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Tribulations of an Apprentice Witch

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Nevill said:
He has those? Retroactively changed my vote then! A three-way tie is how we like it.

(actually, a serious question - @Gazetteer, did you write before? This looks pretty polished for the first quest)
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She. Holding out hope that I'm going to exhibit "lewd specialties" in the topic is unlikely to amount to much, Kei's just trying to embarrass me in front of a forum I've only just joined by exaggerating. The big thing with "bold" is less sexiness or whatever and more that the player character presents herself in a way that sets herself apart from the styles and norms of ordinary people in this setting and is kind of advertising that she might be some kind of witch to anyone who sees her, particularly with the black cloak and mouse-skull jewelry and stuff like that.

I've done/ran a lot of freeform RPing both in a two person and in a forum play by post capacity. In recent years I've participated in and GMed a fair number of tabletop play by post games as well (mostly Powered by the Apocalypse, although I've dabbled in World of Darkness and a couple more obscure systems). So, I'm used to writing and to directing an interactive narrative, just not within this medium or this particular community. PbtA GMing is largely question-based as well, so that's probably prepared me better than, say, if I'd spent ten years playing D&D or something, although obviously there are going to be differences at the end of the day. I also had a lot of advice from Kei and some others before I started a topic to begin with about how specifically things are done. I was asked to read over some stuff for

As a more general announcement: I'll shoot for ending this round of voting and getting a new post up tonight, roughly 24 hours since I posted the last one. but between a possible social engagement later and work related things that might not actually happen until tomorrow.
 
[X] You're tall, sturdy and striking rather than beautiful.
[X] Practical.
[X] Potions and charms.

*sneaks in and places vote here* Just found this thread and took a read through. Looks quite interesting. I will totally be joining in on the fun~
 
[jk] Elementalist. You blow things up. That is all.

[x] You're tall, sturdy and striking rather than beautiful.
[x] Practical.
[X] You're talented at alteration magic.
 
[x] You're a little on the short side, soft and huggable.
[x] Respectable.
[x] You're talented at alteration magic.

Because why not go for the deceptively lovable type who can turn you into a puddle of biomass? Or am I getting carried away with the power of it? sorry.
 
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    • Vote tally:

    [x] You're tiny, skinny and people call you adorable more often than you actually like.

    No. of votes: 10

    Dragonloli123, Brakus, veekie, dnzrx, tricholysis, Nevill, xtra_ore, Zaratustra, emeralis00, Kei


    Well, we're going with this by quite a wide margin. Tiny witch it is.


    [x] You're a little on the short side, soft and huggable.

    No. of votes: 6

    MobiusC, Hannz, Salbazier, Macros, I just write


    [x] You're tall, sturdy and striking rather than beautiful.

    No. of votes: 5

    The Laurent, notthepenguins, Andelevion, Shiranui, SoaringHawk218


    [x] You're slender, willowy and graceful.

    No. of votes: 2

    Pyro Hawk, Muer'ci


    --


    [x] Practical.

    No. of votes: 8

    The Laurent, MobiusC, notthepenguins, xtra_ore, I just write, Macros, Shiranui, SoaringHawk218


    Practical it is -- I actually thought it was going to be a three way tie for a bit there. Practical means you'll get boots and cool jackets, though!


    [x] Respectable.

    No. of votes: 7

    veekie, Pyro Hawk, Hannz, Andelevion, tricholysis, Muer'ci


    [x] Bold.

    No. of votes: 6

    Dragonloli123, Brakus, dnzrx, Nevill, emeralis00, Kei


    [x] Well heeled.

    No. of votes: 2

    Salbazier, Zaratustra


    --


    [x] You're talented at alteration magic.

    No. of votes: 8

    The Laurent, xtra_ore, Salbazier, I just write, Macros, Zaratustra, Muer'ci, SoaringHawk218


    So, we're an alteration specialist. Lots of potential there!


    [x] Potions and charms.

    No. of votes: 6

    MobiusC, notthepenguins, Pyro Hawk, dnzrx, emeralis00, Shiranui


    [x] You're adept at placing curses.

    No. of votes: 5

    veekie, Hannz, Andelevion, tricholysis, Nevill


    [x] Like Ivy, you have a knack for necromancy.

    No. of votes: 3

    Dragonloli123, Brakus, Kei

    The manor appears to have been stripped of anything even remotely valuable years ago. You're honestly surprised so much of it is even still standing -- give it another ten years, and you're sure the local villagers will have torn the whole thing down to its foundations in order to re-use the stone. As is, the monstrosity is lumbering on stoically ahead, leading you out of the mouldy carpet and sad gloom of the formerly grand entrance, and taking you down a series of side corridors, many of which you suspect were originally for servants -- they're so narrow that the thing leading you has to turn itself sideways just to fit, and many so dark you worry about tripping over something.

    Eventually, though, the thing pushes open a door in a wall, and shambles out of the way as you emerge, blinking, into a blindingly lit room. It's large and high-ceilinged, and its original purpose has long since been obscured -- all that possibly remains of the original furniture is a single battered table, and both it and every other possible surface is heaped with paraphernalia of a clearly arcane origin. A cauldron bubbles away in one corner. The table is mostly taken up by a large pile of assorted talismans, a stack of large, menacing looking books, and a pile of what look distressingly like human bones. The centre of the room is almost entirely dominated by a large, ad hoc looking apparatus -- a pale amulet hangs by its chain from a hook a bit above your head, directly in front of what looks like a dusty, wood-backed mirror. A series of focusing lenses are folded out of the way of one of the room's many oil lamps -- you can already see the space where the one you've brought is intended to go.

    "Mina!" a cheerful voice pipes up from the far side of the apparatus, as a familiar red-haired head peers around to shoot you a quick, excited smile. "Glad you could finally make it! The roads are just not to be trusted this time of year, are they?" The way Ivy says it, you might have been late for an engagement a few hours down the road, rather than having made fairly good time for having crossed the distance you had to on such short notice. "You have the lens, don't you?" she adds, expectedly.

    Ivy is taller than you are, as nearly anyone is, but she's hardly a giant. Her red, flyaway hair is tied back in a sloppy sort of bun, and over a serviceable green work dress, she's swapped out her school cloak for an ominously stained apron. She's already holding out a pale hand before you even manage to produce the lens from within its many layers of protective wrapping, and she snatches it up with a little squeal of delight. Watching her hurry over to her apparatus with barely a backward glance at you, you can feel your dreams of an affectionate shower of gratitude directed at you slipping away in the wake of being in the same room with the actual Ivy once again.

    It's not as if she's a terrible friend -- Ivy helps people when she doesn't need to, and she's rarely unkind. But she has a tendency to… take liberties, and become a little too wrapped up in her work and studies to pay much attention to the needs of others around her. From the way she's already up on tiptoes securing your lens to her strange device, you can tell that it simply hasn't occurred to her that you might be tired, or hungry, or that you might deserve anything for your trouble beyond a very abbreviated greeting. Her obvious enthusiasm makes it a little easier to swallow, though; it's fairly endearing.

    "So… this is what you've been working on?" you ask a little weakly, taking a step forward as you allow all of your planned greetings -- calculated to make you seem clever, collected, capable -- slip reluctantly away. You're careful not to get too close -- the device has an intricate looking circle of power spaced around the apparatus, painted by a steady hand directly onto the floorboards. You know some Soul magic, and a bit about necromancy, but it's not exactly your specialty -- you can't tell at a glance what any of this is for, except that she seems to want to focus light into the strange amulet, and possibly through it.

    "Yes!" she chimes in. "Like I said, it's very nearly done! But I need to do this ritual before the seasons turn, and I needed that lens of course, and having another set of hands around couldn't hurt. Brute tries, but he's not exactly built for finesse."

    "... Brute?" you murmur, glancing back at the necromantic creature standing statue-like by the door you came in.

    "A little on the nose, isn't it?" she asks, cautiously taking her hands away from the lens -- the curving, strangely reflective glass disc is now set securely in a brass frame, alongside the several simpler ones you noticed before. "I needed to call him something after all, though, didn't I? Here, hold this!" She's deposited a heavy, tallow candle into your hands -- you're surprised enough that you barely manage not to fumble it as she fusses with a little packet of matches from the pocket of her apron.

    You try not to sound too annoyed as you speak up again. "Ivy, what is all of this? You haven't actually told me anything about what this experiment was about!"

    "Oh," she flings her free hand up in a small, careless gesture, even as the other one strikes the match and she leans in to light the candle you're holding. "It's quite simple, but fascinating! It's about my great grandmother's amulet--"

    "Your great grandmother, the Necromancer of Dunsal?" you ask, suddenly regarding the pale amulet a little more warily. Ivy's ancestor was still infamous despite being several years dead in the ground. A noblewoman who had turned to the dark arts and raised an army of horrors to crush her enemies, known for many impressive but dangerous and unsavory feats of magic. Anything associated with her has the strong possibility of being very bad for your health.

    "Well, yes," Ivy says, taking the candle from your arms to set it carefully down at the head of the circle. "It's not as though the other ones ever did anything worth talking about." To your dismay, you can tell that the candle has left greasy residue on the sleeves of your jacket. Hopefully, that will come out with a bit of magic. "This amulet is harmless enough," she goes on, looking neither at me nor at the amulet in question. "At first, it just seemed to amplify magical ability a bit."

    Looking closely at it, you begin to suspect that the amulet in question is not simply white, but carved from bone. Its intricate shape is vaguely star-like, with sharp looking ridges along the sides. Set in the middle of it is a strange, pale crystal. You don't particularly like the way it catches the light when you look at it.

    "... at first," Ivy goes on. "You also get this strange, awful sensation when you wear it, like you're not alone, or someone's standing right behind you. And it puts whoever wears it in a terrible mood. Really not worth it! At least, that's what I thought, until I did some tests. Now I'm convinced!"

    "... convinced?" you ask, a little exasperated, once it becomes clear that she's deliberately keeping you in suspense in order to hear your reaction. This is all very interesting, but a strong part of you wishes that all of this could have waited after you'd had a chance to eat something. The tallow from the candle adds an unpleasantly perfumed odor to the strange smells of Ivy's little laboratory -- chemicals, oils, and the very faint aroma of death. It's enough to make you feel a little bit light-headed.

    "Yes!" she echoes. She has the candle arranged to her liking now, and now she's rushing around retrieving particular talismans or pouches of powder to deposit at various points around the circle. Whatever it is she's doing, the potential power of it all makes goosebumps stand up along your arms, and a shiver go through your body. "Convinced that it has a soul in it." She lets that stand for a long moment, and you're just about to ask what could be interesting enough about that to go to all this trouble, before she finally clarifies: "A living soul."

    Your eyes go a little wide, and you take a few steps back from the circle and the amulet. Something about Ivy's preparations has apparently sent minute vibrations going through the apparatus, making the amulet swing slightly on its chain. The movement seems oddly ominous to you, although you know that's irrational. "There's… a person in there?" you say, voice coming out squeakier than normal.

    Ivy actually laughs at that, pausing to ruffle your hair like you've said something adorably naive. You hate it when she does that. "Mina, it's not a person. It's just an amulet! You can't really call something human anymore once it's been bound to something like that for so long. Don't think of it that way -- this is a soul affixed to an inanimate object for decades without losing any of its lifeforce! That hasn't been done before or since! If we can study it, show our work... any master witch would love to take one of us on, just to learn more about it!"

    You're… not entirely certain how to feel about that statement. "What exactly are you trying to do?" you ask again, looking dubiously at the apparatus. "Why did you need a lens in the first place?"

    "Well," she says, straightening up from where she's carefully poured a pouch of greyish salts in a neat pile at the final segment of the circle. "I can tell the soul is there in the amulet, but I can't precisely do anything with it in there -- it doesn't seem to be able to talk, or really do anything. So I'm just going to amplify it. I'm going to send a beam of light into it, through the lenses, and when it passes through the crystal on the amulet, it should hit the mirror, and project an image of the trapped soul! I think."

    "You think?"

    "Well, I haven't exactly tried this before. It's mostly just something that just… came to me while I was studying the amulet." She's remarkable flippant about all this, as she stands up on her toes again in order to begin flipping the various lenses down into place, producing a searing beam of light from the powerful little gaslamp, currently landing against the far wall to no particular effect. She's already adjusting its trajectory to make it line up with the amulet, though. "Exciting, right?" she asks.

    How do you respond to that?

    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.

    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this is fascinating.

    [x] a. Lie and say you think this is fascinating.

    [x] a. Stay as noncommittal as possible; it won't be your fault if this goes disastrously wrong!

    Ignore the "a." In front of the options. The tally program lists answers alphabetically, so I'm just using it as a way to group them up.
     
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    • [x] b. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.
    :p
    You know the tally program can be set to ignore posts before a certain point, right?
     
    [X] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.
     
    The Laurent said:
    Threadmark, by the way.

    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.
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    I hadn't understood how those worked -- I'll be sure to add them when I get home later. Need to do some basic information stuff in the placeholder posts anyway . Thanks for mentioning it.

    I just write said:
    [x] b. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.
    :p
    You know the tally program can be set to ignore posts before a certain point, right?
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    Yeah, but if there are multiple questions in the same update or range then they get all jumbled. I went to library school and that kind of thing bothers me. I know it's a bit silly.
     
    Pah. Where's the spirit of ADVENTURE!?

    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this is fascinating.

    Because it is fascinating! Besides, I am sure the ideas that came to Ivy while she was wearing the amulet were inspired by the trapped soul itself. It's not like we are doing it without an instructor's supervision.

    He'll be so grateful for freeing him from decades of imprisonment in a crampy amulet, I can tell! Maybe he'll even grant us three wishes!
     
    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.

    The soul was probably put in there for a good reason so let's keep it in there.
     
    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.

    It "just came to her" while she was studying the amulet known to have mental effects on its wearers?
     
    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this is fascinating.

    I mean what could possibly go wrong? :V


    I'm sad witch look didnt win. Looking for little brown witch images didn't have many good results though so it should be easier with this look.

    Edit: Fuck now there's too many images. :mad:
     
    Dragonloli123 said:
    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this is fascinating.

    I mean what could possibly go wrong? :V


    I'm sad witch look didnt win. Looking for little brown witch images didn't have many good results though so it should be easier with this look.

    Edit: Fuck now there's too many images. :mad:
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    She might still dress up sometimes. A dark cloak and pointed hat are traditionally worn by Blacktree students. She's definitely got the cloak here -- hat's a bit of a giveaway, though. Witchcraft freaks people out more so than other magic, because it can do some pretty creepy shit.
     
    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.

    ...we have no chance of stopping this madness, do we? No matter what we say, Ivy's going to do it because of course she will.

    So, taking bets: is it a demon in there, an eldritch horror, or an extremely powerful ghost. I'm betting on eldritch horror.
     
    SoaringHawk218 said:
    [x] a. Tell the truth and say you think this all seems a bit dangerously reckless.

    ...we have no chance of stopping this madness, do we? No matter what we say, Ivy's going to do it because of course she will.

    So, taking bets: is it a demon in there, an eldritch horror, or an extremely powerful ghost. I'm betting on eldritch horror.
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    Litch, probably. What else comes to mind at the words "Ludicrously powerful Necromancer" and "Soul bound to a seemingly cursed amulet"?
     
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