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“Hey! Who the fuck are you!?”

The stranger half turned and tapped his hat with a white gloved finger.

“Why, my apologies my dear lady. One does forget these things. My proper name would alas, cause irreparable damage to your mind, but many call me the Storyteller. You may do so as well.”

Mel’s stomach sank like a slab of ice in a lake. The Storyteller. A capricious god fond of plunging the lives of mortals into chaos for his own entertainment. Personally watching her. Avoid the gaze of the storyteller and stay away from those cursed with his attention, so went conventional wisdom. Pray for his ignorance. There wasn’t much to be done about it, but still, it was like a mouse finding out they had the interest of a cat.

She refocused her gaze and the god was gone. Good. Maybe he would find some other mortal to focus his attention on. She turned her attention to her bloody body, the aching pain in her chest. That was going to be a problem without bandages, ointments or even a decent supply of clean water to work with, she barely had enough water to drink. That damn centipede…Still if she was going to remove it from the situation she’d need to patch herself up first. She fished out the healing potion she had found in Joe’s cave. At least she was pretty sure it was a healing potion, it was the same color as the one Babs had given her.

Maybe it was the blood loss, maybe it was the exhaustion, but she didn’t worry about the unknown and simply popped the cork and drank. Bitter, but refreshing. A shiver ran through her, then a sharp shock of energy, like a coiled spring suddenly releasing. She giggled at the sudden odd sensation of the dozens of scratches, cuts and gouges in her skin sealing up, one after another, feeling for all the world like a stranger running their finger gently along each one. Muscles tightened, then relaxed in her chest and the aching pain there faded away. A wave of exhaustion crashed through her, followed by her stomach snarling at the night. She glanced at the charred corpse of one of the birds that had spent the night assaulting her and resisted the urge to rip it open with her teeth and gnaw the meat from its bones. Food, definitely needed food.

Somehow making the return to her hilltop campsite in the dark Mel threw the remainder of the eggs into the kettle, building up the fire, gnawing on her foraged fruits and nuts. She was greedily consuming the last of the cooked eggs when a glowing light came into view, slowly ascending the hill. She tensed, whispering a dagger of ice into her hand.

“Mel? You alive up there?”

She relaxed at the sound of Bab’s voice. “I am! Come on up!”

Her fellow mage crested the hilltop a few minutes later, holding a staff glowing with the same light she had seen the stone in Joe’s cave emit. Her neighbor and fellow practitioner walked through the circle of beehive tombs that ringed the hilltop.

“You need a house with less elevation.” Babs panted for a few moments. “Did the sun and moon spinning around have anything do with your…Oh, I see they’ve changed a bit. Is that good? Your tunic looks like it’s about to fall off of you from all those rips, but you seem alright, and I smell cooked food, post healing hunger?” Words spilled out of Babs in a rush.

Mel grimaced. “Have you ever heard of the Storyteller?”

Babs nodded. “A few tales.”

“He doesn’t like talking in the dark. And apparently moving the sun is simpler than lighting a torch.”

The blood fled from Bab’s face and she sat down in the dirt. “Oh wow. That’s…terrifying to think he was that close by. I can reason with Sylve, but the Storyteller…” She shivered.

“Sylve?”

Babs winked and brushed the question away. “Looks like you’ve got more living spells in you too.” Her expression went stern. “Be careful with those. I’ve said it before, but people will try and kill you to take them.”

Mel nodded. “I remember, not that there are a lot of other people around here.”

Babs smiled. “Most people move on. I’ve got something I need to finish here first, although it’s taken me longer than I expected. I have a feeling you’ll push on pretty soon too, I see you’ve broken into the second level of magic. Let me know when you’re ready to move on and I’ll show you the way.”

“We’re trapped here?”

Mel grimaced. “It’s complicated, and late. We can talk more about it later, I need sleep, and you definitely need to sleep off a healing potion. And find some new clothes. See you around Mel.”

“Thanks for checking on me Babs.”

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Late Morning Day 6
Food: None! Firewood: 3 Days. Health: Good.
Mana: 1 tier 2 spell, or 5 tier 1 spells.

Divine Words: Arx (Ice Spear), Vitae (Enchant), Aers (Wind), Merco (Speed), Ignis (30% Learned)
Divine Word Techniques: Silent Casting (20% Learned). Chant (20% Learned). Invoke (0 % Learned). Declare (1% Learned).
Living Spells (Reduces cost by 1 tier): Arx (Ice Spear), Aers (Wind), Arx Merco (Ranged Ice Spear)
Smoke Weaving: Telekinesis.
Smoke Weaving Wands: Standard
Ley Flows: None
Rune Circles: None (five untested symbols known)
Rune Circle Gear: Personal ink, Chisel Kit

Tools: Telekinesis Wand 3/5 charges. Healing potion (2). Water defense potion(1). Grapple Vine potion(2). Dragon? Potion (2). Cloudy magic marble (2). Basic Camp. Basic travel gear. Basic Crafting gear. Disclaimer: Listed power level of items could be higher, 2 is the maximum you can discern.

Mel woke up with a groan and stumbled out of her tent into the bright afternoon sun. For the first time in days, years even, she had slept past sunrise, body relaxed in the comfort that nothing was coming for her, not magic, or barbarians, or any of armies, guards, slavers, irate innkeepers and crooked slumlords. Just her.

And a camp empty of food, a vast wilderness, and an empty canteen. Well, at least the canteen was easy enough to fill, and her stomach was still full from last night’s impromptu feast. She ambled down the hillside to the spring and studied the rune circle she had uncovered next to as water slowly trickled into her canteen. A moment’s focus called the arcane world into view, confirming what she had suspected, magical power was present in the circle, but only a single level. She hadn’t yet gone over the section of ‘Student of Magic’ dedicated to rune circles yet, but she had to wonder what would happen if she marred one of the symbols. She dismissed the thought for the moment and capped her canteen. She needed to sort out the plan for the day before anything else.

Plans. The word brought the bigger scope to mind. She had dealt with the immediate threat that had been thrust onto her, but now what? She couldn’t just idle here aimlessly, there was a kingdom she had to return to, a world to take by the throat. But she’d need more than just a handful of ice spears and the wind for that. She was going to need power, and a lot of it. And a way out of this place for that matter.

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds (Potion Intro), or Emit Light (Rune Intro)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Explore Bird Valley
> Ambush the centipede that prevents access to a stream
> Work at Babs (Identify Gems/Other, Get Potions, Get Herbs, Get Advice)
> Go hunting, and spend the day expanding your smoking setup, doing a proper butchery and securing your food supply. (2 timeslots)
> Write in?

>>5347025
>> Work at Babs (Identify Gems/Other, Get Potions, Get Herbs, Get Advice)
>>>Advice
Gotta know what's up to make a good plan!r

>>5347025
>Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning

>>5347025
> Ambush the centipede that prevents access to a stream
Need. Water.

>>5347025
>Ambush the centipede that prevents access to a stream

>>5347025
>>5347045
+1 to this. Babs has, by her own admission, killed plenty of these centipedes-- and I don't think she'd object to telling us how she does it, or even just giving us some general tips about their weaknesses.

>>5347025
>> Explore Bird Valley

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> Ambush the centipede
> Work at Babs (Get Advice)

Mel flipped through 'Student of Magic' and paused on the section labeled 'Ley Flows'. A subsection was labeled 'Health Potion', getting a steady supply of those was probably going to be important to her long term survival. But even a cursory glance and a shred of common sense dictated that for potions she would need more water than what gurgled out of the cliffside spring.

Which meant it was time to take out the giant centipede that lurked along the forest stream. And get clean for the first time in weeks! She giggled as she walked down the hillside, here she was dreaming of a bath, completely glossing over the six foot long bug lurking somewhere in the forest below. She packed a few choice potions and started carefully into the emerald tinted undergrowth. Predators were normally asleep in the morning? Right?

Mel paused. She knew basically nothing about the monster, except how it killed and where it lived. Maybe it was time to go ask the one person she knew had killed one of these things. A quick trip down the hill and through the northern woods later she ambled up to Bab’s cottage.

“Morning neighbor!” She called out.

Babs bobbed over the top of the rose hedge that surrounded her property and waved in return. Bruno, Bab’s massive black dog barked twiced before Babs shushed him. As the mage turned the corner it occurred to Mel that she looked younger than her, barely an adult, but the cottage, garden and everything else must have taken years to build and establish. A mystery for another time she supposed.

“Looking for work? I figured you’d be taking it easy for a day.” Babs grinned. “Not that I blame you.”

“Looking for a little advice actually. You said you’ve killed a few of those giant centipedes before, right?”

Babs nodded. “Used to be an entire warren of them, burned most of my potions and wands getting to the queen at the center, then spent the next summer cutting down stragglers. Looking for a good way to turn the tables on them?”

“You guessed it. I want to be able to fill my kettle without waiting half an hour for my spring to get the job done. And a bath would be nice.”

Babs laughed and wrinkled her nose. “You could use it too. Well, there’s lots of ways to do it, but live bait is the best approach. Bruno’s not fond of that approach of course -” The massive black dog whined and Mel stifled a laugh, it was easier to imagine Bruno ripping the centipede apart than the other way around. “But I could let you borrow Lucky.”

“Lucky?”

Babs let off a sharp whistle and turned toward her chicken coup. Something rattled inside, squawking and seemingly bouncing along, shaking the walls, before spilling out in a heap. A lean, bug eyed, black feathered chicken popped up, clutching a black leash in its beak. It tottered over to Babs and held up the leash expectantly.

“Just…how lucky is she?”

Babs leaned down and clipped the leash onto a collar. “Luckier than Bruno. Luckier than me even, almost lost an arm that summer, and it’s hard to find materials to make a potion that strong. Just let her loose in the right area, and get ready to hit the bug hard. She’ll survive…somehow. Just let her loose when you’re done with her and she’ll wander home.”

“You’re screwing with me.”

“I absolutely am not. Lucky is your best bet.”

> Spend the morning working with Babs (Random Potion, Item Identification, Herb packet)
> Take Lucky and go centipede hunting
> Ask about escaping the spell wild, sources of great power, something else (Can be taken with other options)
> Write in?

>>5347953
>Spend the morning working with Babs (tem Identification)

>>5347953
>Take Lucky and go centipede hunting

>>5347953
>> Ask about escaping the spell wild, sources of great power, something else (Can be taken with other options)

>>5347953
>> Spend the morning working with Babs (Random Potion)

>>5347953
>> Take Lucky and go centipede hunting
After this is done all the short term priorities are met (for now)

> Ask about escaping the spell wild, sources of great power, something else (Can be taken with other options)

"Actually there was one other thing. Last night you mentioned ways to escape the spellwild-"

Babs nodded. “I’ll drop by your place this evening and bring my map and we can talk it over. I’ll bring dinner. Make sure to bring some centipede eggs if you find any!”

“To eat?”

Babs winked and cackled as she shooed Mel away, Lucky’s leash pressed into her hand.

The better part of the morning had faded by the time she was walking along the forest stream, following the erratic movements of Lucky the chicken.

“I’m pretty sure you’re a rooster.”

Lucky skidded to a halt and turned, one bug eye staring wildly.

She held out her hands placatingly. “But I’m no farmer.”

Lucky took several proud steps forward, then tumbled into a muddy puddle abruptly. She flailed out, spraying mud in all directions, dashed into a tree, then spent the next three minutes pecking at a bush. Mel sighed. “Lucky, I think the lack of human contact is starting to wear on Babs.”

Lucky rushed back at her and pecked furiously at her shins. Mel stumbled backwards, cursing and scowling at the chicken as it stopped and stared at it, first with one eye, then the other.

“What’s your problem? It was just a joke, alright? Babs is fine, even if she does think-”

Bushes and undergrowth snapped as a blur of motion ripped out from a hidden tunnel, a pair of mandibles snapping at the chicken, twisting up into the air almost completely vertically. Mel stared, gaping at the sight, as Lucky perched on the tip of one of the mandibles. The chicken fluttered away with a squawk as the centipede gave one last snap of its mandibles and let its girth coil back onto the ground, swinging around toward her.

Shock wore off. “Arx!” A flurry of spears ripped from the ground and cut into the giant insect, a brackish fluid spilling from the wounds. It reared back with a hiss, spears snapping from the ground. Mel paced backwards and started chanting. “Arx Merco. Arx Merco. Arx Merco.” First one, then two, and three ice spears materializing in the air beside her, each one trembling like an arrow held on the string of a bow, straining to be free. A red ribbon snapped and whipped in a vortex of wind whipping around each one. She glanced down at the image of Aers next to Arx, flapping its wings. “Thanks for the help.” She whispered.

The centipede coiled like a spring, head lowered, mandibles clacking, beady eyes tracking her.

“Arx Merco. Arx Merco.” Two more spears, a line of sweat falling from her forehead. Whatever part of her that strained to hold them back knew, no more than five. The monster hissed and charged, spears ripped loose joyously in a single furious strike, two to the gut, one wildly into the trees, two directly through the mouth of the beast. It froze in a rictus of pain, mandible twitching, just a few feet from her before collapsing to the ground.

She sighed with relief and skirted around the beast in time to find Lucky emerging from the stream, drenched with water. The chicken wobbled over to the bug, planted a claw on it and crowed proudly to the world.

“Yeah, you sure showed him. But thanks for the help.” Mel winced as the chicken started systematically ripping bits of centipede flesh off and eating them. She turned her attention to the lair of the beast, focusing her arcane sight. The corpse of the beast itself lit up in a few places, the mandibles had a strong glow, and there were a couple other objects within the corpse, but Mel fully intended to put off insect butchery for the moment. Let the birds clean up the carcass for the moment.

She knelt down on hands and knees and wiggled her way down into the lair of the beast. Sure enough, a clutch of eggs was nestled into a hollow in the ground, each the size of her fist and sparkling with a bit of mana. She prodded the leathery balls for a moment, expecting them to be slimy, but finding them dry. More interesting to Mel at least was what looked like a trash heap at first, although her stomach twisted a bit when she realized she was looking at a dung heap. Antlers, shattered bones from a variety of species, mangled feathers. A chill shot through her as she lifted up half a human skeleton. Had some other exile, not unlike her, wandered through here recently, only to become this thing's meal?

She continued digging through the heap, separating out a few bones in good shape and setting them aside. A few tattered garments turned up, just scraps, but they might be useful if she cleaned them. The real prize was at the bottle of the heap, a tough leather backpack, only slightly marred by the jagged tear across the back and a snapped strap. A hunting knife was nestled at the bottom, along with a few fragments of paper.

first day here in the Spellwild! What a place! - - - fairies! Fairies! - - wrong with the water, a rancid red is billowing up, - - rdians on the hill have all died - - lovely little garden - - rest by this stream

Mel glanced over at the shattered skull and frowned. Who were you? The tone of the document seemed light, and the pack indicated a certain level of preparation, but who just wandered into the Spellwild like it was a trip to the countryside? She gathered up the eggs, tucking them one by one into the backpack and carefully wiggled her way back out of the lair.

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“Lucky?” She glanced around but the chicken was nowhere in sight. Maybe it wandered home to Babs? A sizable chunk of centipede was missing, maybe the fowl had eaten its fill. She focused her arcane sight and sighed at the two glowing objects within the bug. Well, at least she had a knife to work with now. The mandibles were separated first, crackling with energy, then she set to work cutting her way into the monster itself.

Thick layers of chitin, muscle, and intestine later revealed the first item, a foul liquid filled organ that she assumed was the heart of the creature. She gingerly set it aside, what exactly she was supposed to do with it was beyond her, maybe Babs would have some insights? She resumed her cutting with a grimace, cutting into the stomach of the creature and pulling out a wooden orb etched with symbols. It crackled with magic, but what was it? She added it to the backpack, another mystery for another time.

7 Centipede Eggs (1) gained
Centipede Mandibles (2) gained
Carved Wooden Orb (2) gained
Hunting Knife gained
Torn Backpack gained

Setting the backpack full of new treasures down on the bank of the stream Mel kicked off her shoes, pulled up her pant legs and let her feet splash in the cool water. She leaned over and looked at her own reflection, black hair just long enough to be disheveled, cut on her eye faded into a scar as expected, and enough dirt, bug slime and blood caked on to grow a garden. She leaned over the water and threw handfuls of it into her face, scrubbing away the grime until the reflection looked familiar again.

Somewhat anyway. She’d always had a face described as pointed or hawkish, but stress, missed meals and lost sleep had sharpened her features. She shook it off, what did it matter how she looked at this point? Her stomach growled a counter argument that she had to concede, fresh water and a touch of cleanliness was nice, but she was completely out of food. And with Babs bringing food over it would be nice to have something to contribute as well. Still, a hundred other things begged for attention.

Afternoon Day 6

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds (Potion Intro), or Emit Light (Rune Intro)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Explore Bird Valley
> Forage up some food, there’s not enough daylight left to butcher an animal, but fruits, nuts, mushrooms add up.
> Write in?

>>5348890
>> Explore Bird Valley

>>5348890
> Forage up some food, there’s not enough daylight left to butcher an animal, but fruits, nuts, mushrooms add up.
>Bring centipede legs

>>5348890
>Forage up some food, there’s not enough daylight left to butcher an animal, but fruits, nuts, mushrooms add up.

>>5348890
>Explore Bird Valley

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> Forage up some food, there’s not enough daylight left to butcher an animal, but fruits, nuts, mushrooms add up.

Food had to take priority. The next several hours were spent roaming the forested area, gathering anything she felt confident in eating, hard unripe fruits, mushrooms, edible greens, and nuts. She grudgingly took a second pass over the centipede, examining it for edible flesh. The main part of the legs was a solid mass of chitin, but a solid mass of pale flesh was wrapped around where each connected to the body, like a blobby drumstick. She piled them into a sack, then returned the main body of the bug itself. Several thick bands of muscle were present, she cut several large ‘steaks’ from it and added it to the sack. Maybe Babs would know something about their edibility, the pale flesh certainly didn’t look appetizing.

Her last pass through the forest took her to the edge of the dead forest, a section where the trees seemed to wither then fade to skeletons of their former selves. She padded into the area cautiously. A rancid smell lingered in the air, even seeming to fill the air with a faint red haze. She was definitely reaching the end of the easy forage in the area for the day, but maybe there was something more in this area. This many dead trees should be a treasure trove of mushrooms and other rot.

Still, something had killed these trees, and continued to kill them. The area was deathly quiet as well, no birds sang, no bugs flew by, not even the expected scavengers of rot. She skirted through the area quietly, keeping her eyes open for mushrooms and forage, but finding nothing. She plunged in deeper, there had to be something of note in place.

Ten minutes of pushing through the dead forest led her to the shores of a lake filled with murky red water. Her nose wrinkled reflexively as the wind shifted toward her for a moment, a rancid smell billowing off the water. No fish touched the water, no plants grew on its surface. She watched it carefully, slowly circling the lake, but it remained calm, placid and foul.

There was certainly nothing left to do here in this dead place, she turned toward home, the only question was what to occupy herself with while waiting for Babs to arrive.

Evening Day 6

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds (Potion Intro), or Emit Light (Rune Intro)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Carve and enchant tier 1 wands for use later
> Use a day’s worth of firewood to set up a more permanent smoker.
> Write in?

Broke the tie in favor of foraging, mostly on account of having already written it by the time the tie happened.

>>5349532
>Use a day’s worth of firewood to set up a more permanent smoker.

>>5349532
>> Use a day’s worth of firewood to set up a more permanent smoker.

>>5348888
- - rdians on the hill have all died
guardians
not sure which hill, but perhaps the ruin Mel stumbled out of, or something in Bird Valley
>>5349532
>Cure Wounds (Potion Intro)
The sooner Mel knows what ingredients to look out for to make these and becomes self sufficient in producing them the better.

the rune intro would also be good, as she keeps coming across them and it'd be good to be able to approach the basics

>>5349532
> Use a day’s worth of firewood to set up a more permanent smoker.

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> Use a day’s worth of firewood to set up a more permanent smoker.

Mel checked in on the simple smoker she had set up not long after she had arrived, only to find it a collapsed heap of moldering foliage, no surprise there, it had barely held together when she made it. Still, now with hatchet and knife she could probably set something up more long term in her camp proper. She set to work, reducing a thick tree limb to a simple wooden shovel with the hatchet and dug out a reasonable pit. Burlap sacks from Joe’s cave were cut into sheets and strips, more firewood still was notched and arranged into a pyramid over the firepit. Three tiers of notched branches were added, then with a grimace Mel cut the centipede meat into strips and tied them on. A quick trip to the forest for fresh green wood to keep a steady supply of smoke and it was done.

Mel wandered to the outer edge of the ring of tombs, taking a moment to peer at the tiny entrances at the bottom of each one. The fading light of evening revealed little but inky blackness further in, but she had to wonder who was buried within, and with a touch of guilt if they were buried with anything useful. She turned her attention out to the north and it wasn’t long before a bobbing light in the trees hinted at Bab’s approach. The witch left the tree line with her massive black dog Bruno in tow, before turning to pet the dog and point him back into the forest. Coming alone today then.

Mel and Babs exchanged a wave as she drew closer and it wasn’t long before she had crested the hill, panting lightly and set a bagful of coiled scrolls down on the ground with a frown. "You need a table."

"It hasn't made the priority list yet. There's a few I could scavenge from Joe's camp, along with some shelves, but it's a long walk with some pretty bulky objects."

Babs glanced around the camp, eyes lighting up at the sight of the centipede eggs. "Trade you three eggs for some shelves and a table."

Mel laughed. "What, are you going to magic some up? What are the eggs good for anyway?"

"You can see the magic in them, right? Pop it open and add it straight to a potion and you can skip enchanting the herbs. Same for the mandibles, although you'll need to grind them up first. You can do the same with other kinds of magic, toss it in fire, mark a rune circle. Or you can enchant them and mix them in with healing herbs and make a mana potion for later. Stuff like these eggs might as well be currency among mages, it's more important than gold ever will be."

"So three eggs for a few shelves is a normal exchange?"

Babs grinned. "It's probably highway robbery, you'll probably find a way to get some furniture eventually. Or just move on, which is what we're here to talk about. Here, empty this into your kettle and I'll get the maps ready." Babs handed off a bundle of meat and vegetables wrapped in paper and started pulling scrolls out.

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Mel unloaded the food into her kettle, building up the fire as the sun slipped below the horizon. "You like mushrooms?"

"Sure. Beats starving."

"Is centipede meat any good?"

"Sure. Sort of like crab if you've ever had it…of course I've only had giant crab here in the Spellwild so maybe it only tastes like giant crab?" Babs shrugged. "Toss it in, it's not bad. Eggs are nasty, but they're better for mana anyway."

Mel added a slab of Centipede meat with a grimace. "There's not a lot of great tasting potions are there?"

Babs laughed. "You're usually too busy trying not to die to care, but yeah, they're all nasty, especially lycanthropy ones."

Vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and meat seared and hissed at the bottom of the pot as Mel stirred them around with a carved branch, a delightful melody of aroma wafting up and out. An actual meal was something she hadn't had for a long time, even before exile she had survived on stale bread and the occasional bruised fruit for ages.

"Alright, stop drooling into the pot and come take a look at this." Babs waved her over.

"This is a map of the area. You'll note these mountains all around the area, they're mean and high, really high. I tried to cut across once and got about half way before I started getting woozy, the air gets really thin, Bruno had to drag me back, I had gotten delirious. I might be able to do it now, but I was a lot less experienced then, and still more than you now."

"Could someone make a tunnel with magic?"

Babs shook her head. "Whole mountain range is bewitched somehow, tunnels collapse and fill back in as quick as you make them. You might be able to go through one way if you were quick about it, but you'd need strong magic to stand a chance, and probably a lot of it."

She tapped the western border of the map. "There's a construction right here, some kind of fortress, giant iron walls, built right into the mountain. There's a gate, you have to enchant it with a level three surge of mana to get it to open, or have something with that level of power to offer it. It's some kind of toll payment I think. Once you're inside you'll be able to travel through the structure to other parts of the Spellwild."

"A fortress? Is it abandoned?" Mel strayed away from the map to the cookpot. Babs followed her, producing a pair of simple clay bowls.

"I've got to get you a little more civilized. You've been eating off a stick haven't you?"

"All I have." Mel grinned and speared a bit of meat on a sharpened stick.

Babs sighed. "Well, it's not exactly a fortress, more of a prison. There are cells and vaults all through it, all of them trapped and crawling with nasty things. I wouldn't open them if I were you. Just stay on the main walkways and pass through."

"Ok, I need a level 3 object, or hit level three myself. Then I go through…but that just gets me to other parts of the Spellwild right? How does any of this get us out of here?"

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Babs laughed. "One thing at a time, next map." She folded up one scroll and pulled out another. "If you head through the fortress and take the left fork you'll come out here." She spread out the map on the ground. "And a few days travel from there will get you to a city, the only I've seen in the Spellwild. If anyone knows, they're there."

“A city…” The idea of true civilization was a little bewildering. “Would have been nice to have started there.”

Babs grimaced. “As far as anyone can tell people just appear all over the Spellwild. There are mountain ranges all over cutting it into pieces, and the only way from place to place is through places like the fortress to the north. We’re in a fairly small section right here, but there’s much larger areas to the north and south of us, although a lot of it is taken up by the citadels.”

“Citadels?” Babs crunched through a carrot and frowned. “This is a lot.”

“Don’t worry about the citadels, no one knows what they’re about but everyone has their pet theories. If you’re looking for information though, you want to get to Spellbreak, the only city in the spellwild. At least the only one I know of.”

“Why the only one?”

Babs shrugged. “People who live there say it's because there’s no magic there, all magic is suppressed in that slice of land. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other villages or even cities out there, but Spellbreak is probably the biggest. Knowing your neighbor can’t send an explosion spirit into your house at night is a plus.”

“Ok. What’s the catch?”
Babs laughed. “I knew you were smart. Someone let something out of the vault about a month ago.” Her face went dark for a moment before she shook her head. “And it set up camp just outside the fortress. Some kind of skeleton army. You’ll need to bust through to get into the fortress at all. I’d clear it out, but I’ve been working my own project, sorry, I just don’t have the time or the resources to fight a gang of skeletons.”

Mel’s face fell. “Just a skeleton army.”

“Just the one, yeah. With a sorcerer of some sort. Assuming nothing else is loose in the vault.” Babs grinned. “No one said it was going to be easy.”

As many or as few as you’d like
> Ask questions (the route, the city, the skeletons, this gross centipede heart I forgot you had)
> Trade eggs for furniture
> Press for details on her project
> She mentioned more interesting work when you were stronger…well?
> Write in?

File: Iron Wood Map.jpg (998 KB, 1734x1314)

998 KB JPG

And this is Bab's personal map of the area you're in right now, with slight annotations based on your combined knowledge (at least what Babs is telling you). Feel free to write in questions on anything there, her map of the Spellbreak region is much sparser because she's spent relatively little time there, but she's been here for some time.

>>5350459
> Ask questions (the route, the city, the skeletons, this gross centipede heart I forgot you had)
>> Trade eggs for furniture
>> She mentioned more interesting work when you were stronger…well?

>>5350459
> Ask questions (the route, the city, the skeletons, this gross centipede heart I forgot you had)
> She mentioned more interesting work when you were stronger…well?
>Do NOT trade the eggs for furniture, but for something useful and portable, a sit seems we'll be moving soon

>>5350459
> Ask questions (this gross centipede heart I forgot you had, Why is there no life around the Red Lake?, Is that why the Fae Village is probably abandoned?)
> Trade eggs for furniture
> She mentioned more interesting work when you were stronger…well?

>>5350459
>Trade eggs for furniture
> Ask questions (the route, the city, the skeletons, this gross centipede heart I forgot you had)
> She mentioned more interesting work when you were stronger…well?

>>5350459
> Ask questions (the route, the city, the skeletons, this gross centipede heart I forgot you had)
>>Red Lake
>>C. Heart
>>Are the skeletons going to move or make trouble? Or are they avoidable for now
Ice spears aren't the best for dealing with skeletons, Mel's going to need something else for them
>Do NOT trade the eggs for furniture
There's other ways to get furniture, come on, and no point getting possessive about things we can't carry anyway

"Raising my own level feels tough. I haven't tried it yet, but I feel like I'm hitting my limits."

Babs sat her bowl down and snapped a few twigs absently. "Limits are a frequent problem for mages." She tossed the sticks into the fire. "Your power grows in different ways at different times, three stages, Growth, Pushing, and Blocked. I'm Blocked right now stuck right at the start of level four. Growth is where you were, and Pushing is where you are. Advanced mages like myself are always looking for ways to get back into Growth or even Pushing."

"What's your plan right now?"

Babs face twisted into a snarl, and Mel tensed, feeling mana thicken in the air, pulling toward her neighbor…then Babs took a deep breath and the mana dissipated, rushing away like an exhaled breath of relief.

"Be careful with a question like that." Babs suddenly looked very small, very much like a girl barely into adulthood sitting in front of a fire in a vast wilderness. “I’ve been Blocked for a few years now, trying to find a way though. I need to find a way to heal the dead forest, but something that big, that large, you’d need magic on a level I can barely comprehend…I just don’t understand how a person is supposed to be able to do it.” She slumped, falling back against the dirt. “It’s just stupid. Yeah, I said it Sylve, it’s stupid, and I’m so tired of dealing with it!”

“So the red lake, this abandoned fey village on the map, the whole dead forest…”

“All my problem.” Babs let out an infuriated shout into the night air. “The whole place is cursed, and I’m pretty sure there used to be something holding it back, but I don’t know what, everything had already gone to hell by the time I got here. I’ve wandered that stupid forest a thousand times trying to figure it out.”

> You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…
> You’ve got your own problems to worry about, Babs will figure it out eventually

Still working on the rest, but a little distracted today

>>5351961
tell.
trying to solve.

>>5348888
this person saw fairies, [gua?]rdians on the hill that died.
rancid red billowing up in or from the water - issue is coming from within there.
person seemed green, but had two magic wooden orbs. probably either something common or fairy related. also got a cloud-filled marble from Yellow Eyes, could be related.

>>5350925
hilltop tombs (home). probably the hill of those guardians. need to investigate the tombs to find the solution, unless we found something already.

only other thing I can think of right now is the trickle of water from the hill, and the magic circle by it.

and Joe. Joe has so much stuff, wonder if he's been here since before the fairies disappeared. I don't think we finished reading his notes.

File: sachet.jpg (19 KB, 203x241)

19 KB JPG

We're a little asynchronous right now, apologies for any tonal whiplash

> Ask questions (this gross centipede heart I forgot you had)
> Trade eggs for furniture

"So…centipede hearts."

Babs laughed. "Noticed it had lot of magic in it?"

"Sure, but it's not like it's going to stay good like that. Do I need to preserve it or something? Dunk it in vinegar?"

Babs chuckled. "Like a pickle!" She giggled.

"Hey! How else would I preserve it?"

"Smoke it? Salt it?"

"You are an ass."

Babs shrugged and continued grinning. "Bottle it with water and hit it with vitae matching its level, or as high as you can tell anyway. That'll preserve the magic at least. Or wrap it up in paper or a bag and do the same if you figure you’ll want it for a smoke spell. I’d dry it out in your smoker after you enchant it if you do that, but it’s not required, just…less messy.”

“You can do the same thing with the eggs right?”

“Yeah, if you want to hold onto them for a long time. I’d just make them into mana potions myself. Offer still stands by the way.”

Mel lifted an eyebrow. “Highway robbery has me a little hesitant.”

Babs grinned toothily. “Tell you what, I’ll even throw in the golem.”

“Golem? Big stone statue thing?”

“Not…quite. Little stubby thing. Very slow, very persistent, very tough. I prefer faster minions, but they’re pretty useful in the right situations. You could have it haul things back from Joe’s cave for you, carry firewood. Practically a steal for three eggs.”

“Two.” Mel folded her arms.

Babs narrowed her eyes, pouting a little. “Fine! Should have ran the thing down myself. Here,”
Babs dug a small tightly wrapped paper packet from a pocket. “Put three drops of blood, your blood, on it or it won’t know who its master is. Then just light it on fire, you can throw it right in the fire if you want, or a torch is fine since it’s just a little one.”

Lost 2 centipede eggs(1)
Gained Golem Sachet(1)

Summon the Golem now?
> Spill the blood and get that little guy working
> Some other time

>>5351961
Is still open for votes

>>5352055

You found one wooden orb, with tier 2 magic running through it. I might need a better notation for spell level. Maybe it has something to do with something else wooden and carved?

>>5351961
> You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…
> Spill the blood and get that little guy working

>>5351961
> You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…

The dead guardians are in our little tomb complex, and if they could be revived or communicated with beyond the grave, they would be able to tell us what killed them and clue us in as to how to reverse it... Maybe.

>>5352252
> Spill the blood and get that little guy working

>>5351961
You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…
>>5352252
> Spill the blood and get that little guy working

>>5351961
>> You’ve got your own problems to worry about, Babs will figure it out eventually

>>5352252
>> Some other time

>>5352254
smoke weaving? wand had visible smoke on it while charged, though. orb could have low, but nonempty charge. orb from Yellow Eyes was filled with something like smoke. guessing orbs are a smoke weaving tool we haven't learned about yet.
A Student of Magic mentioned "dangerous spirits" separate from wands, orbs could be related to that.

obvious thing to do with an orb is to insert it somewhere, but I've ctrl-f-ed hole and indent without seeing anything that sounds related.

>>5352252
>> You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…
>> Spill the blood and get that little guy working

>>5351963
> You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…
What is the missing piece

>> You’re pretty sure you’ve got the missing pieces of this puzzle…

“I don’t know if it’ll help, but I found a few old notes, maybe journal pieces just today that mention the red lake, or at least it sounded like the red lake.” Mel dug out the scraps of paper and handed them over.

Babs scanned them, quickly at first, then slowly.
“On the hill…I knew this is where they died…but where they lived? Why would they live here, it’s just a desolate tomb, of course…it wouldn’t be a tomb when they lived here would it?” Babs stood, a pair of wands in her hands, slowly turning, counting the tombs around them. “One, two, three, four…five. Even spacing. Has it really been right here this whole time and I’ve just been so caught up in solving the problem myself that I couldn’t see it?”

“Babs? What’s right here?”

A manic grin shot across her face. “Mind if I do a little…renovation?”

“Uh…sure? What kind of renovation?”

Babs lashed out with a wand toward one of the tombs, a length of smoke spilling from it like a whip, and with a flourish laid a series of crossed lines within a circle.

“Magic sigil?”

A shower of dust shot out from the lines. “Just a good pattern for cutting something big apart!” She pocketed the first wand and smoke billowed from the second, grabbing onto each section of stone, yanking it out, rapidly forming a pile of rubble.

“A cutting wand would be nice to have.”

“This one is restricted to stone and earth, which makes it stronger, but you’d be pretty surprised how often you need to dig through stone and earth.”

“How many eggs for one of those?”

“More than you’ve got.” Babs grinned as the last piece of rubble was moved aside. “Now, let’s see what’s inside here.” She held up her glowing staff and walked into the darkness, Mel trailing behind her.

The inside was not exactly impressive. The ceiling was cramped and low, the light from Bab’s staff made everything within it pale and stark. Mel had expected, even hoped for ancient crypts or old chests of relics.

Instead there was a skeleton curled into the fetal position on the floor, one hand stretched out, an ancient bloodstain spread out under it, the other holding a rusted dagger.

"Hold." Babs thrust her staff into Mel's hands and knelt by the skeleton, hands gingerly running over the ancient bones. "Sister…what did you do? Did you give everything? Just to buy a little time…bring the light closer, there's something written here…oh. Well, that confirms it at least."

Mel peered in closer at the simple line of text in rust red.

sylve please

"Who is Sylve?"

"The painter, goddess of the wilderness. This used to be one her priests, a druid, a caretaker of the wild, a preserver of the natural world. A sister in faith. She gave everything she had, magic, blood, everything to try and keep this land healthy…and it wasn't enough. Or maybe it bought a few years? It's hard to say. The magic is gone now. Probably the same in all the rest. Dry blood and old bones…" Babs turned and walked out the tomb, dropping back down in front of the fire, followed by Mel, carefully setting the glow staff between them.

"So…they killed themselves to try and restore the land?"

"Blood magic. Your campsite is sitting on top of an ancient rune circle that ran out of power, that's why animals stay away and nothing grows, it gnaws on the life force of anything in it. Mages are basically immune to it, don't worry. You can power most magic with blood, and the blood of mages is even stronger. It was a desperate last attempt at keeping the rune going, which must be linked to something…"

"What kind of magic would be able to heal an entire forest anyway?"

"Healing is the domain of Ley Flows, and it's a simple poison killing the forest. I can cure and purify small parts of it, but it's too big to just throw potions at. This is progress though. I’ll probably be prowling around for the next few days trying to figure out what the circle is for.”

“There’s actually some kind of rune circle about halfway down the hill, next to a little spring.”

Babs nodded. “Oh wow. Ok. That does sound promising. Well, I’ll probably take a look in the morning. Hah, I came here to give you advice but I think you’ve helped me more.” A yawn split the conversation. “Ok, I think I’m running out of steam here, and Bruno is probably worried about me. Anything else you need?”

> Actually…(write in)
> Good night Babs.

Morning Day 7
Food: 5 Days. Firewood: 1 Days. Health: Good.
Mana: 1 tier 2 spell, or 5 tier 1 spells.

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds (Potion Intro), or Emit Light (Rune Intro)
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Explore Bird Valley
> Scout the skeletons
> Check on Babs at the spring
> Write in?

>>5352981
> ask how we can help out - work for her investigating this, in a way that directly teaches us in addition to other payment. whether it's more likely she'll have that kind of work with runes or ley flows.

> Cure Wounds (Potion Intro), or Emit Light (Rune Intro) depending on what she says.

>>5352981
>> Good night Babs.
It's above Mel's paygrade and she's already done her part desu
>> Learn a new spell
>>>Emit Light (Rune Intro)

>>5353007

> ask how we can help out - work for her investigating this, in a way that directly teaches us in addition to other payment. whether it's more likely she'll have that kind of work with runes or ley flows.

“Actually, is there any way I could help?”

Babs blinked and stared for a moment.

“It’s just, it’s going to be some kind of big impressive work of magic right? Something worth seeing? Learning about? I’d like to be able to understand part of it.”

“Huh. Yeah, I don’t know if there’s anything directly you can do, but I’d brush up on rune circles. You’re sleeping on one, and I think this one is going to be pretty important to figuring out the hilltop.”

>>5352981
Still open for votes

>>5352981
>Learn a new spell
>Emit Light (Rune Intro)
If we're living right on top of a huge spell-circle, it seems beneficial to learn more about runes and how they work.

>>5352981
> ask how we can help out - work for her investigating this, in a way that directly teaches us in addition to other payment. whether it's more likely she'll have that kind of work with runes or ley flows.

> Learn a new spell: Cure Wounds (Potion Intro)

>>5352981
>Good night Babs.

> Explore Bird Valley

>>5353190
Changing my vote from
>Cure Wounds (Potion Intro)
to
>Emit Light (Rune Intro)
actually, just so we can help Babs sooner.

>>5352981
>> Scout the skeletons

File: _______still_2x.gif (37 KB, 400x300)

37 KB GIF

> Spill the blood and get that little guy working

Mel watched the light of Babs staff bob away in the dark. A lot to go over in her mind. She had another fight in her future, against a pack of undead no less. Her neighbor, and perhaps even mentor and friend was a servant of a goddess of nature. The Painter was less feared than the Storyteller, but most of the old stories she could remember ended with entire cities wiped off the map, replaced by wilderness. A scowl crossed her face, gods were little better than idle kings, and a hundred times more dangerous, and now there were two of them in her life.

She turned and let her gaze settle on the large hole in one of the tombs. It was a little unsettling to be camped out on top of some sort of magical device, although it certainly hadn't killed her yet. She'd made a cozy little home here, it was a little disappointing to think about leaving it behind, and a little concerning that it might be part of some grand magic. But maybe the golem she'd bought would help, to move out if nothing else.

She studied the sachet for a moment, and drew her knife with a wince. Just a few drops of blood. After a moment's indecision on which finger to cut she settled on her pinky and released a thin dribble of blood. She bit her lip as the blood soaked into the sachet.

"Here goes." She tossed the bloodied sachet into the fire and jammed her pinky into her mouth. There was a brief delay, then the fire abruptly flared up with a wave of heat before dying down to embers. A tiny shape lumbered out of the campfire, then halted. The fire slowly regained strength, the light growing until the tiny golem came into view.

"Hi there."

The golem, looking like a heap of rubble stuck together into a humanoid shape shrugged.

> Send him out for a shelf
> Send him out for a workbench
> Send him out for some firewood (low)
> Send him out for something else?

>>5353951
>Send him out for some firewood
It's a more pressing need than a bench or a shelf. We can always assign him to get more stuff tomorrow.

>>5353951
this is from Babs, right?
half a vote for workbench. necessary to begin working with harder materials, but we're not really at that point yet.

could maybe get shelf and a lot of firewood in one trip by:
get a smallish bookcase with a solid back from Joe's cave, empty it, fill it with broken wood from the shelf collapse and maybe outside if it hasn't gotten wet yet. have the golem carry it.
if no bookcase is small and sturdy enought, just a sturdy box. we'll get more use out of that - golem can carry a lot more if he has a box to put it in. don't super need a shelf until we have more stuff.

further golem ideas:
get Joe's other treasures (might not be fireproof enough for that)

File: Glow circle.png (89 KB, 1034x1030)

89 KB PNG

> Learn a new spell: Emit Light (Rune Intro)

Mel woke up to a new day, thoughts of mysterious runes and dead forests rolling around in her mind. Not even pausing for food she cracked open ‘Student of Magic’ and flipped to the section on Rune Circles.

Rune Circles are often taught as one of the earliest schools of magic, and indeed, with the proper magical materials even a common layman might construct a circle and give it power, provided they follow the exacting instructions required to create a circle. Rune magic is the magic of the earth, stable, sturdy, and long lasting. The first step in any rune magic is choosing the target of your spell. Marble slabs are a favorite of the traditionalist, but this text recommends something simpler like pen and paper for experimentation. You must have some way to mark, etch, or carve the object in question, the more stable and long lasting the better.

The second step is of course to etch, draw, or carve your runic circle into the target. This text includes an example runic circle that will make a target glow. I find this is quite useful on a stave or lantern, making a bright white light at the second tier of power that is without heat or flicker. Quite superior to a common torch!

A note on the layout of the common or standard rune circle you see here. The outermost ring of circles are 'Power' points, these should typically be left alone, these locations are for the burning of mana infused candles and effigies. The inner ring of circles are 'Restriction' points, runes and/or objects placed here restrict or modify the spell, typically modifying who, what, when or where it targets. The cluster of three spaces at the center of the circle are 'Effect' points, the runes placed here directly determine what the rune does.

The final step is of course to fill the rune with mana with the Vitae spell at the level you wish the rune to activate. The rune should remain active for 24 hours. You can recast Vitae within this time period to extend the time, and accumulating five casts within one continuous period will cause the rune to reach a semi-permanent state, even weak tier 1 runes can be expected to last 2-3 years in this state, and a single recast of vitae will bring the rune surging back to life for more years of use.

Mel set the book aside, propped open with the runic pattern on display. It was the beginning of the day, mana reserves at full, maybe now was a good time for some practical experience. And a good light would be useful.

Engrave something with the Glow Rune pattern?
> The end of a sturdy branch, could be useful to poke into dark corners
> Inside the lantern, you could swing the shutter shut to control how much light it emits
> You have a lantern, why waste the precious mana?
> Something else? Write in

If you make something glow, how much power do you put into it?
> Tier 1, a dim light, but better than nothing, and you’ll have more power for later in the day
> Tier 2. A bright useful light, but you’ll consume all of your mana unfortunately.


Afternoon Day 7
> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object, Cure Wounds (Potion Intro),
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult, but it would double your reserves)
> Explore Bird Valley
> Scout the skeletons
> Check on Babs at the spring
> Write in?

>>5353951
Still open for votes

>>5353951
> Send him out for some firewood (low)
Test run.

>>5354121
> Inside the lantern, you could swing the shutter shut to control how much light it emits
> Tier 2. A bright useful light, but you’ll consume all of your mana unfortunately.

>Day 7: Learn Cure Wounds (Potion Intro)

>>5354121
LIGHT SPELL
>branch. tier 1. maybe useful now, can just be a lamp in the tent later.
remember we need to cast it 5 times to be permanent, which means 5 days without magic currently.

also, putting tier 2 on a lantern just to be able to cover it up is stupid. when we do tier 2, put it on a metal plate that's preferably like playing card size. easy to cover up, easy to attach for hands-free use.

wonder what the default "target" is. like, if target-ness is something that spreads across surfaces or through volume. feels like it's surface given what was said about lanterns.

note Joe's slab that made our hand glow is a version of this spell with a bunch of restrictions, but they're all the same restriction except one.
wonder if direction of a restriction rune affects anything.

AFTERNOON
>Learn Cure Wounds (Potion Intro)

no time:
>check out the end of joe's journal?
we stopped reading after guessing how the story went, but there might be something worthwhile for a mage towards the end. quick look. when does it start being coded? is there anything that's obviously spell instructions? don't start decoding for now.

>>5353951
>> Send him out for a workbench

>>5354121
> Inside the lantern, you could swing the shutter shut to control how much light it emits
> Tier 1, a dim light, but better than nothing, and you’ll have more power for later in the day
> Explore Bird Valley

>>5353951
> Send him out for a workbench

>>5354121
> Inside the lantern, you could swing the shutter shut to control how much light it emits
> Tier 2. A bright useful light, but you’ll consume all of your mana unfortunately.
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult, but it would double your reserves)

File: blood-letter-1474541972.jpg (14 KB, 299x153)

14 KB JPG

Sorry >>5355143, started writing before I saw you or I would have flipped a coin on the tier of the light.

> Learn a new spell: Cure Wounds (Potion Intro)
> Inside the lantern, you could swing the shutter shut to control how much light it emits
> Tier 1, a dim light, but better than nothing, and you’ll have more power for later in the day

Mel pulled the lantern closer to herself and examined it. It was a somewhat peculiar design, a combination of oil lantern and dark lantern, made in such a way that the oil flame could be hidden by sliding panels. Still, oil was bound to run out, and taking the time to render animal fat into lamp oil was time taken away from study and exploration. But magic, enough magic could last forever, or near enough.

She set to work. The oil was carefully drained, bottled and set aside. A damp plate was present in the lantern for cutting off air to the fire, she carefully removed and pulled out the chisel kit, hopefully the tools within would suffice for this level of work. Pulling her reference close to hand she started to work, carefully applying each line and twist. The work was exacting, each line had a particular starting point and direction and angle of work, although she had to wonder if the exacting instructions were quite required, surely it didn’t matter if the circle on the light rune was made strictly in a clockwise fashion. Still, best not to waste the mana finding out.

She blew metal filings away from the etched metal and examined her work with a smile. Deep breath in, time to find out she had done it right.

“Vitae.”

The lines of the rune circle flared with light, starting with the bottom outermost circle, then running along the rest of the pattern. The bottom circle pulsed with a faint light, then the metal started to glow with a gentle light. Mel grinned as she slid the plate back into position within the lantern, testing it out, revealing and hiding the light a few times without issue. Perfect. Time for a quick test run.

She emerged from her tent just in time to find the golem trundling up the firewood, dropping an armload of branches and one uprooted sapling, then turning to trundle back toward the forest. Industrious little follow. She looked at the pile of firewood it had amassed, about a day's worth in half a day. That was one chore she wouldn’t have to worry about again.

She circled around to one of the undisturbed tombs, lantern in hand and crawled in through the tiny entrance. The inside was much like the one Babs had cracked open. A skeleton against one wall, a rusted dagger against the opposite wall as though it had been thrown, an ancient rust red stain on the floor. She knelt next to the ancient body and held the light close to it as her eyes adjusted to the dim interior.

was it worth it?

File: Chamomile-Flowers-Close-Up.jpg (66 KB, 800x533)

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Mel sighed. Five lives given to keep a forest alive for a little longer. Babs wasn’t planning on doing something like this, was she? Mel let the dead rest and returned to her camp. The lantern was workable. Food was good, firewood was growing without her effort. She absently threw a few green branches onto the smoker and checked on the centipede meat, which was admittedly better than she cared to admit. An oddly low pressure afternoon.

The bloodstains had her on edge. The power of her healing probably couldn’t compare to anything Babs could make, but if she were to find Babs bleeding out in one of these tombs it might be good to have something on hand. And that meant another trip back to ‘Student of Magic’. She settled in next to her original skeletal companion and flipped open to the last section of her first grimoire.

Ley Flows, as you might expect my dear student, is the magic of water, healing and transformation, among other less reputable effects we shan’t discuss here. Students wanting to prepare love potions are kindly reminded that such behavior will result in immediate expulsion.

The preparation of a Ley Flow requires five critical objects. The first two are of course a vessel to prepare the flow, and the second is a vessel to contain it when finished. For first and second tier potions the preparation vessel can be anything, even the vessel that the potion will be contained in eventually. A simple cup, glass, mug, clay bowl, even a hole in the ground will suffice! The third component is a gemstone of appropriate quality and size, again for first and second tier potions this is virtually any example of the gem in question. The fourth component is liquid, almost always water, although this writer has made due with a fine wine in the past. The final component is an enchanted sachet of herbs appropriate to the magic in question, simply bind together the herbs in a sachet and apply the Vitae spell at the desired intensity.

Once you’ve assembled the materials, creating the ley flow is quite simple! Simply place the liquid, gemstone and enchanted sachet together in a vessel and wait for a moment, then drain the liquid into a container. A cup of water is sufficient for a first tier spell, while a pot or kettle is recommended for a second tier spell. Fear not my students with small stomachs, despite the amount of water you may be working with, you only need drain a mouthful of potion from the container to bottle the full effect, although you’ll find you’ll also only be able to bottle one effect as well. One of the mysteries of magic I’m afraid.

I’ve included the details of one of the most useful potions around, the humble wound healing potion. The required gemstone is the delightfully green emerald, and while many herbs suffice, Chamomile is my personal favorite, although desert folk find great success with Aloe. I’ve included samples of both emerald and chamomile in this book, ready for use even!

File: emerald.jpg (13 KB, 280x210)

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Mel flipped through the remainder of the pages. A tiny envelope glued to the pages, containing an equally tiny emerald was looted, alongside a threadbare sachet with just a hint of chamomile scent and a tiny surge of magic as well. Chamomile was simple enough to gather, although she had to wonder how much healing she could muster without using her entire supply of mana. And she was pretty sure Babs had quite a bit growing in her garden.

Executing on the spell with the readied ingredients was trivial enough, She emptied her canteen into a glass jar and quickly followed it up with the emerald and sachet, giving it a quick swish. To the naked eye little changed, but within her arcane sight the power in the sachet quickly surged out, into the emerald, then back out into the water. Within just a few seconds the water colored a familiar green. She fished out the sachet and emerald, tossing the former into the first and pocketing the latter. A little anticlimactic she supposed, but another bottle that stood between her and an untimely demise.

The little golem stumped by and dropped another load of firewood, complete with an empty bird nest. Mel watched it amble along with a smile, then glanced up at the rapidly falling sun. Day was running out.

Evening Day 7 (4/5 Mana Remaining)
> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult, but it would double your reserves)
> Explore Bird Valley (Warning, Dark)
> Scout the skeletons (Warning, Dark, but maybe that’ll help?)
> Check on Babs at the spring
> Experiment! Etch unknown runes on things, enchant them, and see what happens!
> Write in?

> check out the end of joe's journal?

Chronologically Joe's journal looks like this:
1. The purpose of my research
2. A need for lab assistants (Imp Summoning)
3. Limits of Sanity
4. A system for the mess (Locate Object Rune)
5. Need a way to cool off (Aers Divine Word, Create Wind)

The following is the first section. If you'd like 'Limits of Sanity' I can write it out as well.

Mel flipped to the earliest section of Joe’s notes, a section that didn’t appear to contain any magical notes at all. Maybe there was some useful advice or point of interest though.

The inquisitors can’t be far behind now my dear Marla, I can only hope I’ve bought you enough time, enough of a lead to escape in the wilderness. Meanwhile I head toward the Spellwild, for where else will I find the means to break your curse? Where else will I find the knowledge and the time to pursue it?

And beyond breaking your curse, where else will I find the power to break the one who did this to you? Forgive me my selfishness, but I do serve two masters now, a desire to cure you, and a desire to break him. He brought me to my knees with a wave of a wand, cut down the guard with another, all to force some horrible transformation onto you. I cannot forgive him, cannot forget him. And so here I am, traveling to a place others are forced to. The Spellwild.

Mel flipped through a few more pages of uninteresting travel until…

What an intimidating thing, the great wall! A cloudbank so high it vanishes into the sky! It’s been visible for days of travel, but now I have been through it! And what a tale for you Marla, for I encountered the strangest of beings in its strange mist, a nervous fellow, twitching and muttering, clearly afraid of seemingly everything. And yet, it wasn’t the fog, but the idea that something might make its way back out! How peculiar, since by all tales almost nothing does.

This strange fellow, and I dare say he was not entirely a common human like you or I, this strange fellow offered me a rather enticing deal, one that I’m afraid I agreed to without much thought. He scorched my palms with two rather curious symbols, then…well, say is not the right word, for the word seemed to be etched in the will of the universe more than any common vibration of air. But he…declared something, and my hands received a rather curious pair of gifts. I could take just about any object with them and with a bit of will begin to work them like a master craftsman, quite useful! And even more so I could shape sand into glass the same way, or sift pure metal from common dirt! What a gift!

And what a price I’m afraid. I’ve been charged with a duty by this stranger, this locksmith he calls himself. There are things out and about in the spellwild, things he needs locked away, and apparently your lovely fiance is the man for the job! Well, at least I shan’t want proper equipment at least!

>>5355232
>Learn a new spell: Locate Object

>>5355272
whole vote for
>check on Babs
kinda expected her to be done by now.

half vote for
>learn a spell (either)
>meditate
>Limits of Sanity

golem stuff
ask/check if the golem can see/navigate in the dark some time he's by? standard story on golems is they do their job too dilligently or literally, which could end in him taking the lantern out to see, or getting lost, or stealing from Babs' firewood. tell him to stop if he can't.

tell him not to get living wood like the sapling. and the bird nest is definitely one that fell on the ground, right? aside from any ecological morality, don't make Babs tell us off.

>>5355232
is the emerald consumed? I don't think it is, since Mel pocketed it, but not completely clear to me
>>5355232
>> Check on Babs at the spring
And while we're there make a note of the Rune Circle there, I suppose. it's the most powerful reference Mel has to learn from.
>>5355272
section five suggests that Mel can now retrieve Joe's fire-protected treasure

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>>5355664
we have a picture in the last quest. don't know if the implication is she already has it written down.
it has two effects (glasses and dabbing 4) and zero restrictions. so a pretty simple spell.
by comparison, Joe's slab is a heavily restricted light spell.

>>5355664
> is the emerald consumed? I don't think it is, since Mel pocketed it, but not completely clear to me

Gems in Ley Flows aren't consumed, with a few exceptions, which will be noted when you learn them.

> Limits of Sanity
Won't consume an action, it's just me lore nerding, and Mel isn't taking time to deeply memorize the contents.

>>5355232
New here, nice quest you’ve got.

>check on Babs

>>5355712
early guesses on those spells.
stream: relay, maybe connecting the circle on top of the hill to somewhere else like the red lake. just, glasses symbol looks a bit like two connected rune circles.

slab: made us glow by magically inscribing a light spell on us. used to empty objects of magic by putting them on it for a time.
V is apply this spell to objects that touch this object. / is maybe reduce duration, for safety.

> Check on Babs

Lantern in hand Mel descended the hillside cautiously. The hillside spring had vanished, replaced by an opening into the hillside. The rune circle had been modified with some unknown restriction rune. She stepped up to the opening, clambering over a heap of rubble and ducked into a tunnel. A thin trickle of water ran along the bottom of the tunnel, the remains of her spring apparently. The tunnel sloped upward, curving slowly first to the left, then the right before ending in a large chamber.

Mel stopped, head rising, mouth slightly agape.

Babs chuckled off to one side. “It’s pretty astounding isn’t it?”

Held fast in a tangle of living vines was a massive polished gemstone, twice her size, half black and half green polished to the point of a soft glow. Mel followed the vines up to where they were lost darkness, finding an arc of water flowing through the air halfway, splashing down onto the gemstone. The water flowed through some hidden path through the stones before falling to a pool below, dotted with white flowers.

“This is it then?” Mel asked.

“I think so. Power flows down through those vines from the rune and into the stones. Those same vines are also powering something else, something to bring in water, I’m guessing any ambient power the rune takes in is being used to pull what little water it can find. The water lands on or through the gemstones, acquires antidote and healing properties both, then falls in a pond of living hawthorne flowers.”

“Vines can carry mana?”

“Everything can carry mana, it’s how we do magic. It’s how magic is. Living things are better at it of course, but there’s nothing special about vines, other than they’re usually easy to get nice and long for something like this.”

“So…an emerald and a…”

“Black agate.” Babs answered absently as she walked around the room. “Antidote gem, very useful. Unless you like dying of snake bites of course.”

“I’d rather not.”

Babs grinned. “Ok. Alright, this should be pretty simple.”

“You just need enough magic to restart the circle, right? It was probably a permanent circle when it was made, to keep magic flowing into the crystal for a long time.”

Babs sighed. “That’s going to be the problem…This is a fifth level set up. Tremendous power, far more powerful than anything we’ve got between us. Even if Joe were still around the three of us altogether wouldn’t have enough power to start this thing back up.”

“You can’t cheat it somehow? You’re a level four right? And level five is just five fours, right?”

Babs grimaced. “You aren’t wrong. I…yeah, you aren’t wrong. It’d take everything I have, but I think I’ve got enough. I…” She sighed.

“That’s good right?”

Babs exhaled. “It’s…Mel you aren’t going to try and kill me are you?”

Mel laughed, looked up at the serious face of Babs, then laughed harder until she had to sit down on the floor.

“What!?”

“I’m serious! I’d have to completely deplete my mana pool! I’ll have nothing to defend myself with except a few wands and potions.”

“And a dog the size of a small bear.”

“And Bruno, yes. And Fuzzles, but you haven’t met her.” The mage twisted her hands, staring at them.

“Babs, even if I wanted to hurt you, and that’s a big if, you have a wand that can cut through rock. Thick rock.”

“And one that makes explosions.” She added quietly.

Mel laughed again, the sound echoing through the open space. “Babs, I solemnly promise I’m not going to try and kill you.”

Babs frowned and let out a huff of air. “Alright. Can you keep me safe? I’m going to have to spend the next few days at your camp, and I’m not going to have any mana to work with and…I’ll still be useful. I bet you’ve got a lot of stuff you’re not sure what it’s for, I’ll have plenty of time to check on them for you and…” The young mage started twisting her hands again.

> Babs, you should probably do your set up at your cottage, where you’ve got all of your supplies and defenses already set up.
> Babs, you can stay here, I’m not sure if I can compare to an exploding wand, but I’ll try.

>>5356173
am I right that she's going to use her own level 4 mana plus a bunch of other resources to get a single level 5 vitae, and she's going to do that every day for five days.

wondering. why did it run out? the notes indicate that the red water appeared either before or not long after the druids did the blood magic, which means the circle was decreasing in power or had fully failed at that point.

keeping a rune circle going after five chargings requires a casting of vitae every so often, presumably level 5 on this one. why did the five guardians not have enough resources to even do a fifth of what Babs is planning to do now? feels like there was either a loss of knowledge that resulted in the circle running out completely before recharging, or someone deliberately broke it or caused it to run out.

feels like we should investigate the circle and the other tombs as part of prep.

>>5356173
>> Babs, you can stay here, I’m not sure if I can compare to an exploding wand, but I’ll try.
She doesn't really need the help, but giving her the assistance and emotional support would be nice of Mel. it doesn't cost that much, as well. Mel can just spend a few days at home meditating, if anons can't think up anything productive for her to do at all, even worst case.

I should clarify, Babs will be fine with you leaving during the day, she won't expend her mana pool until just before bed to minimize her vulnerable time period.

>>5356173
> Babs, you can stay here, I’m not sure if I can compare to an exploding wand, but I’ll try.

>>5356173
>> Babs, you should probably do your set up at your cottage, where you’ve got all of your supplies and defenses already set up.

>>5356173
>Babs, you can stay here, I’m not sure if I can compare to an exploding wand, but I’ll try.

>>5356173
> Babs, you can stay here, I’m not sure if I can compare to an exploding wand, but I’ll try.
We can ask her for magic info every night. What a score.

>>5356173
Also grab babs hands when we offer, so she stops twisting them so much

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>Babs, you can stay here, I’m not sure if I can compare to an exploding wand, but I’ll try.

“As safe as I can keep myself anyway.” Mel laughed. “Pretty sure if it came down to it you’d be guarding me.”

Babs shrugged and smiled weakly. “I know I sound stupid. It only takes one mistake out here though. One moment of weakness.” She sighed. “Ok, you’ve probably got things you need to get done, and so do I. I’m going to modify the rune so the wall only opens at dawn, so if you need to get in here make sure to be in and out fast or you’ll get sealed in.”

“Good to know. What kind of preparation are you going to be doing?”

“Mostly just Vitae invocations. You should pay attention when I do them, it’s going to be faster than trying to pick it up on your own.”

The two started back down the tunnel.

“Ok, what is an invocation?”

“Spoken magic comes in six levels. Whispers, words, shouts, chants, invocations, and declarations. The first three anyone can do. You need to train and practice the last three. I’ve only ever seen a single declaration.”

“Yellow Eyes?”

“Yellow Eyes. Crazy bitch.” Babs growled. “You hear rumors of a seventh level, but I don’t know what it’d be called. Hard to imagine that kind of power.”

Mel nodded as they passed out of the tunnel. Babs diverted to the rune circle and drew a tiny inkpot and brush, drawing a single line across the rune she had added to the pattern. There was a tremble in the air and rubble started rolling across the ground toward the opening. Mel danced backwards, avoiding rocks as they clumped and gathered together. Small stones combined into larger, larger into larger still, then entire slabs lifted up and neatly fit together, the tunnel entrance vanishing under a wall of rock.

“That was…wow.” Mel stared, a smile on her open mouth. “A line of ink did that.”

“Well, and a centuries old rune. Sloppy design though, putting the rune on the outside. If it were on the inside I’d have to break the whole hill just to get in.” Babs glared at the rune. “Still, saved me a lot of trouble. See you tomorrow Mel.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow Babs.”

Dawn Day 8
Food: 4 Days. Firewood: 1 Days. Health: Good.
Mana: 1 tier 2 spell, or 5 tier 1 spells.

Divine Words: Arx (Ice Spear), Vitae (Enchant), Aers (Wind), Merco (Speed), Ignis (40% Learned)
Divine Word Techniques: Silent Casting (20% Learned). Chant (20% Learned). Invoke (0 % Learned). Declare (1% Learned).
Living Spells (Reduces cost by 1 tier): Arx (Ice Spear), Aers (Wind), Arx Merco (Ranged Ice Spear)
Smoke Weaving: Telekinesis (index).
Smoke Weaving Wands: Standard
Bone Pile: pinky, 2 ring, middle, index, toe
Ley Flows: Wound Healing, Antidote, Jet and Zircon are untested
Rune Circles: Standard
Runes: Glow, Dawn, Dawn Negation, (four untested symbols known)
Rune Circle Gear: Personal ink, Chisel Kit

Tools: Telekinesis Wand 3/5 charges. Healing potion (2). Healing potion(1). Water defense potion(1). Grapple Vine potion(2). Dragon? Potion (2). Cloudy magic marble (2). Carved Wooden Orb(2). Runic Lantern(1).
Reagents: 5 Centipede Eggs(1) 1 Centipede Mandible(2).
Summons: Golem(1).
Camp: Basic Camp. Basic travel gear. Basic Crafting gear. Sturdy Smoker. Workbench.

Morning Action
> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Explore Bird Valley
> Scout the skeletons
> Write in?

Last night’s leftover mana (4)
> Finish making the lantern permanent
> Enchant some twigs for use as wands later (specify how many)
> Turn centipede eggs into mana potions (specify how many)
> Write in?

Golem duty
> Firewood
> Camp furniture
> Joe’s chest
> Write in?

>>5357078
Morning Action
>Imp Summoning
half votes: >Explore Bird Valley, >meditate

Last night’s leftover mana (4)
> 1 extend light on the lantern.
> 2 mana potions (leaves 3 eggs)
> 1 wand

Golem duty
> Joe's chest
> something to help the golem gather firewood more efficiently, like another box.

>>5357078
> Explore Bird Valley
> Finish making the lantern permanent
> Turn centipede eggs into mana potions (however many we can manage with leftover mana)
> Camp furniture

>>5357108
permanent spell is 5 castings without the spell stopping. since it's already active, we need 4 more castings, which is all the mana.

>>5357078
actually, question: recasting vitae resets duration, or adds to duration. i.e. if you cast vitae twice in a row, does the rune last 48 hours or 24?

clarification: we cast it this morning, with a single casting, that's why we need 4 more. if we extend tonight, we'll need 3.

>>5357137
Adds to duration, each cast will add 24 hours.

>>5357078
> Explore Bird Valley

> Finish making the lantern permanent
> Turn centipede eggs into mana potions (however many we can manage with leftover mana)

> Joe’s chest

>>5356245
I think the mages that died did so while burning their life force to establish the circle. So it’s not that they didn’t have the resources to do a fifth of what Babs is doing, Babs doing (at most) a fifth of what they did by casting a Level 5 vitae the refresh the duration.

As for why they couldn’t/didn’t arrange for someone to refresh it every now and then, who can say. Maybe there wasn’t time and they were preventing imminent calamity (like the red lake was rapidly expanding at the time) or maybe whoever’s job that was died and the knowledge was lost like you said.

>>5357078
>Write in
Let’s go to Joe’s chest and I wanna try something out.
>Arx up a bunch of ice spears on the path to the chest
>Aers to still the updrafts coming from the lava, and to rotate the air in the still area around the ice-spears to cool it
Aside from that I also want to experiment with Arx a bit. Does it strictly HAVE to emerge from the ground itself? Does it always have to be a sharp spear? Can we make them emerge from, say, the trunk of a tree? Can we blunt the tips on some and use those to push ourselves up a ramp formed by some others? When using Arx Merco can we grab hold of a spear and use it as a mobility aid when it shoots? Can we toss a wand up in the air, materialize an Arx Merco around the wand, and then shoot a spear with a payload in it?

I just want to understand the full scope of applications for Arx as we have it now, and how much our will can change it from its default form and function.

>>5357304
I support experimentation and understanding the magic at our disposal.

>>5357078
Morning Action
> Experiment with Arx

Last night’s leftover mana (4)
> 1 extend light on the lantern.
> 2 mana potions (leaves 3 eggs)

Golem duty
> Joe’s chest

>>5357304
A few more things to test
Can we make Arx appear out of other Arx? Are we restricted to only shooting Arx Merco forward-ish or can we shoot them off upwards or backwards at will too? Can we shatter the ice of our spears by will, or at least deliberately weaken their structure? With Arx Merco in particular being able to fire a shotgun of ice or slush will surely come in handy at some point even if it’s just to blind an enemy. With Arx it could be useful to create slushfields and slippery surfaces.

>>5357077
By the way, do you guys think it’s a typo or a plot point that we now apparently have (2) of Grapple Vine Potions, Dragon Potions, and Cloudy Magic Marbles. Also when did we get more centipede eggs? I remember we had (3), then traded (2) for the golem, but now we have (5)?

Really now if it’s not just typos there’s something pretty fucky going on here and multiplying our wealth.

>>5357885
parenthesis is our best guess at magic tier (we can only differentiate tier (1) from tier (2)+).
the number before the name is amount.
we had 7 centipede eggs to begin with. we now have 5. centipede eggs are tier (1) magic.

>>5357895
Aah, right. I recall that now. We always emphasize quantities with (parentheses) at my job so I got mixed up, sorry for being a bit retarded there.

> Explore Bird Valley
> Experiment with Arx
> Send the golem for Joe’s Chest
> Permanent Lantern

Another dawn rose. The fire was stoked, food stirred together, and water fetched. Green wood was thrown on top of the smoker. A slightly scuffed and battered workbench was hauled to the top of the hill, along with a small shrub that had been in the golem’s way. Mel halted the golem and knelt next to it.

“I want you to head back to that same cave you got this bench from, and in the very back there’s a big stone chest surrounded by lava. You’re made of stone, can you go get that for me?”

There was a grinding of stone as the golem nodded, then it started its slow plodding course back down the hill. Mel watched it go for a moment, wincing when the diminutive stone creature started to roll instead of walk, eventually sending a shower of leaves down as it collided with a tree.

Mle’s eyes turned to the south where the birds still circled patiently. With any luck those birds were hovering over something interesting, and that something was a better tool for dealing with the skeletons keeping her bottled up in this part of the spellwild. She packed up her gear, potions, lantern, wand and knife into her makeshift satchel and headed out.

The trip was largely uneventful, although she spent the majority of it experimenting with Arx as she went. There were a few questions in her mind she wanted to answer, the most important of which was where could the weapon be summoned from? The ground seemed to always be a valid source, and she had called it from the side of Joe’s cave once against the imp. Trees, ones as thick as she was, seemed a fair target as well, although individual limbs and branches weren’t.

The form of Arx was fairly rigid, with focus she could make the spear shorter than its usual length of just over her own height, but changing the nature of the bladed end seemed impossible, at least without an additional divine word altering the spell. Once deployed the form of the spear was beyond her control, she couldn’t shatter it on command or control it. It was a poor tool for bearing weight as well, an attempt to use several of the spears together as a ramp nearly ended in a sprained ankle when the spears shattered under her weight.

The experiments did remind her of a moment in the fight with the minotaur where she had called Arx in its dagger form without speaking. She toyed with the concept a bit more, saying Arx without actually saying it, feeling the energy, reproducing the whispered effect several times, although the tier 1 effect remained out of grasp. Maybe with some more practice she’d be able to master it as well?

Quite without realizing it she stepped out of the tree line and into bird valley.

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“Oh. Wow.”

The green valley swept down to two mighty structures, one standing high at a significant lurch, the other on its side, slammed into and through the bottom of the first. The first was once a powerful tower, a great golden bird sculpture perched atop it. Birds of all kinds perched on its smooth blue walls, even now glimmering with a bit of polish in the sun. The second building might have been a tower once, but now lay on its side, buried in the bottom of the first. The second tower seemed almost a foil of the first, rough brown stones and practical architecture jarring with the sleek elegance of the tower above. Bits of rubble and architecture from both buildings littered the valley, and a long wide path of torn and disheveled earth leading to the base of the second tower left the impression that it had been hurled or thrown at the first, scraping along the ground in some mighty catastrophe.

Mel descended down the valley, scanning the two buildings for some point of entry. Drawing closer to the fallen tower she found an actual doorway, the rotting lumber of the door it once held shattered in the frame. A doorway? She stared at the opening to the dark interior of the tower. If there was a door that implied that the tower wasn’t a tower at all, and more of a long complex on the ground…that had been hurled into another building like a spear.

Lantern held high she stepped into the door frame, wincing as beetles scurried away from the light of her lantern. Carvings seemed to decorate the walls of the interior, bugs of all kinds from beetles to dragonflies, with wriggling worms surrounding each carving like a frame. A thick layer of old leaves and ancient organic matter carpeted the floor. Her inspection was cut short by a hissing sound from the deeper darkness, and a chattering clack-clack-clack sound. Mel narrowed her eyes and stared into the dark, lantern held out. Something large was shifting in the darkness beyond her light, although it seemed content to hiss and threaten, at least while she was only barely in its home. Best to give it some space for the moment at least.

She ducked back out of the lower section, the Worm Complex might be a decent name? It was certainly full of enough bugs. A section of collapsed wall formed a serviceable ramp and she climbed upward toward the upright tower. Birds of all kinds watched her passively as she approached and slipped through the only opening she could find, a shattered window not blocked in with rubble.

“Who.”

>>5357078
how much mana does whispering cost? we've only ever done it with Arx. if it's free, I wonder what whispered Merco is like.

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Mel jerked her head up, body tensing at the sound. An owl, nearly as large as her, perched a floor above her, peering down at her. She stared back, wondering what a bird that size ate when it got hungry. And shouldn’t it be going to sleep soon? Owls were night dwellers, weren’t they?

“Who.”

“Melody, but my friends call me Mel. Mind if I look around?” She suppressed a giggle at her stupid joke, answering the owl.

“Disturb not the followers of Ava within and we shall have no quarrel, Melody.” The owl’s voice rolled out in a single deep tone. A battered corpse dangled off the edge near the owl, the beast nudged it with a claw, sending it the floor below. Mel stiffened again, staring solemnly up at the giant bird of prey. The owl narrowed its eyes and preened its feathers, watching her intently.

“Ah…of course.” She forced a smile onto her face and slowly, occasionally glancing back to the owl, started looking around the room. The room had clearly once been like the exterior of the tower, polished blue gray stone, shining golden decorations, small tables and chairs expertly crafted, bookshelves loaded with texts. But something had clearly changed. Tables and chairs had been reduced to splinters, bookshelves collapsed. Scorch marks and gouges scarred the walls and floors, and what once might have been a luxurious red carpet was ripped and torn to pieces, and rotted from water and exposure. Skeletal remains still in tattered clothes were scattered around the room, scraps of sky blue on some and a mud brown on others. The corpse the owl had dropped stood out a little from the rest, the clothing on it being more leather than cloth, maybe an explorer like herself?

Content with her quick look around Mel nodded cautiously to the owl and left the tower for the fresh outdoor air. A monster in the dark below, and a giant owl guarding the dead above. She followed a balcony around the edge of the tower, finding a good overlook for the valley. Down below, nestled behind the Worm Complex was what looked like a battlefield, if the craters, scorch marks and bodies were anything to gauge by. Splintered wood and rubble from both buildings were present. Could be something worth scavenging there, and there were no menacing beasts waiting there.

Where do you search and scavenge?

> Bird Tower, just avoid the dead
> Worm Complex, whatever it is in the dark you can handle it
> The Battlefield, try to get some more information on this place
> Write in?

>>5357960
Whispers are Tier 0 magic and don't cost any magic.

>>5357885
I need a better notation. Probably going to move skills/inventory into image form eventually and use some kind of icon or sorting.

>>5357871
Arx from Arx would be amusing, but the source has to be about the thickness of a person and relatively sturdy. Basically the weight of the spear shouldn't have an impact on the stability of the object.

>>5357304
You might be able to materialize Arx Merco around a wand? It'd disrupt the ability of the wand to operate though. It would be pretty hard to hold onto one when it fires, on account of being ice, and I'd be worried about it pulling my arms out of their sockets if I did. Maybe you could make some sort of cart propelled forward by Arx Merco strikes, although Aers and a sail is probably a better choice there.

>>5356245
Casters as powerful as Babs are fairly rare. Without a mentor or manual it'll be nearly impossible for Mel to match her. She's pretty determined though, so she'll probably find one.

>>5357961
insect cult vs bird cult, love it.
guessing the worm complex wasn't launched, but more propelled itself along the ground. served as an attack vehicle for the brown-clad people to attack the blue-clad people (Ava followers). propulsion method could be related to what's downstairs in it.

owl may not attack over looking the brown-clad people, but it's not like people always wear color-coordinated clothing so some random brown-clad people could actually be Ava followers.

>Ask owl: which ones are the Ava followers? do they all wear blue?

> The Battlefield, try to get some more information on this place
look for holes into the lower floor. can maybe shoot Arx at the creature below from out of reach.

>whisper Merco, just to feel what it does.
don't do this if we enter the tower, could throw off our movements a little.

>>5357961
>The Battlefield, try to get some more information on this place

>>5357961
>The battlefield
Gee, how could this possibly go wrong.

I want to check out the Worm Complex as well, but I think we should enchant a bunch of pebbles on Joe’s table first and bring them along so we can scatter them around for cheap light/scouting.

>>5357984
I dunno why I gave the example of materializing it around a wand. Doing it around an offensive potion like the grapple vines makes more sense, but I guess I was checking on the principle of the thing. Good to know it’s possible.

Transferring the inventory into an image (or a pastebin) would be better. You could also designate levels with (T1, T2) and then maybe use [Brackets] in front of the item to designate quantities. Then again, it’s only me who’s been confused so far so maybe it’s a non-issue.

Quick question, when the Storyteller gave us the option of allowing a living spell to consume another living spell…that just means that the combined spell benefits from the cost-reduction living spells grant right? The combinations are still possible anyway (for instance we are perfectly capable of casting Aers Merco to run on walls at the moment…right?). If so, do we know what the effects of combined spells on mana cost is? Like does it get upped by a tier or something?

Or is this stuff we’ll need to find out over the course of experimentation in character.

>>5357992 (me)
where did the Worm Complex come from? maybe it started near the centipede warrens. maybe it caused them. the valley looks to go SW-NE on the map, and is NW of the centipede warrens, so if it slid down the valley that's not where it started.

the upper floor of the Worm Complex has few things in it, but is also highly ornate. they probably used to use it as something other than a boarding vehicle, and moved out all the loose furniture when preparing the attack. which might mean there are other worm cult buildings where it came from.

Worm Complex has leaves and "organic matter" on the floor. I'm guessing some of that used to be vines or padding, to keep the riders safe while moving.

>>5358071
The upper floor of the worm complex isn’t particularly decorated. I think you’re misreading a line that actually says the style of the Ava-tower and worm complex are complete opposites (and the latter is jammed into the former).

I agree that the worm complex was probably not purpose-built to be a battering ram though. There are much better designs for a battering ram.

I don’t think the organic material was specifically cushioning for riders or anything, it’s probably just compost for the bugs or stuff that was in there that got turned into compost after no one was maintaining things anymore.

>>5359380
ornate:
Carvings seemed to decorate the walls of the interior, bugs of all kinds from beetles to dragonflies, with wriggling worms surrounding each carving like a frame.

compost:
not compost at the time - filled with plants or maybe webbing/silk, that has later decayed and been eaten by insects. to hold onto and keep people from crashing into each other. if people were in it during the crash, they'd need some kind of protection. I'm actually leaning away from that guess, thinking about the corpses on the Battlefield and the bugs that still inhabit the Worm Complex. maybe the payload was (at least mostly) bugs, not people. bugs could probably survive with a harder crash.

if we antagonize the big bug we have to be ready for the small bugs. which aren't that scary with free Aers 1.

File: skeletan.jpg (117 KB, 597x466)

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> The Battlefield, try to get some more information on this place

The decision was fairly trivial to make, the battlefield was the only place without a lurking menace. She worked her way back down the two ruins and over to the field of debris.

The battlefield was a macabre place to be. The space was marked by dead soil and scorched earth, deep gashes and earth upheaved into mounds. Weathered skeletons in tatters of clothing abounded, a concerning number ripped to pieces, bones sliced cleanly through, others snapped more roughly.

Mel worked through bodies and debris methodically, turning over bodies and bits of rubble. Rotting bundles of paper, strange rusted and crumbled metal implements were piled into her satchel. Shattered bottles were tossed aside, some still corked or sealed. A few small treasures were uncovered and pocketed. Shattered and snapped wands were frequent finds and several larger pieces of wood were discovered, carefully carved in a similar fashion to a wand, but with different patterns and designs, artistic flourishes of birds in flight added in a few places. She piled them up for the moment, her bag was full enough as it was, maybe she could have the golem pick them up and save her the trouble. There was probably enough for a second pass if she wanted to take the time.

She took a swig from her canteen, and was just considering whether to head for home, or to scrounge a bit more when the whistling noise started. She jerked around until her eyes found the object, arcing down from the sky, screaming as the wind clawed at it. She scrambled back, gaining distance until it slammed into the ground, tremor rattling her feet, a spray of dirt and bones shooting into the air.

Mel peered at the object, a jagged black rock, covered in spiral symbols that seemed to shimmer and twitch. Two of the symbols shot off the rock, revealing themselves as smoke, then unfurled like a snake and pounced out, slipping into the old skeletons littering the field. A moment later the ancient bones lifted up as if by puppet strings, tendrils of smoke curled around them. Two skeletons, maybe three more symbols on the black rock…Mel’s eyes narrowed as one skeleton grabbed a length of wood and the other a chunk of masonry. Probably not here to talk.

Roll 1d100 BO3 for treasures found

2 Smoke Skeletons

> Shout Arx Merco and hammer them from afar (1 Mana)
> Conserve mana and stay on the move, using normal Arx Merco
> Use Merco for speed, then hit and run with Arx (1 Mana)
> Just leave
> Write in?

>>5359517
>Use Merco for speed then hit and run with Arx
Let’s test out this spell and see what we missed by not taking it as a living one.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>5359517
Oh, dice

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5359517
>> Conserve mana and stay on the move, using normal Arx Merco
We dunno what or how many more gribblies Mel will need to take care of

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>5359517
the skeletons are not the main threat here.

are our living spells fully visible or have we made an attempt to hide them?

>>5350459
Babs talks about a skeleton army with a single sorcerer. feel like this is related to that. if they're doing a ranged attack, the sorcerer is probably involved.

Babs traded shots with another caster at some point, but I can't find the post. feel like they had an attack that burrowed? but I've searched a lot of different words without finding it.

I have two very different plans.
half vote for
>speak Aers and Merco (1 mana). hit-and-run with Arx Merco while scattering the other bones in advance to hopefully deny the puppeteers bodies.

full vote for
>run to the tower entrance, the snipe with Arx (summoned underneath the skeletons) or Arx Merco. once done, head inside.
try to get underestimated. if this sorcerer saw us practice earlier, they'll know about normal Arx and nothing else (unless they've seen the spells on us). shift looting focus to books within the tower, that person will have a hard time ambushing us there without pissing off the birds.

>>5359517
> Conserve mana and stay on the move, using normal Arx Merco

>>5359517
>Conserve mana and stay on the move, using normal Arx Merco

>>5359591
really can't find the thing where Babs fought someone. I'm probably mixing in something from another quest I looked at briefly and then stopped reading.

seems like votes are leaning towards conserve mana and stay on the move. not the worst thing we could do against an enemy sorcerer that hasn't appeared yet.
can maybe make our way towards the Tower as part of that strategy - avoids putting our back to where the black rock came from.
I guess, speak 5 Arx Merco while jogging away, aim and release those, repeat.

>>5360038
You aren't, I know what you're talking about and I can't find it either. It's supposed to be right before >>5351961

Is Grandfather's curse spreading? Reposting the lost text for reference...

> "Skeletons. What's going on with that?"

> Babs pointed at the gray patch on the map. "So they're mostly sticking to this area. They're pretty much all pushovers, I skirted the group and took a few out without trying all that hard."

> "Not a lot to hit on a skeleton for a spear though."

> Babs pursed her lips. "And the sorcerer. He's got some kind of artifact with him, a stone monument looking thing, might be a tether for him and his friends. He threw a few spells my way, a level one and a level two, which at a minimum puts him around your level, but most mages wouldn't blow all their mana on warning shots so I wouldn't be surprised if he's at least level three."

> "What kind of spells?" Level three was concerning, that was an entire tier above her.

> Babs frowned. "First one was strange, a ball of smoke that had a decent impact when it hit the ground. No incantation, but I didn't see a wand or anything either. Didn't quite catch the incantation on the second, but it was some kind of attack spell that went through the ground then did a burst. Too slow to catch me, but it did uproot a tree, so it's got some kick to it."

> "Really likes things with an impact. I wonder if I could bait him into using the spell enough that I could learn it…"

> "It's a valid strategy." Babs conceded. "But a dangerous one. You could also find other magic that would let you take him on, or push your own level forward."
Aside from recovering lost history... Roll 1d100BO3 to not get caught and beaten by skeletons

>>5360135

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>5360135

>>5360142
if we get grabbed I kinda wanna shout Aers. skeletons are light, smoke is light. spoken Aers is enough to toss a bird around.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>5360135

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>5360135

> Conserve mana and stay on the move, using normal Arx Merco
> 37

"Arx Merco." Mel cut away as the spear shot forward. Bone pounded across the terrain as she weaved between bits of rubble, materializing and firing spears as she went. The skeletons were fast, way faster than she'd like, and her spears were going wide sinking into the ground and shattering against old masonry. Her last two shots landed well, one skewering through the ribs, the other cleanly removing an arm.

There was an unpleasant feeling of being corralled as she backpedaled, the ruins coming into view in front of her, the skeletons charging in from two different angles, half an ice spear still stuck in one. "Arx Mer-!"

Something grabbed her foot and jerked hard, throwing her face first into the dirt. She scrambled, something hard slamming into her back, kicking behind her until her foot came free. Damp and pain went down her back as she crawled then stumbled upright.

"Arx." Her faithful spear sprang up and she ripped it from the ground, turning and swinging hard, knocking one skeleton back and forcing two others to keep their distance. Three skeletons and another smoke symbol floating lazily in the air just a few feet away. Her back throbbed as the monsters crept closer.

3 Smoke Skeletons. Health : Bruised

> Shout Arx to create a barrier of spears, then continue with Arx to both attack and continue building the barrier. (1 Mana)
> Shout Aers and charge with the spear you have in hand, using wind and Arx together to stagger and bash the skeletons to pieces.
> Use Merco and dodge through them, and continue battering them with Arx Merco. (1 Mana)
> Write in?

second option is also 1 mana, right?

>>5360384
>Shout Aers and charge with the spear you have in hand, using wind and Arx together to stagger and bash the skeletons to pieces.

>>5360384
>> Shout Arx to create a barrier of spears, then continue with Arx to both attack and continue building the barrier. (1 Mana)

>>5360384
>> Shout Arx to create a barrier of spears, then continue with Arx to both attack and continue building the barrier. (1 Mana)

>>5360384
> Shout Aers and charge with the spear you have in hand, using wind and Arx together to stagger and bash the skeletons to pieces.

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>5360384
> Shout Arx to create a barrier of spears, then continue with Arx to both attack and continue building the barrier. (1 Mana)

>>5360592
Woops, still had my dice on from last time.

>>5360384
> Shout Aers and charge with the spear you have in hand, using wind and Arx together to stagger and bash the skeletons to pieces.

>>5360390
Yes, apologies.

>>5347014
Just to let you know this link doesn't work, you can find it here though https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5311042/

>>5360384
half vote
> Shout Aers and charge with the spear you have in hand, using wind and Arx together to stagger and bash the skeletons to pieces.

feel like this is a little safer than the barrier idea, but also shows more of our hand if the sorcerer is watching, and will mean we can't immediately go into the Tower.

can keep wind circle low and knock their feet out under them, plus keep from being grabbed by a recently animated skeleton on the ground.

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> Shout Aers and charge with the spear you have in hand, using wind and Arx together to stagger and bash the skeletons to pieces.
No roll, because I can’t think of a way for this to go wrong, apparently skeletons are actually quite light.

“Arx. Arx.” Keeping the calm in her voice, keeping the shout locked inside, was tough. Spears shot up as the skeletons closed in, driving them a couple steps back. The fourth smoke symbol lingered in the air for a moment longer. She had wanted to preserve mana, use it for something else later but that wasn’t really an option anymore, and besides she had felt the unexpected lightness of the old bones when Arx had knocked them back.

“Aers!” The wind struck her back, almost staggering her, the current whipping the grass, sending bits of dirt flying, the skeletons leaning into it almost immediately. She whipped it up in a scythe at the smoke symbol, neatly ripping it in half, then splitting the currents and pushing the two halves apart. She had half a glimpse of the symbol twisting and writhing before the skeletons were on her, swinging wildly with chunks of rotting wood. She leaned back and brought the wind back down in a narrow tunnel in front of her, staggering all three skeletons backwards at once.

A skeleton was menacing, especially in a group, until Mel realized that a skeleton was just a fraction of a person. A fraction of a person, with a fraction of the weight. She bulled forward, snatching a spear from the ground, wind roaring in front of her and slammed into the first skeleton, knocking it to the ground, and followed up with a foot into its fragile skull. She turned shooting the wind out first, then back, closing the distance as the two skeletons were jerked around. “Arx. Arx.” Spears of ice shot up between the ribs of the skeletons, pinning them to the ground. Mel twisted back and swung hard with the spear in her hands, sending first one, then two skulls flying through the air.

She turned toward the black stone and casually obliterated the last smoke symbol. The two pinned headless skeletons crumpled abruptly, bones losing cohesion and reducing to heaps. Mel turned, watching the field, waiting, as her heart hammered, only Arx’s sheer cold keeping her hands from sweating. Looks like that was it. She exhaled and returned to the black stone, what was this thing? And why had it been thrown, apparently at her?

File: Murky Potion.png (370 KB, 252x620)

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She paced around the strange rock, checking it for carvings, symbols, or anything really, but finding nothing. A small sliver had been knocked off by its landing, another small common rock under the black one was to blame, and she pocketed the sample. Maybe Babs could tell her something. She considered the direction for a moment, trying to remember her location on the map…it had definitely come from the west, where the skeleton sorcerer lurked. Was this an attempt at extending its power? Or an attempt on ending her?

She sighed. She wasn’t getting anywhere speculating like this. Time to haul her treasures home and figure out another course of action. Speaking of treasures, she probably ought to take a proper look at them. She’d found three notable things in the battlefield, a level two murky brown potion, a dirty, but surprisingly fully charged level one wand, and another wooden orb like the one she had found with the centipede, but level 1 and loaded with smoke. A wand then?

New stuff!
1 Murky Brown Potion (Tier 2)
1 Dirty Wand 100% (Tier 1)
1 Orb Wand 100% (Tier 1)
1 Black Sliver ???

Afternoon Day 8

> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning, Locate Object
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.
> Sort and puzzle over the rusted metal objects found in Bird Valley, they look like they might have runic symbols on them
> Explore Bird Valley (Specify Battlefield, Bird Tower or Worm Complex)
> Scout the Skeletal Sorcerer
> Write in?

Busy day, owe you all some fluff of Babs settling in and maybe identifying some stuff for you.

What's Babs been up to?
> Identifying Dragon Potion (2)
> Identifying Cloudy magic marble (2)
> Identifying Zircon
> Identifying Jet
> Identifying ‘Glasses’ Rune
> Identifying ‘Zig Zag / Dabbing Four’ Rune

>>5361591
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

>>5361607
> Identifying ‘Glasses’ Rune

>>5361591
>>5361632 +1

>>5361607
half vote
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

> Identifying Dragon Potion (2) (feels like it could turn a battle at some point if we know what it does)


feel like this is building towards an attack from the Skeletons.

immediately useful things
meditate (be able to fight longer)
get some mobile and/or good darkvision/hearing summons (keep watch)

hoping to find something that will help with that in the books.

I'd like a talk with Babs about summons in general. what's their deal? connection to gods? why do they serve? Babs, Ava and presumably insect cult have servants are animals, are those summoned or modified?

>>5361591
>Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning

>Dragon Potion

I think we should focus on combat for now, and I think the quickest way to boost our combat power is by adding another combatant. I think an imp would also be well suited as a scout, and is likely not too expensive even if they get killed on the job.

>>5361851
I generally agree with these discussion topics with Babs, and concur that the Skellies how spooky will likely attack before Babs is done. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sorcerer with them was charged by His/Her/Its patron with keeping/expanding the dead forest or something. Or if the Storyteller is pushing them to attack just for the excitement factor.

>>5361851 (me)
what are the orbs about? Yellow Eyes gave me this one.
what sorts of upkeep do summons need? does the golem need anything?

>>5361871
don't think an imp is worth much against the skeleton army. feels like their main advantages over other tier 1 summons are speed, hands and maybe intelligence.
super useful as lab assistants, but probably worse than Babs' servants for keeping watch over the camp, and worse than something flying for scouting.

>>5361891
I mean you’re right on all counts about the Imp but we also don’t have access to anything else (spell wise or resource wise) either.

>>5361591
> Learn a new spell: Imp Summoning
> Identifying Dragon Potion (2)

File: dragon.jpg (38 KB, 441x515)

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> Identifying Dragon Potion

Mel returned to her camp to find Babs set up at a simple wooden table, arms folded on the table, head resting on her arms, staring at the potion labeled with a dragon emblem. Another tent had been set up against one of the undisturbed tombs, a blanket of plantlife covering it.

"Babs?"

The youthful druid ignored her and reached out, slowly turning the potion, it's contents slowly spinning in turn. Mel focused with her arcane sight, the potion and the mage studying it both glowing with the light of mana. Tiny wisps of energy flowed in a lazy circle between them, like dust in a sunbeam.

"Third level, Lycanthropy style." Babs stated. "Although into what is eluding me a bit…"

"It is a picture of a dragon?" Mel offered

Babs held her lower lip with her teeth for a moment. "Definitely the straightforward answer, but mages aren't above mislabeling things or being misleading. I've never worked with dragon unfortunately, and lycanthropy potions require bits of the creature you want to emulate."

"Where did Joe get his pieces?"

Babs smiled crookedly, eyes shifting without moving her head. "I'll tell the story tonight when I get out the skull. I'm going to take another look at this thing just to be sure, but I'd guess it gives two or three dragon traits. A powerful tool for a combat situation. Temporary of course. Any plans for the rest of the day?"

File: middle-finger-skeleton-wh(...).png (70 KB, 583x700)

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> Learn Imp Spell

“I think Joe has a spell for imps I’d like to learn, another pair of uh, claws should come in handy. Probably going to settle in and read.”

Babs nodded in response. “I’ve got some reading I’d like to catch up on myself.”

Mel opened up the sheaf of papers she had recovered and started in on it with the cipher close to hand.

I'm starting to become aware of a difficulty in my research. There is a startling low number of me! It's terribly difficult to find time for things when one, what an appropriate term, can only be in a single time and place!

Fortunately I have a solution, I simply need to make more of myself! The spell should be quite simple, as always begin with a ring finger for any summoning spell. Peculiar choice if you ask me, but perhaps even demons and creatures beyond the vale are fond of a good marriage?

Such thoughts make my heart weary, best to hurry on. The choice of secondary bone is proving quite difficult, I thought for a time I was best exemplified by the kneecap, what a bone after all, but I'm beginning to fear that I may actually be more of a shoulder or even toe sort of person! What a terrible thing to be a toe!

My search for the perfect self bone has proven quite useless, but I do think I've found a rather useful assistant regardless, adding the bones of the middle finger to the mixture results in an angry feral beast I've come to call an Imp. Its claws are quite sharp, and it seems to veer dangerously from white hot rage to quite the wet blanket. Should I pass this document onto a future summon of myself (perhaps time travel would be a valid way to acquire more of myself?) I would be well advised to have some meat on hand when summoning, the creature is quite ferocious but easy to bribe into loyalty with a treat.

Indeed, future time shifted copies of me should remember that many summons have quirks or demands that must be satisfied to acquire their loyalty after summoning.

File: big-black-dog-outside-park.jpg (5.04 MB, 3960x2640)

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Mel snapped the journal shut and looked over to Babs who glanced over from her own book, a particularly battered looking volume with a dark green binding. "Summons."

"Useful but dangerous. How is learning your first?"

"Yeah, it sounds like you can toss a ring finger and just about any other bone in the fire and expect something to appear. Is there a limit to how many I can have at once? Do they eat? Where do they come from?"

Babs glanced down at her book again and sighed. "Let's see…food is generally a no, but there are a decent number of exceptions, the fleshier the hungrier in my experience. Imps yes, golems no, puppet spirits no. There's a lot out there though. You hear stories of blood suckers, age stealers, even a one that just needs sunlight. The ones that do eat have the advantage of being able to hunt their own food, usually."

"Where do they come from? They're not just appearing from nothing, are they?"

Babs shrugged. "Couldn't tell you. You hear a lot of theories, pits of the netherworld, other worlds, minions of the gods. Doesn't matter to me. As for how many you can have, the total level of your summons can’t exceed your own, five little ones, or one bigger one in your case.”

“Is Bruno a summons?”

Babs laughed. “He’d be pretty grouchy to hear the suggestion. Bruno is a familiar, which is similar I suppose, it draws from the same limitation as total summons. But familiars are creatures found in our world, bonded to a mage, given power by that bond. It’s a bond of trust, if I feel like you’ve established such a bond I’ll offer my services, assuming you haven’t discovered the magic yourself by then.”

“Good to know. I’ll keep an eye out for faithful hounds.”

Evening Day 8

> Learn a new spell: Locate Object
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.
> Sort and puzzle over the rusted metal objects found in Bird Valley, they look like they might have runic symbols on them
> Explore Bird Valley In the Dark (Specify Battlefield, Bird Tower or Worm Complex)
> Scout the Skeletal Sorcerer In the Dark
> Write in?

>>5362298
>> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

>>5362298
>Meditate to expand mana reserves
It’s not going to get any easier if we wait. Just gotta throw effort at it until it sticks.

has the golem come back with Joe's chest?

>Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.
>Meditate to expand mana reserves.

>>5362334
> has the golem come back with Joe's chest?
I'll cover it in the next update.

>>5362298
>> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

>>5362298
>Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

>>5362298
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

>>5362298
>> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
>> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley so you can figure out what useful information they have.

File: rotting-books.jpg (75 KB, 800x533)

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> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Valley

Mel sorted out the plunder from her exploration, potion, wands, books, rusted trinkets. She lifted up one of the rusted bits of metal to show to Babs, but her fellow mage had vanished into her own tent. Setting the bauble down she started working through the heaps of rotting books.

Four piles. Useless destroyed rot in the first, what looked like personal journals and notes in the second. The third shared a curving script and fanciful illuminated lettering, the few front covers that survived partially intact revealed the title: Initiate Mysteries of Ava: Goddess of Storms. The fourth heap shared a plain printed style, and an equally plain title: The Path of Worms.

The remainder of the time was spent separating pages, drying sections in front of the fire, trimming rot, and trying to piece together enough pages in order to form cohesive sections. Copies of each book were fairly numerous, but the damage to each one was pretty severe. Still, she was starting to get an idea of each book’s layout.

Initiate Mysteries of Ava
1. Peace with the Glory of Ava
2. Ritual of ???? ???? ( ???? Smoke Spell )
3. Story of Ava's Wrath ( Call Lightning Divine Word )
4. ???? training ( Jump ???? )
5. ???? ???? the Master

The Path of Worms
1. ???? ???? of the Dark
2. ???? Work ( Tunneling ???? )
3. ???? ???? the Digger (???? ???? Ley Flow)
4. Meditations of Darkness (Darkness Rune)
5. Tales of the Darklord

As she put the last bits of paper in order her golem trundled into camp, shoving a heavy stone cask in front of it, grinding a smooth path all the way. Bab’s head popped out of her tent. “You know, I told Joe that wasn’t going to be enough to keep people out of it, but since he didn’t take it with him I guess he wasn’t that worried.”

File: BBQ Sauce.jpg (7 KB, 181x279)

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“Do you know what’s in it?” Mel asked as she started wiggling the rough stone lid loose, a bit of warmth still present in it.

Babs grinned. “I’ve got ideas, but let’s see. Let me give you a hand.”

The two worked together, lifting and carefully setting the stone slab on the ground. Babs propped her glowing staff against the case and Mel peered in. Sitting on top was an old glass bottle with a dark liquid inside, with an odd label.

“BBQ Sauce?” Mel shook her head.

“Goes on meat, Joe swore by it. Third level magic in it though…I wouldn’t trust the label.” Babs moved the bottle aside and picked up a piece of paper under it. “And…what is apparently a recipe for it, although some of the ingredients seem quite odd.”

“Hold on, let me get the codex. It’s probably all code.” Mel fetched the little black book and started flipping back and forth. “It’s a ley flow recipe, for jet stone. Something called a curse catcher?”

Babs let out a low whistle. “Well, he finally found it. No wonder he was ready to move on. Joe was…a little obsessed with the idea of not only breaking a curse, but returning it to the one who gave it. I guess he figured it out. I guess this potion somehow absorbs active magic in a person, and lets you…return it somehow?” She shrugged. “It was his ultimate revenge, heal his lover, then force the one who cursed her to bear the same curse.”

“Seems fair.”

Babs shrugged again. “I’d rather just kill the person, but Joe doesn’t like to do anything half way. What’s at the bottom? It's crackling with magic.”

Mel reached down and lifted out…

> A Dragon Wing Bone
> A Dragon Talon
> A Dragon Scale

>>5363312
A Dragon Wing Bone

>>5363312
>> A Dragon Talon

>>5363312
>A dragon scale
If you can go top tier on something, go top tier on defense

>>5363312
> A Dragon Scale
> A Dragon Wing Bone

>>5363312
> A Dragon Scale

>>5363312
> A Dragon Wing Bone

If that talon was the dragon's ring finger, would it be possible to summon one?

>>5363469
They're considered claws and have a different spell effect associated.

Do bear in mind that summoning something over your cap would cause it to be completely uncontrollable as opposed to the usual bargain/impress/bribe/beat situation...of course that might be what you want.

I'll have Mel ask about it, maybe Babs knows a bit about summoning a dragon.

>>5363312
> A Dragon Scale

>>5363312
> A Dragon Talon

>>5363312
>> A Dragon Wing Bone
Looks like Bird valley is the best place to look for new study materials, all of the things mentioned seem useful

Mel reached down and lifted out a large smooth object, not unlike the shields knights and warriors of her homeland would wield, surprisingly lightweight, but thick and solid, a deep maroon color. “Is this a single scale?”

Bab’s eyes glittered. “I wondered what he did with that. They say the largest scale on a dragon sits in front of their heart. Fourth level magic.” She traced a finger along it reverently. "Strong as steel."

“What can you do with something like this?”

Babs took a deep breath. “Well, five things like this can create a level five effect, an absolutely frightening amount of power. Of course even a level four effect is frighteningly powerful. Something like this is a natural fit for a lycanthropy potion, you'd be armored head to toe in scales, practically invincible. You could also etch a rune circle onto it, the inherent magic of the scale would instantly and permanently empower it at the third level. You could use it as fuel for potions, smoke or runes, although unless you enchant it first it’ll restrict the spell, unless it’s rune magic.”

Mel frowned, a low headache started to build. “Restrict? That’s a thing in rune magic right? The inner circles are restrictions. That happens with ley flows and smoke magic too?”

Babs nodded, eyes still on the heart scale. “Anything not enchanted in a ley flow or smoke recipe will restrict the effect. You can do some interesting things with restrictions, and they usually make a spell stronger. If you’re feeling brave try a summoning with just a ring finger and something to restrict it, the effect gets less restrained, and less reliable than using two bones together.”

“So…a ring finger and this scale…”

Babs gently moved between the scale and the fire. “Give me some time to run before you do that.”

Mel laughed. “Ok, what would happen? It’s a summoning spell, restricted by a dragon scale…”

“At the fourth level. Something dragon-like would be summoned. It would be well beyond your total ability to control, so it would immediately go free. So, yes, you can do it and I’d like to be on the other side of the region before you do.”

“So, desperate or crazy. Got it. So a few drops of blood wouldn’t help?”

Babs laughed. “That only works on the most docile summons. Most of them you’ll need either bribes or beatings. There's a sulfur potion you can make that can help, I'll show you how when I'm less busy. Speaking of, I've got an invocation to uh…invoke. Pay attention to the stress patterns. They can be tricky."

Mel nodded as her fellow mage vanished into her own tent. A few minutes later she returned with a head sized eyeball crammed into a jar. The narrow slit somehow still retained a measure of malice.

"That's creepy. It's just ok in the jar? Don't you need to enchant it to preserve it?"

Babs drummed her hand on the lid. "Preserving runes on the jar." She took a deep breath. "Been a while since I've done this…"

>>5364722 (It's me)

Mel briefly considered opening her mouth to offer assistance, then stopped as the air started to tremble. The fire snapped and shuddered, bits of dirt and tiny pebbles rattling on the ground. A drop of sweat fell from Bab’s forehead, hovering in air, quivering.

“VITAE!”

Mana surged through the air and ground as the word imprinted on reality, scorching a path through Mel’s mind as well. Babs sagged forward, then snatched up the jar and secreted it away into the tent. She poked her out after a moment, eyes weary.

“Thanks. See you in the morning.” Then the tent was closed tight. Mel watched it for a moment then turned away, she should probably write some notes on the invocation while it was fresh in her mind. It would probably be a long time before she could unleash one herself, but the knowledge was sure to be useful.

In a stroke of luck there were a few sheets of paper and an ink pen in the workbench the golem had recovered. She scratched a few notes, trying to remember the pattern of emphasis and stress on the syllables as best she could, compared to the normal speech pattern of Vitae. She glanced up at her companion's tent. What in the world had happened to her?

As if sensing her thoughts the young druid emerged slowly from the tent. She glanced left and right, then gave a small wave.

“Are you alright?”

Babs shrugged and walked over, twitching at the hoot of a distant owl. “I…” She sighed. “I’ll be ok. One more night of enchanting, and then what I have and what I’ve prepared, plus my own power will be enough to get the circle moving again. And it’ll be done. Finally.” She sagged a little.

Mel smiled. “Going to be a little weird to have that much power around me. But you make it look easy.”

Babs laughed. “Well it’s not, but thanks. Ok, sleep for real this time. See you tomorrow Mel.”

15% Invocation Knowledge Gained
Invocation Notes Gained

Golem Duty

> Fetch some firewood (you’re out!)
> Send him to grab the carved wood you found at the battlefield
> Bring home that black stone that made the skeletons, maybe it's valuable?
> Grab some shelves, no more living out of boxes
> Write in?

>>5364725
> Bring home that black stone that made the skeletons, maybe it's valuable?

We can go collect our own firewood for one night.

>>5364725
> Fetch some firewood (you’re out!)
>>5364806
More worth our time to meditate, leave grunt work for grunts.

>>5364725
>> Fetch some firewood (you’re out!)

>>5364725
>Fetch some firewood (you’re out!)

>>5364725
>Fetch some firewood (you’re out!)

Dawn Day 9
Food: 3 Days. Firewood: 0 Days. Health: A little sore, but good.
Mana: 1 tier 2 spell, or 5 tier 1 spells.

Divine Words: Arx (Ice Spear), Vitae (Enchant), Aers (Wind), Merco (Speed), Ignis (40% Learned)
Divine Word Techniques: Silent Casting (20% Learned). Chant (20% Learned). Invoke (0 % Learned). Declare (1% Learned).
Living Spells (Reduces cost by 1 tier): Arx (Ice Spear), Aers (Wind), Arx Merco (Ranged Ice Spear)
Smoke Weaving: Telekinesis (index). Imp Summoning (Ring/Middle).
Smoke Weaving Wands: Standard. Orb.
Bone Pile: pinky, 2 ring, middle, index, toe
Ley Flows: Wound Healing, Antidote, Curse Catcher, Zircon is unknown
Rune Circles: Standard
Runes: Glow, Dawn, Dawn Negation, (four untested symbols known)
Rune Circle Gear: Personal ink, Chisel Kit

Wands: Telekinesis Wand (T2) 3/5 charges. ???? Orb Wand (T1) 5/5 charges. Blank Orb Wand(T2).
Potions: Healing potion (T2). Healing potion(T1). Water defense potion(T1). Grapple Vine potion(T2). Dragon Lycan Potion (T3). Murky Brown Potion (T2)
Runed Tools: Runic Lantern(T1).
Artifacts: Cloudy magic marble (T2).
Reagents: 5 Centipede Eggs(T1) 1 Centipede Mandible(T2). 1 Centipede Heart (T2). 1 Dragon Heart Scale (T4).
Summons: Golem(T1).
Camp: Basic Camp. Basic travel gear. Basic Crafting gear. Sturdy Smoker. Workbench.

Leftover Mana (4)
> Spare blank wands
> Mana potions
> Test unknown runes (which ones? How?)
> Try out divine word combinations (which ones?)
> Some combination of the above
> Write in?

Morning Action
> Learn a new spell: Locate Object
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Explore Bird Valley (Battlefield, Bird Tower, Worm Complex)
> Explore somewhere else? (Fae Village, Centipede Warrens, Lurid Grove, Turtle Lake)
> Scout the skeletons
> Write in?

>>5364725
Still open for votes

>>5365147
Golem
> firewood

Leftover Mana (4)
> Try out divine word combinations (which ones?)
- whisper Aers, Merco, Merco Aers (free)
- carve light on something disposable and whisper Vitae. (free)

- Aers Arx - we didn't get the option of feeding Arx to anything, so we have no idea. if it's like, a flechette storm, that could be a good sidegrade to higher tier Aers, vs monsters that are heavy but have weak spots.
- Merco - how much of a buff is spoken Merco anyways?

- 2 mana potions.

fuck, that's something to talk with Babs about. Vitae combinations. guessing that results in a longer lasting, weaker version of the effect, or maybe stores it in something and lets you release it within 24 hours.

Morning Action
> Explore Bird Valley (Bird Tower, but maybe pivot to Worm Complex.)
need to see if the skeletons have started spreading to that area or not, but I'm more interested in books.
specific subjects: meditation, flying summons, perceptive smart summons, crafting summons. runes or complete circles that doesn't need to be decoded or reconstructed.

talk a bit with the owl first. realized, followers of Ava could refer to the birds in the tower. because it's interesting that the owl doesn't care at all about the Ava-aligned corpses on the battlefield (we found Ava texts there at least).
as a wannabe good witch queen, I don't want to initiate a fight against something that's sapient and civil, so if (unlikely) going into the tower seems too likely to result in a fight with the owl, pivot to
> Worm Complex
and fight what's in there instead.

Taking the day off by the way, next update on Monday.

>>5347014
Reallylike the quest, love the world building

Sorry everyone, running behind, nothing at the moment.

>>5365147
> Mana potions
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)

>>5365516
>>5367032
No worries, I've been busy anyway. Enjoying the quest, still!

>>5365147
>Mana potions

> Explore Bird Valley (Battlefield, Bird Tower, Worm Complex)

File: mana potion.jpg (23 KB, 310x337)

23 KB JPG

> Leftover Mana: Experiment! Whisper Aers Arx, Merco. Mana potions.

Mel stifled a yawn as her campmate vanished from view. A few more things to handle before bed. First was trying out a few whispered versions of spells. If she had tools available that cost her nothing, then not using them was foolish. Unfortunately in practice most didn’t seem to amount to much. Merco felt like it might be a small burst speed, but faded almost immediately, and Aers at a whisper moved about as much wind as her own breath. Aers Arx was a little more interesting, a small flutter of wind that felt a bit cool, but still only marginally different than her own breath.

She followed it up with a quickly drawn rune circle in the dirt, and kneeled over to whisper.

“Vitae.”

A faint glow, bright enough to make the patch of dirt visible, but nothing around it. Might be good for reading something in the dark? Although she had her lantern now. Whispered magic wasn’t exactly proving useful.Mel eyed her collection of centipede eggs with some measure of suspicion, it was definitely past time to do something with them, the idea of them hatching in the middle of the night was - yeargh, just no. Babs had mentioned making them into mana potions, which seemed about as useful as they could be. One extra spell might make the difference.

Four jars, filled ahead of time by a quick trip by the golem. With a grimace she picked up one of the leathery eggs and slit it open with her knife, releasing a gelatinous pale glop into the jar. A quick check with arcane sight confirmed her suspicion, the magic was only in the interior of the egg, the leathery outside was just casing. She moved down the line, dumping egg into jars, then screwed the lids on tight, giving each a good shake afterwards.

Disgusting magical mixture frothed in jars in front of her. Mel grimaced, she was going to have to ask Babs about magical ingredients that didn't make her sick just looking at them. Well, last step. She moved down the line, placing alternating hands on the lids.

"Vitae. Vitae. Vitae. Vitae. "

The last of her magic left her in a rush, the four jars visibly shining for a moment. Labels, she was going to need labels before long. She packed away her freshly minted mana potions and stumbled across the definitely weathered centipede heart. Getting that enchanted for preservation was going to take everything she had unfortunately, and it probably wasn't going to last much longer either, two more days was probably all it had before rot set in. Maybe Babs would let her have one of those preservation jars?

Mel shooed the thoughts out of her head, it was well and truly time for sleep.

Mel emerged from her tent as the first rays of the sun crept over the horizon. The smell of eggs and meat filled the air, along with the homey smell of bread.

Her eyes fell on Babs peering into the kettle.“Is that bread?”
“Something like it anyway.” Babs prodded at the kettle with a proper spoon. “Had Bruno bring some supplies over, figured I could at least cook breakfast. Where are you headed today?”

“Down to Bird Valley, where those big ruins are. Found some books there-oh! I was attack by skeletons there!”

Babs lifted an eyebrow. “Attacked? They’ve been lingering in the same place for nearly two weeks, and now they’re on the move? I assume you bested them.”

Mel nodded. “Turns out you can push them around with Aers, once I figured that out they were simple enough. They came in on some big black rock, a bunch of smoke spells clinging to it. Hold on, I brought back a piece.” She dug through her heap of treasures. “Here, take a look.”

Babs held up the sliver of black obsidian like stone. “Looks familiar, might be a smoke oriented version of spell quartz? Not sure why anyone would bother, a wand serves the same purpose as spell quartz.”

“Spell quartz?”

“It’s a crystal, you can speak divine words into them, then shatter them later to release the spell. Useful stuff, but it’s pretty rare. It’s usually formed into spheres, like marbles.”

Mel dove back into her heap. “Like this thing?” She held up the marble Yellow Eyes had given her.

Babs glowered. “Yellow Eyes?”

“How’d you know?”

“It’s a level four weather spell handed to a novice. A hand held catastrophe. It’s her idea of a practical joke.”

“Oh. So, there’s a tornado in this thing?”

“Severe thunderstorm, tornado, hailstorm, hard to tell. If you throw it, run fast in the opposite direction is my advice.”

Mel put the marble back down gently, very gently. "Need anything while I'm out?"

File: Finder Rune.png (90 KB, 1034x1030)

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Babs considered for a moment, her eyes flickering through imaginary scenarios. "A couple things, none of them incredibly important, but…nice to have. You know that weird area of plants near my cottage?"

Mel nodded. "Like a rainbow vomited on a patch of undergrowth."

"That's the one. Whole place is filled with carnivorous plants, big ones, and hallucinogenic spores. But there's lots of magic to be found there, if you're careful. If you could grab me some of the white fuzz off the base of the man sized orange pitcher plant it would let me finish some useful potions. You could probably grab some other magical reagents there too."

Mel lifted an eyebrow. "Is the man sized pitcher plant going to try and eat me?"

Babs giggled. "Pretty much the whole grove will try to eat you. I've got something else if you're looking for something less likely to murder you." Babs pulled out a circular locket like object, popping it open. A tiny rune circle was carved on the inside. Two of the outer circles pulsed slowly with a dim light.

"Low on power?" Mel peered in close to the circle.

“Finder rune. Take it all the way out to the fey village I marked on your map, should just be ruins there now. Just keep an eye on it, take note of where it pulses with all five circles, it’s keyed to poison right now, I want to know how far it’s spread. Not super important but I need to know where all to check once I get the healing going again.”

Mel accepted the locket carefully. “I think I’m headed out to bird valley today, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Babs nodded. “No rush either way, I can always handle it later myself. See you tonight!”

> Continue on to Bird Tower
> Side trip to Lurid Grove
> Head to Fey Ruins

>>5367746
> Continue on to Bird Tower
Fey Ruins or Lurid Grove tomorrow.

>>5367746
> Continue on to Bird Tower

>>5367746
> Continue on to Bird Tower

Biscuits and gravy, and I forgot to add Call Lightning and Darkness Rune to your list of things you can study and learn. Apologies.

>>5367746
>Side trip to Lurid Grove

>>5367746
>> Head to Fey Ruins

File: winking-owl.png (1.31 MB, 731x775)

1.31 MB PNG

> Continue on to Bird Tower

Mel waved her goodbyes and set off. She skimmed through her reassembled section of ‘Initiate Mysteries of Ava’ and read through the opening as she tread the familiar path.

There can only be true peace within the Glory of Ava. This is the fundamental truth of Ava, the golden rule, the ultimate promise. Others will try to dissuade you from this path, from the true peace of the skies, hedonists, heretics, nonbelievers, and fools. Do not listen to their lies! When Ava sweeps across the land her wrath will lay waste to these charlatans and the silver stair to her domain shall appear, leading the believers to her land beyond the stars!

By reading this book you have taken the first steps on the path to enlightenment. Now brother, take up the blue and begin walking down the road. Soon you will soar in the clouds, enjoying the gifts of Ava. No longer will the mundane chain you, only the righteousness of Ava will fill your heart.


Mel pocketed the cobbled together book as she started into the valley, the bird tower coming into view. A great golden bird in the sky, offering peace and enlightenment. And yet here they were, rotting away in a hidden valley. Whoever the god of worms was apparently had other ideas. Of course their temple was a collapsing ruin as well. Best to have nothing to do with gods.

She entered the tower of birds again, skirting around the bodies, eyes searching up high for the owl. It had seemed civil enough, but it had made its demands clear, and she didn’t want to cross it without being ready. Place seemed fairly abandoned at the moment but…

“Who.”

Mel stiffed as though struck and turned slowly, looking up. Perched over the door frame, directly above her, the owl peered down.

“Hey there.” She grinned with her mouth, although it didn’t reach her eyes. “How’s the uh, the guardian thing going?”

The owl peered at her and preened a feather.

“The grounds are free of those who would do harm to the students of the tower, or desecrate their remains.” It peered down at her, pupils narrowing. “Endeavor to keep it that way.”

“Of course. The uh…bodies of the intruders though…”

The owl extended its wings to full for a moment, taking up a staggering amount of space before folding back together. Was that just a yawn?
“You may remove the bodies of the intruders if you wish, and do with them as you will, their stink offends me. I await the day when an initiate of Ava arrives to perform the rites of passing for those under my care.” The owl launched itself off the ledge onto one of the higher floors above her. “Perhaps one like you, in the proper blue of the school, could be that initiate.” The owl’s eyes shifted for a moment…was it wiggling its eyebrows at her?

“Ah, uh, yes, I just need to find my uniform.”

“Ceremonial robes.” The owl corrected.

“Right. Ceremonial robes. Of Ava. I’ll just, uh, look around for those.”

Mel stifled a giggle as she started walking through the tower. That seemed to spell it out fairly well, although where she was going to find blue robes was a tossup. The ones in the best shape were here in the tower, under the guard of an apparently reluctant owl. The battlefield had plenty of scraps, although they certainly had all been torn to bits. Maybe she’d luck out and find one here?

Well, time to get to work.

Clear out the brown robed intruders' corpses?
> Clear the bodies, you’ll find less stuff, but maybe the owl will appreciate it?
> Do it later, you’ve got treasure to find!

Roll 1d100B03 to loot the tower!

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>5368896
> Clear the bodies, you’ll find less stuff, but maybe the owl will appreciate it?
Given the necromancer afoot, I think move the corpses to a more central area at the least. Rather than just laying here and there.

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>5368896
>Clear the bodies
Good point about getting rid of fodder for a necromancer.

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>5368896
>Clear the bodies

>>5368896
>Clear the bodies, you’ll find less stuff, but maybe the owl will appreciate it?

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>5368896
>Do it later, you’ve got treasure to find!

>>5368896
> Clear the bodies, you’ll find less stuff, but maybe the owl will appreciate it?
Let's be neighbourly.

>>5368896
>> Do it later, you’ve got treasure to find!

File: fulgurite.jpg (136 KB, 978x618)

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Mel worked through the tower methodically, skirting around blue robed skeletons and picking through crumpled shelves. She worked her way toward the bottom first, treading down a battered and broken silver staircase that terminated in rubble and what appeared to be the top of the worm complex beneath it, or at least the shattered remains, the top of the worm complex was cracked in several places and tilted downward, large portions of it must have collapsed. It must have slammed through the base of the bird tower…somehow, collapsing the lower section and replacing it, then the damage of the impact caused that section of the worm complex to partially collapse as well. She shuddered at the thought, people had probably died down there in the dark.

As if to punctuate the thought a distant thud beneath her began, steady beat as though fists on stone. But that had to be impossible, the corpses were stripped to the bone by the elements, there couldn’t be survivors after all this time. Nonetheless the thudding continued. Mel swallowed and worked her way through the room to a few cabinets in the back, trying to ignore the thuds. After a moment they shifted, seemingly following her. Even if someone was alive down there, how would she even reach them? There had to be heaps of stone rubble in the way.

She shook it off. It had to be some trick or oddity, some old stone still settling after all these years. She opened the cabinet in the back, wincing as the rusted hinges simply shattered at her pull, the rest of the cabinet sagging downward. Under thick layers of dust were what might have been carefully arranged but strange looking rocks, each one a hollow tube of rough stone. She set a couple carefully into her satchel and moved on.

Obtained Fulgurite

File: overlook.jpg (99 KB, 1234x399)

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Pointedly ignoring the thuds beneath her feet she climbed back up the stairs set alongside the wall of the tower until she reached the floor she had entered at. She took a moment to reacquaint herself with the tower. Once it might have been a place of beauty and elegance, the tower was mostly open on the inside, she could look straight up through it and see three floors above her, with sections of floor and balcony stretching out from the wall in elegant sweeps and spirals. A spiral staircase ran along the wall, breaking occasionally at a larger floor or small balcony, and delicate iron furniture dotted the place, mostly little tables and chairs. Larger wooden bookshelves and cabinets were dotted about, probably her best bet for finding something useful.

Of course the pristine beauty of the place was heavily marred by the battle that had taken place here. Most of the furniture was mangled or collapsed, the red carpet torn and burned. And everywhere were the dead, old skeletons with shattered ribs, arms scorched black, crushed skulls and more. Disturb not the faithful of Ava she muttered to herself. And try to find a spare robe while she was at it so she could dispense of what she was pretty sure was a transparent charade for both her and the owl.

Speaking of, there was the corpse the owl had shoved down on their first meeting. She knelt at it know, wincing at the still present bits of rot along some of the bones, not that old then. Definitely some teeth to the owl’s words. Despite several deep cuts and rips from what she assumed were owl talons the heavier leather clothing would be a sturdy upgrade to the flimsy white linen she had now, even if it wasn’t covered in hundreds of rips and tears from bird beaks and talons.

“Yeah, I’m looking at you Aers.” She glared at the tattoo of the bird, which had the decency to hide behind a wing in shame.

She got to work stripping the corpse, definitely needed a wash, and probably some repair and refitting, but some actual serviceable clothes were a godsend. Hopefully not actually though. Gathering it together into her satchel she left the body behind and moved on and started up the stairs. There were a few interesting things along the way, a fountain formed of glass, once made of four glass herons spouting water, now three shattered remains and a lone heron, water long dry. A short bridge that terminated sharply, rails along it gilded in golden feathers, although rough iron and rust peaked out from many of them now.

An entrance to a balcony, still in surprisingly good shape, she lingered on it for a moment, enjoying the view and the steady breeze. Something about it lingered in her mind for some time afterward. She found herself working through the paces of her meditations, feeling the flow of mana. Maybe this would be a good place to expand her power.

File: SpellCrystalL.png (221 KB, 378x372)

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She shook off her reverie and continued up the tower, finding herself on the highest floor the staircase reached. She paused and frowned at the wall. Silver bricks were set into the wall, forming the pattern of a staircase without the presence of one. Was there some trick to it? She could see a closed off chamber higher up, but it was easily thirty or forty feet higher up. She briefly considered trying to run up the walls with Merco Aers, but she had a feeling this was beyond the spell combination, at least at the level she could cast it at.

She turned her search to the top floor instead. Nothing jumped out at her from the shelves or cabinets, but one of the blue robed skeletons caught her eyes. The arm of the body was stretched out, reaching under a cabinet. Mel knelt, careful not to touch the body itself, and peered under the cabinet, finding the treasure the corpse had sought.

A glittering marble, flickering with light in the dark under the cabinet. She withdrew it carefully, a spell crystal? Brilliant light flickered and flashed inside, seeming to focus on one side at first, then jumping to the other in a burst. Second tier magic at least, she’d have to have Babs take a look. She straightened up with a sigh, that seemed to be everything of interest she’d seen on this pass, time for the hard labor part.

Acquired Spell Crystal (T2)

The next few hours passed simply, dragging skeletons out into the sun and tossing them into a growing heap. Then another trip through the tower, pulling the least damaged books into her satchel. Her legs ached and her arms burned, but at least it was done. Unfortunately anything else that might be hidden in the place was probably tucked away under or on one of the bird cultists, and under the watch of the owl. She was either going to have to kill the owl, or find blue robes somehow. Maybe there was still something at the battlefield? She could always scavenge several pieces and sew them together somehow? Maybe there was some sort of repair spell…

She took a moment to consider her options. There were probably still a few treasures left on the battlefield, along with a fair number of books from both factions. There was that curious balcony in the bird tower, and the pair of errands Babs had asked of her. And of course she had a fresh load of books to sort, new spells to study. And the skeletons locking her into this section of the spellwild of course.

A deep voice boomed overhead. “It is quite nice to have time to prepare isn’t it? For nothing unexpected could possibly happen, perhaps on the morning of your eleventh day?”

Her head snapped up, locking eyes with a man in a black formal suit. The Storyteller, sitting on a narrow lip of stone high above her. She smothered a snarl.
“My darling protagonist, don’t hold back on my account. Just don’t get complacent either.”

“What happens on the eleventh day?” She called back.

“The sun rises. Healing waters flow from your home, restoring life where it once was lost. My dear sister will be quite pleased. My brother likely will not be.”

Mel glanced down for a moment, then back up. “Brother?”

The Storyteller had vanished. Mel swore under her breath, she’d have to make sure to warn Babs that…something was coming. The skeletons maybe? What else? And who even was the Storyteller’s brother?

> Learn a new spell: Locate Object, Call Lightning, Darkness Rune
> Meditate to expand mana reserves (Difficult)
> Meditate at the Bird Tower (One Time)
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Tower (Unlocks
> Sort and puzzle over the rusted metal objects found in Bird Valley, they look like they might have runic symbols on them
> Explore: Battlefield, Fey Ruins, Lurid Grove, Worm Complex, Bird Tower, Write In?
> Scout the Skeletal Sorcerer
> Write in?

>>5370021
god damn it
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Tower (Unlocks
should be
> Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Tower (Unlocks options from the bird cult book)

>>5370024
exclusively those?

>>5370021
half vote for
> Fey Ruins

no real opinion right now except we should meditate normally tonight.

>>5370078
Yup, you'll fill in two more options in the bird book, at random (I'll roll dice behind the scenes, unless someone really desperately wants to).

>>5370021
>Sort and puzzle over the rusted metal objects found in Bird Valley, they look like they might have runic symbols on them

>>5370021
>Lurid Grove

>>5370021
>Learn a new spell: Locate Object
I'm keen to get some blue robes, myself, and perhaps take a look at the Worm complex at another time to get their side of the story.

I'm unclear on how long we have til our new deadline. What day is it now?

>>5370637
>>5370021
actually that's quite a silly action to vote for. instead I'd like to vote for
>>Sort and index the recovered books from Bird Tower (Unlocks options from the bird cult book)
b/c we've gotta know what our options are to make good decisions

>>5370639

It's currently afternoon, day 9.

Locate Object would definitely work. You could probably ask Babs to do the etching for you if you don't want to take the time to learn the rune yourself, her poison tracking charm uses the same rune.

There's a few other ways around the problem as well, aside from the obvious answer of ultra-violence. It's telling that Locate Object wasn't even on my mind until you mentioned it.

>>5370673
Can we just ask the owl if it got any serviceable copy of the Ava scripture? Or blue robes for that matter?
Just so we don't have to take time stitching it together?
I mean, Im not really for becoming a full-blown cultist, but I feel like giving them the burial in THEIR way is just proper manners, that may also give neck romancer less bodies to throw against us in few days.

>>5370700

It hasn't paid much attention to the condition of the books or robes unfortunately, or their locations.