Rigidity Tier 1 Enhancement purchased for 1 point! Now all your Greenmagic will have the tensile strength and cutting sharpness of a hammered bronze blade, if you wish it! (Additional 10 mana cost to spell.)
Domain Tier 1 Enhancement purchased for 1 point! Ever more of mundus shall fall under the sway of Faerie! For an additional 10 mana, all your Greenmagic will have double the original area of effect!
Lilith’s gaze instantly transformed from a look of apoplectic fury to one of unmitigated horror.
She howled as she stumbled and collapsed, unable to close bulging eyes that suddenly erupted in blood-covered leafy vines of bronze now exploding from her every orifice. Yet still she writhed and struggled, scythe-like limbs desperately lashing the ground, John stumbling back further as ever more vines poured from her mouth, Lilith now vomiting organs and entrails torn free in a shower of blood.
“No! This is not how it’s supposed to end! I’m winning. I’m finally winning!” Her desperate mental cry left John reeling, as much a Psionic Blast as a furious plea to the fates themselves.
And Lilith’s massive carapace gained the shiny hue of something under terrible pressure.
“Brace yourselves!” John shouted to the caged captives as he stumbled back, though he couldn’t look away from the sight of a horribly distended Lilith giving one final psychic howl before bursting in a cacophony of bronze vines and gore.
John was slammed back by the blast, raising his arms just in time to ward the worst of the shrapnel, most deflected by his dwarven armor, though his legs were perforated by jagged slivers of bronze as he crashed to the ground.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest: Village Rescue I!
Even though all your original companions are dead and you forever lost the strong, beautiful woman you were smitten by, you still managed to successfully rescue 25 children from the clutches of the suspected vile necromancer who turned out to be an abomination, just like you! Experience earned! (+1 Potency Point to invest in Arcadian Powers, thanks to Horror Harvester perk)
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest: Village Rescue II! Even though the village has been almost entirely destroyed and all its former inhabitants either butchered in cold blood or transformed to Fae, you still managed to take down the mastermind behind it all, as well as her numerous henchmen, ensuring that Goldenwheat and her neighbors will forever be free of the threat of transdimensional horrors! Good thing you thought to check their lair carefully before you left for good, right? Experience earned!
You have achieved level 5! You are now more than halfway to level 6! You have already invested 5 Character Points and 1 Potency Point in attributes and powers, with 2 Potency Points and Elowin’s boon remaining. Rest to fully quantize your level-up!
He shook his head, momentarily dizzy and disoriented, his mind awhirl with notifications. Remarkably, he felt absolutely no pain, for all that he had been slammed back by thorny bronze vines and his right hand had been devoured by a horror less than a minute ago. Everything was now fully healed, far faster than even his supernatural regeneration should allow.
He closed his eyes, seeking to regain his equilibrium, suddenly understanding just how he had achieved that feat. He had combined both of his arcane disciplines and learned a cool new skill while doing so.
Bloodmagic Synergisms detected!
Greenbinding can be transformed to Blood Vines at will! 20% of all damage suffered by opponents trapped in your vampiric vines will be transferred to you! (This amount will increase with each Tier purchased in Bloodlink.) Cost to cast: 10 Mana (+10 if given the tensile strength of bronze. This will significantly increase damage suffered by all opponents who struggle against the vines, as if they were in a prison of bronze wire and razor-sharp thorns.
You can now use your magic in brilliantly unorthodox ways! You can forge permanent armor and weaponry with the tensile strength of bronze with a Faerie Magic skill check! - You now have Rank 1 in the greater skill Faerie Magic. Additional ranks in this skill will allow you to use all of your Arcadian Powers with increasing finesse and at a reduced cost. Current spell cost reduction: 10%. Current casting time reduction: 10%
The sound of desperate voices instantly pulled him out of his daze.
-Elowin and the others!- A jolt of terror instantly brought him to his still dizzy feet and he lurched across the room to the battered cages, hissing in pain and carefully watching his feet after he stepped on razor-sharp bronze thorns. But the scene of violent devastation he had feared turned out to be no worse than liberating twenty odd captives from their cages, all of them thankfully free of injury, save for odd-looking burns that quickly faded.
Elowin smiled, her sky-blue eyes captivating in their fey intensity. "Thank you, Johnathan Farreach. For freeing us, for rescuing our children, for putting an end to that abomination, me and mine will forever be in your debt."
John bowed his head before her undeniably regal gaze. “You are more than welcome. I’m just grateful no shrapnel hit you in those cages.” He gave an apologetic shake of his head. “I knew it was an incredibly stupid thing to do. I was betting everything on a sliver of hope, that the wildest of gambles would actually pay off.”
Elowin nodded. “You are more than forgiven, John. For had you not seized the moment, had you not been willing to take that terrible gamble, our immortal deaths would have been almost a certainty.”
She shuddered. It was a chilling thing, seeing an otherworldly creature pale, John thought.
“Had you not possessed the boldness and daring of heroes now relegated to myth and story in these jaded self-serving times, we would have fallen prey to that abomination and all her hideous torments.” Elowin flashed a sad smile. “You are our hero, John. Our savior. One who chose to rise beyond his own fears, his own self-interest, and come to our aid in our final hour.”
Soft hands gently stroked his cheek, gazing with wonder at the crimson tears he shed. “Your heart bleeds for people who are neither kith nor kin. It is compassion alone that drove you to such desperate measures.”
Her gaze left him breathless, and every other faerie was utterly silent, peering at John so intently after giving uniform bows.
“I am prepared to offer you a boon, Johnathan Farreach. A boon that has not offered to a mortal for centuries. A boon I think worthy of your noble heart. But first, I would know your secret fear. That which you dread above all else.”
John swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, the way his heart raced in sudden horror, forcing himself to gaze at that which he most dreaded in all the world, choosing to hide nothing from the woman gripping his cheeks even now.
“That,” he whispered, pointing at the ruptured pile of suppurating flesh that was shriveling to ash even now.
She quirked her brow. “You fear that which you have already mastered?”
He quickly shook his head. “No. Not her. It’s what she represents. That no matter how fierce my resolve and drive was today, no matter how much I yearned to save as many as I could, I fear that one day I’ll end up just as much a monster as she was, with memories of being human no more real than a dream.”
She nodded solemnly, her blue eyes now as vast and wide as the brilliant blue sky he had witnessed this morning within these lands, or perhaps the vast and stormy sea. His heart raced as if he were falling into waves of infinite possibility, yet without fear, rather with the curious exhilaration of a dream.
“No matter the origins of your forging, you are the farthest thing from Lilith that you could possibly be, Johnathan Farreach,” said the sea and the sky. “The boon I am willing to grant you draws upon nothing but your own virtue, and how far along the path of our shared destiny you choose to walk. But answer me this, child of two worlds. Do you favor the land you see?”
John opened his eyes and gazed down upon vast majestic forests and beautiful windswept fields he was suddenly flying above, laughing with awe and wonder as he glimpsed golden pegasi and silver dragons racing about the heaven
s, suddenly sensing the ancient wisdom of forests very much alive, and the countless hundreds of thousands of faeries who called this magical, mystical land home.
A world of legends, where myth and fable mastered the reins of destiny every bit as much as entropy and physics controlled the fate of mortal realms.
He wept for the sheer beauty all around him, first skimming over treetops, then soaring the heavens, gazing with absolute wonder at majestic cloudtop castles overlooking misty lakes and rolling moors. A golden sunset saturated everything with impossibly sharp and vibrant colors, and never had John felt such a sense of awe as he did in that moment. Never did he want so badly to lose himself in such a wondrous, ephemeral dream, knowing he had just caught a glimpse of Arcadia itself.
“Yes, yes!” he whispered, coming back to himself in that underground lair of horrors, his mind still racing across those majestic plains, gazing upon creatures glorious and grand, glimpsing secret mysteries in woodland groves, feeling connected to a place of wonder, a realm that flourished with countless adventures waiting to be embraced, infinite stories eager to be told.
His eyes were wide with genuine awe. “I don’t have the words to describe what I’m feeling right now. I think that land I glimpsed is what I have always yearned for, whenever I would lose myself in my favorite fantasy novels or games.”
Elowin’s smile was a thing of profound beauty that warmed his soul to see. “I can sense already how deeply the land resonates within you. This pleases me greatly.”
Ephemeral features suddenly hardened into something dark and cold, terrible in its power and potency. Hot blazing eyes peered into his own. “What if I were to tell you that your resonance is a weapon I shall forge into a tool of destruction? That I will never forgive those who exiled me here, and I wanted that land destroyed?” She flashed a smile chill as the grave. “And should you be willing to don the icy mantle of my champion, I shall gift you with the heady boon of powers dark and terrible. Black gifts so potent that all your foes shall quail before your might!”
A cold weight flooded John’s heart. He sighed and gently stepped back. “Then I would refuse your boon,” he softly said, her chilly glare making it clear he courted oblivion with those words. “Believe me, the last thing I would ever want to do is offend a Faerie Queen. But even I can sense the sacred wonder and beauty of that place. And no matter how just your cause is, the thought of bringing ruin to that land… no. I don’t think that’s something I would ever be willing to do.”
His heart started to pound once more. No matter how desperate her plight had been but moments before, free of cold iron, at last fully embracing her true form, Elowin was now a Power. Of that there could be no doubt. If he had offended her too greatly…
But all she did was smile, eyes twinkling with a certain mischievous mirth, and of course John understood. "A coldblooded mercenary would have asked for a boon worthy of the betrayal. A fragile soul would have been too intimidated to deny me. But you are neither fragile, nor treacherous, nor coldblooded, John. So I choose to give you the greatest gift I can." With those words, she gently placed her right palm upon his brow.
The entire room flooded with golden light, and John screamed with an ecstasy that bordered on agony.
“I choose to reveal to you what you already are. For all that you were forged upon Abomination’s path, you instead chose a direction few would dare, risking your life so that our children might have happier stories to share during their brief mortal lives. Stories that now include your own, Johnathan Farreach, who did not flinch from claiming Story’s mantle as you fought horrors out of darkest nightmare, rewriting your tale as you saw fit.
“You are a creature of Nightmare no longer, and you will never again be a Farreach, no matter the dark pacts your father struck with abominations not of this world.
“Your name shall forevermore be Johnathan Everwood, and the path you now walk is one we both share.”
Hidden Quest: I Choose My Own Path I Complete! - You have managed to break free of the horrific doom your father placed upon you when he first pulled you out of a clone vat, just a handful of days ago! No longer just a simple simulacrum like the hundreds that came before, you have chosen your own course, free of the poisonous influences that have doomed so many just like you! Spurning the easy route to power, one that would have left you friendless and bitter as you embraced increasingly dark transformations, a new path of transcendence is now available to you. A path firmly aligned with Arcadia!
Do you choose to walk the path Elowin Everwood has laid before you?
John froze, sensing the forking path before him, suddenly knowing that the choice he made would alter his fate forever.
As much as that unknown terrified him, when he thought of the dark and bloody road his father had already forced his feet upon, it was really no choice at all.
You have chosen yes! Congratulations! You now walk the Path of Arcadia.
Every Character Point spent, every Potency Point harvested, and every Faerie Point earned as a quest reward that you invest in your Arcadian Powers will increase your Arcadian Level.
You have invested a total of 5 points in Faerie Magics. You are now a Level 3 Arcadian. Faerie quests and pathways to Arcadia are now open to you and up to 3 companions! Four More points need to be invested in powers or granted as quest rewards to achieve Arcadian Level 4.
Arcadian class benefits – Story dependent. You are now Elowin Everwood’s disciple. Every additional Arcadian level you earn will net you +1 to Charisma, Appearance, & Luck. As your story grows in depth and richness, others will increasingly want to be part of the tale you weave. Even Fate itself will occasionally turn a benign eye your way, the beauty of your resolve forever shining through. The virtue you show and the deeds you embrace as you inscribe your story upon the bedrock of fate shall determine what additional benefits, if any, accrue with each level earned.
Your story as an Arcadian starts only at this moment, so you have no bonuses to any of your stats. Warning, as your Arcadian rank grows and your mundane origins slowly fade, you will increasingly be bound by the rules and strictures governing all Faeries.
Level 3 detriments
Oathbound. Deceiving enemies in combat is one thing, but once you give your word, you are loath to break it, suffering fate and experience penalties until you make amends. Since you are naturally a stickler for keeping your word, this is just second nature to you and hardly feels like an otherworldly stricture at all!
Level 3 benefits
Access to Arcadia and all Faerie questlines. Full awareness of all intersection points between Jordia and Arcadia. You will spot winding pathways that fade to mist and dream for everyone else! You can embrace adventures beyond chasing after artifacts or the intrigues of Jordian nobles. For you, high fantasy adventures are just a moonlit path away!
Live Long and Well. - Still as much mortal as Fae, age touches you but lightly. The turning of the seasons will not mark your mortal coil with death’s hoary promise until winter’s bell has rung. Even then it will be the gentlest of sleeps that claim you, with the warmth and companionship of all those who were moved by the tale of your life by your side as your spirit shucks free all worldly burdens, making its way joyfully back to Arcadia, embracing wildest adventure and childlike wonder for countless centuries, until the enticements of the mortal world tempt you once more.
Level 5 points already invested. 2 Potency Points in reserve. (Can only be spent on Arcadian Powers)
You have made significant use of Magic and Psionics both, facing off against foes much more powerful than you. Mana has increased an additional 15 points beyond the Faerie Lord’s gift to 90! Psion Pool is now 110!
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John Everwood – Level 5 Evolved Symbiote / Level 3 Arcadian Faerie
Primary Attributes
Strength 14 / Vitality 14 / Finesse 13 / Quickness 17 / Perception 18 / Scholarship 11 / Willpower 15 / Charisma 12 / Luck 12
; Secondary Attributes
Health 154 / Survival 216 / Stamina 154 / Mana 90 / Psion 110 / Insight 15
Base Appearance: 13 +1 (12 charisma) +1 (athletic) -1 (Dark Point) = +4 reaction modifier!
Perks
Symbiote Hybrid – Who knows what cool abilities you'll manifest? Increase all of your Symbiote-linked stats and continue your metamorphosis!
Path of Self-mastery Tier 1 – Your first Greater Genetic Insight allows you to access your potential while still keeping your humanity! It's all about knowing which genes to activate, and which to turn off! - You have chosen to embrace your humanity. Expect decreasing stat gains as you approach the natural limitations of your chosen form.
Flaws
Parasitic Infection flaw has been tempered with Self-mastery! (Graceful temperance or glorious madness, you decide!)
Skills
Grappling Rank 3 / Saber Rank 2 / Stealth Rank 1 / Mercantile Rank 2 / Persuasion Rank 2 / Arcane Perception Rank 1 / two-handed swords Rank 3 / Sword & Shield Rank 2 / Magesight Rank 1 / Find Weakness Rank 1
Highlord Skills
Castling Rank 2 / Ego Crush Rank 1 / Mindblade Rank 1 / Mindreading Rank 2 / Psi-Tactics Rank 2 / Psi-Sense Rank 1 (Hunter’s Sense dependent)
Greater Skills
Faerie Magic Rank 1 – This skill allows you to manipulate all Arcadian Powers in ways never intended! The higher your skill rank, the easier it is to manipulate Faerie magics and reality itself in whatever ways you see fit! All limitations or requirements, including Mana costs and casting times, are decreased by 10% per skill level.
Arcadian Powers
Level 3 Arcadian – Access to all Faerie portals and questlines, Long-lived, Oathbound.
Warped Magic – You no longer follow standard Jordian magical traditions. You can learn nothing save theory and perhaps insights to Faerie Magic skill when studying under Jordian mages. You can learn no Jordian spells nor increase any Jordian arts.
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