Rob Hamilton to James

I hadn't much thought about the risk of being dominated by Rez, until Ian mentioned it, but it occurs to me I'd be somewhat vulnerable too!

After I manage to reach the Font of Reality I'm sure I can nullify that problem somehow (easiest thing would be to make myself immune to dominate, which I am guessing would be easy enough.) But since there might be IC conflict before that event happens, I had a rather quirky idea about how to mitigate it...

Pace has a condition that roughly says (among many other things) "the iron lich can choose my standard action."

So, it seems, if the Iron Lich chooses Pace's standard action, then rez's potential control if she dominates him would be severely diminished if not entirely curtailed.

So therefore Pace wishes to become the Iron Lich, in a way that is meaningful for the wording of that disease.

(It seems that at best for me, I would simply behave as though super-dazed instead of dominated--Rez could limit me to 1 action per turn, but I'd get to choose what it is. An alternate interpretation would be that I choose the action, but she chooses how to implement it, e.g. "I take the Walk action." "Okay, you walk two steps over here." Either way, she's not gonna be able to make me attack allies, or kill myself by burning healing surges, or what have you.)

Do you agree that -- provided I can become the iron lich -- this would work?

I'd prefer to do this without Rez's knowledge if possible (ha ha ha... okay, Rez will know if she EVER actually asks or thinks about it, but, I'm not gonna give hints if I can help it.) So I will start by asking the oracles... I just rolled a 12 which gives me a 47, which gives me 5 questions for my next casting, and I will start with this one:

1."Short of reaching the Font of Reality, what is the easiest way for me to become the Iron Lich?"

(Since I'm already heavily iron-infused, I figure it might not be too much of a stretch... if it's as easy as 'Become a lich, also!' then I have an idea on how to proceed with that. If it involves killing the existing iron lich, that might be tougher...)

Incidentally: this post-30 campaign has been very entertaining! I mean, it was fun before then too, but I really like the endgame especially :)
Thanks!
Rob






James Farmer to me

1."Short of reaching the Font of Reality, what is the easiest way for me to become the Iron Lich?"

Take Paladin Feros' place before he completes the transformation ritual, and then assume his identity.








Rob Hamilton to James
show details Aug 5 (3 days ago)
2. "At what time and place did this ritual occur?"
3. "What is necessary to assume his identity?"








James Farmer to me

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 8:03 PM, Rob Hamilton <gaisensei@gmail.com> wrote:
2. "At what time and place did this ritual occur?"

Far, Sypheros the 29th, -3178YK, in the basement of the paladin's residence in Stormhold.

3. "What is necessary to assume his identity?"

After completing the transformation ritual yourself, you must first identify yourself as the Iron Lich before the king of Stormhold, then declare a vendetta in his presence for the loss of your (Paladin Feros') wife, and finally commit high treason by murdering the queen of Stormhold, starting a chain of events that will ultimately lead to its ruin.  Then you shall be the Iron Lich









Rob Hamilton to James

(unless I already know this by having seen the tree fall apart)
4. What time was the decision that caused the bifurcation that eventually led to the existence of Varis, and seperated the two timeline branches that I have predominantly lived in in my subjective experience heretofore?







James Farmer to me
show details Aug 5 (3 days ago)


On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 8:38 PM, Rob Hamilton <gaisensei@gmail.com> wrote:
(unless I already know this by having seen the tree fall apart)
4. What time was the decision that caused the bifurcation that eventually led to the existence of Varis, and seperated the two timeline branches that I have predominantly lived in in my subjective experience heretofore?









Rob Hamilton to James
show details Aug 5 (3 days ago)
5. "Oof, that answer made a few things more complicated. What is the worst case scenario if I travel to the past and take action that defies my own experiences in my subjective past?"















James Farmer to me
show details Aug 7 (2 days ago)
You could be uncreated














Rob Hamilton to James
show details Aug 7 (2 days ago)
"Ok. That's bad news, but I'm not gonna unmake the entirety of time, or anything. Probably still not quite as bad as the death of all natural creatures in the present (although being uncreated itself could result in that I suppose, if my interference would otherwise prevent it...)

Anyway, I've taken up too much of your time and asked all my questions. See you, or someone like you, tomorrow!"

At this point I'll go to Dibbs and start making the warforged and whatnot. It doesn't have to be too deterministic right now, as long as it starts out a _little_ deterministic, and has great empty memory banks with the capacity to learn. More on that seperately!

I'll re-cast consult oracle, the next day... 5 questions again.

I have a plan now. It's... tricky. :)

1. "As of Sypheros, prior to the 29th, -3178YK, what would be the Queen of Stormhold's price for consenting to murder, provided she will be resurrected later, but with the condition that her resurrection would be severely post-dated to the point where everyone who knew her was long gone?"

2. "How long would it take me, Pace Axelrod, to devise and forge an item that sort of incorporates the nature of the simple Gentle Repose ritual, but greatly extended, so that a spirit can be resurrected thousands of years later, and also sort of 'snares' any souls that die in its vicinity to hold them inside itself... like some sort of soul crystal?"

3. "How long would it take me, Pace Axelrod, to devise a ritual that seems to be the Imprisonment ritual, but in fact is merely a form of Planar Portal that forces the target to go to the destination (however the destination is pre-chosen by me when I invent this ritual?) Also this fake ritual must fool Pace Axelrod and Rezecroix d'Sivis during the time that they are in the Iron Lich's dungeon in my current subjective past."

















James Farmer to me
show details Aug 7 (1 day ago)

> 1. "As of Sypheros, prior to the 29th, -3178YK, what would be the Queen of Stormhold's price for consenting to murder, provided she will be resurrected later, but with the condition that her resurrection would be severely post-dated to the point where everyone who knew her was long gone?"
>
She would consent with two conditions:
1. Stormhold would prosper and grow in her absence
2. She would be crowned sovereign ruler of stormhold upon her return
> 2. "How long would it take me, Pace Axelrod, to devise and forge an item that sort of incorporates the nature of the simple Gentle Repose ritual, but greatly extended, so that a spirit can be resurrected thousands of years later, and also sort of 'snares' any souls that die in its vicinity to hold them inside itself... like some sort of soul crystal?"

Roughly 5 years for a 1 mile radius

> 3. "How long would it take me, Pace Axelrod, to devise a ritual that seems to be the Imprisonment ritual, but in fact is merely a form of Planar Portal that forces the target to go to the destination (however the destination is pre-chosen by me when I invent this ritual?) Also this fake ritual must fool Pace Axelrod and Rezecroix d'Sivis during the time that they are in the Iron Lich's dungeon in my current subjective past."
>
Roughly 5 years














Rob Hamilton to James
show details 10:30 PM (18 hours ago)
4. "In what way, if any, could I use multiple castings of the Planar Portal ritual to reach a timeline that satisfies the following conditions: Stormhold still exists in the present day (the time I'm physically in now), and although it is at least a relatively powerful nation, it happens to be suffering from a gap of leadership, or a struggle for leadership between choices its people see as equally undesirable, such that a strong new leader would benefit it? Like... is there a sigil sequence unique to such a world, which I could use from Zoriat or somethin'?"

5. "Is there any aspect of the Iron Lich's dungeon that I experienced which I would be unable to create over the course of four thousand years?"

(is it about 1000YK or so in present day? did you mean -1500ish rather than 1500ish, for the answer about varis's history timeline?)

incidentally I'm not really going for the powers the iron lich had, at least not to keep. I already have a few of them (e.g. iron soul... significant bonus to saves, at least vs. "magic" effects, which were the main things the party did to him during that fight anyway... but I would be interested in forging consumables that give me power equivalent to what I remember facing, so that I can be that strong for that battle. My plan is to let the party kill me, and "exile" me to a sigil sequence I prepare beforehand... probably in Zoriat. I seem to like that place. it's flighty, like me

the thing that most worries me in-character at this point is 4000 years of sheer boredom... maybe i can ask the oracles about that, too.

next day 1: "What sorts of things do you recommend I do to alleviate the sheer mind-numbing boredom? I mean I know you guys tend to live for millions of years so maybe it doesn't seem that bad by comparison, but..."
2: "oh hey, maybe I can help you guys answer stuff sometimes? I mean, you know. If I know. Or can guess. You can QA me. I have to be back in my dungeon whenever somebody visits though. What do you think?"
















James Farmer to me

On Aug 7, 2011 10:30 PM, "Rob Hamilton" <gaisensei@gmail.com> wrote:

> 4. "In what way, if any, could I use multiple castings of the Planar Portal ritual to reach a timeline that satisfies the following conditions: Stormhold still exists in the present day (the time I'm physically in now), and although it is at least a relatively powerful nation, it happens to be suffering from a gap of leadership, or a struggle for leadership between choices its people see as equally undesirable, such that a strong new leader would benefit it? Like... is there a sigil sequence unique to such a world, which I could use from Zoriat or somethin'?"

Use the following sigil sequence from xoriat: [sigil sequence for Nunel Shavarat's secret study in Stormhold]
> 5. "Is there any aspect of the Iron Lich's dungeon that I experienced which I would be unable to create over the course of four thousand years?"

No
> (is it about 1000YK or so in present day? did you mean -1500ish rather than 1500ish, for the answer about varis's history timeline?)

It is currently 999YK (yes, that was -1500ish for Varis' history)



> next day 1: "What sorts of things do you recommend I do to alleviate the sheer mind-numbing boredom? I mean I know you guys tend to live for millions of years so maybe it doesn't seem that bad by comparison, but..."
With access to infinite information, boredom is generally not a problem

> 2: "oh hey, maybe I can help you guys answer stuff sometimes? I mean, you know. If I know. Or can guess. You can QA me. I have to be back in my dungeon whenever somebody visits though. What do you think?"
>
We already know everything we need














Rob Hamilton to James
show details 4:11 PM (33 minutes ago)
Whoops, only 4 questions on the day that starts with those 2!

3. How many people died in the Iron Lich's dungeon before we used the Imprisonment scroll to banish him?

4. Excluding the initial time portal, what is the net amount of wealth I will require to create everything I need to create for this ridiculous plan I have previously been describing (that is, the gross amount, that is then offset by any wealth I may gain from the equipment of adventurers foolish enough to come attack me and get themselves caught in soul crystals?)



Then I have two more days with 5 questions each:

For each N where N is 1 to 10:

"What is the result of taking the answer to the question Pace Axelrod poses immediately after saying the words "Apple Beef Carrot Dumplings Eggplant" and then the number "[N]", run through a simple character-substitution cipher where all numbers are represented in words, each letter is replaced by another letter, and punctuation and spaces is left alone?"

I write down the results but I make no attempt to interpret them, into a little booklet, which I will place into my self-holding bag.

(since I can't access oracles inside my own dungeon, by my own design no less, this will let me cheat ten times if I need to! Also it seems like a very Iron Lich-y thing to do... he IS vain, and he loves puzzles, and those 2 things haven't changed apparently.)