Nascent Goddess Quest

Winning votes:
[w] You
[w] Tobias: Bane the wolf.

---

Liam tries to stab the cinderwolf with the rusted dagger, but with a different balance from his usual longsword, along with the fact it was a fairly pathetic weapon even for someone proficient in fighting with it, meant that the wolf saw the swing coming from a mile away. Kicking out a leg, it hit Liam right into his chest and sent him flying again, only this time the landing is much rougher, you hope he's going to be okay.

With it's closest foe dealt with the cinderwolf wheeled around to face the stump the dog was hiding in. A quick yelp of fear from the dog confirmed the wolf's suspicions and it charged towards the hiding place. Thankfully you were prepared for this…

Or so you thought. In a flash the wolf was right next to you, you barely had time to register its appearance next to your side before you were suddenly sailing through the air, your side hurting as you flew. Tilting your head downwards, you saw three lacerations decorating your stomach, thankfully they weren't too deep, and if you didn't get hit too hard again, you'd be mostly fine

...oh wait. You hit a tree, hard, some blood trickles out of your wounds. Luckily you can still get up and fight, due, in no small part, to the adrenaline pumping through you.

From where you were lying down, you could still see what was happening, even if it was a little blurry. Tobias stared in shock for a second before charging straight at the wolf with a loud scream of pure fury. He stabs mercilessly at the wolf, which admittedly does its best to dodge given it's massive frame, but it isn't enough. Tobias lands strike after strike on the wolf, exacting his vengeance for what it had done to you. Then the wolf gives up on avoiding the blows and lets out another flaming roar…

Right as Mira finishes her casting and sends a wave of icicles to stab the wolf. They melt instantly while Tobias ducks under the flames again, only now the wolf is prepared for his tactics. With one massive paw it catches Tobias in his evasive roll and sends him sprawling onto the ground. The other paw comes down onto him as he lay there and rakes its claws across his chest. It pulled its paw upwards, ready to deal another blow at Tobias.

But before the paw comes down again a flash of bright light appears in front of the wolf, and then another, and another, causing the wolf to back off Tobias in fear of the flashing lights. You look at Mira and see that she is casting again. Harmless flashes of light? You guess it's quicker to cast spells that weren't quite so big and dangerous.

During the brief moment of the wolf's confusion Tobias manages to get his bearings and crawls away from the monstrous beast. You stand and walk towards him, you hadn't known Tobias long, but you would be damned if you let this beast hurt him like that without paying it back.

{Ambitious Goals: Make the wolf pay. +20 to rolls against the cinderwolf, 3 AP gained upon defeating it}

While that was happening it seems Liam managed to return, with his longsword in hand. Looks like it was knocked loose in the confusion. Excellent.

Tobias stood next to you, a hand over his wounded chest. His rapier raised in a defensive posture. Liam raised his still glowing sword high with one hand, his shield in the other, you think you see a green flask in his shield hand. Meanwhile Mira traced a circle in the air, a small bolt of magic energy following her hand.

Combat votes, +20 to rolls
Eshani
Weapon
[] Fists (-20 to rolls) You aren't trained either
[] Rapier (no bonus)

Styles
[] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[] Offence: +20 to hit, increased damage, -40 to defence roll
[] Balance: no bonus/penalty
[] Defence: +26 to defence roll, -26 to hit
[] Full Defence: +40 to defence roll, no attack

Parry?
[] Yes
[] No

Spells?
[] Write-in

Tobias
Tobias is in Full Defence Style
[w] Defend the dog

Cast a spell?
[] Write-in

Winning votes:
[w] Rapier (no bonus)
[w] Offence: +26 to hit, -26 to defence roll (I totally messed up and put the old version in the update, sorry)
[w] Yes
[w] Eshani: Mana Blast the wolf
[w] Tobias: Minor Heal Liam

---

"Get back," you say, "I'd tell you to distract it from the dog, but that won't be necessary." Tobias raises an eyebrow at the viciousness in your voice.

"I was already going to do that," he says warily before moving back a few steps. You smile a smile that promises pain as you raise your hand. The mana flows through your body into your palm, forming a glowing white sphere that flies straight into the cinderwolf. It yelps in pain and wheels around to face you as the blast hits it's shoulder. You didn't even give it the chance, as soon as the mana blast leaves your hand you charge forward, stab after stab after stab strikes the wolf before it even managed to spin.

With you acting as a distraction Liam capitalises and hefts his sword in a mighty swing. Mid-swing he glows green as some of the wounds on his body vanish. Another howl goes through the air as the wolf jumps back from the two of you. Now with both of you in front of it, the wolf lets loose another flaming roar. Both you and Liam move only just too slowly and get burned for your trouble, it's nothing that a healing spell can't fix though.

Out of the corner of your eye you see Liam roll back and hand Tobias a healing potion. Your caretaker gratefully accepts it as a flash streaks through the air. The wolf is struck yet again by a burst of shining magical energy. The impact lights up the whole forest for a second as the wolf is left reeling from all the injuries it has sustained in such a short period of time.

You rush forward again, intending to put an end to the wolf's suffering. Another three wounds appear on the wolf before it swipes at you with a paw. You shift your stance to use your rapier to both deflect the paw and slice it by having it slide across the blade's length. However you mess up your footing and lose your balance, causing you to fall to the ground. You scowl at the wolf that's about to slash at you like it did to Tobias, only it doesn't, it teeters for a few seconds before collapsing under its own legs. Looks like the injuries it sustained where too much.

{Goals met! 3 Ambition Points gained}
Oho~
"Right," Liam huffs as he helps Tobias stand, "grab the dog and let's get out of here."

You have to take a minute to reassure the scared dog that it's safe now. With Mira's help you soon have the somewhat skittish dog held between the two of you while Liam supports Tobias on the trip out of the woods. No other monsters attack you while you walk back, as Mira explains it, because you took out a cindermaw wolf, which is a major predator in these woods, you're now seen as even more dangerous to attack.

The dog's owner is a man of middle age, with glasses and a nice vest. He practically jumps in joy as you bring in Bear, he even doles out a fair amount of extra money when he notices how hurt you all are. After some hefty apologising on his part and some reassurances from you, he leaves to buy some healing items for Bear.

You spend the extra you received on repairing your armour and healing your wounds before resting in the local inn for what remains of the night.

You dream, dream of a purple realm with a roulette table in the middle, and a shadowy figure on the other end of it.

"Why hello, take a seat. I certainly didn't expect you to show up so soon." it says, "Let me answer your question to save you the breath. I'm here to help you, after all, if you die I die. Sadly you aren't strong enough to give me what I need to give you some more active help. But I'll give you some free advice for when you wake up: Be nice and he'll stick around."

You stare at the figure, confused. It sighs in response.

"Don't worry about it, you'll do fine. Say, looks like we have just enough time for a game, care to wager? Ambition Points of course. After all, risking it all for a huge score is what I call ambitious."

The figure spreads an arm to gesture to the roulette table, it has the numbers 1 to 36 on it.

Wager?
[] 3 Ambition Points
[] 2 Ambition Points
[] 1 Ambition Point
[] 0 Ambition Points (skip other vote)

What do you bet on?
[] Even (payout: double what goes in)
[] Odd (payout: double what goes in)
[] 1-12 (payout: triple what goes in)
[] 13-24 (payout: triple what goes in)
[] 25-36 (payout: triple what goes in)
[] Write-in specific number from 1-36 (payout: 35 times what goes in)

Winning votes:
[w] 0 Ambition Points (skip other vote)

---

"Well, that's boring," the figure replies disappointingly when you decline its offer to gamble. "Still, I suppose I should commend you for not taking such big risks when the payout is small in comparison." it continues as it looks at its wrist, there's no watch on it. "Looks about close enough to send you back. Come back with something bigger than another three points next time and I'll give you a reward. You're moving faster than I expected, let's see if you can keep it up!"

With a clap of its hands the figure makes everything fade to black.

oOo

You wake up from a rather strange dream on an uncomfortable and unfamiliar bed. Your head hurts a little as you realise you don't know where you are and the panic that rushes through you does nothing to help your throbbing brain. Quickly you remember that yourself, Tobias, Liam and Mira went to sleep in the town inn while you waited for the slower acting healing items you'd bought the day before to work their magic. You blush a little, it would have been really awkward if you'd freaked out in the middle on the inn. The sun is high up, so you get yourself ready for the day and head out of the room to look for food. Stopping in the doorway you give the bed one last look.

"Tobias' beds are better."

Then you bound down the stairs from the bedrooms down to the dining area. Inside, you see Liam and Mira conversing at one table, they seem to be having fun; Tobias sits at another, stormily glaring at his food, occasionally looking up to glare at your other companions, who are wilfully ignoring him. There's also a man in a dark cloak standing out like a sore thumb in the lively room. He looks kind of dangerous, but something about his presence makes it seem like he's beckoning you over.

Who do you talk to?
[] Mira and Liam
[] Tobias
[] The mysterious stra-

"Eshani!" Tobias calls as he sees you, with an insistent beckoning gesture to call you closer. Looks like that decision has been made for you. You move closer to your caretaker and decide to start off with his mood.

"What's got you so angry?" you ask.

"This whole adventuring business! We go out to save a dog and we nearly get killed for our troubles! And for what? A bag of gold?" he rants.

"Tobias," you say firmly, "We did it to help someone, not for the money. And besides, the healers said we would have lived fine even without healing our wounds."

"So just because no one actually died and the dog owner is happy it doesn't matter that I nearly got torn to shreds?!"

"Of course that matters, you matter to me. But this is what we signed up for."

"I signed up to keep you safe, not to get killed by a wolf. I'd be fine dying to keep you alive, but dying like that, without any way to make sure you're going to be okay... I can't keep doing this if this is how it is."

"Cindermaw wolves aren't even that difficult according to Mira and Liam, we probably just got unlucky in that fight. You can't say all our missions are going to be like that just because the first one was."

"I'm not sure there will be other missions. I'm considering taking you from this danger and helping you revive your powers without the chance of getting you killed."

How will you respond?
[] "No, I can make my own decisions, you can't take me away from this."
[] "But Tobias, I've grown more from this one mission than I have after a month of training, and I couldn't have done it without you."
[] "So that's it? You're giving up on your hopes to 'fix' the Adventuring Guild?"
[] "But Tobias, without your help people are going to get hurt. Can you just accept that?"
[] "Fine, let's go back."
[] Knock him out, he'll come to his senses later. If you're quick maybe you can catch the guy in the cloak. (Will require opposed roll to KO Tobias)

Spells?
[] Write-in spell
[] No