After the Win Game Thread

"Thanks for that soft landing, my good man. I am curious, however: where did you get all these softballs?"

 

When one lands on the shoulder of a truly enormous giant, there are a bunch of things you can do. First, Billy thought about panicking. But he wasn't very good at that, since he didn't have a lot of practice, and besides, panicking seemed like a good way to get killed.

So what if the giant had gotten there faster than expected? It just meant that there was a fellow on hand who was quite possible friendly, even if he was really big. Really, really big. No, really, really, really big.

Right.

Billy casually unlooped one hand from his parachute, keeping the other one wrapped in the rope in case he needed it again. Which he would if the giant did anything unexpected. Like throw him. On the bright side, maybe the giant could read it?

While such happy thoughts raced through Billy's chi- I mean, mind, he was casually pulling a cigar from the pouch in his belt and lighting it. Once he had a good ember there he exhaled deeply and said, "What's up, doc?"

 

I ask the giant "Are you a friend or a Foe?" And not waiting on a reply I tell Billy "I have your back, Chinny."

(Presuming the Giant is friendly or at least not hostile, I ask where the deer is and mention his aim was a bit off unless the deer was flying above my shoulder. Presumably, I no longer have a wound to show him, but if I do, then I point a hand or tentacle at it.)

If this exchange takes more than a moment then I will zip down to the cave below and see that everyone is alright and as quickly as possible tell them we are seeing if the giants are friendly or not. Then before they can say anything I will again be gone up above to see what happens.

 

(Keep in mind, Omni, your character doesn't have a teleport abiltiy. His core body remains in one stable place, just his bits and pieces kind of flow around it. So you can totally do what you're describing, you're just looking and talking in a place where your body -- which is currently still up on the platform in the tree -- isn't.)

The giant looks in confusion at Billy. "Where'd that other voice come from? " The giant carefully scoops Billy up, sits up, and holds Billy in his hand like a five-year-old with a spider. About this time, Billy finishes lighting up and asks his question.

"Um...I'm hunting? What are YOU doing?"


In the distance, another giant yells out. "Hey! Who you talking to, dumbass?"

 

(I am still somewhat uncertain about what I can or cannot do. But that is alright.)

I say "From here. Me." Then I say it from the other side. Then another... (I hope to make him think there are many of me and he cannot see all of us all the time.)

"We are just exploring the woods to see what there is around here. Where did your deer go?"

 

"And what makes you think they weren't there to begin with" - Oleandre replies to the senator in a confident tone. - "It's not like either of you could see a damn thing there before you jumped down like idiots."

He once again raised his head, but was unable to see any of the other men.

"The frecking tunnel leads to some sort of room, an archive of a scrying area. I guess you want for the others to get down there now that we're split, so just gather yourself or some crap like that."

 

The Senator is not fooled by Oleandre's lie, but he doesn't say anything about it.

 

"T'be perfect honest wid you, big guy, I dunno what I'm doin'. I got here by..." for a moment Billy's face becomes seriously confused. It's clear he doesn't actually remember how he got here. "...recently. I got here recently. Not sure what I'm doing, no how."

Billy regains his confidence and speaks up, wondering if its hard for the giant to here him, what with all that distance. "What are you and your friends hunting for?"

 

The Senator, like any good politician, completely ignores Olaf's question. Instead, he introduces himself.

"Hello good sir. I'm Senator Zebedev. I don't believe I caught your name."

 

(The people down below are carrying on their conversation in peace, so I'm gonna let them do that.)

The giant looks around in confusion as, while he's talking to Billy, a second voice seems to come from everywhere around him at once. He looks again at Billy and looks rather annoyed. "Who's that? I don't like him, whoever he is, so tell him to leave me alone...and my deer is prolly over there," the giant points westerly, "bleeding out against a tree. I got him good, right in the heart. He'll be dead by the time I get there, that's for sure."

He listens to Billy stumble on about getting there, and replies, "Well...deer. Duh." The giant grins and clambers to his feet, still with Billy in his hands, and then holds him aloft to get a good view of a dying giant deer off in the distance. "See?"

 

I stand still. Sorry about that. I asked if you are friend or foe and never heard if you replied. So I kept moving to keep you from finding exactly where I was. (I am remaining at guard while still. Ready to run and hide if things go badly.)

I really do hope we can be friends. I know very little about hunting, and I could likely learn much from you.

 

"See?" Billy says. "He's a bit strange, but after ye get t'know him..." Billy shrugs, since he really doesn't know Argus yet himself. "Hopefully he's not so bad."

With that ringing endorsement offered, Billy looks carefully at the deer, leaning on the edge of the giant's hand. "Dat's one big deer, it is. A pretty good shot. Are you and your friends de only people hunting in dis forest?"

 

In the pit:

"My name's Ililani. I'm not sure if I'm pleased to meet you or not." She straightens her dress and checks her viola, just to be sure, then pats the short dagger at her waist. Seems her priorities might be different from everyone else's.

 

Hearing the young man ask the very question that needn't be asked, Oleandre was stumped. It didn't show, of course; years of living on the border of law made him capable of masking the grimace of surprise, as that was an emotion one wouldn't want to show when talking with one of many shady characters of the town. It took him a while to get back onto his previous train of thought, time which the politician spent trying to acquaint himself with the shorter fellow.

"We should get down the tunnel, if you ask me. But the two of them are still up there, checking the viewing deck or something, and I don't think they'd appreciate us going somewhere else. I don't really give a damn, as I only met all of you now, but it's always better not to kill anyone off."

Oleandre knew the value of information. Names of people and places, numbers and values, locations and formulae, even random useless trivia or rumours, all of these constituted knowledge for which people died. And people traded that knowledge every day, with every person could if the price was low enough. You gave your name to get someone else's name, you gave a rumour for another rumour, one scrap of information for another scrap. Because knowledge was power. Or rather, knowledge was what made it possible for you to have power; information itself was useless if you didn't know what to do with it or let something like "morals" interfere, but on the other hand, acting blind against someone who had information was a tactical equivalent of suicide.

The more knowledge you had, the easier it was to see weak points of other humans and their plans. And the more you knew, the easier it was to notice your own weak points and eliminate them. It was almost ironic that the more knowledge he gained, the easier it was for Oleandre to see his own weak point, which escalated as he kept on living - the fact that his eyes weren't able to perform as well as they should. The very reason why he had to get out of the underground, not to be consumed by people who would learn of his weakness. But ultimately, it was information that almost allowed him to solve this problem; right now, other than things he used as projectiles, there was one more thing in his hyperspace bag - the almost finished mechanical visor that only lacked a few elements. Unfortunately, with them being teleported here, the prospect of finishing it dimmed, but if anything, it was still a memento of his lessons about the value of knowledge.

"Either way, unless any of you got some kind of info, we know shit about this place, and just as effing much about our alleged purpose there. I know neither of you knew each other before as we all introduced ourselves, so there is something that we have to find out about. Just why couldn't the damn dragons get us home? And why did they move us there instead?"

He looked at the trio before him, a short wannabe mage, a singing lady, and a politician, hoping that convincing them to talk will be easier than convincing Dmitri back before his expedition. After all, the one thing he needed to be safe there was to have their trust, and what better way to get them to trust than interchanging information, possibly with not having to share anything unnecessary. After a short moment, he continued.

"The one thing I know is that the six of us share some common trait, one that the rest didn't share. And since the last thing I've done in my world was fighting against that mongrel Dredmor, I take a guess that it's related to him. It can be some spell he cast, or something he did when losing or winning. So, my point is that we should compare our stories, or something. That way we might be able to find out, and at least you won't get damn bored."

 

(Presuming I can hear and interact with those below while remaining above...)
"I am an extradimensional being made up of squid bolt byproducts. I have no idea how I killed Dredmor. I just used my skills to make him do something stupid. I will have to show you that sometime. Words do not explain."

"I never really cared about Dredmor. I was not there for him. I was elsewhere and then I was there. He actually killed himself in a really stupid way. But I was sucked into the vortex as if I had killed him myself."

"I do not move quite the same as you. I can interact and observe from a distance. It does not always work though."

 

Faced with their silence and then Olaf's declaration that he isn't going to wait, Oleandre knows what he is going to do.

"Humph, so be it. The two of you can come with us or wait here, you should be safe if you don't move."

Saying these words to Ililani and Zebedev, he starts walking into the corridor with the doors at the end.

 

The Senator looks at Ililani, gesturing in the direction of the hallway.

"After you, my lady," he says with a cheesy smile.