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The rewards are pretty good, thanks! I wanted to get a glimpse of Thomas' motivations and I felt he was likely guided by a flawed sense of duty. Sure he's a bully but he doesn't think of himself as such.

I'm not too sure which reward I should pick, the first is pretty good but it's an inherently defensive option, the second is nice as well but I believe we're doing okay on training rolls for now so I'm leaning towards the MYSTERIOUS PICK(tm); it's an alliteration on top of that so that makes it even better. If we crit fail this roll I might regret making this choice though. What do the other questers think I should grab?
 
What do the other questers think I should grab?
Depends what wins in current main vote
The critical reroll in case the Lotus Tea wins since it greatly reduces chance of crippling, and having a failsafe is a great thing. The double training if Combat: Retreat wins (it has yet to get a vote at this point), since that would be a training roll.

The third option both for omake reward and main post are solid picks on their own and don't affect either of the choices.

I belong in the school of "stack bonuses as much as you can", as such I would vote for first options in your case. If we don't need it, we have it for the future.
 
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[x] Drink Ghost Lotus Tea

Man, imagine what happens if through a critical failure we now share our soul with a ghost. At least there'd be one hell of a paper in it.
 
@Waffle, I'll leave this open for a little bit in case you want to take the crit fail reroll reward. If you do (or don't), let me know, otherwise I'll go ahead and roll after a day or so.
 
7.1.6.1 - Ghost Lotus Tea, Good For You And Me
"Alright."

Miranova looked at him, surprised.

"Alright?"

"Bring the tea out. I'll drink it."

She cackled, and for a moment Ulos saw every stereotype of the mage who ate bad children on her face.

"Sit down, lad. Let me set up a few wards and such against spirits and I'll be right with you."

She handed him a teacup, and unstoppered a vial containing a brown-grey liquid, thick and vile-looking. The leaves had mostly dissolved, it seemed. Miranova began etching sigils in the air, sigil after sigil after sigil flaring, runes beginning to glow in arrays around him. Ulos had not seen anything like it - he wasn't sure what effects most of it would have, but he was concerned when Miranova drank another vial, turned first blue, and then translucent.

"Need to be able to deflect the Ether if something goes wrong, Ulos. Plus if you explode it'll protect me."

She cackled again.

Ulos glared, not sure if she was genuine.

"Go on, drink it."

He shrugged. He had resolved himself to this. He drank. It tasted a little unpleasant, and far too sweet - Miranova evidently preferred her alchemy palatable.

Drank Ghost Lotus Tea. Rolled 61 vs DC 40 (below 40 is a failure). One-step success! Gained a few extra benefits.

It wasn't what Ulos had expected. He had thought it would be some mystical experience, where he once again entered the realm of the soul to investigate the flows of Ether.

No, it was a sharp, searing pain, like nothing he had experienced. His chest seized up, and he began to shake uncontrollably.

Miranova cocked her head.

"Pain, huh. That's unusual. Shouldn't hurt. Wonder if.."

Her hands moved incredibly quickly, and more sigils flared.

"No, not the Spirit. Hmmm..."

Ulos felt it. His magic, being torn from him. He felt it, like reliving every moment in his meditation before, but moreso. Like someone had hooked into his guts and was intent on tearing them out over and over again, ever as they regrew constantly. The hook couldn't be stopped, couldn't be reasoned with. It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt.

He was barely coherent, but he felt himself shift. No, not himself, but the guts the hook were in. He couldn't stop it tearing him apart, again and again, but he could wiggle a little. Nothing major, but enough to save a few shreds of himself being repeatedly torn out. He couldn't stop it, but he could save something.

It only took a few minutes, but the pain persisted. It died down, but the horrifying feeling remained to a degree. He had not been nearly as aware of what was happening before.. and he wasn't sure that was a plus.

Miranova looked at him sympathetically.

"Hasn't settled down yet? Usually these sorts of things settle down in a few days. Give it time. If it continues, come back to me. I'd love to study you."

Ulos has gained Trait: Ether Manipulation. Through the consumption of Ghost Lotus Tea he can lose a little less Ether to the Curse of Transferal, akin to a prisoner managing to move his manacles to be a little more comfortable. The curse is not weakened in the slightest, but there he is able to exploit the small amount of flexibility it does have. His Mana Pool increases by 25% while under the effects of the Curse of Transferal (currently increasing it from 20 to 25).

Ulos loses all the remainder of his Willpower for the next week in order to stave off the effects of the Ghost Lotus Tea's pain as it fades. Any locked-in Willpower Actions (his lessons with Edward and tutoring Madavian and Abraham) will suffer a significant malus to reflect this.
 
Hmm. So it helped a tiny little bit. The next step is figuring out if maybe we can snap the metaphorical manacles.
 
8.1.V - Week 8 Weekday Vote
You presently have 0 Willpower. 2 Willpower is locked behind your Locked Action, Tutoring Session: Magical Theory. 1 Willpower is locked behind Tutor Your Friends, giving Ulos a total of 2 Willpower per week. The pool regenerates after next turn.

Ulos will take 4 Actions, but one of these is locked in as Tutoring Sessions: Magical Theory. You cannot unlock this without abandoning the Tutoring Sessions entirely. As such, only 3 Actions will be taken from this list.


Temporary/One-Off Actions:

None for the moment.

Newly Unlocked Actions:

[ ] Study to Resist Mind Magic -
You don't know anything about mind magic or illusions at all, but you figure you can probably find a way to learn to resist them some, surely? Then again, it's an elective. It might be more efficient to learn about this later... Gain a Training Roll associated with Lore: Illusions. With sufficient effort you can learn Skill: Perceive Illusion, and perhaps even Spell: Break Illusion. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain 2 Training Rolls.

Offensive/Defensive Actions:

[ ] Scout out your Rivals - Pretty standard. Go spy on your enemies. Roll vs your Rival's roll to avoid being scouted. If you beat their Roll, gain +20 on all Actions against them (defensive or offensive) for the remainder of the week.

[ ] Launch an Assault! - You have Itching Powder now, you can do something terrible (ly amusing)! Make your enemies itch in class to humiliate them, douse their clothes in it to force them to miss valuable learning sessions, or even convince onlookers they have some sort of disease. Roll vs your Rival's roll to succeed. A regular success will cause an automatic failure on their next Action. A major success will cause an automatic failure on their next Action and their classes for that day. A critical success will cause both these effects and cause them to be humiliated, reducing all Relationships with anyone who observes this humiliation by one step.

[ ] The Brickworks - Use your newfound tools and knowledge to carve up some sweet, sweet Slumbering Bricks. Litter the walkways with them, put them anywhere you tend to go as long as they can be reasonably hidden. Offers a chance for any confrontation to involve a Slumbering Brick that you and your friends can activate. Slumbering Bricks allow an automatic escape from almost any situation, or alternatively a free attack on your opponent. Will take a lot of time and effort. Roll against DC 20 vs Craft: Rune up to 8 times, or until you fail. The first eight successes (this Action may be taken multiple times - successes refers to number of successes on all Brickworks Actions) will offer you and your three friends up to one brick apiece if they do not already have one, which offers a 50% chance to withdraw from a hostile situation. Each success after that offers a +5% chance for any confrontation on campus to involve a Slumbering Brick, which will offer an automatic withdrawal from hostile situations, capping at a 95% chance. Willpower upgrade - By focusing hard on this task and working to discover the best ways to etch runes in clay and bricks, all Clay Rune DCs are reduced by 1.

Current Bricks:
Ulos, Madavian, Henrietta, Abraham

No bricks on campus.


Training Actions:

[ ] Start Studying (Write-In Subject) - You have your textbooks. Next step is reading through them. Sort of nerdy, but hey, aren't you here to learn? Gain a Training Roll associated with the subject you choose. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain 2 Training Rolls. -1 to all Training Rolls of this sort due current roommate penalty.

[ ] Relentlessly Practice Magical Combat -
Use some of your little magic to practice your Spellweaving. Abraham will help you, using his progidious Magic Pool to help you deal with, avoid, and retreat from spells. Gain a Training Roll on the lower of Combat: Evasion and Combat: Retreat, as well as a Training Roll vs Channeling. This will help Abraham practice his own Magical Combat. Willpower Upgrade offers a second Training Roll for the applicable Combat Skill. Shooting at you with fireballs is not easy for Abraham, who will spend 1 Willpower undertaking this Action.

[ ] Study Group - The Study Group needs to get going if you're going to dominate your subjects. Get your books, get your bag, and head on over to the Library to get the librarians to let you into a study room. Gain a Training Roll for Lore: Magical Theory of Magic or Lore: Six-Fox Pact. 20% chance for Relationship improvement (DC 80). Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain two Training Rolls. Can only be taken twice per Week max.

[ ] Practice Spell (Write-In From Spellbook) -
Time to practice a spell. Get better, cast faster, cast cheaper. Roll against DC (??? depends on Spell). Takes ??? Magic Pool, where ??? is equal to a Spell's cost times 5. Character gains an additional Training roll if they still have more mana after practicing. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain an additional two Training Rolls if you have enough mana for it.

Diplomacy and Discovery Actions:

[ ] Hang Out With A Friend (Write-in Friend) - It's good to spend time with people you know. Maybe take a break, and hang with one of your friends. Available options include Madavian Junotrin, Henrietta Aufstadt, Lucy Firefield and Abraham Quincey. Increase Relationship by one step. Roll against DC (Variable, depending on friendship level). On success, increase Relationship by another step.

[ ] Madavian's Speed Dating Agency - With Madavian here to help you, you'll have an easier time of meeting new people. Gain two Diplomacy Rolls. Madavian's presence also offers one reroll, mitigating any unpleasant social consequences (reroll will be taken after both rolls, reroll will prioritize Critical Failures over regular Failures). Willpower upgrade - Spend 1 point to gain a third Diplomacy Roll.

[ ] Go Exploring - It's a big campus, and you haven't seen the half of it. Who knows what you could find? Roll 1D100 vs ???. Success offers ???, failure offers ???. Willpower upgrade - spend 1 point to gain a second roll. Spend 2 points to gain a third roll.


[ ] Study your Magic Pool - You need to learn to meditate, focus, and understand what is happening in the Ether, and in yourself when you draw from it. Gaining such inner understanding may shed light on your Curse's functionality. Gain a Training Roll for Skill: Arcane Meditation versus Willpower.

[ ] Suck Up To Inukar/Miranova -
Figure out what they like. Do the research. Then suck up. Not hard in theory. Roll against DC 40 (Inukar) and DC 40 (Miranova) vs Cha and the teacher's class Lore skill. Success increases teacher's Relationship by one step and future DC of this Action sharply.

Crafting, Gathering & Shopping Actions:

[ ] Gather Mushrooms - Unlocked by your knowledge of the Secret Mushroom Colony. Self-explanatory. Roll against DC ??? using either Lore: Alchemy or Lore: Magical Plants. On success, gain ???.

[ ] The Magical Map -
You and Henrietta, working together on a magical map. As you have finished your research, you may begin construct the Magical Map. The Magical Map offers awareness of living creatures within the Dorms, and can track creatures with a name, as well as detecting illusory magics. This means you can reliably target empty (or full rooms), offering new and powerful options when engaging in an attack. It also offers perfect awareness of people coming towards your room. It will be made of stone, clay, or metal. Taking this option will open a Design Turn where you decide what materials to use, and how complex to make the map (or maps, if you choose to make several). Offers a Roll vs DC 70 to improve Relationship one step with Henrietta.

[ ] Go to the Marketplace - You have money to spend and items to sell. You need to spend some time gearing up, finding tutors, spells, artifacts, items, and more. Activates Shopping Mini-Turn with more Actions within it (including "Find a Buyer" for your items), allowing the buying and selling of items and services.

[ ] Search for Ingredients -
You don't know about a whole lot of Alchemical Ingredients, but you can go looking. Even if you don't find exactly what you're looking for, you can scout out good places. Roll against DC ???. On success, find Ingredients. On critical success find a Location with Ingredients.

[ ] Family Money - Madavian would be happy to send away for money on your behalf (or spend some of his money on you and then replenish it later). However, he'd need a good reason to do so. Reason must be written in if no reason has come up in the thread. No Skill gains. Madavian rolls Cha vs DC (Variable) to gain a Variable number of Coins.

Locked Actions:

[ ] Craft Alchemical Recipe (Write-In) - Time to get your Alchemy on! Get in there and make something useful! Roll against DC ??? (depends on Recipe). Success adds Recipe to Inventory. Locked. Requires at least 1 rank in Craft: Alchemy. Requires access to Alchemical Equipment.
 
I don't know should I be happy or sad. The malus is manageable, but it's the equivalent of 5 actions (5 Willpower) used. 5 Mana sounds good in theory, but it's basically 1/8th of a step towards Channeling 2. So we would need to repeat equivalent of this 8 more times (Channeling 2 has 60 Mana). I think we would in that case bump our Physical stat to 3 then too.
 
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I don't know should I be happy or sad. The malus is manageable, but it's the equivalent of 5 actions (5 Willpower) used. 5 Mana sounds good in theory, but it's basically 1/8th of a step towards Channeling 2. So we would need to repeat equivalent of this 8 more times (Channeling 2 has 60 Mana). I think we would in that case bump our Physical stat to 3 then.

Bear in mind if it were repeatable Ulos could simply cancel his horrifying curse by spending 5 of his ~17 Actions a week (4 classes, 8 Actions, 5 Willpower) for a year and a half. Most mages in the world would take this trade without reservation. If one of the Undying could get 5 Mana in return for a third of a week's time they'd happily throw a few hundred thousand orphans and/or puppies into some horrible sacrificial chamber to make it happen and wouldn't think twice.
 
Bear in mind if it were repeatable Ulos could simply cancel his horrifying curse by spending 5 of his ~17 Actions a week (4 classes, 8 Actions, 5 Willpower) for a year and a half. Most mages in the world would take this trade without reservation. If one of the Undying could get 5 Mana in return for a third of a week's time they'd happily throw a few hundred thousand orphans and/or puppies into some horrible sacrificial chamber to make it happen and wouldn't think twice.

But there is a chance of things going horribly wrong! We lost all that by a one step success, and I'm afraid to think what would happen if we rolled a 10 or lower.

Would they really take that risk consistently and as often as they can?
 
[X] The Brickworks
[X] Study Group
[X] The Magical Map
[X] Study your Magic Pool


Here's what I'll go with for now.
Bear in mind if it were repeatable Ulos could simply cancel his horrifying curse by spending 5 of his ~17 Actions a week (4 classes, 8 Actions, 5 Willpower) for a year and a half. Most mages in the world would take this trade without reservation. If one of the Undying could get 5 Mana in return for a third of a week's time they'd happily throw a few hundred thousand orphans and/or puppies into some horrible sacrificial chamber to make it happen and wouldn't think twice.
Looks like 5 mana is a really big deal even to those mages, interesting. I wonder what would have happened on a crit success. I get the impression a crit failure would have.. resulted in our curse being made even worse. :X

I think there's more to it than just the ether manipulation however.
 
Technically we can now train spells which cost 5 Mana. This may or may not be a big thing, but it's probably not something what will become relevant soon. Maybe several months down the line (since all our spells have a cost of 1-2 Mana).

I think we should take another Sucking up (maybe our Magical Theory teacher this time) and Study Magic Pool roll. They are things which we will want to do sooner or later, have a softcap on how many times we can do that, and with no Willpower we aren't really limited between our choices. Due to malus we should take all options which don't have a Willpower option unless they have a soft limit per a week (like the Study Group action). They are usually hard to slot in.
 
[X] Hang Out With A Friend (Lucy Firefield)
[X] The Brickworks
[X] The Magical Map


Okay people we have no willpower, we should focus on action that can't be enhanced be wilpower instead of trying to power trought.

I am specialy interested in befriending Lucy to add soul and spirits to the study group and finishing the runework so we can attack our rival with the biggest chance of success.
 
[X] Study your Magic Pool
[X] Go to the Marketplace
[X] The Brickworks
[X] Suck Up To Inukar


Given we're out of willpower, I think we should pursue actions that don't need it. I don't mean skipping the study group, for once. I think going to hthe marketplace could be good, in order to buy tutoring/look at what's available.

@occipitallobe isn't the Magical Map done?
 
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[X] Study your Magic Pool
[X] Study Group
[X] Suck Up To Inukar


@occipitallobe isn't the Magical Map done?

We made the plan how to make the Magical Map. We now need to make it. We get a Design turn in which we decide how we are going to make it, how much it is going to cost and so on. Notice the prompt changed.

This was never going to be a one turn project (and one of reasons why I never voted on it).
 
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