Meanwhile, a familiar serpent sashays its way up the Great Trees again.
For its first quest, the serpent harvested some of the lower fruits of the tree of knowledge. It assembled a pile, then disappeared as a cloud covered the moon. Moments later, it reappeared on the surface of the First, in a pool of shadow near a Tavros encampment. It carefully transported the fruits to where the Tavros slept, then left them there.
It repeated this feat several times, visiting several different tribes of Tavros.
Deliver some fruits of Knowledge to the Tavros, to whet their appetite for learning. (Not a full Act. Literally just moving a bunch of fruit from one location to another)
Now, under a new moon, the serpent climbed the Trees again. It made its way higher than before, further and further up the sylvan towers, until it had reached the highest branches of the Tree of Knowledge. Here, the potency of the fruit was self-evident, as they radiated power. Large, but not excessively so, for it does not take a lot of knowledge to have a big effect. The serpent selected a particularly juicy looking specimen, and sank its teeth into the soft flesh.
Or tried to, at least. The skin of the fruit resisted its efforts, at first, but the serpent strained its jaw, and eventually managed to pierce through. Dark blotches quickly spread across the surface, but the tree initially refused to let go, reluctant to let such knowledge be easily obtained. But as the corruption started to spread onto the branch itself, the fruit was dropped, if only to save the rest of the tree. Again, the serpent fell with it, and again, it disappeared with its bounty into the shadows.
And again, it delivered the fruit to a tribe of Tavros- one of the ones it had brought fruit before, that would know they were good to eat, even if this particular one looked a bit... weird. Constellations blinked in and out of existence on its surface, as rainbow ripples moved across it in hypnotic patterns. Yet who could resist the temptation to try it, having tasted a few morsels of Knowledge before?
The serpent waited until morning to deliver the fruit- the Tavros awakening to the sight of the silver-scaled temptress pushing the tempting treat into their camp. It inclined its head towards them, then slithered into the shadow of a rock and disappeared.
Should the Tavros try a bite of the fruit, they would be struck with a vision:
You find yourself standing between four pillars. All but one is most unusual. The 'usual' one is made of rock and dirt, though its formation is unnatural. The other three are made of ever-flowing water, flickering flames, and churning clouds respectively. A snake appears at the edge of your vision, and speaks to you.
"Sspeak your commandss, and the elementss lissten"
You find yourself raising your hands, making strange gestures, and speaking words unknown to you. As you do so, fire streams forth from the burning pillar, forming an orb in your hands. With another word, it is banished. More gestures, more strange words: the process is repeated with the other three pillars. Now the pillars recede into the earth, and the snake speaks again:
"Find your sstrength in the sstormss", it hisses, and as it does so, you see a storm approaching.
You know how dangerous these storms can be, yet you remain where you stand, and feel no fear. When a blast of raw magic arcs its way towards you, you instinctively raise your hands, and rather than striking you down, it flows between them, forming yet another orb.
"Tell the magic what it should be", the snake says.
You speak some of the strange words from earlier, and the orb of magic transforms into an orb of water. You release it, and it falls to the ground, making your feet wet.
"Know that sstrength iss not the only ssource of power", the snake concludes, and darkness descends, before you awaken from your vision.
Act: Deliver a fruit bearing knowledge of basic elemental magic to a tribe of Tavros. Copious serpents.
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Topic: Pantheon IV IC-Thread Turn 9: Death of the Divine (always more players welcome) (Read 14640 times)