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[escaped lurker]

Yes, it's pretty simple, just normal words written with runic letters instead of an english ones. I expected it to be harder, with hidden meanings... But I won't spoil your fun, search for runic alphabet and decode

While I certainly would have fun doing so, I would first like to see the reception for this - still rather easy take. I do plan on adding a spoiler with the solution, once it has been sufficiently "cleared" by the forums.


Further, the ghost is actually just somewhat unwilling to help, as he has no need to oblige our call. Necromantic creatures are not the favourite of dead spirits either, albeit there is actually a semblance in nature between the two. Else the school of ( necromantic ) evocation would certainly not exist.

[escaped lurker]

Yeah~ Guess this reception says it all. This sudden semi-shift in genre seems unappreciated - Not that I'm pointing fingers or such, just observing. Guess that means no messing around with ancient alphabets from now on. Hence, The Post has been modified to include the solved version.

Actually, I really would like to try a similiar style of game at some point - As in, "wreck your brains to find out whats going on" kinda stuff. Not anytime soon though, unless this looses its momentum.

[~Neri]

Ask what it wants in return!

[Sarrak]

Oh well. A pity. Please, try something like that again in the future. It was really fun to translante... Though I was a bit lost at what we can propose to the ghost - and tried to wait for bright ideas.

Propose to get him decent burial to let his spirit rest peacefully.
Or yeah, just ask straight. But I think ghost would make his price bigger that way.

[Tomcost]

Oh well. A pity. Please, try something like that again in the future. It was really fun to translante... Though I was a bit lost at what we can propose to the ghost - and tried to wait for bright ideas.

Propose to get him decent burial to let his spirit rest peacefully.
Or yeah, just ask straight. But I think ghost would make his price bigger that way.

+1

[Mr. Strange]

Oh well. A pity. Please, try something like that again in the future. It was really fun to translante... Though I was a bit lost at what we can propose to the ghost - and tried to wait for bright ideas.

Propose to get him decent burial to let his spirit rest peacefully.
Or yeah, just ask straight. But I think ghost would make his price bigger that way.

+1

+1. Propose burial first. If he refuses threaten to take his skull as throphy and trap his soul permanently for our amusement. If he still refuses do the quest thingy...

[Chink]

Oh well. A pity. Please, try something like that again in the future. It was really fun to translante... Though I was a bit lost at what we can propose to the ghost - and tried to wait for bright ideas.

Propose to get him decent burial to let his spirit rest peacefully.
Or yeah, just ask straight. But I think ghost would make his price bigger that way.

+1

+1. Propose burial first. If he refuses threaten to take his skull as throphy and trap his soul permanently for our amusement. If he still refuses do the quest thingy...

+1

[escaped lurker]

The Plains of Grating, Fifth Age
The Age of Death, Year 625
Day 2, Noon

Thinking on it for a moment, you are quite unsure what a ghost could even want. Except maybe being left alone to dissipate. Only one idea comes to mind, and thus you voice it.









Loosing no time due to the spells limited duration, you follow the ghosts instruction on how he would like to be buried. The local custom is actually somewhat interesting, the corpse being placed in a vertical shaft and made to assume a foetal position. Even with the bones scattered around wildly, the spirit is more than willing to point out any stray pieces, making it an easy task.

The ghost also proves to be amiable company, and before long you have a lively chat going on. He claims to have been an elementalist in life, his knowledge of magic indicating that he is not embellishing this point of his past. Delving further – you strongly suspect him to also have been a chatterbox in life – you are told that his untimely demise was actually being poisoned by a love rival. The later ones feelings were not reciprocated, and with all involved long since dead, he seems to have made his peace with the whole matter.

Soon enough the grave is finished, and after you have added some sort of grass on top – it would bloom in the wet season, or so he tells you – the ghost is satisfied.










Medium Band of Gathering
One of the more coveted enchantments in arcane circles, it actively stores up to 20 mana within its gemstone, to be retrieved at will by the wearer. Almost too effective, it will even sap away at your own mana, should the surrounding area be drained of it.
Currently:
112/205 HP
32/157 MP

16 MP Upkeep to be paid within the next hour.

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Ghoulish Vessel
Strength: 11 (9)
Endurance: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 5

Skills:
Adept of the School of Necromancy
Adept of the School of Transmutation
Beginner in Feral Combat

Status:
Well-Fed - Doubled HP-Regeneration, ??
Burned Hand - 12 - Temporarily lowers your overal Strength by 2 - slowly healing
Light Cuts - 8 - Nothing a Ghoul can't take. Have been treated if necessary. - slowly healing
Deep Cut - 66 - Real piece of work. Has been treated. - very slowly healing
Mild Anemia - 7 - While not all that serious a condition of blood-loss, it slightly hinders HP-Regeneration.

~10 HPD
~40 MPD

Spoiler:  Spells (click to show/hide)

School of Necromancy - Adept
Branches: Mysticism, Occultism

Animate Skeleton – 50 MP
Raise a temporary Skeleton to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 3 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 30 MP on it.

Turn Lesser Undead – 30 MP
Allows you to destroy, render harmless or straightly take over an undead creature.

Soulspeaker – 20 MP
Allows you to contact the souls of the dead, and to communicate with them. Duration 1 Hour.


School of Transmutation - Adept
Branches: Enchanting, Alteration

Drain Energy – 20MP +50% of the drained Energy must be paid in MP
Allows you to drain a prone or enslaved creature of its mana or vitality.

Change Object – 80 MP, Duration 1 Hour
Allows you to temporary change the properties or shape of an object.

Store Mana – 40MP + Desired Amount
Allows you to store mana into gemstones.

Spoiler: Followers (click to show/hide)

Skeletal Horse Upkeep 16 Mana Per Day Slightly Damaged

" Thats actually a great find. No, really."
( I actually had my fun with the loot-table for rings. Well, mostly in the "useless but not harmful"  range. But no~. You get a 20. Again. >> )

[Chink]

"Yes, that is everything. Thank you for the information and the conversation." Grab the ring and continue onward to Mountain 1.

[~Neri]

"Yes, that is everything. Thank you for the information and the conversation." Grab the ring and continue onward to Mountain 1.

This, and wish him well in his eternal rest. Also let him know that if we ever see him again and we have the ability to and the materials, we could give him a body if he wants. (Always good to have followers that like us.)

[Sarrak]

"Yes, that is everything. Thank you for the information and the conversation." Grab the ring and continue onward to Mountain 1.

This, and wish him well in his eternal rest.

+1. But I don't think that we would ever meet again. He already got what he wished for.

[Weirdsound]

Also pay the upkeep.

[Detoxicated]

Wait for the upkeep to be spent, then pick up the ring.

[GreatWyrmGold]

"Yes, that is everything. Thank you for the information and the conversation." Grab the ring and continue onward to Mountain 1.

This, and wish him well in his eternal rest.

+1. But I don't think that we would ever meet again. He already got what he wished for.

Wait for Pay the upkeep to be spent, then pick up the ring.

+1

[escaped lurker]

The Plains of Grating, Fifth Age
The Age of Death, Year 625
Day 2, Early Evening

You thank the spirit for the information, and the chat. Your offer of possibly giving him a new vessel however, is met with stark opposition. According to him you don't even know how bad this offer is, that you are proposing to him. “Going back” would be downright creepy, or so he says. The more you know.

After bidding farewell, you pay the upkeep for your horse and don the ring. It is made from copper, with the green patina covering the ring whole, except where the citrine is embedded. You are relieved that the ghost has told no lie, and indeed you would already be able to draw the full 20 mana from it – unsurprisingly charged in the decades since his demise.

-16 MP / +4 MP?

Looking at the horizon, you pine for the left-most mountain visible there. Your travelling is rather uneventful, and the only things you encounter is a single, extremely rusted horseshoe, and a lynx that shies away from you, quickly fleeing into terrain that would be virtually impossible to cover by horse. You actually kept the horseshoe, despite knowing that the superstition about it bringing luck stems from some equine god. Still, you humour the whole affair, as today actually was a rather fruitful day for you.

As the suns descent becomes clearly visible, you arrive at the mountain in question. Its terrain is rather rugged, and while you make out what might be a brook in the wet season, there is no water to be found at this time of the year. While the flora is not as sparse as in the plains below, it is still very far from being omnipresent. There are some new grasses and herbs thriving on the rocky surfaces, but the change in overall climate ought to be rather subtle.

Slowly but surely making your way up the mountainside, you inspect any locations that might hold a place obstructed from plain view. Your efforts are rewarded after a mere two hours of searching, as behind an unassuming crack you find a rather massive cave. A quick search shows it to have multiple caves – or rooms, if you would be inclined to call it as such, with the average height about two men. It seems to have been a shrine to some presumably chthonic deity, but has been abandoned a very long time since. There still is a bit of a magical residue hanging around, but as it is very faint, it should not pose any problems.

With the beginning of dusk, you entertain the idea of taking a closer look at your neighbours one mountain over, but shortly after disperse the thought. You originally wanted to get the corpses of the two hunters to this mountain afterall. That is, if you have not had a change of heart, or even plan on staying in this particular cave.

Currently:
112/205 HP
16/157 MP

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Ghoulish Vessel
Strength: 11 (9)
Endurance: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 5

Inventory:
Medium Band of Gathering
Leather Jerkin
Woolen Pants
Leather Shin-boots
Twohander

Items:
1 Saddlebag
1 Shortbow
2 Quivers
23 Wooden Arrows
15 Iron tipped Arrows
1 Dagger
1 Rope – Thin, 4 Meters
1 Tinderbox
1 Hatchet
1 Knapsack
1 Rusty Horseshoe

Skills:
Adept of the School of Necromancy
Adept of the School of Transmutation
Beginner in Feral Combat

Status:
Well-Fed - Doubled HP-Regeneration, ??
Burned Hand - 12 - Temporarily lowers your overal Strength by 2 - slowly healing
Light Cuts - 8 - Nothing a Ghoul can't take. Have been treated if necessary. - slowly healing
Deep Cut - 66 - Real piece of work. Has been treated. - very slowly healing
Mild Anemia - 7 - While not all that serious a condition of blood-loss, it slightly hinders HP-Regeneration.

~10 HPD
~40 MPD

Spoiler:  Spells (click to show/hide)

School of Necromancy - Adept
Branches: Mysticism, Occultism

Animate Skeleton – 50 MP
Raise a temporary Skeleton to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 3 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 30 MP on it.

Turn Lesser Undead – 30 MP
Allows you to destroy, render harmless or straightly take over an undead creature.

Soulspeaker – 20 MP
Allows you to contact the souls of the dead, and to communicate with them. Duration 1 Hour.


School of Transmutation - Adept
Branches: Enchanting, Alteration

Drain Energy – 20MP +50% of the drained Energy must be paid in MP
Allows you to drain a prone or enslaved creature of its mana or vitality.

Change Object – 80 MP, Duration 1 Hour
Allows you to temporary change the properties or shape of an object.

Store Mana – 40MP + Desired Amount
Allows you to store mana into gemstones.

Spoiler: Followers (click to show/hide)

Skeletal Horse Upkeep 16 Mana Per Day Slightly Damaged

" The only signs of visitors in the cave are a few animal droppings. But I wager the locals know about it..."