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[helmacon]

Update coming tomorrow morning ish probably, sorry. Stayed late at work today and kinda over did it maybe.

For future reference, the thread title will change when there is a "real" update. Will answer questions when I wake up, cause I'm edging psychosis rn.

[Naturegirl1999]

Get some sleep

[helmacon]

Okay so, first things first; answering questions.

In terms of action points, do these reset every turn or do they stack? So in the case of Pharros, they've spent four, would they gain five next turn and now have six, or would they return to five?

Action points represent both ur divine power/potential, and also the time/other investment to act. These will reset each turn, though you could make preparations or take actions that will allow you to bank them up to an amount. Since i didn't mention this explicitly before, and I don't want to delay the turn further to allow yall to reformat actions and spend the other points, i will allow unspent points to stack for just this turn so yall don't end up penalized or at a disadvantage for my own mistake.

((Honestly, I’m a bit confused about we attacked the kobold. Did they help demons at some point? Did they attack us first? Or did an old mage just hate kobolds for some reason and start propaganda against them? An actual question for the GM))

-other speculation-

In the world that you came from, humanity had unified into a single imperial ethno state, and eventually conquered and exterminated all other races. Kobolds survived until the end because they were not really a threat in the way other races were. Even so, with other races and bigger threats out of the picture now humanity was moving on to exterminate kobolds as well.
Kobolds however, were not simply hiding the entire time the world was being burned down around them. They gathered information on the plans of your empire, and while they could not find a weakness to let them survive or strike back in any real way, they did discover the ascension ritual.

The three mages were the most important magic users in the empire. Your work both unified humanity and drove it to victory. Your ascension as gods of a new realm was your self given reward for your conquest of the old one. It is the pinnacle of your research and understanding and power, and a final testament to your mastery of that world.

The kobolds interrupted the ritual as a last hope for the survival of their species, seeking a new home in a new world. What alliances and truces you make in this new world are up to you, but divinity =/= invincibility. So long as the kobold wears the amulet, your mastery of this world is less than it could be.


update will come in my next post, but i wanted to keep this a separate post for organizational reasons.

[helmacon]

Opening Moves

RED

Create Life -3 AP: Create a species of beetle that collects metals for its exoskeleton and nest

5

The figure in red robes reaches out, the first to stretch their true power in this world. A will is imposed, and a rush of divinity stirs winds around them as reality caves to their touch. Is this what it is to be a god? There is no ritual, no incantation. No rules to follow as with the magic of old. She simply wills it, and it is so.

A great heat and energy begins to melt the beach in front of her, and the glowing molten morass begins to form into creatures, shapes with their own design. It is a subtle stirring at first, and then all at once! Massive beetles burst fourth a meter in height each, shaking drops of still molten sand from their carapace. One cracks its shell and wings of delicate glass still cooling shimmer in the air. It beats them once to take the measure of the wind, and then bursts into flight. In a moment the pit on the beach has become a swarm, a million shimmering beetles take to the air. They will find a place to burrow, to nest. They will hunger for the many metals of this earth untapped, and feast. Their shells will grow hard as iron, and their horns sharp as razors. These beasts will be common in places under the earth.


Yellow

Create World Action 3AP

The voice trails off, magic weaves about the yellow one, striking hard into the earth below with a tremendous roar. Firmament cracks and splits, the ground shudders as an elephant's share of marble is thrust from the schism. "May this tooth mark our arrival. And seal our ascension!" With that, at a 60 degree angle, the marble is cloven, shaved and sheered where a perfectly flat surface remains, polished to a mirror shine. The skies above open up where twin moons gaze down, their cosmic beams of pale light enrapture the mirror. A chant of the olde tongue reflects images of this quiet world, they search for something.

Scrying 1AP

"Great Seerstone of mine own design, find our interloper, our heathenous bandit, and never again let thy eyes off its detestable form!"

--

The one in yellow seeks to create a permenate fixture, aught of use for mages three; a mirror-like Seerstone of marble that unerringly reflects the image of the kobold known as Vylt.

2

Pharros is the next to act, eager to experience godhood for themselves. Perhaps too eager. From the glowing pit left before a giant plateau of marble begins to rise, but perhaps their focus slips, perhaps their companions actions have left divine power here unstable. No matter the cause, what was for a moment an even flat slab of marble rising slowly from the ground fractures and radiates out in fractal patterns. The elegant simplicity is lost in a dizzying reflection of divine complexity. Nonetheless, the structure is made. A dozen concentric circles of marble marked by dizzying swirls of magic. The Seer Stones will provide a +1 to scrying actions performed here for any familiar with the magic of divinity.

5+1-4

Pharros frowns, just for a moment. It will do for now. Perfection is less of the essence of time.
Nonetheless when they begin to scry, they are far more careful. Their concentration blooms outwards, and the reflection on the center stone begins to waver.

The image on the stone begins as a reflection of Pharros themselves, sitting cross-legged in front of the stone. Then, slowly at first but ever more rapidly it begins to pull outwards. The images races across continents and then oceans and then land again, at last settling upon the image of a kobold. For a moment the image is clear as the kobold seems to be looking at the ground in front of them, but then it snaps its head up, staring directly into the stone, and the image comes apart into a cloud of static and shadowlight. Pharros curses, fighting for control, and when at last the image clears again the kobold is gone and all that can be seen is a giant yawing cavern entrance, stretching deep into the earth. 


Blue

Thine name with cloth covered in life and chaos shall be Sarros. Thou art a male.

Create Life Action

The world turns and shakes as Sarros works his magic. Out of his efforts emerges a gigantic squid with telepathic and mind related abilities. “Thine name shall be Xelqu!”

Install Loyalty Action

Perhaps worried that Xelqu will turn against him due to the dirty thief, He adds a loyalty spell when he makes it.

5

While his companions busy themselves with beetles and maps Sarros sets his ambitions higher. A god must have a god like servant, and he will make one. He reaches out and casts his power into the ocean and the air itself beginning to shimmer. The ocean roils, and the fish flee from such power. The kelp trees rooted in the floor twist and knot themselves together and seem to melt and fuse. A shape begins to emerge. Xelqu, thine of a thousand tentacles! The mind of a thousand beasts! It thrashes the water, and lets loose a psychic birthing scream that crack the air. All three mages, gods as they are, wince at its sound. The seer stone flashes and swirls, the image of Xelqu forming again and again and again. This is a beast of the gods! a monstrosity of the deep! Its presence commands the attention of all gathered.

4+1 vs 6+1

"Xelqu!" Sarros roars above the crashing of the waves. I am your master! Your creator! Submit to me!!
The best screams again and lashes out, massive tentacle swishing through the air and crashing into the sand where the incorporeal Sarros stands.

"SUBMIT" He roars again, focusing all his strength, his will against the beasts mind. For a moment the waves still, the thrashing subsides. For just a moment, a hope of victory begins to blossom in Sarros, before the air itself explodes. The psychic shock sends all three newborn gods flying, incorporeal as they are. Static swims in his vision and Sarros struggles to stand again. Horrific scenes of water and stars flash across the seer stone until a hairline fracture spits the center and renders it dark.

By the time the mages have picked themselves back up, Xelqu is gone. The beast has fled into the waves. Sarros stares out over the ocean, while Pharros checks on his seer stone. The stone is still functional, though it bears a scar. NatureGirl examines the corpse of one of her beetles who had lingered on the beach. It shell is untouched, but its mind is gone.
Having survived one psychic battle with the gods, Xelqu will be more difficult to tame in the future. For now, it roams as a power of its own.



Kobold

Vylt looks about himself. It has been many migration-cycles since they have seen the sun. They were one of the last to do so, before all of kobold-kind was finally forced underground.

He sighed. A shame they’d yet again find it necessary to go to ground, then. But secrecy was paramount here. If they were being hunted, they would have little time to do the work they needed to do.

Still, he took a moment to appreciate his body, which felt stronger than it had in years. His age had been catching up to him; now, he feels as if all of his youth has returned.

Regardless. Focus. There is work to be done.

Vylt weaves a Great Magic about himself, pulling together a veil of stardust, stone, shadows, and secrecy. Let those who seek him out find naught but wisps around the corner, leading them on wild chases, never catching sight. The earth is a place to hide.

Feeling more assured of their secrecy, Vylt sets about his second working, worldshaping. Below the surface, stone and metal churn and shift. A vast cavern system grows, where once such was uncommon. Vylt knows that to achieve the scale they desire, they cannot specify much of the caverns’ nature, but that is no matter; more specific regions can be constructed at a later time. What is needed now is a place to find.

With that done, in a feat of small magic - small for a god, at least - Vylt’s form wavers and becomes translucent, and they dive into the ground, phasing through it to reach their cavern sanctum.

Upon reaching the depths, Vylt considers his options. Kobolds will need to be created, eventually, but to do so now would provide them nothing but a target on their back and his; they are too obvious. A different race might be more useful to begin with - but, ah, it may be best to let that wait until the locale may be more effectively established.
Hmn.

Absentmindedly, they wonder, and as they wonder, their powers scry to answer. Who, beside us, are the gods of this place? But the answer shall remain locked in his own head, until he has reason to share.

Question answered, Vylt sets to yet another work of Great Magic. A curse on the underground, or a blessing. The caverns shall shift, twisting and turning, such that direction is meaningless and the walls form or disappear behind you. Yet in this working, so too is declared an exception: where mortals congregate and live, where they sign the mark of the pickaxe in the walls, the caverns shall lie still, that they might build their homes to their desires.

And finally, within these deep stones, close to the heat of the core, Vylt builds a small forge. It does not look impressive; in fact, it looks cruder than anything humanity might call an acceptable forge. It barely looks “made” at all, more closely hewing to a natural lava spout with a big, flat rock next to it. But it is suffused with divine power, and suits Vylt’s needs. A place to forge, just as the earth.
And with a place to forge, forge he does, using minor magics to pull metals to himself for use, crafting them into a set of tools. A pickaxe, small enough to wield in one hand, good for mining and self-defense; and a shield - buckler, really - to deflect the blows that may come their way.

Construction done, Vylt moves on. It would not do to stay by something so easily located.

4

Many miles away, a kobold stretches in sun, on a different shore. His admiration of the warmth is short lived however, as he feels the prickle of unseen eyes on his scales. The mages he stole from have not forgotten it seems. The battle is not over yet. With a thought he sets the magics about him into a whirlwind. This will be sure to scatter and search for him by magic means. With another, he sets the patterns in place, that this enchantment might follow him. The pendant glows pleasantly warm against his scales.

3-1

This is to be a world for kobolds, and kobolds are nothing without their caves. This world is sorely lacking in such natural features, so this will be his first task. He places his hands upon the ground and concentrates. The world begins to fall away, massive chambers opening before him. It is slow, and difficult though. His magic seems to stutter and change. It is difficult to control. Suddenly he realizes, his enchantment is interfering with his work! It will continue to do so until it is dispelled.

The caverns are massive and stretch for many miles. Mountains could be lost in these caves, but it is not quite the continent sized wilderness he had hoped for. It's a start, he thinks to himself.

Auto success

With one last longing glace at the sun, he whispers a word and whisks himself down under the ground. Nothing is left on the surface but a single massive cave entrance at the edge of the jungle.

5-1

Here in the depths he finds himself in a grotto. A still pool of water in a dark cavern. He casts a simple spell, and touches a claw to the surface. The pool will show him answers. The sound of dripping water will whisper secrets.

3-1

Satisfied with his information, he sets about his second task. Deep caverns will do much to protect his people, but the old world has taught him much. Caves, no matter how extensive, can be explored. Labyrinths, no matter how complex, can be plotted out. It is not enough. He will set the walls themselves to shift, the earth itself will become unnavigable. It is an ambitious work and the enchantment does not help. He manages, after a sorts. Places seem to shift in the dark, but general directions will remain the same. nothing will travel too far from where it starts, and walls marred by picks will lose this magic, but an army would lose itself in the dark here. He has made it such.

3-1

3-1

A few last minor tasks await him. He draws magma up from the depths, and smooths stone for a forge. The walls are left unmarred, this place will shift and hide itself.

He draws all manner of metals through the earth to him here, and they fill the chamber. This world is plentiful and common ores are in ready supply. Iron and copper and silver and tin. Even chunks of gold glitter in the dark. The pool that gave him answers before will cool the metals now, and the magma keeps the air warm and lit. This is a workshop of great natural beauty and potential.


For this turn only
unused ap will roll over. This means for the next turn:

Red will have 7ap

Yellow will have 6ap

Blue will have 5ap

Kobold will have 12ap.

This is only for the next turn, after which unused ap will not roll over!

[Glass]

It is of little matter that the cloak interferes; remaining unseen, untracked, is most important. What would be the use of all the defenses he constructed if those who would do him harm could look upon him at any time? No, it was suitable to do these workings at a slower pace in exchange for protection.

Metals at hand, however, it is finally time to make his tools. With two small magics, Vylt sets hand to his metals, shaping iron to a pick, copper and tin to a shield. No place for silver and gold here; pretty metals, but lacking in utility. But iron, iron is his. Iron is strong, iron has use. So too, bronze.

Working done, he sets to a more important task. Expanding the caverns.
Twice.
The world shudders and shakes as yet more caverns branch from Vylt's first tunnels, a twisting, shadowed labyrinth growing ever further. Twice does the world feel the grip and pull of iron, piercing the underground through, twisting the subterranean domain. With any luck, there may be more area within these caves than is available on the surface.

But the caverns are merely created, there is no life to them yet. This would not do, of course; they are meant to be lived in, to be a world unto themselves. Once more, therefore, does Vylt turn to great magic, spreading fertility about this underground domain. Let the walls overgrow, let glowing lichens and entangling roots fill the tunnels, and all their ilk. Bare stone hides one from what lies above, but not that which might search within; verdance, however, may conceal one from even the most determined of trackers.

Yet even as the realm of the underground is seeded with life, so too is secrecy written into its (metaphorical) bones. With one more great magic, Vylt writes into the nature of these caverns:
All those who seek shelter and safety in the darkness may find it here; those who would hunt them will find their efforts wasted, as shadow and stone together thwart their search. Any who attempt to abuse this shelter, however, to ambush or deliver harm, shall find that shadow and stone abandon them, and as naught shall find them, so too shall they find naught.

[Unraveller]

The Yellow clad Pharros is awash with the very brief gratitude to their current incorporeal state, hoping they would never deign to cross paths with the beast of a thousand tentacles that their comrade in Blue so boldly set forth. Wiping the proverbial dust from their layered spiritual robes, Pharros is the first of the three to speak, as often it is, "Weild thy power carefully 'o brother. Impart thine favour upon the wrong beast and set a spiral of our downfall in motion." The lordly figure says at first, seething within. "Be it not our fullest potential three, 'tis still half as good as any god. Let us first redouble our efforts. . ."

With that, the wizened one directs either of their sibling mages' attentions toward the surface-split Seerstone. They bend their will upon it, recollecting the image of that burrow where their divine bandit once stood. "Look now o' would-be-gods, our quarry bides their time 'neathe the earth, the stone, the seeds of our very creation. I shall keep our eyes six upon them, I shall be sure of it!" Indeed, though it seemed strange hidden magicks and clandestine desires had obscured their augury, but while that beast in the mockery of man saught darkness and quiet, Pharros saught the roar of the stars.

Create World Action: 3AP

The vision of Pharros is one of an everlasting monument; again they cracks the earth below as it shudders from some far off force. Below the marble slab whose image warped and twisted with every passing glance, yet more brilliant white stone rose. In dreams of yore, the Yellow clad mage saw it once, knowing with certainty it would come to fruition, a great spire, a tower, like the very spine of the earth stricken from its skeletal cage and thrust into the great heavens beyond. The Seerstone would be brought with it, carried to the highest point, in which the wizard dared to be beyond any cloud or fog. There it would revel in its greatest element, there the cosmos, from which divination, augury, and sight sprung from, would empower it. Pharros' seeded stars, brilliant light, and impossible colour, would this child they planted be aught of worth?

From there, Pharros was certain of it, illusory though their body was, they would come to call this spire of pure white their seat of power. Not only a locus to shift knowledge and foresight into their favour, but truly a monolithic mark denoting the presence of the three. The mage in Yellow was nothing if not suspicious, even for all their blind pride. They knew such a construction would be a target, either now, or in the far off future, no better a time than to ward it's stone walls.

Create World Action: 3AP

If the spire of marble could not reach the heavens itself, then Pharros would bring the heavens to it. With a strong, measure sweep of their arm, flowing robe abaft, they saught to twist, to weave, to wrap the nebulous dust and light around the tower as it were. Hoping all manner of this divine cosmos would envelope, obscure, and yet more empower this holy place. And with that, Pharros spoke its name, "Moonview. . ." they began, "May you grant us infallible sight!"

[Naturegirl1999]

NatureGirl decides to be called Sanguine, less syllables.

Sanguine sees the cave and thinks Why not go there? The kobold is there. and so she goes to the cave entrance and goes inside. Once there she creates bioluminescent fungi within the cave to bring light to this place. (Create Life-3AP)

This done, she notices the silence. The beetles might not have found the cave yet, if they have, she didn’t find them. She creates a species of spirits that protect the fungi from harm. (Create Spirit-3AP) finally she thinks back to Xelqu and tries to communicate directly with Xelqu, sending sadness about the attempted quelling of will, and sending the feeling of curiosity about the ocean, as well as sending her findings in the caves (Communicate Directly-1AP)
((To be clear, I am just sending thoughts to Xelqu, not trying to force loyalty))

[Knightwing64]

Install Loyalty Action



“You dare? Submit to me and I shall grant you everything!”


Create World Action

Sarros raises his hand and the earth shakes as a mountain with trees and wildlife forms with a beautiful pond that radiates wisdom, Almost divine in it’s beauty.

(I’m hoping this will give me a boost to my install loyalty action. Because mental and stuff. 

[Knightwing64]

Okay so, first things first; answering questions.

In terms of action points, do these reset every turn or do they stack? So in the case of Pharros, they've spent four, would they gain five next turn and now have six, or would they return to five?

Action points represent both ur divine power/potential, and also the time/other investment to act. These will reset each turn, though you could make preparations or take actions that will allow you to bank them up to an amount. Since i didn't mention this explicitly before, and I don't want to delay the turn further to allow yall to reformat actions and spend the other points, i will allow unspent points to stack for just this turn so yall don't end up penalized or at a disadvantage for my own mistake.

((Honestly, I’m a bit confused about we attacked the kobold. Did they help demons at some point? Did they attack us first? Or did an old mage just hate kobolds for some reason and start propaganda against them? An actual question for the GM))

-other speculation-

In the world that you came from, humanity had unified into a single imperial ethno state, and eventually conquered and exterminated all other races. Kobolds survived until the end because they were not really a threat in the way other races were. Even so, with other races and bigger threats out of the picture now humanity was moving on to exterminate kobolds as well.
Kobolds however, were not simply hiding the entire time the world was being burned down around them. They gathered information on the plans of your empire, and while they could not find a weakness to let them survive or strike back in any real way, they did discover the ascension ritual.

The three mages were the most important magic users in the empire. Your work both unified humanity and drove it to victory. Your ascension as gods of a new realm was your self given reward for your conquest of the old one. It is the pinnacle of your research and understanding and power, and a final testament to your mastery of that world.

The kobolds interrupted the ritual as a last hope for the survival of their species, seeking a new home in a new world. What alliances and truces you make in this new world are up to you, but divinity =/= invincibility. So long as the kobold wears the amulet, your mastery of this world is less than it could be.


update will come in my next post, but i wanted to keep this a separate post for organizational reasons.

(Huh. We’re kind of the villains in this huh?)

[Unraveller]

(( I figured that was certain from the get-go. Hahaha. Howevern I suppose this new world that we've slipped into gives us a chance at completely new lives and aspirations. Yes, our half-divinity no doubt massively inflates our egos, but that doesn't necessarily mean you couldn't turn a new page. Maybe you're aloof to lacking a physical body and half of your godlike power, Pharros however has absolutely brought their stigmas into this plane. And just as readily desires retaliation.))

[Knightwing64]

(( I figured that was certain from the get-go. Hahaha. Howevern I suppose this new world that we've slipped into gives us a chance at completely new lives and aspirations. Yes, our half-divinity no doubt massively inflates our egos, but that doesn't necessarily mean you couldn't turn a new page. Maybe you're aloof to lacking a physical body and half of your godlike power, Pharros however has absolutely brought their stigmas into this plane. And just as readily desires retaliation.))

(Nah, I’m more of a lawful evil kind of guy.)

[Naturegirl1999]

GM, is this still live?

[Knightwing64]

GM, is this still live?

Hope so.