| 5 |
| STR |
| 10 |
[Dispel Strike] You roll a 10 (required 8). Success!
As your eyes linger on the void crystal — a crystal so dark it looks like a floating black hole —, you are reminded of the nightcrawlers of Low Earth. Suddenly, the memory sparks another, and you get an idea.
You remember defeating one of the dark creatures using Dispel Strike, a spell you can cast with your hooves. You figure that if the crystal is enchanted, then dispelling the enchantment should count as changing one of its properties.
With that theory in mind, you decide to put it to the test. You hold up a hoof, concentrate, then kick it forward. A burst of blue flames erupts from the impact, and the now colourless crystal falls to the ground with a soft clink.
Blade Dancer: "Was that...?"
Steelwind: "Master Whitefox's technique."
Blade Dancer's horn flashes once more, and you feel magic returning to your horn. Curious, you ask if they know something about the spell you just used.
Steelwind: "Indeed. Dispel Strike is a technique designed by Master Whitefox, a monk who studied under Ryokasei the Saint Omen. He left the island hundreds of years ago to travel the world and share his knowledge... and his love for puzzles."
You mention that you learned the spell from a tome you found at the bottom of a well, and recount how it was hidden behind multiple layers of illusions.
Steelwind: "Hah hah hah! That does sound like his work. And thanks to that, you've proven yourself capable of embodying the arcane. Congratulations, you have passed all three trials. Now come, and receive the honour due true warriors."
You step forward as Master Steelwind, Blade Dancer and Tsu-Ko all begin to channel a spell together. Between them, the air darkens, and magical stars align to form a sigil: an upside-down triangle with a circle within, and a strange rune in the middle.
Then, the sigil shines blindingly, yet emits no light outside of your own vision, as if being absorbed into your very soul. Over time, it fades away completely, after which the trio bows before you. You bow in response.
Steelwind: "You now bear the Mark of the Dragon. You are free to travel beyond the trigon, and to watch over a ward.
This freedom, of course, comes with the burden of responsibility. May you have the strength to carry it when you can, and the wisdom to rest when you cannot."
Enter a comment
Also inquire about the kind of magic that was used to create the Mark.
If she's not interested, since we're at a training hall with some very qualified teachers, see if there are any gaps in our skills we can improve on.
- Is there more to that strange rune? Asking might reveal more lore, or at least more info about the distinctions between the spoken/mimetic and visual expressions of runes.
- The exact mechanics of the Mark of the Dragon… is soul magic involved somehow? Any other types of marks?
We could either get going, or maybe stay a day or two for some combat training, to brush up on our skills. I do see there being a decent skill gap between us and these professionals. As Borg and The Mortal Paper Fist noted, Blade Dancer seemed to be going easy on us.
I also am kind of drawn to the idea of having a sword again; if we set out now we will be depending on our horseshoes. Blade Dancer's telekinetic sword techniques were pretty cool. I kind of wish we didn't give our really nice sword away to Smoke a moon or so ago. Oh well.
Also, really nice callback here adding to the Dispel Strike lore! Which reminds me, I guess I need to write a wiki page for every significant spell too 😔.
Asking about the strange rune might be interesting too.
Leaving right away is a viable option though; I don't think we'd end up in a situation where a single day of training is the difference between life or death.
I agree with that. D20 is a slow game and there's no need to be impatient because we don't immediately rush to the next plot point. But I also don't want to have to spend IRL weeks doing trivial things while we have important quests to do. Training practice isn't a bad thing. Buying stuff for our trip into the wilderness isn't a bad thing. Asking NPCs more questions isn't a bad thing. Doing some other stuff not related to our quest isn't a bad thing. Deciding we should spend the next three days (and several IRL weeks) on the ship playing cards with the crew instead of talking to the guy who could potential help us with two quests is a bad thing. At least for me.
No issue with that. It's been a while since we were in a real fight so practicing our combat skills is useful. That's say we shouldn't expect miracles. And Blade Dancer is the pupil of the one in charge on the training hall. Obviously see's going to be a lot better than use and a few days of training won't be enough to bridge the gasp.
Yeah not sure about that one. Not really seeing how this would benefit us and it takes a lot of IRL time. It was seven weeks for Blazer and we were pretty fast and passed all trials on the first try with no setbacks. And we don't really need a another warrior since Tsu-Ko and Blazer are enough to cover for the whole group. I feel a simple training session would be more effective and not take weeks.
I'm not really bothered whether or not we make it back in time for Nightmare Night. I just feel we should complete our mission to return Dirt in a reasonable time spawn, now that we've found him. We need at least two in-game days to travel to his hut and back again. And if he wants something in exchange it may take even longer. Again I've no issue with that. But if we have to go spend an in-game month traveling through the empire this may led to a conflict with our other job.