Grimoire of the Rift (IC)

[ReaderAt2046]

"You might want to have someone cast Zone of Truth first. It's a pretty crazy story, you might not believe me otherwise."

[Lexin]

"Or to make the long story short, we may as well just say that we know next to nothing about the spell and if you wanted to learn more about it you would probably need to ask Mori...
... although in the way it worked out it was quite close to the typical genie-twisted-wish spell..." he says with a shrug.

[Morithias]

"Or to make the long story short, we may as well just say that we know next to nothing about the spell and if you wanted to learn more about it you would probably need to ask Mori...
... although in the way it worked out it was quite close to the typical genie-twisted-wish spell..." he says with a shrug.

"Very well. Then I will ask her." She turns to Senhime. "You know what to do."

Senhime nods, and runs into the backroom. You hear her chant "Patricia, Patricia, Patricia" over and over. Then "tele-" Then it goes quiet, about 5 minutes later you hear "-port!" And Senhime walks back out with Patricia, who is looking very confused.

Nova turns to her. "I hear you have information about my people, Patricia."

Patricia goes white. "Please don't hurt me...." she begs.

[ReaderAt2046]

Okay, I didn't expect that to happen. De soviendie noi savaigan!

[Lexin]

"Hi Mori, how is it going?"

[Morithias]

"Hi Mori, how is it going?"

Patricia looks enraged. "How do you bloody THINK!? Some random person who I don't even know teleports into my room, grabs me and teleports me here! I'm not going to be able to sleep for weeks!" She is shaking. "How the hell are you guys still sane? Every other day some idiot tries to rob me, or kill me, or pickpocket me, or something of that nature! And to top it all off, apparently some bloody civil war has broken out, and Teru wanted me to go to Takeda! Why she would ask me is beyond me! I'm a scholar not some military expert!"

Nova is watching with an amused smile on her face. "Senhime, did you teleport OUTSIDE of her room and knock, or right inside?"

Senhime turns to her. "Uh...inside...sorry."

Nova rolls her eyes. "You have to stop doing that. Now I've got to pay this girl for invasion of privacy. Even I'm not above Rosewood laws."

[ReaderAt2046]

Danil suppresses a giggle at Senhime's reaction. He addresses Mori/Pat. "Lady Nova here wants to know how you know so much about her people. Also how you ended up in your current body. Your old one came up when Lucas accidently used the wrong name in conversation."

[Lexin]

Patricia looks enraged. "How do you bloody THINK!? Some random person who I don't even know teleports into my room, grabs me and teleports me here! I'm not going to be able to sleep for weeks!" She is shaking. "How the hell are you guys still sane? Every other day some idiot tries to rob me, or kill me, or pickpocket me, or something of that nature! And to top it all off, apparently some bloody civil war has broken out, and Teru wanted me to go to Takeda! Why she would ask me is beyond me! I'm a scholar not some military expert!"

Lucas thinks for a while before answering "I guess I am not... I was told this much by my family when I took up deep see scuba diving... and later with the whole parachute flying... and the trip to Africa...
I would say it is actually pretty nice here."

[ReaderAt2046]

Danil: "I've already told you my stance on my sanity. Now hush, the cute dragon princess girl wants to talk to us."

[Morithias]

Danil suppresses a giggle at Senhime's reaction. He addresses Mori/Pat. "Lady Nova here wants to know how you know so much about her people. Also how you ended up in your current body. Your old one came up when Lucas accidently used the wrong name in conversation."

Patricia rubs her forehead. "Okay. Okay." She sits down at the table. "Where to begin."

"In the world where we used to live, the world was very different. Automatic carriages, machines that could fly you across the world, weapons that could wipe out a country. All without using magic at all."

Nova raises her eyebrow, and Patricia continues. "In our old world, magic outside of certain religions was thought as a myth, a children's play story. Something you could never get to work except when the results could also be attributed to random chance or stage tricks. I studied magic, mostly as a dumb hobby."

She breaths. "We played a board game called "Dungeons and Dragons". It was a game where you made a character and roleplayed out adventurers. This world." She motions around, "is my creation, at least in that world. Everyone had their character ready to play, and me, being the one running the game did not. I pulled out the grimoire figuring I would get a laugh out of the spell. It was a spell to grant you your heart's desires. Everyone in the spirit of the game pointed out they would want to be their characters. To be a noble, a wizard, a knight, and so on."

She breathes. "The book as far as I can tell either rewrote reality, or teleported us all into this world, but this world is perfectly accurate to the world I had created. All of the houses in place, all the lords the same, Helman to the south west, Leazus to the west, and Zeth to the south. The Taguka demon portal, and of course, you."

Nova nods. "Naturally being the one who created this realm you would know the locations of many of the players of the game."

Patricia nods. "I am sorry for causing any trouble."

Nova shakes her head. "I can realize this must be great torment for you, all of you, having lost your homes, but what is with the whole "Patricia" thing?"

Patricia nods. "Everyone became their characters. Being the Dungeon Master, I did not have a character. I was transformed into a non-player character who was suppose to be a contact of the party. Patrica, the scholar."

[Lexin]

"I guess better this than some local deity. It would be boring."

[Morithias]

"I guess better this than some local deity. It would be boring."

Patricia shakes her head. "That's what worries me. In Patricia's backstory, she was suppose to be a god in disguise. A being called the Craftswoman."

Nova raises her eyebrows. "The Zeth Goddess of Technology?"

Patricia nods. She turns the party. "The Zeth goddess lost her divine ranks centuries ago. Her faith lost it's power when magic became mainstream. What point is it to discover the refrigerator when you can just cast purify food? Why invent a car when you have teleport spells, and so on. She was suppose to represent the "Science" side of magic versus technology."

She shakes her head. "As far as I can tell, I do not have the quasi-deity template though. Which worries me. What other information do I have that is inaccurate, and what if I do turn out to be the goddess. The plot point of Zeth was to unite magic and technology as one again, causing her to reascend."

Senhime raises her eyebrows. "How far ahead did you plan this story?"

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and that my friends is why you never give the DM ideas.

[Lexin]

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Hey! That's half the fun!

"Hey, if you ascent to godhood you need to make a party! ... Rain of beer would be a nice beginning...
Ah you might also think about cellphones and internet... I can picture these conversations."

Holding his hand to his ear and with a bit changed voice " ' Hey mom, I am in the elemental plane of earth, gold digging and fighting Dao, so I can't talk right now. Yes I will Plane Shift back for dinner!' "

back to normal "That would be pretty sweet."

[Morithias]

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Hey! That's half the fun!

"Hey, if you ascent to godhood you need to make a party! ... Rain of beer would be a nice beginning...
Ah you might also think about cellphones and internet... I can picture these conversations."

Holding his hand to his ear and with a bit changed voice " ' Hey mom, I am in the elemental plane of earth, gold digging and fighting Dao, so I can't talk right now. Yes I will Plane Shift back for dinner!' "

back to normal "That would be pretty sweet."

Nova laughs at this. "The more you speak the more I wish to know about your world!"

Senhime looks at her and coughs. "Uh..Mistress maybe we should discuss the war and what they came here for."

Nova nods. "Right. Anyways, you came to request I give you reinforcements for Takuga correct?" She looks over the map. "The demons attack in full force when the strongest enemies appear. They don't care about the land, they just want an easy place to go for warfare. The best option for me is to grant you some of the old retired player and have them disguised as humans, then when you make the final push, have them reveal their full powers. I will need time to convince a few of them though."

Senhime looks at her. "Mistress, are you sure that is going to work?"

Nova laughs. "It can't hurt to ask, and even if none of them say yes, we can still send money and supplies. Besides it's not like any of them have anything better to do than sit around and play chess all day."

[Lexin]

"Chess? Sounds like fun... oh no, not that much... they got hundred years of experience... I guess I wouldn't be much of a challenge... back to business then...
And about the current conflict? Is there any way we can stop it?... Or at least help in ending it?"

[ReaderAt2046]

Danil "Now do you see why I wanted you to cast Zone of Truth?"

[Morithias]

Danil "Now do you see why I wanted you to cast Zone of Truth?"

Nova shakes her head. "You don't cast zone of truth during this kind of talk. It shows you don't trust the person. Plus zone of truth can be fooled. Half-truths, stuff you believe is true but isn't, magic, and so on. It's best to use your own judgement."

She turns to the map. "Takeda and Uesugi are both powerful forces. Heavy empathize on their military. You'll likely need to mediate the conflict. Both leaders are too strong to be assassinated, and their forces are too strong to take out outside of slaughtering a bunch of innocent soldiers."

[Lexin]

To Danil "Told you so!"

[ReaderAt2046]

"I just didn't feel the Grimoire would let us get off that easy."

[Morithias]

Nova nods. "Grimoire or not, the fact is, is that we can't push into Takuga while the country is in civil war. The dragons do not enter conflict with humans, so I cannot send any of my forces into their lands."

She turns to Patricia. "What do you know about the leaders?"

Patricia nods. "Uesugi Kenshin is known as the goddess of war. A lady of war, with grace, and finesse. No social skills though. Her advisor Noei Ai, serves that purpose. Our best bet with her is to work through her tactician."

She continues. "Takeda Shingen is a man of military genius and battle strategy. Combined with his 4 vassals their special tactical plans, enable them to fight off enemies with flawless ability. We'll need to entire convince him, or convince all 4 vassals to the peace treaty. And of course there's also the alliance between Uesugi and Hojo. Their paladins won't be able to do much damage, but they'll certainly stall Takeda to give us the time we need. In the long term my guess would be victory for Takeda, unless Kenshin gets outside help."

[ReaderAt2046]

"One other factor: Aisha went off to study with the Uesegi not long before we left. I don't know if she's still there, but it could prove important."

[Lexin]

"Any hints to how to convince them?
Do we make them offers... which we are hardly authorized to do. Do we fight them all in duels? That would be nice... but probably suicidal..."

[ReaderAt2046]

"We have to find out who really started this war and convince both sides. The demons must have got wind of our plan and reacted...thrice-bedimmed quickly, too."

[Morithias]

"One other factor: Aisha went off to study with the Uesegi not long before we left. I don't know if she's still there, but it could prove important."

Nova laughs. "The crescent dragon? Now THAT is certainly going to change things."

Patricia nods. "If that's the case, we could look at a stalemate for a very, very, long time. Assuming no one screws up on a major scale, and no one gets a lucky hit in."

Nova looks at the map and taps it a few times. "Senhime, can you go to Imagawa?"

Senhime looks at her. "Why?"

Nova. "The Takuga project will need help from everyone, Imagawa may be able to be convinced by the fact I'm willing to help. Both dragons and druids tend to think long term. Meanwhile your party should head north to Takeda and try to settle the situation. I will be sure to punish whatever dragon tried to attack you Patricia."

Senhime and Patricia both nod. Nova continues. "After that it's just a matter of convincing Dame, and then heading to the minor families.. If I know my politics Mouri should sign on easily, Shimazu might be harder or easier to convince depending on how Patricia plays her part?"

"Wait what?" Patricia asks.

"You're the goddess of technology, I'm sure you could talk a country about knowledge into some aid.

"A FALLEN goddess, and that's assuming that's even correct!"

"Hey, you use what you have at hand. It shouldn't be too hard to convince them, given all you know. That's how politics works."

[Lexin]

"We have to find out who really started this war and convince both sides. The demons must have got wind of our plan and reacted...thrice-bedimmed quickly, too."

"That's the beginning of paranoia. Good! You are finally learning!"

[ReaderAt2046]

(To Nova Ryu)

"Agreed, if we're going to be fighting demons we'll need Hinjo and Miko. I must say, I'm very glad to have found such an intelligent ally. I suppose I should have realized that anyone who could run the Game would pretty instantly see what's going on, but it's still nice to keep finding allies."

(To Lexin, whispering)

"Speaking of paranoia, is there any way to make that Mindlink trick of yours permanent? I miss being able to talk OOC"

[Lexin]

(To Lexin, whispering)

"Speaking of paranoia, is there any way to make that Mindlink trick of yours permanent? I miss being able to talk OOC"

"It probably would be possible... but hardly cost effective..."

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If Mori allowed I could use incarnate power (psionic permanency) to make mindlink permanent. But first we would need to buy a 'scroll' with this power, then it would be 2500 to link us all... around 3800 total... not that bad actually, it would be cheaper than items and even cheaper than that if we found someone to cast it, instead of buying scrolls.
Still we need Mori permission (mindlink is not on the list)

To others

"... and my question? Any hints how to convince all these people?"

[Morithias]

"I can think of no other way than trying to make them see reason, but both sides are prideful, and this wasn't some border problem, this was a high ranking assassination. You'll need a very good argument."

[Lexin]

"Do you have any specifics, like who was murdered, where and when... how would be helpful too."

[Morithias]

"Do you have any specifics, like who was murdered, where and when... how would be helpful too."

She turns to Senhime. "Did you get that information from the messenger?"

Senhime shakes her head. "No, he didn't say, before running off."

Nova sighs. "Looks like you guys are going in with a blank slate."