Supnautica (part 45)
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Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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7th May 2013
14:06 GMT -2
"So are we on a time limit..?"
"I don't know." The air in front of him shimmers. "I don't know. I built control mechanisms into the spell architecture, but with a different sort of power flowing through I can't predict the speed."
"Is it just a matter of power flow?"
"I. Don't. Know. It's not-. Even impossible that it actually won't cause a problem. It's just astronomically unlikely."
"I ask because I can generally drain power, regardless of its form."
"That would be-. Barely better. But please: lecture me on magic."
"I don't even know who you are. And given the fight I just had against the late masters of Kor, I'm not going to assume that your knowledge is entirely up to date."
"Animated corpses can't fight as well as they could in life. The proper application of magic requires intelligence."
"Alright, let's lay out the problem."
The shimmer stabilises into… A hallway?
"Let us not."
He takes a moment to gather himself and then strides through. The portal… Stays open, and… There's basically nowhere I can go that I can't get back from if I have to, so… I step through.
"The raw energy is designed to interact with the spells you've laid out-" He's striding down the corridor, and I… Don't try flying wherever this is, and trot after him instead. This place looks like a… Early modern palace, walls panelled and decorated with friezes, roof high and vaulted. "-which in turn connect to everyone via your piscine transformation spells. Which means that the nature of the energy matters."
"There are second-order spells designed to act in response to the result of that. Except that now they won't, they'll do something else. Rather than make my people joyful at the new state of affairs…"
"They'll be driven mad by it?"
He glances back, walking faster. "I don't know."
"Where are we?"
He snorts, returning his attention to the path ahead. "You should have asked that before you followed me. I don't need you."
"I'm a superhero. Doing unwise things to stop bad things is basically what we do. I don't expect you to like me, but, again, the more that I know-."
"We are in the house of Destiny so that I can steal a picture."
"Oh, how novel." I look around and entirely fail to see a man in a grey robe chained to a book. I mean, it's not like he doesn't know that we're here. "Now I don't know how fucked we are either."
"If he hasn't stepped in by now, then I'm supposed to be here."
"Or he'll just walk up when it's most appropriate. Unless either of us are immune to destiny."
Which…
"Ah, if someone tried to find your name with a spell that runs off the Book of Destiny, and the spell fails, does that mean that you're immune to destiny?"
He hesitates at an intersection, mutters something under his breath and then turns left. "It might."
"In that case, he probably doesn't know that we're here, but he's going to be really angry when he finds out."
"How are you immune to destiny?"
"If I knew that-."
"Do not make.. glib quips when the fate of my people is on the line!"
"I come from a universe that is architecturally different from this one. No magic, and I'm going to guess that we don't have anything similar to fate for mine to have been transcribed onto the local fate-system when I came here."
"Then I can use you as a distraction. If you interfere with his system by existing then he will focus his rage on you-."
"He didn't get angry last time he ran into people with that ability. And it's possible that he's just put a basic ward on his book. Which he can't alter, so I'm not sure… What he can do against me. Or you."
"Treasure your lack of imagination."
"I guess people pay him for information?"
"How do you even breathe?"
"Well, between the two of us, I'm the one with a working relationship with two of the Endless, and as a Lantern I don't need to breathe."
"Which two?"
"Dream and Desire. Desire thinks I'm fun to prod. With Dream I assisted him with a minor matter. Do you-?"
"That's no help. Desire helps you once, then ruins everything else you do so that it sticks in your memory. And what Dream does when-."
"He takes all the worthwhile parts to put in his domain forever while the material version loses all the traits that make it worth existing, I know." Huh. "But how do you know that hasn't already happened? I mean, Atlantis fell from-."
"I asked, and he mentioned it."
"How do you even know where we're going?"
"There's a progression in the friezes. You didn't notice?"
"No."
"Magic isn't just about raw power and knowledge. You have to develop an understanding for the rule-systems that define the greatest currents of power. Awareness of your environment is essential, because every tiny clue emerges from those rule in places of power like this. It's been a long time since I've been this powerless, but needs must."
"Okay, so what are you going to do when we get… Wherever we're going."
"Short circuit my own spell and hope that the power loop doesn't drive everyone mad before your allies can destroy the anchor stones. I doubt that it will work, but it's the only thing I could think of that might."
"Just in case you die in the attempt, where is King Orin really?"
"I needed the heart of a king. He's still alive, but he doesn't-. At last!"
A large room, a table, and… Seven portrait frames. Er… Okay, Dream, Death, Desire, those I recognise. The robe with a face is… Destiny. There's a sheet over one. Destruction? One shows an emaciated women sitting on a turntable, rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs as she spins slowly around, and Ahri'ahn is heading towards it.
The last one is empty. Uh.
"How remarkably fitting."
14:06 GMT -2
"So are we on a time limit..?"
"I don't know." The air in front of him shimmers. "I don't know. I built control mechanisms into the spell architecture, but with a different sort of power flowing through I can't predict the speed."
"Is it just a matter of power flow?"
"I. Don't. Know. It's not-. Even impossible that it actually won't cause a problem. It's just astronomically unlikely."
"I ask because I can generally drain power, regardless of its form."
"That would be-. Barely better. But please: lecture me on magic."
"I don't even know who you are. And given the fight I just had against the late masters of Kor, I'm not going to assume that your knowledge is entirely up to date."
"Animated corpses can't fight as well as they could in life. The proper application of magic requires intelligence."
"Alright, let's lay out the problem."
The shimmer stabilises into… A hallway?
"Let us not."
He takes a moment to gather himself and then strides through. The portal… Stays open, and… There's basically nowhere I can go that I can't get back from if I have to, so… I step through.
"The raw energy is designed to interact with the spells you've laid out-" He's striding down the corridor, and I… Don't try flying wherever this is, and trot after him instead. This place looks like a… Early modern palace, walls panelled and decorated with friezes, roof high and vaulted. "-which in turn connect to everyone via your piscine transformation spells. Which means that the nature of the energy matters."
"There are second-order spells designed to act in response to the result of that. Except that now they won't, they'll do something else. Rather than make my people joyful at the new state of affairs…"
"They'll be driven mad by it?"
He glances back, walking faster. "I don't know."
"Where are we?"
He snorts, returning his attention to the path ahead. "You should have asked that before you followed me. I don't need you."
"I'm a superhero. Doing unwise things to stop bad things is basically what we do. I don't expect you to like me, but, again, the more that I know-."
"We are in the house of Destiny so that I can steal a picture."
"Oh, how novel." I look around and entirely fail to see a man in a grey robe chained to a book. I mean, it's not like he doesn't know that we're here. "Now I don't know how fucked we are either."
"If he hasn't stepped in by now, then I'm supposed to be here."
"Or he'll just walk up when it's most appropriate. Unless either of us are immune to destiny."
Which…
"Ah, if someone tried to find your name with a spell that runs off the Book of Destiny, and the spell fails, does that mean that you're immune to destiny?"
He hesitates at an intersection, mutters something under his breath and then turns left. "It might."
"In that case, he probably doesn't know that we're here, but he's going to be really angry when he finds out."
"How are you immune to destiny?"
"If I knew that-."
"Do not make.. glib quips when the fate of my people is on the line!"
"I come from a universe that is architecturally different from this one. No magic, and I'm going to guess that we don't have anything similar to fate for mine to have been transcribed onto the local fate-system when I came here."
"Then I can use you as a distraction. If you interfere with his system by existing then he will focus his rage on you-."
"He didn't get angry last time he ran into people with that ability. And it's possible that he's just put a basic ward on his book. Which he can't alter, so I'm not sure… What he can do against me. Or you."
"Treasure your lack of imagination."
"I guess people pay him for information?"
"How do you even breathe?"
"Well, between the two of us, I'm the one with a working relationship with two of the Endless, and as a Lantern I don't need to breathe."
"Which two?"
"Dream and Desire. Desire thinks I'm fun to prod. With Dream I assisted him with a minor matter. Do you-?"
"That's no help. Desire helps you once, then ruins everything else you do so that it sticks in your memory. And what Dream does when-."
"He takes all the worthwhile parts to put in his domain forever while the material version loses all the traits that make it worth existing, I know." Huh. "But how do you know that hasn't already happened? I mean, Atlantis fell from-."
"I asked, and he mentioned it."
"How do you even know where we're going?"
"There's a progression in the friezes. You didn't notice?"
"No."
"Magic isn't just about raw power and knowledge. You have to develop an understanding for the rule-systems that define the greatest currents of power. Awareness of your environment is essential, because every tiny clue emerges from those rule in places of power like this. It's been a long time since I've been this powerless, but needs must."
"Okay, so what are you going to do when we get… Wherever we're going."
"Short circuit my own spell and hope that the power loop doesn't drive everyone mad before your allies can destroy the anchor stones. I doubt that it will work, but it's the only thing I could think of that might."
"Just in case you die in the attempt, where is King Orin really?"
"I needed the heart of a king. He's still alive, but he doesn't-. At last!"
A large room, a table, and… Seven portrait frames. Er… Okay, Dream, Death, Desire, those I recognise. The robe with a face is… Destiny. There's a sheet over one. Destruction? One shows an emaciated women sitting on a turntable, rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs as she spins slowly around, and Ahri'ahn is heading towards it.
The last one is empty. Uh.
"How remarkably fitting."
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