Dark Jack

The Prophecy

Duchy of Pelgaid, secluded pond

Gerald scratched his chin thoughtfully, looking at the Grand Master through narrowed eyes as he listened to Jillian and the demon’s conversation, which appeared to have taken a new turn entirely. A lot of very interesting things came up, and the greedy scholar eagerly latched on to, memorized and began analyzing every new piece of information that came out of this incredibly dangerous fraternization.
The main thing to be mentioned was the fact that the Grand Master’s arrival in Reniam had indeed been more than just myth and allegory, but according to the creature himself apparently entailed a very literal arrival to the world by plummeting from the sky... or, at the very least, materializing while maintaining some kind of prior velocity. The most intriguing part of this was of course the mention of another world, one which the Ancient One originated from and which was presumably even older than Reniam, and which he possessed artifacts from. The other thing, which was still quite fascinating to the necromancer, was the immense power it must have taken the Grand Master to cross Stupor like that. While Stupor itself was inherently unknowable and impossible to navigate and thus impossible to determine how long it would take to cross it or how much power would be involved, the Grand Master’s arrival offered a previously unfamiliar hint as to how much he had used, at least. If Center Lake was really a remnant of the crater after his impacting with Reniam... Center Lake was more than 250 miles wide. It was massive. And judging by the slope of the coasts, it was probably not too far-fetched to estimate that it might be nearly two miles deep at its deepest. The power required to produce an impact like that was staggering... as was the fact that the Grand Master had been able to reconstitute himself afterward. Would he have been anchored to Reniam upon arrival so that he could afford dying there, or would doing so have returned him to his original world? Had he survived? Impossible...

“My interest? You mean beyond the fact that you obviously can’t swim here and would probably have to undo the seal in order to enter the Skull Tower?” the Grand Master chuckled, apparently seeing no need to hide what was a fairly transparent intent behind the suggestion anyways. “I have been locked away in here for thousands of years, Jillian, trapped in this tower of mine with but a handful of my closest servants to keep me company. Even with the occasional mortal contacting me to make a contract with me, it gets unfathomably boring. Saying that I’ve gotten stir-crazy would probably be an understatement. Do you know how often I get the chance to just talk with someone?” He sighed. “Additionally, if I were free, I could literally cure the Withering in an instant.”
“I believe that your presence has outlived the extent of its utility,” Crone croaked from behind them. “Your visage shall be undone –”
“One moment if you will, Eliza,” the Grand Master requested sleekly. He turned back to Jillian and Gerald. “This is one piece of information that I am always willing to hand out for free: the Nomad was not strong enough to seal me by himself. He used a trick, which resulted in a means to undo it that doesn’t hinge on the power of the one trying to do so. My generals and their crystal prisons are the keys to my seal... so please, do defeat Hazzergash and restore his seal. I need him inside the crystal in order to free myself.”

The Prophecy

Do you want to post next, Merc?

Also: How is your post coming along, Legion? Just a short one to initiate the fight between Angora and Jaelnec would be quite adequate.

The Prophecy

It's quite all right, I just wanted to check.
(For the record, I do actually intend to adhere to that guideline requesting updates on posts once a week... so I will update you if I am delayed by a week, and I will ask for updates if you are delayed.)

EDIT: "Delayed" isn't the right word, is it? Since it's not like you have a deadline you can be delayed past... Eh, if a week passes since the last post in the relevant branch.

From Downfall ReRisen

Kay stopped what she was doing for a moment when Enn tried to estimate how long it would take them to get to Eighfour and raised her gaze a bit, as though looking at some distant obstructed sky while she thought. “Three or four hours probably sound about right,” she said, trying to map out in her head just which terrain they would have to pass on their way and whether any of it would cause them significant delays. She thought there was probably a steep slope several meters down at one point, but figured that it was not that important. “And don’t worry too much about the cart; it won’t slow us down as much as you think. I built it, so I should know.”
She set to work deploying the solar panels on top of the cart so that it could recharge Aitch and any power missing on its own internal battery, all the while listening to Enn’s description of how the sunstorm could be expected to affect the drones of the ones most immediately a threat to them and Eighfour.
“Just confirming that they won’t have swarms of drones combing through the forest,” she shrugged. “I figure it’ll give us at least a little extra time before Eighfour is discovered, and decreases the chance of anyone noticing us.” Although if anyone even glance in our direction while we’re under open sky, she thought with a grim smile, the solar panels on my cart will definitely get their attention. “But now that you’ve mentioned it, I almost hope we happen across an Anderekian drone! Even if it turned out that I can’t make it work for us somehow, I could at least strip it of some pretty useful parts.”

She smiled at him as she went to the handlebar at the back of her cart, its electric engine now turned on to make pushing it nearly effortless as long as the terrain was not too rough. “Shall we get going?”

The Prophecy

So, how are those posts coming along?

The Prophecy

So... I went ahead and wrote a new "Deo'iel Guide to Survival" entry, describing the beings which Angora's outsider is presumably one of:

Simulacra

Simulacra (Singular: simulacrum)
Occurrence: Beings native to the Spirit Realm, simulacra are incapable of existing in any other plane than that and can consequently only be encountered there. Although the reason for their existence and the cause or means of their creation or birth is uncertain, since there exist no record of anyone observing such an event, it appears that simulacra are somehow formed as a direct consequence of the connection between the Spirit Realm and mortal souls. Due to the indeterminable dimensions and chaotic nature of the Spirit Realm it is impossible to even guess at the number of these beings that might occupy the plane. Judging by numbers previously observed and the frequency with which they are seen there, however, it appears that they are rather common. They are innumerable in a very literal sense.
Appearance: Simulacra have no one appearance, not just as defined across the entirety of the species, but even as defined by them as individuals. A simulacrum has no physical form nor even any soul of its own, but exists solely by imprinting itself on the Spirit Realm and using the fabric of the plane itself to manifest a visage. Nothing about its appearance is constant, consistent or adherent to any kind of general rule; its size, shape and nature may fundamentally change from one instant to the next. Which appearance simulacra take appears to have nothing to do with the simulacra themselves, but rather be determined by the minds of nearby mortals, as they shift to meet the expectations of their observers while at the same time shifting to fit their current objective.
Danger: Under normal circumstances simulacra are no threat, as their individuality is completely suppressed when they enter a mortal’s dream-space and become actors that follow the will of the dreamer. Even when one leaves the dream-space and enters the domain of the psyche or the raw Spirit Realm, simulacra possess no true wills of their own and will be docile or even friendly towards most travelers of the plane, as they tend to mirror the thoughts, emotions and intentions of whichever mortal they encounter. Only in cases where the traveler specifically has harmful intentions will a simulacrum become hostile, aggressively pursuing the traveler for as long as they remain in the Spirit Realm or until the intentions of the mortal change, meaning that even when hostile, they will cease to attack once their target no longer intends to attack.
The primary concern and reason for simulacra occasionally earning the label of “monsters” comes from isolated cases where travelers of the Spirit Realm entered perpetual nightmares – domains under the influence of souls trapped in the Spirit Realm, with no means of leaving – with the intention of “killing” the trapped souls to free them. In these perpetual nightmares simulacra appear to differ fundamentally from their usual behavior in that they are invariably and relentlessly aggressive towards anyone but the trapped soul. For some reason simulacra appear to accumulate in these perpetual nightmares and will attack in great numbers. In this case they are extremely dangerous, particularly since the traveler – while in the perpetual nightmare – will be very limited in their ability to manipulate the Spirit Realm.
The biggest issue with simulacra is that while they possess no energy on their own and are literally powerless, they are capable of commandeering indeterminate quantities of energy from the Spirit Realm, possibly enabling them to increase their power limitlessly. Furthermore it is uncertain whether it is even possible to kill a simulacrum at all, as it is not possible to target the simulacrum itself and that the magical construct that represents it will mend itself effortlessly from any damage.
Conclusion: Under most circumstances it may actually be beneficial to encounter simulacra in the Spirit Realm, and even when they turn hostile it is a fairly simple matter to pacify them, especially if one understands that their actions are in response to one’s own thoughts. In the exceptional case of perpetual nightmares, however, simulacra are definitely best avoided at all costs and even when encountered are better ignored, as fighting them may be practically impossible. The wiser course of action will always be to focus on finding and killing the trapped soul, thus causing the nightmare to unravel and the simulacra to revert back to their usually harmless nature.

The Prophecy

Actually, Thaler's imperfect true word probably won't affect Angora very much, since Angora doesn't really understand Rodorian and thus would only be able to get a vague meaning of the command from it... not to mention that Thaler's version of the "die" command wouldn't actually cause instant death the way Olan's did.

The Prophecy

Did it ever actually get clarified who went next in the Drunken Dove?

The Prophecy

Hmm? But Merc has posted more recently than both of you...

The Prophecy

Just in case you didn't notice, since Nessa posted mere minutes after I did and I had already posted before her: I posted in the Drunken Dove-scene.