When The Words Stop - Arc ID 494099 by @Clave Dark 5. Neutral Morality, 4 Missions (3 unique, 1 medium). Lvl range 41-54.
Claves description says its a drama, and his thread for it here mentions that its not one of his usual humorous style. I thought A Wake For Dead 6 was quite poignant, so IMO he can do serious as well as witty. Ill be taking the Accelerated Man
- my Kin/Rad lvl 38 Defender, into this one. It has 14 plays and 4 stars as I start.
Magic, Gavin. What is it? Just another name for a branch of Science dimly understood by the world of reason and rationality? You know what Leigh Brackett said on the subject? - Witchcraft to the ignorant
simple science to the learned. Ha, Gavin, I pride myself on being a man of intellect, of objectivity. A man of science! I should scoff at even the word magic. But I have seen demons, Gavin. I have fought the undead as they crawled out of their graves last Halloween. Those rotting cadavers werent animated by any science I can name. No servo motors powering their joints, no force fields keeping them standing. By all thats normal they should have stayed dead, Gavin. How can words and a wave of the hand bring the dead to life, eh? I tell you, though, when a moaning corpse stumbles towards you intent on munching on your brains, I rather think that scientific enquiry be shelved in favor of some, uh, headshots, I believe is the generally recommended approach to zombies...
Anyway, I digress. This section of my Journal shall recount a curious investigation I made into the Dark Arts recently. Follow the usual protocols when you transcribe it. Ah, Gavin, magic
magic. If its really another branch of science, then I as a scientist must understand it, was my reasoning. I tracked down a suitable venue for my investigation a Circle of Thorns lair . My contact said they had a certain book which would prove insightful. I think tome is usually used to describe magical books, Im not sure why, I guess it must be a tradition or an old charter or something. This book would contain powerful spells and suchlike. Getting to it wasnt too difficult; magicians have difficulty casting spells when theyve had their potential energy reduced by a factor of ten thousand. When I opened it, however, it seemed to be not so much a spellbook but a diary of some sort, written by a woman called Emily Yikes
[The contact is an esoteric bookshelf, and its description informs me that I have just defeated a nest of CoT to get to the book. Its an intriguing start to the arc
]
Mission 1: The Wizard Machine broken Down
Emilys diary recounted her childhood dreams, and from what she said I surmised that she may have been some sort of precognitive. She told of how she wanted as a child to write A Book of Perfection, and then explained that her dreams instructed her on what actions she would take if she were to write a different, powerful magical tome herself. The writing itself seemed odd, I must say, Gavin. Fairytale and compelling
[The narration is confusing, to say the least. Not because of bad writing its intentionally obtuse. I like the mysteriousness. Im now wondering whats going to happen when I enter the mission lol. Am I going to be put in Emilys persona somehow? Here we go
]
I sank into the words, Gavin. I fell into the book, and then, hah, as if by magic, I was in Cap Au Diable! The air was grey all about me, the sky heavy overhead. There was a heavy numbness to my limbs
and I was
imbued with additional knowledge of my situation. It was as though there was a
a narrative in my head! I had to find a book!
[OK, I think Im supposed to be Emily, but Im not sure. The Nav has me check some objects for an eBook of Ghost Writing (I thought this wasnt supposed to be humorous? Thats surely a pun there, considering the magical theme? 
]
Emilys dream had told her to find a book held by some robots. Haunted robots, Gavin, whod have thought there could be such a thing! But they were there, Gavin, almost as soon as I found myself in that grim place, I was attacked by one. Rusty little brute started playing tricks on my mind.
[Repurposed Psychic Clockwork and Jaegers form the mobs for this mission. Their names are decidedly intriguing, however
Myelin Sheath, Basal Ganglion, Autonomic Ganglion
]
I fought them, but felt oddly
distracted, Gavin
it was as though I was being sapped by my own powers. I cared little for my own safety, as though I was really in no danger. You know what it felt like? A dream
The robots were guarding things, objects, parts of some ineffable machine. I felt like a rat in a glasswork maze, Gavin, as I scurried around the buildings listening to the robots rattle off their mad poetry
Beguiled, thats what I was, Gavin
bewitched
[This mission is weird. And in a good way. The dialogue that the robots and the parts of the Wizards brain (is that what it is?) say as I wander around fighting them is great. Nice and mysterious (and I love the acronyms). After only 3 objects, I find a clue and the mission exit comes up. I stay a while to see more of the dialogue, however ]
Invisible ink, Gavin, thats what I found. I drank some, it felt the right thing to do. And then, I shook my head and was of course back in the Circles cavern, reading from the diary! Id obviously imagined the trip to Cap
unless the book contained some sort of temporospatial relocation nexus
but how would it be activated
perhaps something in that strange pale brown ink it was written with
nanomites infiltrating my bloodstream, forming a network, instant teleportation coupled with some kind of hypnotic suggestion to smooth over the interstition? I certainly didnt notice any transition
Or maybe it was a trance state, a series of images projected into my mind. I should analyse the paper for its molecular composition
This all went through my mind in a second, Gavin, and then I decided to read on just a little further. As I read, I felt myself once again sinking into the story
unaware of crossing the border from reality into the tale
I cant quite explain it
I had to go on, Gavin, deeper, onward, page after page, towards the end. Towards another book, this one written in stone
Mission 2: The Earth Devouring Earth
I settled down into the story again, and was soon burrowing deep into the page, into the earth
The clay tablets of Bismuth were my goal, held in a subterranean cavern, guarded by the Earth Devouring Earth
[Hm, I havent seen this map before. Its quite small and has a great entryway through a sarcophagus lol. It turns out to be quite cool.]
Down there underground, beneath the rot and damp of the casket split
down there were untended weeds like the ones on my grandfathers organic pumpkin farm, Gavin
weeds and Wyrms and ashes to ashes, dust to dust
The story drew me on
[Repurposed Dev Earth and a
er, wow, its been ages
a protozoan, is it? Those things that live in the Abandoned Sewer network and the hero zone with the lake and the big park
er. Anyway, theyre very nice and the eerie atmosphere of not totally sure what sort of reality Im in continues. I think Im in a metaphorical situation here, Emilys way of describing a dream
Her comment at the start about stopping spinning, turned around and dug right down makes me think that maybe shes dead, or was dead (spinning in her grave?), and AMs getting more confused than me, patently. He seems to think hes Emily at times.]
I discovered a corpse wrapped up, and feared it was Valerie
but no, she was long gone to the bottom of the pond
now why did I think that?
[Another enigmatic clue here. This arc might be not in chronological order, perhaps.]
And my friends the Wyrms were there too
wanting to be gone to play
[The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout
Delicious stuff
]
but I had to look for those clay tablets. And once I found them, they were quite tasty, and settled my tummy
[The clay tablets are presumably some sort of medicine. I didnt cotton on to bismuth at first. A wiki led me to Bismuth and then to Pepto-Bismol, which arent common to me, being british. I do eat Settlers a lot, I guess they[re the same thing. This mission ended with the tablet acquisition. Perhaps it was a relation of a time when Emily had a stomach upset?]
Mission 3: Checking Out
[The briefing for the next mission instructs me to go to a place called The Library to find Emilys Book Of No Return, but when I get there, it doesnt look anything like - ]
A
library? It looked more like a graveyard
fog, gnarled trees, spooky sounds
and gravestones. Moss-spatttered weathered stone slabs, the names barely readable
the words dragged my eyes to them, made my head hurt. What sort of library was this? The only things shelved here were
ah
[Heh, yes. Very nice]
What is our life, Gavin, but a partly written book? And at the end, Gavin, when its done
were shelved, arent we? And of course, You cant speak inside this library The dead have no voice, do they?
[The librarians are repurposed elementals, the glowies are archive listings with beautifully written reasons for death
Starvation
Divine Wrath, etc. Each one has a comment from Emily. Im searching for Emilys Cause of Death, obviously. There are also repurposed wisps to rescue, each of which adds flavor to the whole air of morbid rue. Great.]
Libraries are quiet places Gavin
quiet as the grave, we say, dont we? I felt desolate in that place, Gavin. Death all around
and yet I was strangely at peace
[I eventually found the right one Accidental was Emilys end, apparently]
So poor little Emily died in an accident. Hm
Maybe not so little..she was 24 when she had her dream of The Book OF no Return, it appears
[EXIT. v nice writing again. The various reasons for death are evocative and although you say this isnt a laff-riot, theres a rueful wit running through all of Emilys narration, I feel.]
Her (my?) Book of No Return still eluded me. When I discovered the right book in that library of the dead, Gavin, I
tried to leave, to take it, but I couldnt
at least, I think I couldnt
Im not sure anymore, Gavin, it all feels so crazy and mixed up now. Was I back in the Circles lair, stood, staring down at the pages of Emilys notebook? Was I still in the library, trying to tear myself away, to tear the book away to the land of the living? Was it all in my imagination? It felt
real. What sorcery was this?
ah..haha, forgive me, Gavin. I seem to have gotten a bit carried away there for a second. Anyway, Emilys story hadnt finished. I carried on reading, and as before, I was
transported
Mission 4: Emilys Deletions
I found myself back on the farm
my parents organic pumpkin farm
when the Police were called, that time. There were fragments of my nightmares prowling the place, horrors of my childhood, pages torn from the book earlier and clumsily rammed into the latter part
it was horrible. The fish hook that cut me, the angels
those horrid mangy feral cats
and the Monster King
He
[This mission, the last one, has me looking for a fairy tale ending for Emily. It is again very atmospheric, the writing hinting at dark happenings on young Emilys grandparents organic pumpkin farm. The customs are nasty things, the stuff of childrens nightmares, and their descriptions are great. But - The King Of All Monsters has some hefty wallops and holds, and the other repurposes mobs also come over as a tad difficult following the fairly easy time of it Ive had so far in the arc. Of course, I havent played for some time, but The King Of All Monsters killed me four times. The last time he appeared to two shot me before I could do anything much to him. I hate him, in short. The fiery angel guys also got right up my nose, Im sorry. Whatever that constant blasty flaming whoosh-whoosh-whoosh power is makes my eyes water, so irritation crept in to dilute the enjoyment of the story for me in the last mission.
That said, the writing is awesome, and the difficulty is worth it, no question]
The barn burned down, Gavin. It was
me? No, of course it wasnt. it was Emily, when she was a child
poor Emily. She was in the book. Maybe she
was the book. At least, thats what I thought when I closed it. But then, when I opened it again, it was blank. I left it there, Gavin. I dont think I could ever read it again. Literally, I mean. I think its best left for the next reader.
I said I was looking for a magic book, Gavin. But arent all books magical? Dont they have uncanny abilities, if you think about them? Just look at the language of reading, Gavin. When we read a book, a powerful book, a good book, they control us, dont they? We say I couldnt put it down! and the pages turn themselves! A book can transport us, we escape into them
Think about the act of reading, Gavin. When youre sat in your favorite armchair or on the subway or in bed, when youre reading, when youre in the book, are you aware of your location? Do you see rows of black letters and words and sentences printed on a white page, or do you see the vistas and characters and creatures described, and hear the voices speak the dialogue? Can you note the precise moment when the text vanishes from your consciousness and you watch the action unfold on the screen of your mind? Are you looking at a book, or are you
inside it?
I dont really know what happened to me in that book, Gavin. But I do know that whatever it was, it was mighty powerful voodoo.
[And that nicely sums up my feelings on the arc too. The arc is quite special. It seems to be rather disjointed and fuzzy, which sounds like a negative, but its not. It encapsulates an atmosphere of dream very well. I played it a few times to get screenies and go back to see if I missed something, and Im still a bit hazy about the exact chronology and reality state of what went on. Which is not a criticism. Apart from the difficulty level ramping up a bit too much in the last mission, it was fantastic all round. And considering the entire arc was in large part fundamentally about Death (I think lol), thats a pretty good score, Clave. 5 stars, for sure.
I still have no idea who Valerie Gaul is, btw
Eco
Spider-Man beat down a freaking Herald of Galactus.
