Mascot & Magic: Revival

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 3, 2022

Once upon a time, the world was filled with Magic, a wondrous force that could bring forth miraculous phenomena. Commanding the weather, healing deathly wounds and curing terminal diseases, creating life from clay and one's own breath, the crafting of items with their own fantastical powers that would give birth to great legends that inspired awe in future generations. The Golden Age of Magic, an age of miracles and endless possibilities for what could be achieved. The Lost Age, forgotten by time and history, all because of the greedy desire of those who wished for absolute power, a monopoly on Magic itself. A gathering of petty tyrants and would-be overlords used trickery and deceit to capture and bind the essence of twelve great entities to forge twelve rings of immense power. Using the power of these artifacts, the fools performed a ritual that they believed would be able to bind all of creation to them, giving them absolute command over the universe as living gods. But the greed and covetous nature of these magi let to each one trying to take more power for themselves, like tempestuous children fighting over a favored toy and pulling on the very fabric of reality, stretching it to the limit until the universe itself revolted and snapped at them with ferocity of rabid animal pushed into a corner.

Calamity upon calamity fell upon the world as the very foundations of existence raged and rampaged, great storms with soul tearing winds, tsunamis that aged whatever the water touched by centuries, glutinous firestorms that devoured all that fell victim to its hunger that left nothing behind, and many more horrors that would make the Armageddons of recorded myth seem tame by comparison.

Thinking quickly, a group of wise sages, skilled arch-magi, and beings that modern man would call gods banded together and pooled their arcane knowledge and mystical might to perform one last miracle. Space, Time, and Reality were calmed from their chaotic apocalyptic fury and order was restored, but at great cost. The Cosmos was split between the world that would be inherited by modern humanity, and the Sanctum Aetherius, the realm of magic.

Located within a dimension known as the Astral Ocean, the Sanctum Aetherius is home to all manner of mythological and legendary creatures and powers. The souls of those who caused the split and created the Sanctum became fused into a singularity of sorcerous power, a living mystical star that acted as the beating heart of the Sanctum Aetherius. And it is from which you were born along with your many siblings. The Starborn was your more regal title, but it was far from the only one your kind had. The Shining Ones, Embers of Aether, The Children of Aetherius, and of course the one you had gained in recent years…

The Mascots.

While it took ages and many millennia, a way to link the world of man and the Sanctum Aetherius was found. With this, scrying and divinations would reveal that there were forces that were left over from the Lost Age that had become… corrupted. Be it ancient relics who corrupt and twist the minds of those who find them, spirits of the world who had gone mad from the ordeal of the Sundering, or the shades of the very people who caused it still clinging to existence through unholy unlife. Threats existed that could potentially destroy human civilization, and in turn threaten the inhabitants and of Sanctum Aetherius.

While Magic was mostly stripped from the human world, embers still existed in the people who lived there, and your kind had the ability to nurture these embers into a healthy flame of magic. Thus, your kind were sent out to raise a team of warriors who could battle and contain these threats. However, you could not cross over in your true form as beings of mystical starlight and astral flame, and so in order to make your new duty easier, you forged new physical bodies to host your essence. These forms were often made to be easy to approach and non-threatening, even "cute" by most standards. All in order to more easily gather a band of champions.

Over the generations this particular model has worked rather well, with artifacts being purified and collected to be brought to the Sanctum Aetherius, maddened spirits healed and restored to maintain the world, and the shades of the Accursed Ones being completely eradicated from the face of existence and sent screaming into the silence of true oblivion as they deserved.

The inhabitants of Sanctum Aetherius hold a very long grudge regarding the Sundering, and that includes you as well.

And now, it was your turn to go forth and face the latest threat to the world, and perhaps the greatest so far. The twelve rings, the very relics that were used to bring forth the Sundering, had resurfaced in the mortal world. Along with that, the presence of the last Shades of the Accused Ones were said to be making their way to a city on an artificial island by the oracles and divination magi who kept their clairvoyant sight upon the mortal world. And so, certain restrictions would need to be lifted due to the sheer importance of this battle. To do so, you would need to return to your birthplace, the heart of the realm.

You traveled through the innermost sections of the Sanctum, feeling the sorcerous energies of the great arcane star built in density in the air around you. Your celestial form became bolstered with every inch you grew closer, your reserves of magical energy being supercharged and increased as you passed through the Gates of The Starheart, guarded by a pair of titans who were ancient even in the time of the Lost Age and who have held vigil over the Gates and the Starheart. Your gaze fell upon the origin of your kind, the massive stellar body of raw magic and soul-stuff shining so radiant and the air vibrating with a rhythm like a heartbeat. You extend your will towards your progenitor and draw upon the vast wealth of power, your own light burning bright like a perpetual supernova.

You didn't have much time, you could only draw so much before you were literally incinerated out of existence from the overwhelming power. What new powers will you forge from this celestial flame?

Choose Two
[ ] Might of Titans: You shall gain the strength of body many of your predecessors lacked, a form that allows you to fight alongside your chosen champions. By default, it will look like a bigger and more combat capable version of your Mascot body with a "cosmic" appearance. Not good for much else besides fighting.
[ ] Smith of Wonders: Your soul will become the forge and your will the hammer that will shape your imagination into reality. You gain the power to forge relics and magic items out of your own reserves of energy. The more powerful and complex, the more energy it takes. Too much will leave you exhausted and drained of power.
[ ] Sanctum Animus: A home, a sanctuary, a fortress where none may harm you or yours. A pocket dimension tied to your soul that you can open portals to and connect to places you mark, allowing for fast travel using the sanctum as a hub. Can be reformed to match your aesthetic and create rooms that provide certain benefits. You'll still need to leave it in order to do your job.
[ ] Soul of Gemini: Your spirit expands and splits into two, a twin Starborn who shares your other powers and will always act in your best interest. A companion who will never betray you. Losing them will hurt worse than anything else…
[ ] Deal-Making Fiend: A devilish power, an alternative to simply kindling the ember of potential into a flame. Offering a deal to a candidate that will grant them one wish in return for their service, with a hidden clause to grant you their soul until the end of the threat, after which they will be free. Good to ensure loyalty, but genuine friendship is harder to forge with such leverage.
[ ] Flame of the Phoenix: The destruction of your physical form will leave your essence without a proper anchor and make you vulnerable, and the loss of a champion will certainly set you back, so you shall take the power to defy death itself. The fires of life and resurrection are yours to command. Healing even deadly wounds is trivial now, and death is no longer the end. But dying still hurts and leaves it's own scars…
[ ] Eyes of God: None may hide from your sight, and your ability to detect artifacts and those who have the ember of potential within them is enhanced greatly. Illusions are pierced and you can tell when others lie to you. You may even see into the future to a limited extent, though whether you have the means to make use of this information is another story…
[ ] Abyssal Silence: Your foes will possess their own magical power and minions with their own sorcery, you will cast them down and break their pride before you erase their stain from existence. Anti-Magic, something normally anathema to your own being, but now it you're to wield against your foes. Passively provides a sort of Magic Resistance, but can be used to shut down the powers of your enemies to give your champions an edge. Overuse will feel… existentially uncomfortable, and requires focus on a single target.
[ ] Wisdom of Aetherius: The collective knowledge of the various souls who make up the heart of the Sanctum fills your mind, whispers of ancient lore and lost rituals revealing to you the secrets of the arcane, and how to teach it to others. Even those who lack an ember of potential can be taught the mystic arts to draw upon the energy of the world rather than from within. The voices of the past will not be silenced…
[ ] Call of the Void: You feel something, deeper still within the core of the starheart from which you were born, something that could bring you to greater heights and enhance your other power into something more, along with perhaps other possibilities… you just have to reach out and claim it.

Once you were done, you pulled away from the heart of your home, your true form strained but made greater than any of your kin. Leaving the place of your genesis, you go forth upon the path to where you shall shape your physical body, the container for your celestial essence. Passing the alchemists and artificers who maintain the workings of the Sanctum, the Faerie and Spirits who wander and play their games with each other and the other inhabitants, and the great beasts and warriors who act as guards and enforcers of the will of the council who ensure order is maintained within the Sanctum and would be the first and last line of defense should you fail. Even your kin swarm around you as clouds of light and flame, singing as a harmonious choir of encouragement and well wishes. You arrive at the Chamber of Incarnation, a large spherical room with a variety of runic scripts and alchemical apparatuses, a single large pool of prismatic alchemical liquid sat in the center of the room, it was large enough that it could fit the human vehicle known as an "M1 Abrams" twice over. The size was excessive for your purposes, but it would do. Flowing your essence into the pool, you begin the process of forming a body around yourself. Biomass forming and weaving into bones, muscles, flesh, and blood. You focused on the mental for what your form would be, and it was…

Choose One
[ ] A red dragon, more a wyvern in shape truly. Strangely you already have an idea for what to call this form… Vulcan. (Vulcan Import)
[ ] A small chimeric being, with the ears of a rabbit, the body of a cat, the tail of a fox, and an overall cute appearance. You're thinking blue and silver for the coloration.
[ ] A golden wolf pup with eyes of silver, and a pair of angelic pure white wings.
[ ] Something else (Write-In)

Once your new form was made and you were properly incarnated, with alchemists and healers making sure there were no rejection issues due to your augmented essence, you were brought to the Gate of Infinity, the bridge between your home and the world of mortals. As you get used to the feeling of a physical body, the inhabitants of the Sanctum gathered to see you off. As you moved to cross the threshold, you couldn't help but wonder…

Why were you chosen?

One last thing

What is the Mascot's name? If you have chosen the Vulcan Import, you may skip this.
[ ] Write In.

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 3, 2022

Name: "Do-Gi"

[Spark Count: 5]

Powers
Starborn: You are a Starborn, your true self is a being of starlight and mystic flame born from the heart of the Sanctum Aetherius. You possess the power to nurture the Embers of Magic left behind in humans into full flames, turning them into Champions. You are sensitive to mystical energies and can detect those with the Embers from a distance.

Mascot Body: You have a small, cute body that acts as the vessel for your essence. While it doesn't need sustenance, consuming food is something it can do. If your Mascot Body is slain, your true essence will be exposed and left vulnerable.

Might of Titans: Your Mascot body can be transformed into a bigger and stronger version of itself, allowing you to fight alongside Champions. If defeated in this form, revert back into your default Mascot form.

Flames of the Phoenix: You possess the flames of life, allowing you to heal injuries and cure ailments such as disease and poison. If your Mascot body is killed, you will revive in an fiery explosion instead of being left vulnerable. You can also revive the recently deceased, though the pain of dying and psychological trauma is not removed.

Grudge of Aetherius: +10 to Combat when fighting Dregs and Accursed, -20 when trying to disengage from combat with Dregs and Accursed. Must roll to resist going berserk when detecting hidden Dregs.

Inventory:

Pandoran Vessel: A large pithos depicting demons being chained and fed to a giant skull. It is a sealing Magic item used to seal the Accursed and contain them until the ritual to erase them.

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 3, 2022

Outfit: Pale white armor over a vantablack undersuit, with a pale white hooded cloak with black interior and black triangles on the bottom edges of the cloak and the opening of the hood. A pale white smooth mask with two darkness filled eye holes.
Weapon: Void Spike Gun.
Core Magic: Void Matter Constructs.

Skills

Evasion Proficiency: Add a +5 to attempts to Dodge Attacks

Magic Upgrades:

Void Vault: Can open portals to void space where items can be placed for safekeeping and drawn out later. Time doesn't pass within the pocket space, so items do not age or decay. Can store Void Matter constructs indefinitely within the void space.
- Void Door: Allows for use of the void space as a means of transport between locations by creating portals that link the locations together. Limited to one pair of portals at a time.
Void Body: Kuuhaku gains immunity to disease and poison. She can also use Void Matter to heal herself.
- Void Mind: Kuuhaku gains immunity to charm and fear. Kuuhaku is also immune to mind reading.
  - Void Heart: Kuuhaku can transform into a being composed of pure Void Matter, gaining enhanced physical abilities and limited shapeshifting. Immunity to Possession and Resistance to Spiritual Attacks.

Outfit: A ninja garb of fabric thar shifts between blue to black that changes based on light level, with a hood and face mask to conceal her identity. Has lots of hidden pockets.
Weapon: Throwing Knives
Core Magic: Shade Shroud

Skills

Evasion Proficiency: Add a +5 to attempts to Dodge Attacks

Magic Upgrades

Shadow Pin: By throwing a dagger or other sharp projectile into a target's shadow, paralyze them until either the projectile is destroyed/removed, or the shadow disappears.
- Shadow Strike: The user can attack the target's shadow to deal half damage to the target, dealing injuries through it.
- Shadow Thief: The user can choose to steal a pinned target's shadow from, halving their abilities and stats for 2 Turns. If slain in that state, they give an additional 5 Sparks to the killer.
Deep Shroud: The user becomes engulfed in a cloud of shifting darkness that completely obscures their form, making it near impossible to see them past it. Allies near the cloud are partially obscured as well.
Dark Body: The user moves faster and can see in the dark, and can easily be overlooked by others while in shaded places.
(Special) A Shadow's Light: Yoru has a telepathic link with Jihi, and gets a boost to Magic when near Jihi. Certain limits are lifted. ???

Outfit: An elaborate ivory priestly outfit, with gold trimming and sun imagery.

Weapon: Magical Lantern
Core Magic: Revealing Light

Magic Upgrades

Light Ray: Shoot a single beam of Light at a target, not very powerful but is very accurate and fast.
Light Weaver: The user can manipulate light to form visual illusions, creating images and words that aren't really there. These illusions are fragile and easy to break, and lack complexity.
- Solid Weaver: By using Hard Light, the user's illusions are given more durability and can to a degree interact with the world as physical entities.
Radiant Body: The user gains strength and durability while in light, and can move slightly faster as well.
- Radiant Mind: Immune to Fear, Charm, and Telepathy. Enhanced Reflexes, and can Detect when someone is under Mind Control.
(Special) One's Own Sun: A miniature orb of golden light will follow the Champion around while transformed, passively lighting an area around them in sunlight. It can fire off small beams of sunlight at enemies who attack the Champion. Alternatively, it can be consumed to supercharge one ability, and comes back in three turns.
(Special) Dawn and Dusk: Jihi has a telepathic link with Yoru, and gets a boost to Magic when near Yoru. Certain limits are lifted. ???

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 3, 2022

The Accused are the shades of those who crafted the Twelve Rings of Creation in order to perform a ritual that would give them the power to be Gods Among Gods, however their infighting and greed for power instead lead to the Sundering. Over the years since the Starborn have been sent out to act as Mascots and form teams of champions, five out of the twelve Accursed have been consigned to Oblivion, their very being erased from the tapestry of existence itself. The Ultimate Death. Each Accursed wields immense power even in their diminished states and requires an entire team of champions to take down and seal away so that they could be destroyed properly later. Simply killing an Accursed through regular means will only scatter their essence where they will reform later somewhere else.

The Slain Accursed are:
[NAME ERASED], The Will-Breaker
[NAME ERASED], The Flesh Twister
[NAME ERASED], The Thorn Queen
[NAME ERASED], The Blood-Iron Tyrant
[NAME ERASED], The Fell Tempest

The Living Accused are:

Xazoth, The Dreadwyrm of Incineration
Gozzamas, Queen of The Frigid Deep
Kogmanith, The Ruin Maker
Jolmaroth, The Mistress of Ill-Wind
Thalvomon, Overlord of The Black Moon
Xazonul, Phoenix of The Pale Sun
[UNKNOWN], The Forgotten One.

Recommendation: Once a proper foothold is made, begin construction/request Sealing Vessels immediately. Slaying the Accursed takes priority over all other objectives.

Minions of the Accursed, born of their corruptive essence. Little more than dark spirits on their own, they can possess people, animals, and objects in order to gain physical form and enact their dark master's will.

Dreg Beasts are the results of possessing animals, looking like larger and twisted parodies of the vessel the Dreg is using. Killing a Dreg Beast will not kill the vessel, as the Beast itself is more a projection around the vessel instead of an actually mutated body.

Dreg Golems are what happens if a Dreg possesses an item from something as small as a hand mirror to something large like an air plane. While slightly more intelligent than Beasts, Golems are effectively robots that lack a true mind of their own and focus on completing a set of objectives for the sake of the Accursed they serve.

Dreg Demons are both the weakest and the most dangerous form a Dreg can obtain. By possessing a human, a Dreg can either transform them immediately or instead choose to 'hibernate' inside the person. Those who are immediately transformed are little more powerful than the average adult mundane human and go down in a few good hits*. However, those who choose to hibernate and wait attache themselves closer to their unsuspecting host's soul, feeding on it and growing stronger while the host steadily declines in health, both physically and mentally. Should a Dreg be allowed to finish hibernating, their host will die as their soul is consumed completely and the Dreg Demon takes over the body.

A Dreg Demon who has reached this point my transform into a form that reflects the soul they have consumed. If they possessed a racer then they will have a form based on speed and racing, while one that possessed a gardener would have plant powers. It is not known what would happen if a Dreg tried to possess someone with an Ember, as most Dregs seek to kill any Champion instead of using possession.

(*Mechanically, you only need a single battle success to take out an Immature Dreg Demon.)

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 3, 2022

Ring Locations
Noble Neighborhood: 2 Rings
Founder "Palaces": 1 Ring
Hoseki City: 3 Rings
Agriculture Sector: 6 Rings

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 5, 2022

So, we have a tie.

two people have voted for Angel Doggo, and two people have Voted for a Vulcan that has Smith and Sanctum Powers. Everything else had 1 vote.

As far as I can tell at least.

So. I will be flipping a coin to see which one wins.

1=Angel Doggo & 2=Vulcan.

[dice]33362[/dice]

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 5, 2022

[X] Plan: Even death shall kneel to the heaven's hound! (Or angel doggo. He fights and protects!)
-[X] Might of Titans: You shall gain the strength of body many of your predecessors lacked, a form that allows you to fight alongside your chosen champions. By default, it will look like a bigger and more combat capable version of your Mascot body with a "cosmic" appearance. Not good for much else besides fighting.
-[X] Flame of the Phoenix: The destruction of your physical form will leave your essence without a proper anchor and make you vulnerable, and the loss of a champion will certainly set you back, so you shall take the power to defy death itself. The fires of life and resurrection are yours to command. Healing even deadly wounds is trivial now, and death is no longer the end. But dying still hurts and leaves it's own scars…
-[X] A golden wolf pup with eyes of silver, and a pair of angelic pure white wings.
-[X] Name: Do-gi (You insist your true name is too majestic for mortals to understand, so you're fine with them coming up with their own "pet name" for you).

To say that traveling from the Sanctum to the world of man was smooth was perhaps not an accurate statement, but neither was it necessarily a lie. Stepping through the Gate of Infinity you could feel your new canine-like body experiencing a number of unpleasant sensations including but not limited to being stretched and sucked through a nanometer wide tube of twisting prismatic colors that didn't have names. Yet at the same time it wasn't painful or harmful, perhaps a tad disorienting for your senses, but there were no bumps or turbulence during the trip. You could have stuck the landing better though, after being dumped on the roof of what appeared to be a hospital building in the city you were meant to arrive at. From what you know, the city had the name of Hoseki, which roughly translated to 'Jewel' in Japanese from your understanding of the language.

You mentally reviewed what you knew of the location where you would need to search for the rings and hopefully bring a final end to the Accursed. Hoseki was a modern city on an artificially created island, a method to handle potential overpopulation made a decade back from the current day. It had a police force, a fire department, hospitals, and other emergency services. It was also home to a large number of apartment complexes, where most of the population lived. Only the most well off and financially successful families could live in what were basically small mansions up on the northern outskirts of the island, where there were also forests and parks. The two major docks on the eastern and western sides of the island, massive spaces made to receive and export goods and tourists. The southern parts of the island had a number of farms and greenhouses where all many crops were grown and treated, which in turn was where a good deal of income for the city as a whole came from. There was a graveyard in the land between the big city itself and the 'rich' neighborhoods. Hoseki City also had a thriving fishing industry, another source of food and income.

In terms of the mystical…there was a sort of gravity to the island, some sort of force that seemed to be pulling things towards it. You could sort of feel it yourself, even now with you in the city. You would probably have to investigate whatever was causing that, but first you would need to find some place to temporarily set up shop. You had chosen powers that would allow you to fight and heal, so you would need to probably find a champion and convince them to let you stay at their home while you were here. Still, at least it wasn't all bad. You didn't really require sustenance as your true self was a being of starlight and flame, though it certainly would be nice to see how food here tasted. And you could fly, since these wings weren't just for show. Extending the angelic wings, which shimmered briefly in the light of the full moon, you took to the sky and began your search for any potential Champions. Your senses were attune to Magic, and while not as powerful as they could have been, you could still pick up on some Embers of Magic here and there among the people of the city. Of course, you could go to theoretically anyway on the island to search for candidates

So far, you could pick up on six candidates with strong enough Embers of Magic that you could turn into Champions here in the city. Most of them were in apartments, but you could feel one candidate was in some alleyway. While that did catch your attention, you needed to consider the costs and benefits of going after it. Sure, it may be someone who would benefit from becoming a Champion and perhaps even needed it, but what could they offer you besides another body in the fight? Perhaps if you had the means to set up your own base of operations, you wouldn't be so hesitant, but you didn't and needed to consider things a bit more. Then again, those in desperate situations tended to become grateful for those who could offer them a form of 'salvation', even if the idea of manipulating them in that way left a poor taste in your mouth. Even so, it was an option you should consider. Of course, you could move on to the northern parts of the island and see if any of the more luxurious homes had anyone with an Ember of Magic, instead of settling for an apartment where it might be harder to hide your nature.

You had a bit of a perception blocker, one that made people either not notice you or simply think you were something else. If anyone looked up and saw you now, they would only see a particularly large bird overhead and move on. But constant exposure to the blocker could lead to a build up of resistance, and people might notice that something is up if they start realizing how much they're ignoring this one thing.

So, what should you do?

[ ] Check out the Embers in the apartments.
[ ] Check out the Ember in the alleyways.
[ ] Fly up North and see if there are any Embers there.

QM Note: So, Vulcan didn't win. Maybe that's my fault for not being clear, but I gave what I thought was enough time. Maybe I should have written down that would vastly prefer plans.

So, I'm going to say this now.

If there are multiple parts for a Vote, make it into a Plan. If you don't, I WILL NOT COUNT IT.

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 7, 2022

Calling the Vote Here.

2 Votes for Apartments
6 Votes for Alleyways

Alleyways it is then!

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 7, 2022

[X] Check out the Ember in the alleyways.

You decided to go for the Ember in the alleyways, and flew towards where your senses would lead you to them. You could sense the Ember flickering, dimming and brightening chaotically. Embers were usually far more stable, and for one to be acting like that, meant that something bad was happening. You tracked down the fluctuating Ember into an alleyway in the southeastern part of the city, a half dozen blocks away from the hospital you landed at after crossing through the Gate of Infinity. Looking around, your silver eyes fell upon a girl in somewhat ragged clothing stumbling as she ran from something. Suddenly, a chill ran up your spine along with a surge of pure HATE as caught the scent of ash and shadow. It took only a few seconds for a beast, some twisted mockery of what had been some kind of bird, came barreling out of the darkness from further down the alley. You acted without even thinking, your form igniting in celestial flame as you crashed down like a meteor into the thousand damned servant of the Accursed, howling with rage and hate. Your golden fur changed into a window into the cosmos with stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies dancing to the unheard symphony of the firmament. Your eyes became twin Suns of silver flame, with more eyes like them appearing on your wings, which had doubled in number. Your fangs and claws grew sharp and deadly like spears and swords, ready to pierce and rend the putrid flesh of the Dreg that dared to show itself before you, and you would be all too glad to sunder from the face of existence!

Do-Gi's Attack: 94 (Roll) + 10 (Surprise Attack) + 10 (???)=114
Vs
Dreg Beast's Defense: 58 (Roll) - 10 (Hyper Focused)=48

Do-Gi Wins

The spawn of the Accursed was too focused on the girl to notice you until you were already tearing into its fucking throat with your fangs after slamming onto its spine, it's shrieks of pain and the sound of its breaking spine only served to fuel to battle frenzy that had taken over your mind. The Dreg Beast tried to fight you off, flailing its corrupted wings and talons to try and strike you.

Dreg Beast's Attack: 12 (Roll) -10 (Pinned)=2
vs
Do-Gi's Defense: 16 (Roll) +10 (???)=26

Do-Gi Wins

It's attempts to remove you were futile, it's limbs barely having the strength to reach you as your jaws put more force on its neck, slowly crushing it as you could feel the life force of the blighted shade born of your hated foe drained away as your fangs pierced deeper and deeper, a sense of vengeful satisfaction filling your heart as you pushed just a bit more…

Do-Gi's Attack: 50 (Roll) +10 (???)=60
Vs
Dreg Beast's Defense: 24 (Roll) - 10 (Pinned)= 14

Do-Gi Wins

CRUNCH

You pulled your jaw away from the crushed and broken neck of the Dreg Beast, and watched as it began to disintegrate into black smoke that quickly dispersed until all that was left was a small crow, looking around in confusion before seeing your combat form and getting spooked into flying off. Part of you felt good, better than you ever felt before after killing the Dreg Beast, but part of you also felt your mind becoming clearer as you realized that something was wrong. You might have hated the Accursed and their minions, everyone in Sanctum did, but it was never so… vividly felt before. In fact, while part of you felt satisfied by killing the Dreg, it also felt partially like you were disappointed you couldn't make it suffer more.

That was… mildly concerning, though you had to admit, getting the first Dreg kill yourself instead of having it be a Champion was going to be something you'd probably take pride in for awhile…wait…

You almost completely forgot about the girl!

Looking around, you spotted her hiding behind a dumpster with one of your wing eyes (so those are functional) staring at you with a wide pair of grey eyes. You meanwhile looked deeper and found her Ember was still fluctuating but was starting to settle down into the brighter range. If she was fleeing from a Dreg, there was a chance that it had tried to possess her or tried to use some dark Magic on her, or something else you didn't know about. You knew that trying to interact with her in your current state would probably not work all that great, so you pulled the mental trigger to turn back into your 'cute' form, instead of the cosmic wolf with four eye-studded wings. It felt strange, like you were putting on a suit that was two sizes two small and your body was compressing itself to accommodate the suit instead of the suit being stretched or torn.

Blinking and checking your wings to make sure you didn't have any extra eyes, you walked over to the stunned girl. "Sorry about that violent display, but I think we both can agree it would be better than letting you be caught by that beast." You spoke in a calm voice and tried to sound soothing. The grey eyed girl looked at you for a few seconds before blinking once and then blinking again a second time after another few seconds, before she reached out and… poked your nose.

"Oh…" She said, as though coming to the realization that you were not some kind of hallucination. "… are you going to eat me?"

"What!? No, why would you even think that!?" You asked, being thrown off your plan for how to interact with her as she asked you that question. "That would be extremely counterproductive and morally wrong to eat another sapient being! And I don't even need to eat anyway."

The girl seemed to take your outburst rather well, simply nodding before looking off into the distance. "… What now?" She asked after staring off into nothing with a blank gaze for a moment. Well, that's mildly concerning.

"Ah, right." You composed yourself as you mentally went over how to pitch the idea to her. "Well, you see there are more creatures like the one I just took care of and saved you from, and they have masters who are coming to this very city in search of a set of very powerful and dangerous relics of a time long forgotten and lost to history." You started off with a basic summary of why you were here. "This is not the first time a crisis has occurred, and beings like myself are sent to the world of humanity in order to rally together and recruit a group of Champions to help fight the threats to the world and save the day."

"You looked like you could handle yourself." The girl pointed out, and you puffed out your chest and flared your wings.

"I am an exception to the norm." You said, before getting serious again. "However, I am but one being. In conflict, quantity and quality of both sides have to both be considered. By myself, I cannot hope to achieve victory, but with a team of Champions working together alongside me, I have confidence that there isn't a foe that couldn't be toppled." You tried to sound inspiring at the end there, though it was hard to tell with the mostly blank expression you were getting from the girl.

"Why help me then?" She asked, and you smiled as you reached towards her. Suddenly, a small mote of light and flame emerged from her chest, the Ember of Magic within her. You studied it while she looked at it with wide eyes. The Ember had continued to stabilize and was now solidly burning bright, with a monochrome gradient coloration of white, grey, and black. It was also quiet, so much in fact that you could only 'hear' total silence from it. While your senses weren't keen enough to predict what kind of Magic she would have, it wasn't going to be anything that would be weak.

"Because you, my dear, have an Ember of Magic." You said as you began the explanation. "The spark of potential that can be kindled into a flame of greatness, the thing that would allow you to become a Champion." She seemed almost mesmerized as she stared into her Ember. "And that's where I come in, I can kindle that Ember into a proper flame and make you into a Champion. I think you also call them…Magical Girls, in your case."

"… Okay, do it."

"Now, this is a very important decision so I understand if you feel hesitant-, wait what?" You blinked as her words registered to you after a second. "Just like that, no thinking about it at all?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, I'll become a magical girl." She said, and you were left kind of stumped.

"… Any particular reason you're so okay with just going along with this?" You asked, curious.

"No where else to go." She said, and you were surprised.

"What about family?" You asked, and she shook her head.

"Dead." She said, rather bluntly to your shock. "People I was staying with didn't want me either, weren't good at it. Then they died too because of the bird monster."

… Oh, she's in shock isn't she? Her brain hasn't actually processed everything yet.

Right, how do you handle this situation?

[ ] Kindle the Ember: Hey, she's already agreed to it, even if it's not in the best state of mind…
[ ] Hold off: Yeah, maybe you shouldn't give a heavily traumatized girl magical powers just yet.

Either way, you would also have to address another issue… neither of you had a place to stay. And it wasn't like you could just Magic up a house out of nothing, so you'd need to find a place for the girl to stay at… speaking of which, you actually don't know her name.

"My true name is a bit too majestic for mortals to understand, and is physically impossible for you to actually pronounce anyway, so you can call me Do-Gi." You introduced yourself properly. "What is your name?"

"Kuuhaku Chinmoku, though just Kuuhaku is fine." Kuuhaku said, and you blinked as your innate translation ability rearranged the naming conventions to match your own.

Well then… you should see what you could do for shelter.

[ ] Look for Abandoned buildings, there's got to be one somewhere right?
[ ] Did the Dreg damage the apartment? You could use that, you just have to do some… clean up.
[ ] This was an important mission, maybe you could call for some assistance?
[ ] Some Other Ideas? (Write-In)

Discovered "???": +10 to Combat when fighting Dregs and Accursed, ???

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 9, 2022

Vote is Closed.

It seems that the winner is the plan "Begone Death, oh relentless buzzard! Today these adoptive parents shall LIVE!" with 6 Votes.

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 9, 2022

[X] Plan "Begone Death, oh relentless buzzard! Today these adoptive parents shall LIVE!"
-[X] Hold off: Yeah, maybe you shouldn't give a heavily traumatized girl magical powers just yet.
-[X] (Write-in) If her adoptive parents were recently slain... perhaps you can use your Flames of the Phoenix to bring them back to life?.

You ended up deciding to not make her a Champion so soon after such a traumatic event, and would let her have some time to process and deal with everything that happened. Speaking of which, you've decided to use your other new power to help someone other than you and your champions. Hopefully they'll be feeling grateful for being given a second chance at life… hopefully the damage to their apartment wasn't bad enough to cause some issues.

You asked Kuuhaku to lead you back to her apartment, and she agreed without any objection, which was actually more concerning than if she was uncooperative. Perhaps she was dissociating from everything? Was that how it worked? You started to wish that you had done some greater research into human psychology, because you didn't know as much as you felt you should in this situation. You extended your perception filter over to Kuuhaku so no one would see anything that looked out of the ordinary, just a girl and her dog walking back home. As you approached the destination, you noticed the distinct lack of any sirens or alarms, making you curious about what was going on as Kuuhaku let you into the apartment building and up the stairs towards where she was staying with the foster parents. You knew that something wasn't right when you saw that the door Kuuhaku had stopped in front of was intact… but left open slightly.

Entering through the door, you take in the scene. There was an open window that you could detect the scent of the Dreg you had killed, yet the room looked… eerily pristine. There was also a faint hint of magical energy in the air, like someone had cast a few spells. Which didn't make much sense, unless the Dreg had some kind of weird clean up or stealth ability? You looked over at Kuuhaku and she seemed equally confused, looking around as though nothing looked real. She took you to the bedroom where the foster parents slept and opened the door to find them in the bed. At a glance, you would think they were just asleep, but you examined closer to find they weren't breathing. Removing the covers, you blinked as you discovered holes in the chest of both bodies, right over where the heart was.

Suddenly, you heard and felt a cracking sound as the apartment seemed to shift and there was now more blood everywhere. You rushed back into the living room to find it trashed, with claw marks and smashed furniture, along with a busted in window and wrecked balcony. "An illusion?" You wondered out loud. "But.. the Dreg Beast couldn't have done this, could it? Did I just get lucky and get the drop on it…?"

"It wasn't alone." Kuuhaku said. "There was a tall man with it, they looked like they were made of mirrors…" She looked around. "I don't think we can live here."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that…" You said, looking around. An alarm hadn't gone off and you didn't hear any sirens, so there was the chance you could call in some of the cleaners to fix up the place… though usually they were usually only brought in when the masquerade needed some patching up after a battle got too public. "I can contact some people to fix up the place, but first… follow me." You went back into the bedroom with the bodies, with Kuuhaku following you close behind. She didn't really react to the bodies, but did look interested as golden embers gathered over them. You focused the power of Phoenix Fire over the bodies, which ignited and were consumed as the embers became a flame. The bed and covers, which were now no longer bloody, were left untouched by the flames. The ashes of the two corpses rose up and swirled, reconstructing into healthy and whole bodies that were thankfully clothed. The flames then flowed like water into the two bodies through their mouths. The two bodies shone with an aura of gold for a few seconds before the light dimmed.

Then the pair woke up gasping for air and shot up into sitting position, hands reaching to where there were once holes in their chest. "W-What the Hell, d-did just happen!?" The man questioned, sounding confused and terrified.

"I'm alive?" The woman asked herself, then looked over to see her partner. "You're alive? B-But I saw you…"

"Hello, and welcome back to the living world!" You announced, drawing the attention of both freshly resurrected humans.

"… Did that dog just talk… and have wings?" The woman asked, looking baffled.

"What, I d-don't understand…" the man said, staring at you with the look of someone who didn't know what was real or not.

"Well, allow me to explain then." You said as you flapped your wings, which made the two humans lean back in surprise. "My full name is impossible to actually pronounce for humans, so for the sake of convenience you may call me Do-Gi. You both were the unfortunate victims of an evil monster born from a dark spirit possessing an animal, in this case a fork of crow or raven I believe, and died. I rescued your charge, who the monster was chasing down an alleyway, and killed said monster. Then I had young Kuuhaku lead me back here, where I used my powers to resurrect you." You finished your quick exposition of events and watched the two for their reactions.

They promptly fainted.

"Well…in hindsight I should have expected that sort of reaction." You remarked, giving the unconscious pair of adults a look before turning to Kuuhaku. "Is your room intact?" You asked her, to which she nodded. "Alright, while I contact my colleagues, you should try to get some sleep." She was bound to have nightmares, but you couldn't do anything about that. You can fight, heal, and resurrect, you couldn't make some kind of dream catcher or some other anti-nightmare item. Kuuhaku slowly nodded and left for her room. You meanwhile went into the nearest bathroom and breathed in the mirror. On the fog that was made, you quickly drew a magic circle you and your siblings were taught in case you were ever chosen as you were and needed to deal with a mess.

The surface of the mirror rippled like water before settling into displaying an image of an insect winged fairy.

"You're the newly deployed Mascot, aren't you?" The purple haired Fae asked you, to which you nodded. "Has the situation already gotten out of hand? Do you need extraction?"

"No, that won't be necessary. Besides that, you know the Starborn don't really run." You said, to which she nodded. "However, I do need the services of the Cleaners. The current home of my first Champion Candidate was attacked by a Dreg Beast that was likely assisted by a Dreg Golem or possibly a Dreg Demon with illusionary powers. The damage is extensive and I don't really have many options for places to stay."

"Understood, please standby as we mobilize a team of Cleaners to your location." The Fae said as she reached up and messed with a sort of holographic runic keyboard. "Would you like for a sealing vessel to be delivered as well?"

"I would appreciate it if you could arrange that, I can store it in my inventory." You said, while glancing in a 'not' direction and looked into your empty pocket space. "That should be all, thank you."

"Understood, good luck with your mission." The faerie said, before cutting the communication line. Sure enough, the Cleaners arrived and started to magically repair the apartment and remove any evidence of the attack from the systems in the apartment building that might have existed. You were also handed a large metal Pithos with depictions of demonic creatures being chained and fed into the maw of a giant skull. This was a Pandoran Vessel, which would seal away an Accursed and allow them to be contained long enough to enact the ritual needed to destroy them.

You would need to consider how to handle things when morning came, it would be very important to start things off right.

How will you handle the guardians?
[ ] Insurance: You brought them back, they owe you life debt in the most literal way. Use the fact you can heal and resurrect them in order to get them to cooperate with you.
[ ] Exposition: Explain to them the entire situation and what you needed from them in order to do your job. Surely if you helped them understand, they would be willing to help.
[ ] Something Else: Maybe you should look at it from a different angle… (Write-In)

What will you do with Kuuhaku?
[ ] Double Check: Ask her if she is really certain about becoming a Champion. If she still wants to, awaken her Ember of Magic. If not, you'll come up with something…
[ ] When You're Ready: You will wait for her to come to you when she feels like she's ready to become a Champion, give her time to think things through and process things.
[ ] Already Agreed: Even if she wasn't in the best head space, she did agree to become a Champion already…She probably won't change her mind.
[ ] Something Else: Wait, maybe you could do this instead. (Write-In.)

What do you do with yourself?
[ ] Self-Reflection: You practically went berserk when you detected and saw that Dreg Beast, but that was not how you normally were. Mediate and inspect your True Essence to see if there was something different.
[ ] Vessel Checking: The Pandoran Vessel was the key to stopping the Accursed, so making sure it would actually work was very important. You'll just triple check to see if there were any issues.
[ ] Sleep: Normally, you didn't need to sleep and so you didn't. The closest you've done is fall into meditative trances. You wonder what sleep is like?
[ ] Scout: You'll spend the rest of the night doing some recon in the area around the apartment building.

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 12, 2022

[X] Informed Consent + Self-Reflection
-[X] Insurance: You brought them back, they owe you life debt in the most literal way. Use the fact you can heal and resurrect them in order to get them to cooperate with you.
-- [X] Be subtle about it and don't beat them over the head about it unless they really dig their heels in about it.
-[X] Double Check: Ask her if she is really certain about becoming a Champion. If she still wants to, awaken her Ember of Magic. If not, you'll come up with something…
-[X] Self-Reflection: You practically went berserk when you detected and saw that Dreg Beast, but that was not how you normally were. Mediate and inspect your True Essence to see if there was something different.

You decided to do some meditation in order to figure out what was going on with your newly acquired intensified hatred and rage at the Accursed and their servants. Sitting down on the newly repaired coach, you closed your eyes and pulled away from the physical vessel you inhabited and turned inwards, towards your true self. Gone were faint sounds of the city, the smell of freshly clean floors and furniture, the feeling of the couch, and in their place came the sound of the harmonic hum of celestial spheres, the feeling of arcane starlight radiating from within, the everburning flame of purest magical energy that served as your very being. You felt brighter, more radiant, your core burning hotter than ever before. You can see the golden embers of Phoenix fire dancing as miniature stars among your essence, shaping into cosmic patterns and constellations while singing a song of perpetual renewal, of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth made eternal. You felt the might of great warriors and ancient beasts from myth and legend reaching out from your essence towards the vessel that was your physical body, awaiting the time when the call of battle was made once more. You looked deeper, gazing into the very center of your being…

DC: ??. Roll: 76. Pass.

You feel something, a tugging at the edge of your senses. You follow it towards a part of your core and find a metaphysical representation of the stellar heart of the Sanctum Aetherius. But, it was different now. It was an angry dark red coloration, and flares of arcane stellar matter raged across its surface. You could hear… voices, whispering to you with their anger and hate. You got flashes of a disasters, of the earth splitting open like a maw filled with jagged stony fangs spewing forth magma and toxic fumes, the seas riding up as great tidal waves that towered into heavens crashed into the land and wiped it clean, as the sky itself cracked open with a myriad of dimensional rifts that sent down pillars of multicolored lightning that brought forth destruction and blasted holes in the fabric of space-time. You saw the gathering of men and women in robes and several pantheons worth of divine beings and elder elemental beings standing together as part of a great ritual, their physical forms sundered as their souls merged into a single entity that was born with the flash and force of a supernova.

And you heard their voices all rage and curse the ones who brought forth the calamities upon their home, and it was like a thousand thunderclaps going off inside your head at the same time.

"VENGEANCE!"

You were snapped out of your meditation and found yourself falling off the couch and landing on the floor, now nursing a splitting headache that made the room blur and spin. You stayed like that, panting as you tried to use your healing powers to ease the pain, the embers of gold swirling around your body and very slowly you could feel the throbbing and stabbing sensation in your brain start to fade and disappear. You felt something was coming out of your nose, and brought a paw up to check what it was. Pulling your paw away and looking at it, you found blood. You must have had a nose bleed, which suggested the backlash was a lot worse than you thought.

Still… at least you had an idea as to what was happening…

Grudge of Aetherius: +10 to Combat when fighting Dregs and Accursed, -20 when trying to disengage from combat with Dregs and Accursed. Must roll to resist going berserk when detecting hidden Dregs.

You ended up waiting until everyone woke up, the two adults walking into the living room with confused looks on their faces, which quickly turned to shock and a bit of fear when they saw you. "Wait, t-that's the dog from the n-nightmare." The woman said, pointing at you while hiding behind the man, who had grown incredibly pale.

"I must say, isn't it a bit rude to point at others?" You said and that just made the two of them freak out more. "I would suggest calming down, we do have some things to discuss after all." The two adults looked at each other before the woman spoke.

"W-What do you mean?" She asked, and you sighed as you moved your wings a little as you started to explain.

"Well, if you look around you'll notice that your apartment is all cleaned up and repaired, and I am sure that you have already found the distinct lack of holes in your chests." You said while gesturing with your paw at the pair. "You have myself to thank for that, and in the case you don't remember my introduction before you fainted, you can refer to me as Do-Gi, since my real name is impossible for you to actually say." You moved closer to the two who stayed frozen in place.

"W-what do you want?" The man asked, tracking you with his eyes while sweating.

"My word, would you two calm down? I didn't save your lives just to do something horrible to you." You said and the pair blink and seemed to just realize that yes, you had really brought them back from the dead. "To get right to the case, I'll offer such gifts in the future along with regular healing for more survivable issues when you need it. In return, you allow me to stay here for the foreseeable future until such time that I no longer require your services. I don't require food or water, so you needn't worry about providing such for me. Ah, and I hope you don't mind, but should Kuuhaku still be interested in the offer I made to her, she may need some help in forming an alibi when needed, and she might be out later than normal."

"Kuuhaku? The Chinmoku girl?" The woman asked, looking at you with a new glint in her eye that you decided you rather didn't like. The man had the same look in his eye when they both shared a glance that seemed to be its own conversation of unspoken words. You were about to speak when the woman interrupted you. "If you're interested, maybe you would like to take her with you once you find your own place? I'm certain that something could be arranged and we would certainly be willing to assist you in whatever you need during your stay."

"Of course, we can also help persuade her to accept your offer if she was having any second thoughts, completely unreasonable ones I'm sure. No need for any details either, you certainly must be a good samaritan if you would go so far for people you have never met before." The man said, going along with his partner. "I'm certain your offer isn't anything objectionable, so no need to explain."

You searched their expressions for any sign of deception, but found none. They were really completely okay with just… handing Kuuhaku over to you. They didn't even want to know what the actual offer was! And you had a feeling they wouldn't care, even if you had some sort of darker motive. You blinked as one of Kuuhaku's earlier statements ran through your mind. They really were bad at this whole parenting thing!

"I… see." You said slowly, before your ears perked as you heard a door open. Turning your attention, you saw Kuuhaku walking up from the hallway. "Ah, Kuuhaku. I was going to talk to you regarding my offer-"

"I accept." She said, her grey eyes giving the barest and quickest glance over to her… you really felt hesitant to call them 'guardians' at the moment. "I already agreed before, my answer hasn't changed."

"Ah, good girl! I'm sure mister… Do-Gi greatly appreciates your willingness." The man said, and you realized something.

"What are your names?" You asked and the two people froze up as they came to the same realization as you.

"Ah, I am Kinu Yuki, and this is my fiancé, Yama Tetsu." The newly identified Kinu said, giving you a nervous smile trying to be a polite one. The man, Yama, nodded with the same smile.

"… Right, why don't you two get started on breakfast while I discuss things with Kuuhaku." You said and the two engaged adults left for the kitchen. You looked back at Kuuhaku, who had closed the distance between you two. "Well, if you really are sure, I recommend sitting down for this." Kuuhaku nodded at your words and sat down on the floor in a way that you think looks uncomfortable. The one where a person kind of sits on their knees. "Okay then, if you're comfortable…" You walked over to Kuuhaku and placed your paw on her core and drew out her monochrome Ember. "This might feel a bit tingling… or like you're being immolated."

"Wait, what-?"

You began the kindling process, and time stopped. You stared into the monochrome and 'silent' Ember. You drew out the initial potential for Kuuhaku's Ember in the form of Sparks of starlight. This is what you used to kindle and Ember of Magic into a proper and healthy flame. You counted the Sparks, and found that Kuuhaku had a fairly large amount, around 60 Sparks in total. You checked what form her Core Magic would take. It seemed to take the form of creating a black goop-like substance of some kind of 'not-matter' and shaping it into simple tools, weapons, and structures. Things like walls, screwdrivers, hammers, swords, shields, and stuff like that. You could invest these Sparks into enhancing her Magic down certain paths, upgrades. You could also use these Sparks to improve her Champion Form, or even her 'Civilian' form. It was a lot of responsibility.

Right, time to get down to business…

This is where I really put my foot down on the whole Plan format thing. This is a BIG one.

As a reminder, you have 60 Sparks to spend however you like. You get basically one shot at this, as you won't get this many Sparks again in the future, at least for Kuuhaku. You can get more Sparks to buy upgrades later after Kuuhaku gets some kills under her belt, but the First Kindling is where you will get the most Sparks for your Champions.

[ ] Void Vault: Can open portals to void space where items can be placed for safekeeping and drawn out later. Time doesn't pass within the pocket space, so items do not age or decay. Can store Void Matter constructs indefinitely within the void space. (5 Sparks)

[ ] Void Door: Allows for use of the void space as a means of transport between locations by creating portals that link the locations together. Limited to one pair of portals at a time. Requires Void Vault (10 Sparks)

[ ] Void Recall: Kuuhaku can mark a location as a Recall Point. If in danger, Kuuhaku can attempt to transport herself and her allies back to the marked location. The worse the situation, the greater the chance for success. Requires Void Door (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Infinity Nexus: Kuuhaku can now directly enter the void dimension, and can open as many portals to as many as she desires, so long as she knows the location. She may give multiple portals the same exit point, allowing for people from multiple places to arrive at the same destination. Acts as a Recall Point without needing to mark a location. Requires Void Recall. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Void Conversion: Kuuhaku can temporarily convert Void Matter into non-living Real Matter, allowing them to last longer. After a day, the construct will convert back into Void Matter and dissolve. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Void Realization: Kuuhaku can now permanently convert Void Matter into non-living Real Matter, allowing for items she creates to exist permanently. However, she cannot repair damaged Realized constructs with Void Matter. Requires Void Conversion. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Void Repair: Kuuhaku can now repair non-living Real Matter using Void Matter, the worse the damage the more Void Matter and time it takes. Requires Void Realization. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Ex Nihilo: Kuuhaku can now skip converting Void Matter and create non-living Real Matter items. Very exhausting to use, can only be done 3 times per Day. Requires Void Repair. (25 Sparks.)

[ ] Void Born: Kuuhaku can summon forth small creatures made of Void Matter called Voidlings. Kuuhaku can summon up to 4 Voidlings at a time. Voidlings will dissolve unless given a daily infusion of Void Matter. Individually weak and fragile, but can work as a group. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Void Knight: Kuuhaku can summon a stronger version of Voidling that can fight and withstand multiple blows with its shield and sword arms. Only 2 Voidling Knights can be summoned at a time. Must be fed daily infusion of Void Matter. Requires Void Born. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Void Mystic: Kuuhaku can summon a floating Voidling that can fire bolts of energized void matter and 'blink' short distances. Only 2 Void Mystics can be summoned at once. Must be fed daily infusion of Void Matter. Requires Void Born. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Void Juggernaut: Kuuhaku can summon a single powerful Voidling with hammer-like fists that can smash through armor. Only 1 Voidling Juggernaut can be summoned at a time. A Voidling Juggernaut cannot be maintained outside of battle. Requires Void Knight & Void Mystic (20 Sparks)

[ ] Hollow Genesis: Voidlings no longer require infusions of Void Matter. Kuuhaku can summon a full complement of Voidlings in battle. Requires Void Juggernaut. (25 Sparks)

[ ] Void Corrosion: Kuuhaku's Void Matter can now corrode regular matter, removing physical armor and defenses. Kuuhaku is immune and can make her allies immune. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Void Siphon: Kuuhaku's Void Matter can now drain energy, both mundane and magical. Magical or Energy based protection is slowly stripped away until fully removed. Requires Void Corrosion. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Void Reduction: Kuuhaku can use her Void Matter constructs to 'remove' space between her and a target, bringing them closer. Requires Void Corrosion. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Maw of Oblivion: Kuuhaku creates a large sphere of Void Matter in the air that acts as a pseudo-black hole, drawing in enemies, ambient energy, and loose objects into the sphere. Requires Void Siphon and Void Reduction. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Advanced Constructs: Kuuhaku's constructs can now be more technically advanced, allowing for things like drills, chainsaws, pile bunkers, and jackhammers. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Construct Control: Kuuhaku can now remotely control her constructs with limited telekinesis. She can only control two constructs like this. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Construct Mastery: Kuuhaku can now make constructs of vehicles and advanced weapons such as mini-guns and rocket launchers. She can also remotely control up to 4 constructs. Requires Advanced Constructs and Construct Control. (25 Sparks.)

[ ] Void Body: Kuuhaku gains immunity to disease and poison. She can also use Void Matter to heal herself. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Void Mind: Kuuhaku gains immunity to charm and fear. Kuuhaku is also immune to mind reading. Requires Void Body. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Void Heart: Kuuhaku can transform into a being composed of pure Void Matter, gaining enhanced physical abilities and limited shapeshifting. Immunity to Possession and Resistance to Spiritual Attacks. Requires Void Mind. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Additional Armaments: Most Champions only have one weapon, but by investing some Sparks, additional weapons can be given. Can be picked up to two times. (5 Sparks).
-[] Melee: A weapon like a sword, a hammer, a spear, or an axe as examples.
-[] Ranged: A weapon that can fire projectiles at targets from a distance. Weapons such as bows, crossbows, and guns fall under this category.
-[] Mystic: A weapon meant for channeling the user's Magic. Staffs, Wands, Talismans, and Emblems all fall under this category.
-[] FIST!: Not technically a weapon, this rather gifts gauntlets or brass knuckles like items that can enhance the unarmed physical blows of the Champion.

[ ] Reinforced Outfit: While certain outfits have armor on them, not all of them tend to be. So, you can invest some Sparks into boosting the defensive abilities of the Champion's outfit. Can be taken up to three times. (5 Sparks.)

[ ] Enhanced Masquerade: While Champions possess a minor form of perception filter that protects their identities, but by spending some Sparks, you can make it so that even if they saw the Champion transform in front of them, they wouldn't be able to form a connection unless outright told by the Champion. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Environmental Protection: You know what would be nice? If you Champion didn't have to worry about things like radiation, poison gas, or a literal vacuum. With this, those are worries of the past. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Impact Change!: Sometimes, you need the bad guys to back off while transforming. With an investment of Sparks, you can make so that any Dregs close to the Champions are blasted away when they transform. The Champion will also find their first attack after transformation will be much stronger. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Emergency Reserve: With some investment, you can make sure that the Champion will have a backup supply of magical energy to call upon once their main source dries up. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Encore Mode: Sometimes, the first showing isn't enough. Sometimes, you're spent and the enemy just won't go down. Sometimes, you need to go beyond your limits. Encore Mode is what most would call a Super Form. For 4 Turns, the Champion can access Encore Mode, boosting their Magic and physical abilities. Once those 4 Turns are up however, the curtain falls and the Champion reverts to Civilian form and can't transform again for the rest of that Day. (20 Sparks.)

[ ] Favor of Chance: Games of chance, the roll of a dice, the luck of finding some cash on the sidewalk, or meeting someone who could be important in the future. By investing some Sparks, the Champion is blessed with an odd sort of good luck. (5 Sparks.)

[ ] Favor of Fate: Destiny seems to have taken a liking to the Champion, or maybe it's the Sparks you've used to bribe the cosmos. Either way, you never have to worry about accidents or bad luck inconveniencing your Champion while they work with you. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Ignition of Friendship: A bit of an odd one, the Champion seems to attract those who could become genuine good friends with them. They'll come to them instead of just leaving them alone, in the vein of an extrovert basically adopting an introvert if the Champion isn't the most social person. The Champion still needs to work to maintain those friendships, but it does handle the initial meeting. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Blessing of Wealth: Well, you were sure that this might be technically illegal, but hey it's all for the sake of saving the world. The Champion will wake up each day with the equivalent of $100 USD in the local currency, stored in a convenient pocket space. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Blessing of Sorcery: Normally, a Champion can only access their Magic when transformed, but this will let them use their Core Magic while in Civilian form. (20 Sparks.)

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 17, 2022

[X] Plan shanagan
-[X] Void Body: (10 Sparks)
-[X] Void Mind: (15 Sparks)
-[X] Void Heart: (20 Sparks)
-[X] Void Vault: (5 Sparks)
-[X] Void Door: (10 Sparks)

You pushed the Sparks into the Ember, and watched as it grew and grew in intensity before it became a true monochromatic flame that let loose a roar of literal deafening silence. You watched as the flame spread and embraced Kuuhaku, covering her body. Time slowly started to move forward again as the kindling process finalized. When time resumed its proper course, the metaphysical fire faded out of the physical realm to reveal Kuuhaku's champion form. Kuuhaku was clad in smooth pale white armor over a vantablack undersuit that peeks through the joints and midsection. Over that was a pale white hooded cloak with a black interior that looked big enough to cover her body down to just halfway down her shins, with black triangles lining the edges of the bottom of the cloak and the opening of the hood. The strangest part of the outfit, you thought at least, was the smooth white mask that covered Kuuhaku's face, the only notable feature on its blank surface was the eyes. The eyes of the mask seemed to be filled with an inky black darkness, like they were portals leading into a deep abyss.

As Kuuhaku stood up, she brought her left hand up to the mask, which vanished in a burst of monochrome flame to reveal her face. Held in her other hand was a gun that was pale white with what looked like a vantablack line with branches running down the sides of the gun towards the mouth of the barrel starting from a black circle. Looking at it, you knew that it didn't fire bullets, but hardened and sharp spikes void matter. Kuuhaku looked at her gun and ran her hand across the almost organic looking material of the weapon. There was a look of understanding in her eyes, along with recognition, as if she knew on an instinctual level what it was and how to use it.

"… This is mine." Kuuhaku said before she shifted her attention to you. "I feel… different. Better, I think." She raised her left arm and watched as it shifted into a solid limb made of pure void matter, turning completely into a material that was even darker than vantablack. It seemed to almost passively drink in the light around it. Another moment and the fingers sharpened into long talons, and then morphed into a single shape spike. Finally, it rippled as it reverted back into its original shape. Kuuhaku wiggled her fingers in fascination. "… Cool."

You cleared your throat to get Kuhaku's attention back on yourself. "You are now a Champion of Sanctum Aetherius, the sworn enemy of the Accursed and a protector of the world from supernatural threats. Your powers give you an edge in battle, but be warned, you are not invincible. I will aid you however I can, and in my case, I can aid in more ways than my predecessors." You said, and Kuuhaku listened to your words. "I will be able to fight alongside you and heal your wounds. Even if you should perish, I can bring you back to fight and live again. However, even with my power and your awakened magical abilities, alone the two of us cannot hope to end the Accursed. Thus, I will seek out others who hold an Ember like you have. Do you believe that you can work alongside others?"

Kuuhaku stared at you with her blank expression, you almost wondered why she was given a mask with such an impeccable poker face, before she nodded. "As long as they aren't jerks, I don't mind." She then blinked and tilted her head. "… Can I… pet you?"

… You should have expected this, really. Your golden fur is quite luxurious and was very nice. You nodded, allowing your first Champion to pet you. Kuuhaku kneeled down and did so, softly petting your head. "… soft." She said in an awed whisper. It was… nice actually, and you could feel your tail acting on its own as it wagged back an'Showtimed forth. Curse this body's unconscious reactions to physical stimuli! Kuuhaku stopped and stood up to resume inspecting her outfit, her weapon having vanished in monochrome flame.

"If you are wondering how to change back, just say…" You poked at what your 'command phrases' were. Each Mascot has their own, something about it being a reflection of their nature or a method of marking each deployment. You weren't sure if it was one of those reasons or something else, and you didn't really care. You soon found it, and mentally raised an eyebrow. "'Showtime, Cut', go on and give it a shot."

"Showtime, Cut." Kuuhaku repeated the phrase, and her whole outfit went up in monochrome flames that faded away to reveal the pajamas she was wearing earlier. "Oh, it worked." She said, stretching her arms.

The call that breakfast was ready was made and Kuuhaku went over to the dining table while you started to further review the information you had on the city of Hoseki in greater detail. Hoseki and the Island it was on was made a decade back to handle potential overpopulation, but who made it was interesting. A group of seven wealthy families with old money banded together to fund everything and somehow managed to afford it. They were located in the northern section in large family complexes that separated from even the nice neighborhood of mini-mansions. If those were mini-mansions, then the clan complexes were literal palaces! It actually boggled your mind, how could anyone be that wealthy? Moving down to the city section, as in Hoseki proper, you quickly noticed that a full 1/5th of the city was taken up by the massive Golden Dragon Central Park, named for the large gold dragon statue in the center of the lakes of the forested park. You physically blinked when you realized that the statue was located precisely in the exact center of the island.

That alone was rather strange, but then you noticed that the city had four schools located in each cardinal direction and they were all built with their entrenches facing directly towards the park and by extension, the statue. You quickly noticed that each school had its own statue as well that was also facing in the direction towards the gold dragon statue. A black tortoise to the north, an azure dragon to the east, a vermilion bird to the south, and a white tiger to the west. Well, that was something investigation worthy in your opinion. Additionally the northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest parts of the city each had a hospital, a police station, and a fire station that covered their respective sections. There was also a set of trains that ran around the city, carrying people around the different sections in both clockwise and counterclockwise routes.

There was a fairly large space reserved as a graveyard between the city and the rich neighborhood, with a number of graves set up already over the decade. To the east and west borders or the city, were huge docks. Each dock basically went all the way from the north end of the city all the way down to the south end of the city. Fishing ships, cargo ships, tourist ships, name it and you would probably be able to find it at the docks.

Then there was the southern part of the island, where there were both farms and a sort of small 'greenhouse city'. Combined with fishing, the southern section of the island provided a full 50% of the food for the island, the rest being from imports. There was a smaller graveyard area and a village/town around the farms, called Kinben.

You would need to figure out which school Kuuhaku went to, as that would also give you a general area to work with for your initial patrols. You recall that one of the powers you invested Sparks into would give Kuuhaku access to portals for instant travel, so perhaps you could have a larger coverage than you assume. You'll need to see the exact limits, but you were sure it would be a boon. Ah, if only you could kindle yourself, maybe you could unlock even more powers that could help you-

[Spark Count: 5]

"… What." You said quietly in bafflement as you stared blankly at nothing while the information filled your head.

[Spark Count: 5]

WHAT!? HOW!? THIS WAS NOT RIGHT, THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!

No, calm down, you can't afford to panic. Think, Do-Gi, think! How do you have Sparks? Mascots, Starborn like yourself weren't supposed to get Sparks! It just didn't happen! So why did you have the knowledge that you had Sparks!? The only ways for Sparks to be gained was during the ignition of a Champion's Ember and killing Dregs-

…
……
………

Oh.

You killed a Dreg, and now you have Sparks.

There have clearly been more unforeseen consequences to your actions than you first realized. You were going to take a moment to scream internally now.

AAAAAAAAAA-

"So yes. It is best we plan out how to spend our time while we can. Obviously you have school to attend, but I am sure that we can still work out on something to do for the rest of the day." You said, the picture of calm composure and tranquil peace on the outside. You think Kuuhaku is aware of your earlier internal outburst with the way she's giving a look of understanding and silent support, but that has worrying implications so you're going to shelve that for a bit.

"Well, Kuuhaku goes to Azure East. She's had good grades so far and her teachers have said good things about her academic ability." Yama said, with the kind of voice that made you think he was trying to advertise Kuuhaku, like she was some kind of car that a dealer was trying to get you to buy. Which was…yeah, concerning.

"I'm certain that Kuuhaku will be very cooperative with whatever schedule you come with, she's a real team player." Kinu on the other hand had been acting like she was trying to convince you to hire Kuuhaku, like she was trying to do a job interview for Kuuhaku. Which was a weird comparison, since you technically already 'hired' Kuuhaku as a Champion.

Though speaking of plan, you should come up with something before you lose your patience.

Welcome to Day 1. You have a total of 3 Action Slots. Plan Format Required.

[ ] Patrol: Go out on patrol for Dregs, or even other supernatural problems. Chance to Encounter Dregs. Chance to Encounter ???
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Scout Recruits: Search for Champion Candidates that you could potentially recruit. Chance to Encounter Candidates.
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Recruitment Drive: Go after an Ember of Magic and try to Recruit the person it's attached to towards the cause. Can select the same option multiple times.
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki (5 Embers)
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Training: Help a Champion improve in some way. (Will default to Kuhaku.)
-[ ] Combat Training: Train a Champion to improve in Combat.
-[ ] Mystic Training: Train a Champion to improve their Magic.

[ ] Investigation: This city and the island it was on is a little strange. Maybe you should investigate deeper.
-[ ] Gold Dragon Statue: It sits at the center of a lake, which is in the center of a park in the center of the city. That it also sits exactly at the center of the island itself makes you wonder what the deal is.
-[ ] Mystic Attraction: Something about this island has an attractive effect to anything with a magical and supernatural nature, at least that's what you can sense. Looking deeper into what might be causing it might help you.
-[ ] The 12 Rings: One of the major objectives, if you can get to these rings before the Accursed or their minions do, it will be a major win.

[ ] Something Else: Sometimes, there are options that aren't obvious at first. (Write-In).

Royal_Sword13 · Mar 28, 2022

[X] Plan Combat Training & Obvious Leads
-[X] Training: Help a Champion improve in some way. (Will default to Kuhaku.)
--[X] Combat Training: Train a Champion to improve in Combat.
-[X] Investigation: This city and the island it was on is a little strange. Maybe you should investigate deeper.
--[X] Mystic Attraction: Something about this island has an attractive effect to anything with a magical and supernatural nature, at least that's what you can sense. Looking deeper into what might be causing it might help you.
--[X] The 12 Rings: One of the major objectives, if you can get to these rings before the Accursed or their minions do, it will be a major win.

Well, getting a head start on the retrieval part of your mission and figuring out what the deal with this attraction effect was seemed like a good idea, as did training Kuuhaku in combat to improve her fighting capabilities for future battles. She is your only Champion at the moment, and while the transformation comes with an instinctive knowledge of how to utilize any weapons they had access to, it wasn't the same as actually learning and understanding how to swing a blade or shoot a gun, though it did give at least a foundation to start building up from.

You think you will do the investigations first, give Kuuhaku the day to relax mostly after what happened last night and let it all truly settle into place. The time it took to properly process things like the deaths of one's guardians, having the supernatural and mystical side of existence revealed to them in such a violent manner, witnessing previously mentioned dead guardians being resurrected, and then becoming a magical warrior who will do battle with the very monsters that tried to kill them was a lot to take in.

You were sure that she would be fine, and if not, you would help her. It was part of your duty as a Mascot after all, having a healthy mind was very important to maintaining composure in the face of adversity and the many monsters she would face. Numbers would help too, but you would get around to recruiting more Champions later. There were five other Embers in this section of the city alone, after all! Maybe if you were lucky, there would be enough potential Champions in each section that you could have a team per section, which would certainly be nice! And time consuming to manage probably, but everything had pros and cons, it was simply a matter of taking the option with the most amount of pros and the least amount of cons.

Hmm, you seemed to have gone off on a small mental tangent. Well, time to focus on the first thing you wanted to look into, the mystical attraction effect of the island. It was strange, there was this pull you could feel even now, as though trying to keep you on the island and not let you leave. It wasn't really a compulsion though, it wasn't like the island was pulling off some kind of siren song for magical stuff. No… this was more like… either magnets being pulled together or maybe a gravity well that dragged things towards it that got caught in its field of influence. You had left the apartment and were doing a fly over of the city, senses extended out as much as you could to try and find out where the pull might be originating from or at least was strongest in its intensity.

DC: 60
Roll: 20

Failure

But… honestly, you couldn't pick up anything that looked like an origin point that might be generating the effect, which meant your search method either wasn't working or it was somewhere beyond your ability to detect. There was also the chance it was hidden somehow from the kind of scanning you were doing, which wouldn't be that surprising. Your senses were made more detecting magic in the form of Embers, the Dregs, or the Accursed. If you knew some proper divination rituals or spells, that might help too if you lacked the natural senses needed to do so. Either of those would end up helping immensely in investigating something like this. Still, even this failure gave you possible leads to look for. Now then, you should see if you would have any luck on maybe tracking those rings.

The Twelve Rings, or The Rings of Calamity as some have called them, were artifacts created by the Accused before they were transformed to try and become the God-Kings and God-Queens of creation, and in order to create them they slayed entities of immense mystic potency and sealed their essence and souls into a ring that would be wielded by one of their number. This meant that each ring would have a unique signature, different from the rest of the rings. You didn't know if the sealed essence of the beings was still conscious or 'alive', and personally hoped that wasn't the case. Being trapped in a ring for countless centuries without any form of contact with another being, it sounded like a special kind of hell that would drive anyone mad that… well, okay, you would probably inflict it on the Accursed if you could. You redefined your search parameters and began to look out for any signatures that might really stand out.

DC: 70
Roll: 91
Success! Lead Gained

Your senses immediately picked up the presences of twelve entities, each of them different, but they all had the feeling of something that was so incredibly ancient, like being in the presence of an old temple that was left behind by a long vanished civilization. You tried to pinpoint their exact location but found that there was some sort of obfuscation effect that disrupted your attempts to get an exact read. At best, you could only get a rough idea of where the rings were. There was two rings in the 'noble neighborhood', one ring in the founder's palace compounds, three rings in the city itself, and a staggering six rings in the southern agricultural area of the island,. You didn't know exactly where each was within those sections, but you at least knew where they were in general beyond 'on the island'. Still, having half of them all on the south side… you will probably end up spending a lot of time in that area, good thing Kuuhaku happened to live relatively close to it.

You could at least check to see if any rings were in the part of the city where Kuuhaku and the other five Embers you sensed lived. Later though, as you had to go and start your combat training with Kuuhaku as it was starting to get late, you had spent most of the day flying over the island several times with your senses at full blast while also having to focus it towards finding something specific to try and get a lead. You were at least making progress though, and that had to count for something.

You return to the apartment to find Kuuhaku eating some instant noodles, and with her guardians missing. "Where are your guardians, Kuuhaku?" You asked, getting her attention in the process as she was slurping up some noodles.

"They went to get a medical checkup." Kuuhaku said before she resumed devouring her meal. You sniffed the air and detected the smell of something.

"Is that teriyaki I smell?" You asked, and Kuuhaku gave you a slow blink before nodding.

"Beef teriyaki flavored, some flavor powder must have been left out." She said, looking towards the kitchen before returning to look at you. "What did you do?"

"I did some investigation, got some leads, hit some dead ends." You said as she finished her food. "Now I plan on using the rest of the day to help you with some combat training." Kuuhaku's eyes gained a small spark to them when you said that. "Your transformation gives you some instinctive ability on how to fight using your weapon and your magic, but having a real understanding of what you're doing will be better than just relying on that alone. Plus, it can carry over to when you're not transformed."

Kuuhaku nodded and stood up. "Showtime, Action." She said, monochrome flames engulfing her form before fading away to show her Champion form. "What will we be doing?"

"Well, I have a few ideas." You said as you thought about how to go about this. You could focus on improving her accuracy and skill using her weapon, the spike gun. You could also teach her how to fight unarmed in a somewhat basic brawler style if she's disarmed or gets into a fight when not transformed. Alternatively, you could teach her how to DODGE! … Huh, that came out of nowhere. Anyway, you could also try teaching her how to analyze her enemies in combat in order to figure out their patterns, weaknesses, and strengths. Or you could come up with something else

How do you train Kuuhaku?
[ ] Train Ranged Accuracy: Work to improve Kuuhaku's accuracy and skill with her weapon.
[ ] Train Unarmed Combat: Teach Kuuhaku how to fight without a weapon, given your own lack of skill, the best you can do is a brawler style.
[ ] Train Evasion: You can work to help Kuuhaku improve her ability to evade attacks and dodge in combat, avoiding damage is always better than tanking it:
[ ] Train Analysis: You can teach Kuuhaku how to observe and take notice of patterns during the heat of combat, forming a profile on her opponent's strengths and weaknesses.
[ ] Something Else: You could come up with more ways to train Kuuhaku, and try them out. (Write-In)

Ring Locations
Noble Neighborhood: 2 Rings
Founder "Palaces": 1 Ring
Hoseki City: 3 Rings
Agriculture Sector: 6 Rings

Royal_Sword13 · Apr 26, 2022

[X] Train Analysis: You can teach Kuuhaku how to observe and take notice of patterns during the heat of combat, forming a profile on her opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

"Let's focus on combat analysis." You said, thinking about it. "Being able to identify an opponent's strengths and weaknesses through observation and forming a profile on them can let you make better use of your toolset and make more effective tactics and strategies that you could use against them." You explained to Kuuhaku after she tilted her head questioningly at you. You contemplated on how to do this for a few moments before speaking again. "Consider, for instance, the avian Dreg Beast I killed yesterday. While a truly fearsome enemy to most, if you know its strengths and weaknesses, you can prepare countermeasures to nullify the former and exploit the latter. Knowing is half the battle-" Just as you finished that line, Kuuhaku suddenly hummed a tune. You blinked a few times at the unexpected action as Kuuhaku seemed to realize what she just did and looked away from you, her mask probably hiding a blush of embarrassment.

"… Continue…" Kuuhaku said quietly, and you nodded before doing so, while finding her reaction to be somewhat adorable in a way. It still did somewhat baffle you how well she was doing considering what happened yesterday, but maybe she had just processed it all while you were flying around and doing your initial investigation and scouting, you should probably ask her how she was feeling later.

"Alright then. Something you might know regarding my birds is that they have hollow bones to help to fly, reducing the weight their wings have to generate lift for in order to get off the ground and into the air. While a Dreg Beast will naturally be tougher and larger, applying sufficient blunt force trauma will be more effective on that type of Dreg Beast than compared to one based on an Elephant. Breaking their wings in particular would also take away any potential use of flight, limiting their combat options and methods of escape." You explained, and paused as Kuuhaku raised a hand, like she was in class. "Yes, Kuuhaku?" You asked, somewhat amused.

"Do the monsters usually try to run away?" She asked, and you considered the question. While it was not something that happened often, the more intelligent Dregs were able to recognize when a fight wasn't going their way or that they were at a disadvantage, and so they would try to retreat. It rarely worked, but occasionally they managed to get away, though strangely those ones rarely ever popped back up again. It was theorized that the Accursed Ones disposed of most minions who ran away, though how isn't really known besides a potential kill switch that they might have access to. You couldn't really dissect a Dreg, and capturing them wasn't something past Mascots did. However, getting back to the actual question, most Dregs didn't try to run, Dreg Beasts and Dreg Golems would keep fighting until they were vanquished, and immature Dreg Demons never last long enough in a fight to even consider retreat. Fighting a Dreg outside of a host just didn't happen most times, the bastards were just that good at staying hidden.

"Generally, no." You said before explaining your relevant thoughts on the subject to Kuuhaku, with her nodding in order to show that she understands, or at least thought she did. "Continuing on, that particular Dreg Beast's primary weapons were its beak and talons, so piercing and slashing attacks are the most likely ones that you would have to watch out for. In the case of most attacks, it's better to dodge out of the way instead of blocking or parrying. We'll cover effective dodging at a later time. So, from what I've just told you, what sort of plan of attack would you use for this Dreg Beast, having the powers you do now?"

Kuuhaku thought about it for several seconds. "Constant movement, don't stay in one place for long. Use Magic to make something that can smash its bones, aim for the limbs first or the spine, incapacitating or paralyzing it to create an opening…." Kuuhaku looked up to the sky as she seemed to have an idea, but what expression she was making behind the mask was unknown to you. "Maybe bait it into trying to peck me while opening a portal, then closing it in order to decapitate it?"

She was taking to this better than you had expected, but then again, you had provided her with most of the information she needed to form a plan to begin with. That said, that last one was all her, though… "And do you know if your portals can do that? While it might work as a good alternative to block an attack, possibly redirect it back at the attacker, simply assuming that your portals could be used as makeshift guillotines without testing is a dangerous risk." Kuuhaku nodded, but then tilted her head and started to raise her hand again before you spoke up. "You can ask questions without raising your hand, as long as I'm not actively speaking, Kuuhaku."

"How is this helping with forming an analysis while in battle? We've been talking about something that's already happened." She asked after putting down her hand.

"Well that's simple, I'm giving you a baseline idea of the concept before starting the real lesson. An introduction before the training. Like orientation days at school or… something like that, I'm not familiar with how the school system operates on this island." You said, with Kuuhaku staring at you for a moment before taking a step back as she just came to a realization of just how you'll be doing this training. "I see you've figured out what we'll be doing for the next few hours, let's get started then!" You said, smiling at her. "I recommend opening a portal to somewhere with lots of empty space, the southeastern corner of the agricultural lands should do. Near the shoreline preferably."

Kuuhaku hesitantly nodded and opened a portal in mid-air, taking the form of a six foot tall disk of pitch black darkness with a halo of pale white around the edges, where void and existence touched. Showing her your trust, you jumped in first…

…and immediately face planted into the sand of the beach as the exit portal had formed in a slight angle so that the momentum of you leaping into the entry portal carried into a head first dive into the sandy shoreline, burying your head somewhat in the sand. Quickly you pulled your head out of the ground and quickly moved out of the way as Kuuhaku tumbled out of the portal, falling over and landing in an undignified heap as the portal closed behind her. Kuuhaku laid there for several seconds before slowly getting up, the front of her outfit now covered in sand. She took a moment before looking over to you. "… let us never speak of this to anyone." She said, to which you nodded in silent agreement.

Shaking off the sand on your head while Kuuhaku de-transformed and re-transformed to get rid of the sand on her, you shifted into combat form. "Alright, we will be going a few rounds and at the end of it, I want you to tell me what you managed to learn from it and explain the logic of any tactics you come up with and make use of, understood?" You asked her.

"Understood." She said as she immediately drew her gun and started shooting, spikes of void matter silently being fired from the barrel as you dodged. When you moved to counterattack, she shifted into her Void Form and used the enhanced physical abilities of the form to leap over you. Turning quickly, you saw her land somewhat un-gracefully and dropping Void Form. She seemed to experience a small degree of vertigo or dizziness for a moment, leaving herself open to attack. You took the opening and lunged at her while swinging a paw, aiming to not hit her with the claws but instead the paw pad. You could heal and resurrect, but that wasn't a reason to use potentially lethal force in a spar.

Seeing the attack coming, Kuuhaku formed a two-inch thick tower shield of Void Matter to block the swing, which still made her stumble a bit as she didn't properly brace herself for the impact and she lost her hold on the shield. Once more, she entered her Void Form and this time you noticed her legs shifting into something resembling grasshopper legs before she jumped away from you… and went a little too high up. Kuuhaku flailed around in the air uncontrollably as she clearly didn't expect to go so high. You quickly flew up and caught her and brought her back down to earth safely. Kuuhaku had to take a moment to catch her breath and calm down from her accidental super jump.

"Well, that one was a bit of a bust I suppose." You said, looking her over. "You okay?"

"Everything is fine." Kuuhaku said, sitting down and looking at her legs, which were back to normal after she had dropped out of Void Form while in the air. "I will not be doing that again without further testing…"

"Mind explaining why you thought giving yourself super jumping skills would help you?" You asked, Kuuhaku looking at you after you did and taking off her mask.

"You can fly, and are very fast. Needed ways to match or keep up with mobility." She said, and you could see a faint blush on her face. "It did not work as I planned."

"Well, that's why it's good to find these things out while training instead of out in the field." You said. "That way, you can improve and know what to do or what not to do when fighting Dregs or whatever else might come up."

"I understand." Kuuhaku said. After a few more moments she stood up and put her mask back on. "Let's keep going. I haven't really analyzed you yet…"

You nodded and started off the next round of sparring, and then the next one after that. So on and so forth for the next few hours before Kuuhaku needed to return home to sleep.

DC: 50
Roll: 54

Kuuhaku gains progress on acquiring Combat Analysis skill (⅕)

After Kuuhaku went to bed, you were left to your own devices, which was mostly planning out your moves for the next day. You could follow up on one of your leads on trying to locate the Rings, you had a general idea where they were, but not their exact locations or what Rings were where. You still didn't have anything regarding the weird 'gravity' thing happening that drew in magical stuff to the island, so you may need to revisit that. You could continue training Kuuhaku in Combat Analysis, though thinking about it, only having you as a training partner might hinder her abilities. Not all opponents she would face were going to fight like you do. So, going out on a recruitment drive might help out there, and there were plenty of candidates in the local area of the city, and if you were lucky, maybe some of them even went to school with Kuuhaku and give her some friends. Having people to talk to and hang out with was good for mental health, and a sense of camaraderie could help then perform better out in the field.

Welcome to Day 2. You have a total of 3 Action Slots. Plan Format Required.

[ ] Patrol: Go out on patrol for Dregs, or even other supernatural problems. Chance to Encounter Dregs. Chance to Encounter ???
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Scout Recruits: Search for Champion Candidates that you could potentially recruit. Chance to Encounter Candidates.
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Recruitment Drive: Go after an Ember of Magic and try to Recruit the person it's attached to towards the cause. Can select the same option multiple times.
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki (5 Embers)
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Training: Help a Champion improve in some way. (Will default to Kuhaku.)
-[ ] Combat Training: Train a Champion to improve in Combat.
-[ ] Mystic Training: Train a Champion to improve their Magic.

[ ] Investigation: This city and the island it was on is a little strange. Maybe you should investigate deeper.
-[ ] Gold Dragon Statue: It sits at the center of a lake, which is in the center of a park in the center of the city. That it also sits exactly at the center of the island itself makes you wonder what the deal is.
-[ ] Mystic Attraction: Something about this island has an attractive effect to anything with a magical and supernatural nature, at least that's what you can sense. Looking deeper into what might be causing it might help you.
-[] Follow Up, Noble Neighborhood: Two rings detected here, should be easy to collect if you can get a lock on them.
-[] Follow Up, Founder "Palaces": With only one ring located in the area, you should be able to track it down and claim it quickly. Hopefully it's not in a jewelry box or something…
-[] Follow Up, Hoseki City: A fourth of the rings are all located in the city, but it's a much bigger area to search through. You don't know which sections of the city have a ring, so you should focus on that.
-[] Follow Up, Agricultural Section: Six rings in the entire section of the island south of the city, lots of space including farmland and the greenhouse complex where they could be and you have to find them. Literally half of the rings are in this section, best get started.

[ ] Something Else: Sometimes, there are options that aren't obvious at first. (Write-In).

Royal_Sword13 · May 16, 2022

[X]Plan Recruit, Investigate and Train
-[X] Recruitment Drive: Go after an Ember of Magic and try to Recruit the person it's attached to towards the cause. Can select the same option multiple times.
--[X] Southeast Hoseki (5 Embers)
-[X] Investigation: This city and the island it was on is a little strange. Maybe you should investigate deeper.
--[X] Follow Up, Agricultural Section: Six rings in the entire section of the island south of the city, lots of space including farmland and the greenhouse complex where they could be and you have to find them. Literally half of the rings are in this section, best get started.
-[X] Training: Help a Champion improve in some way. (Will default to Kuhaku.)
--[X] Combat Training: Train a Champion to improve in Combat.

You were flying over the southeastern section of Hoseki City, looking for one of the five other Embers of Magic that you had sensed when you first arrived. While you were certain that Kuhaku would be a fine champion, the fact of the matter was that one girl would not be able to stand against the enemies that you were up against without some backup that wasn't just you. In fact, any time a champion tried to pull the whole 'Lone Wolf' thing, it… never really ended up going well for them, and they needed to be bailed out by the rest of the team. When they make it in time, anyway…

You shook your head free of such thoughts. 'It's an occupational hazard, Dregs won't show mercy just because you made dumb decision.' You thought to yourself. 'Besides, they didn't have someone like me in their corner.'

Your power to resurrect the dead and heal injuries was… a boon that you were sure many past Starborn would covet and desire more than any other. It's not exactly spoken about, but your kind can get attached and even a bit clingy at times when they become a Mascot and start building their teams of champions, spending time with them. It's a byproduct of interacting with the Ember, and tending to the mystic flames that burns within a champion's soul. Even now, you couldn't help but feel concern for the grey eyed girl and… Well, it was kind of clear even with the minimum interactions so far that her current civilian life was not optimal. Hopefully it improves, though if need be, you could eventually get the resources to pull her out of there if needed after some Dreg killing.

'Look at me, already considering basically adopting her even after, what, a night and a day? They really downplay how fast this bond forms.' You thought, your wings flapping a few times to gain altitude while your senses spread out and pinpointed the location of the Embers. 'Let's see, what is the human ritual? Eeny…meeny…miny…moe…' You flew over to a random Ember, going as fast as you could to reach its location. Once there, you found that the candidate was…

[ ] A young girl around Kuhaku's age, with eyes the color of royal purple. Well, you could only see one eye, the other was covered by an eyepatch. She also had some bandages wrapped around her left arm with something written on it that you couldn't make out. She seemed to be… making an amateur ritual circle, badly?
[ ] A boy with fiery red hair, facing down a group of delinquents with a glare from eyes like molten gold. He seemed to be defending another boy that had some bruises.
[ ] A girl with white hair and sparkling gold eyes, smiling as she helped an older lady put away some groceries, and being given an apple as a reward.
[ ] Two for one, what looked like an older boy was trying to get his energetic younger sibling to calm down while he was trying to fix up… is that a motorcycle with a tank tread instead of wheels?

The Agricultural Sector made up everything south of the city, with massive plots of farmland and a super complex of interconnected greenhouses, all growing crops to both feed the people of the island and to export to the rest of the world in order to earn money. As you performed aerial recon over the large area where a full half of the rings were located, you ended up discovering that among the farmlands was a smaller town area that you had completely overlooked during your initial broader sweep of the island and that you hadn't known about as part of the info you got when you were sent out. That would make scouring for any Embers in the area a lot easier, as they'd likely be located there, but your senses were busy trying to locate the exact coordinates of the Rings.

DC: 80
Ring 1: 60, Fail
Ring 2: 98, Success!
Ring 3: 85, Success!
Ring 4: 42, Fail
Ring 5: 83, Success!
Ring 6: 87, Success!

Today was your lucky day! You managed to locate four out of the six Rings. As you flew over to the closet one however, you started to retract that statement. "Oh you have got to be kidding me…" You said as you stared at what looked like empty land to normal senses, but to your more mystical senses, you could detect a dimensional distortion that surrounded the location of the ring. Checking the other locations confirmed that it was the same for each one.

You knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but apparently racing against the Dregs and the Accursed wasn't the only problem you'd have to deal with. From what you can gather, the dimensional distortions would act as doors leading to a subspace that likely needed to be entered in order to retrieve the Ring, though you wondered why they were doing this? Was this some kind of defensive mechanism, or a sign of something else? At the very least, you could get an idea of what the nature of the Rings were from the faint impression your senses got from the distortions. You had managed to find the Earth, Water, Animal, and Plant Rings.

Well, at least you located them…

Locations of the Earth, Water, Animal, and Plant Rings discovered. Dimensional Distortions leading into pocket realms discovered at the locations, will need to enter to retrieve the Ring. Exact nature of pocket realms is unknown.

New Actions Unlocked.

QM Note: Hey everyone. I got hit with some serious burn out, so this took a long time. The general small number of votes also kind of contributed to the lack of motivation. Maybe I'm just a bad QM, or what I'm writing isn't interesting. Especially given how many times I've rebooted this. That and I suppose QQ isn't the best place for the Non-NSFW reboot in particular. I don't know. Still working on this version, just… could use some feedback and maybe discussion? I don't know…

Combat Training will pop up once Recruitment action is resolved.

Royal_Sword13 · May 20, 2022

[X] A young girl around Kuhaku's age, with eyes the color of royal purple. Well, you could only see one eye, the other was covered by an eyepatch. She also had some bandages wrapped around her left arm with something written on it that you couldn't make out. She seemed to be… making an amateur ritual circle, badly?

You took a moment to look over the ritual circle the purple eyed girl was making. While it was very rough and used several different mystic sigils and runes from different mythological systems, which was not a good thing if they actually wanted it to work. From a general overview, it looked like an attempt at a summoning circle, trying to call upon a familiar perhaps? Or maybe calling forth a spirit of the world, or the dead? Honestly you couldn't really tell what she was trying to conjure. ' Honestly, this is worse than amateur work, I need to have some serious words with whoever her mentor is.' You thought, before remembering that you were in the human world, and thus she likely didn't have any actual teachers in the true occult. 'Oh, I should probably intervene before something bad happens.'

With that thought you flew on down and landed silently behind the self-taught wannabe hedge mage. Now that you were closer, you could see that all the sigils on her bandages were a set of Runes, Elder Futhark, that spelled out the words 'Lock', 'Bind', and 'Seal'. You could see the idea, using similar words to reinforce a particular concept in order to strengthen the effect of an enchantment, in this case some sort of restraint likely to hold back excess energy from interfering with more delicate ritual work. At least, that's what you would say, but you don't detect a bit of magical energy from the bandages or the runes. The only Magic you could sense from her was the Ember within.

"Pardon me, but your ritual craft needs some refinement." You speak up, spooking the girl who flailed her arms a bit as she rapidly stood up and tried to turn to face you, only to land ungratefully on her rear end with a soft 'ow'. "Well, that was certainly a reaction, apologies for the scare."

"Why did you sneak up on me, don't you see that I was…in the middle of…something?" The girl's potential admonishment of your actions was soon extinguished as she truly looked at you and saw just what she was talking to. "A dog?"

You shrugged, wings flapping once along with the gesture much to the girl's surprise. "Well, if you want to be technical about it, the body I'm using is an alchemical construct similar to a homunculus in the shape of a winged dog." You said. "I assure you though, I am much more than that."

The girl was silent for several moments, and you feared that you had sent her into shock when your hearing picked up on a noise coming from her, and soon noticed her body trembling in excitement as she gave you a large smile. "OHMYGOD,YOUAREATALKINGANGELDOG!" She rapidly said while letting out a squee of unbridled joy. She then shook herself and turned away slightly and whispered to herself, even though you could hear her just fine. "Get yourself together, what kind of impression are you making!? You're supposed to be an awesome witch of dark magic, not a fan girl!" She then cleared her throat and slowly stood up, before… posing?

"Tremble, you stand before the Sorceress of the Evening Flame! Caller of Dark Forces, Master of the Night Throne! Heaven and Earth quake in my presence, for I am the one known as Yoru Fushigi!" She declared, pointing at you with her bandaged arm while seeming quite proud of her words. Once more, your innate translation rearranged her name to fit, putting her given name first and family name last.

"… Well, nice to meet you." You said while mentally preparing yourself. Dramatic mages are always so exhausting to deal with. You just needed to be patient. "I go by Do-Gi currently while in the human world, so please refer to me as such."

The girl, Yoru, seemed to deflate a little at your casual greeting. She soon regained her dramatic composure though, and resumed gesturing in a grandiose fashion. "And why are you here upon this plane, Do-Gi? Did perhaps one of my rivals summon you to spy on me, or have you come to pledge your allegiance to me?" She asked.

"No, rather I'm on a mission to retrieve a number of very important relics from history that humans have forgotten and lost. Relics that are so powerful, they threaten the very balance of creation itself." You said, adding a touch of dramatic flare to your words, but not much. "As for how you fit into that… Well, I am in need of champions. Warriors and heroes who will stand against the forces who would misuse the power of these relics, beings of calamity who are a danger to all. The Accursed and their Dregs, evils from an age lost to mankind."

"I get to be a magic hero!?" Yoru shouted, her persona shattered for a moment as she lost all composure and became really energetic. "This is so cool! what kind of powers do I have, can I fly, summon demons, go into people's dreams, what about-!?"

"Whoa, slow down!" You barked, perhaps a tad too loudly as she winced and took a step back while massaging her ears. "I won't know until I can get a look at your Ember and kindle it. Of course, I need your permission and I do understand if you need some time to think on it-"

"What do I have to do?" She asked, interrupting you and throwing you off your mental track.

"Pardon?" You asked, wanting some clarification.

"Like, do I have to pass some trial, stand in some ritual circle while you chant incantations, go through some meditation to look deep within myself?" She asked, before she made a face that you lacked words to describe. "I don't have to eat some weird plant and go on some kind of vision quest, do I?"

"… What? No, why in the world would you have to do any of that?" You asked, wondering what info she had access to for her self-taught sorcery. "I just pull forth your Ember, and feed the innate potential you have to kindle it into an active state. None of what you just said is needed."

"Oh, okay…" Yoru said, and she seemed both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

"I do recommend sitting down for this though, in a comfortable position." You said, and Yoru said cross legged on the ground. "I also recommend removing those makeshift sealing bandages… might cause some issues."

"Oh, right…" She said before doing as asked, taking off the bandages, and then took off her eyepatch, showing she had a fully functional pair of eyes. "It's so I have an eye already adjusted to the dark, in case of sudden blackouts… or so I can read books in the dark faster…"

"Oh, I'm familiar with that trick." You said, nodding in understanding before walking over and placing your paw on the purple eyed girl. "Now, this may either feel tingly, or like you're being incinerated, so please brace yourself."

"Wait, WHAT-!?"

Time Stood Still.

You looked at a dark purple Ember that also had an almost transparent look to it. You can feel a heavy alignment to Darkness in the Ember, along with a few more interesting concepts. Pulling out the Sparks of potential, you noted that she had 60 Sparks, just like Kuuhaku. You also took a somewhat deeper look to figure out what her initial weapon and power would be. You saw… a set of throwing knives for the weapon, and got the sense of something being hidden from sight for the power. Now then, how were you going to invest these Sparks?

Plan Format for Votes, Please.

Starter Power is Shade Shroud: The user calls upon darkness to obscure and hide their form, making it harder to hit them and effectively becoming invisible in dark areas.

[ ] Dim Light: Gain the power to decrease the light level of the battlefield or a room the user is in, down to halve the natural brightness. (5 Sparks)
[ ] Extinguish Light: Gain the power to knock out all non-magical light sources in the battlefield or a room, except for natural sunlight. Requires Dim Light (10 Sparks)
[ ] Eclipse Light: Engulf the battlefield or a room in magical darkness, blocking out even magical and sunlight, for 2 Turns. Requires Extinguish Light (15 Sparks)
[ ] Night Bringer: The user can, for 2 Turns, turn day into a moonless night. Increases the user's and allies speed and magical power while it is night time as well, while dulling the senses and accuracy of enemies. Requires Eclipse Light. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Shadow Pin: By throwing a dagger or other sharp projectile into a target's shadow, paralyze them until either the projectile is destroyed/removed, or the shadow disappears. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Shadow Strike: The user can attack the target's shadow to deal half damage to the target, dealing injuries through it. Requires Shadow Pin. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Shadow Thief: The user can choose to steal a pinned target's shadow from, halving their abilities and stats for 2 Turns. If slain in that state, they give an additional 5 Sparks to the killer. Requires Shadow Pin. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Abyssal Assassination: By focusing their energy into their next attack, and striking a target's shadow to destroy it, the user has a chance to inflict Instant Death. Requires Shadow Strike and Shadow Thief. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Dark Duplicate: The user can make a shadowy copy of any item they hold, as long as it is non-magical. The item can only be used once being destroyed. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Dark Forgery: The user can make multiple shadow copies of non-magical items now, and they even shift them to look like the real thing, just darker. Requires Dark Duplicate. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Dark Doppelgänger: The user can make one copy of another creature they touch, creating a living shadow version that obeys their command. They are fragile and don't have access to special abilities, but can still attack with weapons. Requires Dark Duplicate. (15 Sparks)
[ ] My Own Shadow: Creates a perfect silent copy of the user with all their powers and strengths except this one. Any Dreg kill they make count towards the user. Requires Dark Forgery and Dark Doppelgänger. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Deep Shroud: The user becomes engulfed in a cloud of shifting darkness that completely obscures their form, making it near impossible to see them past it. Allies near the cloud are partially obscured as well. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Masked Shroud: The user can shape the shroud into a disguise, taking on any form they have seen for 3 Turns, only applies to appearance and physical ability. Requires Deep Shroud. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Erased Shroud: While the shroud is up, enemies will be unable to perceive the user and temporarily forget they were ever there, however attacking will break the effect. Requires Deep Shroud. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Umbral Masquerade: The shroud envelopes all and twists the senses. All enemies lose the ability to perceive the user and allies for 2 Turns, while all enemies perceive each other as the user and allies. Requires Masked Shroud and Erased Shroud. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Dark Body: The user moves faster and can see in the dark, and can easily be overlooked by others while in shaded places. (5 Sparks)
[ ] Dark Mind: Can see through Illusions and Invisibility, Immune to Fear and Charm. Thoughts are muddled and hidden from mind readers. Requires Dark Body (10 Sparks)
[ ] Dark Heart: Can travel between shadows, and transform into a Shadow Elemental, a being made of pure intangible darkness, becoming immune to non-magical attacks and can float through the air like a wraith for 2 Turns. Immunity to Possession and Resistance to Spiritual Attacks. Requires Dark Mind. (20 Sparks.)

[ ] (Special) Evil Eye: A dark eye that delivers curses upon those it falls upon, dooming the victim to misfortune. Targeted enemy rolls will suffer a -10 malus for 3 Turns. Comes with a fancy eyepatch! (10 Sparks)

[ ] (Special) Demon Arm: An arm infused with cursed energy, bound in bandages bearing mystic sigils to suppress its dark power! Can be unleashed to give +20 to an Attack or Magic Roll, only once per battle. Comes with cool black and gold bandages and purple tattoos! (10 Sparks)

[ ] Additional Armaments: Most Champions only have one weapon, but by investing some Sparks, additional weapons can be given. Can be picked up to two times. (5 Sparks).
-[] Melee: A weapon like a sword, a hammer, a spear, or an axe as examples.
-[] Mystic: A weapon meant for channeling the user's Magic. Staffs, Wands, Talismans, and Emblems all fall under this category.
-[] FIST!: Not technically a weapon, this rather gifts gauntlets or brass knuckles like items that can enhance the unarmed physical blows of the Champion.

[ ] Reinforced Outfit: While certain outfits have armor on them, not all of them tend to be. So, you can invest some Sparks into boosting the defensive abilities of the Champion's outfit. Can be taken up to three times. (5 Sparks.)

[ ] Enhanced Masquerade: While Champions possess a minor form of perception filter that protects their identities, but by spending some Sparks, you can make it so that even if they saw the Champion transform in front of them, they wouldn't be able to form a connection unless outright told by the Champion. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Environmental Protection: You know what would be nice? If you Champion didn't have to worry about things like radiation, poison gas, or a literal vacuum. With this, those are worries of the past. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Impact Change!: Sometimes, you need the bad guys to back off while transforming. With an investment of Sparks, you can make so that any Dregs close to the Champions are blasted away when they transform. The Champion will also find their first attack after transformation will be much stronger. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Emergency Reserve: With some investment, you can make sure that the Champion will have a backup supply of magical energy to call upon once their main source dries up. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Encore Mode: Sometimes, the first showing isn't enough. Sometimes, you're spent and the enemy just won't go down. Sometimes, you need to go beyond your limits. Encore Mode is what most would call a Super Form. For 4 Turns, the Champion can access Encore Mode, boosting their Magic and physical abilities. Once those 4 Turns are up however, the curtain falls and the Champion reverts to Civilian form and can't transform again for the rest of that Day. (20 Sparks.)

[ ] (Special) A Shadow's Light: ??? (5 Sparks)

[ ] Favor of Chance: Games of chance, the roll of a dice, the luck of finding some cash on the sidewalk, or meeting someone who could be important in the future. By investing some Sparks, the Champion is blessed with an odd sort of good luck. (5 Sparks.)

[ ] Favor of Fate: Destiny seems to have taken a liking to the Champion, or maybe it's the Sparks you've used to bribe the cosmos. Either way, you never have to worry about accidents or bad luck inconveniencing your Champion while they work with you. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Ignition of Friendship: A bit of an odd one, the Champion seems to attract those who could become genuine good friends with them. They'll come to them instead of just leaving them alone, in the vein of an extrovert basically adopting an introvert if the Champion isn't the most social person. The Champion still needs to work to maintain those friendships, but it does handle the initial meeting. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Blessing of Wealth: Well, you were sure that this might be technically illegal, but hey it's all for the sake of saving the world. The Champion will wake up each day with the equivalent of $100 USD in the local currency, stored in a convenient pocket space. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Blessing of Sorcery: Normally, a Champion can only access their Magic when transformed, but this will let them use their Core Magic while in Civilian form. (20 Sparks.)

Royal_Sword13 · Jun 9, 2022

[X] Plan Spark Thief
-[X] Shadow Pin: By throwing a dagger or other sharp projectile into a target's shadow, paralyze them until either the projectile is destroyed/removed, or the shadow disappears. (10 Sparks)
-[X] Shadow Strike: The user can attack the target's shadow to deal half damage to the target, dealing injuries through it. Requires Shadow Pin. (15 Sparks)
-[X] Shadow Thief: The user can choose to steal a pinned target's shadow from, halving their abilities and stats for 2 Turns. If slain in that state, they give an additional 5 Sparks to the killer. Requires Shadow Pin. (15 Sparks)
-[X] Deep Shroud: The user becomes engulfed in a cloud of shifting darkness that completely obscures their form, making it near impossible to see them past it. Allies near the cloud are partially obscured as well. (10 Sparks)
-[X] Dark Body: The user moves faster and can see in the dark, and can easily be overlooked by others while in shaded places. (5 Sparks)
-[X] (Special) A Shadow's Light: ??? (5 Sparks)

The Sparks were fed into the Ember, which grew both darker and obscure, seemingly sucking in the light around it, before bursting and engulfing Yoru in the amethyst flames. When they faded like shadows, she revealed in a garb befitting an assassin. Clad in lightweight fabrics that covered almost the entirety of Yoru's body that seemed to shift between the blue of a natural night sky to black, changing in a way you knew would adjust based on the light level. The garb came with both a hood and face mask so that only her purple eyes could be seen when both were up. Against the night sky or in dark places, she would be hard to see in a way that when paired with her magic, would make her practically invisible. You could tell that the outfit had plenty of hidden pockets that could contain her throwing knives.

She looked like a practical ninja.

The image was immediately shattered as she leapt into the air and started to gleefully go over her new outfit and pull out her throwing knives, small blades that looked like shards made of shadows, almost resembling obsidian. "This is sooooo cool! I'm like a magic ninja, oh can I do that shadow clone thing?" She asked, before making a hand sign of some sort and tried to mold her magical energy into doing something, only for it to do… nothing. "… Huh?"

"I didn't unlock that particular power." You remarked to the excited girl. Looking closer with your non-physical senses, you could see a tether between Yoru and…someone else, a pair of ethereal light and dark strings that wrapped around each other, the dark string appearing more visible compared to the light string. How fascinating, you wondered what this represented. You tapped the strings-

Golden eyes, full of kindness and understanding, a warm light that played with a shadow who wished to live in her delusions. A friend, the radiant sun that the night would always long for, separated by the Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon as time passed, the subjects of the two beasts standing as a wall between them.

-and pulled back while blinking rapidly, the echo of laughter not your own echoing in your mind along with the hidden feelings for another held by a lonely shadow.

"Kagayaki Jihi" You whispered to yourself, in the local manner of family name first and given name last. Perhaps you should give this person a look later, and figure out what else this bond might mean. But before that, you had Yoru suddenly in your face.

"What did you unlock, what cool magic stuff can I do?" She asked, eyes sparkling in wonder and curiosity. "Can I teleport, fly, summon demons from the underworld to do my bidding?"

"None of that, your powers are a bit more roguish." You said, before explaining what it is she could do, much to her seemingly eternal excitement.

"I can attack and steal shadows, and shroud myself in a cloud of darkness! Oh, this is great! I need to read up more on ninjas, wait can I use the Internet? Is this a tech vs magic thing? Or-" The girl started to mumble and go on an indecipherable tangent.

You bonked the girl on the head.

"Before all that, there's someone you should meet." You said, and Yoru's head tilted in confusion.

"Who?"

Kuuhaku was giving you a long stare while the new recruit was gushing over her outfit, moving around and poking the armor plates and feeling the texture of the hooded cloak while going on and on about how cool everything was. You had to keep a straight face and keep from laughing at the sight of it, especially when Kuuhaku grabbed Yoru and dropped her into a Void Door while opening another above it, leaving the expressive Kunoichi to fall repeatedly.

"Why?" She asked, looking back over to Yoru as the girl cheered as she accelerated through the fall loop. "She seems… loud."

"Eh, give her a day or two, I'm sure she'll get into the role soon enough." You said, already shifted into Combat Mode. "Besides, I figured that bringing her along would be a good idea, having several sparring partners would do you good in experiencing different fighting styles in a safe environment."

"… Okay." Kuuhaku said, plucking Yoru from the fall loop and closing the Void Doors while plopping the new girl on the sandy beach.

"Whooooa, that was crazy!" Yoru said, pulling down her face mask, which made Kuuhaku react with some recognition.

"Nn…" Kuuhaku removed her mask, which made Yoru recognize her.

"Oh hey, you're Chinmoku-Chan, right?" She asked, standing up. "Wow, so you're a magical girl, I would not have called that!"

"You know each other?" You asked, somewhat surprised. You had the impression neither had a particularly high amount of friends.

"Oh yeah, we both go to the East Hoseki Academy, or the 'House of the Azure Dragon' if you ask the more intense and mean students." Yoru said. "They take the rivalry between the schools way too far!"

"Mostly from the northern half." Kuuhaku said.

"Yeah, most of the students who really get into it are from the north east part of the city. Man, I bet North Hoseki Academy is full of these people. South Hoseki Academy isn't much better though, they can be just as bad sometimes." Yoru said, her eyes momentarily losing their sparkle, before a tiny spark of gold flashed almost unseen in the purple orbs, bringing it back while she seemed to gain the brief expression of recalling a good memory. "So, training?" She asked.

Right, that was something to look into.

"I started Kuuhaku on some combat analysis training, but against a single opponent it's not as effective as it could be. But with two different sparring partners with different styles, that could help her better, and you as well." You said, flapping your wings lightly and disturbing the sand. "Though, we could try something different. You both have ranged weapons, even if they are different in use, so training up your accuracy would be a good idea…"

Hmm, what to do?

How do you train your Champion?
[ ] Train Ranged Accuracy: Work to improve a Champion's accuracy and skill with their weapon.
-[] Kuuhaku
-[] Yoru
[ ] Train Unarmed Combat: Teach a Champion how to fight without a weapon, given your own lack of skill, the best you can do is a brawler style.
-[] Kuuhaku
-[] Yoru
[ ] Train Evasion: You can work to help your Champions improve their ability to evade attacks and dodge in combat, avoiding damage is always better than tanking it.
-[] Kuuhaku
-[] Yoru
[ ] Train Analysis: You can teach your Champions how to observe and take notice of patterns during the heat of combat, forming a profile on an opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Multiple Champions Improve Results.
-[] Kuuhaku (⅕ Progress)
-[] Yoru
[ ] Something Else: You could come up with more ways to train your Champions, and try them out. (Write-In)
-[] Kuuhaku
-[] Yoru

Royal_Sword13 · Jun 22, 2022

[X] Train Evasion: You can work to help your Champions improve their ability to evade attacks and dodge in combat, avoiding damage is always better than tanking it.
-[X] Kuuhaku
-[X] Yoru

You decided to put them both through some evasion training. What would they be dodging, a hypothetical audience might ask? Well that was easy to answer.

"DODGE!"

"AAAAH!!!"

They were trying to dodge you. You see, you had the power to fly, opening up many new avenues of attack, and that means you could dive bomb them from practically anywhere. The fact you were doing this at night and close to a beach away from the light pollution of the city also meant you were more camouflaged against the night sky, adding yet another hurdle for them to deal with over the course of their training.

While Kuuhaku had some combat experience from the combat analysis training, she was still green and more leaning on the natural combat instinct that came with being a Champion. Yoru meanwhile, total newbie that she was, had been quickly shown that being a Champion wasn't going to be a walk in the park. They were also having to dodge each other's attacks, and keep from crashing into each other while avoiding your charges and dive bombs along with other attacks. Being constantly on the move, having to be aware of the environment, focusing on multiple sources of attack, it was as taxing mentally as it was physically even with the general enhancement from being Champions.

Kuuhaku eventually started shifting into Void Form to use its enhanced mobility in short bursts, moving quickly while in the state to flow around the attacks she could detect and react to. Yoru would adopt a strategy of creating a cloud of darkness as she moved to dodge, throwing off your aim enough to enhance her chances to avoid the attacks. While not quite the intended method of improvement, you weren't going to punish them for coming up with out of the box solutions.

You did switch it up, swinging with your paws while on land along with your dive attacks and charges, being silent with some attacks and loud with others. The louder ones proved to be the most effective, oddly enough, the sudden howling and yells disrupting their concentration enough to make an opening that was swiftly exploited.

After a few hours of this (with breaks!) you feel that some real progress was made.

"You…Are…EVIL…" Yoru said, panting and laid out on the ground with her ninja outfit roughed up and torn in places, her hood and face mask down as she tried to catch her breath. Kuuhaku was sitting down, breathing deeply as she cooled down.

"Oh trust me, there have been far harsher trainers in the past." You informed her, now back in your 'Cute' mode as Yoru called it. "Once, a Mascot had an entire obstacle course set up in order to really get their champions into shape, one that would not be out of place in a military facility." You had no idea how they managed that, and kind of wished you did. Having a proper place to train and spar would make things go soooo much smoother.

DC: 40/70

Kuuhaku: (84+5) 89
Yoru: (38+5) 43

Kuuhaku & Yoru gain Evasion Proficiency, +5 when Dodging Attacks.

Kuuhaku gains progress to Evasion Expertise (⅓)

"That's enough for tonight, Kuuhaku let's drop our new friend off before heading home." You said, with Kuuhaku nodding and opening a Void Door. After exchanging farewells and sending Yoru on her way, you and Kuuhaku went back to the apartment to rest up for the next day.

"A local pawn shop in Northwest Hoseki has been found to be devastated by what can only be described as horrific robbery gone wrong. The owner of the pawn shop, the 72 year old Mr. Takahashi was found badly injured and his livelihood ruined. Many items within the shop were found to be missing, such an antiquated European grandfather clock, a deck of tarot cards from the 15th century, an astrolabe from Greece, along with several instruments such as a tsuzumi drum, a koto, and a Biwa to name a few, in addition to jewelry that was taken, mostly rings. The perpetrators of this crime are unknown and still at large. Any information should be reported to…"

Well, that's probably related to your mission. Seems like the Accursed and their Dregs didn't know about the location of the Rings if they did something like this. Though maybe you could investigate and find out why they went after the place to begin with. Plus, you had a feeling in your gut that something else was going to happen today…

And you only had two Champions, both of whom hadn't seen real combat outside of training. You needed more recruits, they needed to be trained, and more…

"What is the plan?" Kuuhaku asked you as she ate her breakfast.

Wasn't that the important question?

Welcome to Day 3. You have a total of 3 Action Slots. Plan Format Required.

[ ] Patrol: Go out on patrol for Dregs, or even other supernatural problems. Chance to Encounter Dregs. Chance to Encounter ???
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Scout Recruits: Search for Champion Candidates that you could potentially recruit. Chance to Encounter Candidates.
-[ ] Northeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
-[ ] Golden Dragon Park

[ ] Recruitment Drive: Go after an Ember of Magic and try to Recruit the person it's attached to towards the cause. Can select the same option multiple times.
~~-[ ] Northeast Hoseki~~
-[ ] Southeast Hoseki (4 Embers)
-[ ] Southwest Hoseki
-[ ] Northwest Hoseki
-[ ] Agricultural Section
-[ ] "Noble" Section
~~-[ ] Golden Dragon Park~~

[ ] Training: Help a Champion improve in some way.
-[ ] Combat Training: Train a Champion to improve in Combat.
-[ ] Mystic Training: Train a Champion to improve their Magic.

[ ] Investigation: This city and the island it was on is a little strange. Maybe you should investigate deeper.
-[ ] Gold Dragon Statue: It sits at the center of a lake, which is in the center of a park in the center of the city. That it also sits exactly at the center of the island itself makes you wonder what the deal is.
-[ ] Mystic Attraction: Something about this island has an attractive effect to anything with a magical and supernatural nature, at least that's what you can sense. Looking deeper into what might be causing it might help you.
-[ ] Pawn Shop Robbery: A Pawn Shop in the Northwest of the city was robbed while you were training Kuuhaku and Yoru, and it was likely to be related to the Ring business you were here to handle. But why did they attack this shop, and why take so much stuff?
-[] Follow Up, Noble Neighborhood: Two rings detected here, should be easy to collect if you can get a lock on them.
-[] Follow Up, Founder "Palaces": With only one ring located in the area, you should be able to track it down and claim it quickly. Hopefully it's not in a jewelry box or something…
-[] Follow Up, Hoseki City: A fourth of the rings are all located in the city, but it's a much bigger area to search through. You don't know which sections of the city have a ring, so you should focus on that.

[ ] Raid: You know the location of several Rings, they were in sub-dimensional spaces that you would have to go into and retrieve them from.
-[ ] Water Ring: The Deep stirs in its sleep, churning the waves above…
-[ ] Earth Ring: The Land wakes and prepares to cast off its long held burden…
-[ ] Plant Ring: Roots dig deep as the branches reach towards the boundless sky, seeking reunion…
-[ ] Animal Ring: The cries of beasts resound as a choir of cacophonous songs, asking to be made whole…

[ ] Something Else: Sometimes, there are options that aren't obvious at first. (Write-In).

Royal_Sword13 · Jul 1, 2022

[X] Plan Plot Hook Follow Up
-[X] Recruitment Drive: Go after an Ember of Magic and try to Recruit the person it's attached to towards the cause. Can select the same option multiple times.
--[X] Southeast Hoseki (4 Embers)
-[X] Patrol: Go out on patrol for Dregs, or even other supernatural problems. Chance to Encounter Dregs. Chance to Encounter ???
--[X] Northwest Hoseki
-[X] Investigation: This city and the island it was on is a little strange. Maybe you should investigate deeper.
--[X] Pawn Shop Robbery: A Pawn Shop in the Northwest of the city was robbed while you were training Kuuhaku and Yoru, and it was likely to be related to the Ring business you were here to handle. But why did they attack this shop, and why take so much stuff?

You flew once more over the Southeast section of the city, seeking another champion to add to your growing team. Now that the enemy was making moves that you could further investigate, and you had an idea of where a number of Rings were, you were going to need to build up even more. Your senses quickly picked up the locations of the remaining four Embers in this part of Hoseki city.

A red haired boy was walking down the street, now clad in bandages, with another boy walking close behind him. The red head must have won that fight. A closer look made it clear that he certainly had a fighter's physique. Perhaps he could have some tips for how his teammates could improve on hand to hand or physical conditioning? The tag-along might make approaching him difficult, you didn't sense an Ember in them so they were a mundane human, and the candidate might take issue with not being able to protect them.

There was also a girl with white hair and gold eyes that seemed very familiar to you suddenly. A closer look at a safe distance showed the ethereal strings of light and dark linking her to Yoru, and her Ember seemed… different somehow, like it was being used somehow even in its dormant state. The girl was currently making her way to school, specifically South Hoseki Academy. Given the apparent manifestation of the bond, her Ember would likely develop into Light based magic and abilities.

Then there were the two brothers, both of them possessing Embers. You recall that siblings that have Embers usually have abilities that compliment each other or are in some way connected. Though it seems they were going in different directions. While the younger and energetic was heading eastward towards East Hoseki Academy (a classmate of Kuuhaku and Yoru perhaps), while the older sibling was heading up north with the weird tank-treaded motorcycle thing, and he looked like he needed a gallon of coffee. So, you'd have to approach them individually this time if you wanted to recruit one of them.

You'd need to choose carefully, you were planning on doing a patrol after this and in a different part of the city, the one diagonally opposite to this one in fact. So, who should you seek out to recruit?

Choose One

[ ] The Red Haired Fighter: He looks like he knows how to at least brawl and could help train the others, but he does have that extra kid who's following him around.

[ ] The Golden Eyed Girl: She's already linked with Yoru and could be a good source of stability for the Darkness user, and probably has a Light based magic.

[ ] The Energetic Little Brother: The kid is heading towards where your other two Champions go to school, so maybe you could rope them into helping recruit the kid.

[ ] The Tired Older Brother: The guy looks like he needs lots of sleep or lots of coffee, but he might know something if he was heading up north, and he clearly has some kind of mechanical know-how if he can make that thing work and fix it.

Short one, got a new job recently, three 8 hour workdays.

Royal_Sword13 · Jul 12, 2022

[X] The Golden Eyed Girl: She's already linked with Yoru and could be a good source of stability for the Darkness user, and probably has a Light based magic.

You decided to go after the golden eyed girl that seemed to be connected to Yoru. Besides, having some foothold in the southern academy could only help you potentially find more potential recruits, since it takes from both from southwest and southeast parts of Hoseki.

The girl paused in her travel as you approached, looking around as she appeared to have detected something. "What is this feeling?" She asked, before turning just in time to see you after you had landed. "Oh, hello there." She said as she knelt down to look you over. "No collar, or vest? Then how are those wings staying on?" She muttered to herself as she examined you, the faint thread of light coiling around the more visible darkness thread flickering brighter for a few precious seconds as her eyes glowed just a little bit. You felt a very, very weak sensory effect wash over your body. Light, just like darkness, had a connection to Perception, revealing while the other obscured. It was honestly fascinating that this bond between her and Yoru was letting her do this, you wondered how it would manifest once her Ember was kindled with Sparks.

The girl with golden eyes blinked as she leaned back, having gotten something from that accidental scan. From the expression she was making, you bet that she couldn't actually understand what she now knew. It was actually a fairly common problem for sensory powers when used without something to filter the data they received in a way that the brain could actually process. A scan as weak as that, and one that was made on accident, was bound to give her some information that was a bit scrambled and unintelligible.

"Well, seeing as I don't have an owner, a collar would be rather misleading." You spoke up, catching her further off guard and 'staggering' her mentally. "Greetings, I am Do-Gi. And you are a rather special young lady."

"My name is Jihi Kagayaki, it's nice to meet you." She introduced herself, standing up and giving a small bow along a small gentle smile. It seemed to have been something she did almost completely on instinct. Also, the same name you got from when you tapped the strings that connected her to Yoru, but this time translated into your preferred order for names. Interesting, what was so different between when you said it and when she said it? "Um… what do you mean when you say I'm 'special?'"

"You, like a few others in this city that I know of, are gifted with an Ember of Magic. A remnant of an age long lost to human history." You said, wings stretching out. "Thus, you are one of the few who have the potential to become a Champion, and defend your world from the evils and destructive forces that would bring forth calamity and woe to humanity."

"This sounds like something Fushigi-Chan would say…" Jihi said, and looked back at you. "Um, Do-Gi…San?" She looked at you with an uncertain look as though she couldn't figure out something. "You mentioned that there were others in the city who had these 'embers', does that mean you already have a few Champions?"

"Indeed, I have two." You said, looking her straight in the eyes. "Kuuhaku Chinmoku and Yoru Fushigi are the Champions whose Embers I have already kindled."

The moment you mentioned Yoru, Jihi tensed up and her eyes widened by a fraction. "She would jump at the chance…" She muttered to herself after she regained composure, a myriad of emotions having flashed across her face in the few moments of vulnerability. She looked over at you. "You… want me to join too. How dangerous will this be? Why do you need us?" She asked.

"While I can fight on my own, I am only one person. Even my ability to fight is in itself an exception to how things normally go." You explained. "As for how dangerous… it will certainly not be easy to deal with, especially if we lack numbers. The enemy is already making moves that I have to investigate."

Jihi seemed to think to herself for a moment. "…You say that you are going to investigate something, the only thing I can think of is that dreadful robbery up north that ruined that poor old man's pawn shop. But I don't understand why they would want all that stuff..." She then appeared to drift off in thought, an expression of concern on her face. Eventually, she turned back to you. "If I accept… I would be able to use this magic to help others, right? I don't just have to fight do I?"

"Hmmmm, normally it's preferred that the supernatural be kept to a minimum. Best way to keep these kinds of incidents from disrupting human civilization too much." You said. "However… It's not uncommon for Champions to use their magic to help others in subtle ways. Perhaps I can allow similar leeway as long as you can keep it from being obvious." Honestly, it wasn't all that uncommon for a Champion with a particularly high level of altruism to use their powers to help others.

"Then… if I can help… I have to. I can't just stand aside when someone needs help." Jihi said, and you really couldn't believe your luck. You really were getting three Champions in such a short amount of time and with minimum haggling. Hell, you technically haven't even busted out any real incentives to do so beyond the case with Kuuhaku, which was still a bit of an odd one.

"So, you agree to become a Champion?" You asked her, and when you saw her nod, you flew up and hovered in the air in front of her. "Alright then, I'll have to make this a quick one since you do have school still. Just relax and… think calm and happy thoughts just in case."

"Wait, what do you-?"

Time Stands Still

A golden flame with a white core was held in your paws, bright and brilliant like a miniature sun. Pushing your senses, you could see that her starting Magic would be the opposite of Yoru's. Where hers obscures herself with darkness, Jihi's reveals an enemy's weaknesses with light. And her weapon was… an odd one. Where your previous two Champions have a ranged weapon each, Jihi's was a form of lantern that doubled as a focus for magical energy. This made it a form of Mystic Armament, and added some variety at least.

You gazed deeper to see what you could do, while making note that you had 65 Sparks to work with, five more than the others. You noticed that the extra seemed to have come from the bond that formed between her and Yoru, the same amount you had used to establish it.

Interesting…

Starting Magic: Revealing Light. Exposes weak spots on an enemy in the form of points of light.

[ ] Radiant Sight: The user can always see as though they are in a well lit room, even while there are no actual light sources so long as they are not in magical darkness. (5 Sparks)
[ ] Revealing Sight: The user can now see past illusions and disguises, allowing them to see what's really there. Doesn't work on True Invisibility. Requires Radiant Sight. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Solar Sight: The user can obtain a Bird's Eye view of an area as long as it's in sunlight, with all previous bonuses and limits. Requires Revealing Sight. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Eyes of Truth: The user can now see past Magical Darkness and True Invisibility, along with being able to 'see' lies and falsehoods when someone is speaking. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Light Ray: Shoot a single beam of Light at a target, not very powerful but is very accurate and fast. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Piercing Ray: The Light Ray gains the power to pierce through defenses, especially magical ones. Requires Light Ray. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Rapid Ray: The Light Ray can now be fired three times in a single Turn, rather than once. Requires Light Ray. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Sunbeam Barrage: The Light Ray is enhanced with Sunlight, and fired in a six shot burst. Requires Piercing Ray and Rapid Ray. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Light Weaver: The user can manipulate light to form visual illusions, creating images and words that aren't really there. These illusions are fragile and easy to break, and lack complexity. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Solid Weaver: By using Hard Light, the user's illusions are given more durability and can to a degree interact with the world as physical entities. Requires Light Weaver. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Intricate Weaver: The user can make larger and more complex illusions, including illusions of people. Requires Light Weaver. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Land of Illusions: The user can cover the battlefield in a complex and solid visual illusion, even creating illusionary enemies. Requires Solid Weaver and Intricate Weaver. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Dispelling Light: Revealing Light can now remove illusions and obscuring effects on an enemy, along with exposing their weak spots. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Blinding Light: Revealing Light can now temporarily blind the enemy it's used on, lowering their ability to defend and attack. Requires Dispelling Light. (15 Sparks)
[ ] Solar Judgement: The power of the sun beats down upon the battlefield, dispelling all enemy illusions, invisibility, while also blinding and exposing all enemy weak spots. (20 Sparks)

[ ] Radiant Body: The user gains strength and durability while in light, and can move slightly faster as well. (5 Sparks)
[ ] Radiant Mind: Immune to Fear, Charm, and Telepathy. Enhanced Reflexes, and can Detect when someone is under Mind Control. Requires Radiant Body. (10 Sparks)
[ ] Radiant Heart: Immunity to Possession and Resistance to Spiritual Attacks. Can transform into a Light Elemental, gaining light speed movement and can take two actions per turn and a bonus to attack and evasion. They also become immune to non-magical attacks. The transformation lasts for 2 Turns. Requires Radiant Mind. (20 Sparks)

[ ] (Special) One's Own Sun: A miniature orb of golden light will follow the Champion around while transformed, passively lighting an area around them in sunlight. It can fire off small beams of sunlight at enemies who attack the Champion. Alternatively, it can be consumed to supercharge one ability, and comes back in three turns. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Additional Armaments: Most Champions only have one weapon, but by investing some Sparks, additional weapons can be given. Can be picked up to two times. (5 Sparks).
-[] Melee: A weapon like a sword, a hammer, a spear, or an axe as examples.
-[] Mystic: A weapon meant for channeling the user's Magic. Staffs, Wands, Talismans, and Emblems all fall under this category.
-[] FIST!: Not technically a weapon, this rather gifts gauntlets or brass knuckles like items that can enhance the unarmed physical blows of the Champion.

[ ] Reinforced Outfit: While certain outfits have armor on them, not all of them tend to be. So, you can invest some Sparks into boosting the defensive abilities of the Champion's outfit. Can be taken up to three times. (5 Sparks.)

[ ] Enhanced Masquerade: While Champions possess a minor form of perception filter that protects their identities, but by spending some Sparks, you can make it so that even if they saw the Champion transform in front of them, they wouldn't be able to form a connection unless outright told by the Champion. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Environmental Protection: You know what would be nice? If you Champion didn't have to worry about things like radiation, poison gas, or a literal vacuum. With this, those are worries of the past. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Impact Change!: Sometimes, you need the bad guys to back off while transforming. With an investment of Sparks, you can make so that any Dregs close to the Champions are blasted away when they transform. The Champion will also find their first attack after transformation will be much stronger. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Emergency Reserve: With some investment, you can make sure that the Champion will have a backup supply of magical energy to call upon once their main source dries up. (15 Sparks)

[ ] Encore Mode: Sometimes, the first showing isn't enough. Sometimes, you're spent and the enemy just won't go down. Sometimes, you need to go beyond your limits. Encore Mode is what most would call a Super Form. For 4 Turns, the Champion can access Encore Mode, boosting their Magic and physical abilities. Once those 4 Turns are up however, the curtain falls and the Champion reverts to Civilian form and can't transform again for the rest of that Day. (20 Sparks.)

[ ] (Special) Dawn and Dusk: Where there is day, there is night, the cycle of the sun and moon. And even in the darkest night there is light… (5 Sparks)

[ ] Favor of Chance: Games of chance, the roll of a dice, the luck of finding some cash on the sidewalk, or meeting someone who could be important in the future. By investing some Sparks, the Champion is blessed with an odd sort of good luck. (5 Sparks.)

[ ] Favor of Fate: Destiny seems to have taken a liking to the Champion, or maybe it's the Sparks you've used to bribe the cosmos. Either way, you never have to worry about accidents or bad luck inconveniencing your Champion while they work with you. (10 Sparks.)

[ ] Ignition of Friendship: A bit of an odd one, the Champion seems to attract those who could become genuine good friends with them. They'll come to them instead of just leaving them alone, in the vein of an extrovert basically adopting an introvert if the Champion isn't the most social person. The Champion still needs to work to maintain those friendships, but it does handle the initial meeting. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] (Special) Jolly Cooperation!: Whenever the Champion works alongside those they consider friends, both the Champion and friend will benefit from a bonus towards whatever they are working together on. Increases in potency the more friends they work with. Requires Ignition of Friendship. (10 Sparks)

[ ] Blessing of Wealth: Well, you were sure that this might be technically illegal, but hey it's all for the sake of saving the world. The Champion will wake up each day with the equivalent of $100 USD in the local currency, stored in a convenient pocket space. (15 Sparks.)

[ ] Blessing of Sorcery: Normally, a Champion can only access their Magic when transformed, but this will let them use their Core Magic while in Civilian form. (20 Sparks.)

Royal_Sword13 · Jul 18, 2022

[X] Plan: Lightshaper
-[X] Light Ray
-[X] Light Weaver
-[X] Solid Weaver
-[X] Radiant Body
-[X] Radiant Mind
-[X] Dawn and Dusk
-[X] One's Own Sun

You pushed the Sparks into the Ember and kindled it into a proper flame. Golden and white flames covered Jihi as the transformation took shape. When the flames faded, the girl was then clad in an elaborate outfit that resembled priestly robes colored ivory with gold trims and solar imagery. In her hands was a silver and gold lantern that shone with a brilliant but calm light that seemed to illuminate the area in ways that made things seem clearer. A miniature sun floats gently over her right shoulder. Finally, you noticed that the formerly faint thread of light that represented her half of the bond with Yoru was now bolder and more solid. The light and dark threads dance around each other and twist together, and you see a bit of each girl's respective magic move across the bond.

"What an incredible feeling…" Jihi said as she lifted the lantern and looked it over. "A lantern? How do I use this?" She asked before blinking and making a face of realization as though the information popped into her mind. "I can shoot a laser?"

"That is one of your powers. You can also form solid visual illusions. Nothing particularly complex, but you could make a fake wall and have it feel like one too." You explained, while you were curious just what the bond would do now that both ends had their Magic awakened and had Sparks fed into it.

"Illusions, I wasn't expecting that. I wonder what Fushigi-Chan can do-" Jihi stopped suddenly as her eyes suddenly had a distant look to them, and you saw the light and dark threads of the bond pulse. Curious and somewhat concerned, you reached out to the link and gently tap-

'Kagayaki-Chan, what do you mean Do-Gi made you a magical girl!?'

'Well, I don't think he actually used the words magical girl, but he did give me magic… or, unlocked what I already had?'

'I can't believe this!'

'Are you upset, Fushigi-Chan?'

'Yes? No? I don't know, I wasn't expecting him to do this the day after he made me a Champion!'

'Well, is it really so bad? This way, I can help more people in ways I never could before. I'm sure if we work together then everything will work out.'

'Kagayaki-Chan… I guess it's not so bad… Wait, what's this feeling? Who's there!?'

-it. Oof, you now had an ache in your head after you were forcibly ejected from the telepathic meeting. Jihi blinked as she came back to the physical world. "Oh, that was unexpected." She said, looking somewhat troubled.

"Indeed, I apologize for the intrusion but I was concerned when you suddenly went silent and had a thousand yard stare." You explained. Jihi nodded, accepting your apology rather quickly.

"I understand." She then looked at herself and had a panicked look. "How do I turn back, I'm going to be late!"

"'Showtime, Cut' is the de-transformation phrase." You answered her question, and she let out a sigh of relief when it worked. "I'll have Kuhaku pick you up through a portal when the time comes to patrol. Have a good day at school."

"Thank you, I'll be ready! I look forward to working with you and the others." She said, giving you a small bow and walking off to school. You took off to the sky soon after, flying off as you reviewed what else you had learned from your brief moment interacting with the link.

From what you could tell, beyond the telepathic link, there were also some other benefits from the bond. Yoru and Jihi both got a boost when they were near each other, and certain limits to their powers were lifted. Yoru could hide even in a well lit room and Jihi could get a physical boost even in a pitch black Darkness as an example for powers both of them had access to. You were sure there was something else, but it felt locked and you weren't able to see what it was.

Ability Revealed

A Shadow's Light: Yoru has a telepathic link with Jihi, and gets a boost to Magic when near Jihi. Certain limits are lifted. ???

Dawn and Dusk: Jihi has a telepathic link with Yoru, and gets a boost to Magic when near Yoru. Certain limits are lifted. ???

When the time came, you watched as a portal opened up and out of it came all three of your Champions in their transformed states. Yoru was gushing over Jihi's outfit. "..Just saying, give you some healing powers and you'd be just that girl from my favorite game!"

"Brought them." Kuuhaku said as she walked up to you. Her mask was on and she had a small baton made of Void Matter in one hand. "Where are we going?"

"We'll be patrolling Northwest Hoseki, around where the robbery occurred. I plan on investigating the scene after the patrol to see what clues I could find." You said, explaining your plan to the girls.

"I've never been up there before, so this is a new place for me." Yoru said, looking around. "Huh, it's kind of funny. I can obscure stuff and Kagayaki-Chan can make illusions, so we can probably do some real sneaky stuff."

"I could probably cover us all in an illusion to hide us, and if we stay close to Fushigi-Chan, we could probably move without drawing any attention." Jihi said. "Though, I'm not sure how much ground we could cover…"

"I guess we could split up, but we could end up without backup if we do run into anything." Yoru said, looking unsure. "And while me and Chinmoku-Chan have some training, It seems risky…"

"What do you think?" Kuuhaku asked you, and you thought about it. With the four of you split up, and especially with your ability to fly, you could cover a lot of ground. But if you were all on your own, then you might leave yourselves vulnerable to ambushes. Plus, you might draw attention to yourselves if you're not careful. If you're together, Yoru and Jihi could use their powers to hide your group and be together if you run into something. But you probably won't cover as much ground as you could. You could also split into two groups of two.

What do you suggest?

[ ] Split Up Gang!: You agree with splitting up to cover more ground, even if it was risky.
[ ] Safety in Numbers: You suggest they all stick together so that your group would be safer, even if it limits how far you can go.
[ ] Buddy System: The middle ground, suggesting that you split into two pairs to cover more ground.
-[ ] 1st Pair
—[] Write-In
-[] 2nd Pair
—[] Write-In

Royal_Sword13 · Aug 1, 2022

[X] Safety in Numbers: You suggest they all stick together so that your group would be safer, even if it limits how far you can go.

"Let's all stick together for now, while I have an idea for how we could cover more ground, I think it would be best for us to go as a single unit on our first real patrol." You said, to which the three girls nodded at your words.

"Alright, better to play it safe for now I guess, and it is only the four of us, so our group isn't that big." Yoru said, before she activated her shrouded while Jihi weaved the light around the group, together theMagic of Light and Darkness completely obscured the four of you from the sight and made your presence almost undetectable by your reasoning. "Huh, this feels… kind of funky."

"There is something odd about this." Jihi said as you all watched the dancing of ethereal light and shadow around you from the inside of the cloak that covered the group. It was somewhat mesmerizing actually. Thankfully, you could still see out of the cloak, so you won't accidentally run into someone.

"Let's move." Kuuhaku said bluntly as she started to go forward, yourself floating next to her while the light and dark duo followed close behind and maintained the cloak. The four of you would walk around, cutting through the passages and alleyways between buildings when you could, navigating the paths of the northwestern part of the city. While you could possibly use this chance to do a passive scan of this section of Hoseki, you had other things to worry about as your thoughts drifted to the report of the items stolen from the pawn shop. The objects taken from the pawn shop could easily be turned into Dreg Golems. The ones that worried you the most would be that deck of tarot cards and the grandfather clock. Dreg Golems did gain abilities that were related to what they possessed, and the kind of abilities those two items could grant would be… problematic if you had to face them. Tarot cards were used in a form of divination to read the future, while you didn't need to even guess at what kind of powers a grandfather clock could give. Thankfully, even if Dreg Golems are more intelligent compared to Dreg Beasts, they aren't necessarily smart or clever. You and the girls would just need to-

1d100=10

An explosion going off on a nearby street shatters your train of thought as the sounds of people screaming fills the air. "Move!" You shouted as you took to the sky. You arrived first to see something that confirmed one of your fears. And yet when you reached out with your senses, you felt your mind screech to a halt as you felt the flickering of a familiar kind of flame.

The entity stood next to the burning wreck of a car that had been thrown into a storefront, giggling to itself while a scythe floated over next to it, a deck of cards set into the head of the scythe with what looked like three slots for cards on the blade itself. Standing next to them was a humanoid being resembling a knight with their armor covered in mirrors, even wielding a large one as a shield. The fury of Aetherius burned at the sight of the mirror knight as your senses told you that they were a Dreg Golem. But the one that looked like some evil jester… you felt an Ember in them.

"Whoa!" You heard Yoru exclaimed as she and the other girls arrived at the scene. "What the heck happened here!?" You barely notice the fact that they were no longer concealed, and so failed to respond in time before the jester turned to see your Champions and started to giggle louder and louder, turning into a deranged and cacophonous laughter that could only be made by something inhuman. The jester took a step towards the girls who prepared themselves for battle, but the Mirror Dreg Golem stepped in front of the jester and shook its head at it. The jester stared at the Dreg Golem for a moment before they casually backhanded it into a building. Giggling all the while.

"Uh, Do-Gi? Do we have a plan here?" Yoru asked, as all of you suddenly realized this was not a foe you could take lightly. Jihi was trembling while Kuuhaku pointed her gun at the jester and pulled a knife made of Void Matter from her vault.

You know, given the situation, you should probably…

[ ] FLIGHT! (Flee through a Void Door back to the Southeast section, will auto-cancel Investigation Action)
[ ] FIGHT! (Start Boss Battle: The Fallen Fool)
-[] Plan of Attack (Write-In)
[ ] Write-In?

Royal_Sword13 · Sep 13, 2022

https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/mascot-magic.108315/

Here's the link, I am dead inside.

Mascot & Magic: Revival

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!

I Am A Sword. A MAGIC Sword!