Singer's Quest
- Thread starter AKuz
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- New York
[X] It's a flask: constantly refilling with water, this Flask saved Nozomi's mother's life when she was lost in the Wreck Wastes.
- Location
- scrabbling
Very very slowly.
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I knew I should have got the memory card addon for this console :|
CHAPTER II: The Outside World
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
CHAPTER II: The outside world
Nozomi is still looking at the Flask the next morning, flipping it over and over again in her hands, studying the black finish and silver runes etched into it, trying to figure out how much it's worth, "Something that refills with a quarter-litre of pure water every two hours? No matter where you are?" she frowns, sighs and puts the flask back on her belt and lets her green travel cloak drop back down over it.
The young Speaker turns away from looking out over the Gan River and turns around as she hears the creaking of planks indicating someone coming up the wooden pier behind her; well three someones, actually.
"Nonsense! I'm as strong now as I was sixteen years ago!" Saena is carrying almost all of the family's luggage by herself, Alena and Tarim circling her, watching the baggage nervously.
"See, it's all fine!" Saena says as she sets the bags down at the edge of the pier, the mixed Mute and Drab crew from the river barge jog down the gangplank to grab it.
Alena strides up onto the barge, "I'll be right back. Remember, I had something worked out for myself from the fall, nothing about you two"
Nozomi goes up on her tippytoes as Saena goes in for a hug, "I wish that I was going with you. It'd be just like old times. Before…" she sounds wistful and regretful, and looks off at the Gansedge mountains, "Well, before I had so much responsibility here."
Tarim pats his friend on the back, "Ahh, this is just a vacation up the Gan, Alena and I'll be back in a month, and you'll be seeing Nozomi again soon too" he looks up as his wife waves at him, "I'll let you two say goodbye"
Saena holds back tears: she might be a Priestess now, but she was born an Invector, "Ah little one, I'm so proud of you" she reaches into her robes and pulls out a white flower. A white rose.
Nozomi gasps in surprise, "Is that a White Tythean? Do you…"
Saena chuckles, "Know how much it's worth? Yes. For something that recharges all of a Devoted's magic, and even removes fatigue all at once? Oh, I'd say at least-"
"500 chits! Singer…." Nozomi's eyes are still wide open.
Saena smiles, "It was just lying around in the Temple garden. I think a Chosen has more use for it than a backwoods priestess" she hugs Nozomi again, "Go on. I'll see you again, and you can tell me what Serenity is like nowadays."
Nozomi walks up the gangplank as the last of the Mute dock workers offloads cargo, she sighs and looks back at her village.
Alena and Tarim both put their arms over their daughter as they watch the first rays of the new day come up over the edge of the Gansedge and creep up onto the Pier. Saena and some of the Fourkeys villagers wave goodbye as the barge starts to pull away, the Mute and Drab at the oars starting their long work.
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Nozomi sits on the deck and leans against her mother, lazily watching the shore recede again as the barge leaves another riverside village.
It is the third such hamlet in as many days; this part of the Gan is thick with small Devoted settlements. Alena has always made a decent living trading goods up and down the river from her base in Fourkeys.
"You know, I had already planned to ask you if you wanted to come with me on this trip, this summer, just the two of us" Alena says carefully double checking her log book, "Teach you about trading on the Gan, but I guess the Singer had other plans for you"
Nozomi smiles, "I'm still learning a lot from you, It's different not dealing with the same people from Fourkeys all the time"
Alena watches as the riverbank slowly drifts by, "I didn't want to raise you in some stuffy city like Serenity or Sanctuary. I wanted to raise you somewhere you could live in the open, somewhere friendly, and your father agreed."
"I'd say that turned out well" Nozomi smiles, "I'll miss Fourkeys, even if it has a stupid name"
Alena snorts, "I always thought so too, but Saena was so happy that it was a place that they locals would accept an Invector Caste Priestess" she leans her head into her daughter's, "Everything just seemed to work out right when we needed it to, I guess the Singer was watching out for us"
Mother and daughter spend the rest of the day chatting idly as the world slowly slips by around them.
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Nozomi watches as Tarim in the fading light of day, bent over, hard at work, in the process of healing a Mute oarsman; running his glowing blue palms over the man's leg. She watches as the wound slowly closes up.
"Next time, be careful with that ax" Tarim frowns as the Mute slowly gets up and bows to him.
"Of course Speaker Tarim." he doesn't look the healer in the eyes, "I won't do it again"
Tarim stands up, brushing the dirt off his knees, and sighs as the man apologizes again for wasting the healer's time and leaves to help the rest of the crew set up their nighttime camp just inwards from the river shore.
"City boys" the man mutters loud enough for Nozomi to hear as she steps next to her father.
"They aren't all like that, are they?" Nozomi looks up at her father questioningly.
"No, of course not." Tarim frowns again, "Just some of the larger cities like Sanctuary are much more diligent about old manners than us country folk are" he relaxes into a smile, and pulls her close affectionately, "Of course everyone is equal before the Singer in Serenity"
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Nozomi wakes up to the sound of one of their Invector guards shouting a warning, and she springs up in her blanket, confused by what could possibly be happening in the middle of the night.
Both her parents have sprung up and the pair of Invector guards are waving torches, their glowing blue Invector blades up and at the ready, a half dozen of the crew following them up.
There is someone at the edge of the flickering firelight. Someone armed.
A chuckle, "I guess the easy way is right out then" the figure steps up into the circle of light that surrounds the camp. It… it looks like one of the Drab poachers from back in Fourkeys, the leader.
He shifts and changes as he steps forwards, he is taller, and his facial features and hair, and even his build has changed; he's hulking beast of a man now, he looks nothing like anyone Nozomi has ever seen before, Devoted or Drab, "Now, we can just do this the fun way..." he laughs as he unsheathes a wicked looking blade and cricks his neck.
"...or...", the small groups gasps as his free hand lights on fire, and he strikes a pose, "You can just give me the girl" He points at Nozomi with his blade.
By now the whole party is up and armed with whatever is close to hand. Tarim answers, a staff in one hand and the other lit up with the coruscating light of Devoted Inherent Magic, "NEVER!"
"Ah, brave. But you've never seen anything like me before" the intruder… flows forwards and snaps his blade out at one of the oarsmen, severing tendons and causing the big woman to drop her heavy oar.
"We've seen Sorcerers like you before, some Drab who found a Remnant." Alena has drawn her bow and notched an arrow, her eyes glowing blue with a spell. "You're just some Drab who thinks that grabbing a bit of leftover magic from the Betrayer's Arsenal will make you important"
Something in the Sorcerer's shadow moves as he grins and chuckles, "I assure you, madam. I am no settler playing with forces they haven't the education to understand"
He steps forwards again and the group backs up instinctively, "I am a Hunter, The Hunter actually." he keeps his blade steady while bowing slightly, "It's your lucky day, The Architect tells me I am to retrieve a Chosen Girl" He pauses dramatically, "Alive. This time.", he stretches his neck languidly, "I am willing to extend this offer to the rest of you. If you hand me the girl"
Some of the barge crew look uncertainly at each other… and back at Nozomi. Nozomi shivers, nothing in the Hunter's manner has been anything less than sinister.
Nozomi steps up between her parents, traveller's staff gripped loosely in her hands, and she can tell without a word that they are willing to throw down their lives to defend their daughter against this monster.
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I decided to introduce the villain and raise the stakes a little, maybe start some plot, the tutorial should be finished in the next couple chapters.
[ ] Run. "If The Hunter has to chase you, maybe he'll ignore the rest?"
[ ] Fight. "Maybe The Hunter is bluffing, and he can't actually take you all on?"
[ ] Surrender. "Whatever The Hunter has planned for you; it can't be worse than putting your parents in danger"
[ ] Write in? (SINGER'S QUEST IS A NEXT GENERATION GAME WITH OPEN ENDED CONTENT!) TUTORIAL MODE ENGAGED
Nozomi is still looking at the Flask the next morning, flipping it over and over again in her hands, studying the black finish and silver runes etched into it, trying to figure out how much it's worth, "Something that refills with a quarter-litre of pure water every two hours? No matter where you are?" she frowns, sighs and puts the flask back on her belt and lets her green travel cloak drop back down over it.
The young Speaker turns away from looking out over the Gan River and turns around as she hears the creaking of planks indicating someone coming up the wooden pier behind her; well three someones, actually.
"Nonsense! I'm as strong now as I was sixteen years ago!" Saena is carrying almost all of the family's luggage by herself, Alena and Tarim circling her, watching the baggage nervously.
"See, it's all fine!" Saena says as she sets the bags down at the edge of the pier, the mixed Mute and Drab crew from the river barge jog down the gangplank to grab it.
Alena strides up onto the barge, "I'll be right back. Remember, I had something worked out for myself from the fall, nothing about you two"
Nozomi goes up on her tippytoes as Saena goes in for a hug, "I wish that I was going with you. It'd be just like old times. Before…" she sounds wistful and regretful, and looks off at the Gansedge mountains, "Well, before I had so much responsibility here."
Tarim pats his friend on the back, "Ahh, this is just a vacation up the Gan, Alena and I'll be back in a month, and you'll be seeing Nozomi again soon too" he looks up as his wife waves at him, "I'll let you two say goodbye"
Saena holds back tears: she might be a Priestess now, but she was born an Invector, "Ah little one, I'm so proud of you" she reaches into her robes and pulls out a white flower. A white rose.
Nozomi gasps in surprise, "Is that a White Tythean? Do you…"
Saena chuckles, "Know how much it's worth? Yes. For something that recharges all of a Devoted's magic, and even removes fatigue all at once? Oh, I'd say at least-"
"500 chits! Singer…." Nozomi's eyes are still wide open.
Saena smiles, "It was just lying around in the Temple garden. I think a Chosen has more use for it than a backwoods priestess" she hugs Nozomi again, "Go on. I'll see you again, and you can tell me what Serenity is like nowadays."
Nozomi walks up the gangplank as the last of the Mute dock workers offloads cargo, she sighs and looks back at her village.
Alena and Tarim both put their arms over their daughter as they watch the first rays of the new day come up over the edge of the Gansedge and creep up onto the Pier. Saena and some of the Fourkeys villagers wave goodbye as the barge starts to pull away, the Mute and Drab at the oars starting their long work.
----------------------------------------------------
Nozomi sits on the deck and leans against her mother, lazily watching the shore recede again as the barge leaves another riverside village.
It is the third such hamlet in as many days; this part of the Gan is thick with small Devoted settlements. Alena has always made a decent living trading goods up and down the river from her base in Fourkeys.
"You know, I had already planned to ask you if you wanted to come with me on this trip, this summer, just the two of us" Alena says carefully double checking her log book, "Teach you about trading on the Gan, but I guess the Singer had other plans for you"
Nozomi smiles, "I'm still learning a lot from you, It's different not dealing with the same people from Fourkeys all the time"
Alena watches as the riverbank slowly drifts by, "I didn't want to raise you in some stuffy city like Serenity or Sanctuary. I wanted to raise you somewhere you could live in the open, somewhere friendly, and your father agreed."
"I'd say that turned out well" Nozomi smiles, "I'll miss Fourkeys, even if it has a stupid name"
Alena snorts, "I always thought so too, but Saena was so happy that it was a place that they locals would accept an Invector Caste Priestess" she leans her head into her daughter's, "Everything just seemed to work out right when we needed it to, I guess the Singer was watching out for us"
Mother and daughter spend the rest of the day chatting idly as the world slowly slips by around them.
-------------------------------------------------
Nozomi watches as Tarim in the fading light of day, bent over, hard at work, in the process of healing a Mute oarsman; running his glowing blue palms over the man's leg. She watches as the wound slowly closes up.
"Next time, be careful with that ax" Tarim frowns as the Mute slowly gets up and bows to him.
"Of course Speaker Tarim." he doesn't look the healer in the eyes, "I won't do it again"
Tarim stands up, brushing the dirt off his knees, and sighs as the man apologizes again for wasting the healer's time and leaves to help the rest of the crew set up their nighttime camp just inwards from the river shore.
"City boys" the man mutters loud enough for Nozomi to hear as she steps next to her father.
"They aren't all like that, are they?" Nozomi looks up at her father questioningly.
"No, of course not." Tarim frowns again, "Just some of the larger cities like Sanctuary are much more diligent about old manners than us country folk are" he relaxes into a smile, and pulls her close affectionately, "Of course everyone is equal before the Singer in Serenity"
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Nozomi wakes up to the sound of one of their Invector guards shouting a warning, and she springs up in her blanket, confused by what could possibly be happening in the middle of the night.
Both her parents have sprung up and the pair of Invector guards are waving torches, their glowing blue Invector blades up and at the ready, a half dozen of the crew following them up.
There is someone at the edge of the flickering firelight. Someone armed.
A chuckle, "I guess the easy way is right out then" the figure steps up into the circle of light that surrounds the camp. It… it looks like one of the Drab poachers from back in Fourkeys, the leader.
He shifts and changes as he steps forwards, he is taller, and his facial features and hair, and even his build has changed; he's hulking beast of a man now, he looks nothing like anyone Nozomi has ever seen before, Devoted or Drab, "Now, we can just do this the fun way..." he laughs as he unsheathes a wicked looking blade and cricks his neck.
"...or...", the small groups gasps as his free hand lights on fire, and he strikes a pose, "You can just give me the girl" He points at Nozomi with his blade.
By now the whole party is up and armed with whatever is close to hand. Tarim answers, a staff in one hand and the other lit up with the coruscating light of Devoted Inherent Magic, "NEVER!"
"Ah, brave. But you've never seen anything like me before" the intruder… flows forwards and snaps his blade out at one of the oarsmen, severing tendons and causing the big woman to drop her heavy oar.
"We've seen Sorcerers like you before, some Drab who found a Remnant." Alena has drawn her bow and notched an arrow, her eyes glowing blue with a spell. "You're just some Drab who thinks that grabbing a bit of leftover magic from the Betrayer's Arsenal will make you important"
Something in the Sorcerer's shadow moves as he grins and chuckles, "I assure you, madam. I am no settler playing with forces they haven't the education to understand"
He steps forwards again and the group backs up instinctively, "I am a Hunter, The Hunter actually." he keeps his blade steady while bowing slightly, "It's your lucky day, The Architect tells me I am to retrieve a Chosen Girl" He pauses dramatically, "Alive. This time.", he stretches his neck languidly, "I am willing to extend this offer to the rest of you. If you hand me the girl"
Some of the barge crew look uncertainly at each other… and back at Nozomi. Nozomi shivers, nothing in the Hunter's manner has been anything less than sinister.
Nozomi steps up between her parents, traveller's staff gripped loosely in her hands, and she can tell without a word that they are willing to throw down their lives to defend their daughter against this monster.
-------------------------------------
I decided to introduce the villain and raise the stakes a little, maybe start some plot, the tutorial should be finished in the next couple chapters.
[ ] Run. "If The Hunter has to chase you, maybe he'll ignore the rest?"
[ ] Fight. "Maybe The Hunter is bluffing, and he can't actually take you all on?"
[ ] Surrender. "Whatever The Hunter has planned for you; it can't be worse than putting your parents in danger"
100% HP NOZOMI
100% HP (GUEST)ALENA
100% HP (GUEST)TARIM
100% HP (GUEST) INVECTOR #1
100% HP (GUEST) INVECTOR #2
100% HP (GUEST)ALENA
100% HP (GUEST)TARIM
100% HP (GUEST) INVECTOR #1
100% HP (GUEST) INVECTOR #2
Endless Flask
Travel Staff
Travel Clothes
Travel Cloak
Journal
White Tythean Rose
Travel Staff
Travel Clothes
Travel Cloak
Journal
White Tythean Rose
REACH SERENITY
[ ] FIRST PERSON
[X] THIRD PERSON
TUTORIAL STATUS: ONGOING
[X] THIRD PERSON
TUTORIAL STATUS: ONGOING
pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
[X] Fight. "Maybe The Hunter is bluffing, and he can't actually take you all on?"
- Location
- New York
[X] Fight. "Maybe The Hunter is bluffing, and he can't actually take you all on?"
I guess this would be more IC to do?
I guess this would be more IC to do?
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- Location
- scrabbling
[X] Fight. "Maybe The Hunter is bluffing, and he can't actually take you all on?"
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
JUST UNDER THE WIRE!
SINGER'S QUEST: GOTY Edition said:
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
We're too valuable to ded of he wants us alive. Mom, dad, the rest though...
CHAPTER III: Fire and Rain
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
CHAPTER III: Fire and Rain
Nozomi steadies herself by planting her feet in the ground between her parents, "You know what? I don't think I want to go with you, you're a bit of a creeper. Tell your boss that this isn't a good way to meet girls"
The Hunter slightly tilts his head dismissively, and shrugs, "I tried being nice", before suddenly flowing forwards, and slamming into one of the Invector guards; grabbing the front of the young woman's tunic with his flaming hand and stabbing forward with blade in the other, before kicking the screaming woman off.
The Invector woman somehow stays on her feet, despite her sudden and serious wounding, and lashes out at The Hunter with her vibrantly glowing blue blade. She cuts right through his clothes and… the blade just slides off the Sorcerer's hide. The man laughs and he pushes her backwards again, tripping her over one of the cowering Mute barge crew.
The other Invector, an older man, shouts in worry as the young woman hits the ground. He circles to the side trying to flank the dangerous attacker.
The Invector suddenly dropping out of the way gives Alena her chance and she lets loose her arrow, hitting the advancing man square in the chest, he doesn't even look down at the arrow embedded in his chest, he just reaches up with his left hand and pulls the arrow out, throwing the flaming projectile to his side, hitting a cowering Drab crewmember.
The other Invector stops circling as he sees an opportunity and leaps forward. Charging in with a triumphant shout he drives towards the monstrous attacker, magic blade flashing, his arms glowing blue with magic enhancement… and completely missing, his target sidestepping and letting the Invector fly right past.
The Hunter turns back to Nozomi right in time for her father to unleash a spell of his own, holding his forearms vertical to the ground, they glow bright blue and hundreds of tiny crystalline blue lines stretch between them creating some sort of rippling, glowing, flat web.
Tarim shouts and pulls his arms, and the magic lattice rips apart, creating a cone of light that blinds anyone looking directly into it: a few of the unfortunate barge crew… and the Hunter himself, who throws up his arm in front of his face just too slowly.
The Hunter grunts, sidestepping Nozomi's inexpert swing with her staff, "Clever", he says before suddenly spinning around and swinging his blade into the Invector woman who was lining herself up for an attack on his back, "I still heard you though", he catches her in the stomach releasing a spray of blood, and she drops to the ground, but as she does so, the woman is able score a glancing hit on her target. He roars and repays her with a kick to the head, and she stops moving.
"Stay near your father" Alena hisses, as she dashes off to the side, trying to get out of the Hunter's view, or at least divide the fiend's attention.
Nozomi has no time to react, to reply or to try another attack of her own, because the Invector man has regained his own footing as well and comes in for another, more successful attack, he powers past The Hunter's guard and smashes into him full force, trying to work the coruscating blue blade attached to his arm into The Hunter's flank in a mockery of a hug.
The Sorcerer becoming locked in a grapple is the perfect opportunity for Alena to lose another carefully aimed shot, her eyes glowing in magic concentration, her arm muscles pulsing with blue magic. The arrow digs directly into the monstrous figure's back and he screams more loudly than anything Nozomi has ever heard in her life. He throws his attacker off, driving his blade into the man's side as he does so, spinning back around, fixated on Nozomi with figurative fire in his eyes, and physical fire in both his hands. He charges towards Nozomi, screaming something unintelligible.
Nozomi tries backing away, but she isn't fast enough and she can see the fury bearing down upon her, she reflexively closes her eyes, but the end doesn't come.
She opens them again and sees her father in front of her, The Hunter's hands wrapped around his throat, flames licking at his body: both their bodies, their clothes going up in an ugly wicked inferno.
Alena, screams too and leaps onto her husband's attacker, trying to pry him off. She is only partially successful. The flaming hunter spins and throws her off, before slamming Tarim into a nearby tree and cutting across camp, leaping aside from the weak swordstrokes of the remaining Invector and through the scattering barge crew.
The Hunter Leaps up onto the barge and kneels briefly one hand lighting the wooden construct aflame and the other pointing at Nozomi as it screams, "I. WILL. BE. BACK. FOR. YOU."
Before anyone can react further, the monstrous attacker dives off the other side and disappears.
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The rest of the night passes in a blur for Nozomi, the crew desperately trying to save their vessel before ultimately failing, something in the fiend's fire causing it to burn hotter and faster than a natural flame. As the barge continues to burn the merchant captain in charge realises that it's become a hopeless struggle and has his crew fight to offload as much cargo as they can before the whole thing goes under or turns into ash.
There's also another fight, the fight for Tarim and the Invector woman's lives. Both had suffered burns, Tarim of course has suffered extensive burns, and the Invector woman has suffered from two gashes in her torso that each look like they should have killed her.
There are other minor injuries, small burns and bruises to the barge crew and the member of their number who'd had an arm tendon slashed. Alena's burnt hands from her struggle to throw the Hunter off her husband.
"I think... I think they'll both make it" says the remaining Invector, "NO! They will make it, my girl's strong, and your man is too. They're both strong, otherwise they wouldn't have made it this far already" He's gotten his compatriot bandaged up and done some minor work on Nozomi's father's burns, but he was an Invector trained in first aid, not a Speaker Healer.
As the sun rises, Nozomi and Alena both huddle over Tarim, watching his chest gently rise and fall, though slowly, too slowly for their liking. The light slowly spilling over the mountains, catching their worried expressions.
Nozomi looks up at her mother, "What, what was that?"
The older woman looks worried, "That was a Remnant Sorcerer. I think" she wipes tears off her face, "We've seen them before, your Father, Saena… and… I. some poor Drab bastard who found a piece of magic from the Betrayer's army, and was overwhelmed by it, going mad"
"That fiend is a killer no two ways about it." the Invector man walks over and kneels down next to Nozomi "No wonder the Temple sends out everyone they have when one pops up." he does a sort of odd half bow to Nozomi, "Invector Airid ma'am, and that over there" he looks worriedly over at where his companion is carefully laid out, unconscious, "Is my daughter Veesa"
"Worked this route for thirty years, never had a… problem like that." he sighs, "Veesa's first year on the Gan though." he forces a grin, "I guess she'll have a good story though, not everyday you save a Chosen from a Sorcerer"
Nozomi looks down at her father, and her mother reaches over to squeeze her shoulder, "Don't blame yourself, that thing said that it wanted a Chosen, and you were who it found." she looks off at the Gansedge, " People like that, once they get that evil magic in them they go crazy, become a force of nature… all you can do is put them down"
"I'm just happy that no one died on my account. I don't think I could take having that on my ledgers" Nozomi stands, "We had to fight though, no way I could have outrun him, and no way I believed him when he said he would let the rest live" she nods to herself as the other two rise as well, "Have to stand up for yourself, stand together with the people you care about"
Alena says nothing, but Airid chuckles, "Ah, ya remind me of my own Veesa, you'd be fast friends I bet" he suddenly looks worried, "Uh, I mean, you know ma'ams, uh it's a good thing, Ms Speaker"
Alena shakes her head, "Don't worry about proper propriety now, I never have anyways," she looks out onto the river, "So, now what do we do?"
Airid strokes his dark, carefully-maintained beard, "Well, I'd say we wait, there should be someone else on the river in the next couple days, and we send the wounded off with them, and they send someone else to get us the rest of this stuff"
"So we wait?" Alena frowns
"I suppose so.
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Half a week later Nozomi hides under a tarp with her mother, Airid, and the two wounded; as rain and wind lashes outside.
Airid is yelling at the weather, "HELL OF A TIME TO BE ACTING UP, THREE BLOODY SINGER DAMNED DAYS OF THIS" he hits one of the trees the tarp is secured to angrily, before turning and ducking back into the relatively dry shelter, dragging in another load of dryish firewood.
Alena is laying on a small bed made out of stacked crates and recovered blankets next to Tarim, gently touching him with her bandaged hands, "I don't know if he can make another three days, and that storm isn't going anywhere soon" she watches her husband breath, "If it doesn't let up by tomorrow we're going to have to send someone to get help"
Nozomi sits across from her mother, fiddling with her journal and a couple maps that her mother had given her of the Gan, trying to figure out what to do next. She'd tried offering the Tythean rose to her mother to use on her father; but her mother had gently given it back to her, explaining that the rose recharged energies and removed fatigue, but it didn't heal, not wounds and burns like this.
"If you'd given it to your father he'd have enough energy to heal any ten men burned like he is, but now…" she'd sighed.
Nozomi suddenly looked up, "I'll go"
Airid started, "What?"
Nozomi lays out one of the maps on box, "We're supposed to be here" she says pointing to a location along the river, "Now there's Greenbough about a day downriver, and a section of the South Road a half day's journey east with one of the Temple's Invector outposts."
Airid, "I don't see why you have to go. We'll just send one of those boys" he said nodding to the other tarp shelter that had been set up, and was now full of sullen crew.
"They already blame us, well, me for all this, so I'll go to one of these places." Nozomi smiles a bit, "Plus I'm a Chosen, they'll definitely listen to me, where they might dismiss a Drab or Mute labourer." she doesn't feel the need to say that she needs to do something to help her father, it doesn't feel right to send someone else. That it doesn't feel right to just site here.
Alena sits up and looks at her daughter, "I don't like you going alone, so I'll" she sighs and looks at Tarim holding his hands gently, "I'll go with you"
Airid shakes his head, "You're hands are still in no shape to be holding a bow or even a knife"
"My skills are still good. Nothing wrong with my head. My girl's not going alone" Alena says, looking cross.
A voice comes up from the floor, "I'll go."
Airid starts and all but dives to his daughter's side, "No, girl, you were pretty badly hurt, you still need to rest."
"I'm fine, I woke up a little while ago, I was just waiting for a suitably dramatic moment to cut in with something." the young woman, Invector big, strongly built, maybe 190cm, with close cropped, wavy red hair, sat up, "Devoted heal quick, Invectors doubly so"
She slowly gets to her feet, and unwraps her bandages, "See, no more gash, just red and painful, I bet it looked worse than it was." she sits down on one of the boxes "I heard you talking about doing something brave so I figured that I'd get in on that"
Veesa points at her father, "You can't go anywhere, you've got to watch that bunch and guard against bandits or that freak coming back" the young Invector nods at Alena "Ma'am you're still wounded, please let me look after your daughter" she then turns and smiles at Nozomi, "Plus, I've always heard we're supposed to serve the Chosen in their quest to awaken the Singer, and I guess this counts"
---------------------------------------
Started in and realised that I'd forgot to stat up the NPCs and so I spent like TOO MANY hours stating up a bunch of stuff and making inventory items... and spells... and NPCs. Then I rolled for the battle, and wrote down the values so that it would be a tutorial for the (pretty simple actually) mechanics... but then it was lates so I got everything mixed up, which means I need to do a simple example next CHAPTER (Or even in between, dunno I'll figure something out after I've slept
)
Also: Everyone should not have lived through the "Fight" option. Those Invectors should not have lived. Both parents should not have lived, The Hunter's d6 pool should not have have caught fire and melted off the desk. Alena should not have gotten a statistically almost perfect shot right into the Hunter's back.
I'm not lying, Nozomi got incredibly lucky (Although her father can go either way right now) next time I'm having one of you roll the dice.
Pick one destination:
[ ] Travel to Greenbough, the trip is longer, but safer, and it's easier to find, just follow the river.
[ ] Travel to the Invector outpost, shorter trip, likely more dangerous, and you're more likely to get lost.
[ ] On second thought, stay, wait it out and hope for the best.
Pick up to one companion:
[ ] Take Alena, she might not be able to fight but she still has all her skills
[ ] Take Veesa, she certainly believes she's well enough to travel and fight, and can stillsorta fight, and she does have some skills
Nozomi steadies herself by planting her feet in the ground between her parents, "You know what? I don't think I want to go with you, you're a bit of a creeper. Tell your boss that this isn't a good way to meet girls"
The Hunter slightly tilts his head dismissively, and shrugs, "I tried being nice", before suddenly flowing forwards, and slamming into one of the Invector guards; grabbing the front of the young woman's tunic with his flaming hand and stabbing forward with blade in the other, before kicking the screaming woman off.
The Invector woman somehow stays on her feet, despite her sudden and serious wounding, and lashes out at The Hunter with her vibrantly glowing blue blade. She cuts right through his clothes and… the blade just slides off the Sorcerer's hide. The man laughs and he pushes her backwards again, tripping her over one of the cowering Mute barge crew.
The other Invector, an older man, shouts in worry as the young woman hits the ground. He circles to the side trying to flank the dangerous attacker.
The Invector suddenly dropping out of the way gives Alena her chance and she lets loose her arrow, hitting the advancing man square in the chest, he doesn't even look down at the arrow embedded in his chest, he just reaches up with his left hand and pulls the arrow out, throwing the flaming projectile to his side, hitting a cowering Drab crewmember.
The other Invector stops circling as he sees an opportunity and leaps forward. Charging in with a triumphant shout he drives towards the monstrous attacker, magic blade flashing, his arms glowing blue with magic enhancement… and completely missing, his target sidestepping and letting the Invector fly right past.
The Hunter turns back to Nozomi right in time for her father to unleash a spell of his own, holding his forearms vertical to the ground, they glow bright blue and hundreds of tiny crystalline blue lines stretch between them creating some sort of rippling, glowing, flat web.
Tarim shouts and pulls his arms, and the magic lattice rips apart, creating a cone of light that blinds anyone looking directly into it: a few of the unfortunate barge crew… and the Hunter himself, who throws up his arm in front of his face just too slowly.
The Hunter grunts, sidestepping Nozomi's inexpert swing with her staff, "Clever", he says before suddenly spinning around and swinging his blade into the Invector woman who was lining herself up for an attack on his back, "I still heard you though", he catches her in the stomach releasing a spray of blood, and she drops to the ground, but as she does so, the woman is able score a glancing hit on her target. He roars and repays her with a kick to the head, and she stops moving.
"Stay near your father" Alena hisses, as she dashes off to the side, trying to get out of the Hunter's view, or at least divide the fiend's attention.
Nozomi has no time to react, to reply or to try another attack of her own, because the Invector man has regained his own footing as well and comes in for another, more successful attack, he powers past The Hunter's guard and smashes into him full force, trying to work the coruscating blue blade attached to his arm into The Hunter's flank in a mockery of a hug.
The Sorcerer becoming locked in a grapple is the perfect opportunity for Alena to lose another carefully aimed shot, her eyes glowing in magic concentration, her arm muscles pulsing with blue magic. The arrow digs directly into the monstrous figure's back and he screams more loudly than anything Nozomi has ever heard in her life. He throws his attacker off, driving his blade into the man's side as he does so, spinning back around, fixated on Nozomi with figurative fire in his eyes, and physical fire in both his hands. He charges towards Nozomi, screaming something unintelligible.
Nozomi tries backing away, but she isn't fast enough and she can see the fury bearing down upon her, she reflexively closes her eyes, but the end doesn't come.
She opens them again and sees her father in front of her, The Hunter's hands wrapped around his throat, flames licking at his body: both their bodies, their clothes going up in an ugly wicked inferno.
Alena, screams too and leaps onto her husband's attacker, trying to pry him off. She is only partially successful. The flaming hunter spins and throws her off, before slamming Tarim into a nearby tree and cutting across camp, leaping aside from the weak swordstrokes of the remaining Invector and through the scattering barge crew.
The Hunter Leaps up onto the barge and kneels briefly one hand lighting the wooden construct aflame and the other pointing at Nozomi as it screams, "I. WILL. BE. BACK. FOR. YOU."
Before anyone can react further, the monstrous attacker dives off the other side and disappears.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the night passes in a blur for Nozomi, the crew desperately trying to save their vessel before ultimately failing, something in the fiend's fire causing it to burn hotter and faster than a natural flame. As the barge continues to burn the merchant captain in charge realises that it's become a hopeless struggle and has his crew fight to offload as much cargo as they can before the whole thing goes under or turns into ash.
There's also another fight, the fight for Tarim and the Invector woman's lives. Both had suffered burns, Tarim of course has suffered extensive burns, and the Invector woman has suffered from two gashes in her torso that each look like they should have killed her.
There are other minor injuries, small burns and bruises to the barge crew and the member of their number who'd had an arm tendon slashed. Alena's burnt hands from her struggle to throw the Hunter off her husband.
"I think... I think they'll both make it" says the remaining Invector, "NO! They will make it, my girl's strong, and your man is too. They're both strong, otherwise they wouldn't have made it this far already" He's gotten his compatriot bandaged up and done some minor work on Nozomi's father's burns, but he was an Invector trained in first aid, not a Speaker Healer.
As the sun rises, Nozomi and Alena both huddle over Tarim, watching his chest gently rise and fall, though slowly, too slowly for their liking. The light slowly spilling over the mountains, catching their worried expressions.
Nozomi looks up at her mother, "What, what was that?"
The older woman looks worried, "That was a Remnant Sorcerer. I think" she wipes tears off her face, "We've seen them before, your Father, Saena… and… I. some poor Drab bastard who found a piece of magic from the Betrayer's army, and was overwhelmed by it, going mad"
"That fiend is a killer no two ways about it." the Invector man walks over and kneels down next to Nozomi "No wonder the Temple sends out everyone they have when one pops up." he does a sort of odd half bow to Nozomi, "Invector Airid ma'am, and that over there" he looks worriedly over at where his companion is carefully laid out, unconscious, "Is my daughter Veesa"
"Worked this route for thirty years, never had a… problem like that." he sighs, "Veesa's first year on the Gan though." he forces a grin, "I guess she'll have a good story though, not everyday you save a Chosen from a Sorcerer"
Nozomi looks down at her father, and her mother reaches over to squeeze her shoulder, "Don't blame yourself, that thing said that it wanted a Chosen, and you were who it found." she looks off at the Gansedge, " People like that, once they get that evil magic in them they go crazy, become a force of nature… all you can do is put them down"
"I'm just happy that no one died on my account. I don't think I could take having that on my ledgers" Nozomi stands, "We had to fight though, no way I could have outrun him, and no way I believed him when he said he would let the rest live" she nods to herself as the other two rise as well, "Have to stand up for yourself, stand together with the people you care about"
Alena says nothing, but Airid chuckles, "Ah, ya remind me of my own Veesa, you'd be fast friends I bet" he suddenly looks worried, "Uh, I mean, you know ma'ams, uh it's a good thing, Ms Speaker"
Alena shakes her head, "Don't worry about proper propriety now, I never have anyways," she looks out onto the river, "So, now what do we do?"
Airid strokes his dark, carefully-maintained beard, "Well, I'd say we wait, there should be someone else on the river in the next couple days, and we send the wounded off with them, and they send someone else to get us the rest of this stuff"
"So we wait?" Alena frowns
"I suppose so.
----------------------------------------------------------
Half a week later Nozomi hides under a tarp with her mother, Airid, and the two wounded; as rain and wind lashes outside.
Airid is yelling at the weather, "HELL OF A TIME TO BE ACTING UP, THREE BLOODY SINGER DAMNED DAYS OF THIS" he hits one of the trees the tarp is secured to angrily, before turning and ducking back into the relatively dry shelter, dragging in another load of dryish firewood.
Alena is laying on a small bed made out of stacked crates and recovered blankets next to Tarim, gently touching him with her bandaged hands, "I don't know if he can make another three days, and that storm isn't going anywhere soon" she watches her husband breath, "If it doesn't let up by tomorrow we're going to have to send someone to get help"
Nozomi sits across from her mother, fiddling with her journal and a couple maps that her mother had given her of the Gan, trying to figure out what to do next. She'd tried offering the Tythean rose to her mother to use on her father; but her mother had gently given it back to her, explaining that the rose recharged energies and removed fatigue, but it didn't heal, not wounds and burns like this.
"If you'd given it to your father he'd have enough energy to heal any ten men burned like he is, but now…" she'd sighed.
Nozomi suddenly looked up, "I'll go"
Airid started, "What?"
Nozomi lays out one of the maps on box, "We're supposed to be here" she says pointing to a location along the river, "Now there's Greenbough about a day downriver, and a section of the South Road a half day's journey east with one of the Temple's Invector outposts."
Airid, "I don't see why you have to go. We'll just send one of those boys" he said nodding to the other tarp shelter that had been set up, and was now full of sullen crew.
"They already blame us, well, me for all this, so I'll go to one of these places." Nozomi smiles a bit, "Plus I'm a Chosen, they'll definitely listen to me, where they might dismiss a Drab or Mute labourer." she doesn't feel the need to say that she needs to do something to help her father, it doesn't feel right to send someone else. That it doesn't feel right to just site here.
Alena sits up and looks at her daughter, "I don't like you going alone, so I'll" she sighs and looks at Tarim holding his hands gently, "I'll go with you"
Airid shakes his head, "You're hands are still in no shape to be holding a bow or even a knife"
"My skills are still good. Nothing wrong with my head. My girl's not going alone" Alena says, looking cross.
A voice comes up from the floor, "I'll go."
Airid starts and all but dives to his daughter's side, "No, girl, you were pretty badly hurt, you still need to rest."
"I'm fine, I woke up a little while ago, I was just waiting for a suitably dramatic moment to cut in with something." the young woman, Invector big, strongly built, maybe 190cm, with close cropped, wavy red hair, sat up, "Devoted heal quick, Invectors doubly so"
She slowly gets to her feet, and unwraps her bandages, "See, no more gash, just red and painful, I bet it looked worse than it was." she sits down on one of the boxes "I heard you talking about doing something brave so I figured that I'd get in on that"
Veesa points at her father, "You can't go anywhere, you've got to watch that bunch and guard against bandits or that freak coming back" the young Invector nods at Alena "Ma'am you're still wounded, please let me look after your daughter" she then turns and smiles at Nozomi, "Plus, I've always heard we're supposed to serve the Chosen in their quest to awaken the Singer, and I guess this counts"
---------------------------------------
Started in and realised that I'd forgot to stat up the NPCs and so I spent like TOO MANY hours stating up a bunch of stuff and making inventory items... and spells... and NPCs. Then I rolled for the battle, and wrote down the values so that it would be a tutorial for the (pretty simple actually) mechanics... but then it was lates so I got everything mixed up, which means I need to do a simple example next CHAPTER (Or even in between, dunno I'll figure something out after I've slept
)Also: Everyone should not have lived through the "Fight" option. Those Invectors should not have lived. Both parents should not have lived, The Hunter's d6 pool should not have have caught fire and melted off the desk. Alena should not have gotten a statistically almost perfect shot right into the Hunter's back.
I'm not lying, Nozomi got incredibly lucky (Although her father can go either way right now) next time I'm having one of you roll the dice.
Pick one destination:
[ ] Travel to Greenbough, the trip is longer, but safer, and it's easier to find, just follow the river.
[ ] Travel to the Invector outpost, shorter trip, likely more dangerous, and you're more likely to get lost.
[ ] On second thought, stay, wait it out and hope for the best.
Pick up to one companion:
[ ] Take Alena, she might not be able to fight but she still has all her skills
[ ] Take Veesa, she certainly believes she's well enough to travel and fight, and can still
HP: 4
MP: 10
Def: 2+1
Will: 3
Co-Ordination-2
Perspicacity-3
-Rapport-2
-Barter-2
Intelligence-2
-Lore-1
-Mathematics-1
Physical-1
Spells:
-"Cold Reader"
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)
Endless Flask
-Refills up to three and a half liters of pure water each day
White Tythean Rose
-Refills MP by 10x for one day
MP: 10
Def: 2+1
Will: 3
Co-Ordination-2
Perspicacity-3
-Rapport-2
-Barter-2
Intelligence-2
-Lore-1
-Mathematics-1
Physical-1
Spells:
-"Cold Reader"
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)
Endless Flask
-Refills up to three and a half liters of pure water each day
White Tythean Rose
-Refills MP by 10x for one day
REACH SERENITY
GET HELP FOR YOUR FATHER
GET HELP FOR YOUR FATHER
[ ] FIRST PERSON
[X] THIRD PERSON
[X] DONT SHOW COMBAT NUMBERS
[ ] SHOW COMBAT NUMBER
TUTORIAL STATUS: ONGOING
[X] THIRD PERSON
[X] DONT SHOW COMBAT NUMBERS
[ ] SHOW COMBAT NUMBER
TUTORIAL STATUS: ONGOING
- Location
- scrabbling
[X] Travel to the Invector outpost, shorter trip, likely more dangerous, and you're more likely to get lost.
[X] Take Alena, she might not be able to fight but she still has all her skills
We're being hunted; a shorter trip is what's safer.
[X] Take Alena, she might not be able to fight but she still has all her skills
We're being hunted; a shorter trip is what's safer.