Turn 14
* * *
Time passes, and the shadow on the sundial moves...
???: 35 Did the rumor reach them..?
[X] Accept the outstretched hand.
Standing side by side as equals is not so bad. Until you realize that someone is more equal after all. (Opportunity to initiate a commodity-money relationship with the Donovan cult, to exchange services and information. Hand washing hands, that sort of thing... Until it smells fried.)
During another lunch break, you find Donovan with the help of one of his followers, and inform him of your decision. With a big smile, he claps you on the shoulder and promises you won't regret it. Unfortunately, he doesn't have time for a more in-depth conversation right now, but you have a lot to agree on in the next few days
Also, your father finally returns from a business trip, and you get a chance to discuss face-to-face those topics that you didn't dare trust to paper or phone communication. When you meet him at home upon his return from school you don't immediately realize what exactly has changed about him. Only sometime later you realize that it is not King who has shrunk, but you have grown during his absence.
Whether it's the training, the knowledge, or the lucky heredity, you've almost caught up with your father in height and muscle mass. You're probably ahead of your father in the latter - King's not the most athletic man.
* * *
Most of the snow melted and flowed down the storm drain into the ocean.
It's a rare oddball to leave the house in winter clothes. Your father is back in town from a business trip. He won't be here long. (-1 mind action per move for study, +1 funds in the pocket every 2nd school week)
You have three body actions (B), four mind actions (M), and four passion actions (P). You have 38 funds at your disposal (all available savings).
Influences:
- Encouraged Vitality - The blood sings in my veins! Any job I can do! (+10 to body rolls) 2 Lv.
- Bright Enlightenment - Enlightenment is near! The light of the mind is getting brighter and brighter! (Bonus to Study rolls. If you fail, it can turn into a Fascination.)
* * *
Turn 14 Results
* * *
Humming a sticky tune under your nose, you fill your diary with the achievements of the past week. And there are... a lot of things to fill in. Like what you learned from Donovan about the occult forces in the city. Or the gradual changes in the alignment of factions in the city and the school. Or the pleasant surprise of the latest volume of "Dreams..."
But it can wait a little longer! Leaving the boring papers on the table, you get up and start circling the room in a kind of dance that moves between waltzing and tap dancing into something in between, but no less exciting and fun. For you.
"Greg! Stop trashing the attic right now! There's whitewash coming down! You're cleaning it up!"
"Yes, Mom!"
* * *
Influences:
- Encouraged Vitality - The blood sings in my veins! Any job I can do! (+10 to body rolls) 2 Lv.
- Bright Enlightenment - Enlightenment is near! The light of the mind is getting brighter and brighter! (Bonus to Study rolls. If you fail, it can turn into a Fascination.)
Work:
[X] (B) This body is my 3.
Requires 4 passes, chance of success60%. (On completion of +1 body action, increased vitality)
Required: 40. Roll: 91 + 10 (Decreasing Growth Burst) + 10 (Encouraged Vitality ) + 10 (Gym Pass) + 7 (2d6 (3,4) Words that Walk) = 128 Crit!
You work out at the gym, as usual, it would seem, but with your newfound knowledge, everything seems... easier. Quietly humming the rhythm to yourself, you not only catch your breath faster between sets, but you can do more exercises at a time. It's been a long time since you've felt such a qualitative improvement!
You feel that you should definitely try to get more Knowledge of the Heart, because this aspect looks much less difficult to understand than many others, and at the same time has a very clear benefit, an unquestionable benefit!
Receiving the Body Trait: 100! Natural Crit!
Received: Trait "Natural Development (B)" - It's as if your body wants to get better! What comes to others with hard work is just a matter of time for you. (+ 5 to actions for body development and healing. The number of actions needed to reach the next stage is reduced by 2 for each of the following stages)
[X] (B) Mastering the Edge. The Art of Falling.
One pass are required, with a 70% chance of success. (Upon completion, access to the next stage, improvement of combat statistics)
Required: 30. Roll: 87 + 5 (Stronger Physique) + 10 (Encouraged Vitality) + 4 (2d6 (3,1) Words that Walk) = 106 Crit!
In your last class on the art of not getting killed on the spot, you demonstrated everything you could learn, and even a little more than that.
To say that Martin was impressed by your progress is to say nothing! Even after the end of the lesson, which you met on your feet (which has never happened before), your teacher talked about something with the owner of the gym. It's hard to know what exactly he was talking about, but in the bits and pieces you heard, there was something about a "promising guy" and a "personal disciple". You wonder what exactly was meant by that.
From this short trauma reduction course, you've been able to learn several important lessons, the most valuable of which you consider this one:
The best fight is the one that never got started. Because if after your first attack the enemy can still somehow respond - then you've done something wrong! Oh, and learning not to break half your bones when you fall was useful, too!
Received: Lessons in Survival! (+5 to rolls for possible injury, +5 to rolls to check the severity of injury)
The next step of the action is open from the next turn.
Influence Encouraged Vitality develops to the next rank.
[X] (P) The creation of art.
It takes 1 pass, and the chances of success are 80%/60%/40%/20%/5%
Required: 20/40/60/80/95. Roll: 6 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 10 (WildImagination) + 5 (Painter) + 5 (Good Paint Set) = 29 Pass.
You have too much to do this week to devote enough time to painting as well. And when you pick up the brush, your mind keeps returning to other activities. True, you do finish the painting, but it's far from your best work. An ordinary beach landscape, painted with careless strokes, it seems so... flat and flat that it just doesn't compare to your past works.
In your haste to sell this work before someone sees it, you get such a ridiculous sum for your work that it's barely enough for your school lunch. However, the price corresponds to the quality, so you can't complain about that.
Roll 1d3 for the cost of the painting: 1 (gained 0 funds).
Dream:
[X] (P) Way: The Wood. I've learned the path to the Wood, tangled darkness that grows around the walls of the Mansus (thought the Mansus has no walls). I can Dream with this to return to the Wood. Requires 1 pass, 90% chance of success.
Required: 10. Roll: 60 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Initiate) + 12 (3d6 (4,2,6) Ecdysiast's Parable) + 10 (Wild Imagination) = 117 Crit!
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
In my sleep I came to the high jagged rock which is still called the Temple of the Wheel, though the hour called Wheel is long extinct. Another hand had scratched a secret in the black lantern on its flank. I burned that secret into my memory to preserve for waking before the Velvet came out of the velvet Wood-depths and erased it. The Velvet is jealous of her secrets.
Received: Knowledge of Secret Knowledge: A Furtive Truth, A detail smuggled in from an adjacent narrative. Don't speak this where you may be overheard. [Exploring with this scrap of knowledge may uncover secret locations in the Shires.] (Knowledge 2, Power 4)
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.
All is quiet at school. So far. True, there are almost no Asians among the students, and most of the Empire's neophytes are absent for far-fetched reasons, or none at all. To control the expanded territory, the Kaiser needs free fighters, which he gathers from wherever he can, replacing less valuable cadres. At least, that's the opinion of a lot of reputable users on the PHO.
[X] (M) Books are immortal memory.
- The Locksmith's Dream: Stolen Reflections by Teresa Galmier, volume 4. Requires 1 pass, 60%/10% chance of success.
Required: 40/90. Roll: 100 (Natural Crit!) + 10 (Notable Scholarliness) +10 (Bright Enlightment) + 6 (1d6 from " Watchman's Secret") = 126 Natural Crit+!
The fourth volume of Teresa Galmier's expansive work - no longer a discussion of the dreams of artisans, but a valuable survey of other works. The tone is calmer than that of 'Trespasses', but occasionally fearful, even paranoid. This volume was published in 1926 but almost immediately recalled and pulped by the publisher - at the request of the author or possibly the authorities, depending which story you believe. A few copies survive.
Teresa's reasoning is quite confusing, but it also carries real layers of valuable information: 'Janus is the Gatekeeper, the twin-god, the god that wounds, the presager of changes, the sun, the moon. So we identify him with the Watchman, the Twins, with the Mother, with the Forge, with the Meniscate and the Madrugad. He cannot be all these. Can he? The flamines knew the Church, knew the Dry Land, knew Elagabalus. Is he then synthesis? Or is he something else? In Gallaecia they called him Ianus Lamius, but the Obliviates are notorious for their slanders.'
'Janus has, they say, not one face but two. To which I reply: why only one? Why only two? Hersault and Coseley - according to Thomas Love Denman - once agreed that Janus was 'all the gods and none'. But later, Hersault insisted he was 'all the gods', and Coseley favoured simply 'none'. Denman was a sinister dilettante, but this rings true of them both.'
In some places, you have to seriously strain your brain, as the author's reasoning begins to touch the works of other occultists with whom you are not familiar. Some of the names you encounter are written down in your diary for further research.
In the second half of the book was a strange bookmark made of heavy cardboard, like some kind of stencil with markings. Each hole was dotted around the edges with ink as if someone had painstakingly and painstakingly painted over what was in the cutout. It's unlikely this thing was just lying there, so you added a note about having to deal with it.
Received:
Knowledge of Lantern: An Unmerciful Mantra. 'Mercy', saith the Watchman, 'is found only in shadow.' (Knowledge 3, Power 6)
Knowledge of Moth: An Ecdysiast's Parable. The Ecdysiast's Riddle is 'What may be lost?' Each Ecdysiast's Parable is an attempt to answer the Riddle. (Knowledge 3, Power 6)
Mysterious stencil (can be explored).
Influence Bright Enlightenment develops to the next rank.
[X] (M) Mastering of the Craft. You'll need more than a little arcane knowledge to make special items. Of course, you can always leave that to the people who have the right hands... When you have them among your followers. In the meantime, it's worthwhile to improve your own skills in manual labor. Requires 1 pass, 60% chance of success. (On completion, a crafting item will open.)
Required: 40. Roll: 32 + 10 ( Notable Scholarship) + 10 ( Bright Enlightenment) + 17 (1, 6, 5, 4, 1; from Silver Quill trait) = 69 Pass.
You finally succeeded in completing something that had been so long delayed! Whether it was your past failure, or whether other things took precedence, it doesn't matter. Now that you've passed the initiation of Forge and felt the heat of transformation, your hands are reaching out to try to transform something! And now you finally know-how! Well, on a basic level...
It will be a long time before you dare to forge anything on your own, but crafting with easier-to-handle substances like wood shouldn't be too difficult if you try hard enough. You can't wait to pick up your tools and Change something!
Received: Ability to craft (+ new action options) The next level of skill ( study).
Conversation:
[X] (P) Candidate Recruitment.
- King Vader. Your father clearly has a penchant for the Knock aspect and has probably heard something about the secret part of the world. Or knows someone who has.
Before introducing him to the cult or initiating him into the plans, you should make sure he has a positive attitude to the idea. Requires 1 pass, 75%/10% chance of success.
Required: 25/90. Roll: 31 x 0.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 10 (Wild Imagination) + 10 (Kindred Soul) + 3 (1d6 Locksmith's Secret) = 38 Pass.
You start the conversation from afar, probing the ground, and at first, it doesn't go... very well. Perhaps this time your emotion didn't play the best trick on you, or King, as a man of similar temperament, was too resistant to your conviction. But over time, thanks to your hard-earned Locksmith's Secret, he has thawed out and become more receptive to new ideas (especially since he had heard something similar once before, but unfortunately didn't remember).
With this Knowledge, he will be able to visit Mansus on his own, and, if a schedule could be agreed upon, you might well see each other in your sleep to exchange information. This could be quite useful, especially if your father manages to stumble upon some Knowledge or other valuable information. It would be more difficult with items and reagents...
Perhaps, while he's still here, you should create a cult and bring King under oath. That way there would be less doubt about his loyalty to your plans. After all, older people often have a tendency to get into hiccups about what should be done, based on the idea of the wisdom that comes with age.
(Received supporter: King Vader. When a cult is created, it will be possible to dedicate him).
[X] (P) Interesting rumors.
Required: 35/??. Roll: 68 x 0.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 10 (Wild Imagination) + 14 (+ 3d6 (5,5,4) Ecdysiast's Parable) = 58 Pass.
According to rumors circulating the school, some new guys have replaced the ABB dealers who were put out of business. Their quality of goods is worse, but they do not charge high prices. The reaction of the Imperials to the arrival of the newcomers is not yet clear, especially since they're mostly focused on racial minorities, and don't get involved with whites (read: the Imperial talent pool, according to Kaiser). How this will affect the school's still unstabilized political environment remains to be seen. The school administration, as usual, is unaware of anything or turns a blind eye to what is going on.
Received: Information about the new faction?
[X] (B) Ball Game. As it has occurred to you before, playing together will not only help build up your relationship with the Donovan cult, but it may also help you learn news, rumors, or even some of the little secrets...At worst, it will just be a game, well what could go wrong? Requires 1 pass, 70% chance of success.
Required: 30. Roll: 43 + 5 (Stronger Physique) + 10 (Encouraged Vitality) + 7 (2d6 (2.5) Words that Walk) = 65 Pass!
What do the heartbeat and the thunder beat have in common? It's hard to say right off the bat, but sometimes it seems as if there is no difference between them at all. Especially in moments of intense tension, when you are trying to keep up with athletes who are at best equal to you, or even superior in the physique.
Although the game is played in a fairly friendly atmosphere, that doesn't make it any less tense. By the coach's last whistle, your jersey could be wrung out, and your uniform as a whole would need at least a liter of perfume to stop exuding the persistent smell of sweat.
Afterward, under the faint spray of cold school shower water, you notice something strange: that haunting tune Donovan mumbled under your breath as you walked by. It's like it's ingrained in your memory, and now you can hardly bring yourself to stop humming it. It doesn't seem like a bad thing; on the contrary, the motif makes the fatigue in your muscles recede...
Received:
Influence: Trembling Airs. The toes tap. All is brisk and all is well. [The influence of the second level: obvious to the susceptible, instantly recognized by the knowledgeable.] (Power 2) - 2D6 to the lowest action roll, whose principle is the same as the principle of influence. Can be used in some rituals to summon underlings. It works from the next turn.
[X] (M) A heart-to-heart talk. Donovan knows more about the occult than you do. I don't know how much more, but the fact that your knowledge of the underworld is at least nine decades out of date speaks for itself. I don't know anything about the local situation. You really need that information. One pass is required, 75% chance of success.
Required: 40/90. Roll: 96 + 10 (Notable Scholarship) + 10 (Bright Enlightenment) + 5 (Initiate) = 121 Crit!
After the game, barely out of uniform, the captain of the school football team, and also the most influential occultist in the school, invites you into the back room for supplies. If it weren't for the growing confidence that this is his standard meeting place, you might suspect your interlocutor of some nefarious agenda.
After a brief conversation designed to clarify the depth of your occult knowledge, you conclude that the difference between you is not so great. And that's when the real conversation begins.
"As far as the school was concerned, it was pretty simple: no occultists had been noticed among the local factions, which were mostly gangs. Sure, there might be some who use a few little secrets without realizing what they're really dealing with but that's about it." Donovan began his speech with a faint accent, making himself comfortable on the stack of mats. "Though I'm pretty sure there might have been a couple of parahumans among the students but that's rather conjecture."
"Aren't the parahumans...?" You twist your finger in the air with a profound look.
"No, lunatics in underpants over tights have nothing to do with the mysteries of Mansus. Their powers with the power of the Principles are as if they were in different worlds." The cult leader leaned closer and lowered his tone as if he were giving away some terrible secret. "I've heard experimenters tell me that the Parahumans can't even sense the Influences, though most of the uninitiated are capable of it."
He pulls back, assuming a thoughtful pose and an appropriate expression on his face drumming his fingers on his chin. Even with your semi-atrophied social skills, it's not hard to see that Donovan is trying hard to decide how much information to pass on to you. A few seconds later, having probably come to some conclusions, he comes back to life and focuses his gaze back on you, and a smile crosses his face. In the eyes turned to your face shines determination though it is not very clear what could cause such a flurry of emotions, and why you so clearly understand what exactly he wants to convey with all these expressions...
"As for the city," Donovan said, leaning in close, "I know of two more or less large organizations of devotees. You see a lot of pale men in the local cemeteries, covered in fresh earth, and eyewitness accounts say they're cold. I don't know what they call themselves, or how many of them there are, and I don't want to know. It is more expensive to mess with corpse-eaters."
If I remember the Predecessor's notes correctly, Winter's cults are dedicated to the principles of silence and end, but their purposes may differ... It is one thing if they are trying to turn their Master into a Ghoul, and quite another if the bodies actually serve a different purpose.
"How do I know they're not loners?" He asks, reading something on your face (really, you're just trying to comprehend his words, and at the same time move away from the older guy who almost bumps into you), "Well, let that be my little secret!"
"There's also a crowd of people with butterfly imagery: badges, prints, tattoos, all kinds of crap..." Donovan adds to his story with active gesticulation, using his hands to represent something between a butterfly and a flying bird. "Except they're not really butterflies, they're colored moths. These guys like to go out into the nearby woods and get high on some crap. I'd even take them for regular junkies if I could trace their gatherings even once."
Moth. A moth is a bad thing. You never know what to expect from those dedicated to the Principle of Chaos.
"Well, that's about it," the leader of the now friendly cult ended his story with a show of hands. "If you don't think about some of the loners my boys have met, the occult underbelly of the city is made up of these kinds of personalities. I have to go now, but if you have any questions - come to me!"
You leave the storeroom after thanking him hastily, trying not to show your excitement. The information about the cults operating in the city is of particular interest, but no less interesting is the identity of the cult leader you already know...
Received: Information about factions - Cults of the City (Heart, Winter, Moth) related actions will be available in the next turn.
* * *