Rites

Battle of the Mind VI

True battles unfold within...

Doubt and fear grow within you.

God beings, regardless which, seem to capture your soul's every tremor... They constantly observe you.

How do They accomplish this?

ID: 5004823

Type: Enemy

Tips: None

Duration: 1 days

Waits For: 3 days

Marked as New Only on First Occurrence: 0

Starts Automatically: No

Triggers Result Automatically: No

Tag Tips: None

Tag Tips Up: None

Tag Tips Text:

Random Text: None

Random Text Up: None

Actions When Wait Expires

Action:

Slots

Slot #3
Your Own Thoughts

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #4
Your rationality can help, if you possess it

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #6
Consider the people and events around you for inspiration

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

  • Any
    • All
    • All
      • Type = Character
      • Card = Inal
  • Not Slot #5 = 1
  • Not Slot #4 = 1
  • Not Slot #7 = 1

Pops: None

Slot #7
Examine legendary treasure acquired through adventure

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Activation Conditions

This rite has no activation conditions.

Outcome

Prior

This rite has no prior outcome.

Regular

Princess's Gaze
You contemplate.

Then realize: gods observe your thoughts.

Perhaps They laugh at your foolish musings.

They perceive every strand and node of your thinking, effortlessly influencing your thoughts... Like writing wicked curses on the Khazar princess's eyelids, making her curse herself whenever gazing into mirrors...

Wait - you know nothing of Khazar or princesses... Whose memory is this? This continent has no such kingdom.

You clutch your head as knowledge from distant, unknown worlds floods in... Are you still yourself? Did some god replace your core in an eyeblink?

You groan desperately, trying to grasp your existence, screaming promises never to probe god thoughts again...

In ultimate despair, the princess watches you. Her gold-dusted eyelids painted with lethal viper-venom curses - oh, how you wish you didn't know these things! Madness approaches! No, no, no! The Sultan's game contains none of this - this is fiction beyond fiction - forget it! Forget it!

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Action:

Lost Path
You foolishly seek to resolve your spiritual crisis through the absurd gods of the cultists.

You pray, plead, beg... only to be answered by cold laughter from the darkness.

Perhaps you still need to prove your worth to the chaotic gods.

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Impurity
You attempt to resolve your inner conflict through the god will of the Purist...

A white light surges into your mind, piercing your spine and triggering waves of agony - this is the Purist's response to your prayer -

"You are unworthy," says the pain. "Think again, consider what you could do for the Purist."

It "helps" you ponder for quite some time before gradually subsiding.

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God Hearing
Perhaps your soul's strength has grown sufficient? This offers the only reasonable explanation.

The god cannot equally hear every heart—They lack such leisure or necessity. Whose voice carries furthest, loudest, most distinctly naturally reaches god ears. Weak followers' pleas, however sincere, cannot match a powerful non-believer's casual sigh.

But who hears this voice... lies beyond the speaker's control. Considering this, you pause, offering respect to whatever entities observe your thoughts.

They provide no response.

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Action:

Light's Connection
You keep thinking.

Gradually, you seem to see a golden thread appear between your forehead—why you can see your forehead is another topic since you're not using your biological eyes now but your Insightful eyes—you reach out to grab it.

You pull on this golden thread, as it leaves your skin, it induces waves of peculiar sensations... perhaps after a while, a heap like a golden mist gathers around you. One end remains buried in your body, while the other pulls towards the sky, its endpoint unseen.

An epiphany strikes you. The "Divine Light" surrounding those holy priests is likely akin to this golden thread. It connects you to the Gods, and if your thoughts aren't pure or virtuous enough, it can easily be broken; while if it's extensive enough, you can always be found by the Gods...

The thread trembles, your soul ripples as a result, it appears the Gods acknowledge your found answer.

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Action:

Shadow's Reach
You continue contemplating.

Gradually, your shadow beneath dissolves, rippling outward like someone cast a stone into your soul's waters.

The shadow flows, covering floors, climbing walls, coating ceilings.

It gradually envelops you, surrounding like a massive mother goddess embracing you with abundant breasts... This inexplicable feeling overtakes you.

Rippling, flowing, rippling. Trembling, shaking, swaying. Pungent scents, strange growls, satisfying blood-warmth.

Revelation strikes. The cultists' herb juices must share origins with this shadow. By tattooing marks on skin, impure gods tag souls, entering them into their registers. They flip this ancient, heavy book, observing thoughts on each page.

If you haven't fallen deeply enough, if your soul lacks sufficient weight, your shadow remains too faint... gods cannot find you, though you're uncertain whether this benefits or harms you.

The shadow invades your orifices, piercing every opening...

This god dislikes your questioning, seeking only amusement.

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Action:

Thought's Messenger
You think of Zephyr.

This slave carries messages across the city in minutes, delivering and returning swiftly.

God thoughts must utilize similar transmission mechanisms, with you playing Zephyr's role.

They project thoughts onto you, requiring you to spread them through the world... You're chosen as messenger, explaining why you repeatedly hear these voices, smell these scents, experience these visions...

But what benefit does this offer you? However important Zephyr's messages, to him they represent mere labor. However sacred god messages might be, for you...

The crucial point: can these messages serve your purposes, bring your happiness?

You laugh aloud.

Then hear something laughing alongside you - you consistently develop ideas this chaos god finds amusing.

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Action:

Truth's Servant
You consider Inal.

Her service to your wife resembles a devout follower serving god. You recall her midnight knocking, asking if Maggie desired dessert: "I dreamed you wanted almond curd..." You and Maggie laughed together, but didn't Maggie indeed eat almond curd repeatedly the next day? Didn't Inal somehow hear her mistress's inner voice?

Perhaps your ability to hear god voices, perceive these visions, comes from sufficiently devout worship.

This must be the only answer.

Jasmine fragrance mixed with almonds wafts by. You silently thank the god for approval, then... your stomach growls. Perhaps you too should try some almond curd.

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Action:

Mirror's Duality
You consider those treasures and the adventures behind them.

The god achieve greatness by obtaining power from nothingness, participating in creation.

For those benefiting from these treasures, aren't their creators approaching divinity themselves?

Creation manifests greatness, but aren't humans constantly recreating the world?

Perhaps gods find you because... when you contemplate Them, They simultaneously observe you from the mirror's opposite side, through mercury's reflection?

The boundary between human and god blurs disturbingly. You shiver at your insight...

For humans, the greatest challenge... is resisting the urge to shatter this mirror.

...

The god remain silent. Perhaps They too fantasize about breaking this mirror.

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Action:

Beneath the Surface
As you contemplate, involuntary spasms begin - divinity eagerly enters your soul...

They arrives.

Ha ha ha ha ha -

Ha.

Ha!

I...

Fish.

With nets.

With baskets.

Ha, ga, ha ha ha ha, hee hee hee, ha!

With tongues.

With harpoons.

Heavy, abundant, full, entangled, turbid.

Falling down.

I fish.

...

You open your eyes... your question answered.

Perhaps your extensive contemplation and strengthened soul have made you very "heavy" - not physical weight but spiritual density. The Cultic God and chaotic brethren appreciate such souls. They watch you sink beneath the surface, then catch you.

Nausea rises in your chest, reminding you of caught fish... Do they open and close their mouths in prayers to their own gods?

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Action:

Above the Surface
While contemplating, jasmine fragrance returns.

You raise your head, close your eyes, attempting to strengthen your god connection.

They arrives.

I harvest souls above the surface.

Light, feathery, abundant.

Only these can float above water.

I harvest souls above the surface.

...

You open your eyes... your question answered.

Perhaps your soul's strength and... buoyancy have lifted you from the crowd, entering the Immaculate Purity's fields, becoming harvested grain.

You're uncertain whether this sensation pleases you, but crops never choose their reapers.

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Extra

Rebuking Darkness
You dare invoke the most unholy name before the Immaculate Purity!

They thunder through your mind, Their light a spear piercing heaven and earth, a ruler lashing the world...

Until the next day's sunset, whenever your focus wavers, everything before you shatters into light and flames... This divine punishment They foretell... fortunately, They cannot execute it immediately.

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Result:

Ancient Enmity
Darkness boils as you mention Their enemy's name before a god.

Their anger transforms into a dark forest, intending to make you lost forever... Fortunately, you still pray for light in your heart. This beam, like a faint lamp, illuminates your path back to the mortal realm... it also reveals the monstrosities the evil god created from your fears. Masterpieces crafted from your inner terrors... about death, betrayal, failure, love... After waking, these images linger.

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Spiral of Destruction
Two gods, two enemies both craving world destruction, meet unexpectedly in the depths of your mind.

Here is an excellent battlefield where They can destroy each other... destroy your mind... again and again.

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