Session 6 Downtime

Character Arcs

 

Aid a Friend (Helping Simone Solve the Mystery of Limerance Street

This is the arc I would have taken before the start of session 6, if we had time to discuss it.
 

• Cost: Agreeing to Help (-2 acumen) (completed in session 5)
  
• Opening: Answering the Call (+1 acumen) (completed in session 5)
  
• Step: Investigation (completed in session 5)
  
• Step: Investigation (completed in session 6)
  
• Step(s): Investigation: No idea, have to find out from Amy. Some, at least, completed in session 6.
  
• Climax: Discovery (+2 acumen and +1 joy or +1 despair) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Resolution (+2 acumen)
  

 

The World Tour (Explore)

Traveling the Path of Suns to its completion is one of the most meaningful pilgrimages that someone like Locke could ever make. Now that he has recovered, more or less, from his exile in Shadow, he is ready to walk this path to its completion. Being methodical, Locke intends to walk the regular Path of Suns first; in the future, he will walk the Nightside Path of Suns, and then even after that, he will explore whatever alternative paths he can uncover.
 

• Cost: the Undertaking (-2 acumen) (completed in session 6 downtime)
  
• Opening: Make a Plan (+1 acumen) (completed in session 6 downtime) (part of this plan involves using Designated Place to setup a spot that Simone can use to contact me, then to use Communal Location each day so we can "spend time" together.
  
• Gather Resources (+1 acumen) (completed in session 6 downtime)
  
• Step(s): Travel (+1 acumen) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Step(s): Exploration (+1 acumen) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Climax: Conquest (+2 acumen and +1 joy or +1 despair) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Resolution (+1 acumen) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  

 
Here are Locke's tasks/payments for access to each Warden's realms:

• Grey - Demiurge. Nothing. You make no contact with any Warden. (No time limit.)
  
• Pale - Empress Xjallad. You have to get a visa from the Pale Embassy before visiting the Pale. (More info to come on that.) Empress Xjallad's functionary asks you to find and slay a specific servant of Fazromir, the Warden of the Nightside of the Pale. (During downtime.)
  
• Red - Daumi, the ever-shifting. Her representative demon demands a magical weapon from you. (Immediate.)
  
• Gold - Shima, the glorious. Her functionary asks for nothing, as you're already doing her work. No further insight is provided. (No time limit.)
  
• Silver - Therim. A tall, regal figure of sparkling light. Gwyn has created something of the Legacy, and Therim wants it brought to Silver. (Six months.)
  
• Green - Cherulis. You must banish the being currently plaguing the Green Sun (The Good Boy) from their domain forever. (During Downtime.)
  
• Blue - Marra, the reclining god. You must return to the Blue once you've discovered the secrets of Limerence street (you can do this via dreams) and share the story with her.
  
• Indigo - Quiss. Removal of a Hate Cyst. (Details to be provided later.)
  

 
TO DO: 1) The killing of the servant of Fazromir. 2) Make a magical weapon for Daumi. 3) The Good Boy. 4) Find out about Quiss quest. 5) Get Travel/Exploration steps from Jared.
 
Notes: Infiltrating enemy encampment in the Dirge Fields to scout out the servant's tent, I got caught and had to talk my way out. I found a good place to bushwack the dude, bushwacked him, found something interesting in his belongings and started sniffing around, and found a Monograph (Exacting Geometry), when I get caught. There's a chase, but I escape and get back to the Empress's fortress. The functionary is very happy, and so gives me a boon; this is a bond that works like Old Friend, in that the functionary owes me a favor. (Spent 3 hidden knowledge.)
 

The Good Boy (Train a Creature)

As with most things that he chooses to place his energy in, Locke has chosen this quest because it represents the intersection of different themes in his life. 1) He's never had a pet, and wants to experience that kind of relationship while he's learning so much, primarily due to his relationship with Simone, about being a human. 2) He feels that he needs something to help protect his home from the Rat Locke. 3) This is an excellent excuse to get away from people for a bit, and to just sink himself deep into experiencing the way magic works in this world.
 

• Becoming a Trainer (-3 acumen) (I assume this will be done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Opening: Getting Acquainted (+1 acumen)
  
• Step: Research (+1 acumen) (I assume this will be done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Step: Domestication (+1 acumen) (I assume this will be done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Step(s): Training (we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Climax: Completion. (+2 acumen, +1 joy or despair) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  

 
TO DO: 1) Research (figuring out what I'm dealing with, and how those are normally trained. 2) Capture the Good Boy. 3) Bring the Good Boy home. 4) Get Gwyn to help me start training the Good Boy. 4) Get judgement from Jared on whether this is complete.
 
Notes: I get attacked by a ton of durantix (human sized insects) while looking for the Good Boy, I escape with the help of an intervening gigantic snake. Then I find the Good Boy, which is a giant 6 legged dog, the size of a van. It is possessed by a spirit of the Red Sun. I run away, getting somewhat mauled along the way. I then use my Exacting Geometry book to summon and bind this spirit. I bind the demon into my ring. When I go back to the dog, it is no longer touching the ground; it is a Jerymal, which is a native of the Gold Sun. They're always seeking a worthy master, and nobody ever counts. I turn it into dust and bring it home.
 

What Have I Done (Fall From Grace)

Having faced the revelation that, aside from not preventing the use of Project Moksha's weapons, Locke's flight into Shadow may have actually made things much worse, Locke is convinced he has an obligation to measure the depths of his debt. He intends to track down all of the former members of Project Moksha (note: you've pointed out that Locke's attempt to use divination to find the identity/location of the "Forgotten Person" listed on the Project page is GM shifted to fail, so no dice there but +1 despair) to find out what happened to them after he left, and to use his unlocked forte powers to create a list of the Hate Cysts created by their weapons, so he knows what has to be cleared.
 

• Cost: The Initial Misstep (-1 acumen) (done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Opening: The Descent (+1 acumen) (done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Step(s): Further Descent (+1 acumen)(we'll see when this gets finished) -- this will be following up with the Moksha people, will save this for future downtime.
  
• Step: Lashing Out (+1 acumen) (we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Climax: Rock Bottom (+3 acumen and +1 despair)(we'll see when this gets finished)
  
• Resolution (+1 acumen)(we'll see when this gets finished)
  

 

The Second End (Enterprise)

I've named this arc after the quote that made me name this character after John Locke: "The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others."
 
The idea here is for Locke to found a truly new institution of education, maybe something loosely based on Socratic teaching, or maybe something entirely new. The idea is to avoid the intellectual conservatism, rigid hierarchy, and tightly defined roles which make the traditional educational systems (and especially the Vancian academic hierarchy) so bad at creating actual understanding.
 
I envision this arc going very slowly.
 

• Cost: The Founding of an Idea (-2 acumen) (done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Opening: Drawing up a Plan (+1 acumen) (done in session 6 downtime)
  
• Step: Account for Your Resources (+1 acumen) -- will save this for future downtime.
  
• Step: Finding a Location (+1 acumen)
  
• Step(s): Building the Enterprise (+1 acumen)
  
• Climax: Profit and Loss (+3 acumen and +1 joy or +1 despair; but I would propose that we change this to +1 Contacts in the new Organization, and +1 joy or +1 despair)
  
• Resolution (+1 acumen)
  

 

Experiments

I'd like to experiment with Ensorscel Item, which I can gain access to via Gnaw. I'd like to try out some of my spells with it, and see if doing the enchantment allows me to influence the way the power manifests in the object, at all.
 
For the spell that I'm using to ensorscel an item, can I spend +1 sorcery to make it +1 level higher, as I could if I was simply casting it? That would seem consistent with the mechanics used in the ritual.
 
Spells to try:

• I want to use Restorative Touch to see if I can imbue on an object (possibly an emerald ring) with a usable power that might be worth giving to one of my friends.


• I'd like to see if I can use a vertula kada power with this...
  

 
I also want to try casting Encode the Sefirot in which I am taking down measurements based on the 9 Suns, instead of the arbitrary list of properties I created before. Now that Locke is fitting back into the world of the Vislae, he is growing farther away from the sort of Shadow Thinking that guided his logic in this before.
 
NOTE: I made a level 5 object of power (0-1 depletion) which restores a pool upon use.
 

• Level 2: Destroy object up to 1 pound
  
• Level 3: (can't really find an appropriate effect but I'm thinking of a better detect/analyze magic kind of thing)
  
• Level 4: Maybe I can move a single object into or out of real space? Like, I could shift an object out of space, and then later on, I could shift it back in. This power would be great for smuggling something... maybe even better than my bracelet is.
  
• Level 6: Move 50 miles (80 km) instantly (still like the idea of a teleport power which allows me to teleport to a place that I can see, or to the last place I was when I used this power).
  

 

Remaining Time

So, it seems like Locke may have a significant amount of time left, because other than the Good Boy, there's nothing big on his place this time. Depending on how much time there is, I might learn some minor lore skills... history, or creature lore, or something. I don't think I have any other XP expenditures I want to make, unless something comes up from our other discussions.