In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[baud]

B. Refuse to take the spear. Whatever happens, you will overcome it on your own, without resorting to any dallying with ancient gods or whatnot.
&
C. You head to the mansion on the moors.

 

[Tigranes]

Oh wow, cool stuff.

Bx for now. Of all people, I think Wrinkly's the type to confront challenges without trying to cheat through.

 

[CappenVarra]

I have no clue who these eleven primordials are, or who this 'Great Mother' might be (Lilith?):

Lastly, I find it curious that he separates his world from ours, and states that the path we'll be drawn is 'not of this world, his or ours.'

What world, then? Cthulhu? Aen Seidhe? Aliens?

Any thoughts?

eleven is not a mythical number that rings a bell, and if it was the black goat of the forest she'd have a thousand young...

the tower is probably alien (in any of several possible meanings) so not bound to mortal man nor his metaphysical projections (demons, angels?) but has (2001 monolith-style) amplified some atavistic capability up to (ironically) eleven - for an unknown (possibly unknowable) purpose

the threat might be the force behind the tower, or a force that is antagonistic to it and all of its manifestations (a cosmic war where humanity is being unwittingly recruited as cannon fodder), or the great garbage collector in the sky that deletes all worlds infected by towerism... :mystary:

too far down the line to tell now, but we can tell the demon can be trusted - as far as it can be thrown

 

[Baltika9]

too far down the line to tell now, but we can tell the demon can be trusted - as far as it can be thrown

About that: the Wikipedia article states that the conjured Marchosias always tells the truth.

In demonology, Marchosias is a great and mighty Marquis of Hell, commanding thirty legions of demons. In the Ars Goetia, the first book of The Lesser Key of Solomon (17th century), he is depicted as a wolf with gryphon's wings and a serpent's tail, spewing fire from his mouth, but at the request of the magician he may take the form of a man. He is a strong fighter and gives true answers to all questions, and is very faithful to the magician in following his commands. Before his fall he belonged to the angelic order of Dominations (or Dominions), and when he was bound by Solomon he told him that after 1,200 years he hoped to return to Heaven ("unto the Seventh Throne").

Maybe this extends to Big Daddy H. He certainly could have tried to deceive us with his offer of a spear, but chose to warn us about the grief it can bring us:

But if you grasp that spear now, you can overcome that future before it ever comes to pass.

Uridimmu grins; the pale glinting fangs are all you can see.

But I will not lie. You may have a different regret instead.

I think Uridimmu is being completely honest with us here, but that alone doesn't mean we should accept his offer.

What concerns me is this other threat he wants to arm us against.

 

[hello friend]

I have no clue who these eleven primordials are, or who this 'Great Mother' might be (Lilith?):

But I am and always will be the Hound, the companion to the nightmares of Man, the whisperer of violence in your hearts, the mightiest of the eleven primordial demons.

Monster children of Tiamat I believe, of which there were eleven.

I really really really want that shiny spear, but I think it's a terrible idea.

BC

 

[hello friend]

Fuck I can't do it.

Flopping to AC

 

[Baltika9]

onster children of Tiamat I believe, of which there were eleven.

These were her own offspring: Bašmu (“Venomous Snake”), Ušumgallu (“Great Dragon”), Mušmaḫḫū (“Exalted Serpent”), Mušḫuššu (“Furious Snake”), Laḫmu (the “Hairy One”), Ugallu (the “Big Weather-Beast”), Uridimmu (“Mad Lion”), Girtablullû (“Scorpion-Man"), Umū dabrūtu (“Violent Storms"), Kulullû (“Fish-Man") and Kusarikku (“Bull-Man”).

Fuck I can't do it.

Must. Resist. The pull.

 

[CappenVarra]

I have no clue who these eleven primordials are, or who this 'Great Mother' might be (Lilith?):

But I am and always will be the Hound, the companion to the nightmares of Man, the whisperer of violence in your hearts, the mightiest of the eleven primordial demons.

Monster children of Tiamat I believe, of which there were eleven.

that's beyond my area of mythical familiarity, so thanks!

About that: the Wikipedia article states that the conjured Marchosias always tells the truth.

Maybe this extends to Big Daddy H. He certainly could have tried to deceive us with his offer of a spear, but chose to warn us about the grief it can bring us:

I think Uridimmu is being completely honest with us here, but that alone doesn't mean we should accept his offer.

What concerns me is this other threat he wants to arm us against.

oh i'm sure he's being the proverbial devil by telling us the truth in a manner that's certain to lead to damnation

i find it funny that several updates ago Tlali offered us a revolver and it was all "giving a gun to a 10yo, how irresponsible, won't someone please think of the children" and now Fenris is offering us Stormbringer

it could even be something banal like this other force being what's imprisoned him and will try to purge all of humanity down the line for succumbing to Heresy (TM) - the tower does seem to awaken more monsters, demons, and other dark manifestations than light ones (human nature and all that jazz) - and the spear will somehow backstab that force, overriding Wrinkly's will, and consequently free the Big Bad Wolf from his imprisonment, leading to much FUN and games

i'm just flailing about wildly, obviously

but the voices told me astras come in 3 power levels: minor (go up to power level 3, such as our tome of automapping), major (up to power level 6, ???), and goddamn awesome (up to power level 9, Tlali's "Exalted Serpent" manifestation?) - and we choose Force Shield when we could've been Obscuring God's Creation

oh well

 

[Nevill]

But if you grasp that spear now, you can overcome that future before it ever comes to pass.

Uridimmu grins; the pale glinting fangs are all you can see.

But I will not lie. You may have a different regret instead.

In all of the dealings with Fae, demons and evil spirits, a regret one does not know beforehand inevitably turns out worse than what the entity was supposed to help with.

If we have to accept its aid in desperation, we will. But we'd have to get mighty desperate for that, first.

All this demon speculation went entirely over my head, with the takeaway being that the people who feel "wrong" to us are likely sorcerers, and that's how we feel to them as well. Might have been how Rasputin saw us through the wall, and why he gave us a test instead of ratting us out. We might be at a disadvantage facing them without developing sorcerous powers of our own, which could be what Uridimmu refers to. But something tried to kill Rain using that power, so I am reasonably leery of making use of it before we absolutely have to.

Uridimmu also mentions the rituals of weaklings unknowingly searching for Kadath, and somehow I don't think he only means the nomads. Is this what the race beyond the 30th floor is about?

And the last leads to a mansion on windswept moors that looks like it would be inhabited by brooding noblemen and tearful ladies.

Sophie!

BC

I still wonder what the original trial was supposed to be about.

Taking a snapshot of the Character Sheet.

Spoiler

Character Sheet

Wrinkly

-----

Stats:
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 6
Dexterity: 6 (5)
Perception: 6
Constitution: 8
Willpower: 7
Beauty: 3
Charisma: 4

-----

Karma:
15 (Drifter)

Factional Reputations:

Scotsfield Village: 0
Hunter's Association: 10
Al'tayyih: 15

------

-100 Sworn Enemy
-75 Hated
-50 Disliked
-25 Shunned
0 Neutral
+25 Accepted
+50 Liked
+75 Loved
+100 Idolized

-----

Combat Skills:
Melee Weapons - 2/5
Ranged Weapons - 2/6
Astra Proficiency - 1/7
Unarmed - 1/5

Active Skills:
Alchemy - 2/6
Arithmetic- 1/6
Artistic Aesthetics - 0/6
Astrology - 0/7
Sleight-of-Hand - 0/5
Stealth - 1/5
Traps - 2/6

Passive Skills:
Astra Affinity - 1/7
Drinking - 0/8
Etiquette - 0/5
Intimidation - 0/4
Speech - 0/4

-----

Astras

Tome of Theseus (Water, mutability)
Rank 1/3 - Maps your surroundings in a 1 meter radius.

Astral Amulet of Akasha (Aether, mutability)
Rank 1/9 - Manifests a small, unbreakable silver shield that can be controlled with the mind.

-----

 

[Baltika9]

In all of the dealings with Fae, demons and evil spirits, a regret one does not know beforehand inevitably turns out worse than what the entity was supposed to help with.

If we have to accept its aid in desperation, we will. But we'd have to get mighty desperate for that, first.

But what if, and just hear me out here, we made this CYOA about seeking out the blessings and boons of all eleven primordials to take over the WOOOOOOORLD!!!



Plus, Uridimmu is a dog. There's no way he'd be mean to us.



I really want to vote 1A, but I just know it's a terrible idea.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

BC>AC
AC>BC

Sophie isn’t as strong as Liz emotionally. She could get herself in trouble. And besides that, we had screwed with her head just as the dream ritual started.

Now, as for the demon...I really want to see what the guy has to offer and I think he’s really cool, but if we listen to what he says, he will almost certainly turn us into a murderous monster.

That said, I am down for a bit of loveraftian devour soul if you boys are. Plus he seems like a nice enough guy.

Oh, and treave, if you think we’re dumb enough to think that the ability to manifest a shield doesn’t also mean the ability to use it to crush our enemies into a cube or form a shield within an object to cut it in two, you’re kidding yourself. You may be saving that particular ability for later, but we need to practice turning this into an offensive weapon as well as a defensive one.

 

[Nevill]

Plus, Uridimmu is a dog.

Yeah. If it were a sphinx I would already be jumping on the offer.

But... a dog. Must exercize caution.

But what if, and just hear me out here,we made this CYOA about seeking out the blessings and boons of all eleven primordials to take over the WOOOOOOORLD!!!

But what would a hunter even do with the world? We just want to have adventures, kill monsters (very cinematically and with a sexy rasp in our voice), and give Rain headpats.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Forming a contract with this guy might not be so bad if we rarely use the spear. Just saying.

 

[Kalarion]

BC. You never willingly accept a deal with a (the) devil. And Sophie's our adoptive big sis. Let's go see if we can help out.

 

[ItsChon]

Super bummed. The stealth astra with 9 ranks would have been so fucking cool, and meshed better with the decisions we've made up until now in literally every way. So much for being a Hunter, now we're just some jack-of-all trades drifter with no real calling. Shield has some utility, but I honestly think the attack option would've been even better than what we chose. I still want us to try and salvage the stealthy hunter if we can, using the shield/indomitably we have as a supplement to it. treave Can we pass objects through the shield from behind it, or is it just a wall where nothing can come through it from either side, regardless of our choice?

Any of the shield people regretting their choice?

BC seems the obvious choice. I'm tempted to go with 2A, as that'll take us back to the sand people and we'll get to give them the middle finger, plus we'll also see Tlalli again, but we can't very well abandon both Sophie and Elizabeth. We owe the Father a debt, and the least we can do is take care of his only child.

 

[treave]

If you guys want hunting powers or offensive ability that's what the Hound is offering, just saying.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Guys, we might want to take the offer.

Tlalli nods. “The Turquoise Lord, Xiuhtecuhtli is my protector. He is the god of fire, of light. My main Astra, the Eye of Cuezaltzin, allows the wielder to draw upon a portion of his divinity… at a cost, of course.”

“You’re not going to say it costs you your own life, are you?” says Elizabeth.

“Hah, well, that’s the thing, girl. Back, oh, maybe two hundred years ago, the holders of the Eye would empower it with sacrifices. The hearts of three strong children like yourselves would grant the wielder supreme power for thirty years.” The old lady’s eyes twinkle with amusement as she watches Sophie draw back behind you in fright. “Oh, we can’t really do that anymore nowadays, you know. Child sacrifice and all that’s old tradition, it’s behind the times for we Azteca,” chuckles Tlalli. “After so many centuries, we’ve finally understood that the gods care not what you sacrifice, only that you pay the price.”

I think the astra that the hound may be offering us is something like this.

Yes, there's a massive potential cost, but there may be a way we can sacrifice our enemies to empower it instead of ourselves.

And regardless, this is a supremely powerful astra from the look of things.

I'm flopping to AC>BC.

We will probably regret it down the line, sure, but we're not going to get a chance at this again for a long time.

Also, I'm not sure about this, but it's just too hard for me to resist, so I'm going to suggest it anyway.

 

[ItsChon]

===Tally===
Faced with the Hound’s offer, you:

A. Accept - 3
B. Refuse - 13

The Hound seems to have left you with some choices of a path to take, and you suspect that two of the paths will lead you to Sophie or Elizabeth:

A. You head back to the desert. - 2

B. You head to the large city. - 1

C. You head to the mansion on the moors. - 12

Spoiler

BC

AC

B A

BC

BC

BC>BB

BB

B.C.

Bx

AC

BC

AC>BC

BC.

BC

BA

BC

Guys, we might want to take the offer.

Just from doing a cost to benefit analysis, taking the deal is almost guaranteed to be way worse. Getting an extremely powerful Astra off the bat has the potential to stunt our growth. Having two immensely powerful Astras also has the chance of making it harder to master either of them, while if we just have the shield, we'll probably be able to master it quicker. Plus, if this Astra is the same spear as what this demon was launching at us, it's clear that it's not as powerful as our shield is, so we might as well focus on the astra we have, as it has all the benefit with none of the cost.

Plus, I just think getting such an OP weapon right off the bat will kill some of the tension, and hurl us towards the end game even faster. While I'm sure the end game will be fun, I prefer low level adventuring much more.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Plus, if this Astra is the same spear as what this demon was launching at us, it's clear that it's not as powerful as our shield is, so we might as well focus on the astra we have, as it has all the benefit with none of the cost.

He could have shattered our shield at any time. He was just testing us.

Plus, the shield in the dream is likely stronger than it would be in the real world. IRL, we can only make a small shield, but in the dream, the shield is a fortress.

Plus, I just think getting such an OP weapon right off the bat will kill some of the tension, and hurl us towards the end game even faster. While I'm sure the end game will be fun, I prefer low level adventuring much more.

Eh. As we see with the shield on our stat sheet, we won't be able use it to its full potential right off the bat. So it isn't like we'll be overpowered. Plus, the cost will limit its use.

That said, yes, it will probably stunt our growth in other areas and relying on the strength of a potential foe would be bad.

BUT what if this guy doesn't need to be our foe? What if we can claim souls for him in the real world, just as the Aztecs did for other creatures like him? (Not necessarily children's souls either, as we know that Aztecs sacrificed adults too.)

Also, cost benefit: we have a shield that's powerful, but a spear that's equally powerful would make us a complete warrior.

Come on, this doggy hasn't eaten for a thousand years. Let's go fetch him some treats!

 

[ItsChon]

I'm not saying I don't see the appeal, but our boy has been under the yolk of an oppressive and cruel master his entire life, I don't see why he'd sign up to have his freedom taken away after finally being free for the first time in his life. Also, if we enter into this pact, we'll be stuck for life, or at least stuck for a very long time until we're strong enough to oppose him (if that's even possible). A being of this powerful will also require very meaningful and powerful sacrifices. Are you ready to sacrifice Elizabeth, Sophie, Rain, the entirety of humanity? For what? An increase in power that we might be able to gain ourselves organically?

You do you bro.

EDIT: And we really need to get a new fucking name. I'm not going by Wrinkly for the rest of our life ffs.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

A being of this powerful will also require very meaningful and powerful sacrifices. Are you ready to sacrifice Elizabeth, Sophie, Rain, the entirety of humanity?

 

[Kipeci]

That spear will sting much more than our shitty slingshot, we’ve had plenty of events already where everyone was definitely far too OP to consider doing anything with only a pigsticker or pea shooter at our disposal... this makes us much more able to protect other people like Sophie or Rain from the monsters we encounter. Pure defense cannot do that; recall how the resident Theseus bravely challenged the Russians only to get wrapped up in chains and taken into captivity? Perhaps our defense could keep us from experiencing getting crushed, arm breaking and the penetration the other guy suffered from but that wouldn’t prevent the imprisonment. If it really is our intention to stand out there and take action as we signaled by getting the shield, we must have an actual offensive capacity and this is precisely the tool for that.

That besides, we have had fantastic track record with shady demonic creatures manifesting as weapons with us in treave CYOAs- recall Sekhenun as a sword? The Scholar of the Fist, Barbatos?

 

[Nevill]

We will probably regret it down the line, sure, but we're not going to get a chance at this again for a long time.

We are going to get a chance at regrets pretty often, you can see people doing it even now.

But really, how many of similar open-ended deals ended with the demon demanding one's firstborn for the services?
...of course, to some it may not even be a drawback.

Still, Uridimmu doesn't have a dreamy beard, which means my readiness to discard elven babies for him has a hard limit.

Kulullû (“Fish-Man") and Kusarikku (“Bull-Man”).

 

[Tigranes]

This shield will clearly be upgradeable to a point where we put it over the teenage Rain's head in the middle of a nuclear test site and come out OK. It would have been similar, I'm sure, with Attack or Stealth.

 

[ItsChon]

Fr though, imagine if we went in caring about Elizabeth or Sophie, that would have been such a fucking let down. I think even going in not caring about anything would have been preferable, because at least we'd have gone down like a man.