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[RoseHeart]

If mine doesn't win then:

Insight, Magical awakening
Wish we'd taken the magic eyes thing earlier, we'd have probably been able to see what was going on to a better degree and saved jack,  Anyway we might as well take Insight to make up for it.  Also it goes good with Magical awakening.

+1

[vishdafish]

Magic infusal
Magical awakening

[Dustan Hache]

Insight, Magical awakening
Wish we'd taken the magic eyes thing earlier, we'd have probably been able to see what was going on to a better degree and saved jack,  Anyway we might as well take Insight to make up for it.  Also it goes good with Magical awakening.

I vot for this. +1.

[Liquefied Spleens]

Something old to something new.

The water soaks away your exhaustion, and the general filth. The blood and dirt floats away, and soon spreads apart to finally disappear. Your body still aches from your wounds, and the water gives the pain a sharper edge than the dull throbbing you were accustomed to. Still, everything feels much better. After a bit of lying down, you make an effort to wash yourself properly, dunking your head underwater to clean out your blonde locks. You do your best to remove any clumps, and make sure no more dirt remains inside your hair. After that is done, you feel safer than you've felt in a week. It's almost normal again. You begin drifting off to sleep as you hear splashing behind you. The rest must have entered the lake, but that hardly matters. Let them enjoy themselves...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You see your father. The crushed look in his eyes as you left him. You see the people you slaughtered during the raid as you laughed like some sort of monster. You see Jack transforming into that hideous creature. All around you, you see people screaming as their very flesh rebels against them.
Your mark burns...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You jump awake, shaking your head. You feel a strange headache, you hit your palm against the side of your head twice. It clears up the cobwebs in your head, and you blink a little. You feel like some sort of click's been made, and you notice something weird about the fountain in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, it's too deep walk to, even with your legs being as long as they are. You are a horrid swimmer, and you could very well end up drowning. Still, something strikes you as odd. Some sort of shapes are inside. You stop thinking about it when somebody gives a tap to your spider abdomen. Turning around, you see that it is Thorgal.
I know you need some relaxation, but I should bind up some of those wounds. You may not be bleeding, but you don't want anything getting in those wounds.
You go on land, together with Thorgal. He is doing his best to not look at your exposed chest, but you honestly don't care if he sees your breasts right now. in other times you might have cared, but he needs to bandage up those wounds either way. He put together quite the apothecary, having bandages and all manner of plants. He must have been collecting these while you were soaking. You sit down, and let Thorgal do his work. He begins by crushing the plants, and rubbing them on your wounds. You cringe in pain, and yelp every time. He is not very gentle, and the stuff itches terribly. After stuffing your largest gashes with crushed plants, he begins to put bandages around your torso. He covers up a large wound on your belly, and your right shoulder. There is a visible scratch in the carapace around your ribs, but that will buff out. He also ties up your upper left arm, where the ugliest wound is. While it isn't too serious, it's quite likely to scar. the other wounds will disappear with time.

After he finishes, Thorgal looks satisfied. The bandaging isn't perfect, it's a little too tight to your liking, but it shouldn't be a problem. Of course, now that you're cleaned up and healed a little, you realize the need for some clothing. Thorgal's shirt is honestly too filthy to use, being caked in drying blood. You won't miss the far too revealing armor you got from Vvulf, but you would prefer some coverage. For now, you make some silk and bind it around your breasts. You're still showing far too much skin, but it will do for now. Due to your bandages, you can't re-enter the pool, but that doesn't stop the rest of the people here. You eventually start daydreaming, letting your eyes drift over the forest glade. You still think you see something off about that fountain, but you disregard it. Eventually, your eyes settle on a tiny skeleton of some type of salamander. It's been picked clean by scavengers, but the bones look to be in a perfect state. They've been bleached white by the sun, and you take your time counting the little ribs. There's a LOT of them, you didn't know that. Your vision seems to turn a bit purple, and six of your eyes don't seem to really follow that same idea. Suddenly, a small bolt shoots from your top eyes into the skeleton of the salamander. It's over in a flash, and some electricity seems to jump around the bones of the tiny salamander.

Then, the bones twitch. Very suddenly, the salamander skeleton turns to "look" at you with it's empty eye-sockets. You yelp in surprise, and the bones run towards you at a blinding speed, crawling up your leg. You try to grab it as it moves up your back, until it finally decides to rest on your shoulder. Once there, it sits still again, allowing your to grab it. You're a little rough in your grabbing, and you feel one of the ribs snap off. You don't pay it any mind as you look at the little creature. It doesn't struggle in the slightest, at best twisting it's little skull like a confused dog. It would be adorable if this creature hadn't spent it's last couple of days being dead.
Aha! At long last! It's about time that little nudge did it's work. Hm, as I expected, you've got some talent.
You honestly didn't hear the woman approach, and you squeeze the salamander skeleton a bit too hard. More ribs snap off, but it doesn't react.
Necromancy!? Well, well... Aren't you a rare one. Not what I'd have picked for you, but if that's where your talent lies...
What are you talking about? What just happened, here?
That little burn I gave you a few days ago. I was trying to awaken your magical potential. Looks like I succeeded. With flying colors, even!
She croaks out another horrid laugh. It gives you the creeps.
So... What? I'm a necromancer now?
Hah! Hardly. You can resurrect some minor vermin, to be sure, but don't expect anything bigger than your little friend here. You'll need quite a bit of practice before you can call yourself a necromancer, girl. Hm, still... It's a good spell you did. Looks like your creations mend themselves.
You look back at the little salamander, and see the ribs you snapped off returning to their original location, and attaching themselves with some purple electricity arcing between the parts. You put it down gently, after which the creature crawls back up to sit on your shoulder.
Why does it keep doing that?! You ask aloud, as it crawls on your back.
Because your mind is looking at it like a pet, whether you know it or not. I must say, it makes for a nice accessory.

Looking at the little skull doesn't exactly fill you with confidence. If only it had eyes, you think. Then it'd be less creepy.
Almost immediately, little orange flames fill the eye-sockets, and you see a little tongue, seemingly made out of a flame, flitting in and out of it's little mouth. It doesn't look nearly as creepy, now. It's honestly kind of endearing to see the little guy. You chuckle a little, and pet the creature. It likes that.
Looks like you understand it quite fast. Now, a word of warning. Be very careful with your magic. Improper use will destroy your body, and make you see thing no living creature should EVER see. I'm living proof of that.
She points to her blindfold.
Still, necromancy does not carry that risk, mostly. Your type of spells tend to fizzle out, instead. But be careful as you move to other disciplines, child.

Her wheelchair gains a green glow as she moves away. You watch her wander off, towards Laiko. Laiko is just sitting down, having a chat with one of the three bandits that have followed. The bandit is crying, while Laiko is just giving a listening ear. It's strange to see a man you associated with a thick aura of pure smug look so down to earth. Yunikki is swimming a few laps around the fountain, and Thorgal is dozing off in the grass.
Things are honestly very relaxing right now.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 4
HP: 12/20
Mana: 2/9
Stress:20/100
Equipment:
Webbing bra
Steel sword
Wooden shield(Well-made)
Items:
Poison-box (in your tent)
Around 100 coins and five rubies.
Wooden amulet of meditation
Wooden amulet of extremely minor healing
Magic:
Resurrect vermin: Allows you to resurrect very small creatures such as rats(1)(invests 1 of your max mana)
Reshape minion: Allows you to slightly change the appearance of your resurrected minions.
Skills:
Poison Stinger (Potentially lethal)
Major experience in blocking and swords.
Climber
Crafty: Bolas
Cooking skill: excellent
Corpse Cutting: Awful.

You guys got pretty lucky on the roll for what your talent was going to be.

[Dustan Hache]

lets point out that the fountain is strange and have someone investigate it a bit more thoroughly.
Maybe send our undead friend near it to check it out...

[S34N1C]

lets point out that the fountain is strange and have someone investigate it a bit more thoroughly.
Maybe send our undead friend near it to check it out...

+1 and search the area for other small skeletons

[TheBiggerFish]

Yeah, get more little skelly pets. 

Also maybe make some more clothes from our silk.  They saved Yunikki's life,  they'll be useful for the others if we can get them made.

[RoseHeart]

NECROMANCER

(goes back to reading)

[RoseHeart]

Yeah, get more little skelly pets. 

Also maybe make some more clothes from our silk.  They saved Yunikki's life,  they'll be useful for the others if we can get them made.

+1

Yeah let's practice making a nice looking white sweater.

[TankKit]

Yeah, get more little skelly pets. 

Also maybe make some more clothes from our silk.  They saved Yunikki's life,  they'll be useful for the others if we can get them made.

+1

Yeah let's practice making a nice looking white sweater.

+1

[RoseHeart]

You're a little rough in your grabbing, and you feel one of the ribs snap off.

You honestly didn't hear the woman approach, and you squeeze the salamander skeleton a bit too hard. More ribs snap off

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Liquefied Spleens]

Something fleshy, something silky

Considering you just acquired a way to impart life into the lifeless bodies of those long passed, you decide that you have GOT to abuse it to the fullest extent. Still, it needs to be small, and the salamander some luck. Most of the time, small creatures like this are just gobbled up entirely by the local predators or scavengers. Not to mention, a forest this large must have a few ghouls. They take care of almost any body that's left alone, but they are averse to holy areas. In short, there are no other dead critters around to resurrect. Besides, you're running real low on mana right now. You didn't notice at the time, but the paint was draining your mana while it was burning a hole through your skin. Then again, you can only feel mana as of five minutes ago, so it's not that bad of an oversight. However, you CAN do something about your curiosity. Using the little lizard, you can get an idea of what's off about that fountain! The salamander doesn't take to the idea, though...
That is to say, you have no idea how to correctly command that thing. thinking at it really hard doesn't really do anything, so eventually you just settle for asking it. When that doesn't work, you try asking politely.

You haven't even finished saying "please" before the skeleton dashes away through the grass and into the water. Without skin or anything to add water contact, and a complete lack of air, the little thing doesn't really remain on the surface. It still manages to kick its way through the water, up to the fountain. You can't quite see it at this distance, but you see tiny splash at the base of the fountain. You wander inside the water, very carefully so as to not wet your bandages, and try to peer at the fountain to see anything else. When you see the little white creature scampering around, you notice what seemed so strange about the fountain.
There's a growth on it. A growth doing it's very best to not get hit by the salamander skeleton. It's twisting like putty as the salamander jumps, climbs and claws at it. It's looks... fleshy, but there's a strange shimmer to it, making it hard to see, especially when it is moving fast. Eventually, you salamander gets lucky, and jumps straight into the strange mass. You see a little vibration shake through it as the skeleton pops out of it. It continues moving around to avoid your little minion, but it is just swimming back to you, now. When it arrives, it scampers up your front leg, presenting a piece of that mass in its mouth. An aura of pride seems to radiate from your little pet as you take the piece.

It's... odd. It's certainly flesh-colored, being a strange mix of red and purple, but more importantly there's a still moving part to it. It's too small to effectively move itself, and it's colored differently. Upon closer inspection, you realize it's a small yellow eye with a black pinprick of a pupil. The eye itself seems to be staring at you, tilting itself sideways as if it's trying to figure YOU out rather than the other way around. Eventually, it just settles on your eyes. You feel a bit repulsed by it, but it doesn't seem harmful in any way... You wander back to dry land and put it on the grass, where it seems to take in it's surrounding excitedly. Its eyes dash around, trying to take in as much as you can. You, meanwhile, decide to try and make a shirt out of your silk. You start making some, get a strand of it in your hands and continue for a while. Your silk is rather thick, being about one centimeter in diameter, and having some errand strands of silk coming off of it. As you fiddle around, trying to figure out how to make a shirt, the rest of the group is starting to leave the water. Yunikki is putting her armor on again, while Thorgal talking to Laiko about something. You see two of the bandits you don't know aren't making any movements to leave, but the one that was talking to Laiko earlier seems to have joined in with Thorgal and Laiko's conversation. He looks intent on joining the journey back to camp.

Your little skeleton pal is holding on to the webbing to the best of it's ability, but you honestly have no clue how to make a damn shirt. You can make a hammock, sure, but that's pretty much just making some lines and tying them together, not even sturdily. Eventually, you just wrapp more of your silk around yourself, making you feel a little less exposed, but it's so tight that there is still VERY little left to the imagination. Eventually, Thorgal comes closer, intent on telling you to wrap things up as people are getting ready to move out to the camp. He seems to freeze in place when he sees the little skeleton is holding your silk for you. He blinks. He blinks again as the skeleton licks it's own eye-flame, somehow. You just casually mention that you're a necromancer, as it turns out. As of fifteen minutes ago. Thorgal throws his hands up, and leaves, clearly annoyed. Still, you got the gist of it, and get ready to move. You haven't wrapped up your arms quite yet, but that's about all the silk you're going to create for now... You need some food in you if you're going to create more silk. For some reason, you decide to take the little eye-blob with you, as you find it endearing how it seems so interested in the world. It certainly looks excited as you place it on your skeleton lizard's little spine. It quickly seems to bind itself to the skelly, but the eye remains on top. As you wander closer to the party, Yunikki is trying to remove the dent in her armor by kicking the inside of it. With her iron boot, it works, and the metal relents a tiny bit. You can still see the ugly bruise on her lower ribs, and she's quite careful as she puts her breastplate on. Those have to be bruised ribs, perhaps even fractured, but there's very little you can do.

You don't see the cripple anywhere. When you ask, Thorgal explains she just silently left, saying the had "things to prepare for". She vanished in a flash of green light, and Laiko says that's quite typical of her. Laiko also congratulates you on your magical awakening when he sees your little companion, who has taken permanent residence on your shoulder. Yunikki is rather enamored with it, giving an uncharacteristic little "aww" when she sees it. She even pats the little thing on the head, leading to it raising its head in what must be pride. You can't help but smile at the little thing. It's really quite endearing, and it feels comfortable warm when it sits on your shoulder.
You should think of a name for the little bastard. You'll have to time to think of one during the walk to camp, along with a potential plan for whatever lies in wait at the camp. You should also think about Karliah, who you left behind during the raid. She should still be there...
You hope she's alright.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 4
HP: 13/20
Mana: 2/9
Stress:15/100
Equipment:
Webbing shirt
Steel sword
Wooden shield(Well-made)

Items:
Poison-box (in your tent)
Around 100 coins and five rubies.
Wooden amulet of meditation
Wooden amulet of extremely minor healing

Magic:
Resurrect vermin: Allows you to resurrect very small creatures such as rats(1)(invests 1 of your max mana)
Reshape minion: Allows you to slightly change the appearance of your resurrected minions.

Skills:
Poison Stinger (Potentially lethal)
Major experience in blocking and swords.
Climber
Crafty: Bolas
Cooking skill: excellent
Corpse Cutting: Awful.

BESTIARY OF THE FANTASTICAL

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ghouls:
A corpse that is left in a forest is likely to be possessed by a forest spirit. If this were to happen, the body reanimates, and transforms to a quadrupedal form, twisting the legs and lengthening the arms. Because of this, many report the "uncanny valley" effect is present. Despite their intimidating speed and agility, ghouls are almost entirely harmless, eating any abandoned carcass and converting it to nature magic. As a ghoul grows older, the will begin to sport characteristics of the forest spirit possessing them, such as branches, or fur. Contrary to popular belief, the reanimation of the body does not affect the soul of the departed, as all forest spirits refuse to possess something that still has a soul.

In combat, a ghoul will use it's impressive speed and claws to wound an attacker's legs, before sprinting away to safety. If cornered, a ghoul will fight with lethal intent. Ghouls are very shy creatures, and will never attack a living creature unless the creature attacks first.

Oh yeah, the bestiary is still a thing.

[Liquefied Spleens]

A talk and a plan

You can't really think of a name, and let's be honest here, you'll have to look at the situation before you can really plan anything. The journey will take a little while longer, so now's the time for some talking. You wander closer to Thorgal, you've got some question about your mark anyways.
Can I ask some things about this mark I've got?
Shoot.
What, exactly, will happen from now on? How are these attacks going to happen?
To be honest, we don't have a way of knowing. There have been very few people through-out history that have ever been marked. It's a big mix of legend mixed with truth. From what my wife could figure out, it looks any creature related to the Gestating God will home in on you, eventually. They will then attempt to create a portal to where-ever it is that they go, and take you through it. As a drider, you're resistant to their magic, fortunately. I figure the woman told you that you were resistant to "wild" magic, right?
I... remember something like that, yes?
Well, I figure that's the reason Yunikki didn't get affected. Your silk shares some of that property. Also, if you're making use of those wrappings for that effect, it's a little bit redundant.
Why am I resistant? Is this weird?
Almost every sentient creature doesn't have that resistance. Driders don't. There's some more behind that, but I don't really know anything about what.
How come you weren't affected by the ritual?
I have some runes tattooed on my thigh. They serve to help me resist magic.
The thigh?
People may want to see you without a shirt, but nobody wants to see you without underwear.
...right.

Finally, you arrive at the campground. Things are very quiet, almost unnaturally so. Seeing this place without the hustle and bustle of all the bandits is very strange to you, and the silence is unnerving. You feel a growing sense of anxiety as absolutely everything remains still. There's not even any wind, and there isn't a cloud in the sky.
D-did everyone leave to raid? There should be guards, at least.
Sydney's prisoner didn't leave, and neither did Geldstone... Maybe they're making some food?
We'd have smelled it, or seen the smoke. Everything's... still.
I suppose we're going to your tent, first. That girl should still be there, if I'd have to guess.
You agree to go to your tent, first. It's the closest landmark you've got, anyways. Your tent appears to be fine. Looking inside, there's nothing there except your poison-box and your hammock, which has been torn up. Taking a closer look, the strands look like they were torn apart. It's a little concerning.
Still, Karliah could have just started wandering. It has to get boring inside this tent, and in addit-
WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!

You rush outside when you hear Yunikki yelling. Everybody looks battle-ready, although a bit disturbed. You move to the front to see what they're looking at and...
Oh dear gods.
The towering creature before you looks like a sack of flesh and mouths. Every pair of teeth is wailing in agony as it tries to get closer to you. You can see entire faces in this massive, four meter pillar of meat. At the bottom there are arms poking out, dragging the colossal weight. This tower of flesh looks so unstable, it wobbles so much that it's honestly grotesque to look at in general. And the faces are all gnashing, screaming and biting. There are no eyes, but it's dragging itself towards you.
Your little skeleton lizard pushes itself against your neck, whether it is to calm you or itself isn't that clear. People are looking to you to lead them.

Fall back, think of a plan!
This thing may be clumsy, but it is big enough to crush you! You need a plan of attack of you're going to take it down.

Charge!
You can't let this thing start up any tricks. Who knows what kind of abilities or magic it might have!

Keep your distance, try to use range
This thing isn't that fast, you can probably pelt it with all manner of sharp objects. Of course, if that would even damage it is another question.

Other

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level: 4
HP: 13/20
Mana: 2/9
Stress:20/100
Equipment:
Webbing shirt
Steel sword
Wooden shield(Well-made)

Items:
Poison-box (still in your tent)
Around 100 coins and five rubies.
Wooden amulet of meditation
Wooden amulet of extremely minor healing

Magic:
Resurrect vermin: Allows you to resurrect very small creatures such as rats(1)(invests 1 of your max mana)
Reshape minion: Allows you to slightly change the appearance of your resurrected minions.

Skills:
Poison Stinger (Potentially lethal)
Major experience in blocking and swords.
Climber
Crafty: Bolas
Cooking skill: excellent
Corpse Cutting: Awful.

[crazyabe]

Fall back, think of a plan!

[S34N1C]

Fall back, think of a plan!

+1