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[brewer bob]

1 then 3

First grab a turkey leg and then let's go.

[Yellow Pixel]

1 then 3

[Enemy post]

1 then 3.

I buy a turkey leg for 5 gold.

The turkey-leg vendor's stall looks hastily constructed with fresh lumber. It's the one stall in the new market with a line, though it's not as long a line as you'd expect. The line moves along fairly quickly, and it feels like you've hardly started to point at a drumstick before the frantically efficient cashier is pressing it into your hand. (Lost 5 Gold.) When you bite into the greasy warm meat of the turkey leg, just as delicious as last time, you feel mildly uplifted by the fact that something so tasty could survive in the midst of catastrophe. (Increased Optimism.) It's a little bit magical, though not literally so.

I leave the market.

Having done what you set out to do, you return home.

Mayor Cos continues to run the town smoothly; in some ways, it's exactly the same town you left.

Cos keeps you on as secret town wizard, and asks you for your ideas about how magic could improve Akriton.

After doing some research on the town's woes, you come up with the following ideas:

1.Use automation in the foundry and other places we produce goods.
2.Use divination to increase the town's security.
3.Use vivomancy to speed the reproduction of livestock devastated after the last death cloud.
4.These probably all have unintended consequences. We should leave things the way they are.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Scribe Foo

Appearance

A bookish, spectacled man wearing a shimmering cloak and tight black clothing fit for a thief or an assassin

Magic
  Negation:8
  Automation:11
  Glamor:1
  Divination:3
  Vivomancy:9

Skills
Ancient History: 8 (Fantastic)
Fighting: 1 (Bad)
Subtlety: 5 (Good)
Charisma: 4 (Good)

Personality
Optimism:60%/Caution:40%   
Humor:49%/Solemnity:51%   
Empathy:45%/Calculation:55%   

Relationships
Romances (Interested romantically, but not sexually, in men and women)
Tal

Tal: 56 (Good)
Cos: 46 (Bad)
Sam: 75 (Great)
Vera: 54 (Fine)
Church: 32 (Bad)
Undiscovered relationships: 1

Kingdom
Adoration: 52%/Vilification: 48%

Inventory
Gold: 377 gold
Sword
Alchemy Set
Torc of Life and Death
Clutch of Dragon Eggs
History Book, True Life of Abraxas
Golem Manual

Students
Blessed Sam

Pets
Verdigris the Baby Dragon

The Dead
The Academy Inquisitor

Plot Points

Chapter 1

You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You found an ancient dueling ground.
You killed the inquisitor with negation magic.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
You animated a serving tray to retrieve an alchemy set, but in the process, you released some dangerous chemicals.
You found a laboratory with a trapped specter.
You destroyed the specter.
You obtained a clutch of dragon eggs from the crow's nest of an ancient airship.
It became clear that the spilled chemicals were going to consume the whole academy.

Chapter 2


You flew up the coast of the Negative Sea back to Akriton.
You created two horses and freed them in the woods.
You made your parents think your finds in the academy were purely of historical interest.
You read in True Life of Abraxas that those who follow orders regularly are more likely to be glamored.
You learned the location of the Magisterian capital from True Life of Abraxas.
You met a hat seller but bought nothing from her.
You allowed a thief to steal from Fruitseller Fran.
You agreed to hunt a dodecapede with Tal.
You kissed Tal.
You restarted the automated mine that was the dodecapede's lair.
You restarted Akriton's giant fans after the death cloud passed.
Cos and you agreed that you would secretly work for Akriton.
Though you thought you kept a low profile, you heard inquisitors are coming to town anyway.

Chapter 3

Two inquisitors came to your door: the more aggressive Blessed Jacob, and the kinder Blessed Sam.
An old man intervened, claiming you weren't home.
You waited until the inquisitors left.
The old man revealed himself to be Mayor Cos, who is a shapeshifter.
You went to a House of Sun service, led by Blessed Sam.
In the middle, your vivomancy disguise wore off, but Blessed Sam did not take any action to pursue you.
Blessed Sam asked you to heal his pet dragon, Thomas.
You agreed and healed Sam's dragon.
You offered to teach Sam vivomancy, and he agreed.

Chapter 4

You rode to the capital in a wagon with Sam and Jacob.
While Sam and Jacob fought, you sneaked into the basement.
You found a university student held in the Cathedral dungeon—the last mage left there.
You decided to leave the student in the cell.
You found a secret passage that avoided a somewhat terrifying room.
You found a room that looked similar to a vision of a pleasant afterlife.
You found the Cathedral's library.
You found an old statue of Abraxas that promised to answer questions about the Church.
You learned that an item called the Great Oracle lies in the Magisterian palace, and that it could be used to join all minds into one.
You learned some designs that may help scour the sky from True Life of Abraxas.
You read in True Life of Abraxas that Abraxas became an immortal specter, and that you might become one yourself given enough negative energy.
The hierophant came to make an offer of sainthood to you.
Inquisitors and Church guards pursued you out of the capital.
You escaped the Cathedral and headed home.

Chapter 5

You blasted all but one of the guards pursuing you, leaving the lone survivor to report that you are not to be trifled with.
You headed back to Akriton.
On returning to the market, you discovered it had burned down due to a lightning strike.

[Yellow Pixel]

3

[Glass]

3
Automation has dangerous side effects. We’re not good at Divination and also has dangerous side effects (namely that there’s a decent chance that people knowing about us could bring a lot of shit down on our head).
Vivomancy has fun side effects.

[Yellow Pixel]

Vivomancy has fun side effects.

Indeed!

[brewer bob]

3

[Enemy post]

We use vivomancy.

Before the last death cloud even rolled through town, it devastated the farms to the east, leaving each with only a handful of animals at best.

You are determined to fix this problem.

You suggest addressing the problem to Mayor Cos, who says with eager curiosity, "How are you planning to fix it?"

"We just need to get the animals to reproduce faster," you say.

Mayor Cos gets a distant look while imagining what you suggest, then shakes it away. "Makes sense, I suppose," he says. "Go ahead."

You research the relevant spell before heading out to the first farm.

When you describe to the first farmer what you have in mind—just a spell to increase the animals' libido while also speeding up the gestation period, well-known to the ancients—the tired-looking woman suddenly looks quite enthusiastic. You were expecting to have to overcome some superstitious fears or protectiveness of the animals. But when it comes to her animals mating, this farmer turns out to be very pragmatic.

In the stable, standing next to a rather downcast-looking stud horse, you draw life energy from the nearby hay piles and grass outside. As your hands glow and the scent of fresh hay and grass fills the air, the farmer doesn't bat an eye.

"Zoo cogitationes, skepseis lagnos!" you say, touching the horse on its neck. The energy fuses into the horse, and it gives a start and looks around with interest. (Gained Vivomancy.)

The farmer lets that stud and a mare out of the stable, and—well, let's just say you end up leaving in a hurry, satisfied that the spell did its job. While the farmer seems unfazed by the practicalities of life, you find the whole thing awkward and bid the farmer a quick adieu.

You spend the rest of the day traveling to other farms doing the same thing. When the other farmers find out a competitor has benefited from your magic, they are quick to jump on the bandwagon as well. You cast your spell on goats, chickens, and pigs, until you're a little afraid your dreams are going to be haunted by lustful farm animals. But the farmers seem thrilled.

As for the long-term effects of your magic, you suppose you'll just have to wait and see.

One day, Tal misses a brunch appointment with you. It's not like her, so you go to the small house she shares with her mother.

There, you find that her front door has been marked with a red S, and someone has fashioned the ends of it to look like the head and tail of a snake. You've heard of this symbol—it's what the Twilight Band, the antishapeshifter fraternity, puts on a building to send the message Leave or die. A building with this mark is typically burned within a week if the owner hasn't left by then.

You hesitantly knock on the door.

Tal answers, and seems stricken when she sees you.

"Oh," she says, reddening. "I'm sorry. I forgot all about brunch." Behind her, Tal's foyer looks as though it's been cleared of valuables. You think she's moving.

"I can see you've had other things on your mind this morning," you say. "You aren't really moving, are you? I'd have thought you would fight the Twilight Band. Single-handedly, if necessary."

Tal shakes her head. "I can't risk Mother's life. They'd kill her even though she is completely human." She hesitates. "Wait. I never told you I was a shapeshifter. Did I?"

"I figured it out a long time ago," you say. "When I saw your eye had healed." Somehow, your secret doesn't seem as important to guard now that Tal is in trouble.

"You knew the whole time, and you were still my friend." Tal wipes away a tear. "Of course, I should have known."

Tal hugs you. Then, as she asks more questions, you relate the whole story of how your foolishness led to her eye injury. Tal listens to the story with interest and doesn't seem particularly upset.

"You were really afraid of telling me that?" Tal says when you're done. "All this time?"

"I thought you'd be mad, or afraid, or—something," you say.

"Eh," Tal says with a shrug. "Friends are sometimes assholes. And kids are often assholes. What's important is that you stayed my friend, and I stayed yours."

This time you feel moved to hug Tal, and you do.

"So what now?" you say.

"Now I help Mom move to Triton," Tal says. She dabs away a final tear. "I hear the Twilight Band's less active, there."

"And you?"

"Oh, they can come for me," Tal says. "I'm not moving."

You think you owe it to Tal to help her fight this thing. What magic will you use?

1.Cast a divination to find out who the mysterious leader of the Twilight Band is.
2.Cast a divination to learn the Twilight Band's meeting place, then blow it up with negation.
3.Invent an automatic sprinkler device to help Tal (or anyone) put out a fire.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Scribe Foo

Appearance

A bookish, spectacled man wearing a shimmering cloak and tight black clothing fit for a thief or an assassin

Magic
  Negation:8
  Automation:11
  Glamor:1
  Divination:3
  Vivomancy:10

Skills
Ancient History: 8 (Fantastic)
Fighting: 1 (Bad)
Subtlety: 5 (Good)
Charisma: 4 (Good)

Personality
Optimism:60%/Caution:40%   
Humor:49%/Solemnity:51%   
Empathy:45%/Calculation:55%   

Relationships
Romances (Interested romantically, but not sexually, in men and women)
Tal

Tal: 56 (Good)
Cos: 46 (Bad)
Sam: 75 (Great)
Vera: 54 (Fine)
Church: 32 (Bad)
Undiscovered relationships: 1

Kingdom
Adoration: 52%/Vilification: 48%

Inventory
Gold: 377 gold
Sword
Alchemy Set
Torc of Life and Death
Clutch of Dragon Eggs
History Book, True Life of Abraxas
Golem Manual

Students
Blessed Sam

Pets
Verdigris the Baby Dragon

The Dead
The Academy Inquisitor

Plot Points

Chapter 1

You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You found an ancient dueling ground.
You killed the inquisitor with negation magic.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
You animated a serving tray to retrieve an alchemy set, but in the process, you released some dangerous chemicals.
You found a laboratory with a trapped specter.
You destroyed the specter.
You obtained a clutch of dragon eggs from the crow's nest of an ancient airship.
It became clear that the spilled chemicals were going to consume the whole academy.

Chapter 2


You flew up the coast of the Negative Sea back to Akriton.
You created two horses and freed them in the woods.
You made your parents think your finds in the academy were purely of historical interest.
You read in True Life of Abraxas that those who follow orders regularly are more likely to be glamored.
You learned the location of the Magisterian capital from True Life of Abraxas.
You met a hat seller but bought nothing from her.
You allowed a thief to steal from Fruitseller Fran.
You agreed to hunt a dodecapede with Tal.
You kissed Tal.
You restarted the automated mine that was the dodecapede's lair.
You restarted Akriton's giant fans after the death cloud passed.
Cos and you agreed that you would secretly work for Akriton.
Though you thought you kept a low profile, you heard inquisitors are coming to town anyway.

Chapter 3

Two inquisitors came to your door: the more aggressive Blessed Jacob, and the kinder Blessed Sam.
An old man intervened, claiming you weren't home.
You waited until the inquisitors left.
The old man revealed himself to be Mayor Cos, who is a shapeshifter.
You went to a House of Sun service, led by Blessed Sam.
In the middle, your vivomancy disguise wore off, but Blessed Sam did not take any action to pursue you.
Blessed Sam asked you to heal his pet dragon, Thomas.
You agreed and healed Sam's dragon.
You offered to teach Sam vivomancy, and he agreed.

Chapter 4

You rode to the capital in a wagon with Sam and Jacob.
While Sam and Jacob fought, you sneaked into the basement.
You found a university student held in the Cathedral dungeon—the last mage left there.
You decided to leave the student in the cell.
You found a secret passage that avoided a somewhat terrifying room.
You found a room that looked similar to a vision of a pleasant afterlife.
You found the Cathedral's library.
You found an old statue of Abraxas that promised to answer questions about the Church.
You learned that an item called the Great Oracle lies in the Magisterian palace, and that it could be used to join all minds into one.
You learned some designs that may help scour the sky from True Life of Abraxas.
You read in True Life of Abraxas that Abraxas became an immortal specter, and that you might become one yourself given enough negative energy.
The hierophant came to make an offer of sainthood to you.
Inquisitors and Church guards pursued you out of the capital.
You escaped the Cathedral and headed home.

Chapter 5

You blasted all but one of the guards pursuing you, leaving the lone survivor to report that you are not to be trifled with.
You headed back to Akriton.
On returning to the market, you discovered it had burned down due to a lightning strike.
Tal's house was marked for destruction by the Twilight Band, a group of shapeshifter haters.

[Glass]

...frankly, I don't much like any of the options given - divination is very much not our strong suit for 1 and 2, blowing up those guys' base is bound to draw attention for 2, an 3 just seems like it's way too weak a response.

And why would we have to use magic? Sure, we're not a great fighter, but we're pretty damn good at sneaking around. We should be able to do some undercover sneakery.

Blegh, whatever. Let's exercise our div muscles and pick 1. That'll likely open up options for other routes to go about accomplishing stuff.
Hopefully it works without too many repercussions.

[King Zultan]

1

[Maximum Spin]

1 seems sound. Shame we can't just get Tal to do it, though.

[brewer bob]

1

[Enemy post]

Divination.

You place your fingers to your temples, close your eyes, and send your mind reaching for the identity of the leader of the Twilight Band. "Mysterion gnomai, apokalypto indiko protistos!"

An image forms in your mind of…Banker Sara, your landlord! You can't quite believe she's in charge of the group, as unpleasant as she may be. (Gained Divination.)

In your vision, Banker Sara meets with a well-heeled male client at the local bank. She seems distracted, and casts a suspicious glance your way. You dispel the vision, though you think she may already have realized it was you who was spying on her.

"Banker Sara is the leader of the Twilight Band," you tell Tal, somewhat astonished. "My landlord."

"Huh," Tal says. "What do you think we should do about it?"

1."We should go to the mayor with this information. Maybe she'll be captured."
2."We should kill her. The Band will be in disarray without her."
3."I want to turn her into a shapeshifter."
4."I want to turn her into a tortoise. You know, for fun."

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Scribe Foo

Appearance

A bookish, spectacled man wearing a shimmering cloak and tight black clothing fit for a thief or an assassin

Magic
  Negation:8
  Automation:11
  Glamor:1
  Divination:4
  Vivomancy:10

Skills
Ancient History: 8 (Fantastic)
Fighting: 1 (Bad)
Subtlety: 5 (Good)
Charisma: 4 (Good)

Personality
Optimism:60%/Caution:40%   
Humor:49%/Solemnity:51%   
Empathy:45%/Calculation:55%   

Relationships
Romances (Interested romantically, but not sexually, in men and women)
Tal

Tal: 56 (Good)
Cos: 46 (Bad)
Sam: 75 (Great)
Vera: 54 (Fine)
Church: 32 (Bad)
Undiscovered relationships: 1

Kingdom
Adoration: 52%/Vilification: 48%

Inventory
Gold: 377 gold
Sword
Alchemy Set
Torc of Life and Death
Clutch of Dragon Eggs
History Book, True Life of Abraxas
Golem Manual

Students
Blessed Sam

Pets
Verdigris the Baby Dragon

The Dead
The Academy Inquisitor

Plot Points

Chapter 1

You and Tal stumbled on an ancient magic academy.
You discovered a book of vivomancy, and an inquisitor chased you.
You found an ancient dueling ground.
You killed the inquisitor with negation magic.
You explored the academy library.
A divination revealed a potential ally in the form of a golem, so you took a manual on the operation of golems from the library.
You animated a serving tray to retrieve an alchemy set, but in the process, you released some dangerous chemicals.
You found a laboratory with a trapped specter.
You destroyed the specter.
You obtained a clutch of dragon eggs from the crow's nest of an ancient airship.
It became clear that the spilled chemicals were going to consume the whole academy.

Chapter 2


You flew up the coast of the Negative Sea back to Akriton.
You created two horses and freed them in the woods.
You made your parents think your finds in the academy were purely of historical interest.
You read in True Life of Abraxas that those who follow orders regularly are more likely to be glamored.
You learned the location of the Magisterian capital from True Life of Abraxas.
You met a hat seller but bought nothing from her.
You allowed a thief to steal from Fruitseller Fran.
You agreed to hunt a dodecapede with Tal.
You kissed Tal.
You restarted the automated mine that was the dodecapede's lair.
You restarted Akriton's giant fans after the death cloud passed.
Cos and you agreed that you would secretly work for Akriton.
Though you thought you kept a low profile, you heard inquisitors are coming to town anyway.

Chapter 3

Two inquisitors came to your door: the more aggressive Blessed Jacob, and the kinder Blessed Sam.
An old man intervened, claiming you weren't home.
You waited until the inquisitors left.
The old man revealed himself to be Mayor Cos, who is a shapeshifter.
You went to a House of Sun service, led by Blessed Sam.
In the middle, your vivomancy disguise wore off, but Blessed Sam did not take any action to pursue you.
Blessed Sam asked you to heal his pet dragon, Thomas.
You agreed and healed Sam's dragon.
You offered to teach Sam vivomancy, and he agreed.

Chapter 4

You rode to the capital in a wagon with Sam and Jacob.
While Sam and Jacob fought, you sneaked into the basement.
You found a university student held in the Cathedral dungeon—the last mage left there.
You decided to leave the student in the cell.
You found a secret passage that avoided a somewhat terrifying room.
You found a room that looked similar to a vision of a pleasant afterlife.
You found the Cathedral's library.
You found an old statue of Abraxas that promised to answer questions about the Church.
You learned that an item called the Great Oracle lies in the Magisterian palace, and that it could be used to join all minds into one.
You learned some designs that may help scour the sky from True Life of Abraxas.
You read in True Life of Abraxas that Abraxas became an immortal specter, and that you might become one yourself given enough negative energy.
The hierophant came to make an offer of sainthood to you.
Inquisitors and Church guards pursued you out of the capital.
You escaped the Cathedral and headed home.

Chapter 5

You blasted all but one of the guards pursuing you, leaving the lone survivor to report that you are not to be trifled with.
You headed back to Akriton.
On returning to the market, you discovered it had burned down due to a lightning strike.
Tal's house was marked for destruction by the Twilight Band, a group of shapeshifter haters.

[Glass]

...3 is fucking hilarious. But now I’m also wondering why we haven’t gotten the option to make ourselves a shapeshifter.
Imagine the Subtlety buff!

[Yellow Pixel]

3