The vote's going to close in a few minutes, and for some reason, neither of the voting programs will stay open for even a second. I had thought it was because I had an outdated version, but I updated today and it's still doing the same thing. Hopefully it's just this minor issue with my computer in general that I was planning on fixing soon, but regardless, I can't get it to work right now.
Would anyone mind using the program and posting up the SV voting data? It doesn't even have to be organized, I can take care of that tomorrow. I'd really appreciate it.
[X] Karma. See a glimpse of people's karmic history, both in their past and with their current actions, and learn to manipulate when and how karmic imbalances are redressed. No. of votes: 1 DOOMPOTATO
[X] Enchanting. See and manipulate the relationships between people. Short and long term effects, subtle and overt. No. of votes: 1 Thrice.Great
[X] Illusions. See the truth before you and manipulate the truth others perceive. Short term illusions, which can be constructs of light or for selected targets only. Minor enchanting effects tied in to sell effects. No. of votes: 2 ReaperofInterest, tinkerbell
Unfortunately, the minor fix I implemented didn't have an effect...so it's probably time to make a comment in the thread, even if I think it's a local issue.
[X] Shamanism vote with pen No. of votes: 1 Frakir's brother
I already said that this wasn't the proper format, @Frakir's brother . There were plenty of other people that you could have copied, if you were unsure.
[X] Enchanting. See and manipulate the relationships between people. Short and long term effects, subtle and overt. No. of votes: 3 Thrice.Great, Not A Victory March, Olivebirdy
[X] Karma. See a glimpse of people's karmic history, both in their past and with their current actions, and learn to manipulate when and how karmic imbalances are redressed. No. of votes: 2 DOOMPOTATO, TheAlec
[X] Illusions. See the truth before you and manipulate the truth others perceive. Short term illusions, which can be constructs of light or for selected targets only. Minor enchanting effects tied in to sell effects. No. of votes: 2 ReaperofInterest, tinkerbell
[x] The Sight. See everything. Everything all of the other choices would have been able to see combined, plus more. Interpreter not included. No. of votes: 1 the DragonBard
I'm gratified at the paucity of accusations that I'm trying to trick you with the (One-time chance) bit and somewhat amused that the vast majority of people ignored the (Hint: Not as important as it normally would be) bit.
I had expected Enchanting over Shamanism, by a large margin. It still took second place, but I guess you decided you'd rather make the area around you your plaything, rather than people around you To be fair, Shamanism certainly has more direct combat ability.
I need a little bit to hammer down the details on Shamanism, and then I'll get started on the next chapter.
I had expected Enchanting over Shamanism, by a large margin. It still took second place, but I guess you decided you'd rather make the area around you your plaything, rather than people around you To be fair, Shamanism certainly has more direct combat ability.
Right, sanctity of mind, relationships and friendships is kind of a big thing, even if SV/SB are completely terrible at them beyond throwing lots of actions at it.
Its why the dynasty quests spend every available personal action on making it a loving relationship and everything else jumps through hoops to try making friebds with everything
Right, sanctity of mind, relationships and friendships is kind of a big thing, even if SV/SB are completely terrible at them beyond throwing lots of actions at it.
Bit of an overly broad generalization there, particularly when there's a strong movement against even manipulating people by mundane means. I figure more likely to have been on the wrong end of exploitative manipulation at some point.
Man, what is wrong with manipulation? We do it all the time, especially with kids. What do you think parenting is anyway? You make kids do things they don't want to do for their own benefit by using emotional levers, rewards and punishments, and reasoned logic. Boom, parental mind control
Any power is morally neutral, it's just the people implementing them that are problematic.
Okay! I'm going to start with an apology for how long this took, because it really shouldn't have done so. I have a lot of different reasons or excuses for why it happened, but suffice to say that while I hope it won't happen in the future, it very well may. Sorry about that too.
The next chapter still isn't even done! The horror! But I've decided that rather than go over my research yet again in hopes of noticing something (and delaying the chapter further) I'm going to crowdsource! Congratulations!
It's regarding the runes that Blake will know well or well enough to give you bonuses for learning them. I already did a lot of searching for them, but if you guys managed to find ones that I missed, then they will be added to the list! Here's what I have so far:
· Push
· Unlock
· Wind (imbuement: a little lighter, pushes a little harder)
· Quiet
· Durability
· Alarm (hamper: Stick)
· Alarm (notice: detects life within radius)
· Orient: Heart
· Alarm (punish: Y)
· Secures locks
· Physical stasis (inanimate/inorganic)
· Reaching out (sensory, detection, no significant locomotion)
o Fire (senses warmth, explodes)
o Air (senses breath, moves faster)
o Earth (tracks footsteps, hits harder)
o Metal (transmits signals, moves slowly)
o Water (senses magic/powers, insta-charges)
· Electricity/Lightning
· Metal (pseudo-transmutation)
· Fire
· Banishment (incorporeal/projection)
· Smell-be-gone
· Exile (prevents spirit tampering, mutes effects)
· Defense (applied to walls, effect: Z)
· Extinguish
· Escher connection
And now for the quotes that I found, so you can check against them and avoid false positives (please note that the quotes below may not match perfectly with the runes above):
· the sugar was left in a crescent shape where it had been dragged by the underside of the cup. He emptied the remaining packet, a smaller pile in the center of the crescent, and then three lines, fanning outward, on the other side. The edge of the paper packet helped give the three lines form. Almost half of a typical 'sun', as a child might draw it, with the rays fanning outward, and a dot in the middle.
They turn people away before they sit nearby, and we can talk without fear of eavesdroppers."
1.05
· One page with an image dominating half of it. A symbol was outlined, with arrows suggesting directions for drawing it. A spiral, drawn from the outside in, then a triangle, with one point at the center, all as one motion.I gestured, a flick of my hand, and they reacted. The cup jerked about two inches and crashed to the floor.
1.07
· Can you open locks?"
"Not a trick I know," I said.
She drew a small notebook from her pocket. She drew out an image. An hourglass shape with a circle in the middle. She drew a small pad of sticky notes from another inside pocket. "Draw something like this, put it on the doorknob, and empower it."
2.5
· The butt-end of the weapon had a symbol inscribed in the wood, so it sprawled all over the wooden surface, curving around to the other side.
…
"That symbol is one for wind."
"Wind?"
He shrugged. "Mess with other elemental forces, and you risk disrupting the mechanism. Weapon is maybe a little lighter, pushes a little harder."
4.10
· I'd inscribed my boots with quieting runes
4.10
· I kicked the window again, to no effect
…
But that time, I noticed Duncan reacting.
A connection. Between him and the window?
Of course. It was an obvious way out. I hopped up to search the surface.
There. On the surface of the window, a rune. I recognized it as one that enhanced durability.
5.3
· One clasp had a piece of paper with a rune on it hidden just beneath. The inside of the box, too, had a rune set in place. The runes, too, would delay anyone from trying to steal the mirror with the incarnation bound within.
7.9
· we've resorted to novice-level alarm runes
11.2
· Rose's rifle swung around. She slapped it against her left hand. At the butt end, her right thumb ran along the inscribed rune. The tip of the gun jerked, the aim correcting. Centered on Ms. Lewis's heart. Rose's eye looked down the sights.
15.6
· "It won't hold for long, but if you need to slip away, this is the thing. One for each of us. Or you can put it on an object to hide it."
"We need it to hold," Rose said.
"It's going to burn up whatever fuel you give it,"
16.05
· A rune was being used to ward off curious civilians, which meant I had to look otherwise occupied.
…
The rune that had been drawn to keep neighbors from coming in had changed somewhat.
3.3
· From the spirits that flowed through and around the paper, I had little doubt there was a rune there. Less a deterrence rune, I suspected, than a rune that would punish prying Duchamps.
3.3
· I could see bookshelves, each protected by a pane of glass with hinges and a lock. The locks, I noted, each had a rune on them.
3.3
· Mark trees and stones with wards, to keep people away. More runes to keep the roads intact.
4.9
· I tracked the connections, saw the people moving. Reorganizing.
I saw the focus drop away from Dunc and me both, from the other side of that mirror.
I saw the sole remaining connection flicker and die. Something digital.
There were the two of us in the room, and nobody was looking.
…
I could see the foam. He'd drawn a rune into it, so it floated on top of his drink.
5.1
· As I set foot on the landing, I saw golden diagrams spiral out from scribbles on the wall. I'd mistaken them for gang tags, but they were runes.
One connection fixated on me, all the more noticeable because my connections to everything else were so thin.
An alarm.
5.3
· One section of stairwell, connected Escher style, top to bottom.
"Find-" I winced at the pain in my arms. That pain joined my hearing and eyesight among the things that were getting muddled, hard to compartmentalize or stop focusing on. "Find the rune."
5.3
· The other rune Duncan had drawn on the windowframe, hidden, was the other.
The same kind of rune, apparently, that connected one part of the stairwell to the other.
The sun flashed in my eyes, and I was back in the stairwell, ten feet above the ground.
5.3
· He scrawled something on the dash in chalk, tried the car again. It didn't start up.
He adjusted the rune, another failure to start.
"Still concentrating!" Fell said. His rune was now sprawled almost all the way across the dash. Interconnecting images.6.6
· "Does it have something to do with that sun shape the runes are drawn inside?"
"Ah. Yes. Reaching out," Fell said. "You make something warm and you drive it to seek out other warm things.
6.7
o The rune in the center of its face is a variant of thefirerune. I wouldnotbe surprised if it happened to violently blow up if you got too close to it.
Fire imbued vessels to steadily seek out ourwarmth. Slow, inexorable, and Fell suspected they would blow up if they got too close.
o There are others with breeze runes… they move a little faster in general."
"Breeze runes," I said. "Could that also mean breath?"
Air-imbued vessels to pursue us by a half-step for every breath we took, two or three steps for every word we spoke.
o Earth-imbued vessels to track us by our footsteps.
o "Metal," Fell said, quiet, "Never wood, post-industrialization. Dying element."
The metal-runes had barely moved from their meandering circuit through the area
The metal ones had been, what, transmitting a signal? Providing structure?
o And with the act ofmagic,thewatervessels woke, closing the distance to us in heartbeats
6.7
· I could see runes laid out, making it a dangerous proposition.
They'd trapped the building. (Chrono-traps)
6.10
· A sticky note with a rune on it. Thistime there was an arc of electricity.
6.12
· "Alarm rune," Maggie murmured in my ear.
I stepped across it, and I felt the connection pop into being.
7.5
· Duncan moved faster.
Hishandsmoved faster.
The runes he'd drawn on his wrists in marker.
7.6
· "Runes that would make people more inclined to take detours, or just avoid or ignore the area altogether. They had it for the parkland where the Hyena was lurking.
7.10
· The inside of the box had runes for metal on it.
8.2 (from Maggie)
· Maybe the tree had been planted in the middle of a rune, so it manifested certainsnatching, scratchingqualities as it grew.
8.4 (Interesting)
· The rune managed to gather all the power it needed, and then it simply turned out the lights.
10.4 (banishment)
· "You smell like mothballs," Evan chimed in.
"I've worn and washed these clothes before," Rose said. "How can I still smell like mothballs?"
"Here," Tiff said, walking up behind Rose. "Post it, and a rune, and… a bit of blood."
11.5
· What I saw was a metal box with two wires sticking out of it, resting flat against the ground. A symbol was painted on top of it, a rune. Probably written by a third party.
11.9 (the Other in a box)
· Rune of exile on the thing to keep it from being tampered with by other spirits, keep theboommuted.
11.11
The front door detonated. A small blast, not even reaching down the length of the hallway. No fire, which was probably a part of the runes on the thing.
12.1
· with practitioners using the raised walls that blocked off the view to the interior as a defensive position, defensive runes painted on the walls.
13.5
· "Extinguish rune isn't working…"
14.3
Now, there are caveats, of course. For instance, you guys are a Shaman. This means that if you find runes that use another discipline, like the enchanting runes set up to deter people from getting close to the Hyena or ErasUr, then they won't work here, since you only have access to Shamanism. Please keep that in mind.
That being said, the person who comes up with the most passages for usable runes that I don't already have will get a prize: You get to determine the effect of one unspecified rune on the list! (search for Y and Z in the second spoiler box for current options). The winner picks which one they want to define, we'll hash it out in PMs, and then the list will be modified.
And of course, every time anyone finds a suitable rune, it will be added to your pool of already-known or easily-learned runes, similar to how the other forms of magic were added to the pool of Implement possibilities.
Sorry again for the delay--hopefully the next chapter will come much more swiftly (I may just split it if I feel it's still taking too long).
edit:
I'll try to keep this updated as time goes on.
I just reread part of 2.5 today and noticed there was reference to a Protection rune Blake knew and used, so consider it added to the list of runes Blake knows and can teach you right off the bat.
From a quick run through of the relevant chapters, as far as I can tell you've got them all.
That said, you might not bother to use them at all:
Runes are pretty much just a codified serious of things spirits have been taught to recognize over the centuries.
Since she appears to be the first caster of her world...if she's using actual spirits they might just not respond. Which means they'd have to be taught again.
On the bright side, since she appears to be a new caster on an untouched world, this would mean she could relatively quickly create her own runic language without too much (if any) weakening.
From a quick run through of the relevant chapters, as far as I can tell you've got them all.
That said, you might not bother to use them at all:
Runes are pretty much just a codified serious of things spirits have been taught to recognize over the centuries.
Since she appears to be the first caster of her world...if she's using actual spirits they might just not respond. Which means they'd have to be taught again.
On the bright side, since she appears to be a new caster on an untouched world, this would mean she could relatively quickly create her own runic language without too much (if any) weakening.
...guys, I know it's been a while since the last chapter, but that's no reason to steal my notes!
More seriously, the thought of none of the runes working on Earth Bet had crossed my mind--and is mentioned as a possibility in-text during the power-testing chapter--but there are a couple of points against having to make all of them up, though some of the reasoning I'll keep quiet for now.
The runes from Pact are going to be used, they are not exhaustive, I just thought some extra free ones would be nice I mean, I could make you guys learn all of them from scratch...but that seems rather cruel, and also like it would slow the quest down more. I was already thinking about speeding things up some even before that, but we'll just have to see how it goes.
You spend a lot of time talking with Blake about the sense you're getting from the IMPLEMENT bundle. You go back and forth, examining your options more closely or teasing out nuances with his suggestions. You start off maintaining the light hold you have on the bundle, but soon enough your mental grip starts to fluctuate, almost like it's quivering. Not wanting to accidentally make something your implement (and how terrible would that be?) you release it immediately. You find that it's easier than you expect to squeeze just hard enough, though, so that's good news. You mostly leave the bundle alone unless you need to check something, an impression or feeling you get from observing the different options that appear while you consider your choice. Finally, you make your decision.
"I think Shamanism will be the best choice for me," you say. "The manipulation of all kinds of spirits, that exist absolutely everywhere, sounds amazingly versatile. That I could do it quickly, or lasting over a long period, just by writing out a single shape? Yes, shamanism is what I'll take up."
"That sounds good to me," Blake says cheerfully. "I haven't dealt with too many Shamans, but lots of people dabbled in the art, and runes can be very useful." He tilts his head to the side for a moment. "However, have you also decided just what item you'll choose to go with it? That is, traditionally, the important part of taking up an implement. Even if this system seems to be all kinds of backwards," he grumbles to himself quietly.
You take a deep breath. You don't need to think about it more, but it's still a big moment for you. "I'll take my mother's fountain pen as an implement." You had mentioned taking up a pen earlier, along with several other options, enough that you knew the meaning behind the object, but you hadn't explained the significance of that one particular pen. You hold your head high, your eyes burning at the thought of her, of why this choice is important to you.
But Blake doesn't ask any questions of you on the subject, just nods after a few moment's thought. You're appreciative; you don't think you'd have been able to keep from actually crying if you had to explain it out loud.
"It's in the basement," you say. With the rest of her things. "I don't know when it's safe to go down there without Dad seeing me…but I don't want to wait all day and waste the opportunity to try it out." Even as you say it, you realize how true it is—now that your decision is made, you find yourself practically quivering with excitement. "Yeah," you blurt out after just another moment of thought. "I definitely want to go get it now." Without waiting for a response, you bounce to your feet and head for the door.
"Taylor!" Blake calls out, stopping you short. "Look. This is still your choice. It's a sound choice, and that's what matters to me. I'm not going to try to change your mind on it. But if you want to take up a pen implement, then you should probably start acting in synch with what having a pen implement means."
"What do you mean?" you ask cautiously, already suspecting the answer.
"Do you remember what the pen as an implement indicates about how a practitioner would work?"
"Through premeditation and labels," you say, confirming your suspicion.
"Right," Blake says. "Now, are your next actions conforming to either of those attributes?"
You open your mouth, then slowly close it. "…no," you admit after the pause.
"My understanding," he says carefully, "is that you will be more in synch with your implement if you act in ways that match up with their meaning. In practical terms, that means the implement working better for you, increasing your magical efficiency and perhaps helping give you additional guidelines for how to act if you want to generate more power by acting like you. But again," he sighs, "there's no way to know yet if it works that way here. Still, it's far better to act like it helps and maybe benefit than just ignore the idea and possibly suffer the consequences, isn't it?"
"I suppose so," you murmur, not entirely certain about this matter but willing to defer to his experience.
"Okay, so how do you think you should proceed?"
It doesn't take much thought for you to decide. "I should make a plan for what to do next."
The idea is simple, so the plan is too. Just to try and hear where Dad is as you go through the house, and take detours to avoid him when it wouldn't be suspicious should he see you. If he catches sight of the pen once you have it, or while you're searching, tell him just enough of the truth—that you wanted a memory of Mom to help you feel close to her, to try and derive some strength from it—to placate him without telling him anything you don't want to.
It's not like it would be the first time, you think, eyes briefly glancing at the underside of your bed, where the stained and warped form of your mother's flute still lays. This time would be more literally true, however, and you'd be a lot more careful to make sure nothing happened to the pen.
After that's decided, you receive a little bit of advice from Blake about the importance of looking casual and/or confident while sneaking, and you're ready to go.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," you comment to Blake once you're both back safe in your room, your hand cradling Mom's favorite fountain pen protectively.
It had been. There were no hitches, no unexpected complications—heck, you hadn't even run into Dad.
"Would you rather something had gone wrong?" Blake asked, an undercurrent of amusement in his voice.
"No, no," you demur. "I just…wasn't expecting my plan to actually work." Despite making quite a few, they rarely seem to go as you design. But not making plans was worse—the uncertainty, not being prepared…the thought ate at you, at little.
"That is the risk of premeditation," Blake says. "Plans don't often survive contact with the enemy, after all. The other side of that is that sometimes they do. Still, I wouldn't count on it, not with either of our luck."
"True enough," you say, a touch grimly as you remember…well, your life for the past few years. "Still, I can't just accept that my plans will be useless as soon as I run into opposition. Making backup plans and contingencies is a lot more sensible to me."
"As long as you remember the value of improvisation," Blake cautions.
"I'll try," you say. You're not sure how good at that you would be at improving, but it obviously would be important in your life as a cape.
By unspoken agreement, the both of you turn to the pen you're about to turn into your implement. It's beautiful in its simplicity, with a pleasant shine and elegant patterns in the wood that convey elegance without pretension. In your opinion, at least.
"Can you still manage that loose grip on the Implement bundle, the one that let you get a feel for your options?" your companion asks.
"Yeah," you say after checking. "It's not hard to do, as long as I'm not holding it for long."
"So…" He trails off after a moment. "Do you want what I remember of the ritual, or just continue with the trend that you've started so far?"
"Trend?" you ask, tilting your head a bit.
"Well, perhaps trend isn't the most accurate of terms. But you created the familiar bond with me without saying the right words, didn't you? Since you didn't even know that there were words to say. So do you want to do that again here, or do you want to try to see how much I can pull up?"
"I'm not sure," you murmur, looking only at the pen. It might keep him from noticing your expression flicker as you think to when you created him and…the other time you used your power. The less said about that first time the better, but…getting Blake has worked out pretty well for you overall, so far. Might as well continue. "I'll continue the 'trend,' you absently say after a few moments. "You make a good point. Besides, anything to create distance from magical behavior should probably be encouraged."
Blake makes a noise, and you glance over in time to see his tight-lipped expression. "The list of things that we need to talk about is constantly growing, but now's not the time for it," he says, gesturing towards the pen.
You don't really feel like talking to him about that kind of stuff right now anyway, so you have no objection. You double-check that you are making the choices you intend to, because now would be a terrible time to mess things up. That done, you mentally squeeze the Implement bundle as hard as you can, trying to make it as powerful as you can in case it works the way Blake is familiar with and you won't be able to make it stronger later.
It feels different from the other times you used your bundles. This time, it overflows and pours down the inside of your body, surging down your arms and into the pen. It seems to shift a little under your close gaze. Once it's finished, you have a definite sense that something about it is different, though you can't pin down exactly what. You peer a little closer at the wood patterns—what are they called, the grains?—but you're still not sure if they actually look a little like some of the runes Blake has shown you or if your mind is seeing things.
"So how does it feel?" he asks after you stare at the pen for a while.
You take a moment to assess. "Pretty normal," you say, disappointment creeping into your voice.
"Try to use that Push rune we were trying out yesterday," Blake suggests.
Ah, yes. That one. You wouldn't be forgetting the Push rune any time soon, not with how many times you tried and failed to get it to work. You sigh a little to yourself as you go to a piece of paper, taking off the cap and placing it on the back of the pen.
But this time is different. The moment you put the pen to paper, you can feel a connection, straight from your mind to your pen. Feeling more excited now, you draw out the shape, starting with a spiral inwards, a centered equilateral triangle, capped with a dot at the middle, your movement smoothly flowing so the shapes aren't interpreted as attempts at separate runes.
It's easier than it sounds.
The rune looks completely normal at the end, but it only deters you for a moment. You jerk your hand to the right, knowing from previous tries that this rune was designed to go in the direction of your next definitive gesture. You clench your hands, containing your joy and relief as the paper lurches in the same direction, feeling utterly overwhelmed as it goes over the edge of the desk to land on the floor beside your desk.
"Very good," Blake says, his excitement clear in his voice. "It looks like it works! How—Taylor? Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah." You cough to clear your throat, then bend down out of his sight to retrieve the paper, surreptitiously wiping at your eyes when the desk is between you. Taking a few moments to wait until you feel a bit more centered, you meet his eyes openly once you straighten back up. "I'm glad it worked too," you smile, letting a little of your happiness shine through. "What were you saying?"
He eyes you further, but doesn't push the point. "I was just going to ask how your Sight was working."
"Oh," you say, blinking at the thought. "I hadn't thou—" With one of the blinks, the world changes.
It's fascinating. You could still see everything like normal, but underlaid, or overlaid, or something, you'd figure out words for it later, there's also more. There are these little things, colorful and variably shaped and moving while staying in place and incredibly significant without getting in the way of you seeing the object they're about. Just looking at them, you can't tell if they're informing you ofaspects that the objects have or if they're somehow enforcing them. You know that these are the spirits Blake talked about without even having to think about it. You peer closer at the paper you just drew the rune on, and start to pick apart which spirits indicate what about the paper. You are trying to figure what the ones that look like androgynous teenagers coupled with ageless females and several other spirits you can't make out were supposed to indicate when you hear a loud grinding noise near your head.
You jump in place, eyes darting around the room, less distracted by the spirits under—over—screw it, you're going with underlying, since this is apparently what is what is the reality below what most people can perceive—less distracted by the spirits underlying everything. The sound repeated, more quietly, and draws your eyes to Blake, who just finished clearing his throat again.
"Hello?" he asks when he can see that you are looking at him. "You alright there? You were kind of…spaced out."
Looking at Blake is even easier, because there are relatively few spirits visible when you look at him. There are plenty around the mirror, and the mirror itself has spirits—and aren't they stranger than anything you've seen so far, some of them practically outshining everything else—but of the vestige himself, and the reflection of the room around him, there's nothing. It's like he doesn't even exist. That throws you for a loop for a bit, until you realize that if Blake was just an image on the mirror, you'd be able to see the color spirits from the image. There must be something else involved. Maybe your power just doesn't work with reflections? It doesn't really change anything after all.
"Yeah," you say after far too long. "I'm alright. It's just…distracting, being able to see so much."
"If you're sure," he replies slowly, still eyeing you. "I take it that you figured out how to turn on the Sight?"
"Yes," you nod, eyes drifting around again. "It's amazing."
"Could you describe it for me?"
You do so, trying to be quick about it, but you're distracted anew by the complexity and variety of the spirits around you. It serves to make your description a bit more…florid than you may have intended.
"Interesting," is Blake's response when you wind down. "While it does seem similar to the Sight I had, sounds like there are some pretty significant differences." He continues without needing prompting from you. "My first glimpse through the Sight was much more subtle. It started off seeming to just make magic stand out against the background, little more, and it took focus to pick up the ambient spirits. You seem to have jumped feet first into observing the spirits, considering how distracting they seem to be."
It's true, despite how important what he's saying is, you do find your eyes wandering about. You're still listening, though.
"Also, I couldn't help but notice that you didn't mention being able to see connections. Not even between you and the fetish?"
Blinking again, you double-check. "No, I don't see any sort of cord or cable or anything made of spirits linking me to the n'kisi, or anything else. Not even when specifically looking for them."
Blake just nods. "So as we suspected, your Sight seems to be customized specifically for shamanism. Though, I would have expected you to be able to see the connections to me and the fetish, at least…but it looks like I was wrong."
You're not quite sure what to say, so you change the subject. "Drawing the rune felt pretty interesting, so I'm going to see what it looks like when I make one." Not waiting for a response, you reach out to a new piece of paper and draw Push.
It's strange. You hadn't really noticed, but your entire body is blanked out of your vision. Not the lack of any spirits, like with Blake, but a stark absence of spirits. Like…like Blake is the air, where you just couldn't see anything, and your own body was space, a void beneath the surface where spirits should be but aren't. It was disorienting, honestly, even if your clothes still showed up just fine.
It made the feeling of power flowing through you stranger too, since you couldn't see that either. You could see the energy appear in the pen, however, and out on the page in the form of ink. Even though you can tell that you didn't use any more power than before, the rune itself feels stronger this time.
You look closer as there is a perceptible shift in the spirits around you. A particular kind of spirit, a very mobile one, began appearing in the lines of the rune while you are drawing them. Once you finish, the spirits multiply like crazy and spread out to encompass the entire page. They seem to be quivering more than they were, so you do the obvious and make a gesture. The spirits that came from the rune leap into action and the paper flies off the desk again. It seems to go further than last time too, but that's pretty unreliable when it comes to paper.
You absently tell Blake all about it, but your thoughts are on what you can see. It feels good, to have the truth of the world plain to see, so be able to change something about it with a few swipes of your pen. This is so cool.
"I think you should turn off the Sight."
That catches your attention. "What?" you blurt out, turning widened eyes on Blake.
"One thing I hadn't mentioned yet was that you have to be careful about using the Sight," he says, his tone clearly aiming for soothing. "If you use it too much, you can get lost in it. I'm not sure that it applies here, but it looks like you're already losing yourself and it's barely been any time at all."
"But—"
"Taylor." Blake's expression and tone are completely serious. "There's no need to continue right this second, and I am not saying that you have to stop using it. Obviously, you're going to be using it again in the future. I'm just saying stop right now. If you're having this much trouble just doing that, maybe your version of the Sight really is addictive, dangerously so."
Well. There's only one kind of response you can give that. You blink while willing the Sight away. When your eyes open, they show you your normal, drab room.
Blake is examining you closely. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," you say on autopilot. You take a few moments to self-assess. "Really, I'm fine," you say again. It's disappointing, on some level, that you can't see all of that information any more, but you know that it's there, just a blink away, and you suppose everything doesn't look that bad, without all of the spirits explaining what everything is made of.
"Okay," he responds. "No pain? No driving urge to turn it back on? Feeling of disconnection from the rest of humanity?"
You blink at that last one. "…no?"
"It was unlikely," he says, reacting to the look you're giving him, "but you weren't supposed to be able to get lost in it so quickly, either."
"I'll…keep an eye out for symptoms like that in the future." You don't like how wary this is making you.
"Good," Blake says. "Are you ready to try the Sight again?"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. If it's going to be a problem, better we know now."
"Uh…alright." You blink and bring the Sight back up. As interesting as seeing the spirits everywhere is, it's not nearly as distracting this time.
When you explain this to Blake, he nods with a relieved look on his face. "You don't look nearly so distracted, either. Good. It might be a first-time effect, or it may be intermittent. Just try to keep an eye out for it, okay?"
"Okay," you promise easily, turning the Sight off and on a couple of times to see if the sensation returns. It doesn't, but the comparison between what Blake knows and how your power has been working for you has reminded you of something.
As Blake describes it, there's no way to strengthen implements after they're made. You make the implement, investing the power you can spare in the process, and that was the power that your implement had, period. It was why you tried to push as much energy into your pen as you could while making it. But your power is different in the details in a lot of ways, so you aren't sure that rule would apply to you.
Still, that is easily tested. Your Sight currently off, you mentally reach into the Implement bundle and grab…well, rather a lot of power, actually. No point testing with chump change, you suppose. You notice that the energy responds much more readily to your mental grasp than it did before. You slide the mass of power down the connection to the new shape that must represent your pen.
A timeless moment of disorientation.
Well, even a cursory glance at the pen shape shows that it feels much stronger now, just as the implement bundle feels weaker than it just did. Explaining to Blake what you're doing, you try another Push rune. It doesn't seem to take any more energy from your diminished implement bundle than it had been, but the rune itself feels like it's as strong as it was before while using your Sight. Assuming that it's a permanent improvement, that would pay off pretty well, you think. Giving a small grin at the thought, you blink the Sight back on to see if there's an improvement there.
You jerk in your seat as something seems to slot into place when your Sight turns back on. You feel normal again after that instant, but you still turn the Sight back off quickly.
"What's wrong?" Blake asks, his eyes worried.
"My Sight," you say, a little shaken up. You just got your power doing what you wanted, don't let it start acting up now. "It felt…strange when I first turned it on. Something was different, I could feel it change."
"But after that, it felt normal?"
"Yeah, it did." You quickly blink it on and off a couple of times to check. "No more odd feelings, at least for now."
"Hm," Blake says. "I'll see if I can remember anything about this sort of thing, though I'm afraid it might have more to do with being your power than it being magic. You should keep an eye out yourself, see if you feel anything like it again, or if there are any significant changes.
"Anyway, what do you want to do now?"
Basic Info
Status
Normal
Big Three
Central Pool ( (?-1)/? )
FAMILIAR
Blake
Normal
demesne
???
???
implement
Pen (shamanism)
Normal
·
· Push (trigger: gesture)
·
· Unlock
· Wind (imbuement: a little lighter, pushes a little harder)
· Quiet
· Durability (inanimate/inorganic)
· Alarm (hamper: Stick)
· Alarm (notice: detects life within radius)
· Orient: Heart (trigger: finger)
· Alarm (punish: Y)
· Secures locks
· Physical stasis (inanimate/inorganic)
· Reaching out (sensory, detection, no significant locomotion)
o Fire (senses warmth, explodes)
o Air (senses breath, moves faster)
o Earth (tracks footsteps, hits harder)
o Metal (transmits signals, moves slowly)
o Water (senses magic/powers, insta-charges)
· Electricity/Lightning
· Metal (pseudo-transmutation)
· Fire
· Banishment (incorporeal/projection)
· Smell-be-gone
· Exile (prevents spirit tampering, mutes effects)
· Defense (applied to walls, effect: Z)
· Extinguish
· Escher connection
· Anything you can See.
o Except oops, you're Manton-limited.
Sample picture of your implement provided by Thrice.Great
Vote for one option per underlined section. Feel free to customize your votes with up to 60 words of additional description; if you are using someone else's plan and wish to add something to it, please bold the new portions.
What do you want to do with the rest of today? (Pick two.)
[] Learn all of the runes Blake already knows.
- -[] Customization
[] Figure out more about this awesome Sight power.
- -[] Customization
[] Try to figure out more about your shamanism in general.
- -[] Customization
[] Take another look at the inside of your head, particularly at the parts changed with getting your pen.
- -[] Customization
[] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
- -[] Customization
[] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday hahaha
- -[] Customization
Plus, you get one free action (shouldn't take up much time, 60 word limit)
[] Write-in
Sorry again for taking so long. As an apology, you get two apology gifts! The first is that you start off already knowing the Push rune and it will get a strong bonus to being mastered, given any time at all to work on it; your emotional intensity each time you tried to use it burned it into your mind. The second is how the "power levels" of your implement worked out—I rolled the highest value you guys could have gotten, but doing it this way (essentially in Free Action form) showed you the transition, which is quite important for you to see, and you end up with an implement of the strength rolled for you. You also get to see that you can, in fact, move power from the implement bundle to your pen implement.
[x] Take another look at the inside of your head, particularly at the parts changed with getting your pen.
[x] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday hahaha
Actions have meaning. Finish the unfinished. Plan before we act.
[x] Learn all of the runes Blake already knows.
[x] Try to figure out more about shamanism in general.
It's best to be prepared.
Write-in:
[x] Also, perhaps we should talk to Blake about our demesne? After all, it's a major source of power, and it's effectively a "safe place", where we would be pretty close to a god, eventually. Unless the locker is already our demesne, hmm?
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
-[X] Explore magic vs parahuman abilities, try to understand how it might be different instead of trying to dismiss alternate perspectives.
-[X] Anything Blake whats to discuss immediately?
[X] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday
-[X] Seriously. But use our pen and experiment with the sight while doing it. Ask Blake for help with anything we don't understand (including anything we notice during our sight/implement experiments!).
Write-in:
[X] Find an agenda, calendar, notebook, or any combination thereof. Begin planning out our schedule in advance and otherwise trying to improve our connection to our implement.
Important question: is ink going to be an issue or are we using magic to write now instead?
[x] Learn all of the runes Blake already knows.
-[x] If you don't have time for all of them, focus on relatively subtle effects.
[x] Have that talk with Blake.
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
-[X] Explore magic vs parahuman abilities, try to understand how it might be different instead of trying to dismiss alternate perspectives.
-[X] Anything Blake whats to discuss immediately?
[X] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday
-[X] Seriously. But use our pen and experiment with the sight while doing it. Ask Blake for help with anything we don't understand (including anything we notice during our sight/implement experiments!).
Write-in:
[X] Find an agenda, calendar, notebook, or any combination thereof. Begin planning out our schedule in advance and otherwise trying to improve our connection to our implement.
Didn't think of using the Sight on our homework. Wonder what spirits are on it.
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
-[X] Explore magic vs parahuman abilities, try to understand how it might be different instead of trying to dismiss alternate perspectives.
-[X] Anything Blake whats to discuss immediately?
[X] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday
-[X] Seriously. But use our pen and experiment with the sight while doing it. Ask Blake for help with anything we don't understand (including anything we notice during our sight/implement experiments!).
Write-in:
[X] Find an agenda, calendar, notebook, or any combination thereof. Begin planning out our schedule in advance and otherwise trying to improve our connection to our implement
[X] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday hahaha
--[X] Seriously. But use our pen and experiment with the sight while doing it. Ask Blake for help with anything we don't understand (including anything we notice during our sight/implement experiments!).
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
--[X] Focus on the interpersonal relationships and the problems you've had, rather than the practitioner side of things. Remember your humanity.
I think that keeping good relations with Blake is Important
I would like to figure out what happened to our demesne, since I theorise that it is our method of replenishing the power in our central pool. However, that isn't a thing that doesn't take up much time, so let's just take some steps towards figuring out what happened to it.
--[X] Put a small amount of time into figuring out what happened to our demesne.
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
-[X] Explore magic vs parahuman abilities, try to understand how it might be different instead of trying to dismiss alternate perspectives.
-[X] Anything Blake whats to discuss immediately?
[X] Do the homework you didn't do Thursday
-[X] Seriously. But use our pen and experiment with the sight while doing it. Ask Blake for help with anything we don't understand (including anything we notice during our sight/implement experiments!).
Write-in:
[X] Find an agenda, calendar, notebook, or any combination thereof. Begin planning out our schedule in advance and otherwise trying to improve our connection to our implement.
[x] Learn all of the runes Blake already knows.
-[x] Practice "push" until you can do it quickly.
-[x] If you don't have time for all of them, focus on relatively subtle effects.
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
--[X] Focus on the interpersonal relationships and the problems you've had, rather than the practitioner side of things. Remember your humanity.
-[X] Explore magic vs parahuman abilities, try to understand how it might be different instead of trying to dismiss alternate perspectives.
[x] Learn all of the runes Blake already knows.
-[x] Practice "push" until you can do it quickly.
-[x] If you don't have time for all of them, focus on relatively subtle effects.
[X] You do have a lot of things to talk with Blake about...
--[X] Focus on the interpersonal relationships and the problems you've had, rather than the practitioner side of things. Remember your humanity.
-[X] Explore magic vs parahuman abilities, try to understand how it might be different instead of trying to dismiss alternate perspectives.
To be fair, Shamanism certainly has more direct combat ability.
