>>40131279
You push through the crowd of people heading toward their homes; you have to shove through the current of bodies like a fish swimming upstream. You kinda wish you had brought Bettis with you, but know it’s more useful that he’s at home, trying to fortify the house and saving it from tresspassers.
It takes a good twenty minutes to get to the market proper; there are usually small carts and spread blankets full of assorted trash lining the roads to the bazaar, but there’s just a gradually thinning crowd today.

Huh, figures.
You don’t even know why you’re out here, it’d be much safer being with Bett, boarding up the windows with god knows what.

Just breathe, Marcus, get what you need and get out.

As you enter the town square you notice, completely unsurprisingly, that there are not nearly as many stalls as there usually is, and that the crowd is the thinnest you’ve seen today.

You check your watch.
>Time: 15:06

Action?
>Go to the two food stalls you see next to each other. Check out the food.
>You think you see an animal trader to your left. Head over see what’s for sale.
>You know what, it’s actually pretty late; you should get back to your house. Don’t want to be out when the Storm hits.
>Other (Write in)

>>40131292
Sorry I didn't continue the first thread, my friend was over longer than I expected.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_Lattis

>>40131292
>Food stalls
And make it fast, gotta get home.

>>40131292
>>Go to the two food stalls you see next to each other. Check out the food.

Get some quick food, and return back.

You hesitate only an instant before making a bee-line toward the food stalls at the back of the town square. It's not really a choice, is it? Animal traders? They usually have all manner of not-so-legal beasts, not to mention the unsavory ones...

Shaking your head to clear it of those thoughts, you notice that the two owners of the stalls, a balding man with a paunch and a middle aged woman with absolutely no appreciate for hygiene are arguing over something, gesturing with their hands and raising their voices.

"You really think 'e's gonna go fer a soft cock like you, Hammond?" The woman scoffs at the occupant of the next stall.

"Oh aye, Linsa, I think 'e'd rather go for a soft cock than a no cock!" He rebuffs with confidence before turning to face you. He smiles.

Taken aback, you look at everything that isn't either of them. You notice that there's not much stuff laid out in their stalls, it's rather threadbare. Just a random assortment of foodstuffs.

>Look, I just want some fucking food, mate.
>Ye-ah, let's just get some produce and skedaddle.
>I'd really rather just get some food.
>Let's not get involved with whatever this is. Go home.
>Other (Write in)

What's the population of Seques?

>>40131596
Seques is a relatively large fishing/trading city. Home to roughly 50 000 people, it is the 6th largest city in Helione.

>>40131588
>I'd really rather just get some food.

>>40131588
>>I'd really rather just get some food.

"Is this all you have, ma'am?" You ask the fishmonger respectfully, ignoring the balding man.

Spread across her stall is a haunch of ham, a ball of cabbage (a ball?), a bag of carrots and a fucking onion. Just one.
What a marvelous selection.
"Well laddie," she says after an amused snort. "Everyone with 'alf a brain's already come by now, so what ye see is what ye get," she chuckles.
>Buy everything
>Buy [select]

>>40131855
>>Buy everything

And get going to return.

>>40131855
>Buy everything
If worst comes to worst, we can always eat Bett.

.....
You guess this is your fault for not coming sooner, but really, but who the hell doesn't put something aside for later?!

"I'll take it all," you sigh, bringing a $20 and handing it over.

She takes it and gives you your change and a straw woven basket. "Safe trip, darlin'" the man across from her says flirtatiously, raising an eyebrow at you.

O-kay.

You check your watch as your pick up the basket, your ham and cabbage knocking together as you move your arm.

>Time: 15:23

You've got enough time not to have to sprint to get home. Thank God.

You rush home, carrying the woven basket with an arm over the top so nothing falls out. It's almost completely deserted now, there's barely any people left on the streets. You could be fooled into thinking this was a ghost town. A city of dead.

And if you're wrong about that now, you're not going to be later, you feel.

You turn a left and walk into your street, slightly out of breath and feeling like you're about to jump out of your skin. You can hear some knocking going on in Bett's house; you try the door but it's locked.

>Knock
>Yell
>Ring doorbell

>>40132271
>Time: 15:38

>>40132271
>Knock hard and yell.

>>40132271
>>Knock hard and yell.

You knock.
and wait.
You knock again.
and wait again...
You knock a third time...
There's no answer.

You slam on the door and yell at Bett to 'hurry up and unlock the fucking door!

As a slightly amused, slightly embarrassed Bettis opens the door, you see nails between his lips and a hammer in his right hand. "You're back," he smiles, sidestepping to allow you access.

"This is ridiculous, Bett." You begin, "Small vegetables are not sold in singles," you continue, pulling the onion out of your basket and walking to the kitchen.
Seriously, who the fuck sells ONE onion?

"Oh..." he answers, looking a bit put out.

After a few moments of silence, you notice the T.V's on; after asking Bett what he was doing, you make your way over to look at it, hoping and dreading what you might hear.

"I've just been tearing up old furniture from the basement," Bett replies, walking over to join you.

"With an estimated 7 minutes to go until the Solar Storm, we are again urging you all to stay indoors and away from direct sunlight; though we do not know whether this will help you, it is strongly believed that it will be of some benefit to you all." The news anchor says in a deep tone. "The authorities are prepared for this day, so do not fear calling them if a loved one is showing signs of the transformation."

>Time: 15:54

>Action?

>>40132920
>Get in a separate room from Bett, so if one of us turns into a maneating monster, the other has time to run.

>>40132920

Load the shit in the fridge and anything else, watch TV, wait for it to happen.

>>40132920
Oh, and keep a phone to hand. Maybe we or Bett can hide in the basement, but definitely get out of the sunlight.

You feel your intestines clench, your stomach churn and your heart-rate accelerate all in the span of a second.

>Oh god, this is really happening.
>We're going to be fine. We'll wait it out and be sweet.
>This better fuckin' happen to me!

"Bett," you say urgently, "We should be in different rooms."

Bett simply nods, looking determined.

Bett takes his room, you take the basement. That way, hopefully one of the two of you could get the fuck out if something bad happens, right?

Well now you're sitting in the basement, watching the minutes drag by on your watch.

At 3 minutes you start shaking.

At 2 you barely suppress panic.

At 1 you're cradling your head in your hands, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

At 0?
The world explodes.
You feel your entire body. It feels as if each part of you is being burn down and made anew.
You can't stop yourself from screaming out in pain, all your attention is focused on the pain you're going through. Your arms are clawing at the ground, clawing at the walls, at your body.

From the stairs, you can hear Bett going through something similar.

CHOOSE ONE:
>Primordial
>Mage
>Ascendant

A basic list of their powers is here: http://pastebin.com/VHKe7CNj

BE CAREFUL. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION YOU WILL MAKE IN THIS QUEST. Most questions you have about the three will be answered, do not be afraid to answer them.

>>40133517
More info: http://pastebin.com/MrzZPh7r

>>40133562

Reading now, interesting.

What should we Choose, Primordial is physical, mage is external element manipulation, and ascendant is internal manipulation of yourself.

>>40133668
I'd say either Primordial or Ascendant. Primordial is probably better if we want to hide our identity. Ascendant has a greater range of powers, though. Hmm...

>>40133722

Ascendant has very good social abilities too. The ability to help someone adapt to the changes is nice also.

I like mage, the ability to slap the rules of science and tell them to sit down is rather nice.

Mage is a nuker, but the ability to make material is rather potent.

It does simply how to defend or look for resources.

PRIMORDIAL feels like a druid/shifter type. Strong tendancy to melee.

>>40133768
The more I look through options, the more I like Ascendant. It's got the contracts and summons of the mage, plus teleporting for combat or escape, astral projection communication, empathy is good for picking up threats...

I don't like that Mage is generally restricted to a couple of elements, I'd want to train them all. So probably Ascendant is my favourite.

>>40133837

I think most mages are limited. Being a player character the mage we play will not be.

Mage is my favorite, but Ascendant is my second choice.

>>40133892
QM, would it spoil things if you told us how many elements we'd have as a Mage?

>>40133837
Individual mages are restricted to usually two, but that can be increased.

The Mage path itself, however, is open to every element so you can have a decent choice on what you pick.

>>40133984

So start with 2 of your choice, can be increased later with experience and effort?

>>40134057
No.
It can be increased through Pacts, which you will find out about soon.

>>40134057
So looking at it, Ascendant has the contracts, healing, etc, but doesn't have the substance control/creation of the Mage, nor the dimensional travel. I'm not bothered by the latter, so the main draw of the Mage is elemental stuff.

The Ascendant has a wider variety - telepathy, telekinesis, teleport, healing, etc. So it looks like Mage is 'does a few things really well' and Ascendant is 'does a lot of things, but you'll have to split the training time more'.

Is there a particular reason you want the elemental power over the Ascendant's various ones?

>>40134115

Ok, can be increased with trades.

>>40134159

Matter manipulation, well used it can be potent depending on GM.

>>40134115
http://pastebin.com/etitzk6M
>>40134159
Not really. I've made it so that the three powers have a few things in common; such as the summons, the making of contracts, and some other things that are as of yet not known.

Using the Mage and Primordial paths in certain ways will cause them to have some of the same features as the other two.

>>40134192
Well, they're both powerful. I dunno, I like how Ascendant is useful in a variety of situations, rather than just combat as well.

Shall we just roll a d2 for it and go with whichever wins?

>>40134287

Lets go with Ascendant, can be more flexible and social based then.

Also maybe break people out who are having a bad trip from the change.

>>40134249
Also, having the powers doesn't always mean you'll be powerful enough, skilled enough, or roll high enough to use them; like reading someone's mind, they could have mental powers of their own, they could be protected by something, they could be in a 'loud' area.

I just don't want you guys to make information based on lack of information.

>>40134333
Are you sure? I don't mind going with Mage as much now QM's said >>40134249.
If you want, let's go with Mage. It'll be fun either way.

>>40134370

Lets go mage then, see where it goes.

>>40134408
>Mage
But if this goes badly, I hunt you down and eat you. Just sayin'!

>>40134408
>>40134370
Okay, if this is your final answer, then pick two elements!

Some examples of these are: earth, lightning, wind, water, fire, metal, nature, sand.

Bettis is a Lightning Mage

>>40134479
Okay, so metal or water for one?

I think I like Water and Metal.

>>40134528
Hive mind.
>Water and Metal

>>40134555
>>40134528
That's pretty cool guys.

Congratulations! You are now INITIATE level in Water.
Congratulations! You are now INITIATE level in Metal.

Throw me up a 1d20 and I'll write, will take best of three if there are three

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>40134648
HAIL NOT FUCKING UP

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>40134648

Only 2 of us

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>40134648
rollingforthesecondtime HAIL BATMAN

>DC 13
>15
Nice.

The pain is absolute. It is all you can feel. But it's not all you see.

You see the tools kept down here go berserk; they're clattering into each other, they're scraping the walls, they're dancing in midair.

The pain ceases.

The memory is still there. The feeling of being helpless is still there, and for some reason you feel shamed.

Pushing your thoughts to the side, you take stock of yourself, trying to check for anything that seems permanent. Your utter exhaustion is, however, forcing you to stay on your knees.

But you have to see what happened to Bett and the rest of Seques!

>Just....up...these..stairs...
>It can wait, rest.

>>40135037
>Just....up...these..stairs...

>>40135037
>>Just....up...these..stairs...

Just....up...these...stairs...
You grit your teeth and drag yourself to the stairs leading to the house.

Agonizingly slowly you climb higher and higher.
When you've reached the middle, you're sweating bullets, by the 3/4 mark you're close to collapsing out of sheer exhaustion.

>keep...going..
>rest when you're so close to the top, you have it in you!

>>40135534
>keep...going..

>>40135534
>>keep...going..

Keep...going...
You urge yourself on, each footstep being heavier than the last.

Eventually, though a haze of exhaustion, you reach the top of the stairs.

As you open your eyes, what you see horrifies you.

It's your best friend, Bettis.
He's lying amidst what can only be described as ruins. There's chunks out of the walls, the floors, the furniture. His clothes are even wrecked.

But that's not what freezes you, what freezes you is that you don't see Bettis' chest rising or falling.

He's not breathing.
----------------------------------------
END THREAD.
You awoken, congratulations!
Your heterosexual life-partner may or may not be dead.
But at least you're still here!

Will answer any questions you guys have.
Twttter:https://twitter.com/_Lattis

>>40135874
Clearly now is the best time to snoop through his books.

Thanks, QM! I desperately need sleep now, but I'll see if I can advertise this tomorrow on the weekly quest thread. Hopefully it'll start picking up more, then.

>>40135874

I guess time to try and CPR him.

Someone failed there sanity roll due to reality warping.

>>40136068
>>40136069
Thank you for participating!