Scene 10, closed: Off you go
A meeting with Ionjae's advisor.
Xillik'kea: Well, my boy, it has come time for you to make arangments for the betterment of your conjoring.
Ionjae: Am I not doing well?
Xillik'kea: No, you're doing wonderfully. That's just it. An amature conjurer can just pull at whatever will come, but a true master, although fully capable of calling anything at need, should have at his disposal something that when called will come willingly and eagerly assist. It's time for you to make a pact.
Ionjae: With what?
Xillik'kea: Well, that's up to you. I can make suggestions, but the end decision is your's; it'll be you fulfilling your end of the bargin, after all. Just chose carefully. A first pact is important. You can always make more, but it sets the tone. Some beings won't talk to you if you've entered into agreements they don't like. Some can tell who you're bound to, and they might move against you because of it. And yet, the most useful allies always have the most enemies, and the most powerful at that. Also, be careful of the terms of your agreement. On the one hand, you don't want to be left with insufficient help when you're counting on it, but on the other, you want to avoid terms too onerous to keep.
26 comments:
I'm going to need the details on that other pact you made to see how this will go.
Ionjae contemplated what his professor had said about finding a suitable pactmate. He had heard about these things from some of his instructors and the upperclassmen, but what was it that he felt drawn to?
He waffled over the merits of different creatures, would brawn be better than brains, dexterity over determination, loyalty over shock value?
Ionjae sighed, he looked towards the dean and asked, "Professor, does this academy hold any restrictions on a pactmate?"
"No, we don't restrict your choices, but we do reserve the right to take any actions we deem nessecary to protect the saftey of the school and the other students."
OOC: Oh!!! I'm totally wish I could choose a Frost Worm! But I don't think I have the power for that yet, so I'll start small.
IC: "Then I have decided," Ionjae stares Xillik'kea deep into his eyes and continues, "I have done some intensive research, and it seems that little is known about the Phase Spider. I will do what I must to gain a pact with this beast. Do you have any suggestions, professor?"
"The phase spider. Yes, they could be useful. Not the most intelligent of beasts, but fast and tireless. Regardless of what you chose, this would involve a trip out into the wilds of the Planes. You'll have to find the quintesential representation of the beast in question, and bargain with it. This eternal representative of a species is generally larger than the rest, and always more intelligent, and a bargain with it will be binding with all of its kind. With this particular creature the bargain shouldn't be too difficult, but finding it might be a bit of a challenge. Consult our library for any research that has been done, and be sure to take some copies of any maps you might need. And of course traveling companions are always a good idea. Take care in your preparations; there's no particular hurry. We will expect you to have bound something by the begining of next semester; it is a prerequisite for the advanced summoning seminar I suggested you take."
"I appreciate the advice professor, please tell me. Is there a restriction on the number of creatures that I can have bound to me at any one time? I don't recall mention of this in class, but I wanted to be perfectly clear."
ooc: Power doesn't enter into this. You'll be making an agreement with a species, type, or particularly powerful individual or group. That agreement will compell the thing's cooperation regardless of your lack of power. It's just that more powerful creatures will strike a harder bargain. They'll want things like, sacrifices of blood or flesh or treasure, aid in efforts of their own, information, promises of attacks against enemies, rituals preformed or symbols maintained, all depending on the nature of the thing you are attempting to bind. The school will pretty consistently refer to it as you binding a thing, but the thing binds you too.
"No, you can have as many pacts as you care to maintain, but be sure that you can continue to meet all the terms of your agreements. Everything, absolutly everything hates it when you violate an agreement of this nature, and they might attack you, or at least limit your more general summoning skills."
OOC: Ohhh... okay, I thought it was more or less a pact through strength, not agreements. But that's cool. Better to start with a magical bug than a giant ice worm.
IC: "Thank you professor, if you require me, I shall be found in the library for a time looking into the minute details of the phase spider. Good day."
From what you find in the library, the best place to look for the Phase Spider will be on the plane of neutral evil. This place will be dangerous, with its intermitent caustic rains, hostile landscape, ravenous beasts, and status as primary battleground for the eternal blood war between the forces of caotic evil and lawful evil. On the plus side, you should be able to pick up something of value along the way. Exactly what and where is still up in the air (if it was marked on a map and clearly of value, someone would have already carried it off) but there should be something around, even if you just pick off the corpses of past wanderers.
Traveling alone might not be a good idea.
OCC: Good stuff, man! Good stuff! HA HA! Lovin' It!!!
IC: Going to my room, I proposition my roommate, Ruzkeeel. "Ruz, I think I'm going to need your help here. I've just been given a new assignment from Xillik'kea, to gain my first pact. I'm going to be heading to the Neutral Evil plane and having you at my back would only ensure some serious good findings.
By the way, what are you working on right now? Last semester you weren't sure if you wanted to continue with your focus in Abjuration... have you figured out what your calling is?"
"... Ruz? Hey bud, you paying attention?" Ionjae quickly twirls his fingers and a small but powerful cyclone spins itself into existence over the desk of Ruz, scattering his papers, books, and notes across the room.
"Sorry? What was that? Oh, no, I haven't really got a clue. Nothing seems to hold my attention. I love magic, but hate studying. Maybe I'll try evocation next. Raw magical energy. Who knows, maybe that'll be for me.
Wait- did you say you're going to the Plane of Neutral Evil? Cause I'm sure that's what I heard you say. Why would you go there?"
"I told you, I need to make a pact. I have to negotiate with the ideal phase spider."
"Oh. That makes sense. I guess I could come, so long as you promise we'll be careful. That place could be dangerous. When do we leave? And how are we going to find this thing?"
"Oh, and what are you going to offer it?"
"Leave that to me, I've got a few ideas up my sleeve. From the limited research I've done, it seems that the phase spider in general is more intelligent than a household dog or cat, but not as smart as you or me. I'll most likely just materialize something right before we meet with it. It'll consume whatever I get for it, and that'll be that."
Glancing around at the mess of a room that has been left, Ionjae closes his eyes, places his hands out into the air before him, sqeezes his eyes tightly and summons forth a silent servant. "I need this room cleaned, phantom. Make certain that these papers are organized as Master Ruz wishes them to be."
Glancing over at Ruz, Ionjae continues "We'll be safe enough, we shouldn't need to stay in there too long, and since we'll be staying nearish the portal we shouldn't have to tough a time getting away from anything if stuff gets out of control. But, you know, we just might find a couple of really groovy things over there that noone else will be needing."
Nodding as Ruz talks about Evocation, "Evos sweet, you gotta be careful. All it takes is a single mischant and you'll be standing in the center of a rather large ball of liquid fire."
"Liquid fire.... Hmm... Properly warded, that could make a pretty good robe. Of course, I'm not nearly good enough. Well, what do we need to do to get ready? When do we leave?"
"I guess the only thing that we probably need is some supplies, I've figured instead of a blood sacrifice I'll offer them 'room & board' but in case we don't find anything right away, or worse, something finds us we should be prepared a tad. I'm going to the nurse to see if I can borrow some healing salves. Why don't you go grab whatever you think you might need, we'll meet back here in an hour and make our journey."
Ionjae moves towards the door, makes certain that his summoned phantom was still doing it's job and ducks out of the room without waiting for Ruz's response.
He quickly hurried towards the school court yard, where he observed a group of first years. Picking a suitable target, Ionjae conjured a powerful burst of air to propel the youth forcefully into the air, spilling his texts and papers into the air and slamming him into a gang of troublemakers that had a reputation to uphold. Seeing that this had caused a good deal of harm to the youth and the first years were now rushing to his aid to defend against the fists and feet of the bullies, Ionjae summoned a dimensional door to just outside the hospital wing.
Stepping through the intangible portal, he was swept across the campus in under a second. Faking a heavy breath, he slammed through the door and yelled to the head healer.
"There is a fight at the court yard, quickly before someone gets hurt badly!"
Once a few of the healers have dashed from the wing towards where there was a battle raging, Ionjae quickly identified a few interesting elixirs that he had previously researched within the school's massive library. Teleporting them from where they lay to his book satchel, Ionjae smiled smugly and left the hospital behind and headed back to his room to await the return of Ruz.
Clever, and completely immoral. You are not a nice person.
Feel free to leave whenever you're ready. Also, if you feel like a side trip, there's a convenient temple dedicated to several insect gods, the chief of which is a scareb-headed monstrosity named Khepri. There are several others, but of lesser importance. The temple complex is about a day out of your way across inhospitable but unpopulated landscape.
As he awaits the return of Ruz, Ionjae decides that this would be the best time to summon Varian.
Closing his eyes tightly, Ionjae tears asunder space and time and shouts a message to Varian.
"I will be calling upon you shortly. Get everything you need, and meet me at my room."
Ruz is back. He has a satchel filled with food and starts bundling some blankets when he enters the room.
Wow, that's concientious of you.
OOC: And a tad optimistic!
So Josh, did you decide to hit the temple like I sugested, or is it just the spiders?
OOC: Gah, sorry bout that. Real Life stuff overpowering my time to game.
IC: Looking towards Varian, Ionjae says, "We'll be gone for hopefully only a few days. However, since I've never traveled to this place before I'm not one hundred percent sure I know what to expect. I know the general area that these phase spiders live, and will be opening a portal to that area."
Now, speaking to both co-travelers, "Gentlemen, this is going to be the stuff of stories. Be watchful, things may not be as they seem. Furthermore, we'll need to work as a team, watch each others backs, if we want to get out of there as safe as possible. Furthermore, I have a bit of a surprise for you two. I found some very old tomes in the library, hidden away, speaking about an ancient temple dedicated to insect gods. If we finish up this pact quickly, and our supplies look like they may last. I would suggest we head over to the temple and see what it is that we can gain from these worshipers."
As Ionjae finishes his last sentence, he winks and smiles broadly.
Like I can even think about chastising anyone for taking too long...
Yes, I did get his email. I've approved his character and he ought to be joining soon.
And now, off you go.
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