[Jean] Chapter 2: Something Old

Throndir · August 09, 2018, 03:23:52 PM

At the start of your dreams, you thought you remembered seeing words flash in your mind, but you couldn't quite remember them. There was something else too. Something that felt more foreboding, slimy, and sticky. You felt as if two giant eyes stared at you, and as your mind continued to drift in unconsciousness, you couldn't shake that feeling off.

You slowly woke up as you stirred. You saw that the moon was still out, though, much lower than it had been when you had first come out of the catacombs. A tree's branches full of leaves was above you. There was a familiar face staring down at you as well.

"Good morning!" The mage girl said cheerily, a warm smile on her face. She looked exhausted, her eyes were baggy, and you noticed dark rims around her eyes. She was letting you use her as a lap pillow.

pringerbeam · August 09, 2018, 03:54:42 PM

"Show the way..." Escaped from Jeans lips as his eyes open. Something darted out of his mind like a barracuda slipping through coral, taking with it any meaning the words might have meant. He looked at the moon and remembered what had just transpired, what came when he had called it. His spine erected upright and he looked around. "What...? Where...? Did it work?" Jean's head was on a swivel trying to figure out his surroundings. He tried to grab his chest, instead thumping himself with the book yet again. "Huh?" Looking at the book Jean smiled at himself before breaking out in a quick chuckle. "They say history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. Guess they were right." He leaned back to lying down, looking up. "Status" It was time to see what kind of damage he might have done to himself with that stunt.

Throndir · August 09, 2018, 07:44:14 PM

The mage girl who had been staring at you just moments ago puffed her cheeks.

"You don't even greet the person who took care of you after you mana-blanked out. Even after I let you use me as a lap pillow! D-do you even know what your tentacles did after you fainted? It was a whole 30 minutes until they just disappeared..." She began to shiver. She patted both of her cheeks with both of her hands, and calmed down a second later.

"You should at least show some restraint. Running out of mana isn't good for you, you know? It takes a few hours to recover from it again. Luckily there wasn't anymore demons about... And the guards that were sent with me, they're probably... dead."

"I want to check to confirm though... sometime..."

The girl yawned.

The moment you said《Status》, the slightly-green translucent screen popped up.

Jean Valois
Demon Slayer
Level 23

Condition: Healthy

HP: 67/67
MP: 20/39
STR: 18 +
DEX: 18 +
CON: 30 +
INT: 16 +
WIS: 10 +
CHA: 8 +
MAG: 19 +

Blessings: Quick Learner, Mana Sensitivity, Translate All, Personal Status, Weight Control, Summon Tentacle

You have 4 unspent ability points.

pringerbeam · August 10, 2018, 10:44:31 AM

Jean looked up at the girl's face, taking a moment to process the nature of the pillow he was laying his head on, before bolting back up to sitting once again. He blushed, realizing that in the past few hours of his memory he had had more female contact than his whole life. Keeping himself looking away from the girl in the hopes that she didn't notice. "Guards... Maybe we should look for them? Oh and uh... Sorry if I'm distracted... I'm working on... Hero stuff..." Jean wasn't sure what he looked like but he felt like his face was cherry red so he kept his back to the girl. Though... That might not be a bad idea... He thought to himself and tried to actually focus on the 'Status' window. Unspent ability points... I guess those are the +'s... He was thinking about what he may need. Well... Maybe magic increases my MP... Definitely going to need a lot of that. He focused in on the Magic stat and incremented it twice. "Let's see what that does." Mumbled Jean.

Increase Magic stat by 2.

Keeping 'Status' window open to see changes.

Throndir · August 10, 2018, 04:31:42 PM

"You can blush! I thought you were a little bit cold at first, but that was just a bit cute." The mage girl said, giggling to herself. "With everything that's happened, I still haven't gotten your name either. I was thinking about that when I watched you sleep-" She paused.

"O-oh, not in a creepy way!" She continued blushing.

"I just had to make sure someone stayed on guard... Being mana-blanked isn't very safe, especially since we are in unknown territory. These new lands just appeared maybe two weeks ago now, no one's really explored much of it. We saw evidence of a potential place for a summoning ritual, so I, along with a couple of other guards made their way here... We weren't supposed to summon you now. We were to wait for orders... But... That demon seemed to have found us, and I fled into the catacombs while everyone else fought it off."

"I would like us to check on them when we have a chance... If they are killed, there isn't much we can do. But if they are fine, I trust them to be able to handle it without us for a bit. I am... getting really sleepy. I've burned through a lot of my mana too... Sleeping makes it recover faster. Anyways, hero stuff? What exactly are you doing?"

As you focused on the MAG stat, a new screen popped up with an explanation of what MAG was.

Focus on MAG
Magic, or MAG, represents the users mana capacity, as well as the user's innate control of magic. This ability is important for any character who plans to heavily use spells, or a character with blessings with a high mana cost. A character with a Magic Ability Score of 0 has no control of anything magical and is unconscious.

You have gained a new title 『He Who Knows of Status』
You have gained +1 INT

You then focused on the '+' symbol on the first screen, and the MAG stat went up by 2 points. At the same time you noticed your MP climb as well.

Jean Valois
He Who Knows of Status
Level 23

Condition: Healthy

HP: 67/67
MP: 24/43
STR: 18 +
DEX: 18 +
CON: 30 +
INT: 17 +
WIS: 10 +
CHA: 8 +
MAG: 21 +

Blessings: Quick Learner, Mana Sensitivity, Translate All, Personal Status, Weight Control, Summon Tentacle

You have 2 unspent ability points.

pringerbeam · August 10, 2018, 05:30:04 PM

Jean was busy focusing on the 'Status' menu when the girl asked his name. "Shit, you're right we never got introduced in all the chaos. I'm Jean, Jean Valois. What's your name?" He looked around his surroundings. "And where are we anyways? You said these are new lands but what does that even mean?" He looked back at his 'Status' window. A new title... Come to think of it, didn't it say I was a Demon Slayer before? Jean focused on his title. Hmmm... Guess I'll lean in on this whole "Hero" thing... He tried to see the list of titles and change his back to 'Demon Slayer.' "And if this isn't your land, where is? Come on, we can talk and walk. Not sure it's a good idea to be out in the open, especially if this place has a demon problem." Jean began to walk forward then paused. "Actually... Probably better if you lead. I have no idea where I'm going."

Change title to Demon Slayer

List titles

Throndir · August 10, 2018, 10:34:51 PM

You focused on the Title in your Status screen, and as you did so a list of titles appeared.

『Summoned Hero』
『From Another World』
『Herald of the Old Ones』
『The Heavy』
『The Extended Heavy』
『Demon Slayer』
『He Who Knows of Status』

Once you selected Demon Slayer, it then prompted you a question.

Set『Demon Slayer』as default title? Or use the latest?

"Jean Valois." The girl repeated.

"My name is Eloise Renaud. We are in the lands just north of the Idorian Magic Kingdom. It used to be part of our lands... mountains in fact. But two weeks ago, another Shifting occured, and the mountains were replaced. Now instead of those, we have ruins, forests, and hills on this section of land."

Eloise began leading at that point.

"Looking at the catacomb exit... I don't think we ran very far when we escaped from the demon back on the summoning circle. It shouldn't take us long to get back to the first entrance... Let's see..."

QuoteIt'll be awhile til the destination is reached, so if you have questions feel free to ask it, also feel free to experiment with spells/abilities if you would like. Let me know when you want to move on to the destination/next scene.

Also since we're actually moving, changing title of the Chapter!

pringerbeam · August 11, 2018, 06:47:26 AM

"Eloise... Huh, sounds French. My grandparents were from there and I visited once when I was a kid but..." Jean turned his gaze to the sky. "I'm guessing that we're nowhere near there." Jean looked at the list of titles and paused. He could see where some of his titles came from but one of the titles stood out to him. 'Herald of the Old Ones...' That's what I had when I was first summoned... Not 'Summoned Hero' or 'From Another World...' Clearly I need to figure some stuff out. Jean focused on the title. "Mountains?" Jean looked around at the woods they were walking through and picked up a rock from the forest floor and tossed it up and down in his hand a few times. "This was all mountains... Why did it change?" He focused on the rock in his hand. I wonder what I can do with this weight control power. Weight control

Focus on 'Herald of the Old Ones' title

Attempt to increase weight of rock

Throndir · August 11, 2018, 03:05:05 PM

Focus on『Herald of the Old Ones』Title
You have been given a purpose by the Old Ones.

《Weight Control》
You picture the rock getting heavier as you invoked the Keyword. You saw motes of light come from you straight into the rock, and immediately the item felt heavier. If you were to guess, it was about twice as heavy.

"Fu-rench?" Eloise mouthed the foreign word.

"Why the mountains changed, huh?" Eloise said, wondering the same thing. "No one actually knows. Pieces of land appear out of nowhere, replacing what was once there. Sometimes... whole villages appear out of thin air, with their inhabitants included, and whatever was there simply disappear. The same thing happened with the Idorian Academy actually. Except for that time, it included both the Academy city, along with other nearby towns. That was about 40 years ago I was told..."

She paused for a long moment before continuing again.

"I never knew what my parent's world was like... Terremar it was called. They used to tell me stories. But I was born here, in the New World."

"Jean... What's your world like?" She asked genuinely curious.

pringerbeam · August 11, 2018, 04:21:40 PM

Thank you for the help oh mysterious 'Status.' Jean continued to toss the rock up and down. Guess nothing ever comes that easy. Well... I guess these fancy abilities excepted. He tossed the rock up as high as he could and summoned a tentacle to catch it. "Summon Tentacle. My world? Well... " Jean's mind flashed back to Steve trying to stab him on the boat. "It's... Different..." He watched the tentacle sprout from... wherever, Curiously wondering whether it would be able to follow him or if it was rooted in place where it was summoned. In the fight with the demon earlier, he had not had the presence of mind to check.
"No magic. At least... I don't think so..." Jean looked down at the book in his hand, a major hole in his statement. "I don't suppose you know what this is? I found it back in my world but considering everything that has happened, I'm not sure it belonged there." Jean was thinking of some of the fiction stories he had read as he looked at the book. Maybe it was cursed? IS cursed? Of course, Steve was kinda a huge dick before he tried to stab me to death over a measly multi-million dollar magical tome so... "I don't really know what else to say. No demons, I guess we don't really have to worry about dying from anything like that. I guess my world is just a bit boring. Plenty of nice things to read though, and there were lots of ruins and ancient sites that I wanted to see before all this. Actually, I was on my way from a tropical island to a place called Japan to see their ancient castles when I was summoned. Guess I'll won't be seeing those anytime soon. What about your home? Are you from that academy you just mentioned? I bet they must have some good books there."

Summon 1 tentacle

Throndir · August 11, 2018, 10:54:57 PM

《Summon Tentacle》
When summoning the tentacle you thought about having it catch the rock you were about to throw as high possible. When you finally released the Keyword, the tentacle appeared above you. You could already make out the purple glow that represented its base, and likewise you saw the tentacle catch the stone.

As if congratulating itself, the tentacle began to swish back and forth joyfully.

The tentacle seemed immobile though, when you had begun to step away, the tentacle only watched on while it was suspended in mid-air.

"That's the book you stuffed on my bosom..." Eloise blushed slightly, then mumbled something under her breath.

QuotePerception if you want to hear, DC 15.

"I found it strange that you carried that with you everywhere, I just assumed it was something special. Can I see it? Maybe read it?" Eloise asked.

"A world without demons sounds really nice... Terremar was like that too. Apparently magic was rich in our world, almost like this one, but Terremar was much more fascinating. At least from the stories ma and pa used to tell me." Upon mentioning her parents she seemed to get slightly somber, but she picked herself up right after.

"Dragons flew in the skies, though, they were friendly. But not only that, we had these large giant whales that flew up there too! We had great sea leviathans that we used to propel are ships around. We had so much magic that we could even keep entire cities afloat in air!" Eloise seemed animated.

"I wish I could see it... The place where my parents grew up in."

"For me, I was born in a village south of the academy. A little village called Fimoux. Our countries borders were much farther south at the time, we even had a fortress, and an array of watchtowers. But... they struck fast and hard. It wasn't until they were actually at my village that the rest of the country had found out the demons had struck so far into our territory. By the time they found out... It was already too late."

"I... was the only survivor." Eloise looked like she was about to cry again, but the girl managed to keep it down.

"The academy took me in shortly after. I went through their schooling and teaching, and I excelled at everything they threw at me. I became one of the strongest fire magic users at the academy. I was given a title of the 'Fire Saint', and I was also the one who named that phenomenon, the Shifting." Eloise giggled, though her eyes still looked as if they were haunted by her memories of her parents.

"There's a lot of books there! We can try enrolling you to the academy as well? At the very least I am to take you back to the headmaster, so we can more thoroughly explain what is happening, and figure out our next steps... Also... one last thing Jean." She avoided your gaze as she looked down and started to twiddle with her fingers.

"I wanted to tell you this earlier, but we never had a good time. I'm sorry for forcefully taking you here, from whatever world you were from. Having you fight in a way that has nothing to do with you doesn't seem fair... But..." She smiled genuinely as she reached out for your hand.

"I'm happy you're here."
[include u=2]Eloise MP: -27
Jean MP: -21
[/include]

pringerbeam · August 12, 2018, 07:51:28 AM

Hmmm... Immobile... Jean had the tentacle toss the rock back to him as they continued to walk away. He focused on the tentacle and tried to let it go back to wherever it had come from letting the rock fall by the wayside. "Sure you can check it out." He says, handing the book to Eloise. "It looks like it's about magic, so I thought that maybe a magician like you would know about it."
When Eloise apologized, Jean was taken mildly aback for a second before flashing back to fleeing for his life on the cruise ship. "Oh, nothing to apologize for. I was dead anyways, or at least as good as it... They say when fate closes a door, destiny opens a window. Which is very convenient when your house is on fire. Besides, this hero thing has its benefits. I wasn't anywhere near as strong as I am now back when I was in my world and magic! That's the kind of thing you could only dream of back where I'm from." He looked over at Eloise. I wonder if I have to touch things to use weight control... He reached out his hand towards Eloise. "Weight Control."

Weight Control: Decrease weight of Eloise

Throndir · August 12, 2018, 10:49:00 AM

The tentacle threw the rock back at you. Once you started leaving, the tentacle seemed to droop down as if it was sad, then moments after that, it was desummoned.

"Maghi-shun?" Eloise repeated the foreign word. "I've never heard of that before, is it something from your world?"

She began looking at the book, and trying to read it, but she frowned instead.

"I can't... understand any of these words?" She continued to flip through it. "The characters... change though, like some parts are written in different languages."

When she listened to yourself talk about how it was like for your back in your own world, Eloise frowned.

"I think... I think you're already pretty amazing Jean. Besides, I personally think you can do without those tenta- Whoa!" Eloise yelped as she found that each of her steps felt off.

"Ooohhh, it's that weight-loss thing you did before!"

pringerbeam · August 12, 2018, 01:03:57 PM

"A magician? Uh, well its someone that uses magic in my world. Or well... Not really magic because we didn't have that, but sleight of hand stuff... Stuff that imitated magic. Smoke and mirrors and trapdoors and stuff... I don't know, what do you guys call people that use magic? Come to think of it... What kind of technology do you have in this world? I'm guessing no guns since you're not packing any heat but do you have like... the printing press? I would think that a big academy might have some stuff unless all it teaches is magic." Jean was reminded of the basic instruction on magic that Eloise had mentioned earlier and began to wonder what kind of spells he should start trying to use. "Oh yeah, while we're walking can we figure out what magics I'm compatible with? Is there something that I need to do to figure it out? I don't just go casting spells until it doesn't work do I?"

Throndir · August 12, 2018, 04:36:57 PM

"I see, that sounds like what we would be calling performers and tricksters here. People who use magic, we call mages though. A printing press? I understand the words you are using... But I do not understand what you mean by a printing press."

"That actually exactly is it, Jean! Back in the academy, we usually try getting children as young as 10 to start trying spells. Younger too if the parents think their child can handle it. Lets have you try it? First the basics... Mana manipulation. You should have a guess on how it kinda works already... from what I know your Summon Tentacle and Weight Control function on mana as well. You also get that feeling of tiredness when you use your ability right? Try imagining where that mana comes from... And pull it out."

QuoteFirst time going through spells, each step would take a Spellcraft, after that, no spellcrafts needed except to learn new spells, or magic techniques. Failure on a check means you have to wait for another hour to try again for that specific step.

Spellcraft requested