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(PRP TH) - Treasure Hunt!

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  1. #151


    Belle uses the flashlight on her phone to look around, but it proved to be of as little use as before - the light was not strong enough to pierce the darkness in a meaningful way. The other frustrating point was that there were few features worth finding in the room: there were the remains of some sort of structure - a bridge of sorts leading from the middle of the room to somewhere - and the rubble of said structure on the ground. A sleeping Mage was the only other thing she could see from her perspective. She got the sinking feeling that her family wouldn't have been too happy with how she prepared for this.

    When Corn finished casting his spell it took a few seconds anything to happen: it first started where he stood, a pale green glow where his feet applied pressure to the ground. Taking a few steps and touching the wall at the end of the room spread the light that wasn't unlike those glow sticks. Roughly the last quarter of the room had it's walls and floor changed to emit light when pressure was applied - it wasn't perfect but it provided enough light to get an idea of what was going on. Now all the the Mystagogues could see the dark whole of the alcove several yards up the wall. Who said geology was boring?

    The light Corn created fortunately wasn't bright enough to impair Aurora and her enhanced eyes, it just made everything she already saw a bit clearer. She didn't dwell on this for long though - the Thyrsus wanted to get the job done and was pulling all the stops now. With all the Magic thrown around in the short amount of time the Abyss was at the ready though: reality was ready to turn on itself, to make the Lie make even less sense than it usually did if Aurora hadn't the presence of mind to offer herself as lighting rod instead. There was a black pain roaring inside her body, setting aflame her scoured muscles again and made her vision blur. She had just enough time to land before she potentially crashed down.

    Aurora is currently in the shape of an owl, giving her a Stamina and Size of 2 - i.e. 4 health. Before we continue with the spell I either need a (Stamina (2)) roll to stay conscious or - and this is a 'only this once' kind of deal - she can choose to take less Backlash. Please tell me what you want to do and roll if necessary. Keep in mind that less Backlash means dealing with the resulting Paradox.
    Awkwardly enough, even taking one point of Backlash-damage will cause the Spell to fail due to wound penalties (and taking away dice from the right.)

    On a brighter note: the back part of the room is now illuminated spottily - penalties are reduced to (-1) and the Mages can more or less make out what there is to make out.

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  3. #152
    Aurora's Avatar
    Aurora
    Spells
    Striking Looks
    (Riveting)
    Presence
    (Confident)
    Fame
    (Entertainment)
    Madison Cross
    (Sleeper ID)
    Gnosis
    Aurora
    Aurora

    Dedicated Magical Tool

    Multicolored copper bracelet with intricate loops winding around her right wrist.
    Nimbus

    The sweet, fragrant smells of roses mixed with lilacs emanate from her as she casts magic. The scent intensifies, bordering on intoxicating, when Life magic is cast. When Aurora casts Vulgar magic, the scent takes a nasty turn, to the putrid, nauseating odor of a rotting corpse. The stronger the magic, the more those around want to retch at the smell.
    Monthly Spells

    Monthly spells done on character sheet.


    Pulse of the Living World[POT 6]
    Organic Resilience[POT 6]
    (PrP Treasure Hunt)

    Active Spells: 1/6
    [Detect Substance]Bone
    Personal Spells: 2/3
    Vulgar:
    Mana:6/8
    WP:3

    2
    FAME
    +1
    SL
    4
    PRE

    failure


    Whelp....lol!!!

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  5. #153


    She sacrificed herself to contain the Abyss, but in the end Aurora overestimated the endurance of her new form. There was no changing of shapes for Corn, only an exhausted Shaman-Owl that went out cold. Silver lining? It would be far easier to carry her out like this.

    Since damage from scouring and backlash is resistant, Aurora won't wake up until 15 minutes have passed. Sorry about that!

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  7. #154
    Belle's Avatar
    Rose Among Thorns
    Matriarch
    Presence
    (Friendly)
    Direction Sense
    (I Know The Way)
    Danger Sense
    (Spidey Adjacent)
    Occultation
    (Blinded by Thorns)
    Belle

    Nimbus: Cracks in space appear just over her skin, shaped like toothy, hellish maws. If she's extra and especially angry, those maws will speak.
    PRP Stats

    2/5 Personal Spells
    *Incognito Presence (1 suxx)
    1/3 Vulgar Spells
    Health
    Mana: 9/9
    WP: 2/3

    Equipment: Knife, Minivan, Shoulder Bag (magnifying glass, flashlight, plastic gloves), Smartphone, Wallet ($50), Artifact (see minisheet)
    Combat Stats

    Defense: 2 (Wits/Dex)
    Initiative: 4
    Speed: 9

    2
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Belle grits her teeth. She'd been so eager to jump into work with her new Mysterium team that she'd made some rookie assumptions and skipped some valuable preparation steps. Lesson learned. But we're in the clear now so far.

    2 successes

    Belle moves over to the downed Banisher. She resists the urge to pick the man while he's down and instead follows Corn's lead to examine him for any pertinent tools. Though flashlight was high on the priority list. She also makes good use of her knife, collecting a strand of the Banisher's hair for safe-keeping.

    Corn's spell catches Belle's eye as the tunnel begins to light up, and her frustration eases somewhat as she continues her investigation. "You know, I almost pity the guy. All that bark and no..."

    Then she hears a soft thud. Whirling around, Belle sees the alcove where Aurora must've been perched a moment ago...along with an unconscious owl. "Shit!" She pockets the Banisher's hair and any relevant equipment she finds and rushes over to Aurora's prone avian form.


    Adding 1 Banisher hair to Inventory


    PRP-Treasure Hunt stats
    stats
    Artifact

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  9. #155
    Corn's Avatar
    Presence
    Status (academic)
    Corn

    Nimbus: Light purple aura and a scent of freshly dug earth after a rain.
    Status (Academics) 1.
    Corn Scenes
     
      Duplication cost
      Analyze life
     Improvised out-of-path, 

    (Manadox!)Mana 1 Spent
    2
    PRE

    One is down for the count... the abyss is ruthless, especially to smaller creatures. Should we call it a failure and retreat? No. Not yet. Corn thought.
    "We are not out of the fight yet, Belle ." Corn said. "I will do my best to create steps so we can go up. If you can, have Aurora 's things somewhere that we can see them - preferably on the piezolumnant part of the rock. So they will create some glow."

    He didn't want to let of his lightsaber, but it had served its purpose and they needed a way to get up. With a sigh, Corn let the magic of the stick to dissipate. Then, he braced for a possible big hit by the Abyss. Speaking in high speech for some time, he formed in his mind the reality of the rock in front of them jutting out a series of handholds and footholds, creating an impromptu ladder. Using a bit of his mana to ease the passing of the spell through the abyss, Corn got a hit by the abyss this time as the spell took hold in the fallen world. Not too big a hit, but painful reminder still of the changes the Exarchs' Hubris caused for the world.

    1 success

    3 successes


    Armor piercing gets replaced with reconfigure

    "It is not a celestial ladder, nor a ladder of Silver " did he seriously just considered turning the ladder to silver, when he was already having the Abyss' attention? Yes, he did. "but it will do. I hope. I will go first, OK Belle?"
    I can turn it to silver if we are done with this place, Corn thought. He was his worst enemy at the time. It was hard to clear from his mind the image of a ladder of silver leading to a higher place of magic - i.e. an artifact and a ghost.

    Corn started climbing up, thanks to his boosted skill and cleared the ledge.
    2 successes
    For scene effects, see Minisheet. No monthly rituals at this time.
    Occult 4 because Mysterium is about the knowledge!

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  11. #156


    Belle carefully searches the sleeping Mage, but there was little of use stowed away in the practical clothes of the man. She found a steel coin marked with a complex rune and a cheap phone in the one pocket she had easy access to. His hair is kept rather short, but Belle manages to cut off a 'strand' of about 3 inches. It isn't much and without a sensible way to keep it in she might as well throw it away right away.

    Rushing over to Aurora there seemed to be no immediately visible wounds on the owl. Has something else brought her down, maybe something guarding the Artifact? Did she overstrain herself? She probably didn't have the proficiency in Life to attempt to heal her, but maybe she could help the Thyrsus some other way - maybe she could get her out of the frail owl-form?

    Corn meanwhile was working overtime, giving orders assessing the situation and getting right to chanting. Picturing the barrier between the Fallen World and the Abyss, once could almost imagine it being paper thin already. Drenched paper, even. But still, things needed to be done and despite knowing full well what a 'sunk cost fallacy' was, they came too far to turn around now. He pictured a way to re-shape the wall to make it climbable and despite black pain surging through his body he maintained enough focus to bring the Imago to this reality. It wasn't the most comfortable way to get up there, but it was certainly better than nothing.

    Once up there his weight made more and more of the alcove glow slightly and little by little the stone coffin Aurora already saw revealed itself. Indeed the top of it was something transparent, a pane of glass that was worked seamlessly into the stone. Inside he could make out the nearly skeletal remains of someone. He couldn't know for sure that this was a woman's corpse, but Corn had some context clues to go off of.
    For instance the ghost of a woman that sat at the far end of the coffin and looked at the Moros longingly.


    "Added to Inventory" sounds real swell - but I'm afraid I'm going to ask exactly how Belle is storing the hair. To clarify: it is not impossible to just put it in your jeans pocket but it'd be nice to know how she's going to go with this. Just in case her pants catch fire. Bonus points if it's not a conveniently appearing plastic ziploc bag.
    If Belle wants to look in other pockets she will have to move the man, which brings the possibility of waking him up.

    Corn when updating the health-boxes to add damage, you'll have to reduce the last number (signifying empty boxes) by the same amount. In other words: you're now showing 9 boxes of health - 1 wounded and 8 empty.

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  13. #157
    Belle's Avatar
    Rose Among Thorns
    Matriarch
    Presence
    (Friendly)
    Direction Sense
    (I Know The Way)
    Danger Sense
    (Spidey Adjacent)
    Occultation
    (Blinded by Thorns)
    Belle

    Nimbus: Cracks in space appear just over her skin, shaped like toothy, hellish maws. If she's extra and especially angry, those maws will speak.
    PRP Stats

    2/5 Personal Spells
    *Incognito Presence (1 suxx)
    1/3 Vulgar Spells
    Health
    Mana: 9/9
    WP: 2/3

    Equipment: Knife, Minivan, Shoulder Bag (magnifying glass, flashlight, plastic gloves), Smartphone, Wallet ($50), Artifact (see minisheet)
    Combat Stats

    Defense: 2 (Wits/Dex)
    Initiative: 4
    Speed: 9

    2
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    There wasn't much in the way of hair on this guy. But Belle is immediately more interested in the items. She stashes the etched coin and cellphone in her pocket. I'm not quite in the mood for slicing off a toe just yet.

    Yet another moment Belle wishes she had some Life Arcanum experience; without the ability to manipulate Life energy, she doesn't have a way of Dispelling the Shaman's animal form. Unless there was some alternative that didn't involve physically knocking her out of it?
    3 successes


    Gently picking up Aurora in owl form, she starts following Corn's lead up the stone ladder to the alcove. Climbing with one arm full makes for tough going, but she's able to keep up just a bit.
    1 success


    Not sure if the Int roll will come up with any solutions, but wanted to check just in case since I'm not sure Belle has the means of using Dispel Magic (no Life Arcanum).


    PRP-Treasure Hunt stats
    stats

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  15. #158


    Belle racked her brain about possible ways to help Aurora, but she drew a blank - without knowledge in Life or an in-depth proficiency in Prime all the could do it wait.. and hope that the owl wouldn't suffer further damage. Climbing the stone ladder with an owl awkwardly clamped in an elbow made it difficult, but she somehow managed to make some progress before she realized she missed one of the many orders Corn had given her.
    So much to do, so few Mystagogues.

    Eek, sorry I hoped that I was missing a way as I red-herringed you some hope into my last post. Double checking showed that no, there is no way Belle can think of.

    You can either keep climbing or getting down again to look for Aurora's belongings (they're lying where she first changed). Climbing with the owl will give you (-1) and the height is scaled with 2 successes. Since we're not in combat anymore you can follow Corn's example and feel free to take a few more actions per post (but be mindful).

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  17. #159
    Corn's Avatar
    Presence
    Status (academic)
    Corn

    Nimbus: Light purple aura and a scent of freshly dug earth after a rain.
    Status (Academics) 1.
    Corn Scenes
     
      Duplication cost
      Analyze life
     Improvised out-of-path, 

    2
    PRE

    A ghost. Great. Corn thought. He was not the least bit surprised since Aurora had told him about it but compared to other moros he's not as used to ghosts. THey are not an everyday thing to him.

    Eternal love... no, that is probably another ghost. Nobody could claim that binding his significant other to this world for ever is everlasting love. Corn was aware that necrophilia is a thing but this was beyond the pale. Forcing someone to this form of ... existence, bound in a dark grave for eternity is not his idea of a romantic love. If that's what the choker did, he wanted nothing to do with it. Corn tried to convince himself that this was the ghost of another person that the mage stuck in this grave. Or, if that ghost actually belonged to the dead woman she just "happened" to be a ghost and went to chill out in this place of love.
    Corn didn't consider himself sappy, but he wanted to grow old, die and be buried next to Maria. Not bind Maria's ephemera to a form of eternal, undead existence. That was ... very cruel.
    No, if that ghost was the woman's ghost Corn wanted to think that it just happened to be a ghost and chose to be there, not shackled there.


    Troubled by these thoughts, pushing down what his mind telling him was happening, Corn's first instinct was to warn Belle
    "Belle, there's a ghost here. She's not hostile at the time, but perhaps keep your distance."
    Then, Corn checked through the glass pane to see the skeleton - what she wears (and if it includes a chocker), whether she's completely decomposed and if he can tell whether she is that ghost or not.

    Not finding definite answers he looked at the ghostly woman form in her flowing gown.
    Do not ask questions that you don't want to know the answer to.
    Knowledge has a price.

    Corn took a deep breath. Time to face his fears and find if the moros he has come to respect in the short time since he learned of his existence was actually a completely mad, self-centered abomination that condemned the person he pretended to "love" to an existence bound down here for ever.
    Clearing his throat, he addressed the ghost using his magic.

    "My name is Corn. I am a mage. Are you the person interned in this grave? " Quit hitting around the bush! Ask what is in your mind!
    "Are you ... here willingly?
    "
    For scene effects, see Minisheet. No monthly rituals at this time.
    Occult 4 because Mysterium is about the knowledge!

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  19. #160
    Corn's Avatar
    Presence
    Status (academic)
    Corn

    Nimbus: Light purple aura and a scent of freshly dug earth after a rain.
    Status (Academics) 1.
    Corn Scenes
     
      Duplication cost
      Analyze life
     Improvised out-of-path, 

    2
    PRE

    Woops!

    Forgot to add that:

    3 successes
    For scene effects, see Minisheet. No monthly rituals at this time.
    Occult 4 because Mysterium is about the knowledge!

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