0.1: From those profound slumbers
You're hungry, and you have no idea how you got here.
The...
You're hungry, and you have no idea how you got here.
The...
Red Skies (Original Fantasy/SI-as-demon)
- Thread starter Death and Faxes
- Start date
- Original
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 62
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- 0
- Threadmarks
- 9
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Statistics (9 threadmarks, 19k words)
User Total Death and Faxes 9
0.1: From those profound slumbers
- Location
- yes
0.1: From those profound slumbers
You're hungry, and you have no idea how you got here.
The last thing you remember is drifting through a cold, endless void, hounded by tiny motes of dancing light. That's… actually the only thing you can remember, now that you think about it, which can't be right because you've definitely lived a rich, fulfilling life with loving family and friends. Or something. You're not really sure about the details any more.
Regardless, "here" is in the middle of a series of concentric circles etched in glowing runes on a rough stone floor. The circles are big—the innermost is probably about twenty feet across, the outermost thirty, so there's a lot of room to move around in. At the moment, though, you're a little too surprised to do anything but stand there and blink.
Glancing around, you notice robed figures—maybe a dozen of them—standing around the outer circle. You're pretty sure they're cultists of some kind, and they certainly fit the stereotype to a tee, with their hooded robes and nervous bowed postures. They look terrified to a man; most are visibly shaking, and at least one of them looks like he might be hyperventilating. At one end of the circle, behind a crude lectern bearing a thick, leather-bound tome, stands a man dressed a little more grandly than the rest. You think he must be the Head Cultist, and he is far more composed than his underlings. He is regarding you warily, confusion writ large on his face. He keeps making as if to step forward and address you, but can't quite seem to bring himself to do it.
Beyond that, you appear to be in a cave of some sort. It's large—the rune-circles take up only a quarter of the space—and reluctantly lit by a few standing torches. You can see proof of human activity: a firepit in the corner, some haphazardly arranged tables and chairs in another, crates of food and various weapons on racks—axes, spears, the occasional sword or bow—scattered all about. A few dozen rough-looking men are scattered around the periphery of the room, standing or seated on boxes. They're arranged in a broad semicircle around the runes in a way that suggests that they've gathered specifically for you. They seem less obviously scared than the cultists, but they're definitely tense and on-edge. Several are already reaching for weapons.
It's actually fairly dark beyond the rune-circles and you're surprised by how well you can see your little audience. Actually, now that you pay attention to it, "see" isn't quite the right word to use here. Granted, your visual acuity is pretty damn good right now—you can't remember ever being able to see this clearly, even in broad daylight—but there's more to it than just that. You can sense each and every person in this room (and a few beyond) and feel their presence and location with surprising accuracy. You can sense something else, too: a faint (too faint) filigree of pulsing energy that hugs the runed circles on the floor and traces the rough shape of a dome around you.
That's a binding spell, you automatically think, and you have no idea where the thought comes from but it's definitely your own. You somehow knew it, just like you know that it's far too weak to hold something like you, just like you know that those other things you can sense around you are souls and that you're hungry and haven't e͚͓̲̾̏́̽ͅä̩͖̥̩́̌̑̌ṱ̨̡̛̜͋͂̈́ę̟͔͉́̉̓̓ņ̣̝̻̿̍́͊ in far too long and you want nothing more than to just
R̡̧̼̤͓̼̪̮͍͇̃̂̈́͐̾̽̚͘͝͝Ê̼̺̟̤͈̰̻̦̫͓̿̿̓̌̄͋̊̄͝N̡͈͉̲̩̖̱̝͚͔̊̈́͆̍̓́̈́̇̃͝D̢̫̙̥̜̻͍͖̱̈́̅̑͋̓̾̌͛̕̕ͅ Ḁ̡̡̤̪͇͙̦͈̩́̓͋̿̆̑͑̆̏̕Ň̫̺̺̪͓̻̬̰̺̗̐̔͒͆͋̓͐̌͝D̢̢̰̺̰̩̗͍̭̓̉͑̓̂͗͐̚͘͜͝ T̨̡̡̼͚̱̩̥̱͑́̈́̒̒̎̊̿͠͠ͅĘ͙͙̝̼͕̭̤͔͎̏͌̐̐̋͆̓̀̿͝Ǻ̧̬͓͕͚̺͔̱͉͇͂̇̅͛̉̔̑̀Ŗ̜͔͇̦̳̤͎̜͎͌͌́́̊͆͆̆͗̇
your way through all these puny mortals and stuff your slavering maw with their delicious life forces—
...which, you think, is an awfully strange way to feel. It's certainly not a feeling you're familiar with from your life—that you can't remember any of—as a Totally Normal Human.
You do a quick visual check of yourself. You still have normal human arms and legs (two each), check, and a normal human torso, check. Your skin is a little bit paler than you think it should be, but whatever, it's not scales or chitin or anything, so check. Your hair's still there, too, and it's still about the right length (shoulder-ish), still approximately the right color (black-ish)—and still, apparently, getting in your goddamn eyes all the time—so, you know what, two checks for that. You're even wearing normal human clothes—jeans, t-shirt, sneakers—and you're pretty sure that clothes-wearing is, like, the thing that normal humans do.
But you're also pretty sure that hungering for the souls of lesser mortals is definitely not a thing that humans do. Hm.
(Also, what the hell are "sneakers"? Did you just make that word up?)
Well, regardless, besides the terrify-the-locals-with-your-mere-presence thing, the feel-and-understand-magic thing, and the hungering-for-souls thing, you're basically a poster child for normal human-ness, right?
As if to answer your question, a sudden something wells up from inside you. It's a memory, almost: the memory of a shape that you could have been, could still be, just waiting to be pushed to the surface. On a whim, you oblige, picking out the tiniest fragment of it and willing it into existence, and suddenly the index finger of your left hand is a single bladed claw of solid shadow and black fire. You hold it in front of you in shock—it feels so right that you can't imagine how you could have ever thought otherwise—
"I—I would bargain with you," says the head cultist, who looks surprisingly composed and only a little shaken, even if he sounds like he's reciting his words from a book or something. "I would have your service. Name your price, demon."
Huh. "Demon". Well, that would explain a lot of things.
What will you do?
[] Bargain with him. You don't exactly have other plans right now, and maybe he'll offer you something nice.
- [] let him make an offer
- [] request something specific (write-in)
[] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
- [] Ask him where and what you are
- [] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
- [] Ask him something else (write-in)
[] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
[] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
- [] Any particular order or strategy? (write-in)
[] Something else (write-in)
A/N:
Hello! And welcome to Red Skies, the quest where you're a normal human girl but also some kind of demon???? This idea has been riding me pretty hard the last few days - ironically, while I was working on the worldbuilding and first post for a completely different quest idea - and it wouldn't go away, so here we are. This quest was inspired by Overlord, Skeleton Knight, Death March, I'm a Spider So What??, and a whole bunch of other JP Light/Web Novels of varying quality that I can't really recommend to anyone.
This is (debatably) my first quest here, so... I dunno. I hope it doesn't suck and that you enjoy it. Or not. It's, like, a free country, dude.
You're hungry, and you have no idea how you got here.
The last thing you remember is drifting through a cold, endless void, hounded by tiny motes of dancing light. That's… actually the only thing you can remember, now that you think about it, which can't be right because you've definitely lived a rich, fulfilling life with loving family and friends. Or something. You're not really sure about the details any more.
Regardless, "here" is in the middle of a series of concentric circles etched in glowing runes on a rough stone floor. The circles are big—the innermost is probably about twenty feet across, the outermost thirty, so there's a lot of room to move around in. At the moment, though, you're a little too surprised to do anything but stand there and blink.
Glancing around, you notice robed figures—maybe a dozen of them—standing around the outer circle. You're pretty sure they're cultists of some kind, and they certainly fit the stereotype to a tee, with their hooded robes and nervous bowed postures. They look terrified to a man; most are visibly shaking, and at least one of them looks like he might be hyperventilating. At one end of the circle, behind a crude lectern bearing a thick, leather-bound tome, stands a man dressed a little more grandly than the rest. You think he must be the Head Cultist, and he is far more composed than his underlings. He is regarding you warily, confusion writ large on his face. He keeps making as if to step forward and address you, but can't quite seem to bring himself to do it.
Beyond that, you appear to be in a cave of some sort. It's large—the rune-circles take up only a quarter of the space—and reluctantly lit by a few standing torches. You can see proof of human activity: a firepit in the corner, some haphazardly arranged tables and chairs in another, crates of food and various weapons on racks—axes, spears, the occasional sword or bow—scattered all about. A few dozen rough-looking men are scattered around the periphery of the room, standing or seated on boxes. They're arranged in a broad semicircle around the runes in a way that suggests that they've gathered specifically for you. They seem less obviously scared than the cultists, but they're definitely tense and on-edge. Several are already reaching for weapons.
It's actually fairly dark beyond the rune-circles and you're surprised by how well you can see your little audience. Actually, now that you pay attention to it, "see" isn't quite the right word to use here. Granted, your visual acuity is pretty damn good right now—you can't remember ever being able to see this clearly, even in broad daylight—but there's more to it than just that. You can sense each and every person in this room (and a few beyond) and feel their presence and location with surprising accuracy. You can sense something else, too: a faint (too faint) filigree of pulsing energy that hugs the runed circles on the floor and traces the rough shape of a dome around you.
That's a binding spell, you automatically think, and you have no idea where the thought comes from but it's definitely your own. You somehow knew it, just like you know that it's far too weak to hold something like you, just like you know that those other things you can sense around you are souls and that you're hungry and haven't e͚͓̲̾̏́̽ͅä̩͖̥̩́̌̑̌ṱ̨̡̛̜͋͂̈́ę̟͔͉́̉̓̓ņ̣̝̻̿̍́͊ in far too long and you want nothing more than to just
R̡̧̼̤͓̼̪̮͍͇̃̂̈́͐̾̽̚͘͝͝Ê̼̺̟̤͈̰̻̦̫͓̿̿̓̌̄͋̊̄͝N̡͈͉̲̩̖̱̝͚͔̊̈́͆̍̓́̈́̇̃͝D̢̫̙̥̜̻͍͖̱̈́̅̑͋̓̾̌͛̕̕ͅ Ḁ̡̡̤̪͇͙̦͈̩́̓͋̿̆̑͑̆̏̕Ň̫̺̺̪͓̻̬̰̺̗̐̔͒͆͋̓͐̌͝D̢̢̰̺̰̩̗͍̭̓̉͑̓̂͗͐̚͘͜͝ T̨̡̡̼͚̱̩̥̱͑́̈́̒̒̎̊̿͠͠ͅĘ͙͙̝̼͕̭̤͔͎̏͌̐̐̋͆̓̀̿͝Ǻ̧̬͓͕͚̺͔̱͉͇͂̇̅͛̉̔̑̀Ŗ̜͔͇̦̳̤͎̜͎͌͌́́̊͆͆̆͗̇
your way through all these puny mortals and stuff your slavering maw with their delicious life forces—
3d6=9 vs 12 (success by 3)
...which, you think, is an awfully strange way to feel. It's certainly not a feeling you're familiar with from your life—that you can't remember any of—as a Totally Normal Human.
You do a quick visual check of yourself. You still have normal human arms and legs (two each), check, and a normal human torso, check. Your skin is a little bit paler than you think it should be, but whatever, it's not scales or chitin or anything, so check. Your hair's still there, too, and it's still about the right length (shoulder-ish), still approximately the right color (black-ish)—and still, apparently, getting in your goddamn eyes all the time—so, you know what, two checks for that. You're even wearing normal human clothes—jeans, t-shirt, sneakers—and you're pretty sure that clothes-wearing is, like, the thing that normal humans do.
But you're also pretty sure that hungering for the souls of lesser mortals is definitely not a thing that humans do. Hm.
(Also, what the hell are "sneakers"? Did you just make that word up?)
Well, regardless, besides the terrify-the-locals-with-your-mere-presence thing, the feel-and-understand-magic thing, and the hungering-for-souls thing, you're basically a poster child for normal human-ness, right?
As if to answer your question, a sudden something wells up from inside you. It's a memory, almost: the memory of a shape that you could have been, could still be, just waiting to be pushed to the surface. On a whim, you oblige, picking out the tiniest fragment of it and willing it into existence, and suddenly the index finger of your left hand is a single bladed claw of solid shadow and black fire. You hold it in front of you in shock—it feels so right that you can't imagine how you could have ever thought otherwise—
"I—I would bargain with you," says the head cultist, who looks surprisingly composed and only a little shaken, even if he sounds like he's reciting his words from a book or something. "I would have your service. Name your price, demon."
Huh. "Demon". Well, that would explain a lot of things.
What will you do?
[] Bargain with him. You don't exactly have other plans right now, and maybe he'll offer you something nice.
- [] let him make an offer
- [] request something specific (write-in)
[] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
- [] Ask him where and what you are
- [] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
- [] Ask him something else (write-in)
[] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
[] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
- [] Any particular order or strategy? (write-in)
[] Something else (write-in)
Name: ???
Attributes
ST - Unknown (Very high?)
You're not really sure how strong you are. You're certain that you're much stronger than an average person, but you don't know by how much.
DX - Unknown (Average/High?)
You haven't really experimented much with your fine motor skills. However, you feel like you're probably not a total klutz.
IQ - 12
You could be reasonably described as "bright". You've always been able to learn things just a little bit faster than your peers, and new ideas and concepts come easily to you. While you haven't done any IQ tests recently, you're pretty sure your base intelligence hasn't changed much from before.
HT - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your vitality or constitution.
Will - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your willpower.
Per - 12+1=13
You generally notice things more readily and are harder to sneak past than the average person, if only because your senses are that much sharper.
Skills
(None that you know of)
Traits
Acute Vision - You have incredibly good eyesight, and can see particularly well in the dark. (+1 Per, reduce low light penalty by 1)
Ravenous Hunger (Souls and Magical Essence; 12 or lower) - You crave the taste of human souls. In any situation where you could reasonably acquire said human souls, you must make a self-control check by rolling 12 or lower on 3d6. You assume the severity (and therefore the target number) changes based on how often and how much you've eaten.
Shadow Transformation - You can transform parts of yourself into the analogous part of a (presumably) terrible creature of black fire and shadows. So far, you've only used this on a single finger, but you're pretty sure you could apply this to other body parts as well.
Soulsight - You can sense the presence of souls and magical energies. At close ranges this sense is fine enough to identify enchantments and wards, or to perfectly track the movement of an ensouled creature, although the resolution decreases severely with distance. It has a range of several hundred feet.
Terrifying Presence (???) - You seem to instill a sense of visible unease in nearby humans. This sense of unease seems to scale up to pants-shitting terror in certain situations, although you're not yet sure what causes this increased sensitivity.
Attributes
ST - Unknown (Very high?)
You're not really sure how strong you are. You're certain that you're much stronger than an average person, but you don't know by how much.
DX - Unknown (Average/High?)
You haven't really experimented much with your fine motor skills. However, you feel like you're probably not a total klutz.
IQ - 12
You could be reasonably described as "bright". You've always been able to learn things just a little bit faster than your peers, and new ideas and concepts come easily to you. While you haven't done any IQ tests recently, you're pretty sure your base intelligence hasn't changed much from before.
HT - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your vitality or constitution.
Will - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your willpower.
Per - 12+1=13
You generally notice things more readily and are harder to sneak past than the average person, if only because your senses are that much sharper.
Skills
(None that you know of)
Traits
Acute Vision - You have incredibly good eyesight, and can see particularly well in the dark. (+1 Per, reduce low light penalty by 1)
Ravenous Hunger (Souls and Magical Essence; 12 or lower) - You crave the taste of human souls. In any situation where you could reasonably acquire said human souls, you must make a self-control check by rolling 12 or lower on 3d6. You assume the severity (and therefore the target number) changes based on how often and how much you've eaten.
Shadow Transformation - You can transform parts of yourself into the analogous part of a (presumably) terrible creature of black fire and shadows. So far, you've only used this on a single finger, but you're pretty sure you could apply this to other body parts as well.
Soulsight - You can sense the presence of souls and magical energies. At close ranges this sense is fine enough to identify enchantments and wards, or to perfectly track the movement of an ensouled creature, although the resolution decreases severely with distance. It has a range of several hundred feet.
Terrifying Presence (???) - You seem to instill a sense of visible unease in nearby humans. This sense of unease seems to scale up to pants-shitting terror in certain situations, although you're not yet sure what causes this increased sensitivity.
A/N:
Hello! And welcome to Red Skies, the quest where you're a normal human girl but also some kind of demon???? This idea has been riding me pretty hard the last few days - ironically, while I was working on the worldbuilding and first post for a completely different quest idea - and it wouldn't go away, so here we are. This quest was inspired by Overlord, Skeleton Knight, Death March, I'm a Spider So What??, and a whole bunch of other JP Light/Web Novels of varying quality that I can't really recommend to anyone.
This is (debatably) my first quest here, so... I dunno. I hope it doesn't suck and that you enjoy it. Or not. It's, like, a free country, dude.
Last edited:
Rules 'n Stuff
- Location
- yes
General Rules
This quest will utilize Approval Voting. Everyone can vote for any number of options, up to and including "all of them". The option with the most total votes wins, although the closeness of the vote may impact how the action is carried out: whenever it makes sense, I'll try to weight the actual course of action by the votes provided.
Votes for plans will generally be resolved on a per-line basis, e.g. votes for A, B, C and A, B, D will result in two votes for A and B, and one each for C and D. There may be exceptions.
Basic Mechanics
This quest will be using basic GURPS-esque mechanics. This means:
You and most characters you meet will be represented mechanically via your attributes, skills, and traits. These will generally inform narrative events, as well as determine the difficulty of rolls when they're called for.
Attributes
Attributes are the basic natural capabilities of any character. While attributes aren't impossible to change, they tend not to be as plastic as skills, and, unlike skills, are just as likely to change for the worse as the better. We'll be using the standard GURPS attributes for now. These are:
Strength (ST) - physical power and bulk. Governs how hard you hit and how many hits you can take.
Dexterity (DX) - agility, coordination, and fine motor ability. Governs your basic skill at combat (i.e. how well you can attack and defend), as well as other tasks that call for precision.
Intelligence (IQ) - creativity, intuition, memory. Governs your ability with primarily mental tasks such as abstract reasoning or magic.
Health (HT) - vitality and constitution. Measures your stamina and resistance to metabolic hazards and injury shock.
Willpower (Will) - A character's ability to resist persuasion, intimidation and fear, mental influence (both magical and natural), etc.
Perception (Per) - A character's ability to notice things using their five senses, and general awareness.
For attributes:
In cases where it might matter: IQ, Will, and Per are attached to a character's soul, while ST, DX, and HT are attached to a character's body.
Unlike in GURPS, Will and Per are not derived directly from IQ, but are their own standalone attributes.
Skills
Skills represent a character's knowledge or learned capability in one specific area. Skills will generally only be improved, and are relatively quick to do so compared to attributes. In very rare cases, particularly high skills may decay due to disuse.
The exact list of skills will be revealed as you discover them (read: when I get off my ass and actually put it together), but will generally be a simplified version of the standard GURPS skill list.
For skills:
Finally, traits represent qualitative differences in a character's abilities, ranging from mundane talents to exotic supernatural abilities. They can be likened to Advantages/Disadvantages in GURPS, or Feats in D&D. Traits can theoretically be both gained and lost. However, this will generally not happen outside of exceptional circumstances.
- Don't be an asshole
- Vote on stuff I guess
- Discussion is cool
This quest will utilize Approval Voting. Everyone can vote for any number of options, up to and including "all of them". The option with the most total votes wins, although the closeness of the vote may impact how the action is carried out: whenever it makes sense, I'll try to weight the actual course of action by the votes provided.
Votes for plans will generally be resolved on a per-line basis, e.g. votes for A, B, C and A, B, D will result in two votes for A and B, and one each for C and D. There may be exceptions.
Basic Mechanics
This quest will be using basic GURPS-esque mechanics. This means:
- Most checks are "roll 3d6 vs a number, succeed if roll <= number". Lower rolls are better. For skill checks (i.e. almost everything), the number is that skill. For other checks, the number will be specified: e.g. self-control checks have a DC built into the check that is independent of other stats you may have.
- For opposed checks (e.g. combat, heated debate, arm wrestling), we'll use a standard GURPS quick contest. All involved parties roll 3d6 vs the relevant number. The winner is then the participant who succeeded by the largest margin. If all participants fail (i.e. roll above their target number), then nobody wins. Depending on what they're competing on, this will be either extremely boring or extremely hilarious.
- Example: Lucky Larry is fighting Aggressive Alan. Larry has 12 in his relevant melee skill, and Alan has a 14.
We would roll as such:
In this case, even though Larry actually rolled better (8 vs Alan's 9), he succeeded by a smaller margin (4 vs Alan's 5), and therefore loses this particular instance of combat.Article: Lucky Larry - melee (lance) : 3d6=8 vs 12 (success by 4)
Aggressive Alan - melee (axe): 3d6=9 vs 14 (success by 5)
- Example: Lucky Larry is fighting Aggressive Alan. Larry has 12 in his relevant melee skill, and Alan has a 14.
- Checks can be modified according to their difficulty. These modifiers will be added to (or subtracted from) the target number, rather than the roll. A non-exhaustive reference list of modifiers:
- Trivial tasks are generally at +10. E.g. opening a doorknob would be a roll against DX at +10. You probably won't be rolling a lot of these unless you're severely impaired.
- Easy tasks are generally at +4. E.g. correctly performing simple arithmetic would be a roll against Mathematics at +4.
- Hard tasks are generally at -4. E.g. performing a double backflip off the ground would be a roll against Acrobatics at -4.
- Impossible tasks are generally at -10 or worse. E.g. sprinting across a tightrope would be a DX check at -10.
- Critical successes, when applicable, occur on rolls of 3 or 4, or rolls that succeed by at least 10 and are at most 6. Similarly, critical failures, when applicable, occur on rolls of 17 or 18, or rolls that fail by at least 10 and are at least 15. Not all checks are susceptible to criticals!
- This means that rolling a 6 against skill-16 is a critical success (since it's a success by 10), but rolling a 7 against skill-17 is not (since it's greater than 6).
- Note that rolling a natural 3/4 (or a natural 17/18) only has about a 1.9% chance of happening.
You and most characters you meet will be represented mechanically via your attributes, skills, and traits. These will generally inform narrative events, as well as determine the difficulty of rolls when they're called for.
Attributes
Attributes are the basic natural capabilities of any character. While attributes aren't impossible to change, they tend not to be as plastic as skills, and, unlike skills, are just as likely to change for the worse as the better. We'll be using the standard GURPS attributes for now. These are:
Strength (ST) - physical power and bulk. Governs how hard you hit and how many hits you can take.
Dexterity (DX) - agility, coordination, and fine motor ability. Governs your basic skill at combat (i.e. how well you can attack and defend), as well as other tasks that call for precision.
Intelligence (IQ) - creativity, intuition, memory. Governs your ability with primarily mental tasks such as abstract reasoning or magic.
Health (HT) - vitality and constitution. Measures your stamina and resistance to metabolic hazards and injury shock.
Willpower (Will) - A character's ability to resist persuasion, intimidation and fear, mental influence (both magical and natural), etc.
Perception (Per) - A character's ability to notice things using their five senses, and general awareness.
For attributes:
- 10 is average. Healthy normal adults with no notable disabilities can usually manage a 10 in an attribute.
- 11–12 is above average, but not quite so high as to dominate the impression you make.
- 13-14 is good. At this level, people will begin to tell anecdotes about you based on the quality the attribute measures, e.g. "I know this guy who..."
- 15-16 is great. An attribute at this level is notable enough that it is often immediately apparent—as bulging muscles, feline grace, witty dialogue, or glowing health—to those who meet you.
- 17-18 is exceptional. Individuals at this level represent the best that humanity has to offer. A relevant attribute at this level is often enough to make you famous all on its own.
- 19+ is legendary. Most individuals at this level are demon lords, minor deities, etc.
In cases where it might matter: IQ, Will, and Per are attached to a character's soul, while ST, DX, and HT are attached to a character's body.
Unlike in GURPS, Will and Per are not derived directly from IQ, but are their own standalone attributes.
Skills
Skills represent a character's knowledge or learned capability in one specific area. Skills will generally only be improved, and are relatively quick to do so compared to attributes. In very rare cases, particularly high skills may decay due to disuse.
The exact list of skills will be revealed as you discover them (read: when I get off my ass and actually put it together), but will generally be a simplified version of the standard GURPS skill list.
For skills:
- Skill-10 could be described as "amateurish". It is generally insufficient for a core, non-hobby skill.
- Skill-12 is basic competence. Your standard village craftsman or town guard generally has at least this level of ability in their relevant skills.
- Skill-14 is basic expertise. This is also the basic level of ability you'd expect from occupations with intensive training requirements: doctors, mages, etc.
- Skill-16 is true expertise. This would be the expected level of a designated specialist in their main skill, e.g. an expert marksman, a well-regarded swordsmith, a tenured professor.
- Skill-20 is advanced expertise. An intensely-trained specialist in an elite outfit might be expected to have a 20 in their single main skill.
- Skill-24 is outstanding expertise. This level would make you one of the best in your field. This is the person that intensely-trained specialists wish they could be, and elite outfits wish they could have.
- Skill-28+ is legendary. This represents once-in-a-generation (or less) prowess.
Finally, traits represent qualitative differences in a character's abilities, ranging from mundane talents to exotic supernatural abilities. They can be likened to Advantages/Disadvantages in GURPS, or Feats in D&D. Traits can theoretically be both gained and lost. However, this will generally not happen outside of exceptional circumstances.
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Character Sheet
- Location
- yes
Character Sheet
Name: ???
Attributes
ST - Unknown (Very high?)
You're not really sure how strong you are. You're certain that you're much stronger than an average person, but you don't know by how much.
DX - 12
You're not awkward. In fact, you're actually pretty graceful, when it comes down to it, although it's really not something to write home about.
IQ - 12
You could be reasonably described as "bright". You've always been able to learn things just a little bit faster than your peers, and new ideas and concepts come easily to you. While you haven't done any IQ tests recently, you're pretty sure your base intelligence hasn't changed much from before.
HT - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your vitality or constitution.
Will - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your willpower.
Per - 12+1=13
You generally notice things more readily and are harder to sneak past than the average person, if only because your senses are that much sharper.
Skills
- Mana control-12 (IQ)
- Observation-13 (Per)
Acute Vision - You have incredibly good eyesight, and can see particularly well in the dark. (+1 Per, reduce low light penalty by 1)
Instinctive Destruction - You have the ability to will magical effects into being, although your poor control over your power makes this only useful for destruction.
Magical Power - You have access to a pool of magical power, allowing you to cast spells and otherwise use magic.
Ravenous Hunger (Souls and Magical Essence; 15 or lower) - You crave the taste of human souls. In any situation where you could reasonably acquire said human souls, you must make a self-control check by rolling 15 or lower on 3d6. The severity (and therefore the target number) changes based on how often and how much you've eaten.
Shadow Transformation - You can transform parts of yourself into the analogous part of a (presumably) terrible creature of black fire and shadows. So far, you've only used this on a single finger, but you're pretty sure you could apply this to other body parts as well. The black fire is incredibly hot, capable of immediately sublimating solid stone.
Wings - You can also manifest a pair of relatively solid wings that seem usable for partial flight.
Soulsight - You can sense the presence of souls and magical energies, allowing you to use Perception (or Observation) in lieu of Mana Sensing, and allowing you to easily see through most mundane means of stealth and disguise attempted by creatures with souls. At close ranges this sense is fine enough to identify enchantments and wards, or to perfectly track the movement of an ensouled creature, although the resolution decreases severely with distance. It has a range of several hundred feet.
Terrifying Presence (???) - You seem to instill a sense of visible unease in nearby humans. This sense of unease seems to scale up to pants-shitting terror in certain situations, although you're not yet sure what causes this increased sensitivity.
Inventory
2 gold coins, 46 silver coins, 113 copper coins - You currently have no idea how much these are worth relative to each other, or how much things cost.
4 gold jewelry bits - Various pieces of jewelry, sourced from various freshly-dead corpses. You're a little bit lukewarm on wearing them.
4 pieces of mystery jerky - Dried, salted meat. You're pretty sure, but not completely sure, that it's beef.
Magical golden amulet - This amulet is a flat disc, depicting what looks like a sunburst over a horizon in simple geometric strokes. It feels faintly of magic, although you don't yet know what it does.
Magical gold ring - This is a simple gold band. It feels faintly of magic, although you don't yet know what it does.
Magical gold and beryl ring - This is a simple gold band, set with a single green gem. It feels faintly of magic, although you don't yet know what it does.
Keyring - This is a ring of keys you found on the Head Cultist who summoned you. It contains three keys.
Linen traveling cloak - This is a dark green, linen traveling cloak. It wasn't your first choice of apparel, but you've decided to keep it, as, among other things, it swooshes about in an aesthetically pleasing way.
4 gold jewelry bits - Various pieces of jewelry, sourced from various freshly-dead corpses. You're a little bit lukewarm on wearing them.
4 pieces of mystery jerky - Dried, salted meat. You're pretty sure, but not completely sure, that it's beef.
Magical golden amulet - This amulet is a flat disc, depicting what looks like a sunburst over a horizon in simple geometric strokes. It feels faintly of magic, although you don't yet know what it does.
Magical gold ring - This is a simple gold band. It feels faintly of magic, although you don't yet know what it does.
Magical gold and beryl ring - This is a simple gold band, set with a single green gem. It feels faintly of magic, although you don't yet know what it does.
Keyring - This is a ring of keys you found on the Head Cultist who summoned you. It contains three keys.
Linen traveling cloak - This is a dark green, linen traveling cloak. It wasn't your first choice of apparel, but you've decided to keep it, as, among other things, it swooshes about in an aesthetically pleasing way.
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- Location
- yes
Reserved, just in case
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- Location
- Who Knows
[X] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
This is funny because the whole premise has some close similarities to a character I have~
This is funny because the whole premise has some close similarities to a character I have~
Blazinghand
O cursèd spite
- Location
- California
[X] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
- [X] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
- [X] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
[X] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
Letting him sweat a bit before we address him should drive down the bargain a bit... Besides, it's only logical to try and figure out how best togobble everyone up engage in aggressive negotitions if diplomacy fails.
Letting him sweat a bit before we address him should drive down the bargain a bit... Besides, it's only logical to try and figure out how best to
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ConfusedPotato
Unverified Verifier
- Location
- Australia
[X] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
-[X] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
-- [X] Ask him where and what you are
-- [X] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
Work out what you can by yourself then ask him questions, if he refuses to answer say that you will not bargain without proper information.
-[X] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
-- [X] Ask him where and what you are
-- [X] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
Work out what you can by yourself then ask him questions, if he refuses to answer say that you will not bargain without proper information.
keios
very normal
- Location
- US
Looks cool, D&F.
[X] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
[X] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
- Location
- yes
Alright, calling the votes here. New update... soon-ish.
Vote Tally : Original - Red Skies (Original Fantasy/SI-as-demon) | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.9
[x] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
No. of Votes: 7
UbeOne
Andelevion
ConfusedPotato
FatedBread
NSchwerte
Prospalz
veekie
[X] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
No. of Votes: 2
Blazinghand
ConfusedPotato
- [X] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
No. of Votes: 2
Blazinghand
ConfusedPotato
-- [X] Ask him where and what you are
No. of Votes: 1
ConfusedPotato
[X] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
Total No. of Voters: 9
##### NetTally 1.7.9
[x] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
No. of Votes: 7
UbeOne
Andelevion
ConfusedPotato
FatedBread
NSchwerte
Prospalz
veekie
[X] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
No. of Votes: 2
Blazinghand
ConfusedPotato
- [X] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
No. of Votes: 2
Blazinghand
ConfusedPotato
-- [X] Ask him where and what you are
No. of Votes: 1
ConfusedPotato
[X] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
Total No. of Voters: 9
0.2: Just a little bit
- Location
- yes
[] Bargain with him. You don't exactly have other plans right now, and maybe he'll offer you something nice.
- [] let him make an offer
- [] request something specific (write-in)
[-] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
- [-] Ask him where and what you are
- [-] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
- [] Ask him something else (write-in)
[X] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
[] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
- [] Any particular order or strategy? (write-in)
[] Something else (write-in)
- [] let him make an offer
- [] request something specific (write-in)
[-] Question him about… well, everything. You have no real memories to speak of, and no idea where you are.
- [-] Ask him where and what you are
- [-] Ask him who he is and what he's doing
- [] Ask him something else (write-in)
[X] Experiment more with what you can do and ignore him. You'll talk to him when you feel like it.
[] Attack. The idea that a binding spell of this level could actually hold you is both hilarious and actually kind of offensive, and you're pretty sure the humans in the cave don't pose a credible threat to you. Also, you're h̩̥̬̯̽̆́͠u̠̜̞̖͌̎̅͒n̢̲̦̥͐͑͌͋g͍͚̞̱̾̀̉̂r̙̠̯̭̽̽̈̃y͖͉̠̅͛̂̿͜.
- [] Any particular order or strategy? (write-in)
[] Something else (write-in)
0.2: Just a little bit
The Head Cultist waits pleadingly for a response. He's too terrified of you to make eye contact, and instead stares resolutely at the ground, the walls, his robed colleagues, anywhere else. Eventually, the silence is so thick that even you feel uncomfortable.
"No," you finally say.
He doesn't respond to this; you suspect you just took him completely off-script. To be honest, he seems surprisingly incompetent for somebody who's in charge of a demon-summoning ritual. You'd expect it to be the kind of thing where you'd want somebody who's In Control and can Make Hard Decisions Under Pressure, but this guy is barely a step up from a blubbering wreck.
To be fair, he's doing a little bit better than the other cultists, who are still cowering in fear and look ready to bolt. You suppose the claw thing hasn't really helped. Still, at least that one isn't hyperventilating any more, although—woops!—he loses it again the moment you make eye contact with him. You find this incredibly funny, and you're not sure if you should.
Whatever. You ignore the thought in favor of doing some useful introspection instead. First things first: you push the idea of your shadow back underneath, and your claw boils away into a normal finger again. Then, you focus back in on its shape, running your mind over its contours and edges. Something is strange about it, you think—most of it matches pretty well to your normal body, but there's at least one bit in here that doesn't. You concentrate, trying to discern what exactly that bit is.
The Head Cultist, to your mild irritation, chooses this moment to finally pull himself together and interrupt you.
"I—there is much we could offer you for your services—"
"Shut up," you say, waving him off.
He gulps visibly and nods, backing away, bumping into his lectern and almost falling over.
A few more moments more of focus, and you find what you're looking for. You feel a little warmth building in your shoulder blades as you pull it to the surface, and then there's an audible fwoosh as a gout of roiling black fire shoots out of your back and forms into a pair of wings.
"Neat," you say to yourself. You note that this latest development has caused quite the stir among the armed not-cultists, who have been, up until now, relatively calm about the whole thing. A lot of them have weapons at the ready now, eyeing your new… assets with wary suspicion.
You flex the wings around a little. They're almost as tall as you, folded up, and when you extend them they span more than halfway across the summoning circle you're "trapped" in. Despite their nature as entirely magical constructs of black fire, they actually seem quite solid, throwing around little gusts of wind when you swing them. You're pretty sure you could at least glide on them a short distance, although you don't think you could actually use them to fly—at least not by flapping. You also discover that they're really hot when you accidentally brush one against the ground and it burns a jagged molten gash through the stone. Useful.
<Discovery - Shadow Transformation can be used to manifest Wings.>
Now that you're paying attention, there's also something else you've noticed. There's a… pool of magical power, you suppose, deep inside what you think is your soul. When you focus on it, you're almost taken aback by how enormous it is. It's a vast, raging primordial sea of pure magical energy.
You instinctively know that there are a thousand different things you could do with it. You even know how to do them; in fact, you've already been drawing on the power almost continuously for your wings. Unfortunately, you're not really sure what the most of the things you can do actually are, but that's what we're here to figure out, right?
<Discovery - Trait: Magical Power.>
<Discovery - Trait: Instinctive Destruction.>
You center yourself, dismiss your wings (just in case), and then tease out just a tiny drop of the power. It obligingly bubbles to the surface—
3d6=17 vs 12 (critical failure by 5)
—before you slip and it spills out of your grasp, screaming through your veins and out your pores. You belatedly realize that not only is "tiny" kind of relative, but also your sense of scale is really off: the weight of your power crashes through the summoning circle like a tidal wave through cobwebs, shredding the binding spell into twinkling scraps and scouring away the glowing runes.
All of the cultists just collapse, eyes rolling back into their heads. Well, except your friend the Head Cultist, who's merely fallen to his knees, retching. The whole situation feels needlessly dramatic to you, but you're certainly not going to judge anybody for their sensitivity to magic.
On the other hand, the crowd of armed men, while noticeably more agitated than before, are still conscious. In fact, they look alert and prepared, with their weapons all leveled in your direction, almost as if oh shit—
??? (that's you) - melee (no skill, DX-2=10, -2 for surprise): 3d6=9 vs 8 (failure by 1)
Blood Hand Irregular - ranged (crossbow-13): 3d6=11 vs 13 (success by 2)
Blood Hand Irregular - ranged (crossbow-13): 3d6=11 vs 13 (success by 2)
You wince as the crossbow bolt strikes you square in the forehead, an inch above your left eye. It doesn't hurt nearly as much as you thought it would, actually, although you think you could still have dodged it if you hadn't been so surprised. You don't have much time to reflect, though—the rest of the men present have already sprung into action, one group hitting you with a (completely ineffectual) shower of arrows and bolts while another fans out to surround you in melee. They move with a grim confidence born from experience, although even with your inexpert eye you can tell that they're not professional soldiers—their movements are just a little bit sloppy and their formation is uncoordinated.
??? (that's you) - melee (no skill, DX-2=10): 3d6=10 vs 10 (success by 0)
Blood Hand Irregulars - melee (sword-13, spear-13): 3d6=11 vs 13 (success by 2)
Blood Hand Irregulars - melee (sword-13, spear-13): 3d6=11 vs 13 (success by 2)
As it turns out, fighting is actually quite hard, and you're not very good at it at all. You don't know the first thing about stances, your footwork is terrible, and you can't even throw a proper punch. Fortunately, none of these things end up mattering. Your first attacker looks appropriately shocked when his sword just bounces off your shoulder. He quickly escalates to complete terror when you catch his second strike in your bare hand and crush the blade into splinters. He stares at you for a full second, slack-jawed, before you casually backhand him into a wall so hard he splatters.
His death frees his soul from his body, of course, and—
3d6=14 vs 12 (failure by 2)
—you slurp it all up before it can disperse into the ether. It's delicious—it tastes of fear and despair and broken pride. You want m̬̖̻̱̅̈́́͝ǫ̮̙̬́̾̈͑r̲͙͇̻͛̐̎̕ĕ̡͉̬́̚͝ͅ, and you want it now—
3d6=13 vs 12 (failure by 1)
—so you don't even bother killing the rest of the group, because killing would take too much time; you just part your lips and inhale, and sheer magical pressure wrenches their souls from their bodies. Their lifeless husks flop to the ground and the room breaks into panic.
Most of them try to flee, but there is only one exit and far too many of them, and in the blink of an eye you're in their midst, gleefully painting the walls red with their blood and drinking down their souls, reveling in the intricate flavor: the thick sweetness of fear and despair, of course, but also the bright tart of defiance, the earthy fullness of duty, the savoury stillness of resignation, so smooth it would make any chef weep in jealousy. It's complex, subtle, delicate, rich—a mesmerizing blend of aroma and sensation, and it's better than anything you've ever tasted.
Before you know it, you're the only one left, standing amidst a heap of limbs and gore and shattered weapons. You feel a brief spike of disgust at the mess—it's disgusting and unsanitary and icky—before your better self takes over again and you remember that, wait, actually, you did this, so if you were okay with it then (and you were definitely okay with it then), why are you being such a baby about it now? Although you do wish you'd thought to leave at least one of them alive, because you still have no idea where you are or anything else, really.
Well, actually, there is still one living person in here with you. You make your way back to the other side of the room, where the Head Cultist is still kneeling. He's almost catatonic with fear: his breathing is ragged and his eyes are almost bulging out of his skill. He doesn't even notice you approach.
You pull a box over and sit down in front of him.
"Hey there," you say cheerily, "You wanted to talk, right? Let's talk."
===
He is, as expected, forthcoming with what he knows.
The cave you're in, you learn, was strategically chosen for its proximity to the town of Westfell, a sleepy little village on the outskirts of some kingdom or another. Head Cultist himself is a mid-ranking member of—yes, you guessed it—a cult, known as the Order of the Blood Hand: a group of powerful mages who dabble in demon summoning and seek a way to bring their banished demonic patron back into the world. His plan had been simple: summon a demon, let it loose on the town, point to the bloodshed and destruction as a sign of his dark gods, leverage said devotion into a… promotion? Or something?
That was all you were able to get out of him before he descended into nonsensical babbling and foaming at the mouth. You think his soul tasted a little bit funny when you ate it.
You take a little bit of time to consider your situation. After that little meal, you feel a lot less hungry. You definitely don't feel full, but the hunger has receded enough that it's no longer a constant distraction.
<Ravenous Hunger's self-control check is now "15 or less".>
Besides that, it seems like some of these cultists lived here, so there should be basic supplies around. Some of the men were also carrying valuables—you can see a few rings and pendants and at least one coin purse among the bodies. Well, maybe "bodies" isn't the right word for this, considering their… state of separation. Regardless, they probably don't need these things any more.
Scavenge for (multiple choices encouraged, each one takes time):
[] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
[] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
[] Something else in particular? (write-in)
There isn't really that much else to do. You're effectively alone except for a single gathering of a half-dozen souls maybe a hundred feet away. They feel scared and weak, and you can't imagine that they'd be a threat to you, but the detour is small enough that it might be worth stopping by anyways.
Take the detour?
[] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[] No. They seem unimpressive, and you're feeling rather less hungry now.
Whatever you choose, you should choose quickly. You definitely want to get out of this cave before the mess you've made starts to smell.
What will you do next?
[] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
[] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
[] Something else (write-in).
Name: ???
Attributes
ST - Unknown (Very high?)
You're not really sure how strong you are. You're certain that you're much stronger than an average person, but you don't know by how much.
DX - Unknown (Average/High?)
You haven't really experimented much with your fine motor skills. However, you feel like you're probably not a total klutz.
IQ - 12
You could be reasonably described as "bright". You've always been able to learn things just a little bit faster than your peers, and new ideas and concepts come easily to you. While you haven't done any IQ tests recently, you're pretty sure your base intelligence hasn't changed much from before.
HT - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your vitality or constitution.
Will - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your willpower.
Per - 12+1=13
You generally notice things more readily and are harder to sneak past than the average person, if only because your senses are that much sharper.
Skills
Mana control-12
Traits
Acute Vision - You have incredibly good eyesight, and can see particularly well in the dark. (+1 Per, reduce low light penalty by 1)
Instinctive Destruction - You have the ability to will magical effects into being, although your poor control over your power makes this only useful for destruction.
Magical Power - You have access to a pool of magical power, allowing you to cast spells and otherwise use magic.
Ravenous Hunger (Souls and Magical Essence; 15 or lower) - You crave the taste of human souls. In any situation where you could reasonably acquire said human souls, you must make a self-control check by rolling 15 or lower on 3d6. The severity (and therefore the target number) changes based on how often and how much you've eaten.
Shadow Transformation - You can transform parts of yourself into the analogous part of a (presumably) terrible creature of black fire and shadows. So far, you've only used this on a single finger, but you're pretty sure you could apply this to other body parts as well. The black fire is incredibly hot, capable of immediately sublimating solid stone.
Wings - You can also manifest a pair of relatively solid wings that seem usable for partial flight.
Soulsight - You can sense the presence of souls and magical energies. At close ranges this sense is fine enough to identify enchantments and wards, or to perfectly track the movement of an ensouled creature, although the resolution decreases severely with distance. It has a range of several hundred feet.
Terrifying Presence (???) - You seem to instill a sense of visible unease in nearby humans. This sense of unease seems to scale up to pants-shitting terror in certain situations, although you're not yet sure what causes this increased sensitivity.
Attributes
ST - Unknown (Very high?)
You're not really sure how strong you are. You're certain that you're much stronger than an average person, but you don't know by how much.
DX - Unknown (Average/High?)
You haven't really experimented much with your fine motor skills. However, you feel like you're probably not a total klutz.
IQ - 12
You could be reasonably described as "bright". You've always been able to learn things just a little bit faster than your peers, and new ideas and concepts come easily to you. While you haven't done any IQ tests recently, you're pretty sure your base intelligence hasn't changed much from before.
HT - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your vitality or constitution.
Will - Unknown
You've done nothing yet to test your willpower.
Per - 12+1=13
You generally notice things more readily and are harder to sneak past than the average person, if only because your senses are that much sharper.
Skills
Mana control-12
Traits
Acute Vision - You have incredibly good eyesight, and can see particularly well in the dark. (+1 Per, reduce low light penalty by 1)
Instinctive Destruction - You have the ability to will magical effects into being, although your poor control over your power makes this only useful for destruction.
Magical Power - You have access to a pool of magical power, allowing you to cast spells and otherwise use magic.
Ravenous Hunger (Souls and Magical Essence; 15 or lower) - You crave the taste of human souls. In any situation where you could reasonably acquire said human souls, you must make a self-control check by rolling 15 or lower on 3d6. The severity (and therefore the target number) changes based on how often and how much you've eaten.
Shadow Transformation - You can transform parts of yourself into the analogous part of a (presumably) terrible creature of black fire and shadows. So far, you've only used this on a single finger, but you're pretty sure you could apply this to other body parts as well. The black fire is incredibly hot, capable of immediately sublimating solid stone.
Wings - You can also manifest a pair of relatively solid wings that seem usable for partial flight.
Soulsight - You can sense the presence of souls and magical energies. At close ranges this sense is fine enough to identify enchantments and wards, or to perfectly track the movement of an ensouled creature, although the resolution decreases severely with distance. It has a range of several hundred feet.
Terrifying Presence (???) - You seem to instill a sense of visible unease in nearby humans. This sense of unease seems to scale up to pants-shitting terror in certain situations, although you're not yet sure what causes this increased sensitivity.
A/N: Welp, lots of failed control checks in here, but self-control is overrated anyways. Thanks to @keios for suffering through early drafts of this. Hope you enjoy!
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- Location
- Who Knows
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
Cause we might as well try to fill our hunger up with ordinary food. If not, then screw bringing food. If yes, then, sure. Money is always good. Magical trinkets hell yeah. Clothes, we ate souls so some of the clothes should be good to wear. Shouldn't bother being too picky right now, the money might serve us better there.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
Friends! Or Food! Either way, pretty good. And they're probably intended sacrifices, so they'd probably be locked up and die without any intervention. Such a waste!
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
Easy peasy. Get info first. Then wander into the wilderness.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
Cause we might as well try to fill our hunger up with ordinary food. If not, then screw bringing food. If yes, then, sure. Money is always good. Magical trinkets hell yeah. Clothes, we ate souls so some of the clothes should be good to wear. Shouldn't bother being too picky right now, the money might serve us better there.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
Friends! Or Food! Either way, pretty good. And they're probably intended sacrifices, so they'd probably be locked up and die without any intervention. Such a waste!
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
Easy peasy. Get info first. Then wander into the wilderness.
ConfusedPotato
Unverified Verifier
- Location
- Australia
[X] Andelevion
keios
very normal
- Location
- US
Scavenge for (multiple choices encouraged, each one takes time):
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
[X] Something else in particular? (write-in)
-[X] Scrolls if you can find them, and a sack to carry things in.
Take the detour?
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
What will you do next?
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
[X] Something else in particular? (write-in)
-[X] Scrolls if you can find them, and a sack to carry things in.
Take the detour?
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
What will you do next?
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
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Blazinghand
O cursèd spite
- Location
- California
Scavenge for (multiple choices encouraged, each one takes time):
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
Take the detour?
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
What will you do next?
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
Take the detour?
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
What will you do next?
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
- Location
- yes
Vote count!
Probably going to leave voting open a little while longer than last time, since the next few days promise to be busy in RL; voting will be open through end of day Friday.
Probably going to leave voting open a little while longer than last time, since the next few days promise to be busy in RL; voting will be open through end of day Friday.
Vote Tally : Original - Red Skies (Original Fantasy/SI-as-demon) | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.9
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 4
Andelevion
ConfusedPotato
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
[X] Something else in particular? (write-in)
-[X] Scrolls if you can find them, and a sack to carry things in.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 1
Blazinghand
Total No. of Voters: 6
##### NetTally 1.7.9
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 4
Andelevion
ConfusedPotato
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
[X] Something else in particular? (write-in)
-[X] Scrolls if you can find them, and a sack to carry things in.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 1
Blazinghand
Total No. of Voters: 6
- Location
- St. Petersburg
This looks fun!
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
Hm. Perhaps the cultists hold prisoners for ritual sacrifices? They would at least know of the land we are in. And if there are more Cultists, well...
[X] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
Bypass Klamath, head straight for Navarro
I like our attitude.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
Hm. Perhaps the cultists hold prisoners for ritual sacrifices? They would at least know of the land we are in. And if there are more Cultists, well...
[X] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
Bypass Klamath, head straight for Navarro
Well, this seems interesting!
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
[X] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
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Interlude: Friends in dark places
- Location
- yes
So, calling the vote. (A little bit late, but RL stuff, what can you do?) Update coming soon.
Anyways, have an interlude. As always, thanks to @keios for toughing it through my typos and run-ons and shitty OOC dialogue so nobody else has to.
Interlude: Friends in dark places
It was beyond Carienne how someone like Zell had managed a magisterhood at his age. He was three years her senior, yes, but at the Academy he had rarely demonstrated exceptional talent for anything except profligate spending and unrelenting snobbery. Yet here she was, headed to his office—why did he even have an office?—for an urgent meeting, top priority, had to be now. It was a bald-faced power move, and it irritated her to no end.
At least it was a small office, she thought, as she pushed through the door into the crowded little space beyond where Zell sat at his (rather shoddy, but still, his) desk.
"Oh, you came. I was worried you wouldn't," he drawled, looking up in a greeting of sorts. He was just as she remembered him, with his fancy robes and slicked-back hair and that self-assured little smirk. But he looked worse—his eyes were bloodshot and she could see little bags around them. He was paler than she remembered, too.
"I'm a practicus. You'd be surprised at how many things need my immediate attention." Perfect. Not obviously hostile, but with a nice little barb to it.
"Oh, of course. Far be it from me to question it," he replied. "Please." He indicated a worn, ratty stool.
She stiffly took a seat, looking around. Zell had stuffed the cramped little space full of as many glitzy things as he could get his hands on, to almost ridiculous effect. His desk was a big, heavy, ornate affair, comically out of place in the musty little room, and flanked by a similarly-styled high-backed chair. A big gilt tapestry hung on one wall, and a collection of gilded staves sat unused on the wall opposite. The empty spaces on the walls were covered in trophies and a few small paintings of great generals and grandiose battles, and a truly ridiculous collection of various gold-plated decorative curiosities adorned the desk. All in all, it was very him—small and gauche and reeking of desperate privilege.
"Drink?" He lifted a bottle, peering at the label. "12E was a wonderful year, you know. Brilliant flavor."
"Not here for pleasantries, Zell. You sent me a summons. You said it was very urgent. So get to the point."
"I see you haven't changed, Cari." He took a swig straight from the bottle. "Suit yourself."
Someday, this kind of thing would be beneath her, but not yet. That it made her angry—well, she could cope. She'd coped for years.
"So," Zell clapped his hands together. "The point. What can you tell me about mana flares?"
"I—you'll have to give me more than that, Zell." Did he really make her rush over on a moment's notice to lecture her on elementary thaumatology?
"No need to be so dismissive. I'm just working up to the reveal here."
She rolled her eyes. "Some of us have places to be."
"Hmm, yes, of course you do. Here, look at this." He rummaged through his drawers and produced a thick tube of parchment, unlocking it with a little zap of magic. She thought there was a strange sluggishness to how his mana flowed, but she hardly had the chance to consider it before the contents of the parchment had caught her eye. It was a familiar shape—a map of the Empire, its various sub-polities inscribed in thick, bold strokes of black. There was Ilmarin, Black Valley, and her own hometown of Tarantel. But it also wasn't quite right: Arezond hadn't been a part of the Empire in centuries, nor had the Free States—
"This is a map of all the leylines in the historical Empire at its fullest extent. It's a little old, but it's the best one I've been able to find, since prospecting hasn't exactly been in vogue these last few centuries."
It was, indeed, a good map, tracing hundreds of leylines across the realm in lines of vibrant blue. Something like this would be valuable to many a scholar; it could probably be traded for a great deal of gold. And yet—
"This data is… obscure, and probably hard to obtain, but I'm not seeing how it warrants my immediate attention."
He flashed her yet another smug little grin. "Hey, hey, this is only the half of it. Here." He produced another tube, unlocking it like the first. This time, she was sure something was wrong—his mana was oily, thick, dark. She hadn't felt anything like it, and it made her uncomfortable.
The second tube was a cloth-like material, waxed and oiled so as to be translucent, and he spread it out over the first, overlaying a thousand busy constellations of bright orange dots atop the map.
"Now, this is the important part," he said.
"These… these must be magical events of some kind, since they follow leylines, and—"
"Right as always, Cari. These," he indicated with a grand sweep, "are all the mana flares I've been able to find records of in the last century or so. Tens of thousands of them. Catalogued by time, intensity, and polarity type."
"Wow. You have been busy, haven't you." Despite herself, Carienne couldn't help but be a little impressed. Finding sources, collating and corroborating them, pruning inconsistencies… it must have taken him years. It didn't seem like the kind of thing Zell was capable of, but it was hard to dispute the evidence in front of her.
"Ahh—yes, of course," he said. He seemed almost... uncomfortable with the idea. "So, back to mana flares. What can you tell me about them?"
This time, she almost forgot to be put off by the question. "Spontaneous bursts of uncontrolled magical energy. Primarily observed around ley confluences, and therefore thought to be caused by sympathetic resonances between leyline pairs of orthogonal polarity." She paused. "A theory that seems well-supported by this map."
"Exactly correct," said Zell. "Almost every cluster here corresponds to some major known ortho-polar confluence. This one"—he jabbed his finger at a particularly large group—"is 5-7, the 'Dragon Summit'. That one," he indicated another, slightly smaller one—"is 3-4, the 'Trivium'. In general, the size of the clusters also seem to correspond with the relative power and incompatibility of the confluence."
"Almost every cluster?" It looked pretty conclusive to her.
"Yes. All of them but one. This one." He pointed at a single cluster on the eastern fringe of the map, so tightly packed it was just a single large dot. "It's the the densest group of flares on record. It has almost undetectably concordant polarity properties. And the strangest thing is, it's nowhere near a leyline."
"And it's in the middle of nowhere. No towns, no major roads—"
"Yes, no local Magisterium or prospecting office. All the flares logged there? Their locations were triangulated. Most of them were detectable even from the Academy. Who knows how many minor flares have happened in that same location, with nobody around to see?"
He stopped, a surprisingly sincere cast to his face.
"I'll be honest, Cari. I have no idea what this is. We—I have some theories, but nothing will come of it without fieldwork. A good old prospecting job. Just like in the Golden Age."
"And you want my help."
"Not such a waste of your time now, right?" She shot him a glare. "But I'll be honest with you: yes. You have the best control and sensing abilities of anyone I know." He paused, as if considering what to say next. "Of anyone out of the Academy from the last ten years, actually, if test scores are to go by."
"That's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say," she said. Wait, hold on. "How did you get my—"
"I found someone to fund this, but he insisted I only find the best. He was willing to pull some strings to get that information."
"So you have friends in high places now. Incredible."
"Isn't it, though? You'd be amazed what's possible with the right connections." He grinned, steepled his fingers. "My patron is willing to front the costs and send a contingent of his men for security and logistics. All we need is a mapper. And I think there's nobody more qualified than you."
"How long? Who with? When?" She was interested, now—how could she not be? Zell was insufferable, sure, but getting her name on this could be the opportunity of a lifetime.
"Three months. Myself, a bodyguard, two other magi, both also licensed, to provide ritual support if it becomes necessary. We could leave as soon as next week, if you're willing to join."
Carienne paused in thought. She could do this. She would do this. But it wouldn't do to seem too eager. "I'll consider it. Now, if that's all?"
"Please do, Cari. This could make us famous."
Vote Tally : Original - Red Skies (Original Fantasy/SI-as-demon) | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.9
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
No. of Votes: 8
Andelevion
Blazinghand
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
keios
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
No. of Votes: 8
Andelevion
Blazinghand
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
keios
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
No. of Votes: 7
Andelevion
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
keios
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
No. of Votes: 7
Andelevion
Blazinghand
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 6
Andelevion
Blazinghand
ConfusedPotato
keios
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
No. of Votes: 5
Andelevion
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
No. of Votes: 2
Nevill
Bommelom
[X] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
[X] Something else in particular? (write-in)
No. of Votes: 1
keios
-[X] Scrolls if you can find them, and a sack to carry things in.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
Total No. of Voters: 8
##### NetTally 1.7.9
[X] Money. You figure it's a good way to get things you want. After all, you're not going to violently murder everyone you meet, are you?
No. of Votes: 8
Andelevion
Blazinghand
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
keios
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Yes. You might make some friends! And, even if you don't, you'd never say no to dessert.
No. of Votes: 8
Andelevion
Blazinghand
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
keios
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Jewelry and accessories. You probably won't wear it, considering its provenance, but it's the next best thing to actual money in terms of carrying value. Also, you can sense faint flickers of magic in the room still, and enchanted trinkets seems like a good explanation.
No. of Votes: 7
Andelevion
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
keios
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Clothes. Based on what you've seen, what you're wearing will probably stand out; especially considering you've basically done the equivalent of running through a sprinkler but with blood instead of water while getting stabbed by sharp metal objects. You might want to at least throw a cloak over it.
No. of Votes: 7
Andelevion
Blazinghand
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
Nevill
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Head to the town. It's the closest piece of civilization to where you are, and therefore probably the easiest way to learn more about the world at large.
No. of Votes: 6
Andelevion
Blazinghand
ConfusedPotato
keios
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Food. You don't know if you can even eat the stuff, but being prepared never hurt anybody.
No. of Votes: 5
Andelevion
Bommelom
ConfusedPotato
UbeOne
veekie
[X] Head off in a different direction. You seek the thrill of the unknown, and towns sound boring anyways.
No. of Votes: 2
Nevill
Bommelom
[X] Sword. You have no idea how to use one, and, empirically, you've shown you can probably do more damage without, but a young woman traveling alone and unarmed might be suspicious. Also, they're cool.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
[X] Something else in particular? (write-in)
No. of Votes: 1
keios
-[X] Scrolls if you can find them, and a sack to carry things in.
No. of Votes: 1
keios
Total No. of Voters: 8
Anyways, have an interlude. As always, thanks to @keios for toughing it through my typos and run-ons and shitty OOC dialogue so nobody else has to.
Interlude: Friends in dark places
It was beyond Carienne how someone like Zell had managed a magisterhood at his age. He was three years her senior, yes, but at the Academy he had rarely demonstrated exceptional talent for anything except profligate spending and unrelenting snobbery. Yet here she was, headed to his office—why did he even have an office?—for an urgent meeting, top priority, had to be now. It was a bald-faced power move, and it irritated her to no end.
At least it was a small office, she thought, as she pushed through the door into the crowded little space beyond where Zell sat at his (rather shoddy, but still, his) desk.
"Oh, you came. I was worried you wouldn't," he drawled, looking up in a greeting of sorts. He was just as she remembered him, with his fancy robes and slicked-back hair and that self-assured little smirk. But he looked worse—his eyes were bloodshot and she could see little bags around them. He was paler than she remembered, too.
"I'm a practicus. You'd be surprised at how many things need my immediate attention." Perfect. Not obviously hostile, but with a nice little barb to it.
"Oh, of course. Far be it from me to question it," he replied. "Please." He indicated a worn, ratty stool.
She stiffly took a seat, looking around. Zell had stuffed the cramped little space full of as many glitzy things as he could get his hands on, to almost ridiculous effect. His desk was a big, heavy, ornate affair, comically out of place in the musty little room, and flanked by a similarly-styled high-backed chair. A big gilt tapestry hung on one wall, and a collection of gilded staves sat unused on the wall opposite. The empty spaces on the walls were covered in trophies and a few small paintings of great generals and grandiose battles, and a truly ridiculous collection of various gold-plated decorative curiosities adorned the desk. All in all, it was very him—small and gauche and reeking of desperate privilege.
"Drink?" He lifted a bottle, peering at the label. "12E was a wonderful year, you know. Brilliant flavor."
"Not here for pleasantries, Zell. You sent me a summons. You said it was very urgent. So get to the point."
"I see you haven't changed, Cari." He took a swig straight from the bottle. "Suit yourself."
Someday, this kind of thing would be beneath her, but not yet. That it made her angry—well, she could cope. She'd coped for years.
"So," Zell clapped his hands together. "The point. What can you tell me about mana flares?"
"I—you'll have to give me more than that, Zell." Did he really make her rush over on a moment's notice to lecture her on elementary thaumatology?
"No need to be so dismissive. I'm just working up to the reveal here."
She rolled her eyes. "Some of us have places to be."
"Hmm, yes, of course you do. Here, look at this." He rummaged through his drawers and produced a thick tube of parchment, unlocking it with a little zap of magic. She thought there was a strange sluggishness to how his mana flowed, but she hardly had the chance to consider it before the contents of the parchment had caught her eye. It was a familiar shape—a map of the Empire, its various sub-polities inscribed in thick, bold strokes of black. There was Ilmarin, Black Valley, and her own hometown of Tarantel. But it also wasn't quite right: Arezond hadn't been a part of the Empire in centuries, nor had the Free States—
"This is a map of all the leylines in the historical Empire at its fullest extent. It's a little old, but it's the best one I've been able to find, since prospecting hasn't exactly been in vogue these last few centuries."
It was, indeed, a good map, tracing hundreds of leylines across the realm in lines of vibrant blue. Something like this would be valuable to many a scholar; it could probably be traded for a great deal of gold. And yet—
"This data is… obscure, and probably hard to obtain, but I'm not seeing how it warrants my immediate attention."
He flashed her yet another smug little grin. "Hey, hey, this is only the half of it. Here." He produced another tube, unlocking it like the first. This time, she was sure something was wrong—his mana was oily, thick, dark. She hadn't felt anything like it, and it made her uncomfortable.
The second tube was a cloth-like material, waxed and oiled so as to be translucent, and he spread it out over the first, overlaying a thousand busy constellations of bright orange dots atop the map.
"Now, this is the important part," he said.
"These… these must be magical events of some kind, since they follow leylines, and—"
"Right as always, Cari. These," he indicated with a grand sweep, "are all the mana flares I've been able to find records of in the last century or so. Tens of thousands of them. Catalogued by time, intensity, and polarity type."
"Wow. You have been busy, haven't you." Despite herself, Carienne couldn't help but be a little impressed. Finding sources, collating and corroborating them, pruning inconsistencies… it must have taken him years. It didn't seem like the kind of thing Zell was capable of, but it was hard to dispute the evidence in front of her.
"Ahh—yes, of course," he said. He seemed almost... uncomfortable with the idea. "So, back to mana flares. What can you tell me about them?"
This time, she almost forgot to be put off by the question. "Spontaneous bursts of uncontrolled magical energy. Primarily observed around ley confluences, and therefore thought to be caused by sympathetic resonances between leyline pairs of orthogonal polarity." She paused. "A theory that seems well-supported by this map."
"Exactly correct," said Zell. "Almost every cluster here corresponds to some major known ortho-polar confluence. This one"—he jabbed his finger at a particularly large group—"is 5-7, the 'Dragon Summit'. That one," he indicated another, slightly smaller one—"is 3-4, the 'Trivium'. In general, the size of the clusters also seem to correspond with the relative power and incompatibility of the confluence."
"Almost every cluster?" It looked pretty conclusive to her.
"Yes. All of them but one. This one." He pointed at a single cluster on the eastern fringe of the map, so tightly packed it was just a single large dot. "It's the the densest group of flares on record. It has almost undetectably concordant polarity properties. And the strangest thing is, it's nowhere near a leyline."
"And it's in the middle of nowhere. No towns, no major roads—"
"Yes, no local Magisterium or prospecting office. All the flares logged there? Their locations were triangulated. Most of them were detectable even from the Academy. Who knows how many minor flares have happened in that same location, with nobody around to see?"
He stopped, a surprisingly sincere cast to his face.
"I'll be honest, Cari. I have no idea what this is. We—I have some theories, but nothing will come of it without fieldwork. A good old prospecting job. Just like in the Golden Age."
"And you want my help."
"Not such a waste of your time now, right?" She shot him a glare. "But I'll be honest with you: yes. You have the best control and sensing abilities of anyone I know." He paused, as if considering what to say next. "Of anyone out of the Academy from the last ten years, actually, if test scores are to go by."
"That's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say," she said. Wait, hold on. "How did you get my—"
"I found someone to fund this, but he insisted I only find the best. He was willing to pull some strings to get that information."
"So you have friends in high places now. Incredible."
"Isn't it, though? You'd be amazed what's possible with the right connections." He grinned, steepled his fingers. "My patron is willing to front the costs and send a contingent of his men for security and logistics. All we need is a mapper. And I think there's nobody more qualified than you."
"How long? Who with? When?" She was interested, now—how could she not be? Zell was insufferable, sure, but getting her name on this could be the opportunity of a lifetime.
"Three months. Myself, a bodyguard, two other magi, both also licensed, to provide ritual support if it becomes necessary. We could leave as soon as next week, if you're willing to join."
Carienne paused in thought. She could do this. She would do this. But it wouldn't do to seem too eager. "I'll consider it. Now, if that's all?"
"Please do, Cari. This could make us famous."
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