Rites

Secret Chamber

No, no, absolutely not. I refuse death, refuse my beloved's death, refuse friends' and family's death, refuse this city, nation, world's destruction.

You clench trembling teeth, life's will bursting forth under death's oppression - yet this will seems minuscule beneath the descending god's pressure...

ID: 5008187

Type: None

Tips: None

Duration: 1 days

Waits For: 1 days

Marked as New Only on First Occurrence: 0

Starts Automatically: Yes

Triggers Result Automatically: No

Tag Tips: None

Tag Tips Up: Normal Result, Survival, Wisdom, Combat, Physique, Magic, Charisma

Tag Tips Text:

Random Text: None

Random Text Up:

Roll #1
Badriyyah stares wide-eyed - can your words reach her heart?
Type: Normal Result
Type Tips: Your Wisdom and Sociability determine your full dice count.
Low Target: 8
Low Target Tips: You need at least 8 Success to persuade Badriyyah.
Roll #2
Badriyyah stares wide-eyed - can your words reach her heart?
Type: Normal Result
Type Tips: Your Combat and Physique determine your full dice count.
Low Target: 8
Low Target Tips: You need at least 8 Success to persuade Badriyyah.
Roll #3
Badriyyah stares wide-eyed - can your words reach her heart?
Type: Normal Result
Type Tips: Your Wisdom and Magic determine your full dice count.
Low Target: 8
Low Target Tips: You need at least 8 Success to persuade Badriyyah.
Roll #4
Badriyyah stares wide-eyed - can your words reach her heart?
Type: Normal Result
Type Tips: Your Charisma and Physique determine your full dice count.
Low Target: 8
Low Target Tips: You need at least 8 Success to persuade Badriyyah.
Roll #5
Badriyyah stares wide-eyed - can your words reach her heart?
Type: Normal Result
Type Tips: Your Virtue and Charisma determine your full dice count.
Low Target: 8
Low Target Tips: You need at least 8 Success to persuade Badriyyah.
Roll #6
Badriyyah stares wide-eyed - can your words reach her heart?
Type: Normal Result
Type Tips: Your Wisdom and Insight determine your full dice count.
Low Target: 8
Low Target Tips: You need at least 8 Success to persuade Badriyyah.
Roll #7
Unable to spare further thought, you struggle free from Badriyyah and charge the hidden chamber door...
Type: Fight Result
Type Tips: Your Physique determines your full dice count.
Low Target: 5
Low Target Tips: You need at least 5 Success to break the door.

Actions When Wait Expires

This rite has no actions when the wait expires.

Slots

Slot #1
The Descending God

Locks: Yes

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: Yes

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #3
Badriyyah

Locks: Yes

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: Yes

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #4
Who will you remember in the critical moment

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: Yes

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #5
Sealed Chamber

Locks: Yes

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: Yes

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #6
You are already involved and cannot escape

Locks: Yes

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Activation Conditions

This rite has no activation conditions.

Outcome

Prior

Mental Resistance
The summoned Cultic God savagely assaults your mind with endless suffering, piercing pain, despair, sorrow.

How predictable! You grit teeth in desperate resistance, fully grasping this deity's methods - They manipulate senses, rewrite skin-to-brain messages, making surroundings twisted yet real.

But that's all... just that! As long as you believe, remain unwavering, firmly commanding every nerve to obey your - not divine - will, you become an unyielding reef in the Cultic God's mental tide. They crash against you, flow around you, then overwhelm others.

Thus you hear Their unwilling shriek, feel Them burn a soul-deep scar, then silence. Badriyyah has fainted, surrounding cultists have fainted, so your departure meets no obstruction. Yet you know you'll never again be allies.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Eldritch Gods
You unleash the presence within your mind - impossibly dense ink spreads instantly, splashing across heaven and earth with unmatched terror and malice, reducing this greedy monster to a cowering insect, crushed by thunderous wrath until only withered remains persist.

Witnessing such miracle, all cultists immediately prostrate... They weep black tears, loudly praising the great sovereign, eyes burning with fervor as they pledge willing service.

Conditions:

Result:

Eldritch Gods
You unleash the presence within your mind - impossibly pure radiance spreads like a second dawn, yet this light burns cold, majestic, merciless. The moment it touches this greedy Cultic God, They ignite, shrieking piteously, writhing in agony before inevitable annihilation...

At least this god proves useful - you exhale with slight relief.

Conditions:

Result:

Regular

Face the Abyss
When overwhelming stench and corruption strike, you witness countless horrific deaths - each soul devoured and digested by the Cultic God. You too shall join them, becoming the nascent Cultic God's flesh, hair, nails... or some worthless fragment.

Conditions:

Result:

Sacred Invocation
Yet evil pervades everything, sin saturates all, corruption infects everywhere, the Cultic God encompasses all - you kindle weak faith-flame, mere candlelight against hurricane winds!

Conditions:

Result:

Profane Chanting
Your response brings only Badriyyah's tightening grip, her chanting voice interweaving with yours, making the nascent deity more ecstatic!

Conditions:

Result:

Impurity
You attempt to against this monster's corruption... 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.

Conditions:

Result:

Lost Path
You foolishly try wielding Cultic God power to control this monster. Yet prayer, pleading, begging... only intensifies lurking darkness's greed.

Conditions:

Result:

Extra

You barely feel your feet in the pool - cold breath coils around you, licking tattoo-covered skin, seeping toward blood, flesh, bone, every fiber. No, this ritual must cease. With final, desperate hope, you regard the woman holding you fast.
Remembering Alim
Living represents ultimate happiness - nothing surpasses possessing life.

You tell Badriyyah about Alim and his children struggling in Dark Alley. Though hungry and fearful, don't they share profound bonds? Don't those children laugh and play together? Even cultists awaiting sacrifice outside - sharing bread, don't their faces overflow with joy?

"Mere tricks prolonging daily endurance. Without these so-called pleasures, we could have found release ages ago... Only our master's joy remains pure - They directly stimulate senses, requiring no toil or humiliation for ultimate pleasure. Our master promises post-death enjoyment."

You smile - her rebuttal serves your purpose perfectly. You ask what joy the Cultic God provides. Does it match these pleasures you mentioned?

"Fine dining's joy, lovemaking's joy, cloud-reaching joy..." She regards you dismissively, "Retreat? Impossible. We shall all sacrifice ourselves here."

"Ah, these joys," you nod, "then does the Cultic God believe Their believers cannot obtain fine food, lovemaking, elevated status independently? Alim and his children earn everything through their own hands - aren't they as magnificent as the Cultic God?"

"Why attach your existence to something you know cruel? Without them, your life might hold less joy, but wouldn't it also contain far less suffering?"

Conditions:

You succeeded
Badriyyah's arm grip gradually loosens as she bows confusedly. Much requires consideration - even if final conclusions favor sacrificing life for the Cultic God - at least now, your words have carved small cracks in her heart's fortress. And opportunity, survival's chance, slips through that fissure.

Cultists outside grow anxious awaiting divine descent signals, knocking to query Badriyyah about progress. You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

You failed
You failed to persuade her... if you wants to live, you have no choice but to resort to force.

Conditions:

Remembering Adila
This world holds as many ways of living as there are people in it.

You tell Badriyyah about that female warrior's story - how she challenged the most brutal battles in a woman's body, took pride in victory and conquest, needed no divine aid yet lived supremely happy.

"Those are mere tricks to make us endure another day. Without these so-called joys, we could have found release ages ago... Only our master's pleasure remains pure - They directly stimulate our senses, requiring no toil or humiliation for ultimate bliss. And this bliss, our master has promised, we'll feel even after death."

You smile - her rebuttal serves your purpose perfectly.

You tell her Adila's joy springs from constant transcendence - she transcended herself, her gender, all limits, while the Cultic God can only offer endless compromise. They make believers hunger while fantasizing about gluttony's pleasure, make them crawl with lice while imagining silk sheets' caress... They cannot change the world, only alter believers' thoughts - the Cultic God has never transcended anything, not even the Purist! In your view, Adila deserves far more respect

Badriyyah wants to argue, but you raise one finger.

You point out that when mortals endlessly hone their will, their souls shine brilliantly like divine radiance. The Cultic God loves such souls, yet They cannot even make a single believer become such a person - still needing Badriyyah to deceive you into coming here... Ha, this deity has truly never transcended anything, too lazy even to attempt it, wouldn't you say?

Conditions:

You succeeded
Badriyyah's arm grip gradually loosens as she bows confusedly. Much requires consideration - even if final conclusions favor sacrificing life for the Cultic God - at least now, your words have carved small cracks in her heart's fortress. And opportunity, survival's chance, slips through that fissure.

Cultists outside grow anxious awaiting divine descent signals, knocking to query Badriyyah about progress. You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

You failed
You failed to persuade her... if you wants to live, you have no choice but to resort to force.

Conditions:

Remembering Mahir
This inventor immerses herself daily in her creations, ignoring outside turmoil. For her, Cultic Gods, Purists, Sultans - as long as she has inventions, she's content. So the point isn't who provides joy, but finding what truly brings happiness, right?

"Those are tricks making us endure another day. Without these so-called pleasures, we could have found release long ago..." Badriyyah dismisses this, "Only our master's joy remains pure - They directly stimulate our senses, requiring no toil or humiliation for ultimate pleasure. Our master promises we'll feel this joy even after death."

You smile - her rebuttal serves your purpose perfectly.

You ask what pure pleasure leaves behind. Mahir's inventions might change the world, at least many people's fates. Yet a great deity, a master - what They accomplish is merely manipulating twitching, pleasure, and fluids triggered by your own body. The Cultic God understands nothing of this world - They can only manipulate believers. A century hence, people might remember Mahir but not Them!

Badriyyah wants to argue, but you raise one finger and shake it.

You ask her - if Mahir invented a machine producing bread and cheese, gave it some divine name like "Corruptor" or "Krenmasina," how many of Badriyyah's companions would convert to worship this deity? The key lies in changing the world that causes suffering, using this world's materials to create more materials - the key was never soul manipulation.

Conditions:

You succeeded
Badriyyah's arm grip gradually loosens as she bows confusedly. Much requires consideration - even if final conclusions favor sacrificing life for the Cultic God - at least now, your words have carved small cracks in her heart's fortress. And opportunity, survival's chance, slips through that fissure.

Cultists outside grow anxious awaiting divine descent signals, knocking to query Badriyyah about progress. You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

You failed
You failed to persuade her... if you wants to live, you have no choice but to resort to force.

Conditions:

Remembering Nabhani
You use joyful Nabhani as example - his happiness certainly comes from life! Dead, he couldn't enjoy roasted mutton's fragrance, couldn't wear heavy golden earrings before mirrors, couldn't embrace beloved ones...

"But all this has a dark side, and all this fades with age," Badriyyah stares directly at you, no longer laughing madly but appearing somewhat weary, "When I'm old, can't chew meat, my earlobes stretched thin by earrings, when men and women no longer touch me... all my pleasures will be stolen by time. Better to let the Cultic God's grace preserve them while I can enjoy them - our master promises we'll have these pleasures even after death."

You smile - her rebuttal serves your purpose perfectly.

"So," you ask Badriyyah, "your faith exists only because you fear aging? You destroy everything present only because you don't want to watch others destroy it? You won't befriend a cat simply because you know it lives only a dozen years? The Cultic God's believers are all believers who dare not face life's weight. Your so-called noble sacrifice is merely cowards' escape. After all, only one true dedication exists in this world - letting life's thorns pierce your own body so those you embrace won't be harmed by these spikes!"

Conditions:

You succeeded
Badriyyah's arm grip gradually loosens as she bows confusedly. Much requires consideration - even if final conclusions favor sacrificing life for the Cultic God - at least now, your words have carved small cracks in her heart's fortress. And opportunity, survival's chance, slips through that fissure.

Cultists outside grow anxious awaiting divine descent signals, knocking to query Badriyyah about progress. You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

You failed
You failed to persuade her... if you wants to live, you have no choice but to resort to force.

Conditions:

Remembering Maggie
You tell Badriyyah about Maggie, your wife - she strongly dislikes cults and cultists, yet she's gentle, wise, compassionate. She often gives servants extra half-days off, pretends not to notice when they keep fabric scraps for scarves. She can't bear seeing anyone around her hungry, spending her own money to help slum drainage projects. Even the water channels in cultist gathering areas were built with funds Maggie convinced familiar ladies to donate together - without her, this place would still be a stinking mosquito-breeding swamp.

"So if the Cultic God comes, what happens to people like Maggie? Killed? Hanged from trees? Buried underground? Is that truly what she deserves? How many who've harmed the poor... how many exploiters, how many parasites live high above - maybe the Cultic God would prefer them! Badriyyah, can you imagine? The master you summon with your life might cooperate with those you despise! When that time comes, those sitting on worldly thrones continuing to rule might not be the cultists beside you!"

Conditions:

You succeeded
Badriyyah's arm grip gradually loosens as she bows confusedly. Much requires consideration - even if final conclusions favor sacrificing life for the Cultic God - at least now, your words have carved small cracks in her heart's fortress. And opportunity, survival's chance, slips through that fissure.

Cultists outside grow anxious awaiting divine descent signals, knocking to query Badriyyah about progress. You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

You failed
You failed to persuade her... if you wants to live, you have no choice but to resort to force.

Conditions:

Remembering Iman
You ask Badriyyah - didn't the Cultic God promise happiness? Doesn't death mean nothingness, meaning no more pleasure? This sounds like something the celibate Purists would demand she do!

She laughs contemptuously once, then says: "Our master certainly won't abandon Their children - They promise we can continue enjoying ourselves after death. Our souls will ascend among the stars, like those powerful beings we summon - we'll do whatever we want, we'll become demigods!"

You smile - her answer serves your purpose perfectly.

You tell Badriyyah that whether Iman's Purist, her Cultic God, even the Highland's Highlord and summoned monsters - all these things are identical. These beings are isolated from this world, can only manifest briefly through projections.

"If those monsters you summon are truly happy in their own world, why do they compete to be summoned? Why can just some living souls drive these great beings? Why can't they stay long before being dragged back? Finding pleasure is far harder for them than even the most humble living person! When we want to kill, we just go onto the street - the only concern is evading guards and enemies. But them? When they want to soak their hands in blood, they must wait and wait in nothingness for some filthy, mad cultists to perform summoning rituals!"

You conclude with vicious prophecy: "Such a sacrificial ritual abandoning all pleasures for a lying master might be better suited to Iman."

Conditions:

You succeeded
Badriyyah's arm grip gradually loosens as she bows confusedly. Much requires consideration - even if final conclusions favor sacrificing life for the Cultic God - at least now, your words have carved small cracks in her heart's fortress. And opportunity, survival's chance, slips through that fissure.

Cultists outside grow anxious awaiting divine descent signals, knocking to query Badriyyah about progress. You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

You failed
You failed to persuade her... if you wants to live, you have no choice but to resort to force.

Conditions:

You seize this moment pounding stone walls, creating fierce struggle sounds - cultists open doors attempting joint subjugation, and you quickly grab the nearest person, dragging him down to block that doorway.

"If your god truly desires me, They wouldn't permit escape!" you shout, "Look at Badriyyah - she no longer restrains me!"

People gaze toward Badriyyah, standing dazed and bewildered. By her recovery and attempted prevention words, it's too late. You gasp while shoving through crowds, sprinting onto streets. Passersby stare oddly at this noble's disheveled, wounded appearance. Some summon guards while cultists lurk in shadows watching like nest-peering rats. You see no Badriyyah among them.

So be it - you're exhausted, not just from struggle but from that god... that voice still muttering unwillingly in your mind... Your servants arrive upon hearing news, guards too, and you collapse into their embrace, falling into deep slumber.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

No matter how you pound the chamber door, it remains coldly immobile. Badriyyah giggles, waiting until you're exhausted from struggling, then slowly drags you back to the pool. She uses long needles dipped in the pool's black liquid to tattoo complex patterns on both your skin and hers. When no more space remains for needles, your consciousness slowly fades as your souls flow out through these tattoos, consumed eagerly by the waiting "god."

This power helps Them temporarily enter the mortal realm, though only briefly... after all, this isn't shadow or ethereal dream, but the massive divine being itself. They will burst from the cavern to feast on the cultists outside, then find more people. They'll keep eating and eating until They've accumulated enough power to remain in this world - until They devour the entire world.

None of that matters now. None of that matters now.

Conditions:

Result: