>>299486
Question time, since there's not a whole lot to do other than say "do it!" and I'm not inclined to start off the plot without some backstory first.

What exactly do your powers do- just make people spontaneously die? Anything more complex or subtle than that?

Who are the five heroes? What can they do, and how did they defeat you before?

What are sparks, and why were you gathering them?

Hated 2011/04/26(Tue)19:29 No. 299518 ID: 3beb66
File 130387134932.jpg - (126.46KB , 585x600 , Fate_RootGolem.jpg )

Oh? That's new. Either I've gone insane, or there's someone else in my head... perhaps... nah, you don't even know what a spark is, you couldn't have... might have hitched a ride though.

Well, Mister Voice, or Miss Voice if you prefer(kinda hard to tell), since beasty here won't do anything as long as I be a good boy, I have all the time in the world to answer your questions. Quite literally.

Beginning with your first... actually, I'll start with the last. First relies on the last. "Sparks" are little bits and pieces of magic. Called sparks cause when you use them, the leave behind little trails of sparks, more of them you use, more powerful the magic, more sparks they leave behind. I was gathering them because I, as a pseudo-demonic being, can't make them in my own body. Have to steal them from someone else. Namely the more fleshy mortals, since they were so common when I wasn't chained to the floor. Hopefully there's still a bunch around once I get back up there.

Since it's also relevant, I'll say I can... how to explain it... I suppose it's something akin to "smelling" sparks. Yes, that seems to fit. Works like a dog I suppose.

Powers come in three flavors. The first is direct application to the body, for the purposes of physical enhancement. Strength, stamina, speed, anything to do with making physical abilities better. It's what I prefer, always nice to feel the crunch of bone, but I can do the other two as well.

Second, application to the mind. Reaction times, processing speed, telepathy, mind stuff. Enhancing talking is in this category as well, although I never understood why. I'm weakest in this application though.

Then its the warp reality magic. The thing most people actually view as magic. The whole summon fire and brimstone and all that fun stuff. Its the one that most mages use, especially the mortal ones. I'm decent with this sort of thing.

And yes, I could cause people to just die, but I don't have enough sparks for that. About five I think, which is more than enough for these restraints and the beasty here if I use them wisely. Which reminds me to mention this beasty has some sparks in him.

As for the five heroes. Let's see, where to begin. Well, to start off, I have to say that I'm not... good. There's a reason I'm called Hated by the mortals. Things ticked me off, they generally died. I also tended to kill mages on a regular basis, but how else was I supposed to get sparks? Anyway, eventually these heroes got together and decided I needed to be dealt with.

They were the most powerful mortals of the time, each from one of the five races. After fighting with me a few times, and almost losing each, they decided to petition the gods for aid. And gods, being oh so supportive of mortals, gave them an artifact that ripped the sparks from my body and left me weakened. Easy win for them after that. They decided I deserved eternal imprisonment instead of the release of death, and chained me up here. End of back story.

As for what each can do(maybe could do, they were still mortals and I have no idea how long I've been down here) I'll explain that when it's actually necessary. For now, let's get out of here...

Although, I suppose I should have a plan first, shouldn't I?

Well Voice, got any bright ideas?

I should probably give you what the beasty looks like, give you an idea of what I'm up against.

First off: there are an indefinate amount of voices here with you.

Second off: hi, nice to meet you.

Thirdly: That monster looks to be made almost entirely out of plants, use some of that fancy magic stuff to light it on fire and I think it'll go down pretty quickly.

Another one? So there are more of you... I don't understand how this is possible, to be truthful. Usually sticking multiple minds in a body ends very badly, but I've yet to experience any fractures in my personality... heh, of course, you could already be fractures due to me going stir crazy.

Whatever the case, setting fire does seem a sound strategy, assuming of course the thing doesn't kill as its burning. Perhaps I should set it on fire, than brute force my way out of these chains. That seems the easiest method, although depending on how fast beasty burns, I might have to miss the chance to get at its sparks.

A good plan, bu perhaps there's a way for me to kill it or restrain it without destroying the body? That would ensure I get the sparks out of it at least, although it might be risky restraining it.

>>299540
>Another one? So there are more of you... I don't understand how this is possible, to be truthful.
Every explanation for our existence is shitty and contrived anyway. Ignore the why and just flow with it.

My personal suggestion would be to invest some of your sparks in a disease-spreading magic which could slowly rot away the wood forming its body. Wait a week or two, then bust loose when it's so weakened as to be trivially easy to overwhelm. No rush, after all, and that would get it under your control.

The first voice again. The one with the questions. I hope I answered them well enough for you. If you have anything else to ask, go ahead, since it seems we might be sticking around another week or two. Since it seems two plans are available, I shall go over both once again, this time with the spark costs for both, and allow you to voice(heh) your opinions once again. Perhaps any new voices will give input as well, since it was implied there might be more of you coming along soon.

Plan 1: Set fire to the thing, and with any luck it will be too busy dying to deal with me. Even if it isn't, using a spark to strengthen myself would easily allow me to break the chains binding me. This would cost me 4 sparks of the five I currently possess, 2 to create the fire, 1 to project it, and 1 to strengthen myself. I would likely be able to leave right now using this plan.

Plan 2: Use a plant consuming disease. This could be done one of two ways. Since it would be slow acting, it wouldn't cost me much, about the same as the fireball alone, but if I choose to make it airborne, I would have to spend more. Still assuming I have to break out in a similar fashion as the first, there are two costs.
The first variation, making the disease touched based and getting the beasty to touch me, would cost me only 3 sparks.
The second airborne version would cost me all 5 sparks I have in my possession.

Your judgment, voices?

>>299548
Given that our objective is to depart here with as much power as possible, I would ask a few more questions before making this call.

If we invest sparks in something, do we keep that power? That is, if we spend sparks on making an airborne disease which slowly kills plants, will we be able to spread that plague wherever we go forever? If we spend sparks on fire, will we be able to throw fire whenever we want? If we strengthen ourselves, will we stay strong?

Sparks are expended when used, correct? That is, if we spend some strengthening ourselves, we can't later undo that and use them to learn how to shoot lightning or what have you.

How likely is it that some of the sparks in the guardian would be destroyed or otherwise rendered unavailable for your consumption if you take the first, more forceful option? It seems cheaper and quicker, if somewhat more risky, but if it would destroy the guardian's sparks than it's actually the more expensive option and should be avoided, since we'd leave this situation in a weaker position overall.

First, what do you look like?

Second, you need it's body intact? Dehydrate it. it's a plant, wither it to a husk, draw the water from it's body...slowly. A little bit at a time, so it doesn't notice. If it takes a day, or a week, who cares? Whats a little more time?

>>299570
I look like a mortal at the moment. It was the form I was in when I got shoved down here, thanks to the fact that I was traveling through mortal lands and didn't feel like dealing with all the arrows in my back. One of the human ones I think. My original form, if you wish to call it that, I've forgotten. Perhaps I'll endeavor to rediscover it. If I want to change what I look like at any time... well, I'd need sparks first, a lot more than I have on me at this time. Rearranging the entirety of your existence is understandably expensive. Why humans don't attempt to leave behind their squishy bodies is a mystery to me however.

>>299561
For permanent effects, more sparks would be needed. Once applied, they would show up as physical representations on my body, depending on what spell or ability I apply. Recycling already used sparks is impossible(at least to my knowledge), but I can overwrite things already made permanent on my body if necessary.
That is, if I applied a permanent strengthening to my body, and wanted to replace it later with something else, I could write over the strengthening, destroying the effect in favor of whatever else I wanted on me.
Making an effect permanent will cost 30 sparks, but after that sparks can be poured into the ability to slowly make it stronger. An example would be making the disease mention eat faster or eat more things, like metals.

In the case of making me able to permanently shoot fireballs, I'm fairly certain that the beasty here has enough sparks in it to make something permanent on me, perhaps a few things, depending on what we want to apply. Just need to get them from the thing. I feel I should mention though, that things applied onto me are generally weaker than one offs, until I pour more sparks into them. Something like gradually increasing power instead of going for a single shot of destruction.

I think that covers all of that. I may have forgotten something, but if I did I'm sure I'll remember it eventually, or is just insignificant and doesn't apply to me.

Now, the water plan. It would work, if I had the ability to do that without consuming sparks each time I did it. With only five, its currently impossible. I'll have to save the idea though. Wonder what would happen if you did it to a mortal..... hilarity, I'm sure. Plus lots of screaming.

As for the question regarding the first plan(I am assuming that the question is regarding the first plan). If I set the beasty on fire and act fast enough after that, I could most likely get to it in time to reap the reward, assuming it isn't moving when I do. I'm perfectly fine with burning myself to get those sparks, so if the body is still on fire it wouldn't matter. What I'm concerned with on this plan, however, is whether the thing will ignore me when its on fire. If it doesn't ignore me for at least a few seconds, I'm dead, or at least severely injured.

>>299606
Well, if the fire plan has a large chance to result in your injury you should go with the disease plan.

Getting injured is bad.

I should be able to set fire to the beasty with little danger to myself. Well, other than it deciding the action was hostile, came from me, and that I thus deserve to die. While you voices mull over the plans some more(I assume that's what your doing) I'm going to figure out where the beasty is. I'll need that information to do anything to it anyway. Over the years, I've noticed even moving seems to attract its attention, so here we go.

I shift a little, the chains around me rattling as they shift as well, and within seconds I can see four yellow orbs of glowing amber glaring back at me from across the room. They provide a decent amount of light, and for the first time in a long while I get a good look at where I am.

The crypt is fairly standard, two coffins sit to either side of me, and the beasty lays across from me, far enough away so that I can't reach out and touch it. Probably to prevent me from trying to get at its sparks. I can't see behind me, the chains positions won't really let me, but its probably only a wall. After staring back at me for awhile, the beast settles down, the light disappearing as it goes dormant again.

Well, at least I know hitting it won't be a problem.

Fire plan sounds the best. You'll have the benefit of strength to go with it, which will come in handy after your escape. Plus the extra spark.
Disease doesn't sound like something we want right now. We won't be able to kill things fast enough.

>>299675
Go with disease. Less risk of getting yourself hurt, and it sounds like the beast has enough sparks that one more or less won't make any significant difference whereas being injured could seriously cramp our escape plans. You don't get to keep any of the powers anyway, so might as well take the low-risk route. You'll have to go with the airborne version since it won't touch you, but as long as you have enough power left to burst out of your chains you'll be able to get it.

Once you have its sparks, we can get a permanent version of some power or other, probably a strength or speed boost, which we'll be able to use in gathering more sparks.

Seems the general conclusion is to follow whatever plan puts me in the least amount of danger. As the disease seems to do this, we shall go with that. Airborne as well. I close my eyes, reaching for the sparks nestled within me, and shaping it into what I desire. I feel rather than see the guardian rouse itself again, but pay it no mind. With a little more effort, I have the disease ready, and open my eyes once more.

The beasty is staring at me, apparently sensing that something was happening. I wait for it to lie dormant once again, memorizing its location before the light from its eyes disappears. After the room grows dark, I silently release the magic towards its target, leaving myself a single spark within my body for the final part of the plan. Now all I can do is wait.

--------------------

Weeks have passed, and I have whittled away the hours day-dreaming about the things I could do once I return to the land of the living. Something new wakes me from my fantasies however. For a second, I though I could hear something creaking. Silence reigns for a moment, than the guardian wakes again, and the light from its eyes fills the room.

Thus I get to taste my triumph. The beasty no longer has large portions of its limbs, likely because my spell hit it there first, and I can almost see the magic eating away at the rest of it.

With a simple flexing of my will, the last spark within me surges into my limbs, and I rip my way free of my bonds. The beasty pitifully tries to pull itself to its feet, desperate to complete its task, but it no longer has the strength it did. With a kick I send it to the ground, and with a smile I shove my hand into the things "chest". There I find and extract my prize. Sparks cascade into my form, and the beasty shrieks as it dies. Standing once again, I glance around, the room dark once again.

The only difference is, I'm free.
Spark Count: 55

With the vestiges of my strength enhancement, I pull the door to the crypt open, and blink back tears as the harsh light of day meets my eyes. After a moment to adjust, I turn back to look over the room that was my home for countless years, and I wonder. Voices, is there anything else that needs doing here, or shall I take my first steps into world?

>>299752
I doubt there's anything in the coffins, but you might as well check them. Aside from that, let's just leave; it's tempting to leave a taunting message, but your enemies don't deserve the effort.

I'm also tempted to immediately invest some of those sparks in a permanent boost of some kind that would be of aid in the outside world. I'd like to know how hard it will be to get more before doing that, though; thirty sparks is a very large investment.

Hated 2011/04/27(Wed)19:28 No. 299764 ID: 3beb66
File 130395769984.jpg - (32.23KB , 350x262 , 3e98d45b-7adf-4216-9f42-28ca529662fd.jpg )

From what I remember before my imprisonment, there was usually at least one mage of decent power to safeguard a town, at least among the races that could use magic. It was a sound system of protection, so unless something changed drastically during the time I was trapped, the same practice should still be in affect. After I finish with the coffins, I'll see if I can't smell any sparks around.

I reenter the crypt, opening up both coffins with relative ease. Searching both, I find the expected skeleton within each, however the first has a gold ring on its finger, and the second a silver one. Both probably aren't worth a great deal, but the money would still come in handy, or we could apply spells to them first and then sell them. Magic items tend to be coveted by those incapable of casting.

Both skeletons clothes also seem to be intact, like my own. The pair were most likely mages, as only a mage would have the time and sparks to spare to ward their clothing against the effects of time. I take the clothing as well, although I should probably wash the stench of the dead from them before doing anything else with them.

With that out of the way, I return outside, and venture further out into the wilds. Closing my eyes again, I reach out, feeling for the tell-tale mark of what I seek. A few seconds pass, and I open my eyes once again, having found sources at least somewhat nearby.

Seven to be exact. Five are to the west, perhaps a mile or so. The last two are south. I can't get anymore specific without first getting closer to any of the sources. If I recall the location of the crypt correctly, than the town of Rivercross lies west, while south will lead me into the territory of barbarians tribes.

How easily detected are you as a... hunter of sparks? Your first order of business is to avoid notice of those who imprisoned you before, their allies, and anybody who may be capable of using similarly effective means against you. Avoiding notice should be your primary responsibility in all situations where you don't specifically need it to pursue a short-term goal.
It seems that what was wrong with how you went about gathering sparks the last time is that it gained you enough enemies that the gods were moved to assault you. Taking sparks in a way that gets you friends amongst the lesser beings equivalent to or greater than the enemies generated through your actions seems required.

Can you harvest sparks in a renewable way--taking a portion from a mage as payment for a service rendered leaving them disposed to make a similar bargain later?
If you cannot take sparks non-destructively consider finding a sponsor who provides you with safe haven and support for your feeding from their list of enemies.
Pick your direction according to whether you could find better odds of allies and stealth in the barbarian territories or in the urban areas.

>>299773
We're primarily driven by hate. I don't think that's particularly conducive to gaining allies; at most, we'd end up working with people that we hate slightly less against those we hate slightly more.

Not that it's a bad idea, I just don't know how realistic or sustainable it is.

Perhaps we could get a power that would help with hunting and evasion- some kind of invisibility magic? Or one which lets us move through a spirit/ethereal/shadow plane, if there is one here? Are those feasible? Hopefully we could use those to get the drop on those walking snacks and chow down.

If we can take on five mages one at a time and pass for normal enough in a crowd, I'm inclined to go west. Barbarians tend to be stronger and less sheeplike than townspeople anyway.

>>299773
Making FRIENDS with the mortals? Are you out of your mind? Why would I ever lower myself to being nice to them? I would rather drill holes through my own eyes... thinking back, I've done that, very unpleasant, wouldn't suggest it.

And to answer your question regarding taking simply a portion of sparks... its possible, I vaguely recall doing it way back in the beginning, when I first awoke. But I think it requires someone willingly giving it up, and I doubt any mortal mages would willingly give sparks to someone else, even one of their own.

As for being detected as a hunter of sparks, well, that's a rather unique ability that I've only seen in three other people, two of which were semi-immortals like myself. The most that could be detected about me is that I'm carrying sparks in me, but mages rarely use spells to check for that, as it is assumed all mages adhere to the worthless law regarding registration to their guild.

>>299786
There are a number of possible spells for evasion. I shall list those within my abilities.

-Ethereal(Body): I effectively become a ghost, only not dead. It lowers my visibility to the naked eye, and allows passage through thin barriers. It is easily warded against and detected by a mage however.
Costs 4 sparks to pop for 5 seconds, plus one per 5 seconds extra. 34 sparks total to apply to myself as an activate at will ability at weakest level.

-Shadow-Stepping(Warp Reality): Effectively, I could step between shadows that I am able to see. Like stepping across from one alley to the next without going through the street in between. That's mostly evasive.
8 sparks per 10ft jump, plus 4 sparks per 5ft extra. 38 sparks total to apply to myself as an at will ability at weakest level.

-Invisibility(Body-Magic): This is barely within my abilities, and I would consume large amounts of my sparks if I tried to apply this permanently. It would, however, make me impossible to see to the naked eye. Weak wards wouldn't affect me, although detections spells likely still would.
14 sparks per 10 seconds, plus 4 per 5 seconds extra. 44 sparks to apply to myself as the above.

Perhaps due to my appetite more than my desire for stealth or any sense of caution, I begin heading west. If I remember the distance correctly, it should take me about an hour to reach my destination, plenty of time to deliberate over potential powers to use. Personally, I'd prefer to brute force my way through the entire town, but I'm forced to acknowledge that it was that sort of thinking that got me chained down to begin with. It seems I will be relying largely on your help, voices, until I figure out how to be subtle.

>>299793
I'm not a big fan of befriending people, but having patsies could be very useful. One key concept of stealth is the ability to blend in with the terrain- that often means crowds, which means learning a little social engineering, how to manipulate rather than murder. It's a good thing to know.

Anyway. Invisibility seems the best of those options; it's slightly more costly than the others but would still leave you a fair number of sparks for spot-burning, and even a few seconds of going unseen should be more than enough to let you escape from or get the drop on someone as necessary. We can upgrade that and maybe pick up ethereality and some kind of ability to punch through wards and hide from detection spells later to become a fearsome stealth killer. Plus physical enhancements, of course... so much growth to do, so few sparks...

Anyway, I'm thinking you should invest in invisibility. Unless someone else has significant objection...?

Also, if you find a stream or what have you on the way to town, stop and wash those clothes. You probably don't look terribly good; disguises are good and clothes are part of them.

I say go for permanent shadow-step and hunt only during the night. It will give you exellelent dodging and evasive abilities, you will be able to make better ambushes and during battles it will serve you well even at weakest power level.

One thing you should do is to capture a mortal (preferably a mage of sorts) then bisect him and learn his anatomy, you might need to use some sparks for enchancing your mind: intelligence and perception. You need to do this so that you can learn what exactly in mortals body produces Sparks. Asfter you learn what it is, you could permanently apply it to yourself, as in craft an organ in yourself which generates sparks.
Sure, it will make little sparks at first (lets say 1/day) but it will be worthy.

Anyway, that beast... are there places in this world where you can find that manner of magical beasts?

Very important question!

Are you a male or female?

This is critical stuff which will affect everything
I know that you said
>"So, I decided I'd be a good boy, not cause any trouble"
but maybe many years of solitude made your mind slip.

Having a permanent ability from the start has great benefits, more so if we specialize.

Ethereal? Will leave us plenty of sparks to upgrade it or other things. Being able to shift through walls is a great ability. We could get the jump on a mortal through a wall. But it doesn't decrease our visibility well enough.

Shadow Step? This would be most effective at night, which only aids our sneakiness. This does a great deal for transportation and quick evasion if there are shadows nearby. You might need to do something in the day which worries me about this ability. A clever mage could make this useless.

Invisibility? A powerful but taxing spell. We will not be able to go invisible for long periods of time until we put many sparks into it, so buying its permanence would require specialization. If you don't want to use invisibility all the time, it might be better just to avoid using it.

My personal choice is invisibility. Being able to go invisible is such a useful thing, and not having to spend sparks to use it every time is great. Combined with strength and speed you will be an undetectable killing machine. You will always have the jump and will be invisible while attacking, until it runs out. But then what are they going to do? They will probably already be dead.
Shadow Step is a good choice too, we could travel very fast in the night. But if our enemy is in the light this ability won't do much.

>>299841
Physically I'm male at the moment. My original gender I don't remember, and with enough sparks I can change it whenever I want anyway. I've been told I think like a male though, so I tend towards male forms.

>>299834
...What's a bisect?

Whatever, moving on, the beasty was a construct, created by one of the heroes. You don't just find them. Well, not around here anyway. The various magic institutes have lots of them.

Seems we have a vote for shadow stepping and a vote for invisibility. I think I'll just let you folks argue it out a little while, and I'll just keep walking. I'll keep a look out for a stream or river as well.

>>299834
>One thing you should do is to capture a mortal (preferably a mage of sorts) then bisect him and learn his anatomy
...I think the word you're looking for is "vivisect", and given that magic is involved here that strikes me as unlikely to work unless we've invested in more magical sensory abilities. Not a bad thought overall, just not something that we can use right now in my opinion. After we've become an efficient hunter we can revisit the concept.

Anyway, while I do think that both ethereality and shadow-stepping would be useful, both of them are useful primarily in limited situations whereas invisibility is useful almost all the time- in any combat situation or ambush, it would be a huge help. That means to me that we should buy invisibility first, and fill in our breaking/entering and teleportation abilities later.

Also, as invisibility is the most expensive of the three, it would be a total waste to ever use it if we haven't bought it permanently; 14 sparks is a ridiculously high cost for ten seconds of power. But I could see us burning four sparks to jump through a wall if we really need to.

Yes, I already voted, just sharing my logic here.

>>299843
Looks like you missed my vote at >>299842
Score appears to be 2 for invisibility, 1 for shadow step.

>>299846
I completely agree.

>>299843
>...What's a bisect?
>...I think the word you're looking for is "vivisect"
Yes... yes, that's what I meant.
Basically that means thoroughly examining the body by opening it up. Not gutting it with a rusted scythe or gruesomely shearing it into pieces with hands.
But carefully opening it with appropriate tools and such.

>Not a bad thought overall, just not something that we can use right now in my opinion. After we've become an efficient hunter we can revisit the concept.
Yeah, I thought about that too.
I'm pretty sure it will cost a lot. But still, food for thought.
Why can't Hated make his own sparks? Must be something missing in his biology. Hopefully it is not connected with soul or gods.


Shadow-stepping lets us instantly move around but invisibility is also cool.... but what would be the limitations of invisibility at the lowest level?

Anyway, I think we should postpone the upgrade till we get to the source of sparks.

>>299848
Ah, like torture.

While mulling over your advice voices, I have come to the conclusion that waiting a little before deciding should be best. Humans can't tell I'm a threat just by looking, so identifying each of the prey before doing anything won't harm us any. My vote goes neither way, as I've already given my preference for open destruction.

After another while of traveling, I spot Rivercross, one of the first towns humans set up after they gained the thought processes to do so. Or so they say anyway. A river runs directly through the center of the town, and it seems to be bustling with activity. A far cry from when I last saw it, up in flames from my last rampage through the place.

I make sure to head to the river outside of town first, washing the clothing I'd obtained as best I can. After a moment of thought, I also wash myself, as being stuck in a crypt does nothing for personal hygiene. Once that's done, I dress and make my way into town.

Upon arrival, the guards greet me cheerfully, as if I was nothing more than another mortal traveler. I ignore them, which does nothing to curb their joy, and enter the town, arriving swiftly at the town square. From here, I can smell the sparks strongly, and quickly close my eyes to get more exact locations and power levels.

The first lies not far from here, and seems weak. Likely little more than an apprentice, or someone who is just very unskilled.

Two more are almost overlapping, and it seems likely the two are together. From what I can tell, the both of them are at least full mages, trained to use the power they have as effectively as they can. But little more than apprentice level.

The fourth source lies... below me, and a little way off, perhaps a dungeon or jail of some sort. Its strong enough to be classified as a mid-power mage, likely in for crimes of some sort.

The final source is easily identified, and flairs almost enough to make my mouth water. Its strong, very strong, and I feel twinges of hunger at the thought of devouring the sheer amount of-

"Sir? Are you alright?"

"Hmm?"

I turn to find a young female human staring at me, concern written on her face. I glare back, hoping she'll just go away, but that just seems to encourage the mortal.

"Well, you seem alright. If there's anything you need help with, you can ask me. Your new in town after all, aren't you?" This seems more a statement of fact then a question. "I'm Lacy by the way. The local inn keepers daughter."

Humans: The last race to discover its own ability to wield magic, they have the smallest lifespans of the five races, but breed like rabbits to make up for this. They come in nearly every shape and size, and of the three races able to use magic, are the weakest.

"Very nice! Very nice to meet you Lacy" Shake her hand vigorously "Thank you for your concern but, really, I am alright. I just haven't been in Rivercross for such a long time.
Anyway, I wont waste your time much longer."

Questions:
Do only mages have Sparks in them? Regular people don't have any?
How many Sparks do they usually have?
If we use permanent augmentations what is the range of the Shadow-step, how often in can be used in succession? How long will the invisibility last, can it be restarted immediately?

Anyway, I suggest going for the BIG prey. We are HUNGRY, if we plan this right, we will catch that fucker unawares and he wont be able to use any of his powers against us.


>Ah, like torture.
No
Not really, they have to be dead.... Unless you think you can learn more from vivisecting the person alive.

Whatever you must do to dismiss this girl, go ahead. But don't be too impolite and try not to identify yourself.

Going after the strongest one is tempting.. but with our current level of power there is no chance of defeating him, unless we surprise him. Even if we surprise him, we might still lose. Losing to him would mean death, imprisonment, or alert of our escape. None of this must happen. The safer option would be to target the weaker prey, spend the sparks, and then eliminate this threat. Make sure nobody sees you kill anyone, whatever order you choose. In any case, spend the sparks you have before attacking the strongest. And good luck. Is luck something you can upgrade? That would be cool.

>>299938
Mages are not technically the only things that have sparks in them. The beasty we killed back at the crypt was a good example. But among the five humanoid races, yes, mages are the only ones to have sparks. Otherwise I'd be hunting everything that walked on two legs.

A rough power range for mages is as follows:
Weak mages will have anywhere between 10-20 sparks.
Mid-level mages will have 50-80 sparks.
High powered mages will tend to have anywhere between 150-200 sparks.

The reason for the rather sharp increases is that mortals tend to take longer to understand things, but once they have the basics down, they tend to be very innovative, and for some reason, sparks are attracted to such things.
Coming up with inventive ways to deal with situations will result in rewards.

Consider the basic range of any spell applied to my body to be that of its weakest level. For shadow-step, that would be a 10ft range. The speed of movement for shadowstepping is how quickly I can step, after all that's really all it relies on. For invisibility, a small cooldown(half the time invisibility lasts, unless upgrading is specifically targeted towards cooldown) is necessary between each use.

>>299949
Increasing luck isn't so much increasing luck, as calculating and increasing the chance certain things will happen. I, unfortunately, can't do it at all, even when I was at full strength. Calculating that quickly is out of my mental capacity.

Now, to the girl. Since I've apparently been restrained from actually harming her(it would get her to go away), I resort to the first suggestion to see how that goes.

"Very nice! Very nice to meet you Lacy. Thank you for your concern but, really, I am alright. I just haven't been in Rivercross for such a long time. Anyway, I wont waste your time much longer." I make my voice sound cheerful, although it rasps slightly from disuse, as I grab the woman's hand. I pump said appendage in a handshake, likely harder than is normal, as the woman retracts her hand quickly after I let go.

"Um. Alright then... no, wait! You need a place to stay, right? I could help with that!" The girl seems extremely determined to help me, no matter what I say. Probably because...

"Look," I start, my voice shifting back to my normal voice, which by the fact that I wanted it the way is by nature low and menacing. "we both know you just want me to stay at your inn. I'll tell you what. You give me the name of this inn of yours, and leave me alone, than I'll sleep there for the night, alright?"

The mortal looks extremely confused, apparently not used to people being that blunt about what's really going on. But after a moment she nods, give me the name(The River Rest Inn) and leaves, throwing a thoughtful glance over her shoulder as she goes.

Right,

now lets go and learn more about our preys.
I say we look into the most powerful one, if not him then at least the mid-ranged one.

We could get a look on them, ask around.

Also, try to figure out about the figure in the dungeons.

It seems to me that shadow-step could be great if we try to take out the guy in the dungeon (it is full of shadows).


Also, pawn off your rings...
wait
before you do that
You said something about infusing magic into them. How does that exactly work? How much sparks do we need to use? How powerful will the rings become and what kind of effects.


Also, word to the wise, do not shift your character so bluntly in future. It attracts unwanted attention. Not saying not to be unfriendly, if you started grumpy and ended grumpy then there would be nothing suspicious. But when you start conversation friendly and go total polar opposite in 10 seconds ... well, the worst is that people will assume you are insane.

>>299938
>Not really, they have to be dead.... Unless you think you can learn more from vivisecting the person alive.
The word 'vivisect' implies that they are alive when you do it. If they're dead, it's 'dissect'. An important distinction!

But we'd have to use vivisection in this case since magic probably goes away if they're dead.

>>299935
>A river runs directly through the center of the town, and it seems to be bustling with activity.
How large is this town? Settlement size determines the amount of alarm that will result from killing people. A death in a population of a hundred will cause panic and chaos; a death in a population of a hundred thousand will cause a few minutes of gossip. This is an important consideration when hunting.

>The final source is easily identified, and flairs almost enough to make my mouth water. Its strong, very strong, and I feel twinges of hunger at the thought of devouring the sheer amount of-
Back to this. What did you easily identify this source of sparks as? Where is it?

>>299990
I would be inclined to target the mid-range mage first, but if they're imprisoned then they aren't going anywhere. Let's scout out the area, then start at the bottom and work our way up.

>my voice shifting back to my normal voice
As a general rule, try to maintain one persona at a time when interacting with others. Switching attitudes in mid-conversation is sometimes disconcerting enough to be a hostility trigger- bad for stealth. Making other people like you should generally be taken as a secondary objective in any conversation you're not planning to end with blood; people who like you (however foolishly) are more likely to bring you or be convinced to give you useful information or assistance. Cloak yourself in smiles and lies so that others remain helpful and unwary. Hide your power level and burning hate.

>>299998
>We could get a look on them, ask around.
Asking around strikes me as a bad idea given our current social skills. Better to do our initial recon in person, seeing as we can already sense our targets. Just play it cool and don't do anything overly suspicious or hostile. Will mages be able to sense the sparks inside you? What about any sparks you've sunk into permanent abilities?

>Also, pawn off your rings...
Good call. I'd say pawn one now for some immediate cash and keep one for potential enchanting later.

>>300025
>The word 'vivisect' implies that they are alive when you do it. If they're dead, it's 'dissect'. An important distinction!

Ah, sorry. You're right.
English is not my first language.

I find a shop willing to take a ring off my hands, and sell the gold one for 30 gold. A substantial amount, given the prices I saw within the shop, and it should keep me for awhile. The other will be kept for later enchantment.

Actually enchanting will take time to perform anyway, so I'll explain it once we've settled for the night.

Any mage specifically searching for sparks(activated the required spells) would be able to sense my sparks. Those applied into permanent affects are not included in this unless an ability is active. As to the powerful source, it's either a very weak demigod or a powerful mage. We are NOT taking him in a head-on fight anytime soon.

Judging from simply looking at the town, there seems to be about fifty thousand within its walls. I'll also make sure to at least feign friendliness from now on. Honestly, it seems tiresome and pointless, but you haven't been wrong yet. Not that we've done much.

Following the advice to at least look around, I spend a few minutes wandering. For the most part, its the usual human way of building a town. Namely, they construct buildings with no sense of purpose or reason whatsoever, just deciding on day a building should go somewhere. Alleyways snake off into the spaces between buildings, and as I draw near to the weakest source, I feel a flicker, as it dims a little. It moment later a bunch of grimy human spawn come screaming out of the nearest alleyway, obviously frightened, a small ball of fire rocketing after them, the slowest just barely evading the bolt of fire.

I smile to myself. If the mage is weakened by such a small fireball, I could defeat it without any spells at all. I quickly slip down the alley, eager to claim even the smallest of snacks.

What I find is almost laughable. Another human child, leaning against a wall, glances up at me in fear as I stare down at him. It appears the first source isn't even an apprentice mage, but someone who has literally no training at all. The fireball, in light of this information, speaks volumes of the boy's magical talent. If he lived, he would likely become very powerful. Too bad, I've no plans to let him live.

>>300035
You have no qualm for the murder of children? A good trait for a demon to have. On an odd thought, we might actually better the people by killing this boy. He seems somewhat violent. But the other mages would have their way with him no doubt. Make sure nobody is nearby, and the murder does not seem suspicious in a way that a non human did it. Instant death magic would come in handy here.

>>300035
>As to the powerful source, it's either a very weak demigod or a powerful mage. We are NOT taking him in a head-on fight anytime soon.
Given the presence of something like that in the city, my inclination is to lay low for a short while gathering information, then harvest the other four sources as rapidly as possible in quick succession and skip town.

>about fifty thousand within its walls
I'm going to call that "you can kill people, but not often and hide the bodies" numbers. But I'm a cautious guy.

>Honestly, it seems tiresome and pointless, but you haven't been wrong yet. Not that we've done much.
Not going to lie, it's a pain in the ass. All the more so if you end up in a situation where you need to keep it up for extended periods of time when what you really want is to tear the still-beating hearts from the people you're smiling at and laugh at the shocked look on their faces. Eventually we'll be able to drop the facade, but for now I just don't think that we have the power for it- and trying to be friendly is the safe path to having at least some social success, which can lead to power by proxy. Tell us if you're losing your patience with it, though.

>It appears the first source isn't even an apprentice mage, but someone who has literally no training at all. The fireball, in light of this information, speaks volumes of the boy's magical talent. If he lived, he would likely become very powerful. Too bad, I've no plans to let him live.
To be honest, my mind here immediately turns to the possibility of keeping this kid around and feeding off him in the long term as his talent develops- you mentioned that mages can willingly give up sparks, right? If this child is just that talented, you could potentially keep him around and harvest a hell of a lot of sparks out of him as he generates more. Most children are relatively easy to manipulate; you could probably get him to follow you with a few words taking advantage of his fear and snag a minion out of the deal. He's hardly more than a snack right now anyway; tell him that you sensed his talent and it brought you to him, then order him to stop looking like he's about to piss himself and come with you to get some food because he looks half starved. If he doesn't obey, just kill him; if he does, you can start working on him as a long term project to make him into a slave who you can regularly feed on and who will be useful in helping you snag more impressive meals.

But hey, if you don't have the patience for that and want his meager sparks THAT badly, not like I'm going to stop you. Just make sure you're not killing him with a dozen people who might see and call the guard/that archmage watching.

>>300045
Seconding child-minion idea.

>>300045
Your sarcasm doesn't endear you to me at all, voice. Your logic, on the other hand, does. Raising the boy so that I could feed from him regularly seems worthwhile, although the act of raising him itself is likely going to be boring and annoying at the same time. Just so you know, I reserve the right to consume him if he gets on my nerves too much.

"Boy, you have potential, and that potential has attracted my attention. You'll follow me now, and do as I say. In exchange, I'll teach you some of what I know, give you food, and keep you safe from harm. Is this agreeable?"

The boy grows wide eyed at the mention of food, and he begins nodding like mad before I even finish. His lack of talking seems odd, so without any pretext I force his mouth open, even as the boy's eyes grow wide and he whimpers, probably thinking I'll harm him in some way.

It seems someones cut this boy's tongue out. A shame really, one less place to apply magic. Ah well, it shouldn't hinder him too much.

Turning away, I gesture for the boy to follow me, and I exit the alleyway. I'm rewarded with the sound of the boy's footsteps behind me. It seems he has chosen to obey for now. I purchase some food for my new follower, and as he consumes it I close my eyes again, confirming the location of the remaining spark sources. All are in almost exactly the same places, the larger sources having moved a little since last I checked.

Shall I hunt the next sources down, or is there something left to do with my new apprentice before I head out?

>>300055
>Your sarcasm doesn't endear you to me at all, voice.
I actually wasn't being sarcastic. Your not having the patience for dealing with a child following you around strikes me as a perfectly reasonable possibility; children can be annoying as hell and you've been under a lot of stress recently. Not to mention that not everyone is fond of long-term planning in general.

But as you say, you can always eat him if he gets too annoying.

>Shall I hunt the next sources down, or is there something left to do with my new apprentice before I head out?
He probably looks like a grubby street urchin. That might make him somewhat conspicuous in certain areas of the city. Keep an eye on that if you're planning to go somewhere and look innocent; he'd need a quick wash and some clean and possibly repaired clothes before blending into most areas.

You should also tell him that what you're doing is dangerous, and that you expect his unhesitating obedience no matter what he sees you do, or you might as well throw him back onto the streets for a frightened mob to kill. Say that you've seen what happens to others like him without someone looking after them, and it's not pretty; that should hopefully bind him to you somewhat. Have him nod if he understands. The point of this is to make sure that he doesn't run away the first time he sees you rip out someone's throat or tear out a mage's sparks; he'll probably be terrified, but needs to keep working for you right through it.

Unless the next weakest sparks are in a very nice area of the city, you can head out for them after that.

>>300053
Try to be gentle with the boy, he has obviously had a rough childhood so far.

Ask if the boy can read and write. If he can, tell him to write out his name so you don't have to keep referring to him as 'Boy'.
See if he can cast any other spell besides Fireball. Maybe give him a brief magic lesson, teach him about Sparks and etc.
Inform him that both of you will be staying at The River Rest Inn in case he gets lost or you wish to send him away while you hunt.

For our next course of action let's scout out the location of the two low-level mages. Try to get a layout of the surrounding streets before you enter the building/location they are in.

How much would it cost to cast or permanently gain regenerative healing powers? Or do you already posses that as an immortal being? 

>>300061
I reopen my eyes and glance down at the boy next to me. He's finished eating, and a content smile is plastered across his face. That's not going to last long.

"Boy, I'll say it now that what I do is dangerous, and not exactly legal. There will be things that frighten you, especially when we meet other mages like ourselves. No matter what happens, I expect you to do as I say. No hesitation. If you don't you can end up dead, or worse. Is this understood?"

The boy stares at me for a few minutes, obviously silent, than determination seems to enter his eyes, and he nods. I don't know if that will keep him with me through the more vicious things I tend to do, but for now it seems he's chosen to continue on his path no matter what. Let's hope he sticks to his dedication.

Any magic lessons will have to wait for later however. If it's discovered I'm an unregistered mage, or worse, that there are two of us, we could be killed or jailed on the spot. We'll hold on to those thoughts for when we return to the inn. AS to the question of regeneration, I naturally heal faster than a mortal, but not on the level of regeneration. I can activate a spell to do simulate such however, by increasing my metabolism. Or I could just outright heal myself.

"Hm. Good. You know where the River Rest Inn is?" Another nod from the boy. "Go there if we get separated. Wait outside if you have to. We'll be staying there till we leave the city." Again, another nod from the boy. "You got a name, boy?"

The boy frowns, then gets up and skips off towards a stall vendor. Almost instantly, he's shouted at and told to get lost, with said boy being referred to as "Tongues". Well, can't fault the boy for his ability to improvise.

Feeling like I've been nice enough for now, and the next two sources not far off anyway, I head off, Tongues in tow, making sure to amble about the area and memorize the layout so I can run if I need to. It seems this area is the poorer district, and nobody pays me or the boy much attention. After that's done, I make my way to the pair, and find what appears to be a warehouse of some sort. Upon going to the door, I smell one of the spark sources come up and open it slightly.

"Yoush comesh looking for shom... entshertaishnment? A littlesh femalesh companionship perhapsh?" The speaker smells of alcohol, and his responses are liking dulled because of it. It also slightly amazes me the man screws up nearly every other word except companionship. You'd think he would have screwed that one up as well.

It seems these two are involved in crime, so killing them shouldn't be a problem. In fact, judging from the way the road is completely clear for about a block, I would hazard a guess that I've wandered into the territory of some low level street gang. Shouldn't be any problems with me killing everyone I want inside.

So, voices, do I get to cut loose for once, or shall I try talking them to death as you all seem so fond of?

Go for the talking. Specifically, get him to open up the likely locked door before you kill him so you don't have to waste any sparks busting it down.

>>300064
>So, voices, do I get to cut loose for once, or shall I try talking them to death as you all seem so fond of?
That hurts, man. Really, it does. It's definitely killin' time.

I'd say something in affirmation and move forward into the building. He seems drunk enough that it's unlikely he'll stop you. You want to get inside and locate the second source of sparks; it would be rather annoying if the second mage burned away a bunch of power trying to save themselves from you. Once you know where they both are, strike hard and fast; you may not need to burn any sparks on physical boosting for speed and strength here, but if you think it would be better to play it safe, go ahead. Take all their sparks and make sure that no witnesses escape to tell the tale.

We should probably get a weapon at some point. If they're involved in crime, you'll probably be able to grab one here, preferably something deadly but concealable.

Tongues might freak upon watching you slaughter everyone; if he does, tell him to calm down; remind him that you warned him and he said he'd be with you, so there's no backing out.

When all the sparks are yours, see about cleaning any blood off yourself (can't go wandering the streets with blood on you) and see if you can locate the final spark more precisely.

>So, voices, do I get to cut loose for once, or shall I try talking them to death as you all seem so fond of?

I am always fond of talking people to death, but since you seem tense cut loose! But first make sure there are no witnesses inside the warehouse before killing both sources.

"Entertainment, yes. Companionship, no."

Tell Tongues to wait for you by the inn, you have 'business' to take care of. He doesn't need to see the dark deeds you do yet, perhaps when he has traveled with you a bit longer.

As to how you murder the Spark Sources, try using only your enhanced physique to handle them. Quickly
snapping  necks, breaking  spines, or smashing in heads are pretty quick and effective means, unless you wish for a more brutal approach. Also, if you wish to maximize the chance of them not wasting any sparks on defensive-spells, I would suggest you go along with their offer at first, then murder one of them when you are alone and then proceed to execute the remaining one.

Would it be possible to return Tongues' tongue with a healing spell? That would probably ensure his loyalty for life. Also, if you're in the mood for continuing a murderous rampage, ask Tongues who cut out his tongue and 'appropriately' handle them.

Hated 2011/04/29(Fri)05:44 No. 300111 ID: b96349
File 130408108403.gif - (9.84KB , 114x160 , th_1280723869291.gif )

Talk to get in, than kill them all. Right, let's get on that, shall we?

"Entertainment is one way to put it, yes."

"Heh. Letsh me opensh thish door."

The door slams shut, then I hear locks being undone from the other side of it. I glance back over at my shoulder at the boy, and gesture for him to wait outside. No need for him to get caught in the crossfire. If there even is a crossfire to be caught in.

The door opens, and I enter, scanning the room for my prey. The first is literally a guy in a cloak and funny hat, as if he really didn't understand that the sterotype didn't need to be followed. A few room in however, the other seemed to get the picture.

The other man appears to be going for the dashing rogue look, but also seems to be failing horribly at it. He has a really nice hat though, one that I resolve to make mine as soon as possible. Four more thugs are also scattered about the building. Two are at the table with the rogue, the last two seem to be guarding a door near the back, probably where the "companionship" is kept.

The not-so-dashing rogue looks up from what he is doing(counting out a stack of money) and glares at the other mage next to me.

"Did you even check to see if he had any money?"

"Oh! Right... sho, yoush gotsh money?"

"Yes, I have money."

The man nods sagely, then nearly falls over and instead stumbles into a few crates in the corner. I pause for a moment, taking one last look around to make sure I'm not missing anything, and finding I haven't, I smile.

"But none of it's for you."

All the men in the building frown, right up until I slam my fist into the drunk mans face. He crumples to the floor, out before he reaches his destination. The other mage blinks, clearly confused as to what just happened. His hesitation ends him.

I shadow-step behind him, confusing everyone further, then grab him by the head, pump my strength and snap his head around, the crack as the movement is complete seeming to echo off the walls of the warehouse. As the mage falls, his hat flutters down in front of me, and I snatch it from the air and place it on my head, an almost child-like grin of joy spreading across my face. I really do like this hat.
Spark Count: 46

Then the supposed guards get their act together, and the two nearest the table charge me, drawing short-swords. Since the strength enhancement is still active a little longer, I simply pick up the table and us it to smash them into a wall, dropping them both but leaving them alive. One kindly dropped his sword for me, so I pick that up as I turn to the final pair.

The one to the right seems too scared to do anything, but the left one comes charging at me, roaring in rage and swinging a club. I find myself insulted by this, as how can his rage possibly match mine. I side-step his badly aimed attack, and then use my newly acquired shortsword to end his life, ramming the blade into his chest. The thug stumbles back, and just for good measure I kick him into the door he was just guarding. He slams into it, then slides comically to the floor, eyes staring at the blade in him, hands grasping feebly at the hilt.

The last thug starts panicking, rambling something about taking what I want, whatever I want. The gold, the women, whatever, just to please not kill him. I decide I find his groveling annoying, and pick up the club his friend dropped. The man starts crying and collapses to his knees, but I pay it no mind. Walking over, I pump another spark for increasing strength, than I use the club on the man's head twice, hearing the satisfying crunch of the man's skull breaking.
Spark Count: 45

Humming, I grab the short-sword still on the floor, make sure the two other guards are dead, then drain my targets of their sparks, yielding a rather decent haul from both.
Spark Count:80

I set about gathering the gold on the table, continuing with my happy humming, that is until I hear a voice coming from behind that door the thugs were guarding.

"Hello? Um, is everything alright out there?"

The voice is distinctly feminine, and listening more closely I can hear faint whispers coming from behind the door as well. I had forgotten about the supposed companionship. What shall I do, voices?

Ask them if they know where the gold is kept, take as much as you can, let the boy carry some. Then tell the ladies they are free(i am guessing they are slaves),give them some coin, and "Do try not to trip on any corpses on your way out." Hide the rogue hat and try for a new identity. You don't have anything against a dead man's clothes, do you?

As for the boy's tongue, will you ever let it be healed? Having a loyal apprentice who cannot be easily interrogated is cool, but having one that can actually speak to you sounds useful.

>>300111
All right, burned ten sparks there, which isn't so great, but net +25 so it's all good. Still, that emphasizes the need for permanent powers to lessen expenditures in the long term. We should definitely invest in some after this.

Anyway, finish gathering the gold and check yourself for significant amounts of blood; things got pretty messy there and wandering the streets with obviously bloodstained clothing is usually a bad idea. You might need to swap out for some of the cleaner clothes on the dead men if you have significant amounts of residue on you, at least until you can wash out your magic shirt. You'll probably also want to take a scabbard from those thugs and clean off your sword; unless weapons laws are very strict in this city, there's little reason not to be armed now that you have the option and carrying around a naked sword is inconvenient.

Unless you really feel like killing a bunch of whores, should probably say something to keep them on the other side of that door. "Yes, everything's fine, now that everyone else out here is dead. Stay over there until I'm gone" ought to do it. Nice and straightforward. If they're dumb enough to open the door after that, kill them all unless there's some kind of apparent reason not to. Avoid using sparks unless necessary if it comes to that.

>>300126
>talk to ladies
>be nice to them
There's a stack of money right out here and we don't need cash so badly as to require a thorough looting of this building. We also don't need to be kind to a bunch of whores, particularly as it would leave a bunch of people behind us who can give a description of us as the one who killed these mages. As long as they don't open that door and see us, we don't need to change anything about our appearance or actions.

If you really want to thoroughly loot the place, we can, but in that case I'd say kill everyone who saw us afterward. There's no benefit to leaving them alive unless we're trying to turn them into minions, and I don't think they would be terribly useful minions. Though that would admittedly be heavily dependent upon their individual personalities.

>the boy's tongue
He doesn't need a tongue that badly and healing it would take a whole bunch of sparks. He stays mute, at least until we have so much power that magnanimity seems easy. Which will probably be never.

>>300111
Nothing to be gained from them. Take the rogues cloak as well, I don't imagine your clothes look too nice themselves.

Also, nice hat.

Regarding the women...there's not really much to be gained from them, is there? Just break whatever locks there, and leave. No need for them to see you, after all, that would put you on some folk's radar, which we don't want until we've harvested what we can from this city/town whatever.

>The not-so-dashing rogue looks up from what he is doing(counting out a stack of money)

DOSH!
grab it while you can, lads!

Okay, so we need to use up 1 spark for temporary attribute boosts, right? And we still have the strength boost.
So I suggest boosting our speed and looting everything of value from our hosts and this building.

Hmm... maybe there is no need to be so fast.
See if the door is locked or if it can be locked or barred. Do that, and then spend your time leisurely looting the place.
We need not make our face seen. I don't want to make unnecessary victims of those girls, so the best option is just not to be seen by them.

After this, I suggest we seek out the source of the sparks in the dungeon, reap it and then skip town. No need to go after the very powerful target just yet and if we stay here to kill more magic users, we will attract unwanted attention.


3rd plan. Loot everything and burn the warehouse down with everyone in it. Then it will be very hard to investigate what happened here. Though I suggest heavily against this.

I take the now deceased rogue's clothing, this time staying silent, hoping to keep the mortals in the next room in a state of confusion. The clothing seems a little brightly colored for my tastes, but it looks a lot more like something a normal traveler would wear. Might make me more likable as well. I grab the money on the table as well, making sure to avoid clinking the coins together too much.

Suddenly, I hear a gasp behind me, and without thinking I spin and dart forward, grabbing the female by the throat and slamming her into a wall. She is obviously in pain after that, but she remains awake. On the downside, she starts sobbing and pleading for her own miserable existence. Within seconds of me acting, another female enters.

"Hey! Put her down, right now! She hasn't done anything to you!"

I remain silent, not bothering to look at the other woman. Then an idea strikes me. Females among the mortals care for the young, don't they? And these women are used to enslavement. What's to stop me taking one of them and having her deal with Tongues for the most part? Or shall I kill them all, now that they know I'm here? Or maybe there's another alternative altogether?

>>300224
Your new appearance may make you easy to spot. And these females will spread the rumor of your murders surely. But killing the ladies will seem especially violent and attract the attention from the law and maybe that mage/mages. Simply killing these obvious criminals may not. Leave them safely, maybe even apologize, and ditch the disguise soon. It was nice to have but we can't just walk around like that with blood on our hands. You can buy different clothing with the gold you have just earned.

>What's to stop me taking one of them and having her deal with Tongues for the most part?
Nothing is to stop you. This has the pro of disposing of a lot of annoyance resulting from the kid. It has the con, however, of providing Tongues with an adult around other than you. It will give him someone else to bond to emotionally, weakening your hold on him and potentially dividing his loyalties if the woman is ever killed or betrays you. As you're the primary authority figure and the one with magic, making you the nominal role model, the effect shouldn't be too drastic, though.

Really, I think Tongues is capable of mostly staying quiet and taking care of himself. He seems like the sort who will at least try to keep up and not disappoint you as things stand right now.

If you want a slave, choose which- the one you're currently grabbing seems to have curiosity (since she opened the door) and malleability. The one giving you orders seems to have courage (quite a bit, in fact) and loyalty. The former would probably be easier to make an obedient slave- the shock of watching you kill everyone else alone should keep her fearful enough to stay obediently in line- while the latter would likely be more difficult to enslave, take a little persuasion, but if you can actually get her working for you she'd almost certainly be more useful.

To get the whimpering one, drop her and tell her not to move or you'll kill her, then take your sword and kill all the rest of the whores quickly and brutally. Then tell her that she'll do exactly as you say, or you will make certain that she regrets her disobedience before she dies screaming.

To get the defiant one, tell her that you have no reason to leave anyone who has seen you alive. Then smile, and say that you'll kill everyone who has glimpsed you- unless she cares to guarantee their silence. She'll likely ask how, or say something horrified; you tell her that she comes with you and tells everyone else to keep quiet. If she serves you well, and no rumors of what you look like spread, then everyone stays alive. If she betrays you or you hear your description on the streets as the killer of these men, you'll first kill her and then hunt down everyone else here. This is because based upon my (rash and potentially inaccurate) judgment of her personality, simply killing everyone else and declaring her your slave would probably result in resistance, escape and/or murder attempts, and other such annoyances; offering her a way to protect them (from you, since you're already obviously very dangerous) will likely be more successful in making her serve you loyally. If it doesn't work, you can still kill her and get the other woman as a slave.


I would appreciate reviews of the above from others. It may contain flaws or points which I haven't thought through fully.

>>300230
>And these females will spread the rumor of your murders surely. But killing the ladies will seem especially violent and attract the attention from the law and maybe that mage/mages.
Considering that we won't be in town for more than another day or two and that killing everyone leaves no one who can give a description of us, I find myself entirely unconcerned about trouble with the law. As for the super-powerful spark, I daresay it likely has better things to worry about than a few slaughtered whores.

tilt you bitching hat so that they don't see your face.

We could ask them what they are doing here, if they are slaves or just working girls.

Don't really see why we need a woman to care for Tongues. He can generally take care of himself, and we wouldn't want him to be attached to anyone else.
Nah, don't do it.

If we leave them alive, we will pretty much have to dump the hat and the robes.
So the choice is: keep these ladies alive or keep pimping hat?

>>300238
The choice is easy. The hat of course, its far too stylish to simply toss away, especially after just having retrieved it. The woman if front of me is sill sobbing, and since it seems the general consensus is that the boy can fend for himself, killing the woman remains my only task here.

"Now why would I listen to some whore from the street?" I tilt the hat on my head with my freehand, blocking my eyes from their view. A menacing smirk creeps across my face, and I can feel rather than see the woman in my grasp grow cold, fear putting an end to her sobbing. "I don't take orders from anyone, and since your annoying me, I feel its time for you to die."

The shortsword is put to work quickly, and I deftly sidestepped the spurt of blood coming from the woman's now slit throat. The other stumbles back in surprise, likely expecting a different response. Just goes to show how slow-witted humans can be after all.

Within minutes, the task is done. Twenty-two deaths in all within the building, and after searching everyone, I come up with more money. Not a bad hour of work, if I do say so myself. I even got a new hat out of it.

I return outside to find Tongues curled into a ball against the wall. Once he notices my presence, he's quick to rise to his feet, although he looks a little pale. The screaming from the woman probably didn't help his fear of me any, but he still seems determined to stick with me. Good.

I find an alleyway and change into my acquired set of clothing, the red and white colors making me feel exposed and not quite as menacing as I'd like to be. But I suppose that is the point. I suppose we'll also have to shift my appearance and voice to match as soon as we're able, but the act is still a little out of our reach, assuming we don't spend any more sparks. Doubtful, but still an objective.

For now, I feel getting into a dungeon will probably be easier at night, without so many people. Tongues trailing behind me, I head to the River Rest, where I purchase a room and some food for my apprentice and retire upstairs as soon as possible. Once there, I give Tongues the explanation of where his powers come from, the nature of sparks, and some mental exercises to perform whenever he has the time.

Once I've made sure the boy is performing the task I've set him correctly, I seat myself on the edge of the bed. Now then voices. Within the relative safety of the room, I can practice my own magics in peace, as well as answer any questions you might have.

So, ask away.

>>300254
>Once he notices my presence, he's quick to rise to his feet, although he looks a little pale.
I like this kid. He'll turn out well. Feed and care for him while ignoring him most of the time, demand unquestioning obedience, and give occasional positive reinforcement when he displays competence or obedience in the face of difficulty, and based upon my (admittedly imperfect) understanding of child psychology he should become quite devoted over a matter of months.

>So, ask away.
Right.

-Enchanted items. How do they work? What can they do, in absolute terms and as compared to spells? How valuable/common are they? What is the crafting process, with an eye towards what would be required for you to make things?

-You. What are you overall goals here, aside from getting ever more sparks? Do you want to be a hunter-killer type in the long term, as we've been assuming- or do you have some kind of different vision or endgame? Empire, genocide, whatever? How easily can you be differentiated from a mortal mage by someone who knows what they're about?

-Mages. You mentioned that they mostly use reality warping- can they also use body and mind powers? Is there a reason that they generally do not, if they can? Can they get permanent powers, and do they? Is the apparent 1:50,000 ratio amongst the population that we're seeing here pretty much the standard? What about the power curve- how many apprentices are there as compared to mid-level mages as compared to powerful types? What are the organizations they make, the laws about them, and the public's view of them? How fast do they generally acquire sparks (presumably they use magic on a semi-regular basis, which would logically deplete their stock if they didn't have a fairly quick refresh rate, so I assume fairly quickly)?

That's all I've got for now. Maybe more later.

I am really liking your total disregard for human life. Killing everyone in sight makes for great entertainment.

So, how much gold do we have, exactly? Was there anything you told him but not us? That we would be interested in. And now is the best time for the discussion of spark investment.

Earlier, when you used shadow step, a significant amount of sparks were spent. If you keep using abilities without specializing, the inefficiency will become obvious. I strongly suggest we buy a permanent ability. Invisibility would have allowed us to escape those whores with ease, your identity a secret still. Murdering them all was fun though. And it would oh so certainly help with combat. And shadow step would have made us a terrifying close quarters opponent, without the fear of spark usage. Ethereal would not be as useful for killing all of them and stealing the gold, but if you knew exactly where the weak spark was you could assassinate him quick and clean.

>>300285
It would also be reasonable to get a permanent strength boost, I think. We're going to be burning small numbers of sparks on that all the damn time if we don't.

Honestly, with 80 sparks I'm tempted to invest in two permanent abilities- but the second should really probably wait until after we've taken out the fourth snack and have its power to use.

Shadow step is very tempting to me because not only would it be a combat ability, it would also let us bypass obstacles AND travel extremely quickly overland- if we pour a few extra sparks into it, we could move at a dozen times the pace of a swift horse, as long as we're moving at night or in a shadowed area. (I hope we have some kind of darkvision.) It's very flexible. That would be my first choice, I think, then buying a strength boost second and invisibility third.

I think you should make Shadow Step and a Strength boost permanent, since those two seem to be the skills you are experienced with using in combat.

Especially the strength boost.

>>300284
Think of them as similar to directly applying things to my body, accept cheaper and impossible to redo. You also can't strengthen them after applying so decide how much power you want before deciding.

As for my goals. I want the heroes dead. Failing that due to them already being dead, I want any descendants they might have dead. I won't rest until the direct blood line of those heroes is wiped from existence. No exceptions, I am willing to take as long as it takes.

As to your last barrage of questions. I have no clue. I have just rejoined the world, as you should remember, and basically have no clue. I know that among humans, the general chance for a powerful mage is about 1 in every 1,000,000 people, at least before my imprisonment. The public view was generally good, at least for the registered ones. Registration with the Mage Guild(and attached Academy) was required, although I never joined myself, as it was a waste of time. Mages can generally replenish themselves to full power in one to two hours.

>>300285
I have about 67 gold, most of that in gold, but a few in silver coins. From what I can tell, silver is the generally used standard currency.

>>300320
>similar to directly applying things to my body, accept cheaper and impossible to redo
How much cheaper? Let's say that we wanted to enchant that ring with a 5-spark strength boost right now. How long would it take you, and what would be the total spark cost?

>As to your last barrage of questions. I have no clue.
This applies to your knowledge of standard mages' magical mechanics re: non-warp reality and permanent spells as well as recent social dynamics? Just so we're clear.

>Mages can generally replenish themselves to full power in one to two hours.
Wow. We'll be able to get a very nice amount of sparks out of this kid, if he's generating even one spark on an hourly basis.

>I have about 67 gold, most of that in gold, but a few in silver coins.
Any idea how expensive things generally are? Horses, clothing, meals, weapons, what have you. I know you've been out of it for a while, but wild guess based upon what you can remember from before adjusted for the cost of the food and inn, please?


And unrelated queries. What are the five races and their major features, both physically/magically and socially (from what you last recall)? How large an area are they spread over, and do they normally associate with one another much? This will be important for planning how we're going to go about hunting down the heroes, I think.

>>300330
Hmmm... using your example, about 15 sparks, and maybe an hour of work, if that. Silver is highly receptive to magic after all(most precious metals are, to some degree), so this should be fairly easy to enchant. The ring I mean.

Ah, they can use the other two, its just rare. Permanent spells are almost non-existent among human mages, elves use them sometimes, and orcs use them almost exclusively. As to current social standings, yeah, that I have no clue about.

The boy is weak, and has no knowledge at all of magic. It will be awhile before we can use him as a food source. If we want an immediate one, we'll have to find someone with some actual knowledge.

As for the cost of things, again, I have little to go off of. Inns and such seem cheap enough(a silver for a decent bed and food), so I would assume the amount of money I have is enough for awhile. Assuming I don't try to buy bridges or something equally stupid.

I will abstain from talking about the five races social norms for the moment, as I have ever known what the norms were for any of them other than the fact that they don't like me killing people, and the usual rules of don't steal bla bla bla. I'm assuming you know that sort of thing.

The humans... I'm assuming you know what a human is by now. Stand 5-6 feet tall on average. Generally multicolored. Pretty squishy. The usual stuff.

The elves. They are probably the most annoying things to walk this planet. The only reason they are still alive is that they have an aptitude for magic that probably outstrips the other races. They all care about two things only. That highly burnable forest of theirs, and their own appearance. I'm dead serious. Damn squeakers can't spend enough time doing their hair or some other such nonsense. I have met a few that break from the norm, and they were far less annoying. They ended up dead just the same. Oh yes, they are much weaker than humans physically(you can break one's nose by twisting it a little to hard), and are slim as heck. Magically, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM can use magic. The problem being that forest of theirs is so enchanted that getting in just doesn't happen. So I've had to wait till they come out, then hunt them down.

Orcs are hilariously warlike. I enjoy my spending my time among them the most, mostly because they really didn't care if I kill a bunch of them. Bulky, large, and perfect for close combat. I only left because I ended up eating all their mages at the time. Hope they have more when I go back.

Dwarves live in mountains. Their short, drunk, and have no mages. I ignored them for the most part, and as such, that's all I got.

I have less on goblins. They don't have mages either, and basically just charge towns until they all die or the village stops fighting back. Hated them, cause they usually made me waste sparks killing them.

Dwarves hate Goblins. Elves hate Orcs. Orcs just like killing things. Goblins hate everyone. And humans just like taking everyone elses stuff.

As for territory, I don't know. We should probably add finding a map to our list of goals.

Is there any way you could hide the fact that you contain sparks from a mage casting the spells to look for them? Because if so, making that a permanent spell on yourself should be a priority. Even in a direct confrontation that would be useful, because anyone who has cast those spells will think you are normal, right up until you do something magical.

If all elves have magic, and a greater aptitude for it than humans, they are obviously the best source of sparks. Which means we will have to find some way into that forest. Getting in by force obviously didn't work when you tried it, so next time try deception. Don't eat the next elf you run into, because you want to convince them to let you visit their forest, although right now you aren't powerful enough to attempt it.

>>300342
>As for territory, I don't know. We should probably add finding a map to our list of goals.
Ask the innkeep or his daughter in the morning. They'll know where to get a good one; there should be at least one decent cartographer in a city this size.

>enchanting the ring
That seems quite cheap- what, 10+spark cost or thereabouts? It might be worth enchanting an item instead of buying a permanent ability, even; I doubt we'll ever need to use ethereality for more than a few seconds at a time, for example, so the inability to upgrade it wouldn't really matter and we'd save a whole pile on sparks. A ring that lets us walk through walls and be less noticed for a few seconds at a time could be very useful. Then we buy a permanent shadow step, and keep the rest of our sparks on hand for now.

Anyone object to this plan?

>>300378
For permanent buying with sparks, I will agree with shadow step or invisibility. They are both very useful. As for the strength, do we really need to enchant a ring? If it costs more to enchant a ring than grant ourselves with permanent strength then I fully object, otherwise I agree. The only advantage would be that we could sell it, and we don't need money right now. There is also the possibility of losing the ring.

>>300407
Rings cost fewer sparks than permanent spells.

>>300351
The spell to block the spotting of my magic completely would register as magical. It essentially means I'm blocking magic by trying shove magic in front of it. I should explain that better. Because the spell your suggesting would need to be active to hide my sparks, it would radiate magic, since it's active. It defeats the purpose of hiding magic. At most, it would hide my power level from the senses of others.

With the ring plan not receiving any objections, I set to work, closing my eyes to keep my attention where I need it. I shape the magic in my body, first, the spell taking form like a ball within my gut. Then, I let the magic seep into the ring, visualizing a funnel that directs the magic into the ring. I open my eyes to check my progress, and am satisfied to see the ring with glowing lines of power on it, as if something had burned those lines into the ring's surface. Taking a deep breath, I draw out the ten sparks necessary for finalizing the process, shaping them like a shell around the rings that contain and suspend the power within. This step is entirely visible, as a glowing shell literally forms around the ring, lighting up the room, before it slowly fades from visibility. The process takes me about a half-hour, and once done, I have myself a magic ring, containing a very weak ethereal spell inside it.
Spark Count: 69
Ring of Ethereal: Lasts 5 seconds, 2 second cooldown.

It's then I notice Tongues. He's stopped his exercises, staring at the ring laying on my palm, eyes filled with wonder. From what I can tell, he seems in awe at what just occurred, and I can see the desire to do what I just did in his eyes. I smirk at his interest, which seems to snap his attention back to reality. Tongues suddenly realizes he isn't doing what he should be doing, and he immediately closes his eyes again, throwing himself back into his task.

Well, voices, we now have our ring. Before I permanent something though, I want to make sure of what spell I'm doing it with. So far I've seen Shadow Step mentioned most often, but I just want to be certain.

I have a non-standard idea that may be worth it, if it could work: A massive increase to intelligence actually, which you can put on the boy to speed up his training when you aren't making use of it yourself. This massive increase in intelligence would be very useful for helping you derive more worthwhile general information from simple observations.
If sharing the magic like that wouldn't work then just go with a speed and strength improvement which would allow you to throw battering rams and be quick and deft enough to physically catch and throw back arrows in flight. This should be sufficient physical empowerment for most purposes and those rare cases where it isn't you can spend temporary sparks I suppose.

Shadow step and invisibility are both great abilities. They each serve certain things better however. Shadow step with instant teleportation, allowing us to instantly flank or escape. Invisibility with total concealment, allowing us to kill many in an area with ease and hiding completely. Either one is acceptable.

So wait,

a low-level magic user has about 20 sparks, right?
A mortal can regenerate their sparks in about 2 hours (or does that apply to powerful mages?)... either way, even a low-level should be able to regenerate their supply in about 12 hours.
For Hated to gain Sparks, he needs to collect them from a dead host ... or he can get them from a willing person.

So why don't we set up some kind of a symbiotic deal with Tongues? We teach him shit, make him better (meaning he'll get more sparks) and he willing provides us with... lets say, half of his Sparks?

Shouldn't this work?


About the mage in the dungeon.
Could we extract Sparks without killing him? Could we, say, use a sleep spell on him and drain his Sparks while he sleeps then come back later to repeat the process?

Infiltrating the dungeon should not be too hard.
First, we need to have permanent shadow-step (or invisibility, though I'm more in favour for the former).
Using that and Etheral spell would let us enter the dungeon unnoticed fairly easy.

>>300416
((Oh, close! Your close to some bonus sparks here, but its impossible to increase intelligence like that. One can not suddenly gain knowledge of things they had no clue about before. The closest you can get is increasing a persons mental speed, meaning they could think through a process that would normally take them hours in minutes. Keep going with the line of thinking though, you might get rewarded for it.))

>>300425
The person or being I'm extracting from does not necessarily have to be dead. They can, in fact, be alive. They just die after I'm done, because forcibly ripping magical sparks of energy out of people chests tends to do that. I actually prefer them alive, they tend to scream more. I can also retrieve them from someone who willingly gives them to me as well, which is why I'm even bothering with this kid in the first place. As for the source in the dungeon question, no, he would die after I'm done with him. Mostly because that's the way my "eating" works.

I second the question about asking if there is magic that lets you drain sparks from mages. Also, are there ways to siphon the magic out of enchantments? That would be very useful for both eating and countering the mages you are bound to fight eventually.

Also, can you deactivate/reactivate permanent invisibility at will? (In case you want to gather information from people, for example)

Thirdly, how many enchanted rings can you wear at once without them interfering with either your finger movement or with each other?

>>300437
Enchantments, as with the spells applied to my body, are stuck that way. They are technically free-floating sparks anymore(which is what I hunt down and take), so I can't consume them, steal them, recycle them, however you want to put it. The difference between enchanting objects and people however, is that objects won't let you overwrite the spell once you apply it, while on people, you can overwrite as much as you want. I believe I explained this a little somewhere back when I first started hearing you lovely voices.

For invisibility, the simplest version(what I have to apply first) only lasts so long once I activate the ability. After that, it shuts off, goes through a little wait period as it recharges, then its ready for use again. I believe it's 10 seconds for the basic invisibility, with a 5 second wait in between uses.

As for the rings, I actually tested this once, by making someone else do it for me, with the promise they would live if they did it. They didn't live, mostly because they had 5 magical rings suddenly explode violently, removing most of his hands and sending shards of metal into his face. It was hilariously funny, so I think started forcing people I found to do it whenever I got my hands on enough magic rings. Anyway, based off of that experiment, I would say 4 rings is the max one wants to put on their fingers.

>>300443
That is just hilarious. I love your style.

Let us make this permanent ability decision soon, I agree with what appears to be the most desired choice, shadow step. Can't wait to teleport huge distances to stab somebody in the back.

If having any more than four rings results in disaster, if we have exactly four rings are we vulnerable to being overloaded by something adding a bit more magic to our hands?

Say… What magical abilities do you know of that are related to observing/analyzing magical and/or biological systems? It occurs to me that we have a mage right here, and we should consider a spell to look at the workings of his brain or track the flow of sparks in him. The boy is too valuable an investment to do something lastingly nasty to, but if there are ways that won’t ruin him we should look into those. In the medium term, we may get a hint to what part of him we can enhance to improve his magic, and in the (probably very) long term studying how these mortals create sparks seems like a very good goal.

>>300444
Our first permanent ability should be either shadow step or a strength boost. I would be content with either, and agree that we should take one now. In either case, I would be willing to apply up to 50 of our 69 current sparks to it, resulting in a 25-foot shadow step or a very substantial strength boost. No need to hold ourselves to the minimum.

>>300458
I agree completely.

>>300449
We shouldn't be especially vulnerable, as long as we don't decide to activate all four rings at once. As for the analyzing magic, that would fall under Mind magics, but as I've said, I'm weak in that... not much better than an apprentice to be truthful. I mean, why investigate things when I could demolish towns with impunity? Anyway, I think any such observation spells would be out of my capabilities, at least for now.

Now, since the general consensus has been reached, let's get to applying some spells to myself. While going all out has its perks, I'd prefer a little less on the range and more on the continued use. Especially since I don't think I'll be needing to jump 25ft anytime soon.

I interrupt Tongues practice, setting about on another lesson I'm sure you'd all be interested in as well.

"Alright then, I'm going to explain how permanent spells work. It's out of your range for the moment, Tongues, but it helps to be aware for when you are. Now, the basics are pretty simple. To make something permanent on your own body, 30 sparks are required. That's just for the permanent. The cost for the spell still needs to paid as well, just as if you were casting."

"Now, there are a few rules to the process, and you'd do well to memorize them at some point, although now I just want you to hear them.
1) The body can only handle a certain number of permanent effects before it begins to get overcharged. Overcharging is bad, and usually ends in bloody explosions.
2) For us humanoids, there are exactly eight places spells can be applied. They are as follows: Right Hand, Left Hand, Arms, Torso, Legs, Head, Eyes, Tongue."

"Spells are generally associated with certain body parts. That fireball you threw, for example, is associated with the hands. Doesn't matter which, but if you wanted to apply it, it would be placed on the hands. Other body areas would reject the magic."

"Now I'm going to apply magic to myself. You can watch if you want, but after this I want you to go to sleep. We'll likely have to leave in the morning."

Tongues nods, then grows silent as I begin. I focus, my long practice with application made more difficult by the relatively unfamiliar nuances of the spell area I'm trying to perform. As always, sparks are shaped to fit my desire, taking the form of the desired spell, then I imagine the spell forming tattoos along my legs, black tattoos, like shadows that seem to both connect and never touch. My legs tingle, and I glance down, black sparks suddenly exploding along my legs. The boy jumps back a little, surprised at event, but his fascination quickly overcomes his fear, and he leans forward to get a better view of what's occurring.

Within minutes, the work is done, and I know from experience that underneath my pants lie the magical runes plastered to my skin like ebon tattoos in the form I imagined.

Permanent Ability Gained:
Shadow-Step: Hated has applied the spell, but modified it slightly to his own tastes. The spell has a 15ft range, but has the chain tag applied once to it(as explained below).

Spark Count: 22

((An extra post, to help explain some of the rules that you should be aware of. Keep in mind, I'm refining the rules for magic almost daily at this point, and while some things may change, if they do I will inform you all the next chance I get, in big bold easily identified letters. The first of these revision is going in this post.

TAGS
Consider tags the labels that can be applied to spells. Things like chaining shadow-steps together instantly would require a tag, as shadow-step normally has a small cooldown time before reuse. I'll list out the tags that are you have all discovered, but feel free to come up with any number of things that can be applied to spells. I'll simply add them to the list as they come.

If anyone ever wants to see the entire list, inform me in a post and I'll have it up as soon as possible.

The two you've established at the moment, along with the costs to apply them to a spell, are:
Project: Allows spells to be hurled, like an arrow or a stone. Costs 2 sparks.
Chain: Allows multiple of the spell to be chained together. Costs 5 sparks.

That's all for now. If anyone has any suggestions for refining the magic system, don't hesitate to tell me. I enjoy constructive criticism.))

>>300476
Classy, very classy. That should be extremely useful as you move around. How much will you be able to take with you when you use it- whatever you can carry?

How are you doing physically? Time for some rest, or feeling like heading out and hunting down that last spark tonight?

((Maybe an [area] tag that makes the spell affect a larger area of effect than normal?))

I would suggest that we look into working on the mental powers, as things are easier to destroy if you know more about them.

Now that we can shadow step, do we know a spell that makes an effect like a smoke bomb? I think a ring that casts that would be handy for when there are few shadows. (Do you need a preexisting shadow as an entry point, or would the darkness under your feet work?)

With the ETHEREAL spell,
1. Can you chose to go through a floor, or just walls?
2. Can you grab someone else when using it to make them ethereal as well?
3. Does someone suffer a bloody fate if ethereal runs out while they are still in a solid object? (And if you hold an item [presumably your stuff goes ethereal when you do] in the same space as someone's body, what happens when you re-materialize)?

>>300487
((Area tag added: Increases area of effect for spells, or makes them area of effect spells if they aren't already. Costs 5 sparks per 1ft increase in radius. Also, thanks to your question regarding a smoke bomb, I've changed another thing. Basic spells are spells that can't be produced using another spell and tags together. This would be something like making fire, water, or smoke. I'm cataloging those as well, so if there isn't a spell already made that can produce the desired affect, whether alone or using tags, I'll add it into the basic spell list. An example would be your question about a smoke spell. Currently have no way to do that, so I'll add that as a basic spell for use.))

Spell Discovered!
Smoke: Produces a cloud of smoke around the caster, which obscures vision. Costs 1 spark to cast.

As for your question about using our own shadow as the starting point. As the shadow won't be there if I'm not there, and weird paradoxes happen, it's not suggested I or anyone else attempt it. So simply put, no I can't.

Ethereal makes me as close to a spirit/ghost as a living thing can get. I can freely decide if I want to travel through something or not, be it floor, wall, ceiling, other people.

As for including other people in the spell, that is possible, but costs more. Including other people in spell affects is difficult, since often times they themselves aren't magically inclined, and thus you have to force magic into their bodies.

Tag Discovered!
Buddy: Allows other people to be included in a friendly spells affects. Cost 10 sparks per person.

When ethereal ends, if anything is connected to me(like I'm going through a wall and I'm halfway through when it ends) I'll fuse with the wall. It's... not pleasant, and I'd rather not talk about why I know that... yeah.

>>300482
I believe it does include whatever I'm carrying, excepting other people and particularly heavy or large objects. As to the final source of energy this town has to offer that wouldn't get me completely killed, well, I'm still hungry after all. Let's be off.

I make sure the boy is properly in bed(with the threat of punishment should I found out he's left the room), and head back down stairs. Halfway to the exit, I'm accosted once again by the annoying mortal woman, an easy smile on her face.

"Didn't know you had a son, stranger. You don't look all that old. Hey, it skipped my mind earlier, but what's your name anyway? After all, I gave you my name, so its polite to offer yours in return."

The woman is eying me, and I once again get the strong urge to kill her. I allow myself the small fantasy of ripping her head off and putting it on a spike outside town, but quickly banish the thought. Well voices, what do I do now?

>>300513
Sadly, killing in the very inn where you're staying the night would be unwise. A fake name and a reasonably friendly demeanor should let you give her the brush-off without any trouble as long as you keep moving.

"Gregor. Excuse me, I've people to see."

Then head off to get our hunt on.

I think Harald would be a good name for us to take.

When making a magic item, can you put more sparks into it to improve the recharge? The item I am thinking about (for when we have the sparks to spare after our next meal) is a ring that can launch projectile smoke clouds quickly enough that there can be more than one cloud present at a given time, so we may shadow step between them. Any estimate on how many sparks that would take?

For your actual name, I think Hated suits you. But for the purpose of dealing with mortals, I suggest a powerful name. Like Vincent. Sounds like the name of a conqueror.

"Vincent. Excuse me, I have people to see."

I try pushing past her, but she steps in front of me again, this time an angry look on her face.

"Your going to leave your son alone in some inn filled with complete strangers like it's nothing? Dirty, I might add? Doesn't seem like your a good parent."

Now, I've never taken criticism well. Why I don't mind so much from you voices is odd, but I'm fine with that... which is also odd. But other people, mortals in particular, I can't stand ordering me around. Or even suggesting I do things the wrong way. So I snap a little at her comments.

"If your so knowledgeable in how to care for children, why don't you go take care of him. As I've said, I have people to see, and I don't have time to stand here talking to some girl who thinks she can criticize me just because she met me a few hours ago in a town square. NOW MOVE!"

The woman steps back in surprise, the volume of my command loud enough to silence everyone in the room. The quiet settles awkwardly, everyone waiting, expecting someone to do something. I settle the matter easily. I slip by the girl, who by now seems to be searching for something to say, and exit into the night air.

I head quietly towards my destination, and eventually find myself standing above a patch of the road. No way to get in here. A quick search of the area, however, reveals the entrance to the jails, where I assume the source to be. Now then, lets see how we're going to do this.

The front door is open, and two guards flank it, torches set up next to them providing light for them to see. Their shadows are casting back towards me, but the room beyond is dark. I don't even need advice for this one. I step across, one moment walking along the street, the next within the room, with the guards outside none the wiser.

This room seems to be a check in area for people visiting someone. A quick look around reveals the stairs down, and I quietly work my way down. I pause as I reach a corner, straining to hear any sounds. For a moment, nothing, but before I start forward, the sound of boots against stone starts to make its way closer from down the corridor. I hear similar coming from behind me.

Shadows are literally everywhere, including a jail cell across from me with a man in it who appears to be asleep. The source is, judging from the size of the cell I can see, four cells down. With two guards coming from either direction, I must ask.

What's my course of action, voices?

>>300525
Keep unseen if you can. If you can't, kill those who see you rapidly, before they can sound any alarms.

I would suggest that you might be able to stay out of sight by shadow stepping into the cells and then back and forth between them, letting you move quickly while remaining outside the main corridor. Move fast, and hopefully even if the guards see you, it'll be as something uncertainly half-glimpsed in a cell and easily dismissed as nothing since you'll be gone by the time they get a good look. Get down to the target cell and tear out those sparks before the mage has the time to react or use any magic- although presumably they can't, or they'd be doing so already to escape.

Actually, I really wonder what the hell a mage is doing locked up and if we could somehow exploit their situation for more power than merely killing them and taking their sparks will give us, but whatever, it's easy just to rip and run.

Heh, I like that girl, she's bold.

Shadow-step insode the cell with the man sleeping and stand still in the corner.
Wait till the guards pass (if they, for some reason, stop and start looking inside your cell, either activate your etheral ring or shadow-step into another cell)

Make your way down to the source.
If he is not heavily guarded (so that our specific attention is required) or doesn't have any magical wards you know what you must do.
Now, here's the important part, make sure that there is no sign of foul play. Make it seem like that man had a heart attack in his sleep and died quietly. We do not want to attract attention after all.

After this, I say we skip town (no more sparks left besides powerful mages, right?) and head towards next smell of sparks.

Be cautious for anti-magic effects or traps in the cell where the source is. There is SOMETHING keeping him from breaking out with magic (and he still has his sparks in him). It might just be something harmless (to you) like magical shackles, but it might not be.

With your chain-shadowstep, is there enough time between steps to grab an item or attack once with a drawn weapon?

Hated 2011/04/30(Sat)18:56 No. 300540 ID: b96349
File 130421497151.jpg - (46.09KB , 219x164 , r43_219x164_1005_Myo_2d_illustration_character_arc.jpg )

There is about a fourth of a second between jumps. I'd need to get faster before I could do something like jump, attack, then jump again. I'm assuming that was your plan.

I hop over into the other cell, just ahead of the footsteps coming from behind me. Even as I arrive on the other side, I crouch, willing the guard to keep walking. The mortal man pauses at the cell, staring into it, then, apparently satisfied all is well, continued on. I heave a small sigh, it doesn't look like I'd get to kill anyone on this little jaunt. Well, other than the target.

I use the ethereal ring to slip into the next cell, which is empty, and move quietly towards the opposite wall as the ring recharges itself.

"Hey Bill, how's teh imputant prisoner?"

Uneducated ass. It's important, important. Damn, humans are annoying. Our we sure we can't just kill them?

"She's fine, hasn't done anything but go on about how much pain we're gonna be in when she gets out. Long as they keep her all drugged up though, she won't be going anywhere."


Oh. Well, that explains why the mage hasn't done anything yet. Can't cast when your minds literally drowning, and is being forcibly unfocused. Wait, she?

"Hehe, she's a purty one though. Whatcha think ol' Marfolsa wants wit her?"

Marfolsa? The powerful mage perhaps. It seems he runs things around here. I slip into the next cell over, nearly running into its occupant, who startles awake and almost screams before I cover his mouth and snap his neck. Seems like I did get to kill someone.

"Why should I know, you uneducated buffoon?"

Here, here.

"We aren't paid to ask questions. We're paid to shut up, and put anyone the Marfolsa wants in here in here. Now get back to your rounds!"

I slip into the my targets cell, prepared to strike without mercy, when I pause, staring at the one imprisoned within. That can't be right. There's just... no, that can't be right.

"Righ, righ..."

The guard lumbers off, but the noise has woken the occupant of my cell, and her melodic voice immediately sets to groggily insulting the guards.

"Bashtardsh! I'sa gonna kills you! I'sa gonna kills you! Minute I'sa gets outta here, I'sa gonna kills yooooouuuuuu......."

"Yeah yeah, sweet thing. Shut up and go back to sleep."

The ELF slips back into unconsciousness, and I allow myself to lean against the wall. An elf. Why would a human mage capture an elf? From what I remember, elves and humans generally got along pretty well. Unless things had changed that drastically since my time... somehow I doubt it. I get back up again, moving to kill her quickly, when I suddenly recall one you voices having said I shouldn't do that. Something about using one to get into the forest. What shall I do then?

>>300540
Well, as I see it, we currently have two options.

-Kill her, drain her delicious sparks, and leave pleased with a night's work.

-Kill the guards, take her away, and gamble that we'll get more out of talking to her than we would out of killing her.

The second option is more dangerous and gives us no immediate power, but has much greater potential rewards. I'd be wary about the super-powerful mage, apparently this "Marfolsa", tracking her magically, though. So we'd want to move quickly.

>>300542
Well. I think at this juncture it would be best if you just killed her. You can probably hide your tracks by making it look like the guards overdosed the elf. Also, we need more information about this "Marfolsa" guy, but getting that information from one of his enemies will likely give you half-lies and propaganda.

The mage will see her sparks leaving his dungeon one way or another. An issue to consider is what chances the two of you would have against this super mage. Letting her live runs a huge risk of her attacking and/or leaving, but if you can get her to help take down this Marfolsa that would be quite the net profit. If you do end up bringing her out of the prison, you might do so by lending her the ring (some risk of her running off, but you could probably track her down), having her walk through the wall of the jail, and then shadowstepping outside. Or you could just kill the guards.

>>300544
That could work, yes. Allow me to list out the possible courses of action so far.

1) We kill her and take her sparks. We might attract the notice of our mage friend running this place. Eventually, we will anyway.

2) We kill the guards and drag the elf out as she is. She might help us. Marfolsa will almost certainly notice this, and we'll be on the run.

3) We come up with some plan to get her out without bloodshed, and assume she'll follow the plan. We then get caught, I kill all the guards anyway, and I'll kill the elf simply because she got us caught, and that annoyed me.

My contribution. I think I like the idea of having another... what's the word you used... patsy, yes that was it. I like the idea of having another patsy around, especially one that could, quite possibly, do exactly what we're trying to train that kid to do, only she could do it right now.

As for our chances. We'd still lose against him most likely, but give me a few days of the above action(this elf giving me sparks, assuming she'll do that for us) and I could take him without any real problems.

I'd also like to point out, perhaps because you all missed or I didn't point it out clearly enough... I'm a body-user. I specialize in all things physical. Mostly beating things to death with my fists, but still.

>>300546
If you want her, let's take her. Option two is go. Wait until the guards are out of one anothers' field of view, then shadow step right up in front of one and sword him to death before he has a chance to react. Repeat on the other, and on any other guards you see inside- leave none alive to quickly discover this and sound the alarm. Also kill any other prisoners who might have seen you, retrieve keys to the cell, and get the elf out. The guards outside should be taken out and their bodies put inside, then the building locked from the inside if possible- we want to have as much time as we can before anyone discovers that something has gone horribly wrong.

And try to avoid getting much blood on you. As has been previously observed, blood is conspicuous.

Once you're out, keep the elf to the alleys and otherwise largely out of sight- she'll be damned conspicuous in a human town. Hopefully she'll be coherent sooner rather than later; I don't know how easily we'll be able to get her into the inn, or if that's even wise to attempt.

>>300546
Feed off of her sparks willingly? That is what you have the boy for. Flatter yourself an entrance into homosexual fairy land? Too tedious, and I am sure the option will present itself later. Any choice that does not involve killing her now and stealing her sparks seems like a waste of time. Do try and be silent, however. Unwanted attention is still worth avoiding. Especially from the law.

>>300554
Tongues can't feed my anything. If what I smell on him is anything to go by, he barely has enough sparks to hurl a fireball, much less hand some off to me. It would take years feeding off of him at this level to actually do anything worthwhile. Besides, multiple feeding sources means that once can die and I'll still be fed, yes? Plus its an easy way to get into the elvish forest when I need to.

As for homosexual fairy land, I have no idea why you assume I'm remotely attracted to mortals, male or otherwise. That would be fruitless and gets me nothing. I've tried having children before, for the novelty of it, and I'm about as infertile as a rock. That and lasting relationships are impossible do to the mortal tendency to die of old age. And disease. And hitting them too hard. And various other easily identifiable ways to kill them. I'd be better off finding another immortal being if I wanted that, except that I killed all the ones remotely in my age group except for two, who are married to each other, last I checked.

Besides, unwanted attention will still be drawn anyway. It's just a matter if whether or not I want to go out with a bang or a whisper. I prefer the bang. It's what you people have praised me for last time I slaughtered random mooks.

First things first, however. I feel it necessary to introduce the little elven girl into the joys of detoxification, the hard way. I jab my forefinger into her stomach, then shift my magic into her, and shape it into my least used body spell.
Spell Discovered!
Purge: Purges the targets body of all harmful substances. The process, however, is very unpleasant. Costs 2 sparks.
Spark Count: 20

The elf starts awake, eyes wide for a moment. A look of confusion crosses her face as she spots me, than quite suddenly she's doubling over and hurling the contents of her stomach all over the floor. That'll take a few minutes to finish, so while she's doing that, let's just...

"Hey, elf, you all right? Hold on, I'm coming in." I hear the jingle of keys, and activate the ethereal ring just as the smarter guard opens the gate and steps inside. The combination of me being see through and the darkness of the cell manage to keep me out of sight. Not that the guard is looking for me anyway. "Hey, um, you all ri- hurk!" And now the guard is dead. Ooo! He has armor! Shall we steal that on our way out?

"Bill? Oy! Bill, you thar?"

I hear the other guard start coming back down the corridor. Well, have to see about grabbing the armor later. For now, I slip back into the 3 cell I'd passed through, it's occupants next broken thanks to my efforts, and I arrive just in time to see the guard pass by. A step later I'm behind the guard, following him step for step.

"Bill! Quit messin round! Bill!"

"Bill indisposed at the moment. Don't worry though, you'll be joining him soon." The guard spins to face me, already reaching for his blade, but he never makes it as I slam my hand into his throat. He drops to his knees, eyes watering as he chokes, while I go retrieve his friends sword(elf girl still retching all over the floor). I start humming again, a happy little tune as I swing the longsword in my hands in slow circles. The man is still on his knees when I return to him, and I pause before I kill him.

"Let me ask you a question. Can human heads really continue seeing a few seconds after their heads are lopped off? I'd like your help in answering this puzzle. If you can, blink after I kill you, if you would be so inclined." The man's eyes widen, then I send his head rolling to the floor. Sadly, nothing happens after that. Too bad.

I then go about enacting the shadow-step/stab to death plan, clearing the facility pretty quickly. It's wasn't too big, and the guards were half asleep anyways. I drag all the bodies in front of the elf's cell, pleased with my handiwork.

"Your a fucking bastard." That melodic voice again. Gods above, I hope she doesn't like to sing. Elves voices are way to high pitched for my tastes. Well, at least she isn't going on about her hair. I turn, and can only say that far from being anything remotely beautiful, the elf looks like... shit. There's really no polite way to put it. The smell of puke and grime don't help her image much either.

"Why do you say that?"

"You killed those people." Oh, she's one of those self-righteous ones. Well, I guess that means I am killing her. "I wanted to kill the fuckers." Never mind. "Now who the hell are you and why shouldn't I shatter your mind and leave you crying on the floor?"

"Oh... um..."

Little help, voices. I didn't think this far ahead.

>>300556
Hrm. Difficult to tell if she's just being surly or is actually psycho, at this point; need to read her body language and expression better for that.

I would play this bold and fairly honest. "I'm going by Vincent these days, and that would be rather a waste of an opportunity. And ungrateful, if you're the type to care about repaying favors. Would you care to introduce yourself politely, or shall we go about this in a less friendly way? Either works."

I assume that if she does move to use magic against you, you'll be able to react in time to defend yourself against it and/or escape quickly.

Maybe you should change your mind about killing her? Just to be safe.
And I wasn't implying that you were homosexual earlier, ha. The elves.. well, it is hard not to wonder.

>>300560
I apologize for the misinterpretation. As for the elves... I honestly have no response to that. The male ones... yeah, there's just no way for them to defend themselves from that image short of killing every other race in existence... or them all dying I suppose. I can help them with that last option.

>>300559
I don't know if she looks more surely or psycho. I'm not real good at this whole interaction thing. I know she looks pissed. Whether its aimed at me or not I can't tell. Well, let's get this over with. Either I'll be eating her, or she'll be helping us out. Only two resolutions to this situation.

"I'm going by Vincent these days, and that would be rather a waste of an opportunity. And ungrateful, if you're the type to care about repaying favors. Would you care to introduce yourself politely, or shall we go about this in a less friendly way? Either works."

The elf glares at me for a few seconds, than sparks start coming from her arms. I tense, expectant and ready for the coming attack, which the elf notices. Instead of attacking however, the sparks travel up to her eyes, and they begin to glow softly. She seems to examine me for a moment, then smirks, obviously pleased about something.

"Hell, human. You aren't lying, at least not yet. You seen my bow around here?" I report that I have not, mostly because I haven't. The elf nods again, then begins stripping where she stands. "Names Melvaniel Galamyr. People call me Sticks, cause I use a bow. Hey, why're you laughing?"

"I'm... I'm sorry... really I... I am... but..." I manage to calm myself enough to get my thoughts across. "Your name, are you serious? Your name is actually Melvaniel?"

"Yeah! You got a problem with my name, you ass?" Her pauses in her actions to glare at me, more concerned with my actions than her own state of dress, or lack thereof.

"So your shortened name would be Melva? Which translates to... to Sqeaky?" I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself anymore. I couldn't believe it. Some idiot elf actually named their kid with a word in it that translates to squeaky. Squeaky being the commonly accepted and often used derogatory term for elves, thanks to their high pitched voices. Well, that and tree-shagger, which is noticeably less kid friendly.

"What the fucks wrong with my na- Wait a minute. How the fuck do you know that? We don't teach humans our language!" Melva's ire is quickly pushed aside in light of the fact that I actually know some elven.

Once I calm down enough to respond again I promptly do so. "I don't really. Just the words I can use to insult elves in their native tongue. Got an elf so piss drunk once he taught me a bunch of the insults. I think I got him stuck in jail as well."

She stares at me with her glowy eyes, than nods again. "Well, alright I suppose. Your still not lying. Just don't fucking tell anyone else what my name means, or I'll fucking kill you."

She finishes ditching the prison clothing, than strips one of the less bloody guards of his clothing and begins putting that on. Which reminds me.

I locate the corpse of Bill, and examine his armor. Sure enough, I find the breastplate is not only of near perfect quality, but silver-plated on top of that. Not a chance in hell I'm letting this prize go. I strip him of the item, then remember the now discarded longsword. Shall I take that as well? Perhaps trade my shortsword out for it? The elf also seems far less likely to kill me now, so perhaps I should start... befriending her, although I have no idea how the hell I'm supposed to do that.

I think you are doing okay with the getting along part. Besides insulting her about her name. She obviously does not care about formality. You two should get along if you don't try to be rude. It looks like she may be able to detect your lies, but she thinks you are actually human, which speaks the limits of her magical observation. Treat her somewhat equal, keep making jokes. Let us not forget her hopeful appreciation of our successful rescue attempt. If we make our desires clear she might just return the favor now.

Choice of blade, I say carry both. But I like the longsword more. You are certainly strong enough to swing a longsword like a shortsword, but shortswords are quicker to draw, which goes with shadow step.

>>300568
She seems curiously opposed to lies. You should avoid using them around her. Which might not be too much of a problem, really; she seems like the sort who wouldn't really mind working with someone like you. Which is nice.

Sure, take the sword if you want it. I would not discard your shortsword, at least not here, because that would leave a bunch of evidence around. Obviously you can't carry an endless number of weapons, so once you get a minute later you should discard (or sell, after checking for markings) whichever is less comfortable for you to use. Given your current fast and brutal style I'd guess that the shortsword would be easier, but it's definitely your call.

Address the elf as Sticks, however hilarious her name is, since she said that's what people call her and you are part of people. You might ask what Marfolsa has against her, that he had her locked up and drugged. Hopefully you'll get some information about who she is, and perhaps equally importantly who Marfolsa is and what he's like.

"So... what brings you here?"

After she answers why she got locked up up and how.

"Well, sorry for denying you the pleasure of killing these guards. But I suspect there's someone left you'd like to deal with, no? Namely, Marfolsa.
How about we deal with him together? What do you think of that? No, don't talk, we are going to kill him together."

But before charging in like idiots, we should get more information on the guy and plan how t o proceed.

"So... what brings you to this lovely if slightly puke stained dungeon?"

Sticks glares at me. "Don't start with that. We both know that was your doing. At least the puke part." She goes silent for a moment, then continues. "I don't really recall that much. I remember coming into town with a caravan, getting myself drunk enough not to remember all my troubles, then waking up in jail with some wizard bastard standing over me. At least, I think it was a wizard... it was either that or a blue elephant with hair."

"Well, sorry for denying you the pleasure of killing these guards. But I suspect there's someone left you'd like to deal with, no? Namely, Marfolsa. How about we deal with him together? What do you think of that? No, don't talk, we are going to kill him together."

Sticks' head snaps around, eyes focusing on me completely. "You just lied, human. What about?"

Oh. Right, the lie detector thing she has going. Well, not like it hurts me to admit I enjoy killing people and I'm not really sorry about killer her captors for her.

"I'm not really sorry about killing your guards. Or anyone for that matter. Most people are annoying at best."

The elf stares a moment longer, then nods, seeming to accept that for the time being. "Right. I'll keep that in mind. Now... Marfolsa... Marfolsa... oh, him. Yeah. He's the local bigshot, right? So he's the one that locked me up here? Sure let's fuck over his day. Two mid-level mages who have a good plan could probably take him no problems. Well, except for the mass of guards he's got under his command. We'd waste a lot of sparks on them. How strong are you, anyway?"

Ah, shit. She had to go asking that question. No way out of it now. At least, until it occurs to me we're in the middle of a jail with a bunch of dead bodies around us. I doubt most people discuss these things in a place like this.
"Look, can we continue this conversation elsewhere? Like, out of the city elsewhere. I'm not strong enough yet to help you, and I'll explain why later, but for now, I think it's a sufficient fuck you to the guy that your missing from his jail. I'm planning to head south into the barbarian lands, and since no sane person would lead troops in there, we'll both be relatviely safe. Besides, I have something I need your help with on a more personal level, and I don't think it wise to discuss it here."

Sticks blinks at that last bit, then frown as she considers her options. After a minute or two, she nods slowly. "Alright, I go with you. For now anyway. But I better not wake up drugged or tied up or something like that."

"No worries about that. You couldn't feed me if you were drugged."

The elf chooses to ignore that, although I'm fairly certain she took that the wrong way, and finishes dressing. The clothes fit her loosely, but well enough that they won't fall of her form randomly. She turns to me now, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "So, you enjoy the show?"

"No."

Sticks blinks in surprise. She obviously didn't expect that, or the fact that I'm not lying. She frowns down at herself, then shrugs. "So, got a plan for getting out?"

"What's your focus?"

"Mind magic. Illusions and tracking specifically. Why?"

So voices, we now apparently have an elven mind mage at our disposal. What's the plan?

"Curiosity. It may help to know your strengths in the future."

Mind manipulation? That's cool. I guess you should pick up the boy if you wanted him to come with you. She may teach him some things or even start taking care of him. I sense she has something you do not, empathy.

Since she can use illusions, you can probably just walk away from the prison while invisible. You can then pick up the kid and skip town. When you camp to explain things to Sticks and hopefully get sparks from her, ask if she can set wards or something to alert you if Marfolsa appears.

A good way to explain your abilities to her is to say that you don't really regenerate sparks but can store a large number of the (you can, right?). "Storing" a more positive way to put it than "eating" (and is thus more likely to get her to agree to it).

Within a few minuets we're out, Sticks using some her magic to make it so easy to slip by the guards at the front door I'm almost tempted to slit their throats as we pass. Without any further delays, we make it back into the more merchant area. I send Sticks ahead to the inn, telling her to retrieve Tongues at meet me at the front gate to the town. With her sent off, I set about silently slipping into shops and simply taking what I want. With the limited time I have, I grab mostly essentials: backpacks, tents, some food, flint and steel. I also manage a few more silver rings as well as a bow and some arrows for the elf. With that done, I meet up with the others and we hightail it south, towards the two sources I sensed and the barbarian lands.

-------------------

((All right then. Simply because I'm rather amazed this quest got this far and I feel happy about that, I've decided to do two things.

A) I thank all of you who've put up with me so far, and ask that you continue putting up with me in the future.

B) I'll answer some questions regarding anything about the world I've made you want to know about. Questions about Hated, the heroes, whatever, I don't care. Some questions I won't answer, as that would give away story information, but I won't count it against the total if you ask and I say no. One question per person, three questions total.

After that's done, I'll continue with the actual story. So bring on the questions!))

>>300607
Love you too. What kind of powers in detail did Hated have at his most powerful, before he got fucked over by the gods?

And it would be cool to at least see an attempt of you drawing things for the story. A lot of text quests aren't interesting enough for me to follow, but this one is a sure exception.

>>300607

I don't really have any questions ... .well perhaps this:

Can we influence Hateds character and attitude? It seems that no matter what we suggest his general nature is very angry and hostile. I understand that he has been like this probably for millennia and changing his views would be drastic.... But maybe over long time we can make him... umm... more friendly? Less blood-hungry?

>>300613
I like his bloodthirsty attitude personally, it is a breath of fresh air from the typical goody goody hero fluff.

>>300611
Um, well first off... I could try, I guess, to draw something, but you really don't want me to. The reason I haven't is because I can't draw much better than stick figures, and I feel like I can't do the settings I create justice with stick figures.

Now to your question. Instead of giving you exacts(mostly because that's sort of general and I don't feel like pumping out a long list of possible spells and tags), I'll instead give things he did in the past that warrented the gods attention. The first and most influential one was the fact that he's killed two gods, one of which was the god of an entire race, dragons specifically. It's why dragons won't show up much in the game. That was accomplished by literally allowing himself to get eaten then simulating a supernova in the things stomach(not that Hated knows what a supernova is). It also helped the god was weakened somewhat before hand by another god.

He's also managed to kill a number of other immortal beings(I believe I mentioned it in the story), some of which were classified as true immortals and thus not supposed to be kill-able. Hated's response to that was basically "fuck the rules, I'm me", which quickly followed with the deaths of said immortals. Since I'm not sure if that answers your question, go ahead and ask me more specific questions about Hated's powers. I can't really tell you much without you giving me a little more direction.

>>300613
It is entirely possible to change Hated's personality. The reason it hasn't started shifting already is because generally you guys have actually been encouraging him to kill people violently when given half a chance. And he has changed in small ways. He's actually getting better about not openly slaughtering people, is learning, however slowly, that mortals can be manipulated to get what he wants out of them, and that he can actually use mortals as minions. Perhaps not as major as him suddenly falling in love with someone(not likely at the moment, for storyline reasons).

Oh, crap, I got sidetracked. Basically, yes, you could turn him into someone who actively wants to help people, assuming you went about it the right way and got the majority of the other voices to help you.

{{Yes, I am also really liking this quest. I tend to play nice characters, and find it interesting to gradually try to convince Hated to be less blood-thirsty. The thing is to do it slowly so he doesn't just get angry. The first step on the path to not killing everyone is the concept of 'allies', which we are working towards.))

>>300630
Yeah, I also generally like to play "nicer" people.
Not righteous, blind, imbeciles who can only do Good no matter the context, risk or place involved.
I like to take middle ground leaning towards "good"

I was just thinking since Hated can actively hear our suggestions as voices, opposed to how quests are generally run where characters thinks their actions are their own, he would not shift his way of thinking at all.

That is why we convince him to do things rather than just commanding him to do them. So the shifting of actions happens, but it happens indirectly.

>ask me more specific questions
What were his most powerful spells? Shadow step, invisibility, fireball, raw strength, speed; a few examples. And how did he usually use them? What were his favorites?

>>300654
His favorites were actually the simple ones. Speed, strength and durability being the most specific ones he enjoyed. Most of his more powerful versions of spells he never actively used unless he though it necessary to do so, or entertaining. Fire was probably another favorite of his, just because he could wreath his hands and body in the stuff and scare the living hell out of mortals.

The supernova one is a good example. He basically just took a fire spell, pumped it full of the Area tag, then let it go off as he cocooned himself. The amount he pumped it was unheard off before because most being don't need to spread that much fire over that large of any area, if they did, most don't have the excess power to do it. Most powerful spells are just pumped versions of the same thing a mage normally does after all.

His most powerful spell of the time, which was used twice in his life, was him effectively turning his entire body into a railgun round, pumping his durability and strength to rocket himself into and through large targets. Mostof his stuff wasn't all that impressive to look at, because Hated is a physical specialist(at the moment). All the flashy stuff, like calling down bolts of divine wrath, is found in the third category.

As for his strategy, it remains the same as it is now. He prefers physical fights over anything else, and almost always goes for that route when left to his own devices. It's why, instead of perhaps just incinerating the thugs in the warehouse with a single spell, the normal human mage response, he deliberately made it close combat. The main reason being he finds it more entertaining that way. There's another reason, but storyline stuff so I can't say it yet.

Any other questions about his specific powers, or is that it?

There's still a single question available for anyone who hasn't asked a question yet.

I suppose Hated's original form has quite a bit of storyline importance.

Is changing your form a type of permanent enchantment like the shadow step enchantment we have now, and does anyone else use that (or body magic in general?)

>>300630
>>300649
>>300653
Let's not go very far with this whole "nice" thing. I rather like him as lovably sociopathic. Just make him willing to make an exception or three in the name of logic and greater power, and more patient/reserved- less inclined to maul anyone who says two rude words to him right there, more inclined to wait for the appropriate time to kill them later.

>>300656
You might consider making a discussion thread for this sort of thing. There are only a few of us playing right now, but with more than a hundred posts in this thread I think you've still got more than enough interest to justify it. Discussion threads are very nice for author-player communication and interplayer speculation and decisions.

>There's still a single question available for anyone who hasn't asked a question yet.
Oh great authorial magic 8-ball, answer me this:
Why in the world would a creature of his power get locked up with one measly guardian beast watching over him? What the heck was going through the heads of the people who locked him up, that they left only such weak bonds on him? Wouldn't a creature as dangerous as he, even without sparks, been worth the investment of far more than the fifty-five sparks to ensure that he remained sealed forever?

Hated would not have been able to free himself without the sparks, and as far as both him and his opponents knew, he was unable to generate sparks. I suspect that he actually can generate them at an immensely slow rate, but even if that is the case neither Hated nor his enemies knew that.

Hated 2011/05/01(Sun)14:24 No. 300678 ID: c4753c
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>>300669
Body magic is most commonly used by the orcs, although they use it more in line with how Hated uses it, namely smashing peoples faces in. As for the body changing spell itself, its a one off(100 spark cost, as your rewriting your own bodies makeup) that affects a permanent change(until you do it again).

Hated's original form, after thinking about it, isn't actually story relevant, or at least no enough to be worth anything to you with me just describing it. He's already said he's a pseudo-demon after all, so you already more or less have an idea of what he should, more or less, appear to be. The picture is how I imagine him to look, more or less, it's what inspired me originally to make him, although I won't say anything else as that IS story relevant.

>>300670
That is a good question. You'll just have to go find out, now won't you? Speculate all you want, you'll get nothing from me on that, not at the moment anyway.

I'll take you advice regarding the discussion thread though, and since you did suggest it, I might as well answer the question. Let's just hope someone actually uses it.

I think it's about time we got you guys back to Hated's head. That'll be in my next post though.

>>300676
Doesn't matter. It's still shockingly careless. The more potentially dangerous something is, the more firmly you hold it. Pile layer upon layer upon layer of security, and either have someone there to monitor it constantly or at least check up on it regularly- some kind of remote alarm to let them know if he broke free, at least. Secure it against both outside and inside intrusion, using measures which the captive wouldn't be able to absorb- enchanted items instead of guardian beasts, for example.

>>300678
Right. Well. That non-answers that, I suppose.

Spark Count: 1460

((Don't spend it all in one place folks! Oh, discussion thread is up as well, by the way.))

Timeskip!
------------------
Ah! The voices are back. You've been gone awhile, I'd wondered whether you were only meant to help me a little while. I'll bring you up to speed with what's been going on since you disappeared.

We've been traveling for six days, making slower progress than I would have liked, mostly because the boy couldn't travel as fast as us. But in the end it really doesn't matter. With length of time it took us to hunt down the barbarians campsite, I had effectively gorged myself on sparks.

After we set up camp that first night, I explained to Sticks my inability to produce sparks, pretending that it was due to magical backlash from attempting a spell beyond my reach. She accepted that pretty quickly, and even accepted the fact that this required I take the sparks from others. I didn't tell her they normally die after I'm done, but with her around I won't necessarily need to worry about it too much. She agreed to transfer sparks to me three times a day, which has resulted in my increased spark count. I don't think she's got any spark detection spells, or if she does she hasn't used them, otherwise she would have noticed I'm already way outside the normal range for what I appear to be.

Which brings me to the elf. As it turns out, elves and humans don't get along much anymore, especially because the humans keep trying to take wood from the elven forest. Sticks was one of a few elven spies, sent out to figure out what changed in the human lands. She didn't get far before she was caught. For the most part she's pleasant enough company, except that she's retained her races tendency to obsess over he appearance. She took that dress I'd found back in the crypt and by the end of the second day out she'd modified it to, in her words, "show off my divine beauty to the rest of the world". Because apparently hiding her looks is a crime against humanity. Sticks has taken to caring for Tongues, since she knows far more about mortal habits than I do.

Tongues progresses in his training well. I've already got him to the point where he can hurl three fireballs before needing rest, a rather fast improvement for six days work, and with a little coaxing, I even got him to start struggling through reading and writing. Oddly enough, at night he's taken to sleeping with his body next to mine. I'm not sure how to respond to that, so I've left it alone for now.

Another interesting thing our little band has discovered. Apparently, when I'm asleep I seem to flicker, like a flame just before it goes out. It was Sticks who discovered the trait, noticing the event while she was on watch duty that first night. From what we can tell it doesn't seem to cause any problems of any sort, and when I'm awake nothing at all seems to happen. Perhaps it's nothing, but I thought I'd mention it.

I've also learned a little about the world from Sticks. The five heroes are apparently long dead, having passed on about 4000 years ago(placing my imprisonment at about the same). The elven lands she refuses to speak about, claiming she doesn't trust me enough yet. She readily discusses what she knows about the humans though. The humans hold most of the northern and center parts of the continent. We are roughly on the border between the northern kingdom of Everfrost, and the Endless Plains, which is barbarian territory. The royal family of Everfrost are the descendants of the human hero, The Warrior, and so it seems I'll need to quite literally declare war on a kingdom if I'm to begin my hunt. There is also a third human kingdom, the Isles of Seven Shadows, far to the west of us.

Currently we are camped just south of a massive gathering of barbarians, who seem to have not noticed us. Furthermore, it seems there's some sort of festival or other large event going on, but from here I can't tell what. The twin sources I felt from this place are not twin sources, so much as two large groups of mages, about 30 mages in each group. They are all relatively weak, so I'm not terribly interested in snacking on them immediately, although the plan is still to do so at some point.

That's all I have to report, voices. What shall we do? Any questions to ask Sticks? Any preparations to be made?

>>300680
Seriously, either the author didn't come up with a good reason or it's plot-relevant. Guess according to the amount of respect/disrespect you think this author is worth. To find out for sure keep following and wait for it--the likely scenarios are some ass-pull propped into place for something that wasn't thought out, they thought keeping Hated hidden was even more important than secure, or (likely) someone wanted him to get loose. (Those three are not exclusive of each other BTW.)

>>300693
Perhaps asking Sticks if she is still planning on continuing her spying mission would be in order.
If she is still at it, then you might as well offer your grudging assistance by stating that you are in no real hurry to do anything. Such and offer and actually going through with it, would probably gain her trust enough to get you into the elf lands, somehow.

Tongues sleeping next to you is a sure sign of attachment and loyalty, which make him a better minion. No point in discouraging it.

>>300670
Hated doesn't have to be nice, but if he doesn't make an effort not to kill everything around him, he is going to die. He tried that last time, and it didn't work, but last time he had the advantage of surprise. Noone thought he could kill gods last time, but if he tries things the same way this time, they will be much better prepared. So we have to do this subtly, which has been working out really well so far. 1460 sparks is a hell of a lot more than that mage was worth. So our plan for now should really just be to keep the elf feeding us sparks. Go along with whatever her mission is here, help her spy on the humans, whatever it takes to continue feeding. As for what we should spend our new sparks on, Hated is a physical specialist and should probably play to his strengths. Like a permanent boost to strength. A big one.

>>300693
>Spark Count: 1460
Good lord. Delicious sparks we must spend!

My inclination is to invest in permanent boosts in durability and strength. If we throw, say, three hundred sparks into a permanent durability boost we should be all but impossible to harm, correct? And we could also put a bunch of sparks into becoming resistant to any hostile magic (or any magic that we don't actively let touch us, really). Call those our torso and head slot, respectively. Then a permanent strength boost could go in our arms, and we'll pretty much be a crazy unstoppable badass.

Also boost your shadow step ability so that you can take two people with you (as you currently have two companions), and as long as you have the spare sparks throw some more into range and chaining. Basically I'm thinking that you can become able to use that to walk hundreds of miles in a night, eventually. Sure, that would take an absurd number of sparks to manage... but we're getting quite a few, so investing a bit at a time should work out quite well.

As long as we keep say five hundred sparks on hand, we should have more than enough to do some crazy things outside our permanent ability set should the situation call for it.

>Oddly enough, at night he's taken to sleeping with his body next to mine. I'm not sure how to respond to that, so I've left it alone for now.
It's a form of emotional bonding. His wanting to do that is a visible sign of how much he trusts you, which translates directly into how likely he is to obey you. It is therefore good, as long as you don't really mind it.

As for these barbarians- hunting and killing dozens of mages in the middle of a horde of them would be a huge mess. Which is not to say that we can't, but let's table that option for now. Maybe, if you've got to declare war on these Everfrost people, you'll be able to somehow urge the barbarians into serving as an army and doing that? Let's try to play this subtle and learn about their relations with the kingdom with an eye towards that.

Ask Sticks for any background she's got on these guys, and what her preferred move is- if they don't like elves it might be a bad idea for her to openly stroll up.

Questions for Sticks: What would constitute fulfilling her mission and what would the Elves be interested in or consider trading for? Also, what can she teach you of mentalist magic? Not being master of all types of magic that the mortals can do leaves you sub-mortal, this will not do.
Questions for Hated: How many sparks would it take to create, maintain and control autonomous servants and soldiers? If you intend to destroy the leadership of a kingdom an army that matches or exceeds theirs would be useful for drawing them out of their strongholds.
Further, when you have learned what you can of mental magic I suggest creating a ring that speeds thought and perhaps grants scrying, insight, the ability to record images and sounds, and various other thought and study enhancements. This would be very useful for speeding up the development of your younger mage and useful for yourself as well.
n - effect, vb - affect Apologies for nitpicking but I can't read Bob's quests because he often gets it's/its wrong.

>>300717
I don't think we can put more than one effect in a single ring. That ring as you described it would have at least four.

Spark count.. WWWWWHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUT

That is absurd. Simply absurd. Bringing the elf along was actually a fantastic idea. 1400 sparks out of nowhere(in our perspective).. It is like winning a humongous gamble. After some shelter is found we must spend these sparks. Hypothetically, if you were to spend all of your sparks on shadow step, would hopping from town to town be possible? I think shadow step should be upgraded but not that much.

Suggestion 2011/05/01(Sun)16:19 No. 300752 ID: 8b0de1
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>Spark Count: 1460
>mfw

Holy shit, that is amazing!

It's so many that I don't even know what to do! I think this would make our entire quest steer into completely different direction.
Seriously...
See, Hated? This is why being nice (read: manipulative) pays off.

Maybe we don't ever need to kill for getting sparks? There are numerous ways we could get sources, WILLING sources mind you, like Sticks here.
We already have Tongues. Time means NOTHING to us, so training him to become better mage for 15 years or so shouldn't bother us too much.

Anyway, I suggest we make some permanent upgrades.
Now, when we first learned about permanent upgrades, I was not really aware of the maximum amount that we were permitted to put on us. Well, actually, I understood the notion that we wouldn't be able to have unlimited permanent upgrades but did not think the limit would be 8 upgrades (body parts).
So, we must carefully think over which kind of permanent upgrades we will need the most and will be using more often. It would be a shame if we invested bunch of upgrades into a spell which we can only use under certain circumstances.

For now, I can think of 1 upgrade that I'm am absolutely sure will be useful forever.
I am going to go with >>300416 this guys idea:
>"The closest you can get is increasing a persons mental speed, meaning they could think through a process that would normally take them hours in minutes."
As long as Hated is alive, he will always need to think, so when this upgrade is once made, I'm fairly sure it will never need to be overwritten by something else.

So I suggest you go ahead and make this intelligence/calculation upgrade to your head (this is where it goes, right?)
Not only will this make Hated much more smarter and help him think things through faster but it is also very applicable in combat situations. Having this kind of upgrade means he will be able to calculate all the sensory input he gets much more faster, effectively he could slow down time from his perspective and react much faster than normal, making his reflexes much, much faster.

Actually, after you apply this spell, upgrade it one level so that it is not at it's "weakest" level.

When doing this, give Tongues another demonstration. As Sticks shown it is very profitable to have willing person to donate sparks. So keep building up trust and good relationship with him.

Hey, how much would it cost Spark-wise to regrow his tongue?

>Another interesting thing our little band has discovered. Apparently, when I'm asleep I seem to flicker, like a flame just before it goes out.
Tell them that you think it might be another consequence of the fact that you are unable to generate sparks anymore (technically we aren't lying because we do not know why it is happening and it is quiet likely that we flicker because of our nature, which is also the reason why we can't generate sparks. Also, that statement says "might", meaning that you will not be certain so it should not register as a lie)


Anyway,
Lets try to get better relationship with Sticks too, she is a great source of Sparks and it would do us good if she likes us more, hell if she falls in love with Hated things would be perfect (not sure how we are going to pull this one off though).
Tell her that you would like to help her with her mission. Or at least hint at it.
She might become suspicious that after 6 days of journey we suddenly changed our minds .... but it will be hard also hard to sell that we were planning to kill mages and harvest their sparks .... so we need a way to out of this mess without her becoming hostile.
You could make up a cover story, that since you cannot make your own sparks you seek out people who can and try to work out agreements with them so that they give up their sparks for you.... or something like that.

Unless she is perfectly fine with us killing a cabal of mages and harvesting their sparks.


Hmm... doing a quick calculation I found that she gives us 80 Sparks per transfer, right?
She wouldn't give up all of her sparks as it would make her vulnerable. If she were very cautious/paranoid she wouldn't give even 1/3.
So she has 160-240 Sparks at any given time, right?
She must be very powerful.


Hated, you said that "Mind" spell are your weakest point. But is there a way for you to train in that branch? Because affecting minds would be the best way to gain Sparks donations from willing hosts.
Maybe a permanent upgrade? On tongue or eyes? Could that work?
Or do you need to train like little Tongues here?

>>300752
>You could make up a cover story
No lies! Lies are detectable and therefore bad. Do not speak of "what we do" in false generalities, just of what we want at the moment in certain truths.

((Alright, before this get too amazingly broken, and we proceed to make fighting the only really necessary option, it's time to add some more restrictions. Specifically to permanent spells so that ID f6360f doesn't go hog wild and have us become untouchable, which, while anyone would love to have, isn't so much fun to narrate. I don't want Hated to become superman.

So, some more restrictions for the lot of you. A Permanent spell CAN NOT have more than 100 sparks worth of upgrades shoved into it. That should at least keep things from getting out of hand, and make magic items actually necessary to mages. So yes, Mister f6360f, you can't start turning yourself into the magical pseudo-demonic version of superman.))

>>300725
I grabbed multiple silver rings from that shop back in Rivercross, so no worries. Although I suppose we might want them for something else. I'll let you guys figure that out.

>>300717
((I apologize for screwing the two effects/affects up. I'll try to remember, but it's a little confusing for me.))

I ask Sticks her plans, and her response is quick and merciless.

"The fuck you askin me that for? Course I'm gonna keep spyin on you humans. The fuck you take me for, a fuckin orc?" Ah, I forgot to mention that. She seems to believe that the way she speaks is a proper disguise. I've tried getting her to stop, it hasn't worked.

"Alright, alright. Don't get angry with me, just a question. Conincidently, I find myself not really having much to do. I could help you out, if you want me to."

Sticks blinks, then a smile spreads across her face. "You mean it?" I nod, not seeing why this is such a hard thing to believe. "Thanks! Ah, that makes things so much easier. Um, let's see, I need a cover story. I mean why else would I be traveling with you.... Um..."

"Isn't you owing me your life good enough?"

"Fuck no! That hardly does my beauty justice. Hmmm... alright then, I'll be your concubine. You humans have those all the time, right?"

Whoever taught her about humans needs to be found, dragged to the nearest tree and set hanged, preferably after he's been set on fire and his limbs have been removed. By that point, however, it's a lost cause. Sticks seems completely enamored with the idea however, mostly, I believe, because that requires I buy her clothes. Damn it. After another few minutes of arguing with her, I finally manage to at least convince her to hold off on telling anyone about her supposed role until I can prove to her humans do not generally run around with concubines. After that I also make sure to get her to promise to teach me some of her mental magic, which she agrees to readily enough, even as she starts scratching out sketches of various dresses in the dirt with a stick.

I interrupt her little dress making time, and ask her about what she knows regarding barbarians. Her response is annoyingly vague.

"No fucking clue. Know they aren't the ones chopping down our trees. Hell, we elves even trade with em occasionally. Shouldn't be a problem for me to just waltz in there. Might even make things better."

>How many sparks would it take to create, maintain and control autonomous servants and soldiers?

What, like make golems? With enough metal for the bodies, its actually not that hard. It's like the beasty back at the crypt. Once you shove some sparks in them, they just keep right on working. Golems are unique in that they think for themselves(well, sorta, they still take orders), and they can be enchanted with multiple spell effects, instead of just once like most magic items.

>>300752
((Before you go crazy on the abilities, make sure to check the top, I put a restriction down so you all wouldn't break the quest.))

I do need to train to better myself in spells. I am after all still a thinking individual, and thus not automatically competent in everything.

And since I hear a lot of different suggestions for permanent abilities, I think I'll wait until all of you can agree on at least some spells before starting.

>hell if she falls in love with Hated things would be perfect (not sure how we are going to pull this one off though).

Wait, you want me to make her fall in love with me? I'm I hearing that correctly?

Regenerating Tongues... tongue? Hmm... well, regeneration is technically recreating a body part... if I could get a better look...

I stride over to Sticks, who ignores me right up until I grab her, drag her to her feat and force her mouth open to get a look at her tongue. Not quite the same as a human one, but if I resize it to fit the boy mou-hurk!

I collapse, Sticks' knee having just connected with my groin. "What the fuck you doing to me you perverted bastard? Don't go sticking your fucking fingers into other people fucking mouths!"

I hear Tongues off to the side, who seems to be making a weird barking cough like sound. I quickly realize he's laughing, ungrateful prick.

Well... urgh... that could have gone better... Little help voices, she seems pissed, but I really need to see her mouth to do anything for Tongues.

Spell Discovered!
Reconstruct(Body): Allows the caster to regenerate, reform, or recreate a physical body part on his own body. Costs 50 sparks.

Tag Discovered!
Transfer: Allows a spell that would normally target the caster only to be targeted at someone else. Costs 20 sparks.

If we invest much in mind, we may learn how to bypass her lie detector. I am very open to permanent mind enhancement.

>>300768
Do magic items have the same limitations on sparks?

>>300768
Just tell her you need to see her mouth so you can regenerate the kid's tongue? Why make it complicated?

>>300768
Simply apologize stating that you are a bit rusty in regards to social interaction.

Afterwards, simply state what you wanted to do. It is not like you need to hide it. Then ask if you can proceed, again. No point in pissing her off, since she is a good source of sparks and will probably have further uses down the road.

Hey! Why the hell did you do that to Sticks? Nothing in my suggestion hinted even remotely on that course of action.

"I just needed to check something. Don't be so angry...
Tongues, come here!"

Then regrow Tongues tongue.


>Whoever taught her about humans needs to be found, dragged to the nearest tree and set hanged, preferably after he's been set on fire and his limbs have been removed

You know... I am starting to think that whoever sent her wanted to get rid of her. She seems too fucking incompetent for a spy.
Yeah, definitely sent off to die and never return.
Ask her about the events that lead her to be chosen to spy on human lands.

>Wait, you want me to make her fall in love with me? I'm I hearing that correctly?
Yeah. Why not?
Pretty much would ensure that she will be donating you Sparks for years to come.
Also, I don't really want her to fall in love with you. Just saying that it would be a positive development.

>I do need to train to better myself in spells. I am after all still a thinking individual, and thus not automatically competent in everything.

I am going to stick on what I had suggested and go with intelligence/calculation upgrade
>>300769
I am going to second that...

If 100 sparks is the maximum, I don't see why we shouldn't put in everything we got right now?
Make a 100 spark intelligence boost.


Does the magical gear have the advantage of being usable by everyone and not just mages?
For example, could a non magical human use a fireball ring?

>>300774
>Simply apologize

Don't say something like "I'm sorry" because you aren't and that would be a lie.
Say "I apologize" because that is truth, you are apologizing, you don't actually say you feel apologetic you just state the fact that you have apologized.

>Wait, you want me to make her fall in love with me? I'm I hearing that correctly?
Love is a very useful emotion. It can bind someone to you very tightly, make them do all kinds of things to gain your approval and affection. Having someone fall in love with you is one of the most effective means of long-term manipulation and control.

That said, I frankly don't think you have the social skills to pull it off so even bothering to try is a bad idea at the moment. Trying and failing would likely have terrible results.

>Little help voices, she seems pissed, but I really need to see her mouth to do anything for Tongues.
"I apologize. It occurred to me that at this point I should have enough energy to regenerate Tongues' tongue- stop laughing, you- but I need to see one to fix it, and you were available. Do you mind?"

There. No technical lies, explains the situation.

>And since I hear a lot of different suggestions for permanent abilities, I think I'll wait until all of you can agree on at least some spells before starting.
I really, really think that we should max out a durability enhancement. It's just foolish to risk physical harm if we don't have to when we have the means to easily prevent it. That groin kick, for example, need not have done so much as make us flinch. Why put up with that kind of thing?

@ Ring/nonmage: I think Hated said magic items are coveted by nonmages for just that reason.

I propose that instead of spending points on strength, we would be much better off enchanting out arms with 100 sparks of speed. Speed is much more versatile, and we could combine it with chain shadow step to step-stab-step, allowing us to take on much larger groups of enemies.

Now that we have the time on our hands for enchanting, I again propose the ring of fast recharging projectile smoke, so we can manufacture our own shadows for stepping in/out of. (If we make it a ring of chain smoke projectile, can we have it running at the same time as shadow step so we can smoke-step-smoke-step-etc ?

>>300790
I agree with maximum durability. I think it would be body enchantment.
Hated said that we can't have a magic protection against magic because it cease to be so when casted (fireball becomes fire when cast, thunder becomes electricity, etc...).
So it doesn't only mean that we can't have universal magic protection, but it also means that regular physical protection will protect against magic too.
If we make our skin as strong and durable as steel (for example) fire would do much less damage to us.

>>300794
The shadow ring seems to be good idea, we should invest about 50 sparks (I think) to make it good enough.

As for arm-speed .... eh, I dunno, I would suggest we go for strength boost if we make "Body" enchantments.

After a few minutes of pain, I pull myself to my feet, glad that elves are physically weak. My gut reaction is to rip Sticks' throat out and laugh as she chokes on her own blood, but instead I apologize.

"I apologize. It occurred to me that at this point I should have enough energy to regenerate Tongues' tongue- stop laughing, you- but I need to see one to fix it, and you were available. Do you mind?"

I copy word for word the one that seems the most likely to work, and sounds the most apologetic. I also try to model my voice into a softer tone, so as to not sound like I'm threatening her life at the same time. Unfortunately, the boy simply starts laughing harder at my order, clearly not believing I'll actually do something to him.

Sticks glares at me for a moment, then, muttering something about saying so before doing anything, she walks back over to me and opens her jaw for me. I examine what I need to, then turn and gesture for Tongues to come join us. He seems a little... afraid, as if what I'm about to do might cost him something. While it might not cost him anything, its certainly costing me. I focus a moment, eyes closed as I haven't done this in close to 4000 years, and then I hear a gasp come from behind me. I open my eyes to see a tongue literally growing to replace the one Tongues lost, and within minutes the job is complete.

Spark Count: 1390

For a moment, everyone is silent, then Tongues takes his first tentative steps into having a mouth again. "Sssssooooo... are we just gonna stand round gawkin, or we gonna do something today?"

I smile, pleased with myself. The smile is quickly wiped away when I feel a blade at my throat. Tongues eyes go wide, and he stumbles backwards, stuttering with confusion.

"How the fuck did you do that? Only mages I know that can do that sort of thing are in those really old, powerful mages, and I know for a fact you aren't from any old geezer. So tell me, Vincent, how does some human mage barely past his 23rd spring know how to regenerate fucking limbs?"

I take a small breath, then try my hand at the apologizing thing. Nothing but the truth, nothing but the truth. "Learned it by accident after my hand got cut off by a rather angry knight. It amazed the heck out of me as well, trust me on that."

There's no response for a moment, then Sticks pulls away. I turn to face her, expecting her usual expression of disdain or annoyance. Instead I'm favored with one that looks slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, I... uh, I over... reacted... so... yeah."

I brush the issue aside. It's not an issue for me, as long as she doesn't pry too much. With my apprentice now at full functioning capacity, I push him to begin his practice again. He grumbles a little, but sets to the task diligently.

>>300772
Not that I'm aware of. Various metals however, do have certain amounts they can take in. Silver, for example, can take in about 200 sparks of magic total before it rejects anything else.

As for possible permanent abilities, I have listed them here as they were mentioned by you voices.

Mental Speed/Calculation: 100 Sparks
Durability: 100 Sparks

Currently we have:
Shadow-Step: With 17/100 Sparks in it.

Simply telling me that you want one hundred sparks in something doesn't help me at all though. Do you simply want me to shove one hundred sparks to enhance it's base effect? Or do you want me to be able to share it with other? Transfer it to someone else? Give me how specifically you want to spend those 100 sparks.

>>300805
Ho boy,

I actually did account that Sticks would become suspicious if we show too much power though not concerning the regeneration but spending too much Sparks on enchantments.

So we used 70 sparks now we are thinking of using 200 sparks.
Will she be able to see how much we used up, will she know that we can store infinite amount of sparks in ourself?

Could we do this while she sleeps? We should take the next shift or wait till she is gone and busy with something else.

>Do you simply want me to shove one hundred sparks to enhance it's base effect? Or do you want me to be able to share it with other? Transfer it to someone else?
For mental speed and Durability definitely not going to share or transfer it to anybody. Don't see any use in "Area" tag either.
So yeah, put them in base effects..

>>300805
Base effect. Any of the tags we know applied to those really just reduce the value on them. Since silver holds 200 sparks, presumably gold would hold more? What about gemstones? Are there any other valuable metals available to humans? I think this may possibly be the best reason to visit the dwarves at some point. They spend all their time underground, so they would be better able to provide rare materials for really really good items.

>>300805
>Durability: 100 Sparks
This should be crafted to be as effective as possible on you and you alone. I believe that calls for it to have its base effect maximized, but if there are other ways to tweak that which might prove more effective in the overall goal of keeping your skin fully intact, feel free to bring them up.

>Shadow-Step: With 17/100 Sparks in it.
This has range and chain upgrades on it right now, correct? We want it to have Buddy x2 so that you can bring others along (28/100), chain x4 so that you can use it five times in quick succession (48/100), and range x13 with the rest of the points for a 75-foot total jump distance (100/100). That should make it viable as both a combat technique and as a fast-travel skill. Extremely powerful.

>Mental Speed/Calculation: 100 Sparks
Honestly I'm more concerned about defending about mental magics than gaining this, which I assume would also require the head enchantment slot, but I'm not going to argue too much- we can throw a defensive enchantment in a ring, I suppose. I just don't like having that elf able to look at us and crush our mind with magic while we have no standing defenses. There's much less risk in working with people if we're well armored against their potentially trying to hurt us first.

>Unfortunately, the boy simply starts laughing harder at my order, clearly not believing I'll actually do something to him.
That's bad. When we give an order, he should damn well follow it, even if it's something like this. Inform him that now that we have demonstrated our ability to repair his wounds, if he disobeys an order again we will not hesitate to inflict a few in order to encourage his obedience. He swore to do as we said with no hesitation; that applies at all times. You don't have to be overly menacing when saying this, just state it as fact- there will be serious consequences which he does not like for disregarding what we say.

>>300827
>Honestly I'm more concerned about defending about mental magics than gaining this, which I assume would also require the head enchantment slot, but I'm not going to argue too much-

I say we make some kind of enchanted silver headband or necklace or ear-rings. I want to say tiara but that is just plain silly.

>That's bad. When we give an order, he should damn well follow it, even if it's something like this.
Oh, don't be so droll.
We might need to warn him but please, don't be psychotic about it, Hated.
He wasn't really disobeying the order, more like he was caught in the mood.
But if in different circumstance he decides disobey or talk back we might need to do something (nothing too drastic of course)

Spell Discovered!
Armor: Toughens the casters skin into armor, reducing damage taken due to psychical trauma. Costs 10 sparks, + 10 sparks per increase to the armors strength.


I wouldn't worry too much about Sticks noticing, at least not in regards to enchanting my own body. All she'll see, if that, is the tattoos for the spells forming on my skin.

Since I've received multiple affirmation for the defensive boost provided by endurance, I set to work, closing my eyes again to focus on the patters I desire. I envision scales like a dragons, hard as diamonds and thousands of times more flexible. I feel the sparks form within my body, exactly a hundred gathering to my call. Then I coax the 30 sparks required to the task I have for them, the magic within me sending sparks whirling along my torso as the settle into the new form I've decided for them. I also took the time to upgrade the shadow-jump as suggested, so we should be able to jump long distances, assuming I can see the shadows I'm jumping to. Might want to invest in a spyglass at some point. I pull up my shirt and smile with satisfaction as the spell completes itself, my skin now having scale-like marking all over my chest, stomach and back. Sticks glances up from what's she's doing(making more drawings in the dirt) just in time to see the new markings, and she turns her head in interest.

"Whats spells that one? Body magic?"

"Mmm. Spell that turns my skin hard, like armor. With this is should be harder for me to die. It's a fairly basic spell, if find it hard to believe you don't know it."

"Fuck off. I've already told you, I'm a Mind mage. I'm pretty young too, so I haven't started branching out yet."

I simply smile, then proceed to begin packing my things into one of the bags. I set Tongues to work, as well as informing him off the possible consequences regarding disobeying orders, like when I told him to stop laughing. He apologizes profusely, even going so far as to place his head on the ground, which just gives me thoughts of slamming my boot down on his head hard enough to squash it like a melon. Sticks finishes up her latest drawing, then starts to help out as well. We're going to the barbarian camp at some point, as I refuse to spend all day toying with possible spells to enchant myself with. If you want me to do another, say so now before I head into that camp.

>>300830
YES!
Do the mind enchanting permanent spell!

Why didn't you do it eight away?

>>300830
>Might want to invest in a spyglass at some point.
I don't think 75 feet is long enough to need a spyglass. Even the 525 that we can manage with a full five-step chain is pretty much within standard visual distance. Anyway, there are presumably relatively cheap spells that would let us see more acutely and/or grant us perfect vision in the dark, yes? That seems more our style than bulky accessories. Actually, seeing through objects would be good, too, since it would let us see shadows on the other side of walls.

>He apologizes profusely, even going so far as to place his head on the ground, which just gives me thoughts of slamming my boot down on his head hard enough to squash it like a melon.
Minions genuflecting in obedience: Always good. Head-squashing: Potentially hilarious but utterly wasteful; glad you restrained yourself there. Seems that worked out well.

>We're going to the barbarian camp at some point
Before going there, you should decide on a story as to why the three of you are out there traveling around. Although, honestly, I suppose that "We're travelers, looking to learn more about these lands" is actually true. You're all traveling, you want to learn more so that you can kill certain people better, she wants to learn more because she's a spy. And if the barbarians don't like you killing is always a viable backup plan.

>>300839
(Erm, not 525. 375. Because math. Excuse my brief silliness.)

Hated 2011/05/01(Sun)21:39 No. 300869 ID: c4753c
File 130431115891.jpg - (27.54KB , 305x576 , Barbarian.jpg )

I close my eyes mid packing, shaping more sparks into the desired affect. I envisioned a thought, or what I though a thought would look like, words floating in my mind. Then I saw those thoughts appear faster, disappear faster, all whirling around faster. I felt the tingle of sparks touching my face, roaringalongsettingmymindblazingwiththoughtsandfeelingsandactionsand-

Spark Count: 1130

...I'm so glad I thought to make that an off/on spell. I don't want to be thinking that quickly all the time. I finish packing and storing my things, then pull the backpack onto my shoulders. The other two are quick to follow suit, and before finally heading off I turn to my apprentice.

"Tongues, what's the tattoo on my face look like?"

The boy stares at me for a moment, seeming to be trying to read something, then shrugs. "Dun know, master. It looks like words, but they're moving to fast for me to see them properly. It's like someone constantly flipping a page on a book, only so fast you don't have time to read even a word on each page."

"Hm. Interesting. Sticks, do all mind enchantments have weird pictures like this?"

"Yeah. Half the time the spells depiction makes no sense. Makes it hard to identify magical items that have mind enchantments as well, cause the effects are usually really odd."

"Hm."

With that done, I lead the way down towards the camp of barbarians. It takes us a few minutes to reach our destination, and I notice that as soon as we do, all eyes within the camp are on us. Now that I'm closer, I can see the markings on the tent, a bear paw, and the mood in the camp seems very... tense. As if they were expecting something. After walking a small way, I feel something tug on my shirt sleeve and glance down to find Tongues holding on to it, looking nervous and uncertain. Sticks seems oblivious to the lot, eying everything as if searching for something.

It's when we reach the center, where the biggest tent stands, that something interesting happens. We're suddenly surrounded by warriors, all holding spears in hand. Sticks readies her bow, finally noticing the situation we are in. The tent in front of us opens, and what I'd presume to be the chieftain comes stomping out, eyes examining all of us. "What you come here for, city-dweller? You come to kill us? Come to take our land from us like you did our ancestors? Come to scatter Clan Bearclaw? Speak now, or die." The spears all around us level towards us, the intent clear.

Well, voices. I know you advised me to come up with a reason for being here, but the only thing I could think of was that I was passing through, which isn't true, since I want to stick around awhile... that and I want that belt the chieftain is wearing, because seriously, who doesn't want a belt with a skull for the buckle?

Now is not the time for lies and courtly manners, now is the time for mas machismo.
"Two things actually. First, I come seeking allies against one of the nations of the city people and I thought a good place to start would be asking the people who hate them the most. Second, that's a really nice belt, I wanna fight you for it."

>>300869
You've come to help, and if they don't want help, you've come to trade. Given their apparent hatred for city-dwellers, they are no friends of the Warrior's descendants. In a way that makes them friends of yourself. By helping them you may set them up to ruin that kingdom without needing to do much of anything yourself, and if they have no intention to do that, well, you can always make some money selling enchanted trinkets. Money you can use to acquire better materials to hold the kind of power you need if you intend to take on an entire kingdom.

>>300869
>Speak now, or die.
"I have no interest at all in your land, nor am I much of a city dweller. In fact, I don't have a single friend living there. My companions and I-" gesture to the others- "were interested in staying amongst people who wouldn't mind our presence for a while, maybe learning a few things, then going back to kill a certain mage in Rivercross. Also, I like your belt a lot."

Hrmm... Wanderlust? You tired of the city so you left? Trade, with offerings of magic rings? Couple ideas.

And point out that if we were here to kill them we'd have brought soldiers and not come just the three of us, one a child no less (We could of course level their entire village ourselves, but they don't know that.)

I imagine he likes the belt too, and it might have more importance beyond personal dislike, so don't go after it unless we want to piss everyone off (While we could, again, kill everyone, we're gonna need help to take on the kingdom)

Compliment his swanky belt.

"I have no interest at all in your land, nor am I much of a city dweller. In fact, I don't have a single friend living there. Besides, if I'd come to kill you, you'd think I'd bring an army, wouldn't you? My companions and I-" gesture to the others- "were interested in staying amongst people who wouldn't mind our presence for a while, maybe learning a few things, then going back to kill a certain mage in Rivercross. Also, I like your belt a lot, very nice, the human skull really sets the mood, I feel intimidated, really I do...um, what else..."

"Get to the fucking point, Vincent."

"Oh! Right, the point. Thank you Sticks."

The Chieftain takes a step back in surprise, clearly not expecting me to be quite so forward, especially because I'm one of these city-dwellers in his eyes. Even all the warriors seem uncertain how to deal with me now that I'm just coming right out and complementing his belt, which I really think I should just take.

>>300873

"So I suppose I came for two reasons. First, I come seeking allies against one of the nations of the city people and I thought a good place to start would be asking the people who hate them the most. Second, that's a really nice belt, I wanna fight you for it."

I'm fairly certain that the man wasn't quite sure what to make of me until I said I wanted to fight him. Then he seemed to get back into his character, happily roaring into the air.

"You dare challenge me?! Urthan, Cheiftan of Clan Bearclaw?! You think you can fight the one who fought an entire tribe on his own?!"

The warriors start up some rhythmic chant that I'd assume was for impressing other tribes, as well as scaring potential challengers to this guy. For us, the only one scared is Tongues, and I think that's more because of all the stories he's heard about these guys. For me, it just serves to annoy.

"No one has bested me in single combat, ever! You will fall, just like the rest, before my might, crushed under the sheer weight of my-"

"Yeah, I get it already. Look, do I get your belt if I beat you at this 'single-combat' thing?"

"Um... yes?"

"Alright then. Let's get this over with."

Okay, question voices. What's single-combat? Do I have to fight the tribe by myself? Fight each guy one at a time? Hunt people down one by one? Oh, I know! I have to use a single weapon to kill every warrior in the camp, am I right?

>>300939
The phrase "single combat" indicates that there is a single fighter on each side. That probably means it's just you and him, in this case.

Barbarian people in general are usually highly responsive to an "honorable warrior" type of persona. Therefore, you should endeavor to 'fight fair', which is to say, don't use any capability you haven't warned him about in advance, don't hit him in the back at any point, and don't simply blast him with magic for a quick win. You should also aim to incapacitate or pin him rather than killing, if possible. I know, it's a lot of rules- but doing well in a public fight against their chief could be a quick way to buy you much better status than "random city-dweller" in their collective eyes, netting you not only the belt but also an in as far as getting them to do whatever else you want. Like feeding you tons of sparks or invading nations on your behalf, though mentioning either right now would likely be a poor move.

I would recommend declaring that you're no common warrior, and removing your shirt. Anyone who knows the basics of magic will immediately grasp that you're enchanted with a defensive spell and probably capable of using other magics, which is good to let them know in this case because it means you're not effectively sucker punching him with your durability and even your shadow stepping can be arguably called expected. Once that's done, follow their lead in how they set this up- my guess is that they'll take you to a fairly large, clear area, gather around its edges, and have the two of you fight in the middle. That's speculation on my part, though; there are almost certainly a few particulars I don't know. Just do roughly what the chief does (unless something seems particularly unusual) and don't attack him before he attacks you, and you'll probably be mostly fine.

>>300939
I believe it is a fight between just you and him. Probably be best to rely on strength enhancements and speed, as opposed to more obvious spells like shadow step or fire(etc.).

When you beat him using physical powers, it will probably have a better effect on the warriors(a step towards gaining an army) than if you just toast him with fire.

Also, I am not sure if it would be better to kill him at the end of the fight or, ugh, spare him. In the manipulative sense, I mean.

Anyway, I know you want to kill everybody here and I am sure it would be fun, but revenge comes first, then comes fun. For revenge, you need allies/minions/an army and gaining the respect of the barbarians is a step in that direction. Nothing will stop you from killing absolutely everything once you have gotten your revenge.

Now listen Hated, I know this is a new and alien concept to you but please don't kill this guy.
Yeah, you probably never have fought anyone without killing them when you won, I get that, but who knows what will happen if you kill him. Maybe they'll freak out?

Anyway, ask what the rules are (if any). I suppose there aren't any rules and that you can use magic as you like.
So this is great opportunity to try out your enchantments.
Turn on your mind spell. I don't know why it would make you uncomfortable, fast thinking does not equal not being able to keep up with your thoughts. From your perspective you should feel fine as with fast calculating comes appropriate "digestion" of information. The only side effect could be that the world seems to move slower but with practice you will be able to adjust that too.
With that on, you will be able to react much faster.

I suppose your durability enchantment is always on? If not turn it on. And why isn't it alway on?

Use your shadow-step ability to gain advantage, even if it is day there should be a lot of shadows (like, chieftains shadow for example)

And then fight till you beat him, I don't think that should be a lot of problem to you, would it?


And hey, maybe it is their custom that when someone beats the chief, he becomes the new chief? Wouldn't that be great?

Idea: Shadowstep into his shadow, kick between legs for opening salvo. Then try and figure out what this guy can do. Avoid a couple of blows, get him to punch the ground or a tent, see what he can pull off.

Single combat implies that you both agree the fight has started before either of you takes a hostile action, so teleporting behind him BEFORE the fight starts is a no. I also second taking off your shirt to declare that you are a mage (and to show your MANLY PHYSIQUE). The 'asking about the rules' thing is good too.

I would say now is NOT the time to try out a mind affecting spell that you are not used to yet. You should get the hang of that when you are not in a situation where a distraction would get you face-punched.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Sticks? I thought it was obvious. I'm fighting the big man for his belt. Mostly because I want it."

Sticks gives me a look that clearly states her negative opinion on this course of action, and even Tongues looks a little doubtful as to the merit of my declarations. Well, too bad for them, I'm leader of this little band. I turn away to find someone to explain the rules of this single combat thing to me. Seriously, I don't see why anyone would just fight someone else one against one when he's clearly got me surrounded. Is honor really that important a thing to risk your life for? This Urthan has all these minion, why not use them to soften me up first?

As I'm pondering this one of the shamans(light snacks) comes up to me to explain the rules. There are fairly simple, and are as follows:
1) One can not use magic not already placed on your body, your weapon, your armor, or some other magical item.(They specifically mentioned they already knew I was a mage)
2) Each combatant is allowed a single weapon to take with them into the arena(although it's perfectly legal to steal your opponents weapon)
3) The contest continues until one of the combatants is dead, unable to fight, or yields

That's it. Hells, you voices gave me more restrictions than that. You sure I can't just kill this guy? Either way, I'm separated from my companions, who are led off some other way, and taken to a field outside the encampment, where I can see a loose circle has formed. Urthan isn't around yet, probably preparing for the fight himself.

I'm left where I stand, at one end of the field, and told that I have about 5 minutes to prepare anything I want to before I'm examined for spells and then start fighting. That leaves me enough time for a single enchantment. Do I need anything else, or am I good with what I have? And which weapon should I take with me, the shortsword or the longsword? Or should I leave the weapons behind and fight with my fists? Any further advice you want to give before we get started with this... "single-combat" thing.

Fight with just your fists? That is silly. What are you personally more comfortable with? A dagger would be best for shadow step and fast attacks, but with a long sword we could end his life in one swipe if we give ourselves a strength enchantment.

If they the rules state that you can kill your opponent, I don't see why not. That would put you in much greater position of influence (whatever our further plans may be)

Take the longsword.

As for enchantments.... I dunno... Do we need any? I think it is clear that the chief is going to have body spells and/or magical equipment.
Lowest level (so that if we decide in future for something better we wouldn't have wasted too much sparks) of strenght enchantment on your arm perhaps?


as for the fight .... just go with suggestions we had provided before as long as they are within the rules.

Speed boost would be nice. The Shamans are probably preparing something nasty to put on him. It'd get rid of our shadow steps though....

I say take the fists. You can probably use him to manipulate the tribe if you win. Free army is nice.

And of course, you could pretend this was your plan all along.

.....Can you enchant your eyes with eye lasers?

>>301015
I'd throw a maxed out strength enchantment on your arms. Strength and durability boosts aren't very creative, but between the two of them and our shadow step for mobility we should have the power to oppose a whole slew of any more complex tricks that the chief might deploy.

I'd take the shortsword. With boosted strength, you won't need the extra distance that the longsword gives you and the shortsword would be less unwieldy in close quarters if you get right next to him thanks to, say, stepping into his shadow. That said, either sword should be fine.

I would still say try not to kill him, even if that's within the rules. Killing people leaves hostility in its wake, and manipulating people who hate you is much harder.

>Is honor really that important a thing to risk your life for?
Oh, yes. Honor is a powerful social construct in many societies. Someone seen as honorable gets more respect even if they can't necessarily deploy as much force as anyone else. Someone seen as dishonorable gets less respect even if they're powerful enough to be very dangerous. Thus the honorable people tend to get more rank, give orders, have favors done for them by others, and get better mates. This might not make sense standing on its own, but in societal terms it's a self-perpetuating system because it means that those who are honorable will tend to gang up on and kill or exile those who are dishonorable and thereby surround themselves with only people who follow their own set of rules. It helps that part of those rules tends to include a way of retaining respect and power even if something bad should happen to them, or when they grow old and weak- it's a social safety net.

They don't think of it in those terms, of course. They think of honor as something good in and of itself, instead of as an artificial concept which is used to perpetuate their way of life. But it hardly matters- the upshot is that honor is something worth dying for, from the perspective of someone within a society where honor is important.

>>301032
Dont forget that we can put seperate enchantments on each arm.
Not sure if we put strenght on right arm and it will give overall boost or only for the arm, I suspect it is the former.

>>301033
((That's actually the hands. The arms are one piece in and of themselves.))

Dragging out some more sparks, I place a strength enchantment on my arms, picturing the talons and strength of an ogre, a giant, a dragon. Sparks slither down my arms just as a group of shamans walks up, and they are greeted with a cascade of tattoos slithering down my arms to settle themselves. Already I feel the pulse of strength within me, and I recall that I'll have to relearn how to restrain myself. The shamans order me to strip, and I do so without hesitation, noticing curiously that there are a number of young woman watching me intently. The shamans go about there business, and once done, leave me as they move off to examine Urthan.

I pull on only my boots, pants and hat, so as to show off, and I quote, my MANLY PHYSIQUE, although I'm not sure who I'm supposed to be showing off to. I reject taking a weapon, I used to fight with my fists to feel the crunch of bone under my hands. I'll take the chance to do so again before I have to set up an image for myself. Which reminds me to talk to you voices about that later. Doesn't really matter, the wind feels good on my bare skin, and I'm quite certain the blood from the chieftain will feel just as good. We both take our respective, positions on either end of the makeshift arena, with a shaman breaking into a speech about something or other, which promptly bores me enough to start me daydreaming...

So it comes as somewhat of a surprise when I find my opponents mace smashes into my body, a cheer go up around me from his clansman, and myself slamming into the dirt with enough force to go send shards of rock flying everywhere. I get up onto my feet again, my armor skin taking the brunt of the blow, while the man roars into the air. I see my hat float gently to the ground a few feet away.

This man has some punch, doesn't he?

Indeed. But nowhere near as much as you.

>>301056
>noticing curiously that there are a number of young woman watching me intently
This isn't that curious. You look human, young, male, and physically fairly powerful. Their instinct is to assess your viability as a mate.

>This man has some punch, doesn't he?
Seems like it. Look at him and speed your thoughts for a moment- long enough to notice details, like what enchantments are visible on him if any, and if that mace is magical or if he's the one with the magic in him. Also, if he's got some kind of speed enhancement your mental boost power should let you at least keep good track of what he's doing, even if you can't counter it fully without matching his speed.

My personal recommendation here would be to try to use your strength to send him flying in the air, then repeatedly shadow step underneath him (he should cast a shadow as he falls) and punch him back into the sky. Continue until he's unconscious/dead or it ceases to be hilarious. This is a viable tactic mostly because if he's got a strength boost, putting him in the air will render it mostly useless since he won't be able to brace against anything.

But maybe I'm overthinking this and you should just hit him a few times.

Been playing Super Smash Brothers much, f6360f?
But yes, I agree with f6360f's plan. (Subject to change of course if we see a tricky enchantment on the chieftain)

((Forgot to do this last post. I also posted a picture in the discussion thread that I drew. I remember someone ask for one, but can't recall who.))
Spark Count: 1060

I activate my Mind Speed enchantment, the world slowing around me to a crawl. I notice dozens of things at once, mind catching much more than it normally would. The way the wind moves the grass at our feet. The beat of a bugs wings that just happens to fly by. The shape of every single cloud in the sky. Each individual look of surprise on every single person's face as they realize I'm not quite dead. The sound of Tongues as he let's out his own cheer of joy. Sticks hilariously shocked face as she stares in disbelief. All that within a second of activation.

Urthan has a number of tattoos across his body similar to mine, although his would be considered second rate compared to mine. From what I can see, he has a strength, armor and speed enhancement. And that's it. His weapon doesn't look remarkable, but that's not saying much. It could have properties that I can't detect just looking at it.

I switch the spell off, the world returning to its normal speed as I shadow-step behind the man. Get him into the air, was it? Well, let's pay him back for that sucker punch at the same time.

"You really should warn someone before you start swinging at them. It's the polite thing to do."

The barbarian turns in surprise, but it's too late for him to stop my swift kick to his nether regions. I can almost hear the man let out a little squeal of pain, and the force of the kick lifts him into the air. I jump in front of him, kicking upwards again and sending him higher. I attempt it again, but he's recovered now, and with his speed grabs me by the leg and throws me towards the ground under him. I simply smile as I go down and jump again, this time over next to my hat. I retrieve the item, and replace it on my head, my smile only widening, as I watch the bigger man slam into the ground, buying me another few seconds to think as the world slows to a crawl again.

What's next, voices?

>>301075
Well, he's faster than you and shadow step won't catch him off guard again. My instinct here would be to go for a grapple- your strength enhancements are better than his, you say, so you should have a fairly decisive advantage as long as you maintain a grip on him to stop him from using his speed. Grabbing his weapon and chucking it away (you can probably get a couple hundred yards of distance; do not hit anyone else with it) would probably help with forcing him into that kind of situation.

You should be able to flicker your mind enhancement on and off to gain plenty of time to consider exactly what is going on; it'll be like everything moving in slow motion. You should be able to see exactly what he's trying with plenty of time to begin your own reaction, hopefully even with his boosted speed.

Get him in a pin and demand that he yield. If he doesn't, you should be in an excellent position to break one or more of his limbs, which should effectively end the fight in your favor.

>>301088

This is a pretty good idea considering you don't have Speed enhancements yet, and doing them in full view of everyone would be a bit obvious.

Be careful with that mace before you mange to grapple him, and remember that keeping him alive is currently a goal.

>>301088
Go with this.

>>301088
Disarming the opponent and making them submit to you is preferred because we want more than his belt, we want his tribe to do as we say.
I support this plan.

The world returns once again to normal speed, and I start forward as Urthan gets up, clearly having taken that pretty hard. Well, sucks for him, I'm not letting up yet. As he bends down to retrieve his mace again, I step up to him, knee rising to smash into his face, jaw breaking and sending the man stumbling backwards. Then I get to bend down and lift the discarded weapon and, following popular suggestion, I hurl said object off somewhere. I don't get the chance to see where it lands, however, as Urthan starts throwing punches at me and I'm forced back a step trying to defend.

We go into a slug-fest, both of us beating on each other without bothering to dodge or even block. Until Urthan suddenly realizes I'm not going down, and his torso is starting to sport a lot more bruises than mine. Then the dodging starts, mostly by him, as he tries not to get hit while still smashing his fists into my torso. Feeling like I'm getting nowhere, and already having your suggested plans, I wait for another blow to come my way, then grab the offending extremity and flip the man over my shoulder, slamming Urthan into the ground and sending more rock shards everywhere, most notably Urthan's skin. I pin the man to the floor, or try to. As I reach for his arms, the barbarian kicks me in the face, sending me literally spinning away. I find myself on the ground again, and I decide that I should probably have gotten the man onto his back before trying that... yeah, failure on my part, apologies voices.

Both of us scramble to our feet, and both of us look a little worse for wear. It's mostly just scratches and bruises, and Urthan's got more than I do, but even I am sporting some.

Then once again the world slows to a crawl around me. Suggestions, voices?

>>301173
Try again. As soon as you have grabbed him he shouldn't easily be able to escape, since you are stronger. You spent all your time fighting last you were free, you shouldn't need detailed advice on how to grapple someone.

>>301178
Yeah, pretty much this. You'll have the advantage in very close quarters. I doubt his pride will let him spend too much time on the defensive, so he'll have to engage at a range you can grab him eventually since you're both unarmed. When that happens, apply some skill to the situation and get him in a pin. If he's good enough to avoid your managing that, breaking more limbs is a decent secondary objective; as long as he keeps taking more damage than you he'll eventually either yield or be unable to continue.

As long as your mind is moving at super-speed, take a decent glance at the spectators, too. Note what kind of looks they have on their faces- it's not important to the resolution of the fight, but it matters somewhat insofar as how you'll be able to manipulate them later. It's useful to know what's going on in their heads before trying to urge it in the direction you want, most of the time.

Not sure if I agree with others.
Even though I am more inclined towarda more peaceful approaches, I think it wouldn't be bad if we kill him.
Though we dont know their customs, I'm sure we will gain much respect if we beat him, meaning they will listen to us (I mean, we just killed someone who claims to have defeated entire tribes alone, they would be fools to not respect us).
If we keep him alive however, he will definately be angry towards us and could play a vital role against our further plans here.

I take a glance at the crowd, noticing that instead of seeming like they were rooting only for the big man, and not doing anything else, they were actually starting to take sides. Quite a few seem to be betting on the outcome, a few more were actually verbally supporting me, and more still seemed to at least be interested in whether or not I would win, instead of just survive. Sticks seems to have gotten into an argument with some of the women, about what I can't tell from here. Tongues, on the other hand, seem to be happily cheering his throat hoarse, which is all well and good except that I can't hear him over the roaring of the crowd.

I switch spell off as I move forward again, going for the grapple again. Urthan seems to guess my intentions, but his attack pattern doesn't change. All he does is charge recklessly forward and keep swinging, I guess confident that enough damage would eventually bring me down. It would, but he'd never be able to get that far. I manage to grab his arm again, but this time, instead of simply flipping him, I straighten his arm for him. That done, my other fist comes down on it, and the entire area goes silent as we all hear the snap of his bone breaking. Urthan roars in pain and starts beating on me even harder, aiming almost exclusively for the head. I refuse to let go however, and instead grab hold of his torso and flip him again, making sure to have him land on his broken arm.

Another roar of pain, but as Urthan tries to get back onto his feet, I ram my foot into his other arm, breaking that one as well. He flails about helplessly on the ground, but apparently that isn't considered to be unable to continue. The crowd around me seems to grow quiet at the spectacle, the end already clearly in sight for them. All that remains is the action.

I don't even bother increasing my thought speed for this. Well then voices, you seem a little fractured in your opinions. Shall I kill the man, or let him live?

>>301203
Don't deliberately kill him. If he won't stop after you continue to break things, though, you may have to. As long as he gives up at some point, though, he can probably be fixed. Probably not by us, unless we decide to put together a healing ring, which could be useful.

>>301203
Well, I wouldn't suggest killing heavily incapacitated man.
If you were to kill him, it should have been during heavy fight which would make the death look at dignified. As it stands, you might be killing a helpless puppy (not that I would be surprised if you have done things like that)

Anyway,
first ask him to yield.
If he refuses, wait till he attacks.
Then inflict more injuries or pin him down. If he keeps refusing to yield even when it is fairly obvious that you have won ... then maybe it would be justified killing him.

Let him live. Smash another limb or two, but he'll be valuable in dealing with the tribe for whatever you need.

Also, you can then get sticks to stop yelling at you by claiming that manipulating him like this was your plan all along and that the belt was just a bonus.

Seconding demanding he yeild. He is unlikely to claim it is just a flesh wound, with the flailing and all.

((Alright, there's some questions I need answers to, or at least opinion on, from anyone who would care to give them. Those are going to be in the discussion thread, and they are kinda important, so if you have the time it would be much appreciated if you'd give your thoughts on the matters. Thanks for your time!))

Alright. Leave him alive if possible, but kill him if it becomes necessary.

I stride over to Urthan, who is still flailing around on the ground, and crouch down in front of his face. "Well, Chieftain, it seems your not going anywhere any time soon. While personally, I see no point in letting you live, there's some people who've advised me to keep you around awhile. So, I'd like it if you'd yield for me, so that I don't have to cause further harm."

All I get for my troubles is some more roaring, but that's fine by me. I stand again and sigh, position myself next to one of his legs and stomp down hard on it, the satisfying snap of bone greeting me. The crowd let's out a collective gasp, but I ignore them, still focused on my task. "Urthan, my fellow warrior, we both know your not in any position to keep fighting, and it's going to take you long enough to heal from this. I don't really care, but I'm sure you'd rather be alive to help defend your tribe, right?" I get no response until I move to break his other leg, which prompts him to growl out a question.

"IF I yield, you promise to care for the tribe, as I would?"

I'm confused by that, why would I need to care for some tribe, but I hesitantly give my word.

"Fine then. I, Urthan Bearclaw, yield to this man."

For a moment the crowd is silent, everyone completely disbelieving what just happened. Then there's a whoop of joy, Tongues happily rushing forward to hug me, to which I immediately respond by shoving him off. I don't want any mortals touchy-feely nonsense, and just as a warning I smack the back of his head lightly. Tongues seem to get the picture, but the reprimand doesn't remove the smile from his face. Almost as if Tongues joy is a trigger, a massive cheer goes up all from the barbarian crowd, probably an ingrained response to the victors in this sort of thing. I notice the women of the tribe disappearing back towards the tents however, which seems odd considering the rest of the tribe is cheering like mad.

A number of shamans come and carefully drag Urthan away, and I notice that even injured as he is, he give me a smile that seems almost as if he's gloating. Now why would he be gloa-

I find myself suddenly pitching forward into the dirt, and find myself thinking just before I black out that dirt is surprisingly comfortable under the right conditions...

Suggestion 2011/05/03(Tue)13:48 No. 301235 ID: a6ba65 >>299793
>I would rather drill holes through my own eyes... thinking back, I've done that, very unpleasant, wouldn't suggest it.
So, was that a drunken bet, or what?

>>300513
>When ethereal ends, if anything is connected to me(like I'm going through a wall and I'm halfway through when it ends) I'll fuse with the wall. It's... not pleasant, and I'd rather not talk about why I know that... yeah.
You've lived an interesting life, Hated.

>Wait, you want me to make her fall in love with me? I'm I hearing that correctly?
I gather from previous comments that Hated could fuck her, but that he doesn't get anything out of it and mortals aren't interesting to him anyway. So why bother?

>>301015
> "Sticks? I thought it was obvious. I'm fighting the big man for his belt. Mostly because I want it."
Ah, Hated. Such a fine line between demonic monster and covetous magpie.

Still, being a badass demon means not having to restrain yourself if you see a thing you want.

>>301203
> Well then voices, you seem a little fractured in your opinions. Shall I kill the man, or let him live?
Start kicking him and wait for the ref to call it. He'll either become unable to continue, or we'll kill him eventually.

If this single challenge nonsense does give you control of the tribe, Urthan would be a pretty good underling and interim chief while you go do whatever the hell you feel like.

I guess you could go around physically beating down the chiefs of all the tribes in the area, mold them together into a single barbarian horde and then point it at the kingdom your enemy's descendants inhabit... you know, if you felt like it.

Or we could just go kill that powerful mage, now that we've got a ready supply of sparks. One mid-level mage donating sparks is equivalent to killing and eating around 7 powerful mages in 6 days. Frankly, it's a little ridiculous.

Donation > Killing, obviously.

>I find myself suddenly pitching forward into the dirt, and find myself thinking just before I black out that dirt is surprisingly comfortable under the right conditions...

Did they pile-dive you?
I think they did.

Don't freak out and kill everyone please.


Also, did we just become leader of the tribe?
Maaan, that is pretty sweet (depending on perspective)


That means we are leader of that group of 30 mages? Now it is time to set up the same deal like we did with Sticks, they must donate their sparks to us. And hey, even if they arent that strong, each of them should be able to give 10-20 sparks per transaction, so we would get 300-600 per donation. I don't see why you can't use them to fix up ex-chief.... so yeah, go and heal him up.

Also, put on that wicked belt.

Ah, right, get bearing of the tribe now.

How many people there are, how many warriors, etc

Is this a nomadic tribe or do they have permanent village/small town?

What is the main trade of the village? Do people sell/trade anything?

What are the major woes?

Plan of Action:
1) Figure out what's going on

2) Apoint deputies/delegate

3) Procure DOOMBELT!

4) Go to previous town, loot boss-mages sparks. Make new clan prosperous in order to lead war against enemies.

I will bet that the women of the tribe intend to help Hated 'celebrate' his victory. He may be in a strange situation when he awakens.

>>301239
If this is some kind of double-cross, on the other hand... screw it. Then we get to try the other kind of single combat; the kind where we murder them all by ourselves.

Go for the high score; warriors count for 1 point, shamen for 2, women and children for 1/2.

>>301262
Whoa, whoa

Dont give Hated bad ideas, you know how impressionate he is.


As for women .... eeeh, that's touchy subject. If Hated has no sexual drive and desire, I dont see why he should play along.

Oh I get it, he had to prove himself by fighting off the tribe, they won't accept you as a chief or shaman without a similar test against most of the tribe.
Disarm them and breathe a blast of fire in the air like you're a dragon. If that doesn't work set yourself in a globe of fire and cackle threateningly. We must be flashy.

>>301266
Come on
lets asses the situation first before doing anything rash

I awaken to find myself in what appears to be a rather large tent, laying on what appears to be a cot raised slightly off the ground. I stay where I am for a moment, trying to remember what had happened previously. I get up to the point where I black out, then nothing. I'm assuming I was dragged in here by somebody. I pull myself to a sitting position and a lance of pain goes shooting through my head. I faintly register that Sticks and Tongues are both suddenly next to me, asking me how I'm feeling. The sound does little to aid my headache, as such my answer is anything but joyful.

i"I feel like my head is being slowly ground into dust by a Malvorg! Now shut up and use those mind powers of yours to block the pain so I can actually do something!" There's a brief pause, then the pain simply disappears. I'll have to check myself over later, for now, I need to find out what's going on. "Much better. What happened?"

Tongues jumps in to answer that. "Um, let's see. You passed out after the fight, which the shamans figured out was caused by you getting your head pounded on by that Urthan guy. Oh, he's okay by the way, said it'll take him a week to get up to his full strength again, but other than that, perfectly fine. Uh, I'm not really sure how to explain the rest, Master. Anyway, what's a Malvorg?"

"Type of greater demon. Alright, Sticks, anything else to add?"

"Not really, other than... WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?! Seriously, you fucking bastard. All that over a belt? A heaven's damned belt? Come on, Vincent! It's not even that great of a belt! It's a fucking SKULL attached to a piece of leather! What the fuck kind of person goes and fights a barbarian for tha-"

I tune her out, figuring she'll be going for quite awhile. Instead I inspect my surrounding more thoroughly. For the most part, there's what you'd expect of a barbarian community. A table made of bone, some stools, a few trinkets and stolen loot piled in a corner. I take not that all of my clothes(except the pants I'm wearing) are folded neatly on the table, along with my hat and my new belt. Which I suddenly realize is much too large for the current size of my body. Perhaps I should have thought of that better. I'll have to see about shrinking it if I intend to wear it at all. Shouldn't be too difficult though. Might even have Tongues do it as part of his practice.

I stand slowly, my body obviously not liking that course of action. But I have things to do an people to see. I find, among the clothes on the table, a set of furs, much like the barbarians wear, although its been tailored down to fit my smaller frame. I decide to go with that for now, as its probably the most intimidating set of clothing I have on me at the moment. As I pull said furs on, Sticks winds down on her monologue(I really should try one sometime, it looks very therapeutic).

"-s. And one more thing! You humans do have concubines! All the time! I talked to the women during your little slugfest and have been told that it's not uncommon for a man to have four to five different lovers! So fuck you, and fuck your arguments to! I win!" I must admit, Sticks looks very pleased with herself. I, on the other hand, find myself wishing that whoever told her that would be found and burned at the stake. To think, all that effort into convincing her not to call herself my concubine, destroyed by some barbarian woman out here in the middle of the Endless Plains. That's just great.

Well, is there anything else I need to talk to Tongues or Sticks about, or shall I head outside and see what's going on?

Use some spark to heal yourself to pristine form.

Damn Sticks, what's with her and her obsession with taking such submissive role? And could go and write a paragraph to prove her wrong again but I wont, besides, it might give Hated headache again.

Like it was said in a previous post, go around and familirize yourself with the place.
Then, later call the shamen and set up the spark donation routine, we could give the same cover story as we did to Sticks.


Have someone in the tribe fix that belt to suit ASAP. Also, muse over possible enchantments we can lay on that belt

>>301275
"... I like skulls."

I recommend imbuing the skull with the ability to shoot fire. Because there is nothing that is not cool about shooting a fireball from your hips.

I think Sticks just wants to win the argument. "Whatever, fine. Be my concubine, I don't care. Just stop talking about it!"

And yes, that guess that Hated just acquired a six-pack of wives is sounding more likely, if the barbarians do the concubine thing.

>>301281

Ha, yes
let her win the argument but in such a way that she wishes she didn't.
We should say that now that we agree about her role, she should do her concuibine duties to keep us the ruse. Meaning that she will have to do what we tell her to do and might need to "satisfy" us in special areas, if she knows what we mean.

Of course we just say that to make her feel misearble. Not that I expect her to go along or that Hated actually does what was suggested

Please do not ever engage in sexual activity with Sticks. That is all. Oh, and try to heal your head. You probably got hit in the back of the head right before you passed out. Ask one of your followers to look at it closer.

"...I like skulls..." I intentionally say this as if I was Tongues after he's just gotten chewed out by me or Sticks, mostly because it seems hilarious to see her reaction to a me that doesn't act like the confident, homicidal, kill everything me. Not that she knows about the homicidal, kill everything side of me, but she does know the confident side, so it should be interesting. I'm rewarded with a look of complete and utter disbelief, with just a hint of controlled sarcasm that seems to tell me that she know I'm up to something. Well, I have to give that to her as well, she learns fast. Now, to the concubine thing..."Fine. Whatever. Be my concubine. I don't care. Just be aware that we might have to prove the act in front of others, keep up the ruse, so to speak. I hope your prepared."

I wink playfully at Sticks as I leave, her face white as a sheet as she realizes what she's gotten herself in to. I begin laughing hysterically as just as the tent flap closes, I hear Tongues ask Sticks what a concubine is. My mirth grows cold, however, as something one of you voices said finally registers in my mind.

>And yes, that guess that Hated just acquired a six-pack of wives is sounding more likely, if the barbarians do the concubine thing.

Wait, what?

Suddenly, a stampede of shamans charges me out of nowhere, grab hold of me and drags me along, heading for gods know where. I hear the calls of various warriors, praising me for my fighting ability and wishing me well as the new chieftain. Most of them seem to be holding back laughter, and all of them have noticeably mischievous looks about them. "YOU BETTER CHOOSE ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS, CHIEFTAIN, OR I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!" This is followed by booming laughter that echoes across the camp, and I manage to turn my head just in time to catch a glimpse of Urthan, being tended to by the shamans.

Wait, what?

The stampede continues along, crowds of people parting to let us pass. Before long I see a pile of bear pelts stacked one atop the other, and on top of that a throne literally carved from the skeletons of the mammals that lend their name to this tribe. It's in this chair I'm finally deposited, and almost before I'm on my seat a bear-pelt cloak is thrown over my shoulder. One of the shamans, wearing a big fancy headdress, steps forward, addressing the crowd of people that have gathered in front of me, numbering more than I can count.

"HEAR US NOW, PEOPLE OF THE BEARCLAW TRIBE! OUR CHIEFTAIN WAS DEFEATED, AND BY THE OLD LAWS OF THE PLAINS, WE TAKE THE VICTOR AS OUR NEW LEADER!" A cheer explodes from the crowd, filling the night air. To my right and left, two drummers begin beating out a slow rhythm, to which the shamans surrounding me begin a low chant. "YET THE VICTOR WAS NOT ONE OF OUR TRIBE! SO WE MUST MAKE HIM THUS! BY THE OLD LAWS, AN OUTSIDER BECOMES ONE OF THE TRIBE IN ONLY ONE WAY! OUR NEW CHIEFTAIN MUST MARRY ONE OF THE MAIDENS OF THE TRIBE! YET ONLY THE GREATEST OF OUR WOMEN MAY LAY WITH OUR CHIEFTAIN! TODAY, WE HAVE FOUND THREE THAT ARE DEEMED WORTHY BY OUR BLESSED GOD, TIRFULDIN! MAIDENS OF CLAN BEARCLAW, COME FORTH AND PRESENT YOURSELVES TO OUR CHIEFTAIN!"

A roar of noise breaks out from the crowd, so loud that I'm deafened before the cacophony. The rhythm of the drums increases in speed, and the chanting of the shamans pick up as well. I close my eyes and start massaging my head, already feeling my headache returning.

You know, I hate you voices sometimes. This is all your fault. "Fight him for it" you said. "If you want it, get it" you said. I bet you knew this was going to happen. I bet you knew.

>>301291
>I bet you knew this was going to happen. I bet you knew.
You know what you're getting here, pal? An entire barbarian tribe willing to do your bidding. Including a large pile of mages who will be able and probably willing to give you sparks all the time, giving you that much more power to accomplish your ultimate goal. Hell, if you swing this right you might be able to get a huge barbarian horde willing to go to war with whomever you want at your command- how's THAT for an effective way of exterminating a few 4000-year-old bloodlines?

So yes, I had a bit of a suspicion that ritual combat with the chief might lead to more than your getting a belt. And I am quite pleased with this result. You should be, too.

>I close my eyes and start massaging my head, already feeling my headache returning.
You should have more than enough sparks to heal yourself relentlessly of whatever injury is causing you pain, assuming that it's not sheer annoyance of some kind. Why not do that?

Anyway. Go along with this, become a barbarian chief. If you've got to marry some woman over it, so what? It's not like their marriage laws are somehow binding upon you if you decide they don't have to be.

It is pretty traditional, but if you get enough horses and compound short-bows together you could turn this into a raider tribe and then the wives would ride into battle with the husbands, if you were capable of fertility over time this would be a good thing since that would be more soldiers as well.
Perhaps we should explain to Sticks that concubines are kept trapped in a special section of a palace where their master and owner is the only man allowed in and the concubines are not allowed out. Perhaps once she understands this she might be more willing to take the role of wife, or even better as personal seer or mercenary.

> This is all your fault. "Fight him for it" you said. "If you want it, get it" you said. I bet you knew this was going to happen. I bet you knew.
That's not the way I choose to remember it.

Well, I guess you could try and claim the position is already filled (heh) by Sticks, but you know they're okay with a guy having 4-5 wives. Well, if you want to rule the tribe so you can throw them against that one kingdom, I guess you'll have to put up with a few indignities. And then they'll probably want you to have sex with them! Mortal sex is mildly ridiculous at the best of times.

Or you could kill them all, I guess, but talk about a waste of resources.

>>301291
I didn't know. But hey, you just got a bunch of shamans who can give you sparks! Put up with whatever nonsense they require, because you are going to have a lot more power to draw on soon.

I open my eyes again, resigned to the fact that you all aren't going to help me get out of this. Just so you know, if you had physical bodies, I'd be ripping out you spines and beating you to death with them. Just thought I'd get that out there.

For now, I focus on the 5 women paraded in front of me. They all are rather young, the oldest couldn't be more than twenty-one or twenty-two. As they arrive, I notice that three of them are staying together, while the other two are separate from both each other and the group of three. All the females would, by mortal standards, be considered quite beautiful, one even managing to look slightly more beautiful than the others. A mixed blood perhaps? I continue watching, and some of the warriors drag various piles of things into the area directly in front of me. I stay silent, eying each one and trying not to let my displeasure show too openly. That would go against the whole diplomacy bit you people keep trying to shove me into.

"MAIDENS OF THE BEARCLAW! YOU OFFER THIS DAY YOURSELVES AS BRIDES, BUT NO BRIDE CAN BE A BRIDE BY MERE VIRTUE OF YOUR APPEARANCE! STATE THE GIFTS YOU OFFER THE THE CHIEFTAIN!"

For a moment nothing happens, then one of the girls from the group of three steps forward. She has raven black hair, and stands a little taller than me. She seems the oldest of the group, and I don't think she actually seems as interested in being here as the others.

"I am called Amalda, first daughter of Urthan. I bring an offering of my father's five finest horses, to be yours if you should select me."

Amalda steps back, and another from her group steps forward. This one looks very similar to the first, except she has sandy-blond hair, like her heads been dusted with fine grains of the stuff. Her smile seems to ooze confidence, and she speaks with an almost arrogant tone.

"I am Valerie, second daughter of Urthan. I bring an offering of my father's great treasures, a suit of armor that even my father can not break."

Valerie steps back, but instead of the last of Urthan's daughter(or so I assume her to be) stepping forward, another of the woman comes forth. This one has brown hair, and seems just as confident as the last, if not more so.

"I am Kailia, daughter of the Head Shaman, I bring an offering of magical knowledge, of our traditions and of the ancients."

Kailia returns to her position, and the next steps forward, clearly not liking the position she is in. She has brown hair as the one before, but I notice that at her belt she wears an axe openly, something I've noticed few females do within the camp.

"I'm Enras, daughter of Kigstad. I bring an offer a weapon, taken from the chief of another tribe during war."

Enras returns as well, and the last steps hesitantly forward. She wrings her hands together, and seems very uncertain of herself. She follows the appearance of her eldest sister, with raven black hair, but unlike either of the two, doesn't seem as confident.

"I...I am Nina, third daughter of Urthan... I offer this... a book with strange runes in it..."

She steps back quickly, and all eyes turn to me. So far all but the first offering have magic within them. For a moment I don't understand why they're all staring at me, then one of the shamans whispers in my ear.

"Pick one, Chieftain. Whichever you select will be your bride. But only one, as the others must be used by their families to forge bonds with others. Be wary, your decision will affect how you are viewed by the many circles within the tribe. If you would like, you may ask questions of the maidens."

>>301307
Shit, is that a book? Are they allowed to do that? That doesn't seem fair, offering a book. Do they know how much I love books?

Stall. Ask Kailia about the magical practices of the tribe, and what their expertise is. Ask Enras why she wears a weapon. Ask Nina if you can see a page of that book, you might be able to recognize what it is. Ask Amalda why you would want a horse. Ask Valerie how strong her father was compared to the other warriors of the tribe.

>>301310
Oh, and ask them all if any of them have magical ability. If they do, tell them to demonstrate.

>>301307
I say take a look at the runed book, if you can.

Books! I love books! This is practically cheating. We don't bother with horses, we know enough about magic and we don't need a weapon, but books? Books can have anything! Ask questions about each gift though. Specifics on the knowledge, breeds of the horses, type of weapon, contents of the book. See if you can ask sticks if she can read what's in the book.

>>301307
>Just so you know, if you had physical bodies, I'd be ripping out you spines and beating you to death with them. Just thought I'd get that out there.
I count myself fortunate to be spineless.

(I also count myself fortunate to think puns are hilarious.)


Anyway. I am going to do something horribly tedious here and recommend that you take some time to fully examine the situation and each of the girls instead of making a snap decision. Not only will your decision likely influence the tribe as the shaman says, it will also get you a woman who is bound to you in her own eyes and those of her people- which means that she's basically your extremely loyal minion forever if you handle her right. Being married isn't all about sex, however many mortals seem to think that; you need to choose whichever one has a personality that will create the most useful servant in the medium to long term.

In fact, if you can imitate Sticks' truth-detection spell, I'm going to say that it would be worth using during the questioning. There's always something to be gained from being able to ask pointed questions and get meaningful answers. I'd be tempted to call Sticks here and have her truthsense for you, but that would probably weaken your standing in the tribe's eyes. Anyway, if at any point any of them lie to you tell them to answer again more truthfully. It'll take a bunch of sparks to manage this but at this point you'll be able to get more easily, so no matter.

As you question the girls, use moments of sped up thought to assess the reactions of both each of them and the various tribespeople gathered about to each of your queries. Try to pick up on their thoughts and feelings. I assume that none of them have magic or you'd have sensed and mentioned it; a pity.

So, questions. Bear in mind that the point of all questions is to watch reactions and learn about the girls and the tribe, so if some of them seem odd, it's not a big deal. Some of them won't work if they can lie, and some of them are downright dickish... but I'm interested in the answers. You might even find some discomfort amusing.

>Amalda
"I can run fast as a diving hawk from dusk until dawn and step from shadow to shadow in the blink of an eye. What need have I of horses?"
"You don't look as eager to be here as the others. Why not?"

>Valerie
"Tell me, if your father had been wearing that armor in our fight, would he have won?"
"You seem so certain of yourself. Your gift aside, why are you a better choice than your sisters?"

>Kailia
"Knowledge is a precious thing, but not often kept alone. Who else already possesses your gift to me?"
"A head shaman must be a wise man, who doubtless gives sage and unbiased advice. Does his daughter? Who amongst you five would be the most beneficial marriage for me and why?"

>Enras
"A weapon is a fine gift, but you offer yourself as well. What quality do you have that none of these other brides can claim?"
"Do you not wish to be here? What would you rather be doing?"

>Nina
"Strange runes? Do you offer me nothing more than a mystery?"
"You stand no farther from me than any of the others here. Why do you hesitate?"

What do you think the possibility of you killing everyone in the village without dying is? If say, you had a large blade..

>>301332
Something close to certain, but we're not going to do that. We already tried the total berserker thing four thousand years ago, and it ended quite poorly, recall?

>Amalda ((Fairly Good reaction from All))
>"I can run fast as a diving hawk from dusk until dawn and step from shadow to shadow in the blink of an eye. What need have I of horses?"
>"You don't look as eager to be here as the others. Why not?"

“You were truthfully uninteresting. While besting father is no small feat, I have heard there are others that could easily do the same. You say, however, that you have no need for horses. Perhaps not, but wouldn’t your companions require them to keep up? And keep up they would, Chieftain, we stole them from the Horsehoof tribe only months ago. You answer might make you... interesting." The woman already appears to be focusing more of her attention on me, eyes narrowing slightly as she considers me, although what she's searching for, I can't say.

>Valerie ((Woman seem spiteful))
>"Tell me, if your father had been wearing that armor in our fight, would he have won?"
>"You seem so certain of yourself. Your gift aside, why are you a better choice than your sisters?"
>“How strong is your father, compared to the rest of the warriors here?”

“I do not know, Chieftain. While my father is the strongest among us, I have doubts as to whether he could truly defeat one as strong as you. Perhaps I shall get to test your strength for myself, somewhere more... private. As you will test me, I’m certain, and find me more than adequate for yourself, unlike my sisters.” This one seems almost intent on the thought of using whatever sex appeal she has to her advantage. I ignore her for the most part, although she doesn't seem to notice.

>Kailia ((Good Reaction from All))
>"Knowledge is a precious thing, but not often kept alone. Who else already possesses your gift to me?"
>"A head shaman must be a wise man, who doubtless gives sage and unbiased advice. Does his daughter? Who amongst you five would be the most beneficial marriage for me and why?"
>"What is the knowledge you possess?"
“Many of our shamans posses my gift to you, but to learn requires the aid of someone who can teach. Only my father can teach within the tribe. Our magic is of... something else. You city-dwellers practice magic of the Soul? Then let us say we practice magic of the Tribe, or the whole. As to the marriage... I am tempted to say myself, but... I do not know. It would depend on your goals and the direction you desire to lead the tribe in. Towards war, or so I’ve heard, but how will you fight your war? That is the question.” Kailia seems to be judging me just as much as I'm judging her. I think it might be more to judge my worth as a leader than a husband though.

>Enras ((Males seem angry or distrustful))
>"A weapon is a fine gift, but you offer yourself as well. What quality do you have that none of these other brides can claim?"
>"Do you not wish to be here? What would you rather be doing?"

“It’s true I offer myself, but even I am little more than a weapon. Unlike these other girls, I have learned to fight instead of cook, kill instead of raise, and I intend to fight in this coming war of yours. And no, I do not wish to be here. Marrying you will mean it is expected that I lay my axe to the side and give you children, a thought I despise.” This one remains the same as she was before, spiteful and distrustful. I don't know how I'm supposed to react to that without having her blood on spilled on the floor.

>Nina ((No Major Reaction))
>"Strange runes? Do you offer me nothing more than a mystery?"
>"You stand no farther from me than any of the others here. Why do you hesitate?"

“I...I do not know, Ch-Chieftain. I’m not... strong... like the other women, not able to offer as much. I-I can cook, and clean, and weave, a-a-and g-g-give you ch-ch-children. B-but I have little e-else to offer you. F-forgive me, Chieftain. I-I just don’t f-feel as c-confident as everyone else. Th-the shamans say the b-book is filled with r-rituals of some kind, b-but no one has been able to read it. The sh-shamans won’t say w-why.” She remains hesitant and without confidence. She still seems very uncertain of herself, and seems especially uncertain when her sisters are speaking.

Most of the crowd simply watches, although I can see many of them whispering and holding conversation amongst themselves. I can't catch any of it though, so I can only tell the rough reaction to each. ((Said crowd reactions are placed next the name of each candidate))

>>301332
I could likely slaughter the entire tribe. I wouldn't want to though, already prepared to take one of these five as my wife(however unwilling) and already convinced that I should use them for attacking Everfrost, as I am.

Everfrost?
Why are we attacking it?
Werent we just planning to kill the powerful mage?

Anyway as for wives
I say the shaman daughter because of the magic or the shy girl because MYSTERY!

>>301343

Pretty much this. Coin flip says shy girl.

>>301337
It seems like the only real choice here is between Kailia and Nina. Amalda has a good reaction from the tribe, but she also seems like she would get annoying pretty quickly, and her gift is stupid. If you need horses you can just find some average horses and magic them up, since pretty soon you will have plenty of sparks to spare. Or steal some good horses from someone with good horses, that works too. Valerie thinks she can manipulate you with sex appeal, and the women don't like her. No need to alienate the tribe for a set of armor. Enras outright said she doesn't want to marry you, she wants to fight. And if she wants to fight, who are these assholes to tell her she can't? So really it just comes down to the other two. Kailia has a good reaction from the tribe, and seems like she could become a useful source of advice on how to maneuver in this culture. But on the other hand, she also seems fairly self-confident, which might make her a lot harder to manipulate if we intend to do things that aren't quite the best for the tribe for our own benefit. You could probably learn something about magic from her gift, but 'magic of the Tribe' sounds sort of useless. You are more of a solo caster.

Then there is Nina. Nina is offering a book full of rituals. Nina appears to be severely lacking in self-confidence. To me that says easily manipulated. She is offering us a book. It also says that she is likely to be underestimated by both the people of the tribe and by others, if we put some effort into building her into something useful. Unlike Kailia, she isn't likely to pull any of Tongues' devotion away from us. She is offering a book full of magic rituals. Choosing Kailia would likely imply that we are taking a certain direction in the way we handle the tribe, possibly a certain traditional one given her offer, but the lack of reaction to Nina suggests that we are taking our own direction.

GET THE BOOK.

Can't we get both Kailia and Nina. I mean this is a barbarian tribe. Polygamy is A-OK.

>>301337
Hmm.

Amalda has a shitty gift, but seems confident and intelligent, plus was the former chieftain's daughter so political bonus there. I think she would make an excellent servant without a great deal of work on our part. Not great, but maybe.

Valerie is arrogant enough to be a terrible servant and seems generally useless. No.

Kailia offers the tribe's magic, which could be potentially quite useful; it sounds interesting and seeing as we're looking at drawing massive amounts of magic from other people habitually, any kind of mass-based magic would probably have useful applications. Also, she seems personally rather savvy, though her answer was uselessly evasive. She would probably be a useful servant, but... hrm. I don't think I like her as a choice.

Enras I find interesting- because as we are infertile, we could just leave her to fighting all the time just like she wants. She'd never get pregnant or have to raise children, so she'd almost certainly become exceptionally loyal because we'd be effectively protecting her from ever having to give up the warrior's life. And none of the others can fight; they'd be useful politically only... though honestly, if the men of the tribe don't like her she might be a political liability. We could probably get her as our servant just as easily by throwing a couple battle enchantments on her in exchange for her loyalty.

Nina... argh. Her book could be useful, but molding her into a useful minion will take a LOT of work. She'll be obedient, but our minions need to be able to go out and destroy others according to our will, not just cower at home! Still, she's the old chieftain's daughter. I'll call her a maybe, but honestly, I'd go for Amalda over her. We don't need weak-willed servants that badly and odds are we'll be able to get the book one way or another anyway once we're in charge.

>>301349
I suppose the custom is to have one official wife and bunch of concubines if you

>>301349
They did explicitly say:
>But only one, as the others must be used by their families to forge bonds with others.

"alright, show me the book first"
we are confident, strong, bold
we should be able to pull this off.
She said that no one knows what it is and cannot read it, would be better to see if we can see fo our self what it is. With our origin and age it is possible that we can read it and it might contain amazing secrets.... or it is a piece of junk.

Suggestion 2011/05/04(Wed)01:59 No. 301384 ID: 8b0de1
File 130449958188.jpg - (23.45KB , 386x279 , 1172216410710.jpg )

>You know, I hate you voices sometimes. This is all your fault. "Fight him for it" you said. "If you want it, get it" you said. I bet you knew this was going to happen. I bet you knew.

Can't say that I am entirely surprised with this turn of events... he-heh-hehe, hehehe, hhehehaha-HAHAHA MWAHAHA-
*Harumph*


Anyway...


Since OP hinted that we are going to have another time-skip:
>And since your almost to another quest checkpoint anyway(joy fun for everyone)
Who knows how long? Week? Several weeks? Months?

I thought to post some pointers which we should do during that time (if the next post is not the skip, then use this when you are eventually going to do it):

-Instead of marching to Everfrost, I have much better idea how to occupy us. We should start integrating other tribes and grow bigger and bigger. I suppose this can be done different ways: you could go and fight their chiefs like you did here, you could try to settle peacefully and diplomatically (leave this job for your shamen) or maybe some traditional war of conquest (though I am leaning towards former two, always go for the path of least bloodshed)

-I did not really get if this is a permanent settlement or nomadic one, either way, we must start searching for a place for a good permanent settlement which can grow into a bustling city in future.
Use you sparks to search for significant mineral deposits such as gold, silver or high quality iron. Or valuable gems. When you find good locations, make relocate your settlement where the deposit is, or if you find several good spots set it somewhere in between. A good source of stone would be also good. (do all of this with the help of other people as, frankly, settlement and prospecting is not your strongest forte)

-If the previous point works, we are going to have a supply of metal and/or gems. Have our artisans work on making rings, amulets, bracelets, etc so that we can enchantment them as needed.
And work on that bitching belt of yours, we need it custom fit. Pimped if you will. Some awesome silver/gold work on it, put red rubies in its eye-holes, etc. We might enchant it somehow too.

-As we are going to get a lot of sparks from all of the magical inclined people from the tribe (plus Sticks) I suggest to invest them into these people.
Put permanent enchantments on your warriors to make them much stronger than they otherwise would be. Of course don't make them as strong as you are or someone might get uppity or something. I suggest doing general Durability, Speed and Strength enchantments, each worth 70 sparks and mind enchantment 30-40 sparks worth.
Enchanting equipment might not be that bad of idea either.
Heck, put speed enchantments on the horses so that they can run as fast as thunder.
We are going to have some pretty fucking powerful army, even if it will be a little small.

-We are going to start the slow process of uniting all of the tribes into one powerful nation and make all of this barbaric territory into it.

-Keep tutoring Tongues but also have your Shamen teach him too.

-Try to experiment with something. Maybe you can apply permanent spells on your Shamen so that they can generate more Sparks, or regenerate them faster. Or put intelligence enchantments for them too, so that they can learn faster and progress faster so that you can have more sparks out of them.
Actually, do the mind enchantment on Tongues so that he can learn faster

-Use you spark sniffing ability to determine if there are more magical capable people in the tribe who aren't with shamen or are too young to know it.

Also, can you use a special "fertility" spell on women so that their children have higher chance of being magic users?


>Powerful person
>Starts to lead barbaric people to unite them
>makes them prosper and powerful
>in exchange gets a steady stream of willing mages who give him Sparks to feed his endless hunger
>Implying Hated is not pic related

If we are going to have another time skip, Hated better practice his magic.

((Alright, I'm fairly certain all this discussion is supposed to go in the *shock* discussion thread! Who'da thunk it. But truthfully I don't care enough for it to matter too much. Just try to keep it over in the other thread. Said other thread is lonely.))

>>301349
No. Just no. I'm not living with more than one of these mortals, I don't care what you say. Just... just no.

>>301343
You voices seem very forgetful. Rivercross is part of the Everfrost kingdom, and more importantly to me, the Everfrost royal family has a direct bloodline to the first of the five heroes. I'm going to be killing them all. Easy to connect the dots. We'll eat the mage on our way through though.

>>301363
I try getting a look at the book, but I'm quickly stopped, mostly because it seems I'm not supposed to look at it without first taking the woman carrying it as my wife. Shit. Well, that screws over that plan. Was kinda hoping they wouldn't be so difficult about this.

Votes so far:
2 for Nina

That mystery book is too much for me!

I still hold my vote for Nina or shaman daughter, mildly leaning towards Nina.

Eh, and as added bonus she will be easy to deal with.
Probably wouldn't mind if we don't bed her .... though the tribe will get a hold of that and might start asking questions.
Hmm... can you use so sparks on yourself to start your sexual drive just for the occasion? .... Actually, I don't know if it is a good idea to do that among people even if you could, if you don't be careful the sudden influx of before unknown emotions and desires mind cloud your mind and make you act against your better judgment. To experiment this, I suggest going away into woods and using a very small amount of sparks to see if it works (hopefully, you wont start humping random animals)

Also, another reason where bedding someone might not be a great idea is "what if they actually do become pregnant?". Do we really want to find out what will come out?
If it looks like a human, then great! But what if it resembles Hateds original demonic form? ... That would be awkward.

Have to vote for Kalia. Her knowledge of magic seems kinda useless but her political knowledge more than makes up for it. Furthermore knowledge of magic implies ability to use magic. I suppose you could ask if any of them could use magic but it seems Kalia would be the only one if any.

Ultimately what hated needs more than is a political advisor. I just happen to think he needs it more than some mystery book.

>>301434
>Ultimately what hated needs more than is a political advisor.
I agree. That means either Amalda or Kailia, in my opinion, and I think Kailia was annoyingly evasive with her answer and will spend way too much time looking after the tribe's interest rather than Hated's. I don't want someone inclined to prevaricate rather than give answers.

Voting for Amalda at this point. She seems both well liked and intelligent enough to give us advice on what the tribe is about, and not overly difficult to mold into what we want instead of what she expects to be. Heck, she'd probably consider that 'interesting'. And as the daughter of the former chief she comes with inbuilt political connections to most of the tribe, that the head shaman's daughter won't match- her effective pull is more specialized amongst the magic-users.

>I suppose you could ask if any of them could use magic but it seems Kalia would be the only one if any.
None of them have magic. He would have been able to sense the sparks immediately and mentioned it already.

>>301407
>sexual drive
Hated made it clear that he has in the past tested this extensively enough to determine to his own satisfaction that he is infertile; he obviously won't have problems.

We are forgetting something. Hated is not just a warrior. Hated is not just a leader. Hated's most threatening enemies are not mere mortals, they are wizards, spirits, heroes and deities. Mundane support is useful against mundane opponents but no mundane opponent can stand against us and a mundane army is mostly for a distraction anyway. We need magic, and we need to be seen to promote magic.
Because of this the shaman's daughter must be chosen even if she may be an evasive bitch that tries to manipulate us. With Sticks' help, if not all by ourself, we should be able to reforge her will to follow our own once we're satisfied she has nothing left to give as a self-willed being.

@ cf65c1
Isn't the book of mysterious rituals also useful for potential advancement of our magic?

>>301473
Have you forgotten we can shadowstep, and do not sleep? It is a thing, things are easily obtained from weak and blind mortals--as all are when asleep.

Waaaaaait... we need to research. Can this be put off a day? We need to find out if the st-st-stut-tut-tutterer is some unusual kind of magic user or otherwise is connected to one besides being the chief's daughter. If she is that may be the path to a type of magic more interesting than tribe magic.

It seemed that the reaction to Kalia was more favorable than the reaction to Amalda, but really the political repercussions are a matter of speculation on our part. An outside source may be helpful but we don't know any so. At any rate those two seem like the best possible choices.

As to drawbacks of each I fear Amalda may be predisposed against us. Wrecking her father and picking her despite her apparent disinterest, would seemingly do that. Additionally its hard to say how Urthan will react to are choice and how much of a threat or help he could be. Would he see it as an offense to steal one of his daughters or to not pick them.

As for Kalia its seems she would most likely be more interested in the village's interest over ours. Which really makes it a question of whether our interest follows the interest of the village or not. If it doesn't then she's obviously the least helpful, but if it does she would potentially be more willing to help than the others.As they would be more self interested. As for being evasive, she answered the questions vaguely, only someone blunt or arrogant would've done otherwise. Still savy and most likely harder to manipulate but its hard to tell to what degree.

It seems to be a tough decision indeed also I can't help but feel I'm forgetting something.

>>301474
((Hated does sleep. You wouldn't have found out about his flickering without him going to sleep. Besides, I wouldn't suggest going into Urthan's tent to go hunting for a book, especially if you reject the daughter of his who offered it to you. ))

Vote Tally:
2.5 for Nina
2.5 for Kailia
1 for Amalda


((Alright, since we can't have this going on forever, make your choices soon. The next update is the deadline, and I just want to mention that you can use questions to find out about things. Gift like things, I might add.))

Nina. Dat spellbook.

I dont see why everyone is so concerned about social and political ramifications.

We do what we want and we dont care what others think about us. Choosing a wife solely because she can help you socially is stupid. Besides, it is not like we are getting claim of giant nation with millenia of history, this is just a small tribe out in barbaric lands

>>301491
If we dony have consensus by then just flip a coin

Wait if we can read the book wouldn't being able to read it be amazingly suspicious?

Nina is useless we should be getting a half decent minion out of this. She just seems annoying to deal with.