Punching through the Masquerade (Modern Magical Cultivation Quest)

The moment your life changed began with a knock at the door not five minutes from when you had returned to your apartment after a long day working at the Allmart uptown. In the time it took for you to struggle up from your position in your comfy chair, the presumed delivery person had gotten bored of waiting and had left a package on the floor outside your apartment door. It couldn't have been your usual letter carrier, as he was kind enough to carry any packages inside for you.

Agonizing over how to bring the package inside for a moment, you eventually settled on pulling the package inside with your cane and gently shoving it back towards the chair with your foot, leaving the package within easy reach while you went to the kitchen to fetch a knife to deal with the mysterious box. It wasn't the time of the month where your father sent his usual care package of fancy breads and special jam, and while it's possible one of your old college friends might have sent you something, you haven't gotten any texts from either of them in a couple of weeks.

Settling back into the chair with a rarely used steak knife in hand. You set about setting the box in your lap and slitting it open with the knife, idly bemoaning your lack of a coffee table or end table to set the box on as you did so. Within, wrapped in bubble wrap, was a thin book. Wrapped in red leather and emblazoned with strange, sharp looking symbols. There was no title and flipping the book open to the first page showed that it was definitely not a modern book, given the lack of English or any hint of a publisher. The strangely sweet scent of old books wafted by your nose as you closed the book for a moment, looking back inside the box to see if there was any hint of who might've sent the book. The only hint of origin being a bill of sale for a figure that made you gag from a book shop you didn't recognize.

Opening the book yet again, you studied it briefly, it was written in was Latin and the content read like something out of a bad fantasy novel. Recounting the story of an Inquisitor chasing down the remnants of a demonic cult in the late sixteenth century.

While you'll fully admit to not being the biggest fan of fantasy, with your tastes leaning more towards science fiction and a few specific anime. You found the story to be an engaging read. The inquisitor wasn't exactly likeable as a person, but reading through the sneering self-aggrandizement inherent in his narrative revealed a cunning insight into the minds of other people and a fierce intellect of his own. Following several amusing misadventures alongside a Don Quixote-style knight, the Inquisitor found his quarry in a remote french town. After rallying the townsfolk against the cultists, what followed was a battle fit for Hollywood as the handful of cultists fought with conjured fire and inhuman strength and resilience against the far more numerous townsfolk armed with faith, steel and gunpowder. Curiously the Inquisitor did not recount much of his own prowess in the battle, which didn't match the ego he'd previously displayed, instead focusing on the apparently surprising lack of bound demons and alleged weakness of these cultists compared to what he'd faced previously. Remarking that these must have been bare acolytes who'd escaped the destruction of the original cult which had apparently originally been located in Constantinople. Amongst the scattered mundane belongings of the cultists was found a small brass offering bowl, inscribed with the cult's symbol which the Inquisitor had sketched in an expert hand on the next page, no doubt to show his superiors as he had the offering bowl melted down by the village blacksmith.

Now, while you had seen the seals purporting to be the means by which one summoned demons when your study group had checked out the Lesser Key of Solomen on a drunken whim from the university library. The symbols inscribed on the page had little similarity. instead more closely matching the strange, sharp sigils on the cover of the book. You marveled at the artistry for a time before moving a finger to turn the page. However, in your distraction, you managed to give yourself a papercut. Cursing aloud at the painful scratch you'd developed, you flicked your hand to shake the pain away.

The world seemed to slow for a moment as a single drop of blood slipped from the cut and fell upon the page, landing in the exact center of sigil.

Heat bloomed in your core as the sigil began to glow red with it's own heat. Fire springing into being as the page the symbol was drawn on was consumed. You might have wondered why only one page of the book was consumed by the miraculous flame if the heat boiling within you wasn't becoming painful. You doubled over in pain as the rising temperatures within you grew and grew.

"I want this heat out!" Was all you could think as fire coalesced in your very being. For a dreadful moment you thought you would perish or burst into flame, idly your panicking mind was wondering if this was how spontaneous human combustion happened as the fire within reached it's peak. Then with a short fwump of noise, the flame within became external. Rendering your spare set of work clothes into ash and scorching your comfy chair even while it left your physical body unharmed. The painful heat easing down to a single ember that had found it's way into your core, resting right behind your solar plexus. Despite sitting naked but for a coating of ash upon your body, the natural draftiness of the apartment you paid far too much money for and the iron deficiency you'd never quite gotten rid of. You were quite pleasantly warm now, like you had been sitting in a sunbeam for a long time.

Looking around in a semi-dazed way at the physical evidence of the impossible event that'd just occured. You spoke the first words you'd said since coming home today.

"I wonder if this is replicable?" You wondered aloud. It was at this moment that the ashen remains of your work shirt fell to pieces. You wince at the thought of having to buy a new workshirt and slacks.

"No wine this month." You muttered sullenly as you pulled yourself up to get the vacuum cleaner. Thankfully your cane hadn't been consumed by the flame.

(You have five actions this turn)


Work: Gotta pay the bills somehow. (You can only use one action here at present)

[ ] Work your regular shifts at Allmart: Another week in retail hell (Covers your living expenses, the paltry change left after bills are dealt with is barely enough to buy a few candy bars, or a bottle of cheap wine once a month if it's on sale and you haven't incinerated a set of work clothes)(Uses Blood and Black Bile)(May upgrade stats used by this job) (Costs one action)

Social: Talking to people isn't so bad, if they can stop staring at your cane for two minutes

[ ] Ask around for extra shifts: While the thought of spending more time behind a register then you have to is almost physically painful, you also need money. Asking your coworkers if anyone wants to give up a shift might get you a little deeper into the black or out of the red. (Opens up the possibility of working more next turn, granting some disposable income, possibly improves relationship with coworkers, locks in additional actions should you agree to take on the extra shifts) (Uses Blood)(Costs one action, possibly more next turn)

[ ] Ask to be put on the overtime desired list: While likely to cut significantly into your free time. Your manager is always looking for real go-getters willing to break their backs for a few extra hours. (Guarantees a variable number of extra shifts at Allmart for the next four turns, likely to damage health from lack of rest, improves relationship with manager, slightly improves chance of promotion) (Uses Blood) (Costs one action)

[ ] Suck up to the Manager: While he's an irritating, self-important little shitheel. Trying to get along with your manager will improve your odds of actually getting promoted at this shitty job. (improves relationship with manager, significantly improves chance of promotion, potentially damages relationship with your coworkers) (Uses Blood and Yellow Bile) (Costs one action)

Research: You exploded non-lethally by accidentally bleeding on a symbol in a book and have what feels like a perpetual ember burning in your chest, there's no way in hell you aren't investigating the possibilities.

[ ] Try to recreate the event as it happened: Replication of the results of experimentation is the foundation of science. (You attempt to draw the symbol from memory and bleed on it to see if the spontaneous self-immolation repeats) (Uses Phlegm and ????) (Costs one action due to Enhanced Acumen)

[ ] Experiment with the Ember burning in your chest: The Ember is still there, perhaps you can do something with it? (You attempt to use the Ember to do...something) (Uses ????) (Costs one action due to Enhanced Acumen)

[ ] Reread the Inquisitor's diary: The page bearing the devil cult's symbol is gone, but you may gain some inspiration from the tales contained within this ancient book's pages. (You analyze the inquisitor's diary for inspiration as to what might be possible with the Ember in your chest.) (Uses Yellow Bile and Phlegm) (Costs two actions due to Enhanced Acumen)

[ ] Write in Reading option; There are a thousand possible lines of inquiry you could pursue with the new revelations you've uncovered, it's so hard to tell which ones might be relevant. (GM's note: You currently have access to what might be found in your local library. Subjects that may require rare tomes might be incredibly limited in what you can find given your current lack of academic credentials and disposable income. Write in what subject you intend to research, what you might hope to find and how many actions you wish to commit.) (Uses Phlegm)

((One hour voting moratorium))