>>27520642
A large ring bound folder is dropped onto your desk with a thump, and Mr Coombs clears his throat. “Phillips. Donaldson. Any final words?”

Isabella’s hand snakes into yours, and she clutches at it with skin just as cold as your own. She keeps her eyes down, though.

Do you want to say anything?

((Archives are located at http://archive.foolz.us/tg/search/subject/monsterhearts%20quest/type/op/order/asc/
and also at
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Monsterhearts%20Quest ))

>>27520655
Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil.

>>27520655
"None, Mr. Coombs. Everything's already in the report."

>>27520655
Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!

>>27520700
>>27520755
Trying to be witty will get us nothing but a dressing down in front of the entire class and a drop in grade. This is Mr. Coombs we're talking to here.

>>27520755
This.

>>27520655

"I have no regrets. It was my only path."

>>27520655
>>27520728
>"None, Mr. Coombs. Everything's already in the report."
Indeed.

>>27520826
Considering how the quest started one could argue that our whole life literally was Unlimited Homeworks...
We literally worked ourselves to death over it.
HUE. HUE. HUE HUE HUE.

>>27521012
Good thing we got better it would have been a shame to just leave Belle hanging.

>>27520728
>>27520790
>>27520837

>>27520755
>>27520797
>>27520826
>>27520700

((Writing now.))

>>27521068
((And apparently I lost my trip somewhere. Dammit.))

>>27520655
>>27520728
This.

>>27521068
You tripped up.

>>27521068
>>27521081
You meet Mr Coomb’s gaze, firmly but calmly. “No last words, sir. Everything’s already in the report.”

Mr Coombs frowns slightly. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

Wait, was that a-

“71%. Amateurish and small-minded, but not as incompetently executed as it could be. And speaking of incompetent execution, Jones...”

Mr Coombs sweeps onwards, and you look down at your project folder, which has apparently just scraped a B grade. Isabella relaxes her grip on your hand and slumps down into her chair, staring at the folder.

After the remaining folders are distributed, Mr Coombs stalks back to the front of the class and sweeps his icy gaze over you all.

“Well? What are you all still doing here? You have your marks. There will be no adjustment to them. And I have no particular desire to look at any of your faces any longer than I have to. Class dismissed.”

He walks out, leaving the classroom filled with a certain degree of nervous chatter. You notice a few envious glances in your direction - no-one else got above a 65. Isabella picks up the folder, smiling.

“I guess we make a better team than we thought, s- Chris. All we’ve got left now is the exam.”

You reflect that with all the excitement in your life lately, you haven't spared a second thought for revision. Still, you've got most of a month until the actual exams. That's plenty of time for revision, surely.

You have most of the period free now, anyway. What do you want to do next?

[]Go and talk to Ajani and James, who are sitting together on the other side of the room talking
[]Take Isabella somewhere quiet and talk to her more about the Corrupter, the events of the weekend and her future plans
[]Go and find Miranda and fill her in on what's happened
[]Other

>>27521437
Have Isabella catch us up as we go find Miranda.

[]Go and talk to Ajani and James, who are sitting together on the other side of the room talking

>>27521437
>Look at her and say "Team" complete with air quotes and sarcasm.

>>27521437
>[]Go and talk to Ajani and James, who are sitting together on the other side of the room talking
Also ask them if they found anything about curing Zack.

>>27521437
>[]Go and talk to Ajani and James, who are sitting together on the other side of the room talking

>>27521437
>[x]Take Isabella somewhere quiet and talk to her more about the Corrupter, the events of the weekend and her future plans
We need more information and to plan accordingly.
The Corruptor knows where she lives, and is likely to send some goons for a reprisal. We also need to learn more about her family's business and how we can fix her parents; her assets are now our assets, and we don't want the company failing.

>>27521437
>[]Take Isabella somewhere quiet and talk to her more about the Corrupter, the events of the weekend and her future plans
We should know whats going on before we make plans of our own.

>>27521519
>Also ask them if they found anything about curing Zack.
That's what we were supposed to be looking into. Ajani is just letting Zack come to his family's training hall to learn self-control and keep a close eye on him.

Corruptor shouldn't be aware that Isabella is now our pawn and not his. I remember darkest self telling us this.

>>27521553
They are also looking for a cure with their geek team.

>>27521532
This. Though we need to do something about James soonish; he's our minion, which means he's our responsibility, and the fucker has stolen Louie's skin and been an overall asshole to our friends. Perhaps consulting with Esther beforehand would be useful, though.

>>27521557
>It'll be a lot less subtle than turning her into a spy - there'll be no way her boss, or anyone else, will miss the flare of magic
Quite the opposite, actually.

>>27521579
i was just remembering it wrong it appears. thanks for making that clear.

>>27521557
Actually literally everyone knows.

>>27521600
Yeah, the Winter King now knows there's someone with serious mojo in town, someone willing to throw around more power than the King of the Spring Court has in his entire Court (that he's willing to expend).
I wouldn't be surprised if the Winter King either A. starts pulling in heavier guns and more power for what he views as a powerful competitor edging in on his territory, or B. he says "fuck this shit" and bugs out, heading for the continent and better defenses to be found there.

And I think Miranda mentioned a group of Mages to be known in the area. They'll be interested too.

>>27521464
>>27521532
>>27521541

>>27521483
>>27521519
>>27521531
((Hmm. Looks to be a tie. Five minutes, then I roll off.))

>>27521437
>[]Go and talk to Ajani and James, who are sitting together on the other side of the room talking

>>27521661
There's this one too >>27521576

>>27521661
I vote we talk to Isabella

>>27521661
Tell Isabella to meet us later and then other two?

>>27521655
On this basis that everyone finds that a new player is in town, won't the corrupter get cautious and pull its minions in to update and defend it? If that is the case then Isabella could well be visited by jason soon, provided that it doesn't have some etheric means of communication.

>>27521677
>>27521576
((Oops, thank you. And >>27521676 >>27521678 cancel, so writing now.))

>>27521706
Convert Jason next?

>>27521706
>If that is the case then Isabella could well be visited by jason soon, provided that it doesn't have some etheric means of communication.
Here's what I think is going to happen:
1. Corruptor brings in its minions to try to find out who was that fuck-off huge power spike.
2. Knows that its connection to Isabella was cut at the same time.
3. Assumes she's dead.
4. Its agents report that they saw her in school and still walking around.
5. Rightly guesses that she's been suborned and its current location and assets compromised.
6. Relocates and identifies which agents have had their covers compromised by Isabella being suborned, and keeps those in for personal defense while sending its other agents out to scout for the power spike.

7. May send a sweeper team to attempt to silence Isabella before she can leak any more information.

...ok, my memory is not what it once was so I apologies in advance.

What the hell does James want again?

Is there a copy of our character sheet floating around somewhere, out of curiosity?

>>27521807
Ajani's dick.

>>27521807
He wants to fuck Ajani.

>>27521736
That may be more difficult, I recall that Jason is a capable fighter and he seemingly has been under it longer without ill effect.

>>27521781
That was something akin to my thinking as well; there is a time limit on her and her information. Once it realises that Isabella is missing, its going to do a organisational shuffle to obfuscate everything that 'bella knows, it may also try to take her out one way or the other.

Certainly, if she knows where it is it will try to move (good time to strike) or armour up.

>>27521781
>sweeper team to hopefully re-corrupt Isabella, establishing a link between the corruptor and it's target.

What? We can hope the hyper aggressive infant godling might make the obvious bad decision. It's seemed pretty over confident thus far anyway.

>>27521845
We easily outpower it. Plus, we should be able to take him with all the support we have. At worst, have Isabella get her biggest thugs with us and take him

>>27521868
Godling? I thought the Corrupter was a little bitch.

>>27521824
>>27521831

Does he care how "alive" Ajani is? Is volition a condition or is he fine with a little compulsion or a mental whammy being laid on his would be lover?

Yes, I am trying to determine whether it's worth it to simply subjugate/eliminate/ignore James. Probably not that last one.

>>27521895
I thought so as well, our DS seems a godling/disempowered god, the corrupter is mentioned as just a poison spirit.

>>27521879
Not saying we can't, we certainly haven't touched the bottom of our personal well yet. I'm just hypothesising as its likely action, there no need to do things the hard way if we don't have to.

I am against using this power to gain pawns. The Man got control over our body, and for all we know he could be getting getting control everytime we give him the chance (we should assume this is the case). Also Chris is not the type to go around killing people. There are other ways to make pawns.

>>27521879
>We easily outpower it
In terms of ability to influence minds and bind souls. Though didn't the Man say that he can't control minds?
He definitely said that he's not good with influencing inanimate objects and physical manifestations.
We should ask the Man what Corruptors are good at.

My main concern is if we go up against it and we can't take control of its minions away, or it is able to manipulate physical objects and uses those to attack us.
We're tougher than a regular human, but I think a bullet will still put us down for a while.

>>27521895
Most godlings are little bitches, well, maybe I'm using the wrong term for this game. Whatever.

>>27521935
>our DS seems a godling/disempowered god
Actually, in response to MH's warning at the end of last thread, I went back through the archives.

The Man in White and our Darkest Self, while sharing some similarities and despite what the Man insinuates, do not appear to be the same thing.
The Man congratulated us on feeding our Hungers, but he didn't say that he was the source of those Hungers.

>>27521935
He can. We can control minds. That's our shtick. Manipulation, control.

Personally, I think the DS is a past conqueror, like Alexander the Great or such. Of course, I'd need to know what the hints for his identity were.

>>27521949
Think of a Corrupter as a jew. It's weak by itself but it uses bargains, dealings, sneakiness to get power. It corrupts. Drug dealers are excellent targets, as is a bargain maker like Isabella.

Personally, I think Chris is a lot, lot more powerful than we believe he is. We've never actually had a cap for our power if you've noticed and its only grown with time.

>>27521990
((Oh, hell, that reminds me. Someone posted a few extremely insightful questions right at the end of the last thread, but when I went back to see the exact wording so I could answer them in this thread, it seems foolz didn't pick them up. Was that you? If you remember what you said, please, re-post them.))

>>27522010
>We've never actually had a cap for our power
Okay, but how do we apply it? What form does all of this power take?
Power is no good if we don't know how to use it.

>>27521990
Pretty sure that we're an avatar of the man in white. Which does not necessarily make him our darkest self, though I don't know enough about the system to say it precludes it either. Would explain how he assumes control and why he keeps insisting that "I am you" or whatever.

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>>27521990
That is perhaps a good pick up. He mentioned before that he was old, and that hinted that his powers having both been more powerful previously and regaining.

My hypothesis is that is a disenfranchised god of some variety, possibly pagan or egyptian.

>>27522039
suptg has the whole thread, check there.

>>27522055
He can raise the dead. Add a little exaggeration and misinformation to that act and I think we have a pretty good mainstream example of some deity who could wield that power.

>>27522048
Mind control. Influencing people. Manipulation. We're poor at using things like beams or shadows or tentacles. Beyond that, we can come back from the dead and boost our physical stats.

Our fey powers could help with that...Or, we need a new source of power.

>>27522053
>>27522055
See, I think he's just hopped onto us. Our body was dying, he hitched along for the ride. Like A Ghiest from that WoD book, or whatever they're called.

While I don't think he's a god, if he is he's probably pagan. Egypt didn't have many gods based on control and the only one to do with darkness is Apep.

>>27522089
No it doesn't.
I know about the questions he's referring to, and they weren't picked up by the auto-updater.

>>27522039
I'm neither the guy who wrote this or the guy who you are replying to but did you mean this.

"the man in white is not some random entity like what is being discussed in this thread. He is our own ghoul subconscious that is constantly getting stronger, the more powerful we become. This explains why he didn't speak to us until after we had developed enough, and even then had to wait even further until he could communicate to us at will.

The reason he knows information we do not, is because the very nature of our condition is supernatural and phenomenal. In other words, it's magic and we can simple "know" what we need to sate our hunger over someone, if we let ourself do it.

The man mentions that he is alive for century's and has raised empires before, as well as had other bodies. This may be true for separate ghouls, however, in reality this is simply Chris's moral conscious giving us a scapegoat from descending too far. In other words, by anthropomorphizing our supernatural nature, it's allowing us to both use, and remain distinctly separate from it.

My point is, we created the man. We are the man."

>>27522107
You know how you mentioned darkness associations? Remember that he represented himself as a blinding white light.

>>27522148
Focusing mostly on how we brought Isabelle back from the dead.

We seem to be associated with dark and cold...Wait. Isn't there a germanic/briton god of dark, cold and lightning storms?

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>>27522107
I disagree, there is a possibility that he could be Osiris, especially as >>27522148 mentions, he doesn't have a direct darkness connotation. It fits both with a desire for power, as he was a king and lord of the gods, and the ability to raise the dead amongst other attributes.

>>27522039
What were the general gist of the questions?
I vaguely remember that there were some, but I can't remember them. Maybe seeing what they were about will help jog my memory.

>>27521725
You take the project folder from Isabella and place it carefully in your bag.

"Okay, we should go and discuss the project and what we're going to do about revision. Somewhere quieter."

Isabella nods, and the two of you head off to the library. Seems like the rest of the class have taken the free period as a chance to relax and hang out; no-one else is in here, and you can chat quietly without fear of eavesdropping.

"So, obviously I didn't actually want to talk about the project."

"Really? I meant when I said we make a good team."

"Right, 'team'." You curl your fingers into sarcastic quotes, and Isabella glares. Ah, there's a little of her previous fire returning.

"I seem to recall doing a lot of the presentation work. You got the data and the equations, but I was the one who made it look clear and understandable. I suppose you don't think much of a good appearance, though."

"Sorry. Look, the important thing is the Corrupter. It must at least vaguely know that something's happened to you, so we need to move quickly, before all the things you know about it become out of date. Where are its hideouts? Who are its minions in school? How do I hurt it?"

Isabella frowns. "I don't know how to hurt it - at least, not any secret weaknesses or vulnerable power sources. I guess purifying it would be bad for it. Maybe try dousing it in fresh water, that's nice and symbolic. Sounds a bit Wizard of Oz, though. It has a base down in the sewers, naturally. Don't know if that's its main base, it's just where Jason took me to meet with it. It didn't need couriers or regular meetings, I just knew roughly what it wanted, once I was infected by it. I think Jason had a couple of regular customers in the lower years who'd report back to him in exchange for the occasional free hit. No idea who, but I guess we watch out for people getting the shakes."

"So, what are you planning on doing now?"

Isabella blinks a few times, looking at you. "What do you want me to do, sir?"

>>27522089
>>27522141
((No, these questions came after "why would i ask someone to sage if they already did.", which is the last post of the thread on both foolz and suptg.

>>27522282
They were about the nature of the Man in the White Suit, I believe, along with a promise to follow up on my "go back through the archives" suggestion. Two posts, but I think three or four questions?))

>>27522374
"I meant with your life. You are obviously a valuable asset for me, but i still want you to live your life, i can see the irony in that but you know what i mean. I wont be expecting you to fight with one thing or another twenty-four/seven. So, what are you going to do?"

>>27522468
oh i forgot to add. also she should've brought us the things on Cass, take them. Lets have a chat with Cass after that, i want to bring her to our side as soon as possible. and there was another guy who wasnt mind-controlled by her but was following her, ask her about him. is he still loyal? who and what is he?

>>27522374
if we dont bang belle in the stacks right now ill be very disappointed, lets get real here.

>>27522517
>ask her about him. is he still loyal? who and what is he?
She said she doesn't know.
>"Apollo..." Isabella shrugs. "I never got inside his head, not properly. He seems to like being given a purpose, though. Not even in the submissive sense, it's not that taking orders gives him a sexual thrill or anything - trust me, I'd know - just that he seemed really uncomfortable any time I told him to take some time for himself, or to act on his own initiative. Made a good bodyguard and slab of imposing muscle. Kept trying to get him into bed, just so I could really see what made him tick, but I think he's impotent or something. Or just totally asexual."
>"You didn't consider just asking him?"
>"He doesn't talk about himself. Doesn't talk much at all, most of the time. Besides, I was curious."

>>27522547
we dont know if he'll still follow her after her recent changes.

>>27522374
"Jason will probably come for you in one form or the other, if you hear from him prior then we need to know."

>>27522374
"I want you to stop calling me sir. It's one thing when Avril does it, but you and I aren't that close, and I get the feeling you don't get a kick out of it the way she does. Our relationship has obviously changed, but I'd prefer you think of me as an ally than as your liege lord. I'm not going to dictate your every move: I've got enough on my plate trying to live my own unlife. When I say "I need a huge favour" I expect all effort to be made, but I'm not going to say "strip" and expect you to do it. Our current relationship is a tool to be used, and only an idiot damages his tools. That aside, do you have those documents for me? I think I'll be paying Cass a visit soon, and I'd like to read up beforehand. And you can tell me about your father's company while I read them over. You're no good to me powerless, so we're going to see what we can do to fix that situation.

>>27522410
>I believe, along with a promise to follow up on my "go back through the archives" suggestion
Yeah, that part was me.

But for the life of me I can't remember the questions.

>>27522595
((Damn. Well, they were excellent questions, at least. Feel free to keep submitting various questions and I'll do my best to answer them as and when I can.))

She has a wide net, her goons should keep their eyes and ears open for any news that we would like to know and report to us. I mean, we earned this huge information net, we should start to learn some things without them hitting us in the face or without pursuing things for days risking ourselves.
Get regular updates from her about things in school and generally in town?

>>27522468
>>27522517
>>27522580
>>27522591
((Also, writing now.))
>>27522610
((And that goes for everyone else, as well - the issue with doing Q&A after the thread keeps being that I run these threads until I've run myself into the ground, which means I can't stay up much longer for questions. Ask me things during the thread, and I'll probably answer them in one big batch at the end.))

>>27522635
this is a good idea. it's also a good progress for chris in character. he doesnt have to pursue all knowledge himself, of course he'll still have a lot to do but he has more important things to do now, so base knowledge comes to him he doesnt have to chase after it.
that is a perfect sign for becoming more influential and powerful, just what chris is after.

Oh, just had a thought guys. Do we need to find Isabella a new date for the dance thingy? I'm not sure whether or not she'd been planning to go with Jason before defecting to us.

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>>27522541
Get a good kiss. "Hmm, i've been wanting to do this for some time now."
I want a threesome with her and avril with avril as the sub, oh the thrill! so banging can wait for now.
MH please make this happen and give me a pastebin. Please...

>>27522831
I am sure isabella can take care of that for herself.

>>27522831
Let her find her own date. She doesn't need our meddling the way Masami did, and she would only resent it. She's still queen bitch of the school, even if she's privately under our thumb.

>>27522653
"Well, first off you can stop calling me 'sir'. It's nice when Avril does it, but you and I don't have that sort of relationship, understand? I'd prefer you to think of me as an ally and not as your liege lord - I'm not going to dictate what you do with every moment of your day. You're obviously a valuable asset, but I still want you to live your life." Isabella giggles a little, and you wave a hand. "You know what I mean. If I say 'I need a favour' I expect all effort to be made, but I'm not going to say 'strip' and expect you to do it." Isabella pouts at that, but she breaks into another grin after a moment. "Oh, before I forget, did you bring the documents you have on Cass? I'll probably be paying her a visit soon, and I should read up beforehand. And tell me about your father's company while I read, I'll see if I can't come up with some solutions to that too. You're no good to me powerless, so we're going to see about fixing that situation."

Isabella is staring at you again, her face very carefully flat and expressionless.

"What? Our relationship is a tool to be used, and the stronger a tool is, the more useful it is."

"... Right. Anyway. Here's the police report, the original one. A few photos of the body inside. Never found out who the dead guy was, some homeless person I guess. No-one ever reported him missing or came looking for him, that's one of the reasons I could sweep it under the carpet so easily."

Isabella hands you a small brown paper folder, with several sheets of official-looking forms inside. You start glancing over them as she begins to tell you about her father's company. You recognise but don't actually understand most of the terms she's using, stuff about securities and hedge funds and 'collateralized debt obligations' and so on - basically, her father's job is to gamble on the stock market, you think. The police report is far more gripping - dead body. One major wound. Totally drained of blood.

((Cont.))

>>27523146
Well, that sends up a few obvious flags. You flick through the pictures. No bite mark, but the wound, a ragged cut across one wrist, isn’t nearly big enough that the guy could have bled out through it, and there’s no big pool of blood around his body.

Isabella is winding up her description of complicated financial wizardry. “The brief version, I guess, is that my father plays with numbers on a screen until they suddenly result in him making millions of pounds for his company. I suppose a gambling addiction was a fairly logical next step. It wasn’t so bad when we were all riding high, but when the markets collapsed a few years back he suddenly had to scramble just to keep us afloat, and it turned out he wasn’t nearly as good a gambler as he thought. I don’t know how you’d go about ‘fixing’ that, but if you really can find a way, then...” She pauses, looking straight into your eyes. “Then thank you. Truly.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do. Oh, and Jason might come talk to you at some point. Let me know if he does. In fact, let me know if you hear anything you think I’d like to know. You’ve got a lot of eyes and ears in this school. Keep them open, and keep me informed.”

“Yes, s- I mean, yes, Chris.”

“Right. One last thing: do you know where Cass is at the moment?”

“It’s her free study period. She always gloated a little about having it first thing Monday mornings. She could be pretty much anywhere in school, though – sometimes she’d even skip morning registration and come in late. I have her phone number, but I don’t know if she’d pick up any more. I can’t track her magically, either. I’ve still got a hold over most of my boys and girls, but she broke free on Saturday when she ran off. Your best bet might just be to look around school for her, or to catch her after Geography at the end of the day.”

[]Cassandra can wait. Go talk to someone else.
[]Look for Cassandra now
[]Other

>>27523146
We should get a safe from a bank to keep things like these safe.

>>27523176
>[]Look for Cassandra now
Not like we have anything better to do.

Also, we should start to shape a plan on how to deal with the Corruptor. What are we going to do?

>>27523176
>[x]Cassandra can wait. Go talk to someone else.
Let's go talk with Esther.
She did not seem to like the poison spirit's presence in the town; we might be able to get some more free information from her regarding how to attack it, and how we're supposed to get it's heart. I doubt simply cutting it open and putting it in a garbage bag will do.

Besides, we can catch Cassandra at the end of the day, when we can be sure of where she'll be.

Look for her now

>>27523176
Cass can wait, we'll catch her at the end of the day. We go looking for Esther. Something needs to be done about James, and we should consult with her first. She might also know something about financial manipulation. And have we talked to her since connecting Masami with Louie? I can't recall, but we should probably mention that as well.

>>27523176
>[]Look for Cassandra now

>>27523280
Actually, following on that train of thought, and knowing you'll neither confirm nor deny anything, is Esther a Serpentine? I don't remember what it was, but something she said made me think she might be?

>>27523305
(( Hahaha. Well, she's a *something*, at the very least. Generally the teenaged characters are at least roughly running off one skin or another, whereas the adults are proper NPCs. ))

>>27523221
>>27523274
>>27523294

>>27523280
>>27523248
((Okay, writing.))

>>27523305
>>27523350
Ah! I remember what it was. She made a reference to a family at some point, and I happen to recall that the way a Serpentine escapes its Darkest Self is to either return to the bosom of its old decadent, dysfunctional family, or sever all ties and join a new, equally dysfunctional family. I figure the hunter group qualifies as dysfunctional family in spades, and it would help explain why she sticks around despite not seeming to like any of them but Louie very much.>>27523305

>>27523176
[x]Look for Cassandra now
Might as well do it

>>27523408
You don't really have much direction as far as where to look - Isabella just said she might even still be at home - so you end up wandering the school aimlessly. Some of the guys from Biology are playing football outside, a few people are hanging around on the grass or chatting to each other. Isabella spots some people she knows and heads off to gossip and gather information - as she's noted, Cassandra has pretty clearly rejected being part of Isabella's group, so she wouldn't be much help in finding her anyway. You keep wandering on your own.

You drift round the school but find nothing, ending up back at the library. For lack of a better idea, you flick through the titles on the shelf for something about vampires, which might include something about tracking them.There's an enormous leather-bound book which simply has the word "VAMPYR" on the front, which seems... promising, you guess? At the very least it's thick enough that you suppose it must have an awful lot of information on vampires in it.

You don't actually get a chance to read it, however, or even pull it out of the shelf, before a hand slams into the line of books near your head, making you jump a little. You turn to see just who is abusing the shelves in this fashion. Utterly pristine white blouse, porcelain skin, long blonde hair... oh, of course.

"Hello, husk," snarls Gloria.

"You think you're so clever because you've got Ajani and the others dancing to your tune, don't you? You're even corrupting poor, pure little Louie. I should have known you were rotten right from the start. Well, it's not going to go on much longer. I'm going to find out what that madness on Saturday was about. I'm going to prove you were behind it. And then I'm going to reveal your treachery to Ajani and the others. You shall be cast down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations. You hear me, husk? Your days are numbered."

She turns, and begins to stalk away, stiffly and proudly.

What do you want to do?

>>27523901
"I already am on earth, and i am perfectly content with it."

We couldn't find cass, so lets leave it for after geoghraphy and look for Esther.

>>27523901
Hunh. It's almost tempting to pull the zombie shtick on Gloria. I say we go find Esther, though. It was the other plan for our free period, and with Cass nowhere to be found we're at loose ends. Plus having allies in the hunter group is a good idea if Gloria can actually muster the the ability to make good on her threat.

>>27523901
>You shall be cast down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations.
She really is dumb isn't she?
"I live on earth my whole life and i dont remember ever taking any actions so important that it would effect a whole nation for better or worse. Why, you almost sound like you have done such an act before?"
Go find esther for previously suggested reasons.

>>27523901
"You really know nothing, don't you, Gloriella. Fine, you want to embarrass yourself, go ahead.
"Eventually people are going to get sick and tired of you and kick you to the curb."
Get that book and read it.

>>27523901
Hmm under our breath then look for a book on ancient Babylon. And pick up that vampyre tome.

>>27524032
She's quoting at us. Isaiah 14:12, to be precise, a *very* interesting choice.

>>27524069
mind explaining the lore behind a bit? i have almost zero biblical knowledge.

>>27524069
>>27524086
i am not sure about it but it sounds to me she is talking about the fall of the satan/angels.
>cast down to the earth

>>27524086
If you can't Google it for whatever reason, all you really need to know is that the full verse is "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cast down [or 'cut down'] to the earth, you who have weakened the nations!"
'Star of the morning' ought to clue you in as to the original topic of the verse.

>>27523999
>>27524021
>>27524032

>>27524035
>>27524043
(( Writing.))

>>27524155
That is to say, she seems to think we're Lucifer. Which would actually fit with White Suit Man portraying himself as a blinding light, except MC has said she doesn't want to get explicit on the veracity of biblical cosmology, so I'm not sure where that leaves us.

>>27524155
i can google it, and i did, but biblical quotes usually has much more meaning than just the one quoted sentence quoted gives away. thats why i asked.

>>27524195
It might be her way of insulting/swearing/cursing.

It might be how she thinks of an 'husk', like tools of satan.

>>27524086
Its a quote condemning the king of babylon in prophecy, for trying to place himself above god "You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

Now people argue that its about Lucifer instead which is ambiguous as it specifically mentions that its directed at the king of babylon earlier in the passage. Historically, babylon was controlled by Assyria at that point in time so it is likely either refering to King Ahaz the corrupt king of Judah or the assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III.

Now under our circumstances it might have a slightly differant meaning and direction (i.e possibly not lucifer), especially with certain phrases; "it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth;" "16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;" " But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet."

So, when Gloriella tries to frame our big spike of power as something dangerous, it will be funny to shut her down with Esther's help.
"Yeah, I was the source of that spike of power. I was renegotiating a subordinate's contract. And I don't see how that's any business of yours, how I save people's lives and souls, since you seem incapable of either."

>>27524195
Actually, what we were told last thread was that we weren't getting an OOC answer, and to ask people what they thought IC. And then Hexer mentioned knowing exactly who to ask.

File: 1380671643384.jpg-(21 KB, 384x216, Lucifer-Sam-TheEnd.jpg)

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>>27524195
MC might have only meant that she didnt wanna spoil anything without actually making it that plain. Wouldn't b the first time I've seen the Devil have a thing for white suits...

>>27524290
thanks for explanation. gloria might have 'unknowingly' hit the spot it seems.more like mh forced her to in order to give us a clue i wonder if the will react to that comment.

>>27523901

"The fuck is your problem? Seriously? Yeah, dead man walking here meddling with powers he never asked for and all you've been is a colossal bitch, like a chav cussing out a copy of hamlet for being too hard to read. Yeah, I was the spike in power as I was freeing the other *former* queen bitch from the corrupter,"

>>27524377
*the man will react

Please DO NOT mention anything about Isabella and/or Corruptor.

>>27524392
I don't think we should say most of the latter half of this.

>>27524392
No save that for when Ajani is trying to be all righteous and the we take the wind out of his sails by revealing that we were saving someone at the time and Esther can back us up on it.

So we're not going to read the vampyr book?

>>27524290
Slight errata; Babylon did have kings but as I said most of them were under Assyrian control at the time and the relatively short length of their reigns >10 years makes it hard to place whom it is exactly referring to.

>>27524175
You ponder for a moment the idea of chasing after Gloria and shouting at her, or mind-controlling her, or even trying to turn her the way you turned Isabella. You stop and take a deep breath, and notice that the seething anger doesn't quite seem to be your own feelings. Gloria is stuck up and aggravating, and you should probably do something about her eventually, but you're not really quite this pissed off at her.

As you realise this, the feeling starts to fade away, like someone drawing a curtain across it. You're calm and collected again. The best way to deal with both Gloria and the Corrupter will be to find Esther. There's a possibility she's down in the stacks somewhere, actually. You delve into the deeper portion of the library, between the quiet, secluded shelves.

A few minutes of fruitless searching later, you pop your head out of the stacks again to see Esther sitting at a table near where you were before.

"Good morning, Christopher," she says when she spies you. "I observed Gloria leaving the library in a great deal of haste, vociferously criticising you under her breath. I made the correct assumption that you were contained somewhere within the library. Please, seat yourself and engage in conversation. I presume you wish to discuss the unusual phenomenon on Saturday evening with me? I observe that your meeting with Isabella had positive results. I desire that my information was of assistance to you?"

>>27524599
"Yeah that would be good, what do you make of what happened, Gloria no doubt thinks the devil was involved."

>>27524599
"Very helpful, yes, thank you. I imagine I owe you one. That wasn't why I was looking for you, though. What concerns me at the moment is James. He has in no way been a useful catspaw, and frankly I'd hesitate to call him a blunt instrument. I'd be less likely to get bit if I was holding a viper, if you'll pardon the expression. He's been an ass to your friend and to my friend, and worse than an ass; he's stolen Louie's skin, as I imagine you know. Louie means something to you and as he's coming to mean something to Masami, and as it's in my best interests to keep both you and her happy, I'd like to do something about it. In that light, what can you tell me that it would be useful for me to know?"

>>27524740
>>27524810
((Okay, writing.))

>>27524599
"Yes, your information was of great assistance. Any further information you can provide about poison spirits would be appreciated, as I expect possible reprisals in the near future.
"Oh, and as you seem to always look out for Louie, he has found a date to the Dance in Masami. I hope that this does not displease you?"

>>27522854
((Oh, and incidentally, there was already a pastebin more or less on this topic. Non-canon, though.
http://pastebin.com/nnJkfvb4
Hope it's to your liking. ))

>>27524882
"Very helpful, yes. I imagine I owe you one now. If you have any more information about poison spirits, it would be appreciated - I'm sure I can expect reprisals in the near future. So what do you make of what happened on Saturday, then? Gloria no doubt thinks the devil was involved."

Esther sighs and rolls her eyes. "Gloria is unable to see beyond the boundaries of a single pointless war. If that had been demonic magic it would be immediately obvious - for one thing, we would in all probability all be dead or enslaved, given the amount of power that was employed. I had originally hoped to identify the location of the phenomenon by looking for any newly created smoking craters, but none could be located. The specifics of the magic are as yet unknown to me. No obvious large-scale effects have been observed. It is possible that the effect was a wide-ranging illusion of some sort, or a summoning of an incredibly powerful but physically small being. It shares substantial similarities with another such pulse which occurred some four weeks ago, but what that means is as yet unclear. More data is required."

"Anyway. It wasn't Saturday that I originally wanted to discuss with you. It's James. He's not been a useful minion at all, not even as a blunt instrument. I'd be less likely to get bitten if I was holding an adder, if you'll pardon the expression." Esther smiles indulgently, and waves for you to continue. "He's been a complete ass to your friend and mine, and as I imagine you already know, he's stolen Louie's skin. Louie means something to you, and he's coming to mean something to Masami, so I'd like to do something about it. What can you tell me that would be useful?"

"Not a vast amount which could not be determined from public sources or observation," Esther replies. "I have the code for his parents' burglar alarm and know where they keep the spare key. I do not know the location of the pelt, though. Is there anything else you wish to inquire about?"

>>27525050
ma'am
((While I very much enjoy hearing all about how much people have enjoyed my writing, please don't do this. It's not a massive deal, it's just kind of annoying. ))

>>27525353
"I'd like to be sure I haven't trodden on your toes by introducing Louie to Masami, but I imagine you'd have told me by now if I had, so there's that. You probably know that Gloria is planning to make some sort of move against me in the not so distant future, and James is vindictive enough to go along with her just to spite me if I make any progress getting the pelt from him in the meantime. Would it be impolitic of me to enquire how'll you'll stand if the issue arises?"

>>27525353
Well, she hasn't given us any more information about poison spirits.
"If you have any ideas on how a poison spirit's heart may be removed and safely contained, I would appreciate it."

I was thinking that we could save Isabella's family business if we could bind a spirit of luck or fortune to her dad or to her family, give him a better instinct on what stocks to bet on.

>>27525394
sorry, was trying to be cute and shit

>>27525525
It sounds like was pretty good at his job before the gambling problem. I say we get him to make a fae promise not to gamble anymore.

So the only Monsterhearts book I have doesn't have anything about serpentines or anything of that sort. Are there others I don't know about?

>>27525556
((Like I said, I *very* much appreciate hearing all about how people have enjoyed reading my stories, especially those stories. And I'm not mad or anything, it's just a matter of keeping an eye on the whole gender issue.))

>>27525643
I'm mainly just glad you won't let people start calling you M'Lady like BFQ's QM.

>>27525624
There are a bunch of extra skins, and last I heard there was a kickstarter running for another book with yet more skins. I have no idea if that's still happening or what. I can post some of the extra skins, if MC doesn't mind me cluttering up the thread.

>>27525666
((See, that sort of shit is a major reason why I clamp down so hard on it.))

>>27525503
>>27525525
((Writing now.))
>>27525683
((Go right ahead.))

File: 1380677148910.jpg-(189 KB, 566x800, Serbia STRONK.jpg)

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>>27525666
>M'lady

File: 1380677189267.pdf-(172 KB, PDF, The Serpentine.pdf)

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Here we go.

>>27525733
I appreciate the dump by the way.

File: 1380677929362.pdf-(165 KB, PDF, The Anansi.pdf)

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>>27525795
No problem. Sorry it's taking so long; captcha is being an ass.

File: 1380678056023.pdf-(108 KB, PDF, The Fury.pdf)

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Here we have the Fury- almost certainly Jill.

>>27525976
I would put my money on James being the Anansi but he doesn't have the right name for it.

File: 1380678199257.pdf-(107 KB, PDF, The Hollow.pdf)

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The Hollow- useful for robots, frankensteinian things, clones and other unreal people.

can't we just hook james with Ajani already? That will give us his loyalty, like we agreed with him.

File: 1380678596711.pdf-(399 KB, PDF, The Incubus.pdf)

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>>27526037
I suspect James is the Mortal, judging by his attitude toward Ajani, but who knows. I really like the Anansi, though.

File: 1380678783234.pdf-(148 KB, PDF, The Selkie.pdf)

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The Selki- what Louie has revealed himself to be.

File: 1380678979245.pdf-(163 KB, PDF, The Succubus.pdf)

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The Succubus- Not just a female Incubus!

>>27525701
"Well, I would ask if I've trodden on your toes by introducing Louie and Masami, but if I had, you would have told me by now, wouldn't you?"

Esther gives you a pleased smile, and gestures for you to continue.

"You probably know that Gloria is going to make some sort of move against me soon, and if I do make some headway towards getting the pelt then James is likely to back her out of spite. Would it be impolitic of me to inquire how you'll stand if the issue arises?"

Esther smiles broadly. "Well, naturally I cannot commit entirely to a position when the precise natures of the future arguments are unknown. Still, I don't feel it would be premature to note that you have proven to be an asset to us, and that Gloria can occasionally be somewhat hasty to divide things into 'servants of Heaven' and 'servants of Hell'. Plenty of things are neither."

"Thank you, Esther. Oh, one final thing. Do you have any ideas on how to safely remove and contain the heart of a poison spirit?"

"The heart?" Esther pauses, thinking. "A pure spirit has a central concentration of essence, but no anatomy or organs. A demonic spirit such as this Corrupter will have one fixed form, however - it must possess a body and organs, at least in our universe. The heart will most likely also be the concentration of its essence - as such it will be an extremely powerful force of corrosion, destruction and pollution. Holy water in an impurity-free glass jar would be a reasonable start, and you may wish to seal the jar with wax from church candles. Removing it from its owner will simply require a knife, a dead poison demon, and a great many pairs of thick rubber gloves - its bodily fluids are likely to be highly acidic. Now, I believe you have a class to get to?"

She's right, Biology is nearly over. You expect to have some nice conversations in Maths, but you're too rushed with revision preparation to do much talking. Before you know it, it's lunchtime.

What do you want to do now?

File: 1380679165309.pdf-(102 KB, PDF, The Angel.pdf)

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The Angel- psychobitch Gloria

That's all the skins published so far, apart from the ones in the corebook. Masami runs off of a custom skin, so no use going looking for that unless MC decides to share, which we all hope she will eventually. There are a bunch of other customs skins floating around on the net, with varying levels of quality.

>>27526282
Some suggested options:

[]Go and talk to Miranda. She'll want to know what's been happening, and she might have some more useful advice. Or you might just have more fun times. Either is good.
[]Take some time to talk properly to Jill and Avril.
[]Try and look for Cassandra again. She must be in school by now, surely?
[]Head to the library to talk to Ajani's group. Try and head off any trouble with Gloria.
[]Find out how Isabella's information gathering and gossiping is going.
[]Other

>>27526398
I say Cass.

I want to know what her deal is, man.

>>27526282

We could go looking for Zack. Now that Isabella is under our thumb, she won't be exerting influence in his direction, and if he's going to remain involved with the hunter group, it would be useful to have him in our corner when Gloria makes her play. On the other hand, with no progress yet on finding a cure, we have nothing to really offer him, and we can only bank on old favours for so long.

We could try to talk to James, but I'm unsure how to proceed there; I doubt he can be pressured into returning Louie's skin, and he'll just nag us about Ajani. We could talk to Ajani, but I'm not sure how to warm him to the idea of pursuing James. I feel like we're better shot of James in general, honestly.

So yeah, let's go find our girls.

>>27526398
>[]Take some time to talk properly to Jill and Avril.

>>27526398
[x]Head to the library to talk to Ajani's group. Try and head off any trouble with Gloria.
He's still useful muscle against the Winter King and the Corruptor.

>>27526556
>>27526579

>>27526530

>>27526584

((Writing))

If Gloria is worried, Ajani might be too, and he has tried to side with her in the past.

Maybe we should explain what went on Saturday?

>>27526727
Okay, this is fine. You can just stick to your normal lunchtime routine. No need to get worried about Gloria or Cassandra. Just go see the girls, eat lunch, chat about things, have fun.

Avril gives you a slightly nervous wave as you sit down on the bench. “How’s dealing with Isabella going?”

“She seems like she’s been reasonably trustworthy so far. Haven’t had a chance to check out most of her info yet, though. Also I think she might be flirting with me a little.

Avril snarls. “She’d better not be. I know you said you’ve got some control over her, but I still don’t trust her. There’s all sorts of ways to harm someone in a non-obvious fashion.”

“Weren’t you the one that was all for welcoming her into the group on Saturday?”

“Yeah, but she did try to turn us into her slaves, and then tried to get us killed. That was just about rebalancing the scales, getting a little payback.”

“Okay, no more payback. She died, that’s payback enough, okay?”

Avril doesn’t look very convinced, but she nods.

“So what have you girls been up to?”

“Well, uh, we’ve been thinking about the dance,” Jill replies. “It’s on Friday evening, so we need to start planning stuff now. Avril thinks we should go out to a Fae café of some sort afterwards; they’re open really late because some of their clientele are nocturnal. We all get out of school early anyway, but if we hurry over to the woods we should be able to get the dress and get back to school again in time for the dance.”

Jill leans in and gives you a long, tight hug, and you return it. You hold the hug for a few minutes, until you hear someone who isn’t Avril clear their throat.

((Cont.))

>>27527629
You look up, and there’s a young woman standing by Avril. She’s maybe a few years older than you, long deep brown hair, looking good. She’s wearing fairly casual clothes, but a small official-looking nametag identifies her as “Anne”.

After a moment, Avril leans over and taps Jill on the shoulder, and she lets go of you and turns around.

“Hi!” Anne says brightly, reaching out to shake Jill’s hand. “My name’s Anne and I’m your personal social work assistant. I’m not an actual social worker, I’m still in training, but I’m authorised to help you with whatever you need and I can advise you on your case and explain how things are going and so on, okay?” She turns to you and Avril, reaching out to shake with both her hands at once. “You must be Chris and Avril, the ones that called in the original report. I’d like to thank you both. If there’s anything I can do for you, please, let me know.”

Avril smiles. “A pleasure to meet you, Anne. I’m sure I’ll think of something you can do for me sooner or later – actually, I do have one question. How long is the investigation going to take?”

Anne shrugs apologetically. “I really don’t know yet. I’m not the only person investigating this case, after all. Still, we have the medical reports of Jill’s bruising, your statements to the police, and the evidence we gathered when we went to see your mother this morning. Which I guess I shouldn’t really talk about to the two of you, even if you are Jill’s close friends. Confidentiality requirements are pretty strict. Still, it shouldn’t be more than a month at the most. Was that everything I can help you with right now?”

>>27527651
>the teenaged characters are at least roughly running off one skin or another, whereas the adults are proper NPCs.
Is she an adult or a teen?

>>27527651
What's she doing finding us on school grounds during lunch? Is that normal in Bongistan?
How did she know who we were without having seen us before?

>>27527707
>young woman
>still in training

I wanna say teen here.

>>27527707
(( She looks somewhere around 18 or 19, maybe? Could go either way. You could always just ask her how old she is.))

>>27527651
"What do you think will be the end result of this investigation? The policeman (What's britspeak for cop? I've heard bongo, bobby, coppers, and various others) I spoke with indicated it would likely amount to nothing."

>>27527729
>You could always just ask her how old she is
That would be rude. Plus if we wanted to be that blunt we could just ask her if she's magic.
This is not a vote to do that now.

>>27527651
"Is there a telephone number we could reach you at, in case anything further happens? I hope that it won't, but...well, all those stories in the news about religious mums doing things to their kids has me on edge, you know?"

>>27527732
>What's britspeak for cop?
It's a bloody crooked men's bullseye, innit? On account o' they don't have a rooty tooty point and shooty.

>>27527651
"If you can't tell us anything, there's no point in asking. I imagine you'd like to speak to Jill alone now, although picking the middle of lunch is odd."

If she does indeed ask us to go away, we reassure Jill and take Avril to go find either Cass or Ajani.

>>27527803
>>27527794
>>27527775
>>27527732
>>27527726
((Right. These computer troubles are clearly a message from the internet reminding me that once again I have run until 20 to 5 in the morning, thanks to my usual combination of slow writing, long conversations and lack of appropriate dramatic breakpoints. Short post with Anne answering questions, then we break for the night.))

>>27528046
"Well, if you can't tell us anything I guess there's no point asking about the investigation. Could we get a telephone number we could reach you at, just in case anything happens?"

"Oh, of course. Uh, normally I'd give you my office number, but I'm travelling around so much that I'm rarely actually in the office to answer it." She takes a receipt out of her pocket and scribbles a number on the back. "Here, that's my mobile. Please don't abuse it, it's my personal mobile, okay? But if there's an emergency you can reach me on it no matter when it is."

"Okay, uh, do you need to speak to Jill alone? Actually, do social workers normally come in the middle of lunch?"

"Oh, no, no, this isn't my official visit or anything. I just noticed I was passing the school and thought I should drop in and say hello to Jill, and introduce myself. They gave me a picture of her, it wasn't too hard to pick her out, and then I knew who the two of you had to be straight away. I'll see Jill properly at her home a couple of times, but I'll also be around generally, if you want to talk about anything informally or if you just need someone to listen to you, okay?"

"Okay. Uh, look, the cops said the investigation might not pan out to much. What do you think? Can we actually expect anything?"

Anne looks a little sad. "Probably nothing major, to be honest. But it means Mrs White is on our radar, and we'll carry on keeping an eye on Jill even once the case is over. So that's something, right?"

She glances at her watch. "Oh, hell, I need to get back before my lunch break finishes. Sorry, need to run, see you later."

You all wave goodbye as she hurries off, and then settle down to a quiet, contemplative lunch.

>>27528190
((Okay, I direly need to sleep. See you all on Thursday night, and thank you as always for being awesome players.))

>>27528208
See you, boss.

>>27528208
Good night!

>>27522148
> Blinding White Light
Gee, which being is called the lord of this world and used to have the name lightbearer?

>>27531180
Yes we get it. The man in white is a man of wealth and taste who has been around for a long long time and stolen many a man's soul and faith. He was also quite possibly around when Jesus had his moment of doubt and pain.

Rolled 16 + 6

>>27525579
It sounds the opposite to me.
Isabella was saying how his job was basically to gamble with stocks, and that a gambling addiction wasn't far behind, and it turned how he wasn't as good at it as he thought he was.

Also, our spike of anger at Gloriella is worrying; I don't know if it was the Man or our Darkest Self, but one of them had emotional bleed over into Chris.

>>27532633
>Also, our spike of anger at Gloriella is worrying; I don't know if it was the Man or our Darkest Self, but one of them had emotional bleed over into Chris.
Probably DS. Apart from her holy alignment she's also hard to control which must rankle with our more obsessive side.

>>27533118
I don't know about that; we have been speculating that the Man in White is Lucifer, which gives him a pretty good reason to be pissed off by an angel.

>>27534636
> sagr
Fuck. Sorry, guys.

Rolled 58

>>27534636
I wonder why Lucifer would need a host though.

>>27538638
FFF- Dammit.

>>27538638
What the... did you deliberately wait until the thread was down on page 10 to post that and bump it?

>>27538660
Nope, meant to sage but posted before putting it into the field. TL;DR: I dum.

>>27534636
>>27534648

>>27538638
>>27538655

((For fuck's sake, people. These threads really do not need to be kept live all through the next day. I mean, discussion is good, but try to respect board etiquette.

Still, thread's not going to die for another few hours yet... fuck it. Impromptu Q&A session, anybody? And this time, sage for all posts. We'll just ride it down, and I'll save any questions that don't get answered before the end of the thread to answer tomorrow night.))

>>27538730
But will you be able to save those questions, or will they just be lost like they were last time?

Besides, you do understand how threads work, don't you? Bumping a thread doesn't cause others to fall off of Page 10; that's only done by new threads being created.

If you were really that concerned about the thread sticking around, then just delete it when done.

>>27538798
((The questions were only lost last time because I didn't realise foolz hadn't picked them up. This time I know to watch out for that, and I can just copy-paste them into a text document once the thread 404s.

Bumping an old thread may not cause others to fall off, but it's still generally perceived as rude, and I'd rather that my players and myself be perceived as reasonably polite.

I don't delete my threads because, as you can see above, there's a fair amount of discussion that goes on after the quest itself finishes for the night, and I'm generally asleep or at work the next day by the time the discussion winds down.))

>>27538730
Did the Fae contract with the Spring King actually damage the Man, or did it only dig out a part of our Darkest Self?
As for the Hungers, are they even related to the Man in White? The Man was pleased that we fed the Hungers, but that could have just been because we were being pro-active.

Speaking of the Hungers, last time they became extremely distracting, though they had been sated the night before, and today we seemed to be fine though we may not have fed our Hunger for 2 days (as far as the players have seen). Any reason for the discrepancy?

>>27538994
(( There's only so much I can say regarding the Man, your Darkest Self and your Hungers before I start getting into spoiler territory. I certainly wouldn't use the word "damage", but you may recall that he was noticeably pissed off when he brought the topic up back in thread 12.

'Related' is a reasonably apt term. It's a fairly complicated relationship, though, it's not as straightforward as the power being channelled directly to the Man or anything.

Your Hungers don't function on a simple linear scale, there's no 'go x days without feeding, become x% hungrier'. To a certain degree they function off narrative necessity - if it suits the scene for your Hungers to be distractingly strong, they are - but there's also other influences, which you may or may not be able to discern. Also, once Chris starts thinking about sex he tends to end up in a bit of a vicious spiral - one of those 'if you're not thinking about how hungry you are, you don't notice being hungry so much' things.))

>>27539192
The Man's anger could simply have come from what he viewed as us giving up considerable amounts of control for sentimental reasons, rather than because some of his power was siphoned off due to the pact.

Though something that has been bothering me, is whether the Man is bound by the pacts we make, or if he is considered an independent entity in such pacts and geases.

Also, the first burst of power that coincided with Chris coming back from the dead, probably is related to how the Man entered his soul. Was the power that was released then the same type that was detected when we bound Isabella to Chris?
Could Chris survive without the Man? Are we held hostage in our body, and could the Man decide that another host would be more conducive to his plans?

>>27539192
Is Isabella calling us sir to mess with us or is that the Geas/contract/what have you pushing her for the most respectful form of address?

>>27539319
>Was the power that was released then the same type that was detected when we bound Isabella to Chris?
Well, there's a couple people we might consider asking. Considering Isabella was nearby, was already magically aware at that time and had the mojo that keeps us alive literally injected into herself she might be able to tell.

>The Man's anger could simply have come from what he viewed as us giving up considerable amounts of control for sentimental reasons, rather than because some of his power was siphoned off due to the pact.
Yep. That alone would be more than enough.

Also, is Chris a bad enough pervert to enjoy Masami's Hentai collection in earnest no matter the title? Is Avril?

Also, I might have over-read that, but are we in any way magically aware of Belle the way she is of us?

>>27539319
((Esther certainly compared the two flares of power, and thought they had 'substantial similarities'.

The Man has at one point explicitly stated that he's the reason you continue to be 'alive', and that he *is* you. Of course, he might be lying. On the other hand, if there were two noticeably separate entities in your body, in the same manner as Masami, you'd think that Avril would have noticed.

>>27539419
Isabella is calling you sir because as far as she can tell, you have the power of life and death over her with a split second's thought, you're far more magically powerful than anyone else she's ever met, and you seem to like people being submissive to you. She's just trying to guess out how to keep her new boss happy.

You don't have any particular kind of magical sense of Isabella's condition or location, as far as you can tell. You're not even entirely sure where your end of this kill switch is, although you probably don't want to go poking around for that too roughly in case you accidentally trip it.

Chris, quite probably. Masami might have one or two things on her shelf that don't quite play to his tastes, but he's generally as kinky as your typical sixteen year old nerd with full access to internet porn gets. Avril would probably be a little disappointed at how vanilla the selection was, but would still enjoy them, especially if she got to watch them with someone else. ))

>>27539720
>although you probably don't want to go poking around for that too roughly in case you accidentally trip it.
OOH! BIG RED BUTTON!

>>27539720
Quest tonight or just Q&A

>>27541191
((Quest tomorrow night, as usual. It's way too late to start now - remember that I'm on British time here, so it's already 1:30am.))

>>27541209
((Oh hell, I missed out the sage after making a point of telling everyone else to remember it... that's just embarrassing. ))

>>27541223
>>27541209
HA! HA! BIG BOSS SLIPPED UP AGAIN!

>>27541223
LEL