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[Salsacookies]

Is their a specific method you want to try or are you just going to grab it? Also, are you really going to attempt to jump the gap?

Also, waiting on HiddenleafGuy(Avery)

(I'm just trying to grab it. I'll jump the gap too. I'm a Mage without an aspect, and I'm desperate!)

[heydude6]

Conein [6]
Dest Eterna [6]
Cookies Mcsalsa [6]
Tomato [5]
Derm [4]
Avery Protagoniste [4]
Greeny McEmerald [3]
Auguste Vernier [3]
Atrius Tang [1]

Conein looks around himself and sees that he is pretty much dead

"Aspect... summon a giant monkey to protect me, it would be beautiful! "

Well, I'm screwed.

You begin to ponder about exactly what to do.

Conflict:
speed roll [4]
Dest Eterna speed roll [6]

After seeing a guy get hit by a giant tree, you come up with and idea. Let's summon a giant monkey, maybe he can climb it?

Pronunciation roll [5]
"Aspect... summon a giant monkey to protect me, it would be beautiful!"
Understanding roll [4]
"Starting with something basic I see"

Balancing factor
Default= 8
Modifiers: exactly how giant shall it be? (-3 upper, -1 lower), precautionary maintenance of the square-cube law (-1), knowledge of protection (-2)

Aspect d20 [4+4 balancing factor]

When your aspect finishes its words, a summoning circle appears beside your feet. It begins to glow before transforming into a portal. You see the black silhouette of a chimpanzee travel through. The shadow then begins to contort and stretch, seems to be very painful based on the shrieks you hear inside.

When the process is finished, the black fades away and you stare at your result. The chimpanzee is about your height (which is about twice the size of an average chimp) but due to the animal's tendency to crawl on all fours, it appears much shorter than that. It also doesn't seem remotely interested in protecting you which is unfortunate.

Chimp will roll [4]

It doesn't seem to be very comfortable in its new surroundings.

((TREESSSSS.))
"Summon a tree above someone. You choose."
Run to conein.

"Make a tree above someone. You choose."
Pronunciation roll [4]

Aspect Choice roll [3]
Understanding roll [1]

"I choose YOU!"

Balancing factor
Default= 8
Modifiers: halfway across the map (-3) , precise attempt at dropping on someone (-1), summoned mid air (-1)

Aspect d20 [15-3 balancing factor]

Suddenly, on the opposite side of the arena, you see a a very healthy looking chestnut tree materialize above the red mage. Training with your aspect has made you very good at identifying trees, even from a distance such as this.

Tomato dodge roll [4-1 a bit larger than your average object]

It's hard to tell from this distance what exactly happened to that mage but it seems like he got buried quite deeply in the upper leafy half of the tree.

On a different part of the map, you see a monkey materialize out of thin air. You go take a closer look.

Well... Take Atrius' aspect for myself

Hmm, body! I want you to steal the aspect from that muscular guy.
You can't be serious right?
Of course, I am!
Please, don't do this. It's not going to work. Listen to me, I'm your sanity!
Ha, Liar!! I lost whatever was left of my sanity years ago when I decided to read that tome of eldritch lore!
It was just a children's picture book!
IT HAD TENTACLE MONSTERS!!!
An octopus is not a minion of Cthulhu.
Well... uh... well... If I still have sanity, can you explain these?

Hello

sup

    ^____^                ________
  /             \            /             \
<+OO+v+OO+>    ___l      Hi       l
  \vvvvvvvv/    <_____________/
   \^^^^^/
     ------

Pleased to meet you

...

...

So I'm just another voice in your head...

Yup! You have no power over me 



Screw this, I'm out! Go ahead, run towards certain death, see if I care...

Now that that needless distraction is gone, we can finally get something done.

speed roll [5]

Hmm, it seems like a man in blue robes is challenging you to a race. Look at how he's running towards you, trying to prove that he's faster. Well if he wants a challenge, then I'll give him one!

Avery grab roll [2]
Cookies McSalsa evasion roll [3]

You zoom past him leaving him to choke on your dust. What a fool thinking that he would be able to outrun the likes of you. He was even running in the wrong direction.

Anyway, now for the hard part.
*THUD*

Or not... seems like a giant tentacle has made a convenient bridge for you.

agility roll [1]
agility roll [6-1]

Walking on a slippery, slimy, giant, gelatinous tentacle is a lot harder then it sounds. You make it a third of the way there before slipping and falling into the pit.

CURSE YOU TENTACLE MONSTER!!! I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU!! NEVER!!!
Quit whining like a baby, there's a copper railing you can grab onto if you're quick enough
Wait, I thought you said that you left.
Well... it turns out that despite our ability to independently talk to each other, we are still part of the same soul meaning that I can't leave.
I don't buy that, there's no such thing as a soul. If it actually existed, then that means that all the bullocks said by the Church is correct as well.
Since when did you ever go to church?
I don't. The voices, they tell me things.


    ^____^                ______________________________________________________
  /             \            / True. Anyway boss, Yboleth says that in order to find salvation, \
<+OO+v+OO+>    ___l  you must slaughter 100 children and chant the words... Mildred.  l
  \vvvvvvvv/    <___________________________________________________________/
   \^^^^^/
     ------

NEVER! I worship the Great Toady One, your tentacle god will never sway my beliefs. Also, keep me away from children, last thing I want to do again is encounter their... books. *Shiver*


    ^____^                _____________________________________
  /             \            /                                                            \
<+OO+v+OO+>    ___l You cannot escape your destiny prophet...   l
  \vvvvvvvv/    <__________________________________________/
   \^^^^^/
     ------


You know, our god's name isn't Yboleth.

How do you know? No one in the church knows his name. As far as we know, this might be the same god, just trying a different approach. I always advise caution.

Have you ever considered Atheism?

Of course, due to this conversation taking place entirely inside your head, only 5 seconds have passed in real time.

agility roll [6-1 one arm]

You find the copper railing that the platform travels across and grab it. The good news is that you are no longer falling to your death. The bad news is that now you are stuck below the third floor, hanging over an abyss with a rack and pinion gear heading towards your hand.

Also, it's dark.

(If you don't move, the gear will crush you. If you move far enough counter clockwise, you'll buy yourself an extra turn. After that, you'll have to get out or else the gear will crush you for sure)

"I can think of a few maps not useless. Hey magic sphere thing hello it you are nice. Silence the Derm words Derm speaks not tomato though for a long time thank you a lot."

Roll to the left and a bit up.

You begin to roll around when suddenly, TREE!

Dodge roll [4-1 a bit larger than your average object]
Endurance roll [2]

You manage to avoid the trunk, but the leafy top still manages to bury you. Several chestnut seeds and pointy branches scrape your skin. God that hurts! After giving yourself a once over it seems like you are bleeding in several places.

This sucks, that's true, but look on the bright side. Now you can be the ultimate bushmaster! Tomatoes grow on bushes right?

Still, DEM MAGES MUST PAY!!

Pronunciation roll [4]

"I can think of a few maps not useless. Hey magic sphere thing hello it you are nice. Silence the Derm words Derm speaks not tomato though for a long time thank you a lot."

Understanding roll [2]
The aspect seems to be completely confused.

Pronunciation roll [5]
"Derm words are words by other not muscle wizard"

Understanding roll [1]

"Eyes are filled with lies and tomato bushes"

You decide to observe your surroundings, you see nothing but leaf.

This whole comprehension/pronunciation thing is unnecessarily complex and I won't take part in enabling it.

Also mostly because screw dialogue.

Large cup made of the heaviest stuff you got! Generate it over my opponents head! Equip all armor, grab torch, burn Atrius with torch.

Also throw lamprey at Atrius. Make sure I got the gloves on first though.

You decide to talk to your aspect before putting on your gauntlets. A smart move since that means that your hands are still capable of making skin-to-skin contact with it, something that is required in order for your aspect to actually be able to cast magic. Before this aspect was captured, it didn't need these things in order to be able to cast magic. It was free as a bird. Now he's yours... you feel sort of guilty about this but it's for the greater good.

Pronunciation roll [2]

You let out a large burp.

Huh, guess it's gonna be mano a mano. Of course, first we need to gear up.

Derm speed [4]
Winged Cave Crawler speed [1]

Not this time my friend. You managed to put on the gloves before the lamprey could reach you.

Grab roll [5]
Evasion roll [6]

You successfully grabbed the WCC with both of your hands. This victory doesn't last for long though. Sensing the new danger, the WCC begins to emit an ear piercing shriek forcing you to let go and cover your ears. Now freed from captivity it flies away from you. Guess it's had enough.

There isn't enough time to put on leggings so you begin going for the other guy. Ignoring your sword, you decide to grab the torch instead. It's a tiki torch meaning that it has a long shaft. You wield it like a flaming spear and begin walking towards the orange hulk, preparing to thrust. It feels familiar somehow...

Derm to hit roll [6+1 Long shaft]
Atrius Evasion [4]
Atrius Endurance [1+1 thick hide-1 fire]

*Schhtkk*

That is the sound the torch makes as it penetrates the skin and enters the body. Nothing fancy, all it took was a single fluid motion (Although it is surprising that you managed to penetrate all those muscles. You were just expecting to burn him, not this!). Nevertheless, He's out of time now. His spent last moments staring at you with disbelief, then after accepting his fate, with mourning. Suddenly, his face begins to twist into an expression of horror, his lips start moving but before he can utter any sound, he spontaneously combusts. You check behind you to see if you can spot what horrified him. Nothing unfortunately...

You retract your torch (still lit) from the flaming corpse and let it fall to the ground. If you didn't know better, you would swear that his blood was made of gasoline. Seriously, it's burning very well. Warming yourself with his dying flames, you think about your time in the arena. Suddenly you here a *Dink*.

It was the sound of his aspect falling. Guess the satchel holding it finally burned away. It rolls out of the fire and onto the sandstone floor, perfect for grabbing.

1 down, 9 to go.

This is gonna be a long day.

Recover from the horror I have just witnessed, then run towards and tackle the nearest mage, attempting to grab their aspect as I do so.

After listening to the reassuring voice in the sky, you man up and prepare to do what men do: be violent amoral sociopaths. At least that's what all the bullies at school taught you. They get all the girls so they have to be right!

Anyway, so let's see, who shall we kill first. Hmmm... there's that new mage. One thing you learned from the bullies is to always pick on the new kid. He's even trapped under a tree, Score!

But before you can begin to beat around the bush an even juicier target appears. A one-armed crazy man. If there is one lesson more important than picking on the new kid, it's picking on the handicapped. Never pick on someone your own size.

You begin to run towards him...

?? speed [1]
Avery speed [4]

Grab roll [2]
Cookies McSalsa evasion roll [3]

You manage to miss your tackle. You wish you could say that he dodged it but he didn't even seem to be paying attention. It was all your fault. Of course, you can't let him know that. To admit that one has faults is to throw away everything that being an assho- I mean man means. Let's just say that you decided to be a merciful and benevolent leader that simply let him go free. Yeah, that sounds nice.


But it seems like some denizen down below doesn't agree with you for suddenly you are assaulted by tentacles... well, more like tentacle, but if it's any compensation, it's a giant one.

?? to-hit roll [2+1]
Dodge roll [4]

To your disappointment, the tentacle appears to be floppy and impotent. It lands on the ground competently missing you. When it hits the ground, it makes a very loud thud and a disturbing sucking noise.

will roll [6]

"Hah!! Suck on that deep one!"

You begin to go on a curious train of thought. If an abomination that looks like it came from hell hates your manliness, then that must mean that the abominations that come from heaven love you...

God loves me... never thought I'd say that again.

*Suddenly a swarm of Winged Cave crawlers fly past you, leaving you surprisingly unscathed.*

Will roll [6]

It's a good day to be a di- I mean man.

Atrius says to his aspect "Oh, don't hiss at me!  I need you to work with me.  Come back when you are in a better mood."  He puts the aspect in his bag and goes after Derm.  Get in the way of Derm equipping the armor, try to break his arm holding the aspect.

pronunciation roll [6]
"Oh, don't hiss at me!  We need to work together.  Come back when you are in a better mood."

understanding roll [6]
"Huh, what are you talking about? Anyway, good luck Atrius. I don't think you'll need it though"

Aww, that's a nice thing to say. He even used your real name. Aspects almost never do that.

Spoiler: A small reminder of your initiative roll (click to show/hide)

[1]

Spoiler: A small reminder of Derm's initiative roll (click to show/hide)

[4]

Turns out that while you were placing your aspect back inside your satchel, Derm had already put on his gauntlets and dealt with the lam- Ehem sorry, "Winged Cave Crawler". Anyway, he's walking towards you with a flaming stick.

You're not afraid for you have a plan! First you'll charge at him like the mindless brute he thinks you are. After closing the distance you'll suddenly begin strafing to the right, hoping to get a karate chop off on his left arm. He'll be too surprised at the sudden use of tactics allowing you to strike true breaking the arm holding his aspect. Their is only one problem with his plan... he's not holding his aspect.

Minor detail, NOW CHARRRGE!

Derm to hit roll [6+1 Spear]
Atrius Evasion [4]
Atrius Endurance [1+1 thick hide-1 fire]

Your charge is interrupted by the sudden loss of feeling in your legs and a burning sensation in your chest. At first you're confused, but then the revelation hits you like a freight train. He got your heart. Somehow that BASTARD managed to penetrate your skin, skewer the muscles, break your ribcage and stab your heart with a mere stick! He wasn't even using it right! A quarterstaff is meant to be swung! NOT THRUST! And to add insult to injury, it seems like he also got your spine.

Then you realize that there's another side of the story, you're dying. The legendary orange hulk is dying. As your innards continue to be incinerated by your torch, you begin to feel... c-c-c-clarity. Suddenly it all makes sense. Life isn't about fame and glory, it's about the little things closer to home. It's about making others happy. Sure, if you won you would have had power, renown, wealth, but those aren't what's truly important. You feel like a fool risking everything for these things, you could have just escaped by jumping. Did you even have a chance if you stayed? Probably not...

Seems like you're running out of time. You feel warm inside and the darkness surrounding the arena is fading. Soon you were gonna see what's on the other side.

And you finally do...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Filled with horror, you begin to open your mouth trying to scream bu-

Atrius Tang has burst into flames!

"I can't believe this. Okay.... Aspect, de-age the guards to infants and turn the doors to dust."

Guard speed [2-2 messed up perception]

Hearing another thud, you decide to rush things and destroy the door rather than look for a key.

pronunciation [1]
"How unlucky, Aspect give the guards some youth and cover the door in moss."

Understanding [3]
No!! That is stupid plan that is incompletely productive. The grass will do nothing other than alert the guards and the youth will only improve them. I'm not in a good mood so be smarter *Censored*.

Pronunciation roll [2]
You try to explain why your plan isn't stupid. Unfortunately, you are too overcome in emotion and begin speaking in angrish.

Understanding roll [2]
Your poor speaking skills also reflect your poor understanding skills.

Pronunciation roll [2]
You are about to try explaining one more time but you wonder what's the point and just give up.

Anyway, it seems like the commotion is attracting the attention of the guards on the other side of the door.

Awareness [2]

You have no idea what they're doing, but whatever it is, it probably isn't good.



Mana build up and mana drain are now gone.

You guys inside the arena also notice some more WCCs arrive.

Spoiler: The Arena (click to show/hide)

Floor 1


Floor 2


Floor 3

Brown circle is the monkey, the lamprey of COWS and the lamprey of FIRE should be self explanatory, tomato is completely hidden in the tree, tentacle is obvious.

Spoiler: The Future (for Auguste) (click to show/hide)

Grey guy is guard, portal is obvious.

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Derm
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel, gauntlets, leggings,
Inventory: Aspect of grails, Longsword
Dual wield: Tiki torch
Effects: Cannot perform agility rolls that require hands, forearms and legs gain bonuses to endurance rolls

Cookies Mcsalsa
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Empty
Left hand: Severed
Right hand: Empty
Effects: -1 to agility rolls that require hands

Avery Protagoniste
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Empty
Left hand: Empty
Right hand: Empty
Effects: none

Auguste Vernier
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Empty
Left hand: aspect of time
Right hand: Empty (Injured)
Effects: -1 to agility rolls that require hands
Status: Injured right hand, if an action is performed with the right hand, roll for endurance to determine the effects of pain. This includes actions like carrying stuff with your right hand. Specify which hands you want to use for an action.

Atrius Tang
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Empty
Left hand: aspect of might
Right hand: Empty
Effects: -1 to agility rolls that require hands. All strength checks auto succeed. +1 to endurance.
Status: Buff

Greeny McEmerald
Equipment: Wizard robes, handbag,
Inventory: Empty
Left hand: Empty
Right hand: Empty
Effects: none


Tomato
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Aspect of Silence,
Left hand: Empty
Right hand: Empty
Effects: none

Conein
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Aspect of Monkeys,
Left hand: Empty
Right hand: Empty
Effects: none

Dest Eterna
Equipment: Wizard robes, satchel,
Inventory: Aspect of Trees,
Left hand: Empty
Right hand: Empty
Effects: none

Spoiler: GM note (click to show/hide)

So as you can probably see, I decided to write today's update with more risque humour this time. It's a big risk, because if done right, it can be quite funny. If done wrong though it'd feel like it was written by an immature 12 year old and no one wants that. There's also the fact that I took charge of several people's characters just for the sake of humour. The most notable being me giving Salsacookies' character a split personality. So tell me, did it annoy anyone?

The main reason why this update took so long was first, due to being swamped by schoolwork, and secondly because several turns went though constant rewrites and very vigorous editing. The longest turns were Atrius' and Derm's. Surprisingly, writing the turns for the 3 new players was easier than writing 1 turn for Derm. Perhaps I hold myself to too high standards.

Anyway, you guys probably noticed but I came up with a new magic system. The way it works is that their is a standard d20 roll and the DC is 10 like always, but now there is something called a balancing factor.

The balancing factor starts out at 8 but it is changed through modifiers determined by the spell you try to cast. What the balancing factor does is that it pushes a value closer to 10. Getting a total dice value lower than 10 means that a spell is weaker than what you asked for. Especially low values will also cause spells to deviate in certain bad ways. A value higher than 10 means a spell more powerful than what you asked for. I would recommend you to view a 1 as horribly wrong and a 20 as horribly right.

If you roll a value that is lower than 10, then the balancing factor will be added to the roll in order to get as close to a value of 10 as possible. It will never overshoot.

example: balancing factor=7
             d20 roll= 5
    total: 5+4

If you roll a value that is higher than 10, then the balancing factor will be subtracted from the roll in order to get as close to a value of 10 as possible. It will never undershoot.

example: balancing factor=7
             d20 roll= 15
    total: 15-5

If you stack on so many modifiers that you get a negative balancing factor (summon a whole forest for example) then it will conspire to keep the dice as far away from 10 as possible. Unless a flat 10 is rolled, then balancing factors do nothing.

example 1: balancing factor=-2
             d20 roll= 9-2
       total: 9-2

example 2: balancing factor=-4
             d20 roll= 12
       total: 12+4

What I hope to create is a system where simple spells are easy to pull off and are predictable, while more ambitious spells are more difficult, random, but potentially rewarding. In many RtD magic systems that I currently see, most spells are equally difficult, usually going ambitious merely worsens the consequences if you mess up.

And finally, upper and lower balancing factors. Sometimes, due to the nature of a certain modifier, it effects rolls that go above 10 more than rolls that go below 10. This represents the fact that some tasks are easier to overshoot, than undershoot or vice versa. Let's take for example pulling the trigger of a BB gun. You can either pull it so hard that the trigger breaks, or pull it so lightly that it doesn't create enough pressure to activate the mechanism. It's easier to do the latter. Don't worry, I won't make you roll strength rolls to determine whether you can fire a gun, but this analogy makes my point clear.

In a nutshell, only apply upper balancing factor modifiers if you roll something higher than 10 and only apply lower balancing factor modifiers if you roll something lower than 10

NAV(tomato) if you want, I can retroactively change your aspect to maps if you would prefer maps over silence.

Anyone can view the spoiler at the end of Atrius' turn.

[Dermonster]

I completely forgot I had a sword.

"Hey Might, can you make me jump good?"

Grab the aspect. Infuse myself with MIGHT enough that I leap across to the center ring. Dash to the right and attempt to get onto the north platform as the rotating thing swings around. Then grab stuff.

[Salsacookies]

...Flirting with death is fun.

Move counterclockwise for my extra turn, then begin my climb from below the third floor, somehow. Then look for the closest aspect to steal when I have climbed out.

((Keep up the humor, I enjoyed my insane character. I can see why he's so insane, what with so many near death experiences and disappointments. Never shoulda got that aspect of pain.))

[H4zardZ1]

"Grow a new tree from below the leaves."
Dodge any attacks, without counterattacking. Go southeast, but only a bit.

[conein]

"come on! Make the monkey twice as big!"

Imagine if I had rolled a 20 on the giant monkey. Sick.

[ATHATH]

"Derm! Don't make the same mistake that other guy did! Go downstairs (to escape the pocket dimension), and jump out to escape!"

"So, is everyone else in this guy's head also dead?"

[heydude6]

"So, is everyone else in this guy's head also dead?"

I prefer to keep that ambiguous, you'll figure out eventually.

[ATHATH]

"So, is everyone else in this guy's head also dead?"

I prefer to keep that ambiguous, you'll figure out eventually.

That's why I'm asking them. I'm assuming that the voice with the same color as me was me?

[heydude6]

Is it?

[ATHATH]

Is it?

I hope so.

[Javarock]

Hey can I be put on the waiting list? It seems like fun, and you still got a lot of aspects to collect before you can win

Name: Benny
Color: green with purple glow

[heydude6]

Waiting on Avery, Tomato, and a pm from someone.

[NAV]

Yeah sure maps retcon.

"Hey map dude who definitely isnt silence map me the way to the nearest delicious tomato"

[Slayer1557]

((Probably for the best.  I honestly wasn't feeling this game.  Best of luck to you all!))