Myth: A New Age CYOA

[Nevill]

Fangshi, do the sapphires protect against magic, or simply block it? Is it because the head had a mouth full of sapphires that it could not regenerate? I mean, why else would it have them?

How does it work? Will invisibility or other beneficial spells still work on a sapphire wielder?

 

[Azira]

Pertinent questions. If the sapphires block Miosguinn's illusions, we should probably wait a bit with using them. Though I suspect not, or Derryth would've seen Miosguinn as crippled, unless he lied about that fact...

 

[Zero Credibility]

Probably he is not very powerful or knowledgeable as a mage, even if above our level currently, this would explain such a contrived way to try to kill us.

Ok, there's being properly cautious and then there's reading too much into things.

The whole sequence started with us kicking the dust up, so if this was an attempt at our life, it had be a spur of the moment thing and not something planned as such. Then he pretended to choke so that Serpent could try to help him, so that he could spit the stone (!) right on a hidden trap (!?) that could have easily killed him if we haven't intervened? Seriously, if this was an attempt on our life, I would sleep easy knowing that the next time he tries it he is much more likely to kill himself in an amusing way than to hurt us.

And yeah, good question about this blocking beneficial spells.

 

[Nevill]

Miosguinn is obviously a fetch wearing human skin as a disguise. He knows we are onto him.

Let's kill him and claim his apprentice as a new slave girl.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, do the sapphires protect against magic, or simply block it? Is it because the head had a mouth full of sapphires that it could not move or regenerate?

How does it work? Will invisibility or other beneficial spells still work on a sapphire wielder?

And yeah, good question about this blocking beneficial spells.

Derryth knows nothing about the Heaven Stones but Miosguinn tells you that they grant a sort of magical resistance. Miosguinn does not know if it will block all spells or not.

He suspects that the stones simply grant general magic resistance, if that is the case then all spells may be blocked.

Also they only seem to work if placed in the mouth, simply carrying them has no effect.

You think that the stronger the spell the more likely it is to make it past the stone, this would also apply to beneficial spells, a very powerful illusion may remain in place even as weaker illusions fail. Again this is all largely conjecture though.

Now if you stuff enough of them in your mouth they may just completely stop all spells but the only way to know for sure is to study them... well you could also find out if you let someone hit you with a spell but it would not be the safest idea.

If what Miosguinn tells you is true then it is possible that the stones were preventing the head from regenerating but you do not know. She does not seem to be able to actually cast due to the rune on her forehead so that could also be the reason. You do not know if it merely inflicts massive pain when she tries to cast or if it outright stops her from casting. If the rune does not actually stop her from casting then it may be possible for her to cast if she has reason to push through the pain but from what she tells you it hurts a lot.

Let's kill him and claim the apprentice as a new slave girl.

Well it would be memorable if nothing else...

 

[Rex Feral]

Why put such a strong illusion only to hide your deformities. I mean I'm not a Myth expert but I thought that hiding a certain feature, even your whole body, should be possible through weaker illusions. I think he's hiding more.

Also when we had him put illusions for the ghosts they seemed awfully real. Don't these kind of spells require you recall a certain event and reproduce it? Even if the people from his illusions weren't running from him back then (in the event he recalled), it's still creepy that he'd recall that with almost enjoyment.

Also the book (necromancy?), the pendants, why was he the only mage back at the Children's HQ? Things don't add up.

 

[Azira]

As long as he's an asset to the mission and does not endanger it, he can have all the secrets he wants, if you ask me. Once we're in calmer waters, then we press him for more information, if deemed necessary.
No need to spark a conflict down here, right now.

 

[Nevill]

Nope. Off him right here, right now, and blame it on the statues. No one needs to know...

Actually, set off one statue accidentally. The head will help with damage control.

 

[Azira]

You trust the head more than Miosguinn, who has so far actually proven somewhat trustworthy?

 

[Kz3r0]

You trust the head more than Miosguinn, who has so far actually proven somewhat trustworthy?

It's not a matter of trust, but convenience, weren't you guys all for being a cold calculating schemer?

 

[Rex Feral]

Nope. I don't want to roleplay a sociopath.

Maybe a a ruthless anti villain but we should have friends and people we can trust.

 

[Nevill]

And heads. People are at their most trustworthy when they are just heads. They have no legs, so they would never leave your side; they have no arms, so they would never stab you in the back.

I say we should start converting them soon.

And now I have a vision of Derryth carrying incessantly bickering heads of her former comrades stuck in my mind.

 

[Jester]

A side note, I think that Miosguinn tried to kill us here, time to think how to dispose of him.

What, you mean this:

In doing so you kick up a cloud of dust and what happens next just about kills you all...
Miosguinn sneezes and chokes on the sapphire.
Serpent grabs him from behind and squeezes.
The sapphire flies from his mouth and sets off one of the arrow traps.
You pull them both out of the way as three arrows fly across the room.
One of them grazes you, drawing blood.

That would have to be the most over-elaborate attempt at killing anyone ever. If he really wanted us dead, he could have triggered the Stygian Knight trap himself, then hide himself and run away while we get slaughtered. This, this was an obvious accident. Or do you mean he tried to kill us in some other way?

Dunno sound legit to me. He is wizard after all, they tend to do over-elaborate things.

And heads. People are at their most trustworthy when they are just heads. They have no legs, so they would never leave your side; they have no arms, so they would never stab you in the back.
I say we start converting them soon.
And now I have a vision of Derryth carrying incessantly bickering heads of her former comrades stuck in my head.

Because of this, they seem to... lose their heads.

Title Head Hunter unlocked.
vote - AAA Mortis
If we ever run into Morte it will be interesting.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

A)
Boshen
A)
A)

 

[tuluse]

Flopping to Nine for the head name.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Also adding Nine as my second choice of name.

 

[Boxer]

dex lp voters are shizo... i mean i am all for KHAYOS CONSUME US!!!1 but even Tzeentch plays it consistenly...

a little black book, easily concealed and kept to ourselves is off limits, basta

but a fucking severed talking head from goddamn muirthemne , an immortal archmage ala the fallen lords! who tried to kill your little mage 'friend' on a whim, guarded by spears, arrows, magic gems and bunch of fucking stygian knights is unanimously a-ok? wtf?!

burn the head to the ground with magik hellfire and entomb it in right there and then
its shiver
also, force your mage to prove his disfigured appearance

 

[tuluse]

I think it's pretty much a certainty Miosguinn is lying through omission. Even if he is disfigured, he's hiding something else.

 

[Boxer]

 

[Zero Credibility]

a little black book, easily concealed and kept to ourselves is off limits, basta

but a fucking severed talking head from goddamn muirthemne , an immortal archmage ala the fallen lords! who tried to kill your little mage 'friend' on a whim, guarded by spears, arrows, magic gems and bunch of fucking stygian knights is unanimously a-ok? wtf?!

Honestly, while I do think this is quite possibly a bad idea, it is nowhere near as dangerous as that damn book was. Probably the sole purpose of that book was raising undead, something that if discovered would get us killed in short order by our own damn party. In comparison, the response this thing gets from our party members is an advice that this is a bad idea. As for other people, well we really shouldn't bring this thing outside anyway, but maybe stash it somewhere safe? Like in new our super secret base? It's not freedom, but hey, it beats being stuck in that statue, right? And we would come to visit occasionally.

 

[Kz3r0]

dex lp voters are shizo... i mean i am all for KHAYOS CONSUME US!!!1 but even Tzeentch plays it consistenly...

True, but Ithink is due mostly to the fact tht this are not real PnP sessions and many people vote on the spur of the moment.

a little black book, easily concealed and kept to ourselves is off limits, basta

but a fucking severed talking head from goddamn muirthemne , an immortal archmage ala the fallen lords! who tried to kill your little mage 'friend' on a whim, guarded by spears, arrows, magic gems and bunch of fucking stygian knights is unanimously a-ok? wtf?!

As should be, why settle for necromancy for plebeians when we can get the best around?
The book could have made us despised and killed, our new mentor can make us very powerful, and most importantly, feared.

 

[Fangshi]

First up, I will leave the polls open for another 24hrs or so to give the update a proper 48hr cycle and so that people can decide on a name and what not. It is also worth remembering that freeform options are always available even when I do not explicitly include them. If everyone really wants to try and murder Miosguinn I am fine with opening that up as an option but you will need a proper plan.


And on a slightly unrelated matter:

As promised, I finally had a moment to go through my books on riddles. Figured I would just post them here for anyone that was interested.

I have limited myself to sources that can be easily found online as there is little point in recommending out of print texts. So here are a few hundred riddles that I have used is the past and probably won't use for this CYOA, have fun:

Riddles

A lot of the sources I use come from famous historical examples, I then modify them a little and it tends to work quite well.

I suppose it is one advantage of man's seeming inability to remember the past, half the players I deal with do not even know the famous Sphinx's Riddle so it gives me plenty of options.

Might as well start at the beginning with a collection of Sumerian Riddles and the first link:

"A house. One enters it blind and leaves it seeing. What is it?"

Answer

A school

http://www.aulaorientalis.org/AuOr escaneado/AuOr 5-1987/Volumen V/N_1/3.pdf


Next we have Symphosius' Aenigmata, and The Exeter Book and The Riddles of King Heithrek all classics but worth a look if you want inspiration. Some of the translations even work well lifted right from the page.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Symphosius/home.html

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Riddles_of_the_Exeter_Book
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/onp/onp17.htm

Sometimes I find that coming up with new ways to present puzzles is as important as the actual content, for example:

http://traditions.cultural-china.com/lantern_riddles/answer_p1.html

I made use of these lantern tigers once, really impressed the group I was running. (Also when they got the riddles wrong the lanterns turned into actual tigers... )

Most major civilizations have some history of riddle or puzzle creation and use so there is a lot of material just waiting to be found and re-purposed.

A few more modern examples:

The Riddle Book (1828):

http://www.merrycoz.org/books/riddle2/RIDDLE2.HTM

The Cyclopedia of Puzzles (1915):

http://www.mathpuzzle.com/loyd/

A Little Book of Filipino Riddles (2004):

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14358/14358-h/14358-h.htm

Einstein's Classic Logic Problem (one of my groups hated this one):

http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle


And finally a random Puzzle Database (mixed quality but there are a fair number of puzzles):

http://www.zuzzle.com/lists/category-directory.html

If any of you want more let me know and I will see what I can do.


Finally a question. Do you want a list of current/known characters and organizations and their relationship to Derryth? I could probably draw up a proper summary of the important points she knows based on my notes but it might have to take the place of an actual update based on how much time I have.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I don't think the list is necessary right now. I wouldn't mind reading it, but I want muh update.

 

[Grimgravy]

A
Nine
A
B

 

[Smashing Axe]

How about instead of killing Miosguinn we scheme to knock him out? He probably won't be able to maintain the illusion if he's unconscious, and if he can, well, it won't be too hard to examine him without raising suspicion, with the excuse of tending to his injuries.

The question is, how do we knock him out without seeming responsible? A bucket filled with rocks over a door? Too obvious. The heat of combat? Too dangerous. We could try hitting him over the head with a shovel while he's walking in front of us down a narrow tunnel, when he comes to say it was a rockslide, but what if he has wards?