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[Bowlie]

No no no, the golem is going to punch both the arrows midair with enough energy to dimensionaly displace them, going right into Shorn's eyes and killing it. We live happily ever after the end

Nah, as both arrows scrape the last rune Shorn foolishly tries to incorporate Deken's golem's parts and energy to its own suit as it gets hit, to no avail.
When the dust settles down we see only one suit, bigger, bulkier and stronger than before. Deken makes it wave its hand to us with ease. All is fine and we get a new weapon.

Chapter 2: The Newtype Awakens

 

[Jintor]

Ｉｔ　ｎｅｖｅｒ　ｒａｉｎｓ　ｂｕｔ　ｉｔ　ｐｏｕｒｓ，　ｈｕｈ？

With my arms raised I feel my left grow colder from the blood loss (2 dmg taken).

I mime stepping each of my feet forward in turn, slowly at first, pointing the golem in the direction of the cavern mouth. The rhythm of my feet are picking up speed now, my second body rippling with extraordinary energy. Closing my eyes I feel the locations of the two burning flames of runic energy. I put my suit on a collision course with the other, raising my right fist and hurling it forward as the two are about to impact.

Hack and slash I'm assuming? 5+6+?=11. Taking the extra damage for exposing myself. 2+9=11

The suit towers above Thrakdur. The First of Many, says the voice, and then there is a wild pounding of feet. A second suit slams into the Avatar, fish slamming into the heavy metal helmet, visibly denting it, grill crumpling from the impact. As it reels back, the Avatar catches its footing, twisting its stance, and drives a perfect fist straight into the Golem's chest. Don't interrupt! the voice demands. Deken, your golem takes 1d10+2 damage, and you feel/take half of that, rounded down.

The two golems about to clash, I stand a few meters away, machete at hand, and wait for the perfect time to carve the final rune up.

I look around at the scene, knowing my brothers in arms won't last a great deal longer. This needs to end soon. As I watch the great creature, I take notice of the rune on its elbow and knock another arrow. Aiming directly at the spot, following it with my eyes as it moves, I loose the arrow with hope that it strikes true.

(5+5)+2=12

Damage: 8

As the two suits clash in front of me, I use my own blood and draw the circle of Shandur, the embrace of Unod, and the star of Arkahz on my chest.

I use my axe to push myself back to my feet then let it drop and draw my bow aiming for the final rune.

Is he far enough away for me to use it? If so:
(6+3)+1=10 Dmg=4+2=6

As it does so, two arrows dart in simultaneously, striking the exposed, extended elbow of the Avatar of Shorn. The rune shatters, cracks - and then, for half a second, nothing happens.

Then the fine latticework of shining cracks across the Diving Suit begin to glow, increasing in brightness and intensity, spreading quickly and intricately like cracks across a breaking ice shelf, and the entire thing begins to crumble - flaking away, rusted and ruined, leaving behind only a firey, crimson glowing shape where the suit was. It is fuzzing around the edges, and it is clearly beginning to fade even as you watch. But it is still there.

Oh, this will NOT DO! says the voice, and the crimson, vaguely humanoid shape turns to Thrakdur. DROWN AND DIE, it says, and blurs, and suddenly, Thrakdur you find yourself hanging upside down, suspended by the leg from one of the Avatar's crimson hands. DROWN and DIE!

What do you do?

With the loss of the suit, the Avatar of Shorn loses all damage resistance, armour, and will take 1hp damage per 'turn'.

 

[sproutella]

Taking (7+2-3)/2 = 3 damage

I feel the wind knocked out of my lungs, and then the intensity of the power of Shorn's Avatar magnifies, burning like a torch in my consciousness.

Shaking off the pain I turn the Golem toward the Avatar and attempt to wrap my arms around the torch.

 

[justjim89]

"I think NOT!" I growl as I draw my shortsword and take a leap towards the creature's arm holding Thrakdur. I swing for the fences, aiming to sever the arm or save my companion. Both, if possible.

(3+1)+1=5

Oof. Sorry, Thrakdur. Maybe Waymore tripped?

 

[Bowlie]

Have to act quickly. Unfaltered by the transformation, I take advantage of my position and get close enough to the demon to cut one of his legs as Waymore comes from the other side of the room.

Defy Danger, 2d6+INT. (5+6) + 1 = 12, Damage = 5

edit: oops, didn't see your post Jim
I could edit back since you'll probably fail, but that's kinda cheating

 

[Jintor]

Taking (7+2-3)/2 = 3 damage

I feel the wind knocked out of my lungs, and then the intensity of the power of Shorn's Avatar magnifies, burning like a torch in my consciousness.

Shaking off the pain I turn the Golem toward the Avatar and attempt to wrap my arms around the torch.

What is your intention or aim that you hope to achieve by grabbing the Avatar of Shorn?

Have to act quickly. Unfaltered by the transformation, I take advantage of my position and get close enough to the demon to cut one of his legs as Waymore comes from the other side of the room.

Defy Danger, 2d6+INT. (5+6) + 1 = 12, Damage = 5

edit: oops, didn't see your post Jim

How does your book-learning or intelligence come into play when avoiding the danger of the Avatar of Shorn?

 

[sproutella]

What is your intention or aim that you hope to achieve by grabbing the Avatar of Shorn?

To make it an easier target.

 

[Bowlie]

By the rules, it sounded like choosing an action quickly in front of a dangerous situation. I may have misunderstood and thought it could apply to any kind of action, even the ones that do not require brain power. If it's just DEX to see an opening and move fast...

Defy Danger, 2d6+DEX. (5+6) + 0 = 11

 

[Jintor]

To make it an easier target.

Sounds like an aid roll to the next person to make an attack on the Avatar of Shorn. Roll it!

By the rules, it sounded like choosing an action quickly in front of a dangerous situation. I may have misunderstood and thought it could apply to any kind of action, even the ones that do not require brain power. If it's just DEX to see an opening and move fast...

Defy Danger, 2d6+DEX. (5+6) + 0 = 11

Hmm, looking at the description I think I'll give the original roll of +INT to you; DEX seems to be for when the actual doing of the action is difficult, while INT is for when the challenge lies in thinking up a strategy quickly enough.

 

[sproutella]

Sounds like an aid roll to the next person to make an attack on the Avatar of Shorn. Roll it!

2+1+mod= 3 not sure what modifier to use but doesn't seem to matter here.

 

[Tubobutts]

Seeing my chance as Waymore attacks, I grab an arrow as it falls from my quiver and jam it into whatever part of the Avatar I can reach, hoping to free myself as it's distracted

Im not sure what kind of roll this would be. Defy Danger with Dex?

(5+2)+1=8

Uh oh

 

[Jintor]

2+1+mod= 3 not sure what modifier to use but doesn't seem to matter here.

Mod is +Bond and you have 1 with Thrakdur, so... yeah... 4. Whelp!

Seeing my chance as Waymore attacks, I grab an arrow as it falls from my quiver and jam it into whatever part of the Avatar I can reach, hoping to free myself as it's distracted

Im not sure what kind of roll this would be. Defy Danger with Dex?

(5+2)+1=8

Uh oh

Which leg do you like better, Thrakdur, your left or your right? Actually that's a bit much for a partial success. Let me think about this for a bit.

Okay, how about this - you can stab it but you won't escape, or you can escape but you won't get to stab it. Which is it?

 

[Tubobutts]

Okay, how about this - you can stab it but you won't escape, or you can escape but you won't get to stab it. Which is it?

I'll go for the escape

Free from its grasp, I scramble over to where I dropped my axe and pick it back up.

 

[Jintor]

Taking (7+2-3)/2 = 3 damage

I feel the wind knocked out of my lungs, and then the intensity of the power of Shorn's Avatar magnifies, burning like a torch in my consciousness.

Shaking off the pain I turn the Golem toward the Avatar and attempt to wrap my arms around the torch.

2+1+1= 4

"I think NOT!" I growl as I draw my shortsword and take a leap towards the creature's arm holding Thrakdur. I swing for the fences, aiming to sever the arm or save my companion. Both, if possible.

(3+1)+1=5

Waymore leaps as the Golem lumbers up to grab at the Avatar, which reaches out with its other glowing hand towards Waymore. It's like hitting a wall of solid air - a wall of solid air which grabs you bodily and hurls you at the approaching Golem. Waymore, take 1d10+2 damage as you bounce off the stumbling Golem and crash to the ground.

Have to act quickly. Unfaltered by the transformation, I take advantage of my position and get close enough to the demon to cut one of his legs as Waymore comes from the other side of the room.

Defy Danger, 2d6+INT. (5+6) + 1 = 12, Damage = 5

Your machete slices through the figure's burning legs, encountering no resistance, but the sparks dance and whirl on the blade and the glow of the figure itself diminishes somewhat. Stop!, the voice cries, as...

Seeing my chance as Waymore attacks, I grab an arrow as it falls from my quiver and jam it into whatever part of the Avatar I can reach, hoping to free myself as it's distracted

I'll go for the escape

...Thrakdur flails wildly with a spare arrow. The Avatar shifts out of the way, and he collapses in a heap in the sand, scrambling up and grabbing his axe.

This was NOT an optimal outcome, sighs the voice, and the Avatar blurs again and suddenly it's above the Golem, both arms above its head in a prospective hammer blow of destructive proportions.

What do you do?

 

[Ultimate_Trainer]

Ein, heal 2hp from your soothing cream, and you are bleeding in a corner out of the way. What do you do?

I sat down and try to cut off my right sleeve in order to make a makeshift bandage for my wounds and apply them. While doing so, I quietly and softly hum the tenor line of Gemini Dance to myself. I wouldn't be in this bad of a mess if I practiced more.

 

[justjim89]

I recover to my feet, though not without difficulty. My chest heaves as I struggle to fill my lungs with air again.

"Now I remember..." I mutter, panting "why I don't like direct fights."

 

[Bowlie]

"I swore to get rid of you. Begone!" I yell as I reach the demon one more time, climbing the golem's legs, and hit his head with my club.

Damage = 2

 

[Tubobutts]

With the Avatar distracted by Serrick (and presumably in melee with Deken's suit) I draw my bow and let loose another volley.

(3+2)+1=6, nope and also that's a failure with the bow so I assume it's broken forever now.

Also I've come up with some more Steppelander mythology stuff and maybe a reason some tribes would follow Shorn which I'll post if we don't die and then I'd have to start making up a new character instead.

 

[justjim89]

Panting, wheezing through broken ribs, and spitting up blood, I gravely mutter "Oh, to hell with this!" and again take a dashing start towards the beast and attempt to run it through directly through the center of its mass.

(4+5)+1=10

Damage=6

 

[sproutella]

This was NOT an optimal outcome, sighs the voice, and the Avatar blurs again and suddenly it's above the Golem, both arms above its head in a prospective hammer blow of destructive proportions.
What do you do?

Stunned at the sudden sensation of the Avatar above my Golem-body, I raise my now sore arms above my head, attempting to break its attack.

Defy Danger + Str. 5+1+Mod = 6+mod. How do you want to use Mods for the golem? is it my STR? or the golems? or like my ability to control the thing so wis/int? or should it just be unmodded? This roll is the one where it matters so far

 

[Jintor]

I sat down and try to cut off my right sleeve in order to make a makeshift bandage for my wounds and apply them. While doing so, I quietly and softly hum the tenor line of Gemini Dance to myself. I wouldn't be in this bad of a mess if I practiced more.

As figures struggle and battle in the shadow of the bloody cavern, Ein winces as the blood soaks into the rough cloth. Ein, heal 1hp; the soothing cream's effect is expended for now.

Stunned at the sudden sensation of the Avatar above my Golem-body, I raise my now sore arms above my head, attempting to break its attack.

Defy Danger + Str. 5+1+Mod = 6+mod. How do you want to use Mods for the golem? is it my STR? or the golems? or like my ability to control the thing so wis/int? or should it just be unmodded? This roll is the one where it matters so far

What we're really measuring here is your ability to take the force feedback of the suit, so it's your STR mod - minus 1, I believe?

The Golem's metal wrists take the Avatar's vicious strike, eldritch crimson energy flaring off the sparking, twisting metal. Deken feels his skin begin to blister and bruise, even shielded, from the power of the blow. Deken takes half 1d10+2 damage rounded down thanks to magical sympathy.

With the Avatar distracted by Serrick (and presumably in melee with Deken's suit) I draw my bow and let loose another volley.

(3+2)+1=6, nope and also that's a failure with the bow so I assume it's broken forever now.

The arrow goes wide and your bow snaps like a twig; even greviously injured, you are simply too strong for this crudely-hewn thing. Luckily you don't hit anybody else.

"I swore to get rid of you. Begone!" I yell as I reach the demon one more time, climbing the golem's legs, and hit his head with my club.

Damage = 2

Panting, wheezing through broken ribs, and spitting up blood, I gravely mutter "Oh, to hell with this!" and again take a dashing start towards the beast and attempt to run it through directly through the center of its mass.

(4+5)+1=10

Damage=6

The Golem reeling from the strike, the Avatar of Shorn reaches forward, blazing fingers attempting to dig into the armour of the suit itself, when it suddenly seizes up and stops moving entirely.

Oh, poppycock, says the voice, Waymore's sword through the central core of the Avatar and Serrick's club embedded deeply in its 'head'. This is most inconvenient.

And then, quite undramatically, it... fades entirely. The sword and club loose all resistance and fall to the floor; the Golem stumbles backwards, freed from the Avatar's grasp. There is a single lasting glimpse of the figure's glow, fading back into the darkness, and then it is gone.

You have defeated the Avatar of Shorn. Congratulations!

You are in various states of distress, but the surface of the water has quietened, and no sound but your ragged breathing fills the cavern. The bats have returned to less active quarters or are perching upside-down on the roof. What do you all do?

 

[Bowlie]

Yessssssssssssssssss, you got me hyped with this one Jintor

"I-... Is it over?"

After hearing Deken's confirmation, I immediately drop my weapons and lay down on the ground breathing heavily, feeling the earth, smiling to the bats above and closing my eyes for some seconds.

 

[sproutella]

Deken takes half 1d10+2 damage rounded down thanks to magical sympathy.
What do you all do?

Take 3 damage from the strike

feels skin begin to blister and bruise

I scream from the phantom pain of the delivered blow.


Regaining my composure and feeling the presence of the demon fade from the immediate area, I allow the magic tying me to the golem to fade (or just fall apart, wasn't really my choice).
First, I limp from the circle, the less time spent in there the better. I make sure the link between me, the spirits and the golem is as closed as it possibly could be from my end.
Second, with my arm growing colder from loss of blood, I do my best to tie a proper bandage.
Third, I slowly make my way to the mouth of the cave, hoping to see my companions in a better way than me.

I also look over my golem, with pride punctuated with disgust. I attempt to mop off the blood runes I painted on the creature.

"I-... Is it over?"

"For now, I believe so. This creature we faced won't give up on it's plans just with this setback we have handed it"

 

[justjim89]

I collapse to the cave floor, dropping my sword. My body aches all over, it's been quite some time since I've been in direct combat before this night. Rarely used muscles ache with familiarity, wounds sting as they touch my clothing. But we did it. And I take some small measure of pride in knowing I legitimately contributed and aided my teammates. As my breathing slows to normal pace, I sit up and look to the other faces. For a moment I smile, but my aching ribs prevent it from lasting long.

"Not... not half bad, gents..." I eventually say, pausing to spit up the bit of blood that's pooled in my mouth. "Though I could certainly find easier ways for us to make some coin." My attempt at a chuckle comes out as a cough. I look to Deken, then to Thrakdur.

"For... for those of us who may not have been following the plot... what does that spirit want with the Vasces? And what does that have to do with your people, Thrakdur?"

 

[Tubobutts]

The excitement of battle starting to wear I off, I look at Waymore my eyes still wide as he talks

"I don't... It was Shorn.." I say before falling silent.

 

[Bowlie]

I get up and see my friends talking, and remember they're probably in a worse situation than I am.

"The spirits in this cave told me there was a group of steppelanders working here like the Admiral said back at the city. A certain person told them the Vasces on the bay could help them achieving who knows what, but after they harvested a large amount they got stolen and murdered under this person's orders."

"The steppelanders' last words mentioned a man with dark skin and wearing patchwork clothing as responsible for their demise. And we've seen a man fitting this description in the past days."

I turn to Thrakdur:
"They also said these steppelanders worshipped Shorn. I thought your kin did not pray to him."

 

[sproutella]

The excitement of battle starting to wear I off, I look at Waymore my eyes still wide as he talks

"I don't... It was Shorn.." I say before falling silent.

"Yes, Shorn spoke to the horsemen. Led to them falling prey to this charlatan warlock Serrick speaks of. At the Koi the patch-clothed fellow seemed to be pulling quite a few strings."

 

[Tubobutts]

I turn to Thrakdur:
"They also said these steppelanders worshipped Shorn. I thought your kin did not pray to him."

I look at Serrick
"They don't. Not outside of stories to scare children. At least, that's what I always thought."

To the group:
"What do we do now?"

 

[justjim89]

"When we return to the city," I begin, leaning on my sword like a cane to get to my feet, "I'll ask around some contacts of mine about the patchwork fellow. As many pies as he has his fingers in, someone will know something. After we're paid."

 

[Bowlie]

"And we came here thinking of taking this fort to ourselves... Let's exit the fort and find a place to sleep outside; this place may be at peace but I still don't trust these walls and we surely won't be able to travel an entire day the way we are right now."

 

[sproutella]

"And we came here thinking of taking this fort to ourselves... Let's exit the fort and find a place to sleep outside; this place may be at peace but I still don't trust these walls and we surely won't be able to travel an entire day the way we are right now."

"Before I exit I must dismantle the magicks at work, you may leave me to my work if you wish.”

 

[Tubobutts]

"I agree, and we should tell the Admiral to destroy this place even after Deken tries to cleanse it.. At least we can take the horses as spoils."

 

[Jintor]

"Before I exit I must dismantle the magicks at work, you may leave me to my work if you wish.”

Just so you know, you're not going to run into any complications dispelling the place, apart from it being real gross. Though this particular cave is always going to be pretty good at amplifying... uh... magic.

Sounds like you guys want to get back above ground?

 

[Tubobutts]

Im for going back up unless someone else wants to poke around more. Thrakdur doesn't want to stay down here.

 

[justjim89]

"I'm all for camping well outside this fort. Don't even feel like looting the damn place at this point. Maybe after my ribs stop trying to tear through my sides." I lift my cloak and shirt a bit and inspect my midsection in the reflection of the water, wincing now and again as I move. Fighting is all well and good, even fun sometimes, but I've never enjoyed the aftermath. "Although I suppose leaving means we'll have to climb up those damned stairs, doesn't it?"

 

[Jintor]

Okay, so I'm going to be on mobile internet only for the next day or two so I won't be able to post really long stuff for a bit. Suffice to say that I think we'll wrap this episode here, yeah? Thrakdur, I assume you'll want to burn the bodies based on some previous comments. If there's anything important you want to do just post about it and we'll retcon what I write here to suit it.

You all (sans Deken) eventually clamber back up through the caves and the darkness to find yourself in the castle courtyard, where horses graze under the stars ignorant of the tremendous battle that had just occurred beneath their hooves. Though injured, you warily prepare yourselves to sweep the few remaining rooms before finding a place to shelter for the rest of the night. The guardsroom appears to have been converted into a temporary lab for refining vasces, but any vials or so on that was there is long gone. You don't find much of value - perhaps a handful of coins (someone roll 2d6) at most. And the equipment is much too heavy to move. But at least it's out of the wind, and the sky is warm and balmy.

In the caverns below, Deken finishes dispelling the last of the enchantments and watches the makeshift pyre crumble to ash. The power accumulated here will disperse naturally over time, he knows, and what few wards he has enough resources to construct will hold until it does. He checks the still waters one last time and clambers stiffly back up to join his fellows.

---

In the strange, watery darkness of the Space Between, blood floats languidly, drifting and cloudy, billowing outwards; for a split-second, it glows bright crimson, and is gone.

But, of course, there was no-one there to see that.

---

Thus ends Episode Two. Housekeeping time!

• Gain +1 XP for having learned something new and important about the world (At the very least about the existence of Shorn of the Seas)
• Gain +1XP for defeating the Avatar of Shorn
• Take a look at your bonds. If you feel like a bond has changed or been resolved in some fashion, post about it, delete the bond, and gain +1XP. (Max 1 bond) I think this time around this definitely happened, so I want to see some bonds changing or evolving!
• If you feel like your character has learned something about another character, you may write 1 new bond. (Includes characters you already have a bond with so long as it doesn't overlap on the previous bond).
• If you feel like you've taken a step towards your character's Drive in some way, post about it and gain +1 XP.
• If you haven't already, gain +1XP for each 6 or less you've rolled (More rolls meant more failures! Should be a stack of XP waiting for some of you cats!).

And, as always, feel free to talk OOC about how you felt about the game! I'm afraid our timezones meant that I got to interact a lot more with Thrakdur, Waymore and Serrick and less with Ein and Deken, but it seemed to work out mostly alright.

 

[Tubobutts]

Ok, so the way I see it for now at least is I have 3xp for three failures, 1xp for the Avatar, 1xp for learning something new (Since I already knew about Shorn can I count learning that Steppelanders who worship him as their patron are real?), 1xp because I think taking part in defeating the avatar of an evil God would lead to people acknowledging my greatness, and 1xp because I think my bond with Ein changed in that he fought well and his suggestion of burning things down was the opposite of foolish.

Is that ok? I would have 9xp total and enough to level up.

Also I want to make sure to say that Thrakdur is going to want to take at least one horse.

 

[Jintor]

Can you rewrite that opinion of Ein into a sentence?

Take as many horses as you want and/or can justify. I'm not sure what you're going to do with them but hey we'll play to find out what happens!

Absolutely fine. Know how to level up? Check the book/site, should be fairly self evident. I'll chime in from mobile when I can.

 

[Tubobutts]

Something like: "Ein stood by my side against the demons and acquitted himself well. Perhaps he isn't as puny as I thought."
And if I made a new bond with him something like: I want Ein to sing the stories of my greatness."

I'll start looking at level up stuff.
Also some of the stuff is going to be hard to update on mobile so it might be a while until I can update my sheet on the Google doc
That was actually much easier than I thought it would be on mobile. The bad news is now I kind of wish I wasn't a Barbarian. And also I haven't really been using my appetite stuff.

 

[Bowlie]

Ending this,

As we enter the guardsroom, I search around for anything interesting and find 7 coins in one small drawer. I'll leave these to Deken when he gets back up, today he saved my life once more. I also leave the machete inside.
Take 7 coins, Deken.

Before sleeping I tell Thrakdur how he reminded me of a friendly spirit while climbing the walls next to us.

"Sometimes I feel like we're two beasts fighting together, and this time the feeling was so strong... If you don't mind, someday I want you to talk with them for a while. I know they would like you, and see what I see in you too. Good night, brother."

---

By that I want to delete my bond with Thrakdur and create another:
"I want to introduce Thrakdur to the wild spirits."

Maan, the skill that lets me talk with stones and trees sounds so stupid.

 

[sproutella]

Just so you know, you're not going to run into any complications dispelling the place, apart from it being real gross. Though this particular cave is always going to be pretty good at amplifying... uh... magic.

Sounds like you guys want to get back above ground?

Yeah this was totally just flavor stuff, Deken wouldn't leave a horrible sacrificial altar un-consecrated. The same with the auto-suits, he would de-magick those suckers until they no longer twitched.

I leveled as well, +2 for the episode, +1 for drive for slowing a demons entrance into the mortal plane (and for picking up a lead on a shady magician), +3 for misses I think.
I grabbed Arcane Ward, Contact spirits, and +Charisma (talking with a demon does that to you I guess).

I think I want resolve my bond with Serrick. Seeing the boy leave behind a few coins for him after the night's events makes Deken chuckle and shake his head and solidifies his feelings toward Serrick. "Precocious youngster, you don't understand with what forces we are meddling with do you," he thinks to himself. Based on Deken kind of getting worried about Serrick's use and (in his eyes) misuse of Serrick's burgeoning skills I'll make the new one:

My reliance on Serrick could get me into trouble.

Bowlie, let me know what you think of that, and we should also discuss our past together before the adventure. We have a little bit of a history and I have a couple ideas for stuff that happened between us.

I'm thinking that sometime during your time away from your family you ran into me in the woods. Maybe I was gathering herbs for medicine, with a sweating sickness spreading through the nearby villages I knew people would turn to me for help. You helped me pick out the right ones, and even helped me back at my place with the very sick who came to me. Maybe you showed me some weird blood ritual that helped people? Maybe we performed a weird blood ritual together to save someone gravely sick? Just going off what was in our original bonds.

 

[Bowlie]

Haha, I think that's a good way to change Deken's bond with Serrick. He's a young boy, raised in a simple family from a simple land. Living away from people's intrigues and evil in general, he's naive and can act rashly. He did fight a demon with a machete and a club without thinking of the possible consequences, and change into a moose in a cavern full of traps (in his defense he didn't know such things could even exist before Waymore pointed them out).
Just like he thinks Ein knows too little about wild things, everyone can think he knows too little about human things.

That's one of the crazy things about their relationship; they used to live in very different worlds, with different ages, experiences, knowledge, mindsets... and yet they're friends and trust each other. From Serrick's side, he probably treats him as a mentor with the utmost respect.

I like the background you wrote but Serrick would not know a thing about blood rituals. everything he knows comes from nature. If Deken came with this idea he'd probably believe in him and give his own blood. Of course, he did not mention his shapeshifting abilities to Deken at the time.

---

I leveled up too, and chose a healing skill. Everytime I deal damage to a foe I gain the ability to heal 1d4 damage done to myself or anyone as long as I touch them.

One thing that I don't know if it's good or not is that while in chapter 1 we were somewhat afraid to take actions, in this one we became bolder and had more crazy ideas.

 

[Jintor]

Maan, the skill that lets me talk with stones and trees sounds so stupid.

Oh, I don't know about that...

 

[Tubobutts]

My new move lets me chose something physical an opponent has and make them lose it if I roll 12+ on Hack and Slash.

The two things I would say are that I haven't been using my appetite stuff, but I'm not sure if I should have been and I kind of regret not going in a more armor focused direction since we don't have a paladin like we thought we would. The problem with what I picked as a starting move is that unless I can increase it through some sort of magical means, my armor won't ever be higher than 1.

 

[Bowlie]

Oh, I don't know about that...

They(them?) would surely have interesting things to comment, being alive for even thousand of years if possible. My problem is approaching them: I think I'd be fine talking with a forest spirit or a waterfall one, but a rock wall or a wooden gate? I don't know how to talk with man-made objects.

And there's the fact that I could change into them too, straight up camouflage.

Now I'm thinking of a move where Waymore shoots an arrow at someone and the arrow changes midair into me with a club ready to hit them.

 

[Tubobutts]

And Thing Talker lets you take World Talker which lets you turn into elements. Then we could shoot flaming arrows at people and the fire turns into you.

 

[sproutella]

I like the background you wrote but Serrick would not know a thing about blood rituals. everything he knows comes from nature. If Deken came with this idea he'd probably believe in him and give his own blood. Of course, he did not mention his shapeshifting abilities to Deken at the time.

The blood stuff is because I'm trying to make sense of tasting each other's blood - even if in the metaphorical sense.

Ok maybe I recognized you had some wild magic talent, and was helping teach you. Then some shit went down and we helped a bunch of sick people, culminating in us doing a bloody mending spell.

Maybe it makes more sense if Deken knows more about blood magic than I previously posted...
Like there's acceptable (read: what the university finds so) and unacceptable/outlawed (the kind used on the child in the story I wrote about).

Deken's magic involves using oneself as a resource, and I guess sometimes blood is that source. It wouldn't even be considered Blood Magic by his peers, just magic - although it is somewhat uncouth and messy. Proper Arcanists would conduct their magic with stone runes and elegant weaving, rather than the sloppy use of vital fluid.

 

[Bowlie]

Yeah, that's cool! I think my problem was with the word "ritual" really.

So they met and after seeing that Deken was willing to give his own blood to help people, Serrick gave his own too (to make it more potent, perhaps) and joined him, maybe even heading south together.

---

World Talker? Ooohh. What if I can change into a large amount of air in a closed room, and when enemies walk through me I change back and suffocate them?

edit: wait, then I'd suffocate too. I don't think I like this skill.

 

[justjim89]

Looks like I gained just enough XP to level up. I resolved my bond with Deken, since I returned his amulet to him. Not sure if I created any new bonds, though I suppose making it through that fight together was something of a bonding experience.

For my new move, I'm choosing:

Connections - When you put out word to the criminal underbelly about something you want or need, roll+CHA. On a 10+, someone has it, just for you. On a 7-9, you'll have to settle for something close to it or it comes with strings attached, your call.

Seems like it could come in handy for the information gathering we'll need to do.

 

[Jintor]

Connections - When you put out word to the criminal underbelly about something you want or need, roll+CHA. On a 10+, someone has it, just for you. On a 7-9, you'll have to settle for something close to it or it comes with strings attached, your call.

Eep. I just realised I essentially gave this move to everybody already with the custom Hit the Street move. Mind getting a different move?

/edit or it could be that I just allowed Hit the Street for that bit temporarily, while you get the specific version that you can use any time you're in civilisation. How's that sound?

One thing that I don't know if it's good or not is that while in chapter 1 we were somewhat afraid to take actions, in this one we became bolder and had more crazy ideas.

That's one hundred percent a good thing imho. I had no idea anybody was going to actually meet Shorn, let alone stab him, until Deken threw himself in the pool and I had to figure out what a logical and interesting consequence would be.

So yeah on your second campaign session you fought the avatar of a god. This never happened when I was playing D&D!