02-07-2018, 06:33 PM
Dane twiddled his fingers, amused by the ceramic beast - but he couldn't let that show, he had to be seen as stern. The thing was stupid, so it wasn't surprising Clownpiece had bent it to her will. The real question running through his mind was whether or not to let it try whatever plan it was currently devising. Naturally, having it kill someone was bad, mindless, and it wasn't his style. And, should someone die, he'd have to silence any witnesses - quickly. Getting a bounty, or having Afrátos get one, wasn't exactly on his to-do list. But, should someone attack Dane, or Afrátos, that would be forcing his hand to fight back, even if the beast started it. As long as he reasonably couldn't have known. After all, he did say it was going to obey him. Why should he believe otherwise?
Striking first wasn't his style, and he was itching for a bit of a bar fight. Of course - he had no proof Afrátos was going to do anything and, intuitively, he guessed the beast was more likely to run away if the 'baby eating' comment was anything to go by. As such, he couldn't let the china thing out of his sight - killing was only fun if they thought back, watching their face drop and all hope fall from their eyes. For fighting primes here, it wasn't the same. They came back and most of them knew it. Secondaries though, he wondered if they'd display the range of emotions he desired.
It wasn't like he'd ever done something unjustified. Everyone he'd ever killed back home had either threatened or attacked him - or someone else he felt the need to protect. Or, letting them live would jeopardise an important goal, like when he'd killed a mostly innocent witness before. He was just very good at driving people to attack him without resorting to violence himself. When they inevitably died, it was their fault, not his. They'd still chosen to draw their sword or swing their fist. It wasn't his problem if they were overconfident.
Most people would probably still call him a psychopath - probably because he was - they just didn't understand the sophisticated level of mental gymnastics taken to at least flip his actions from 'evil' to 'neutral' on most moral spectrums. At the end of the day, it wasn't much different from simply stabbing someone - but it was much less fun. He'd heard about free will many, many, times. It was all an illusion. At least in the sense he cared about. With or without predesignation of actions and events, people could be manipulated. The only reason free will was 'free' was due to limited information. Person A would always do reaction X given situation Y. If you knew what Y gave a specific X, you could get anyone to do anything by putting them in the right situation. Some people wouldn't do X regardless of what Y they were given. So, while the situations he could create were limited, and thus the subset of people he could manipulate was reduced even further, he still always had plenty of targets. And, there generally tended to be a correlation between the types of people he liked killing and those he could kill 'morally' in this way - morally referring to getting them to try to hit him first.
Obviously, if he outright killed someone, the worst case scenario was everyone else in the bar attacking him. That meant the barman, three people at one table, and four people at the other. With a quick strike, he could probably kill two instantly if they weren't expecting it, but those would have to be the ones most likely to run. Avoiding backup was necessary, and he didn't want notoriety. Chances were, some people here already recognised him from Dante's Abyss, so he'd instantly be branded as a prime and put high up on the local 'to kiss/banish' board. If he had to guess, it would probably be the scrawny guy on the further table, and maybe the woman on the one closest to him. If a third ran away, he could exert himself a little, but that might leave him tired for the remaining four (eight total, one killed in the first scuffle, three more killed for running). But... killing so many quickly was liable to cause even more people to flee.
In short, he had to get as many people to attack him as possible, otherwise, he'd never manage to keep an eye on both the monster and any people fleeing. He could assign Afrátos a role, but he didn't know enough about its capabilities. And, it was a coward. If he gave it the task of killing anyone trying to flee, he wasn't sure he could keep it close. A lot of this also depended on how a fight began. But, he could try to guide that first. Thinking more carefully, there were two exists (ignoring windows) and the curtains weren't fully shut. Screams would attract attention. A passerby could look it. There were a lot of variables to keep track of. Worst case outcome: he died or got sent to the Underverse - the place Tearen went. Dane was confident he could escape if that happened, he just wasn't a fan of losing.
Best case scenario: everyone in the room dies and him and Afrátos both gone before anyone outside can react, with no one seeing their faces. The real question was how to achieve that efficiently and within his constraints. It had to be quick, he could only kill people 'willing' to fight him (or those that risked giving him a bounty), no one could survive - or, at least, remember. Forcing his companion to kill someone counted as him killing them, it had to be provoked in such a way that made it seem like the beast had escaped his control - unless that person was about to strike first. Lawful neutral murder spree - or chaotic, depending on how one looked at it, although anyone who wasn't Dane would probably see it as evil still.
He closed his eyes for a second, playing it out in his mind. First: a comment referring to how everyone was stupid to be afraid of the china thing would probably piss off at least one of the drunker guys. Dane didn't exactly look strong, so if no one recognised him he could see a few threats coming his way. Naturally, daring the one or two assailants to go through with it seemed like a good idea. Second: let them back him into a corner or start roughing him up, perhaps even dishing out some empty sounding threats he planned to follow through with. That left Afrátos's actions. If he ran, Dane would abort and follow - but, he potentially had a way to avoid that happening. If he did nothing, Dane would kill anyone who acted physically aggressive. If he helped Dane, Dane would start killing as planned. He figured that two people would be dead quickly.
Next, if the barkeeper wasn't about to start fighting Dane, he'd teleport and knock him out. That man was the only one easily able to flee - the windows were closed and he was the only person with quick access to the back door. That would leave five people. In the heat of the moment, he reckoned he could push himself enough to take out two quickly and possibly a third, but that latter was unlikely. That would leave three. If Afrátos got one, that'd leave two remaining, hopefully within barely a few seconds. Assuming they'd both drawn their weapons, he could probably muster enough mana to break through their defences and deal a killing blow. Without teleportation, he could probably have managed four or five. Maybe more of them, but it would be a much more drawn out fight - if he met Tearen again, he'd definitely have to remember to thank the guy.
Leaving those ideas in the back of his mind, for now, Dane fell back into his seat, shaking the table and reading provoking a lot of disgruntled stared. He yawned, making a point of seeming uncaring. Thinking about how to kill people as almost as fun as actually doing it. He'd considered how easy it would be to backstab Clownpiece, Myst, Renko, and the china thing in the recent past - not that he'd actually do that. They were beneficial companions, for now. Flicking his growing hair out of his eyes, he firmly placing a hand on Afrátos's back. The main reason for the gesture was to easily keep track of him without looking away, but also as an assertion of control - the others at the table would be watching Clownpiece's pet warily, or perhaps waiting for an excuse to be aggressive. As fun as a fight would be, he wanted one to happen on his terms.
Experimentally, Dane reached out with his mind, probing and prodding, deftly glimpsing surface thoughts. Compared to trying to read his own mind, or Clownpiece's or Myst's, it was surprisingly simple. All three of the other humans shaving his table had had an immediate dislike towards him, as far as he could tell. As for the china thing, both of the men would smash him if they had the chance, but the woman didn't seem the care; she definitely wouldn't complain if someone else were to smash it though. The other table showcased similar opinions, except for one person just wanting to eat his food in peace. No one seemed to be drunk, perhaps a little tipsy at best, but that wasn't surprising. The barkeeper was out of sight, so he couldn't tell what that man was thinking.
The real question, though, was: should he? Should he try and execute his theoretical plan. It posed risks, but risks were fun. They were part of the thrill he achieved from making irrational choices. He could have collected 13-Jzall's bounty with a lot less self-destruction, but he wanted to see how stupidly he could fight and still win. Apparently, the answer to that was 'very'. At least against a non-melee combatant. But, he hadn't gone to The Moors just to kill people. He wanted to slay big scary monsters. So, being the dumb foreigner, he decided to try and glean some information first.
Rubbing and petting Afrátos, moving his hand up to the thing's head and shushing it, he smirked at the guy sitting next to him. "So, any fun things to do around here? Preferably of the killing variety. Y'know, like monsters and stuff." He patted his hand, causing the china to echo faintly. "This guy, but bigger."
"Keep heading further from the Nexus gate and you'll die eventually," the other bloke interjected bluntly.
"How... cryptic." Dane shrugged. "And why might that be?" Admittedly, strolling randomly into danger had its perks, but he didn't feel like dying again. He wanted to know the odds of risk before he took it. In the background, he noticed a couple of guys from the far table move to the counter and talk to the barman. In his peripheral vision, the buff man straightened his back a little before beginning to head over.
"Go an see for yourself." The man gulped down some ale. Dane was about to reply when the two flagons of ale arrived, along with and a large uncooked slab of meat on a wooden board. He guessed his food would take longer since the barkeeper was actually cooking it.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Dane paused for a moment before looking up and speaking to their host. "Hey, so, this guy won't give me a straight answer. What sort of monsters are there to slay around here? Any quests? Anything to kill?"
He received a grunt in response. "What do I look like to you?"
"A barkeeper who doesn't know how to shave." And, strangely, he seemed a bit less wary both visually and mentally. Not wanting to risk prying too deep, Dane only glimpsed the surface thoughts, but he could feel a slight nervousness further inside.
"And what does a barkeeper do?" He towered over Dane, each of them unphased by the other.
"Sell food and drinks at the tavern." It was at that point, he realised he had no money.
Whelp. Guess these people have gotta die now.
"And does that include giving people quests?"
"Well... I just figured you'd be in on all the gossip-" Dane spoke a bit sheepishly. Skimming over the barman's thoughts informed him that this was a regular occurrence.
"You figured wrong. Go to a guild, or the guard, adventurer." He let out a sigh a moment later, mumbling the word 'primes'. "Did you really think people like me sit around all day waiting for someone to throw money at for killing monsters? We have soldiers for a reason. Now, stop pestering my customers and drink your ale, or get out."
It was at that moment Afrátos had the brilliant idea to pick up the slab of meat and slurp it all down his throat in one go, making some disgusting sklurking noises and drawing the stares of everyone. "Me-me think raw food-meat not fresh. Must go eat little-people-food yes-yes." In the following silence, everyone heard his muttering.
"And keep that thing under control." The barkeeper glared, although Dane could tell it was a little bit forced. Like a show of authority.
Dane sat up a little straighter, shuddering intentionally. "Come on, are you guys really stupid enough to be scared of this thing?" he laughed, trying to add a slight guise of nervousness to his own voice. People often laugh when they're scared - he wanted them to think that was the case. Admittedly, it was all an act, but he was very good at provoking people - maybe that was his nerd heritage or something, he'd been told his face looked very punchable in the past.
Apparently, the bloke next to him got the idea, and simply reached out and grabbed him by the collar. Afrátos let out a hiss in surprise, cowering back at the show of force. Dane fell limp, grinning internally and letting it happen. "I'm warning you, if you touch me, that thing will kill you." Forcing shakiness into his voice always hurt his pride a little bit. Luckily, Afrátos also kept up the image. Dane could almost hear it shaking. He reached out with his mind, mentally trying to spur the ceramic beast to help him, trying to mask the thoughts he implanted as the things own.
Clownpiece-master would be much happy-proud of him if he helped Dane-friend. Dane-friend maybe-might give Afrátos people-food-eats.
The idea of how tasty the barman's jugular looked was very appealing to the beast. Or perhaps one of the other nearby people gathering around Dane.
"I thought you said we'd be stupid to fear it." A rough voice called out from the far table.
"Well... I didn't really mean it. I swear." It took all of Dane's will to not start giggling right then. He noticed china claws flex, it was forgotten in the background by the others and given the perfect time to strike. He kept up his mental barrage, hands straying close to his sword hilts. Everything was going to be just perfect.
Striking first wasn't his style, and he was itching for a bit of a bar fight. Of course - he had no proof Afrátos was going to do anything and, intuitively, he guessed the beast was more likely to run away if the 'baby eating' comment was anything to go by. As such, he couldn't let the china thing out of his sight - killing was only fun if they thought back, watching their face drop and all hope fall from their eyes. For fighting primes here, it wasn't the same. They came back and most of them knew it. Secondaries though, he wondered if they'd display the range of emotions he desired.
It wasn't like he'd ever done something unjustified. Everyone he'd ever killed back home had either threatened or attacked him - or someone else he felt the need to protect. Or, letting them live would jeopardise an important goal, like when he'd killed a mostly innocent witness before. He was just very good at driving people to attack him without resorting to violence himself. When they inevitably died, it was their fault, not his. They'd still chosen to draw their sword or swing their fist. It wasn't his problem if they were overconfident.
Most people would probably still call him a psychopath - probably because he was - they just didn't understand the sophisticated level of mental gymnastics taken to at least flip his actions from 'evil' to 'neutral' on most moral spectrums. At the end of the day, it wasn't much different from simply stabbing someone - but it was much less fun. He'd heard about free will many, many, times. It was all an illusion. At least in the sense he cared about. With or without predesignation of actions and events, people could be manipulated. The only reason free will was 'free' was due to limited information. Person A would always do reaction X given situation Y. If you knew what Y gave a specific X, you could get anyone to do anything by putting them in the right situation. Some people wouldn't do X regardless of what Y they were given. So, while the situations he could create were limited, and thus the subset of people he could manipulate was reduced even further, he still always had plenty of targets. And, there generally tended to be a correlation between the types of people he liked killing and those he could kill 'morally' in this way - morally referring to getting them to try to hit him first.
Obviously, if he outright killed someone, the worst case scenario was everyone else in the bar attacking him. That meant the barman, three people at one table, and four people at the other. With a quick strike, he could probably kill two instantly if they weren't expecting it, but those would have to be the ones most likely to run. Avoiding backup was necessary, and he didn't want notoriety. Chances were, some people here already recognised him from Dante's Abyss, so he'd instantly be branded as a prime and put high up on the local 'to kiss/banish' board. If he had to guess, it would probably be the scrawny guy on the further table, and maybe the woman on the one closest to him. If a third ran away, he could exert himself a little, but that might leave him tired for the remaining four (eight total, one killed in the first scuffle, three more killed for running). But... killing so many quickly was liable to cause even more people to flee.
In short, he had to get as many people to attack him as possible, otherwise, he'd never manage to keep an eye on both the monster and any people fleeing. He could assign Afrátos a role, but he didn't know enough about its capabilities. And, it was a coward. If he gave it the task of killing anyone trying to flee, he wasn't sure he could keep it close. A lot of this also depended on how a fight began. But, he could try to guide that first. Thinking more carefully, there were two exists (ignoring windows) and the curtains weren't fully shut. Screams would attract attention. A passerby could look it. There were a lot of variables to keep track of. Worst case outcome: he died or got sent to the Underverse - the place Tearen went. Dane was confident he could escape if that happened, he just wasn't a fan of losing.
Best case scenario: everyone in the room dies and him and Afrátos both gone before anyone outside can react, with no one seeing their faces. The real question was how to achieve that efficiently and within his constraints. It had to be quick, he could only kill people 'willing' to fight him (or those that risked giving him a bounty), no one could survive - or, at least, remember. Forcing his companion to kill someone counted as him killing them, it had to be provoked in such a way that made it seem like the beast had escaped his control - unless that person was about to strike first. Lawful neutral murder spree - or chaotic, depending on how one looked at it, although anyone who wasn't Dane would probably see it as evil still.
He closed his eyes for a second, playing it out in his mind. First: a comment referring to how everyone was stupid to be afraid of the china thing would probably piss off at least one of the drunker guys. Dane didn't exactly look strong, so if no one recognised him he could see a few threats coming his way. Naturally, daring the one or two assailants to go through with it seemed like a good idea. Second: let them back him into a corner or start roughing him up, perhaps even dishing out some empty sounding threats he planned to follow through with. That left Afrátos's actions. If he ran, Dane would abort and follow - but, he potentially had a way to avoid that happening. If he did nothing, Dane would kill anyone who acted physically aggressive. If he helped Dane, Dane would start killing as planned. He figured that two people would be dead quickly.
Next, if the barkeeper wasn't about to start fighting Dane, he'd teleport and knock him out. That man was the only one easily able to flee - the windows were closed and he was the only person with quick access to the back door. That would leave five people. In the heat of the moment, he reckoned he could push himself enough to take out two quickly and possibly a third, but that latter was unlikely. That would leave three. If Afrátos got one, that'd leave two remaining, hopefully within barely a few seconds. Assuming they'd both drawn their weapons, he could probably muster enough mana to break through their defences and deal a killing blow. Without teleportation, he could probably have managed four or five. Maybe more of them, but it would be a much more drawn out fight - if he met Tearen again, he'd definitely have to remember to thank the guy.
Leaving those ideas in the back of his mind, for now, Dane fell back into his seat, shaking the table and reading provoking a lot of disgruntled stared. He yawned, making a point of seeming uncaring. Thinking about how to kill people as almost as fun as actually doing it. He'd considered how easy it would be to backstab Clownpiece, Myst, Renko, and the china thing in the recent past - not that he'd actually do that. They were beneficial companions, for now. Flicking his growing hair out of his eyes, he firmly placing a hand on Afrátos's back. The main reason for the gesture was to easily keep track of him without looking away, but also as an assertion of control - the others at the table would be watching Clownpiece's pet warily, or perhaps waiting for an excuse to be aggressive. As fun as a fight would be, he wanted one to happen on his terms.
Experimentally, Dane reached out with his mind, probing and prodding, deftly glimpsing surface thoughts. Compared to trying to read his own mind, or Clownpiece's or Myst's, it was surprisingly simple. All three of the other humans shaving his table had had an immediate dislike towards him, as far as he could tell. As for the china thing, both of the men would smash him if they had the chance, but the woman didn't seem the care; she definitely wouldn't complain if someone else were to smash it though. The other table showcased similar opinions, except for one person just wanting to eat his food in peace. No one seemed to be drunk, perhaps a little tipsy at best, but that wasn't surprising. The barkeeper was out of sight, so he couldn't tell what that man was thinking.
The real question, though, was: should he? Should he try and execute his theoretical plan. It posed risks, but risks were fun. They were part of the thrill he achieved from making irrational choices. He could have collected 13-Jzall's bounty with a lot less self-destruction, but he wanted to see how stupidly he could fight and still win. Apparently, the answer to that was 'very'. At least against a non-melee combatant. But, he hadn't gone to The Moors just to kill people. He wanted to slay big scary monsters. So, being the dumb foreigner, he decided to try and glean some information first.
Rubbing and petting Afrátos, moving his hand up to the thing's head and shushing it, he smirked at the guy sitting next to him. "So, any fun things to do around here? Preferably of the killing variety. Y'know, like monsters and stuff." He patted his hand, causing the china to echo faintly. "This guy, but bigger."
"Keep heading further from the Nexus gate and you'll die eventually," the other bloke interjected bluntly.
"How... cryptic." Dane shrugged. "And why might that be?" Admittedly, strolling randomly into danger had its perks, but he didn't feel like dying again. He wanted to know the odds of risk before he took it. In the background, he noticed a couple of guys from the far table move to the counter and talk to the barman. In his peripheral vision, the buff man straightened his back a little before beginning to head over.
"Go an see for yourself." The man gulped down some ale. Dane was about to reply when the two flagons of ale arrived, along with and a large uncooked slab of meat on a wooden board. He guessed his food would take longer since the barkeeper was actually cooking it.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Dane paused for a moment before looking up and speaking to their host. "Hey, so, this guy won't give me a straight answer. What sort of monsters are there to slay around here? Any quests? Anything to kill?"
He received a grunt in response. "What do I look like to you?"
"A barkeeper who doesn't know how to shave." And, strangely, he seemed a bit less wary both visually and mentally. Not wanting to risk prying too deep, Dane only glimpsed the surface thoughts, but he could feel a slight nervousness further inside.
"And what does a barkeeper do?" He towered over Dane, each of them unphased by the other.
"Sell food and drinks at the tavern." It was at that point, he realised he had no money.
Whelp. Guess these people have gotta die now.
"And does that include giving people quests?"
"Well... I just figured you'd be in on all the gossip-" Dane spoke a bit sheepishly. Skimming over the barman's thoughts informed him that this was a regular occurrence.
"You figured wrong. Go to a guild, or the guard, adventurer." He let out a sigh a moment later, mumbling the word 'primes'. "Did you really think people like me sit around all day waiting for someone to throw money at for killing monsters? We have soldiers for a reason. Now, stop pestering my customers and drink your ale, or get out."
It was at that moment Afrátos had the brilliant idea to pick up the slab of meat and slurp it all down his throat in one go, making some disgusting sklurking noises and drawing the stares of everyone. "Me-me think raw food-meat not fresh. Must go eat little-people-food yes-yes." In the following silence, everyone heard his muttering.
"And keep that thing under control." The barkeeper glared, although Dane could tell it was a little bit forced. Like a show of authority.
Dane sat up a little straighter, shuddering intentionally. "Come on, are you guys really stupid enough to be scared of this thing?" he laughed, trying to add a slight guise of nervousness to his own voice. People often laugh when they're scared - he wanted them to think that was the case. Admittedly, it was all an act, but he was very good at provoking people - maybe that was his nerd heritage or something, he'd been told his face looked very punchable in the past.
Apparently, the bloke next to him got the idea, and simply reached out and grabbed him by the collar. Afrátos let out a hiss in surprise, cowering back at the show of force. Dane fell limp, grinning internally and letting it happen. "I'm warning you, if you touch me, that thing will kill you." Forcing shakiness into his voice always hurt his pride a little bit. Luckily, Afrátos also kept up the image. Dane could almost hear it shaking. He reached out with his mind, mentally trying to spur the ceramic beast to help him, trying to mask the thoughts he implanted as the things own.
Clownpiece-master would be much happy-proud of him if he helped Dane-friend. Dane-friend maybe-might give Afrátos people-food-eats.
The idea of how tasty the barman's jugular looked was very appealing to the beast. Or perhaps one of the other nearby people gathering around Dane.
"I thought you said we'd be stupid to fear it." A rough voice called out from the far table.
"Well... I didn't really mean it. I swear." It took all of Dane's will to not start giggling right then. He noticed china claws flex, it was forgotten in the background by the others and given the perfect time to strike. He kept up his mental barrage, hands straying close to his sword hilts. Everything was going to be just perfect.