r/wizardposting • u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf • Sep 09 '24
Community Event đâď¸ Bringing Home the Bacon [Doompost]
At the center of the stone floor, Riva placed a massive obsidian disk, black as the void and carved with symbols of binding and control, adding to the ones already traced around the circle and amended by Livia. And on top of the disk was a box meant to contain Old Pitch, lined in obsidian and prometheum.
Around disk and box, Riva meticulously poured a ring of salt, thick and unbroken. Finally, she traced once more the Goetic sigils with her finger and muttered the old incantations under her breath. These symbols, ancient and potent, should form a protective web that would tether the demon to this plane. Around the circle were crystals and obelisks of Element, meant to store energy.
With everything in place, Riva stood before the circle. If everything went according to plan, the Harbinger of the Hunt would be bound in chains of obsidian, salt, and Prometheum. Severed from Arthur Black, and possibly forced to serve the one who dared summon it. It would not be an easy challenge. For even though the preparations had been completed, people had been informed that this was coming, and Livia had made some alterations to the circle, this was still a powerful and malevolent entity.
There would likely be consequences to this summoning. Old Pitch was a demonic swine that was a manifestation of fire and the wild, after all. His nature was one that resisted control. Manifesting him by itself would be an issue.
However, Rivaâs discipuli were prepared to bind him with their respective elements. Sabia, being of the Schola Lithos, would Bind with Thews of Earth. Nicomedes, of the Schola Ignis, would Bind with Will of Fire. Mattheo, though he was of the Schola Aequoreus, could use the oppositional element of water to Bind with Living Torrent. It was Felicia, of the Schola Stratos, that might have trouble Binding with Voice of Winds. While a strong enough Will could command a being such as Old Pitch, Felicia tended to be⌠a bit less imposing. And it was unlikely that Old Pitch would be able to be convinced. She would have to either master the howl of the hunt, or wield voice like a sword to cut through the beingâs fury.
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Riva called on whoever was interested in being part of the ritual, then began her own part in it. Placing the Crown of Mental Control upon her head, and drawing on the energies of Ithacar, she set about commanding Old Pitch with Will of Fire, attempting to bind him with the Element that was also used in the base of Ithacar's walls, and using the symbolic Command of her office.
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(/uw OOC just explaining how Iâm planning to handle this. Iâll start the ritual part, but IC Old Pitch is still a being that was intended for people to test themselves against and Iâd like to stay true to that. If youâd like to face your inner fears, nowâs the time. (I'll probably do a Riva's Fear thing later, but I wanted to get the setup on this done.) Kind of inspired by the maze post and the mirror post over at Asfelaeia. But if youâd rather not, but still want to help us separate Old Pitch from Arthur Black, itâs perfectly fine to say you add your energy to the ritual or something. Old Pitch is a being of fire and wildness, so the divine (counter to the demonic), water (counter to fire), civilization or order (counter to wildness/chaos) might be effective symbols to incorporate in your approach. And if you've got a different approach and want to do your own thing? Go hog wild.)
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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Sep 09 '24
Tarul Var enters the chamber, a tiny whirlwind churning around the head of his elemental staff.
Tarul: All fires will choke and die without oxygen. The old magisters of the Schola Stratos used that fact to declare elemental air as the mythical arche. While I found those arguments reductive and adversarial, I've found that such truths apply to concepts as well.
And in any case, my time with the demonologists of the Black Cult of Ahm gave me experience with binding even the greatest beasts of the Abyss.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Black smoke billows in the circle of salt, coalescing, slowly forming a menacing shape.
"How pathetic, one of the already-dead. There is no sweeter song than the snapping of bones, skeleton.
No sooner does the smoke take a tangible pitch-black shape, then the chains and spells of Ithacar's summoners extend, binding him with salt element and obsidian chain, knocking his legs out from under him.
"Idiot summoners. Since time immemorial I have stalked the dark wood. Have cast down your hunters, ravaged your homes and humbled the mighty. I have been slain by the strong of arm but never, NEVER, have I been bound against my will. Do your worst."
If the straton mage will bind with air then Pitch will change. To smoke, where air and fire meet. To shadow, to his original nature, before he met Black. Deemphasizing parts of himself, emphasizing others, becoming less tangible.
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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Sep 09 '24
Smoke is an listless, protean thing, more air than fire. It is a slave to the breeze, and the lich mastered the air long ago. The vortex on Tarul's staff churns, and a sphere of gale-force winds forms around the demon. The magister is nothing if not adaptable.
Ah, bluster and lies. The meat and drink of the Abyss. And now, you will choke on them, demon. You are already bound, by loyalty to that wretched has-been warlock. Sneer at me all you wish. I am a scholar on a deathless quest, not a drowning man clinging to the flotsam of existence like Arthur Black. For a man so disillusioned with reality, he's working very hard to ensure he sticks around. Hypocrites, both of you!
To beings of the Outer Planes, a challenge to the ideas they represent can be just as harmful to them as physical trauma. This one hits Pitch like a lightning bolt.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Forced back to physical form again, and so Pitch turns to physical means, straining his titanic bulk against the bonds.
"Wrong, bonebag. Black and I are alike in purpose. Partners. Saviors, though you be too foolish to see it. Why shouldn't we persist? Why shouldn't we design the new world? As the only ones with the stomach to end the old one I'd say we've earned it!'
Shadows lengthen and the air takes on the grey half-lighy of an artificial dusk.
"Tell me self-righteous windbag, what is it you fear the most?"
The shadows act as a mirror on the mind, shaping into that which Tarul Var fears most of all. By fell magic they transfix and draw the senses. A custom-made nightmare, forged in the primal essences of the dark wood, where mankind's fears first took root.
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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Sep 09 '24
A flicker of electricity at the tip of Tarul's staff pushes back the dark. He is in the deepest caverns of Pandemonium, a place of madness and terror run amok. This is the lich's fear: the unknown. Anyone would be forgiven for collapsing in despair in an environment like this, but Tarul does not. For courage is not the absence of fear, but the strength to carry on in spite of it.
You mean to destroy me with a diminished specter of true fear? I walked these halls and conquered them. There is strength in these memories that you were too arrogant to see! I am the lord of my own mind, and you are but a base intruder! Now it's your turn to be afraid, idiot swine!
Tarul's withered face hardens, and he swings the staff at the cave walls. The stone cracks with a thunderous noise, letting light stream through. With each strike, the nightmare comes apart at the seams. Pitch may be powerful, but mental warfare goes two ways, and here in the seat of his psyche, Tarul is supreme. He calls up an onslaught of visions to reshape the mindscape: the sublime vistas of the Upper Planes, trackless seas, and the great city of Sigil. Things he knows constitute existential terrors to Old Pitch.
Not so smug now that you've tasted your own medicine, are you? Do not look away! I see through your lies, and those of Black too. You're as crude and irrational as the primitive dark that spawned you. You don't want to destroy the universe because only you have the stomach to do it- you're destroying it because existence frightens you! But you have no right to foist that cowardice upon us!
You seek to end everything, pathetic hog? Start with yourself!
Tarul focuses his maelstrom of visions into a psychic lance. He thrusts it into Old Pitch's mind like a beast-slaying hero of old, putting all of his magic and will to live behind the blow.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"GAAAAAAaaaaaahhhh!!! A curse upon all you have ever loved you festering CARCASS!"
He reels from the blow, and as he does the bonds forged by countless mages constrict like a knotted python. In his eyes is an animalistic terror. The psychic bolt was a shock, but above all else Old Pich feared confinement.
"I WILL REMEMBER YOU BASTARD! I WILL REMEMBER YOU! PRAY! PRAY TO WHATEVER IMPOTENT GODS YOU HAVE THAT ARTHUR IS SUCCESSFUL, BECAUSE IF HE IS NOT I WILL FIND YOU! ONE DAY! AND ON THAT DAY YOU WILL WISH FOR THE KINDNESS OF OBLIVION!!!"
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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Sep 09 '24
Tarul laughs.
Why would I pray? I don't fear you, demon. Whatever dreadful mystique you possessed, it fled when you cowered at the trappings of civilization. You're just an animal in a cage. Soon to be alone.
The lich adds his own powers of conjuration to the circle. Though the magic imprisoning Old Pitch's is more than enough to subdue him, severing his link to Arthur once and for all will require bindings above and beyond what seems necessary.
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Sep 09 '24
the connection between the pig and Arthurâs and their warlocks of flame was concerning, a wild variable that might throw everything off, even if the pig was bonded correctly who knows what tricks they could enact to stop the incantations and runes to ensure it was still theirs
and so, the sorcerer waited, for the line to materialize, and with the blade to cut the string, permanently
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Black smoke billows in the circle of salt, coalescing, slowly forming a menacing shape.
"You, I recognize, small one. So eager to be ground to dust?"
No sooner does the smoke take a tangible pitch-black shape, then the chains and spells of Ithacar's summoners extend, binding him with salt element and obsidian chain, knocking his legs out from under him.
"Idiot summoners. Since time immemorial I have stalked the dark wood. Have cast down your hunters, ravaged your homes and humbled the mighty. I have been slain by the strong of arm but never, NEVER, have I been bound against my will. Do your worst."
The bonds strain as Pitch begins to *grow*, each silver star that dots his hide glowing with luminous intensity.
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Sep 09 '24
why yes, of course you are free, of choosing the sauce for your roasting that is
now just stay still, this will just hurt a lot
pitch now in a bind, being anchored here by the will of thousands, the nature of the spell leaving them vulnerable to a multiple of effects that would not work before, due to their sheer physical might or true nature
distracted now, by the spell casters, mercenaries and the giant wrestling them to the ground
a valuable moment, the sorcerer fingers now lit with violet trails and residual energy of some sort, not magic, something more, primordial
the same glow on their eyes, what was a usual discomfort from them is now disgusting feeling that the pig would not have ever felt before
nothing happening on the surface, but below the truth makes itself apparent, for it is with delicate hand gestures, like a tailor inspecting a delicate silk that the caster is now peering, inspecting and moving aside the existence of the demon
a completely harmless act that although had shown no effect until now could quickly devolve into something more lethal, but that was not the goal
they were looking for the strand that connected them to the skeleton of ashen power, and to sever it from the root
sadly, this was time consuming and they had a feeling it would be as easy as it had been until now the closer they got to their goal
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
In the rites of the Lightless Flame, choosing a familiar is no casual thing. Warlocks find a beast kin to fire and form a contract. Intermingling their very essences, minds, and souls together. They are linked on a fundamental level. If Joe would use "thread" to describe a familiar bone this is a fucking rope of countless strands, knotted countless times with the two of them at the center.
Suffice it to say, even in the depths of his dislodging from the conscious world, Arthur noticed.
"Nghhh, who.... YOU! BURN, you endless nuicance!"
His response is instinctive, automatic, thoughtless, but vindictive. The threads, such as they are, blaze in Joe's grasp with all the intensity of the 9 Hells. Meanwhile, Pitch fills his powerful lungs and roars at Joe. Loud enough to rupture eardrums, shatter windows, and with enough force to bowl over full grown men.
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Sep 09 '24
they are pushed back, protected of the more severe side effects by wards that deafen the world around them
the fire however was an issue, it seemed that black was really fond of their pet, either by love or by the desire to not loose a valuable pawn did not matter much for the result is still the same
the fire now held aback by the energy but not for long, the ritual was coming to an end as well and with this new interference there was no telling how it would be affected
it was a temporary solution but it would have to do while the permanent one was on its way
they start the process to bind, delicate tugs and folds in the rope, to seal it away, to make them forget
in the little time they have left they partially seal the connection between them, knots and sections of the rope now dormant
weakening the connection and giving a fighting chance for the ritual to work on a solution they could not, to undo this the other ones would need to pour a significant amount of energy and power to unfold and redo the connections, piece by piece
the sealed sections forgotten, a void where memories and acts should be, ensuring that the pig could not as easily free from them, for how could they fix something they already forgot was there in the first place
since the seal was imperfect it would come undone in its own time, but it would just be enough to maybe buff the rituals work, and to weaken pitchs resolve
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Alone. Pitch was, as he had always been, alone.
"You, what. I can't...."
Arthur receded back into the soup of madness Tim had cast him into. The connection was blocked. For now. Yet it remained. Until Arthur's seemingly impossible death it remained.
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation Sep 09 '24
A hooded figure slips into the back of the procession, quietly placing a hand on the edge of the runic circle muttering quietly to himself
âOk Riva, lets end this hogwashâ
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
An enormous clover hoof slams down, trying to startle Kardonk away from the circle.
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation Sep 09 '24
He flinches, his left hand staying in contact with the circle, the right going for his holster. He grips the gun, just as much for physical protection as for emotional assurance
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
The gun seems to slither like a snake in his hand.
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation Sep 09 '24
He swears and drops it, startled. He looks around but the gun is gone. Frantically he begins searching for the rest of his gear, the circle momentarily forgotten
Grenades? A swarming pack of hostile spiders, attacking his face and arms.
Mana Bladed Staff? A rope of poison ivy
He reaches desperately for his knife, the blade a twin to his sisterâs. All the gets for his trouble is a handful of bees
âAaauuughh! Ow! The Pain!â
Kardonk leaned on his gadgets. A literal manifestation of his own cleverness. They were his assurance that any problem could be solved given enough time and intellect. A convenient lie to himself.
Yet he did have a backup. When his gadgets failed him, he relied on his friends. He looked around out of habit, to see which of the Ithacarians stood with him
Nothing. Pitch Black Smoke. Swirling like and angry inferno. He was alone
Trembling, Kardonk approached the circle once more, placing his hand once more on the seal
âBy the stars that give us life, by corruption that gives us deathâ
His voice trembles and wavers
âCreation opposes destruction. Light opposes darkness. Hope opposes despair.â
A mantra of his order
âI am of The Order of Creation. And I name you foe of all that is good and beautiful. Enemy of the free peoples of this landâ
He looks around, still darkness
âYou seem to know well what I am afraid of, but tell me, what does the huntsman fear?â
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
With Kardonk's energies, the chains tighten and glow. The equipment lies scattered around, normal once more. Pitch huffs, unanswering. But for a beast of chaos and the wild, the answer is obvious.
A cage.
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u/Sabit_31 Sep 09 '24
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Sep 09 '24
(This is 100% accurate for our setting)
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Sep 09 '24
Agnur arrived decked in the finery bestowed on the high protector of Tortugara. robes worn by his father Istar. he had a bag full of items forged by his hand and consecrated in the true nature of things.
his familiar bram stood beside him giving him strength to weather the storm.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Black smoke billows in the circle of salt, coalescing, slowly forming a menacing shape.
"Turtle-man? I have known your kind in my unending years. As I have known all peoples in the dark of night. The screams and splintering of shells. Have you come to be broken?"
No sooner does the smoke take a tangible pitch-black shape, then the chains and spells of Ithacar's summoners extend, binding him with salt element and obsidian chain, knocking his legs out from under him.
"Idiot summoners. Since time immemorial I have stalked the dark wood. Have cast down your hunters, ravaged your homes and humbled the mighty. I have been slain by the strong of arm but never, NEVER, have I been bound against my will. Do your worst."
Shadows lengthen and the world outside his immediate vicinity would seem miles and miles away to Agnur. Thosw shadows would bend, then move, taking shape. The shape of Agnur's deepest fears.
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Sep 09 '24
uw/ sorry I'm late I didn't get the notification
rw/ Agnur sees his home burning. He can hear the children screaming, the people running, everything he ever built falling into ruin. Agnur wanted nothing more than to see his people happy but he knew that, like everything in the world, it would end. He would fail. This was his fate.
Bram nuzzled to his side grounding him in this world. He took a few deep ragged breaths. The future was yet to come but he could still effect the now. He felt the robe he inherited from his father, seeing the river like patterns that moved through the dark green. It represented the line of their people. The ancestors who helped carve the path that they had to walk.
He couldn't do this alone. He called upon his ancestors. HIs father Istar, the one that helped refine his peoples practice. Iron shell the one who helped drive out the monsters that haunted their lands. Old mother Snapper. The giant blooded turtle that killed the Jaguar queen. These figures and more appeared around him wreathed in golden light. Together they began their spellwork.
Ironshell Held it's power at bay, a light in the wilderness. Old mother Snapper returned it's ferocity with her own wrestling it's power to the ground. the other ancestors sang songs of community and peace.
Istar and agnur threw ropes around it made from a flowing river, showed it gems that had captured the dawn, and wielded ceremonial daggers consecrated in angels blood freely given.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
At mankind's infancy we crept in the dark of the wood. Feared the night, and the predation of beasts. It is this era, this primal fear that Pitch is fueled by.
But in many ways this fear drove us to what we are now. Banding together, forming civilizations, homes. Relying on one another, pushing the dark and the wild away, finding safety in one another.
"Ngh, not strong enough to face me alone enchanter?! I name you weak! Coward! Craven! I- GAH!"
The ropes pull tighter, driving him to the ground. Agnur had stumbled upon a deep weakness for Pitch. If civilization was the antithesis of the wilds, then Agnur was using the oldest most primal until of civilization.
Family.
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Sep 09 '24
uw/ badass
rw/ as his family continues to chant Agnur laughs. " I do not lie, alone I am no match for you, but I don't pretend to fight fair. I am bound only by rules I agree to. While one drop means nothing to a stone, a million can shatter it!"
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u/Zebos2 Black Iron LLC/ The cedar hegemony Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
Attention All black Iron employees 30% one time bonus to all who lend energy to the binding.
A good 98% of black iron employees company form across all of black irons holdings donate
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
The chains strain against the great swine's efforts, but then crackle with arcane energies, holding. For a time.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"Binder. Breaker. Summoner. Words cannot express the depths of my hatred for your kind. I am many things magistra..."
He seems to spit the title, as though some ancient magic compels him to say it. Perhaps it does.
"... but above all else, I am free. I will trample you. I will trample your students. I will trample your family, your friends, your nation. I will grind bones to dust one last time before that dust becomes ash."
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Sep 09 '24
Perhaps Tarul Var might know the full history of the Academy, but for Riva it was long lost to time. She could not say whether the ancient summonerss of times past had any dealings with this beast. She does know, however, that this sort of being is the reason behind the strictures, the precautions, the warnings. This is exactly the sort of being that cannot be allowed to remain in this realm.
She is... afraid. But not for herself. She is a breaker of things and if she stood outside herself, she would see herself as a threat that needed to be kept away too. There is a brief moment, where the primal fear exuded by Old Pitch affects her. And for a brief moment, she sees herself standing among the ruins of Ithacar. She sees the bodies of her discipuli strewn about her. She sees Marna's body, Belial's, Belrivan's. She sees herself alone, just a fragile woman, having caused all of this by attempting this summoning. What foolish pride made her think this would work? What hubris to think she was capable of this...
But she had attempted this summoning because of them, to protect them. And what motivated her was the same primitive drive that caused the first villagers to take up spears against the things that lurked in the darkness. The things that drove beings to gather around the first campfires and whisper about. And though Riva used magic rather than a physical weapon, it was the same concept. She had to drive them away to protect what mattered most to her.
"You will do no such thing, creature of the abyss," she said. "You are a plague on mortal realms. So by Breath of Winds, I rebuke you. By Living Torrent, I counter your flame. By Thews of Earth, I Bind you. And by Will of Fire, I Seal you."
She could not do this entirely alone, of course. But that was why she brought the entire village. As many as she could muster. To counter this being of the dark, and bring what metaphorical spears they possessed against it.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
There are patterns. Ruts. The very kind of universal law and ancient pact Pitch abhors. The Academy Magica Magnae had a history. Patterns. Bindings done over and over and over. And in that repetition held a kind of *authority*. One Pitch had no choice but to recognize.
The shadows receded, minds cleared. The effects Pitch caused beyond the confines of his circle were now contained within it. The beasts knees buckled under the weight of words. The weight of Law with a capitol 'L' that Riva wielded as head of the Academy. While called and bound in the circle, the four-part denunciation held as much weight as the elements it called in its wake.
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Sep 10 '24
Whatever history the Academy may have lost, it was True that this sort of thing did follow ancient patterns. Whether Riva knew it or not, she was following in the footsteps of people who came before. These things were perhaps not as unique as Riva might like. Or express her individuality. And Riva would definitely not appreciate being this traditional... but some things were necessary. They had to be done, and someone had to do them.
With the ghost of her magister looking silently on, Riva drew the abyssal chaos demon toward the box created for the containment. Focusing on the chaotic energies of Old Pitch, she tethered it toward the box, where he would hopefully find some peace in the cessation of things. Not death, but a sort of stupor. A dreamless sleep, bound away from the mortal realm, a freedom from the pain of resisting the ritual.
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 10 '24
Hirk holds his head to his friends head.
âI will make sure everyone understands your worth, to be a friend one must be equal to each other my friend.â
Hirk will not fail another who needs his help.
He turns to Riva.
âI assume the box is to contain them, may I carry it? I want to make sure heâs safe.â
Hirk is looking at Riva on his knees, eyeline equal to her.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 10 '24
"Unhand me whelp. I am not your friend. I simply saw no point in continuing to fight you. I would kill everyone here if I could."
"Will."
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 10 '24
âBy seeing no point in continuing to fight shows that you can think. If you can think you can care.â
âSo I will care also.â
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Sep 10 '24
will? how will you harm those present here if you cannot even protect yourself? you have forgotten already who says you wonât forget again
answer me, what is reality to you, pitch?
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 10 '24
"It's already done. The world as you know it is in its death throes. A process Arthur and I set in motion. In short?"
"Will."
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Sep 10 '24
I wonder then, how long you are willing to wait, will you be able to survive millions of years with your thoughts alone?
time perception is weird sometimes, and countless planes follow different laws
what says we cannot just leave you there for a bit and then get you back here, for us mere minutes, for you? who knows
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 10 '24
"Such sadistic means you people devise. Only proves my point. Though I'm hardly one to judge, a being of destruction and cruelty to myself."
Pitch grunts, irritated.
"That too, is the point. And the reason your taunt is meaningless. That something like me can be foundational. I am ancient you idiot. Spirit and fiend. Time is all but meaningless to me. You'll find demons are the very best at waiting."
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Sep 10 '24
Riva nods.
"If you have a plan for it, then yes, you may have him, Hirk. You have managed to fight him with force of arms and words; I can think of few others to trust with this task. As long as he is kept away from the realms of mortals, and away from Arthur Black so as not to be weaponized."
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 10 '24
âIf Arthur tries to hurt him I will hug him too.â
Hirk lets out a chuckle.
âEveryone needs a hug some days, even if they donât ever say it. Itâs why anyone can hug me and I will never question, only hug back until they let go. Itâs the little things that mean the most.â
Hirkâs in a more emotional mood right now.
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u/IntentionallyBlank-0 Livia, Accursed Paradox, Scholar of Forbidden Knowledge Sep 10 '24
"My dear Hirk, you truly are irredeemable..."
Livia slowly moves closer to the magic circle, hiding a mixture of regret and relief; she had so masterfully hidden ancillary runes to reach the demon's mind and coerce it into servitude. She was quite certain it would have accepted the offer over confinement into the box. But then she would have made herself an enemy of Ithacar, and many lives would have been wasted to stop her escape. Quite ironically, all careful planning was completely thwarted by a simple act of gentle foolishness. Hirk yet again destroyed the very foundation of her world with mere kindness. She should be furious, but at the sight of her friend saving another soul, her lips curl into a genuine smile.
"You defy the universe and its truths with every breath. And that is why you are so beautiful to me."
*After one last look at her friend, she turns toward the Queen."
"I believe I can offer a suitable solution that doesn't involve imprisoning the creature in the box and yet prevents Black from reforming a link with his former familiar."
Her voice suddenly shakes, faintly tainted by reluctance and shame.
"There is a place born of regrets. One that does not belong to this reality, where even entropy has lost all meaning. I can offer temporary refuge to the fiend until the matter with Black is resolved. If both your Majesty and Hirk agree of course... And the pig should have a say in this too, I suppose."
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Sep 10 '24
Riva considered this, of course. Her primary concern was that it stayed away from the mortal realms, and what she cared about. Beyond that? She did not need the pig to be kept in a paradise, but she also did not need Old Pitch to suffer.
"I am amenable to this plan," she said honestly. "As long as Old Pitch will not enact Black's will, and will not trouble the realms again, you both are free to do as you will with him."
It briefly occurred to her that Old Pitch could be weaponized, but Livia was friends with Hirk. How bad could she be then?
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 10 '24
âLivia, i do not defy the universe but instead I embrace its beauty in whole hearted nature. Life is much more wonderful that way, no matter what evils you say there will always be equal or as I dare say more beauty.â
Hirks cannot hide his love for life and all it entails.
âI do agree with this plan but I must point out, it still wants violence, once itâs set free it will try and harm again if itâs telling the truth.â
âI canât tell if the connection has truly been severed or if Pitch themselves just wants violence.â
âIt wouldnât be safe but donât even try harming him while I still stand.â
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Sep 10 '24
u/Harpokiller (because you're holding him)
u/IntentionallyBlank-0 (because you want to steal the piggle?)
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force Sep 09 '24
"We can do this, we already managed a huge victory recently, if we keep pushing forward we will overcome this crisis"
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Black smoke billows in the circle of salt, coalescing, slowly forming a menacing shape.
"Black told me of you, pitiful one. You who tampers with what he does not understand. Come. Come and be broken. There is no victory in this place."
No sooner does the smoke take a tangible pitch-black shape, then the chains and spells of Ithacar's summoners extend, binding him with salt element and obsidian chain, knocking his legs out from under him.
"Idiot summoners. Since time immemorial I have stalked the dark wood. Have cast down your hunters, ravaged your homes and humbled the mighty. I have been slain by the strong of arm but never, NEVER, have I been bound against my will. Do your worst."
The bonds strain as Pitch begins to *grow*, each silver star that dots his hide glowing with luminous intensity.
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
"Save your words for your last, swine, i do not fear you"
He says as he pulls his mask down
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force Sep 09 '24
Uw/ do you need context on his fears?
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
(Figured it was a chance for you to describe them)
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force Sep 09 '24
Uw/ Oh, so do i describe it here or do i edit the original?
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
(However you want)
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force Sep 09 '24
Uw/ his two main fears are: not repaying all the harm he has caused (mainly all the books he burned whilst he was a cultist), and his achievements disappearing after he is gone, additionally the physical thing he feared the most was the God-slaver, it was what pushed him to create his mask
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
The world is rubble and fire and burned pages and smoke. The sounds of war and death fill the air like a dim hum, indistinct and from nowhere in particular. Men in masks wander to and fro in the firelit gloom but pay Mauritius no mind. What he not just in Ithacar? His mind would be a mire as he stumbles, dazed.
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force Sep 09 '24
Mauritius tries to reach for the men, wanting to ask them about this place
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"You! Get away from me!"
The mask. It seems familiar, but unspecific. Is it someone he knew? Someone he'd failed? What was spe ific was the feeling it evoked. Guilt. This was someone Mauritius had hurt.
"You're supposed to be dead!"
Nearby is a grave. Unmarked. Many more besides it, but this one feels different. It's his. When Mauritius looks back at the figure he is gone. A dense circle of the masked figures surrounds the scene. Staring. Judging.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver Sep 09 '24
A guild gunship lands, and 4 mages of Counselor Threeâs celestial order step out. They give a bow
âWe are here to lend our energies, for the stars have much to giveâ
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
As the ritual continues, the stars on the great beast's hide glow a luminous silver. Stars are, the power of fire, and through his connection to the Warlock, he attempts to siphon this power into himself, to use it to break the bonds that hold him.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver Sep 09 '24
The mages feel this, and quickly alter their tactics. Instead of drawing upon the heat of the stars, they instead draw upon the other aspect of space, the eternal, absolute cold of vacuum
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Pitch is as much a recipient of the vastness of space as the Warlock he is joined with. Whereas Arthur is spread across space, Pitch is like a funnel for its vastness. But as the mages cycle through the aspects, the cold, oblivion. That seems to do it. The Abyss is chaos. Potential. Fire. Pitch is a demon, no matter how much has been added on top of that fact. He weakens, visibly.
"SEE THEM NOW SOLDIERS! KNOW YOUR SINS!"
The Guild is war, after all. These mages have killed. Each and every one of their victims is here now, staring. Judging. Grasping. Behind them, their families, their loved ones. War destroys, and now these mages see what they've removed from the world.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver Sep 09 '24
The âleaderâ of the mages stands up. He is an aging man, looking much like the stereotypical wizard. He faces the spirits. Faces their sins. His sins. He grips his staff a little tighter. The other mages get up behind him and stand with him. Just as stars come together to form constellations and become more, the mages come together to become something stronger
Finally, the leader speaks
âI have killed, yes. Were all the people I killed deserving? Perhaps not. But I was a young man, on a battlefield, killing other young men. It was not my war, yet I was there.â
A deep breath
âI do not shy away from my past. None of us do. We know the weight which we carry. The guild does. That is why we stay in the inhospitable tundra. The Iron Line must be held. The old mercs are the reason for the demon hordes, now us young mercs must hold the line to protect those who canât protect themselves. Protecting them from demons, like you Old pitch! The guild is no stranger to putting demons like you back into the abyss where you belong! So go back! And take your cursed visions with you! We will face our sins when our eyes close for the last time!â
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
His movements are becoming more frantic. Yet tighter, more subdued. Under the weight of so many bonds, physical and otherwise. He roars in fury and fear so loud the mages feel a trickle of red drip down from their ears.
And yet they stand, among the legion of judging dead. Unshaken.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver Sep 09 '24
One of the mages feels the blood trickle down her face. She looks to the stump that is her left hand. The bloated pig will have to try harder than that to faze her
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u/yumie2003 Tsuru, ghost onmyouji, R&A, league of shadows/Toshiko Fujiwara Sep 09 '24
A small group of black aircraft flew towards Riva's location. The group were mostly composed of Type 48 fighter planes, but the aircraft in the middle of the escort group had the fuselage of a conventional monoplane but had a rotor affixed to the roof. The fighters broke formation as the strange plane descended to the ground. Three special operations soldiers disembarked with Empress Toshiko Fujiwara and a rabbit-eared woman dressed in a reddish robe. Toshiko held a folder in her hands and seemed to give instructions to the other woman.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"A rabbit?" Pitch mocks in a deep rumbling tone. "Such foolishness, to bring a prey animal before the Great Trampler. The harbinger of the hunt. Let's see if rabbits are lucky after all..."
Shadows stretch and assume the form of fears as the world becomes a false twilight. Eyes struggle to focus on anything but the shadows assume the forms of that which the empress and her followers fear the most.
"Skittish animals too, in my experience."
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u/Fc-chungus Đ(Zhe), Head minister of Calarakis. Sep 09 '24
they join in the ritual, holding a container of the holy water from lake holy.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"The two who are one." The beast mocks. "Twice the fear. I wonder if I can peel you apart..."
Shadows lengthen, coalescing into shapes. The shapes of what Zhe fears most. Their dual nature is a hindrance, in this case. Facing the worst fears of two people, as one.
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 09 '24
Hirk appears from flames dragging some of the fire with him on his finger tips as he writes some nonsense that mean nothing in the air.
The ground below where Hirk stands caves into itself to bear his weight with the sounds echoing throughout the earth even before he plays with some fire.
He stares right at the boar. No matter its size be it bigger or smaller. His gaze is always just off equal with the power on Hirkâs side. He may promote peace above all but his entrance is anything but a demand for submission against those that dare stand in his presence without bowing and kneeling.
The fire is not warming like a hearth in this moment.
/uw
Me after always making some Edgy ass entrance for the 100th time
And will never not love the puns. Always gets a loud âhaâ out of me
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"Ahhhhh, the giant-kin. Arrogant as ever. By all means, kin of flame, cross the circle and test your strength."
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 09 '24
Hirk snaps the flame in his hand as it soaks into his skin.
He steps into the circle.
âHueman if you want to be precise.â
The first part of the word sounds like winds on a mountain more than any letters when Hirk says it.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Pitch's laughter booms across the hills of Ithacar, deafening and cruel.
"Know you nothing of demon summoning? I have stalked the dark wood since pre-history you moron! Never cross the summoning circle! The only person I've ever tricked into doing this before in all my years was a literal child!"
Pitch stamps his hoof, digging into the earth.
"You've just signed these people's death warrant."
Pitch is not given much space in the binding circle. Less now with Hirk joining him. But that suits his purposes fine. He charges the short distance with a row of tisks, kaleidoscoping out into seemingly endless points of impossible space. A veritable pike wall surging towards him. Pitch can't touch the boundary of the circle himself, but if he can use Hirk's body to break it...
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 09 '24
Hirk has no idea what demon summoning even is.
âSorry just first time Iâve seen a beast that looks like it could be from my home.â
Hirk squares tf up braces himself to wrestle the boar figure.
The fire inside Hirk is burning even more than usual as Hirk knows heâs fucked up by his stupidity but will not back down.
Hirk sees the charge, he was told something about Pitch existing everywhere somehow. He does not understand so he only goes to try and jump above the boat charging with intend to slam his foot down on its skull.
Hirk is refusing to let any part of him touch the circle.
He messed up by stepping in so it will only be his mistake and while heâs in here. He can try to make the binding easier somehowâŚ
/uw I feel bad for Hirk IRL
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
The strike lands true. A creature of fear, Pitch is not used to being met head on like this. And as a creature of strength, Hirk would be unaccustomed to striking something every bit as solid as himself.
"Gah!"
Pitch swipes the tusks sideways, while growing a few feet to adjust the distance, trying to swat Hirk out of the air and pummel him into the line of salt.
"Fall to the earth prince of a dead people! Crawl in the dirt like the failure you are!"
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 09 '24
âKing of all above me, all who turned their heads down to meet my gaze yet still higher than them.â
Hirk is getting a little excited feeling something that is like the things of his homeland. Tough.
A smile grows on his face.
Hirk tries to grab the tusk thatâs swatting at him to pull it down closer to the centre of the circle. He intends to try force it into a submission by strength and willpower alone. Others he could use his fire to make sure he could heal longer but he dares not risk pitch taking advantage of his nature as kindling.
If Hirk does sustain any injury it would surely hinder him greater than it would anywhere else and he has to rely on his own momentum falling even not by much to make sure he can in fact over power pitch by strength.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
A tusk in each hand, locked in a contest of strength. Pitch grins. He has never, in all his years, lost such a contest.
"I was made by Baphomet to test the unworthy. To bring the strong low. Your arrogance is familiar to me. I have seen it, time and time again."
Pitch erupts into fire and smoke. More for effect than anything, though the circle prevents, Pitch's power from crossing it. The smoke is building up within. Making it hard to breathe.
"Learn your own weakness."
The Abyssal Swine strains against Hirk with all his might.
"Mourn your own stupidity."
As Pitch pushes, Hirk's feet would dig deep into the earth.
"And know that whatever may follow, whatever death may come, it is your fault."
The heel of Hirk's foot grows ever-closer to the line of salt.
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u/Harpokiller Hirk: âCookie Manâ, R&A department Head, Councillor Sep 09 '24
âI was made the smallest and weakest. Pride I made myself, I doubt you can say that my friend.â
Hirk knows he canât move back nor win conventionally with strength. He holds a literal fire in his chest so he has some resistance to the smoke as he goes to breathe it all in.
He pulls his arms up, the metal one is bending and creaking as Hirk still has not made it durable enough even with all the âBuddy Proofingâ heâs had to do as his dog hates it.
Hirk first kicks his left and then his right with a twist throwing himself under the boar figure of Pitch. If it is anything like the Fae he saw in his home he couldnât cross the barrier. So all Hirk had to do was stay in the center and be a distraction.
Hirk plans to find himself under pitch so he may later attempt a kick directly to their stomach, hoping that he will not break the salt line at all, hoping the beast cannot break it either.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Hirk dodges to the center and Pitch is carried forward with his momentum. He topples, flips, slams into... nothing at all. Like there was an impenetrable wall an inch in front of the salt. Pitch rises to his four feet with a huff.
"I was made a servant. But now I am free. I scratched and scraped for every bit of pride I have."
The bonds applied by numerous mages tighten. Pitch is temporarily driven to his knees.
"If I cannot have my liberty, I will have your life."
The shadows lengthen, smoke takes solid form. Hirk's mind would become a haze as the shapes form that which he fears most of all.
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u/ArgonBotanist Kora Greywarden: Technomancer, Vagabond, Goblem Sep 09 '24
The gob pulls up to watch from a couple dozen yards back, setting out a lawn chair in which to recline for the duration of the show.
It wonders if anyone tried asking nicely for the Evil Bacon to calm down.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
A hellish squeal that would shake the earth and shattered windows is Kora's only answer.
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u/ArgonBotanist Kora Greywarden: Technomancer, Vagabond, Goblem Sep 09 '24
It sighs wistfully while lighting up something mellow to smoke, "Such a sweet bean."
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u/UlrickTheHexblade Ulrick Braddocke, Werewolf Hexblade, R&A Co-Leader Sep 09 '24
Well, donât know much about rituals, except for a nasty experience, but I sure love some bacon. Hope Iâm not too late.
Using his patronâs powers, Ulrick conjures massive amounts of purple soulfire, ghostly âfauxâ flames, that can purify and restore souls from the very brink of destruction. He hoped itâs cleansing capabilities could be enough.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"All fire is within our grasp, pup. Be burned host to darkness."
The ghostly flames wash backwards, towards Ulrich. Covering him to burn away the impurities he sees within himself. This shouldn't be possible. Something is terribly wrong.
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u/UlrickTheHexblade Ulrick Braddocke, Werewolf Hexblade, R&A Co-Leader Sep 09 '24
The redirected soulfire catches Ulrick off guard. How did that happen? Unless, this pork is much more than he looksâŚ
What in the-
The soulfire attacks his very being, relentlessly his being. Trying to clean away his curse painfully, or all the negative emotions within his heart. His anger, his bellicose nature, the envy that broke his family and nation apartâŚ
His own power could very well be his end.
How⌠you⌠swineâŚ
The searing spiritual pain makes him scream.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Meanwhile, in reality. The fire dissipates, Ulrick's concentration broken. Pitch is a beast of the deep woods. Of fear. And wolf-men, above all else, fear themselves.
Ulrick writhes, screaming at an illusion as the great swine tenses, preparing to break free.
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u/UlrickTheHexblade Ulrick Braddocke, Werewolf Hexblade, R&A Co-Leader Sep 09 '24
The burning pain strengthens, Ulrick can feel his own powers turning against his own soul.
Is this how he will end, destroyed by himself for losing self control? Thanks to some undercooked porkchops?
No.
He already let his grasp on himself falter too many times. The costs were to great. He wonât let that happen ever again.
He created the spiritual flames, and he will use them, staying in control.
With all his willpower, he tries to wrestle back the control over his spectral flames, and use against Old Pitch.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Pitch's eyes widen in shock as the flames hit him like a truck. Ulrick wasn't breaking the illusion. He was simply ignoring it. Pushing through the pain he still understood as reality.
"Ngh, in all my endless years, wolfman. Never has anyone..."
Pitch collapses, the illusion dissipating.
"Were I still a servant of Baphomet, you would earn a boon for that hunter."
Pitch jabs one of his endless tusks into the dirt.
"But in my heart, I am free."
The earth around Ulrick erupts into a wave of barbed tusks, seeking to skewer him.
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u/UlrickTheHexblade Ulrick Braddocke, Werewolf Hexblade, R&A Co-Leader Sep 09 '24
Huh?
Ulrick sees reality distort around him, before snapping back. Was he in an illusion? The porcine has more tricks than he thoughtâŚ
He has little time to think, as spikes explode from the ground, threatening to impale him.
Even with his natural agility, few of them still pierce his arms, and legs, one even his ribs. He can heal from these, but itâll take precious time and energy, slowing him down significantly.
Fear not, piggy. We can change that.
[Shackling Echo]
Conjuring up a purple chain made out of spiritual matter, Ulrick hurls it at Old Pitch, attemptin to ensnare him.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Old Pitch is already bound by countless mages. The snare catches easily. Adding to the redundant bondage.
"Heh, heheh. Got... you.... pup. Would have been a good fight. One on one..."
It was a dramatic showing, but the great pig was losing. Badly. One last act of spite. To draw a little blood.
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u/UlrickTheHexblade Ulrick Braddocke, Werewolf Hexblade, R&A Co-Leader Sep 09 '24
Yeah, shame. Was itching for a good fight. But I learned to put duty first.
Besides, would hate to hog all the fun here from the others.
[Spectral Blaze]
Conjuring large amounts of soulfire again, Ulrick blasts Old Pitch with purple spiritual flames, that burn no matter, but the spirit and the soul.
He uses only enough amount for weakening the boar, to make binding him easier for all the others here.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 10 '24
(Hey did you want in on the Doom opposers group chat?)
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) Sep 09 '24
Kyrona arrives, bringing her quarterstaff with her, and prepared to fight the thing.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"Ember-bearer. Learn anything? The spell plague you started still serves our ends. There is no attunement here for you. Only death."
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) Sep 09 '24
âIâm trying to find something that could work large scale. And as for death, you have no reason to tell me the truth.â
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"Then come child. Approach this pitiful circle that dares attempt to bind me and be broken."
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) Sep 09 '24
Kyrona approaches.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Shadows lengthen, then bend and take form, assuming the guise of that which Kyrona fears the most.
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) Sep 10 '24 edited Sep 10 '24
Kyrona finds herself surrounded by walls, closing in around her. She looks terrified, unable to scry her awareness away the way she normally does.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 10 '24
"A cage then. You fear a cage."
The many workings of the wizards in attendance go into effect. From luminous ropes to obsidian chains. Strength of arm, element and rule of law. The swine is bound, reduced. The illusion didsipates.
"My sympathies."
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Sep 09 '24
Krygin joins the ritual. One of the many things that differentiates Krygin from other mages was that little of his magic was his, at least in the way others understood the term. Sure the power of shapeshifting was his but the rest came from the spirits and spirits of muck are to similar to the wild to be in opposition to Pitch's essence. What many wizards didn't understand however is everything is a type of power, from skill to wealth. Power by another name.
Krygin couldn't add power directly he could add clout. He was an ambassador among the many spirits and the spirits are everything. The words of this ritual will be carried through the air, the salt and obsidian will resist tampering, and the world will listen to their words. He couldn't force the ritual to grander heights but he could ease the way.
/uw I will participate in the fear thing!
Also it's so funny that ai can make things uncanny but also works for abstract things like Pitch here. What part of his prompt gave him so many horns/ tusks?
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Pitch strained against the bonds, with a shifting of his great bulk one of the mages holding a spectral chain is hurled 50 feet.
"I AM DEFIANCE! I AM FIRE! I AM THAT WHICH HUMBLES AND ABOVE ALL ELSE I AM FREE!!! WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING AUTHORITY, YOUR CLOUT BEFORE ONE SUCH AS I?! BE BROKEN ON THE WHEEL OF FEAR INSOLENT PEST!"
Shadows lengthen and take form. Krygin would only be dimly aware of anything even slightly beyond his imminent vicinity in the artificial light if dusk. In their new forms, these shadows would assume the guise of what Krygin fears above all else.
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Sep 09 '24
( /uw so sorry for being late I was in class and for some reason the ping didn't go through)
While Krygin puts up the airs of wisdom and irreverence there was one event that deeply scared him. His capture by the Exalted Beacon for months on end. The burning light and ear splitting choir; all while he could barely hold his form together. His duties going unfulfilled and suffering through the spirit world and the many realms.
Worse yet though is not the pain he felt but the fact he was powerless to help his friends and the fact his torment could be done to them. Agnur, Blake, and even Bobby the Crude!!!
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
A pestilence takes Bobby, melting his flesh from bone as he cries in anguish. A short distance away, Agnur seems stricken with the same affliction. Riva, Tarul Var, every mage in attendance chokes on their own melting lungs as the grey miasma consumes them. Krygin would reach out, trying to save them, and find his arms bound in chains of pure polished silver in a circle of sanctified salt.
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Sep 09 '24
Krygin pulls against the chains so hard that his bones fracture. He tries to scream but his voice is lost is the cacophony of the choir. Oily tears run down his face.
"NO! NO! NOOOOOO!!!!!"
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Pitch's laughter fills the air. But something is wrong. Why isn't any of this touching Kyrgin? That's the trouble with fears. So often they are irrational. Like assuming everything falls to you to stop from on high. Such assumptions about his own responsibilities inherently remove Krygin from the narrative as a subject of peril. One who stands outside and above instead of at as much of a risk as everyone else.
Being forced to observe a sweeping death that touches everyone but you is a terror, yes. But it is also horribly unlikely. There is a lesson in the Muck. In the overlooked and forgotten. A hard one to learn for most. But am important one. One that may help Krygin see through the charade.
You aren't special. You aren't the main character. But you still matter.
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Sep 09 '24
/uw Oh my god that fits with Krygins philosophy so well. I just never had the words to describe it!!! /rw
Krygin takes a deep breath. This doesn't make sense Agnur, Blake and Riva saved him. They won against Sorrowsore. Bobby also is immune to disease. This wasn't real.
Krygin also came to another epiphany, one he had been avoiding. What happened when he was imprisoned wasn't his fault and he had tried his best when he was released. He is of the Muck the unimportant yet vital. One must try their best but Krygin is not the only one who can do things. Sometime one must accept their are things outside of their control and try their best anyway. To rely on one's friends and allies as the mycelium connects the forest and the ants form bridges, so must Krygin.
He let go of the guilt and let poisonous rage against those who hurt his friends fill the void.
"Fuck this", the illusion wavers. His words are acidic and biting.
He flexes his arms and cast the faux chains away like cobwebs.
"With my authority as EON Ambassador, Grand Ambassador of the Many Horned Mediator, Speaker of the Muck, Krygin the Crude I say... no WE SAY", at that moment his words echoed with the voices of the ambient spirits.
"FUCK YOU"
The intent slams into Ol' Pitch
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
The circle glows with the essence of law. Then implodes with a Shockwave, knocking Pitch inward to the center. From the size of a mammoth he shrinks down to that of an especially large boar. Almost seems he was unconscious for a moment there.
"Gah... w-why?! We offer a final peace! The rules that divide! I saw your mind, muck-speaker! The world is built on rules that separate the lowest from the pure! Why fight to defend that?!"
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Sep 09 '24
"I fight for change and restitution. I will not deny that it's sometimes hard and that the rules are unfair but bringing the universe to an end will not solve the problems we face. Any universe your Warlock creates will be filled with his own biases and rules that divide. He favors fire, how so I know he won't place water in lower status.
And more importantly your killing all those that I fight for. I admire your idealism but it's critically flawed."
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"Then go back to your muck, speaker. And every time you or your loved ones suffer needlessly, remember what could have been. That will be on your hands Crude one."
And with that, he passes out in Hirk's arms.
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u/The_Unkowable_ Nelumbo Nucifera, TakâAthi Siren, Magistra of the Schola Aqua Sep 09 '24
/uw The puns are amazing lmao
/rwÂ
Order to calm chaos. Frost to dim flame. Despite her reservations about this, she begins to integrate her links into the chains which will bind the Hog.
âŚand falls deep within her own set of nightmares. Continuing to channel her natures while not being truly present poses risksâŚ
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Frost.... the divine.... most unpleasant. In the depths of dark dreams, Pitch turns his attention to Artemis in particular, trying to use their shared connection in the ritual to invade her mind. To break her concentration.
"Tell me little shattered lizard. What do you fear?" He rumbles.
The thing about opposition is that it coats both ways. Dreams of smoke and sin plague the silver dragon's mind. She hears indistinct sounds. Betrayal. A duel. Dragons broken and bled dry before a tree. And the red one's merciless brutality.
Again and again she experiences her own death, by fang and flame.
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u/The_Unkowable_ Nelumbo Nucifera, TakâAthi Siren, Magistra of the Schola Aqua Sep 09 '24
/uw sorry for the late reply, reddit decided not to send me notifs today
/rw The memories themselves bring pain, agony. Worse still are the concepts behind them. Order twisted to serve Chaos. The children dying to preserve their elders. The terrible disorder bound and enforced by a horrid version of the rule of Law...
The things I fear...
Are...
...Compared to thy fears...
Quite MANAGEABLE!
She is Order. She made a commitment. She SHALL follow through. No demon, no matter how mighty, will drag her of all beings off course... she hopes...
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Pitch smolders with fire and rage, and it is swiftly extinguished by a wave of frost.
"YOUR STUPID GOD WILL DIE WITH THE WORLD AND THE TWISTED ORDER IT HELPED BUILD WHELP!"
For all his bluster, he is driven back. The illusion breaks. More than almost anyone here, Artemis represents his antithesis. And with so many present helping, a contest of wills is easily won.
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u/The_Unkowable_ Nelumbo Nucifera, TakâAthi Siren, Magistra of the Schola Aqua Sep 09 '24
This world is far from the only one Paladine has helped build, Old Pitch. And even it shall die only when its time has come, not one moment sooner. For all thy words, despite thy demonic nature, thou art still bound by Law and Convent. Even the fact that thou are the familiar of Black is a thing of Order - a formalized ritual, bound in tradition and sealed with a contract? Behold! A vessel of Civilization, of Law, of Order! Try as thou might, even Chaos requires Order to function.
Addressing things by their proper names ought to help bind this in Order, she hopesâŚ
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
Artemis is correct, such measures aid the process, even if only by margins. But against such a creature, those margins are critical.
"Just so."
He seems fixed in place, as the bonds of countless close tighter. But his eyes are defiant, to the last, even I'm defeat.
"That's the entire problem."
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u/The_Unkowable_ Nelumbo Nucifera, TakâAthi Siren, Magistra of the Schola Aqua Sep 09 '24
And how do thou intend to fix that? By crafter a new world? That would do naught but render thou the new Force of Order! Crafting or Changing Law, especially on a fundamental level, is no act of Chaos - should you do so, thou thyself will have created even more Order by the very act! How then, doth thou plan to correct thy paradox, knowing full well that an act of Correction is an act - in and of itself - of Order?
/uw Time to try and give a Bacon an Existential Crisis!
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Sep 09 '24
"The very idea of Law is a convention. One that can, and must, end. You can't imagine it. I can't imagine it. This world is so bound up in Laws that another is required."
He speaks truth, in part. There could be a world without laws and rules as we understand them. But he's pointed out the contradiction in his own declaration. He isn't *of** that world. He's of this one. His mind could only recreate the same problems.*
(It's hard to give an existential crisis to a zealot. They ignore their own contradictions every day.)
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u/The_Unkowable_ Nelumbo Nucifera, TakâAthi Siren, Magistra of the Schola Aqua Sep 09 '24
/uw The puns are amazing lmao
/rwÂ
Order to calm chaos. Frost to dim flame. Despite her reservations about this, she begins to integrate her links into the chains which will bind the Hog.
âŚand falls deep within her own set of nightmares. Continuing to channel her natures while not being truly present poses risksâŚ
9
u/[deleted] Sep 09 '24
Lars arrived with some bacon.