Level gained: Shaper 2
Abilities gained:
Mend: Repair damage to artifacts on the fly. (Costs vary by severity of damage repaired, cost decreased when using in conjunction with mending gloves)

Minor artifact creation: You have become skilled enough to be able to create minor artifacts, such as some spell foci as well as certain modules, provided you have the correct materials. Unable to be used in battle.

Current levels:
Slayer 1
Shaper* 2
Speaker 0

You wake up early, stretching and getting dressed quickly. Heading into the kitchen you see your master is already up and preparing breakfast.

“This isn't like you, being up so early,” you say surpised. Your master shrugs it off and continues cooking. Soon breakfast is served, eaten, and cleaned up.

After breakfast you leave for headquarters alone, excited to take on your first solo contract for the Association. Upon arrival, you are greeted by a woman at the front desk.

“Volkov Marulovich?”

“Yes? How did you know?”

“We were told that you would be coming soon. You've been cleared to take on the class D contracts,” the receptionist says cheerily. She directs you over to a room off of the lobby, from which you can see several people milling about from where you are. Thanking her, you head over to the room. Inside is a large cork board with various contracts pinned to it. Scanning the board, you look for anything interesting looking that you are eligible for.

After a bit of searching, you spot a couple of contracts that look worthwhile.

>[Material Request] Saw-Teeth Leopard skulls: A request has come in to hunt down some Saw-Teeth Leopards for their skulls and jawbones. Payment is 20 gold and the remainder of the leopard skeletons.

>[Guard Request] Vessel Protection: A shipping company has started to have ships go missing and is assuming that pirates are responsible. They have requested someone from the guild come and guard the ships while they are at sea. Payment is 50 gold.

What do you do?

>>30963654
>>[Guard Request] Vessel Protection: A shipping company has started to have ships go missing and is assuming that pirates are responsible. They have requested someone from the guild come and guard the ships while they are at sea. Payment is 50 gold.

>>30963654
>>[Material Request] Saw-Teeth Leopard skulls: A request has come in to hunt down some Saw-Teeth Leopards for their skulls and jawbones. Payment is 20 gold and the remainder of the leopard skeletons.
start off ez

>>30963654
Woo!

First time catching a live thread.

Just wanted to say, love your stuff Saucy.

Also, are you the Saucy thats always hanging out in Deniable Assets Quest IRC?

>>30963654
>>[Guard Request] Vessel Protection: A shipping company has started to have ships go missing and is assuming that pirates are responsible. They have requested someone from the guild come and guard the ships while they are at sea. Payment is 50 gold.

Rolled 53

>>30963757
Seconding.

>>30963654
>[Material Request] Saw-Teeth Leopard skulls: A request has come in to hunt down some Saw-Teeth Leopards for their skulls and jawbones. Payment is 20 gold and the remainder of the leopard skeletons.


Good chance to try out our new long gun.

>>30963799
Yes. I'm also the same Saucy in the hugbox.

>>30963654
>[Material Request] Saw-Teeth Leopard skulls: A request has come in to hunt down some Saw-Teeth Leopards for their skulls and jawbones. Payment is 20 gold and the remainder of the leopard skeletons.

Probably take less time, regardless.

>>30963809
I think this one will be harder but worth it in the long run.

>>30963897
>>30963825
>>30963809
>>30963757
I miscounted because of the way the votes were worded, out to sea it is.

Rolled 66

>>30963848

I see guarding the merchants as more time sensitive. They'll turn to non-magic if it gets too bad, after all.

You decide on the guard job and pull it off the board and take it over to the attendant's desk near the doorway. The man looks up at you, bags under his eyes and a cup of tea in his hands. He asks for your name before opening up a massive book, ancient and leather-bound before coming to the end of the used pages.

“Ah, your first job is it? What did you take?” He asks, perking up a bit. You hand him the parchment and he looks it over, a look of recognition in his eyes.

“Oh, this one. It looks like it should be an easy enough job, good luck and all that,” he says, jotting down some information onto a fresh sheet. He stamps the bottom of it before rolling it up and sealing it with another stamp, this one out of hot wax. Thanking the man, you leave headquarters and head over to the docks, where the office of the shipping company that put in the request is situated.

The office building is on the smaller side but well maintained. Heading inside you are called out to immediately. Looking around startled, you see the origin of the voice, an older well-dressed man.

“You there, you're a mage right?”

“Yes, I'm here about the request you put in at the Association,” you reply, holding the sealed document up. The man takes the document and breaks the seal on it, reading through it quickly.

“Good, good, glad to see that someone's finally taking this seriously,” the man says, looking back up at you, “we put this request in a month ago and haven't seen anyone take it until now.”

“So what's happening to your ships? All I saw was that they're going missing,” you reply

“That's the thing, they just keep disappearing en route to their destination, and no one is doing anything about it. What we're going to have you do is ride on the next vessel going out, which is tomorrow, and protect it.”

What do you do?
>Press the man for more information [write in]
>Leave and begin preparations for tomorrow [Specify actions for the rest of the day]

>>30964428
>>Press the man for more information [write in]

Ask how many guards he's assigned before. Also if he had any cause to question the captain's loyalty.

>>30964428
>Press the man for more information [write in]

Do you have any rivals or any recent threats to you are your business? Also what exactly is the ships cargo?

Rolled 38

>>30964462

I concur, also ask him whether this crew will be new to one another or not. (We need to know whether to pose as a sailor or be an obvious guard).

>>30964613
>>30964578
>>30964462
Writing.

>>30964613

Either way we probably don't want to let on that we're a mage.

You decide to ask the man a few more questions.

“I've hired five guards prior to you, although none of them had your, ahem, unique skill set. You're going to be the only guard I'm hiring on this time, since you cost the same amount as all those previous to you did combined,” he says with a bit of irritation creeping in to his voice. “As for crew loyalty, I assure you that all of them were loyal to this company.”

“But what about any rivals or other threats to the company?”

“I've had my suspicions for a while now, but not enough to act on. That's part of why I'm hiring you, to find out who or what is doing this and to stop it or at least bring back enough evidence to act on it.”

“If you want me to bring back evidence, does that mean that you want me to try and pass myself off as one of the crew?”

“I don't think that will be necessary, but that will be up to you to reveal yourself openly or not to the casual observer. As for the crew, they will know that you are just another guard, not necessarily that you are a mage.”

What do you do?
>Any further questions? [write in (last chance)]
>Proceed to prepare.

>>30964875
>>Proceed to prepare.

>>30964875
>Any further questions? [write in (last chance)]

How do you want this done? All offenders killed or captured with evidence?

>>30964875

How long is the journey? Can I get a map of where we'll be passing through? How many crew members are there?

>>30964945
>>30964940
Alright, final questions taken.

You decide to ask a few more questions.

“What about any aggressors? Do you have a preference for how they are dealt with?” You ask, causing the man to pause. After a bit of thought, he responds.

“It would be preferable to capture them alive, I suppose, but you are free to use deadly force should you have need to. Just make sure to keep their corpse or anything that could point out who is responsible.” You grimace a bit at the thought of having to keep a rotting cadaver around for however long the trip lasts.

“Say,” you ask still worried about the possibility of having to retain a corpse, “how long is this journey, anyway?”

“This is one of our shorter routes that you'll be on, it's a three day trip out and another three day trip back. This route is primarily used to transport salt, spices, and other consumables around, which is a bit odd, frankly.”

“Why is that odd?” You ask, intrigued.

“Well, the thing is that this company transports numerous types of goods, but only the ships that carry food items have been targeted, none of the other ships have had any issues at all.”

“What about the route? Maybe it happens that the only ships getting targeted are ones in this particular area are food carrying ships?”

“That's what we thought at first, too” the man says shaking his head, “until a ship carrying coal passed through the same exact route that other ships have gone missing on and made it to and from its destination safely. As for where this is happening, there isn't a single specific route, but all of the ones in common have been passing by here,” he says pulling out a map from his desk, pointing to a small island chain.

Thanking the man for answering your questions, you leave the office.

What do you do with the rest of your day?
>Do a bit of study/training [specify skill tree]
>Last minute shopping?
>Other? [write in]

>>30965552
Last minute shopping, maybe we can buy something or materials to craft an item to help us on this journey

>>30965552
I can't wait to fight a giant sea monster.

>>30965552
>>Do a bit of study/training [specify skill tree]
Shaping

>>30965552
>Do a bit of study/training

Are giant sea monsters a thing? If so then study on some and their weaknesses if not still study on rumors of such creatures

>>30965604
>>30965595
I guess Studying wins.

Rolled 37

>>30965726

I support studying speaking...but for consensus I'll go with shaping.

>>30965726
shaper
>anything water or kraken related

You head home and decide to start studying. At first you focus on reading up some of the more advanced Shaper texts that your master had lying around from when she was working on her arm. Although a lot of the jargon goes over your head, you still do manage to understand more of it than you did on any of your previous attempts to decipher the semi-alien language the book is written in. Eventually, you spot a phrase that gives you pause when looking at a table of exotic crafting materials: Bishop Shrimp claws. Closing the book you were looking through, you find a book dedicated to indexing rare animals and what they are useful for. Flipping through the pages, you find the creature in question.

The Bishop Shrimp is a large multi-legged creature about the size of a large dog, with powerful claws that can punch apart wooden beams and thinner iron plates with ease. Bishop Shrimp that live long enough eventually become Archbishop Shrimp, which are usually at the head of a large family of Bishop Shrimp. There are rumors of an even larger shrimp the book says, although the claims were, and most likely still are, unsubstantiated at the time of printing.

By the time you put the book down, the sun is hanging very low in the sky. You decide to begin packing up some essential items for the trip and then go to bed after, figuring that it will be a long day and that you will have to be up early.

Upon waking up, you notice that the sun has not quite risen yet, although the weak rays of dawn begin to pierce the sky.

How will you dress?
>Standard outfit, have all gear on or at the ready

>>30966066
I can't wait to fight a King Shrimp.

>>30966105
more like the shrimp pope

>>30966066
All gear on.

>>30966066
And Now I realize I forgot the second prompt.

>Sailor clothes, gear is packed away in a bag but still all there.

>>30966113
Papal Shrimp

>>30966066
>Standard outfit, have all gear on or at the ready

>>30966066
standard is fine

>>30966066
I Standard outfit wins, no need to disguise against outsiders, eh?

Rolled 84

>>30966212

Eh, put anything that explicitly marks us as a mage (our gauntlets) away or under clothes.

>>30966329

Oh, I can support that.

>>30966212
Better to be prepared for anything at all times than have to get them out when we need them. Since the departure is so close it's not like anyone we alert will have enough time to act on the information if it is human intervention.

By the way, still writing. I think this will probably be the last update of the night.

>>30966578
Damn. Next thread when?

Damm have to pass out now you guys better not get us eaten by a god damm Catholic Shrimp

>>30966610
thank god they aren't scientologist shrimp

>>30966629
They'd be kidnapping the ships to keep dissenters on for 12+ years.

Deciding to not bother with disguising yourself, you dress in your standard outfit of official Association robes over plain pants and a simple shirt. With all your gear in place, you decide to refresh your supply of lead balls from the cache you keep at home and then head out, leaving a note that you are out on a job in the kitchen.

(Total of 15 lead balls on person)

When you arrive at the ship's dock, you marvel at the vessel. It's one of the cutting edge coal-powered ships that you've been hearing about. As you stand there admiring the ship you feel a heavy arm on your shoulder. Turning around you see a large man towering over you, balding but with great big muttonchops. He smiles at you.

“So you're our guard, eh?”

“Yes, I'm Volkov,” you say extending your hand, trying to appear professional. The man shakes the offered hand.

“Jack,” the man says, giving you a quick look over. “So, you're a mage I see. I had my suspicions that you were going to be when the boss said he was only hiring a single guard for this.”

Thinking of your recent experiences from your last job you respond.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“No, not at all,” Jack says, still smiling, “it'll do wonders for morale to know we got someone of your skills on board. Come on, I'll introduce you to the crew and show you where you'll be staying.” You follow the man up the gangplank, and in short order you are introduced to the crew, who seem to relax quite a bit at the news that you are a mage. After a tour of the vessel you are allowed to settle into your room. During the day, you are allowed to sleep and are generally not on alert. At night you patrol the deck. The first day of the trip is uneventful to the point of driving you to boredom.

[1/2]

>>30966761
During your patrol of the ship on the second night, however, you notice something. The great hum of the ship's boilers and the splashing of the paddle wheels which you have gotten used to have stopped. You hurry to stairs leading down into the ship's interior but are stopped. Standing guard are two humanoid figures, clad in various animal bones imbedded in otherwise normal, if somewhat tattered clothing. In their hands are vicious looking clubs with various fangs jutting out of the sides. The men stare at you and raise their weapons.
[2/2]


Alright, time for Q and A as per usual.

>>30966600
Unsure, aiming for this weekend though.

>>30966775
Have any plans of making this a RPG or something? I'd love to play in this setting even though the only real class would be Bone Mage and subtypes of Bone Mages.

>>30966775

What are the guards and how do we kill them?

>>30966833
I wasn't planning on it, but who knows.

>>30966846
You kill them with application of shooty things or stabby things, it is up to you.

>>30966871
Quick question Saucy
Where are you hiding the gold?

>>30966871
How was Bone Magery first discovered? I remember you said it was fairly recent, ignoring the occasional wild lich like that guy that marked us.

>>30966887
What gold?

No seriously, what gold?

>>30966902
That is a plot point I can't be completely specific about at this time, but the gist of it is that someone noticed something I can't talk about in nature and started to perform experiments. He just happened to have the traits needed to be a mage so the experiments were able to bare fruit.

>>30966965
Ok, was sorta wondering if it was just some dude who accidentallied a skeleton, or more like what it appears. Where some dude accidentally a something then tried to on purpose a something more.

Another question would be, is there any sort of 'anti-mage' weaponry? Or are mages just dudes capable of tearing through groups of mundane enemies?

Also, are Bone Mage's incorporated heavily in their nations military? Sorta branching off that, is that bone mage place we're at now an independant nation, or more similar to a bone mage university that got big?

>>30967011
There is magic-resistant weapons and armor, but the materials used in making it are kinda difficult to get, so not too many people have them.

Right now the issue of mages in armies is a point of contention between the Association and other countries, since the Association recruits internationally and aggressively, so it becomes a race to snatch up mages as soon as possible.

Also, the Association is technically a part of Kyelma, with international branches, although they aren't officially part of the government or anything like that. It was started by a bunch of the first mages and grew pretty rapidly once people realized the unique variety of services that they could provide.

>>30967220
How common are mages compared to mundanes?

Also, to become a mage I assume you need some sort of pre-existing spark judging by your comment
>He just happened to have the traits needed to be a mage
But what I'm curious about is, does that spark effect your maximum potential? Or is it just all down to effort once you start out?

How did society react initially to people being able to rip peoples skeletons out of their body while alive? I'm kind of suprised this uprising is anything close to a big deal unless its just because they haven't had any recently.

Also, judging by the amount of scary monsters, does this setting have less smaller towns? Or are some mundane warriors just so badass that smaller towns can exist with all these creatures around the place?

Sorry for all the questions, just really like the setting and kinda curious how expanded it is.

>>30967324
The ability to be a mage is more or less down to genetics, but if you have the ability, your maximum potential is the same as any other mage, although the rate of growth will differ from person to person based on effort expended as well as mindset, much like any other skill.

Society initially was pretty freaked out by it, and in a lot of places people are on edge around mages but for the most part will tolerate them. Also, not many people get as powerful as Relor is, especially in Slayer, so live skeleton rippings don't happen often.

Actually, you're pretty spot on about the high skill mundanes. I'm surprised no one batted an eyelash when the vice-captain deflected a fucking bullet with a sword sheath.

Rolled 61

>>30967463
We all assumed it was the sword buffing his reaction, I was rather surprised when you said it only had a frayed module on it.

>>30967463
I just assumed he was operating on magic bullet time due to magical artifact.

Is being a mage something they can easily discover, ie feel someones potential sorta BS, or is it something they have to test everyone for?

What nationality is Volkov? And is there any cultural differences he observes to the rest of the mages?

Also, this one may have already been answered and I just forgot, but howcome our master recruited us? Building on that, howcome a master Slayer recruited a Shaper?

>>30967505
Nah, dude was just good.

>>30967529
and one thing I forgot. What do we have to do to equip that implant we got? Can we just straight up shove it into our spine like the guy in the rebellion? Or do you usually have to go through some sort of surgery/magic to get them put in?

Rolled 30

>>30967573

Heh, I doubt we can just shove it in. I doubt we're capable of that actually.

>>30967529
Being a mage can't just be felt out like DBZ powerlevel bullshit, but it is pretty easy to test for it. Basically they have an artifact that glows when people with magic potential hold it.

Volkov's nationality is something I can't touch upon too much for story reasons, but he's a natural citizen of Kyelma. He hasn't really seen too much of cultural differences since he hasn't been to other countries very often.

Also, master's recruiting of Volkov hasn't been told yet, and it ties into his nationality a bit. Also, mages aren't just born as a Shaper or Slayer or a Speaker, they choose what to specialize in. When Volkov got taken in he didn't have a specialization, but he was fascinated by his master's arm so much that he wanted to learn how to make stuff like it, in addition to wanting to shoot guns.

>>30967573
There's a spell that allows you to insert the implant without surgery, although higher end implants usually have the spell built in.

Implants are basically a thin sheet of bone that have had spells etched into them on top of being treated with various processes. When they are finished they are carefully softened and rolled into a disc shape before undergoing a finishing process.

How they work is that once the implant is inserted it unravels and then it winds itself around a bone in the user's body and attaches.

>>30967805
Is there Shadowrun style Shapers in this, who willingly lop of limbs to build improved ones? Or are prosthetics mostly a only if needed sort of thing?

Also, does the implanting leave a minor bulge in the location? or is the bone, even unraveled, small enough for it to not be noticable?

So, I know breach load guns are around since we bought one for ourselves, but whats the average of the rest of the tech? Around Match/Flint/Caplock?

Also, just a thought, but lets assume later on in the game we get powerfull enough as a Shaper where we can fire a magic bullet without exploding the barrel within a couple of shots. Could we make some sort of Paintball style feeding system since we don't need to reload powder between shots?

>>30967899
Yes to both, since there are prosthetics that are better than normal arms but they difficult and expensive to make, so most mages don't bother with it while a few that are skilled/rich enough go ahead and lop off their limbs and then make that limb a prosthetic.

Depends on the location, but for the most part it's unnoticeable.

Hit it on the head.

That could be an option, but there's also other options where you would benefit from using more traditional firearm loading mechanisms.

>>30967985
How common is it for people to be a 'jack of all trades'? Or are people usually highly specialised, with minors in the other two trees for the beginner/intermediate stuff?

Speaking of masters, how many mages would you say reach 'master rank' like our Master? I know you said she was something of a legend, but just curious if it was because of her skill, or because of a combination of things plus her skill.

Are you expecting us to reach a higher level of gun technology during play? Perhaps muzzle loaded cartridges etc, or are you expecting non-magical firearms to stay fairly constant across the game? If this is a spoiler, please just ignore the question.

So, speakers seem to be the caster Bone Mages. Do you see many of them sporting full blown hordes of skeletons? Or stuff like Bone Giants etc?

>>30968053
Everybody takes a specialty, but they don't have to actually train it. Usually people end up balanced pretty well between all the trees, although there are the odd cases of people training only their specialty.

She isn't quite "Master" rank in that she hasn't reached the max level in any of her trees (she's fairly close to hitting the max in Slayer, but she's still a ways off.) Very few people reach the zenith of a skill tree, and those that do are extremely powerful.

Nah, gun tech will advance pretty far. I mean, you won't see shit like fully automatic fire arms but it'll definitely get better.

For speakers, it's often more efficient mana wise to just have 1 really big skeleton than it is to have a horde of smaller ones, although one of the Master tier Speaker skills basically gives you control over a swarm of skeletal nanomachines.

>>30968243
>skeletal nanomachines
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees

We can have a rapid firing flintlock pistol by getting them to carry grains of powder into the barrel along with the shot in a constant stream.

yeeeeeeeeeeeees

I was hoping for more late 1800's, maybe moving towards early 1900's in terms of gun tech. Mostly because I want to get a 1873 Winchester or something. Maybe even an over/under shotgun. Eventually possibly a trenchgun.

If we were to advance a bit in Speaker, could we theoretically get a small skeleton? Something like a wolf or a predatory feline. I think having something able to sneak up and tear face while we blast from 3 miles away with our rifle would be fun.

Bayonets, are they a thing? If so, does our current rifle have a bayonet mount for our knife?

>>30968320
The Winchester is probably as far as you'll get tech.

A small skeleton in Speaker is something you could grab pretty early on.

Of course bayonets are a thing, although the rifle does not have a mount for one.

>>30968390
Does Volkov have living parents? If so, what are there general thoughts on him being a bone mage?

>>30968673
That's tied in with his nationality, so no further comment on it.

Rolled 67

>>30968320

Hah, dont be so narrow minded! We can also have bone grenades that have reloadable mana batteries and shoot out metal spikes (that could possibly have Impact modules) attached to coiled wires. Completely reusable, completely deadly. Getting strong enough bones for the batteries would probably be the most difficult thing.

>>30974127

Sounds nasty. I can dig it.

>>30970980
When.you say the Association recruits aggressively, do you mean they kidnap mage-children?

>>30975689
In very recent years they've begun to look through orphanages for kids with potential.

Normally kids with potential are offered a chance to join and train, and usually will unless the family that they are a part of has strong political ties and pressures the child into not joining so that they can eventually join their countries military.

Adults are offered the same opportunities as children are for membership, although it's just much less common for an adult to actually not receive any sort of training prior to actually reaching adulthood given how thoroughly mages are searched for. It still happens, though.

>>30976201

So parents get some sort of financial incentive to hand their children off, and the assurance that they'll have a better life than they ever could've otherwise.

Does Kyelva have a mage corp in their army, or are their ties with the Association strong enough that its unneeded?

>>30977076
Sort of.

Kyelma does have their own mage corp, it's just not nearly as large or as powerful as the Association as a whole. What members they do have though are usually highly skilled relative to the bulk of Association mages though, so they're more or less the elite of the elite.