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Next playing time will be Saturday 4th, at 16:00 CEST. Ragosion and Philipp both have a levelup left.
In the meantime, here's another write-up from Brickadin's perspective!
After Zanros bought a horse for himself we left Calonia for Our Lady's High Academy of Pure and True Magicks. As we were camping by the wayside a middle-aged human woman came and asked if she could share our fire. After making sure she was not another witch, Zanros fed her from his fourth golden plate. Nothing seemed to happen at first, which I guess depending on how you look at it could be considered both lucky, and unlucky, since Ragosion sure seemed to take a liking to the woman. When I was taking my watch I could hear them chatting away all night. I also saw Ragosion crawling around in the tent of Barin. I am not sure which way that man bends, but if he comes crawling into my tent at night I will make sure he loses an appendage much more valuable to him than a finger.
In the morning, Ragosion and the rest of the party seemed to have forgotten that we were in a bloody hurry and under an ancient death curse that will turn us all to stone. They all wanted to go visit the womans peasant relatives and I suppose live happily ever after, digging up dirt and turnips. I tried to reason with them, but since I didn’t want to ride on alone, I yielded, and begrudgingly came along to eat grits and spend valuable time going in the wrong direction. At least we got to spend the night with a roof over our head. In the night while I was half asleep I noticed someone, whom I assumed to be Zanros, coming back in through the door and lying down to sleep. I guess he was sneaking around the village to get himself and us into even more trouble.
The next morning, after Ragosion had finally come to realize that we had to leave, we continued our journey to the academy. On the road I noticed something sneaking around in the forest by the way side. I told the others, and a plan of action was formed. The glorious plan was foiled by the stupid animals we were riding, who bucked and threw us all of. I knew we couldn’t trust that horse dealer. These horses are probably all useless, and Philipp probably got scammed. Nothing came of the shadowy figure I had spotted, so we just kept riding. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and we took our watches at night as usual. This time I noticed someone who I took for Barin, sneaking around at night, talking to Zanros’ tent.
When I asked him about it in the morning, he denied having been out of bed other than when he was on his watch. Maybe I was just dreaming. Another rather uneventful day of travel, and then night came again. This time, still half asleep, I noticed someone come from out of the camp to talk to Zanros tent shortly before disappearing into the night. Does he still have some connections with his city-folk friends who come to him in the night? Or does he too have love affairs with the peasants in the area? I didn’t ask him about it, I just gave him a stern give-me-no-nonsense looks in the morning. That’ll sort him out. I suppose I should have suspected something was strange by this time, but it was only after speaking to the mages in the academy that I realized these happenings were probably attributed to our missing shadows. They must have been the ones sneaking around and following us on our journey.
The next day we ran into a group of white robed mages from the academy. As they had their weapons pointed in our direction, their leader Doctor Archibald Trelora told us he would not under any circumstances allow us to bring Arinidena in the mirror to the academy. Apparently these magic wielders had spotted him coming closer from miles away, and if any of us were to come, we’d have to leave Barin and the mirror behind. Zanros agreed to stay with our dwarven friend, and the rest of us should try to bring “the cure” for the curse back to them, if we find it.
The mages left Barin and Zanros with four cadets as guards. Oh how I hope they will get along until we get back. Maybe they will trade stories of their lives over a meal and became the best of friends. Imagine how stupid it would be to cause trouble with the people who could help lift the death curse we’ve been struck by.
Anyway, at the academy the three of us, Philipp, Ragosion and myself, were left in the gardens to wait around until someone would see us, with nothing else to do than to poke and prod at the cadets. They seemed like a well behaved, slightly boring bunch, typical soldier types determined to finish the task they have taken on, despite Philipp’s best attempts to undermine their morale. I understand that after serving for five years, they will be able to get a magic license, which I suppose is pretty valuable.
Then we spoke to Professor Omore who was the Head of the department of applied magics, and another decrepit old, slightly senile mage named Professor Siedelbrom, who in a nutshell told us one way of getting rid of the curse is to find a piece of the “soul” of whoever cursed us and use that in a ritual of some sort. Too bad they are dead. The essence, or soul of a descendant to the witch who cursed us could possibly help us, but we might not have time to get them here before we turn to stone. One thing they saw as unusual was that our shadows were missing, and I think it would be a good idea to ask them about the shadowy things I’ve seen in the night and in the forest as soon as I get an opportunity. Maybe the amulet I picked up from the statue is a key as well. Since no one else seems to have seen anything, maybe only the wearer of the amulet sees things. Maybe I’m just going mad.
Maybe Witchfinder Merryweather could provide some more help if he was alive. At some point we should escort one of these mages to the witch cave, but I don’t know if it’s the right move to do so right now. Maybe we should send Ragosion and Philipp to do further research on witch curses among the old scrolls in the academy?
If you guys remember things differently, if I missed something, or got something important wrong, post about it here I guess.
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Me and one of the cadets did became the best of friends, I even gave him the honor of seeing Helzvog.
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Thanks a lot, i really enjoy reading about your escapades from another perspective.
Slight correction, Professor Omore was the Head of the department of applied magics, the slightly burned guy without any facial hair whatsoever, who showed no signs of senility. The slightly confused teacher of history was Professor Siedelbrom. The Academy is now finally called "Our Lady's High Academy of Pure and True Magicks"
Different topic: Fantasy Book finally arrived, digging into it now. Lots of new spells and items so far, will look into a good way to get them into our game. I also got 7 short Call of Cthulhu Adventures for some weird reason for free.
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Can we learn these new spells, since you now have the book? 
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Theoretically yes, but i'll have to think about how we do that. I don't really want to type 20 pages out of a book. I will probably just post a list and you can inquire about those your are interested in.
However, one think i'd like is to give a bit more flavor to spells, so that they are not just a barrier, but for example a Wall of Fire or a Summoning Circle that stops only extraplanar beings. So if you want to learn a specific spell, remember that those are only the barebones. Changes do not have to be purely cosmetic, if you have a specific variant of a spell in mind we can think about how to implement that. I am generally willing to let that modification go pretty far and then think about what effect that would have on the base variant of the spell.
You can also name your spells, though you don't have to shout it out each time you cast something. That is a habit that gets taught to academy cadets for varying reasons, but which pretty much every mage gets rid of shortly after graduating because it is impractical, annoying, and incredibly silly.
Edit: Complete Spell list, though if you want something that is impossible to make out of this, i can also think of something. I might also decide that some effects are only for specific magic traditions, or that i don't want them in this world at all. For now only miracles get healing effects:
+ Show Spoiler [Grimoire] +
Analyze Foe (N)
Armor (N)
Banish (V)
Barrier (V)
Beast Friend(N)
Blast (S)
Bless/Curse (S)
Blind (N)
Bolt (N)
Boost/Lower Trait (N)
Burrow(N)
Burst(N)
Concentrate(S)
Confusion(N)
Damage Field(N)
Darksight(N)
Deflection(N)
Detect/Conceal Arcana(N)
Disguise(S)
Dispel(S)
Divination(H)
Drain Power Points(H)
Draining Touch(S)
Elem. Manipulation(N)
Entangle(N)
Enviromental Protection(N)
Farsight(S)
Fear(N)
Fly(V)
Greater Healing(V)
Growth/Shrink(S)
Havoc(S)
Healing(N)
Intangibility(H)
Invisibility(S)
Jet(N)
Legerdemain (N) (Basically Magehand)
Light/Obscure(N)
Mind Reading(N)
Pummel(S)
Puppet(V)
Quickness(S)
Shape Change (N+, Depends on form)
Slow(S)
Slumber(S)
Smite(N)
Speak Language(N)
Speed(N)
Stun(N)
Succor(N)
Summon Ally(N+)
Telekinesis(S)
Teleport(S)
Wall Walker(N)
Warriors Gift(S)
Zombie(V)
XP ranks: Novice(0-19XP), Seasoned(20+XP), Veteran(40+XP), Heroic(60+XP), Legendary(80+XP)
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Ok, languages:
You gain Smarts/2 languages. One of those is your native language. Another one should be Tradespeak, because otherwise you couldn't have talked to people all this time. Theoretically, that could both be the same. Tradespeak works similar to modern day english, so most people will understand it to some degree. Other languages are organised in groups. Those work similar to modern day scandinavian languages, meaning that if you speak one of them, you can communicate with the others if you speak slow enough, but it is always obvious at least to native speakers which one of them you are speaking. There are other languages in the world, but none of them are close enough that you could reasonably know them. If you gain a smarts dice, you don't instantly gain a new language, but in case we have a larger timejump sometime in the future you can then choose another one.
List of languages:
Tradespeak
Thalassian \
Jivari } Those two languages are strangely similar.
Marrakeshi
Al-Alvaril \northern
Sa-Alvaril }southern Elvish languages
Kiêlla /ancient
Fae \
Delfae }Fae languages, you probably don't know those
Akkadian \
Eldazari } Ancient dead languages, mostly used by scholars and mages
Cryptominoan /
Basanisch \
Kramarsh } Different languages of northern Kingdoms
Tarish /
Khuzdûl \
Khruzdûl } Different dwarwish dialects, those all sound completely the same to anyone who does not know one.
Rhuzdûl /
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After closely examine that map i have decided that we have to go to the west!
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I will go to the west if you promise to stop asking to go to tbe west
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Not sure if trolling... But if you really think we should go west, just convince the party in game and we'll go west. You can count on people bringing up the fact that there are some people that want us dead in that direction though. If the academy can't help us with the curse there's a pretty big chance we'll have to go west anyway though...
Brickadin will speak Khuzdûl, Tradespeak and... whichever northern language is spoken around my dwarven home Dwinharack. If I get to choose it'll be Kramarsh because that sounds badass.
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I want to go all the way to the Thalasians, they seem to like necromancers and such so they should know more about curses and such.
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I want to go get rid of this mirror, I think that was in the west.
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I want to get back my facial hair.
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I heard they have very good barbers in the west.
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On May 01 2013 02:30 Murgel wrote:
Not sure if trolling... But if you really think we should go west, just convince the party in game and we'll go west. You can count on people bringing up the fact that there are some people that want us dead in that direction though. If the academy can't help us with the curse there's a pretty big chance we'll have to go west anyway though...
Brickadin will speak Khuzdûl, Tradespeak and... whichever northern language is spoken around my dwarven home Dwinharack. If I get to choose it'll be Kramarsh because that sounds badass.
Yes. I have not fleshed out the northern kingdoms to that detail, so if you want, Dwinharack can be below Kramar.
You are all from one of the northern Kingdoms Kramar, Tar and Basan (Or the Dwarvenlands below those). Those have had a turbulent history, but at the moment they are very loosely allied. Which mostly means that they are not fighting each other, not a lot more.
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Next gaming time is today, Saturday 4th, at 16:00 CEST. That is in about 11.5 hours.
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I´ll take Tradespeak, Basanisch as mother tongue and Kramarsh with a basanian accent as well as Eldazari as main casting language and and a bit of pretty broken Cryptominoan.
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Man it’s hard to keep track, but here’s some of it is again from Brickadin’s perspective.
We spoke some more with Omore, investigated scrolls and books. I found one piece of scroll that was stuck under a heavy book. When I pulled it out to see what it was, it was too old and dry, so of course it ripped. Someone should have cleaned it away a long time ago, it was pretty much garbage already anyway. Apparently Philipp heard the ripping sound all across the library, and made sure to point out that I had ripped it to Professor Omore. I’m lucky I got out of there without having to pay for it.
At least Ragosion and Philipp found some clues. Philipp also pressured the cadets about a nearby tavern, where the cadets sneak out to drink. I wish I had looked for information about where the closest church of Veritas is. Then Philipp could finally go get some penance or whatever it is his god deals in. I’ve heard that in the good Lord Phex’ house, all you need to do is pay the right amount of gold.
In the morning Barin arrives, apparently having fooled the wizards about what happened to the cadets. Trelora and Omore were arguing something fierce about bringing the fey lord Arinidena to the Academy. Imagine if Arinidena somehow got out of the mirror, into a park or a forest around the Academy. Many reasons were listed why Trelora was probably right.
We went down and made sure Barin was safe and he went to get some rest.
While we were eating one of several meals, a bunch of white eyed old wizardy folk was in the room. Very spooky looking. As I stared at them, they started staring at me. I could feel a chill down my spine, and went back to my food. Philipp wouldn’t leave them alone though and started talking to them, eventually letting them into Barin’s room, where we chatted a bit, and then all stared at Barin until he woke up.
So apparently Barin is a stone cold killer. He took not long to tell us that he and Zanros had fed the guards from golden trickster plates, had been attacked, and killed one of the cadets. Zanros had ridden off, Barin had then taken the remaining cadets captive, and bound them all up. What happened later must have been quite a gruesome sight. While they were helpless, Barin killed them all. Three innocent young boys. He must have crushed their heads with his mace. Oh Phex, my Lord, what manner of companions have you sent me? I thought this fellow dwarf of mine was supposed to be the good example.
He also told us about how the third of the plates summoned forth some sort of love sick harlot, and that after the cadets had slain her, and he had slain them, he clad the dead harlot in a blue robe he had bought in Calonia and threw her on the fire. He then arranged the bodies in a pattern resembling a combat, and told the wizards that they had been attacked by Kraken cultists.
Professor Omore and later Professor Siedelborm helped us with some clues about how to catch shadows. A clay or stone element with some sort of runes on them. Our shadows should be attracted to us, but something is pushing them away. Shadows might be attracted to dreams, delusions, hallucinations. The amulet is a gateway, makes connections between things, opens the wearer up to influences. Not a trinket one should put on lightly.
Thus, we formed our plan. To go to the tavern and get drunk. One had to stay sober to try to catch the shadows in a stone pot crafted by Barin and Ragosion, while the others got as drunk as possible, to make sure the shadows were good and attracted. After losing some silly game where they probably all cheated, I had to be the one to stay sober. Damn it. Stupidly enough, we also started playing around with that damn witch amulet again. I could feel it giving me ideas, and after handing it to Barin, it almost got us in a couple of bar fights. Ragosion and Philipp played some cards with the cadets, and then we left. Too much ruckus and noise to notice anything, although Barin did say he saw something in the back room. Might have just been a plot to try to steal my gold though. Or perhaps not, that was when I was wearing the amulet. Damn thing. Barin almost punched Philipp over it too. Let’s hope no one gets their skull crushed.
So we got ourself a fire going outside of the warding stones of the Academy, Philipp went to sleep and Barin put the amulet in the pot, and then a huge shadow monster thing, we’ll call it the Shakadar, appeared. Barin woke Philipp up, who got sent back to sleep after a huge wave of blackness and shadow struck him down. Maybe his god hasn’t entirely pulled his hand from him, because he was lucky to survive. Maybe he should actually thank Barin’s god for that though… And me, hell I helped carry him back.
Ragosion got charmed by the Shakadar and started doing quite sinister things with those magic fingers of his. Apparently he was in the head of Barin for a short while. I tried to knock our wizard out, but we all know Ragosion will never lose a melee encounter, so I missed. I’m not even sure he had his dagger out.
Barin was about to crush the amulet, but threw it on the ground to help Philipp, so I grabbed a hold of it and crushed it against my shield with my axe. The shadow creature, or mass of shadows, started shrieking in the back of our heads, and Barin started scooping up shadow in his magic pot.
Ragosion snapped out of it and started dishing out firey death to the shadows, while I gestured angrily at them. Barin scooped up more shadow, and Philipp remained unconscious. By the end of it we had in the pot what we hoped would be enough for a ritual to get this damned rotten old curse off. We rushed Philipp home for some healing, went to bed, noticed that the curse had become worse for a few of us, participated in a magical ritual that removed the curse, thanked the wizards and set off on our horses, however many horses we have.
Where to? West to get rid of Arinidena? In that case, avoid or confront the three crime bosses in Jarlesville? We settle on going to Calonia first, perhaps to look around for more jobs, since we are collectively quite poor. Maybe a job that would pay well and take us west?
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You are still sometimes confusing Omore and Siedelbrom. Generally, when history and scrolls are involved, it is Siedelbrom. I took the liberty to correct that when copying your nice writeup into the first post.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/R60RHfc.jpg?1)
