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Philippe’s (Deep, Dark, Terrible) Secret


OWD

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First real crack at actually writing (and finishing) a piece of fiction, but the idea and execution between Joana and Philippe was too much to resist :P

Also, writing takes a while even when you know what you're doing. Probably why I don't do it all that much.

 

Random Event - Philippe’s (Deep, Dark, Terrible) Secret

Requirements – In Morvidus, Male

 

It’s only afternoon, and you already want the day to be over. The group of saytrs that interrupted Zoology would have been bad enough. Pamela moping in the common room between classes added to the misery. A sorting spell gone wrong in the library causing books to start flinging themselves off shelves and into passing students was icing on the cake. And now, on the way back to your dorm room after classes are over for a quick nap to shake off some of the stress before evening, you’ve run into Philippe Marchant, standing outside his room with the door slightly ajar, and he’s staring at you with a hatred that could almost be mistaken for some form of fire-eyebeam spell he’d been practicing to cut through his victims from afar. Knowing that avoiding him now would only make the inevitable beating later all the more painful, you swallow the lump in your throat take a deep breath, and approach him to get it over with.

 

“How good are you at Revision?”

 

…Huh. You had braced yourself for a good old-fashioned beating, but Philippe hasn’t budged from the doorway. Then again, he still looks ready to kill you, but that’s pretty standard, honestly.

 

“What do need?” you ask in as normal a voice you can manage. Maybe you can get out of this without a beating? A feat of wonder, that. “I want to make some alterations to my room. I need spaces for some… “essential” items I need to keep hidden.” Philippe responds, keeping his tone perfectly level. “I’m behind in class right now, so I need someone else’s help to do it.” Must need to hide whatever items he has in store to get back at people who cross him. “W-well, just let me in an-“ you start to stammer, but he cuts you off by raising his hand. “You’re not coming in. You can show me any spells out here, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Alright, simple enough then. Show him some Revision spells, hope he doesn’t mess them up to bad, and then you get to go on your way. But now you can’t help but wonder what he needs hidden so badly that he’d be willing to learn from you instead of just forcing you to do it…

 

[Exit 1 – Revision spells] “May as well get on with it then!”

 

Success – You outline some of the basics covered in class, paying special attention to spells that concern altering dimensions of objects, hollowing them out, and temporarily changing items into something else, complete with gestures, phemes, and anything you consider even remotely important to hiding stuff. He keeps staring at you the entire time you describe everything to him, occasionally nodding his head to something you say. By the time you’ve finished telling him everything you know, he finally moves away from the doorway to give you a friendly pat on the shoulder and an encouraging smile. “Good thing you paid attention in class, huh? I’ll brush up on everything you told me and get to work on it myself. You saved yourself quite a thrashing.” Nice Philippe is almost as terrifying as regular Philippe, but it seems you’re off the hook. With that, he disappears back into his room to hide his stuff, and you head on back to your room for a much-needed nap.

 

Reward: -2 Stress, +1 Composure, end event

 

Failure – You try to outline some of the basics covered in class, paying special attention to spells that concern altering dimensions of objects, hollowing them out, and temporarily changing items into something else. Of course, you’re not actually that good at Revision either, so you begin to panic and start talking faster and faster. He’s noticing this too, and his scowl is starting to become deeper and deeper. “Enough.” he finally says, cutting you off mid-ramble. “You clearly don’t know any of the stuff I need. Get going, and don’t mention this to anyone.” You nod your head, and quickly take off back to your room.

Looks like you won’t be taking that nap after all.

 

Reward(?): +3 Stress, -1 relationship with Philippe Marchant, end event

 

[Exit 2 – Observation] “What’s he so worried about hiding, anyway?”

 

Success – You try to peak around Philippe discreetly, a hard thing to do given he’s standing right in front of the door and trying to bore a hole through your skull through the power of staring alone. He is shifting a bit on his legs, however, and you manage catch a glimpse of a mirror over by a desk with a couple wands and sheets of paper on it when his shoulder drops a little. That mirror shows a small table hidden behind the door. The table has a bunch of sewing supplies on it, as well as what looks like a…

 

It’s a plush pegasus. A plush pegasus is sitting, mostly finished, on a table in Philippe’s room. You catch glimpses of yellow and pink in it, and your mind is already in full throttle super overdrive mode. You’ve heard rumors of a popular series of toys for little girls that involve ponies and other creatures, with enchanted books that display short little adventures of those creatures to people who read them coming with the larger sets. Supposedly the books really took off with a large demographic of men, much to the surprise of everyone (and to the chagrin of the men who found themselves liking stuff for little girls). He must be one of them, and he’s looking to hide away anything related to it!

 

Your minds snaps back to the reality at hand, namely that Philippe is standing in front of you and still waiting for a crash course in Revision. You must have a much better poker face than you thought, because he hasn’t noticed you looking into his room. Now that you know what he wants the information for, what will you do about it?

 

Reward: +1 Dispassion, unlock Exits 3 and 4

 

Failure - You try to peak around Philippe discreetly, a hard thing to do given he’s standing right in front of the door and trying to bore a hole through your skull through the power of staring alone. After a couple seconds, you give up, since you really don’t want to antagonize him into attacking you in the hallway with no one in sight.

 

Reward(?): Nothing

 

[Exit 3 – Persuasion] “You know, Joana would make a wonderful time of this…”

 

Success – This is too good to pass up. And what better way to exploit this information than to make sure Joana learns about it. You’ve seen drunks in a tavern with more tact than Joana, and it’d be the easiest way to spread the information without being directly responsible. Just need to get away from Philippe, tell Joana about it somehow, and let her confirm it after helping Philippe.

 

“Look, Philippe, I’ll need to get some notes from my room real quick. They’ll help me with teaching you, and I can leave them with you to look over if you need the help. Sound good?” you say, say trying to sound as convincing as possible. Not like what you’re saying is that far-fetched anyway, right? He gives you one last long stare before heaving a sigh and pointing his thumb down the hallway. “Make it quick, <player name>, and don’t skip out on me.” No need to describe what he means by that. “Wouldn’t dream of it Philippe!” you say cheerfully, as you head down the hallway in pursuit of Joana.

 

Luckily, the people in Morvidus know Joana’s schedule better than anyone, and right now she’s patrolling area around the dorm for easy marks. She notices you approaching and stands up straight, arms folded to try and scare you, but deflates a little when she notices you seem happy to see her. “What’s up with you?” she asks imperiously, trying not to be thrown off by your attitude. “Not much, just looking for you.” you chip in happily, throwing her off just a little bit more. “Got some info about Philippe you might be interested in.” With that she immediately stops slumps her shoulders and leans in to hear what you have to say. “Philippe has some stuff he’s trying to squirrel away in his room that he’s got a passionate interest in. He’s standing outside his room right now looking for help, and I’m going to help him hide it away. Now, if he knows I told anyone about this, he’d pound me into the ground, but if you just happened to drop by before I got back, you might be able to sneak a peek and give him a few surprise gifts later on…” you trail off at that point, hoping she’ll take the bait. She does, fortunately, and quickly uncrosses her arms and almost runs into the building to get to Philippe’s room before you can get back. You chuckle a little and start heading back to your room for those revision notes. Gotta make sure Philippe you fulfill your original job from him, after all.

 

By the time evening rolls around the rumor mill is already abuzz. Someone saw Joana trying to give Philippe a plush pony toy, and eventually that info reached Grainne Inneith’s ears. He’ll be busy putting down the gossipers for a couple weeks, and best of all, after all the help you gave him; he doesn’t suspect you in the least. Score one for the pranksters!

 

Reward: +1 Playfulness, +1 Practical Jokes, +1 relationship with Joana Lio y Rossollo, end event

 

Failure - This is too good to pass up. And what better way to exploit this information than to make sure Joana learns about it. You’ve seen drunks in a tavern with more tact than Joana, and it’d be the easiest way to spread the information without being directly responsible. Just need to get away from Philippe, tell Joana about it somehow, and let her confirm it after helping Philippe.

 

“Look, Philippe, I’ll need to get some notes from my room real quick. They’ll help me with teaching you, and I can leave them with you to look over if you need the help. Sound good?” you say, say trying to sound as convincing as possible. Not like what you’re saying is that far-fetched anyway, right? He gives you one last long stare before heaving a sigh and pointing his thumb down the hallway. “Make it quick, <player name>, and don’t skip out on me.” No need to describe what he means by that. “Wouldn’t dream of it Philippe!” you say cheerfully, as you head down the hallway in pursuit of Joana.

 

Luckily, the people in Morvidus know Joana’s schedule better than anyone, and right now she’s patrolling area around the dorm for easy marks. She notices you approaching and stands up straight, arms folded to try and scare you, but deflates a little when she notices you seem happy to see her. “What’s up with you?” she asks imperiously, trying not to be thrown off by your attitude. “Not much, just looking for you.” you chip in happily, throwing her off just a little bit more. “Got some info about Philippe you might be interested in.” With that she immediately stops slumps her shoulders and leans in to hear what you have to say. “Philippe has some stuff he’s trying to squirrel away in his room that he’s got a passionate interest in. He’s been collecting some items from that pony series some guys are into, and-“ you’re cut off by a ground impacting your face. Or maybe it was the other way around. Before you’ve had the chance to recover, Joana picks you up and throws you into the ground once more for good measure. “Now I know you’re messing with me. You’re going to start running, and you pray I don’t see you again for the next few days.” You quickly stumble to your feet and take off in a random direction, hoping Joana decides not to follow you. By the time you’ve stopped running, the sun is getting really low in the sky, and Philippe must think you ran away from him by now. What a wonderful way to cap off the day.

 

Reward(?): -3 Vitality, -1 relationship with Joana and Philippe, end event

 

[Exit 4 – Blackmail] “Wonder how much Philippe would pay to keep this quiet?”

 

Success – While keeping as straight a face as you can muster, you begin what is probably one of the worst ideas you’ve ever had. “You know, that’s a very nice sewing kit in the corner there. Didn’t know you had it in you.” If Philippe really had mastered fire eyebeams, you’d be keeping Pamela company right now. “Nice little project there too. I’m sure Grainne would agree with me, too.” Philippe-brand Fire Eyebeams could have taken out half the dorms by now. “Of course, I’m not really one to talk about other people’s interests, but I am short on funds, and I hear she pays a lot to hear what people are interested in.” You’re pretty sure you can smell burning in the air right now, and neither of you have moved an inch since you began talking. “What do you think about that, Philippe?” You calmly smile at his attempts to melt you by willing sheer concentrated liquid malevolence to come from his eyes for a few seconds before he finally speaks. “Head back to your room. That money issue of yours will disappear shortly.” Still smiling, you give a small nod before turning towards the direction of your room and giving him a little wave as you walk away.

 

As promised, your money issues do indeed disappear, as next morning you wake up to find a small bag of coins in your room. You’re a little freaked out by the idea that Philippe was in your room while you were asleep, but a quick check of everything reveals nothing was tampered with, and you’re just left with a sweet, sweet amount of loot no doubt stolen from other kids. And the eternal hatred of the school bully, but eh, when was that ever going to go away?

 

Reward: 400 pims, -3 relationship Philippe Marchant, end event

 

Failure - While keeping as straight a face as you can muster, you begin what is probably one of the worst ideas you’ve ever had. “You know, that’s a very nice sewing kit in the corner there. Didn’t know you had it in you.” If Philippe really had mastered fire eyebeams, you’d be keeping Pamela company right now. “Nice little project there too. I’m sure Grainne would agree with me, too.” Philippe-brand Fire Eyebeams could have taken out half the dorms by now. “Of course, I’m not really one to talk about other people’s interests, but I am short on funds, and I hear she pays a lot to hear what people are interested in.” You’re pretty sure you can smell burning in the air right now, and neither of you have moved an inch since you began talking. “What do you think about that, Philippe?” You attempt to weather the sheer concentrated liquid malevolence he’s willing from his eyes, but you must have failed, because he suddenly smiles.

 

It’s a very scary smile.

 

“Listen. I kinda like you, <player name>. Takes a lot of stones to try and blackmail me. Unfortunately, I have to stand by my principles. And those principles are to beat the shit out of anyone who tries messing with me. Understand?” You try your best to maintain eye contact with him in an attempt to will him back down, but you’ve already lost. “So don’t take this too personally.” He quickly moves away from the doorframe, and before you can turn to run, he’s hit you in the stomach and kicked the side of your right knee, dropping you to the ground immediately. You had hoped not to meet the ground like this, as it’s always a painful meeting. “Now, I’m going wait for someone else to help me. And you’re never going to speak of this again. If you do, I’ll make sure you aren’t doing anymore speaking when I finish with you.” He gives you one last kick deep into your ribcage before taking post at his door again. You manage to crawl away from him for a bit before recovering enough to walk to your dorm. By the time you get there, you decide a visit to the nurse would be a better idea. You’ll need a bit more than a nap to fix the damage you’ve done here.

Reward(?): -4 Vitality, -2 relationship with Philippe Marchant, end event

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Oh no...

 

It was just a matter of time wasn't it? Eventually they will appear. They will invade us and destroy us!

 

I'm talking about dragons.tongue.gif

 

Philippe might need to be a bit more menacing though. I would expect this bully to threaten you with pain first and force you to do something you don't like later.

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Oh no...

 

It was just a matter of time wasn't it? Eventually they will appear. They will invade us and destroy us!

 

I'm talking about dragons.tongue.gif

 

Philippe might need to be a bit more menacing though. I would expect this bully to threaten you with pain first and force you to do something you don't like later.

 

I've seen the signs around here, but I'm surprised they haven't found their way to the writer's corner yet. I'm a pioneer! :lol:

 

Probably should rework it then. Threats of physical violence shall be put into the initial description of the job. Possibly very bluntly :)

 

*Edit*

How does this seem for the job intro paragraph?

 

“What do need?” you ask in as normal a voice you can manage. He hasn’t pummeled you into the ground yet. That’s a good sign with him. Usually. “I want to make some alterations to my room. I need spaces for some… “essential” items I need to keep hidden.” Philippe responds, keeping his tone perfectly level. “I usually just kick losers like you in the ribcage a couple times to get help on my projects, but I’m feeling generous today, so I figured I’d ask nicely.”

 

Well, you weren't looking forward to heavy Revision after today's day, but this seems like a relatively pain-free job, which is a considerable plus compared to everything else you've put up with. “W-well, just let me in an-“ you start to stammer, but he cuts you off by raising his hand. “You’re not coming in. You can show me any spells out here, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

 

Alright, simple enough then. Show him some Revision spells, hope he doesn’t mess them up to bad, and then you get to go on your way. But now you can’t help but wonder what he needs hidden so badly that he’d be willing to actually learn from you instead of just forcing you to do it…

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Well first I would dock you for missing the word "What do you need" Bwahahaha!

 

Also how would you feel if Philippe shoves you back as you approach the door?

 

My ninja edits amount to nothing. So close...

Editing starts at red.

 

It’s only afternoon, and you already want the day to be over. The group of saytrs that interrupted Zoology would have been bad enough. Pamela moping in the common room between classes added to the misery. A sorting spell gone wrong in the library causing books to start flinging themselves off shelves and into passing students was icing on the cake. And now, on the way back to your dorm room after classes are over for a quick nap to shake of some of the stress before evening, you’ve run into Philippe Marchant, standing outside his room with the door slightly ajar, and he’s staring at you with a hatred that could almost be mistaken for some form of fire-eyebeam spell he’d been practicing to cut through his victims from afar. You could try and go the long way around, but now that he's noticed you, you're not getting out of this without some scrapes, one way or another. May as well suck up the first few blows and see what he wants afterward.

 

As you begin to pass by him, he suddenly moves away from the doorway, slamming you into the door of the room across from his as his arm moves to block your windpipe. Since the initial charge knocked the breath out off you, it's not long before you start to see dots float across your vision. In your heart of hearts, you somehow always Philippe would be the cause of your death. You just hoped it would happen on a better day and, y'know, later.

 

The pressure on your throat suddenly loosens a bit, saving you from passing out. As you start coughing and trying to recover your breath, Philippe finally starts talking. "Listen, <player name>, I got a job for you. And you know how my jobs work." You can't really nod since he's still pressing your neck into the door, but he continues on anyway. "I need some help with Revision. I got some items in my room that need hiding, and I usually beat up people to do stuff like that for me, so I don't have the skills." You've finally got most of your breath back, and you're wondering a bit as to why he's taking the time to explain himself. He keeps going. "So, if you you're smart, you're going to help me." You take this as your cue to start talking. "Y-yeah, sure, just let me down and I'll make the arr-" The pressure on your throat increases again, and you start struggling while Philippe keeps talking. "You ain't stepping into my room, <player name>. I'll let you down, and you teach me everything I need to know. I'll do it myself." He finally drops you and backs off, letting you catch your breath.

 

Well, you can't say this is pleasant, but given your day and the fact you're dealing with the school bully, you've practically hit the jackpot. A few simple lessons, and you get to walk off no worse for the wear. Though you wonder what sort of things he's keeping in his room that he'd rather learn the material himself than force you to do it...

 

*Using this path of dialogue would require changes to the other exits for them to make sense with Philippe no longer being so close to the door. More violence will probably be included in those path changes as well.

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*Whistle* Violent one ain't he?

 

If this would cause a big problem for you then just go with what you feel is right! smile.gif

 

Also have Joana give Philippe a big fat kiss

 

I'll work it out later. Upon re-reading Philippe's biography, I do need more violence. Little late to do now, and I got a computer project due tomorrow.

 

Not sure how I'd work that second part in given the structure, but the idea of Joana flipping out when she sees what's in his room and getting him pony gifts anyway because *true love conquers strange quirks* is hilarious to imagine. Actually, I'll probably add some lines concerning what the rumors between Joana and Philippe entail, because I'm certain Grainne would blow it up to ridiculous heights. B)

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@Pudding

 

You really think he wouldn't ask his friends rudely? Despite my complete disregard for relationships with other students (favoring skill raising or adventure), my characters of almost any college become friends with him. And yet all the events and adventures that include him make him act the same. At this point I figure, he acts the same to everyone and his friends are just those at the bottom of the beating list.

 

The event is magnificent. And shows that this forum is insanely interested in the two, poor things. They say Cyrus is the popular one, but the Phillipe events just keep on showing up. I love it.

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Always good to see a thread isn't dead yet :)

 

I'll probably take CremePudding's suggestion about relationship with PM into consideration. Philippe might not like his friends, but he probably wouldn't choke slam them. As for Pamela, I thought she was somewhat known around the school anyway as school progresses, it's just that if you select a familiar in the point screen, you don't get her as your familiar.

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Philippe might not like his friends, but he probably wouldn't choke slam them.

 

 

Ohoho! Philippe would choke slam you for thinking that.

 

Seriously, though, that kid doesn't need a hug, he needs to be adopted. From the rest of the game you can see his whole family is like that. Except his mother...she's never mentioned. Hmm...poor woman. I am now plotting to be invited over by Phillipe at his house. I wonder what level my Brute Strength will have to be to get out of there alive. Fifty-ish?

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