Turn 13 - Maybe Magic
Center of the world sounds good.
((I second this notion.))
"This burning heat in my heart.. I'll use it to god's will."
Feeling empowered by the rage and somewhat more sure of his good fortune than usual, Ckaeyod added, "Getting to the center of the world is our best option, it's likely the most populous and developed area. We can expect employment to wait for us there as well. That's my portion of the vote."
Arienne looks up from her stick experiments for a moment, semi-distracted, and agrees;
"Yes, probably very populated, but I have a question. What jobs do you think we may pick up?"
"I also say let us head towards the most populous areas; but then also I ask - to what good? I travel to prove myself worth meeting. And you? As for jobs - ha, well. I can fish, and I can sail. Possibly not much use in the centre of the world. Anyway, enough chitter chatter as the fat doctor would say - let's go."
Second (third?) the choice of centre of the world.
Yanethi, for the meantime, is happy just to wander on - he is aimless, but this company seems safer than none.
"Humans are twisted creatures naturally.. I blame us for none of this, we can't help it. Given that innate evil, our jobs will likely be less than savory. We might end up killing beasts, we might end up extorting money from a pauper. Who knows?"
Karlan has no real opinion. He holds up the staff, and offers it to Yanethi, Ckaeyod and Arienne in turn, letting the first one who wants to keep it.
Grab it like the greedy fucker I am.
Arienne looks up from her stick trickery (Stickery?) and glares at Ckaeyod.
"Aren't you in communion with the dark gods or something? Or at least, the gods of exploding heads? Do you REALLY need a staff of wait what does the staff even do? I'm personally trying to obtain knowledge of magic, to transcend the mundane, and I think an actual staff of magical quality may assist me in my studies.
I mean, sure, you can keep it if you want, but, you'd be being a greedy asshole."
Arienne doesn't even notice that she doesn't instinctively try to use her "seductive" charms upon Ckaeyod.
Cringing at the 'dark gods' comment and taking a complete and total tonal shift (possibly as a result) Ckaeyod looks Arienne right in the eyes. "Don't talk about that so loudly. And it's no God, don't even suggest that. As for the staff.. fine, keep it. I doubt it'll do you much good as a harlot lacks the skill required to make us of it."
Yanethi gets first dibs.
Arienne, too, cringes when she hears the word "Harlot".
"People can change. You think I was a... you think I was... you think I did that thing because I wanted to? That I had a choice? No. It's called survival. It's a thing I'm rather good at. Also, I think it's just grand to hear a cultist lecture a former prostitute about her questionable life choices."
((I know. This is all if Mallos gets it.))
"Cultist? I'm a cultist?" Ckaeyod twitches a bit at the accusation, grabs the icon around his neck with a white-knuckle grip and utters prayers to the Silver God in hopes of being able to restrain himself from saying or doing anything further.
"Can you yourself say, with any confidence, that you're not?"
"Say nothing more. This goes no further." Ckaeyod is clearly trying his best not to rend her mind or body, as he's starting to noticeably work up a sweat and shake slightly.
Arienne takes note of his apparent stress and begins speaking rather quickly.
"Although you know all that stuff I just said it has nothing to do with your personality no you're a very valuable member of the team and I can see that you're even now trying to hold back from detonating my cranium and I really appreciate that and would appreciate it even more if you continued to do so."
She also backs away.
Takashi eventually comes down looking tired yawning.
Karlan hands the staff to Ckaeyod, resisting the impulse to throw it at someone's head.
Ckaeyod smiles. "Thank you, Karlan."
"Harlot." Ckaeyod called for Arienne's by the name he gave her and hurled the staff her way at full force. "The staff eases elemental magic use, and as such I have no direct use for it. Even if it makes it slightly easier, you still won't master magic. Ever. Say the things you did a moment ago again and I will lash your mind so hard you can't speak. That's an oath, not a threat."
Arienne tensed up for a moment, tingling with fury, before suddenly relaxing.
"And what you said just then was not an insult, but a challenge.
I shall learn how to do SOMETHING useful with this stave. You shalt see."
Arienne discards the smaller of her sticks and instead begins waving the stave menacingly at the remaining stick, muttering under her breath "Ignite".
After breakfast the group leaves the inn. Quickly deciding they want to head forward and actually agreeing on a direction they manage to hold up the leaving of town with a quick tiff. Ckaeyod decided he wants the
Novice Classical Element Stabilizing Staff made of Millennial Birch topped by a Shard of Quartz Heart and capped on the bottom with Copper which from now on will be referred to as the Stabilizing Birch Staff. After some name calling he manages to get it then promptly with an insult and a threat, just gives it to Arienne anyway. A bit of head scratching later and they head out the leftward gate towards the center of the world.
As the group travels down the road Arienne discards her attempts with lighting a fire with two sticks and proceeds to attempt some fire magic. A whispered word and a wave of her stave and
[3] the area around the remaining stick gets a tiny bit warmer, maybe. Ckaeyod laughs at this while Yanethi seems to watch closely, maybe he can provide some help, if he feels like it. Though Arienne feels that maybe if she imagined((described)) what she is doing a bit more specifically there might be more of a result.
Farther along the road [5] the group sees a trading caravan traveling in the direction they are going. It is a bit slower than they are traveling so the group can easily catch up to it. There seems to be a few guards riding along side it and while covered with what looks like rough burlap even from here the group can tell the wagons are brightly colored, most likely to attract attention when they are setup for selling. [5] The caravan's guards notice the group but [5] do not take an aggressive stance, whether from being friendly or assuming your group wouldn't be a threat even if you where violent.
How does the group deal with this? [3] One person in the group did take a quick look at a map of the area and they [5] remember perfectly that ahead there is a fork in the road because of a forest. The caravan will likely take the longer and slower route for safety reasons so if the group wants they could just slow down and take the forest road if no one wants to do a meet and greet with the traders.
((Note: With magic once you have a process down for a spell or just learn a spell you can go waving wands and say words to fireball your enemies. Before that though your going to have to describe how you are trying to manipulate your mana and affect the world. So far the magic/psionics that have been used have been things that were presumably practiced already such as moving things with telekinesis so just a small description works. Though I will give one quick insight into this. The more descriptive you are the more that could go wrong but the more powerful the outcome will be though the more 'time' it will take so maybe not the best in combat.))