[OOC] Worlds of Fire

[Totem]

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

Not sure what exactly you rolled, but I'm using the per-person version because 1)I have enough time to do so while other people talk, and it's free, and 2)the area version gets prohibitively expensive very quickly and doesn't give me the precise info I want.

If that's what you did, that's great. If not, now you know. Sorry for being unclear.

Beg pardon on that one. Whichever way he casts it, Jorin is going to find no actual or immediate hostility beyond the normal kind you would expect to see in a quiet office that you've walked into unexpectedly to disturb the routine.

[ericthered]

I'm waiting for everyone else so they have a chance to post, by the way!

[Lamech]

I'm trending towards the providence now.

[Totem]

Preview of Providence

Logan shifted slightly as he slowly woke, some part of his mind idly wondering where he was in a vague and haphazard kind of way. He wasn't especially worried about where he might find himself; he'd been camping for the last few nights, and he had woken easily each morning to a kind of cheerful surprise to find a new setting from the previous morning.

It took a moment for some parts of reality to set in. For instance, though his sleeping bag and roll mat were comfortable, he didn't seem to be in the first any more and the second had never managed to be this flat while he was camping. Something about the way that he was lying felt wrong as well now that he came to think about it; he'd never managed to be comfortable sleeping on his back, yet he appeared to be lying on his back now as if laid out.

Opening his eyes revealed a dim light overhead. He squinted at it, raising a hand to shield his eyes reflexively; it wasn't actually that bright, which wasn't right at all. Even on a cloudy day the sun should have been brighter than that...

Other facts started to creep in. The light was almost directly overhead, which wouldn't be right unless he had overslept drastically, and that never happened. There also wasn't a breeze, which there should have been if he wasn't in a tent at the moment.

Incongriguities piled up, until he shuffled around a bit and got used to the lighting. What he saw when he looked around didn't help him much though.

He was lying on a bed. Not a very nice bed as such, but not a bad one. Some kind of glass/ metal structure made up most of it, run through with a series of wires, while the part he was lying on was a pale blue foam of some kind, smooth and faintly warm to the touch. At the head of the bed was the wall, to which the bed seemed to be attached. Just short of the wall though, was like kind of pattern of lights, hanging in the air as if they were being projected onto an invisible screen. He stared at them in astonishment for several seconds before recognising what they actually meant: they were details about him.

Name: Dunworth, Logan
Age (current): 32
Year of Birth: 1865

Confused by this, he looked around to see if there was anything that might explain what was going on. There wasn't much to see though, as a shimmering wall, diffracting and blurring the light that came through it, hung around his bed like a curtain. It rippled faintly, like a puddle hanging in the air.

Logan reached out a tentative finger towards the shimmering curtain, hesitating just short of touching it when a shadow on the far side of it moved. Logan froze at the sight of it, seemingly a figure approaching the curtain from the far side. The figure seemed to hesitate for a second or two, before reaching forward to touch the curtain.

At that touch the curtain dissolved, flickering out of sight like a flame abruptly being blown out, and Logan was granted a proper view of the room at last, as well as the person on the other side of the curtain.

She was dark skinned, and tall to go with it. There was a somewhat rangy look to her, possibly hinting at a tribal background, though that might have been belied by the oddly shaped items that she wore; they looked a lot more advanced than someone of her apparent background should have possessed. That a couple of them appeared to be some kind of weapons, or at least in the shape of weapons, didn't seem too out of place.

Her gaze was wary, but it was a wariness that he recognised; she was a predator, weighing him up in a moment and trying to decide what kind of threat he was. He'd seen her kind a number of times during his time in Africa, and he'd generally found that they calmed down a bit once they worked out that he wasn't interested in stealing from them or picking a fight.

He treated her to a disarming smile and looked around the rest of the room, giving her a chance to get used to him. The room was... Well, it was white. Sterile was the word he found himself veering towards, which he combined with the two rows of beds and the Rod of Asclepius on the end wall to mean that he was in some kind of hospital. A bit odd, given that he didn't feel unwell, and hadn't felt unwell when he fell asleep.

"Who are you?" the woman asked bluntly.

"Logan Dunworth," he replied, keeping the smile in place and wishing that she would stop looking so aggressive. "Professional explorer. And you?"

"Miriam, Alpha of the Blackthorn Tribe. How did you get here?"

"Blowed if I know," he admitted. "Went to sleep out in the bush as usual, next thing I know I'm waking up here. I don't even know where here is. You?"

"Similar," she admitted, her tone suggesting that there was a lot more to it than that. "And no, I don't either." She looked around, indicating three more beds which were surrounded by shimmering curtains, obscuring their occupants. "Do you think that they'll have more of an idea?"

[momothefiddler]

Originally Posted by Totem

To clarify, Alex's previous divination revealed that Costin and Sourn had died in an attempted hijacking of their plane.

Huh. Somehow I missed that Sourn was there too. Drat.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

(Depending on Alex' WILL, it might be worthwhile for Jorin to Borrow Skill(Autohypnosis)-16 to get it at the lower of WILL+4 or Alex' ranking relative to WILL, and possibly even Lend Skill(Autohypnosis)-17 on everyone else to provide that benefit to them. 'Course if Alex' WILL is 16 or something, it won't be worth the FP.

House Rules: skills are borrowed at relative level, not absolute, so Jorin would get Autohypnosis at WILL-2 rather than Autohypnosis-12.

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

I don't think it'd be all that helpful for Jorin to use Borrow Skill on the magic abilities themselves, except that he could then Lend them to John, who has an impressive IQ, so IQ-2/IQ-3 is still good. I presume Magery doesn't apply.

Magery wouldn't apply, since the two types aren't compatible. Again, relative level rather than absolute.

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

Telepathy might help us cast better "in-sync"? But it's prohibitively costly for Jorin - Michael might be able to help there, if it's of potential use.)

Since it's ceremonial magic the benefits from people knowing the spells would be in terms of their knowledgeable support rather than assistance in casting (giving off the right vibes, that kind of thing). Making sure that everyone was focusing properly would be handy (there are spells and psi-effects for that somewhere), and so forth. These are not immediately required, but people have been talking about undertaking projects, so you might want to think further on this regarding those.

[momothefiddler]

Originally Posted by Totem

House Rules: skills are borrowed at relative level, not absolute, so Jorin would get Autohypnosis at WILL-2 rather than Autohypnosis-12.

Magery wouldn't apply, since the two types aren't compatible. Again, relative level rather than absolute.

I'm pretty sure I stated everything in relative terms per those house rules - "the lower of WILL+4 or Alex' ranking relative to WILL", "IQ-2/IQ-3" - am I getting that wrong?

Since it's ceremonial magic the benefits from people knowing the spells would be in terms of their knowledgeable support rather than assistance in casting (giving off the right vibes, that kind of thing). Making sure that everyone was focusing properly would be handy (there are spells and psi-effects for that somewhere), and so forth. These are not immediately required, but people have been talking about undertaking projects, so you might want to think further on this regarding those.

So Telepathy wouldn't be useful? Given that it's a matter of 'vibes', would Emotion Control be better? I don't know what other things would make people focus in a certain way, though Strengthen Will could increase ability to focus in general.
What projects have been discussed that are more impressive than what we're doing right now? I thought 'Divination With Alex' was the most impressive thing we'd even considered doing in that realm.

[pfharlock]

I'll let ErictheRed have the ID. I think he'll be able to make better use of it in the long run, also I've been getting behind in keeping up with the posts, (not that I want to bail, I'm still very interested in playing, but I also don't want to hold the group up).

[Totem]

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

I'm pretty sure I stated everything in relative terms per those house rules - "the lower of WILL+4 or Alex' ranking relative to WILL", "IQ-2/IQ-3" - am I getting that wrong?

You were probably right. I was restating for general purposes more than anything.

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

So Telepathy wouldn't be useful? Given that it's a matter of 'vibes', would Emotion Control be better? I don't know what other things would make people focus in a certain way, though Strengthen Will could increase ability to focus in general.
What projects have been discussed that are more impressive than what we're doing right now? I thought 'Divination With Alex' was the most impressive thing we'd even considered doing in that realm.

Telepathy wouldn't be useful in itself. Effects that telepathy-type abilities create would be handy though: increased focus, resistance to distractions, long-term control over your bladder, etc. Things that increase your ability to concentrate, and so forth.

I don't think there were any specific projects mentioned so much as just the general idea of them. With two magic users (not counting Alex or whatever GMPC you've got with you at the time), plus Michael (psi powers), plus Sourn and Arkady (who may have ideas of their own) you should have some decent inspiration and options to work with. I'm open to being flexible about what people want to produce rather than restricting things to only the enchantments available in Magic. If anyone has a project that they will want to try then let me know and we can investigate what it would require.

[momothefiddler]

Ah, okay.

...Cool.