Sorcery! Quest

[Pipeman]

[X] ... Friends.

 

[Ephemeral_Dreamer]

[X] To find others like me.

 

[Disminded]

Friends​

"… Friends." You blushed as the word passed your lips. It wasn't like you. You didn't want friends, you wanted victims, targets and admirers. So what if you got a little lonely occasionally? You had the Hellfire to keep you warm.

"Friends?" The old man asked, a sneer coloring his voice. He glanced around his lab. It was a cluttered mess. Priceless arcane texts were strewn haphazardly about. Strange liquids bubbled in cauldrons or stream through glass tubing. A sack of semiprecious stones lay half open on the top of a workbench, it's glittering cargo spilled across the stained granite countertop. The walls were lined with shelves packed with exotic items: broken swords, splintered staves, rare herbs and flowers, dozens of bones that seem subtly misshapen, hunks of crystal and glass, a Jade statue that gleamed ominously in the spell-light of the lab, the flayed remains of a pixie held open by safety pins against an oaken board, a bloodstained obsidian knife… More things than you could count.

But it was empty of everyone but him and you.

"You've wasted your time, girl," the Old Man said, contemptuously. "You'll find no friends here."

You clenched your fists and glared at him. He looked back, unimpressed.

"Girl, you've spent the last seventeen years alienating everyone you've met with your magical tantrums," he said. "Students whisper stories about you to newcomers. Even those who've never met you are terrified of you. You have earned precious little good will at the Academy without even accounting for the hostility your bloodline inspires. What do you want me to do about it?"

You looked down for a moment, blinking away the tears that had gathered din your eyes. It wasn't your fault, you told yourself. You were a child. You didn't understand what you were doing at first, why the others acted funny when your magic ran wild. And then, later, when you understood, they were already afraid of you, shunning you, so you kept it up out of stubbornness and spite. It didn't help that your cursed blood already made people uneasy around you, like you were a rabid dog, just waiting to bite…

You swallowed, and forced your eyes up to meet the Old Man's gaze.

What did you want him to do?

[X] "I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."
[X] "I want you to make something that will hide my demonic aura."
[X] "I want you to make me a friend."
[X] "Nothing. I don't want anything from you."
[X] Write-in.



Note: Mildly disappointed that "To Find Others Like Me" didn't win. There's just so much room for interpretation when a demon-blooded says that. Also? One of these choices leads to crossover land, should you wish to tread there.

 

[iamnuff]

oooh...


"make me a friend" could end up with him making us some sort of homunculus or something.

or he might he tell us to make our own friends.

"send me far away" seems like a blatant plot hook...


Hiding aura could be useful, but everyone here already knows us then its pointless, unless we take that THEN go far away (which would require taking two options? unless we can leave later, which means there no point in leaving now, before we grab at all the shininess until we get our wrists slapped) .


sorta leaning towards friend, just to see if he CAN make us something.


Assuming he even wants to.

 

[Robotninja]

[X] "I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

 

[MrGazzer]

Wait wait.
Are you telling me we could have had this musical number?
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gotWYOs0jA&list=UUtMJqqWOjIJ0BgRD0oD2Mkg[/embed]

 

[Disminded]

Wait wait.
Are you telling me we could have had this musical number?

Click to shrink...

Yep. Except with hellfire. And more screaming. More Black Sabbath than Phil Collins, really.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

... and that's what I get for missing this for a day. Why did people think the ".. Friends" option would be a good idea when we're Demon-Blooded and talking to a guy who barely tolerates us? Are you people trying to turn us into some sad little girl looking for friends. I will again point out the Demon-Blooded aspect you all chose.

*Sigh* Alright. Moving on.

[] "I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

Blatant plot-hook. Also with that wording its probably him throwing us out via teleportation spell or something. The "away, far away" part makes this an obvious for the crossover. This could be good or bad depending on where we get thrown. Its a mystery box more than anything. Pretty sad that its also one of the best options.

[] "I want you to make something that will hide my demonic aura."
Useful, but ultimately pointless unless we also leave. Probably also takes away any of our benefits from our Demon Blood as well. So not just a "No", but a "Hell No!" (I made a funny)

[] "I want you to make me a friend."
The only other option that I see being worth actually looking at seriously... If the guy didn't hate us anyway.

[] "Nothing. I don't want anything from you."
This just makes us seem like a pathetic and whiny little girl after everything else we've done.

[] Write-in.
Just asking to leave could be an option allowing us to get out of there without jumping into another universe.

GM you think we could have a hint for the crossover or do you have a list and are going to roll a die to figure out where we're going.

 

[Disminded]

GM you think we could have a hint for the crossover or do you have a list and are going to roll a die to figure out where we're going.

Click to shrink...

It's a list of possibilities to pick from, shaped by your response to his "What do you want?" question. You may or may not recognize the series, but you're more or less guaranteed at least a shot at making friends... No guarantee it'll be easy though.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

It's a list of possibilities to pick from, shaped by your response to his "What do you want?" question. You may or may not recognize the series, but you're more or less guaranteed at least a shot at making friends... No guarantee it'll be easy though.

Click to shrink...

Right. That's good to know. Thanks.

[X] "I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

I'm going to vote for this and then go bang my head on the wall for a little while because of the "... Friends" vote.

Edit: You know this might actually be fun. Go somewhere to get friends. Have them all reject us before we even get to really talk to them due to our Demon-Blood. Have a mental/emotional break and start murderizing everything.

Actually that's a little morbid/sad even for me... tsk. As long as we don't turn into some kind of weebo (or at least I think that's the right term) I'm good I guess.

 

[iamnuff]

... and that's what I get for missing this for a day. Why did people think the ".. Friends" option would be a good idea when we're Demon-Blooded and talking to a guy who barely tolerates us? Are you people trying to turn us into some sad little girl looking for friends. I will again point out the Demon-Blooded aspect you all chose.

*Sigh* Alright. Moving on.

[] "I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

Blatant plot-hook. Also with that wording its probably him throwing us out via teleportation spell or something. The "away, far away" part makes this an obvious for the crossover. This could be good or bad depending on where we get thrown. Its a mystery box more than anything. Pretty sad that its also one of the best options.

probably true

[] "I want you to make something that will hide my demonic aura."
Useful, but ultimately pointless unless we also leave.

Pretty much what I said

also takes away any of our benefits from our Demon Blood as well. So not just a "No", but a "Hell No!" (I made a funny)

wat?

seriously, its "hide my aura" not "make me human" why would this affect our abilities at all?


[] "I want you to make me a friend."
The only other option that I see being worth actually looking at seriously... If the guy didn't hate us anyway.

He doesn't hate us, not from what i saw.

He's just a "tough love guy" who also happens to be an asshole. could be interesting, but he might he laugh us off, or he might actually make us something cool.

agree with the other points.

Click to shrink...

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

wat?

seriously, its "hide my aura" not "make me human" why would this affect our abilities at all?

Click to shrink...

Our Aura is because of our Demon-Blood.The best and easiest, possibly only as well, way to hide it would be to suppress our Blood and thus the rest of our abilities.

He doesn't hate us, not from what i saw.

He's just a "tough love guy" who also happens to be an asshole. could be interesting, but he might he laugh us off, or he might actually make us something cool.

agree with the other points.

Click to shrink...

As much as I don't like the "... Friends" vote it had us show a vulnerable side, and the guy goes and sneers at us before kicking us while we're down... No. That is not tough love. That is extreme dislike or hate kept in check either by his own honor or morals, by the fact that we have no one else to look after us, or possibly an oath he made to a parent or family member to watch over us.

... And if you can't agree with that I guess we can either just agree to disagree or get the GM to rule. *Shrug*

 

[iamnuff]

Our Aura is because of our Demon-Blood.The best and easiest, possibly only as well, way to hide it would be to suppress our Blood and thus the rest of our abilities.

As much as I don't like the "... Friends" vote it had us show a vulnerable side, and the guy goes and sneers at us before kicking us while we're down... No. That is not tough love. That is extreme dislike or hate kept in check either by his own honor or morals, by the fact that we have no one else to look after us, or possibly an oath he made to a parent or family member to watch over us.

... And if you can't agree with that I guess we can either just agree to disagree or get the GM to rule. *Shrug*

Click to shrink...

meh, his personality is subjective i guess, I still disagree on the aura thing though.


the request is "hide" not "suppress" suppressing it might be easier, but that's not what we asked for.

do you really think that an epic spell-caster like him cant just conjure up a ring, necklace or trinket that makes us not ping the "evildar" of every random shmuck we pass?

It might even make us not ping evil for spells like "detect evil" or "protection from evil"


If it DOES supress our power, then its worthless to us, So i suppose we could pawn it off to the first magical item shop we find for adventuring cash.

Unless its innate rather than item based, but that would be absurd.


why would the GM give us something that basically undoes our entire character creation?

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

meh, his personality is subjective i guess, I still disagree on the aura thing though.


the request is "hide" not "suppress" suppressing it might be easier, but that's not what we asked for.

do you really think that an epic spell-caster like him cant just conjure up a ring, necklace or trinket that makes us not ping the "evildar" of every random shmuck we pass?

It might even make us not ping evil for spells like "detect evil" or "protection from evil"


If it DOES supress our power, then its worthless to us, So i suppose we could pawn it off to the first magical item shop we find for adventuring cash.

Unless its innate rather than item based, but that would be absurd.


why would the GM give us something that basically undoes our entire character creation?

Click to shrink...

Because everything has a price? *Shrug*

I pretty much just asked myself what a good price would be for having our Aura hidden which basically means we lose one of the only negatives of our Blood, the others possibly being pyromania and possibly being a sociopath, both of which have been suppressed/repressed a good amount if we had them at all (and considering our childhood I think we did). Anyway I figured the price for losing the most prominent of our negative traits would be a couple of our benefits as well, if not all of them and since I couldn't think of a way that would only suppress some of our traits without affecting the others I assumed a full suppression of our Blood is what would be the price to hide our Aura.

 

[Disminded]

Because everything has a price? *Shrug*

Click to shrink...

Good thing to remember about all the options, really.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

Good thing to remember about all the options, really.

Click to shrink...

True. But the others have too many things that could be the would-be cost to really figure out if its worth it until its too late.

I could take a stab at it anyway.

For leaving the immediate costs I see are not being able to find out who are parent(s) are if they still live, having no one to stop any temper tantrums we may have... actually considering we have no friends I think that's pretty much it. Good news is that we start off with a clean slate. We would still have our Aura and any stigma's of our heritage, if we ever told anyone, working against us. And that's not getting into the specific costs of entering wherever we get sent.

As for getting a friend... if he makes a homunculus to be our friend I could see the cost being the ingredients, people hurting her for being with us, us needing to put work into keeping her as a friend, and... do homunculuses(?) have a low lifespan?

As far as I can tell the leaving option is the no gain, no cost option.

 

[Silversun17]

[X] "Looking back i realize that now, which is why I came to you. I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

 

[Pipeman]

[X] "I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

 

[Disminded]

The Broken Road​

"I want you to send me away, far away, to a new place where I can start over."

The Old Man pauses, his black eyes sharp as spear points. He seems to take your measure and find you wanting, all in a moment.

You quail under his gaze, before drawing yourself up. "I… Looking back, I realize in the past I have not acted as I should. I realize I've burned too many bridges-"

"Among other things," the Old Man interjects, causing your face to flush red with embarrassment.

You refuse to be distracted. "- too many bridges. I just… I just need a chance and I won't get that here."

He pauses again, pondering your statement before replying, his eyes far away. "I first met you when you were one. You'd driven off the servants assigned to take care of you, one after another, the last coming to me in tears, begging to be let out of her contract so she wouldn't have to be in the same building as you. In the interests of not having to replace my entire staff, I decided to look in on you. You took one look at me, stretched out your hand and set my beard on fire from across the room, and I knew, knew, that I had found my heir, the one to whom I would one day entrust this academy. And now… Now you ask me to send you away, so far away that you will likely never see this place again, and after all these years I cannot think of a reason not to. I suppose… I was wrong." For a moment, he looks every bit as old and worn as his years would suggest. And then the moment passes, and he is the Old Man again, as tough and inscrutable as a lightning scarred oak. "All right, girl, you want to leave?"

"I do," you say, dismissing doubts.

"And I suppose you thought of just walking away? There are caravans leaving the Town daily, adventuring parties haring off to raid the tombs of far greater men, explorers recruiting for their next expedition… The possibilities are endless."

"I fear my reputation would follow me like a sickness. I need a clean break."

He nods to himself, then sighs, extending his hand to you. "Take my hand."

You do without hesitation. His hand is warm and dry, and you can feel the frailty of his bones underneath skin like tissue paper, but there is a wiry strength there…

He curls his other hand into a sign, a word leaves his lips and shudders upon the air and then you are somewhere else, a stone island in the middle of still, clear lake. A cave roof arches high over head, heavy with a forest of dagger-like stalactites. You can't the walls of the cavern and it seems somehow profane to bring a light into this place.

The only illumination is a glow from the center of the island. After your eyes brush against the rest of your surroundings, they fix on the source of that glow and you barely keep yourself from gasping and ruining the thunderous silence.

At the center of the bare stone isle glows a pattern, a two-dimensional labyrinth, a flowing gracefully into a spiraling circle that lead, inevitably to the center… The pattern smolders with golden light like molten honey. Except it was… marred. Black cracks shot through it in places. In other it's slashed and torn. In still others, it's dimmed and corroded, as if splashed by some strange acid.

It was warped, imperfect, broken…

"Beautiful," you whisper as its wrongness clicks with you.

The Old Man glances at you oddly, the golden light of the pattern glinting in his black eyes. "It is called the Broken Road. According to the writings of my predecessors, if you walk to the center you can wish yourself to anywhere in this world or any other… In theory, anyway."

"In theory?" you ask the Old Man, somewhat alarmed.

"No one has ever come back from the journey."

"Then how do they know it sends you anywhere?" you say, a touch of panic coloring your voice.

"Countless years of scholarship and a thousand upon a thousand divination spells," the Old Man answered calmly. "Still, it is not something to be taken lightly. Once you step upon the path, return may be impossible."

You turn back to stare at the hypnotic imperfection of the Broken Road.

What do you do?

[X] Walk the Broken Road
[X] Maybe this isn't such a good idea (Will likely eliminate this option for the foreseeable future. The Old Man does not approve of waffling.)
[X] Write-in.

Note: You are currently wearing a sweat-stained, black robes. You have knife sheathed at your hip and a hip pouch filled with 3 silver and 13 copper pieces. You have the rest of your savings (including 9 gold, a finely made silver ring, a small red garnet stone, and seventeen silver pieces) in a small leather pouch strung around your neck on a silk cord and tucked into your bodice.

If you'd like, you can try to focus on something other than friends as you walk, but changing that now may have consequences…

 

[Robotninja]

[X]Walk it.

 

[MrGazzer]

[X] Take with you some food.
-[X] Walk it.

 

[chrnno]

Damn it guys, the heir was what he considered us that sounds like it would be so amazing...

That said if we reached this point might as well go all the way.

[X]Walk it.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

[X] Walk It
- [X] "... Sorry. And Thank you Old Man. I might still come back some day if I can." Impish Grin "If for no other reason than to set your beard on fire again."
- - [X] You wanted friends but... "His hand is warm and dry, and you can feel the frailty of his bones underneath skin like tissue paper, but there is a wiry strength there…" Was it wrong that you wanted to be strong as well. Well from what you knew those two usually went hand in hand, at least when it came to adventurers. And wasn't this the start of an Adventure?

I'm kind of hoping for Golden Sun or Fire Emblem cross... although I'm not sure we'ed be able to find a way back from either of those one's... then again there is the Golden Sun and the Fire Emblem (I'm talking about the mystical items here) so... meh.

Well looks like I was wrong about the Old Man. And I'm cool with that.

 

[Pipeman]

[X] Walk the Broken Road

 

[Vindictus]

[X] "... I'm sorry. You may not believe it, but I will miss you."
-->[X] Walk the broken roads.

 

[Disminded]

Walking the Broken Road​

You walk toward the pattern like a woman possessed, hypnotized by its golden, glowing imperfection. You circle around it. There's an obvious entrance to the thing, the beginning of the glowing path. You ignore that. Instead, you walk the edges until you find a fracture, black and elegant in its severity, running through the path.

You step up to it and hesitate, casting one last look back to the Old Man, who stands there, silent and solemn as a ruined temple. You open your mouth to say something, I'm sorry or I'll miss you or maybe even I don't want to leave! Nothing comes out and after a moment you close it, your eyes pleading for him to understand.

His eyes glitter knowingly in the eldritch light of the Broken Road, and, after a moment, he inclines his head slightly, a nod of understanding.
You close your eyes in relief and nod back, almost a bow in thanks of that benediction. Then you turn back to the pattern, to the black crack that runs through it, and step forward. The crack is a chasm, and you step through it, the pattern roaring up around you like gates of golden flame…

And then you're in the pattern, treading not on the cracked Golden Path, but the darkness between the flow of the lines. You walk, putting one foot in front of the other. It's… difficult, in a way you can't imagine, as if a great weight was settling on you, or as if you were gaining incalculable mass with every step you took. Exhaustion bears down on you and you are pointedly reminded that you've been awake for the last two days, that a day and a half of that was spent jogging up the stairs.

You grit your teeth. You know that once you set your foot on the path, there's no turning back. And even if you could turn back, would you? You think of what you've left behind and what you hope to gain.

One foot in front of the other. Even when a mountain's worth of weight presses down on you, put one foot in front of the other…

You can't see the Old Man anymore, not through the glow of the Broken Road, not through the sweat that gathers in your eyes or the dim veil that begins to fall over them as you walk.

You walk for minutes… or maybe hours? Days? Weeks? Years? Time seems so meaningless as you approach the center. And then you're there and time itself stops. The universe unfurls before you like a tapestry and, awed by its immensity, you can only think friends!

And then you're somewhere else.

Where?

[ ] A large warehouse. A purple clad and cloaked figure crouches behind a pile of crates, brutal looking clowns(?) point metal wands that spark and thunder at her location. You see the familiar light of a fire slowly growing out of control… But, hey, at least it isn't your fault this time.

[ ] A cold, misty city in the midst of a full scale war. Men in black armor clash with barbarians in furs, most using swords and axes, some using glowing shields or silver wands that launch lances of light. Strange silver vessels grace the sky and lash at the ground with spikes of blue spellfire. Above it all, a phantom scream echoes through the night.

[ ] The burnt, shattered ruins of a great city, the likes of which you have never seen before. You hear someone sobbing nearby.

[ ] A long stone hallway studded with cell doors. It's cold there, and you can smell the sea and hear the surf in the distance. An almost palpable aura of despair lays over the place.

[ ] A small market with a vast array of oddly wrapped items, all lit by a harsh white light unlike anything you've seen… Oh, yes, and it's also apparently being robbed by an obvious magician, her thief companion and some strange celestial being wrapped in brilliant light.

[ ] A graveyard. You see a pack of strangely clad youths and their hunting hound coursing after a running man. The youths are beginning to tire. The man is not.

[ ] A huge stone chamber shrouded in narcotic smoke and populated with scores upon scores of insensate bodies. Some of the forms are clearly inhuman and all are dressed in outrageous fashions. The air smells like sour millk and brimstone.


NOTE: If you'd like to guess at the series of the destinations, I'll confirm or deny. Some of them are a bit harder to get than others.

Some are also far more likely to kill you than others.

But, hey, you have a chance to make friends, guaranteed.

 

[Vindictus]

[X] A small market with a vast array of oddly wrapped items, all lit by a harsh white light unlike anything you've seen… Oh, yes, and it's also apparently being robbed by an obvious magician, her thief companion and some strange celestial being wrapped in brilliant light.

Teen Titans. But where is Beast Boy hiding-?

 

[Disminded]

[X] A small market with a vast array of oddly wrapped items, all lit by a harsh white light unlike anything you've seen… Oh, yes, and it's also apparently being robbed by an obvious magician, her thief companion and some strange celestial being wrapped in brilliant light.

Teen Titans. But where is Beast Boy hiding-?

Click to shrink...

Huh. Didn't even notice the similarity. Neat, but no.

 

[Vindictus]

Huh. Got nothing then.

 

[iamnuff]

[X] A small market with a vast array of oddly wrapped items, all lit by a harsh white light unlike anything you've seen… Oh, yes, and it's also apparently being robbed by an obvious magician, her thief companion and some strange celestial being wrapped in brilliant light.

Teen Titans. But where is Beast Boy hiding-?

Click to shrink...

wait wat?

magician is raven? thief is robin and celestrial is starfire? not sure what the market or the "stealing" is refrenced to.


either Raven will love us for being like her or hate us Shit will be so cash.

edit: dammit, denied. We don't get to meet raven, what a shame, that would have been hilarious.


Actually, i kinda want to write "Antichrists anonymous" now.

Raven, Hellboy, Rin Okumura, Akuto Sai and Adam from Good Omens all meet in a bar.

Huh. Got nothing then.

Click to shrink...

seriously? you can pull Teen Titans out of that vague similarity, but this doesn't spark anything?

[X?] A large warehouse. A purple clad and cloaked figure crouches behind a pile of crates, brutal looking clowns(?) point metal wands that spark and thunder at her location. You see the familiar light of a fire slowly growing out of control… But, hey, at least it isn't your fault this time.

Click to shrink...

clowns with guns? not ringing any bells?

My gut says batman. purple woman is probably huntress Spoiler, the hood says its probably Spoiler.

if I'm right about this one, then its at-least the same universe as the TT one that I would have loved.

and hey, Raven has a purple hood, right? It might actually be her...


sure, I don't see why she would be fighting clowns, and the whole "jokers goons corner Spoiler in a burning warehouse" has my "I think i heard about this" sense tingling.

bear in mind, i never actually read that part of the series, but isn't this how she died? or faked her death? or something?