Roll 2 Dodge: Prismpunk

Zerovirus wrote:I don't suppose you could, uh, just do less things as a sort of voluntary thing? I won't try to inhibit you guys in any way but the longer your actions are the longer my update will take.

Sure, I usually try to restrict my actions, and most of my post is roll-less character building for the humor. Will try to cut down on post length .

ShadoWKilleR wrote:HEY, that's MY crysknife! GIVE IT BACK

OH CRAP THAT'S THE KNIFE THAT SAVED MY LIFE ISN'T IT Thought it was my own. Suppose I should give it back.
Dutifully return the crysknife to Allene/Shadow. Threaten to absorb her/his gun if there are complaints

Shadowkiller: Place a regular bolt into the golem.
Two Possibility Nodes Unlocked!
Selfdestruct: 9 SUCCESS
Crystalbolt: 9 SUCCESS

Your golem turns transparent for a moment before immediately settling into a spicy orange-pink, its form flowing like water before settling in crystalline formations. One thing that's different here from everyone elses' golem is that your golem, like you, is apparently feminine; subtle curves formed from smoothly glossing facets of crystals reflect its self-appropriated gender. The golem looks around for a second, then experimentally does a few hops on its new, fragile-looking legs; finding no issue, it turns back to you. You grin at it and pat it on the shoulder. You also note that your golem is smaller than the others, the same size as a normal human being with maybe one or two inches of extra height.

8680: Bind my golem to Shadefang.
Three Possibility Nodes Unlocked!
Bloodthirst: 10 SUCCESS
Polearm: 9 SUCCESS
Seeker: 6 SUCCESS

Your golem twists and turns, elegant leaves of armor sprouting all up around in the same blackened metal as your glaive. Under a piece of armor affixed to the wrist, in a flash of red light, grows a lance of energy that in an instant seems to writhe like a raging serpent before solidifying into a long lance of blackened steel with inset carvings of shredding fangs and rending claws.

The tall, lithe being bows to you in an elegant motion, and you nod. This is quite acceptable, though you feel that it, like you, will probably be more suited to fast strikes than close, continuous fighting.

Bigkahuna: Bind my golem with my master-node of teleportation. Name him Paul (some real-life significance, there).
Three Possibility Nodes Unlocked!
Discform: 1 FAILURE
Teleportation: 8 SUCCESS
Laserblades: 18 SUCCESS

All over the golem, concentric circles slowly sink into the golem at equivalent chakra points of the human body, creating detailed geometric patterns when two waves of circles intersect each other. In the center of each circle is a face- and unlike your own, these are exquisitely carved, a plethora of emotions being shown in the finest bas-relief of the ancient sculptors. Though your golem seems to grow no extra details and actually looks quite heavy and slow, you realize the golem has teleportation powers as the concentric circular indentations all light up with the same blue light as your disc. The golem slowly, ponderously, bows to one knee, and you nod in acceptance.

"And from this day forth, your master names you... Paul."

The golem rises as you smile.

"Paul? The hell kind of name is that? You should have named it something manly- like Garen!"

"Mark, what- are you ARM-WRESTLING with your golem that weighs at least ten times your weight?"

"Yes? And? I can totally handle hi-"

Whatever he had left to say was cut off when he got sent flying into the wall. Sighing on the inside, you and Paul quicked followed him...

Wesfreak: Put my sharp mantis claw into the item slot in the golem and bind it to myself.
Two Possibility Nodes Unlocked!
Insectform: 8 SUCCESS
Armblade: 6 SUCCESS

Your golem writhes- and its back explodes, extra matter writhing out in a burst to reconverge into a new form, creating a creature with four legs over two- and as you stare, the arms abruptly shatter and are replaced with deadly sharp blades. The head is that of an unidentified insect, halfway between goliath beetle and mosquito, and light steely blue armor covers the entire thing in a flexible carapace. You suspect that your golem will be an agile fighter- and as you watch, the thorax recedes on itself and the back legs melt smoothly in the front one, leaving a biped in its place. The golem bows to you, and you decide maybe to try riding it later. It certainly looks built for riding, at least.

Jackbarber: Make a copy of my Runed Gloves with my Normal Leather Gloves, making sure to at the least get Stone Grasp and the Kinetic burst if I fail any others, and Fortify them, slowly place them into the belly of the Beast, watching as it takes it's new form.
Seven Possibility Nodes Unlocked!
Fire: 18 SUCCESS
Lightning: 2 FAILURE
Water: 4 FAILURE
Wind: 12 SUCCESS
Kinetic: 13 SUCCESS
Stonegrasp: 7 SUCCESS
Gauntlets: 11 SUCCESS

Your golem lights up in the instant that you insert your item, a plethora of fluorescent colors running over- and as the rainbow fades, you see three primary colors- red, yellow, and blue- fighting each other for dominance. In the end, red overrules the others, and the sphere of light becomes crimson before abruptly fading-

To reveal a heavy-set fighter, armed with dual gauntlets of solid stone, fingertips sticking out from the gauntlets as to almost be vestigial. Transparent tubes reveal a system of contained heat inside, flames chasing each other up and down circulatory passageways propeled by kinetic power. In the back, dual pumps continually cycle air in and out of the golem, like a giant furnace, and occasionally one of the pistons in the shoulders emits a puff of flame. The golem folds its arms at you, to which you're not sure how to respond- but if appearances mean anything, your golem will certainly be kicking a WHOLE lot of butt.

johnratchet3: Stride up to the golem, deliberate the matter carefully, and then firmly plant my hammer into the golem's heart. Watch the awakening with a grin, christen my golem Garen, and promptly challenge it to an arm wrestle.
Three Possibility Nodes Unlocked!
Rangeimpact: 7 SUCCESS
Lightning: 14 SUCCESS
Sledgehammer: 16 SUCCESS

Your golem, as if struck by lightning, jumps back- and its form changes entirely. Its original clay-like form is now replaced by solid steel, gleaming rivets, and tight-screwed bolts, with the mechanical helmet of a knight topped by the twin horns of some demonic bull, all one solid piece of metal. Heavy pieces of armor are bolted all around the golem, and as you watch occasional sparks flicker from exposed pieces of mechanical workings underneath. The golem's twin fists grow become more dull-shaped, less able to grasp but definitely more able to smash.

While everyone else is busy looking at the golem or nodding at, you decide-

"Hey, you're my golem and your name is now Garen. I order you to arm-wrestle me with all your strength!"

The golem nods and pulls over a table, moving at its top speed (which really was quite slow), before kneeling next to it to put itself at eye-level with its master. You grin, rush over, and prepare yourself-

In the first three seconds of the armwrestle, the golem launches its fist out like a missile and sends your arm flying straight off the table, taking you with it- into a wall. As Garen retracted its flying fist on an attached cable, you pulled yourself off the new crater in the wall-

"That was awesome! Again!"

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea. You'll break your arm." Jonathan looked at Garen and laughed. "Well, you'd deserve it for that idea you just had anyways."

You mutter, but acquiesce. Where does that Jonathan think he's getting off ruining your fun anyways? What a dull guy.

After the entire imbuing process is complete, everyone looks quite satisfied with their golems. Mark, as usual, is the first to rush out, intent on testing his golem's true power on the training field. Personally, Jonathan and Kal both feel that learning how to use a golem just the day before the actual tournament seems somewhat like a lost cause, but damned if James and Mark and Allene aren't going to participate.

As you leave, you look at a map hung on the door in the guest quarters, ignoring everything else in favor of learning only about the arena's design.



...Funny. There's no Training Arena 4? You'll have to ask Tiamat Venthor about it sometime.

------

You find yourself occupying Training Arena Seven. Apparently, arenas are one to a team- which makes sense, you guess. Don't want pilots making grudges before the tournament even begins.

In arenas next to you, namely Arenas Three, Six, and Ten, different teams are preparing as well.

In Arena Three, a single elderly mage is fighting with only his broadsword, against a colossus of a golem that seems to be sending solid-air projectiles at its owner. Practice for both, apparently.

In Arena Six, three pilots- one rather curvy female (wearing rather provocative robes), one hulking male, and another male with a slightly hunched back are discussing something. After a phrase from the female, the heavy-set male laughs uproariously- attracting attention from everyone at the training field. Mark catches the female's glance- and she winks at him, forcing Mark to turn away with a speed born of consternation. Their golems seem to be awaiting commands, standing in a line behind the three.

In Arena Ten, six warriors yell out commands at their golems- it seems the six are in two teams for the moment and are practicing with three golems to a team. Even as you watch, one of the golems suddenly is vaulted into the air by another golem- and while the thrower suddenly charges to distract the enemy, the skybound golem releases a dozen bolts of flashing emerald energy, sending its enemies flying off of the stone arena's floor-

Wait, is the pilot of that airborne golem Kiran Cytarn? The weird messenger guy? You might have to talk with him later.

But for now, you have training to do.

8680: Ask one of the servants if I'm supposed to wear my formal robes during golem training; dress in accordance with the answer received (or, if there was no answer or nobody to get one from, dress normally — Venthor did tell us not to be polite).

You haven't seen any servants not busy in the arena, setting up tomorrow's big events; everyone else at the training arena seems to be in casual combat outfits, so you didn't bother putting on formal robes. Good thing too- those collars are stiff.

Bigkahuna: Train my golem's teleportation skills in the back to get the hang of using the golem and such.

Wesfreak: Practice commanding the golem.

Jackbarber: Practice a bit, trying to find out all the capabilities of my golem, making sure not to over-work it before the competition.

8680: Go train with my golem (if there are multiple training areas, use the least crowded one).

Shadowkiller: Try to figure out how to control the golem. Try not to explode entire room into tiny bits.

johnratchet3: Provided I'm not killed, practice combat with Garen. Encourage it to practice striking dummy targets, and attempt to pass on my knowledge of multiple-enemy combat. Strongly encourage an arm-wrestle competition between the group's golems.

Without a plan to follow, you each begin giving basic commands to your golems, figuring out what works and what doesn't. The result is rather obvious; Golems can follow direct commands and act capably without your direct overseering presence, but they have no ability to disobey and you can easily override one of their current actions. They also apparently can't be assigned long-term goals beyond generic concepts like "attack enemies" and "protect yourself". Still, you figure it shouldn't be too difficult- Golems are just another weapon, after all, right?

Jonathan's Golem, Paul, turns out to be incredibly fast in action, able to do a chain of teleports all over the place- but you also note that the golem in actual combat isn't the fastest, and that its power source apparently can't power both the laser blades and the teleportation at the same time. It can also apparently throw its laser blades, though depriving oneself of weapons has obvious consequences.

Steven's Golem is fast- and versatile, able to transform from a powerful leaping form with the four legs to a fast dasher without pause. Its blades are sharp- but it shares the usual vulnerability to crushing tools that most insects possess, and you suspect that its true strength may lie in its near-aerial control, with the ability to leap far, far up into the air- and the ability to deploy wings to control the descent's velocity.

James is simply giving commands to its golem- and so far, what he's seen he's liked. The golem is incredibly versatile- its gauntlets could grasp stone with a near-unbreakable hold, while it could also launch flames from almost any part of its body. In addition, its wind and kinetic powers manifested themselves in the ability of the golem to pump a sudden burst of air to knock an enemy in front of it back several meters. The kinetic powers also allowed the golem to inflict increasing amounts of damage in combo attacks, as well as to create short-ranged kinetic explosions.

Kal finds that his golem is nearly as fast, if not faster, than him- and the two are entangled in a blurring fight, with Kal having given his golem orders to fight as if with intent to kill. As the two clash, Kal takes a small cut, barely two inches long, to his hand- and finds that his golem's glaive suddenly became faster, lancing for his heart. At least, nearly overwhelmed and exhausted, Kal gave the order to stop, having learned that his golem was bestowed with great speed and the power to consume blood through the hidden glaive.

Allene didn't meet with as much luck as the others.

For one thing, the first thing her golem did upon being ordered to "Show me your most powerful weapon!" was to self-destruct and explode in a brilliant pink cloud of crystal shards. Allene was, quite naturally, shocked that she destroyed her own golem.

Well, until it regenerated five minutes later. Still, those were some rather inconsolable five minutes for her.

After further experimentation, it was found that the golem could also shoot smaller explosive crystals similar to bulletbolts on the order of "Show me your most powerful weapon that, uh, doesn't make yourself blow up or die or anything." The command was later shrunk down, naturally, to "Fire explosive crystals."

Despite this fact, Allene's golem has turned out to be one of the most durable golems in the entire group, with resilience- and ambient regeneration on top of that, being able to piece itself together even after a self-detonation with time for re-fusing pieces together proportionate to number of pieces. Short of snapping all the limbs off and throwing them away, nobody's sure how exactly to incapacitate Allene's female golem.

Mark has decided to take a similar approach to Kal, and now bare-handedly fights Garen due to the hammer still being in Garen's chest. Naturally, Mark is losing horribly- but Garen also seems to be improving rather quickly. Of course, Mark's attacks are doing absolutely nothing at all. The next time Mark is flung into the air, he lies on his back for a few moments, before he suddenly grins with his face to the sunlit sky.

"Hey guys! I have the best idea ever!"

Collective groans were heard from the rest of the group.

"All of your golems should attack Garen so that he can learn how to fight large groups just like me!"

One minute later, Garen stumbled out of the arena's edge and promptly fell on the cobblestones with scorch marks, blade marks, and dents all over its armor.

"I didn't mean with full force!"

Allene shrugged. "Tough luck, man."

"Well- wait!"

"Eh?"

"I have the REAL best idea ever!"

"Seeing as your last one turned out like this, Iiiii'm not so sure-"

"We should have ALL our golems arm-wrestle! Like an arm-wrestling tournament! A Grand Golem Armwrestling Tournament!"

7

"...No." With that, Kal returned to sparring with his golem. After a few seconds, everyone else returned to their training as well.

"Ah come on guys don't be a joykill-"

Nobody was paying attention anymore.

"You guys all suck."

------

Bigkahuna: After training, investigate the other teams for tips on how to use the golems.

9

You decide to head to Kiran Cytarn's team first; the singular mage in Arena Three seems too... forbidding to approach, and quite frankly that promiscuous woman in Arena Six makes you slightly nervous. Maybe Cytarn will be friendly enough to talk.

As you approach, the messenger sees you first- and grins, dashing over to your side in an instant to shake your hand almost as fast as Venthor himself did during your meeting with the Emperor. You wonder if the Emperor's messengers didn't learn that trick from the Immortal Lord himself-

"Heeey there you're one of those fancy new citizen guys, you're- Jonathan Kmetz, right? And you're competing too? Didn't know you were a golem pilot! Whatcha want?"

"Well, I'm rather new to this whole golem thing. I don't suppose you could give me any tips?"

As you speak, you take a glance over his team's golems. The green-uniformed Cytarn shrugs, as you note that three of the golems seem to be built with heavy shields and maces for defensive fighting, while the other three- including Cytarn's customized golem- seem to be designed for ranged battle. The ol' meatshield plus glass cannon strategy, you believe.

"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you. Goleming's like something you just gotta know and do. Here's some general tips- make your commands precise, and be ready to change your orders on a moment's notice. Golems love conditional modifiers, so you can make sure that you can act in an instant by giving your golem an order to attack as soon as the barrier between the two teams is lifted. Oh, do you know the revised rules? Venthor changed some of the rulings for a more interesting tournament."

"How so?"

"Well, apparently disqualification has been reduced to give the audience more rounds of combat, with some sort of continuous deathmatch algorithm- I'm not too clear on how it works, I just figure if I fight my fights with SPEED and fight well I'll win. That's how everything works, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it is. Thanks, Kiran."

"No prob! Hope to see you in the ring sometime soon, even if it's as an enemy, heh heh."

With that, you depart back to the living quarters, to prepare some motion-detector spells.

8680: Go to the dining hall, in addition to eating, listen to our competitors' conversations.

6

The dining hall is quite loud- at least thirty or so people are crammed in there, eating and raising a clamor. You try your best to hear, but you can only catch snippets.

"...watch out for the Vassals' Supreme Voltaic Beam, I saw that thing this morning and it took out an entire..."

"...Triple Chair are entering golems this year! Hah. Raitala's never had a good golem division, not ever, and I'll be damned if..."

"...Oooooh, really? Hethasila's finally showing off its Ray Golem? I haven't seen it on the practice field, though- maybe they're hiding its power?"

"...old mage in Arena Three looks powerful, be careful, he might..."

"...heard Venthor's up to something, I heard somebody in the hallway talking about a Dream Engine..."

"...new guys from the Tower of the Red Gaze showed up this morning, last-minute entrants bringing the total team number to ten in total. I don't know how good they are, but they seem to be supported by the Emperor himself..."

Huh. They're talking about you guys-

"Hey, you're one of the new guys!"

"...Yes. I am."

"How'd you get here? I've heard rumors that you guys aren't even Vosalz-born citizens and that your certificates are faked-"

"Absolutely untrue." ...This is worrying. What other rumors have been flying around?

"Well, even if it is, illegally sneaking in here is so cool! I'll be rooting for you. Heh. Unless, you know, we have to fight each other."

With that, he leaps off the bench and vanishes into the mass of people before you can ask him questions. Sensing that the dinner is about to disperse, you leave the chamber, hoping that your friends have already eaten in their own room.

------

Wesfreak: After golem practice, go hit the shops. See if I can find a long spool of rope or, preferable, chain. See if I can get a backpack with the concept of storage to carry all my stuff in. (And to let me carry stuff heavier than what I could normally lift, if possible.)

19

As it happens, you find your chain easily, over sixty feet of the stuff, and only for twenty-five clips. You would never be able to carry it, but you tie it around your insectoid golem with no problem. The bag is a bit more difficult, but eventually you happen upon a hawker just about to close his stand at sundown, and after haggling you acquired the bag for a hundred clips. Your purse is running light- but the fact that you can carry items much more easily is worth it. The first thing you do is to place your hoverboard inside, which until then was simply floating besides you as you dragged it along, as well as all of your magic books.

Wesfreak: Also, see if I can buy a book on the mechanics of golem combat or a book about the history of the grand golem tournament. Anything that can give me some idea of what I'm going to be up against in the fight.

johnratchet3: After the golem training is done, accompany Wesfreak to the shops and try to pick up a book on golem combat mechanics with him. Split the cost if we find one..

18

The Compleat Historie Of The Grand Golem Tournament Of The Immortal Lord, purchased for twenty clips split between Mark and Steven, now lays open under a streetlight as the two peruse it for the lates tournament.

"New rulings... Instead of defeated teams being removed, the teams are randomly assigned a number from one to ten in the beginning, and then arranged from least to greatest. The first two teams do battle, and while both teams advance to a pair of empty slots in the next round, the winning team is placed in the slot closer to number 1. In addition, a golem knocked out of the arena or divested of its control item cannot be brought back in the next round, allowing losing teams to yet make progress by focusing on destroying enemy golems instead of survival."

"Wait, how do you win then?"

"...In each round, the team ranked 10th is removed from the tournament. So basically we exclude one team per round while all the other teams keep shifting around and displacing themselves to get closer to their actual skill-level."

"Interesting. Not really fair for the guys picked in the bottom two slots, but tournaments can't really get rid of unfairness, I suppose."

Steven closes the book and slides it inside his Bag of Storage. "Come on, the sun's down- we should be heading back."

------

Bigkahuna: Check my room and my formal robes for imbued spells or traps using my Detection concept. If there are any, identify the hazard(s) and alert the others. Try to attune my motion-detectors to the mental signatures of our party. Place a motion detector at the door to my room, and if someone sets it off return to my room to confront them.

4

You detect no traps in the area and find nothing of harm. The room is heavily charged with ambient magic, but you strongly suspect that being within half a mile of the Emperor will do that to any building over enough time. Your attempts to attune your motion-detectors were unfortunately in vain, and you settled with a single motion-detector hidden in the latch between the door and wall.

After that... Well, Steven should be heading back by now, and you had plans to go find Tiven (who you still haven't seen, even as nightfall approaches) and ask him about his discussion with the Immortal Lord. You just hope nothing... Weird happened. Tiven's had enough weird stuff in the last week for a dozen lifetimes over.

------

Wesfreak: After I'm done shopping, find Tiven, if he's done talking to the Emporer. Ask him what the Emporer said.

Bigkahuna: Along with Steven, ask Tiven about his meeting with the emperor.

20 PLOT-RELATED CRITICAL

The two of you find Tiven in the hallways after an hour of searching- and Tiven is almost jubilant, dancing down the hallway with an unbounded smile.

Jonathan is the first to speak.

"...Uh, Tiven?"

Tiven almost runs right into you before he can react.

"Jonathan! Steven!"

"Tiven, what did you do? Are you drunk?"

"No! Do I sound like I'm slurring my words? Listen, you guys- the Emperor's great! I didn't want to tell someone so powerful about the Spiritlash, but he knew about it somehow- and, get this!"

He grabs you two by the shoulder and brings you in, almost conspiratorially-

"He's got a spiritlash too."

To say that the two of you were shocked would be an understatement.

"Tiven- what- he showed you his spiritlash?"

"Yup- over the heart, shining silver, manifests into a powerful lance of flexible light- yeah, it's a spiritlash, though he can manifest it at least twenty times as far as I can. Do you have any idea what this means!?"

"...Uh, that the Emperor is another servant of the Gravekeeper? Because if that's true, that may not be the best thing-"

Tiven responds with a single grin. "Trust me, he's not. He's promised to tutor me on how to responsibly use my spiritlash- and on top of that he's teaching me his chronomancy after I told him about the thirty-year covenant! The Immortal Lord says that there's a way to reduce Time's sight upon you so that you can live much longer than usual and age less, enough to delay the thirty-year limit by at least another thirty years!"

"So you'll live to old age, Tiven! That's great!" Steven was smiling, but Jonathan wasn't so sure.

"Tiven, what makes you sure you can trust the Emperor? He's a person of great power and slightly eccentric, and on top of that-"

"He's the only other man in this world who would understand my powers, right? I mean, you guys are friends with him too! We're all in the same boat, what are you worried about-"

Jonathan cut in. "He's equipped with a spiritlash, and he's amazingly powerful. Are you really intentionally ignoring what that implies in terms of how many souls he must have devoured?"

Tiven was silent for a second. Then-

"...I don't think he's that kind of person. You have no idea- it's... There's this great kinship I feel with him. It's like he understands me- and everything I say I can see that he agrees with. It's almost like he knows me from the inside out. I trust him!"

That last sentence was yelled so loudly the crows outside the wall flew off into the night sky.

"...Alright, Tiven. I, personally, won't question you as much as Jonathan- but how are you so willing to use your spiritlash now? I seem to recall that you were quite disgusted by it not a day ago." Steven shrugged.

Tiven frowned. "Venthor promised me that there was a way to use the lash without consuming the soul directly, like Alchione said- and I believe him. Don't ask me why. If anyone in this world holds enough power to make it a truth, it's him. But I'm still not going to destroy a soul, not ever- there's no reason any other soul should be obliterated by another soul-"

"I understand how you must feel about destroying others souls, and I agree with you. Destroying someone else's immortal soul is reprehensible, and for the well being of your own soul if nothing else, you should avoid it when you can. But don't ignore the ability altogether: Even with only the powers you have now, you have the potential to do much good in just the thirty years you have left."

"I-"

"If devouring a soul is the only thing that can stop you from being killed again, then you have to use your power to save yourself. And, if you find yourself in a position where that is the only option, then it wouldn't hurt to give Alchione's idea a try yourself, even if the Immortal Lord isn't by your side, and try to preserve the soul instead of devouring it. Do you understand me, Tiven? You're important enough to warrant not-dying, not for your own sake, but for the future's sake."

Tiven nods, now all serious. "I'll remember that, Steven. I think we should head to bed now- how're your golems looking?"

"Oh, they look fine. I'll tell you about how Mark got arm-wrestled into the wall by his golem once we get back."

"He did what-"

------

Wesfreak: After talking to Tiven, make an even mix of runes of healing surge and runes of focused healing, as many as I can reasonable make before the contest/ as many as I can reasonable make and still get a good night's sleep.

3

You try your best to draw healing runes, but your mind is too taken with the implications of your discussion with Tiven, and you only manage to make a single rune. Eventually, you find yourself so stressed that your knife is cutting into the table itself-

"Forget this, I'm not paying for a new table. G'night, guys. We should sleep early, the tournament begins tomorrow. I'm going to bed."

"Alright, Steven."

And with that, you close the door to your bedroom, sealing off the main commons and allowing you to sleep.

johnratchet3: Name the artifact shield AegisAbsorber. Dutifully return the crysknife to Allene/Shadow. Threaten to absorb her/his gun if there are complaints.

"I hereby name my awesome shield the Aegis Absorber, to be shortformed as AA, also known as Awesome Awesomeness and related A-letter words. Also, hey Allene here's your knife CATCH!"

Allene catches the knife by her fingertips deftly, and frowns. "I saw you considering putting my knife in your golem, you know. And I also saw how that other wench was making faces at you."

"Ugh, that woman creeps me out honestly. Who wears clothes like that nowadays?"

"Suuure, you're not seduced yet. I thought all men loved that kind of stuff."

"Nah, I like girls who actually know their stuff, not peacocks that can only show off their feathers, you know?"

"Heh. I'm going to bed, Mark- see you in the morning, guys."

"Night, Allene. I think I'll go to bed too-" yawned Mark- "gotta get up early in the morning, you know?"

"I believe we should all retire to our respective bedchambers." Kal turned curtly in the direction of his room. "I shall follow my own initiative thus. Good night to you all."

"Yeah, night Kal. I'll go to bed too, I guess." And James closes the door, leaving Jonathan and Tiven the only ones still in the living room.

------

Bigkahuna: If I see the emperor at all during my stay, since he seems rather jovial, ask him why he has been waiting for us for so long - what are we going to do that will be so important?

With only you and Tiven sitting on opposite sides of the coffee table, the room is utterly silent for a few seconds. Then-

"Alright, Immortal Lord. You can come out now."

And Tiamat Venthor, the Immortal Lord, Dictator of Vosalsvrax, Trusted of the Dimensions, phases into visibility right in front of the main door.

"Well, well, Jonathan. I thought I cleared all bugs and detection devices with a general magic wipe while you guys were out training!"

So that's what the ambient aura of magic was.

"Yes, but I did place a motion-sensor when I came back. I should have done that sooner, really."

"A wise move. You never know when someone might try to slit your neck-" The Emperor made a slashing move at his own neck- "and unlike me, having that happen to you guys will actually kill you. Mind if I sit down?"

"Make yourself at home, Emperor. It's technically your home after all."

Venthor unceremoniously sits himself down half between you and Tiven, and for another few seconds nobody says anything.

"...So what's so important?"

"Eh?"

"Why have you been waiting for us for so long? What's so important that will happen in the future? And why you're here in this room now would also be a good question, regarding the circumstances."

"...Well, I was hoping you'd not notice me and go to bed. I intended on teaching Tiven of the nature of human souls this night- but I do suppose he needs sleep, even if he's not participating in a golem tournament."

"And that too. What's with the golem tournament?"

"...To be frank, the golem tournament was an excuse for me to bring you all the way to Nirvana. It's because soon something distrastrous will befall me- and you're the only ones I can trust with that information, to keep everything running while I recuperate."

"What? What could possibly be so dangerous-"

"It has to do with a great secret of mine, one that you already know. It's the spiritlash. We Champions of the Gravekeeper are not well-liked in the world, if only because we are seen as avatars of Death itself. It's really not too badly-justified."

"But how will that lead to a disaster?"

"You'll see. When that happens, you're the only ones I can trust with the knowledge- you already know all about what Spiritlashes are anyways, thanks to Tiven here."

"...But you haven't told us what the disaster is yet." Tiven looked at Venthor. "You didn't tell me about a disaster."

Venthor holds up a hand.

"You don't need to know about the disaster. Even I don't know what it is- all I know is that it's a horrible, horrendous disaster and that it will coincide with my loss of perfect foresight."

"Excuse me, my lord?"

"I have known everything from two hundred and fifty years ago up until now. I have known how everything would play out, including myself- and it's been something of a bore, really. My eccentricity was born as a way to make sure I didn't go crazy or something. But I am about to be freed from that."

"I can't imagine how horrible it would be to know that everything you've lived was preordained," muttered Tiven

"You know, that's really ironic, coming from you, Tiven. Still, it can't be much worse than knowing that your entire life's point was to make a nice soul for a superdimensional death-demon to eat for dinner. I don't imagine anyone but Tiven could have come out of that without losing all hope in life." Venthor coughed. "I can say this for sure, as the last thing I can say for sure with my future-knowledge; by the time this tournament ends, I will no longer be able to act with perfect knowledge of the future as I have with the past. Such knowledge was instrumental in preventing uprisings and resisting invasions, but now... Now I fear that the people will try to capitalize on my weakness. Chaos lies ahead of us, and my only tool of order is about to evaporate."

"But you still have unmatched magical powers, Tiamat-" You finally felt comfortable enough to call him by his first name, because Tiven was right, this guy seems familiar to you, like you've known him for a while, somehow- "and there's no way anyone would dare challenge your powers, not now, not ever."

Tiamat Venthor laughed. "You don't know that. There are people foolish enough to challenge a legendary mage-warlord like me despite all the good I've done for Vosalsvrax, just as there are people foolish enough to punch the embodiment of death itself in the face while floating in the multidimensional afterlife."

"If anyone tries that, we'll help you stop them!" Tiven yelled- though you quickly hushed him. "Everyone else is sleeping, Tiven, try to be quiet."

"Right, sorry," said Tiven.

"Well, anyways, that's the explanation- I called you here because I knew that my foresight was about to end; I called you by using my foresight to determine where people who already knew about the Spiritlash already existed, and that was you."

Venthor stood up.

"Good luck in the tournament tomorrow, and good luck to you as well afterwards. We'll all need it."

And in a flash, he vanished- whether by teleportation or invisibility or chronomancy you would never know.

You and Tiven sat alone once more for a few seconds before you spoke.

"Tiven, go to bed. It's really late now, and we need to sleep."

And Tiven nodded and left, and you went to bed, and you pulled the covers up-

And you could not sleep, not for an entire hour, not for wondering exactly what was going on and what would happen in the future.

------

Morning.

Shadowkiller: Put on my awesome new dress, a girl can't go on with her life without pretty clothes no?

You put on your beautifully decorated dress with gusto, and as an extra mark grow beautiful flowers with petal shapes that match your dress perfectly. The boys will be falling head over heels for you!

But for the rest of the Tower of the Red Gaze...

Wash, dress, breakfast, say hello to party members, put on formal clothes, activate golems, head down to the arena...

And await your team name to be called.

-------

"WEEEEELLLLCOME TO THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH GRAND GOLEM TOURNAAAAMMEEEENNNNNTTTTTT!"

The announcer's opening cry was met with great celebration and the best special effects that magic could make. You didn't doubt that Venthor was the hand behind every single one of the beautiful holographic effects in the sky.

"In the next two weeks, we will be hosting ten teams from all across Chiral, the best golem pilots, and watch as they do battle! The duels will be incredible! But first, here's our teams!"

"Team One! Hailing from the Guild of Mentia Exalt, the cleverly named Mentia Exalted! These new graduates are eager to prove themselves, and their golems are also quite eye-catching in their color-coded outfits! Truly, this could be called the Team of Many Colors!"

"Team Two! Who is this mysterious man, wearing a coat to obscure all his features- and what secrets do his golems have in store for us? I guess we'll have to find out, when the Darklands Wildermage himself joins the battle!"

"Team Three! From the Vosalsvrax Military, professional Golem Pilots come to show their finest talent- and they don't intend on letting down their homeland! Whether Vosalz Guard or Emperor's Voice, these men are the finest in the Vosalz warmachine! I present to you- the Imperial Representatives!"

"You may be asking why there's not a Team Four. That's because, as is Tournament Tradition, the position of Team Four is reserved in honor of the Team Four of the One Hundred and First Tournament, the six members of which died bravely fending off an unexpected terrorist attack from the Primal Bane. Let us all have a moment of silence in memory of their bravery..."

And the entire arena went silent.

"...Thank you for the moment of silence! And now-"

"Team Five! A new group known only as the Myriad Weave has joined us here today! This adventurer's group, with the seductive Lamia, the powerful Zeirkio, and the sly Sythril Virdo, will undoubtedly provide a great variety of skills today!"

"...The Myriad Weave?" James frowned. "Tiven's going to want to hear this."

"Hey, it's that seductress woman!" Mark frowned even more. "I already don't like these guys."

"Team Six! Raitala's first entry to the Tournament is today, with the Envoys of the Triple Chair! The Raitali have never been known for their golem technology- but is this tournament the tournament in which they turn the tide and show the world their true golem prowess? We'll be sure to keep an eye on them!"

"Team Seven! A team consisting of the lieutenant-commanders of one of the many Towers of the Red Gaze, these last-minute newcomers only recently fought off an Arsene assault on their tower! Undoubtedly, this caused... Slight delays in their arrival-"

The crowd laughed.

"Play it cool, guys," Muttered Jonathan.

"-so let's give these national heroes a warm hand of applause for their duty to our country!"

The audience's applause was as a huge wave of sound, rushing over them with power equal to a phonomantic enchantment of great magnitude-

"Oh no I can't do this with so many people watching me," whispered Steven. "What if I screw up oh light they'll all see me-"

"Steven, relax. This is a tournament, there'll be losers and winners- just take it easy."

As the applause died down, the announcer continued.

"Team Eight! The Golden Arsene Representatives bring with them a fascinating new golem- biological golems, unlike the stone or metal golems more commonly used! What tricks do the Arsene have up their sleeves with these organic insectoid constructs? I guess we'll have to see!"

"Team Nine! Vornimund of the Estates sends his regards, with six of the finest scientists, engineers, and mechanics of his islands here to pilot custom-built mechanical golems! That's right, golems without any sign of magic! But will they stand up to the ancient ways of magical golems? Let's give Vornimund's Vassals a warm welcome!"

"Team Ten! The Light of Hethasila brings Hethasila's newest development- a Ray Golem! This breakthrough has not been seen in combat and has been largely secretive. What amazing new powers does this high-tech weapon possess, that such secrecy is warranted? Surely it shall be a spectacle like never before seen!"

"Team Eleven! Even Pallatir has participated in this tournament, sending in the team named Servants of Sol Invictus! How will these dedicated priests of unmatched faith fare when placed in warfare- and what secret tricks does Pallatir have up its sleeves this time? Whatever the case is, one thing is for sure- Pallatir's men are confident that the sun shall guide them to victory!"

"Wow, these guys all look like strong contenders. I'm not sure we'll get far in this tournament."

"Relax, we're going to do the best we can- and that's pretty darn good," grinned Mark. "I'm looking forward to bashing some skulls with my golem!"

"Golems don't have skulls."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

------

The first match in the arena is between the Mentia Exalted and the Darklands Wildermage, apparently. You're not sure what to do, so you just watch in the team stands.

Kiran Cytarn edges over to you guys are you're just sitting down.

"Heeey there new citizens and competitors. Who do you think is gonna win?"

Jonathan shrugs. "I watched the Wildermage fight his golem, and the golem's pretty good- as is the pilot. However, I'm sure the Guild didn't send out softies either, this is a worldwide tournament after all. So I don't know."

"Well, hey. I bet you two hundred clips the Exalted will beat that mage. What do you think there? I'll pay triple that if the Wildermage wins."

"Hmm."

As you watch the golems enter the ring and the announcer prepare to begin the battle, you wonder idly how this whole tournament will play out.

Do you accept Cytarn's bet, or perhaps do you even raise the bar?

Player Status:

Golems:

Spoiler:

Do golems have blood, or something sufficiently similar that mine can drink it?

Roll wrote:Where does that Jonathan think he's getting off ruining your fun anyways? What a dull guy.

I resemble resent that...

Roll wrote:We should have ALL our golems arm-wrestle! Like an arm-wrestling tournament! A Grand Golem Armwrestling Tournament!"

7

"...No." With that, Kal returned to sparring with his golem. After a few seconds, everyone else returned to their training as well.

"Ah come on guys don't be a joykill-"

Nobody was paying attention anymore.

"You guys all suck."

Zero - sorry for making you take so long on our rolls... You missed my telekinesis action (trying to learn it). Even with no fanfair it didn't make it into the character sheet.

I say we take his bet.

Make a short prayer to the gods and hope they remember about his effort to learn telekinesis.

Slyly borrow at least 66 clips from someone who will presumably hand me some money to front the bet. Agree to Cyrtan's bet and see how the battle plays out.

Now that my party is adjacent to me, again try to attune their mental signatures to my motion detector.

Watch the other teams for their golems' strengths and weaknesses.

... 1 minute seems pretty good for 5 very offensive golems on 1 I have a slight regret for not inserting the shield with artifact properties, but oh well, got the tanky golem I was hoping for anyway. I'd suspected not many competing golems would be metallic, or it would be against the rules to eat someone else's golem.

I reckon the mage will win, but I don't like gambling. Yes, funny coming from someone playing a roll-to-dodge, I know Really liked the turn Zero, spectacular depth and detail. Humorous too, even at my expense . I pale at the thought of how long the whole game is so far.

Pass on the bet, and simply enjoy the match. See if the book on golem tournament 'historie' has any classic match run-throughs, or any of the present team's matches. Take note, and see what they contain.

I'm still reading a little bit... But what happened to my "Go with Steven and Mark and pick up any supplies or manuals that might be useful on out stay" thing?

Err... Alright then...

Bet 50 clips that the Mentia will win.

Zerovirus - to avoid metagaming, can we assume that Steven and I told everyone about the incident with Tiven and that I told them about my meeting with the emperor?

"I'm not gonna bet: I'm already broke. It'll be close though: We know the mage of many colours. If his students are anything like him, they'll put up a tough fight. There's going to be prize money for the winners, right?"

Watch the match carefully, taking note every detail about the golems involved.

While watching, ask Kiran what Primal Bane, the terrorist group, is, and if he knows anything about it.

Name my golem Blade.

I have the feeling all the rolls without us in them will be pretty short.

Quick note: Golems cannot learn. They can be ordered to remember things and recite them to you later, but they can't inherently improve themselves through training or practice. They can only perform your commands to the best of their ability.

And it's not likely for the average golem to possess blood. There may be exceptions, though...

Bigkahuna: Yeah, sure.

We could each donate a few blood droplets to 8680's golem.

Zero: I don't think many people would mind if you decided to start rolling before everyone posted the way you used to, since it's a non-combat situation and all.

Celene, that would be the name of my golem

> Watch the fighting teams golem's movements and fighting style.

Johnratchet: Pass on the bet, and simply enjoy the match. See if the book on golem tournament 'historie' has any classic match run-throughs, or any of the present team's matches. Take note, and see what they contain.

Bigkahuna: Slyly borrow at least 66 clips from someone who will presumably hand me some money to front the bet. Agree to Cyrtan's bet and see how the battle plays out.

Now that my party is adjacent to me, again try to attune their mental signatures to my motion detector.

Watch the other teams for their golems' strengths and weaknesses.

jackbarber:
Bet 50 clips that the Mentia will win.

Wesfreak: "I'm not gonna bet: I'm already broke. It'll be close though: We know the mage of many colours. If his students are anything like him, they'll put up a tough fight. There's going to be prize money for the winners, right?"

Watch the match carefully, taking note every detail about the golems involved.

While watching, ask Kiran what Primal Bane, the terrorist group, is, and if he knows anything about it.

Name my golem Blade.

8680: Decline the bet. “I'm not the betting type.” Study the match and learn from it. Also watch the crowd for signs of potential danger or suspicious activity.

shadowkiller: > Watch the fighting teams golem's movements and fighting style.

We're ready to roll.

Sorry about this guys, but I won't be here for about a week. The update's 50% finished, and the results of the fight have already been written down on the half-update, so just hang on. I'd really prefer not to go on this 'vacation', but I'm not getting a say in this.

I know what you mean, I'm getting a forced "vacation" too starting tomorrow :S

Vacation for about a week for me, leaving tomorrow morning on saturday.

Bigkahuna: Slyly borrow at least 66 clips from someone who will presumably hand me some money to front the bet. Agree to Cyrtan's bet and see how the battle plays out.

Jackbarber: Bet 50 clips that the Mentia will win.

johnratchet3: Pass on the bet, and simply enjoy the match.

8680: Decline the bet.

“I'm not the betting type.”

Cytarn accepts your words with a shrug, and goes back to hawking his offer.

Wesfreak: I'm not gonna bet: I'm already broke.

While Jonathan seems rather enthused by the idea of this, he's not sure where he'll find enough money to constitute the bet. Even James' support with fifty clips of his own doesn't cover the deficit, and Jonathan feels that he will be forced to decline the wager, before-

"Hey, Jonathan- need some money for illicit gambling, eh?" Tiven grins on the bleacher behind them- when'd he get there? "I'll pay fifty of the clips as well, so the share will be half for you, Jonathan and a fourth for both me and James."

James nods. "I'm okay with this- I'm not too worried about losing money or anything like that."

"It'll be close though: We know the mage of many colours. If his students are anything like him, they'll put up a tough fight. There's going to be prize money for the winners, right?" Steven frowned. "I mean, if there's not, I'm not sure what the point of all this is then."

"Of course! Of course there's prizes- winners get more and more money as they advance through the ranks, and the grand champion wins the grand-one, ten thousand clips!"

"..Ten thousand? I would have expected more from such a prestigious competition. Not that it's not a lot or anything, but I get the feeling most of the teams here wouldn't take such an award as seriously as we would."

"Well, the real money is in the Emperor's Favor. Most of the time, the Favors total up to almost sixty thousand clips-"

"The whats?"

"The Emperor schedules these for his own amusement, right? The Immortal Lord loves to give out specific awards for feats of extreme, in his own words- 'awesomeness', 'epicness', and 'kickassery', which means that teams are encouraged towards awesome over competitive. Not to mention, the Champion can opt out of the cash prize in exchange for one favor from the Emperor himself- you can wish for almost anything you'd ever want as long as it is within the Emperor's reasonable range of gifting. And speaking of the Emperor, that's a very very huge range, right?"

"...Wow."

"Yep! So sit back- the cash you're gambling here ain't nothing!"

So decided, you hand over the money to a grinning Cytarn as all of you focus in on the imminent battle.

Bigkahuna: Watch the other teams for their golems' strengths and weaknesses.

Wesfreak: Watch the match carefully, taking note every detail about the golems involved.

8680: Study the match and learn from it. Also watch the crowd for signs of potential danger or suspicious activity..

------

(D6 rolled for team, evens for ME, odds for DW)
1

[Darklands Wildermage]

(rolls will be in format of opposing team vs. currently viewed team, with accumulating differences representing eventual victory or defeat)

...This is my first round, against six novice hopefuls from that Guild of the southlands. They seem slightly unsure of themselves, but yet they brim with a trust and unity that could cause me to lose. I am, after all, alone- I have been, ever since that demonic swordsman killed my brothers...

So lost in thought, I look back towards the arena-

And as the ring descends, I watch their golems, my enemies, stride forth to the ring, each one controlled by a different pilot. It seems that they are taking a classical approach to this, one golem per pilot. I, however, am not.

My primary golem Veritas, a sleek, green device with glowing purple foci of powers, standing fifteen feet tall with complex aerodynamic acceleration supports on the back, a gravimantic engine on the right hand, and an aeromantic node on the left- and my five supporting Gravitas golems are aligned in position, ready to unleash a barrage of blasts.

...Truth to be told, it should be much easier if Scientias and Lucis were also present with me in this arena. But then again, I wouldn't be here if they and their pilots companioned me still, would I?

13 vs. 18- ADVANTAGE, +5 to Wildermage

As the barrier between our two groups descends, I strike first-

"Veritas, Aerial dash. Open with main aeroblade shower and dodge all incoming attacks. All Gravitas golems, open fire at will, track all enemy targets."

On the other side, I can barely make out their yells, as Veritas takes off with a deafening rush of air and the peculiar feeling in your ears when a barytiamantic working of magic is cast-

"Crimson, blast fire!" "Verde, break down the airblades with your own!" "Solum, throw boulders!" "Cryonis, launch ice daggers!"

And a wave of firebolts and flung boulders and shards of ice are all launched at Veritas, who manages to dodge most of the incoming weapons-

A boulder clips him on the right shoulder, but bounces off. I am thankful that the newcomers, still green, have not yet tried the only viable strategy, as they continue to unleash a barrage of blasts which Veritas puts up with by dodging, even though none of the blasts can penetrate the event horizon.

3 vs. 8- ADVANTAGE, +8 to Wildermage

My five Gravitas golems, though immobile, have largely been ignored thanks to Veritas' spectacle, and now their barrage of barytiamantic blasts sends two golems flying, almost knocked out of the ring save for their ability to fly- the green golem and the blue golem, I see. It appears that each of these human-sized golems is equipped with minor aerial-dash additions.

So knocking them out of the ring will not work-

How about trapping them inside the ring?

"Veritas, use barytiamantic manipulation to increase gravity, and pin the enemies to the ground. We shall assail them from the sky."

8 vs. 6- DISADVANTAGE, +6 to Wildermage

But I am too slow- the Exalted have predicted this. I can only clutch my broadsword in anticipation, as each golem simultaneously takes off in an instant, each of the six taking to the sky for a brief burst, all aiming up for Veritas-

"So you're seeing who truly rules the sky, you youngsters? Veritas, accelerate up."

I am confident that Veritas could never lose his dominance of the sky, not with his mastery of air and gravity-

Before the golems turn, as one, reversing their velocity to each head straight for one of the Gravitas Golems, save for the green one-

"Verde, accelerate, entangle the enemy in dogfight and do not let him return down! Strike with your axe!"

No-

"Veritas! Destroy the green golem, protect the Gravitas Golems!"

I broke composure- I cannot do that again.

As I look on the battlefield once more, the Gravitas golems can't manifest a barytiamantic field and fire blasts at the same time- I critically miscalculated and now those youngsters are using the field as a weapon instead as an inhibition-

But despite it all, I have an advantage. Veritas can obliterate that green golem with ease-

"Veritas, manifest aerosword- cleave the green golem in twain."

Veritas according does so, and one flash later the lopsided pairs of a green golem spark in midair to the spectacular cheering of the audience. Veritas seizes both and fires them down at the ground with intense acceleration, aiming for two of the golems, a red one and a dusky brown one-

15 vs. 5- MAJOR DISADVANTAGE, -4 to Wildermage

Too late.

Too late!

The red golem sinks a blazing firesword into one of my Gravitas golems, critically injuring it, while the brown one instead abruptly spins in midair to deliver a shattering kick to another, sending it flying off the edge of the arena.

Damn- only the first battle, and I've already lost effectively fourty percent of my support golems?

"Petra, you're the best!" A brown-dressed girl was cheering at her golem's successful kick- "Attack the other ground-bound enemy golems now!"

"Veritas, reverse gravity field and prevent them from destroying further Gravitas Golems."

12 vs. 7- DISADVANTAGE, -9 to Wildermage

And falling golems slowed before they could reach the ground-

Three voices yell at once from the opposing team's stand.

"Cryonis, Verde, Azuria- use Triple Combination Beam- Supreme Heavenly Maelstrom!"

As I'm reeling from the yell- what kind of a stupidly complex attack name is that anyways- the white, green, and blue golems point their tools together, the white blade, green axe, and blue hooks crossing-

An unbelievably powerful beam of raw... raw weather is launched forth at Veritas. That's the only way to describe it- blizzards, lightning storms, tornadoes, flooding from deluge rains and unstoppable monsoons are united into a chaotic whirlwind of natural disasters, the sound of the raging storm only outpaced by the frenzied crowd's roar-

This is absurd, and the name makes it moreso- the attack, though powerful, can't possibly be energy-efficient. It's a show of power, raw manipulation rather than subtle efficiency, and I wrinkle my nose at the understanding that the Emperor himself favors such showmanship over utility. I wonder how he remains in power, with such foolishness in matters of scholarship-

"Veritas, double layer shields of air and gravitational deflection."

It's enough- just barely. Veritas has taken damage to the armor, and its gravitational shields aren't what they used to be- how did these kids destroy two of my generators so quickly- but he survives.

And I think I have a trick of my own. I prepare to order Veritas to use his most powerful ability-

"Crimson, Petra, Solum! Triple Combination Beam- Planetary Ignition Corefire!"

...I see that these impudent ones have not yet run out of these absurd attack calls yet.

And yet, as the audience cheered even louder-

2 vs. 1- DISADVANTAGE, CRITICAL FAILURE, -10 to Wildermage CRITICAL THRESHOLD REACHED

The sudden shock at yet another combination attack demonstrated in the first round-

I'm left wondering whether I should go through with matching this reckless bid, to see if I can match the poker chips with my own stock-

In an instant, I make my decision.

"Veritas- dodge with maximum possible speed. Avoid intersection with beam at all costs-"

Veritas, my old, faithful guardian, does so- he tries his best, bless him.

It's just not enough, though- the diameter of that blast of molten magma interspersed with rods of superdense core-metal and unholy magical fire was at least three times Veritas' height.

Veritas falls to the ground, the lower half of his legs incinerated without a trace, smoke billowing from the ends of what once connected to calves-

But I have not finished my command, in the instant it took for that beam of epic firepower to disperse into nothingness in the sky-

"-and retaliate with a Gravitational Singula-"

Halfway about to complete my order, I pause- and the opposing team looks at me with something approaching confusion on their faces.

"...Belay that order, Veritas."

I am not like these foolish younglings who would reveal their greatest weapons in the first round. I will reserve my most powerful tricks for the final rounds, when times are most desperate- and since I'm already in the second slot, I lose little by allowing myself to retain my current position.

"I concede this match and declare the Mentia Exalted victors."

------

"Yeeeeeah you lost your bet, sucks to be you guys."

"Oh screw you Cytarn."

"Hey, it's not like I knew they'd win. Besides, you've got the Emperor's stipend for your tower, you won't be lacking money once you get back."

Kal frowned. "The mage could still have won. He submitted instead. I suspect that he did this in order to conceal his true prowess for the more difficult battles further on."

"You mean the battles will escalate in further tiers? Oh lordy." Mark rolled his eyes. "What were we thinking when we got pushed into this?"

------

Bigkahuna: Now that my party is adjacent to me, again try to attune their mental signatures to my motion detector.

20

Somehow, after seeing the battle before you, you've been inspired- and with a few deft reconsiderations you easily manipulate your conceptual magics to allow for identification. The first thing you do is input your friends as people not to be alerted for, and as a bonus you can generally identify those who trigger the detector if you've already met them.

johnratchet3: See if the book on golem tournament 'historie' has any classic match run-throughs, or any of the present team's matches. Take note, and see what they contain..

3

The book seems not to be so much technical guidance as historical notation, and uses terms that you're expected to be familiar with. Given this, you're somewhat lost as the book talks about Kill-Round Averages and Percentile Advancement, as well as shifting priorities through tiers... Thoroughly confusing. Nevertheless, you do pick up some useful implications. Apparently, rounds are fast- really fast. Since each team always possesses exactly six golems regardless of pilot number, matches are generally built around one-on-one combos, as each group attempts to match up golems that can defeat designated enemies quickly. Another battle paradigm is to have all six of your team focus on taking down one enemy quickly, but that has its own risks. Also, aerial superiority is quite important and can change a battle's progress, as the ground-bound ring has no aerial limits, allowing you to simply outrun an enemy.

Some of the present teams are present in the historical annals, but the descriptions aren't generally very helpful. Half the teams are new here, including your own, and the Mentia Exalted generally is composed of different new graduates every year, making historical reference rather pointless. Hethasila's decided to show off the new Ray Golem, which is completely undocumented, and Raitala's first appearance is this year, as well as the strange Wildermage's entrance. The book notes that there's been no civilian or freelance-mercenary teams this year, which is apparently very rare.

Vornimund's golems are always constructed brand new every tournament- they almost always have crazy tricks up their metal sleeves in one way or another. The book notes that Vornimund's team seems to favor hidden projectiles- secret missile launchers, crotch cannons- once, the entire golem turned out to be a transforming aerial bombardment artillery railgun. That year, they got brought down by one of the enemy golems plugging up the launch barrel in sacrifice, but the idea is that Vornimund always has something secret built into that mechanical monster of his.

The Servants of Sol Invictus always do the exact same each year, apparently- they bring out one of their Solar Idols, which can generally break apart into component golems or reform. Common weapons include fire, axes, more fire, molten gold, explosions, fire, and solar lense-beams. Though the weaponry varies sometimes, the attack style is always the same- relentless, berserker onslaught until all the "unbelievers" are destroyed thoroughly.

Wesfreak: While watching, ask Kiran what Primal Bane, the terrorist group, is, and if he knows anything about it.

20

"Primal Bane isn't a group, man. Haven't you heard? Zaegmal Nildail, the Primal Bane- our beloved Emperor's greatest rival. When His Immortality defeated the ancient despot Vosalsvik and took control of the empire, Vosalsvik's most trusted advisor and strongest friend, Zaem Nildail, escaped with an oath of vengeance sworn."

"Zaem? I thought his name was Zaegmal or something equally fearsome."

"He came back a year later calling himself Zaegmal Nildail, the Primal Bane- and wielding powers rather beyond our comprehension."

"He changed his name?"

"Yeah, I don't know too much but apparently if you sacrifice your true name you can wear your given name as a mask of some sort instead and bind it to your form as additional power. Don't ask me, I'm not the expert on that- ask Lord Venthor instead."

"Sure. And is that how he got so powerful?"

"We're not sure where and how he got so powerful; a name-binding doesn't explain all of this, not unless he made a deal with some greater power than we know of- and before that, he was little more than a glorified accountant with some cantrips for organization and general utility. But when he came back- he was monstrous."

"How so?"

"He projected a field of decay around him such that all things around him dessicated and rusted and fell to dust and scrap within seconds. It was as if he were consumed by the definition of entropy itself- projectiles can't penetrate the field without disintegrating into ineffectualness within moments, and even magical assaults fail- the equations are subjected to shifts, somehow, and magic breaks apart under the field-"

"So how'd you get rid of him?"

"...Turns out that Dream Artifacts can penetrate that entropy field of his without too many problems. We lured him into an underground sanctum where the Emperor and he were to duel, but instead the Emperor had set up railguns with all sorts of Dream items loaded inside- didn't really matter what as long as it was moving fast enough. Pounded his flesh manifestation into pulp with unstopped barrages of ancestral trophies and legendary weapons and such, and for good measure collapsed the ceiling on him after we left."

"...Whoa."

"Yeah, and you know what? He came back, crazy monster, and decried the emperor as a traitor and coward. The two have been killing each other ever since-"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, the Emperor's died by his hands plenty of times, but he always comes back somehow good as new, just sitting on his throne again. I think it's some sort of super-regeneration or something."

"Huh."

Wesfreak: Name my golem Blade.

Why not? Blade is a nice name. It carries with it the subtle threat of a silver knife in the night, and the stoic rage of a warrior in the midst of battle. Simple and understated, if slightly common.

With a quick trigger on your golem, perched in the stands behind you, the action is done- the physical contact not so much any real switch as a mental confirmation of the decision.

------

"Ahem."

All of you turn around at once-

Kiran Cytarn is the first to respond by nearly jumping off of his bench.

"Lady- Lady Hioneus! Wh- What is Your Radiance doing here?"

The woman sat stately in a dress of billowing white robes, inlaid with gold and sapphire in the shape of winding branches and serpents, bearing a black cape upon which the symbol of Vosalsvrax, a burning pair of avian wings, was inlaid finely. She was, as expected- beautiful, radiantly so- but her beauty was ageless, and belied her age. You could believe her to be twenty or fifty- her otherworldly appearance was rather unsettling, once you got past the surface beauty, and you all realized that she, like the Immortal Lord, had persisted for over two hundred and fifty years as well as a leader of Vosalsvrax.

"You are Halcia Hioneus, the Radiant Queen, then, I presume?" Jonathan bowed lightly. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The rest of you followed suit.

"That's all very alright, friends. You've all spoken with my lord, and I suppose there's no need to introduce myself in an overly polite way." She smiled. "How is the tournament faring for you thus far?"

"It's been quite interesting, my lady- even if some of us feel that perhaps we're not on the same tier of power as these pilots." Steven frowned. "Truth be told, I'm not seeing much of a chance for us to win this tournament, no matter what the Immortal Lord has told us."

"Don't worry- you should know by now that victory isn't your purpose here." Halcia leaned in close- "...And I have important information to discuss. Namely, one of our magical bugs recorded part of a meeting between unidentified conspirators against the Emperor, before it got sort of burnt into a crisp."

Well, that was certainly a fast entry into the main topic.

"...This is unsettling, but not unexpected." Had the Emperor told his wife of the impending 'disaster'? "The Emperor has been worried, as of late-"

"Yes, he's been babbling on and off about the disaster. It's rather strange how much effort he's expended, even building the entire castle grounds as an elaborate spell matrice- What could possibly worry him so much?" The Radiant Lady herself looked slightly worried, in fact. "He's not been like this, not ever, not even when Zaegmal Nildail challenged him- he's always been rather confident in his own ability."

"My lady, I should think that action would be better than words. What can we help you with in light of this new development? What are these conspirators planning?"

"...All the bug heard was that the plan involved... something important. Something under the iron throne. I'm not sure I ought to inform you of its exact nature-"

16

"My lady, I'd think that the Emperor has taken us into his confidence enough for us to be told. What is it?"

"...It's the power source. A powerful engine of Tiamat's own design- I don't know how it works, I've never been much of an engineer or anything myself. Tiamat seems to know everything, really- even with all the time we've been together, I can't fathom how he could learn so much so fast."

"What does it power?"

"...Tiamat told me that it powers everything. I asked him further, but he wouldn't tell me- he just sort of smiled and put his finger on my lips. I suppose he thought it was cute or something, but to be honest it was frustrating."

"Everything?"

"I don't even know what that means, everything in the castle, everything in Vosalsvrax, everything in the world, everything in the universe? I admit those last three are rather unlikely, but still- a plot aimed at something so critical in my husband's eyes isn't something that I can pass up."

"I understand, my lady, but why are you telling us this? What can we do that the Emperor cannot?"

"...Tiamat refuses to allow anyone else to know of this generator of his, or what it powers or how it works or even exactly where it is besides 'somewhere under the iron throne'- until a few minutes ago Tiamat and I were the only beings on the planet who knew. Or, supposedly, we were- though the fact that the plot is aimed at this engine would probably indicate otherwise."

"The Emperor refuses to disclose information and to bolster security? My lady, Lord Venthor is brilliant- is this perhaps not possibly a trap of some sort for his would-be enemies-"

"I doubt it. He's been so worried- and yet he's not doing anything about it! It's entirely unlike him, and this is why I want you to help-"

"Help?"

"Investigate this engine for me. Figure out why my husband isn't doing anything, and protect it yourself if you have to-" The Radiant Lady stood up. "-and if Tiamat gets in your way or tries to stop you, come find me. My chambers are shared with the Immortal Lord."

"Yes, my lady." What were you supposed to say otherwise? You didn't like being sandwiched between two dictatorial authorities in the government of Vosalsvrax, but you couldn't get out of it-

"Alright- so, any other questions? If not, I will return to the royal stand before Tiamat notices that I'm missing. I expect you to begin investigating quite literally right this instant-"

"But, my lady- we will miss the matches if we do, and in this way fail to discover the abilities of our enemies-"

"Tiven can keep watch and record the enemy skills for you."

None of you are satisfied by this, but once more you find yourself compelled to by authority-

Halcia sighed.

"Well, you don't have to go if you really don't want to, or if you don't have any interest in these private matters of ours. I guess I'd understand. It's just that I'd rather this conspiracy be figured out before the tournament really got running- I don't want Tiamat dealing with administration of the tournament and some plot against him at the same time. But if you want to help me- I'd think that investigating the location of the bug or the iron throne itself might have results."

Do you choose to continue and watch the battles, or do you go off on Halcia's request to help her investigate unsettling matters? This is not a group decision- each player is free to make his own choice.

Player Status:

Golems:

>Stay and watch the match in the stead of the group "Don't worry, I'll stay here and check out the competition." (Tiven will probably run away in the middle of it or something.)
>Name my golem Celene.

Ah, some detective work. Thank you Zero for not making us sit through 10 rounds of golem-watching. I'm sure it will be cool, but I also want to have an action.

Discreetly ask 'Her Radiance' if Tiamat granted her life-extending powers or if she obtained them naturally.

Investigate the area here the magical bug was placed, looking for clues that may help us to identify the persons in question. If it is a secluded location, use my Detection concept to see if anyone I have met before was in this location. Use my Detection concept to check for magicka residue (the bug was blasted by magic, correct?) and see me if this leads me on a trail.

After finishing, go to the throne room. Check the 'iron throne' with my Detection concept for any means of opening. Do not open it yet. Apparently there are criminals after the power source and we don't want to do all the work for them. Place a motion detector by the throne (be prepared to return if it goes off), tell the others of any findings, and return to the stadium.

If I see Tiamat at all, ask him if he or Volsavrax has any affiliation with the Inkhearts, and tell him of our experiences with them. EDIT: Also ask him what in the world my gun shoots.

Sorry for the long action Zero, it was just too tempting. However, the actions are precise enough that they shouldn't require too much writing.

I'll take a walk with you guys.

Investigate the throne with the group. Combine my skills of runic appraisal and luxchemistry with BigKahuna's detection to see if there's any hidden runes or circuits on or around the throne.

If I run into any officials, or better yet the Lord emporer himself, ask if there are any spare mechanical weapons that are uneeded or unwanted that I could use.

Kept it short and sweet. Greatly looking forward to the next roll .

Wesfreak - Please don't start an apocalypse out of mere curiosity. In too many books/movies the disaster is triggered accidentally by the curious. protagonist.


I have a few questions, Zerovirus.

1. Can we 'interfere' in golem tournaments? As in help out our golems? I'd assume no, but...

2. Do golems and/or binded items regenerate after death? If not, could I teleport my master-node out of the arena if Paul looked as if he were about to explode?

3. Is there anything preventing me from imbuing/weaponizing concepts? JackBarber did just fine and dandy with his gloves (Material Magic + Fortification)...

No, you're not legally allowed to interfere with the golems. That said, if you can find a way to influence the combat in an unnoticeable way, you might get away with it. It's not unheard-of.

The general method of recovery for destroyed golems is chronomantic reversal to negate damage, cast by Venthor himself. As such, your items should be safe- very few things can simply ignore chronomancy. However, outside of controlled events, destruction of key item is indeed a possibility.

Augmenting your golem is indeed possible. You should be seeing some of that pretty soon- it's common for golems to pull augments out of seemingly nowhere in between matches to provide the element of surprise, and sanctioned golemcrafters swarm the castle during a tournament to exact (slightly high prices) for golem improvement. Of course, there's also the back-door crafters who aren't so sanctioned, but are definitely cheaper...

The core idea of a protean-model golem like the one you have is that its attributed are keyed to certain items. The first thing you'd have to do would be to increase its capacity for key-input by one slot, and then input an item with magical attributes to your liking. Since you already have an item keyed to your golem, you currently can't just replace that with something else unless you execute the equivalent of a complete memory wipe and reset the golem, a procedure that may cost time and money, depending on who you approach for it.

I don't mean just augmenting my golem. Can I imbue/weaponize items with concepts freely now? A point of reference would be JackBarber Fortifying his items. Is that just specific to the Fortification concept, or is it really that easy to imbue items?

If there is a catch to imbuing items with concepts, why are Material Magic runes easier to imbue onto items?

Still waiting for 8680, since Jackbarber's on vacation and won't be back t'ill around this saturday, according to his last post.