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Chapter 10: The Influences
If you READ MULTIPLE FORKS in Chapter 9, then put a tally mark in the Sneaky Peeky box on the last page.
If, however, you MADE YOUR CHOICE AND STUCK WITH IT, then put a tally mark in the Carefully Consistent box on the last page.
The adventurers return to The Loaded Die with the afternoon Sun just half-set in the darkening sky. As they enter, they hear the sounds of boiling water and chopping on a cutting board. Alice says, “Hey, Derek! We’re back!” An orc waves through the window into the kitchen: he is of medium height with violet skin, almost as wide as he is tall, with prickly black hair and a smile that could melt butter.
“Ho, there,” Derek says. “Welcome back, boss!”
As she leads them to their table, still the only one with the chairs taken down, Alice says, “Derek was kind enough to jump ship at The Olden Targes when he heard I was back in town. Had to double his salary and front him a week’s pay, but he’s worth it - the best chef of Noob Isle!” The adventurers wave and mumble greetings. “Oh, come on! Introduce yourselves, assholes!”
Pannych musters all the enthusiasm she can to say, “I am Pannych, lesser goddess of fear and anxiety.” She gives a small curtsy, and Derek nods deferently.
“And I am Phyr,” he says morosely, “Lord of destruction an’ shit.”
“Do it right,” Alice orders.
Phyr sighs heavily, and says in somewhat less of a monotone, “I am Phyr, lord of destruction and chaos, whose wrath makes the very heavens tremble with reverence to my otherworldly might.”
She looks expectantly at Vector, who only says, “I’m Vector. Just some guy.”
They take their seats, and Alice says, “Well, that all went about as well as could be expected. But now we have to talk.”
“About what,” Pannych asks.
“About the War,” Alice says.
“You say that like it’s super-important,” Phyr says, “But Blue said the other morning that nobody really gives a shit about it.”
“Nobody here really gives a shit,” Alice says, “Because it doesn’t really affect them. Noob Isle is something of a haven from the War, because everyone wants to preserve its resources for whoever eventually takes power. There’s something of an unspoken agreement to leave it alone, because the Influences each think they have a shot - but that may drastically change, if it starts to seem like a scorched-earth policy is most strategically viable.”
“Influences,” Vector asks.
“We’re getting to that,” Alice says. “Look, Metaphorical Geography 101: this world represents Deirdre’s mind. It’s a pretty cosmopolitan and eclectic place, but also eccentric as Hell.”
“Wait,” Phyr says, “I mix up a lot of words that are kinda the same, what do those mean?”
Pannych says, “Eclectic means something has a wide-ranging background, like how I listen to basically one band from every genre. Eccentric means it’s quirky and weird, like how I put some of your stepdad’s Lords of Acid stuff on the same mixtape as They Might Be Giants.”
“Right,” Alice says. “Ninjas, knights, and laser guns all being commonplace is eclectic, while the zyxwvut is eccentric.”
“Six-a-butt,” Vector asks.
“Zix-uh-vutt,” Phyr says. “Like, the last seven letters of the alphabet. It goes backwards here?”
“Right,” Vector says, raising an eyebrow, “That is weird.”
“But Deirdre does a lot of weird things in real life, seemingly just for the sake of being different,” Alice says, “And that manifests here as little backwardnesses like the zyxwvut.”
“What seemingly,” Phyr asks. “She’s weird & difficult just for the sake of it all the time.” He looks to her and she looks away, pursing her lips. Phyr pauses for a moment and then says, “Aren’t you?”
“I mean, that’s what you’re supposed to think,” Pannych says. “But really, it’s camouflage. If I do big weird things all the time, then nobody notices when I actually slip up.”
“Slip up what,” Phyr asks.
“You know,” Pannych says. She looks at him evenly and adds, “I mean, I’m a girl here. But out there-”
“Oh, Jesus,” Phyr says. “I didn’t even think about that! Wow, you don’t even-”
Alice shouts, “Hey!” They look at her. “Focus, kiddos!” She takes a breath and says, “Actually, this brings me to the next point: just as Deirdre’s mind often goes in several directions at once, this world is a fractured and messed-up place. When she was pre-adolescent, she had really clear ideas about how the world should work, even if they were a bit naïve - that’s why Rayla was such an iron-fisted ruler. It took totalitarian tyranny to make it all work, but it worked.
“At this point in her life, though - being 17, that is - she’s starting to understand the whys and wherefores of the world’s evils and unfairness. And it grates, wearing away at her identity and reshaping it - which is where the War comes in, now that Rayla and Aqu have abdicated. Their power was sapped, and so the Influences have risen in prominence and they’re vying to fill the power vacuum.”
“Influences, huh,” Phyr says. “So is this gonna be a music thing? Like, ‘these are the artists who influenced my own music’?”
“No,” Alice says. “Maybe think of them more like drives? They’re urges, plain human universals, but they’ve been twisted and distorted by cognitive dissonance, and they’re all trying to get control. Which is why you, Pannych, have to bring them under control first.”
“But if this is my mind,” Pannych says, “Then can’t I just ‘mind over matter’ and tell ‘em all to get the fuck out?”
“You can tell them whatever you want,” Alice says. “But in your experience, does that make an unwelcome thought just go away?”
Pannych looks down at the table and mumbles, “Guess not.”
Alice says, “Illusion!” A map of the world appears on the table before them. “This is the world,” she says, and then with a wave of her hand, the physical regions are overlaid with political boundaries. “House Har’tei had nine regions under its dominion.”
Vector does some quick counting and says, “That doesn’t leave much for the other Houses.”
“There are no other Houses,” Alice says. “What part of ‘tyrannical dictatorship’ do you not understand?”
Pannych says, “I guess the part where such a big piece of me wants to be a tyrant dictator.”
“Look,” Alice says, “Rayla is basically all your ‘if I ruled the world’ and ‘if I was God’ impulses, but from when you were like nine to twelve. She wanted a fair and just world where common folk weren’t disregarded, cast aside, or crushed by impersonal institutions and the rich & powerful. That comes from how you were kind of tossed around as a kid, by a legal system you didn’t understand, and which nobody really bothered to explain to you beyond saying, ‘That’s just how it works, kid.’
“And because the rich and powerful so often want to flex on the ‘little people’ and see how much they can get away with, that meant Rayla made a lot of enemies. Being the biggest and baddest kid on the playground, her solution pretty much always came down to, ‘Fine, then die.’ Eventually, her power was stripped by a prophecy that she saw coming but couldn’t prevent, so now she’s pissed, which is why she’s trying to kill everyone who stands to take her place after her fall.”
“What’s Aqu’s part in all this,” Phyr asks. “It seems like this is all kinda The Rayla Show, and he’s just along for the ride.”
“It’s a long story,” Alice says with a sigh, “But I can see how it looks that way. Look, this has all been pretty pertinent so far, but we’re getting off-topic now. I can’t give you the whole world’s history, we need to get to the nine Influences who are tearing the world apart with this Great War of theirs.”
“Wait,” Pannych says, “You’re telling me there’s nine of these assholes to kill?”
“I mean, there’s still Rayla and Aqu,” Alice says, “But yeah, nine Influences are tearing up the world right now. And you don’t have to kill them - they’re Influences, they never ‘go away.’ But essentially, yes: learning how to manage all the different things going on is a big part of growing up. Illusion!”
The map on the table is replaced by a character sheet, and Alice continues.
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