Have to go to sleep. Just campaign today, I'm afraid. I'll do the rest tomorrow.
Campaign
"Hmm, I clearly have a difficult time not burning everything to ash when playing with fire! Must be from a past self."
Done being referential, Alan decides to be social.
Go find someone (first person I see, pretty much) and declare them a friend. Proceed to attempts to have shenanigans with them.
You run face first into a drunk. You declare him a friend. He declares you a friend! You propose you go have friendly fun together. He accepts in a friendly manner. So you set of to go have friendly fun together, as friends.
...
A few minutes later you find yourself running away from an angry mob.
"You really shouldn't had stolen that booze friend. I could had created some for you.""Well, you should had told me you could summon things before you went ahead and did it while I had my hands in a guy's pants. Right next to the head, no less."
"Well I'm an Alan, that's basically what I do.""And I'm a drunk and a thief, that's basically what I do!"
You run silently for a few seconds, angrily staring at each other.
"Still, I never thought a goat could bounce that much." he adds and you both start laughing. "That was totally awesome."
"You're not so bad yourself. That cook never saw you swap that mildflower for dragonweed.""Yeah, I've got to admit, those were some really smooth moves. You can never find a better distraction than a bit of dragonweed."
"And then when that guy came and tried to-""Oh, yeah!"
"I've never seen so much whining and fire since Irine had her last freakout.""Who?" he asks as he spins around and kicks a stand. The stand falls down, blocking the path of your pursuers and adding another angry woman to your little mob.
"Oh, another friend of mine. Fun girl, a bit foxy. Maybe you'll get to meet her.""Oh, cool. Anyway, now that I know you can summon things we can have all sorts of- Ohshitduck!"
"Where?"*bump*
You slowly get up after getting hit in the head with a giant wooden board. The man that was carrying the board is also getting up and doesn't look at all happy about you running into him. The same is true for the small mob currently catching up to you.
"Heh. Buddy, if we're going to keep doing this, we really need to work on your angry mob evasion skills."
"Νο, I just got to stay away from ducks. Whenever one's around I get hurt for some reason."
Describe the location of the armor and how I found it as well as the Throne-Armor that was adjacent to it but unlikely to be budged or safely worn (hence why I wouldn't bother). It's probably still unguarded, nudge nudge wink wink.
Mention also the rather large sword that Irine got and give a description of it, see what they know about it.
Ask in particular about dark magic - what it is, where it comes from, what it does and how best to deal with it.
In addition, what exactly was the Tower of Fire, aside from a conduit of supernatural invasions into this world, our own sadly included?
Furthermore, mention also the shady individual that would have had me try and plunder this temple of its treasures - present the hex as evidence.
Also accept the bowl, that might indeed prove pretty handy if we run into anything perplexing on the way.
The Headwater recognizes from your description that that was the sacred catacombs of the First King. He seems pleased to get to experience such a thing first-hand but mostly he is quite surprised about you having it. He asks you how you managed to overcome the tests and challenges of the catacombs and receive such a powerful artifact. You're getting the feeling that he isn't 100% certain you are worthy of wearing it. When you explain how you got it... well, he at least focuses on something else. First he asks you several times to make sure you aren't trying to trick him and then he declares that this is of the utmost importance. He must tell the others that this darkness corruption is much worse than they thought and that they must take action! And that they should probably send someone to take care of the catacombs until they are rebuilt. He seems really distressed by this whole situation.
"Oh, then I should probably also tell you about that sword we got.""What sword?"
"The one that is on fire and changes sizes. And talks, apparently, although now that I think about it it has never done so to me.""YOU ALSO HAVE HIS SWORD?!
THE SWORD?!"
"Well, not me, my friend-""WHERE IS HE?"
"She is not here."After he calms down a bit (the meditating man doesn't move at all during all this ruckus, by the way) he says that if there's nothing else he must go alert the others immediately and that you should come with him if you can. You explain that there's still some things you want to know. He cringes but agrees to continue, but not before fetching someone and having him get the other priests to assemble to some inner chamber.
You continue by asking about what dark magic is exactly and he says it's the magic related to the Dark element, the element associated with taking, deceiving, hurting, hiding, corrupting the natural state of things, those sorts of things. Its harmful uses are unfortunately the easiest to obtain and the most obvious and as such it has acquired a bad reputation, but it can also be used for good. High ranking guardsmen, for example, receive items enchanted with dark magic that can prevent mages from casting when they are placed on them. It can also be used to siphon energy to refill Power Stones or allow mages to more easily combine their powers. One of the most powerful and useful things a high ranking Dark mage can do is craft a Void Stone, a material that with the proper enchantments can become near impervious to magic, which can be quite useful if you're an alchemist trying to combine magical ingredients.
However due to the inherent danger involved in using it and the associated stigma, only experienced users may even begin learning to practice Dark magic and even then they need to receive special permission from the Tower. Those with a natural affinity for Dark magic are kept under close watch from the Tower and the Guardsmen if they aren't outright forced to join the Tower. The reason for that is that while most magic may invoke the Void if misused (for example, trying to cast powerful spells without enough Flow), Dark magic is especially capable of manipulating such Void energies, even creating them by accident. And while short lived and self-destructive, Void magics can be horrifically damaging to everyone and everything around them. Even if they don't invoke them directly, Void energies can still corrupt the magic user, entering their body, corrupting them and feeding off of them, stripping the good out of them and turning them into monsters, both figuratively and sometimes literally. Fortunately Dark magic users are quite rare (or maybe they just tend to perish before they can become a danger), so at least those kinds of situations don't come up often.
Defense against Dark magic isn't very easy, since it tends to disrupt most forms of magic. Fortunately, most minor spells like the ones you are most likely to encounter are probably not going to be strong enough to break decent magical defences. They can be detected via most common ways of detecting magic, such as Stonesensing, while a ward of Order, a protective artifact or at least a proper equalisation of magical energies can disrupt them and disable them. The problem is when you encounter a powerful spell. Then only a spell of Light can protect you or maybe a very powerful ward. And given that Light magic users are as rare as those of Darkness, if not rarer, then getting such powerful magic is highly unlikely. When you detect the icy, oppressive darkness the casting of Dark magic creates, it is best to either disable the caster quickly or run away. Or hope you have enough Willpower and Endurance to resist it. Unless one possesses the Sword of the First King, it's got enough Order and Light magic in it to at least be able to stand up to most Dark attacks.
The Tower of Fire is quite old. Its foundations and the tunnels beneath it were built by Augus, one of the few companions of the First King to survive his Ascension. It was built on Stodir's resting place and as such a place of powerful magic. People call Stodir a volcano now but in truth it is actually the name of the dragon buried there. It is said he was the Father of all dragons, who gifted them all with his fiery breath. In his wake the earth shook and the ground erupted into molten fire, but despite his power he was slain in a great battle that occurred quite a long time ago, before the Empire was even formed, during a time when gods still walked the earth. The Tower harnesses the Fire energies emanating from Stodir, capturing the power of his flow as it escapes and travels all across the land. It has grown quite a lot overtime, each Master seeking to outdo the previous one in their achievements. It has enough Power Stones and Focusing Crystals in it to dramatically amplify all sorts of magics cast in and around it and the mages of the Tower can direct that power wherever they wish through their secret rituals, giving them immense power. The range this power can spread is increased through a network of Spines,smaller towers that from what you understand act a bit like electrical substations. This not only increases the power of mages of the Tower but also allows countless magical machines to function. Finally, it also works as a defensive weapon, allowing the Tower to launch powerful attacks wherever there's a Spine capable of supporting them. Although the mages themselves are not loved very much by the general public (in fact they are greatly mistrusted, with many conspiracy theories existing around what they do to remain in power), the machines and protection they afford them do make the people like the Tower very much. Stories are still being told about how the Tower mages helped in defeating the Night Knights.
Telling him about the stone produces more surprise out of him but a more... calm surprise, in a way. As if he was expecting something like this to happen. You can hear his heartbeat elevating, probably due to fear or anger. It's like you keep coming up with things to crack this guy's facade. He says that this is quite troubling that such an object even managed to make its way through the walls and goes on to explain that the artifact that man asked you to retrieve was actually amongst other things a very powerful focusing crystal that they use primarily for the defence of the Monastery. The chamber itself is also an important nexus on the Temple's flow of magical energies. Had you detonated the Hex in there, even if you had not stolen any of the items, it would had badly disrupted their ability to protect this place. He postulates that this is yet another sign that the Sovereign desires to conquer Chizra along with the rest of the Kingdom. He asks from you to give him the Hex for safekeeping and so that he can present it as evidence to the other head priests. He insists that he needs to get them to act now, before it's too late.
The Head Water says that if that is all, he would like to go inform the others of what he has learned.
<Hide!>
Hide!
Hide!!
Theri realized she was holding more than two important things at the moment--one was Irine, next was San, and she had to get her inventory items these important people into a place that can get them visibly hidden. Whichever was nearer--whichever was more sensible, the best area would be a place where they could easily observe and still be out of common thought and hindsight. Elevation was just as important as being out of the obvious line of sight.
((Just add them to your backpack. Problem solved
))
<Hide!>
Hide!
Theri walks away from the main road as fast as she can. She finds a depression in the ground, digs a bit and then starts covering herself and their belongings in dirt to better hide them, instructing them to try to move as little as possible. She realizes too late that her footprints are still visible, leading from the road straight to her hiding place, so she uses her blanket to smear them and make the ground appear normal around their hiding spot, hopefully making it harder for anyone trying to track them. That done, she continues trying to hide everything and everyone (including herself). All and all she does a pretty good job, though she has to cover Irine up almost completely due to how... visible she has become after her last fight.
Feeling herself sufficiently hidden, Theri tries to slow her breathing and move as little as possible. She's put herself in a position where she can hopefully see anyone coming from the direction of the road, so she hopefully has some time to react and plan if they follow their tracks. She waits for a while but nobody comes from the road. What she notices instead are the dark shapes in the sky approaching from the east, quickly coming closer every second that passes, a cloud made out of hundreds of dark specs. As they grow closer, they turn into more distinct shapes. And the sound they make, which was at first lost in the soft whistle of the wind, has now become a cacophony of screeches and whistles.
"It's the monsters. The monsters that killed them all. The monsters." San whispers as if he's in a chokehold, all strength in his voice stripped away by terror and the need to stay hidden.
The monsters look like what you'd get if you took the most filthy and diseased-looking birds you could get and then merged them together as if they were made out of play dough. Most of them have three or four wings placed at sightly off angles, with the larger ones possessing close to 8. They are flapping them furiously, producing a constant thudding noise. Somehow they manage to not only fly quickly but also avoid flying into each other despite their misshapen bodies. While their wings are covered with feathers, their bodies have only a few dirty clumps here and there, revealing wrinkly skin underneath.
They pass above you and for a moment it looks like they're leaving but then circle around for another pass. And another. But they don't appear to be landing, for the moment. With each pass, you can feel the turbulence they create, wind picking up around you and threatening to uncover you.
Irene's sword whispers to her through their link.
<They might be tracking our magical flow. However there is little we can do about that. We can not make you or us any less magic. We can try to equalize the magical flow emanating from us but that would create other un-balances and there is a chance that could make things worse. The magic we use tends to be visible, blinding even. It is not meant to be used for hiding.>
Poll
15 (42.9%)
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1141721 times)