Topic: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics (Read 32416 times)

Glass · « **Reply #690 on:** November 19, 2021, 01:12:52 am »

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.

2

I don't really care that much, though I don't think we should completely dump her.

brewer bob · « **Reply #691 on:** November 19, 2021, 02:36:19 am »

King Zultan · « **Reply #692 on:** November 19, 2021, 03:05:49 am »

Yellow Pixel · « **Reply #693 on:** November 19, 2021, 10:44:20 am »

Enemy post · « **Reply #694 on:** November 19, 2021, 12:01:14 pm »

We're not ready.

Quote

"Oh." Tal closes the box, somewhat dejectedly. (Decreased Tal Relationship.) "Well, I understand. It's true we've hardly seen each other these past few months."

"I just want a marriage to be grounded in reality," you say. "We don't really know what we're like together when we're in the same place for a long time."

"What about Akriton?" Tal accuses.

"I mean as a couple," you say.

Tal concedes that you have a point, and she puts the ring back in her belt pouch, perhaps to be presented another day. She's still unhappy with you, and you spend the night apart.

You receive a letter from your mother asking you to return to Akriton to sort through some of your things she found in the attic. She threatens to throw them away if you don't come soon.

Since you might be better able to understand some of those old artifacts you scavenged now that you know more magic, you agree to come with all haste.

Tal, who had been visiting the capital to report to the queen, happens to be headed back to Akriton as well, and you decide to share a dragon.

On the back of a dragon, you manage to clear most of the distance to Akriton in a single day. Tal's exhilaration at the feeling of the wind in her hair reminds you of the wonder of your magical creation. You had already begun to take it for granted, you realize.

When the time comes to land for the night, you find yourself over an unfamiliar stretch of the Crown Mountains, since you're headed to Akriton in a straight line instead of following the roads below. A metal dome topped by a large copper tree offers an interesting chance for exploration. It stands in the caldera of a snow-topped mountain, any trail to it having been long ago obliterated.

A colony of giant penguins lives around the ancient building, mostly standing around in pairs. Occasionally, one belches fire up into the air. The ancients certainly liked fire-breathing creatures. As you watch, two unpaired penguins get into a fight, breathe fire on each other, then roll around in the snow to put it out.

Looking down, Tal sees it too and points. "Want to explore it? For old times' sake?"

You consider how to get rid of those fire-breathing penguins. Negation is right out, since you wouldn't want to contaminate the site with a cloud; besides, Tal doesn't like it when you do that. It's also not clear they'll care much about your dragon's fiery breath, although you could try it.

1.Land the dragon, then use a glamor to get the giant penguins to leave.
2.Suggest we drive away the penguins together by brandishing our weapons.
3.Have our dragon breathe fire to intimidate the penguins.
4.Leave the penguins and just camp at the foot of the mountain.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Glass · « **Reply #695 on:** November 19, 2021, 12:39:54 pm »

I want to do 3 (as we can’t do 2 and I am diametrically opposed to 1), but I don’t actually think it’ll work. As such, I am regretfully voting 4.

I’ll be clear, though, I am not opposed to others voting 3, and could be convinced to do so myself. I’m just worried it wouldn’t work.

Yellow Pixel · « **Reply #696 on:** November 19, 2021, 01:02:26 pm »

I don't see how we would become able to explore the dome if we just wait and don't confront the penguins, so I vote 3.

BlackPaladin99 · « **Reply #697 on:** November 19, 2021, 01:54:25 pm »

brewer bob · « **Reply #698 on:** November 19, 2021, 03:58:35 pm »

4 is the only option that I'm content with:

It's the penguins' home now, so let's leave them alone. Why should we have any right to bother them?

King Zultan · « **Reply #699 on:** November 20, 2021, 01:38:29 am »

Enemy post · « **Reply #700 on:** November 20, 2021, 01:51:09 pm »

Dragonfire.

Quote

"Let's try this," you say. "Dive!"

You press on the back of your dragon's neck in a signal to dive toward the penguins, then spur it twice quickly near its throat in the signal to breathe fire.

Your dragon lets out a huge gout of flame. The penguins let out frightened caws and scurry in all directions.

When they reach a safe distance, the penguins then bow repeatedly toward your dragon.

"I guess our dragon's now an alpha penguin," Tal says, amused.

You land, and your dragon continues to enjoy the penguins' worship as you and Tal open the door to the ancient building and continue inside.

Your dragon almost seems to like the attention too much, as if a primordial desire to be worshipped is being stoked.

You shake your head and banish the thought. They're just penguins.

Magical blue running lights light your way as you walk down the main hallway of the ancient building. Empty metal frames hang on the walls—whatever posters or art they might have contained have long since rotted away. Small offices to either side of the main hall have been picked clean by earlier looters, so only the desks remain in barren rooms.

"Aw man," Tal says as she looks in one such room. Then she looks in another. "Aw man."

But at the end of the main hallway is a locked door, and that gives you hope. You murmur an automation spell. Lightning arcs through the ceiling to you and into the lock.

You turn the knob and enter.

The locked door opens up into a small theater, the stage curtain rotted almost beyond recognition. A single line of folding metal chairs faces the stage, which is wooden and falling apart. Tossed-aside props lie in the wings: a very old shield, an old sword, a wand. You dash for the wand, but when you pick it up, you realize it is simply a piece of metal bent in a way so as to look menacing.

"Foo, look." Tal has found a drawer built into the back wall that contains an assortment of spiky blue crystals, each labeled with a metal plate engraved with a three-digit number. Above the drawer is a depression in the wall where one of these crystals could fit.

You look around the stage area and see a crystal ball hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"I know what this is," you say. "It's an ancient broadcasting studio. Those crystals must be recordings." (Gained Divination.)

Tal looks down at the crystals. "Not to be crass, but, um, are they worth…?"

"It depends on what's on them," you say. "If they contain lost magical knowledge, they're invaluable. But a lot of the ancients' old entertainments weren't meant for the mages, they were just to keep everybody else happy."

"That sounds more likely," Tal says ruefully. "Oh well. I like being happy, I guess. Let's watch this crap."

You and Tal bring in your equipment from your dragon's saddlebags and make camp in the small theater. Tal asks that you animate Noodles so he can watch the old entertainments with you, so you do.

You take the first crystal from the drawer and place it in the depression in the back of the room.

The stage is illuminated with the illusion of three plain-looking peasants standing behind three podiums. Two are men with simple brown tunics and bowl haircuts, while the third, a woman, is wearing an undyed white woolen dress and two long blond braids. Their expressions suggest they are nervous and feeling overmatched.

"Welcome to another episode of 'The Chosen One'!" a voice booms. "One of our players will win a full scholarship to Akriton Academy. Each of them is the smartest in their village, but do they have what it takes to be wizards? Ziv, the first question is for you. You can play this one either for money—and remember, whoever has the most money in the end wins—or for a magical item that will help you win later. What will it be?"

Noodles makes a pointing gesture to his hand. Take the money! He's pretty emphatic about it, considering he's never seen this show before.

"I…I'll take the magical item," says Peasant Ziv.

Noodles shakes his head and throws up his hands.

"Okay, this one's definitely in the entertainment-for-the-masses category," Tal says. "And I'm not really liking the part where it's taking advantage of poor people. Should we move on?"

You experimentally place a few different crystals into the same socket. The most promising broadcasts for learning something seem to be an investigative show, a medical drama, or the game show. You don't find any shows that are explicitly educational.

1.Let's switch to the investigative show.
2.Let's switch to the medical drama.
3.Let's continue to watch the game show.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Glass · « **Reply #701 on:** November 20, 2021, 01:58:23 pm »

1
Might it be Mythbusters? Probably not, but even if it means something more like, I dunno, CSI, that could be worthwhile.

brewer bob · « **Reply #702 on:** November 20, 2021, 03:00:25 pm »

I'm fine with any, since there's no option to not watch wizard tv. So, skipping this round.

Yellow Pixel · « **Reply #703 on:** November 20, 2021, 04:57:34 pm »

Enemy post · « **Reply #704 on:** November 21, 2021, 12:29:41 am »

The investigative show.

Quote

You replace the crystal with another that looks like some kind of investigative drama.

A blond woman with a bowl haircut wearing a high-collared wizard's robe is bending over the corpse of a man in academic robes sprawled in a pool of blood. The illusions are all tinged with blue, perhaps because the crystal is slowly deteriorating.

Noodles moves over to inspect the body as well, scratching his chin as he ponders it.

"The blows are all to the head, near the temples," the woman says. (Noodles nods sagely.) "A mace, I think. Almost as if someone was trying to literally knock some sense into the man. From the dent in the floor nearby, it seems the blows continued even as the man was on the ground. The blows get furious, but the man's jaw is undamaged. This man was beaten until he said something the assailant wanted to hear. And that can mean only one thing." The woman turns to the audience. "Abraxas cultists!"

You settle in with Tal as the illusory investigator follows up with some divination magic. You're glad you picked this show. (Gained Divination.) You're not sure you believe its stereotypes about followers of Abraxas, who are portrayed as crazy cultists, but it may help you understand the stereotypes your other histories are implicitly addressing. (Gained Ancient History.)

With your new knowledge of ancient history, you find you can now decode the following passage from True Life of Abraxas: Abraxas created for himself a fateshaper, a curious device that alters destiny in ways large and small so that one kind of magic might have sway over the destiny of the bearer. And given that this was the beginning of the war, and Abraxas was very concerned with winning, he chose negation. This, of course prompts the questions: Would the Negative Sea have been created if he had chosen a different school? Would Abraxas have become a specter? We have no way of knowing, and the fateshaper that Abraxas used cannot be studied, as it has fallen into the hands of an Akritonian private collector. (Gained Negation.)

"You know, I can't get my mind off those fire-breathing penguins out front," Tal says. "I mean, what were the ancients thinking? Who wants a fire-breathing penguin?"

"They were used for grand openings and things like that," you say. "Because it looks like they're already wearing formal wear. The fire-breathing is meant to be impressive, like fireworks."

Tal rolls her eyes. "Of course you know that. You're probably even thinking about how you can create them yourself."

"I really have more important projects right now," you say.

"Meaning, even bigger monsters that might run amok even worse."

1."I'm being more careful than the ancients. I promise."
2."Monsters may be dangerous, but we've got to defend ourselves from the Neighbors."
3."You're right. I'll tell Queen Thecla to shut down the program."

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

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Author Topic: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics (Read 32416 times)

Glass

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brewer bob

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King Zultan

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Yellow Pixel

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Enemy post

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Glass

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Yellow Pixel

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BlackPaladin99

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brewer bob

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King Zultan

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Enemy post

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Glass

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brewer bob

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Yellow Pixel

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Enemy post

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