>>628731
>>?
"That's it. As we know little about the Black Witch, we can't plan that much. The radio dweomers will make it possible to change tactics when the situation changes..."
Yes, attack! Black Witch is toast and her magic will be ours! Harhar!

Time to smash stuff: It's good to have friends - mighty improbable that she's more powerful than our Band of Overpowered Mages, Boom for short :)

>>628731
>"I may need a little more time to analyze the portal she is using, I have no way of knowing until I can have a good look at it. Can you handle the constructs for a longer period of time?"
What if the glyphs prevent the crack from growing? That would suck.

I've not got much to add to that, there's only the obvious question of 'why does the witch need a tower?'

>>628740
I think you are being a mite too optimistic. Black Witch is bad news. I think we're evenly matched.

>>628753
>'why does the witch need a tower?'
Building a mage tower could be a habit from her home dimension?
>>628756
>Black Witch is bad news.
True. Though I think, we can either crush her minions or the portal - our win!
>>628752
>glyphs prevent the crack from growing?
Yeah, we should check... can we somehow?

>>628767
>>glyphs prevent the crack from growing?
>Yeah, we should check... can we somehow?
What do you think-
>Lady Krital herself will fly to the... object in the sky, and see if she can close it with the intention of weakening the Witch. I believe her specialty lies in that area.
-means?

As for considering the tower a habit, that's naive. She's using the tower as a base for her magic now or working later. She would not build the tower if it did not serve a purpose. I believe it's a base for her 'absorb the souls of everyone on the plane' spell.

"I might need more time than you'd expect to analyze the portal she's using," You say. "I have no way of knowing how it works until I have a closer look at it. How long can you handle the constructs?"

"From the few pokes I took at them when I sent my familiar here," Rikar says. "I'd say we can take care of them indefinitely. The only problem is if the Black Witch does something we don't expect."

"I agree. As we know little about the Black Witch, we can't plan that much. Though the radio spell will make it possible to change tactics when the situation changes."

"Ah!" One of the captains say- a woman, one that looks a bit too young and inexperienced for the position- raises a hand. "May I ask how that 'radio' magic works?"

You frown. It'd be hard to explain- especially considering it relies on both analytical and thaumaturgic magic. "Maybe after this debacle is over. Just make sure to remind your soldiers to keep the dweomers charged."

"Yes, Lady." She responds, and lowers her hand.

You look down at the diagram of the fortress- and something seems off. At first it looked strangely curved, like a child drawing squiggles and the Witch putting walls where each line was, but when you look at it from above, it has a certain.... something.

It wasn't designed for withstanding a siege.

"... Are you sure this is accurate?" You ask.

"It is." Rikar responds. "We've sent many spies out here over the past fortnight. They've got small or unobtrusive familiars, and drew exactly what they saw."

"Do you have any samples of the material?"

"A handful." He says. "We weren't able to get much."

"Please bring one here." You say and open a portal. You reach in to grab one of the many books you'd stashed in your dimensional pocket- the one that taught you how to use Astral magic.

You pull it open to diagrams of spiritual cores. Most of them are spiral shaped- mana filling in the center and coiling outward, changing during the process. Some are tangled mazes of mana, whirling each and every direction, splitting and recombining later on.

One of the diagrams- for the Purity core- looks almost like the fortress. Except where the purity core seems like a spring- mana coiiling outward, spreading into the rest of the soul- the fortress seems like the opposite. Pulling everything inward, into the tallest tower in the center.

A soldier walks up to you, and hands you a chunk of black rubble. You take it- and immediately, your soul quivers. You feel drawn toward it, like something is trying to siphon mana from you. It feels... hungry.

You hand it right back to the soldier and notice that he'd had it wrapped in a cloth.

'"Is something wrong?" asks Rikar.

>?

>Make it clear to them that breaking the tower is top priority.

>>628805
"Without the tower, she probably can't siphon mana in great quantities! Destroy it and she's less powerful."
>>628816
Magic explosion after we destroy it... wipes out half the army, ops... :)

A personal squad for protection would be nice-to-have too!

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>>628805
>You take it- and immediately, your soul quivers.

>>628805
Breaking the tower and scattering the pattern she built are a high priority, this stuff is designed to drain mana from the entire world.

If the small soldiers aren't being too draining a spare effort should be directed to dismantling the fortress.

>>628805
We should concentrate on destroying the central tower.
Also that people don't touch the material with bare hands.

>>628852
>touch the material with bare hands
The soldier already wrapped in a cloth: they can feel it with their astral magic, right?
Still prefer them without magic - means, we can lord it over this world!

>>628805
>Hand over some of the material to Kristoph before the attack.
It may use up precious energy, but I really want his expert opinion on the material. Maybe there is an easy way to destroy it, for example.
(Charging the portal dweomer through Cera should keep the costs to a minimum)

Also, seconding all the others wanting to explain what the tower probably does.
>She might be waiting until our force attacks to activate the tower and try to suck in all our souls.

"Without the tower, she probably can't siphon mana in great quantities." You say. "Destroy it and she's less powerful. Breaking the pattern would be too. Especially if you're able to destroy these points."

You mark out the thick branches near the base of the tower, where they split off into spirals.

"The tower is also a high priority, and nobody should touch the material with bare hands. The structure itself is more effective than the raw material, I'm sure."

You shiver at the thought of the fortress tearing a hapless soldier's soul out of their body.

"What about familiars?" One of the captains ask.

You consider it for a few moments, glance over at Gareth, and feel out your bond... then you shake your head. "They should be fine, due to the nature of the bond. You anchor their souls to their bodies."

The soldier nods. Then they start to talk about arrangements- one captain volunteering to lead their familiars to target the locations you'd marked out, and the others rebalancing formations... It's not the kind of thing you know much about.

"Now, my expertise doesn't involve planning proper warfare, so I'll leave you to your plans." You say. Rikar gives you a grateful smile and a nod, and you make your way back out of the command tent.

Halfway through stuffing your face- The soldiers seem to have brought a veritable fortune in bee's honey- Neloch comes over to sit down next to you.

"What's up?" You ask.

"Nothing." He says. "Just, uh, stressing out. A lot."

You raise an eyebrow.

"I thought you were the adventurer who personally took a picture of the Fungal Dragon."

"Yeah, but the Fungal Dragon's a big cuddly puppy." He grumbles. "At least compared to... that thing." He says, turning toward the fortress and crack in the sky. "A sorcerer with that many spiritual cores... You can't call them human anymore."

>?

>Do you think the branch of magic she's using should stay unstudied? What are you doing in order to stay human?

>I think we have a god shot at winning this. Otherwise we wouldn't be here.

>>628941
>?
"We’re all changing ourselves, altering our very souls, our bodies. Where would you draw the line? I say, it is her plan to harvest people for cores that makes her more inhuman than the fact that she has many cores."

Restating my previous suggestion to
>Get the material to Kristoph in case he has any insights.
because it happened so shortly before the update.

>>628941
The cores bit doesn't matter, The whole i'm going to kill a whole a whole plane filled with people for magical power is the "Not human anymore" line. Both of us through our experiments have made cores, that's not the issue.

>>628941
>>?
"I would love to study her magic... but that's not for today: Time to begin our monster hunt. We have many allies on our side and a whole world is on the line, we can't lose."

>>628960
>using should stay unstudied
If we have the chance, we will research everything, no morals will stand in our way!

nice fucking latin lmao
maybe you'll get it right one day

>>628941
>"Maybe... But she is undoubtedly human, the main thing being that she allowed herself to become drunk on power."
>"Her magic is equal parts genius and madness, I would love to find out about it but... That is after we stop her from destroying an entire world full of people."

You frown.

"We're all changing ourselves, altering our souls and bodies," You say. "Both of us, through our experiments, have made cores. That's not the issue. It's her plan to harvest people for mana that makes her more inhuman than the fact that she has many cores."

He sighs.

"That's not what I mean." He says. "Every spiritual core a person has- they affect your mind. Your perspective, and your inclinations. Who you are is determined by the structure of your soul."

"What do you do in order to stay human?" You ask.

"It's not usually a problem, for shamans," He responds. "It's so difficult to get two different monster cores working together at once that any changes are... minimal. Your human parts outnumber the inhuman parts."

You consider it... but you sigh.

"She's undoubtedly human." You say. "She's just allowed herself to become drunk on power. We have a lot of allies on our side, and a whole world is on the line. I think we have a good shot of winning this. Otherwise... we wouldn't be here."

Neloch nods, and starts to eat.

Time passes, and the Venan Empire's warmachine begins to stir. You send off a chunk of the material to Kristoph, borrowing mana from Cera to do it without tiring yourself at all, but the most you get from him is that it can be destroyed by absorbing too much magic. But it's not as if you can make use of that- the pattern is designed to deal with an entire civilization's mana supply.

You pour through your combat dweomers, in case the worst happens, and quickly skim through your one copy of your research notes. After you finish up with your notes, a tall young man approaches you, winged helm under one arm.

"Lady Krital," He says. "My name is Captain Niall, and I and my squad will be safeguarding you during your investigation of the portal. My familiar, Lyan, can stably fly in one location, and the rest of the squad are skilled in intercepting attacks and ranged warfare."

"Aren't all of the Wing skilled in ranged warfare?"

"You'd think so." He says with a grin. "Most use their familiars as their weapons, but my squad practices archery."

"I see." You say. "I'll accept your protection, Captain Niall. Thank you."

"I'm only doing my duty, Lady." He says, and bows.

The camp swiftly packs itself up, everyone fed and watered and preparing for combat. Armor is strapped to beasts, weapons oiled and sharpened, and your friends- plus Cera and Uldora- are checking their Implements, just in case.

You close your eyes and cast Knowledge Demon. Your teeth buzz, and you sway a bit. Gareth curls up, shuddering, but eventually the unnerving feeling passes. There. You're ready.

Now all you need to do is consider any last-minute plans. Or pray.

>?

>Praying's good.

>>629019
Pray, also highlight good spots for Nel to blow up with his new core if things get desperate and we need to slow the black witch's ass down.

You snort.

You've never prayed before. Your father was strictly atheist, and though your mother came from a rather religious household she never made such a big deal out of it. For all you know, she stopped going to the shrine when you were born.

You're not even sure how to pray. And you're not sure who to pray to. This situation involves all three, in a way. The Gatherer? The Warrior? Maybe even the Scholar? Food, power, and knowledge. Or alternatively, Life, war, or magic.

Or, as you once heard your father call them, the God of picking berries while running from monsters, the God of stabbing monsters so they don't kill you, or the God of learning how to avoid monsters in the first place.

Finally, you shrug and close your eyes.

"Hey." You murmur to yourself. "You three, if you even exist here in a completely different dimension. Don't let these people die, kay?"

Completely nothing responds to you.

You open your eyes again, feeling like a bit of an idiot, and make your way back down to the field, thinking over the plan and feeding a bit of mana to Knowledge Demon- enough that you can tell if you missed something. It confirms your theory that familiars won't be hurt by the fortress, But when you consider ways to destroy it, an idea pops up. You nudge Nel.

"What's up?"

"If something goes desperate and we need to slow the witch down, I have a job for your Anima."

A coil of white, shimmering light appears in the palm of his hand.

"Yeah?"

"Your Anima should, according to my calculations, be fine if it destroys the black rock." You say. "It's too... viscous, I guess, to be absorbed. So if things get bad, you should crash as much of it as you can. Aim for the parts extending out of the tower- the limbs."

"Right." He says. "I'll keep that in mind."

You nod, and continue on. You push away a pang of guilt that gnaws at you when Rathod gives you a nod. It's because of you that he's in this fight at all, and you know how much he detests fighting at all.

Finally, you end up next to Rikar.

"Are we ready?" You ask.

"We are, my Lady." He responds.

"Right." You take a deep breath. "Then let's get to it."

The wizards climb up atop Rikar's familiar, and you make your way over to Captain Niall. His familiar is the levitating serpent, it turns out- no wonder it's going to be a steady platform to sit and study the glyphs. No flapping wings to bother with.

You adjust your jacket, tap on your Implement, and nod to Rikar.

The warhorns blow.

The familiars call out in an answering roar.

>Continued!

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CHARGE!

The pattern looks like vines growing from the central tower, spiralling outward and swelling in size. Dweomers buzz from place to place, plastering more and more material onto the vines. You can't believe you didn't see it before- the pattern is obvious, now that you look at it from above.

But with the roar, with the horn, the dweomers stop working and begin fighting.

Familiars pour out of the underbrush, roaring and barreling forward. The Claw and Talon, all in heavy armor, make the vanguard. The first line of dweomers form bodies just soon enough to be crushed underfoot by the multitude of creatures charging forward. The second line grow shields just in time to halt it- but only for a moment, before talons and claws and fangs smash their way through.

More sparks leak from holes in the fortress, leaping into place to form a third line- then a fourth, then a fifth and sixth. In a second, the Claw and Talon are already outnumbered. In another, they're doubled. But Rikar's army doesn't care- the Wings take to the sky, and begin attacking the sparks before they assemble.

"Now!" You call. The serpent underneath you shoots forward, forcing you to grab hold of the saddle so you don't tumble off. Niall's familar spirals closer and closer to the enormous crack in the sky, as you feed more and more mana into the Knowledge Demon. It eats it up, calculating why the shape of the portal is the way it is, and your brain runs into overdrive.

Below you, the Black Witch makes an appearance, stepping out onto the rooftop of her tower. She holds out an arm- but before she can do anything, as planned, Rikar's familiar roars at her, barreling down toward her. She's barely able to leap out of the way before the dragon crashes down, dislodging its riders. Rathod is in front, and the Black Witch responds with a flurry of bolts of energy. His golem armor takes it without complaint, implacably stomping forward.

The serpent stops moving. "Lady!" Niall calls. "Where first?"

"The outer edge!" You call. He obligingly flies close to it. You feel the flood of magic against you as it pours in through the portal. It's almost painful, the pressure, but you push onwards. Eventually, you get close enough to the edge of the portal to touch it-

And you do. It feels like rubber, pushing back on you as you push on it. Dimensional foam, made out of the tension that makes up the border between spaces. You'd long-since done calculations on the strength of the tension depending on different factors, and for this portal... It's strong. Stronger than it should be, for a portal this size, but at least you know the rules it's working on.

Knowledge Demon begins to calculate, and you begin to jot down the position and location of each glyph. You grin- this'll be easy.

Which is when your radio dweomer screeches. You look down to see the Black Witch barreling up towards you, sparks screeching away from her feet like the flames from a rocket.

>Roll me some 1d100s, folks!
>?

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>629152
Wait until she get close, Warp behind her, stab her with sword.

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>629152
>>629158
This

>>629159
oh shi-

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>629152
>>629159
Time to screw it up with a 1!

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>629152

>>629158
>>629159
>>629172
>>629173
Pssh nothing personal witch

Ay, I rolled decently

>Result: 47! Failure!

You grit your teeth. The Witch has lost her hat, and her robes are torn and smoking. In her hands is a spell- something black and coiling and writhing- and behind her, fallen far behind, is Rikar's dragon and Uldora.

Two of Niall's squad come close, lances in their arms, but the witch just fires a bolt of energy at each- they fall toward the ground, familiars dead. You summon a few attack dweomers, funneling the magic through your adamantine-enhanced Implement, and the dweomers begin shooting blasts of fire at her. They're deflected by a magic you can't see. Arrows blast past you, fired by Niall's squad, but they're deflected just like the magic.

You grit your teeth, and wait as she gets closer. Finally, she gets close enough that her arm begins to move, the first motion toward firing magic at you. Knowledge Demon tells you exactly how fast her bolts move.

You're gone the second one of the bolts would actually hit you. You're falling through the air, twisting, and the Black Witch flies past you. You whip out with your mithril sword-

Empty air greets you. You're freefalling through the sky, facing upward. The witch looks around for a moment, before spying you below. She joins you in your freefall.

The Witches' magic is powerful, fast, but delicate and costly. She could pepper you with as many weak spells as raindrops in a storm if she wanted, but instead she's only firing a handful every second. It's easy enough to catch with your sword, using it like the handy shield it is. Knowledge Demon informs you with her exact pattern- she needs to stop to breathe once every six seconds, or approximately twenty-seven bolts- and it's keeping a running tally.

At the last second you twist in the air, already teleporting above her.

The black sphere disintegrates around you for you to see the witch right in your face. She stares up at you, glaring- hand on your sword arm. You push- but she squeezes tightly enough that your shielding dweomer empties itself of mana, trying to protect you from a broken wrist. It collapses when she kicks you in the gut, sending you floating above her. Your wind leaves you and for a long moment, you can't breathe.

You struggle with your own breath for a long, long moment, sword lax in your grip.

Bolts of magic tear shoot you- just to be intercepted by a long, serpentine snake familiar. Ugly gaping holes tear themselves open.

A falling Captain Niall jabs out with his spear-

And your gut churns when a similar hole blows through his chest.

His body falls around the ascending Witch in two parts.

>?

>>629215
I'm really crap at coming up with combat strategies...

I guess we can try to teleport her back to our allies?

>>629215
Too bad we didn’t get telefragging to work.

>Defensive fight. Fighting at a distance still seems to work.
>Try to move the fight towards our friends. They should be able to occupy her.
>Try to move to the ground so that the ground-based troops can attack her freely (and so that stray blast hit the walls)
(Downside of the last part would be that she can get help from her dweomer army)

>>629215
wasn't the 97 a crit?
Focus on facilitating our allies to strike from all directions quickly.

>>629254
Maybe Exa read it as a 47.

>Summon Rathod. His golem armor can tank the spells.
>Use disruption of the glyphs as bait for the witch.

>>629273
>>629215
Forgot to link.

>>629254
>>629273
He averaged the first three rolls.
17+97+28=142
142/3=47.3

>>629282
It's why I'm really not a fan of averages. A DC of 60 is pretty high already...

Ah well, I shan't moan about dice systems in someone else's quest, I've had my own share of people doing that back when I ran and it was annoying as hell. Do whatever the hell you please, Exa.

>>629282
Ah, that makes sense.

>>629254
>Only 100s and 1s are crits. I took the average of the first three rolls. While the 97 kept it from being a complete failure, the other low rolls dragged it down pretty badly.

>>629291
>It's actually sometimes the highest of 3 when you're doing something that relates to the MC's specialties, which in Jasmine's case involves developing or using magic. Combat isn't her specialty... But if it was her weakness, then I'd be taking the lowest of 3. It kind of incentivizes players to do things that the MC is particularly good at.

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>629215
Emergency teleport above the chaos portal. Try to fight defensively and spend our time and mana disrupting the dimensional foam.

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>629321
Nah, we should focus on those runes, try disrupting them.

>>629311
We are good at new magic on the fly, right? How about we try to take some of the mana from the portal and use it as the key/location glyph in our portal spell. Use the hand mirror/bag of holding thingamy. Maybe we can get through to the world on the far side of the portal and it will be easier to disrupt over there.

Under any normal circumstances, this would be an idiotic tactic. You'd tried it once during the Archmage test, trying to teleport away your foes, but a fight involves a lot of movement. Locking a teleportation around a moving object is hard, if not impossible, and locking it around an erratically moving enemy is even harder.

But one can't move easily in freefall... And you have the Knowledge Demon. You protect yourself with your sword, using Gareth's limbs to tap out on your dweomer while you multi-task as best you can. A bolt whizzes past your head, and some of your hair boils away- caught by the magic- as you duck away.

Amidst the howling wind as you fall, you yell out to the radio dweomer sitting loyally at your ear.

"Rikar! Below you!" You cry and key your Implement.

You get to see the Witch's eyes widen comically as the sphere wraps around her- and when an identical one disintegrates beneath Rikar's dragon, the witch inside, it bats her downward.

She collides, hard, into the ground. You stare dizzily down at the warfare below, familiars fighting and dying against an unending tide of ambulatory sparks. Your friends crowd around the Black Witch, and the fight starts again.

You land on the opposite side of the portal in the sky. Your teleportation kills your momentum, as always, and the dimensional foam easily holds your weight.

Even if she has some sensory magic going on, she won't be able to find you when her sensory magic sees another universe where you are.

It's a long, long minute while you study similarities and differences between your own magic and the portal, but everything clicks. Most of the glyphs are twisted, distorted versions of the ones you use. Likely changed with the constellations- another bit of hermetic magic adapted to the modern day. She didn't have anything as handy as the Star Rune. Moreover, she's missing more than half the glyphs you use.

The reason it's so large isn't because she needs a lot of stuff to move through- it's large because size naturally increases the tension that makes up dimensional foam. It's also been artificially increased somehow- maybe by the glyph you don't recognize. It's using the dimensional foam in order to keep itself stable. Incredibly costly, mana-wise, but she doesn't have a problem with it. You poke the foam with your sword, but it pushes back like you'd thought. The foam isn't magic, after all- just physics.

The Demon does a quick calculation- It'll take more power than you have access to in order to break it. It's just too strong. The glyphs, surprisingly enough, lie inside the foam's territory- you can't get your sword close enough to disrupt them.

You know it's possible to close the portal somehow. Something in your subconscious buzzes at you, but the Knowledge Demon can't come up with the answer for you- it's only good for calculation, not creativity. The foam is too strong, the glyphs are protected, but modernized...

>?

>>629338
That's...a pretty great idea, actually. I'll second this.

>>629343
use the star rune to change the locus of the glyphs and render them useless?

>>629343
Cast the Star spell around it so that the modernized hermetic magic stops working in that area.

>>629343
Teleport chunks of the foam containing the glyphs elsewhere
Teleport stuff into the foam to disrupt the glyphs
See if the foam reacts to extreme heat or cold

These Modernized runes will definitely help us with trying to understand how to change hermetic spells for the modern era.

Not that we need that, but it's still a worthy project I think.

>>629343
Grab a chunk of the black stone, use it to eat the mana sustaining the portal!

(Don't portals collapse when the sides are impinged upon? Like popping a bubble?)

>>629352
I will support using the star rune too

Star rune!

(We can use the black stone later, if needed.)

>>629353
>The foam isn't a physical object. It's more like a forcefield that pushes out light and air and such. A byproduct of dimensional fuckery, mostly. It can't be teleported since, well, that'd only exacerbate the problem even if the spell didn't fail.

>>629366
>They do, but the strength of the bubble's surface is so strong in this case that it's actually keeping the portal open and stable. That's what the dimensional foam is.

Something clicks. The gears in your soul begin to whir faster and faster.

A fierce, cruel glee burns in your gut, and Gareth clicks happily as he leaps from your shoulder.

He begins channeling mana to you while you pull out your Implement, marking out locations to target. You retinker the Star Rune, configuring it to the exact locations and positions of each glyph in the portal. You're typing quickly- and something on the ground explodes loudly enough that you can hear it. Gareth scrabbles to the edge of the portal as you work, and you peer down through his eyes.

The witch is standing. Rathod is on one knee, and portions of his golem are missing. Someone- you can't tell who- is bleeding all over the ground, and Neloch is standing next to the tower- a spiral of white Anima whirling around him and shredding away at the tower. The witch throws magic at him- but you can't afford to focus too much on them.

Instead you focus on your spell.

You're doing the exact opposite of what the Star Rune was designed to do. Instead of twist ancient hermetic magic so that it works in the modern age... You're making it so that modern magic fails.

Gareth wobbles, the exertion of mana draining at his soul, and you quietly send him to sleep. You have as much spare mana as you think you'll get, including the dweomer Cera'd given you to serve as an emergency battery.

You take a deep breath, draw in Gareth's magic, your magic, and Cera's... And pour it into your Implement.

The sky goes pitch black. Constellations whirl around you, dizzying in speed. Rewinding, going backwards, as if days and weeks and years and centuries are passing you by. Going back in time- which, thaumaturgically, you are.

Your legs give out, and your soul burns. You close your eyes in concentration. But the foam beneath your feet, that dimensional tension... slackens.

Your ears pop loudly, a loud cacophanous BOOM nearly deafening you, and you're falling, falling.

You open your eyes, listening to the wind rush by, and you stare up at the pristine, unscarred sky, as glyphs wink out, one by one.

You hear the Black Witch scream, her hands suddenly empty of magic or anything. Rathod punches her, and she goes flying backward, collapsing on the ground.

With a deep breath, you grab Gareth and hold him close to you... then teleport one last time.

>Continued!

>>629394
"Lady Angwaz? Are you awake?" Someone says. You open your eyes. Your soul aches, and you push a hand to your chest hoping to sooth it.

You're lying somewhere soft. Not a real bed, but soft enough to be relaxing. You open your eyes and sit up. Your ears are whistling, high pitched, but it's already fading. You sit up, looking around. You're inside a tent, somewhere, and there are injured soldiers lying here and there. A medical ward. Sitting in the back of the tent, talking to one another, are Rathod and Uldora. Rathod has his arm disconnected, for some reason, and Uldora is wrapped in bandages.

You turn to who addressed you- Rikar. He's looking down at you.

"Prince Rikar." You respond. Your mouth feels like you've got cotton stuffed in it, and breathing is a bit of a difficulty. You lift the bottom of your shirt up- you're pretty badly bruised from the kick. You look back up to Rikar to see him turned completely around, facing away from you. "Rikar?"

"... I heard you were waking, and I came to talk with you." He says, turning back.

"Well, let's talk." You say. "What happened after the portal closed? Where's the witch? And can I get some water?"

He hands you a glass, and begins to speak.

"The witch seemingly lost all of her magic when the portal closed. We've got her captured, and your friend... Sir Neloch, I believe, used some kind of magic to keep her unconscious." He says while you drink. "The battle was a rousing success. We didn't lose nearly as much as I feared we would."

"... I saw someone hurt, on the ground." You say.

"Lady Uldora." He responds, with a hand motion to her. "She, er, lost one of her wings, I'm afraid."

"Was anybody else hurt?"

"... Sir Niall's squadron had several losses. Some of the Claw and Fang were badly injured, but I believe most will make it. We've been exceedingly lucky."

>?

Rolled 60 (1d100)

Alright guys we did it, fucking sweet
Quest complete, time to pack up and go home

>>629433
"Let me know when Captain Niall's funeral happens."

>>629433
anything else happen? where are we? ANy of that black material left over I kinda promised it for a fellow archmage to study. Uldora going to be ok? Has anyone questioned the witch yet?

>Should we investigate the other side of the portal? We have an army, no better time than now.

>>629437
I don't know about all that, we need to make sure whoever she works for doesn't just send more agents.
>>629433
"We need to make sure this doesn't happen again. She mentioned a 'master' before..."

>>629447
We already made good on the promise.

>>629449
I don't think we have the coordinates. Also I'd really rather not go somewhere where our enemies have infinite mana.

Why not create a containment field using the star rune? If all of her magic is hermetic that would shut her down.

>>629466
Her magic isn't hermetic.

The portal is hermetic.

She doesn't have mana so long as there is no portal.

>>629457
>I don't think we have the coordinates. Also I'd really rather not go somewhere where our enemies have infinite mana.
Is there a better time to do it? Her master's a threat. And I think we got the coordinates from the glyphs on her portal. Third, I don't think they actually have infinite mana, if they did, they wouldn't need the souls from this plane.

I wonder if there's a way to forcibly bind the witch as a familiar.

>>629433
What are you going to do with the witch?

>>629491
It doesn't matter if there's a better time. The fact of the matter is that it would be tantamount to suicide. Rikar's forces really aren't that powerful. If there are even 3 Black Witches there they'll all get completely destroyed.

You're silent for a long moment.

"... Let me know when Captain Niall's funeral happens." You say.

He gives you a soft smile and nods.

"I will." He says.

You push yourself to your feet- you sway for a second, but you keep your balance.

"Will Uldora be okay?"

"Demihuman biology is well known, but Lady Uldora's isn't. She informs me that she should live, however." He says. "Though she's unable to fly."

"We need to make sure this doesn't happen again. She mentioned a 'master'."

"That's a problem we'll need to figure the solution to." He says. "I'd hate to have to ask for your assistance again."

"What do you intend on doing with the witch?"

"Interrogate her." He says, in a hard voice. "And then execute her. Unless you have other plans? It would be in your right to claim her as your prisoner, Jasmine. Sir Neloch mentioned something about claiming her cores, whatever that means- You can find him outside with her- he's studying her magic."

You consider it- and then Rikar gently touches your elbow. His eyes lock with yours.

"I saw you fight her, Jasmine." He says. He looks tired, but the sincerity in his eyes seems to shine. "I know this place isn't your home, and yet you risked your life to fight for it anyway. Thank you."

Then he takes a step back, and bows low.

>?

>>629519
No world deserves the fate she was working towards. Don't bow I just did what was right.

>>629519
Perhaps we should transform Rikar into a good book. Then he'll actually fit Jasmine as a romantic interest.


Anyway, say something about it being only natural, with her perverting magic for ending life, especially on such a large scale.

Then hurry up and meet with Neloch and the witch.

>>629519
"Well you did knight me."

I'm totally fine with Rikar executing her. Neloch will learn what he can, but I'm not terribly interested in soul-stealing magic.

Go find the rest of our personal crew and thank them. I want to see what Cera has to say about the whole thing, and we need to check that Thod's still got all his limbs.

>>629519
You can keep her. Bringing her to my world might risk giving the enemy coordinates to my home.

Neloch uses Astral magic, the power of his soul. Every Human soul has a certain number of cores that determine your personality as well as having certain functions, like the Purity core producing mana. The witch has extra cores that give her the abilities she has.

Astral magic is actually the field of magic I studied in order to make my familiar bond.

Might as well give him an explanation.

>Blah blah blah, forget about it. I'm not good with the mushy stuff.

>Tell Neloch we said he can have her cores.

"No world deserves the fate she was working towards." You say. "I only did what was right."

"Then thank you anyway." He says.

"As for cores... You have a familiar bond, so you're aware of astral magic, right?"

"The practice of manipulating magic, yes." He says. "You explained it to me once before."

"Every human soul has a certain number of... cores that have certain functions- ones that are barely understood. But monsters have cores that give them special ability- like the ability to breathe fire, for example."

"We don't understand the reasons for those powers, but we know they exist." He says.

"The Black Witches' magic- some of it, at least- involves having extra cores that give her abilities. Neloch is planning a... transplant."

"Such things can be transplanted?" Rikar asks, eyebrows raising.

"Only the best astral mages- ones trained for it, named shamans- can do it."

"I see." He says, and nods.

"I'm going to go talk with Nel." You say. "And you can keep the witch when we're done with her."

"You're so gracious, Lady Jasmine."

You make your way over to Thod and Uldora, to see the latter whoop and hold up a glass to you. It's filled with something appropriately frothy- it's certainly not water.

"Hey, Jaz." She says, grinning up at you. "Guess who just got inducted into the 'lost a limb' club?"

Thod sighs. "She's said that joke to anybody who stands still. Uldora..."

"It's fine, it's fine, I'll live." She says. "It's just gonna suck not being able to fly until I can get a new set of wings and enough cash to pay Yule off with again. Speaking of which, Rathod, isn't your master an Archmage? Couldn't he talk to h-"

"It's fine." He says. "I've gotten used to it."

"What happened to your prosthetic?" You ask him. He scowls.

"That b- woman broke it." He says. "Annoying."

"Was anybody other than your arm and Uldora hurt?"

"Brun got pretty bruised, but she'll be fine." He says. "And my golem took some nasty hits. All the mithril's still intact, but the hinges weren't strong enough. I'll have to fix that. After I build a new arm. With one hand."

You squeeze his shoulder, and he sighs, but he gives you a smile.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to your conversation. I have a man to talk about a witch."

"Have fun!" Uldora cheers, holding her glass aloft.

You make your way out of the tent, only slightly wobbly. Soldiers are guarding the perimeters, familiars hard at work smashing what little remains of the fortress. It's already been worn down to the central tower itself, and they're staying away from the tower itself for some reason. Neloch is sitting on a fallen tree, and the witch is chained down in front of her. He looks... focused, despite the soldiers that stand around him with weapons in hand.

"Nel." You say.

He doesn't respond.

"Nel." You tap him on the shoulder. He jumps, eyes opening.

"Jaz! You're okay." He says. "Glad to hear it. Er, see it, I mean. What's up?"

There's an expression in his eyes that you quite can't place.

>?

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>629580
Rolling to seduce

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>629585

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>629585
...the witch?

>>629580
You learn anything new about her custom cores?

Are you sure you want to add the cores of a megalomaniac to your soul?

>>629580
SO what'd you learn and why are you contemplating killing her for her cores?

Wow, you guys suck at seduction.

>>629580
I shouldn't have to lecture you on the dangers of sticking those cores into yourself, but I feel I have to nevertheless.

Say exa, shamans take monster souls, but nobody from Shamash takes people souls, right? Is it taboo or something?

>>629599
2fDDuyea does at least.

>>629600
They don't have any cool extra cores anyways. And it probably would be taboo.

>>629580
On one hand I don't want him to have a ton of power that was torn from other humans, it sets a bad precedent. On the other hand we have already talked about how the extra cites wouldn't change him.

Maybe ask if transplanting a chute or two would help with strangling his purity core and if not is it really worth it.

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>629599
Rolling to seduce Exabyte

>>629613
>I-I'm sorry, anon.
>... I'm taken.
>Can't we just be, y'know, friends?

>>629600
>People souls just don't work in a way that would be worth taking, and having duplicates of the same core is... destabilizing.
>And people on Shamash don't have shamanism- they don't naturally have monsters. The monsters that exist right now are natural animals turned into familiars. But on Helios, some shamans do end up taking cores from other shamans, but that's usually not a thing done through force. If someone tried to force it, the other shaman would mess up the process intentionally.

"You learn anything new about her custom cores?"

"Not much." He says. "I've identified what most of them do. Those weird black bolts she was shooting? The really damn strong ones? Those are kind of like my anima core, only way more efficient. But I do know that without any external mana source, she can't really use them. She's only got the one Purity core, thank god. But I think I'm figuring out how they were formed. It's something I could study for months."

"Are you sure you want to add the cores of a megalomaniac to your soul? To kill her for them?"

"It's an idea." He says. "A normal person won't be able to power more than one or two of them. But, well, we all went out here and fought, right? Why not claim some spoils? I'm sure we could split them up, and they're designed to attach to a human soul."

Then he actually growls.

"She was intending to do the same thing to everyone else, so I say it's fair."

>?

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856 KB PNG

>>629613

>>629618
Using the implements of the Devil brings you into his service be degrees. Remember that.

>>629618
I'm more worried about the possible personality shifts. I doubt she really cared too much about having a stable and sane personality.

Make sure Rikar has a chance to interrogate her before you go killing her.

>>629618
>Helios
Right, helios. I meant helios.

>>629618
Nel, don't be a creep. And for all you know, that's how her boss was controlling her.

Study her all you like, but Rikar's going to execute her pretty soon, and I'm not pulling any favours to stop him.

>>629627
>>629627
by degrees

>>629618
If you think it's safe. I don't have a lot of sympathy for someone who would turn an entire planet into a battery. We still need to find out what her organization will do when she doesn't come back,and how to keep them from doing this elsewhere.

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44 KB PNG

>>629580
>filled with something appropriately frothy- it's certainly not water.
Obviously it's Soda.

>>629618
Ask if there are any side effects. Suit want him screwing himself up for power. If not then the only problem is the moral precedent of using purple cores. If he (and we) are ok with that we could sure both use a power up!

Oh yeah and don't kill her, that's for the locals.

"I'm worried about possible personality shifts." You say. "I mean, I doubt she really cared too much about having a stable and sane soul."

"That's what I'm saying when I say they're is designed for humans. On top of being so easy to install that I could probably do the procedure to someone who doesn't even know astral magic." He says, suddenly straightening his shoulders and readjusting to face you. "Natural cores- monster and human like- bring with them a flavor. A product of spiritual or metabiological evolution. Think of a core as a flower. A seed, or a proto-soul- that of a newborn or normal animal- grow and blossom into a purity core. Fallen fragments of the purity core swell and blossom into true cores. That's why we have seven cores each- one purity, and six others. Animals aren't as... refined, so they don't have identical seeds. But all of these natural cores were born out of something natural. Something genetic, I suppose you could call it, with instincts and vestigial properties. Like a dragon core that has an 'appendix' that is a hunger for meat. With me so far?"

"Yeah." You say. "But what does that have to do with artificial cores?"

"Artificial cores aren't grown out of anything. They're pure mana, contorted into the right shape, and held in that shape until the core forms. They don't carry any native emotions, instincts, or concepts. They're... pure, I guess. Like natural crystals versus lab-created ones. Natural crystals carry color and imperfections because of their environments, where natural crystals are identical."

For a moment, you stare at him. You'd never expected Nel to be so academic about things. For all you know, he hasn't had any kind of magical education at all- he isn't even an Adept, and he's talking about some pretty technical things.

He sighs, and shakes his head. "What I mean is that artificial cores don't modify one's personality."

"... Are you sure?" You ask. "Can you be absolutely certain?"

He looks down to the unconscious body of the witch, and back up to you. He nods.

"Yeah." He says. "I can."

You look down at her body, and frown.

"Study all you like, but Rikar's going to wake, interrogate, and execute her pretty soon. I'm not pulling any favors to stop him."

"I'll wait to do any kind of extraction until the interrogation's over." He says. "Until then, I'll keep her under."

"How?" Uldora asks, walking up to the two of you. Nel turns to her and shrugs.

"Same way I have been." He says. "Thread my mana around her natural cores, slow them down from outside."

Uldora stares at him for a long moment.

"Bullshit." She says finally.

The soldiers go quiet for a second.

"You can't just slow shit down like that. Shamanism doesn't work that way. You need to have some control over the mana flow in order to slow it, and that only works if it's your own cores you're dealing with."

"Evidently," Nel says, raising his chin. "I'm better than you think."

There's a long moment of silence.

>?

>>629726
You've already taken them, haven't you?

>>629726
Nel you're not that good of a liar.

>>629726
If he says it will work then I'll trust him. If the extraction doesn't go smoothly then it's just the Witch that will die. And the Implantation isn't risky at all from what I understand.

Also, Nel. You should probably apply for Adept status, maybe even Archmagi.

>>629726
Three fuck are they arguing for, can't you just use astral magic to look at exactly what is going on?

>>629773
>It's not as simple as that. Sensing things with astral magic is very tactile- you need to deliberately push against things to get a feel of it. It's said that really good astral mages can do it much easier and with perfect definition, but that's not well-documented at all.

"Nel, you're not that good of a liar." You say.

"I'm telling the truth. That's why she's out. Maybe Uldora never stumbled onto the trick behind what I'm doing." He says.

"Have you already taken them?" You ask. "Her cores?"

He shakes his head.

"I didn't want to kill her before we could ask her questions." He says. "And that's always going to be a risk during the procedure."

Curiously, you reach out- and you do feel two sets of mana entangled around eachother, confusingly coiled. Your astral sense doesn't have enough fidelity yet to tell exactly what's going on. You gently feel Uldora's touch too, and pull away.

"... If he says it'll work, then I'll trust him." You say. "After she tried to kill him, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be lying about keeping her under."

"And not that I'm your friend, and also not a traitorous bastard?" Nel says, sighing. He crosses his arms.

Thankfully, Rikar comes out of the tent before Uldora or Neloch can start up, and the soldiers part around him.

"Bring up the guard. Tell them to stay on high alert. Sir Neloch, you said you could suppress her magic. Is that true?"

"Yeah, it is." He says. Uldora turns her head suddenly to Nel, glaring, but he looks completely relaxed.

"Then please, wake her up and do so."

Neloch nods, and you feel his mana uncoil from the witch- and then recoil fiercely, strangling something you can't quite sense.

Slowly, the witch's eyes open. She stares up at the sky- and then at you.

"Now." Prince Rikar says, dragon coming up behind him. "It's time for you to answer some questions for us, witch."

>End of session!
>As always, I'll hang around a bit to answer questions, clarify things, and generally just hang out.
>I'm also always on #Exabyte on IRC, Rizon server, and my twitter is @futureexabyte for updates and when I'm going to start the next session.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>629838
One last roll for seduction

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>629846

>>629846
What are you trying to seduce, the IRC channel?

>>629857
Those purity cores are looking pretty sexy

Rolled 30 (1d100)

>>629838
Seducing Exabyte

So… Design dweomers that cut off thaumaturgic magic. Maybe create a one-trick implement so that others can cast it without knowing our magic?

>>629838
Thank you for the session.

>>629726
>"Artificial cores aren't grown out of anything. They're pure mana, contorted into the right shape, and held in that shape until the core forms. They don't carry any native emotions, instincts, or concepts. They're... pure, I guess. Like natural crystals versus lab-created ones. Natural crystals carry color and imperfections because of their environments, where natural crystals are identical."

This sounds like something that could be useful for Counterspell magic.

The problem with the knowledge demon was that it's not a real core right? Just hermetic magic twisting mana into the shape of a core until that magic runs out. As a result, the core couldn't interact with mana in the way that we needed it to to dispel spells in the instant they were formed.

Well, if we could create a real knowledge demon core artificially, could that do it? Would such a core be able to interact with mana in the way we need to in order to counter spells?

>>629838
I swear to god, if the witch has taken control of Neloch, salt will flow, because that's the vibe I'm getting from this.

Hopefully we can patch things up with Neloch - accusations about lying and treachery aren't the nicest stuff...

Thank you for writing, Exa! Great story! Want more!

I just realized something. Where did she get the teleportation spell from? Could it have originated from our ancestor?

>>635487
Ops, "Hi cousin! Nice to meet ya!" - hopefully she and her master don't have our world's coordinates for a soul-draining visit...

>>637669
I'm betting that her Master learned it from Krital somehow and successfully modified the runes to be used with different stars.

>>637669
>>638447
Wouldn't that be a good thing to ask her before we kill her?

>>638643
Well, we are going to interrogate her.

I wonder if it would be possible to create a copy of her mind and look through it at our leisure later on.

>>638651
Unlikely. It would probably require you to make a clone in which case you might as well keep her alive.

>>638651
That didn't turn out very well the last time it happened in an Exaquest.
Also, there are ethical problems with that, even if she is an abhorrent bitch.

>>638666
You just want her to suffer Satan.

>>638668
Not an active copy, more of a catalog of her memories.

>>638684
A catalog of her memories is likely impossible.

ded?

I'm sorry that I haven't had the opportunity to run much, lately.

But because of it, I've been considering something: Maybe changing the way I'm running.

Namely, instead of running in 5-6 hour 'sessions' every day I'm available, I'm considering simply running whenever I have spare time, as long as the thread is going. It'd mean a pretty big change in the way I'm doing things- instead of posting every 20-30 minutes, I'd be posting a lot more erratically.

What do you guys think?

>>645732
Honestly, /qst/ is slow enough for that to work, and if it means it works better for you I'm all for it.

>>645734
It's actually something I've been considering for a while- it was only this situation where I couldn't run for a week, made a thread and ran a single session, then couldn't run again that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

In short, what this'd mean to you guys is that I'd be posting more- a lot more- but much more erratically. I might be around for two hours at a time before I decide to go play vidya or whatever, or I might suddenly pop up again in the middle of the night like I did right now.

>>645732
/qst/ is certainly slow enough for that to work. I am not sure how often I'd be posting, though. You might want to get a few posts out but your players are MIA.

But honestly, anything that keeps you posting! I want to go explore those other worlds! It feels like that was the principle hook of the quest, and we're barely even started. We keep getting caught up with Helios stuff.

>>645732
>>645736

If you think it'll result in a net increase of posts, go for it. /qst/ is definitely slow enough to handle it.

That being said, I think if your pace slows down that much, your players will switch to a much more cerebral style of play as they get more time to discuss things. That's not a bad thing, just something to be aware of.
Your usual pace is pretty breakneck compared to other quest runners.

>>645732
I'm fine with the option which suits your situation best.

>>645736
I’d say try it and re-evaluate the decision after a week or two. Just know that you’ll probably get a smaller and more random assortment of posters that way.

>>645732
I would still contribute when I could on that case but I think it might decrease player investment if people effectively only pop in now and then. And this is the kind of quest which requires the players to do a lot of thinking.

I'm on /qst/ at pretty random times, so I'm in favor of erratic updates. I'll pop in whenever Samsara is at the top of the catalog.

Erratic updates (announced on twitter) might work! I will certainly participate! Wish you fun writing!

>>645859
That won't really work since the thread will be in auto sage after 3 days. Like this thread right now. It's still active, but it will never go back to the top at this point.

>A special notice for you folks only joining us now: I'm going to change the way I post in the quest; Until otherwise stated, as long as the thread's up I'll be 'active', instead of only during sparse sessions. This should mean that I'll be posting a lot more erratically- anywhere from an hour or two between posts- but a LOT more. No more waiting a week while I try to organize my time to leave a session free, for example.

The morning sun on the world of Shamash greets you. Rikar's army is settling down while their familiars do what they can to wreck the rest of the Black Witch's fortress, leaving alone only the angular, prism-shaped Tower that stands in the center of the tower for reasons you don't know.

You, Neloch, and Prince Rikar stand in the center of an empty field laying between two 'legs' of the pattern the Black Witch had built, not far from the tower in the center. The witch herself is chained down- it's kind of comical, how tightly she's bound in more iron than you could lift without magic. Then again, she did break your shields and bruise your ribs with a single kick.

The witch stares balefully at the three of you. She seems to wiggle a bit, but Neloch clenches his fist- and you feel his soul shiver next to you, suppressing her magic.

"First question." The prince says, voice authoritive. His dragon looms behind him, staring down at her. "Your name."

The witch flutters her eyelashes, and sniffs.

"... I suppose I'll graciously give you primitives my name." She says. "I am Hellebore, daughter and apprentice to my Master."

"And your master's name?"

Hellebore closes her eyes for a moment, a smile dancing on her lips.

"My master has no name. He is the lord and king of Morrigan, the infinite city. The Last Archmage, the Third Traveler, the Infinite King. He lost his name long ago. My master simply is. And he'll be here."

Then her eyes dart to you.

"How did you destroy the rift, snowflake? That's not a magic I've ever seen before. I'm sure that my master will let you live, if you teach him."

You snort- causing her to frown.

"It's a rather generous offer." She says. "Perhaps you'll even keep all of your natural soul, if you're lucky."

"What are the chances your master will assault our world again?" The prince asks.

"Oh, it can be guaranteed." She says. "Any world we find is ours to purge. Citizens turned into Mundanes, the few promising made into Adepts... And the greatest, perhaps, eventually, become magi. If they're lucky."

"How can we stop him?"

The witch laughs at that without hesitation- she giggles at the idea.

"You can't. You're primitives. I did my homework. You have no magic worth using, only your filthy monster-bonding. We eradicated our monsters long ago- if you were smart, you would have done so yourself."

"Only the lucky band of travelers gave you victory." She drawls, voice mocking.

The prince turns to you, wordlessly asking you if you have any questions you'd like to put to the girl.

>?

>>646661
Ask how she did the core thing, and what was the tower

>>646661
>?
"How many Adepts and Magi does your nameless master have?" Maybe he only has one or two? Can we win? Damn it, if he has hundreds...

"Give me the coordinates of all the other dimensions, Black Witch!" She and her master must have visited many dimensions and she will make it possible for us to travel there too (or avoid them)!

>>646784
Learn the tower sucking technique, suck her master dry, win, Queen of Universe, muahaha!

>Hellebore, daughter and apprentice
Evil Upgraded Cera? Apprentice means Adept, right? So she's not even that Master's best (the Magi are)...

>>646661
I'm all for having Nel stealing her power cores. We need more power!

>We eradicated our monsters long ago
Helios mirror world? They had monsters and have super big cities

Can Nel transplant one of Hellebore's cores into our pet Tyrant Gareth? That would be fab!

The end justifies the means!

>>646919
The master might even be a mirror version of our ancestor.

>Apprentices tend to be outside of the 'adept/magus' system. It usually means they're being taught by a specific wizard- usually powerful or an archmage. For example, Rathod is an Adept and yet he's also Archmage Haron's apprentice. But who knows if Hellebore's society uses the same rules?

"How many Adepts and Magi does your nameless master have?" You ask.

"More Adepts than the pretend-emperor has soldiers. Hundreds, thousands of magi loyal to the cause. Three apprentices." She says. Then she grins. "And if it was one of my elder sisters here instead of me, you would all be dead. You had so much trouble just taking care of little old Helen, you'd never be able to face them."

"So you're not even your master's best."

"I'm still better than you." She responds. "I am more than his best. I am his blood."

"Tell me about your magic." You say. "Your artificial cores."

Hellebore shrugs as best as she can. "Sure. Let me tell you about all of my strengths and weaknesses, and betray my people. Go jump into Nothingness, snowflake. I'm not telling you anything about my sorcery."

"Give me the coordinates of all of the other dimensions, then."

"No," She snorts. "I'm not giving you anything you can use. Like I'd let some new Travelers get access to Morrigan and cause all kinds of havoc."

"What's with the tower?" You ask.

The witch raises an eyebrow. "Found out you couldn't enter it, I suppose?"

"Or destroy it." Rikar says.

"It is sealed." Hellebore smirks. "Only the bloodline of my master can enter. You could probably find everything you want to know, Snowflake, if you could get in. Learn powerful new magic, discover how we transfer worlds... But the spell is unbreakable."

"Like how the Rift couldn't be closed?" You ask- and she twitches in her chains.

"... Yeah." She snarls. "Like that. But if the spell is broken, then guess where all the delicious information inside goes?"

She winks.

"Nowhere, that's where."

>?

>>646999
So a pocket dimension then? Break it and everything inside gets ejected into the dimensional ether?

Lets make sure to try to enter the tower later. It'll confirm if this master is our ancestor or his mirror world self.

>>646999
"But it's physically there, isn't it? Considering how... Localized you are, I'm guessing your defenses aren't that great."
Try to teleport something small and traceable inside the tower to test it. A barrier doesn't mean anything if teleporting works through it.

>>646999
Have you ever heard of the name Krital?

>>646999
>Only the bloodline of my master can enter
"Nel, help me get her to the tower, she's the key to this knowledge." (she only has to be present hopefully; Hellebore becomes Helle-key).

They probably proofed it against teleporting everything inside the tower to the outside, right?


>>646952
And instead of fusing some harmless hair-whitener bones into his dna, he transplanted something more sinister which changed him forever...
The time when we meet the Master and he looks like one of our relatives... ugh.

>>647077
"Have you ever heard of the name Krital?"
"Uncle Krital? How do you know him?"
Aaaaah, ancestor, why?!!!
:)

>>646999
>>647048
Sounds like a pocket dimension expressed on the material plane. Destroy the anchor, there's no longer an entry point on the plane. Clever, but I suppose that just means it'll be our next Project. Ah, well, we needed a new one anyways.

After we are done with her she needs to "go away" maybe we could take more of her cores than we need. Or maybe some guard gets fed up with her, decides to punish her and "accidentally" kill her.

>>629343
>You have called your master the third traveller. On of the first travellers, according to your count, wouldn’t happen to be named Krital Angwaz, would it?
>Your magic was extremely crude. Has your group decided to forgo finesse since you can just put in more power, or do you just suck?

>>646941
That would be pretty neat. I hope we can redistribute all her cores.

"So if I break it, everything inside gets ejected into the dimensional ether."

"Is that what you call it?" She asks. "Whatever it is, anything sent there never comes back. It's the space between universes, snowflake, and anything there gets to wait out eternity."

"But it's physically there, isn't it?" You ask, grinning. "Considering how... localized you are, I'm guessing your defenses aren't that great."

You pick up a random pebble, target the center of the tower, and teleport it aw-

When the spell completes, the pebble is still sitting in your palm.

"It's protected from even dimensional transfer." She says. "You thought I'd be stupid enough to forget that part? Meeting new Travelers was always a possible risk."

Then she smirks.

"And now I've learned that your black sphere teleportation works on the same principle portals do." She says. "Your questioning is answering some of my questions. Thank you."

You give her a flat, even look.

"Your magic was extremely crude." You say. "Has your group decided to forego finesse since you can just put in more power, or do you just suck?"

She snorts. "Sure, crude. If you think that working, modernized hermetic magic is crude."

"Do you know the name Krital?" You ask- and her entire demeanor changes.

Hellebore thrashes in the chains, and the guards all ready their weapons- just in case.

"You bitch! I'm going to get out of here and kill you, you traitor. You know full well that he's the First Traveler." She snarls. "Steal our secrets, pretend you don't know anything, and interrupt an invasion. You can't throw me off, snowflake. You're trying to sabotage me! Who put you up to this? Was it Lily? Did Lily pay you?"

"... Is Krital Angwaz is related to this invasion somehow?" The prince asks, voice suddenly stern.

"Of course he is. He was the first Infinite King." She says, eyes steely. Your blood runs cold. "How does a primitive in the middle of bumfuck nowhere know his name?"

"He was knighted and idolized by my people." Rikar says.

She rolls her eyes. "At least you primitive monster-fuckers have some sense, I guess."

In a quiet voice, Neloch speaks up.

"Would you happen to be related to him?"

"Of course I am." Hellebore snaps. "Like all of my Master's daughters, and my Master's father before him."

You examine her hair carefully. It's pure black- even at the roots, and since she can't use magic, she doesn't have any kind of color-changing dweomer on her.

>?

>>647255
"Considering that he messed around with magic he shouldn't have, and infused himself with frost wolf essence, I kind of doubt that."

>>647255
I like how you call me a "bitch" then proceed to idolize my ancestor. By the way the name's Jasmine Krital.

>>647255
>No you ain't, you don't have white hair.
>Let her come to the conclusion that we're awesome herself.

>>647255
Groans have been induced. Some people really should be given a vasectomy.

>>647255
>Sure, crude. If you think that working, modernized hermetic magic is crude
Bitch I'll have you know I modernized all Hermetic magic with a single rune in one sitting while your people were banging their heads again the wall for the last eon.

So we need some of our own blood sans the Frost Wolf. Maybe that thaumataurgy would work?

>>647328
We could try.

>>647328
We might not even need to remove the frost wolf. We haven't tried to get in yet, aside from the teleport. It might open if we just walk right up to it.

>>647308
But then he wouldn't have had us!

>Go and see if the tower unlocks for us. Who knows, we might be close enough to the right bloodline.

>Tell the Witch that her life and cores are forfeit if she doesn't tell us everything. This woman is not used to having bad things happen to her. We might want to change that.

We might want to indulge her in her delusion that Lily paid us. Something along the lines of 'You were so easy, Lily always hated you, blah blah blah?'

>>647255
Well. If that's the case, I'll be able to get into your tower just fine. I doubt it, though, considering you don't have white hair.

>>647360
There is a chance Krital locked himself out of his house by accident with the frost wolf DNA.

>>647390
>>647360
>>647306
>>647328
Hmm. This actually raises a good point, one we may have to go back into the archives to investigate. At what point in his experimentations did Krital do the frost wolf thing?

>>647327
...don't fucking say this out loud.

>>647287
>>647327
Neither of this is a good idea, I think.

I say we

>look if the tower unlocks for us.
Be sure not to do this in her sight!

Then we should hurry up with taking away her cores.

>>647408
After a quick check: he did it after quite a few dimension hops. Definitely after he'd been to Shamash at least once.

>>647413
I kind of want to rub our ridiculous achievement in her face. She always going off about how primitive we are I just want to show her how much of a scrub she is.

>>647255
"Oh great, my extended family is made up of megalomaniacal nutjobs. And how the hell did Krital end up as a King? No, wait, I bet he made a joke on some world and they took him literally because they had no idea he was a complete dumbass."

>>647373
But her life and cores are forfeit no matter what. She's too dangerous to leave alive.

>>647462
Hm. Tell her about the awesome stuff made on our own dimension.

>>647471
>7471 ▶
>>>647373 (You)
>But her life and cores are forfeit no matter what. She's too dangerous to leave alive.
She is also the family of the most powerful mage ever known.

>>647463
Krital was always going on about how he was the greatest archmage to live and all that. All it would take would be for him to say that, introduce some decent magic and bam. Infinite King time.

>>647479
So? He'll want to kill us no matter what. We should take away as many of his resources as we can.

>>647472
The hermetic thing is the only thing that could impress her even if limited to "I modernized all hermetic magic in one sitting" which is actually pretty terrifying.

>>647504
Or the Shapeshifter who can make an army of monsters? Or the Golem Mage? How about the guy who reinvented Mithril? The guy who turns garbage into mana?

>>647488
Yep. I want to destroy her perception of Krital by revealing him as a dork who couldn't keep it in his pants.

>>647525
I want more Krytal stories! Gib more, Exabutt!

>>647515
>Or the Golem Mage? How about the guy who reinvented Mithril?
Not going to impress her that much.
>Or the Shapeshifter who can make an army of monsters?
Not going impress that much unless she sees what said shapeshifter is capable of. Remember they consider monsters weak.
>The guy who turns garbage into mana?
This would get her interest but they have other ways of getting mana.

>>647545
>Not going impress that much unless she sees what said shapeshifter is capable of. Remember they consider monsters weak.
They consider monsters contemptible and dangerous, seeing as how she reacts to their mention, and as how they exterminated theirs.

Also, I notice Rikar didn't refute her claim that they fuck monsters....

"Considering he messed around with magic he shouldn't have, and infused himself with frost wolf essence, I kind of doubt that." You say. "You don't have white hair."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"How the hell did Krital end up as a King? No, wait, I bet he made a joke on some world and they took him literally because they had no idea he was a complete dumbass."

"He was NOT a dumbass! Take that back." She snarls. "He was smarter and stronger than any other archmage in his world or others. You can't build the Infinite City on accident. What the hell are you saying?"

... For a moment, you can't help but imagine someone else making fun of your ancestor.

You'd probably react the same way. Your gut clenches tightly.

"Your life and cores are forfeit if you don't tell us everything." You say. "Neloch here knows a magical technique to literally tear spiritual cores out of you and implant them into others. We could all use a bit of a boost from it. So either you answer our questions, or, well, there won't be enough of you left to answer anything."

She gives you a flat, even look- and then Neloch does something, and she hisses, wincing from whatever he'd done.

"G-go ahead. Ask." She says.

"You guys can keep at it, I'll go get the Tower open." You say, realizing something. You're not sure how the tower's seal works, but if they're apparently related to your ancestor somehow, and the tower is based on bloodline, it might open for you.

"Good luck." Rikar says, and turns to her. "Now. Tell us about the magic your people uses."

You walk over to the central black tower, and find a few soldiers standing near the entrance. The doors are shut tight, without a visible lock- only a heavy black stone ring set into the door.

"Lady Angwaz." One of the soldiers say. "It's, er, not safe. If you try to enter, it... throws you out. Rather painfully."

"I'll still make an attempt." You say.

Before you can touch it the doors, magic wraps around you- and the two doors begin to slowly creeeeeak open, and the soldiers stand next to you, weapons ready, as they do.

The inside of the tower is much smaller than the outside. There are a few heavy hatches set into the walls, but when you pry them open you only see long, orichalium cables bundled together, and strange ebonstone structures. Here and there, you see a few gleaming violet glyphs you don't recognize. When you examine the orichalium, you notice- it's strangely discolored, and splotchy in places. You examine it closely, and come to a conclusion- It's not pure. However they made it, the orichalium isn't as pure as Kristoph's work.

The first room you come across is obviously a bedroom. Mostly because it has a bed. Garish paintings sit on the walls- one of a city at night, stretching on forever. Another of a black-haired, handsome man... One who reminds you of your father. But he looks calm, almost apathetic, and his eyes are as black as night.

>Continued!

>>647566
Go take something out of the tower, show the Witch.

>>647566
Alright so this is probably an alternate version of Krital. Infused himself with something black instead of white.

>>647587
Or it could be him before the Frost wolf DNA.

>>647587
Nah, he's probably our emo uncle.

>>647587
I'm fairly certain you are on the wrong track

>>647592
Sham ash remembers him as white haired. Thus the kingdom would have to be made before shamash. Therefore we would have read about it in his journals.

>>647624
Are you sure about that? We don't actually know when he got the white hair or when founded the kingdom so we can't really make assumptions like that.

>>647653
He got the white her from messing around with teleportation wards. That has already happened in the part of the journals Jasmine has.

>>647566
You pull open dresser drawers, shoving aside anything that isn't relevant- clothes, belongings, a painting set... and a leatherbound diary. After a moment trying to open a portal to your pocket dimension and failing, you sling it into a soldiers' arms for later perusal, and move on.

Another room is food storage, quite obviously. You find rations, fruits, and snacks kept in cabinets, and an open, cleared space for cooking. No appliances, though there are a few glyphs carved into the cabinets themselves- all rough, carved runic ones, the runes filled in with more impure orichalium. Almost like analytical magic was supposed to be, before Archmage Haron invented spellcrystals. They're simple runes, for keeping food from spoiling.

The third room... It's a tangled mess of orichalium cables, and according to your judgement, in the very center of the tower. More analytical runes cover the floor, and a large, triangular prism of white crystal sits in the center. You carefully peer in at it- and small, minute sparks of magic float in the center. The analytical runes here are a lot more obvious than the ones in the kitchen- they're pulling magic from the cables, and pouring them into the crystal at the center. You snap pictures for later use, and keep exploring.

Finally, you find a room full of useful things.

Spread across one table is a blueprint for the tower and the outer pattern, with diagrams of where 'ebonstone' is supposed to be 'conjured' and places for orichalium cables to be lay. Runes which should be placed at certain locations, and scrawled in the margins is a long, complicated procedure to activate the pattern when complete. You snap a photo of it, too, and then wrap it up.

There's a Gate along one wall. It's not made out of mithril, but more 'ebonstone' and impure orichalium. There are way too many runes on it, though, and ones you've never seen- dozens of them, in a distorted combination of analytical and modernized hermeticism. There's a crystal on a podium next to it, made out of the same white crystal. You don't quite understand it at first sight, so you snap a photo of it and make sure you don't miss anything.

A corner of it is a library, flooded with books that your Gift of Tongues spell doesn't even need to work at... Because it's your native tongue. But none of them are anything you've ever heard of. A book on sorcery. The Birth of Infinity City. Several hefty, complicated tomes on astral magic. Another one on demonic magic- Creation of artificial cores. The Life and Death of Krital Angwaz. That book you immediately grab and flip it open to a random page.

>Archmage Yule, through her pride and ignorance, had hidden her magic from the world. Our lord wished to learn this magic, for the future of the world, so through the procedure he designed and perfected, with the use of Ebonstone, he tore her soul from her body- and eventually, tore the knowledge of biomancy from her soul. Yule was no more.

>?

>>647653
>>647624
He made the Frost Wolf mistake well after his first visit to Shamash. Keep in mind, he kept coming /back/ to Shamash right up until he discovered the rune for Helios, and could get back home (and possibly for some time after).

>>647666
This might be a false history, created by the "second traveler" or possibly the "third traveler" to make their own rule seem more legitimate and impressive.

>>647666
Start carrying some of the stuff outside for later perusal.

Taunt Hellebore some more.

>>647683
Fabricated out of Krital's actual recollections, that is.

>>647666
>A book on sorcery. The Birth of Infinity City. Several hefty, complicated tomes on astral magic. Another one on demonic magic- Creation of artificial cores.
Take all the books.

>>647666
>Archmage Yule, through her pride and ignorance, had hidden her magic from the world. Our lord wished to learn this magic, for the future of the world, so through the procedure he designed and perfected, with the use of Ebonstone, he tore her soul from her body- and eventually, tore the knowledge of biomancy from her soul. Yule was no more.

Oh boy.

>>647666
>>Archmage Yule, through her pride and ignorance, had hidden her magic from the world. Our lord wished to learn this magic, for the future of the world, so through the procedure he designed and perfected, with the use of Ebonstone, he tore her soul from her body- and eventually, tore the knowledge of biomancy from her soul. Yule was no more.

...okay, so...either this is wholesale propoganda - possible - or an alternate Krital. Because we talked to Yule less than a week ago.

I'm thinking we should go back to where Hellebore is being questioned - with the book - and find out what she knows about it. Also maybe ask if she's seen Krital's actual journals.

>>647683
Honestly, I would bet it falls under "truth falls into legend" category. It's been long enough that what actually happened is lost, and this is a scholarly work based on a retelling of a retelling of a retelling.

>"He was NOT a dumbass! Take that back." She snarls. "He was smarter and stronger than any other archmage in his world or others. You can't build the Infinite City on accident. What the hell are you saying?"
Okay, no, he wasn't a dumbass. He was, however, a complete goofball with very little in the way of a verbal filter or apparently impulse control, which got him into a hell of a lot of trouble.

>>647666
>Go shock the hell out of the Witch with something from the tower.

Seems Hermetic magic can be forced to work with more Orichalcium.

>>647666
We definitely need to read the rest of this stuff. Assuming this isn't made up (who would keep false tomes in their impregnable tower?), it either refers to the people we are familiar with, in which case there's a lot we thought we knew that will need to be re-evaluated. Or, it refers to people similar to those we are aware of, proving that there are dimensions quite a lot more like ours than we have seen so far (and horribly different). In this case, Helle really is AU us (or our sister?), I wonder what might we have in common.

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>>647722
>...okay, so...either this is wholesale propoganda - possible - or an alternate Krital. Because we talked to Yule less than a week ago.
Or maybe Yule lacks a soul...

>With her arte, and through his own genius, he invented the first Servitors- creating an army out of them from the tyrants of old, from the Fungal Dragon and Broodmother that made their homes in our world, and set them to eradicate all living entities, except for humanity. From then on, we've relied on Servitors for food, water, and work- though they've long-since been improved by Magi who specialize in biomancy...

You snort, and snap it shut. Probably faked- Yule's still alive and kicking, after all.

... Though you do find a dusty, unread book on biomancy, down in the bottom. Your throat gets dry, and you dump that book in the soldier's arms. Then you turn to him.

"I'm going to need all of these books moved out of the tower." You say. "Somewhere flat and clear."

"Yes, Lady Angwaz." He says, starting to load up all of the books.

You pour through the book as you walk out of the tower- it's cold and dry, telling the full tale of a Krital Angwaz you never heard of. Born in a small village at the bottom of Terra's Spine, practiced hermetic magic, stumbled on a recipe to transfer worlds. That's normal stuff from the journals, but instead of finding a new world and getting curious about catgirls, things change from what you know.

Instead he discovers the world of Nix. A world completely without humanity- just its remains. A world where monsters are everywhere, in constant war, and of such strength that they tore the world apart. He was stuck there until he discovered new magic- the ability to synthesize Ebonstone- in a hidden, ruined tower filled with more monsters. There's even a sample of Krital's journal...

But it's not the journal you read. Nothing written in the margins, everything is spelled right- it's almost like a completely different Krital Angwaz wrote it.

You take a deep breath and stomp back to Hellebore. Prince Rikar is interrogating her on how the Infinite City's economy works, and how many citizens are expected to learn to fight or serve in the military. Hellebore, for her part, is either ignorant of her own society or she's acting dumb- she's not able to answer a lot of his questions.

You throw the 'Birth and Death of Krital Angwaz' on top of her, and she tries to crane her head to look down at it.

"What is that?" She asks. You show her the cover.

"I broke into your tower." You say. "Wasn't hard."

Her eyes widen.

"What? No." She says. "H-how?"

>?
>I'll be stepping away for a bit, so posts will be a bit slower for a while. This is the end of this 'sitting', I suppose.

>>647785
"How have you not figured it out yet? Who do you think I am?

>>647785
>As I said, your magic is very crude.
Don’t tell her about being related to what is probably an alternative version of Angwaz. (With how similar dimensions have to be, of course there would be an alternative Angwaz!)

>I’ll get this information back to my the Archmages of my homeworld and the next time we meet anyone from you group they are in for a nasty surprise.

So, a true mirror world where one difference in personality spawns a terror and the other a pervert.

>>647785
"I did say that your magic was crude, right?"

>>647824
Personality and circumstance it seems. Life and death struggle verse monsters stronger then at home and being stuck there probably hardened him.

>>647822
It's actually pretty easy to figure out considering we showed her we couldn't teleport a rock there but we could teleport there personally. If she can't figure it out then she's stupid.

>>647785
Christ, the Alternate!Kritalfag was right. I'm shocked!

Hopefully t here isn't too many of Krital running around. Before this one seemed to be too many.

>>647854
We didn't teleport there, though? We just opened the door.

>>647880
Our Krital is best Krital.

I don't see the point of telling the Witch much. Probably better to leave her with as much tension as possible.

Can't we study the runes of her giant portal to figure out where it came from?

Her home rune is probably tied into that ebonstone gateway.

>>647666
>Another one on demonic magic- Creation of artificial cores
We should use this to make a counterspell core.

I wonder when we are going to techland?

>>647785
Your magic is crude, like I said. Nothing like my ancestor's, for all his mania his was elegant and complete.

>>647785
If this account is accurate then I'm the descendant of a Kritak from an alternate reality. Mine found cat girls instead of nix.

>>647785
Don't tell her the truth. Just tell her how inferior her magic is.

Also call her "Charcoal" or "Cinder" or "Ashling". Something dark and flittery.

We should also carve off some of that impure orichalium and Ebonstone and send it back to Kristoph. And send a bill for finding it too.

>>648404
At the rate we're going we might as well ask archmages if we can use their arts in exchange for any advancements we find.

>>648404
Probably shouldn't. Don't want to risk collapsing the tower's anchor while we're inside it.

>>648443
I'd rather collapse it than leave it standing. And we can't do that from outside anyway.

>>648573
The tower itself is fine. It's the Gate that worries me.

>>648739
What Gate? Gate's closed.

>>648844
The inactive Gate built into Hellebore's Tower.

>>647785
So I think we should peruse the books and shit in the library to look for stuff on: teleport targets, what forces etc are stationed at each of them, capabilities of the enemy in terms of how good they are at flesh casting and hermetic magic and if they have anything equivalent to analytic magic. If we can't find any of that stuff we should torture evil cousin Helen for it if we can.
Then give her to the Prince for execution and carve any shinies out of her soul if we can.
Then we need to update the archmages on the new threat details, especially Yule. Maybe put a good word in for that shaman lady that list a wing helping find this information out so she gets a discount.

>>649381
Were you following the last few posts? They have all of the archmage's magic available to them, with the exception of our star rune bullshit, at a lower level of quality.

>>649502
I don't think that they have matter creation and annihilation though.

>>649640
Yeah, neither do they have Haron's magic circuits. I'd say our respective magic systems have diverted around the time of Yule's death. I wouldn't expect them to necessarily have any of our modern systems.

Tangentially, I really want us to learn Yule's biomancy. Just for fun. Immortal Jas. It makes me wonder how the other Krital died since he had biomancy anyway.

>>649640
Possibly but we have no confirmation so we should assume. Maybe it is at a level that it's not as useful as it is in ours.
>>649381
Also we told her we wouldn't kill her as long she answered our questions. Are you intending to go back on your word?

>>649875
We told the Prince he could off her. Are you intending to go back on your word?

>>649875
>Are you intending to go back on your word?
Yup. Since we already said we were going to kill her, I guess someone forgot.

>>629726
>"Study all you like, but Rikar's going to wake, interrogate, and execute her pretty soon. I'm not pulling any favors to stop him."

The only value in keeping her alive is "diplomacy" and I doubt here daddy is the type to yield to threats of his family.

>>649875
Acually we told her that her life was forfiet if she didn't answer questions. What we never said is that her life is forfiet even if she does answer them.

>>649988
So it we are going back on our word either way. It seems we are dishonest deal maker though it doesn't sit right with me to kill off someone we're related to, even if only due to a technicality, like this.

>>650049
Everyone knows how important it is to kill any parallel versions of yourself, didn't you ever see that Jet Li movie?

>>650104
The question is: which one of us gets to wear the dashing goatee?

The only thing left now is to be a smug fuck.

>>650049
>doesn't sit right with me to kill off someone we're related to
Isn't the more relevant point that she is an evil world eating bitch?

>>650184
Plus, we're not related to her. She's like an evil alternate version of our selves more like.

>>650184
Evil right now is only a matter of perspective then again you don't seem interested in telling her who we are which is what I really want do because it will lead to some interest results or get know her and the reason she's doing this it's obviously not because for a stupid reason like "hurr I'm evil" or some shit so it probably has to do with the fact they blew up their world in a war and their people could possibly die out unless they go harvesting cores. though if diplomacy doesn't work I be more than to help on the whole kill her thing.
>>650104
I never liked that use of parallel universe twin trope. Always thought the whole evil twin thing to be as contrived as fuck.

>>650388
They are going round killing whole world for power. Killing all life and enslaving people's soul parts. There is no perspective where that is justifiable.

>>650634
The entire multiverse is collapsing, and only by eating a few of the shittiest realities can enough energy be gathered to save the rest. Is almost certainly not what's going on here.

>>650388
Just for funnsies I have marked all posts by your ID and read them. You really have poor reading comprehension, please make sure to read the updates more carefully in the future.

Also, I disagree with pretty much all you posts, but that’s beside the point.

"Like I said before, your magic is crude... Charcoal." You say, voice smug. You come up with a shitty reason for it, and... "Just needed some of your hair."

Her eyes widen, and then she clams up entirely. Glaring at you.

"I've gotten the tower open, Prince Rikar." You say. "Though there are some things I'd like to study after we take care of this."

"Then the tower is yours." He says, nodding to you. "Do you have any other questions you'd like to ask her?"

"...Well, while I'm sure I can tear the answers to her home world's coordinates from a structure I found inside, I'd like to know." You turn to her. "Where can I find this 'Morrigan' world?"

"You can't." She responds. "You can't tear any kind of answer out of the Gate. It doesn't work like that."

"Then how does it work?" You ask, raising your chin.

"Why would I tell you that?"

"It would be less painful for you." Neloch says- and clenches his fist. You feel his soul lash out- and Hellebore shudders. "And she's going to find out anyway."

For a moment, you look at Neloch. He looks... angry. Angrier than you thought he'd still be, now that the witch is captured and her plan is stopped.

"... L-location glyph." She stutters out. "There's a voidgem panel on the gate. You draw the glyph you want to use. Then you go there."

So they use glyphs the same way you do.

"What is this voidgem? Is it related to your 'ebonstone'?"

She nods twice. "Sy-synthesized, like Ebonstone. Takes a significant amount of mana. Stores it. There's a book in the tower that explains how it works."

"And Morrigan?" You ask. "What's the glyph for that?"

She shakes her head. "I'm not giving you that. No matter what. Even if you kill me."

Neloch tilts his head, slightly. You pull out your notes on the huge rift from before, eying the glyphs- but none of them look like a location rune. Must have been on the other side, aiming here. Not useful.

"My lady." One of the soldiers say, speaking to you in a low voice. "We've moved all of the books outside of the tower."

"Thank you." You say.

>?

>>650957
Well, Let's send all those books to our pocket dimension. Make sure they're safe.

Don't think we'll be getting anything else out of her.

Should we convene with the Prince and share what we've learned? Alternate Krital and stuff?

>>650957
I kinda want to tell her that we're a descendant of an alternate Krital.

>>650957
Gah, torturing her, even through soul-magic, is unsettling me. We can probably get more out of her books, if she's telling the truth, anyway.

Let's leave her to Rikar for judgement.


Try messing the the void gem. Draw our homeworld's rune on it, and see where it comes out. Also cast one of our portals there and see where that one comes out, to check if they're the same place. Maybe the location of her invasion is a place of importance in their world, and we can keep track of it.

See if we can find any non-important voidgems that aren't critical to something and take them home, and if there aren't, then take our analysis tools to one of them. The reasons I suggest this is that if they're storing large amounts of mana they might be volatile.

>>650957
>ask Nel if he's enjoying this? If he is "ok, that's pretty creepy. Are you a sadist?" And if not. "Hey, I found some Bock's on the magic your using, wanna read them together some time?" Date? Date.

>Where is Cera?

>>650957
Ask Rikar how he plans on executing her because if he could use Nel as an executioner we could get some neato upgrades.

Mostly supporting >>650998 except for using the void germs to go home in case there is some multi-dimensional resonance shenanigans which will let them know where home is. Maybe open one to some other world or a pocket dimension.

>>651136
Our pocket dimension is actually a place in the sewer we dug out and made a little storage and home out of. XD

>>651147
That was the old one. We upgraded to a particular variant of Nowhere, keyed in to our own mana. It's supported with iron bars, somehow. Pretty neat all up.

I do wonder if we could steal some of her mana and use it as a key to find her Nowhere, but I don't know if that's something we can do.

>>651133
how about we not ask that?

>>651147
We have an actual pocket dimension now. We expanded the inside of a one-way portal.

>>651159
>>651157
Shit son. Must have been one of the updates I missed.

>>650957
I don't think we should let Rikar execute her as it is now, that may royally piss off her master.

>>651186
He wants to eat our world anyways.

Plus, he's most likely to rescue her via excessive force anyways and sending her home won't help anything either. Keeping her alive has absolutely no value.

>>651186
>>651201
Keeping her alive and killing her are going to be equally risky and could have the same consequences.

Also>>651159
Why shouldn't we?

>>651147
>Actually, you've since figured out a way to create a 'true' pocket dimension, carved out of an open portal to Nothingness, and you use that as your pocket dimension. It requires a particular gadget, and only opens to your pocket dimension if you use solely your own mana (for reasons you don't quite understand yet), but you'll figure out a way to make it more usable eventually. Right now you just kinda have to shove your entire arm into the portal and flail around until you feel what you're looking for.
>>651157
>The edges of a reality, surprisingly enough, are rubbery. You were barely able to push it far enough to set up a cube 'frame' of iron bars so that you have a nice square structure. Apparently the edges are more malleable if there's a larger- and thus stronger- portal connected to it.

>>651211
Asking someone if they're enjoying torturing someone in the middle of an interrogation that involves torture?

We can talk about his excessive anger later. Now isn't a good time.

>>651133
I would give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he is really angry at her for doing nasty things.

>>651201
I agree with this anon. They have to find worlds to eat, they already know where this one is so I assume they are going to come here eventually whatever the case.

>>651260
>>651239
Fair enough.

>>650957
>?
I’d say we get to removing her cores as quickly as possible.

When turning our not-yet familiar into a loyal pet Jaz bolstered its loyalty core with material from the other cores. Would it be feasible to break down some of her cores for material to bolster our, or our familiar’s cores?

Or to bolster the cores of some of the soldiers’ familiars?

>>650793
My poor reading is mostly due having speed read the entire thread before participating, since I usually can't, and going through 400 posts in one sitting on a small screen causes my memory to be a little spotty. Funnily enough nobody else wanted to ask about Krital.

>>650957
>There's a book in the tower that explains how it works.

We should offer to sell Kristoph the information from this book in exchange for some number of favors. I bet he'd like to know how to make a void gem and what such a thing is.