Turn 3: All InYear 764, Month of:
Korroarfall
Rexxisreign
Bellia
Autumnjoy
Kia
Valor
Clammor
AlvinAbbey
Mortus
Autumnwrath
Glaciana
---
The Card Game:Pyrite and Auratus both arrive at the Infelix Family compound in Kiatown at around the same time, and are greeted by beautiful young Bellian youth who introduces herself as Chance Infelix.
"Father appointed me to entertain the gods until his return should they choose to come play cards today. A servant has been dispatched to fetch him, but I can't speak to how long it will take for him to wrap up his other affairs, return home, and change into an outfit worthy of your divine presence," She explains.
Chance does a fine job, much better than one would expect from a mortal of her limited years, of keeping her guests from growing impatient or bored. Over the course of the hour and a half wait she hosts general discussions on her upcoming marriage to Messel, the goals and troubles of the young pantheon, and the comparative merits of Draconic and Bellian Architecture. During the final thirty minutes of the wait she shows great skill hosting a frank discussion on the ins and outs of manipulation and courtly intrigue with Auratus, while at the same time asking and receiving Pyrite's advice on what to expect and do in bed on her wedding night.
Lord Infelix arrival is eventually announced, and you each notice one final thing about the girl as she rises to get the door for him; She hides it very well under her wide and poofy dress and equally wide smile, but Chance Infelix walks with a heavy limp and significant pain.
The graying Noble enters, offers each of his guests a deep bow, and calls for his cards and playing table. It is at this point that Pyrite suggests the game be located to Newbellum Castle, so the others who couldn't make it may join in, but Ryder Infelix shoots the idea down by stating that he'd prefer to take a god who takes the time and initiative to come to him.
A small table covered in green felt is placed in the room, and a deck of cards made of some exotic leather and trimmed with gems and gold is placed upon the table.
"This is the Deck of Fortune, one of the artifacts available to the winner as tribute. It is enchanted to prevent cheating, and I can vouch from experience that the enchantment works. It is also said that, when playing with this deck for truly high stakes, a player who reveals two or more aces in his hand will enjoy a stroke of good fortune, but a player who reveals two or more twos will suffer some unfortunate incident or another. I cannot say I have ever seen this occur, but I can say that I have never played for stakes quite this high."The man then explains the simple rules: One poker-like hand will be played, and the God with the best hand at the end will become the new patron of the Island Branch of House Infelix. If neither god, however, ends up with a better hand than Ryder, the noble will take it as a sign that neither god can bring the luck his family needs.
A servant deals each player two cards, and since the stakes are already known, he then skips to placing three cards on the table: The 9, 10, and Jack of Hearts. Pyrite reveals his hand first; The eight of clubs is useless to him, but the queen of hearts gives him a four card run with what is on the table, which Ryder matter-o-factly states would be impossible to beat with any combination of remaining cards before revealing that he had the Ace and the Three of clubs.
A mild expression of fear flashes across the face of Auratus, followed by a less than mild expression of annoyance. He throws his cards on the table and storms out of the room in a huff. Ryder gathers the cards for a peek, before revealing that the Dragon had been dealt the Two of Hearts and the Two of Clubs.
"Damn. I hope for his sake that the story about bad luck on the twos isn't true..."Pyrite may gain 2 prayer energy, or he may instead refocus the energy on improving Ryder as per his Scholar of the Body boon...
Auratus has Critically Failed, and will suffer on his own turn...Pyrite:You start your activities for the month by pulling Oliver aside and trying once more to modify his body. This time your improvements go off without a hitch; His flesh becomes harder, his wounds begin to heal themselves at a frighteningly rapid pace, and he gains the ability to shape his own bones into pertruding weapons.
Oliver thanks you enthusiastically, as does his mother. You feel a brief glow of power to do with as you please...
Pyrite may gain 1 prayer energy, or he may instead refocus the energy on improving Shilo as per his Scholar of the Body boon...
+New Actor: Oliver the UnstoppableNext you head to your chambers, and try your hand at dream interpretation, but the realm of dreams is a slippery place, unregulated by any deity that you are aware of. Instead of being an outside observer of Darla's dream, with some power to control it yourself, the nightmare is sucked into your mind and you pass out to dream it yourself.
You see the large gnarled hunks of floating wood that Darla had complained of. They are massive things, about two dozen strong, that seem to squirm and twitch at incalculable intervals. The Galley of Mortus enters frame briefly, but promptly turns around and flies off ahead of the wooden things as fast as it will go.
You then experience fear, pain, loss, and despair. You are sure you are fighting and losing some sort of battle, but you are unable to recall the exact details later.
The last scene of the dream, the one that causes you to bolt awake in shock, depicts your own body, and the remains of the other castle residents, suspended from the wall in pieces by vines.
After waking up, you spend a few minutes meditating on what you have seen. You get the feeling that the wooden objects are something you
should know. Perhaps you glossed over them in one of your many history or biology lessons... Either way, you find yourself too low on divine power to try and contact Darla though a dream anyhow, so you call it a month on that front.
Calling Chell, you set off for Selma's gate in search of some help from the locals in dealing with the Orcs. You announce your presence, and your intentions, but quickly run into an obsticle; None of the Pirate Lords can agree on who gets to meet with you first. After some back and forth, however, you are able to get each fleet to negotiate for their services on behalf of their lords through their various servants and lesser officers.
The smallest of the fleets in port, belonging to a relatively new Pirate Lord called Pennywise the Golden, who has a better reputation for good investments and keeping a happy crew than she has reputation as a feared pirate, is willing to take the job for the two tonnes of cut ruby you pitch as your opening offer, but two larger and more powerful buccaneer navies ask a steeper price.
A Barbarian Pirate Lord by the name of Wild Red wants the Bellians to grovel in exchange for his service; In addition to rubies he demands that he be given an artifact from the Vaults of the Bellian nobility, and three young, beautiful, and highborn Bellian woman for his pleasure.
The other large fleet, belonging to a seasoned pirate lord called Meltip the Indecent, also has lofty and presumptuous demands. She wants the rubies, like the others, but also demands that she be allowed to set up a fort on the domain islands and requests a boon, the nature of which she would rather discuss with you in person.
[This successful action has netted you an RP if you want one. Feel free to drop in on one of the pirate lords at their flagship for some more hands on negotiation. Or you can accept a deal right here. Your call]---
After you win the card game, your new vassal invites you down to his vaults to claim your prize. Aside from the deck of cards you played with, the following items are available:
-A simple spear made from a high quality wood pole, and the sharpened tusk of some sort of great beast. Ryder explains that it is a captured Orcish Artifact, and if used by a mounted warrior, said warriors steed will take on the spirit and aspect of the Bloodthirsty Dire Boar from which the tusk was harvested.
-A brown clay horn, named Spirit Stopper. You are told that it was forged from the soul of a particularly powerful Earth Elementalist, and when blown it sucks all the joy, ambition, and risky desires from those who can hear it for several hours.
-A necklace made from bits of your father's shed exoskeleton and scraps of woman's clothing. You recognize what it is and cut off the explanation; A mutual infatuation charm. When given by your father as a gift, both himself and the recipient would become bound by a powerful attraction to one another. You are positive it would work for yourself or Veilia.
-One of the Ancient Dragon Crowns, made of various rare bones and minerals. Ryder vouches that it is real, and you can sense the power within it, but nobody present is quite sure what it does. In the old days, dragons would place crowns like these on the heads of favored servants to grant them great power and compel their loyalty.
[You passed your action, so you can also have any RP you want at the Infelix house.]Auratus:Arriving in Kiatown, you ask for an audience with the head of House Riptide, and after some time his retainers show up to escort you to him.
Giaus Riptide, a man at least in his sixties, is found lounging in a shady tent on the beach. You note that a reclining seat has been set up for you right across from him. He rises respectfully to meet you, but you can sense fear, disdain, and courage inside of him. You get the feeling that this might not be as easy of a meeting as your previous ones have turned out to be.
"I bear no false illusions that this is to be a pleasant meeting, Dragon. Do not think I haven't heard that those blasted dread pirates all took up your brand at Selma's Gate, nor that I am fool enough to think that a Dragon might forgive my family the blood spilled in our great victory over you."The man sneers and snaps his fingers, and one of his attendants promptly holds his sword to his master's throat.
"If my death was one of the terms of whatever deal you made with those wicked buccaneers, so be it, but I wont allow you the honor of doing the deed yourself. Otherwise, you may state your business, so that we may both move along to dealing with those we do not despise."---
Storming out of Ryder Infelix's home, you have much to be angry about. You lost the artifact to Pyrite. You have likely lost the loyalty of Messel to Pyrite. That mortal fool may have even cursed you with that deck of his!
Your anger however, quickly turns into awe, and then dread, as a creature standing three stories tall swoops down from the sky and lands in front of you. The majestic reptilian creature is covered in grey scales, and holds the unconscious form of the sailor Chell in one of its massive hands, which it throws haphazardly to the ground before locking eyes with you and calling out in Draconic.
The Dragon's true voice is much like you wish your own could be, as it sings out with notes of divine authority and power. You also, however, hear subtle strands of pure malice in the call voice. The mortals in the street, or at least the ones who didn't straight up faint at the sight of the newcomer, all fall to the ground clutching their ears; Your great language is far too much for them to handle.
Unlike Corusu, who spent a long time poetically expressing just two emotions, the newcomer manages to express large amounts of concrete information into a single five second burst. He is a member of the Orcish Pantheon, a god of Kidnapping and Provocation, and like all Orcish gods also a god of strength and war. He knows who you are; A being of similar blood to his own, who claims dominion over the pale people who come from the sea. He then asserts his superiority over you, and declares that you are his slave, before demanding that you either submit to him or prove him wrong in combat.
You have the distinct feeling that you are outclassed, but not so much that victory or escape is completely impossible.
You have been successfully engaged in combat! Your options are: Attempt to Escape Unharmed, Attempt to Kill your Attacker, or Surrender!Ketemos:You spend a good deal of time attempting to invent a golem capable of traveling the island and educating the masses, but distraction keeps finding you.
Several days in, a strange flying spear rockets through your room with Tulwor in hot pursuit! The strange pair manages to completely ruin your progress to that point before the chase moves along to elsewhere in the castle.
You follow the chaos to investigate, only to learn that the animated weapon had straight up murdered a small child. You are heartbroken, but also quick to forgive Tulwor's resulting destructive wrath.
Next comes even more heartbreak, when you learn, again from Tulwor, that a great lizard had dropped from the sky and grabbed Chell, the girl who is his adopted sister, and likely your biological one.
Several other things also go wrong or call your attention elsewhere. You wind up wasting several more days debating the groundskeeper Dennis, who happened to be pressing his philosophical view as a nature priest that the weak and misfortune mainly exist for the benifit of the strong onto poor impressionable Veilia. You then promptly learn that Veilia may not be as poor and impressionable as you might have thought, when your luminary randomly starts moaning and describing acts of procreation and pleasure in great detail; You eventually learn that the Filthbanisher left a few of her dirty scrolls in the pile of literature that you were scanning into the golem. She claims it was a mistake, but you are aware of her obsessively organized nature, and suspect a prank nonetheless.
By the time you track down the worst of Velilia's addition, and put a few filters into the Luminary's coding to prevent it from sharing the rest with the innocent or underage, you are out of time, and nearly out of divine energy for the month.
Tulwor:About the only thing that goes right for you this month is the production of weapons for the Bellian Army. Your forge manages to produce more than enough spears and pikes to arm the men and women on the beach several times over.
+New Resource: 20000 Masterwork Spears (
+New Resource: 7000 Masterwork Pikes (4)You then decide to move along to making a less mundane weapon for your sister. At first it seems like things are going very well, and that you are well on your way to producing a true Boon-Quality artifact. That is, however, before you make two lethal mistakes. The first, in and of itself, is harmless, and perhaps even beneficial; You accidentally fire the spear on coals reserved for animated weapons, causing it to start moving and flailing erratically. It is this movement that leads to the second mistake; As you move to spill the blood of a chicken on the weapon to teach it what it is supposed to hate, the spear flails unexpectedly. It happens so quickly that you are not sure if the weapon actually knicks your flesh, or if you cut yourself in shock. Regardless, the artifact drinks your blood instead of the blood of a bird, and ominously rises into the air on black wings, set to act on the only emotion and purpose it knows; Hatred of you and your blood!
You rise, and prepare Helmhammer to meet your new foe, but the spear, perhaps knowing that doing so would aggravate you, turns and flees from direct combat! You give chase. For the next couple days, you hunt the rouge weapon across the castle as if it was some sort of game, but all that changes when you find it in the same room as June, the young daughter of the budding hero in the crucible.
Very briefly, you fear for the girl's safety. The spear detects this feeling, and promptly answers your fear in a fashion designed to bring you the greatest grief; It rises into the air, and strikes the child twice. First it hits her in the heart, passing straight through and removing a large chunk to the organ and surrounding flesh. Then, before the doomed child can even begin to slump to the ground, the weapon turns and hits her in the brain with the same destructive force and effect. Your created nemesis turned murderer is out the door and into the hall before June's mangled and lifeless form hits the floor.
With a roar and new sense of dark gravity, you double down on your chasing of the killer. This time you don't let it out of your sight. The two of crash and smash across and around the castle; Luckily, every other person or thing encountered that is relevant to your interests is either strong enough to fend off the spear's initial attack until you can assist, or protected by the defenses granted by Labyrinth Domain.
After another week, you feel your strength and energy begin to wane, and it begins to dawn on you that, at least for now, the spear is your better. Knowing that it is beyond your ability to catch, you have to settle for chasing it out of the castle so that it may not threaten anything or anyone else.
Critical Fail!
-Resource: June, Bellian Child (+2)
+New Resource: Mangled Corpse of June (+1)
+New Actor: Tulworbane, The Black Feathered LanceYou are not one, however, to dwell on your failures, or at least that is what you tell yourself. Hoping to move past the spear, and to help your sister shed her cowardice, you take Chell out to the large lawn of Rexxis Domain and begin another round of training. After a few hours of no success in stopping her flinching, you are overtaken by the urge to obtain at least a small victory, and switch the sailor over to practicing archery.
Archery practice also goes poorly at first. It is clear that Chell grew up exposed to some truly masterful archers, and that the girl is hungry to mimic their fast firing speed and technique without first mastering the preceding steps. Such as aiming. As a result of her erratic fireing, you choose to stand well back of her during the lessons.
Things abruptly go from poor to disastrous, however, just as Chell begins to take her time and direct her shots. You are struck from behind by a massive force, and sent face first into the ground. When you look up, you see a reptile, massive, gray, and winged, chase down Chell and scoop her up. You pop back up to your feet with all urgency, and charge the intruder. It is a lost cause, however, as you lack the creature's wings.
Flying several hundred feet over your head, and using your sister as a shield against any potential incoming blow, the monster lets out a howl in a language that challenges even your divine ability to comprehend tongues. To the best of your understanding, he declares that Chell is now his slave, and that you will never see her again.
With that, your sister, and her kidnapper, vanish into Corusu's storm. You run to the docks, ready her boat, and make a pathetic attempt at giving chase. Unable to even figure out what direction they were even headed in, you wander the seas for some time in a state somewhere between depression and rage before returning to the castle exhausted and empty handed at the end of the month.
Critical Fail!
-You also normal failed your attempt to rally the troops, so I rolled your failure to do so into this action
-Chell is missing. In her absence, all interactions that require transit to the island take a -7 penalty to success rate.Ketari:It takes you a few tries, and almost your entire monthly allotment of divine energy, but eventually you cause the small elephant to age and grow. It reaches its full height at 16 feet tall, and curiously pokes your forehead with its toxic trunk; Obsession and loyalty are wonderful side effects of aging a creature's brain several years while you are its only stimulus.
After a few somewhat awkward minutes, during which beast and master satisfy their curiosity relating to one another, the Pachyderm succumbs to its hunger and begins to feed on the plant matter covering your chamber.
The Neurotoxic Pachyderm has grown stronger, and Loyal to Ketari!Having obtained a key to the fleshworks from the scholarly Ketemos, you use a tiny spark of divine power to fuse the new flesh onto your own. You feel no different, and the key itself resembles a medium sized mole on your wrist once successfully attached.
-All but the most powerful of detection magic is now duped into thinking Ketari a Chimera.
Satisfied, you signal for Chell, and chart a course for Kiatown. There you retrace your steps until you reach the portal, which slides easily open at your approach. The inside of the Fleshworks is a huge open space in which hundreds of patchwork creatures work at benches to tear apart and reassemble corpses into more of their own kind. You note they are not above using birds as parts, and are not immediately sure what to make of this.
Patches sits on a throne across the room from the portal. She beckons you to approach with a huge smile.
"Do my eyes deceive me? Or does the bird eater herself grace me with her presence? Come closer friend, so we may talk, or if the workfloor is not to your liking, we may go instead to my living quarters."NPC Report:-Sarah's training goes well this month in the Crucible. She now has a Combat Power of 10. She is in a state of grace with the will of Tulwor. This state of grace will either protect her once from dying or becoming injured in the Crucible, or grant Tulwor a +50% Success Rate Bonus on one action involving her. She is presently unaware of her daughter's death. [As she is presently stuck in the Crucible, I wont bother adding her to the NPC page until she gets out]
-Patches has helped Hugoph restore his livelyhood by splicing together a sort of crop for him; fast growing and highly addictive recreational drugs. This has mollified the farmer, but does not technically answer his prayer for vengeance. The prayer will fade in a month, as the demand for vengeance fades...
-The NPCs from Ketemos' meeting last month have left.
Newbellum Castle:Jade Throne:
No lord. No temporary lord.
Miracle Bank:
4.5 Neutral Miracles (+1/2 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Ketari (+0 Per Month)
1 Miracles from Auratus (+0 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Tulwor (+0 Per Month)
1 Miracles from Ketemos (+0 Per Month)
0 Miracles from Pyrite (+0 Per Month)
Moon Chamber:
Upgrade (Cost)
+1 Combat Power (1 Prayer Energy, +2 Prayer Energy at Combat Power 30 and every 10 Combat Power thereafter)
Random Boon (3 Prayer Energy)
Targeted Boon [Grants you bonuses in a desired area] (5 Prayer Energy)
+1 Miracle or Interaction a Month (8 Prayer Energy, +8 Prayer Energy each time you take this upgrade)
Defenses:
-Sandy Domain lowers the success rate of hostile miracles aimed at Newbellum Castle, or any resident or welcome guest inside of said stronghold, by 75%
-Rocky Domain grants all inhabitants of Newbellum Castle a x3 Modifier to their combat power rolls while defending the castle in battle.
-Frozen Domain prevents the Young Gods, and anybody fighting alongside them, from suffering an utter defeat, as long as the battle takes place in Newbellum Castle or on the Domain Islands.
-Labyrinth Domain prevents creatures intent on destroying any feature or improvement made to Newbellum Castle or the Domain Islands in battle from winning a Complete Victory to do so.
-Sunken Domain allows each young god may call a single actor who is willing or bound to instantly appear at their side in a battle to defend Newbellum Castle or the Domain Islands.
The Crucible: Each month, Any sentient being in the Crucible to train has a 5% chance of being killed, a 10% chance of suffering serious injury, and a 85% Chance of Gaining 1d6 Combat Strength. Non-Actors who gain strength from the Crucible become Heroes. In addition, the Crucible can store monsters; A person in the Crucible to train may fight a stored monster each month, and if he or she prevails, that person gains an additional 1d6 Combat Strength that month, and cannot be killed or injured by the Crucible that month. Any Actor in the Castle may put somebody from open storage or a storage they control into the Crucible to train as a free action. Nobody may be freely removed from the Crucible until they have fought a stored monster at Tulwor's request, but any Actor, including an actor inside the Crucible, may use a miracle or interaction to interfere with the process and break somebody out.
Trainees [1/3]
-Sarah, Bellian Soldier (Currently Hero with a Combat Power of 4. In a state of cosmic grace with Tulwor's will and goals)
Stored Monsters [0/5]
Nexus: A room that supports a system of gates fueled by the worship of Ketemos. Once a year, Ketemos may make a free interaction at a location with a Nexus Gate. NPCs who worship Ketemos may occasionally visit Newbellum Castle. This system can be expanded outward to work with the worship of other gods, or inward to create a framework for priestly translocation magic for loyal Ketemos supporters.
Ketemos' Free Nexus Interaction:
-Ready for Use
-No warp gates available yet for use
Loose Storage:
Resources
-20000 Masterwork Spears (+8)
-7000 Masterwork Pikes (+4)
-3 Tonnes of Cut Ruby (+15)
-Stunning Pearl Necklace (+5)
-Corpse of June, Bellian Child (+1)
-Assorted Primates (+10)
-1 Adult Harpy Warriors (+3)
-9 Harpy Chicks (+5)
-Unrest the Alpha Orcess (+5)
-22 Orcish POWs (+16)
-Oliver the Unstoppable (+10)
-Shilo, the Retired Whore (+2)
-Twin Daughters of Shilo (+2)
Lesser Artifacts
-Dress of the Rose Dragon (+6% to interactions dealing with high society. Bonus halved for non-females)
Greater Artifacts
-Corusu's Wing (Once fully crewed, serves as a Combat Power 8 Host with a significant bonus to capturing weak monsters, or provides the same power and bonus to an existing naval host)
-Mysterious Egg of Power (Who knows what, if anything, is inside)
-Neurotoxic Pachyderm (Combat Power 11 Actor with a bonus to any combat in which it is trying to kill foes with a complex nervous system. Loyal to Ketari)
-Chimeric Key [x1] (As a free action, a god may bind this artifact to his or her flesh, and gain the False Chimera boon)
Prayer Glass:
Pyrite has a personal prayer glass that grants +5% Success Rate on Miracles to pick up prayers specifically intended for Pyrite. Will be automatically linked to any temples built in Pyrite's honor.
Prayers in the Main Prayer Glass:
-Answer my plea for vengeance! I was recently approached by the merchant Haze, who demanded that I sign a contract agreeing to sell my crop exclusively to him at a price lower than what I could get at the open market. My entire season's crop was set alight and destroyed the morning after I refused him. I know the flagship of his shipping fleet, The Cartel, is docked at the Kiatown Port. Sinking that would be suitable payback, but I would be happy with any sort of vengeance. From: Hugoph, Son of Hugoph, Humble Farmer Auratus is working on this... but Ketemos has a fair shot at stealing it! A foreign goddess is also sticking her nose in this?!?!?
-This is just plain crazy! There is a ship on the docks packed full of enough explosive material to level the freakin city! The boat is called The Reckoning, and the captain has blackmailed or bribed all of the dock inspected to keep them from running to the authorities. I don't even know who commissioned the shipment, and can't afford to risk my family by ratting them out to my fellow mortals, but for the sake of peaceloving Bellians, hopefully the divine can handle this matter discretely. From: Huck, son of Chuck, Customs Officer, Kiatown Docks
-For eons my people have been under the protection of the Goddess Multia, and she has shielded us from the worst of the persecution and hate born towards us. Since learning that Multia has no power here, many of us are nervous that people will treat us with the utmost contempt and violence as they did in the dark days. Please send me a sign that some god is still watching over us! From: Samwise Wildefair, Speaker for the Husbands of Husbands and Wives of Wives Pyrite has shown interest in this one...
-Gods above! For the last week I have been having the same dream, and it becomes deeper and more vivid every night. I see gnarled hunks of wood, dozens of times bigger than the largest Galleon, floating on the open sea, and then I see the bodies of myself and everybody I know and love mutilated and dangling from vines suspended from the walls of Kiatown! If this is a prophecy of sorts, interpret it for me! Otherwise, rid me of these nightmares! From: Darla, Daughter of Thatch, Humble Worker at the Kiatown Docks
-This bastard is going to get us killed! Tobbin Nightcharm, some wannabe general from a tainted family just suggested calling in freaking vampires and pirates and dark mages for a head on charge against the Orcs! Our men will be torn apart by his senseless aggression! Luckily I'm still in charge, but my health hasn't been great, and I have enemies. I need to know this madman wont be my successor! From: Gordon Lionpaw, Commander in Chief of the Kiatown Armed Force
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Topic: Isle of the Young Gods: Game Thread (Read 51759 times)