>>6154527


The elvish commander stands at the exit, his staff crackling with power. He sneers, his arrogance palpable. “You think you can escape, second-born?”

You say nothing. Instead, you hurl a fragment of bone at his feet. It shatters, and from the shards rises a hulking construct—a creature made from dozens of bones, bound by your will. The commander hesitates, underestimating you for one fatal moment. Your beast barrels into him, shattering his staff and breaking the barrier spell.

You don’t look back.

The forest swallows you whole, its shadows embracing you like an old friend. You know the kingdom will hunt you. They will send soldiers, mages, perhaps even assassins.

But they don’t understand what you’ve become. You are no longer just a miner or a servant. You are a master of Bone Magic, a force they cannot control.

And one day, you will return—not as their captive, but as their undoing.
CHOOSE YOUR ATTRIBUTES (you have 50 points to distribute. Values up to 5 are common, up to 10 are rare, more than that nearly unheard of)

Tier 1 (1 point per level; You need at least one point on each attribute from tier 1)

Beauty: Charisma and attractiveness, influencing how others perceive and react to you. Higher levels could charm even hardened foes.
Manipulation: Cunning and social skill to influence others through words, schemes, or subtle pressure.
Raw Magic: Natural magical aptitude and raw power. Useful for basic spellcasting and overcoming magical resistance.
Power Staff: Skill in wielding and using magical staffs to amplify your spells. Higher levels allow you to unlock unique staff abilities.
Scroll Writing: Ability to create magical scrolls. Higher levels allow for more complex, potent spells to be stored and shared.

Tier 2 (2 points per level; You need at least one level in bone magic)

Bone Magic: Control and animate skeletons, create bone constructs, or craft weapons from bone.
Flesh Magic: Manipulation of living or dead flesh, from healing to crafting golems or abominations.
Spirit Magic: Interaction with spirits and souls, such as summoning ghosts, binding spirits, or soul manipulation.
Hex Magic: Cursing and debuffing enemies. Higher levels increase potency and scope.
Potion Making: Crafting potions that heal, harm, or enhance. Advanced levels allow for unique, rare concoctions.

>10 points Beauty
>10 points Manipulation
>10 points Scroll Writing
>20 points Hex Magic

The scrolls will be contracts, and when they sign, their life belongs to us

>>6154528
Beauty 9
Manipulation 9
Raw Magic 9
Power Staff 2
Scroll Writing 2

Bone 9
Flesh 2
Spirit 2
Hex 3
Potion 3

Seems like a solid distribution; so the High Elves have imprisoned all the Dark Elves due to some perceived lesser blood?

>>6154528
Beauty 10
Manipulation 10
Raw Magic 10
Power Staff 1
Scroll Writing 1

Bone 5
Flesh 1
Spirit 1
Hex 1
Potion 5

Charm maxxing

>>6154581
+1

>>6154528
>10 beauty
>5 manipulation
>11 raw magic
>2 power staff
>2 scroll writing
>4 points bone magic (cost 8)
>2 points spirit magic (cost 4)
>4 points hex magic (cost 8)
We feral wild sorceress now. Let's max our spooky, ferak wood-witch factor.

>>6154534
Anon,
>You need at least one point on each attribute from tier 1
>You need at least one level in bone magic

>>6154528
>Beauty: 44
>Manipulation: 1
>Raw Magic: 1
>Power Staff: 1
>Scroll Writing: 1

>Bone Magic: 1 (2)

50 points in total. My budgeting skills are unparalleled.

>>6154581
Supporting

>>6154528
>Beauty: 9
>Manipulation: 7
>Raw Magic: 7
>Power Staff: 7
>Scroll Writing: 8

Bone Magic: 6 points or level 3
Flesh Magic: 2 points or level 1
Hex Magic: 4 points or level 2

>>6154528
Beauty: 8
Manipulation: 6
Raw Magic: 10
Power Staff: 4
Scroll Writing: 2

Bone Magic: 4 - 8 points
Flesh Magic: 3 - 6 points
Spirit Magic: 2 - 4 points
Hex Magic: 1 - 2 points

>>6154581

Too many points.

>>6155237
How about this?
10 points to beauty
10 points to manipulation
10 points to raw magic
10 points to bone magic
10 points to potion making

File: 0ea83101-5324-4947-bdd7-a(...).gif (384 KB, 400x221)

384 KB GIF

>>6155245
That's 70 points. The second section costs 2 points per level.

>>6155357
No anon, that's just the point I'm spending, not the stats

>>6155544
Ah, okay, fair enough. My mistake!

this shit is too pointlessly complicated, quest cancelled

lol

absolute legend
a man who bails but announces it

>>6155595
That's kind of on you, chief.

I might pick this up, if there is an interest in it (when I have the time)

>>6157001
I'd just start a new quest on the same basic theme, desu.

>>6157001
I'll be waiting

>>6157003
And waste a perfectly fine thread?

>>6157012
Unless wlQlzrSX is picking it up pretty quick, it won't be "perfectly fine" so much as a week-or-older quest with an overcompensated character creation leading to a false start, flaked on and assumed abandoned by most who were initially interested.

>>6157001
awesome, though make your own thread

(I will continue in this thread, as to not shit up the board further in the case that I get grabbed by the curse)

After riding into the forest for what feels like hours, your skeletal mount collapses as you reach a clearing. Fatigue sets in as you lie there among the pile of bones in the moonlight.
The burning midday sun wakes you. For once in a long time, you feel well rested. You will need it, as you now have to start preparing for your vengeance against the elves who captured you and your kin.

Some of the magic your body reverberated with earlier has subsided somewhat. The magic flowing into you from the ancient bone mount has reduced, from the immense power you drained from it some time ago.
With some more practice, you should be able to retain the magic stored within the bones.

---
You are currently in the forest clearing. The smell of late spring is all around, with traces of magic flowing in the wind. Beside you are the ancient bones you rode on earlier, and around them flowers of many types bloom around them. While its hard to determine now when the sun is out, some of these flowers seem to be glowing slightly.
On the edges of the clearing, several rocks and stones are scattered about. They have text on them, but you are unable to read them.

You can sense the presence of bones in the ground, however most of them are deep into the soil. You would either have to dig them out yourself or use a lot of mana to have the bones dig themselves out.

How do you proceed?
>Write in

>>6158069
Find someone to help us

>>6158187
This

>>6158069
>start with animals
kill them ourselves and animate their corpses to dig
We shoudn't go around having other sentient species know of us. We should keep ourselves hidden until we have a more stable power basis

Writing soon (ish)

You decide it best to recruit some help. While you aim to break the elves with your strength, the process is sure to be easier with allies by your side.

You rack your brain for information, thinking back to the time before you were enslaved. A fellow slave in the mines owned a map, which you got to study while he was asleep. The map, along with the slave who owned it, was taken away while you were mining. You never saw this slave again.

---
You believe you are maybe about a day’s travel away from the elven slave camp, which should be north of you currently.


To the east is a large mountain chain, with several unmarked settlements. One of them was circled around, apparently there are other dark elves in refuge in that particular one.

There should be a small human settlement to the south-east. A settlement means food, likely a graveyard, and possibly some humans you can persuade to join you. Even further south-east, there is a large city.

Going south-west would take you to a large inland-lake. The map had several huts scribbled on, with no other markings to indicate details about them. Fish, bearpaws and elks were also scribbled here.
---

These spots were the most noteworthy that you can remember. There were other places too, but they are scattered around the forest. Finding these would be pure luck without a map.
The map was simplistic, and it was hard to gauge a good sense of scale. Travel times would be hard to guess.

Where do you travel to?
>1: East, to the mountain chain
>2: South-east, to the human settlement
>3: South-west, to the inland-lake
>4: Wander around the forest
>5: Write in


Oh, and also, it has never been explicitly mentioned what our characters gender is. Even if op pic would suggest female.
Seeing as both Beauty and Manipulation skills are really high, this will become relevant

Pick one:
>A: Man
>B: Woman

>>6158666
>2: South-east, to the human settlement
>B: Woman

>>6158666
>1: East, to the mountain chain
>B: Woman

>>6158666
>2: South-east, to the human settlement
>B: Woman

>>6158666
>>2: South-east, to the human settlement
>>B: Woman

Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d5)

Rolling mystery dice
Writing soon

The human settlement sounds like the best plan. Humans are a varied bunch of individuals, the chances of recruiting help there is promising. Dead or alive, or maybe both.

You pick up some of the ancient bones, and stash them on your belt.
As you do, you notice your current clothing is sub-optimal to say the least. Clothed in slave rags and covered in dirt and grime, your beauty will have a hard time to shine through. New clothes and water to wash yourself should be first priority, and some good soap would be a nice bonus. And definitely some shoes, as you currently have none.
---
You start traveling south-east. For many hours you walk, as you look around for a body of water or sentient beings. Over time, the forest canopy blocks the sky, making navigation particularly hard. You receive several small stings and scratches from some thorny bushes that hide in-between the trees.
After walking for another couple hours, you come across a pond! The canopy gives way for the sun to shine down into the water, where you can study your grime-caked face. You can’t stand the view, and wash the grime away.
After washing your face, you take some time to properly look around. Many of the trees here are much thicker and taller than what you have seen so far. The branches are high up, with vines and beautiful flowers growing from its leaves. When small gusts of wind shake the trees, petals fall down from these flowers, landing on the water and at your feet.

This place is abundant with magic, you can feel it in your body. You feel no bones in the ground, but you strangely enough, you are unable to tell if there is any in the water.

It is approximately mid-afternoon. You must continue further to the south-east, but your feet feel sore. While your body would love a pause, you know navigating will get harder and more dangerous the darker it gets.

What do you do next? (You may choose one or more. More actions take more time.)
>Push on south-east
>Wash up properly
>Take a look around
>Just relax for a bit
>Write in

>>6159263
>Push on south-east
>Wash up properly

>>6159263
What are our final, stats, anyway?

>>6159267
+1

>>6159263
>>Push on south-east
>>Wash up properly

No post today. Probably one tomorrow
>>6159367
I went with this one >>6155245 as it got the most votes. (Technically this one >>6154581, but it is more or less the same thing)
Character stats are something like this:

Beauty - 10 (Exceptional)
Manipulation - 10 (Exceptional)
Raw Magic - 10 (Exceptional)
Power Staff - 0 (Incapable)
Scroll Writing - 0 (Incapable)

Bone - 5 (Good)
Flesh - 0 (Incapable)
Spirit - 0 (Incapable)
Hex - 0 (Incapable)
Potion - 5 (Good)

(Values up to 5 are common, up to 10 are rare, more than that nearly unheard of)

>>6159757
Oof. I guess we specializing, anons!

Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d5)

Mystery roll, then writing

While getting out of the forest while its still light out would be a good idea, meeting others while still this dirty would be detrimental to everything you wish to achieve. Your beauty is one of your good assets, and it should be used when possible.

You undress, drench your clothes in the shallow water, then walk out into the deep. After one deep breath, you submerge yourself while feeling the temperate water hug you all around. You let yourself sink slightly, before you run your hands through your long dark hair, removing dirt and filth.

You wash yourself off as well as you can, then start working on your clothes. You make sure not to rub the rags too much, as the fabric feels fragile and might tear if not handled gently.

As you wash your clothes, the smell of tobacco hits your nose. You look around in an attempt to find the source, and there, sitting on top of the giant roots of a tree, you see someone.
Covered in fur to its stomach, with the legs and horns of a goat, a creature smokes its pipe with its eyes closed.
The creature is likely a faun. You have never actually seen one before, but the stories you have heard about them match. If the stories are correct, faun are kind-spirited and easy-going. While unlikely to pose a threat to you directly, it could be a problem if he spoke to others of your whereabouts.

And besides, how long has he been sitting there? He must have seen your naked form, without your knowledge, AND without announcing himself.

How do you proceed? (You may write dialogue, if you want.)
>Write in

>>6161833
"Did you enjoy the view?"

>>6161995
+1

>>6161833
>Who are you and what do you want?

Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d5)

Not dead, writing when im able

Happy Christmas :)

You let your eyes linger on the faun while slowly rubbing your clothes, to see if he has noticed you looking at him. A flutter in his eye, and you know he is trying hard not to look at you. That, or he got smoke in his eye.
Who are you kidding, he is *obviously* trying to not look. You turn back to your clothes to wash them. You imagine how your form would look from his angle, how the faun would study your figure, where his eyes would linger.
You straighten your back a little, turn your torso slightly, to give an enticing, but not too revealing view. You move your hair away from your face, so the faun can clearly see your expressions as you talk.
You slow down the washing somewhat to reduce the amount of splashing, don’t want any water to drown out your words.

“Did you enjoy the view?” In the corner of your eye, you see movement. You assume he is looking right at you now, wondering if you are talking to him, so he knows if he is to respond. You hear the faun clearing its throat, coughing, before he speaks.

“I wasn’t lookin, swear! But, you are a beaut!”

You raise your eyebrows and smile, still washing your clothes. You feel your expressions are a bit exaggerated, but it might be necessary so the faun can see it clearly.

“I don’t believe you, you liar. If a liar tells me I am pretty, then surely that means the opposite is true.”

A rustle and sudden movement, it seems the faun stood up.

“Im no liar miss! All I says is true! I chop me head off and hang it before I lie, swear!”

You consider breaking the fact to him that he cannot know you are a ‘beaut’ if he did not see you, but decide it best not to put him too much on the spot.
Holding the wet rag you call clothes, you rise slowly from your crouched position. Holding the clothes to cover up your front, you turn to face the faun. The wet clothes stick to your skin, contouring along the shape of your body.
The faun looks at you for a full five seconds before looking everywhere else than you.
You take a few steps towards him. He does not seem to notice, given how hard he *isn’t* looking.

“Decapitated, and then hanged? Sounds redundant.”

The faun tries to respond, but he seems to fumble anything he tries to say. Eventually he starts to just mumble.

You feel confident in your ability to manipulate the faun.

How do you proceed?
>Write in

>>6164163
Our turn to ask of him something. Get him to help us dig up some bones.

>>6164191
+1

>>6164163
Dig up bones for us, for the prospect of burying his own?

>>6164153
Merry Christmas hijacker anon

>>6164163
Ask for directions

I wont be able to continue for a couple days. Im back the 30th, and I might post then. If not, some time early next year

>>6165425
Fair enough. Thanks for taking over. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, QM.

>>6165425
Hope you're doing well anon

Rolled 5, 4 = 9 (2d5)

Im back, writing either sometime later today or tomorrow
Mystery roll

>>6165427
>>6167771
>>6164630
Merry (late) christmas, and happy new years! :)

I have a lot of the post finished, but I want some clarification before I finish it

Im writing for
>Have him help digging up bones
But from *where* are we digging up bones?

You cant sense any bones around the lake, so im assuming either:

>The forest clearing from earlier, where you sensed bones
or
>The human settlement, which likely has a graveyard

You may vote for either. I will post when I have time, likely tomorrow

>>6168619
>>The forest clearing from earlier, where you sensed bones
We can't graverob people we are going to do business with

>>6168619
>The forest clearing from earlier, where you sensed bones

Im back and writing the post now
I got a lot more work than I anticipated these last few days, im sorry about not communicating this clearly

The faun seems susceptible. Now to find out how much you can get away with.
“I didn’t mean to call you a liar. You seem nice. Honest at heart and not too forward.”
As you approach ever closer, you notice how he takes deep breaths, his gaze locked at some point to his left. He tries to keep his composure.

Time to crack it.
“I like that.”

He shifts as he hears your words. He looks you in the eyes, down to your body, then right back up again. You are around a meter away from him, before you stop.
As you try to read his eyes, something flickers on his chest. While keeping eye contact would be beneficial when manipulating him, you can’t help but look down.
He is wearing a chest plate of sorts, its metal sheen reflecting the sun. Symbols you don’t understand are carved into the material, emitting an aura you can *feel*.

“Is nice, innit? Chanted it meself, I did! Not smith, no, but chanted, yes!”
As you study his armour, the faun starts talking. You can hear it in his voice, he is desperately trying to ease the tension he must be feeling. His chest plate is intriguing, it was invisible at a distance, but not up close.
And the faun claims he enchanted it himself. That could become very handy.

You close the distance between yourself and the faun. You put your left hand on his chest plate, as you study it. There is no way you can learn anything about the plate this way, but it should serve as a good excuse to touch the faun.

“Wow, you made this? It’s beautiful!”
You put your other hand onto the plate as well. As you feel up the rugged metal surface, the faun slowly raises his right hand, seemingly attempting to hold your hand.

You can’t have any of that, he has to work for it first. You take a small step away from him, his hand missing yours just barely. His hand hovers in the air, wanting.
“You seem resourceful. Mind helping a lady in need?”
---

1/2

The two of you walk back to the forest clearing. The faun seems to navigate these forests well, the trip feeling a lot quicker than when you travelled to the pond. On your way there, the faun looks all around the forest, picking up tiny little flowers and plants, breaking off small branches and taking off the leaves, pocketing all of it.
While amusing, you decide not to ask about it, not yet. It could serve as a way to shift topics or ease tension later.

The two of you arrive at the clearing, your senses once again feeling the bones below.
While the faun looks around, studying the stones, you walk to a spot where the bones are nearest the surface.

With your foot, you try to mark an X where you stand, but the grass only yields temporarily. You really need shoes.

“I need you to dig, right here.” The fauns gaze leaves the rocks and turns to you, pointing down where there could be a visible X on the ground. You never explained what you wanted him to do on your way here, hopefully he will do as he is told without question.

“Righto, done in no time.” From his belt, he pulls out a shovel! You have not seen him with a shovel previously, surely, he must have an enchanted portable stash of some kind. Another thing to ask about later.

As the faun works the dirt, you sit down on a stone, letting your eyes wonder around the clearing.
Its much darker out, the last rays of the sun shining down into the forest. Everything seems so calm and familiar, a little nostalgic even. Probably because this is where you first had time to truly feel your newfound freedom, but there is something within you telling you there is more to it than that.
You run a hand along the rock you are sitting on, feeling its smooth texture. Feels like there is something more to this stone, as well as all the others, but you can’t really tell what.
Hunger breaks your train of thought. Realizing you have not eaten since you escaped captivity, you decide that acquiring food should be one of your top priorities, alongside crushing the Elvish kingdom.
Although, maybe fasting a bit would be good? Maybe humans think thin dark elves look good?
Who knows, asking (when you find a human) could be a good idea.

You estimate the faun will be done digging this first hole when the sun has set.

What will you do in the meantime?
>Write in

2/2

>>6172082
Maybe we can gather some ingredients for basic healing, stamina, or protective potions?

>>6172131
This

>>6172131
Supporting

Rolled 5, 5 = 10 (2d5)

No update today, probably one tomorrow
Mystery dice

>>6172082
Seems pretty clear that we should be finding food

When sitting on the rock starts to hurt, you decide to look for ingredients, hopefully enough to complete a potion or two. While you don’t have flasks to actually make a proper concoction, many things can be consumed as a pulp or power, although at diminished effects.
You walk to the centre of the clearing to get an overlook of the area, right next to where the faun is digging. The faun looks up at you, giving you a wide smile, then returns to his work. It almost feels like he is digging a little quicker now when you are standing so close.

The grass is green, with some flowers mixed in here and there. You pull up some of the grass, smelling it, then tasting it. Yup, that’s normal grass. You do the same to a couple flowers, most of them having little to no alchemical properties. There are also some flower buds you cannot identify, which you know better not taste test before they bloom, on the chance they are harmful.

Walking around studying the ground around the rocks, you notice something more promising. At the base of the rock, tiny little red blue striped mushrooms spring forth. This is what the dark elves back at the slave camp called a *Moonflesh*. When grounded and mixed with salt, consuming it would cause wounds to heal and close a lot quicker than normal. Add water, and you can consume the mix a lot easier than when eating it as a pulp.
You really hope you can make this mix without using salt from sweat ever again.

As you work your way out from the centre of the clearing, you find very little else. That is, until you get to the very edge of the clearing.
The trees seem bountiful in potential resources at first glance: Roots growing above ground, flowers growing on the roots, the rugged tree bark, and vines flowing from the canopy, growing into and around the bark of the trees.

As you examine the tree and its bounty, you can hear the faun calling for you. You have little space in your current clothes: One pocket barely the size of your hand, and your belt, currently holding some of the ancient bones.
Better not keep the faun waiting. You should examine the rest of the potential ingredients later, after checking out the dig site.

---
1/2

As you approach the hole in the ground, the faun steps aside as he gestures with his hand towards his handywork.
“Ere you go! I found some bones down there, not sure if that’s what you were lookin for.”

You smile, give him a pat on the shoulder, then promptly dismiss him. Now is not the time to thank him, his work is not yet done. There are still more bones in the ground to be dug up.

As you crouch down in the hole and about to examine the bones, the faun speaks up once more, pointing to a spot in the clearing as he moves towards it.
“I… uhm, uh, yea, I will start on another one. Right here, yes?”

He’s desperate for attention, you didn’t tell him the next spot to dig. Fine, let’s give him a little morsel of appreciation, since he is so eager to continue.
You climb out of the hole, then walk towards him. He stands still, watching your movements. He seems to be watching your legs, his mouth opening slightly. His hand is still up, now pointing somewhere into the forest.

As you get close, you hold up one hand with the palm up.
“Yes, that would be so kind of you! You are doing a good job!”
You walk past him, slowing down slightly, as you hook his index finger with yours, pulling him along with you. You look into his eyes as you walk, commanding him to follow, to obey, lest this moment of touch end abruptly.

And he follows, then digs with renewed vigour at the next spot of your choosing.

Finally, you can examine the bones in the ground. You brush some loose dirt aside, revealing a skull. This was once a human, you can feel it in your core.
The empty eye sockets beg you for reincarnation. Your body grants its request.

Just like that, a skeleton assembles and rises to its feet.
The eye sockets thank you, as it looks through you and past you.

You climb out of the hole once more, now with a skeleton in tow. The faun is currently digging with his back towards you, unaware of your newest companion. You supress a giggle, never once did you tell him why you want him to dig, and never once did he ask. You can only imagine the way he would react when he spots the skeleton, alive, in a sense.

---

The sun has almost set, the last of daylight quickly fading away. Examining the remaining ingredients could be a good idea, but it would be amusing to reveal the skeleton while there still is light out. Or maybe just leave him to his digging, while trying out your necromancy.

How do you proceed?
>Write in

2/2

>>6173412
>Send the skeleton away for now, to serve as an unseen sentry i the woods
>Make conversation with the faun, to learn his history and attitudes including towards necromancy while he digs

>>6173412
>Send the skeleton away for now, to serve as an unseen sentry i the woods
>Build a fire for the night

>>6173424
>>6173552
+1

Rolled 5, 2 = 7 (2d5)

No update today, next post likely tomorrow
Mystery dice

>>6174023
QM?

>>6176905
Ded, I fear.

>>6177279
dead again. RIP