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Author Topic: You are a Necromancer! Chapter 2-36 Decisions, Decisions  (Read 656542 times)

Dwarmin

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #120 on: December 11, 2011, 05:51:41 am »

Ah man, this is the beginning of the end!

this way the thing wont get noticed

Yeah, because Elves don't live thousands of years and have exact memory of every one in the forest they've seen grow from sprout to tree...I mean, a tree that died instantly from one night to the next? Rising some eyebrows. Best we not leave any trace of us around it.

We need to take our magic back, and leave it truly dead and boring looking as possible.
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Dwarmin's fell gaze has fallen upon you. Sadly, Your life and your quest end here, at this sig.

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Rockowl

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #121 on: December 11, 2011, 06:28:45 am »

Alright alright alright, we can be careful and raise our skills a bit before we get:

Code: [Select]
"HEY MAN, DONT HURT THE TREES MAN, DON'T HURT THE TREES!"
"But I was merely trying out stuff with magic and leveling up my Spellpower because-"
"DISREGARD LOGIC, DOCTOROCTAGONAPUS BLAAARGH."
Double rainbow hippy lazer hits you for 9001 damage.
Game. Over. End of thread.

Then again,

You are a Necromancer.

Unfortunately, this is very likely to get you killed.

But what kind of necromancer is stopped by death?

So ya, I guess increasing our powers would be a good idea before starting an open war and getting witch necro-hunted. Then again, it's up to us to decide our heroine's fate, you know. We could like rid evil from this world, fighting fire with fire. And magic. And undead abominable army-devouring miasma-spewing doom-trees.

Above all things I REALLY don't want this game to end early.
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GlyphGryph

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #122 on: December 11, 2011, 02:20:30 pm »

Which is why being careful is important :P
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Skyrunner

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #123 on: December 11, 2011, 05:41:46 pm »

Fun! :-D

(is_watching)
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monk12

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #124 on: December 11, 2011, 11:59:45 pm »

Gah, why would we go for the tree? Are there no leaves on the ground? No dead branches we could have dislodged!?

What fools we are!

But the question remains - can anyone other than ourselves even SEE the purple fire? When the skeleton was mentioned, nothing was mentioned about a purple flame - in fact, can you recall any mention of a purple flame, or is this simple the swirls of necromantic magic?

First, determine if we need to hide it at all - Walk a distance away, and see if the light grows dimmer - if it grows dimmer more quickly than the visibility of the tree, it is likely a byproduct of our magic vision rather than our true vision. We should be okay, in that case.

Face it: we're panicking. Stop. Breathe. Doesn't that feel better? There's still six hours till dusk. Eight until it's properly dark. GlyphGryph has the right idea here. Do the test that GlyphGryph suggested. Rocky (who had 2 vitality) was invisible to Sense Vitality at a distance of 20 feet. If the range is linear with vitality, then the tree should become invisible at a range of 50 feet. If it's exponential (5 feet per point of vitality squared), then the necromantic aura will become invisible past 125 feet.


Ok, ok, this isn't that bad- it isn't good, but it's not bad. After all, wasn't the whole point of doing this off in the deep woods so that random elves won't see you? First things first- let's see exactly how visible this mess is.

You first consider the possibility that the visible evidence is merely a product of your Necromantic Sight, an ability only you possess. This tree may well be invisible to the casual observer! With some chagrin, however, you remember that the trout had purple flames sprout from its eyes, and the ant had purple flame instead of a head- this was when you first discovered your power, and before you developed your Necromantic Sight. You also recall how your undead crayfish mishap was able to feebly illuminate your room- not a good sign.

Of course, theory is all well and good, but some solid experimental data is in order. Staying within the confines of your little grove, you stand at various distances to the tree- there is no real change in its appearance, and only slight variation in your Necromantic Sight. You begin backing through the trees, attempting to keep the tree in sight- although the tree's fire appears no dimmer, you do gradually lose your sense of the tree, finally petering out around 125ft from the tree. Doing some quick mental arithmetic (a skill you've had little reason to exercise before now,) you deduce that your Necromantic Sight must have a range relating exponentially to the Vitality of the Necromantic Energy being sensed.

Unfortunately, the tree is still quite visible at this range, although the trees make direct line of sight difficult. Circling around, you find that about 150-200 feet from the tree you cannot directly see it- however, you can still see the purple light reflected off the surrounding trees, even in the middle of the day. You suspect it will be much more visible at night, although it will also be less likely that an Elf will be in the area.

I agree with Sense Vitality. Regrettably costing us valuable mana, but probably be worth to check.

Quote from: Grek
I like those odds a lot less than I like the odds of walking back to town (calmly!), getting a mana potion using the excuse we came up with before (it's for our upcoming trip to ) and then returning in two hours to deal with this on a full pool of mana.
If anyone asks why we want a mana potion, we should say that it is "for emergencies" and leave it at that. If they don't press further (or don't comment on it in the first place), all is good. If they do press further, explain that we were worried that animals in Thrimesdur might be more aggressive and harder to calm. This, of course, is a cover story for our research, but it does have a grain of truth to it. We will want to make use of the mana potion if there's an emergency we don't have enough mana to deal with, and it is possible that animals in Thrimesdur aren't as friendly to the elves as the ones from home.

Although you briefly entertain the notion of getting an axe or starting forest fires to deal with your problem, you decide that the most expedient way to take care of the tree would be to use your magic. Although you are out of Mana, you were planning to weasel a Potion out of somebody anyway- may as well push that task to the top of your priority list! It's about an hour's walk back to the village- you can be back in two, three hours tops.

You waste no time, and hustle back to the village. Although you initially plan to jog, or at least hurry, you find yourself short of breath- that casting took more out of you than you thought. Still, you manage to maintain a steady, ground-eating pace back to the village.

When you return, slowing to a nonchalant stroll, you ponder which way to go. You had initially planned to buy a Mana Potion from a merchant, but that would involve a trip to a larger village across the river, and would add travel time to your task. In addition, you aren't sure how much a Mana Potion costs- you don't exactly have the time to spend an afternoon doing chores in payment. You remember that Pevo had mentioned how most Mages make their own Mana Potions- perhaps you could find Ari Wetdawn and persuade him to part with one. It's a place to start, anyway.

You get to the Temple in no time at all, and spy Pevo ambling inside. Lengthening your stride, you quickly catch up.

Hey, Pevo! Pevo, have you seen Ari about? I need to speak with him.
He's off on some task or another, Nym. He should be back sometime tonight.
Oh, burn me. It figures.
Oh? What did you need to discuss with him, that haste is such a concern?
Oh... it's nothing that can't wait, I suppose. I'd just thought that a Mana Potion might be useful for my journey to Thrimesdur.
What do you need a Mana Potion for?
You know, emergencies.
Oh, because your awesome arcane powers will get you out of any pickle, is that it?
Oh stop- I just thought that it'd be useful in case I encounter a great many vicious animals, or something.
I can assure you that most of the animals you'll encounter can be pacified as easily in Thrimesdur as here in the Vale. However, even without exhaustive magic use you'll be able to find a use for Mana Potions.
I will?
Oh, aye- for barter! Magic use is much less prevalent among the humans, and many of them are untutored by our standards. While almost all elves have some small Mana pool to draw upon, most humans don't have any at all, and many of those born to magic learn only the bare necessities before returning to service their home village. Why, more than a few times I paid for my lodging by making some weak Mana Potions for those weak wizards.
Really? You know how to make Mana Potions?
I do. In fact, my errand here today is to drop off a potion I whipped up for Ari- he's been too busy to tend to it lately, and it isn't like he needs a particularly powerful potion to supplement his abilities. Tell you what- how about, instead of just giving you this here potion, I show you how to make your own?
That'd be great! Um... how long does this normally take?
Once you've gotten the hang of it, it'll only take a couple hours, and most of that is just mundane brewery. The tricky part is learning the magecraft involved, since any mistake means you have to start over. I know I spent the better part of a day trying before I got the knack, my first time. What, do you have someplace else to be?
I...

On the one hand, learning this skill would be an invaluable asset. On the other hand, it sounds like the learning itself could easily suck up the rest of the afternoon and perhaps your evening, all while your Tree blazes merrily away. You could just wheedle that potion out of Pevo now and come back to learn another day... right? What do you do?

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Skyrunner

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #125 on: December 12, 2011, 12:04:48 am »

Sice you're going to leave soon, I vote learn!
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Shades

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #126 on: December 12, 2011, 04:17:11 am »

Sice you're going to leave soon, I vote learn!

Agreed, too important a skill not to learn even with the, arguable small, risk for someone noticing the tree.
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Grek

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #127 on: December 12, 2011, 04:29:47 am »

Key point to note: We don't have any mana right now. If Pevo asks us to use mana during the "how to use your mana to make potions" lesson (and, let's be honest, he will), we will not be able to do that. Pevo's sure to notice something's up, and we don't have a good explaination for what we did with all our mana. Let's not risk it. Let's beg off learning for today, saying that we had planned to talk to Omo (our ranger friend, remember him?) about your route and then pick up a few other things for the trip today, but promise to come by tomorrow and learn how, since it sounds extremely useful.
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Grek

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #128 on: December 12, 2011, 04:30:35 am »

Double post! Ignore this.
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fergus

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #129 on: December 12, 2011, 05:39:46 am »

Key point to note: We don't have any mana right now. If Pevo asks us to use mana during the "how to use your mana to make potions" lesson (and, let's be honest, he will), we will not be able to do that. Pevo's sure to notice something's up, and we don't have a good explaination for what we did with all our mana. Let's not risk it. Let's beg off learning for today, saying that we had planned to talk to Omo (our ranger friend, remember him?) about your route and then pick up a few other things for the trip today, but promise to come by tomorrow and learn how, since it sounds extremely useful.

Right, just try to get a mana potion from someone.
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BY THE GODS! THIS QUOTE MADE MY SIG BOX HAVE A SCROLL BAR! HAPPY DAYS INDEED!
BY THE GODS! YOU HAVE TOO MANY SIGS!

GlyphGryph

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #130 on: December 12, 2011, 10:09:23 am »

Quote
Let's beg off learning for today, saying that we had planned to talk to Omo (our ranger friend, remember him?) about your route and then pick up a few other things for the trip today, but promise to come by tomorrow and learn how, since it sounds extremely useful.

Yeah, beg off for now. It is a vitally important skill to learn, but if someone discovers the tree at this point, we'll need plausible deniability. If he somehow discovers we have no magic, that will be gone. In fact, no one being able to link the tree to us is, perhaps, our biggest advantage here. Worst comes to worst, we don't go back.

Ask if its possible to learn tomorrow, since you have preparations for your trip you were planning on making today.

On another note, how big WAS the tree? It was the dead remnants of a tree, right? Would it be possible to cover it with some sort of cloth or cover? Maybe we could, I dunno... paint it? The thing only has 5vp, so going at it with an axe is actually still very much a possibility if its larger. Maybe hack off some lives or something - the thing has less vitality than a healthy elf, it can't be that hard to re-kill, right? Even with the hardness, it should only take like 8 hits.

I actually think talking to Omo is a good thing at this point though - just don't waste too much time doing it. We need to figure out exactly how much we can trust him, too. And he may have useful advice for us, and it will cover for our story of begging off the potion lessons.
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Ehndras

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #131 on: December 12, 2011, 04:01:28 pm »

*twitch twitch*

"Of course, theory is all well and good, but some solid experimental data is needed..."

*twitch twitch*

ITS A HYPOTHESIS, DAMN IT! The #1 misconception regular people make. A THEORY is proven by experimental data. A hypothesis is what you have there, an unproven idea. God damn it. It drives me crazy when people make that stupid mistake. Everyone just completely bypasses hypothesis and gives theory the meaning of hypothesis, which is downright fucking stupid.

Now, to continue reading this awesome RP.
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Ehndras

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #132 on: December 12, 2011, 04:08:44 pm »

Aye, we can't do anything about the tree at the moment. Besides chopping it, I say we learn to brew mana potions tomorrow and instead go take care of our necessities.

Also, I wonder... Is it possible that the same way necromantic power surged in us, if there might be another necro in the region? Or is it really that rare? I'd figure we can have some sort of back story where something prevented the rise in necro power, or simply necros were all killed off when discovered, or some such.
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Quote from: Yoink
You're never too old to enjoy flying body parts.  
Quote from: Vector
Ehndras, you are the prettiest man I have ever seen
Quote from: Dorsidwarf
"I am a member of Earth. I enjoy to drink the water. In Earth we have an internal skeleton."

EveryZig

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #133 on: December 12, 2011, 04:12:01 pm »

Also, I wonder... Is it possible that the same way necromantic power surged in us, if there might be another necro in the region? Or is it really that rare? I'd figure we can have some sort of back story where something prevented the rise in necro power, or simply necros were all killed off when discovered, or some such.
I think directly asking about modern necromancers would be somewhat suspicious.
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Rockowl

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Re: You are a Necromancer!
« Reply #134 on: December 12, 2011, 04:55:39 pm »

True, but then again we just need to get on with the story and solve this ASAP. :P


Beg mana potion > go back > THINK THE NEXT OPTION THROUGH CAREFULLY, we really can't use another critical overshoot right now > solve tree issue.
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