Mage for Hire

[DreamerGhost]

It began with an explosion of sound. The entire city of Zatos jumped up from their beds as a screech of grinding metal washed over the night. Vagabonds peered from around corners, citizens leaned out from the windows of their homes, guards left their posts and every stray cat ran off into the countryside. All of them looked at the moon which seemed to have been squeezed out into a bright H by some invisible force. Then the strange lensing effect vanished, followed by an explosion of light. Only as people were finishing rubbing spots from their eyes, the actual explosion came. There was no sound, and even more strangely, no wind. It was as if the horizon fell, night's sky pushing down trees and flattening the southern fields.

The moon shone ever so brightly over the crater that used to be the top of nearby mage tower. Several figures hovered nearby, wondering how the hell one managed to create a crater twenty stories in the air, but a crater it was. Light that fell against the edges of the crater flowed downwards towards the center, same happened to spells, and as far as they could tell, thoughts. When they reached the center, they went to… somewhere. Perhaps went somewhere. One figure shrugged, and another threw up their hands. As far as any of their spells and devices could tell, the crater was not there. Down on the ground, there was an entire crowd of mages, watching silently. One of them coughed. Another took the opportunity to speak into the broken silence.

"You know, that bit there looks like psionics."



The next day, a squad of city guards was sent to investigate and found the tower in a riot. Papers were flying from windows and shouts could be heard in every corridor. A significant portion of what was said seemed incomprehensible, but the hardened guard captain managed to get the gist of it. Someone had done something they should not. Afterward, near everyone showed far more knowledge on the subject than they should have, prompting a wave of accusations, investigations, but as of yet, not violence. The captain then caught a passing mage and shook him until he coughed up that whatever happened was unlikely to be dangerous, at least in the near future. Captain ignored further ramblings about 'insufficient oversight and trust' and sent one of his soldiers back to the city to deliver the calming news. Everyone else remained, in case that the mage did not actually know what he was talking about.

By the second day, the argument had escalated alongside general irritation and exhaustion from sleeplessness. While novices had gone back to their dormitories or set up tents outside with the captain, the senior mages were serious academics and finding out that archmage had broken near every law on studying forbidden magic took precedence to rest. One of the senior mages was explaining to anyone who would listen that demons did not cause minds to decay by their sheer presence, and thus were an acceptable study subject. Another was healing consequences of an explosive argument over destruction magic using what seemed eerily similar to blood magic. Some soldiers tried to calm the mages, but had to stop after a mage was joined by five copies of herself, each in an ever more advanced state of scorchedness, before all six of her ganged up on a fire mage.

By the third day, most were too tired or injured to continue the argument. A mostly untouched force mage claimed the title of archmage, and declared all magic legal until someone showed some reasons to ban it again. Except for chronomancy, which was still banned, because you did not just ignore advice from the future.




Since ancient times, there were two sets of laws on Azimus, the laws of the Nations for the people, and the laws of the Towers for the mages. Noragil the Wise, the king of legend made a deal with Polush the Radiant, Grand Magus of the age, and the twin laws were joined, bringing about an age of prosperity and peace. Neither peace nor prosperity lasted long after the death of Noragil, but the agreement remained. Since those times, Mages were free to apply their laws on their kin, as long as they made sure the laws of the land applied to their colleagues as well.

History turned to legend turned to myth as time passed, people built and warred, mages learned and forgot, but inexorably the civilization grew and expanded. Primeval gateway was discovered and a city was built around it to greet and fleece the travelers from other worlds. Alliances were drawn, treaties were written, and the humble city grew to the Gate City of Zatos, joined by a mage Tower that decided to call this place home.

A couple of months ago Archmage of the Marble Tower failed some new experiment. His failure was best and most immediately known by all who were unfortunate enough to be within ten miles of the tower, and that included Zatos. Nobody died from magic directly, although there were several victims of the ensuing panic. For you, the impact to the city is far less important than the impact to the laws of magic after a new Archmage was chosen. Archibald Hlein, after the preliminary investigation in the failed experiment revealed nearly all types of forbidden magic, decided that it was the lack of second opinions caused by secrecy that was at fault here, and lifted all bans on types of magic. Necromancy, Demonology, Divination, Lifeshaping, Mind magic, all were legal until someone gave Archibald a reason to change this. For quite a few people, this was a chance at life that wasn't a coin toss between constant hiding or building a cult.

You were those people, and you are now standing in front of the main gates of Azimus. Who are you?

[ ] Necromancer Eric Loksad

Eric managed to survive the exceptionally poor reputation of necromancers mostly by looking as unstereotypical as he could manage. His red hair was brushed into flame-like spikes, his clothing was a mix of white and fashionable green, and his complexion was of someone who spent his evenings in pubs rather than crypts. That last one was easier to manage than he was entirely comfortable with.
Deal with the dead, in all meanings of the words. Make contracts with spirits, reanimate corpses, forge deathly and deadly weapons and armor. Trade in bodies, exorcise ghosts, cast and cure curses. Participate in necropolism, build a temple, construct vampires. Act as a sketchy backup surgeon.


[ ] Lifeshaper Riley Wizz

Riley has only recently arrived to this plane, hailing from the Nevenal Guildhold, better known locally as Wastes of Eternal Torment, or Demonic Wastes. Despite the colorful naming, it is actually quite a nice place, no, really, and the reason why the locals were so… varied of form was a long tradition of Lifeshaper practice. Riley is quite idealistic and excitable, their curiosity bringing them away from the Nevenal despite the repeated warnings about the "philistine lands". They had repealed the ban on Lifecraft, they couldn't be that bad.
Deal with the skin, the flesh, and the bone. Heal injuries, replace organs and limbs, build your own dog. Perform plastic changes and craft military abominations. Hunt for rare organs, reliable suppliers and honorable postmen. Act as an actually competent surgeon.


[ ] Demonologist Zahn

Zahn spent her life as an unremarkable street rat until one fateful day when she tried to steal from the wrong guy. Unlike how this story usually goes, she managed to get away, at first, until a creature forged from hands and sharp angles kidnapped her from a group of fellow urchins. For whatever reason, when she was brought to a furious demonologist, the creature requested that the man take her as an apprentice, and he obeyed. Now older and wiser, Zahn has come to the city after escaping her loathsome master, seeking wealth either by theft or occult.
Summon demons and devils, imps and demonic beasts. Trade souls, spread revolutionary ideas, open a diner. Lie, steal, write contracts, undertake tasks from demonic overlords. Aid your friends, sell your enemies, open a market of stories, favors, and demonic artefacts. Act as a sketchy guildmaster.

 

[DreamerGhost]

Spoiler

Yeah. It has been a while. Honestly, I don't much feel like talking about the why, but hopefully, it shouldn't happen again.

When you pass through the Planegate from the strange non-place that connects the worlds, your first impression is that you've emerged in an active city square. Merchants are peddling their wares, kiosks are selling snacks and several people are trying to outshout each other, either delivering news or seeking to attract those leaving for other worlds. You had not known this when you left, but the non-place is infested with bandits, the strange geometry of the place serving well various brigands and thieves, hiding their presence and delivering them straight to their targets. Those traveling formed convoys and hired mercenaries for security, and it was when one such convoy emerged in Nevenal to recover from Fading that you joined them to leave for worlds unseen. A gloved hand grabbed you by the shoulder and pulled you out of your mussing and away from the Planegate, few others swearing and walking past where you recently stood. Lothar, a mercenary you befriended on the journey pulling you out of the way of a busy stream of people moving towards a massive wall in the distance.

"Don't zone out like that Riley. In a big city like Zatos there's always something to make you better off alert." Lothar was an endless font of good advice and you owed him a lot. Too bad you neither had parts for improvements nor knew how to Reinforce, so you could only offer verbal thanks.

"So we're in Zatos? That's a lot of tents." There must have been hundreds of them, some barely large enough to fit a person, some that seemed to have multiple storeys, some decorated with colourful flags and dangling windchimes. It kinda made sense, people who camped as close to the Planegate as this had to like traveling and meeting new people, so portable shelter was only practical. Lothar just snorted at this.

"No, we are just in the camp before the inner wall. The city was built with the fear that someone from the portal could attack, so there are defences in place. Cannons, spells, mangonels, archers, you name it." He waved towards a tall wall in the distance. It seemed to surround the portal in a massive circle, perhaps half a mile in length. It was far enough away to miss it over the tent town. "Anyway, the important bit for you now is the gates."

"First, there are the main gates, of which there are four, which allow anyone and anything through, and which you will use. Then there are the Iron Gates, for soldiers and mercenaries in good standing, Silver gates, which handle merchants and their goods, and Glory gates, which only open to those working on official kingdom business. The last ones are the Twilight gates, and…" Lothar looked towards the gates, pausing to think. "They're closed. Don't go there. Ever."

A pebble bounced off Lothar's helmet, causing him to turn and notice the other mercenaries that were waving for him. He waved back and turned back to you. "Allright kid, I gotta go. If you feel like it, we could use a healer, even with your… peculiarities. Ask for Tarnished Doves in the iron quarter, someone will show you the way. See ya later."

"See ya, Lothar", you respond, trying to mimic his accent. He smiled at your attempt and began shoving his way through the crowd towards other mercenaries. It did not take long for you alone to encounter some problems.


"Name?"

"Riley Wizz. That's two z's"

When you set out for adventure, you did not expect a lot of need for documents. Neither did you expected a lot of standing in line, waiting for a bored-looking fat man to write down the details of the visitors. Perhaps to spite you, fate dictated that when you finished standing in line for the gates, the fat man there took one look at you and directed you to another line, terminating at a fortified post filled with armoured people.

"Purpose of visit?"

"Adventuring!"

You could not contain yourself, jumping and exclaiming loudly. The armoured man seemed unimpressed, but he did not need to wait a whole hour doing nothing. You could see smoke and birds even over the high walls surrounding the Planegate, there was an entire city, right there, just a few dozen steps away for you to explore. It was hard to wait.

"Occupation?"

"Lifeshaper."

This managed to elicit an entire frown from the man, but that was all. He wrote down the details, looked at you through a purple lens extracted from a padded box, and then drew a star in the records.

"Origin of blood on your coat?"

"Oh, um. I fixed a poorly healed bone fracture for Yinah, he's a merchant, best figs this way of Jailstone. Has a huge beard, best I've seen." You looked around for him, but he had already passed through the Silver Gates. "Turns out he also had high blood pressure but refused to let me take a look at his heart. Lothar said I should keep the blood, said it would ward away bad luck." You shrugged as the guard glared at you. Yeah, you didn't think that lucky talismans worked that way either, but Lothar was very insistent, and he was also a native of Zatos, so you didn't push the point. Maybe it was some mercenary only superstition?


The man, it seemed, had exhausted his expression quota for the day, so he just waved you through and shouted for the next in line to approach. You went through a damp and cool tunnel and emerged within the city proper. Houses of wood and stone seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon, smells of smoke and cooking wafted through the air and an entire herd of cats chased fat light gray birds across the rooftops. A veritable parade of colours could be seen on people, as well as a great degree of individualism in skin fashions. There was a group of people with crooked noses, quite a few with unevenly balded heads or warts. Many had scars, and most seemed genuine. Oh, how fun it would be to find out how they managed it all without manipulating flesh directly.

You were brought back to the present by a rough elbow shoving you out of the way. Right, don't stand in front of entrances. It was rude to do that when there were so many people around. Your stomach took that time to remind you that you hadn't eaten since this morning, which you quickly fixed with a vegetable stuffed bun from a nearby stall. That brought to you another problem. You had not, exactly, set out with a lot of funds. Nevenal does not use gold or silver for currency, so you only have what you got paid from helping out Yinah. Which amounts to just about enough to eat for a week. You don't strictly need a place to sleep, as you prepared for the adventure with a few body fortification techniques, but still. You would need some income.


[] Explore the city
-[] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
-[] By following
Presumably, all the people are going somewhere. Large crowds should be going somewhere important. Follow them
-[] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.


[] Seek employment
-[] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[] In cosmetology
Discipline of Skin is not exactly easy, but the worst results are not too terrible. Fixable at least. A good place to start for a relative novice such as yourself.
-[] In healing
It's fairly easy to get damaged when everyone is in a rush and in a crush at the same time, and people here heal much slower than in Nevenal. Perhaps some would pay to hasten the process?
-[] In Mugging
It seems that the entire city is governed by the same rules as the Daggers quarters back in Nevenal. You could try your hand at separating people from their coin by force.

 

[DreamerGhost]

Riley Wizz

Age: 29
Shape: Human

Skilled Separator: Riley is capable of recognizing organs, glands and muscle groups, as well as transforming a carcass into usable materials.

Apprentice of Skin: Stretching, moving, curling, removing, you can do it all, given some time and some backup skin for repairs. As long as it is a small enough area.

Apprentice of Bone: You can break and fix, but not mold, bones, as well as transfer marrow. Repairing tendons is within your abilities if the wound isn't too old, or even reattaching them for still bleeding fresh injuries. You can put teeth back in where they belong.

Novice of Flesh: You have a solid base of basics to build upon, but not much more. You can heal recent wounds, especially those made by yourself while working, but even transplanting organs would be risky.

Ageless of Nevenal: Even outside the rejuvenating air of Nevenal you will not die from old age alone. Wounds will recover faster, but age you as smoke of life leaves your body. You were warned to not speak of this.

Tough skin: Your skin has been made supernaturally durable, just enough to keep the elements to a dull background. (Always counts as wearing protective clothing for weather effects)

Spoiler: Rolls and Skill explanations

Rolls for actions are 1d100, with a result over 100 meaning a success.



Trivial: +100
You'd need to be actively getting stabbed in the face to fail this.

Easy: +80
An average person would be able to do this with no trouble, messing this up is either remarkably unlucky or intentional.

Average: +50
An unskilled person has a good chance to manage, but a relevant skill or talent will near ensure success.

Difficult: +30
A task for a journeyman of their craft, trained soldiers, experienced mages and cunning merchants.

Complicated: 0
Success here deserves celebration no matter your capabilities. A challenge for a journeyman, or an uncommon task for a master, these do not come often.

Hard: -20
A task for masters of the art, flat out impossible without great knowledge and skill specialized for the task.

Unique: -50
As far as you know, this has never been done before, and for a good reason. You are not even certain it can be done, let alone how.


Skills prefaced with any of these words can be ranked up, and represent your ability in a wide area. More specific abilities or skills represent distinct advantages or knowledge that possess, and can't be directly ranked up.

(0) Unskilled
(1)Novice
(2)Apprentice
(3)Skilled
(4)Expert
(5)Master
(6)Grandmaster

+10 per rank, reroll on failed tasks of lesser level than your skill level, novice rerolls easy, apprentice rerolls average and so on. Unique task fails don't get rerolled.

 

[DreamerGhost]

Spoiler

Eight days. About five times faster than the previous update, but I have hopes for going under a week.

[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.

[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.

The thing about new places, you decide, as the sun reached the top of it's arc, is that they are very, very distracting. Though there were people wherever you looked, what was really interesting was the animals. Who were also everywhere, just wandering about, completely unowned by anyone. There were no animals in Nevenal, Life Engines had removed all creatures that couldn't consider their own mortality, and all Lifeshaping parts had to either be imported or, as was most common, grown. Small creatures were near impossibly rare, and here there was an entire pile of them between a couple of pavement stones, dragging crumbs of something under the earth. They were too light to feel while walking over your finger and too tiny for your eyes to see what they were made of even if you had cut one open. So you dropped the curious creatures off and left some crumbs from your vegetable bun for them before moving on.

Minuscule creatures were all nice and polite and fun, but larger fur-covered creatures were too wary to approach, same for anything feathered. You could only catch them with the edge of your eyes as they swiftly darted from shade to shade or from roof to roof. Even larger furred creatures, which you knew were cats from a person shouting at one, watched the smaller creatures with hungry intent. You managed to find a cat that was feeling calm enough to allow being touched, and therefore examined with a spell. Your fingers sunk into soft fur as your magic flowed down beneath the skin, down through flesh and into bones and organs. It seemed quite well for something not purpose-built, well packaged and with only a few minor flaws that might have just been damage. It purred beneath your hands. Hmm.



"Excuse me, does this cat belong to anyone?"

A pair of men looked up from their lunch of bread and bacon and at a strange kid carrying an orange cat. They noted the strange clothes and the lack of any weapon. A moment of calculation passed as the possibility of gullibility was weighed against the chance of being cursed.

"Don't think so." Said one of the men. "Falko's cat is orange like that, but he has a black spot over his ears."

"And Jackson's cat has only one ear. Don't know any other orange cat." Added the other. "Anyways, why do you want to know? Did it steal something off your plate?"

"I think he likes me. See?" You poked the cat on the ear and it started purring in your arms.

"More likely feels cold with that short fuzz." The first man smiled. "Or hopes that you'll feed him something." He tried to pet the cat, but his bacon smelling fingers were too appetizing looking for the cat. He hissed as he pulled away, and his friend found this hilarious. The first man frowned, before turning back to you. "Anything else?"

"Oh, do you know where I could find someone dealing with flesh and bone?"

"A butcher? There's a few in the warehouse district, down the street until the fountain and then turn left. From there, follow the smell."

"Thanks."

You waved a goodbye and walked off towards the fountain. The two men looked as you went until you were too far away to hear them.


"What do you think. Elf?"

"Maybe. Do you think that blood on her is related to looking for a butcher?"

"Her? Think that was a boy. Though you never know with elves."

"Elves have sharp ears though. Ah well, none of our problem anymore."

They returned to their lunch. Mages, Zatos was full of them lately. Be polite, send them away and focus on your job rather than gawking. It earned them extra coin for working in danger and nobody got cursed to sneeze fireballs for a week.



The fountain was surrounded by people, but this time some of the people were doing things you could recognize. There was a gaggle of poets trying to charm people with their lyrics for coin, or each other for praise. Open-air stalls were selling various produce, from mushrooms to vegetables to cheese. No meat though. It made some sense, it'd probably spoil in the warmth or get stolen by cats. Some colorfully dressed people with spears were chatting with some plain dressed people with spears and pointing towards you. You waved at them. Now, you were told to take a left…

Suspicion: Light

Spoiler: Suspicion

As a mage, some suspicion is nearly unavoidable. People are wary of your skills, and although a good reputation can mitigate most of it, it will never entirely go away. Light suspicion means that both self and government-appointed peacekeepers will gossip about you and try to keep an eye on you but do little else. They are busy people who don't have time to be turned inside out over a hunch.

The wind brought you many smells, of water, of sweat and of blood. The streets were wide and straight here, the buildings tall, with large doors and tiny windows. Carts were ferrying goods, people were carrying crates and pushing wheelbarrows, and a few people were leading fat looking animals towards somewhere. You followed after them, and soon the smell of blood became sharper. The animals were sold at a large barn that was entirely clear of blood, but this close it was easy to find a smaller building with a water channel leading inside. The door was wide and unlocked.

Inside, the smell of blood washed over you, erasing all outside smells just as thick walls smothered away outside sounds. The floor was covered with blood, dried and fresh, and several carcasses were hanging on hooks, dripping away their last pints. Another carcass of a creature at least twice the size of even the largest of people you had seen was splayed open, revealing myriad of organs inside. You could easily see the guts, which seemed to connect to an entire complex of stomachs, a pair of lungs, spleen, liver, bladder. All fat coated, same as the muscles which were much harder to make out, but this was all a really good start, nothing of importance was as much as scratched.

"Thanks for the praise, but if you are here to purchase, you should talk to William on the other side of the building."

Oh. You said all that out loud. Also, oh, there are people here. You looked away from the carcass and saw that there were four people in the building, three of them looking towards you and one stacking cut up flesh in a box.

"Oh, I was mostly just looking around," you respond.

See a professional at work 83 + 50(Easy) + 30(Skilled) + 10(Mage) = 173

"But I got a bit excited, I have never seen anything like this. Just look at this..." It is so much easier to work your magic when you can just reach out and grab your target without needing to be careful and precise. Connective tissue melts as your magic cuts around the stomach, allowing you to pull it out easily, at least a few inches of it. The weight is too much for you.

"This is not just a stomach, it contains multiple chambers and..." you pause as the spell spreads from your hands, bringing you knowledge. "It can go backwards? Why would it even do that, that is so unusual!"

Perhaps some further investigation can bring answers. You reach in to pull out other organs for a closer look before the one who talked to you stopped you by grabbing your shoulder. Oh right, people.

"Can I work with you here?"

The person in front of you hesitated, and you took this time to focus yourself and take a look at the people here. The one that talked to you was most likely a woman, she had dark green skin and teeth big enough to stretch her lips to the point that her fangs poked out into the air. She stood a full head taller than two men(?), yeah, probably men, holding the carcass in place. They were wrapped in cloth, which made it a bit hard to make out any details. All three were quite muscular, and also a bit fat. The last person here, the one that mostly ignored you, was quite different from the rest, being slim and covered in bright green scales. It would had cost you quite a lot of smoke to get your entire body coated in scales, so you couldn't help but feel a bit impressed. Their head was far smoother, so perhaps they had to trade in some other features for all the scales. These 'human' parts were surprisingly expensive.

"Look uh… Okay, first thing, what is your name?" The woman asked. I just had to stop getting distracted.

"Riley. Riley Wizz."

"Look Riley, you kinda showed up here entirely out of nowhere, I'm not sure if..."

One of the people hissed to attract attention. "Bula. He's a mage. This could be our chance to be rich."

"Not technically a 'he'," you murmured.

Bula rolled her eyes. "Don't mind Jack, he was confused about me as well at first. Rube thought I was a guy at first as well, never seen an orc in his life. Riley, I'll be straight with you. We buy animals and process them into meat for profit. We work fast and simple. I don't know what you see here, but while I could use anyone not too squeamish to deal with blood, I need people who can work fast without too many distractions."

You paused to think, which she seemingly thought was indicative of something. "Yeah. Also, you do not look local, do you even have a place to stay?"

"Uh" you responded eloquently.

"Thought so. I can get you a place to stay for a while, but only if you come work with us, and I won't hesitate to kick you out if you slack off." She folded up her hands over her chest, still holding a sharp knife, and gave you about an eyeblink to consider her offer. "Think fast, this pause is worth silver for us."

This is near the best you could had wanted. "Yes," you answer.

Spoiler: How others saw you

Adventurers 1d100=35
Civilians 1d100=46
Gangs 1d100=56

You have managed to become gainfully employed. Yet there are some immediate decisions to be made.

[x][Work] Work carefully.
Take some time to learn how all these creatures work. Look over all the unique organs and skeletal layouts. Bula won't pay you much while you do this, but you will get at least passingly familiar with all these 'animals'.

[x][Work] Work swiftly
Connective tissue is connective tissue. You don't need saws to get through bones, you can identify any parasites with a touch and your methods open some unique business opportunities. Bula will pay you enough to get some spending money, enough to get some tools and supplies of your very own.

Although you are quite used to replacing the need for Food or Water with the smoke of Life, need to sleep is not as foreign to you. Where will you rest tonight?

[x][Housing] Go with Bula.
Socializing. Free bed, or at least a vertical surface. Potentially someone to ask questions. Potentially a chance to anger people.

[x][Housing] Rent a room.
Privacy. An acceptable place to have visitors in and a borderline suitable place to make experiments in. More permanent than loaning a corner to rest in.

 

[DreamerGhost]

Spoiler

[x][Work] Work swiftly
[x][Housing] Go with Bula.

Well, this took way longer than it had any reason to. I'll be frank, I can't promise regular updates, but I'm still good for, ya know, updates. My problems are less with ideas and more with actually writing them down.

Bulla nodded and smiled at your enthusiastic answer.

"Alright, it's always nice to hear enthusiasm from newcomers. It often evaporates when they realize they'll be needing to extract a barrelful of guts out of a bloody stomach, but you are ahead on that as well. Now then, some quick introductions. I'm Bula Stargazer, these two," she pointed to the two men behind the carcass "are brothers, Luc and Jean Irons. The Lizardkin over there," she pointed to the scaled one stacking the meat, "is Fish. Strange name, but that's what he goes by."

"I'm Riley Wizz. What's a Lizardkin?'

"You don't know? They're really widespread, even more than us Orcs. Huh, makes me wonder where you're from. They come from, Swamp of Whispers, that's how the world is called?" Fish paused in stacking of meat to give a thumbs up. "Yeah, Swamp of Whispers. Strange place, you can hear thoughts of others there. Makes for honest and straightforward people, and Fish is about as straightforward as they get." Bula paused for a moment. "Okay, you can ask him yourself after work. Jean, can you show Riley the ropes?"

'Sure thing boss. Come here Riley, we have a pig that needs opening."

You followed Jean to another carcass hanging from a hook, this one of a smaller creature with far shorter legs. It was a far more robust build, long legs were an absolute nightmare to balance back at the studies. They just snapped so easily. Jean took a knife off his belt, sharpened it for a bit on a stone he also carried and pulled the creature, the pig, around to show the stomach.

"We always begin cutting from the stomach. Removing the digestive tract is a priority so it doesn't spoil the rest of the meat. The rest of the organs usually go straight after, and then it's your pick what to cut first. it's a good idea to put a bucket under the body to catch any guts that spill, or any other nasty stuff. Like this." Jean cut open the pig from between the back legs nearly all the way to the neck in one smooth motion, guts and blood flopping out nearly entirely into the bucket below. Jean quickly severed them from the body and also cut out the stomach into the same bucket before cutting again, this time horizontally, to open the body up easier.

Jean was good at keeping his knives sharp and making use of that sharpness, cutting out and sorting the rest of the internal organs in just a few minutes, his knife skillfully gliding through tendons and around bones. Liver and heart were set aside to be sold individually. Kidneys and lungs were piled up to be made into sausages, which was why Jean said they 'bucketed the guts rather than throwing them downriver'. The rest of the organs were also swiftly sorted into the two piles, and then Jean moved on to muscle and fat. That was where the main differences from your classes appeared. Rather than separate muscles by groups, Jean cut straight through, and you had to calm yourself after seeing such waste. Jean did not notice your lapse in the attention you didn't think and continued explaining as he cut up the pig in four large pieces, breaking it up at the spine, and then raised a saw to get through more firmly attached ribs. It was too much for you.

"Jean, stop!"

"Oh? You have a question?"

"Yes, or rather, no, or rather several. Just don't break the ribs please."

D100=79 +50(Average) +30(Skilled Dismantler)=159

You gripped the spine with your hand and sent out your magic. There was the bone, there it connected to the rest of the spine and here was the joint to the rib. Focus your power onto it, collect all the joints in your mind as one, and then dissolve the sinew and break the bones away. You shook your hand holding the spine and ribs popped away from it. Jean whistled.

"Nice. Faster than a saw as well. But I was going to let you take a hand at this after I showed you how to cut, no need to rush."

"But you were going to cut open the bones! They are just so hard to grow together, I had to practice for years!"

Jean looked at the ribs, cutting off some sinew here and there, his hands working while he talked.

"You a healer then? I dunno much about putting bones back in shape, but not much point here. They'll get cut up anyways when making soup."

Nooooooo.

"Well, if you need any, we go through about ten pigs a day. Just say a word and we can get you as many as you need."

Crap, you were thinking loudly again.

"For now though..." Jean put the ribs aside and poked his knife at the fatty belly of the pig. "This is where we cut for a slab of bacon."


Jean continued cutting up the meat and explaining what was going to end up as what once on the table for sale, but since you hadn't had many chances to eat meat or even food in general, it was all a bit of a blur. You did know what all those muscles were, so you instead tried memorizing by what got damaged and how. Heartbreaking, but you persevered. After Jean finished cutting up the pig and Fish carried away the cuts, you got your chance to try your hand on a fresh carcass under Jean's supervision. He loaned you his backup knife, and so began your first ever attempt to butcher a body for meat. It went… acceptably. You certainly didn't cut straight a ham-to-be and then stitch the flesh back together before anyone noticed. No. Not at all.

As the light coming in through the windows began to wane, Bula declared the day over and you looked over your tally. Since you knew your way around both knives and general anatomy, learning each animal didn't take too long and Jean didn't throw too much variety at you. You've managed two pigs before the slaughterhouse ran out or them, and then Jean moved you onto chickens, which didn't require near as much work, so you got eight.

"Pretty good for your first day," said Jean, as he noticed you counting your work. "Especially since it was only really half a day. I'll see about getting you to try out goats and ducks tomorrow, and cattle the day afterward. That should cover most of what we butcher here."

You had wanted to continue, but you had to admit that it'd be hard to work in the dark, and there weren't any more carcasses left. Instead, you chose to badger Jean with questions about how all those strange bits you found inside animals worked, and when it turned out he knew little, what kind of animals there were. When Bula called you away, you went off full of excitement for tomorrow.

***

When you left the slaughterhouse, a familiar face greeted you. "Mrow." said a large orange cat that you met in the morning and which escaped your hands as you got close to the slaughterhouse. Did it wait for you here all this time?

"Found yourself a little friend, have you? Be careful, cats can get scratchy." Bula smiled, but kept her distance from the cat in your hands. You looked at the cat with suspicion. "Are their cuts that bad? They don't seem to have very long claws."

Bula sighed. "They're not too terrible, but we Orcs heal slowly. I thought it was the same everywhere, but no, apparently orcs heal the slowest of all races that have ever passed Zatos. A scratch gets really aggravating when it stays for months. Not that you have to worry, humans heal freakishly fast."

"Not human." You murmured.

"Ah right, sorry. You look very human though. Where do you hail from?"

"Nevenal Guildhold."

"Must be a distant world, since I never heard of it, and I know of over a thousand."

"Where are you from?"

"Ah, never mentioned, did I? Like most orcs, I'm from Varthurg. A close world, both in travel time and character. Though I am told the two are the same thing in Pathspace. Same rivers, same plains, same forests, but everything is larger than here. How about Nevenal?"

"It's mostly just empty. Rocks and sand as far as the eye can see. Cities are nice, but they don't have all the free creatures like Zatos does." You pulled the cat up for emphasis.

"Zatos is quite fun, isn't it. What did you like best so far?"

Bula told you much about the city and the people here as you walked and talked. The world was called Zatos, after the city you two were in, and the people that lived here were Humans. Zatos belonged to Kingdom of Ways, ruled by King Galeran. Ways was the largest kingdom in the world by far, and was conquering more land with great success so far, which meant that King Galeran was practically never within the palace that rested just half an hour of walk from here. There were a lot of new ideas to learn here, which took a while as Bula had her own questions about how come you didn't know what war was.


"Home sweet home," Bula declared, as you two approached a two-story brick house. It stood shorter than nearby wooden houses, but a small tower on the roof raised it above its neighbors. Smoke rose from a chimney, showing someone besides Bula was around. The windows were made from glass, something you have only ever seen in Guildhouses. Come to think of it, near every house here had glass windows. You had guessed it wouldn't be as rare outside Nevenal, if people brought it to trade, but this was a lot of glass. The windows elsewhere were empty holes or had wooden shutters, so it wasn't like the whole city had been glass filled.

"Your house looks expensive." You said, almost a question.

"Yeah, it is. My whole family lives here, we plan to sell it before moving to another world. Much harder to steal a building than gold." She opened the door which was unlocked and motioned you in. The first room was quite cozy, with soft chairs arranged around a small table. Nearby shelves showed off beautiful plates and cups, as well as a selection of tea and wine. You never had much experience with either, and this adventure would be a good chance to experience both. That was what adventures were all about, after all, experiencing new stuff. One of the walls was left pretty barren, and Bula told you that the furnace was just behind it, filling the room with comfortable warmth. The first room was where her family would meet important people that came to buy their maps.

Bula's entire family were dedicated 'astronomers'. She thought that the orc name for this, stargazer, was much more apt and you agreed. In their home world, there were many stargazers looking at the sky and tracking the stars, but the stars of other worlds were mostly unknown, a flaw that Bula and her family set out to fix. They also collected information on Pathspace, producing maps that were quite popular even among merchants, who usually maintained their own maps. Bula aside, her father, Moth, and sister, Glasha, were here with her, as well as Glasha's husband, Yroth. Moth and Glasha were both stargazers and often slept during the day to watch the stars in the nighttime. Yroth was a scribe and usually returned home before Bula to make dinner, or breakfast, for everyone.

"Dad and Glasha are likely still asleep, they wanted to take a good look at the stars just before the dawn today. So the one up should be…" She opened the door leading from the guestroom deeper into the building to reveal a messy looking kitchen and an orc even taller and wider with musculature than Bula, who was standing shirtless and cutting up a large fruit looking thing. "Hello Yroth. Being careless again I see."

The orc snorted in return. "It's too hot with the furnace roaring. And I'll put on a shirt before going to the fire, you know I always do." He looked away from his work and noticed that you were also there. "Uhh. Hello?"

"Hello." You waved at him.

"Yeah, I brought a guest today. Riley here is a new employee, they are an offworlder, a mage, and will be crashing with us for a while, so your talent to make more food than we can eat every single time will not go unappreciated."

This seemed to either be too little or too much for Yroth, so he just kept staring until Bula told him to go put on a shirt. You got a chance to look at the fruit thing, which was dryer and harder than it appeared, and Yroth was dealing with this with duller and heavier knives. Unfortunately, you couldn't take a closer look at how the fruit thing was built because Yroth soon returned. It seemed he had gathered himself enough while he was gone, as he turned to speak to you.

"Okay. Riley, correct?" You nodded. "How about you tell me how you ended up here because Bula is the annoying sister I never wished for."

"And you are an idiot brother I thought I would never have." Bula laughed sitting on a chair, while Yroth steadfastly ignored her, and returned to cutting up the fruit while keeping an eye on you.

There wasn't really that much to tell, even going all the way back to when you got the idea.

"I've graduated basic Lifeshaper course in Nevenal, which was a couple of months ago. It was very interesting, and I did well enough to be allowed to work with rarer stuff. Most other apprentices only got basic chimeras. I was really interested in seeing more complex creatures, but they are very expensive back home. So I decided to leave Nevenal and have some adventure. I joined up with a caravan that had come to Nevenar, and then I ended up in Zatos. That was today. I have already found a hive of chitinous creatures and the cat!" You held up the cat again for emphasis.

Bula was smirking and you couldn't see Yroth's face, but he slowed down in slicing the fruit a lot.

"Oh, also, what fruit thing are you cutting there, I have never seen it before."

"That's a pumpkin." He sighed and put the knife down. "Look, just, how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-nine, going thirty in about three months."

Yroth took a moment to consider this. "And how long did you spend learning the basics of this Lifeshaping?"

"Fifteen years."

Yroth nodded. "That explains a lot." He looked at you for a couple of seconds before turning back to the pumpkin. "Well, lucky for me, you're with Bulya so I don't need to care. You're okay with pumpkin stew, right?"

"I've never eaten pumpkin or stew."

'Well, that'll be a chance to find out then."

Neither Moth nor Glasha woke up while Yroth finished cooking dinner and the three of you ate. Yroth stayed up to wait for them to wake up, while you and Bula went to her room.

"My room is a bit of a storeroom, so I should be able to scrounge you a blanket without a problem. But… You'll either have to share a bed with me or sleep on the bear rug.

---

[x][Sleep] Sleep on the Bear.
You met Bula literally today, just be polite and leave her bed to her. It's entirely unrelated to your fear of being crushed by an errant sleepy turn.

[x][Sleep]Sleep on the Orc.
Platonically. But hey, it's a thing that friends could do without much worry, which makes you friends. That's how it works, right?


Now that you know where Bula lives, you can chose to spend time after work with someone else without getting lost.

[x][Chat]Bula.
She's friendly, talkative and knowledgable.

[x][Chat]Brothers Irons.
They know more about the city and what's outside of it.

[x][Chat]Fish.
An outsider, seemingly distant. Perhaps new here, like you.

[x][Chat]Yroth.
He's a scribe, which is possibly most familiar profession anyone you know here has.

[x][Chat]Moth and Glasha.
Stars in Nevenal are… dull and distant. The clouds are also very common.

 

[DreamerGhost]

As long as Riley has known it, Nevenal has been a barren wasteland of sand and stone, with nothing more interesting than moss to be found out beneath outside civilization. All non-sapient life more complex than bacteria was wiped out when Three Heroes conquered the Heavens and slain the gods. Or so the legend goes. There are several competing legends, but that is the one Riley has heard growing up. The actual facts are that there is nothing alive besides moss out there, the entire world is filled with Smoke of Life, and Riley has never seen even a shrine before leaving Nevenal. The vast majority of Nevenalans consider the change of their world to be for the better if they even believe it ever was filled with flora and fauna. Most scholars considering this believe that any wishing for the more regular life have simply left Nevenal.


As there are very few reasons to be out in the 'wilderness' on Nevenal, most people live in cities. The absence of local sources of timber has made those cities rely on either stone or bricks for the construction, although some residents make use of their exceptionally free and long lives to add metals to the construction. It could be for decoration, structural support, or even complete replacement of all other materials. Glass is also very rare in Nevenal, and is one of the few things regularly imported by the Planegate trade.


Nevenalans place considerable effort in cultivating an appearance of inhospitality. The land around Planegate is elevated, permitting any visitors to see complete lack of habitation in all directions save for a single tower where rests the gatekeeper. Gatekeeper's role is to accept incoming trade caravans, taking up glass, live creatures or plants, spices, and books, in return for metal, various tonics, masterwork crafts, and unique pets. The gatekeeper also sells perfectly accurate maps of the nearby area, showing the direct way to the nearest city, just ten days of travel away. Thirteen days if you follow the river, and no, gatekeeper had no food to trade. Caravans arriving to Nevenal rarely stay longer than required to recover from Fading before leaving to worlds anew. Few chose to brave the wastes, in which case, the gatekeeper is obligated by tradition to 'put a spell on the caravan to keep them from starving', a lie to cover up the rejuvenating properties of Smoke. Caravans that make it to the cities rather than turn back after a few days of featureless dead wastes, return with stories of demons, strange of body, incomprehensible of mind, apathetic for mercantilism. The truth is that Nevenalans have a habit of lying on all questions about Nevenal to the visiting outsiders.

The reason for all of this is simple. Nevenalans are well aware as to the value of Smoke and immortality it brings. Were it become known, they would need to change their anarchistic way of life, or have it changed for them by countless conquerors from all worlds. Though Nevenalans have made preparations for the inevitable break of secrecy, for now, the mystery holds.

Though Nevenalans try to gently shun organized outsiders, singular wanderers receive a much warmer welcome. Though still kept in the unknown about Smoke unless they become trusted enough, they are welcome to visit the Guildhalls or tour the cities.


Both the life and the economy of Nevenal is wrapped around the mysterious substance called the Smoke of life, often shortened to Smoke by the locals. It is gathered in the body by breathing, although the actual volume of air breathed, or even if it's air that's breathed, is irrelevant. Smoke substitutes itself for all the needs of a body, such as food, water, air and even rest. It does not make Nevenalans completely free of their bodily needs, however. Supplanting these needs costs Smoke, and the quantity obtained from breathing is simply not enough to cover all of them. Most Nevenalan cities are built close to a water source or have plentiful wells, so the need for water is fulfilled, leaving the need for rest and food. This leaves most Nevenalans sleeping for about ten hours per day to maintain their Smoke reserves. All who have experienced the Smoke can manipulate it somewhat, mostly meaning that they can transfer it to other living creatures at will. Nearly all trade inside Nevenal uses Smoke as currency, and since it quite literally grants more time in the day, the prices remain fairly constant.

It is impossible to hoard Smoke to any real degree. As a body, or as some suspect, a soul, fills with Smoke, the person is faced with a choice. The smoke will naturally diffuse out of their bodies until an equilibrium is achieved, or they may try to contain the smoke within them with their will, which will inevitably result in the Smoke combusting and settling permanently into them. Nevenalans call this an 'infusion', and it results in some considerable benefits, but not without drawbacks.


There are five stages of infusion with Smoke of life recognized by Nevenalans, alongside the Breathless who have never breathed it. Those who have barely felt its touch are the Youthful, they will never age while within Nevenal, but that is it. Should they leave Nevenal, they would be entirely indistinguishable from Breathless, except for their greater experience betraying their true age. Just beyond them stand the Ageless, they have breathed deeply and taken a permanent mark from the Smoke into themselves. They will not age, except when suffering from wounds or disease, both of which they'll recover from swiftly. Most Nevenalans are Ageless, though it makes little difference from being Youthful to them, as only rare few ever leave Nevenal.

Embraced is the most that can be achieved alone, but even this is rarely sought for by Nevenalans. Those that have fully committed themselves to binding Smoke to themselves gain extraordinary vitality, most diseases are entirely incapable of affecting them and any wounds less lethal than decapitation heal within hours even with no medical assistance. Lost limbs take considerably more time to regrow than mere wounds, but simply pressing severed arm or leg to the wound usually results in a successful recovery. However, it is not for no reason that Nevenalans are reluctant to become Embraced, for there is a price to pay for such endurance. Change of form, change of skill, change of mind, all become increasingly difficult. Training of any reflexes takes several times longer, any Lifeshaping procedures need multiple applications to make the change stick rather than heal to how it was before. New knowledge becomes harder to memorize, old habits harder to break.

To become Immortal requires several people to overcharge one Embraced with Smoke. Their body becomes permanent, any changes eventually recover back to the original form. This effect extends past the body itself, affecting any accessories and clothes, returning the Immortal exactly to how they looked when they became such. This effect also corrodes any foreign matter and magic around the Immortal, making them difficult to entrap. Any injury that wouldn't outright kill a Breathless heals in seconds, and if torn apart the Immortal will regenerate from the largest remaining piece. It is theoretically possible to put down an Immortal long term by removing them from Nevenal and repeatedly destroying their body until they stop regenerating, however any contact of the remains with Smoke of life will see the Immortal resurrected. Minds of the Immortals become so rigid that they take months, even years to absorb information, making it exceptionally difficult for them to participate in society. Some have, in desperation, attempted to highlight new memories by doing something intense and often traumatic right afterward.

Eternals are not discussed in polite conversation.


Nevenalans are thought to be humanoid, though widespread Lifeshaper practices make this difficult to track. Currently, a Nevenalan can look indistinguishable from any other race, though often they will choose to add some personal flair that trueborn of that race would never possess. Unlike humans, they eschew authority, taking up the mantle of leadership only on rare occasions, and even then they usually seek out peers to share the perceived burden. The advent of Smoke of Life rendered all land worthless and adoption of Smoke as currency made any already dubiously required attempts at taxation impossible. It did not take long for most positions that dealt with collecting and spending taxes to collapse, from tax collectors, to kings, to armies. What followed was a period known as Wars of Spite, as Nevenalans collectively came to realize their newfound immortality and the benefits it brought. Numerous marauding bands were faced with people who could burn their wealth rather than lose it, in full knowledge that they had the time to recover it all. Prisoners and slaves could not be kept in groups larger than three, otherwise come morning the marauders would find a furious Immortal that had corroded the chains into dust and would not fall to any weapon. As the Wars of Spite petered out, the largest remaining organizations were the Guilds, bound no longer by the need to plan forward to maximize profits, but finding new purpose as collectors of knowledge. As Nevenalans found themselves in abundance of free time and lack of obligations, the numbers picking up a craft and joining the guilds swelled drastically. With the laws of the land enforced by whatever ruler owned it evaporating, it fell upon the guilds to manage all the people to prevent conflict. Though officially there are no laws binding all people, in practice, there is considerable overlap in many laws enforced by the guilds on their members.