The Primeval Dark (IC)

**Toptomcat** · 2019-04-12, 11:33 AM (ISO 8601)

Walt Kincaid
The Hanging Men

Never seen a tanglefoot bag do that before. Heh. Be handy if I could bottle that aspect of a Tainted Land-

The instant that Walt took to admire his handiwork costs him dearly: the water surges up to meet him, and its touch feels like he's having his soul dragged out through his feet.

"Gunman! Going to leave the rope down if you're still alive. Do try to bring it back!"

You've got to be kidding me. He thinks I can spare a moment to retrieve a few feet of hemp- under these conditions?

"I'll give you mine!"

Fingers now trembling, feeling weak as a kitten, the hunter reluctantly calls on his cursed power once again, desperately clambering to stay away from the rising, cursed waters.

Spoiler: OOC

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Spending 1 pp and a swift action to activate my 7th-level Scorned ability, Combat Surge, gaining a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and +2 to Constitution for one round. Check for psychic enervation: (1d20)[17] (1-3 fails)

Mutate remains active, and will for the foreseeable future.

My Climb modifier is now +8. Making three Climb checks as a move action, moving 0-15 ft towards the rope. If that did it, spend the other move action to climb the rope, eating the AoO from the beastie who's nearby (current climbing AC 17). If that didn't do it, Extra Effort to keep moving towards the rope, spending the remainder of my movement to climb it.

Climb 1: (1d20+8)[24] vs. DC 10
Climb 2: (1d20+8)[14] vs. DC 13
Climb 3: (1d20+8)[10] vs. DC 16. EDIT: Blessedly, the first two successes get me to the rope before I have to make that third Climb check, which would result in a fall.

Climb 4: (1d20+8)[15] vs. DC 10
Climb 5: (1d20+8)[19] vs. DC 13
Climb 6: (1d20+8)[21] vs. DC 16.

Nonlethal damage taken: 27
Fatigued
8/11 PP

**Mornings** · 2019-04-15, 09:46 PM (ISO 8601)

[Willowbrook Sanitarium]
"Master..." The creature's tone was different this time, perhaps the tone might have been called concern. "Yes, I see it. Find Afsppa'sol. If he's meddling in my affairs again, i'll have that dog's head. Who is nearest of the D'Inlé?" There was a long pause, but no answer was immediately forthcoming. "Suggestion. Perhaps you may wish to send notice to the House first." "Yes, fine. Notify the Enforcers, now out with it." "Acknowledged. The nearest of the Dalharen-D'Inlé is Kakasheji'fol." There was a sharp clap of hands, "Splendid! The Child of Slaughter? If nothing else, I can agree with his methods. Such creatures shouldn't feel the need to shackle themselves to such grand philosophy, simple is better. Send him." "Notice. The Enforcer will be arriving shortly, do you wish to proceed?" "Of course. What's order without a little chaos? Are I not fulfilling my duty in maintaining a proper balance?" "Calculating... Calculating. While the inference is correct, an excessive number of foreign elements are being introduced to resolve this corruption." "Just shut up and do it." "Acknowledged."

Regina's eyes snapped open, and with gritted teeth she mustered the strength to roll upon her side. Her limbs were like lead, but still she lifted an arm, propping it up with the aid of her other locked under her armpit and grasping her shoulder, like an elephant raising its trunk. Her hand slammed into the sphere. It felt like a bolt of dim electricity jolted out, disintegrating her arm with a sharp CRACK. Glass-like shards of her limb were sent shattering against the walls all about the room, and clear sand begun pouring from the hole left by the missing extremity. There was no blood, but there was agony. An unspeakable, unnatural pain. Her body was like some hallowed-out shell, a realization which struck her as she screamed mutely in the silent world. Not even the broken fragments of her being made sound as they fell away from her, nor did the endless rapid flow of clear dust. The light shifted to red. She was empty.

He was running. It wasn't dark, but it was black. A depthless and infinite dark. No vision could pierce it. No light could conquer it. It was a bitter, foul curse delivered by the hand of some god bereft of grace. His body moved, timing the motions with the crash of the golden pillars which thundered on down from the scorched heavens above. For those split seconds, the world returned to existence. In those split seconds, the silence was banished, and the deafening chorus of screams bellowed out with a volume that shook the very water in his eyes with the pressure, and ran blood from his nose. Masses of writhing men and women caught in the churning meat grinder below choked the main street leading out into Starsilver Plaza, bringing it to a grinding halt. Massive lithe robed figures, like twisted black beasts upon stilts reaved the host of men, women and children below, with scythes of harrowing black shadows nearly fifteen feet long.

Miryks leapt in a dead-sprint from the rooftop, with no other avenues to pursue, he crashed into the clearing of the plaza. He couldn't remember. What was happening? Magnimar had fallen. A titan borne on wings of golden light shown somewhere far above, shattering the clouds with each bellowing roar, and with it banished the darkness. Black. Another crashed set the world back into motion. The behemoth in the sky, thousands of feet above rained pillars of light upon the city, banishing anything the luminance reached - leaving only white voids. What was this hell? Black.

It was collapsing. Not the tainted land, everything. It was all coming down, torn at with with malicious hands intent to drown the world in nightmare. She smiled. The girl, silver of hair, standing high atop the steps of the Triodea, beckoning him with a hand. The screams. They were upon him. He ran as hard as his legs could take him. He could feel their eyeless gazes pressing upon his back, and a sidelong spin sent him whirling away in a skidding dance just as a wicked blade of crooked shadow snapped out to bite into the speckled blue stones of the plaza. He didn't stop, he pushed on forward, dodging a second blade, ducking into a running dive. He didn't feel it, his leg was gone. The limb erupted into a blighted black mass without warning, launching itself into him like an lance. A sharp twist and push. A fine parry sent the thing aside, but his blade was twisted and mangled and his arm twisted and broken from the force of his efforts. The faceless sickle-men stalked forward, looming over with weapons held high. Still she beckoned him. Black.

Ͽ ◯ Ͼ

"Well done. You did it. I wouldn't compare experiences. Ours are different... vastly." Miryks' empty lungs cried for air as his soul came hammering back into his body. He gasped sharply, he wanted to scream. The torment of his broken arm and amputated leg wracked him suddenly, then passed. His body jerked and the tendons in his neck stood taught, ripping his chin down to his chest in a violent fit before relaxing. He was back. Willowbrook... He was back. His mutilated arm had been corkscrewed and broken at the elbow, he'd felt it. His fingers didn't steady. The body remembered it, whatever it had been. Mayli, if that was her name, didn't look much better. The woman's senses were back in the present, clutching her now recovered arm. The white sand falling from her shoulders nearly sent her into a fright. It wasn't her's. [Mirkys | Intelligence Check - Failed]

The roiling waves of pain that tackled Regina were very real, but her arm was still there, firmly attached. The 'doll' on the other hand... she wasn't sure she wanted to revisit that place and discover how much of it remained. That effigy of herself, it wasn't real. It was fake and hollow, without blood or truth. Shaking the traumatizing dust from herself sparked countless questions. Were those fakes not just bound to that place? Could they enter their world just as she could theirs? The pile of white sand at her feet suggested that to be the case. She figured the name, 'Talri' must have been another nickname or similar, but it could have very well been some old Chellish-variant of a name depending how it were pronounced. It was difficult to say. In either case, she didn't know anything about 'heralds' and all of the nonsense which seemed to come out of that room. Only one thing was certain, something happened, and some such 'Enforcer' was coming to deliver some manner of judgment. [Regina | Linguistics & Knowledge - Failed]

The man, whom she still had no name, seemed in worse state than her. Sweat beaded upon his brow, and his figure looked as if he had been brutalized thoroughly. "You, boy. What did you do! Where did you go!?" He didn't know when it had been, but without a doubt, it had been the City of Monuments. Magnimar had fallen, overrun by creatures he'd never seen before. Perhaps they were Veilbeasts, but he'd never heard of any of the creatures which he had witnessed, nor the titan which sundered the very heavens far above the city. It had been at least hundreds of feet across, shoulder-to-shoulder, but it was difficult to tell from its obscured place amid the clouds. In his heart, he felt the thing was perhaps far larger still. Something had changed in him. Somewhere, some small piece of that place hadn't left, it'd followed him. Corrupted him. He wasn't the man who had left this hall only moments ago... No. That man had died in Magnimar. Now he was someone, something else.

Potential Acquired (Miryks): Forbidden Knowledge (General, Corrupted)
There was something far beyond the reasoning of the sane. Something unexplainable. An ineffable secret which could not be grasped or comprehended by mortal men. It was a terrible and omniscient thing. An invisible hand which shaped the very nature of existence and defined it in some impossible tongue. It had stolen something from him and cast his very essence out into another instance of the real. The one who waited for him, had perhaps preserved him from joining the maddening abyss of souls, but in exchange, something was traded. Some piece of him had been lost... some impossible fate, extinguished. Now he was left with nothing but the empty aching pain of the incessant whisperings, daring him to open his eyes. To look out again and peer back into that horrid abyssal realm.

Benefit: You gain the unique skill 'Knowledge (Forbidden)', and your wisdom ability score increases by 6.

The water idly fell, pattering on Loimi's face. It perhaps should have been enough to wake him, but it had not til now. Feeling surged through his limbs, as if some weight had been lifted. It was dark. Extremely dark. He couldn't see his hand before his face, but he could hear just fine. Something was stirring upon the floor, a man judging by its groan. He strained, but his body would barely respond. Cold steel lay beneath him, sending a shiver down his back. He could only question just where he had woken.

Varag shuddered upon the ground as life seemed to creep into his bones. It was damp and wet. His fingers could feel the cold unyielding surface of stone beneath him. His voice sounded like a dry rasp as he felt air enter his lungs, perhaps the first time in a long time. Despite his efforts, his body would not budge, but at least his vision slowly begun to return to him.. yet it raised more questions than it answered. He didn't recognize this place. The walls were twisted, as if shaped from a dry coral. A cross-section of support beams was collapsed above them, but some manner of black lance held it at bay, piercing it and the floor in an unsteady balance. Something hissed and hacked, like coughing, a black figure. "You should have stayed asleep, creature. At least then there wouldn't have been any pain." To his eyes, the mysterious stranger appeared to be crippled, rooted in its place, seated on the floor against the wall. The stranger's clothes were dark and near-featureless, and a blackness blotted out its face. The voice didn't reveal its gender, if it did even possess that. It appeared like some elemental creature of shadow, given a humanoid form, like a Fetchling who was more shadow than man. There was a distant rumbling beginning to quake the floors. Something was coming.

⭍ [Helpless] You are helpless. Your movement speed for all forms of travel is reduced to 0. Autonomous actions which could be performed by sentient/independent creatures and sources cannot be performed. Familiars and bound creatures are considered to be afflicted with the the death-condition until this status is removed. You may speak in a horse-whisper, requiring a DC10 perception check to be heard.

⯎ [Taking Control] Once per round you may attempt a DC15 will save. Each round you are unsuccessful the DC decreases by 1. Upon success you recover 1d4 x 5 feet of movement to your base land speed. Upon regaining 5ft of speed, the helpless-condition is removed.

Spoiler: Critical Note: Forbidden Knowledge

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Knowledge (Forbidden) is one of the most useful unique skills in the game, but also the absolute most dangerous ability a player character can utilize when performed outside of a very specific set of conditions, including the aid of numerous Potentials. Each time a PC attempts to utilize this skill without the protective features of other Potentials, they run a chance of acquiring a 'Corrupted Fate'. These conditions are a form of Curse which can potentially bestow numerous profane and crippling effects, but will in addition alter all quests and objectives the character possesses and can receive - permanently. The effects of a Corrupted Fate can be resolved by discovering and accomplishing the unique conditions associated with it. These conditions are always extremely severe, and may require an entire campaign-length undertaking to complete; stealing precious time which could be spent on other objectives.

Regardless of the result of the %dice in determining if such a status is received, the character receives a number of points of Spite, and possesses a very high chance of incurring a Divergence or critical alteration, which may impose its own unique consequences, depending on the circumstances. The percent of such events occurring caps at 100% upon the third use. A character may only utilize Knowledge (Forbidden) unprotected three times throughout the entity of the game. Upon exceeding this number of uses, the current character is immediately slain after the skill's resolution. This ability kills all iterations of a character simultaneously, but is specific to the identity which activated the ability and does not extend past Reflected Personas. This effect cannot be prevented by any source. Slain character's cannot be returned to life, including from such Potentials as Lesser Immortality.

Spoiler: Status

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֍ Mirykys +200 (2,500xp)
HP 37/37
AC 17
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Caution Influence Gained
⯎ Stalking Influence Gained
⯎ Deception Influence Gained
⯎ Trickery Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Mystery Influence Gained
⯎ Corruption Influence Gained
⯎ Revelation Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Forbidden Influence Gained
⯎ Recovered [Otherworld Quiver]
⯎ Recovered [Unidentified Arrows] x10

֍ Regina +500 (8,825xp)
HP 53/53
AC 19
⯎ Nobility Influence Gained
⯎ Deception Influence Gained
⯎ Trickery Influence Gained
⯎ Discovery Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Secrets Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Tapestry Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Dimensions Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ Vision Influence Gained
⯎ Light Influence Gained

Spoiler: Influences

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Influences represent current knowledge, pursuits, training, experiences and aspirations which are actively effecting or being utilized by a character. These represent various concepts and begin to outline a character's values and path as they grow. Influences which are not used regularly are lost, but can be gained again once a character begins pursuing an avenue related towards that field or concept. Influences determine a character's growth in many ways, including experience points they earn and which Potentials they can acquire at any given time.

Unlike with limited class levels, Influences are not acquired spontaneously, and are acquired throughout play; creating an active system which enables a character to re-train, gain new powers, or even improve upon old ones actively with their in-character actions. Training with a sword or exercising the use of an existing Potential allows a character to learn new techniques, empower his current abilities, or even grow his tolerance to pain, sustain damage, run faster, sleep less, and more. Influences play a vital role in developing more sophisticated interpersonal skills and ability to deal and establish diplomatic relations with all manner of strange and otherworldly creatures which you may encounter; in addition to learning more about the unnatural forces which no worldly knowledge could shed light upon. All unique skills are only able to be acquired via potentials, which are trained and worked towards acquiring via your pursuits, experiences, and by extension - your Influences.

Spoiler: Point: 323 - Willowbrook Sanitarium, F3B (About Tainted Lands)

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Tainted Lands are incredibly complex and foreign realms which are often guised as places once familiar. Each tainted region is individually unique and carries with it its own risks, rules, threats and worldly hazards. Many things cannot function, work differently, or can lead to reality crushing results that make survival for most creatures delving into their reaches an impossibility. Site Investigators often travel with groups of Harriers or Gales for long extended periods conducting a through survey of each corrupted-site, known as a 'Point'. These reports are used by various venturing companies to conduct expeditions, known as 'Dives', into the tainted lands. Points are always geographically divided into many areas known as 'Sectors' by Site Investigators. Sectors within a Point mark areas where the rules of the other areas which have been surveyed dramatically differ, be that the laws of nature or magic, or even stranger changes they cannot understand.

Common rules which Gales are familiar include such things as; violent reactions to non-grounded magics, reactions to supernatural energies and abilities, reactions to specific materials, reactions to unstabilized magical creatures and creatures capable of withholding or generating energy, and items or persons keyed to a particular influence.

Fortunately there were not very many public users of magics due to the general fear and suspicion associated with the practice, and thus even less individuals with such talents that traveled into the tainted regions. Magic was an inherently suicidal thing to employ in such places without a remarkable understanding of the Point and all features of the rules which governed the Sector currently being occupied. Everything in a spell from the time it took to produce, to the school, effect, number of targets and even the manner in which the spell functioned were all individuals factors which could set off a dimensional-explosion and throw an entire team of unwitting mercenaries through a hole into Abadon; or worse. There was always worse, they just hadn't learned what that was yet, that was the first lesson tainted lands had to teach the fools which dared brave its depths. Wizards and magicians were generally less welcome by companies that ventured to such places, than they were by the general public. Unless the magician in question specialized in using his or her magic in such places, and possessed a record to back it, not even a fool would bring one along. There existed unique items called 'Grounds' which restrained and processed a magician's magic making it generally safe to use, but they were immensely expensive and built for each individual mage. Yet, more vexing was the matter than a single magician would often need multiple Grounds as no single device was assured to provide every protection for every circumstance. Nor were they permanent fixtures, like filters, they eventually spoiled and failed. At least the ones commercially available. The device's creator, the genius inventor Denil Demn could produce Grounds which would self-cleanse and restore themselves with time, but acquiring a commission from the man was a nightmare. If not because of the competition attempting to do the same, than because the craftsman was notoriously difficult to reach.

The degree of influence upon supernatural powers varied wildly, but was based on the level of corruption the tainted region possessed. In some of the worst places there were documented cases of Gales detonating in a bloody mess from simply employing internal forces to accelerate their speed and agility. Much like a monastic practitioner of martial arts, many Harriers preferred to learn to hone inner energies to aid themselves in conflict while Diving, but even this was not completely safe. During 'Deep Dives' companies outfitted their members with various equipment to maintain internal stability, but this was not something exclusive to the most foul of places. If the rules of a Sector were particularly twisted, it was possible to experience those same hazards without venturing into the belly of the beast.

Some materials or creatures didn't react well in tainted regions. The places were often so alien and foreign that not even animals could enter. Sometimes it wasn't just animals, it could be steel, or wood. Maybe iron. No one would know what all, if any may have been effected until a Site Investigator ran their exhaustive tests. Some of the most strange of places caused unnatural phenomena from things associated with a particular thing. Perhaps a cleric's symbol, or a deity's favored weapon, maybe the pages of a book. It was as if the world were possessed by some malicious spirit that remembered only the things related to what had wronged it. None of these places were necessarily good to ever venture, many Gales never bothered. Even putting the twisted spaces of reality aside, the Veilbeasts and other horrors were enough to convince any sane man to keep his distance. Veilplague had become nearly non-existent, but the corruption and curses which could be afflicted were a horrendous burden. If a man were blighted, he could not be allowed into a town or city. It was all one could do to simply pray that a green witch or other healing pariah might be able to mend them, as civil men would have no choice but to quarantine or kill the infected. There simply were no known cures for most maladies, at least not in the hands of the peoples at large. For most, death was assured.

Point: 323, F3B: Sector 1B - Regional Effects
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????

Main Quest: The Fires of Willowbrook, Part 1
Long ago the Auspex had spoken of the four years which had come and gone from behind the bars of their cages. It was impossible to know just how long it had been since then, but if there was any lesson to be had in all of it, it was that 'time was meaningless'. Strength had begun to return to them. The future was their own to command if they could just wrest it free from the dead-hands of the hell named 'Willowbrook'. That was what they had to keep telling themselves. They said it over and over again until it became truth, the only truth that mattered. It had to be that way, because if they allowed themselves to slip, they would be faced with the terror of another reality too horrible to defeat. Then the 'nothing' which loomed above them like the executioner's axe, would fall. Then they too would join it; and this time, there would be no return.
Difficulty: Moderate | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: 49 Minutes
Primary Objective (1): Flee Sector 1B
Primary Objective (2): Escape Willowbrook Sanitarium

Side Quest: Restless, The Nightmare Below
Lord Matik recounts his battle with a horrid and powerful creature, a horror known as the Ember Beast. Whatever the secrets of its power, it has transformed the knight into something inhuman and unnatural. Something sleeps far below the asylum, a terror steeped in blood and fire. Perhaps the secrets to the infernal warrior's own cursed disposition lay somewhere buried in the deep, or perhaps there was only death. Only one thing was certain; the creature was too dangerous to be allowed to live. It had to be stopped.
Difficulty: Challenging | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: Unknown
Primary Objective: Defeat the Ember Beast

**forg99rules** · 2019-04-16, 08:13 PM (ISO 8601)

Feeling the water fall onto his face was as much a blessing as an annoyance. The inability to move his body meant that there was nothing he could do about the drops that kept falling. The darkness around him was worrisome, He briefly began to wonder if some curse had robbed him of his vision as well as his ability to move. Calming himself before panic set in he listened to his surroundings. The groaning of a man, perhaps another that had been sold to the inquisition just as he had. As he listened he caught the words the man spoke, they made him question even more just where he had ended up as well as what was going on. Blinking a few times he was happily surprised to see his vision return, as the room came into view he couldn't help but enjoy the gray scale that the darkness always held. Laying there motionless he could feel the floor beneath him rumble as if some great beast was dragging itself through the building. Knowing that staying where he was meant death he began trying to move his body. It was slow at first, just a twitch of his fingers, but quickly the rest of his muscles overcame whatever had been keeping him from using them. Sitting upright he wiped the water from his face as he took in his surroundings and began taking inventory of what objects laid around him. Moving around to try and get the stiffness that remained out of his bones he quickly gathered up anything of use that was within his reach before tossing a few questions up into the air for any to provide an answer to. "Where am I and what exactly is going on that would have made it better to stay asleep?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Copied from OOC
Will: (1d20+10)[28]
Percep: (1d20+19)[32] - to see what i can around me
Knowledge (History): (1d20+15)[22] to figure out where i am
Knowledge (Local): (1d20+16)[33] to figure out where i am
Knowledge (Planes): (1d20+18)[31] to figure out where i am

**Ancient** · 2019-04-16, 08:21 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Mornings

Varag shuddered upon the ground as life seemed to creep into his bones. It was damp and wet. His fingers could feel the cold unyielding surface of stone beneath him. His voice sounded like a dry rasp as he felt air enter his lungs, perhaps the first time in a long time. Despite his efforts, his body would not budge, but at least his vision slowly begun to return to him.. yet it raised more questions than it answered. He didn't recognize this place. The walls were twisted, as if shaped from a dry coral. A cross-section of support beams was collapsed above them, but some manner of black lance held it at bay, piercing it and the floor in an unsteady balance. Something hissed and hacked, like coughing, a black figure. "You should have stayed asleep, creature. At least then there wouldn't have been any pain." To his eyes, the mysterious stranger appeared to be crippled, rooted in its place, seated on the floor against the wall. The stranger's clothes were dark and near-featureless, and a blackness blotted out its face. The voice didn't reveal its gender, if it did even possess that. It appeared like some elemental creature of shadow, given a humanoid form, like a Fetchling who was more shadow than man. There was a distant rumbling beginning to quake the floors. Something was coming.

Varag Chalk
The Sacrifice

Wouldn't have been any pain? Pain was all he knew now, it had been his only companion these lonely years. It was the only thing that let him know that death had felt mercy yet, not that he deserved any. His body, his mind, his heart, his very soul, they all had suffered through what seemed like an eternity, and yet he endured. Indeed, now even the absence of pain hurt, somehow, his body returned to return to the cocoon of agony he had been marinating in, it would so familiar, he was so tired, it would be so easy, just stop TRYING. NO! He had not endured to quit, he had not suffered Tutor's lessons to stop playing now, he would play the game until the end, and he would see it through, in this Hell or the next, he would resist He Who Waits til the end of all he was, he had sacrificed too much to give up now.
By will alone, Varag rose to his feet, grabbing for his weapon as he did, every joint, every tendon screaming in protest. It did not matter. He laughed as best the desert of his throat allowed. He rolled his neck, and it let out a crack that would have made a hangman proud. His orcish eyes surveyed the darkness of the cell, the beam, and most of all, the creature before him. His mind raced, the impending collapse of the ceiling and the...THING that was coming, perhaps Death had simply desired for him to be fully conscious before it claimed showed mercy, perhaps it wished for he to beg and plead, to cower into the Black...he would not go meekly into the Night, but all instinct told him time was not a luxury he had.

Pain, friend, is all my sleep has brought me, though I have no doubt I have suffered all on Zon Kuthon's delights yet. Can you move? The ceiling looks unstable and it best we vacate this place before whatever THAT omnious rumble finds us.

Spoiler: OOC Actions and Rolls

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Fullround Action: Gathering my pack, sword, and bow.
Perception for the room: (1d20+13)[31] +Inspiration (1d4)[2]
Perception for the rumble: (1d20+11)[20] +Inspiration (1d4)[1]
Know: Engineering for the Ceiling: (1d20+13)[33] +Inspiration (1d4)[3]
Know: Planes for the Creature: (1d20+14)[27] +Inspiration (1d4)[2]
Sense Motive for the Creature: (1d20+9)[29] +Inspiration (1d4)[1]

**Deadguy** · 2019-04-17, 03:24 PM (ISO 8601)

Regina
Abominable Queen

A shuddered breath seemed like all Regina could do to steady herself as the sense of familiarity returned. Looking toward Iman, she fought to suppress the urgency in her tone. "It's done and someone... thing... is coming. They are sending it to eliminate corruption... er us, I believe." Their manner of speaking was almost impossible to follow, like reading an arcane tome with no knowledge of the underlying principles. Just words.

Speaking of arcane, she had heard that powerful mages could create effigies like the one that she shattered. Clones used to conduct things too dangerous to risk their true body doing. Could these things be similar? Is that why it was so hard to control the body when she was there? It would be almost impossible to tell unless she was able to observe another person doing what she had done from that vantage.

Kakasheji'fol - child of slaughter. A direct translation, or a nickname linked to that name. Her tried to put her skills with languages to use by using the construction of the name and it's assumed meaning against some of the other words that the woman had used. Dalharen-D'Inlé - enforcer. Another freely given translation. Praeter would translate to what then...?

Even as her mind raced with the correlation between words and her body waited for Iman's direction, her eyes searched. Searched for a way out and for this new threat that she felt would appear almost immediately, with the other's ability to manipulate space and time.

Spoiler: OOC

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Knowledge (Arcana) vs shattered body (1d20+17)[26]
Linguistics vs unknown language (1d20+25)[35]
Perception vs new threat (1d20+21)[26]

**Mornings** · 2019-04-17, 08:03 PM (ISO 8601)

Faux Paw

He was falling. A loose step and a hoard of ungodly tar-slick madmen raining from above had spelled his undoing. Even flailing, biting, lashing out with tooth and claw; the fiends' grasps upon him could not be broken. The short whistle of wind howled in his ears, the screaming harrowing cries of the creatures bellowing in his ears, then... nothing. The frozen cold of the waves struck him like a wall, stealing the air from his lungs with the sharp impact and banishing his world into a mute and expressionless darkness. He reached out with his very well, stretching himself out through the shadows. Thin. Then thinner still, until some unknowable force lifted him out of the ichor and launched him hurtling upwards. Racing along the surface of the wall with tremendous speed, the view of the knight raced closer - then he felt himself fall once again. It wasn't like the first time. Rather, it felt as if his entire being had lost its hold upon the material world, and he slipped out, falling into the shadows he himself had fabricated.

He could hear, but he couldn't see... for awhile. As he plummeted through the empty voidspace, he toppled and turned, twisting wildly like a man caught in free-fall within the vacuum of space. There was no 'up', no 'down', and soon the sounds diminished into a soft whimper, then fell silent. Still he fell, finally caught within his own natural spin, settling into a suspended state of rotations. At first it had felt as if he were accelerating steadily, as if hooked upon the arms of some intangible centrifuge; but in time he stopped feeling any difference at all. Perhaps he was still accelerating, as if propelled by some compelling force, there was no way to know. It had been too long, so long, he'd lost all track of time. He couldn't tell how long he had been falling, or how far he'd come. It was all he could do to simply count. It was like a pulse, a need to fight back the fear of his potential permanent stasis, and remind himself that he still existed at all. He couldn't feel anymore. A compounding pressure froze his body in place and ensnared him within a familiar and terrible prison. Yet this time, there was no world, no reality to great him. Perhaps this was the end. The vacant black of the abyss of death. His mind begun to drift away, but still the voice somewhere far away counted. One. Two. Three. Four... Ten. Eight-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-three.

Six-hundred-ninety-three-million, seven-hundred-ninety-two-thousand... and one.

"GET INSIDE!" Movement. Chaos. Blurred lines. Hands. Screaming. Fire. He felt himself bound off from others, and others bound off him. Pain. Groaning. Blood. Something pressed into his back like a bar, compacting him into some tight space, shoulder-to-shoulder with others. He could hear children wailing in confusion and fear. Something shook the floor with such force it shuddered through his knees.

Suddenly the world was sent spiraling into his consciousness. A man in a rough helm and gambeson was shoving the throng of people into the narrow entrance of some sizable stone building with the aid of a club. He could feel his vision drift in-and-out of focus, touching himself, he could feel the warmth of his own lifeblood flowing freely. Looking at the massive hole in his shoulder, he could see the flesh quickly blackening; tainted from where the Veilbeast had struck him. It wasn't a dream. Alarm resounded. He'd made it out? Out of the darkness perhaps, but he couldn't begin to understand just when, or where he had been spat out. Many of the peoples about him were wounded as well. Bite marks or deep cuts, some even fell where they stood. still, the herd marched over the corpses, funneling into the stone hall of the building. After a moment spent regathering himself, he recognized the men for what they were; guardsmens. He knew those colors so proudly displayed across their tabards. Magnimar.

The men were battered and bloody, but appeared unharmed. Still, that did little to improve their evidently desperate demeanor. A circle of men further away held a perimeter with shields, keeping their backs towards the defenseless citizens being herded inside, while facing some invisible threat. A whistle somewhere from above keened out. "GET DOWN!" No sooner did the man speak, a violent and concussive explosion of gray smoke and flame erupt out, lashing out with reaving blades of vapor. The fog-blades cut through the crowd, cleaving a third of the mob in halves with an effortless force and throwing him to the ground. Screams. The shield-men turned-about sharply on a heel, with the efficiency afforded by some manner of coordinated unit maneuver. The corpses blackened, bubbled, then split apart with a sickening rupture of flesh. From the grotesque sacks of meat was birthed forth horrid monstrosities of gnarled talon. Black exposed pulsating muscle and sinew attached to a foul maw with lashing tendrils slithered forth into the world. The abominations set upon the crowd with a murderous frenzy, cleaving men apart with each snap of their whip-like tentacles. A sharp strike pieced three men and sent Faux rolling across the floor from the force of the blow. [Roll Out: DC 15 Acrobatics Check Vs 1d6 Slashing Damage & Extended Quest Duration]

His body groaned in protest from the pain surging through his wound. Each moment, it felt as if the hole were prying itself open further still. It was a pulsing, mounting agony that didn't feel like it would become better before it became worse. It was killing him. Corpses fell like weeds culled by the edge of a sickle, burying him in gore and the dense weight of carcasses and limbs. Yet, the will to fight on through the suffering and nightmarish terrors which now sought to end him utterly only burned more fiercely. He had to live. [Buried Beneath the Masses: DC 16 Escape Artist Check Vs Pin & Extended Quest Duration]

Main Quest: Dreaming, In Memory of Waking
Horror and death choke the City of Monuments. Otherworldly terrors accost the city and devour the living by the thousand. He didn't understand how he arrived here, but somehow he had escaped the grasp of the banishing dark - only to find himself in a city-turned-hell. He didn't know how long he could hold out amidst the siege, but his life was quickly draining out from his cursed wounds. He had to survive, no matter the cost.
Difficulty: Lethal | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: 1/2 Rounds
Primary Objective: Survive Quest Duration.

Spoiler: Status

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֍ Faux +175 (700xp)
HP 23/33 (2 bleed)
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 3
⭍ [Cursed Wound] 2 Bleed, DC 22 Heal (full-round action)
⭍ [Wounding Curse] Fast Healing & Regeneration Disabled. Cannot Heal Grievous Wounds. Cannot Recover Hit-Points. Harms Others. Cure Unlearned.
AC 19
Extra Effort Used: 2/6
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Freedom Influence Gained
⯎ Tactics Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Doom Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Dreams Influence Gained
⯎ Intrigue Influence Gained
⯎ Acquired [Clear Dagger]

**Triskavanski** · 2019-04-17, 08:34 PM (ISO 8601)

Sheet

Faux didn't have time to morn those he left behind as he used an ace he didn't even know he had. Even with himself drifting through the sea of darkness, his mind wasn't in it. Perhaps they'd get out okay, except he was pretty sure one of them fell into the inky black pits. No longer bound by the monsters he felt like breathing a sigh of relief... Then the screams, the terrible screams as he was pulled, yanked dragged, running, his body reacting faster than his mind was.

Quickly he began to act, faster, moving as he needed. Blades flung this way and that, blood still splattered from his previous wounds. He didn't have time to heal himself or recover, as nothing seemed to really give him much time to reflect. "Fortune favors the bold.." he muttered to himself as he tried to collect himself through onslaught of blades and bodies.

Spoiler: OOC

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Acrobatics - (1d20+24)[44]
Escape artist - (1d20+11)[20]

Perception-Looking for escape and saftey (1d20+17)[32]
Knowledge Local - Magnimar (1d20+12)[21]
Knowledge Arcana - WTF is this stuff trying to kill me (1d20+12)[17]

**flat_footed** · 2019-04-18, 12:13 AM (ISO 8601)

Black to Red. Black to Red. Black to Red. Miryks found himself in a full sprint, desperately running from a fate that could not be avoided. Everything had fled from his sight, a startling moment for the Aasimar so used to his eyes easily piercing the shadow. Death rained down from the Titan of Light above as easily as it sprang from the shadows at his feet.

Iman's voice bore into him, calling his awareness back to Willowbrook. His vision swam, but the memories were clear. It was disconcerting to find himself standing on a leg that was sliced off and wielding his sword with a ruined arm. Iman's voice dug into his thoughts again and demanded a response. His voice faltered over the words, as though he were trying to recall someone else's story. "The City of Monuments: Magnimar. Pillars of light striking down from the winged titan, more massive than the clouds. Faceless men born of the shadow culling the herds with their sickles. My leg hacked off, my arm shattered. I died." The final two words surprised him, even as they left his lips, but they rang true. "..wait. What was I doing? I just-."

Miryks stood silent for a moment, before allowing his gaze to sweep over the room. One creature lay unmoving at his feet, the other thankfully swaying in place. He orientated himself towards the lone threat, raising his sword through muscle memory more than conscious thought. His mind refused to understand what he had just experienced. It was as if he were trying to fathom some forbidden knowledge to mortal minds, but still his thoughts walked down that path.

Oh.

OH.

His death made sense, but Miryks couldn't even begin to articulate why. It was almost like he was accessing someone else's memories to explain his own reality. Strange, yes. Frightening, certainly. Regardless, it was impossible to deny the truth. Something had clicked, but his soul desperately didn't want to know why.

Spoiler: OOC

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Standard Action: Ready an attack should an enemy get within reach.
Attack - (1d20+12)[16]
Damage - (1d6+9)[10]

Perception - (1d20+17)[37] Searching for other threats besides the lone standing corpse.
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[14] Magnimar
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[6] The girl with silver hair
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[16] The Triodea
Knowledge: Dungeoneering - (1d20+5)[19] The sickle men

**Mornings** · 2019-04-18, 10:40 PM (ISO 8601)

The Unsung King - Alicia Kelgore

421st Day of the 1st Cycle - Time: 9th Bell / LC: 30,303
Jun'athel; ???????? - ????????
????????; ???????

The young Witch tried to suppress her snicker as she emerged from the smoky ruin left in the wake of the Veil's activation. The older woman in black raised a hand, and she went quiet. In Duvan all Ros'wussrun were referred to as 'Nightmare Witches', but that of course was not even remotely close to being an accurate statement. It was an over-simplification of the magics and culture of the Ros'wussrun peoples. As a race, they were by far the oldest, while the Vet'C'nros were the youngest. Unlike The Sunjath'la who raised the city of Duvan after the Long March, the Ros'wussrun went their own way and stayed closest to the ancient ways; preserving countless records from the Old Kingdom. There were many ethnicities within the Ros'wussrun, and various major settlements. Each group possessed their own various traditions, responsibilities, cultures, values and principles - yet, they all still shared various similarities and standards.

While there were many significant occupations and paths, regardless of the occupation the Ros'wussrun held the largest degree of mandatory training and qualifications to achieve their desired paths. Ros'wussrun children begun their training at a young age in small mentoring groups, then proceeded through various schools until graduating from at least one of the great academies of their people. Upon successfully graduating, they were required to attend a second academy in Duvan within a few years, or be forced to attend proficiency courses to ensure their skills didn't wane. Most opted to attend Zhenu'Magath. Much like their Sunjath'la counterparts, there was no age requirement to graduate any level of education curriculum and advance to the next, but unlike their cousins, there was no prestige associated with being a young student of advance practice. Simply, the faster one completed their mandatory education, the faster they could move on and focus on their own lives. The designation of 'Nightmare Witch' was the highest occupational honor which could be achieved. A Witch who had completed her training, been recognized by a Ros'wussrun Coven and been taken as an apprentice had to undergo decades of grueling study before finally earning the title. Unlike Duvan which possessed one single Coven, the Ros'wussrun possessed a multitude of mysterious ruling bodies, made up of these exceptional Witches. Their primary efforts revolved around training apprentices, preserving their respective arts, guarding the forgotten realms they dwelt and ruling over the Ros'wussrun peoples together. [Alicia | Knowledge - Success]

Veilshaping was a property imparted upon a Veil. It allowed a Veil Witch to spontaneously and effortlessly Veilweave without the use of a Circle of Black. As Veil Witches did not possess free access to the Circles, Veilshaping effectively formed the sole principle of what was recognized as 'Veilweaving' for most modern Witches. The whole mess of utilizing a Circle and trying to struggle with assembling complex and intricate functions together in a single ill-conceived construct was a laughable and foreign notion to the majority of her kin. Shaping had effectively become 'Weaving' due to the inaccessibility of the Circles, but Witches still understood the core principles and theory of Weaving's function, it was simply impractical. Learning more Veils and more Shapes built a Witches repertoire of magic and was a very important corerstone in Veilweaving as it existed today. [Stella | Knowledge - Partial]

Wide-Shape was a metamagical template applied to a Veil that allowed the function to be changed or altered to influence a greater area. A Veil which frozen a person might be capable of freezing multiple houses, or a cloud of healing mist might spread to cover a field. The result largely depending on the grade of the Wide-Shape and if the Veil naturally possessed the capability to influence a number of things over an area previously, or not. Of course, no one except perhaps Gran Hexe Gehlaava had been alive long enough to see what all such magics could achieve if taken to their heights, but Tenebris' work was obscene even by those standards. It simply wasn't a might intended for mortal hands, it could destroy Duvan utterly - just as she had done once already. [Stella | Knowledge - Partial]

The Haal'Udalva was capable of taking woven magics and channeling them through itself with each strike. Just like any Veil, she could assign a new Veil to an occupied slot in her wand and not disable it; unlike if the slot had been expended normally. The powers associated with that slot empowered the Veil, such as the Haal'Udalva, and similarly extended to the Weaves it sourced through itself. It could potentially be grotesquely powerful, especially when amplified by severance, the slot, the wand's natural ability, and then reiterated though the Hexen's glaive. There was no way to survive the recoil of such a strike, but it was entertaining to think about. Aside from those talents she knew which functioned as a Veil, the Veils contained within her wand, the Veil stolen by Drejan'sila, or her yet manifested Renor'vet - she didn't have many options as far as assigning new Veils. [Stella | Knowledge - Partial]

"It is quite curious that you, a Sunjath'la, would be familiar with us, and the ancient arts we safeguard. Perhaps even more-so than your... aptitude with Veil-magic. How did you come to learn of this, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask; who taught you? There are no books in your city of such things, as L'Lotha rose only after the fall of the First King - thus explaining it's 'mystery' to your people. I'm afraid it's rather imperative we know."

Spoiler: Aolthor Tenebris: Activated Features

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Tenebris, Activated Abilities
Ego 53
Speed (Fly): 90ft
Teleport: 200ft
Honor: 311
Aptitude/Focus: 634
Blackened Work: Severance Multiplier (4)
Blackened Spellweave: +/- 2d20, increase/decrease the DC randomly of 1 weave. Adds Severance.
Activate: Focused Casting - Expend 2 Focus per 1 DC failed by to succeed at a Spellweave
Activate: Wand Shape I - [Haal'Udalva, the Glaive Grim] Create Veil, can only be assigned to wand. Creates melee weapon, 15ft reach. Weave Spellstrike.
Veil Slot 1 [Re'D'Quellrin - Fall of Castle & King] - General Slot | Defense Bonus V | Veilshapeing IV
Veil Slot 2 [Anustalek'D'Arla - Depiction of Nature & Society] - Force Slot | Magic Bonus IX | Wide Spell Shape IX | Duration Reduction IX
Veil Slot 3 [Ol'vel D'L'ilha - Black Sword of the Mother] - Shape Slot (Sword) | Magic Bonus IV | Blackened IX | Veilshaping V | Slot Restriction IX

Main Quest: Bistala Civil War, Part 1: The Witch, The Key & The Song
The Bista Athi'Z'hin people are divided. Clan against clan squabbles with one another, while the children raise up a cursed hero who has returned from the depths of the universe with tales and lessons. Bitterness is sown as the Faxtin influence slowly choking their lives, and new ideas begin to emerge, lighting fires through the rigid and ancient society. A shadow looms behind the flames of discontent and tempers boil and conflict seems inevitable.
Difficulty: Moderate | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: None
Primary Objective:
- Befriend a Bista Athi'Z'hin & learn more of the 'hero', Klee'Re-Po'Pala
~~- Learn more from the last of the First Weavers~~
~~- Journey to the Shadowkind's realm, Jun'athel~~
- Find the Olath'Uss; Erraba Chel, the Twice Risen
Alternate Objective:
~~- Tracking the Bista Wanderer~~ - Complete
- Locate The Grim of Jun'athel & break into the World Veil
- Find another way into the World Veil

Spoiler: Rewards | EXP

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Associated Skill: Spellweaving

֍ Stella XP +800 (162,700xp)
⯎ Sovereignty Influence Gained
⯎ Nobility Influence Gained
⯎ Liberation Influence Gained
⯎ Community Influence Gained
⯎ Discovery Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ Occult Influence Gained
⯎ Veil Influence Gained
⯎ Evil Influence Gained
⯎ Nightmare Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Modern Veilweaving +200 (162,900xp)
⯎ Wide-Shape +200 (163,100xp)
⯎ Hal'Udalva, The Glaive Grim +300 (163,400xp)
⯎ Acquired [Strange Item]
✦ Corrupted Fate (Ra'Dolfaal)
⯎ Gem of Telepathy: 3/5 Charges, 3 min duration - Identified use with UMD

SpellWeaving:
Successfully casting a Spellweave costs the Witch a number of focus points equal to Spell Level + 1.
The Witch may attempt a number of Spellweaving Checks per day equal to her Aptitude.

Alicia HP: 8 (13) / 22
Istrei'D'Val Barrier: 450/450
Focus: 27/28
Mana: 1/10
Reputation: 25
Memory: 3
Spite: 1
Honor: 311
SV. Exp: 2 (Severance)
Weave Exp: 175
Veil Exp: 1,000

Spoiler: Cards

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Spoiler: Nelrin'Fel, The Exiled Son

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Name: Nelrin'Fel, The Exiled Son
Potential: ⯎⯎⯎⯎⯎⯎
Min. Aptitude: -
Value: 0
Cost: Other
Activation: Standard
Duration: Limited
Fate: Soul
Grade: Gold
Detail: Once he was the destroyer. Once he was the savior. Once he was the teller of lies. Once he was the teller of truth. He was the exiled son. He had saved the multiverse twice the mount of times he had destroyed it, and been cursed three times more than he deserved. He had been made to live as an animal, and a devil, and been cast out from his home. Yet, despite all his shortcomings and faults, it was he who had risen above it all. Risen above the Houses. Risen above the Three Worlds and escaped the Garden. An accomplishment which no Child born beneath the Mothers had even done, but he had learned quickly that the world was a large place, and he himself amounted to nothing. Yet, he was not discouraged, for he had always been less than nothing. A blight, a curse. His sisters hated him, his House loathed him, and his Mother enjoyed watching him suffer and struggle. He had returned for his brothers, to leave with them and make their own way. He cared nothing for the threefold universe nor the lives of the insignificant insects which inhabited it. He had killed them all before, and he would do it again it if would aid his cause. He didn't want to be perfect. He wanted to be free.

✥ [Greater] Manifestation: Summon's the shadow of the Exiled Son at no cost. Nelrin'Fel will demand his own price, and if satisfied may assist the Witch, or Spite her. Regardless of the result the card is not expended upon use and returns to the bottom of the deck afterwards.
✥ [Potential] The Exiled Son (Passive): Any of Nelrin'Fel's Passive Potentials may be activated at his discretion when summoned. These abilities may be activated and disabled as a free action even while not his turn. The focus point cost of all the Witch's spells and cards is reduced by 4 (minimum 1). There is a 10% chance a spell or card successfully cast is activated again at no cost.
✥ [Potential] Earthbound Immortal (Passive): The first successful attack of each round effecting the Witch is negated, as long as the damage which would be sustained is less than 10 times her arcane aptitude.
✥ [Potential] ??????
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Spoiler: The Soul Eater's Crucible

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Name: The Soul Eater's Crucible
Potential: ✦✦⯎⯎⯎⯎
Min. Aptitude: 22
Value: 12
Cost: 28
Activation: Standard
Duration: Other
Fate: Support
Grade: Silver
Detail: A device forged in the Third World. It was a tomb. A prison. A gravestone for those who would not be allowed the grace of death. Within it the native fate of a soul would be bound to assume their place, then they would be cast into the Inverse. Forever sealed within that reflected world. That which remained was a horrid farce of those who had once been. In the hands of once who knew how to wield it, it could prove to be a powerful engine of arcane might. Those who originally fashion it, created the device with the intent of manufacturing faux universes and converting the life-energy into power to fuel their most abominable spells. Now, it was simply a ring, seemingly devoid of purpose.

✥ [Lesser] Soul Burial: As a standard action, Force one spirit within 40ft to attempt a Spell Focus check equal to 20 + the Witch's arcane aptitude. Upon failure the soul is sealed inside the Soul Eater's Crucible. The ring possesses no maximum capacity.
✥ [Potential] Create Life: As a full round action, create 1d100 lives within the Soul Eater's Crucible. These may be animals, humanoids, or any intelligent or non-intelligent life randomly determined by the ring. The card is not expended upon use of this ability and returns to the bottom of the deck.
✥ [Potential] Consume Life I: By consuming 10d100 lives within the ring the wielder grants herself a permanent +1 bonus to one ability score. This requires 24 hours of uninterrupted concentration.
✥ [Potential] ??????
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✥ [Potential] ??????

Spoiler: The Master of the Conclave

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Name: The Master of the Conclave, Professor Gerald P. Faust
Potential: ⯎⯎⯎⯎⯎⯎
Min. Aptitude: 22
Value: 12
Cost: Other
Activation: Standard
Duration: Other
Fate: Soul
Grade: Silver
Detail: In his early years, his eccentric and often madly delivered conclusions made many believe him without a shred of sanity. His theories far outpaced the current understandings of The Great Beyond and the cosmic forces which magic manipulated. Many years ago, his studies outlined the intricate functions of Psychic Magic and principles of Vanician design which had yet to become common knowledge during the publication of his ground-breaking book; 'The Anatomy of Magic'. Professor Faust was the pioneer of modern magic as it existed today on Golarion, and was thought to be the herald of a new era with the emergence of Offworlders and other far-flung worlds beyond. However, the man vanished after an experiment, leaving behind only books upon the studies he had previously pursued.

✥ [Lesser] Consult the Master: As a standard action, the Witch may pose a single question to Professor Faust, to which he might reply. Regardless of the result, the Witch spends 15 points of focus. There is a 50% chance the card is not expended upon use of this ability and returned to the bottom of the deck.
✥ [Greater] Fabricate Key: As a full round action, the Witch may randomly generate a Calamity Key in their current world. This ability costs 30 focus points.
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Spoiler: Night For Day - Unidentified

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Spoiler: Tagar, Who Waits - Unidentified

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Spoiler: The Reflected Alter

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Praying at the alter requires a Spell Focus check and 1d8 hours of uninterrupted meditation to establish a connection with the herald. Alicia receives no way of judging the success or failure of her attempt. Cumulative penalties are applies for very 4 hours of meditation taken from loosing focus over a prologed period of time. These penalties stack with conditions accrued from other sources such as starvation or dehydration.

Spoiler: Alicia Kelgore - Conflicted Mind

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Alicia and Stella must maintain a constant state of balance to stay in harmony with one another, however doing this is not a simple task as the Veil evolves. Alicia will progressively shift in alignment as the Veil grows and the two personalities shift further and further apart from one another, prompted by various Spell Focus checks while both performing magic and having new experiences which the Veil attempts to adapt into the persona's fabricated history. Furthermore the Veil is capable of enforcing its own canonical history as if by means of a Divergence. At the beginning and end of each day both persona's must make an opposed spell focus check, granting advantage to the victor for the next 8 hours. The persona with advantage gains a +5 circumstance bonus to all other checks against the other identity. If Stella begins to fail more and more checks her control of Alicia will begin to diminish, introducing new influences or opposing actions which she must succeed an ego check to interrupt. Further effects from the Veil may be acquired from constant failed checks. This Veil may be dismissed by revisiting the mirror and spending 1 minute in meditation.

Spoiler: Potentials

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[Mana Sense I] (Potential, General)
Benefit: The Caster gains a mana point pool with a maximum value equal to her intelligence modifier, and may learn spells which require mana to cast.

B'Bhai Duucald: Channel Severance (Imbue Darkness)
A forbidden technique preserved by the Nightmare Witches of E'Spdon Valdruk. If used carelessly, a Witch would be lucky to only have her mind destroyed. While Spellweaving or Spell-casting take a Severance check, or Knowledge (Forbidden) - this replaced any Spell Focus checks which might be required, but must be taken even if a Spell Focus check is not required. There is a 5% chance per spell level that Spite is accrued while using Knowledge (Forbidden) during casting. Spells created in this way gain the Darkness descriptor and deal darkness damage. This ability may only be used while casting harmful magic. Upon successfully damaging a creature the Witch suffers one-fourth of the damage inflicted by the spell and any subsequent effects in the form of non-lethal damage, experiencing their enemy's pain and memories. Upon successfully channeling the Witch must succeed a save equal to her spell's DC, upon failure she is overwhelmed by negative energy and is left Grieving for 1d4 rounds. After three failures within a 24 hour period, the Witch begins suffering 1d4 wisdom damage per spell level of the spell cast upon each failure thereafter, as the darkness begins eroding her sanity. Channeled spells always inflict grievous wounds and debilitating effects upon successfully dealing damage. Casting a channeled spell requires twice the amount of focus points, spell slots or applicable resource, however the Spellweaving DC is decreased by 4.

Spell Training I: Stability
As you have learned from surviving many failed casts, Spellweaving is a complex and difficult system of magic. You have frequently bit off more than you could chew and paid the consequences. There is a reason why structured Spellweaves exist, and why Witches learn them rather than free-casting liberally. The Weave was volatile and performing such a feat was something reserved for geniuses and Savants who understood the functions and quirks of their magic, to avoid being befouled by it. Yet, even knowing that you didn't want to be held back by memorized Weaves, free-casting was the realm of the Gran Hexe, and you dreamed of something far ahead of them. So while you might not have been able to often succeed in your efforts, you developed a method to at least keep yourself alive from those repeated failures so that you could one day master the art in time.

Benefit: Your hit points increase by 6 due to the numerous weave backlashes and failed casts you have survived. The DC of Spellweaves you attempt to cast with a spell level greater than your own character level are reduced by 4. Upon a Spellweaving failure reduce the final Failure Result by 4. Additionally your arcane aptitude increases by 1.

Spoiler: B'Bhai Duucald: Nl'Gnos In'Flamgra

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B'Bhai Duucald: Nl'Gnos In'Flamgra
The Nl'Gnos In'Flamgra was sometimes referred to as the 'nether flame', a powerful combat talent which fell into disuse after the purge of Havockers and Evocation-focused Witches. While it itself was considered an extremely basic and fundamental combat talent for nobles during the height of Evocation, it has now become little more than a small fragment of informative study while it's practice has gone almost extinct. Due to its destructive power, it cannot be used in a duel. Witches who have reclaimed its practice are often subject to suspicion and mistrust, out of a conditioned fear of the magic's Havocker origins.

Benefit: By spending a move action while wielding her wand the Witch may summon the Nl'Gnos, which appears as a circling crimson halo of fire. As a standard action she may make a ranged touch attack dealing 1d6 points of fire damage against a target within 120ft. The Witch adds half her arcane aptitude as a bonus to her attack and damage rolls. Alternatively, the Witch may choose to create the Nl'Gnos without the wand as a standard action. Using the talent in this way is far less potent and gains no bonuses from her aptitude while dealing 1d4 points of fire damage per two hit die she possesses. While this talent may be used while the Witch's focus pool is depleted, if she possesses focus it is reduced by 1 with each use.

Spoiler: Spellweaving

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Spoiler: Veilweaver

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Veilwitch Path Advancement: Veilweaver
Darkness. Depravity. The Eternal Black. These were the words of the Veil Witch. Sinister and unrelenting, nothing was sacred, nor would the feeble powers of their kin enough to slake their thirst for true and undiluted power. It was the simple nature of such things to destroy those who pursued it, and indeed, most were. Those who remained stood wholly committed to unearth the abyssal powers of the beyond, fearing no death nor eternity which waited to greet them. For they were damned by an unconquerable desire. Each manifestation of magic slowly corrupted them, changing them and steeping them further into the dark. The further they delved the more their minds were unhinged and removed from the realm of mortals, made mad by the knowing of forbidden secrets. A process known as the Blackening. Veil Witches could bend the Weave, but were far less potent than their kin. Rather, they sowed Veils; constructs of eldritch energies knitted together from countless threads. They could be abhorrent anomalies, physical fabrications, or even Diverged paths of reality. Secrets were precious, and knowledge - sacred, but to those who delved deep into the darkness awaited... Revelation.

Benefit: Returner Path Advances to Veilwitch.

Your intelligence & wisdom increases by 4. The base DC of the Veilwitch's Spellweaves is 15 and her caster level while casting a Spellweave is considered 2 lower (minimum 1). The amount of Spellweaves which a Veilwitch may learn is extremely limited. The maximum amount of Spellweaves she may learn is 1d4 per hit dice she possesses. When learning a new Spellweave, she may choose to replace an existing one. The Veilwitch gains the ability to cast Veilweaves, unique constructs of otherworldly magic. Each Veil possesses unique qualities, however most cannot be directly used by the Witch nor other creatures. A Veil can be sentient, but cannot activate its own abilities without the Witch's command, a swift action. A Veil may be wielded by otherworldly entities such as Greater Spirits, but only with the Veilwitch's consent. Veils persist indefinitely until destroyed or dismissed, but the number which may exist at any given point may not exist her Arcane Aptitude. Veil's which require certain conditions to persist can only be maintained by the Witch who created it, or an entity allowed to wield it. The Witch may learn any number of Veilweaves, in addition each time she casts a spell or Spellweave there is a 15% chance a Veil is created. These spontaneous Veils will hold similar properties to the magic which created, while other features may be randomly determined. Spontaneous Veils cannot be learned as Veilweaves, but are unique constructs formed from her magic.

The Veilwitch begins with the following Veils:
⛤ Domain of Black
⛤ The Black Veil, Renor'vet

Spoiler: The Deck of Terminating Prescience: Introduction

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The Deck is a powerful weapon designed to combat the corruption of the original cursed book which creation is now bound to. Employing the deck requires careful decision making and strategy to build an effective deck which caters towards the Witch's strengths and weaknesses.

ACTIVATION

Activating the Deck is a Standard Action. The Deck remains active for 1d10 rounds before vanishing. The duration the Deck remains active increases by 1 for every 10 points of Arcane Aptitude the Witch possesses.

CARDS

Once a card has been identified it's features are revealed. An individual card cannot be used until it has been assigned to a Deck. A minimum of 2 cards are required to create a deck. Each card follows the the format of features below. These features are unique to each card and may change even if multiples of the same card are owned. Unique functions such as Potential, Duration, Activation and Detail may be different between the copies of cards, giving new or unique functions to your familiar favorites.

If a Witch is intentionally granted a card it is received already identified, while other cards are automatically identified if their Value is equal to or below the Witch's Arcane Aptitude. Unidentified cards must be identified via a Knowledge (Forbidden) check while within a Circle of Black; this check has no chance of success outside of such a zone and requires 10 minutes to complete. The information each card provides will vary based on the type of card which has been received. Further information is gained for every 5 points which the Witch's check exceeds the DC. This additional information is only available for cards which she has identified herself. She may choose to re-identify an identified card without any penalty, however she may only attempt this once per card.

Categories marked as 'other' provide exceptions to the standard options and are typically massively powerful fates which should be used with reservation. Each card's effect persists after activation for a period of time listed under 'Duration'. The effect may be instant and then expire, last indefinitely, or last for a finite period. The exact time a limited duration fate stays in effect is usually only discovered within its hidden details.

Each time a card is activated the associated Cost must be paid, which is removed from her Focus Pool (a sum of points equal to her Arcane Aptitude). If the activation of a Card would reduce the Witch's Focus to 0 or lower, the Witch is instantly slain.

Name: Card Name
Potential: Certain fates can be empowered if the Witch meets certain conditions before use.
Min. Aptitude: Minimum AA (Arcane Aptitude) required to use the card
Value: The number of Deck Points the card occupies
Cost: The amount of AA required to activate the card
Activation: Standard, Move, Swift, Immediate, Free, Other
Duration: Instant, Permanent, Limited
Fate: Soul, Support, Event, Other
Grade: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Other
Detail: A summery of identified functions that card will perform. Some functions may be hidden or obscure.

DECKS

Managing Decks is a critical role for the Witch, as is building multiple Decks. For every 15 points of Arcane Aptitude the Witch possesses, she may create an additional Deck. Once each day after receiving the benefit of 8 hours of rest the Witch may assign the cards associated with each Deck. A single card may only be assigned to a specific deck once. Each Deck the Witch owns possesses a limited number of Deck Points (DP) which dictate the size of her Deck. The Witch's first Deck is typically her largest and possesses a number of Deck Points equal to 4 + her Arcane Aptitude. Each subsequent Deck has less points than the last, with her second Deck having half the number of points as her first, and her third having half the value of her second, and so on. Each time she expends cards there is a chance she earns additional DP which she may spend between her Decks to increase their individual sizes (eg: If the Witch earns 4 points she may assign 2 points to Deck 1, and 2 points to Deck 2, etc.) The maximum Deck Points which a Witch may invest within a single Deck cannot exceed three times her Arcane Aptitude.

Additionally, the Witch may swap decks as a full round action, but may not do so again for 1d8 hours.

DRAWING

Once the Witch has activated her Deck, a maximum of 4 hidden cards are randomly pulled from her Deck. The Witch may choose to draw one as a swift action, discarding the rest. Discarded cards are returned to her Deck, but any cards revealed among them are suspended for 1 round. Each round a new spread of cards is generated as a free action. The Witch may choose to reveal a hidden card by paying a cost associated with its grade; 1 point for bronze, 2 for silver, 3 for gold, and 5 for Other Rarity. This choice is a non-action which may be performed any number of times.

THE HAND

The Witch's Hand represents the maximum amount of power which she can maintain at once. The cards within her Hand may be paid for and activated at the Witch's discretion. There is no limitation to how many cards may be activated each round, as long as she has enough actions to complete each card's activation. Activating a card functions similarly to casting a spell, and provokes attack, however the card is not wasted should the Witch fail her concentration check. The Witch's initial maximum hand size is 3 cards. The number of cards she may add to her hand increases by 1 for every 10 points of Arcane Aptitude she possesses. If she ends a round with a number of cards in her hand in excess of her limit, she must discard cards until she has reached her maximum hand size.

Spoiler: Dueling Wand Training I

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Dueling Wand Training I
One truth stood above all others; the weak were ruled by the strong. The Witches of the Three Worlds established their superiority via an ancient tradition known as 'B'Bhai Dol'fhaal', a form of ritual combat. Overseen by supreme beings and bound by an age-old system of honor, it formed the corner stone of magical society. Claims were laid, power taken, great wagers were placed and political wheels turned with each battle fought. Wands were passed down from mother to daughter, containing the acquired honor of generations past and greater heights achieved - while others were thrown down into crushing defeat.

Benefit: The Witch gains proficiency with Dueling Wands, and her intelligence and wisdom ability scores increase by 6. Additionally, the Witch is considered to have one additional HD more than they possess for all effects other than determining their hit points, while gaining the following abilities which may only be used while in Ritual Combat.

⛤ B'Bhai Dol'fhaal, Ritual Combat (Dueling Circle)
The Witch may challenge and receive challenges from other Witches with this ability. Upon a challenge being issued, both Witches must cross wands, thereby creating a 'Dueling Circle' whose size is determined by the challenger. The Circle is created at a size equal to 25ft/HD the challenger possesses. A Witch may attempt to resist crossing wands with a challenger by succeeding a DC 20 will save, but may be penalized. While a B'Bhai Dol'fhaal is initiated, neither Witch may be influenced by conventional outside influences, and will cease taking damage or even drowning depending on their environmental circumstances. Once the Circle has manifest the Witness, who servers as mediator and referee, will oversee the match and establish any rules and wagers. Regardless of additional wagers placed, the victor will take a pre-determined amount of Honor from the loser. Both participants may demand a wager, which both must agree to, and may be anything which the participant can provide or relinquish - with or without aid. Additional rules may be added by the Witness or requested by either participant. Rules requested must be agreed upon by both participants. Participants may request a ruling or ask questions of the Witness at any time, before, during or after the Duel. Upon conclusion of the duel wagers and honor are awarded. A Witch may not decline a challenge unless she possesses 100 points or more Honor than her challenger, in which case she may provide her justification to the Witness who will determine if the Duel will be voided. Any challenger who wishes to issue a duel to a Witch who possesses 200 points of Honor or higher must bring with her a number of endorsing Witches whose total combined Honor is within 50 points of her desired combatant. Damage dealt within the Circle is nonlethal, however a participant may still be slain from excess nonlethal damage as normal. Non-magical attacks are always prohibited unless ruled otherwise by the Witness. All forms of attack, other than spells and similar abilities, are considered a special form of attack known as a 'Dueling Thrust' and require a minimum of a standard action to complete. A duel is won when the Witch performs an 'Alaffa'elvriel', a special disarm, or when the combatant is no longer conscious.

⛤ Acem'bol (Dueling parry)
The standard and iconic parry performed by dueling Witches. A Witch may perform the Acem'bol against a Dueling Thrust or any qualifying offensive action by succeeding a Spell Focus check. The opposed check must meet or exceed the Dueling Thrust's attack roll. Upon success the attack is negated. A Witch may perform this action once per round, and any number of additional times by spending a number of focus points equal to the HD of her opponent as a free action, even if it is not her turn. A parry only defends against a single damage source, but must be performed multiple times if a single thrust produces multiple missiles or similar harmful effects.

⛤ Tsaaf'bol (Dueling thrust I)
The classic and most rudimentary of Dueling Thrusts, used to soften up an enemy and prepare to deliver the finishing blow. As a standard action the Witch delivers a blast from their wand, a ranged touch attack. This small magical blast holds a range of 10ft/HD the Witch possesses and uses her highest mental stat when determining its attack and damage bonus. Upon striking an enemy the missile deals 1d4 points of damage in addition to the ability modifier of her primary mental ability score. The target suffers a cumulative -1 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks and saves which persist until the duel concludes.

⛤ Alaffa'elvriel (Arcane disarm)
Victory with peerless grace. The Alaffa'elvriel is the ultimate and unquestionable mode of victory within an arcane duel. Any spell, supernatural ability, Spell-like ability, hex or form of non-Vancian manner of casting (to include maneuvers, spheres, spellweaving, veils, veilweaving, ascension abilities or similar) regardless of target or effect may prompt an Alaffa'elvriel. Any ability or effect which is not classified as a 'Dueling thrust' will typically be a valid action which may prompt an Arcane Disarm. A disarm may be attempted once per round, and any number of additional times by spending a number of focus points equal to the HD of her opponent as a free action, even if it is not her turn. The Witch must succeed a Spell Focus check versus the effect equal to the DC or attack roll of the effect; if the triggering effect has neither than the check is equal to the opponents arcane aptitude. Upon success the duel immediately ends.

⛤ Quatekal'baalta (Mystic Ward)
Duels between Witches were far from arcane slugfests and brutish mystic blasts. Spells and formal magic were dangerous things, only to be employed at the perfect time. It was a battle of wits and preparation, and no preparation was more vital than the Quatekal'baalta. Hovering shields of energy, they served to block attempts at disarming an opponent - but tended to leave one vulnerable to direct attack in the process. Mystic Wards are the primary defense required to attempt to cast a spell or similar effect in relative safety from an Arcane Disarm attempt. To create and employ a Ward a number of prerequisites must exist. The Witch must succeed a Spell Focus check equal to 10 + her aptitude to form a shield. Furthermore, the witch must possess an individual servitor or similar for each individual shield, and she may not possess a number of created Wards in excess of her own HD. Once a shield has been created the opposing Witch must succeed a Spell Focus check with a DC equal to that which was made to create it. Regardless of success or failure the Ward is expended after use. Regardless of the number, standard Wards do not stack against an individual disarm attempt (ie; only a single Ward can be used against a single disarm attempt). This ability functions as a Veil.

**forg99rules** · 2019-04-23, 10:12 PM (ISO 8601)

As her mind mulled over what she could remember regarding the abilities that her wand possessed she began to wonder what would happen if she used her Renor'vet and assigned it to the wands general slot. Obviously the veilshaping would probably change it, but if it did then what would it turn it into. Looking up at the two witches she pondered for a moment if she should make up some story as to how she learned about them and their magics or if she should tell them the truth. The Teller hadn't wanted to tell her anything about Xenaph but that did not necessarily mean that the woman was taboo to her own people. Hope that there was no harm in telling them she spoke up "Who taught me would be appropriate, though it was only briefly and I was only taught the Imbue Darkness B'Bhai Duucald so it doesn't do me very much good right now since I can't mitigate the backlash from using it. I am a bit worried about telling you though as I do not know much besides the name of the Hexen whom taught me, I do know that the Teller would not provide me information regarding her... Her name was Hexen Xenaph, she taught me how to use Imbue Darkness as well as another woman named Alblis from quarry. I would still love to learn more about this magic and ways to mitigate the damage that it deals to the user as it appears to be very powerful and would definitely help me in the future."

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception: (1d20+13)[15] - Of the surrounding area to see if anyone else has joined us

Know Abstract: (1d20+28)[43] - for what exactly the Renor'vet's function is and how it might change if applied to the 1st veil slot

**Mornings** · 2019-04-24, 12:01 AM (ISO 8601)

He threw himself at the wall, fighting his way out of the mire of black. A dismembered arm fell off from his shoulders as Walt ripped himself back up from the tides yet again. His grip slipped, nearly sending him plummeting back into the dark abyss; a death sentence. His arms latched back into the stone hauling him back up towards the rope at his side, a glimpse of hope; a life-line. He could feel his arms shake and tremble, it wasn't from the strain of the climb. The water had stolen something from him, his very life. He knew without a doubt, if he fell again... he'd never come back out from the waters. His hand latched onto the line and pulled himself up one hand at a time. As he made his way up one of the creatures snared upon the wall by thick gelatinous goo hissed, snapping out with a clawed hand. The sharp piercing hand bit into his side as the beast attempted to throw him back down to his death. The struggled; one hand firm in the stone while his other back-handed the creature and a firm kick sent the thing skittering away across the stone. He could feel his blood running from his flank. With a tired hand, he finally pulled himself up to the crates as the others begun their ascent further on ahead. This place was killing him, chipping him away bit-by-bit, they had to escape.

Kazik scaled the last few feet of the expanse easily. He had quickly adjusted to the vertical condition of the misshapen space and now the climb seemed like an effortless thing. His eyes quickly scanned the wall, finding a firm place between the flagstones just wide enough for a proper wedge that would serve as a fair support. His plunged an arm into his bag to produce a rusted metal pry bar. As the thing cleared the lip of his traveling sack a small hand placed a palm over his own, finding a firm grasp. It was cold. It felt as if the warmth from his flesh were being drawn away. He could see. The eerie child pressed her face into his own, and he could see the eyeless black spaces of devouring night barely masked behind the white of the death shroud which divided her face and his mask. "...You're going to die." The soft childish tone of her voice didn't detract from the weight of her proclamation. A dim red light, like a freckle of a distant ember glinted and begun to reveal the rest of the world beyond the haunting child's face.

Erik found his way to the doorway. The water pumped out like a lake surged out from some tear in space, it was a deafening thing that nearly drowned out even the sound of his thoughts. Quiet. Everything seemed to draw to a still all at once. Sight. The darkness seemed to erode away, he could feel a dull vibration like a humming from the stones beneath his hands. The red gleam rose from somewhere below, his eyes opened wide as he looked on below. A massive whirling crimson void-hole exploded into reality devouring the very material universe in all it touched like some glutenous unstoppable abominable force. The water, instantly seemed to dissipate as if some beat had bitten the air and all matter off in some comical unnatural way, leaving the remnants of reality hanging by nothing above a vast infinite red-nothingness that expanded on into the great and infinite forever. It was falling apart. The creeping red death surged forward, but it looked more as if the physical world were crumbling rather than being devoured by something. It was as if all beyond the red had simply been removed, edited out... erased, and the ability to perceive the void itself had been lost. Only the awareness granted by having seen it bloom into existence set some manner of perception which seemed to protest the reality before his eyes. It was a world, suspended, hanging above some endless scarlet emptiness. [Erik | Survival & Perception - Success]

It was distant, but the empty vacuum of their dying fragment of the world wasn't silent. At first, it was pieces from a woman's voice, somewhere from beyond. "-Like that bridge over the river......... It was so quiet.... They didn't know there were moments of collapse.... and you were kicking on the glass, but you couldn't get out." It wasn't the voice of a person speaking, it was muffled and sounded distant. Erik had seen many things in his time, not just between magic and steel, but in the strange tools left by the ancients like those scattered throughout Numeria or the ruins found in Varisia; it was something from another time. A replayed moment. A recording.

A crushing wave of blazing rose energy came hammering out from the edge of the great emptiness and ignited into the fragments left in the real. A bolt of whirling electrical blaze annihilated the creatures below, a single near-touch of the crackling arc sent the creatures into a decimating burst of black glass-like fragments. The snapping dance of eldrich energy wiped by Walt and exploded on-high above him into his companions. The burst of energy cleaved black traces into the world, turning portions of the crates, table and walls into some horrid glimmering 'obsidian'. The garnet bolt hurtled past Kazik with blinding speed; too close. An thin arc struck him surging into his body. An arm exploded in a in a violent display, raining down dark glassy fragments into Walt's face from above. The crackling dark flesh surged up his broken limb, shattering his skin and corrupting his flesh as the pulsing muscle beneath revealed itself. It wasn't stopping. The taint crept further every second, inflicting him with a hungering and burdensome pain unlike any he had felt before. It wasn't the ache of a bloody wound. No. Rather, it was the crippling weight of suffering of a bleak and impenetrable fear and hopelessness. Waves of remorse and panic hammered into his consciousness, fragments of memories not his own clawed his sanity as if they were the like hands creeping up his wound. He was falling. [Crippling Sorrow (Kazik): DC16 Will Save Vs 1d6 Wis Drain & Confusion] (Severance, Wounded)

"Dr. Eldborogh. Log 21. Subject.... Miss Eldborogh. This time as 'Hope Meyer'...." The soft voice from somewhere echoed through the quiet. Kazik dangled from his one remaining limb, still clutching his crow bar. The child's small hand remained grasping him firmly from her place suspended, standing upon air. "No, silly. Not yet." Walt could feel his body twitch at the unnatural spectacle of the masked man's aerial suspension, as if held fast by some invisible force - it hadn't been the first time he'd seen such unnatural things at work. During the Long Night there had been such strangeness... as if some imperceptible entities had watched over those they favored, playing god with the lives of men. The reverberating strike which caught Kazik rebounded from the masked stranger and pierced through him with some invisible lance. The indescribable transparent blow passed through him with a strength that threatened to drown his mind beneath waves of blackness. The strike decrepitated the skin and marrow of his sternum collapsing his chest down upon his lungs, stealing his breath with a shattering SNAP like an exploding sphere of heated crystal. Black lines of splitting and fracturing darkness crept out from around the wound which pierced him completely, placing a visible three-inch hole through his armor and out the other side... yet he lived.... But he saw her. The horrid child in white, holding the masked man aloft from her perch in the air. A cold dread begun to creep into his bones, chilling his blood. Her obscured gaze slowly turned towards him. His body twitched, screaming, willing every fiber of himself to flee out of that room as quickly as he could. [Erik | Will Save DC 18 Vs Frightened Status], (Spite 2)

"...Remember that time in the woods; our promise. Yeah... I don't know why. It always comes back. I still remember, I was half asleep when we reached the lake. It was so cold... Why did we even go? I can't remember.... I can't- Don't worry! I didn't forget what I said. I never told them. It's just... Sometimes, I feel like I never woke up... Like you never pulled me out. Isn't that strange? ...Heh. I know, it's strange... but it feels like that's when it all began. Like everything changed. I could hear you screaming when I fell through. Blackness all the way down... until my feet touched the ground. She told me to kick up. It was the first time I saw Jess... In the dark, under the ice. Maybe we're still there... Maybe I never left. Maybe..."

The girl, the child... the creature- whatever it was. It wasn't something natural. From behind the iron of his mask, he could see the shadow of the child's grin. It was like flesh stretched over some empty space. Even when she spoke, a darkness without measurable depth stretched on from behind her teeth like she were some puppet of the living black. He could feel the ravaging prongs of small frames of life without context flashing through him. A man was crying. Something was missing. What had he done? They weren't his thoughts. They weren't his memories, but the misery crushing down upon him was maddening. It tore at him, raising such a threatening hand that promised to make him forget his own name beneath the shifting kaleidescope of meaningless suffering within himself. "There is no hope. No sanctuary beyond this for you. Only cruelty, and truth in these moments... and the second's I've given you. But now I owe no favor. Doom is coming, faster with each second. Hurry, mister. Death has not settled for you. Upon no stone is it written, but much further still you must climb to settle the odds of all past failure." The soft voice did little to disrupt Erik's fearful disquiet. He could feel himself beginning to wane as the blood from his wounds still drained out from him, falling forever into the red vastness which waited below. [Kazik | Knowledge - Failure]

Spoiler: Collapse, Stage 1 - Surviving A Crumbling Reality

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Collapse can be caused by numerous things, and while the event is seen as exclusive to Tainted Land - it isn't. Escaping from regions in a state of Collapse is always a top priority. In some cases being swept up by such a phenomenon can sweep up players and bring them to strange new places... However, typically, and far more frequently... It's just the end. Collapse begins by a failed Regional Stability check and quickly escalates until the whole of the effected zone is utterly destroyed, or left in a state no longer recognizable. As the taint slowly expands over the years, the threat of the world turning into swiss-cheese will leer its ugly head and force even the everyday citizens of the world to face the reality that is the coming apocalypse.

Falling into the void here spells your immediate death - there's no crawling out of that fall. Now that the instance has decided to murder itself, players will need to expeditiously get the hell out of here - or rather, flee as far as possible until the clock ticks down. Fortunately, as this is the tutorial, there is a maximum distance the collapse can cover - however in a real event, you'll need to rely on every team-member, contingency and preparation you've taken to escape a Sector with the utmost urgency, as the entire map may effectively be 'erased'. Being caught in such a circumstance while exploring tainted regions is bad, and also means a great deal of 'red flags' were missed on the way up to that critical state. Collapse within a Sector is always much quicker than other forms which might be experienced, and are typically just not good things that you want to avoid. Numerous tools, devices and effects exist which can help further the likelihood of survival for those experiencing such a dangerous encounter. Additionally the effects caused by a Collapse aren't necessarily permanent, and can be reversed with some effort, the effectiveness of such an event varies by the mode in which it's accomplished.

Spoiler: Spite, Brands and Scorn, Oh My!

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There exist numerous forces and energies which represent the level of attention or Malice a player has acquired from the Fates and the greater forces of the multiverse, such as the L'Dalharen. Spite is a universal pool of energy shared by all players currently in the game. A single player cannot receive greater than 100 points of spite, but the pool across all players in the game is jointly 100 points. If one player possesses 80 points of spite, another player cannot also possess 40 points. This distribution is unrelated to circumstance, position or environment (yes, even if you're in another 'universe'). Various thresholds of acquired Spite, depending on the method of how it was acquired, can inflict crippling effects. Some Potentials utilize Spite as a resource for various functions, but such abilities should be utilized with care. When Spite among the total number of players reaches a maximum, the player which has possessed the highest sum among the non-gaining members the longest looses an applicable amount of Spite, passing it to gaining players.

Brands are a resource and curse applied by Fates, or their derivatives such as Greater Spirits (Relicuum and Praeter) for favors and services. Upon gaining a Brand, Spite cannot be lost or utilized, but is still reduced when the total Spite pool amongst the players has reached its max. However, unlike normal redistribution, Branded players are always considered on the bottom of the list of applicable players when determining where Spite must be taken from. A Branded player cannot have their Spite value reduced below 10 while other non-branded players possess Spite, and their total Spite value cannot be decreased to 0 even if that would result in other players gaining 0 Spite themselves. Players who cannot receive Spite always receive a Brand instead.

Scorn is a greater form of Spite, representing a hatred from the governing powers of the multiverse for imbalances and perversions a player has introduced to a universe. This resource is not easily earned and is usually associated with large and significant alterations which radically alter the flow of the game. This level of change is usually something drastic, with effects easily seen by all players. Intentional intervention is required to earn Scorn and create the radical results associated with it, unlike Spite. A player may only possess a maximum of 10 points of Scorn without the associated Potentials. While severe effects are usually inflicted for each point of Scorn gained, reaching the character's maximum value will often result in their destruction. This resource is utilized by a handful of unique abilities and mythic Potentials.

Spoiler: Death from the Second World

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A great deal of powerful otherworldly effects and forces exist out there - because they're actually from another world. Strange and foreign, these powers can inflict levels of severe punishment not normally seen in typical powers and abilities. Severance is such an example.

Safeguarded by the fearsome and secretive Coven of the Nightmare Witches of E'Spdon Valdruk, Severance is a school of magic which shares its name with a violent and natural energy deep within the roots of the universe, though its use has been largely long forgotten in the Second World. The crippling magics woven with such forces by the abominable entities beyond sow horrid annihilating waves of death in your world, obliterating life and natural matter even from the slightest exposure. Severance effects always Wound. They are one of many effects which gain the benefit of various Potentials or unique features when utilized in such a fashion. Like many unique effects, a unique check or save is required to resist it - in this case the unique skill is 'Spell Focus'. Some effects allow a higher DC save for creatures without the applicable unique skill or save, while others grant no save against creatures without the associated resistance. Being exposed to such a force often grants the associated Influences to gain related Potentials, though other routes exist to accomplish the same thing. Additionally, various properties, tools and equipment exists to further defend against these countless unnatural threats.

Spoiler: Veilbeasts - Cursed Wounds

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The harm inflicted by a Veilbeast is rarely a physical one. Some creatures harm both the body, and the psyche of those who sustain such an injury, but regardless of the method, all such wounds are cursed. Being wounded by a Veilbeast, no matter the size or severity, is almost certainly a death-sentence for a Gale. The curses which these creatures deliver slowly tear bodies apart, or even rend the spirit in manners which are mysterious and not understood. Cures which are discovered are often withheld and treated with the highest level of value and secrecy, placing the power of life and death in the hands of the few. Each Curse possesses an individual and unique remedy specific to itself. Some are easier to treat than others, where simple guesswork might suffice. While others are immensely complex; relying on recovered manuals, secret words and regents, amongst other various components. Those wounded by such a curse are immediately discarded in younger, less-experienced companies, while veterans groups often keep records of learned secret cures complied in their leader's manual. This knowledge is often leveraged against the wounded and dying to acquire additional time under their enlistment, or other resources. The Surveyor Corps offered remedies freely as a public service, but what cures they possessed was often extremely limited due to their charitable nature.

Common holders of cures for curies included high-ranking Gales, veteran Harriers, Black-Healers, and of course... 'Witches'.
Weiss was known to have been in possession of a large number of cures for such blights, long before she became a Gale. Her reputation served as some manner of example to substantiate the belief, and that expectation had similarly extended to any and all 'witches'. There were more than a few accounts of such individuals being capable of purging the blight from a Veilbeast-wound, but where you would find such a person belonging to a practice which had been driven underground... Well, that was anyone's guess.

Spoiler: Resisting - Dragged Down

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The cursed and blighted black creatures are attempting to drag you down into the waters far below. Should they prevail, it would surely be the end of you.

The creatures are attempting to grapple you. Upon a successful grapple, you must succeed a strength check to maintain your hold on the wall each round. For each successful creature grappling a new strength check must be passed, increasing in difficulty. The DC of this check is 10 and increases by 2 for each creature in a grapple with you. Every round after the first they have maintained their grapple, these creatures can attempt to utilize their 'drag down' ability, forcing an additional reflex save vs falling. Breaking a grapple is a move action rather than a standard action. Each of these creatures provokes an attack of opportunity when they attempt to grapple you. If you are considered armed and are considered to be threatening a space, you may make your attacks before taking your strength checks.

Spoiler: Enviromental Effect: Surviving the Dark Waters

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Tainted lands are horrendous places filled with strange and exotic new ways to die. The environmental threats in these areas are often far more fatal than the few bouts of combat which may be encountered. The mysterious Dark Water from your vision has been made manifest, and it rapidly drains away the life energy which binds you to existence. Each round in contact with the quickly rising water deals nonlethal damage. The damage suffered is doubled each subsequent round, threatening to consume you.

✦ Consumed: If a character falls unconscious in the Dark Water, they immediately begin to drown (no save). Other characters can attempt to jump in and save you, but will be unlikely to escape themselves.
✦ Crippling Waters: If a character takes an amount of nonlethal damage equal to double his constitution score, he becomes fatigued for 1d4 rounds.
✦ Threatened: You may not take 10 on any check.
⯎ Climbing Out: Character's must succeed a DC10 climb check to move 5ft. Additional distance may be traveled, not to exceed your base movement speed, by succeeding consecutive climb checks for every 5ft. The DC of each check after the first increases by 3. Climbing gear, such as pitons, grapples, and rope can greatly assist in moving faster. If using rope to climb, this movement is performed normally. Creatures with a climb speed may climb as normal. Pitons may be planted and affixed to a safety line at a location to prevent falling from height excess heights. This is a standard action. If a creature fails their climb check by 5 or more, they fall.
⯎ Catching Hold: If there are fixtures adjacent to you when falling, you may attempt a reflex save (DC10 + amount climb check failed by), to grab hold of an item nearby. This may also be done when falling past a potential handhold, or another player. Similarly, this DC may be attempted by a PC in-line with the creature's fall to attempt a catch. After catching a falling creature in this way, the PC must succeed a DC13 strength check or begin falling as well.
⯎ Swimming: Creatures must succeed a DC10 swim check to stay on the surface of the water each round, or begin sinking at a rate of 10 feet per round. Creatures below the surface of the water must succeed a swim check in the same manner as climbing; attempting subsequent checks every 5ft.
⯎ Aiding Another: Characters may spend a standard action to use the Aid Another action, granting a +4 bonus to another a single skill check another creature attempts.
⯎ Extra Effort: If a creature takes a second move action, the DCs of his climb and swim checks reset for that movement. A creature who performs this action a number of times equal to double his constitution modifier must succeed a DC15 fortitude save. Each additional time this ability is used thereafter, the DC of his save increases by 1.
⯎ Recovered: Characters are no longer suffering from any negative effects of their imprisonment and regain full movement speed. (You normally will not recover from negative effects accrued in tainted regions, even over time; leading to your inevitable demise. Learn from this experience, as small issues such as status conditions can all but assure a failed dive. A number of resources and contingencies exist to better your chances of coming back out again.)

Spoiler: Divergence - Influencing the World

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Divergence is a strange phenomenon most ironically experienced by a brief state of non-existence. The changes experienced thereafter are often incredibly radical. Main-Quests are almost always lost if players Diverge before completing their current tasks. Divergence can be both beneficial or crippling, but can always be reversed in some fashion. However, Divergence can only be reversed in the order in which they occurred; meaning, if a player were to Diverge three-times, the first Divergence could not be changed until all subsequent Divergence were negated. Diverging multiple times can make changes you have experienced, influenced, or created, near-permanent by extension. Meddling in otherworldly affairs greatly increases the likelihood of Diverging, however other forces can cause this as well, including player-actions.

A number of unique, but virtually unknown protections and contingencies exist to combat and control this phenomenon. Many unique realms and universes beyond can only be accessed via Divergence, and some abilities can create powerful desirable-effects to bolster players. However, wild, uncontrolled instances of this spectacle can quickly lead to a tragic fate. Surviving the mysterious threats of the Night and influencing the fabric of reality for your benefit will require careful attention paid to the current state of the world, and detecting early signs of such negative influences before they can spin out of control.

Spoiler: Status

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Environmental Effect
~~✦ Darkness: There is now absolute darkness throughout the chamber. Normal sight and low-light vision no longer function, you are blind. Darkvision functions normally.~~

֍ Erik +200 (1,300xp)
HP 26/37 (2 bleed)
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 3
⭍ [Cursed Wound] 2 Bleed, DC 22 Heal (full-round action)
⭍ [Wounding Curse] Fast Healing & Regeneration Disabled. Cannot Heal Grievous Wounds. Cannot Recover Hit-Points. Harms Others. Cure Unlearned.
AC 23
Extra Effort: 1/4
Spite: 2
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Secrets Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Caution Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Fear Influence Gained
⯎ Spirits Influence Gained
⯎ Destiny Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ The Red Void +400 (1,700xp)
⯎ The Recordings +300 (2,000xp)
⯎ The Child +200 (2,200xp)

֍ Kazik +300 (1,250xp)
HP 55/57 - [3] Bludgeoning Damage | Shattering (HP Reduction): 1
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 3
⭍ [Severance: Dismembered, Corruption] The creature has lost its off-hand. The wound has shattered all the flesh blow the elbow, turning the skin to glass. (This lost limb will be restored upon exiting the room. Kazik may climb with one hand by succeeding a DC10 strength check for every 5ft of movement he makes.)
⭍ [Severance: Shattering, Corruption] The character's body is beginning to crumble and rapidly deteriorate into nothing more than a pile of dust. As the corruption wracks the victim, the creature's maximum hit points are reduced by 1d8 points each round until they escape the Sector. Current hit points in excess of its maximum are not retained as temporary hit points, but are instead lost. This is a form of damage, but it is not healed or resisted conventionally. (This Severance-effect, and the effects of 'Crippling Sorrow' are reversed upon escaping the room. Kazik's maximum hit points and wisdom score are returned to normal.)
AC 20
Extra Effort Used: 1/6
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Madness Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Darkness Influence Gained
⯎ Evil Influence Gained
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Agility Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ History Influence Gained
⯎ Spirits Influence Gained
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Worlds Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Acquired [Black Dice x1]
⯎ A Way Out +50 (1,300xp)
⯎ Death, Unwritten +100 (1,400)

֍ Walt +200 (500xp)
HP 43/43
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 27 (3 + 6 + 18)
⭍ Status: [Fatigued]
AC 19
Extra Effort: 1/4
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Madness Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Endurance Influence Gained
⯎ Recovery Influence Gained
⯎ Tactics Influence Gained
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Black Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Life Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Undeath Influence Gained
⯎ Strength Influence Gained
⯎ Memory from the Night +100 (600xp)

Spoiler: Influences

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Influences represent current knowledge, pursuits, training, experiences and aspirations which are actively effecting or being utilized by a character. These represent various concepts and begin to outline a character's values and path as they grow. Influences which are not used regularly are lost, but can be gained again once a character begins pursuing an avenue related towards that field or concept. Influences determine a character's growth in many ways, including experience points they earn and which Potentials they can acquire at any given time.

Unlike with limited class levels, Influences are not acquired spontaneously, and are acquired throughout play; creating an active system which enables a character to re-train, gain new powers, or even improve upon old ones actively with their in-character actions. Training with a sword or exercising the use of an existing Potential allows a character to learn new techniques, empower his current abilities, or even grow his tolerance to pain, sustain damage, run faster, sleep less, and more. Influences play a vital role in developing more sophisticated interpersonal skills and ability to deal and establish diplomatic relations with all manner of strange and otherworldly creatures which you may encounter; in addition to learning more about the unnatural forces which no worldly knowledge could shed light upon. All unique skills are only able to be acquired via potentials, which are trained and worked towards acquiring via your pursuits, experiences, and by extension - your Influences.

Spoiler: Point: 323 - Willowbrook Sanitarium, F3A (About Tainted Lands)

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Tainted Lands are incredibly complex and foreign realms which are often guised as places once familiar. Each tainted region is individually unique and carries with it its own risks, rules, threats and worldly hazards. Many things cannot function, work differently, or can lead to reality crushing results that make survival for most creatures delving into their reaches an impossibility. Site Investigators often travel with groups of Harriers or Gales for long extended periods conducting a through survey of each corrupted-site, known as a 'Point'. These reports are used by various venturing companies to conduct expeditions, known as 'Dives', into the tainted lands. Points are always geographically divided into many areas known as 'Sectors' by Site Investigators. Sectors within a Point mark areas where the rules of the other areas which have been surveyed dramatically differ, be that the laws of nature or magic, or even stranger changes they cannot fully understand.

Common Sector 'rules' which Gales are familiar with include such things as; violent reactions to non-grounded magics, reactions to supernatural energies and abilities, reactions to specific materials, reactions to unstabilized magical creatures and creatures capable of withholding or generating energy, and items or persons keyed to a particular influence.

Fortunately there were not very many public users of magics due to the general fear and suspicion associated with the practice, and thus even less individuals with such talents that traveled into the tainted regions. Magic was an inherently suicidal thing to employ in such places without a remarkable understanding of the Point and all features of the rules which governed the Sector currently being occupied. Everything in a spell from the time it took to produce, to the school, effect, number of targets and even the manner in which the spell functioned were all individuals factors which could set off a dimensional-explosion and throw an entire team of unwitting mercenaries through a hole into Abadon; or worse. There was always worse, they just hadn't learned what that was yet; that was the first lesson tainted lands had to teach the fools which dared brave its depths. Wizards and magicians were generally less welcome by companies that ventured to such places, than they were by the general public. Unless the magician in question specialized in using his or her magic in such places, and possessed a record to back it, not even a fool would bring one along. There existed unique items called 'Grounds' which restrained and processed a magician's magic making it generally safe to use, but they were immensely expensive and built for each individual mage. Yet, more vexing was the matter that a single magician would often need multiple Grounds, as no single device was assured to provide every protection for every circumstance. Nor were they permanent fixtures. Like filters, they eventually spoiled and failed. At least the ones commercially available. The device's creator, the genius inventor Denil Demn could produce Grounds which would self-cleanse and restore themselves with time, but acquiring a commission from the man was a nightmare. If not because of the competition attempting to do the same, than because the craftsman was notoriously difficult to reach.

The degree of influence upon supernatural powers varied wildly, but was based on the level of corruption the tainted region possessed. In some of the worst places there were documented cases of Gales detonating in a bloody mess from simply employing internal forces to accelerate their speed and agility. Much like a monastic practitioner of martial arts, many Harriers preferred to learn to hone inner energies to aid themselves in conflict while Diving, but even this was not completely safe. During 'Deep Dives' companies outfitted their members with various equipment to maintain internal stability, but this was not something exclusive to the most foul of places. If the rules of a Sector were particularly twisted, it was possible to experience those same hazards without venturing into the belly of the beast.

Some materials or creatures didn't react well in tainted regions. The places were often so alien and foreign that not even animals could enter. Sometimes it wasn't just animals, it could be steel, or wood. Maybe iron. No one would know what all, if any may have been effected until a Site Investigator ran their exhaustive tests. Some of the most strange of places caused unnatural phenomena from things associated with a particular thing. Perhaps a cleric's symbol, or a deity's favored weapon, maybe the pages of a book. It was as if the world were possessed by some malicious spirit that remembered only the things related to what had wronged it. None of these places were necessarily good to ever venture, many Gales never bothered. Even putting the twisted spaces of reality aside, the Veilbeasts and other horrors were enough to convince any sane man to keep his distance. Veilplague had become nearly non-existent, but the corruption and curses which could be afflicted were a horrendous burden. If a man were blighted, he could not be allowed into a town or city. It was all one could do to simply pray that a green witch or other healing pariah might be able to mend them, as civil men would have no choice but to quarantine or kill the infected. There simply were no known cures for most maladies, at least not in the hands of the peoples at large. For most, death was assured.

Point: 323, F3A: Sector 1A - Regional Effects
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????

Main Quest: Dreaming, The Nightmare Beast
Something lingered and twisted their perceptions, their very reality. There was no past and present, only a fractured array of constantly shifting states of existence. All was real. All was now. It darkened the world, as if laid in shade beneath the looming hand of some omniscient mad god. Somewhere, someone elsewhere inside knew. That man could discern reality and see the dream for what it was. They had to escape before it consumed them, before all that was named true in their minds was pried from their broken hands, and devoured by some horrific nightmare. The visions... Everything. It couldn't be real. It couldn't be real.
Difficulty: Lethal | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: 3/8 Rounds
Primary Objective: Survive.

**Chromascope3D** · 2019-04-24, 11:45 AM (ISO 8601)

Kazik
The Hanging Men

He reeled back from the girl, feeling the sweat bead beneath his mask as he looked through her own. Misery overwhelmed him, ravaged his flesh and pumped through his veins. Despair crept in, and he threatened to lost himself in it all. Darkness clouded his sight again, and his fingers threatened to send him plunging into the scarlet abyss below.

But at the nadir of his thoughts, a thought crossed his mind again. As it had before, and before, like a mantra it flooded his head and overwhelmed the fear. This would not be the end of him. He wouldn't die like this. he was no stranger to misery, and no stranger to agony. As he repeated his mantra, his sweat did a curious thing, blackening and steaming, rising from his body like a hellish aura. He would not die like this. He looked down, for the first time witnessing his disfigured arm, witnessing his flesh crumble away. For many this might spell the end, but not for this man. Something awoke in this man, a feeling long dormant. Though pain seared through his body, his arm still had muscle. However clumsily, it could still move. he still had one good arm and that was all he needed. He swung about, regaining his foothold on the wall, feebly grasping the flagstones with his broken arm and planting the iron rod into the mortar.

But, as he tried to reach the stones above, the agony overwhelmed even he, and he slumped back down, still dangling from one arm and watching the water still rise. He glared at the young woman, and spoke:

"Your words do not threaten me. I know well already it is the fate of all men to die. So what is it you really want from me?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Gonna use my standard action to attach the crowbar as a piton
From the OOC thread:

I'm gonna activate his Resolve Scorned Ability to allow his to roll twice and take the better result on his will save.
(1d20+8)[15]
(1d20+8)[18]
(1d8)[7] Scorned Influence

Edit: hoo buddy called it

(1d20+2)[3] STR vs DC10 due to bad arm [failure oops]

Also a Sense Motive check which I forgot about earlier
(1d20+10)[24]

**Stevesciguy** · 2019-04-24, 07:07 PM (ISO 8601)

Recovering from the rare moment of shock that the chaos of the situation had inspired in him, Erik calls out to the others over the deafening torrent of water:

"I'm going to push through the waterfall; once I'm on the other side, I'll drop the rope and pull you through!"

Erik's eyes then lock with the empty blackness in the void-girl's sockets. Hidden under his helmet, Erik's face twists into a sneer, not unlike that he had given to the Lurks only moments before. His voice lowers, becoming a deep growl.

"Whatever you are, we'll deal with you later."

Erik heaves himself into the torrent, gripping onto the edge momentarily before being pushed back. He barely manages to catch on to the rope he had just tied, escaping near certain death at the hands of that scarlet vortex. For a brief moment, Erik had been a dead man.

And in that moment, Erik's body crossed the gap.

Underneath the platemail, flesh rapidly withered, more nimble yet somehow more powerful than before. The trickle of blood that had been running from his wounds ceased, and in the gaps and holes created in his armor by the lurks' attacks, bleached bone could be seen. The faint warmth that could be felt from Erik's direction faded in an instant, replaced with a cold chill.

I will not die here.

The strange creature that was Erik now latched onto the wall, driving gauntleted hands into the stone tiles with a powerful crack. With a swift motion, he hurls himself through the waterfall, the rope trailing behind him, ready to meet whatever new hell may be on the other side.

Spoiler: OoC

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Save against void-girl's fear effect:
(1d20+10)[27]

Actions:
Standard: Attempt #1 to move through waterfall

Move: Extra Effort: Attempt #2 to move through waterfall

Swift: scorned ability: assume undead form, corruption roll: (1d8)[7]

Erik can have 19 rounds of undead form each day
Round 1/19

First attempt through waterfall(failed):
Climb: (1d20+7)[13]
Strength: (1d20+4)[6]

Reflex Save to catch:
DC 20 Reflex Save: (1d20+9)[27]

Extra Effort, second attempt through waterfall(success):
DC 10 Climb Check: (1d20+8)[15]
DC 16 Strength Check: (1d20+5)[23]

Extra Stuff:
Perception check on other side:
(1d20+7)[12]

Survival check for stability and such on other side:
(1d20+5)[20]

Untrained Knowledge Planes and Arcana on void-girl, because it can't hurt:
Arcana(max 10): (1d20+2)[12]
Planes(max 10): (1d20+2)[18]

I think I'm gonna copy Chromascope and make a sense motive check on void girl:

Sense Motive: (1d20+7)[21]

Edit: Realized I should probably put the stat effects of undead form in here:

While in this undead form, the gravewalker loses his Constitution score temporarily and uses his Charisma modifier to determine temporary bonus hit points and bonus Fortitude saves instead.

Skeleton Form (Su): While assuming this form, the gravewalker gains a +2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity, two claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage, and a +2 natural armor bonus to AC. In addition, the gravewalker gains DR 5/bludgeoning, immunity to ice, and has a holy burst resistance +2.

That adds up to a +3 bonus to AC, and my HP got jacked up by 12, I think.

I assume that ice immunity = cold immunity and holy burst resistance = channel resistance. Let me know if that's wrong.

**Toptomcat** · 2019-04-30, 09:16 PM (ISO 8601)

Walt Kincaid
The Hanging Men

Walt squints, squelching the urge to use a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden, hostile radiance which takes Khazik's arm off at the shoulder: he needs everything he's got to climb.

And now they're both talking to...something? What's...

The water rushes up, his handhold crumbles.

Doesn't matter, just climb!

A few more moments of furiously scrambling up, and he's made it... and Khazik hasn't.

No time to grab him myself- the place is going to collapse and fill with the stuff too quickly. What can I...

!

"KAZIK! Jump for the rope- we'll pull you through from the other side!"

Not waiting for a reply, he tears the rope from its moorings and goes onward, crashing through the waterfall with a snarl.

Spoiler: OOC

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Spending 1 pp and a swift action to activate my 7th-level Scorned ability, Combat Surge, gaining a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and +2 to Constitution for one round. Check for psychic enervation: (1d20)[11] (1-3 fails)

Mutate remains active, and will for the foreseeable future.

My Climb modifier remains +8. Making two Climb checks as a move action, moving 0-10 ft towards the exit, then making Climb checks until I either make it or fall.

Climb 1: (1d20+8)[28] vs. DC 10
Climb 2: (1d20+8)[21] vs. DC 13

Climb 4: (1d20+8)[21] vs. DC 10, and Strength 1: (1d20+5)[25]
Climb 5: (1d20+8)[10] vs. DC 13, and Strength 2: (1d20+5)[25]
Climb 5: (1d20+8)[13] vs. DC 16, and Strength 3: (1d20+5)[13]
Nonlethal damage taken: 27
Fatigued
7/11 PP

**Chromascope3D** · 2019-05-01, 02:39 PM (ISO 8601)

Kazik
The Hanging Men

The rope swung back and forth, but the man was too stunned to grasp it. Though muddied by the sound of onrushing water, the words were unmistakable. Kazik. That was what he had called himself, wasn't it? Kazik. The name of the destroyer. Had he named himself that, or was that someone else's label? He'd really have to thank the gunman later, if he made it out of this alive. Really, it was almost embarrassing that he couldn't recall his name either, even as more memories of the past came flooding back with otherwise remarkable clarity. Ah, but again, this was not the time for reminiscence. Focus.

Kazik only had one good arm, but needed two to grab the rope. One mistake would mean a quick plunge, and while he was remembering his confidence in his ability to take punishment, he was significantly less so in meeting the dark crimson maw below. He swung his flayed limb up to grasp the bar, and his body, already subsumed with pain, swept over with fresh waves of agony. But, even so, something triggered in the back of his head. A feeling long dormant started to creep to the fore as his limb throbbed. Very well.

The cultist stayed still for but a few moments longer, looked over the girl one last time, and reached out to grab his lifeline.

Spoiler: OOC

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gonna use my remaining move action to grab the rope
(1d20+2)[13] STR check

**Mornings** · 2019-05-07, 12:21 AM (ISO 8601)

The Unsung King - Alicia Kelgore

421st Day of the 1st Cycle - Time: 9th Bell / LC: 30,303
Jun'athel; ???????? - ????????
????????; ???????

There was an unusual silence as the veiled-woman's gaze was drawn to her side. Her apprentice's face was screwed up in confusion, seemingly not understanding what Alicia was talking about, but equally taken aback by the silent stare of her master."What? What is it? There's no Hexen named ~~Xenaph~~! I know my history. There was only Vaelre Scen'maelma, then the contest between Pau'Lialtilna and Elm'souja before they both ran Cross, so the seat was passed to you. Then the third was the Sunjath'la, Tenebris. No Nightmare Witch who has ever worn the Witch King's crown; and what the hell is 'imbue darkness'?"

The girl's words seemed quite curious, not just her confusion as Alicia's words seemed to come across as utter gibberish, but at the latest revelation. The veiled-woman was apparently not truly Ros'wussrun, and in fact a Hexen - the Second King, if the young girl's words were to be believed. Tenebris has been the first Hexen of the modern age. Her reign had spanned over thirty-thousand years, and counting. No Hexen before her had been a Witch of Duvan, as the Old Kingdom still stood, and the Kings of Old were relics from long-forgotten antiquity. The roles and identities they held were of a nature and purpose unrecognizable to modern standards, and the meanings of such a seat as they had existed in those times was mostly lost. After all, the Hexen today represented the Witch who possessed the utmost authority and power in Duvan today... but what were the Hexen of the ages past, when the Old King, Kerym, still lived and ruled the recognizable whole of the Second World? It was a strange notion and one that didn't have an answer in Duvan. For in the bitter struggle for power between the Witches of Duvan'Ku, there could be no 'second-place'.

"Yes, that is correct. Presently. That was not always the case. The Wheel interceded, thus L'Dalharen changed the Second World, erasing ~~Xenaph~~ from 'The-World-After'. Your confusion is understandable, as she can no longer exist here any longer." With each utterance of the name, something seemed to break. A skip. A frame. A slight stuttering bump in reality, that made the syllables of the Hexen's name jumble together and sound like gibberish. Like something was being twisted apart, or censored from existence. "So that means..." "Yes... Our friend is from 'The-World-Before' ".

"Isn't it forbidden to bring back erased things from 'Across'? We shouldn't be talking about this should we?" The ancient Hexen's obscured gaze turned back to Alicia, "It doesn't matter anymore, they already know. She taught you the Valby'oth. A forbidden technique sealed by L'Dalharen, a piece of the 'Hidden Verse". There was a long pause, but she offered no further explanation. Stella didn't need one, after all, Adessa had been her teacher. The 'Hidden Verse' was a term used by other Witches, but it didn't accurately capture just what it was. There were in fact, many Hidden Verses. Each one existed as a metaphysical psychic construct, which was something akin to a key. Each key evolved, granting a new a further developed iteration of itself. It started very simple at first of course.

She could still remember the First Hidden Verse in it's basest form even now just thinking about it. Physical armor became slightly less substantial, magic became slightly more abundant, and the charge which infused a focus barrier could begun to even deflect an arrow. Assembling the entire key was immensely difficult, even in her previous life she'd never completed the construct in full - but she'd seen what it could achieve. Near-infinite magical energy, with the power to convert life into a more raw and volatile arcane fuel even in places which such things otherwise could not exist. A 'Witch who produced an infinite flow of raw and natural energy', such a mortal would be looked at as something of a god-like entity, capable of creating or staunching the flow of magic across a plane of existence. It was a justifiable fear for an unfathomable power that could seat a woman upon the throes of 'divinity' as it was understood by magical-folk. Yet, there were dozens...

"Do you know why ~~Xenaph~~ was removed? She made an oath to the Houses before Aradia, to safeguard and secret away the forbidden arts she held, vowing to never pass them unto mortals, and enshroud the occult truths of her teachings forever. She violated that promise, for Adessa, for the Whispering Witch. I don't know what lies she weaved or promises made, but she was convinced to abandon that vow. She taught Adessa the Hidden Verse, and her Whispered Hex. Those curses were more powerful than any magic intended for the hands of a Witch. Adessa's Veils could even pierce L'Tresk'ri'Vet, and they did. Her deeds woke J'June and created the Sleepless. Yet the sin of her crimes belonged to the Ros'wussrun, and burdened E'Spdon Valdruk to tend to 'Her' rest; thus giving form to Jun'athel to fulfill their recompense."

The Veiled woman's words weren't emotional or bitter, but still came out with the same familiar tone of indifference their conversation had begun with. It didn't feel like the words were even directed at Alicia any longer, but elsewhere; like a playwright's off-handed comment written into the script but directed more at the audience than the characters... But, who was watching?

"Yet, even after all this. The destruction she wove was not enough, and she passed her magics on to the Black Magister. The one who destroyed your city and disrupted the balance of the Wheel and Council as her master fled. Vet'C'nros are darksome creatures, fulfilling the will of the Mother of the Black Veil - and thus, blameless in the eyes of the L'Dalharen for those savageries committed. No. Those sins belong to those who stood responsible for safeguarding those secrets from the wiles of such depravity. ~~Xenaph's~~ crimes against the Second World are countless, and her punishment is well-deserved. You should forget whatever it is she had taught you."

A slow sharp clap rang in Alicia's ear from the tall man standing beside her. In an autonomous and perfect unison, each of their right-knee's touched the ground to kneel. It wasn't a willful response, but rather as if their bodies had been bent to the will of the soft-featured man now present. His short combed hair was a stark glittering silver which seemed to throw the light in unusual angles, and his face was a tired placid pale with red rings below his eyes from sleepless nights. Stella didn't need Tenebris's shrill whisper echoing threw her mind telling her what he was. Every hair on her body stood on end in a mute and terrible fear. Every cell in her body instinctively knew what now stood adjacent to her. As a magical creature born of the Second World, it was impossible not to know. L'Dalharen.

The man cleased his throat, "Ah, now this is a recipe for trouble. Veil Witches, and Nightmare Witches, back together again. It's beyond me how such interactions are still allowed. Oh, please get up." The violent crippling weight was suddenly released. The woman in black found her feet quickly, but she and the mysterious Hexen's student were far slower to recover. It felt as if their legs had been broken and were rapidly mending, restoring strength to her limbs, but not quickly enough to simply rise from the ground at moment's notice.

"....An Enforcer. " The man adjusted the black tie of his suit with both hands. "Correct. Forgive the late introduction, I'm currently serving as interim Enforcer for Jun'athel, though this realm does not normally fall under my purview. My name is Caus'fel, of the House of Black. I will admit, this is highly unusual, even for me - dealing with Witches and Hosts directly." "H-Hey..." The young Witch struggled but eventually found her feet. "You said a 'Veil Witch'? What Veil Witch!? Lapa isn't one, and I'm Ros'wussrun!"

"Ah, and you're Cas'Haphel, I assume? I mean this girl of course. The Veils of the Gran Hexe are still just as impressive as ever, but even a Joint-Reflection such as this doesn't obscure a Witch's nature, only the identity... when utilized in this fashion. It is quite a remarkable feat, admittedly." His gaze shifted down towards Alicia, I assume you are Gehlaava's pupil, or she at least took enough of a liking to you to aide you in shrouding your identity.... As curious as I am, that's not why I've come; though you've given me an idea to settle another matter... You've broken the laws of the Wheel, girl. By introducing forbidden influence upon L'Lotha from 'Before', you've corrupted and destabilized L'Tresk'ri'Vet. As the law dictates, you should be apprehended to stand before the Council and be judged. However, as Vet'C'nros, you may instead opt to be tried under the judgment of the House of Black, as is your right... The rest of you may go.

The Hexen didn't require further prodding than that, though the Witch, Cas'Haphel, seemed less apt to depart. The veiled Witch grabbed her student, offering a curt bow and departed with the girl in a wink of darkness. The Enforcer glanced around a bit, looking at the ruined world around them. Things were displaced and broken, like pieces of cities and distant places had been stolen and jettisoned from the sky to crash down into the lumbering heap of twisted metal and rubble that surrounded them. Caus kept his hands in the pockets of his black slacks most of the time, maintaining a disposition far more lax than she had envisioned in her mind of so immense an entity.

"Hm. Think I saw this bridge in Michigan.... Anyways, hurry up and decide. I'm taking care of some other things elsewhere. Just between us though, no one in their right mind would want to stand trail under a foreign assembly. Being judged by your own House is always preferable."

Potential Acquired: First Hidden Verse
Benefit: Your Arcane Spell Failure chance while wearing armor is reduced by 10% and your spells have a 5% chance when cast that the spell slot being used is not expended. This % must be rolled as the spell is being cast. Additionally, your Focus Barrier grants a +2 deflection bonus to your AC while manifested and only requires 5 minutes to form. As a full round action you may attempt a spellcraft check with a DC equal to your barrier's remaining defensive value, if you succeed the force barrier is repaired as if you had meditated for 1 minute. This action may only be performed once per hour. Your wisdom and intelligence ability scores increase by 4.

Main Quest: Bistala Civil War, Part 1: The Witch, The Key & The Song
The Bista Athi'Z'hin people are divided. Clan against clan squabbles with one another, while the children raise up a cursed hero who has returned from the depths of the universe with tales and lessons. Bitterness is sown as the Faxtin influence slowly choking their lives, and new ideas begin to emerge, lighting fires through the rigid and ancient society. A shadow looms behind the flames of discontent and tempers boil and conflict seems inevitable.
Difficulty: Moderate | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: None
Primary Objective:
- Befriend a Bista Athi'Z'hin & learn more of the 'hero', Klee'Re-Po'Pala
~~- Learn more from the last of the First Weavers~~
~~- Journey to the Shadowkind's realm, Jun'athel~~
- Find the Olath'Uss; Erraba Chel, the Twice Risen
Alternate Objective:
~~- Tracking the Bista Wanderer~~ - Complete
- Locate The Grim of Jun'athel & break into the World Veil
- Find another way into the World Veil

Spoiler: Rewards | EXP

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Associated Skill: Spellweaving

֍ Stella XP +800 (162,700xp)
⯎ Sovereignty Influence Gained
⯎ Nobility Influence Gained
⯎ Liberation Influence Gained
⯎ Community Influence Gained
⯎ Discovery Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ Occult Influence Gained
⯎ Veil Influence Gained
⯎ Evil Influence Gained
⯎ Nightmare Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Modern Veilweaving +200 (162,900xp)
⯎ Wide-Shape +200 (163,100xp)
⯎ Hal'Udalva, The Glaive Grim +300 (163,400xp)
⯎ Acquired [Strange Item]
✦ Corrupted Fate (Ra'Dolfaal)
⯎ Gem of Telepathy: 3/5 Charges, 3 min duration - Identified use with UMD

SpellWeaving:
Successfully casting a Spellweave costs the Witch a number of focus points equal to Spell Level + 1.
The Witch may attempt a number of Spellweaving Checks per day equal to her Aptitude.

Alicia HP: 8 (13) / 22
Istrei'D'Val Barrier: 450/450
Focus: 27/28
Mana: 1/10
Reputation: 25
Memory: 3
Spite: 1
Honor: 311
SV. Exp: 2 (Severance)
Weave Exp: 175
Veil Exp: 1,000

Spoiler: The Reflected Alter

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Praying at the alter requires a Spell Focus check and 1d8 hours of uninterrupted meditation to establish a connection with the herald. Alicia receives no way of judging the success or failure of her attempt. Cumulative penalties are applies for very 4 hours of meditation taken from loosing focus over a prologed period of time. These penalties stack with conditions accrued from other sources such as starvation or dehydration.

Spoiler: Alicia Kelgore - Conflicted Mind

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Alicia and Stella must maintain a constant state of balance to stay in harmony with one another, however doing this is not a simple task as the Veil evolves. Alicia will progressively shift in alignment as the Veil grows and the two personalities shift further and further apart from one another, prompted by various Spell Focus checks while both performing magic and having new experiences which the Veil attempts to adapt into the persona's fabricated history. Furthermore the Veil is capable of enforcing its own canonical history as if by means of a Divergence. At the beginning and end of each day both persona's must make an opposed spell focus check, granting advantage to the victor for the next 8 hours. The persona with advantage gains a +5 circumstance bonus to all other checks against the other identity. If Stella begins to fail more and more checks her control of Alicia will begin to diminish, introducing new influences or opposing actions which she must succeed an ego check to interrupt. Further effects from the Veil may be acquired from constant failed checks. This Veil may be dismissed by revisiting the mirror and spending 1 minute in meditation.

[Willowbrook Sanitarium]
Nothing. It wasn't there. Loimi's eyes quickly adjusted just as the strange orc across the room seemed to have recovered as well. Both of their hands slid across the broken tiles of the floor, but there was nothing to be found there; at least nothing that was theirs. A thundering crash reeled through, not the room, but seemingly their very hold on reality. Two vibrating negatives of an afterimage shook and pulled away from each other, then slowly were drawn back together again. A shadow seemed to darken and taint their shifting world. Loimi had been laid out across an old operating table, while Varag found himself in a thin puddle upon the ground. The ground. It was perhaps the only thing even remotely familiar, or human. It was as if the floor had been torn out from an abandoned hospital room, fired out into the Maelstrom, then collided into the alien world. Porous dark coral-stone mingled with strange kelp-like stalks protruding from the walls and ceiling, floating in some intangible sea. Black vein-like growths penetrated every crack and appeared to rhythmically pulse with life. This strange and eldrich world, wherever it was.... it wasn't Golarion. It wasn't Willowbrook. [Loimi & Varag | Perception - Success] [Displacement: (DC 14 Will Save) | Failure, -2 penalty to Stability Checks]

Varag's eyes could see a story unfold amid the rubble. A fight. Something big. The rubble wasn't the ceiling, but debris from somewhere else entirely; neither from the remains of the hospital floor, nor the cave-like structure about them. The heavy stone door, the only exit or entrance, was similarly also of a curious nature, but it didn't appear 'displaced'. While it was something of an educated leap of numerous conclusions, the battle had likely broken through multiple floors above, until finally plummeting into the depths which they found themselves. The thin lance which pierced the supports which had fallen from some world far above, shouldn't have been strong enough to resist the weight above it. It was something of a miracle the weapon even found the perfect angle to suspend further damages and the collapse of the entire room... but that looked imminent. The polearm was unreasonably strong to withstand the multiple tons of broken structural remains above, but it bowed and quivered with each second that passed. The thing would inevitably fail. [Varag | Engineering & Perception - Partial]

Despite his experience, the orc hadn't the faintest idea as to just what manner of creature the shadowy entity actually was. He's seen shadow-creatures before, both during the Long Night, and in his time during expeditions. While they could come in all shapes and sizes, from obscure featureless Veilbeasts, to unusual animals that shifted across walls like black spots cast by a light.... sometimes they came in human-form too. No one knew the distinction between a 'rabbit' and a 'man', other than that they weren't Veilbeasts; but at the very least that meant that not all such entities were enemies either. There were a number of tales of children or men following the shadows, some guided out from labyrinthine lairs, while others were lured to their deaths. By all accounts, there was no standard as to just what might be encountered.... yet he'd never heard of such creature's being capable of speech. It was impossible to know just what such an expressionless creature was thinking, but at the very least he could tell the thing hadn't paid the crippled bodies he came upon any mind initially. Whatever it was, it hadn't come to help, but happened upon them by chance. Some older Harriers called all such mysterious shadowy entities, Fextin. [Varag | Planes & Sense Motive - Partial]

As an Offworlder of a dimensional and star-faring race, Loimi had seen a significant number of worlds and places. This wasn't like any of them. This place, wasn't a place. No one made it, it probably didn't even have a name. A cesspool, some backwater hole in which the filth of this twisted plane was deposited. Fragments of broken places and things were dumped within this placed, stacked on top of each other like a tightly-packed garbage heap. This was tainted land. After one fell far enough, that was what it devolved into. A mindless reality-dump from places, from worlds and possibilities long extinguished and shat out here... Or rather, places like here... and they were deep. He could feel the world stutter again.... "Oh, that? Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing serious... Don't worry about me, I'm just taking a break. I'm sure you'll be fine." The dripping sarcasm was palpable. They should have run... His ears were beginning to ring as a violent trembling begun to slowly intensify within his own head, until it felt like the physical world begun to buck and kick as well. Oh god. They should have run. Reeling from the dizzying haze of clawing back to his senses, he didn't notice the last few precious seconds of reality running out from between his fingers. Now it was too late. This was....

The Unsung King - Alicia Kelgore

421st Day of the 1st Cycle - Time: 9th Bell / LC: 30,303
Jun'athel; ???????? - ????????
????????; ???????

The man tried to smother his snicker. "Though I must admit, as perfect as your disguise is, girl... You spoil the entire effort. After all, Magister Astral, even you must recall there are only three Aolthor Wands. I'm certain Lalaphra realized who you were as well. It is quite a difficult thing to miss after all. All the moreso for a Hexen. Isn't that right, Tenebris." The form of the Witch King manifest next to Alicia, ""Well you're not a very entertaining man. You could have just cut-to-the-chase then if you knew who we were." The Enforcer didn't smile, keeping his usual dull expression.

"Yes, well. I have no intentions of bringing in 'outsiders' into internal dealings of the House. Our House. The concerns of Nightmare Witches and Feigned Kings is of no interest to me; but you, Magister, are. Moreso as you are here where you are now by Aradia's influence. The Lady Black sends her regards." The tall surreal man turned to face them squarely.

"I expected we would meet, inevitably, before everything set into motion. Though, honestly, the locale is somewhat unexpected. Though less-so, than the circumstances of our meeting. Your favor with the Lady Black doesn't excuse your crimes. By all rights, you shouldn't even be here yet. It's far too early for you. You cannot yet even comprehend the gravity of your mistakes, but this ignorance does not excuse you. This isn't the First World, or the lowly mortal realms you woke up in. There's no flash-of-darkness and twist in the stories you tell yourselves. No Afsppa'Sol to chuckle at the meaningless damage left in your wake. Here, your actions have consequences. The L'Lotha was sealed to your kind for thirty-millennia when the Wheel determined such creatures could not be trusted with this measure of responsibility. That ruling was met with a split opinion, and dissent. Which is, as I imagine, how you managed to weasel your way here. As it shouldn't be possible, it's not a crime, but the Influence you have introduced into this realm is."

"And why does the House of Black care about L'Lotha? Or even any of the Three Worlds? Lady Black is the only divine being which frequents the realms, your House holds no investment in matters within the Garden." "That's untrue. A number of concerns exist within the Second World, though they are not numerous. Lalaphra briefly mentioned it as well. Jun'athel was created by E'Spdon Valdruk to contain the ruinous power of the L'Tresk'ri'Vet you had already damaged once long before. The Wild Dark is something of a far more modern invention. It was a daring proposition, but an effective one. You might even be somewhat correct in saying that the blackness of this contained realm is the same as that horrid crimson plane, thus your disruptions here cause untold harm to that volatile place. That makes my sister's job more difficult... She cannot return until matters are settled there. I'm sure you understand. I've something of a personal investment in seeing this world succeed; and so I find your gratuitous provocations rather... disturbing."

"I'm sure you are concerned due to the Magister's previous, malicious endeavors. However, that is not the nature of our visit now, and what harm might have been delivered is likely small, for now. If this is the same World Veil, then Stella likely possesses remnant affinity with it and is in the position to improve it vastly-" "-Or damage it beyond repair. I'm certain the judge will hear what you have to say regarding the matter, but that is not decision I may make; but make no mistake, as small as the initial blow you've delivered was, you weren't forgotten. There's an echo which carries, and how far it stretches cannot be so easily predicted. The nightmare you unleashed upon that place in the past has left an irrepressible trauma relived by the hosts, no matter how many times that reality was corrected or reset. The Veil you created plunged that world into a frozen lifeless existence. A winter which stole the life-force of all things, in all worlds, in all realms contained therein; and that suffering was far from forgotten."

Stella's mind rewinded back briefly. Ah, he was right. Tenebris hadn't been with her at the time, but that was when she had created the Uttercold. The power amplified by the Aolthor Wand had made it too dangerous to activate her newly constructed Veil in a mortal realm. It was the same problem which Tenebris faced with creating the Istrei'D'Val. The initial effects of Veil activation could be excessively powerful, and the Istrei'D'Val covered the entirety of Duvan. The entirety of city-plane at once. When Veils became so powerful they could annihilate all life from a plane of existence, sometimes including the caster, it became a chore to find the perfect conditions in which the Veil could be safely created. The sudden appearance of L'Tresk'ri'Vet seemed like a perfect answer, after all no one would care about some quarantined and isolated reality, so she created the Veil there. The devastating result was entirely unexpected. Without the division of the self-contained reality, it would have effected the whole of the First or Second World. It would have been an inexcusable blunder, and the thought of having to face the Gran Hexe, the Council and the Black Conclave was still enough to send a cold shiver down her back. She couldn't feel any regret from that, not while every alternative carried far greater threat. Tenebris shot her a look of disbelief. Not the accusatory kind, but rather her eyes cried out 'why had she not shared a cool story like that'. The Hexen did a poor job trying to fight back the smug smirk on her face. She wasn't good at pretending to be humble, and no one had ever called the Lord of Battle 'sympathetic'. In fact, ultra-massive reality-destroying spells might have even been called something of a 'specialty' of the third Witch King. [Stella | Memory Acquired]

The dull quake of thunder which raced through every stone shuddered through their bones. "Well, gentlemen-" The shadowy creature didn't have the time to finish its sentence. It might have been called an 'explosion' or sorts, but not in the literal sense of actual combustion. No, it was like a wave of crimson light - the shockwave of some unfathomable force imploding down upon itself and unleashing this consuming wave of energy. There was no sound. The world was denied even the mundane curtsy of a death-scream. The stone walls dissolved like cubes of sugar beneath the force of a fire-hose. Reality dispersed and evaporated, blow away like mist and roiling crashes of some horrible primordial black energy crashed through them like arcing bolts. The world was drowned amid a blank scarlet canvas, a nightmarish abyssal void of nothingness in which they fell - and from somewhere far above, the shadow of some terrible grinning beast's face with the shape of a wolf loomed down over them wickedly. It was of an impossible size, like some mythical terror that would devour the very sun should it open its maw. The plummeted into the deep.

Ͽ ◯ Ͼ

"Ah, apologize, I was a tad late. If you'd be so kind, forgive the delayed arrival. I am Caus'fel, an Enforcer. You can think of me as something of a 'lawkeeper', for a great deal of things. As you can see, you are, or were about to be, disposed of by a considerably powerful entity. As you're a corrupted existence, that in itself isn't a problem, but by request - your lives will instead be used to remediate some of these damages. I'm sure you have no complaint with being allowed to live a while longer. You should be glad for a second chance, and an opportunity to prove your usefulness. Though, do keep in mind it will be quite demanding..." The red expressionless world about them begun to fade away into a darkness, like the vastness of space, yet without the light of stars. They were being drawn away somewhere, as if pulled by some invisible force. It was impossible to know just where. "Be mindful, the immediate challenge before you cannot be completed alone. You will be bound to one another for a time. If either one of you should fall, then you will both die. Goodluck."

Despite her mind's desire to understand it, to take it apart, it seemed like something still out of reach. There were spells which could create various 'clones' or similar constructs, but she had never heard of such magic being capable of sharing consciousness. In that place, she existed concurrently somewhere else, in another place; the domain of gods. This couldn't have been the same thing, that conclusion was easy enough to reach. After all, no wizard had ever been mentally and physically traumatized by a maimed magical clone. When she had lost her arm, that damage had extended and reached out afflicting her simultaneously. The limb was still there of course, but at the time her arm had been made useless as if broken. If every clone a mage created could incapacitate or... perhaps even kill him, should they fall. Well... that seemed counterproductive and made for an unrecognizable and distinct difference. It wasn't a barrier between herself and some manner of harm, the trauma was very real. A bead of sweat ran down her back. She was sure that if it had been her head or something else which had been destroyed while occupying that doll, she might not have returned at all; something would be lost. [Regina | Knowledge - Failure]

Regina didn't know what tongue the names or titles the otherworldly beings were using, but thinking upon the exchange between the Inevitable and its master, she started to reconsider her assertions. The Inevitable didn't refer to the 'Enforcers' and these 'D'Inlé' as related or joint things. Rather, the god's assistant had insisted that the Enforcers be notified before she would disclose the name of this 'D'Inlé' creature. The mechanical creature was well aware of the destructive nature of that creature, and evidently favored the more lawful Enforcer, following the standard logic of standards which it had mentioned previously when it had reminded the dour god of the 'rights of hosts'. There wasn't one singular threat.... but rather, many. She didn't understand what Dalharen-D'Inlé meant, there was no translation provided. Similarly, under that same context, she doubted that 'Kakasheji'fol' was a literal translation. These were names, most likely; names of individuals or groups, but not a title. She didn't have enough details to put meaning to the words, but she at least held enough contextual clues to assign some degree of logic to the madness. [Regina | | Linguistics - Partial]

Her eyes scanned the far reaches of the hall, and though she could feel something, she couldn't see it. A dull aching pang raced through her arm once again. It was like a bolt of lightning racing through her veins, as it reached her shoulder it slowed to a crawl... it was like something was beneath her skin. It slowly slithered up her neck like a swarm of burning insects. Her hand instinctively raced up and swatted at the sensation, but nothing was there. It pooled into her ear and crept into the cavernous holes of her sinuses with a cold shivering chill before grasping her brain like a violent bloody hand. Black. It wasn't quiet, no, it was deafening, yet her mind was drawn away... enchanted by the splendor of glimmering fragments of exploding lights and marvelous images which sprung to life and then faded out like a clash of fireworks to illuminate the gloom of dark within the confines of consciousness within. It was an amazing and luminous thing. She didn't understand it of course, there was hundreds of thousands of glittering bursts in all manner of color which painted her world, like short spans of brilliance that stole the splendor from any sunrise. They weren't just places. There were people too, and things... and strange wonders beyond description revealed briefly in those short glinting bursts of radiance. Without context, without meaning, but it was beautiful still. Every light was some story, a fragment or glimpse of something else.

"...Every light is a doorway. Where will it take you I wonder?" It wasn't Taldane, she didn't know those words. It was like the language that god had used. She didn't understand it. It was as if there were two voices speaking in tandem, echoing one another; one she understood, and one she did not. "There is great magic here, far beyond any you know. Stray from the light, and it will smite you... Swear yourself unto it, and it will reveal unto you all truth." The girl was short, perhaps no more than a child. Far below the spectacle of the radiant bursts, the only light which divided the dark shown from the dim glow of the girls long staff. Her long platinum blond hair hung back loosely behind as she looked up at the explosions in the sky. "When you have prepared yourself. When you are ready to be born... You must escape this World." Her eyes seemed to glow with an otherworldly turquoise gleam that radiated with an inner strength. "Trust no one with what you have seen here that does not know my name..." The short girl's gaze seemed to slowly roll over towards Regina, though she didn't lower the angle of her face from its skyward posture. "I am She Who Lights the Way... Lapalila Khalakivos." Her gaze shifted back towards the blooming scenes and visions of light propagating in their endless cycle in the sky. "Now go... You're disrupting the others." Ah, that's right.... Right now she was.... [Regina | Perception - Partial]

Potential Acquired: Arcana Evolved (Revelation) - Impossible Mind I
Something erupted within you, born of some aberrant exposure to some manner of force beyond what you know. Beyond what you could define as 'reality'. There was an energy, a magic or power, or some manner of force which was far beyond anything you knew or could comprehend, and it had touched you. The energy was far too great for your physical body to contain, but some small fragment of it remained embedded within your very being. You could feel it change you. Now you were connected to that otherworldly and unnatural existence, distantly. Flashes of things you should not know revealed themselves in your mind, though they lacked comprehensible context to the mind of a mortal.

Associated Influences: Magic, Truth, Secrets, Vision, Tapestry, Discovery & Light
Benefit: At 1st, 3rd, and 5th level the evolved character gains +1 caster level for one spellcasting class in which she already has levels. She gains more spell slots, more readied spells, a better caster level, and so forth, but none of the other benefits associated with the spellcasting class, but gaining an arcane aptitude and focus point progression. The process of evolving a subject’s intellect requires her to undertake intense study and academic work to provide her mind with the exercise it needs to stay whole. As a result, she becomes a walking storehouse of a wide variety of knowledge. She gains ranks equal to 4 × her Intelligence modifier that must be spent on Knowledge skills at each level she benefits from the caster level advancement bonus of this Potential. The maximum ranks the evolved caster may invest into a single knowledge skill becomes 3 x her Intelligence modifier. By spending focus points equal to 4 x the CR of a target or subject, the caster gains the ability to make any knowledge checks as if she possessed the unique skills 'Knowledge (Abstract, Sariya and Wlalth'ooble)' for 1 round, however the respective DC of these checks is multiplied by 3. If the caster's intelligence score is less than 18, it becomes 18. The evolved caster's Intelligence and Wisdom increase by 4. The evolved caster may lose this Potential if they no longer possesses the Vision, Discovery or Light Influences. If this Potential is lost in this way, the evolved caster suffers 22 points of Intelligence and Wisdom drain. This ability drain is a Severance effect.

FOCUS POINT PROGRESSION
Intelligence Modifier + Wisdom Modifier + Charisma Modifier + Progression Dice

Female Progression Die: 1d4+2
Male Progression Die: 1d8
(Points are recovered every 24 hours)

He'd missed it. Not for lack of trying, he'd seen the brief glint of the sudden dim and something seeming to pass by like the briefest of flashes. A shadow. It made his heart skip a beat. He simply had to resolve to himself; his eyes weren't keen enough to tell what the hell had just happened, but the results were evident enough. Mirkys' eyes briefly took a glance back at the screaming woman thrashing about wildly on the ground as Baird attempted to subdue her wild movements so she wouldn't harm herself. Her feet twitched and kicked madly while rolling and clawing at her own face. Regina was crying out insanely, the veins and tendons in her neck stood taught and jerked, relaxing and snapping rigid again with each one of her convulsions. "...Goddamit, girl." The Vudrani man managed to wrap the woman in a bear-hug to stop her rolling and attempts to claw at herself, but still she thrashed and flailed in his grasp. His voice was filled with alarm, something was changing about them. The world begun to grow dim. "....Listen to me girl." He gave her a few sharp shakes to get her attention, "Listen! It's not real, none of it. Not here or there. They're coming now, and when they do, they're going to take you both. You have to remember what I showed you, that's the exit! You need to escape this place and take who you can! Nothing else matters. There's others too. You can trust that girl Rubedo, but you probably won't see her again. The spirits still owe me, if you can find that evil-bastard, L'As'Meral... Show them what I showed you, and they'll help. I sent others ahead before you. A Harrier named Kaslin Crowe, and a Returner named Kas'Llyn'Ryel. It doesn't matter if you meet them all, but you'll need help on the 'other-side'. They'll come once they realize what you've done, every goddam one. That place, outside... Jun'athel, you won't be free there - that's where the fight begins. The Witch named B'Belka'tevel. Belka damn, tevel... don't forget it. She'll help you in what comes after. Find her. Everything is going to die here soon. You can't stay." [Regina | Conflicted Mind - DC 16 Will Save: On Success 1 Slashing Damage / Failure 1d8 Slashing Damage]

Miryks didn't fully grasp what the man was saying, but at the least his experiences had conveyed something to him, a sentiment which he could appreciate. This nightmare didn't end here. Whatever this was, it wasn't Willowbrook, it was a hell which extended far beyond these walls - a nightmare which didn't end, and this girl had found the door out. He'd found something too... Though it wasn't nearly as bright a revelation. Magnimar, the City of Monuments, one of the largest and most significant of the city-states of Varisia had been... or would be under siege. Not by men... but perhaps something born of far greater purpose, spawned by some ardently insane god. The city had stood and outlasted the Long Night, yet fell before the vile powers which assailed it. Thirteen thousand souls extinguished for some unknowable purpose. Iman was right, this couldn't be real life. If there were truly such gods which even made Aroden avert his gaze, then surly the material realm would have already been destroyed.... He could feel his arm twitch. In fact, the world had apparently already been destroyed many-many times.... he simply couldn't recall all of those 'bad ends', though the signs remained. The man's keen mind quickly calculated the sharp drop in his own life-expectancy at being caught within this preposterous joke-of-a-world. [Miryks | Knowledge - Partial]

The theater on the corner of the district of Naos which touched the corner of Starsilver Plaza was a rather famous and elegant building named the Triodea. While he didn't know much for certain, he had heard that a silver-haired Oracle whom the citizens referred to as the Lady of Morning. The rumors of her were all ridiculous, but one thing was likely true from what he'd heard. The strange woman had divined a fate through the mystery's of her gift. It had caused quite the commotion all throughout Varisia and perhaps even further still. The gift of Divination died with Aroden, everyone knew that. It was the first time such a thing had been done in many, many years. Some whispered it was a sign of the return of the man-god... but in the wake of the destruction as the whole world seemed to be tumbling down atop him, he feared the true implications were perhaps something far worse. [Miryks | Knowledge - Partial]

The creatures which had slain him.... They were absurdly quick and agile, while also possessing absurd strength and weapons. They had to be some manner of Veilbeasts. Yet, no one had ever mentioned such a creature before. In fact, Veilbeasts which utilized actual weapons, or even objects in the form of weapons were very rare. So rare in fact, that they were usually named beasts. Named creatures were recognized as individual and iconic nightmares, singularly defined by their unique natures and abilities - something of a 'boss monster' amongst a world filled with monsters. He could recall a rumor that the Loveless Company, one of the most elite Harrier groups in Avistan, had reported and documented a named beast which utilized a great scythe... though he was certain that those things and the beast they had discovered were not the same. Supposedly the Named Beast guarded something and rarely moved from its place, it was also unreasonably large - while the sickle men simple lumbered about like men on stilts. There was something he was missing, something he didn't know. He'd only seen pieces of a chaotic and mad picture for a brief moment, he simply didn't have all the pieces.

Thinking on it though, he didn't think that was now. The streets had been decorated in festive fair, as if preparing for some kind of celebration. He couldn't think of any such holiday currently upon them. They hadn't come yet... But they would. If Magnimar fell, the key distributors and outfitters of Harriers and adventurers who braved the tainted lands would be lost. 'Gear Hero', the storefront of Old Man Demn operated out of the city. He was one of only three known inventors known, anywhere, which could produce new tools and protectives suited for use in the tainted lands. Thus, numerous commercial outfitters similarly flocked to the City of Monuments to take advantage of Denil Demn's reputation. All Harriers on this side of the world needed to eventually fall back to Magnimar for repairs if they wished to dive or face the threat of Veilbeasts. Korvosa was a far-second after in terms of what services could be acquired there. It was why the headquarters of the Cotton Club had been built there after all. Maybe the creatures had realized that too. The metropolis was too important to loose, without it there was little hope of acquiring the defenses needed defeat such creatures and stabilize their magical arms and armor while battling in areas of corruption. Things would only go from bad to worse. Miryks knew well enough, he at least needed the proper equipment before everyone got killed off, or he'd be quickly joining them. [Miryks | Knowledge - Partial]

**Mornings** · 2019-05-07, 12:23 AM (ISO 8601)

[Willowbrook Sanitarium]
"Oh, this is unexpected..." Miryks didn't know when the man had snuck-up on him, but he did. His blade slashed out with a fine arc at the man's throat. He felt a sharp rattle run up his swordarm, but he didn't understood what happened. He looked down at his hand grasping the hilt, tracing his way up the length of the blade to where it stopped at the stranger's neck. He hadn't moved. Dammit, he knew he hadn't moved. He'd caught the bastard cold and flat footed, yet what he saw seemed to contest that notion. The man's soft golden eyes seemed to slowly turn towards his direction. The black suited man's furthest arm had crossed over himself to catch the edge of the Aasimar's sword between his thumb and pointer-finger. It was the longest, slowest, most absurdly obvious movement... he hadn't seen it. No... fast couldn't begin to describe it, it wasn't a matter of speed. It was as if something had changed after his blow had already struck, like something was omitted and some frame of reality had been replaced... His mind couldn't wrap around it, there was something incomprehensible beneath the surface, like the very fibers of causality has rebelled against him; like he couldn't be right. "I'd appreciate it if you avoided such unnecessary things." He released the edge of his sword. The steel was slightly bent along the cutting edge from the strength of the man's hand. [Miryks | Spell Focus Check - Failed]

"You know, Baird, my sister was convinced Afsppa had set himself to playing another prank upon her... Though I thought it unlikely. Seeing you here however, well, that explains everything. What are you doing? Your imprisonment ended quite awhile ago, you should have returned to the Crucible." Iman had already stepped forward, Regina could feel herself wrest back some measure of control from the floor. "Ho, Caus'fel. Not a man I expected to see, I thought your duties brought you elsewhere. I figured they would have sent Ni'fel or even Tagar while the Warden was absent..." Baird crossed his arms as he spoke. If they had learned anything about the man, it was that he wasn't one to trade words, he evidently intended to drag out this conversation as long as possible, though they weren't entirely sure why. "Unfortunately, Talri'fel has taken responsibility, but as fortune would have it she's distracted with other business. A blessing for no doubt, she wouldn't have even given you the opportunity to defend yourself under trail." "A blessing for the House of Black as well, no doubt. I imagine her presence caused some friction between the Lady Black and the House of the First."

The man waved his hand dismissively, "It doesn't take a Grand Savant to imagine how that went.... Now, what the hell are you doing here, and why are you meddling in our affairs? Do you know how pissed Saphsa was when she noticed someone was aspecting into her house? You're just lucky she didn't catch you. You should have just left so we wouldn't be having this conversation, and what are you doing with these hosts?" In a familiar gesture the thin man shrugged, "Eh, I was just screwing around before getting back to work. Rubedo had me tend them awhile, something about a 'Cycle', not sure what that's about. Was probably screwing up the girl." The Enforcer, Caus'fel, put a hand to his mouth, looking at the floor as if in thought. "Hm. Maybe... Saphsa mentioned something about repeated and unpredictable collapse, likely caused by J'June. She managed to isolate it to a small area, but it only made the process more frequent." "Eighteen second intervals?" "Something like that." "Yeaah... I know what you're talking about. So what happens next?"

"I've confirmed your story with Rubedo, so I'll let you off this time, but your job is done here. You know better than most, Heralds are not allowed to intervene with the hosts, so at least try to avoid attention when you receive such an unorthodox order. The next Enforcer you meet might not have much in the way of humor, or patience to listen to what you have to say...." The white-haired man looked at Miryks, then back to Iman, "Did you... Did you, spite these hosts?" Baird snorted and the man shook his head, "Afew of them actually... I had a couple of Astrok'Ru's dice left and I thought it'd be funny." "....Was it? " "Eh.... not after the first time." "I suppose that explains the obscene levels of corruption coming from hosts recently. Saphsa suspected Rubedo had been trying to hide another of her experiments. It's difficult to keep track of all the happenings without proper structure, as much as we don't get along, it makes me appreciate the work of Quortek V'dre..."

"Well, return to the Crucible. Report what you have learned to Natheless when you do." "Uh... not the Grim." "What? She's good at what she does." "She's weird, likes to dress like an animal, and smells like old lint balls. I'm pretty sure she's got something going on with that dog-thing that follows her around too. Do Ramath'silinrul, you know..." He gestured suggestively with his hands, as if he were trying to make the Enforcer uncomfortable. Caus'fel swatted the Herald's hands down, "Enough! Just leave." Iman shrugged, slapping Miryks on the back, "Alright kids, guess this is where we part ways." The Enforcer raised his hand, "Before you leave, you should know something..." "What? You married you sister just like your brother?" It looked like the man had been physically struck from the crass remark, it took him a few long blinks to recover his baring from the low-blow.

Iman evidently knew how to press Caus'fel's buttons and throw him off. "...You'd do well to never mention him again." "Well, that still doesn't answer the question." "Please, shut up... The Black Magister has come to Jun'athel, no doubt she'll inevitably find her way to the Crucible as well. You'd do well to send her away, she has no business here." "Astral? ...Isn't she dead? Well, in either case no one has permission to actually enter, but it's not my or your call on who or what is an exception. That authority belongs to the Lady Black, does it not?" The man didn't speak immediately, but eventually nodded begrudgingly. "What're you planning on doing with the kids here." "According to Rubedo, they might have some use despite the corruption. We'll see if that's true I suppose."

Baird glanced at them both,
"I suppose... good luck then. If you could become even half what you could be, you'll make it through. No matter what, never forget-"

Divided and whole, Regina remembered the familiar sensation of being cast out across the folds of reality, falling into the red. In that shift she knew she was no longer herself, nor a doll, they were something else together. Her thoughts spanned out across the reaches of time and distance to somewhere else. Miryks had never experienced such helplessness, not even behind the familiar bars which had marked his captivity. He was trapped, torn apart and blended in some cosmic whirlwind. The remains, the parts of him left he could still feel were stuffed into this container, like bloody sponges being forced into too small a bottle. He was.... they were....

The girl pulled her neck down into her shoulders to hide the lower half of her face behind the too-small-collar of the massive blue and white college jacket she wore. She held the ends of the sleeve's cuffs to prevent them from falling loose and dangling off her arms like some kind of squid creature. The whole of the coat was much too large for her, but it was an important memento that reminded her of better days. The wind howled and kicked, throwing her black hair about and scratching her face with the harsh ice that seemed to choke the air. It was so dark she could barely see. Why had she come out here? she couldn't remember. When she closed her eyes she was somewhere else. It was like crossing through a threshold instead of finding the dark behind her eyelids. The visions had never been this strong before... she only knew something was coming. She had to go, before they found her. They were her, she was them, they were each other. Something now bound them each together here in this place.... The distant expanse of the frozen forest stretched out before them, though the strain of the girls eyes could only make out the forms so far.

Hurtling through the void-space, they fell until the dark of the world about them shifted back into a haze of red. Loimi had crossed many breaches before, skipping across like they were cobbled stones scattered on a path, but nothing had ever been like this. Violent cracks of darkness race up from the abyss, like shattering glass, or some formless black lightning. He could feel half of their world pulled aside and rent asunder. Varag was sent careening away as both halves of the red divided, splitting away from each other like a piece of chopped lumber. Whirling, spinning, flipping they fell into the breach. Then-

It was cold. Looking about herself, she saw the hole in which she lay in the snow. A thick shell of ice covered the fluffy white powder in a net of small fragments of ice, hinting at the ice rain which had fallen the night before. She pulled up her cowl and the thick folds of the red and black wool cloak she wore tightly about her. She'd gotten lost in the woods, after she found a body buried in the snow just beyond the line of the trees. The fright had sent her into a mad sprint away, she could almost feel the eyes of something upon her when she came upon the remains. It was wrapped in rotting filth and the overgrowth. There was something terrible here, some formless indescribable horror like the shadows looming about them and the howl echoing through in the dead of this winter night.

They were here.
They were far.
They were her, themselves, and something else.
They were alone.

Spoiler: Of Memory Past - Joint Reflections & Surviving the Mirrored World

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Joint Reflections & the Mirrored World
There any many variations of the unique condition known as Reflections. While in this state you are able to step into someone else's shoes, temporarily becoming them. Each Reflection carries with it numerous conditions which determine its own unique differences. A Joint Reflection allows multiple individuals to simultaneously become the same individual, at the same time. In some cases this may restrict one host to be the 'active' or 'controlling' will, while other times this may not be the case. In some instances, having a Reflection destroyed inflicts no negative effect upon the possessing hosts, while other times the new identity may be equivalent to the host's original body. Learning to function while in a Reflected state is vital towards conquering certain challenges and defeating vile foes capable of forcefully Reflecting their enemies in combat. Numerous Potentials and abilities exist which bolster a character's abilities while in this state exist and serve to aid in bettering your odds during future encounters. Utilizing associated unique skills while occupying a new identity will assist you in identifying the unique functions and limitations of your current form when you've become changed in this manner. Without the associated skills, determining the individual effects in place while in these forms becomes remarkably difficult.

✦ [Instability] - Your conscious's hold upon the mirrored world is wanning and in constant shift. By exercising considerable efforts, you may delay the inevitable, but ultimately you knew your mind could not hold back the weight of the crushing world for long. Paired players switch into their partner's position and map at the end of each round. As a free action any player may attempt to succeed a DC 16 will save to resist this effect, success is achieved if either player succeeds. With each consecutive success the DC of this effect increases by 2 and resets upon failure. This is a stability effect

✦ [Bound Souls] - Some ineffable force now binds you together across time and reality, mirroring each other in some strange yet familiar place. Characters become aware of the position, circumstances and happenings of their partner each time they spend a swift action to close their eyes and focus. Players cannot speak with each other across the mirrored world directly, but may become aware when being observed by outside forces, such as the player, by passing a forced DC 20 sense motive check. A player may perform this function as a move action instead if no swift actions remain. Should either player be killed, both bound players immediate die.

✦ [Chained Fates] - Time, the world, perhaps even the very universe as they could understand it seemed in constant flux as the frames of reality seemed to shorten or lengthen by the actions of their other self which haunted them in their dreams. As it always had been, the visions and nightmare seemed to chain you down. Players share a single action economy pool made up of; 1 standard action, 2 move actions, 1 swift action, 1 immediate action and 1 miscellaneous action (5ft step). This does not change what kinds of actions a player can normally take, thus a single player cannot take a double move and a standard action. This pool is the maximum number of actions which can be performed between both players. Taking an immediate action will prevent that player from using a swift action as normal, but does not decrease the available actions within their shared action-pool. In this state both bound character's share the same initiative (whichever is highest). If bound characters attempt to take more actions than they possess in the pool, both character's actions fail and must succeed a DC 20 will save to resist the crippling effects of their desyncronization.

✦ [Mortal Form] - Reborn into a woman's form, you are no longer the person you were before. Tied into a human body, you have lost all racial abilities, features and spells associated with your previous life while in this reflected state.

✦ [Sacrifice Essence] - Though everything that was you is no more, you can still recount the memories, the very core of yourself, and separate yourself from the dumbing sensation as your very existence is drowned beneath the weight of your reborn state. Somewhere, in the back of your mind, your persona still stands within the darkness. You can feel your sword at your side, your bow in your hand, magic on your lips... yet you hesitate. The memory is all you have left to stand between you... and what you were fast becoming. The identity, the soul whose name you could still recall - the you which you could still define and envision... it would begin to dissolve if you reached out across the breach to usher it forth into this horrid frozen place. That wasn't you any longer, but you were afraid to forget; afraid to let go.

Players have access to all of their equipment and spells which they have identified previously. Unidentified equipment and spells are inaccessible in this state. All items and equipment may be summoned or donned as a free action which may be taken even when it is not your turn. Shields and armor only function for 1 round after being attacked, regardless of the result, and are then expended. Weapons may be used to make any number of attacks during a single round before also being expended. All items, regardless if they are consumable, are expended after a single use. An item which has been expended shatters in a glassy blue burst of light and is permanently lost. The character looses all memories associated with any item lost in this way, but can still recall what it was they have lost by succeeding a DC 25 will save as a move action. Non-consumable items sacrificed in this way grant a 10% chance of providing the character with 1 point of Memory.

Spells and abilities which function with a caster level may be utilized by spending a free action to recover the chosen spell and create an Epsilon, a small unique sphere of creative power. The chosen spell or ability is contained within the Epsilon, functioning as if the pre-cast spell or ability were within it. This sphere may be passed, exchanged, dropped and used by other creatures. The spell or ability contained within may be activated as a move action regardless of the casting time of the original spell or ability. The holder of the Epsilon may also choose to instead absorb the contained spell or ability as a move action as well, even if they were not the original creator of the sphere. Once an Epsilon is created the contained spell or ability is permanently lost by the caster. Spells are removed from all of the character's class spell lists, expended spell slots are lost indefinitely, abilities are removed from the associated class permanently and associated resources spent are deducted from the maximum value of their respective pools. The caster looses all memories associated with any spell or ability lost in this way, but can still recall what it was they have lost by succeeding a DC 25 will save as a move action. Spells sacrificed in this way grant a 10% chance of providing the character with 1 point of Memory.

✦ [Conflicted Mind] - Caught between a warring state of dreams and consciousness spanning across some unknowable gap, character's must succeed numerous opposed stability checks to remain in control, or be submerged beneath the madness and fear. Failing stability checks will progressively further increase the difficulty of enemies and checks during the encounter. Either paired player may succeed and pass for the both of them.

✦ [Fear of Darkness] - Hope cannot move further than the distance she can see (as displayed by the map), and character's loose all fear resistances and immunities they possess in this form. Various fear effects may further limit her actions, which may be resisted by the benefits of the memories she discovers.

⯎ [Of Memories Past] - Hope's traumatic memories have blurred the lines of all things past and present into one inexorable jumbled nightmare. All things which should have existed, or have once been lay buried in the frozen wastes which haunt her visions. In the darkness gleaming sparks, remnants of the hopes, joys and iconic fears once held by the souls of all living things in some place or some point in histories that were or would be lay buried in the frozen reaches of the forest.

Hope can sense when near to a buried memory, which shines as a light in the darkness. As a swift action she can recover a memory. Hope may possess any number of memories and may choose to utilize any memory she's recovered as a free action. Memories are bound to the mirrored world in which they are left, but travel with the character when shifting location via Instability. A memory may be dropped in a new location, binding it to that map and making it available to characters on that map, or characters who switch in. Each memory possesses at least one ability, some of these abilities may expend that memory causing it to be lost forever. Passing memories to your partner is critical in defeating the terrors which lurk in the dark.

⯎ [There You Are] - Despite your changed form, your awareness of self remains strong enough to hold back the reality of your shift. You retain all class abilities, hit points, armor class, saves, skills and functions you previously possessed. The benefits of this ability are lost if your wisdom ability score decreases below 7.

Spoiler: Critical Note: Forbidden Knowledge

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Knowledge (Forbidden) is one of the most useful unique skills in the game, but also the absolute most dangerous ability a player character can utilize when performed outside of a very specific set of conditions, including the aid of numerous Potentials. Each time a PC attempts to utilize this skill without the protective features of other Potentials, they run a chance of acquiring a 'Corrupted Fate'. These conditions are a form of Curse which can potentially bestow numerous profane and crippling effects, but will in addition alter all quests and objectives the character possesses and can receive - permanently. The effects of a Corrupted Fate can be resolved by discovering and accomplishing the unique conditions associated with it. These conditions are always extremely severe, and may require an entire campaign-length undertaking to complete; stealing precious time which could be spent on other objectives.

Regardless of the result of the %dice in determining if such a status is received, the character receives a number of points of Spite, and possesses a very high chance of incurring a Divergence or critical alteration, which may impose its own unique consequences, depending on the circumstances. The percent of such events occurring caps at 100% upon the third use. A character may only utilize Knowledge (Forbidden) unprotected three times throughout the entity of the game. Upon exceeding this number of uses, the current character is immediately slain after the skill's resolution. This ability kills all iterations of a character simultaneously, but is specific to the identity which activated the ability and does not extend past Reflected Personas. This effect cannot be prevented by any source. Slain character's cannot be returned to life, including from such Potentials as Lesser Immortality.

Spoiler: Status

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֍ Mirykys +200 (2,500xp)
HP 37/37
AC 17
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Caution Influence Gained
⯎ Stalking Influence Gained
⯎ Deception Influence Gained
⯎ Trickery Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Mystery Influence Gained
⯎ Corruption Influence Gained
⯎ Revelation Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Forbidden Influence Gained
⯎ Recovered [Otherworld Quiver]
⯎ Recovered [Unidentified Arrows] x10

֍ Regina +500 (8,825xp)
HP 53/53
AC 19
⯎ Nobility Influence Gained
⯎ Deception Influence Gained
⯎ Trickery Influence Gained
⯎ Discovery Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Secrets Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Tapestry Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Dimensions Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ Vision Influence Gained
⯎ Light Influence Gained

Spoiler: Influences

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Influences represent current knowledge, pursuits, training, experiences and aspirations which are actively effecting or being utilized by a character. These represent various concepts and begin to outline a character's values and path as they grow. Influences which are not used regularly are lost, but can be gained again once a character begins pursuing an avenue related towards that field or concept. Influences determine a character's growth in many ways, including experience points they earn and which Potentials they can acquire at any given time.

Unlike with limited class levels, Influences are not acquired spontaneously, and are acquired throughout play; creating an active system which enables a character to re-train, gain new powers, or even improve upon old ones actively with their in-character actions. Training with a sword or exercising the use of an existing Potential allows a character to learn new techniques, empower his current abilities, or even grow his tolerance to pain, sustain damage, run faster, sleep less, and more. Influences play a vital role in developing more sophisticated interpersonal skills and ability to deal and establish diplomatic relations with all manner of strange and otherworldly creatures which you may encounter; in addition to learning more about the unnatural forces which no worldly knowledge could shed light upon. All unique skills are only able to be acquired via potentials, which are trained and worked towards acquiring via your pursuits, experiences, and by extension - your Influences.

Spoiler: Point: 323 - Willowbrook Sanitarium, F3B (About Tainted Lands)

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Tainted Lands are incredibly complex and foreign realms which are often guised as places once familiar. Each tainted region is individually unique and carries with it its own risks, rules, threats and worldly hazards. Many things cannot function, work differently, or can lead to reality crushing results that make survival for most creatures delving into their reaches an impossibility. Site Investigators often travel with groups of Harriers or Gales for long extended periods conducting a through survey of each corrupted-site, known as a 'Point'. These reports are used by various venturing companies to conduct expeditions, known as 'Dives', into the tainted lands. Points are always geographically divided into many areas known as 'Sectors' by Site Investigators. Sectors within a Point mark areas where the rules of the other areas which have been surveyed dramatically differ, be that the laws of nature or magic, or even stranger changes they cannot understand.

Common rules which Gales are familiar include such things as; violent reactions to non-grounded magics, reactions to supernatural energies and abilities, reactions to specific materials, reactions to unstabilized magical creatures and creatures capable of withholding or generating energy, and items or persons keyed to a particular influence.

Fortunately there were not very many public users of magics due to the general fear and suspicion associated with the practice, and thus even less individuals with such talents that traveled into the tainted regions. Magic was an inherently suicidal thing to employ in such places without a remarkable understanding of the Point and all features of the rules which governed the Sector currently being occupied. Everything in a spell from the time it took to produce, to the school, effect, number of targets and even the manner in which the spell functioned were all individuals factors which could set off a dimensional-explosion and throw an entire team of unwitting mercenaries through a hole into Abadon; or worse. There was always worse, they just hadn't learned what that was yet, that was the first lesson tainted lands had to teach the fools which dared brave its depths. Wizards and magicians were generally less welcome by companies that ventured to such places, than they were by the general public. Unless the magician in question specialized in using his or her magic in such places, and possessed a record to back it, not even a fool would bring one along. There existed unique items called 'Grounds' which restrained and processed a magician's magic making it generally safe to use, but they were immensely expensive and built for each individual mage. Yet, more vexing was the matter than a single magician would often need multiple Grounds as no single device was assured to provide every protection for every circumstance. Nor were they permanent fixtures, like filters, they eventually spoiled and failed. At least the ones commercially available. The device's creator, the genius inventor Denil Demn could produce Grounds which would self-cleanse and restore themselves with time, but acquiring a commission from the man was a nightmare. If not because of the competition attempting to do the same, than because the craftsman was notoriously difficult to reach.

The degree of influence upon supernatural powers varied wildly, but was based on the level of corruption the tainted region possessed. In some of the worst places there were documented cases of Gales detonating in a bloody mess from simply employing internal forces to accelerate their speed and agility. Much like a monastic practitioner of martial arts, many Harriers preferred to learn to hone inner energies to aid themselves in conflict while Diving, but even this was not completely safe. During 'Deep Dives' companies outfitted their members with various equipment to maintain internal stability, but this was not something exclusive to the most foul of places. If the rules of a Sector were particularly twisted, it was possible to experience those same hazards without venturing into the belly of the beast.

Some materials or creatures didn't react well in tainted regions. The places were often so alien and foreign that not even animals could enter. Sometimes it wasn't just animals, it could be steel, or wood. Maybe iron. No one would know what all, if any may have been effected until a Site Investigator ran their exhaustive tests. Some of the most strange of places caused unnatural phenomena from things associated with a particular thing. Perhaps a cleric's symbol, or a deity's favored weapon, maybe the pages of a book. It was as if the world were possessed by some malicious spirit that remembered only the things related to what had wronged it. None of these places were necessarily good to ever venture, many Gales never bothered. Even putting the twisted spaces of reality aside, the Veilbeasts and other horrors were enough to convince any sane man to keep his distance. Veilplague had become nearly non-existent, but the corruption and curses which could be afflicted were a horrendous burden. If a man were blighted, he could not be allowed into a town or city. It was all one could do to simply pray that a green witch or other healing pariah might be able to mend them, as civil men would have no choice but to quarantine or kill the infected. There simply were no known cures for most maladies, at least not in the hands of the peoples at large. For most, death was assured.

Point: 323, F3B: Sector 1B - Regional Effects
✦ ???????????????
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Main Quest: The Fires of Willowbrook, Part 1
Long ago the Auspex had spoken of the four years which had come and gone from behind the bars of their cages. It was impossible to know just how long it had been since then, but if there was any lesson to be had in all of it, it was that 'time was meaningless'. Strength had begun to return to them. The future was their own to command if they could just wrest it free from the dead-hands of the hell named 'Willowbrook'. That was what they had to keep telling themselves. They said it over and over again until it became truth, the only truth that mattered. It had to be that way, because if they allowed themselves to slip, they would be faced with the terror of another reality too horrible to defeat. Then the 'nothing' which loomed above them like the executioner's axe, would fall. Then they too would join it; and this time, there would be no return.
Difficulty: Moderate | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: 49 Minutes
Primary Objective (1): Flee Sector 1B
Primary Objective (2): Escape Willowbrook Sanitarium

Side Quest: Restless, The Nightmare Below
Lord Matik recounts his battle with a horrid and powerful creature, a horror known as the Ember Beast. Whatever the secrets of its power, it has transformed the knight into something inhuman and unnatural. Something sleeps far below the asylum, a terror steeped in blood and fire. Perhaps the secrets to the infernal warrior's own cursed disposition lay somewhere buried in the deep, or perhaps there was only death. Only one thing was certain; the creature was too dangerous to be allowed to live. It had to be stopped.
Difficulty: Challenging | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: Unknown
Primary Objective: Defeat the Ember Beast

**Deadguy** · 2019-05-09, 07:51 PM (ISO 8601)

Regina
Ghost in the Machine

The ice blue eyes snapped open as the vision of girl in the light, She Who Lights the Way... Lapalila Khalakivos, called her back. A vision of a God, or one of Them. It was so hard to tell.

She shoved the man squeezing her away with a growl. "Bastard. You knew more all along." Regina glared at Iman as he carried on a conversation as if this Enforcer were an old friend. She had not missed the trade of barbed quips, but that excused nothing. Spite us... that broken dice, what the hell did it do?

She diverted her attention toward the Enforcer. This was not the one that the woman had sent for. He appeared much more refined than someone who garnered a name like child of slaughter. Grand savant. Herald. Crucible. She shook her head slightly, attempting to gather her wits.

The pull was unexpected. Her mind comprehended it at some level as she stood and took in her surroundings. What is this... fear? She could not remember the last time that she was truly afraid. It had been one of the first subroutines that she had eliminated in her own synapse. Was she aspecting again? It seemed likely. Though she very much doubted that the Enforcer had pushed her to do so. In fact, it seemed like he assumed Iman had been the one to enter Saphsa's realm.

Regina - Hope. The girl looked to the stars in an attempt to discern her location to some degree. She then scanned her surroundings and the ground before her. Tracks, a path that had taken this body this far, anything to give her a sense of which direction to go. A moment was all it took to know which of her internal systems was available while being housed in this body. Most were viable, it seemed. That was fortuitous. The girl's skin shifted reflexively, mottling and blurring her outline when she finally began moving.

Spoiler: OOC

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Conflicted Mind - Will dc 16 (1d20+9)[19]
Knowledge (Religion) vs Lapalila Khalakivos (1d20+17)[36]
Knowledge (Arcana) vs spite (1d20+24)[39]
Knowledge (Local) vs Herald / Crucible (1d20+17)[26]
Knowledge (Geography) vs forest location (1d20+17)[25]
Perception vs surroundings (1d20+21)[37]

Darkvision 120 ft / Low-light vision
Stealth (-5 moving more than 1/2 speed) - (1d20+15)[16]
Move Action: Move to C9

**Mornings** · 2019-05-14, 02:19 AM (ISO 8601)

Faux Paw

He didn't know what they were called, only the wailing sounds they made when they took a man's life. The horrid black things, all tendrils and masses of writhing flesh and limbs, they weren't things of this world. Aberrant abominations from some other world, summoned and made manifest from the blood of the innocent. Slaves of the Old Gods. Clawing out from beneath the weight of the lower half of a massive dwaven-man who had been as wide as a barrel of ale, he ripped the hands of the thin elven woman from his collar as she soundlessly gargled some bloody pleading words he could never receive. There was no hope for that one, everything beneath her sternum had been shredded, turning the absent three-fourths of her body into a slurry of gritty red paste coating his clothes and floor. Through the reaving mist the felled the waves of men and women, he could see some dark figure, cloaked in churning shadow, smiling beneath its cowl. Skin, black as coal. Screaming. There was so much screaming. He could feel his body go numb, he still he moved, his mind under a cloud - caught in a daze. [Trauma: DC 16 Fortitude Save Vs Shaken & Extended Quest Duration]

These, things, these weren't cultist or simple evil wizards plotting in a cave, like some two-bit villain out of some Pathfinder's chronicle. The black ones, these creatures in the mist, they were someone people hadn't seen before. Something men hadn't lived to witness and record. Steel and leather and bone. It didn't matter, it was cloven through all the same. Shields and swords neatly divided, rattling on the stone of the street in a lake of gore. Many of the lashing black creatures born of the fell magic combined into great black umbral hulks, with limbs of massive coiled tendrils making hands and feet. The shadows stirred the pool with long ebon staves, as if harvesting some fleshy admixture of pulverized corpses, the beasts dragged in the wounding and living as the great golems pounded down upon them with mechanical savagery, until only puddles of frothy puddles remained, deepening the pool. Something foul was coming. [Faux | Knowledge - Partial]

He didn't know what had befallen the city, what was happening now. It was impossible to even fathom what madness had spawned this nightmare and spurned the living from a world of reason. The only thing he knew for certain was he had somehow found his way into the Marble District of the city. The hippodrome of Serpent's Run loomed off in the distance towards the reaches of the Fogwall Cliffs. They were far from the throng of the city interior, had they been pushed so far back, left with no where else to go with the Varisian Gulf at their back? "HERE!" His eyes darted away towards the interior of the building. No. Hope was not lost yet. He didn't know what the building which they had been herding the crowd towards was named, or had been used for in the past, but the steep incline down suggested a possibility. There were strange things buried beneath the city, tunnels and subterranean channels which connected to long buried chambers, a spiderweb of networked halls buried under the surface; a fabled, Undercity. There wasn't anywhere else to go, if they stayed, even though who escaped now would be run down into the waves. From somewhere the woman's voice called out again as some horrible golden crack of lightening divided the heavens above illuminating the face of some furious luminous titan's face burning in the sky above. "GET UP AND RUN!" He didn't need to be told a second time. [Faux | Knowledge & Perception - Partial]

His muscles groaned and protested as a hand was freed from the elbow-deep sludge with a thick sucking hiss, he fought hard to lift himself out from the fastly deepening macabre swamp. Nothing was left alive about him, only the beasts whose attention was quickly drawn towards his movement. His legs were stuck, feet deeply rooted into the thick muddy pit of churning bloody mass. It was as if he had been caught within some witch's cauldron, a ghastly stew of minced men, as if the bodies of these poor fools had fallen into a mill. With a grunt, he put all his strength into one sharp leap to pull away and make for his escape into the stone building's cellar. [Breaking Free: DC 14 Strength Check Vs Extended Quest Duration 2]

Main Quest: Dreaming, In Memory of Waking
Horror and death choke the City of Monuments. Otherworldly terrors accost the city and devour the living by the thousand. He didn't understand how he arrived here, but somehow he had escaped the grasp of the banishing dark - only to find himself in a city-turned-hell. He didn't know how long he could hold out amidst the siege, but his life was quickly draining out from his cursed wounds. He had to survive, no matter the cost.
Difficulty: Lethal | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: 0/2 Rounds
Primary Objective: Survive Quest Duration.

Spoiler: Status

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֍ Faux +250 (950xp)
HP 21/33 (2 bleed)
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 3
⭍ [Cursed Wound] 2 Bleed, DC 22 Heal (full-round action)
⭍ [Wounding Curse] Fast Healing & Regeneration Disabled. Cannot Heal Grievous Wounds. Cannot Recover Hit-Points. Harms Others. Cure Unlearned.
AC 19
Extra Effort Used: 2/6
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Freedom Influence Gained
⯎ Tactics Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Doom Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Dreams Influence Gained
⯎ Intrigue Influence Gained
⯎ Nightmare Influence Gained
⯎ Otherworld Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Night Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Acquired [Clear Dagger]

⯎ Marble District +50 (1,000xp)
⯎ Serpents Run +50 (1,050xp)
⯎ Fogwall Cliffs +50 (1,100xp)
⯎ Underground Paths +50 (1,150xp)
⯎ Undercity +100 (1,250xp)
⯎ Old God Abominations +100 (1,350xp)

**Ancient** · 2019-05-18, 12:11 PM (ISO 8601)

Varag Chalk
The Sleepless

Originally Posted by Caus'Fel

"Be mindful, the immediate challenge before you cannot be completed alone. You will be bound to one another for a time. If either one of you should fall, then you will both die. Goodluck.

One moment, he was a rusted corpse in a hell, the next he was attempting to converse with a...THING, that seemed to be contemplating killing him painfully while the world was about to collapase about him, the next, he was being scolded by a being that sent a dread chill through his spine, its callous disregard for him so palpable that him might be an annoying louse on that impeccable black suit. And now, now he was here, face down in the snow, and not himself, he was someone else, and not. It felt strangely all too familiar. Is this what happened, when I was lost? Was I the horse and He Who Waits the rider? The thought struggled to numb him...her...ME...but Varag refused to succumb. BREATHE! A gasp, a wretch, the lungs heaved under a frail and unfamiliar chest. His beloved, Nemora had told him that skinshaping to another sex was an...interesting experience, but now he felt she had left much unsaid. It was overwhelming, fascinating, HE HAD NO TIME. He still was, and therefore he still must be. With a lurch, she pushed off from this snowy shallow grave and ran, ran for a chance, ran for every second, every beat of this alien heart.

Bound to one another....but who are we?

Spoiler: OOC:

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Move action to sprint ahead to 8f
Perception (surroundings): (1d20+11)[30] Inspiration (1d4)[1]
Sense Motive (to sense the others): (1d20+9)[23]
Stability Check (Will): (1d20+10)[11]

**forg99rules** · 2019-05-20, 09:40 PM (ISO 8601)

Confusion filled him as he reached around searching for his things that should have been in the Cell he had resided in. His lack of finding anything of his laying about did not make sense to him immediately. As the thundering crash shook the reality around him he was even more confused to see that he had been on some sort of operating table. As he glanced around he was in awe at the alien world that was before him, the strange black growths that spread through the cracks were interesting enough but he soon realized that wherever he was it wasn't Willowbrook. Having been to many worlds and dimensions he knew that where he was wasn't exactly a real place, it was something that he had only observed from afar and after careful planning at that. He was deep within some tainted land, and if that was not bad enough he could feel the stutter of the world around him. Something was happening and it was not a good thing at all, if only he had noticed sooner then he could have tried to run elsewhere and maybe make his way out of this cesspool.

As the Shadowy creature began to speak Loimi again was in awe as the world around them collapsed into nothingness. As everything evaporated and was drowned in black he could only wonder if this was the end for him. As a voice spoke out and introduced itself hope filled his soul at the thought of being given a second chance, though having his fate tied to another sounded horrible it was still better than the situation that he had previously been in. The sight of a wolf like figure as everything vanish was interesting and he briefly wondered who or what that being was.

The void that he fell through worried him, it was different from all the ways he had traveled. The violent energy that raced up from the abyss reminded him of lightning clawing its way across a pure red sky. The feeling of the world being ripped in two would have caused his heart to skip a beat and yet he felt oddly calm about it. His mind was confused as he began to come to, he was not himself and yet he still was. His memories remained as did his skills but he no longer had his own body. Instead now he resided in some womans body and she seemed to have been wandering out in some frozen wasteland. Looking around as he dusted off the snow and icy from his person he scratched at the back of his neck from the feeling of being watched. As he looked about he wondered if his abilities would function properly in this place, He knew that in a Tainted Land it was not recommended to use your abilities less you get sucked into some void. Here though he did not know if it still was a tainted land or if he was actually somewhere else. By the looks of it he thought that he would be able to make use of his skills but still caution ran through his blood just as the ice around him was creeping its way through.

Deciding caution and swiftness is best at the moment he crouches low and slowly makes it way over towards the far side of the bridge that he can see. Having made his way over he takes a moment to collect himself, closing his eyes to try and see if he can feel anything from the person he was bound to. Opening his eyes he quickly scans the area looking for any sign that something may have been here before.

Spoiler: OOC

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Displacement Save: (1d20+10)[18]
Know Planes: (1d20+18)[35] - for information on wolf like creature
Know Planes: (1d20+18)[20] - to Tell if he thinks he can use his dimensional abilities here in this new realm

Know Planes: (1d20+18)[35] info on Caus'fel and Enforcers

Perception (before moving): (1d20+19)[29]

Move action + Standard action: Stealthing to E6
Stealth: (1d20+15)[35]

Swift Action: [Bound Souls] To gain information regarding the one I am bound to

Perception (After moving): (1d20+19)[35]

[Instability]: (1d20+10)[22] (Rolled OOC)

**Mornings** · 2019-05-20, 11:49 PM (ISO 8601)

The flood of crimson light, the whirlwind of madness quickly rising up to greed them from below... None of that mattered right now. He couldn't begin to understand that strange entity his eyes had come to see, something that he couldn't even perceive only moments before. Not a ghost. Something else. Erik shook away the thought, it was an unnecessary distraction, like trying to contemplate the mystery of the universe in the middle of a brawl, it had no place here. He knew all he needed to already; whatever the thing was, it wasn't a friend. He lunged forward into the violet torrent before him, fighting through the throbbing pulse of waves and the crippling agony as the hiss and crack of steel from his wound reminded him of the wound fastly stealing his life with each second he wasted. [Erik | Knowledge & Sense Motive - Partial]

The eerie girl grinned behind the curtain of her death veil as Kazik recovered himself, grasping the familiar rope as the armored man dove through the fountain above. "Will you play with me?" She reiterated the words in response to his question the same way she had when she had shown herself for the first time... Exactly like the first time. It sounded like a audible loop of time, something repeating. Despite the fact the girl had caught him and saved him from some horrible end, her words seemed to echo in his mind sending a shiver down his spine... 'no yet'. Every fiber of logic and intuition in his being told him this girl, whatever she was, was far worse than the death promised below. Savior or not, she was no ally. [Kazik | Sense Motive - Partial]

Walt was the next to make the ascent, ripping himself up with the raw power of his massive contorted limbs. The weight of the water pressed down into his face downing his mind in a haze of dizzying dumbness. His body couldn't hold out much longer against the chilling, life-sapping cold of the water's touch, but still he fought on. With one last grunting effort, he pushed himself through...

Both men fell through, as if diving into a pool only to fall out into the whipping airy emptiness of some dry place. Erik hit the ground with a thump, pulled down by the rope attached to him. Walt was close to follow, landing into a crouch. Despite their fall, the rope afixed to the mercenary was clearly passing through the solid stone beneath them, moving semi-fluidly as if it were some gelatinous substance, but the rigidity Erik felt beneath his hands contested the visible distortion, as if it were some illusion. Walt's voice echoed out to Kazik somewhere across the breach, the weight of the man on the other end brought the armored man down to all fours to support the burden. Together they pulled, and pulled... and pulled more. Until the limp empty end of the length of hemp emerged from the stone, with no Kazik attached. Both men couldn't help but look down at the recovered cord, then at each other as if to verify the other had felt the weight of a man at the end. The masked man fell, slamming into a wall before rebounding and catching himself on the edge of a wall some ten feet above.

Erik's eyes quickly glanced about. No girl. It seemed stable enough... or rather, there wasn't anything evidently trying to kill them at that very moment. After a moment, his brain recognized the sense of vertigo for what it was. At first he had though they had fallen into some manner of long shaft, but it wasn't a shaft at all, it was a long hallway. Squinting, he couldn't even see the end of it. This place, it was flipped just like the reception hall they had come from... They hadn't escaped yet. This was far from over. Closing his eyes, he could hear something far in the distance, it was faint but familiar. The rush of water. They had a head start, but they had to go. This place would be coming down shortly too. The faint red light which permeated the expanse of the hall was foreboding, and somewhere the sunlight-knight's word's to Crofte before he fell seemed to rattle in the back of his mind and shake him. 'There was no escape'. [Erik | Perception & Survival - Success]

He could feel himself shudder and wave, catching himself on the wall to support himself as he coughed up a splatter of thick black goo into a gauntleted hand. It wasn't just the Veilbeast's claws killing him, by all accounts the bolt which pierced his chest should have slain him instantly... Yet, he was still here. It was a long time since his body had felt so heavy, he could feel himself beginning to slump against the wall. This wasn't getting any easier. It was any man's guess how he was still standing, he was clawed to hell, torn open and blasted apart. The pitter-patter of his rapid hemorrhaging as the blood pooled at his feet was a reminder of that, yet he felt changed, calm. He knew it just like he knew the sky was blue, he was dying, but this wasn't his limit. He could still fight far beyond this. He pushed himself up from the wall, recovering his footing. He wasn't done yet.

Potential Acquired (Erik): Persistence I (General)
Maybe you're tenacious. Maybe you just don't like to lose, but regardless of the reason, you simply don't stay down, and you're even harder to kill. Even while bleeding and crippled, you've been tempered by countless wounds and abuses; you'll fight to the end.

Benefit: You've survived deathly wounds and pressed on where normal men have fallen. You gain toughness and diehard as bonus feats if you do not meet the prerequisites. The toughness feat may be taken multiple times, its effects stack. When reduced to 0 hit points you are not staggered, nor are you knocked unconscious when reduced to negative hit points. When your negative hit points equal your constitution score, you are knocked prone and must crawl to move, at a rate of 5 feet per movement. If your negative hit points exceed 3 times your constitution score, you die. Effects which would reduce your crawl speed to 0, such as difficult terrain, prevent you from moving at all. Your Constitution score increases by 6 and you possess a 5% chance to resist Grievous Wounds from mundane sources.

"Dr. Eldborogh. Log 41.... She knows things, things she shouldn't know. The diagnoses of mental disorder remain, but this thing, whatever it is... It's far beyond simple madness. She... becomes these people. Personalities other than her own. At first, it appeared as some manner of disassociative disorder, but all recorded cases of this differ greatly. Limited numbers of personas, patterns, something which roots these identities internally. Since Log 21, there has been a total of one-hundred-and-six personas of existing, living or deceased peoples which could be identified, and perhaps three-dozen which could not be verified as actual persons. I think... my wife, ehm, Mrs. Eldborogh, is not inventing personas but is somehow... mimicking people, real people. Record 40, I found a Shoanti by the same name of the persona which Mrs. Eldborogh imitated. The guest fled during the interview before we could finish... The results were, inconclusive. Hope Meyer appears to be one of the few identities which seem to reemerge frequently. The review is... on-going." The man's soft voice was accompanied by the hum of static as the old recording played on from somewhere far away, above. His wasn't the only voice which Walt could hear. He could feel his arms shaking unsteadily, growing even larger in size as some indistinguishable murmur of countless faint voices whispered form some indistinguishable direction. He didn't know what they were saying, but he knew what they wanted. Promises of strength, for the power to survive this, whispers he'd see the sky again. Corruption. He'd seen it take men in the Dark in those bitter-harsh days he'd survived in the thick of it. He'd seen it turn them, change them, twist them into more beast than man. It was an awful thing, and hard to come back from... most of them were too far gone. Something pounded in his ears and quivered into his fingertips like a pulse, what was he becoming?

Potential Acquired (Walt): Monstrous Corruption: Whisper of the Thousand I (General, Corrupted)
Power. It was a thing which had tempted countless men upon a grim and dark path that drove souls unto madness or destruction. There were simply things which should be left buried and forgotten. Yet, like a haunt, lingering quietly, it's whisper found your ear promising all manner of sweet lies. Recognition. Status. Survival... Strength. The countless voices, they made you so strong, but they fought one another struggling to fill you. It was more than your body could take, but the potential was seemingly infinite... Maybe it was changing you, maybe you were loosing a piece of yourself, or maybe they took something each time you let them in. Each time you told yourself the same thing, the same lie to dismiss it; living was more important. It was all you could do to pray that the life you preserved was still recognizable, that it could still be called 'living'.

Benefit: The Corrupted gains the Snatch Arrows feat even if he does not meet the prerequisites. He may catch weapons of his size or smaller (and hurl them back at the attacker immediately if he chooses, this is a free action which may be performed during any turn, but only when made in response to this ability's activation). The Corrupted may tap into the infinite stream of whispers which haunt him, imbuing him with unnatural power and brawn, twisting and blackening his body into a hulking twisted reflection of itself. As a free action, he may activate this effect creating a tremendous burst of physical strength that allows him to transcend the limits of his body. He gains a +8 bonus to Strength for 5 rounds. If he chooses to do so, he suffers 1d6 points of damage and his maximum hit points are reduced by an equal value, this damage cannot be reduced by damage reduction effects. After suffering the damage from this ability, the Corrupted releases a 10ft burst of energy effecting all creatures within this area. Creatures caught within this blast suffer 4 times the combined result of the damage and lost maximum hit points the Corrupted lost. Effected creatures may attempt a Spell Focus check equal to 12 + burst damage result to half this effect. Focus Barrier effects negate this blast damage. For every 6 hit dice the Corrupted possesses, he may activate this ability an additional time, stacking its strength effects, but not its duration. The Corrupted may choose to exceed his maximum stacking activations incurring 1d3 points of Spite and struggles to maintain control of the spirits flooding his body. When exceeding his limit he must make stability checks each round to resist his body's rapid degeneration. At the end of this effect's duration, he takes a –10 penalty to Strength, Constitution, Dexterity and gains the Staggered and Fatigued condition until he rests for eight hours. This ability places a tremendous strain on his body, leaving him weakened until he has time to rest. The Corrupted's Strength score increases by 6.

Spoiler: Collapse, Stage 1 - Surviving A Crumbling Reality

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Collapse can be caused by numerous things, and while the event is seen as exclusive to Tainted Land - it isn't. Escaping from regions in a state of Collapse is always a top priority. In some cases being swept up by such a phenomenon can sweep up players and bring them to strange new places... However, typically, and far more frequently... It's just the end. Collapse begins by a failed Regional Stability check and quickly escalates until the whole of the effected zone is utterly destroyed, or left in a state no longer recognizable. As the taint slowly expands over the years, the threat of the world turning into swiss-cheese will leer its ugly head and force even the everyday citizens of the world to face the reality that is the coming apocalypse.

Falling into the void here spells your immediate death - there's no crawling out of that fall. Now that the instance has decided to murder itself, players will need to expeditiously get the hell out of here - or rather, flee as far as possible until the clock ticks down. Fortunately, as this is the tutorial, there is a maximum distance the collapse can cover - however in a real event, you'll need to rely on every team-member, contingency and preparation you've taken to escape a Sector with the utmost urgency, as the entire map may effectively be 'erased'. Being caught in such a circumstance while exploring tainted regions is bad, and also means a great deal of 'red flags' were missed on the way up to that critical state. Collapse within a Sector is always much quicker than other forms which might be experienced, and are typically just not good things that you want to avoid. Numerous tools, devices and effects exist which can help further the likelihood of survival for those experiencing such a dangerous encounter. Additionally the effects caused by a Collapse aren't necessarily permanent, and can be reversed with some effort, the effectiveness of such an event varies by the mode in which it's accomplished.

Spoiler: Spite, Brands and Scorn, Oh My!

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There exist numerous forces and energies which represent the level of attention or Malice a player has acquired from the Fates and the greater forces of the multiverse, such as the L'Dalharen. Spite is a universal pool of energy shared by all players currently in the game. A single player cannot receive greater than 100 points of spite, but the pool across all players in the game is jointly 100 points. If one player possesses 80 points of spite, another player cannot also possess 40 points. This distribution is unrelated to circumstance, position or environment (yes, even if you're in another 'universe'). Various thresholds of acquired Spite, depending on the method of how it was acquired, can inflict crippling effects. Some Potentials utilize Spite as a resource for various functions, but such abilities should be utilized with care. When Spite among the total number of players reaches a maximum, the player which has possessed the highest sum among the non-gaining members the longest looses an applicable amount of Spite, passing it to gaining players.

Brands are a resource and curse applied by Fates, or their derivatives such as Greater Spirits (Relicuum and Praeter) for favors and services. Upon gaining a Brand, Spite cannot be lost or utilized, but is still reduced when the total Spite pool amongst the players has reached its max. However, unlike normal redistribution, Branded players are always considered on the bottom of the list of applicable players when determining where Spite must be taken from. A Branded player cannot have their Spite value reduced below 10 while other non-branded players possess Spite, and their total Spite value cannot be decreased to 0 even if that would result in other players gaining 0 Spite themselves. Players who cannot receive Spite always receive a Brand instead.

Scorn is a greater form of Spite, representing a hatred from the governing powers of the multiverse for imbalances and perversions a player has introduced to a universe. This resource is not easily earned and is usually associated with large and significant alterations which radically alter the flow of the game. This level of change is usually something drastic, with effects easily seen by all players. Intentional intervention is required to earn Scorn and create the radical results associated with it, unlike Spite. A player may only possess a maximum of 10 points of Scorn without the associated Potentials. While severe effects are usually inflicted for each point of Scorn gained, reaching the character's maximum value will often result in their destruction. This resource is utilized by a handful of unique abilities and mythic Potentials.

Spoiler: Death from the Second World

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A great deal of powerful otherworldly effects and forces exist out there - because they're actually from another world. Strange and foreign, these powers can inflict levels of severe punishment not normally seen in typical powers and abilities. Severance is such an example.

Safeguarded by the fearsome and secretive Coven of the Nightmare Witches of E'Spdon Valdruk, Severance is a school of magic which shares its name with a violent and natural energy deep within the roots of the universe, though its use has been largely long forgotten in the Second World. The crippling magics woven with such forces by the abominable entities beyond sow horrid annihilating waves of death in your world, obliterating life and natural matter even from the slightest exposure. Severance effects always Wound. They are one of many effects which gain the benefit of various Potentials or unique features when utilized in such a fashion. Like many unique effects, a unique check or save is required to resist it - in this case the unique skill is 'Spell Focus'. Some effects allow a higher DC save for creatures without the applicable unique skill or save, while others grant no save against creatures without the associated resistance. Being exposed to such a force often grants the associated Influences to gain related Potentials, though other routes exist to accomplish the same thing. Additionally, various properties, tools and equipment exists to further defend against these countless unnatural threats.

Spoiler: Veilbeasts - Cursed Wounds

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The harm inflicted by a Veilbeast is rarely a physical one. Some creatures harm both the body, and the psyche of those who sustain such an injury, but regardless of the method, all such wounds are cursed. Being wounded by a Veilbeast, no matter the size or severity, is almost certainly a death-sentence for a Gale. The curses which these creatures deliver slowly tear bodies apart, or even rend the spirit in manners which are mysterious and not understood. Cures which are discovered are often withheld and treated with the highest level of value and secrecy, placing the power of life and death in the hands of the few. Each Curse possesses an individual and unique remedy specific to itself. Some are easier to treat than others, where simple guesswork might suffice. While others are immensely complex; relying on recovered manuals, secret words and regents, amongst other various components. Those wounded by such a curse are immediately discarded in younger, less-experienced companies, while veterans groups often keep records of learned secret cures complied in their leader's manual. This knowledge is often leveraged against the wounded and dying to acquire additional time under their enlistment, or other resources. The Surveyor Corps offered remedies freely as a public service, but what cures they possessed was often extremely limited due to their charitable nature.

Common holders of cures for curies included high-ranking Gales, veteran Harriers, Black-Healers, and of course... 'Witches'.
Weiss was known to have been in possession of a large number of cures for such blights, long before she became a Gale. Her reputation served as some manner of example to substantiate the belief, and that expectation had similarly extended to any and all 'witches'. There were more than a few accounts of such individuals being capable of purging the blight from a Veilbeast-wound, but where you would find such a person belonging to a practice which had been driven underground... Well, that was anyone's guess.

Spoiler: Resisting - Dragged Down

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The cursed and blighted black creatures are attempting to drag you down into the waters far below. Should they prevail, it would surely be the end of you.

The creatures are attempting to grapple you. Upon a successful grapple, you must succeed a strength check to maintain your hold on the wall each round. For each successful creature grappling a new strength check must be passed, increasing in difficulty. The DC of this check is 10 and increases by 2 for each creature in a grapple with you. Every round after the first they have maintained their grapple, these creatures can attempt to utilize their 'drag down' ability, forcing an additional reflex save vs falling. Breaking a grapple is a move action rather than a standard action. Each of these creatures provokes an attack of opportunity when they attempt to grapple you. If you are considered armed and are considered to be threatening a space, you may make your attacks before taking your strength checks.

Spoiler: Enviromental Effect: Surviving the Dark Waters

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Tainted lands are horrendous places filled with strange and exotic new ways to die. The environmental threats in these areas are often far more fatal than the few bouts of combat which may be encountered. The mysterious Dark Water from your vision has been made manifest, and it rapidly drains away the life energy which binds you to existence. Each round in contact with the quickly rising water deals nonlethal damage. The damage suffered is doubled each subsequent round, threatening to consume you.

✦ Consumed: If a character falls unconscious in the Dark Water, they immediately begin to drown (no save). Other characters can attempt to jump in and save you, but will be unlikely to escape themselves.
✦ Crippling Waters: If a character takes an amount of nonlethal damage equal to double his constitution score, he becomes fatigued for 1d4 rounds.
✦ Threatened: You may not take 10 on any check.
⯎ Climbing Out: Character's must succeed a DC10 climb check to move 5ft. Additional distance may be traveled, not to exceed your base movement speed, by succeeding consecutive climb checks for every 5ft. The DC of each check after the first increases by 3. Climbing gear, such as pitons, grapples, and rope can greatly assist in moving faster. If using rope to climb, this movement is performed normally. Creatures with a climb speed may climb as normal. Pitons may be planted and affixed to a safety line at a location to prevent falling from height excess heights. This is a standard action. If a creature fails their climb check by 5 or more, they fall.
⯎ Catching Hold: If there are fixtures adjacent to you when falling, you may attempt a reflex save (DC10 + amount climb check failed by), to grab hold of an item nearby. This may also be done when falling past a potential handhold, or another player. Similarly, this DC may be attempted by a PC in-line with the creature's fall to attempt a catch. After catching a falling creature in this way, the PC must succeed a DC13 strength check or begin falling as well.
⯎ Swimming: Creatures must succeed a DC10 swim check to stay on the surface of the water each round, or begin sinking at a rate of 10 feet per round. Creatures below the surface of the water must succeed a swim check in the same manner as climbing; attempting subsequent checks every 5ft.
⯎ Aiding Another: Characters may spend a standard action to use the Aid Another action, granting a +4 bonus to another a single skill check another creature attempts.
⯎ Extra Effort: If a creature takes a second move action, the DCs of his climb and swim checks reset for that movement. A creature who performs this action a number of times equal to double his constitution modifier must succeed a DC15 fortitude save. Each additional time this ability is used thereafter, the DC of his save increases by 1.
⯎ Recovered: Characters are no longer suffering from any negative effects of their imprisonment and regain full movement speed. (You normally will not recover from negative effects accrued in tainted regions, even over time; leading to your inevitable demise. Learn from this experience, as small issues such as status conditions can all but assure a failed dive. A number of resources and contingencies exist to better your chances of coming back out again.)

Spoiler: Divergence - Influencing the World

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Divergence is a strange phenomenon most ironically experienced by a brief state of non-existence. The changes experienced thereafter are often incredibly radical. Main-Quests are almost always lost if players Diverge before completing their current tasks. Divergence can be both beneficial or crippling, but can always be reversed in some fashion. However, Divergence can only be reversed in the order in which they occurred; meaning, if a player were to Diverge three-times, the first Divergence could not be changed until all subsequent Divergence were negated. Diverging multiple times can make changes you have experienced, influenced, or created, near-permanent by extension. Meddling in otherworldly affairs greatly increases the likelihood of Diverging, however other forces can cause this as well, including player-actions.

A number of unique, but virtually unknown protections and contingencies exist to combat and control this phenomenon. Many unique realms and universes beyond can only be accessed via Divergence, and some abilities can create powerful desirable-effects to bolster players. However, wild, uncontrolled instances of this spectacle can quickly lead to a tragic fate. Surviving the mysterious threats of the Night and influencing the fabric of reality for your benefit will require careful attention paid to the current state of the world, and detecting early signs of such negative influences before they can spin out of control.

Spoiler: Status

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Environmental Effect
~~✦ Darkness: There is now absolute darkness throughout the chamber. Normal sight and low-light vision no longer function, you are blind. Darkvision functions normally.~~

֍ Erik +350 (2,550xp)
HP 24/37 (2 bleed)
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 3
⭍ [Cursed Wound] 2 Bleed, DC 22 Heal (full-round action)
⭍ [Wounding Curse] Fast Healing & Regeneration Disabled. Cannot Heal Grievous Wounds. Cannot Recover Hit-Points. Harms Others. Cure Unlearned.
AC 23
Extra Effort: 2/4
Spite: 2
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Secrets Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Caution Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Fear Influence Gained
⯎ Spirits Influence Gained
⯎ Destiny Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ Pain Influence Gained
⯎ Life Influence Gained
⯎ Struggle Influence Gained
⯎ Teamwork Influence Gained
⯎ Collapse +100 (2,650xp)
⯎ Stability, Rising Water +100 (2,750xp)

֍ Kazik +450 (1,850)
HP 55/57
Shattering (HP Reduction): 1
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 3
⭍ [Severance: Dismembered, Corruption] The creature has lost its off-hand. The wound has shattered all the flesh blow the elbow, turning the skin to glass. (This lost limb will be restored upon exiting the room. Kazik may climb with one hand by succeeding a DC10 strength check for every 5ft of movement he makes.)
⭍ [Severance: Shattering, Corruption] The character's body is beginning to crumble and rapidly deteriorate into nothing more than a pile of dust. As the corruption wracks the victim, the creature's maximum hit points are reduced by 1d8 points each round until they escape the Sector. Current hit points in excess of its maximum are not retained as temporary hit points, but are instead lost. This is a form of damage, but it is not healed or resisted conventionally. (This Severance-effect, and the effects of 'Crippling Sorrow' are reversed upon escaping the room. Kazik's maximum hit points and wisdom score are returned to normal.)
AC 20
Extra Effort Used: 1/6
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Madness Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Darkness Influence Gained
⯎ Evil Influence Gained
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Agility Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ History Influence Gained
⯎ Spirits Influence Gained
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Worlds Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Doom Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ Acquired [Black Dice x1]
⯎ No Friend +100 (1,950xp)

֍ Walt +450 (1050xp)
HP 43/43
⭍ [Nonlethal Damage] 27 (3 + 6 + 18)
⭍ Status: [Fatigued]
AC 19
Extra Effort: 1/4
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Madness Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Endurance Influence Gained
⯎ Recovery Influence Gained
⯎ Tactics Influence Gained
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Black Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Life Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Undeath Influence Gained
⯎ Strength Influence Gained
⯎ Teamwork Influence Gained
⯎ Victory Influence Gained

Spoiler: Influences

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Influences represent current knowledge, pursuits, training, experiences and aspirations which are actively effecting or being utilized by a character. These represent various concepts and begin to outline a character's values and path as they grow. Influences which are not used regularly are lost, but can be gained again once a character begins pursuing an avenue related towards that field or concept. Influences determine a character's growth in many ways, including experience points they earn and which Potentials they can acquire at any given time.

Unlike with limited class levels, Influences are not acquired spontaneously, and are acquired throughout play; creating an active system which enables a character to re-train, gain new powers, or even improve upon old ones actively with their in-character actions. Training with a sword or exercising the use of an existing Potential allows a character to learn new techniques, empower his current abilities, or even grow his tolerance to pain, sustain damage, run faster, sleep less, and more. Influences play a vital role in developing more sophisticated interpersonal skills and ability to deal and establish diplomatic relations with all manner of strange and otherworldly creatures which you may encounter; in addition to learning more about the unnatural forces which no worldly knowledge could shed light upon. All unique skills are only able to be acquired via potentials, which are trained and worked towards acquiring via your pursuits, experiences, and by extension - your Influences.

Spoiler: Point: 323 - Willowbrook Sanitarium, F3A (About Tainted Lands)

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Tainted Lands are incredibly complex and foreign realms which are often guised as places once familiar. Each tainted region is individually unique and carries with it its own risks, rules, threats and worldly hazards. Many things cannot function, work differently, or can lead to reality crushing results that make survival for most creatures delving into their reaches an impossibility. Site Investigators often travel with groups of Harriers or Gales for long extended periods conducting a through survey of each corrupted-site, known as a 'Point'. These reports are used by various venturing companies to conduct expeditions, known as 'Dives', into the tainted lands. Points are always geographically divided into many areas known as 'Sectors' by Site Investigators. Sectors within a Point mark areas where the rules of the other areas which have been surveyed dramatically differ, be that the laws of nature or magic, or even stranger changes they cannot fully understand.

Common Sector 'rules' which Gales are familiar with include such things as; violent reactions to non-grounded magics, reactions to supernatural energies and abilities, reactions to specific materials, reactions to unstabilized magical creatures and creatures capable of withholding or generating energy, and items or persons keyed to a particular influence.

Fortunately there were not very many public users of magics due to the general fear and suspicion associated with the practice, and thus even less individuals with such talents that traveled into the tainted regions. Magic was an inherently suicidal thing to employ in such places without a remarkable understanding of the Point and all features of the rules which governed the Sector currently being occupied. Everything in a spell from the time it took to produce, to the school, effect, number of targets and even the manner in which the spell functioned were all individuals factors which could set off a dimensional-explosion and throw an entire team of unwitting mercenaries through a hole into Abadon; or worse. There was always worse, they just hadn't learned what that was yet; that was the first lesson tainted lands had to teach the fools which dared brave its depths. Wizards and magicians were generally less welcome by companies that ventured to such places, than they were by the general public. Unless the magician in question specialized in using his or her magic in such places, and possessed a record to back it, not even a fool would bring one along. There existed unique items called 'Grounds' which restrained and processed a magician's magic making it generally safe to use, but they were immensely expensive and built for each individual mage. Yet, more vexing was the matter that a single magician would often need multiple Grounds, as no single device was assured to provide every protection for every circumstance. Nor were they permanent fixtures. Like filters, they eventually spoiled and failed. At least the ones commercially available. The device's creator, the genius inventor Denil Demn could produce Grounds which would self-cleanse and restore themselves with time, but acquiring a commission from the man was a nightmare. If not because of the competition attempting to do the same, than because the craftsman was notoriously difficult to reach.

The degree of influence upon supernatural powers varied wildly, but was based on the level of corruption the tainted region possessed. In some of the worst places there were documented cases of Gales detonating in a bloody mess from simply employing internal forces to accelerate their speed and agility. Much like a monastic practitioner of martial arts, many Harriers preferred to learn to hone inner energies to aid themselves in conflict while Diving, but even this was not completely safe. During 'Deep Dives' companies outfitted their members with various equipment to maintain internal stability, but this was not something exclusive to the most foul of places. If the rules of a Sector were particularly twisted, it was possible to experience those same hazards without venturing into the belly of the beast.

Some materials or creatures didn't react well in tainted regions. The places were often so alien and foreign that not even animals could enter. Sometimes it wasn't just animals, it could be steel, or wood. Maybe iron. No one would know what all, if any may have been effected until a Site Investigator ran their exhaustive tests. Some of the most strange of places caused unnatural phenomena from things associated with a particular thing. Perhaps a cleric's symbol, or a deity's favored weapon, maybe the pages of a book. It was as if the world were possessed by some malicious spirit that remembered only the things related to what had wronged it. None of these places were necessarily good to ever venture, many Gales never bothered. Even putting the twisted spaces of reality aside, the Veilbeasts and other horrors were enough to convince any sane man to keep his distance. Veilplague had become nearly non-existent, but the corruption and curses which could be afflicted were a horrendous burden. If a man were blighted, he could not be allowed into a town or city. It was all one could do to simply pray that a green witch or other healing pariah might be able to mend them, as civil men would have no choice but to quarantine or kill the infected. There simply were no known cures for most maladies, at least not in the hands of the peoples at large. For most, death was assured.

Point: 323, F3A: Sector 1A - Regional Effects
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????

Main Quest: Dreaming, The Nightmare Beast
Something lingered and twisted their perceptions, their very reality. There was no past and present, only a fractured array of constantly shifting states of existence. All was real. All was now. It darkened the world, as if laid in shade beneath the looming hand of some omniscient mad god. Somewhere, someone elsewhere inside knew. That man could discern reality and see the dream for what it was. They had to escape before it consumed them, before all that was named true in their minds was pried from their broken hands, and devoured by some horrific nightmare. The visions... Everything. It couldn't be real. It couldn't be real.
Difficulty: Lethal | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: 2/8 Rounds
Primary Objective: Survive.

**flat_footed** · 2019-05-21, 04:24 AM (ISO 8601)

Iman's words faded from his mind as Miryks felt the shadow's presence before his eyes could catch up. The smooth timbre of the shadow's amused voice was far too close for comfort. Miryks sent his blade flashing ahead of his turn, only to have the sword nearly ripped from his grip. Impossibly, the man's opposite hand had risen lazily to catch his blade between two fingers. It was as if the man took great care to respond in the most awkward way possible, and still his strength and speed far outmatched Miryks. No, that wasn't quite right. He had connected, but it was as if the ink had been blotted from the parchment. A lingering doubt took seed in his mind; a stray thought from behind the wall of understanding Miryks didn't dare open. Someone, something, had willed the strike to not be. It was all Miryks could do to dumbly examine his blade, noting the damage along the supernaturally sharp edge. Against that strength, he may as well be swinging a sword of butter for all the good it would do. Still. He blocked the blade instead of absorbing the hit.

Miryks felt his attention driven back to the conversation Iman seemed interested to have with this Caus'fel. From what he had seen, Iman wasn't one to waste his breath. Whatever was being said bore listening to, even if their meaning hit his mind like water through a sieve. It was... challenging being so far out of his element. Each new name blended into the next, but a few stood out. Miryks allowed them to drift through his thoughts a few extra moments before resuming his focus on the conversation. Caus'fel seemed to hold sway over Iman, whether by service or ability, but the two seemed content to carry on their discussion as though the world around them wasn't tearing at the seems. Corruption. Spite. These words had a weight to them, but Miryks could only guess at their meaning.

The change came suddenly, and Miryks found himself completely caught off guard. It was worse than before, if such a thing were possible. Before, at least, he was able to maintain his sense of self. But now? Everything within her screamed, as though each part of him had taken on its own will. There was someone else, as well. The flame haired girl. It was all Miryks could to do to keep his mind straight, and she was failing badly. Reality condensed, descending into red and Miryks felt as though despair would over take them.

Darkness obscured her vision, and a chill ran down her spine. Both sensations felt alien, as though they were out of place with her body, but how could that be? In this forest, in the dark, in this cold, weren't these sensations perfectly normal? Hope shook her head and started down the path before her. She stopped suddenly, her mind reeling with unbidden wants and desires that seemed more real than the crunch of ice beneath her boot. Miryks felt himself struggling to bring himself to the forefront; to reclaim who and what he was. There must have been a mistake, some mishap that landed her in this body. Even now, it was a struggle to piece together the wolf who he once was. Hope scanned the forest around her, looking for clues to their predicament and readied herself. Woe onto those who mistake this wolf in sheep's clothing.

Spoiler: OOC

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Sense Motive - (1d20+15)[20] Understanding why the blade was caught and if the strike carried any threat at all
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[19] Rubedo
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[17] The Lady Black

Move Action: Move to B8
Swift Action: Bound Souls Check Sense Motive - (1d20+15)[35]
Survival - (1d20+15)[22] Searching for tracks in the ice/snow
Perception - (1d20+17)[21] Looking around
Stealth - (1d20+2)[14] Stealth while moving at full speed
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[12] Kaslin Crowe
Knowledge: Local - (1d20+5)[18] Kas'Llyn'Ryel

Spoiler: Action Economy: Round 1

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Standard Action
~~Move Action~~
Move Action
Swift Action
Immediate Action
Miscellaneous Action

**forg99rules** · 2019-05-21, 11:41 AM (ISO 8601)

It was interesting hearing the history from the girl regarding Hexens, it hadn't been something on her mind but hearing it how she tried to remember more regarding the history of Hexens and who may have been one. Listening to the conversation go back and forth between the two Rosswuss'run brought out more curiosities. Hearing that the L'Dalharen had interceded and changed the second world by erasing The-World-After seemed interesting and then the fact that they said that she was from The-World-Before again was an interesting thing. She had not known what people would call the world that she had previously lived before she was reborn in this world, now she had a way that she could identify it. The fact that bringing back anything from Across was forbidden brought a slight smile to her face, she had not known that it was forbidden and briefly wondered what else she knew would be considered forbidden. She continued to listen to the woman explain things and a smile slowly took to her face as she heard the woman mention the Black Magister. This woman had no idea that the Black Magister was before her and that she was once again striving for powers that would be considered forbidden.

The sudden sound of a clap startled her briefly drawing her attention away from the Witches and to the man that suddenly appeared. Her blood ran cold as her knee went to the ground, a L'Dalharen was not something that she wanted to run into right now and yet one was here before her. As the man spoke and she began to stand she wondered exactly what had caused her to be forced to take a knee in the first place. Was it some inate reaction by being in his presence or was it actually something that the man had done that forced them to take a knee before him. Having stood up she was surprised to hear the Term Enforcer used by the Hexen, her mind raced to figure out exactly what that meant for her and what might happen. Caus'fel said he served the House of Black so she had that at least going for her but still she was worried. From the conversation going on it seemed that he could see through the Gran Hexes veil to an extent and had even called it a Joint-Reflection, again as always he mind before racing to fill in the gaps from what she was hearing. As Caus'fel dismissed the other witches her mind turned to the situation at hand, it seemed that she had broken a law by bringing some sort of influence into this world and now she was to stand trial before either the Council or the House of Black. The choice was of course an easy one, she stood a better chance before her own house than before the Council.

After the witches left she was surprised to hear the man snicker, as he spoke she realized that having the Aolthor wand with her was indeed revealing her identity to all who understood what it was. It seemed that the others held no interest to the man and it was just her that he had come for. It made sense to her since it was her that apparently had done something wrong and brought attention to herself. It seemed even with the favor that she had with Aradia that she would still be tried for the crime that she had not even known she had committed. As the conversation continued she a few curiosities popped out to her, the Wild Dark seemed interesting enough as was the crimson plane. Tenebris's mention of the World Veil being the same and her having an affinity for this place also seemed interesting and possibly could be used to try and steer whatever punishment might come her way. Though it seemed that some actions of her past had left an impression upon the place. As the man mentioned that it had turned the place into a lifeless and frozen existence she began to remember just what she had done. It had been a veil she created, The Uttercold, it was a powerful veil and it wasn't one that she had wanted to test out anywhere that she had resided. The destruction it had brought had made her glad at the time that she had created it in the L'Tresk'ri'Vet as it could have destroyed even more if she had done it elsewhere. The look Tenebris sent her way brought a bit of giddiness to her heart, the knowledge that her beloved would have loved that story brought just a bit of joy to cover the worry that filled her.

Looking up at the man "Yes well, my previous actions aside I was not here to cause any problems. I am just searching for an appropriate Servitor and happened to be told about this place from the Teller. There is no plans to create a new veil or cause any irreparable damage, just to try and get the Servitor that I feel would suite my needs. If I still need to be tried then of course it would be before the House of Black, No need to bring the Council into our House's issues, if there is something I can do to repair the damage that I did cause then of course I would Offer what little I can to repair it. If like Tenebris said is true and I have a connection to this World Veil still then the possibility of fixing it would be higher than anyone else. I am also curious what you mean by me being here to soon, was I always meant to come here? Wouldn’t I still have caused damage then if I came later as well?”

Spoiler: OOC

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A bunch of checks
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[31] - information on Valby'oth
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[39] - Information on the History that the Student mentioned
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[32] - For info on why we all were forced to take a knee
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[40] - Info on Caus'fel if I can get any
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[42] - Who Caus'fel's sister might be
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[35] - Info on Joint-Reflections
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[37] - Info on Enforcers
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[44] - Info on the Wild Dark
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[38] - Info on the Crimson Plane
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[38] - What might be expected when she goes before the Judge
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[44] - What I know regarding Hidden Verses
Know Abstract: (1d20+30)[39] - See if she can remember any other powerful Veils that she had created

**Stevesciguy** · 2019-05-21, 10:21 PM (ISO 8601)

I will not die here.

The words rang inside Erik's head, echoing off the walls of his mind until he forced them to ring true. With a grunt, he pushed himself away from the wall, then briefly lifted his helmet to cough up the last of the black tar, so that he could speak clearly. He pushed the pain aside, allowing it to sink into the back of his mind; this was not the time to lose focus.

When he begins to speak, his voice is changed. Still deep and loud, but now raspy... a voice with no vocal chords to shape it.

"The fox man is gone, used some kind of teleportation magic, then disappeared. Didn't have much choice, it looked like, with that many lurks on him. I can hear the water below. We'll have to keep climbing, or else either the collapse or the water will catch back up to us."

He looks up at Kazik, miraculously having appeared above them despite having been pulled up by rope. Illogical geometry was just another reason he so hated the taint.

"Is that thing still with us, or have we lost it for now? When did you first see it?"

As he asks, he once again begins the arduous task of climbing up the "wall".

Spoiler: OoC

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Actions:
Standard: Climb
Move: Extra Effort: Climb
Swift: Unused

Standard:
DC 10: (1d20+8)[26]
DC 13: (1d20+8)[19]
DC 16: (1d20+8)[14] Fail, no fall

Extra Effort:
DC 10: (1d20+8)[11]
DC 13: (1d20+8)[28]
DC 16: (1d20+8)[15] Fail, no fall

I'm just climbing straight up, so that should put me at M6

Reflex Save just in case: (1d20+9)[18]

General Perception, just to keep an eye out:
(1d20+7)[14]

Survival, keep an eye on stability or whatever else:
(1d20+5)[22]

My Con increased, so I guess that's extra effort 3 out of 10

Round 2/19 of Undead Form

**Mornings** · 2019-05-25, 10:43 PM (ISO 8601)

The Unsung King - Alicia Kelgore

421st Day of the 1st Cycle - Time: 9th Bell / LC: 30,303
Jun'athel; ???????? - ????????
????????; ???????

"Dear girl, if a coachman runs a man down with his carriage, it's still a crime, regardless if he nodded off during a long night's ride. Be it within the House, or the Council, ignorance of the law does not excuse a crime. In fact, within your own city, knowledge and intent are irrelevant factors in the enforcement of justice. Of course you will be tried. Though, the Teller's involvement is of some significance to be sure." The Enforcer seemed to dismiss the rest of the girl's comments, as they were likely more 'irrelevant factors' to a being in his position.

Stella didn't know too much regarding the history and inherited legacy of the Hexen, she had never invested too much interest or efforts into learning history to begin with. Tenebris had been the Hexen for the entirety of modern times, and Duvan had lost a great deal of its own history prior to the Long March after the fall of the kingdom. In the thirty-thousand years since, the growing gap between Duvan and Quarry had placed even larger strain on those seeking to reclaim their past, as both Covens which stemmed from the same origin only withheld bits and pieces of the whole. Small things lost upon the shelves of private collections and secret stores of preserved records. It'd all been just dusty old books to Stella, and not something taught at any length even to Alicia. Those things long forgotten were maintained by the Ros'wussrun, preserved in their teachings and stringent culture. History wasn't the only thing Duvan had lost, amongst it was something they truly valued; power. More magic had been forgotten in the centuries past than modern Witches even knew. The Valby'oth was just one among them. It had always been secret, passed orally from one Witch to another. There existed no written record or document of it, for it could not be penned, the sounds could not be captured in the written word nor the tongues of men. The Lady Black had given it to the first Umbral Ascendant, a power which could change the bounds of what mortal creatures could reach. It was the Hidden Verse. Those memories were far away now. [Alicia | Knowledge (Abstract) - Failed]

L'Dalharen weren't people, by any definition, those who could define, remove, create and unmake any and all within the Three Worlds liberally, were gods. They were the Children, the sons and daughters of the Three Mothers, the patrons of the Houses. While the Mothers could only be comprehended as some omniscient eternal force which created all which could be perceived and known, all that could be or would be, the Children, L'Dalharen, were the arbiters of reality. Gods over gods. The perfect and absolute... Or so the Coven claimed. Faith in the Houses was mandated and enforced by law within Duvan, but in truth the Witches of the city placed little concern or thought towards such things. The Coven operated independent of the Wheel and Council and paid no heed to its will, operating autonomously. The Sun'jathla were something of a nihilistic race, while the Ros'wussrun were buried in history and culture, not faith. Only the Vet'C'nros belonged to a House and were deeply rooted in the esoteric facets of their zealous religion. While Stella didn't understand the gesture, she could appreciate the weight and reality-ending might of the thing which had manifest before her. It was something powerful, a visceral deeply rooted understanding that her physical being knew even if she did not, and it brought her down to prostrate herself before such power. [Alicia | Knowledge (Abstract) - Failed]

It was a fact all Veil Witches knew, there were not many beings within the House of Black within the Three Worlds. The Mother of the Black Veil placed little interest or personal investment into the dealings of the Garden, instead leaving matters to her eldest daughter, the Lady Black. L'Dalharen were each related to one another, bothers and sisters. Caus'fel was the only Enforcer of the House who dwelt within the the Worlds; Lady Black's youngest brother. There were likely others which remained unknown or obscure, like this 'sister' he had mentioned. The faith of the Vet'C'nros made no mention of L'Lotha or this place. Caus'fel in the teachings, was known as 'The Patient & Merciful', a god of justice who enforced the laws of the Black and spoke on behalf of their faithful before the hungering and malicious creatures of foreign Houses. [Alicia | Knowledge (Abstract) - Partial]

Stella had long ago fallen out of touch with the roots of her people and her own origins, the faithful teachings Veil Witches drilled into each other and themselves was something distant now; barely a thought or memory. In her previous life she had abandoned such things, just as she had abandoned Duvan. Instead she found a home within the Black Conclave, and it was they who groomed and developed her into the Black Magister. During that time she had turned her back on the Witches of the city, discarding any attachment which might have remained as a Veil Witch; that life was forgotten. She was sure that her past self would have been disgusted with her own fascination with what she had once considered 'lesser magic'. The only thing she had kept from those times was the theory of intangible magical constructs, such as Veils, and chambered associations - the functions which allowed a Veil to be attached to the spaces known as 'sockets', like those within the Aolthor Tenebris. It wasn't much, but that radical and heretical train of thought allowed her to create things which could only have been called, inconceivable. The Uttercold was one such simple example, though it in itself was the byproduct of one of her experiments during the later period of her life. As she understood it, Enforcers were supposedly authorities who corrected and eliminated irregularities within the Three Worlds, but she couldn't recall having ever actually seen one before. Perhaps their roles could have been performed without direct intervention, it was anyone's guess. The Enforcers were as much a mystery as the Wild Dark and whatever this place contained. As far as the Second World was concerned, this place did not exist, nor did L'Lotha. [Alicia | Knowledge (Abstract) - Failure]

It was all a reminder of just how much she had relinquished, the things she'd chosen to forget and those things which she'd simply lost in the crossing over to this reality. To the World After. She couldn't remember anything from the prattling of the Hexe about all the 'divine judgment' nonsense. That had been worthless words back then, another thing she had tossed aside. If others could toss aside the gods, then why couldn't she do the same. That had been the question she had posed to herself long ago, now it seemed she had an answer. She reached further than anyone else, she dared while others chose to lower their heads and look no further than the streets of Duvan. She belonged to a House, while they did not. Those who chose to submit to the viciousness of the system and live within the rules of the Coven would rise, or be crushed beneath it, but they needed to hold no fear over the divine. They were insects, crawling on the ground too far beneath the notice of anything of significance. It was impossible to know what this 'judge' would say, just as it was impossible to remember all those things she had lost; there was nothing which could be done for it. Those memories were gone now, but somewhere could feel there were a great deal of things she had left in her wake. Powerful things now forgotten by this world. [Stella | Knowledge (Abstract) - Failure]

"Well then, if you're ready, it's time to go. They're waiting for you."

Main Quest: Bistala Civil War, Part 1: The Witch, The Key & The Song
The Bista Athi'Z'hin people are divided. Clan against clan squabbles with one another, while the children raise up a cursed hero who has returned from the depths of the universe with tales and lessons. Bitterness is sown as the Faxtin influence slowly choking their lives, and new ideas begin to emerge, lighting fires through the rigid and ancient society. A shadow looms behind the flames of discontent and tempers boil and conflict seems inevitable.
Difficulty: Moderate | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: None
Primary Objective:
- Befriend a Bista Athi'Z'hin & learn more of the 'hero', Klee'Re-Po'Pala
~~- Learn more from the last of the First Weavers~~
~~- Journey to the Shadowkind's realm, Jun'athel~~
- Find the Olath'Uss; Erraba Chel, the Twice Risen
Alternate Objective:
~~- Tracking the Bista Wanderer~~ - Complete
- Locate The Grim of Jun'athel & break into the World Veil
- Find another way into the World Veil

Spoiler: Rewards | EXP

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Associated Skill: Spellweaving

֍ Stella XP +900 (164,300xp)
⯎ Sovereignty Influence Gained
⯎ Nobility Influence Gained
⯎ Liberation Influence Gained
⯎ Community Influence Gained
⯎ Discovery Influence Gained
⯎ Travel Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ Occult Influence Gained
⯎ Veil Influence Gained
⯎ Evil Influence Gained
⯎ Nightmare Influence Gained
⯎ Curse Influence Gained
⯎ Defense Influence Gained
⯎ Justice Influence Gained
⯎ Memory Influence Gained
⯎ Worlds Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Faith Influence Gained
⯎ Ascension Influence Gained
⯎ Hexen History +200 (164,500xp)
⯎ Valby'oth, The Hidden Verse +300 (164,800xp)
⯎ Compulsion +200 (165,000xp)
⯎ Caus'fel +400 (165,400xp)
⯎ Enforcer's Sister Mystery +200 (165,600xp)
⯎ Joint-Reflections Mystery +200 (165,800xp)
⯎ Enforcers +300 (166,100xp)
⯎ The Wild Dark +300 (166,400xp)
⯎ Crimson Plane Mystery +200 (166,600xp)
⯎ The Black Conclave +300 (166,900xp)
⯎ Intangible Magical Constructs +200 (167,100xp)
⯎ Chambered Associations +200 (167,300xp)
⯎ Black Magister +200 (167,500xp)
⯎ Judge Mystery +200 (167,700xp)
⯎ Thing Long Forgotten +400 (168,100xp)
⯎ Bonus Experience, Prologue +1,000 (169,100xp)
⯎ Acquired [Strange Item]
✦ Corrupted Fate (Ra'Dolfaal)
⯎ Gem of Telepathy: 3/5 Charges, 3 min duration - Identified use with UMD

SpellWeaving:
Successfully casting a Spellweave costs the Witch a number of focus points equal to Spell Level + 1.
The Witch may attempt a number of Spellweaving Checks per day equal to her Aptitude.

Alicia HP: 8 (13) / 22
Istrei'D'Val Barrier: 450/450
Focus: 27/28
Mana: 1/10
Reputation: 25
Memory: 3
Spite: 1
Honor: 311
SV. Exp: 2 (Severance)
Weave Exp: 175
Veil Exp: 1,000

Spoiler: The Reflected Alter

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Praying at the alter requires a Spell Focus check and 1d8 hours of uninterrupted meditation to establish a connection with the herald. Alicia receives no way of judging the success or failure of her attempt. Cumulative penalties are applies for very 4 hours of meditation taken from loosing focus over a prologed period of time. These penalties stack with conditions accrued from other sources such as starvation or dehydration.

Spoiler: Alicia Kelgore - Conflicted Mind

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Alicia and Stella must maintain a constant state of balance to stay in harmony with one another, however doing this is not a simple task as the Veil evolves. Alicia will progressively shift in alignment as the Veil grows and the two personalities shift further and further apart from one another, prompted by various Spell Focus checks while both performing magic and having new experiences which the Veil attempts to adapt into the persona's fabricated history. Furthermore the Veil is capable of enforcing its own canonical history as if by means of a Divergence. At the beginning and end of each day both persona's must make an opposed spell focus check, granting advantage to the victor for the next 8 hours. The persona with advantage gains a +5 circumstance bonus to all other checks against the other identity. If Stella begins to fail more and more checks her control of Alicia will begin to diminish, introducing new influences or opposing actions which she must succeed an ego check to interrupt. Further effects from the Veil may be acquired from constant failed checks. This Veil may be dismissed by revisiting the mirror and spending 1 minute in meditation.

The frozen world raced out to greet him, sending him fumbling out into the frozen reaches, mind scrambling to search for answers. Loimi didn't know anything about the strange beasts which had pursued him, he'd never experienced such a thing in all his travels throughout the cosmos. He knew there was something inherently bad about whatever it was, and he could only be glad that he needn't discover the answer to that question directly. He had no idea as to what might result from his own powers both from where he came from and where he was now, but he could feel the soft vibration of his magic beneath his skin when he focused. It was there, but he himself was now changed. Not a 'he' at all, trapped within this female body, it was anyone's wager. Dimensional travel was a gamble even on a good day, that was how he got caught upon this hellish planet to begin with. Who was to say that all of this girl would come with him should he attempt another jump, he could very well rip himself in halves. Perhaps he was being contained within some piece of jewelry, soul-bound, or embedded within some magical-bit within this girl. He'd stepped into the untrodden grounds of the hypothetical, but this was very real, of that much he was certain. [Loimi | Knowledge - Failure]

He tried his best to creep forward as the wind begun to pick up, blowing directly in his face. It was blinding rush of wind and frost, it was all he could do to maintain the girls footing while marching forward. He could feel himself, not just here, but somewhere else - another him. The distance between them felt vast and infinite, yet their placement within their respective 'boxes' of reality didn't appear so different... but him wasn't doing so well. There was confusion, a tumbling dizzying pain like his thoughts were being pulled apart. It didn't bode well, but still he moved forward, lifting an arm before his face to shield the girl from the howl of the wind. As her found one foot upon the stone of the bridge, a soft burst of light ignited from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he could see something gleam from beneath the snow.

Varag tumbled through the snow, his head was splitting. It was a whirlwind of crushing thoughts and words, a maddening torrent of things he didn't understand. Red. The very world about him seemed incomplete, unstable, flickering in and out of existence. Red. Periods of brief expressionless crimson without definition. The forest, the snow, even the sensation of the cold freezing his delicate skin, for those erratic and unpredictable frames of time, even those things ceased to exist. Red. Then it returned, again and again, suddenly, harshly without warning. The was beginning to rise, the chilling howl of its fury coming to meet him when reality flickered back to life. [Varag | Displacement 2 (Stability Check): DC 14 Will Save Vs Confusion]

The billowing wind impeded his advance, but it felt like his grip upon the world about him was solidifying. It was faint, the thread that tied him, anchored him, to this world. It surely wouldn't last for long. He took his first steps up, finding a foothold upon a stone bridge beginning to stretch out before him, but the length of the path was lost in the violent weather. A soft gleam of light flickered in his vision off to the side, something buried beneath the flurry of ice... Something spoke out to his senses, holding him with alarm. Something knew he was here, something felt exactly where he was; he wasn't alone. The gale of white before him pushed the girl back, threatening to topple her over. Glancing back behind himself, he could barely make out something in the distance. A ghastly flame of eerie blues of black the size of a man approaching. Whatever it was, it didn't look good. [Bound Souls | Sense Motive DC 20]

Ͽ ◯ Ͼ

There were no stars. Only the white of a yawning frozen wind that buffeted her back. There were no tracks at her feet, coming or going. Perhaps she had simply been standing here for too long and the snow had buried the prints of her passing, but she doubted it. The whirlwind of reality crashing down within itself and the words and thoughts wihtout context which had assailed her suggested some answer far stranger. She knew nothing about 'spite' or 'heralds' or whatever the hell they were talking about. It wasn't something you could find in a book or the prattle of a priest. Whatever they were, whatever was happening now, it wasn't something native to the fastly crumbling familiar definition of what she could call 'reality'. All of it, everything, it was something that shouldn't have existed... that couldn't have existed. Not while gods and men still were. There was a balance to be found within the Inner and Outer Spheres of the Great Beyond. There was nothing within the reaches of the nineteen major planes that could be this. She knew it as undisputed fact; therefore, it couldn't be something of existence as mortals and their gods defined it. No, she had to look further. If they entirety of the Great Beyond, every countless demiplane and every planar iteration existed within.... Some manner of 'Third Sphere', she would have to call 'their world', then these things.... These otherworldly powers, they came from another Sphere they could not perceive. It was hopelessly beyond her, beyond anyone. [Regina | Knowledge (Arcana & Local) - Failure]

Regina had never heard the girl's strange name before, but she had heard of the girl's divine appellation. In fact, most people had. She Who Lights the Way. The mysterious patron of the Purifiers. Since the decline of the Purifier's Order, fractions emerged such as the Light Bearers. They were the most zealous of their order who dedicated themselves to their nameless patron, venerating her like a deity, though the truth of their god was not understood even by their own number. The Bearers sought revelation by bringing light unto the darkest most bleak corners of the world lost to the corruption. Most never returned, but sometimes, rarely, one would rise from the pits of terror having found the lady's light. Usually these experiences were simply whispers, words which guided them... never so radical an experience as hers... It was difficult to dismiss them now after so dramatic an experience. Perhaps they, or the Inquisition would know more, but it was a dangerous thought. [Regina | Knowledge (Religion) - Success]

Trudging forward, she became more and more sure with each passing second.... She had no idea where this was. The only certainty was that this place, wherever it was, it wasn't Golarion. There were trees she had never seen before, strange roots and glassy frozen wildflowers which did not exist in her world. The tree's surface was frosted, but at her touch she could see the woods were faintly transparent. A blue haze choked the air and a mist begun to settle about her, thick and stagnant as the wind died. This place, it was unnatural and placed a mental burden upon her mind. As long as she could maintain her focus on the present and fight back the numbing sense creeping up on her, she could stay... but she didn't know how long should could fight back the sensation. The faint emerald glow near the base of the tree off to her side caught her attention. Something was there. [Bound Souls | DC 20 Sense Motive]

He could feel it. The thread binding himself to some other identity, displaced, near but so far away. He could trace the thin blue thread off into the vastness of eternity within his mind, he didn't know what it meant, but he could feel what lay at the other end. He'd been shift across perceivable existence more than once now, but this time was different, and he was certain this time.... if that thread were severed, he would die.

Miryks couldn't begin to understand just what that man was, if even a man at all. Questioning the nature of a threat which perhaps had existed, then ceased to exist, was like questioning 'the chicken or the egg'. Could a threat exist, if the event which predetermined its happening could be erased or rewritten? He had no idea. Perhaps there were even rules for such things, some unknowable 'something' that dictated the function and nature of such happenings.... but he wasn't a scholar or a wizard. Questioning the nature of reality and the underlying functions which govern it was so far beyond him, he'd fail to even describe the conundrum to any effect if someone were to prod him for details of the encounter. [Miryks | Sense Motive - Failure]

Rubedo. The only time he'd heard that name was recently within his confinement, something or someone somehow associated with the Auspex, or the Inquisition... At this point he wouldn't doubt if those two things were mutually exclusive. There were forces moving behind the curtain, some of some unfathomable influence, and somehow within the confusing mess of it all the Inquisition or at least the Auspex seemed to resurface, once again. Treads weren't coincidences. There was something more going on here, but it was too big for him to even confidently guess. This, 'Lady Black' however, that was a new name. In his experience, it sounded more like some nomenclature applied to someone of import by those who sought to keep such an identity obscured. [Miryks | Knowledge (Local) - Failure]

This Harrier, Crowe, he'd never heard of her... but the same could be said for most Harriers. Very few mercenaries became famous, least they were leading some famous band or in some smaller elite group that was somehow remarkable. That didn't seem to be the case here. However, Kas'Llyn... The name sent a shudder through his body. He was sure, that had been the woman from his dreams. The mercenary who had accompanied that Surveyor elf, Ryott Sparrow. It was like a cycle repeating back upon itself, circles in circles. He'd ignored the visions for so long, but there were truths to be found there, answers to questions word's couldn't express. Miryks was certain he was stepping into something much too large to understand. Perhaps he could close his eyes, perhaps he could bow his head in the hours he lived in the 'after' if he lived through this. Maybe it was better not to know. It was a decision he would be forced to make; confrontation or subservience to the familiar. [Miryks | Knowledge (Local) - Partial]

This world was strange and cruel, the ice bit into the girl's face sharply. The snow whipped and buried everything in a lashing torrent of chilling rime. There were no footprints, coming or going. He'd simply been placed there upon the path, as if by some god's hand playing a game. The temperature was dropping, a chill air creeping out, but this place wasn't the world he knew. It was eerie and cold, and real. The leaves had not fallen from the passing of fall and coming of winter, they were simply glassy transparent blue blades, like icicles hanging from the branches looming above. A ghastly jade light sparkled not far from him, something was beneath the snow. The misty light danced upon the air not far above what lay forgotten upon the ground.

Spoiler: Of Memory Past - Joint Reflections & Surviving the Mirrored World

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Joint Reflections & the Mirrored World
There any many variations of the unique condition known as Reflections. While in this state you are able to step into someone else's shoes, temporarily becoming them. Each Reflection carries with it numerous conditions which determine its own unique differences. A Joint Reflection allows multiple individuals to simultaneously become the same individual, at the same time. In some cases this may restrict one host to be the 'active' or 'controlling' will, while other times this may not be the case. In some instances, having a Reflection destroyed inflicts no negative effect upon the possessing hosts, while other times the new identity may be equivalent to the host's original body. Learning to function while in a Reflected state is vital towards conquering certain challenges and defeating vile foes capable of forcefully Reflecting their enemies in combat. Numerous Potentials and abilities exist which bolster a character's abilities while in this state exist and serve to aid in bettering your odds during future encounters. Utilizing associated unique skills while occupying a new identity will assist you in identifying the unique functions and limitations of your current form when you've become changed in this manner. Without the associated skills, determining the individual effects in place while in these forms becomes remarkably difficult.

✦ [Instability] - Your conscious's hold upon the mirrored world is wanning and in constant shift. By exercising considerable efforts, you may delay the inevitable, but ultimately you knew your mind could not hold back the weight of the crushing world for long. Paired players switch into their partner's position and map at the end of each round. As a free action any player may attempt to succeed a DC 16 will save to resist this effect, success is achieved if either player succeeds. With each consecutive success the DC of this effect increases by 2 and resets upon failure. This is a stability effect

✦ [Bound Souls] - Some ineffable force now binds you together across time and reality, mirroring each other in some strange yet familiar place. Characters become aware of the position, circumstances and happenings of their partner each time they spend a swift action to close their eyes and focus. Players cannot speak with each other across the mirrored world directly, but may become aware when being observed by outside forces, such as the player, by passing a forced DC 20 sense motive check. A player may perform this function as a move action instead if no swift actions remain. Should either player be killed, both bound players immediate die.

✦ [Chained Fates] - Time, the world, perhaps even the very universe as they could understand it seemed in constant flux as the frames of reality seemed to shorten or lengthen by the actions of their other self which haunted them in their dreams. As it always had been, the visions and nightmare seemed to chain you down. Players share a single action economy pool made up of; 1 standard action, 2 move actions, 1 swift action, 1 immediate action and 1 miscellaneous action (5ft step). This does not change what kinds of actions a player can normally take, thus a single player cannot take a double move and a standard action. This pool is the maximum number of actions which can be performed between both players. Taking an immediate action will prevent that player from using a swift action as normal, but does not decrease the available actions within their shared action-pool. In this state both bound character's share the same initiative (whichever is highest). If bound characters attempt to take more actions than they possess in the pool, both character's actions fail and must succeed a DC 20 will save to resist the crippling effects of their desyncronization.

✦ [Mortal Form] - Reborn into a woman's form, you are no longer the person you were before. Tied into a human body, you have lost all racial abilities, features and spells associated with your previous life while in this reflected state.

✦ [Sacrifice Essence] - Though everything that was you is no more, you can still recount the memories, the very core of yourself, and separate yourself from the dumbing sensation as your very existence is drowned beneath the weight of your reborn state. Somewhere, in the back of your mind, your persona still stands within the darkness. You can feel your sword at your side, your bow in your hand, magic on your lips... yet you hesitate. The memory is all you have left to stand between you... and what you were fast becoming. The identity, the soul whose name you could still recall - the you which you could still define and envision... it would begin to dissolve if you reached out across the breach to usher it forth into this horrid frozen place. That wasn't you any longer, but you were afraid to forget; afraid to let go.

Players have access to all of their equipment and spells which they have identified previously. Unidentified equipment and spells are inaccessible in this state. All items and equipment may be summoned or donned as a free action which may be taken even when it is not your turn. Shields and armor only function for 1 round after being attacked, regardless of the result, and are then expended. Weapons may be used to make any number of attacks during a single round before also being expended. All items, regardless if they are consumable, are expended after a single use. An item which has been expended shatters in a glassy blue burst of light and is permanently lost. The character looses all memories associated with any item lost in this way, but can still recall what it was they have lost by succeeding a DC 25 will save as a move action. Non-consumable items sacrificed in this way grant a 10% chance of providing the character with 1 point of Memory.

Spells and abilities which function with a caster level may be utilized by spending a free action to recover the chosen spell and create an Epsilon, a small unique sphere of creative power. The chosen spell or ability is contained within the Epsilon, functioning as if the pre-cast spell or ability were within it. This sphere may be passed, exchanged, dropped and used by other creatures. The spell or ability contained within may be activated as a move action regardless of the casting time of the original spell or ability. The holder of the Epsilon may also choose to instead absorb the contained spell or ability as a move action as well, even if they were not the original creator of the sphere. Once an Epsilon is created the contained spell or ability is permanently lost by the caster. Spells are removed from all of the character's class spell lists, expended spell slots are lost indefinitely, abilities are removed from the associated class permanently and associated resources spent are deducted from the maximum value of their respective pools. The caster looses all memories associated with any spell or ability lost in this way, but can still recall what it was they have lost by succeeding a DC 25 will save as a move action. Spells sacrificed in this way grant a 10% chance of providing the character with 1 point of Memory.

✦ [Conflicted Mind] - Caught between a warring state of dreams and consciousness spanning across some unknowable gap, character's must succeed numerous opposed stability checks to remain in control, or be submerged beneath the madness and fear. Failing stability checks will progressively further increase the difficulty of enemies and checks during the encounter. Either paired player may succeed and pass for the both of them.

✦ [Fear of Darkness] - Hope cannot move further than the distance she can see (as displayed by the map), and character's loose all fear resistances and immunities they possess in this form. Various fear effects may further limit her actions, which may be resisted by the benefits of the memories she discovers.

⯎ [Of Memories Past] - Hope's traumatic memories have blurred the lines of all things past and present into one inexorable jumbled nightmare. All things which should have existed, or have once been lay buried in the frozen wastes which haunt her visions. In the darkness gleaming sparks, remnants of the hopes, joys and iconic fears once held by the souls of all living things in some place or some point in histories that were or would be lay buried in the frozen reaches of the forest.

Hope can sense when near to a buried memory, which shines as a light in the darkness. As a swift action she can recover a memory. Hope may possess any number of memories and may choose to utilize any memory she's recovered as a free action. Memories are bound to the mirrored world in which they are left, but travel with the character when shifting location via Instability. A memory may be dropped in a new location, binding it to that map and making it available to characters on that map, or characters who switch in. Each memory possesses at least one ability, some of these abilities may expend that memory causing it to be lost forever. Passing memories to your partner is critical in defeating the terrors which lurk in the dark.

⯎ [There You Are] - Despite your changed form, your awareness of self remains strong enough to hold back the reality of your shift. You retain all class abilities, hit points, armor class, saves, skills and functions you previously possessed. The benefits of this ability are lost if your wisdom ability score decreases below 7.

Spoiler: Critical Note: Forbidden Knowledge

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Knowledge (Forbidden) is one of the most useful unique skills in the game, but also the absolute most dangerous ability a player character can utilize when performed outside of a very specific set of conditions, including the aid of numerous Potentials. Each time a PC attempts to utilize this skill without the protective features of other Potentials, they run a chance of acquiring a 'Corrupted Fate'. These conditions are a form of Curse which can potentially bestow numerous profane and crippling effects, but will in addition alter all quests and objectives the character possesses and can receive - permanently. The effects of a Corrupted Fate can be resolved by discovering and accomplishing the unique conditions associated with it. These conditions are always extremely severe, and may require an entire campaign-length undertaking to complete; stealing precious time which could be spent on other objectives.

Regardless of the result of the %dice in determining if such a status is received, the character receives a number of points of Spite, and possesses a very high chance of incurring a Divergence or critical alteration, which may impose its own unique consequences, depending on the circumstances. The percent of such events occurring caps at 100% upon the third use. A character may only utilize Knowledge (Forbidden) unprotected three times throughout the entity of the game. Upon exceeding this number of uses, the current character is immediately slain after the skill's resolution. This ability kills all iterations of a character simultaneously, but is specific to the identity which activated the ability and does not extend past Reflected Personas. This effect cannot be prevented by any source. Slain character's cannot be returned to life, including from such Potentials as Lesser Immortality.

Spoiler: Status

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֍ Mirykys +600 (3,100xp)
HP 37/37
AC 17
⯎ Survival Influence Gained
⯎ Exploration Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Wisdom Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Caution Influence Gained
⯎ Stalking Influence Gained
⯎ Deception Influence Gained
⯎ Trickery Influence Gained
⯎ Battle Influence Gained
⯎ Omens Influence Gained
⯎ Mystery Influence Gained
⯎ Corruption Influence Gained
⯎ Revelation Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Forbidden Influence Gained
⯎ Cold Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Realms Influence Gained
⯎ Otherworld Influence Gained
⯎ Reality Influence Gained
⯎ Secrets Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Divinity Influence Gained
⯎ Black Influence Gained
⯎ Dreams Influence Gained
⯎ Recovered [Otherworld Quiver]
⯎ Recovered [Unidentified Arrows] x10
⯎ Bonus Experience, Prologue +1,000 (4,100xp)
⯎ Reality Altered +500 (4,600xp)
⯎ Rubedo +400 (5,000xp)
⯎ Lady Black +500 (5,500xp)
⯎ The Inquisition +200 (5,700xp)
⯎ Kaslin Crowe +200 (5,900xp)
⯎ Kas'Llyn'Ryel +300 (6,200xp)
⯎ Ryott Sparrow +300 (6,500xp)

֍ Regina +700 (9,525xp)
HP 53/53
AC 19
⯎ Nobility Influence Gained
⯎ Deception Influence Gained
⯎ Trickery Influence Gained
⯎ Discovery Influence Gained
⯎ Magic Influence Gained
⯎ Secrets Influence Gained
⯎ Knowledge Influence Gained
⯎ Truth Influence Gained
⯎ Tapestry Influence Gained
⯎ Time Influence Gained
⯎ Dimensions Influence Gained
⯎ Fate Influence Gained
⯎ Vision Influence Gained
⯎ Light Influence Gained
⯎ Stability Influence Gained
⯎ Cold Influence Gained
⯎ Worlds Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Black Influence Gained
⯎ Red Influence Gained
⯎ Reflections Influence Gained
⯎ Darkness Influence Gained
⯎ Stars Influence Gained
⯎ Bonus Experience, Prologue +1,000 (10,525xp)
⯎ Herald +375 (10,900xp)
⯎ The Crucible +500 (11,400xp)
⯎ The World Beyond +500 (11,900xp)
⯎ The Third Sphere +300 (12,200xp)
⯎ She Who Lights the Way +400 (11,600xp)

֍ Loimi +50 (50xp)
HP 48/48
AC 18
⯎ Cold Influence Gained
⯎ Doom Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Dimensions Influence Gained
⯎ Planes Influence Gained
⯎ Bonus Experience, Prologue +1,000 (1,050xp)

֍ Varag +50 (50xp)
HP 31/31
AC 19
⭍ [Displacement] -2 penalty to Stability Checks
⯎ Cold Influence Gained
⯎ Doom Influence Gained
⯎ Death Influence Gained
⯎ Madness Influence Gained
⯎ Stability Influence Gained
⯎ Red Influence Gained
⯎ Veils Influence Gained
⯎ Bonus Experience, Prologue +1,000 (1,050xp)

Spoiler: Influences

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Influences represent current knowledge, pursuits, training, experiences and aspirations which are actively effecting or being utilized by a character. These represent various concepts and begin to outline a character's values and path as they grow. Influences which are not used regularly are lost, but can be gained again once a character begins pursuing an avenue related towards that field or concept. Influences determine a character's growth in many ways, including experience points they earn and which Potentials they can acquire at any given time.

Unlike with limited class levels, Influences are not acquired spontaneously, and are acquired throughout play; creating an active system which enables a character to re-train, gain new powers, or even improve upon old ones actively with their in-character actions. Training with a sword or exercising the use of an existing Potential allows a character to learn new techniques, empower his current abilities, or even grow his tolerance to pain, sustain damage, run faster, sleep less, and more. Influences play a vital role in developing more sophisticated interpersonal skills and ability to deal and establish diplomatic relations with all manner of strange and otherworldly creatures which you may encounter; in addition to learning more about the unnatural forces which no worldly knowledge could shed light upon. All unique skills are only able to be acquired via potentials, which are trained and worked towards acquiring via your pursuits, experiences, and by extension - your Influences.

Spoiler: Point: 323 - Willowbrook Sanitarium, F3B (About Tainted Lands)

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Tainted Lands are incredibly complex and foreign realms which are often guised as places once familiar. Each tainted region is individually unique and carries with it its own risks, rules, threats and worldly hazards. Many things cannot function, work differently, or can lead to reality crushing results that make survival for most creatures delving into their reaches an impossibility. Site Investigators often travel with groups of Harriers or Gales for long extended periods conducting a through survey of each corrupted-site, known as a 'Point'. These reports are used by various venturing companies to conduct expeditions, known as 'Dives', into the tainted lands. Points are always geographically divided into many areas known as 'Sectors' by Site Investigators. Sectors within a Point mark areas where the rules of the other areas which have been surveyed dramatically differ, be that the laws of nature or magic, or even stranger changes they cannot understand.

Common rules which Gales are familiar include such things as; violent reactions to non-grounded magics, reactions to supernatural energies and abilities, reactions to specific materials, reactions to unstabilized magical creatures and creatures capable of withholding or generating energy, and items or persons keyed to a particular influence.

Fortunately there were not very many public users of magics due to the general fear and suspicion associated with the practice, and thus even less individuals with such talents that traveled into the tainted regions. Magic was an inherently suicidal thing to employ in such places without a remarkable understanding of the Point and all features of the rules which governed the Sector currently being occupied. Everything in a spell from the time it took to produce, to the school, effect, number of targets and even the manner in which the spell functioned were all individuals factors which could set off a dimensional-explosion and throw an entire team of unwitting mercenaries through a hole into Abadon; or worse. There was always worse, they just hadn't learned what that was yet, that was the first lesson tainted lands had to teach the fools which dared brave its depths. Wizards and magicians were generally less welcome by companies that ventured to such places, than they were by the general public. Unless the magician in question specialized in using his or her magic in such places, and possessed a record to back it, not even a fool would bring one along. There existed unique items called 'Grounds' which restrained and processed a magician's magic making it generally safe to use, but they were immensely expensive and built for each individual mage. Yet, more vexing was the matter than a single magician would often need multiple Grounds as no single device was assured to provide every protection for every circumstance. Nor were they permanent fixtures, like filters, they eventually spoiled and failed. At least the ones commercially available. The device's creator, the genius inventor Denil Demn could produce Grounds which would self-cleanse and restore themselves with time, but acquiring a commission from the man was a nightmare. If not because of the competition attempting to do the same, than because the craftsman was notoriously difficult to reach.

The degree of influence upon supernatural powers varied wildly, but was based on the level of corruption the tainted region possessed. In some of the worst places there were documented cases of Gales detonating in a bloody mess from simply employing internal forces to accelerate their speed and agility. Much like a monastic practitioner of martial arts, many Harriers preferred to learn to hone inner energies to aid themselves in conflict while Diving, but even this was not completely safe. During 'Deep Dives' companies outfitted their members with various equipment to maintain internal stability, but this was not something exclusive to the most foul of places. If the rules of a Sector were particularly twisted, it was possible to experience those same hazards without venturing into the belly of the beast.

Some materials or creatures didn't react well in tainted regions. The places were often so alien and foreign that not even animals could enter. Sometimes it wasn't just animals, it could be steel, or wood. Maybe iron. No one would know what all, if any may have been effected until a Site Investigator ran their exhaustive tests. Some of the most strange of places caused unnatural phenomena from things associated with a particular thing. Perhaps a cleric's symbol, or a deity's favored weapon, maybe the pages of a book. It was as if the world were possessed by some malicious spirit that remembered only the things related to what had wronged it. None of these places were necessarily good to ever venture, many Gales never bothered. Even putting the twisted spaces of reality aside, the Veilbeasts and other horrors were enough to convince any sane man to keep his distance. Veilplague had become nearly non-existent, but the corruption and curses which could be afflicted were a horrendous burden. If a man were blighted, he could not be allowed into a town or city. It was all one could do to simply pray that a green witch or other healing pariah might be able to mend them, as civil men would have no choice but to quarantine or kill the infected. There simply were no known cures for most maladies, at least not in the hands of the peoples at large. For most, death was assured.

Point: 323, F3B: Sector 1B - Regional Effects
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????
✦ ???????????????

Main Quest: The Fires of Willowbrook, Part 1
Long ago the Auspex had spoken of the four years which had come and gone from behind the bars of their cages. It was impossible to know just how long it had been since then, but if there was any lesson to be had in all of it, it was that 'time was meaningless'. Strength had begun to return to them. The future was their own to command if they could just wrest it free from the dead-hands of the hell named 'Willowbrook'. That was what they had to keep telling themselves. They said it over and over again until it became truth, the only truth that mattered. It had to be that way, because if they allowed themselves to slip, they would be faced with the terror of another reality too horrible to defeat. Then the 'nothing' which loomed above them like the executioner's axe, would fall. Then they too would join it; and this time, there would be no return.
Difficulty: Moderate | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: Unknown
Primary Objective (1): Flee Sector 1B
Primary Objective (2): Escape Willowbrook Sanitarium

Side Quest: Restless, The Nightmare Below
Lord Matik recounts his battle with a horrid and powerful creature, a horror known as the Ember Beast. Whatever the secrets of its power, it has transformed the knight into something inhuman and unnatural. Something sleeps far below the asylum, a terror steeped in blood and fire. Perhaps the secrets to the infernal warrior's own cursed disposition lay somewhere buried in the deep, or perhaps there was only death. Only one thing was certain; the creature was too dangerous to be allowed to live. It had to be stopped.
Difficulty: Challenging | Status: On-going | Profit: Unknown | Time: Unknown
Primary Objective: Defeat the Ember Beast

**Chromascope3D** · 2019-05-26, 03:28 PM (ISO 8601)

Kazik
The Hanging Men

Weightless, if only for a moment. He felt himself drenched in the rushing waves, but only for a second. The world was slowed as he hit the floor and began to drift off, though Kazik could soon feel gravity's pull again, and latched onto the floorstones with his one good arm. Disoriented, he looked about, hoping beyond hope that they had made it out, yet alas, the world was still sideways. You should know better than to hope by now. Yes, he couldn't help but to chuckle at his own naivete. Well, onwards and upwards, it would still seem. He was now down a rope, a hook, and a crowbar, so free climbing would have to be the way to go. He looked down at his fleshless arm, the skin still crumbling away like glass. To say that it simply hurt would be an understatement among such. It was almost bliss. But it would be of no help to him to let the infection claim his entire body, and so, with his arm, his exposed mass of muscle and sinew, he reached above and began to climb.

Kazik knows he should be much more spry than he is, yet the aching of his arm still continues to vex him. he looks down upon the greying man keeping pace below him, and responds,

"Oh, aye, gone now, our little revenant is. But gone for good is another matter. She appeared before me with Master Crofte's gift, and so I think that our days of haunting may not be through yet."

He laughs, nay, cackles, though even he could not say why, and calls back down again,

"I think that I remember you, now. You were at the Club too, aye? I almost didn't recognize you; there's something gone from your voice now, or... perhaps something has taken its place. Am I wrong, friend?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Percneption: (1d20+10)[30]
Snurvival: (1d20+9)[11]

Climbs
~~Vs DC 10 (1d20+6)[15] And STR (1d20+2)[8]~~
Vs DC 13 (1d20+6)[13] (1d20+2)[13]
Vs DC 16 (1d20+6)[23] (1d20+2)[16]

Extra Effort 3/6
Vs DC 10 (1d20+6)[26] And STR (1d20+2)[11]
~~Vs DC 13 (1d20+6)[15] (1d20+2)[4]~~
Vs DC 16 (1d20+6)[19] (1d20+2)[22]

**Triskavanski** · 2019-05-28, 12:11 PM (ISO 8601)

Sheet

Oh Lady luck.. Faux thinks as he climbs out of the mess, his pristine white suit now splattered with blood and muck, the remains of people who were living not a few moments earlier, people who soon will not be living much longer. How much of this was real and how much of it a nightmare he didn't know, and he didn't have time to think on it. At this stage, he was very much not in control of the situation at all, and he began trying to run and escape as fast as he could, trying to hold back the vomit welling up from deep within, as he struggled to move through the slurry of people that attempted to hold his feet fast to the ground.

Spoiler

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(1d20+12)[27] fort save
(1d20)[6] Str Check
.

**Deadguy** · 2019-05-28, 04:29 PM (ISO 8601)

Regina
Ghost in the Machine

The girl gave a heavy sigh. There was too much to grasp. Not enough morsels of information to piece together any coherent way to interpret the information. She lacked context. Focus on surviving was paramount. The girl in her vision continued to be seared into the forefront of her thoughts even as her eyes caught the emerald light. It was ironic that she would be visited by an entity, deity. Hers was not a religious mind. The science that held her consciousness in the machination that was her body was as close to religion as she dared. Her new uncle would be a more likely candidate for such a vision. Yet the god-child did not want it shared. Everything that Regina knew about gods was being challenged. They almost always want to be recognized and embraced and shared.

She paused and held her hand on her chest, feeling the human heartbeat that replaced the humming energy core. The only thing remaining of her sister. Does that mean her consciousness is lost completely? Is my goal impossible? The sharing of bodies and warping of reality had caused her to doubt, at least a little.

Regina snapped back on the present. She moved silently to inspect the light. Confirming that her abilities were mostly intact was a fairly quick process. The chill of the elements did not bite into her skin like it would fully human flesh, her vision was sharp despite the darkness and haze. There was a confidence as she moved with that knowledge, despite the new shell that held her. Confidence was not foolishness though. She recognized the potential for danger in the unknown here so the hum of her internal weapons flared to the ready.

Spoiler: OOC

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Bound Souls | Sense Motive DC 20 - (1d20+8)[26]
Knowledge (Technology) vs sister - (1d20+36)[44]
Knowledge (Arcana) vs light - (1d20+24)[34]

Darkvision 120 ft / Low-light vision
Stealth - [roll]1d20+20[/roll]
Move Action: Move to C10
Readied Action: Attacked - Flash (will dc 20 vs blind)

**Toptomcat** · 2019-05-29, 11:42 PM (ISO 8601)

Walt Kincaid
The Hanging Men

The edge of a rasping wheeze is beginning to work its way into Walt's breathing: fear, fatigue, pain, and his own less-than-stellar lungs are beginning to take their toll.

Need a moment to catch my breath...and I've been meaning to get these out anyway.

As he sets his pack down and rummages within it for a moment, his companions' words register with him, and a puzzled frown crosses the hunter's face.

"A- haah- a 'revenant'? I never saw a damned thing- even when you two seemed to be talking to something."

There's a moment's confusion caused by his hands being bigger than they ought to be- but he finds the crampons and climbing claws exactly where he'd have put them. Walt refuses to waste time wondering how, exactly, that could be, since he last saw them scattered across the floor of his cell. Instead, he files it away into a mental category of 'things to think about later' that is beginning to get worrisomely large, focusing instead on securing the straps to his boots and hands more quickly than would be prudent under most circumstances.

These are not most circumstances.

"...we can hash out what each of us has seen, and hasn't, later. Stopping to carefully sort it out will get us killed. Going forward, call out threats as you see 'em, keep anyone from getting- haah- blindsided."

The suggestion makes sense. It does. But the surreal and hostile nature of this tainted place isn't doing much for Walt's faith in sense.

Only those two saw it, and it only went after Kazik. Can it only attack you if you know it's there? Have I just doomed us all? No way to know. But spending energy in second-guessing myself is idiotic. Just climb.

He slings his pack once more, tests the grip of his crampons and climbing claws, and proceeds upward- the task of climbing made a trifle easier by the gear, but not easier enough to keep his lungs from steadily burning, his breath from coming in ragged gasps, or his limbs from aching with the strain.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

The previous combat ends, and the Tainted Spirit+Asthmatic flaw forces a DC 13 Fortitude save at a -2 penalty vs. fatigue...or exhaustion, since I'm already fatigued. Fort save vs. death sentence: (1d20+2)[14]

Mutate remains active, and will for the foreseeable future.

Standard action: trade for a move. Move action: retrieve stored item (climbing kit.) Move action: climb.

Assuming I don't become exhausted and just basically die outright, my Climb modifier remains +8. (I've lost 4 Strength since the last round, but the climber's kit makes up for that loss.) Making two Climb checks as a move action, moving 0-15 ft up.

Climb 1: (1d20+8)[24] vs. DC 10
Climb 2: (1d20+8)[22] vs. DC 13
Climb 3: (1d20+8)[25] vs. DC 16

Nonlethal damage taken: 27
Fatigued
7/11 PP

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