bastion
just a little guy
I'm taking part in a Heart the City Beneath game, in a homebrew setting. In this game I play Giggles McGhee a human that is also an outer god. It's a rather strange situation, but the important thing to know about for this entry is that because of it Giggles has always been strange and an outcast in her home settlement. They were literally born laughing, and did stop until they started being able to focus and process the information around then. At which point they became completely silent and just stared at people to learn, for several years before beginning to be able to interact and the nonstop laughter returning. (She started as a silly thing for narrating a character in Widermyth and then developed into more than just a constantly laughing person.)
So in the most recent session, one of Giggles party members, Lain, magically altered the mind a newly developing being. Both Lain and the being are claypeople, a rare occurrence in the world where a life comes into existence made of a wire frame with a lava core and clay body. They watch others and model themselves after them, slowly becoming more sentient or animal depending on what they happened to mimic. The new clayperson Lain altered had been modeling themself after the local lizardfolk-esque race, known as shallids, until the people it was following were killed by a predator known as the Plesiospider. At that point it began to mimic the Plesiospider, which in turn made it become a threat to the local populace.
Lain felt the best way to help the new clayperson was to force it return to acting as a shallid. She had attempted to talk to it, but it was too underdeveloped to understand and just kept fleeing, before getting in a scuffle with Lain when she was seperated from the other party member currently helping her with handling the new clayperson. (Meanwhile Giggles and the remaining party member were hunting down the Plesiospider so it would no longer be a threat to the locals, and the new clayperson would not have it to model after.)
By the time of the scuffle, Lain wasn't exactly at her best, but she's also not the most morally good person. One of her story beats was to experiment on a living being, which she succeeded in during this story segment. She knocked the clayperson's Plesiospider parts off until it only had the shallid base remaining. During this time Lain had been assisted by the Weaver God, who'd taken an interest in her and she'd become fascinated with them in turn during an earlier event. When the clayperson no longer had the Plesiospider parts it stopped resisting, having difficultly processing what to do at that point. Or maybe it was just bound too tightly to resist.
At this point, the Weaver God offered to help Lain reeducate the clayperson, which she instantly took them up on. The Weaver opened a portal to their realm and Lain dragged the clayperson in. With the help of the Weaver (mostly in the form of providing her with body mass, given Lain had loss her clay during the chase and reverted to her "true form" wire-frame) Lain opened up the clayperson and accessed their core, altering their mind directly.
The party member, Cordia, who'd been chasing the clayperson with Lain had been seperated due to an injury, but say Lain go through the portal. It was able to open the seam of the closed portal and enter, finding Lain doing her very dubious surgery. After talking with Lain a bit, and being at a loss as to what to do, Cordia used her empathic ability to momentarily view things from the mind of the clayperson. She experienced it's pain and confusion first hand. She snapped back to her body, ready to fight Lain, but the Weaver threw out of the portal and sealed it so tight she could not reopen it.
When Giggles and the final party member, Sludge, found Cordia she was on the ground, weakly trying to get the portal back open. Giggles rushed over to find out what was wrong, with Sludge taking a moment to notice the situation. Cordia explained what happened in as short and clear signs as she could (she's deaf and often signs.) Giggles was horrified, wanting to believe it wasn't as bad as it sounded, but Cordia's distress made it hard not to believe Lain was doing something horrible.
During this exchange, Sludge was investigating the portal seam. Sludge is bound to multiple gods, including the Weaver God, and recognized the magic, but didn't quite know what it meant. Giggles turned to Sludge, demanding some explanation, which was not met with much response since Sludge doesn't react well to being yelled at. Giggles and Sludge have gotten in a physical fight in the past due to poor communication, so Giggles forced themself to calm down and talk to Sludge, slowly explaining what Cordia had shared and asking if Sludge could open the portal.
When the answer was just Sludge repeating the question to herself, Giggles deciding to try testing if they could interact with the seam. They were able to, but trying to force it open didn't work. Sludge reminded Giggles to communicate, and they had a bit of a back and forth about the situation. Sludge saw nothing wrong with Lain altering the clayperson's mind, since they are seeking to control the gods they are bound to. This was a pretty horrific revelation for Giggles, that she had to tuck away to deal with later. Eventually, with Cordia emphasizing the clayperson is essentially just a baby, Giggles can't talk any longer and states she's going to open the portal and talk to Lain.
This time Giggles keeps her calm and picks the seam apart like she would the seam on clothing, using their knowledge as a tailor's kid for this. It works, and the portal opens. Before Lain can notice and have any cool lines (sorry Lain's player!) Giggles shouts that t hey need to talk.
There's an emotional discussion then, mostly between Lain and Giggles, with Cordia contributing a bit. Sludge is just having pretend tea with the Weaver because he doesn't agree with the attempt to stop Lain and is mad Giggles didn't take more time to talk things out to his satisfaction. (Ugh, these two babies and their difficulty communicating! So good!) Giggles is crying basically the entire time, beseeching Lain to understand that forcing someone to change like this is wrong, because if its not then it would have better if Giggles parents had the option to do the same to them (doesn't actually say that last part.) Giggles has not been laughing at all during this, which is bizarre given she literally laughs in her sleeps, but she's focused to a degree she hasn't been since she was a child.
Eventually, Lain spitefully agrees to stop and let the other two take over. Giggles watches as Lain closes up the clayperson, Lain making pointed remarks the whole time.
Lain: I haven't removed the murder tendencies, should I leave those in?
Giggles: No one ever removed my murder tendencies, Lain.
Lain Thinking: Yes, well, maybe your parents should have found a way to channel those better.
Irony: That's literally what happened, Giggles was taught to be a hunter and the protector of her home. Her murder tendencies are literally why she's able to keep the party safe.
Giggles carries the young clayperson out of the portal and sets them down a safe distance away. The only reaction to this is the clayperson stuttering out a "sorry" before going still once more. Giggles hugs them, crying harder and telling them its okay. Her laughter is returning as that absolute focus fades, a weak, broken laugh.
Lain and Sludge are being pretty spiteful during all of this, lingering in the distance, with Lain making petty remarks occasionally. When Giggles tries to tell them to pull the Plesiospider so she and Cordia can focus on the clayperson, Sludge is immediately angry and refuses. Giggles stops herself from even trying to explain, just taking on it all. She makes Cordia a splint since Lain is being passive-aggressive about offering to make a cast, then puts the young clayperson on her back while dragging the Plesiospider's body. All while exhausted and poisoned from fighting the damned spider earlier.
When they leave the forest, the clayperson reacts, climbing off Giggles' back and walking on their own. They have difficult walking now, but they're managing. Giggles is keeping them close.
When they reach town, Giggles seperates from the party to go back with the local clayperson, Merloise, and the new clayperson. Giggles decides that they will leave the group for a bit, if only just until the group finishes the current job and comes back through the village. She needs time to process what happened and sort out how she feels, and she's anxious about leaving the new clayperson after what happened.
So now Giggles is officially split from the party, helping raise a new clayperson, while they go take care of things without the claws of the group. I'll probably write about a few more important moments later, but this is already very long.
So in the most recent session, one of Giggles party members, Lain, magically altered the mind a newly developing being. Both Lain and the being are claypeople, a rare occurrence in the world where a life comes into existence made of a wire frame with a lava core and clay body. They watch others and model themselves after them, slowly becoming more sentient or animal depending on what they happened to mimic. The new clayperson Lain altered had been modeling themself after the local lizardfolk-esque race, known as shallids, until the people it was following were killed by a predator known as the Plesiospider. At that point it began to mimic the Plesiospider, which in turn made it become a threat to the local populace.
Lain felt the best way to help the new clayperson was to force it return to acting as a shallid. She had attempted to talk to it, but it was too underdeveloped to understand and just kept fleeing, before getting in a scuffle with Lain when she was seperated from the other party member currently helping her with handling the new clayperson. (Meanwhile Giggles and the remaining party member were hunting down the Plesiospider so it would no longer be a threat to the locals, and the new clayperson would not have it to model after.)
By the time of the scuffle, Lain wasn't exactly at her best, but she's also not the most morally good person. One of her story beats was to experiment on a living being, which she succeeded in during this story segment. She knocked the clayperson's Plesiospider parts off until it only had the shallid base remaining. During this time Lain had been assisted by the Weaver God, who'd taken an interest in her and she'd become fascinated with them in turn during an earlier event. When the clayperson no longer had the Plesiospider parts it stopped resisting, having difficultly processing what to do at that point. Or maybe it was just bound too tightly to resist.
At this point, the Weaver God offered to help Lain reeducate the clayperson, which she instantly took them up on. The Weaver opened a portal to their realm and Lain dragged the clayperson in. With the help of the Weaver (mostly in the form of providing her with body mass, given Lain had loss her clay during the chase and reverted to her "true form" wire-frame) Lain opened up the clayperson and accessed their core, altering their mind directly.
The party member, Cordia, who'd been chasing the clayperson with Lain had been seperated due to an injury, but say Lain go through the portal. It was able to open the seam of the closed portal and enter, finding Lain doing her very dubious surgery. After talking with Lain a bit, and being at a loss as to what to do, Cordia used her empathic ability to momentarily view things from the mind of the clayperson. She experienced it's pain and confusion first hand. She snapped back to her body, ready to fight Lain, but the Weaver threw out of the portal and sealed it so tight she could not reopen it.
When Giggles and the final party member, Sludge, found Cordia she was on the ground, weakly trying to get the portal back open. Giggles rushed over to find out what was wrong, with Sludge taking a moment to notice the situation. Cordia explained what happened in as short and clear signs as she could (she's deaf and often signs.) Giggles was horrified, wanting to believe it wasn't as bad as it sounded, but Cordia's distress made it hard not to believe Lain was doing something horrible.
During this exchange, Sludge was investigating the portal seam. Sludge is bound to multiple gods, including the Weaver God, and recognized the magic, but didn't quite know what it meant. Giggles turned to Sludge, demanding some explanation, which was not met with much response since Sludge doesn't react well to being yelled at. Giggles and Sludge have gotten in a physical fight in the past due to poor communication, so Giggles forced themself to calm down and talk to Sludge, slowly explaining what Cordia had shared and asking if Sludge could open the portal.
When the answer was just Sludge repeating the question to herself, Giggles deciding to try testing if they could interact with the seam. They were able to, but trying to force it open didn't work. Sludge reminded Giggles to communicate, and they had a bit of a back and forth about the situation. Sludge saw nothing wrong with Lain altering the clayperson's mind, since they are seeking to control the gods they are bound to. This was a pretty horrific revelation for Giggles, that she had to tuck away to deal with later. Eventually, with Cordia emphasizing the clayperson is essentially just a baby, Giggles can't talk any longer and states she's going to open the portal and talk to Lain.
This time Giggles keeps her calm and picks the seam apart like she would the seam on clothing, using their knowledge as a tailor's kid for this. It works, and the portal opens. Before Lain can notice and have any cool lines (sorry Lain's player!) Giggles shouts that t hey need to talk.
There's an emotional discussion then, mostly between Lain and Giggles, with Cordia contributing a bit. Sludge is just having pretend tea with the Weaver because he doesn't agree with the attempt to stop Lain and is mad Giggles didn't take more time to talk things out to his satisfaction. (Ugh, these two babies and their difficulty communicating! So good!) Giggles is crying basically the entire time, beseeching Lain to understand that forcing someone to change like this is wrong, because if its not then it would have better if Giggles parents had the option to do the same to them (doesn't actually say that last part.) Giggles has not been laughing at all during this, which is bizarre given she literally laughs in her sleeps, but she's focused to a degree she hasn't been since she was a child.
Eventually, Lain spitefully agrees to stop and let the other two take over. Giggles watches as Lain closes up the clayperson, Lain making pointed remarks the whole time.
Lain: I haven't removed the murder tendencies, should I leave those in?
Giggles: No one ever removed my murder tendencies, Lain.
Lain Thinking: Yes, well, maybe your parents should have found a way to channel those better.
Irony: That's literally what happened, Giggles was taught to be a hunter and the protector of her home. Her murder tendencies are literally why she's able to keep the party safe.
Giggles carries the young clayperson out of the portal and sets them down a safe distance away. The only reaction to this is the clayperson stuttering out a "sorry" before going still once more. Giggles hugs them, crying harder and telling them its okay. Her laughter is returning as that absolute focus fades, a weak, broken laugh.
Lain and Sludge are being pretty spiteful during all of this, lingering in the distance, with Lain making petty remarks occasionally. When Giggles tries to tell them to pull the Plesiospider so she and Cordia can focus on the clayperson, Sludge is immediately angry and refuses. Giggles stops herself from even trying to explain, just taking on it all. She makes Cordia a splint since Lain is being passive-aggressive about offering to make a cast, then puts the young clayperson on her back while dragging the Plesiospider's body. All while exhausted and poisoned from fighting the damned spider earlier.
When they leave the forest, the clayperson reacts, climbing off Giggles' back and walking on their own. They have difficult walking now, but they're managing. Giggles is keeping them close.
When they reach town, Giggles seperates from the party to go back with the local clayperson, Merloise, and the new clayperson. Giggles decides that they will leave the group for a bit, if only just until the group finishes the current job and comes back through the village. She needs time to process what happened and sort out how she feels, and she's anxious about leaving the new clayperson after what happened.
So now Giggles is officially split from the party, helping raise a new clayperson, while they go take care of things without the claws of the group. I'll probably write about a few more important moments later, but this is already very long.