Spellbind Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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spellgrinders2017-06-17 07:42 pm
spellbindmods) wrote in spellgrinders2017-06-17 07:42 pm
( TDM | #1 )
You blink and that's all it takes. At first the picture doesn't come in clear, like you're waiting for a screen to fully load -- more aptly, it's like you're waiting for a camera to focus so you can find image clarity. Before you happened to rapidly close your eyes and open them, your life was normal...well, normal for you, anyway. Fighting an alien, making a quesadilla, dying. And then that blurry picture suddenly takes over. Depending on your situation and ability to acclimate, you may not fully understand what's happening. A dream, a hallucination. But when you feel the trunk of the trees surrounding you, it's oddly...real. The smell is real. The moisture on the ground is real. The small grass snake you find slithering close to your feet seems very real as well. There are a few other sensations that also begin to feel a little more like reality with every passing second. Like the fact that your intuition is trying to tell you something that doesn't seem plausible. One is more obvious -- you now have a new piece of jewelry inserted snuggly between your collarbones. Maybe that's when you realize it is real. When you realize that there's no delusion here -- you aren't where you once were. But if that's the case...where are you?
There's also a mysterious trail of soft, felt bags, tied off with thin rope, leading your character to what appears to be a specific destination. These items can be as useful as a granola bar to as seemingly useless as a stapler. Let's just say that some of these mysterious objects are pretty out there. They're free to travel off the beaten path, but that comes with its own perils. Maybe your character has a power that could fend these creatures off...? They aren't exactly happy about sharing their territory. |
After an hour or so of trekking through the forest, you finally come upon a break in the tree line that reveals to you an area that appears to be inhabitable. Your first stop is the large mansion that sits in the valley of the opening...if anyone is here or there's a way to get out of here, the house makes the most sense, right? There are a variety of rooms in this mansion, and you're free to explore them. You also spy a lot of crates sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the main rooms...are you curious enough to open them?
If you want some specifics, there are a few rooms of note: the game room (containing a working pool table, non-electric pinball machines and a card table with supplied chips and multiple decks), the cellar (filled with a variety of liquor and wines, all aged quite well) and a large room upstairs that contains a glass ceiling and a variety of books in a foreign language. One more thing -- if you happen to go rummaging around, you may find tiny pin cameras. They're minuscule...you may not even notice them unless you look hard enough. At this point you notice that you aren't alone -- there are other people in the same boat as you! When they're around you, that signet you feel in your chest tingles slightly. The sensation isn't unpleasant, but instead like a warm tingle is spreading from their neck outward. You instinctively attempt to talk to your fellow kidnapping victims, and that works just fine...but what are all these voices you hear in your head now? Are you crazier than you thought you were?
For those more inclined to adventure, there's also another building to investigate. From the outside, it looks very circular and unidentifiable, but upon entering you'll discover that it's a fully-functioning bath house.
|
Exploring the mansion and the bathhouse was fun and all, but aside from the crates they didn't prove to be very useful. When you came into the clearing, you also saw a row of very colorful buildings down near the beach. It makes sense that this area may be more beneficial to any escape plans you have, and taking a dip in the ocean might be nice! It's not until you reach the beach huts that you realize that murky blue color you spied wasn't the ocean. It's outter space. There goes any hopes you had of swimming to safety.
Even though it turns out the ocean was a lie and you're precariously close to falling off the edge of the world, the area around the huts is decidedly beachy. Sitting on the beach is a lobster trap, though about 10 times the size of any you might have seen before. Inside are more felt sacks, though larger. The weirdest part is that peering through the bars, you notice each has a nametag attached. The reason you know this to be true is because you just spied your own name written on one of the labels. There's also something else underneath it. The descriptor may not mean much to you yet, but it will soon: it's the title of their newfound magic. In each felt sack is a sort of starter kit: a set of dated and drapey plainclothes, a bag of dried boar jerky, a leather flask filled with water and a small tube of sunblock (the writing is in a bizarre pictograph language, but the giant picture of the sun on the tube should explain the purpose). There's also a rolled up paper tied with a string that reads as follows: "Welcome. Things will be explained in due time. For now, understand that you have been blessed with a gift of magic. Look into your brain and feel the instinct for both. Practice makes perfect."
...What if you're a wildcard, though? Someone who doesn't play by the rules and follows a different path, no matter what direction the world may be guiding you in? This island is large and contains many areas of interest, from crystal streams to hidden locations. Maybe you want to do something different...so break the mold and explore!
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[please for the love of the gods now]
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Lalli is grateful the mystery man isn't instructing him to close his eyes, and that's the real reason he feels comfortable enough doing it so he can focus on his breathing. It was something he was used to, having to ground himself while simultaneously reaching out for his spells. With barriers, he had usually relied on instinct rather than calming himself.
When he starts to feel a little more...muddled, for lack of a better word, he opens his eyes again to watch Joshua and wait for his next instruction. Got yourself a good student here.]
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"You're doing well. Now, I need you to focus on the thoughts around your own thoughts."
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[His face scrunched a little while he thinks on this. That would be the intruding words, of course, and he could definitely pick them apart from his own thoughts pretty easily, but even just trying to focus on them meant he was putting a lot more thought into it than was necessary. And he could feel the weight of his thoughts dragging him back from his task. Lalli shakes his head.]
My mind isn't quiet, when I think about what they're saying.
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...The second. I guess. Right now, the second.
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"Alright, then if that is the case, then why not use that to your advantage Focus on your own thoughts, immerse yourself in them. Like you're immersing yourself in the water. Let your own self act as your shield to block out the minds of everyone else." [Visualization techniques helped, usually, when one was trying to do something of this nature. If Lalli was talented, and truly worthy of being his student, then he could likely pull this off if he simply focused properly. Of course, it still took some time to fully get the hang of it and be able to filter things out on the fly but, Joshua had faith in his student.]
[Or rather, he just wanted to have someone call him "Master" and not for that person to be a worthless individual.]
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Mrrh...
[He huffs a little bit but goes back to focusing. He might have...swung a little too much in the other direction now because there's a very insistent feeling over the signet that Lalli is trying to make some kind of communication. Using his thoughts to overpower the rest meant that they were being unfortunately broadcast now as well.
At least be thinking something juicy, man... Not,] I don't know why I ever wanted to understand what people were thinking. There's no point to any of this stuff. Just shut up. Annoying...
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"...Even seeing another person's thoughts doesn't let you truly understand them." [That was his kernel of philosophical wisdom for the day. Even so, perhaps he needed to tweak Lalli a bit, seeing as the destructive route had gotten an affect, even if it was the wrong one.]
"I don't mean overpower them outwardly. Overpower them... inwardly. View it more as driving back attackers rather than going on the offensive." [You know, maybe teaching things was actually way harder than he thought. This was never something eh did personally and he was making an effort here not to be completely off-putting with it. He actually needed Lalli to accept him as his teacher, because he couldn't force himself upon anyone in this world. Well he could but then he'd have actual consequences.]
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...A shield.
[He's gotten a little better at shields. But that doesn't mean he doesn't still think about the way he'd been made to feel so weak while trying to keep one up. He hates that... He has to make sure that doesn't happen with these voices.]
It's still horrible and weird... Having to hear what they think.
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The instant he thinks he's done it, it comes crashing down again and he breaches the surface with a hiss. Curse that distraction! An above water try, this time... Mostly because he is absolutely boiling, but still. Blocking it out, rebuffing the invaders, settling into his own quiet little circle... There it is, and there's a soft, almost content sigh to signal the success.]
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"I see you've managed to pull it off."
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...Mmn.
[That's, uh. Confirmation.]
...Are you a mage...?
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"...A territorial spirit, brought down to the plane of humans." [That was all he would say. Not that he was nearly a god in his home world, not that he had run an game to judge the souls of humanity. He'd simply elect to go with spirit, for now. that would suffice.]
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When he speaks, his voice is small, and it's almost more like a croak, with how tight his throats feels.]
You're... You, um. Act like a person. Not -- lost? You're still...in control?
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[Of course, he didn't really see himself as a spirit given his own position, but he supposed the term was probably applicable but that was what he would go with.]
"I am. I found my place." [That made sense to say given the lost comment, right? He wasn't actually sure how to approach this properly. He was treading thin ice here, between revealing too much and only causing the young man more discomfort.] "And don't worry. You can't use your own abilities here, correct? Well, I am bound by the same restriction."
[Though Josh still got all the physical Composer perks, but that still applied.]
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At the mention of his lack of powers, he looks off to a pair of scuttling crabs, because nonsense like that isn't as hard to focus on.]
...Okay.
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"...I suppose I am an anomaly to you." [He'd spent so much time fueling his ego on this too. Having someone to actually be superior to, his usual MO with people, was a comfort in a place where he was far more mortal and far less powerful than he'd like to be, and he was totally losing that. "Still, I can assure you I am still perfectly willing to teach you. That is, if you don't mind learning from a spirit."
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...Okay, this is getting a little silly. Scratch these distraction crabs.]
I don't know. I...guess not. You helped me.
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"Well, why wouldn't I? It's not as if I'm a particularly malicious person." [It was true. This wasn't out of kindness. It was a selfish move. \But it was not a malicious one. He didn't act to harm others, even as Composer. He only did what he needed to in order to achieve his ends. Sometimes those actions could be harsh or cruel, but he had his justifications. That was what he liked to think, anyways.[
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[Assuming he's right in guessing what malicious means. Once you were dead, it was a lot easier to be consumed by all that negativity around, especially if you'd been around for a while. This guy didn't seem like he was exactly new to this spirit business.]
But... You said you're different. So you probably are.
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"I am indeed. Maybe, in the future, I can tell you what makes me so exceptional." [Promising people information was always a good way to entice them in, after all. And Lalli seemed pretty curious, so Joshua was simply at this point waiting for him to take the bait.]
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...Do you still have a name?
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