>>227782
>You’re a monster hunter, looking for the newest big game. Your skill is with your rifle, but you know a few spells. Your mother once hunted monsters here, and you’ve always strived to live up to her legacy.
Let's have some fun

>captcha: 100

>>227782
>You’re a mage, searching for hints about the great magic of the past. Your skill is with your array of spells and rituals. You were born and raised here in Vyre, by parents who sought to uncover secrets of the past themselves; you’re just continuing the family business.

>>227782
>>You’re a mage, searching for hints about the great magic of the past. Your skill is with your array of spells and rituals. You were born and raised here in Vyre, by parents who sought to uncover secrets of the past themselves; you’re just continuing the family business.

>>227782
>You’re a mage, searching for hints about the great magic of the past. Your skill is with your array of spells and rituals. You were born and raised here in Vyre, by parents who sought to uncover secrets of the past themselves; you’re just continuing the family business.

File: sorceror.png (140 KB, 367x426)

140 KB PNG

It's over

You are the mage, Amber Suarz. Your father passed away a few years ago, and your mother feels she is too old now for plundering the depths, though she’s happy to travel along with you. You’ve spent years preparing for this; learning every spell you could get your hands on and wrap your mind around, from a fireball to a light in the dark. It’s all there.

And today, donning your thick fur cloak you set out into the light snow with the smell of winter around you and make your way to the location you’ve nicknamed the “Temple of the Sun.” Sun worshippers here, where the sun is seen only in the pink haze of the horizon, always interested you, after all. And what better than ones from thousands of years ago?

Arriving after your short trek, you come to the half-buried church. All that’s above ground is what is probably the top half. Entrance isn’t too difficult, there’s a door on a balcony that you can reach easily. You are concerned about traps though; mother always said the obvious path is the dangerous one.

>Take the door on the balcony. If it’s untrapped (who would trap a church?) you’ll be on a pathway inside and not potentially dropping yourself inside from a window.
>Take the window. A fall is nothing compared to what some people will do.

>>227879
Take the door. What's the worst that can happen?
fuck, I jinxed it

>>227879
>Take the door
I wonder if we could ask mom to do it

>>227879
>Take the door on the balcony. If it’s untrapped (who would trap a church?) you’ll be on a pathway inside and not potentially dropping yourself inside from a window.

Fuck it, what’s the worst that could happen from taking the door? You climb up onto the balcony (that is all of four feet off the ground) and step inside the temple. Reaching out your hand, you cast a spell and hold a ball of light that illuminates the once-holy place. Dust lays in a thick layer on the floor away from the door, where the wind has replaced the dust with snow. You don’t see anything immediately dangerous from your vantage position up here, and make your way down the stairs to the base level.

Most of the stone pews are still intact, lying in their rows before the altar at the front. Before you have time to even become excited, you realise the altar has been stripped of any metal or cloth that once covered it; it is but a bare slab.

There’s a door under the stairs that leads downwards, but there’s also something more peculiar: the front door, completely submerged into the earth, is open.

>Head downwards.
>Check out the front door.

(Write-ins are always viable, for future reference. These are just suggestions.)

>>227938
>Examine the floor
then
>Investigate the front door cautiously (10ft pole-style caution)

>>227938
>Check out the front door

I wonder what's in our inventory and spell slots.
Can we cast knock or something?

File: rune.png (10 KB, 400x537)

10 KB PNG

You brush away some of the dust on the floor, and find that each brick has a rune etched onto it. If the runes were once magical, any traces of power have left them by now. There’s several runes, though one repeats more than the others. You note its appearance.

Checking the front door, it’s not as weird as it could be. It’s a tunnel leading down at a mild incline, through the earth. Possibly some animal’s? It’d definitely be a large animal though, you should be cautious.

>Investigate further.
>Check out the door leading down.

(Spell list and inventory coming in a moment.)

>>228011
Investigate further.

>>228011
>Investigate further

>>228011
Investigate further

Spell list:

Cantrips (these will not tire you and have no costs):
>Illuminate
>Amplify Hearing
>Detect Magic

Sorcery (these will tire you):
>Fireball
>Wave of Force
>Magic Hand

Vancian Spells (have costs associated):
>Breathe Water (Cost: Fish oil)
>Conjure Bread (Cost: Blood)
>Protection (Cost: Metal coin; strength depends on metal)
>Illusion (Cost: Sand)

Rituals (costs, large amounts of time, and tiring):
>Summon Lesser Elemental (Cost: Crystallised element)

Inventory as of now:

>2x Vials of Fish Oil
>2x Vials of Blood
>5x Copper Coins
>5x Iron Coins
>1x Bags of Sand
>1x Crystallised Earth

>Knife
>Staff (not magical, just a staff)
>Clothing
>Big-ass fur cloak
>50 Vyrian Coins

(This will make its way to a pastebin or something soon)

You poke your way into the tunnel, light guiding you. The tunnel, a bit a ways down, curves gently as it continues downwards. Spells fresh in your mind in case of emergency, you begin making your way downwards.

After several minutes, the tunnel has made a complete turn around and is heading back towards the church. There is, however, a branch-off tunnel from where you are. It seems to be made the same way the one you’re in is made; the tunnel that continues forward towards (under) the church looks different. Less like a large burrowing animal, more like… mining.

>Check out the (probably) man-made tunnel.
>Continue down the animal-made tunnel.
>Head back.

>>228140
Check the man-made tunnel.

>>228140
>Check out the (probably) man-made tunnel.

You decide to check out the man-made tunnel. Why is it here? Is it coming away from the church or going towards it? Several metres down the stench hits you. It smells like rotten flesh and burnt blood. On one hand, it could just be a dead explorer (though that burning smell is definitely off)... or, as you suspect, it’s something magical. After all, you yourself have a spell that uses blood, it can’t be that weird.

>Amplify Hearing, try to get more information
>Continue forward, what’s the worst that could happen?
>Head back

>>228199
Amplify hearing. You can't be too careful.

You cast a quick spell of Amplify Hearing and… hear subtle scratching from down the tunnel, out of where your light reaches. Something’s moving. It could be small animals, of course.

>Continue forward; it probably is just dumb little animals.
>Head back. It’s probably something that wants to kill or eat me.

>>228221
Cast Detect Magic.

It could be something magical, and you have the perfect thing to check. You cast Detect Magic, and subtle glows fill your sight. It’s a magic you’ve not seen in person before, but you’re pretty sure this magic is necromantic in nature, and it’s gently spotted all through this tunnel.

>Continue forward. What’s there to be scared of?
>Head back. There’s everything to be scared of.

>>228252
Continue forward. Who's gonna hurt us? The Pope?

>>228252
Advance!

>>228252
>necromantic in nature
OH NO SKELETONS

You head forward, and re-cast Detect Magic here and there--not too much, though, as it impacts your ability to see normally temporarily. More and more of the magic is present here.

Finally you come to be under the church, and you are in what appears to be the church’s… catacombs? There’s a lot of stone caskets, at least that’s what you think they are. They’re open and empty.

Hey, wait a moment…

Your line of thought is distracted by a soft “Hey there.” Turning, you see her: a woman of probably less than five feet with white-blue skin and fleshy wings coming from her back. A Baerysun. They’re a race of what amounts to magical mutants created long ago, probably close to 7000 years according to your favourite scholar, Ka’Roja. You do love the research he’s done, how he continued making discoveries all the way up to his death five years ago-

“You talk?” she asks, interrupting your inner tangent.

You cough, and reply that yes, you do speak.

“What are you up to down here?”

Good question.
>Just here searching for magical information and whatnot.
>Wondering about the necromantic magic in the area.
>She can answer that first: what is SHE up to down here?

>>228325
Exploring the church. Just everyday normal things people do, you know?

“I’m just exploring the church,” you state, as if there was nothing weird to it.

She nods. “I get you. Afraid there’s not much here, though. This place was apparently used more as a tomb than a church, honestly. Can you believe there are 160 caskets in this room?” she said, sliding off the casket she was sitting on and brushing the dust off the back of her long, grey robes.

>And where are the bodies?
>That is a lot, isn’t it?
>You seem awfully chipper about that.

>>228437
>And where are the bodies?

“So where are the bodies?” you ask, waving your hand to show the empty coffins.

“Mining,” she states simply.

“And why are they doing that?”

“I told them to. The risen dead make for fantastic miners, especially skeletons like these guys. They can’t talk or groan or anything, it’s lovely,” she says, smiling.

>Oh, okay. (indifferent)
>You’re a necromancer? (curious)
>You’re a necromancer?! (angry)

>>228514
>What do you guys get while you mine down there?

“What do you guys mine up down there?” you ask, looking back at the tunnel.

“Oh, you know. Ore, gems, nightmarish monsters, fossils…”

“Nightmarish monsters?”

She nods. “You just came out from one’s tunnel; we stopped going in that direction when we met it. It took Skeletons number 56 and 71. I have not forgiven that transgression and intend to kill it… the skeletons don’t know how to fight, though, unfortunately. I’d need new ones. Until then, I’m continuing in the opposite direction.” Sure enough, there’s another tunnel on the opposite side.

>How tough does it look? I might be able to take it out.
>Isn’t it dangerous staying in this area? Couldn’t it come this way?
>Why can’t the skeletons fight?
>You can’t fight it on your own?

>>228594
>How tough does it look? I might be able to take it out.

"How tough does it look? I might be able to take it out. I know a thing or two." It's true, you're not defenseless--your offensive magic boils down to fireball, granted, but it’s a damn good fireball.

Her eyes light up. “You’d do that for me? Oh, thank you! It’s not too bad, it’s just a big ol’ tunnelling lizard.”

“About how big?”

She considers for a moment. “Not including its tail, it’s probably three metres long or so. Lot smaller than its tunnels make it seem, honestly. I wonder why it makes the tunnels so high?” She shakes her head. “Never mind. So, you’ll do it?”

>Sure
>Actually that sounds like too much for me.

>>228656
Sure, I've got nothing better to do.

“Sure,” you say. “I have nothing better to do.”

The small necromancer smiles wide. “Thank you so much! It really means a lot. I mean… I have no offensive spells, honestly. I’m kind of useless without any undead, and they can only serve the purpose I give them when I summon them and I summoned all of these guys ahead of time without even thinking…” she sighs. “Thanks. What’s your name?”

“Amber,” you reply. “And you?”

“I’m Hope… clanless,” she winces.

>Ask something else?
>Let’s go beat up a lizard.

>>228706
Let's beat up a lizard.

You say your (temporary) goodbyes, and head back the way you came. Are there any spells you’d like to perform ahead of time, such as casting resistance on yourself or summoning an earth elemental using your crystallised earth?

>>228737
A protection spell. Preferably with an Iron coin.

You pull an iron coin from your pouch, remove your glove, and with a few words and intent in your mind burning, the iron melts before you, spreading over your hand before sinking into the flesh. You feel a twinge of pain for a second, but as it fades you feel much hardier.

Time to handle the lizard.

Heading down into its branch-off tunnel, Detecting Magic confirms for you that no magic has been used here recently. You amplify your hearing, and as you draw deeper into the tunnel the sound of your footsteps is joined by the sound of something large breathing. Bingo.

Listening ever closer, you determine it’s still; meaning it’s probably asleep. Perfect. You approach its den, and lay eyes upon it. It’s nearly four metres long with a tail about as long. It has smoky black scales, and is curled around something red and glowing. Detecting magic confirms: whatever it’s curled around is magical, but it’s a magic you don’t recognise.

>FIREBALL
>Maybe we should lure it away from the magical object; we might damage it.

>>228789
Lure it away, using the Conjure Bread spell. Maybe we could tame it?

You pull out one of your vials of blood. You concentrate the spell in one hand, and pour the blood onto it. As the blood rolls off your hand and onto the ground, it shifts and transforms into… bread. A little dirty, but you’re sure the lizard won’t mind.

You step back, picking up the bread, and call to it. It wakes slowly, and looks at you. It approaches with a walk somewhere between caution and predation. It notices the bread as it draws closer, and you hold it out.

As planned, it takes the bread cautiously with its long tongue. It sits back, chewing and quickly swallowing the bread. It finishes, and no longer appears bothered by your presence--it heads back to the glowing red orb.

You still need to either kill it or get it out of here if you want Hope to be safe from it.

>FIREBALL, FRIENDSHIP IS A LIE
>Try moving the orb? Maybe it will follow?
>Lure it out with more bread?

>>228863
More bread.

You decide to lure it with more bread. You repeat the conjuration process, and when it comes to take the bread you simple walk away with it. It follows as expected, trailing you in desire for your tasty bloodbread.

>Try to bring it up to the surface
>Bring it to Hope

>>228905
Bring it to Hope. It looks cute enough to be a pet.

>>228911
inb4 it's sentient and flips its shit when it sees the desecrated tomb

>>228917
We can help it by giving it more bread. Bread is the duct tape of food.

The small woman shrieks as you step into her field of view with your large friend. “Why did you bring it here?”

“It’s cute,” you say, as you play the age-old game of keep away with the lizard.

“It’s a gross lizard!”

“I have decided to make it my pet.”

Her face twists in confusion. “Well… I mean… Don’t let it eat me.”

The lizard snatches the bread, sitting back and eating it.

If you’d like to feed it more, you’ll need more blood, which will mean bloodletting--this won’t be too dangerous if you do it once or twice, but do it too often and you’ll be in trouble.

>More bread!
>Wait and see if it returns to its nest?

>>228959
More bread. We'll do the bloodletting if it wants it.

You pull your knife and make a small cut on your hand, performing the spell this way. Just the same, you create more bread. It takes it, looking to you with appreciation. You feel that it likes you now.

Hope watches on with some level of apprehension, before the (strangely) serene scene is interrupted with the noise of steel on rock from above.

“Necromancer! Show thyself!”

The colour drains from Hope’s face.

>Hide!
>Call back?
>Prepare to fight.

>>229054
Tell Hope to hide. Pretend you're dusting off the caskets.

>>229054
>>Hide!

In a hushed tone, you tell Hope to hide. Seeing no better option, she climbs into one of the empty caskets and you pull the cover over. In what time you have you pull the covers over some of the other caskets, stopping as the sound of the weapon dragging comes down the stairs. You consider quickly hiding, but realise that it’d be more suspicious to have a lizard and a few covered caskets but other than that, nothing but uncovered, empty caskets.

Stepping into the light is a large, white-scaled man. An Ykliss; they are a reptilian race whose societies have generally hugged close to the concept of divinity and the worship of the magical force of the Light. And this here is something you know of but have never seen before in person: A Paladin.

He looks to you, his golden eyes scanning over you. “You’re not the necromancer.”

“I’m not. I’m just looking after the crypt here.”

“The caskets are empty, you realise?”

“I know, the open caskets just bother me. So I’m closing them up and dusting them off,” you say with a low-powered wave of force to demonstrate, blowing off the dust layer.

He nods slowly, and looks to your lizard friend. “And that?”

“He’s cute.”

“Right. Do you mind if I check the tunnels, then?”

>”You won’t find much other than a lizard’s den.”
>”Go ahead.”
>Allow him, then FIREBALL HIM IN THE BACK.
>Ask why.

>>229158
>Why?

“There’s a necromancer who has been raising skeletons from crypts like this. That is why this crypt is empty of its resting dead; the foul necromancer has desecrated this place.”

>”Is it really that bad?”
>”Oh. Go on ahead then.”
>”I’ve looked myself; there’s nothing here. Just a lizard den.”

>>229194
>Is it really that bad?

“Is it really that bad?”

He gasps. “You would defend the desecration of the resting dead?”

You shrug. “I mean, they’re dead. I doubt they’d care.”

He shakes his head. “They watch from their exalted seats in the crystal sky. They know, and they care. I am afraid we will not see eye to eye on this.”

>Argue the point.
>”Either way, there’s nothing here.”
>Agree to disagree, bid him farewell. Maybe he’s forgotten why he’s here?
>Feign agreement.

>>229227
>Either way, this tomb's empty. Perhaps you went the wrong way? After all, there are more caves in this church than I can count.

“Either way, this tomb's empty. Perhaps you went the wrong way? After all, there are more caves in this church than I can count.”

He frowns. “That may be true. They may have taken the undead to a different part of the complex…” he sighs. “Continue your work here, then. I will tell you when I find them,” he says, taking his leave back up the stairs he came down.

You hear a quiet knocking on the casket near you. You push the cover off and Hope bursts up, coughing. “These things do need a damn dusting. But, uh, thanks again. You saved me there.”

“You’re not safe yet, he’s going to come back,” you remind her.

“But… getting all of the skeletons out of here will take ages.”

>Abandon the skeletons, at least for now.
>She should have her skeletons dig their way to the surface!
>He’ll be busy a while. We can sneak several dozen skeletons by.
>Have the skeletons take the lizard’s path up to the main church and escape from there.

>>229295
The Big-ass fur cloak might be able to hide them all.
If not, let them dig to the surface.

You briefly consider hiding them in your big-ass cloak, but come to the conclusion it would fit at most 2 skeletons, and even then it would be a joke of stealth.

Instead, you tell Hope to have her skeletons dig their way to the surface. She agrees, that’s probably your best course of action, and hurries off to direct them.

What will you do?

>Go assist them. Your lizard can also dig!
>Stay here, wait for the Paladin.
>Go check on the Paladin, keep him company.

>>229320
Go check on the Paladin, keep him company.
Maybe we can seduce them~

You decide to go keep the Paladin company. It takes a bit of searching, but you find him investigating one of the other rooms of the church, a lonely room with what appears to be the remains of some iron in the floor and ceiling. Was this a… jail? Man, this church served a lot of purposes.

He looks up at you. “Good day. How can I help you?”

You decide you need to distract him, and resolve to seduce him.

With a smile, you step closer and ask, “By telling me how I can help you.”

He blinks. “Search the next room for clues of the necromancer’s passing, then, please.”

Your life up until now has been spent in the company of your parents and very few others. You realise you are not that good at seduction.

>Continue trying seduction (How?)
>Pretend to check the next room.
>Give him a false clue.
>Just hang with him, try to make conversation.

>>229349
>Continue trying seduction.
Sure, actually distracting him would be useful, but where's the fun in that?

“Really? I think I’m more useful to you right here, don’t you think?” you say, moving closer.

“It makes little difference to me,” he says simply.

“Oh? Don’t you get lonely here? Surely you enjoy the company of a woman like myself?” you say, trying to emphasise ‘woman.’

“Company matters little while working.”

“And how about you take a break to… make friends?” you wink.

“My friends are my order.”

You’re not sure if this is due to you being an incompetent virgin or him being a steely pillar of disinterest, but you don’t think this is working.

How will you continue your attempts at distraction?

>False clue.
>Conversation.
>Leave the room.
>Continue trying to seduce him…? Maybe if you’re more obvious?

>>229372
Conversation. The seducing can wait.

“So, you’re hunting a necromancer, huh? You do this sort of thing often?”

He shakes his head. “Until recently, I’ve been training. This is one of my first assignments out in the field.”

“So you’re new to this business? I’m pretty new at this, as well.”

“What, cleaning crypts?”

“No, exploring places like this. It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”

“I do not find much fascination in a site of heretical worship.”

“Isn’t it at least a little interesting? The craftsmanship is exquisite.”

“The craftsmanship is heresy.”

“There you go again with heresy. Can’t you relax a little bit?”

“It is hard to relax while on a hunt,” he says, turning over some wreckage in the room’s corner, frowning when he doesn’t find anything.

“What will you do when you catch the necromancer?”

“Bring him back to the brotherhood to await judgment, of course.”

>Ask more about the brotherhood.
>Ask about his information on the necromancer.
>Ask him about what he can do in terms of magic and/or physical capability.

>>229385
Ask him about his abilities in magic.

“So, what can you do magic-wise as a Paladin?”

“I wield the power of the Light to smite the wicked, to blind those who need capturing and to empower my weapon to strike down any foe!” he proclaims loud and proud.

Sounds like you found what he likes talking about.

“Oh, my magic’s much more limited. I just do things like fireballs and conjuring bread.”

He smiles. “Perhaps you should explore the power of the Light sometime; when you see the power of the Holy Beyond you’ll understand why we devote ourselves to it.”

>Keep on this topic.
>Talk about his physicality.
>Ask about his brotherhood.

(With that post, I'm going to break the rule of finding a good stop point and stop here for the night. It's late here and I've had a shockingly long day, sorry!

Find me at @QM_Eclipse on Twitter for warnings of when I'm about to begin updating again; I plan on updating tomorrow!)

>>229398
(See you later!)
>Keep talking to him about magic.

(Sneaky bonus morning update!)

“I technically know a little light magic,” you say, making the ball of light appear in your hand.

“An illumination spell. Useful, and technically the Light, indeed. Not that this surprises me, from when I laid eyes on you I could tell you used some Light,” he says proudly.

“Oh? You have such an ability?”

“I can read auras. Hence how I knew you were not the necromancer; your magic is varied, but does not include spirit magic, let alone necromantic magic.”

You briefly consider how much trouble you’d be in if you’d ever picked up a necromantic spell, but decide not to continue down that road of logic. “So when you see him, you’ll be able to tell he’s a necromancer?”

“Precisely!”

“That’s a useful skill. I can Detect Magic, but it’s not quite as useful for analysing individuals as yours. How long did that take to pick up?”

Your conversation with the Paladin about magic carries on for at least an hour, he seeming to have forgotten about his desire to check another room, instead staying here in the once-jail simply chattering away.

He’s not a bad person, you conclude. Maybe a stick up the ass, and a bit judgmental, but you conclude he bears no truly evil intent.

Finally, he remembers his mission and excuses himself. That may have been enough time for Hope to break to the surface.

>Go check on Hope in the tunnels (if she’s still there).
>Stay with the Paladin.

>>230124
Find Hope

>>230124
>Go check on Hope in the tunnels (if she’s still there).

You head back down into the crypt, and make your way into Hope’s tunnels with your lizard following. Her mining operation is kept really orderly, and it’s not too hard to find the stray, upwards tunnel. You kind of wish that her tunnels had been more maze-like, as to buy her time when he comes this way.

Making your way up the mild incline (maybe the skeletons don’t climb well?) you find her directing a dozen skeletons to keep breaking away at the earth, with the rest of the skeletal mining legion on standby.

“Amber! You’re not being followed, are you?” she asks, fear causing her voice to shake subtly.

You shake your head. “He’s busy turning this place upside down for clues; I think he believes you may have hidden yourself with some illusion or something.”

She lets out a breath of relief and smiles warmly. “Good. We’re almost to the surface. Once we’re up there, I’m going to make my way to the nearby valley and lay low for a bit.”

>”That sounds like the best course of action.”
>”Leave the skeletons hidden in the valley, but come with me; you’re not safe on your own.”
>”Don’t you think you should be making your way towards somewhere you can raise more undead? You’re still vulnerable.”

>>230158
>”That sounds like the best course of action.”

“That sounds like the best course of action,” you say.

She nods. “It’s just over the rise outside, so you’ll know where to find me. I’ll probably be there a day or two, in a cave I’ll make myself.”

The skeletons break the surface, and you say your farewell to the fleeing necromancer.

With Hope safe, what will you do now?

>Take the lizard back to camp. Mom will love it.
>Go check on the Paladin.
>Continue exploring the church; you came here for knowledge, did you not?

>>230178
>Continue exploring the church; you came here for knowledge, did you not?

>>230178
>Continue exploring

You came here to learn, not to help little necromancers. And for that matter, wasn’t the lizard curled around something magical? That’s worth checking out. You head back underground and back to the lizard’s den, with it following you. You cautiously take hold of the magical object. Thankfully, the lizard does not take this as an offensive act, and is simply curious about what you plan to do with it.

The object is warm and light for its size; despite being nearly a metre wide sphere, it weighs maybe three kilograms. You cast Detect Magic, and conclude quickly it’s related to the school of Heat magic. Heat isn’t really your specialty (well, you don’t have a specialty in the first place), as you really only know how to cast a Fireball of the Fire subschool.

You take it with you, heading back into the main church with the lizard with you. It appears to like the heat; which you can understand. This place is cold. The Paladin comes out from one of the rooms, dusting his chain armour off. You exchange greetings, and ask him if he found anything you’d find interesting.

For that matter, he found the church’s archive, actually. It was stripped fairly clean already, but he found a hidden compartment in it with scrolls; they’re in Ancient Vyrian, so he couldn’t read them.

Thankfully, you know a little Ancient Vyrian and your mother knows a lot. You thank him for the help, and head into the archive. It’s dustier than the rest of the church somehow, with air so stale you feel like you’re choking on it. You quickly find the hidden compartment he was talking about, and recover the six scrolls left in there, placing them in your pack.

>Keep exploring, there may be something else in the church.
>Everything else is probably gone by now, if nothing came to mind to the Paladin. Let’s leave.

>>230205
Did we ever "check out the door leading down"?

>>230240

It led to a sort of underground lobby that contained the doors to the various rooms like the jail and archive, and the path downwards; so you went up it!

( In other news, pastebins!
Inventory: http://pastebin.com/wzm83pUe
Spells: http://pastebin.com/H9AYKna2 )

>>230254
I think we're done in this temple. Let's note down the most common runes on the temple floor and then go home with the lizard and our loot.

>>230254
>>230284
Let's prepare a status report for our mother.

You take the time to copy down a few more runes, and make your way back to camp with lizard and loot in tow.

You return to camp after about half an hour, your lizard following you (or is it just following the orb?). Your mother is already outside, and smiles when she sees you. “Amber, you’re back. How did it go?” She looks upon you warmly with a face well-worn from laughing and smiling, and with long hair that you envy for its beauty even as it begins to grey.

“Pretty well. I found this guy,” you motion to the lizard, “Found this thing,” you lift the orb, “And got some scrolls in Ancient Vyrian.”

“Oh, those scrolls are always the best. Do you remember the time your father and I found a scroll about sex inbetween scrolls on teleportation and conjuration?” she says, laughing a deep, genuine laugh at the memory.

“Of course. The day you told me is the day I learned Ka’Shawn have hemipenises.” You briefly wonder if Ykliss also have a pair of penises. Man, lizards are weird.

Your mother laughs, and pats the ground next to where she sits, smoking from her old pipe. You sit down next to her, and tell her all the specifics of your adventure; from the necromancer Hope to the Ykliss Paladin, you tell her, and she listens with rapt attention, loving every moment of your story.

Finally, you conclude your story. Your day hasn’t been too long, but it’s been a bit tiring--even for someone in good condition like yourself.

>Head to bed. There’s a whole new adventure to look forward to tomorrow, you’re sure.
>Maybe we should go check on Hope?

File: rune1234.png (34 KB, 760x590)

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(Forgot picture of the runes! Ta-da!)

>>230323
>Ask about dinner

Of course! Who could forget dinner?

You inquire to your mother about food, and in short time she has a fire going and is preparing meats you’d acquired in the last town.

You take the time to read over the scrolls as you can, working on improving your Ancient Vyrian before handing them over to your mother to fully translate afterwards. From what you can tell, they deal with a mixture of Heat and Light magic; appropriate for worshippers of the Sun.

You eat dinner with your mother and find you have a bit more time before it’ll be time to sleep.

>Read the scrolls with Mother, to work on your Ancient Vyrian.
>Go see Hope.

>>230339
>Ask mother to take a look at the runes we copied

File: rune1upsidedown.png (10 KB, 400x537)

10 KB PNG

You show the runes you copied down to your mother, mentioning how they were engraved in the brickwork and repeated.

She recognises the one that you saw the most as a sign for the Sun. Apparently you were looking at it upside down, and it was meant to represent the vague rays of Sun that sat on the horizon. The idea of the hope across the horizon meant a lot to them.

(Heading out again for the moment; I'll be on for real session later tonight. I'll post ahead of time on my Twitter, @QM_Eclipse)

>>230362
Thanks for running.

(We're back baby.)

Well now you know at least the main rune. That's nice. So, you have an orb, some scrolls, and apparently a friend (plus a lizard). What's the plan from here?

>Investigate the orb some more?
>Work on Ancient Vyrian with your mother.
>See Hope
>Just head to sleep. It was a long day and tomorrow may very well be longer.

>>231563
>Just head to sleep. It was a long day and tomorrow may very well be longer.
And get a prophetic magic dream while you're at it.

You turn in for the day, sleeping in your large tent under your thick blanket. Outside, you can hear the lizard digging into the earth nearby to make itself shelter to rest in.

Your rest is troubled. You wake up multiple times, stirred by dark dreams that don’t seem to leave. Messages course through blackness, and whispers drag their icy fingers across your brain. And what wakes you the final time, when you resolve to stay awake, is an image of seven eyes.

You’re unsettled by this, but nightmares are hardly worth worrying over.

You and your mother eat a dry breakfast and she tells you what she learned from reading the scrolls after you turned in; they’re actually writings explaining a handful of sorcery spells. She will be able to teach the spells to you through the scrolls, but it’ll take time. Which one would you like to learn first? Instruction will likely be over several days, so choose carefully.

>Consecrate Ground: Makes an area protected against any shadowy energies, including necromantic.
>Protection From Heat: Gives immunity to heat and fire for some time.
>Blinding Light: Create a damn bright light to blind those around you.
>Destroy Frost: Destroy cold-based energies, and dispel cold in general. Will do everything from directly counter a frost spell to instantly melt ice.

>>231563
>Just head to sleep. It was a long day and tomorrow may very well be longer.

>>231667
>>Protection From Heat: Gives immunity to heat and fire for some time.
defensive stuff is useful, plus who know maybe there'll be loot in a lava pit somewhere.

(Not feeling so well all of a sudden; laying down but I should be back soon (but no promises))

>>231667
>Protection From Heat: Gives immunity to heat and fire for some time.

>>231714
I hope you're alright. Hopefully this won't turn into a literal 'OP is kill' scenario.

Updato: not dead, just sick and tired, so I'm just resting. It's a bit too much to type full posts on my phone, so instead consider this a mini Q&A session. If you have any questions, ask away!

(We're back. I feel fine now, no promises for later.)

You tell your mother you think that Protection From Heat would be most practically useful. She smiles and agrees with your assessment, and your next few hours are spent going over the basis of the spell and the idea it functions under; without such a basis you’d never learn it.

When that lesson ends, your mother gives you a basket of food and tells you to go visit the necromancer, Hope.

>Sounds good.
>Getting involved with her again sounds like a recipe for more trouble. Let’s not.

>>233840
Visit hope!

>>233840
>Getting involved with her again sounds like a recipe for more trouble. Let’s not.

>>233843
As an additive, maby she can be persuaded into teaching us some spoopy scary magics

(Going with the earlier vote)

You see no reason not to visit the necromancer. You make your way to your lizard, which is happily munching on some mountain plants it seems to have found while you were busy. You’re not fully certain how you’re supposed to get it to follow you, but after a few moments of staring it seems to understand and gets up.

You decide to leave the orb behind. Mother can use it, and it’s a bit bulky with its size. Maybe that could be fixed in the future.

It’s not too hard to find the valley Hope had mentioned, once you follow the direction she’d gone. It’s pretty small as far as valleys go, just being a flat dip with a river between two sizeable hills, but it’s certainly a good way to hide. You follow down into it, where the wind becomes more peaceful and the silence replaces a sound you forgot was there.

In short time, you locate the cave she’s dug out in the side of one of the hills. It seems fairly small until you get closer and realise that’s just the entrance; she made the inside massive to accommodate the many skeletons.

She seems to be looking through some book when you enter, but looks up the moment she hears your footsteps. A brief second of panic passes over her face before she realises it’s you, and she smiles. “Amber! You came. I was afraid you wouldn’t.”

You smile back and sit down with her by her fire. You talk briefly about the current situation outside; namely the fact you don’t know where the Paladin is but he’s probably going to be looking to catch her at another crypt.

She nods, understanding. “Honestly, I didn’t expect to get in this situation. I don’t really have the tools necessary to migrate a long distance with these guys, and abandoning them to start over somewhere else sounds like it’ll just end the same way.” She sighs. “I’ll be honest, this necromancer thing is kind of sucking. What do you think I should do?”

>Try to migrate with them. It’ll be slow but effective.
>Abandon them, start over. The chance of another Paladin coming after her is low.
>Abandon them, come with you and your mother. No more Paladins chasing her.
>Ask her about her situation; she said she was clanless.

>>233843
Vote for

>>233873
>I think you should consider giving up necromancy; it looks like it hasn't really worked out for you. But what are you going to do with all these skeletons?

>>233873
Tell her to migrate.
Ambush her later with the paladin.

“I think you should consider giving up necromancy; it looks like it hasn’t really worked out for you. The question is what you’re going to do with all these skeletons, though,” you tell her.

She thinks over it for a bit. “If I can’t think of anything better, I can just unsummon them. It’d be nice if they didn’t go to waste, but… it may be unavoidable.”

>Unsummon them in their caskets; surely the Paladins will see this as an act of repentance.
>Unsummon them now, try to bury the cave. No need to continue risking anything with them.
>Set them to digging up the church, and leave them. It’s a noble use for them.

>>233902
>Unsummon them in their caskets; surely the Paladins will see this as an act of repentance.

>"Let's try to get them back to the church, at least."

>>233902
>Unsummon them in their caskets; surely the Paladins will see this as an act of repentance.
Is it possible to botch an unsummoning?

>>233902
>>Unsummon them in their caskets; surely the Paladins will see this as an act of repentance.

“You should bring them back to the church and unsummon them in the caskets,” you suggest.

She nods. “Yeah, I suppose it’s where they belong. Although 56 and 71 won’t be included, because of someone.” She glares at your lizard briefly, who seems unconcerned with the anger of the necromancer.

The three… no, 161 of you head on back to the hole Hope’s skeletal mining legion had escaped by, and you make the trek back into the crypt. Hope begins the process of having them get back into their caskets, in the correct order no less, and releases the magical binding keeping them together. They return to simple, old bones. You close the caskets behind her.

The entire process only takes about an hour, actually. Hope looks a bit crestfallen, but before you can comfort her you hear the sound of iron boots in descent. Before you can even suggest hiding, the Paladin bursts forward from the door that leads upwards. “I’ve caught you, necro… mancer?”

This is apparently not the sight he expected, actually. Did he expect the necromancer to be imposing and fearsome instead of… well, Hope?

>Explain what you two were doing here (returning them).
>Try to convince him that she’s not the necromancer at all.
>Hand her over.
>Fight to defend her.

>>233961
>Explain
The temple doesn't seem to be a windfall of curios and relics, anyway.

>>233961
>Explain what you two were doing here (returning them).

You step forward. “She was just returning the skeletons,” you start. “She’s stopping the necro-”

“And I should trust you?” he says, narrowing his eyes. “You said you had no information on the necromancer yesterday, did you not?”

He did kind of catch you there. “She hasn’t harmed anyone, and she’s even stopping-”

“She has desecrated a place of the dead and expects freedom simply because she regrets it?”

“Yes! Is repentance not justice?” you try to convince him.

He grits his teeth. “We can not be certain she has repented.”

How will you convince him?

>Would she go through the process of returning all of these skeletons if she hasn’t?
>You will watch over here, to make sure.
>She is deeply regretful, you’ve seen it. (Only partially a lie)
>She’s young, and needed to make the mistake to learn it was wrong.
>Concede point.

(Meant "You will watch over her," whoops.

In other news: Pastebin for accumulated world knowledge. Will be updated as things are brought up in the quest: http://pastebin.com/21CcWpEq )

>>234088
>Would she go through the process of returning all of these skeletons if she hasn’t?

“Would she go through this whole process, returning them, if she hasn’t repented?” you ask critically.

“I have seen more elaborate tricks pulled by evil-doers,” he replies, but his conviction is wavering.

“Does she honestly look evil to you?” you say, motioning to the small woman.

“Evil takes many guises…” he trails off.

“This isn’t one of them. There’s real evil out there for you to be facing, and instead you’re chasing down her,” you argue.

He stays silent a few moments, and finally sighs. “I’ve wasted several days hunting my first big catch, and instead I’m just harassing women self-righteously,” he spits out, with clear anger directed inwards.

>”There’s time to do good, still. We’ll even help.”
>”You can tell your brotherhood that you learned during your time out.”
>”You did, indirectly, show her the error of her ways. You still stopped the necromancer.”
>”You were blinded by your convictions; you deserve this punishment of wasted time.”
>”Everyone makes mistakes.”

>>234154
>>”There’s time to do good, still. We’ll even help.”
more adventures I guess

>>234154
>”You did, indirectly, show her the error of her ways. You still stopped the necromancer.”

(Coming post is big. Need a bit.)

“You showed her the error her ways, indirectly. You did stop the necromancer, and I’m sure the dead are appreciative,” you tell him.

“I have nothing to show for it,” he insists.

“There’s time, still,” you comfort the Paladin. “We’ll even help.”

“You will?” he asks, shocked.

“We will?” Hope asks.

You nod. “I can still make discoveries even while travelling with you, and Hope here is out of a job. It works out.”

The two of them pause to think this over. “It is easier to stop evil with allies…” the Paladin agrees slowly.

“I suppose my other option is being alone with useless magic,” Hope admits.

With a sigh, the Paladin steps forward with his armoured hand outstretched. “I am Vakith the Young Justiciar. I would be happy to work with you.”

You smile, taking his hand to shake it. “I am Amber Suarz.”

He turns to Hope. The two of them both seem reluctant, but after a moment’s hesitation, they seem to both come to the conclusion that holding grudges will hinder them, and shake hands silently. After a short silence, Vakith speaks. “There’ve been reports of some shadowy beast that has been harassing a village nearby. I did not believe myself capable of stopping it alone, but…”

“Sounds like a plan, Vakith. Lead the way.”

You, Vakith, Hope and your as-of-yet unnamed lizard make your way from crypt. You bring them back to your camp; you need to talk to you mother about this.

When you arrive, Mother looks at you expectantly, wanting you to explain the presence of the two. You take a few moments to formulate your thoughts before telling her, “I am putting the hunt for discoveries on hold! I’m going to adventure with these two!”

“Finally,” she says simply.

You blink a few times. “Huh? But, aren’t you disappointed?”

“Honey, do you think your father and I had actually spent twenty-five years seeking knowledge without any breaks from it? Honestly, I’m just happy you’re interacting with people,” she says, laughing quietly to herself.

You feel a slight wave of embarrassment pass over you. You figured this would be a big deal. “Oh. Then… what are you going to do?”

“Follow along. I’m not one to go directly on adventures, but I am your mentor and I’m very much capable of handling preparations for you youngsters.”

“We will be staying with the village we’re heading to, after all. It will be no problem to take her with us,” Vakith interjects.

Your mother smiles. “Then it’s settled, isn’t it? I’m Kaara Suarz, nice to meet you.”

Your new companions introduce themselves and in short time, your party sets off. After a few hours of travelling through the white hills, you arrive at the village known as Jokra, primarily populated by Baerysun.

[1/2]

[2/2]

Jokra has a small chapel (Light-worshipping), their own blacksmith, several shops, a humble library with mage’s guild attached and a hostel you’ll be staying at. Your group stops to eat in the hostel, before setting out into the town. What's your plan?

>Check out the chapel with Vakith.
>Check out the mage’s guild and library with Hope.
>Stay with Mother and talk to her. (No more training today, however)
>Check out the shops and/or blacksmith.

>>234272
>Check out the mage’s guild and library with Hope.

You decide to check out the mage’s guild and attached library with Hope.

The library itself is fairly small but for a village of 400-500, you didn’t expect much. The books vary from old fairytales to books on magical theory. You’re sure a lot of this can come in handy later on.

The mage’s guild consists of all of eight members; three of which are here right now. Hope introduces herself and expresses an interest in learning new magic, as her current skillset is… impractical. After being pressed for what she means, and explaining that she’s a necromancer, they refer her to one of their absent members who specialises in Spirit magic. Necromancy is a subschool of Spirit magic, so the transition shouldn’t be too painful for her. She thanks them for their time, and decides to wait in the library, doing some reading.

>Stay here with her. She could use some company when she’s in a rough patch like this.
>Talk to the mages yourself.
>Go find Vakith (chapel).
>Go to Mother.
>Go SHOPPING.

>>234316
>Stay here with her. She could use some company when she’s in a rough patch like this.

There's time to talk to the mages later. Providing they don't blow themselves up. You know mages.

>>234316
>>Stay here with her. She could use some company when she’s in a rough patch like this.

You take a seat by Hope with your own book. She flashes an appreciative smile at you, and the two of you read in silence for a bit.

“Hey, Amber,” she says in a hushed tone.

“What is it?” you reply.

“I really appreciate this all. I was pretty much resigned to trying to find somewhere by myself to live alone, or crawling back to my clan, but you… Well, you gave me something to do, alright?” she says, her face flushing at her awkward thanks.

“Don’t worry about it. Really, I just dragged you into helping the person trying to capture you,” you say with a wink.

“I appreciate that, too. You not only helped me evade capture, but you made peace between me and Vakith. I didn’t imagine that was even a possible situation.”

“Well, we’ll see if you still appreciate this all after we have to fight a monster; if this truly is some shadowy monster like Vakith heard, then I doubt I’ll be able to tame this one with bread.”

Hope giggles. “You’ve already pulled off some crazy stunts, so who knows?”

The two of you continue to read in silence for a bit. After another half hour or so, two more mages return to the mage’s guild and Hope is called in to speak with the Spirit magic specialist.

>Stay with her.
>Head off and do something else; Hope can handle herself talking to the mages. They seem understanding.

>>234354
>>234346
Jesus this quest became boring

>>234367
>>Stay with her.
might as well pick up some spirit magic or info on it at least

>>234367
>Head off and do something else; Hope can handle herself talking to the mages. They seem understanding.

Time to talk to the mages.

>>234380
As in, talk to the other mages while she's talking to the Spirit specialist?

>>234386
Yes.

>>234388
I'll back that.

>>234372
(I'm always open to feedback and criticism, friend.)

You decide to follow her in, and talk to the other mages. You’ll be with her in the room, in case she feels better having a friend there, but attending to your own matters. Plus you should be able to make out what they’re talking about; Spirit magic did always interest you.

You strike up conversation with the mages about what there is to learn from around here. Apparently the village chapel has been around for hundreds of years; even though they’ve already swept it clean of any knowledge they could find, it’s still a pretty interesting site to learn from for someone interested in the history of Light worship.

Beyond that, they mention that rumour goes that up in the nearby mountain is a completely submerged set of ruins. You decide to ask them for their opinion on how the Ancient Vyrian ruins ended up sinking into the earth the way they did. They mention there’s been some debate on the topic, but popular idea among them is that the Ancient Vyrians used strange, weak foundations that caused that. No one’s sure, though. It’s very odd.

You ask about the mages themselves. They introduce themselves and their absent members.

Obsidian Jokra (Specialty: Fire)
Justice Jokra (Specialty: Air/Water)
Diamond Jokra (Specialty: Dream)
Snow Jokra (Specialty: Spirit)
Cloud Jokra (No specialty)
Curiosity Jokra (Specialty: Reverberation and Resonance) (absent)
Svaelsha Jokra (Specialty: Order) (absent)
Rikors the Blessed (Priest for the chapel, but also a member of the guild. Specialty: Light) (absent)

The conversation between Hope and Snow seems to be going fine. It sounds like she’ll be exploring the idea of learning to call upon the spirits themselves, rather than just subverting them by animating bodies. It all sounds very… reverent of the spirits. You’re surprised there’s such a divide between Spirit magic and its subschool Necromancy, like that.

>I have no suggestions to give here.

>>234444
Oh can we ask the fire specialist about that heat orb?

You decide to ask their specialist on Fire, Obsidian, about the heat orb you found. After your description of it, he concludes that it may actually originate directly from the Burning Plane; he’s heard of such things occurring underground there. He thinks that the orb might be a result of the Burning Plane “leaking” slightly into the area. Possibly from some overzealous use of Heat magics there.

>>234444
Seconding >>234459.

>>234482
What about potential uses? can it amplify heat magic or might it have any other properties? maybe we should go get it...

You ask Obsidian about uses for such an object. He’s not sure off the top of his head; he’d need to see it. You take the time to head back to the hostel where your lizard is comfortably curled around the orbs. You take the larger of the two and start back towards the library.

Wait, two?

You look back. There’s a new, smaller orb--at best half the size of the first orb--with the lizard. Did it find the orb itself or… Did it make it? You take both the lizard and both orbs back to the library, and bring Obsidian outside to check him out.

Obsidian looks upon the lizard with shock the moment he steps into the cool air, and runs back in to bring Snow out (with a confused Hope following). After quiet but frantic whispering they conclude together: that lizard has the soul of a fire elemental, not an animal of Ecliptica.

>>234521
so... are the orbs eggs then? also I vote to name the lizard Sally (as in Salamander)

Now convinced your lizard is female, you decide that she is Sally. And Sally the Lizard has two orbs.

You ask Obsidian and Snow what this means; are the orbs eggs, then? Obsidian admits: he’s not really sure. The possibility exists that these are pre-elementals, yes, but it could be what he said earlier: it’s just the Burning Plane leaking into ours, around the apparent gateway that is the lizard. If it’s the former: you need to be damn careful, because even though new elementals are pretty impressionable and usually learn to love whoever treats them well, an elemental of the Burning Place is dangerous. Even if it likes you. If it’s the latter: you need to be careful to not let the lizard--Sally, you correct him--grow in power to where bigger things are leaked into our realm around her. A strong enough anchor point can allow even full elementals through, and there’s no promise of what personalities they’ll have.

This is a great and interesting discovery, but also dangerous, he stresses that last word.

>>234594
Let's review what we know about the Burning Plane from our studies and ask questions to fill any gaps.

>>234594
Soooo glad we got that fire protection spell, maybe ask about stronger variants of said spell or ways to make it last longer just in case?
also we should check out what the paladin is doing just to move tings along a bit.

Review of the Burning Plane:

There are twelve planes, each presiding over one of the core elements of magic: Heat, Cold, Air, Water, Earth, Dream, Reverberation and Resonance, Spirit, Light, Shadow, Order, and Entropy. Each plane exists as a replica of Ecliptica itself, and transportation into most planes is direction transfer of location: you will show up in the corresponding part of the plane you go to, and vice versa.

The Burning Plane rules over the element of Heat, and its sister plane is the Permafrost. They are so intrinsically linked that, oddly enough, they’re actually linked physically--If you walk towards the colder side of the planet while in the Burning Plane or towards the hotter side of the planet while in the Permafrost, you will cross into the other via a region called the Shatterfrost.

The Burning Plane is a dangerous place, but not uninhabited. There are several cities in the Burning Place, primarily consisting of the powerful and magical. Beyond that, its intelligent denizens are the elementals, beings who embody aspects of Heat--be they pure Heat elementals, Fire elementals or otherwise. There are also animals in the Burning Plane, but they’re significantly different from animals on Ecliptica, much like the difference between Ecliptica’s people and the elementals.

(This will be added to the "World Knowledge" Pastebin)

You consider asking about advanced forms of Protection From Heat, but decide that it's best to fully learn the basic form first; you should speed up your training because it sounds like this would be a very helpful spell to have now.

You decide to go check on Vakith, and tell him what you just learned. You leave Sally with Obsidian, so he can try to figure more out about her.

You find him discussing matters with who you assume is Rikors the Blessed, another Ykliss. How nice that an Ykliss is so fully integrated into a Baerysun society like this. He beckons you over and introduces you and Rikors to one another. You politely excuse Vakith and yourself to tell him about Sally.

He first questions your skill at naming lizards, then expresses his own concern about the discovery of her fiery soul. He does not view Sally nor her nature as something intrinsically negative, he's simply concerned that she's going to be dangerous to the party to have around. Proudly, you mention that you have (started training to learn) a spell to protect yourself and others from heat and fire. He admits that sounds fine, then, just to be careful.

>>234666
If there's a decent amount of daylight left, let's investigate the Ancient Vyrian ruins.

>>234725

Probably too long of a trek for this day, and beyond that: noone is certain where it is. It's fully submerged, so you'd be looking for some sort of entrance first, and that can take time

Heading out now. Got work stuff to do, unfortunately. Blah blah blah Twitter blah blah blah @QM_Eclipse

>>234737
As usual, thanks for running this session.

>>234737
We should get something to happen. Let's get some supplies and then head out to take care of the beastie?

You ask Vakith what he thinks about taking the initiative and going for the shadowbeast tonight. He shakes his head; if anything is to happen today, it’d be responding to it making an appearance here. Going out to hunt for it now would almost guarantee the party having to camp outside the town and being vulnerable to an attack.

He’s not wrong, actually. You agree with him, and state that you should move to go on watch for it. You tell him you’ll just shoot a fireball into the sky if you see it, which will be incredibly visible in this region. He agrees, saying he’ll stay here to continue talking to Rikors.

You head out to the edge of the village, and take a position on a small hill. Admittedly, as a Zheziin your eyes are not as sharp in Vyre as your allies; while the Baerysun and Ykliss have grown and evolved on the darker side of the planet, your people are from the desert. Being raised here helps, but you still can’t be sure you’ll see the shadowbeast from a respectable distance. It’s supposed to be black, black-purple. It’ll blend in too much.

What could be ten minutes or an hour passes, your eyes flickering over the dark hills. You start to wonder if it’s even worth having you watch, when a flicker of silver dances across the hills. You strain to make out details as the silver moves towards you.

>Shoot the fireball, this can’t be good news.
>The beast is shadow-based, isn’t it? Shadow isn’t silver. Don’t send a false alarm.

>>236711
Send a fireball.
Although, I'd like more people to agree on this before doing it.

>>236770
I'll wait a bit for agreement/disagreement, then. If nothing else comes in, we'll do it.

>>236770
might as well

>>236711
Shoot a fireball.

Even if its not THE beast, it may be any other dangerous creature.

You shoot the fireball upwards. Vakith should be coming soon, potentially with help. In the meantime, though, you have something silver coming at you, and it’s fast. As it nears, you can tell that it’s definitely bounding forward, and its silhouette of something on four legs nears.

You Detect Magic, and that thing lights up with a colour--no, a sensation--that is so foreign and wrong to you that you feel nauseous. Nothing good is coming of this. You scramble to pull an iron coin from your pouch and cast Resistance on yourself as it draws ever closer.

And but three seconds later, it leaps. In that brief instant of time where it’s in the air, close to you but not having reached you yet, you make out its shape as something with four deformed legs, and flesh that ripples and boils with a silver-violet sheen. That’s definitely not any sort of shadow creature, and you honestly believe it must be something worse.

You dive for the ground as it crashes into where you’d been, hitting like a meteor and throwing dirt everywhere like it was water. You push off the ground, going down hill and miraculously landing on your feet (and hands, but it counts). This thing is foreign and horrid, turning its head towards you and gazing on you with at least three eyes that seem crusted over with some metallic-looking growth.

>Evasive maneuvers. Who’s to say a fireball will even work? We need to just not get hit before help arrives.
>Fight back. It’ll even make us more visible.

>>236838
>Fight back. It’ll even make us more visible.

>>236838
>>Fight back. It’ll even make us more visible.

You decide that running away will accomplish very little, and probably end up with you hurt or dead. You sling a fireball at it as it prepares to leap again, the fire crashing into its putrid face. It lights up just briefly, before the fire vanishes as quickly as it started in a burst of silver-violet smoke and cascading ash. When your sight of it clears, its face is very much melted off into a rotten crater. In shock, you freeze still as its flesh begins to roil violently and spread over and fill the wound as the scent of decay fills the air.

You loose another fireball its way, but it has learned and bounds sideways to dodge the attack. You prepare a new fireball, holding it in your hand as if to intimidate the creature. It seems to understand the threat, beginning to pace with its head turned towards you, where you see new eyes slipping out into place between folds in its patchwork face. It opens its mouth, the divide stretching back to its neck and filled with multiple rows of broken teeth surrounding a few tongues that dance as if vying for your attention.

A flash of light rips through the night, and something smashes into the creature with the force of an avalanche, sending it flying. It hits the ground several metres away with a wet thud, and begins to try to scramble to its feet in vain, as if one of its legs is broken. Seemingly frustrated by this, it turns down and bites into the leg, ripping it off and beginning to devour it. Before the fruits of such labour can be discovered, your saviour, the Paladin Vakith, rushes over and hacks it apart furiously with his glowing blade.

After only a few moments, it’s done. The beast is in pieces, and seeming to melt into the earth with Vakith stood over it. He walks over to you, looking you over as if making sure you’re uninjured. “What… was that thing?” he asks hesitantly.

“I honestly do not know,” you admit. Something nags at the back of your mind, that while that very well may have been the beast terrorising this village, that your mission here is not over.

Vakith moves back over to where the melting beast had been--no traces remain other than a violet stain in the snow and grass.

>>236938
Let's go back to the town and celebrate our victory.

>>237014
Agree, although I think we should celebrate by figuring out what to do next.

It’s not worth concentrating on a bad gut feeling. That thing--whatever it was--is dead. You head back with Vakith, and grab Hope and Sally from the library. You head on back to the hostel, explaining what happened to Hope. She doesn’t say it, but you can tell she shares your sentiment that something seems wrong about all this. You give a full recap once you get back to the hostel to your mother, who presents the food she prepared in the hostel’s small kitchen. You celebrate this victory with the others, and hold off on presenting the good news to the village; inside you know it’s because you simply don’t believe whatever that was is dead, but the reason you give is that you need to make sure there weren’t more than one.

You eat, you sleep, you dream of darkness and whispers and eyes again.

When you wake, you take the time to train with your mother again after eating and bathing, committing yourself as much as you can to this endeavour now that you’re aware of Sally’s burning soul. Hope continues learning at the mage’s guild, bringing Sally so Obsidian can continue trying to unravel the mystery of her existence. Vakith spends time at the chapel again, citing that he has much to learn from Rikors the Blessed.

Today you and Vakith will be heading out to investigate more related to the beast; find where its den was, find if there are more… that sort of thing. Should you bring Hope?

>>237073
What combat capabilities does hope have? She can't use necromancy if we bring the pally...

>>237073
Describe the nature of this mission and ask her whether she wants to join us. She can make her own decision as to whether or not she wants to.

>>237095
This

You find Hope and ask her if she thinks she could come out, given her very limited abilities currently. She points out that she can act as a runner if things go poorly, or provide first aid if one of you becomes injured while the other is still fighting, if it comes to it. She would just be providing help in the back. It’s the choice between having some minor support on hand, and having her working here to become capable and ready to really help soon. She’d like to leave it to your judgment if you think she’ll be helpful enough, but believes she’d probably help more by just continuing her learning and training.

>>237169
Hope's decided not to accompany us, so let's leave her at the town and get on with our mission. Let's take Sally with us.

You agree; she just needs to focus on learning for now. She can help later. You take Sally (Obsidian says he’s starting to figure out what could’ve caused her, but isn’t ready to share his theory quite yet) and head out with Vakith in the direction the beast came from.

Your memory of the incident is fresh in mind, and you trace the path it followed well--and your memory is confirmed by a few purple stains and footprints you find here and there in the snow. Soon enough, you cross out of where you first saw it, and up into the mountain. It’s a slow process, but you can make out some of its footprints and stains. Soon enough, you’ve traced it all the way back to a fairly small hole dug into the mountainside. Vakith believes it to be the den, and you’re inclined to agree.

It’s a tight fit, but your party climbs inside, including Sally. You follow down the tight tunnel for a few moments, before it opens up into a small cavern. The cavern does not bother you. The entrance to an Ancient Vyrian building on the other side of it does.

“This thing was living in the ruins?” Vakith asks, stepping forward. You follow closely, holding your light, but a horrible feeling creeps up your spine. In the depths of your mind, a voice that is distinctly not yours whispers to you in a tongue older than time with a message you understand without the words: you should not be here. Vakith continues forward unperturbed. Perhaps he did not hear it, and it’s simply your overactive imagination.

>>237201
Forward!

You decide to ignore your imagination, and continue forward with Vakith. You’re simply nervous and subconscious is fishing for excuses to leave.

Through the stone doorway, the ruins open up into a massive, long stone hallway. Water drips from the ceiling into small puddles and the entire places carries that distinctive dank smell. Vakith seems to find it unpleasant, but the damp environment brings back pleasant memories for you. It’s just like old times; you’re simply exploring ancient ruins for hidden knowledge.

The hallway splits from here, with three paths to take; going forward, to the left or to the right. As you open your mouth to ask Vakith which way he believes you should go, a low growl echoes through the chamber. You don’t see what it could have come from, nor can you tell from which direction by sound.

The left path leads to an iron door that is slightly ajar, with a barred window in it.

Heading forward is a set of stairs leading upwards.

To the right is a set of stairs leading down, and curving into a spiral.

Which way should you go?

>>237289
We go down the stairs to the right.

You and Vakith head down the righthand stairs, the spiral taking you down several metres before opening up into a fairly large chamber. In the centre of the chamber is some reptilian creature, impaled several times over by long stakes coming from the floor and ceiling. It has deep black scales, and a pair of wings extend from its back, similarly impaled. Its head, untouched but fairly restricted, turns to you. “Ah. I was not expecting company.”

Vakith takes a step back. “What are you?” he hisses.

“I am Ku-Lung, of the Shōlong. I am… imprisoned here, unfortunately.” It motions its head towards its trapped body. “What year is it?” it asks absentmindedly.

“117 Post-Celestial,” you reply slowly.

“Ah. I do not know this calendar. I wonder what that says about me?” it chuckles ruefully. “Let me rephrase that; how long ago was it that King Ashrakarri’s Empire fell?”

“The Vyrian Empire’s fall? About 3,000 years ago,” you tell it.

“My! It’s been a while. I came here shortly after the fall to investigate the circumstances of the Empire’s fall.” You are about to question the validity of its supposed immortality, but realise that that’s not actually the weirdest part about this situation; after all, it’s impaled and alive. “Might I know your names?” it asks, curiosity in its voice.

Clearing your throat, you announce, “I am Amber Suarz, mage; he is Vakith the Young Justiciar, a Paladin. And… how do you speak Vyrian?”

“Oh, I had another visitor several years back… or perhaps several hundred. I am a quick learner, it took but a few days for me to learn this new tongue. Despite his friendliness, he did not free me. Would you, Amber and Vakith?” He motions once more to the stakes run through him, made of some form of steel. On closer inspection, you think the stakes glimmer violet.

...Should you? You could instead just question him. What's a "Shōlong anyways?

>>237418
Ask him why he was imprisoned here and where he came from for his investigation.

You decide that some questions need asked first. “Why are you imprisoned here? What… put you on these stakes?”

Ku-Lung chuckles. “Oh, the contagion did this. It apparently does not like creatures investigating its cancerous growth.”

“What contagion?” Vakith asks.

“The Contagion. The fleshgrowth that waits in this place. Have you not encountered it? I envy you.” Vakith glances to you. You can take the guess that the beast from the previous day is of this “Contagion.”

“Where did you come from?” you ask next.

“I don’t know what you would call it now… the Astral Empire. The Astral Isles? Astrialis? Perhaps, they, too, are gone.” Ku-Lung moans ruefully.

“Where… were the Astral Isles, exactly?” you follow-up.

“Hm… Across the sea. Around the pole.”

“The Astral pole? Some nations have tried going there, but no one ever returns,” you explain.

“Hm. The Astrialans have never been a friendly type. That may be why,” the massive reptile muses to itself. “I’ll need to re-evaluate the world once I am freed. On that matter, would you kindly?”

>>237487
Hell yeah! Free him

>>237487
>"We did encounter the 'contagion', as you call it and it is our reason for coming here. It didn't seem to have the power to forge these stakes."

>>237517
gonna support this, rarely have I heard of friendly black dragons in fantasy settings, caution is good.

“The Contagion from what we met of it didn’t seem to have powers like these stakes,” you point out.

“Did you meet the Contagion itself, or simply one of its infected? The various infected seem to have different powers. I was ambushed by several, who worked together to subdue me. I suppose they expected me to die from this; unfortunately my wounds simply healed around the stakes,” he explains.

His explanation does make sense enough… and he could be a powerful ally. You nod to Vakith, who steps forward. Vakith brandishes his sword, empowering it with the power of the Light, and strikes the stakes, shattering each of them in turn. Finally, the Shōlong is free; he’s bleeding, but free nonetheless. He slumps down for a few moments before rising, shaking his wings in the chamber. “I will be weak for some time, but I appreciate the freedom you have presented me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a cancer to burn.” The colossal winged reptile moves past your small party, and slithers up the spiral stairs in a way that makes you question its anatomy. You were certain it was too large in every dimension for that…

Vakith coughs. “Should we be here? He mentioned… burning.”

>Follow Ku-Lung!
>Just continue exploring.
>Get out of here.

>>237581
(Sorry, was already about to submit when your message showed up for me. Well, uh, let's hope that this won't end up too badly!)

>>237588
>Just continue exploring.

It's not as if our fireball is going to have much affect in any battle going on the upper floor. Eclipse, now would be a good time to tell us how our learning of the heat protection spell is going...

>>237593
eh, it's good, caution tends not to be very exciting afterall so even if this blows up in the characters faces there's still entertainment value

The two of you investigate the rest of the chamber. Many parts of the chamber feature burnt out stone, coated with a thin layer of iron. How… odd. You come to the conclusion that there’s little else to be gleamed from this area though, and head back up the stairs.

Across the way from the staircase, the iron door that was on the lefthand path is broken, its doorway shattered by the movement of the large reptile through it. You see a flash of burning light from inside that path. Sounds like Ku-Lung was not lying about ‘burning.’

You decide that it probably will not be too useful to head that direction; you couldn’t help him with burning and it’s probably best to stay far out of his way. You, Vakith and Sally take the upward stairs, which open out into… an entire town in this cavern. It’s all Ancient Vyrian architecture, but this is a full town. And it’s lit up by torches.

End: Ecliptica Part 1.

Begin: Questions time!

>>237622
The Protection From Heat spell will probably take another day of training, and will be weak at first

>>237661
I'm new to quests... Will you be making another thread?

>>237689
Yes. Tomorrow it'll be a new thread named Ecliptica Quest Part 2. The OP will contain links to recap + extra information.

>>237698
cool, thanks for running!

>>237705
Thanks for coming. This is my first quest so I was really unsure how this would go; I'm excited to say this was a wonderful experience with some awesome players.

>>237720
>This is my first quest

Well done! You've run a great quest, in my opinion; it's been my favourite currently running quest on /qst/.

Thanks for the complement.

>>237749
I'm really honoured to hear that. I didn't think this was going that well (especially after the post about it being boring), but I'm glad to hear you're all having fun. That's really all I could hope for.

I'm heading out now, but I'll probably check on this thread here and there from my phone to answer any questions you guys post.

Follow me on Twitter at @QM_Eclipse to get told when I'm going to start updating up to an hour beforehand. See you tomorrow!