Since arguing with you is like talking to a wall, I'll give a last thing for whoever is reading to think: we don't control this thing, it takes control of us if we don't feed it frequently. @Duesal, can I ask you to call me back if there's something important before the update? I don't want to come back to a fruitless discussion.
Is this a bad habit of yours? While catching up on the thread I noticed you do the same thing to other posters, if you can't disagree civilly you could just not post instead of this shallow passive aggressive "I'm too good for this" last word nonsense.
Is this a bad habit of yours? While catching up on the thread I noticed you do the same thing to other posters, if you can't disagree civilly you could just not post instead of this shallow passive aggressive "I'm too good for this" last word nonsense.
Yes, this is an habit of mine: if I notice I'm not being taken seriously, or if I see the discussion won't result in anything, I stop. Not because "I'm too good for this", but because there is no point to it. You have a world view completely diferent from mine, it's VERY easy to see, and you simply don't recognize any point I made, so, you tell me, why should I keep this up? Since there is no reason to continue, I go do something else *Shrugs*
Living requires Energy requires Food. That you kill it first is a technicality not always true even in modern humans, there's plenty of live eaten delicacies.
A safety net nobody else has is a competitive advantage and I never said to do this blindly, it should be researched and used carefully in what I believe will be good synergy with Alchemy and pushing it's limits.
If our Alchemy lab has to be half petting zoo to make use of it safely then that's what we'll have to do.
You don't Not wear a seatbelt because you might get whiplash.
You know, this reminds me of Epic Spells rules. Or things like Hellfire Warlock.
It'd be essentially like strapping a big bad "burn 10000 XP" to an epic spell to get -100 to the DC, while you have a special ability that makes it so you can't actually lose XP.
Or Hellfire Warlock, where one always picks up the ability to be effectively immune to small amounts of ability damage just as one enters a class tha sacrifices small amounts of ability points for amazing boosts.
So if we can do something like "Backlash: X points of Fade damage" to significantly reduce Magic DCs we could pull quite some shenanigans with it.
our character's overarching motivation is learning both the lost knowledge of our fallen civilisation and the details of its falling, said civilisation having specialised in Spirits and having fallen to them also.
Not seek, but having the opportunity to heal it gives us more options in the future. Now, taking Fade damage is a thing that we can heal in a reasonable timeframe. It means the threshold where we would choose to take damage to gain some other advantage is lowered a lot, which gives us more flexibility.
Imagine there is a location that is leaking Fade damage like radiation because it is infested by a multitude of microscopic spirits or you would take 1d10 sanity damage on entering because it is horrible. Now, we can stock on animals and use them like water in the desert to be there for a prolonged peroid of time. Just imagine the possible loot!
Of course, if we do not become a monster on the way.
Selling the armor on the marketplace will paint a bigger target on our back, becuase waiting for a wealthy enough buyer means people will take notice. Selling it to the Wise Men will probably not get us its full price. And if we get attacked, I would prefer to have that armor on us.
Besides, we are not exactly alone (see: Xochi) nor an outsider (see: Noche, gambler girl).
"I'm afraid I would beggar myself to give you anything for free. A dagger would be much, but a sword would take me forever to recoup. I will gladly you offer you my work at cost, but more I cannot do."
Right now it is almost unrecognisable (we almost mistook it for wood), hiding it is unnecessary until it gets reforged. And by then we can, say, join the Wise Men and GL messing with them.
Right now it is almost unrecognisable (we almost mistook it for wood), hiding it is unnecessary until it gets reforged. And by then we can, say, join the Wise Men and GL messing with them.
Uh, is there any reason we can't cover over the bronze armor with a layer of chitin, leather or cloth? It won't stand up to close observation, but a bit of padding goes a long way to make it merely exotic .
[X] Remain here until Xochi is mostly healed.
-[X] Investigate the area around the Fleshweaver's lair for any other potential threats
-[X] Continue the training that was interrupted, if it wouldn't aggravate her wounds.
-[X] If training can't be done without worsening the wounds, then do some light hunting to get skins so you can carry more Fleshweaver parts on a small litter rather than hauling it all on your back
[X] Remain here until Xochi is mostly healed.
-[X] Explore the cave
1.6.17.10.10.1 - 1st the White Storm
Your throat is still sore, yet apart from sounding a bit hoarse, you can at least talk properly again. Likewise you are still sore all over, but not enough to cause more than some mild discomfort. Xochi on the other hand is positively stir crazy today. Her wounds are unable to really keep her down despite still being rather severe. You would greatly prefer if she rested some more instead of following you. However, you are hardly one to talk right now. One last mystery of this cave is yet to be explored. "There it is." As if to throw light into the dark tunnel, you point the torch towards it.
"Would be nice if we didn't have to climb every time to get out and I'm starting to worry about staying here."
You turn back to Xochi and follow her gaze to the webbing all around you. "The smell?"
"More that this place might collapse. I think the stuff is going runny since Fleshy bit the dust."
"Fleshy? You nicknamed the thing?" Your eyebrows raise at her shrug. It's easy to forgot how short you two know each other, what with how intense the last days were, yet you are still not quite used to how irreverent the woman is to absolutely everything. No wonder she wasn't anywhere near the Wise Men. Though it would certainly be amusing to see her interact with the puffed up bastard you had talked to there.
"What else should I do all day? You probably didn't notice, what with being busy to prepare setting yourself on fire and sleeping off the results, but there isn't terribly much to do here." Once again she nods towards the web. There is nothing out of the ordinary you can see, but you where hardly thinking straight after the battle with the haze over your mind. "The things are going saggy, and from the smell they are rotting. Don't think the place will hold up without them."
You turn around again and make a few steps towards the hole in the wall. As you approach, the torchlight reveals it to be a rather long and comparatively narrow tunnel. Probably barely large enough for the dead spirit, but fitting you two comfortably. "Then let's see if there is another exit down there. The tunnel itself looks pretty stable, and we can always camp in the jungle now." Thus you set off, Xochi not far behind you.
The walk isn't that far, though you take a bit. Both of you crouched down and carefully measuring your steps, just in case something is attracted by the light. Nothing comes for you though and after a bit, the first debris appear. The tunnel is dug entirely into the earth, though a lot harder packed then what you saw in the cave. Some stones litter the place now, damaged badly, yet recognizably square. After walking around a slight bend, you see the source of them. The tunnel ends at a ragged hole inside a wall, the stones pried or pushed out of it with great force and little care. As you motion Xochi to stay back, she immediately draws her bow and nocks one of the last few metal tipped arrows that she has, while you creep closer to it, torch in hand.
When you crouch beside it, you idly run your free hand over a long scratch mark, deep as a finger digit, that was carved into the rock. The Fleshweaver did this. Beyond the hole is an empty room. A thick layer of dust has gather everywhere except for a path in the middle which is outlined by a series of deep holes in the stone. You wave once behind you and walk on, peering into every nook and cranny for an ambush that never comes. The doorway to this room is utterly shattered, likely by the spirit's bulk, and a long hallway comes beyond. A door to either side, but also damaged and both a strewn with sand and rubble, the rooms beyond probably collapsed, but on the other end of it, faint daylight shines into the old structure.
Only a few steps behind you, you hear Xochi follow as you walk towards the light and faint greenery. The mystery of how the spirit could get into and out of his layer is solved as you step to the next room. Above you, vines cover the half collapsed arches of the room and the sun faintly shines through them. Rubble is strewn all around you and a half collapsed stairway is to your right, allowing one to climb up towards the forest floor. "Guess we found our new camp." The voice beside you startles you a bit, even if it was expected. Your companion, though, pays you no more mind and walks towards a small pond of stagnant water that has build up within a depression of the floor. "We should fill up and then use the rest to get a good wash."
While she does just that, you walk beside her and peer into the clear water and your reflection. Your hair is matted with ten different kinds of bile and while you scrubbed yourself with sand, you still got flakes of unmentionable things stuck to your face. You look like a complete mess and probably would smell the part were it not for the stench of the cave covering for you. However, that is all that you see there. Just your face and a lot of grime. No glowing red eyes. No fangs or angry red flesh where brown skin should be. It is still the face you last saw before going on this cursed trip and while you stare silently at your own reflection, you feel a knot loosen in your stomach. You are still yourself, not a monster.
The ripples in the pond you might have ignored, not the small splash of cold water through. Xochi waggles her hand at you as you look to her, trying to hit you with the last few drops flying from it. "No staring around like a statue. You did plenty of that lately."
You sigh and deflate a bit. "That bad?"
"Pretty much. Thought it was your nerves at first. Seeing that thing, let alone having him trying to murder you, seemed to have taken its toll. Didn't think much more about it. It's nice to have you back to your old self, though, so do me a favor and don't go back to the quiet and listless staring. You hacked apart Fleshy's head to get at his innards, so I don't have much other company when you do that."
Despite yourself, you laugh at the mental image of Xochi talking withe the hacked off head of the spider. "I think I'm still a better conversation partner than that."
"Can't really deny it. He was much more pleasant dead than alive."
As you snicker again, ready to retort how he was better at staring, you notice something odd on the opposite wall. Quite well-hidden behind some vines is another doorway. It doesn't look like anyone has traveled it for a good long while, but you still motion Xochi to be quiet, who quickly turns into the direction you're looking and puts her hand back to her bow. Nothing comes forward, though you stay on your guard as you approach it anyway. Your companion hands you back the torch you nearly forgot and so you pull the vines way to see what is behind them. Another hallway, this one with just one door at the other end of it. Again there is light, yet this one seems far more reddish and less natural. The two of you glance at each other, yet neither of you is willing to be scared by a weird light.
The torch is placed back into a safe spot between some loose rubble and then you two sneak forwards, much more cautious than before now that you know that danger might be close. As you emerge into the next room on a raised platform, the glow is all around you and murals coat the walls. The scenes show men and woman reading codices and writing diagrams, broken up by intricate carvings of what bears a faint resemblance to alchemical circles and stellar constellations. To your left and right, stairways lead down to the lower level of the room and here you see the source of the glow.
Fire Sprites
These small spirits seem like embers dancing in an unseen breeze. They look almost playful as they twist and turn in the air, dancing around things and their compatriots, yet it is dangerous to approach them. When startled, the small ember can turn into a mighty blaze, scorching flesh from bone and blackening even stone. Where one of them might still be dodged if agitated, they tend to come in huge swarms that fill entire rooms, making it perilous to cross such locales.
However, these spirits are not malicious in nature. If left alone, they will not attack or pursue someone out of their own accord. Some daring individuals who walked inside their swarms even say that they are merely warm to the touch and that it is pleasant feeling when they brush against your skin during their movements.
Tiny specks of flame twirl through the still air, content to stay on the ground level, yet rather close to you. You creep forward to the edge of the platform and peer over the balustrade, seeing another huge circle drawn into the floor and hundreds if not thousands of the sprites floating on the lower floor. Three doorways you can spot beneath, left, right, and directly opposite to the entrance you took. Some inscriptions are written above them, but you must admit with annoyance that you can't make heads or tails of them. You look behind you and see Xochi looking uncomfortably down the stairs, her bow in hand, for all the good it would do her against a foe without a body. She spares you a quick glance, silently asking what you plan to do.
[] Go back. You've had enough of spirits for a while.
-[] Write-In what to do next.
[] Explore the ruins further (Spirit Talking to walk among the Fire Sprites unharmed)
-[] Xochi
--[] Take her along.
--[] Go alone.
-[] Direction
--[] Take the left door.
--[] Take the middle door.
--[] Take the right door.
[] Write-In
AN: Your check for Spirit Talking counts for both of you. Xochi will just follow your lead and can come along just fine if you want her to. Keep in mind that she is still badly wounded, though.
