If you’re new to the Great Game, please have a quick look at the blurb to your left, where you’ll find a short catch-up introduction!
I start unwrapping the parcel. Inside, seemingly floating in the centre of the box, is a simple gold signet ring. The design is oddly runic, but it doesn’t mean anything to me.
Alice ooohs, and I look up at her. “Did you get a present from Mr. Andi when you arrived?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. Guess you’re special.”
“That’s disturbing.”
She shrugs. “You going to put it on?”
I look back at the ring. “Damn straight.” My hand encounters no resistance as I reach into the box, and I’m able to grab the ring and pull it straight out. I try experimentally putting it back in again, and it just falls to the bottom of the box, so I pick it up again. It looks about the right size for my thumb, so that’s where I slide it onto, on my left hand.
A cold, sparkling tingle ripples through me. It feels like a firework of ice exploding, and it tastes like swords. Then the sensation is gone. I don’t feel any different, but I know that the ring could be described as an information overlay designed to interface with my neural structure. I know that Mr. Andi is currently dealing with 14,733 residents of the hotel simultaneously, and that he gives the impression of paying them all his full attention. I do not, however, know how that is achieved.
“Well?” Alice’s face is a complex jumble of emotions — curiosity, concern, hope, jealousy, impatience, all fighting for skin real estate.
“A whole load of extra information has been quietly added to my memories alongside all the old stuff.”
“Wow! So what do you know now?”
“It’s hard to be sure. It feels like there’s a lot of stuff in there, and I don’t have a catalogue. I know that you like violets, that our clothing style is set by a complex formula that blends expectation, subconscious tendency and flat-out randomness, and, oh, that the guy in the red top hat is called Edward.”
“Huh,” says Alice pensively. “Do you know where the thing that’s coming for me is, or how long it will be?”
I think about for a moment. “No, I’m afraid not. I know where those damn bokor summoned it up from, but that’s not important right now. ” I don’t want to scare her, so I don’t mention that I also know what it’s capable of.
“Bokor?”
“That’s the type of sorcerer that the Macandal are. They work with spirits.”
“Is that what this thing is?”
“The morosos? No, not really. It’s more like an anti-spirit, if you see what I mean.”
Alice shakes her head. “Not really. But I’ll take your word for it. Hey, what’s outside the window?”
“That’s where we are.” The idea makes me shudder. “This place is built inside a fibre of space-time, stretched out and round to loop back into itself, set totally apart from the rest of reality.”
“Oh.”
I get the feeling we both rather wish she hadn’t asked.
"So then," I say briskly. "Are you up for...
- ... looking for Eadida's body?" (64%)
- ... exploring the hotel a little?" (14%)
- ... starting the hunt for a way back home?" (14%)
- ... getting a few hours sleep?" (8%)
Voting Closes at: October 7, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Loading ...Today’s photo is Standing at the Gates of Hell by Shane Gorski
So far the knowledge is proving not particularly useful. Well, you get what you pay for, and defective weapons or armor could really be bad.
Is there anything in particular that you were hoping the ring would shed light on?
When I saw that picture i thought some really bad shit was going to go down. But.. it didn’t.
What made you choose it?
I chose the picture as a reference to the capabilities and nature of the morosos…