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Beneath the Veil

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Beneath the Veil is a Modern Fantasy quest based on our world, a very small population of people have access to the magical elements. Join Gwen Farkas as she does her best to protect Whitehall from outside threats and grow trees to expand her power.
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    Jackofcookiejars

    Location
    Washington, USA
    Welcome to a world where faith and belief are fundamental forces, where spirits roam invisibly, magic hides in plain sight, and realities are shattered and remade daily. Here skyscrapers are defended from dragons by sages, Jiangshi hordes are stopped by soothsayers, and creatures and spirits both work with summoners to stop malevolent gods. The defenders of reality fall under two categories, and many names are used to describe those categories. Here we'll follow the story of one of those defenders, though which one is yet to be decided. Some set down their roots and defend a specific area, while others spread their net in hopes of saving as many as they can.

    For the sake of convenience, we'll call those two categories of defenders something descriptive: Wizard and Spiritualist. This defines how they function in the world and what supernatural realms they touch. Spiritualists grasp the realm between life and death, touching the land of faith: gods, ghosts, and demons all fall under the domain of these folks. A Spiritualist has many options for combat, fisticuffs, spiritually-saturated weaponry, and being possessed. Wizards lean towards the realm of power, relying on self-belief more than anything to define how they function. They fight creatures of myth and storied creatures, using their own belief in their magic. Wizards have a catalyst that they cast spells from, and it varies heavily from person to person; one might have a deck of cards, while another might use spray cans.

    There's also a way of defining of how wide they operate, which helps describe the range of threats and their focuses. Nomadic heroes tend to focus on themselves, focusing their equipment and their strength. As they travel from place to place they also see a much wider variety of enemies. This however prevents them from creating allies or setting up long-term growth. Stationary defenders build up their environment, using rituals and allies they collect to strengthen themselves. Often times, they don't grow the strongest, but in exchange they tend to have enough set-up that they can take on entire armies.

    I have a set of heroes bookmarked for watching, they should provide an easy-to-watch entertainment source, but if you want to look for someone specific, you can always let me know. I have two in each category, for the sake of variety.

    The stationary wizard spends his time spray painting his magic onto the walls, earning money and fame alike. It's impossible to get him down, and his rituals allow him greater access to the natural magic of the city. A daredevil at heart, and an artist by trade, his work is beloved by the city.

    The nomadic wizard focuses his efforts on himself, using his magic to enrich and enhance his vices rather than as a direct defender. Unfortunately for him, the usage of magic draws attention whether if you want it or not. His habits and impulses send him wandering between casinos, using his luck and confidence against beasts and people alike.

    The stationary spiritualist tries to better himself and his community through the sharing of wealth and offering of jobs. An unswerving optimist, he operates under the ideal that work allows for one to better themselves, that working purifies the soul. It's hasn't hurt him though, and the fact that his employees are always willing to hop into combat to protect him seems to support that.

    The nomadic spiritualist would be called a monk by the unaware, while he uses objects of faith as tools, he mostly travels the country in a van. He travels from place to place as a roaming entertainer, fighting in a myriad of tournaments as he finishes off the roaming spirits and threats. He treats his responsibility as a challenge, and draws pride from defeating strong foes.

    If you want me to find a specific target, I'll need a little information about them. I'll need to know how they support their forays, a broad perspective of who they are, their goals, and where they situate themselves in the categories I mentioned. For example, the stationary spiritualist is a CEO of a large company. He keeps himself humble by focusing on improving his hometown, and believes that work solves any personal problem. To put it another way, A CEO with a naive and honest personality is trying to better his hometown by offering jobs to spirits and people who need it. Job, Personality, Goal, then categories.


    [ ] Spraypaint Artist (Wizard, Stationary)
    [ ] Con-man Gambler (Wizard, Nomadic)
    [ ] Naive Philanthropist (Spiritualist, Stationary)
    [ ] Ascetic Pugilist (Spiritualist, Nomadic)
    [ ] Custom
    - [ ] Job
    - [ ] Abridged Personality
    - [ ] Goal
    - [ ] Categories
     
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    Character Sheet
  • Informational
    • Gwen Farkas, Wizard
    Gwen Farkas is energetic and young, the youngest caretaker of the Whitehall Botanical Gardens. She lives in Whitehall's suburbs and participates in a book club that she hosts for her neighborhood. Often seen skipping to and from work, many would assume that she's carefree.
    Haven't come up with one yet, lol.
    Cherry Blossom Sprig
    Elements: Fire, Lightning, Thunder
    Fire
    Article:
    Damage: Will
    Range: Projectile
    Effect: When used against wood aligned enemies or wood-derived enemies, deal +1 damage.
    Modifier: None.

    Lightning
    Article:
    Damage: Will
    Range: Line
    Effect: Damage cannot be reduced below 1 when successfully defended.
    Modifier: None.

    Thunder
    Article:
    Damage: Force
    Range: Line
    Effect: Damage cannot be reduced below 1 when successfully defended.
    Modifier: None.
    Fire
    Article:
    Description: A weak fire from the wand supports and subtly reminds you of better times.
    Effect: Ready yourself to heal the damage from the next attack the enemy makes. (Ignore damage reduction)
    Modifier: None.

    Lightning
    Article:
    Description: A galvanic cage, when properly timed, captures an enemy's energies.
    Effect: 50/50 chance to halve incoming damage.
    Modifier: None.

    Thunder
    Article:
    Description: A magical crack of thunder disrupts the magic of an attack.
    Effect: Projectile attacks deal 1 less damage.
    Modifier: None.
     
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  • Informational
    • Tutorials
  • Informational
    • Combat
    Combat consists of six actions, three offensive, three defensive. For these actions, you select one of the elements you have available. Each element deals either Force or Will damage, and will miss rarely. Once the three offensive actions have gone through, an automatic attack will occur, this attack cannot miss or be defended against. Each equipment will determine the defensive effects of each element.


    weekly event rolls
    As the week passes, your fortune varies. The fates smile or frown on you, a die is rolled to determine how lucky you are during the week. The value might vary, but rolling higher is better. For the first week, the roll will be an automatic no event, but afterwards, you'll have to deal with good or bad fortune. Bad events can be an extra morale loss, or a sudden fight, and beyond. Good events are just as varied.
     
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  • Informational
    • [X] Ascetic Pugilist (Spiritualist, Nomadic)

    I like the idea of a traveling monk beating up spirits while driving a van.
     
    [] Ranger
    - [] Job: Forest Ranger
    - [] Abridged Personality: Respect towards Forest & Nature
    - [] Goal: Maintain Peace between people and creatures of the forest.
    - [] Categories: (Spiritualist, Stationary)

    He is part of the forest rangers. His job is to prevent destruction of cities and towns by creatures of the forest & to prevent the destruction of the forest and it's ecosystems by humans. If either of these were to occur hundreds of millions may die on both sides.

    @Jackofcookiejars let me know if I need to add or change anything.

    [X] Custom: Bonsai Wizard.
     
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    [X] Custom: Bonsai Wizard.
    -[X] Job: Groundskeeper of a local park and community garden.
    -[X] Abridged Personality: Personable and friendly but a bit manic, also somewhat of a gossip and hoarder. Their magical catalysts are Bonsai trees from their garden.
    -[X] Goal: Expanding their collection of magical items, their current target is a cutting from The Garden of the Hesperides.
    -[X] Categories: Wizard, Stationary.

    Hopefully this works within the system.
     
    Alright, as the voting has slowed down, I'm calling it. You all seem to want to play the Bonsai Wizard. I'll take a little time to work out the fine details, but I'll have the first chapter before too long.
     
    Week 1
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    • Gwen Farkas works for the Whitehill Botanical Center, the city's pride and joy. So many people visit the flowering trees and lovely flowers that it makes significant profits and paid well, though that wasn't Gwen's primary purpose for working there. She uses cuttings of the plants she so carefully cultivated as foci. The route she regularly walks home is one she cleared of enemies, she was unwilling to lose one of her sprigs to a hungry monster.

    On one of her many walks home, a low growl emanates from a nearby alleyway, drawing Gwen's attention. A small burning fox stalked out of it, the bright red fire lit the alleyway menacingly, but remained invisible to the uninitiated. The street moved on, people subconsciously avoiding the fox. The fox sent a weak flame towards Gwen in challenge; it floated slowly and harmlessly, the magic in the attack telling the unaware get out of the way of the fight.

    With a flick of her wrist, Gwen drew the focus she harvested earlier today. A short sprig from a magical cherry tree, aligned with fire, lightning, and thunder. The crack of thunder deflected the flame to the ground, a sign that the challenge has been acknowledged, the weakest possible strike of lightning barely glances the fox's fur, signifying the acceptance of the challenge. The fox changed colors, going from a light shade of red to one much darker. Gwen used her 6th sense to feel the fox's affinities and resistances, the only thing she felt was an affinity for fire, which was obvious from a glance.

    Combat
    Combat consists of six actions, three offensive, three defensive. For these actions, you select one of the elements you have available. Each element deals either Force or Will damage, and will miss rarely. Once the three offensive actions have gone through, an automatic attack will occur, this attack cannot miss or be defended against. Each equipment will determine the defensive effects of each element.


    Available Elements: Fire, Lightning, Thunder
    [ ]Attack and Defense
    [ ]Attack and Defense
    [ ]Attack and Defense


    The fox suddenly stands up straight, and bows. It called the fight off, leaving Gwen a little too amped. It dashes away, back into the alley it had come from. Gwen shakes and shivers, transitioning her walk into a jog to try and burn off the adrenaline from the fight. Her walk home was uneventful.

    Her home was in the suburbs, a great place to practice her magic on plants without risking any plants at her work. However, this week she had already promised her time to a close friend. She'd spend the week helping create a garden, it'd be good for her to follow through with that.

    Her friend had wanted either cacti or flowers, but the friends' significant other would pay money for a fruit and vegetable garden. Gwen didn't know how they had managed this deal, but the significant other had said his piece with her friend right there. Gwen knew that if she planted flowers, her friend would be ecstatic about it for weeks to come, but if she planted succulents, then her friend would be satisfied and happy, but the firey nature of the cacti would draw in stronger monsters. All three options were helpful long term, but Gwen would have to pick one.

    [ ]Flower Garden (+Early Moral)
    [ ]Succulent Garden (Increase Suburbs Difficulty)
    [ ]Produce Garden (+ Early Cash)
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] 1 Attack: Lightning. Defense: Thunder.
    [X] 2 Attack: Lightning. Defense: Thunder.
    [X] 3 Attack: Lightning. Defense: Fire.
    @Jackofcookiejars is this valid formatting for combat voting?

    [X]Flower Garden (+Early Moral)

    If we agreed to help our friend then it makes sense to me to go with what our friend wanted. Doing something we know will attract monsters to our friends garden does not seem ideal to me either.
     
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    [X]Attack Lightning and Defense Fire
    [X]Attack Lightning and Defense Fire
    [X]Attack Thunder and Defense Fire

    [X]Flower Garden (+Early Moral)

    It's probably not going to make much of a difference if you're doing a hand tally, but if you ever want to use the tally program, it couldn't hurt to tweak the formating of the combat votes a bit to differentiate the three turns from each other.
     
    Edgedancer said:
    [X]Attack Lightning and Defense Fire
    [X]Attack Lightning and Defense Fire
    [X]Attack Thunder and Defense Fire

    [X]Flower Garden (+Early Moral)

    It's probably not going to make much of a difference if you're doing a hand tally, but if you ever want to use the tally program, it couldn't hurt to tweak the formating of the combat votes a bit to differentiate the three turns from each other.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    You know what, fair.

    For future combat votes, I'd prefer it if you either grouped them under a plan name, or numbered them.
    [ ] Plan Example
    -[ ] Pair one
    -[ ] Pair two
    -[ ] Pair three

    or

    [ ]1: Pair one
    [ ]2: Pair two
    [ ]3: Pair three
     
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    [x] Plan: Testing the waters
    -[x] Attack Fire and Defense Fire
    -[x] Attack Lightning and Defense Fire
    -[x] Attack Thunder and Defense Fire

    [x]Succulent Garden (Increase Suburbs Difficulty)
     
    While I could call the vote here, and pick one of the combat plans at random, I don't like that idea. I'm letting you know that there's going to be a 24 hour timer before the vote closes and I roll for one of the combat plans at random if someone doesn't tiebreak.
     
    Week 2
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    • Gwen stared the fox down, daring it to make the first move. The fox spat a much larger fireball, and Gwen lanced out reflexively with her prepared energy. With a single flick of her wrist, the cutting expelled the energy necessary for a lance of lighting and a crack of thunder. The lightning jumps towards her target as the thunder crack disrupts the enemy's attack, small petering fires bounce on her skin, lightly singeing her. [23/24 HP] (Gwen dealt 2 damage!)

    As Gwen looks back up at the fox, it stands back up. The lightning she launched threw the poor thing to the ground in a sprawl. As the fox starts running at Gwen, its hackles rise in response, almost as if to test the energy in the air. Gwen flashes her wand and strikes the fox pointblank with another flash of lighting in spite of its preparations, though the fox was still ready to attack, with a large ball of fire readying itself between the fangs of the beast. Gwen let off a crack of thunder to disrupt the ball, but the fox blew the fire continuously rather than in a single burst like Gwen expected, and it washed over the sonic defense. [21/24 HP] (Gwen dealt 2 damage!)

    Gwen glares at the fox before building her energy for another attack, the fox closes the distance once more. Gwen raises her offhand before her face in preparation of another cone of fire, but instead the fox jumps up and bites down on her arm. With the release of her power the fox was flung off to the ground, leaving Gwen rubbing the bite marks. She channels fire through her wand in preparation of the next attack, and the fire hugs her closely without burning. [19/24] (Gwen dealt 2 damage!)

    Mega Element!
    Requirements: Cast 3 offensive spells with the same element.
    Effect: The bonus attack gains the element of the attack spells, and no spells can miss this turn.

    When the fox stands up from the electric assault, it realizes how close Gwen is physically, and swipes with its claws in a panic. Gwen automatically courses the remaining lightning energy from all of her spells through her and launches the fox flying back away from her. The wounds from that attack were already healing as a fire's warmth seeps into them.

    The fox lands on its four paws, crouching, readying itself for another attack. With an almost imperceptible twist of its ears it stands up straight and bows. Gwen hesitantly watches it dash off, the fox seemed satisfied with the fight.

    "What the hell." Gwen mutters, before returning to her trip home.


    MORALE: 90/100
    CASH:0

    weekly event rolls
    As the week passes, your fortune varies. The fates smile or frown on you, a die is rolled to determine how lucky you are during the week. The value might vary, but rolling higher is better. For the first week, the roll will be an automatic no event, but afterwards, you'll have to deal with good or bad fortune. Bad events can be an extra morale loss, or a sudden fight, and beyond. Good events are just as varied.


    Event Roll: [44]! No event.

    The rest of Gwen's week was uneventful, she quietly worked on the flower garden after work, and participated calmly with her book club. No rumors, no magical energies moving unexpectedly, nothing unusual. It was time to return to work, and earn a living wage. Gwen would have to decide what she would do during her free time.

    As she passed by her favorite shop on the way home, she saw a couple of things he might have wanted to get, but she wasn't comfortable spending some of her living funds on that.

    [ ](Shopping) Buy Comfortable Overalls (+2 health)(-1 money)
    [ ](Shopping) Buy Itchy Focus Headband (You cannot use the third element of a focus)(+1 damage)(-1 money)
    [ ](Shopping) Buy Oversized Belt Buckle (-1 dodge)(+2 health)(-1 money)

    Gwen walks on past the store, and decides what to do on the way home.

    [ ](Weekly actions) Spend the week working overtime (-morale,+money)
    [ ](Weekly actions) Read a book recommended by friends (+morale)
    [ ](Weekly actions) Look for a fight (Find an extra combat encounter for the chance to win a new focus)
    [ ](Weekly actions) 'Spruce' up an area (Increase the difficulty of a region)
    -[ ]Suburbs (1/10)
    -[ ]Downtown (3/10)
    -[ ]Shopping District (1/10)
    -[ ]Campus District (2/10)
     
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