Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Play by Post
The Light of Civilization - A Renaissance Story
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Shayuri" data-source="post: 7002156" data-attributes="member: 4936"><p>Arcata gave Magdelena a subdued look, somewhere between worry and reproof. "I'm not done yet. There's more."</p><p></p><p>"I stayed with the Guild for...a while. A long time. Months at least. I kind of lost track near the end."</p><p></p><p>"At first they were just trying to find out what had happened. They asked me a lot of questions and took my pulse and temperature and a little blood. But by the end of the first week...everything changed. Some of the old things they had in their workshops...things left over from before the Harrowing, that were broken and useless...they started to wake up. They lit up, and even the ones that were actually broken started at least trying to work again. A lot of them worked just fine."</p><p></p><p>She took a deep breath, steadying herself.</p><p></p><p>"The Guildsmen were...beside themselves. They took all these things and hid them away in this vault, and they moved me from my room to...another room, a hidden one. They got the ball from the library, the empty one now, and they tried doing that ritual again...but nothing happened. They started doing other rituals...they even had me try to do it a few times..." Arcata shrugged. "It didn't work. Whatever they put into me didn't budge."</p><p></p><p>"I could hear them arguing sometimes, outside the door, or down the hall. Sound...echoed a lot. Some of them thought they were wasting time trying to 'extract' it, and should just work with me. Others thought that they needed to work harder to find a way to get it back."</p><p></p><p>"At first though, they seemed to give up on that. A couple of the Guild sages started coming into my room every day to talk to me and try to figure something out. They'd bring in the old devices and see if I could operate them. They'd show me scrolls and spellbooks. I think they were trying to teach me how to cast spells...but..." Here Arcata shook her head with a rueful smile. "...it was all just gibberish. The diagrams and runes...even when they explained, I couldn't keep it all straight."</p><p></p><p>"One day, a new one came in, by himself. Younger than the others were. He was friendly and nice, I suppose. He said he wanted to try a new technique...and then he shot me with a crossbow." She holds up a hand quickly and adds, "The bolt was padded, but I didn't see that right away. In that...instant of panic, I did this..."</p><p></p><p>Arcata held up a hand and whispered a word. Something flickered in the air between her and the table. Something like a curved disc made of glass, that shimmered briefly and was gone again.</p><p></p><p>"It stopped the bolt in midair, and dropped it to the table. And that's how I truly began to learn how to use magic. I had to do it the opposite way they were trying to teach me. They were trying to teach me to learn this complicated step by step system to create a carefully planned effect? Start at the cause, create the effect, they said. But I start with the effect. The cause...the spell, the...hand waving and silly words...they just happen. I don't really know how. When I know what I want, I know what to do and what to say."</p><p></p><p>She turned to face the table again.</p><p></p><p>"Things were...good then. Exciting. A little scary, but in a good way. They wanted me to learn everything, so I could show them. Most of them can't cast spells, you know? The Guild Arcane. And the ones who can have to do it from these old books, where most of the spells are still too complicated for them to understand. They haven't even SEEN most of these in action before. So I tried more, and there were some scary moments because...at first...sometimes I'd accidentally cast spells. They taught me some things to help control that, and once I felt safer, we really started to get to work."</p><p></p><p>"We found out that casting spells wears me out pretty fast...but it's like running. The more you do, the more you CAN do. They brought me notes on spells to try, and scrolls, and all kinds of strange and amazing things...and it was...it was really fun!"</p><p></p><p>The brightness that animated Arcata's face, the sparkle that had come to her eyes and the smile that seemed to brighten the room, they all faltered.</p><p></p><p>"But it wasn't enough. There were still a lot of spells that needed more power than I could give them. I'd try...but it was too hard, they were too...heavy, kind of. Some of the men of the Guild, the ones with more authority, were getting impatient. As much as I was doing to help, I think they thought they could do still more if...if the thing inside me was free of me. I suppose getting what I could give was a little like a man dying in a desert getting just a sip of water, when a whole pool seemed just a little farther away."</p><p></p><p>She cleared her throat and was quiet for a second. "They, uh...well, after a while of trying again to get it out of me, I...overheard them talking. Some of them wanted to stop. But most of them thought that..." Arcata had to pause again, and take another drink from her refilled cup. Her skin felt cold and clammy...but she didn't want to tell them more details. She didn't want to have to relive it again. </p><p></p><p>"They were going to kill me," she said softly. "The source is eternal, but I'm not. If I die, they thought it would be freed of me. Then they could put it back in the ball and use it."</p><p></p><p>"So...I ran away."</p><p></p><p>Arcata looked over at Nicolo, then the other strangers in the room. "I never meant to involve anyone else. I was just trying to get out of the city. It's just been a mess."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shayuri, post: 7002156, member: 4936"] Arcata gave Magdelena a subdued look, somewhere between worry and reproof. "I'm not done yet. There's more." "I stayed with the Guild for...a while. A long time. Months at least. I kind of lost track near the end." "At first they were just trying to find out what had happened. They asked me a lot of questions and took my pulse and temperature and a little blood. But by the end of the first week...everything changed. Some of the old things they had in their workshops...things left over from before the Harrowing, that were broken and useless...they started to wake up. They lit up, and even the ones that were actually broken started at least trying to work again. A lot of them worked just fine." She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "The Guildsmen were...beside themselves. They took all these things and hid them away in this vault, and they moved me from my room to...another room, a hidden one. They got the ball from the library, the empty one now, and they tried doing that ritual again...but nothing happened. They started doing other rituals...they even had me try to do it a few times..." Arcata shrugged. "It didn't work. Whatever they put into me didn't budge." "I could hear them arguing sometimes, outside the door, or down the hall. Sound...echoed a lot. Some of them thought they were wasting time trying to 'extract' it, and should just work with me. Others thought that they needed to work harder to find a way to get it back." "At first though, they seemed to give up on that. A couple of the Guild sages started coming into my room every day to talk to me and try to figure something out. They'd bring in the old devices and see if I could operate them. They'd show me scrolls and spellbooks. I think they were trying to teach me how to cast spells...but..." Here Arcata shook her head with a rueful smile. "...it was all just gibberish. The diagrams and runes...even when they explained, I couldn't keep it all straight." "One day, a new one came in, by himself. Younger than the others were. He was friendly and nice, I suppose. He said he wanted to try a new technique...and then he shot me with a crossbow." She holds up a hand quickly and adds, "The bolt was padded, but I didn't see that right away. In that...instant of panic, I did this..." Arcata held up a hand and whispered a word. Something flickered in the air between her and the table. Something like a curved disc made of glass, that shimmered briefly and was gone again. "It stopped the bolt in midair, and dropped it to the table. And that's how I truly began to learn how to use magic. I had to do it the opposite way they were trying to teach me. They were trying to teach me to learn this complicated step by step system to create a carefully planned effect? Start at the cause, create the effect, they said. But I start with the effect. The cause...the spell, the...hand waving and silly words...they just happen. I don't really know how. When I know what I want, I know what to do and what to say." She turned to face the table again. "Things were...good then. Exciting. A little scary, but in a good way. They wanted me to learn everything, so I could show them. Most of them can't cast spells, you know? The Guild Arcane. And the ones who can have to do it from these old books, where most of the spells are still too complicated for them to understand. They haven't even SEEN most of these in action before. So I tried more, and there were some scary moments because...at first...sometimes I'd accidentally cast spells. They taught me some things to help control that, and once I felt safer, we really started to get to work." "We found out that casting spells wears me out pretty fast...but it's like running. The more you do, the more you CAN do. They brought me notes on spells to try, and scrolls, and all kinds of strange and amazing things...and it was...it was really fun!" The brightness that animated Arcata's face, the sparkle that had come to her eyes and the smile that seemed to brighten the room, they all faltered. "But it wasn't enough. There were still a lot of spells that needed more power than I could give them. I'd try...but it was too hard, they were too...heavy, kind of. Some of the men of the Guild, the ones with more authority, were getting impatient. As much as I was doing to help, I think they thought they could do still more if...if the thing inside me was free of me. I suppose getting what I could give was a little like a man dying in a desert getting just a sip of water, when a whole pool seemed just a little farther away." She cleared her throat and was quiet for a second. "They, uh...well, after a while of trying again to get it out of me, I...overheard them talking. Some of them wanted to stop. But most of them thought that..." Arcata had to pause again, and take another drink from her refilled cup. Her skin felt cold and clammy...but she didn't want to tell them more details. She didn't want to have to relive it again. "They were going to kill me," she said softly. "The source is eternal, but I'm not. If I die, they thought it would be freed of me. Then they could put it back in the ball and use it." "So...I ran away." Arcata looked over at Nicolo, then the other strangers in the room. "I never meant to involve anyone else. I was just trying to get out of the city. It's just been a mess." [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Play by Post
The Light of Civilization - A Renaissance Story
Top