Turn 9
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Time passes, and the shadow on the sundial moves... The influence of Mystic I provokes a roll!
Results: 53 (threshold 5). Nothing so far.
Once you have a gifted follower, you increasingly return to the idea of founding a cult. But in order to do so, initiation to the Principle is essential. And there's a bit of a catch: Of course, you've always dreamed of power and immortality, but higher knowledge sounds pretty good, too. And even human sacrifice isn't too disconcerting - after all, there's plenty of human garbage in the bay...
Also of concern is the decreasing stack of unread books.
Each one promises new secrets of superpowers, but there are simply too few. You need more folios. More!
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Ordinary school days were starting. In the case of Winslow High, it was a boiling 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 study, +1 unit of pocket funds every 2nd school week)
You have two! actions of the body (T), three actions of the mind (R), and three actions of the passion (P). You have 17 funds (all available savings).
Influences:
- Vitality - The drums in your ears. You can work better. (+5 to Body rolls) 1 Lv.
- Enlightenment (+5 to Study rolls. Can turn into a Fascination if it fails) 1 Lv.
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Tip of the day: If you walk past a beautiful official-looking building and hear the cries of martyrs and the laughter of the Dark Gods know that the call center is located there. (I also now know exactly where I won't work for any paycheck...)
Regarding mystics: For each mystic available, a roll is made at the beginning of the turn. If you roll a number below the threshold, you have attracted unnecessary attention. A Mystic exists for two turns. But. If you get a Notoriety, then: A) M. Threshold is increased by 10 for each N, and B) All Mystic lives 1 turn longer as long as there are Ns. Notoriety lasts 4 turns.
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Turn 9 Results
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Twirling a pen in your hand, you can't concentrate on the journal open to the week's recap page while your elusive gaze keeps returning to the densely packed painting in the dark corner of the attic. Your new vintage lamp provides just enough light for the coffee table, while the rest of the room is plunged into an ominous gloom.
After the recent seizure, there is still a ringing in my head and some emptiness. It doesn't feel like it's going to go away anytime soon. Maybe you should rest more next week.
As you put your pen back over the page, you catch yourself staring at the painting again. Even wrapped in several layers of packaging, it, or even the memory of it itself, continues to affect the mind of the beholder. Perhaps something should be done about it. Having a suitable place outside the house would help a lot with the storage of such things...
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Influences:
- Vitality - The drums in your ears. You can work better. (+5 to Body rolls) 1 Lv.
- Enlightenment (+5 to Study rolls. Can turn into a Fascination if it fails) 1 Lv.
- Mystique I (provokes checks at the beginning of each turn, attracts unwanted attention if it fails)
Work:
[X] (B) This body is mine. 2 All these rites and rituals are quite traumatic, not to mention sacrifices. Yes, and some knowledge, as well as much more than some practices, hurts the one who learns and performs them. You need a much more resilient and strong 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 a lot with that. Requires 2 passes, odds of success 70/15%. (On completion, +1 body action, vitality boost)
Required: 30/85. Roll: 13 + 10 (Decreasing Growth Burst) + 5 (Vitality) + 10 (Gym Pass) = 38 Pass!
And fifteen! - With trembling hands, you return the barbell to the rack under the watchful eye of the coach. This is the third attempt today, and probably the last because your muscles are already quite sore. Getting out of bed tomorrow will be a real torture, but the results are visible to the naked eye: you are gradually gaining muscle, and in a couple of weeks you will already look like an amateur athlete, which is no small achievement for yesterday's semi-recluse.
You might even consider asking a local veteran, or even the owner, for a lesson or two. The only thing stopping you is that they're unlikely to take you seriously or charge you more than your meager budget can afford. Maybe once you've become a bit more well-known, it'll be easier to get with one of these helpful people.
[X] (B) Garage junkets. Speaking of junkyards. Since you don't have a basement in your house, because of the proximity of the aquifer, the main place to store all sorts of useless stuff that you feel sorry to throw away is the garage.
You can also look for useful things under the pretext of cleaning, and maybe find some tools or materials. If you understand something after a cursory reading of the diary - both are never superfluous. Requires 1 pass, 80%/20% chance of success.
Required: 20/80. Roll: 42 + 5 ( Vitality) = 47 Pass!
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
A few free hours after school and part of the weekend you spent dismantling the junk that had piled up in the garage. Among the old garage sale items and forgotten tools there were some interesting, but unfortunately not at all abnormal things. So you requisitioned a lamp in the form of an antique lantern and what was once a wood carving tool set for the attic. Subsequently, someone decided to expand it, adding a few oddly shaped chisels and half-crafted bent iron of unclear purpose with traces of heating.
I also managed to pick up a few sets of old clothes that fit you, so you could walk around the back alleys of the docks without attracting the attention of the local gangs. Among other benefits, there were a few crumpled bills in the inside pocket of one of the jackets, which made a nice addition to your savings.
(Obtained: Toolkit for carving (opens the action of crafting after Mastering of Craft knowledge without the cost of tools); Hobo outfit - camouflage clothing, turning the dressed in the invisible man (+10 to the rolls for the options Search the city and a Reliable place. Only for poor neighborhoods!); Funds - 2 units; Junk for sale - 5 units (may be worth something when selling at the flea market); Visibly cleaner and organized garage (in the absence of Linda you can try to conduct some ritual in it, although in the attic is still more convenient))
[X] (P) The creation of art. Your parents and teachers have mentioned more than once that you're not a bad painter. You've indeed been neglecting it lately, but getting an album and paints out of a drawer is a minute's work. And although the painting will take a long time, if you put the picture in a frame, it can try to sell. And you'll need the money and a lot of it. Requires 1 pass, chances of success 80%/60%/40%/20%/5%.
Required: 20/40/60/80/95. Roll: 86 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Vivid Imagination) + 5 (Painter) + 5 (Good Paint Set) = 144! Supercrit!
You don't remember exactly what happened. The last memory of a piece of text crawling into your head through your eye sockets contradicts the laws of reality and common sense. It also gives absolutely no answers about what happened afterward.
Apparently, hours after this event, you woke up on the floor in front of your finished painting with your face covered in blood and paint. Judging by the smears on your skin, you used the blood oozing from your eyes and nose to dilute the paint, which is disturbing in itself. That just looking at the painting made it ooze again from the barely crusted ducts is far worse.
After all, you managed to turn the painting back against the wall before it could do anything unnatural to your mind. The fact that you were able to get away from it without any help at all is regarded as a small miracle. Removed from the easel for framing, the back of the canvas revealed a vast patch of primer detailing a scattering of assorted eyes and a single inscription:
Fascination.
Well, the title is as good as any. And it's also done in bright scarlet, with a fair amount of blood. So symbolic!
Obtained item: Picture Artifact "Fascination". Power of Aspects: 3 Lantern, 3 Moth. Can be used in rituals, but increases the chance of failure. (In case of "Horror" influence, a new voting option will be available: "Neutralizing by Fascination")
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. Repetitive action, 90% chance of success.
Required: 10. Roll: 84 + 5 (Scholarship) + 5 ( Enlightenment) = 94 Pass!
Out of boredom and because of the primitiveness of the knowledge taught at Winslow, you easily complete any assignment with the highest marks. This does not go unnoticed: the teachers were so surprised by your academic performance that they made a series of tests trying to catch you cheating. There have also been a few dozen of odd looks from other students, but exactly what they mean is still unclear.
You've also noticed that you get pushed around a lot less in the halls, although this is more likely due to your increased body weight. But nerd calls are much more frequent but less and less to your face. Linda enjoys good grades and occasionally orders pastries to celebrate your progress.
[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?
- "Traveling at the Night," by Christopher Illopoli, volume 3. Requires 1 pass, 75%/15% chance of success.
Required: 25/85. Roll: 3 + 5 (Scholarship) + 5 ( Enlightenment) + 5 (1d6 from " Watchman's Secret ") = 18 Failure.
As soon as you began to study the last volume of Illopoli's work, you were forced to interrupt by... The incident with the painting. As a result, the whole mood was shattered, and you discovered with dismay that you don't remember at all what it was about. The notes about the text in your work diary made almost no sense, which may be evidence of the accumulation of the condition to the point of a breakdown, rather than a sudden seizure, as you had previously thought...
Either way, work on the book will have to start from scratch, and you can only wonder what else was lost in the seizure.
[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% chance of success. (On completion of +1 sense action, creativity boost)
Required: 40. Roll: 1 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain)=~2 An almost natural critical failure! (Except for natural, bonuses don't count)
Attempt to correct: 11 (22/2 from Creation of Art crit) + 5 (Enlightenment) = 16 Barely.
Once again, while rummaging through the planet's garbage dump called the Internet, you stumble upon something called "art brut". Interested in styles, unlike any other trend, you click on a link to one of the popular articles. In retrospect, you can safely conclude that this was a mistake.
...Romantic artists relentlessly painted images of madness. They began to depict feelings, feelings of the soul, anxiety, desire and drama. "Crazy Kate" by Heinrich Füssli tells the story of a maid who goes mad after her fiancé is killed at sea. Delacroix depicts a distraught Medea about to kill her children. William Bouguereau has the Furies driving Orestes mad. Otto Dix also has several works on the theme of madness.
No disease has been portrayed as often in the history of art as madness. The disease inspires artists, but it also inspires madmen themselves. Some of these artists were visionaries, but were they insane, the author asks? They suffered from visions, and their art (especially that of the surrealists) was a reflection of their unconscious. They wrote very differently because they were far from a rational view of the world, creating hallucinatory works.
William Blake in his lifetime was considered peculiar, eccentric, perhaps even...
This is IT! ThAt's thEReazon! It MightBEWHatyOuNeed!
Received Psychic Trauma: Feeling Depletion (-1 action of Feeling until healed)
[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 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 2 passes, 60% chance of success. (On completion of +1 mind action, increase in erudition)
Required: 40. Roll: 19 + 5 (Enlightenment) = 24 Fail.
After the recent incident with the psychedelic text, and the subsequent creative seizure, it's amazing not that you couldn't focus properly on developing your mind, but that you managed to keep it at all. Sometimes staying on one's own is a win that many dare not hope for.
Conversation:
[X] (P) Conversation about... Your friend, Sparky, has a talent for the arcane arts. Not that you approve of the Principle he's inclined to... A full initiation requires a cult, and until you are united by a common oath, it is dangerous to entrust him with the Secret Knowledge, but it wouldn't prevent you from discussing the general situation with him. Perhaps Sparky will be able to give some sound advice... 1 pass required, chances of success ???%.
Required: 100/90/80/70/60/50/40/30/20/10. Roll: 7 x 1.5 (Emotional Fountain) + 5 (Vivid Imagination) = 16 Quite of pass...
"Auuuu Ehhh...."
Even after the new picture was draped back up, it took you almost fifteen minutes to bring Sparky to consciousness with a lot of kicks and slaps (and some very cold water and a lot of cursing). He stopped bleeding from his eyes almost immediately, but the nosebleed didn't.
But in spite of his condition, you couldn't help but ask your friend: what does he think of your work?
"What do you think of the painting? It's cool, isn't it? Think about making a print with it on a cape, or even getting a tattoo... If it's in pieces, then the master probably shouldn't get stuck."
"S-s-s-awa a-a-you-h-h-h!" Shaking, Sparky muttered from the floor.
"What's that? Speak up, I can't understand you!"
"Bu-urn tha-t shit!" Ahem. Well, that's some advice.
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Attention!
Because of the presence of a dangerous artifact in the vicinity, a special vote is taken:
[X] Leave the painting. Add a couple of layers of wraps and stuff it away in a closet until needed (will be taken out of the house and re-hidden in a safer place at the earliest opportunity)
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