Aaaand we're back. Still several bits and pieces of the update that I'm not entirely happy with, but I suppose it'll have to do. I've got shit to go take care of, and refined or not, I refuse to let this heap of text go unposted for yet another day!
Jorn Darkmane
On his calm walk back to the settlement of Gadsden, Jorn decides on a whim to take a short break from travel and put the entirety of his extensive knowledge of the dark arts down on paper. Both in order to refresh his memory of precisely what one who is thoroughly trained in such arts is capable of, and to make teaching the many eager apprentices that he may very well one day have at his beck and call that much easier.
After confirming that a notebook is indeed among the items that the boggart had obtained, the warlock finds a comfy spot alongside the road and removes the Blood Pen from his pouch. He pricks himself in the finger, causing a small trickle of blood to flow down his hand, and begins to write down information concerning various spells and minions as they come to mind...
Boggarts - Puny, dim-witted troublemakers. Any ritual that leads to the summoning of these bothersome creatures can usually be considered a failure. Fittingly enough, they most often appear as a result of a ritual having been poorly/improperly executed; crude or carelessly made ritual circles and slurred or misspoken incantations are definitely things to avoid if one wishes to avoid boggarts.
That being said, they do have a knack for getting around unseen. Which, along with the fact that they can be brought forth with nothing more than a rudimentary summoning circle, means that there may be at least a few occasions where intentionally seeking their company could be justifiable.
Note:
Under no circumstances should a proper name ever be bestowed upon a boggart, lest they become twice as unruly, thrice as aggressive, and almost impossible to get rid of.
Imps - Mischievous and clever little entities. Coming in many different varieties with many different abilities, the great availability and versatility of imps has lead to them becoming one of the most common servants among practitioners of magic. At least those practitioners intelligent enough to avoid being outsmarted by them.
To top it off, imps take only slightly more work than a boggart to successfully bring forth; a basic summoning circle and the sacrifice of pretty much any small object or creature will suffice in most cases.
Goblins - Ruthless, sadistic, ill-tempered and greedy. Goblins have long served as the backbone for the forces of many a dark lord and "evil wizard". While lacking in supernatural abilities, they're easy to win over, and even easier to replace. Especially if left to propagate unchecked...
Bringing forth a goblin requires a basic summoning circle and a nonspecific mixture of blood and dirt.
Curse of Vampirism - Dramatically increases the strength, agility, and lifespan of the afflicted individual well beyond their natural limits. If it wasn't for the steady loss of all emotion and personality, insatiable craving for blood, and hypersensitivity to sunlight, garlic, and almost anything considered holy, this curse would almost certainly be regarded as a miracle spell.
In order to bestow the curse of vampirism upon someone, what is required first and foremost is a sample of the individual's blood. Once that can be obtained, the use of it in a short Ritual of Unlife is all it takes to initiate their transformation into a bloodsucking creature of the night.
Take note that the effects of the curse are fairly slow-acting, and that even those who are afflicted with it themselves will likely be completely oblivious of the fact for the first day or so. A smart practitioner will be sure use this to their advantage, as it often means that nobody will discover what is wrong with the person that has been cursed until it is far too late.
Curse of Lycanthropy - Those afflicted with this curse are doomed to undergo a horrifically painful transformation into savage, wolf-like beings that prowl the night in a torment-fueled rage each and every moonlit night for the rest of their lives. They will be especially dangerous during a full moon, when the effects of the curse are notably amplified.
The ritual itself is somewhat primitive and easy to perform, but requires a bodily sample (blood, hair, appendages, ect.) from the victim, and a canine blood sacrifice.
Notes:
Although most commonly known as the "Curse of Lycanthropy", "Curse of Therianthropy" would be more accurate. Considering that, with the appropriate animal sacrifice, a competent practitioner should be able to use the ritual to make their victim transform into any form of were-creature they wish.
Both of the above curses can be passed on via bite or serious injury from an afflicted individual; be wary of anyone who manages to survive an attack by those suffering from either curse.
Hellhounds - Bearers of death and supposed guardians of the underworld. These fearsome entities are inescapably fast and inexplicably potent. Even the most experienced of practitioners tend to avoid their summoning due to the immense danger they present to nearly all things living; acts as simple as touching or even staring into a hellhound's eyes for too long have been known to be instantly lethal to most mortal beings.
Should one choose to bring forth a hellhound in spite of all this, it will require an advanced summoning circle, the sacrifice of a dog or wolf, and no less than 1 tablespoon of demon blood*.
*Very hard to acquire. Relatively few demons actually possess any bodily fluids even remotely similar to blood, and those few that do are seldom willing let it be taken from them.
Succubi/Incubi - Lustful, depraved entities best known for corrupting the minds of the pure and copulating with the weak and vulnerable in order to sap them of their lifeforce. Succubi/Incubi are capable of switching between sexes and altering their outwardly appearance at will. They also possess the ability to assault their victims through their dreams, and thus prefer to prey on people only while they are asleep.
Although masters of furtivity and deception, succubi/incubi are generally incompetent in direct conflicts, and will only ever violently attack those they perceive as substantially weaker than themselves.
Summoning a succubus/incubus requires an advanced summoning circle and a fertile young man or woman to be offered as a living sacrifice.
"Fire Dust" - A very simple and useful magical technique used by more knowledgeable practitioners as a method of both torture and self-defense. All it involves is taking a handful of fresh ashes, and reciting the ancient Incantation of Agony. Once this has been done, any living flesh that comes in contact with said ashes (other than the practitioner's, of course) shall be flooded with a crippling, burning pain that can persist unwavering for several hours on end.
Despite it's name, the suffering caused by exposure to "Fire Dust" is magnitudes worse than what any natural flame could possibly inflict.
"Nightmare Curse" - Individuals suffering from this curse are relentlessly terrorized by sanity-rending visions of their deepest fears and worries, dredged up from darkest depths of their own subconscious mind. The curse only lasts an average of a few days, but that is often more than enough time to render the afflicted traumatized for life. Assuming it does not drive them to suicide.
To inflict this curse, a practitioner need only place their left hand over the head of the desired victim as they sleep, and utter the (largely underutilized) Incantation of Dismay.
On Raising the Dead - Simple in theory, but tricky to properly execute in practice. In essence, it's merely a matter of drawing some of the ambient lifeforce from one's surroundings and imbuing it into a corpse. However, a practitioner must be careful to ensure the amount of lifeforce imbued is just right; too much, and the corpse may gain a sense of autonomy, making it harder to control. Too little, and it's unlikely the corpse will be brought back from death at all. Ideally, a practitioner will imbue enough life into a corpse that it will be capable of functioning normally and understanding orders, while remaining mindless and subservient enough not to overthink or disobey those orders.
This life-imbuing process can be performed through the use of ritual circles and/or by drawing/carving special sigils onto the corpse itself, followed by the chanting of the Incantation of Undeath. For some exceptionally powerful necromancers, the Incantation of Undeath alone is all that is needed to successfully resurrect the dead.
In the absence of any physical remains, the dead can sometimes be summoned back to the mortal world in spirit form. Though this usually requires some object closely associated with the deceased to have any chance of success.
Underworld Ny
...Suddenly, the Chosen One is interrupted from his writing (perhaps for the best; the number of holes he had to poke in his hand to get all that written down was enough to result in him losing a pretty unhealthy amount of blood) by the honking of a car horn, followed shortly by a series of piercing screeches from none other than an angered Yxchuithiatkxcli. Jorn looks up from his notebook to see the winged demon standing out in the road, obstructing the path of an single, rather old-looking car. The sound of the vehicle's horn must have set his short-tempered minion off for some reason, as it now refuses to let the car pass, instead continuing to aggressively screech at it whenever it starts to move.
Hisir Namedene
Feeling an increasingly urgent need to find a refuge where he and his comrades will be welcomed by other faithful followers of Sirith, Hisir solemnly calls out to his god for assistance; the response he receives is both unexpectedly sudden, and startlingly lucid.
The Chosen One immediately senses a dark and overwhelming presence effortlessly invade his mind, and watches as his surroundings subsequently appear to disintegrate into nothingness. Before long, he finds himself staring out into an endless black void. In that very moment, the ominous voice of the shadow god himself echoes out from the darkness to communicate with Hisir directly:
"As much as it displeases me to admit it, it is crucial for you to know that this 'safehaven' you seek does not exist. At least, not yet. For the followers that I have residing upon the Earth at this time are, disappointingly, few and far between...
You see, my loyal disciple, the world which you are currently inhabiting is a special one in that, ever since its creation, it has been a primary focus in the nigh-constant power struggle between the countless deities competing for dominance over this realm. In fact, as far as I am aware, more divine attention has been given to this one, minuscule celestial body than almost any other portion of this entire universe.
Unfortunately, I happened to arrive relatively late to this great divine conflict, which I confess has made it frustratingly difficult to gain any significant influence over the planet or its populace amongst all of the incessant competition, ultimately resulting in a severe lack of Earth-dwelling ShadowBeings.
However, now that the 'God-King' has delivered you unto the Earth to participate in this ridiculous game of his...all of this has the potential change within the very near future.
Listen closely, Hisir. I am trusting you with the task of leading my incursion into this world, and the first step in this vastly important mission shall be creating the very safehaven you yourself so strongly desire; secure an area where those allegiant to me may congregate, and find succor. Prove yourself capable of accomplishing this, and I may be able to reward your spreading of my influence with the lending of a handful of soldiers from the mighty Shadow Army to assist you in your conquest. Do we have an understanding?"
The Moderator(s) & Zanzetkuken the Great
Using some of the remaining mana still stored in his blade, Zanzetkuken conjures up the illusion of him and his ally charging into the hanger and up to the lone RAVEN Interceptor. Amazingly, the illusionary Chosen Ones make it to the Interceptor without being attacked (or even confronted) by any Black Maple forces whatsoever. Well this is rather strange...surely the supervisors could not truly have left one of the facility's most expensive and advanced aircraft this vulnerable?
other-Moderator"Now
that's a damn good story." One soldier proclaims, prompting several other passengers nod in agreement.
Sir Havel the Unyielding
With delivery of the sacred artifacts put on hold, the righteous Sir Havel spends a few moments in thought, and soon comes up with the perfect activity to help him burn some time while he awaits nightfall: Bandit hunting! After all, jungles are notorious havens for thieves, smugglers, outlaws and rebels of all colors and creeds; one can just
feel the evil lurking throughout this expanse of dense Peruvian wilderness.
Under the guidance of both Lunus and his own intuition, the Chosen One sets off through the jungle, intent on locating an encampment of dastardly ne'er-do-wells to do away with.
Estimated time passed: 15 minutes.
15:10 remain.
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Topic: Slaves to DZA: God of Everything: Chapter I: The Chosen Ones: Day 2 (Read 93557 times)