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[Fin] Murder U Too - Endgame
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03-13-2021, 05:44:41 AM
Ranma just closed his eyes and looked down. "But. . . Fine. . ." If the numbers aren't good enough, he's tying her up in a heart beat. "And Kellensea, if you say something along the lines "Finally, someone with some brains who listen to beautiful and brilliant old me" instead of just giving it to us straightforward, I'm tying you up. Just say the actual numbers without all the self-boasting bullcrap."
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 05:52:27 AM
I can't guarantee that Komaru. It's all theoretical. But I am reasonably confident. I suspect the host is not letting us stay dead, or at very least, is going to try to keep us trapped in its sphere of influence. IF that's true, which it probably is, that means that whenever someone dies here, information is transferred to a separate demiplane, where we end up when we escape here, since it's been confirmed that the survivors go to a specific place. Presumably, that separate demiplane, which is also behind the sealed door. So, information, it travels at a speed below infinitely fast. That means it needs a route to travel, otherwise it would be stuck in this demiplane forever, right? So, the information, the "soul" I guess you could call it, needs a route to follow. So it creates one to get to the OTHER plane. With this ritual setup, I take that route, and expand it to cover the entire doorway here, and stabilize it with this chargeable crystal, with which I'll be focusing it, with these sigils here being a very simple magic battery with which to charge the crystal. I make a portal, and we can follow that information. IF it works, IF the host didn't lie about wanting to harvest memories, and IF the host is reasonably smart, all these factors will be true enough for this portal to successfully link to the other side. The host ALSO said this sort of thing had been done before. That means that there are probably other people back there. Three demiplanes would be impractical, four would be pointless if you could just recycle the second one.
Kellensea sighs. The portal will stay open for... maybe an hour. I don't know. If I was an experienced spellcaster with ritual training, I'd be able to set it up to work for a few days, at least. But I don't know how long it will last when I do it. The one person who I sacrifice to open the portal, they'll end up on the other side before us, and presumably, they'll be... alive-ish. At very least, they'll have their memories, their mind, and the capacity to communicate, which is... probably good enough. They might even get their body. I'm not sure. But I THINK this will work. And if anything, it's worth trying. I believe it's worth trying. At home, this would work probably... all the time. It's pretty difficult to screw up sacrifice-based summoning. But... here? The rules of magic might be different enough that it could disrupt the spell. I have no idea. My rings and amulets and things still seem to be working, so that implies that magic works VERY closely to how it works back home. But I have no idea if it actually will work. My educated guess is that it WILL work. In practice however, we won't know until we try. I am the They who says it!
03-13-2021, 05:53:26 AM
"..okay, I'm getting a bit more concerned with Kellensea as the days go by. Not only is she a kleptomaniac, she's also possibly a narcissist and/or have a superiority complex. Both are.. not good."
silver dollar, black smoke in my eyes
shattered glass, fallen fast, leave me paralysed
03-13-2021, 05:55:34 AM
"You see, you keep saying stuff like you "think" it'll work, and that you're confident in it'll work. Hell, you even started off with "you can't guarantee it'll work." That's not very good sounding to us."
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 06:03:47 AM
"... Oh."
Komaru's getting those cold feet that she was talking about, as she clears her throat. "That... sounds reasonable, but... not to get dark but. How do you know souls would transfer here the same way they usually would for you? Spirits exist for me! I was possessed once, don't recommend it... but here, who knows? You're asking a lot for something that might not even work. It's not like we may lose some disposable change, we're talking about human lives. I don't know what that would mean where you come from, but for us... you know. People are cherished. I understand you're stressed, but... are you sure you're willing to put so much on the line? And if it doesn't work, then what? Why wouldn't everyone just vote you off for my killing? You know them as well as I do to know they won't be so forgiving, regardless of what your party is capable of." "oh hell no, kung fu panda!"
03-13-2021, 06:08:08 AM
"She's right, you know that Kellensea. Even if you don't say it, you know she's right. Let's say she does agreed and actually gives up her body to be sacrificed. And it failed. You'd have killed an innocent girl, someone part of your "party," for nothing. Then what will you do? Come up with some other cockamamie scheme that'll "get you and a few others" out? Blame us for "taking too long" in not helping. Tell us what you will do if and slash or when it fails. Face it, you know this plan will most likely not work. We can't take great risks that involve sacrificing one of our own."
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 06:09:07 AM
You're right. I can't guarantee it. I can't... But it's probably better than just sitting here, waiting for escape to fall into our laps. I've done this. Everything implies that this SHOULD work, and if it doesn't... well, the worst thing that happens is one person dies. What's one more person? We've lost four already. If it fails, maybe you waited too long and the loophole closed, maybe the rules of magic were very different here, and I had no way of knowing. Wait, fuck, Ranma, you have the Ronnie-blood soaked napkins, right? Or did you throw those out? Or did the host through them out? I have a proof of concept, we could try that before stabbing you to death right here. Blood of a virgin, right? Well... I mean, technically it doesn't have to be a virgin. Little in-joke in ritualist circles. But the point is, it's blood! We can use that as a proof of concept, to continue to test if magic works similarly enough. If this works, and my portal idea doesn't? Well, then clearly it's sabotage, we waited too long, the rules are different, I don't know. But either way, we'll know MORE.
Kellensea desperately starts searching to... >See if the ronnie-blood soaked napkins are still around. I am the They who says it!
03-13-2021, 06:13:05 AM
"Wha- How should I know? I threw them at you, so you should know what was done with them!" Ronnie you bastard, you might've actually done something useful. If what Kellensea said wasn't bullshit and she can use your blood. . . Not that Ranma believes it of course.
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 06:28:19 AM
>Find the Ronnie-blood-soaked napkins
Last Kellensea checked, those were in the kitchen, tossed carelessly aside. They're not on the floor - but didn't the host say something about cleaning up at some point? She checks the trash can... there.
nya
03-13-2021, 06:35:36 AM
YES! Found them. Alright, stand back, I'm going to try to use these to open a gate. Now, the host implied this is a contained demiplane, but this SHOULD connect it back to whoever I blood sacrifice this to, and summon a lesser demon or something. It's a... lesser plane-shift, you could say. Not enough to get us off, but enough to get this demon in. Or, rather, a devil. Demons are too unpredictable, I'd rather have an imp... Don't worry, I'll kill it after. Anyway, if this works, my gate idea might work, but if it doesn't, we can go with your plan, whatever that is.
>Use techniques from calculus to evaluate 4096 pizzas Try to summon an imp with the blood sacrifice of ronnie-blood, using the ritual equipment laying out. I am the They who says it!
03-13-2021, 06:36:41 AM
> Do the same thing as Kellensea out of curiosity
silver dollar, black smoke in my eyes
shattered glass, fallen fast, leave me paralysed
03-13-2021, 06:41:26 AM
"Wait, hold on. I thought you were summoning a gateway to somewhere or something, not an actual demon or imp"
>Ranma's keeping guard of everyone not helping, just incase this goes bad real fast and he needs to protect them.
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 06:50:25 AM
>SUMMON IMP [Kellensea]
Kellensea performs the summoning ritual... ... ... but nothing happens. > Do the same thing as Kellensea out of curiosity [Haruka] Haruka mimics Kellensea's steps, and receives the same (lack of) result.
nya
03-13-2021, 06:55:43 AM
"I don't think it worked. . ."
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 06:57:13 AM
[..Haruka slowly turns her head to Komaru and Ranma.]
"...did I just tried to summon something out of curiosity?" silver dollar, black smoke in my eyes
shattered glass, fallen fast, leave me paralysed
03-13-2021, 06:58:31 AM
"Maybe? I don't know how to summon stuff. I only exorcised some stuff. . ." And that was a giant cat demon that tried to make him and another girl his bride.
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 06:59:04 AM
"It's important that you two tried! Now we know."
"oh hell no, kung fu panda!"
03-13-2021, 07:02:04 AM
"So that's a no on her plan then? If so, I'm relieved. Mostly since I'd prefer no one else does or gets stabbed."
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 07:02:24 AM
...I mean, normally, we'd have something by now, so either it's delayed, summoning specifically is blocked, we've got a dampening field rather than an elimination field, or magic works differently-ish. Alternately, the imp not showing up could be an issue of communication. This demiplane might not have a valid connection to a plane with imps. There's any number of reasons it might have failed. But now I'm about half as confident as I was, because a lot of those options would interfere with me trying to open a second gate in here, major sacrifice or no. On the other hand, I heard the whispers of Vels the first night, when I issued a prayer, so she clearly has influence over this plane to some... minor extent. At least enough to send the whispers of the madness beneath forth. But then, that just means there's a way in... Look, my point is, maybe you're right and we should try my idea second, after we try whatever your idea to get out of here is. So what's your plan to get us out of here without further killing?
Kellensea sounds disappointed, but not begrudging. She prepares to go along with the steps issued by the others, if skeptically. I am the They who says it!
03-13-2021, 07:07:06 AM
. . . Holy frick, is Kellensea actually going along with their plan? Did her ritual actually work and they all got brutally murdered? Well, he'd use this moment to gloat about being right over her plan not working, but there's more pressing matters. It was somewhat satisfying to see her somewhat disappointed. "Monika discovered a code or message in the computer, saying something about moving the boundaries and creating a brick. If we can figure out whatever the hell that means, it could open up a step closer to the end of this killing game."
You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.
03-13-2021, 07:20:38 AM
"..creating a brick? Interesting.. Perhaps it could be.. a metaphor for something!"
silver dollar, black smoke in my eyes
shattered glass, fallen fast, leave me paralysed
03-13-2021, 07:48:43 AM
Wait, so you stopped my plan, but you had NO ACTUAL PLAN other than "vague hints"? I don't know whether to scream or to laugh. Anyway, that kind of implies this demiplane was created by a new wizard, sorcerer, or warlock who gained their power quickly. The pushing boundaries bit implies a warlock quite strongly to me. Either way, that implies they built this plane, and that they could destroy it, if they wanted to. Of course... that's true of all the stuff in this plane. It was summoned, but is not inherently... magical. Huh. Since they also control the demiplanar rules to some extent... they warped... I mean, obviously we can't steal the power from the host. That's not an option in this scenario, because their power probably doesn't have a focus. BUT, BUT... No, I have no idea what to do. I liked my plan better, at least it was a plan that had a non-zero chance of working.
I am the They who says it!
03-13-2021, 07:59:09 AM
"I... Kellensea, we just proved it wouldn't work."
"oh hell no, kung fu panda!"
03-13-2021, 08:29:53 AM
We proved we couldn't summon an imp. As I said, there are multiple reasons that could be the case. Only some of them would prevent me from opening a gate with a sacrifice to a demiplane we are fairly confident exists that probably has valid connection to this one. Now certainly, it would be much more risky than I previously thought, but it still has a non-zero chance of working. But we're going with your idea for now. Don't talk past your sale.
I am the They who says it!
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