She is still afflicted. What happens after she steps out is up to the rest of you.
But you all should be aware, the cult will become suspicious if you all begin to murder everyone en masse. Surely some of you can convince the rest to settle down.
[ pausing, adjusting his tone. holding up a hand and sort of clenching the first and tilting his head to the side while he turns it over. dropping to a lower tone, like that's gonna fuckin' hide it from the cult.
[ they are so close to summoning their book and whacking him with it. ]
We are trying to help you all. We want you all to take everything into consideration instead of running around the trial with your weapons brandished. Partnerships. Tomorrow. I know some of you were trying what you could.
It's only a warning. If you all panic and run for every kill and bodies begin to pile up, the cult will turn its attention to what is happening here. Our veil only does so much to conceal.
I don't believe they are going out of their way to look... But you shouldn't give up regardless. Next week is three more tries, and with the more you speak to others, the greater your probability increases. No dunamancy needed.
[ a thoughtful silence. ]
I am extending to all of you a level of trust that I hope will also be returned. So trust me when I say I believe things will work out. As long as no one makes any terrible, rash decisions.
[ pulling out his notebook to just blatantly write that down, but then cursing a little when he realizes he's out of fucking pages. all of his footprint drawings!!!!!! anyway he's really just teasing a little, drumming his fingers on the back of the book. it's not as if he hadn't asked karlach exactly the same thing just days ago. ]
I've just said I trust you sincerely on this point, and with that if I have to keep thinking about the intricacies of murder for one more moment I will blow myself up here and now. Talk to me about magic, for fuck's sake.
[ they nod their head in acknowledgment. stop blowing through your notebooks, wizard. ]
You don't have to be ashamed. It is a form of magic guarded by the people where I'm from, though I suspect other places who may have uncovered it are the same.
Similar to the Weave, in a distant way. It is magic based on potentially and actuality, what I have talked to you about before. It's the arcane force of anticipation. It may be the magic of which the entire universe is made and held together. Time, gravity, probability.
Those who practice dunamancy are able to look into timelines and alter the potential of the future - a bonus for them, or a stolen opportunity for another - or utilize the energy of lost timelines not taken because of choice.
It is power and mysterious magic we still do not know the true depth of, and I have spent my entire life trying to study it. There is no way to know what all beautiful, amazing things can be done with dunamancy.
[ nodding fastly, but he'll answer the question. ]
Karsus's empire. Originator of [ tapping his chest on the mark. ] this.
They were known for their experimentation with magic we no longer study, or have lost the art of. Chronomancy - which, likely Chronurgy in your terminology - was a facet of it.
This is the type of spell you have offered me, then?
[ their head tips to glance down, then lifts again. ah. ]
They sound like the mages from the times of pre-Calamity.
[ looks directly at you over gale's head in aeor. ]
Yes. It is a spell I created and is not known in the general discipline of chronurgy. High experience is not really needed to cast it, but you will require a piece of obsidian, and you must know the right motions and incantations.
[ gale, people just died. people have killed. people are going to die. and you are out here getting a stiffy talking about magic.
they shake their head gently, mostly at themselves. ]
Yes, I haven't forgotten. Since you are so eager to discuss magic, then I will explain a little about it. The spell is called Resonant Echo. I will give you a demonstration.
[ people did die, people are going to die, one of those people has a very high chance of being him. adults are not making it very long in this game. so yes, in the meantime in the few remaining days or weeks he might possibly have left, he would like to enjoy the thing he loves most in the entire world, which is fuckin' around with magic. even if he can't cast it himself right now.
stepping back to give him space, gesturing like, you have the floor. ]
[ well, as straight-laced as they act, they are still A WIZARD to the core, and there is nothing more flattering than being able to be a damn peacock about your magic.
the robes shift. they draw out a sliver of pure black gemstone between their fingers. ] As you move through time, you make choices which affect the outcome of your journey forward through the timeline. But once that choice is made, many timelines are left behind to decay. Unused potential which could easily be redistributed. [ they murmur something under their breath which now to gale will absolutely sound like undercommon.
they draw the obsidian across the air in front of themselves, and it looks at first like they have drawn a dark line across the sky. inky shadows spill out of it toward the ground. it isn't a line. it's a tear, a split in the fabric of space.
and the shadow pouring out of it begins to form feet, legs, a waist - a whole dark copy of war. ]
These are called "echoes" - potential selves left in other timelines.
Edited (i can spell i guess the way there is probably another typo in here i missed) 2024-07-01 05:12 (UTC)
[ yeah he knows you want to show off you stupid fruit. god. wizards are all the same. gale knew the application of big and sad enough puppy dog eyes would eventually get essek to show off a spell and he fell right for this insidious trap (genuine joy and fascination with the unknown corners of their shared field of study).
watching all of this quietly and keeping his yapper closed for the moment to allow for concentration, but once the echo appears he'll approach. he's been doing a bit of the wizard-thing of not appearing too outwardly impressed before, but he's not even bothering to hide it now - he's clearly very impressed and watching closely. ]
May I take a guess? You are summoning it so it may commit to a course of action you would have otherwise chosen in that abandoned timeline?
[ it just makes him think about all the myriad little choices that lead to the path he currently stands on. who to reach a hand out to, who to trust, who to follow. a hag's deal and an illithid offer. all the things left behind or taken. ]
Why not utilize untapped potential before it's gone? It is simply a manifestation of dunamis which was not used. You are reaching into a forsaken timeline and crafting the leftover energy into something useful before it rots.
[ they gesture at the echo. ]
Echoes can cast one spell, and then they will vanish.
[ thank you for having a great eye and also being a stupid ass wizard like them. they motion with one of their hands, and the shadowy echo raises its own hand to point its finger at gale.
bang.
the echo begins to shimmery away as a gust of air puffs against gale's face and blows his hair back. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
But you all should be aware, the cult will become suspicious if you all begin to murder everyone en masse. Surely some of you can convince the rest to settle down.
no subject
[ pausing, adjusting his tone. holding up a hand and sort of clenching the first and tilting his head to the side while he turns it over. dropping to a lower tone, like that's gonna fuckin' hide it from the cult.
then a little more measured: ]
Are you trying to kill us all?
no subject
[ they are so close to summoning their book and whacking him with it. ]
We are trying to help you all. We want you all to take everything into consideration instead of running around the trial with your weapons brandished. Partnerships. Tomorrow. I know some of you were trying what you could.
It's only a warning. If you all panic and run for every kill and bodies begin to pile up, the cult will turn its attention to what is happening here. Our veil only does so much to conceal.
no subject
[ hit him. do it. kill him in one shot. ]
I'll be quite honest with you, I am beginning to feel some sense of gods-be-damned panic. It feels as if there is no winning scenario.
no subject
I don't believe they are going out of their way to look... But you shouldn't give up regardless. Next week is three more tries, and with the more you speak to others, the greater your probability increases. No dunamancy needed.
[ a thoughtful silence. ]
I am extending to all of you a level of trust that I hope will also be returned. So trust me when I say I believe things will work out. As long as no one makes any terrible, rash decisions.
no subject
Dunamancy, you called it?
[ pulling out his notebook to just blatantly write that down, but then cursing a little when he realizes he's out of fucking pages. all of his footprint drawings!!!!!! anyway he's really just teasing a little, drumming his fingers on the back of the book. it's not as if he hadn't asked karlach exactly the same thing just days ago. ]
... I trust you.
no subject
Dunamancy, yes. The study of dunamis magic, something my people keep relatively guarded.
[ goodbye to your paper. stop drawing FEET. ]
You are getting distracted.
no subject
I've just said I trust you sincerely on this point, and with that if I have to keep thinking about the intricacies of murder for one more moment I will blow myself up here and now. Talk to me about magic, for fuck's sake.
no subject
Very well. What do you want to discuss?
no subject
And then secondly, expand a bit on dunamis. I'm ashamed to admit I've never heard of it.
no subject
You don't have to be ashamed. It is a form of magic guarded by the people where I'm from, though I suspect other places who may have uncovered it are the same.
Similar to the Weave, in a distant way. It is magic based on potentially and actuality, what I have talked to you about before. It's the arcane force of anticipation. It may be the magic of which the entire universe is made and held together. Time, gravity, probability.
Those who practice dunamancy are able to look into timelines and alter the potential of the future - a bonus for them, or a stolen opportunity for another - or utilize the energy of lost timelines not taken because of choice.
It is power and mysterious magic we still do not know the true depth of, and I have spent my entire life trying to study it. There is no way to know what all beautiful, amazing things can be done with dunamancy.
no subject
anyway he looks deeply fascinated and is listening very intently, brow furrowed in a very intense way. like he cannot hear enough about it. ]
So, a bit of chronomancy, a bit of divination, a bit of gravitation and a bit of something else entirely. Absolutely astounding.
[ he laughs a little. not mockingly, just. a laugh. ]
You sound like one of the mages of Netheril talking like that.
[ (compliment). ]
no subject
[ their head tilts. ]
Netheril?
no subject
Karsus's empire. Originator of [ tapping his chest on the mark. ] this.
They were known for their experimentation with magic we no longer study, or have lost the art of. Chronomancy - which, likely Chronurgy in your terminology - was a facet of it.
This is the type of spell you have offered me, then?
no subject
They sound like the mages from the times of pre-Calamity.
[ looks directly at you over gale's head in aeor. ]
Yes. It is a spell I created and is not known in the general discipline of chronurgy. High experience is not really needed to cast it, but you will require a piece of obsidian, and you must know the right motions and incantations.
no subject
[ shaking in my boots. but listen, its pre-requisite to have a big calamitous civilization crash in your dnd world.
anyway basically grinning this is the best time he's had since arriving here. ]
Then I am but your eager pupil, ready for instruction. [ he coughs a little though. ] I do feel the need to reiterate my experience, however!
no subject
they shake their head gently, mostly at themselves. ]
Yes, I haven't forgotten. Since you are so eager to discuss magic, then I will explain a little about it. The spell is called Resonant Echo. I will give you a demonstration.
no subject
stepping back to give him space, gesturing like, you have the floor. ]
no subject
the robes shift. they draw out a sliver of pure black gemstone between their fingers. ] As you move through time, you make choices which affect the outcome of your journey forward through the timeline. But once that choice is made, many timelines are left behind to decay. Unused potential which could easily be redistributed. [ they murmur something under their breath which now to gale will absolutely sound like undercommon.
they draw the obsidian across the air in front of themselves, and it looks at first like they have drawn a dark line across the sky. inky shadows spill out of it toward the ground. it isn't a line. it's a tear, a split in the fabric of space.
and the shadow pouring out of it begins to form feet, legs, a waist - a whole dark copy of war. ]
These are called "echoes" - potential selves left in other timelines.
no subject
watching all of this quietly and keeping his yapper closed for the moment to allow for concentration, but once the echo appears he'll approach. he's been doing a bit of the wizard-thing of not appearing too outwardly impressed before, but he's not even bothering to hide it now - he's clearly very impressed and watching closely. ]
May I take a guess? You are summoning it so it may commit to a course of action you would have otherwise chosen in that abandoned timeline?
[ it just makes him think about all the myriad little choices that lead to the path he currently stands on. who to reach a hand out to, who to trust, who to follow. a hag's deal and an illithid offer. all the things left behind or taken. ]
no subject
[ they gesture at the echo. ]
Echoes can cast one spell, and then they will vanish.
no subject
[ branching paths, pages from a different book. ]
It is beautiful.
no subject
[ thank you for having a great eye and also being a stupid ass wizard like them. they motion with one of their hands, and the shadowy echo raises its own hand to point its finger at gale.
bang.
the echo begins to shimmery away as a gust of air puffs against gale's face and blows his hair back. ]