Turn 10: Partial CreditOk first off metal magic to get the grate around Ventaro's hand to no longer be holding him. If I could pull he metal up and out for my own use, that would be even better.
And keep investigating the pipes/rods/whatever and why they don't respond to my magic easily. Also, use some air magic to try to create some wind in the pipes. If they're hollow, it should work, or at least I should feel some purchase; if they're solid, I won't feel anything.
[1] You fuck up. You fuck up hard. Instead of warping his hand free, you suck yourself down there to join him.
...or at least, you should have. You felt the connection go all sideways and were prepared for the inevitable conclusion, but the magic couldn't seem to "latch" onto the metal like it should have. Even if it were resistant to change, it should have been a firm anchor for pulling yourself in. Instead you just kinda stumble forward half a step while trying to salvage it, and are then fine. Curious.
[3] You don't sense any air in the pipes you investigate. That would seem to indicate that either they're solid metal, or they're so full of whatever they're carrying there's no room for air. Ooh... or that whatever's blocking you from messing with them is blocking you from messing with what's inside them.
+1 Metal"Uhhh.... anyone got a light? I seem to have dropped something..."
Jeffery wades around in the water, searching for his Icy Shard. If possible, he tries to extend his magic into the metallic contents of the water (fallen rust from pipes, or just the natural minerals in water) and shifts them around until he locates the Icy Shard.
He then pops back up, and tries again to bring the Shard into contact with one of the pipes. This, time, with a solid grip.
If Ventaro is still drowning due to his teammates failing to rescue him, Jeffery instead uses his second action to try to pull him out of the water.
[2] You can't find it anywhere!
[4] You do tug Ventaro free, though. Ally vs Icy Shard... well, 1 is still greater than 0, at least.
Ventaro freedIf I haven't been rescued by this point, I guess it's time for something drastic. I was saving this to try to get a Soul Rend ability later, but...eat the wraith essence and use my alchemy to refine it into my body:
1 Alchemy for Base action
1 Seduction to swallow it without breaking or harming the essence or vice versa with the alchemy.
1 Alchemy Passion for the effect to be a spectral form (or a spectral aura that can make things ethereal to also cover my possessions if the form won't do that.) OR if I can use a normal alchemy point for that, do so and use the passion for some sort of spectral attack or modification to to physical attack capabilities.
1 Alchemy Passion to make the effect at will.
4 Alchemy to account for my snake blood if necessary and help this work without getting myself killed or maimed.
For my second action, try to remove my hand from the grill and get out of the water.
If I have been rescued by now, offer Erin more of the potion and observe the effects with my alchemical knowledge. Give him up to 1/4th of the original volume of the elixir gradually, stopping when effects manifest. (5 Alchemy)
For my second action, study my mote some more.
[6] Does feeling queasy count as effects manifesting? Of course it doesn't, drink up you wuss. Clearly he's dying of plague from your weird toothpick sap potion. Or maybe it's rough on his stomach.
[1] You stab yourself right in the godsdamned tongue. How did that happen? Well you were licking it like usual and pulling toothpicks out of it with your tongue like usual and something went wrong so you stabbed yourself in the tongue with one of the damned things. Ow.
Maybe you should specify how you're studying it next time.
Thtabbed Thongue: Owthch.
+1 Medicine, +1 Seduction
OVERLOADED: DON'T MAKE ME MAKE YOU PASSION SEDUCE AN ALLY"Let us forge ahead, then."
Necromancy: Then at least create the equivalent of a mental necromancy thermometer to figure out when/if the taint is going to be a problem.
See if Enchantment can be used through the prismatic gem, then. If not, try to fix the locking.
Vote: Forward to more pipes, which also seems to be the majority opinion. I dunno, I haven't re-read the posts.
[4] You channel some of your necromantic might towards keeping an eye on this... issue.
[6] You hurl the gem down the hallway. Distance will sometimes help with these matters, but in this case it persists, holding firmly to your enchantment potential. On the bright side, this makes it easy to find again, since you're obviously connected to it.
+1 Throwing PassionYou all head deeper into the pipe-filled hallway, which continues to get pipier. Anna's sort of chilling in an underwater cave or passage she found? But the rest of you scout ahead, and notice a thrumming sound that gets louder the further you go. After a while it resolves into the unmistakable sound of machinery pumping away, and the path opens to a sort of open-ish area of grate flooring punctuated by large metal structures or devices of some kind. The area is bathed in weird, inconsistent light, looks pretty verdant for a loud artificial cavern, and is currently inhabited by several dog-sized tentacled crabs screeching and advancing on your delicious meat from all directions.
"That looks inconvenient. Want a hand with that?"
Command my familiar to solve this puzzle for us!
[1] Lady Irstivfell squawks indignantly before pulling on the levers. You're not sure if she knows what she's doing or just very enthusiastic, but each lever pull results in distant rumbling which she doesn't seem to stop and consider before throwing another. She hits most of them several times before finally coming to rest on one, at which point the door rumbles open and a shrieking flurry of translucent violet tentacles bursts from the entryway.
Lady Irstivfell shrieks loudly and bolts under your hat.
+1 Animal HandlingFine. Tell one of the jackals to go over and press on the door. If it doesn't explode or otherwise get menaced go over and try to open the door myself. Use transmogrification magic to distort it if my strength won't work.
If something unfriendly comes out from the door, use all my flesh magic and a point of passion to reduce it to giblets. Then eat the remains.
[6] The thing doesn't respond to flesh magic, so you just forge a jackalchain and begin carving it like a blob of peanut butter.
Unfortunately there's a lot of it. It keeps bubbling through the door, sucking up the parts you cut off. Or maybe just rolling over them, it's a block of goo so it's hard to say.
Damage dealt to goo-thing?
+1 Flesh
1 Flesh Passion Spent: No increase
New Trait: Warflesh 1Ventaro Aureus (Beirus)
7/11 HP
[Tsundere Glowing Cobra: Best girl is winning!]
[Snakeblood: You've infused your own flesh with glowing snake venom. Now you don't have to worry about dying from glowing snake venom, and probably don't have to worry about side effects from this!]
[Thtabbed Thongue: Owthch.]
-
+5 Alchemy (2/5)
+3 Herbalism (2/3)
+3 Brawling (1/3)
+1 Seduction (2/1)
[1 Medicine Passion]
-
Slapdash Gumbo 1: You're adept at throwing whatever into a pot and hoping for the best. You can create potions with unpredictable effects out of highly questionable materials.
-
Normal Clothes: Green tunic, brown trousers, black leather boots. Downright mundane!
Everfull Flask: Put liquid in, slowly replenishes that liquid! Empty fully to replace with new liquid.
Glowing Mote: This spherical object glows with a brilliant yellow light. You feel like there's more to it, but aren't sure how you'd check. You've managed to pull a glowing toothpick out with your tongue, though, so that's something.
Dusty Wraith Essence: Refined from Wraiths! Not Nightmares! Nobody said nightmares, it was always wraiths! Perfectly safe, cleans right up.
Strange Elixir: Deep purple sludge with a bit of sparkliness to it. Made from glowing toothpicks and tree goo. Intended to be a potent healing potion, unsure what it actually does. Missing a sip.
Devorae the Devoted (Caellath)
11/11 HP
[Melded Taint: A terrible corruption lurks within you, too spread out and integrated to be immediately noticeable. What you can't see still occurs, however.]
[Peasant Mistrust: The peasantry sullenly thinks you don't value them as people. You're not sure how to persuade them to not take so much offense at the truth.]
[Necromantic Thermometer (-1 Necromancy): Keeps an eye on the taint suffusing you.]
-
+5-1 Necromancy (5/5)
+3 Leadership (0/3)
[LOCKED 3] +3 Enchantment (2/3)
[1 Mace Passion]
[1 Throwing Passion]
-
Noble Crimson and Gold Military Attire: Includes fancy hat so you know who to take orders from.
Fancy Scepter: Hardened to a proper weapon by an enchantment.
Mad Dosh: This fancy-looking chest is filled to the brim with gold coins bearing Devorae's benevolent face.
Prismatic Gem: This smooth crystal shifts through all the colors of the rainbow in beautiful cascades. You could swear the pattern's reacted to you a few times, but you're unable to repeat the event.
Jeffery Kentwood (Coolrune)
8/11 HP
-
+6 Summoning (0/6)
+3 Metal Magic (0/3)
+3 Spears (2/3)
[1 Geology Passion]
-
Douchebag Jacket: He's presumably wearing pants or something too, but GODS what an asshole.
Amulet of Farsight: Like a telescope but WIZARDS!
[LOST?] Icy Shard: This bright blue crystal shard is ice cold to the touch. You get strange feelings of enthusiasm when holding it for too long.
Speedy (Wiry Ball)
Low HP
Low Attack
High Speed
Erin Quill (Glass)
3/11 HP
[Maimed: Fallen Hero's Limp: You walk with a limp from that one time a horrifying flesh amalgamation went apeshit on your dramatically billowing in the wind ass. Mobility and inspiration suffer.]
[Protein-Calcium Consulate: You and your skeleton serveas dual consuls in joint rulership of your body.]
[Nine-Toed: You don't wanna talk about it.]
-
+5 Artifice (0/5)
+3 Metal Magic (1/3)
+3 Air Magic (1/3)
+2 Crystalguns (1/2)
[1 Diplomacy Passion]
[1 Statecraft Passion]
[1 Tactician Passion]
-
Trickshot 1: You have a knack for hitting small objects at improbable angles. Not to deal damage or anything, just for knocking cards out of people's hands or lighting their cigar from a distance.
Dramatic Breeze 1: A gentle breeze seems to billow your hair and clothing dramatically. You are more inspiring to allies and more of a target to enemies.
Flenser 1: You're adept at striking across foes rather than through them, shredding flesh and rending soft tissues. You may deal more damage to soft targets.
-
Labcoat: Also pants.
Cloudstopper: This overly crystal-y gun-thing shoots shards of crystalline magic at targets.
Leaf Stone: This brown stone has what looks like an imprinted fern on one side. You're quite certain it's magical somehow, but it seems almost suspiciously unreactive to anything you've been able to expose it to.
Anna Greenbell (Sheyra)
8/11 HP
[Core Husk: Your body is just a husk. Your real essence lies in your heart. You can expand your life force out to restore your body to life, but any damage to your body while doing so will greatly damage your life force.]
-
+7 Vitamancy (1/7)
+3 Destruction (1/3)
+3 Protection (2/3)
+1 Exploration (0/1)
[1 Hammers Passion]
-
Smoldering Core 2: Your life force is concentrated in your heart, rendering you somewhat gaunt but resilient to injuries anywhere but your weak point.
-
Kimono-Thing: Somewhere between a shrine priestess and a vagrant you'll find this alluring number for all your vagrant shrine priestess needs.
Gravity Hammer: A giant rocket-propelled hammer. Shockingly, it's wielded by a mage.
Weight of the First Sin: This red crystal smolders with inner heat. Holding it makes you feel tired, hot, and nervous.
VonNost (pw)
11/11 HP
[Gnawed Cancerous Jackal Ball Broodmother: You're a ponderous but lengthy lump of hideously warped jackalflesh. Jackal-things cling to you like leeches, gnawing mindlessly upon flesh until ordered otherwise by crude impulses, and more of them burst from your flesh from time to time.]
-
+6 Transmogrification (0/6)
+3 Flesh Magic (2/3)
+3 Vitamancy (0/3)
-
Warflesh 1: You are adept at wielding your own flesh as a weapon. You can more efficiently convert and wield your flesh in weaponized consistencies and shapes.
-
White Lab Coat: Lots of good things come from men in lab coats.
"Necessity": An ominous looking syringe, seemingly forged from heavily tarnished iron in an unsettlingly organic design. Eternally filled with potent anesthetic.
Bloody Heart: This pulsing red gemstone is carved into a stylized heart. It's warm to the touch, but the surface feels like liquid blood despite leaving no residue.
Erntrinsticia "From" Frombollywhotsit, Lady-witch of magnificence! (Egan)
11/11 HP
-
+5 Corvid Magic (1/5)
+3 Death Magic (1/3)
+3 Fashion (0/3)
[1 Haggling Passion]
[1 Animal Handling]
-
Fashionable Witch Outfit: All black, all hat.
Lady Irstivfell the Raven: Very wise! Hence the obsession with shiny objects and tasty food.
Sparkling Bottle: This tiny glass flask contains a glittering emerald liquid. It's strangely mesmerizing to watch, but you get the strange feeling it's watching back.
5 Whiskey Biscuits: You think they're made of cactus fruit?