>>3694348
>Golemancy: the creation and manipulation of magical constructs, called homunculi

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>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

>>3694348
>Psychomancy: the manipulation of the mind, your own and of others
Time to get our trickery on.

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter
Gotta be the best at being a meat boy if you wanna survive.

>>3694348
>Psychomancy: the manipulation of the mind, your own and of others
We magic trickster now

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

I just got done reading Worm, we could have so much fun with this option at high levels

>>3694348
>Psychomancy: the manipulation of the mind, your own and of others

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

And so the eternal struggle continues.

>>3694434
Necromancy was my first desire, but biomancy is objectively better for our situation while still remaining a path towards 'overlord of X' status.

>>3694348
A question for you qm.
Do you plan on revealing more to us about our character, or are we doing a kind of character generation here?

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

>>3694448
I hope we have a preset character. when players make their character it tends to end up as a morally grey murderhobo.

>>3694453
I hope we at least get to name this Wiz.
But yeah its hard to jank a preset.

>>3694453
If it character gen then let's go for something other than morally grey then.

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

>>3694348
>Biomancy: the manipulation of living organisms, flesh, organic matter

Autistic analysis of the options presented to us.
Golemancy - Seems to rely on build up and dedicated efforts to research and craft minions suited to any task.
Potential moral issues
Huge time issues
Potential resource issues
But the results are loyal creations where the sky's the limit on what they can do.
Psychomancy - honestly just not interested.
Huge moral and even existential issues from manipulating yours and others minds.
Can get minions capable of individual growth as well as blow past major issues with our mental state if they ever arrive.
Necromancy - no need for build up, kill, raise , repeat. Possibly a chance to obtain immortality. Might be able to do more than just raise the dead(demons, flesh craft, etc. Who knows.)
Huge moral issues, if we go after people for our work.
Can use the moment we kill/find something to ressurect.
Minions incapable of betrayal.
Minions incapable of reason or growth or recovering health(naturally I assume.)
Biomancy - honestly don't know the start point for this, but the end point is Zerg/blacklight/immortality/propagating minions. Probably.
Likely difficult to start like golemancy should be, but also probably has an intuitive sense like necromancy should be.
Literally seems the middle point between the two . (Create something from nothing+repurpose what is dead.) It's repurposing what does exist, not creating and not what is dead/lost.
Geomancy - utterly boring scaling wise, probably has a hidden smith/elemental route that might be cool.
But this is our obvious combat focus option.
Immediately usable, probably strong for a good while. But I doubt it really scales or shows any grand utility/ adaptability.

Overall, from best to worst imo.
Bio
Necro
Golem
Psycho
Geo

Sorry for the late reply folks, was having some computer issues. Good now.

>>3694448
A bit of both.

Seems like Biomancy wins by a big margin. Writing.

>>3694495
Why did you spoiler all that? It makes reading it an eyesore.

I would go for necromancy, but its a bit overdone, so I want to try something new.

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>>3694508
Biomancy won because we all want a 3rd leg.

>>3694513
Because it's unnecessary autism on my part that I don't want to force on others.

>>3694518
But it did the opposite to me. I think it only works on non autistic anons.

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Your powers are narrowed to the domain of the flesh, what the Kalamandrans call "blood magic"; among your own people: biomancy. You finger the jagged white scar that circles your left knee. You can still remember the bone crushing bite of the Gigapede, its worm like body surfacing from the blasted earth and its man-sized maw closing around your leg like a trap of teeth.

And that was how you discovered your wizardry. The chieftain was ready to poison you with the venom of the Adderwing, a merciful death, for the tribe had no use for a cripple. But then the flesh congealed around the wound, scabbing, hardening, pulsating with its own life. In three days, a knob of fused bone had sprouted from the knee down, in a week, muscle, tendon, and nerve began to crawl down from the site of injury like searching vines, using the aforelaid bone as a scaffold. In just ten days, your leg was whole. All the remained was a scar.

In the process of that miracle, you learned a little about your power. The tribe's shaman was able to clarify your intuitions with his knowledge, although, in your opinion, much of what he said was contradictory. Both to itself and to your own experience. You don't think he actually understood even half of what he was saying.

Since then you have made minor tests of your regeneration--making small wounds on your hands and feet, even cutting off a finger--which verified your theory. The wizardry seems to work via a natural reservoir of energy, the very same that you imagine powers your muscles and organs, and which you replenish whenever you take food and drink. As it is, the power appears to be passive, you have no conscious control over it, you cannot speed it up or slow it down or manipulate it. But the experiments have yielded a new form of perception, a kind of hypersensitivy to satiation whose not-so-subtle changes (as a result of using your powers or from eating and drinking) you can now detect with ease.

>Satiation: Hungry

Case in point, you are currently in the middle ground. Not quite starving, but on your way there. The last of your rations lies in a discarded pile of cloth wrappings, surrounded by delicate crumbs and gravel. Your waterskin is still half-full, and the sun not yet high over the horizon, so all hope is not yet lost. These hours are the best for travel and so, shouldering your pack and wetting your mouth with a gulp of water, you venture back out into the Wastes.

>Follow the Broken Road, there must be civilization around here somewhere
>Seek out the Temple of Ur-Dumizod, an ancient wizard whose feats have passed into the myths of your people
>Secure food and water, you know of an oasis nearby where you can replenish both

As you travel. you:

>Explore your wizardry by continuing to experiment with your passive regeneration ability (write-in specifics if you wish)
>Keep an eye out for alchemical ingredients (flowers, shoots, roots, grasses) that you can trade or use later
>Focus on not getting lost

>>3694617
>Secure food and water, you know of an oasis nearby where you can replenish both
>Focus on not getting lost

>>3694617
>Secure food and water.
If we're gonna fuck around with our meaty bits we gotta keep a stable metabolism.
>Explore wizardy
Just keep making small tears and cuts with our nails. See if we can speed up our regeneration via repeated use. We can fuck around with bigger wounds once testing has shown positive results.

>>3694617
>Secure food and water, you know of an oasis nearby where you can replenish both
>Keep an eye out for alchemical ingredients (flowers, shoots, roots, grasses) that you can trade or use later

>>3694642
+1

>>3694642
>>3694617
Support.

>>3694624
>>3694634
>>3694642
>>3694650
>>3694679

>Roll 1d6 for the trip

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3694682

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3694682

>>3694682

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3694682

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3694682

Really sorry guys but my computer is acting up again, might take a while to fix. I'll post as soon as i can.

>>3694784
Mkay, let us know of any new developments.

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>>3694695
>>3694699
>>3694744

>12 vs. DC 10

The hard earth crunches beneath your footsteps. The rising sun hides behind distant snowcapped peaks as a cool breeze blows which belies the heat that will come later. You mutter a secret prayer to Re, He who oversees travelers from heaven. Then you think of Melem, your older sister, who left large tears on your cheeks when she kissed you goodbye. If it not for her and her lessons in star-mapping you would have been hopelessly lost long ago.

She is the only one you really miss. You were not close to anyone else in the tribe, your elder brother had already gone off on a quest of his own before you were born and your parents had died from Wastefever when you were a babe. Your sister raised you (with the reluctant help of her husband). She was the tribe's apothecary and though alchemy is a distinctly feminine art, she made sure you were familiar with its rudiments.

Consequently, as you move, old habits compel you to keep an eye out for Ataraharsis roots and Shullat grass. The latter makes a strong inflammable adhesive when powdered and mixed with water; the former acts as weak analgesic when chewed (it's also quite good in stews). They are both common round this part of the Wastes and you fill your pack with them.

>+Ataraharsis Root (x5)
>+Shullat Grass (x5)

Although you've finally moved outside of the tribe's territories, these grounds are not unfamiliar to you. Indeed once you even went as far as Rigelyo--the city-in-the-crater--but that is still a weeks journey away and right now you are more concerned with procuring food and water. To that end, you travel to a well-known watering hole. An oasis at the bottom of a small valley of crags with a waterfall and a river that runs to its shores. You arrive just as the sun reaches its highest point, when the heat is greatest. Dropping your pack, you rinse your mouth in the cool water, slapping some of it onto your face and neck, drinking some of it, and then washing your dust-dried feet.

The waterfall crashes gently over the statue of a Sibitiani priestess. It is built into the cliff wall, and mysteriously untouched by erosion, despite the abuse of water, wind, creeping moss and the silent eons. Red-bellied Whiskerfish leap from depths to snap up humming insects. A hidden Thuumhawk, cries from the cliffs above--a noise like high-pitched thunder. The air smells of fragrant Gemekala, a golden syrup that runs from the mosses on the cliff-face to the stones near the foot of the fall. "Rock-honey", in the uninspired tongue of your people. It's a popular treat for children on account of its intense sweetness. It can also be made into a deadly poison, but you can't quite recall the method of treatment now.

>Try catch some of the Whiskerfish to eat (write-in specifics if you wish)
>Gather some of the Gemekala
>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor

>>3694879
>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor
Lets not pass up the chance for free, possibly good shit.

>>3694879
>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor

>>3694879
>Gather some of the Gemekala
>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor

>>3694879
>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor

>>3694879

>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor

If there is no food there we can try to carve a spear to fish

>>3694879
>Investigate Statue

>>3694879
>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor

>Investigate the statue, sometimes travelers leave messages or treats for the next visitor
Promising start, OP. Very Banished-y.

>>3694883
>>3694890
>>3694904
>>3694910
>>3694924
>>3694947
>>3695126
>>3695207

>Roll 1d6 to see what you find

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3699275

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3699275

Rolled 2 (1d6)

How many rolls?

>>3699319
[spolier]I forgot to mention, I'm using a "sum first three" system[/spoiler]

>>3699330
you can select your text then Ctrl+s said selection for a quick and foolproof spoiler

>>3699278
>>3699289
>>3699319

>10 vs. 10

It is a tradition among travelers to leave correspondence, messages, treats and vittles at the base of the statue. It is done in honor of Re, and whoever partakes in the gifts is expected to leave behind more than he found.

You strip your robes and undershirt and jump into the water. The oasis gets deeper the further you go in, until you have to start swimming to get across. The statue is built in a such a way that there is a small pocket behind it, shaded from the water and sun. It takes some effort to crawl into it as the stone of the statue is slick and hard to grip and the vegetation around it is full of thorns and nettles.

There is less here than usual, just two cloth wraps filled with dried persimmons, dates, plums and a small purse of dried lentils.

>Dried Fruit (x2)
>Dried Lentils (x1)

They can be eaten as they are and should last you at least two days. Or you can spend some time to soak them in water and make a little stew. That will last you considerably longer, perhaps a week or more.

>Spend some time (1 hour) making some stew
>Eat them as is

You also find a sheaf of parchment, made from dried Palalu skin. Unrolling it reveals a message in beautiful calligraphy, below it, a kind of crude map and a set of runes. When you run your eyes over the last, the runes glow like hot coals and spontaneously sound in your mind, not like any language you know, but rather more like musical notes. You're not entirely sure what to make of it, as runecraft was a rare practice among your people. Nonetheless, the parchment and calligraphy alone are of such high quality that they will fetch a handsome price from a collector.

The message is also intriguing. Your literacy is lacking and the script has some words and letters alien to the Kalamandran script, still you can make out the gist:

Be [always watchful? careful?] [to steal? to cover?] along the Broken Road. Their [house of bread?] is the [to protect?] three hundred paces from the black spiracle west of the [Heavenly Re's left arm?]. Avoid the Bylon Pass. --Enmeuzim an Eppon

The Broken Road passes directly through the Bylon Pass, and having to go around it would require a hike that would add at least three days to the journey. The map seems to indicate a short-cut, some kind of tunnel cut into the rock wall, east of the entrance to the path. As well as a sketch of some kind of mountain fortress, Sibitiani in architecture. Though you can make neither heads nor tails of their exact locations.

It is not appropriate to travel now anyway. The sun is high and you should wait at least three hours, preferably four, when it has begun to set.

>Satiation: Hungry
>4 hours till sunset

>Spend some time (2 hrs) gathering some food to replace what you took from the statue
>Study the runes (1 hr) some more (write-in specifics)
>Prepare the Shullat grass into the inflammable adhesive (2 hrs)
>Experiment (2 hrs) with your biomancy (write-in specifics)

>>3699596
>Spend some time (1 hour) making some stew
>Spend some time (2 hrs) gathering some food to replace what you took from the statue

>>3699596
>Make stew.
>Prepare the Shullat grass into the inflammable adhesive (2 hrs)

>>3699613
+1

>>3699610
Support

If this is the same qm of dark lord civ are you ending the quest?

>>3699610
How about for the second we try some Biomancy?
>>3699613
>Make stew.
>Experiment (2 hrs) with your biomancy. Try to control an animal or destroy parts of it.

>>3699610
>This

>>3699610
Support, don't want no bad mojo.

>>3700019
I am not, though the quest was in part inspired by his quest.

>>3699610
>>3700106
>>3700102
>>3700059
>>3699739

>Roll 2d6 to see how your stew turns out + what you forage from the area

Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)

>>3700136

Rolled 1, 2 = 3 (2d6)

>>3700136

Rolled 5, 1 = 6 (2d6)

>>3700136

Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)

>>3700136

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>>3700153
>>3700156
>>3700165

>12 vs. 7

The stew is delicious, but to be fair, stews are difficult to mess up. In fact, the hardest part was building the fire. Unlike the spicier, meatier variant of stew that is popular among your people, with large chunks of braised Palulu shoulder meat and ground spices, the combination of lentils and dried fruit is sweet and tangy. You add some ground up Ataraharsis root to thicken the broth into a creamy consistency; it also gives it some earthy undertones that complement the sweetness well. It even helps a little with your general aches and pains. Almost as good as your sister might have made, which is no small boast.

After eating to your satisfaction you fill your waterskin with the remainder. There's at least seven days of food here. If you find another water source you can extend that even longer.

>+Lentil and Fruit Stew (7 days)
>-Dried Fruit (x2)
>-Dried Lentils (x1)
>-Ataharasis Root (x1)

>8 vs. 9

With still a few hours left before twilight, you decide to spend them replacing what you took from the statue, passing the favor on to the next traveler. Unfortunately you have no means of leaving messages, neither parchment nor pen and ink, but you are not much of a calligraphist anyway (though you do have some skill in drawing and sculpture). Instead you forage around the oasis for edibles and useful alchemical reagents.

You don't find much. Some more Shullat grass, some of the Gemekala, a handful of shiny lightbugs burrowed in the soil, waiting for nightfall. The insects are bigger than your thumbs and are quite delicious when fried in clarified Palulu butter. They can be eaten raw, without any side-effects, though they are admittedly a little gamy.

These effects come no where near the value of the scroll you took, but the sun is nearly setting and you must cut short your search. Hopefully Re will show mercy on a poor wanderer.

>Satiation: Filled

>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>Head directly to Bylon Pass on the Broken Road
>Seek out the mountain fortress sketched in the scroll
>Write-in

While traveling you:

>Study the runes on the scroll (optional: write-in specifics)
>Experiment with your biomancy (optional: write-in specifics)
>Focus on not getting lost

>>3702365
>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>Focus on not getting lost

>>3702365
>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>Experiment with your biomancy

>>3702365
>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>Study the runes on the scroll
try to learn if runes have some kind of alphabet or repetition into it, or if covering part of runes only activate partial effect, or how effect of hearing/message can be activated.

>>3702365
>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>Focus on not getting lost

>>3702365
>>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>>Focus on not getting lost

>>3702365
>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>Experiment with your biomancy

>>3702365
>>Attempt to follow the map on the scroll to find the short cut through Bylon Pass
>>Focus on not getting lost

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>>3703454
>>3702932
>>3702926
>>3702394

You had been reading the map as a collection of landmarks but on closer inspection, it appears to be a badly drawn starchart. Once you are able to align the chart with the constellations above you it's a simple matter to follow the arrow of the two-headed charioteer.

The short cut the scroll mentions is indeed many miles east of the Bylon Pass. Far from some simple crack in the wall, it is in fact a weathered, ornate gate, flanked by pillars of white marble, guarded by two dog-headed statues. They have the likeness of the Gugum, the loyal watchmen of the Gazageir, the princesses of the underworld. That would make this construction the handiwork of your ancestors, the Old Kalamandran. A mine perhaps, or simply a second pass through the cliffs.

The tunnel's height disappears into the shadow. The only sign of its termination is the occasional echo of your footfall bouncing back from its stones. The tunnel empties into a vast quarry, whose depth and breadth are indeterminable. A path zigzags down the cliff face, cut into the rock. Ancient cables stretch into the darkness. There are many of them, in pairs, attached to the walls by metal bolts. Once they may have borne gondolas across this vast gulf, now they seem like dusty cobwebs, spun by a long forgotten people.

As you stand, wondering at such a construction and musing on what you should do next, you hear a faint sound, coming from the bowels of the quarry. You can't be sure, but it sounds like a hoarse cry for help. Indeed, a moment later you can make out a small wisp of light, about a quarter of the way down the path, steady and unmoving.

>Satiation: Filled
>Head down the quarry to investigate the noise
>Attempt to glide down the cables to the other side
>Write-in

>>3705153
>Head down the quarry to investigate the noise

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>>3705164

Carefully pacing your steps so as to avoid falling into the dark pit to your right, you descend down the path. The wisp of light remains, flickering occasionally like fire and the farther down you go the brighter it comes until you are face to face with its master. A man, dressed in strange garments--leathers and soft cloth--obviously weakened by hunger and thirst, holding a glowing gem in one hand and a bloody shortsword in the other.

Beside him there is another tunnel, this one not so grand as the one above, narrow and circular, and more natural. Many such tunnels are scattered across the rock wall.

The man's eyes flicker open, regard you without energy, then close again. "Water," he says. "Water," he says again, in a different language. And again, in a third.

>Give him some of your stew (-1 Lentil and Fruit Stew)
>Kill him and loot his body--though it be the greatest affront to He who watches over travelers
>Write-in

>>3705153
>Head down the quarry to investigate the noise

>>3705194
>Give him some of your stew (-1 Lentil and Fruit Stew)

>>3705194
>set some stew down and back away from it. Keep him at a distance.

>>3705194
>Give him some of your stew (-1 Lentil and Fruit Stew)

>>3705200
>>3705205

You brace the waterskin against his lips and tilt his head. He takes in the stew in long slow draws. You feed him as much as he desires, even offering a prayer to Re for his recovery.

It seems to work. He takes several deep breaths, looks about him, as though unsure of where he is, then focuses on you. At first his hand tightens around the hilt of his shortsword, then seeing the waterskin still in your hand and the taste of its contents still lingering in his mouth, he relaxes, not only his hand, but as though entering into a hot bath, his whole spirit.

"Sagski zalagbar," he says, kissing his knuckles and then touching his heart. It has no translation in the common speech, for it means many things, an oath, a prayer, a gesture of gratitude and brotherhood, but most of all, an understanding that one has found a friend.

"Who are you?"

"I am called Enmeuzim," he says. "Zim, to those who know me. And you my brother?"

>Choose a name (something ancient sounding, akkadian or sumerian)

His name sounds familiar--the same one on the scroll. Could it be the same man? It is not an uncommon name. Should you ask him or pretend your ignorance?

>Show him the scroll
>Ask him the way out of here
>Ask him what he's doing here and how he came to this state
>Write-in

>>3705256
>Ask him what he's doing here and how he came to this state
then
>Show him the scroll

>>3705256
>Ask him what he's doing here and how he came to this state

>name
Naramsin

>>3705290
This and
>Enmul

>>3705256
>Elonuskian
>show scroll

>>3705312
Support.

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>>3705290
>>3705312
>>3705327
>>3705332
>>3705340

"Naramsin," you say, taking out the scroll from your pack. "Is this your hand?"

Zim smiles. "Yes, it seems my bit of generosity has saved my own life."

"What are you doing here? How'd you come to this state?"

He holds up the gem. "We were searching for these--my companions and I--but we were attacked by some kind of abomination. A parasite that attached itself to the spine and took over the body. I managed to escape. The others were not so lucky," he jerks his head toward the tunnels. "I was lost in those tunnels for many days, and ran out of food water. When I finally escaped I was too weak to make the climb to the surface. My friends are still wandering inside, trapped in bodies they cannot control."

Gemcraft is a rare and powerful art, perfected by the ancient cyclopeans. In your whole life you have only seen one, the Red Spinel which the chieftain had socketed into the shaft of his spear and which greatly amplified its power. "And the gems?"

"We found a vein of them deep inside, one of my companions still has most of them on his person. I was only able to take these two," he holds up the one he already has and then another from his pocket. A Spinel and an Opal. "If you help me get them back, even if just their bodies, I will give you both, and half of whatever else we find. I owe you one just for saving my life."

>Agreed, you're curious about the nature of these parasites anyway, on account of your wizardry
>Refuse; take one of the offered gems and leave
>Refuse, try to convince him to get out of this place first, for his own safety

>>3705389
>Refuse, try to convince him to get out of this place first, for his own safety

>Agreed, you're curious about the nature of these parasites anyway, on account of your wizardry

>>3705389

>>3705389
>>Agreed, you're curious about the nature of these parasites anyway, on account of your wizardry

>>3705389
>Agreed, you're curious about the nature of these parasites anyway, on account of your wizardry

>>3705407
>>3705418
>>3705420

You agree, not just for the gems (which if nothing else, you can sell for a tidy sum) but for the chance to investigate these parasites. Perhaps there is something you can learn from them to augment your biomancy. Zim is delighted to have your help and as if revived by just your words, rises from his seated posture and gestures for you to follow him into the tunnels.

Zim marked the tunnels when he was trying to find a way out and now is able to navigate them with confidence as you go deeper in. He tells you a little about his background, he is a runecrafter from Rigelyo (which explains the runes on the scroll) and he was in fact looking for a temple located somewhere at the bottom of this quarry--a temple which is supposed to be even more ancient than the Kalamandran structure above it. In fact, he claims that the quarry was probably a front for the real purpose of finding the temple.

"If it was indeed before the Kalamandrans, then it must be from the Precamzirian Era. Their runic scripts were said to be the closest to the original words of Creation. My interest in them is strictly academic of course," he says. "The gems were merely an incentive to procure funds and help. Though ultimately it seems the whole expedition was a failure."

"What about the runes on the scroll?"

"Oh those are runes of water. I converted some of the water from the spring, speak them aloud and the water will gush out. About two of your waterskins worth. Quite useful in the Wastes."

He is comfortable chatting about himself and never once asks you about your own circumstances. It's better that way, although wizardry is not quite so reviled in the cities as it is in your tribe, it is still a matter of suspicion and fear. As all power is.

Eventually you begin to see signs of Zim's companions, blood trails, footprints, handprints on the walls--and they lead you straight to them. There are three of them in total, moving in erratic jerky motions, like someone who has just learned to walk. They are all men, dressed in garments similar to Zim's. The parasite on their backs looks like a giant leech and lets out a high pitched humming sound similar to the drone of a fly's wings.

Zim draws his shortsword, while you ready your spear.

>Roll 1d6 for combat

>Kill them all (lowers DC by 2)
>Try to save them
>Try to save one, for investigation (lowers DC by 1)

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>3705535
>Try to save them
We can afford some danger thanks to our regen
Total of first three rolls right?

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3705535
>Try to save them

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>3705535
Save em

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3705535
>>Try to save them

>>3705558
>>3705620
>>3705637

10 vs. 11

You attempt to incapacitate the enemies instead of outright killing them. First because they plead for help and mercy--explaining that the parasites have only taken over their bodies, leaving their senses and minds intact. Second, because killing the host may destroy the parasite as well, and the more of them you have to experiment with, the better.

Unfortunately, the parasitism seems to have augmented their speed and strength--though destroyed any strategic intelligence. They attack with their bare limbs, smashing outcroppings of rock and moving with graceless, animalistic strides.

>Choose two:

>You are not severely injured
>The parasites and hosts are safe
>Zim is not severely injured

>>3705679
>Zim is not severely injured
>You are not severely injured

>>3705679
>The parasites and hosts are safe
>Zim is not severely injured

>>3705838
We can heal tho and rune guy is our offensive so we can just step back and heal

>>3705721
>Zim is not severely injured
>You are not severely injured

>>3705842
but we can't heal that fast?

>>3705721
>>3705962

Their brute strength makes mercy impossible. You kill them all. Zim was fairly useless in the fight, the jokes about city-slickers being effeminate weaklings does not stray too far from the mark. Luckily the training your brother-in-law beat into you makes short work of even these empowered thralls.

"Regrettable that we couldn't save them," says Zim, leaning against the wall and catching his breath. "But we can bring the bodies back to the surface and I can return here with others to carry them back to the city. Thank you, brother. As promised, the gems are yours."

You wave him down. One of the parasites is still humming--it's alive! It's host is very much dead, but the parasite hasn't taken a scratch.

>Finish it off, better not to mess with it
>Attempt a vivisection to understand how it could take control of the body
>Take a sample of its tissue for later examination
>Try to remove it from the host and capture it whole
>What would happen if you...put it on yourself?

>>3706031
>Try to remove it from the host and capture it whole

>>3706031
>Try to remove it from the host and capture it whole

>>3706031
>>Attempt a vivisection to understand how it could take control of the body

>>3706031
>Vivisection
>In a cave
>With a spear
Yeah, I just can see us learning so much
>Try to remove it from the host and capture it whole

>>3706269
You can assume that you have a knife. But yes, the other conditions are not ideal and while you won't be penalized for them you'd have an easier time in a well-lit, sterile room with forceps, clamps and a scalpel.

>>3706031
>>What would happen if you...put it on yourself?

>>3706036
>>3706037
>>3706269

The parasite is fixed to its host by more than two dozen legs burrowed into the flesh. Around each penetration the skin has hardened creating smooth, shiny patches reminiscent of nails. Plucking the creature out requires you to cut around the patches as the legs are fused with the hardened skin.

Once all the legs are out the head releases of its own accord with a wet pop, revealing a long serpentine tongue with many small spikes that each have hairs on their ends. You stuff the whole thing into your sack, closing the drawstrings so that it can't escape. It skitters about for a few seconds, then goes still. You can tell its still alive by the way it continues to hum.

Zim watches all this without comment. He doesn't even bother to ask what you're going to do with the parasite. You help him drag the bodies back up toward the surface. He tells you that the path to Rigelyo is on the other side of the cavern, but that there is a smaller settlement not far from the entrance. After dividing up the gems, he invites you to come with him, obviously impressed with your martial abilities, and counting on the protection you'd afford him in the merciless Wastes.

>+4 Spinel Gems

>Satiation: Filled
>Agree, so long as he shows you around when you arrive
>Agree in exchange for all the gems
>Agree in exchange for some lessons in runecraft

>>3706619
>>Agree in exchange for some lessons in runecraft

Probably the best trade we can get here. Runecraft might be useful later, it seems versatile.

>>3706619
>Agree in exchange for some lessons in runecraft

>>3706627
I'd rather him show us around ,since I think we can get rune crafting from him later on since we are now friends and we'll work together in the future probably.

>>3706619
>Agree in exchange for some lessons in runecraft

>>3706619
both
>Agree, so long as he shows you around when you arrive
and
>Agree in exchange for some lessons in runecraft

>>3706619
>>Agree, so long as he shows you around when you arrive

>>3706627
>>3706688
>>3706690
>>3706701

Didn't mean to omit the "refuse" option, obviously you could've refused as well

You agree, so long as he doesn't mind sharing some of his knowledge of runecraft. Unlike the shaman of your tribe his explanations are coherent and concise. He admits his ignorance on matters of which he knows little and elaborates confidently on those which he knows well.

"Runecrafting is really a corrupted form of the original Creation--you are familiar with Genesis?"

"Before Re there was Sek-Wajet, the Eyeless Eternal. He was pierced by Naram's arrows thus the Shroud of Heaven was perforated," you gesture up toward the constellations. "From the light of Heaven, Re was born and he said "Be!" and it Was."

"Precisely. It was those words, the original words of creation, which were the first runes. The runes which I had hoped to find in the temple were still corruptions of those perfect syllables, but close enough to approach their power. You see, all runes, contain within them an echo of Genesis. One writes the rune for fire, and there is fire. For water, and there is water. Even for life, and there will be life. However, because the corrupted scripts are merely echoes of their true counterparts, they do not have the power of true Creation. To spontaneously form something from nothing is reserved to Genesis alone. The best most runecrafters can hope to achieve is, as you saw, conversion. Turning the physical thing into a rune--and even then, only temporarily."

"So it's a kind of storage?"

He nods. "If it helps to think of it that way. All physical things have a corresponding rune, the uncorrupted version, because it creates from nothing, has limitless power. The rest are only able to "store", as you say, its physical counterpart to varying degrees. The water rune on the scroll is one of my own creation, the fruit of several days work."

"And you know others?"

"Naturally. Even an art as impenetrable as runecrafting has rudiments, building blocks, structural forms, grammar. Rules in a word."

"And the sound--the music--when you look at them, does that have something to do with converting them back?"

He raises his eyes. "You're not telling me you can actually hear it? Already? It took me four years to awaken runeaudience! You haven't been gelding my Palulu all this time have you? Feigning ignorance, when in fact you're a runecraft yourself?"

You shake your head. "It's my first time seeing one," this probably has something to do with your wizardry, but best to keep it secret for now.

1/2

>>3707394
"We-e-ll! A natural, then. Yes, the music, as you call it, the "voice" of the rune. Speaking it aloud activates the rune, undoing whatever the runecrafter had converted and destroying the rune in the process. The voice is merely inflection, like in a song, and thus can be superimposed on any speech from any language. Runecrafters naturally have their own simplified speech--to make the process a little more rigorous, but that is an academic formality--the runes are universal."

Zim explains all this as well as the finer points of the "rules" he spoke of while you travel. And when you break for the night he teaches you how to draw some of the runes that he knows. Apparently, just knowing the shape is not enough to recreate it, one must also know the specific order of the strokes.

>Choose two:

>Rune of water
>Rune of fire
>Rune of light
>Rune of earth
>Rune of flesh

During the night you:

>Practice your runecrafting in the sand
>Experiment with the parasite
>Get a good night's rest for tomorrow
>Write-in

>>3707395
>Rune of water
We're in a desert. We might think about picking up some flint and steel, though.
>Rune of flesh
Biomancer

>Experiment with parasite.

>>3707395
>Rune of Flesh
>Rune of Water

>practice runecraft

>>3707395
>Rune of water
>Rune of flesh

>Practice your runecrafting in the sand
Don't really want to risk letting that little bugger out. It might attach itself to us or our friend, and we don't need that right now.

>>3707395
>Rune of water
>Rune of

>Practice your runecrafting in the sand

>>3707600
*Rune of flesh

>>3707395
>Rune of water
>Rune of flesh
>Experiment with the parasite

>>3707480
This

>>3707395
>>Rune of water
We're in a desert, this could be useful
>Rune of flesh
This may synergize with our biomancy.
>Experiment with the parasite

>>3707395
>Rune of water
So we don't die of thirst
>Rune of flesh
So we won't starve, also our magic
>Practice your runecrafting in the sand
So we can actually use these
With some luck the parasite won't die before we reach some good place to experiment

I'm afraid I have to kill this quest. I'm going to be very busy in the immediate future (a future more immediate than I had initially thought) and I won't be able to spare the time I want for writing the quest. It's unfortunate because we barely got to explore all the subsystems (we didn't even get to gemcraft or really explore biomancy, for which I had lots of weird stuff, like making copies of memories via brain tissue and such).

Anyways, sorry for being yet another 1-thread flake.

>>3713055
Awe common, we didn't even get to first base with the parasite. Didn't get a chance to get freaky with it.

Well at least you told us, Peace out man.

>>3713055
It was interesting, but life happens. Good luck!

>>3713055
Well, thank you for at least giving the heads up

>>3694437
>muh whuuuuurm