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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizWrm" data-source="post: 1361842" data-attributes="member: 13568">Irohim:The thing continues to gush towards the gnomes, ignoring your threats. You are forced to magically shield the three explorers, and still the beast lashes out with flowing tentacles. Finally, you hurl a burning, incandescent piece of yourself at the creature. It is consumed by the light, and at the last moment you feel a sort of ecstatic rapture before it is abruptly cut off. Nothing is left on the shore where the creature once was. As you shed tears for it, an odd sense of empowerment comes from it. You feel as though you have grown stronger by the protoplasmic creature's death, and (presumably) this causes you to weep only more, because of the guilt you feel over profiting from its death.Attar:Lahrk responds, "I wish to be reborn, for there can truly be nothing greater than a chance to live another full life, one of bravery and honor. In this, I shall see my people progress and improve their lot, though I may not fully understand how far they have come. I ask one boon of you, however: when I die once again to return to your hallowed realm, that my memories of all my lives be restored to me, so I may appreciate my greatest glories and remain true to the lessons in my most humble moments."The orc you inspire ponders for a while, then gathers together several kinds of berries, which he crushes, and then takes a stick and uses it to paint crude drawings. When he shows some of the other Jasad, they are pleased at his new idea, and Yalakar sees another use for it beyond simple enjoyment. Using the berry-ink and whittled sticks, they are able to keep better records of their herds, and so are quickly aware of any that are lost. A few other orcs take up the art of drawing for their own enjoyment, and it seems to you as if a tiny bit of the ceaseless worries that plague the tribe are alleviated.The hunter-explorers who seek better materials for their weapons discover a small vein of hard metals running through softer rock. However, they do not know how to separate it from the rock, or how to shape into their weapons.They do, however, achieve some success in capturing horses, trapping them in the same way they trapped the oxen. The horses are much faster than the oxen, of course, and so they only catch three before the herds learn to flee at the sight of orcish spears. When one hunter is kicked in the head and killed, the others decide to leave the horses alone until they have some better method of trapping the horses.Eilil:The ferrets are easy to capture and train to kill vermin, since that is what they naturally wish to do.If you want, you could take the shape of an adult bird and mimic its behaviors, which might be easier than trying to keep a full-grown hawk from escaping, and still get it to train its young.Investigating the magic-users' families, you discover that although several have living parents, none can use magic. However, three of the magic-users have children, and all of those seem to show a growing aptitude for magic, though none can manage enough yet to be truly placed in the ranks of the magic-users.You find that you are easily able to heal wounds without tiring yourself. You are not able to improve Jora's individual magical abilities (that is, when she is trying to do something and you are focusing on helping her do it better, rather than doing it along with her) to any significant degree, but when all three of you focus on a single task, it becomes slightly easier and faster. You also find that magic is easier to do when she is praying or otherwise expressing her respect and devotion for you. You can 'possess,' her and still have the full range (as far as you know, so far, anyway) of your abilities, though your senses are limited to hers, with the exception that you are still able to feel emotions. However, it is difficult to hear Alade calling you when he is far away and you are possessing Jora. Alade is unable to possess her, but he can speak and she can hear him (it is a ghostly voice coming out of the air) with a lot of effort. Once, Alade is even able to cast magic into the physical world, but it is very difficult and tiring for him to do so. You discover that by lending him some of your 'energy,' (for lack of a better term), you can let him manifest as a ghostly, incorporeal spirit for a short period of time. He is then able to do anything as easily as he could in life that doesn't involve actual physical contact with anything. This tires you, however, and you cannot maintain it very long.Your 'messiah,' project is something that you find beyond your current means - you cannot split your attention enough between all the things that require focus upon to imbue a child with such abilities as well as part of your mind.Breeding the animals goes well, and within a few more years, you have a full stable of horses (over a dozen), enough ferrets that little (if any) food is lost to scavengers, a few very protective wolves, and hawks (dependent on how you train them).Asveh:The halflings take your speech to heart. You assuage the worries of the elderly, and the tribe seems united under the desire to improve themselves. Within time, the clay wall is completed, though it seems as if a new expansion must be added every week to accomodate the growing number of families. Over the next twenty years, the population doubles in size, to nearly 150 halflings, though most are children at this point. [For reference, the fastest RL human population explosions went at about one doubling of the population per quarter-century.] You find yourself growing much stronger as their numbers increase.The cleverest halfling minds set about work to follow your dictates. The first thing they find that is necessary is some way to inscribe their knowledge upon a more permanent surface than memory, so it is not lost and can be transferred easily. This results in a simple hieroglyphic language.The next advance that comes is the wheel, which permits the halfings to carry grain and building supplies about the town quickly and easily, reducing the need for manual labor. An almost communistic society develops, with a few of the wisest and most popular halflings instructing the rest on where next to build or plant. All work for the good of their people.However, with the heightened population, there grows increasing tension between families that always have had a mild rivalry since the nomadic days. The rate of duels increase, and at least a dozen die over various arguments, from food to mates to the expansion of the wall. Additionally, an eight-member halfling scouting party was butchered by wolves when they explored too far - nearly forty miles - beyond the protective town. [You need to decide what you want to do with their spirits.] You are aware that the wolves have expanded in number too; there are at least sixty that seem to be directly under the authority of the seven lycanthropes.Coreagen:The treant shifts its massive feet when you reach out to it. Iin a deep, gravelly voice, it croaks "Great effort...contact us....cease."The scouts pick up your techniques regarding stealth speedily, and even the sign language comes with time. None show any special ability to manipulate the spirits, though.Abrin and several others set to work crafting bows and teaching the Sharalik in their use. They manage to bring down the swift deer, and once five bow-armed Sharalik together take down a brown bear that threatened the Fountain Home. The circle is able to preserve unneeded meat without too much effort.You discover that there are several types of spiders - most seem to be like their smaller brethren in all but size, but a few have a pair of vicious, bladed legs and unusually virulent poison, and even fewer show the ability to disappear and reappear a short distance away, which aids them greatly in hunting deer or bears. You can't tell whether they are self aware; there are certainly much more complex emotions coming from them than from other animals, but nothing that resembles the clear (to you, at least) thought patterns you feel from the Sharalik.Your effort to unify the tribe spiritually has an added effect: you feel stronger and renewed.</blockquote>

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