The Urban Domain lies to the southwest! cries Jangle in a melodic metallic soprano.
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Jangle goes off to fetch some food from the kitchen. Jingle explains the Game of Mortals to Ealsealf. Jingle: Only one of the six mortal pawns can win the Game of Mortals by sitting upon the Throne of the Gods and becoming an immortal god. To do this, you must dispel the prismatic sphere that surrounds the Throne. To dispel the sphere, you must pacify all six of the Outer Domains and install an Overlord over each.
You are here to be the pawn of Kwan Yin in a Game of Mortals, and you were transported here by the goddess. Here is the Courtyard of the Gameboard, a demiplane created cooperatively by the six deities playing the Game. We were created to serve you.
“Ah so the lord of darkness has chosen me yet again to be an agent of his power, very well. What is it he asks of me, surly it must be some great deed as rewards such as this are quite extravagant.” as he talks he walks around examining his new found palace, his tail excitedly swings back and forth in an erratic pattern. “And what might you two be called?” Sloth and Lust, at your service, Lord. Ye shall find out what to do, my Lord, in due time, and with proper investigation.
You are in the Courtyard, My Dear! In your very own palace, with we two maids to serve you! You are Bast's toy for the Game of Mortals, you see. We'll help you make the best of it! There is an herbarium in the garden within the palace courtyard, Your Mischievousness! Skullcap, mugwart, rosemary, thyme, everything you could want, Your Excellency! The clockwork servants lead Ealsealf Greenleaves to their clothing.
You are in the Courtyard, My Dear! In your very own palace, with we two maids to serve you! You are Bast's toy for the Game of Mortals, you see. We'll help you make the best of it!
A smile creeps onto his face “my lord? You mean to tell me I am the master of this great estate.” he says looking around his tail swaying vertically like a metronome. “And how has this great fortune been brought to me like a midnight dream” Indeed, you be the master of this great estate, and all within it. You have been chosen, naturally, for your uncompromising ethos of conquest and acquisition. You are a perfect instrument for our dark Lord's malevolence.
Ye might kill them indeed, and win the Game of Mortals for our Jarl Thor, but how, when, and why is for ye to decide, sire!
Mydravos walks along the hallways noticing the dark and demoralizing architecture more and more. “Hmm this is far to dark for some would be saint, few people other than myself enjoy the torments of hell. When he continues walking now relaxed but thoroughly confused he comes upon two automatons. He stops and studies them having never seen something such as this. He walks over to it, “These metal beings seem as if they were created by Forgemaster Hephaestus himself” Indeed, fresh from Hephaistos' forge we be, my lord! And at your service!
We know not who be the other champions. They will be players as capable and canny as ye. Thou shall have to venture out and meet them to take their measure...
Sven looked at the automations, and then remembered the thunder he heard. "Ah, so I'm dead then, is it? This is the afterlife?" He wondered how he died. Certainly wasn't heroic, that was for sure, given that his last memory was drinking with the lads. "So. Clunker, cranker. Tell me exactly where I am, why I'm here, who else is here, and what Thor wants of me." Clanker replies, Ye be in thine palace, sire, in the Courtyard. Ye be here as chosen champion of Thor Odinsson, God of Thunder, who plays at a Game of Mortals! Congratulations, sire! Clunker adds: There be many others here, but only six chosen champions, including thyself, sire. Thor wants ye to win the Game of Mortals for him, which would make thee a god thyself!
The wine is cool and delicious, and imparts a heady flush of euphoria to the fey. A charming, tinkling melody that sounds like chimes or bells echoes from a nearby archway, and a pair of small clockwork servants, shaped like fairies with butterfly-like wings and crafted of balsam, mithral, and opal, fly out of the archway into the foyer and hover before Ealsealf, curtsying in midair. Merry meet, Ealsealf Greenleaves! We are Jingle and Jangle, at your service!
Sven's clockwork servants look like dwarven miners. They are squat, about four feet tall, crafted of blackened iron, mithral and oak, with copper wire beards. Hail, Sven the Shield Bearer! We are Clunker and Clanker, forged by the dwarves of Nidvallr, and we are here to serve you, mighty thrall of Thor!
Essel pokes her head into a few of the passages, mentally noting them and where they seemed to lead. While the clockworks surprise her at first, she stops herself before she blasts one, and looks on inquisitively as they introduce themselves, "Wait. What? Where am I? What's going on? How long will I be here?" she asks, thoroughly confused. The clockwork servants in Essel's palace are crafted of jade and gold, and have porcelain faces painted like lovely Asian maidens. One of them speaks in a chiming, metallic soprano: Ni hao, honorable Essel Theana! We are Peking Turtle and Cantonese Cat, at your service!
19. Garden/Atrium: This spacious vault is redolent with fragrsnt blossoms and echoes with exotic birdsongs. A 5-foot-wide gravel pathway meanders and zigzag through an indoor garden and atrium, which also serves as an aviary for some three dozen birds of a variety of nonraptor species, mainly songbirds and parrots. The gardens, tended by three clockwork gardeners, contain a great variety of fragrant flowers, as well as a veritable apothecary of medicinal herbs. 20. Holding Cell: The adamantine door sealing this chamber does not open on command as the precious doors have. The clockwork tour guide explains that a dangerous captive is currently imprisoned inside this holding cell, and only the proper key can unlock the adamantine door to the cell.
21. Holding Cell: Same as are 20.
16. Salon: This chamber is a salon, furnished with four seemingly seamless padded reclining chairs with sinks and fonts behind for shampooing and rinsing hair, plus four padded massage tables. Eight clockwork spa attendants are stationed here to give facials, shaves, haircuts, shampoos, hair removal, or massages! 17. Cabin: As the precious cabins. 18. Cabin: As the precious cabins.
15. Chirurgy Chamber: The clockwork tour guide calls this the "chirurgy chamber", and describes its function as a medical center where a clockwork surgeon can perform emergency surgical procedures, as well as diagnose and treat any disease or injury of a living organism, via medicinal alchemy or other means! There are eight operating tables and four clockwork surgeons here.
14. Gymnasium: This spacious vaulted chamber has a curiously padded floor, ideal for gymnastics or wrestling practice. Various mechanical machines designed to train a user's strength, dexterity, and endurance are stationed here, each with a clockwork servant to "spot" the exerciser! There are nine such machines and attendant clockwork trainers, plus a pair of moving conveyor belts on tracks for running in place! The speed of these is adjustable by verbal command, as are the resistance weights of the strength training machines!
13. Bathhouse: This vaulted chamber is humid and warm. A pair of semicircular baths dominate the floor of the chamber, forming a circular pool about 3 feet deep and about 15 feet in diameter, leaving only a 5 foot outer ledge around the outer concave wall. The pools are divided by a 4-foot-high central wall, 1 foot thick, into hot and cold water baths. Steam rises from the hot water bath, which has a current temperature of 99 degrees Fahrenheit; the cold water bath is currently at a chilly 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Both baths can be adjusted to within 20 degrees Fahrenheit of their current temperatures by verbal command! Short flights of steps allow easy entry to both baths. The outer concave walls contain shallow alcoves stocked with soft white linen robes, towels, and washcloths, as well as jars of fragrant perfume oils and soaps. Four slender, feminine clockwork servants are stationed here to assist bathers...
12. Latrine: This is a latrine furnished with a central lavatory fountain that continuously flows with pure water, and features fonts that dispense drops of liquid soap! Lining the concave walls of this chamber are compartmentalized outhouses, with machines that wash and dry the posterior after ablution!
To Mwikali: BLEEEP blip BLOOP BOOP squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee? Aklo:
Would you like a tour of the Pyramid of Kronos? The clockwork servants soon begin a methodic tour of the Black Pyramid, starting in the Bridge . This central vaulted chamber is circular (~60 ft in diameter) and has a domed ceiling (~30 ft high at apex). The obsidian walls glow with inner luminosities like a starlit sky. At the center lies the helm, a throne and desk, both formed of gleaming hematite, with a complex array of knobs, dials, levers, switches, buttons and crystal displays like mirrors or scrying glass on the surface of the desk and the arms of the throne. This is the wondrous and elegant helm that the Rabbi is harnessed to. 2. Cabin: This circular pod-like chamber is spacious (~20 ft diameter) and yet cozy, like an egg or cocoon. There are four bedframes projecting from the seamless concave obsidian walls, each large enough for a large creature. The bedding is a mattress of soft, comfortable material almost like live flesh that customizes form and temperature to suit the sleeper through a symbiosis that is established by contact with the mattress. 3. Cabin: Same as the other (area 2). 4. Feast Hall: This spacious (~30 ft diameter) chamber features a long semicircular banquet table of sleek white alabaster and long benches (also semicircular and of alabaster). As many as 30 medium-sized creatures could be comfortably seated. As in other chambers, the obsidian walls glow with inner lights. There are another pair of clockwork servants stationed here, who are eager to serve food and drink to hungry and thirsty patrons. 5. Kitchen: This chamber contains worktables of smooth obsidian, and is furnished with a variety of utensils and instruments useful in preparing and cooking food. Here there are four strange and wondrous horn-shaped cornucopia fashioned of some opalescent material, which the helpful clockwork servants reveal can be commanded to produce any kind of nutritious food in apparently endless quantity... the world's hungry could be fed indefinitely by these artifacts alone! There are also miraculous ovens that can be commanded to ignite or be extinguished. 6. Larder: This chamber is almost freezing. Here are stored many compartmentalized crates or lockers for preserving perishable items. Exploring what is within these could be an adventure in itself!
BOOP blip whiiiiirrrr-SKEEEEE-whiiiIIIRRRR!! Aklo: We serve the Master of the Pyramid!
The metal man clicks and whirs for a moment before saluting Johann and jabbering in an unknown tongue with metallic voice... JAabaARRK whEErrp BLEEP *click* BLEEP! Anunnaki: I was crafted to serve!
Two magical clockwork constructs inhabit the bridge, both man-sized and anthropomorphic in shape. They stand silently at attention, flanking the helm throne. |