Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[gman8181]

Just some more information for all of you:

Plants can be used for sacrifices too but are much less effective than stuff with blood.

Most cities, towns, communities, etc are run by a single Manipulation Lord who creates all the stuff for the people living under him or her.  This includes machines that may be capable of building stuff like houses or machines that might process wheat to make bread and basically everything else you can imagine.  Most of these machines that are created by Manipulation Lords still require an actual person to operate them which is how most people are employed and it keeps society going.

Out of curiosity, how many/what percentage of mortals can use Manipulation? Is it that can be taught or do you just know how to do it from birth?

They're pretty rare compared to the common people.  Less powerful ones may run smaller communities with a few hundred people and more powerful ones have huge cities that they rule over such as the one our protagonist is now located in.  The mortal races do not naturally have Manipulation powers.  They usually gain them by making a deal with either a void being or a mortal who already has the powers.

[griffinpup]

Lets go to the nearby alley and attempt to make contact with some local crime lords.  We can act as a representative of a  Void person, (us) and see if we can get some worship going on.  Maybe wow them with a little manipulation, demonstrating how service to the void master, (us) can give you power. 

Thinking again about it, we could forgo the crimelords, and go straight to the more respectable people of the city.  They'd probably worship us as well, and then we wouldn't have to deal with petty crooks.

[griffinpup]

WOOT.
Bumpity bump bump
also, anyone have another suggestion?

[Xantalos]

Not really.

[griffinpup]

So we're just waiting for the man made of peanuts?

[Vgray]

He's a Peanut Man. Not a man made of peanuts. Big difference.

[griffinpup]

I disagree.  I'm a man made of human.  I'm also a human man.  It works both ways.

[gman8181]

I'm a little unclear.  Do you want to go talk to the people in the alley or go searching for someone 'more respectable'.  If you want to go with the latter, then what type of people specifically do you want to look for?  The highest up on the societal latter would be people working closely with the lord who rules the city.  They would be much harder to impress with manipulation because they spend a lot of time around someone capable of using it.  The local crime people however would be considerably easier to impress but you still might have to get your hands a bit dirty to get a meeting with a crime boss.

Oh and as a general rule how would you like me to portray your character's demeanor?  We could have him act a little rough or have him be more cordial at first.

[griffinpup]

The the practice of worshiping someone other then the lord of the city illegal?

Also, I kind of see our character as cynical, and more cordial then rough.

[gman8181]

There are a bunch of different beliefs but organized religion itself is pretty much nonexistent.  Hidden cults dedicated to different void beings do spring up somewhat often and many mortal Manipulation practitioners have half worship half business relationships with powerful void beings or Void Lords that act sort of like patrons for them in return for sacrifices.  Still, if the lord of the city found out that there was a void cult forming amongst his higher ups, he would definitely try and stamp it out because it would pose a considerable threat to his power.

A somewhat off analogy:

Picture you are a king.  You make a deal with the devil; in exchange for 100 sacrifices a day, you learn magic and get a few other favors.  Later on your spies tell you that one of your closest advisors also made a pact with the devil but you don't know what exactly the deal was.

That's sort of what things are like.  Lots of paranoia, fear of backstabbing and power plays.

[griffinpup]

Head into the marketplace and gather information on who would be most likely to accept power in exchange for worshiping us.  Then attempt to convince whoever it is to worship us, probably with a bit of flashy magic.

[escaped lurker]

Thinking again about it, we could forgo the crimelords, and go straight to the more respectable people of the city.  They'd probably worship us as well, and then we wouldn't have to deal with petty crooks.

I would rather make some lowly people a deal that they can't really refuse - or would be willing to. The higher tiers of society might already have other options, and these options might lash out at us in the worst case. We can always go higher, but for now I would be one for security - finding lowlifes that are somewhat influental and make them and their gang/s our sacrifical meatshields. So yeah, marketplace sounds good - or whichever places we would find such information.

[gman8181]

Turn 5

The market seems like a good place to gather information on the area and its inhabitants, so you stride over there into the midst of the great crowds milling about, selling and buying their wares.  Most of the people are talking about fairly ordinary things such as the current prices of different items, the weather and somewhat more interestingly, the recent series of battles between Lord William's forces and those of the Red Baron.  You speculate that those must have been the parties involved in the earlier conflict you were present for.  Moving your attention back to what you came here for, you slip quietly over to a small cluster of men talking in hushed tones at the side of the market.  Listening carefully, you hear the group discuss the rather violent crimes being committed by a previously unknown group of bandits hiding in various dens throughout the city.  There is speculation that these thugs have their main base hidden somewhere is the suspiciously spacious sewer system that runs underneath the city.  You also pick up that most of the people who go down there for extended period of time end up disappearing.  Lowly bandits would be a great source of disposable followers if you could bring them around to your cause.  Rather than limit yourself to that option alone though, you go wading through the thick crowds of people once again to look out for more rumors.  Coming upon yet another group of people talking in whispers, you try and listen in.  This time it is much harder to pick up what the people are saying but you do make out something regarding a new vicious cult that is rising up in the city slums, lots of bloody rituals and people vanishing at night.  It really is hard to hear what these people are saying though and if you wanted to get closer and hear more, you'd probably have to be clever about it.

Spoiler: Character Sheet (click to show/hide)

Name: None
Size: Medium
HP: 19/23
Movement: 20
Encumbrance: 60 Plate Cuirass
Protection: 15 Plate Cuirass
Equipment: +15 Plate Cuirass, +10 Broadsword

Also be aware that you need to go and rest if you want to get your health back.

[griffinpup]

Let's take a trip into the sewers.  We should probably rest first, though.

[escaped lurker]

Let's take a trip into the sewers.  We should probably rest first, though.

+1
While that new Cult does spark my interest, I very much guess that we will run into them sooner or later - best be prepared for them. So into the sewers it is.

If we are going to rest in some kind of Inn, ask the owner about any rumours surrounding the cult or those bandits. Those guys often enough know a good deal about all kinds of rumours. Or rather, make sure that we rest in a safe place - we do not want to wake up with a weapon on our throat or surrounded by "friendly" people.