Session 10 Downtime

Repay a Debt: The Iron Maiden

Cost: Debtor (-2 Acumen, Done in Session 10 downtime)
Opening: Debts Come Due (+1 Acumen, Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step: Finding the Iron Maiden (+1 Acumen, Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step: Earning the Iron Maiden (+1 Acumen, Done in Session 10 downtime)
Climax: Repayment (+3 Acumen +1 Joy, Done in Session 10 Downtime)
Resolution (+1 Acumen, Done in Session 10 Downtime)
 
After returning from Satyrine, Locke went to work in earnest to repay his debt to Therim, the Warden of the Silver Sun. He first checked with Gwyn, learning that Gwyn sold the Iron Maiden to the Maker's College. When he inquired at the Maker's College, he found that it was no longer available, as it had been sold to "one of our best customers".
 
It took a bribe to find out who this "best customer" was, but considering that it was the Dragon Prince, it's a good thing that Locke was treading lightly. Again, luckily, it didn't take too much work to find out who the Dragon Prince was; Locke planned to ask Simone to help him hunt down this information, but she already knew... the Dragon Prince was already known to Locke, as the war god Red Comet Shatters the Mighty.
 
When Locke asked for the Iron Maiden, Red was sympathetic, but couldn't simply give up his prize without a proper process... thus, he required Locke to challenge him to a duel, and then specified as a champion (because nobody wins against Red Comet Shatters the Mighty, making such a duel pointless) one of his hangers-on, a Vance named Morganstern who Disgorges Creatures.
 
Morganstern was a capable opponent, drawing out the match and keeping Locke on the defensive by sending a constant wave a terrible, created minions. For some time, Locke struggled to deal with these creatures (learning in the process that his battle magic is woefully inadequate for dealing with multiple foes)... and during the battle, was increasingly perplexed by the strange feeling that tiny clawed feet were scampering all over his soul, sapping his sorcery. He cast Witch Step to teleport to the far end of the arena, gaining himself some time to look more carefully to see what was going on....
 
Almost invisible in the shadows of a partially submerged drainpipe, Locke saw it... the Fluxrat, gleeful as it worked some hideous charm to sap Locke's energy. Frustrated, Locke redoubled his defense, staying far away from Morganstern's monsters as he summoned the Black Cube to hand. It was almost hilarious as the militant scholar dodged to and fro while working the cube's puzzle, but in short order it opened, a sleek Retributive Stone falling into Locke's hand. Still, he took his time, rounding up Morganstern's creatures and luring them closer and closer to the drainpipe...
 
The Stone cracked when the sorcerer commanded, a blaze of energy tumbling forward to engulf not only the creatures, but also the Fluxrat and Locke himself-- there was no other way to catch all of his foes in a single blast. Morganstern's creatures, defeated, began to disappear, but it was difficult to tell if the Fluxrat was even singled... it was angry though, squeaking some curse in the language of rats as it fled back down the pipe.
 
Flattened by the blast, Locke stumbled to his feet and released one of the great weights which had pressed upon his soul for days, the incantation She Has Abandoned Us, But Left Behind Fragments. A vigor shard of the Legacy now filled his hand, quickly suffusing his being with healing and the raw power of creation... he stood, cast again, the Timesword now replacing the vigor shard.
 
Morganstern surrendered. The day was won.
 

New Discovery: Hacking the Divinatory Deck

Cost: The Thrill of Discovery (Done in Session 8 downtime)
Opening: The Idea (Done in Session 8 downtime)
Step: Research (Done in Session 9)
Step: Trial and Error (Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step(s): Trial and Error (+1 Acumen)
 
Having read as many specialist texts as he could on divination, cartomancy and precognition, Locke has moved forward with looking for the weaknesses and exploits possible in the rules of reality which manage how these phenomenon work. He has taken to constantly consulting his cards, trying to find the moments when they subtly resonate with the Currents of Magic which he can dimly feel linking him to all things.
 

Enterprise: The Second End

"The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others." -- John Locke
Cost: The Founding of an Idea (Done in Session 6 downtime)
Opening: Drawing up a Plan (Done in Session 6 downtime)
Step: Account for Your Resources (+1 Acumen) (Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step: Finding a Location (+1 Acumen) (Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step: Building the Enterprise (+1 Acumen) Develop the Charter for the West Henge College (Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step: Building the Enterprise (+1 Acumen) Form a partnership with Heironymous to produce and sell copies of rare books, including monographs and other magical texts, while saving copies for the College library. (Done in Session 10 downtime)
Step(s): Building the Enterprise (+1 Acumen)
Climax: (+2 Acumen and +1 Joy or +1 Despair)
Resolution (+1 Acumen)
 
The arc of Locke's life has always led to the point where he would found an institution of scholarship and education. Thus, he is building the College of West Henge, an academic institution dedicated to the idea of knowledge sharing and perpetual study. The overall plan for this is to 1) get the idea down in writing, 2) start with a library good enough to serve as the basis for an organization like this 3) create a successful financial underpinning for it.
 
For that financial underpinning, Locke has entered into a partnership with Heironymous, in which he will collect and sell copies of rare/unique/important/magical texts through Heironymous's bookshop, The Angel. In addition to being very well suited to this work by nature, Locke is planning on cheating with magic. Thus the new discovery arc, Printing Magic.)
 

New Discovery: Printing Magic

Cost: The Thrill of Discovery (-2 Acumen)
Opening: The Idea (+1 Acumen)
Step: Research -- Having learned the forte power "Feed Upon Text", I practice it a number of times under controlled laboratory conditions, tracing the magic through the process of efficiently digesting and transforming the data making up the text.
Step: Research -- I gnaw the character secret "Monograph Twin" which allows the duplication of a monograph. I practice it a number of times under controlled laboratory conditions, using my Sefirof tools to measure and transition of power between the different magical channels to see what components of the secret correspond with various back-end moves in the energy which underpins all magic.
Step: Research -- I study Heironymous while he is using the cantrip "Rapid Read" to refine my understanding of the input interface for textual data.
Step: Research -- I gnaw the level 2 spell "Twofold Object" which creates a duplicate of a mundane object that I can hold in one hand. I practice it a number of times under controlled laboratory conditions, studying how it executes the creation of an object and not worrying about how it acquires the data which makes up the object.
Step: Trial and Error -- I put together a first version of my new spell, abstracting it into three components: 1) acquire information from the text, 2) buffer this information into a mental buffer, 3) reproduce this information into a copy of the original. This should go fairly smoothly, since essentially, these are the three components of both Monograph Twin and Twofold Object.
Step: Trial and Error -- I refine the spell, increasing the size of the information buffer, and removing stage 1) from the process. After a bit, I have a working spell which I'm not positive will work for anyone else... it relies very heavily on the changes made to my mind by my Forte.
Climax: Eureka! (+3 Acumen, +1 Joy or Despair)
Resolution (+1 Acumen)
 

Train a Creature: The Good Boy

Becoming a Trainer (Done in Session 6 downtime)
Opening: Getting Acquainted (Done in Session 6 downtime)
Step: Research (Done in Session 6 downtime)
Step: Domestication (Done in Session 6 downtime)
Step(s): Training (+1 Acumen)
Climax: Completion (+2 Acumen and +1 Joy or +1 Despair)
Resolution (+1 Acumen)
 

Experience Spends

Forte: Feed Upon Thoughts (1 crux)
Forte: Feed Upon Text (1 crux)
Apostate: Extra Spells (Bind the Black Cube and Superfiction) (1 crux)
Apostate: Extra Spells (Perdurance and Kaleidoscope Void) (1 crux)
New Spell: Liber Memnosyne (level 5)
Increase Lore (Creatures) by +2 (1 acumen)
Increase Lore (History) by +2 (1 acumen)
Increase Dodge by +1 (3 acumen)
Increase Resist by +1 (3 acumen)
Increase Withstand by +1 (3 acumen)
Sign Against Evil (1 acumen)
Sign Against the Dead (1 acumen)