Jumping to conclusions? Treave hints at soul magic. He didn't specify soul transference.
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In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
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- Jul 6, 2008
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Saint Joan Hospital (V)
The old man seems to barely weigh anything. Wrapping him up in the sheet, you sling him over your shoulder and walk out of the morgue. You can hear the orderly coming back from the other direction. Time to hurry. You quicken your footsteps.
"Is someone there?" the orderly calls out, but he's too late. You leave the area and make your way over to the small laboratory where Harold is waiting with no further incidents.
Wasting no time, you lay the body out on the table, unwrapping the sheet. Harold pores over the corpse that you have procured, his lips curling upwards ever so slightly.
"Well, not the specimen I would have preferred, but it should still suffice. These tattoos are... Azteca. They are patterned to work in conjunction with an extremely rare and precious type of Astra."
"Summoning a god..." you murmur.
"Yes, exactly," beams Harold. "You are not entirely unlearned, I see. There are as many types of Astras as there are humans, but unlike us who are all equal before Death... for now, anyway, Astras can vary greatly in power. As you seem to have surmised, the strongest Astras may even command the powers of gods from mythology. How that came to be we do not know, of course, as galling as it is for me to admit it. Still, it is something I cannot deny. I have seen the Knight-Captain of the Teutonic Order wield Mjolnir with my very own eyes, and the might it grants is truly something beyond the reach of any man... and of course, anyone who dabbles in the boundaries between life and death have heard of the powers of the rumoured Longinus. But enough of this, it is time to get to work."
Reaching into his labcoat, he brings out a black scalpel. Sinister red lines are spread across the blade, like a network of veins. "This is my Astra," Harold says. "Faustus."
The veins on the scalpel leap off the blade and spread across the entire room, thickening and twisting together until they are in the form of strange, vaguely medical-like apparatuses, all needles and tubes. You look around you with slight concern, wondering what you have gotten yourself into.
Harold merely chuckles. "I understand how... disquieting this sight may seem, but worry not. My Astra is nothing but a symbol of the potential medicine has to overcome death and grant true immortality."
With a wave of his scalpel, as if a conductor directing an orchestra, a multitude of needles sink into the old man's body. The needles are attached to tubes, which are in turn have been connected to a large canister that Harold had set up on one of the benches. Catching your gaze, Harold explains. "That is the serum of immortality, still in testing, yet to be patented. It is the proper mix of components that serve to spark the formation of a new soul in the part of the brain where the previous one has vacated. You might ask, would that not be a different soul? And I would answer, no. That is the true foundation of my research. You see, the way the gray cells of the brain are wired can and do dictate the shape and form of one's soul. As long as those connections are preserved, life can be reborn. Of course, when death sets in the wiring decays, and should too much time have elapsed there would be... complications."
Harold presses the scalpel against the old man's scalp, making quick and sure incisions. The scalpel is unnaturally sharp and hardy, cutting through the thick bone of the skull more easily than a bone saw would have. He begins working on the brain, muttering beneath his breath, his hands moving so deftly that you do not understand what he is doing.
"Oh." Harold frowns, and his hands move even quicker. You see the corpse's fingers and toes begin to twitch. Whatever he is doing, it seems to be working... but the scowl on his face does not seem to agree.
"Is everything alright?" you ask.
"Yes, it's fine," he snaps. "I've got it under control."
Indeed, toying with powers beyond mortal comprehension is always fine.
You can hear Uridimmu sneering in your head, its voice laden with sarcasm. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the old man's tattoos glowing faintly.
Trust me when I say this. This will not end well... unless you add some of your blood to that canister.
You cannot help but grimace at the strange request.
***
A. You do as the demonic hound says and add your blood to the canister.
B. You refuse to trust the voice in your head, opting instead to trust Harold to know what he is doing.
C. You decide to take matters into your own hands and stop Harold's work, pulling him away bodily if you have to.
The old man seems to barely weigh anything. Wrapping him up in the sheet, you sling him over your shoulder and walk out of the morgue. You can hear the orderly coming back from the other direction. Time to hurry. You quicken your footsteps.
"Is someone there?" the orderly calls out, but he's too late. You leave the area and make your way over to the small laboratory where Harold is waiting with no further incidents.
Wasting no time, you lay the body out on the table, unwrapping the sheet. Harold pores over the corpse that you have procured, his lips curling upwards ever so slightly.
"Well, not the specimen I would have preferred, but it should still suffice. These tattoos are... Azteca. They are patterned to work in conjunction with an extremely rare and precious type of Astra."
"Summoning a god..." you murmur.
"Yes, exactly," beams Harold. "You are not entirely unlearned, I see. There are as many types of Astras as there are humans, but unlike us who are all equal before Death... for now, anyway, Astras can vary greatly in power. As you seem to have surmised, the strongest Astras may even command the powers of gods from mythology. How that came to be we do not know, of course, as galling as it is for me to admit it. Still, it is something I cannot deny. I have seen the Knight-Captain of the Teutonic Order wield Mjolnir with my very own eyes, and the might it grants is truly something beyond the reach of any man... and of course, anyone who dabbles in the boundaries between life and death have heard of the powers of the rumoured Longinus. But enough of this, it is time to get to work."
Reaching into his labcoat, he brings out a black scalpel. Sinister red lines are spread across the blade, like a network of veins. "This is my Astra," Harold says. "Faustus."
The veins on the scalpel leap off the blade and spread across the entire room, thickening and twisting together until they are in the form of strange, vaguely medical-like apparatuses, all needles and tubes. You look around you with slight concern, wondering what you have gotten yourself into.
Harold merely chuckles. "I understand how... disquieting this sight may seem, but worry not. My Astra is nothing but a symbol of the potential medicine has to overcome death and grant true immortality."
With a wave of his scalpel, as if a conductor directing an orchestra, a multitude of needles sink into the old man's body. The needles are attached to tubes, which are in turn have been connected to a large canister that Harold had set up on one of the benches. Catching your gaze, Harold explains. "That is the serum of immortality, still in testing, yet to be patented. It is the proper mix of components that serve to spark the formation of a new soul in the part of the brain where the previous one has vacated. You might ask, would that not be a different soul? And I would answer, no. That is the true foundation of my research. You see, the way the gray cells of the brain are wired can and do dictate the shape and form of one's soul. As long as those connections are preserved, life can be reborn. Of course, when death sets in the wiring decays, and should too much time have elapsed there would be... complications."
Harold presses the scalpel against the old man's scalp, making quick and sure incisions. The scalpel is unnaturally sharp and hardy, cutting through the thick bone of the skull more easily than a bone saw would have. He begins working on the brain, muttering beneath his breath, his hands moving so deftly that you do not understand what he is doing.
"Oh." Harold frowns, and his hands move even quicker. You see the corpse's fingers and toes begin to twitch. Whatever he is doing, it seems to be working... but the scowl on his face does not seem to agree.
"Is everything alright?" you ask.
"Yes, it's fine," he snaps. "I've got it under control."
Indeed, toying with powers beyond mortal comprehension is always fine.
You can hear Uridimmu sneering in your head, its voice laden with sarcasm. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the old man's tattoos glowing faintly.
Trust me when I say this. This will not end well... unless you add some of your blood to that canister.
You cannot help but grimace at the strange request.
***
A. You do as the demonic hound says and add your blood to the canister.
B. You refuse to trust the voice in your head, opting instead to trust Harold to know what he is doing.
C. You decide to take matters into your own hands and stop Harold's work, pulling him away bodily if you have to.
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Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
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- 1,832
Alright, I'm all caught up on Treave-sama's adventure quests. It is time to fuck&die.
In many mysticool and religious traditions, blood is the vessel for the soul. I think when it comes to much of occult theory, adding one's blood to the ritual is generally supposed to reinforce one's control over the process. My guess is that as Mr. North is trying to restore life to the corpse, a greater being is trying to assert control over the body, as implied by the tattoos - the divine link between old man Lazarus and his God - starting to glow.
So, adding our own blood to the procedure should assert our own control over the vessel, much like binding a demon into a summoning circle.
A, unless someone makes a good argument for the contrary.
I am not inclined to trust our dog (as fixed and consequent as it may be) often, but it seems like he has his own design for us. This means that he should, at least, try to shield us from other entities - like whatever may or may be starting to possess the corpse - so that he can eventually have us for himself.
There is also the possibility that he is intentionally giving us advice that would sabotage us, and bring us closer to the state of despair he alluded to in our first meeting, with the aim to break us down until we have no choice but accept his eldritch help. In that case, it is possible that adding our own blood to the canister will link *us* to the God-thing somehow, but I doubt it as I don't think that our canine friend would forfeit us to another power so readily.
Seeing as occult logic and the dog's advice seems to line up in this instance, I am inclined to trust him this one time.
In many mysticool and religious traditions, blood is the vessel for the soul. I think when it comes to much of occult theory, adding one's blood to the ritual is generally supposed to reinforce one's control over the process. My guess is that as Mr. North is trying to restore life to the corpse, a greater being is trying to assert control over the body, as implied by the tattoos - the divine link between old man Lazarus and his God - starting to glow.
So, adding our own blood to the procedure should assert our own control over the vessel, much like binding a demon into a summoning circle.
A, unless someone makes a good argument for the contrary.
I am not inclined to trust our dog (as fixed and consequent as it may be) often, but it seems like he has his own design for us. This means that he should, at least, try to shield us from other entities - like whatever may or may be starting to possess the corpse - so that he can eventually have us for himself.
There is also the possibility that he is intentionally giving us advice that would sabotage us, and bring us closer to the state of despair he alluded to in our first meeting, with the aim to break us down until we have no choice but accept his eldritch help. In that case, it is possible that adding our own blood to the canister will link *us* to the God-thing somehow, but I doubt it as I don't think that our canine friend would forfeit us to another power so readily.
Seeing as occult logic and the dog's advice seems to line up in this instance, I am inclined to trust him this one time.
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hello friend
Arcane
A
dogge good boii
dogge good boii
- Joined
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Unfortunately he's too focused on his work at the moment and has ceased responding to you.
Attracting his attention by other means such as pulling him away from the body or hitting him over the head is an option I can offer, let's call it C.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
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- 11,211
Sputnik I?
Uridimmu, didn't you boast that you were beyond mortal comprehension too?
...I think the doggo wants us to play with him.
More seriously, I believe he is very literal in what he says. Harold alone will likely fail to contain... whatever is trying to get back up. Do we want Harold to succeed here, in spite of his lacking demonstration of competence? You know there will be complications with Elizabeth if we are experiencing trouble even at preliminary stages.
Still, there is no other way but forward. We wouldn't stick with experimental soul magic if we thought there was a better way.
On one hand, this has potential to strain our master/assistant relationship. On the other, this is more precious data. FOR SCIENCE!
A. You do as the demonic hound says and add your blood to the canister.
But Elizabeth's soul is still in place.
...he is going to kill Elizabeth before he infuses her with another soul, isn't he?
How very... Heart of a Dog.
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Lithium Flower
Arcane
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How come? The runes are already glowing. We can stop the ritual on our end, but there is no guarantee that we haven't already crossed a point of no return, and what presumably is the God-entity won't force its way through. This could be the one moment we have to assert our control over the ritual and salvage this whole thing.
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Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
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- 1,832
I think adding our blood to the ritual should put us in control over the situation. Like I said - blood, soul, occult magic, summoning circles, octillionaire grindset. By all means, anyone who is actually read in these matters can correct me.
That being said I agree that this guy is not the right person to help Elizabeth. However, I also hope that we learn something from this experiment, some sort of insight that may put us in a position to cure her.
That being said I agree that this guy is not the right person to help Elizabeth. However, I also hope that we learn something from this experiment, some sort of insight that may put us in a position to cure her.
hello friend
Arcane
Non-Edgy Gamer and I said:
EVERYONE ELSE said:
Two updates later:
EVERYONE ELSE said:
you fucking people.Well, if we can't ask Harold's advice we have to decide for ourselves. I suspect doggo wants our blood in the corpse as a method of transference. Yes, something is waking up, and it will be bad, but doggo doesn't give a shit about that. What he wants is to get out from under us.
Not interested. He can help us deal with whatever comes of this fiasco. And honestly, we might need Harold's help as well at the end of the day.
B.
I change my vote to B on the sheer basis of the fact that dealing with the hound manifested into physical form versus whatever shit could happen by not using our blood would certainly be the worst outcome. Plus, if we ignore the hound we'll learn a thing or two about him. If things go fine, then we know we can't trust anything it says. If things go kind of bad, it's fifty-fifty on whether or not us adding our blood would've actually improved anything, and if it's goes absolutely fucking horrible then we'll know we can place a little more weight onto the doggies words. Either way, we've consistently been approaching our little demon dog's advice with trepidation and caution, I see no reason as to why we should switch up on that. And who knows, what if this mad scientist of ours actually does have everything under control.
Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
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Why would we even think the hound manifesting through our blood would be an outcome? Has it been established that the Hound is actually a part of us rather than simply sharing some sort of dream-link? We explicitly refused the spear and associated patronship, so it seems like we do not yet belong to him. I could very well have missed that part but having read everything that happened thus far a few days ago, it was my impression we were only contaminated with "the Devil" creature that wounded us in the leg, and our connection to DOG is far more tenuous. Like I said, while I don't trust the Hound, I don't think it would be eager to give us up to another entity, which is far more likely to manifest if we do nothing as the link between Aztec monster hunters and their Gods is known and proven.
I like the idea of this being a test case for dogger's advice, whatever the decision/outcome may be.
EDIT: Ah, I went back to reread The Black Pyramid of Uridimmu (II) and answered my own question.
Right, okay. Then it is chancy either way. Still, we are distinctly our own entity and not the Dog's slave, as opposed to the monster hunter doodz who literally become avatara of their deities. If the dog can just barely affect us via that one dream quest due to our own contamination, I don't see how adding a diluted fraction of its essence to the corpse will turn the latter into its vessel. Again, I recognize the risk, but see it as a safer alternative to meeting whatever Aztec cosmic horror elder god is coming through on the other end.
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Oh wow. This is so ripe with ... things!
Opportunities, nyah!
Let's go for A.
Maybe it'll unleash eldritch horrors upon our world. Sekhenun route unlock?
Opportunities, nyah!
Let's go for A.
Maybe it'll unleash eldritch horrors upon our world. Sekhenun route unlock?
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2020
- Messages
- 17,656
I'm glad you've all finally learned to trust man's best friend over some lunatic who clearly barely understands what he's fooling with.
A
A
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