24 Hour Notice
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Kindly Miquella (Elden Ring Quest)
- Thread starter Witherbrine26
- Start date
Vote Closed
Turn 5.1 Results
[X] Plan: Collecting resources
-[X] Spend 650 runes to improve your Great Rune.
-[X] Try to establish trade relations with neighboring villages to get food. X2
-[X] Continue approaching the Fire Giant: It may not directly attack you but you can sense the hatred burning behind it's eyes, it is just tired and so it does not attack you. It may take some time but you are willing to put in the effort to cool that hatred. [HERESY] and [CHARM]
-[X] Secure Food-Hunting: Another option is to strike out and secure your food from the flesh of animals. The beasts here are hardy and used to hiding, so that it will be hard. [Gain 10 Food]
-[X] Secure Food-Gathering: A more peaceful method, herbs, berries, and other such things. The possible stock you can gain is much lower, but the chance of stumbling across something deadly is also much lower [Gain 5 Food]
-[X] Loot the Fort: Your dear sister slew everybody, however she wasn't focused on looting. You can send your own men there to loot whatever she left behind. However there is a risk of rot that your sister exuded. [Loot the Fire Monks Fort]
-[X] Study Something: There are many things you do not have a full understanding of. You may not have much, but you are smart, and that should be enough [Improve your understanding of an item]
--[X] Unalloyed Gold
-[X] Cast an Immutable Shield spell over those followers who go to rob the fort to protect them from rot.
-[X] Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold: Your wonder metal is incredible but very hard to make. Only the most skilled of smiths in the capital could forge it; if you want to spread it, the recipe will need to be written in plain terms. [Learning] (5/10 Progress)
-[X] Perform maintenance on Malenia's prosthesis.
-[X] Send Malenia to kill Erdtree Avatar. [DECAY]
-[X] Scry the stars: The stars may be held in stasis and Galdrik's sight may be weaker but if he spends some time he may just be able to support your entire nation with a few tidbits of advice. [Learning]
--[X] Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold
[X] Use the Slumber of the Ages spell on all followers except those who forage to reduce their need for food (1 Piety Action/Turn)
-[X] Spend 650 runes to improve your Great Rune.
-[X] Try to establish trade relations with neighboring villages to get food. X2
-[X] Continue approaching the Fire Giant: It may not directly attack you but you can sense the hatred burning behind it's eyes, it is just tired and so it does not attack you. It may take some time but you are willing to put in the effort to cool that hatred. [HERESY] and [CHARM]
-[X] Secure Food-Hunting: Another option is to strike out and secure your food from the flesh of animals. The beasts here are hardy and used to hiding, so that it will be hard. [Gain 10 Food]
-[X] Secure Food-Gathering: A more peaceful method, herbs, berries, and other such things. The possible stock you can gain is much lower, but the chance of stumbling across something deadly is also much lower [Gain 5 Food]
-[X] Loot the Fort: Your dear sister slew everybody, however she wasn't focused on looting. You can send your own men there to loot whatever she left behind. However there is a risk of rot that your sister exuded. [Loot the Fire Monks Fort]
-[X] Study Something: There are many things you do not have a full understanding of. You may not have much, but you are smart, and that should be enough [Improve your understanding of an item]
--[X] Unalloyed Gold
-[X] Cast an Immutable Shield spell over those followers who go to rob the fort to protect them from rot.
-[X] Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold: Your wonder metal is incredible but very hard to make. Only the most skilled of smiths in the capital could forge it; if you want to spread it, the recipe will need to be written in plain terms. [Learning] (5/10 Progress)
-[X] Perform maintenance on Malenia's prosthesis.
-[X] Send Malenia to kill Erdtree Avatar. [DECAY]
-[X] Scry the stars: The stars may be held in stasis and Galdrik's sight may be weaker but if he spends some time he may just be able to support your entire nation with a few tidbits of advice. [Learning]
--[X] Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold
[X] Use the Slumber of the Ages spell on all followers except those who forage to reduce their need for food (1 Piety Action/Turn)
-10 Food (0)
+10 Mundane Resources (10)
-100 Runes (1,380)
+5 Progress: Great Rune of Heresy (40/100)
+5 Progress: Great Rune of Decay (53/100)
65 > 2 Galdrik does not die
You dipped your hands inside a jar as you sat on the steps of your house. You drew deeply on that thick, viscous poison that bubbled and grew in your soul. You allowed it to fall from your finger into the jar you had in front of you. The process would be slow, but you were working to create enough for everybody to have a sip.
It would massively slow down how much they needed to eat while hampering their cognition. It wouldn't solve all of your problems immediately, but it would give you more time to gather food.
Your people just needed to hold on.
You saw Alafair returning one day as you were about to head out. You waved as the Wandering Merchant waved back, slightly more restrained.
"Good day," he said with a bow as he got off his horse; you could see a faint bulge in his coat and how his eyes held only the barest sparks of Frenzied Flame. He seemed to be keeping your nugget of Unalloyed Gold close to him.
"Greetings. What information do you have?" you asked him, and the man smiled as he unrolled a small bit of parchment.
Rumor Mill: Leyndell
30
"The Demigods have scattered, and while there was some panic, the Veiled Monarch managed to quell most of it. Most assume it's Radagon injured during the Shattering; however, nobody has a solid idea," he started.
You nodded. It was only smart to act like Radagon if you couldn't pretend to be anybody else. He was a stalwart supporter of the Golden Order, meaning you could count on most nobles supporting you even if a few didn't trust you due to the secrecy.
"I wasn't able to learn much of what the other Demigods are doing, but Leyndell is clearly getting ready for war. The Golems are being reactivated, and training of new soldiers has ramped up," Alafair contused, his content smile having faded upon delivering that message.
That wasn't good. The Golems were very rare owing to their creators being long dead, but they were army killers by themselves. A single one of them with proper support to defend its legs could snipe a castle wall until it was rubble.
You also knew the only reason you and your sister had managed to flee here was the chaos following the Shattering and the lax military. Even then, most of the Cleanout Knights had either perished or scattered in an attempt to mislead the people following you.
"I'm afraid that's all I was able to discover," Alafair said; you didn't mind. This was plenty for you to think about anyway. However, you did have another idea in mind.
"Would you be able to smuggle supplies up here?" you asked the Wandering Merchant, who grinned, his eyes glinting with a small spark of Frienzed Flame.
"Of course, I could. Let me know what you want, and I'll bring it up next time I'm here," he told you. You would have to pay him upfront, but it would be cheaper now that he was working for you; he didn't need to profit from the goods he bought.
What do you have Alafair smuggle out? Vote by Plan (830 Runes)
[] [Shopping] 20 Food (35 Runes) [Can be chosen twice]
[] [Shopping] 10 Mundane Resources (15 Runes) [Can be chosen twice]
[] [Shopping] 5 Magical Resources (15 Runes) [Can be chosen once]
[] [Shopping] 5 Weaponry (15 Runes) [Can be chosen thrice]
[] [Shopping] 1 Magical Weaponry (15 Runes) [Can be chosen once]
[] [Shopping] Nothing
Secure Food-Hunting
60+10(Martial) = 70 > 75 Success
"Come sit," Galdrik whispered as his hazy eyes looked up at you. He had taken to your spell with great enjoyment, spending many days sleeping away as his aids plied him with the purple liquid they could create. It was not as strong as yours, and you knew they couldn't improve it. They only called on you because you had taught them directly.
To these Astrologers, you were merely teaching them another sorcery; they lacked the faint to utilize incantations unless the source showed them. They couldn't place their fate in anything beyond the stars. It was not something you begrudged them for. It was merely a fact of how they thought.
"When you send them out, tell them to go right and not left," he whispered, and you could see a faint glint of starlight in his eyes. You didn't say anything. Instead, you nodded as Galdrik leaned back in his chair, sighing as he closed his eyes. His aides gave you a slight nod as they covered him in a thick cover; you turned and left your mind turning as you contemplated what he told you.
+10 Food (10)
"You Holiness!" a voice shouted as you saw one of the hunters stumbling back; his eyes were wide as he helped carry something back with a few others.
"Your advice was sound; the left was better. Look what we found!" he shouted proudly. He went to lift the animal, but his companions didn't go along, forcing the man to stumble as he readjusted himself and the animal on his back.
"A bear?" you asked as you got a better look at the animal. It was a bear, and as you looked over your men, you saw that not a single one was hurt, a rarity given that you had known bears to maul and kill even knights.
"Yes, we got the drop on it, your Holiness," the man continued, smiling. "We'll be eating good for a bit," he stated. While you had your disagreements, you merely smiled, causing the men to speed up at the sign of your approval.
Secure Food-Gathering
66+12 = 78 > 50 Success
The rest of the people managed to gather more food; you had enough for some time if you kept up your spell. It would take time for you, but you had plenty of that.
"'er you go," one of the new villagers said with a thick accent. He gave you a look that suggested he wasn't all that happy with his new circumstances. While armed rebellion wasn't in the cards just yet and food had been supplied, you knew that nobody would be happy as you kept up the spell.
You needed to do so unless you wanted people to succumb as their mind and soul were hollowed out from hunger pains, but people still didn't like it all that much. It also gutted your workers. Things you oversaw yourself weren't all that impacted, but your hunters and woodcutters had returned with only half of their normal bounty.
You'd have to figure out a better source of food quickly.
+5 Food (15)
Study Unalloyed Gold
16+25(Learning) = 41 < 80 Fail
Your study on the Unalloyed Gold was not coming along well. You knew how you made it and were actively working to simplify it, but the deeper sections and how every part worked were difficult to decipher.
You knew that it involved purifying gold, an already pure metal. You had burned away the gold and extracted the essence of it, purity in its most concentrated form. It was from there that you forged Unalloyed Gold. The first ingot had been expensive, and only your status allowed you to spend the resources to make as much as you had.
However, you simply didn't have the resources to improve further; you could poke and prod all you wanted, but you couldn't properly test it. You also didn't want to waste your precious ingots; you had no way of making more up here.
Instead, you turned to your notes and attempted to move forward that way, but that method was slow. You knew that gold was pure and that Unalloyed Gold was even more pure, but how did melting gold in a crucible make it purer?
You knew about extracting essences and such. While you were no Perfumer, you were still intelligent and had access to libraries that would have shamed all but the ones at Raya Lucaria.
You sighed as you dropped the bar on the table; you had learned a small bit about Unalloyed Gold, but not nearly enough to consider yourself better at utilizing it. So you returned to studying your miracle metal.
Setting up a Trade Route for Food
98+40(Diplomacy) = 138 > 50 Success
You had approached the closest village to trade; you didn't want to try and put them under your sway quite yet as you didn't have the supplies to provide for them.
"Greetings, I have come to trade!" you shouted, causing one of the people who had been working closest to the edge of the village to stride over. He was clothed in thick furs, and judging by how his eyes scanned you, he was suspicious. However, he was allowed in the village all the same.
"What's a lass like you doing out here?" he asked gruffly once you had been sat at one of the tables inside a building. You had taken a quick look around, and you could tell this was one of the better-off villages you had seen; in fact, it was likely just on the edge of becoming a village.
"I have come to trade," you stated, using a smidge of your charm to smooth past any major issues he may have with your age. You didn't want to put it on too thick as you were here to trade and couldn't support an entire village.
"Well, I suppose what others do is their business," he mused to himself as he scratched his chin. So, what do you want?" he asked, leaning forward to look you in the eyes.
"Food and I am perfectly willing to offer a fair trade," you replied, causing the man to laugh.
"Well, let's see what you have to offer," he said with a chuckle.
What do you trade?
[] [Trade] Resources (-5 Mundane Resources/Turn, +10 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Weaponry (-1 Weaponry/Turn, +5 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Runes (-50 Runes/Turn, +15 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Charm them (+20 Food/Turn, you can recruit the village as a Free Action later)
Setting up a Trade Route for Food
4+40(Diplomacy) = 44 < 50 Failure
You were trudging through the snow towards the second of the nearby villages when you heard a voice shout.
"Stay away!" the man shouted, but you could tell he was sick, and judging by what you could see, the vast majority of the people had caught some sort of illness. Your sister hadn't passed by this way, so it was unlikely that it was something that you couldn't cure.
"We are sick! Let it die out!" he shouted once again before doubling over and spitting blood on the ground. You couldn't see him but you could assume he didn't see you. You could turn around and leave if you wanted to, however if you managed to heal them they would likely be willing to trade on good terms. Of course you could also fall ill from whatever they had, even if it was not all that likely.
What do you do? (Depending on the rolls and how you go about it, you may become sick)
[] [Sickness] Attempt to cure them with Golden Fundamentalism (Piety, you will gain Golden Fundamentalism towards this check)
[] [Sickness] Turn the sickness against itself with the Great Rune of Heresy (Piety, you will gain the effects of [HERESY] for this check)
[] [Sickness] Utilize mundane medicine (Learning)
[] [Sickness] Leave, do nothing
[] [Sickness] Something else? (Write in)
-650 Runes (830)
+65 Great Rune of Herest Progress (105/100)
You breathed in as you held out your hands. You held Runes inside your soul but had not allowed your Great Rune to sup on them. However, you decided to do it now. You wanted to allow it to grow, and while your sister may have objected, she was away.
You were sat in the snow, in case you started leaking fire like when you absorbed it. You breathed in again as you focused and started feeding Runes to your Great Rune.
That feeling of fire in your veins flared as your nerves started to sing. You ignored that as you kept pouring more and more Runes into this fragment of the Elden Ring.
You collapsed into the snow as heat was expelled from your body, and the snow melted. You breathed out a lick of flame as your body grew feverish, and you thought you could see something—a great ring spinning as the entire world spun. However, you knew that was just your fevered mind making things up as you burned.
Your Great Rune grew, and you remembered what your brother said all those years ago as fire spilled out of your lungs and into the air.
Heresy burns.
How does your Great Rune burn?
[] Heresy of Time (Gain an extra Personal Action and a random extra Nation Action each turn. Time will start to behave strangely around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY])
[] Heresy of Death (You can restore anybody to life; if they lack a soul, you will restore them as well as you remember them. The process of death will start to behave strangely around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY])
[] Heresy of Distance (You can travel nearly anywhere in only a few moments, bypassing all but the strongest wards and defenses. Space will start to behave strangely around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY])
[] Heresy of Shackles (You can break nearly anything; only the strongest wards will be able to prevent this. Physical objects will slowly break and crumble around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY])
[] Heresy of Thought (You can subvert and twist the thoughts of others with only Gods and the mightiest Empyreans able to resist. People's minds will start to warp around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY])
Last edited:
24 Hour Notice
The vote will be closing in around 24 hours
Vote Closed
Turn 5.2 Results
-15 Runes (815)
"Here you go, the staves and seals," you told Alafair, who nodded as he drew in the Runes you had given him. His eyes gleamed for a split second with the grace of gold before it was subsumed by his yellow eyes.
"I will make sure to bring them back," he said with a nod, "However, a few other folks seem like they might want some goods," he continued, a faint smile curling up on his face.
You merely chuckled as Alafair rode off to ply his trade. You may have recruited him, but he was still a Wandering Merchant; there wasn't much you could do to stop him from trading.
Receive 1 Magical Weaponry next turn
"We will bring supplies of wood and stone," you told the man, who nodded.
"We'll supply you with food," he replied, although he stopped after a moment's thought, "I do have an idea: We could build a road—something to make travel easier."
"Perhaps," was your response. You didn't want to commit to anything, but a road might be a good idea. It would allow for more trade, whereas now you had to slowly bring supplies with sleds. A road would be a hard endeavor, but it might just be worthwhile.
Trade Route Formed
-5 Mundane Resources/Turn
+10 Food/Turn
You approached them, and as you did so, your hands were held at your side, golden light curling between them. The man coughed as he held up his hand, and it shook weakly as he tried to shout, but his words were stolen by sickness and cold winds.
Golden Fundamentalism Treatment
89+39(Piety)+20(Golden Fundamentalism) = 148 > 45 Success
Regression, the pull of meaning and yearning to converge. That was what your healing called on, to return whoever you graced with your golden light to their peak.
Light surged from you, and while the fires of heresy may burn in your soul, you knew the light was beautiful. You turned away from the Golden Order because it could not help your sister, but you wouldn't deny its beauty.
"Hold still," you ordered the man as you approached him. His hazy eyes looked at you as you placed a hand on his torso and channeled Golden Fundamentalism. The Law of Regression tore through his body as he thrashed in the snow; healing like this wasn't always painless, and with a disease, it would be only worse.
However, after a few moments, you removed your hand, and the man rubbed his throat as he peered down at his hands. He slowly rose to his feet, moving gingerly like he expected a flare of pain at any moment.
"What..." he uttered, his voice trailing off as he moved his tongue around his mouth and poked his teeth.
"Take me to your sick," you ordered the man who looked down at you. He nodded dumbly as he started off. He had resigned himself to death, but you had arrived and cured him. You expected his mind to take some time to catch up to his new lease on life; mortals were fragile like that.
You traveled around the village and sent out golden grace to pull back who you could from the brink. Many had passed on, and while you could cure anything short of when the soul fled the body under the weight of life, you couldn't cure that.
"Thank you," the man said, his newly invigorated breath steaming the air as he sat with the few you had managed to bring back to life.
"We don't know what caused it, maybe an animal or something," he started more to himself than to you," The younger ones died first, vomiting blood, then everybody else. These are the only ones left," he murmured as he looked around at the half a dozen people you had managed to bring back from the brink.
"Thank you," he continued, and you could feel the faint cloying poison that curdled in your soul grow as his devotion grew in you. In just a few days, these people would be devotees of St. Trina.
"Of course," you replied as your mind spun. You eventually decided what to do with these people.
What do you do?
[] [Recruitment] Bring them back to your village (+7 Humans, +2 Human Morale)
[] [Recruitment] Leave them here (+3 Food/Turn, +1 Mundane Resources/Turn. This will rise to a max of +9 Food and +3 Mundane Resources)
Heresy burns.
That was a statement you were learning once again as the Great Rune seared your soul. Your mind once again heard a crackling of a pyre as you remembered her, poor Ranni, second to be slain in the Night of the Black Knives.
"Why art thee h're?" Ranni asked as she looked up from her book. You had to jump up into the chair across from her as you smiled at her. You weren't applying charm, but you were trying to be charming.
"I wanted to talk to you," you said as your heart pounded. You would be discussing big things here, and you had to approach it delicately.
"V'ry well," she replied as she set the book down. You cast a covert glance at it, a simple textbook of frost sorcery. You had assumed her teacher would have taught her everything, but given she had perished some time ago, perhaps she was brushing up on the text.
You breathed in through your nose as butterflies swam in your stomach, nearly lost in her red hair, oh so reminiscent of your father, and golden eyes that peered down at you.
"I would request a promise between us," you said, causing Ranni to slowly bink as you took on a more formal tone. I will ascend, and you will be my lord. I will aid you in what you desire," you continued, trying to keep the desperate yearning out of your tone.
You knew that she was dissatisfied with the Golden Order; you were as well. You could work together to break the old order; you would cure your sister, have Ranni, and push away the Outer Gods for an age free of their meddling, free for everybody to dwell in compassion. Yet you couldn't ignore the other part; you simply wanted her. She was a brilliant ruby with an inner gold light, a shining gem that, simply peering at her fiercely intelligent eyes, struck you with a deep yearning.
She opened her mouth to reply—
Your visions faded as the soul-deep pain faded. Tears of liquid fire trailed down your cheeks as you felt steam rise from around you. You rose to your feet and wiped your face.
Ranni was dead; there was no use in thinking about the past. It didn't matter that you felt that old yearning in your heart each night. It didn't matter that you could still see her lifeless eyes. You couldn't help but think of the past and what could have been,
You knew that this Great Rune could overturn everything; could it perhaps overturn time itself?
Gain an extra Personal Action and a random extra Nation Action each turn. Time will start to behave strangely around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY]
You have undergone the first stage of Vcissitude
"When this gold starts to fade, you will retreat from the fort; your life is worth more than whatever resources they have there," you told the men who had supplied for this trip. Your sister had slew everybody there and returned with only a few injuries. However, who had told her to draw upon her Great Rune? So you had no doubt the fort would crumble as the world around it decayed and rotted.
You knew your magic didn't mean much in the face of a fragment of the Elden Ring, but it was better than nothing.
"Of course, Your Holiness," the expedition leader said as he hiked the bag on his back higher up. They had bags stuffed with supplies and large sleds ready to cart back what they found.
You saw them off with a few nerves but trusted they would follow your will. You had told them what to do, and despite the layer of unease that lay under your village, these men were trustworthy; they would listen to you.
Loot the Fort
35+29(Intrigue) = 64
+20 Food (25)
+7 Mundane Resources (17)
+3 Weaponry (8)
+1 Magical Weaponry (1)
+3 Bloodstone (3)
+1,000 Runes (1,815)
+Shield of the Fell God
Rot Resistance
79+20(Immutable Shield) = 99 > 80 Success
They returned days later, sleds holding a bounty of supplies. You could see a few downturned gazes and reddened eyes, so you hurried out.
"Who is sick?" you asked, and your men pointed at one of the people lying on a mostly empty sled. You strode over and saw his fever; however, you could tell that it would pass in just a few days. Your shield ensured that this man and likely the rest did not bring sickness back into your village.
"He is better," you said as you called on the Law of Regression. Time spiraled in reverse as the man coughed his lungs free of the cloying sickness that had been clouding them. His eyes were now free of any ailments, and as he staggered out of the sled, he rose to his feet.
"Thank you," he said with a deep bow as he assisted the other men you had sent out and continued pulling the sled to your store piles. It was a good bounty and held things you did not know about; you would have to spend some time to figure out what they did.
Perform maintenance on Miquella's Gift
97+25(Learning) = 122 > 60 Success
You were lying across your sister's lap in your room's bed. You had been busy and couldn't spend much time with your sister, so you had cajoled her into spending some time with you.
You hummed as she stroked your hair, and you fiddled with her arm. You enjoyed how her hand ran through your hand, so you closed your eyes and enjoyed the feeling. You remembered this from when you were younger; she had been so afraid that she would get you sick that she fled from every touch.
Only after you had developed what would be Unalloyed Gold that she touched you, and you delighted in that. Now, you thought fondly of that time. You didn't have the time to simply lay next to each other and talk, so you would multitask.
"How is everything?" you asked your dear sister, to which her hand stopped moving for a moment before you butted it, causing her to resume.
"The Rot abates," she stated before stopping. You were about to prod her again before she continued, "The air is pleasant, and the cold is nice."
You knew that getting more out of her was going to be a pain, but as you ensured the fingers of her arm worked, you decided to poke her again.
"How's training going?" you asked. You knew that aside from her devotion to being your blade, she enjoyed swordsmanship. Her mentor had taught her well and imparted a lethal style of fighting that Malenia enjoyed honing.
"It has been going well. The fights have been," she hesitated, "enjoyable."
She felt awkward at enjoying something; so much of her was wrapped up in the Scarlet Rot and her service to you. You loved your sister and enjoyed how close you were. However, she should enjoy things she liked, so you gilded your tongue before you replied.
"That's good. You know there's an Erdtree Avatar if you want to fight it," you told her, your voice gracing her ears like smooth honey. Malenia stopped even as her hand kept moving.
"That would be good," she whispered to herself, to which you grinned. She would never be a battle manic but enjoyed improving herself, taking steps towards the road of her mentor, the Blind Swordsman. It tied back to her service to you, but if she enjoyed bettering herself, there was no reason to discourage it. The fact it helped you was not even a thought in your mind beyond the closeness it would allow the two of you.
Reduced chance for Miquella's Gift to Break
Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold: Galdrik
27+25(Learning) = 52 < 80 Failure Starseer
33+25(Learning) = 58 < 80 Failure
You were trying to distract yourself. Malenia was going out and fighting, you trusted her but that didn't mean yours nerves didn't prickle. So you had talked to Galdrik and received some advice on what he had seen in the stars. You had taken that and sat down with an ingot of Unalloyed Gold.
It didn't matter that he had given you advice when you mind was consumed with doubts. Erdtree Avatar's had been an impalpable fact in your life, they guarded minor Erdtrees and could break armies. You trusted your sister but worry consumed your mind and took away focus from your studying.
You didn't get much done.
Malenia returned days later, unbowed and unharmed. You had been waiting, unable to do anything, as your nerves crackled. She had gone out and done dangerous things before, but this was an avatar of a minor Erdtree. You had believed in her, but that didn't mean you weren't worried about her.
"You're safe!" you crowed with a smile as she kneeled in front of you. Before she could do anything, you wrapped her upper torso in a hug. She returned the hug, long used to your urges and desires.
"Come, let's go inside," you told your sister as you grabbed her hand. You quickly pulled her inside and got her to sit. It was only as her brother that she went along with your whims, and for that, you were grateful.
Food was in greater supply now, so a thing tea was possible, but it was not as close to as good as it was back in Leyndell. However, it was a warm drink, and after days in the cold, you had no doubt Melania would enjoy it.
Judging by her faint smile, she did enjoy it. She then set down two small spheres on the table.
"In its heart, there were these," she told you before holding out a hand. You grasped her hand with your own and felt your soul pulse as Runes flooded it. You breathed in as the hungry flame of heresy inched closer to them, but you ignored that and separated the two.
+3,000 Runes (4,815)
+??? Crystal Tear
+??? Bubbletear
"I see," you muttered as you looked at them. You pushed them aside and focused on your dear sister. She sipped the tea, clearly reading herself for your flurry of questions.
"How was the Avatar? Did your Great Rune work? How did you find these spheres?" you asked, peppering her with questions. Melania smiled, a larger smile than the faint one you had seen in the past few months.
"It was strong with powerful magic, but it used instinct over any real skill," Melania replied, a note of scorn in her voice. My Great Rune caused it to slowly crumble and rot," she hesitated on the last word, "rot as wood does, not Scarlet Rot."
That was a good clarification to make.
"When I slew it, the wood that made it quickly deteriorated; these spheres were the only thing remaining," she said as she reached out just in time to prevent one from falling off the table.
The two of you then continued talking late into the night and simply enjoyed each other's company, which is a rare commodity these days.
Can now plant the Sapling under the Minor Erdtree
Approach the Fire Giant [CHARM] and [HERESY]
100+40(Diplomacy)+20(Charisma of Miquella)+19(Great Rune of Heresy) = 179 Critical Success!
You returned to the Fire Gaint with heresy burning in your soul. You weren't bothered by the snow; your veins held magma now that your Great Rune had grown another step. Your tongue was gilded in brass, and your speech dripped honey. You were to win the Fire Giant over, so you drew closer instead of sitting back.
Heresy burned in your veins, and so the laws of the world were overturned. Time rushed by, and your curse kept you rooted in your nascent years even as the magical shackles on the giant rusted. It didn't matter that they were gold and should not rust; in the face of burnished fire and a honeyed tongue, even these potent wards would slowly crumble.
The Fire Giant was equally helpless to resist your affection. You had come here to compel its affection, and you would not be returning without it, and so you looked up into a being ancient and eons older than you and merely spoke.
You didn't speak with words, you didn't share words, but that didn't matter. You spoke fire and the language of reality, your charm reverberating across this wavelength and ensuring the last of the fire giants in it.
However, something else lurked in the soul of the fire giant: an old god. It was diminished with a single being keeping it alive and its flame slowly burning; without this giant, it would be reduced to a simple flame burning in the forge.
On a true proper God, your charm would have little effect; how could you compel affection when these Outer Gods were beyond that? They didn't care for love, care, or anything else, so they were beyond them. However, over time, even the most potent of Gods could be brought down and see through the eyes of mortals. This Fell God, weak as it was, could understand affection, and so you compiled it.
That didn't mean it could act against its nature. To sacrifice and burn was in its very being; to change that would take time and effort, but you could do it. With a single worshipper, this formerly powerful God could be warped and changed; however, that wasn't what you were doing now.
Instead, you simply sat there as time was stretched thin like taffy, and your tongue of burnished brass spat licks of flame, compelling both giant and God to look upon you with dear love.
The Fire Giant is charmed by you
The Fell God looks upon you with favor
Vote by Plan
Remember you have [HERESY] and [CHARM] additions
[DECAY] addition can only be added to the Action Malenia is taking
Malenia and Galdrik can be assigned to both a Personal Action
Galdrik Advised Action: Set up a proper Religion
Personal Actions
"Here you go, the staves and seals," you told Alafair, who nodded as he drew in the Runes you had given him. His eyes gleamed for a split second with the grace of gold before it was subsumed by his yellow eyes.
"I will make sure to bring them back," he said with a nod, "However, a few other folks seem like they might want some goods," he continued, a faint smile curling up on his face.
You merely chuckled as Alafair rode off to ply his trade. You may have recruited him, but he was still a Wandering Merchant; there wasn't much you could do to stop him from trading.
Receive 1 Magical Weaponry next turn
"We will bring supplies of wood and stone," you told the man, who nodded.
"We'll supply you with food," he replied, although he stopped after a moment's thought, "I do have an idea: We could build a road—something to make travel easier."
"Perhaps," was your response. You didn't want to commit to anything, but a road might be a good idea. It would allow for more trade, whereas now you had to slowly bring supplies with sleds. A road would be a hard endeavor, but it might just be worthwhile.
Trade Route Formed
-5 Mundane Resources/Turn
+10 Food/Turn
You approached them, and as you did so, your hands were held at your side, golden light curling between them. The man coughed as he held up his hand, and it shook weakly as he tried to shout, but his words were stolen by sickness and cold winds.
Golden Fundamentalism Treatment
89+39(Piety)+20(Golden Fundamentalism) = 148 > 45 Success
Regression, the pull of meaning and yearning to converge. That was what your healing called on, to return whoever you graced with your golden light to their peak.
Light surged from you, and while the fires of heresy may burn in your soul, you knew the light was beautiful. You turned away from the Golden Order because it could not help your sister, but you wouldn't deny its beauty.
"Hold still," you ordered the man as you approached him. His hazy eyes looked at you as you placed a hand on his torso and channeled Golden Fundamentalism. The Law of Regression tore through his body as he thrashed in the snow; healing like this wasn't always painless, and with a disease, it would be only worse.
However, after a few moments, you removed your hand, and the man rubbed his throat as he peered down at his hands. He slowly rose to his feet, moving gingerly like he expected a flare of pain at any moment.
"What..." he uttered, his voice trailing off as he moved his tongue around his mouth and poked his teeth.
"Take me to your sick," you ordered the man who looked down at you. He nodded dumbly as he started off. He had resigned himself to death, but you had arrived and cured him. You expected his mind to take some time to catch up to his new lease on life; mortals were fragile like that.
You traveled around the village and sent out golden grace to pull back who you could from the brink. Many had passed on, and while you could cure anything short of when the soul fled the body under the weight of life, you couldn't cure that.
"Thank you," the man said, his newly invigorated breath steaming the air as he sat with the few you had managed to bring back to life.
"We don't know what caused it, maybe an animal or something," he started more to himself than to you," The younger ones died first, vomiting blood, then everybody else. These are the only ones left," he murmured as he looked around at the half a dozen people you had managed to bring back from the brink.
"Thank you," he continued, and you could feel the faint cloying poison that curdled in your soul grow as his devotion grew in you. In just a few days, these people would be devotees of St. Trina.
"Of course," you replied as your mind spun. You eventually decided what to do with these people.
What do you do?
[] [Recruitment] Bring them back to your village (+7 Humans, +2 Human Morale)
[] [Recruitment] Leave them here (+3 Food/Turn, +1 Mundane Resources/Turn. This will rise to a max of +9 Food and +3 Mundane Resources)
Heresy burns.
That was a statement you were learning once again as the Great Rune seared your soul. Your mind once again heard a crackling of a pyre as you remembered her, poor Ranni, second to be slain in the Night of the Black Knives.
"Why art thee h're?" Ranni asked as she looked up from her book. You had to jump up into the chair across from her as you smiled at her. You weren't applying charm, but you were trying to be charming.
"I wanted to talk to you," you said as your heart pounded. You would be discussing big things here, and you had to approach it delicately.
"V'ry well," she replied as she set the book down. You cast a covert glance at it, a simple textbook of frost sorcery. You had assumed her teacher would have taught her everything, but given she had perished some time ago, perhaps she was brushing up on the text.
You breathed in through your nose as butterflies swam in your stomach, nearly lost in her red hair, oh so reminiscent of your father, and golden eyes that peered down at you.
"I would request a promise between us," you said, causing Ranni to slowly bink as you took on a more formal tone. I will ascend, and you will be my lord. I will aid you in what you desire," you continued, trying to keep the desperate yearning out of your tone.
You knew that she was dissatisfied with the Golden Order; you were as well. You could work together to break the old order; you would cure your sister, have Ranni, and push away the Outer Gods for an age free of their meddling, free for everybody to dwell in compassion. Yet you couldn't ignore the other part; you simply wanted her. She was a brilliant ruby with an inner gold light, a shining gem that, simply peering at her fiercely intelligent eyes, struck you with a deep yearning.
She opened her mouth to reply—
Your visions faded as the soul-deep pain faded. Tears of liquid fire trailed down your cheeks as you felt steam rise from around you. You rose to your feet and wiped your face.
Ranni was dead; there was no use in thinking about the past. It didn't matter that you felt that old yearning in your heart each night. It didn't matter that you could still see her lifeless eyes. You couldn't help but think of the past and what could have been,
You knew that this Great Rune could overturn everything; could it perhaps overturn time itself?
Gain an extra Personal Action and a random extra Nation Action each turn. Time will start to behave strangely around you; this effect is enhanced when you use [HERESY]
You have undergone the first stage of Vcissitude
"When this gold starts to fade, you will retreat from the fort; your life is worth more than whatever resources they have there," you told the men who had supplied for this trip. Your sister had slew everybody there and returned with only a few injuries. However, who had told her to draw upon her Great Rune? So you had no doubt the fort would crumble as the world around it decayed and rotted.
You knew your magic didn't mean much in the face of a fragment of the Elden Ring, but it was better than nothing.
"Of course, Your Holiness," the expedition leader said as he hiked the bag on his back higher up. They had bags stuffed with supplies and large sleds ready to cart back what they found.
You saw them off with a few nerves but trusted they would follow your will. You had told them what to do, and despite the layer of unease that lay under your village, these men were trustworthy; they would listen to you.
Loot the Fort
35+29(Intrigue) = 64
+20 Food (25)
+7 Mundane Resources (17)
+3 Weaponry (8)
+1 Magical Weaponry (1)
+3 Bloodstone (3)
+1,000 Runes (1,815)
+Shield of the Fell God
Rot Resistance
79+20(Immutable Shield) = 99 > 80 Success
They returned days later, sleds holding a bounty of supplies. You could see a few downturned gazes and reddened eyes, so you hurried out.
"Who is sick?" you asked, and your men pointed at one of the people lying on a mostly empty sled. You strode over and saw his fever; however, you could tell that it would pass in just a few days. Your shield ensured that this man and likely the rest did not bring sickness back into your village.
"He is better," you said as you called on the Law of Regression. Time spiraled in reverse as the man coughed his lungs free of the cloying sickness that had been clouding them. His eyes were now free of any ailments, and as he staggered out of the sled, he rose to his feet.
"Thank you," he said with a deep bow as he assisted the other men you had sent out and continued pulling the sled to your store piles. It was a good bounty and held things you did not know about; you would have to spend some time to figure out what they did.
Perform maintenance on Miquella's Gift
97+25(Learning) = 122 > 60 Success
You were lying across your sister's lap in your room's bed. You had been busy and couldn't spend much time with your sister, so you had cajoled her into spending some time with you.
You hummed as she stroked your hair, and you fiddled with her arm. You enjoyed how her hand ran through your hand, so you closed your eyes and enjoyed the feeling. You remembered this from when you were younger; she had been so afraid that she would get you sick that she fled from every touch.
Only after you had developed what would be Unalloyed Gold that she touched you, and you delighted in that. Now, you thought fondly of that time. You didn't have the time to simply lay next to each other and talk, so you would multitask.
"How is everything?" you asked your dear sister, to which her hand stopped moving for a moment before you butted it, causing her to resume.
"The Rot abates," she stated before stopping. You were about to prod her again before she continued, "The air is pleasant, and the cold is nice."
You knew that getting more out of her was going to be a pain, but as you ensured the fingers of her arm worked, you decided to poke her again.
"How's training going?" you asked. You knew that aside from her devotion to being your blade, she enjoyed swordsmanship. Her mentor had taught her well and imparted a lethal style of fighting that Malenia enjoyed honing.
"It has been going well. The fights have been," she hesitated, "enjoyable."
She felt awkward at enjoying something; so much of her was wrapped up in the Scarlet Rot and her service to you. You loved your sister and enjoyed how close you were. However, she should enjoy things she liked, so you gilded your tongue before you replied.
"That's good. You know there's an Erdtree Avatar if you want to fight it," you told her, your voice gracing her ears like smooth honey. Malenia stopped even as her hand kept moving.
"That would be good," she whispered to herself, to which you grinned. She would never be a battle manic but enjoyed improving herself, taking steps towards the road of her mentor, the Blind Swordsman. It tied back to her service to you, but if she enjoyed bettering herself, there was no reason to discourage it. The fact it helped you was not even a thought in your mind beyond the closeness it would allow the two of you.
Reduced chance for Miquella's Gift to Break
Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold: Galdrik
33+25(Learning) = 58 < 80 Failure
You were trying to distract yourself. Malenia was going out and fighting, you trusted her but that didn't mean yours nerves didn't prickle. So you had talked to Galdrik and received some advice on what he had seen in the stars. You had taken that and sat down with an ingot of Unalloyed Gold.
It didn't matter that he had given you advice when you mind was consumed with doubts. Erdtree Avatar's had been an impalpable fact in your life, they guarded minor Erdtrees and could break armies. You trusted your sister but worry consumed your mind and took away focus from your studying.
You didn't get much done.
Malenia Combat
20+65(Prowess)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 104
Erdtree Avatar Combat
20+30(Prowess) = 50 < 104 Failure
Malenia Combat
70+65(Prowess)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 154
Erdtree Avatar Combat
99+30(Prowess)-5(Injured)-10(Decay) = 114 < 154 Failure
Malenia Combat
88+65(Prowess)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 172
Erdtree Avatar Combat
69+30(Prowess)-10(Injured)-20(Decay) = 69 < 172 Failure
20+65(Prowess)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 104
Erdtree Avatar Combat
20+30(Prowess) = 50 < 104 Failure
Malenia Combat
70+65(Prowess)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 154
Erdtree Avatar Combat
99+30(Prowess)-5(Injured)-10(Decay) = 114 < 154 Failure
Malenia Combat
88+65(Prowess)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 172
Erdtree Avatar Combat
69+30(Prowess)-10(Injured)-20(Decay) = 69 < 172 Failure
Malenia returned days later, unbowed and unharmed. You had been waiting, unable to do anything, as your nerves crackled. She had gone out and done dangerous things before, but this was an avatar of a minor Erdtree. You had believed in her, but that didn't mean you weren't worried about her.
"You're safe!" you crowed with a smile as she kneeled in front of you. Before she could do anything, you wrapped her upper torso in a hug. She returned the hug, long used to your urges and desires.
"Come, let's go inside," you told your sister as you grabbed her hand. You quickly pulled her inside and got her to sit. It was only as her brother that she went along with your whims, and for that, you were grateful.
Food was in greater supply now, so a thing tea was possible, but it was not as close to as good as it was back in Leyndell. However, it was a warm drink, and after days in the cold, you had no doubt Melania would enjoy it.
Judging by her faint smile, she did enjoy it. She then set down two small spheres on the table.
"In its heart, there were these," she told you before holding out a hand. You grasped her hand with your own and felt your soul pulse as Runes flooded it. You breathed in as the hungry flame of heresy inched closer to them, but you ignored that and separated the two.
+3,000 Runes (4,815)
+??? Crystal Tear
+??? Bubbletear
"I see," you muttered as you looked at them. You pushed them aside and focused on your dear sister. She sipped the tea, clearly reading herself for your flurry of questions.
"How was the Avatar? Did your Great Rune work? How did you find these spheres?" you asked, peppering her with questions. Melania smiled, a larger smile than the faint one you had seen in the past few months.
"It was strong with powerful magic, but it used instinct over any real skill," Melania replied, a note of scorn in her voice. My Great Rune caused it to slowly crumble and rot," she hesitated on the last word, "rot as wood does, not Scarlet Rot."
That was a good clarification to make.
"When I slew it, the wood that made it quickly deteriorated; these spheres were the only thing remaining," she said as she reached out just in time to prevent one from falling off the table.
The two of you then continued talking late into the night and simply enjoyed each other's company, which is a rare commodity these days.
Can now plant the Sapling under the Minor Erdtree
Approach the Fire Giant [CHARM] and [HERESY]
100+40(Diplomacy)+20(Charisma of Miquella)+19(Great Rune of Heresy) = 179 Critical Success!
You returned to the Fire Gaint with heresy burning in your soul. You weren't bothered by the snow; your veins held magma now that your Great Rune had grown another step. Your tongue was gilded in brass, and your speech dripped honey. You were to win the Fire Giant over, so you drew closer instead of sitting back.
Heresy burned in your veins, and so the laws of the world were overturned. Time rushed by, and your curse kept you rooted in your nascent years even as the magical shackles on the giant rusted. It didn't matter that they were gold and should not rust; in the face of burnished fire and a honeyed tongue, even these potent wards would slowly crumble.
The Fire Giant was equally helpless to resist your affection. You had come here to compel its affection, and you would not be returning without it, and so you looked up into a being ancient and eons older than you and merely spoke.
You didn't speak with words, you didn't share words, but that didn't matter. You spoke fire and the language of reality, your charm reverberating across this wavelength and ensuring the last of the fire giants in it.
However, something else lurked in the soul of the fire giant: an old god. It was diminished with a single being keeping it alive and its flame slowly burning; without this giant, it would be reduced to a simple flame burning in the forge.
On a true proper God, your charm would have little effect; how could you compel affection when these Outer Gods were beyond that? They didn't care for love, care, or anything else, so they were beyond them. However, over time, even the most potent of Gods could be brought down and see through the eyes of mortals. This Fell God, weak as it was, could understand affection, and so you compiled it.
That didn't mean it could act against its nature. To sacrifice and burn was in its very being; to change that would take time and effort, but you could do it. With a single worshipper, this formerly powerful God could be warped and changed; however, that wasn't what you were doing now.
Instead, you simply sat there as time was stretched thin like taffy, and your tongue of burnished brass spat licks of flame, compelling both giant and God to look upon you with dear love.
The Fire Giant is charmed by you
The Fell God looks upon you with favor
Vote by Plan
Remember you have [HERESY] and [CHARM] additions
[DECAY] addition can only be added to the Action Malenia is taking
Malenia and Galdrik can be assigned to both a Personal Action
Galdrik Advised Action: Set up a proper Religion
[] Recruit Followers: You need people to help you, and the nearby villages may be taken into the fold. Of course, they are suspicious folk so that it may be difficult.
-[] From where (Currently available: Small Villages)
[] Seek Sapient Allies: You are going to be wandering about and trying to find people willing to help you. This will be dangerous given where you are, and Malenia will hate it, but you need more than humans if you want to move forward.
[] Approach the Guilty: Heretics who blooded glintstone with both innocent vitals and their own. They may be mad and possibly attempt to attack you, but allies are sorely needed.
-[] Recruit with blood (Reduce one random stat by 1. Gain 30 Guilty)
-[] Recruit with Runes (-15 Runes/Turn. Gain 30 Guilty)
-[] Attempt to win them over (Diplomacy. Gain 30 Guilty)
-[] Charm them (Gain 30 Guilty. Their Morale will always be 10)
[] Approach the Zamor: You do not know if any ancient enemies of the Giants remain, but if they do, you would be able to gain potent allies—or at least take the first step towards that.
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
-[] From where (Currently available: Small Villages)
[] Seek Sapient Allies: You are going to be wandering about and trying to find people willing to help you. This will be dangerous given where you are, and Malenia will hate it, but you need more than humans if you want to move forward.
[] Approach the Guilty: Heretics who blooded glintstone with both innocent vitals and their own. They may be mad and possibly attempt to attack you, but allies are sorely needed.
-[] Recruit with blood (Reduce one random stat by 1. Gain 30 Guilty)
-[] Recruit with Runes (-15 Runes/Turn. Gain 30 Guilty)
-[] Attempt to win them over (Diplomacy. Gain 30 Guilty)
-[] Charm them (Gain 30 Guilty. Their Morale will always be 10)
[] Approach the Zamor: You do not know if any ancient enemies of the Giants remain, but if they do, you would be able to gain potent allies—or at least take the first step towards that.
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Mount an Expedition: You have something you want to explore, a place that you can plunder for loot and goods. You may not have an army but Malenia will serve as one.
-[] Where do you go? ()
[] Raid the villages: A more violent method of procuring what is needed, but sometimes you have no other choice. Put a village to the sword and ensure nobody is allowed to escape; you will have your supplies. [Gain a random amount of food, a random amount of Mundane Resources and a small chance of Weaponry]
[] Secure Food-Hunting: Another option is to strike out and secure your food from the flesh of animals. The beasts here are hardy and used to hiding, so that it will be hard. [Gain 10 Food]
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
-[] Where do you go? ()
[] Raid the villages: A more violent method of procuring what is needed, but sometimes you have no other choice. Put a village to the sword and ensure nobody is allowed to escape; you will have your supplies. [Gain a random amount of food, a random amount of Mundane Resources and a small chance of Weaponry]
[] Secure Food-Hunting: Another option is to strike out and secure your food from the flesh of animals. The beasts here are hardy and used to hiding, so that it will be hard. [Gain 10 Food]
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Gather Resources: Lumber, stone, and many other things that are needed to build a settlement. You have none of them and will need to gather them. Given the lack of people to help, it will be challenging, but you'll power through it [Gain 5 Resources]
[] Gather Magical Resources: If the lack of simple resources is an issue, the lack of magical ones will be a bigger problem, especially this far north. Even something as simple as seals and staves will be out of your control until you gather some [Gain 1 Magical Resource]
[] Secure Food-Gathering: A more peaceful method, herbs, berries, and other such things. The possible stock you can gain is much lower, but the chance of stumbling across something deadly is also much lower [Gain 5 Food]
[] Build something: You have the people but need a place for them to work. You know the blueprints for a few things, so let's get to work.
-[] What do you build? (Look under Nation)
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Gather Magical Resources: If the lack of simple resources is an issue, the lack of magical ones will be a bigger problem, especially this far north. Even something as simple as seals and staves will be out of your control until you gather some [Gain 1 Magical Resource]
[] Secure Food-Gathering: A more peaceful method, herbs, berries, and other such things. The possible stock you can gain is much lower, but the chance of stumbling across something deadly is also much lower [Gain 5 Food]
[] Build something: You have the people but need a place for them to work. You know the blueprints for a few things, so let's get to work.
-[] What do you build? (Look under Nation)
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Loot the Catacombs: Your dear sister slew everybody in and brought back what she could. You can send your own men down there to loot whatever she left behind. However there is a risk of rot that your sister exuded. [Take whatever Malenia missed]
[] Improve the Rumour Mill: You have a steady supply of information but it could be better. Information is power and you need more power if you are going to bring about a new Age.
-[] Improve Leyndell (-50 Runes/Turn)
[] Information Gathering: Up here, away from the rest of the world, information is going to be hard to come by. However, Traveling Merchants do rarely make their way up here and you may be able to tease tales out of them. [Learn a random Rumour]
[] Secret Hunting: Here, at the top of the world, many secrets are hidden away. You don't know what you find, but if you want to learn, you'll have to head out and seek out hidden sights. [Discover the location of something useful]
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Improve the Rumour Mill: You have a steady supply of information but it could be better. Information is power and you need more power if you are going to bring about a new Age.
-[] Improve Leyndell (-50 Runes/Turn)
[] Information Gathering: Up here, away from the rest of the world, information is going to be hard to come by. However, Traveling Merchants do rarely make their way up here and you may be able to tease tales out of them. [Learn a random Rumour]
[] Secret Hunting: Here, at the top of the world, many secrets are hidden away. You don't know what you find, but if you want to learn, you'll have to head out and seek out hidden sights. [Discover the location of something useful]
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Study Something: There are many things you do not have a full understanding of. You may not have much, but you are smart, and that should be enough [Improve your understanding of an item]
-[] What? (Runes, Unalloyed Gold, the Sapling, Sacred Tear, Grave Glovewort, Smithing Stone, Spirit Ashes)
[] Plant the Sapling: What may be a tree like the Erdtree has been brought here. However, it is confined to a pot and slowly withering away. You may be able to keep it alive, but for it to thrive, it must be planted in soil and allowed to grow [Plant a spaling that will grow with time]
-[] Under the Minor Erdtree
[] Catalog the surroundings: This mountaintop is wild and free; the first step to understanding the more esoteric is understanding the basics. You'll need to write down what you find before you can delve deeper [Reduce the DC of certain Actions and gain information on the surroundings]
[] Research a new building: You are smart and need more if you want to grow. So sit down pen in hand and start working on blueprints
-[] What do you want this building to do? (Write in)
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
-[] What? (Runes, Unalloyed Gold, the Sapling, Sacred Tear, Grave Glovewort, Smithing Stone, Spirit Ashes)
[] Plant the Sapling: What may be a tree like the Erdtree has been brought here. However, it is confined to a pot and slowly withering away. You may be able to keep it alive, but for it to thrive, it must be planted in soil and allowed to grow [Plant a spaling that will grow with time]
-[] Under the Minor Erdtree
[] Catalog the surroundings: This mountaintop is wild and free; the first step to understanding the more esoteric is understanding the basics. You'll need to write down what you find before you can delve deeper [Reduce the DC of certain Actions and gain information on the surroundings]
[] Research a new building: You are smart and need more if you want to grow. So sit down pen in hand and start working on blueprints
-[] What do you want this building to do? (Write in)
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Spread the word of St. Trina: That other part of you is not known here, but given some time, she may be. As proven by your mother, religion is a potent tool. However, you don't want word of you getting out. so a lesser part of you will serve as a figurehead. [Improve Morale of people when recruited]
[] Spread the word of Miquella: You are not known here, perhaps to a select few, but beyond that, you are merely a newcomer. As proven by your mother, religion is a potent tool, and you do not fear those you may speak word of you. [Improve Morale of people when recruited]
[] Hold Sermons: They will not be as great as they could be with a proper religion backing them. However you don't want that quite yet, or you just don't have the time. Whatever the reason you need to improve morale and this is a good way to do it. [Improve Morale]
[] Collect donations: You are low on everything from food to Runes; a few donations may be needed if you want to survive. It's not as effective for relation building as blessing without asking for something, but the folk may be convinced to part with their goods in exchange for a few blessings. [Gain a small amount of Runes]
[] Bless nearby villages: A prayer for rain here, a small bit of healing there. The people here are without gods, but that does not mean they will deny your help. This may be the first foot in the door for better relations with the more paranoid villages. [Reduce DC for nearby villages]
[] Set up a proper Religion: So far many people have heard the word of St. Trina but you need something proper, something official that people will fall in line with.
-[] What is the name and overall tennets? (Write in)
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
[] Spread the word of Miquella: You are not known here, perhaps to a select few, but beyond that, you are merely a newcomer. As proven by your mother, religion is a potent tool, and you do not fear those you may speak word of you. [Improve Morale of people when recruited]
[] Hold Sermons: They will not be as great as they could be with a proper religion backing them. However you don't want that quite yet, or you just don't have the time. Whatever the reason you need to improve morale and this is a good way to do it. [Improve Morale]
[] Collect donations: You are low on everything from food to Runes; a few donations may be needed if you want to survive. It's not as effective for relation building as blessing without asking for something, but the folk may be convinced to part with their goods in exchange for a few blessings. [Gain a small amount of Runes]
[] Bless nearby villages: A prayer for rain here, a small bit of healing there. The people here are without gods, but that does not mean they will deny your help. This may be the first foot in the door for better relations with the more paranoid villages. [Reduce DC for nearby villages]
[] Set up a proper Religion: So far many people have heard the word of St. Trina but you need something proper, something official that people will fall in line with.
-[] What is the name and overall tennets? (Write in)
[] Write-in (Something else, must be approved by QM)
Personal Actions
[] Develop a spell: If you want to solve problems, the simplest thing is magic. You have great knowledge of Incantations so why not figure out a solution from that? [Piety]
-[] What field and what do you want it to do? (St. Trina's Blessing or Golden Fundamentalism)
[] Research magic: To expand your understanding, you'll have to delve deeply into magic, both old and new. You won't be seeking out new spells but explorations of old understandings or delving into what new magic can be found here. [Piety]
-[] What field (St. Trina's Blessing or Golden Fundamentalism)
[] Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold: Your wonder metal is incredible but very hard to make. Only the most skilled of smiths in the capital could forge it; if you want to spread it, the recipe will need to be written in plain terms. [Learning] (5/10 Progress)
[] Focus on your Great Rune: You must cultivate that burning in your breast if you wish to claim godhood. That lava in your veins will grow as you attune to it. [Piety]
[] Work on freeing the Fire Gaint: With it under your spell it will be a very potent ally. You do not know where you can start but you will have to at least try. [Learning]
[] Train a stat: You must be better if you want to claim the throne. This is merely the first step.
-[] What stat (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning, Piety, or Prowess)
-[] What field and what do you want it to do? (St. Trina's Blessing or Golden Fundamentalism)
[] Research magic: To expand your understanding, you'll have to delve deeply into magic, both old and new. You won't be seeking out new spells but explorations of old understandings or delving into what new magic can be found here. [Piety]
-[] What field (St. Trina's Blessing or Golden Fundamentalism)
[] Simplify the recipe for Unalloyed Gold: Your wonder metal is incredible but very hard to make. Only the most skilled of smiths in the capital could forge it; if you want to spread it, the recipe will need to be written in plain terms. [Learning] (5/10 Progress)
[] Focus on your Great Rune: You must cultivate that burning in your breast if you wish to claim godhood. That lava in your veins will grow as you attune to it. [Piety]
[] Work on freeing the Fire Gaint: With it under your spell it will be a very potent ally. You do not know where you can start but you will have to at least try. [Learning]
[] Train a stat: You must be better if you want to claim the throne. This is merely the first step.
-[] What stat (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning, Piety, or Prowess)
[] Guard Miquella: It is nearly impossible for you to get rid of her for some time. So you'll have to grin and bear it for the next while as she never lets you out of her sight. [Prowess]
[] Cultive the Rot: A deadly bargain, but you will need more potent aid to survive. This is not blooming; you would never ask your dear sister to bloom. However, you would ask her to bring the Scarlet Rot to the surface for a time. [Piety]
[] Focus on her Great Rune: she holds a fragment of the Elden Ring in her breast. It curdles in her veins, and given time, she may allow it to blossom into a ring of its own. [Piety]
[] Train a stat: She believes she must be better if she wants to properly serve as your blade. This is merely the first step.
-[] What stat (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning, Piety, or Prowess)
[] Cultive the Rot: A deadly bargain, but you will need more potent aid to survive. This is not blooming; you would never ask your dear sister to bloom. However, you would ask her to bring the Scarlet Rot to the surface for a time. [Piety]
[] Focus on her Great Rune: she holds a fragment of the Elden Ring in her breast. It curdles in her veins, and given time, she may allow it to blossom into a ring of its own. [Piety]
[] Train a stat: She believes she must be better if she wants to properly serve as your blade. This is merely the first step.
-[] What stat (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning, Piety, or Prowess)
[] Develop a spell: If you want to solve problems, the simplest thing is magic. He has great knowledge of sorcciers so why not figure out a solution from that? [Learning]
-[] What field and what do you want it to do? (Glintstone Sorcery)
[] Scry the stars: The stars may be held in stasis and Galdrik's sight may be weaker but if he spends some time he may just be able to support your entire nation with a few tidbits of advice. [Learning]
-[] What extra Action do you apply Starseer to?
[] Rest: Galdrik is ancient, he has lived much longer than any non-demigod should, or even could. However he still is alive, and yet his soul and mind are flaking away. Given time to rest he'll restore his mind and soul even slightly.
[] Train a stat: He must be better if you want to stand behind you. This is merely the first step.
-[] What stat (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning, Piety, or Prowess)
-[] What field and what do you want it to do? (Glintstone Sorcery)
[] Scry the stars: The stars may be held in stasis and Galdrik's sight may be weaker but if he spends some time he may just be able to support your entire nation with a few tidbits of advice. [Learning]
-[] What extra Action do you apply Starseer to?
[] Rest: Galdrik is ancient, he has lived much longer than any non-demigod should, or even could. However he still is alive, and yet his soul and mind are flaking away. Given time to rest he'll restore his mind and soul even slightly.
[] Train a stat: He must be better if you want to stand behind you. This is merely the first step.
-[] What stat (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning, Piety, or Prowess)
Last edited:
24 Hour Notice
The vote will be closing in around 24 hours
Vote Closed
Turn 6.1 Results
+3 Food (28)
+8 Mundane Resources (25)
-100 Runes (4,715)
+5 Progress: Great Rune of Heresy (10/200)
+5 Progress: Great Rune of Decay (65/100)
6 > 2 Galdrik does not die
Time moved along; your people shambled about with purple poison in their souls, cloying the veins and welling up in the eyes. However, they were still yours; they had sworn themself to you, and so they worked despite rumors and talks of sedation.
Food was finally being stockpiled, and you had perhaps enough to supply your settlement for a time—not for long—but perhaps you could fit the poison that ran through their veins and clouded their sight.
You shook your head. You couldn't afford that. You had to keep moving forward and keep forging relations. There were still other villages on the mountain, other people you could bring into the fold, and so much to do.
You could lift the spell later; you had so much to do.
"Hey!" Alafair shouted as his animal clip-clopped through the snow. You turned and waved before gesturing for him to follow you toward one of the houses. It was a very snowy day today, and you doubted he wanted to sit out as the snow piled higher and higher.
The Wandering Merchant did just that, climbing off his animal and tied it to a post outside the house. He then undid a flap on the bag hanging from its neck, revealing a bounty of hay the animal started digging into.
"How has information gathering gone?" you asked Alafair after he had gotten settled. Your head of the rumor mill hummed as he took a sip from the mug of steaming tea placed in front of him.
Leyndell Rumour Mill
56
"There's not much to talk about. The army is training and getting properly equipped. The nobles have settled down after some words behind closed doors, and the downtrodden are crushed underfoot," he told you with a spark of anger in his last few words. I also brought the staves; your men should be grabbing them."
You leaned around him and saw that was the case. You nodded at them as they slowly, with faint tracks of purple running down their faces, gathered the staves and seals.
+1 Magical Weaponry (2)
"Thank you. Now, I would like you to improve your network," you told Alafair, causing the man to hum as a calculating gleam entered his eyes.
"Sure, I'll need some more Runes if I'm going to do anything beyond keeping an ear open," he replied, and you nodded. You knew you had supported his lavish spending as he kept an ear open. Now, you needed a proper network beyond a few bribes and open ears; this would require proper funds.
-50 Runes (4,665)
"Here you go," you told him as fragments of the Elden Ring drifted from you to him. His eyes gleamed momentarily as he breathed out, that strange feeling everybody felt at touching even the smallest portions of the Elden Ring being brushed aside.
"Thank you. I'll do what I can," he replied as he rose to his feet. You didn't take offense; you knew that he was more comfortable on the road and that he would want to get going.
Now, you just had to trust him to start building an information network; knowledge was power, and you needed all the power you could get.
Improve the Leyndell Rumour Mill
93+29(Intrigue) = 122
+10 to Leyndell Rumour Mill rolls
Who would you like Alafair to focus on? (Pick Two)
[] [Rumour] The Nobles
[] [Rumour] The Army
[] [Rumour] The Citizens
[] [Rumour] The Downtrodden
[] [Rumour] The Veiled Monarch (Counts as Two)
Set up a proper Religion [CHARM]
18+39(Piety)+20(Charisma of Miquella) = 77 > 70 Success
You strode into the town center where you had told your people to meet. You were going to form a proper religion, something more than the scattered faiths of people you had brought into your fold.
You stepped up on a small plinth that had been set up for you. As you raised your hands in the air, you gilded your tongue in silver before raising your voice as high as your small body could.
"Greetings!" you shouted, the words nearly stolen by the frozen breeze. Even if they couldn't hear, the meaning of your words struck their soul. You compelled their affection as you spoke to the point that even the blind could see your vision.
"I come, speaking in the same of St. Trina. This world is cruel!" Your voice continued to rise as your vocal cords trembled, but silver held them tight as you spoke.
"However, soon this Golden Dawn will arrive, and if you follow me, you will see it in your lifetime," you said. You had started with the brilliant light, the goal for everybody to reach toward. Now, you needed to give them what they could do, something everybody could do to work towards your promised goal.
"And so I say There are tyrants in this world, those who abuse the power they have to enslave the weak and hunt those they find different. When you have power, be not like the tyrants. Instead, to those who are weak, extend the hand of help; to those who are scorned, lend your heart and ear. For in aiding one another, we find strength to heal the world." you told your group as fervor rose. They were listening; these downtrodden at the end of the world liked the idea of helping others, of reaching a hand down and pulling somebody up.
"Lastly, a warning!" you shouted, causing the growing mutters to fade down, "There will be those that strive to impede us, that cloud the waking mind. Listen to the dreams; listen to me when I whisper in your ear as you sleep. Trust in me and swear to listen as the master of dreams and slumber," your voice faded as you finished, and for a scant second, you worried. What if they didn't want this? What if they assaulted you and tried to drive you out?
Then the voices, the shouts, and screaming of devotees who would lay down their lives rushed over you. The blossoming warmth their faith sent up your spine was greater than any meal you had tasted. You could feel that purple poison grow throughout your soul as St. Trina was established. You had been St. Trina before, as a guise and for deception, but now you were St. Trina just as much as you had been Miquella. Perhaps just a hair more, for who knew of Miquella except for your sister?
That thought tickled the back of your mind as your soul swelled with the faith of your new church brought in with a silver tongue.
Formed Church of Golden Dawn
Boost Morale
92+40(Diplomacy) = 132 > 65 Success
You talked. It was something you felt like you did often, but now you were doing it more than before. People came to you with problems. They could be small or big, but you solved them or, at the very least, talked with them.
"Do you know your blood is radiant?" one of the Guilties asked as he leered at your chest. You knew it wasn't your chest he was looking at; it was your heart. The Guilties had this fascination with your blood that baffled you, but you ignored it because you were here to talk to them.
"Yes, do you have any other problems?" you asked, utilizing your kind voice. You were St. Trina right now, and despite these strange questions, you didn't care; that cloying purple poison blotted out your anger.
"Ah, just tired and hungry," he complained, but you had heard that dozens of times by now, so you merely brushed past that.
"That is being worked on, and here," you told him as you forced out that poison in your soul into a drop of violet purple. The Guilty's eyes locked on it as he reached down and drank the poison, his posture relaxing as he rose to his feet.
He slurred out words that you couldn't understand before he shambled away and left. You breathed out, your breath steaming the air as the fire burned in your veins. You ignored them as you readied yourself to speak once again.
+1 Human Morale (6/10)
+1 Astrologer Morale (4/10)
+1 Guilty Morale (3/10)
Hold Sermons
28+39(Piety) = 67 > 40 Success
You watched as Somnus spoke, his voice reverberating with his faith in you.
"Come now!" he shouted at the people who passed by. "You cry and whine over tiredness. Is St. Trina not the mistress of dreams? Should you not be grateful that she shares her gift with you? She has shared a brilliant future with us that we just have to grasp."
You noticed that people perked up as they heard that your religion was already providing a backbone for people. The prayers you had faintly heard had returned with a vengeance, tugs, and strings coiling around your limbs as people put their faith in you.
Was this why your mother was a goddess? Having these people in your palm was intoxicating. You could tell them to do something, and they would fall over themselves to agree, to worship at the feet of St. Trina.
Well, perhaps not yet. Despite your pulling them in by compelling affection, religion was a hard sell. It would take time to grow until your people truly believed, but until then, you would watch and guide them as the mistress of dreams and guardian of the downtrodden they thought you were.
+1 Fervor (1/10)
+2 Human Morale (8/10)
+2 Astrologer Morale (6/10)
+2 Guilty Morale (5/10)
Setting up a Trade Route for Food
77+40(Diplomacy) = 117 > 60 Success
Setting up a Trade Route for Food
55+40(Diplomacy) = 90 > 60 Success
Trading was the same as always. You had to head to a place and talk to people. You knew what buttons to press, just going through the motions. They didn't have anybody who could resist your charm, as simple as it was.
Despite a few people questioning your authority, you were a nascent goddess and Empyrean. A simple look had them retreating as you kept talking with their leader.
It was oh so simple to pull their strings and have them dancing along. It would only take a moment to have them under your thrall, and they would happily give up their food. Or you could, of course, trade and give away what was yours, so for what was theirs. However, you increasingly thought, why? You were trying to help them; they were struggling here, so why not accept them into the fold and just help them? It would only take a few words and they would be so much more happier.
What do you trade? (Pick two, can pick the same option twice)
[] [Trade] Resources (-5 Mundane Resources/Turn, +10 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Weaponry (-1 Weaponry/Turn, +5 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Runes (-50 Runes/Turn, +15 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Charm them (+20 Food/Turn, you can recruit the village as a Free Action later)
Plant the Sapling under the Minor Erdtree
60+29(Intrigue) = 89 > 60 Success
You sat back on your heels as you patted your hands together. You had planted the Sapling under the Minor Erdtree; it was cradled in the roots of the much larger tree and would grow as it drained from it.
It had been easy to plant, and even now, it grew visible to the naked eye. You let blood fall from your arm, slaking its thirst before you closed the wound with a simple thought of regression.
You then held out your hand and sent out purple mist.
Cast: Room of Slumber
67+39(Piety)+30(St. Trina's Blessing) = 136 (Anything that can sleep must pass a DC 136 check to not fall asleep upon entering this room. Certain people and beings are immune)
It took a scant few seconds to cast the spell, flooding the room with a thick mist. You took a few more moments to ensure the room was clouded with it. This would affect how the tree grew, but it was better than leaving it in the open.
You smiled as you departed, purple mist coiling around your legs as whatever small animals remained in the room slipped into a deep and permanent slumber.
What do you name this sapling?
[] [Sapling] Write in
Study the Great Rune of Decay: Malenia
49+25(Learning)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 93 > 80 Success
"It breaks everything down," Malenia stated as she looked down at you resting in her lap. You hummed as she ran her flesh and blood through your hair, telling her to continue.
"There is not much else to say; it breaks everything down, even the Scarlet Rot," she said. You looked up at her when she said that, but before your mind could go off spiraling into new directions, she gently pushed you back down to her lap.
"It doesn't do anything else; the Scarlet Rot is entirely unaffected beyond a faint ebbing."
"That doesn't mean it can't help!" you shot back, your voice carrying faint hints of hope. The Golden Order itself may have failed her, but that didn't mean this fragment of it couldn't help.
"Perhaps," she replied, caving instantly. You felt a flicker of regret about pushing her on this but ignored it. You were trying to help her. She would tell you if she truly didn't want to talk about it, so you would push her on how her Great Rune worked so that you could help her.
"Tell me everything," you asked her, your voice faint with hope.
Gain Basic Understanding: Great Rune of Decay
-500 Runes (4,165)
+50 Progress: Great Rune of Decay (115/100)
You watched from a distance as Malenia sat your gift cradled in her flesh arm. She was growing her great Rune, and while she had tried to push you away, you had crept after her. She wouldn't be getting rid of you, so she had allowed you to watch.
You could only hope she would arrive on the other side still your sister, and stronger.
How does Malenia's Great Rune curdle?
[] Decay of Heart (Malenia reduces the DC of any action where she non-violently conflicts with people. People's emotions will slowly curdle into apathy the longer they spend around her; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] Decay of Flesh (Inflict a stacking -20 debuff on everybody in the same combat as Malenia. People will start to become ill and die around her; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] Decay of Earth (Malenia can slowly break and ruin anything; nobody except her can halt the process. Non-living things will slowly break, and living things will slowly weaken around her; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] Decay of Memory (Malenia can induce the mental and spiritual effects of old age on anybody with only Gods and the mightiest Empyreans able to resist. The mental faculties and souls of everybody around her will slowly deteriorate; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] A Partial Bloom (Malenia's Scarlet Rot is enhanced, she takes another step closer to her destiny)
+8 Mundane Resources (25)
-100 Runes (4,715)
+5 Progress: Great Rune of Heresy (10/200)
+5 Progress: Great Rune of Decay (65/100)
6 > 2 Galdrik does not die
Time moved along; your people shambled about with purple poison in their souls, cloying the veins and welling up in the eyes. However, they were still yours; they had sworn themself to you, and so they worked despite rumors and talks of sedation.
Food was finally being stockpiled, and you had perhaps enough to supply your settlement for a time—not for long—but perhaps you could fit the poison that ran through their veins and clouded their sight.
You shook your head. You couldn't afford that. You had to keep moving forward and keep forging relations. There were still other villages on the mountain, other people you could bring into the fold, and so much to do.
You could lift the spell later; you had so much to do.
"Hey!" Alafair shouted as his animal clip-clopped through the snow. You turned and waved before gesturing for him to follow you toward one of the houses. It was a very snowy day today, and you doubted he wanted to sit out as the snow piled higher and higher.
The Wandering Merchant did just that, climbing off his animal and tied it to a post outside the house. He then undid a flap on the bag hanging from its neck, revealing a bounty of hay the animal started digging into.
"How has information gathering gone?" you asked Alafair after he had gotten settled. Your head of the rumor mill hummed as he took a sip from the mug of steaming tea placed in front of him.
Leyndell Rumour Mill
56
"There's not much to talk about. The army is training and getting properly equipped. The nobles have settled down after some words behind closed doors, and the downtrodden are crushed underfoot," he told you with a spark of anger in his last few words. I also brought the staves; your men should be grabbing them."
You leaned around him and saw that was the case. You nodded at them as they slowly, with faint tracks of purple running down their faces, gathered the staves and seals.
+1 Magical Weaponry (2)
"Thank you. Now, I would like you to improve your network," you told Alafair, causing the man to hum as a calculating gleam entered his eyes.
"Sure, I'll need some more Runes if I'm going to do anything beyond keeping an ear open," he replied, and you nodded. You knew you had supported his lavish spending as he kept an ear open. Now, you needed a proper network beyond a few bribes and open ears; this would require proper funds.
-50 Runes (4,665)
"Here you go," you told him as fragments of the Elden Ring drifted from you to him. His eyes gleamed momentarily as he breathed out, that strange feeling everybody felt at touching even the smallest portions of the Elden Ring being brushed aside.
"Thank you. I'll do what I can," he replied as he rose to his feet. You didn't take offense; you knew that he was more comfortable on the road and that he would want to get going.
Now, you just had to trust him to start building an information network; knowledge was power, and you needed all the power you could get.
Improve the Leyndell Rumour Mill
93+29(Intrigue) = 122
+10 to Leyndell Rumour Mill rolls
Who would you like Alafair to focus on? (Pick Two)
[] [Rumour] The Nobles
[] [Rumour] The Army
[] [Rumour] The Citizens
[] [Rumour] The Downtrodden
[] [Rumour] The Veiled Monarch (Counts as Two)
Set up a proper Religion [CHARM]
18+39(Piety)+20(Charisma of Miquella) = 77 > 70 Success
You strode into the town center where you had told your people to meet. You were going to form a proper religion, something more than the scattered faiths of people you had brought into your fold.
You stepped up on a small plinth that had been set up for you. As you raised your hands in the air, you gilded your tongue in silver before raising your voice as high as your small body could.
"Greetings!" you shouted, the words nearly stolen by the frozen breeze. Even if they couldn't hear, the meaning of your words struck their soul. You compelled their affection as you spoke to the point that even the blind could see your vision.
"I come, speaking in the same of St. Trina. This world is cruel!" Your voice continued to rise as your vocal cords trembled, but silver held them tight as you spoke.
"However, soon this Golden Dawn will arrive, and if you follow me, you will see it in your lifetime," you said. You had started with the brilliant light, the goal for everybody to reach toward. Now, you needed to give them what they could do, something everybody could do to work towards your promised goal.
"And so I say There are tyrants in this world, those who abuse the power they have to enslave the weak and hunt those they find different. When you have power, be not like the tyrants. Instead, to those who are weak, extend the hand of help; to those who are scorned, lend your heart and ear. For in aiding one another, we find strength to heal the world." you told your group as fervor rose. They were listening; these downtrodden at the end of the world liked the idea of helping others, of reaching a hand down and pulling somebody up.
"Lastly, a warning!" you shouted, causing the growing mutters to fade down, "There will be those that strive to impede us, that cloud the waking mind. Listen to the dreams; listen to me when I whisper in your ear as you sleep. Trust in me and swear to listen as the master of dreams and slumber," your voice faded as you finished, and for a scant second, you worried. What if they didn't want this? What if they assaulted you and tried to drive you out?
Then the voices, the shouts, and screaming of devotees who would lay down their lives rushed over you. The blossoming warmth their faith sent up your spine was greater than any meal you had tasted. You could feel that purple poison grow throughout your soul as St. Trina was established. You had been St. Trina before, as a guise and for deception, but now you were St. Trina just as much as you had been Miquella. Perhaps just a hair more, for who knew of Miquella except for your sister?
That thought tickled the back of your mind as your soul swelled with the faith of your new church brought in with a silver tongue.
Formed Church of Golden Dawn
Boost Morale
92+40(Diplomacy) = 132 > 65 Success
You talked. It was something you felt like you did often, but now you were doing it more than before. People came to you with problems. They could be small or big, but you solved them or, at the very least, talked with them.
"Do you know your blood is radiant?" one of the Guilties asked as he leered at your chest. You knew it wasn't your chest he was looking at; it was your heart. The Guilties had this fascination with your blood that baffled you, but you ignored it because you were here to talk to them.
"Yes, do you have any other problems?" you asked, utilizing your kind voice. You were St. Trina right now, and despite these strange questions, you didn't care; that cloying purple poison blotted out your anger.
"Ah, just tired and hungry," he complained, but you had heard that dozens of times by now, so you merely brushed past that.
"That is being worked on, and here," you told him as you forced out that poison in your soul into a drop of violet purple. The Guilty's eyes locked on it as he reached down and drank the poison, his posture relaxing as he rose to his feet.
He slurred out words that you couldn't understand before he shambled away and left. You breathed out, your breath steaming the air as the fire burned in your veins. You ignored them as you readied yourself to speak once again.
+1 Human Morale (6/10)
+1 Astrologer Morale (4/10)
+1 Guilty Morale (3/10)
Hold Sermons
28+39(Piety) = 67 > 40 Success
You watched as Somnus spoke, his voice reverberating with his faith in you.
"Come now!" he shouted at the people who passed by. "You cry and whine over tiredness. Is St. Trina not the mistress of dreams? Should you not be grateful that she shares her gift with you? She has shared a brilliant future with us that we just have to grasp."
You noticed that people perked up as they heard that your religion was already providing a backbone for people. The prayers you had faintly heard had returned with a vengeance, tugs, and strings coiling around your limbs as people put their faith in you.
Was this why your mother was a goddess? Having these people in your palm was intoxicating. You could tell them to do something, and they would fall over themselves to agree, to worship at the feet of St. Trina.
Well, perhaps not yet. Despite your pulling them in by compelling affection, religion was a hard sell. It would take time to grow until your people truly believed, but until then, you would watch and guide them as the mistress of dreams and guardian of the downtrodden they thought you were.
+1 Fervor (1/10)
+2 Human Morale (8/10)
+2 Astrologer Morale (6/10)
+2 Guilty Morale (5/10)
Setting up a Trade Route for Food
77+40(Diplomacy) = 117 > 60 Success
Setting up a Trade Route for Food
55+40(Diplomacy) = 90 > 60 Success
Trading was the same as always. You had to head to a place and talk to people. You knew what buttons to press, just going through the motions. They didn't have anybody who could resist your charm, as simple as it was.
Despite a few people questioning your authority, you were a nascent goddess and Empyrean. A simple look had them retreating as you kept talking with their leader.
It was oh so simple to pull their strings and have them dancing along. It would only take a moment to have them under your thrall, and they would happily give up their food. Or you could, of course, trade and give away what was yours, so for what was theirs. However, you increasingly thought, why? You were trying to help them; they were struggling here, so why not accept them into the fold and just help them? It would only take a few words and they would be so much more happier.
What do you trade? (Pick two, can pick the same option twice)
[] [Trade] Resources (-5 Mundane Resources/Turn, +10 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Weaponry (-1 Weaponry/Turn, +5 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Runes (-50 Runes/Turn, +15 Food/Turn)
[] [Trade] Charm them (+20 Food/Turn, you can recruit the village as a Free Action later)
Plant the Sapling under the Minor Erdtree
60+29(Intrigue) = 89 > 60 Success
You sat back on your heels as you patted your hands together. You had planted the Sapling under the Minor Erdtree; it was cradled in the roots of the much larger tree and would grow as it drained from it.
It had been easy to plant, and even now, it grew visible to the naked eye. You let blood fall from your arm, slaking its thirst before you closed the wound with a simple thought of regression.
You then held out your hand and sent out purple mist.
Cast: Room of Slumber
67+39(Piety)+30(St. Trina's Blessing) = 136 (Anything that can sleep must pass a DC 136 check to not fall asleep upon entering this room. Certain people and beings are immune)
It took a scant few seconds to cast the spell, flooding the room with a thick mist. You took a few more moments to ensure the room was clouded with it. This would affect how the tree grew, but it was better than leaving it in the open.
You smiled as you departed, purple mist coiling around your legs as whatever small animals remained in the room slipped into a deep and permanent slumber.
What do you name this sapling?
[] [Sapling] Write in
Study the Great Rune of Decay: Malenia
49+25(Learning)+19(Great Rune of Decay) = 93 > 80 Success
"It breaks everything down," Malenia stated as she looked down at you resting in her lap. You hummed as she ran her flesh and blood through your hair, telling her to continue.
"There is not much else to say; it breaks everything down, even the Scarlet Rot," she said. You looked up at her when she said that, but before your mind could go off spiraling into new directions, she gently pushed you back down to her lap.
"It doesn't do anything else; the Scarlet Rot is entirely unaffected beyond a faint ebbing."
"That doesn't mean it can't help!" you shot back, your voice carrying faint hints of hope. The Golden Order itself may have failed her, but that didn't mean this fragment of it couldn't help.
"Perhaps," she replied, caving instantly. You felt a flicker of regret about pushing her on this but ignored it. You were trying to help her. She would tell you if she truly didn't want to talk about it, so you would push her on how her Great Rune worked so that you could help her.
"Tell me everything," you asked her, your voice faint with hope.
Gain Basic Understanding: Great Rune of Decay
-500 Runes (4,165)
+50 Progress: Great Rune of Decay (115/100)
You watched from a distance as Malenia sat your gift cradled in her flesh arm. She was growing her great Rune, and while she had tried to push you away, you had crept after her. She wouldn't be getting rid of you, so she had allowed you to watch.
You could only hope she would arrive on the other side still your sister, and stronger.
How does Malenia's Great Rune curdle?
[] Decay of Heart (Malenia reduces the DC of any action where she non-violently conflicts with people. People's emotions will slowly curdle into apathy the longer they spend around her; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] Decay of Flesh (Inflict a stacking -20 debuff on everybody in the same combat as Malenia. People will start to become ill and die around her; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] Decay of Earth (Malenia can slowly break and ruin anything; nobody except her can halt the process. Non-living things will slowly break, and living things will slowly weaken around her; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] Decay of Memory (Malenia can induce the mental and spiritual effects of old age on anybody with only Gods and the mightiest Empyreans able to resist. The mental faculties and souls of everybody around her will slowly deteriorate; this effect is enhanced when she uses [DECAY])
[] A Partial Bloom (Malenia's Scarlet Rot is enhanced, she takes another step closer to her destiny)
24 Hour Notice