Two
It sounds to me like the deal is that The Huntsman has to hunt to stay warm. Freeze yourself or kill someone else. Kill someone else, you feel warm. That would be a torture to induce people to do this. I have the capability to heat that armor red hot. I would do that, if it would keep me from freezing. If I'm not freezing, the Hunter drive would be turned off, right? So, go see Smoking Hill. This might buy me some time, anyway.
Engage the psionic healing at the same time. Perhaps that would heal frostbite, and any burns I sustain whilst the armor is heated. Put that on practice mode, so I heal whilst I'm burning myself. Gotta get to Smoking Hill at all costs.
(Doing Therapy)
You heat the armor which is a new use. Its warm, but not burning hot. Of course, the cold is not just in your armor, its in you. So you're kinda, half warm, half cold....uncomfortable, but bearable.
And you get the decided feeling that your armor is cheesed off at you.
You walk across town, which is more difficult, because the Huntsman's armor is not made for walking. Its good for running at full sprint, or for riding.
People shiver as you walk past them, and draw tight to their friends or wives.
You see several fey creatures, but as soon as they see you, they're g-g-g-gone, lickety-split.
You find Smoking Hill at the barracks checking items off on a list in the pantry. He doesn't seem to see you as he does inventory.
You heat the armor which is a new use. Its warm, but not burning hot. Of course, the cold is not just in your armor, its in you. So you're kinda, half warm, half cold....uncomfortable, but bearable.
Exactly what I had expected and hoped for.
And you get the decided feeling that your armor is cheesed off at you.
Speaking to the armor: "Well, you're more than welcome to find someone else if you don't like the accommodations." Who knows? It might actually do it.
You find Smoking Hill at the barracks checking items off on a list in the pantry. He doesn't seem to see you as he does inventory.
"SMOKING HILL!!!! HELP!!!!!"
I'll do whatever it takes to get his attention. If he can't see me, I'll scratch something into the floor with a screwdriver if I have to. Whatever it takes. This trick might not work tomorrow. I need help NOW!!!!!!!!
(Doing Therapy)
Oh, when you talk to the knight, you say...
"The itsy, bitsy spider." not anything about a female sheep.
As soon as you try to get him notice you, he does. He leaps back, and speaks a phrase. You feel a pressure emanate from the amulet on his chest, and wash over you, doing nothing.
He's looking very scared.
It occurs to you that you've just appeared in front of him in a black, full-body armor.
"Smoking Hill, It's me. John. I was in your training session a little while ago. I defeated this, this, this thing, whatever it is. Now I'm trapped in here. I need you to get me out of this. Then I got a score to settle with the grignack who put me in here. And make haste will ya? I'm FREEZING!!!!!!!"
doublepost
"K-J-John?" His breathing rapidly calms down, and his eyes are less wide, and he slowly puts his hands down from the defensive block he had assumed. "Let's go sit down in the outer office. Plus, I can turn on th eheater for you."
You do, and he cranks up the electric heated in the wall. It makes some grunts and cranks as its not been used in months. It helps a little.
He sits down behind a desk.
"You're a shock. I'm more open-minded than most, having had an occasional conversation with my ancestors. But, you've become one of the creatures from the European mythos which blended with ours, the Iriquois." He leans back and thinks hard and quick. "John, we can summon one of my ancestors. Or I can go see...Professor Montgomery. He's the best professor at Amsterdam College in Ancient Myths that I know of. I took his class years ago. he'd know more about the European side....of course, if I knew how to summon the Thunderbird, we'd get answers right enough. But I'm not a great shaman, just someone with more training than normal, and what you'd call royal blood."
"Smoking Hill, I'm starting to think maybe Greg wasn't behind all of the stuff that was happening. I dispatched a, what did he call it? A Red Cap? Then the former wearer of this suit came after me. I emptied three or four clips into him, and some knight, I don't know who he was, I knew I should have shot him, he gave me a sword and I cut this guys head off. Next thing I knew, I was trapped in here. It's cold as a witch's*.... Cold enough to freeze mercury* in here, and I have this insane drive to kill people who are alone. When I get outta this, I'm gonna make that knight pay. I've had some luck summoning people. Contact your ancestors. Whatever it takes. JUST GET ME OUT OF THIS!!!!!"
*Bonus points if anyone knows the reference
(Doing Therapy)
"OK."
He leads you through the streets to his small house. Its about a half mile away. As soon as you step onto the sidewalk, you feel a faint pressure, and some pins and needles in your feet, but it goes away.
"Grand." Smoking Hill says. "Those protective spells I had a shaman put on my property cost me two months pay, and you just stepped through them like they were paper. Well, that definitely rules out a lot of fey creatures. Most of them couldn't casually breach my property. You've gotten messed with by some major power."
He takes you inside his house, and offers you food and drink, but you don't feel hungry or thirsty.
Then he begins to lay out the beads and powders and weapons that will be used. But before he gets that done, he washes the dining room table seven times.
"Our Iriquois magics are less ritualistic than your European ways. The Newcomers had many compacts and rules they lived by. So feel free to suggest something."
He begins to lay down lines of powder of various colors and he puts at his end of the table a coup stick to symbolize himself.
"Smoking Hill, when I summoned people, I usually just got down on my knees and prayed. I have a feeling this armor is going to negate any chance of that working though."
"BTW, when this is over, do you think you could help me hunt down the newlen that did this? He said I couldn't go after him because he was connected to some court or other. I told him we would see about that. I guess we will."
He's a bit startled about you summoning people.
He works his magic, and decides that your .357 magnum will serve as the symbol for you in the spell. He then works deeper into ritual, and you begin to feel lightheaded as the smoke in the room makes your attachment to reality seem less.
And then you and him are standing on black rock mountains. They are slick, and someof the rocks looks razor edged.
"This is a vision quest. We are standing in the Barren Mountains. I've never beenhere before, so its either you,or your armor that broughtus here."
He works his magic, and decides that your .357 magnum will serve as the symbol for you in the spell
Just an aside, not arguing with the ref, just informing him of something. I dropped the 357 in the fight. It's back miles away. My 9mm is the gun I love. As soon as I can recover the other, I might drop the 357 entirely. I have to forget everything I know about guns to play this game. What I'm saying is that the 9mm would be more likely, and I don't have the 357 on-person. That's it, that's all. No further should be inferred or is implied.
"This is a vision quest. We are standing in the Barren Mountains. I've never beenhere before, so its either you,or your armor that broughtus here."
"Mary Jane was one of God's finest creations. You better believe I've gone on vision quests before. Lead the way Smoking Hill."
(Doing Therapy)
He works his magic, and decides that your .357 magnum will serve as the symbol for you in the spell
Just an aside, not arguing with the ref, just informing him of something. I dropped the 357 in the fight. It's back miles away. My 9mm is the gun I love. As soon as I can recover the other, I might drop the 357 entirely. I have to forget everything I know about guns to play this game. What I'm saying is that the 9mm would be more likely, and I don't have the 357 on-person. That's it, that's all. No further should be inferred or is implied.
"This is a vision quest. We are standing in the Barren Mountains. I've never beenhere before, so its either you,or your armor that broughtus here."
"Mary Jane was one of God's finest creations. You better believe I've gone on vision quests before. Lead the way Smoking Hill."
(Doing Therapy)
OK, 9 MM it is. But, I think its reasonable that you'd gather up your backpack and gun and all (unless you don't want to) before you hiked across town.
"Right." Smoking Hill says. He looks around, and points to a semi-active volcano in the far distance. "My totem, a smoking hill. Let's aim for it and see what happens."
You and he walk for a while. Suddenly, you're in rough, warm Western dessert. Its better than the Barren Lands.
You see a rabbit cross your path, and suddenly, you're desperately hungry. You could kill the rabbit and eat i t.
OK, 9 MM it is. But, I think its reasonable that you'd gather up your backpack and gun and all (unless you don't want to) before you hiked across town.
It doesn't really matter. You never did tell me where my gear was. I thought I lost everything when that armor attached itself to me. So I do have my stuff? That's cool.
You see a rabbit cross your path, and suddenly, you're desperately hungry. You could kill the rabbit and eat i t.
"Smoking Hill, I'm starving all of a sudden. Is that normal? We better hurry this up. Are you going to come when I beat the snot out of the guy that did this to me? I might need your help."
"I don't know. It could be a reassertion of normality, or it could be your evil instincts trying to assert themselves." Smoking Hill says, and then he smiles slightly. "John, these things take a while. And you've got tangled up with a major player. However, if we get out of this alive, I will be glad to join you in hunting the person who got you into this mess."
"Wait a minute. We're on a vision quest, right? Isn't this just a hallucination? What are we doing anyway?"
If the hunger does become problematic, I do have those 12 meals in my pack. I'd rather not eat them if it can be avoided. Especially if this is just a hallucination.
"Smoking Hill. I dispatched something in the barracks. I don't think Greg was responsible for everything that happened. The elf, or whatever it was, said that I spilled innocent blood. Diamond chip, or whatever his name was, the guy that put me in here, he said that he sent the elf. I think we might owe Greg a serious apology."
Keep following him
And about the 357 and the 9. I'll likely be dropping the 357 as soon as I recover my gear. I have to forget everything I learned about guns to play this. In real life, the 357 has serious advantages. In the game, it puts me at a bit of a disadvantage. That's part of why I suggested the 9.
(Doing Therapy)
"Not just a hallucination, the spirits are trying to teach you something, reveal to you, but its in poetry often enough." Smoking Hill says. "I think sometimes that might be why the White Christ came in human form. Easier to talk to men that way, clearer. Vision quests can be pretty confusing."
As you say that you owe Greg an apology, you see the land shift around you. Its no longer barren, but instead you're surrounded by green fields of corn, and in the distance leaping deer.
Smoking Hill laughs delightedly.
"Corn and deer are very good symbols of blessing to the Iriquois. And, yes, that is likely what happened. You and me both owe an apology to Greg. When we shed his blood, it allows by certain rules evil to be done to us. Your Faeries are bound by many rules."
Grab some corn and start eating. (I'm ravenously hungry, remember)
"So how do we defeat them?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." He takes some corn as well. "I'm not the expert in the European half of our joined magics. I just know general things, and of course, the basics, like walking widdershins summons the bad faeries, and clockwise summons the good faeries. That no faerie likes cold iron, adn that faeries cannot lie. They can trick, they can cheat, but they can't outright lie."
You do feel better for having eaten the corn, and you can tell your armor is displeased.
Speaking to the armor:
"I'm gonna say it again. You're free to jump off any time you want to. I won't stop you."
Speaking to Smoking Hill
"Walking clockwise summons good fairies? Well let's do it. What exactly are we doing here anyway? Are we going to go see someone? Who is going to help us?"
And I'm eating corn.
You walk clockwise, and see that you're leaving behind your feet a spattering of mushrooms. Soon enough, you've created a Fairy Ring. In the midst of it appears a Faerie Knight.
Now that you see the Seelie Court version, you're never going to not know what the Unseelie Court knight's are. He's brave and beautiful with eyes deep with arcane wisdom, and a smile tugging at his lips.
"Well, John, I bring you greetings from the King and Queen of Faerie, and a warning. Only you can free yourself from the armor of the Wild Huntsman. You're now powerful enough, if you can shatter the bonds of love to hunt anyone or anything on this planet. Which means, even the High Sorcerors of the Queen cannot break this curse on you."
"How do I do that?"
(Doing Therapy)
He sighs.
"I know one method, but you'd be better off finding your own way. It would be safer. You must find Camelot, and the Holy Grail, and drink from the Grail Cup from the Well of Love. On your way, you will face three challenges."
Smoking Hill grins.
"Very rigid formulas."
"We find, Iriquois, that humans follow certain patterns, even when they think they don't. When you've been alive a thousand years, you can criticize."
Hill keeps his mouth shut at this point.
Bump.
"I'm going to pray. You guys watch me and make sure I'm safe."
Find my own way. I am going to design a magic spell which must be performed whilst in the presence of a knight of the Seelie court, whilst wearing Huntsman armor, whilst in the presence of an Iroquois Indian. All of which are huge bonuses, or should be.
Kneel and pray.
"God, remove from me the curse of the Huntsman. I want to be freed from the armor and removed from any trace of the desire to Hunt."
Pray for 30 minutes.
Hope this just kind of falls off of me.
(Doing Therapy)
Bump.
"Bump" doesn't seem like a game post.
bump.
OOC: I was not being able to see your post.
OOC again: That's like saying 'of these random weird things about me at this present moment', I make a spell. Hmmm, no.
However you do succeed at getting Divine guidance.
In the time, you pray, you drift out of the dream quest. And you know that you need to go out and walk, and Hunt the first person you find. Once you are fixated, you should walk up to one of the magically protected skyscrapers downtown, and touch it.
The magic will verse you out, and the armor will still be fixated on Hunting, and unable to pass to another. It will be caught in between its goals as you leave it behind. And you will thus remove a great evil from the world.
There is another method, but it requires you to become a Hero, and it is much harder. God is not willing to force you to that method.
OOC again: That's like saying 'of these random weird things about me at this present moment', I make a spell. Hmmm, no.
OOC: Hey, it was worth a shot, wasn't it?
There is another method, but it requires you to become a Hero, and it is much harder. God is not willing to force you to that method.
I want that Unseelie knight's head on a pike. The suggested way doesn't let me do this. What's the other way?
(Doing Therapy)
The essence of the Wild Huntsman is that he is alone, and he hunts those who are alone. If you act bravely, out of love for others, and bind your soul to others in the doing, then eventually, at some point, the armor will not be able to bear the pain anymore and will leave you. And if you are very clever, you'll be able to trap or destroy it in the process.
Of course, as you do this, the armor will be conspiring against you, to the degree it can. The problem for that is that its nature is to serve you, and so its hard for it to fight you, and most of its power is already dedicated to providing protections and such like so it has nnot a great deal of power to mess with you. But make no mistake,if you attempt this, your armor will HATE you with th epure hatred of a thousand suns.
"And the other option was hunt one person and touch a building, versing myself out? I think I'm going with that one. The Unseelie knight will get what's coming to him. Smoking Hill, can you be standing by to destroy this thing once it falls off? And I need to get some more 9mm ammo. I can pay for it if that's needed. I think I'm starting to run a little low. I just want this thing off of me."
(Doing Therapy)
Smoking Hill nods gravely, and leaves to go get you a metal case of 200 bullets. When he comes back, he takes you out toward downtown, and he lets you find someone.
You see a wealthy man, getting out of a limo. He looks, and sounds successful, but you know...he's all alone. His wife has divorced him, his children don't even send Christmas cards, and all his 'good buddies' at teh company he founded are scheming behind his back to take his company away from him.
You feel the cold surge, and you give in, and start pacing after him. It feels surprisingly good, and you note that the armor has a stick and carrot approach.
Once you're engaged, you walk across the street to a skyscraped on which is painted a twenty story tall ritual magic protection. You can feel the power of it, even through the armor. Its nothing like the protections around Smoking Hill's place. You can feel your body humming, and your armor is now panicking, pleading with you to stop this. But it makes no offer to stop in its evil, or let you free.
And then around the corner of the building rides a rade of Faerie Knights led by a woman beautiful enough to make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth.
"Hero." She says, and it sounds like music. "I wish we could free you, but the magic of the Huntsman is even older than the Seelie Court."
Touch the building. I don't want to deal with anymore of these characters.
(Doing Therapy)
You deal with the final bit of business in this world, and the armor shrieks unholy hatred at you as you trap it, and then you're versed out.
"Hero." She says, and it sounds like music. "I wish we could free you, but the magic of the Huntsman is even older than the Seelie Court."
As I'm heading towards the building
"Well, if you can't save me, there's no point in hanging around, now is there?"
(Doing Therapy)
"No, we suppose not, but we came to honor you, and your bravery. My people will sing songs of this moment for a thousand years. And we have heard you wish the head of Dionchadd Daffyd on a spike. By the end of the week, it will be done, or my name is not Magwyllin, Queen of the Sidhe. My Knights will harry him from his castle, and pursue him until they bring back his corpse."
The Knights behind her raise their crystal swords and tap them against their silvern shield.
"This I swear, and as all the Wise know, the word of a Fey cannot be broken, or the Fey will die."
"Good enough for me."
Into the building I go. Versed out. Next world.
(Doing Therapy)
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