If it'll clinch it, then I'll flop to the abduction. Goes well with us being an evil-doer, right? Can we grow a mustache we can twirl?
-
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Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
lightbane
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2008
- Messages
- 10,197
That was fast. But then again there's not much to discuss here in this update. Too bad checking the Adventurer's Guild is not an option. Or perhaps treave wishes to finish this chapter before the year ends.
Assuming all goes well, I bet the regeneration of her eyes will take long enough that we'll have the machine unavailable just when the Expedition arrives.
Assuming all goes well, I bet the regeneration of her eyes will take long enough that we'll have the machine unavailable just when the Expedition arrives.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
I am more apprehensive of the possibility that her eyes are affected by something unnatural and that we are signing up for something that we have no idea if we can do or if it would bring the desired result... but then again, it goes well with Erdrick's usual overconfident dismissal of petty concerns.
lightbane
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2008
- Messages
- 10,197
Dammit, I wasn't able to catch it in time. Hopefully everything went according to the plan. If worst comes to worst, we can always return the daughter and pretend that nothing happened. Although I would prefer to use her as a test subject for magnetite-powered cybereyes.
Perhaps we finally manage to develop eye lasers' technology this way.
Perhaps we finally manage to develop eye lasers' technology this way.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Eyes of the Blind
The door to Ellen Hastwell’s room is locked, but that is not a serious obstacle for you. A quick application of Unlock suffices: with a small, almost inaudible click, the lock undoes itself. Placing your hand on the door, you pause. If the door is locked it is possible that the young mistress of the house is not in at the moment. That would be unfortunate. On the other hand, if she happens to be absent, it is also a good opportunity for you to go digging around the room, so that is good fortune in itself. You nod to yourself – it’s a win-win, then, and thus absolutely a course of action you should take. You gently push the door open, taking care to make as little noise as possible.
“W-Who’s there? Is that you, Nan?”
This is good. It seems that you got lucky. The golden-haired, innocent daughter of Governor Ambrese – thankfully so unlike her father in matters of physical form – clutches her dress closer to her bosom in surprise, wearing nothing but a pair of lacy thigh-high stockings almost as white as her pale skin. How does she dress herself if she can’t see? You wonder about that as you take in the breathtaking sight before you.
You wait for a while in silence as the blind girl cranes her head left and right in confusion. Nothing. Nothing happens. No familiar stirring of the loins. With a slight sigh of disappointment that causes Ellen to shrink back, you step into the room and close the door behind you. You hear Lucy settling down outside the door, the white cow still shrouded in your spell of invisibility.
“Who is it?” asks the girl again. She is shuffling back towards her desk, cautious and wary. The dress is held tightly in front of her as if it could offer her protection from the unknown intruder currently lurking in her quarters. It also happens to cover most of her from your view, leaving behind only tantalizing glimpses of bare curves that only inflame your imagination further… but only your imagination, sadly. “I shall scream if you do not leave this room.”
“Please do not scream,” you say gently, attempting to be as comforting and non-menacing as you could possibly manage. “I merely got lost in your father’s mansion, my lady.”
“Lost? But the door to my room was locked.”
“Was it? I did not notice. The lock may have been faulty,” you say smoothly. “Perhaps you should have a locksmith take a look at the door. It would not do for any sort of riff-raff to come across your room while you might be in a vulnerable position.” Of course, since you are not just any sort of riff-raff, you do not include yourself in that warning.
“Yes, I will, but please, sir, you might not have noticed but I am changing at the moment. If you would kindly excuse yourself… wait, that voice.” Her expression changes as she brings up a memory. “You are… I have met you before, haven’t I?”
“You have an excellent ear, Lady Ellen. Yes, we bumped into each other on the stairs some weeks ago.” You peer at her desk – there are some papers on it. Letters, it seems, addressed to some rather familiar names. Faislin, Leila, Wisteria. You consider leaving a letter behind to inform the Governor about what is going to happen, but realize that it would take too long for you to write something comprehensible in this world’s language. You can do that after returning to Grahferde.
“It is indeed a pleasure to meet you again,” replies the girl stiffly, “but that does not mean you have any right to be in here, sir… sir, are you doing something to my carpet?” Perplexed, Ellen tries to figure out what you are doing.
“I do not, you are right. And so we will be leaving fairly soon,” you say. While talking to her, you had taken some chalk from your robes and sketched a simple circle for mass teleportation.
“We?”
“Lucy,” you call out. The cow obediently pushes the door open and ambles into the room, though not without some difficulty and not without cracking the doorframe with her size. “Yes, we. Me. My cow. My slime-“
“Hello!” chimes Orange from beneath your cloak.
“-and you.”
Before she can react, you pull the slender girl into your arms. Despite her unwillingness she blushes heavily.
“Wait-“ The word has barely left her lips when you cast the spell and activate the circle.
***
“Oh, you’re back.” Zayan looks up from her workbench when you arrive carrying Ellen in your arms. “And with new loot, too… wait, isn’t that the daughter of Ontoglia’s governor?”
You nod. She laughs. “Amazing! You are certainly an interesting person, Erdrick Mercant. It seems that sticking with you is the right choice. Things are never boring with you in charge.”
“Wh-Where am I?” asks Ellen, disoriented. “Where did you bring me? Put me down now!” You abide by her wishes, placing the half-naked governor’s daughter on the ground. She yelps and shivers involuntarily when her bare feet touch the cold ground of Zayan’s laboratory. Frowning, Ellen hugs her dress even closer and asks, “Is this a kidnapping? Are you going to ask my father for ransom?”
“Not exactly,” you say. “I brought you here to treat your eyes.”
“My… eyes? You lie. No one can heal my sight,” declares Ellen boldly. “Even the High Priest, wielding divine favour, could not cure my blindness.”
“Divine favour,” you snort dismissively. “Don’t rely on those. Trust me, it’s a blessing in disguise that you failed to receive any of their so-called favours. I… no, we have something better. Don’t we, Zayan?”
“Zayan?” At the mention of her name, Ellen gasps.
“Oh, indeed we do,” says Zayan cheerfully. “I’ll need to calibrate the pod, but this is a challenge I’m eager to take.
“Why are you here? I thought – have you been abducted too?“
“Of course not! I came willingly, it’s more interesting that way. Now, let me take a look…”
Somehow, Ellen seems slightly more comforted by Zayan’s presence. She settles down, allowing Zayan to inspect her eyes. It takes a while, but the brainy madwoman finally turns to you and reports her results.
“It does not appear to be magical in origin. There are malformations in the optic nerves that date back to pre-natal development, and-“
“In… lesser words, Zayan?” you remind her.
“Ah, basically she was blind since she was in her mother’s womb through what I can only surmise to be natural causes. It happens at times.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Well, you’re in luck. Normally we would need to remove her eyes for it to grow back the right way, but I have been tweaking the regeneration pod just now. Interrogating that prisoner Rinnefiela brought back has been proved to be very useful in improving its function, especially since you gave me a free hand to do whatever I want, unlike those stodgy old idiots back in Dijeh-“
“So you can fix it, Zayan?” you interrupt her gently.
“Of course! Who do you think I am?” she grins. “Just put her in the pod, the matter will take care of itself.”
***
With a little convincing, Ellen goes into the regeneration pod. It is a circular tube large enough to house a single occupant, and at its base are two spheres – tanks that contain vital fluids that – according to Zayan – have high magical conductivity and are essential for the pod’s arcane workings. Once Ellen is comfortable inside the chamber, the spheres begin to vibrate and pump the fluid into the tube. No matter how many times you see it in action, the entire apparatus feels quite phallic to you. You chalk it up to the stress of your untreated condition and turn away, a gloom haunting your heart.
“How long will it take?” you ask.
Zayan shrugs. “For repairing the nerves? Half a day should suffice. Regrowing the eyes from scratch would take considerably longer. Oh, by the way…” She holds up a dangling thing to your face. “I got this from our prisoner. A transplant from him might be just the thing you need to cure your condition.”
“Shocking Touch.”
“Ouch!” Zayan shouts and drops the floppy thing. Before it can roll anywhere, you cast a Thunderbolt and incinerate the offending meat. In a flash, nothing is left of it but black ashes and foul smoke.
“Even if you didn’t like the idea, you didn’t have to destroy the specimen,” complains Zayan. “Oh, no matter. Once the lady is done I’ll drop him in for regrowth. I don’t get much access to human penile samples out here in the woods, Erdrick. At least understand the difficulty I am going through.” The pouting, mad half-elf glares at you before stomping off.
As you glance at Ellen, her blonde locks floating in the cloudy liquid, you wonder if you should send a message to the Governor.
***
A. You send a threatening message telling him to prepare the magnatite that you want if he ever wants to see his daughter again. It will be a pleasant surprise to him when – if – his daughter is returned with her eyes intact. That will give you more leverage in negotiations.
B. You send a business-like message informing him that you have taken his daughter for treatment and that you would be seeking payment for services rendered. There is no reason you cannot be professional about this.
C. You send an appeasing message to let the Governor know that you are taking responsibility for his daughter and will return her as soon as she is well, with no payment necessary. You are sure the goodwill generated will translate into magnatite for you anyway.
D. You don’t send a message at all, finding it unnecessary and a pain. What will be will be.
***
When the regeneration is done, you stand by the pod with Zayan. The liquid begins draining from the chamber, sucked away into a small pipe at the top of the tube. As the chamber opens up, a naked Ellen tumbles out, her skin slick and wet from the regenerative liquid. You quickly move to catch her, swaddling her in a large blanket. Underneath her closed eyelids you can see movement. She murmurs something that you cannot catch before finally opening her eyes.
Her irises are a beautiful emerald green, sparkling where they catch the light. She looks up at you, and then at the ceiling. You try smiling at her. “Can you see now?” you ask.
Her eyes open wide. Her pupils constrict suddenly. She opens her mouth, and she screams, flinging herself away from you. The scream is shrill, raw and hoarse, taken without breath. Surely you aren’t that ugly? As you move closer to try and calm her down, you begin to notice words forming in her shrieks.
“What is this this is what I see this is sight is this sight no no no what are these things crawling out of darkness out of mind in the depths of the desert behind the masks of the fox in the labyrinth they lurk-“
Half-formed nonsensical babbling pours from Ellen’s lips as her newly repaired eyes dart left and right, staring all around, and an unsettling feeling nestles in your chest as you begin to get the impression that she is not seeing you, or indeed anything, in this room… that she is somehow seeing through you and everything else. That feeling chills you to the bone, weighing down your mind and limbs. Zayan’s laboratory seems to spin under your feet, the world before your eyes flickering, almost as if Ellen’s strange babbling, her comprehensible words strung together into incomprehensible sentences, was a magical chant effecting your reality.
But this is not any sort of magic that you know of; there is not even the slightest sign of mana manipulation that would indicate the casting of a spell.
Ellen claws at her face, continuing to scream. Her fingernails bite deeply into the flesh of her cheeks. Blood begins to well up from those wounds. “-hands so many hands the white spheres they are reaching for us I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t-“ Tearing her hands away, this time she brings her fingers up to her eyeballs.
She stops. Her eyes slide shut and she falls to the floor, breathing lightly. You lower your hand. Once you had finally managed to act, the Sleep spell had taken effect instantaneously. Crouching over Ellen, you examine the bloody furrows she had ripped in her own face. They were relatively light, all things considered – certainly you have seen worse wounds in your travels – and you could heal them easily. You do so, casting Minor Healing and watching as the tears knit back together and mend in a matter of seconds. Quietly, you wipe the remaining bloodstains away from her peaceful, sleeping face.
“So, Zayan, what was that?” you ask.
Zayan is sprawled on her chair, a slight tremble in her shoulders. For once, she seems uncharacteristically shaken. “I must admit, I am not entirely sure. Her sight, if we can call it that… it has certainly been repaired. But perhaps that is what it was in the first place? I… I will need to investigate matters further.”
“Is it possible to return her eyes to the way they were?”
She shakes her head. “No. Wait. No. H-Hold on. I’ll need to check.” Walking over to Ellen, she stretches the eyelids of the sleeping girl open and begins her examination. “The regeneration went well but her nerves are now aberrant in other ways,” concludes Zayan after a while. “It could be natural, something she was born with. Or it could be the regeneration pod messing up, I won't rule that out. We could try removing her eyes entirely and having the pod rebuild them from scratch. That is one way of approaching this issue, and if we control the regeneration process, nudging it the way we want it to throughout the treatment, it should work well. We could also try transplanting new eyes from another subject. As luck would have it, we have an unwilling one in the next room.”
“If the issue is with what she sees, is it possible to modify an illusion spell to alter her vision towards normality?” you muse.
“Hm.” Zayan taps her glasses thoughtfully. “That is possible. But it would take some trial and error to perfect and that could be traumatizing for the girl in the process. Of course, we can also work on a memory spell at the same time to wipe those recollections from her mind. Anyway, regardless of what we do, any treatment would take at least a week or two to complete. I would also need your assistance with this, Erdrick. You brought her back after all.”
***
You decide to go with:
A. Removing Ellen’s eyes and allowing the regeneration pod to grow new ones from scratch.
B. Transplanting the eyes of that male, which is a great shame to do. Like placing a small drop of shit in the middle of a gorgeous painting.
C. Developing an illusionary spell to twist her abnormal sight into something normal, or at least approximating it.
D. Sending Ellen back to her father. It's time to move on: trying to solve her issues is too much of a hassle. You didn’t ask for this.
1. You remove her eyes permanently before you send her back. You’ll grant her that peace of mind at least. It's no big loss, she couldn’t see before this anyway.
2. You leave her eyes as they are. They are the governor’s problem now. Maybe he should have given you what you wanted in the first place.
The door to Ellen Hastwell’s room is locked, but that is not a serious obstacle for you. A quick application of Unlock suffices: with a small, almost inaudible click, the lock undoes itself. Placing your hand on the door, you pause. If the door is locked it is possible that the young mistress of the house is not in at the moment. That would be unfortunate. On the other hand, if she happens to be absent, it is also a good opportunity for you to go digging around the room, so that is good fortune in itself. You nod to yourself – it’s a win-win, then, and thus absolutely a course of action you should take. You gently push the door open, taking care to make as little noise as possible.
“W-Who’s there? Is that you, Nan?”
This is good. It seems that you got lucky. The golden-haired, innocent daughter of Governor Ambrese – thankfully so unlike her father in matters of physical form – clutches her dress closer to her bosom in surprise, wearing nothing but a pair of lacy thigh-high stockings almost as white as her pale skin. How does she dress herself if she can’t see? You wonder about that as you take in the breathtaking sight before you.
You wait for a while in silence as the blind girl cranes her head left and right in confusion. Nothing. Nothing happens. No familiar stirring of the loins. With a slight sigh of disappointment that causes Ellen to shrink back, you step into the room and close the door behind you. You hear Lucy settling down outside the door, the white cow still shrouded in your spell of invisibility.
“Who is it?” asks the girl again. She is shuffling back towards her desk, cautious and wary. The dress is held tightly in front of her as if it could offer her protection from the unknown intruder currently lurking in her quarters. It also happens to cover most of her from your view, leaving behind only tantalizing glimpses of bare curves that only inflame your imagination further… but only your imagination, sadly. “I shall scream if you do not leave this room.”
“Please do not scream,” you say gently, attempting to be as comforting and non-menacing as you could possibly manage. “I merely got lost in your father’s mansion, my lady.”
“Lost? But the door to my room was locked.”
“Was it? I did not notice. The lock may have been faulty,” you say smoothly. “Perhaps you should have a locksmith take a look at the door. It would not do for any sort of riff-raff to come across your room while you might be in a vulnerable position.” Of course, since you are not just any sort of riff-raff, you do not include yourself in that warning.
“Yes, I will, but please, sir, you might not have noticed but I am changing at the moment. If you would kindly excuse yourself… wait, that voice.” Her expression changes as she brings up a memory. “You are… I have met you before, haven’t I?”
“You have an excellent ear, Lady Ellen. Yes, we bumped into each other on the stairs some weeks ago.” You peer at her desk – there are some papers on it. Letters, it seems, addressed to some rather familiar names. Faislin, Leila, Wisteria. You consider leaving a letter behind to inform the Governor about what is going to happen, but realize that it would take too long for you to write something comprehensible in this world’s language. You can do that after returning to Grahferde.
“It is indeed a pleasure to meet you again,” replies the girl stiffly, “but that does not mean you have any right to be in here, sir… sir, are you doing something to my carpet?” Perplexed, Ellen tries to figure out what you are doing.
“I do not, you are right. And so we will be leaving fairly soon,” you say. While talking to her, you had taken some chalk from your robes and sketched a simple circle for mass teleportation.
“We?”
“Lucy,” you call out. The cow obediently pushes the door open and ambles into the room, though not without some difficulty and not without cracking the doorframe with her size. “Yes, we. Me. My cow. My slime-“
“Hello!” chimes Orange from beneath your cloak.
“-and you.”
Before she can react, you pull the slender girl into your arms. Despite her unwillingness she blushes heavily.
“Wait-“ The word has barely left her lips when you cast the spell and activate the circle.
***
“Oh, you’re back.” Zayan looks up from her workbench when you arrive carrying Ellen in your arms. “And with new loot, too… wait, isn’t that the daughter of Ontoglia’s governor?”
You nod. She laughs. “Amazing! You are certainly an interesting person, Erdrick Mercant. It seems that sticking with you is the right choice. Things are never boring with you in charge.”
“Wh-Where am I?” asks Ellen, disoriented. “Where did you bring me? Put me down now!” You abide by her wishes, placing the half-naked governor’s daughter on the ground. She yelps and shivers involuntarily when her bare feet touch the cold ground of Zayan’s laboratory. Frowning, Ellen hugs her dress even closer and asks, “Is this a kidnapping? Are you going to ask my father for ransom?”
“Not exactly,” you say. “I brought you here to treat your eyes.”
“My… eyes? You lie. No one can heal my sight,” declares Ellen boldly. “Even the High Priest, wielding divine favour, could not cure my blindness.”
“Divine favour,” you snort dismissively. “Don’t rely on those. Trust me, it’s a blessing in disguise that you failed to receive any of their so-called favours. I… no, we have something better. Don’t we, Zayan?”
“Zayan?” At the mention of her name, Ellen gasps.
“Oh, indeed we do,” says Zayan cheerfully. “I’ll need to calibrate the pod, but this is a challenge I’m eager to take.
“Why are you here? I thought – have you been abducted too?“
“Of course not! I came willingly, it’s more interesting that way. Now, let me take a look…”
Somehow, Ellen seems slightly more comforted by Zayan’s presence. She settles down, allowing Zayan to inspect her eyes. It takes a while, but the brainy madwoman finally turns to you and reports her results.
“It does not appear to be magical in origin. There are malformations in the optic nerves that date back to pre-natal development, and-“
“In… lesser words, Zayan?” you remind her.
“Ah, basically she was blind since she was in her mother’s womb through what I can only surmise to be natural causes. It happens at times.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Well, you’re in luck. Normally we would need to remove her eyes for it to grow back the right way, but I have been tweaking the regeneration pod just now. Interrogating that prisoner Rinnefiela brought back has been proved to be very useful in improving its function, especially since you gave me a free hand to do whatever I want, unlike those stodgy old idiots back in Dijeh-“
“So you can fix it, Zayan?” you interrupt her gently.
“Of course! Who do you think I am?” she grins. “Just put her in the pod, the matter will take care of itself.”
***
With a little convincing, Ellen goes into the regeneration pod. It is a circular tube large enough to house a single occupant, and at its base are two spheres – tanks that contain vital fluids that – according to Zayan – have high magical conductivity and are essential for the pod’s arcane workings. Once Ellen is comfortable inside the chamber, the spheres begin to vibrate and pump the fluid into the tube. No matter how many times you see it in action, the entire apparatus feels quite phallic to you. You chalk it up to the stress of your untreated condition and turn away, a gloom haunting your heart.
“How long will it take?” you ask.
Zayan shrugs. “For repairing the nerves? Half a day should suffice. Regrowing the eyes from scratch would take considerably longer. Oh, by the way…” She holds up a dangling thing to your face. “I got this from our prisoner. A transplant from him might be just the thing you need to cure your condition.”
“Shocking Touch.”
“Ouch!” Zayan shouts and drops the floppy thing. Before it can roll anywhere, you cast a Thunderbolt and incinerate the offending meat. In a flash, nothing is left of it but black ashes and foul smoke.
“Even if you didn’t like the idea, you didn’t have to destroy the specimen,” complains Zayan. “Oh, no matter. Once the lady is done I’ll drop him in for regrowth. I don’t get much access to human penile samples out here in the woods, Erdrick. At least understand the difficulty I am going through.” The pouting, mad half-elf glares at you before stomping off.
As you glance at Ellen, her blonde locks floating in the cloudy liquid, you wonder if you should send a message to the Governor.
***
A. You send a threatening message telling him to prepare the magnatite that you want if he ever wants to see his daughter again. It will be a pleasant surprise to him when – if – his daughter is returned with her eyes intact. That will give you more leverage in negotiations.
B. You send a business-like message informing him that you have taken his daughter for treatment and that you would be seeking payment for services rendered. There is no reason you cannot be professional about this.
C. You send an appeasing message to let the Governor know that you are taking responsibility for his daughter and will return her as soon as she is well, with no payment necessary. You are sure the goodwill generated will translate into magnatite for you anyway.
D. You don’t send a message at all, finding it unnecessary and a pain. What will be will be.
***
When the regeneration is done, you stand by the pod with Zayan. The liquid begins draining from the chamber, sucked away into a small pipe at the top of the tube. As the chamber opens up, a naked Ellen tumbles out, her skin slick and wet from the regenerative liquid. You quickly move to catch her, swaddling her in a large blanket. Underneath her closed eyelids you can see movement. She murmurs something that you cannot catch before finally opening her eyes.
Her irises are a beautiful emerald green, sparkling where they catch the light. She looks up at you, and then at the ceiling. You try smiling at her. “Can you see now?” you ask.
Her eyes open wide. Her pupils constrict suddenly. She opens her mouth, and she screams, flinging herself away from you. The scream is shrill, raw and hoarse, taken without breath. Surely you aren’t that ugly? As you move closer to try and calm her down, you begin to notice words forming in her shrieks.
“What is this this is what I see this is sight is this sight no no no what are these things crawling out of darkness out of mind in the depths of the desert behind the masks of the fox in the labyrinth they lurk-“
Half-formed nonsensical babbling pours from Ellen’s lips as her newly repaired eyes dart left and right, staring all around, and an unsettling feeling nestles in your chest as you begin to get the impression that she is not seeing you, or indeed anything, in this room… that she is somehow seeing through you and everything else. That feeling chills you to the bone, weighing down your mind and limbs. Zayan’s laboratory seems to spin under your feet, the world before your eyes flickering, almost as if Ellen’s strange babbling, her comprehensible words strung together into incomprehensible sentences, was a magical chant effecting your reality.
But this is not any sort of magic that you know of; there is not even the slightest sign of mana manipulation that would indicate the casting of a spell.
Ellen claws at her face, continuing to scream. Her fingernails bite deeply into the flesh of her cheeks. Blood begins to well up from those wounds. “-hands so many hands the white spheres they are reaching for us I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t-“ Tearing her hands away, this time she brings her fingers up to her eyeballs.
She stops. Her eyes slide shut and she falls to the floor, breathing lightly. You lower your hand. Once you had finally managed to act, the Sleep spell had taken effect instantaneously. Crouching over Ellen, you examine the bloody furrows she had ripped in her own face. They were relatively light, all things considered – certainly you have seen worse wounds in your travels – and you could heal them easily. You do so, casting Minor Healing and watching as the tears knit back together and mend in a matter of seconds. Quietly, you wipe the remaining bloodstains away from her peaceful, sleeping face.
“So, Zayan, what was that?” you ask.
Zayan is sprawled on her chair, a slight tremble in her shoulders. For once, she seems uncharacteristically shaken. “I must admit, I am not entirely sure. Her sight, if we can call it that… it has certainly been repaired. But perhaps that is what it was in the first place? I… I will need to investigate matters further.”
“Is it possible to return her eyes to the way they were?”
She shakes her head. “No. Wait. No. H-Hold on. I’ll need to check.” Walking over to Ellen, she stretches the eyelids of the sleeping girl open and begins her examination. “The regeneration went well but her nerves are now aberrant in other ways,” concludes Zayan after a while. “It could be natural, something she was born with. Or it could be the regeneration pod messing up, I won't rule that out. We could try removing her eyes entirely and having the pod rebuild them from scratch. That is one way of approaching this issue, and if we control the regeneration process, nudging it the way we want it to throughout the treatment, it should work well. We could also try transplanting new eyes from another subject. As luck would have it, we have an unwilling one in the next room.”
“If the issue is with what she sees, is it possible to modify an illusion spell to alter her vision towards normality?” you muse.
“Hm.” Zayan taps her glasses thoughtfully. “That is possible. But it would take some trial and error to perfect and that could be traumatizing for the girl in the process. Of course, we can also work on a memory spell at the same time to wipe those recollections from her mind. Anyway, regardless of what we do, any treatment would take at least a week or two to complete. I would also need your assistance with this, Erdrick. You brought her back after all.”
***
You decide to go with:
A. Removing Ellen’s eyes and allowing the regeneration pod to grow new ones from scratch.
B. Transplanting the eyes of that male, which is a great shame to do. Like placing a small drop of shit in the middle of a gorgeous painting.
C. Developing an illusionary spell to twist her abnormal sight into something normal, or at least approximating it.
D. Sending Ellen back to her father. It's time to move on: trying to solve her issues is too much of a hassle. You didn’t ask for this.
1. You remove her eyes permanently before you send her back. You’ll grant her that peace of mind at least. It's no big loss, she couldn’t see before this anyway.
2. You leave her eyes as they are. They are the governor’s problem now. Maybe he should have given you what you wanted in the first place.
Last edited:
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
A business-like approach sounds best to me. The governor is quite pissed at us for involving his daughter and getting her kidnapped, so there will be no goodwill between us. On the other hand, there is no need to threaten him, he is already worried sick as it is, partly because she is with a crazy dude with murderous tendencies. His imagination can do our work better than our any words we might come up with.
Not leaving any messages whatsoever would be allowing his imagination run wild, and that's not very good. He'll be running to everyone he can reach and spilling everything he knows - without regard for personal safety - if he thinks it will help him save his daughter.
Making this whole thing into a deal he can't refuse, but the one that does not necessary cross the point of robbery is the line I'd like to walk. We put him into a position where he can't really afford not doing business with us, but where it is also beneficial to him. As long as he complies, things are going to work out for him, but once he refuses... who knows what would happen next with an individual such as ourselves? Going to the Duke and admitting your part in state treason is certain death, while associating with us is somewhat of a lesser evil. In this case accepting the deal given (which is a fair one, all things considered - I doubt he wouldn't heal his daughter if he knew how to) and hoping we won't need anything else for a while is the best way to put an end to it.
Just don't tip the scales too much so that humoring our humble requests becomes more of a bother than outright suicide.
Edit: whoa, that second part.
Vision milky, then eyes rot.
When you turn, they will be gone,
Whispering their hidden song.
Then you see what cannot be—
Shadows move where light should be.
Out of darkness, out of mind,
Cast down into the Halls of the Blind.
Will have to think about it. Transplanting would be the easiest solution, if a bit of a waste. And spell research is compelling. Although the moment she falls under the Magic Canceller or something similar, the girl is screwed. We don't want that... or maybe we do? What we don't want is to bring her spouting gibberish and frothing at a mouth back to her father.
treave, how would the illusion spell function? Wouldn't it need someone to maintain it?
Not leaving any messages whatsoever would be allowing his imagination run wild, and that's not very good. He'll be running to everyone he can reach and spilling everything he knows - without regard for personal safety - if he thinks it will help him save his daughter.
Making this whole thing into a deal he can't refuse, but the one that does not necessary cross the point of robbery is the line I'd like to walk. We put him into a position where he can't really afford not doing business with us, but where it is also beneficial to him. As long as he complies, things are going to work out for him, but once he refuses... who knows what would happen next with an individual such as ourselves? Going to the Duke and admitting your part in state treason is certain death, while associating with us is somewhat of a lesser evil. In this case accepting the deal given (which is a fair one, all things considered - I doubt he wouldn't heal his daughter if he knew how to) and hoping we won't need anything else for a while is the best way to put an end to it.
Just don't tip the scales too much so that humoring our humble requests becomes more of a bother than outright suicide.
Edit: whoa, that second part.
I can see what you see not—
Vision milky, then eyes rot.
When you turn, they will be gone,
Whispering their hidden song.
Then you see what cannot be—
Shadows move where light should be.
Out of darkness, out of mind,
Cast down into the Halls of the Blind.
Will have to think about it. Transplanting would be the easiest solution, if a bit of a waste. And spell research is compelling. Although the moment she falls under the Magic Canceller or something similar, the girl is screwed. We don't want that... or maybe we do? What we don't want is to bring her spouting gibberish and frothing at a mouth back to her father.
treave, how would the illusion spell function? Wouldn't it need someone to maintain it?
Nevill
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That would be profreshinal. And it would be better if we were the ones who could dispel it rather than it wearing off. If it wears off and we are not around to fix it, it will not endear the father to us in any way and will prompt him to seek new solutions.
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It definitely would need to be recast from time to time. What you can do to cut down on the renewal obligations so that it doesn't take up too much of your time is to store the spell in a small Zayan-designed magnatite contraption that will maintain the magic for a regular period of time until it wears out, upon which a refill would be required.
You could have Zayan design it to be disposable, but that means you would need a constant supply of magnatite to keep her eyes working normally.
1B
2A>C
I'm interested in learning more of how the eyes are "aberrant". It could prove useful. Partly as a particularly nasty type of torture, partly as we might be able to "develop" seers.
To learn more, I guess we ought to go with A. But I'm not against doing C, if more people prefer that.
2A>C
I'm interested in learning more of how the eyes are "aberrant". It could prove useful. Partly as a particularly nasty type of torture, partly as we might be able to "develop" seers.
To learn more, I guess we ought to go with A. But I'm not against doing C, if more people prefer that.
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You - or rather, Zayan - will store Ellen's eyes somewhere in A and B and D1 for future study (most likely by transplanting them into your bold prisoner), while in C you have the possibility of dispelling the spell and researching her directly in the future if deemed necessary.
Nevill
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Engineering seers from unwilling subjects, huh? That's certainly an interesting possibility. If one can't handle it, transplant them to another until we find someone who can make sense of the visions.
What affects Ellen doesn't sound like a work of frazzled nerves, but like a sight into Nether Realms (or rather Sphere World, since Nether World is claimed by demons) or a curse. Or both.
I wonder if her family didn't cross a powerful mage or a monster at some point.
Maybe we can summon Shub-Niggurath at least in this LP. One can hope.
I also wonder if she isn't already a proper seer, just impaired by her birth defects. Regrowing her eyes might preserve that quality of hers.
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lightbane
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Ah, Erdrick, ever the creepy stalker and gentlemanly "hero". Never change. Gotta love how fast he drew that teleport circle. Chances are this is not the first time he does something like this.
So they always knew each other, as expected. Bloody girl-network. They always have one.
Jokes aside, either she didn't get the memo from Wisteria's "accidental murder" yet, or the latter is more or less fine and it is her father who's putting the blame on us.
It doesn't mention the device is placed in a warm cave, but still, pure
.
Is she trying to tell us something, or is she really that desperate? Are we sure this planet is not Mareth before it was destroyed by the sex-demon hordes?
Of course, even our best well-intentioned actions would have outrageous, unpredictable consequences.
Worse, we have appeared in some alternate dimension belonging to the Epic-verse. Erd, quickly, cast "Detect Shulgi" and catch him before it is too late!
Anyways, I vote for:
1: C
2: A
By the way, treave, can Erd try to cast False Prophecy on Ellen to see if the spell's distortion of reality counters her condition, if only for a brief moment?
EDIT: How does she read and/or write these letters by the way? Does she have a magical "braille to English" pen or something? Granted, she can have a maid read these for her, but that is the boring option.
So they always knew each other, as expected. Bloody girl-network. They always have one.
Jokes aside, either she didn't get the memo from Wisteria's "accidental murder" yet, or the latter is more or less fine and it is her father who's putting the blame on us.
It doesn't mention the device is placed in a warm cave, but still, pure
.Is she trying to tell us something, or is she really that desperate? Are we sure this planet is not Mareth before it was destroyed by the sex-demon hordes?
Of course, even our best well-intentioned actions would have outrageous, unpredictable consequences.
Worse, we have appeared in some alternate dimension belonging to the Epic-verse. Erd, quickly, cast "Detect Shulgi" and catch him before it is too late!
Anyways, I vote for:
1: C
2: A
By the way, treave, can Erd try to cast False Prophecy on Ellen to see if the spell's distortion of reality counters her condition, if only for a brief moment?
EDIT: How does she read and/or write these letters by the way? Does she have a magical "braille to English" pen or something? Granted, she can have a maid read these for her, but that is the boring option.
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Nevill
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I don't think the timings are affected in any way:
Rin will be back before we are done.
On the other hand, so what? It's all a part of the plan... in some way.
But it also makes her maid the most informed person in the kingdom.
...our next target?
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TOME
Cuckmaster General
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We must keep Rin away from her. And destroy all evidence if it looks like we can't fix her.
We can't set an example of a failure to Rin or she'll get bolder and we'll have more cow-torpedos.
Nevill
Arcane
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It isn't a failure. The girl will get her sight, and we will collect our pay. And a little extra for our efforts (either a supply of magnatite, or a one-time payment and Seer's Eyes).
Naturally, we need to tell Zayan that her magnatite share will be halved each time Rin approaches Ellen closer than 100 feet. Let her think of a solution to that problem, she is the genius one.
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lightbane
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Now that you said that, we never heard much about her mother, that sounds fishy. Perhaps the governor was married to a woman coming from a certain fishing village, known for its creepy-looking inhabitants and their abundance of gold that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
BA
Kz3r0
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Here is the list:
Rin
Eeveryone thinks she is dumb and forget that she is basically our sworn enemy, until now she tried to undermine us by gaining status among the goblins, we got a hunch of that only because of the translation spell, tried to kill us, not her fault there but who knows and sunk our plans in Yuria, literally.
In short we have a lieutenant that will try to supplant us as commander of the monster hordes and sabotage our plans both by design and incompetence.
Arlin
Shulgi&Theseus in training, very smart, loves his sister and despise us, probably has some hidden skill much like Aria learning the lighting form on her own, only he will not reveal it so easily as she did.
There is infinite potential for betrayal here.
Zayan
Mad scientist that will vivisect us without a second thought, very dangerous, she is one of the few that can know all about us and will use it for SCIENCE!!! even against her self-interest probably.
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