>>29980679
Awesome, you're running. The Followers are certainly not having a good day. Maybe he'll come back in three days.

We might need to break out an inspiring speech.

And there's an encyclopedia which is nice. Also, the character sheet doesn't have anything on illusion.

>>29980850
>Also, the character sheet doesn't have anything on illusion.
Fix it after next post.

Pre-archived.

Update it later to grab new posts if it looks like the thread will fall off the board within an hour or two of the last update.
I doubt it will.

“Friend has said... Susej is dead.” The man's melancholy tone is matched by his expression's somberness, as though he were just punched in the gut and told to deal with it.
This is shared by other Followers that idle among the tables, giving the cafeteria a veil of silence in the memory of their leader.

You read the mood, and take your seat, abstaining from really eating anything and sipping at a cup of water, and taking a seat alone, with no one but Fara to give you company.
=I feel bad for them... I wish I could make them feel better.= Her disembodied voice whispers into your mind. It's an eerie feeling, like your thoughts aren't solely your own. You wonder if it'll be worse in the future if you accrue more summons...
That'd be a headache if anything else.

The intercom dings in. Huh, so the P.A. Is working.
“Attention Followers uninitiated and initiated...” It's Friend's voice. He sounds jubilant as usual despite everyone's atmosphere.
“We will be holding assembly in front of the college grounds this time. Please come in half an hour, there are things that must be done in preparation for what is to come.” The message repeats in his pleasant voice.

You can't help but wonder what they have in mind from here on out. Is Friend going to continue pushing? Why'd they teach all these people? Why wouldn't it end with their leader's death?
=Their sadness doesn't mean they're done.=
What?
=They've all been touched by that man... Maybe he's still with them in some way?=

Maybe. So they're unbroken. What would it even take to break people like this? They seem to be well-versed in the other end, but if the tables were properly turned...

>[] Go to assembly immediately.
>[] Find someone to go there with...(ld group...)
>[] Find Xandra, and head to the Assembly.
>[] Hunter and Emilia. They're just getting good after all.
>[] Don't go.

>>29981362
>[] Hunter and Emilia. They're just getting good after all.

And if we see Xandra on the way invite her to come with.

>>29981362
>>[] Find Xandra, and head to the Assembly.
>>[] Hunter and Emilia. They're just getting good after all.
The gang's all together. Gotta strengthen that image of Asher as being a pillar in crisis so they flock to him and do his bidding later on.
Even though I doubt they give much of a fuck about Susej themselves. But people are weird. This kind of thing always works.

>>29981362
>hunter and emilia

>>29981439

Seconding

>>29981439
>this

>>29981439
This

After finishing your water, you head to the assembly after the room empties out a bit. Among the migration, you find Emilia by her hair, and it doesn't take long for Hunter to track the two of you down.
“So, the boss is dead... That sucks man. I kinda liked the guy.” Hunter whispers kind of low, seeming a bit spaced and tired. You notice that his teeth have a subtle green glow. Likely he was training until not too long ago.
“What do you mean you liked the guy? You never even met him?” He chide the younger man, giving him a bit of a weird look, an upraised brow.
“Oh, wait... We're not talking about Friend?” He seems legitimately confused.
“No, Hunter..” You sigh, the mood of the other followers getting to you. “Friend's the Hand of Susej. Susej died. Susej is the leader, at least from what I understand.”

Hunter nods slowly,”Ah, ah, alright... So... What do you think we're going to do after this, with that guy dead?”
You give him a shrug,”Don't know. We'll have to wait and see.”

Emilia remains quiet for the most part, offering a sad smile when regarded by your one-eyed gaze.
“How you holding up Emilia?”
She shrugs a shoulder, turning her head forward, while keeping you in her peripheral,”I'm fine. Glad I made it through the night...” She doesn't offer much more than that.

You feel a hard tap on your shoulder, causing you to spin around suddenly, tapping into your power reflexively.
“Woah there superman, calm down.”
You sigh at the sight of the amazon, Xandra, being the one behind you. Your nerves are really on edge, in more ways than one.
“I'm sorry, uhh, what was your name again?” She asks stretching an arm behind her head and ruffling her black hair.

“Asher. Kid's name is Hunter, and this is Emilia.” He point them out at mention of their names and Xandra nods in acknowledgment, giving the three of you a rather amiable smile as she pushes between the three of you, shaking everyone's hand.
“Sorry, I'm kind of bad at names... Can't remember if we were all introduced,”I'm Xandra.”
The other two speak pleasantries. The rest of the walk is with a slightly lifted mood with the others ahead in their own kind of gloom.

=====================================================
The air of the grounds is still tainted with the salt of the sea, the wind carrying the far-off stench of quickly decaying bodies that have been trapped inland. The ruins of the city a testament to the truth of the world.

Everyone gathers around a fountain that's still running with crystal clear and fresh waters.
Some part of you wonders why it would be out here. It just kind of seems odd. There could be enemies watching, snipers, satellites.. Then again they never did confirm if the aurora blocked their vision or not.

Friend is atop the fountain, standing upon the waters with his serene crystalline blue pulsating at his feet.
He's changed his outfit. Clean white robes matched only by the sterling white of his smile, painted with various tints as the swirling colors of the sky pass overhead, painting the land with their pallet.

You forgot your trip.

>>29982630
>>29982651
couple more parts incoming.

“My friends, new and old,” He begins, clasping his hands together, and walking upon the waters with his pace as he often does upon the stage.
“It is with a great sadness that I inform you all publicly that our great and wise leader, Susej has met with a premature demise. I understand that word has gotten around already, yet I confirm now this dark gossip.”
You notice his throat it brimming with energy... and some of his words don't match the movements of his mouth... The few hundred here stand at the ready, watching him keenly.
“However, we are not defeated with the fall of our leader. Susej the man may have fallen, yet Susej the ideal lives on in all of our hearts. We will carry the light of his dream unto the world so that all that understand may be free and without suffering.”

Everyone listens intently, at his pauses the world is silent, not even the wind seems to blow, or the fountain bother his speech with its tired noise.

“We will teach people and liberate the taught as we have always done so that they may choose their own path in life. This is the way of his followers. This is the way that it will be until the last.”

You feel your heart lift inn its own jubilation, your world transfixed upon this glorious man. He knows what to do. You can feel it in your bones.

He points out from the fountain, to the East. “Out there, those that would see us dead or controlled wait for reinforcements before they move in to secure this area. It is here that we must see them routed before they see their plans through. We must push and push to make THEM understand that this city is ours, and those that live here now are not ignorant, that they will defend themselves against THEIR injustice.” Friend takes a deep, calm breath after working himself up, a moment of the world returning to its noise before he starts up again.
You can feel the energy of The Followers working back up again, you're getting into this a bit yourself.

“They will not take those that have not chosen to go. They will not take those that have chosen to stay.
We will fight! We will drive them away! They have chosen blood, and we will give it to them before losing ours! Who is with me!?”
The followers raise their fists, veins, bones, and nerves glowing bright among the crowd.

>[] Raise your fist, you will fight!
>[] Remain as you are. Are you sure you want to do this?

>>29982853
>[] Raise your fist, you will fight!

I'm not really a fan of those guys, and he's right in that if we give them time to bring in reinforcements and so on we'll be in a lost worse situation than before.

The government is not going to be our friend when they see us, and it'll be hard to get out of this city alone. The first thing they'd do is establish a perimeter.

And yes, Friend is being more convincing than he should be, always remember that he's supernaturally charming.

>>29982853
>[x] Raise your fist, you will fight!

>>29982853

>[] Raise your fist, you will fight!

We're in this for the long haul. Fuck those Overwatch guys

You stare at the scene for a moment before thrusting your own fist into the air, letting the warmth of the Burn fill your nerves to brighten them through your skin. You see Hunter, Emilia, and even Xandra do the same, resolute with their own respective conduits beaming through their flesh.

From afar, it must be a spectacle to see, a sea of humans colored with their own luminescence, rallied and with their fists held high before one man that they think of as their friend.

Emotions well within your being, ignited empathically by the others. Fuck those people from Overwatch. Fuck the government and what they want to do to you, keep from you, toy with you at the end of a string. You control your own fate, and you have the power.
With a snarling grin, your teeth grit hard together, you tighten your fist more and let the Burn flow as it increases the intensity.

=====================

After that rally, Friend instructs the senior followers in what they must do to get ready, dismissing them to prepare for their own assaults.
All that's left are a few handfuls of the original ones, one of which you recognize as bearing some kind of fish-like physiology.. her name.. Eshe right? She looks different now...

Her features are smoothed over, more properly blended. Dark eyes, a light blue-green skin with pulsating yellow spots. Her air is absent- no, it's short. Blended down the back of her head and into her neck by some kind of membrane. She wears no top this time, save for a series of tribal necklaces that cover her front loosely, nearly absent breasts, and webbed fingers and hands.
She looks alien, much like that wolfman did. Jaheem was it?
Bones.. Bones are odd.

The remaining people are treated to something of a baptism at the fountain. Standing in line, you hear Friend utter something before bringing up a globe of water, and dropping it upon the person's head.
They all seemed a lot less pissed about getting drenched than you'd think.

You figure at the very least that after this ceremony you can just dry yourself.

It's your turn now as you step up.
“Asher...” Friend smiles to you, recognition in his eyes that he had not quite shared with the others. You're on his good side it seems. As if he had a bad one...
“To be fully initiated among us, you must speak to us your new name. Even if it is the old one, it will be the one that all Followers will know you by.”
You bow your head slowly, considering what it should be... A new life... They've already given it to you. Now a new name to go with that...

“I, Friend, will cleanse you with the waters drawn from spring from which all life emerged. I bathe you not in the waters of nature, but in the blood of humanity.”

The orb of water bathed in his spirit begins to pour over your head, and you feel, for a moment, connected with him, and to everyone else that's been through this before. You feel a light wash over you down through your pores, muscles, and bones. There's a warmth at the end, a great and shining pillar like that of the sun.
>[] “My name is... Asher, as it will always be.”
>[] “My name is Nifl, for the great mist.”
>[] “My name is Dylon, the second wave.”
>[] “My name is Neptar, in honor of the earth shaker.”
>[] “My name is Susanoo, for storms and sea.”

>>29983824
[X] “My name is Nifl, for the great mist.”

I have to admit, I like being associated with the Norse realm of cold, ice, and the dead.

>>29983824
>Susanoo

>>29983824
>>29983824
>[] “My name is... Asher, as it will always be.”

>>29983824
>“My name is Susanoo, for storms and sea.”

>>29983824
I'm torn between Nifl and Asher.

Any way we could combine them? Or is this a ONE NAME ONLY deal? Smith is rather generic. Could always replace our last name with Nifl. Or bump Asher to last name and go by Nifl.

>>29983824
While I like the history of Dylon, it sounds reeealy mundane to the modern ear; don't want to go full weeb; Nifl, like about half of Norse names, sound lame to my American aesthetic; and going straight for a god's name is a bit much.

>[] “My name is... Asher, as it will always be.”

>>29983824
>[] “My name is... Asher, as it will always be.”

>>29983966
It's one name to be known as among the followers.

All names before or after will only be aliases.
As Friend said, if you speak this name, they will know who you are.

>>29983824
Nifl

>>29983824
Susanoo

>>29983824
>[] “My name is Nifl, for the great mist.”

>>29983824

Asher

>>29984003
Then I'll have to go with Asher.

>>29984003
In that case, it should be allowed to be more dramatic than Asher.

>>29983824
Susanoo. I like Nifl but I feel like it lacks a certain charm in English.

>>29984090
>In that case, it should be allowed to be more dramatic than Asher.

Yeah, think of it as a handle. Legally you're still Asher Smith for what it's worth. But among the followers, you'd be Susanoo.

Counting. Any ties will be dealt with by a secure vote.

Asher wins out.
Didn't think there'd be such a turnout for name.

>>29984222
It's easy to have an opinion on and not have to worry about making a calamitous decision.

Did some digging on Asher. If you go to Mesopotamia, and look at babylonian gods. There's one named Ashur that bears a very similar name.
He appears to slay the chaos-monster, tiamat and thus creates the world instead of Marduk, the chief babylonian god.

>>29984255
It was probably more important than it looked.

Names have meaning, names are important when you're dealing with magic.

If we chose Nifl we'd probably be closer associated to Norse stuff, similarly with the other names.

>>29984305
You tempt me. Sumerian stuff isn't that well known which means summons from it won't be as hard to pull out, and I would actually be down for devoting ourself to Enki.

>>29984305

Also, the goddess Asherah. Aka 'She who treads on the Sea'. She is also a Sumerian deity.

“Asher, as it will always be.” You speak with your heart and mind as waters cease their pour, leaving you feeling tingly, rejuvenated and... connected.
“So it will be Asher still.” Friend smiles, bending down to clap you upon your sodden shoulders.
“It is good to meet you. I am Friend.”
Hearing his name, you feel a sudden surge of thoughts and feelings rush through you.

Friend, he is a man that has served at the side of Susej for a very long while, close to two months after the sky changed, he was one of the first followers that went upon the path of enlightenment with that great man.
He is not the strongest or most powerful as veins rarely are, however he is beloved as a friend to all, and means well for others even as he drives his fingers through their eyes and rends the flesh from their bodies to awaken them.

He was one of the leaders that began the uprisings in India, speaking to the Dalits of their position in life and how he could uplift them. His heart was the heavy when The Followers had left, yet the people were free in their wake, and Susej had said that they must press on.
They had to decide their futures themselves.

You widen your eyes. What... was that?
“You are known to me Asher, and I am known to you. All Followers that hear your name will know who you are, and the notable things that you have done.”

You gasp, breathless as you feel everyone's life for a moment before the sensation is subconsciously numbed.
This will take getting used to.

====================
The baptism is over and the Followers are preparing their offensive behind the scenes as the new initiates train. You stand with Helia, that had once been Emilia, Hot Rod that had been Hunter, and Arin that had once been Xandra.

At hearing their names, you received no great echo like you did with Friend. He had explained that the baptism retells your history after that point. Your old life is behind you. None of The Followers care who you were, only who you will be.

>>29984661
>Hot Rod
That kid has poor taste.

>>29984731
Yep.

>>29984661
Let's see, Helia is a Greek name, one of Heliades, the Children of the Son, daughters of Helios and Clymene/Asia, useful information.

Arin is Hebrew for "Mountain of Strength", I doubt it has to do with the Sanskrit meaning of "With Spokes" or "Discus" since she's neither all that spikey nor does she throw really heavy frisbees.

And well Hot Rod, it shows that Hunter is kinda tasteless.

>>29984797
He's a liiiiitle less tasteless than you give him credit.

After some time being spoken to about the baptism, Friend lets the rest go, yet asks that you, Hot Rod, and Helia to stay. Aerin looks a little interested in what's going on, and seems more inclined to stay, edging away a touch slower than everyone else.
Friend points at her, and beckons her forward, causing a sort of satisfied grin to find its way to her lips.

“The three- four of you, I have in mind for something special.” He begins, looking over each of you to gauge your reactions...

>[] Remain silent, and stare straight ahead.
>[] “Special? For us? Really Friend, you shouldn't have.”
>[] “Now when you say special... What are you really going for.”
>[] “If you think we ca

>>29984910
***
>[] Remain silent, and stare straight ahead.
>[] “Special? For us? Really Friend, you shouldn't have.”
>[] “Now when you say special... What are you really going for.”
>[] “If you think we can Friend, let's hear it.”
>[] (Other)

>>29984924
>[] (Other)
Remain silent, but nod and look to Friend with an expression that says we're ready to hear what he has to say.

>>29984953
seconding

>>29984924
>[] Remain silent, and stare straight ahead.

>>29984953

Thirding

>>29984910
Smile.

"Well, this certainly should be interesting. What exactly do you mean by special?"

We should really swear some Oaths before we undertake whatever task he has for us. It's a solid power boost that we need since we're not that advanced in any of our magics.

Can we, like, start squirreling away power for summoning so that Fara can actually be useful and not a human-shaped pile of terrible?

>>29985205
Sure, I'll include that as being done. A passive drain is all it takes, and you can even recover through it if it's minute enough.

Where would you like to cap her at?

>1st Grade:
Current state, she's cognitive and as a shade understands only that she's lost something, yet doesn't quite understand what.
>2nd Grade:
She begins to glean her nature a bit more, and will be more interested in the actions you take, yet not necessarily have an opinion.
>3rd Grade:
She realizes that she was once a human at some point, yet is no longer. She can manifest on her own at this point, and will comment on things now and then, and speak to people around you.

>>29985286
3rd Grade, it's the most useful.

Though once she gets to 2nd Grade we should definitely chat with her more and try to evaluate if she's going to go crazy in a bad way if she goes any further.

>>29985286
Second grade. Let's get a grasp for her as a person; no need to give her much power if she's gonna shit talk us or undermine our efforts.

>>29985286
Is there something around a 2-and-a-half?

>>29985286
3rd

>>29985336
>>29985286

I would also like to try for something slightly over 2, where she is starting to demonstrate her own opinions so we can get a better idea of what she is like and if we can humour her desires. She wants to help people, so I assume against government mooks she would want to be non-lethal, which is fine. But if she starts getting uppity about humanitarian efforts we'll have to shorten the leash, I think.

>>29985391
>which is fine
Except they are trying to kill us, so unless you plan on some interrogation, I don't see they point.

>>29985286
2nd

>>29985286

Second. Our summons are tools to use. The opinions of humans are already enough, dont our first summon objecting when we do something that it finds distasteful.>>29985325

>>29985286
2nd rank

also we should practice our water/illusions a bit soon

I really like the idea of asher being a super shady fighter, with water mirror deception and summons.

>>29985442
I said mooks. We're water+ice, neutralizing regular humans non-lethally is really easy, just encase their weapons/limbs in ice.

>>29985524
You understand that they won't be hauled off to jail if they survive, right? They'll get armed up and sent back in.

>>29985524
That takes time and effort, and would probably give them frostbite anyways.

Not to mention if they do survive they'll continue trying to kill us or the Followers. If it's convenient to take prisoners and interrogate them, then sure, but otherwise don't bother.

>>29985548
only a problem depending on how we operate in the future. Are we trying to destroy the western government, or carve out a territory? Then killing footsoldiers is worthwhile. If we don't want to outright destroy the current Western World's order, or are a nomadic force, it doesn't help us much to kill them.

>>29985606
That's the point. They want to overhaul the current ruling structure of the planet.

>>29985624
>They
I'm worried there is a lot about that baptism we don't know, but there isn't anything saying we have to stick with the followers.

>>29985606
We are a magical terrorist who literally gave a speech telling people to riot against government agents.

They are going to be coming after us with lethal force, the government would like the Followers to be stamped out and all killed or captured and possibly experimented on. And even if we leave the Followers at some point, I doubt the government will really believe us.

If it's easier to take them alive then we can, but most of the time we shouldn't worry about whether we'll kill them or not.

>>29985650
Too late. One of their goons ID'd us and got away. Even if we split off from The Followers, as far as the UN is concerned we are terrorists positioned against the peace of peoples around the globe.

>Dranule listens to Lorn
Maaah muhfuggin nigga. Reading archives right now.

Without a word, you nod to Friend, letting him know that you're ready to listen. The man gives you a raised eyebrow in response, a cheerful, almost expectant look as he shakes his head a little bit.
“Asher, not so talkative now? What's the matter? You are a good speaker, words are important after all.”
You kind of grin beside yourself as you feel the slightest embarrassed blush from being picked out. The man knows you because of what you've done last night. You get the feeling that he kind of respects you even...

With a clap of his hands, friend secures everyone's attention, it seems that he does this often,”Right then...” He paces as he often does, seeming to be thinking about something.
“You see, there is this thing that I want you to do, that involves NOT being here. In fact, it requires you to be far away from here.”

He places a hand under his chin. Curling into a fist like the thinker,” You see, there is this woman that is in the place you three need to go. By the name of Jacqueline Leblanc. Or Jackie” He says that name with some conviction. You feel something buzz in the back of your head.

A woman that would stand upon a pile of corpses, with her eyes shining, she ripped them to shreds by vacuum force, she returns to her home after being away for some time. Declared dead to her family, she inflicts the same upon them in effort to awaken them. She wipes up the blood after they disappoint. She speaks to her faraway friends, the state of her home and once-country. She expects them to visit soon.

You feel something within you reverberate as that knowledge pours into you. What.

Friend's expression does not change,”She is waiting, and we must find where they take people of magic. That is what we have come here for. She is not the kindest in her methods, yet she is not me, and she has her own way. They also know of me, of many of us. They are on the watch for those that fit our profile...” He's silent for a moment, suddenly growing serious.

“It is because... we are black.” His fist tenses with anger for a moment, a glowing vein popping out of his forehead in his frustration. Yet then he suddenly relaxes, all stress gone as he flicks back into a smile like the turning of a switch as he laughs off that whole thing with a thick and throaty chuckle.
“I am kidding, kidding. But seriously, they see us and the suspicion grows.

Helia raises a hand, a little meek, yet far more confident than she's been. She's given approval to speak quite promptly.
“What about.. those of us with scars...” She touches her abdomen gingerly, the silver-white illumination pressing through the missing fabric of her ruined clothes, in a self referential gesture. You'd assume that she'd be just as concerned about her glascow smile, yet unwilling to draw direct attention to it.

“The lady will figure something out, Las Vegas has excellent plastic surgeons from what I have heard. I'd like for you to tell me how it is should we meet again.”

“So, you said that there was a barricade... How are we getting' past that? Hell, how are we getting over the Rockies?” Hot Rod speaks freely, not bothering for any hand-raising BS.
Friend looks to him with the same platonic expression he gives everyone,”Ah, yes. You will be flown by Eshe.” Friend looks to you, his eyes keen and a bit of laughter glimmering in his eyes as the fish-woman steps forward, nodding to Friend and then looking over the rest of you with her strange eyes.
Hunter seems a bit unnerved and you feel his woes as her gaze stops upon you.
“I saved you. I am responsible for you.” Her trill voice whispers through her inhuman maw. “I know how to fly helicopters, and I will be the one to watch over you as you meet that woman.”

Arin stares at the woman, with her mouth a bit agape,”Really? How are you going to avoid suspicion looking like that?” The Amazon crosses her arms, assessing the appearance of the odd woman-like creature.

With a smile, Eshe's body shimmers with the facsimile of bones beneath her odd amphibious form.
Slimy flesh is replace by wet human, webbed fingers and claws retract, the illumination of her spots ceases and withdraws, her eyes reshape and her teeth fix themselves back into a human profile.

At the end, she stands before everyone, half-naked and chuckling with chocolate-colored skin and dreads running down across the back of her neck. She appears a little “hit” by the exertion, yet appears mostly fine under the circumstance... She must have good endurance against the “Ache.”

“Like this,” She flicks her hair across her shoulders, letting the locks spill up front.

Everyone squeezes their eyes shut and looks away at her obvious nudity, causing Friend to chuckle again.

Arin, throws a palm over her face.“Right, I'm satisfied, uhhh, when.. Uhh, when do we leave?”
“When we are breaking through the barricade, you will find one. That is left to you.” Friend chuckles a bit more,”Any last questions?”

>Write in...

>>29986229
So we go convince her to help us where the government takes those with magic?

Or is she already convinced and we just have to join her?

>>29986229
Not the write in, but just seeing if I have this right.

We're going to meet up with vacuum woman to figure out what the government is doing to Overs?

>>29986282
She's been baptized, that's why you got a breakdown of who she was just by hearing her name.

>>29986302
Yes, and yes. She's alone there right now. One mage can only do so much.

>>29986208
>“When we are breaking through the barricade, you will find one. That is left to you.”
I assume he's talking about a helicopter here?

So we gotta sneak out while the other Followers are busting the barricade, then we steal a chopper, fish-not-fish woman flies us to Leblanc, and then we do -something-. Talk to her? Help her with whatever it is she's doing?

Ok. Sounds good.

>>29986416
Yeeep.

So, no questions?

>>29986208
Open our eyes if we closed them, don't stare or ogle, but see what's there.

"It's an honor to have you with us Eshe, thank you for all you have done for me.

We'll find a helicopter when we break through the barricade, you seem quite sure of this. How do you know? Divination?

Friend, could you teach us the method of taking Oaths? Escaping this city will take strength, and we may need it all the more on our trip.

Is there anything I should know about Jackie to avoid offending her through careless words or actions?

Do we know of any other mages within Las Vegas?"

Joy, we're going to a desert.

>>29986343
Eshe has also been baptized, right? I don't think we've gotten a breakdown of who she is yet, and given that we're going to be working together that would be nice to have.

>>29986437
>Oaths
Oh right.

We kinda need a boost what with water manipulation being shit in a desert.

>>29986437
>Joy, we're going to a desert.
Best get them waterbottles ready.

>>29986474
oshit

>>29986474
I hope we can stay on the strip most of the time. There's plumbing there, and a good number of pools at all the casinos.

Why couldn't we go somewhere wet, like Seattle. Stupid sun.

>>29986474
Has Asher ever watched the Tremors movies?

'Cause those graboids would make some baller desert summons.

>>29986561
We still need a medium for our summons. In our case the medium is usually water or ice since we can shape it, this makes summoning problematic.

So no questions except maybe asking about oaths is what you guys decided on?

>>29987056
Well I'm interested in all of the questions here >>29986437

But I wrote them so I'm probably biased. It's all good information to know.

Eshe hits you a bit late, though you feel far fewer things from her than you would have thought, given her strength.

She rescued many people from the Great Wave that the shining eyes had conjured. They had been tired, and she had learned her ability to transform well. Her Oath drove her to action, saving as many people as she could from death that could not save themselves, giving breath to many with a kiss. She saved more than any other with her form, and yet... It cuts off there.
You open your eye, and look over her body. The best word to define it would definitely be supple with some light toning. Her form looks as though it were molded by clay given how picturesque she appears. Most notably, she does not bear any scars... None that you can see anyway.
She doesn't seem to be an advocate of Brazilian wax... You realize that you're staring a little too keenly, yet she doesn't show any sort of modesty in the slightest.

“It's, uhhh.. An honor to have you with us Eshe, thank you for all that you've done for me...”
The brown woman smiles, revealing her teeth like some kind of amused predator. Bad habit maybe? “Oh, no. Asher. You've been a good person to save. I have enjoyed watching over you as well.”

“So I've heard...”

“Your life is my responsibility. Your actions are mine. This is what I believe.” She nods at that.

“I see... So, you say that we'll find a helicopter, how do you know this, some kind of magic?”
At that question, friend just starts smiling like a fool and laughing as he throws a hand upon your shoulder,”Ah hah hah, Asher... Oh you.” He points at you with the other hand,”You are a funny guy. See, this. This is why I like you.”
He gives you another pat on the back as you feel red in the face from him laughing down a serious question.
“We use common sense for this. They cannot stay in the air all day. They must land somewhere, and near in friendly ground is better than far.”

“Uhh, right then.. So about meeting this chick, Jackie... Anything I shouldn't do or say?”
Friend seems to think very hard for a moment,”I haven't met her but...”
“But...?”
“You should humor her.”
“That's it?”
“Yes.”
“Right then, any other mages?” You kind of roll your eyes.
“None that we are certain are with us. You will be making them there.”

He wants you to “teach” people there as well huh...

“Any last questions?”

“Could you teach us about Oaths? They improve magic, right? I'd like to make one.”
It is at this that Friend's gaze hardens a little bit, some of his humor draining,” I may teach you how it is made, but you must be certain that it is one that you can uphold. You may never remove it once it is made, you will need to live the rest of your life with this oath, and suffering the penalties from it if it is broken.”

He's more serious about this than you thought he would be, the others listen intently, Eshe resumes her fish-like form much to your dismay. She was kind of nice to look at.
“Tell me, I'll make the choice myself.”

With that, he seems satisfied.
“An oath may be taken at any time, so long as you use your magic. You speak to your inner self, stating at once to you and the world what your oath will be.

You could have an Oath of Truth at forbids you from lying, such as mine. Or an Oath of Abstinence like Eshe may kid you about with those looks you have given her.”
You feel a bit hot at that, why'd he need to draw attention to that... Hot Rod snickers, and you get an amused eye from Arin. Fuck my life...

“Or an oath could be as simple as offering a prayer or sacrifice every day, or a condition to use a certain spell. The more restrictive the condition, the more it improves the magic as it becomes closer to a personal law.”

“Right, so, I speak the oath to my inner self? That doesn't sound hard.”
“No, it is not. Which is why I warn you for it. Many Followers take the oath of truth as it is not in our interest to lie about what we would do. Yet you tasks will prove that oath trying. Think of something, and make it your own. That is all there is to it.”

You're dismissed and walk away with the others, trying to keep your back to them a bit so that you can have some thoughts to yourself. Hot Rod and Helia stick with you for a bit until you wave them off, letting them get down to their own business.

Something my own... You ponder this to yourself... So far you've got some experience with Water, Steam, and Ice... Mirage, and Summoning.. something your own....
You're dismissed after that, leaving you to ponder what will occur come the twilight hours. You've had some time to acclimate your initial abilities, yet you know that you're far from polished, and they're putting you in a place where being incognito will be to your benefit...

At the very least, you won't need to fight against soldiers and hopefully not other Overs.

You touch your missing eye as a reminder to your mortality that is not shared with Veins and especially not Bones. You get shot, you may very well be dead. This is a problem.

Stronger magic, an oath appropriate to you...
Abstinence... No, you almost lick your lips at the thought of burying your face in Eshe's tits, and you can only imagine what it must...No. Off-track, off-track. Keep focused. You might die tonight, you need to.. Need to..

Ah, you could feed Fara... At least she won't drain away your power during a summon of she's fed...
Your fingertips glow as you pour energy into her astral form, feeling her squirm and grow.
=Power...= She whispers.

Yeah, you don't know if you'll get used to her being in your head.
You feel miscellaneous thoughts slip away into the Banshee's astral mass, whatever wasn't inherently important just kind of ends up there like a leaky faucet.

>[] Work on an Oath...
>[] Practice some more of your magic... You're still getting the hang of Mirage.
>[] Find one of your partners to work with...
>[] Take a walk around the campus.
>[] (Other)

>>29987245
If an oath instantly levels a skill, doesn't that mean that it would be better to hold off until the cost to level it is higher than just 2 LIMIT points?

>[x] Practice some more of your magic... You're still getting the hang of Mirage.

>>29987245
>>[] Practice some more of your magic... You're still getting the hang of Mirage.
Making it harder to get shot sounds like the kind of thing a guy thinking about his own vulnerability to bullets would do.

>>29987245
>[] Work on an Oath...

An Oath of Survival, to do whatever it takes to survive. No matter what ideals we must betray, who we must throw under the bus, or atrocities we must commit we must never accept death and fight it every step of the way.

An Oath of Selfishness, to never perform an act of charity. All kindnesses we perform are favors that we expect repayment for, if a little girl lost her balloon in a tree we will walk right past the crying little girl.

An Oath of Responsibility, to never mistreat a summon, to attend to their needs and treat them with respect.

>>29987292
I asked that in a previous thread. The price is based on the level of the spell without the Oath applied, applying an Oath doesn't change the cost whatsoever.

>>29987308
Those were the oaths we agreed best fit his character, I assume?

>>29987308
>I asked that in a previous thread. The price is based on the level of the spell without the Oath applied, applying an Oath doesn't change the cost whatsoever.
Oh. It's one of those type things.

Well, I'd be fine with working on one like that now then.

Problem is that I have no idea what to pick. Taking the oath of Responsibility sounds like an awesome way to get dicked over.

>>29987308

I agree with all three of these oaths, but Im a bit iffy on the Responsibility Oath. Will things like burning Fara to make her scream be out of the question?

What about when our survival depends on the sacrifice of a summon? What oath takes precedence in that situation?

Just want to make sure that these things are squared away before we do anything permanent.

>>29987429
Responsibility is probably too dangerous an oath to make.

>>29987429
And what qualifies as a need and treating them with respect? Will we get dicked over for breaking the oath if we summon something like a wendigo and don't let it eat us / our minions?

>>29987329
I don't think the Oath of Survival has been brought up before, but it seems fitting. The other two have been discussed before, and I personally happen to like them and think they fit Asher, but they are by no means the only possible oaths.

>>29987356
I agree and disagree with you about the Oath of Responsibility. There is a downside, summons could fuck us over, but they could fuck us over even if we didn't have this oath just by fucking us over. Sure we could fuck them over right back, but that doesn't solve the problem of us being fucked over, and fucking them over first just ensures that they won't want to work with us.

Summons are probably interested in a long-term relationship where we both can manage to accomplish our goals, our assurance by an Oath that we'll stick to our side of the deal ought to be good for establishing trust with a summon. A lot of the reason people fuck each other over is because they don't trust them and are wondering if they'll get betrayed first.

I think it's a reasonable bet, and it would empower our magic which is important.

>>29987429
We're summoning soldiers, expecting them to get out unscathed is silly. Our burning of Fara wasn't really intentional, wasn't malicious, and saved the life of a companion. If we did it again without sufficient reason, and with any malicious intent towards her then we'd probably break the oath.

And I hope it never comes to the point where we have to sacrifice a summon for our own life.

Though I'm wondering if a summon can truly die. They aren't beings of flesh and blood, but of thought and legend, and legends are difficult to permanently kill.

>>29987356
>Taking the oath of Responsibility sounds like an awesome way to get dicked over.
Depends on if you guys decide to dip into "evil" summons.

Something like a Wendigo under pure mythos description would never truly be satisfied and that oath would act as a clause in their contract.
Fara's was an easy one, but other summons be be a bit more resilient and intent on bargaining.
>>29987429
>Will things like burning Fara to make her scream be out of the question?
Purposely, Yes.

>>29987429
>What about when our survival depends on the sacrifice of a summon? What oath takes precedence in that situation?
>
>Just want to make sure that these things are squared away before we do anything permanent.

Conflicting oaths are mutually broken under the circumstance.

>>29987463
>Though I'm wondering if a summon can truly die. They aren't beings of flesh and blood, but of thought and legend, and legends are difficult to permanently kill.
They feel pain, and can be dissolved with sufficient damage, requiring them time to fully reconstitute themselves. They bear some vulnerabilty to a Vein's spiritual attacks, and can potentially be drained by a Bone. However if the summon is of sufficient grade beyond the bone, it'll be as difficult as a soul to absorb.


>Oath of Luna:
Could be associated with Water-related magic: Magic wanes with the moon until vanishing upon the New Moon.
Magic Waxes and swells, maximizing upon the full moon.

>>29987494
>Something like a Wendigo under pure mythos description would never truly be satisfied and that oath would act as a clause in their contract.
Elaborate on what that means. We would have to bargain with them when we summon them and dictate what constitutes acceptable levels of dissatisfaction?

I think burning Fara to make her scream would count as breaking an oath of responsibility towards summons. I was hoping though that we could just work on empowering her such that she had the control to use it at will, she is closer to thoughtform.

Survival is cool, but I have my doubts about whether it is sufficiently constrictive to provide any benefit. We can't go making an noble sacrifices or swearing horrible blood oaths on our own life, that really isn't much of a restriction on our day to day use.

>>29987457
Wendigos would probably be a bad idea most of the time with that Oath. We'd probably have to feed them, and they don't stop being hungry. Then again, Wendigos are a bad idea to summon most of the time anyways.

If there's a battlefield full of enemies to kill and eat then we'd have fulfilled our obligation.

I'm thinking needs would consist of food, shelter, purpose, care if they're injured in our service. And treat them as an ally rather than just a tool to be disposed of or used frivolously. If we send them to their death there should be a damn good reason for it.

Funnily enough this would end up with us caring more about our Summons than about almost all people.

>>29987531
I dunno, we are magical terrorists now. Noble sacrifices and blood oaths are pretty much par for the course.

>>29987494

>Oath of Wavering Sol:
You may only use Mirage under the light of the sun.

>Oath of Frigid Night: You may only use Ice at night.

>Oath of Twilight Hours: Mirage may only be used during dusk and dawn.

Thinking of more...

>>29987514
>Elaborate on what that means. We would have to bargain with them when we summon them and dictate what constitutes acceptable levels of dissatisfaction?
For a long term summon, yes. You'd bargain on their contract. Some summons will set their own conditions, and things that they may want in return or agree to do.
As an unwillful shade, Fara was easy because she wasn't even sure of making a contract.

>>29987578
So could we make an oath to never violate a contract? Or are contracts unable to be violated by their nature?

Cause I'd like to be able to summon up some trash thoughtforms for meatshields or worthless fodder purposes.

>>29987618
A violated contract is a broken one. The summon becomes unbound by it and can use whatever they've been given to do as they please. Some may prefer this as it means they're a free with license to act in the real world.

>>29987578
For our Illusion powers, Oath of the Liar, we must have already lied or mislead someone with our words before we can mislead them with Illusions.

An Oath of Hospitality might be interesting, we have to provide food, drink, and lodging for guests and travelers, regardless of our own feelings towards them. Though if they break the rules of hospitality first we're free to murder them.

Oath of Focus: Discard a subspell to empower its primary.
This would result in a loss of Steam, or Ice for instance.

It may be useful if you find that you guys just aren't' using a magic that you'd purchased at all.

I'd revise Responsibility into a couple Oaths.

Oath of Respect: You will Respect your summons as sentient or sapient life-forms based upon their intelligence. You will not go out of your way to wrong them through pain or neglect. Combat is an exception to this if it has been agreed upon.

Oath of Sustenance: Summons re

>>29987656
>Oath of the Liar, we must have already lied or mislead someone with our words before we can mislead them with Illusions.
This is actually a very good one. It can be doubled up with the power of incantation.

>>29987656
>Oath of the Liar

That's a pretty good one actually and in character as well.

>>29987656
>For our Illusion powers, Oath of the Liar, we must have already lied or mislead someone with our words before we can mislead them with Illusions.
That would be fun.
"Let's see how you fare against SWARMS OF SUMMONED BEES!" and then make illusion bees.

>>29987688
>Oath of Sustenance: Summons require food. They will be given an offering of food shared from your own rations. This will be taken from you upon consumption.
They may be licensed to take their offering whether you eat or not.

>Compiling a list of these oaths now.

>>29987688
>Oath of Sustenance: Summons re
?

>>29987745
What about an Oath of [something] where we agree to provide summons with some minimum of energy and not keep them as brainless shades?

>>29987656

I'm liking the Oath of the Liar, though I don't the responsibility oath(s). They just seem too limiting when dealing with summons. They are tools not people.

>>29987656
>Oath of Hospitality
Is really cool from a mythic standpoint. And okay, I know it isn't cool from a minmaxing IC perspective, but I really like the idea of someone trying to use it against us in a cat and mouse game of maneuvering, with someone that knows as long as they are hospitable towards us we cannot attack them (I know you were talking about us as the host, but I like it both ways). If we wanted to try and use it to our advantage though, we could work on tactics that are best in such a scenario, though I assume it would work better for someone like Friend and such silvertongues. But trying to become that overbearing guest (possibly one that invites all his mythos buddies around, that really need the AC turned down to -30 degrees, cuz, you know, they're frost giants)

>>29987777
I think it had presented a really funny dichotomy with some of the previously suggested oaths, like Selfishness.

>>29987731
>>29987698
Thank you, though on second thought Oath of Misdirection might be a more appropriate name. Not that it matters too much.

I'm thinking it's less that they need to well and truly believe what we're saying or completely buy into it, but to at least induce doubt in their minds, or throw them off from the truth.

Like if through selectively avoiding saying some things got a soldier to believe that we aren't with the Followers and are just trying to get away from the crazy black people, even if we didn't directly lie to him I think that should satisfy the conditions.

>>29987777
It would be rather funny. An exercise in who can be more passive aggressive towards the other.

I don't like the Oath of the Liar because it completely locks out stealth based applications of illusion.

It forces us to use it in combat situations only and places a delay before it can be used, making it more likely that Asher will be taken down before the illusions take effect.

It's a cool oath, but it is not a good one to use. I would argue that it would be even more problematic than the various summoning oaths.

>>29987745
Well, if we do take that one we'll probably want to get on good terms with a butcher when we get to Las Vegas, since I'm thinking of wolves as a common summon of ours. Ravens are easy though, ravens will eat pretty much anything, and make good scouts.

>>29987838
It's here that I remind Oaths are optional.
>>29987855
The way I wrote sustenance doesn't require it to be food that they'd eat.

Oath of the Waifu: We will take no summon other than Fara.

>>29987838
followed by >>29987865
>It's here that I remind Oaths are optional.

Makes me think that that oath isn't such a good idea anymore...

>>29987865
It'd probably still be polite to get them something they would want to eat. And we'll want some jerky or other longlasting food to carry around with us at all times.

>>29987838
It can still be used in non-combat situations, and misleading doesn't necessarily need to be with words.

Though I can definitely see your point, it does restrict our options, but at the level we have it at currently it's not going to fool people all that much anyways.

>>29987898
>but at the level we have it at currently
Don't use that argument with regard to Oath picking. We can't get rid of the things. They'll still be restricting us once the levels get higher.

Oath of Asher: To be the best(like no one ever was)

How strong could an oath to only speak in rhyme be?

>>29987991
Annoying but fun as shit.

>>29988010
I vote we take one for Summoning then.

>>29987898
>It can still be used in non-combat situations
But it can't be used for any situation in which the target is not already aware of Asher. And that's a huge problem.

I suppose it would be good for non-combat things where we'd already be lying anyway. If we're trying to convince some people that we're so and so and whip out an illusion ID that says we can be there or something.

But we still have to make them aware of us before the magic can begin. Without the oath, we could just illusion sneak past them all.

>>29988019
We'll probably want to lie low sometimes when we're in Vegas, rhyming all the time garners attention, possibly attention of the variety we really don't want, and is a fair bit of work.

>>29988033
I'm also going to note, higher levels of certain magics will unfold a whole new aspect of it.

I.E. Water begins to abandon material water and really more upon the concept of water and what it implies via human lore. Make of that what you will. This applies to most magic.

Oath of Celibacy: Ignore Flesh; Gain Power

Asceticism ho!

>>29988073
I'd really rather not.

>>29988068
That spoiler. I'm looking forward to it. Water is knowledge, water is the source of life, and a harbinger of destruction. Water is death and rebirth. Water is many things.

If we did Oath of Misdirection instead of Liar would something like making a loud noise in the opposite direction from us with a chunk of ice to draw their attention count as misdirecting them enough to use Illusion powers and slip past?

>>29988158
>If we did Oath of Misdirection instead of Liar would something like making a loud noise in the opposite direction from us with a chunk of ice to draw their attention count as misdirecting them enough to use Illusion powers and slip past?

It could be construed as that, yes. Misdirection as an integral part to mirage, or as it's better known, illusion.

Most of these oaths are too limiting. Oath of Celibacy I like.

What about Oath of... Water? We can only drink pure water. Would this be enough to gain a rank in a spell?

Oh. I'd support giving up thoughtform summoning for a level in mythos summoning. Oath of Focus.

>>29988233
Fara is thoughtform. Thoughtform is in general better than mythos.

I will staunchly oppose giving up thoughtform for mythos.

Thoughtform is the only reason I'm cool with summoning at all.

>>29988233
You know how divisive things have been in regards to mythos vs thoughtform summoning. Don't suggest something like that.

>>29988246
A shade is a little of both. She's different from traditional summons of either sort.

>>29988246
What about giving up steam for ice? Steam leads into pyrokinesis which we probably won't be doing.

I thought Fara was mythos. I was hoping to specialize in mythos. Summon some valkyries or wendigos.

>>29988266
>Giving up SURPRISE STEAM
Nigger you best be joking

>>29988233
No alcohol? Ever? That's kinda depressing. It's fitting, but still sad. Also, it might make us stand out in Vegas.

And Abstinence doesn't really seem to fit the character.

>>29988266
We're going into a desert, man. If we pick it up over there it will be invaluable.

I think something that makes the contracting or constructing (since I don't think you contract thoughtforms) more arduous and time consuming might be good. Something like incantation, or it must be done after hours of meditation, or something.

This is assuming the limits are once per contractee/form, I mean how do such things apply later when, apparently, over 2nd grade they can appear on their own?

>>29987688
>Oath of Focus: Discard a subspell to empower its primary.
Could we discard pyrokinesis for Steam or will that not work since we have no ranks in pyro yet?

>>29988321
It's an oath for a refund and purposely locking yourself out of something that's fallen into disuse.

>>29988297
I disagree that these things don't fit the character. Asher's drive has been to gain knowledge. Sex or alcohol is not knowledge. I can see him giving up these things in pursuit of the latter.

>>29988353
Knowledge or power?

With your skill in Mirage especially rough, you resolve that you should be more keen on making your illusions more believable. Going out to that fountain that everyone had gathered at, you stare into the crystalline waters, splashing some over your face in slight hope to feel a little less filthy. You hiss to yourself as it seeps into the bandage over your eye, teasing at the rawness that's formed into a crude scab. It hurts.
=Are you okay?=
Fine, just fine. Your pinkie finger pulsates slightly with your cyan radiation, as you feed Fara.
=I hurt a little too. I don't like it when you hurt.=
I'll be fine, just eat up or whatever damnit.

You focus upon the water, working to change the reflections of yourself rippling across the surface. Ir doesn't take long for you to get fed up with the shitty image yet you begin to realize that you barely feel the drain from this spell. The first word that comes to your mind as you play with water us that it's... Well, it's efficient. There's no resistance, it just lets you play with the image, making you feel like some kind of artist.
The ripples start to irritate you though....
=Allow me...= You feel Fara's presence hover over the fountain before a frost creeps over your part, liking the oscillating waves in a frozen place to let you do as you please.

In time your images get reasonably clear, and you don't have to think quite as hard as before to maintain them.

Time slips through your fingers as you feed Fara, feeling the burn start warming up your nerves...

=I feel good Asher... =
Do you?
=Yeah... I think... Umm. I was a person once, right? What kind of person do you think I was?=
You're asking me?
=Who else would I?=

>[] You were likely a repressed woman that disliked people more than she let on.
>[] I bet you were kind. It's likely why you want to help others now.
>[] Probably liked Modest Mouse or something. You seem like the type, working at Whole Foods.
>[] (Other)

>Unlocked Cantrip: Mirage Ice Mirror: Based upon Mirage and Ice, it will create an image within a frozen surface to mislead and alter the attention of foes.

>>29988375
>[] You seem like you were the sort that cared about family.

>>29988375
>>[] You were likely a repressed woman that disliked people more than she let on.
I want to push her away from any inklings toward pacifism. She's our only summon right now.

>>29988375

>[] You seem like you were the sort that cared about family.
Ooh, this is good, encourage her to think in black and white. We are family, you protect family.


>Probably liked Modest Mouse or something. You seem like the type, working at Whole Foods.
and this fuckin made me laugh.

>>29988375
>[] I bet you were kind. It's likely why you want to help others now.


>>29988419
Will that answer do that or will it just make her dislike Asher more?

>>29988404
>>29988427
Actually, yeah. This is really good.

Asher and his minions = family. Family is love. Everyone else is fuck em.

Changing from >>29988428 to family thing

>>29988404
>>29988427
[Cult leader intensifies]

>>29988428
>Will that answer do that or will it just make her dislike Asher more?
It's late, so yes. She's not entirely mythos.

>>29988467
Need an appropriate gif for that.

>>29988473
>Need an appropriate gif for that.
I don't have it saved, but I've seen a gif of Charles Manson being crazy at a hearing and it gets progressively more distorted as he makes funny faces.

>>29988375
"You seem like the sort who was cold and distant towards most people, it was difficult for you to trust or like them, and I can hardly blame you for that.

But for the few you considered family you were always there for them, and cared deeply for them."

If we can communication emotions of trust and caring as part of talking, then this would be a good time to do that.

File: 1391421110538.jpg-(252 KB, 1280x720, 1371772773242.jpg)

252 KB JPG

>>29988473
Huh, this or loli Medusa is probably the closest reaction I have to that.

You might've been cold and distant towards most people, and it may have been difficult to trust them, but I don't really blame you for that. Most people are just out for themselves out of ignorance or something.
I'm sure though, that you cared for your family, and cherished them more than anything.
You may not know who they were anymore, so I guess I'd be the closest thing you have to them, huh?
Sorry you're with such a useless summoner, I can barely keep you material.
She's silent for a moment, you notice a change in her mood, at first, there's some kind of hardening in her personality, and then a sudden warmth, almost as though she were smiling.
=Yes, I think you're right Asher. People tend to be assholes... Nothing we can do about that though. Guess so long as you're my summoner, you're right. You're all I've got.=

The sudden change in her tone unnerves you a little bit... In that instant, her naivete dissolved and she got a sudden surge of cruelty and despondence. You get the feeling that she may be less keen on forgiving a burn, while she's far more likely to rip someone apart.

You take a look out at the evening sky, as the sun inches its way down into the western Horizon. Friend must be a goddamn genius to attack at sunset, you note. The sun will be at your backs.

This'll be your first day as a new man. Asher Smith has been washed away, and now all that's left is... Well, Asher.

>End Thread.

>Comments, questions, concerns?

I've got a bit for some dedicated answers.

Next thread will be Sunday 21:00 server. unless I can manage another day, I'll tweet.

>>29988680
>yandere summon unlocked
uh oh
>>29988706
Fun as always.

What about an Oath of Family? Responsibility to the people and summons that we consider "family", while we can just be an ass to everyone else.

>>29988774
To make it objective enough to qualify, that'd include The Followers that have received the baptism.
All of them.

>>29988706
Do summons change their personality often?

>>29988727
You say that as if it's a bad thing. I think we can keep her pointed in the right direction, and unless we hurt her I don't really have any doubts as to her loyalty. And now she's willing to kill for us.

Though she might make it very clear to any girls we sleep with in the future that if they ever hurt us she'll rip out their spine. Which'll be funny.

>>29988706
We should probably choose some Oaths before we join the attack, it shouldn't take long, and I'm worried we'll just die if we go in without it.

Also, can we grab a pile of food that lasts a while at the cafeteria before leaving. We'll want to eat on the way to Las Vegas, and it means we can get the Oath of Sustenance. I wouldn't mind summoning and charging up a pair of ravens and a pair of wolves before we went. Wolves to hunt, track, and kill things, and ravens to scout areas and give us a better view.

Is anyone else in our group picking up any Oaths?

>>29988832
>Is anyone else in our group picking up any Oaths?
Hunte- I mean "Hot Rod" is probably going to pick something fucking stupid. Like an Oath of Badassitude.

>>29988826
Would you rather be surprised?

Incidentally, thoughtforms do depending on what you say to them and how you treat them. They'll be much less intelligent than Fara even at her 1st grade due to the fact that she's not wholly a thoughtform as I've
said.

She's a shade.
Here's what that means if you want spoilers.
When a human dies, their soul rejoins the great streams of ether that course through the world and human subconsciousness.
They are destined to dissolve in a matter of moments at worse, a matter of days at best.
Shades result from the last impression that a living person had of them. The "echo" of their life and soul. It is a hollow shell with a facsimile of personality and woe. They understand that they were supposed to be someone, but they're not and can never be.

>>29988832
>We should probably choose some Oaths before we join the attack
Going to present the most likely ones a bit after the start of next thread. They can be taken at any time.

>>29988877
Another spoiler that'll garner him some respect...
Look up Nimrod.

>>29988921
Okay, that's not bad. The first thing I thought of was Hot Rod the transformer, and while he does become a Prime, my first thought will always be "Goddamnit, Hot Rod."

>>29988952
>my first thought will always be "Goddamnit, Hot Rod."
It should still be.
Chock it up as an unconscious decision.

>>29988921
Nimrod, mighty hunter, he who only worships the fire, his chosen name actually does make sense.

Though funnily enough, thanks in part to Bugs Bunny, even when taken as a reference to Nimrod it makes him sound a bit silly.

And poor Fara, sucks to be her. She ought to however make a solid ally.

>>29989008
>And poor Fara, sucks to be her.
Aye, she would've ceased to exist if you hadn't summoned her. But you returned her to sentience.

Anyway. Night guys. It's late, and it's been fun.

>>29988706
What would have happened if we chose a name other than Asher, like Nifl or Susanoo? Would it have changed anything, gotten us in good with a specific pantheon?

On a scale from 1-10 how terrible an idea would opening up Summoning negotiations with Lilith be?

>>29989083
I want to summon a bigass dragon.

>>29989083
>On a scale from 1-10
Total bitch.
You WOULD NOT be able to ask her to submit to a man. If anything, the servant/master relationship would be flipped.

Aside, they would've made a difference. Some summons may have taken notice of the fact, and leaned you in their direction.
Nifl= Loki/Evil norse faction.
Susanoo would've been more japanese lore and the potential for coercing Orochi, and persuading Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi to assist you along with other japanese mythos. Total weeb, but, hey. It'd get you chinese dragons- maybe.
People also would've nicknamed you Susy. I was looking forward to that.
Neptar would've been associated with Neptune and Greek things.
Dylon would've opened up Celtic lore and faeries n' the like.

Not that these things aren't already open, but it would just make them notice you right away.

Then again, Asher is based on a meso- god, one of the potentially eldest gods in history.. There's opportunity there.

>>29989170
Well, now I'm almost regretting keeping Asher instead of going to Susanoo.

Almost.

The fact that it makes me think of those fire skeletons from nartuto every time I read it makes me glad we didn't pick it.

>>29989170
Did keeping Asher do anything at all?

>>29989116
Shouldn't be the most difficult task.

If we go Norse and shack up with Hel, Loki, Fenrir, and the rest of that general brood, we actually would have a good number of options for dragons, Vanar-Drekar, dragons of despair, large reptiles that live in Hel, leave behind trails of flame and can cause earthquakes, Eltr-Drekar, venemous dragons who torture souls and spit poison, Fafnir, a dwarf whose greed was so great that he became a dragon himself, Nidhogg who is the bigass fucking dragon who lives above Niflheim and chews at the roots of Yggdrasil, and Jormungandr, the World Serpent, might count as one as well.

Though granted, Jormungandr would be an absurdly huge summon, and Nidhogg wouldn't be easy either.

>>29989170
Figured as much about Lilith. Wasn't planning on it, just curious.

And I would not mind friendly relations with the Sumerian gods due to an association with Asherah, the Lady of the Sea, and pretty much the quintessential Mother Goddess. Enki would be a damn good deity to befriend, he's the God of trickery and mischief, water, knowledge, crafting, and magic.

And Inanna, Goddess of love, war, chaos, and fertility could be fun.

>>29989340
I've been thinking that pseudo- eldritch abomination thoughtforms might be neat

>>29989340
Damn, Sumerian's knew how to put together a deific portfolio.
I like anybody that puts love and war under the same person's purview.

>>29989340
The Archangel Gabriel is associated with water. So there's that.

>>29989340
Adding to my post.

The Sumerian/Mesopotamian gods could be interesting. They're not all that well known, which is good, it means we'll blindside a lot of opponents and if I remember correctly the more obscure things are the easier it is to draw from them as others aren't drawing from the same source.

The downside is that we don't know as much as we would like about their mythology, and especially their monsters and other such things that we could summon at our level of expertise. There are a few options, but not as many as I'd like. And many of the ones we do have are pretty vague due to lack of information.

>>29989625
It'd certainly be cool, though I'm not sure Asher is all that eldritch, and do you really want to carry out negotiations with a gibbering being with more mouths than ought to be able to fit.

>>29989751
It's not that uncommon, and a decent number of the examples of Goddesses that have both of those in their portfolio can be traced back to Inanna, or to a separate Goddess that got merged with Inanna at some point in history, not all of them, but a good chunk.

>>29989784
I'm kinda leery of going for any of the Abrahamic religions, they're the most common ones, angels don't exactly seem like the most yielding negotiators, and the abilities of angels and the like are often pretty vague.

>>29989815
Also, we might be able to kinda cheat a bit.

If we're lucky we could take Sumerian Gods and also work with the legends of any gods, and their servants, pets, and other stuff they're associated with, that shot off from them. This would have a good number of the Canaanite, Akkadian, Hittite, and Assyrian Gods, though some of them traveled much further.

Hell, the Greeks called Ishtar, Astarte, and she was often accepted under the names of Aphrodite and Artemis, if we really stretch it we might be able to pull Kali and some others under the same umbrella.

If this works it could open up a lot of options.

I'd prefer if we didn't get any Oaths at all, having to upholdone sounds way too restricting. If there were a way to remove one I'd be fine with them though.

dammit. another thread i've missed. curse sleep

>>29991346
There's no way to remove them. We are swearing something to our inner self, you don't break that oath easily. If we do break it, and whatever spell the Oath is associated with drops like a rock due to that, it is possible to perform a penance and reforge the oath, but it will never truly be gone.

Oaths are however very powerful, and if we go into this Las Vegas mission with all of our spells at Novice I'm pretty sure we're going to either die or get captured by the government for whatever purposes they desire. Neither of these options is particularly palatable to me.

Remember the most important lesson that the Followers have taught us, power requires sacrifice. Nothing is ever truly free in this world, and this goes doubly so for magic. Our eye was sacrificed for magic, our innocence for truth, and soon we may cast away our charity for power.

>>29991730
I know there is no way to break them, that is my main issue with them. Not worth restricting choices in exchange for power. It could be exploited.

>>29989170
>No Christianity lore
fuck all this gay norse and japanese shit.
I wanna summon angels nigga

>>29991839
When not having power will get you killed it's very much worth sacrificing choice for it. As we are now we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of taking on a dangerous Over, and we are going to run into strong enemies, and they are going to try and kill us. With Oaths, we can fight, and we can survive.

Oaths are common among the Followers and they've been managing just fine, yes it's a restriction on our actions, but that's not the end of the world. We just need to choose restrictions that we can handle. It means we have to be clever enough to work around any paths that are blocked.

Sure an enemy might be able to exploit an Oath, depending on the situation and the Oath, but without them then they won't even need to exploit anything, they could just beat our ass into the pavement.

If you try to hold onto everything you will end up with nothing. Choose what's important, discard what you don't need, and be stronger for it.

>>29991874
For reasons already explained angels are a terrible idea.

They're difficult to work with and negotiate with at the best of times, especially since we're a truly sinful human being, they are extremely widely known, and their powers are extremely vague.

Every single one of these factors works against us for using them as summons. It's impractical as can be.

>>29991936
And yet you faggots want to summon norse assholes. They might not be as bad as greek gods, but they're not the kind of people you'd want to hang around with.

As for being difficult to work with and negotiate, it all depends on who you want to summon. And we're no more sinful than any other human being. Maybe even less sinful than most.

Don't be a fish-eater cocksucker, dude.

>>29991936
Asher is perfectly capable of becoming stronger without Oaths, also we have allies for a reason. Evokers are supports, Asher probably won't be in danger unless his allies get offed.

>>29991977
I actually happen to like the Norse gods. They have flaws, opinions, and oddities, all of which give us something to work with for negotiations. They all want things. And honestly, they are the kind of person I'd like to hang out with, they're fun, and as long as we keep a level head and pay attention we can work with them just fine.

Loki or Odin, both of them want things, both of them have goals we can relate to, personalities we can gauge and make use of, and actual reasons why they'd enter into a contract with us. At least they're somewhat consistent and reliable in their own ways, I can work with them.

Yahweh is an inconsistent asshole who doesn't really go for negotiation or friendly chats, and would be extremely taxing to deal with if we could even get an audience with the guy.

Angels are not really good with people. There's a reason many of them have to start conversations with "BE NOT AFRAID" when they show up, I doubt they'd want to take orders from us, we don't really have anything they want, and they are likely the single least efficient Summoning we could possibly find due to a number of factors. Angels are a terrible idea, almost as bad an idea as summoning succubi for booty calls.

We're pretty sinful, we lie, we manipulated the shade of an innocent woman into considering us her only family and being willing to kill to protect us, we started a riot against government forces who came in to help a broken city, we joined up with a terrorist cult that reveres literally the opposite of Jesus, at first because of a selfish desire to survive, and by now we actually are starting to believe them, we're self-serving, prideful, deceptive, and overall not a nice person. We're thinking of taking an Oath of Selfishness, that does not a good person make.

>>29992143
Because the enemy is going to be polite enough to just leave the poor Evoker alone.

They aren't idiots, if our group is being targeted then we're the first one on their list of people to kill, we're the leader of our little band, and the squishiest member of the team. We obviously a major target, we can not always rely on one of the Bones getting in between us and the attacker. We can't always assume that we'll have a team with us. If we try to rely on those things we will die the moment they fail, stop acting like we're somehow invincible, we're the exact opposite of invincible. We have Novice in all of our magic, and it'll take 2 Limit points before we manage to get a single one of those up a level, that is going to take a while.

At our current strength I'm hazarding a guess that we will die when shit hits the fan. And if we want to be respected as a leader we need our own strength, we can't just hide behind other people. And because we're this weak we can't fight for long without our brain melting. All of these things are problems that will be exacerbated if we refuse to take any oaths, and closer to dealt with if we do.

Without Oaths we will always be less powerful than we would be with them, the amount of Limit Points each Oath saves us only goes up as we improve the Skill it's associated with. It will take us longer and longer to catch up to where we would be if we took some Oaths.

Not all Oaths must be taken, but considering our situation, if we don't take any than we are an idiot.

>>29992298
We can' t rely on magic either because limited endurance.

>>29993374
Pacing is key, as are decisive blows. Asher doesn't really have anything that constitutes as a proper finisher right now.
His freezing's gotten better, but Steam and Mirage are primarily deception tactics.

They'll serve well though in misdirection, all he needs is LoS in one way or the other to cast a spell.

>>29992144
>They all want things.
This is a very true factor when it comes to negotiations. Other myths and legends are of the sort that they have their own flaws and measurable desires. Far easier to bargain with, even if they may be a touch fickle.
>>29992144
>There's a reason many of them have to start conversations with "BE NOT AFRAID" when they show up
You'd also be dealing with the crazy eldritch ones such as Thrones, Seraphim, and such. You know, the ones that you can go crazy/blind just from looking at.

>>29991874
To be fair, no one's really summoning angels in Overhuman. And the people that try are often unpleasantly surprised.
>>29989815
>though I'm not sure Asher is all that eldritch, and do you really want to carry out negotiations
Eldritch monstrosities may end up being closer to malleable thoughtforms than most established mythos. Still be hard to correctly communicate with it on a personal level if its personality matches its form.

>>29989209
>think of those fire skeletons from naruto
Yeah, that was always really damn weird. I still can't wait for it to be over. I just want it to be over. I need to see where the trainwreck goes.
>>29989225
>Did keeping Asher do anything at all?
Time will tell.

>>29994748
I'd wager keeping Asher makes it easier to form a unique legend. Personal power. Having our own name makes it easier to become an Avatar of Chaos, or something. We just need to go full ADOM.

>>29994748

>>29992298
>Without Oaths we will always be less powerful than we would be with them,

I was actually wondering about this, Dranule. You said Oaths can't take you to Deific. So does that mean that two people with who have put in enough experience points to be Master level at, Summoning for example, one who has an oath for summoning, are actually equal, since the oath isn't helping him anymore?

>>29996404
Yes. That's the limit of the return and as far as even the oath can take you.

Divine requires the use of an OVERLIMIT point instead of LIMIT.
In any case, a battle between two Master levels would be like two nukes clashing.

>>29996605
OVERLIMIT points sound hardcore, how do we get those? And could you repeat all the skill levels again for me please?

Also, any idea when you'll next be able to run?

>>29996934
Sunday, sooner if I find the time.

The skill levels are in the pastebin.
OVERLIMIT is something that cannot be acquired normally.

>>29997157
Ok, thatnk you
Anticipation at maximum

Can the penalties of Oathbreaking be removed?

>>29998441
By showing penance to restore the oath. Or a time after the break has passed.
It'll be determined by the oath broken.

>>29996605
So, if we plan on ever taking a skill to Deific, Oaths are not good.

And if we do take an Oath for a skill, then leveling it up to master is bad since it would just be awaste of LIMIT points.

>>30002896
Yeah. An Oath broken at Divine would bring it below divine. as well as restricting exactly how you can use it.

If you intend to get it to master, it would be fine to bring it up to expert, and then take an oath for master.

But yeah, that's what you're working with. Glad it's brought up/

>>30002896
We aren't going to be raising many skills to Divine, we might even only get 1 there within any reasonable time frame, and that's really far off, 31 Limit Points in total, and an Overlimit point to get up there. It's not happening any time soon. And it's less that it's a waste of Limit Points, and just that no matter if you have Oaths or not it takes that much investment to get to Divine. Don't look at it as 16 wasted Limit Points, we're just as good after that as someone who didn't take an Oath would be, look at it as spending 16 Limit Points to make Divine available for purchase. It's a big investment, but we won't be making it that often.

So yes, we'll have a wasted Oath if we choose to raise something we have to Divine, but we'll get a lot of usefulness out of the power increase for a long time before that. And if we're just getting it to Master, which is plenty high for most of our spells, a single Oath that improves our casting by one grade will save us 16 Limit Points. Overall Oaths ought to save us a fair bit, and we can't entirely predict which one we'll take to Divine, though it might be Water or Summoning, and for both of those I think the benefit in the long run is worth the Oath that no longer improves anything in the really, really, long run.

>>30003212
I'm saying that leaving one skill oathless would be a good idea if we want to take it up to Deific.

We can still take Oaths in all the other skills, but if we decide that Asher is going to be a godlike summoner, then putting oaths into that will be bad in the long term. It would be better to put Oaths on his other magic, like water and ice and whatnot and use those boosted skills to support the hard-leveling of summoning for the greater payoff later.

>>30003304
Even with that in mind I wouldn't object to an Oath we can work with for a skill we were planning on getting to Divine.

I understand that eventually it's just be a restriction with no benefit, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice for increased power until we reach that point, as it makes it more likely that we will get to that point and not die in the process.

Think of how long it'll take to get any of our skills to Divine rank. To use Summoning as an example I'm willing to always carry some jerky around, or play nice with our summons, to have more power than we would for a long time, and by the time we do have Divine Rank it'll be a minor inconvenience compared to what we can do with it.

Any ideas of what you guys would expect as you ascend the ranks in various magics?
What others do you think there might be?
What others would you like there to be?

I've got some mind for technomagic, pyromancy to be composed of multiple layers, illusion to ascend into subjective reality alteration, etc.

Also brainstorming more flexible options for Veins and Bones with my one-tracked mind.

>>30005044
>subjective reality alteration
I love shit like this. Also, how about music? I don't know if you could fit it in smoothly anywhere, but drawing power from music seems like a somewhat traditional magical effect.

>>30005728
I have that in mind. There's a lot of things that could constitute as a ritual so long as you draw reverence to it.
Even the act of taking a drag on a cigarette could be seen as a ritual.

There's going to be a guy that weaves magic to Daft Punk.

>>30005044
If we focus on Ice I expect Cryomancy is going to expand into more than just chilling physical objects.

It'll be more along the lines of stillness, it could be used to slow things down or stop them midair, to calm down situations and people, to prevent explosions or anything like that. Also preservation, if someone is dying we could put them in stasis until medical care is available. Also death, in the Norse stuff at least cold and death are very closely related, it might allow for us to raise the dead for a short while and have them fight for us.

High level water would probably be very much associated with life, growth, creation of new life, scrying perhaps, knowledge and wisdom. In addition to being able to do awesome stuff with actual water.

If we level up our current abilities and get some Weather Magic in there I'm hoping for Asher to create a localized blizzard, the enemies can't see a single thing, but we know the location of everything in it due to Aquatic Perception. We bring forth a pile of summons, wolves, Fara, either Valkyries and Einherjar, or something that fulfills similar roles that we get from Loki and Hel, and whatever other beasties amuse us, use Mirage to make fake sounds of battle, and fake images of our summons around the people we're fighting. And since they won't know what they're fighting, if what little they see is real or not, and we have perfect information on them we should be able to divide and conquer.

>>30005873
The other thing I really like is domain control type things like Babylon and AT fields, to which I guess we picked the best type of character for. I'm also expecting to run across someone with time or time-space shenanigans. No idea how we'll beat that, but I still expect it.

>>30005927
Time is nonexistent. It's an illusion of the mind.

Spacial manipulation is definitely possible though.
As for AT fields, I think the closest thing to that would be how Veins use their aura. I'm not familiar with what else Eva used them for besides freaky barriers and the like.
And, Babylon? Not the city?

>>30005896
Yes, the loss of heat and momentum, the creeping chill of the lifeless. Cryomancy indeed.

You pretty much have it figured for the things that could end up down the line of hydromancy. Makes just manipulating water seem so much more trivial.

>>30005044
Someone who deals in sympathetic magic, like voodoo, could be absolutely terrifying, and interesting to work with and against. If you're up against one you really don't want them to get any personal possessions of yours, if you're working with one then you need to help them set up rituals and get items of importance. Probably Nerve.

Someone who is far luckier than they should be, maybe a Vein, things just tend to work in their favor, enemy guns jam, they always find what they need, they haven't lost a coin flip in years. Add that to another power set, like agility and being able to walk on walls, give them a pile of guns, and you have a very dangerous combatant.

A Bone who can manipulate his momentum and density, if he wants to move really, really, fast he has to lower his density, if he wants to take a hit he has to increase it, he has to consider what he needs at any given moment and adjust accordingly.

A surgeon of some kind who can warp and manipulate flesh, create monsters, heal wounds, all sorts of things.

>>30006113
I think he's referring to Airspace Control: Babylon, which is from Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. Pretty much controlling a sphere around you, speeding yourself up and slowing everything else down.

>>30006113
So magic can't manipulate time? Cause time is kinda a thing. Maybe the units we use to measure it don't actually exist, but time definitely does, just as much as space. They're pretty much the same thing actually.

>>30006113
Airpsace Control Babylon is one of the effects that the MC of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer learns to create. Basically, everything in his domain is slowed down and resisted, except for himself, and all of his own movements are accelerated and pushed forward. He learned to be really good at martial arts, so it was insanely useful in a few fights.

And AT fields are described in series as "the light of the soul." Essentially, it is yourself. It's used for barriers and for attacks, and also for dimensional shenanigans and for mind rape and lots of silly shit. Essentially, attacking someone with your AT field is like attacking the idea of that person, and having someone break through your AT field is basically soul rape. At the end of the series, one of the characters uses one of these to dissolve the entire human species and devour them for just a minute, and one of the angels is capable of walking on the surface of the sun with all the ease of a nightly walk through a park.

>>30006211
Time is as much a shade as Fara. It can be observed, acknowledged, and predicted, but it can't return to or become something that it's not.

>>30006220
Yeah, that's basically the same deal as Veins then. Also the reason why it's hard to directly affect a person with magic. Their aura/AT field/Chi/Body signature intereferes with the magic unless you make direct contact or press against it with enough force to break it.
By this respect, trained or special non-mages can develop exceptional magic resistance.

>>30006183
All of those examples are perfectly applicable, though a bone could also alter their own luck as well.
In any case, it's good to know that I've explained these guys well enough.

>>30006220
>Airpsace Control Babylon is one of the effects that the MC of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer learns to create. Basically, everything in his domain is slowed down and resisted, except for himself, and all of his own movements are accelerated and pushed forward. He learned to be really good at martial arts, so it was insanely useful in a few fights.
Sounds like a wide-spread use of aura, which would be dangerous in the presence of a nerve or with the vein suffering spiritual weakness. It would shut a bone down instantly by detaching them from their power source.

>>30006349
So you're saying we're more likely to run across King Crimson than The World?

>>30006349
How exactly does poisoning a Vein's soul work as a Nerve? Do we say we're poisoning the well, do we manipulate things within the area that their soul is covering?

>>30006510
Either works.

A Vein's power is like a pipe. Contamination clogs it, reduces its flow and eventually stops it up completely and can even cause it to corrode.
It's far easier to poison them when they've been careless in letting their aura swell beyond their body or a purified object.

>>30006434
Looked it up... Yes.

>>30005044
If we ever manage master+ rank summoning, I can totally see Asher calling down something like Birdemic Shock and Terror. But with more ice.

>>30006968
I just realized after posting that that you probably wouldn't get it, so I'm very relieved you figured it out. Some people can get four explanations and still not understand how King Crimson works.

>>30005044
Is there going to be some guy that goes around murdering people and collecting their shades as summons?

seems like it'd be a dangerous hobby

>>30007184
Actually, an Oath of Necromancy could be interesting, all of your summons must have been shades when you first summoned them.

>>30007126
that's because how he works is conflicted as fuck

>>30007271
>>30007184
An idea. That would be a pretty depraved person though. They'd at the very least need a token important to the target or get to know them to some degree...

That actually kind of terrifies me.

>>30007521
BUENO

>>30007521
>Stalks someone
>Breaks into their house
>Doesn't steal anything, just observes
>Stays under their bed at night
>Syncs his breathing to theirs
>Learns everything he can about them
>Weeks of silent observation
>Then he quickly kills them with a shot to the back of the head
>Pockets the gun and immediately summons their shade
>"Welcome to the family."

>>30007957
>>Doesn't steal anything, just observes
>>Stands beside their bed at night
>>Syncs his breathing to theirs
>>Places his fingers to his lips,
>>"Shhh. Go back to sleep."

>>30008026
I'm picturing Shade Man as sounding and acting like Anton Chigurh and looking like a cross between a meth head and a classy vampire.

>>30008081
>sounding and acting like Anton Chigurh and looking like a cross between a meth head and a classy vampire
I'd shit my pants twice.
First when I saw him, and again when he started talking.

>>30008221
>Anton Chigurh
Well, I need to watch a movie now.

>>30008693
You should. He's a creepy crazy motherfucker and he's exactly what Shade Man would sound like