>>5311042
>> Write in
Beg for a drink and a morsel of food before sending you there

>>5311042
>Write in
>I will remember you.

>>5311042
>> It’s not important now.

In the interest of getting to more interesting choices combining the first two

The student smirked. “Shame it’s not a last meal instead.”

There was a scratch of a quill on parchment. “Well, it’s better than ‘When I return I will flay the skin from your bones!’.” The guard stepped close enough to smell the sweat rolling off of him, and something was shoved awkwardly into her pockets. “You seem decent. I hope it helps.” He whispers.

“If I ever make it back I’ll remember this.”

There was a stomping of heavy boots behind her. “She ready? Not getting frisky with the heretic are you?”

The younger guard jumped back. “No sir! She’s ready sir.” The older guard laughed.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” There was a rustle of parchment. “As a representative of the law I pronounce you guilty of being a student of magic, the highest heresy one can commit under the sun. The punishment for this heresy is banishment to the spellwilds until such a time that the gods permit your escape. May you find redemption beyond these clouds.”

The student took a deep breath, then remembered her legs were still bound together.

“Are you going to untie me so I can get on with it?”

A heavy boot planted itself firmly on her rear, then sent her flying headfirst into the fog.

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A heavy boot planted itself firmly on her rear, then sent her flying headfirst into the fog. The wet clouds enveloped her as she crashed to the ground, bounced once, then picked up speed. There was a hill! She slammed into a rock, the force tearing the ropes around her ankles off, flopped off and continued to slide downhill, desperately kicking at the ground, tiny pebbles bouncing and rattling around her.

Sensation stopped abruptly, just long enough for the student to realize she was airborne. So much for surviving the day. The ground shot up out of the fog, and she slammed into it, no through it, down through a tangle of rotting roots and old timbers, before finally collapsing onto a stone floor, somehow miraculously alive.

The student half stumbled, half drug herself away before a shower of stones and dirt collapsed next to her. She heaved ragged breaths, and slumped against an ancient stone wall. Everything hurt, arms, legs, toes, each breath, her teeth. She pulled out the gift from the guard with shaking hands, a small metal canteen, filled with water, and took a slow drink. Her spinning vision slowed and she looked around, what was this place?

Above her were stone arches crossing a long deep shaft, with the occasional tree root and wooden bridge stretched across, a hole about her size running through them. Stone floors, stone walls, not bricks, just smooth contiguous stone. A shaft of sunlight shone down from high above, she must be on the far side of the fog at least, although she didn’t remember exiting it. Three faint lights shone in an alcove along one wall, after a moment the student hobbled to her feet and limped toward them.

Three circles, three strange symbols…and a pressure in her head, an instinct, a subtle command. Choose one. Choose a weapon or perish here. The student shook her head, tearing her gaze away from the wall. The pressure faded. Still, it’s not like she had a lot of choices.

> A blue spear, just looking at it sent chills through her
> Three red arrows, flickering like hot coals
> A yellow sword, gleaming like the sun

>>5311093
>> A blue spear, just looking at it sent chills through her

>>5311093
>> A blue spear, just looking at it sent chills through her

>>5311093
>> Three red arrows, flickering like hot coals

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The student reached out, hands trembling in spite of a deep breath. Her fingers brushed the cool stone of the blue spear. The blue sigil coiled like a snake, then shot up her fingers, ice flooding her veins as the spear circled her arm, moving as easily on her skin as a snake on the earth. Then it tightened, pain dropping her to her knees, breath billowing out of her like steam, a layer of frost spreading out from her arm, creeping up her chest.

Something was wrestling inside of her, something foreign and strange, forced into her body. She staggered, slamming into the wall, gasping as air came out of her colder than it went in. She had to get this out of her, find it inside of her, grab hold, take control…The student grabbed the tattooed arm where the spear slithered, gasping at the sheer cold of her own arm, and slammed it against the wall.

“My arm!”

The spear reared back on her arm, tightening down. The student snarled back.

“Mine!”

She slammed the arm against the wall again, pain throbbing through her. She tightened her grip around the spear as it squirmed on her arm. Frost spread down her other arm, but the tighter she gripped the more right things felt. A spear in her hand, a weapon to hold back the world. Not a flashy tool, but always useful. The word ripped up through her chest and out of her mouth.

“Arx!”

The ice rushed out of her, draining from head to toes, then burst from the ground, a spear of ice that slammed into the wall and shattered. The wall wobbled, then fell backwards with a thud. The student leaned against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor, staring at the now docile blue spear on her arm. She had been exiled for collecting grimoires, trying to decipher their secrets, trying to find the power of magic, and now it was nestled in her arm.

“Arx.” Another spear of ice sprang from the ground, shattering against the wall. She stood up, and walked unsteadily back down the hall. Another wall with three circles. Lovely.

> A white skeletal arm?
> A red face? Are those horns?
> A blue…is that a beak? Talons?

That's all for the night. It'll probably be one update a day from here on out, but wanted to get past the introduction quickly.

>>5311202
>A blue…is that a beak? Talons?

>>5311202
>> A blue…is that a beak? Talons?

>>5311202
>> A blue…is that a beak? Talons?

>>5311202
>> A red face? Are those horns?

>>5311202
> A red face? Are those horns?

>>5311202
> A white skeletal arm?

>>5311202
>> A red face? Are those horns?
I like this a lot, it's a creative take on the learning of spells, like you have to tame them first before they'll obey you.If they all turn out to be tattoos, then our body itself is going to end up being a grimoire by the end of this.

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Tie breakers? Who needs tiebreakers! We'll take it all!


The student studied the three glyphs, occasionally glancing down at the spear tattooed to her skin. It shifted subtly, pointing at the red horned face.

She lifted an eyebrow. “You want that one? Think it might finish me off?” The student opened the canteen for another drink, only to find it filled with ice. “Alright. Fine. We’ll go with the red one.” The student put away the canteen and walked toward the wall.

And tripped.

And fell, hands out, into both the blue bird glyph and the red face glyph. There was a…tussle in her body as she stumbled back, bracing for the worst. The bird multiplied into a pack of five on her right arm, arranged in a neat line, like crows on a clothesline. The red horns butted heads with the spear, who promptly shoved it out, sending it grousing across her chest, muscles tightening in its wake before it settled next to the five birds. She took a deep breath, muscles slowly relaxing. Was that really it? She lifted her left arm to her face and stared at the six tattoos that had settled in. One of the birds turned its beak and stared back.

“Are we good?”

Beaks opened and the birds bounced around. Were they laughing at her? A thin line of ink drifted up from each of the birds and the horned one, twisting together until it formed five circles and one sliver of a circle.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The student flicked her arm but the birds just scattered away, still laughing.The student rolled her eyes and looked up just in time to see the wall in front of her collapse forward with a thud. Sunlight glittered in front of her. Finally out of this place.

She emerged from the ruin into a setting sun atop a barren hilltop. Strange beehive like structures with tiny entrances circled the hilltop. Out in the distance a forest sprawled out, two thin plumes of smoke rising into the air, one from a cave, the other from a small cottage. She continued to turn slowly, noting a large patch of dead trees to the east, and a valley to the south with dozens of birds circling overhead.

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It wasn’t until she completed her survey that she realized the ruin she had exited from had completely vanished. She glanced down at her arms wide eyed, checking the tattoos. Still there, no ruins. She prowled the area, circling the beehives, tombs maybe. That fog must have addled her mind…She turned a corner and nearly shrieked at the sight of a dusty skeleton slumped against one of the tombs. A simple campfire filled with old charcoal sat at the corpse’s feet, a battered book clutched in its hands.

The student reached out and gingerly pried the book loose, brushing a layer of dust from it. The title in silver read “A Student of Magic.” She flipped it open carefully, thumbing through pages of meditation exercises, runic circles, potion designs, wands and detailed information on enunciation of ‘divine’ words. Her eyes flicked between the long dead fire and the setting sun, she would need light to see the words and fire to repel…whatever might lurk nearby.

She gingerly examined the corpse again, wincing as it crumbled to pieces under her touch. The ratty remains of a pack lay underneath it, alongside a pitiful heap of twigs and tinder. The contents of the pack were mostly trash, more fuel for the fire, but a fossilized crust of bread might still be edible, and by a stroke of luck a rusted tinderbox was present.

“Thanks for the camping trip dad.”

Ten minutes of fiddling with the tinderbox and a piece of soggy stale bread later the student sat a respectable distance from the heap of bones and flipped open the book. The first section, ‘Establishing Magical Power’ seemed a good place to start.

Roll 1d100 BO3

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>5312344
Rollan...

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>5312344

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>5312344

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Welcome young scholar to the world of magic. No matter where your road leads from here I can only hope you find success and knowledge at every turn. The path of the magician is perilous indeed. This first chapter serves two purposes, firstly as an introduction to the four schools of magic and secondly as a guide to the meditations that can unlock the earliest forms of magical power.

There exists four schools of magic. Divine Words (Air), Ley Flows (Water), Rune Circles (Earth) and Smoke Weaving (Fire). Each, as noted in parens, is associated with a particular element. Divine words are the flashy spoken words of magic, most often wielded by the battle mage and daring adventurer. Ley Flows are commonly seen as the magical potions of magic, creating powerful elixirs. Rune Circles are the bulwarks and defenses of magic, creating stable long lasting magic. And Smoke Weaving is the source of the often famous magic wands and dangerous spirits found in many magic stories.

Spells within the four schools of magic are sorted by what this text will refer to as 'Tiers' but are often referred to as levels, ranks, degrees or circles. Regardless of how these tiers are referred to it is important to note that each tier is approximately five times as powerful as the previous tier, and requires five times as much magical power. Increasing ones internal reserve of magical power to higher tiers is a critical task on the road to arcane mastery. The remainder of this chapter is a series of meditations and mental exercises intended to unlock the first tiers of your magical power.

The student read the pages carefully as the sun slipped beneath the horizon, then moved onto the meditation exercises. It started with breathing exercises, then moved into mantras, on her breath, the fire in front of her, the flicker of her pulse, the dusty ground at her feet. Deep breaths, seeking the natural mana of the body, tapping the power present around her.

37

It was tough going. The smoke of the fire rolled into her eyes, the birds tattooed on her arm decided to randomly peck her. The still cold canteen sweated condensation until her pant leg was soaked. Still, in spite of a hundred distractions, the gnawing worry that she had no food, no supplies, no real shelter, and no steady source of water, and a vague fear that something was going to crawl out of the tombs at any moment she still felt like she made progress. Maybe it was the experience with the spear, but she definitely felt something flowing through her.

Tier 1 Mana increased to one

The fire was low, but she pushed on a bit farther. The second section of the book was a primer on these divine words, and seemed to even include a section teaching one of these words. Was the spear on her arm some form of a divine word? And if she hadn’t yet established her flow of mana, then how was she able to use Arx at all? Were the birds and horned creature divine words as well? Or something else? She pushed through, looking for answers.

The magic of Divine words is perhaps the most accessible, and when mastered the easiest to use. No complex rituals are required, no expensive reagents or tools are needed, there is no waiting, no preparing. The only thing a spell caster needs is their inner wellspring of mana and effective knowledge of the divine word in question. Simply master the enunciation of the word in question then utter it at the appropriate level. In tier order divine words can be Whispered, Spoken, Shouted, Chanted, Invoked, or Declared. The eccentricities of Chanting, Invoking and Declaring are beyond the scope of this book, but whispers, speech and shouts are fairly self-explanatory. A novice magician (who has completed the meditations at the beginning of this book) will only be able to muster Spoken and Whispered magics, and upon mastering the meditation will be able to muster a single Shout each day.

Included in this section are the details of perhaps the single most important spell in any mage's repertoire, Vitae, which enchants objects with a portion of the mage's power, typically to be used in the process of another spell.

Apologies for the walls of text

The student slumped back against the tomb, exhausted, but filled with knowledge. The book had an exhaustive description of the word Vitae. Every detail of volume, enunciation, syllable stress, even intent of her mind was described in minute detail. She picked up a twig that had escaped the fire.

“Vitae”

Something left her, drained out of her soul, left her feeling hollow inside and flooded into the twig instead. It looked no different, but she could feel it in her hands, an electric potential.


Learned Divine Word “Vitae”
Acquired Enchanted Twig?



The student awoke, sore, hungry, and thirsty, but revitalized in mana and spirit. She had no water left, no food, no firewood, the barest scraps of knowledge of the arcane arts and an endless expanse of magical wilderness. She glanced down at her arm, the five circles and a sliver above the five crows had become four circles and a waning circle. A timer…five sunsets until what? Better be ready.

You have three actions per day. You can either execute them one at a time or queue them up. If no rolls/choices are required I’ll do my best to cruise through as many as I can in a (real) day. Actions are roughly Morning, Afternoon, and Evening, in that order. You can ignore sleep, but will generally suffer the following day.

The student considered her options. ‘Student of Magic’ had three remaining sections of note, Smoke Weaving, Ley Flows, and Rune Circles. She needed to find water, food, and firewood, maybe that cottage in the woods was friendly? Or maybe a friendly hermit lived in the cave she had spotted? She needed more grimoires, more information, more tools, the valley of birds to the south might have ruins to pick over? Or whoever lived at the cottage or the cave. She could even focus on expanding her mana pool through meditation, although she didn’t have much to spend the mana on.

> Study ‘Student of Magic’, which section?
> Look in the local area for a steady supply of water, firewood and food
> Meditate to expand her mana pool
> Explore, where at?
> Write In?

Also, would anyone like to suggest a name for our student?

> Just Student is fine, thank you.
> Arx, our first spell, our new identity as a student of magic
> Mel, short for Melody, the name our mother gave us
> Write in?

>>5312458
>> Look in the local area for a steady supply of water, firewood and food

>>5312463
>> Mel, short for Melody, the name our mother gave us

>>5312458
>Look in the local area for a steady supply of water, firewood and food
>>5312463
>Mel, short for Melody, the name our mother gave us

>>5312458
Supporting >>5312483

>>5312483
>Support

>>5312483
+1

>>5312483
>Supporting

>>5312504
++

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> Look in the local area for a steady supply of water, firewood and food

A dry mouth and a grinding stomach made the decision for her. Mel tucked ‘Student of Magic’ into the meager shelter beneath it’s previous owner and set out down the arid hill rising out of the forest. The east was an expanse of dead trees, probably not much to eat there. To the south was the valley of the birds, still circling overhead. The forest sprawling to the west and north was probably the best chance of finding water.

She descended carefully, stopping as she came to a section of hill towards the bottom that had seemingly been gouged away, leaving an exposed swathe of rock. Mel navigated around it, then made the pleasant discovery of a trickle of water. She followed it back to the exposed cliff face where a trickle of water gurgled out. Her hands shot out of their own accord, letting the cool water cup into them and she sipped it carefully. A meager supply, but a supply. She pressed her canteen against the spring, letting the water trickle in until it was filled. That was one pressing need filled, although it would be a daily chore to get water to drink or cook with. Maybe she could increase the flow somehow?

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Mel poked and prodded at the cliffside blindly until a layer of dirt loosened away revealing…some kind of design. She had seen one like it in ‘Student of Magic’, was there some kind of magic being applied to this hill? She’d need to study more, or blindly experiment to learn more.

Her search yielded nothing else and she turned her attention to the trickle of water. Maybe it led to a pond where she could fill her water more easily? She followed it down the hill for a few minutes, then found it diverting not toward the living forest, but the dead one. She frowned. No food to be found there, and something had both killed those trees and prevented new ones from growing. Not today.

Mel trudged into the forest, occasionally glancing behind her to verify the hilltop tombs remained visible, no need to get lost in the woods. A half an hour worth of weaving through underbrush and listening to chattering birds later the sound of flowing water came to ear.

She crept forward, a quickly moving stream coming into view. A deer perched on the edge of the stream, lapping up water. It jerked its head up, one wide eye locked with hers.

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Underbrush snapped and ripped suddenly. The deer leapt into the air, then a pair of massive pincers closed around its midsection. Behind the pincers eight feet of giant centipede writhed. The deer struggled and let out a blood chilling scream as the monster shook it like a ragdoll. One, two, three shakes and the animal ripped in half, the hind section crashing in front of Mel, organs spilling out. The centipede locked its pincers around the front half and started dragging it backward, a burrow visible.

> Get out of there
> Go in swinging and take it out, it might be tired after its kill
> Wait for it to settle into its den and try to harvest a meal from the deer corpse close to you.
> Write in?

>>5313452
> Go in swinging and take it out, it might be tired after its kill
Who's to say it won't come after us the next time it gets hungry? Better take it out.

>>5313452
>> Go in swinging and take it out, it might be tired after its kill

>>5313452
>> Get out of there
We do not! have any experience or items to kill this yet

>>5313452
>Wait for it to settle into its den and try to harvest a meal from the deer corpse close to you.

>>5313452
>> Wait for it to settle into its den and try to harvest a meal from the deer corpse close to you.

>>5313452
>Wait for it to settle into its den and try to harvest a meal from the deer corpse close to you.

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> Wait for it to settle into its den and try to harvest a meal from the deer corpse close to you.

Mel winced as the cracking of a bone filled the air. The centipede slithered the rest of the way back into its den. Mel exhaled, slowly and looked down at the still cooling corpse in front of her. She was no huntsman or butcher, but she had helped with kills from hunting before. Where was she going to find a knife though?

The tip of the blue spear tattooed on her arm bent slightly and Mel could imagine raised eyebrows.

"That's fair" She whispered. "I was going find a rock or something, but you'll do." She glanced at the den of the centipede, and dropped her voice as low as she could. "Arx."

Instead of the spear she was expecting from the ground a shorter almost hand spade like weapon of ice formed in her hands. The biting chill stabbed at her hand almost immediately. She padded the handle with a handful of forest undergrowth and set to work.

Several fresh ice blades and an unpleasant amount of messy work later she had a heap of raw venison, maybe three days worth? Halfway through the process the centipede had reemerged, smeared in blood and viscera, just long enough to pull a patch of underbrush back into place in front of its lair. Mel eyed the hidden lair and carved a prominent 'X' on the tree next to her. Best not to forget the beast.

The rest of the morning went fairly quietly. The meat was bound and wrapped in leaves and vines. A vain attempt to clean up was made, leaving her more blood smeared than blood stained. A patch of edible button mushrooms was collected, an armful of firewood, a handful of tough fruits that when busted open revealed a red fleshy interior more bitter than sweet. The entire process was a slow inefficient affair of trekking up and down the hill to her camp multiple times, a simple satchel of any kind would do wonders. Still, the boon of the deer would keep her alive for a few days yet.

The biggest accomplishment, other than not being eaten, was putting together a primitive smoker at the forest's edge using a small hollow in the ground and lashing together vines and sticks over it. With the meat hanging in a cloud of smoke and a few of the hard fruits in her stomach Mel turned her attention to the next task of the day.

At a whisper Arx took the form of a small blade, at a word a spear. ‘A Student of Magic’ had descriptive higher levels still, ‘Shout’, ‘Chant’, ‘Invoke’ and ‘Declare’. The last three were a mystery to her, but shouting was pretty straightforward. There was still much she didn’t know of even the basics of magic. That sigil on the cliff-face was another magical mystery to be solved.

On the other hand there was still much she didn’t know about the world around her. If there were other casters, or their remnants, she might be able to find useful supplies and more knowledge. Maybe it would be better to explore.

Afternoon

> Explore the cave to the north
> Explore the cottage to the north
> Explore the Bird Valley to the south
> Study Rune Circles
> Study Smoke Weaving
> Study Ley Flows
> Meditate to expand your mana pool
> Write in?

>>5314456
> Explore the cottage to the north
We should at least check it out to see if it might be a friendly, or someone we can steal from.

>>5314456
>Explore the Bird Valley to the south

>>5314456
>> Explore the cottage to the north

>>5314456
>> Explore the cottage to the north

>>5314456
>Explore the cottage to the north

>>5314456
>> Explore the cave to the north

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> Explore the cottage to the north

Mel looked out past the tombs. The thought of poking her head into the strange structures looking for old treasures buried with the dead crossed her mind but she shelved it for the moment, it was probably pitch black inside. Her gaze settled on the cottage where a gentle plume of smoke drifted upward. A chimney perhaps? Outright charity was probably a rarity in these parts, but there might be some favor or exchange she could make. Or theft if it came to that, but anyone she met was probably more experienced than herself.

With a plan in mind she headed out and off the hilltop, through the forest. It wasn’t long before she stumbled across a simple well trod path, probably forged by the owner of the cottage. Ten minutes of travel lead her to a fork, one path most likely leading to the cottage, the other veering off to the side. Even from here Mel could see the vegetation of the side path shifting in strange ways, with vibrant and lurid colors creeping in and strange multi-color flowers. Something to explore another time.

Another five minutes down the path lead to a thick hedge of rose bushes, red and yellow blooms flourishing. A low drone of bees, many bees, filled the air, some visible wandering the blooms. The path cut through a small opening in the hedge and led to the cottage, now plainly visible, several smaller sheds and coops a short distance from the cottage and nestled against the hedge. On the other side a chicken squawked angrily.

Mel passed through the hedge cautiously, looking around until her eyes fell on the owner, a young woman, smiling as she worked her way through a patch of sunflowers, pulling weeds, trimming dead leaves, and outright cutting down a few of the golden flowers to add to a basket. Mel raised a hand to say hello when something a giant black blur slammed into her.

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She gagged and gasped like a fish as the air was forced from her lungs. Her arms flailed pointlessly for a moment at the giant furry thing atop her until it opened its mouth and fit its teeth snuggly around her neck, letting out a low growl at the same time. Mel slowly set her arms on the ground, doing her best to not breathe, think or blink suddenly. The hundred pounds of fur didn’t hurt.

There was a long pause, only broken by the gentle humming of the apparently oblivious gardener. Mel looked around, as well as she could. To her left a curious chicken stared at her, taking a moment to peck at her hair. To her right was a row of slightly yellowed fangs. Above her a bee buzzed by. Not a lot of options then.

“Bruno! Bad dog! Let that poor woman up!”

The dog growled.

“Bruno…Let. Her. Up.”

The dog snorted and released its grip on her throat, stepping a few feet away and sitting, staring at her. Mel sat up, slowly, massaging her neck. She looked up at the gardener.

“Uh, hi.”

“Sorry about that, Bruno’s not very fond of strangers.” The gardener grinned. “I’m Barbara, but everyone just calls me Babs.”

“Melody, but Mel is fine. This is…a nice place.”

Babs laughed. “I like it, although it is a little strange when blood covered strangers stumble in. Are you a cannibal running from the law and stumbled through the fog? Or just a beaten housewife who had enough? Or-”

“Heretic student of magic.” Mel cut her off. “Not a very good one I’m afraid since I didn’t know anything about magic before I got here. And a lousy butcher of a doe.”

Babs nodded, smile slipping for a moment. “All it takes is a couple books for them to toss you through the wall.” She sighed. “C’mon, I’ve got a water well around back, you can clean up a little and grab a drink while we talk, you’ve probably got plenty of questions.” She pulled a thin wooden rod (a wand?) from a strap at her side and gave it a casual flick. A wisp of smoke spilled out and hurried around the garden gathering shears, spades and debris into baskets.

What do you want to talk/ask about? No limit on questions, unless you somehow piss her off

> Could I get some food?
> Tools? Equipment?
> Do you know anything about these tattoos?
> Can you teach me magic?
> What’s that smoke thing picking up your tools?
> Where did you get those tools?
> Could I crash here?
> Write in

>>5315359
>Do you know anything about these tattoos?
> Can you teach me magic?
> What’s that smoke thing picking up your tools?
> Where did you get those tools?

>>5315381
Seconding

>>5315359
>> Tools? Equipment?
>> Do you know anything about these tattoos?
>> Can you teach me magic?
>> What’s that smoke thing picking up your tools?
>> Where did you get those tools?

"That…smoke thing is handy."

Babs giggled. "You really are a novice, I thought everyone had a basic movement wand. Can't believe they're still tossing people in here for just having a book."

They circled the cottage to a simple covered well behind it. The smoke thing whisked ahead of them and started lowering a bucket into the well.

"I don't suppose you're giving lessons?"

Bab's eyes went distant for a minute as the chain of the well reversed direction.

"It would be a bit of a distraction from my own work, but we might be able to work something out. It's nothing personal, but no one ends up in the spellwild on vacation, everyone has something they're here for. You'll have to work for it, make up my lost time."

Mel nodded as the bucket of water emerged from the well. Painful memories flickered just below the surface.

"I understand. What are you out here for anyway?" She stared at the bucket for a moment, then looked down at her filth covered arms. The smoke spell thing picked up the bucket and dumped it over her head. "Ahg!"

Babs giggles. "If you could see yourself you'd thank me…those are…interesting tattoos you have there."

Mel scrubbed grime from her arms for a moment. "Yeah, I'm wondering about them too." She rubbed the water from her eyes and glanced at Babs, a different scorched black wand resting in her hands. The playful smile was gone, replaced by an analytical stare. "I fell into a ruin of some sort when they tossed me into the fog, these things jumped onto me from off a wall. This one-" Mel nodded at the spear, "tried to kill me, but these two have just been…waiting."

Babs bit her lower lip for a minute, wand twisting in her fingers. "You established dominance over it then?" She sighed. "I'd find a way to cover that arm up, there are people who would take your arm off to get it."

"Oh."

Babs pocketed the wand and shook her head. "It's a living spell, incredibly useful to mages. Magic takes mana, your internal reserves, the heat off your soul. A living spell can handle some of that for you, it's a tool you can always fall back on, a quiver of arrows that doesn't run out. Be careful who you show that to, they might jump to conclusions."

There was silence for a few long minutes as Mel struggled to remove a bit of vine knotted into her hair.

"Did you choose to come here? Are there towns or something? Did you make your tools yourself? If you've got anything to spare…"

Bab's eyes lit up. "Ah, you want Joe for tools, his cave is a few hours to east. He's been gone for a few weeks though, I think he might have figured out a spell he needed and started looking for a way out of here. He's a bit of a mess, inside and out so you might be able to find some useful supplies in his camp. Don't worry about taking anything, if it was important he would have taken it with him."

> Ask another question (Specify)
> Move on to your evening task

>>5315731
> Ask another question (Specify)
>>Is there anything we could help with?

>>5315810

>>Is there anything we could help with?

"Anything I could help out with?" Mel asked.

"Come by in the morning and I'll have some chores for you, just mundane work like feeding the chickens, but it'll free some time up in my morning. I'll pay you in some novice lessons if you'd like, or a basket of eggs, or maybe a lesser healing potion if you'd like. Get a little less wet behind the ears and I might have something a little more interesting, both reward and task wise."

"It'd be easier if you stopped pouring water on my head."

Babs giggled. "Sure, if you want to still look like a barbarian."

> Ask another question (Specify)
> Move on to your evening task

>>5315931
> Move on to your evening task
Be sure to say thanks on our way out.

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Moving along, but if anyone else had anything else they wanted to talk about feel free to ask and I'll address it


Babs ran a hand through her long hair and looked up at the sky. “It’s going to get before long, you should probably get back to your own camp. Some of the nastier critters come out at night. Of course if you think you can handle them it can be a good time to get some extra ruin diving done. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you camped out at?”

Mel pointed at the tips of the hilltop tombs, just barely visible over the tree line. “That circle of…tombs I guess?”

Babs nodded. “It’s not a bad spot. There’s some old ward that keeps animals away from it, and rain clouds seem to avoid it for some reason. Creepy though. I’ve heard that there’s a city if you go far enough to the north, but I’ve never been there. Not sure how a city of mages would hold together though…our kind don’t do well in groups.”

Mel nodded. Such a place, if it existed, would be a gold mine of tools and knowledge though.

“It is getting dark…Thanks for the help.”

“Sure. And Mel?”

“Yeah?”

“Those tattoos on your other arm, the birds and the bull?”

“Is that what it is?”

“They’re beacons. Something is being drawn to you. Be careful when it gets to you.”

Evening

A beacon. Two in fact. The five circles had become four and a sliver as the sun touched the horizon. She needed to be ready. Babs had warned her that darkness brought out nasty creatures, but it might be worth it to keep pushing and exploring. On the other hand she had a tome of unread knowledge in the safety of her meager camp.

> Explore the cave to the north (Dangerous at night)
> Explore the Bird Valley to the south (Dangerous at night)
> Study Rune Circles in ‘Student of Magic’
> Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
> Study Ley Flows in ‘Student of Magic’
> Meditate to expand your mana pool
> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )
> Write in?

>>5315941
> Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )

>>5315941
>> Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
>> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )

>>5315941
>Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )

>>5315941
> Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )

Cool quest. Whoever recommended it in the /qtg/, thank you!

>>5315941
>Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )

>>5315941
>2 boss fights
Well fuck us
Hope they fight each other

>>5315941
>>5315953
+1 to this. Digging the writing so far, OP.

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> Study Smoke Weaving in ‘Student of Magic’
> Experiment with ‘Shouting’ Arx ( Can take with other options )

Mel settled in, back against the tomb, silent skeletal companion a discrete distance away and cracked open ‘Student of Magic’. Babs had held two different wands during their meeting, and had used just one, what she had called a ‘movement’ spell, that had created a smoke…thing that had gathered up her tools and drawn water. There was a section, towards the back of the tome that had illustrations of wands, she flipped toward it.

My dear student, I have left Smoke Weaving for last with the vain hope that you will utilize other schools of magic before this one. Smoke Weaving is associated with the element of fire, and as such has many elements that can be unpredictable and difficult to control. Nonetheless, it can prove powerful and useful, when used carefully.

Smoke Weaving as you may have guessed centers around burning particular objects in particular combinations. The objects in question must be gathered together in a sachet, dried grasses work well for the mage in the field, while leather pouches can be useful for larger spells or longer storage of ingredients. First drafts and hateful letters also work well. Once bundled into a sachet the items must be enchanted (see the Vitae Divine Word) with the appropriate tier of power. A flame of appropriate size must be mustered, a torch is sufficient for tier 1 spells, a campfire for tier 2. Consider the rule of five for higher tiers of magic, and make preparations appropriately. When all is prepared simply place or toss the sachet into the flame. The rising smoke will bear the magical properties you've chosen. Adding items after the sachet will 'restrict' the spell, although the details of restrictions are beyond the scope of this book.

A wise mage will likely have realized that building campfires to cast simple spells is both restrictive and impractical, and that smoke rarely behaves in a way that is easy to control. Fear not, I've included in this book the design for a standard wand. Carve any stout stick or branch with the detailed markings then enchant it with the maximum tier of spell you intend for it to hold. As the smoke rises from your spell, hold your wand out and wrap the smoke around it, the smoke should hold tightly to the carvings of the wand. It's typically quite possible to fuel several wands from a single burn.

At this point you should be able will the smoke from the wand in the form of a smoke spirit. While the spirit is unable to move more than a short distance from your wand, it will follow your mental commands, and is able to activate the effects of the spell.

Included in this section are the details of the Telekinesis spell, simply place the bones of an index finger (or corresponding digits of an animal) in a sachet, enchant and burn. As you can see I’ve helpfully included an already enchanted sachet for you to try.

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Mel shuffled closer to the dimming fire, scrutinizing the diagram of the wand, and plucking the tiny envelope stuck to the pages. There was a warm feeling to it that left the fingers tingling. Resisting the urge to toss it in the fire immediately to see its effects she grabbed the enchanted twig she had made the night prior, whispered Arx into existence and set to work carving.

Fifteen minutes and dangerously close to frostbite later she tossed the melting spearhead aside and compared her work to the diagram in the book. She winced, well, she could tell they were supposed to be the same anyway. Mel glanced around to find someone to ask for luck. Arx bobbed on her arm. The skeleton remained impassive.

“Need to give you a name.” Mel muttered “Good luck me.”

She tossed the sachet into the flame. There was a long pause as the paper crackled in the flame, breath caught in her throat. Then the flames flared purple for a moment and a thick layer of smoke billowed out. She exhaled. Now, how was she supposed to actually control something? She picked up a rock from the ground and gave it a toss through the smoke.

It caught like a net, the rock spinning gently in the smoke of the fire, and somehow also spinning gentle in her awareness. She pushed down on the rock in her mind and the rock above the fire bobbed down with it.

“Oh wow, this is…”

She held out a finger and traced a circle, the rock following the movement. She traced the rock through the air, bobbing and weaving until one of its larger arcs took it out of the smoke, sending it tumbling lifelessly to the ground. Right, that was what the wand was for, leaving the confines of the fire. She held the instrument out over the flames, wincing as the heat bathed over her. Smoke billowed into the carvings, held in place by the magic she had put into it the night before. She held it in place until the heat drove her back, stumbling and coughing out smoke.

Away from the flames she looked at the wand. The smoke had filled the carvings, but clung to the wand itself. She pointed away from herself, felt the presence of it in her mind like the rock before, and nudged it out. A wispy smoke spirit detached from the carving and swam leisurely through the air before scooping up the rock. She directed it in circles around her, into the air, through the flame, up the wall of the tomb. It could only get a few arms lengths away from the wand before the connection sputtered and the rock fell, and the speed left something to be desired.

Something she had wanted to try came to mind, and this wand would help. She directed the spirit to a piece of firewood and held it in the air at eye level. Glancing around with a sudden feeling of conspicuousness she took a deep breath.

“ARX!” She bellowed. Something in her went cold, life light burning dim, soul drained. Her trusty ice spear ripped out of the ground, skewering the firewood. Then another, and another, five in total, so fast they seemed to rip into the target at once, reducing it to splinters. Her breath ran ragged and she recalled the spirit to its wand, noting briefly that some of the smoke had vanished from the carvings.

No wonder the tattoo had set Babs on edge. Mel could only do that once a day at the moment, but she’d get stronger. Had to. She settled in for the night, tossing another branch on the fire. Another long day ahead. In spite of rough ground, sore muscles and the smell of smoke clinging to her, sleep came quickly.


Dreaming…

> Why she became a student of magic…power for revenge
> Why she became a student of magic…power to heal
> Why she became a student of magic…power to rule
> Nothing at all, it doesn’t matter why this journey started, only how it ends

Morning

Divine Words: Arx the ice spear, Vitae the enchanting spell
Smoke Weaving: Telekinesis (index finger bone)

Health: Well fed, Hydrated, stiff but uninjured.
Food: 2 days.
Tools: Telekinesis Wand 4/5 charges

> Study Rune Circles
> Study Ley Flows
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley
> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)
> Visit Bab’s cottage and do menial labor for tuition in a simple spell, a simple potion, or a day’s worth of food.
> Write in?

>>5316932
>Why she became a student of magic…power for revenge
> Visit Bab’s cottage and do menial labor for tuition in a simple spell, a simple potion, or a day’s worth of food.
When we're stocked up...
> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)

>>5316932
>> Why she became a student of magic…power to rule

> Explore Bird Valley

>>5316932
> Why she became a student of magic…power for revenge
VENGEEEEAAAAANCE!

> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)

>>5316932
>Why she became a student of magic…power to heal
Power over life and death is the ultimate power.

> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)

>>5316932
>Why she became a student of magic…power to rule
> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)

>>5316932
>Why she became a student of magic…power to rule
> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)

>>5316932
>> Study Rune Circles

>>5316932
> Why she became a student of magic…power for revenge
> Study Ley Flows

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> Why she became a student of magic…power for revenge
> Why she became a student of magic…power to rule

Melody is walking in a rainbow. A current of colors, a flow of lights. Soap bubbles are rushing by, carried on the light. She reaches out, touches one, blinks as it pops, little droplets plinking onto her hand. Like the smell locked in an old chest a memory comes, washes over her, shoving her back in time.

The sun hovered indecisively just above the horizon. She’s laughing, running. Maybe five more minutes before her mother calls her in? There’s a boy, her age with strawberry blond hair and a smile to rival the sun, just a little faster this time and she could catch him. She told herself it was fate to marry that boy.

The horns blow, a single long low note and a wave of confusion passes over the village, only broken by the youngest, most oblivious children still giggling. Another horn, and another.

“They’re coming!” Went up the shout and the world went into panic. The dirt road seemed suddenly filled with a thousand people, jostling and running. The horns were everywhere. Who were they? Why was her mother throwing clothes and precious things in a bag. Her father simply picked her over his shoulder, the bag with his other hand.

“No more.” He declared.

No more. The boy with the bright smile was no more. The village with the dirt road was no more. She would never find out who ‘they’ were, just one of the countries, barbarians, or natural disasters that gnawed sections off the empire every few years.

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Melody reeled back from the memories, stumbling, or sinking, or falling into the technicolor sea. She writhed away, twisting, sprinting, trying to find a safe place, but memories were everywhere. The garden trampled by looters who had held them at the end of a sword while they took everything. In every bubbles flickering images, her brother pale and lifeless while they lowered him into the ground, her sister married to a man twice her age on the simple promise she lived at the capital, safe from the borders. A baby sister lost to illness, easily curable if the trade routes were not plagued by bandits. Everywhere a tragedy, as real as life, the stepping stones of a life marked by escapes in the night, empty promises of safety and fearful eyes on the horizon.

Melody span and found a bubble at eye level. It popped in her face, washing her with memory.

“What’s a king?” She asked, picking up a piece of firewood.

Her father grunted, axe coming down hard, splitting another log. “A king is the man in charge of a country.”

She was thirteen, with all the confidence that it entailed. “Could I be the king?”

Her dad snorted, the closest he ever got to laughter. “You’d do a better job than the emperor. But you’d be a queen.”

“Am I still in charge?”

Another grunt, another log reduced to firewood. “Sure. Haven’t had a queen since the witch queen of old though.”

“Would we have to move all the time if I was a witch queen?”

“I assume not. Probably all live in the capital. Falling behind on the firewood Mel.”

She scurried to gather and stack the pieces. “Was she a good queen?”

Her father shrugged as he set another log into place. “Long time ago songbird. She was a real queen though, five hundred years of peace. There wasn’t a man alive who dared invade while she held the throne.”

“I want to be a witch queen.”

Her father snorted again. “And I want to finish the firewood before dark. Keep moving songbird.”

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Witch queen. Five hundred years of peace. Absolute power, rule over a country, a land without ‘No more’. She sank, deeper into the rainbow, deeper into the bubbles. Another popped. Another memory.

A funeral. Her father laid to rest at last. She was nineteen. A simple ceremony, one of many that week, another village reduced to rubble. She had left for the capital that night, travelling for weeks. Where else? Where else could a person finally be safe, be settled? Her mother had passed months ago, throwing herself with a scream at roadside bandits. There was nothing left.

The capital, a city of poverty, of riches, of contradictions. Her father’s quiet bitterness, her mother’s smoldering rage, all came into focus. Knights in armor paraded in the streets, the king held feasts, the outer provinces burned. She cleaned stables, mended clothes, cooked, served beer, whatever it took to scrape a few coins together, to survive a few more nights.

And every night anger burned. Of a city in celebration while her family moldered in graves. Of a king spouting lies of glorious victories in places she had fled. And so instead of food she bought a book, a collection of papers held together by twine really. A book of promises and dreams, of a witch in flight raining death down on a city of fools.

The seller was caught a few days later of course, and a hot knife in the right places does wonders for the memory. And when she had returned for another book they had snapped shut around her, a sword at her throat that had never once been lifted to defend her family.

Mel woke up and stared at the embers of the fire, the twisting mess of memories rolling in her head. A deep breath in, a long breath out. It was time to get to work.

Still working on the next part, but wanted to something out today.

>>5318415
We'll show them! We'll show them all!

Good stuff, QM

> Explore Joe’s Cave (Could be useful tools)

Morning chores were a quick unremarkable affair. The canteen was refilled at the cliffside spring. Fresh wood was heaped in the smoker, a strip of meat and a few hard fruits eaten, and a handful of branches carried up the hill. She’d need to make an effort to gather firewood tomorrow, her heap had grown fairly meager, it’d barely make it through the coming night. She needed tools of some sort, a wood axe or even a hatchet would make firewood simpler, and satchels and bags would be helpful for foraging, or apparently dragging home bags of bones.

She glanced over at her skeletal friend. “Uh, do you mind if I snap off a bit here and there for a spell?” The inanimate corpse failed to respond, which was probably for the best. It was time to visit Joe, or at least the cave he had called home. Tucking the telekinesis wand into a patch of her battered tunic (another item to replace) that had fallen apart just enough to serve as a pouch she set out.

Down the hill, through the forest, the scent of sulfur and smoke growing on the wind. Her nose wrinkled as she drew closer, an unpleasant buzzing filling the air as well. Another rank smell filled the air, one she knew from her time working as a waitress in the capital, heaps of rotting food.

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She passed into the open clearing around the cave to find a filthy mess. Boxes, tables, bags, papers, plates of food with clouds of flies, all clustered around a half collapsed tent and long cold campfire. Her stomach heaved for a moment as the wind picked up and blew the stench directly into her face, but she shook it off and continued forward.

Papers everywhere. Under plates, rocks, a piece of jerky with a thick green coat, pinned to trees with a fork. A strange twisting curling script that watered her eyes to read, with just as strange content. Chestnuts need more cats. Brother in law must birth more children. Soon saturn will have no more gophers. Her head throbbed just looking at it, and the odor wasn’t helping.

The contents of the camp were equally chaotic. A bag of smooth riverside pebbles, another of oddly small forks. Another of actual chestnuts, shelled and ready to eat. A disgusting mess of rotted apples, another of hair clippings. An iron kettle lay tipped over in the cold fire, filled with eggs. Mel put together an inventory in her head of what could and couldn’t be useful.

Had Babs simply forgotten to mention that her neighbor was insane? Had something twisted his mind, like a child with a toy soldier? She sighed and marched into the cave itself, the scent of sulfur growing stronger within even as the light level dropped to dimmer and dimmer levels. There was a series of clicks behind her and she turned, then threw herself to the side as something lunged. The thing slid on the ground, then turned, standing on two clawed feet, leaning forward, eyes twitching and crazed, clawed paw like hands flexing.

“Good imp protects! Good imp kills!” It spat out then charged. Mel threw up her hand, struggling to restrain her voice.

“Arx!”

The ice spear shot up, narrowly missing the creature as it juked around it, claw smashing the spear to fragments. Mel dodged backward, circling the creature. If it wanted blood it would get it.

Combat

> ‘Shout’ Arx, spending all of your mana, but ending the fight immediately.
> Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana.
> Write in?

>>5319309
>Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana.

>>5319309
>Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana.
>Write in?
>"It's Joe your Master? It's why you protect this place?"

With that picture I want to befriend this little doofus-looking Imp, so better if we speak in short and simple sentences.

>>5319309
>> Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana

>>5319309
> Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana.

>>5319309
>Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana.

Let's get a 1d100 BO3.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>5319423

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>5319423

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>5319423

>>5319432
>>5319451
Do we get something special if we roll the same number twice?

Rolled 10 (1d100)

>>5319423

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> Risk injury by ‘Speaking’ Arx, but conserve your mana.

It was clearly a ball of teeth, claws and rage but at the same time it was no bigger than a two year old, and there were bigger threats out there.

The imp lunged again.

"Arx!" The spear sprang up, the demon twisted and slammed its horns through the weapon, shattering it. Mel called another of the weapons from the ground, this time directly into her hands, then whipped it around like a stave, icy shaft slamming between the horns into its head, driving it to the ground in a daze.

She followed with a vicious kick to its side, then in a moment of twisted inspiration tossed with a heave into the air.

"Arx." The spear of ice shot out from the wall, threaded the imps' horns, and left it dangling, alive but helpless. It kicked and flailed for a moment, swaying hopelessly, then went limp with a look so comically deject that Mel almost laughed at it.

“Bad imp. Bad imp not protect.”

Mel grimaced. It..it wasn’t going to cry was it?

“Uh…”

“Master say protect! Not protect! Bad imp!”

“Wait, were you Joe’s?”

The imp lit up and nodded vigorously, swaying from the spear shaft.

“Joe master! Need to protect Joe!”

“He uh, he’s not here anymore.”

The imp flailed again, tiny claws swiping at the air. “Need to protect! Good imp protects! Where! Where!?”

Mel narrowed her eyes. “If I let you down will you go find Joe, and not fight me?”

The imp nodded solemnly, eyes wide. “Good imp protects. Master not here. Give not-master treasure, not-master let go?”

She studied the, frankly pathetic, creature in front of her. There were stories of course, hundreds of them, of the duplicity and cunning of demons, that they couldn’t be trusted…but surely they couldn’t be about this one.

“Alright. You’ll get a dozen spears through your head if you cross me though.”

“Good imp! Good imp! Not-master gets treasure, protect master! Good imp!”

Mel reached up and pulled on the ice spear, snapped. The imp hopped down, grinning ear to ear and scampered deeper into the cave.

“Good treasure! Good treasure! Then protect master!”

Mel chased after the imp, going down through winding tunnels, catching glimpse of storerooms and workshops, all in various states of chaos and disrepair. The imp dove into one of the storerooms, sending boxes flying, overturning tables. A few minutes of chaos later the imp returned with a box, setting it reverently into her hands.

“Bye not-master! Protect!” The imp bolted back up the temple at a full sprint.

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Mel let out a long breath and continued her scouting of the caves. The tunnel continued to wind downward, the temperature steadily rising. She turned a final corner and gasped as a wall of oven like temperature slammed into her. A simmering pool of molten lava stretched out in front of her, a narrow bridge stretching out into the middle, terminating in a small stone coffer perched on a stone pedestal. She squinted out at it and glanced down at her wand, the distance was far too long. She’d need a stronger wand, or some other approach.

She retreated back up to the cooler parts of the cave system and considered her next move.

The Imp’s Treasure (Pick One)

> A black bottle labeled ‘Joe’s Secret BBQ Sauce’
> A wand with a small tag attached, with a crude picture of a shovel
> A bottle labeled “All nighter”
> A little black book labeled “Cipher key”

Joe’s Cave

> Dig into the labs and workshops, looking for arcane notes and magical supplies
> Dig through the storerooms, looking for tools and mundane supplies
> Sort out the messy camp topside, looking for food and camping equipment.
> Get past the lava cave…somehow? Write in
> Write in?

>>5319454

I'd actually been considering a 'lucky' number system for the quest, which ironically would have had the lucky number be '42', the last two digits of the first post's number. Which actually happened in this post, so hey, you manage to get the imp into a position to negotiate and he finds you a treasure.

>>5319824
> A little black book labeled “Cipher key”
> Dig into the labs and workshops, looking for arcane notes and magical supplies
I want to loot this place for pretty much all it's worth, but magic is the highest priority.

Not sure about how to get around the molten magma. I bet with the shovel wand we could probably build a dam or something, redirect it, but the cypher key is a bit of a mystery box and I love a good mystery box.

>>5319824
> A little black book labeled “Cipher key”
> Dig into the labs and workshops, looking for arcane notes and magical supplies

I want to retrieve that coffer sometime though.

>>5319824

>>5319845
>>5319870
+1 to these! Let's hope there's a 'surprise' in the supplies! A good one, that is.

>>5319824
>Joe's Secret BBQ Sauce
>Dig into the labs and workshops

>>5319824
>A bottle labeled “All nighter”
> Dig through the storerooms, looking for tools and mundane supplies

>>5319824
>A wand with a small tag attached, with a crude picture of a shovel
> Dig into the labs and workshops, looking for arcane notes and magical supplies

>>5319824
>> A wand with a small tag attached, with a crude picture of a shovel
> Dig into the labs and workshops, looking for arcane notes and magical supplies

>>5319824
> A little black book labeled “Cipher key”
> Dig through the storerooms, looking for tools and mundane supplies

>>5319824
> A bottle labeled “All nighter”
> Dig through the storerooms, looking for tools and mundane supplies

>>5319824
I'll switch my vote from >>5319878 to:
>A bottle labeled “All nighter”
>Dig through the storerooms, looking for tools and mundane supplies

> Dig into the labs and workshops, looking for arcane notes and magical supplies (5)
> Dig through the storerooms, looking for tools and mundane supplies (4)

> A little black book labeled “Cipher key” (4)
> A bottle labeled “All nighter” (3)
> A wand with a small tag attached, with a crude picture of a shovel (2)

Could I get a 1d100BO3?

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>5320459

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>5320459

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>5320459
Here comes da C R I T

Mel popped open the imp's treasure and found a tiny black book labeled 'Joe's Cipher'. She paged through it, finding more insane ramblings…saturn eats Marla, cat is witchbane, gophers need time, chestnuts rises Joe, rings spin mana…her head ached just looking at it.

Then the pieces snapped together. The insane notes scattered everywhere were in code. Marla needs more time. Joe is out of witchbane. Marla, who was Marla? She’d need more notes, and there was probably magical research to be had there as well.

She pulled a random box off a shelf and tipped its contents (fruit peelings) onto the floor then moved through the room rescuing notes and papers from the dozens of places they were tucked and hidden, or nailed or glued. She'd have to go through and decipher them later, but the notes were just the start of the treasures in the workshop.

Half an hour of sweaty dusty work later had heaped boxes of spoiled food, withered potted plants and ceramic shards in the tunnel outside the room. What she had originally mistaken as a tabletop was actually a slab of marble, marked and inscribed with symbols. Her hand reached out and touched it.

Something moved in the space behind reality, gripping onto her hand. She wrenched it back, wincing as she felt something settle into her hand, criss-crossing lines of light covering the skin. A soft glow formed around her hand, then…

Then nothing. She stared at her glowing hand with a frown, waiting for something terrible to happen, and it continued its gentle white glow. After a few minutes the lines untraced, the 'something' faded and the glow dimmed out of existence. Another strange artifact to unravel, but not apparently a dangerous one.

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The rest of the room was fairly simple. Trash was removed, notes gathered. A box of yellow foul smelling sulfur crystals was located and set carefully aside. Four precious looking stones were gathered from across random shelves, an inky black jet stone, a green emerald, a black agate, and a rust red zircon. What purpose they held was unknown, but each had been carefully placed in a small felt box and labeled, unlike most of the trash across the room.

She hauled her treasures out of the tunnels into the daylight. There was probably something she had missed in all that junk, but she felt fairly confident there wasn’t much left in the workshop. The sulfur and the slab could probably wait, she could barely carry the one, and the other stank and wasn’t good for anything…Still might not hurt to bring a couple pieces. She tossed a few sulfur chunks and the gemstones in with the box of notes and set off for home.

Afternoon Day 2

Mel took a moment to sort the notes from the cave, flipping through the cipher, trying to piece together the chaotic writings in some sort of sensible order. Even with the cipher there were definite signs of stress in the writing, some sections were shakily written the looping script sprouting spikes and unpleasant twists and faces, while others seem to genuinely ponder the need for more chestnuts. Still, the cipher had saved her hours of work, there was definitely a pair of spells detailed somewhere in this mess. There were, roughly speaking, three missing sections of the notes, although the fragments she had seemed to indicate the part she wanted was the section at the end. Judging by the notes on syllable stress there was a description of a divine word.

> Study Rune Circles
> Study Ley Flows
> Study Imp Summoning (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Locate Object (Joe’s Notes)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage, mostly mundane supplies)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp, Maybe food and more notes to be found)

>>5321104
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining)

>>5321104
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining)

If you want to go back for that last item in the lab go ahead and specify a follow up in the cave and we'll run that as well with a penalty.

>>5321104
>> Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp, Maybe food and more notes to be found)
Our camp set-up is pretty rough.

>>5321225
I'm down for
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp, Maybe food and more notes to be found)
as a follow-up.

File: Glowing Hand Slab Design.png (91 KB, 1034x1030)

91 KB PNG

A thousand pardons, I neglected to include a picture of the design on the marble slab that makes your hand glow.

If you'd like to perform any quick experiments with that slab just mention it, anything not time intensive I'll just tuck into the next update. Or if you'd rather not meddle with strange magical artifacts you know nothing about that's fine too!

>>5321104
>Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining)

>>5321104
>> Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp, Maybe food and more notes to be found)

>>5321104
>> Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp, Maybe food and more notes to be found)

>>5321104
>Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp, Maybe food and more notes to be found)

File: broken camp.jpg (217 KB, 1024x768)

217 KB JPG

> Return to Joe’s Cave (Camp)

Mel set the partially sorted notes back down in the box and glanced around the meager campsite, eyes resting briefly on her skeletal friend.

“It could use some sprucing up.” She peered down at the notes and sighed, it was tempting to spend more time with them, there was something in there about summoning imps even, and she could definitely use another pair of hands, or claws at least. But waking up with an aching body every day with nothing but overcooked strips of venison to look forward to was also taking a toll on her. Time to raid Joe’s campsite.

The camp was as she had left it, spoiled food, cluttered boxes, collapsed tent and overturned kettle waiting patiently. She set to work, collapsing the tent, emptying the stale water from the kettle, and gathering up notes.

Notes, a blanket of stitched furs, the fabric of the tent, the kettle all went into a box. Her hand pushed against something hard as she packed the tent away and she pulled out a battered journal, ink faded with age. She flipped through it, taking a momentary break.

Father says that because I begin my apprenticeship tomorrow I should keep a memoire, I am not sure I agree, but he says he will check it daily and thus I must write or face dire consequences. I wonder if I will be allowed to make a sword on my first day as a blacksmith?

This must be something from Joe's childhood…she flipped further forward.

Master caught me making iron roses for Marla today, my arms still ache from the extra work he tasked me with! Still, I think he was impressed by the quality, and I can't fault him being protective of his daughter.

She smiled and found herself wondering if Joe perhaps had a child somewhere beyond this place. As she flipped through idle daydreams she stopped as the neat looping text suddenly went shaky and spikey.

We face a crisis. A stranger arrived at the forge today, strange in both dress and manner. I do not know what words were exchanged but the master grew angry and swung with his hammer. Within moments there was a crack like lightning and the master was dead. The stranger spoke words I had never heard, dropping my Marla to her knees, then forced some elixir into her. The stranger fled, then my Marla became some sort of snarling beast.

Mel shook her head and dropped the journal into the box. She knew the remainder of the story. He had sought magic to heal his love, and had earned an exile instead, while some rogue wizard wandered the land sowing chaos. Hopefully Joe was well on his way now. Time for her to be on her way as well. She made one last pass through the campsite.

Roll 1d100BO3

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>5321959

Rolled 40 (1d100)

>>5321959
Watch THIS

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>5321959

Mel started the trudging walk back home, heavy box in her hands. The kettle wobbled atop the heap and she adjusted her grip as her sweaty palms.

The nonstop cacophony of birdsong dropped off shortly and she paused for a moment, listening. Silence…then something rustling through the underbrush a steady movement, not the rhythm of boots or paws…

Mel checked behind her, eyes scanning the forest, then turned back, staring directly into a pair of yellow eyes.

"Fuck!" She thrust the box forward and stumbled backwards. The owner of the eyes, a smiling young woman with short boyish hair, reached out a hand with a flourish and caught it with one hand, balancing the heavy crate on her outstretched hand.

"Why hello!" The stranger leaned down, arms and spine bending just a little too much and set the crate on the ground. "Did we cause you fear and unpleasantness? Ten thousand apologies!" She grinned, revealing a mouth with too many teeth and too many sharp points.

"Uh…hi."

The…woman moved with unnatural speed, far away one moment, close the next, circling her, chattering away. "Oh yes. A thousand hellos!" The figure picked up a strand of her hair and spent a long uncomfortable moment deeply sniffing it. "How serendipitous! How salacious, succulent, sweet! Yes…we desire it!"

Mel pulled away from the figure with a shiver, resisting the urge to lash out with the full force of Arx. "What are you?"

The figure tittered, waving an ornamental fan, yellow eyes peering over the edge. "We have our names, and Melody has hers." She snapped the fan shut and hurled it aside, sinking deep into a tree trunk. "We wish a trade! A breath of mana, a thing of no consequence for us, and you a precious thing, a weapon of fire for foul fowl fiends!"

Mel forced her fist to unclench. Whatever this thing was she had a choice to make.

> Take the deal, spend one mana, get a 'weapon of fire'
> Don't take the deal, you don't like this thing
> Write in?

>>5322169
>Don't take the deal, you don't like this thing
This thing will take our soul if we allow them to

>>5322185

Soul? Is it sweet or succulent, does it sate like a seared stomach?

>>5322169
> Don't take the deal, you don't like this thing
Nah bruh this seems shady as fuck.

I don't want to take the trade, but i'm also curious... If it is a Demon or something like that, and we make a deal that we can fool her, we might go with something useful

But nah, better if we speak with Babs about this tomorrow when we make those tasks for her

>>5322169
> Take the deal, spend one mana, get a 'weapon of fire'

There's still the thing that's coming in a few days, we'll need to be ready for it, and a weapon would be pretty useful.

>>5322372

Lady Barbara? Sweet silly sad girl. Caught and captured and chained by a god, but not ours!

>>5322415

We like this one. Smart, sagacious, simple.

>>5322281

Shady? No we prefer the stage, the spotlight, the sulfur and the stupendous!

>>5322596
Fuck it, changing >>5322372 to

> Write in?
>"Show your goods or get the boot, after that I might consider a Deal

File: Spoiler Image (10 KB, 267x189)

10 KB JPG

“A performance! We of course accept! A sinister sister of the stage seeks spotlight always! Aers!” The word rippled out, not merely spoken or shouted, but spoken with a cadence of authority difficult to describe but equally difficult to forget. Wind twisted around Mel and the stranger, whipping Mel’s hair as hundreds of leaves lifted into the air.

“Who are you even talking to!”

The stranger with the yellow eyes grinned, far too wide with far too many teeth.
“Spectators! Set your eyes!”

IGNIS

A word not spoken but declared, a statement of irrefutable fact, above speech, above thought. Arrows of fire flickered into existence by the dozens, then shot into the air, skewering the leaves with deadly precision.

The stranger with yellow eyes simply bowed as it rained fire for several minutes.

Chant technique learned 20%
Declare technique learned 1%

Your execution of Ignis will of course be limited by both your mana pool and what Divine Word techniques you are aware of.

>>5322169
>> Don't take the deal, you don't like this thing

>>5322649
Was that a yes or a no?

File: marble.jpg (101 KB, 480x480)

101 KB JPG

>>5323501

It was a direct response to >>5322613. Yellow eyes can read the thread directly. Apologies if this was unclear.

Mel took a step back. “Not a chance. You’re trouble and only a fool couldn’t see it.”

Yellow eyes filled her vision in an instant, bearing down, the dust of old books, the tang of fresh blood filling her nostrils. The stranger spoke, with slow painful cadence.

“Terrible, terrific, trouble indeed. Such splendid fun on the stage! But just a sincere sample for such a serious sage. So long!"

A flurry of movement, a smarting pain on the tip of her nose, and the yellow eyed stranger was gone. Mel scowled and let her body slowly relax as bird song filled the air again. What was that thing? Who were the spectators? The power on display was chilling, even now specks of ash floated to the ground. She picked up her box with a heavy.

Perched at the top was a glittering marble, a twisting grey cloud writhing within. Lovely, A
another inexplicable magical artifact. She grunted and continued toward home, she had a camp to furnish, magic marbles could wait.

At long last she set the box next to the one she had gathered the previous day and started sorting through the haul. The kettle was perched on the fire, the tent cloth was rigged into a simple lean-to against the tomb. She continued unpacking, setting a hatchet next to the firewood, a half full oil lantern next to the lean-to, a few preserved rations next to that. A spare canteen and a compass made it into the lean-to, alongside a heavy cloak, a welcome addition to her minimal wardrobe of a badly stained prisoner's white tunic. Her final treasure from the campsite, aside from the exciting prospect of more magical documents, was a scratched up corked bottle containing a sparkling green liquid and a few small leaves resting on the bottom. A dirty tag tied to the side was marked with a smiling face, but no other information. The potion, along with the green marble, went into the tent as well.

Satisfied with the mundane organization Mel moved onto the arcane. 'Student of Magic' was finally secured into the relative safety of the tent. She spent some time with the cipher key and Joe's notes, piecing together the many papers together into a single coherent document, at least with the cipher key.

"Anyone home?" A voice, Babs, called out from outside the ring of tombs.

"Just me!" She called back. "It's not trapped or anything!"

Her nature oriented neighbor stepped into view, massive black dog at her side. "You've settled in nicely. Is that Joe's kettle?"

Mel nodded. "His place was pretty abandoned, I hope he doesn't mind that I picked it over. Was it always so…"

"Disastrous? Chaotic? Disheveled? Yeah, he was always a slob. He loved that kettle though, odd that he left it behind. Oh, right, I brought you a basket of eggs, I've got too many to use at the moment. So you mind if I hang out here this evening? I'm hitting a roadblock with my research and I could use a change of scenery. I promise I'll keep quiet if you've got something to study."

Evening - Day 3

> Shoo Babs out, you need to focus/go somewhere
> Let her stay, maybe she can help you figure something out
> Talk about something? Write in? (Feel free to pair with other options)

> Study Rune Circles
> Study Ley Flows
> Study Imp Summoning (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Locate Object (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Create Breeze (Joe's Notes)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Read non-magical section of Joe's Notes (Purpose of my research)
> Read non-magical section of Joe's Notes (Limits of Sanity)
> Explore Bird Valley (Warning, night)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining) (Warning, night)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage) (Warning, night)
> Write in?

I'll be traveling/on vacation for the next couple of weeks, so don't be surprised if I go dark/take longer than usual to respond.


Aside, thoughts on Yellow Eyes? Fourth wall aware characters are author appeal for me, but I know they can rub the wrong way for a lot of people.

>>5323711
> Let her stay, maybe she can help you figure something out
> Talk about something? Write in? (Feel free to pair with other options)
Tell her about Yellow Eyes.
> Meditate to expand mana reserves

>>5323715
I thought it was cute.

>>5323711
>Let her stay
>Tell her about Yellow Eyes
>Study Locate Object

>>5323715
It was enjoyable enough, yeah. Not badly handled at all!

>>5323756
+1

>>5323715
I liked her! I was going to accept the deal after what she showed us, but she looked somewhat shady with how she appeared from nowhere and in Joe's cave (a place with a Lava pool, random notes with a madman ramblings and a way to summon imps)

>>5323711
>> Shoo Babs out, you need to focus/go somewhere
> Study Locate Object (Joe’s Notes)

>>5323711
>Let her stay, maybe she can help you figure something out
> Talk about something? Write in? (Feel free to pair with other options)
Tell her about Yellow Eyes.
> Study Imp Summoning (Joe’s Notes)

QM?

>>5327286
See
>>5323715
I'd start worrying if QM went dark for more than a week

Guess who was stuck behind the mobile range ban their entire trip. Got a covid exposure too, but hopefully I'll be regular in a couple days.


"I probably won't be much for company but sure." Mel reached into her tent and pulled out 'Student of Magic'. "I think I'm going to try out meditation again, my first run with it didn't go so well, so I'll probably be pretty focused."

Babs flopped in front of the fire, black dog circling around behind her as a pillow. "I'm roadblocked there right now. I need to find a guide, a book, an artifact, something. Just can't seem to push further though."

She slumped against her canine friend and stared into the fire. Mel glanced down at her own tome. "How hard is it find something like that?"

Babs shrugged. "The first few levels aren't bad, I'm pretty sure there's a thousand copies of 'Student of Magic' laying around the spellwild, that can take you all the way to the start of the third level, although it's tough. Joe and I both had our own way to navigate through the third level, but I think I've pushed it as far as I can."

"How do you even start figuring that out?"

"It'll start to make sense when you master the first level. You'll start to see the mana in other things, be able to read other casters, things like Chants will come easier."

"Saw…something like another caster today."

"Like?"

Mel set down her tome for a moment. "She was strong, did something with her voice, sent out a thousand flaming arrows…weird yellow eyes."

Babs visibly relaxed. "Oh, just Yellow Eyes. Did you trade with her?"

Mel shook her head. "Creeped me out. She can't be human."

Babs grimaced. "She's a god thing of some sort, an angel. We've done business once or twice…and it's had interesting consequences both times. Keep your guard up afterwards if you do trade with her."

"Consequences?"

Babs winked. "Better focus on your meditation first. You've got enough consequences coming already."

Mel laughed and glanced down at the dwindling circles on her arm. The horned face shifted and continues its slumber.

"Yeah, I probably should." She paged back through the meditation instructions, refreshing her memory. Earth beneath her. Fire in front of her. Air around her. Water on her.

Breath. In. Out. In. Out.

Blood. Bones. Breath. Flesh. Water. Earth. Air. Fire.

Life. Mana. Energy. A part of everything, if she could just find eyes to see it.

A bird chirped. Her eyes flicked open, greeting the glaring morning sun. Babs was gone, the only sign of her presence a basket of eggs.

[b]Morning Day 4[/b]

> Work at Babs
> Gather firewood(none) and food(low)
> Study Rune Circles
> Study Ley Flows
> Study Imp Summoning (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Locate Object (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Create Breeze (Joe's Notes)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley (Warning, night)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining) (Warning, night)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage) (Warning, night)
> Write in?

>>5331965
> Work at Babs
> Study Imp Summoning (Joe’s Notes)

>>5331965
>Work at Babs
> Gather firewood(none) and food(low)

>>5331965
>Gather firewood(none) and food(low)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining)

Is the night warning correct?

>>5331965
>> Work at Babs
>> Gather firewood(none) and food(low)

>>5332355

Sorry, copy paste typo

Mel felt good, like a river that had burst through an obstructive dam, turning a pool of placid water into a rushing torrent. She could feel mana rushing through her, crackling like lightning just beneath the skin, a fire waiting to be loosed on the world. Unfortunately more mundane concerns had to come first.

> Maximum Mana raised to 3 from 1 (Tier 1)

Her newly plundered kettle was filled with water from the cliffside spring and eggs, then set to boil. The last dregs of firewood were tossed on the embers of the night, the last strips of smoked meat consumed. Eggs and a few hard fruits were all she had left, with no firewood as well.

As she watched the kettle heat, a thought intruded. Could she replicate the spells she had heard others cast? The two divine words she had learned so far had required extremely careful enunciation, nothing that could be picked up hearing it just once, but maybe she could puzzle them out over time?

> Mel will slowly learn divine words she's heard used over time, focusing on one word at a time. This is extremely slow, but completely free. You can switch to another word at any time, and are currently working on 'Aers', but could switch to 'Ignis' if you'd like.

The mundane settled she grabbed the hatchet and telekinesis wand and set off for Babs to do some morning labor. Her fellow witch greeted her with a wave and exhausted looking eyes, and explained the chores quickly before vanishing into her cottage.

Mel stared after her for a moment, had Babs slept at all last night? Mel shook off her concern, she had work to do. Chicken coops needed cleaning, eggs needed collecting. Three barrels of water had to be drawn from the well, an exhausting affair without the aid of telekinesis. The entire length of the rose hedge had to be inspected, on both sides, although for what she didn't know.

By the time she had finished Babs had re-emerged, some of the spark back in her eyes.

She giggled. "You could use another bucket over the head."

Mel picked a piece of straw from her hair. "Chickens are filthy. There's a stream nearby I want to take a bath in but it's got this giant centipede lurking near it."

Babs scowled. "Thought I had cleared those damn things out. Good magic in their pincers, and their eggs. I'll clear it out in a week if you don't, I could use more of their eggs."

"How do you even use a giant bug egg?" Mel asked, a mix of disgust and curiosity twisting her face.

"Oh, in a potion, toss it in a spirit fire. Has about one level of mana in an egg, two in the pincers. Good shortcut if you're low on mana, or haven't reached the level yet. Lots of things have mana in them, you'll start to see it when you hit the second level."

"Chicken eggs?"

Babs grimaced. "Not much. Not a lot of magic in a chicken in general. Enough about eggs, what can I do for you? If you've got any gemstones laying around I can teach you what sort of potions they'd produce. I've got a few spare potions I could give you, or I could spare some herbs from my gardens if there's something you're running low on."

> Identify agate
> Identify zircon
> Identify emerald (won't?)
> Identify jet (can't?)
> Potion grab bag
> Herbal grab bag
> Write in?

>>5332921
> Potion grab bag
I'd like to check out the spooky bird zone soon. Potions will be handy, if they heal or invigorate.

>>5332921
>Potion grab bag

>>5332921
>> Herbal grab bag

>>5332921
>Potion grab bag

> Potion grab bag

Mel glanced down at the bird tattoos on her arm. “Well, I’ve got trouble coming in a couple days, got any potions that would help with that?”

Babs smirked. “I’ve got a couple that might help, I’ll be back in just a minute.” The witch disappeared into her cottage, returning quickly with three slender bottles filled with liquid, a vivid green, a murky brown, and a sparkling clear. “Don’t mix them up. Green here is a healing potion, strong enough to mend a broken bone, but hopefully you won’t need it. The clear one is a little weird, but it makes you more like water, smaller weapons just won’t hurt you, you’ll just deform around them. Little claws, talons, beaks, glancing hits from a dagger. It’ll probably take the edge off anything that hits harder, but not all of it.”

“Clear one to not get hurt, green one when I do?”

Babs nodded. “Clear won’t last long, maybe five minutes? Put some thought into when you drink it, and what you’re fighting. Hopefully you won’t need the healing potion, but…”

“Good enough for a broken bone. What if I get worse?”

“Don’t get worse. Oh, you’ll probably be able to make your own healing potions before long, ‘Student of Magic’ has a chapter on them. Don’t drink more than one a day unless you’re desperate, the stress on your body will probably knock you out.”

“That’s good to know.” Mel sighed. “Ok, what does the brown one do?”

“Don’t drink it. You’ll pour it on the ground and vines will grow. I’d either throw it out in a line or pour the whole thing right under something. Your call. The vines will grab at anything that gets close, you included, so be careful about that.”

Mel accepted the three vials gingerly. “Thanks. Wish me luck.”

“Mages don’t get lucky Mel, they get ready.”

Afternoon Day 4

> Gather firewood(none) and forage for food(low)
> Study Rune Circles
> Study Ley Flows (Healing potion?)
> Study Imp Summoning (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Locate Object (Joe’s Notes)
> Study Create Breeze (Joe's Notes)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage)
> Write in?

>>5335063
> Gather firewood(none) and forage for food(low)
Not glamorous, but practical and necessary.

> Study Create Breeze (Joe's Notes)
To disrupt birds!

File: Map2.jpg (37 KB, 323x273)

37 KB JPG

Attached an updated map of POIs. Going ahead with the update on the assumption that everyone would probably like to be able to see and eat, apologies if that's not the case

> Gather firewood(none) and forage for food(low)

Bab’s words still hanging in her head Mel stowed the potions and took stock of her situation. Her firewood pile was non-existent, her only food was a basket of eggs. She had four potions, healing, vines, defense, and one she had found at Joe’s that looked similar to the healing potion. She had the marble the yellow eyed…thing had given her, twisting clouds swirling within, hard to tell what that was capable of. In terms of weapons there was Arx, and a hatchet in the unlikely event that the spear of ice wasn’t the right choice for fighting. If she was gauging the circles on her arm correctly then they would run out not long after nightfall tomorrow. An afternoon, an evening, a morning, another afternoon, then trouble.If she was going to be fighting something in the dark she was going to need light though, enough wood to get a blazing bonfire roaring. Maybe she could build a few crude barricades?

The next several hours were uneventful. Berries, mushrooms and hard fruits were piled in one of the crates she had pilfered from Joe’s and carried back to camp. The hatchet was put to use until her muscles ached and burned, reducing fallen tree limbs to carryable firewood, then loads were hauled back, one after another. The sun hovered low in the sky as she dropped the last load of firewood down and collapsed next to it.

She fell back onto the dusty earth and cringed as her sweat soaked body touched the ground. Was she forming a puddle of salted mud under her? The air was cool, but her body was still radiating heat after the hard labor. It would be the height of foolishness to pick a fight with a giant bug just to take a bath. She sighed as she lifted her arm, a layer of dirt sticking to it. Maybe she would use a charge of the telekinesis wand next time to take the edge off.

> 2 Days of food acquired (3 total)
> 5 Days of firewood acquired (5 total)

Dusk Day 4 (remote options may be dangerous in the dark)

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Create Breeze, Cure Wounds, or Emit Light
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage or Lava Treasure Chamber)
> Ambush the centipede with a barrage of Arx shouts, you want your bath damn it!
> Use 2 days worth of firewood to build some simple barricades between the tombs.
> Write in?

Collapsed the available spells to learn list and went ahead and revealed what you'd get from the last two sections of 'Student of Magic', Babs basically gave away one and it feels reasonable that Mel could skim the other without an entire action dedicated to it.

>>5335203
> Learn a new spell: Create Breeze

>>5335203
>Learn a new spell: Create Breeze

>>5335203
>Ambush the centipede with a barrage of Arx shouts, you want your bath damn it!

File: dust.jpg (17 KB, 285x504)

17 KB JPG

> Learn a new spell: Create Breeze

Mel heaved herself off the ground and examined the animated tattoos on her arm. The bull was as docile and asleep as ever, while the birds hopped and bounced around, occasionally pecking at one another. It was going to be tough to fight something that could fly, Arx was bound to the ground, and she didn’t have much else to work with.

She crawled into the tent and thumbed through her meager library. The imp ritual caught her eye for a moment, a second pair of hands would help, both for mundane chores and life and death combat. Still, the beast would be just as helpless as her against birds.

A section from Joe's notes caught her eye.

The lab is growing unbearably hot and stuffy as of late. I'm working out the quirks of a wind spell I had the good fortune of hearing once long ago, but had never found reason to research until now. With a bit of work Aers should be simple enough to master, and I might finally get some relief.

Notes scattered across the tent floor as she chased down further details. This wind spell could be just the thing to rip the birds from the sky, or at least keep them off balance. The key pieces were scattered of course, little details scribbled in margins and on the back of other documents, but as darkness swallowed up the land she held out a hand.

"Aers!"

The spark of mana left her and the tent walls shuddered as wind filled them. Papers scattered across the tent chaotically as she fought to find a direction for the wind that didn't result in more chaos. A few redirections later she found herself surrounded by a circle of papers, grinning at the controlled madness as they flapped around her.

Ever so carefully she managed to set each paper down one by one, then escaped the tent, the miniature vortex held in a tight loop around her head. She sent it down into the dirt next, kicking up dust, then with her hands moving like a harp player scooped the dust together and shot it away.

She spent the next few minutes dancing around the fire, raising the flames with currents of air, churning up clouds of dust, sending her hair billowing upward, until the wind under her control finally faded away. She brought up her arm, bringing the birds to eye level.

“Hope you were watching that.”

File: planning-process.jpg (92 KB, 820x460)

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Dawn Day 5

Food: 2 days. Firewood: 4 Days. Health: Good.
Mana: Three tier 1 spells.

Divine Words: Arx (Ice Spear), Vitae (Enchant), Aers (Wind), Ignis (20% Learned)
Divine Word Techniques: Chant (20% Learned). Declare (1% Learned).
Smoke Weaving: Telekinesis.
Smoke Weaving Wands: Standard
Ley Flows: None
Rune Circles: None (five untested symbols known)
Living Spells: Arx (Ice Spear), reduces costs of Arx by one tier.

Tools: Telekinesis Wand 4/5 charges. Healing potion. Healing potion? Water defense potion. Grapple Vine potion. Cloudy magic marble. Hatchet. Basic Camp. Basic travel gear.

Mel considered her options. There was a storeroom in Joe’s cave she hadn’t explored, that probably had useful supplies, but probably nothing combat oriented. There was bird valley to the south, a complete unknown. Babs probably didn’t have more to offer in terms of potions. Taking out the centipede would probably be cathartic, but it was difficult to say if there was anything useful in its den. Simply increasing her mana pool was a straightforward advantage. Learning how to summon an imp would give her an extra pair of hands. And of course she should probably think about where to stage her fight, fighting a bull in Joe’s cave would be frighteningly claustrophobic, but it would probably put the birds at a disadvantage.

Major Threat in three actions

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds, or Emit Light
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage or Lava Treasure Chamber)
> Ambush the centipede.
> Work at Babs (out of potions, can identify gems)
> Use 2 days worth of firewood to build some simple barricades between the tombs.
> Write in?

>>5335709
>> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
>> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage or Lava Treasure Chamber)

>>5335709

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds, or Emit Light
Imp summon, the sooner we learn it the greater it's effective bonus.

>>5335775

Assuming you mean Storage Room, although if you have a clever plan for not cooking Mel that's fine.

>>5335709
>Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage or Lava Treasure Chamber) Storage area

>>5336097
Support

>>5335709

> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage area)

Let's do this.

Sick, update delayed

>Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage or Lava Treasure Chamber) Storage area

Could I get a 1d100 BO3?

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>5337648

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> Return to Joe’s Cave (Workshop/Lab 1 item remaining, can be combined with other options at Joe’s Cave)
> Return to Joe’s Cave (Storage or Lava Treasure Chamber)

There was a nagging feeling that something else remained in Joe’s workshop, some useful tool or trinket that might turn the fight ahead. And she could also take some time to check out the storeroom while she was there, maybe Joe had a few useful potions of his own he had left behind? Or a wand even? Only one way to find out.

An uneventful trip later Mel found herself doing a last sweep of the workshop. Buried under what looked like a busted mechanical spider was a sturdy black leather case. She undid the two metal clasps holding it closed with a pair of audible clicks. The interior was filled with tiny brushes, metal stencils and small glass vials of a black liquid, ink probably. A tiny card was tucked into the center. She picked it up, holding it close in the dim light of the workshop.

Dewit’s personal rune ink kit. Comes with free diagram of mana confluence locations of the human body, brushes and inks for your personal magical enhancement needs. Armor your skin, make your hands into a torch and thwart attackers! Ink refills at a reasonable price!

She flipped over the card to find a diagram of the human body, covered in lines and tiny unreadable details, with locations marked at the hands and forehead, with tiny rune circles written in. Armor her skin? Was she supposed to draw symbols on her body with this ink? She packed up the case, there would be time to experiment later today.

Mel tracked back through the tunnels to the chamber she had declared a storeroom and started inventorying the items within. True to her initial assessment the room was mostly mundane supplies. Rough leather sacks, stacked empty crates, empty vials, jars and tiny paper bags. One wall was lined with jars that had once held herbs, but now held rotting compost, while a set of smaller crates in the back contained gnawed and broken bits of bone, had some wild animal gotten into here? Or possibly the imp? She made a few more passes of the room looking for anything of note, checking through empty boxes and cluttered shelves.

Still waiting on a couple more rolls

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>5337648

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>5337648

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Mel’s second pass proved fruitful, tucked between the jars of rotting herbs were two packets of chamomile herbs, dried for long storage. A few bones in the boxes seemed to have escaped the beasts that were gnawing on them. A leather belt, hung with stone carving tools was tucked behind a stack of stone slabs. Satisfied with her finds Mel gathered up some of the pouches, paper bags and glass jars for later use, and turned to leave.

Her foot slammed abruptly into the footer of a shelf and she cursed and staggered away, bumping into another shelf. It wobbled ominously.

“Oh no.”

The shelf tipped, crates of metal junk crashing to the floor, slammed into the next shelf over. Mel scrambled out of the way, wincing as rickety shelves collapsed and fell, a wave of dust rising up as the cacophony intensified. She waited awkwardly by the entrance as the dust settled, the sound of a crooked shelf slowly dropping all of its glassware to the floor, one clink at a time, fortunately landing on a heap of burlap sacks.

Sitting in the midst of the broken shelves was a small stone coffer, had it been sitting high up on a shelf out of sight? Or hidden in some secret compartment shattered to bits? Either way, it was hers now. She stepped gingerly through the wrecked room and popped open the coffer. A pair of potions were nestled within, resting in velvet compartments.

The first was a concerningly thick pale white sludge. A weathered label attached to it read: Basilisk egg slurry, should be good for some extra mana, mind the taste. Mel set it down gingerly as her stomach turned at the thought of drinking it. Babs had mentioned using the eggs of monsters for magic but this was a little more direct than Mel cared for. She picked up the second potion, a glittering red liquid. A simple tag was attached with a dragon looking emblem drawn on it, although what that might mean was a mystery.

She gathered up her treasures in a crate, recounting them briefly. An inking kit, a carving set, some jars, vials, pouches, and small paper bags, a pair of chamomile pouches, a pinky, ring, and middle finger bone, and the two potions. Not a bad haul.

Afternoon Day 5 - Major Threat in two actions

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds, or Emit Light
> Meditate to expand mana reserves
> Explore Bird Valley
> Use 2 days worth of firewood to build some simple barricades between the tombs.
> Do something else…(Centipede, Lava Chamber, Experiment with magic, Dead forest, Lurid Grove, Babs)
> Write in?

>>5337985
> Meditate to expand mana reserves

>>5337985
>Meditate to expand mana reserves

>>5337985
>Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning

>>5337985
>> Use 2 days worth of firewood to build some simple barricades between the tombs.

>>5337985
> Learn a new spell: Cure Wounds

So... I've fucked up.

Somewhere during day 2 I jumped to the corresponding timeslot of day three, effectively skipping a day. That's twenty percent of your prep time! I'd like to make things right so I have a proposition.

> Lose the day, but get a bonus after the upcoming fight
Or...
> Get the day back.

Apologies everyone, but I figured it best to come clean.

>>5338986
> Lose the day, but get a bonus after the upcoming fight

>>5338986
>> Lose the day, but get a bonus after the upcoming fight
You sonnovabitch. Really though, no worries! It happens. Thanks for being transparent about it!

>>5338986

> Lose the day, but get a bonus after the upcoming fight
Magic time shenanigans!!!

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> Meditate to expand mana reserves

Mel settled in front of the fire, trying to ignore the feeling of movement on her arm. They were getting more active, more anxious, which made this meditation all the more important. Steady the breath, focus on it. Now…focus on nothing. Breath. Feel the mana arcing through her body, from heart and mind through her veins, to her fingertips and toes. Back through the body. Just mana, racing through her body, lighting up every part of her. And yet it wanted to escape as well, race out into the world, be ice and thunder and fire, to raise walls, and transform the world. And mana crackled everywhere. It was in the earth beneath her, the air around her, the fire in front of her. In the distance it pulsed in every plant and tree. For a brief moment she felt connected to it all, the pulse of the world.

Her eyes snapped open and the world glittered with mana. Sparkling in the air. Racing through the fire. The building blocks of the earth, coiled in the water of her canteen. The potions shone with light, the wand shimmered with energy. It faded quickly, but with a moment's focus she could call it back, seeing the world beyond the mundane.

> Maximum Mana raised to tier 2 (you can cast five tier 1 spells, or one tier 2 spell)
> Meditation is now more difficult, but raises mana by tier 2 spell slots, effectively gaining five tier 1 spells or 1 tier 2 spell per gain.
> Arcane Sight unlocked. Mel can identify the mana level of items up to tier 2. Items beyond tier 2 will read as tier 2. The tier of items will be listed next to them.


Evening Day 5 - Major Threat in one action

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object (Rune), Cure Wounds (Potion), or Emit Light (Rune)
> Explore Bird Valley, in the dark, with dangers coming in hot…what could go wrong?
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Very Difficult)
> Use 2 days worth of firewood to build some simple barricades between the tombs.
> Fortify some other location? Joe’s Cave?
> Do something/go somewhere else…(Centipede, Lava Chamber, Enchant items, Dead forest, Lurid Grove, Babs)
> Write in?

>>5339131
>Fortify Joe's Cave
I really don't want our home base destroyed in the... Whatever happens next.

>>5339131
> Fortify some other location?
>> Joe’s Cave
Wood barricades won’t do too hot against either birds that can fly around them or a bull that can wreck them. But if we know where the bull is coming from then spears can act as an effective deterrent, as pikes always have been good against linear charges, and in the confines of the cave, good use of Aers can disorient the birds and smack them into walls or ice spears or shards of glass
The vine potion is Mel’s best fortification tool. She should aim to use it to make chokepoints within the cave

If the vote does end up for fortifying the cave, what's opinions on those defences?

> QM comes up with 2-3 layouts and we vote on one
> QM takes suggestions/write ins and spins up a defence
> Detailed defence building simulation because QM misses little dungeon quest

>>5339131
>Fortify Joe's Cave>>5339509
> QM comes up with 2-3 layouts and we vote on one
Or
> QM takes suggestions/write ins and spins up a defence
You do know the cave better than we do.

>>5339509
> QM comes up with 2-3 layouts and we vote on one

>>5339131
>QM comes up with 2-3 layouts and we vote on one

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> Fortify some other location? Joe’s Cave?

Mel looked around her campsite and considered the fight ahead. Her camp wasn’t the worst location in the world for being on the defensive, but the birds would definitely have the advantage of plenty of open air. She didn’t really fancy her chances of hitting a bird with a thrown rock or dealing with a flock of dive bombing menaces coming from all angles. Taking the fight to Joe’s cave though…the bull would be more than a little menacing, but at least it wouldn’t destroy her camp.

She gathered her potions and hatchet and set out as the sun drifted lower and lower. She had to work fast, but there was definitely time to set up some defenses. She gathered up any sizable branches she could find, and any decent vines and creepers she could hack off quickly. Now to do something with them. She had two basic ideas, lurk in the back of the cave system and let her enemies wear themselves down with traps and barricades, before engaging with them directly, or actively use barricades and traps outside the cave to do as much damage to the bull as quickly as possible.

> Fight defensively. Barricade yourself into the cave behind spikes, heaps of junk and anything else you can find. With any luck the birds will be forced to come at you in small manageable numbers, while the bull will have to break through everything just to get to you. Behind the defenses though you won’t have many opportunities to actively attack until the enemies are upon you.
> Fight offensively. Drag shelves, heaps of junk and create simple spikes out in the open area in front of the cave. You’ll be able to capitalize on your barricades and traps when they hinder the bull and after you deal with the bull you can retreat into the cave to finish off the birds. With a little luck you can keep the shelves to your back to keep the worse of the birds off you.

> Use the vine potion to lay more defenses
> Keep it for use in combat

>>5339919
> Fight offensively. Drag shelves, heaps of junk and create simple spikes out in the open area in front of the cave. You’ll be able to capitalize on your barricades and traps when they hinder the bull and after you deal with the bull you can retreat into the cave to finish off the birds. With a little luck you can keep the shelves to your back to keep the worse of the birds off you.
> Keep it for use in combat

>>5339919
>> Fight offensively. Drag shelves, heaps of junk and create simple spikes out in the open area in front of the cave. You’ll be able to capitalize on your barricades and traps when they hinder the bull and after you deal with the bull you can retreat into the cave to finish off the birds. With a little luck you can keep the shelves to your back to keep the worse of the birds off you.

>> Keep it for use in combat

>>5339919
>Fight defensively. Barricade yourself into the cave behind spikes, heaps of junk and anything else you can find. With any luck the birds will be forced to come at you in small manageable numbers, while the bull will have to break through everything just to get to you. Behind the defenses though you won’t have many opportunities to actively attack until the enemies are upon you.
> Use the vine potion to lay more defenses
Can't be hurt if they can't touch you

Mel worked fast. Branches were sharpened into spikes. A roaring fire was built up in front of the cave, no need to fight in the dark. She plunged back into the pilfered side chambers of the cave and started hauling out the rickety shelves, tipping junk off of them unceremoniously before angling them into the main tunnel. Bags were filled with the rotting messes prevalent throughout the camp and moved onto the shelves, others still were filled with any rusted sharp metal messes or glass shards she could find. Boards and brush were wedged into the backs of shelves, spikes ran through the gaps.

Potions were counted, checked and memorized. The shelves, four in total, were arranged in a semi-circle in front of the blazing bonfire, bristling with spikes and stacked with foul refuse and shrapnel. Jars of rotting herbs were emptied out around the area, then sprinkled with the remains of her canteen for a nice slick surface.

The sun shimmered on the horizon, just a blood red sliver clinging to the day. Her arm itched, the birds twitching with agitation, even the bull had opened its eyes. Mel piled more wood on the fire, building it up to a roaring blaze that pushed back the encroaching darkness.

“Ready Arx?” The blue spear gave two short jabs in response. Mel nodded in return. She grabbed her hatchet and took a moment to turn a thick branch into a crude club, leaving the business end in the fire. She tied her heavy cloak on, setting her stash of potions into its interior pockets, alongside her telekinesis wand. She briefly considered tying her hair back with a bit of fabric, but it was still too short to bother with. Breath in. Breath out. Look around, check the area. The forest beyond the fire loomed tall and dark. The sun dipped below the horizon. The itching in her arm intensified, the tattoos crawling beneath her skin, pushing. Pain built up and Mel let out a low hiss of air, arm trembling.

File: minotaur.png (1.14 MB, 1000x1158)

1.14 MB PNG

“Get out already!” She shouted, voice echoing into the trees.

A searing line of pain that ripped the breath from her lungs, followed by the curious feeling of relieved tension, of a piece of stretched fabric finally allowed to return to its normal form. Mel choked on the scream that poured from her lungs, then it was gone as quickly as it came, her left arm as empty of ink as the day she was born.

There was a soft flutter above her. Shapes darted through the trees, eyes glittered in the dark. Mocking caws rang out through the trees as her eyes darted from glittering eyes to glittering eyes, counting. Twenty five. She swore under her breath.

Something bellowed out in the dark, loud enough to shake branches. A crunch of undergrowth, and another, then a form emerged just out of the light, something twice her size with curving bull horns, but glimpses of human elements as well. A minotaur.

“Arx.” The spear of ice shot up from the ground into her waiting hand and she kicked it loose from the ground, giving the weapon a gentle spin in her hands. She had to survive today. She had to survive tomorrow. She was going to find a way out of this place, and every step of the way she was going to get the strength she needed to take the world by the throat.

Hooves slammed on the ground, horns thrust into the light at a charge.

Combat - 5 Mana / Good Health

> Stay behind the fire, the minotaur will have to slow down to get around the fire, and that’ll give you the perfect line up to hit it with an Arx shout. (1 Mana)
> Keep your back to one of the barricades and dive out of the way at the last minute, crashing the minotaur into it, then follow up with an Arx shout. (1 Mana)
> Keep moving and pepper the minotaur with normal Arx strikes.
> Write in?

> Drink the defense potion? (it lasts 10 rounds of combat, 5 minutes)
> Wait for later in the fight

>>5340353

> Stay behind the fire, the minotaur will have to slow down to get around the fire, and that’ll give you the perfect line up to hit it with an Arx shout. (1 Mana)

> Wait for later in the fight
"The clear one is a little weird, but it makes you more like water, smaller weapons just won’t hurt you, you’ll just deform around them. Little claws, talons, beaks, glancing hits from a dagger. It’ll probably take the edge off anything that hits harder, but not all of it.”

Minotaur ain't gonna' use small weapons and glancing, light hits.

>>5340353
>>5340414 +1

>>5340353
>> Stay behind the fire, the minotaur will have to slow down to get around the fire, and that’ll give you the perfect line up to hit it with an Arx shout. (1 Mana
> Wait for later in the fight

>> Stay behind the fire, the minotaur will have to slow down to get around the fire, and that’ll give you the perfect line up to hit it with an Arx shout. (1 Mana
> Wait for later in the fight

Could I get 1D100 BO3?

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>5340807

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>5340807

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>5340807

>>5341055
>>5340834
>>5340829

Eesh, that was close. Thanks, 7EADdx8B.

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> Stay behind the fire, the minotaur will have to slow down to get around the fire, and that’ll give you the perfect line up to hit it with an Arx shout. (1 Mana)
> Save the defense potion for later in the fight

Mel tightened her grip on the spear, watching the bull demon pound closer through the roaring fire. It’d have to slow down to move around it, and she’d be waiting to drive Arx right through the beast. The minotaur picked up speed, moving directly toward her and the fire, finally clearly visible, a bull’s head, human arms and chest, rippling muscles visible under a layer of fur, animal legs tensing and bending for a leap.

“Oh shit.”

Mel lunged out of the way as the minotaur pounced into, and through the fire, sending a spray of embers, burning logs and ash through the air. She spun in time to find the minotaur picking up a burning limb, pulling it back to hurl it.

“Arx!”

Power surged, and ice spears ripped from the ground in a flurry, two piercing directly through the beast, the other three leaving long gashes along leg and arm. It bellowed and twisted, shattered the spears, beating out flames that had sprouted across its body. Mel moved in, spear in hand, then something collided with the side of her head.

“Rwarrk!” Feathers, claws and beaks surrounded her. She twisted and hustled away, escaping the cloud, then took a wild swing with Arx, connecting with a pair of blue feathered menaces, sending them crashing to the ground. She crossed the distance and crushed both with a pair of stomps.

The earth shaking bellow of the minotaur was all the warning she got before the burning tree limb whipped by, inches from her face. Feathered shapes billowed out of the trees as the minotaur started heaving a massive rock from the earth. Smoke stung Mel’s eyes and throat.

Combat - 4 Mana / Good Health

> The minotaur is occupied for the moment. Use Aers on the scattered embers of the fire to create a whirlwind of fire around you. Probably as dangerous to yourself as others, but it’d be easy work to cook birds with it. (1 Mana)
> Rush the minotaur and hit him with Arx right as he lifts the rock, maybe he’ll drop it on his foot. (1 Mana)
> Use your telekinesis wand to grab a hot ember and run it right into the minotaur’s eye! Then pull one of your barriers down on it to boot.
> Write in

> Drink the defense potion, that’s a lot of birds
> Don’t worry about it

>>5341228
>> Use your telekinesis wand to grab a hot ember and run it right into the minotaur’s eye! Then pull one of your barriers down on it to boot.
> Don’t worry about it

Who's there? Nobody.

>>5341228
>Use your telekinesis wand to grab a hot ember and run it right into the minotaur’s eye! Then pull one of your barriers down on it to boot.
> Don’t worry about it

>>5341228
> Use your telekinesis wand to grab a hot ember and run it right into the minotaur’s eye! Then pull one of your barriers down on it to boot.
> Don’t worry about it
Bull first, then birbs.

>>5341228
> Write in
Hit Mr Mino with the root potion then
> The minotaur is occupied for the moment. Use Aers on the scattered embers of the fire to create a whirlwind of fire around you. Probably as dangerous to yourself as others, but it’d be easy work to cook birds with it. (1 Mana
If we are lucky maybe the roots will catch on fire burning him to death

>>5342032
Hey, that's a good idea!

>>5341228
Adding
>use root potion to my vote at >>5341922

>>5341228
>>5342032
Support

> Don’t worry about it

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> Use your telekinesis wand to grab a hot ember and run it right into the minotaur’s eye! Then pull one of your barriers down on it to boot.
> Don’t worry about it

Mel hacked smoke from her throat and twisted out of the way as three more birds whipped past her. A fourth latched onto her wrist, pecking and flailing its wings, she ripped it off with a snarl and hurled the bird into the fire, drops of her blood scattering the ground. Blue plumage burst into flames and an idea leapt into Mel’s mind.

She fired her telekinesis wand into the flames and snatched up the burning bird corpse, puppeting it through the air on wings of smoke. Ducking low as even more birds buzzed at her, she dashed toward the minotaur, her flaming missile in tow.

Roll 1d100 BO3

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>5342573

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> 42 (Lucky Number)

The bull demon was directly in front of a barricade, if she did this right she could send a bird to its eye, a spear to its gut, and slam the barricade into its back. Three hits that would hopefully knock this thing down for good, or least leave it half blind. She whipped her wand forward, sending the flaming bird directly into the minotaurs eyes. The monster roared in pain, hurling the boulder it had picked up away as it frantically grabbed at the fiery thing pressed to its eye.

Mel threw the spear she held, cutting a ribbon of blood from the minotaur’s arm, and opened her mouth to bring another up into the gut of the beast.

“Ahhg!” Her foot hit a patch of rot, slid, throwing her forward, crashing through a pack of birds, then into the minotaur itself. Claws and beaks flailed at her midriff, ribbons of pain opening up as she found herself clinging to the minotaur’s flailing arm, jerking her around in the air. The monster managed to finally rip the burning bird from its eye with one arm, then slammed her against itself with the other, knocking her to the ground.

The bull demon loomed over her, smoke rising from a blinded eye, yellowed teeth visible…was it grinning? A throaty noise rolled out of it, something like laughter. Mel snarled and batted away the stunned or killed birds that had fallen with her and pointed her wand at the monster, firing the smoke spirit forward. The minotaur watched it for a moment as the smoke slid past, then chuckled and raised a hoof above her.

A voice rumbled. “Good prey.”

Mel jerked on the wand, ripping the barricade backwards. A spear gouged into the minotaur’s shoulder, a bag of slimy trash over its head, and it stumbled into a kneeling position, good eye staring at her as it struggled to push the barricade off. Prey? This thing thought she was prey?

A whisper. “Arx.” The dagger of ice formed in her hand and she pounced, weapon stabbing down at the minotaur’s remaining eye.

“I.” The dagger cut deep, above the eye. “Am.” Another stab, below the eye, the tip shattering in the flesh. A fresh dagger formed with a thought in her hand. “Not.” A direct hit, straight through the eye, splitting it in half, weapon left in place. “Prey.” Another dagger formed and ripped across the beast's face, throwing the ruined eye loose.

A painfully loud roar filled the air, followed by a breath ripping punch to the gut that hurled her across the campsite. She bounced twice, rolling through leaves, trash and twigs, then pulled herself to her feet, chest heaving in air, ice spear in her hand. Birds, all of them seemingly were turning and twisting through the air toward her. The minotaur staggered and flailed, clutching its head, attacking blindly. Blood was running down Mel’s face, who it belonged to she didn’t know.


Combat - 4 Mana / Light bleeding and heavy bruising

> The minotaur is out of the fight as long as you keep your distance from it. Retreat to the cave and use Aers to control the fight against the birds. (1 Mana)
> Take no chances, close the distance and finish the bull with Arx.
> Shout taunts at the bull while in front of a barricade to lure it into another collision, then use Aers and the fire to torch the birds.
> Write in

>>5342791
>> The minotaur is out of the fight as long as you keep your distance from it. Retreat to the cave and use Aers to control the fight against the birds. (1 Mana)

>>5342791
>> Shout taunts at the bull while in front of a barricade to lure it into another collision, then use Aers and the fire to torch the birds.
very efficient!

>>5342791
> Shout taunts at the bull while in front of a barricade to lure it into another collision, then use Aers and the fire to torch the birds.
>Be ready to throw the entanglement potion to trap the minotaur if it manages to make it through the fire again

>>5342791
>The minotaur is out of the fight as long as you keep your distance from it. Retreat to the cave and use Aers to control the fight against the birds. (1 Mana)

>>5342791
>> Shout taunts at the bull while in front of a barricade to lure it into another collision, then use Aers and the fire to torch the birds.

Could I get 1d100 BO3 to not set yourself on fire?

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>5343738

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>5343738

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5343738