." What are Chuubo's most frequent activities? (choose three) A: doing chores? B: helping out? C: talking with friends about stuff that’s going on? D: hanging out in the world and experiencing stuff? E: wandering Fortitude with a snack? F: daydreaming? G: listening, wide-eyed, to traditional stories? H: giving a monologue, and then taking decisive action? I: stressing out over simple things, like whether he's flossing enough? J: getting in over his head when doing things that really should be simple?
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Apr 1, 2018 19:43
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Pending votes, let's have some backstory. Legendary Soapbox Derby Chuubo walks down the path to the Wish-Granting Engine. A trickle of steam is emerging from one of the vents, and the 'Ready' light is flashing. It's time to make a wish! Chuubo has carefully weighed all the options in his mind, but he stops to take a moment to consider. It's a clear Sunday morning, and everything seems to neatly fit together. "I wish for a soapbox derby!" And thus there was. The carts all line up in the starting area. Chuubo is behind the wheel of a conventional construct of pine wood, thrown together with a basis of optimism and excitement. Seizhi Schwan is next to him, riding a cart hammered together from discarded maple furniture. He nervously wonders what's going to happen. He can't help but notice that a lot of the other contestants seem to be nothing more than line drawings. Presumably there weren't enough real people to compete, so the engine put some more people together, using minimal effort. Chuubo doesn't seem to notice. Someone blows a whistle, and they're off! Driven by unknowable forces, the carts shoot down the track, sometimes crossing over the question mark symbols universally recognised as totems of power. A white coated boy with unkempt acquires a glowing star, and crows with joy. Seizhi strains to hear: "-de Montreal, have at last attained the power I have deserved, and now I shall-" Abruptly, a shell slams into Seizhi's cart, and he's sent spinning. He grabs the wheel and regains control. They drive through the woods, over bridges and swerve through a collection of confused robots. Chuubo is in the lead, eyes narrowed with concentration. Seizhi is in second place, but the finishing line is quickly approaching! Seizhi somehow accelerates and draws almost level, but it isn't enough. Chuubo crosses the finishing line and is soapbox champion, a moment that will be forever remembered!
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Apr 3, 2018 17:40
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Okay, I'm just going to take E and move on. Scene 1 Chuubo sleeps... In his dreams she stares at him, her face hidden by a mask. Is this something he's remembering, or is it something he's anticipating? He towers above her, uncoiling up to his full height. There's a wind blowing... He wakes, and stretches. He tries to get out of bed and immediately falls over. For some reason, having legs is momentarily unfamiliar. Wincing, he stumbles to his feet. Chuubo finishes his breakfast, and stands up. It's time for a trip into Fortitude to try and sort out this business with the dust with great determination and methodical action. Although he still doesn't know the cause as such, so perhaps that'll have to wait for another day. Yes, he can definitely deal with that next time. But if he's going to take a trip to Fortitude, what should he do? A: Just wander around. That's enough fun by itself. B: Go looking for those libraries. C: Go fetch Seizhi first. This'll be more fun with company. D: Actually, forget about Fortitude. Go and borrow a giant fan from Leonardo instead. That'll deal with the dust. E: Something else.
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Apr 8, 2018 18:43
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A B XXX C XX D E Okay, time to go find a library! Chuubo steps off the bus and onto a Fortitude street. It's just been raining, and there are tiny splashes as he walks. There's a rainbow in the sky. As Chuubo stares upwards, he can see Outside Dust hanging in the air, being blown by the wind, sweeping off and away. And also blossoms, blown off some tree somewhere. He shrugs and starts walking. He passes blue houses surrounded by yellow flowers, yellow houses surrounded by green flowers, and green houses with no flowers at all. The road slopes upwards, and as he crests the hill he starts to feel a little tired. He's in the right sort of area to find a library now... It should look old, right? Probably made of stone. Fortitude is pretty old-fashioned, and there aren't any public maps anywhere nearby. A: Ask for directions from a passer-by while smiling warmly. (Spend 2 Will, with Good Smile 2 skill) B: Try to navigate via street signs. (Spend 4 Will) C: Follow the inscrutable song of the streets to find the best possible library. (Spend 8 Will) D: Just take it easy and walk around. It's here somewhere, there's no hurry.
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Apr 9, 2018 22:57
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A XX B C D X Chuubo looks around, and spots a friendly looking Fortitude rat passing by. "Excuse me, sir. *smile* Could you please direct me to a local library?" The rat considers the question carefully. "In my travels, I have spied libraries few. The one the fewest paces hence has- *points* -that bearing. Look you for a building against a hill, five floors high. The paths may confuse, but walk straight and your way will be true." (Chuubo gains 1 Quest XP for 'Learning the Ways of Fortitude'!) (Chuubo regains 1 Will for successfully finding a library!) Scene 2 Chuubo arrives at his destination. The building is indeed five floors high, but it certainly isn't what he imagined. It's a mess of pieces that rather looks as if it's going to turn into something else or collapse at any moment. The roof is a billowing piece of canvas. He casts a glance up at the sky again, and realises that the concentration of Outside Dust seems even greater here. Is this the source? It really looks more like a private residence than a public building, but he's curious about what's inside. He knocks at the front door. No answer. He knocks again. And after a few minutes he tries the door handle. It's not locked. A little nervous, he adjusts his tie and steps inside. The wooden floor creaks alarmingly as he walks through the front hall and into a large room. There, an old man sleeps on a rocking chair, amidst a collection of tables. There's paper and books piled on the floor, and on every available surface. A: Wake the old man up. B: Try to work out where the dust is coming from. (Spend 2 Will) C: Try really hard to work out where the dust is coming from. (Spend 4 Will) D: Check out the books. E: Check the rest of the rooms, look to see if there's anyone else around. F: Something else.
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Apr 11, 2018 20:24
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Pending votes, more backstory: Some years ago... "I wish for a spaceship! Zip, zip, woooo!" Chuubo jumps out of the Wish-Granting Engine, and dances around, imagining himself flying through space. (At this point in time, the Wish-Granting Engine in question is the MK I versions, which is mostly a cardboard box. It doesn't take time to build up a charge, and it's much smaller, but the effects are much harder to measure.) Chuubo switches on the reverse thrusters, halting the acceleration of his craft, and then pulls on his astronaut's suit. It's always so lonely here in the back garden. But up in space, floating around as an astronaut he'd be too excited to notice wouldn't he? A psychologist would probably say something like that. But they might be confused at the spacesuit he's somehow wearing, or the hazy 'background' of stars and planets. Chuubo's voice is swallowed up the silence and he gradually slows down. This isn't so much fun anymore. Perhaps I need to build a better engine? Chuubo stops to contemplate for a moment. (The spacesuit and background disperse into infinitesimal pixels.) "Yes, that's it! An improved one, that will give me all the icecream I could ever need!" Scroll up to see the current choices.
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Apr 14, 2018 13:36
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A X B C D X E F Okay, incorporating both choices: Chuubo casts his eyes over the stacks of books, and picks up a large brown volume with pieces of paper sticking out from the top. It seems to be a technical manual concerning the art of glass-making. It describes various devices, their uses, examinations of the pros and cons of different methods, and photographs of some of the most famous examples of the craft. Chuubo turns a page, and finds himself looking at one of the pieces of paper shoved between the pages. It has a diagram depicting a dragon made of glass. There are notes surrounding it indicating the steps necessary to make such a thing, and also, what looks like a series of runes. Interesting. Looks like a lot of work though. The quiet starts to get on his nerves. He reaches out, and gently shakes the man by the shoulder. The old man's eyes flick open. They seem to shine brightly. "Is that- Ah. A new one? Well, go talk to the others, they'll give you somewhere to sleep." "Sleep? Isn't this a library?" "Library?" He chuckles. "In a way." He notices the book that Chuubo's holding, and scowls suddenly. "Put that away!" A little upset, Chuubo closes the book and returns it to its place on the stack. There's an uncomfortable pause, and the man forces a smile onto his face. "I'm Hideo Hayashi. And you are?" "Well er, Chuubo. I was looking for something to read." "A worthy aim. Let me see if I can help you..." (Chuubo gains 1 bonus XP for Foreshadowing!) Meanwhile, upstairs... Miramie Mesmer lies on her bed, watching her ceiling remain stationery. That tea that she drank a few minutes ago was a bit too strong, and she's relaxing as hard as she can to stave off the paranoia. (Miramie is currently Innocent and Twitching.) Recently she's been trying to get a manor down the street restored, hoping to set up an art shop and a café. That might bring some money, which in turn would be an important step towards getting this place restored. But every time she tries to get started, her insecurities nag at her furiously. She's starting to feel stiff lying here. Perhaps it's time to do something else. A: Go find some of the rest of the 'family', persuade them that the plan is worthwhile. B: Go and inspect the site, check for problems. C: The manor's garden will need work as well, collect some tools and go to it. D: Forget about the manor for the moment, go and have something to eat. E: Something else. Added Miramie Mesmer's character sheet above.
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Apr 15, 2018 18:37
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A X B X C D E Okay, incorporating both choices: Miramie finds Sakura Anastasia Kuga studying a star-chart in one of the study rooms. She looks up. "I've checked and double-checked their positions. I'm sure now. The constellations are coming apart!" Miramie feels a nasty lurch. How much time is left? "How quickly? Can we do something?" "...Well, admittedly, it's a process I can only observe over a period spanning decades, but in the eyes of the universe..." "Perhaps you've got some time to help out with that manor project then?" Kiri Sato is reading 'The Survivalist's Guide Regarding a State of Apparent Safety'. He's deeply engrossed, and it takes a couple of tries for Miramie to get his attention. "Yes, I hear you. Hmmmm... I think we should all learn Morse, it could be pretty useful should the worst happen. What's the problem?" "Want to come work at the manor?" "Oh, the renovation job?" Together, the three of them descend into the basement. Somewhere down in that place, Danny Kortov is inevitably lost, trapped by his human frailties (i.e. his inability to remember the way out). But others are not so limited! In a few short moments, Danny is located and recruited for the pending enterprise. Miramie pokes her head into the Professor's room as the other three scramble to get themselves ready. "-!" Oh, he seems to be talking to someone, a boy wearing a jacket and tie. I won't interrupt, I'll just leave him a note. She silently pulls a pencil from her pocket and snags a piece of scrap paper from a table. A short walk down the street, the manor squats despondently. They walk through the front door, a little nervous. "What do we need to do first?" Danny asks Miramie. "Um..." "Check for leaks above, subsidence below, and damaged walls in between." suggests Kiri. As the other three start to look, Miramie casts her eyes around, trying to imagine how this whole place might look when all the work is finished. Even if there are no major problems, they'll still need to clean, redecorate, and actually get the shop and café set up. "I can't see any leaks up here!" calls down Danny from upstairs. "I think it rained last night, the roof must be okay or there'd be water everywhere!" She should be able to make some items for the shop herself, with her craft. What is Miramie Mesmer's chosen craft? A: Glass-working. B: Mask making. C: Painting. D: Tailoring. E: Something else.
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Apr 17, 2018 23:02
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Unfortunately, I can't see any way to work in taxidermy, so I'm just going to go with sculpture. Miramie and her three friends search through the manor, taking note of problems. As they walk she considers the lighting, and how she might position her works in one room, or another. Of course, she might bring in some lamps and make her own illuminated areas. She's not sure she wants to sell anything she's already made, but if she's going to make some new pieces then she's going to have to get some more stone from somewhere. Going out to the shops tends to be unpleasant, with all the walking and the noises, and the bright light from the sky, and the talking. But perhaps she can send the others out to get some in her place. Although she can't help but worry that they might just come back with the wrong thing. Miramie starts to feel awfully tired. Pretty soon, she'll have to go back home. (Miramie gains 1 bonus XP for a 'Shared Action') Scene 3 Chuubo walks down the street, heading towards the bus stop, barely managing to carry his collection of borrowed books. That 'Archive' was pretty strange, but he's definitely going to go back for another look. Perhaps if he doesn't have the Professor leading him around he can find something secret. He doesn't know what he might be looking for though. But he kept getting the feeling that there was something exciting just out of reach. This wasn't too hard to begin with, but his hands and arms are starting to get severely tired now. The next time he comes out, he should bring a rucksack or something similar. A: A small carry-cart would be useful right now. Chuubo can imagine it clearly, so he should be able to just pick one up from somewhere, right? (Dreams Made Flesh) B: A dragon or giant snake wouldn't have trouble with this, would they? (Kaiju Form, spend 2 MP) C: Surely he can recruit some people to help carry them? (Good Smile, spend 4 Will)
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Apr 20, 2018 00:05
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Chuubo remembers seeing the sort of thing he needs. A red hand-cart, made of wood and plastic, with little wheels. Perhaps he saw it at a shopping centre? As he muses, a translucent shape starts to materialise next to him. The wheels would run quite well on this ground, and I'm sure it would be clean... Absentmindedly, he exerts his will, and the shape shimmers into full existence. It bumps against his legs. Oh, this is just what I need! Lucky! Later, on the bus, Chuubo muses on the day he's had. He's got a nice collection of books to read and somewhere new to go in Fortitude. He's going to be busy for the next few days, but after that, he'll go back and take another look at that library, give the books back, and borrow some more. He could bring Seizhi along as well. But when he does get home... His comic books are covered with a thicker layer of 'rust' than they ever were before. The Outside Dust has been sweeping into his house in greater quantities. His whole room is filled with the stuff, forming psychedelic patterns in the air. He covers his face, and pulls the window open. (Chuubo gains 1 Quest XP for 'Haunted'.) This surely can't be allowed to continue, but what should he do? A: Perhaps there's a book about the dust in the library? He can find out next time he goes out there. B: It certainly looks as if all this stuff is coming from Fortitude, maybe even from the library. Maybe if he looks around he can discover the source. C: Seizhi's good at knowing things, he might know what to do. D: That Leonardo guy who lives in Old Molder keeps going on about science and how great he is. What if Chuubo takes a sample of this stuff for him to look at? E: Something else?
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Apr 21, 2018 14:07
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A B C D XX E Chuubo searches around for an appropriate container. He remembers having a Junior Chemistry set around somewhere, but it might have been thrown out at some point. Eventually, he resorts to grabbing a dirty pop/soda bottle from the bin in the kitchen, cleans it out with some water, and does his best to gather up some dust. He screws the top down tightly. Water makes things rust, right? Is this dust like water? Can I swim in it if I fill up a pool? Anyway, I need to go show Leonardo this, as soon as I've got the time. Miramie is starting to feel unsteady on her feet. She'd like to get some sleep, but everyone else seems okay, and she doesn't want to ruin the mood. Where do they get all their energy from? She keeps telling herself that they'll get tired soon, but they just keep going. They've gotten so much done, it's amazing. She should be happy, but the ground seems to be trying to swallow her. She does her best to look normal. (Miramie switches from Innocent to Suspicious, gaining 1 quest XP for 'Art Shop and Garden') What's the best way to deal with this? A: Just concentrate on moving in a fluid fashion. (Use Grace 2) B: Secretly cast a spell to conceal the fatigue. (Spend 2 Will with Changeling 2) C: Unmake her personal fatigue, removing the concept from reality. (The World-Breaker's Hand) D: Never mind, she should just admit to them that she's too tired to keep working.
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Apr 23, 2018 03:34
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Miramie Mesmer has forgotten a lot about herself, but one fundamental part of her nature is her World-Breaker's Hand. She remembers using this power back when she was known as Melanie Malakh, before she crafted the Glass Dragon with the help of the Professor. No matter how much has gone wrong with her life, this ability always seems to stay with her. Sometimes, she's tempted to let loose, and see how much of reality she can unmake at once. Looking down, she can imagine the world around her pushing, trying to compress her down to something insignificant. She stretches her fingers, and tears at the fabric of reality, perceiving a silent scream as some part of it dies. She keeps tearing even as her own self seems to distort- Kiri hears Miramie gasp and turns to face her. He has to take a step back. She's smiling in a bright and cheerful manner, but there's something about it that bothers him. Why this sudden change? (Miramie loses a Normal Health Level! Miramie loses 1 MP! Miramie gains a 'Can't Sleep' wound! Miramie gains 1 bonus XP for Suffering Corruption! Miramie gains 1 point of Sickness!) Scene 4 The next few days are pretty mundane for Chuubo. Even his dreams are quiet now, that strange girl in the mask seems to have suddenly stopped appearing. He's pretty glad when he finds the time to visit Old Molder. This area is the victim of the 'Reality Ensues' phenomenon. There was an attempt at an industrial revolution, which sadly broke down. So now, there's no great centre of activity, just a mass of half-rendered dreams, and lots of robots. Edging around a puddle of oil, Chuubo walks up to the home of Leonardo De Montreal (He's fairly sure that's his name, he should check when he finds him). It's some sort of warehouse, a sheet of metal serving as a door. Chuubo tries knocking, then resorts to making noise by shaking it back and forth. After a few moments, there's a clanking noise, and a robot, dressed as a butler, pushes the sheet aside. "+ GREETINGS. WELCOME TO THE ABODE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL WHO WALK THIS SURFACE. +" "+ HE WHO HAS REKINDLED THE ATOMIC FIRE. +" "+ HE WHO WILL DAM THE FLOOD. +" "+ HE WHO IS NOT HOME AT PRESENT. +" He pauses. "+ WISHING BOY IDENTIFIED. WILL CONDUCT TO THE ENGINE AS REQUESTED. +" A: Okay, Chuubo takes a look at this 'engine'. B: No, Chuubo just needs to know where Leonardo is right now. C: Could this thing be dangerous? Chuubo should run.
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Apr 25, 2018 01:53
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A XX B X C The robot leads Chuubo through workbenches covered with twitching, dripping components. There are sheets of metal with faces writhing on their surfaces, pieces of circuitry that resemble nervous systems, eyeballs on saucers, samples of skin with black protusions emerging like patches of clover. Chuubo checks that there's a clear path between him and the exit. They arrive in front of a familiar-looking machine. "Hey, this looks like my engine! Well, a smaller version." The robot swivels to face him. There's a click, and a recording begins to play. "So, at last we me- at last you arrive. Do you see, Wishing Boy, what I have wrought? The culmination of your imaginative endeavours is as nothing compared to a mere sliver of my brilliant works. Are you afraid? Can an ant understand the capacities of an unfettered genius? You are speechless, yes? Perhaps you now await my permission to speak? Well, speak, fool! Sing my praises as you know you must! Cry out to the heavens in fear of my might! Grovel, not in fear, but because you know that I can be nothing less than your superior!" Who is this guy again? I mean, I've seen him around, but I didn't think he was this friendly with me. "I, who have beheld the faces behind the stars!" Perhaps he was my lab partner? "I, who have torn my heart from my chest!" Well, I've certainly seen him at school. "I, LEONARDO DE MONTREAL! Creator of the Incomparable Nightmare Engine!" There's a sharp click as the recording comes to a halt. "Do you know when he'll be back?" "+ UNKNOWN. HE HAS SET UP A TEMPORARY BASE OF OPERATIONS IN FORTITUDE. +" Fortitude!? A: Okay, Chuubo should see what this 'engine' can do! B: There must be some clue around here about Leonardo's plans. C: On the subject of engines, the Wish-Granting Engine will be charged by now. Chuubo should head home and make a wish to address the situation. D: Chuubo needs to find Leonardo as soon as possible, he should head over to Fortitude. E: Something else.
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Apr 26, 2018 22:05
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A X B X C D E Chuubo stands before the Incomparable Nightmare Engine. "Okay, can you hear me?" Nothing happens. "Can I have an icecream?" No response. Chuubo steps forward and inspects the machine more closely. While it looks similar, he isn't getting the same feeling from it. It's not simply a scaled down model, a lot of the components seem to be missing. There also seems to be a set of controls, while his own engine simply receives voice commands. "Excuse me, Mister Robot- What's your name?" "+ ALVIN. +" "How does this engine work?" "+ BY MANIPULATING THOSE CONTROLS, THE STRESSES BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL PHYSICS AND NIGHTMARE TECHNOLOGY ARE EASED WITHIN A NARROW VOLUME. +" Huh. That doesn't sound useful. Chuubo starts to look around the rest of the laboratory, and discovers a set of plans laid out on a worktable. It's a diagram showing the whole of Town. Fortitude, Horizon, Old Molder, all the regions are there. And beyond that, there is the Outside. Regions are marked there as well, but there's a lot of crossing out and scribbling. Tentative labels mark 'Russia', 'London' and 'Narnia'. And between Town and the Outside, there's a rough ring, punctuated by squares at intervals. A barrier? I don't remember seeing that. Next to that, there's a graph, charting the movements of Outside Dust. The levels of activity shown indicate a massive increase in the amount of dust sweeping in. The majority is passing through Fortitude. Some of that is then reaching Chuubo's house. A: If he's concerned about the dust, maybe there's something in this building that can deal with it? Chuubo should ask ALVIN. B: Hold on, given how much technology Leonardo has at his disposal, perhaps he's got one of those 'mobile' phones? Does ALVIN know the number? C: Chuubo should leave a note for Leonardo asking him to get into contact, then head home. D: Something else?
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Apr 28, 2018 17:42
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(Okay, Chuubo starts to attempt the actions...) "Hey ALVIN, is there something here that can help deal with dust?" "+ DUST? +" ALVIN hands him something that looks like a hand-held vacuum cleaner. This looks like it might do the trick! "Thanks. And do you have Leonardo's phone number?" A number appears on a screen on ALVIN's chest. He opens up a hatch on his left side, and pulls out a phone. On his right side, he opens a second hatch to reveal a phone dial. "Oh, thanks." Chuubo enters the number into the dial, and holds the phone up to his ear. After a few moments, there's a click. "Hello? Know that you have reached LEONARDO DE MONTREAL." "Oh hey Leo, can I borrow this thing I've found here? I need something to deal with dust, and also-" He's cut off by a spluttering noise. "YOU? You want to- You're in my HOME?" "Yeah, but you're in Fortitude now, right? I-" "Touch NOTHING. I'm coming over right now, and I'd BETTER find my things UNTOUCHED." (A little later...) Leonardo glares at the container of Outside Dust as Chuubo eyes him nervously. He's wearing a white coat/uniform, and has a pair of goggles slung around his neck. His hair is purple (which is strange even around here) and his gaze is unsettlingly intense. Leonardo shifts his gaze to Chuubo. He is still wearing his school uniform, with a neat tie. He's smiling besignly, with only a little strain apparent. "You've seen the engine, Wishing Boy?" "Yes, it's, er, impressive." "I don't need to be told that." He shakes the dust around and holds it up to the light. "Okay, I suppose I could examine this, it'll be helpful to my other work. Hand me that microscope." (Chuubo gains 1 bonus XP for a 'Shared Action'!) (As the chapter ends, Chuubo regains his missing point of Will, and Miramie regains her 1 MP!) Chapter 2 Scene 1 It's a few days later. Chuubo has been trekking over to Leonardo's lab regularly. The research is complete but Leonardo hasn't made a major breakthrough. The dust is essentially magical flotsam from the Outside that flows along 'cracks' or 'channels' in the surface of reality. It has potential worth, but it's not that interesting to study. But its movements are indicators of greater things happening. There's been more of it recently, and its presence around Chuubo's house means that there's something interesting there. Leonardo closes his notebook and scowls. Chuubo is lying on a bench staring at the ceiling. His dreams coalesce around him, forming into clouds and rainbows. No wonder that idiot couldn't manage to build more than one thing. No appreciation of the worth of materials. Leonardo walks to the back of the room, hauls a chest open, and pulls out a stringy, oily, mass of nightmares. It's time to give Chuubo a demonstration of how to apply oneself. What should Leonardo start to build? A: Start to build the Dusty Areas Methodical Analyser, an example of Nightmare Technology used to trace Outside Dust movements! B: Start to build the Pesky Dust Repulsion Barrier, an example of Nightmare Technology used to repel Outside Dust! C: Start to build the Indescribable Ice-cream Generator, an example of Nightmare Technology used to generate Ice-cream! And how much Will should he use up? i) Spend 1 Will! ii) Spend 2 Will! iii) Spend 4 Will! iv) Spend 8 Will! Added Leonardo's character sheet above. Updated other sheets.
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May 1, 2018 00:01
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A X B X C X i) ii) iii) XXX iv) Getting the ideas confused in his enthusiasm, Leonardo builds the Pesky Methodical Dusty Ice-Cream Barghest, rushing through the process! A monstrosity of black metal in the shape of a great hound, it looks at its creator and throws up. A puddle of vanilla-scented goop spreads across the floor. It twitches, falls over, and falls to pieces. Embarassed, Leonardo looks up to find Chuubo looking at him with a puzzled expression. "That was just practice, stop looking like that!" (Leonardo hasn't expended any Will on this mistake. He tries again, spending 4 Will.) A: Start building the Inexplicable Suspicion Sniffer, an example of Nightmare Technology used to detect secrets! B: Start building the Magic 64 Ball, an example of Nightmare Technology used to answer questions about the Outside! C: Start building the Reality Aberration Vehicle, an example of Nightmare Technology used to explore the Outside!
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May 2, 2018 23:04
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(What does 'AC' mean exactly?  )
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May 2, 2018 23:43
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dont be mean to me posted:Approval voting. (Actually, we can give this a try. I'll consider the first choices to begin with, then move onto the secondary choices if we have a tie.)
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May 2, 2018 23:55
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A X B C XXX Leonardo De Montreal rapidly draws up some blueprints and starts to collect tools from all over his workshop. Okay, we need enough eyestalks to cover all directions, tracks to run across unreal terrain, enough plating to create sufficient volume inside, a reliable steering mechanism... Maybe a cannon? Too far? "Chuubo, come over and help me! This is for the sake of our future! We're going to put together a TANK and take a trip into the Outside!" (Chuubo gains 1 Quest XP for 'Precious Memories'!) The two of them scramble around, clearing off workbenches, Chuubo doing his best to follow Leonardo's incoherent gestures. He pauses suddenly. "So, what does it run on?" "...What?" "It must still need some type of fuel, right? What do we need to collect?" What can Leonardo make it run on? A: Dreams? B: Ice-cream? C: Outside Dust? D: Nightmares? E: Books? F: Something else? Updated Miramie's character sheet to include some missing information.
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May 3, 2018 19:56
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A B C XXXX D E F "Outside Dust! That's what it will run on!" Leonardo starts to put together a propulsion device that will induce movement in the tank's tracks via the controlled suspension of the standard laws of motion, using the traces of magic from Outside Dust as fuel. Chuubo can only vaguely follow the procedure, but it looks impressive. (Leonardo gains 1 bonus XP for a 'Shared Action'!) "Yes, if I install a giant hose to collect the stuff, we can run it indefinitely when we're actually out there! Ah, hold on, we'll still need a lump amount to get the thing started." Leonardo grabs a large jar from a workbench. "Here Chuubo, make yourself useful and go fill this up. I'll finish up here." Where should Chuubo go to collect the dust? A: Chuubo's house. B: The streets of Fortitude. C: The library in Fortitude. Vote by indicating your order of preference for these options. Also, how is he going to collect it? i) Collect the stuff by hand. (Spend 2 Will) ii) Conjure up a vacuum cleaner to gather the dust. (Use 'Dreams Made Flesh') Chuubo can only use 'Dreams Made Flesh' once per chapter without paying MP.
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May 5, 2018 15:07
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(More backstory:) Billy Sovereign grins maliciously as he looks down at Leonardo De Montreal. He's being held down by a group of Billy's followers. They are pale imitations of Billy himself, having less of the petty spite that defines his existence. He tightens his grip on the railway spike he's holding, and drives it into Leonardo's chest- -through the spot where his heart should be. "Too...naive." Leonardo manages to gasp as the pain overwhelms him. Later- Billy screams and flails in the grasp of a burning horror, something called up from deep inside Leonardo's nightmares. Last week, Leonardo saw it consume the world (that is, the world as seen in Leonardo's nightmares), while laughing. To his irritation, while the flames clearly bother Billy, they don't seem to be killing him. "This hardly seems fair." With a gesture, he commands the horror to drop the boy. There's more important work to be done. The Wishing Boy has lessons that need to be learned, and the Child of the Sun needs to have checks run. Scroll up for choices.
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May 6, 2018 19:57
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A XX B XX C (With secondary votes added:) A XX B XXX C X i) XXXX ii) Chapter 2 Scene 2 Chuubo walks around the streets of Fortitude until he finds a strong concentration of dust, and starts to scoop it up into the jar. It takes him a little while, but he gets the job done. (Chuubo regains 1 Will for completing his task!) (Chuubo gains 1 Quest XP for 'Learning the ways of Fortitude'!) "Excuse me..." Chuubo turns around to see a boy around his own age, wearing some strange baggy clothing. He's clutching a bag which is filled with Outside Dust in much the same way as Chuubo's jar. "Are you aware that you're leaking dreams?" "Huh? What does that mean?" "I'm Edric Sosunov-" Oh yes, one of the shrine families. "-and I know that you shouldn't just leave them on display like this." He plucks a phantasmal ice-cream cone from the air. "Things like this can be turned against you, you know. You should keep them locked inside like everyone else." Chuubo thinks carefully. "But...It can't be that important if no-one's told me before, right?" "Well, do your parents know you can do this?" "Do what?" "Manifest your dreams in this fashion." "What fashion?" Looking irritated, Edric waves the cone in front of Chuubo. "Like this. Who taught you this spell?" Chuubo looks puzzled. "That's not normal?" "No. It isn't." Huh. How long have I been doing that? Edric closes his eyes, gestures, then squints at Chuubo. "Hmm. There's something stuck inside you, that's probably not good." Chuubo tries to see what it is, but it's like trying to examine the back of his own head. (Chuubo gains 1 Quest XP for 'Haunted'!) "It looks like a shard of glass-" Edric continues. "-shall I see if I can get it out?" A: Okay, have him pull the shard out. B: No, but visiting his shrine seems like a good idea. There'll be a whole of family of magicians there. C: Leave all this till later. For now, the jar of dust needs to be brought back to the lab.
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May 7, 2018 18:10
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A B C XXXX Bidding farewell to Edric, Chuubo hurries back to Leonardo. "Hey, I've got it! Are you finished?" "Just about..." The two of them complete the job. The Reality Aberration Vehicle stands before them, a two-person tank made of dull brown plating. A large tube protudes from the top, along with multiple eye-stalks. (Leonardo De Montreal regains 1 Will for finishing the job!) (Chuubo gains 1 bonus for a 'Shared Action'!) Leonardo opens up the jar and carefully pours the dust down the tube. He kicks it in just the right place, and the engine starts. "Right Chuubo, to Fortitude!" "But I've just come from there!" "There's something I need to pick up." Chapter 2 Scene 3 They stop off at Leonardo's place in Fortitude. He hurries inside, and reemerges a few moments later clutching a strange tool. "This is my Outside-Measuring Caliper. We'll certainly need it where we're going." "What's the Outside like, Leo?" "Don't call me Leo." The two of them drive off, heading through Fortitude, towards the boundary. Meanwhile... Miramie Mesmer sits alone in the manor, miserable and pale. The argument she had yesterday (Or was it the day before? Without sleep the days run together easily) ended with her friends storming out. She's been able to work this hard with barely any effort, surely they can do the same? She didn't ask anything unreasonable of them, did she? Perhaps they were just jealous of her efficiency? Finally accepting that she's run out of jobs that she can do by herself, she steps out into the daylight, and flinches momentarily. The sun seems like an enemy. Didn't Leonardo offer to introduce me to her once? Can I trust him? As she steps down the street, heading back to the Professor's Archive, she suddenly notices some street art, painted on a wall. That's not normal for Fortitude is it? It's a picture of a masked woman wearing a top hat. It looks like- Melanie Malakh. Sometimes I do wish I was simply her again. Arriving home, Miramie heads up her Hidden Room near the top of the building. She slams the door angrily. (Miramie gains 1 Quest XP for 'The Hidden Room'!) I should curse them all. Just because they can't focus, the whole plan won't work. It would have solved all our problems to get that place fixed up. Do I have any real friends? Well, you might count the Wishing Boy- ... I HAVEN'T BEEN SLEEPING! I haven't been in his dreams! I don't know what he's doing, where he is! Miramie kicks the leg of a table in agitation. Quickly, I need to do something! But what should Miramie do? A: Tear a hole in the fabric of the waking world and step into dreams while awake. (The World-Breaker's Hand, 1 free use per chapter) B: Gather up a bag of Outside Dust and eat it all at once. It's a psychotoxin, and should trigger a strong enough hallucination to travel through. (Spend 1 Will, with Connection:Fortitude 1) C: Exert herself and send her spirit out to the Wishing Boy while awake. (Spend 1 MP)
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May 9, 2018 20:02
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A X B XX C Miramie finds a bag in her dresser, and spends a little time on the streets. She returns to the Hidden Room clutching a bag of Outside Dust. (Miramie regains the point of Will she just spent for completing the task!) I hope this works... She tries to swallow the dry dust, but ultimately has to go and fetch a glass of water to help it down. She reclines on the bed, and stares at ceiling. It seems to melt away, and she rises up out of her body, into a different space. She conjures up a paper mask and fits it over her face. Now, the direction is this way- Miramie walks across Fortitude in dreams, growing larger with very step until she towers like a giant over the buildings. He's entered the Outside? As she leaves the prosaic world behind, Miramie finds herself growing calmer. She follows the pull of his connection further and further, until she finds the Wishing Boy and Nightmare's Angel standing next to a strange vehicle. Everything pales in comparison to them. The first is flaring brightly, while the second casts shadows that are miles long. Leonardo is making measurements with his caliper while Chuubo is reading a map. He can see that the Outside consists of a series of layers. Right now, they're in the Near Outside. Further out, there is the Low Outside, the Deep Outside, the Far Outside. And then, there is the Bleak Academy. And then, there is a Far and Sunless Land. He closes the map, and looks around. This place looks just like a field of grass, but there's something strange about the way the sun is shining. As Miramie lays eyes on the Wishing Boy, she feels some more of her stress melt away. (Miramie is now Suspicious and OK . She gains 1 Quest XP for 'Under Siege'.) But as she drifts closer to Nightmare's Angel she can see a whole world of horrors lurking inside him, tendrils reaching out. What should Miramie do now? A: Watch the two of them silently, see what happens. B: Try and get the Wishing Boy's attention, talk to him. C: He seems to be okay for the moment. Try and go deeper into the Outside. D: The Wishing Boy shouldn't be out here, it could be dangerous. Pretend to be a monster and scare him back to Fortitude. E: Dive into the world of horrors inside Nightmare's Angel, find out what they're all about.
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May 11, 2018 20:48
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A B C D E XXXX Miramie weaves through the tendrils emerging from Nightmare's Angel and dives into his core. Inside, it's very dark. Monsters roam around a poisonous bog. There's something there that's on fire, something else with a mass of dripping eyeballs, another thing made of twenty boneless hands grafted together. I see. These monsters haunt him as he sleeps. She pushes forward with her arms, as if swimming. Here, there's a clearing where the creatures look more human-like. In fact, they look familiar. They speak to the sky. There's one there who looks like the Wishing Boy but more arrogant, leering with malicious intent. "I have made an engine that can change the world. What has LEONARDO done that compares?" And there, there's a young man without a nose, long white hair, and his hands dripping with what looks like blood. "He's missed SO MUCH school. How much detention will he have?" Isn't that the principal of the school in Horizon? And over there, there's a large boy in a school uniform, on fire. "I'll get him back! It's only a matter of time!" And over THERE, a well-dressed man with long dark hair, his eyes filled with falling stars. "All of this is my gift to him. It's a lesson he couldn't learn any other way." Pretty sure I've seen him somewhere as well. At some other school? ...He turns to look at Miramie. "Ahhh, another lost sheep." He extends his hand. "Come to me, little student. I can help you get home." What should Miramie do? A: Accept the offer. B: Jump back into the sea of monsters, and cast a spell to blend in with them. (Spend 2 Will, with Changeling 2) C: Tear Nightmare's Angel open from the inside and jump out. (World-Breaker's Hand, one free use per chapter) D: Attempt to wake up. (Spend 2 Will, with Superior Dreamer 1) E: Reject the offer, attempt to engage him in conversation.
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May 13, 2018 18:20
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A X B C D E XXX "Ah... No, but how do you know me?" He smiles. "You were Melanie Malakh, one of my students at my Bleak Academy, as was Leonardo De Montreal." Ah yes, he's the Headmaster! "Inside you, I see the urge to be Melanie Malakh once more." Quite suddenly, all the nightmares are converging on her. (Miramie Mesmer gains 1 bonus XP for 'Suffering Corruption'!) (Miramie Mesmer gains 1 point of Sickness!) Meanwhile... Leonardo finishes his analysis, and scribbles down some numbers in a notebook. "I'm looking for spikes indicating a movement of material from the Outside into Town, but I can't get very good readings here. I need to find a more significant location to check." (Leonardo De Montreal gains 1 Quest XP for 'The Outside Stirs'!) He peers into the distance. "Oh, there's a storm coming. We'd better move out of the way." Chuubo's response? A: "How about we drive into the storm and take more readings there?" B: "How about we go further into the Outside and try again?" C: "Can I take a look at your Caliper?" D: "What about the Bleak Academy? What if we go as far as there?"
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May 15, 2018 19:55
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A X B C D X Adding secondary votes: A X B C D XX Leonardo looks momentarily perturbed. "There? I'm not- There? The Bleak Academy?" "Yeah. It's like our rival school, right?" Leonardo gives Chuubo a long, considering look. "...Okay, let's try it." The two of them set off, going deeper into the Outside. Chapter 2 Scene 4 The pipe in the top of the tank continues to pull in dust as Leonardo De Montreal and Chuubo travel through the Low Outside. Chuubo peers out as they cross a bridge made of resolve, built over a river of flowing fears. Tree sprout umbrellas to hold off rains of taxation, while a nearby farm cultivates a crop of software disks in the fertile earth. Whenever he tries to focus on these things, they recede into the distance, resisting analysis. Leonardo scowls. This is no place to be a scientist. They go a bit further, and Chuubo suddenly starts to have second thoughts. He's got no idea how Leonardo is still steering in a meaningful manner. Whenever he looks in any direction, he can't make out any meaningful distinction between the ground below and the sky above. Everything is just swirling colours and sounds (how he can see sounds is a mystery in itself). Looking up at the sun hurts. He's getting unconnected flashes of sensation and memories. He suddenly remembers a trick he discovered once, after he had a dream about a dragon. He raises his hands, and does his best to clear his mind. Gradually, the Outside calms... resolving into... an ocean. That's not quite what happened before. I made the rain stop and the winds calm. "CHUUBO, WHAT-" The vehicle abruptly sinks below the water. Oops. As Chuubo ceases to focus, the ocean disperses back into chaos, and something like ground is below the vehicle again. "You simple fool!" "Sorry, Leo. But I don't like this place." "Hrrr..." Later, as they near the Deep Outside, something emerges from the chaos and coalesces into a group of Riders. They are mounted on white horses, and wear brightly coloured jackets and cloaks. "Hey, are they-" "Shutupletmedothetalking!" Leonardo knows these creatures. They're hunters, of anything. They live out here, but often come into the regions of Town. In the old days, when he lived around here, they had no problem with him, but that may no longer be the case. They approach, glaring. A: Leonardo should play it casual, act as if they're just passing through. (Spend 2 Will) B: Leonardo can use his SUPERIOR INTELLECT to detect what they're thinking. (Flash of Insight, 1 free use per chapter) C: Leonardo can use his MIGHTY STRENGTH to protect the obviously helpless Chuubo from this great peril. (I Alone May Save You, 1 free use per chapter) D: Leonardo should pretend that he's still a student of the Bleak Academy. (Spend 4 Will)
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May 17, 2018 22:38
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A B C XXX D Some time ago, Leonardo De Montreal identified and removed the Friendship Kidney, the part of his body that processed friendship. Without such a weakness holding him back, he became as a saviour to those around him. A pure and deadly creature, able to dispassionately act for the greater good. (It also gave him the ability to remove indications of his capacity for friendship from the world's collective memory. Unfortunately, any use of this ability causes him to forget that he used it in the first place, so he hasn't been able to take any notes on the phenomenon.) He pokes his head out of the top of the tank, and the riders promptly fire several arrows towards him. He easily catches them and crushes them with his bare hands. As they scream with fury and spur their horses, he ducks back inside. When the riders get close enough for him to see the falling stars in their eyes, he acts. His foot slams down on the accelerator and the Reality Aberration Vehicle races towards them. They shift their stance to avoid being run down, but then, as one, produce knives and slice at their wrists. Their blood spills out and forms into a murky cloud of smoke that pours itself through the cracks in the tank. Rolling his eyes, Leonardo opens his mouth slightly, and the vapour is rapidly drawn inside him. He swallows, and returns his attention to his driving. The riders turn to give chase, but he expertly guides the vehicle on through the Outside, finding the clearest possible route, rapidly leaving them behind. "Whoa. Leo, you're really-" "Don't call me Leo. I'm not your friend." In silence, they proceed at great speed through the Deep Outside. The sun first becomes a yellow circle, then disappears. While before there was chaos, now, there's just a grey surface beneath them and an empty sky above. And then it gets worse. There's nothing around them that they can describe. Chuubo looks at his hands and seems to see reptilian scales running across them. Leonardo feels great pains inside his body, and the sensation that something is trying to escape from within. They lose all sense of time as they pass through the Far Outside. Everything is grey, empty and pointless. And then, the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy appears, stepping through an invisible door. Leonardo brings the tank to a sharp halt. "I thought I'd come out to meet you. Planning on resuming your studies, Leonardo De Montreal?" (Leonardo De Montreal gains 5 Quest XP for 'The Outside Stirs' as a result of meeting the Headmaster!) Chuubo thinks he might have seen this person before. His eyes are like those of the Riders. "I'm just here to take some readings on the state of the Outside." replies Leonardo, eyeing him uneasily. "I'll leave when I'm done." "Ah, but we already have a wealth of data at our library. We kept some of your devices, and the whole field is of great interest to us. Why not accept what we will share?" Hmm. Admittedly he tore me open and placed a world of nightmares inside me during my last stay, but he let me leave afterwards. "And your friend can attend the The Colloquium of Magi, just as you did." Oh. Leonard: A: Thinks it over, and decides to accept this arrangement. B: Refuses the implicit deal. C: Stalls, hoping he can find another option. Chuubo: i) Thinks that a school transfer sounds like fun. ii) Would prefer to keep going to Horizon Academy as usual. iii) Is busy trying to remember if he has seen this guy before and isn't paying attention to the conversation. Twiler fucked around with this message at 20:22 on May 19, 2018 |
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May 19, 2018 20:13
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A XXXX B C i) ii) XXXX iii) "Chuubo, I think we need to sign up here." "Huh?" "Think about it, we can learn everything we need! It'll be better than Entropy's place." "But, but, all our friends are there, right? There's Seizhi, and Jasper-" "We can go back, it'll just be for a while." Chuubo looks at his distorted hands and shudders. "No thanks, I think I'll go back and try Fortitude again." (Leonardo De Montreal gains 1 bonus XP for a 'Shared Reaction'!) (Leonardo De Montreal gains 1 point of Isolation!) "Oh dear." says the Headmaster. "And I had your timetable all drawn up in advance." He holds up a book filled with charts and lets it fall open. As the pages turn, Chuubo finds himself transfixed by their motion. The words and numbers inside hold his gaze. Quite suddenly, these hypothetical descriptions are as facts. He can't imagine doing anything else but attending these classes. Miramie is attending class in the Bleak Academy (or so it seems), when an uneasy feeling rushes over her. Somewhere, the Wishing Boy is in trouble. She looks around and she realises that she's had this lesson before. Or rather, Melanie Malakh did. And she is not Melanie Malakh. She kicks over her desk. The teacher and other students stare at her, but this is just a mass of nightmares in the shape of a memory. It doesn't matter. The Wishing Boy matters. She has to get to him, now. Miramie should: A: Tear Nightmare's Angel open from the inside and jump out. (World-Breaker's Hand, one free use per chapter) B: Use the connection to the Wishing Boy to travel to him immediately, and to lend her power to aid him.(A Waking Dream, spend 1 MP) C: Quickly swim/fly out from the Nightmare World and emerge next to the two of them. (Spend 8 Will with Supreme Dreamer 1) Clarification: Because of the way the health system works, being torn open from the inside won't kill Leonardo De Montreal, it'll just inconvenience him for a while. Twiler fucked around with this message at 20:06 on May 21, 2018 |
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May 21, 2018 19:29
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Backstory! Entropy II, Principal of Horizon Academy faces the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy inside a classroom. He points at him and speaks. "You have no place here, in my school. Leave." The Headmaster smiles, and says nothing. Irritated, Entropy II snaps his fingers. Mr and Mrs Rosewood (both ogres) take the Headmaster firmly by the shoulders and start to drag him from the room. At least, that's the idea, but quite suddenly, he isn't there anymore. Entropy II draws a breath sharply, and then slowly releases it. How I wish father was here. He'd know what to do about unwanted teachers. He turns to face the class to whom the Headmaster was preaching. "If I hear anyone in here repeating anything that he said to you, I'll put them on garden duty." The class collectively shudders. He leaves the room, his mind already churning with plans for retialiation. Perhaps a spy could tell him the favourite sporting activity out in the Outside. If he can train a sufficiently skilled team, he can put his rival to shame. Scroll up to see options.
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May 22, 2018 22:27
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A B XXX C In a flash, Miramie's dream-self is clinging to Chuubo's back. As she pulls herself closer to him, he feels her memories flow into his. The Glass Dragon coils above Fortitude, roaring. Light flashes off it in a dazzling cascade. It turns to regard the buildings below more carefully, and then stops. *static* The Glass Dragon shatters, its body raining down in shards. Winds spring up and fling them to all the corners of Town. Melanie Malakh stares in horror from her vantage point. And a piece of glass slips into her eye. Chuubo comes back to himself, but he can still feel Miramie with him. The Headmaster pauses, looking momentarily confused. The pages of the book stop turning. Chuubo now has Miramie's powers at his disposal, and his mind is clear (at least, for the moment). A: Inside Miramie's memories, Chuubo can see doors inside the library he visited, leading to the Outside. Why shouldn't one of those doors open here? With an effort, he can quickly bring one into existence and escape. (Dreams Made Flesh, spend 4 MP) B: Chuubo can command Miramie's World-Breaker's Hand and attempt to unmake the Headmaster. (World-Breaker's Hand, one free use per chapter) C: Using a stronger version of his trick from earlier, Chuubo can try to thwart the Headmaster's attempts to inconvenience him. (Peaceful, spend 4 MP) D: With Miramie's magic, Chuubo can cast a spell to make it appear that he has become a student of the Bleak Academy. (Spend 4 Will (Chuubo's Will), with Changeling 2) E: Forget complexity, just run for the tank (using Miramie's Grace), turn it round and hit the accelerator. (Spend 2 Will (Chuubo's Will), with Grace 2)
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May 23, 2018 20:39
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A B XX C D X E Chuubo gestures at the Headmaster and the space around him seems to ripple and distort. A great wind springs up and starts to sweep the colour from him. ...At least that's what initially seems to be happening, but then the effect vanishes and his colour holds true. Something inside him is repelling Miramie's power. But then the wind returns. Reality shivers back and forth between the two versions of events as opposing forces fight, trying to make one real and the other imaginary. Miramie knows that outright destroying the Headmaster is implausible, but if they bring their strength to bear on him they might be able to at least inflict him with a severe injury. Chuubo: A: Spend 0 MP! B: Spend 1 MP! C: Spend 2 MP! D: Spend 4 MP! Also Miramie: Z: Spend 0 MP! Y: Spend 1 MP! X: Spend 2 MP! W: Spend 4 MP!
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May 25, 2018 20:09
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A B C D XX Z Y X W XX The Headmaster's surface is swept away, revealing a dark mass filled with falling stars, in the shape of a person. It ceases to have structure and erupts in all directions, extruding tendrils. But the effect it was having on Chuubo has vanished completely. (Come to think of it, they never actually got out of the tank, did they?) Chuubo desperately pushes Leonardo out of the way and grabs the steering mechanism. He manages to turn the vehicle around and hits the accelerator. As Miramie clings to him, they speed away, leaving the Headmaster-thing behind. Leonardo De Montreal sits, looking dazed. Seeing the preceding conflict seems to have stunned him. Chuubo calms down slightly, and momentarily wonders who the girl attached to him is. She seems familiar. A: Miramie should direct Chuubo to take the tank towards a door leading back to the library. B: Chuubo should double-back and see if they can reach the Bleak Academy without encountering the Headmaster-thing. C: Chuubo should drive back to Town.
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May 27, 2018 17:20
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A XX B C Chapter 2 Scene 5 After only a short journey they arrive at a door, standing by itself in the middle of a grey expanse. Puzzled, Chuubo jumps out of the tank and walks around it a few times, as Miramie tries to keep her balance on his shoulders. "Just open it up and step through!" "But it doesn't lead anywhere." "Just do it!" Chuubo shrugs (Miramie almost falls) and twists the doorknob. The door opens and he's surprised to find the inside of the libary behind it. "This isn't a normal door, is it?" Miramie manages to stay calm. "WALK THROUGH." Leonardo suddenly springs to life. "Hold on!" He staggers out of the vehicle. "Firstly, we're not going to follow the whims of whatever wailing waith- I mean wraith, wraith that shows up, secondly we're not going to just abandon my great invention after all the effort I put into constructing it!" Miramie scowls. "Shut up Leonardo! Wishing Boy, step through!" Chuubo looks puzzled. "Huh? Who's the Wishing Boy?" "YOU ARE!" Leonardo blinks. "Hey- I know you! Y-" Chuubo steps through the door (taking Miramie with him) and it starts to swing shut. "You can't interrupt my revelations!" Forgetting the tank, Leonardo rushes after them. Inside, they're surrounded by shelves and the smell of dust and paper. It's reassuringly mundane to Chuubo, but the other two just keep on arguing. "I know you! You're Melanie Malakh! I was there when you graduated!" "NO, I'm Miramie Mesmer. You're just stupid." "Bah, why should I be concerned about such trivialities! My genius is beyond all-" "Blah, blah, blah. Wishing Boy-" "I'm Chuubo." Chuubo. "Chuubo, just wait a moment." Miramie's dream-self hurries back to her real body, lying on the bed upstairs and embeds herself inside. She raises herself from the bed and finds her form to be frustratingly slow. Better rejoin those two quickly, they do get themselves into trouble easily. By the time she finds them in the 'Architecture' section, Leonardo's trying to work out how to dismantle the tank and bring it through the door, while Chuubo has grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and is lost in its pages (not literally). She motions for him to be silent, takes him by the hand, and leads him up to the Hidden Room. He manages to stay quiet until they step through the door. "Do you know that other girl?" "Other...you can't recognise me without my mask??" "Well, I wasn't sure if it was you. You're also that girl who keeps showing up in my dreams, right?" She hesitates. Somewhere inside him, there's that precious shard of glass that surely has some part of Melanie Malakh encoded in it. She's itching to try and get hold of it. A: Miramie denies it. She needs to find a way to trick him into letting her have that shard of glass. B: Miramie confirms it. She needs to work with him to find a way to extract that shard of glass. C: Miramie cuts to the chase and unmakes a section of Chuubo so she can try and drag the shard loose. (World-Breaker's Hand, spend 2 MP) D: Miramie evades the question and offers to show him her Stone Dragon sculpture. It might remind him of something.
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May 29, 2018 21:22
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A B XX C D It's a strain, but Miramie can't see that she can avoid telling him the truth. "Wellll, yes, I am. You see, a long time ago, the Professor who lives here helped me make a Glass Dragon. I think... It was meant to be a weapon, or a monster, or something similar. But, it, er, broke, and the shards of glass flew everywhere. One ended up inside you... And I think that it's the largest of all the pieces." Chuubo rubs his chest nervously. "And, you see, when the dragon broke, I, well, lost myself. I'm only a fraction of the person I used to be. I was hoping that if I could get that shard back, it might help. I first saw it when I walked into your dreams. It seemed like an accident at first, but now I think that it might have been drawing me towards you." Miramie wrings her hands nervously. "Anyway, I really want to try and look at it at least. I think that it's not just a shard of glass. I think it's something miraculous. Please, help me." Phew, I feel lighter now. (Miramie is now Innocent and OK. Miramie gains 1 Quest XP for 'Art Shop and Garden'! Chuubo gains 5 Quest XP for 'Haunted' as a result of identifying the power that is haunting him!) Unsettled, Chuubo finds it hard to meet her eyes, and looks everywhere else instead. He seems to be in a bedroom, high up in the library. Light is beaming in through an elaborate window. On shelves and tables are various pieces of art and knickknacks. A blue curtain conceals something inside an alcove. Strange images float through the air inside swirls of smoke. Hmm. This place feels like...home. Relaxing, he meets Miramie's gaze. The small hat she's wearing looks somewhat incongruous when she hasn't got her mask over her face. He wasn't sure what to think of her before, but now she looks frightened and desperate. "Yes, of course I'll help. I know you're right about the shard, Edric Sosunov could see it too." Delighted, Miramie grabs his hands, then thinks better of it, and hurriedly releases him. (Chuubo gains 1 bonus XP for a 'Slice of Life'! Miramie gains 1 bonus XP for sharing the moment!) What should they do? A: Go visit the Sosunov shrine. B: Activate the Wish-Granting Engine and wish the shard loose. (Wishing, one use per chapter) C: Ask Leonardo to construct a machine to extract the shard. D: Try and persuade the professor to tell them something about the Glass Dragon. Wishes granted by the engine have a tendency to go wrong. The more closely they're tied to the PCs' feelings about Chuubo (as depicted on the Wishing Map in the opening post, now updated), the more likely it is that they'll turn out as intended.
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May 31, 2018 22:07
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A XX B C D X Chuubo and Miramie walk through the streets of Fortitude, and arrive at the Sosunov shrine. Miramie approaches one of the family, sweeping up some Outside Dust. Chuubo doesn't follow the ensuing conversation. It involves gesturing at him, and talk of 'alien influences' and 'possible breaches of self'. More of the family gather (including Edric), and Chuubo spends the next few days undergoing elaborate examinations, and being the subject of scrying rituals, while Miramie has discussions and arguments with the family. (Miramie gains 1 Bonus XP for a 'Shared Action'!) (Chuubo gains 5 Quest XP for 'Haunted' as a result of finding someone in Fortitude who can help him!) (Chuubo regains 1 MP at the end of the chapter!) (All characters regain all their Will at the end of the chapter!) Checking the rules, Miramie is an exception to the rule about regaining MP at the ends of chapters. So, she shouldn't have regained 1 MP at the end of last chapter, but on the other hand she should have regained 1 MP for picking up a point of Sickness. Her wound now heals, and she's able to sleep again! Edited opening post. Added Jasper's character sheet, updated other character sheets, revised 'Key Points'. Chapter 3 Scene 1 The Sosunovs gather together in the main room of the shrine, and take their positions for a great ritual. Chuubo stands in the centre, while Miramie lurks on the periphery, casting paranoid glances at the magicians. (Miramie is now Suspicious and OK. Miramie gains 1 Quest XP for 'Art Shop and Garden'!) As the Sosunovs cast their spell, it seems that Chuubo becomes an Chuubo-shaped opening into a world filled with golden clouds. From out of those clouds, a glowing piece of glass appears. As everyone stares at it, the perspective changes, zooming in on the shard rapidly. Close-up, the glass is irregularly shaped, with tiny cracks running through it. Chuubo seems to expand and for a moment, the shard is larger than the shrine itself. It can be seen that it contains a Glass Labyrinth, with specks of movement inside. The image fades, and Chuubo reappears, looking confused. The Sosunovs talk in whispers, then cast another spell. The Glass Labyrinth reappears, but it's completely separate from Chuubo. There's an opening leading inside. The glass vanishes again, but the opening remains, hanging in the air, its edges fading into incorporeality. One of the Sosunovs turns to Miramie. "You may be able to find the answers you seek if you search inside. Edric should go as well, someone with his education is essential." "Isn't the glass out of him now?" "No, it's still inside, but it's not a physical object. It doesn't have to exist in a single discreet location." I'm not sure I trust these people, but if one of them is with us, they'll have to keep the gateway open. "And I'm coming too!" "Chuubo, you can't go into something that's inside your own dreams." "Isn't that what I do when I'm asleep?" "The boy is correct. There's no reason why he can't accompany you." Miramie sighs, and hurries into the opening, followed by Chuubo and a nervous looking Edric Sosunov. Inside, the walls are distorted glass, filled with strange, indistinct images. There's a distant roaring. Twisty little passages lead in all directions, but behind them, there remains a path back to the shrine. What should Miramie do? A: Take Chuubo and run off into the labyrinth, leaving Edric behind. (Spend 2 Will with Grace 2) B: Examine the images trapped in the walls. (Spend 1 Will, with Alertness 1) C: Follow the sound of the roaring. D: Attempt to reach the centre of the labyrinth. Meanwhile... Inside the library, Leonardo De Montreal searches through section after section of books, looking for the tomes of occult knowledge that he's certain have to be here somewhere. He's concerned that the Outside is coming, and coming in force. If he can discover the key principles of the Outside motion, he might be able to turn it back. He's removed the components of the tank to his residence in Fortitude. Perhaps he should go back to the lab and- "Hey Monty!" Leonardo's head snaps around and he sees Jasper Irinka, the Child of the Sun, smiling at him radiantly. Her hair is red and long, and she's dressed in her casual clothes. "I had a hard time finding you Monty. ALVIN told me you were in Fortitude, but I had to look everywhere to find you here." "Don't call me Monty!" "It's a wonderful day outside. Want to go bicycle riding?" "Begone, tempter!" Not losing her composure, Jasper runs her finger along one of the shelves. "Perhaps we could give this place a dusting?" Leonardo exhales, and tries to think of a constructive response. Z: Leonardo should go back to his lab and try to build something to ensure that people can only bother him when he has business with them. Y: Leonardo should try and ignore Jasper and go find the owner of the library to ask where the Occult section is. X: Leonardo should dust the library with Jasper and return to research after he's placated her. W: Actually, he hasn't seen her for while, so perhaps he should take her to his lab and check that she's still healthy.
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Jun 2, 2018 19:23
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(It looks like we're heading towards a dead-lock on the second decision here. Could everyone please give a full account of their preferences on the second vote?)
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Jun 3, 2018 18:58
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A X B XXX C D Z Y XX X XX W Applying secondary votes: Z Y XX X XXX W XX Miramie stares deep inside the walls. It takes her a little while to grasp what she's seeing. Within the glass there are images of Melanie Malakh and Professor Hideo crafting the Glass Dragon. They seem to be from the perspective of the dragon itself, witnessing its body taking shape. And then, from its perspective, looking down at Fortitude. And then, a black void. I expected to find my own memories, but these are the dragon's memories. It looks like it never knew what made it break. I wonder if anyone in Fortitude saw what happened? (Miramie gains 1 Bonus XP for a 'Discovery'!) (Miramie gains 1 point of Mystery!) (Miramie regains 1 MP for gaining her first point of Mystery!) Edric closes his eyes and begins to mutter. Left to his own devices, Chuubo looks around and rubs his chest. I'm in me somewhere. What happens to me when something happens in here? What should Chuubo do? A: Dream up a hammer and chisel and break a Glass Splinter off one of the walls. (Dreams Made Flesh, one free use per chapter) B: Try and work out what Edric's doing. C: Look down the passages of the labyrinth, see if he can spot something interesting from here. Meanwhile... Leonardo De Montreal turns his mighty intellect to the subject of dusting. His mind scrutinizes the different possibilities that exist in the unborn futures ahead. "All right, the first step is- finding equipment with which to dust!" "Hmm, yes, how shall we do that?" Z: Leonardo should head to his Fortitude residence and construct the Unstoppable Dust Devourer! (Spend 4 Will, with Nightmare Science 2) Y: Jasper should conduct a search of all available cupboards nearby, expanding the radius until cleaning supplies are found. (Spend 2 Will) X: Jasper and Leonardo should search around until they find someone who can simply tell them where the cleaning supplies are stored.
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Jun 4, 2018 20:43
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