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The wretch is a failure and a shame for womankind, fluffy tails with a swing always managed to lead thousands of axes in battle, a mere pair is just for tomboys and trannies, hmm, this would explain why you like her.
Not sure what this can mean either. It would make sense for a Fallen Lord or an archmage not to be tied to a physical body. The Watcher's is shattered, yet he is a very much real and 'alive', and all that is left of The Faceless One is a set of bracers. Maybe they keep dying and usurping the bodies of another to come back from wherever it is they end up after death.
Could be possible that an extraneous mind is tryng to take control of Nine's mind, or maybe, considering as Fallen Lords were good guys once what we are seeing here is Nine's madness as an Archmage and not only as an effect of the spell cast on her.
Now, let us step back and remember what we were trying to do here in the first place.
"So if you will allow us, Mistress Nine, I will enter your mind with my master and retrieve the information he seeks. While there we shall also endeavour to undo the blocks upon your memories and return to you your identity," Lyssa stares at he stew, unwilling to make eye contact with any of your group.
It looks like the blocks upon the memories and the isolation the two archmages spoke about is one and the same thing. What is interesting, though, is that both Ravanna and Culwyeh claim that it was the other who sealed the kingdom:
"Then from nowhere the Liar appeared. She who will forever be my enemy! She sealed the borders of the kingdom, isolated us from the outside world. We fought over the kingdom and for control of the city until it fell into ruin."
[...]
"Well that self important bitch Culwyeh might have been queen here but she was holding out on her subjects. I came to set them free you see! She kept most of them, the really important ones, all locked up in the darkest and cruellest prisons you could imagine. Then one day I arrive and the people 'cried out for a saviour'. So I led them. Then, out of spite she sealed the borders of the kingdom!"
I don't think any of them would lie about it, since there is little motive for them to do so, and it appears to piss both of them off. So either the act of struggle itself have decayed Nine's memories (we've seen that as the two wage war, the world turns into a wasteland), or there is something - or someone - else in place that is not willing to let either of them assume control.
Wonder what was up with two Shivers that participated in the wars while Nine was held in captivity under the ruins of Muirthemne.
What we see here could also simply be projections from Nine's mind. Memories of her own, representing fragments of her mind, each trying to assert control. Fragments modelled after strong memories/desires, without being the actual being in question.
...
Or I could just be blowing smoke our my arse. Who knows?
Kipeci E
Azira D
Smashing Axe D>E>Ai
Baltika9 Ai>D
Kz3r0 D>E>Biii
Nevill D
Zero Credibility D
asxetos D
Jester D
Grimgravy C
GreyViper D
A)
i. 1 vote
ii.
iii.
B)
i.
ii.
iii.
C) 1 vote
D) 8 votes
E) 1 vote
Post Flop:
A)
B)
C) 1 vote
D) 9 votes
E) 1 vote
Looks like the makings of a bandwagon, if the trend continues I might have time to close this one a bit early (provided no one minds). I will check back in 24 hrs and if D still has the commanding lead that it currently does you can expect an update shortly after.
No, the TPKs are usually the ones that win or lose narrowly by 1 vote.
Think about it - fighting necromancers, checking the workshop, and taking the orb all were pretty divisive, all of them good candidates for a TPK choice.
You have your full list of spells (as on the character sheet) though you are casting them at half strength.
Thaïs has her full list of spells as well which is almost the same as yours (she has received the same training after all), though she too is casting at half strength.
You both have your weapons and equipment or at least the mental representations of them.
You could probably conjure up mundane items without too much difficulty like you did with your hat. (Anything too big is probably beyond your individual capabilities and both Derryth and Thaïs refuse to collaborate on another spell so soon after the last incident. If they absolutely had to they would but it would be a last resort sort of thing.)
"Then you will help," the witch grins, "I can even remove that ward on your forehead. But first I need my body back. I need to know the spells you use to maintain your youth, I need them now!" the witch's nose starts to bleed.
Also Fangshi, can we ask her what sort of magic she used to preserve her body? Learning regenerative/preserving/anti-aging magic, while maybe not immediately useful and something we shouldn't learn right now, would be good to know for the future.
She says the blood of virgins... lots of virgins and she gives you a wink and a smile. You are not quite sure if she is telling the truth or not though.
True I had forgotten that, but something tells me this is the clash on ying and yang where they should be balanced or merged. But right now we have to few information, well see what D brings. D
You grab Thaïs by the arm and the two of you run for the inner door.
"Traitors! Liars! Betrayers! You are as vile as Ravanna! When I free myself you will all die screaming!" Culwyeh screams at you as you withdraw.
"You! You would abandon me to fight the tyrant!" Ravanna giggles, "Fine! Once I free us all I shall come for you next! There is nowhere you can hide!"
The struggling archmages yell in unison, "I will find you!"
You wrench the door open and push Thaïs through. You follow her mere seconds later.
The door slams shut behind you.
What new horror awaits you here?
A tomb of shadowy horrors?
A twisted plane of blood and skulls?
Unending darkness and creeping madness?
No.
You are in a well appointed bedroom.
Fine tapestries on the walls, priceless rugs on the floors, the hard wood furniture screams comfort and quality, and the air in the room is fresh and smells of ginger, cloves and cinnamon. It is as if this room belongs to an entirely different mind, you suspect you have found Nine's retreat, her sanctum.
Not a particularly difficult piece of detective work you must admit, she is sitting right in front of you after all... and she is not alone.
Nine is having a dinner party it seems. She daintily nibbles on small cakes as she laughs merrily and discusses some weighty matter with her guests, three men each of whom look identical. She talks to them though none of them reply. Aside from her meal the only other object of real interest is a small bronze music box perched on a nearby table.
You are not really paying attention to the room though. You are focused almost exclusively on Nine and her guests.
Two things immediately catch your attention. The first is that all four of them seem to have misplaced their clothes. The second is that each one of the men has a face exactly like Henry's.
Nine notices the two of you standing at the door, both clearly in shock. She waves you over with a bright smile and friendly eyes, "Oh dears! There you are! I was just taking a little break with my new friends here. Would you care to join us?"
You have been subjected to some of the worst horrors you can imagine. You have been attacked, threatened, manipulated, and abused. You have almost died numerous times, have almost lost yourself and your friend and the whole time Nine has been eating fancy cakes and enjoying herself with your dead master, your dead friend, your dead 'father'...
Thaïs takes a couple quick steps forward, and scans the room, "Are you alright Nine? We thought we heard you scream. We thought you needed help."
With twinkling eyes Nine reassures your friend, "Oh no, I am fine dears! Well I mean I was screaming... a bit unladylike I must admit... but I do not need saving. I was simply getting to know Henry... er... Henrys better. I am so terribly sorry for worrying you both but as you can see I do not require assistance. We are just taking a slight break," she taps lightly on the side of her head with a single finger and her grin takes on a mischievous aspect, "Actually dears if you would like to help me there are a few things I could use a hand with... or two... why I-" you do not let her finish.
You should be furious, but you are simply numb, you are surprisingly calm in fact, "Nine, please dismiss the Henrys and put some clothes on."
She grins at you, and lifts a thin glass in one delicate hand "Oh dear I could not do that-"
You twitch, you snap, "NINE DISMISS THE HENRYS AND PUT SOME WYRD DAMNED CLOTHES ON!"
Nine drops her glass.
"Oh dear, you should not talk to me like that," her smile begins to fade, "Things could get broken."
You should stop, Thaïs tries to catch your attention but you brush her off as you march towards your mentor. This has to be said, "Nine we almost died out there! Our minds were almost erased! We have had to contend with maddening cannibal horrors and two crazed archmages! We almost lost everything trying to help you and this whole time you have been in here desecrating the memory of the one person who raised me! The one person who prior to this year gave a damn about me! Frankly I do not care what you can do! I do not care how you can hurt me! I will damn well talk to you however I damn well please!"
Rage boils up within Nine, she is about to lay into you, you can feel the magic building around her.
Then she stops as an idea hits her, "Trying to help me..." in an instant the faces of the three Henrys dissolve. A thin evening gown of sheer lavender magic wraps itself around Nine as tiny crystals in the shape of tears weave their way into her hair. They catch the light just so and it is dazzling. She adopts the most serious expression you have ever seen her wear, "Dear, I am sorry."
You take a deep breath, hold it, then slowly release. As the air leaves your lungs the rage does as well, "Don't worry Nine. I am just a little stressed... if you only knew what we have been through in the past few 'days'."
She gives you a sympathetic stare and lets out a broken laugh, "At least you will get to leave when you are done... I am stuck in this madness and here I am so very powerless," she snaps her fingers as she snatches up another thin glass of bubbling fluid. Three shimmering screens appear before you, "Though that might not be much of a problem if those two finally murder each other."
You glance towards the center screen. Ravanna and Culwyeh are still where you left them but they look quite a bit worse. Culwyeh has shifted colour to a deep violet as Ravanna chokes the life from her. Ravanna, meanwhile, has lost an arm and a leg to the swarming horrors and they are beginning to migrate to her torso. You doubt either of them has more than five, maybe ten, minutes at most.
The secondary screen shows the battle that continues to wage outside the central building. The dead now outnumber the living by a couple orders of magnitude but the creatures fight on. Tooth, nails and broken weapons driven through their horrid, twisted bodies.
Finally the third screen shows the city proper. Above and below it trembles. Glass spires shatter as the creatures pour in. Green shards push through the pulsing membranes of the tunnels below and they begin to fill with a thick, oozing mixture of ruined earth and blood.
Nine's entire mind is about to collapse, "There may not be much of 'me' left to worry about in a few minutes dears," she raises her glass in a salute to you both and downs the contents with a single gulp.
She starts in her seat as a new idea hits her, "Oh I have something for you," she produces a single parchment, "It is the enchantment that will restore the body of Mr Corpse Man," even at the end she refuses to call him Mazzarin, "Give that to him. He will want more but that is all he is getting from me!" she strides towards you with a grace and determination that is admirable in the face of her own destruction. Delicately she takes your hand and places the scroll within it, instantly you know it contents, a ritual to prevent and reverse aging. When combined with your knowledge of the heal spell you think you might even be able to restore missing limbs and cure serious injures through it would be a very draining spell to cast and will take years to perfect.
She smiles sadly at you, "Well dears you two should be off while you can still escape. I..." she hesitates, "I want you to know that I really am proud of you both... you will be great mages someday I am certain."
She drops back into her chair in defeat. The room shakes.
You look to Thaïs, it is clear that she is reluctant to leave. You are forced to admit, as dangerous, as insane, as potentially treacherous as Nine is there is a part of you that does not want to see her go.
The three of you stand in silence as the room lightly trembles, afraid to break it with meaningless words. Thaïs speaks at last, "You say you are powerless before them? Are you sure? Maybe you could beat them?"
Nine considers her words, she nods, then speaks, "I could... maybe. But it is like you and that reflection of Shiver... they are both quite powerful. They hold the majority of my magical knowledge you see, along with much of my memories. They are trapped in here though. While I can reach the outside world they have been stuck, battling one another for ages in the dark. They... they are simply better mages than I am truth be told. My mind is strange girls, I do not have the power here that most people do... I am broken."
You have an idea, you do not much like it but you speak it anyway, "You... you could help one of them defeat the other... then try to strike some sort of balance with the survivor."
Nine shakes her head, "If given the chance they would attack me, absorb me. I might be able to choose a winner but it is not likely that I would survive... Culwyeh or Ravanna... they would replace me."
"Are there no other options open to us?" Thaïs kneels before the beaten archmage, trying to catch her gaze.
"Not really no," she rests her head in her hands, "I thought I had an answer but I just ran out of time..."
That piques your curiosity, "What do you mean?" you ask.
She looks up at you then gestures to the music box and the three, now faceless, men, "Play the music box and you will see... or hear I guess," she lets out a half hearted giggle that ends in a pained whine.
With little else to do you open the box.
A metallic voice rings out, distorted, filled with anguish and exhaustion, "Listen carefully my dear. I do not have much time and neither do you. I have sealed your memories to protect you and the world. You will not be able to cast, you will not remember who you are and for this I am sorry but it is the best I can do for you given the circumstances and my own limitations. It will give you a chance, if nothing more..." the voice grunts, "There is a test though. One I taught to you when you were just a girl. If you win... if you win then you will figure it out... if you lose... well if you lose then it is best that whatever beats you never gets free. The three golems in this room can keep you company, they will follow most of your commands as long as those instructions do not endanger the test. Each golem has a gift for you. One of them holds your memories and your powers, the other two hold only your destruction, a complete mind wipe. To receive their 'gifts' you need only ask the golem in question. The one that holds your memories has been charged to only speak the truth, the other two each have a flaw. One of them will always lie while the other is madness personified and may lie or tell the truth with equal probability. It is truly random. Find the one that holds the truth, request its gift and you will have your powers and memories restored to you. I... just know that I am sorry for everything... I was outplayed... I will avenge you if I can..."
The recording plays out into a sad and haunting little tune. Gently you close the box.
You give your two companions a confident grin, "So we find out which one of these golems tells the truth, then we can restore your powers, Nine, and you can restrain those two psychopaths before your mind collapses."
Nine seems uncertain, "I have tried dear but they can not speak, I think their throats are damaged. When I ask them a question they sing in response, either high or low, they never give an actual answer. It is infuriating!"
Thaïs jumps in, "Maybe they are answering? Maybe they are giving you a yes or a no based on whether they answer high or low?"
You nod enthusiastically, "Yes that is a definite possibility. So the way I see it we have to determine which one of them is True, which one of them is False and which one of them is Mad by asking them 'yes or no' questions."
The room shakes again, worse this time, and most of Nine's meal spills onto the floor. Thaïs gives you a concerned look, "And if we are going to do this we have to be quick. We probably only have time to ask maybe four or five questions at most."
Your friend and mentor exchange a worried glance but you remain confident. This is your element; ruins, mazes, traps, riddles, this is what you do and you have never failed yet. You are certain you can figure this out... though part of you wonders if it is the right thing to do.
1. What to do?
A) Flee: you have the spell you came for. You and Thaïs leave now while you still can. Nine might survive the collapse of her mind in her sanctuary though you are not sure what kind of damage it will do.
B) Help Culwyeh: you convince Nine to aid the ancient axe wizard. Ravanna will be destroyed and Nine will fuse with the 'Culwyeh' personality. You are not sure what will happen from there, to her or either of you.
C) Help Ravanna: you will convince Nine to aid the young but stylish archmage. Culwyeh will be destroyed and Nine will fuse with the 'Ravanna' personality. You are not sure what will happen after that, to her or to either of you.
D) Attack them both: You convince Nine to attack them both at the very moment before they completely collapse. She will try and steal enough power and memories from them to stabilize her mind though there is no telling if it will work or what the result will be.
E) You are not alone here. The Faceless Man watches from your bracelets. You ask him to help. He replies, Yes... but you will all owe me a great deal more... You do not much like the sound of that.
F)You will solve this riddle and restore Nine's memories and powers.
i. Derryth and Thaïs will work together to puzzle their way through this logic problem. (this will contain an element of luck of course).
ii. Voters choice: We can run this how I would run a PnP session.
The three golems sit in a row at the table. From left to right they are Golem A (Bronze 'Face'), Golem B (Silver 'Face'), and Golem C (Gold 'Face')when you vote for this option be sure to include A, B, C or Bronze, Silver, Gold to mark which golem you advise Nine to pick when you have made up your mind.
This is a slightly more difficult puzzle than the last one (which really was quite easy) but is not too difficult really. There is no trick, this is simply a logic problem (which is why Nine struggles with it).
It can be solved in two questions and there are multiple ways to go about it. When I was first introduced to it I did it in three which is the traditional number of questions it takes. I will give you five questions since it is difficult to coordinate things in a group. After that you will be out of time and will not be able to ask any more questions. (And to make it interesting if you can do it in three you might get a reward, if you can do it two you are guaranteed one.)
Come up with the questions, ask them and I will give an answer. This might require a bit of discussion to come up with a strategy though.
A couple points to consider:
One: to avoid misinterpretation and so we do not confuse the discussion with the actual questions Derryth will ask be sure to frame them so it is obvious that she is asking the question for example:
I ask A if he is the Liar would not count.
Neither would 'Is Golem A a Liar'.
But, Derryth: "Golem A, are you the Liar?" would count. Hopefully that will keep you from accidentally burning through questions.
As previously mentioned the aim of the game is to figure out which one of the golems is the Truthsayer and have Nine request his reward. One of the golems will always tell you the truth, one of them will always lie to you and the third is completely random. I will flip a coin each time you ask it a question and I will either tell the truth or lie depending on the outcome.
The golems will answer in a high pitched whine or a low pitched moan. One means yes and the other means no though you don't know which is which. All three golems use the same conventions. A high pitched whine from one of them means the same thing as a high pitched whine from the others it is the intention behind it (truth or lies) that will vary.
When you think you have it figured out add the information to your vote.
If you require any further clarification then let me know.
Well it is a decade old by now. (My god... actually almost two decades... where does the time go... I have wasted my life...)
Still half the groups I give it to fail to get it so we will see.
I am gradually working my way up to the difficult ones and the nested puzzles where I layer one on top of the other. I built one that I was quite proud of two years ago for a dungeon run where each player got a stack of ten characters and I tried my best to murder them all. Six puzzles layered on top of each other, each with instant death attached to failure. Skill based, logic problems, riddles and mathematical progressions... managed to kill twenty characters before they got through it.
treave said:
Are you setting a limit on the length of the question?
I am tempted to but it would also reveal the conditions necessary to easily solve the problem. Once you realize how you are supposed to think it becomes trivial to solve.
Well one of them was a mathematician, he was horrible at the riddles but the progressions were simple enough for him. The idea I had was to get the five of them to work together to get through it... they didn't... each one failed in spectacular ways unique to them.
At least it was fun to describe their deaths.
Burnt through half their characters before they stepped back, settled down and worked together to place the right characters in front of the right challenges.
The classic answer would be: Derryth: "Golem A, Does Golem C always says the truth?"
Then: Derryth: "Golem B, Does Golem A always says the truth?"
The Possibilities are:
Two yes:In this case we will know for certain that golem B has lied and golem A sometimes tell the truth and sometimes lies.
A yes and a no: could be tthat B is the Golem that sometimes lies and sometimes tells the truth, so we are certain that A lied.
A no and a yes: means that B is the Golem that sometimes lies and sometimes tells the truth, so we are certain that A ltells the truth.
Two noes: Means that none of them says always the truth.
The problem is to determine which sound means which.
Same sound means that nor A nor B are the one that always tells the truth
Two different sounds means that A is the one that alway lies or always tells the truth.
Did you want answers to those now or some time to discuss? To clarify, phrasing a question with Derryth: "question" is a request for an answer from me. So that would burn through two questions right away.
If everyone would prefer I can run it like a minor vote where you put together a suite of two or three questions and vote for them. Once an option has sufficient support I could then answer it if that would work better?
Or I can just do this as a first come, first serve sort of thing. It would be easier for me but you are all spread out through different timezones and I would rather everyone has a say.
