Jakob Absol, Swamp Lord

Unspent Exp: 2
Total Exp: 10

BODY: 2
COORDINATION: 2
SENSE: 3
Eerie: +1
KNOWLEDGE: 4
Counterspell: +3
Language (Vartynen): +MD
Sorcery: +4
Strategy: +2
Tactics: +2
COMMAND: 4
Haggle: +1
Inspire: +3
Intimidate: +1
CHARM: 2

ADVANTAGES:
Lucky 1 (one reroll per session on a roll where NO sets turn up)
Thick Headed 1 (one extra wound box in the head)
Status 3 (Lord of the Absol Swamp, FREE for plot reasons)
Followers 5 (10 Threat 4 Unworthy Opponents, the Last Loyal, FREE for picking Swamp)
Possession ? (Castle Briarfast, FREE for plot reasons)
Possession 3 (Well-Made Plate Armor)
Literate in Vartynen 1 (FREE for plot reasons)
Wealth 3
Spells (1)
Spells (1)
Spells (3)
Spells (3)
Spells (5)

PROBLEMS:
Hated Enemy (+1 xp whenever the Hated Enemy harms or inconveniences you)

PASSIONS:
Mission: Solidify your hold on the Absol Swamp
Duty: Be a lord your people and ancestors would be proud of
Craving: Find a worthy and powerful wife

SPELLS:
Aqueous Divination (Sense): Weather Wisdom, Clearwater Oracle
Smoke Sculpting (Knowledge): Minor Smoke Form, Smoke Arrow, Minor Smoke Structure, Smoke Armor
The Way of the Wood (Knowledge): Blossom Freshness
Wings of Words (Knowledge): Soar, Words of Lesser Attunement, Minor Lightning Stroke

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After reading Balam's letter, and deciding that you like the Lord of the Plains a great deal, you turn to the last in the pile. Petrine Gwelm's. You know that she was practically born as Lady Gwelm, losing her parents in a shipwreck. You wonder idly if she and Lady Galdynfyrgenbach bond over both being orphans. You also know that she was supposedly a frequent guest at Briarfast when she was young, and that your grandfather, Lord Valter Absol, helped to raise her. If she had been older, and your father hadn't had such a taste for mulberries, it would have been possible that a political marriage would have resulted between them. There is, you vaguely recall from somewhere, a law against the Frontier Provinces merging that would have meant their children split the domains between them, but you're no legalist and don't know the details. That's steward's work.

You pop open the golden seashell seal with your letter opener, and remove the letter. Immediately, a faint aroma hits you. Lavender. The paper is scented with it, and the handwriting is beautiful, written with a thin-tipped quill, every letter flowing, curving, elegant. It's also written in an entirely different style than the others, and addressed to your father.

'Dearest Arnveis,

Please write back to me soon! I was so glad to hear you came back alive from Cheill, when so many others did not. I would have journeyed to visit you sooner, but alas, pirates have taken advantage of the ennervated state of our navy and prey upon every passing ship, and I dread what they would demand of my people should I be taken captive. With that said, I am sure any pirate attempting to take you prisoner would soon come to regret it, and so I have a splendid idea. Why don't you come visit me this summer?

You can surely get a letter to me with the details, and it would be such a jolly time. Oh do say yes! Moreover, you should bring Little Jakob and your apprentice, that Albeda girl. It is, after all, high time we look to the future. You and Lenida were always so kind to me, a family when I needed one, let me do my part to help by arranging suitable marriages for them. Won't it be just such fun? Is Little Jakob old enough to be noticing girls now? Time flies so fast...well, if he isn't, we can certainly arrange for the future, no? I do miss visiting Castle Briarfast, with how things have been lately the whole world feels so small, so empty, and so lonely. In times like these, we need connections with others more than ever. How is Harvin doing? How is your uncle-in-law? Is that scary old woman who tells the sleep-curing stories still alive? Oh, I have so many questions, but I won't be upset if you don't answer them all in a letter, I can wait to hear them in person. Please be well, dear friend, and tell Little Jakob that yes, he may call me Auntie Petrine.

Much love, Petrine Gwelm'

No titles. It could easily be a letter that was written between cousins years apart.

[Continue]

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Included with the letter is a cameo of an attractive and refined noblewoman, and a short note.

'Some silly lord from Passionlip insisted on 'capturing my features with art'. I couldn't refuse without hurting his feelings, but I don't exactly know what to do with a picture of myself. Since I have that nice portrait of you and dear Lenida from your wedding, I thought of sending it to you. At least this way, Little Jakob will know who I am when he sees me!'

Unfortunately, you don't have much time to dwell on it. Shortly thereafter, a couple of farmers come in seeking mediation over which of them owns a particular prize pig. Lilly has a few stifled giggles, but doesn't interfere and patiently enjoys the show as the case drags on for most of the afternoon. Such is the way of lordship. Eventually, your day winds down, and as the sun sets, you venture out into the courtyard. You wear your armor, on Harvin's advice, because it has the family symbol engraved on it and it looks good on you, but you leave both gauntlets off. That is part of the ritual. So is the knife.

[Continue]

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Rank is irrelevant for this ritual, and so the eldest of the Last Loyal holds the knife up balanced on his left palm. Rank is insignificant for the ritual, Behind him, rank by rank, stand the Last Loyal. Each has his billhook resting in the crook of his left arm, and his helmet held upside-down in his right, with his left gauntlet placed inside the helmet and the hand beneath bare, held palm up. It is one of the few, rare reasons for the Last Loyal to remove their masked helms on duty. In the background, a drum beats, slow and heavy as the beating of some vast, slumbering heart.

Harvin hobbles along behind you, carrying a ceramic bowl in his hands, as you approach the knife. By tradition the knife is made of stone. This is a ritual that predates metal, although it was formalized in Lord Amadeus' day, when he called the strongest warriors of the swamp to serve as his houseguard. It is a blade of knapped flint, sixteen inches long, with a simple leaf shape. Its edges are blisteringly sharp, but of course they would be. Its handle is wrapped with woven reeds, as simply as possible. You take the knife in your right hand, and lift it up. By sheer coincidence, the setting sun glints off the brownish stone, making it gleam menacingly. Heartbeats pass, as you hold your left hand out, palm up, and as the sun touches the treetops you draw the edge across the meaty part of the heel of your hand, hold that hand out, and squeeze it. Blood, a lord's blood, drips into the bowl, several droplets worth, where they mix with the thickening agent in the bucket and turn it a deep crimson.

All around the courtyard's edge, a wailing goes up. The women of the castle wail, and weep. “Our lord bleeds!” The youngest of them, a junior kitchemaid, pipes up in her squeaky voice, “Our lord bleeds!”

“We bleed with him.” The oldest of the Last Loyal responds in a monotone. You place the knife, hilt first, into his withered palm, just as you took it from him. Harvin walks with you, bowl held in both hands. The oldest of the Last Loyal is a man well past greying and into whitening, but his back is straight, and his hand is sure as he pricks his finger deeply enough to spill a drop of blood into the bowl before passing the knife to the man behind him. Harvin carries the bowl around as man after man offers his blood to the bowl. The girl who announced your wounding approaches you holding a bowl of her own, scooping up powder from it and packing it against your wound to help it knit and stop wicked influences from seeping in through the wounded flesh to sicken your flesh. Despite knowing how carefully the remedy is prepared, you can't help feeling a sense of paranoia at this part, but you refuse to show it, and she seems to refuse to look for it. She wraps your hand in a bandage packed tight with herbs, and ties it off.

[Continue]

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From how it stings, you suspect that Grandmama made this herself. She probably wouldn't trust anyone else to do it. In fact, she is probably lurking somewhere nearby. Watching. If someone had tried to do anything suspicious to it, they would have vanished into a pit of teeth.

At last, Harvin hobbles back up to you, bowing his bent, humped back and proffering the bowl to you. You take it from him, and hold it in the crook of your left arm. The mixture inside is made with rice flour and the sap of a particular vine, its texture more like goo than an oil, thicker and chalky where it's more dry at the edges. It smells of blood, and is as crimson and gory a color as you would expect. You walk up to the first of the Last Loyal, dip your finger into the mixture, and draw a dark red line down his forehead.

“When my lord bleeds, I bleed.” He intones, meeting your eyes and then lowering his gaze. One by one, you do the same with each of the remaining men, until at last it is done. You circle around the back of the formation, and walk back to your place at the front, while the drums continue to beat and the women continue to wail.

“May I never bleed alone.” You say, and all is silence, the drums and wailing abruptly coming to a half, “You are seen.”

“We are seen, loyal to the last.” The Last Loyal say in unison, and drop to their knees before you. There they will remain until you are out of sight. All but ten of them. As you turn on your heel and walk away, the ten best follow you. They are still men, earlier they joked and laughed in their menacing helmets, but here, bare-faced, they are silent as stone.

[Continue]

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Ignoring the throbbing in your hand, you have dinner and go to your room, only to remember that you had your things moved. You make your way up to the top of the keep, the entire two floors that once belonged to your parents. You always knew that someday, you would be staying here, it is tradition, but it still doesn't feel like your place. The maze of bookshelves that stretch to the ceiling, joined by ladders and walkways, are still your father's books. The massive desk with the many weird little items he picked up on his travels is still his desk. The paintings are still your father's paintings. The dome of the ceiling overhead, painted with the constellations of the night sky, is still your father's ceiling, with its spiralling metal staircase in the center of the suites leading up to a trapdoor that takes you to the roof.

The worst one is the bed. In one corner of the space, where the bookshelves form walls of wood and paper, is a grand four-poster bed, its beams carved from petrified tree trunks. Too great and weighty to move, there was no chance of replacing it with your own, and erasing the memory of your father dying in it. The bedclothes are fresh and unstained, but the memory of him softening like some deep-sea fish dragged by a net into the depressurized world of the surface remains sharply in your memory. Still, you have to sleep, and although you try to hold it off by getting some reading done, eventually fatigue claims you and you stumble into bed half-dressed.

[Continue]

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That night, you dream strange dreams, disjointed and fragmented. You are running through a labyrinth, holding onto a woman's hand, dragging her along behind you. The maze shifts and changes every time you run through it, panting. At first, it's a flowering hedge maze, beneath a golden sky with motes of light drifting down from the heavens and strange, needle-like towers visible in the distance. Then, abruptly, you pass through an archway and it becomes a maze of corridors, the decoration familiar as that of Castle Briarfast. No matter where you turn, the corridors slope down, down, down, and you can hear the panting of your companion growing increasingly panicked as the walls grow mossy and neglected, the furnishings rotting step by step until you're running through a dank, claustrophobic cave. Glowing shelf fungi and mushrooms provide barely enough illumination for you to see your feet as you splash through underground streams full of pale, blind crustaceans. You hear the woman let out a strangled sob, and as you turn to look back you realize that the fungi and cave walls are now the pulsing innards of some unfathomably vast creature, and you are squeezing your way through an intestine or gullet lined with glowing veins and pustules. Steam rises from your sturdy swamp boots as the digestive juices of the creature make them sizzle, but you press on. Behind you lies death. You know this, in the way you know things in dreams. You round a corner, and suddenly, before you, you see daylight. You're walking on a tongue the size of a drawbridge, out of a mouth that matches it in scale, a long open snout lined with sharp teeth. Beyond lies a field of flowers, brilliantly lit by the sun, in every color of the rainbow. You surge forward, and feel your companion stop. Just as you realize you never stopped to look back at her, she pulls her hand from yours, and you know that behind you is something terrible, something that will end you entirely. Heat washes over you, sickly and feverish, but just as you start to move, whether to turn and face her or flee the vast mouth, you are wakened by the crowing of a spotted swamp cockerel.

[Continue[

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You are soaked in sweat, your bedclothes twisted around you, constricting your movements. Your hand, in particular, is tangled in them. The morning feels oddly surreal. You bathe, you dress, you perform your weather divinations, and sigh in relief when they predict rain all day. You know, after all, that it will be a clear sunny day that turns abruptly to hail when the attempt is made on your life. After that, the day is shockingly mundane. A few minor issues demand your presence, mostly domestic issues and finding a place for Lilly to stay, but for the most part you're at loose ends, free to ambitiously practice mastering a pair of Smoke Sculpting spells beyond anything you could cast previously.

It rains all week, and by the end of it, you're used to wearing your plate armor, and can reliably cast Smoke Armor and Minor Smoke Structure at will.

>Week 2 begins. Presumably, you'll want to cast Clearwater Prophet, so start rolling dice!

An update on the Clearwater Prophet spell. I did some rereading, and talked with some people about it, and here are the conclusions we came to. You can cast Clearwater Prophet more than once per week. However, you can only cast receive a vision of someone who is physically present and thus possible for you to target. This is because the aesthetic of a typical Aqueous Diviner is that of a roadside fortune teller, who is presumably taking on multiple clients every day, rather than long-range scrying once a week on people who aren't there. So for example, you can see a vision of your future, Cailm's future, Harvin's future, Lilly's future, etc. That said, it is extremely rude and illegal in some places to target someone for a vision without their consent, and many non-sorcerers are leery of knowing.

>>4520670

Er, Clearwater ORACLE.

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Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4520665
Wong's collection of dice, artistically reimagined for the modern era.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520665
Have a die boss bossman

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4520665
Dice time!

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520665

>>4520670
>all of the Last Loyal

How could this ever go wrong?...

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4520665
So while we roll dice, I have been meaning to ask for some clarification on this passage from the first thread.
>You feel a prickle of tension up your spine, even though the village is close at hand and the boardwalk here is well elevated, making it unlikely anything could climb up and grab at you...besides the thing in your vision, the thing that scaled the keep as if the walls were a flat plain, the thing whose shape was somehow so unnatural. You realize you're staring at him.

Is this implying that the Chimera is part wolf or Has Cailm mashed into it?

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4520693
>>4520665

Or am I just totally off and it's saying we are just staring Cailm down like a lunatic?

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4520665
Welcome to the Game of Dice!

TM pending.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4520665

>>4520693
>>4520698

Wtf

This man's crazier than I am.... this is going to be a good session.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4520708
>>4520665

Well at least I'm Not from Brazil

Meanwhile, I can answer a question which was posed way back in the first thread, about what forms of sorcery you should know about outside of the swamp. In retrospect, there are a few.

The Enlightened of Mihto, for example. Mihto's church practices a unique and heavily guarded form of sorcery in the upper echelons. They claim that it is a blessing from the sun god, who instills a bit of the sun within them to shine out across all who behold them. In this setting, they might be right, since the Shadowbinders also hold (and it seems true to Jakob) that they make a pact with spirits for their magic too. However, the sun god is far more jealous than the dark entities the Shadowbinders work with, there is no temporary attunement spell for the Solar Wisdom school (whose practitioners are known as Sunwise Priests or simply the Enlightened), and none of its spells can be cast unattuned. The church is quite miserly with giving out this power, and a priest must be extremely skilled in the theoretical practice of sorcery before he is permitted to so much as make the holy pilgrimage from which he will either return Enlightened...or blind. The reason for this is simple, the Enlightened are the only known reliable source of healing magic in Vartyne. They are immediately obvious when seen, because every hair on their bodies glows. A short-haired, clean-shaven Enlightened gives off luminescence akin to a lamp, while one with long hair and beard is like several bright torches. Once Enlightened, priests and priestesses stop cutting their hair and beards.

As for farther south, in Old Vartyne, aside from Shadowbinders most of the forms of sorcery you're familiar with have at least some representation, with a few exceptions. Shadowbinders being one of them, on account of Mihtoism's influence. Another, bizarrely, is Smoke Sculpting. Because it's a very traditional swamp-based magic school, its practitioners tend to teach other denizens of the swamp. Furthermore, and it's debatable whether this is sour grapes or inversely the reason why most Smoke Sculptors keep their magic in Absol lands, there is a general perception among Old Vartynen nobility that Smoke Sculpting is associated with poverty. Why summon a smoke ballista when you can simply buy one? Why conjure smoke fortifications when one can hire an engineer corps to do it?

Old Vartyne suffers a bit from what, in martial arts, is known as the McDojo effect. Their sorcery is shallow, and commercialized. A lot of overly wealthy young nobles want to try their hand at sorcery, learn a spell or two, and show it off to their friends, and so these are the people southern teachers frequently cater to. A flashy journeyman who knows a few spells and is good at flattering his or her well-heeled pupils and not demanding the discipline needed for true mastery can easily get a wide reputation as a learned master and make a lot of money. However...

>>4520713

...this isn't true for all of them. Flame Dancing, for example, is a serious and traditional art in part because it is utterly eschewed by the nobility for causing sterility. Then there are more secretive schools Jakob has only heard veiled references to, of sorcerer-retainers who sacrifice their humanity and become as stone to command stone, of spies who can see through lies and castle walls with equal facility.

>>4520698

The chimera did not have wolflike nor Cailmesque traits that you noticed. If it was a Cailmera it would have been trying to flirt with the serving girls instead of assassinating you.

>>4520726

Keep rolling dice, your roll is successful...probably...but we still need to see exactly what you have a vision of.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4520728
Another die then

>>4520726
You have to admit that, Capturing our only friend (As far as Albeda knows) and turning them into a monster to kill us is pretty Albeda thing to do

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520728

>>4520713
>>4520724
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rg6CiPI6h2g

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4520732
Don't give her ideas.

Only we are allowed to turn our friends into monsters...

Keep rolling!

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4520745
I'm sorry! I keep getting this board's rules jumbled up!

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520745
To die, or not to die... that is the question.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4520745
>Concerned screaming intensifies

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4520745

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 2: Electric Boogaloo

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 3: Jakob's Retribution

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4520745
Just say "when" Wong

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 5: The Missing Four

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4520745

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 6: Revenge of the Dice Lords

>>4520745
More dice? Not a 1 this time?

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 7: The Cuthulu Chronicles

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4520745

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 8: Rydian Knights

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4520745
Another one

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 7: Who Ate Nine?

I'm sorry, it only just came to me.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4520745
Diddy diddy dice

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard 10: The Adsol Proclamation

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4520770
>>4520771
>>4520773
Triple 9's all in a row
Nice

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard: Absol Lute Shun

Again, I'm sorry.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4520745
Have we appeased your thirst for dice rolls yet Wong?

Alright, we're good!

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard: Absol Lute Panic

I swear I didn't run out of creativity, the puns just keep slipping into my mind.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4520745
Die Hard: Absol Lute Pain

Hits head with lute

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4520780
Oh, sorry about the last couple then. I was on a roll.

*smack*

>>4520783
I'll stop now.

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You gaze down into the divining bowl and let your mind go blank as you cast the spell, ripples spreading through the clear water. Beneath the water's surface you see flakes of white drifting by on the breeze, swirling in a howling wind, and see a sky lit by flashes of lightning in a sky pierced by the speartips of dark pines.

A young woman is staring accusingly down at a pair of children. Strangely well-muscled children, and as the vision grows closer to them, you can see that both of them have beards. Grown men? But they can't be more than...your estimation of their height abruptly changes as you realize the truth from the sound of her tread. The girl must be at least eight feet tall. Her proportions are perfectly normal, if probably quite fit beneath her armor, and that was something you didn't expect. If she is who you think she is, you assumed she would be a swollen thing, bulging with muscle that doesn't fit her frame. She wears her bangs long, and what you can see of her face looks quite serious, habitually downcast. A bright purple bow holds her hair back, an incongruously girly touch when the rest of her garb is plate armor. In her hand, she holds a strange sword, a blade four or so feet long, straight with parallel edges and a needle tip, its tang extending deep into a haft of polished ebony, another four feet long and capped with silver at the pommel. It has no guard, as plain and smooth in profile as a common spear, but something about the metal doesn't match the sheen of steel. Her breath puffs in jets of steam from between soft, unrouged lips.

[Continue]

>>4520812
Ono a giant cutie

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“Stop it.” Her voice is a low, sweet growl. The 'eye' of the vision swings around, to reveal that behind the two armed men is a carriage. At least, carriage is the first word that pops to mind. Really, it's more of a wagon, pulled by oxen, but like a carriage it has sides and a roof, armored and stylized to look like a testudo of tower shields, “I don't want to kill any more of my own people! Get out of my way!”

“A traitor's get is not one of our people, girl.” The older man spits into the snow, his cheeks red from the fury of the snowstorm.

“You can stop this yourself.” The younger man says with a sickly grin. His expression mixes terror and hate. “T-t-take your blade and...and draw it right across your bastard throat!”

She flinches as if struck, and in the flash of light from a nearby bolt of lightning, you see her face clearly, and the scars that crisscross it. Old, mean scars. “I don't care how much they hate me.” She whispers, bringing her blade up into a high stance overhead, “I don't care how many of them pray for me to die. I promised I'd live. I promised I'd protect my land. I won't let a monster like that have it.” Her gaze fixes on the carriage. Behind it, lightning strikes again, and a great pine tree bursts into flame, toppling slowly to the ground, the flames spreading down its trunk and smoke billowing from it.

“You dare call the goddess Frydda a monster?” The older man's voice is thick with loathing, “You may kill us, rapespawn, but you'll stand atop a mountain of corpses, the bodies of every man, woman, and child in this province.” He makes the word province sound like a curse, “Before you have peace. We will haunt you every day and every night of our rule. We have proof that the legends are true! No matter how many southern dogs you bring to reinforce you, you will NEVER truly rule here!” He laughs wildly.

[Continue]

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“W-w-we c-can hold you back l-l-long enough.” The younger man draws an axe from his belt, and gestures with his other hand. Fog seeps over the snow, mixed with smoke from the burning tree. The oxen lurch into motion, and you see despair wash over the girl's face.

Then there is a sound like a cleaver being brought down hard on a thick piece of meat, mixed with wood splintering. The younger man screams as a projectile like a great scythe of smokemass tears through the traces holding the oxen to rip at his flesh.

There is the sound of slow, amused clapping, and something emerges from the smoke rising up from the blazing pine, floating through the air to land on the ground. A man, clad entirely in black plate. Yet, it has a strange sheen, as if overlaid by a layer of smoky glass, accentuated by smoky spines at the joints and the billowing cape of smoke that flows from the figure's shoulders. Yet it is the helm that is the real horror. Sparks blaze and whirl, caught in the blazing eye in the center of the helm's face, while smokemass horns add to its villainous cast.

The figure wags one finger, “This is where I step in. Things have proceeded just as I planned, and now it's time to end this facade.” The smokemass cape flares wide as the sorcerer strides forward, power flowing into him with every step.

The vision ends...but not before you see one final glimpse of how brightly the figure's light is reflected in the girl's eyes.

[Continue]

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You blink, shaking your head. Well then, that...that tells you a few things. You admit, you had been wondering just how much you could do using your Smoke Armor to look the part of a properly intimidating lord, but visions aren't final, you could always change it.

Annoyingly, this vision doesn't tell you quite as much as you first thought. You knew why there was a rebellion, probably. You knew something was probably behind it. At least you know Lady Hannah, at least you assume she's Lady Hannah, is cute.

You casually do your weather divination, pouring water from your divining bowl across your elbow, “Sunny...with a major weather change later...” You note, and for a moment it doesn't register. Then your heart drops.

>[Oh fuck what do?]

>>4520879
Prepare. Wear your armor, cast some smoke armor, cast the flying spell, notify your guards and mages, prepare a trap for both beasts, put on your cloak... and try to practice your smoke magic.

Structure or form, whichever the lads decide.

>>4520887

Define prepare a trap?

>>4520879
Quick question. We did do some research into the chimera, right?

>>4520894

I don't think so, I don't know what there is to research. You didn't get a great view of it, but the central core of its body seemed to be between 2.5 and 3 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnsons in size, maybe a little more. So it's not dragon-sized, but it's bigger than you. Now, there are some weird creatures out there, but there is also explicitly a school of magic (albeit partially lost) that makes its bread on creating monsters by mixing two or more natural creatures together.

>>4520892
You know what I mean...

Where's Cailm?

>>4520897


Smoke cage inside of the trap door, and a smoke structure to prevent damage to our fath- my room. Needs two sturdy doors to lock it behind, one for trap door and one to escape the cage from. Maybe some spikes on the inside, to damage the monster and slow him down as he enters it (I'm positive Fluffy won't die from it).

For the other trap, prepare a mage ambush party for our... guests. Get a some divination magi nearby to pull some party tricks and tell us her future.

The attempt must be made, though we may decide to let her go anyway (or atleast let her think that).

>>4520897
I would also like to mention ofc that I'd be personally horrified if any harm would come to the books.

It's my one true addiction; books are to me as dice are to you, Wong.

>>4520897
Funnily enough, I can imagine use subtle building another cage uptop as well. Looking like we're trying to create a smoke structure before the storm befalls us, then when the creature comes... have smoke cover us in full, so the creature is blinded as we build the structure areound him. The trapdoor trap cage would be a backup plane if we failed. You thoughts on this mad plan, lads?

>>4520879
Definitely time to suit up and prep pur smoke armour and soar spells
Alert the Last Loyal and have yhe staff light all the fire places so we have smoke all over incase the ambush happens somewhere other than where it did in the vision

>>4520938
Fuck, my post was garbage here. I meant to say we can lay the groundwork of this ambitious trap while under the guise of practicing our smoke magic, then... well, atleast the rest of the post is semi-readable.

Alright, spent a bit of time rereading the vision we got.
Notes: This attacks us on the roof of the keep, when the sun is setting. There's weather magic that's used to knock out our brazier, we're using, then it strikes and the vision heads to somewhere else.
In addition, we are tired at the time, which suggests that we tired ourselves out earlier. We need to stay fresh, and not tire ourselves out before the afternoon.

>>4520965
So we shouldn't spend the entire morning Plowing Lil while thinking about Hanna
I mean reaming out Cailm for telling random bards he meets that we are a shut in that has no conversation skills

>>4520971
I knew I'd love the way you think, mate.

The enemy is clearly confident enough to attack us on the roof of our keep, while the monster scales the walls. This isn't really helpful, because we still don't have any timescale on if it's happening today, and we can come across as a paranoid idiot if we lock up every time it's sunny out. Minimum things we can do is tell the guards to post a few extra watchers around the walls, and keep the fires lit. (For smoke)

I'm reading through Minor Smoke Structure, and the best idea I've got is some sort of tiger-trap cage indoors, where we've got bars that we can slip through, but the beast can't. Bait it inside, slip through the bars, shut the far side shut with a sliding smoke plate, then the Loyal take it to pieces through the bars with crossbows or spears.
Problem is, the thing needs to be braced against something because the whole thing is feather-light, and it needs to be concealed, so indoors is the obvious choice. However, that's also probably gonna cause issues, because we'd need time to cut holes and things to make smoke "Bars" or whatever to brace it in place, and that would probably take time, along with putting holes in our nice stone keep.

For this to work, we'd also need a properly sized place in our castle, that's quickly accessible from the outside, and has a door large enough for a chimera to get through somewhat easily.
Probably spending a bit too much time overthinking this, also trying to find an image that fits what I'm thinking of.

>>4521033
No, I get what your thinking. We can create some smoke structures to brace it against the walls, floor, and ceiling. And I do believe that our trapdoor near the roof would be sufficient, given proper structural supports and a structure itself to work with (even if it is made of smoke).

If all else fails, we can just go back out onto the roof and kite the beast to death.

>>4521033
We could also use a layer of smoke to support and anchor some of the structure to the ceiling/roof of the castle, with some clasps or interlocking structures to connect multiple smoke structures securely (and considered how malleable smoke is in this setting, we could connect other independent smoke structures quite securely).

>>4521048
I don't like the idea of trying to kite it to death outside, because that opens us up to whoever else is outside trying to snipe us. Also we really do need to look into divination defense, because otherwise we're just wasting a lot of time with prep work that's going to waste, because Albeda and her allies will see it coming a mile away.
That being said, it's always better to move your enemy, rather than be moved by them, so if anyone has any more offensive ideas I'm all ears.

>>4521065
I feel the same way, mate. It's why we try to trap the creature trying to kill us, then we ambush the ambushes with whatever loyal mages we have on hand.

>>4521077
*Ambushers

>>4521033
Honestly, I like the way you think as well. Maybe you are overthinking it a bit, but so would Jakob in this situation, so you getting into the mindset of the character, which is alway good. We do need people who can analyze and think deeply in this thread (playing a character inspired by Lelouch and Kazuma accurately necessitates it), so I do welcome and appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

>>4521077
By the way, I want to capture Char.

Gotta catchem all, pok- err, magi?

Who knew a female Charazard would look so... exotic?

>>4520879
Ahhh... do we panic now?

>>4521184
It's always time to give into paranoia and panic

So assuming we don't die by the end of the day
Things to spend exp on
>Master die for Sorcery
An obvious choice
>Minor Lightning strikes bigger lethal sibling
Because having a bigger attack spell is always handy
>Smoke form
Because having the ability to turn into smoke and escape traps is handy
>Raise our Eerie skill
Because as is we only get 4 dice for it and being able to sense magical traps amd spells being cast is very important for our survival when our enemies are currently mostly mages and we know Albeda makes carved magical traps
>Assuming it's a skill or spell, some kind of divination protection
Also an obvious choice
>Upping our counter spell
Because again, we are fighting mages for alot of the Albeda rebellion.

Your thoughts guys?

>>4521313
I was also thinking we could dp some kind of mass announcement to our territory. Essentially pen a message to be sent and read out to all the towns and communities in the swamp addressing everyone as the new lord.
One that condemns the pentical or pentagram or whatever Albeda is calling her crew. One that also gives a sort of history lesson about our ancestor not becoming the ruler of the swamp because he was the mightiest but because he had won the true strength of the swamp, the support of its people.
Then combining it with a call to arms to summon people to bolster our troop numbers. This denying able bodies to Albeda, shoring up our numbers for when we go aid the Hanna and thirdly giving our troops more locals familiar with the outlying areas that Albeda is operating in for when we start stationing troops within the communities to combat her influences.
Should also potentially provide some bonuses to the company rolls end of month.

>>4521313
Agreed, though I am interested in seeing what the Exp Packages do.

Also some mechanics skills for siege weapons or crossbows, potentially a smithing skill for swords, dodge and healing for odvious reasons, enchanting, carving, etc.

But I'm becoming a greedy guts again. We need to establish a priority system so we know what to spend our exp on first. Obviously, magic takes priority. What do we choose to get first on our magic wishlist (we should really crack open those books lads).

>>4521330
Agreed again, though this will odviously come after Albeda's assassination attempt. We should also start a vicious rumor campaign against her as stated in >>4513119, among other great ideas we probably had in previous threads that subsequently forgot about.

Damn my goldfish-like memory...

>>4521313
>Weather Control
Is also an option I meant to put on that list, because being able to drop hail or flood your enemies camp and supply lines with torrential rain is a good skill for a military commander

>>4521365
A priority for our Northern campaign.

Well that's fucked, I closed my eyes while reading you guys debating traps and woke up six hours later.

>>4521375
Hope that doesn't mess up your sleep schedule too badly.
But it sounds like you needed some respite

>>4521375

>>4521378
+1, Wong. Don't worry about it mate.

>>4520879
I'm pretty onboard with the prep already suggested for armour spells and traps, but would like to point out that is critical that we appear to be going about our business like nothings wrong as to not tip of the enemy and cause changes to her plans. We could disguises our magic prep as showing of in front of the bard like she wanted us to.

Also kinda surprises the hail is natural if this is indeed the day, I kinda figured it would be magical in nature and thus not predictable, giving us a lot less time to prepare.

>>4520897
I'd been meaning to ask, the chimaera we saw, could it have been built with shadow monster magic or is OG brier lord magic the only way we would know of IC? I would like to ask Granny about it, even just to get some hints about it if it is shadow based.

I'm trying to figure out if we know if the Pentacle is capable of using the old magic and ended up making a pate bin of what we know of them so far. https://pastebin.com/Yu4wnRD3
The Pentacle

Sister Oath:
Real name:Albeda Absol
Known schools:Mirror, shadow, fire carving,,,
Goals:Become the ruler of the swamp. Instate magiocracy world wide?
Motivation: Sense of entitlement. Magic über alles. Earn papa Absols aproval?
Associates:Mirror images
Territory:?

Sister Char
Real name:?
Known schools:Fire dancing(presumeably,Attuned?)
Goals:?
Motivation:?
Associates:?
Territory:?

Brother Grey
Real name:none?
Known schools:UwU(attuned)
Goals:Follows the pack leader(presumed),
Motivation:Is a furry. Is possibly crazy due to magic turning him into his fursona. Establish might(magic) makes right.
Associates:The wolf pack, other furriers
Territory:Eastern border, Dampmeade

Brother Gloam
Real name:?, one of Granny's grandchildren
Known schools:Shadow binding(attuned)
Goals:Bring back dead family and friends with forbidden magic(can't be done, is too dangerous or price too high), legalize all magic.
Motivation:Grief, maybe delusions of grandeur.
Associates:Some shadowbinders
Territory:to the south, Either well or tower ruin

Sister Shell
Real name:?
Known schools:?
Goals:?
Motivation:?
Associates: ?
Territory:?

Sister Oath:
Real name:Albeda Absol
Known schools:Mirror, shadow, fire carving,,,
Goals:Become the ruler of the swamp. Instate magiocracy world wide?
Motivation: Sense of entitlement. Magic über alles. Earn papa Absols approval?
Associates:Mirror images
Territory:?

Sister Char
Real name:?
Known schools:Fire dancing(presumably,Attuned?)
Goals:?
Motivation:?
Associates:?
Territory:?

Brother Grey
Real name:none?
Known schools:UwU(attuned)
Goals:Follows the pack leader(presumed),
Motivation:Is a furry. Is possibly crazy due to magic turning him into his fursona. Establish might(magic) makes right.
Associates:The wolf pack, other furriers
Territory:Eastern border, Dampmeade

Brother Gloam
Real name:?, one of Granny's grandchildren
Known schools:Shadow binding(attuned)
Goals:Bring back dead family and friends with forbidden magic(can't be done, is too dangerous or price too high), legalize all magic.
Motivation:Grief, maybe delusions of grandeur.
Associates:Some shadowbinders
Territory:to the south, Either well or tower ruin

Sister Shell
Real name:?
Known schools:?
Goals:?
Motivation:?
Associates: ?
Territory:?
Please tell me if i left anything out

>>4521536
I think we know a bit more about grey. He was some ancient evil that our father beat, and was thought dead.

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>>4520879
For an actual plan of what to do:
>setup the smoke cage trap indoors, get practice with smoke structure in.
>Research Divination defense
Still priority #1 to stop us getting any of our plans busted
>Notify the Last Loyal, and set up some extra rotating watches on some walls
>Cast Smoke Armor, at least

What if the Chimera that's coming after us is actually Brother Grey himself?
'A sorceror who has forsaken humanity for beasthood'?

>>4521536
>Associates:Mirror images

Kek.

Grey is old, powerful, probably insane.

Also I believe the chimera was Sister Char's, do to the conversation we had. The question is whether it is magical or just... tamed.

>>4521579
That... you might have a point there.

We have a literal insane magi as a pet. Fluffy, no!

Don't forget casting Soar as well. I'd like to keep all of our options open. And atleast subtlety alert the mages, we should atleast make the attempt of trapping them.

>>4521536

I'm pretty sure when Wong was talking about the Flame Dancing school in the last thread, he mentioned that they used to be prominent in the Absol Swamps, but were pretty much driven out when the Thorn-Dwellers gave up the ghost. Motivation for Sister Char could be trying to regain a foothold in the Swamp, to probably build a base for future power struggles. After all, we are basically the go-to province for Smoke Sculpters, and they compliment the Flame Dancer's art like a house on fire.

>>4521786

They were actually driven out a long while afterward. They were very prominent, but they kind of became TOO prominent, got cocky, and did a Bad Thing. It's not talked about, but it was bad enough to lose them any Absol protection, effectively get them declared outlaw, and saw every other sorcerous tribe in the swamp gunning for them.

>>4521804

Ah, my mistake then. Either way, it's probably safe to assume that Sister Char's motivations will be to either re-establish a Flame Dancer foothold in the Swamps, or revenge on the swamp dwellers. If Albeda does come into control and re-instates (Magical) Might is Right rule, they could come storming back in and have Albeda squash any potential backlash to the Flame Dancers returning with her cabal and followers, in addition to the resources of the province as well.

>>4521536
Seeing as their names seem to correlate with whatever magic schools the member represent does anybody have any idea what sister Shell might be
Char=fire
Grey=wolves
Gloam=shadow
Oath=binds them together, unless she literality knows a school of contract magic.
Shell=Maybe smoke as in building defensive structures, some kind of water magic, ???

>>4521857
Water. A diviner probably. Shell to hold the water.

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So let me see if I have this right. You want to use Minor Smoke Structure to construct a trap. The roof is pretty large, considering that it's the entire flat top of Castle Briarfast's keep, and just given the sight lines involved it would be possible to hide a lot up there.

Now the general consensus seemed to be something akin to a tiger trap, using the trapdoor to the roof as a hole. There are some problems with this, but they aren't insurmountable. For one, there is a spiral staircase immediately under the trapdoor, leading up there. I specified it was metal, I believe. The door to the roof itself is fairly large, because it's not like a little fold-up or fold-down one, it's more like a wheel on a swivel with one big chunk removed set over a hole in the roof, so you spin it until the hole is over the steps and then just walk out. More dignified than the Lord Absol risking a thump on the head or having to scramble through a hole. Now, because I figure Jakob is actually seeing the area he has to work with I figure I could present a few modifications to your plan...

>>4521868
I think Wong passed out again. Well, whenever he gets back, I’d be interested on what we know about scrying and divination. What’s the most common spells, do would writing down instructions and passing them off be a more secure communication than giving orders in person? For that matter, what can advanced diviners get up to? I’m hoping it’s not 24/7 eye over your shoulder, but who should we be consulting on this, or would we just know it from our own prior experience with clearwater oracle and that line of spells?
If we can start pinning down the magical capabilities of the the leaders, we can prepare all the better. Whether that takes the form of researching in our library of the various schools, or calling up our archmages and getting some tutoring while questioning about their schools of magic, it would be something good.
Probably sometime later, tho.

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Now as you can see here, creating a slick sheet of smokemass is entirely doable with the quick version of this spell. Using the slow version allows for considerably more modification and utility. Thus, cover the entire area in smokemass glass. This includes the stairs down. As the rooftop is surrounded by battlements, as is right and proper in a castle, using the slow version of the spell you could angle this ice sheet down in all directions towards the hole in the floor, a bit like an antlion's den. If it falls in, it will have to make some difficult rolls to stand or move...but it would probably end up rolling down the stairs (possibly damaging them in the process), and be loose inside the castle.

To remedy this, a second casting of Minor Smoke Structure could create floor-to-ceiling smokematter bars in the space around the staircase, effectively caging it. The problem of creating a lid for the trap, I leave up to you. Commence rolling dice. For simplicity's sake, each of you roll 8d10 instead of the usual 1d10. I'll take the first five results. MSS, MSS, Smoke Armor, Words of Lesser Attunement, Soar.

>>4521928

No, I had to double and triple check everything.

The most common Aqueous Divination spell is Weather Wisdom. Advanced diviners can do things like give themselves a MD on Lie, Fascinate, and Tactics rolls, but beyond that it's mostly bigger and more detailed visions, rather than the glimpses you've seen.

>>4521933

Rolled 7, 9, 6, 1, 4, 3, 4, 10 = 44 (8d10)

>>4521933

First into the fray then.

Rolled 10, 9, 7, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10 = 54 (8d10)

>>4521933
truly, I am bad at dice rolling

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4521933
Sounds good to me
Have my dice good sir

Rolled 1, 1, 6, 7, 3, 7, 6, 5 = 36 (8d10)

>>4521933
I rolled the wrong dice set oops

Rolled 1, 8, 4, 5, 1, 7, 2, 2 = 30 (8d10)

>>4521933
And have another since you said you needed 5 sets

>>4521947
Oh wow, I rolled poorly here

Rolled 4, 4, 4, 7, 4, 3, 2, 5 = 33 (8d10)

>>4521933
I don't want to wait to have the final set
Please be decent

Rolled 1, 1, 7, 6, 8, 3, 9, 5 = 40 (8d10)

>>4521933
I'll doubleup on the roll if it's needed

>>4521933

Rolled 5, 6, 3, 8, 10, 3, 5, 9 = 49 (8d10)

>>4521957

>>4521933
Could we start creating the smoke lid for the trap in the fire pit, the finish with our censor smoke when the beast falls in?

>>4521974
A smoke lid to slide over the opening, and some latches connected to the structure to seal it. Then we'll let Cailm deal with the beast.

I'll grab the popcorn.

>>4521933
A quick question. What happens to biomass if the magic smoke solidified around it?

>>4521980
>Then we'll let Cailm deal with the beast.

We don't need Half breed Chimeras babies running around everywhere

>>4521937

Fail.

>>4521938

Pass. MSS 1 goes up, lasting for 10 days (presumably this is the smoke bars)

>>4521941

Pass. For seven days, you'll have the glassy covering on the roof and staircase.

>>4521947

Fail. Words of Lesser Attunement not cast.

>>4521955

Pass. Words of Lesser Attunement successfully cast.

>>4521956

Fail, Soar not cast.

>>4521958

Success, Soar cast.

You still need a set of 5 or better for Smoke Armor. This is probably the only time you haven't rolled well ever, but then again, you're casting big boy magic now.

Rolled 9, 1, 5, 4, 1, 4, 10, 4 = 38 (8d10)

>>4521997

Well, may as well try and redeem my failure from earlier.

Rolled 1, 7, 5, 6, 5, 7, 10, 5 = 46 (8d10)

>>4521997
Yup, this is why that Master die is so tempting
Do you want more sets or are we just out of time and luck for smoke armour?

>>4521982

It would imprison them, but given how light and soft the smoke is they would have plenty of time to get out unless otherwise restrained or drugged into a stupor. As it starts to congeal, thrashing around would clear significant space, after all.

>>4522005

Fail.

>>4522008

Pass, seven hours of Smoke Armor.

I was keeping track and you were two rolls away from not having Smoke Armor cast in time.

>>4522013
*heart attack averted*

>>4522013
Haha hopefully we haven't just exhausted ourselves then
>Almost didn't get our new trump card spell successfully cast for its debut
Man wouldn't that have been painfully embarrassing

>>4522008

Also, looking at some spell intensities, if we get a MD, we can cast Smoke Arrow pretty much whenever, since it's Intensity 1, and a MD will give us any set. We'd mainly be rolling for location and damage, and we can focus on choices we want with the MD too.

>>4522025
That's some good incentive
Especially since it's not countered by Countermagic

>>4522025
So MD first. What's next then for exp. trade?

Alright, gonna dash for a bit.

>>4522042
oh no!

>>4522042
No problem. Hope you have a nice time atleast.

Crazy idea Sister Shell is Petrine.

She obviously had the hots for our dad, must have been pissed when our mom won. Her letter was sealed with a literal wax shell... That letter was addressed to our dad not us like she didn't know he was dead, which seems suspicious considering every other lord/lady knew and she was presumably a lot closer to our family than they were. She is pissed he up and died before she could get him to re-marry her.

>>4522861
Based interpretation. Absol-lutely love it.

Probably not true, but why spoil the fun?

>>4522868
it's true.
i have spoken.

>>4522042
Don't worry lads. He just went to get a pack of cigarettes at the gas station.

>>4523622
Oh thank Jove, for a Second I thought Wong went to get Milk

>>4522048

It was a minor family emergency on the eve of a relative's wedding. Essentially, my suit didn't fit, my measurements were somehow lost to the void, and I had to run out and have everything redone.

>>4523643
Want to borrow my Kilt?
It has a matching shoulder cape

>>4523643
Hope you got it sorted then. Best wishes to you and the happy couple!

>>4523643
Sounds like the start of a cheesy romcom lol

>>4523650
>>4524462
Well lads, let's see what other shenanigans we can get into. Any ideas?

>>4526288
Finding a giant swamp lizard we can use as a mount
Aquiring Some kind of firey familiar

>>4526300
I second the idea of some sort of fire mount. Provides easy access to smoke, carries our stuff.
Only problem is that we are probably more mobile than it with our own fly. Maybe if we had it carry a brazier everywhere, who needs smoke censer when we have a smoke provider?

>>4526300
>>4526327
Well, I got another mad idea that goes along with these two ideas. It invokes the Ryd's dragon...

:^)

>>4526288
well i always wanted our armor to look more intimidating by making it look like it's alive. kinda like the venom symbiote

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>>4526330
I was thinking something more along the lines of this, but you know what they say, go big or go home.....

>>4526330
>mad idea that goes along with these two ideas. It invokes the Ryd's dragon...
No Bad Cailm

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>>4526353
GO BIG OR GO HOME

>>4526361
>>4526353
And then we give it smoke armour and make it look even more terrifying

>>4526343
>>4526353
>>4526364
>didn't know all the lads here were based

This thread is truely blessed with it's anons.

Everything was fine in the end. The wedding went great. It's a bit late to run tonight and tomorrow I have things going on after work, so we'll shoot for Tuesday.

>>4526391
See ya Wednesday then!
Same thread?

>>4526395
>Wednesday
Wow me
Tuesday*

>>4526391
Great to hear I'm looking forward to getting back to it on thursday.

>>4526391
Good to hear. The anticipation is slowly killing me. See you then!

>>4526364
"this is easier than i thought" you said loudly as you block a sword strike with your shield and instinctively thrust your sword to the man's stomach. "i told you these southerners are nothing but boys!" your comrade guffaws as he easily blocks and cleaved a man nearly in half.

just as the enemy army was at a breaking point you smell it. "what is that?" your shirtless comrade inquires "smells like dried medicine herbs" you answered. then you noticed the enemies before you wore a different kind of fear they showed earlier when you were beating them back. a thick fog suddenly blankets the battlefield, your quite used to fighting in coldsnaps but this fog feels different. "what the fuck is our ice mages doing, we can't fight properly in this fog!" "i don-" just before you can finish your sentence you feel the snowy ground rumble and hear loud hisses coming from your left. as you turn your head to the source all you see is a massive mouth with rows of sharp jagged teeth.

>>4526452

Unrelated, but based on my experiences with running Reign normally there is a bizarre and interesting dynamic with how much armor you wear that Jakob neatly sidesteps by virtue of being a sorcerer.

>>4526587

...and it involves shields and how they work.

>>4526587
>>4526588
...come on! You can't leave me hanging like that!

Well, you can, but I'll... just... eh.

I'll just go sulk into a corner.

>>4526609

Well, to put it simply...

There are two skills used to avoid being hit, Dodge and Parry. For Parry, you need to have a shield, a weapon, an armored forearm, or an esoteric technique that lets you block unarmed. Parry is also used with Body while Dodge is used with Coordination. Coordination is the godstat for most warriors, because they'll want esoteric techniques for their favorite weapon and those are all used with Weapon (which uses Coordination) instead of Fight. Parry, however, can be used to shield OTHER PEOPLE, while Dodge only lets you avoid attacks.

So how does this fit into shields and armor choice? Why use a shield if you can parry with your greatsword or if you prefer Dodge? Well, a good shield is effectively AR 3 for the arm it's worn on as well as one location of your choice selected each turn.

Now in my experience, in every Reign game I've run, there is always one person who plays a sword autist, using Path of the Razor Heart (an esoteric skill set for Coordination+Weapon: Sword) and Golden Monkey (an esoteric skill set for Coordination+Dodge). Because they want to use the skills that wearing plate armor penalizes, and they can't just magic their way around it like Jakob, they all independently have gone for a similar setup using mostly chain armor with just enough locations covered by leather to stay in the Medium category rather than Heavy. The rules for that are complicated, and we won't bother getting into them because Jakob doesn't lose much by just hard committing to plate armor as long as he avoids falling into deep water or trying to run a marathon. I believe if you really wanted to two-hand there are some Advantages that compensate for this but there is a fair amount of merit in wearing less armor on your limbs and using a shield to compensate.

>>4527006
>avoids falling into deep water or trying to run a marathon

B-but Jakob loves both of those things. How could we do this to him?

You can tell how much love is there from his Body and Coordination stats...

Important question. Since your plan effectively traps anyone who can't fly on the roof until the chimera has been pacified and you can dismiss the smoke, did you bring the Last Loyal to the rooftop with you, or leave them in the library below outside the smoke bars?

>>4528401
In the library. I could go on and say that they would be trapped, or that if one of them fails a roll, he'll slide into the chimera's cage, or that fighting on a smoke-glass surface would turn this into a weird form of hockey (don't want to delve into how awesome that would be at the moment. It mostly comes down to the interpretation that we were alone on the roof when we decided to practice our smoke magic, when the Fire Nat- ahem, the Pentagram attacked.

>>4528401
Mostly in the library, with some sort of whistle or signal to alert them, and then a different signal to run outside so we can bail off the roof and get their assistance in case of emergency.

Keeping them on the room would alert our ambushers that something is wrong

>>4528429
Keeping them on the roof* would alert ambushers
I'm a guy who can't write

>>4528421
If anything, some should potentially be put into the ambush party, because we'll be dealing with the mages after we dealt with the chimera.

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With trepidation in your heart, you put into action plans you made some time ago. There are a number of factors to be considered, and you have spent long, sleepless nights considering them. You call together the Last Loyal and those sorcerers you have on hand who you trust absolutely, and you issue orders, before making your way to the roof.

MEANWHILE. The gates to Castle Briarfast stand open, as they do in times of peace. This is the way of things, closing them would lend credence to Albeda's claims that you fear her, and besides, you need them to take the bait. After all, you know as well as anyone that nothing that doesn't fly is getting over the Briarfast Wall, those thorns would tear it apart. As they are wont to do, wagons rumble back and forth across the boardwalk, ferrying supplies and passengers to and from the castle. This particular wagon is like any other, drawn by donkeys and laden with big barrels of rice wine. The guards on duty only stop it briefly at the gates, asking the usual questions about the cargo and where it's from. One of the guards starts thumping the barrels with the butt of his billhook, and suggests putting a tap in, before the other guard scolds him for trying to drink on duty and waves the wagon into the castle town. Once it's inside, the guards share a nod. That could easily have been the one they were waiting for.

The woman driving the wagon lets out a deep, shaky breath and mutters a prayer to the gods of the swamp once she's out of sight. If the guard had thumped the barrel at the center of the pile, he would have heard a much more hollow sound, and despite seeing how much poppy-liquor they had poured down the maw of the thing in the barrel before loading it she has a wolf's distrust for unnatural beasts and if it had awakened...she doubts she could have gotten a spell off before it dismembered her. She parks the wagon where directed, leans back, and pulls her wide-brimmed straw hat down over her face.

[Continue]

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“Poor kid.” She remarks. Sister Oath is meticulous, and it was long before Lord Arnveis' passing that she procured the beast. Someday, a vicious killing machine almost as clever as a man would be a useful asset to her, and the fact that she's expending it to take out a rival so decisively shows how seriously she's taking this feud. “I wish it didn't have to be this way.” She shakes her head, crossing her arms and hopping down from the wagon, stabling her mules and quietly thanking them for not spooking at the smell of her cargo. She may have been born a farmer's daughter, but she has a wolf's heart. The right way to do it, the proper way, would have been to meet the boy lord in open combat, where he could have died with honor at the hands of the pack. He deserved that much, for returning one of their own.

One of the mules whickers, and she turns, hearing the sound of something disturbing the hay in the loft. She smirks, “Ah, some greedy snake, nesting in the rafters? Are you after the chickens in the marketplace perhaps, or some girl's rabbit hutch? Tsk tsk, away with you!” She laughs. Well, all things follow a natural cycle. Predators eat prey. Sister Oath is the predator, and the boy lord is the prey, and when she has supped, the Ragged Elder will have what he wants and the entire pack will benefit. There is no shame in scavenging, after all. She walks out, full of resolve and confidence, unaware of the eyes watching from the shadows.

Behind her, in the barrel, something awful stirs, and if one listens just closely enough, one can hear the sound of razor-sharp claws scoring the wood.

[Continue]

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MEANWHILE. You've picked the biggest, most oversized cloak you could find, and underneath it you're wearing your plate armor. You leave your helmet off for now, you weren't wearing it in your vision. You know the approximate time of day that the chimera will attack you (as the shadows lengthen with the onset of night) but it takes time to get everything in place, and right now time is a precious resource. Your stomach is doing cartwheels far too rapidly for you to eat anything, and it takes every ounce of willpower to keep your expression cool. Reacting in the moment is one thing, but you know that something monstrous, something unnatural, something you know nothing about is going to stalk you and attempt to devour you. It is fate. The question is, can you cheat it, and even abide by the spirit of the vision enough to take advantage of it?

Atop the roof is a grand ceremonial brazier, the same one from your vision. Its primary use is signalling the nearby villages, but a brazier is a brazier, and you load it up with oil, sage, and green branches before casting a torch in. The oil ignites, and with arms wide, you begin casting. You'll show Albeda that you, too, are a real sorcerer!

...In theory. The currents of magic you seek to tap are deeper and more wild than any you have touched before, and they flow swift and deep. You may have mastery over small magics, but these are the works that separate true sorcerers from dabblers. Your fingers dance through the rising column of smoke, weaving it like a rope, directing it into the form you planned so assiduously, spreading it out into a carefully defined shape...

[Continue]

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...Which wavers and breaks apart, leaving you panting and gasping as the smoke resumes behaving like natural smoke and rising upward in a disappointingly non-solid puff. You hadn't anticipated this, and it feels as though a sudden hole is yawning wide in your stomach. What if you can't do it? What if you aren't destined to do it? What if Albeda is right, and you really are just a fumbling child? You grit your teeth and try again, slowly. Painstakingly. Gradually the smoke solidifies above the flame and bends down towards you like a rope deforming under its own weight, spreading out across the rooftop.

You make your way to the spiral staircase down, and hunker at its edge so you can see your work. Slowly, painstakingly, you begin to weave pillars from the floor to the ceiling surrounding the staircase, set too closely for a human to squeeze between them. It takes effort, your hands are shaking from the concentration needed, you're not practiced enough for this to be instinctual and so it takes real effort to weave the smoke. Still, you know the shape, you worked it out nigh perfectly. One by one you weave the braided pillars of what looks like smoky glass, until an area with a roughly twenty-foot diameter around the staircase has been thoroughly caged off. The realization that you're now effectively trapped on the roof sends a frisson of fear up your spine, but you are a sorcerer. You can fly. This is fine. Strips of smoke flow from the bottoms of the pillars and wind like vines up the staircase, turning the steps into a slick, glossy ramp as smooth as glass. You don't even allow yourself a moment of satisfaction, you know that you don't have this down pat and you're relying on sheer bloody luck. Still, you do your best, and you do it again.

You carefully leave a space around the brazier itself clear and flow the smoke across the ground. Slick as a sheet of ice with a thin layer of moisture on top, the smoke covers the rooftop aside from the space you laid out. You swing your arm in a circle, and more smoke follows your gesture, starting at the battlemented edge of the roof and winding slowly inward, deepening the smoke at the edges, making the sheet angle down like an antlion's pit towards the spiral staircase near the middle. Finally, the smokemass flows over the hole itself, thinner than a hair and as fragile as you can make it, webbed through with nearly invisible cracks, a cover that would shatter and break if a child trod on it. Step one complete, you pant for breath, your head swimming a bit from the exertion, but you aren't done.

[Continue]

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You go to speak the words that will attune you to the magics of lightning and wind, but your mouth is dry, and you cough too hard for the spell to work. You take a swig from your water pitcher, and try again, and this time it works. To your extreme consternation, as this is a spell you're well familiar with and can normally cast without problems, you fumble your casting of the spell that will grant you flight, and have to painstakingly repeat the process. Fear and frustration clouding your mind, you turn to the other spell you've mastered...and a chill goes down your spine as you note the position of the sun. Briefly, you envy invertebrates, not cursed with such shivers.

Again, you fail, the smoke you draw around you forming a cloud that slowly bleeds off and blows away. The shadows are lengthening, the sun slowly descending towards the west. The spell is one that lasts a long time, but it is not easy to cast, it takes time, several minutes. You force yourself not to rush, just take it slowly, weave the smoke. It isn't as impressive looking as it could be with some confidence, but you layer the smoke over your existing armor, a thin layer of unbreakable smoky glass that extrudes into slender backwards-jutting spines at the joints.

[Continue]

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You've scarcely finished, and have just had time to cast a few Minor Smoke Forms to get your confidence back, when abruptly the wind changes. Clouds surge in from the east, and despite your foreknowledge you jerk in surprise when a large hailstone cracks against your shoulder, spraying you with shards of ice. More and more little balls of ice fall from the sky, if you weren't in armor this would be potentially bruising. The fire in the brazier has gone down considerably with time and the fact that your spellcasting has used up much of its fuel, and it sizzles in impotent discontent as the hailstones land in it and melt, producing a bit more smoke but gradually killing the flame bit by bit. You grab your censer, already loaded with herbs, and swing it through the little fire that remains in the brazier to ignite it.

The sun is beginning its descent towards the western horizon, and the shadows lengthening. That strange sense of deja vu you get when a vision comes true settles over you, that surreal feeling some diviners call being caught in the current. You hear screams from below, and a strange sound. Like pitons being hammered into rock, but irregularly and all at once, mixed with a wet, sloppy noise and an eerie low hooting. Almost immediately, something huge flings itself over the battlements and you see a drooling maw filled with long fangs before it lands in a crouch on the battlements themselves, poised to spring.

It is an abomination.


[Continue]

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>>4529105
HERE WE GO LADS

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You recognize it immediately. Ghuls, massive gorilla-sized cousins to the baboon and mandrill, are less a problem in the swamp than they are in the Schwaltzwood, but you've still seen pictures of the giant grey monkeys with their canine snouts and their finger-long claws. Only this one is wrong, and the how of it is immediately apparent. The torso and head are indeed those of a ghul, a massive alpha ghul, but everything else about it is wrong. For one thing, its color. Rather than being a dull grey, its flesh and thin fur are almost transparent white, and you can see glowing blue and green dots speckled all over it like some strange creature of the deep. They pulse rhythmically in time with its heartbeat. For another, its throat is distended, bulging, with two massive glands or sacks prominently displayed. For a third, its jaw is overmuscled even for a ghul, creatures known for being able to crunch bone and suck out the marrow of livestock, and its fangs are as long as the backspike on a warhammer and appear just as potent. None of that, though, compares to the true horror of it. Each of its limbs, and even its ropey tail, has been replaced by a mass of cephalopod tentacles, and those tentacles are lined with suckers. Those suckers are lined with sharp teeth, and each with one big, jagged bony hook. It seems to have no problem twining its tentacles together like a rope for more support and crouching on them like a monkey's normal limbs, and those clawed suckers probably help it climb even more effectively as well as giving it a lethal set of sharp weapons.

Thankfully, you were expecting it, and as horrified as you are you take to the air and clamp your helmet on. Your vision has come true, everything from this point on is unknown.

>[Cast Smoke Arrow]
>[Cast Words of Lesser Attunement in preparation for a Minor Lightning Stroke]
>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]
>[Do something else]

>>4529129
>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]

Let's do this!

>>4529129
>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]

Deep breaths Jacob
DEEP, CALM, BREATHS

Rolled 1, 4, 1, 3, 10, 9 = 28 (6d10)

The Chimera is entitled to a Sense+Sight roll...

>>4529129
>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]

We can do this!

>>4529129

>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]

Show some spine, and trust in your sorcery. If shit hits the fan, Soar above it and launch Smoke Arrows until it's dead. Got a feeling those tentacles are going to help it avoid slipping into the smoke cage by gripping like a motherfucker.

>>4529143
It's why we covered it with smoke glass man.

>>4529129
Consulting our spell list....we're gonna need something a bit more deadly than a needle to stun it, so smoke arrow is out for now.
Signal the Loyal to stand ready below with whatever signal you prepared, then:
>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]

>>4529129
>[Trust your trap and spend the next few rounds casting Minor Smoke Structure, the quick version, in anticipation of making a lid over your chimera trap once it falls in]
IT'S TIME

>>4529149

Smoke Arrow does Width in Killing damage man. It completely bypasses Shock boxes, and goes straight to knocking boxes off the area hit. It's also Intensity 1, so any set triggers it. The only thing that'll make it not work so good is if the Chimera has enough Dodge or Parry to deal with it. A Wide enough/High enough set will deal with that combat autism though if we get some good rolls. Really could have used that MD to get better sets though.

Rolled 5, 5, 2, 6, 1, 2, 10, 5 = 36 (8d10)

Round 2...let's see here.

>>4529157

Man that 3x5 would be so useful if I hadn't decided the DC for running on a glass ramp and not falling down was 6.

>>4529154
Alright....sorry, I’m not the best with the mechanics of the spells here.

Rolled 6, 6, 4, 1, 7, 10, 4, 8 = 46 (8d10)

>>4529161
I believe it worked. The way I understand it, sets are good. The width of a spell determines its speed, whiile the high is its power/accuracy. To the best of my knowledge atleast, as I'm unfamiliar with the system as well.

>>4529161

S'all good man. It's a pretty simple spell, and it seemed underpowered until Wong explained it more in depth in earlier threads. It'sone of those things where it seems a bit naff until you exercise some creativity. A real fast (Wide) one does a lot of deadly damage, and speeds into them fast enough that they can't do shit without the powers of sword and dodge autism to save them.

>>4529159

>Narrowly avoid having the Chimera wriggle up to fight us with a decent set by being one short in Height.

Well, Jakob seems to have better luck trapping than hunting at any rate.

>>4529166

Yeah. The way it was described for our two attacking spells (Smoke Arrow and Minor Lightning Stroke), Width of the Set indicates damage (W Killing for SA, and W+3 Shock for MLS), with Height deciding location. The 3x10 we got with the lupomancer did 6 Shock to the Head, knocking him the fuck out since he only had 5 boxes in that location. Lightning Stroke does a lot of Stunning damage that needs to be Counter-spelled, while Smoke Arrow does a fair amount of Killing while only being avoided by Dodge or Parry. Each has it's own benefits, but Smoke Arrow has a better chance of being killing or disabling, while Lightning Stroke fills boxes up like a motherfucker while being harder to avoid.

>>4529162
>2x6
This could be bad.
I can't tell yet.

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The chimera hoots aggressively at you, pounds its chest with its tentacles, and charges...only to slip and fall face-first, its chin crunching against the glass as it slides towards you in a heap. Still, it whips its head up, and as its throat puffs up into two distinct sacks, you remember where you've seen that before.

It looks just like a big frog. Or a chameleon.

Its tongue whips out at you where you hover in the air, long as a grappling hook, and hits your right arm like a big, sticky cannonball. Its amorphous tip, covered in gluey mucus, clings to your elbow. You see a boney stinger emerging from the tip of its tongue, but it seems like it decided to grab you rather than just hit you with the tongue.

Mechanically, you have been Restrained. The Chimera will have to keep making Body+Fight rolls to keep ahold of you each round, and whatever its last set is when you finish casting, it can use that as gobble dice against whatever you're trying to do.

>[Drop Smoke Armor, which it's gripping, to instantly get free]
>[Keep casting, next round you'll be able to make your spell roll]
>[Cast something else and risk the 2x6 gobble dice ruining your roll]

>>4529172
>Lightning Stroke fills boxes up like a motherfucker while being harder to avoid.

Unlimited! Power!

>>4529172

Four boxes. You have five because of an Advantage you have.

>>4529174
>[Keep casting, next round you'll be able to make your spell roll]

>>4529174
>[Keep casting, next round you'll be able to make your spell roll]

Finish casting the lid, then drop the armor. Bonus if we use it's tongue to help it into the trap.

>>4529174

>[Keep casting, next round you'll be able to make your spell roll]

Since we are now connected, is the pulling power of fly enough to act like we are randomly fleeing while pulling the chimera to the trapdoor? Also is this something that can be managed while casting or it is an additional action that eats dice?

>>4529172

Also, forgot to add in, We should use Smoke Arrow versus Sorcerors, since they usually have high counterspell with shittier Dodge and Parry, and Lightning Stroke versus Sword Autists, since they might not have as good Counterspell, and generally have high Dodge and Parry. Against high Counterspelling Sword Autists or really nimble Sorcerors, we're kinda more up the creek, relying on high sets to force our way through it.

>>4529174

>[Keep casting, next round you'll be able to make your spell roll]

It's more important that we get this asshole trapped before he climbs up and tries to disembowel us. We've got two layers of platemail it has to punch through before it starts hurting us, and only the one tongue. If we drop the armour, it can try again, and possibly hit our unarmoured head.

>>4529176

Whoops, forgot that we had that advantage.

>>4529174

For the record, it is right on the edge of the trap zone. It will keep making Body+Fight rolls, but it has to combine them with Coordination+Athletics to avoid sliding further, and if it fucks up just once it goes down the hole. If your spell goes off...well, we talked about what happens when that transpires, didn't we?

>>4529175

That's Minor Lightning Stroke, too. Attuned Wings of Words Sorcerers lose a lot of versatility, but the big boy Lightning Stroke (I don't actually like Major Lightning Stroke, I think it's a DPS loss because it's slow) is obscene. Width killing, and all waste dice (dice not part of a set) do 1 Killing to the location they represent.

>>4529174
>[Keep casting, next round you'll be able to make your spell roll]

Drag it towards the hole, then we can drop smoke armor to make it fall in? Depends on how stronk our fly is.

>>4529182
Or we shock the tongue while it's attached to us, forcing it to retract.

>>4529179

I agree that we should drop the armor before we are pulled into the trap ourselves ourselves if it comes to that.

Rolled 6, 7, 2, 8, 3, 4, 7 = 37 (7d10)

Round 4. START ROLLING DICE!

>>4529182

You put your helmet on when you took off, don't worry.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4529187
Now we're talking dice!

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4529187
O please

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>4529187
DICEEEEEEE

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4529187
We are the flying magetank. But is it enough?

>>4529187

Interesting. Only one success. This means that it cannot both hold you and avoid falling into the pit.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4529185

That sounds like something we should go for after we seal the trap, or if we shit the bed casting next round.

>>4529183

>Lightning Stroke does big damage all over.

I kinda hope so, since I'm pretty sure it's an Intensity 6 spell.

>>4529187

Noice. Do we also have Wings of Words cast again, or do we need to do that before another Minor Lightning Stroke?

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4529187
Dice for the Dice Lord!

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4529187
DICE FOR WONG AND HIS DIE ADDICTION!

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
Time for the die-ing blow!

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4529187

More for the Heap!

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4529187
Dice dice dice

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4529187
Freedom or die!

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
Just keep stacking?

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4529187
Beware the Dice Lords!

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4529187

More?

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4529187
Those who are dead may never Die in legend!

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4529187

>>4529203

May as well. Probably factoring in Sorcery dice as well as dice to avoid being pulled into the trap with it.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4529187
Welcome to the Dice addiction bois!

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4529187
Never enough dice

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4529187
Die-ing was never an option!

Rolled 7 (1d10)

Holy shit I hate recaptcha
I mean, uh, dice!

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4529187

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Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4529187

May as well re-use a pic I did up for last thread while thinking up a new one.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4529187
To Die is to Serve!

>>4529217
>>4529187
It blessed your roll

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4529187
I think I’m underestimating the amount of dice needed for this to function

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529220
Forgot my roll

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
Is tie-die-ing an option?

>>4529190
>>4529195

IT'S HAPPENING.

>>4529195

You would need to do that again.

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Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4529187

>Artist's depiction of foreign entities making fatal mistakes in the Absol Swamp.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
All according to plan!

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4529187
We need a squid trap meme here stat!

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>4529232
>>4529187
All the more reason to invest in the plant magic school

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4529187
Dice bois!

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4529187
Rollin, rollin, rollin, gotta keep on rollin

>>4529187
I curse thy to thy die-ing breath!

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4529187
To die or not to die, that is the question.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>4529232
Roll till ya drop I guess

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
So, we past the point of die-ing?

And by this I mean rolling.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4529187
Is 35+ die rolls enough?

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
*knock knock*This is the Police! Open up! We know you have dice in ther-

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4529187
If the QM is silent....
Although maybe next time put roughly how many rolls we need?

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>4529187
Time to fly or die, friend!

>>4529266

I really should've. You're well over the 8d that composes Jakob's casting pool.

>>4529273
Well, if we need more die for rolling, can you use the remainder, or do we have to roll them all again?

>>4529273
What you didn't want 32ish extra rolls beyond what was needed?

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You're down to one hand, but that doesn't matter. This thing that could easily shred you or smother you through your helmet slits, whose eyes glitter with almost human intelligence, is the most terrifying thing you have ever dealt with.

You are a noble. A scholarly noble, not a martial noble. Growing up, nobody dared throw a fist at you (your mother used a wooden ladle when you misbehaved) and while you had your share of fears, raw physical violence is not something you are terribly experienced with. This thing could shred any man who isn't a hero with mighty thews and a sword swift as lightning. This thing's fangs are more deadly than being hit with a battleaxe. Being socked in the stomach by its tongue or its tentacles would probably feel like getting clocked with a tree branch. Even wrapped in armor and magic, this thing would rip you limb from limb given time and motivation, and you have effectively cut yourself off from any reinforcements. Part of you feels like...maybe Albeda was right. You're not some great warrior, some legendary brawler or prodigal fighter, you're a boy who likes to read books and play games of strategy where you are nice and safe away from the violence. Maybe this is too much for you. The fear stretches before you like a wall of shuddering lightning, and every pull of the monster's tongue around your arm drags you closer to it. Nobody would hear if you just started screaming, whimpering, and crying for your mother and father to save you. Nobody would know if you pissed yourself. If you just gave up, wouldn't it be easier? The fear would be over. You could fall from the sky, maybe hit your head instead of having to deal with the agonizing death of this thing working out how to get past your armor.

[Continue...sorry guys.]

So the important question now is, does Jakob have a bastard son or a cousin anywhere to carry on as the chimera does its work?

>>4529276

I never said that.

>>4529278
Albeda is there.

>>4529278
I'm sad now.

>>4529278
.....
Wow

>>4529278
Is it too late to dispel smoke armour?

>>4529278

Given everything we had so far, unlikely to be a bastard son. It's more likely to be a cousin, probably on Dad's side, since Mom's side was kind of decimated by the Dancing Fever.

RIP Jakob, at least there's no more embarrassing nicknames in the depths.

>>4529278
Franky, I don't know whether to continue on or not. I guess this is what demoralization feels like.

>>4529278
Well that was anticlimactic. Rather annoying, as it kinda came down to dice rolls, and us deciding to risk it all.
I’d vote yes, but anyone else wouldn’t have the connections or learning.

Perhaps Jakob wasn’t the only one with a grudge against Albeda. There were others who swore loyalty to him, no?

>>4529289
What, we pick up as Cailm?

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But if you did, wouldn't she be right? Wouldn't she smirk? What was it she called you, a cowering sparrow? A feeble child? Right now, feeling the inhuman strength slowly reeling you in, you don't know.

You hear a crunch, and look down to see one of the chimera's tentacle-limbs pressing down on the thin, breakable smokemass lid over the steps. Breaking through. You can barely see it, over all the smoke you've pulled on the strength of your will into that spot. It's prioritized keeping a hold on you to keeping its balance, and with a gutteral hoot it falls shoulder-first through the smokemass, hitting the glassy ramp that was previously a staircase hard, and tumbling. Its tongue pulls, and your stomach drops as it drags you towards the pit with it. Down, down into the underworld. Through the fear. You scream, and pass through the terror into...

Calm. Absolute, tranquil calm. The spell that denied you earlier, that fought you. You weave it effortlessly, quickly. The chimera doesn't have a prayer of stopping you. The smoke around the mouth of the pit, the smoke you have just enough of for one attempt, swirls into a spiral shape. It's soft, it can't crush the tongue or cut it off, but it freezes around it bit by bit like ice, and as the chimera gazes up at you, sliding down the ramp, you see something new mingled with the rage in its eyes. Fear. It lets go with its tongue, hooting in distress as it desperately tries to find something to grip, to climb back out, but all of its thrashing is in vain. The smokemass momentarily grips its tongue, and you actually feel pity for the pain the creature must be experiencing before it manages to wriggle the soft, sticky tip through and pull it back into its mouth. The lid closes over it. Solidifies. You hover over the field of frozen smoke alone, unhurt, and triumphant, the setting sun lighting your smoke armor in colors of flame. You, Jakob Absol, have beaten your first monster.

You have won.

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>>4529282
>>4529283
>>4529284
>>4529286
>>4529287
>>4529288
>>4529289

You guys have only yourselves to blame when you can clearly see you got a 2x8 and a 3x6 on the roll.