Singer's Quest

[AKuz]

CHAPTER VIII: The Tower and Its City

In the background a city burns, ugly flames leap and play as a thousand years of work and effort turn to literal ash.

In the foreground a number of Drab in armour stand around a table with two others, are two others taller, and radiating a presence that tells even the unobservant that these two are in command. As one they look up at each other and after brief moment pases, they nod.

"Clear the tent" The Tactician says, and the others obey his order without question, "I felt it too"

"So The Hunter is dead" The Architect says, sighing, "I suppose this was inevitable. He was too overconfident, too arrogant, too erratic."

"Agreed" says the Tactician, "Useful, but not a tool to be relied upon. And the Ghost is in place as well, so I have few fears about setbacks"

"I have dispatched The Traitor as well"

"Oh?", The Tactician raises an eyebrow, "Are you certain?"

The Architect nods slightly, "Yes, I am still determined to minimize our risks at our critical juncture"

They both look at the burning city and the army arrayed outside it, "A minor concern in the long run anyway, I would think"

----------------------------------------------------------

Nozomi stands on the balcony and looks out over Serenity, looking down over the city of over two hundred thousand, "Woahhhhhh"

Serenity is build on the confluence of the Han and Gan rivers, and so is cut into three pieces with an Island in the middle.

"SEE THERE'S MY HOUSE!" Veesa shouts excitedly and points down at one of the slices, "In the Invector district of the South Slice!"

Nozomi looks closer and can see that each slice contains three gently rising tiers of buildings in each slice, a wall between each. The whole city looks like four rings of concentric circles with the tower in the middle and the rivers roughly evenly dividing the city into thirds.

"Oh, wow. Where is the Healers' Academy?" Cadus asks from the other side.

Veesa shrugged, but their guide, an unassuming young Chosen woman named Misa who'd volunteered to help Nozomi get bearings, pointed down at the top tier of the east slice, "The Speaker's Medical Academy is down there"

"Thanks for taking us up here Nozomi" Veesa says, "Normally no one that isn't a Chosen or a servant, gets allowed into the tower"

"I figured it was the least trade I could make for helping me out so much. Plus now I know where you both live!" Nozomi says grinning, she's only been up and around again for two days but she feels great again.

"It really sucked that they only treated me here, so I couldn't thank you right away."

"Oh well, the Invector hospital is really nice though! Not that I want to visit it that often" Veesa says, "They were really proud of me for fighting a Sorcerer."

"Oh, me too! The Healers at the Speaker Academy were really impressed." Cadus says in a rush, "That and Grandfather's letter got me admission in the Academy right away!"

"Everything looks so small from up here doesn't it?" Misa says before she cranes her head up and turns around, "and just imagine that this tower used to be so much higher before it was almost destroyed by the Betrayer"

"Which is saying a lot, in the past millennia, nothing's even touched those walls." Veesa says, "Of course, we Invectors haven't ever given anyone a chance to try!" she finishes smugly.

Misa shepherds them back into the tower off the balcony, where Tarim and Alena are waiting.

"Oh, you can do it, you're not going to fall off" Alena says to Tarim as he eyes the door to the outside warily.

"I still don't trust it. You never had to hand off a ledge for a day" Tarim says. His eyes light up in relief when his daughter and her friends come in the door, "So what say we get lunch, or um, just go for a walk. On the ground. Where we aren't high up in the air?"

"There's actually a little cafe outside the ground floor run by a delightful Mute family" Misa says, "Of course with current crisis going on, only a couple of members of the family are working" the small Mute caste Chosen says as they follow the blue light of the tower's interior down the stairs.

"Isn't it easy to keep areas from being infected? I thought that only someone with nausea and vomiting was infectious?" Cadus asks, brow furrowed, "and later on headache, fever, fatigue, hemor-"

Misa stops him, looking slightly green, "Well, yes that's why we let you in to visit Nozomi." she looks away, "We still don't know what is causing the illness, it doesn't seem natural and it doesn't spread like an infection usually does."

"It seems more located by geographical region or by family, Drab are the most affected, followed by Mutes, with Speakers and Invectors the least affected" Cadus says, brow still furrowed.

Alena looks at him in surprise, and he shrugs, "Even if I'm young, I'm still a healer. The Academy asked me if I'd ever heard about anything like this before" he pauses briefly, almost tripping on one of the staircase's landings, "And for the record, no I've never heard of this before either"

Misa tries on a reassuring smile, "Still,It's been less than a week though. So hopefully this thing just burns itself out soon, without hurting any more people, and we can get life back to normal soon"

There is a few moments of silence and Misa smile fades slightly, "Of course, there is no need to worry, Singer's tower is safer, and has more resources than anywhere else in the city. You'll be safe here Nozomi"

Veesa and Cadus look at each other, "Uh, that's pretty reassuring I suppose" Cadus says

No one else talks, as they descend the tower, passing the empty locked off floors, and reach the lower floors that are inhabited by the Chosen and their servants.

"Wow, that was nice, but I'm not doing that again unless I really, really want to" Nozomi says, trying to pretend that it wasn't a tiring walk.

"It was a nice view though." Veesa says, grinning smugly, "And some nice easy exercise. Gotta stay fit"

Misa threads the group through a mostly empty series of rooms, out into a hedged in section of Singer's Island. It's a very nice area with well kept flower gardens and an adorable little building in the middle surrounded by tables and chairs, which Nozomi assumes is the cafe.

Misa leads them over to a table, and flags down one of the workers.

"Hi! Misa! It's great to see you again! I see we have new friends!" it's an average sized Mute teenager with a huge smile who inexplicably seems to talk entirely in exclamation points, turns to the rest, "Hi! I'm Liander! My family owns this place! Here are some menus! The City pays for the Chosen so just pick something! It's all good! Don't be afraid to try new things"

As the others debate what to get, Misa talks to Liander, "So how's the rest of your family?"

"We're good! There is no disease in the Lower South Slice! So that's why they let us work here still!" he pauses for a moment, "Oh that reminds me! We don't have any of regular honeybread desserts." his face briefly falls, "the whole western slice is off limits now, so our usual bakery is unavailable. Sorry!"

Cadus looks crushed, "Aww, I like sweet things."

Liander smiles at the young Speaker man, "No worries! We have a couple of pies I brought from home for this exact situation!"

As they wait for the their food, Nozomi's parents grill Misa about what their daughter can expect, as Nozomi tries to sink into her seat, "... so she only has free time on the Island?"

"Well, right now, we're keeping the younger Chosen on the Island because of this outbreak, we don't want them to get hurt or sick. Otherwise they'd be allowed out into the city if they're with other Chosen, or a group."

The server comes over with something that smells good and sets it on the table, "OK! This is all good stuff! My cousin Cindra made it!" he waves at a frowning older Mute woman in the small cafe building, "Enjoy!"

"So, uh, how many Chosen are there? In the city I mean?" Cadus asks as he picks at some sort of fruit salad.

"Oh about thirty, of all ages and castes. There's me, and a few other that are still learning, and Nozomi will be joining us. There are another half dozen that teach us. The five on the Chosen Council, and some others that do regular Chosen stuff: settle caste disputes, debate the finer point of the Song, pray, and wander the world righting wrongs and trying to wake the Singer."

"Sounds fun" Nozomi says.

Misa looks off into the distance, "Yeah…. You'll probably be busy"

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, everything seems fine and dandy on Singer's Island! The most important part of the city, nothing's at all wrong here, isn't that just swell! I'm sure nothing else will go wrong and the current crisis will just blow right over!

I'm also certain that the next few years of Nozomi's life are going to be so boring. Not at all interesting.

Nozomi is starting classes soon, or rather a sort of group apprenticeship to older Chosen nearing the end of their lives, trying to pass on all the knowledge that they've learned in their lives. Nozomi is supposed to spend most of the next few years of her time with these women:

Class Time (Pick one:
[ ] Focus on lore
[ ] Focus on social skills
[ ] Focus on Fighting Skill
[ ] Whatever Nozomi finds interesting (Random)

Of course No one can study and go to "class" all the time. Nozomi's going to have some free time on her hands. She's supposed to stay on the Island, but what's the fun in that?

Free time (Pick up to two):
[ ] Study harder… there is a lot to learn in the Tower
[ ] Sneak off the Island to spend time with with a friend, and explore their district with them.
[ ] Veesa in the Southern Invector District
[ ] Cadus in the Eastern Speaker District
[ ] Sneak off the Island and explore the city
[ ] Spend time in the Shrine Praying and speaking with the Chosen's Chaplain
[ ] Spend Time networking with the other Chosen
[ ] Other: Write in

Also: there should be an ===> "Explore" for Singer's Island and the small Chosen community posted tomorrow.

Spoiler: PARTY STATUS

Level: 2 (Level Up Available!)
Current EXP: 206
Next Level: 210

Spoiler: NOZOMI

HP: 4
MP: 10
Def: 2+2
Will: 3

Co-Ordination-2
Perspicacity-3

Rapport-3​

Barter-2​

Intelligence-2

Lore-1​

Devoted-1​

Mathematics-1​

Physical-1

Spells:

Spoiler: COLD READER

"Cold Reader"

Caste: Speaker
Location: Head
Passive Appearance: The telltale coruscating crystalline blue of Inherent Magic brackets the eyes and a line sweeps up from the middle of each bracket to disappear at the temple
Active Appearance: The same as above but the addition that the eyes themselves glow a vibrant blue
Effect Description: It is possible to analyse a face or body language in detail; the user instinctively reads the emotions of the target, up to and including sorting truth from lies without a word.
Cost: 1 mana to activate until next rest
Mechanical Effect: +2 autosuccess to any rolls made to detect lies or read emotional state

Inventory
Traveller's Staff

+1 Dice to Melee attack​

Traveller's Clothes

+1 Def (Does not Stack with any other Traveller's set Items)​

Traveller's Cloak

+1 Def (Does not Stack with any other Traveller's set Items)​

Tarnished Bracers

+1 Def​

Endless Flask

Refills up to three and a half liters of pure water each day​

Spoiler: VEESA

HP: 12
MP: 8
Def: 3+2
Will: 2

Co-ordination-2
Physicality-3

Melee-3​

Shortsword-2​

Intelligence-1

Tracking-2​

First aid-2​

Perpicasity-2

Spells:

Spoiler: INVECTOR BLADE

Caste: Invector
Location: Lower Arms
Passive Appearance: The telltale coruscating crystalline blue of Inherent Magic runs along the opposite sides of the arm, starting at the base of the hand and running up to the elbow.
Active Appearance: Magic fills out from the blue lines and envelopes the arm and out past (and including) a now rigidly-flat hand, creating a vibrantly blue slashing blade of incredible sharpness
Effect Description: Creates an approximately 70cm blade along the arm that allows the user to swordfight without sustaining damage to the arm itself. While many Invectors choose to use traditional metal blades instead, with this spell a Devoted soldier or lawman is never unarmed.
Costs: 1 mana to activate until next rest
Mechanical Effect: Gain a weapon called "Invector Blade" with +1 auto success, and +1 dice on melee rolls

Spoiler: RELENTLESS PERSUIT

Caste: Invector
Location: Upper legs
Passive Appearance: The telltale coruscating crystalline blue of Inherent Magic outlines the musculature of the legs
Active Appearance: Same as above but pulses with energy in time with the user's heartbeat
Effect Description: The user can run far faster with far less fatigue than normal.
Cost: 1 Mana to activate until rest
Mechanical Effect: +1 to Physicality attribute, +2 to running skill

Inventory:
Veesa's Shortsword

+1 Dice to Melee attacks, +1 Autosuccess dice to Melee attacks​

Veesa's Clothes
Invector Armour

+2 Def​

Spoiler: CADUS

HP: 8
MP: 10
Def: 2+1
Will: 3+1

Co-Ordination-1
Physicality-2
Intelligence-2

Medicine-2​

First Aid-1​

Lore-2​

Healing-1​

Perspicacity-3

Rapport-1​

Spells:

Spoiler: HEALING HANDS

Caste: Speaker
Location: Hands
Passive Appearance: the entire palm is covered in the telltale coruscating crystalline blue of Inherent Magic
Active Appearance: The palm is as above but glows brightly with a blue aura.
Effect Description: Placed over any sort of wound, the spell will heal the wound, but will quickly deplete the strength of the user.
Costs: X mana
Mechanical Effect: Heals X HP on target that the user can touch

Inventory:
Cadus' Staff

+1 Dice to Melee Attacks​

Cadus' Travel Clothes

+1 Def​

Cadus' Robes

+1 Will​

Spoiler: AVAILABLE SPELLS

Available after Nozomi reaches a Harmony Shrine and gains knowledge of the spells there

Spoiler: OBJECTIVES

Awaken the Sleeping Singer

Spoiler: GAME SETTINGS

[ ] FIRST PERSON
[X] THIRD PERSON
===============================
[X] DONT SHOW COMBAT NUMBERS
[ ] SHOW COMBAT NUMBER
===============================
TUTORIAL STATUS: FINISHED

 

[AKuz]

CHAPTER IX: Settling In

The next week is a change of pace for Nozomi. Aside from waking up everyday in a different bed than she's used to, aside from being in a building with as many people as her home village had ever had, aside from having servants take care of her needs, aside from even the meals being different. Nozomi isn't used to the slow pace of Chosen life.

The pace is completely different from what Nozomi's used to. Usually she gets up with the dawn, gets ready for the day, and has breakfast with her parents. Then she goes to the shop, tidies up, opens up and takes care of the many little tasks that working in a shop requires. Then depending on if her mother is in town she'll stay in the shop and be bored out of her mind waiting for customers to show up, or off getting a basic education from her mother or father.

Then later on she'd spend time with her friends or go on some adventure in the local area. Or sometimes she'd spend time with Saena, the priestess telling her stories about the old days and sharing small bits of lore and theology.

Or chores, chores happened a lot too.

The Tower is different. Sure she can sleep in for a bit longer than she used to… but there is so much less hands on work to be done. Even the basics are done by a servant, cooking, cleaning, tidying up. All done by someone else.

Then the tutoring, Chosen are generally educated by older Chosen, so Nozomi usually finds herself sitting in a chair being lectured at by an old woman. Which, to be fair, Nozomi appreciates her elders… but while experience is a great teacher, it is no guarantee of being a great teacher. So Nozomi doesn't learn much that way.

The young Chosen does learn more from more hands on activities though. Better teachers or just instruction more suited to her, Nozomi can't tell; but she does learn a great deal about hitting things with a stick from an elderly Invector Chosen.

======

Nozomi breaths heavily, leaning on her staff, "I, whew, didn't know a stick could feel so heavy"

Her instructor laughs, "It's because you never tried before. Sometimes a Chosen has to defend themselves; against animals, Drab, whatever." she twirls her own staff, "Just bop them on the nose and they'll usually get the message. If they don't just hit harder"

Nozomi slumps down, "I don't want to hurt anyone, I just need the exercise. I didn't realise how vulnerable I could be until The Hunter came after me."

The Chosen elder, Irean sticks a hand out, "The Sorcerer? That would be something to make anyone worry"

Nozomi grabs the hand, and she is hauled to her feet, "Okay, I, ah. I'll see you tomorrow?"

The other woman nods, as Nozomi slumps off into the tower. Fortunately she doesn't have to go far; her room is only on the second level, and it even has its own bath. Nothing for the best for the Chosen after all.

Nozomi sits on the edge of her bed uncomfortably as a servant fills the bath; being waited on is not something she's used to, and being bowed to is something that is distressingly common here as well. She prefers haggling to deference actually.

The bath is nice though, but she doesn't spend too long in the water before hopping back out and changing into plain clothes. Or at least plain for a Chosen. Someone had taken to stitching in delicate flower and spiral patterns into the clothes. Nozomi appreciates the artistry on display, but just being giving clothes doesn't sit well with her. Everything is supposed to have a cost after all, it doesn't feel honest

Nozomi makes her way down beneath the ground level floor and into an underground Shrine. She smiles as she sees the bright light from the small temple light up the passage ahead of her.

Despite the high quality of the materials making up the room, one thing is comfortingly familiar: the crystal Shrine in the the middle of the room.

The Shrines keeper, the Priestess Naeri smiles at Nozomi and greets her, "I see you're back from communion with my sister. I'm afraid that I'm a bit less frisky than her. So if you're still looking to hit things with sticks, you'll have to go back upstairs"

Nozomi chuckles, "Oh no, I'm done with that for the day. I'd prefer not to move for a while actually."

"Well as long as you've got the time for it, could I interest you in a spot in the floor over there by the Shrine?"

Nozomi smiles and walks along the aisle with Naeri towards the Shrine, "I'd be delighted"

"So what have you learned today?" Naeri asks as she slowly gets to her knees in front of the crystalline altar to her Goddess.

"Well, Liander can't actually make any of the things on the menu. And that consistently hitting something moving with a staff is harder than I thought it would be."

"Ah, it is good to see my twin sister continuing to vex the younger generations" the Priestess says.

Nozomi settles down into a cross legged position, "So, we pick up where we left off yesterday?"

"I bet you don't even remember much, youngsters have such short attention spans these days." but the old Chosen smiles and and nods her head softly.

Nozomi shuts her eyes and, reaches out to the shrine, to the air around her and listens for the Song. The connection shared by all living Devoted, which is especially strong near Shrines.

And she can feel it, tickling at her mind at the very edge of the light of her thoughts, much as it had since that day she became aware of her Chosen status.

Nozomi begins to Sing. She still stumbles over the melody as she does so, there was never much call for this sort of singing before. Usually only a Priestess would Sing these songs, as a way to lead a congregation as the prayed over the Town Shrine.

Nozomi tries to lose herself in the music, to stop thinking about the song, to let it guide her as she reached out to the Song in the Shrine. She feels it resonate with the crystal, she can feel her voice being added so something else, becoming part of a greater harmony. She can feel something, she can hear a feeling in her mind's eye. Something is calling and -

Then it's suddenly over and Nozomi can't remember much of what she just felt. It's like a dream, the wisps of thought, the images suddenly twirling away from her conscious mind. She opens her eyes, and Naeri is smiling broadly at her.

"Very good!" the elder says, "I could feel you from here. You have a very strong Song"

"Thank you" Nozomi says, "I feel like I learned a lot. Even if I don't remember much"

"Well, you were singing for ten minutes" the priestess says matter of factly before smiling again.

"I'm sorry, Ten minutes? I wasn't Singing that long?"

"Oh, yes that will happens sometimes." Naeri looks at the Shrine, it is very easy to lose yourself in the Song, to become part of something greater, wiser." she nods, "I think, if you let yourself just assimilate the experience, just let it sort itself out in your mind without focusing on it, you'll have learned something new about yourself or your magic."

"Well, they do say that the Song is the source of all Devoted Magic"

"Of course dear. You are very talented"

=============================

Nozomi considers that either she is very talented, or the Invectors in charge of watching the entrance to this Slice of the city aren't very bright. After some consideration, she settles on being talented. There is no way she wouldn't have been able to talk her way past those guards.

Nozomi stops to remember where Veesa had pointed out her house, and slowly makes her way to that part of the city, the sun still high in the sky. She ducks around some carts rumbling by. The streets are far emptier than she'd thought they'd be. Well, she supposes a strange disease might do that to people, even if it hasn't been reported in this slice yet.

Veesa's house is smaller than Nozomi'd imagined. Didn't she say that Airid and his wife had had a lot of kids. How would they all fit in here?

The Chosen woman shrugs and knocks at the door, rapping it as hard as she can. It pops open very quickly and there are a pair of boys that look like Airid but much younger standing behind the threshold, "IDENTIFY YOURSELF!", one of them shouts.

"Uh, I'm Nozo-" she barely gets part way through the sentence when someone comes barreling out of the house and crashes into her.

"NOZOMI!", Veesa says happily, "I didn't think you would actually come!" Veesa lets Nozomi out of the bear hug, and the smaller woman steps back, "I thought you had to stay on the island"

"Oh, I just thought I would go for a walk" Nozomi smiles, "Meet my favorite Invector friend."

"Is that a Chosen?" one of the boys says, pointing.

"Ohmysinger, Nozomi is a person" She grabs the door and shuts it, "POINTING IS RUDE" she shouts through the door.

Nozomi hears someone say something like, "SO IS SLAMMING DOORS" from inside the house.

"We should go now" Veesa says, "You seriously Do. Not. want to get mobbed by the rest of my family. Half are brats, the other half are also brats." she mock sudders, "Mom's okay, I guess. Dad too sometimes." she grins.

Nozomi rolls her eyes, "Yeah, why not, let's go one."

"One moment", Veesa jerks the door open and reaches in to grab a cloak, "I'M GOING OUT WITH NOZOMI, I'LL BE BACK LATER" she doesn't wait for a reply before slamming the door again and walking away.

Veesa see's Nozomi's expression and giggles, "Oh, don't worry Mom and Dad trust me. And that door was already broken anyway"

"So, unless you have anywhere In mind I can just show you around. Let you know where the best shops are, if you feel the need to accessorize with something sharp anyway" Veesa says, waving for Nozomi to follow her.

Nozomi follows Veesa around for the next few hours. Veesa regales Nozomi with tails of her youth and her memories of this particular slice. And Nozomi relates with tails from her own childhood.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, most of the shops are closed due to a fear of contagion.

"Cowards. Disease ain't even in this slice yet." Veesa says about the closed shops, "I mean I suppose I can't blame them. But why set up shop if you're going to close down for every cough."

"If I know merchants, someone is still open" Nozomi says.

"Oh! I know just the person!" Veesa says and takes Nozomi, byt the elbow, taking her through a shortcut in a side alley, "Piro's Pastries!" she leans over conspiratorially, "I was going to try to take you here anyway"

"Piro's to stubborn to care about catching something" Veesa says pointing at a small shop across the street, even in the dying afternoon light, Nozomi can see that it is very brightly painted, "See!"

"PIRO!" Veesa says as the two young women enter, "I brought money this time!"

An old Mute man steps out of the back and regards her coolly, "Good. You still owe me from last time" he suddenly breaks into a smile and opens his arms for a hug, "Come 'ere Veesa, I haven't seen you in weeks." Veesa embraces the old man, "I thought you were still down the Gan! Who's your new friend?"

Veesa breaks the hug "Oh I was, but I decided that I should my friend Nozomi here the City"

"Oh, let me get you two something nice. Sweet?" he says looking over Nozomi, "Yes, some Reedsberry tarts, I think." he heads behind a counter that has a number of other delicious looking things on it, "I'd put it on your father's tab, but I hear you have a job now, so pay up!"

"I can pay" Nozomi says

"Nah, don't worry, we go way back. I've been coming here since before I was born" Veesa smiles.

The two sit down and talk more as Piro brings around the tarts, thanking Veesa for her custom.

The two women talk for much longer even after finishing the tarts, mostly a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages or Rural and Urban life. Unsurprisingly Veesa is ardently Pro-City, while Nozomi has a more country outlook.

"I beg to differ, we have all sorts of-" Nozomi is cut off suddenly by Veesa.

"We need to go now"

"Huh? Sorry?" Nozomi says, confusion evident on her face.

"Curfew soon. Part of the Quarantine measures in the unaffected slices" Veesa says, standing up, "THANKS PIRO" she says as she leads Nozomi out of the building.

The old man smiles and waves as she leaves, leaning on his broom as he does so.

"We gotta get you back to the Island, Curfew is no joking matter, I don't want to break those rules. They're there for a reason"

Nozomi nods as the head down a back alley, but she suddenly stops Veesa and pulls them both into shadows. Something feels wrong, she sees a plain totally normal Mute man walking by the entrance to the alleyway. Something is off, she can hear it in the Song. Discordant.

"Did you see that man?" Nozomi hisses

"Yeah?"

"Quiet. He's got something wrong. Evil… diseased." Nozomi whispers.

"How can you tell?" Veesa whispers back, following Nozomi as she creeps up to the alley entrance and peeks around the corner.

Nozomi sees the man disappear into a large dilapidated building along one of the Slice walls.

"It's a Chosen thing" Nozomi says. And it's true, it's like a reversal in the Song. A Shrine where instead of beautiful unifying music it sounds like all the notes are backwards, upside down, and inside out.

"What do we do?" Veesa hisses back.

=====================

Plothook get. What do?

[ ] Persue all stealthy like
[ ] Chase him down
[ ] Try and see if you can talk to the man
[ ] Tell the Authorities and let them handle it
[ ] Do nothing
[ ] Write in?

 

[AKuz]

CHAPTER X: The Ghost in the Warehouse

Nozomi ducks around the corner cozying up beside a crate, she waves for Veesa to follow her, "We follow him. Follow me"

The young women follow the man around the side of a building, and watch him disappear around another corner, heading towards the centre of the slice, highlighted in the setting sunlight.

Nozomi is about to take off after him when Veesa touches her arm. Nozomi looks back over her shoulder and the other woman gestures with her head to another alley way.

The Chosen woman hesitates for a brief moment before deciding to trust her friend's judgement. She skitters down the side of the alley and it makes two abrupt turns, and as she peeks around the corner she is passed by Veesa who hurries hunched over to a low gate crossing the entrance to the alley.

Nozomi catches up with the Invector woman and they peer over the top of the gate, shadows cast by the setting sun hiding them both, as they watch the man hurries along the street in front of them.

As he passes by, Nozomi can feel the disruption in the air around her, and something inside tells that this is very wrong.

The man stops and looks around nervously before sidling up to a large building. It's large and ramshackle, windows boarded up, and paint peeling. A now illegible sign is set atop the chained, and now rusted, shut main doors.

Their target inspects the side carefully, before opening a boarded up cellar door, the doors moving silently, as if recently cared for. The man carefully climbs through and then closes the passage behind him.

"Whatever he's up to, it's no good" Nozomi whispers to Veesa, getting a nod in return, "I want to see what he's up to, I hope no one is watching that entrance."

Veesa grins and whispers back, "No worries my friend. That whole building is the deserted Heolese warehouse, we all used to play in there when I could get away with it!" the Invector points to a staircase running up the side of an adjacent building, "Just walk up there, make a quick hop over and there's a loose panel that should let us in."

"Ok" Nozomi nods, "I'm ready when you are."

Veesa nods and carefully climbs over the gate, standing on a ledge on the other side she reaches over for Nozomi, who has to hope up a couple of times to get a good grip on the other woman's hands.

Veesa pulls her over and they both quietly walk along the side of the street until they reach the staircase and Veesa leads the way, hopping over and gently pulling the wooden panel aside so that Nozomi can get inside.

The place is dark, a few windows let in the last of the setting sun, shining onto bits of wooden debris and haphazardly piled, and half smashed boxes.

Veesa follows Nozomi in, and carefully sets the panel back into place, "This place is pretty much how I remember it" she says leaning close to whisper in Nozomi's ear, "Now where?"

"What do you mean, 'Now where?', I've never been here before!", Nozomi says in a harsh whisper.

"Well, I don't have special Chosen powers, only my Goddess-given common sense which says to go down. Somehow" Veesa says, carefully creeping towards a staircase.

"It's not like I've infiltrated a cult's secret lair in an abandoned warehouse before.", Nozomi hisses.

"Wait, what." Veesa says freezing, "Your Chosen sense tell you that?" she looks worried.

Nozomi grins, and leans close enough to whisper, "Well, I mean what else could it be? Evil vibrations in the song, secret nighttime escapades, a city under threat from a plague. Two heroines ready to stop them."

Veesa looks away shaking her head, and continues towards the stairs, "You know I'm rolling my eyes at you right now?" Nozomi can barely hear as they carefully and slowly go the stair case step by step.

Veesa stops Nozomi from stepping on some of the boards, and has her miss whole sections of stairs totally, when they get to the bottom floor, the Invector woman pulls the Speaker into an almost entirely dark side room, "I never knew all those forbidden games of hide-and-seek with my brothers would save the day some time"

Nozomi holds up a finger to silence Veesa, who is rather annoyed by that. The Chosen isn't paying attention though. She's listening to something down below the floor, an unravelling in the Song, "It's almost right below us" she whispers.

Veesa nods and creeps along to the back of the room gesturing for Nozomi to follow. There's a small hole in the floor with a pulley above it, but whatever system was hooked up to it is long gone. Veesa slowly and carefully lowers herself in, wedging herself onto a small ledge, just high enough for her stand up on, she gestures for her companion to follow.

Nozomi hesitates for a minute, trying to find a good spot, before she tries to lower herself down too. Veesa doesn't bother waiting for her to find her own way down and grabs Nozomi and pulls her onto the ledge.

"Hey, I coul-" Veesa shushes Nozomi and points to a far corner of the basement where a pair of figures are next to a lantern, with a third; their quarry, standing a few paces away.

Nozomi nods, and the pair slowly crawl along the top of the old shelving units, towards the light. One of the figures walks away before they can get close enough to see or hear, Veesa's pants have caught on a nail and it takes a while to work the fabric off silently.

The two Devoted finally get close enough to see the figures. The one they followed, is an average-ish Mute man, standing still and nervous at the edge of the lantern light. The other… the other is a small, below average height woman, of indeterminate age, with plain features, and an unremarkable build. What does stand out however is her shoulder-length black hair that fades to silver as it grows out; black at the roots, silver at the tips.

The mystery woman waves at the man and Nozomi can see something lfash in front of his face.

"Ah! I can-"

The woman cuts him off with a hiss, "There will be time for incredulousness later. I assume that you have it? I can feel it."

"Y-yes", he hands something out, his arm extended as long as he can.

"Really? Such power as to blight entire blocks and you act as if arm's length is far enough to protect you." The woman chuckles darkly, "No matter, I never renege on my agreements. Here are four doses of the curative you need"

"You said you would protect my whole family!" he accuses, with an angry outburst, "I-I cou-"

"Could do what? Tell the Invector's that you were involved in spreading this sickness, that you helped to smuggle th estones into the city. That you cleverly stole one for insurance? That it began to make your whole district sick? That you bargained it back into the hands of the City's tormentor for your family's safety?" the woman smiles, "Besides I gave you enough for your family: one for your wife, one for your dear old father, and two for your children"

Veesa and Nozomi look at each other in shock, "We could just" Veesa starts whispering, before Nozomi cuts her off with a shake of her head. She nods to the cellar doors; in the barest flickering of the lantern she can see another three figures carefully guarding the entrance.

After a few long moments the man looks defeated, "I suppose it is my father's time"

"Ahahaha", the mystery woman laughs in the Mute's face, "Oh, ho. I was told that the Devoted were better than the common rabble, that your Harmony kept you unified, whole." she looks up, as if through the ceiling, savouring the moment, "I am so happy to be right after all."

"Listen, I wanted no part of this.", the Mute man says angrily.

"No, you just wanted more than your labourer's job at the docks allowed. You just wanted that foreman's position to really earn some money."

"If I could turn this all back, I would, but you tricked me!" he points at her.

"I suppose I did, from a certain perspective. On the other hand, you got paid, and your district would have been fine yet, if you hadn't gotten greedy and kept a stone. Then I found you with it, but I decided to take things easy, a slaughter is too high profile, even your disappearance might raise questions, so I offered you another deal." she circles the man, "Which. I. have. kept."

"I want nothing more to do with you, I have done too much", he chokes out.

"Ahhh…. Guilt, a killer of Princes and Peasants alike. Perhaps I could alleviate the burden?" the silverblack haired woman smiles again.

"How?"

"Give one of those doses back, they're a valuable resource yet, well worth the magic I will expend for the task. I can change your memories so that in two hours you will forget everything you know about me, about all of this." she pauses briefly, "I'll only ask once, your next response better be affirmative or negative."

"Couldn't-"

The woman shushes him with one finger, "Oh, I'll give you one more chance. Do. You. Want. To. Forget. It has to be a voluntary choice."

The man wavers, and is on the verge of leaving before he slams something down on the table the lantern sits on, "There, take your dose!" he says with strangled cry.

"Good, look into my eyes" she says and reaches out pionting two fingers on one hand towards him.

Suddenly something long and sinuous erupts from the Sorceresses' fingertips and pierces the Mute man's eyes, and she slams that hand into his face as he stands frozen. For a moment her hand seems to flow into his face before she pulls it back, an audible popping sound following.

"Whuh?"

The woman tilted her head at the man, The Ghost always keeps her deals, it's what sets me apart from you people." waves dismissively at the Mute before breaking into a smile, "You'd better get going now, you've about two hours to figure out whose lives you want to save", she says in an almost cheery voice.

He turns to leave, so do Nozomi and Veesa backing up quickly. Nozomi, being small is able to move faster than Veesa, and leaves her behind, climbing out of the gap in the ceiling they came in, and quickly creeping over to a gap in one of the boarded up windows.

The young Chosen watches as the man takes off at a fast walk towards the east, and also as the woman and her three guards takes off towards the north.

Veesa catches up to Nozomi after a brief fre moments, "We should follow that witch" she says.

Nozomi quickly mulls over the choices in her head

========================

Quick!

[ ] Alert the authorities now, see what they can do.
[ ] Follow the Mute man
[ ] Follow the Ghost

*Crashes*

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Sorry, for some reason my google docs just decided to give me some sort of 502 error for half the night, so I took waayyy to long doing that.

So, uh in the meantime, I've been meaning to ask about feedback, to improve my service to you the voter! (Especially as this is my first Quest) if anyone feels like responding to any or all of these, I would appreciate it:

1) What is your general impression of the quest and writing so far?

2) I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the mechanics system, while well intentioned, is mostly just getting in the way, and I'm considering scrapping it entirely and going by narrative alone
[ ] Turn on Narrative Mode

3) I'm also wondering about what pace of update people like? Faster updates about 500 words everyday? ~1.5K every two days like now, or much longer updates once or twice a week?

 

[AKuz]

CHAPTER XI: The Ghost's Inn

"Yes", Nozomi agrees, as she and Veesa slowly follow the Ghost and her companions from in the dusty old building. Nozomi looks around vaugly sheepishly, "Oh, would you mind?"

Veesa grins, "No problem" she says as she hammers a fist into a boarded up window, popping one of the planks loose and holding it open enough for Nozomi to slip out.

"Shushhhh", Nozomi says as she does so, waiting pressed up against the building for Veesa to hop out after her.

"Shush youself" Veesa says as they pick up the pace, trying not to lose the Ghost in the recently fallen night.

The two women follow the quartet as they carefully make their way north. At one point Nozomi is afraid that they will lose their quarry, but the other group stops in the shadow of a shop to let an Invector Nightwatch Patrol go by; and Nozomi and Veesa are able to catch up.

The two watch as the Ghost and her escort turn up one of the main streets towards the wall between the southern Slice's Invector and Speaker districts,

"Huh, do they want to get stopped at the checkpoint?" Veesa says as they watch from a behind convenient planter outside a rowhouse.

"I guess this was easier than I ho… oh shush" Nozomi finishes as she watches the pair of guards at the passageway approach the Ghost. There is a brief exchange and the strange woman reaches up with both hands and cups each guard's' face, and they both freeze.

Veesa bolts up, but Nozomi pulls her back down, "No watch they'll be fine." the woman and her companions walk by the guards, "I think?"

Nozomi walks quickly up, Veesa right next to her and she waves her hand in the face of one of the guards. His eyes don't track, "Uh-oh. This is bad."

Veesa looks over from where she is studying the other guard, "He still has a pulse, but… oh wait." she steps away and pulls Nozomi by the arm, "We need to go, I think they're waking up."

"But we should ask-" Nozomi sputters as Veesa pulls more insistently on her arm.

"No. I don't want to waste time telling them about our encounter with a sorcerer. They'll take too… shoot" Veesa says as they take a corner around a nice home, "Where is that creepy woman?"

Nozomi says a bad word and then, "Well she can't have gone far, maybe if I try to feel it, i can sense that sickness stone...thing, again."

Veesa sighs, "Okay, I'm worried about this making my family sick now too"

Nozomi doesn't say anything, she focuses intently on trying to feel the Song around her. Her brow furrows in frustration, "I can't feel anything, maybe if we walk around, I'll find something"

"Ok"

The two wander the streets for several long moments until Nozomi starts humming quietly to herself, and slowly her movement slows to a stop; with Veesa doubling back to her after walking ahead some.

"Hey?" the Invector waves her hand in front of Nozomi's face, "Oh, not you too" she pokes her friend, "Hey!"

Nozomi starts, "I think it's that way" she says pointing towards the middle of the speaker section, "Yes, I can feel something that way"

"You're the boss, boss" Veesa says as she follows Nozomi's directions.

"Was that, well, was that actual Singing?" Veesa asks, casting a sidelong look at the other woman.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a Song, but yeah, I picked up something this last week. I guess it just came naturally." the Chosen says, shrugging.

"Well, you should know that it sounds nice." Veesa says, "For humming anyway. I can't sing much less Sing. No matter how hard I try, it's just not my thing." she chuckles, "I'd rather carry a sword than a tune, anyway"

"I'd noticed" Nozomi says chuckling herself, "...Just over there, that big building"

"The Speaker's Rest?" Veesa says, eyes wide, "That's one of the most expensive places in the district, I wouldn't expect a creepy person to go there."

"Well, even Sorceresses like expensive things, especially them, maybe?" Nozomi eyes the brightly lit building, "I wonder how much Sorcery makes" she muses before walking up to the entrance.

"We can't just go in" Veesa exclaims.

"Why not? It's just a fancy inn?" Nozomi says confused, foot half on the steps

Veesa sputters, "Well, it's like a fancy inn, and so expensive. So expensive, I don't even know how expensive it is"

Nozomi laughs and grabs her arm as she opens the door to go in, "See it's still open. No worries"

Veesa and Nozomi are both blown away by the elegance of the Speaker's Rest. Mirrors and and paintings adorn the walls. Gilt leaf covers pretty much everything it can, and the large entrance room's rich hardwood tables and opulent chairs are worth more than anything Nozomi has appraised before in her life. There is an Invector night watchman standing near a hallway leading into the building.

Veesa gawks openly, but Nozomi pretends to take it in stride, walking across the room, face carefully neutral.

As the two enter a well dressed man behind a counter looks up from behind a counter, "How may I help you Ma'ams."

"Oh just stopping by" Nozomi says.

"Indeed, you were just stopping by during curfew" the night auditor says, eyeing the two with less suspicion and more haughty curiosity, especially their dirty and disheveled clothing from crawling around the warehouse, and hiding behind half the convenient obstructions in Serenity.

"Well, we were out for a nice walk and just happened to be caught out after the curfew. You know how it is." Nozomi says breezily. She knows this is the right place, she can feel the warp in the Song almost directly above her.

The auditor raises an eyebrow, "Of course. And you were looking for a room until morning? With..." he frowns disapprovingly over the gawking Veesa, "...your companion?"

"Who else would keep me alive in these dark times than my friend?" Nozomi decides to go for it, "Actually… I was hoping to talk with my friend who is here. She got back here just before me. You might remember her? Bodyguards? Silver and Black hair?"

"Ah, Ms. Specter. Yes, keeps to herself. I didn't know she was expecting visitors." the man says looking at Nozomi with a carefully blank expression, realising that he has probably said too much.

Nozomi pretends to look sheepish, "Well she wasn't. But…. as I said, we got caught outside after curfew by accident, so I thought I would drop by and say hi!" she hopes this works. That this man thinks that a good speaker girl like her can't be up to any trouble.

"Well…." he says, thinking, "It would be against policy to give out our valued patrons' information. But you could purchase a room for the night, and talk to her tomorrow. Is that acceptable?"

"That is…."

=================
How does Nozomi want to play this?

[ ] Just end this farce, Ghost's here, alert the authorities.
[ ] Try to talk your way up to her.
[ ] Play it slow, wait until morning. Get a room and rest and come up with a plan to deal with her.

=================
How does she want to play this?

[ ] Aggressively.
[ ] Try to cut some sort of deal.

================

Anyway, if you don't mind, I'm going to try another experiment here. Try out a system I call "Narrative Tags" which is half lifted from FATE, and it's just tagging the Characters, places, and scenes with descriptive phrases that give an idea of what way something can go.

Characters would be tagged with an aspect describing who they are as a character, an aspect describing where they come from and what their past is, an aspect describing how they prefer to do things, and final one for a weakness they have. (Additional tags can?/(could?) be added for special equipment or by spells) So Veesa would be:

VEESA:

Who	Bravehearted and Foolhardy Young Invector
Past	Proud Martial Tradition
How	Straightforward and Forthright
Flaw	Stubborn and Overconfident

Which would indicate that she's okay at fighting but real good at taking hits and not going down, as well has having good will power.

Nozomi would be:

NOZOMI:

Who	Witty and Charming Chosen
Past	Merchant's Daughter
How	Quick Mind, and Quick Mouth
Flaw	Often Impulsive

Which indicates that she has a silver tongue, and a fast mind.

If Nozomi had to fight Veesa, she would get steamrolled, and if she had to outwit Veesa she would have the upper hand. But if she had to convince her of something against Veesa's better judgement, the Charm would hit the Stubbornness and it would break even (Probably whichever way I think is most "Interesting"

Right now The Ghost as demonstrated only two Narrative aspects that we can see:

THE GHOST:

Who	?????????????????
Past	?????????????????
How	"Mutually Beneficial" Arrangements
Flaw	Shadows Don't Fight

Which would tend to indicate social combat and squishiness.

I'm aiming for something simple, easy to grasp, and not rolling dice against myself for like a half hour to have weird things happen.

=======================================

So yeah, wondering if you would let me run an experiment and see how it turns out?

 

[AKuz]

Ok! thanks.

This is my first quest and so it's, well, also a test run of sorts, and this has been an interesting experience for me. I'm learning a lot about what I can do, and what I have issues with (first to mind is the mechanics, I made, frustrating me after a certain point. Because I realise that in the long run I care about narrative far more than just mechanical rolls. If I started over I've got something else more narrative heavy that I'd like to try)

Also, that, like I don't think I really put in an obvious overarching goal, because I didn't want to just /tell/ but then I'm not certain I showed properly yet either.

As far as I go, as long as the people reading this are enjoying it, I'm going to keep going, because I like the challenge and the accomplishment of updating this regularly. It's defiantly good experience, I think.

Well, unless people start yelling at me to stop I'm going to continue I'm still invested in this, even though I've got ideas for stuff I want to try afterwards, and an Idea for how to run stuff much better from the start. When I finish this (or if I go crazy and decide to start another one, I've got a few other ideas:

Spoiler: Ideas

Romulan Space Quest (Star Trek): To boldly go where no Romulan has gone before, to seek out new conquests, and new political shitstorms, all while a sinister cybernetic threat lurks in the background (Essentially Mass Effect via the medium of Star Trek, starring SubCommander S'eperd (or whatever name))

Imperial Admiral Quest (Star Wars): You're a newly promoted Admiral appointed to a backwater sector in the Outer rim. Fight rebels, fight at Endor and get pwned, then emerge into the post-Palpatine galaxy and try to make your mark on the universe. (Just a ster wers quest from the Imperial perspective, drawing form both canons.) (Debating whether of not giving foreknowledge of Vong arrival, and the battle to prepare for that as an overarching goal to build towards)

Kuvira Quest (A:TLA Legend of Korra): You've just landed in Ba Sing Se with a force of the best metalbenders in the world curtsy of the Zaofu guard. Along with wealthy investors and some of the Earth Kingdom's finest minds, you must find a way to restore peace and order to the Earth Kingdom without turning into fantasy Hitler (The Earth Kingdom is on fire, everywhere at once, and so I/we could explore just how hard the Earth Kingdom's meltdown was that canon Kuvira became fantasy Hitler and was cheered on for it.)

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Dear handful of readers:

I'm afraid that I'm at a bit of an impasse here.

I've found myself with ideas for what this is and, now who these characters are; but no idea of how to properly express that. I know I just said above that I was interested in continuing this and I still am... except I've fucked it up.

I've got no plot or narrative momentum and no idea for how to regain it that doesn't involve timeskipping forwards or backwards in a jarring manner that would be, well, quite lame. Part of it is that I tried using a mechanical system that in retrospect was totally inappropriate for the purposes I sought, and while I've come up with a system I think could fix the problem that I caused myself, I'm still in this hole. Part of it is simple inexperience, and the use of a setting of unfamiliar character to anyone.

I feel like I followed the wrong map and got lost in the woods with no idea of how to get back to the road.

*sigh* I am, of course, mortified that this thing that I've created with high hopes has started to stall out. And considering that I've put this and myself (to an extent) out there, I'm afraid that I might end up looking flaky for abandoning a project part way through with so much time and effort already put into it.

The worst part is that I'm still excited to create and write a quest... except right now this project is grinding to a halt for me because my inexperience caused me to make mistakes that I hadn't foreseen, and that I think now I could avoid with a do over... except I've already started this and they are built into into it at this point.

In the end I could disappear into the ether, and abandon the issue, as so often happens. Or I could continue refusing to admit that I've got a problem on my hands, and to continue to toss time and effort away on something that is increasingly frustrating me due to my own inexpert execution.

In the end I must own up to what I feel are my mistakes, which means admitting that I feel that I should drop this project despite the time and effort put into it in the last near-month.

However, this still leaves me with both the desire to do a proper quest and the newly gained personal experience about the best way for me to best run a Quest. Which means that I will drop this particular Quest (and perhaps at some point reboot it. Maybe as a proper RP? Maybe just writing a some stories about it? *shrugs*, (I put a lot of backend effort in for fun, so *shrugs again*) when some time has passed),

And replace it with something new, (almost certainly one of the three ideas that I outlined above) of a different type, within the next week, using my newly gained experience; and continuing with the same enthusiasm that I wanted to continue Singer's Quest with.

Penitently yous,
AKuz
​

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