With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Sockmonkey]

Is it possible for OL to construct a replacement lantern in this dimension? I forget if he can do it on less than one charge.

 

[Lord Ernest]

So did the Illustres asks or found out why and/or how his doppelganger died? Or was he not interested?

If the Dark Elves were trying to resurrect him, I would assume he was their ally or something.

 

[Ngamer11]

Fortuntely, Ashan SI managed to do that before dying.

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Good to hear he died doing something good rather than dying like a chump. I suppose that explains why those elves were trying to resurrect him.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Good to hear he died doing something good rather than dying like a chump. I suppose that explains why those elves were trying to resurrect him.

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Oh, no, he didn't die doing that. He survived that and then died like a chump. Just, you know, a useful chump.

 

[Lazurman]

Aw, lookit you go, Paul. Making new friends. Hope he gets to keep 'em when he's done with this place.

Though it is decidedly rather odd that there's a Heroes of Might & Magic arc in the mainline story instead of an omake.

Given how much he seems to have played the game, perhaps the spell did something wonky and brought a simulation of the world to life based on his memories?

 

[Vaermina]

Is it possible for OL to construct a replacement lantern in this dimension? I forget if he can do it on less than one charge.

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If I remember right the last time OL tried to make a Lantern it ended up a sagging mess.

 

[Darko]

If I remember right the last time OL tried to make a Lantern it ended up a sagging mess.

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He's gotten better at making them.

 

[monochromaticPrism]

Sooo... since I didn't see it brought up before now, if they have cast any sort of preservation magic on him the local Paul isn't *really* dead. What we call dead is really "beyond our ability to resuscitate", at least until the body is sufficiently decomposed. For example, cut someone's head off and people will tell you they are dead, yet experiments during the French revolution found that the severed head continued to blink for 15-30 seconds.

Now, if someone is what we consider "beyond resuscitation" it's almost entirely due to the halting of biological processes leading to cell death, which itself is really the buildup of toxins, background chemicals becoming the wrong concentrations, and the denaturing(think broken car, not destroyed car) of proteins necessary for performing life functions. It's not until the bacteria *really* get under way that tissue is actually destroyed to a significant degree. If we had the ability to reach into each individual cell in a person's body and repair the damage + reset the chemical gradient that would "return them to life", although really it would be "stop them from dying" at a point beyond our normal maximum.

I think I remember it being established early on that a soulless but sapient/sentient clone of Paul couldn't be made in the DC universe due to it being antithetical to the rules of the setting (and the existence of souls also preventing this kind of extreme healing from working after the fact on other characters, or at least not on its own) however in this case we have the original body with what sounds like minimal damage, so it should be possible for OL to give his other-self a second chance at... whatever it is he was up to in this setting. Getting stabbed for annoying people, at a minimum.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Aw, lookit you go, Paul. Making new friends. Hope he gets to keep 'em when he's done with this place.

Though it is decidedly rather odd that there's a Heroes of Might & Magic arc in the mainline story instead of an omake.

Given how much he seems to have played the game, perhaps the spell did something wonky and brought a simulation of the world to life based on his memories?

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You just wait to see where he's going next.

Getting stabbed for annoying people, at a minimum.

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When you're as vulnerable to magic as he is, even spells like Slow can do nasty things to your insides.

 

[Ngamer11]

When you're as vulnerable to magic as he is, even spells like Slow can do nasty things to your insides.

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So he was accidentally killed because the caster didn't know he was extra vulnerable to magic?

 

[BR549]

Sooo... since I didn't see it brought up before now, if they have cast any sort of preservation magic on him the local Paul isn't *really* dead.

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Remember what Miracle Max taught us: there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead...

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th August 2013
10:14 GMT -5

Yeah, it turns out that the War of the Sixth Eclipse was every bit as distasteful in reality as I remember if from the game. What happened to Queen Isabel is just horrific. Her wedding interrupted by a demon invasion, her betrothed killed, the kingdom resisting her rule, the wizard who claimed that he was able to resurrect her husband raising him as a vampire who immediately tried to eat her, the man who killed her husband getting her general on side to overthrow her, her getting kidnapped and raped by the Demon Sovereign…

I mean, I assume raped. They had a child. But I suppose the child could have been created through a ritual?

And whatever happened resulted in her soul getting ripped out, so a demon took her place in the Empire while she happily went off with the man who killed her betrothed… And then Arantir eventually released her soul, wrecking the demons' spells and causing her to come to her senses… At which point she renounced the throne and… Went back to the man who killed her betrothed, because… I guess Stockholm Syndrome exists in Ashan?

"Is Raelag an expert in mind control magics?"

Lushun looks a little awkward. "Not according to any account I have heard. I admit, the former queen's conduct does seem a little… Strange. But men with no real grudge against one another may slay each other in times of war. If Clan Chief Raelag nursed her through her… During her time of hardship, it is not so unthinkable that genuine affection might develop."

Valdrieth the Vampire just nods. "I always assumed that her soul never went back to her body. If it went to Elrath and her empty body simply agrees with the last thing it heard, it makes far more sense."

"Then Arantir tracks down the son of Kha-Beleth and Isabelle, who's a teenager. The teenager then fights his army and then him, and kills them all. And if Arantir hasn't gotten up again by now then he's probably not going to."

Valdrieth shrugs. "Not in the short term. His return would put an end to…" He looks out across the armies arrayed across the swamps of Heresh. "This. As it is, soldiers and demon cultists from Stonehelm hold much of the interior of Nar-Heresh."

"Including this building?" He nods. "So why are you still here?"

"I can't teleport far enough to get down, and I'm not well-fed enough to survive the fall." He looks down over the edge. "I was considering climbing it, but they have imps, and arquebusiers at the windows."

"Right. Do you want to be dropped off anywhere in particular?"

He shrugs. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving Ashan. Lushun?"

"How could I not come with you? It's an opportunity for unparalleled learning!"

"Fine, as long as you understand that I can't bring you back. Valdrieth?"

"No, just leave me at the siege lines. None of the claimants will take issue with my former loyalties."

"As you wish. Three two one."

Our surroundings flicker and the next instant we're surrounded by mud and dying trees and armoured vampires.

"Good luck!"

Another flicker and Lushun and I are back in the air.

"Alright, so, Sareth: a pale skinned human with a short beard, wearing full plate, accompanied by a succubus, carrying a glowing staff whose head is cracking with purple lightning. Shouldn't be to hard to find."

"I wouldn't-."

"There he is." Our surroundings flicker a third time as we appear in front of the duo, and I raise my left hand in greeting. "Excuse me!"

"-be so.. sure."

Xana the succubus immediately conjures fire into her hands, while Sareth-.

I'm not sure what he's doing, but paying the main character more attention seems like a good idea. The staff is on his back, while his hands hold a bastard sword and a pistol bow. Their horses stop-.

Oh. So that's what -2 morale feels like. The Cloak of Death's Shadow is one of my favourite items with any hero, and now that I take its pushed back position into account… Yes, that's it.

"I come in peace!"

Xana's eyes narrow. "Oh really. Then why are you wearing a dead man's face?"

"Ah. You… Met my doppelgänger. That's… Complicated. As far as I understand it, he and I are both equal continuations of the same life… I'm not totally certain how I came to be on Ashan, while I… Assume that he arrived a few years ago? His ring-" I hold out my hands, rings glowing. "-wouldn't have had much power left by now, if-."

"A copy." Xana lowers her hands slightly, glancing at Sareth for direction. He… Appears to be considering me. "And what do you want?"

"Death's Embrace." She perks up slightly, the fires in her hands intensifying. "The set of magic items. I don't want you to try and kill me."

The fire dims again. "What for?"

"The Staff, to aid in my attempt to leave Ashan. The rest, because as I understand it they're designed to work with the Staff." I look around. "You don't appear to be leading an army. Might I ask your intentions?"

Xana sneers at me. "I want to take command of whatever demons are left on the surface of Ashan and establish a kingdom for us to rule. But my beloved Sareth wants to visit his mother's homeland. He is the heir to the Greyhound Duchy after all."

"Ah. Okay. And Arantir's equipment? If you're not trained as a necromancer, it won't do you much good. And I imagine that the priests of the Holy… Unicorn Empire will recognise them after all that time Markal spent using them."

"He could just destroy them. That should earn their favour. If he wanted it."

Lushun looks worried. "I wouldn't recommend that. Destroying the Staff might well tear open a passage to the void, and that wouldn't be good for anyone."

"As an alternative, I can offer a cart filled with gold and jewels, some really high quality swords and suits of armour, a device to conceal your… Demonic appearance, and a high quality pistol. I'll take the artefacts with me when I leave Ashan so they won't be a threat to anyone still here."

"A cart? On roads like these?"

"Alright, a cart with thick pneumatic tyres made of rubber and incorporating a spring suspension system. I can't promise that it won't get stuck, but it should handle the conditions better than a cart with solid wooden wheels. And I can carry you to the Greyhound Duchy and drop you off, and you can witness my departure for yourselves."

I look directly at Sareth and raise my hands, palms upwards.

"Or is there something else that you'd like? I'm open to negotiation."

He continues looking at me for a moment, and then nods. "I think that there is."

 

[Mr Zoat]

So he was accidentally killed because the caster didn't know he was extra vulnerable to magic?

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The caster didn't specifically mean to kill them with that particular spell.