[X] "Forever and ever" (You will gain the Esoteric Trait Exuberant Soul as well as two scraps of Heart lore)
[X] You will not answer, not now at least (You will turn back, you can return here at any point without needing to make a check)
I can see waiting to see if we get a special answer should we get all 3, but I'm impatient.
Looks like the next area will be Knock, if the pattern holds. We don't have anything that can boost a Knock CoI unfortunately, but btwn our base +46 (Piety, Intuitive, Knock 3) and the Cadre's soon-to-be +35 we can hit at least +30 with a 72% chance, and tbh even if we fizzle out and land at +20 instead it's not like it won't still be helpful with exploring the next area.
We could also still go the Teresa-SH Influence route and focus only on spirits at first, of course. Gets us to SH3 without an additional lesson, too.
I'd go this route. Now that we have 2/3 I will be inclined to go for CoI too, instead of just asking her for the Influence.
With 2 actions invested (which would be 4 Mansus actions) we can find all the spirits in both areas we didn't exhaust yet.
[x] "A wound" (You will gain the Esoteric Trait Open Soul as well as two scraps of Knock lore)
[X] "Forever and ever" (You will gain the Esoteric Trait Exuberant Soul as well as two scraps of Heart lore)
[X] You will not answer, not now at least (You will turn back, you can return here at any point without needing to make a check)
I just hope that this bonus "hearts" will be something interesting. Maybe this will make it possible to use it more often in diplomacy? We still haven't seen the social aspect of this principle.
[X] "Forever and ever" (You will gain the Esoteric Trait Exuberant Soul as well as two scraps of Heart lore)
[X] You will not answer, not now at least (You will turn back, you can return here at any point without needing to make a check)
[X] "Forever and ever" (You will gain the Esoteric Trait Exuberant Soul as well as two scraps of Heart lore)
I think I see the shape of our master's plan. At least one piece of it.
Our goal is to get as much surviving to the other side of The Apocalypse as possible. Our Master is drenched deep in Heart, Moth and Grail. Our Master's first order now that we have the basics of power is to explore the Haustorium and that's kinda crazy. We have heard of a potential something that was used to "repopulate" a city with disturbing things. Our dear departed friend seems to have been infested prior to their death.
The Haustorium trip is probably to gather information towards the construction of a bioweapon. Specifically finding the path by which the plague will infect others. Not the codes for what it'll do or the delivery mechanisms by which we'll spread it. The chassis for it, so to speak.
By the by, did you know that there are a lot of species of parasitic bees that infest functioning hives without working with the species which does the work?
And the word Haustorium refers to a specific part of parasitic plants or fungi?
What I'm trying to say is that this might be a Plague Inc. crossover eventually too
A collection of Rituals to set up some Cross Dimensional Travel between Earths and/or fast travel from one place to another on the same Earth through The Woods. Some basic ideas for @Witherbrine26 to kick around if they're interested
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3 Circle Ritual: A Hike Through the Woods. Secret Histories, Knock, Moth.
Goal- a Ritual to enable the Ritualist to travel to one of the other Earths or a location on this Earth through the connections shared through The Woods.
Flavor Text- The Woods once abutted The Wake in the deep forests and mysteries of the world. The Ritualist seeks to use the connections between The Wake and The Woods and The Woods to All Histories to travel from the History they're living in to some other History. The Ritualist performs the ritual in the center of the Third circle with a pack (packed by The Cadre so they know not what's in it), a walking stick (the kind all humans feel a desire to collect from the woods or Woods they roam), and a folded up map of the woods or forests they'll be using for the return portion of the ritual.
The map is empowered by the Secret Histories. The ritualist will use this in a ritual to return.
The stick is empowered by Knock. It will, through the Hike, open the path from this Earth to another.
The pack is empowered by Moth. It will become the supplies that may be needed, transforming what was placed within by The Cadre into what is needed by the Ritualist to help them while they are Lost. Or perhaps The Cadre was guided to pack the supplies that will be needed and no transformation was actually required. Uncertainty is the domain of Moth, after all.
The Ritualist will leave the circle and travel to the forest or woods which the map they have are of. Then, they will Hike. At some point they will come to understand that they have crossed into another woods of another place. They will be Lost to the woods they came from.
A ritual to return to the woods that you left by will be required. Whether that needs to be its' own ritual or can be folded into this one is up to the author. That ritual will require the map, the stick, and the supplies from the pack to accomplish.
All rituals are dangerous. This ritual is dangerous even when performed correctly. Pray the Moth will see you Lost and Found again.
3 Circle Ritual: Lights Lost. Lantern, Forge, Moth.
Goal- A Forge Ritual of creation for the making of a specific sort of connected navigation Relics used for A Hike Through The Woods. Works on the principles of Yearning, Unknowing, Being Lost, and Finding. Creates n-1 number of Lost Candles where n is the number of candles the candelabra has holders for.
Flavor Text- A candelabra or other kind of candle holder designed to hold multiple candles is the focus of this ritual (minimum 2 candles). It should be filled fully with candles. In the first step and circle, all but one of the candles at this step shall be lit by Lantern. They will do their purpose of Revelation and melt parts of themselves unto the candelabra. They shall journey together into the second circle. In the second step the lit candles shall be knocked from their holdings by use of a hammer. All but the one candle shall then be smashed and destroyed until the wicks are able to be pulled free from the wax. The wick and wax shall then be taken into the third circle and placed within a box of moths. The moths shall be induced by the ritual to devour the wax and wicks.
But have they been eaten? Or have they merely been Lost? If they are Lost, shall they be Found again?
The box shall be opened to let the moths escape and then closed afterwards. Perhaps they shall carry Lost Candles to where they need to go.
2 (3) Circle Ritual: A Candelabra Incomplete. Lantern, Moth (Secret Histories).
Goal- Empower a candelabra (which was used in at least one Lights Lost ritual) for use as an anchor in the Histories for those possessing Lost Candles to guide themselves by. Creates 1 Incomplete Candelabra.
Flavor Text- In the first circle the lone candle shall be lit using light concentrated by lenses. It calls to the Lost. All other lights shall be doused or covered within the ritual space. In the second circle the candle shall be covered by a moth-silk shade. Moths shall then be released by The Cadre to flock and flutter to the one lit candle. What is Lost will Cover and make Mysterious of the light, to deflect the attentions of those that don't Yearn for the Candelabra. In the third circle the shade is dyed with powdered cochineal the color of paradox. The light, now shrouded from those not specifically seeking/yearning for it, is sent across the Histories.
The 3 Circle version is for the one that works between Earths. In theory. May require the Secret Histories to work for the version that stays on one Earth too.
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The initial Hike ritual is one that sends (probably Emir) in a Moth-guided direction. Maybe it'll stay on this Earth and only use the Knock to slip in and out of The Woods to reduce travel time. Maybe it'll go to another Earth. Because it's Moth it's in the hands of the author(Moth) on where he ends up. Seems like a good way to get to another Earth though, without being loud about it. You can also maybe get 3 total travelers, one holding the pack, the ritualist holding the stick, one holding the map. The intent with the pack is that it'll hopefully have some amount of supplies that just so happen to be useful. I don't know if you've read anything about GM's allowing players to pack "assorted gear" and retroactively decide it was ____ based on what they need, but that's the intent. A sort of Quantum Hiking Supplies. It could be anything until it's pulled out and used.
Whatever the return ritual is for the 3 Circle Hike has the pack, the stick and the map to use for it. So even if there's no Incomplete Candelabra to navigate towards it'll at least hopefully get the ritualist (us) back to the woods we initially got Lost in. Hopefully. Moth deals in uncertainties, so I don't want to make it too precise.
Of course I don't think the method is usable or even all that safe for anyone but Emir to try, and even him it might be dangerous for. So a different method needs to be done for a more consistent sort of traveling.
The basic set up is to make Lost Candles and Incomplete Candelabra as navigational tools for fast travel to and from the wooded areas of the Earths. Lights Lost creates more Lost Candles, and candelabra used in that ritual are prepared for the secondary ritual to activate them as Incomplete Candelabras. Up to author if Incomplete Candelabras can be used for Lights Lost rituals or not. The intent is that Moth Shenanigans will make it so that the Lost Candle used to navigate just so happens to be paired to the Candelabra the ritualist intends to arrive at. The yearning to return to the light and the Lantern helping those Lost to become Found.
Of course, to be able to use Lost Candles . . . you have to find them in the first place. Up to author how they want to distribute them. A solid Moth relic, reagent or artifact of some description. Maybe some are reusable and some are consumable. Up to the author what exactly they are.
There's an intent though to trade the randomness of the Hike for a more sure navigation from where you are to one of the Incomplete Candelabra. Sliding scale from most expensive (3 Circle Hike-alike with the Moth portion altered to hone in on the Incomplete Candelabra being targeted, complete with map of target destination to really seal the targeting) down to 1 Circle (Knock opens the door from here to there) all the way down to "we can make artifacts that accomplish this" (create a Knock lighter that lets you melt a Lost Candle into a wax key that will open a door to target Incomplete Candelabra. Door stays open unless you intentionally close it.) Up to the author how they want to calibrate difficulties in doing this.
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Now as for why a set of travel rituals, well it's cool. Obviously I also like leaving so much of it up to Moth (i.e. the author) because it opens the way for the author to write what they want to write in terms of encounters. It can also eventually develop as a way to expand non-contiguously while our leader is stuck in one place (presumably). Our very own Doormaker! Well okay not as good as Doormaker but uh. Still! Something that approaches the utility of our very own Doormaker!
Strategically I was thinking about the Plague Inc analogy and the fungal playstyle. There are a lot of Quarantine Zones set up by the PRT and if we ever get Quarantine Zoned what'll we do? This is the bones of an answer. It's a way to spread far afield in ways that don't have anything to do with normal infection vectors. Iceland, New Zealand, Madagascar? Closed Borders? Too bad! If you have a dense enough copse of trees anywhere near your populations we'll be able to get there (so long as we can reach a copse of trees)
So it has a lot of expenses going on with it, but it's a viable infection vector to spread our bioplague around in areas that aren't our direct backyard and aren't going to be mundanely traceable back to us. It's cool!
And hopefully we won't even have to use it for a bioplague, haha. Isn't that right guys? We just want to explore and connect and enjoy magic. Bioplague? Pfft. Couldn't be me
