I’d like you guys to think about what follows, and really put yourself in the the main character’s stilettos.
You are a former courtesan. Currently, your job is that of Facilitator to a brothel, i.e. essentialy a co-madam. Sounds fun enough, with advantages aplenty—but your corner of the world is a cauldron slowly coming to a boil.
The Guild Of Courtesans—amongst whose ranks you number most prominently—is suffering a civil war of murtherous consequences. For a while you tried to avoid the mêlée, to stay neutral, yet for certain reasons out of your control your brothel has been bombed; and for too long an instant you believed one of your closest companions had been killed. While trying to ingratiate yourself to greater powers who might prove of later help to the Guild, you have directly contributed to the disappearance of a commissioner, a colonel, and a judge, in whose places were substituted trained lookalikes; this in shadowy preparation for the impending invasion of imperialistic forces. All that set against the adumbral backdrop of conspiracies formulated in hushed tones by crime syndicates.
Meanwhile, god-like figures long enthroned into legendries have returned, wielding powers arguably best left unwielded. As well, you have forgotten parts of your past; but like unintelligible murmurs carried by the wind from the depths of a chasm, whispers of said past have begun to resurface. And you have come to learn a prophecy—with you at its heart—is unfolding this very instant, ineluctably so.
Thus the whole situation is, in short, most grave and confusing.
Moreover, below the city, an alien landscape—antonymous to life as humans know it, yet curiously unharmful to you and yours—thrives with eldritch monsters and semi-crystalline flora. There, rogue psy-ops agents kidnapped you, then violated your thoughts afore you managed to escape with help from a shapeshifter.
Now, caught despite yourself in all this fracas, as a cacophony of concerns wails within your mind, you face anew a strange, playful, and amicable creature, whom you’ve first called the Guardian then the Caretaker. As its voices, its forms are myriad: known to you is that of a lion shaped by the cold and tumultous waters of a torrent; and another, a fey plant such as might sprout from the purple, ruinous soil of an altogether different space.
But at last, feeling comfortable in its own home reclaimed in part due to your own efforts, this creature garbs itself in its favorite, most comfortable shape. What will that be, for such an alien being? For all I know, it might decide to resemble a nebula infinitely collapsing on itself, whose colors are ever being enfolded by swirling clouds of plasma and cosmic dust.
Nope. Not – even – close.
Introducing: Anomalie.
And he/she/it/xev/zom changes the music to something a little less dour.
(is anyone experiencing an issue with the embedded video not starting? if so, the direct link should work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2azmjFfEB9w)
And what a great host:
But tell me more about yourself, prithee tell!
Fantastic. All of it, fantastic. I can’t properly express how much I love this. It would be easy to think of that as just comic relief, given the overall situation. But I think it’s more: it’s pure, unadulterated whimsy. Of course, a lot of people are going to say, “Uh? So what, it’s just a blob.” And yeah, you’d be right. But also very wrong. To me it’s akin to the PabPab village in BoF4, or Quina and Vivi’s marriage in FF9: cute and wholesome and adorable and faerical and delightful and heartwarming and yet all other manners of goodly things.
17/10; would become gay for the dev.
Still, the game is not nearly over yet, and much as I’d like to spend the rest of my days playing arcade games with Ano while drinking refreshing SlimeBrew™ (also available with one less ‘e’ and zero calories: SlimBrew™), there are topics and questions need be respectively raised and asked.
Of greater import are those follow:
– What is this place? “This is my home. One day I left, and the 3rd Division guys moved right in. How rude. Now I have to set everything back up again… what a pain…”
– So these are your daughters? “Uh… kinda? Those 3rd Division guys were playing around with some of my slime trails and decided to mess around with it. Just to see what’d happen. I mean… shapeshifters are pretty useful, so I don’t see why not. Anyways, that didn’t go well, so these girls came to live with me. And y’know, I’ve always wanted daughters, so I’m cool with it. If there’s love in my life, it be for them.
– You did a poor job protecting this valley. “Is that what you think? I am bound to the Deterministic Chain. The 3rd Division guys are meant to be here, and so are you.”
– What is the purpose of the Abyss? “Oh, it’s built to contain the prisoner. It’s a giant magic cage sealed with a giant magic chain.”
– Who is the prisoner? “The Dream Empress. Mother Of Abominations. Now don’t go around saying that name. Names got power, and that one sure has a lot. She Who Passes racked up a lot of names in her time. She’s an Eswail. A ghost from the Barrens. One of the primordial memories. She also ate a lot of people, so she isn’t exactly liked.”
– What does the 3rd Division want? “Mmh, if I had to guess, it’s that they’re after the Chain. But the Chain’s not going anywhere as long as it has a prisoner.”
– What is the Chain? “Oh goodie! You’re finally asking. The Deterministic Chain. The Goada Naren were crazy about that thing. It’s not supposed to exist. It gives a giant middle finger to reality. The Naren called it Ae Elswhen Ovanial. A gift from paradise. Nobody knows where it came from nor why. It’s smart too, but nobody can speak with it. Its one job is to bind the Prisoner, and that it does well-well.”
– Do you know where Isutyr’s brother is? “Oh I can tell you exactly-exact where is. The 3rd Division guys have in their large dome things in the north of the valley. He’s safe, but for now he’s too well-protected for you to reach him.”
Yes, of course, I remember the place well. So for now, some questions have been answered—whose emptied places have been promptly filled by new questions—but this lovely place is a questing cul-de-sac.
Hey… uh… Ano? I don’t fancy the notion of going back through the dungeon. Could you whisk me back outside, please?
Oh?
And with that, I land back into my body, with a very real thud makes me lose balance for an instant.
No… what have I done? The invasion will be prove the opportunity needed to break the seal? Damme but how I often err, when endeavoring for the good of this place! I should really stick to sex stuff from now on, and leave political machinations to others.
Still, Ano is cheery (and the game takes a page out of Fallout 4’s much-renowned Great Book Of Dialogue Options):
So basically, if Ano had an account here on the Codex, he’d be a troll constantly smashing the
button. 
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