Turn 17
* * *
"Time passes, the shadow on the sundial moves."
??? (d20): 84 Everything is quiet, everything is calm.
Last week's acquisitions finally got rid of a considerable amount of money that had been gathering dust in your pockets. In exchange for the crinkling paper and the jingling coins, you've got a lot of treasure that will soon have to be put to good use, preferably before the tingling heat in your gut finds an unwanted outlet.
When you put the three books you'd bought into the closet (with some hesitation, the notebook was counted among the carriers of knowledge), you laid out the remaining items in front of you, examining them as carefully as you did all the other receptacles of the power of Principles that came into your possession.
A fragment of walrus tusk nearly ten inches long, about both ends of which you could easily cut your hand, matches up perfectly with the shark tooth you keep in the suitcase - both bones, teeth, and from the sea. There's a theme to this that you can definitely work with. Especially since there's no need for metal work when working with them.
The candle can be used by incensing in the ritual for the sake of obtaining the necessary saturation of the Moth aspect. Although, at this moment, you are more intrigued by its composition and whether it is possible to replicate it somehow. And why do you need some root instead of a wick?
The key doesn't look anything special, with no fine embossing or particularly elaborate beard structure, but that's only until you carefully erase the patina from a small section of the ring. It looks very much like silver. Most likely an alloy, of course, but even so, the material alone is worth more than you paid for it. Good buy.
The last piece is of most interest: A small tambourine with a membrane almost destroyed by entropy. Oddly enough, it is the only worn part-the base of the tambourine consists of elaborately carved and connected fragments of reindeer antler, covered with fine carvings. The images are small and hard to see, but it looks like some dancing or hunting... It's worth thinking about replacing the membrane with something more decent, and then the tambourine can be used again.
After putting everything in its place, you took out your diary and began to make a plan for the well-timed vacation.
* * *
The temperature has finally reached a decent above-freezing point, and you can show up outside in a light sweatshirt without much risk of catching a cold. King Vader went on another business trip, carrying the mark of your cult and the promise to search for the resources the cult needs: Reagents, receptacles of arcane knowledge, and materials. Spring Break has begun at school.
You have four body actions (B), four mind actions (M), and four passion actions (P). Cultists may perform one action from a special section. You have 16 units at your disposal (all available accumulation).
* * *
Influences:
- Visible Vitality - Heartbeats like thunder! (+15 to body rolls) 3 Lv.
- Evident Enlightenment - There's more and more glare on reflective surfaces! I can see not just normal light, and it's noticeable. (+20 to the Study rolls. May lose 1 or 2 steps or, in critical failure, degenerate into a Fascination) 4 Lv.
- Trembling Heat. - The possibility of sparks.[Sixth-order influence: Impossible to mix up. Can be used in some rituals to summon underlings] (Power 6) - - 6D6 to the body action roll, whose principle is most similar to that of influence.
* * *
Turn 17 Results
* * *
When you list all the events of the past week in your journal, you clearly realize that things are going well for you. Yes, because you're not alone, and you're not just taking care of yourself. Steady progress on all fronts makes you one step closer to your ultimate goal every day.
You got the first artifact. What's more, you didn't get it from a dusty refuge where it had been for centuries, and you didn't even take it from another initiate, you created it with your own hands! What is more, it is a useful item that will not only help you in battle but also come in handy in the rituals of summoning spirits from Mansus!
If King were here, you might even be able to summon Hint, if only at the cost of some wounds... The other spirits of the Abode could also be summoned using your new athame, but not yet enough knowledge of the rituals and principles.
You consider looking for rituals more reliable than the Rite of the Crucible Soul. you know, which may be good for the Ascension of the Forge but is unsuitable for use regularly without an endless stream of followers.
* * *
Influences:
- Visible Vitality - Heartbeats like thunder! (+15 to body rolls) 3 Lv.
- Evident Enlightenment - There's more and more glare on reflective surfaces! I can see not just normal light, and it's noticeable. (+20 to the Study rolls. May lose 1 or 2 steps or, in critical failure, degenerate into a Fascination) 4 Lv.
- Trembling Heat. - The possibility of sparks.[Sixth-order influence: Impossible to mix up. Can be used in some rituals to summon underlings] (Power 6) - - 6D6 to the body action roll, whose principle is most similar to that of influence.
* * *
Work:
[X] (B) This body is my 4.
Requires 8 passes, 50% chance of success. (On completion of +1 body action, increase vitality)
Required: 50. Roll: 83 + 10 (Decreasing Growth Burst.) + 15 ((Visible Vitality) + 10 (Gym Pass) + 5 (Natural Development) + 6 (2d6 (4, 2) Words that Walk) = 129 Crit!
This time, you seldom have to replace the weights used by the other visitors when working in the gym. Considering that all or almost all of them have had time to serve in the military, have considerable experience, and have been training regularly for at least a dozen years each, you can become involuntarily proud. But you don't have to be. Because the skill of the soldiers is based not so much on their strength, although that too is important, as on their technique and combat experience. The very components you lack.
"I see you're lost in thought again, aren't you, Greg?" Martin popped up behind me, wiping off his wet hair with a towel. Just when you were trying to squeeze out that last approach.
"H-h-h-h! I work to the bone!" You objected angrily, swallowing precious oxygen.
"Oh, now that you're pretty chipper, let's do a couple more rounds, and then we can spar!" The coach cheered, and, whistling, went to the second floor.
"Yes, Master."
You really hope that the squeaking sound was caused by worn and unlubricated parts of the simulator and not by your teeth. You don't need to spend money on a dentist to get your teeth fixed.
[X] (B) Mastering the Edge. How to Make a Fist.
Requires 4 passes, 60% chance of success. (On completion will receive a trait combat statistics, + open access to the next stage, +variable)
Required: 40. Roll: 78 + 10 (Hardened Physique) + 15 (Visible Vitality) + 4 (2d6 (2, 2) Words that Walk) = 107 Crit!
You keep getting tossed and kicked all over the gym, but it seems to be harder now than in the beginning. Indeed, it's mostly due to your increased body mass, rather than any great skills you've gained. If it weren't for continued training in fighting skills, you'd think you were being used as a self-propelled punching bag.
Some visitors encourage you with shouts and other expressions of encouragement during the class. It sounds like you're slowly becoming part of the group in some way.
Received: ??? 2/3.
[X] (B) Sheltering. During your search, you came across a vacant warehouse in surprisingly decent condition for many years. With some effort, it can be tidied up and arranged to become a proper cult shelter. Three passes are required, with an 80% chance of success.
Required: 20. Roll: 26 + 10 (Hardened Physique) + 15 (Visible Vitality) + 7 (2d6 (1, 6) Words that Walk) = 58 Pass.
With the help of a few five-liter bottles of water, a mop brought from home, and hard work, the warehouse is slowly stripped of years of dirt. Of course, the procedure has to be repeated more than once, because the dust that has been lifted by your actions settles on the walls, floor, and ceiling, resulting in a cleaning that resembles the agony of Sisyphus.
Strange as it may seem, the wide webs of spiders web stretching from the height like an artificial sky help a little: everything settled on it winds up coiled into one big and disgusting tangle. You didn't even have to use fire cleansing, though there were fears about the necessity of such an approach when characteristic shells with an hourglass pattern were found among the cobwebs and chitin that lodged in the ground.
In the end, most of the dirt and debris were removed, but there is still a lot of work to be done to bring the room to a minimum acceptable level of livability.
[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: 14 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 10 (WildImagination) + 5 (Painter) + 5 (Good Paint Set) = 41 Pass.
This time, probably thanks to your project to create your first artifact, another attempt at drawing have resulted in an underwater landscape.
Light sand, a small coral reef, lots of small motley fish, jellyfish, and polyps... In the distance, behind a vague thickness of water, silhouettes of huge sea predators, monsters, and shapeless monsters from the edge of sanity can be guessed. True, it is possible to consider them only with a rich enough imagination, well, or megalohichthyophobia with bathophobia.
Probably. Most likely.
After taking a closer look at the picture, you decide to leave it for a while to make sure there are no unwanted side effects. You don't want to end up on the PRT lists because of a stupid accident and your inattention.
(No profit roll, the picture is left for inspection.)
[X] (B) Creating Things. Now, after a long study of creation methods, acquiring the Knowledge of the Forge, and dedication to the Principle of Flame Transfiguration, you finally consider yourself qualified to create artifacts! Not the most powerful ones, of course, but can you transform fragments of the power-bearing Principles into a new, functional whole? Yes, it's up to you! Requires 1 pass, the chances of success depend on the complexity of the product. (The ordinary tools you assemble in your garage are enough to work with raw materials of power level 4. The skill is insufficient for working with metal. Selecting the item will attempt to combine 2 materials of the same principle into a functional whole, or turn 1 of the materials with a reduced chance into an artifact. Recipes and omakes in the comments may or may not affect the choice of materials and the resulting item, because the Creation is a creative process!)
Required: 60. Roll: 73 + 10 (Hardened Physique) + 15 (Visible Vitality) + 5 (Initiate) + 10 (3d6 (6, 3, 1) Shaping Chant) + 17 (6d6 (2, 4, 2,1, 4, 4) Trembling Heat) - 1 (1d6 (1) Rank of one material exceeds its aspect knowledge) = 129 Crit!
Using a vise and a hacksaw with the thinnest blade you could find, the tusk was carefully sawed along the central axis. The fragile central part was removed and set aside to polish the saw cut, preparing the separated parts for the foregone reunion. The outer side of each half was subjected to even more careful treatment: some material was removed to give the future blade a plane, and at the edges, it was ground to create a sharp edge.
Using the same hacksaw, along the edge of the future blade there were made triangular hollows in the shape of pin inserts, into which most of the shark's tooth was divided. The tip of the tusk with a longitudinal protrusion took its place in the very tip of the future knife, giving it additional sharpness and durability.
After the assembly, accompanied by the firm recitation of the TShaping Chant, it was time for an even more delicate and complex process: using a set of chisels and a magnifying glass, the plane of the blade was gradually covered with a pattern of intertwined sea predators, both living and extinct, or maybe never existed. The ledge of the blade, under careful movements of the incisor, turned into the tail of a sea serpent, whose torso was braided around the hilt, and whose head took the place of the honorable backstrap.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Just when you had finished the finishing touch, putting aside the sanding paste and the brush with the remnants of the glue-varnish made of crushed bone scraps, the smithy's influence in your soul reduced its heat to smoldering embers. On the contrary, the blade that came out from under the hands of the diligent craftsman, as if illuminated with inner flame, the patterns came to life for a moment, moving, and the previously divided bone suddenly began to feel not as separate components, but as a single monolith, fused by a common essence...
Received:
- Influence of the Forge: Rising Heat (Spent the same turn for the Rise of the follower).
- Artifact "Fang of the Deep" ( Edge 3/?) - Atham, carved from a sharp fragment of walrus fang, inlaid with fragments of shark tooth and decorated with convex patterns in the form of sea predators.
The blade is much sharper and stronger than it should be, and the wounds it leaves have a jagged nature, as if from the teeth of a saw, though the blade is perfectly smooth. There is a sense of anticipation from the artifact, which seems to intensify with sufficient tension of the corresponding aspect...
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: 74x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Initiated) + 10 (Wild Imagination) + 19 (4d6 (3, 6, 4, 6) Moldywarp Admonitions) = 145 Crit!
You walk again between the scarred trunks. The moon moves somewhere behind the branches, but its fingers keep tracing your hair. You stumble over the roots. You want to get down on all fours to more easily avoid the low-hanging branches. Somewhere deep in the night, pale wings flutter.
"Last night I came in the Wood to the high jagged rock called the Temple of the Wheel. Its flank, patched with black lichen and eye-signs, opened like a mouth beneath my hands, and I walked in the whispering space within. The Gods-who-were-stone, the first of the Hours, are almost all gone now, but here their voices remain: Wheel, Flint, Tide, the others without names."
Your ears still echo with the voices from the grotto, and you see visions of pale, immovable men wrapped in shrouds like shrouds, silently praying for the names of the gods who are gone, standing in a dark grotto covered with candle burners. You remember them, unlike the faces of the pale servants who dream dreams and remember names. But what you remember best is the feeling that allowed you to open the grotto, because it was not a simple action, it carried the weighty echoes of a power that tolerates no limits or locks!
And while your hands are remembering the stone underneath them, and your mind is filled with the revealing knowledge that has come so conveniently, in a semi-somnambulistic state, you reach into your suitcase and pull out a small box without a lock or hinges. Your fingers find a thin slit (which definitely was not there before), removing the detachable lid, and your gaze is opened to the hidden contents...
Received:
- Subtle Flaw. Laces uncoil -- windows swing open -- locks move as if oiled. [Second-order influence: obvious to the susceptible, instantly recognized by the knowledgeable. Can be used in some rituals for summoning underlings] (Power 2) - Expended to perform bonus action.
- Due to the accumulation of the necessary power of the Knock aspect (and serious critical success), the bonus action "Open the Box" was performed for free.
- The contents of the box - Artifact ??? (will be known at the beginning of the next turn).
Study:
[X] (M) Books are immortal memory.
- An unsightly notebook titled "Research Diary. The handwriting is sloppy, but readable. You can sense the scent of adventure. Requires 1 pass, 80%/10% chance of success.
Required: 20/90. Roll: 81 + 10 (Notable Scholarship) + 20 (Evident Enlightenment) + 8 (3d6 (3, 1, 4) Unmerciful Mantra) = 119 Artificial Crit!
You eagerly start studying a curious notebook, bought the day before at a flea market from a suspicious follower of the Winter aspect. In the beginning, there is nothing special, a few lists of some items of most tourist use, a couple of vague sketches... But after a couple of pages something interesting begins: Apparently, the former owner of the notebook was an experienced digger, exploring the dungeons in search of secrets and possible valuables.
The first half of the records describe rather mediocre raids into the Brockton Bay storm sewer, intersecting in places with older tunnels:
"How? There is not a single mention of the older structures in the records or on maps from the archives! The current storm drain was built in exactly the same place as the last one, as part of a plan to upgrade the sewage treatment plant back in the first half of the last century. The smugglers' tunnels are much farther north; it makes no sense to lay them so far from the port, from the coast. I'm afraid to even think how much it would cost to build something like that in secret! The masonry is very dirty and uneven, it's hard to tell if it's concrete or stone..."
Having marked the tunnels for further exploration, the author of the diary follows the intended route, exploring the sewers, where he encounters fragments of human remains several times, and also picks up a brand-new leather wallet (completely empty, of course). With each page you turn, you feel the approach of a fragment carrying the power of Histories, which feels much more vivid than other fragments of knowledge in the books you read, though the tension remains just as faint.
Finally, almost at the end of the diary, an anomaly appears: There are notes on the pages, but they are in two layers as if the author forgot that he had already written on this page. The first version of the entries tells how the explorer went on an expedition to check the tunnels he had discovered towards the city center, where he soon stumbled upon a heavily rusted steel door (which, was discovered through some simple calculations and archive searches, which led to the basements under the old city hall). The next day, the digger explored the opposite direction, and there the tunnels turned to the northern docks, where through a door forged of rebar in an inconspicuous dead end, they connected with the already mentioned smugglers' tunnels.
In another version, written down much more illegibly, on the first day the digger chose the opposite direction, and something went wrong... Usually, his notes were more like notes to a map, with coordinates, directions and signs of places visited, but this time they took on a character more befitting a diary. And the first words on the page were the lines:
"... There's a hell of a lot going on. The damn corridors loop like intestines, and yet both my compass and my sense of direction assure me that I am moving almost in a straight line. It doesn't look like a magnetic anomaly, is my device broken, or have I inhaled some gas? Attempts to go back by the marks did not lead to anything, the line was broken, the charge of the flashlight is running out, and soon I will be left with one dynamo. The humidity was gradually increasing, condensation was trickling down from the walls. The masonry looks older with every turn, it is harder to breathe. What depth am I at anyway? No slope was felt, but in this cursed city, it was enough to go down a couple or three meters to find me below sea level. Up ahead I could hear sounds reminiscent of music, or maybe it was just a rat squeak. We'll have to check it out."
At this point, both parts of the entries break off, and the last pages are waterlogged but unequivocally blank. You don't know which version of the diary story corresponds to the one you're in at the moment, but for your own peace of mind, you decide to think that the digger just threw away the tainted diary when he transferred all the useful notes to a new notebook. That eccentric African-American just pulled it out of the trash, not plucked it from the cold, dead hands of his future dinner party. Yes, that's how it happened.
Received:
- The Old Tunnels Expedition Site.
- Enlightenment increased by one level.
[X] (M) Fresh air and exercise. Since you've taken up dumbbells, it's a good idea to know exactly how to use them correctly. The school warm-up may be enough for the first time, but then you'll need more serious exercises. Breathing technique, proper diet, effective equipment... It's worth pulling up the theory. Requires 1 pass, 80% chance of success/???%. If successful, it gives +10 to training throws until you reach the next step or ???
Required: 20/90. Roll: 10 + 10 (Notable Scholarship) + 20 (Evident Enlightenment) + 6 (3d6 (2, 3, 1) Unmerciful Mantra) = 46 Pass.
A few pamphlets on the right training regimen, some advice from Martin looking at you strangely, a couple of pages of excerpts from all-knowing Internet forums, and here you have a plan for the right diet, training schedule, rest periods, and so on. It is normal that this should have been done in the beginning, even before the active training regimen, but somehow it all turned out on sheer enthusiasm.
Now you know that you can develop better than with occasional bursts of motor activity, as you did before. Otherwise, not much has changed, because you haven't made any special mistakes. Some changes in your diet, a couple of vitamin supplements, hardening...
Received:
- "Workout Plan" - a comprehensive plan for proper nutrition, workout schedules, rest periods, and the like that visibly improves workout results. (permanently +10 to the "This body is mine" action)
[X] (M) Interaction Analysis. Not long ago you found out that there was something wrong with the recruiting methods you were using. In the past, you've been guided by recommendations from your diary about attracting interesting candidates and a couple of training from the web, like "How to Make Friends?" or "Management for Beginners." Maybe you should try reconsidering your methods... 1 pass is required, 25% chance of success.
Required: 75. Roll: 43 + 10 ( Notable Scholarship) + 20 ( Visible Enlightenment) + 8 ( 3d6 (2, 3, 3) Unmerciful Mantra) = 81 Passage!
The result of your research on the failures to recruit followers was an unexpected conclusion: you don't know how to communicate with people properly. You and most of the human masses are simply on different wavelengths, you have different interests, desires, social circles, and so on. And everything would be all right if a person originally had a tendency to mystical practices, but this trait is inherent in an offensively small percentage of all mankind.
But even to recruit even a small fraction of that percentage, you will need something to hook them. A fragment of Knowledge that the candidate has an aptitude of course is good, but, alas, not enough, as practice shows. You need to learn how to captivate your interlocutor without revealing secrets. To correct an unfortunate defect in your socialization.
Received:
- Options for the "Oratory Courses" project
[X] (M) Reveal revealing knowledge. There are gap spells in which the pauses between words are as important as the words themselves. When something is revealed, we learn its essence. Now is the time to learn more about the Knock.
Requires 1 pass, 70% chance of success. (Two Knock Knowledge fragments will turn into one - more powerful "1D6 => 2D6")
Required: 30. Roll: 2 + 10 ( Notable Scholarship ) + 20 ( Visible Enlightenment ) = 32 Pass. (Barely made it...)
At a certain moment you were almost sure that to correctly comprehend the Revealing Knowledge you would have to open yourself up in some way (and your hands even reached for sharp objects a couple of times), but thanks to the timely insight you managed to get by without such drastic measures as well.
Later, when another plunge into the vestibule of Mansus occurred, culminating in the exploration of the Temple of the Wheel, the possession of the completed Knowledge of the Second Rank Knock came in handy, allowing you to finally open the box of the Predecessor that had been cluttering your eyes all this time.
Received:
- An Iguvine Rite: Every door in the Mansus requires its sacrifice before it will open. The Iguvine Rites prescribe the manner of the sacrifice. [Nearly every summoning rite requires Knock influence. This lore will provide it.] (Knowledge 2, Power 4)
Conversation:
[X] (P) Conversation about... Your friend, Sparky, has a talent for the arcane arts. Not that you approve of the Principle he harbors a penchant for... A full initiation requires a cult, and until you are united by a common oath, it is dangerous to entrust him with Secret Knowledge, but it would not prevent you from discussing the general situation with him. Perhaps Sparky will be able to give some good advice... And perhaps it will be more useful than the last one. It takes 1 pass, chances of success ??? %.
Required: 100/90/80/70/60/50/40/30/20/10. Roll: 9 x 0.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 10 (Wild Imagination) = 14 Pass.
Sparky cautiously stepped around the easel, looking through his fingers at the fresh painting.
When, a dozen seconds later, he still hadn't collapsed in convulsions, the anxiety subsided a little. The work was subjected to a more serious examination.
"I don't know, it looks like a picture, with all sorts of fish floating around. I saw something like that on TV when they showed a documentary about Australia. What's it supposed to do?" Still fearing a catch, your friend asked.
"Well, actually, the point is that she doesn't have to do anything. It's just a painting, for sale. And if she just happens to be doing something, and I happen to be out of the loop and sell it, that becomes a problem."
Sparky raised his eyebrows skeptically, but he moved closer to the canvas, almost scratching it with his nose, and spent a good five minutes examining every detail. Finally, pulling back, he gave his verdict:
"There doesn't seem to be anything like that. A picture is a picture, nothing to do with that brainwashing crap. There's no shame in hanging it on the wall."
"What about the silhouettes?" Just in case, you asked.
"What silhouettes?" Sparky squinted suspiciously, turning away from the painting.
There was a tense silence for a few moments, as everyone in the room waited for the other to admit that the last phrase was a joke.
"Oh, nothing, I guess," you grinned nervously, getting ready to turn your easel against the wall.
"No, wait a minute," Sparky got wary of something, "What are these silhouettes, what are you talking about?!"
By clutching at the sleeve of your homemade sweater (your favorite, with the pokeball), which was starting to crack menacingly, he still managed to convince you to let him take another look at the painting.
"It's just murky figures in the background," you grumbled grudgingly, fixing your skewed clothes. "I wanted to make some kind of sea monsters floating there, whales, krakens, dinosaurs and all the other chthonic stuff... Well, it didn't work and it didn't work, to hell with it!"
During your tirade, you did not immediately notice that your friend, looking at the picture, gradually turned pale and gray, and his pupils narrowed into dots. You noticed what was wrong, and you tried to distract him with a gentle nudge on his shoulder, making sure that the slightly frightening blank stare moved smoothly from the painting to your face.
"Dude, I hate you. Fuck you and your paintings. I can't go within a mile of the sea now!"
After giving your friend some tea and cookies, and discussing with him the novelties of the game and movie industry (about which you, due to your busy schedule, knew less than usual), you managed to restore his good spirits, as a result of which the incident with the picture was almost forgotten. It was only in the evening, as you were getting ready for bed, that you remembered that in a burst of inspiration you had added to the primer the remnants of bone glue and ground bone, which were superfluous in the creation of the Athame.
Received:
- Sparky got a slight phobia about the sea, and now he's wary of looking at your paintings (though he'll probably do it anyway out of curiosity)
- The "Coastal Reef" painting is considered safe and will be sold when the opportunity arises. (The painting can cause fear in impressionable and observant people, though it is not considered fully abnormal. Rarity rating +1)
Travel:
[X] (P) A walk along the Boardwalk. Walk through the tourist center of Brockton Bay, and gaze at the ship's graveyard and the power-domed Protectorate headquarters on a tower in the middle of the bay. See how the visiting bigwigs spend your family's monthly income at a time in brand-name boutiques and trendy cafes. Or just breathe the sea air in pleasant surroundings. Requires 1 pass, 75% chance of success. (can bring a positive influence, giving an increase in some dice in the next turn, random encounters are possible)
Required: 25/??. Roll: 38 x 0.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 10 (Wild Imagination) = 29 Pass.
As usual, the Boardwalk is crowded with moneybags, stopping in town to take pictures with the capes in front of the Protectorate Tower, surrounded by a force field. Perhaps, after buying souvenirs at exorbitant prices, they will also go to the Docks in search of less legal entertainment, and from there (if unlucky), to the city's famous medical facilities.
You don't care about any of this. Any Brockton Bay resident of decent enough appearance can visit the Boardwalk without fear of Enforcers from private security, prone to breaking the limbs of unpresentable-looking visitors to their area of responsibility so that vagrants usually get the idea the first time they enter the city's tourist mecca that it's not worth it. But few go to the coast other than for the PRT, Wards, or Protectorate PRs every few months because the views get boring and the prices here are simply unaffordable.
You walk back and forth for nearly half an hour, staring at the tourists and breathing in the air that reeks of rotting algae. Another Wards PR patrol of Vista and Aegis passes nearby, and you try to get close to the gathering crowd and get a whiff of the Principle in them. Nothing. Nothing at all.
With mixed feelings from the confirmation of Donovan's hypothesis, you return home without even trying to get autographs, which you certainly would have done before you found out about the Abode. On the one hand, time is not wasted. If the Parahumans were peculiarly mystical and High, Ones everything would be much simpler and clearer... What is the source of their power? How do they get it? Unverified Internet rumors have no basis in evidence, and to know more would require direct interaction with the Cape.
Received:
- Food for thought.
- Contentment - I'm happy, I think. (next week's Trouble Roll will have a lower threshold).
Cult Affaitrs:
[X] (Linda, Lantern) Ascension. Kneeling as a new convert, your follower will rise as an adept. You will personally take her oath. (Due to insufficient power of the Forge due to insufficient Knowledge and lack of Influence or artifact, 1 Bronze Spintria will be used, or if none remain 1 Bitterblack Salts) You may use available Forge Influence. Requires 1 pass, 80% chance of success.
Required: 20. Roll: 10 + 5 (Initiate) + 9 (3d6 (5, 1, 3) A Shaping Chant) + 5 (2d6 (4, 1) Rising Heat) = 29 Pass
Once again the smoke-soaked attic, lit by the few candles and the heat of the embers. Kneeling as a neophyte, your follower rises as an adept. You personally approve her vows.
"I am dying. I am born again. I burn my skin with fire and let them recognize me by these marks. I give myself to the flames, and I swear that I will accept any rebirth without a shadow of fear."
Received:
- Linda Vader, now an adept ( Lantern 5). Linda likes to look for hidden meanings in books and read between the lines. Recently she found the author's deep personal tragedy in a cookbook. Her discernment is noticeably higher than that of the average person.
* * *