Shadows of the Past
- Thread starter Azel
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
- Location
- Germany
[X] Yes. About:
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
[X] Yes. About:
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] About his first apprentice.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] About his first apprentice.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
- Location
- Germany
A bit of both. She is drilling you rather hard by hunters standards and IC, you can't shake the feeling she is preparing you for something.
- Location
- United States
... What the hell? @Azel, is there any kind of initiation for hunters or anything of the sort? Is our huntress teacher intending to leave when the shaman dies?
- Location
- Germany
There's the general rite of passage. Your master formally declares your apprenticeship to be over, ritually hands you the tools of your trade and gives a little speech. Then you are considered an adult and can pick a new name for yourself to signify that you are your own person now and no longer just your parents child.
Terribly mundane affair all things considered.
The hunters do a bit of hazing, but that's gotten out of the way in the first year of apprenticeship.
- Location
- United States
So I'm assuming that's not what has her so worried and preparing us for. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being too young for people to take seriously or tell things to?
- Location
- Germany
It's almost as if people around you don't want to drag you into their problems.
I've been building up to this the whole time and have left behind some hints pretty much since the first chapter. I think I was just a bit too subtle about it.
The spirit you've met was just a catalyst for the whole situation, not the cause of it.
Last edited:
[X] Yes. About:
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He
Let's see:
Ch. 1, Yaxkin's father to Chief: "I think the spirits scared off what little was left so that we move on. Ill omens if we stay any longer if you ask me."
Ch. 3: "While the rather sudden end of the jungle didn't seem strange to you on the way into the ruins, seeing the same invisible border between the thick brush and the grassy field is rather odd. Maybe this too was the work of spirits? But why would they want a neat line between the trees and the old city? And why draw it in the middle of the buildings instead of farther out?"
Ch. 6, Mahuizoh: "It's been a long while since I've taught this[Alchemy] to someone and never at quite such an tender age as you."
Ch. 9: Undead wolf spirit!
Ch. 10: "Things change when you mentioned the spirit in a wolf's shape and see with a start how Mahuizoh goes pale at its description.";
Manauia the Huntress: "If it's the shaman's duty to interpret the spirits' will and commune with them, why is he never present when the tribe makes offerings to them?"
Ch. 11: Manauia's story about joining Mahuizoh.
So are the spirits becoming angrier as the time goes on?
-Becuase something bad is coming from the ruins?
--People have disturbed what should have been left dormant?
-Because they still remember Mahuizoh from that expedition (Ch.11) and want his head?
- Location
- United States
You've compiled a large amount of evidence, but that still doesn't explain why the tribe stuck to their usual pattern and returned to the area around the ruins next year right on schedule. You would think they'd be scared shitless and completely avoid the place.
- Location
- Germany
@FortTell, a very likely explanation and pretty much spot on the reasoning of the tribe, which is causing your current treatment.
Good catch.
It's not the whole story though. You are missing a rather important piece of the puzzle, but do know its shape already.
A little hint: Compare Mahuizohs words when he offered the apprenticeship to you, the statement you quoted from chapter 6 and Manauias story about her sister.
Good catch.
It's not the whole story though. You are missing a rather important piece of the puzzle, but do know its shape already.
A little hint: Compare Mahuizohs words when he offered the apprenticeship to you, the statement you quoted from chapter 6 and Manauias story about her sister.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He
Maybe tradition is hard to overcome. Or the spirit offering place is a safe distance away. Or they are trying to look like they were totally not that tribe that botched the spirit offerings, no Sir Spirit, that were some other people with a different shaman, see?
- Location
- United States
[X] Yes. About:
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] About his first apprentice.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] About his first apprentice.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
- Location
- Germany
Astronomy is far more about constellations and their cycles then about a calendar that is based on a few key elements of those.
The main advantage of the pendant is that you can use it to check up the current date whenever the stars are out by using it as a astronomical abacus. Being so portable means you always know the right dates to conduct Alchemy or other activities influenced by the stars.
So, no. The other way around. The Astronomy skill is what makes the pendant more then just frippery.
- Location
- United States
... Does that mean we're allowed to get a boost for alchemy, then?
- Location
- Germany
Is that you TNE?
In fact, yes. Doing Alchemy on specific dates can give you either a bonus or a malus. It's not really relevant yet since the turns are two years long and you can thus always use beneficial days.
You will also need to get ingredients later on, either gathering or trading them, but that too is abstracted away for now.
Prologue 12: Shattered Trust
- Location
- Germany
You carefully settle down before answering him. There is much that troubles you, especially after the revelations of this day. Where to start, though? After a few tense moments you settle on the present. The past is the past and nothing you do will change it, so there is not much point in dwelling too much on it, except for those matters that still affect you.
"It's been nearly a year. Not much longer until we are back at the site near the ruins." Back then he told you that it would be only a matter of time until the suspicious glares stopped again. Was this another lie to reassure you? The question remains unspoken and is all the louder for it, yet he still doesn't answer it. Atl just looks awkwardly between the two of you and Mahuizo stares at the circles and lines drawn into the sandy floor. The silence stretches.
"It is getting better. It's just slow." Atl's words don't carry a great deal of conviction and sound more like something squeezed out of him by the pressure. "The chief is talking to me sometimes. He understands at least. I'm sure the others will follow."
"I think so, too. The hearts of men are fickle things sometimes, and at others they keep their set path as if it was carved into them. When we pass the next camp again, they will see that there is nothing to worry about." Immediately Atl perks up at the reassurance by the old man and they share a slightly uneasy smile. You dearly wish to join in, but you won't let the matter drop now.
"Was there ever? You never told us about what the spirit that I met was. Everyone else seems to know and somehow that makes them blame us for something." Your left hand settles on the belt pouch even now carrying the prize of your daring and the reminder of your folly. Often you wondered if you should have gone to another place in the ruins or maybe not at all. Had you known the consequences back then, you would have done something different or at least kept your mouth shut about it. But that too is in the past and beyond your reach to change.
Mahuizo just slowly shakes his head and draws idly in the sand with his good hand. With slight guilt you notice that the tremors in his left have gotten worse since you've entered. "No, they do not know. They just suspect and cast blame in their fear. Not a spirit it was in that body. Uncountable. The wolf you described to me was nothing more than a vessel for them."
You blink once and think back on that day. Now that he has spelled it out for you, it seems so obvious. True, it was a decaying carcass moving around and yet it was not truly decaying. It was more like the jaguar cape of the hunters, except far less taken care of. And while rotting bodies normally attracted all manners of insects, there had been just the one kind in this one. "The glowing moths? They are spirits? All of them?"
"Yes and no. If they are one great spirit in many bodies or a myriad of tiny ones that work in perfect accord, I can not truly say, though I suspect the latter. Flesh Moths they were called by my master. Harbingers by the tribe at large, back in those long ago days where we last saw them, for each one is an ill omen all in itself." As you glance down at the floor, you notice that his drawing wasn't so idle. A small image of a wolf is there and he carefully pokes tiny holes around it. "Not every one of their hosts looks like the one you saw. At first, their victims look just fine."
You wait a bit for him to finish a drawing of a man approaching the wolf. "A single one of them is all that it takes." At that he adds a sharp line from one of the dots to the man. "They burrow into the flesh with ease. It barely hurts as they slip right through your skin. They crawl around and lay their eggs, just like a true insect would, but the maggots will not have to feast on rotten remains. You will not feel any pain or great discomfort as they consume your flesh and weave their nest in its place."
As he finishes drawing the small cavity in the man's arm, he looks first you and then Atl straight in the eyes. "There are signs of their presence. Many subtle ones that might have entirely different reasons. The only true way to check is to pierce the skin and pray that it is just blood spilling forth." At this he points to many healed wounds on his left hand and arm. You always assumed he had hurt himself with the shaking somehow, but you can guess what he will say next.
"A slight numbness to the arm now and then. Maybe a prickling in your toes. Others might notice your hand shaking. As they consume more and more of their host, his movements will become slightly wrong." Here he draws more cavities into the man. The arms. The legs. The body. Finally, the skull. "He will forget things as they spread to the skull. Speak a bit oddly at first as the spirits start to steer the hollow shell left behind. Always seeking a new home to lay their eggs within."
"They think you are infected by it." Atl is the first to speak it, and you have come to the same conclusion. Something, though, is still wrong with his story. You drone out his description of the failing host becoming ever more desperate to seek new bodies, for you have seen that part of the process on your own. What is he distracting you from?
"Wait." You draw their curious glances to you with that single word cutting through their conversation. "You have just shown us the scars of you checking for the things, but Manauia told me that you've had the tremors at least a year before that day. You knew that this wasn't the reason for them, since you had no reason to suspect them if nobody saw them for so long." To see the defeated expression on his face as he turns it away from you hurts, but you can't stop now. "You did it to show them. You've proven to them that there are no spirits under your skin and they still don't believe you."
A slow nod is all the acknowledgement you get. Silence descends again as if to bury this again and you will have none of it. He lied to you. Only by omission maybe, but that didn't change anything. "Why?" You rise as you speak the word. "Why did you lie to us?"
"None of this will matter in a while longer." He raises his left hand to punctuate his statement. "It saddens me that you have to bear the burden along with me, but it will follow me to the grave soon enough. All I hope for is to give you two all that you will need for your future."
"Don't. Just stop with this. What is this burden? Do you want us hated for all our lives without even knowing why if it isn't gone with you? You are our master. We are your apprentices. We have a right to know the truth."
He sighs deeply in defeat. "They think our ways are wrong. That we shouldn't commune with the spirits and just leave the offerings for them. As they see it, to interact with them any more then that is angering them or simply drawing them to the tribe to wreak havoc upon us. There are other, more outlandish and vicious claims I've heard, but this is the gist of it."
"And who are 'they'?"
"I will not say. If they haven't said these things into your faces yet, then there is no point in revealing them for you to answer their fears with hatred. I did not wish for this, Yaxkin. In that you have to believe me. All I wanted was to shelter you from the worst of it while I still can. There is no point to all of this and nothing you could do, so why should I have told you all this? Does the knowledge takes the sting from their glares or sooth the wounds they left? I merely wished for you to not spread the enmity even further. It was just for your own good that I hid this from you."
Then he falls silent and you know that no amount of pressing will get you any further. You quickly glance at Atl and see the confusion written plainly on his face as his eyes dart between you and old shaman, who seems as if he gained another two years today.
What will you do, now that you know?
[] Storm out. This was not his decision to make for you.
[] Stay. You will not forgive him for his lies, but neither will you abandon him.
[] Apologize. In the end he meant well and that weighs more than his methods.
[] Write-In
AN: I nearly thought that Mahuizoh could wiggle out of this. Took him long enough to roll anything below 70.
If Yaxkin comes off as a bit harsh here, remember that she was treated like a leper by her own tribe for a year now. There was a lot of pent up frustration riding along.
"It's been nearly a year. Not much longer until we are back at the site near the ruins." Back then he told you that it would be only a matter of time until the suspicious glares stopped again. Was this another lie to reassure you? The question remains unspoken and is all the louder for it, yet he still doesn't answer it. Atl just looks awkwardly between the two of you and Mahuizo stares at the circles and lines drawn into the sandy floor. The silence stretches.
"It is getting better. It's just slow." Atl's words don't carry a great deal of conviction and sound more like something squeezed out of him by the pressure. "The chief is talking to me sometimes. He understands at least. I'm sure the others will follow."
"I think so, too. The hearts of men are fickle things sometimes, and at others they keep their set path as if it was carved into them. When we pass the next camp again, they will see that there is nothing to worry about." Immediately Atl perks up at the reassurance by the old man and they share a slightly uneasy smile. You dearly wish to join in, but you won't let the matter drop now.
"Was there ever? You never told us about what the spirit that I met was. Everyone else seems to know and somehow that makes them blame us for something." Your left hand settles on the belt pouch even now carrying the prize of your daring and the reminder of your folly. Often you wondered if you should have gone to another place in the ruins or maybe not at all. Had you known the consequences back then, you would have done something different or at least kept your mouth shut about it. But that too is in the past and beyond your reach to change.
Mahuizo just slowly shakes his head and draws idly in the sand with his good hand. With slight guilt you notice that the tremors in his left have gotten worse since you've entered. "No, they do not know. They just suspect and cast blame in their fear. Not a spirit it was in that body. Uncountable. The wolf you described to me was nothing more than a vessel for them."
You blink once and think back on that day. Now that he has spelled it out for you, it seems so obvious. True, it was a decaying carcass moving around and yet it was not truly decaying. It was more like the jaguar cape of the hunters, except far less taken care of. And while rotting bodies normally attracted all manners of insects, there had been just the one kind in this one. "The glowing moths? They are spirits? All of them?"
"Yes and no. If they are one great spirit in many bodies or a myriad of tiny ones that work in perfect accord, I can not truly say, though I suspect the latter. Flesh Moths they were called by my master. Harbingers by the tribe at large, back in those long ago days where we last saw them, for each one is an ill omen all in itself." As you glance down at the floor, you notice that his drawing wasn't so idle. A small image of a wolf is there and he carefully pokes tiny holes around it. "Not every one of their hosts looks like the one you saw. At first, their victims look just fine."
You wait a bit for him to finish a drawing of a man approaching the wolf. "A single one of them is all that it takes." At that he adds a sharp line from one of the dots to the man. "They burrow into the flesh with ease. It barely hurts as they slip right through your skin. They crawl around and lay their eggs, just like a true insect would, but the maggots will not have to feast on rotten remains. You will not feel any pain or great discomfort as they consume your flesh and weave their nest in its place."
As he finishes drawing the small cavity in the man's arm, he looks first you and then Atl straight in the eyes. "There are signs of their presence. Many subtle ones that might have entirely different reasons. The only true way to check is to pierce the skin and pray that it is just blood spilling forth." At this he points to many healed wounds on his left hand and arm. You always assumed he had hurt himself with the shaking somehow, but you can guess what he will say next.
"A slight numbness to the arm now and then. Maybe a prickling in your toes. Others might notice your hand shaking. As they consume more and more of their host, his movements will become slightly wrong." Here he draws more cavities into the man. The arms. The legs. The body. Finally, the skull. "He will forget things as they spread to the skull. Speak a bit oddly at first as the spirits start to steer the hollow shell left behind. Always seeking a new home to lay their eggs within."
"They think you are infected by it." Atl is the first to speak it, and you have come to the same conclusion. Something, though, is still wrong with his story. You drone out his description of the failing host becoming ever more desperate to seek new bodies, for you have seen that part of the process on your own. What is he distracting you from?
Perception
Yaxkin: 58 + 50 (Intelligence) + 60 (Concentration) + 60 (Perception) = 228
vs
Mahuizoh: 17 + 50 (Charisma) + 70 (Concentration) + 100 (Intrigue) - 20 (Beginning Dementia) = 217
Caught him distracting you again.
Yaxkin: 58 + 50 (Intelligence) + 60 (Concentration) + 60 (Perception) = 228
vs
Mahuizoh: 17 + 50 (Charisma) + 70 (Concentration) + 100 (Intrigue) - 20 (Beginning Dementia) = 217
Caught him distracting you again.
"Wait." You draw their curious glances to you with that single word cutting through their conversation. "You have just shown us the scars of you checking for the things, but Manauia told me that you've had the tremors at least a year before that day. You knew that this wasn't the reason for them, since you had no reason to suspect them if nobody saw them for so long." To see the defeated expression on his face as he turns it away from you hurts, but you can't stop now. "You did it to show them. You've proven to them that there are no spirits under your skin and they still don't believe you."
A slow nod is all the acknowledgement you get. Silence descends again as if to bury this again and you will have none of it. He lied to you. Only by omission maybe, but that didn't change anything. "Why?" You rise as you speak the word. "Why did you lie to us?"
"None of this will matter in a while longer." He raises his left hand to punctuate his statement. "It saddens me that you have to bear the burden along with me, but it will follow me to the grave soon enough. All I hope for is to give you two all that you will need for your future."
"Don't. Just stop with this. What is this burden? Do you want us hated for all our lives without even knowing why if it isn't gone with you? You are our master. We are your apprentices. We have a right to know the truth."
Intimidation, no physical attributes allowed, substitute a second mental
Yaxkin: 88 + 50 (Intelligence) + 60 (Concentration) + 50 (???) = 248
vs
Mahuizoh: 45 + 60 (Intelligence) + 70 (Concentration) + 60 (???) = 235
2 Successes
Yaxkin: 88 + 50 (Intelligence) + 60 (Concentration) + 50 (???) = 248
vs
Mahuizoh: 45 + 60 (Intelligence) + 70 (Concentration) + 60 (???) = 235
2 Successes
"And who are 'they'?"
"I will not say. If they haven't said these things into your faces yet, then there is no point in revealing them for you to answer their fears with hatred. I did not wish for this, Yaxkin. In that you have to believe me. All I wanted was to shelter you from the worst of it while I still can. There is no point to all of this and nothing you could do, so why should I have told you all this? Does the knowledge takes the sting from their glares or sooth the wounds they left? I merely wished for you to not spread the enmity even further. It was just for your own good that I hid this from you."
Then he falls silent and you know that no amount of pressing will get you any further. You quickly glance at Atl and see the confusion written plainly on his face as his eyes dart between you and old shaman, who seems as if he gained another two years today.
What will you do, now that you know?
[] Storm out. This was not his decision to make for you.
[] Stay. You will not forgive him for his lies, but neither will you abandon him.
[] Apologize. In the end he meant well and that weighs more than his methods.
[] Write-In
AN: I nearly thought that Mahuizoh could wiggle out of this. Took him long enough to roll anything below 70.
If Yaxkin comes off as a bit harsh here, remember that she was treated like a leper by her own tribe for a year now. There was a lot of pent up frustration riding along.