Turn 11: CHOOSE YOUR DESTINYGet the farmer to calm down, heal me and lend me a bee suit. If he does, go save his beeloved daughter. If not, shrug and go with Taricus.
He has no bee suit, and his daughter isn't quite incompetent enough to hang around after that. He looks rather disturbed by you, but hands you a jar of honey. Maybe it'll come in handy?
+Small Jar of HoneyTake the offer of escorting the rich guy. Hopefully we're the only guards he needs, we can make sure he pays the right amount if that's so.
You and your companions, one badly savaged by her own foul magic, set off on your journey. Also some guy with an accent and a bow joins you. Your ward is riding in a small carriage, which makes your jobs somewhat easier.
It's fairly peaceful for the most part- you see a lot more strange creatures looking at you than you'd figure is normal, but all of them are small and mostly alone.
Things get slightly more interesting when you stop to rest in a clearing just off the road- there's a cave nearby, and the guy mentions that it's an abandoned mine. He also mentions some other things, in a tone not unlike that of a shifty merchant trying to sell you something.
"Soooo... you know, there's probably treasure in there. Definitely treasure, in fact. I'll bet the three of you could grab it real easy- not really afraid of the dark, are you? Nahhh, you guys can handle it."
Tag along with Taricus, optionally play Hunk Rump The Gathering.
Interesting group, you suppose. You wonder if they're up to challenging you at one of your favorite card games.
Alexander [3], Taric [5], Tarok [3], Straga [2]
You get a somewhat bad hand, and can't quite recover. The guy with a tattoo seems similarly out of luck and unfamiliar with the game. The goblin seems to find the whole thing rather disturbing, and the lizard... well, the lizard trounces everyone, tapping ass
cards left and right.
Give one of the glands to the contractors. Keep the other for myself, but don't mention it to them. Try to find a book along the lines of leadership in minions if I can, or a basic alchemy guide.
They're quite pleased with it, and mention that if you keep it up, they'd be willing to let you join their organization proper as an initiate- in fact, they'd rather take it as a third of your "initiation," but will grudgingly cough up a reward if you're not interested. Joining them would give you access to some of their resources, but would require you to continue running errands and such for them. They're essentially a cabal devoted to fire demons and similar, without too much grand planning or overarching goals, beyond the obvious of more power.
Either way, they've got more work for you if you want it. Not that wandering up north and butchering random fire-related things for fire-related parts doesn't count as work for them.
[2][Luck 6] The only book you find is some tripe warning against the evils of summons and similar minions; you're guessing they keep it around for laughs. Especially since two others notice you reading it and begin laughing along with you, pointing out their favorite parts. Notably, they end up explaining that the more minions you have, the harder it is to control them, but that more skilled summoners are more adept at doing so.
Look for a job. x5
You begin searching high and low for some work. Eventually, you realize it mostly boils down to a few basic ideas.
-You could quest for an item. That might mean anything from doing jobs to earn the money to buy something, to meticulously hunting down rare and exotic components to have forged into a powerful item built to your specifications.
-You could quest for a faction. Normally this means finding some organization or another that you'd like to be a part of and then proving your worth, but it might even be possible to found your own. Being part of a faction would mean you'd have access to some of their resources- knowledge, rare ingredients or equipment, and so on- but would be expected to run errands for them and otherwise contribute to the cause. You could also just try to get on someone's good side, without officially joining anything, but the principle is roughly the same.
-You could quest for money. Quite a number of people are willing to give you coin in order to get you to do things they can't or don't want to, and everyone likes money.
-You could wander off in a random direction and see what happens. While not normally an especially wise decision, wandering around for weeks in dangerous, barren wastelands is often at least interesting. Often too interesting.
Ultimately, your options depend on what you're looking for.
Bashing the ground multiple times in dashed attempts to find armor-worthy minerals, Gareid admits defeat, "Well, derm's off dealing with those glands, may as well listen around for more information."
[4] Seems there's supposedly demonic activity in some caves a medium distance away. Mostly smaller, implike demons, which might mean it's an easy mark, or could mean there's something bigger leading them. Nobody has any idea what, if anything, is in there, but presumably there's some reason the demons are there in particular.
Welp. To the swamps!
[3][Luck 1] Your journey is filled with muck and getting lost.
You arrive in what passes for a settlement this far out- it's a series of raised wooden platforms and shacks. Not much, but marginally better than trying to sleep in a tree.
As for your quest, you've got a number of options. The most obvious ones- ash-colored flowers that grow on logs- are in a knee-deep section that's mostly safe- the occasional drowned corpse just likes to rise up and attempt to drag you down with it. There's also a fairly dry area that supposedly has some kind of fruit- it's completely safe except for some sort of guardian, which isn't above talking about the issue. Then there's a cave where numerous necromantically useful mushrooms grow- trouble it, it's occupied. The locals don't know by what exactly, but you can expect heavy, possibly organized resistance.
Interior MercenariesTaric
10/10 HP
Spear: +2 Attack, +1 Damage -Flying Monkey impaled on spear-
+1 Leadership to getting people to follow
Skills
Apprentice Spears (12/20)
Novice Leadership (0/10)
Inventory
Spear - +1 Damage. Well-made but not exceptional.
Brightly Colored Silk Shirt - +1 to Leadership rolls to get people to follow you somewhere else.
Gneiss Ring
+1 minor silver pouch - can be used to purchase a minor piece of equipment, like a piece of chalk or candle
Tarok Kingsley
10/10 HP
Demonic Sword: Standard
+1 to controlling lunar demons
Skills
Apprentice Summoning (19/20)
Novice Necromancy (0/10)
Inventory
Demonic Sword - Standard Weapon
Crescent Moon Pendant - +1 to controlling lunar demons
Fallen Bird Pouch - Provides the reagent for animating a tiny aerial scout
+1 minor silver pouch - can be used to purchase a minor piece of equipment, like a piece of chalk or candle
Straga Sickshade
2/10 HP
Whip: +1 Attack
+1 to animating undead
Skills
Apprentice Necromancy (14/20)
Novice Whips (7/10)
Inventory
Skull of Servitude - +1 to animating undead
Studded Whip - Standard weapon.
Decaying Chalk of Decay
Schist Jar
Small Jar of Honey
Monkey Bones (about two monkeys worth)
Alexander Kyrby
10/10 HP
+2 Dodge
1P/1S/1B Resist
Bow: +1 Attack
Skills
Apprentice Dodge (0/20)
Novice Archery (0/10)
Inventory
Bow - Standard ranged weapon
Light Leather Armor - +1S/+1P/+1B Resist
Gareid
10/10 HP
Sword: +1 Attack
+1 to AoE earth spells
Skills
Apprentice Earth Magic (13/20)
Novice Swords (0/10)
Inventory
Mineral Pendant - +1 to AoE earth spells
Simple Sword - Standard weapon
Small Silver Pouch - Can be used to purchase a minor piece of equipment (rope, lantern) of decent quality.
Slow-Cooked Plant Bulb - Delicacy
Derm Hell-Binder
10/10 HP (Stable)
+1 to fire magic
+1 to researching fire demons
Skills
Apprentice Fire Magic (5/20)
Novice Summoning (6/10)
Inventory
Staff of Flame - +1 to fire magic
Tome of Fiendish Lore - +1 to researching new fire demons to summon
Small Silver Pouch - Can be used to purchase a minor piece of equipment (rope, lantern) of decent quality.
2 Fire Glands - (fire component)
Tarran An'ic'ia
10/10 HP
1S/0P/0B Resist
Longsword: +2 Attack, +1 Damage
Skills
Apprentice Longswords (5/20)
Novice Holy Magic (6/10)
Inventory
Longsword - +1 Damage
Holy Pendant - +1 Slashing Resist
Small Silver Pouch - Can be used to purchase a minor piece of equipment (rope, lantern) of decent quality.
+2 Hearty Rations
Ochita
10/10 HP
Skills
Apprentice Water Magic (0/20)
Novice Runecrafter (0/10)
Inventory
Water Staff - Standard water magic weapon
Book of Runes - Unknown
Zombie Flying Monkey Triplets (Straga)
? ? ?
Author
Topic: Staggered Magi II (Turn 16: Treacherous) (Read 28757 times)