Sooo... What is happening with this game exactly? It has been a little over a month since the last IC post, but you still respond to my shenanigans in the OOC tab. Are you still up for this but just can't seem to find a good moment for it? Are you done with this but just don't have the heat to make it official? Something else? I would like to keep this going. I enjoy this game just as much as I enjoy all your other games. But if this game's just lost its luster on your end, I won't bite your head off for saying as much out loud.
Leo wanted to rail against that message. He wanted to throw Nyphl's *rejection* right back across the telepathic link. Within him, the part of Leo that had given itself over fully to the god he was becoming roiled furiously at the reminder of how he was once a slave and demanded a much more severe response to the flumph's impudence. But as his mind's eye beheld the mental images Nyphl sent him of how he and the drow weren't so different, and his physical eyes beheld the whip marks, the malnutrition, and the plethora of other maladies that were working to end his life, Leo couldn't find it within what parts of himself were still himself to do so.
"He fades, Great SHOOGBIMBHALD," Blibdoolpoolp observed as he joined in on looking over the drow. "His spirit leaks out. Does he require the final mercy? Shall we crack him open to let the rest of it out?"
"No." SHOOGBIMBHALD replied. "None may die beneath the roof of this cathedral unless I judge them deserving of such a fate. And no judgement may be made until the one being judged has been permitted a chance to speak in their defense." Only now did Leo realize the hypocrisy those words carried when he first spoke them. He had decreed that judgement could only come after the defendant was given a chance to plead their case. Yet as he spoke those words, he had already condemned the drow in his thoughts. Suppressing a shudder, SHOOGBIMBHALD turned to look at Nyphl and Blibdoolpoolp. "Nyphl, do what you can to preserve this one's life. Blibdoolpoolp, assist Nyphl in this endeavor in any way you are requested to do so." SHOOGBIMBHALD ordered.
While he was willing to spare the drow's life, he wasn't ready to have a direct hand in saving the drow's life. On top of that, Nyphl had actual proficiency in medicine and Blibdoolpoolp had the ability to cast Lesser Restoration and could call upon any of the cult's resources that were necessary for stabilizing the drow. With the two of them working together, Leo was confident that they could handle this task by themselves.
Which at last left Leo with a stretch of free time to finally get around to what he had been planning to do ever since he woke up.
"In one hour's time, I shall return to see how you have fared in this task." SHOOGBIMBHALD declared. "I know you will serve me well." With that said, SHOOGBIMBHALD moved to exit the throne room with a purposeful stride and make his way towards the forbidden chamber that called to him in his dreams.
Although she still seems somewhat flustered, your words definitely calmed Euphemia down somewhat. "Al-Always happy to help." She said quietly, before bowing to you and Lady Agnes in turn and scurrying back to the crowd from whence she came.
"I apologize, Lady Agnes. I can become too focused when I lack an answer. I should not have worried you over such a minor thing."
"Oh it was no worry at all." Lady Agnes assured you. "In fact, I quite enjoy puzzling over the mystery behind these bouts of fixation Flurry has every so often."
When you look over at your grandfather's gazebo, you see fewer guests there than there were before. And from what you can tell, the old man himself is in relatively good spirits.
"I think we could both use a refreshment after that small excitement, I am going to get us both something to drink. Is there anything in particular you would prefer?"
"Surprise me." Was Lady Agnes's reply.
You went on to acquire the drinks without any notable difficulty. Soon after, you were off to see your grandfather with Lady Agnes in tow after she happily accepted your invitation.
As the two of you stepped on to the gazebo, Aldric Everheart turned to look at you. He adjusted his glasses a little and squinted for a moment, then his face lit up with what appeared to be recognition. "Ah! Cassandra! Dmitri!" Aldric exclaimed. "It warms my heart to think that you would carve some time out of your big day to come see us." The old man looked over his shoulder and called out then. "Melia? Melia! Come quickly dearest! Cassandra and her husband are here!"
Melia was the name of Aldric's wife, your grandmother. She died a little over ten years ago. From experience, you know reminding him of this rarely ends well.
For treating Euphemia Gax with respect in accordance with his Ideal, Viktor is now Inspired.
As the march of the currents led him to the throne room, Leo allowed himself to hope. Maybe this intruder the kuo-toa found was a friend. Maybe this intruder was a dwarf. An actual dwarf, not one of the duergar. One of the dwarves he'd only heard of in stories, who lived in mighty strongholds above the Underdark yet still below the surface. If it was indeed a dwarf and Leo was able to help them out, get them back home in one piece, then perhaps he'd be able to visit the dwarves from time to time. Take a break from being SHOOGBIMBHALD all the time. Have allies other than Nyphl he could be his true self around without running the risk of ruining his plans. Perhaps he might even be able to convince the dwarves to help with rescuing his loved ones if he was able to do them some kind of great service first.
However that hope was replaced with worry when Nyphl reported back with news. If the sinking feeling and profound pity were anything to go by, the kuo-toa had brought this intruder down hard. And while they did prefer to take prisoners, sometimes they would strike a little too hard by accident. Leo couldn't place what the recognition and the mental image of the filthy broken mirror was about though... Until he saw who the intruder was, that is.
Leo's worry soured into disappointment as he saw the drow tied down on the altar that Leo had taken to using as a bed. Considering what the dark elves had done to him over the years, Leo found it difficult to feel any sympathy for this one. But the intruder seemed to remind Nyphl of Leo as he had been when they first met three months ago... And to be fair, Leo could see why. Between the way he was built and the way he was dressed, the drow was likely a consort to some priestess of Lolth before fate brought him to the cathedral.
"The intruder awaits Your divine judgment, Great SHOOGBIMBHALD, he was found hiding in the rubble. He has no weapons. He has no fight. He is yours to command."
"Hmmm." SHOOGBIMBHALD hummed as He regarded the unconscious drow. The dark elf's breathing suggested the possibility of medical attention being required. Leo found it hard to care about that though. He was half tempted to just leave whether the drow lived or died just as much up to fate as his arrival to the cathedral was. But a soft blue glow out of the corner of his eye had him very begrudgingly open to the idea of giving the dark elf a chance. SHOOGBIMBHALD approached the altar and looked down upon the drow. After a moment, He took hold of a longer tattered piece of the drow's costume, tore it away, affixed it over the drow's eyes, and tied it around his head as a makeshift blindfold. "No outsider may gaze upon my holy throne until I judge them worthy of such an honor." SHOOGBIMBHALD decreed. "And no judgement may be made until the one being judged has been permitted a chance to speak in their defense."
With that said, SHOOGBIMBHALD began looking the drow over and inspecting the state he was in. While Nyphl was the more proficient healer, SHOOGBIMBHALD preferred doing things himself if he could. At least while his followers were watching. He preferred it because that way the kuo-toa wouldn't get any ideas about someone being better as something than He was. And Leo preferred it because that way the risk of Nyphl becoming altered by the kuo-toa's beliefs was reduced.
As he worked over the drow, Leo began sending mental images to Nyphl.
First came the images of memories. Memories of his mistresses lording over Leo and his loved ones. Memories of his mistresses looking down on them with smirks of malice and contempt and smug superiority. Memories of attractive drow males who hung from the arms of the women like living accessories and looked down on the slaves with just as much cruelty as the mistresses
Then came the images of fears. Fears that if the drow was spared and allowed to stay, he would take advantage of the god makers' abilities to take power for himself and usurp Leo. Fears that if the drow was spared and allowed to leave, he would bring word of Leo and the kuo-toa at what was once a drow cathedral to other drow, who would then come in force to kill and enslave.
Finally, there came the images of an idea. An idea that wasn't of Leo's design, but rather of the god that he was becoming. An idea of SHOOGBIMBHALD's design. If the drow were to be used as the centerpiece of a sacrificial ceremony performed by the kuo-toa, the potential danger he posed would be nipped in the bud. And if the kuo-toa did it right, SHOOGBIMBHALD's power would grow stronger from it.
All of these mental images served to make Leo's thoughts on the matter clear. He did not like the drow. He did not trust the drow. He believed that it would be safer to just kill the drow, and likely more useful to boot.
Leo rolls a Natural 20 on a Medicine check to look over the drow.
"I think I may know a quicker way to get you some answers." Lady Agnes said before turning towards a nearby crowd, putting a hand to her mouth, and calling out. "Miss Gax? Would you please come here for a moment?"
"C-C-Coming!" A nervous voice called back from within the crowd. The people shifted then, and eventually parted to allow a descendant of Rhibeus Gax to emerge from the crowd and quickly make her way over to you and Lady Agnes.
Euphemia Gax had the unmistakable look of an arcane scholar. Bookish, bright eyed, and charming in a way she seemed completely unaware of. Waves of chestnut hair framed her face. Often kept half tucked behind her ears, yet forever slipping loose as though conspiring against her attempts to appear tidy.
Her glasses were her most notable feature. Round and slightly oversized, with delicate metal rims that glinted whenever the light caught them. They magnified her mossy green eyes just enough to give her an earnest, permanently curious expression.
A dusting of ink smudges clung to her fingers as they often did from late night note taking, and faint traces of chalk or luminescent spell powder also lingered on her sleeves. She dressed in neat academy attire, though the fit was often slightly askew. A cardigan buttoned one notch wrong. A ribbon tie slipping off center. A robe hem revealing mismatched socks. Small, endearing signs of a mind that moved at speeds faster than her hands could keep up with.
"L-Lady Agnes. Lord Viktor." Euphemia said, bowing to each name's respective owner as she spoke them. "You have... need of me?"
"I hear it is your magic we have to thank for making this wondrous creation that much more wondrous." Lady Agnes said while gesturing to the ice sculpture. "Did I hear correctly?"
"T-That is true, Lady Agnes." Euphemia said, her cheeks turning ever so slightly pink at the compliment.
"Then might you be able to tell us what magic you worked upon this sculpture?" Lady Agnes asked. "Flurry here has become rather fixated on your work, and that has Viktor worrying that something untoward might be afoot."
Euphemia gasped at this revelation, turned to face you, and began bowing to you many times in rapid succession. "I am so sorry Lord Viktor!" Euphemia began apologizing profusely. "It was never my intention to cause you any inconvenience! I only wished to amuse and educate the foreign visitors attending this wedding! Please forgive me!"
"Easy now, dear. Easy. Take a breath." Lady Agnes said calmingly. "We're sure you meant well and you aren't in any trouble. We just want to know what spells you have cast on this sculpture in case any of that might be affecting Flurry."
Euphemia took a breath as Lady Agnes had instructed and eventually calmed herself enough to answer. "Well..." The wizard began slowly, brow lined with thought. "There's a series of Glyphs of Warding cast on the sculpture. Each Glyph has a casting of Protection from Fire stored within them and they're each set to go off one after the other at fifty nine minute intervals to keep the sun from melting the sculpture. There's also two sets of Magic Mouths cast on the sculpture, the longer story set and the shorter warning set. The story set is triggered once every fifteen minutes by someone approaching it and it features the voice of Alton Goodbarrel recounting the story of Moorvale's founding. A second set of Glyphs with castings of Prestidigitation stored in them makes individual parts of the sculpture light up during certain parts of the story. Meanwhile, the warning set is triggered by touching the sculpture without the proper authorization and features the voice of Orthog Troll-Puncher warning them not to do that, giving a final warning if the toucher persists, and then calling the actual Troll-Puncher over to deal with any miscreants who touch a third time. If someone damages the sculpture or tries to steal it, the warning set automatically escalates to calling for Orthog." Euphemia falls silent then, fidgets for a moment, and quickly adds soon after. "Whatever spell it was that captivated your hound's attention so thoroughly, I am truly sorry it did so."
"I don't think you need worry yourself, Miss Gax." Lady Agnes said then. "I don't believe anything you mentioned in that list of spells could be responsible for how Flurry is acting." Lady Agnes looked to you for confirmation of this. Something that you could easily give here, since there is in fact nothing in that list of spells that could be responsible for how Flurry is acting.
As this all happens, Flurry finally comes out the other side of his fixated episode and resumes his ordinary patterns of behavior.
SHOOGBIMBHALD had suppress yet another wince when He noticed the crab had been changed. He'd gotten careless, and now the crab was caught up in the kuo-toa's beliefs. SHOOGBIMBHALD didn't like that because that meant a small measure of empowering faith was being directed somewhere other than at Him. Leo didn't like that because now it meant the crab would be subjected to the same changes Leo himself was going through. That was something to worry about later though. SHOOGBIMBHALD watched as Blibdoolpoolp rose to his feet and had to suppress yet another wince when He saw the extent of the high priest's injuries.
"It shall be done, Great SHOOGBIMBHALD," The high priest said solemnly. "We will seal this tunnel. We will dig in a different direction. The crab of wisdom shall guide us to safer treasures."
He paused then. His bulging eyes searching SHOOGBIMBHALD's face. For a moment, Leo feared the worst.
"Is there anything else you require of your servants, Great One? Any other wisdom you wish to impart? Any other... tests?"
Fighting down the urge to sigh in relief, SHOOGBIMBHALD pondered the question for a moment. After 'failing' that last 'test', Blibdoolpoolp was understandably a little on edge. But if a good performance could cause a problem, then a good performance could solve it as well. And so SHOOGBIMBHALD straightened up and began to speak in sonnet.
"O children carved of scale and ebbing gleam, Attend the pulse that hums beneath the stone. For in the dark where sight forgets its dream, The mind must weave the currents on its own. Let echoes be your lanterns in the shale, And heed the tremors folded in the ground. Trust not the stillness, stillness oft will fail, For predators wear silence like a gown. Yet fear not dark, for dark is but a veil That hides the paths which only faith can chart. The drip of time may sculpt a safer trail If patient fins keep steady in the heart. So listen when thy faith begins to speak, Its murmur marks the strong, and shields the weak."
Whether or not this did anything to soothe the high priest's woes, there wasn't time to tell for sure. A moment later, a young messenger came scampering in with a message.
"High Priest! Great SHOOG... SHOOG..." The messenger tried to start, but was to out of breath to properly get going.
"Take a moment, young one. Breathe." SHOOGBIMBHALD said gently.
The messenger paused, gasped for air, and then tried again. "SHOOGBIM... SHOOGBIMBLAD... no wait... SHOOGBING..."
"Breathe, young one." SHOOGBIMBHALD gently insisted when He realized the messenger was still a bit out of breath.
"GREAT BIG SHOOG!" The young kuo-toa finally shouted in triumph, causing SHOOGBIMBHALD to have to fight back a laugh rather than a wince this time.
Blibdoolpoolp's eye twitched, but SHOOGBIMBHALD raised a staying hand before the high priest could do anything else. "Speak." The god bade His messenger.
"We have... we have..." The messenger didn't need any prompting to take a breath this time. "We have captured... a thing! A person thing! An intruder thing! In the south! The south digging place! Where we dig! In the south!
Having not known dryness for the past three months, SHOOGBIMBHALD was unbothered by the water thrown about by the wild gesticulation.
"We found them doing... doing intruder activities! Very suspicious activities! Like... like being there! When they should not be there! And... and having a face we did not recognize!" The messenger continued. "They are in the sitting room! The big sitting room! With the big sitting chair! Your sitting chair! We put them there! Well, not in the chair, that is YOUR chair, Great Big Shoog, we put them near the chair! Waiting! For judgment! Your judgment! The judgment of..."
As the messenger struggled with the name of his god, Leo spoke to Nyphl through their telepathic link. 'Go to the throne room ahead of me.' He communicated to the flumph. 'See who this intruder is, how they are holding up, and if they are good or evil. If they are good, do what you can for them if they're hurt and tell them I'll get them out of here so long as they don't do anything to make the kuo-toa think I'm not a god. If they are evil, tell them nothing and have them blindfolded so they cannot see that I am not really a god. Once you have done that, come back and tell me what you could figure out about them.'
"...SHOOGBIMBHALD!" The messenger finally got the name right just as Leo finished his telepathic communication.
SHOOGBIMBHALD nodded in approval of the young kuo-toa's success and subsequent pride in the aforementioned success.
"Please come! Please come judge the intruder! They are very... very intruded!" The messenger implored.
"All in good time." SHOOGBIMBHALD said, quickly coming up with a way to give Nyphl time to check on and speak with the kuo-toa's prisoner ahead of his arrival and return to report its findings. "I will sit in judgement of the intruder, but it would not do to have them witness me enter in any sort of mundane manner. Blibdoolpoolp, prepare a procession worthy of my divine splendor. Once I am able to make an appropriate entrance, I will go to judge them then."
SHOOGBIMBHALD makes a Performance check of 23 to ease Blibdoolpoolp's worries.
Yet another disembodied voice spoke up when you touched the ice sculpture. It wasn't the voice of Alton Goodbarrel this time, but it was a familiar voice all the same. "OI! 'Ands off, ya git!" Barked the of voice Orthog Troll-Puncher. "This sculpture weren't easy to carve! An' it weren't carved just so some eggheads could get all mittsy with it!"
"Well that's certainly one way of getting people to listen to your 'please do not touch' notice." Lady Agnes said in response to this.
Meanwhile, Flurry continued to stare at the sculpture. Even if he had any ability to respond to your questions, it's quite likely he would not have heard you anyway.
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