Steven's Notes Ch 209-212

Alas, I thought I'd found a workaround to my "notes being out of order" problem. Last week I cut and pasted them by hand and that was pretty tedious since I do most of my reading on my phone. Ah well. At least this way I got the chapter titles so I can roughly sort them. Enjoy the scrambled notes.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“I did not task you with bringing everything under control,” replied Perisev. She slinked closer, though that didn’t really matter, since we were already within range of her dragonfire. “I tasked you with killing the necromancer.” “We have plenty of time left to do that,” I replied. “You gave us two months, and it’s barely been one.”

I’m glad it’s Perisev and not the other one. She should get off their collective back. They’re working on it, piss off and ask for his head when it’s due.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“You would defy me?” asked Perisev. I stared at her, willing my face not to move a muscle. The answer was yes. “I’ve spoken to Tommul. There are persistent rumors that you cost him an eye, through magical means or otherwise. He’s none too happy about that, but it would seem that your legend, such as it is, greatly exceeds reality. Do you have a plan for killing one of our kind?” “Uther managed it,” I said. “I’m sure that I could find a way, if I had to.”

Ballsy af.

April 30, 2022

Orison

You may be willing to allow him life, but I am not. You must kill him.” “I refuse,” I replied. Somehow, I had thought that I would win this standoff by planting my feet and refusing to be intimidated. Maybe the most likely outcome, from my perspective, had been that she would go do it herself, and I would have to decide in short order whether or how I was going to stop her. Instead, she opened her maw and spat a gout of jet black flame at us.

Holy shit! She doesn’t fuck around! Or maybe she just knows about Important people always surviving trials by adversity.

April 30, 2022

Orison

The ground was shifting beneath our feet though, because the dragonfire was burning our surroundings, and the ward didn’t extend all that deep. I felt a hand on me, then a brief moment of blinding pain, and then we were standing elsewhere, the heat that had seeped in completely vanished. “Fuck,” I said. “She actually tried to kill us.”

You can count on Amaryllis to not fuck around when it comes to handling a crisis. She didn’t lose her cool at all and reacted quickly.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Then we defend Poran,” said Grak. “Maybe if we can get her into the domain of the locus,” I began. “It would be putting both the domain and the locus at risk,” said Raven. “What do you suggest?” I asked.

I like the idea of beating the dragon with shenanigans. It’s a shame things went from slightly tense to full blown war in like 2 seconds.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Alright,” I said. “Hang on for a moment, I’m going to pray.” “You’re what?” asked Raven.

This strategy is super sensible and I have no problems with it. They should be allowed to ask the DM for rules clarifications. Is this the first time he’s beseeched the DM this way? I think it might be. It would be funny if this sort of thing was always on the table and he just never thought to try it before.

April 30, 2022

Orison

I’m going to pray to the Dungeon Master to allow maxing out everything to work just one more time.” “Okay,” said Raven, frowning at me. “Be tactful.” “Sure,” I replied.

Man, just try to ask him if it’s allowed!

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Anything I should tell the Dungeon Master?” I asked him. “We have our own conversations,” replied Grak, still looking out at the cliffside city. “Alright,” I replied.

And what the fuck does that mean? Does the DM talk to Grak but told him not to share the details? Or has he just joined Amaryllis’s Church of the Latter Day DM?

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Okay,” I said. I took in a breath. “And someone should contact Bethel.” “Seriously?” asked Amaryllis. “Yes,” I said.

Yeah, it’s all hands on deck.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Were you respectful?” asked Amaryllis. “He’s not some authoritarian thug,” I said. “Why do I have to defend your god to you?” “He’s not my god,” Amaryllis replied. “He’s everyone’s god, whether they want him to be or not.”

Spoken like a true believer.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“But sometimes for petty things,” said Raven. She had a dour look. “Sure,” I said. “But I don’t think that applies for the Dungeon Master. I don’t think he’s driven by ego.” “The gods are not driven by ego,” said Amaryllis. “Mostly not,” replied Raven.

I wish the Dungeon Master would just pop in and say “I am not petty!” in as petty a manner as possible.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“You shouldn’t have said you would work on a way to kill her,” said Amaryllis, scowling at me. “You basically told her that we couldn’t fight back. Remember that for next time.”

Or you could have not provoked her. Bend the knee and pretend to be subservient while working on a dragon killing plan.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Give me ten minutes and I’ll send word to one of the clones,” said Amaryllis. “I assume she knows about the ship.”

Oh shit. That’s gonna ruin everyone’s day when Perisev blows up the ship and pops Amaryllis.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“She’ll be coming for us,” said Raven. “We don’t have the firepower to kill her or the defensive abilities to keep her out.” She looked at Grak, who had been the one to use the teleport key: the temporal plate made him much faster when time was short

Nice one, Grak! I knew his speedy suit would come in handy.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Do you believe that using a gimmick twice would be allowed?” he asked.

Huh. Good meta thinking there, Grak. Gotta give him extra props. Now that I think about it, this is the sort of thing that was fun to see once, but I don’t think it’d be fun if he used this trick to solve every major problem they have prep time for. I assume the DM shares that sentiment. Paying for it with a sacrifice so he can redistribute points at will is a sort of anti-cheese, but it doesn’t seem costly enough.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“You use Skilled Trade to get Scaphism,” said Grak. “In combination, you are using one scarce resource to power your way into a second scarce resource. In the language of your games, you are using a fourth level power in order to gain a thirteenth level power, which you are using to go epic level.”

Damn. Sure sounds like he’d be cruisin’ for an exclusion if he kept doing this. But shoving a dragon in front of them and telling them not to use all their tools is hardly fair either.

April 30, 2022

Orison

it was exactly the sort of thing that I would have shut down, if not right away, then eventually, once the novelty had worn off. If it had been Reimer, because it was always Reimer, I probably would have asked him to sunset the character, and if he didn’t go for that, then I’d have gotten heavy-handed with some rule changes.

Sounds about right.

April 30, 2022

Orison

We had actually gotten to that point, where I was worried that god would shut the universe off because he was upset with me.

I feel like that’s a tad over the top, but their lives are so fucking weird that it’s hardly outside the realm of possibility.

April 30, 2022

Orison

We already knew everything in those books, but I got the sense that Raven liked books for the comfort that they gave her in uncertain times.

She’s like Hermione if Hermione didn’t mind killing people.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“Are you there god?” I asked. “It’s me, Juniper.”

Ha ha. ;)

April 30, 2022

Orison

And some of it was fun, but mostly that came down to the other players, not anything you did.” That was wishful thinking on my part, but I couldn’t not believe that my companions had minds and agency of their own. That way lie madness.

I think I used that exact phrasing before on the show!

April 30, 2022

Orison

“I’m planning to kill Perisev,” I said. “She breathed fire on me, because she thought I was vulnerable, so fuck her, she’s dead to me, and hopefully literally dead as well.

I totally get where he’s coming from and I think it’s completely understandable. But wouldn’t it be fun if she breathed fire on them as a trial by adversity and was just getting ready to bend the knee and swear fealty when they bailed?

April 30, 2022

Orison

But there’s been this feeling of trying to keep things in my back pocket, holding onto them for a time of need, rather than because it makes sense on the object level. I’m worried that I have to pull my punches with Perisev because if I don’t, then there’s another exclusion coming, and I’m going to need everything I’ve got to make a run past Fel Seed. Something something ludonarrative dissonance.” If he was a kindred spirit, he would get what I meant.

I’ll have to think on my fresh understanding of ludonarrative dissonance to see if I can put this articulately on the show. But I know what he’s getting at. He has all these cool things he can do but he’s sorta threatened to not use them, but he’s told to get creative and when he gets too creative he gets things excluded.

April 30, 2022

Orison

from what I’ve seen of the game, but you’ve got this sense of humor that makes it hard to know when you’re being straightforward. Probably the implied existence of a Hitler achievement doesn’t imply that you want me to kill six million people.

I wonder if the only feedback he’ll get from this is an achievement “Begging for Help” or something.

April 30, 2022

Orison

I want to be able to cut loose in the coming fight and not get punished for it because it’s the same trick a second time, or because it’s not ‘fair’, or not what you want. So … if that’s at all a consideration, then I guess I’m asking for this to be the last hurrah.

If he’s granted a last hurrah here, he’s gonna feel stupid for not saving it for the Fel Seed encounter when he could just max out all of his skills.

April 30, 2022

Orison

There was nothing. I wasn’t sure what I had expected. The ancients, and to a lesser extent, modern religious people, seemed to read signs into everything. After an animal was sacrificed, they would cut it apart and see whether any organs were malformed. They would watch the clouds and the winds. So far as I could tell, nothing in the room had changed, and everyone was right where I had left them.

I wouldn’t have asked for “a sign”. I’d have asked for verbal confirmation.

April 30, 2022

Orison

“I’m fallible,” I said. “I can be beaten. Throw enough force my way, and I’m toast. Unless I’m grossly mistaken, I’m not playing by normal narrative rules, I’m playing by tabletop rules. Being able to suffer loss is part of the game, which means it’s probably the nature of reality. It’s actually super inconvenient to have people thinking that I can’t lose, because some of them are just going to rage against what they see as fate.

Harry had the same problem. It was horrifying how everyone always assumed he could find some clever solution for whatever life threw at him.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

Solace was waiting for us. The locus itself was nowhere to be seen. “You’ve invited danger,” said Solace. “No,” I replied. “Danger is coming to us through no real fault of our own.

Danger is on it’s way. We’re here to help protect everyone from it.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“And you have a way now?” asked Solace, folding her arms across her chest. “Maybe,” I said. “We’ll try.” “Good,” replied Solace. “I was never particularly fond of dragons. If they threaten us, slay them.”

Man. Either dragons are way bigger dicks than I thought it Solace is turning into quite the negative person.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“Just be warned that plants don’t particularly appreciate dragonfire. You would probably do well to ensure that as little of the domain catches fire as possible.” “Understood,” I replied. “And thank you.” “I am on your side, Juniper,” replied Solace. “Even if I’m called to serve a higher purpose.”

It’s reassuring to hear her say that. She’s been… something of a wildcard lately. Their goals only partially overlap.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

Grak’s ward will probably hold, but that only protects us, not the locus, not the domain, and not everyone else.” “The best option might be to throw me,” said Grak.

Toss me.
What?
I’ll never be able to make that jump myself you’ll have to toss me! Don’t tell the elf.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“I can annihilate blood and bone,” he replied. “Dragons are resistant to magic, but not invulnerable. Throw me, then throw yourself.” The Thrown Weapons 100 virtue was called Throw Anything, and we were in the domain of the locus, where I had extra ability to fudge the rules a bit.

I don’t know the exact wording of the perk, but it doesn’t sound like he needs any fudging to throw a dwarf. I don’t like this plan. It’s almost heroic enough for Grak to die.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

A quarter million in the metro area means much less in the central business district, and even a large-scale fight will result in the deaths of hundreds, thousands at most. When compared against the millions of people in Necrolaborem — don’t give me that look, Raven.” “You’re talking about the deaths of innocents,” she replied.

Taboo trade offs are the kind of bullet Amaryllis can bite without missing a beat.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“Come back here!” I shouted after Perisev, and though I doubted that it would do much good, I let loose with a volley of gem magic, as well as an attempt at vibration magic, and finally, threw my sword after her as hard as I could. She wasn’t coming back.

He missed his sword yeet? He should have used that master perk from Two Handed Weapons! Ah well. Now where’s she off to?

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“She shouldn’t have picked a fight if she wasn’t willing to finish it,” I said. “She’s using hit-and-run tactics in order to assess your capabilities,” Raven replied.

I know she’s trying to win which is prudent and appropriate, but if we’re calling her an enemy then we can say that’s a tactic for a li’l scaredy cat bitch lizard! Come back and throw down for real!

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“What you need is a way to fly,” said Raven. “Yes,” I replied. “There’s a silvered surfboard at the castle in Glassy Fields, but even that wouldn’t be fast enough to keep up with Perisev.

Nice, the Silver Surfer’s surfboard! He used it to travel the universe - I bet he could catch a dragon.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“She thinks you’re an inadequate protagonist,” said Raven. “Well, if that’s true, fuck her,” I said.

Ooh, sick burn.
“Well I think she’s a forgettable mid-level random encounter!”

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

They were all pretty useless to us, since none of them were druids, just hopefuls, and I decided that I would ask about their backstories later on. It was the kind of thought that I immediately chided myself for, but the thought did still pass through my head.

Is he chiding himself for thinking that their useless or for thinking he’ll ask about them later (and this invite calamity for them)?

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

Amaryllis made introductions, and I ignored basically all of it. No one mentioned that they were secretly ultraplusgood magi, or that they had a 99.99th percentile entad, or anything else that was relevant to the situation at hand.

Lol :)

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

this C-plot that was surely going to simmer in the background, was setting me on edge even more than getting blasted by dragonfire. It felt like the Dungeon Master promising me that there were more plots ready and waiting in the wings. Once Perisev was dead, once we went through the months of effort cleaning up Blue-in-the-Bottle’s crimes against the mortal species, there would be more things waiting, another cast of characters to meet, more battles to fight, sub-plots and side-plots and character arcs of one kind or another.

I bet after 30 years of this shit he’d lose patience and tell the game to suck his dick while he fucked off into a magic tunnel too.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

She was traveling more than twice the speed of sound, which was faster than dragons were supposed to be able to go. It made no fucking sense, given that dragons propeled themselves through the air using their wings, but draconic flight was magical as well as physical. It did give me pause though, because it was really, really fast.

Obviously she’s not flying just from flapping her wings. She’s too big. I’m guessing she’s a velocity mage too.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

I nodded, and went into my soul to make the appropriate sacrifices to increase Essentialism high enough that I could get the virtue. We had a single soul mage’s soul left intact in our possession, Yarrow’s, and his would be the soul that I scaphed to keep Essentialism high enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about it running down due to the maluses involved.

I don’t get why he can’t get the virtue and then move points from the random souls into Essentialism… I think I’m missing something.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

All the souls went back into bottles when we were done with them, occasionally with notes about what was left in them, if it had been something that I couldn’t scaph (like a skill I hadn’t unlocked, or something not currently on my character sheet).

Ooh. I get it. He has to be able to add the points to his soul before he can move them around. He can’t just grab them from the other soul, hold them, and put them wherever he wants.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“I don’t think it will work,” said Amaryllis. “Reimer and I have been sending letters back and forth, and his interpretation is that Grak wouldn’t count as a weapon, not without more degrees of reasonableness than we have access to.

For real? It’s exactly one degree of reasonableness! Throwing a small person is totally a weapon. Plus they can practice throwing him before she gets here.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“I want him to suffer, but that suffering wouldn’t actually accomplish anything. You shouldn’t want your enemies to suffer, you should want them to reform.

High five to Joon!

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

Heightened as I was, I was inviolable, and even if I weren’t inviolable, I had more than maxed out enough skills that I could defend against dragonfire, and likely her melee attacks, along with whatever magics she had mastered.

Man, I wish we got a list of the virtues!! They’re always super fun.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

I halfway wished that I had kept going with Still Magic, but I had stopped at a skill of exactly 99, which kept me from Meta Stilling. Halting all of my skills from decaying sounded great, but it also sounded like exclusion bait.

Save that one for the Fel Seed battle.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

When I was halfway there, she let loose with a gout of pure black dragonfire, and I parried it away from myself, the wash of heat stopped by still magic before it could touch my skin.

I love it! Also, I call bullshit for the last time on the Grak throwing plan. His deflection perk lets him deflect magical fire, but throwing a dwarf at 100 miles an hour doesn’t count as a thrown weapon?

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

I had always hated flying monsters in D&D, both because three-dimensional fights were hard to conceptualize and represent, and because air superiority invalidated huge chunks of the normal game experience, leaving a guy with a sword sitting on the ground staring up at the sky with a scowl and no possible recourse.

He needs the Dragonrend shout from Skyrim. Strike the fear of mortality into her heart and bring her to the ground.
Honestly they really should just try to talk it out. She seemed mostly reasonable. And I just remembered Raven is probably strong as fuck now since she gets boons from the people around her.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

The first blast of dragonfire back in Necrolaborem had shown her that Grak could put up a moving ward against it, while the second blast had shown her that I could parry it. Beyond that, she’d tested my ability to find her: she’d been waiting in this small city for me.

Good point, especially the last one. She’s crafty.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“Alright,” I said as I chewed on my thoughts, trying not to stress about getting weaker with every passing moment. “I’m putting on Meta Stilling, may the Dungeon Master have mercy on my soul.”

Oh shit!! I should stop and think about this. From a narrative standpoint (I say, pretending to be authoritative) it doesn’t seem safe. He can’t use this trick again in the FSEZ if he uses it here.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

I wondered if this was how religious people felt when they transgressed against their gods. Absolve me of my sins, o lord. Or let me pay penance. Something, anything, just don’t strike me down.

The lack of an achievement is a good sign. Then again, he already got the “Exclusive” achievement so he wouldn’t get it again.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

“It would have been good for us to get an open line of communication with her,” I said. “Then we could at least talk about our problems and try to work out some solution that works for both of us.”

I thought it was going to be Raven to suggest this! I agree with Joon. We’ve been trying SOC approaches lately and Perisev seems less crazy and than Doris and Cap.

April 30, 2022

Push and Pull

And then Perisev doesn’t come in for a straightforward fight, one-on-one, or better, her against the party, she’s doing this bullshit.” I waved my hand in the air, gesturing vaguely at all the bullshit.

Lol.
“See? See all this bullshit?”

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

as soon as the sword returned to my hand, I activated its ability, mirroring his wounds — all his wounds. He swiped at me and missed, because he could no longer see

Ha! Get fucked, nerd! Seems like it doesn’t have to be that fresh of an injury. I still think they could have used this sword to heal Amaryllis’s arm. And is Joon still peg-legged?

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

I wasn’t clear on whether he was dead or just unconscious, but I moved in at speed anyway, and started hacking away at his neck, which let out gallons of shiny golden blood once I was far enough in. He heaved once, and I darted back, but it was just his last breath, not a gout of flame. Tommul, the Wise and Mighty, defeated!

Boom! Imagining him hacking the head off of a beast the size of a killer whale is funny. But no level up yet? Exactly how much XP is killing a dragon worth?

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Her eyes fluttered open after just a moment, and she stared up at me. “Wha’ happened?” she asked. “Dragon attack,” I said. “You okay?” “Prolly just brain damage,” she replied, slowly sitting up. “Your face.”

Just a little brain damage, nothing serious. Nonchalant reply about a dragon attack is more casual badassery.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“I,” she said, then stopped, looking around the meadow. “The Egress, was it —” “Unrecoverable,” I said. “Then how’re we getting there?” she asked, getting into a sitting position. Her speech was slightly slurred, which wasn’t a good sign.

Man, the loss of their ship is a bummer. They barely used it, but X Wing Bethel was awesome. Sure hope Raven isn’t brain damaged for good.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

I closed my eyes, then took off the Crown of Eyes, and held out a hand. When I felt fur, a wave of relief washed over me. That was only the first step though, the second — I was on Poran.

Nice! High five, locus!

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“Your face is fucked up,” said Amaryllis. “It hurts?” “A bit,” I said. “Which means that it really hurts,” she replied. “You took a blast of dragonfire?” “I mean, I did fight a dragon,” I replied.

Cut him some slack. He killed a dragon and only got a little hurt. Comparatively little, anyway.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Amaryllis frowned slightly. “You’re sure that your power will hold?” she asked. “Yes?” I asked. “I have Meta Stilling, that was in the note.” “I just mean,” said Amaryllis, shifting slightly to adjust her armor. “You made a prayer to the Dungeon Master. You made a compact. From what you said, it was explicitly for the next fight. You’re talking about breaking that compact. It’s not something that should be lightly done.”

Hey, that’s some bullshit if the DM tries to call Joon out on that. Joon meant the fight with Perisev. You don’t get to grant a thumbs up for the next fight and then monkey paw a minor enemy in his way just to screw him over later.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Achievement Progress: Super Exclusive 2/40 “That motherfucker,” I said.

That motherfucker!!

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“Something was excluded,” I replied. “It was —” I stopped in my tracks. I felt slower, less sure of myself, my sword no longer a pure extension of my being. But it wasn’t just that, it was almost everything else. Magic had been stripped away from me, sensation had been stripped away, it was all still there, but muted. And soul sight, which I’d been leaning on, was gone. “Juniper, talk,” said Amaryllis. “I think it was Essentialism,” I said.

Holy shit awesome tension. Can’t stop to think about it now.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“This is bad, Juniper,” said Amaryllis. “Good, in some ways,” replied Grak. Amaryllis looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

Grak was super fast to see the bright side. I guess the memory of being soul fucked is on his mind. Well, there’s another plus side to this. We can take all the talk of soul modification ethics off the table - oh wait, no we can’t. Spirit is still available.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“Speaking of gold,” I replied. “It’s probably time for me to become a gold mage.” “Now?” asked Amaryllis, furrowing her brow. “It’s not something that can be undone.” “Like you said, we don’t have a plan,” I replied.

I don’t know how strong gold mages are, but if a level 2 gold mage can help in the fight against a dragon then they really should have started this earlier. They have enough gold to keep the train going for the rest of the campaign.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

it’s not going to be a long-term arrangement.” “Many gold mages say that,” replied Grak. “If you object for personal reasons, I won’t do it,” I said. “That would be idiotic,” said Grak. “Really, really idiotic,” nodded Amaryllis.

Grak is the best.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

I looked at Grak and bit my lip. “Is there an argument for Grak riding me?” I asked. Amaryllis and Grak stared at me. “I would have a bubble ward against dragonfire,” I said.

Insert sex pun. Also, we’ll need to build a saddle.

May 2, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Skill Unlocked: Gold Magic! Achievement Unlocked: I love gooooooold!

Gold!!!

May 2, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Take all the gold from the glove, came a voice in my head. It wasn’t my internal voice, but it was close, with a bit of gravelly depth to the sound. The call of the gold was different for everyone, and I hoped that I wouldn’t have to hear much more. “Dump the rest of the gold, please,” I said.

I sure hope this counts towards his future gold mage investments.

May 2, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Force her to give you the glove. “Give me the glove,” I said, holding out my hand. “Why?” asked Amaryllis, her eyes momentarily flickering to Sable, then back to me. “I’m being asked to,” I said with a shrug. “The word ‘force’ was used, if you don’t hand it over, this whole thing is probably over right now.” Amaryllis handed the glove over, looking slightly miffed. Check it for gold.

Oh, a very bossy gold compulsion ghost!

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

In a lot of ways, it stripped to the bone the entire notion of using a ship to go from one place to another, taking out all of the interesting things about sailing or shipping, like feeling the movement of your travel, or caring about weather, or steering.

It’s straight up fast travel.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

We were in the air for about thirty seconds when the attack came. Fifteen foot long claws ripped through the skin of the ship like it was made of aluminum foil,

Well shit. This goes on my list of “Perisev is a velocity mage” clues.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

My brain was having trouble keeping up with what was happening, and I only registered the claws being gold, not black, seconds after it had actually happened.

Ok, maybe not. I guess dragons really are just “fuck you” fast.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Tommul was flapping his wings and moving around erratically, which made sense, because all of his marvelous draconic sight didn’t amount to shit when he had a second gouged out eye to join his first.

I find myself relishing the fun of our enemies getting fucked over again. But these dragons actually seem to legitimately suck, so I’m giving myself a pass.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

I lurched to the side to cut at the joint where his wing was attached to his body. He turned back toward me, and blasted me with the full force of his dragonfire, and half my mind was focused on stopping it while the other half was focused on making my cuts.

It just occurred to me that he’s been taking on this asshole dragon all without a unicorn bone. What a boss.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

I didn’t get all the way through, but at a certain point, the bone and ligament suffered catastrophic failure, and Tommul began to fall. I stilled myself and spammed the sword’s ability again, feeling only slightly gratified when I saw a wing rip clean off, with the second following close behind it.

Too bad there’s probably not an audience that got to watch him totally fuck up a dragon solo. I wonder if Perisev pointed Tommul at Joon to test him.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

It was a fifth degree burn, down into the muscle of my face, and I wished that I had kept pain off completely instead of turning it back up for diagnostics. I poured on the healing, which offered only partial relief: sudden and intense trauma had a tendency to drive straight down into the soul.

Oof, fuck. Gross. I suspect a level up will repair it though. Just gonna look gross and hurt until Tommul’s fully dead.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

He had burned my entad bandolier, and the Crown of Eyes, and I hoped that I’d gotten them put out fast enough that they would recover.

Oh shit! I took it for granted that his stuff was indestructible even though I now remember Onion ruining his other sword.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“I just need to believe,” I said. I stood and held my hand out to the side, willing the locus to appear. I was in its domain

Ha! That’s awesome.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

The domain was a context, and I existed inside of it. It was like all my best ideas before I started nailing them down and making sacrifices in the name of consistency or realism, when they were still that elemental spark of promise. I was a part of the idea of the domain, sewn into that spark of promise at the base level.

That’s a fun and artsy af way to describe it.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Raven was nowhere to be seen, which was a problem, since now I had no way to get her, but I wasn’t going to blame the locus for that, given that its assistance was a long shot.

I was worried about that. Dammit, deer! Just gonna leave that brain damaged girl in the woods halfway to nowhere?

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

“Are you willing to stake your life on that?” asked Amaryllis. “Try to see it from his perspective. You made a promise, and you’re trying to bend it, maybe even outright break it.”

Seriously, fuck that dude. He could could have thrown a random mugger at Joon and said “I said you could use it for one encounter”. If Joon tried that shit Reimer would have thrown a book at him.

May 1, 2022

Gilding the Lily

We should send someone for the body, by the way. Butchering a gold dragon will probably give good materials.”

Hey, good point! Some extra sexy bones to draw from. This day has had its ups and downs, but so far not so bad.

May 2, 2022

Gilding the Lily

Being a gold mage was like having a little devil on your shoulder, one that was enormously greedy, didn’t trust people, and couldn’t be reasoned with.

I guess it never occurred to me what it meant to say that the call of gold needed you to add more gold to your supply. I guess your supply has to be super secure. I’m wondering how this will work for June since there’s absolutely no way he can restrict Grak from getting to his gold.

May 2, 2022

Gilding the Lily

I was almost looking forward to it, just to see what it was like.

Me too!!

May 2, 2022

Gilding the Lily

every step that could be done in advance having already been accomplished months ago.

Be prepared!

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

As soon as that was done, I felt a rush of power.

Ooh, maybe he doesn’t need to use gold magic to level it up. Maybe it’s all about the amount of gold he has. If the call of gold still wants regular sacrifices/additions, it seems dumb that it made him use all he had at once. But I suppose it’s not supposed to be a convenient magic to have. And since this is way more gold than Aumann had, I suspect Joon will be more powerful than we’ve ever seen him.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

At least if it had been longer range telekinesis, you might have been able to make an ‘invisible hand of the market’ pun.

Sounds like we have a good name and power for a virtue!

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

Take the gold and relocate it to somewhere only you can obtain it. “And where would that be?” I asked, not really expecting an answer. Celestar, it replied. Use the glove. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked. “How am I supposed to do that and be back in time to kill the dragon?” You have time if you go quickly.

That’s some bullshit. He’s supposed to drop everything and do what the voice tells him whenever it chimes in? Since it’s the DM controlling the voice and he apparently hates cool solutions to problems, I see this ending quickly and poorly. All their gold stuck on the moon, for example. Plus aren’t there still angry elves up there?

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

It was a worrying level of specificity. It was also known that the call of the gold could and did lie about consequences.

If it can lie then how the hell are you supposed to know what to do? I guess play it safe and always do what it says?

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Twenty minutes,” said Grak. “That’s twelve thousand miles a minute. Double unless you teleport back.” “We can’t endure even a single minute of a dragon attack,” said Amaryllis. “It could destroy the locus outright. It could burn and destroy every building on Poran in that time.” “Those are the stakes,” I replied. “Are you advising against it?” “No,” said Amaryllis. “Hurry.”

Everything is so frantic and fast. I bet Perisev just shows up to bend the knee and they wasted all of this effort.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

don’t you ever think about how much more exciting the moon could be? If you read early science fiction, you can see all these thoughts and possibilities about what might be up there.” “Do you love me?” asked Tiff.

Girls and their nonsequitors.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

“You’re obviously blind to my faults at the moment, but — you know that map and territory thing that Arthur talks about?”

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

Start decelerating, said the call of the gold, speaking into my mind. I stared at Celestar ahead of me. It was larger in my field of view than it had been, certainly, but not so much larger that I thought I needed to worry. I had enough rudimentary physics knowledge to know that going from A to B in space meant spending half the trip accelerating and the other half slowing down

I haven’t remarked or really enjoyed his trip to space because he’s only here due to a greedy gold ghost threatening him to do it. Also, you don’t need to spend half your time decelerating when you use magic propulsion.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Good to go?” I asked, hoping that there was no further obligation. Yes, replied the call.

Sure is nice that the ghost helpfully answers questions.
I don’t really think it’s anything like a ghost. The Call seems to be some magical embodiment of Joon’s intellect geared specifically toward the goal of “find and keep gold”.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

No one was around, but there was smoke on the horizon. I rose into the air to look at it, and was just in time to see the great black dragon come screaming in for another pass.

Fuuuuuck. I swear if she killed anyone (or everyone) I hope Joon… I can’t think of satisfactory revenge.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

“A shame,” Perisev replied. “I had hoped that there were rules and caveats to your power. Can you truly not be stopped?” “I don’t need to be,” I replied. “You’re the dumb asshole who thinks leaving Blue alive for a month is a bigger disaster than killing him and letting the chips fall where they may.”

Damn right!

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

You? You’re barely even worth talking about. I’ll kill you like I killed Tommul, and at least I’ll know that I’ve done one thing today that the world is better for.” “Yet if I bow my head, as Blue has done, will you let me live?” asked Perisev, cocking her head to the side.

Eyy, maybe he’ll have a dragon friend after all!

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

I tightened my grip on my sword. “There’s no way that I can keep you alive. Even if there was, I wouldn’t. You don’t have half the understanding of narrative that we do, and if you did, then it would still have been a bloody fucking stupid idea to try to kill me.” “Then if peace is impossible, better we finish this quickly,” she replied. I was expecting the attack, and moved away from her claws when they came

Dang it! I wanted them to sort things out amicably.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

With the multiplication of wounds through reflection, a death of a thousand cuts would only take one hundred twenty-five cuts, which was a little bit more manageable.

Heh. ;)

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

She brought her head down to douse me in dragonfire, and I did something that was either clever or reckless or both: I went into Sable. I was in there only for a moment, a second, maybe less, and then I pushed back out again

Clever recklessness is the best!

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

If I need to work with abhorrent people to do it, I will. If I need to do evil in pursuit of good, I will.” “I yield,” she repeated, then coughed up a glob of black blood. I wished that I had another void bomb, but I didn’t, so I popped out my sword instead. It was a brutal, ugly way to kill a dragon, but it was what I had available to me.

Boo! (This is epic and intense, I’m just bummed)

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

I waited, watching her to see if she would move, or if this was another ruse. After enough time had passed though, I got my notification. Perisev, the Wretched, defeated! Level Up! I felt nothing from it, just some residual healing as my body got back into tip-top shape.

:(
Perisev the Wretched? And Tommul was “the wise”? Interesting.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

I landed next to the tree house, which had been spared dragonfire, and my eyes moved quickly between the people I saw, knocking names off my list. Grak was there, Raven too, a few of Amaryllis — and no Solace, though the locus had been visible from the sky, toward the edge of the domain. “Is Solace okay?” I asked. “No,” said Amaryllis. “She was badly burned protecting the locus. She’ll live, though.”

Damn, whirlwind! Solace keeps getting fucked up. I’m glad Raven is back.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

We’re also going to want to find and control their hoards, if that can be done. Do we have any kind of right to them? Or can we press a claim?” “We can on Perisev, not on Tommul,” said Amaryllis. “It’s a jurisdictional issue. Let us handle it, we’ve been preparing for a dragon death in abstract terms since the train ride to Headwater.” And by ‘we’, she meant her, now multiplied.

She’s so fucking ahead of everything. :)

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

You still need to be a part of it. Amaryllis must be kept accountable. “I still need to oversee and be in the loop,” I said. “Sorry, that’s by orders of the licensing board.”

I love how he references The Call.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Is this about how you’re feeling?” asked Grak. “Sure,” I replied. “Lost, hopeless, afraid, with this weight of responsibility that can’t be shucked off onto someone else, and no real concrete plan as to what I can do — but it’s also about what’s going on at the object level, and —” You need to act now on the corpses. “And this dumb fucking gold monster telling me what to do is not helping things,” I finished. “So let’s get started shoveling this shit mountain, one scoop at a time.”

A sad and epic note to end the week on.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

There wasn’t a lot of good information on who the most powerful gold mage of all time had been, but there was a decent chance that I was in the top one percent of all time.

That’s what I’m talking about!

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

I flew up, and probably would have killed myself if not for the fact that I had so much other magic at my disposal. I continued straight into the sky for a full second, and found myself far above the clouds.

Woah… I think clouds are like 3–5 miles up, so he’s going that far in one second!

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

I could see the curve of Aerb, caused by some arcane effect that in a videogame I would assume had something to do with render distances, but here I probably thought was in order to mimic Earth. Light curved, making it look like I was shooting up from a sphere.

Curve?? What curve? Aerb’s whole thing is that it’s an impossible flat plane! It’s just magicked to make it look curved if you’re looking at it? Probably the same fuckery that makes the sun work.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

I pulled steel ball bearings (these were an eternally handy tool that no self-respecting adventurer should be without) from my spare bandolier and tried firing them off using the tactile telekinesis.

Be prepared!

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Just something to think about. The moon as it exists in fiction, or in representation, or media, is not actually the moon. We have this hyperreal version of the moon, in our heads, and it’s alienated from that moon, and just … I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t talk about how life isn’t what it could or should be. I don’t know. I’m sleepy, I’m rambling.”

If we’re somehow running low on things to talk about I can wax philosophical about the moon for a minute or two.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

And that was more or less what was known. Telescopes showed no signs of life on Celestar, no evidence that there was anyone still living there, and strangely, no growth of the plants or trees, no change to the sculpted environments of the elves, no decay or erosion.

The remaining elves must live underground working on their sky beam.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

You’re going to crash into Celestar, said the call of the gold.

If the greedy gold ghost can actually be helpful due to its list for gold, that sounds awesome. Of course, if Joon dies fighting a dragon the ghost won’t get any more gold so it could just be doing all of this to keep him away from the fight.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

I came to a sudden stop almost immediately, and I was checking myself over for injury even as pieces of wood and rock were still falling down around me. I’d grazed the side of the planet for a length of about a mile before I’d slowed down enough to get under control, but between gold magic and still magic, I hadn’t taken any injury. I wasn’t even bleeding.

Awesome superhero crash landing!!

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

There was a derisive term used in worldbuilding circles, ‘Ragnarok Proofing’ that referred to imaginary civilizations that made things to last long after the civilization itself was gone, usually for no clear reason. It was mostly as a method of creating zones of adventure for players. In the case of the elves, ensuring that their structures and gardens could withstand an apocalypse was a part of their warped mindset, above and beyond all the cultural considerations.

That’s interesting that it’s considered derisive. I just assume that stuff made with magic last for next-to-forever.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

something that I could find again in short order. Celestar was huge, bigger than the Earth’s moon, and there were relatively few landmarks, aside from the major lines that commerce had traveled along.

You made a giant landmark upon arrival, so that helps. And I just realized this will sure as fuck Lee Grak away from his gold.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

From space, Aerb was a ball of muted colors

ಠ_ಠ

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

I also had no idea where on Aerb I would end up: the ‘ball’ was really the boundary layer where space got fucky, and in theory, a photon hitting that boundary could end up anywhere on the hex (if Aerb even had photons). A star was the same distance from any point on Aerb itself.

Oh good. That’s the fuckery I’m used to.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

After a brief moment of dulled pain, I looked around to find myself at the site where Bethel had previously sat

Wow. Too specific to be a mere coincidence.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

I pulled back almost at once, flying backward at top speed, and outraced the dragonfire that she breathed at me, even as I was trying to use the sword’s magic to multiply the wound.

This might be the most visually badass fight scene we’ve had so far. Maybe except the unicorn bone fueled ones. This is the shit they’ll be making tapestries of for generations.

May 2, 2022

Spilled Ink

“It took me less time to figure out how to kill a dragon than I thought,” I replied. That was too snarky by half, but it felt good to say. Killing Tommul … it hadn’t been in the heat of the moment. I had already won when I blinded him, and again when I cut off his wings and he’d slammed into the ground. I had killed him because I didn’t want a third act of that particular drama.

Plus he was an asshole who kept trying to kill you. I don’t think narrative safety was at the front of his mind - it was understandable vengeance.

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

Continuing on with this, rather than rushing her down and stabbing her to death, was probably just me giving in to my desire for closure, for some reason that I was doing all this. Perisev was an asshole who had gone back on her word and tried to kill me, but if my life as a protagonist was going to be me righting wrongs like that … there had to be a better way.

I’m glad he’s trying to talk it out. Perisev might deserve being killed (especially if anyone on Poran is dead) but I’d always be left wondering what her motivations were and if a peaceful outcome was ever possible.

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

The only reason anyone could say he didn’t have it easy is because it went on for so long. You trying to kill me because there’s no way to cut a problem down to the quick? That’s asinine.” I could feel my anger rising, though I had no real stomach for this fight.

Second time this paragraph it said “I could feel my anger rising.” Either it was accidentally put in twice or he’s getting super duper pissed.

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Truce?” asked Perisev. Without waiting for a response, she landed on the ground, going from above the speed of sound to a dead stop in a meadow, taking no longer than it would take a car going highway speed to brake.

I hope she’s legit and apologetic.

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

“No,” I replied. “You gave me two months, then tried to roast me after one. I’d be a fool to entertain the idea of letting you live.

Damn. Maybe that’s just his anger talking and he’ll calm down once he talks to his friends.

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

Unlike Uther, your stories will never exist just on the object level, they will twist and contort themselves through subversions, retellings, and recontextualization into something different, a story about stories.”

Isn’t that how it always works? Maybe I’m too illiterate to understand her. Stories or news don’t exist on the object level. Their necessarily told from a certain point of view.

May 3, 2022

Spilled Ink

“You are a product of the spirit of the times, or the spirit of the times was created to serve you,

This sounds important enough to discuss later.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

most of those things were completely useless, but there was one in particular that I was hoping would serve me: void bombs.

Ah yes, the fuck you weapon they’ve been keeping in their back pocket. Maybe he can use Fenn’s bow to artillery nuke Perisev.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

Perisev howled and stopped almost at once, and I could see the wound I had given her, a black chunk of flesh missing from her, its extent surprisingly large. I pushed on the reflection blade in an effort to widen it and multiply the impact as best I could, and she plummeted to the ground, with me close behind her.

Damn. One, I didn’t know that he could multiply wounds not made with the sword and two, I was really hoping they’d find a way to work things out.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

“I yield,” she said, twisting her head to look at me up in the sky with some effort.

Please accept her surrender.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

I sighed, then went over to Perisev’s head, pulled a runed spike from Sable, and extracted her soul, a bloody affair that took so long that I was worried I had missed the window of opportunity. Once it was out, I slid it into a bottle, and stared at it for a moment. It wasn’t any different from any other soul, not special for having come from a dragon.

Oh damn. I bet it’s super powerful. Ah, but right. He can’t steal skills from souls anymore. So at least he’s courteous. I’d like to see a dragon rampage though hell though.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Perisev is dead and the gold is on the moon. I leveled up.” The tension was releasing, a single source of anxiety having been removed, lightening the load. “We need to get back to Necrolaborem then.”

So he hasn’t been wandering around with a stump leg this whole time? I don’t remember how they resolved his Shia injuries.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

I couldn’t bring myself to care that much about Solace, not when they’d told me she was going to pull through. It was a soft punch, compared to what I had been expecting, not inconsequential, but … close, compared to thinking about the death of a team member. And it felt like I’d been given permission to not care, to offload the social and emotional labor for another time. But the more I thought about it, the more I could see that things weren’t sitting right, not with me, not with the group.

What’s amazing is that this is exactly how I’m feeling. I don’t know precisely what AW put in the story to make me feel what Joon’s describing, but he nailed it.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

“Sorry,” I said, unprompted. “I’m feeling off.

Gold star for Joon. ️ Making time and finding energy to have this conversation is awesome of him.

May 4, 2022

Spilled Ink

How things had gone with Blue-in-the-Bottle thus far were a sign that she was right, because it wasn’t how it would have been for Uther. “She surrendered, and I killed her anyway. Same with Tommul. I could have let him live. Neither felt, or feels now, like vanquishing an enemy, they felt like shitty things that had to be done, even though I didn’t want to do them.”

Joon’s Narrative guidelines are distinct from Uther’s. Interesting. A strong clue that they have different DMs.