Nix: ConfrontationI will take Unseen Fangs.
I will also use Shove on the box of silverware before the father enters the room, knocking the silverware onto the floor, and use Unseen Fangs to make him bleed.
As the boy's mother stands up in alarm, the table shakes. The box of silverware tumbles over and scatters all over the floor. Her breath catches as the door swings open.
The man staggers unsteadily into the house, smelling of alcohol. "Look at this mess! What have you been doing, you useless bitch, I work my arse off all day and come home to find the place looking like an imp's bumhole, you trying to get me killed, you demon-spawned -"
"Calm down, dear. You've been drinking again, just sit down and try and relax-"
"RELAX! How can I relax when I've got two mouths to feed and the Dragon's lackeys coming around to rob us blind, slaving away in the field so that we don't wind up on sticks like old Melson and his kids!"
"Please, not in front of the child-"
"And YOU!" he shouts at the boy. "Because of YOU, I have to work twice as hard to keep your sorry...ungrateful..." he slurrs into muttering, "Ought to let the Dragon take you himself, gonna not gotta be easier on all of us, IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU WE WOULDN'T -"
He takes a step forward, raising his fist before staggering drunkenly forward and falling face-down on the forks and knives scattered all over the floor.
"NO!" the boy's mother screams, rushing forward to tend to her fallen husband's wounds.
There is a heavy pot precariously positioned on a shelf right over the husband's head. If it were to fall...
Spirit Evolution - You may choose one of the two following abilities:
Soulforge: You temporarily bind yourself to a believer, enhancing their senses and physical abilities.
Minor Healing: You slightly accelerate a target's natural healing ability.
Shove: You can impart a small force on physical objects.
Unseen Fangs: You can increase the chance for a target to be wounded by sharp objects that they can't see.
Comforting Aura: Your presence brings a sense of safety, instilling confidence in believers.
I Attempt to Start the Gunpowder while the gun faces a chicken.
The gun goes off! A musket ball strikes a chicken and the poor bird explodes in a spray of blood and feathers. The chickens fly into a panic and begin running in every direction. Two of them fly towards Charlie, startling him!
The maw of the grue closes, hiding the void inside. When it opens again, a large eye has replaced the void. The eye scans the area, focusing on the rusty nails.
Cast Unseen Fangs on the rusty nails of the doorframe.
Charlie stumbles backwards and collides with the doorframe. Three nails scrape against his shin, leaving a wound like a claw mark from some kind of large animal. He screams in pain and panic and bends over to inspect his wound.
Possess a chicken, and have it tap on the window or door of the farmhouse, attracting the attention of Charlie's wife
A chicken jumps onto the window and begins frantically beating its beak and wings against it. Charlie's wife opens the window and sticks her head out. "What's all this racket?"
"Some kind of varmint's broken into the coop! Scratched my leg bad, it did."
"Did you get 'im?"
"Don't think so. I think it's still here." He grabs a pitchfork and hands her a rake. "Come on out here 'n help me."
Scene elements:
The gun (empty)
An oil lantern providing light (outside)
Some metal pots that can be used for bizarre and improbable ballistics
A window
A bunch of chickens (with sharp beaks and claws) running around the yard in panic
An exploded chicken
A small latch holding the fence closed
A bunch of loose, rusty nails sticking out of the doorframe
Charlie (outside, injured, holding a pitchfork)
Charlie's wife (outside, holding a rake in one hand and a lit candle in the other)
Shove: You can impart a small force on physical objects.
Possess Chicken: You may directly control the behavior of a single chicken, or vaguely influence the behavior of several.
Chicken Affinity: Your influence increases around chickens, but decreases away from chickens.
The Grue gains a new ability:
Nocebite Unseen Fangs: You can increase the chance for a target to be wounded by sharp objects that they can't see.
Fear Aura: Your presence creates a sense of terror, making believers panic at the slightest sound and increasing the chance of injury.
Nocebite: Deals damage directly to a target. Only works if the target expects to be attacked by something.
Darkness Affinity: Your influence increases in the dark, but weakens in the light.
Strife Sense: You passively gain a bit of knowledge about the future as pertains to creating and encouraging conflict.
Strife Aura: Your presence increases egoism and anger, increasing the likelihood of conflict.
Inflame: You may cause flames to increase in strength and increase the likelihood of objects catching fire.
My recommendation to Octavian: Lazulo, Rhodes, Sky, Rosa, and Bruin.
Octavian considers his options. Lazulo certainly seems like the saner of the ship captains, and besides, Rhodes could provide the muscle in case there's fighting. Sky appears to be from the Cyan school of religious counseling, judging by his robes, which means he should be handy at keeping Rhodes under control if nothing else - and may be handy at diplomacy with Sinocard as well. While Octavian is initially wary about bringing a woman aboard the ship - a dainty upper-class or maybe even a noblewoman, judging by her looks, her clothes, and her purse - he reconsiders when he realizes that a berserk fighter and a man of the cloth won't be of much use out in the wilderness. He briefly considers hiring Gorman as well as Bruin, but is unwilling to part with the last of his coin for a possible fleeting advantage.
With ship and crew, Octavian sets off for the far-off country of Svartwald...
A few days into the journey...
Rhodes and two of the crew members, Calvin and Bran, are starting a new game of
Reaper's Triad and are looking for a fourth. Seems Rhodes has been winning so far, the last player has been forced to quit. Octavian has been watching them for a while, turning his coin over in his hand. The box is hidden safely away in Octavian's quarters.
Lazulo is in his quarters. He has requested not to be disturbed "unless the ship is actually under attack".
Sky is reading a book called "Fixing the Unbroken Light".
Bruin is below deck, playing with a kitten he found.
Lady Rosa is by herself on the upper deck, looking across the ocean.
Spirit Evolution - You can pick one of the following abilities:
Face Reader: You become very good at reading faces. It's hard to hide secrets from you.
Curiosity: You may make a believer curious about something.
Knowledge Influx:
Reaper's Triad is a card game that rewards audacious decision making and high-stakes countermoves. Seems Rhodes relies mainly on the first part, since he has a terrible Reaper Face. Admittedly Octavian isn't a champion at the game, but beating him should be easy with a bit of supernatural help.
Mental Influence: When a believer wavers on the edge of a choice, you can directly influence their decisions.
Money Sense: You passively gain a bit of knowledge about the future as pertains to business deals.
Bound Form (Coin): Your presence is currently bound to a particular coin. This increases your influence, but renders you unable to move independently.
Oh, makes sense. I'll evolve triproots. I think I'll take the route (root? hehe) of a being the spirit of a single tree
With my new ability to slightly manuever the roots of the trees, the traveler sleeping underneath of me feels some movement. I want her to wake up, to be wary; I do not know who is coming.
The traveler stirs and blinks her eyes.
"Argent? Is that you?""This probably isn't the best place to sleep, my lady.""There's a Guardian here. Besides, you know that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She stands up, brushing off her dress.
"Why are you here? Don't tell me the Red Knights are moving already.""Not yet, my lady. Even so, I thought it best to check up on you. And perhaps to talk you out of your madness, if such a thing is possible.""If you think it's a possibility, you don't know me nearly as well as I believed. Besides, we both agreed that cutting off the Enemy's source of power is the surest chance for victory. Especially if he already has won the heart of the Queen.""If he has, it may already be too late.""Not necessarily. You know how long he has craved dominion over the Eastern Lands. He will try to manipulate her. That buys us time - but only if we do not play our hand too soon.""The Red Knights can get the job done in a night.""If you think I'm going to allow a band of barely-sane barbarians and fresh recruits to slaughter an entire village of innocents -""I know, I know. I just thought it best to bring up that the option is still on the table, in case your plan goes awry. When do you expect to begin?""I will arrive tomorrow morning, and spend a few days gathering information before revealing myself. Hopefully I can find something of use." She pauses for a moment, thinking.
"And what news do you bring of our eight-legged friend?"He smiles.
"I encountered him crawling about in the South and had a little chat with him. He told me all he knows, I'm sure of that.""And?""Nothing we didn't know already, I'm afraid. Seems he let his juicy little catch slip away.""How irresponsible of him.""On the contrary, it was a rather clever way of keeping us in the dark."She considers this for a few moments.
"Did he scream?""Horribly.""I take it he won't be causing any more mischief, then.""Not for a while, at least. But I'm sure he has yet to weave his last web of lies.""You let him go!""He is much more useful to us alive than dead. Incidentally, did you know it's possible to gather Red from monsters?""Well, if any man could make a bogey feel fear, I'm sure it's the one standing right in front of me.""Take care of yourself, Aurelia.""You too, Argent."The man slips away into the night. The woman leans back against the tree.
"You know," she says,
"This place could turn out to be rather important in the coming days. You'll watch over it, won't you?"She falls back asleep.
Argent is heading
SoutheastThe village is toward the
NorthwestYou gain a new ability:
Nymphwalk.
Calming Aura: Your presence creates a powerful sense of calm, reducing the likelihood of conflict in your presence.
Triproots: You may cause roots to shift slightly and trip up people walking nearby.
Tree Affinity: Your influence increases among trees, but decreases away from trees.
Nymphwalk: You can separate from your home tree and move around, but your influence diminishes as you move away from your home tree.
Green it is.
Attention,Draw Kevin mind to the green girl and green staff on the train, specifically decorations and the girl's clothing if any of it green.
Kevin turns around. Both of the girls are wearing gray, just as Kevin himself is, as well as all of the other first-years on the train. However, one of them does have bright green eyes, a green leaf-shaped hairclip in her dark hair, and a pair of small emerald earrings. The other has a pale complexion and purple eyes, which are apparently a thing that exists, a purple headband in her light, almost white hair, and an amethyst necklace. Apparently the school's dress code does not cover minor accessories, or perhaps they just didn't care.
"You two seem to know your stuff," Kevin says as they turn around to look at him. "I've been reading up on the Six Schools" (that's a lie) "and I've been thinking about going into the Green Class. Can you tell me a bit about it? It's about summoning spirits, right?" He pauses and holds out his hand. "I'm Kevin, by the way."
The Green girl grins.
"Esme," she says.
"And there's a lot more to being a Green than just summoning spirits. You're from an achromatic family, I take it?""Uh..."
"It's fine, there's nothing to be worried about," she says.
"Amy and I come from long lines of chromatics. I'm from a Green family, and she's, well, she's Magenta. It's pretty much a given that we're going to wind up picking our family schools. But you're new. You shouldn't go jumping to join a school just yet - they don't even let you pick one until you've completed all of your introductory courses.""Oh. Well, that's a relief, I guess."
Esme motions for Kevin to come over and sit with them. Amy looks a bit annoyed, but she doesn't say anything.
"Anyway," she says,
"As I was saying, Green isn't just about summoning spirits - though it is true that we get the best summons.""Only because you can't do anything on your own.""Quiet, you. The truth is, the Green school is mainly about harmony. Balance. Peace between humans, nature, and spirits. That's why we get the best summons - all of the schools can bond with spirits, but we Greens specialize in creating bonds with spirits stronger than ourselves. As Amy will gladly tell you, that's a pretty big no-no for the Magenta school of thought.""Rule number one of summoning: Never summon anything you can't dismiss.""Exactly. That's because the Magenta school is all about control. But Greens prefer to befriend their spirit companions. So relative power level isn't so big an issue. We even have a trick called a soulforge, where we allow a familar to use our own bodies as a vessel - the same way many other spirits will bond with an inanimate object." Amy visibly shudders at the thought. Esme smiles widely.
"Also, we're pretty good at healing, growing plants, and communicating with animals. So there's that to look forward to.""I see." Kevin thinks about this for a while. "But how do you 'befriend' a spirit? What do humans have that spirits like?"
"You can't." Amy says bluntly.
"Actually, it's pretty easy if you know what to look for. It kind of gets into the whole philosophy of why there are spirits in the first place, and what they are exactly, but...""We have arrived at our destination," a voice says.
"Everybody line up and exit the train in an orderly fashion. Welcome to the Great Academy of Chromatic Magic." Attention: You can draw a believer's attention toward a particular location or item.
Butterfingers: The pen becomes slippery, causing it to fall out of someone's hands.
Danger Sense: You passively gain a bit of knowledge about the future as it pertains to danger.
I am Familliar,but only to the young kitten at sea.
The strange part was the number of rats she helped catch by me.
My charge is named Calico, little daredevil is she.
But I don't particularly mind, since I need company.
My name is Akeraun.
(I am a Familliar bound to a kitten. The kitten flushed out a rat infestation in the ship's pantry. We are out in the open ocean.)
Calico is nestled in a small hole, looking out at an enormous hulk of a man holding his hand out.
"Come on out, kitty," he says.
"I'm not going to hurt you."Spirit Evolution - You may choose one of the following abilities:
Soulforge: You temporarily bind yourself to a believer, enhancing their senses and physical abilities.
Confusion: You cause a weak-willed target to become momentarily confused.
Curiosity: You may make a believer curious about something.
Comforting Aura: Your presence brings a sense of safety, instilling confidence in believers.
Shaa and The Fool will be included in the next update.
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Topic: Chromatic Spirits RPG: Ghosts to Gods (Chapter 2 - Strange Creatures) (Round 8) (Read 34046 times)