Turn 11
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Time passes, and the shadow on the sundial moves... The influence of Mystic I provokes a roll!
Results: 79 (threshold 5). Nothing. The mystique disappears.
"Eh, kids are growing up so fast these days! It seems like only yesterday the shopping list was limited to onesies and undershirts..."
"Mo-o-m!"
"Don't fidget, dear, better try on this sweater."
Through the curtain of the fitting room hung another item of clothing from the endlessly replenishing pile, which Linda, like a magpie, dragged in pieces from all over the store. The subjective feeling was that it was the fourth hour of endless torture, which, by some misunderstanding, was called shopping.
Once it became clear that most of your closet was ready to rip at the seams with any careless movement, the decision was made to replace it entirely. They weren't too interested in your opinion, so instead of walking to the nearest "All for $5" clothing store, they had to make a trip to the downtown department store.
"Here, put this on, these jeans should look good with the pattern on the shirt. And this one. Or maybe this one, too. Try them all on, and then we'll see!"
"Will you stop it? We've been here forever!"
"Greg, honey, don't be so dramatic, we only got here fifteen minutes ago."
"Mo-o-m!"
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The usual school routine continues. In the case of Winslow High, it's a seething cauldron of gang kids, informals of all stripes, and generally aggressive, and sometimes intimidated, teenagers in the prime of puberty. According to unofficial statistics, one in two had a knife, knuckles, or other means of harming their neighbors. (-1 mind action per move for the sake of learning, +1 unit of pocket means every 2nd school week)
You have three actions of the body (B), three actions of the mind (M) and three actions of the passion (P). You have 20 funds at your disposal (all available savings).
Influences:
- Vitality - The drums in your ears. You can work better. (+5 to Body rolls) 1 Lv.
- Enlightenment - Enlightenment is near! I can feel the world ticking! (+5 to Study rolls. Can turn into a Fascination if it fails) 1 Lv.
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Turn 11 Results
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Time passes, and the shadow on the sundial moves...
At the busy weekend market, you stash the last of your hard-earned money in your jacket pockets. Fortunately, no one has tried to pester you with insistent offers to pay for space, protection, or any other way to squeeze your hard-earned money. Maybe it's the bright European appearance, but the market-keepers and the occasional Empire 88 skinheads who snooped around had never bothered you.
Nevertheless, the time for earning money was coming to an end, and it would be a good idea to exchange the pocket-wasting funds for something more useful before the sellers began to disperse. In the week you spent at the flea market, you began to get a much better understanding of the currents and hidden dangers of this area of the human element.
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Influences:
- Vitality - The drums in your ears. You can work better. (+5 to Body rolls) 1 Lv.
- Enlightenment - Enlightenment is near! I can feel the world ticking! (+5 to Study rolls. Can turn into a Fascination if it fails) 1 Lv.
Work:
[X] (B) This body is mine 2. All these rites and rituals are rather traumatic actions, not to mention sacrifices. Yes, and some knowledge and much more than some practices injures the one who learns and performs them. You need a much sturdier and stronger body so that you don't have to go to the emergency room after every vein you open. Exercise should do you good, and the dumbbells dug out from under the rubble in your room are already helping in no small way.
Requires 7 passes, 60/20% chance of success. (On completion +1 body action, vitality increase)
Required: 40/80. Roll: 85 + 10 ((Decreasing Growth Burst) + 5 (Vitality) + 10 (Gym Pass) = 110 Artificial Crit!
On your previous visits, you learned that in addition to the gym itself, there was a small gym with mats on the floor above, where visitors from among the owner's acquaintances practiced some kind of military martial arts. Once you got to know the gym, you decided it was time to try to find out more about the place and the people who frequented it.
"Mr. Linderman, may I watch a class upstairs in the gym?"
As always, the owner's keen gaze scans you as if shining through, and after a dozen seconds of silence, he shrugs indifferently.
"If you want to see it, watch."
You go upstairs, and for about an hour you watch lean men of indeterminate age wrestle each other to the mat and poke each other with oblong, blunt objects. As it turned out later - it's a rubber model of combat knives, not what you thought at first. Toward the end of the class, the least exhausted visitors decide to see if you are fit to be a punching bag since their usual sparring partners are already exhausted.
After a dozen minutes, lying on your back with your tongue out and breathing heavily, you realize that muscles are not everything. Knowing how to use them is the most important part of any confrontation. After the workout, a gaunt man who introduces himself as "Mr. Fisher, but better just Martin," suggests you take up martial arts in the upper gym a couple of times a week because, quote, "It hurts to look at this miserable mess."
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
You can't turn down an opportunity to learn more about the aspect of the Edge in such a safe, or even rather hothouse environment. Plus, the possibility of getting a follower from among such people would be a great boon to any cult...
(Gained a new action: Mastering the Edge. Available from next turn.)
[X] (P) The creation of art. Your parents and teachers have mentioned more than once that you're not bad at drawing. Recent events have confirmed that it's even more than "not bad". And although drawing will take a lot of time, if you put the picture in a frame, you can try to sell it. And you'll need the money and a lot of it. It takes 1 pass, 80%/60%/40%/20%/5% chance of success.
Required: 20/40/60/80/95. Roll: 72 x 0.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Vivid Imagination) + 5 (Painter) + 5 (Good Paint Set) = 51 Pass.
To distract yourself from your boring self-development and the failures that haunt you, you decide to relax and simply splash out your accumulated emotions on a canvas. In a few evenings of such a pastime, from under your brush comes out a fairly ordinary painting that does not carry any aspects. Just a landscape with slight elements of abstraction in the style of Salvador Dali.
After putting your painting in the corner of the canvas, you check the image again for leaked Secrets, just in case, but find nothing. Since the painting has no nostalgic or other value, you decide to sell it at a flea market along with the rest of the junk. Exchanging an ordinary painted canvas for ringing coins and crisp paper sounds like a good deal.
Study:
[X] (M) School attendance. As a minor U.S. citizen, you are obligated to receive a general education. The state doesn't need savages. Well, more than there already are. The usual school routine has set in. Repeated action, odds of success Automatic passage (thanks to the Silver Quill trait).
Required: 0. Auto Success.
After last week's events, the normal school routine seems like a breath of fresh air. Well, staring at you is much more than before, but other than that, not much has changed. There was one funny moment with a guy from a "cool" company who tried to "accidentally" push you, but almost flew off himself as a result, and had to hurriedly retreat into the crowd.
And, though it may be mere speculation, there were several guys from the football team among the usual observers who were clearly watching more intently than the others. It's unlikely that it was a romantic interest, and you can only hope that they didn't suddenly need a special sacrifice for some ritual.
There was also a little more unobtrusive attention from the Empire 88 school cell, which could well mean recruitment attempts soon. Also, you've been groped several times in the crowd by someone's hands with long fingernails, and you're not sure exactly who did it, or if it was one person or different.
[X] (M) Books are immortal memory. Among other things, the Predecessor's possessions contained books. It is unlikely that he kept tabloid journalism along with mystical pigments. The subject matter of the books and the references in the diary suggest the same thing: Whatever the content, these texts are related to Mansus and the Principles. There is much to be gained by reading them... Except, where to begin?
- 'The Humours of a Gentleman" a satirical comedy by Samuel Savage about the intrigues of the sickly but cunning John Zonnet, Mrs. Mavelin, her lover Leo, and the upstart Corvino. Requires 1 pass, 80%/10% chance of success.
Required: 20/90. Roll: 5 + 5 (Scholarship) + 5 ( Enlightenment) + 4 (1d6 from The Watchman's Secret) + 18 (1, 5, 1, 5, 6; from the Silver Quill trait) = 37 Pass!
Despite the venerable year of publication, the book is sturdy and does not look its age, although the paper quality is poor. It appears to have been reread more than once, but the edition is surprisingly well-preserved. In some places, the text is circled or underlined, and in the margins, there are a few notes in small handwriting mentioning Glory and the House. The text itself is no less interesting:
By the end of the first act, Maevelin has revealed a secret door in the walls of the House to Leo, and Corvino has taken to consuming Worms.
The play is scabrous and occasionally hilarious. The characters are contrary and capricious. Many of the more resonant lines might well be formulae of power, disguised in plain sight.
(Secret Knowledge Obtained: The Watchman's Secret - Knowing the Lantern)
A Watchman's Secret: It has been expressed like this: 'Each Hour has its colour, but colour exists only where there is light'.
[X] (P) Admiration of Art 2. Your drawing skills have dulled considerably, and at the best of times, they didn't exactly shine. But you can fix that! The Internet is full of films about famous art galleries with the works of great artists of the past and online tutorials on many types of art! With a goal in mind, you can greatly improve your skills.
Requires 2 passes, 60%/40% chance of success. (On completion of +1 pssion action, creativity boost)
Required: 40/60. Roll: 49 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Enlightment) = 79 Pass!
For once you manage to break down the invisible wall that prevents you from developing your Sensual Perception. At least, it seems that way to you. Now your imagination has reached a new level, and you can see it: I've had to keep a separate notebook for sketching everything that comes into your head during another "daydream". The pencils suffer most of all, and the hour is not far off when stationery stores will make a small fortune out of you.
(+ 1 Passion action from next turn. The trait Vivid Imagination evolves into Wild Imagination (+ 10 to Passion rolls, except for the Sense Development action) Further development is blocked until special actions are performed).
[X] (M) There is knowledge in words 2. A mind is a useful tool. Especially when the path to greatness involves comprehending the Secret Knowledge. To better understand them, to gather them into a single mosaic, decipher them, and perhaps to find new ones - one should keep this tool sharply honed. There were some of your parents' old school textbooks left in the home library, and the articles found on the Internet are still relevant. Requires 1 pass, 60% chance of success. (On completion of +1 mind action, increase in erudition)
Required: 40. Roll: 32 + 5 ( Enlightenment ) = 37 Minor Failure.
This time failure follows you as you try to bring your mind to the highest levels of awareness. You're working just as hard as usual, but it's just not enough. Something tells you that this stage of development will be the last one you've ever had so easily.
Travel:
[X] (B) Search the city. Lively avenues by day and mist-clad labyrinths by night. Set out to roam the streets in search of mysteries until your legs give out. Requires 1 pass, chances of success ??? %.
Required: 20/40/60/80/95. Roll:10 + 5 (Stronger Physique) + 5 (Vitality) + 5 (20/4 from the "This Body is Mine" crit) = 25 Pass!
In the hour that is called Meniscata, the streets become not what they always are.
I thought it was an exaggeration, a kind of fanciful way of talking about how darkness changes a person's perception. Distorts his consciousness, but that's all. I had never been so wrong before.
Sometimes moonlight becomes the key. Not far from the intersection of Blando and Archer Street, I happened to stumble upon a strange alley, where for one or two nights the streets change direction and lead to an unfamiliar place. If I went there, I might gain secret knowledge - or feel a touch of madness.
You don't remember how that entry appeared in your diary, or that you even went out at night, though you were definitely going to do it the day before. But if this place exists, you can probably find it by smell, because your hiking clothes stink horribly of something unidentifiable.
(Gained new action: Streets Strange by Moonlight. (P) Lasts for 2 turns, then disappears. You'll have to wander around to get it again).
[X] (P) Looking for special items. The Lord Street flea market is the biggest flea market in town. Among the junkies selling off the last items and gang members selling stolen goods and drugs under the table, you might find something of interest... It takes 1 pass, and the chances of success are variable. There is a chance to find something with an aspect, suitable as an ingredient, or even an artifact, but they will definitely be worth something.
Required: 25/50/75/85/95. Roll:21 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Initiated) = 37 Pass!
After most of your stuff sells out, it seems logical to spend the money on something more valuable. In the esoteric sense, of course.
Walking through the half-empty rows, you stumble upon a tiny counter. The vendor is an older man in fish-scented clothes, selling seafood. And it's not seafood or seaweed, but something more interesting: seashells, bizarre stones and snags, pieces of colorful glass polished by the sea...
Some of these things bear the mark of the power of aspects.
A Shark's Tooth the size of an arrowhead (Aspect Edge 1) p. - 1 Fund. Colored Glasses (Aspect Lanterns 1) p.- 3 funds.
Very Rusty Dirk (Aspect Edge 2) p. - 3 Funds.
[X] (T) Sale! You have a whole pile of things to sell. It would be a good idea to trade them in for jingling coins and rustling papers. But first, you'll have to drag them to the market and spend a few hours in the cold square waiting for buyers. Requires 1 pass, odds of success distributed (separate d4 for each unit of Junk, d100 for "Graphomania").
Sales rolls:
Junk 1: 2 (1 funds)
Junk 2: 1 (0 funds)
Junk 3: 3 (2 funds)
Junk 4: 3 (2 funds)
Junk 5: 4 (3 funds)
New picture: 4 (1d5) (3 funds)
Graphomania: 65 (1d100) (5 funds)
Some of the junk you collected is worth money. Something is worth almost nothing.
And yet, all together it brings in more than half of what you've been able to accumulate in the last couple of months. I was especially pleased with the painting which sold well. It's far from your best work, but it's much more rewarding than The Fixation. After all, the money you get for it can be spent on something useful.
The antique graphomania also managed to sell well - despite a warning about its worthlessness, the book was purchased by a dried-up old man in old-fashioned glasses. It seems that he was only interested in the age and condition of the book, not in its contents, which seems rather strange. But in any case, money never smells.
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