Seeker of Thrones 9-105
Chapter: 9
“When Jayakka touched the dragon’s pearl, he saw at once it was not a great treasure at all, but a tiny world upon which lived innumerable small and peaceful beings. The merest imprint of his finger had smashed nearly ten thousand of them to death, and at this realization he recoiled in horror.”
– Saga of the Seven Pearls
Is her hair gray or just wet?
Her hair turned white when Ego-Allison took over.
Looks like the platinum went back to gold.
Who needs hair dye when you have magic?
Id say both
May Your name be blessed upon all, ABBADON.
Such a delightful sight You have bestowed upon us.
Now, where’s the Dragon?
Behind her, and somewhat to the right, as oriented by the last panel?
This river is actually his pee.
Looks like Al-YISUN is back.
Behold the horde.
..and blue eyes.
Hoard, generally.
..damn. My error.
No one knows what its like
to be the bad man
to be the sad man
behind blue eyes
No one knows what it’s like
to be hated
to be fated
to telling only lies…
Now I’m wondering, what the color of Yisun’s eyes were…
When you emerge from the forge, you are something more than you were, equal parts alloy and tempering flame.
Birth of a new King? Death of an old King? Beginnings and endings are the lies we border our self with, the violence we enact upon time to create our existence as falsehoods.
Strange is the place
Where gold is as dirt
And mad gods dwell
I am beginning to think He might be the least mad of all of them. This place seems nice, and perhaps even worth the striving that went into it. Perhaps.
This one thinks the Dragon’s sanity abandoned Him long ago. This one thinks the Vault is an asylum for one driven mad by the ages.
If there’s something strange it’s that
the gold can sit but not get fat.
The rest of us don’t work like that.
Stride forth to the dragon’s waiting maw, AL-YIS-UN. Whirl and dance across the firmament, cloaked in burning white will, each footfall a step in a dance of reckless abandon. Leave the the glowing embers of your passage in the sky of night, the only tapestry worthy to chronicle your journey.
Blue eyes, white hair.
Our Allison is whole again!
Consider: the difference between a mausoleum and a warehouse is the timeframe in which you expect the goods within to move.
Mm, but then friend Ulurhad, how long does it take for a mausoleum to become a warehouse? Or, in the event I’ve misunderstood, how long does it take for a warehouse to become a mausoleum?
I feel as though the other difference is that, when goods are moved from a mausoleum, it is oft without the owner’s permission.
So then, would we here classify Ynamon as a mausoleum?
In more than one sense.
Behold the grave of ambition.
Then pray, by your own consideration, perhaps Allison Ruth may yet turn it into a warehouse.
Sixty percent off, my lovelies, for everything must go!
I was following you up to the colon. Then I woke up on the floor.
Never follow up to another man’s colon without consent, especially when blackout drunk.
I’m too morose right now to get owned this hard…
Blue eyes, white hair.
Our Allison is whole again.
My teeth Swords, my Scales Shields, my claws Spears, my wings hurricanes, and my breath is death.
Have you ever considered visiting a good esthetician and a change in diet?
Only this time our hero does not have the benefit of invisibility…
What if all the coins are mimics?
They are something far more authentic, and thus far deadlier.
Then the hoard is also a horde.
Money has killed far more than mimics ever have, seems like a strict downgrade.
…is it inside a pink lion’s mane?
LOL! Or a pink guy’s hair?
Quick, look for bubbled gems!
So, she arrived there. Alone. Now to find her beau, and make her getaway, without needing to use any other of the devils who are now dead and/or lost in the maze and/or potentially looking to kill her.
no wonder he needed an infinite vault
he’s got infinite gold that needs to be stored in it
I saw the “YNAMON” and all I can think is that this is Thronese for “Your name here”, like Mammon never got around to changing the default settings on his death-maze/treasure-vault.
Hmm… an entire gold-based ecosystem? Flora rooted in gold. Where there is water, there is life. Can’t wait to see the fauna.
Nice statuary. Tributes to former Priests of the Count, I would presume. Path on the left probably leads down the village. Also, never split the party.
Tributes? Not exactly. Death does not release you from a god’s service….
… When your treasure hoard has developed an ecology of its own, with flora adapted to subsist on a substrate of wealth, you may be approaching the concept of “enough”
Also, is that a fricken’ TOWN I see in the distance? Mammon either bought/stole a whole town for his vault, or there’s enough of an ecology here to support a FUNCTIONING SOCIETY admidst the glittering steppes!
What kind of economy would they have? Here, money is so common as to be worthless. Do they barter the necessities of life amongst each other, the simplest of commodities having become paradoxically priceless, or is there something stranger going on?
Heh, great minds think alike 😉
I, too, was wondering what they would use as “coin of the realm”, when all around them is gold.
Those coins are legal tender by decree of the Grand Dragon, and it would be quite foolish to disregard his wishes. As such, anything that’s for sale can be bought by anyone with the time to gather enough dirt. It is a strange utopia, to be sure, but what utopia isn’t?
(The Grand Dragon also decrees that all things are for sale for some price or another, but lays no guidelines for what that price should be. As such, anything that you own and would like to keep hold of must have a price tag attached with a very high, yet finite number on it.)
A robber baron of the gilded age was once asked, “How much would be enough?”
His reply was concise: “More.”
Blood, sweat, and tears are ancient coin. Finite and precious. Struggle is a worth of it’s own, but what remains to be seen is if the Dragon values any struggle other than his own.
Personally, I find it unlikely.
A band of thieves entered, one thief left.
I like the Grand Dragon’s taste in Decor…
There is a strange beauty to this place.
More than a mere vault for wealth, but culture, history…
…And perhaps more than a few people live here as well.
Alison, turn back.
Yre making a mistake.
Allison, now is your chance. Make yourself like unto Uncle Scrooge, and swim through the money.
Also, now that you’ve achieved oneness with your inner psycho, maybe go back for Cio, the cat, and the cat’s master?
Fury transforms demons from within; humans from without. Thus in baptisms of fire, and of blood, and of hallowed waters was she reforged and born anew.
Have we come, at last, to a place as of yet untouched by violence?
Yep. But not for long.
Naturally.
Depends. There has been a minimum amount of violence enacted IN this room…however, were you to observe a random sampling of this wealth, I am certain that you would find no few coins with a significant amount of blood on them, spiritual or real. It might be argued that violence is then, if not done in the room, none the less inhabiting it, perhaps even to have truly built it in its entirely. A room of quiet battle, echoing hollowly with the misery of the beaten, and the lusty shouts of the cruelest beings claiming their greed’s demand.
I would agree with you, normally. Money, nay, the very concept of ownership, is saturated with violence!
But these coins are not money. So plentiful are they that no sane person born in this pocket dimension would ascribe them any individual value. And, de-moneyed, the gold has been washed clean of its sins and returned to its origins, becoming again the earth.
Haha, you think this place has seen no violence? Well firstly you should know by now that violence is inescapable, but more importantly YABALCHOATH was here. No place that an Ebon treads is free from bloodshed.
I see that Mammon keeps a small village close to him, in case he feels the need to live up to his moniker more than he already does.
This scene, though beautiful, is lacking in a certain demon with a penchant for fanfiction and a slight kleptomaniacal itch.
Behold, the infinite fractal vault of the One who Owns Infinity! Praise Mammon, for His wealth is as boundless as His wrath! By the molten gold in my veins, those who seek to gain at the Dragon’s expense, will lose all instead.
In other news, its so neat getting to see the Mighty Dragon’s inner sanctum outside of an involuntary meditative hallucination! Truly a wonder the Glyphosphere is. I wonder if I’ll get my pay docked for seeing this… I’ll need to bust out the ol’ icepick, because I’ve got a memory or two to erase.
That spotlight is making me nervous. Trained on the point of entry to the great vault, is it the glow of a sleepless, jealous eye?
I do hope she realizes that Cio is better worth saving than Zaid. When she is The King she can have him released.
And the cat. Make sure the cat is safe.
She’s collected herself, but now she’s all alone again.
Just askin: Shouldn’t a vault have a vaulted ceiling? It’s middlin’ English is all…
Danger lurks.
This is axiomatic.
Will those blue eyes be weeping for a blue demon lost?
It took me a bit to realize that she is standing on the edge of a great precipice.
You know, figuratively as well, but also literally.
And yes, that is a town.
Oh noes, where is poor Cio!
And, incidentally, private property.
(Mammon engages Allison in a extended discussion of the nature of property, natural rights and the works of Lysander Spooner. Initially, Mammon concedes that knocking off his entire family constitutes a violation of the Non-Aggression principle, but observes that as far as murder goes, Allison’s hands are not exactly clean. Allison counters that even flawed individuals are still obliged to uphold justice. Mammon agrees, but then observes that even from a Marxist point of view his market anarchy is a necessary step towards socialism, certainly an advance as opposed to the primitive feudalism of King Zoss, the outright fascist imperialism of Queen Mottom or the obscurantist authoritarianism of the angels. “In other words, since I am a necessary world-historical phase in the march of progress, I should be allowed supremacy over all the other gods – and progressive elements such as yourself should rally to my side, not attempt to thwart or loot me.”
This debate, although productive, is cut short by the arrival of the surviving demons, leds by a more than slightly annoyed Cio.
(“Obscurantist” is a word often used by Mammon, along with “world-historical crisis” and “deformed worker’s states”. At heart, Mammon is something of a Trotskyite. Well, you know – entryism)
(Muted applause)
Thank you, that was beautiful.
I think she’s going to hit someone, and they’re going to learn an important lesson. Or Cio’s going to hit HER, and then she learns the lesson.
Might be a while. Cio has been trying to hit that for a couple books now
Finally, she’s lost that ghastly lipstick
Win: Regained self.
Win: Got to the vault.
Loss: No backup and/or cannon fodder, not even the backstabby kind.
Two out of three is not a survivable grade in this case.
Guess: boyfriend is in the village, but is lilliputian.
“O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.”
– Hamlet: Act 2, Scene 2, page 11
“What shall we say of a Dragon who funds the building of an nigh infinite Maze Fortress ? Are the armies, walls, traps, monsters, mazes, and the Tesseract Fortress of Yre enough to give you peace and solace ? O’ Dragon, what good is your incalculable wealth ?”
Tradition. Forget not the words of the Bard: gilded tombs do wyrms enfold.
I think the best case scenario here is that Allison slays Mammon on her own, takes his key, and goes back and gives it to Cio instead of keeping it for herself.
Wow. Could you be any more…METAL?
Eh? Eeeeeh? Geddit?
😀
… strictly speaking, you are right.
That gets you a three minutes head start. Run. Or don’t. The Liquid Concordant Angels that have been dispatched to deal with you don’t mind a challenge, if you can provide it.
Reach Heaven through Violence. Reach heavenly wrath through violently cruel puns.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
I notice that over to the left there is a large tree bearing fruit. The previous times such entered the story line were associated with unpleasantness.
Gray/white hair and blue eyes… I guess Normal Allison and Queen Bitch Allison learned to share.
Can you REALLY call yourself wealthy if your money hasn’t started its own ecosystem?
Scrooge McDuck would be very at home in this place.
Ah! A fresh scene! Umm…oh, dear — ANOTHER infinite vista. My Lord Mammon appears to have a limited notion of “impressive.” Ah, well. Forward we go….
O YEAH, Finally caught up o boi
Hold your breath
Make a wish
Count to three
Come with me
And you’ll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you’ll see
Into your imagination
and yet this is the deadliest room of all. full of glittering traps
Does dead capital even have worth?
Collect Green: A Dragon’s Guide to Gardening in Gold and Silver
Consider this;
What better way to hold anything in a vault, than forever keeping it from wanting to leave?
Is Mammom Banker-King? Or is he consumed by his own hoard?
In places where everything is valuable beyond measure, imagine the value of a worthless thing.
Self-Created, Self-Destroyed, The Birth of Creation, and The Final Void
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