Uneven Scales - A Hellgirl Quest

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[X] ...herbalist. You always paid close attention to your mother gathering and preparing herbs. You learned from her the basics of medicine, and a wealth of knowledge about herbs, both local and exotic, medicinal and magical and what can be prepared from them. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Herbalism advanced skill.
[X] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you drop the argument. If she has no soul, she will never understand anyway.
 
[X] ...witch. Your mother was a hedge magician, practicing a form of magic that is a far cry from the powerful sorceries available to true wizards, but nonetheless very practical. She prepared love charms, helped in finding lost items and animals, and placed small blessings on homes and people. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Hedge Magic advanced skill.
[X] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[X] ...tinker.
[X] Halima
[X] ...your favourite byname.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.

Okay, a tinker so that we can make things both to sell, augment, and help with our poison magic.
Halima, is a new name to add to the pool that means patient, merciful, poisonous, gentle, and mannered. She won't be all of these things, mind you, but the dream lives.
Byname because no demon gives their true name.
And, press the argument because I don't like the idea of just... giving up on this chick. Not yet.
 
[X] ...tinker.
[X] Halima
[X] ...your favourite byname.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[X] ...tinker.
[X] Halima
[X] ...your favourite byname.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[X] ...mystic. Although she never demanded you do the same, your mother followed the high faith of emulating Heaven in deed and principle. Just by living with her, you learned much of the Ascending Philosophy, as well as picked up some practical techniques developed for the adherents to better rule their thoughts and body. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Focus advanced skill.
[X] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.

Never played a mystic character in a quest before.
 
[X] ...tinker. While your mother specialized in no particular trade, your mother knew a plethora of crafts, from metalworking to saddlery to glass-blowing. Most of them, she practiced only in her stories, but she taught you some others, giving you a fair bit of practical knowledge and an ability to come up with unorthodox solutions. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Tinkering advanced skill.
[X] Imeani
[X] ...your favourite byname.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[X] ...mystic. Although she never demanded you do the same, your mother followed the high faith of emulating Heaven in deed and principle. Just by living with her, you learned much of the Ascending Philosophy, as well as picked up some practical techniques developed for the adherents to better rule their thoughts and body. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Focus advanced skill.
[X] Imeani
[X] ...your favourite byname.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[X] ...herbalist. You always paid close attention to your mother gathering and preparing herbs. You learned from her the basics of medicine, and a wealth of knowledge about herbs, both local and exotic, medicinal and magical and what can be prepared from them. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Herbalism advanced skill.
[X] Jezebel
[X] ...something you came up on the spot.
[X] ...you drop the argument. If she has no soul, she will never understand anyway.
 
So. She was bored out of her mind for days, watching her cell companions wither away from neglect, greedily trying to catch bits and pieces of conversation between the guards, and being upset that they never notice her or try to talk to her, but it was only after a week that it occured to her to try talking herself.

Forget the guards or the gorgon, I'd be talking to the gorgon's serpents in her place, just to see if they can be tamed or something. Anything to pass the time.

It takes away from the drama and puts it straight into comedy territory. On the third day of incarceration Eagle Eye noticed that the prison lacks a wall.

[x] ...witch. Your mother was a hedge magician, practicing a form of magic that is a far cry from the powerful sorceries available to true wizards,
[x] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[x] ...the name they gave you.
[x] ...you drop the argument. If she has no soul, she will never understand anyway.
 
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[X] ...your favourite byname.
[X] ...you drop the argument. If she has no soul, she will never understand anyway.

Are votes by plan or line .-.?
 
SoaringJe said:
Are votes by plan or line .-.?
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By line.

Wind-Up Citrus said:
@Gargulec Is the "[X] ...mystic." option magic?
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Lazy Minx said:
@Gargulec More directly we're asking if Focus is our ability to 'focus' our magic through our mind and body.
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None of the options presented in the vote, Hedge Magic aside (to a degree) give you "magical abilities". However, once your own sorcerous skills will develop (as they will, lately in the prologue), they will be influenced by your choice of an Advanced Skill, to some degree. I hope this clears up the confusion.

Nevill said:
It takes away from the drama and puts it straight into comedy territory. On the third day of incarceration Eagle Eye noticed that the prison lacks a wall.
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Yeah, eventually hellgirl would have ended just talking to the gorgon to pass the time, but there are several factors at work that prevented her from doing so over the first days of the journey. Setting aside the confusion and trauma of her life making a huge tumble, two things need to stated (and I am annoyed that I have not made them clearer in the update proper):

1. Culturally speaking, chimeras are not believed to have any sort of human faculty. They are not supposed to think, talk, feel. Even though hellgirl is one of them herself, this doesn't necessarily preclude her from buying into this stereotype unthinkingly, especially since the gorgon is a different sort of creature from her. Furthermore, chimeras are also usually considered (moreso in the south than among the Aker people, but even there) to be extremely bad luck, and thus most people have the reflexive assumption that engaging with them in any particular fashion other than evading is going to bring them misfortune. Again, this is not something hellgirl would have lucidly admitted to, but superstitions get under your skin.

2. As the "resolute, but melancholic" option has won in the previous vote, I assumed two things about hellgirl: one is that she is generally loathe to initiate any sort of contact or interaction, and two that she has a very bad tendency to get lost in her own thoughts, which has thus far been kept in check by living an extremely busy life.

Those two factors combined contributes to her being very, very late with regards to initiating any sort of contact with Virss.
 
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Gargulec said:
Culturally speaking, chimeras are not believed to have any sort of human faculty. They are not supposed to think, talk, feel.
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So are pets, yet people talk to them all the time.

What broke my suspension of disbelief for that particular scene was how easily she gave up on her human behavior by playing the part of a 'wordless animal' while (mentally) complaining about how no one sees her as a person. It would be one thing if she tried to, were ignored, and eventually abandoned the idea, but she didn't even try. No asking where they are heading, no complaints about her conditions (which, I should note, do work - even if in a roundabout way; the meister cares much more about his wares than his serving staff)... nothing. A week ago she was free, now she is seemingly content to sit in a cell full of feces and navel-gaze.

The gorgon, at least, has the excuse of being numbed to this sort of degradation.
 
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[X] ...herbalist. You always paid close attention to your mother gathering and preparing herbs. You learned from her the basics of medicine, and a wealth of knowledge about herbs, both local and exotic, medicinal and magical and what can be prepared from them. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Herbalism advanced skill.
[X] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you drop the argument. If she has no soul, she will never understand anyway.

veekie said:
Um
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I didn't have to choke as much as I should have at that.
 
[X] ...witch. Your mother was a hedge magician, practicing a form of magic that is a far cry from the powerful sorceries available to true wizards, but nonetheless very practical. She prepared love charms, helped in finding lost items and animals, and placed small blessings on homes and people. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Hedge Magic advanced skill.
[X] Imeani
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you slap her. It's the simplest solution.
 
[X] ...mystic. Although she never demanded you do the same, your mother followed the high faith of emulating Heaven in deed and principle. Just by living with her, you learned much of the Ascending Philosophy, as well as picked up some practical techniques developed for the adherents to better rule their thoughts and body. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Focus advanced skill.
[X] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[X] ...something you came up on the spot.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.

So I know that it may be a little late in the voting to sway people, but I'm still going to try. I like the idea of going with "something you came up with on the spot", because it's something that shows our hellgirl is leaving behind her old life and making a clean break. She isn't going back, she won't be back, it's all going to be something new for her.

I also want to argue because I think that seems like the most compassionate option and I'm going to vote that way even when our protagonist likes hurting people. She can try to temper that.
 
[X] ...tinker. While your mother specialized in no particular trade, your mother knew a plethora of crafts, from metalworking to saddlery to glass-blowing. Most of them, she practiced only in her stories, but she taught you some others, giving you a fair bit of practical knowledge and an ability to come up with unorthodox solutions. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Tinkering advanced skill.
[X] Imeani
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[X] ...mystic. Although she never demanded you do the same, your mother followed the high faith of emulating Heaven in deed and principle. Just by living with her, you learned much of the Ascending Philosophy, as well as picked up some practical techniques developed for the adherents to better rule their thoughts and body. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Focus advanced skill.
[X] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
[x] ...witch. Your mother was a hedge magician, practicing a form of magic that is a far cry from the powerful sorceries available to true wizards,
[x] Rain-Follows-Thunder
[x] ...the name they gave you.
[x] ...you drop the argument. If she has no soul, she will never understand anyway.
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Teloch on Mar 27, 2019 at 12:09 PM, finished with 32 posts and 26 votes.
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[X] ...mystic. Although she never demanded you do the same, your mother followed the high faith of emulating Heaven in deed and principle. Just by living with her, you learned much of the Ascending Philosophy, as well as picked up some practical techniques developed for the adherents to better rule their thoughts and body. Once the prologue ends, you will unlock the Focus advanced skill.
[X] Imeani
[X] ...the name they gave you.
[X] ...you press the argument until she gives ground. You are angry at her, but maybe words will get through her thick skull.
 
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