Trying out the Vote Tally option, really handy it turns out, though It placed the results in the previous update. But from I've seen of it, It seems Intelligence, Magic and Luck are the Winners! (Woo!)
I'll get to writing the next update later today, I just got home from work so I need a few minutes to eat L- *Checks Time* Linner, I guess.
Mozume
Level: 5
Class: Villager Lv. 5
95/140 XP Until Next Level Stats:
Hit Points: 24/24 (Endurance x 4)
Strength: 5 (Class)+1 (Base)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=8
Agility: 5 (Class)+4 (+2 from Base, +2 from Blessing)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=11
Precision: 4 (Class)+1 (Base)+1 (Levels)+0 (Training)=6
Intelligence: 2 (Class)+1 (Base)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=5
Magic: 0 (Class)+1 (Base)+1 (Levels)+0 (Training)=2
Persuasion: 2 (Class)+1 (Base)+0 (Levels)+0 (Training)=3
Endurance: 2 (Class)+2 (+1 from Base, +1 from Choosing Hoshido)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=6
Luck: 3 (Class)-2 (0 from Base, -2 from Flaw)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)+4 (The sword)=7 Stat Growths:
Strength: 10 (Class)+30 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Agility: 10 (Class)+50 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=70
Precision: 10 (Class)+40 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=60
Intelligence: 5 (Class)+35 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Magic: 0 (Class)+30 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=40
Persuasion: 5 (Class)+40 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=55
Endurance: 5 (Class)+35 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Luck: 20 (Class)+20 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50 Traits:
Forager (Intelligence): Restore 10% of HP every update while in a Forest, Mountain or near a body of water (Character Trait)
Country Girl (Persuasion): +5 to Persuasion rolls while interacting with anyone from the Country. (Background Trait)
Aptitude (Luck): +10 to Stat Growths (Villager Lv. 1)
I've Been Milkin' and Plowin' So Long... 1 (Precision): +10 to all rolls related to farming. (Villager Lv. 4)
Little Mouse in the Prairie 2 (Agility): +15 to Stealth rolls against Much Larger targets. (Acquired Trait)
One-Two A (Precision: +5 to rolls to confirm attacking again (Acquired Trait)
We've got a Mystery, Gang 1 (Intelligence): +5 to rolls for finding hidden stationery objects. (Acquired Trait)
Silent in the Hills 3 (Endurance): +25 to rolls to resist fear or control expression in the face of gore. (Acquired Trait)
Player of the Game 3 (Persuasion): +25 to rolls for controlling yourself when dealing with nobility and/or royalty. (Acquired Trait) Wrath of the Beast (Strength): The anger of losing all that you have loved has coalesced into a terrifying boost to strength! Mozu can now enter into a berserker state which multiplies her strength by 1.5, adds half of her strength to her attack, dodge, damage and agility (for the purposes of extra attacks) and removes all weight penalties due to weapons and exhausted penalties! However, at the end of the encounter, she takes damage equal to her strength, and enters an exhausted state which penalizes all rolls she takes until she falls asleep. She can enter the berserk state again to get rid of the exhausted penalties due to using said state, but if she does the penalties increase to the current penalties+(the previous penalties*1.5), or, to demonstrate, using the state once reduces all rolls by 10 at the end of it, using it a second time reduces them by 25, a third use would end at penalizing by 48, and so on. (Acquired Trait)
Paul Bunyan Among the Trees (Strength): Whenever a foe is slain by a Melee Critical Hit, You may immediately make an attack (with a -10 cumulative penalty) against another adjacent foe.
Hammer of Herakles (Strength): Strength% of Instantly-Killing an enemy whenever a Melee Critical Hit is rolled. Possessions: [Brass Naginata]: 4 Might, -5 Accuracy, +1 to Endurance for purposes of Damage Mitigation, +5 Critical Evade, Cannot Trigger Critical Hits [Mother's Bow]: 4 Might, -5 Accuracy, +2 to Resistance, +5 Critical Evade
4 Arrows [The Sword]: 11 Might, -10 Accuracy, +10 Crit Confirmation, +4 to Luck while being wielded, Other benefits
Traits: From the Ashes (Endurance): Her father's village burned around her, but she rose anew from it. -50% Damage taken from Fire-type attacks. (Character Trait)
Country Girl (Persuasion): +5 to all rolls interacting with someone from the country. (Background Trait)
Aptitude (Luck): +10 to Stat Growths (Villager Lv. 1)
"Kill someone above the bloodied threshold with a melee attack dealing at least 3 times as much damage as HP!" Reward: Paul Bunyan Among the Trees
"With a Melee weapon, deal damage to an enemy equal to at least 3 times their maximum health." Reward: Hammer of Herakles
Paralogue 1: Veteran of the Psychic Wars pt. 1
Kin'yobi (Friday), the 18th of Hachigatsu (August), according to the Wheel of Time
??/??, according to the Wheel of Fate
??/??, according to the Wheel in the Sky
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You see me now, a Veteran, of a thousand psychic wars...
Mozu sat in a room. It was a room whose ceiling was not there, and with only one wall in sight. The floor below was illuminated in a perfect circle centered around a square table, and on that cloth-covered table, a box. As the ticking and tocking of devices she knew not but did indeed feel around continued, her sole focus was on the box in center of the table. It was an ornate cube, with cynlinders for corners and with what seemed to be a lock on the front which had four symbols on the front acting as seals: A heart, An arrowhead, a diamond and what seemed to be a... tree? As she puzzled over this, with no thought in her mind as to where she was, or how she had gotten there, she...
Mozu: Roll to Discover Secret, DC 30: 98+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)=108, Critical Success!
Mozu: Critical Success rolled, roll to acquire trait: 13, no trait acquired.
saw the arrowhead symbol which was on the lock on a raised portion of the left side of the box. Pushing it in, she saw the arrowhead seal crack open. When she left go, however, the arrowhead seal shut. Her mind deciphered what this puzzle entailed: There were four of these raised portions, "buttons" something whispered into her mind, which each corresponded to a seal, and all four would have to be pushed at the same time to open the box. Simple enough.
Searching for the next symbol...
Mozu: Roll to Discover Secret, DC 40: 49+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)+15 (Critical Success)=74, Major Success!
...she found the diamond symbol on a "button" on the bottom of the box. Pushing it experimentally, it did the same thing as the arrowhead symbol. Now starting to make progress, she looked for the next symbol...
Mozu: Roll to Discover Secret, DC 50: 36+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)+5 (Major Success)=51, Bare Success
...It took quite a lot of time, what seemed like hours, but she eventually found the tree symbol on the bottom side of one of the cylinder corners on the right. Pushing it in of course released the club seal. Which means all that was left was the heart symbol...
Mozu: Roll to Discover Secret, DC 60: 81+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)-5 (Bare Success)=86, Major Success!
Which was attached at the bottom of the other cylinder on the right, this time on something which could be pulled, a "switch" something whispered to her, which when pulled would release the heart seal. Nodding to herself, having figured out the puzzle now, she pushed the arrowhead and diamond "buttons" with her left hand and pushed the tree "button" and pulled the heart "switch" with her right. With this, all four symbols opened...
...But the Box did not. Mozu was confused by this of course. With all four seals open, having found on others along the edge of the box's lid, it should have opened. Making sure to keep the symbols pushed and pulled, she did her best using gravity, the edge of the table, her nose, anything that could pry open the box. But nothing worked. Wondering as to why this happened she studied the box closer...
Mozu: Roll to Discover Secret, DC 70: 65+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)+5 (Major Success)=80, Bare Success
...and with some time and effort saw that between the heart seal and the diamond seal in the middle was something itty... bitty... tiny... infinitesimally small seal, which modern physicists would have bawled like a babe to try and explain. How she was able to see such a thing did not occur to her, for she saw it. The seal was marked... with a star. Not having noticed any other seals besides this one, and knowing what she needed to do now, she looked...
Mozu: Cumalative Roll to Discover Secret, DC 180, Intervals ???: 58+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)-5 (Bare Success)=63 72+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)-5 (Bare Success)=140 12+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)-5 (Bare Success)=157 78+5 (Intelligence)+5 (We've got a Mystery, Gang)-5 (Bare Success)=240, Complete! TR 60, 240/4 Intervals=60, TR 60=60, Threshold Barely Reached!
...and saw that the Star was right there, on top of the box. Unable to touch it with both hands, she instead, for reasons she knew not but knowing that it was correct brought her tongue to the center of the star-
...And an infinitesimally small piece ofInfinityand Eternity Everlasting andEverchanging was revealed to her...
Challenge Complete, Bare Threshold achieved, +1 to Magic (Training)! Magic 2->3!
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A/N: Welcome to the new and first Paralogue. I won't be talking about why I picked this title until later, so all I have to say right now is this:
Those familiar with the Mage: the Awakening... You know what's going on right now.
Okay. Here's what I can tell about the Awakening as it applies to the story. Before a Mage awakens to their power, normally they go through a few weeks of prophetic dreams and crap, before going on either what is known as a "Mystery Play" or a "Supernal Journey". Successfully completing either of these two makes one a mage, and it can happen in an instant to as long as several years in a coma. The swords instead do this process a third way, by giving power piecemeal. This is why Mozu got that +1 training point in Magic, in a few updates she will gain the ability to cast the first tier of Fate Arcana Magic, and only Fate Arcana magic for right now.
Okay. Here's what I can tell about the Awakening as it applies to the story. Before a Mage awakens to their power, normally they go through a few weeks of prophetic dreams and crap, before going on either what is known as a "Mystery Play" or a "Supernal Journey". Successfully completing either of these two makes one a mage, and it can happen in an instant to as long as several years in a coma. The swords instead do this process a third way, by giving power piecemeal. This is why Mozu got that +1 training point in Magic, in a few updates she will gain the ability to cast the first tier of Fate Arcana Magic, and only Fate Arcana magic for right now.
Mozume
Level: 5
Class: Villager Lv. 5
95/140 XP Until Next Level Stats:
Hit Points: 24/24 (Endurance x 4)
Strength: 5 (Class)+1 (Base)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=8
Agility: 5 (Class)+4 (+2 from Base, +2 from Blessing)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=11
Precision: 4 (Class)+1 (Base)+1 (Levels)+0 (Training)=6
Intelligence: 2 (Class)+1 (Base)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=5
Magic: 0 (Class)+1 (Base)+1 (Levels)+1 (Training)=3
Persuasion: 2 (Class)+1 (Base)+0 (Levels)+0 (Training)=3
Endurance: 2 (Class)+2 (+1 from Base, +1 from Choosing Hoshido)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=6
Luck: 3 (Class)-2 (0 from Base, -2 from Flaw)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)+4 (The sword)=7 Stat Growths:
Strength: 10 (Class)+30 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Agility: 10 (Class)+50 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=70
Precision: 10 (Class)+40 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=60
Intelligence: 5 (Class)+35 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Magic: 0 (Class)+30 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=40
Persuasion: 5 (Class)+40 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=55
Endurance: 5 (Class)+35 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Luck: 20 (Class)+20 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50 Traits:
Forager (Intelligence): Restore 10% of HP every update while in a Forest, Mountain or near a body of water (Character Trait)
Country Girl (Persuasion): +5 to Persuasion rolls while interacting with anyone from the Country. (Background Trait)
Aptitude (Luck): +10 to Stat Growths (Villager Lv. 1)
I've Been Milkin' and Plowin' So Long... 1 (Precision): +10 to all rolls related to farming. (Villager Lv. 4)
Little Mouse in the Prairie 2 (Agility): +15 to Stealth rolls against Much Larger targets. (Acquired Trait)
One-Two A (Precision: +5 to rolls to confirm attacking again (Acquired Trait)
We've got a Mystery, Gang 1 (Intelligence): +5 to rolls for finding hidden stationery objects. (Acquired Trait)
Silent in the Hills 3 (Endurance): +25 to rolls to resist fear or control expression in the face of gore. (Acquired Trait)
Player of the Game 3 (Persuasion): +25 to rolls for controlling yourself when dealing with nobility and/or royalty. (Acquired Trait) Wrath of the Beast (Strength): The anger of losing all that you have loved has coalesced into a terrifying boost to strength! Mozu can now enter into a berserker state which multiplies her strength by 1.5, adds half of her strength to her attack, dodge, damage and agility (for the purposes of extra attacks) and removes all weight penalties due to weapons and exhausted penalties! However, at the end of the encounter, she takes damage equal to her strength, and enters an exhausted state which penalizes all rolls she takes until she falls asleep. She can enter the berserk state again to get rid of the exhausted penalties due to using said state, but if she does the penalties increase to the current penalties+(the previous penalties*1.5), or, to demonstrate, using the state once reduces all rolls by 10 at the end of it, using it a second time reduces them by 25, a third use would end at penalizing by 48, and so on. (Acquired Trait)
Paul Bunyan Among the Trees (Strength): Whenever a foe is slain by a Melee Critical Hit, You may immediately make an attack (with a -10 cumulative penalty) against another adjacent foe.
Hammer of Herakles (Strength): Strength% of Instantly-Killing an enemy whenever a Melee Critical Hit is rolled. Possessions: [Brass Naginata]: 4 Might, -5 Accuracy, +1 to Endurance for purposes of Damage Mitigation, +5 Critical Evade, Cannot Trigger Critical Hits [Mother's Bow]: 4 Might, -5 Accuracy, +2 to Resistance, +5 Critical Evade
4 Arrows [The Sword]: 11 Might, -10 Accuracy, +10 Crit Confirmation, +4 to Luck while being wielded, Other benefits
Traits: From the Ashes (Endurance): Her father's village burned around her, but she rose anew from it. -50% Damage taken from Fire-type attacks. (Character Trait)
Country Girl (Persuasion): +5 to all rolls interacting with someone from the country. (Background Trait)
Aptitude (Luck): +10 to Stat Growths (Villager Lv. 1)
"Kill someone above the bloodied threshold with a melee attack dealing at least 3 times as much damage as HP!" Reward: Paul Bunyan Among the Trees
"With a Melee weapon, deal damage to an enemy equal to at least 3 times their maximum health." Reward: Hammer of Herakles
Paralogue 1: Veteran of the Psychic Wars pt. 2
Kin'yobi (Friday), the 18th of Hachigatsu (August), according to the Wheel of Time
??/??, according to the Wheel of Fate
??/??, according to the Wheel in the Sky
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I've been living on the edge so long, where the winds of Limbo roar...
When her vision returned to it's normal state, she saw that the box and the table it was on had dissappeared. However, in the one wall present in the room was now a door, an ornate one with a strange metal metal knob on the front. She pulled on it, but the door wouldn't open.
Mozu: Roll to Doorknob, DC 30: 25+5 (Intelligence)=30, Bare Success
After some time, she realized that the knob could turn. Doing so sufficiently allowed the door to open. Stepping through the now open doorway, Mozu saw a long white hallway leading to a single iron door. Walking towards said door, she was astonished when she felt her head hit something, like a ceiling...
Mozu: Roll to Discover Secret, DC 45: 91+5 (Intelligence)+3 (1/2 of Precision)=99, Critical Success!
Mozu: Critical Success Rolled, roll to acquire trait: 58, trait acquired!
Trait: I DON'T WANT TO USE MY HEAD! (Lv. 1) (Precision): +5 to discovery and investigation rolls caused by pain.
...Because it was a ceiling. Feeling out with her hand now across the architechural plane, and realized that it moved down diagonally the closer one got to the door. The very tiny door, she realized as the new perspective made itself known to her. Sighing at her own stupidity (and yet not at whoever designed this thing), she crouched down and continued onward slowly towards the door.
Mozu, Roll to not bonk head, DC 30: 63+6 (Precision)=69, Major Success!
And thus, no further bonking was had this day.
When she got to the door, she managed to twist the tiny handle enough to pry the door open, allowing her to crawl through...
Mozu: Roll to resist mezmerization, DC 15: 23+3 (Persuasion)+3 (1/2 of Intelligence)-50 (Literally has no idea what's going on)=-31, Automatic Critical F-
???: Reroll chain! (PAY ATTENTION, GIRL): 23179 (This is just sad) 572156 (Oh you have got to be kidd-) 67+3 (Persuasion)+3 (1/2 of Intelligence)-50 (Literally has no idea what's going on)=23, Bare Success (FINALLY.)
...And blinked her eyes rapidly to try and comprehend the sight before her.
"What... is this?" She wondered, "What the hell is this?!"
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In case you couldn't tell before, this paralogue is the Mind-Screw chapter, involving things which Mozu has never seen before and indeed couldn't have seen before. The Casino is one of those things.
Also, I realized that I had forgotten to list the inspirations I used for the last update and this one. So far, in order:
Puzzle Box and Room: The Room
Shrinking Hallway: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
More will be added to this list eventually. Sorry for the short update, I have an extended family dinner to do and so I just didn't have the time to get to the meat of the chapter.
Don't worry, due to the place Mozu is currently in, those Rerolls don't have any adverse effect at all (unlike what usually happens with Desperate Rerolls). The thing granting Mozume these rerolls was pretty annoyed however that it had to try that hard just to get her to pay attention (Even though it's at fault here, poor girl has never even seen a casino from her world let alone one from ours.)
Don't worry, due to the place Mozu is currently in, those Rerolls don't have any adverse effect at all (unlike what usually happens with Desperate Rerolls). The thing granting Mozume these rerolls was pretty annoyed however that it had to try that hard just to get her to pay attention (Even though it's at fault here, poor girl has never even seen a casino from her world let alone one from ours.)
Not death (because Paradox and that crap deals in that area) but more severe complications. With a rare chance of boons instead, but those are outnumbered 7 to 1. Oh, and by severe complications I mean anywhere from the absolutely minor such as losing any and all current training you had accomplished to really, really bad stuff like sudden "Iago was supposed to be in Windmire today but now he's sieging the Hoshidan castle and so far succeeding at it." It really runs the gambit, and so even with that small chance of good stuff happening it's better to just try and avoid accruing more of whatever the Desperate Rerolls acrue (though they are automatic at this current point, so I'm sorry to say that you'll be getting some of that bad stuff sometime soon in the future).
Paul Bunyan Among the Trees (Strength): Whenever a foe is slain by a Melee Critical Hit, You may immediately make an attack (with a -10 cumulative penalty) against another adjacent foe.
Mozume
Level: 5
Class: Villager Lv. 5
95/140 XP Until Next Level Stats:
Hit Points: 24/24 (Endurance x 4)
Strength: 5 (Class)+1 (Base)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=8
Agility: 5 (Class)+4 (+2 from Base, +2 from Blessing)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=11
Precision: 4 (Class)+1 (Base)+1 (Levels)+0 (Training)=6
Intelligence: 2 (Class)+1 (Base)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=5
Magic: 0 (Class)+1 (Base)+1 (Levels)+1 (Training)=3
Persuasion: 2 (Class)+1 (Base)+0 (Levels)+0 (Training)=3
Endurance: 2 (Class)+2 (+1 from Base, +1 from Choosing Hoshido)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)=6
Luck: 3 (Class)-2 (0 from Base, -2 from Flaw)+2 (Levels)+0 (Training)+4 (The sword)=7 Stat Growths:
Strength: 10 (Class)+30 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Agility: 10 (Class)+50 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=70
Precision: 10 (Class)+40 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=60
Intelligence: 5 (Class)+35 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Magic: 0 (Class)+30 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=40
Persuasion: 5 (Class)+40 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=55
Endurance: 5 (Class)+35 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50
Luck: 20 (Class)+20 (Base)+10 (Aptitude)=50 Traits:
Forager (Intelligence): Restore 10% of HP every update while in a Forest, Mountain or near a body of water (Character Trait)
Country Girl (Persuasion): +5 to Persuasion rolls while interacting with anyone from the Country. (Background Trait)
Aptitude (Luck): +10 to Stat Growths (Villager Lv. 1)
I've Been Milkin' and Plowin' So Long... 1 (Precision): +10 to all rolls related to farming. (Villager Lv. 4)
Little Mouse in the Prairie 2 (Agility): +15 to Stealth rolls against Much Larger targets. (Acquired Trait)
One-Two A (Precision: +5 to rolls to confirm attacking again (Acquired Trait)
We've got a Mystery, Gang 1 (Intelligence): +5 to rolls for finding hidden stationery objects. (Acquired Trait)
I DON'T WANT TO USE MY HEAD! 1 (Precision): +5 to discovery and investigation rolls caused by pain. (Acquired Trait)
Silent in the Hills 3 (Endurance): +25 to rolls to resist fear or control expression in the face of gore. (Acquired Trait)
Player of the Game 3 (Persuasion): +25 to rolls for controlling yourself when dealing with nobility and/or royalty. (Acquired Trait) Wrath of the Beast (Strength): The anger of losing all that you have loved has coalesced into a terrifying boost to strength! Mozu can now enter into a berserker state which multiplies her strength by 1.5, adds half of her strength to her attack, dodge, damage and agility (for the purposes of extra attacks) and removes all weight penalties due to weapons and exhausted penalties! However, at the end of the encounter, she takes damage equal to her strength, and enters an exhausted state which penalizes all rolls she takes until she falls asleep. She can enter the berserk state again to get rid of the exhausted penalties due to using said state, but if she does the penalties increase to the current penalties+(the previous penalties*1.5), or, to demonstrate, using the state once reduces all rolls by 10 at the end of it, using it a second time reduces them by 25, a third use would end at penalizing by 48, and so on. (Acquired Trait)
Paul Bunyan Among the Trees (Strength): Whenever a foe is slain by a Melee Critical Hit, You may immediately make an attack (with a -10 cumulative penalty) against another adjacent foe.
Hammer of Herakles (Strength): Strength% of Instantly-Killing an enemy whenever a Melee Critical Hit is rolled. Possessions: [Brass Naginata]: 4 Might, -5 Accuracy, +1 to Endurance for purposes of Damage Mitigation, +5 Critical Evade, Cannot Trigger Critical Hits [Mother's Bow]: 4 Might, -5 Accuracy, +2 to Resistance, +5 Critical Evade
4 Arrows [The Sword]: 11 Might, -10 Accuracy, +10 Crit Confirmation, +4 to Luck while being wielded, Other benefits
Traits: From the Ashes (Endurance): Her father's village burned around her, but she rose anew from it. -50% Damage taken from Fire-type attacks. (Character Trait)
Country Girl (Persuasion): +5 to all rolls interacting with someone from the country. (Background Trait)
Aptitude (Luck): +10 to Stat Growths (Villager Lv. 1)
"Kill someone above the bloodied threshold with a melee attack dealing at least 3 times as much damage as HP!" Reward: Paul Bunyan Among the Trees
"With a Melee weapon, deal damage to an enemy equal to at least 3 times their maximum health." Reward: Hammer of Herakles
Paralogue 1: Veteran of the Psychic Wars pt. 3
Kin'yobi (Friday), the 18th of Hachigatsu (August), according to the Wheel of Time
??/??, according to the Wheel of Fate
??/??, according to the Wheel in the Sky
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And I'm young enough to look at, and far too old to see...
It was astonishing how bright everything was. There were what seemed to be stools with only a single, metallic leg sitting in front of bright... windows? ("Screens") something told her, which spun before stopping on certain images. There were tables where dice were thrown around by an invisible hand, stopping on certain spots on the table before strange looking coins were exchanged. The air smelled distinctly smoky, as if a thousand pipers were being puffed at the same time. The thing which most unnerved her about this place, however, was that there were no people in here whatsoever. Not a single soul to walk about this opulent palace of light and color. And in the middle of all of this was another table, smaller than the others with cards on top of it. And behind the table...
...Was what undoubtedly had to be a spirit like the ones her mother told her about when she was a child. There was no other possibility. No creature of flesh and bone had feet without legs, and white cards for skin. No living being had a white and red jester's mask for a face. As Mozu stared at the impossible sight before her, the entity beckoned her towards it. With a distortion of vision, she was suddenly in front of the table, right across from the jester.
That last sentence was accompanied by a brief note of music, before it abruptly ended. Not wanting to offend whatever spirit this was, Mozu did so. Staring at the jester in front of her, Mozu nearly missed the question it asked her.
"So, what's your Name? Or are you one of those amnesiacs who keep popping up in worlds like these?"
Clearing her throat to help clear the confusion in her mind, Mozu answered, "My name is Mozume, sir."
In the blink of an eye, the mask flipped around to show an angry expression. "Nope, Townsaver is a sir, I am a madam."
Quick to apologize, Mozu responded, "Oh, my apologies mada-"
"Ah-ah-ah," the spirit said while wagging it's finger, the mask once again changing to it's angry state. "Woundhealer is a madam. ...I think. It has been a while since I've seen her so she might be a he now... In any case, the proper way to address me is not 'madam' but 'His royal high and almighty greatness'. Say it now, I've a terrible temper you know."
Mozu: Roll to control yourself, DC 60: 7+3 (Persuasion)+3 (1/2 of Intelligence)=13, Major Failure!
Narrowing her eyes at the attempt for self-aggrandizement, and unable to contain her frustration at what was going on, she refused. "I don't think so, spirit. Why should I even think of heaping praise on you when you haven't even done a damn thing for me?"
Contrary to what she thought would happen, the spirit seemed to agree with her. "Yes, why should you be complimenting me for things I haven't done?" Then, the mask reversed just as the situation reversed back to the way she imagined things going, "Why, it's not like I've been making fate my bitch so often just so you didn't get curbstomped by Frank-N-Dine's Monster, or die during that battle, or any number of things. Why, it can't be that I've been helping you this whole time you ungrateful little brat. Do you think I work for free? I could have had any number of my pick of wielders if it weren't for the fact that all of the prime players have quite literally been nabbed by lowlife two-bit tools who dare even consider themselves weapons. A book is not a damn weapon, and the very fact that it's hailed up as this glorious masterpiece irks me so hard I'd rather take a quench in the sun-"
As the Entity rambled on, Mozu's mind was at work...
Mozu: Roll to put together information, DC 60: 49+5 (Intelligence)+2 (1/2 of Persuasion)+25 (It just keeps spilling the beans...)-10 (Angered)=71, Success!
"You're the spirit of my sword," interrupted Mozu, "aren't you?"
At that, the Jester stopped. "Well, whoop de doo, she's figured it out. I knew you had a brain somewhere in there, Mozzie."
"Don't. Call me. Mozzie." said the aforementioned girl, still a bit mad at the spirit of her blade. At that, the jester made an exaggerated nod with it's mask.
"Gooootcha," It drawled out, "Now Mozzie, here's what's going to happen between us-"
Mozu: Roll to control yourself, DC 60: 58+3 (Persuasion)+3 (Intelligence)-5 (Still a bit touchy)=59, Bare Failure
Mozu growled at the continued use of the nickname, the Spirit ignored her of course: "-You are going to make things interesting around here. I'm a bit tired of all the cliches being tossed around here by Little Miss "Gotta Save'em All!" Dragon over in Nohr, but I also don't want the old fart in Valla to win, because if there's anything worse than a Mary Sue Protagonist, it's the Saturday Morning Villain winning. So, what you are going to do is mess things up a bit so that it actually becomes interesting, while not letting this ship people call a "plot" sink, got it?" At the blank look it's demands had recieved, the entity tried to explain it better by summoning from seemingly nowhere a white slab while opening a strange rod filled with what Mozu guessed was ink of some sort, by the smell. "Okay, we're going to have to go with the Kindergartner approach, alright then. This," and at that, the jester swiped on the slab with the rod once, and an amazing quality portrait of a blond woman with pointed ears appeared, "is Princess Corrin of Nohr, formerly known as Princess Kamui of Hoshido and a half-dragon, as if she wasn't a special snowflake enough. She's currently leading the Nohrian forces to conquer Hoshido so that Ole King Garon," It created another image with a swipe, this time of an old man with graying hair sitting on a throne," -can sit on a magic stool, which is the stupidest plan I've heard since Stalin was still around. This is all done at the cost of millions of Hoshidan lives by the way, just in case you needed more of an incentive. Now, Starscream over here," This time, a man who's appearance could only be described as "slimy" with an iron halo behind his head, "-is trying to live up to his namesake's legacy by assisting Garon all the way until he can put a dagger between his shoulders and take the throne. Meanwhile, this whole war is all a ploy by Hundred Eyes Dragon, or Anankos," An image of a dragon with many eyes covering it's skin and with a multi-eyed ball inside it's jaw "so that he can eventually conquer the known world and be evil and crap. This gambit pile-up, in case you couldn't tell, is so stupid and ill-though out it's as if the people doing the things don't realize that reality doesn't work this way."
"I mean, what happens if Dragon Tales over here manages to accomplish her objective of getting the old geezer on this magic throne? Sure, he's finally "shown his true form" but now countless Hoshidan lives are lost, both princes are dead, there's no male heir to the throne unless Maxie Pegasus gets busy with somebody because Sakura isn't getting with a guy anytime soon, and then Annie is still King of Valla. And what happens if Voldemort's Draconic cousin wins? Then humanity loses, and that's terrible."
"So, the only solution left is to wipe the slate clean and screw destiny, both figuratively and literally. There's still going to be a lot of deaths if Hoshido wins the war, and the dragon is still going to keep living, so you need to figure out a way to get both sides to unite against Anankos and do so in a way that doesn't make the average person kill themselves due to a corn allergy. So, what do you say?"
Mozu: Roll to understand what... that was, DC 90: ...
...Wait, what? I do a joke roll to show how utterly out of the loop Mozu feels, and this happens?
...Alright, fine.
Mozu: Roll to understand explanation, DC 90: 99+5 (Intelligence)-50 (Using terms and references and information she just doesn't understand)=Automatic Critical Success!
Mozu: Natural Critical Success rolled, roll to acquire upgraded trait: 81, upgraded trait acquired!
Trait: Connecting the Invisible Dots (Magic): Intelligence*1.5% to automatically succeed at any roll which you have no information or training to normally accomplish!
(And just as a one-time bonus for this miraculous achievement): +1 training point to Intelligence!
Mozu nodded, somehow able to understand what that abomination of an explanation was, and said, "I'm in."
If it could be possible, the grin on the spirit's Mask seemingly widened. "Excellent! You're pretty sharp, practically no one gets my explanations on the first try... Maybe you won't be so bad after all... Anyway, there's still a few things I need to talk to you about, but before we get to that, how about some introductions?" It reached it's hand out to Mozu in a familiar gesture. "The name's Rodéla Kérmatos, but you can call me Coinspinner."
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Stares at Nat. 99.
...WHY? JUST WHY?
As you can tell, this update did NOT go the way I planned it to. I was hoping to create a lot of initial animosity between Mozu and Coinspinner, but now that Mozu's done something legitimately impressive by somehow deciphering Coinspinner's "explanation" (I'm suddenly reminded of Neptune and Broccoli's "conversation" from Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory), I can't have him not give her at least a little respect now. That would just mess with what I'm trying to go for later.
Also, yes, I am trying to make Coinspinner as annoying as possible. It's the character trait of the sword, after all, besides being a jerk. However, if you don't think the conversation was done well at all, please let me know. There's no chance of improvement if I don't get feedback, even if it's "just" for a quest.
There's something else I was going to talk about, but since I've forgotten it I'll just have to talk about it later.
So I looked up Tv Trope about the Book of Swords and well... Lets just say we need to keep our on it as best as we can or else it'll go disappear, literally.
So I looked up Tv Trope about the Book of Swords and well... Lets just say we need to keep our on it as best as we can or else it'll go disappear, literally.
Yep. This will be made quite prevalent in the next few chapters. The only thing I can guarantee you guys is that it won't just randomly leave you in this story like it usually does, though it will do it's best to be as annoying as possible outside of combat.
I already talked about this before when I was answering questions last month. It's not going to just ditch you, but it likes interesting things. as in the Chinese definition of "interesting".
EDIT: Also, I just remembered the thing I was going to talk about. Does anyone know how to put in accented letters in the posts? Because technically Coinspinner's Greek name has accented e's instead of just regular e's.
