In reply to Tristan (msg # 47):

Master gives you a long, blank look.  Then begins to smile.  Not in a friendly way either.

"Oh really?  Well let's see how hard you're willing to work."

He goes to a pack and pulls out a small hand shovel.  Small to him.  To you, it's the length of your arm.

"Dig me a hole.  As wide as the tip of one of your shoulders to the other shoulder.  As deep as you are tall.

"Hurry now."

This is not what I had in mind, he thinks.  But he says nothing.

Instead, he falls to his knees and starts digging as though his life depends on it.

And just maybe it does...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:45, Fri 16 Dec 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 49):

Uncle...well maybe now Master...chuckles and leaves you to it.  Ferko also seems to scoff.

Collin hands you a cup of water at one point and smiles reassuringly.  But he doesn't help you dig.

You attack it like the champ you are...

Make me a Athletics/Str check please.

23:37, Today: Tristan rolled 0 using 1d10-4.  athletics/strength

Tristan motivates himself by imagining he's digging Uncle Master's burial plot.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:39, Sat 17 Dec 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 51):

Nice touch

You manage to dig far enough down so you can stand calf deep in the hole.

Uncle comes by and watches you, then you feel those unseen hands pull you upwards again.  This time though you aren't taken up into the sky.  Simply pulled out of the hole and set on your feet.

"Watch."  Uncle mumbles something and makes a few gestures.  A large chunk of earth uproots itself from the bottom of your hole and deposits itself nearby.  Uncle nods.

"Now that is a hole you can stand in.  I did with magic what you would take all day to do.  So why did I have you do it?

"What did it feel like?  When you were digging?  How did it feel when you pushed into the ground and scooped up the earth?  Try to describe the sensation as well as you can."

“It was hard,” He said, not at all sure what Uncle Master was getting at.  “My knees hurt from the ground.  My heart beat faster.  I sweated.  I could smell the dirt.” He tried to think of something else.  “It just seems… normal.” He shrugged.  “It felt like home.  Like the farm.  I did chores all the time.”
This message was last edited by the player at 05:10, Sun 18 Dec 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 53):

Uncle scratches his chin.  "Okay.  That's a start.  Now...try to forget all that about doing chores.  Think only about the sensation of digging.  The resistance of the earth as you pushed the shovel into it.  The taste of it when it got in your mouth.  Rub your finger and feel the dirt that's on them now.

"There's another word for earth.  It's terram.  It's a word from the old tongue called Latin.  It's what the priests speak.

"What I did was to use my power...my Gift...to manipulate terram.  You will be able to do that too one day.  But for now, you need to get used to the feel of terram.  It's not earth when you manipulate it.  It's not dirt when you use your Gift on it.  It's terram.

"Grab two big handfuls of dirt and squish it between your hands.  And think about what it feels like.  Start telling yourself you aren't squishing up earth.  You're squishing up terram."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:00, Thu 29 Dec 2022.

Tristan promptly obeys.  He rubs the dirt in his hands and repeats that fancy word, terram, over and over again.

Although he likes the sound of that word... especially when his master speaks it... ultimately, he feels like a imbecile who is wasting his time playing with dirt like an infant. Smelling his fingers like his uncle commanded him do does little to enhance the experience.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:18, Mon 19 Dec 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 55):

Okay.  Giving you a choice here.

You can make a Magic Sensitivity/Per test.  Simple test so no chance of a botch.  A 0 counts as a 10.

Just a Perception Test.  Simple test on this as well.

Or you can push things.  Really try to feel something.  If you do that, it's a stress test.  Magic Sensitivity/Per.

Thanks

Let's really push things.

23:05, Today: Tristan rolled 3 using 1d10-3.  magic sensitivity/perception.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:06, Thu 29 Dec 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 57):

Okie doke.  For your current state, that's a good roll.

You try squishing the moist earth between your fingers.  It feels gooshy and...well.  You're not sure you are doing this right.  You bring your fingers to your nose.

As you concentrate, you suddenly notice something.  The earth smells...fertile?  Like when your father turns over the earth in the fallow fields.  The dark, moist dirt rising to the surface has a kind of smell like...a newborn baby.  It suddenly occurs to you that there's a scent like your little brother's smell.  Not the poppy smell.  But the smell he has when he's just been washed.  All clean and new.

The feeling on your fingers changes too.  It's no longer just gloopy.  It's tacky and sticky.  Like honey from a hive or sap from a newly cut tree.  There's a pleasant kind of texture to it.

Uncle is studying your face.  "You feel something don't you?  What do you feel?"

"It feels... gooshy."  He struggles to find the right words.  "It feels sticky on my fingers, like honey.  And it smells like... a field after it's been broke up.  And kind of like my little brother... after a bath.  I can't explain it."

He looks back up at his master, worried he has said something wrong.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 59):

Uncle slowly smirks.  "So...would it be fair to say it feels alive?"

Tristan nods vigorously.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 61):

Uncle nods, seeming to be satisfied.  "You feel that because of your Gift.

"Magic runs through everything.  You can feel it in earth.  Fire.  Water.  Air.  You can feel it in your body.  Your mind.  In what you can see.  The animals around us.  The trees.  Even in and of itself.  Though we'll discuss that more later.

"All of magic comes in finding the magic in a thing and doing something with it.  Creating something.  Destroying something.  Controlling it.  Or changing it.  Also in understanding something. What you did was to understand the magic in the earth just then.  Does that make sense?

"We call these the Arts.  They are the ten Forms and the five Techniques.  You have learned a little something about one of the Forms, Terram.  And also a little something about one of the Techniques.  Intellego. Intellego is the Latin word that means "I understand"."

He waves a hand.  "So what would you like to learn a little something of next?  Animals?  Fire?  The things that can be seen?  Tell me what sounds interesting."

“Fire sounds interesting,” He says.  Then immediately regrets it as he wonders if Uncle Master will demonstrate by roasting him alive…

He quickly adds, "Unless you think I should focus on tarrum first.  Don't wanna get distractored."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Mon 02 Jan 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 63):

Uncle shakes his head at your last couple of lines.

"I'm not really teaching you magic here.  Just...opening you up to it.  That is how it works.  I need to open you up to each of the Forms and Techniques.

"And we can do fire.  Call it Ignem.  Lots of fools think fire is about power.  It's not.  I can show you fire...but do you really want to see it?"

Tristan hesitates for a second before responding.  No, he doesn't really want to see it... but he also doesn't want to show weakness before Uncle Master.  The last thing he needed was to be considered a coward.

"Yes, master," he says quietly.  "Please show me Ignem."

In reply to Tristan (msg # 65):

Uncle Master smirks.  "The quickest way to show you is..."

He snaps his fingers.

You are suddenly surrounded by flames.  They burn in the air, not an inch away from your nose.  You can feel heat behind you, warning you not to back up.

"Try doing what you did before.  With the earth.  But this time don't touch.  Just feel the heat.  Watch the flames.  Tell me if you can feel it."

Let's do another Magic Sensitivity/PER roll please.  And yes, it is a Stress Test

Thanks

Tristan struggles to control his panic and obey his master’s instructions.  He tries to open himself up and feel the true essence of the flames before they can consume him….

23:06, Today: Tristan rolled 2 using 1d10-3.  Magic sensitivity/perception.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 67):

You aren't doing too badly at all for these senstivity rolls.  Considering you're playing a child PC

The fire has a much different feel than the soil did.  Hungry.  That's what it feels like. On those days when Mother would get extra angry at you and refuse to give you bread.  But maybe even worse.  You can feel how the fire wants to rush in and eat you.

Fire is hunger.

But it's also the feeling of consuming.  Like when you were given bread at the end of the day.  It's that pleasurable feeling of falling on the loaf and just stuffing your face with it.

Oddly though, there's no feeling of being made full.  It's just the hunger and the joy of sating the hunger.  And then it repeats again.

Over and over again.

“It never ends,” Tristan says distantly, almost sadly, as though speaking of an old friend he pitied deeply.  “Always hungry.”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Fri 06 Jan 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 69):

Uncle laughs.  "And that is fire.  That's enough for one night.  We have quite a few steps to take before we reach home.  Get some sleep Tristan.  Sleep whenever you can."

And we are coming to the end of this storyline.

First, XP.  I'll give you 4 XP for your first Fae adventure.  And 2 XP for your first meeting with Uncle.  Good roleplay.

Your arts are going to be opened.  So that means you get a score of 0 in each one of them.

We aren't going to roleplay the journey back to the covenant.  But we will be moving to your arrival with the next story thread.

After that, we're going to time skip some.  Talk more about that later.

For now, check back with me Monday please.  I need to rejigger some stuff.  And we will arrive at Cliff Heart.

Questions/Comments thus far?

Nope.  Cool game, btw.  I'm digging it.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:24, Mon 09 Jan 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 71):

Thanks.