GWG, did you piss off Lady Luck?
- Turn 11: The Quietest Village -
On your way to where the murdered bodies were found, you stop in at a small village for a rest. The carriage driver swaps places with someone in the village and you settle down to take care of some business...Polish my staff proudly. It has served me well. Inspect it for dents and whatnot.
Then see if there is any good reading material around. If there is, read it. Do this the whole way along. Also, make conversation.
"So, Cyrus... what do you know about monsters? Or demons?"
Cyrus clearly uses this carriage somewhat frequently, as the seat has a small compartment with half a dozen scrolls on various topics. "No books?" You ask the mage curiously.
He shrugs. "The cold makes the binding glue brittle and books just fall apart." You nod and pick a scroll and open it... Before hurriedly closing it and picking another. Cyrus coughs. "That's, uh, not mine." The second scroll has slightly more tasteful writing, so you sit for about four or five hours, happily reading a treatise on parsley. You doze off for a while, but the carriage continues on through the night. The driver must be used to night-time carriage work.
Finally the carriage stops at the entrance to a small village. The sun is fully over the horizon, but not much higher. It's a lot warmer. You decide to polish your staff, so you retrieve a small polishing cloth and some wood polish from the carriage's little trunk. You take a seat on a large rock a small distance from the carriage and enjoy the warm sunshine as you polish the staff to a gleam. It seems mostly unharmed, save for two small shin-shaped dents. Huh.
Every time you try and strike up a conversation with Cyrus about demons, he shudders and changes the topic. Huh. Must get scared of them. Probably a good thing he doesn't live further north!
Felice stays quiet, not feeling all that comfortable this far away from the sea. He checks his bow, and sees if he it's possible to do something about the "cracked" part, If it is possible and the repairs cannot possibly fuck the bow up more, do the repairs. Then he will try to fletch some more arrows and sharpen his dirk when they take a stop.
You just quietly sit and watch the scenery going by, lit up as it is by the broken moon high above. You marvel at how everything changes from minute to minute, unlike out at sea, but you long for the feel of the boat rocking beneath you. Eventually you doze.
When you awaken, it's light and the carriage has stopped at a village. You climb out gratefully and stretch your legs before sitting down to take a good long look at your bow. (3) there's not much you could do, since your skill at bowyery is insufficient, but you probably wouldn't break it any further. Nevertheless, you decide to take it into the village. There may be a fletcher in the village who could help.
On the way in, you pass a small smithy. It looks fairly commonplace; farm tools, cutlery, various parts... And a greatsword. You blink a little at that. It looks quite well made... And are those magical runes cut into the blade? Somebody in the village must be a practicing enchanter. Shrugging, you buy a small whetstone from the smith
(-5 gold) and ask him about a bowyer. He nods across the street to where a man is just setting up shop.
Across the road, you chat to the man and show him your bow. He coos over it a little, since he hasn't seen a Limerete shortbow in many years. He says yes, he could definitely repair it! He'll have it done by the time you leave. You also ask him for some fletching supplies.
Over the next twenty minutes, you make (5+6) eleven arrows, startling the bowyer with your speed. He hands you back your bow. The crack is gone, the area smelling of glue and tightly bound with copper straps. "The glue needs to set properly," he tells you. "Give it a few hours." You pay him
(-30 gold + -22 gold) and head back to the carriage! pulling out the whetstone and your dirk as you go.
You sit next to Lyu Brak and begin to sharpen your dirk. (6) Over the next ten minutes, you manage to sharpen it to a razor's edge, fine enough that it would probably hew through even bone! Holy shit.
Thuun strikes up a conversation with this Cyrus fellow. He asks about why the town seems so adverse to magic users, afterward he asks if Cyrus has had trouble with his own magic after the Ten-day-night, and informs him that the mayors hulkifying was because of miscast healing.
Once that is over he steers conversation toward Cyrus himself, asking about where he's from, how he became the barons advisory mage and generally gets to know the man, reciprocating his own origins if pressed.
Over the course of the trip, you hold a pleasant conversation with Cyrus about magic. It turns out that he specialises in fire magic and was responsible for keeping the town alive through most of the Ten Day Night. You sound suitably impressed. Keeping an entire town defrosted for the six or so days that Cyrus managed is a feat that few mages could pull off without dying. "But... Why does the town suddenly seem so averse to mages?" you ask. "When I got to town a month ago everything was fine!"
Cyrus shrugs. "You know how people are. Two weeks ago something cut the sun in half. The only beings with that kind of power are the Gods, but maybe enough mages together could do it too." He waves a hand up at the newborn sun where it is just cresting the horizon. "They're scared. Any mage could be the one who did it, they think. Like as not, you'll find similar sentiment wherever you go. So be careful."
The carriage stops at a small village. Cyrus vanishes into the village, presumably to discuss the missing messengers with the villager's headsman and hunters. You sit and bask in the pink-orange light of the dawn.
Presently Cyrus returns. "Not much farther, just a few hours. That was where the body was found." You all climb back into the carriage, except for Baldur who's still fast asleep.
"Has your magic been acting weirdly?" you ask the mage as the carriage rumbles onwards. "I, uh, was trying to heal the mayor's broken arm and accidentally turned him into that... beast, I guess."
Cyrus looks shocked for a moment then just laughs. "Yes, since the moon cracked my magic is strange. The first time I tried to heat the town I nearly set the people on fire! Once I accidentally froze the well somehow. Apparently they haven't fully defrosted it yet. Magic has been very odd since that night."
Your conversation slowly shifts to respective pasts. It turns out that Cyrus was a bandit mage for a while before being run through by the baron. In return for healing, Cyrus pledged fealty to the baron and to Waterstone barony. But that was a long time ago. Apparently Cyrus had never liked the bandits much; he hunted his own band down a year later and burned them all to ashes. You trade stories about your respective training regimes, even trading a few tips along the way!
Cyrus taught you a bit about fire magic. +1 exp!Bored, use Force magic to try and permanently negate the force of gravity on some pebble I pick up. Keep trying until I succeed, fail disastrously, or run out of time.
If that succeeds and I have more time, then make it glow with Light magic. If that succeeds and I have more time, use Life magic to imbue it with a bit of sentience and self-mobility. Again, keep trying these until success or disastrous failure, if time permits.
(5) Well look at that. A nice nap in the carriage and your damn headache finally leaves. Looks like your magic is good to go! As the sun rises over a dainty little village, you climb out. You're eager to test yourself, so you find a small pebble. Hmm. Force magic time!
You balance the pebble in the palm of your hand and focus the arcane energies of the universe through your mind. (2,6) your first attempt fails miserably, the pebble just sort of... rocking in your hand. But for your second attempt... well, things get out of control.
Force magic pours out of you, through the soles of your feet and into the ground. The entire area starts shaking; Lyu Brak glances around in shock before glaring daggers at you. Every pebble for a hundred feet around you suddenly lifts off, levitating between waist and head height.
You're not entirely sure when it will wear off.
you focus on Light next, returning your mind to the pebble still sitting in your hand. For some reason it refused to levitate, so in revenge you decide to make it glow like the sun. (1) Welp. Your magic fails so hard that the magic itself inverts! Shadows crawl across the pebble and the rock slowly disappears from view. You're now holding an invisible rock. You're really not sure how you did that. Could you do it again? Not without a lot of skill or luck.
Growling at this stupid invisible rock, you decide it's high time it knew who was boss. So you decide to turn it into a pet. You focus Life magics through the rock, totally unsure as to what you're doing. With enough skill in Life and Earth magic you could probably make a golem, but that is well beyond you.
(1) The rock in your hand detonates as your magic inverts into Force magic. Oh shit, your right hand is just... gone! You scream. Loudly. Thankfully the heat generated by the exploding rock seared the wound shut, or you would bleed out rapidly. As it is you... Uh... Well, you're one handed.
All of the other rocks stop floating.
You perfectly cast the earlier Force magic, so +1 exp!Baldur wraps his bear fur cloak around him and tries to catch some sleep.
You curl up tightly and wedge yourself into the corner of the carriage. Within seconds of the carriage leaving Shas Isa, you're fast asleep,
It feels like only a moment later that you're shaken awake by Cyrus. "We've found something," he whispers. "Bring your sword. You'll need it."
The five of you get off the carriage. You're in the middle of the road. It's a dirt track, well worn. There's a dead body lying about ten feet ahead of you. There is a hell of a lot of blood. To your left are some light woodlands. To your right are more woods, but a road juts off from the main road through the trees. There must be a small village, since you can smell smoke.
The three mages look uncomfortable. Their magic must be reacting ever so slightly to the blood just up ahead. You blink and notice that Ekoka is somehow missing a hand! Huh. You must have slept through quite a bit.
Lyu Brak (Harry Baldman)Profession: Priest
Status: Polishing his
rodstaff
Inventory:Staff (Bronze-Capped)
Religious Necklace
Warm Priestly Robes and Pants
Warm Priestly Shoes
180 gold
Wounds/Status: You're perfectly healthy!
Abilities: [Boundlessly Cheerful] [The Good Priest] [Not that faithful] [Righteous Litany]Baldur Bergfalk (USEC_OFFICER)Profession: Mercenary
Status: Sleeping
Inventory:Broken greatsword
Worn leather jerkin (and normal clothes)
Worn leather boots
Bear fur cloak300 gold
Wounds/Status: You're perfectly healthy!
Abilities: [Skilled Bargainer] [Guileless] [I'm Not Right Handed]Lao Thuun (BFEL)Profession: Warrior Mage
Status: Learning
Inventory: Blunted bronze sword
Leather armour and boots
Acolyte's Suncloak210 gold
Wounds/Status: You're perfectly healthy!
Abilities:[Enduring] [Atoner] [Spellsword]Spells:[Life Spell: Wisp]Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 0] [Fi: 0] [Wa: 0] [Li: 2] [Fo: -1] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0]Felice Nasib (Pancaek)Profession: Seaman
Status: Listening
Inventory: Repaired Shortbow
Eighteen Arrows
Razor-sharp DirkNautical Longcoat and Boots
313 gold
Wounds/Status: You're perfectly healthy!
Abilities: [Fearless] [Not a Landlubber] [Trick Shot]Ekoka (GreatWyrmGold)Profession: Wanderer
Status: Injuring himself
Inventory: Cracked shillelagh
Wanderer's Cloak
Sturdy Clothes and Boots
Length of Rope
Flint and Tinder
380 gold
Wounds/Status: [No Right Hand]Abilities: [Survivalist] [Dual Focus] [Maladjusted to heat] [Guiding Spirit]Spells:
[Wind Spell: Alacrity]Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 1] [Fi: 0] [Wa: 0] [Li: 0] [Fo: 0] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0] 
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Topic: Roll to Go Mad: Turn 44 - The Markets (Read 142839 times)