A Villain In A World Of Heroes

[Dark Ness]

You wake up this morning tired, so you sleep in a bit. Luckily, you still make in time for breakfest, which is stew, again. Honestly, if you had missed breakfest and eaten lunch, it would have been exactly the same. You are actually starting to miss the meat you ate in forest, at least it was varied and tasted delicious. After eating, you head to the bookstore again to get some books on history and a dictionary. Unfortunately, theu were lacking in history books, it seems that there isn't enough demand for them to order them ahead of time, which takes weeks, and no traders have been by recently offering them. They do have a dictionary, so you get that at least. Bonus to reading Anatomy books

You put the dictionary in your pack and head back to the hotel. The pack also helps show you how much strength you gained, before your trip through the forest you wouldn't have been able to lift it, let alone carry it without strain like you do now. After looking through the dictionary for a while, you then look for somewhere private for you to practice magic in and other things. After searching for a while, you find a good place. A stone, squat, single floor, abandoned home, in the less prosperous part of the city, among the confusing and cramped streets, the only entrance is in a small alley with only a few other entrances nearby. The lock on the door is broken, and you enter the building. It seems to be a single room home and is sparcely furnished, with only a cheep table, a few crude chairs, a bed roll, and a ratty blue rug on the floor. Judging by the level of dust, no one has been here in years.

You start to walk across the room, over the rug, but you stop midway. Something feels off, so you stomp your foot down. It doesn't feel like the rest of the floor, so you peel back the carpet to reveal a wooden trap door. You open it up, and find a lador which you go down. There is no light down there, so you cast a fireball to help you see. It is a small room, also filled with dust, with a rich bed and a beautiful handcarved desk. There is a crumbling wall on the right, with chunks of stone lying around it, some had even fallen on the bed. Lying on the desk are two sheets of paper and a bag. You look at the paper, and realize that they are spells! The first one is a simple spell called
sectione ventus, and makes a short to medium range slash of cutting wind. The second spell, well, that one is surprising. Vocatus germinet terra oriuntur, atque voluntatem in potestate habeam, luto cum sit virtus lapidem, id quod volo facere. Terra ligare spiritum fragmentum huic plano mana alat terram dicimus enim et risus.

It is a spell to summon an earth elemental. Elemental summoning spells are rare, and tend to be very valuable. Unlike some other summoned beings, elemental almost never disobey their summoner and tend to be immune to most conventual weapons, after all, how do you kill the wind with an ordinary sword? While it won't be enough to kill the hero, an elemental can defeat most ordinary opponents that don't use magic or have enchanted gear. The only downside to elementals are the prohibitively large energy cost. In fact, you may not have enough mana to even summon it in the first place. It takes quite a bit to even summon them in the first place, and then you need to continue to provide it so they can maintain their form. If they are in battle, and need to be to be reformed, it costs even more. This is the main way that elementals are defeated by conventual weapons, not by destroying the elemental itself, but by making the magic user unable or unwilling to continue to maintain the elemental any longer. Earth elementals are one of the most common types of elementals, but they are still worth quite a bit.

The only way to get out of the large mana cost is to use some sort of catalyst to provide the mana for you. This can drain whatever you are using if it can't "recharge" itself, however. After looking at the spells, you check out the bag. It has a whole 7 gold in it, along with one sliver. You can't believe your good luck. Although, where is the previous owner of this place? You can't imagine leaving this much money and valuable spells behind, so who ever used to live here likely left unexpectedly. Regardless, you did want to train your magic, and you can do that by cleaning this place up a bit.

You start picking up the chunks of rock, which is very exhausting. They are a lot heavier then pebbles after all, and more difficult to control as well. You start to fit one of the chunks back into the wall, however, your control slipped because instead of fitting the chunk into the wall, you accidentally swung it into the wall. The rift section of the wall breaks off and makes a loud crash. This reveals a passageway behind the wall, but you aren't really concerned with that. This is because you heard someone running away after the crash.

You scurry up the lader and run out the door, but whoever it was is are already gone by the time you get there. Uneasy, you head back down nonetheless. You gather up the money and spells, and head down the passageway, but you reach a fork after a while, and then come back. It is getting late and you are hungry, so you go back to the inn. You grab some stew, fill your belly, and go to your room to read the dictionary for a little bit. You then go to sleep, still a bit worried about the place you found.

Major Actions: Choose One

[] Buy some books and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick as many as you want, but if you choose too many, you will get less of a benefit. It will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Buy some magic books and learn more spells, or maybe even something else. Then, take some time to practice what you learned.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick up to two, which will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Take the time to make the fenric wolf pelt into leather armour. This will require you obtaining tools and a place to do so, so there may be a cost. (Can not be take if you choose to sell the pelt as is)

[] Take some more sword lessons, and improve your melee abilities. You aren't exactly a master, after all.

[] Head into the forest. (ONLY one encounter).

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there. (Explore more with the Major action)
-[] Go left
-[] Go right

[] Write In

Minor Actions: Choose Two

[] Buy a book and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topic. You can pick only one.

[] Examine the book you got in the temple, hopefully you will learn something from it.

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there.
-[] Go left
-[] Go right

[] Sell Items (Can choose as many as you want)
-[] Sell the Wolf Pelt as is
-[] Sell the Unicorn Horn
-[] Sell the Shoddy Chainmail
-[] Sell the Leather Vest
-[] Imp summoning spell instructions.
--[] How do you explain how you got it?
--[] Or, maybe you would rather sell to a unscrupulous merchant?

[] Train your base magical ability, which mainly involves lifting pebbles. But, you can lift more then one now, isn't that great?

[] Clean up the hideout, hopefully you won't knock anything over this time.
-[] The mundane way
-[] The magical way

[] Maybe you could ask around the less prosperous part of the city about whoever ran away. Of course, you might also tip them of or draw suspicion on to yourself.

[] Practice your aim. When you were fighting, you would often miss what you were aiming at, maybe you should work to fix that?

[] Practice your speed. Yes, it reduces your accuracy, but the faster you fire your spells, the more you can cast. Since you can cast only the ice bolt and fireball spell, you will be practicing with both of them.

[] Practice the summoning spell in your room. Comes with the risk of discovery and/or getting kicked out.

[] Buy something. It might use up part of your finances, but sometimes you need a something.
-[] Supplies
-[] Write in

[] Write in

 

[Dark Ness]

You get up, have breakfast, and go back to your new hideout. You are going to explore the tunnel system you found, and then magically clean up the hidden room. You open up the trapdoor, climb down into the room, create a fireball to light your way, and carefully step over the broken pieces of wall in the way as you enter the passageway. You walk down the rough stonetunnel until you reach the fork, which spilts off into two identical passages. You, on a whim, choose the left one.

This turns out to be the wrong choice, because, after walking for about a minute, you here a click. You stepped on some kind of pressure plate. You immediately jump out of the way, and the tunnel starts to collapse, chunks of rocks falling from the ceiling. Unfortunately, you didn't get clear, and a rock falls on top of your head. Your vision starts to turn black...

When you wake up, most of your body is buried under a pile of rubble. Luckily, your head is free, and you mange to wiggle out. Your dress is torn, and you are covered in rock dust. You attempt to brush some of the dust off, but there is way too much, so you only partially succeed. You feel the back of your head, and find that there is blood there, but no wound. Your regeneration must have taken care of it.

You head out the passageway and leave the house to take a quick peek outside. It is early morning, you have been unconscious all through the day and night. This isn't very good, but you need to continue regardless.

Major Actions: Choose One

[] Buy some books andeducate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick as many as you want, but if you choose too many, you will get less of a benefit. It will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Buy some magic books and learn more spells, or maybe even something else. Then, take some time to practice what you learned.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick up to two, which will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Take the time to make the fenric wolf pelt into leather armour. This will require you obtaining tools and a place to do so, so there may be a cost. (Can not be take if you choose to sell the pelt as is)

[] Take some more sword lessons, and improve your melee abilities. You aren't exactly a master, after all.

[] Head into the forest. (ONLY one encounter).

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there. (Explore more with the Major action)

[] Write In

Minor Actions: Choose Two

[] Go to the inn and clean yourself off before doing anything. If you are lucky, you might be able to sneak up to your room before anyone notices you.

[] Buy a book and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topic. You can pick only one.

[] Examine the book you got in the temple, hopefully you will learn something more from it.

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there.

[] Sell Items (Can choose as many as you want)
-[] Sell the Wolf Pelt as is
-[] Sell the Unicorn Horn
-[] Sell the Shoddy Chainmail
-[] Sell the Leather Vest
-[] Imp summoning spell instructions.
--[] How do you explain how you got it?
--[] Or, maybe you would rather sell to a unscrupulous merchant?

[] Train your base magical ability, which mainlyinvolves lifting pebbles. But, you can lift more then one now, isn't that great?

[] Clean up the hideout, hopefully you won't knock anything over this time.
-[] The mundane way
-[] The magical way

[] Maybe you could ask around the less prosperous part of the city about whoever ran away. Of course, you might also tip them of or draw suspicion on to yourself.

[] Practice your aim. When you were fighting, you would often miss what you were aiming at, maybe you should work to fix that?

[] Practice your speed. Yes, it reduces your accuracy, but the faster you fire your spells, the more you can cast. Since you can cast only the ice bolt and fireball spell, you will be practicing with both of them.

[] Practice the summoning spell in your hideout. Comes with a lessened risk of discovery.
-[] Angelic form
-[] Regular form
-[] Both?

[] Buy something. It might use up part of your finances, but sometimes you need a something.
-[] Supplies
-[] Write in

[] Write in

 

[Dark Ness]

You go into the tunnels to explore some more. You decide that there is no point in cleaning up at the inn right away, when you will only get dirty again. You will clean up later. As you walk through the tunnels, there are several forks, side passages, and small empty clearings. It is going to take a long time to explore this tunnel system, if you can even finish at all.

Eventually, you find something. In a clearing, connecting several passageways, you find six gold coins and a spell on the ground. The spell is
levoterra and it is a spell to move a chunk of earth. It doesn't specify beyond that. You do wonder, who left this stuff here and why?

After that, you backtrack and leave the tunnels. You decide to magically clean up the mess in the underground room, maybe it will improve your magic skill to do it this way? You couldn't mess up twice, right? Wrong. You accidently pull the broken wall on top of you. It crushes your legs, and scream out in pain, before gritting your teeth. Someone probably heard the crash and the scream, but you can't do anything about that. You drag your body out from underneath the wall, and wait for your mangled legs to heal, lying down and remaining silent throughout the painful process.

When they are done, they are pink and they sting, but at least it isn't as bad as before. You get up, taking a few unsteady steps before regaining your balance and managing to walk normally. You then head to the inn. Luckily, there is a rowdy drunk there singing horrible songs and you slip into your room without anyone noticing. You fall into bed, but you know that the innkeeper is going to question you about where you went.

[] What do you tell the innkeeper?

Major Actions: Choose One

[] Buy some books andeducate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick as many as you want, but if you choose too many, you will get less of a benefit. It will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Buy some magic books and learn more spells, or maybe even something else. Then, take some time to practice what you learned.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick up to two, which will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Take the time to make the fenric wolf pelt into leather armour. This will require you obtaining tools and a place to do so, so there may be a cost. (Can not be take if you choose to sell the pelt as is)

[] Take some more sword lessons, and improve your melee abilities. You aren't exactly a master, after all.

[] Head into the forest. (ONLY one encounter).

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there. (Explore more with the Major action)

[] Write In

Minor Actions: Choose Two

[] Buy a book and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topic. You can pick only one.

[] Examine the book you got in the temple, hopefully you will learn something more from it.

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there.

[] Sell Items (Can choose as many as you want)
-[] Sell the Wolf Pelt as is
-[] Sell the Unicorn Horn
-[] Sell the Shoddy Chainmail
-[] Sell the Leather Vest
-[] Imp summoning spell instructions.
--[] How do you explain how you got it?
--[] Or, maybe you would rather sell to a unscrupulous merchant?

[] Train your base magical ability, which mainly involves lifting pebbles. But, you can lift more then one now, isn't that great?

[] Clean up the hideout, hopefully you won't knock anything over this time.
-[] The mundane way
-[] The magical way No more.

[] Maybe you could ask around the less prosperous part of the city about whoever ran away. Of course, you might also tip them of or draw suspicion on to yourself.

[] Practice your aim. When you were fighting, you would often miss what you were aiming at, maybe you should work to fix that?

[] Practice your speed. Yes, it reduces your accuracy, but the faster you fire your spells, the more you can cast. Since you can cast only the ice bolt and fireball spell, you will be practicing with both of them.

[] Practice the summoning spell in your hideout. Comes with a lessened risk of discovery.
-[] Angelic form
-[] Regular form
-[] Both?

[] Buy something. It might use up part of your finances, but sometimes you need a something.
-[] Supplies
-[] Write in

[] Now that you know a spell to move the earth, you could clear out the left side of the first tunnel fork.

[] Write in

OCC: Sorry for the quality, I was in a rush to finish.

 

[Dark Ness]

You go downstairs to eat, but you are stopped by Carlo. He starts questioning you in angry tone, but you can detect a hint of concern. "Where were you? You have been gone two days."

You calmly respond with "I went out of town to get some skins so I can try to earn some money. But I got lost, and I only got one pelt anyways."

"Stop lying to me. I am not going to accept that bullshit story." He starts ranting at you. "I certainly didn't see you with a spear, and I know you don't know how to use a bow. What were you even going to hunt with? Not to mention, the only place you are going to get lost in around here, where you can't see the huge fucking city, is the forest. And you have better not have gone in there again and risked your life, for whatever stupid reason. I know your father left you enough money to get by."

He lowers his voice almost to a whisper and starts speaking to you in a concerned tone "Look, I know your father died, and it has been hard on you. But, I know he wouldn't have wanted this. Just tell me the truth, I can help you."

[] Write in

OCC:

No Rolls for other stuff or we failed so hard that we can't do anything else?

Click to shrink...

Depends on how this goes. The day is still salvageable.

 

[Dark Ness]

You tell him the truth like he asks. Well, sort of the truth, anyways. "I've been practicing magic, and I tried to cast a spell I found. The next thing I knew it was the next morning and getting lost while hunting sounded better than telling you I passed out for most of a day because I wasn't smart enough to realize it was above my limits. I was embarrassed, okay?" You say that last line in a sort of childish pout, like it was his fault for questioning you and he should have left it alone (which he should have).

"Okay." He responds with. He doesn't sound statsified, but you don't think he is going to press anymore.

"Goodbye." You go leave the inn, to go about your day. First, you head to the book store where you find a simple spell to clean your clothes and a less simple one to conjure new cloths. Still, with how you keep ripping and destroying clothes, you will need it before long. You pay three slivers for both of them, and go to look for some kind of ice spell.

You find one, a spell to call down a blizzard wherever you are at. It is very powerful, but it is also extremely expensive. It would cost a whole five gold, a very significant chunk of your money. You also aren't certain you can even cast it. Even in spell form, instant blizzards aren't cheap, in any sense of the word.

[] Buy it
[] Don't

After that is done, you head to your hideout. You go into the tunnels, specifically the left one. You then use your new earth moving spell, levoterra, to clear it out. You make remarkable progress, getting a clear path through (although, there is still debris all over and chunks of rock along the sides), so you can now access this part of the tunnels. Of course, all the rock lifting and moving left you exhausted and tired. Although you had originally planned to, you decide not to practice the summoning spell today.

It probably isn't a good idea to summon up a creature while running on fumes, you would probably knock yourself unconscious, and may leave whatever you summoned to run around. And considering that some summons drain their summoner energy to sustain themselves, you may even die, unable to dismiss your summon. Or you could be wrong, and it will just be automatically dismissed of you fall unconscious, you aren't exactly the most knowledgeable about summoning. Regardless, best not to risk it.

You head back to the inn to get some sleep, but on your way, you start thinking of what you want to do in the future, something you have been carefully avoiding. Obviously, your ultimate goal is to get revenge, but how are you going to get there? You could continue how you have been, just doing things semi-randomly around town. Or, you could go to Taras and wait for the hero. You could also try to get an apprenticeship to a mage or something, although, it might be better to try in Taras, it is a much bigger city, so it likely has more opportunities and better mages. Of course, if you leave city, you also have to leave behind your hideout and whatever you could find in the tunnels. Choices, choices. Well, you can decide after you wake up in the morning.

Major Actions: Choose One

[] Head to Taras. (Will take around a week) May include random encounters

[] Look for a mage seeking an apprentice.

[] Buy some books and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick as many as you want, but if you choose too many, you will get less of a benefit. It will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Buy some magic books and learn more spells, or maybe even something else. Then, take some time to practice what you learned.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick up to two, which will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Take the time to make the fenric wolf pelt into leather armour. This will require you obtaining tools and a place to do so, so there may be a cost. (Can not be take if you choose to sell the pelt as is)

[] Take some more sword lessons, and improve your melee abilities. You aren't exactly a master, after all.

[] Head into the forest. (ONLY one encounter).

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there. (Explore more with the Major action)

[] Write In

Minor Actions: Choose Two

[] Buy a book and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topic. You can pick only one.

[] Examine the book you got in the temple, hopefully you will learn something more from it.

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there.

[] Sell Items (Can choose as many as you want)
-[] Sell the Wolf Pelt as is
-[] Sell the Unicorn Horn
-[] Sell the Shoddy Chainmail
-[] Sell the Leather Vest
-[] Imp summoning spell instructions.
--[] How do you explain how you got it?
--[] Or, maybe you would rather sell to a unscrupulous merchant?

[] Train your base magical ability, which mainly involves lifting pebbles. But, you can lift more then one now, isn't that great?

[] Clean up the hideout, hopefully you won't knock anything over this time.
-[] The mundane way
-[] The magical way No more.

[] Maybe you could ask around the less prosperous part of the city about whoever ran away. Of course, you might also tip them of or draw suspicion on to yourself.

[] Practice your aim. When you were fighting, you would often miss what you were aiming at, maybe you should work to fix that?

[] Practice your speed. Yes, it reduces your accuracy, but the faster you fire your spells, the more you can cast. Since you can cast only the ice bolt and fireball spell, you will be practicing with both of them.

[] Practice the summoning spell in your hideout. Comes with a lessened risk of discovery.
-[] Angelic form
-[] Regular form
-[] Both?

[] Buy something. It might use up part of your finances, but sometimes you need a something.
-[] Supplies for the journey to Taras.
-[] Write in

[] Write in

 

[Dark Ness]

You wake up, go eat, and just go through your general everyday routine. When you are done, you head to your hideout to explore the tunnels. You go to the right side, and while nothing bad happens, you don't find anything good either. All you find is more rough tunnels, that often lead to dead ends, so you end up backtracking a lot.

Eventually, you just get tired of it and you have other things you want to do today, so you leave. You then go to the place where you trained with the sword, the training grounds. You know that they have archery targets, you can practice with your spells there. You talk to the instructor, and ask if you can train your spell casting. He is resistant, but agrees, on the condition that you pay a sliver. You do so, of course.

You then focus on the targets, starting with the twenty yard one and ending with the hundred. You fire ice bolt after ice bolt until you can hit the bullseye on the twenty yard, hit close on the rest, and get with the target on the last. You do this for what must have been over an hour, so focused on practicing that you don't pay attention to the time. Good aim could save your life one day, hell, it probably will with the way things have gone.

By the time you start to lose steam, and stop, you look around and notice that several people are watching you. Spellcasters are probably rare surround here, and you bet that little to none of them actually practice around here. You then go to train your magical ability, and lift some rocks for practice. You are about to pick up some rocks near the target, except you yank the first one way too hard and it goes straight through the target.

This causes the target to colapse and break. The instructer then storms up to you and demand you pay for it. You fork over four slivers, he is likely overcharging you, but you did break it. Embarressed, you quickly leave, your face burning in shame. You then go back to the inn, it is already a bit late, right? You better go to sleep. And you definitely didn't stay up for an hour thinking about how everyone will know by tomorrow. Nope, you were just focusing on what you are going to do.


Major Actions: Choose One

[] Head to Taras. (Will take around a week) May include random encounters

[] Look for a mage seeking an apprentice.

[] Buy some books and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick as many as you want, but if you choose too many, you will get less of a benefit. It will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Buy some magic books and learn more spells, or maybe even something else. Then, take some time to practice what you learned.
-[] Write in topics. You can pick up to two, which will also cost more. Some topics are unavailable.

[] Take the time to make the fenric wolf pelt into leather armour. This will require you obtaining tools and a place to do so, so there may be a cost. (Can not be take if you choose to sell the pelt as is)

[] Take some more sword lessons, and improve your melee abilities. You aren't exactly a master, after all.

[] Head into the forest. (ONLY one encounter).

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there. (Explore more with the Major action)
-[] Left
-[] Right

[] Write In

Minor Actions: Choose Two

[] Buy a book and educate yourself. You may not have gone to school, but that doesn't mean you can't learn.
-[] Write in topic. You can pick only one.

[] Examine the book you got in the temple, hopefully you will learn something more from it.

[] Explore the tunnels you found in that abandoned building, there might be something interesting there.
-[] Left
-[] Right

[] Sell Items (Can choose as many as you want)
-[] Sell the Wolf Pelt as is
-[] Sell the Unicorn Horn
-[] Sell the Shoddy Chainmail
-[] Sell the Leather Vest
-[] Imp summoning spell instructions.
--[] How do you explain how you got it?
--[] Or, maybe you would rather sell to a unscrupulous merchant?

[] Train your base magical ability, which mainly involves lifting pebbles. But, you can lift more then one now, isn't that great?

[] Clean up the hideout, hopefully you won't knock anything over this time.
-[] The mundane way
-[] The magical way No more.

[] Maybe you could ask around the less prosperous part of the city about whoever ran away. Of course, you might also tip them of or draw suspicion on to yourself.

[] Practice your aim. When you were fighting, you would often miss what you were aiming at, maybe you should work to fix that?

[] Practice your speed. Yes, it reduces your accuracy, but the faster you fire your spells, the more you can cast. Since you can cast only the ice bolt and fireball spell, you will be practicing with both of them.

[] Practice the summoning spell in your hideout. Comes with a lessened risk of discovery.
-[] Angelic form
-[] Regular form
-[] Both?

[] Buy something. It might use up part of your finances, but sometimes you need a something.
-[] Supplies for the journey to Taras.
-[] Write in

[] Write in

 

[Dark Ness]

The first thing you do is buy books. There are several things you want to get it, and the sooner you get them, the sooner you can read them. You start with tracking, hunting, and wilderness survival. You look through the store, and you are lucky enough to find a trio of books on those topics, all by the same author. You mange to haggle with the owner of the store it get a reduced price for the set, only five slivers. You aren't sure how much you will be able to learn from a book, but it is definitely better then nothing.

After that, you start looking at more mystical topics. First, magical creatures, which is relatively easy, after all is said and done. You simply find A Compendium of Magical Life and purchase it for six silvers. Finding something for Ice Magic is a little trickier. Eventually, you find an old and dusty treatise on Ice Magic, The Exploration Of Various Topics Relating To The Function of Magically Created Ice, Cold, And Related Magical And Natural Powers. You just take a quick peak at to make sure it has a spell inside and buy it for a gold. You try to haggle down the shopkeeper, but he points out that, even if the book itself is worthless, any spell inside is worth at least that much and he holds to the price. It doesn't help that he seems suspicious about where you are getting the money you can afford this stuff with, but, since this is your last trip to the bookstore, you aren't too worried about it.

Once that is done, you head to the training area. The next few days are spent just getting used to your new abilities, running around the track, lifting the equipment, doing stretches, and just generally training until you finally feel the burn. You realize that are strong and fast, really strong and fast, so much so that you can match and exceed the grown men training here. But, there is still something missing. There is a sort of fluidity and self-assurance to many of the experienced guards that you just seem to lack. Eventually, the instructor comes up and questions you.

"You are stronger and faster then you have any right to be, and you have the start of combat instincts." He gives you a look that tells you that he is waiting for you to respond, to explain yourself but you stay silent. He continues anyways. "But you have very little skill. You don't know any thing more then the most basic block and attack, your form is atrocious, and your foot work is just plain terrible."

"But we will change that."
Instructor Re-roll: 1 d 100+35: 95
From then on, you throw yourself into your training. You wake up in the morning and practice, practice, practice all day long, stopping only to eat and drink. The moment you slide into bed you fall asleep, you are just that exhausted. But it pays off. After days of simply swinging a sword, of learning how to plant your feet, of learning thrusts, blocks, and parries, of having the instructor beat you in a spar over and over, you have received the fruit of your labors. The instructor has deemed you barely passable, which, coming from him and considering where you used to be, is a high honor. He still beats you in ever spar, but you manged to hit him in your last one!

You pay him a single gold, how far he helped you advance, and how quickly it was done, is worth that. After that, you decide to head down to the tunnels. This is going to be your last time exploring them, so you better make it count and finish them off. You head through the hole in the secret room, and start going through the mass of tunnels. And mainly, that is what you find for the next few days, just more tunnels. A few lead to the sewers, but you ignore those.

After you are done exploring each day, you read some of your new books. The one on tracking is just as you would expect, with stuff about how to recognize tracks, how to identify signs of passing, how to determine other details. Same with the one on Wilderness Survival, with stuff about how to find edible food, how to make and set traps, how to conceal your own tracks, while the one on Hunting seems to be a mix of the two, with a few bits throw in.

The magical books, however, are much more surprising. A Compendium of Magical Life is definitely the most interesting book you have ever read, with interesting details on various magical creatures, from the wood-throwing Agropelter in the Far West to the extremely poisonous Zhenniao in the Far East. Several entries even have illustrations! Which is sometimes funny, and sometimes terrifying, depending on the entry. The Exploration Of Various Topics Relating To The Function of Magically Created Ice, Cold, And Related Magical And Natural Powers is just as boring as it sounds, however, it still contains a hidden gem.

There is the spell you saw before, frigidus tactus, which is a touch based spell that freezes whatever you touch. While the book is very, very boring, it talks about a bunch of stuff, some of which you have never even heard of, like how water and steam are just another form of ice, that water needs to be boiled in order to prevent tiny creatures inside from making you sick, that humans are made mostly of water, that there is an entire ice cycle, and how it goes into the ground, up to the sky, though the plants, and even through people. Here is where you find the really interesting part.

In the section talking about weather patterns and the ice cycle, is a spell. Specially, a spell to call down a blizzard, the same spell that cost five gold earlier. You can't believe your luck, you now know how to cast voca glaciem tempestate duratus mundo negant calor frigus adduceret. You aren't sure when you will need to call down a blizzard, but better to have it then not to.

Soon enough, however, you actually discover something new in the tunnels. While you are squeezing through a tight crack, you find a open room with several crates laying about, as well as a table with papers lying on it. As you step in the room, you start feeling the worst pain you have ever felt. Your entire body feels like it is on fire, no, it IS on fire! You can feel the flames, even if you can't see them. Runes, hidden runes, that are now active and glowing underneath you, that is what is doing this. You dive forward onto the ground, getting off the runes, and the flames disappear. But not the pain, not the burns. You just lay there for a few minutes, waiting for the burns to heal. The one place you weren't burned, strangely enough, was your back, where you only felt a slightly painful tingle.

Once you recover, you start looking around the room. You got set on fire to get in here, it better have something good. You look at the table first, where you find a bag counting fourteen gold coins, as well as a bunch of old papers with numbers and seemingly nonsense letters, like FBC and BYR. They are likely records, this was almost certainly some kind of smuggling opperation. You do wonder why they left all their goods though. Perhaps they were arrested or killed?

Next, you check the crates, where you find mainly old, moth bitten fabrics. They seemed like they were once brilliantly colored, but have since faded with age. But, within one crate, is a set of masterfully crafted, at least to your untrained eye, chain mail underneath the fabric. It is made of some shiny gray material (steel, maybe?) and when you touch it, yellow glowing runes appear on it, before fading and leaving just small, almost unnoticeable engravings on the links of the mail. Someone put a lot of effort into this armour, to write runes on ever single chain mail link. You take it and the money, while you start looking for another way out. You are NOT going through that trap again. If you weren't able to heal like you are, you could have died. Or if you weren't resistant to fire.

You move the crates around, to see if there is anything under them, and you are rewarded. A trap door, leading down to another tunnel, and you jump into it. You start walking along the tunnel, and eventually you recognize where you are. You must have explored most of the whole system by now, although most of it doesn't lead to anything more interesting then someone's basement or the sewer. You make your way out of the tunnels, and head to the inn to get some rest.

In the morning, you start on your final preparations before you leave. The first thing you do is start making something with that pelt you got a while ago. Normally, you would have to pay for all the tools in order to do anything, but you manger to convince another leather worker to let you burrow their workshop, mostly due to sympathy at your father's death. While you were tempted to make some leather armour before, you don't need it with your new chain mail, so you work on making a fur cloak instead.

It is more difficult them you anticipated, since you usually worked with standard leather instead of fire or pelts, but you get it done in the end. It turned out well, if you do say so yourself. A nice gray fur cloak, with shiny bronze clasps, it looks a bit out of place here, in one of the poorer areas of the city. You designed the cloak so that you could close it and conceal what you are wearing, so you could keep your chain mail on underneath it without anyone realising, and as well being able to use the hood to conceal your face.

After thanking the man who let you use his shop, as well as reassuring him that you would sell the cloak for a lot of money (if you ever sold it), you start on buying supplies and selling what you don't need. The map is pretty cheap for only twenty fiver coppers, or a quater of a silver, and shows the different city states around, including your own, as well as the roads and geography, although it isn't very high quality. The supplies end up costing you four and a half silvers, mainly because you bought jerky. You have been craving meat lately, and you decided to indulge your self just this once. You did find quite a bit of money in the tunnels, after all.

Then, you sell both the vest and the chain mail. You get four slivers for the vest, mainly because you got rid of the blood stain using the workshop you made the cloak in. You mange to get a whole gold for the chain mail, mostly because it is made of iron. Iron is very scarce in your region, with the last mine, which was very small anyways, having dried up over a hundred years ago, and no others have been found with in your cities territory. All the iron you use has to be traded for, and some still use bronze weapons. You were lucky enough to get an iron blade for relatively cheap, probably because you were in the guardsmen training, but it still isn't very good.

It certainly isn't anything like steel, the making of which is a closely guarded security among those that know how, and that doesn't include anyone in your city. If it did, your city would likely be a lot more prosperous. Only the rich can afford steel, and you aren't even sure if you have ever seen it. Some forgein adventurers (basically wannabe heroes, although sometimes they actually do become a hero) may have been carrying some, but it isn't like you have ever gotten a close look at one of their weapons. Your father knew a blacksmith that would talk about it all the time, though. He said it was his dream to work steel. He died of the green wound after he cut himself cleaning a rusty blade, though.

Anyways, with that done you say one last goodbye to Carlo and eat the very last meal of stew, the staple of your diet for the last few weeks. Only one question remains. What are you going to do on your way there?

[] Go on a hunt
You have been craving fresh meat ever since you got back to the city. While cooked meat is still good, it is never as good as the fresh stuff.RANDOM EVENT
[] Anatomy
Those books are hard, difficult, and they are boring. But you have a dictionary, you can probably get through it. Maybe.
[] Treatise
There is that book with all those weird ideas and information. It is boring, and you are sure that there are no more spells in it, but maybe this information will help you? It is about Ice Magic, even if it goes off on tangents.
[] Spellbook
You haven't really looked through this recentally, but it is a magic book. It probably has something interesting in it, if not always useful.
[] Write In
Maybe you have your own idea on what to do?

OCC: Finally, after a whole week of working on this. Well, you get a taste of what having an instructor can do for your training. Rerolls, bonuses, etc.

 

[Dark Ness]

You spent your whole life in the city, and now you are leaving it behind. You have never even been beyond the city's territory before. It gives you a strange feeling, a mix of nervousness, sadness, nostalgia, and anticipation for what you might find out there. And with those butterflies in your stomach, you head through the city's wooden gate, and onto the long, dusty dirt road, with a few lone merchants and travelers coming out as well.

You easily outpace the rest of them, so much so that you have to slow down in order to avoid appearing suspicious. Traveling is a lot more boring then you expected. All you do is just walk, and walk, and walk some more, with brief breaks to relieve yourself. Eventually, the sun starts going down, and you set up camp. Before you sleep, however, you decide to look at that spellbook.

You open it up to find a new spell, Slow Time, tardus tempore. That is a bit of a misnomer, though. In reality, the spell doesn't actually slow time (if it did, it would probably kill you to cast), but rather speeds you up so much that everything else seems slow. After skimming over it, you go to sleep. After all, you have the whole journey to read about it.

In the morning, you put on your chain-mail, and then cover it up with your cloak. It is better to be safe then sorry, after all, and who knows what may happen. Yesterday may have been peaceful, but the rest may not. Secretly, you hope something happens, traveling is so boring. You have passed out of your city's territory, and into No Man's Land (named such because, although numerous people have claimed it, often at the same time, nobody has bothered to actually enforce said claim). You are even passing through a forest!

(Un)fortunately, nothing does. The forest is just a forest. You do mange to grab some fresh squirrel, though, which was very good. Your days are mainly spent walking and then sleeping, in a monotonous cycle. The only really interesting thing on your journey when you exited the forest into what is considered by many to be the start of Taras' territory (they claim No Man's Land as well), with the obvious evidence of logging shown by the stumps around, although there aren't too many. The of the logging is done in other parts of the cities territory, since there are no conveniently located rivers at this area for transport or to power sawmills, so everything has to be dragged elsewhere.

Of course, you also look over the Slow Time spell each night. Strangely enough, every time you open the spellbook, it flips to the same page. Maybe because you haven't finished looking at it yet? Anyways, you learn how to preform it, and even test it once, which leads to everything seeming to move slower. It looks kind of funny, in fact, and the effect doesn't last to long. There is a mention in the book that things could happen if it is used in succession too quickly, however. It doesn't mention what said things are, but you are sure that you don't want to find out.

Eventually, after passing by little of interest, except maybe a few farms, you reach the city. You have never seen anything like it. It is huge, at least three, if not more, times the size of your own home city. The walls are made of huge, thick stone slabs, and much larger then those of your city, and there are even watch towers along them. The city does not just have a gate of wood, but also an iron portcullis (you have never seen so much iron in the same place), which just drives in how wealthy it is. You can even see a few ships, so many times bigger, more beautiful, and more amazing then the fishing boats you have seen, entering and leaving the docks on the other side of the city.

There is one thing to mar this image, however. Outside the gate is a vast, ramshackle, disgusting slum. The structures look like they are about to fall at any moment, the streets can't even be called streets, just pathways between buildings, and is that a pile of poop? Why would anyone even pile it on the ground instead of cleaning it or digging a hol-No, it doesn't matter. The people you can see there all look poor, some wearing little more then rags. You can see one of them approaching the guards at the gates, it looks to be a young boy, but they are driven with vigorous gestures of the guards' spears. You had bad places in your city, but nowhere like this. Perhaps there is simply no more room in the city proper?

Looking off to the side, however, you see the beginning of a new wall being constructed to cover the slums, it looks like. Which is good, you guess. Anyways, regardless of all that, you need to find out about Atelut, the Hero. You don't even know whether he is in the city, if he hasn't arrived yet, or has already left. You don't know anything, and that is not a trait you wish to have for long.

Where do you go first?
[] The slums
[] Into the city proper

 

[Dark Ness]

You really don't want to step into the slums, they are much too gross. Maybe it will be easier to get information there, but you are sure that you can get some in the city as well. Heroes are not events that pass by unremarked. So, you head through the gate.

You shiver a bit as you pass underneath the portcullis. The having the massive, speaker thing hanging above you makes you think of executioners blade hanging above your head. And you have to wait underneath it as well, because the guards are talking to everyone who comes in before waving them through. You attempt to blend in with a merchant caravan in front of you, but you obviously stand out, so it doesn't work.

Instead, the guards call you out, with suprise on their faces. Likely because you are a young girl all alone. "Girl, why is no one with you? What is your business in the city?" says one of the guards in a rough voice. You respond with "I am traveling with my father, a merchant." tugging at your nice looking cloak in order to sell your story. Although, you do feel a bit of shame at lying about your father. "He went in before me because I had to stay back due to some, um, womanly issues." You finish in faux embarrassment. The guards go a bit red in the face and wave you through.

At first, your instinct is to head to an inn, someone deep in their cups would likely have very loose lips. But then you realize that you would attract way to much attention entering an inn and asking questions. So, you go with your second choice instead, merchants. As long as you but something, they are almost always will to talk.

You wonder around until you find the merchants quaters, and then head to old women's cheese stand. Mostly because she is only selling them to a copper. You buy a piece of said cheese, and ask her if she knows anything about a Hero passing through here recently, telling her You heard something from a women at a different stall. She tells you that one come through a month ago, but no one since then. You thank her and leave.

So, Atelut hasn't arrived yet. What now?

[] Check out the available bounties
[] See if there are any mages looking for apprentices
[] Find somewhere to stay

 

[Dark Ness]

Well, you might as well find a place to stay the night. You don't want to sleep on the streets after all. Your "search" mostly consists of you wandering around and occasionally asking people. You eventually find three inns that may suit your needs, each in different parts of the city.

The first was in a wealthy part of the city, as you can easily see by the fancier buildings around. It looks good, the beds are very comfortable, the rooms are spacious, and the food is supposed to be delicious. They even provide baths! Everyone you asked who had gone there, which admittedly wasn't too many due to the cost, said it was great, and those who hasn't gone still said it had a great reputation. However, it is very costly, a whole six slivers a day. You can afford it, but it will eat through your finances quickly if you decide to stay more then one night.

The next place is very similar to where you used to stay in before. The food isn't bad, and everything else is just about average. It is in the tradesmen's section of town, and is a mainly a standard inn. It costs one silver a day, far from Carlo's practically free room, but you can't say that it is overcharging, at least not too much.

The final place is cheap, and that says it all. While it is technically inside the city, it is the worst of it, practically the slums. The food won't kill you, that is the best you can say about it. They have less rooms, and more closets, if you want privacy, or a open floor if you don't care. The beds are actually just rough, old, straw mats, and there are mysterious stains that you honestly don't want to know about. The customers alternate from rambunctious, loud, and stupid drinks to passed out unconscious on the floor from the cheap swill that is sold here. On the upside, it is cheap, ridiculously cheap. A few coppers, that is it, and you may be able to haggle that down to even less.

Which one do you pick?
[] The first
[] The second
[] The third

And since I don't want the update to be just you getting a room...

What do you do next?
[] Check the bounties
[] See how many mages are accepting apprenticeships
[] Write in

OOC: Neither of these options will lock you in right away. In fact, in the case of the bounties, you probably won't be able to go on one and get back before Atelut anyways. So this isn't the final vote yet.