"Yes." He felt no reason to soften that blow. "Unless you enjoy the idea of your children being immortal at whatever age they are last you saw them, I am saying to forget about them."

He stopped looking around and raised a hand to her in pause. "Let me explain this one, and this might take a bit because you've asked for a lot: you are something called a Verser by other Versers. We are what we are because of a quasi-substance called Scriff. It is able to pass from person to person via fluid exchange, but it can be passed even to inanimate objects psychically merely by intimacy. Possession, love, even intense enough hatred can transmit scriff to a person or object."

"While it makes us immortal, it freezes our biological age and renders us sterile. It is a force of semi-stasis, allowing us to engage in a perpetual upward pressure of power for an unknown end, because a unique trait of ours is that our skills do not fall off from disuse." He took a breath to mentally reset himself. "All of this together is why you have to be careful not only what you do, but who and how you do it. Got an enemy? Hand-to-hand and intense emotions risk scriff transmission, so you might make a hated individual immortal. Got someone you've decided to date out of loneliness? If it goes far enough, you better hope they view immortality as a gift."

"And kids?" He smirked. "Do the math. I would not want to be forever seven."

"And no, nothing's impossible, even if finding a unique grain of sand on all the beaches and ocean beds of the world fails to give the scope of what you wish to do. Let's just say you make it, and examine this: you will outlive everyone, and unless they all die in their prime or close to it, you could have a whole family tree of people becoming versers at old age, while you remain forever young and strong." He frowned, attempting to project at least some empathy for her situation. "I am sorry, but this story you would make does not have the happy ending you are likely envisioning, simply because it doesn't just end when you get home changed for the better from your exciting and life-changing experiences."

"You just said yourself that nothing is impossible, and from the sounds of it, I will have a very long time to either except it or subvert it." I take a deep breath to put a mental pin on what Mentat has relayed to me, and move on to the more relevant and immediate concern. "You told Julius that you are a wizard. The Ed I know is not much for lying, so I assume you're not either. I'm not sure how much help I can be here, all I have is this saber I got from a ghost from the cival war, and" I pull out the revolver I stole off the man at the museum and open the chamber to reveal the two sad little bullets inside. This is actually when something else dawns on me, and an audible grunt precedes, "That means I just murdered FOUR MEN in New York!"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:19, Fri 01 Sept 2017.

"Well, good luck with that. And while I don't like to lie, put me under pressure and I'm very quick and smooth with the deception if I think it's needed." He put a hand to his head again. "And yes. Yes, you did actually kill four people. I'm assuming none of the bodies vanished in a flash of light, so they actually died. Very few of us make it through our existences without having killed someone, deliberately or accidentally. You will, for better or worse, adjust to these deeds."

He looked at the saber and the revolver. "Good saber, low ammo count...36 cal? Better than nothing, I guess. No knockdown power, though, unless its from a world that doesn't understand how Earth ballistics work. Drills right through a person normally."

He pointed to the saber. "What do you know about this saber's legend, it's story? It's from a ghost from the civil war? I need details in order to understand what you have, and I need to know what it has done since. Count your usage of it in the tale. Because that might be more useful than you think."

"The only flash of light I remember is the one Lawson, the ghost went into, so I don't think any of them did." I think a moment before continuing. "Lets see Captain Lawson a confederate soldier was its previous owner. He died in or around the battle of New Mahan. Basically a Captain Sullivan made a threat to destroy it, Lawson went to defend it. Sullivan captured him and torched the place. Lawson swore to kill him, apparently convincing an angel to leave him until Sullivan was dead. His soul resided in the saber, until recently. I got it while stoping a heist in the museum. He told me his story and we went to kill Sullivan, who was still around I think he said 60 years later?" I stop a moment surprised that I still remember that detail and to think if anything really note worthy happened. "Um, I killed three of the four men with it, the last one being Sullivan.... Actually... One strange thing did happen with it while I was still at the museum, I deflected a bullet and again at Sullivan's office. Now I fancy myself good with a sword but I am NOT that good. And now that I think of it I could only see or hear Lawson if I was touching it."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Fri 01 Sept 2017.

"Hard to say if this Lawson was telling the full truth or not. There's a lot of context to that tale you likely don't know." He was gazing back to the skies. "Still, a possessed weapon used to kill an ageless soldier and can block bullets is a weapon with both practical and symbolic power, the latter of which can become real power if you know the tricks."

"Yes, I am a magician. Consider, however, that you've killed three people in hand-to-hand combat in your first world, and you might be more handy in a fight than you think." He smiled, leaving his full thoughts unspoken. "You've got the instincts, if nothing else."

"Tho saith. Last question before we check in on Julius, is there any special requirements to learn magic or are . . .'Versers' predisposed to learning it or something? After all, I know the Ed I married isn't a wizard, but for all I know you always were."

"Oh boy." Mentat rolled his eyes. "I actually don't know if we get the universe at our fingertips as a result of our composition, or not. I think scriff is separate from that, but that's just a theory."

He put on his instructor face, a front he put on when he was about to teach. "But learning magic requires a few things. The first one is understand why you want to learn in the first place - this is actually step zero as far as I'm concerned. Because it's a high risk power that can destroy the universe you are in if you fail to pronounce a syllable correctly, if you failed to concentrate properly, or even for reasons you cannot comprehend, also known as 'just because.'"

"Well as far as I can tell, one uses magic to surpass what they are physicly capible of, much like why one would use technology. After all I can't hit a target out side of melee range, but a gun or a bow would." I think for a moment, and pull out my phone. "Can 'Just because' make technology act weird as well? When I was in the first world my phone kept picking up conversations. One was a call forcing someone to drive a car for the museum heist I mentioned, and the other I'm pretty sure I heard the name Capone was mentioned."

"Well, guns and bows won't kill the universe, no matter how bad your aim is or how your bullet behaves...unless the universe is made out of nitroglycerin, in which case you die after a day anyway because the universe hasn't been properly mixed. Stupid death worlds. I hope the gods and beings in charge of those places were all fired from heaven." Mentat looks at the phone oddly. "I am inclined to tell you 'no' but the exception tests the rule. That might be a similarly possessed device, and useful as a divination focus."

His face twists into a familiar expression of annoyance. "Well, I suppose if the universe is going to hand you the power to destroy yourself and everyone around you on accident, I might as well give you pointers in the right direction. What do you have on you? Most versers leave their homeworld with a whole bunch of stupid things that normally will not help them, but can be used by the resourceful who know how to look at them and get their real potential out."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:45, Sat 02 Sept 2017.

"Point taken, but I get the impression you're not familiar with a series called one punch man." I take off my sling bag to check its contents. "Hmm. Looks like all I have is my idea journal, art supplies, and a bag of dice. And of corse what I'm wearing." I draw attention to my necklaces and 'keychain'.

"Disney fan. Got it." Mentat looked at the keychain. "If you ever need to channel Anarch powers, Walt Disney would be a stable source. If you draw on the illusions of Disney, they could make strong Alliance spells, too. The latter would be more reliable to most."

"The dice can be used to channel entropic powers or deal in prophecy. You have a hell of a head start in dealing with the powers of the underworld and death." He smirked at that, as she didn't strike him as a fatalist. "As for your art...perhaps it can used as a medium to talk to spirits? I know here in this castle, art can be quite the lethal force, for summoning, teleportation and outright murder."

"Think more Kingdom Hearts...Wait Anarch, I get calling them evil but Anarchist? And Alliance is that just another word for order or something?"

Mentat's advice on my other items furthers my confusion."Entropic? What do dice have to do with death? I mean I get prophecy, if the dice roll low that means the action would fail, right?"

"I'll start with the first. Anarch is the catch all term for the powers that told the Almighty and his Host to get bent, for one reason or another. Usually, they're what I'd call evil." He was smiling as he spoke. "Alliance is the catch all term for those who decided they were going to band together under the banner of those who served the Host. Usually, they're what I'd call good. Then you got the neutrals, the unaffiliated. Usually, they just either ducked down and waited for the victor, or they just adamantly refused to take a side. They can be all over the place, good, evil, apathetic, isolationist, insane or just plain alien in their reasoning."

"These generalizations are NOT hard and fast, but they are very good guidelines. Every world that allows magic has affinities to one of these groups. Neutral worlds usually don't care, but Alliance and Anarch worlds are opposed to the magic of the other, so that's a thing. Here, the favored magic will be Anarch." He looked at her as he continued smiling. "Obviously."

He started doing quick shoulder stretches, trying to keep himself primed for combat. "Now, dice don't have anything to do with death per se. It's about fate manipulation, which is tied to death, because most people's fate is 'you are gonna die.' So if you ask a question, and the dice pops a nat 1, you might want to think twice about doing that thing. On the other hand, your spell might have failed, and you are now literally just acting randomly without being aware of it, which is the first danger of divination with symbols of luck."

"The second danger comes in the potential of what I call fate locking: sometimes by merely seeing a future, you can create that future and then make it inevitable - like the tale of Oedipus Rex. Be really careful when asking for information about what you should do. Ask instead what is, and decide what you should do yourself without invoking fate. Asking directly about the future is usually fairly dire, unless you know what you are doing." He shrugs. "You'll figure it out, though. You have all of eternity ahead of you to learn. But I'm not teaching you anything about magic until I'm no longer under an open sky, and until we are at a safe place. We need to find the chapel here and re-sanctify it, if it has one. That will give us a base of operations to work from."

I nod and gesture in the general direction of Julius. "Alright, lead the way."

Background Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOaPYeLCbNM

As you have your discussion among yourselves, You hear whip cracks from the Gate House. Then the drawbridge lowers. As if on cue, Julius comes out of the Gate House.

"The Gate house is clear if you want to try to make it past the battle to civilization... I wouldn't recommend it since the fighting is rather fierce out there. I would like to escort you out of the castle, But my mission is time sensitive. I'll lead you to the first sanctuary. It's up to you whether or not you stay there. A magician on my side would be nice."


He then starts leading you down the path towards the Castle. His whip cracks as he kills the zombies rising from the ground in front of him. They are the slow walker type of Zombie.

You note that there are zombies raising behind you. It also looks like Julius is keeping an eye on them. Like he is waiting for something.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:07, Mon 04 Sept 2017.

"Well...time for science, I suppose." Mentat reached into the formal jacket he was wearing and pulled two throwing knives, one simply a quality blade, and the other silver. "I'll test how to kill them."

He took careful aim, and fired one into the head of one of the zombies, and the next into the head of the other one, just to see if silver had a noticeable difference on how they reacted.

Body shots, with quality and silver respectively, would be the next test of how they took attacks.

"Hmm. You have a point, I may need to see if I can off them myself." I move up to Julius and help with the zombies in-front of him and take the opportunity to see if my saber can kill them or if how I hit them will matter.

Mentat moves first with considerable agility. Launching two knifes at once towards their heads and then two towards their bodies.
The first good quality knife goes straight though the zombie's particularly rotten skull and manages to sever the spine. sending the zombie plopping to the ground before burning up in a fire
The second silver knife Lodges in the zombie's eye stopping it in it's tracks. However it is still standing and walking towards you
The third quality knife Goes straight through the zombie previously hit with the silver knife. It collapses and then burns up.
He throws the next silver one and it pierces through the next zombie. It's looking even more ragged than usual.

Mew moves in front of Julius and waits for a zombie. You strike with a slash across the body. drawing considerable blood but not dropping it yet.

Julius moves to mew's side and then his whip cracks through the zombie. which burns up.

"You would have killed it in your next swing."

There is 4 more zombies between you and the Castle door.

"So, no special vulnerabilities. Merely intense physical trauma, and not even an exceptional amount." Mentat shrugged, almost disappointed. He turned his gaze back to the front, glancing at the four zombies in front of them. "Worthless chaff. You got this, or do I need to eliminate them?"

He pulled an aerosol can with a strange curved lighter attached just under the spray, and smiled. He DID enjoy using this stuff way too much.

"Well good to know how soft these things are, just need to be faster." I hold the saber up in a sort of defensive position as I look back at Mentat and realize what he has in mind. "You know given how valuble a fire can be I think we should just save that for later. Yea?" Now with full attention back on the zombies in front of them. "I'll do my best to be faster this time." I tilt my head and gesture with it towards Julius. "You take on that end, I'll start at the other, and hopefully meet in the middle with a clear way to the door." I wait for conformation from Julius before moving in. Remember if they don't say they've got your back, they don't have your back.

After his acknowledgement I charge towards my side of the Zombies. My first swing is full force neck swing like someone aiming for a home-run in baseball. The second is almost a continuation of the first as I come full circle from its momentum only readjusted for center mass on the one next to the first.

Julius nods and then Mew moves into position. Then you lets a zombie get close.
Mew swings at the neck, cutting it to the spine. then Continues around into a spinning slash across it's body, Cutting it down like a tree. Before it burns up

Julius's Whip cracks twice and two zombies burn up in flames.

Mentat then Throws a quality knife That catches the last one in it's skull, knocking it off balance. Then another quality knife embeds itself it the Zombie's body before it bursts into flames.

All of you get to the Main Doors. They open to the inside to revel a hallway that is about 100 feet long and about 30 feet wide. There is expensive looking red carpet on the floor along with nice looking red curtains lining the windows along the wall.

There is also candles along the wall in intervals.

There are four zombies walking slowly towards you.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Wed 06 Sept 2017.

Mentat took a deep breath of irritation. This was not his style of warfare; too upfront, too respectful of his foes. "Okay, I'm getting tired of these things already."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of keys, making a calling whistle and stabbing the air with the keys in an effort to summon his bike. "I'd like to just run them over and call it a day. I'm going to the chapel, and I'm not gonna get married. I'll turn the energy there into something usable by human beings for your special funtime party."

If this worked, he was going to mount up, offer a seat to Mew, and do what he said he was going to do. She had a saber, so killing from a bike should should be a simple matter for her. In theory, anyways.

A portal of blue flames opens up outside. And Mentats bike come through. It is a stylish motorcycle with wheels that surrounded with blue fire. Mentat mounts up on it.

Julius's eyes are wide with surprise.

I am the weakest person here.
I seem to recall the zombies, while being the weakest enemies in the games always gave you a little trouble early in.
That does not change the fact I am half as effecint as Ed Mentat and Julius.
GET STRONGER OR GET DEAD PANZY!
Right. Get Good. What would I do without you?
Complain or worry about things you have no control over.
Right, that.

Then the motorcycle arrives and my sanity takes a momentary leave as I take a seat behind Mentat. "Get me closer I want to hit it with my sword. Sorry, too good to pass up." I can't hide my cat's smirk at saying that, and prepare to swat the zombies as we speed by doing my best to add the bikes speed to the lethality of the blow(s).

Mentat drives forward with the bike and leave the Stunned Julius behind. You Run over a few zombies And Mew manages to decapitate one as she passes.

You get to the door and perform a wheely to bust through it. You find yourself in a large room with two curved stairs up to the second floor.

Mentat takes the right stairs. As you go up You hear a crack below you and the stairs collapses under you. You fall and find yourself ten feet below the first floor. There is a open door on the same side as the entrance hall. And a open door on the opposite side.

You two are on a stone island on the side of the entrance hall. There is water and and the remains of a stone bridge between you and the stone island on the other side with a door

Off to one side in the water is a statue of Aquarius poring out water.

You sense Movement in the water.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Wed 06 Sept 2017.