A Warning [Shortly after liminal change]

[itsananimalthing]

Hey. So noticed somethin' a little off about the tea-rivers or whatever they are. They're in a particular pattern. Pretty much exactly the same pattern as a little town on Earth we went to that almost got us all eaten by tentacle shit-heads.

Think we might need to prep some eldritch defense and memory restoration and shit, if we're goin' back to fuckin' Harrogate. I got both, in case anybody was wonderin' or wanted someone to hit them up with either one once Jaunt gets goin'.

Comments

[comebewe]

...Shit.

[Matthew wasn't around for Harrogate. But he's heard the stories, and he knows that Harrogate deserves all the swear words]

We need to know eldritch defense.

[itsananimalthing]

Well, you know where I am, don't you?

[forcechanic]

We don't have a lot of people with enough control of the network to do the memory thing right now, do we?

[itsananimalthing]

There's a handful of us who can do it. Mostly us with more skill with the network, though, sure.

[brokers]

I can also restore an Infiltrator to their original self, and would be willing to teach those who have the necessary grounding in manipulating the network how to do so.

But perhaps a little elaboration on what to watch out for if we are returning to that specific version of that town would be in order?

[itsananimalthing]

Anythin' magic or supernatural's a fair bet it's gonna be dangerous, there wasn't real magic or shit like that in the world, just this. Anything that looks funny in liminal space. Tentacles are a big thing. Anybody who's seen my little pet snake demon has seen an eldritch creature, he's just too tiny to mess anybody up. So anything that looks or feels to you like that, keep away from. Strange symbols. Anywhere darker than it looks like it should be-- they don't like light or warmth. Keep an eye out for anything that looks like it might be a cult, or people who start acting funny.

[He's going from experience more than anything else. He doesn't have the actual knowledge to back this up, except what little came with mythobiology from back in Dolorosa, and from interactions with his own demon.]

[starshaper]

[ Well. It's clearly going to be Strength versus someone as far as Usagi understands about signs of the one, who marked her... And even if she's wrong, or even if it'd be anyone else, she'd still say this after hearing that.]

If I end up infiltrating and we're going to a place like that or anything similar? Someone please restore my memories sooner or later while we're there.

[Oh right, but that's not all this was about, was it? Sounds like the more people would know it, the better so...]

Ah, and I would like to learn eldritch defense. I'll get to memory restoration later when I can, because it sounds more complicated than what I can do here at the moment. [ the amount of her psychic skills is ZERO because she's still pretty new with so many skills to learn later. ]

[itsananimalthing]

Come find my forge if you want lessons. And so I'll know what pretty face to be lookin' for so I can bust you out if I gotta.

[awitchdidit]

...I never did learn Eldritch Defense from Maestro Leonardo. Perhaps lessons on that should precede or supersede any of our other magic lessons.

[itsananimalthing]

Might be a good idea. There's a handful of us who know this shit, but I'm probably the only one who's got somethin' to practice on. He won't be happy, but he can deal.

[fridgeninja]

I'd like to learn Eldritch Defense as soon as possible.

[itsananimalthing]

I'd say come find my forge, but looks like you might already got it covered with the lady elsewhere. Hit me up if you want more, I guess.

[helborn]

... What kind of eldritch stuff are we talking about? There's... degrees of this stuff, as far as I'm aware.

[eldritchwheelies]

Ever read HP Lovecraft? Got a lot of the details wrong, but in the broad strokes...

[fridgeninja]

There was a play that drove people crazy.

[noonesblessing]

I'd be down for a lesson on Eldritch Defense... as well as some information on this Harrogate place, if possible.

[itsananimalthing]

If you want a lesson, find my forge. Or talk to Armin, if you don't feel like dealing with me. Can't do it over the network.

As for Harrogate, it's a small town on Earth, in England. There was some kinda cult there who summoned some monster thing that made people go insane, made a lot of dead-ish bodies wander around the lake, and that took over liminal and the network for a while. It almost got out into the Jaunt world itself, but we managed to kill enough cultists to interrupt the ritual thing they were makin' out of a play.

Took like a year afterwards for the Trumps to get rid of that guy. Kept wigglin' its way into liminal space between Jaunts.

[thornsofmalkav]

Dude, I would love to learn how to de-infiltrate people.

[itsananimalthing]

What all can you do now? Gotta have a pretty solid grounding in network shit first.

[neverfeltthatway]

...It's Harrogate?

I have eldritch defense and memory restoration as well, and am willing to teach them to anyone who wants to learn.

[rustyhonesty]

I don't think I'd get a hang of memory restoration, but can you teach me eldritch defense? Sounds like we'll need it if this is really where we're heading.

[whydoyoushine]

I know how to pull people out of infiltrations. It's not hard.

[itsananimalthing]

Not once you know enough about the network to put together how to do it. Not everybody's there yet.

So if anybody wants it done, I'm good for doing it.

[knightceties]

Ehhhhh? Harrogate? Really??

[He was there, and he definitely explored the town back then, but...guess who also has an extremely terrible sense of direction. Yep, this guy.]

[itsananimalthing]

Yeah, really. I mapped that place out pretty well, ain't gonna forget it.

[lunchleader]

So I got a really important question.

Okay, two question.

One, where are we going, exactly?

And two...what does 'eldritch' mean? Is it really that scary?

[ninjayeehaw]

'Eldritch' means sorta like a Shadow Monster, 'cept y'can't fight it an' y'might go insane just from knowin' it exists.

[He might major in Youkai but he has a good base knowledge on monsters in general.]

[fearinahandfulof]

How does the first one work?

[itsananimalthing]

Special glyphs and things to keep the beasts back, mostly, though there's some common sense shit like stay in the light and keep fire handy.

[eldritchwheelies]

I fucking volunteer to teach it. Honors student at a school teaching defense against the eldritch arts, checking in.

These chuckleheads are extradimensional, so MOST of it should apply to this world as well as my own - Nyarlathotep and Ol' Yeller are constants in both. As for the ones I've not heard bandied around... will be very happy if SHUIZN or the Axis Mundi never shows up at all.

If I'm not myself... odds are fifty-fifty that I'd teach it anyway as part of the local Foundation-analogue, or that I'd be an idiotic cultist trying to summon these nasties so they'd fight each other instead of the town. It would be much safer to pull me back to myself.

[fridgeninja]

I'd like to learn as soon as possible. Whenever you're free to give a lesson...

[private, no protections]

[morethanashadow]

[After a bit of time being holed up in his room...]

Hey. Are you around?

[Private, double protected]

[itsananimalthing]

[And there's one voice he'd expected to hear a little sooner than this.]

Yup. C'mon by the forge, if you wanna talk.

[naturaltwohands]

... Does Eldritch have the same connotation in your world as it does in mine?

[DRIZZT IS ALREADY DREADING THIS.]

[itsananimalthing]

Since I don't know shit about your world, I wouldn't know. They're big tentacle monsters who like to eat worlds and drive people insane. Or the one we met was all about tentacles, could be others aren't so much. Hard to fight cuz they're a lot bigger presences than we are, but mostly need help to get around in our dimension.