Uhhh marcus? Why is there a small tree attached to your arm?
consult marcus on how the sapling came into being, engrave the swirly rune onto a rock for future reference. After that is done head down to the stream and wash my shoulder and shirt.
Grab a handful of sand once im done and take it back to camp then grab hold of my amulet and try to make the sand form a dagger shape in midair, if succesfull cast inflame on it to turn it into glass.
Pull the arrow out of my shoulder seconds before the regrowth attempt
Also have a very important question... what species of tree is it?
Marcus shrugs at the sapling question; he says that he had a bit of a dream about possibly being it? But past that it is beyond him. You try and get close to look at the rune on the sapling, however it seems a bit disturbed by you glaring into what is effectively its eye. ! You manage to calm it down a bit as it tries to climb onto Marcus’s other shoulder to move away from you, and with Marcus’s help it sits still enough for you to sketch a copy of the rune into the dirt. You transfer the sketch onto a stone, and ! once satisfied with the copy you pocket the stone. During the carving you felt as though it was trying to connect with your ability, though even when you attempted to push energy into the carving it was repelled. ! You figure that perhaps you need to train in more of the similar magic, or have a better understanding of nature itself before it will work in the intended way for you.
You duck out of the cave, watching the overhanging roots to make sure you don’t catch the arrow on anything. You head down to the stream, while gazing at the sky through the waving leaves. It’s only noon or so, but still the attack is planned as only just over a day from now and you are still wounded and relatively defenseless. You wash your face in the stream, staring at the reflection and hardening your resolve. You clear your mind and determine that it’s time to make yourself a weapon, and become a stronger man. ! Standing at the side of the stream you stretch out your arms and pull the sand from the ground, it collects in a spinning morphing mass as grain after grain rips free of the ground to join the mass. ! Bringing it together and elongating it into a bladed form in the shape of a dagger you turn your palms inward. With a blast, flames ignite between your outstretched fingers, the grains turn white hot and begin to glow and you pour ever increasing levels of heat into the floating mass. ! It begins to smooth and sharpen under the heat, and once you are satisfied with the product you let the heat go. The glass dagger spins on its axis between your hands, and you lower it into the stream, the water sizzles and a bit of steam escapes before the dagger cools.
You pick it out of the flowing water; it feels delicate but exceptionally sharp. As well you spend no energy moving it around with your mind, it seems to you that having infused it with so much of your own will allows you to control it without becoming any more exhausted. ! Trying to push it out away from yourself while maintaining control, you are able to move it to a distance of 20 or so feet before you start to feel power draining from you keeping it aloft. Bringing it back to your palm, you place it in your pack and look back into your reflection. Washing your face and coat in the cold autumn water you hear Marcus coming up behind you. Turning to face him, he asks if you are ready for him to try and heal you. You ask him to wait a second, and reaching up with your good arm you remove the arrow head, and then ask him to pull the arrow back out of your back. ! He asks cautiously if that’s such a good idea, and you ask if using his power to try and heal someone is a good idea. ! You feel his palm on your shoulder, and his fingers tighten their grip on your back while the other hand grabs the arrow. With a sharp tug, you feel the arrow begin sliding back out of the wound and you scream like you’ve never screamed before. He tries to hurry to prevent too much pain for you, and with a sickening slurp the shaft comes free. Blood begins gushing from the wound and turning your chest crimson, feeling faint you sit down by the stream while he tries to put pressure on the injury. Your vision dims and then goes completely dark, the last thing you see is Marcus’s panicked face and arms coated in your blood.
You come to some hours later beside a fire in the cave. The first thought that crosses your mind is the wound in your shoulder, and you reach up with your left hand, and find that the hole is mostly closed and you can move your arm without too much difficulty. Though there is intense lingering pain, and you worry a bit whether it will ever go away completely. You glance about and see Bree sitting beside you looking into the fire with Gerald nearby, the night sky has already made the outside world black as can be.
-Knowledge Increased-Inflame, heat affected by mana expended and duration affected by concentration-Fire (1)
-Partial Knowledge-Gather Earth-???-???
Health Restored, Arrow removed from shoulder.
Gained Bound Glass dagger
+2 mana
Bree rolls her bright blue eyes at the scene as she approaches the fire, a very small, amused smile pulling at her cheeks. “You nearly scared me out of my knickers. Is that thing.. under control?” She sits down at a close, but safe distance from the fire, trying to dry herself off. “How did everyone sleep?” Bree asks while combing her hands through her hair, the fire slowly leeching the cold from her bones. “I slept soundly.. As for the sapling, do you think it might be possible to do.. things...while we sleep?” She begins to frown worriedly over to Marcus and Gerald, before remembering that Jim had shouted. Her gaze shifts over to him, her brow furrowing at the sight of the arrow still buried in his shoulder. “We should probably send someone back to town.. for clothes and medicine.”
Action: Inquire about the nature of the sapling, then examine my own artifact once more. Out of curiousity, I focus on the fire in an attempt to make it dwindle momentarily. Wait for a response from the rest of the group about sending someone to town.
Marcus shrugs at your questions about the sapling; the most he can say is that it’s likely that yes you can do things while you sleep. ! Having to accept that answer, and seeing no one make a move to head back to town you decide to just take a seat beside the fire and practice. ! Initially you have no success, and getting your amulet out you try focusing through it into the fire, though to little avail. You stare into the wavering flames and picture them withering and burning down into ash, though when that doesn’t work you instead attempt to suffocate them by removal of air. ! The flames wave and flicker while air rushes around you and the fire pit, but you are unable to force it all away from one location at the same time. ! Getting tired of failing you take out the amulet, wrap it around your palm and then thrust it towards the fire while thinking of it being trapped. The amulet and your hand flashes while a cyclone of fire is sucked into the gemstone, ash and dust scatters around you and sparks fly through your clothes and hair giving you a demonic appearance. Cutting off the flow the fire slowly sputters back to life from a smoldering pit, though your hand and the gem continue to glow fire-red. ! You try and release it slowly back into the fire, and a blast shoots out and slams into the wall, the roots and dirt smoke a bit but don’t catch.
You curse, your hand and the gem continue to shine, so instead you try flicking a small finger outwards towards the fire pit. ! This time only a small spark flies from your hand and bounces harmlessly off the floor. Your hand and the gem dims ever so slightly, and you calm down a bit. Looking over to the other side of the cave you see Gerald throwing and catching small rocks in the air, with his hands held behind his back. You smile mischievously and flick a small spark at him thinking it will sputter out before it even gets close. The little ball of fire rolls through the air lazily, spiraling and smoking but doesn’t go out. It doesn’t look like its going to hit him, though you notice it turning and spiraling to keep aligned with where he’s standing.
“Look out!” you shout. Gerald turns and sees the fire floating towards him and with a wave of his hand bursts the fireball with a gust of air. You expect him to be mad, or at least surprised, instead he beckons for you to shoot another and he crotches as though ready to play catch. Unable to keep from laughing you decide to comply, at the worst he’d only end up a bit singed. ! Flicking a small bit of fire towards him, you begin to feel that this is a really easy to control spell once you figure it out. He bats it out of the air with ease and tells you to try and throw a bit faster. You snap your wrist as hard as you can and the spark leaves a shimmering trail as it blasts through the air. The streak hangs in the air for a second or two before you realize that Gerald didn’t stop it. He laughs and points to the now hairless patch on his arm, you sigh with relief at the sight that your blast was relatively harmless. You continue your game of blast and block for quite some while, occasionally siphoning more flame as your reserves run low.
You begin to get a bit annoyed at how Gerald keeps matching you so well, and shrugging off anything that does get through. You decide to show him that you were holding back a lot, and slowly start hitting him harder and harder, waiting for him to ask you to slow down. ! However you only see him motion for more, annoyed you ready to blast him with a barrage of smaller bolts, though you are interrupted by Jim screaming. The power fizzles and you let the fire rush out of your hands in a prolonged whoosh, as you hurry outside to see what is wrong.
! You see Jim passed out, and Marcus attempting to stop him from bleeding out into the dirt. You can only watch as Gerald helps carry Jim inside, and you stand there in a bit of shock right up until you are blinded by a verdant flash of light coming from Marcus. You black out, and don’t wake for a few hours. Moaning you roll over to see Gerald looking around dazed, it appears to be dark outside now and your stomach growls for food. You feel really good though, hungry but good. It’s also exceptionally dark outside already, you feel uneasy about having lost so much time.
Flame Control-1 Mana to Siphon- Power based on amount of flame absorbed- Duration Held based on Concentration
+2 mana max
Gerald felt almost as if he were being pulled in two..
One side a destroyer, the other a preserver.
Action: Practice my wind magic to start, learning to control it.
! Starting with just trying to catch some small stones using air, you toss them one by one and catch eat of them. You can feel more then see the gusts of wind keeping them aloft, and they waver slightly. It’s hard for you to focus on more than two or three at a time, though you quickly find that it’s easier to just deflect them or bounce them up or down like juggling instead of holding them in place. Once you begin to feel as though you can keep 4 or 5 going at once, you hear Bree shout at you. Turning you see a spiraling thumb sized flame coming towards you, ! reacting quickly you brush it aside with a thought and it sputters out.
! You laugh a bit and beckon for her to shoot more at you and it’s a lot more interesting than playing catch with yourself. The first few are relatively easy, though once you ask her to increase the speed you quickly find that unless you can react fast enough to snatch at the object like you normally could with your hand, you are unable to stop it. Luckily all you lose is a few patches of arm hair, and all the work in the mines certainly made you into someone who doesn’t mind losing some skin. Beckoning for her to fire multiple at once, you try to sweep them all with a wall. ! The fire splashes off the invisible barrier, and smoke swirls around you in a vortex. She begins to take it a bit too seriously, and you notice the flames growing in power and speed. Worrying that Bree will end up hurting you, you attempt to ask her to calm down a bit, but she can’t hear you through the swirling wind and flame. ! Just as you begin to panic that you might actually get hurt, you hear Jim shouting outside and see the little sapling jumping in the cave entrance. A last brush of fire wafts past your nose and Bree hurry’s out the door, trailing flame as the light goes out of her arms. ! Exhausted you trail slightly slower, you wonder how she managed to avoid getting tired at all and then you realize that she was working through her object almost exclusively. ! Even the thought of using the coin makes you nervous, you think that it should remain a last ditch attempt.
Seeing Jim and Marcus covered in blood you curse and rush to help,
Why couldn’t they just get help.. or have the sensibility to tell us first… Lifting Jim by his legs, you help Marcus carry him into the cave, blood streaming onto the ground at ever increasing rates. Helping Marcus lay him beside the fire; you move to put pressure on the bleeding when he puts his hand on your chest. You look into his eyes, and he motions for you to step back, you nod nervously and stand back. Watching on, you see Marcus crouching over Jim’s prone form, Marcus’s breathing slow and controlled, and Jim’s erratic and shallow. You look over at Bree, worry creasing her blue eyes and you go to say something when a verdant green flash blinds you. Waking up a couple hours later you look over to see Bree and Jim lying beside you, with Marcus nowhere to be seen. ! You feel… good, abnormally good, though the feeling dissipates as you wake up slowly. The darkness seems to have closed in outside, and the swaying fire is low and does little to illuminate the cave. You toss a few pieces of wood on the fire and wait for Marcus to show up or for the others to wake up.
Knowledge Expanded-Catch-mana used based on weight and speed of the object-Can Deflect non-solid objects
+2 mana max
I play with the sapling while talking to the others, letting him swing off my arm and clamber onto my shoulder. "The night after we were in the ruins I was testing out my powers and this guy grew out of the ash pile, but he was just a tree before. Other than that I'm as lost as you lot, but he seems to listen to me well enough" I stand up and let the little tree sit remain on my shoulder "He's no threat to any of you so at the moment he's no one's concern but mine, however, we do need to do something about Jim's shoulder, so if it’s alright with him I'm gonna try and sort it out.".
Action: If Jim will let me, attempt to heal the wound with Regrowth. Then find out what the rest of the group want to do.
! You swing the little sapling at the end of your arm, and dodge a dozen questions from the others about its existence. Helping the little thing up onto your shoulder, you set about walking around the local area while you wait for Jim to be ready for you to try healing him. The sapling seems content to ride around, and you think that you get the feeling that it can’t wait to be that tall by itself. You laugh at the thought and begin talking to it, of what it thinks it would like to be named, of what it thinks about being able to see, and a dozen other things that cross your mind as you look for any sign of game to hunt. Of course the sapling doesn’t respond any more than just giving you its attention as you talk away. Though at one point you feel it tapping on the side of your head, and when you turn to glare at it for giving you a whack, it points to the ground a few feet away. ! Thinking that maybe it wants down you kneel so it can hop off, and the sapling promptly runs off into the woods. You begin to run after it, worried that you scared it away with so much talking, however you see it come walking back towards you dragging something. It stares up at you with what you think is a very pleased look, while holding the object behind its back.
! Suddenly it swings a dead rabbit up towards you, and you only just manage to catch it. You stutter a bit, trying to cope with the fact that it obviously knew you were attempting to hunt before you notice it prodding your leg. Putting your arm down it grabs hold, and you swing it back up onto your shoulder where it sits and goes back to just listening to you attentively. ! You can’t help but wonder how something only the size of the rabbit it caught, and a tree at that, managed to both catch and kill a rabbit in a matter of a few seconds. You start to get a bit uneasy at having it so close to your neck, before finally inspecting the dead rabbit, it was caught in a snare trap and already dead by the looks of it. Well at least the little guy can retrieve things pretty well, and at the speed it moves you wouldn’t be surprised if it could catch a rabbit. You head back to the camp while wondering just how intelligent the little guy really is.
Getting back you figure that it’s time you tried to get the arrow out of Jim’s shoulder. You are unable to ignore his request to pull it out before you try healing; however it immediately proves to be a bad idea. Blood begins pouring from the wound the second you begin pulling, and you panic. With a rip the shaft comes free; however you can see that it had pierced an artery. Jim falls to his knees and then passes out on the ground from the pain and shock almost instantly. Gerald comes rushing out of your hide-away, and you get him to help you carry Jim inside. Placing him by the fire you kneel down and immediately try to summon your energy. Your hands glow with the wound, and you can see his breath becoming shallower by the second. Rushing you unleash as much as you can in the hopes it will work, and with a brilliant flash you see the wound begin to nit itself closed. As well, the arrow you didn’t realize you were still holding begins to twist and grow. The blood flow stops after a few seconds, and his breathing slowly returns to normal, though when you go to tell the others that it worked, you see them unconscious on the floor as well. You look at the staff that just grew in your hands, it’s got a distinctly reddish-brown tinge of blood over the length of it and the wood is heavy and strong.
You and the sapling drag the others beside the fire, and arrange them as comfortably as you can. You realize that your stomach is growling exceptionally badly, and decide to leave the others here to sleep off whatever happened while you go catch something to eat for the night. Leaving the hide-away you go out to hunt with the sapling riding on its new favorite spot, your backpack. The hours pass and you get back with to the hide-away not too long after dark. You can see the others awake inside and so you head in with your catch of 2 more rabbits, and a collection of herbs and spices to add flavor. As well you managed to find a good amount of root vegetables and chestnuts to cook to have in the morning. You head in with the haul, and sit down to start cooking. Your sapling clambers down and looks at the chestnuts. Feeling bad, you realize he is uncomfortable, so handing it the bag of chestnuts you ask him to go plant them where he thinks they would like to grow and before you can even finish, the sapling dashes out of the cave hauling the small bag behind it.
-Gained Blood Wood staff
-4 mana
-Learned Spell-Restorative Hibernation-Puts the target to sleep for a few a length of time depending on the amount spent, and heals relative to the amount of time they are asleep-Can over cast to affect multiple people-Nature
Gained Rank-Nature-1
Gained Food-Three Rabbits+Cooking Spices
-Foraged Food for 1 mealx4
***Just as everyone wakes up, Marcus walks into the cave carrying 3 rabbits as well as a decent amount of other foraged supplies. It is now nighttime once more, and approximately 7pm. There is only 24 hours till the attack on the town is scheduled, and it feels like there is a large rain storm or early blizzard coming at the same time.
The other two actions are going to be up asap.