When Sammy checked another curiosity she had from her absence’s developments — the 13th Fanatic — she found it was the Crusader Brynn. Good ole Brynn! He had been the knight with Dax, Dart, and Bob when they went after the fleeing Merril to Caneboro. Agatha sent him far south as cover for a fairly unconfirmed presence in the fight that had eventually seen the inn burn down. Presumably, th...
2024-10-23 13:17:43 +0000 UTC View PostOnly a few things were left to finish up the changes review. [Comprehension: Accelerator] had changed to [Comprehension: Evolver]. She basically knew what it did, but she reviewed it anyway.
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Evolver: When you learn a level 10 or above custom spell, add 2 [Magineer] exp. This is flat exp that ign...
2024-10-22 15:17:44 +0000 UTC View Post
With a laugh, Sammy quickly transported herself to a clear field in Heaven, and couldn’t activate her [Mirroring Duplicates: Strange Phantasm 1] ability fast enough.
The familiar form of the alabaster-pearl beauty flashed into existence, long tresses and stylish blue battle robes blowing in the wind as she looked upward at the sky. She was the very picture of sophistication, pride, and ...
2024-10-19 15:47:02 +0000 UTC View PostStill smirking and shaking her head, Sammy checked out her new ‘bound item’ added from the slew of upgrades.
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Mystic Astrolabe
(Bound) Upon summoning this item, the planet and everything on it turn transparent to you, allowing you a 360-degree view of the stars. With a few seconds of observa...
2024-10-18 14:58:22 +0000 UTC View Post
A quite new Special Trait was up in the continuing Review of the New.
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Multitask Magician
Utilizing ‘tertiary’ physical manipulation methods — such as supernatural telekinesis effects — is second nature to you, and you’ve become adept at effectively operating with additional hands or e...
2024-10-16 15:15:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Sammy dug into her newest gains from the Challenge Room trip, starting from the ‘top’ of the original change list and working down. First up was the enhancement on [Magical Invention]:
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Runic Reinforcement: As a spell-like ability activation, you may reinforce an existing arcane spell or ench...
2024-10-15 15:22:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Agatha ‘encouraged’ Samantha to get back on her throne and get to business. The former marchioness waited deliberately to watch her ascend and do so, nodding in satisfaction once Samantha sat down and spread her hands as if to say, ‘Here I am, happy now?’ At that point, Agatha strolled over to chat with Heavenpeak’s court bard, the Siren Calliope, who’d been providing an understated...
2024-10-12 15:26:15 +0000 UTC View PostAgatha patted Sammy’s shoulder comfortingly. “I’m sure you can use an old, grumpy woman here, bossing some underlings around so they don’t get lazy. Who wouldn’t want that, after all?”
It was meant entirely humorously. Sammy forced a smile. “Whatever it is that you desire here, it’s yours. Forever — or until the universe ends, anyway.”
The marchione...
2024-10-11 14:49:48 +0000 UTC View PostAs Sammy and Azure made their way back through the doorway of the Challenge Room, Sammy sought out that ‘feel of time’ in mainline reality, as she had the last time she’d been there. It seemed similar, perhaps a bit longer than before, which had been two days that passed.
Surprising after all that time in there, but instinct-wise, this seems correct. Plus, Ozra said as much. 2024-10-09 14:58:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Crow used what time he saved from the abort of the spell to run after the fleeing vine mass, into the screams blossoming from the tea room. “Get back here, you murderous fiend!” he called as he did. “Watch out, fools! Killer on the loose! Stand clear!”
Through it all, Jon Three had simply backed up almost into the wall, brandishing a nearby broom as a defensive weapon. “Wh-what ...
2024-10-08 14:42:34 +0000 UTC View PostIn Mot Mekess, the last room of Marchioness Agatha’s life was a kind of private shrine/meditation area with a miniature enchanted fountain in the center, constantly flowing with water in a relaxing trickling ambiance. Like any other room of hers, the place was aesthetically pleasant. Here, some of the sharpness of the tea room’s grandeur was missing, replaced with tender understatement. The...
2024-10-05 14:56:53 +0000 UTC View PostSamantha once again came to with her face on the floor. The feminine, slightly distorted voice of the Director chimed in her head, clear resonant notes encapsulated in memory, the flow quickly instilling a headache. “Note: you have been rendered stunned and senseless due to temporary willpower exhaustion. This was not enforced, but due to the unavoidable ramifications of observer ...
2024-10-04 14:45:28 +0000 UTC View PostCrow was just about ready to travel in the morning — nonetheless, he was in the library of Mot Mekess again, trying to decide on the last of seven books Agatha had granted him to take with him as borrows. These weren’t coded books, just curiosities for easier reading when his eyes ached from decoding. It was a toss-up between Mysteries of the Frozen North and Legends of th...
2024-10-02 14:39:36 +0000 UTC View PostSammy barked a bit of a laugh at the queen’s statement. “I guess so. To follow up, do you know if I can fix it all when things are over? The orchestration. If we win. Can I see my dad, then?”
The queen gestured with a hand out flat. “As I told you, choose your center carefully. Surely the wishes of the maestro’s soul will make music, but the song is only so long. I canno...
2024-10-01 15:00:36 +0000 UTC View PostAzure stared. Swallowed. Panted. Light slowly returned, but showed nothing more than a white-silver void all around. No darkness. She lowered her spear, moving it out from the body of the phantom, and lay her head back, trying to collect herself. Briefly, she squeezed her eyes shut.
“You did this,” Azure accused, getting angrier by the syllable. “It was all bullshit. You en...
2024-09-28 14:38:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe Mirror Monster wasn’t amused. Somehow, the world’s biggest sneer could be felt in the darkness. “Maintaining a sense of humor in this is exceptionally absurd, little blue bundle of rubbish.”
Azure painted a smirk on her face. “I’m not arguing. It’s nice how you’ve given me a term of endearment. If you win, will you keep it for me?”
“T...
2024-09-27 14:35:11 +0000 UTC View PostAzure walked down echoing steps beyond even the territory of the molds and the snakes. She walked deep enough to be among a sea of dead roots and fallen things. She felt a cold that chilled her bones — still, she did not shiver. Unlike that light while too high and heavy in the sky, the cold of the dark was strangely alluring.
I’m supposed to be her sky, but I’ve never measured ...
2024-09-25 15:09:15 +0000 UTC View PostAzure strongly considered diving. She could take a Slowfall potion right before hitting the tangle. But the timing didn’t look great when she spared a glance to take measure. They’d likely catch up to her while she was Slowfalling. At that point, it would be better to land on the tower and defend as she went down.
Instead of this, though, she reached into her dimensional pocket and ca...
2024-09-24 15:19:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe sky's brightness, heat, and intensity only amplified as they continued. It touched the obsidian wall of the tower and gradually silvered it into a full mirror. Sammy had ignored that reflection for a while, but suddenly she looked at it again, and no longer saw the ‘old her’ at all. It was Samantha. The Goddess Samantha.
She smiled victoriously. Ha! Yeah, that’s right, you b...
2024-09-22 14:54:06 +0000 UTC View PostSammy unleashed three spells on top of one another. The first was a contingency trigger to summon another autonomous protective shield — her other was technically still ‘out’ but it would not be doing much with a Cat Head using it as a chew toy and scratching post at once.
The other two were Fire Funnels, relatively narrow ‘spiral cones’ the size of a person. If they hi...
2024-09-21 14:58:14 +0000 UTC View PostSammy burst into action, determined not to waste one moment. Using her harness arms, she climbed upward hard and fast. “Waiting is pointless — charge past them! We’ll blow those fuckers out of our path!”
Azure followed, though she was sputtering in argument. “A-are you crazy?! We could retreat and lose them in the forest!”
“We didn’t see a single one do...
2024-09-20 15:03:24 +0000 UTC View PostTravel for the dynamic burning duo was otherwise uneventful and a bit grueling, mostly for Azure who was far more prone to tiring. Nonetheless, she claimed to be completely on course, and Sammy stopped asking after the second snappy response on the subject. She did not want to stop and rest, that much was clear. Sammy was exasperated and proud all at once at that.
When Azure...
2024-09-18 14:57:40 +0000 UTC View Post“Quite strange indeed,” Azure commented as she eyed the great towering monolith. “I think it’s there in any case, despite that we might worry it's an illusion.”
“Right,” Sammy agreed, nodding as she tapped a metal grapple finger on her chin. “Mind-bending but physical on some level. Regardless, I think it’s time to approach.”
“Don’t mind me. Jus...
2024-09-17 15:18:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe party hurried off the streets of Caneboro, leaving the corpses of their enemies to rot. The giant, currently with the alias ‘Sailman’ of all things, offered to carry all four Follower corpses himself, and Estara quickly agreed. No one even complained, nor were insults thrown any further at the giant. In fact, every single thing Estara commanded was obeyed without so much as a peep of pr...
2024-09-15 15:02:20 +0000 UTC View PostCasting into the sort of slew of nothing-but-enemies wizards dreamed of dropping an AoE into, Big Nose — his face cast with spiteful glee — dropped a destructive AoE on the forces of Samantha. They had precious little time to even move in response, much less mount an attack. But it would’ve been so much worse if the cloud had still surrounded them.
I should’ve ju...
2024-09-14 15:16:30 +0000 UTC View PostEstara could’ve dismissed one of the wounds dealt but knew she needed to let them handle it and save her valuable, no-action-required protection for later. She could distribute twice her [Priestess] levels plus one, in lots, on willing subjects, per day. She’d expended 7/17, and the minimum was 2 for involving 2 people. It would only get harder to deal with the less of it she had. There wer...
2024-09-13 14:47:47 +0000 UTC View PostA damage aura was something Estara feared dealing with. It put her in the precarious position of having no ‘safe’ option, as only being way over-leveled was going to give a caster the means to maintain AoE defense. Wound negations were almost always single-target, and why offensive spellcasters were a terror. Unless, of course, you had expendable subjects. Healing could be turned into AoE, ...
2024-09-11 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post“Hand over your prisoner and we’ll go our separate ways!” a man from the other group called, apparently their leader. Next to him, a rather large fellow in a strange black suit of attire and hat was showing his teeth rather menacingly, punching one fist into an open hand over and over, likely as some show of intimidation. Oddly, his eyes were vibrant green, crystalline, and faintly glowin...
2024-09-10 15:17:16 +0000 UTC View PostJeeves was unsurprisingly quiet as he took time to consider the absolute Bomb Drop of news delivered. Ash felt new tears fall as she confessed what she had done. She was practically panting and began to feel almost feverish. Like some self-preservation within her was balking.
Somehow, despite how awful what she was saying made her feel about who she'd been, it was also a relief. There was...
2024-09-08 14:41:39 +0000 UTC View PostDax wasn’t really sure Bast’s assumptions were true, but she got the sudden sense their souls knew one another. His pass at her felt like something written in stone. It certainly wasn’t the first time she’d rebuffed him.
Eerie. Caneboro had some things going for it. No one like this guy around, especially with Merril gone — Crow. Someo...
2024-09-07 14:37:05 +0000 UTC View Post