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[Terenos]

Ghaz sucks (Kidding!), so this is a revival of his revival of a game of Forsaken1111. Ghaz wanted me to run the game, since he wanted to play more than GM it. So here we are.
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Rules BASED STUFF:
Contents of the Base: An Underground Lair with Storage Vaults, Living Quarters, Slave Pens, Attached Mine, Crude Laboratory
Population of the Game: The Players!

Link to the Original: Dark Magi

Link to the OOC thread OOC Thread
Local Area Map

Spoiler: Stuff the Tower may have some day!/Already Has and what it does! (click to show/hide)

Death Magic Library - A library of books dedicated to the sphere of Death. Mages may study here to increase their skill with Death magic or unlock one of its elements.
Scrying Chamber - A room enchanted to aid scrying, along with several implements to enable it. A mage may use this chamber to gather information about the world.
Catacombs - The Dark Tower was built on an extensive set of ancient catacombs from a lost age. Mages may explore these catacombs in search of usable remains to reanimate. Other items of interest may be found here as well.
Enchanted Mirror - A large freestanding mirror which is enchanted to allow two-way communication with anyone who has looked upon it at some point. Mages may use this to contact anyone who has visited the Dark Tower in the past.
Living Quarters - Comfortable living quarters for a dozen people, including hearths and separate apartments.
Storage Vaults - A large natural cave accessible from the tower via a tunnel provides a secure place to store valuables.
Enchanted Pantry - A large room which is enchanted so that it never empties. May support up to 1000 men a day at the tower, and allows you to provision troops before they leave.
Manaforge - A small room with a magical forge, for the creation of magic artifacts. Its use is difficult and time-consuming but can result in some spectacular items.
Laboratory Allows research into Rituals, powerful spells that once unlocked have vast effects for those who can cast them.

Per Turn you may do up to Two Major Actions.
Below is a guideline of possible major actions. However there are other things you might decide to do.

Spoiler: Major Actions Guideline (click to show/hide)

Mage Actions:
Cast - Casting a spell. Spells can be anything you want, really. The effect of the spell will depend on your roll and your skill level with the sphere.
Study - One person per turn may study in a library. Learning new spheres or elements requires multiple study actions
Scrying - One person per turn may utilize the dark tower's scrying chamber to gather information about specific targets or general areas.
Decipher - One person per turn may work at deciphering the master mage's journals.
Forge - One person per turn may work at the manaforge to craft items of power.
Forage - You may forage in the catacomb for whatever you can find.
Command - One person per turn may utilize the dark tower's enchanted mirror to command allied troops
Tutor - A mage may teach someone to improve their knowledge of a sphere/element, provided the teacher is of higher skill
Learn - A mage may learn from another to increase his knowledge of a sphere/element, provided the student is of lower skill
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When commanding troops, the following orders can be given:

Army actions:

Armies begin with 6 endurance when setting out from the Tower. Endurance represents the general state of army supplies.
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Assault - Attack a target. Costs 1 endurance.
Fortify - Fortify a position to withstand an attack. Costs 1 endurance.
Move - Move to a new location. Movement normally does not cost endurance, as armies are assumed to live off the land. Exceptionally barren or dangerous terrain may affect armies differently.
Forage - Search for usable supplies. Increases endurance by 2, or 4 if at a location rich in supplies such as a conquered city.
Raze - Destroy a location entirely. (Burn buildings to the ground, pound masonry to rubble, etc) Doing this precludes any plundering so its best to do so after, if at all.
Plunder - Search for useful treasures which can be looted. Each plunder action generates one loot token until the location has no more to be taken.

Rules on Magic:

Spoiler: the Sphere of Death (click to show/hide)

Death Magic is one of the Many Sphere's of Magic and contains 5 Elements:


Blood: This element represents flesh, and all bodily fluids. It can be used to animate a corpse, control a living person through physical force, or sap the life from someone's body. It also peripherally covers naturally occuring venoms and poisons.

Void: This element represents the absence of energy and matter. This is an extremely destructive element which does not have much utility or subtly beyond its destructive influence.

Bone:This element represents the physical bones within the body, as well as the structural force and strength of the body. Bone can be used to debilitate a living person, sap or increase someone's physical strength and durability, or animate skeletal remains.

Earth:This is the element of earth and stone. It covers dirt, stone, earth, metal, jewels, etc. It is also exceptionally good at building or rending constructions of any type.

Darkness:This element is a mystery to you.

Spoiler: Magic Ranks (click to show/hide)

Rank 1 - Apprentice
- Ability to cast spells of this sphere
- Limited to a single element
- Limited to a single sphere

Rank 2 - Adept
- Mitigation of a critical failure - On a critical failure (Roll of a 1 on 1d6) the caster gets an additional 1d6 roll. On a 4-6 the failure is negated and the spell instead has no effect
- Limited to a single sphere
- May include a maximum of 2 elements
- Elements must be directly linked

Rituals

Rituals are generally formulaic spells you can use in order to achieve strange and arcane effects, get a result reliably, or just show off what a magical badass you are. They require a Laboratory to efficiently discover and codify for use by the Tower populace. Rituals will often have a material cost (of supplies, or a specific Resource), potentially a sacrifice, and will likely require Initiate or higher levels of magical capability.
Examples of rituals: Summoning more advanced undead, rather than leaving it up to chance, causing large potentially world changing effects like an Earthquake, or a Tsunami, or the temporary enchantment of items.

Players:
There are 6-8 of you, that have arrived here, at this tower. I'd prefer it if there was much roleplaying. But hey, up to you.
It is not first come first serve, and some players probably will die. So lets not get too attached eh? Although if you're cautious, you probably wont die.

Spoiler:  Character: (click to show/hide)

Name: (obvious)
Description: (The physical Description of your character, apart from being human get creative.)
Sex: (male/female)
Your Backstory: (Note, this is important as it may give you skills and gear to begin with.)(HINT: You are Apprentices already, so you know one of the Elements of Death that is not Darkness)

---------------------
Gather round, and listen to a story.

Every story has a beginning. This beginning happened long ago in the murky mists of time. In the Age of Myths, when legends walked the lands. This story is about the Despoiler, and what came a little after. The Despoiler's race is lost to the mists of time but what is known is that they were a powerful Necromancer, dabbling in the darkest of the dark arts. They were slippery and cunning and tried to rise to power by employing a Dark Cabal of minions.

This Dark Cabal was stationed in nearly every major city, and were slowly gathering power to give to the Despoiler, who coveted the rich and bountiful lands of Garenia. Fortunately, when the Despoiler moved openly, the Crimson Order was there to counter his movements. In the Holy Purge that followed, the Dark Cabal was sundered, the Despoiler struck down. The survivors of the Purge fled the central lands of Garenia, scattering to the winds.

Those are tales for other days of course. Now I want to tell you the tale of a band of members of the Dark Cabal, who sought refuge in the patchwork kingdoms in the borderlands. This is their story.

[javierpwn]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name:Aldemas
Description: thin, yet agile young man, with a Deep scar on his forehead
Sex: man
Your Backstory: Destined to be an assassin from birth, Aldemas was raised from a long lineage of assassins, all of which were determined to keep that lineage going.  Although Aldemas had other plans, he killed his father in his sleep, only to be discovered by his mother and was consider no longer a part of the family, to be branded a traitor(Quite literally branded); unable to find solace in his actions, he resorted to learning the black magicks of necromancery, and took an apprenticeship under the owner of the tower, to take practice under Void Magic

[OREOSOME]

Name: Jerik 'Corvus' Alquiar.
Description: An albino sorcerer from the north, with a dark blue robe covering his pale face. A sigil, depicting a crescent moon, and a drop of blood, decorate his hands and his back.
Sex: Male
Your Backstory:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Jerik hails from a icy kingdom, to the north, known for its hatred of Mages. Whenever one is found, they are sent out into the wastes, with naught but the clothes on their backs, and a single obsidian blade, and their name officially changed to Corvus. Not many survive, and those that do, rarely use their gifts for good. When he was cast out, he wandered the tundra for several days. Then, he found... The keep. An old ruin, from bygone times, a paladin order once fell by the undead hordes they once were stationed to protect against. But this was no mere abandoned keep, this one was built upon a old shrine, holy, or rather unholy, to a old dark god... In the ruined shrine, he found a Old Black Steel Blade , and a Idol. He kept there, as it was warmer than the keep above, and learned. The idol spoke to him, whispering dark secrets, and teaching him in the ways of his gift. Then, the day came. A small party of adventurers had heard of this keep's fate, and he quickly scrambled to defend his prize. He called to the spirit in the idol, and it did not speak back. So, he turned to the wardens of the keep. He called upon their bodies to defend this (un)holy place from the intruders, and the bodies answered. They rose from the eternal slumber of death, and slaughtered the pitiful adventuring party. After that, he decided to head south, as there was much to learn, that he knew would not be found by the Idol's watch. And so, he left the Idol a gift. He left a garrison of the old guards, leaving them do defend the idol.

[Shootandrun]

Name: Roland Balkar
Description: A tall, slender and twitchy fellow in his late thirties with  clean haircut and a short to medium beard. His hair's brown, just like his eyes, and he has a fairly common face; if not for the lack of dirt and his apparent ability to shave, he could easily pass of as a peasant.

Spoiler: Image (ignore clothes, only the face) (click to show/hide)

Sex: Male
Your Backstory: Roland was the son of a smith in a relatively large city. He was originally his father's apprentice, but he took another path when a merchant offered him to become a thug charged with guarding his caravan for three times his current pay, just a few days after arguing with his father over the job in the shop - essentially, an offer he couldn't refuse. He worked as a mercenary throughout his twenties - eventually getting quite good at breaking bones and drawing blood - until one day some scribe taught him to read during a caravan run, and he started reading things he shouldn't have. He was eventually recruited by the Dark Cabal when one of their members realized he dabbled in the dark arts, and he gave up his life as a merc to become an apprentice.

[Ghazkull]

Return of Helfd

Name: Helfd
Description:Description: about 1.90m tall, gaunt. He has short blonde hair and green eyes. The propably most noticeable feature of his face is however that the whole left lower side of his face is missing, except for his left lower jawbone. More amazing is however that it is still functioning. In contrast to the normal clothing someone would anticipate from a person involved into dark magic, Helfd is wearing normal leather clothing and a mail shirt, which gives him more or less the looks of a soldier. an unkempt short beard is growing where there is still skin on his face.
Sex: male
Backstory: Helfd is kind of a mystery, not very talkative about his past, he seemed to have always been with the Dark Cabal, mostly worked as manservant(Cook,Guard,Scribe,Janitor...), although he learned some bits and pieces of magic here and there over the years. Now as the Cabal was scattered over the winds, lacking in members his ambition awakened. In this time of turmoil there should always be a chance for crafty beings to attain a higher position. The "bits and pieces" of Magic he learned are mostly from the Element of Bone.

[Ardas]

Name: Patrizio Bacchiani
Description: Thin fellow of average stature, with long, oily hair and clean face. Dark hair and brown eyes are complemented by pale colour of his skin, long face but with a smallish nose.
Sex: male
Your Backstory: Patrizio was a son to a merchant family in Garenia, whose fortunes fell as their (only very loose, as they later claimed) connections to the local Cabal were found. His upbringing meant that Patrizio always felt at home with books and reading, having no affinity for combat or direct confrontation, being satisfied with remaining in the back. Introduced to the dark arts by his uncle, young Patrizio was fascinated by the occult rituals, mystery and revelled in the symbolism and clandestine congregations. His talents did not have chance to bloom however, as his family was destroyed and he himself had to flee. The exile and the disgrace suffered did not prevent young man from pursuing his interests, and soon enough he was able to find himself a new place as an apprentice of the dark arts on the outskirts of his now scorned homeland.

[Fniff]

Name: Detani
Description: Tall, thin, with brown skin. She has strangely piercing green eyes and has an almost constant grin that occasionally evolves into a rictus when she's doing something deeply unpleasant to a person she hates. She has waist-length white hair (Strange, since she appears to be young). Detani tends to wear very dour, dark clothing, almost like the type a mourning widow wears but more utilitarian. She has a tattoo on her right hand of a green eye.
Sex: Female
Your Backstory: Detani was formerly a slave from a distant land, having spent her whole life as one and not really knowing her parents. She was 11 when she was sold to Lord Brackett of Wildermere. He treated her unpleasantly, often times abusing her both emotionally and physically. Detani began to sink into a massive depression, but one fateful day she was led into a room by a strange young man with white hair, green eyes and a white coat. Lord Brackett objected to this when he learned of it, as he did not like slaves cavorting with young types, and immediately set off to whip her. When he arrived to see her, she grinned at his threats and then killed him in a particularly unpleasant manner. She hasn't stopped grinning since, even as she set the whole mansion on fire and watched it burn from a nearby hill, as the other slaves screamed and the children cried as they burned alive inside it. From that day forward, she studied the dark arts almost exclusively.

[CyberGenesis]

Name: Sholan A'Valti
Description: Sholan looks to be a traditional farmer, having been raised as one. He has since adopted the guise, and smell, of a vagrant as needed to manuever through cities and towns. Vagrancy allows for a wide variety of helpful reactions from townsfolk from charity to pity - and best of all, avoidance. The smell of death upon you is marginally less incriminating on a vagrant than it is for the well-dressed.
Sex: Male
Backstory: Sholan had never had much in the way of traditional magical talent. Try as he might, the ability to call lightning from the sky or cause trees to spontaneously combust was always beyond his understanding - making him quite the disappointment to his father who had been of the ranks of the Crimson Order during the Purge. Most believed Sholan just too dense to grasp the concepts to control the elements and bend them to his will. The only skill Sholan ever truly had was one he never cared to share with anyone and one he discovered by accident.

One afternoon, in the forest near his home, he went for a walk. He had just learned of his father's death in the line of duty and was letting off steam throwing rocks into the branches of the trees. On one such throw he heard a squawk and a small crow fell from the tree. It landed in front of him dead as a doornail and, in a panic, Sholan picked the small bird up and wished it wasn't dead. Shortly after he made his wish, he felt a small spark inside him and the bird suddenly jumped up and flew away in a huff - only to die a distance away, unknown to Sholan.

He never spoke of it to anyone, but secretly nurtured the feeling inside him every day after that. The son of an Order guardsman using the very thing they were looking to eradicate would have looked bad for him as well as ruin the good name of his father. Sholan has been on the run ever since.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Name: Maxine Squall[/abr]
Description: This girl reminds you of a placid lake. She has almond-shaped orange eyes that are like two rising suns. Her silky, curly, white hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a rocky outcropping. She is very tall and has a voluptuous build. Her skin is pale. She has thin lips. Her wardrobe is businesslike.
Sex: Female
Backstory: Maxine was a sailor's daughter. Her mother disappeared unexpectedly when she was 11, and after that her father didn't feel safe in letting Maxine stay at home alone when he was sailing, so she was brought along. The other sailors didn't much appreciate this, due to the superstition that bringing a woman aboard a ship was bad luck, but they understood his reasoning. Granted, storms seemed to be attracted to their ship whenever Maxine was aboard, but those same storms also lingered over whatever port she was in at the time. Whatever that had to do with anything. It only took a few months before these storms wrecked the ship. Maxine was placed in a buoyant crate of supplies by her father when the ship's mast was snapped; she fell asleep after a while, wondering if the ship was OK. She awoke with the world not rocking like the ocean. Maxine would have probably been executed, but one of the Cabal's members took pity on her for her to tell her tale. Then one of the Cabaliers noted that a storm had rolled in shortly after they scooped up those goods from the wreck...Long story short, she's become an apprentice to make her useful while the Cabal tries to figure out how to study her storm-attracting ability.

[scapheap]

Name: Samuel Steelworks
Description: A short(5' 1”) man with black hair and blue eyes. Under his right eyes 'strength' in a long dead language is tattoo on.
Sex: male
Your Backstory: A ex-soldier of the imperial army and a farmer, this man was as tough as old boots. He was a  Dark Cabal through not long before the Holy Purge and only knows the basics of earth magic. Dodging patrols he made it to a ruined tower far into the borderlands.

[Terenos]

Chapter 1: Picking up the Pieces.

Players: (Note, Other players may come in later.)(Also Note: Javier, I cannae work with that backstory. So..yeah. Sorry!)

Spoiler: Jerik 'Corvus' Alquiar(OREOSOME) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice

Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Bone

Skills/Bonuses:
Bonespeaker: +1 to Bone Magic rolls.

Possessions:
Old Black Steel Blade.

Spoiler: Roland Balkar(Shootandrun) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Blood

Skills/Bonuses:
Capable Fighter: (+1 to all rolls in combat if it gets physical)

Possessions:
Hefty Axe

Spoiler:  Helfd(Ghazkull) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Bone
Skills/Bonuses:
Jack of All Trades (You can slip into most mundane roles with no trouble.)
Possessions:
Mail Shirt.

Spoiler: Patrizio Bacchiani(Ardas) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Earth

Skills/Bonuses:
Bookworm (+1 Research rolls)
Possessions:
1 Loot Token

Spoiler: Detani (Fniff) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Void

Skills/Bonuses:
Violent Magic (Your magic always bends towards more violent means, Critical rolls are more dangerous.)
Possessions:
Nothing of note.

Spoiler: Sholan A'Valti(CyberGenesis) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Blood

Skills/Bonuses:
Bloodcaller (+1 to Blood Magic rolls.)
Possessions:
Nothing of note.

Spoiler: Maxine Squall(GreatWyrmGold) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Element: Void

Skills/Bonuses:
Stormcaller (+1 to Wind magic rolls (Warning, using an element untrained is dangerous))
Possessions:
Strange Pendant.

Spoiler: Samuel Steelworks (Scapheap) (click to show/hide)

Magic Level: Apprentice
Known Spheres: Death
Known Element: Earth

Skills/Bonuses:
Tough as Nails (You receive less penalties from wounds)
Possessions:
Imperial marked Longsword.

-----------------

So here you are, some of you are Cabalists, some of you are running from your past, or exploring a new future. But here you are, in this old ramshackle tower a half days journey through heavy woods from Suomi. Most of you were pointed here by residents of the nearby town of Suomi. You all came here due to the abundant space. Its a solidly built old tower and local legend has that it is haunted. And of course, with your small talents in the field of Death Magic, you of course volunteered to live there. In the time you've spent here however, you've seen nothing that suggests the townsfolk were right. Only trace magical energy lingers here, mostly coming from the Catacombs beneath it.

Now you eight live here together, in this tower. You know each other and have banded together for mutual survival. If the Crimson Order were to catch any of you alone.... It is a fate not worth contemplating. What part you play in events yet to come is yet to be decided.
So what came next?

Known Locations:
----
Suomi is a small town, that doesnt have a particular allegiance. It exports lumber and is nominally protected by its own militia. The people there are somewhat friendly to newcomers, and you're sure there's work to be had there.

The Tower, is ramshackle and old. It possesses few amenities currently.

[OREOSOME]

Jerik: Forage for items in the catacombs.
Jerik looked over the group, then at the old tower before them.
"I'll be in the Catacombs. Perhaps we can find some good artifacts, or potential servants down there. We should hopefully have some good luck with finding skeletons and the like, correct?"

[Shootandrun]

Some food, some water, two bottles of bad wine, a few coins, the clothes he wore, another set of clothes for when he got his current ones dirty, and an axe. That was all he had. It was all on the table beside the bed, on the floor, or - in the case of the wine and the coins - under the bed itself. The axe he never dropped - he had it at his belt during the day, or besides himself during the night. Times spent running from the Order or traveling in unguarded areas had taught him that one should always keep a weapon near.

This would not do. He took a few snacks and a canteen full of water, and went to the middle of the apartments, where he spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"I'm going down in the catacombs, to see what's in there and maybe pick up a few useful items if I run into any. Any of you coming, or shall I spend my time in solitude?"

Forage for items / interesting things in the catacombs.

[Fniff]

Spoiler: Detani's Diary (click to show/hide)

1st of Dawn (Spring)
As the leaves grow back on the trees and the common rats below us believe that life is returning, I shall gather the darkness and begin what shall be known as the Twilight. For now, this broken down shithole confines us to making do with terrible materials for spells and basically anything other then perhaps trying to decipher what the hell the master mage was babbling about before he kicked the bucket. The head mage was a means to an end anyway; his death doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. What shall I do for now? Well, I can't exactly go riding into town on a black horse and start exterminating the vermin; that would be too obvious and draw the attention of the disbelievers. They're like the Inquisitors my father told me of, but without going through with their plans.

I shall see what the others require of me; for now, I'm going to reserve myself.

Detani looked up from her diary and stood up, still in those long black clothes from before. She put the diary in one of the many parts of her cloak, and looked at the two.

"I suppose that's the best we can do for now. I shall join you."

Forage with Roland.

[javierpwn]

( updated my backstory, hopefully be accepted when someone dies)